#however CONSIDERING all of that. she still gets to be pretty competent on her own

[vulpinesaint]

i just think that their actual relationship where they care about each other and want each other to be safe and their conflict is based on the moral conflicts that arise from venom's definition of "justice" is so much more interesting than the "wow i hate my ex" relationship that some people seem to want them to have. people hate to see two people have an amicable divorce and still care about the person they used to be with. and still see the person they used to be with even beyond the way they've both changed. anyway

[jubileemon]

Understanding Husk

A "husk" means a shell or a protective outer cover. This fits his character well since he's shown to be a husk of a man. More specifically, he's a former overlord who lost his power.

Husk in the "Pilot" was a lot more grumpy than he is in the show proper, losing his temper at Alastor and not hesitating to show his disinterest in anything going on as long as it doesn't concern him. When he sees just who has yanked him away from his card game, all he can do is exasperatedly ask Alastor what he wants with him this time. Seeing as Alastor is a constant reminder of how his gambling ended up costing him his status as an Overlord, it's easy to understand why he'd be upset at having to bend to the Radio Demon's will.

In the series, it's established he's still a jerk, but it's evident he cares, and his temper isn't as volatile and often warranted. In the beginning, Husk made it no secret that he was forced to stay at the hotel because of his ties to Alastor and would gladly get as far away as he could if able to. Behind his grumpy exterior, Husk is actually very patient and it takes a lot to make him legitimately angry.

He does his job as a bartender competently, but Husk is fairly blunt about the fact he's only participating in the group's shenanigans because he simply can't be bothered to protest. He does join bonding activities but departs once it's no longer enjoyable for him, after Vaggie decided to literally throw everyone into the middle of a turf war as part of her trust exercises. Thankfully, he grows out of this a bit as the series goes on and grows to care about the staff and guests.

Husk has his own issues and is pretty much apathetic to almost everything out of pessimism. But he still has the most common sense out of the cast and he's the most emotionally intelligent and self-aware, even serving as an advisor to the others at the right times when he's not bitterly accepting his circumstances. The hotel's owner is the only cheerful idealist demon princess who just wants to see the good in everyone, one investor is a maniac who wants to get entertainment out of watching the chaos, the other investor is the owner's neglectful, depressed father (and also the literal King of Hell), the manager is bossy and threatens people with weapons at the slightest provocation, and the cleaning lady is a neatfreak with a thing for "bad boys". Then there's Husk wanting nothing to do with their escapades. He's also a lot more hostile towards Alastor and Angel after they touch him multiple times.

It should be noted that Alastor lets Husk get away with flipping him off. But the moment Husk brings up the fact that Alastor's own soul belongs to someone else within earshot of the Radio Demon, Alastor can barely restrain himself to threatening to tear Husk's soul apart and broadcast his screams for all to hear if he ever says that again. By the end of the encounter, Husk is a shivering, terrified wreck and Alastor couldn't care less.

As the bartender, Husk knows how to listen to people and knows exactly what kind of problems that all the residents of the hotel are going through, and while he would rather let them solve their own problems, he isn't exactly above giving them some pretty solid, if very brutally honest. While it was unnecessarily rude to bring up the Hotel residents' flaws, Husk was accurate about every one of them as Charlie's desperate to help others but doesn't confront her own issues, Vaggie judges others because she hates herself, Sir Pentious is a lonely Sinner who watches people in their sleep, and Angel puts on an act that he's happy about his porn star job but is really miserable.

Husk was always cynical and crass, but he's also an old Sinner with a tender heart. With Angel however, he tends to be a lot more irritable. While it initially looks to be because of Angel constantly flirting with him, it's because he hates how hard Angel acts out to hide how miserable he actually is, considering him a "phony" in a self-destructive spiral. He eventually realizes he and Angel are the same, despite their differences. They're both self-destructive addicts since Husk is a gambling addict, while Angel is addicted to sex and drugs who sold their souls to an abusive Overlord. And both of them have descended even further into their addiction and adopted outwardly cynical, cruel personas as a coping mechanism.

Husk getting through to Angel Dust in the manner he does makes a considerable amount of sense when it's taken into account that the first step to overcoming drug addiction is usually getting the addict to acknowledge they even have a problem. Angel hasn't been able to get better despite having some genuine interest because he's been utterly refusing to admit he has a problem to fix, the moment he does his mood drastically improves as does his motivation.

In "Welcome To Heaven", Husk saw Cherri as a bad influence on Angel's path of redemption and advised her not to get high during their night out. He even defends Angel from Cherri's criticism about how the hotel was changing him. Of course Husk wants what's best for Angel, but unlike Cherri who thinks that feeding into Angel's addictive tendencies are the best way to treat his depression and that living up to the hotel's standards is only making his life more difficult, Husk encourages Angel to stick with the self-improvement he's learned from the hotel and not fall back into his old ways since Angel's trying to get into Heaven.

When Vaggie leaves to find out how angels can be killed, she tells Angel, Sir Pentious, Husk and Niffty that she knows they didn't sign up to be the first targets of the angels, so she wouldn't blame them if they left. Of course, when she and Charlie return, they find that all of them have stayed and fortified the hotel.

Husk even admitted that he doesn't want to look for new drinking buddies and being nice to both Angel and Pentious is a demonstration of the massive character development he's undergone over the course of the show. In the beginning, he was grouchy towards everyone and hated even being in the hotel, but now he's willing to risk his life to defend it and the other residents.

[saytrrose]

Can we see More about your racing AU please?

Looks so amazing and i love It so much

I do suppose I could share the character design line up!

I really just need to finish designing all the go karts, (atleast most are done!) and then I can make proper cards for them and really get into the written details.

To be honest it’s a little hard to just ramble about info and details without specific questions to go off of, so I’ll try my best hhh

for starters, the tent? Not a tent!

It’s actually a stadium, the amazing digital race!

And rooms? Sort of tweaked, they are more like each character owns a personal garage, a large open space where they store their vehicles and then have a loft above that showcases their cozy safe havens. Bed, entertainment, basically a small room in a much larger one.

I haven’t revealed Ragatha, Zooble or Gangles karts yet but I’ll go ahead and just talk about all of them!

Caine:

Caine has a motorcycle, specifically one inspired off of the motorcycle I’m saving up for this summer, a Kawasaki Eliminator. It’s a cruiser, I’m thinking he has a 600cc model but considering Bubble is his right hand man and operates as the races pit crew- he’s definitely tinkered with Caines bike, making adjustments and improving the engine. God only knows what the little psycho did, but it’s a damn good bike that’s not supposed to rev as loud as it does.

Pomni:

Her kart is inspired off a Volkswagen Beetle, seemed very VERY Pomni to me. Her car mimics her outfit design a lot, I might do some color changes to be honest but it will be super minimal, it’ll be final when the cards are done! She definitely stops at the pit the most often despite her placement in a race, are my tires okay?? Do I need my oil?? I know you just filled it but it went down- is anything damaged?? Sweetie you did one lap..

Jax:

Jesus Christ he has a giant supercharger on the hood of his car, and he is absolutely one of those annoying mfs that reva their engine OBNOXIOUSLY loud all the time like he’s super cool. If you’re wondering who most of the skid marks on the track are from, that’s also Jax. Hes the best as drifting, and he loves to show that off. His car isn’t based too much on an actual vehicle?? I stared at Mario karts and pieced it together, but also gave it a very sports car look, the wing on the back fr fr I think Jax would dig that.

Kinger:

OHHSOSK I was so creative with his little wagon,,, it’s castle shaped!! And the best part? Operates like a rocket. In the back past the battlement (the crown looking thing you see atop castle pillars) ARE GIANT exhaust pipes and yes, they do spit fire !! Operates like a rocket. It’s very cool! (Also he has a great muffler because unlike Jax he’s considerate of others hearing 💔) Oh also, he has one of those silly horns, I forgot how to describe it but you can just look at how I drew it on his kart and you’ll know heheh!

Zooble:

Our second motorcyclist, owns a trike! If you don’t know what that is, picture a bike with training wheels but super badass. 3 wheels! It’s inspired off the Harley Davidson freewheeler, I like that design a lot but it’s def not actually a Harley because istg when you buy those bikes your just paying for the fancy name brand- expect it to be in the shop all the time, smh not good- BUT ANYWAY!! The looks are inspired off it though and I can’t wait for this one because it’s just as crazy kooky as Zoobles design is.

Gangle:

Her kart is based on my favorite car, classic style but not too cool because you can bet she has anime stickers on the back and a decal that says “please let me merge before I start crying.” It’s similar to a karmann ghia convertible, 1963. Cherry red (so so pretty) She always has the top down, unless competing because damn you gotta go fast. That car itself is really slow, top speed normally is 68mph, however people have modified them enough to get up to 120mph. Thats still pretty slow compared to others, but her kart only reflects the appearance of the ghia! It’s much faster and I assume Bubble works on all their vehicles if asked to.

Lastly, Ragatha:

Our 3rd motorcyclist. 4 Karts, 3 cyclists. Her bike is a futuristic style, if you want a good idea then look up “icare bike”! Not so much a straight forward posture, she leans over ofc, you’ll likely get the idea when you see her bike. I’ll be honest, I haven’t gotten too into her design yet because I haven’t started drawing but!! Dark blue leds,, everywhere yes yes so cool ❤️

Sorry that’s so much 😭 but yeah! Just need to finish 3 kart designs for you guys and I can make official ref cards 👀

[sunseed-fandump]

Let’s talk about Realm of Apathy rq and what I think this means for the next parts of the story.

And this isn’t talking about gameplay or anything like that this is purely from a lore and story perspective.

(Disclaimer that a lot of this is my own opinion and speculation based off of what we have seen so far.)

Based off of the events of Silver Kingdom and Realm of Apathy, I believe we’re really going to start getting a better idea of the extent of the Beasts powers. Their bodies might be crumbled, their spirits might be sealed, but their WILL is unrestrained; especially now that they’ve been awoken from their eons long slumber.

Twice now we have seen a Beast Cookie either completely alter reality to suit their own whims (Shadow Milk Cookie to the Faerie Kingdom) or create/maintain an entire plane of existence separate from the Real World. (Mystic Flour Cookie with the Ivory Pagoda and pretty much most of what we see in Episode 4)

The only other time we have seen this so far - to my knowledge - is Moonlight Cookie and her imperative role in maintaining the Dream World.

I wouldn’t be surprised if every Beast was capable of exerting their Will like this and creating entire domains.

This, to me, is truly a testament of their power; and if this is what they’re capable on only HALF of their original power??? Holy shit. It’s no wonder the Witches had to step in when they did. There was no way the cookies of the distant past would have been able to compete against LITERAL GODS.

Thankfully, now there’s a more even playing field.

What does this mean for the story going forward?

Well I’m not 100% certain, but I’m pretty sure with the next few Beast Updates we may or may not see their respective “domains” or realms. Representations of who they are and their ultimate desires.

I believe what we’ve seen from Mystic Flour Cookie wasn’t real, however what was shown in ep 4 was what she DESIRED to do when she obtained the means to do so (getting Dark Cacao's Resolution).

Remember, the Beasts are still in the Silver Tree. They can’t affect the real world until they are out. Shadow Milk Cookie couldn’t do so until he was able to break out during the events of episodes 1 + 2, and the moment he was sealed back up, all the circus stuff vanished. (The only wrench in the works here would be the Pale Ailment which spurred Dark Cacao Cookie into showing up to Beast-Yeast at all. The Fog was very much Real. However, considering the low number of casualties listed off by the apothecary at the end of Ep 4, AND the fact they were able to find a cure for it at all, makes me believe that this was a VERY WEAK version of what Mystic Flour had in mind.)

But you know what they CAN do??? Mentally assault and torment their Ancient Hero counterparts.

Just some food for thought :)

tl;dr: The Heroes are boutta go THROUGH IT and are gonna get BULLIED by a bunch of OLD ANGRY GHOSTS.

[redfountainpostin]

Hey there! I was just wondering, considering that you have a lot of HCs, do you have any headcanons for the Winx/Trix as equestrians (equestrian=horse rider)?

Hi! So, not really, and I don't know anything about horses, BUT I watched like a ton of clips of Yellowstone so potato potato, same thing! Sooo lets see. Bloom: Farm girl. Grew up on her parents farm (not ranch) and she got her horse as a present. She didn't get anything not horse related as a present for YEARS because equipment is expensive and her parents told her, when she begged them for a horse, that they could pull it off, but not much else, and she agreed. This also means that she is not pouty at her 16th birthday about a vehicle because she has her horsie. She got her horse at 12 years old, and Mike taught her how to ride (he doesn't have his own horse, but knows how to ride one). When she turned 14 she started entering local competitions (racing and jumps) started winning around 16. At 15 she also got a side job so that she could buy a bit fancier horse equipment and/or other things a girl may want. Mike and Vanessa foot the bill for any horse related necessities, such as basic equipment and ofc the vet bills and food, but if there is an option between a perfectly good pair of riding boots, and more expensive PRETTY riding boots, she's expected to foot the difference. And I do think that's a very fair way to go about it! She also of course is fully responsible for actually taking care of her horse; feeding, walking, watering, cleaning the stall, brushing, you name it. When she was smaller Mike used to help her with it until she got a hang of it all and he was certain she knows how to be safe. Stella: Super posh rider. Never cleaned a stall in her life, but she DOES brush her horse's hair and braid her name. Does Hermes make horse saddles? Bc she has an hermes saddle. 1000s riding outfits, super girly and posh and elegant. Competes in dressage. Flora: Has a rescue horse, loves the shit out of her, doesn't compete, rides only for joy. Tecna: I just cannot see her as a horse girl! She would have trouble connecting to the animal I think. Musa: Rancher! After her dad swore off music, he ended up MOVING them from melody onto Zenith, which is the cattle capitol of the world, and started a business there. Musa is still a musician at heart, but one thing she doesn't mind about the new life is the horses, and she LOVES her horse. She rides for miles on end on her own, and competes in rodeo. Her new surroundings however made her music have a LOT of country influence. She will also eventually start performing at festivals as a singer, and that will be a whole drama because dad WILL catch her and all but drag her off the stage. Aisha: Was forbidden to ride bc it was "too dangerous". Always wanted to, but couldn't. Nabu is the one to teach her. Stormy: A complete madman that will one day break her neck. Icy and Darcy: both posh, dressage type riders.

[lily221118]

•⭐• Gideon Nav Modern Barista au

part 4 -> part 3

Her instagram was exactly what you expected from her, she only had a modest amount of posts and highlights, 80% of which were photos of her at the gym, with weights, flexing, any evidence that she worked out. To make up for the gymbro reputation she was gaining from you, however, the other 20% was a mix of her and her friends drinking beer around a bonfire or at the bar, random animals she had probably just found cute, and photos from around the cafe. She really was at work all the time. There were a couple of posts that had especially caught your eye, of course besides all the gym photos that you told yourself not to look at for too long in fear of being objectifying, and they were a collection of photos with some blonde girl. She was far too pretty for her own good, full and tall with beautiful blonde curls. After a bit of inspection, you found her account too. Her name was Coronabeth, which you thought was a bit obnoxious but tried to keep an open mind, and she had actually quite a large following. Which maybe wasn’t surprising. 

This girl made you feel uneasy though, why was Gideon posting her everywhere? Did Gideon have a girlfriend and you had just gotten the wrong idea? They were hot enough for each other. Maybe she was an ex and you still had a chance, or somewhat of a chance because goddamn, you couldn’t compete with this beautiful blonde woman.

For the rest of Saturday and into Sunday, neither of you had made any progress over instagram, except for the notification you got not long after leaving the shop that day alerting you that she had followed you back. You were afraid of coming off too strong and ruining any chance of whatever this was turning into more. So when you walked through the chiming doorway on Monday morning, you were nervous to see her. You looked around the room, expecting to see her in her usual place but perhaps the heavens had felt your nerves and tried to do you a favour because she wasn’t there, and she wasn’t roaming around the shop either. There was a pang of disappointment in your stomach as you walked up to the till to get your morning coffee anyway. You recited your order to the young man working, which almost stumped you considering Gideon had remembered it from the first day you’d met. 

When he heard your request, his eyes lit up with recognition. He picked up an orange sticky note from behind the case of bakery items and studied it. “Are you the ‘Pretty Woman’ Gideon would be talking about?”

You stared at him in confusion for a moment until it clicked, “Oh! Actually, yes, she does call me that!”

He smiled as he tapped on the screen with fingers that were far too different to Gideons, “Great, that’s all good for you then.”

You looked at him with your eyebrows furrowed once again, “Sorry?”

He hands you the sticky note and you see, in a messy scrawl, that she had written down your order under the name ‘Pretty Woman’ and had prepaid for it. Your heartbeat speeds up and you thank him. You take a step out of the way to wait and finally decide to send her a DM, hoping not to embarrass yourself

You:

Thanks for the coffee xox

You ignore the nervous feeling in your gut and turn your phone off but just as you receive your coffee, your phone buzzes. You swallow your nerves once again and open the response.

Gideon:

To apologize for how much you’re probably missing me this morning 😉

She was an emoji-user, interesting. You decide not to respond, not wanting to overdo it so early on. So you like her message and put your phone back in your pocket while you make your way to work.

[kinky-pen]

Got any general Ouran headcanons?

More disorganised, general thoughts!

Tamaki:

When Tamaki found out about renfairs, the whole host club wasn't just dragged to one (I don't believe they're a thing in Japan, but I may be wrong), Tamaki made them help him organise one. Yes, Kyoya had thought he'd escaped budgeting for Tamaki's whims in adulthood, and yes he felt stupid for thinking that.

Paints his nails frequently. It's an activity he finds fun, but he also repaints them constantly because he changes his mind about the colour constantly! He also wants them to match his outfit, and god forbid he plan ahead.

Was raised Catholic in France, but finds much more love for the aesthetics and community than the religion himself.

Haruhi:

Haruhi was always androgenous, but she embraces her gender nonconformity and identity even more as they become and understands themselves. Lots of lovely suits, both masc and fem. (They do use all pronouns, also, but use she/they the most)

Keeps the short hair!! I know she grows it out in the manga, but the short hair is nicer, more in character, and Haruhi said on multiple occasions that they prefer it.

When she's a lawyer (not if, let's be real), she's actually scary good at employment law and making sure companies compensate and treat their worker's fairly (comrade Haruhi, everyone)

Kyoya:

Keeps a sketchpad handy a good portion of the time. He found art really relaxed him, and he's pretty talented at it, but he'll keep it to himself as it's something he actually considers for him, not profit or prestige.

Has had a crush on every member of the host club, at some point, except Hanni for obvious reasons (boo, you whore)

Has diagnosed depression, and is half convinced he has a personality disorder of some flavour. He can be a bit of a hypochondriac, however, and his doctors haven't confirmed anything as of yet. Who knows.

Hikaru:

Dyes his hair constantly, all sort of colours. Like Tamaki and his nails, Hikaru recolours his hair very often - as soon as he gets bored of it. It got to the point where he dyed it four times in a month, fried it all off, and had to get a buzz cut. He eased up a little after that.

Loves getting tattoos. He's one of those people that really love the sensation of it, and he also gets a cool piece of art on his body forever! Yes there's something wrong with him, he's seeing a therapist!

Loves spending time in his office, tinkering about with new things - whether it be finding new ways to put together certain pieces of hardware, or coding new software. He can disappear in there for days straight, sometimes (he has a mini fridge stocked with drinks and snacks, don't worry)

Kaoru:

Goes through phases of growing out his hair, then cutting it all off again. Changes hairstyles frequently. When you're head of a designer brand, you do have to balance keeping up with the latest trends with setting them, and I think Kaoru does well with both sides of that.

Loves flower arranging (which is semi-canon), but it's something he keeps up his whole life.

Kaoru actually does have some """mild""" HPD (that's the phrasing he uses, but he generally means he's high functioning) he's just like me frfr

Mori:

This man matures like a fine wine. Will always be attractive, honestly. He went from hunk to DILF to GILF effortlessly.

Still wins Judo competitions and such well into his early fifties, but decided to retire from competing at 53 due to some joint issues. Still keeps it up for fun and health, though.

Had a bit of a revelation about putting his foot down and protecting his boundaries during university. It actually helped him a lot with the self destructive tendencies he has in canon.

Hunni:

Living his best life with his goth wife! He just adores that girl so much and she'll kill for him! (Ask her to kill for you, Hunni, she really wants to)

Takes up baking his own cakes, which does actually save money in the long run - not that they need to worry about that.

Had a similar revelation to Mori in university, caused by Mori standing up for himself more. He realised that he can still be true to himself and what he wants, without running roughshod over those who care about him. He can still be a little selfish, but better than what we see in canon.

Also, as this is a kink blog and I don't really want to encourage engagement from people not into NSFW/are minors - please only 'like' this post if you're the aforementioned :)

[pyropsychiccollector]

Shiro Harem: Holy Grail War... of Love 5/7

Ayako-chan won the poll, not really surprising. XD Down to just her, Illya, and Reines, it seemed like a no-brainer what you guys would want. Still, I try to have a democracy around here. (人◕ω◕)

Fate: Stay Night is all about branching timelines. As such, to cater to all seven members of this harem in a single worldline, we'll be looking at an AU separate from the canon ones, regardless of how similarly events may play out. Just a forewarning.

The Beginning

So, this one is pretty far removed from the Grail War, ironically enough. Still set in the same universe, it's just this member of the harem is…a civvie, to put it bluntly. No knowledge of magic, no tragedy in her family, nothing that truly sets her apart. Ayako Mitsuzuri is just…"normal".

Which isn't to say that's a terrible development. Out of all these girls that fall for Shiro, he frankly deserves someone that has no baggage and is closer to him in terms of mundanity. It's a bummer that canon never gave her a route like the other girls… A route where Shiro never got wrapped up in the Grail War. Though that could have turned out badly any number of ways… XD

This isn't a problem, however. Like all the other girls, the pieces are there for a relationship with Shiro. We just have to assemble them. (人◕ω◕)

Ayako has known Shiro for a while. Gone to the same school, been good enough friends, they were even in the archery club until Shiro got bored. Even after he left the club, they stayed friends; Ayako just wishes Shiro would come back because he was an inspiration and was a major boon to their reputation.

Shiro in turn respects Ayako for how hard she works and recognizes her as a big sister of the student body what with how she doesn't put up with crap and helps others. Of course he's Shiro, he's extremely formal and selfless. (人◕ω◕)

This… really frustrates Ayako as they go through high school and Shiro remains static and oblivious to stuff like romance. Not that Ayako is much better - she prefers putting it off, partly because that's just what she wants, and partly because her family is even more formal and traditional than her. Ayako even has to hide her love of video games from her family, that's how bad it is. (人◕ω◕) Moreover, Ayako feels more attracted to older guys because of the maturity angle. Too many of the guys at their school are flirty like Shinji or just don't have their lives in order…… Or they're too rigid like Issei. (人◕ω◕);; Point is, Ayako is "advanced" for her age, and everyone sees her as Big Sis anyway. Not even the people with the incest kink will touch her, which both relieves and frustrates Ayako to no end.

Doesn't stop her from making a wager with Rin to find a boyfriend first. But even with them "competing", both of them are rather laidback and unconcerned about love in general. Rin has her responsibilities, and Ayako has her own circumstances that lead her to procrastinate. (人◕ω◕) … Funny enough they both gravitate to the same guy. And both procrastinate on acting on their crushes. It's not like Shiro is even Ayako's preferred type, per se… But out of all the guys in their age group, he probably is the best off because he's so gung-ho about helping others and being responsible. He lacks the rigidness Issei has, which makes him approachable. …. Shiro is just very dense. Not a deal breaker , but it's something they have to work through. Assuming she can even get Shiro to consider her as more than "Big Sis". (人◕ω◕)

The Middle Act

As stated, Ayako has no stake in the Grail War, doesn't have the faintest idea magic is real. Doesn't know Shiro almost died… Shiro, Rin, and Sakura keep their schoolmates in the dark about the conflict pretty well.

That said… It doesn't mean Shiro was 100% head in the game 24/7 when it came to the Grail War. He still had a school life, even if Illya, Saber, and Sakura preferred him to be more focused on the war. But what can you do? He's Shiro Emiya, and he has a school life. And the fact he's bothered by so many things in the war, he broadcasts his worries and anxieties without meaning to. He's an open book, after all. (人◕ω◕)

It's vexing for Ayako that she can't get Shiro to open up about his problems, though. In this case he just can't talk about them. And it's not like him to keep mum. Ayako knows this isn't typical behavior for Shiro, knows this isn't right. Her solution? Drag him to the dojo and rope him back into the club whether he's chill with it or not. (人◕ω◕) It's not like she's asking him to be Shinji's whipping boy for all the club chores, or carry them through tournaments. Ayako merely wants that intimacy with Shiro rekindled. Shiro's really, really good at archery… And Ayako won't force him if he's dead set against coming back. … But she thinks this will be good for Shiro, give him something to do and have fun with. At least give it a chance. (人◕ω◕)

For Shiro's part… He does see archery as a means to help in the Grail War. He's not a fool. … Well, he IS… But not in ways he could imagine. (人◕ω◕) However… He doesn't want this club activity to be a means to an end, to keep his archery skills sharp. This is important to Mitsuzuri, he can see that. He just doesn't understand the why because he's so focused on Ayako and making her happy. Doesn't get that this is for his sake, his happiness. (人◕ω◕)

… Ayako doesn't let that slide. After several practices, she takes him to the side again and has a heart-to-heart. Expresses disappointment he's never thought about asking her out, never seen her as more than just a friend. Being the big dummy he is, Shiro remarks he's got Sakura and Illya to look after right now (again, keeping quiet about the war). Ayako doesn't take that well, at least when he brings up Sakura… And though he doesn't understand why, Shiro acts on his uneasiness at seeing Ayako disheartened and miserable. He comforts her and at least gets it across he's never given romance much thought. Sure, there's girls that he admires, that he loves, but for him it's never been about being with those girls. Because… He just doesn't have the time to think about such things, there's far too much to do in helping others. And even if he considered a relationship, what does he even bring to the table? Shiro has no love for himself, no confidence beyond his cooking and ability to fix stuff. He would have confidence in archery, too, but for him it's a hobby and little else. He's too absorbed in his dream of helping others and protecting and making Illya happy. (人◕ω◕)

Naturally, Ayako sees the problem from a far-off perspective. No knowledge of magic, she just assumes Shiro's a workaholic… Still more approachable than Issei, but he needs to relax. If he met her family, they'd get along way too well. Ayako doesn't appreciate that. (人◕ω◕) She sees the problem is that deeply entrenched selflessness, and asks about the girls most precious to him. The fact he names her, Rin, Sakura, Illya, and some family friend named Saber, it does throw the poor girl for a loop. But when asked to explain what he loves about them… She can see that it's genuine on his part. Shiro goes way beyond mere physical attraction in his reasons, and she's touched that this dummy has such a high opinion of her. (人◕ω◕)

It does make the way forward kinda hazy, though… Being the "Big Sis" she is, Ayako knows Rin and Sakura like Shiro, too. The fact he likes all of them is…strange, but not impossible to work through. They just have to sit down and talk it over. (人◕ω◕)

The Future

Ayako does, unfortunately, take a backseat when the war enters final stages… But after it's all wrapped up, she does make everyone sit down and chat about a relationship with Shiro. (人◕ω◕) … Doesn't go the way she expected with all of them agreeing to share Shiro. And she's not thrilled Rin dragged him off to London first thing after Graduation… But Ayako does help Sakura, Saber, and Illya with giving Shiro a home to return to. The magic stuff isn't completely kept from Ayako after a certain point, yet it's so different from her everyday life that she kindly asks to be only given details immediately relevant to their safety. Everything else is…way too above her pay grade. (人◕ω◕)

She's not the first to have kids with Shiro, or the last, but her role as "Big Sis" helps defuse most petty fights and gives the children in general a mother to look up to. … Because even Sakura has her moments of clinginess and jealousy. (人◕ω◕) Not to say Ayako never gets moody or jealous. … She's just one of the most mature of the harem, if not THE most mature. (人◕ω◕) Her family will never understand the polygamous relationship she wound up in, and that's fine. Most days she has to accept this is her life now, and she's pretty happy here.

… Other days she whines to Shiro about his taste in women and how much work they hafta do to corral everyone sooo often… But that's a take for another day. (人◕ω◕)

First post: https://www.tumblr.com/pyropsychiccollector/743914272095092736/shiro-harem-holy-grail-war-of-love-17?source=share

Second post: https://www.tumblr.com/pyropsychiccollector/743914300198027264/shiro-harem-holy-grail-war-of-love-27?source=share

Third post: https://www.tumblr.com/pyropsychiccollector/743914313492873216/shiro-harem-holy-grail-war-of-love-37?source=share

Fourth post: https://www.tumblr.com/pyropsychiccollector/743914325706768384/shiro-harem-holy-grail-war-of-love-47?source=share

[themattress]

Sailor Moon (Toei): The Top 20 Villains

Ranked using my core tenets for villains, and done countdown style for dramatic effect.

Honorable Mention: Jadeite - The definition of a stock, cheesy "Curses! Foiled again!" supervillain, Jadeite embraced this role with style and class, providing much entertainment with his oversized ego that caused him to stubbornly repeat variations of the same failed plan over and over again until it got him run over by an airplane and then cryogenically frozen as punishment for his incompetence. He was partly responsible for Sailor Moon, Mercury and Mars' origins and coming into their own as superheroines, and for that he deserves respect.

20. Mimete - This bubbly, ditzy member of Witches 5 started out fun, but had the problem of coming directly off the heels of the more competent Eudial whom she had murdered to get the job. On top of that, she wears out her welcome, as much like Jadeite she tends to just repeat variations of the same scheme (target handsome celebrities) over and over again, and even Jadeite started out somewhat successful at it! In the end, after getting converted to energy and trapped in a computer, Mimete didn't seem like she ever justified how long we spent with her. But she makes the list purely due to her appealing design and personality.

19. The Four Spectre Sisters - Serving under Rubeus, these members of the Black Moon Clan had the dual tasks of capturing Chibiusa and conquering certain areas of Tokyo in order to weaken the defenses of Crystal Tokyo in the future. They were formidable opponents and also had distinct personalities that bounced off one another in a fun way. They rank low because Calaveras and Petz hogged too much limelight, their consecutive redemptions felt rushed, and despite staying on Earth we never see them again in any future story arc.

18. Fiore - The anime-exclusive antagonist of the Sailor Moon R movie, The Promise of the Rose, Fiore is a composite of Ail and En: an orphaned member of their species, not knowing how to properly express love, being male like Ail but in love with Mamoru like En, and corrupted by negative energy...in this case, that of Kissenean, a wicked alien flower being. Fiore only appeared in the movie so naturally he left no lasting impact whatsoever on the series. That and how derivative he is places him low on the list. However, he is still cool and charismatic enough to be considered one of the best, just as his movie is the best one.

17. Safir - Despite being pretty underplayed for much of his time in the show, Safir's final episode was impactful enough to make him a standout. Beneath the stiff, serious front he puts on, Safir reveals himself to be a confused and desperate young man who can see the self-destructive path Wiseman has led his older brother and his clan down and wants to stop it but doesn't know how because the natural solution - joining forces with Earth and the Sailor Senshi - doesn't cross his mind due to his pre-existing prejudices toward both. But in the end, he finally overcomes these prejudices and reclaims his humanity, even at the cost of his life.

16. Mistress 9 - While Mistress 9 sadly wasn't around for too long, she definitely made an impact with what little screentime she got. Fully overtaking Hotaru's body by sacrificing Chibiusa's heart, coldly killing off Kaolinite like it was nothing, tricking Usagi into giving her the power of the Holy Grail, gleefully summoning Pharaoh 90 to destroy Earth, and fighting against Hotaru's influence from within only to succumb to it and be painfully extinguished.

15. Black Lady - Another case of high quality in limited quantity, Black Lady maintained the childish gremlin side of Chibiusa's personality while carrying herself more like an adult (or at least what Chibiusa thinks an adult is like) and holding nothing back in trying to kill all who stood in her way and open up the Dark Gate so that Earth can be destroyed by the power of the Malefic Black Crystal. On the one hand, she has less agency than Mistress 9 since she's a fully brainwashed dupe of Wiseman. But on the other hand, brainwashed or not she still is Chibiusa, not some other entity possessing her, and that makes her a lot more interesting.

14. The Amazon Trio - Now in-universe, these guys are absolute failures in regards to my third core tenant of villainy. They didn't impact or influence jack-shit in the story, characters and world; their lengthy run as antagonists honestly is mostly filler. But out of universe, it's impossible for a viewer to forget them! They are so enjoyable in how they strike a balance between being endearingly comical with all their banter and mishaps, and legit dastardly, callously preying on victims in an allegory for sexual assault. And not only does this end up being fully justified and understandable when it's revealed what they really are, but their redemption is one of the most effective and memorable in the whole anime. They only rank lower because Tiger's Eye sadly hogs a lot of the screentime, even though he's arguably the least interesting of the three, plus the fact that the higher ranked villains accomplish more.

13. The Amazoness Quartet - Directly following the Amazon Trio is the Amazoness Quartet. Not only do they live up to how enjoyable their predecessors were, but they have a more consistently progressing character arc and they actually matter to the plot of the story arc! These girls would rank a lot higher if not for the absolutely bone-headed choice by Sailor Stars to not bring them back to continue their redemption arc all the way to becoming Sailor Senshi even when the finale of SuperS blatantly hinted at it! They can at least rest assured that they're not the only SuperS villain that Sailor Stars has screwed out of a higher rank...

12. Ail & En - Before the Amazoness Quartet, we had these goobers that went against the Sailor Senshi all while disguising as civilian frenemies to them. For anime-original creations, Ail and En are stunningly well-written, with the filler arc they star in feeling like a natural bridge between the canonical adaptations. They can feel love, but they don't know how to process and understand it since their view on everything has been warped by the "take whatever by force to survive" mentality their rough life has shaped, a mentality that also causes them to slowly kill the life-giving tree they're trying to save and infect themselves with negative energy. They are sympathetic villains you want to see redeemed and are glad when they are. They'd be Top 10 if only they hadn't left Earth at the end, never to be seen or spoken of again. They could've made great returning supporting characters had they stayed.

11. Kunzite - So close. Kunzite was SO CLOSE to being one of the Top 10 villains of the Sailor Moon anime. He had it all: charisma, menace, power, intellect, style, a softer side shown in his romance with Zoisite, a great backstory just waiting to get tapped into....but tragically, following Zoisite's death and Kunzite's subsequent battle with the Sailor Senshi for revenge, the anime's writers just lost the plot with Kunzite: pairing him with brainwashed Endymion just to have them childishly squabble, having him concoct dumbass plans utilizing utterly campy monsters in order to capture Sailor Moon, and brushing on absolutely none of his backstory before killing him off as an afterthought. God, such a waste of a great villain!

10. Eudial - The Death Busters' most efficient minion and among the most efficient minions in general, Eudial is a case of extremes balancing out. She's silly yet intimidating, hot tempered yet cool headed, clumsy yet competent, achieving some embarrassing failures but also some monumental successes, and she does it all with a unique gadgeteer genius style. She was the starring villain of the best stretch of episodes in S, which was also the last consistently good in the anime, and she deserved better than the lame-ass joke of a death she received.

9. Crimson Rubeus - Rubeus is very similar to Eudial in being an especially formidable redheaded foe for the Sailor Senshi, but he has three major differences that propel him higher. First is that through his selfishness and cowardice, he actually avoided personal setbacks and embarrassments, as he left the dirty work to the Spectre Sisters. Second is that he is far darker and crueler, possessing a sadistic attitude, being hell-bent on killing a child to earn favor with his boss, and having planned from the get-go to manipulate and sacrifice the Spectre Sisters so that he can get all of the glory. Third and finally is that he gets an epic resolution, fighting Sailor Moon in his spaceship and then having it explode with him still in it.

8. Queen Nehelenia - Now, if SuperS was all we had, then she and number 5 would have swapped places. Queen Nehelenia is a truly terrifying figure, cold-hearted and malicious even by the standards of this anime's villains, casting a dark pall over every scene she's in. And in the end, we see just how twisted and tragic she is, ultimately being a child who never wants to grow up so that she can stay young and beautiful and be worshipped for it forever, to the point where she condemns herself into an isolated existence trapped inside a mirror so long as she can keep her youth. But then....sigh....Sailor Stars came along. Because of the absolute butchery of the character it gave us, Nehelenia can't place any higher than this.

7. Prince Demande - Demande only falters for two reasons: one of which being that he's only a consistent presence in the last stretch of episodes in R, being barely seen or mentioned beforehand, and the other that the show pussies out of letting him meet his end as the villain he was in favor of a half-assed, overwrought "redemption". But that aside, Demande is still an excellent villain: threatening, cold-hearted, absolutely twisted in his rape-y desire for total control of Usagi, but also nuanced in his backstory and motivations regarding his planet and people, and tragic in how he has been misled by Wiseman for all his life.

6. Queen Beryl - It's the OG Big Bad of the anime! Beryl can't breach the top 5 only because the majority of her screentime is her sitting on her butt and waving her hands over her crystal ball while talking to her minions, making her pretty repetitive and easy to predict. But she still makes up for that by how developed her personality becomes over the course of the series: showcasing class, intelligence and dignity that soon crumbles to reveal the petty, entitled and ruthless tyrant she truly is, while toward the end we see that she is capable of a twisted sort of love as she pines for Endymion. When merged with her master Queen Metalia, she also engages in the anime's first and best Final Boss battle. What else can I say - she's a classic!

5. Zirconia - Queen Nehelenia's twisted mirror image runs the Dead Moon Circus, and she is honestly pretty terrible at her job....but that's part of what makes her so much fun! She is basically a campy sentai show lead villain; heck, Rita Repulsa herself voices her in the Viz dub! Watching her grumble and fret and rage and scream her way across SuperS never gets old. On top of this, she is still a legitimately detestable villain and a real threat when she needs to be, seen most clearly during the final episodes. I love Zirconia so much that I hold a soft spot for her nonsensically male Cloverway dub version! The character is just that good!

4. Nephrite - "The stars see all, the stars know all." Nephrite showed promise when he debuted, being charismatic and intellectual while also holding a repressed, simmering sense of anger. But it only took a few episodes before his shtick started to feel like an even less efficient version of what we'd been through with Jadeite, so his prospects dimmed. But then something funny happened - Nephrite changed and evolved. He adapted to the fact that what he was doing wasn't working and changed his strategies up accordingly to focus on hitting the Sailor Senshi's weaknesses. When that was met with failure, he switched things up again to focus on finding the Silver Crystal, and added to it a strategy of manipulating Naru's feelings for him that he'd learned from his prior strategy shift. All while trying to hold his cover as rich playboy Masato Sanjoin, competing with his rival Zoisite, and developing legitimate feelings of care for Naru that made him rediscover his humanity all while he technically remained a villain. By the time he tragically died protecting Naru, Nephrite had proven himself to be a radical game changer not just for villains in the anime, but for the whole anime itself.

3. Zoisite - As a kid, I hated Zoisite. He killed Nephrite, kept getting away with seizing Rainbow Crystals that the heroes tried to claim, and always fought as low and dirty as possible while being the smuggest, scummiest shithead about it, all while having the gall to whine and cry to Kunzite when things didn't go his way. All these years later, that's exactly why I adore Zoisite as a villain. He's an immature youth in way over his head because his mentor and lover is the highest ranked warrior in the Dark Kingdom - and he knows it too, which is why his insecurity and desire to prove himself manifests in this petty narcissism and ruthless cruelty. He's utterly loathsome, yet pitiful and ultimately tragic at the same time. And since he was the focal villain in the best stretch of episodes in the entire anime, there's no way he can't rank among the highest of villainy. He died a failure, but he exists a success.

2. Wiseman / Death Phantom - And here he is, the uncontested greatest Ultimate Evil in all of Sailor Moon. Wiseman at first appears as a royal advisor to Prince Demande, meaning that Demande is set up as the "new Beryl" who will make it to be the endgame foe. But it turns out you really should have suspected the character waving their hands around a crystal ball. Unlike Beryl, Wiseman is a manipulator, keeping to the shadows and presenting himself as unassuming so that he can better control his pawns, all of whom he looks down upon and intends on discarding once he gets what he wants. And what he wants is to reshape the universe as a place of nothingness, reigning over it as the supreme god: Death Phantom. Wiseman is scary as Hell and personally despicable more than any other villain, because he doesn't even have a relatable motive for what he does. He is simply a heartless monster.

1. Professor Tomoe - I tried. I tried to measure the villains in a way that might avoid this predictable choice for Number 1. But the math just all adds up in the professor's favor! S is a series that peaks about halfway through, when Sailor Moon obtains the Holy Grail and achieves Super mode, after which the head writer position switches hands and the writing quality rapidly drops off a cliff. And yet not only is Professor Tomoe unaffected by this...he arguably defies it! He only gets better as the show goes on! The fusion of a man and an extraterrestrial demon, Professor Tomoe starts out as the most unique and certainly most entertaining boss villains the anime has ever seen, being equally creepy and hilarious. The longer the show goes on, the more credible of a threat and the more comedic of a character he becomes, and we even get a lot of nuance and pathos in how affable and kind of a boss he is to his evil minions and how loving of a father he is to Hotaru as both herself and as the Dark Messiah. In the end, we have a great final battle against his evil side while his good side receives a heartwarming redemption and second chance with his daughter. He's perfect.

[goldenharmony]

On the topic of Akane being a plot device, I get both sides to the argument. Some people feel that she is solely used to push the revenge plot along while others argue that all characters are devices for their stories so its not fair to critic Akane specifically for moving the story along.

I think how she was used to push the revenge plot was fine up until the break-up, because I felt like we got plenty of her POV and those moments of her finding out information built on her own characterization.

Akane finding out the Ai secret progressed her and Aqua's relationship by bringing them closer but also highlighting both characters' worst qualities. Akane was an enabler and said she would support Aqua even if he was a bad person. Many fans also know of Akasaka's tweet of "Akane Kurokawa is the one takes you there, while Kana Arima is the one who brings you back", which frames Akane as a negative influence to Aqua.

For the whole Hikaru reveal, I would mostly prefer if it she found out the truth over the span of a few chapters rather than like 1 chapter. I definitely don't blame Akane for not wanting to tell Aqua the truth. But where she did go wrong was claiming that she wanted to carry Aqua's burden together with him, while she herself lied to him and was going behind his back to handle Hikaru herself - making her seem like a hypocrite.

I know people felt that she was too plot-device-esque in the Main Stage arc, but I thought the insight we got into her character and her semi-toxic relationship with Aqua was good enough for her to justify how she was used. The only thing I would complain about is that I wish it was a bit harder for her to figure out everything regarding Hikaru and to have it make more sense on how Aqua realized Akane was going after Hikaru (like have a note that falls out of the bouquet or something??)

I don't feel like we've gotten much insight into her character since then, which is why I feel the plot device claims have more weight to them post-Aquakane break-up than pre-Aquakane break-up, since Akane pulling 900 IQ moves wasn't SOLELY done to move the revenge plot along back then. However, I think just saying "Akane's a plot device" and ending the conversation there comes across as bad faith, so here's some random ideas I thought of on how she could've been used better.

Nino/Ai vs. Kana/Akane

A few people noticed that these 2 relationships parallel one another. Akane and Nino both admire and hold a bit of resentment towards their idols. Considering that Akane is the one to reach out to Nino and sympathize for her, I feel like we could've explored these parallels more in the movie arc. I know Nino/Ai already parallels Kana/Ruby, but we can do parallels with more than 1 dynamic.

Plus Nino going "Of course, Ryousuke would've fallen for Ai" and forgiving him...I couldn't help but think of this part.

Akane & Ruby

Both are pretty similar with how they have an unhealthy obsession towards Aqua/Gorou. It would have been nice if both of them confided in one another again, similar to what happened in the Private arc, which would ultimately help them understand the true nature of their feelings and move on from Aqua. We do get the conclusion of Akane - realizing that her feelings are more motherly to Aqua - but I would've liked more focus on how she came to that conclusion, even if the hints were there beforehand.

Akane and Ai

I'll admit that I was one of those people who didn't think Akane was ever imitating Ai. I mostly thought that if the story was going in that direction, then we would get actual focus on how that affected Akane. If she's imitating someone else, what does that say about her self-image? Is it because her experience on LoveNow was so traumatizing that she feels afraid in letting it go?

Although I still stand by the fact that when she competed with Kana on-stage in Tokyo Blade, those were her own stars based on how the scenario is laid-out, as opposed to when she wakes up as Sayahime. It's a bit hard to tell if her eyes having the double-stars in Main Stay is because those are her own stars or if she's suppose to be imitating Ai. I really wish we got more focus on this plotline because it sounds like it could've been really interesting. Instead, we get a few minor hints before the movie arc, and then the conclusion is suddenly given to us.

[ninemelodies]

sleep, over

also available on ao3

The Doctor wakes to the feeling of fingers pinching his nose shut. The comforting, stable presence at the back of his mind lets him know he’s still on the TARDIS, and she quickly confirms that yes, he is, and it is, in fact, Donna that is pinching his nose.

The room is quiet except for Donna's stifled giggles and the hum of the TARDIS.

Ah. He must’ve fallen asleep during the movie. Donna was trying to wake him up.

They had this routine. About once every week (relatively, time could be a bit funny when you're hopping through it) the Doctor and Donna would have a movie night. First, they would play some silly game to determine who got to pick the movie (last week it was thumb wrestling, this week it was rock-paper-scissors. Donna had won both times.) After that, they would settle in to watch the movie. Donna liked to curl up across the couch with a fuzzy blanket while the Doctor preferred the armchair. Finally, as the movie was going through its opening credits, Donna would complain about him always falling asleep during the movie, and the Doctor would shoot back that that was impossible, he was a Time Lord, he didn't need that much sleep, thank you very much.

Usually within 30 minutes, the Doctor was asleep. Donna would cover him in his own blanket, let him sleep during the entire movie (though she complained he snored something terrible), and then, once the movie was over, she would wake him.

However, Donna seemed to be challenging herself to find the worst way to wake him up. There had been several she had done so far - she had tickled him, yelled boo! at him, and sang a surprisingly competent rendition of Sigh No More from a 2011 version of Much Ado About Nothing. (The Doctor had fussed about her watching movies from the future, but Donna had brushed him off because "it's Shakespeare, Doctor, does the story ever really change?" and the Doctor had to concede that she was right). She had woken him up normally, once, and he had been pleased until he went to stand and discovered she had tied his shoes together.

In the ranking of her attempts to wake him up, this wasn’t necessarily one of his favorites. But it didn’t hurt him, so he wouldn’t complain about it much. Although...

The Doctor grinned inwardly. This was the perfect chance for some payback.

In his current position, with his chin tucked against his chest his only options to breathe were to tilt his head back or use his respiratory bypass. He was pretty positive Donna hadn’t considered the fact that all he had to do was tilt his head back to start breathing through his mouth and therefore her nose pinching was technically useless. The Doctor did not move his head and he did not start breathing through his mouth once his lungs started getting a bit tight. Instead, he activated his respiratory bypass and began to wait it out.

How long would Donna stand there before she got bored? Who would crack first, the Doctor or Donna?

By his estimate, the Doctor had about 30 minutes before he would run out of air. He passed the time by creating a list of TARDIS repairs that needed to be done imminently, lest they crash somewhere. When he was done with that, he switched to making a list of planets that Donna would likely enjoy visiting.

He was interrupted when Donna shifted and muttered something that sounded suspiciously like “bloody Martian” under her breath.

If she was testing him, she wasn’t going to get a response.

A hint of panic, not his own, but Donna's, flashed through his mind. She released his nose, placed her hands over his hearts, and leaned down so her ear was next to his face. She paused there for a moment before she jerked back and began pacing the floor in front of his chair. “Oh god,” she muttered. “I've killed him. Stupid daft spaceman! You can’t be dead from something like that.” She paused her pacing and stared at him. “Right?” she asked.

The Doctor took pity on her and shifted in his seat. He didn’t open his eyes, but he resumed breathing through his nose and unclasped his hands so that one dangled, wrist up, over the arm of the chair.

He felt Donna's warm fingers clasp around his wrist, searching for a pulse. It tickled. The corner of his mouth curved into a slight grin and he heard Donna gasp.

Uh oh, he was busted.

Donna let go of his wrist, but before he could open his eyes and sit up, she was back. She whacked him on the arm several times with something soft. A throw pillow from the couch, he assumed.

The Doctor cracked an eye open to look at her just in time to take a pillow to the face. It was a significantly lighter hit than the ones to his arm, but he was still going to whine about it. “Dooooonnna!” He whined as he moved the pillow off his face and opened both eyes to pout at her.

“You stupid prawn!” she yelled, pointing an accusing finger at him. “I thought you were dead!”

And the Doctor couldn’t help it - he laughed. Donna resumed smacking his arm with vigor as he leaned over and laughed until his stomach hurt. “Donna, Donna,” he gasped, trying to both get her attention and dodge her hands. He caught her wrists and stopped her movement. “I'm sorry,” he said, sincerely. “I forgot that when I activate my respiratory bypass I look like I'm dead to bystanders.”

She pulled her wrists away and crossed her arms over her chest. "You scared me!"

The Doctor tilted his head to acknowledge her statement. "Maybe you will think twice about pinching someone's nose to wake them up, hmm?" Internally, the doctor winced. He was starting to sound like his first self all over again.

To her credit, Donna had the decency to look at least a little chastised, but it didn't last long. "Well, I'm going to bed and you shouldn't sleep in that chair."

This was another part of their routine. Just because the Doctor looked like he was in his mid-thirties didn't mean that his bones and joints always agreed. Donna found this extremely funny and did everything in her power to get him into a position where she could tease him about it.

The worst thing? She was right. Sleeping in this chair would kill his back. The Doctor narrowed his eyes at her, tossed his blanket to the side, and braced his palms on the arms of the chair. He pushed himself up with a groan and a wince as his knees, elbows, and back all popped.

Donna couldn't contain her delighted laugh. "You sound like gramps!" she giggled.

The Doctor rolled his eyes and stretched his arms above his head. He rolled forward onto his toes and listened to his ankles pop. "Yeah, well," he said as he straightened his shirt. "I am 900 years old. I am older than anyone or probably anything you have ever known."

"Hmmm,” Donna hummed. “Someone’s tetchy when they’re tired." Donna clicked her tongue and offered her elbow. "C’mon gramps, let’s get you to bed."

For half a second, the Doctor considered sitting back down in his chair and going back to sleep, just to spite Donna.

Somehow, Donna seemed to pick up on this. "Listen spaceman," she said. "If you fall asleep in that chair I am not helping you pop your back in the morning."

"You wouldn't dare," the Doctor said. Donna always helped him pop his back.

"Try me."

They stared at each other, eyes narrowed, each one unwilling to give. This time, the Doctor was the first to crack. He smiled and took Donna's still offered elbow. "I won't sleep in the chair," he promised.

"Good," Donna said. "You sleep like a grandpa anyway."

The Doctor objected, but Donna had already dropped him off at his bedroom door and was heading towards her own. "Goodnight, Doctor," she called over her shoulder.

"Goodnight, Donna," he called back as Donna disappeared behind her door. The Doctor continued watching her door for a moment before he turned and headed towards the console room. That nap had done him good, maybe he could get a headstart on those TARDIS repairs…

[ingravinoveritas]

Hi! :) So, about posting habits and copying:

Georgia posts this screenshot of someone asking her to tell David that they're in love with him/want to marry him (not sure anymore, but I'm counting on you to remember haha), responding yeah, I'll get right to that, or something akin to that.

It's funny enough and her reply doesn't come across as anything more than humorous, in my opinion, especially since we've seen this theme for years, on Twitter and Instagram. It's on-brand-Georgia.

Her tone, albeit the sarcasm, is still pretty nice, playing the ball back by pretending that she's not telling David because then she'd have to compete with the person who wrote in. I'm sure whoever texted her this was giggling at their phone when Georgia responded. I'm not sure if the same thing will be the case with fan interaction number two, however: Cue, Anna.

Because now, a few days later, Anna posts what is pretty much the same interaction with a fan (about Michael, obv.), but all the charme is gone? Or is that just me?

Let's get something straight, though: The fan message she got was a lot less "sweet" than the one Georgia received (how many kisses does it take for a message to become either passive aggressive or just too hyper or even kind of insincere in tone?), so I won't be too harsh on her for responding in kind (xxxx). Still, had me cringe a little.

Thing is, the more or less blatant copying of Georgia's social media voice keeps fascinating me. Whilst, at most times, it's obvious but still fine as its own thing, this time the whole post really just seemed too...Georgia. Firstly, because it really is like a total replica, secondly because Georgia has worn the "playfully possessive"-badge for years now. I'm not saying that Anna is just pretending to also be that, I genuinely don't think that's true, at least not fully, but what I am saying is that she's clearly aware of this sort of humour being well-received within the fandom and also very intentional about timing. It's always... funny? Noticable? exactly when these "replica posts" appear.

Although, in this case we also have to consider that she responded at the time she got the message (or a day later, at most), so the timing isn't really on her. In fact, this might just be a fan actively going for having the same interaction with Anna that another fan had with Georgia, basically setting her up. Especially considering how the DM was worded - again, it seemed a little too intentional/over the top.

(But yeah, a couple of hours earlier: The Tennant's face sitting post (and, whew lol), so is this trying to somehow keep up with their dynamic again?)

I want to stress that I don't think that any of this is a bad thing. There's literally no harm in her trying to cater to the fandom with this tone of voice and seeming a bit unoriginal. And what do we know, maybe she and Georgia really are that similiar, it's not like Georgia's humour and interactions are that singular. But I'm still having a different response to Georgia's posts in comparison to Anna's, even though they are so similiar, and that's what it comes down to.

Maybe that's completely unfair towards Anna (to some degrees it must be, since Georgia simply has been around longer and therefore claimed her kind of tone, if that's even a thing), but maybe it also comes down to authenticity - or a lack thereoff?

(Grouping these together since they are related.) Well, I hadn't seen AL's story this morning until I got your message @wanderingsemi, so thank you for the heads up. And it is, as you said, an almost exact replica of an Insta story Georgia posted a week ago. Let's get the visual up here, so folks can see both stories:

So, the first thing I will say is that I often have difficulty with discerning people's tones online, as the lack of vocal inflection/other indicators tends to make things challenging. I appreciate you sharing that Georgia's tone came across as humorous to you, because while I definitely did get the sarcasm, I also felt a sense of contempt coming from Georgia's reply, too. I do agree, however, that her response was very much "her," in her trademark style, and is something we've come to expect over the last few years now.

It's probably worth mentioning that these are both odd/weird things to send to your fave's partners. I know social media has largely eroded a sense of boundaries in a lot of fans, but it's just an awkward thing to say overall. (I submit that it's actually more awkward/inappropriate than RPF, because RPF is fantasy and is not something any of these people would come into direct contact with unless they went looking for it.) That being said, while neither Georgia nor AL can control the things fans send to them, they can choose to respond (or not) to said comments. So thinking about your Ask, @armangelus, we have Georgia here essentially doing the same thing as AL--being possessive of David in response to a random DM--yet the results are wildly different.

Which then brings me to AL's response. Going back to our discussion on tone, I am not sure that I interpreted the message AL got as being "less sweet" than the one Georgia received, as they seem incredibly similar to me. I'm not sure the message-sender was actually being passive-aggressive, but because AL seemed to look at it that way, it is then reflected in her response (and is fitting with her past responses/personality, which has been passive-aggressive on multiple occasions).

For a little backstory (and this largely comes from @problematicwelshman, whose blog is well worth reading for a lot of tea related to Michael and AL going back to 2019): AL's social media was entirely scrubbed when her and Michael's relationship first came to light (end of June 2019). This also coincided with Michael's longtime PR person quitting, and a seeming overhaul of AL's social media presence. Initially, though, a lot of her posts were in her own voice, but they did not seem to go over well/she was not connecting with the fandom (see this post for links to examples, most of which involve belittling Michael/making fun of his weight and appearance).

Then in mid-2021, this all shifted with an event Michael appeared at for the 150th birthday of the Royal Albert Hall. Suddenly AL was praising and complimenting him in ways she never had in any of her past posts. This also happened to coincide with Georgia starting the #Shebergs hashtag (which sounds like an iceberg, a.k.a. the thing that took down the Titanic, so I'm still not sure why that was chosen as a portmanteau of AL and Michael's names), as well as AL promoting Last Train to Christmas, a movie of Michael's that she appeared in that was released at the end of 2021. So this was another social media overhaul/PR effort, seemingly perfectly timed with AL having something to promote and trying to advance her acting career.

But what this was also the start of is what you alluded to, which is that inauthenticity. I can completely understand you having a different reaction to AL's story than Georgia's, because as you said, that charm is not there, which I think is because it's Georgia's charm, not Anna's. And as much as she might copy Georgia's tone or the types of content she posts, you can't really copy charm--it's either something you have, or something you don't. I think it also ties into the other thing you referenced, which is the "playfully possessive" thing. It actually is something that Anna has copied, also on multiple occasions (see below)...but much like with this story, it doesn't come across the same way as when Georgia does it:

(Another notable thing about the response on the left is that AL was not even tagged in the original tweet, which also copies Georgia's pattern of randomly replying to fans on Twitter--usually as a result of searching David's name, which she has been known to do.)

So yes, I think we can definitely see a clear pattern here, which has seemingly only become more blatant as of late. And while I agree there is no harm on one level of trying to appeal to the fandom, I don't think it's unfair to AL at all because there is such a clear, agenda to what she is doing that becomes more obvious as you look back over the past few years. That, in my opinion, is what makes it seem so forced and not genuine, and is why one might feel a different reaction to her post versus Georgia's.

Those are pretty much my thoughts, rambling as they were. I appreciate both of you sharing yours as well so that we could have this discussion. Thanks for writing in! x

[bronanlynch]

also locktie as a ship and either hathaway or char as a character, whoever you talk about less in the fandom ask lol

002 | send me a ship and I will tell you:

when or if I started shipping it: yes obviously. I think the first time I was like Oh They're In Love was that bit uhh around two thirds/three quarters of the way through season 1 when they're back on the ship after being on earth and someone (iirc sumeragi?) is like. wow tieria you seem so ~happy and ~relaxed, what happened down on earth? and tieria gives this really soft sappy smile

my thoughts: I just think they're neat! and also basically canon! and in love! love to think abt them figuring out how to have free will and making their own future together. also love to think abt them getting married and lockon having to explain how they met to his extended family of like. presumably catholic old ladies

What makes me happy about them: I like it when tieria is happy and supported :') and I like how well they work together in battle/on missions, love a good competent battle couple

What makes me sad about them: I mean. obvious answer. lockon dying and being replaced by his identical twin. lmao

Things done in fanfic that annoys me: cis man tieria. or transmasc tieria. which as you can imagine makes it difficult to find fic lol

Things I look for in fanfic: transfem tieria, lockon surviving with his canon disability

My kinks: the way this is phrased is so funny to me like I get what's being asked but also I think that my kinks are irrelevant here, this is abt them. anyway. I think that they're genuinely pretty vanilla. not in a boring hetpilled "missionary every day and literally nothing else ever" kind of way but in a way that's like, neither of them have much (or, in tieria's case, any) experience prior to each other, and lockon feels So strongly abt wanting to be careful and gentle and respectful with her (which she feels very normal abt, obviously, both bc she doesn't think of herself as a human person, and also for gender reasons) (however I do also think that lockon likes it when she's a little bit mean and bossy and condescending. as a treat) (also also I think once they've been dating for a while they could get into like. seducing someone for the mission roleplay. they meet up at a bar and pretend to be flirting with each other to get intel)

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: this is like. one of the only ships I'm a monoshipper for lmao I think that lockon could be perfectly happy dating someone else in a hypothetical timeline where he doesn't fall in love with tieria but I can't see that happening with anyone we see him interact with in canon, and tieria opens up for so few people that I kinda think lockon is it for her. my answers for this feel like they don't reflect my usual ship opinions but sometimes a couple really is monogamous and vanilla

My happily ever after for them: what if lockon survived. have we ever considered this. what if lockon survived and he and tieria realized that they

003 | Give me a character & I will tell you

talked abt char more in the other answer bc char is the most important character in gundam so. hathaway time

How I feel about this character: well. I had a tab with this art open yesterday that I saw accidentally when I closed some tabs of references for my essay and made a noise of anguish out loud so. there's that (I love him and he is so so so important to my understanding of uc gundam, best ever to do it, etc etc)

All the people I ship romantically with this character: kenneth, gigi, quess (in an au where she survives and he still gets radicalized and comes around to understanding her perspective), lane aim but it's entirely one-sided from lane aim's side (imagining a version where the timeline is extended so their ~rivalry lasts for longer by which I mean. lane thinks of hathaway as his rival and hathaway Does Not, lane becomes obsessed with defeating him in a homoerotic way and hathaway is like. you're just some guy to me and also you're just a cog in the war machine and not my actual enemy but I will kill you if you keep getting in my way and I won't even feel partially intense or homoerotic abt it. and this makes lane aim So mad and he can't even complain to kenneth abt it bc kenneth is Even More obsessed w hathaway than he is, and also kenneth is the one that hathaway actually sees as a rival. rip lane aim)

My non-romantic OTP for this character: going to interpret this as just. fave platonic (or familial) relationship so that I can talk abt how much I wish we got to see more of cheimin and how she feels abt anything that happens with hathaway, I have a normal amount of feelings abt cheimin having extremely complicated mixed feelings abt her dead estranged brother that she hasn't seen since they were children and doesn't get a chance to understand until it's too late. also I think that hathaway should get to hang out with kamille. also also I think that post-hf hathaway and post-cca char should get to talk abt ideology in newtype ghost heaven

My unpopular opinion about this character: people seem to think that he doesn't believe in his stated political beliefs which is. absolutely wild to me. he spends years studying The Geopolitical Situation in order to understand why cca happened, comes to a conclusion, acts on that conclusion, frequently thinks abt & discusses his political beliefs, and then literally dies for them. he uses his official last words to be like "yeah I stand by everything I did and I did it to try to improve the material conditions that you're fucking up" (as opposed to his unofficial actual last words which are being extremely gay with kenneth sleg. he contains multitudes) what more do you want from him. what would convince you that maybe he means what he says and that he has political motivations for his political actions "oh he didn't mean any of that he only tried to assassinate the entire federation cabinet in order to prevent them from enacting an unjust policy that he repeatedly speaks against bc he's haunted by quess's death or (even worse and even more Missing The Point) by quess not dating him" why do you think grief is mutually exclusive with having political ideology. are you not capable of having both personal feelings and political beliefs, or?????

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: I can't answer this question, I'm too busy constantly shaking my head sadly to show that I approve of the canon character death whenever I think abt an au where he survives. something that presumably happened that I would like to see (but also I understand why we don't, given the timeline of the novels) is more of him hanging out with the rest of mafty. show me the downtime episodes, tomino. show me the gossip and the chore wheel and the leftist infighting

My OTP: hathaway/kenneth (my actual opinion is that I think that this is one of those relationships that only really works if gigi is involved too, even though it's a hathaway-centric polycule that's like. almost but not quite a v bc gigi and kenneth do also hook up sometimes, they're just nowhere near as intense abt each other as they are abt him. however. I do have to go with kenneth over gigi if I can only choose one because while I adore gigi and respect the wild choices she makes, nothing she does can even possible come close to kenneth telling hathaway he loves him (technically an exaggeration but like. barely. "hath, you know I care abt you, right?" is one of those sentences that's permanently rattling around in my brain) while he's in the middle of conducting his execution. no one is doing it like kenneth sleg

My OT3: hathaway/gigi/kenneth. see previous

[katyspersonal]

Who is your favorite Elden Ring character?

Oh man.. This is a very hard question to answer because I love a LOT of characters for their own reasons, and it is really hard to pick one. You might as well send me this ask again every weak and there's a chance the answer would be different every time, too, because my thought process and personality are not stable either! (don't actually send it every week xD)

In general, I can learn to love every character after peering very deep within their being and discovering their potential (or nurturing it), but some characters still stand out and have been stable enough as favourites! That'd be Melina, Ranni, Goldmask, Sellen, Nepheli, Alberich, Yura, Eleonora, Ensha, Malenia (+Millicent), Godwyn and Vyke! I am sorta waiting on Miquella/Trina for DLC because I just don't know what to expect considering Martin's involvement!

I think Melina is the closest to what I could have as favourite character! My favs are more or less equally loved, but she left an emotional impact on me like no other character had before and that alone made her stand out already! Heck, I tag posts about her as 'wife' from time to time! You see..,

The full archive of EPIC AND VERY QUESTIONABLY SANE CONVERSATION is in this chain ( x ), but basically I've completely missed the point of Shabriri gaslighting us. The fact he was talking about burning Melina completely flew over my head, mostly because I didn't check right dialogues. The point about how there is no reason to fix the broken world and existence itself is a curse, however.....? (God I still fucking LOVE the "it is not my fault you jump into ‘hurr hurr but mass destruction bad’ instead of actually thinking" gem fdjhfhs). So, when my friends kept arguing with me I could not actually hear them!

And yet, everything changed when it was just Melina being sad with her voice even trembling a little bit if I remember correctly, convincing us to not inherit FF before the door to it, when everything clicked for me and I snapped out of it. There was something in her expressing her feelings on importance of life in spite of despair, pain, oppression and constant resistance that felt bigger and more important than any thoughtful conclusions on nature of life and world itself.

It is already very admirable that she makes a conscious choice to sacrifice herself for this world. It is not blindly following the purpose she was given, but she comprehends what she is doing and why, having a chance to live her own life now that Marika is absent but still choosing not to, so others could. There is no guarantee that Tarnished (or anyone) WILL make the future better, no way to tell what happens after she annihilates herself. She is motivated by hope for this world, and her trust. Hope is almost alien emotion for me, so I am impressed by the character that embodies it so much. And of course with the way she can kick ass, and how she asserts herself that her sacrifice is not OUR choice, I thought she was pretty badass.

All that is already hard qualities to compete with as they are, and they got strengthened by, without exaggeration, a bit of personal experience with the character! And then it gets MORE personal because, ironically, such an important character also dies in a unique way in Soulsborne context. Death is rarely a thing in Soulsborne worlds because of souls, planes of reality and timespace shenanigans, but Melina already had no body and thus burnt her soul. This is a complete annihilation without any loophole and backtrack, yet I don't even have the heart to meddle with this even in my imagination because this is what she decided.

[tomyo]

I agree but Maka has more growth in the manga that doesn’t relate towards Crona and Soul helps her with it

Mmm I hear you, I was being reductionist for the sake of the joke but I agree she has more going towards her than just chasing after Crona. (Also I'm sorry for this long response, I just kept thinking of more points as I was writing this)

Imo she can be a very self centered character and I think that's great for a female character. She extremely stubborn, blinded by her own goals, and doesn't deal well with other people not being the same while Soul is trying to reinvent himself due to his perceived shortcomings in a controlling household.

Both of them are heavily impacted by their family issues; Maka idolizes her mother and demonizes her father (her father mostly deserves it but it's never really addressed how absent her mom is) and Soul felt suffocated by his rich kid house where he couldn't compete with his brother's talent (Presumably he also was the accompaniment to his brother's violin and therefore was basically raised to match 'wavelengths' with another person).

I loved the Eibon arc a lot due to how it uses the deadly sins to explore the main group's values and always wish the Sloth arc had been explored more (Especially the kohai and Soul's popularity with girls). Even their fight with Giriko can be symbolic of how Soul takes more of the hit but is still supporting Maka by the end of it.

On a separate note; for all the hate SEN gets I do think it helps flesh out daily life in Death City. Before it released, I remember hoping it was a slice of life for the main cast and while it wasn't fully that it does show another side of them. Main story Maka often only focuses on her "ambitions" (I'm using that term loosely) but in the side series she's more of a chipper senpai, doting on Tsugumi who she sees herself in, and shows how even before the main series Soul is so protective of Maka she doesn't need to consider dodging an attack while unarmed. It also implies that Soul was renowned enough to be recognized by Agna, a princess. (I just happen to be looking in SEN 4.5 last night and it's cute as hell)

But in particular why Crona becomes the main movitator of the story is because they're quite literally the Sasuke roll, a foil who stirs up a lot of internal and external conflicts amongst the main group but more importantly Maka and Soul. Their first appearance triggers feelings of inferiority in both of them from the loss, introduces black blood as a major issue, and infects Soul with it which becomes a reoccurring problem pretty much up to the final fight. Part way through the story we see them start to process some of these issues, befriending Crona is also partial closure to both of them wanting to be stronger as a pair. However, Crona's poisoning of Stein and disappearance becomes the event horizon where the norm gets disrupted; Joe dies, Stein is exiled, Kim is outed, and Arachanphonia becomes enough of a threat that they're forced to work with Medusa. This can run in parallel to Naruto starting to bond with Sasuke during the bridge and start of the chunin exams arc, training in the second half of the exams, and the norm being disrupted with the arrival of Orochimaru (in this case Medusa's parallel as a corruptor) leading to the Hokage being killed and Sasuke leaving the village. Naruto is the easiest way to explain it but there's similar ways the formula is applied to other Shonen like MHA (Deku to Bakugo/Shigaraki bc of OFA), CSM(Denji to Aki+Power bc of Makima), JJK (Yuji to Megumi bc of Sukuna/Kenjaku), Demon Slayer (Tanjiro to Nezuko bc of Muzan), Shaman King (Yoh with Lyserg as a side effect of Hao) and FMA (This has less literal dynamics for many reasons but you can find the same story beats). This is mostly to say that while Crona might not effect every conflict either internal/external or micro/macro, they more than likely reflect some part of that conflict the protagonist is experiencing. Crona is to Sasuke as Medusa is to Orochimaru as to Asura is to Kaguya/Pain. Naruto's internal conflict is his social isolation that existed before Sasuke but Sasuke is a reflection of that by being someone who has all the attention, Maka's paternal conflict existed before Crona but is reflected in Crona's maternal abuse; that's literally what the final clash between them hinges on (and I hate it personally for all its implications).

Maka and Soul have a lot of history and potential but the call to duty represented by Crona is often the thing that gets in the middle of that same to how Sora and Kairi have a lot of romantic implications but Riku becomes that barrier from the end of KH1 through to KH2(?). Thus we get jokes of Sora's lukewarm response to Kairi while he's falling to his knees for Riku. What sucks is the manga end wrapped up dummy fast and didn't leave a lot of room for them to reflect on their relationship like most stories do when the protagonist isn't overwhelmed by responsibilities/reaches a moment of clarity.

Shonen in general is bad at giving downtime when the story picks up (though I appreciate that's changed a bit with newer series) but with Soul Eater pretty much had nothing after the basketball game. Compared to other [Shonen] fandoms, I feel like we've always have been starving lmao. This is gonna feed into the Soul Eater Brotherhood cope but when I went to the Soul Eater Exhibition earlier this month, there was a special screening that put motion graphics and voice acting to the final few chapters. Between that and the first plush in *checks fictional watch* ~16 years, I'm the smallest inkling of hopeful we might get more supplemental material despite Ohkubo's retirement.

Again sorry for writing so much for an ask that probably wasn't even asking to be responded to, I've just been stuck in this fandom since 2008 and had to live with how unresolved the manga end made me feel for over a decade. Running back to the whole start of my initial post, I've been grateful for the doujinshi artists who built off of the main story to better explore what could have been with Soul and Maka; Kii Kanna (under the name Niwatori), Pan_Ahoi, and Flower of Clover among others. This summer in particular had a huge spike in issue releases with 5+ being made for Comic City Vega in which a stand out was by WakaWaka_0410 who had created a scenario where adult Maka switches places with a 14yo Maka and interacts with 14yo Soul. The western side of the fandom feels like it doesn't explore as much outside of the canon time line where as the JP fandom have made a lot of post end content.

[wonviiii]

Aggretsuko - Blog #16

I absolutely love red pandas, so this show was fun and cute to watch, but of course, it did not go without its commentary- specifically on women in the workforce. Aggretsuko follows Retsuko, who navigates the harsh realities of corporate life where she faces a harsh boss, gossip, and gender discrimination. One such example is when her boss demands that she serve him tea while saying that it is a “woman’s job” to serve and continues to say how incompetent women are a pain, but at least somewhat better than competent ones. The blatant misogyny is very transparent and reveals a fragment of the discrimination that women face when they are often given odd jobs and have to obey without complaints. Despite these challenges, Retsuko appears calm and collected, suppressing her frustration. Unexpectedly, though, she releases the pent-up anger by singing death metal at a karaoke place at night. Two of her female coworkers (I’m pretty sure they have a superior role), Washimi and Gori, walk by while Retsuko is with her friends from the same office, who note how the two women look so confident, and Haida even notes how women who don’t seem to take crap from anyone not even the boss are the “worst nightmare.” As soon as the two girls walk by and are out of reach, they collapse and sigh as they say how they have to be strong and must never show any weakness at work. This really resonated with me because oftentimes, as a woman, pressure is exerted to exceed, to prove one's worth beyond what is normally asked for. Otherwise, you are called fragile or delicate- two terms that are often spat by men to describe and actually diminish femininity. There is nothing wrong with fragility and delicacy, yet it is often muttered with a negative connotation when it comes to women in the workforce, perhaps musings like "women are too emotional" or "their feelings will get in the way of their work." So many women, similar to Retsuko, suppress their feelings and hide under a mask, releasing their pent-up anger in their own ways, though some may not even have the opportunity to release such anger. I also want to note that being reduced to subservient roles based on “because they’re a woman” is downright dehumanizing, and heck, I would also be screaming in the bathroom if I had to work in such an environment.

Later on, the boss seems to have gotten exposed for his workplace harassment, and that leads him to “acting” nicer (keyword "acting"- because he doesn’t really mean it- he is still a jerk!). During a company dinner, he begins talking about how times have changed because, back then, bosses were able to be harsh and get away with it, but nowadays, every little thing is considered harassment, so he’s struggling. Then, unexpectedly, he apologizes, saying that he does admit he has been mean. However, the narrative changes when he finds out it was Retsuko who exposed him, and he becomes enraged, yelling how he hates ALL women. That sounds about right. A perfect epitome of hypocrisy and misogyny. Anyway, season 2 seemed to transition from workplace harassment to a more personal struggle- Retsuko’s mom is trying to set her up for a date to help her get married already. Retsuko is scared of growing up and actually facing and forming connections, which is what has kept her from truly forming romantic bonds. At the date, she opens up about this and gains closure and almost a new feeling of actually wanting to give life a try. She gazes out the train window and notices how every light represents a connection formed- a relationship, whether it be family lovers or friendship. There is also a new challenge thrown into the work equation- a new worker who is too straightforward, and when he blows up, he doesn’t suppress it like Retsuko, but rather he tells it to everyone’s face and even sends emails to the person “exposing” them of their “harassment” towards him. His rigid attitude leads to his isolation, but Kabae, a kind coworker, is gentle to him, and he begins to soften up, showing Retsuko how sometimes, to deal with situations, rather than blowing up or suppressing the emotion, is best to always remain kind and patient….(though this depends on the person sometimes). Overall, it was a really cute show that expressed very well what many women feel when working in corporate jobs.