#i swear the originals have better quality but oh well

[glaasshouses]

Bad Omens at Bahnhof Pauli, Hamburg 04.02.2023

[bishonenspit]

international eroica fans are some of the most ungrateful fans of anything i have ever encountered i stg

[waitingonher]

percy jackson dating a child of apollo

characters: percy jackson

content warning: like one curse word

word count: 941

author's note: i accidentally deleted the original ask. oops. i'm also just gonna pretend that it didn't take me like four weeks to write this... (i am so sorry anon 😅)

you are—quite literally—the light of percy’s life! he’s never been more grateful for someone than you. even in his darkest moments, percy knows that he can always depend on you to show him the light. 

your guys’ personalities complement each other so well, it’s crazy. percy knows you like the back of his hand, and sometimes, it’s like he knows you better than you know yourself. 

his giving love languages are definitely physical touch and acts of service!! 

your boyfriend is ALWAYS touching you somehow. whether it be a hand on your lower back or his knee touching your knee, percy just likes to be close to you. it’s definitely a surefire way of telling everyone that you’re his! 

life as a demigod is certainly rough, so he’ll do everything in his power to make your day at least a teensy bit better. a few of things he’s done for you include maintenance for your instruments and/or bow & arrow, folding your laundry, and cleaning around your cabin, but the list could go on for miles!!

as you enter the dining pavilion for breakfast, you quickly spot percy who waves and beckons you over to his table.  “morning y/n,” he says, kissing your cheek as you sit next to him.  you smile, “hi percy! have you seen my bow? i can’t seem to find it and i have a class to teach later today.”  “oh yeah sorry babe, i have it,” he pauses to swallow his food, “i remember you were talking about needing to replace your bowstring, so i had will give it to me so i could fix it for you.”  almost knocking him off of the bench, you tackle percy into a tight hug, “aw thanks percy! you’re the best.”  he laughs at your sudden attack, “of course babe, happy to help.” 

as for his receiving love languages, percy loves physical touch and quality time. 

whether it be hanging out with you in the infirmary or trailing behind you as you teach an archery class, he values every minute spent with you. 

he’d even clean the entire amphitheater with you without making any complaints. i swear, this boy is so head over heels for you. 

percy loves, loves, LOVES when you include him in your favorite hobbies/activities. even if he isn’t very good at it, he’ll always try his best, because he knows that doing so makes you happy. and percy would do anything to see you happy. 

he doesn’t even mind when you chide him for messing up because the way you smile and laugh at him has him in a chokehold. 

percy remembers all of the little things!! it could be the tiniest detail ever, like which brand of paint brushes you prefer to use, and he’d store it away in his mental “y/n folder.” 

as you organize your bow into its rightful spot on the rack, you feel your boyfriend pull you into a back hug, planting chaste kisses on your cheek, “hi babe, done with your training?”  “yes percy, but i’m all sweaty!” you laugh, trying to escape his grip.  he simply chuckles, “i don’t care, i missed you today.”  you turn around to face him with an amused look, “we ate breakfast together?” percy merely shrugs in response before grabbing your hand, “anyways, come with me, i’ve got a surprise for you.”   “oh? what is it perce?” you question.  he chuckles, “you’ll see.”  minutes later, you and percy reach the entrance of his cabin. he swiftly goes inside and returns, holding the gift behind his back, “okay, give me your hands and close your eyes.” closing your eyes, you hold out your hands, “is it keys to a brand new car?” you gasp, “or is it a snake? because i’m actually gonna kill you if it is.” percy laughs before placing the object in your hands, “you can open your eyes now. it’s honestly not much, but you mentioned something about liking this brand before.”  at that, you open your eyes to see a new set of your favorite paints, “holy shit percy! are you serious? when’d you even have the time to get these?”  he grins, “last week. i was in the city for a tiny errand chiron gave me.”  “gods, you’re amazing, i love you,” you say, pulling percy into a kiss.  percy pulls away with a lopsided smile spreading across his face, “how many more paint sets will i have to buy you in order for you to kiss me like that again?”  “as of now, none,” you respond, leaning in for yet another kiss. 

for the longest time, you and percy have had this weird ongoing thing where you two will try to come up with the weirdest pet names for each other. 

percy will come up to you and greet you with a casual “hi pookie dookie pie, how’s it going?” 

or you’ll address him as “sweet cookie sugar face” because he was eating one of sally’s cookies. 

everyone is so confused because they don’t know that it’s been an ongoing joke between you guys. 

“good morning honey bunny boo bear! how’d you sleep?” you ask your boyfriend.  percy holds back a laugh, “morning, i slept very well. and how’d you sleep, snookums?”  out the corner of your eyes, you spot leo and piper looking at each other, eyes wide and their jaws on the floor.  “i’m gonna barf,” they say simultaneously, both slapping a hand over their mouths.  you and percy stifle your laughter before putting on a serious face, “you guys wouldn’t get it.” 

gods you two are the cutest thing ever!

[toodleoorblx]

**SPOILERS AHEAD BEWARE**

Agatha All Along just came out, heres what I think about it.

So, starting off with the cinematic factors of it, I loved it. it was exactly what I was expecting, nothing less. I was very surprised with the plot though. It was so so funny, I had watched it with one of my friends and she loved it as well. Props to all who were apart of Agatha all along. The references of witchy movies, like the trap door and Snow White? I loved that Easter egg, I probably sound crazy but I swear it’s there.

I loved how dramatic Agatha was, her sarcasm, her impaticnce, her wickedness, spot on, even her haterd for Wanda. Agatha has lots of emotions, as much as I can tell. She just conceals them so much. She looks conflicted and angry when she sees Rio, she seems playful and antagonizing with Jen, laid back with Lilia, dismissive with Alice, impatient with Ms. Davis, and genuinely irritated and annoyed with Teen. She seems much more open on the show, less… distant and cruel? Maybe it’s the many many fics I’ve read that’s clouding my judgement but I was surprised to say the least. But it wasn’t a bad one. I love Agatha in this, there’s so much to tell about her her life, and I’m hyped to find out what’s up.

(Side note, one of my predictions was right! Rio's magic is in fact not something that can be taken. That was one of the few predictions I had made, and I'm so glad that that little detail was right.)

And Rio?! Oh my goodness, she's just as cryptc and lore filled as I imagined her. Her harshness with an underlined gentleness is killing me! And her licking Agatha’s hand better? Oh my that had me in a chokehold, so many golden ideas portrayed beautifully. And I have reason to believe that Agatha sacrificed Nicholas. The first sign is the childhood bedroom from episode one, Agnes being upset about it, two, the jab that Jen made, and three, when Rio mentioned the Darkhold, and its darkness, theres definitely some lore there, and I think it’s something that Agatha caused. Also does anyone have any clues as to what Rio says when she makes her dramatic exits? I only know some Spanish, but I’m not fluent 😭

Anywho, let’s talk about Teen. So when I first saw him I was fairly surprised. I didn’t expect him to try and steal something, nor did I know that it was an illusion of some sort? Maybe? Whatever it was, I know that Teen is not to be underestimated. He has some powerful qualities, even if it’s not as flashy as Agatha or Wanda’s. I love his perkiness and how he’s just happy to be there, even if it is as Agatha’s ‘pet’.

My next victim is Lilia. I had originally thought that she couldn’t use her magic or, predictions freely, only when vision came. But I was happily wrong. I don’t think she can use it whenever though. I love her style as well, such a level of grace and colorfulness really brings her character together. Patti did a fantastic job of portraying someone as kooky as Lilia.

Now we have Jen. I knew that they had some history because if something Kathryn had said on an interview, but I don’t think it was a lot. But clearly something went down to make Jen have a level of hatred towards her. But besides that, I get aesthetic, the pinks, the candles, the jewelry? It’s all so beautiful, I especially loved the septum piercing. It was a cute touch. Anyways, moving on from that, Agatha had mentioned that Jennifer is magic bound because of some curse? I wonder what that’s about. Over all, I adore Jen’s personality, I love how she knows what she’s worth and that she seems to always know what to say. She’s very confident of herself which is something I live to see. And I can see how Jen’s sarcasm and Agatha’s sarcasm may clash from time to time.

Moving on, we have Alice to discuss. Now I have written a little about how I portrayed her in my fic Natural Order, and I think I got her pretty well. I surprised myself I’m gonna be honest. I was half expecting her to be the exact opposite, but that’s a happy accident I guess. Anywho, I love her style as well, I wish we got to see more if the ship she had formally worked at, it was such a cozy and spooky place, I wouldn’t mind working there myself. The designers outdid themselves truly. Alice is very dismissive, and is always one step ahead, I love that about her (so far). She seems to be pretty laid back, while also being very vigilant as well.

Lastly, but certainly not least, Ms. Davis. I find her absolutely darling, she was so sweet and I had a good laugh when she came on screen. I love her obliviousness and utter happiness to be included, similar to Teen in that way. I hope she sticks around, u trying so, there’s not a bone in my body that doesn’t like her, she’s such a good ‘temporary’ addition to the coven.

The Salem seven seem to be like… the witch police? Maybe? I’m excited to see more of them.

Honorable mention: Senor Scratchy serving as always.🫡

A little treat I took:

(Also, height difference??!!! Loved that shot.)

[cjgladback]

And that's a wrap! On the first 100 grams of this oyster-colored Wool of the Andes roving. I'm very happy as my yarn quality and understanding continue improving; definitely getting to those consistent thin yarns I wanted. The green skein is absolutely the favored child, but I swear it is actually better than everything else, not just green. Which gives me some hope for all the wool I intend to card, actually.

My rambles got extra long, as were the image descriptions, so please enjoy this cut:

I wanted to test blending fibers with the same staple length before I get into more complicated things with the fiber festival fleeces (I am still slowly accumulating what I need to wash and dry them) and was honestly a little worried about how disorganized and snaggy it felt to card and draft, both. But my oh my that squishy, soft, wonderful yarn. I'm gonna keep trying to emulate it, though I still love the organization of just spinning nice long semi-compact roving. Versus even once I get a diz aka drill a hole in my designated piece of curved laminated cardboard, I expect carded sliver to be loose and fall apart if I do things like wrap it around my wrist as a proto-distaff. For the green yarn, I tried making kinda loose sideways rolags that I both compacted and drafted the tiniest bit so they could be wrapped into nests.

So! Mayhaps I should try carding something that isn't already organized. Like the little bit of very lanolin-laden wool that was packed with the e-spinner (EEW Nano, original flavor) I recently acquired from a thrift store. And maybe I won't want to wash all the lanolin out and lose the learning experience if I also blend it with other, clean fiber. Perhaps if I cannibalize the first skein here...? Good thing I never fulled it after all!

The above is not actually the train of thought that lead me to wanting to combine those two; I'm just realizing that there are basically no projects that I want to do that would actually use that yarn as is, and I'm already planning my limit of small and patchwork projects for other things. One is that I'm planning to put together all of these oyster skeins into maybe a hat? to commemorate my improving spinning skills, maybe with lace for the underplied and color work for the green, and I already have my actual first spin in a scarf so I don't feel too beholden to preserve this. I really like textured knitting that needs even, solid or slow-transition, thin yarn, whereas this wild and lumpy almost-twenty-feet would maybe work for someone who did tapestries? But that is not me. And I think if I calm down and maybe tweed up the bright colors I'll enjoy them more, as well. So. These may be the last photos of the yarn in its current state.

Whether that's my next project or if I try to get some mileage on the Nano with the next bundle of oyster, I'm not sure. I'm already missing my fidget activity after just a couple days of washing and drying the last skein, but I also wanted to design some bookmarks with the clearance yarn I got at the same time as the roving. So if I can get a prototype pattern laid out so it's not as much ongoing brain power, that might fit the bill.

[ID: Three images of various small hanks and balls of yarn laying on a wood table with notes digitally hand-written in light purple around them.

The first photo shows all eight of the skeins in the order they were spun, all but two a light cream color. The first is a chunky, uneven skein spun from a bright purple, pink, and orange gradient, labeled "chain ply" and 6.6 yards. Next is a cream center-pull ball that is 36.25 yards, and next to it a smaller, more even center-pull ball of 22.5 yards, perhaps 21 wraps per inch. Next is a forest green skein, labeled "hand carded," 49 yards, balanced and soft! Next are two cream skeins that were "underplied and broke," 116 plus 33 yards, 30 wraps per inch. The penultimate skein is longer than the rest (having been wound around more than one chair back) and 158.25 yards. The final skein is labeled "intentionally thicker to pair with green," and 99.75 yards.

The second photo compares the green and final skeins, with winding notes starting with a cloud of hearts by the green. It is a "50/50 blend of Oyster and Aurora roving colors on handcarders," and "took no notes so of course it's balanced, soft, and sturdy." Its cream counterpart has a smoother surface, more even thickness, and is slightly more tightly plied, with the note "didn't card but made an effort to match on ply back tests -- decent weight, almost balanced, not soft" (flat-mouthed face).

The third image compares the first and last skeins, the first labeled as 23 grams of gifted cheviot or shropshire, chain plied from ball with core, for a total of 6.6 yards. The latest is 24 grams of clearance peruvian highland, plied via book-wrapped bracelet into a two-strand ball, totalling 99.75 yards. End ID]

[inkblackorchid]

Hit me with your favorite 5Ds headcanons 👀

Okay so I’ve used/alluded to some of these in my fics already, but that’s just because I love them that much (also it was really hard deciding which are my favourite headcanons):

Crow swears the most out of the boys, but has an almost supernatural ability to completely shut his swearing off the second children are around (unless he’s really flustered)

Though I’ve kinda hinted at something like it before, Jack isn’t actually the worst cook at the Poppo Time. Bruno is. Because Jack knows what good food is supposed to taste like (having been a star duellist for a while and all) and can reasonably guess how to approximate those flavours—he just doesn’t cook because he doesn’t have the patience to learn any technique whatsoever (or clean up after himself when he’s done). Meanwhile, Bruno just can’t cook. Straight up. It’s not a matter of wanting or not wanting to, if you try tasking this man with anything more difficult than preparing cup ramen he will burn something. Guaranteed.

Bruno and Yusei don’t have the same mechanical skillset. Bruno is almost 100% specialised only to runners, and at that, he’s slightly better than Yusei. But Yusei’s advantage is that he knows how to fix almost everything else (provided it’s mechanical and/or electronic), too.

All three of the Satellite boys actually know how to sew a bit. Martha taught them how to mend their own clothes. The quality of their seams varies (Crow’s are the neatest because he got a lot of practice from mending his kids’ stuff, too), but they all know how to sew tears shut and mend holes.

Aki isn’t as good a gardener as one would believe with her plant theme. She likes gardening a great deal, but doesn’t have a lot of experience outside of house plants. So she could decently keep a garden alive, but would never be able to maintain something like, say, a bonsai collection or a bed of prize roses, despite her love for the activity.

I’ve written a whole post about this already, but I still adore it, so: Satellite natives, post reunion with the city, are the bane of brand phone store workers’ existence. They want everything fixed, not replaced, and trying to explain to them why that would be too complicated (whether contrived or not) usually results in them not paying a single cent and going something like “oh, forget it, I’ll just give it to the neighbour’s boy, he’ll take care of this”. This includes Yusei, who usually just ends up fixing his own stuff, and especially Crow, who has already nearly gotten in a fistfight with some tech company’s store manager upon hearing the supposed price of a repair/replacement on more than one occasion before. (He obviously just ends up handing his stuff over to Yusei, too, in the end.)

Maybe my favourite headcanon: As TCG fans know, the manga versions of the signer dragons were printed as the duel dragons. In-universe, I imagine the duel dragons were also printed—as commercial, publicly available retrains of the signer dragons, who are supposed to be one of a kind in canon. (I also use this headcanon to justify why the signers have support cards tailored specifically to their dragons—they were printed to go with the duel dragons in-universe, but allow usage with the original signer dragons as well.)

Rua/Leo isn’t actually that bad at school. He’s just not very disciplined when it comes to studying because he’d rather keep polishing up his deck.

Ruka/Luna owns several duel monsters plushies. Her favourite is, of course, her Kuribon plushie.

Carly is really good at clocking people’s vibes and figuring out their character quickly. The caveat is that this only works when she meets them face to face.

[rei-does-stuff]

Any more episodes you’ve watch of the dub yet?

Squirrel and hedgehog dub ep 4 lets gooooo

-Okay ik I said I liked this track but can you please stop playing it USE SOMETHING ELSE

-The difference in mic quality is staggering,,,

-“If slavery was good enough for the pharaoh its good enough for me” HUH??? WHAT???? That is such an insane line…

-Im still mad they made my gay squirrel brothers….I’m so sorry Jul and Geum you do not deserve this </3

-I still cant keep track of the names…

-Do they not have any other tracks….Did they only make like 3 tracks…Oh god, what are they gonna do for the song segments…Please tell me they get more music, PLEASE

-Btw I don’t hate them being brothers just bc I ship em, but bc I feel like their dynamic doesn’t work as well as siblings, ignoring Bamsaegi since he isn’t in this version but what makes Jul and Geum interesting is their very close relationship they’re VERY close comrades, and them being close just because they’re from flower hill and NOT because they’re related I feel like strengthens the whole message of the original show, regardless on your thoughts of said theme

-STOP SHOUTING THEYLL HEAR YOU !!

-I swear they’ll play this track in hell and I’ll have to listen to it for all eternity and go insane

-Dan Green better have gotten paid well for this, Yami Yugi is the king of all games INCLUDING war

-Saimo and Samo are such shit names btw

-I’m surprised they didn’t change the Korean to English

-Can someone good at Morse Code translate what the code in these eps are saying…Im curious

-I’m pretty sure the story is different in this ep…Why? What is the point?

-ZORK?? YUGIOH???

-Why are they yelling all their lines??? YOU WILL BE FOUND OUT

-It has this sort of flashing effect, probably from the film and it’s making my headache worse

-God this moment would be so good if they WERENT BROTHERS, “You’re the best friend Ive ever had, I truly expect for you and I to grow old together and maybe go into a little business for ourselves” YOU DONT SAY THAT TO YOUR BROTHER EVEN CENSORED THEY CANT HELP BIT BE GAY ITS DIC!HARUMICHI ALL OVER AGAIN….God I need to rewatch the original, after this perhaps?

-It is interesting to see them reacting to a potential Defector, but this is NOT how Jul would react to one in the slightest

-Oh yea everything is too yellow but you already know that

-God Jul is annoying in this…Not my gay Squirrel boy at all…

-Okay read them.” Ha, some of the lines can be a little funny, unintentionally

-THEY JUST CUT TO THE CREDITS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FIGHT WHAT

That was insane and bad but oh my god this just reminds me I should rewatch the og after this lol

[pastelpaperplanes]

Howdy! I’ve been following you for 2 or 3 years (started on Instagram then moved here) and your art is always so crisp and clean. Have any secrets to share on how to post pieces at such high quality? I use procreate too but you’ve seemed to mastered it.

THATS SO LONG OMG HIIII ty ty for all the support 😭🙏💕💕 you must be one of the OGs!

and oh boy what a compliment haha, I’ve definitely learned a thing of two over the years but I swear I am still learning new tricks everyday 😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫

happy to help 😤💪✨first and foremost, I think the most important part of getting your art to look less pixelated boils down to what canvas size you’re using! I do my best to finish my canvases off at 1400x1400 at the very minimum! The larger it is, the more smooth the piece looks—but as of course the larger it is, the less layers you’re able to add :/ I do wish procreate allowed for a greater range but oh well, do your best to keep those layers organized so you can mash em down later✨

I almost always start off each piece using the built-in Screen Size canvas option when starting a new piece (I don’t even toggle with the DPI, which if I remember correctly, is just set to 150 for that canvas) and then I adjust the sizing as needed

here’s a few finishing touches I like to give my pieces to make them look more crisp!

Another thing to note! Take advantage of the noise brush and the noise effect Procreate has! (Noise effect is found under the Magic Wand tool and I believe that the brush lives originally in the pre-set Materials brush pack) Just a bit of noise added to your background can often help the characters stand out from it as well 👍✨

Also! I’ve recently started shading things like the soft curves of muscle or rounded parts of metal using the noise brush to erase to make things look more blended/add some variation to my cel shading

There’s still tons of things I want to try out on procreate as well! I think that for as cheap of an app as it is, there’s a lot of potential to be unlocked and it’s just a matter of finding the right people to show you some tricks

I’ll link a few tiktoks as well that could help out or just add some fun tricks to the art process oml they’re sm better at explaining/showing than I ever could!!

Double Compliments coloring

Art Window Effect

Procreate Gradient Maps in Action

Procreate Perspective Grids

[stardew-atlantis]

Comfort - (Harvey/F!Farmer Oneshot)

(Art by @jellyaris ^_^) (Click for better quality)

I'm back with another fluffy oneshot! Last time the art was based on the fic but this time the fic was based on the art!

Summary: Harvey needs some comfort after a long day.

Word Count: 790

Warnings: improper soup practices, lmk

Now on Ao3!

------------------------------------

"Hi honey," Harvey said, as he stepped into the bedroom after a frustratingly tedious day at the clinic.

SJ was sitting on top of the covers, typing away into her laptop. She looked up and smiled the moment she saw him. "Hey. How was your day?" she asked.

Harvey tried his best not to roll his eyes, instead offering a disgruntled sigh, preparing to tell her that he didn't exactly have the best day, and he did not want to talk about it.

"Uh oh." she teased. "That great, huh?" she said, sarcastically.

"Am I really that obvious?" he asked.

"Afraid so." SJ smirked, waving him over. "C'mere."

Harvey crossed the room to SJ's side of the bed as she slid her laptop forward to make room. When she rose to her knees, now at eye-level with him, he slipped his hands around her back, holding her close as she rested her hands on his chest.

SJ leaned in for a quick kiss, before asking, "You wanna talk about it?"

Maybe it was the slight concern in her expression, or maybe it was just because he was frustrated after stewing in his own thoughts for the majority of his walk home, but Harvey found that he actually did want to talk about it.

"Today's just been a nightmare." he began. "I told Lewis not to let Gus pack up the potluck soup, but he wouldn't listen to me."

At the Luau the day before, Harvey tried his best to warn the mayor that the scorching summer heat wouldn't be enough to keep the soup fresh all day long. At the end of the festival, Lewis suggested packing up the leftovers to serve at the saloon the next day. When Harvey pointed out that the meat in the soup could likely make people sick from how long it had been sitting out in the sun, he was met with condescending laughter.

"Eight walk-ins, three scheduled follow-up appointments and at least four cases of food poisoning, that I know of." he continued.

SJ reached for the knot of his tie, loosening it as he talked.

"I swear, the next time- what are you doing?" he asked, realizing she had untied it, and gently tugged at one side to remove it completely.

"Go on," she prompted, carefully unbuttoning the top buttons of his shirt. "I'm listening."

"I... okay. Where was I?" he asked, trying to get back to his original train of thought.

"Next time?" she reminded him.

"Right. Next time Lewis tries to undermine me like that again, I swear I'll have that soup marked as a health-code violation."

"You should. It's disgusting." SJ added, sitting back down, leaning against her propped up pillow. "Come, sit." she said, patting the space on the bed beside her.

The moment she suggested it, Harvey suddenly felt the exhaustion catching up with him, the ache in his legs and back reminding him that he hadn't sat down in hours.

Nodding, he circled the bed to sit down on his side. "I just don't know why he constantly feels the need to prove how paranoid he thinks I am."

SJ reached out for the green blanket at the edge of their bed, draping it over his legs.

"I'm not being overly cautious. He's just lucky it wasn't something contagious like salmonella."

SJ crawled over to sit behind him. She placed a hand on his shoulder, guiding him to lay down. He paused his ranting for a moment, slightly confused.

"Comfy?" she asked.

"Well, yes." Harvey had gone from feeling tense and frustrated about work, to being cradled against his farmer's chest, tucked in between her legs. Already, he could feel his stress melting away. "This... this is very nice."

"Good. I'm glad."

When SJ reached up to gently card her fingers through his hair, draping her other arm across his chest, Harvey didn't even need to ask if he could keep talking about his day. He knew she wouldn't mind.

Harvey sighed. "Do you think I'm too paranoid?"

He felt the rumble of laughter in her chest. "In general, yes, but not about this. It's not worth getting everyone sick just for the sake of saving some old soup."

"Exactly!" he exclaimed, before tamping down his quickly returning anger. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to bother you with this."

SJ carefully turned his head to look at her, gracing him with a soft smile. "Do I look bothered right now?"

"Not at all... What was that thing you said to me? Today's just been a string of bad stuff, but at least I have you?" he said, with a crooked smile.

SJ smiled brighter in reply, pressing her lips to his forehead. "You always have me."

[animehouse-moe]

Oshi No Ko Episode 1: Overhyped To The Moon, Or, Crucifying An Adaptation

A release schedule that's had the first episode in the works for a month in the making. Ninety minutes of content to start. An Akasaka story. This first episode, and its subsequent reaction, is like throwing a dud of a bomb and everybody pretending that it went off. But why? Well, even though I'm a fan of Akasaka's work, and even if I suggested the license to various publishers through their suggestion channels, I feel like an explanation is owed to the overhyped mess that appeared today.

A Nine Point Three Six on MAL. You know, the website where FMA:B reigns supreme and anything that challenges it is review bombed into oblivion? The site where the next highest rated anime is at a 9.11? Yeah, that MAL.

This is Doga Kobo's highest rated series, by Over One Point Three points. That's the Akasaka Difference™, and it's insane.

Let me dispel any preconceptions you might have about it. It is nowhere near that number. It's nowhere near A-1's adaptation of Love Is War. Oshi No Ko does have an interesting, if not abrasive, story for its first episode. But that can't carry it that high. It's story can't get rid of the limitations that Doga Kobo has, it can't get rid of flaky and flat direction, it can't get rid of shallow work that relies on the individual.

So, allow me to paint a more accurate picture of this first episode, starting at the bottom. Doga Kobo is... a studio. Not a particularly outstanding one, and one that hasn't had any "big" titles in its repertoire for a long time now. Arguably, their most memorable titles such as Plastic Memories, which are the poster children of the studio, are well out of their prime now. The majority of their higher rated series are 5 or even 10+ years old now. Stuff like Yuru Yuri, stuff like Nozaki-Kun, stuff like... stuff like. Would you consider New Game? Or Gabriel Dropout? I guess really, they only have Plastic Memories for the average anime fan.

They're not a studio that you entrust with big projects or names. Not that they can't deliver adaptations that make full use of and more of their source material like Nozaki-Kun, but that was almost a decade ago now. It's been over a year since Doga Kobo had an anime that was over a 7 in score, and I'd be surprised if their average score for the last 5 years could punch above a 7.3 (side note: excluding Oshi No Ko, it can't. It doesn't even break 7, it sits at 6.99).

Alright alright I swear on my life this is the last piece of Doga Kobo/OnK slander before I start getting to the episode itself. That would be the director. A career Doga Kobo in-house man, Hiramaki Daisuke has had forays into other studios for an episode or two and even some storyboarding, but has stayed close to home for his biggest projects. You know, big works like An Angel Flew Down To Me, or Selection Project (which is another Idol Anime), or Koisuru Asteroid... Also, you might be wondering, "Why is the direction so bad at times, and so much better at others?". Well, to the astute and curious people out there that had the same thoughts as me, it's because there's Five people credited with episode direction for it. So, odds are you're picking up on the direction changes that are of issue with the episode. I'd have to find proper time frames and everything to give real answers, but I'd say there's probably two episode directors in this first episode that offer solid direction. Anyways, point made, moving on.

The first half is painful. At a glance you might think "oh this isn't too bad", but when you get into it, in a single sitting, it's hard to get through. The direction and delivery is incredibly flat, and it relies totally on the energy that the quality VAs bring in.

It's a lot of single character and focus frames that suck any originality or uniqueness from the content, and causes it to feel like it's just droning on as we suffer an onslaught of dialogue that's ill-equipped to match the visuals.

I could pull hundreds of these layouts from the first half of the episode alone. Conversation bounces back and forth between incredibly static characters, closeups that can hide detail, and any number of other tricks. Of course, it's not that it's all terrible or lazy, but that the overwhelming direction is of this lazy and flat nature.

And this is where the core issue arises. As a visual adaptation, it's plain rough. The character designs are alright, if not a pretty big overgeneralization of the art of Oshi No Ko, and the art is solid enough, but it has nothing to give itself a leg to stand on. The direction is limp, the animation only in bursts, and the whole appeal is almost nonexistent to the manga.

They use transitions rather than animation or more creative cuts, they reserve everything for a few moments in the episode, it's just something that can't hold a candle to what the manga can do with its medium.

Just look at this stunning animation. Doesn't it just scream quality work? I wish I could give more examples (I could find a good few if I wanted to slog through 90 minutes again), but Doga Kobo is crafty with it. They very rarely show full characters in motion, and hardly is there more than one person moving in a scene.

I've said it a lot, but it really is just bad enough that I have to say it a few times. I wouldn't have to, if people were to take it at face value, but as it closes in on a 9.5 on MAL it's impossible to separate.

Now, I wouldn't say that all of it is bad. The second half of the episode seems to pick up on the fact that it's meant to do something, but that thought only appears... about 35% of the time.

Thankfully, that 35% appears awfully close to each other, and we get stuff like Ai's Idol scenes. They're well choreographed, and incredibly well animated compared to the rest of the episode. It's fluid, it's creative, and there's lots of moving parts to it. I just wish there was more of that quality in the rest of the episode.

Truthfully I think it's a good example of where the talent and ability comes from in the episode. The idol part has a measuring stick. You can find similar direction in real idol performances, and the flair/impact frames are found later on in the episode (most likely from the same animator).

What I can say at the end of it all, is that this clip is as good as it gets, by a pretty large margin. The direction adds emotion to the clip, the animation heightens it, and the anime original aspect of the music and choreography is the icing on the cake. But in reality? I'd say it's good. Not great, not outstanding, and certainly not worth its outrageous score on MAL.

Oshi No Ko has good pieces, but not a good whole. You can take parts of it out and say "yeah, I think the layout for this scene is really solid and makes use of the full frame afforded by an anime vs a manga panel", but you don't watch an anime in pieces, you watch it as an episode, a total experience. So yeah, you'll get some nice pieces like below, but you're trading off everything I've already talked about and then some for it.

Is it really worth it? Is it really worth that insane score that lords it over other entries this season like Heavenly Delusion, Demon Slayer, Hells Paradise, Skip and Loafer, MahoYome or GWitch? I think the obvious answer is no. Akasaka's story certainly has charm and talent within, but as an adaptation, I really had no interest in most of everything that Doga Kobo gave it, especially considering that they dropped content from the first volume still.

[ladysunamireads]

What do I do when my coworker and I need to fake marry for a case and I'm sort of in love with him maybe??

search Mobgle: what do I do when my coworker and I need to fake marry for a case and I'm sort of in love with him maybe?? by jared kleinmans left foot

Please, Aliens, Tome prays to the skies above. Please make them fall in love, it would be so funny.

- A.K.A, a wedding parlour owner needs Spirits and Such to help her draw out a spirit that's been wrecking her weddings, and an unfortunate series of events ends in Serizawa and Reigen getting fake-married. Updates sporadic. I'm not a writer.

Words: 9315, Chapters: 5/?, Language: English

Fandoms: モブサイコ100 | Mob Psycho 100

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: M/M

Characters: Kurata Tome, Kageyama "Mob" Shigeo, Reigen Arataka, Serizawa Katsuya, Suzuki Shou, Original Characters, Dimple, Reigen Arataka's Parents, Reigen Arataka's Sister

Relationships: Reigen Arataka/Serizawa Katsuya, Minor or Background Relationship(s), Hanazawa Teruki/Kageyama "Mob" Shigeo

Additional Tags: Fake/Pretend Relationship, Fake Marriage, Good Person Reigen Arataka, serirei get fake married for a case, based off that one fanart from a few months ago where reigen is a bride, Slow Burn, really fucking slow burn, LIKE SUUUUPER SLOW, Mutual Pining, Friends to Lovers, Fluff, Angst, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Overuse of italics, english is not my first language, Post-Canon, Canon Compliant, Case Fic, Rated for swearing, oh and I think Reigen and Seri get shitfaced drunk too, gratuitous use of honorifics, POV Alternating, no beta we die like reigen arataka, Not even proofread tbh, i have so much fucking homework to do, so sorry for the writing quality, Lesbian Kurata Tome, even if I don't mention it explicitly it is the truth, Dialogue Heavy, Romantic Comedy, love me some romcoms, divorced reigen arataka, well technically-, spoilers sorry im zipping my mouth, read to find out, passing references to:, Gyakuten Saiban 1 | Ace Attorney, and, Better Call Saul, for the funny, Sexuality Crisis, discovering one's sexuality, aka reigen goes insane because he realises that serizawa would make a crazy good husband, Reigen Arataka-centric, Serizawa Katsuya-centric

Read Here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/43854225

[fantasywriter19]

Memorable Mother's Day

@hp-12monthsofmagic

Another submission for the "Life's a Witch" theme of the month. When I found out Mother's Day in the UK is in March, this scene wouldn't leave me alone. <3

03/13/1988 7:33 AM Boulder, Colorado, USA

Orele could swear she had never been so tired.

Her alarm had already gone off on its stand across the room but, since she woke up to find herself alone in bed, she wordlessly snapped her fingers to turn it off.

It was only a Sunday, but she had generally prided herself on being up before the two other occupants of the house. It was both a duty and curse… that she just didn’t have the energy for at that moment.

Her own mother used to always say what a blessing it was to raise her and her brother. However, Mrs. Olivia Ollivander never had a daughter spawned from a feared Dark wizard.

From the moment she could talk, Melody had been brilliant — her mental capacity a good ten paces ahead of other children her age.

Orele had originally assumed this would work in her favor, that Melody would be — for lack of a better word — more civilized than her biological father ever could have been.

How wrong she was.

It began with kindergarten, being called to the teacher’s classroom because Melody would openly state how other students had a lack of intelligence for not being able to solve their classwork as well as she could.

Orele first attributed it to the fact that five year olds were generally blunt with honesty, where they didn’t yet understand how the truth hurts sometimes, and that it could even be the case for a prodigy such as herself. So she had a small discussion with her about keeping her opinions to herself, and thought that would be the end of it.

Only it wasn’t. Melody continued, getting worse with every following week that she just couldn’t bear holding in her judgments. Orele had been called up to the elementary school at least fifty times more than her own parents had been called to Hogwarts. And that said a lot because it only happened twice.

For her current school year in second grade, Orele had been called in much less — for which she was beyond grateful — but it didn’t make the visits any less taxing. She still had to walk in every week or every other week, and deal with the messes her daughter created with just words. Words.

Even worse was trying to keep it all from her Muggle husband, who she was sure would question where ‘their daughter’ got such an extreme superiority complex.

Of course, she also wasn’t entirely sure he’d overthink it anyway. Considering the only qualities Melody took from Orele were her silvery gray eyes and fair skin… and her straight brown hair could really be attributed to either one of them despite Orele’s being curly. Other than those, her physical features shared no similarities. Her nose was too small and her chin was too short.

The differences were so noticeable — at least to her — that she felt she would have at least attempted to question it if she were in Jim’s shoes. But she wasn’t. He never said anything, and she didn’t have the affinity for Legilimency to figure it out.

Not that she was complaining about his obliviousness, however. Everything was hard, but that side of him definitely made it all simpler than it could have been. Only problem was that all of it sometimes made her wish she hadn’t decided to handle it all alone.

Oh, Tom… she pined thoughtfully, draping her arm over her eyes… if only things could have been different.

The sound of the door creaking open did nothing to make her get out of her slump, but the aroma of bacon, eggs and coffee did.

She sat up quickly, dropping her arm to her side only to be astounded by the sight of Melody walking in, dwarfed by the size of the platter in her arms. Jim followed directly behind her, bent over at the ready in case she was ever on the verge of dropping everything.

“Morning, Love,” he said affectionately.

“What’s all this?” she asked, staring open-mouthed between the two of them. It wasn’t often she could be surprised, and this occasion took the cake.

Jim helped Melody lift the tray onto the bed, holding onto it while she jumped up and finished the job of setting it over Orele’s lap. Orele eyed the look of concentration on her little girl’s face as she did so, mentally comparing it to Tom’s — though, admittedly, it didn’t count for much considering how mangled his appearance had become by the time she met him — Melody definitely had his face, and yet…. Orele had never seen that expression on either one of them before.

With the tray before her, she saw the amount of effort they had put into it. On the plate were two lopsided sunny-side up eggs, a small sausage patty for the nose and strips of bacon set up to look like a curved smile. In a small mug with red heart designs was a cup of coffee which — now that it was directly in front of her — had a hint of vanilla added to its scent.

Orele didn’t even realize her mouth was open, but she swiftly shut it to glance expectantly at the two of them. Her question still remained unanswered.

“Go on, Sweetheart,” Jim nudged Melody reassuringly. “Tell her your idea.”

“Idea?” Orele repeated with wide eyes.

With a shrug, Melody’s eyes were trained on the tray between them as she explained, “I’ve — uhm — been seeing you look so exhausted lately, so I did some research.”

A small smile escaped Orele at Melody’s admittance that she felt the need to look up a way to help her feel better. With the unexpected care that she’d put into planning for this morning, getting up earlier than she ever cared to, Orele’s morning was brightening up already.

“And… according to some studies, exhaustion can be cured with appreciation… so I asked dad for help.”

Jim nodded vigorously beside the bed, his grin showing just how much pride he took in Melody’s need for his assistance.

“As for the right timing, I also found out today is Mother’s Day in the UK. I figure it’s better to celebrate now — besides, May is my month.”

Orele laughed, thankful for the little joke so the burning sensation at the corners of her eyes could go away.

Spurred on by her laugh, Melody smiled and looked up at her. “So happy mother’s day.”

Reaching forward, Orele latched onto her hand, mouthing the words “thank you” when her voice failed her.

Jim sat down at the edge of the bed, “What’s the other thing we talked about, Sweetheart?”

“Oh, right,” Melody shook her head jarringly. “I’m suppose to say how much we lo —”

“— Uh uh,” Jim interrupted, “that’s not what we discussed. It’s only supposed to come from you — not ‘we.’”

“But —!”

“No. I can say it just fine on my own. This is your gift coming from you. Do it for your beautiful mother.” Jim smiled apologetically at Orele, giving a small wink. “You’d swear we have a teenager instead of a seven year old.”

Melody rolled her eyes, “Come on, I’m only two months away from turning eight. I think we’re past calling me seven.”

“Noted,” he replied humorously. “Now, no more stalling. It’s time to top your gift off with a sweet cherry.”

While Melody pouted over her failed attempt at changing the subject, Orele looked on at their gentle bickering with awe. Jim spent much of his time working, even on the weekends, so his alone time with Melody was sparse if ever. And yet, he’d managed to bond with her outside of Orele’s direct involvement or knowledge… and didn’t seem to have come across the same issues her school did.

Matters of love and relationships continued to amaze her. And she knew she was going to be shocked even further if he managed to get Melody to say three magical words to her.

“Okay, okay,” the young girl sighed, turning back to Orele with cheeks tinted pink. Rolling her lips, she opted to crawl around the tray and wrap her arms around Orele’s stomach. Burying her face in her chest, her words muffled out, “I… love you. Thank you for being here for me.”

The tears Orele thought she successfully blocked were freely escaping as she hugged Melody tightly, managing through her shock to reply, “I love you, too.”

Words couldn’t express how it all made her feel. The progress she feared she hadn’t been making just made a turn for the better. It was a good sign that all her hard efforts hadn’t been for nothing. That she could show — even just a smidge — how important love is to a child’s development — especially one who is the product of a product of a love potion.

Melody pulled back, her eyebrows furrowed in deep confusion. “Why are you crying? Is something wrong?”

“No, no,” Orele shook her head, reaching up to push a stray strand of hair from Melody’s face. “These are happy tears. I just — I don’t deserve you two. This surprise is… much like magic. Real and amazing.”

Melody rolled her eyes, “There’s no such thing as magic, mom, stop being weird.”

Orele held back the need to chuckle. So you think, child… so you think.

Jumping off the bed, Melody began walking to the door. “When you finish breakfast, we can watch whatever movies you want. I’ll go pull out your favorites.”

Smiling thoughtfully at her retreating back, Orele nearly jumped when Jim’s thumbs wiped gently at the tears plastered to her cheeks. “Thank you,” she sniffled.

He shook his head with a kind smile. “With everything you do for us, you’re the only one who needs to be thanked today. I know I’ve been working a lot lately, but I will always take a day off for my two favorite girls when they need me.”

“But you’re the one who managed to get her to say —” her retort died out at the sight of his head continuing to gently shake back and forth.

“Everything was all her idea — including that,” Jim admitted. "All I did was help make breakfast and encourage her to accomplish it, because it’s what you’ve been trying to get her to understand. It’s your hard work, so own it.”  He cupped Orele’s cheeks gently between his hands, “It’s your day now, Love. Enjoy it.”

I will while it lasts, she thought as he leaned forward to brush his lips against hers. Because she knew that even with this progress, it wasn’t yet going to stop Melody from being Melody. Not yet. She would still be outspoken at school, and Orele would still have memories to alter to keep Melody from being expelled or suspended.

And yet, her heart still soared as the day continued and Melody didn’t voice her usual complaints about the romance movies Orele loved. It was all a confirmation that she was absolutely doing the right thing for her daughter. And that was all the news she needed to know that everything would work as she needed it to when the time came.

[soul-dwelling]

Do you think Okhubo having Shinra revive everyone and it being a happy end is a direct response to the non ending of the soul eater manga which left many things uresolved or just returned to the status qou?

Oh, I'm going to be awhile with this...

(*sets out green tea to power me through this long reply...and sets out a swear jar*)

Short answer:

No, I don't think it was a direct response. If anything, it was Ohkubo doing the same kind of ending, in which things are rushed, little is explained, story potential is left unspent because it's the finale and we have no more time, rather than using Fire Force to answer stuff not answered in Soul Eater it raises more questions that are more about how this undermines the mission statement of each series.

And I debate whether we should even call this a "happy ending."

And yet, even as this is a return to a status quo of having these characters still alive, it is an ending that drastically changes their world, their abilities, and their relationships--but as it is the end of the series, that again is left hanging for whatever future story Ohkubo tells or, better yet, what fans end up making for themselves (...including just ignoring Fire Force as a prequel and making better Soul Eater fics explaining this shit).

Long answer:

I didn't think of Shinra reviving everyone and it being a happy ending are a direct response to Soul Eater leaving things unresolved.

(I also don't think of it as a happy ending anyway, but I'll get to that.)

If anything, the ending of Fire Force, with Shinra reviving everyone, seemed like yet another way Ohkubo trolls the fans:

"Oh, you're upset about the lack of answers as to how Lord Death got here, the 800 years between Asura's defeat and now, and the larger societal structure of the Witches? Well, screw that, and screw you, too: I'm going to give you the most unsatisfying origin story for Lord Death, skip the 800 years stuff, and just make up some crap about how witches were created without actually delving into their society! So there! Ha!"

(*groans* Some of us just wanted a spinoff that would address these questions; instead, we got a prequel no one asked for--and I don't mean Soul Eater NOT.)

Also, if anything, Shinra reviving everyone also seemed like a way for Ohkubo to wrap up Fire Force in a way similar to how he wrapped up Soul Eater: deus ex machina to wrap up the story, not let people die.

Spirit, Marie, et al are about to be trapped on the Moon? Eh, just have Maba do a last-minute teleportation. It's not unbelievable, and it at least matches the power set Maba had all along--except, that means she likely could have done that at any point. Hell, Kid was separated from the Moon and had to race back to get there--why didn't Maba teleport him? "Maybe Maba has to recharge each time? I mean, Free wasn't very good at doing the teleportation spell, either." Fine, sure, go with that. "Maybe she can't keep teleporting people when they need to be there to keep fighting the Clowns and Asura?" Okay, fine. At least with Soul Eater, you could come up with excuses.

But Fire Force? Oh, no, it is just straight-up a literal deus ex machina, as if rubbing it into readers' faces that this story that keeps debasing religion as bad storytelling will itself weaponize bad storytelling to just end this series on a dissatisfying note.

Like, I appreciate Ohkubo putting in the setup: Shinra saw Akitaru and Vulcan and Kurono's skull motifs and used that for Lord Death; his understanding of the pre-Cataclysm world is vague so of course things look more cartoony when he tries to remake that world.

But it is also so hamfisted. Why would Shinra be inspired specifically by the skull stuff and not Akitaru's more paternal qualities, and why would he use his tormentor Kurono as a basis? How the hell does Shinra's actions somehow end up to the exact reformation of the world's nations as they were before, 800 years after Shinra dies, and how the hell does that lead to 800 years later Al Capone, JFK, Rasputin, Jack the Ripper, and Lupin all being alive in this world, again, 800 years after Shinra dies?

So, less "a direct response to the non-ending" and more "return to the status quo--because screw you, this is the end, let's wrap this up."

I know I hate on Fire Force--a lot. And it's not like a Doctor Who "everybody lives" ending can't be good. But that ending didn't work for me in Fire Force.

The ending clashed with what I thought was the message this manga was going for. It is not as if the series did not start with a focus on death--but instead of accepting that death is a part of real life, it did a pointless reset.

Like, Shinra brought back everyone, even people who died 250+ years ago (...including some bad dudes which, no, sorry, fuck those people, they can stay dead, Inka can stay fucking dead). But just because they are now treating Death himself as more cute and cuddly (...except they didn't: that is still his Old Death design, so even that didn't work--this is still the same Old Death who is going to end up cursing up a storm at Arachne while hunting her down to slaughter her), they are still going to die.

"But now they won't feel so bad about dying!" Then who fucking cares about resurrecting them? What, so they can die in peace? Are we then implying this is for their own mental health? But they're dead, why would their mental health matter now? Or, is this implying they get to rest in peace, hence have an afterlife? But we just established that God didn't exist until Shinra made Lord Death, so, again, what afterlife? Or, are we suggesting there is a separation between a concept of "God" and an afterlife?

(See why I can't stand Ohkubo's writing? This isn't "the art is beautiful because it leads to more questions that thereby make the writing better"; it's "the writing is vague, there are no answers, whatever answers you get will contradict other messages in the story; this is all a mess, the writer didn't care, the editor didn't care, so I guess you can just enjoy the pretty images and stick to fan works.")

These characters will all die eventually. Hell, even Lord Death died. Why should I care that Shinra brought them back to life just to die again? At least their living again is to let them do something better in this world--except, again, Shinra even resurrected some bad people, and thanks to him saving Inka her bullshit is going to start up again, and there are those fan theories that the White Hoods he resurrected led to Kishin worshippers and Medusa and other baddies, so, again, why bother resurrecting these people except for "Shinra wanted it that way, he is a flawed person like anyone, that's all, move on"?

I understand Fire Force was trying to say something about despair--and instead of facing realities, it said, "Fine, we'll change the laws of physics itself and escape this nonsense." In any other story, maybe that works, if you leaned even more into the idea that this is a work of fiction, the characters know it (as Viktor and Tamaki toyed with in...that abysmal "underage Tamaki is the universal symbol of sex," which, fuck, Ohkubo can fuck off), and so we are showing that art can create realities that show us the world we can have, more than the world we are stuck with.

But that still seems like such a violation of the initial mission statement of Fire Force (protect lives, tend to the survivors and their survivors' guilt) and how it ended ("This was all a Soul Eater prequel, death doesn't matter [unless you're Joe Buttataki, Granny, Lord Death, Justin, Medusa...]"). Maybe I need to accept that I misread the mission statement to Fire Force: after all, it wasn't just "protect lives," it was a message from Akitaru to Shinra that Shinra took to its most extreme (extremist? fundamentalist?) level, that being to not just protect life but to resurrect it...until people die anyway, so... *shrug* they didn't have to die in fires, so that is better to die in a cool and exciting way by some dragon or other beast that Ogun sees before looking back at Shinra and saying, "You really thought this entire frightening world was a better alternative?!"

As for whether the Fire Force ending was a return to a status quo: I mean, not quite?

Sure, everyone who died in the entire series, even in flashbacks, is back--but they aren't the same. That means it's not a return of the status quo: it's the return of these characters, only they are different, as are their interactions with each other (more on Maki and Takehisa, and Shinra, Iris, and Inca, in a moment).

If anything, that is more disappointing, albeit a problem with the endings to a lot of series: untapped potential. Fire Force in that regard did end on a high: we are curious where things go next...sort of. Like, there are great pieces of setup there for the 800+ years between Fire Force and Soul Eater to see how witch society develops, whether people mutated by their resurrection such as Huang lead to new species of people, how on earth this planet goes from looking like the Fire Force world to looking pretty much like our current world (only with Death City now existing).

But then you think, "Wait, we know what comes next: Soul Eater. So who cares?" I know that a lot can happen in 800+ years--but we already know what does happen. And that somehow still doesn't answer those questions I asked earlier, such as what witch society is actually like. We're teased that Inka is a start of that witch society--but that doesn't make sense, one person doesn't start a society, one person is there, then meets other people, then all of those people start a society. Show that story. But, no, _that_ is the status quo: Ohkubo still won't explain shit.

As for the other status quo change: character relationships. Shinra and Arthur are now more respectful of each other...but who cares, that relationship is now done. We hint that Maki and Takehisa are now an item--but who cares, Maki is off shopping with Lisa or something, that's just an empty throwaway line. Good for Maki getting to go shopping, why the fuck aren't we still seeing her honoring her commitments to protect the world along with her colleagues? Okay, fine, Tamaki and Juggernaut get to enjoy a date--but the world is still fucked, how come they lose their powers and don't get to help out?

And of course the inane Shinra / Iris / Inka love triangle bullshit for the sake of a dumb harem gag and the series just making Inka the fucking worst. It's an ending that says things are different--then doesn't answer how. When more readers wasted their time on the last chapter asking whether those two people were Shinra's kids or Arthur's kid or Inka's kid, who gives a fuck?

Maybe the anime will answer that, depending on how they color their hair or re-do the designs or just, I don't know, toss in words in dialogue or on screen identifying who those people are.

But I have zero confidence that will help: this is still a fandom that thinks "X character from Fire Force has a similar design to Y character from Soul Eater--must be related!" These are the same people who still think Kid and Shinra look alike because the story said so--when, no, they fucking don't.

(And yes, I did suggest certain Fire Force characters may have been ancestors to Medusa, Maba, etc--that is more about the thematics coinciding with the visual imagery, not "Ogun and Kilik look alike," which, no, stop that.)

[missmeikakuna]

Let Me Speak to the Manager! Ch. 2- Karen x Manager

The second chapter of my new story, a Karen x Manager yuri romcom. Yes, you read that right.

Fandom: Original (unless Karen memes count as a fandom)

Rated: T (some swearing and mature themes)

Pairing: F/F

Description: After being denied a discount at a supermarket, single mother Karen demands to see the manager. Much to her horror, the manager is hot enough to be her first woman crush. But Karen would rather join a pyramid scheme than deal with her feelings, much less admit them.

Potential Content Warning: Religious homophobia

Cover art by Galdsy- Tumblr: www.tumblr.com/galdsy Twitter: twitter.com/galdsy Instagram: www.instagram.com/galdles/?hl=…

Chapter 2: Karen vs The Supermarket

Upon seeing the banana prices outside a local grocery store, Karen received a rude awakening. They were even higher than in the supermarket! Sure, they seemed to be a smidge better in quality, but if she bought a kilogram of these, she would have to only buy half a kilogram of grapes and that simply would not do. If Kyle punched one more hole in the wall, Karen was sure the wall would crumble and the ceiling would fall on top of him.

She weighed her options. Would it be worth it to drive to a cheaper grocery store? How much did petrol cost that day?

Eventually, she compromised and pulled a couple of bananas off the bunch to make it lighter. Keeping Kyle’s hunger for grapes satiated was much more important than some bananas.

She went inside the store to pay for groceries, grumbling about the prices to the poor woman at the register.

The sun was just beginning to set when Karen was done with all her shopping. Her back was sore from hunching over a desk all day, made worse by carrying the grocery bags to her car. Once she was home, she ordered her children to help her put away the groceries. Sharon and Carol didn’t bother but Kyle joined her.

‘About bloody time,’ Karen said.

Kyle opened one of the bags, picked a single grape and popped it in his mouth. ‘Just here for these,’ he claimed, though he continued helping.

Karen pulled out a pack of energy drink cans. ‘And these?’

Kyle snatched it from her. ‘And these.’

‘How was school?’

‘Alright. Boring. Keith said he’ll let me borrow his copy of Code of Revenge: Gears of The Soldier.’

‘Is that a g-’

‘Yep.’

Karen fell silent. Her knowledge of video games was limited to what she heard on the news, not nearly enough to carry a conversation about them.

All she managed to say was, ‘Uh, that’s nice. Just make sure you don’t stay up too late playing it.’

Ah, the classic line when you don’t know how to talk to your children about video games.

‘Oh, and Kyle, give me your pocket knife. I know you bought one.’

‘But mum-’

‘I don’t want that game influencing you!’

‘It’s for self-defence!’

‘Why would you need that?’

Kyle kicked one of the grocery bags on the floor. ‘You know what? Put this shit away yourself.’ He stormed back to his room and shook the frame as he slammed the door shut. 

‘Hey, come back!’ Karen shouted. No response. The ache in Karen’s back got worse as she leaned down to pick up items from grocery bags herself. Her arms were too weak to lift an entire bag onto the kitchen bench, which would have lessened the strain of leaning down. 

The following week, Karen tried another grocery store. The prices were better but the selection was downright embarrassing. There was none of the variety promised by living in the great capitalist landscape of Australia. Karen was sorely disappointed.

Of course, Karen had to make this disappointment known to the cashier. ‘I may as well live in Russia if I’m getting this little choice.’ The cashier had no choice but to laugh awkwardly and grit her bared teeth.

When Karen looked into the half-empty boot, devoid of many of the groceries she needed, she knew enough was enough. She winced at the thought but could no longer avoid a simple truth: she had to return to that supermarket.

As she drove home, she considered how to avoid that manager and decided to shop on a different day. For the first time in a while, she grinned.

That grin did not survive the following week’s shopping trip. Frema Nazarian, that beautiful witch, was at the supermarket, albeit as just another shopper. She wore a tight red shirt, scandalous high-waisted pale lemon shorts and a form-fitting blazer the colour of sand.

And, of course, the witch smirked upon seeing Karen. ‘I must have misheard you a few weeks ago. I thought you said something along the lines of ‘I’m never coming back here again!’ Did you actually say something else?’

Blood scorched rapidly through Karen’s veins. ‘I’m not here for you.’

Frema raised an eyebrow. ‘When did I suggest that?’

That boiling blood went straight to Karen’s cheeks. That dumb vixen must have cursed her with her luscious lips and spellbinding eyes!

‘Uh, that… you just seemed like the kind of person to think about something like that. And why are you being so rude to a customer?’

‘I’m not on the clock, am I?’ Frema asked as she pulled a jar of instant coffee from a shelf. A strong, agonisingly palpable desire nestled in Karen’s heart, eager to be quenched. This desire? To one-up Frema.

She reached up towards an even higher shelf on the opposite side of the aisle. Alas, she was too short to pick up the packet of biscuits. Frema saw Karen’s flailing arm and grabbed the item for her, gracefully placing it in Karen’s trolley. 

Karen snatched the biscuit packet from the trolley and held it up to her chest like she was guarding it with her life. She stared at this audacious succubus with wide eyes that popped out of their sockets. 

Upon realising how ridiculous she must have looked, she put the packet back in the trolley. 

‘It’s not like your customer service was great even when you were working,’ she said.

‘I apologise.’

‘Thank y-’

‘I should have magically been transferred to both the marketing department and the accounting department so I could change the prices of bananas for you.’

‘Surely you’re allowed to give discounts!’

A few shoppers turned their heads to witness this loud argument.

Frema put her hands on her hips, swishing her blazer behind her. Karen noticed. ‘On what grounds would I give you a discount?’

‘Y-you… have a nice jacket!’

Karen scrunched her lips inside her mouth like she had just drunk unsweetened lemonade, her entire face now the colour of raspberries. Frema froze, as did the shoppers. Karen mulled over ways she could dig a hole in the ground to die in without breaking the pipes down below.

Frema’s laugh was perhaps the ugliest laugh possible, a nasal cackle with plenty of snorting. Yet, somehow, it was also the sweetest laugh Karen had ever heard. A few customers grew bored of the deflated conflict and resumed their shopping.

‘I’ll tell you what,’ Frema said in between laughs. ‘I’ll give you 1 per cent off per compliment. Do we have a deal?’

Karen crossed her arms and looked beside her at the seemingly mocking smiles of the various brand mascots. At least their stares didn’t embarrass her as much as Frema’s beautifully horrendous giggling. 

‘I meant to say I should get a widow’s discount,’ she admitted.

Frema wiped a tear from her eye and held back the dregs of her laughter. ‘I’m sorry for your loss. I don’t know how you got from widow’s discount to how good my jacket looks, but hey, I’ll take it.’

Karen glared at Frema. ‘Well, enjoy your one compliment. It’s all you’re getting.’

‘Shame. I have a whole collection of these blazers at home. All different colours.’

Karen thought to ask if she had a collection of shorts no one her age should wear, but she held her tongue and returned her gaze to the mascots on the shelf.

‘I’m Frema, by the way.’

‘Karen.’

Frema went back to her task of putting items in her trolley. She looked for a symbol on an instant coffee jar and groaned when it wasn’t there.

‘Don’t tell the higher-ups that I’m complaining, but there really should be more kosher stuff here,’ she murmured.

Karen whipped her head towards Frema. She felt a twinge of disappointment that Frema wasn’t Christian, though she had a feeling when she first heard her foreign-sounding name.

Wait, why was she disappointed? It wasn't like, if Frema was a Christian like Karen, they could…

Karen blinked quickly and her cheeks somehow got even hotter. Why was she even entertaining this idea? Hell, what idea was she even entertaining?

‘Are you okay?’ Frema asked, getting just a little too close to Karen’s face.

‘I’m perfectly fine. I was just surprised. You don’t exactly-’

‘Look Jewish? Yeah, that’s probably because I’m a Mizrahi Jew.’ She pulled a necklace chain out from underneath her shirt, revealing a Star of David pendant. ‘Persian, to be exact, though my mum was born in Israel.’ Frema chuckled, though the sound took on a bitter tone. ‘Sorry I don’t look like Woody Allen.’

‘I’m sorry.’

‘All good. I’m used to it. Shouldn’t be, but I am. But hey, I managed to get an apology from you. That’s a start.’

Karen started pushing her trolley as Frema chatted about various topics, also pushing her trolley. Frema was surprisingly talkative and Karen was content to listen because, every so often, her laughter would come out. Karen found herself grinning ear to ear every time she heard it.

By the end of their shopping trip, the corners of Karen’s mouth had lowered completely. A realisation dropped two tonnes’ worth of bricks onto her heart.

She was deeply, intensely attracted to this woman.

[vole-mon-amour]

Who's rewatching Mozart L'Opera Rock and having feelings again? Me.

And it's their regular version of the opera. The homosexual undertones that were always there. The amount of chaos that was happening on their 'fun' days? I kind of miss that. It was very fun.

Not to mention Mikelangelo having that absolute wild energy, kissing everyone and jumping like a grasshopper all over the scene the entire play, even on their 'regular' days. He's so flamboyant.

And while I'm at it, it's incredible how they were able to dance every evening and still sing live (!). I remember them performing while sick, Mikele's voice breaking. That is some serious skill (not to mention how fit they should be to do that).

J’accuse mon pere: Merwan. <3 Also, my goodness, that deep voice of Laurent/Solal still gets me. One of the best songs in this play.

What a great joker. Comedie tragedie, my beloved. Also, interestingly enough, I tried 3D version and somehow it's worse? Lots of details missing even though the original version is not that sharp quality wise and close to the actors. And yet.

It occurred to me at 38 minutes in that there is still no Salieri? And I'm still invested? Niiice. It's definitely not perfect & some moments look silly, and not in awe like I was back in the day, but I still like it. And yes, I completely forgot that Salieri only appears in second act.

58 minutes & Salieri walks in. Hello, sweetheart. Heavenly Haven't seen you in, like, 8-10 years or something.

Rosenberg: "Salieri, don't look." Meanwhile Salieri: stares and is very much is in love.

Rosenberg: Salieri, are you coming? Salieri, listening to Mozart's music: Yeah, I am.

This is an episode of Hey Arnold right there, and Salieri is Helga.

Le Bien qui fait mal: I mean, what is this? Who came up with the costumes? And Florent isn't making it easier, lmao. Whoever came up with the way it should be performed, with the entire concept deserves all the praise. This is the greatest (semi) BDSM party on stage.

I also like how the lyric is basically about love and suffering. "I'm shaking, I'm happy and in pain. I'm losing my mind. I don't know where this madness came from, but I adore it. Passion becomes my prison." I mean, seriously? I thought I was shipping them just for the sake of it (Florent and Mikelangelo also had wild chemistry and, I believe, lived together at some point). But this is literally canon? Salieri losing his mind over Mozart and his love for him is canon? That I'm still in awe about. Beautiful, just beautiful.

Somewhere here I decided to give the 3D version another try 'cause Flo with a ponytail was An Experience back in the day & I loved that look.

I mean? Grumpy boy. <3 Speaking of boys, Salieri was supposed to be old and Wolfgang was supposed to be young. I know, they compensate with Mikele's wild energy, but I feel like, without googling, he's older than Florent? Oh well, just a curious thing. It's the talent and skill that matter, after all.

Also, hello, they switched actresses that play Constance?? I forgot everything. I think watching the original thing and then coming back to 3D is the best option.

I'm sorry, this dork has only his nails painted only on one hand? Why? :')

Flo as Salieri does steal the show in my opinion. And the costumes, ahh. The black print that matches Wolfgang's (but it's generally nice).

L’Assasymphonie: This sad pretty boy with shaking hands. *deep sigh*

The lyrics, I swear. Still iconic.

Victime de ma victoire: 1) I forgot this exists, but I'm happy it does. 2) Ok but this performance is sooo much better life when they were running through the crowd? I feel like I'm gonna go through some of those after I finish watching this. It was so fun!

Why is this hilarious, lmao. He's so emo. There's probably some better quality version and w/o subs, I want it.

Same to both of them. You go, dramatic goth bat & a woman that wants him. It takes me so much to make and posts these screenshots, I could've created gifs already but nooo. Lol. I'll see what's with the quality out there. I also wanted to rewatch Le Roi Soleil, if we're talking musicals...

I love it so much. Casting Flo was a very wise decision.

Yes? Hi? Hello? IDK if Mikele kissing Laurent during Le Bien qui fait mal that one time was a wise decision 'cause a kiss here would fit perfectly. I love the act itself more than this song. Hold hands. Hug. Kiss. Be happy together. Enemies to lovers slowburn.

Well, that wasn't perfect in no way & I only like, like, 6 songs (and LOVE love even less), but I had fun. I'm glad I went to a live concert to listen to it when I had the opportunity, at least.

[sometimeswritingsometimesdying]

a drawing??? of the oc i relate and project the most onto??? inspired with my favorite song that makes me Feel Things??? on my blog??? more likely than you think!