#i remember being a kid and seeing him get some kind of reading reward

[lilgynt]

i really do need to stop thinking about this fight but i’m legitimately gonna blow my brains out about it

[kunikuyu]

"A reward for someone so good." Hashira Series!

Part 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Uzui Tengen x Male! Reader

Warnings: MINORS DNI, NSFW, read as afab reader, Dom! Uzui x Sub! Reader, use of explicit words, worship kink, master kink, Tengen has an open relationship with his three wives, cockwarming, drunk sex.

Summary: Pillar training has begun, much to your delight. Of course, as a hard-working and strong person, you can handle any challenge. Even if it's fighting a hashira. And in a way, they all see some value in you, and want to reward you for it.

How did you end up like this? Thrown on top of Tengen, who now had his arms hugging your waist as he fucked you violently? Your brain had already melted and consumed with pleasure, you don't even remember what happened in the beginning.

From what you think you remember, it all started quite normally...

.....

"[Name]! It's been a long time since we've seen each other, my man. I see you've gotten tougher and flashy." You had just arrived at the area where Uzui's training was going to take place. You were even excited because the tallest man had already been your partner on some missions and you ended up creating a friendship. You knew that hashira's full capabilities, and you were eager to fight alongside him once again.

Turns out it was pretty fun, at least for you. Seeing Tengen active even after he lost his hand and one of his eyes is exciting, and you can learn even more from him. As for your training partners... They weren't doing very well.

While they were getting injured and trying to improve their physical resistance, you had already been released for the next training. But before that, Tengen told you to spend the night in his room. For what? You have no idea. Yet.

....

Tengen opens the bedroom door after hearing some almost silent knocks. He already knew you were arriving before he even knocked on the door, but he didn't want to seem anxious and already be at the door waiting for you. When he opens the bedroom door, you look kind of carefree and calm, looking at something not so important next to the door.

"Oh, hi Tengen-Sama!" You say to the man standing in front of you, greeting him with a smile on your face. He looked slightly nervous, which wasn't really his style. You chose not to talk about it, though.

He closes the door, and invites you to sit next to him. At no point did you see the tallest man's three wives, which made you curious. Before you can ask, he answers you. "Hinatsuru, Suma and Makio are in another room, they are already asleep." "Oh I see." You were going to say more, but you were stopped when Tengen took a huge bottle of alcohol and poured some into a glass, giving it to you right away.

You silently thanked him, and after he poured the liquid for him too, you drink together. Some conversations were exchanged and glasses were refilled several times, resulting in rosy faces and jokes you would never make if you were both sober. They ranged from phrases like "I like taller guys" to "I would have sex with you, no problem." And you didn't care about it anymore, the drink consumed you once and for all.

"I'm not kidding man, I'd fuck you right here and now." "Then why not do that? I wouldn't mind having you inside me."

.....

Ah yes, now you remember. It was just a stupid conversation, which turned into the most incredible fuck ever. Your sweaty face, your skin completely marked by bites and hickeys, all done by the same person. He seemed to like seeing you like this, and in a weird way, he saw it as the purest art. Your body was like a sculpture to be modeled, and he was a god destined to sculpt every detail that filled your skin.

"M-Master Tengen... I..." You wanted to say that this was the best experience possible, and that your body was being overwhelmed with so much pleasure. But nothing understandable comes out of your mouth. His cock was completely buried in your cunt, filling every space inside.

"... Your voice is so beautiful, thick for someone so delicate." He said, as his fingers roamed your body in search of something warm and wet. Once there, he couldn't help but massage the area, bringing you even closer to a climax. He didn't want to cum before you did.

You had already finished in Uzui's hands, but he wasn't finished yet. A few deep thrusts were made before you felt Tengen's cum invade your body. At this point, you didn't even care if you ended up pregnant, only the pleasure was important. ((spoiler, you didn't end up pregnant))

....

You had been clinging together all night, Tengen's cock still inside you. He didn't want to take his dick out of you, because he thought your insides were too warm.

"Man, we need to drink together more often."

"For sure."

Bonus lines!

"Man, what a headache. Are you sure there was only sake in that one?"

"... I have no idea."

[thr0wnawayy]

Chapter 429 has been my Dabi's Dance

I can't stop smiling.

I wanted to start off by saying thank you. Not to Hori, but to you all. Every last one of you in these tags for your contributions. Be it analysis, re-reads, fan works or simply your perspectives. I look forward to seeing what you will make in the future.

So, Thank you.

I suppose I should start at the beginning. MHA was always in the background of my life and I hated it. I don't watch anime and yet still MHA related media would make it's way onto my socials in all it's obnoxious forms. This went on for years.

And then suddenly, it stopped. It seemed like MHA's craze had died down, I'd still see it from time to time through merchandise but never to the consistency it had prior.

That was until Dabi's Dance was published and the net went wild.

I knew a few things about Endeavor from my past exposure, he was universally hated and abused his kids and wife (to the point she scalded her son in a fit of psychosis).

Deciding I had nothing better to do, I found myself searching to see what kind of consequences would befall such a monstrous character.

Would he fall like Icarus, be torn apart by the public, how would the family he ruined react to the news?.

And then, nothing. No punishment, no reaction. Just dead air.

I recall that my face dropped internally. My blank expression mirrored my phone screen's sterile nature, as it displayed the information in front of me.

He got away with it. So I did some digging and it got so much worse.

Bakugo's evasion of any consequences or damages, coddled and shielded by Hori's inability to go through on anything.

Hawks who murdered a near crippled man on a hypothesis, for the mere crime of having the "wrong" quirk, for not giving up, for being "unlucky"

Aizawa, Hori's little mouthpiece. who decides to play judge, jury and executioner with the futures of students he's supposed to be teaching. Only for the Nedzu and the narrative to allow him, his friends turned into lapdogs that agree to the letter.

The Commission who strive to keep theirrotting husk of a system alive through assasins, child soldiers and indoctrination.

Even if it's gears must be lubricated with blood, even if it means lying to the world and having them clean up the mess. They MUST stay on top, the illusion must be upheld.

I just couldn't fathom how this was seen as a good thing.

And somewhere along the way I began to feel something akin to hate. Not your typical ire, one powered by anger, no.

I wanted to see how low Hori would go, just how horrifically he would mangle a series that everyone had once praised.

I wanted to witness what wonders a jaded community would create, to show what they were capable of (to create and understand MHA in a manner Hori wishes he could even emulate a fraction of)

I wished to see your own expressions of love and hatred.

The thought of witnessing the breaking point, the dust settling to expose all the glaring flaws and infested wounds of MHA. It buzzed in my brain like electricity.

The idea that when all was said and done, you, the people would do what Hori couldn't/wouldn't and forge the bones and salvagble bits of MHA into a story worth remembering.

One where abusers are punished for their crimes instead of rewarded

Where victims can have a voice, feel and grow, carve their own paths and move forward from their trauma.

Where the implications of MHA's rotting and disingenuous society get explored instead of swept under the rug

Where people get a chance.

I waited eagerly for the day it would all fall apart.

So, do you know what I did when I logged onto the tag and saw your posts!?.

I laughed, the shrill giggle in the back of my throat quickly surging into an almost manic cackle. It was like lightning, vindicating and sobering all at once. My face was stretched to it's absolute limits with how wide my grin was. I could almost hear the shattering of MHA's last bit of integrity and I loved it.

The realization MHA's greatest threat was the author himself, It's one that I grasped long ago (as far back as the Dark Dekiru Arc) and I'm sure most of you understood this as well.

But to see that more of you are starting to get it, to realize there's no going back. That as the curtains draw near and the lights begin to dim, there is no other side here. Violence begets violence and Hori's gone past the event horizon.

It feels, hopeful. Perhaps we can build something worth saving.

It's been a wild ride so far and it's still ongoing. Hori's time is long over, it has been for a while now, so I suppose what I'm asking Is:

Now It's Your Turn, what's your play?

_______________________________________

Update:

IT'S FINALLY HAPPENING!

[heliads]

I recently re-read the hunger games trilogy, so can you write a katniss fic with a fem!reader being secretly haymitch's daughter?? nothing much, just the two of them spending time together, hunting or spending some quality time together, ignoring the capitol, the world and individual problems to enjoy the hours they have together

please let me write for thg i love this request

masterlist

It is a terrible thing to be a Victor. Most people only look surface level, choosing to focus on the gilded trappings and gaudy praise the Capitol heaps upon you. Beneath the facade, living with the memories of what you’ve done is far harder than finding a way to burn through all the money they give you for killing twenty-three other children while all the world watches on. The price of blood was always worse than the price of gold, anyway.

You’ve seen this once before already. The Capitol does its best to stay up to date on every little detail of their lovely Victors’ lives, but when Haymitch Abernathy had his first child, he did everything in his power to ensure that no one would ever find out. That infant would live in someone else’s home, kept out of sight of the cameras and the Arena alike, and she would grow up to be you.

It wasn’t the worst of lives. It kind of was. No one can pick their place in life when they first come into the world, obviously. Otherwise, we’d all be living up in the Capitol and no one would be down here, choking on coal dust, waiting for their bones to turn ash so their body can be burned to heat the homes of the rich and prosperous a million miles away from them.

Haymitch watched out for you as best he could. He sent your foster parents money when he remembered it, always a little out of schedule, a touch too much to cover up for the fact that he forgot the last time around. He started remembering as you got older, though. He stopped feeling ashamed of you and started feeling ashamed of himself.

You see him a lot, although the frequency of your meetings always picks up around the time of the Games. He needs it as a reminder that not everything about him always leads to death and ruin. Once in a blue moon, Haymitch Abernathy is responsible for something good. Something, someone, like you.

There’s a schedule to the Games, one that isn’t known or enforced by the Peacekeepers, and it goes like this:  first there is the before, and then there is the after. Prior to the start of the Hunger Games ceremonies, Haymitch will be over at your place. You’ll talk a lot. Both of you will do your best to keep the conversations light. Remember when you were a kid, crawling around all the time? How you used to laugh like crazy whenever it snowed?

Then he’ll get dragged off by the Capitol to go mentor two kids until they die, and then you reach the second phase of the schedule, the after. Haymitch will hole up in his estate in the Victor’s Village, the only occupied house there, the only living being around because he couldn’t save a single person other than himself, and you will find him because no one else will. It’s quiet most of the time. He doesn’t want to think about anything at all, and certainly not the additional two kids who placed their faith in him just for him to let them down again.

After a while, he’ll manage to claw his way out of it, and then you’ll have the better part of a year before the cycle repeats. You’ve had plenty of time to grow used to this pattern, and you’ve perfected it like a pastime. The right words to say get easier to remember when you say them every year. And now, as a reward for getting it right, you get to repeat the process with Katniss Everdeen.

You say that like it’s a bad thing. It’s not. Truth be told, it’s easier spending time with Katniss than anyone else, even right after her first Games when everything is bloody and terrible. You could see yourself doing this again next year, and the next one, and the next. You don’t think you would mind it. Not at all.

Perhaps that’s why Haymitch set this up in the first place. Maybe he knew it would be okay. Or maybe he was just so ridiculously pleased that he managed to save not one tribute but two that he was only thinking about prolonging Katniss’ survival. The reasons don’t always matter. What happened, happened, and secretly you’re glad of it now.

Katniss had been locked in a death spiral of nightmares and bad memories. It soon became clear that she would lose herself to it if someone didn’t intervene, so someone did. Haymitch took Katniss by the shoulders, shook her a little and told her to get it together, and pointed her to you. You knew what it was like to befriend someone who wanted to shut out the world, who couldn’t sleep without nightmares and couldn’t talk without thinking that someone was watching. You could understand Katniss better than anyone, and Haymitch knew it. Daughters are such wonderful pawns to play, aren’t they?

Again, a cruel way to put it, but this is the truth nonetheless. It’s what Katniss suspected the first time you visited her house, and the second, but after a couple of weeks passed and it grew obvious that you weren’t giving up on her without a fight, she begrudgingly let you in. The two of you had been observing each other for years now, the consequence of there only being so many girls your age in a small town in District Twelve, but things accelerated rapidly after the Games.

You’ll never be entirely certain why. Katniss doesn’t let people in, and she threw up her walls tenfold after she partook in the Hunger Games, unable to discern if someone was talking to her because they wanted to or if they wanted to kill her. She even started growing distant from Gale, because Gale didn’t understand her completely, not anymore. Not like you did.

Over the course of the summer, Katniss’ icy demeanor started to melt. She is hesitant and cautious, but she still smiles at your offhand jokes, always a little surprised, like she can’t believe she’s having this good of a time either. The two of you start meeting up in the forest surrounding District Twelve where no one can see you, where it’s just the two of you and the blissful sunlight waving through endless flurries of leaves above your heads.

And, not according to plan, you realize that you’re starting to fall for her. Katniss is like no one you’ve ever met before, even your dad. You knew how to operate around Haymitch, but Katniss doesn’t require an assembly guide or how-to explanation. You just know her. It is as easy as that.

After realizing such a thing as that, how could you not begin to love her? You can steal your dad’s drinks and get properly sloshed on them, but it’ll never match the tipsiness you feel when you look at her; when she laughs at one of your jokes, always reluctant at first but more easily as she gets more used to you. It makes you want to try again and again, and so you do. Katniss listens every time. She says she likes to hear you.

Instead of running away, you decide to embrace the feeling. You head to the woods more and more often, although never at the risk of the Peacekeepers’ attention. Katniss never tells you when she’s going out, nor do you mention when you’re out here, but the two of you have a habit of finding each other nonetheless. You turn around and there she is, emerging from a stand of trees; she crosses a bank at the same time as you; you climb a tree to get a better vantage point of the forest and you’re instantly drawn to the sight of her doing the same across a clearing. Katniss makes sense.

If you squint your eyes just right, you can make your entire world double. The hazy afterimages of present day will swim before you, a hair out of line but still there, still two instead of one. For example, right now, walking through the woods beyond District Twelve, it’s as if you can see two exact images of the current moment instead of only one.

On one version of this day a few years ago, when you hide away from the world in the forbidden greenery past your district’s limits, you come across Katniss Everdeen and you hide from her, too. You do not know her. Not well, at least. You see her and pretend otherwise. She does the same. She heard your footsteps first and thought herself visited by a deer instead of a girl. Her finger tensed on her bowstring, but she released it the second your face finally came into view. Katniss could not kill a person.

Would not. Katniss can kill a person, as it turns out, she can outlive twenty-two tributes through various purposes and keep one other alive, then do it again, but she does not know that yet. All Katniss knows in this past moment, this one half of a fractured memory, is that she will not kill you, and that is true today, too.

On the other version, the one that happens today, you do not run from Katniss, you go to her. That is the whole purpose of risking the Peacekeepers’ wrath by ducking under the fence to escape to the forest. The wilderness means Katniss, and Katniss means you’ll be able to spend another day relatively free from the concerns of a girl from District Twelve who has increasingly little between herself and the violence of not having enough.

Katniss doesn’t turn when you approach, but you can hear the quiet smile in her voice when she admonishes you, “You’re going to scare away all my game.”

You chuckle. “No, no. I’m drawing them out of the bush so you can shoot them. It’s teamwork.”

“If it were teamwork,” she argues, “you would also have a bow.”

You lift a shoulder. “I would never dare steal your favorite weapon. I want you to feel important.”

This does make her laugh. Almost indignantly, yes, but still a laugh. Still a win for you. She manages to nab a few birds before setting her bow down for the morning. The two of you sit side by side in the tall grass, a cool breeze blowing upon your faces, bringing with it the tender tangy scent of the forest.

Usually, neither of you have ever suffered from awkwardness when you’re out here. You could spend hours out here, not saying a word, and it would be just as fulfilling as if you’d spoken the entire time. Today, though, there’s something stuck on the tip of your tongue, a truth that refuses to go unsaid no matter how you fight it.

At last, you give in and, keeping your eyes resolutely ahead, you tell her what’s on your mind. “I’m glad you’re with me, Katniss.”

You can see Katniss frowning out of the corner of your eyes. “Where else would I be?”

You roll your eyes. “You know what I mean. You could have heard me coming and avoided me the second I stepped into the forest. Probably would have caught more, too.”

Katniss shakes her head doubtfully. “No, we’re good. This is good.”

She sets her jaw determinedly, like this settles everything. It does, in a way. It gives you the courage to continue. “I’m glad to hear it. I like spending time with you.” A pause. “I like you.”

Katniss’ brow knits. “Why would you like me?” Genuinely confused, she adds on, “I’ve done terrible things, Y/N.”

“We’re all terrible,” you whisper back softly.

She rolls her eyes. “I’ve been in the Games. You haven’t.”

This is true. No matter how much time you spend with Haymitch or Katniss, nor how many stories you hear about the Hunger Games, it will never be the same as actually taking part in them yourself. With all luck, you never will. Both Haymitch and Katniss would fight to keep you out of them, and then to keep you alive, should that happen, but the possibility shrinks with every year as you get older.

“I still want you,” you tell her. More the empty forest air; you can’t quite say this to her face, not yet. The fear of rejection after everything is too great a burden to bear.

When you do risk a glance over at her, though, Katniss doesn’t look affronted. Instead, she looks more at peace than you’ve ever seen her. Slowly, carefully, her face upturned to catch the morning sun, Katniss smiles again. You’re not even sure that she’s aware of doing it. It is simply the only way she can process that this, you wanting her, would make her happier than anything else.

And, sitting here in the forest, surrounded by a million memories of all that you have done together, a thousand hopes of all that you have yet to do, you look over at Katniss and you know. You know that she loves you. You know that she can’t say it, not yet, not until she’s certain that you love her as much as she loves you.

She will tell you, though. In time. Perhaps it’ll happen another day out here past the confines of District Twelve, in a space that has always been safe to the two of you and will thus protect her from the fallout of confessing to a friend. Perhaps she’ll tell you while you’re asleep next to her, to avoid a response, or perhaps she’ll tell you while you’re pretending to be asleep, so she knows you’re heard and you don’t have to tell her anything.

Or, maybe she’ll just say it now, unspoken but still startlingly loud, audible in every glance your way, every faint smile she never bothers to hide. That, you think, would be enough.

hunger games tag list: @w1shes43, @ilovexavierthrope

all tags list: @wordsarelife

[marvelstars]

"All slaves have a transmitter placed inside their bodies somewhere." "I've been working on a scanner to try and locate mine, but no luck." "Any attempt to escape…" "And they blow you up. Poof!"

―Shmi and Anakin Skywalker

One of the things that always get my attention in the phantom menace is how easily the people who would take care of Anakin from his 9 years to a young adult could ignore so easily the way his upbringing would affect him but if you see TPM movie, you get why.

Shmi and Anakin are living in horrorific circunstances, they know their owners, Gardulla and Watto can blow them up anytime they want with all legality on Tatooine so what´s left to them to stay not only sane but also kind under such circunstances is to keep what Viktor Emil Frankl called "mental/emotional freedom" they may not be owners of their own bodies but they are owners of their own mind and they can choose to be kind in their circunstances because they "WANT TO BE KIND" not because some code tells them they have to be kind or compassionate.

This is a family who has personally seen slaves being blown up, from kids, to women to adults of any age, a family who lived inside Gardulla´s the Hutt palace, you only need to remember ROTJ to understand this is a mother who had to explain to anakin what sex was from a very young age so he could tell her if someone wanted to take advantage of him that way even if she could not stop them from taking advantage of her Son.

QUI-GON: You should be proud of your son. He gives without any thought of reward.

SHMI: Well he knows nothing of greed.

So when the Jedi came to Tatooine, given the stories both Shmi and Anakin heard about them, most notably the story about them freeing slaves from the former Sith Empire some thousands of years ago, they didn´t expect much but at least they expected the problem to be recognized but Qui-Gon has to explain to them that they are on Tatooine on accident and that they are not here to free slaves and when you get to Coruscant you learn that the Jedi are mostly concerned to what happens in the Senate to put much attention to what happens in the wider galaxy.

So we get in an scenario where Anakin is send to the Temple by his mother to give him a chance of a normal life but the world in which he gets to doesn´t even have the lenses to begin to understand his pov and not only that, they expect him to adapt himself to them, not the other way around.

You think? I don´t know Yoda, If I were a 9 year old who still has a ticking bomb inside my body(Qui-Gon didnt had time to get him to an infirmary), who had to leave behind my mother in such circunstances and who now is surrounded by adults called masters, who can read my mind, you know, the only thing left free for a slave like Anakin, I guess I would be pretty afraid too and not because I am falling to the darkside but because it´s a normal human reaction but Jedi are just not that empatethic in this version of the Order right?

So what we get is that Anakin gets to live in a place with people who certainly have good intentions, who see themselves as the guardians of peace and justice in the galaxy but who mostly believe this means doing what the Senate tells them to do, they are completely unable and unwilling to even begin to understand Anakin, most of them, even Yoda have too sheltered lives to begin to understand where Anakin is coming from and it shows painfully as part of the tragedy, because where they see Anakin, they see pain/anger/hate and where Anakin sees them, he sees ignorance and lack of empathy that he at times sees as cruelty but both sides try to make it work, acting as if that´s not what they see on each other.

So even if Obi-Wan did his best to understand Anakin he´s still too sheltered to understand him they way his mother did, he believes Anakin having a problem with food snacks is a sign of him being greedy /asking for special treatment instead of being a sign of someone who has been starved before as punishment and a natural reaction is to keep food and insects around so he doesn´t die of hunger, Obi-Wan is just disgusted by it.

But you know someone who certainly grew up as sheltered as the members of the jedi order, as part of a noble house in a mid rim planet but who has plenty of life experiences and isn´t so set in his ways that he can recognize the signs Anakin is showing for all to see? who has travelled to Tatooine and many other worlds as part of his Sith training? Palpatine, this is why he allowed Anakin to stay in the Jedi Order, he knew he would just grow up bitter and resentful of them because they were just too set in their own ways to try to understand and that for him, was just preparation for him to be turned into a Sith. He can be the one adult who understands where Anakin is coming from and he doesn´t even need to lie.

So when I see this character seen in the fandom as someone spoiled (lol) who gave Obi-Wan a hard time every chance he got, I wish Lucas had been more direct in telling this part of the story because there´s just so much of this tragedy lost in translation that isn´t even funny.

But you know who also had the means to get to Anakin and completely understand what the hell happened, who was from the same world? Who knew how to get to him in his own language despite years of being submerged in the darkside? Yes, his Son Luke, so I guess this is how the story rhymes.

[londonspirit]

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Let's start with Izzy's death. Did you always plan to kill Izzy off this season?

DAVID JENKINS: Yes. It feels like the logical end of Izzy's arc. It's heartbreaking to me because he's my favorite. They're all my favorite because they're all my kids, but Izzy is very near and dear to my heart. The season was kind of built around [the idea of]: What's the best journey we can give him? And what's the most interesting thing we can do with Con, who can do just about anything?

How did Con react when you laid out Izzy's storyline this season?

I told him in the middle of shooting because I didn't want him to find out at the table read, obviously. I also didn't want it to leak. He was lovely about it. I called him and said, "Let's get a bite to eat," and he said, "I'll need cake!" We had dinner, and I gave him a cuddle, and he took it pretty well.

A lot of these characters have evolved over two seasons, but it seems like Izzy has gone through one of the biggest evolutions. He went from being so dismissive of the others to being a key part of the crew. What interested you most about his arc?

You know, I didn't expect him to become kind of a father figure to Ed. I think we hit on that while we were breaking the [final] episode. He's in such a weird position: He's like a jilted lover, and then he's a middle manager who has to work for a terrible boss. He gets thrown away, and then he comes back. He really develops, and he becomes a part of this family. I think the biggest surprise was the extent that he was a mentor to Ed. They were both Blackbeard. They both made Blackbeard happen.

What do you remember most about filming Izzy's death scene?

That was one of the last things we shot. As we got closer and closer to it, I could see it weighing on Con. It's hard: This is something we both made together, and his character is gonna die. He was taking it really seriously. Then, when we were shooting, I made him a playlist. I asked if I could play him some music, and I did, and we sat there and we watched Izzy die.

I also wanted to ask about the scene where Ed and Stede reunite on the beach, fighting their way back to each other through hordes of soldiers. How did you want to approach that sequence?

We have a wonderful fight and stunt coordinator, Jacob Tomuri, and [director] Fernando Frias laid out how he wanted to shoot it with [cinematographer] Mike Berlucchi. With this show, we're basically making a one-hour show on a half-hour budget and schedule, so we really have to pick our shots. But the location was just unreal. Everything in New Zealand just looks amazing. We were driving to a different location to scout the lake where Blackbeard tries to be a fisherman, and it was like, "What is this?" It was this giant black sand dune that seems to go on for miles. We were like, "Oh, we have to do something here."

The episode ultimately ends with a happy ending for Ed and Stede: They're starting an inn together on land as their friends sail off to new adventures. Walk me through why you wanted to give these two a happy ending.

With this season starting so dark, I kind of wanted to reward them for the work that they've done and the character growth that they've had. I wanted to leave them in a place where they're really going to try and make this work. I don't think it's going to be easy for them, necessarily. They're both still immature. But after the death of Izzy, we have a wedding, and it feels like we have the kids taking the car, driving off while the parents watch from the porch. It felt right to give them something to balance the loss of Izzy, where neither of them is going to run. They're both saying they're going to commit to each other, and it felt like the best place to leave them this season.

That makes sense. So much of their story has been about running away: Stede running away from his family, them running away from each other. This is them deciding not to run away.

And I don't think it's going to be easy. I think the day after that scene would be very hard. But they can try.

You mentioned the wedding between Lucius and Black Pete. I know that pirate weddings and civil partnerships were a real thing from history. Why did you want to end on that moment?

We knew we wanted a matelotage in the second season, and pretty quickly we landed on Lucius and Black Pete. It seems like they were ready for that. We made up a ceremony and everything, where they call each other mateys, and it was just fun to make our own version of a pirate wedding ceremony. But they really did have this phrase "matelotage." It was a formal process for relationships between crew members. It just seemed very sweet to see that they wanted to take that step together.

Last season ended on a cliffhanger, but this season ends pretty neatly, tying up a lot of loose threads. This could work as a series finale. Do you know if the show is getting a season 3, and are you already thinking about where this story could go next?

I mean, we'll see. We'll see if it makes sense for them to make a third one. We have a lot of ideas for a third season, and there's a lot more story to tell. But if it's not in the cards, I just wanted to leave Ed and Blackbeard in a good place. Instead of seeing them get punished for following each other, I wanted to see a moment where they're alright. And it is just a moment: I think a relationship is going to take a lot of work for them.

But it felt like a good place to end the second season. It felt like a contrast to the first season. If it turns out we don't make any more, I'm comfortable with that being a resting place.

You're leaving the door open for more — but if this the end, you're okay with that.

I mean, the Revenge is now being captained by Frenchie, and I think Frenchie's Revenge would be an interesting place to work and an interesting ship to be boarded by. And Ed and Stede, they're in the early 30s part of their relationship. Emotionally, they're going to move in together and start a business. I think there's a whole other story to tell about what happens when that relationship gets more mature. How do you make that relationship work? It's not just happily ever after. You have to work at it. And that's a story I'd like to see.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

[emeraldspiral]

So a long time ago I watched Jenny Nicholson's video ranking all the Land Before Time movies, and I was kind of taken aback by her assessment of the original movie as being "basic" in the sense of the plot being very straightforward and non-allegorical with no deeper meaning to it. And the reason it took me aback is because for as long as I can remember, since way before I was old enough to analyze media and pick up on themes or parallels between stories, the phrase "The Land Before Time is Little Pilgrim's Progress with dinosaurs" has always lived in the back of my mind. And I barely even remember Little Pilgrim's Progress from the tapes my grandmother sent of her reading it when I was little. But when I looked up the synopsis as a refresher, it really checked out.

Little Pilgrim's Progress, if you don't know, is an overtly Christian story about keeping faith. The titular Pilgrim sets out on a journey with a large burden and along the way encounters traveling companions who keep trying to convince them to drop their burden and give up their journey or take an easier path, but the Pilgrim staunchly resists temptation and follows the singularly correct path they were told to take. It's a very unsubtle allegory for Christians rejecting attempts to get them to question or give up their faith and being rewarded for their stalwart dedication by getting into heaven.

So yeah, Land Before Time pretty much is the same story. Little Foot gets explicit instructions from his mother on how to reach The Great Valley and refuses to deviate from that path even when all his friends abandon him to take another path, and is ultimately vindicated when it turns out his mother's path was correct all along. The Great Valley is such an obvious metaphor for heaven even people who've never heard of Little Pilgrim's Progress have spread conspiracy theories for years about all the dinosaurs being dead at the end and TGV being actual, literal heaven (despite Littlefoot's mom, the only actually confirmed dead character, not appearing).

Now, since I was way too little to have picked up on these parallels the first time I encountered these stories and my memories of Little Pilgrim's Progress were too faint by the time I was old enough, I feel like I had to have gotten the idea of LBT being a retelling of LPP from some adult mentioning it when I was a little kid. But I don't know who I would've heard that from since I don't remember any adults or older kids who were interested media analysis. But I was raised in a Christian community, and Christians are kind of notorious for lamenting the lack of movies without "sinful" content like swearing, sex, and violence, and wanting more "clean, wholesome" media that promotes Christian values, particularly to kids. So I can kinda see how an adult in my orbit might've seen LBT and thought it was a good example of media for kids that promotes Christian values because they recognized the parallels to LPP.

But what I kinda wonder is, did they really come up with that on their own, or is there some interview out there where Don Bluth just said explicitly that LBT was inspired by LPP? Because he is Mormon and has featured Christianity overtly in other movies like All Dogs Go to Heaven, so it wouldn't surprise me if the similarities were not accidental.

[lizhly-writes]

Where is Asmyung? ಥ⌣ಥ They're already having child together

ngl my first instinct is to go "oh you are FUCKING with me HOW ROOD" but upon further thought this is exactly the reason why i wrote an indeterminate amount of words shilling kdj/bihyung, so if i can do that, there is really not much stopping me from doing this.

in regards to your question, i seeee... one nsfw fic on ao3 where that's the main ship. oh man. do you ship this? because if you do, you are one deprived motherfucker. my condolences.

But anyway. Back to it. Disclaimer, I haven’t read orv in the longest time, so bear with me.

Here is what I remember from the fun and exciting possible romance arc of Han Myungoh. He runs off after getting hit with Asmodeus's curse… and then 3 years later, we see him in the demon realm. As a demon. With a kid.

...You know, I squinted so hard at this that you've actually forced me to reread the chapter that explains this shit. Good job.

It turns out it is strikingly similar to the formulae that otome isekai and similar stories I read use. Let's, for the sake of convenience, call Han Myungoh 'FL' and Asmodeus 'ML'.

Our brave FL, after experiencing certain dealings with our ML, gets knocked up. She runs away, but in the process, gives birth to a child, who she loves with all her heart. But, at a certain point, she realizes she can no longer protect her child, so she turns to the only person who would have interest in doing the same thing: the other parent. Indeed, the other parent is interested in their child, and they form a contract: the FL is rewarded handsomely with status and protection in exchange for the child. The FL, in a weak position and having little other choice, accepts the contract, but resents it. She would do anything to get the child back, and does, in fact, do anything that the ML tells her to do, and...

And that's Han Myungoh. I fudged a little, but that's actually the canon plot for this guy in orv. I really didn't think much of this ship, but seriously, when I look at this way, it really does look like a standard otome isekai romance with a bastard male lead. I'm crying, this is hilarious. Is this what you saw, anon? This is so funny, I'm dying.

See, here's the thing, if this was an otome isekai, I could then tell you how this would go, which is this: while the FL resentfully does tasks for the ML, the ML grows to have a certain respect for the FL due to competence reasons, and the FL grows to appreciate ML for dispensing certain kindnesses (hey, stockholm syndrome!). Eventually, we get to a point where they're probably resentfully attracted to each other, but they both refuse to admit it, because FL still thinks ML is evil and ML thinks FL is beneath him. But then! But then something dramatic happens. Either FL's life or ML's life is threatened. Perhaps the child's life is threatened. Maybe all of the above. But anyway, there's some lifesaving going on, where FL/ML is so touched that the other saved them/had such concern for the child and then they declare their love for each other and then they officially get married and then it's a happily ever after and then I hurl my book across the room, probably.

I'm paraphrasing, there would probably be a bit more room between the lifesaving and getting married bit. Probably self awareness into the fact that they're in love and then an awkward "sorry I took your kid or whatever, let's go on a date" kind of dealio.

But I digress. Here's the thing. Here's the thing.

You could totally just write a canon divergence fic where everything I've just said happens, and it wouldn't even be hard. Sure, you'd have to nudge a few things over, but Han Myungoh does actually save Asmodeus's life once, even if is, you know, mostly related to Asmodeus being in his daughter's body, and Asmodeus briefly contemplates "is this what love is like?" or, you know, something like that. That actually does fit into the structure I've outlined above and I am banging my head onto my desk because of it.

This is so funny anon I am dying.

[lazlolullaby]

Lost Royal Eugene Plot Bunnies~

hot takes and plot ideas on Eugene and his royal heritage being significant to how he ended up as a thief...because the brainworms are wriggling again

Normally in these kinds of fantasy stories, there’s a letter, or an item, or even a caretaker that stays with the Lost Royal and reveals the truth either when they’re old enough or when the chips are down.

Eugene doesn’t have that. He didn’t have that at all.

It can be argued in the movie (if he knew) he didn’t mention it because -

A (the letter): he just met Rapunzel 2 days ago, she’s not getting everything at once. Plus if he has proof his family abandoned him, even for good reason, it still hurts.

B (Royal item): he’s got a family heirloom that’s stashed somewhere that he can’t sell because he’s sentimental. May or may not know where it came from. Backed up by: the entirety of Tangled and also: the engraved comb and the scrapbook of wanted posters from RTA.

C (caretaker): He’s proudly a Thief, and a New Adult, who wants to tell their parental figure what they’re actually doing for a living??? This is assuming that they’re a Decent Person - if they were abusive and Eugene paralleled that with the Gothel situation - hoo boy now that’s a rabbit hole filled with plot bunnies~

The only thing Eugene ever had in his possession that hinted to his Royalty was a two-headed coin. That’s it. I suppose that was part of Edmund’s master plan - keep him as far from the Royal Line as possible so he would never find the Moonstone at all.

But he was carried away as a baby - he had to have had a nursemaid at least to feed him.

So in canon. We’ve got a gap between being sent away as a baby and being a “employed” by the Baron as a teenage thief.

I’ve uhh...got a theory.

The world isn’t kind to immigrants. Even in a lighthearted "never say die”, fantasy world, it’s going to be rough. The nursemaid (for funzies, let’s call her Claire) tries to support herself and baby Horace. And some people are kind enough, but there’s people that see Horace as a meal ticket, an obligation or a trade for a later reward when he’s King.

So Claire changes their names and runs, further than anywhere anyone she’s known has ever been. Claire throws herself into maintaining an orphanage in Varadaros, essentially hiding orphan Eugene in a stack of orphan needles.

Meanwhile, a Princess is stolen and a King tries to eradicate every criminal possible. The unlucky who are accused of more than what they're guilty of flood Varadaros.

The panic creates a power vacuum and one man rises to the top of the dust heap ; a man who styles himself as royalty, mimicking their manners and excess. The Baron.

Plague happens and there's no magical Flowers to save anyone. Claire dies when Eugene is around five, young enough to vaguely remember her voice but not her face. Claire’s possessions are gone through and divided.

The letters for Eugene are read. At first they think it’s a joke - ah, of course her favorite kid is a Prince! What a funny family joke! But the more they talk to others - they realize that he does line up with the facts.

Word gets out. Sure, it’s not the Lost Princess, but it’s something.

The Baron hears about it. And the one thing he wants that he can’t ever have is a Royal Title. So he shows up at the orphanage. Talks to them real gentle-like. Tells them to look the other way when he brings Eugene over to his gang.

They refuse.

Baron puts the pressure on the orphanage, threatening them and cutting off their supplies. And - in an effort to save everyone else - they relent. Baron gets the Royal item and the letter. It’s lucky that Stalyan takes a shine to Eugene - they could legitimately marry and cement the title in their family. If he doesn’t work out - he still has the letter, he could pass off another kid as Horace. It’s not like there’s a shortage of brown eyed kids anywhere.

And that's the story of how Prince Horace was swindled out of his destiny for the first time.

[beevean]

And onto Rush Adventure now:

-Tbh at first i wasnt sold on the materials grinding for ships but later liked how it gives you a reason to improve your scores on the levels so you can get more. Idk i usually dont care abt scores but w the external motivation? Yea

-Same w the misions, good way to have lil extra stuff to do (that said why did they block the sound mode songs behind misions. Game pls my internet makes opening youtube an odyssey and now this too? Cruelty 😔)

-Oh and also the ship minigames! Its fun to have a map you can explore, and the races w Jhonny for the chaos emeralds are way better than the Surely Existing special levels (also srry if i got his name wrong lmao)

-Onto the soundtrack; its more broad compared to rush, and each song does matches well the enviroment. I like the tropical coastal vibes of the main town n training level, and oh man. Sky babylon and deep core my beloveds who literally got engraved in my neurons so hard i was struggling reading hours later bc the darn tunes kept playing in the background of my skull. Well scratch that all the tunes keep playing on the bg of my skull rn, what kind of eldritch curse is this). So yes good ost 👍

-Overall the aesthetic n vibes are also more broad with that tropical relax overtone, its quite nice. The difficulty is also way more forgiving (i mean i played on easy but that's the mode the game came in) and the tutorials with the controls are helpful (yes i struggled with the jump dash in the previous game how can you tell)

- The story is also more calm and silly goofy but in a good way (can def see what ppl mean by the diff eras in sonic writing there). I also liked Whisker being the main but kinda dumb villain for funnies vs the eggmans being a bigger threat)

-I liked the scene in the coral cave where Blaze appears bc my mind was half "haha i knew we were in Blaze's world, neat" and " weeee hi Blaze, game of the year :D"

-Marine was also neat, liked her silly dynamic of cheerful kid who is a bit too full of herself and is kind of a brat abt it, and how she later learns to admit her own limits :) And the koala villagers were neat too i like their designs :)

Overall thank you for letting me ramble into your ask box abt these games, its been fun :D

lmao yeah it's a nice incentive! I think the only other game that gives you a reward with higher ranks is Unwiished (another Dimps game), where the higher the rank the more medals you get.

also sonic 🤝 hector:having to earn their crafting materials

The missions are a good way to extend the gameplay, but IIRC some of the Sol Emerald missions were brutal... I have flashes of the Blizzard Peak mission.

The waterbike was genuinely really fun and I hated that it was considered the "worst" vehicle for travel :( I don't like the submarine, let me travel the world on my tiny waterbike while the best music plays :( also yeah the Special Stages with Johnny are original! Certainly more than Half Pipe 50.0

SRA'S OST was composed by veterans Tomoya Ohtani and Mariko Nanba while trying to recreate Naganuma's style. Definitely unique and underrated. Sky Babylon used to be my favorite too! But there are so many tracks that IMO deserve more love, like Haunted Ship, Blizzard Peaks, the boss theme and Whiskers & Johnny <3

Funny to think SRA came out one year after '06, widely criticized at the time for being too melodramatic :P Whiskers is also a nice case of Eggman being the twist villain for once! Although the credits of the "bad" ending spoil him and Nega, lol. Not that Whiskers looks mysterious himself... eh you get it.

Marine seems to have been reevaluated recently, like many things from the 2000s. I remember that back then no one could stand her and her Aussie accent lmao, precisely because she was an annoying brat. She is still mildly underrated, but I think the modern fandom generally "forgave" her because they understood that she was meant to be a foil for Tails, who is more insecure.

(two fun facts: in some countries, SRA initially got a 12+ rating because Marine says "bugger", which is pretty mild for Aussie slang but is much stronger for American standards. Also, Marine is Australian because in original she speaks in Kansai-ben, and I guess that was a way to recreate the cultural connotations! That and koalas :P)

You're welcome, you're free to rant at any time <3

[houkagokappa]

I finished Homestuck Act 5 the other week. I wish I would’ve written down my most prominent thoughts as they came to me, since I can’t remember whatever mental notes I tried to take, but let’s see what this post will turn into.

Act 5 introduced us to the trolls properly, after the brief glimpses we got in Act 4. I didn’t remember them being such caricatures, even if they pale in comparison to the dancestors. It was a little jarring to see some of the jokes and comments in regards to mental health issues or disabilities made in a mocking manner. At the same time those comments were made by literal trolls who then go on murder sprees and commit all kinds of other atrocities, so it’s not like they’re depicted as individuals to look up to and take after. I mostly just forgot they were there. Furthermore, it was also a positive surprise to get a reminder of how deep and technical into mental health issues Homestuck went into, especially considering its time. It’s easy to see why and how it spoke to so many young people, and while the “representation” wasn’t “unproblematic” it was still there, and it was multifaceted, during times where it was hard to come by elsewhere.

I have a newfound appreciation towards Tavros in particular. I found him a little dull the first time around, but now I can see that he’s a total sweetheart (well, by troll standards at least). Vriska is an interesting character to me, since I neither hate her nor love her. She’s a product of troll culture, so some actions were unavoidable and others more unforgivable, but you always know why she is the way she is and Act 5 punished her plenty which was rewarding to read. I have no comments on her future in the comic yet.

As for the other characters, it was horrifying to realize how gross Equius could be. I feel like I didn’t understand his fetishes the first time around (a blessing in hindsight). I loved Aradia a lot more now, that I could appreciate her tragic fate instead of finding her too melancholic. Her story arc is pretty cool! My feelings towards the rest of the cast remained the same, but I was also able to pick up on SO MUCH BLACKROM FLIRTING before the topic of troll romance was introduced. SO MUCH!!

One of my favourite things about Homestuck is how insanely complex it is, and how effortlessly and often it jumps from one topic and mood to something completely different. There is a lot of teasing and hinting, which was frustrating when I was reading through the comic for the first time and couldn’t wait to see what would happen next, and which must’ve been infuriating to those who had to wait for the updates. On a second read-through it’s easier to appreciate the journey and find joy in imagining the parallel events of the meteor murder party and whatever bs the kids were getting into that the trolls tried their best to help with as their numbers diminished. It’s also cool how the tone kept shifting based on what the participants knew or revealed, while the reader had a pretty grim understanding of the events that transpired. I don’t think any other story balances and combines humor and tragedy quite like Homestuck does.

[shiny-jr]

since there’re a lot of genshin characters you hate for their design, is there any character you hate because of the fandom?

i personally hate eula and raiden because of how majority of the fandom treat them, but especially eula because of how hyv advertise her as well. when her character was introduced, the first thing i thought is that she was solely made for fanservice purpose only, and turned out i wasn’t really far fetched (pls don’t come for me for this💀 i didn’t dig much about her character, i only know her from the quests).

and i’m glad that someone shares the same opinion as me about raiden and some other characters i dislike. i thought i was the only one that’s picky about this kind of thing lol, so when i read your thoughts about raiden, i was like “finally, someone that shares my hate!”

Honestly, most of the characters I hate greatly, have a kinda bad reputation for parts of the fandom. This list (from Mondstadt to Inazuma, because I basically hate all of Sumeru and I haven't played it) includes Diona, Eula, Ayaka, Keqing, Ei. I like Zhongli and Xiao a moderate amount, but they sorta have a bad rep too. Especially certain Xiao mains. Talking more about mains and characters below.

Diona's personality annoyed me, and I hate the fact that she's a kid selling alcohol but people use the excuse of her age not being confirmed to sexualize her. Diona mains made me wary, because I feared they were middle aged/older men who liked these younger looking characters way more than they should.

I was kinda iffy about Eula at first. But then I played her quest. AT FIRST, I was beginning to like her. But then she started to overdo the whole "vengeance" thing and that got on my nerves real bad. So she was out. Whenever I see Eula mains, I think "try hard."

Already explained why I dislike Ayaka and Ei. But some of those mains I met don't know how to take criticism for their favs.

Keqing is just boring. Her design is boring, her personality is boring. During the second Liyue lantern quest, I believe, we have to accompany here everywhere. Despite her having practically the whole quest, she was never once interesting. She was just ANOTHER one of those "works so hard" female characters, which genshin does way too much. I don't think I ever met a cool Keqing main. They were all so annoying, trying to kill my characters and thinking they're funny when they're not. Keqing mains I met all gave me the vibe of being an annoying guy, you know?

Most Zhongli mains are okay, but there's a small few that are just really young players (mostly girls) that will talk nonstop and don't know how to take social cues. Like, once one had a trauma dump and abruptly said they were looking for a bf when me and the other person in their world were just like "can you please come collect your reward from the boss? Please??"

There's two types of Xiao mains. The really chill Xiao mains, and the insane Xiao mains. And I do not mean insane in a good way, I mean it in the worst way possible. I was playing when Xiao first came out, and it was bad. I remember hearing stories about how certain players who didn't get Xiao would throw hissy fits when someone else had him. Going so far as to threaten other users and stuff. And if they did have him, they would be kinda rude during co-op battles.

[hungrydolphin91]

[Insert some kind of Xillia 2 catchy tagline here about how my sister and I are playing this game]. I don't even remember what chapter we're on at this point, but we did all the fun Victor stuff

Victor only took as three tries: we got very close the first time, the second one doesn't count because he confused the whole party and we all murdered each other, but by the third we had grinded a little and bought some better weapons and armor

Since we had to rewatch the cutscenes she picked different dialogue choices just to see what changed, except for the one about Ludger's cooking vs. Victor's. Sis: "I won't concede, mine's still better."

Sorry I don't have much to report about the reactions, since my sister pretty much already knew what was about to happen. She wasn't thrilled about being Elle's father, but she did feel bad for Elle finding out her father was using her, and watching him get killed, too. It's a lot for a kid to go through 😭

There's a bonus scene with Jude helping Ludger make a new pot of soup after Elle spills the first, but he mostly just stands there. Me: "YOU SHOULD BE HELPING, NOT HURTING."

My sister slapped a pair of goofy glasses on Alvin right before his character chapter so we got to enjoy all the emotional close ups with his 😏 expression. I'm surprised Presa didn't return the ring just from that 😂

Leia: "Agria, watch over me." Me: "Agria is probably flipping you off from Hell."

Why is it that Alvin's chapters are much more interesting to me than the others. I mean I'm probably super biased cause I like him but still I like how they explore more of his struggles at improving himself and what could have been based on his past, compared to, I don't know, buying a bunny doll or reading Muzet's thoughts. Maybe I'm just an angst fan.

We started prime Milla's chapter in a new session, and the second the cutscene started my sister left to go get snacks. We have a fundamentally different way of playing these games 😅

Hilariously, the cutscene was halted so Ludger can make a dialogue choice, one of them being "Sounds like I missed something." 😂

I forgot this was a Milla chapter and not a Jude one, with the iconic gay bird spirit that's acting like a clingy ex 😂

While hunting elite monsters, Milla died right at the end of a battle and didn't get the exp, but characters who weren't in the party still did. Sis: "Alvin's probably waking up from a nap like 'Guess who just got stronger?'"

We made paid the bank 150,000 with Ludger's reward money, and all we got was kitty krisps and a skill for Alvin, who again, wasn't there. Cue both of us saying "Guess who just got stronger?" and laughing.

I forgot proceeding with the plot in Marksburg triggers a boss battle with Chronos. Oops, we weren't fully healed.

Julius shows up and defends Ludger, aww. Sis: "When do we tell him he's technically an uncle now?"

I couldn't remember how many times the Chronos fight looped but it wasn't too bad really, the game's going easy on you at this point since it's scripted.

Bisley shows up to interrupt the fight. Sis: "Who are you?" Me, with utter exasperation: "...Do you seriously not know who he is?" 😩 (She did, she just didn't know why he was helping)

My sister was a lot more worried about Julius taking Ludger's place to fight Chronos one on one over the appearance of Bisley or the disappearance of Elle. I can't blame her, Julius's love for his brother is so sweet and he's frankly more compelling than most of the other original characters

Elle runs away because she suddenly doesn't want to go to Canaan anymore (it IS pretty creepy I'll give her that), and the rest of the party is somehow fine with letting this child run around unsupervised except by Spirius agents?? Even my sister who hates Elle pointed out that Ludger is kinda her closest living relative in this dimension so he should probably not let her wander off??

The SECOND that cutscene ended, Nova called. "Ludger, I know you just fought the god of time, but he gave you money, didn't he? You can't pull a fast one over the bank!"

Next time is... whatever happens next. My memories are a little fuzzy but I think we're gonna do that stuff in Spirius's basement soon, and then... oof. Hoping for a bad end, ngl 😅

[Masterpost link here, eventually.]

[wit-and-worry]

There’s this slightly younger acquaintance I have(had?) who seems to enjoy my company, and with whom I’ve only had seemingly mutually enjoyable and lengthy conversations, but who doesn’t usually initiate contact. He doesn’t seem very online, and has a strong and tight circle of friends he likes. He’s interesting. He’s bright and respectful. He’s almost too polite, in person. But is it so hard to communicate with him over text. Mostly because he doesn’t text back, for whatever reason.

Before we got to talking on the last day of my senior year(he was a Junior at the time), I was frankly intimidated by him. He was the brightest kid in my Hnrs Physics class. He seemed to pick up the material like a pile of feathers. He seemed friendly and confident and put together. He was starkly unlike me. I was and still am struggling not to be a miserable slob with no concept of time or personal responsibility every day. What drew my interest in pursuing a friendship was his evident interest in the kind of literature I was interested in. I saw many Asimov books on his desk and in his hand throughout the year, but also some classics like Heart of Darkness(which I figured was for class but I’m not sure of now), and the Slaughterhouse Five(maybe Cat’s Cradle? I saw him carrying a Vonnegut novel for sure), and some others I can’t remember the names of now, and an anthology of Camus’ short stories. When I saw him with those books I felt like a dog seeing another dog for the first time. My brain went: oh shit! Dog dog dog dog! (gonna go on a tangent now) I’ve historically gravitated towards classic lit, primarily because I had the idea that reading influential works of literature and studying them would help make me a better writer. Not that I didn’t and don’t earnestly enjoy them. Much of classic literature carries me way out of the modern world without alienating me from humanity. I can usually rely on it to be somewhat deftly written and it’s fun to geek out over. It’s fun but lonely. It is also very intimate and rewarding.

When I meet people who share that passion, it implies to me that they have the patience and curiosity and courage it takes to appreciate it.

I admit that, initially, there was also a glamor to the idea of being a young person, having all of that high brow literature under my belt, and as a result being praised by teachers for being articulate and mature and all of that. It’s embarrassing to admit, even to myself, that my interest in classic literature is in part a consequence of my being given, as Savannah Brown once put it “well-timed praise”, but it is what it is.

I still do think that it is beneficial for those who are serious about writing to visit or revisit the work of influential writers. It’s just that now I feel a restless craving for transgressive art. I want to read the kind of fucked up and intimate fiction I want to write.

Anyway I started writing this post to bitch into the void to be honest, because I suspect that this acquaintance of mine isn’t interested in befriending me, and I’m bummed. I’ve reached out a few times either to start a conversation or schedule a hangout, but it’s getting to be a hassle. He has little reason to pursue my friendship, because he’s pretty content with his social life as it is. He’s pretty elusive. He’s apparently very busy. I’m not, which is why I’m pursuing. But I’m tired of making an ass of myself pursuing people. I’ve been the pursuer for most of my life. I might have to let this one go. Or just let him come to me, if he ever does. It’s weird. I’m overthinking this for sure. I just don’t want to drive him away. I think he’s cool, despite being a year younger than me lol. It may seem like I have a crush on this guy, but I promise that is not the case. I don’t want it to ever go there. He seems straight, besides. I’m just so lonely that it’s pathetic. It’s not gotten to the point that I will settle for anyone, but I hit it off with this guy in a way I haven’t with anyone in years. Hard not to want to relive that initial rush. I can’t help but wonder if I said something that creeped him out the last time we hung out. I can think of a few things that he may have misread, which keep me up at night. Well I don’t know what else to say so I’m going to stop here.

-some guy

[hellostarfleet]

hello i finished new vegas

wall of text thoughts. under read more bc sooooo many.

was kind of wishing by the end i'd known how much the game rewards rly picking and choosing what to make your stats... i didn't really appreciate this until i went from like 45 in energy weapons like this feels fine to 75 and was like I AM A PLASMA GOD!!!! so noted for next run (i did end with 100 in science and energy weapons I GOTTA be nosy and hack every terminal i see. or my courier will die.)

rly thought this about hour 5 but i wasn't expecting the legion to be so cartoonishly evil actually i knew they were bad but like. lol. CMON GUYS PUT SOMETHING BACK ON THE SHELF FOR OTHER BAD GUY FACTIONS... instead of the vipers/jackals/powder gangers/fiends just kind of being. free karma estate. (in retrospect i don't rly understand the point of karma as a system because after like level 5 i never even dipped to neutral karma. my courier was an angel. an angel who stole every cap, stimpak, box of ammo, and piece of scrap metal she could find from everyone and anyone in the greater mojave area. and killed. SO MANY PEOPLE.)

was kind of expecting the hoover dam battle to be like... bigger???? like just having more guys around. more chaotic. actually have a reason to go down into the hoover dam sublevels that they. built and modeled but i had no plot reason to go into and did wander into the first time i was there (mostly i was like "how much does this look like the real hoover dam" and then realized i don't really remember enough about the particulars of the interior to judge that kdjhdkdhdkj).

also maybe im just too much of a bioware kid but i also think it was kinda weird to not have all the little guys you recruited there but shrug. (also i wanted to see the superfortress. WHERE IS IT) anyway i did independent ending bc OBVIOUSLY the ncr has problems and OBVIOUSLY my courier could do better. i mean she has already almost single handedly solved every personnel and supply chain issue the NCR was having. she will definitely TOTALLYYYY set up some sort of council of local factions as soon as she's done having some portion of the securitrons clean up all the fucking rubble laying around in freeside bc it's bothering me. WHY HASN'T ANYONE EVER SO MUCH AS SWEPT MCCARRAN AIRPORT TERMINAL. i bet everyone would be slightly less miserable if you could walk down the street without the threat of tripping on rubble and impaling yourself on rebar. sorry what. you want local governance. citizen. pick up that can. then we'll talk.

anyway idk handwaving not storming through the legate's camp to the main part of the fort to get caesar with the securitrons was kind of weird. i wanna kill. which means i also apparently i missed my chance in life to kill vulpes. SAD. but i got to order yes man to throw a guy off the hoover dam. AND HE DID. so that ruled. (the duality of courier: last week she saved your president from assassination. this week she went hmm. i see. and tossed your top general off a dam.) also im sure yes man installing some updates to become more assertive will definitely not cause any issues. it's fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine!!

ANYWAY despite all that i had a good time as evidenced by finishing it in the time i did oops. i had a good time. i actually didn't realize this game had a companion system i just thought it had a collection of pathetic men. which it does. but also i love having companions (although did get kind of tripped up on only being allowed to have one humanoid companion and one ed-e/rex. it was always ed-e btw bc rex was like continually under my feet im sorry boy.) i also travelled with boone for like 20 hours so it took me a while to realize like any other companion talks a lot more since im pretty sure stringing more than 3-5 words together causes him physical pain. i love that there's a scene for if you do give veronica a dress!!! i am still thinking about how hard arcade dissed me the first time i asked if he wanted to travel with my courier!!!!! i also asked if it could wait when i got his quest and he was like no actually im gonna keep talking and like. lmao. STILL DON'T KNOW WHAT THE ENCLAVE DOES I FEEL LIKE THE ANSWER IS JUST "GO PLAY FALLOUT 3"??? kind of like how visiting jacobstown was just "go play fallout 1 & or 2"

misc briefer thoughts ig:

WHY IS THERE A SNOWGLOBE IN SARAH'S VAULT 21 ROOM. HASN'T SHE LOST ENOUGH TO MR. HOUSE. i did not sell this snowglobe. please clap bc $$$.

loved exploring the vaults in that i hated exploring the vaults man. i think vault 11 wins for most fucked up and vault 34 wins for most times i thought "i fucking hate this" while i was there (but that's a personal problem bc feral ghouls. ueueuueueueueueue cries in a corner while arcade and ed-e shoot everything. nice moral dilemma at the end though. i saved the groundwater but oof. oughf.)

why do the options with dealing with the great khans suck so much lmaooo.... shoving ncr soldiers up against the wall for being like HA we showed theM CHASED THEM RIGHT OUT!! like girl no i told them to leave bc UR COMMANDING OFFICER SAID SHE'D USE THEM FOR CANON FODDER IF THEY ALLIED WITH THE NCR

also honestly same for all the dialogue about neslon bc sorry WHOOOOO kicked the legion out. bc it wasn't you guys it was boone and i doing a sidequest and then just going fuck it kill them all actually -

ok but speaking of NCR guys sorry to the misfits bc i did not have enough explosives to teach u how to explosives and then u all deserted and were hung. skill issue but sorry but skill issue -

because i had done all the vaults i. did finish most of the brotherhood quests ig and honestly was probably going to leave them alone except then i triggered veronica's quest and they wiped out that followers station so. hot take maybe you guys shouldn't have had like three terminals of kill everyone dead. also maybe don't preface yay we can leave again with thoughts on going at it with the ncr again imMEDIATELY what is wrong with you guys.

i feel like some other run im gonna go all in on punching and sneaking that sounds fun. or lead pipe run. i hope primm appreciated me liberating their big hotel in town and didn't think too hard about the piles of guys beat to death with a lead pipe.

the powder gangers and guys in vault 19 rly didn't do anything to me but if it will get me better epilogue slides. well i did get this gauss rifle too late in the game to really use it (ENERGY WEAPON SNIPER RIFLE. IDEAL WEAPON!!!)

i can't believe i have to pay $5 to experience mormons. actually is it even specifically mormon bible thumping or am i just assuming bc it's utah. anyway im gonna do it. but. lmao. (i was also surprised how much man on fire stuff was mentioned in the game proper since it is apparently dlc.)

is the ideal dlc order release order btw

[bylightofdawn]

This week's episode of the Mandalorian was really good. I kinda loved all of it. And I shall rant about it ad nauseam beneath the cut.

I loved the political nightmare that is Plazir-15 and it's a seemingly egalitarian and rarified society that is quite literally run on the backs of droids near enough to slave labor to be moralistically icky. And where apparently all the people who actually do all the work are sorta relegated to the underworld or out of sight which....that's a lot to unpack. Droids might not be 'slaves' but with the threat of literal destruction unless they work for the humans and do all the heavy lifting like their continued existence some kind of reward is.... -chef kiss- I'm also going to link to one of my FAVORITE Pop Culture Detective episodes about Star Wars droids and the inherent tragedy of them. I am not kidding when I say this one video completely changed my worldview on droids in Star Wars. Watch it here. Though really, all of their videos are insightful and interesting. You could not go wrong with any of their videos.

And the whole idle rich thing was about as subtle as a punch to the face but I loved it and the continued tension between Lizzo and Jack Blacks' characters. They are like that seemingly happy couple who puts on a good face when in public but behind closed doors, it's a shitshow. All the subtle digs they made at one another, I can't not believe that wasn't deliberate. So yeah they live in this bright and colorful seemingly perfect egalitarian society where no one has to work because their droid slave labor does all the hard work for them. And they can just while away their days doing whatever it is that the idle rich do. It definitely reads like an experimental poly-sci project that went horribly wrong and somehow morphed into an entire society. And since it's Bryce Dallas Howard I am 100% certain all of it was deliberate because she is a smart cookie and makes thoughtful and very deliberate choices in how she approaches her projects.

So yeah that was delightful.

EDIT: Also I love that I'm seeing completely different takes on Lizzo and Jack Black's characters and people are in love with them being the ooey-gooey lovebirds living in marital bliss. Which is completely valid and I can totally get behind that thinking as well. I love how people in this fandom can come up with a dozen different takes on one piece of canon and they can be so disparate. So yeah, feel free to change my mind on that couple, I'm down.

I just know Star Wars and happily ever after pairings are....yeaaaah not a thing for the most part. Thus my rather cynical take on things.

Uhhhh Axe Woves was very much giving me Jaster vibes at the beginning of the episode and I was so there for it at first. Though they kinda crash landed his character by having him go all only warriors of pure blood are allowed in my clique. Because Mandalorians have a GIANT tradition of adopting non-Mandalorians across ALL CANON. Both Legends and new canon.

Foundlings have been a huge part of their society pretty much since Mandalorians started getting canon so that was such a dissonate brown note for me. Also definitely felt very Death Watch-y and like he might as well have been Pre Vizsla pontificating.

So yeah, didn't love that. I did love that he and Bo threw down hard and that yes he will not hold back because she is a woman. Mandalorians respecting that women are just as capable as men and all genders are equal is what makes them so cool. I love that their very language is gender-neutral.

Of course, it kinda makes the fact that they have like gendered helmet styles for men and women a little weird in my book and I kinda lowkey hate that even though I know it's just for the aesthetics and it's not that deep. But I still hate it. LOL

The continued adventures of Din and Bo-Katan are fun, I enjoy they have vastly different worldviews and approach things from such different angles. Din with his suddenly remembered hate boner for droids was a little odd considering he was advocating for getting his bestie droid IG repaired and brought back online. Also did they COMPLETELY just forget about that entire plot point?

I mean I guess it could be viewed as Separatist droids malfunctioning triggering his childhood trauma and that's why he's suddenly back on the anti-droid wagon but it definitely felt very inconsistent with his character.

I know some people are shipping the hell out of Din and Bo-Katan, and I can totally see their POV. So this episode they feasted well and I'm happy for them. I'm kinda meh on the pairing myself but I would not turn down a good fanfic or fanart if it came across my path.

I also hope some glorious writer makes a 90K manifesto of Bo-Katan/Axe Woves, the trusted lieutenant turned bitter enemy because he thought he knew better than Bo with lots of streamy hate sex and other things. Cause I can definitely see that as well.

Even though I am still lowkey in the arguments can be made Bo is a lesbian and or bisexual and a hell of a wlw hot bisexual mess camp myself. Yes, she was with Pre Vizsla but if that work of a man isn't enough to make anyone swear off the entire gender, I don't know what to tell you.

I also kinda disliked the rather lazy-ass way they have Din hand over the darksaber to Bo. Like she earned it cause she got the drop on the person who got the drop on Din? Uhhhh okay. Maybe I, like the rest of us, was just excited for a Din goes through his Mand'alor arc and now feel cheated at such a lazy hand-wavey way they side-stepped that whole plot.

Though I can totally see him being all 'nope skip' to the idea of power. He just wants to bum around the galaxy with his Jedi son and who the fuck would WANT to try and run herd on a bunch of Mandalorians.? The most hard-headed, stubborn people perhaps in the galaxy who are prone to just splintering off and saying 'fuck you I'm taking my toys and going home' at the first sign of conflict.

Yeah Din is definitely too smart to want to get caught up in that goat fuck rodeo and would very much be all "'Nope, SKIP, fuck this shit I'm out"

I still don't think Bo-Katan has any right or ability to wield the darksaber or lead Mandalore is the problem. My trash queen has legitimately screwed that pooch what? Three times?

BUT SURELY THE FOURTH TIME IS THE CHARM, RIGHT???

One last thing I will rant about.

WHERE IS FENN RAU?? I WANT TO SEE FENN RAU.

If they can cast Christopher Lloyd as a geriatric Separatist sympathizer then gods damnit you can give us Fenn Rau.

Fucks sake JUST CAST KEVIN MCKIDD HE IS THE RIGHT AGE AT THIS POINT.

Okay I had a lot of thoughts and feelings about this week's episode. Sorry not sorry.