#i think about yagami's backstory a lot

[rooftopdaigos]

desperate and self destructive wet cat

[the-writing-goblin]

I am once again thinking about how good the story of the second age is, and all the fun things you could do with an actually decent adaptation. Consider:

Galadriel should be exactly the same as she is in Lord of the Rings. She is older, weirder and more powerful than any elf other elf in Middle Earth. Other elves are just as unnerved by her as mortals, and dealing with her is stressful at the best of times.

Elrond should be an absolute infant. Just, complete baby face. But everyone treats him super respectfully and he has a lot of power and influence. The energy should be the same as when the super ancient and powerful vampire or faerie or whatever looks like a ten year old girl.

ALSO there should be a tall, menacing elf with visible tattoo and facial scars who just. Stands behind Elrond looking intimidating all the time. The least elf-looking elf ever. All the other elves are uncomfortable around them. Elrond should treat them like their an Aunt or Uncle. The elf is one of the few surviving hard-line Feanorians, all of whom follow Elrond. The longer you can go without explaining this, the better.

Gil-Galad is very tired, and spends a lot of time balancing one of the most famously unstable political systems in all of Arda. Galadriel and Elrond both have factions they support to strongly to be relied on to be impartial. The reason he doesn't worry much about what Celebrimbor's up to is that he's the one member of the family who is highly unlikely to attempt something batshit nuts, and his followers are mostly moderate.

Celebrimbor and Annatar/Sauron should spend the whole series playing complicated mindgames with each other.

Annatar is playing four-dimensional chess from the beginning. For him, this is an all or nothing gamble. If he can't make the rings he won't have the power to seize control on his own. He should spend a lot of time having Light Yagami-level monologues where he tries to figure out what game Celebrimbor is playing while outwardly pretending to be harmless and normal and only succeeding at this about 75% of the time.

Celebrimbor should start of thinking the stakes are considerably lower. Like... is Annatar hiding something? Yea, but he figures Annatar doesn't actually have permission from the Valar to be here or something. Not, ya know, Annatar is secretly Satan in disguise. In the first act there should be an almost comical disconnect between the amount of energy Sauron is putting in to these mind games versus Celebrimbor.

Bonus points if as Celebrimbor figures out the truth, you intersperse more and more of his family backstory. The guilt he is still carrying for a lot the things that happened in the first age. Early on bring in the fact that Finrod went into Sauron's jaws alone and it was Curufin's fault, use this as angst material. And then as he figures out who Sauron really is, drop Maedhros and Thangorodrim in like a nuclear bomb.

Because Celebrimbor has seen this play before, and he knows what Sauron does to people. It wasn't even personal then, what Sauron is going to do to him will be so much worse.

And Celebrimbor chooses to forge the three rings anyway. He doesn't give up their locations, even with everything Sauron does to him at the end. And that should be devestating.

[rose-tea-and-strawberries]

Trey: *Trying to explain Riddle is that way because of his mom*

Me: Give me a minute as I pull up my ‘Trauma Doesn’t Excuse Sh*t Behavior’ PowerPoint.

Say it with me, everyone: an explanation is not an excuse 😊

You know, the other day I was watching one of Ryan George's Pitch Meetings and when Producer Guy asked Writer Guy how the audience would root for the villain of the franchise and the response was "he's handsome" which basically explains most people's reactions to fictional men.

Prepare for incoming rant that has little to do with the ask

This probably might come as a shock because one of the main appeal of twst would be the whole villainous aspect/Disney Villain fanbase but I don't really like villains that much, at least, not romantically. Like don't get me wrong, I think that they're incredible characters and it would be so fun to sit down with one and have a conversation with one. Villain songs are so fun (I was literally singing ‘This Day Aria’ to myself the other day I haven’t heard that song in like a decade) and you can tell that that characters like Scar or Hades or Shere Khan or Jafar or Maleficent are having so much fun being deliciously evil and even the more serious, complex ones like Loki or Frollo are fun to pick apart so yeah I understand the hype. I just always rooted for the heroes and I guess heroic characters have always been more my type.

My mother absolutely loves Erik Destler and is forever salty that Christine chose Raoul (despite my many many attempts at arguing why Raoulstine is the superior couple - smol primary school me could not understand why my mum liked the chandelier dropper and was deeply concerned), my best friend has been in love with Heathcliffe since we were eleven, and my little sister has literally told me that her type of fictional men are the toxic red flags (not exactly word for word but she did explain why she likes bad boys over good boys when I was complaining about how my type (wholesome soft boys) always get sidelined for the arrogant, snarky bad boys - we're also very diametrically opposed on our views of friends to lovers (my s++ tier all time favourite and her loathing) vs enemies to lovers (I can't really stand it - Pride and Prejudice is the only exception - and that's literally all she consumes) so that might also be a reason).

Like, I understand the appeal of a Byronic hero (Mr Darcy has far too much power) - a closed off, broody man that hates everything but you? And will burn down the world to keep you warm? I can respect that there are people who dig that. But their not really for me.

The mild bout of insanity thirteen year old me had where I spent two months attracted to Edward Rochester is an outlier and should not have been counted (though that was during my wattpad phase so...)

But I can admit that I have yet to shake off my feelings for Dr Henry Jekyll, Victor Frankenstein and Dorian Gray (though to be fair, Mr Gabriel John Utterson the lawyer and cinnamon roll artist boy Basil Hallward do own my heart). And yes, Jeremy Jordan did make me question my morality as he did make my feelings for Light Yagami be too positive to be sane for a brief moment (Touta Matsuda is still my man, don't worry). But apart from them, literally all of my faves are what you'd call your traditional, morally upright heroes.

Basically what I'm saying is that my perception might be skewed because I've never had the whole 'villains are cooler' mindset when it came to stories. Yes, I love the villains as characters but I always liked their heroic foils more (goodness is just so attractive to me). You get lots of amazing heroic protagonists that have horribly tragic backstories and they're the ones I always fall for because the idea of being a kind sweetheart despite the world being anything but is just *chef's kiss* that's a kind of strength that's so swoon-worthy.

I guess that's why it's harder for me to look past the characters' actions in twst is because, well, they chose to do everything they did. They made a conscious choice to be terrible, despite understanding the consequences. Riddle may have been brainwashed into becoming a tyrant by his mother but he still admitted that he knew he was being horrible - he understands the concept of morality, of good and bad, and he willingly and deliberately did everything he did.

I suppose this text post I found on Pinterest would explain my point better:

[headcansxfanfictions]

How do you feel when some people are now saying that the Phantom Troupe wasn’t responsible for the Kurta clan massacre? That they were framed, and someone else did it.

I personally believed that the phantom troupe is responsible, but I’m starting to have my doubts. Yet, they continue to kill innocent civilians that I wouldn’t doubt that they killed the Kurta clan. Probably they were paid by someone to do it, or they learned about the isolated clan and used it to their benefits.

Do you actually hate Chrollo? And are you okay with asks that ask for more Chrollo headcanons, and thoughts?

Though there may be more to the story I feel like the Phantom Troupe holds a lot of responsibility for the Kurta massacre.

The Phantom Troupe is not a homogeneous group of people, especially the more new members join. They all have their own drive and morals or lack of.

For example:

Kalluto, he was not involved in the Kurta massacre and is still a young child. The Phantom Troupe is merely a good offer he took for personal gain, I do not believe he is evil or even that bad of a person.

Nobunaga seems to be one of the more reasonable and morally conscious spiders, he is more diplomatic than some members and doesn’t kill indiscriminately.

But Uvogin seems like a purely nasty person, the way he tells Kurapika he feels nothing wen he kills and the nonchalant way he’s like “oh actually I do remember the Kurts. ‘oops must have slipped my mind they were so unimportant.’ ” whole interaction just showed how vile of a being he was.

Chrollo is a character that I believe will get more interesting as we learn more about him. He reminds me of Light Yagami from deathnote. He ruthlessly violent towards those people he feels are scum of the world, his main issue is that he generalised and has a childish way of passing judgment on people simply for the group in his mind he has placed them in. He hates the Mafia cause he believes they are behind the murder of his childhood friend and made his homeland a living hell. Some things Chrollo is said to have done are unexplainable and despicable. On the other hand he seems to care deeply for his friends and hate people that bring others pain. Either some things about him are a lie or he has a split personality disorder. I find the second more likely.

Okay assuming Chrollo is involved in the Kurta massacre and goes around killing innocent people, what bothers me a lot is the sympathy his character has gained be learning his backstory. Cause yes its sad, yes he didn’t deserve that, but not everyone who looses someone or witness or finds a murder victim grows up to do terrible things. Its sad but its not an excuse, it gives light to the thought process but it doesn’t make it any more okay. Plenty of killers had traumatic childhoods and we don’t go excusing their actions. Feel bad for the kid, not the adult, the adult could have chosen a different path. And there are plenty of kind people that had terrible childhoods. Thats all on Chrollo for now. And yes, I hate Chrollo for killing the kurta.

Sometimes the Phantom Troupe gives me robin-hood vibes. But othertimes their actions seem horrible. I think some of them just like being bandits and have a sick thing for violence and tormenting others. However I do think some of them genuinely have some sort of goal they believe justifies their actions. I don’t think most killings can be justified though.

I do get annoyed when people try to justify the Phantom Troupe completely, like maybe they aren’t just mindlessly killing and stealing, maybe they have a good goal but that is a huge maybe and it seems more likely to me that they believe they have some justification, apposed to their actually being justification.

I will share a list of my Chrollo opinions, theories, and headcanon soon.

[subdee]

20 questions for fic writers

Tagged by @hxhhasmysoul, thanks munen for always thinking of me even though I haven't written anything for like... a year.

1. How many works do you have on ao3?

27

2. What’s your total ao3 word count?

153,197

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Hunter x Hunter and Final Fantasy VII (original 1997 game) are the main ones, and then there are a few others that are either old or that time I wrote historical RPF for yuletide.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

(All five are T-rated  Hunter x Hunter fics.)

1)Freecs Adventure Travel Co.- I think this is because it’s tagged ‘slowburn’ and recced on a list with other slowburn fics…  I have this drafted out to the end, it has one more chapter left (and it’s not really a slowburn, aha).  A post canon Killugon reunion fic + Alluka. 

2) Paper Ties – This is a short oneshot about Killua/Alluka/Kalluto originally written for a secret santa exchange.  The writing’s just okay, but a lot of people have this bookmarked and I think it’s probably because they like my explanation for why Kalluto knows nen at the start of HxH, but Killua doesn’t.

3) On a Cold and Snowy Night- A Killugon There Was Only One Bed oneshot originally written for a valentine’s day exchange.  I think people just really like this trope. 

4) There's a Light That Never Goes Out  - It’s another post canon Killugon reunion fic, this time without Alluka (or she’s mentioned, but offscreen).  Listen, HxH fans love reunion fics! 

5) Dungeon x Hunter – a finished multichapter AU where Killua, Gon, Leorio and Kurapika are college friends who play Dungeons and Dragons together.  Inspired by something a friend said forever ago about how Kurapika is like the ultimate DnD rules lawyer min-maxing all his stats. 

...Actually except for On a Cold and Snowy Night, what these all have in common is that they’re among the first things I wrote after I rejoined the fandom.  So I think there’s just a network effect here where people are finding them via bookmarks. 

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I always reply right away, I spend the day after I post anything refreshing my inbox basically. 

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Either my FFVI Barret backstory fic Corel Days or the one I wrote for FFVII Halloween with prompt: Annihilation.  Those both had the Major Character Death tag on them and like… no one clicks on them.  Haha.  They’re sad because of the character death but also sad because they’re about climate change and fans just aren’t generally here for that level of downer.      

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Most of my fics end either happily or ambiguously besides those two, but I’d call Dungeon x Hunter my most “nothing bad happened” story where there’s not really much conflict, and when there is conflict it’s resolved quickly. 

8. Do you get hate on fic?

Never, and I don’t really get spam comments either… maybe once or twice I’ve gotten requests to write a particular pairing but like 99% of the comments I get are really lovely positive ones from other writers. 

9. Do you write smut?

 I haven’t because I’m lazy and smut is hard to write….There’s a fade to black sex scene in my Frederick the Great Space AU and actually, an implied sex scene in my forever ago Libertines AU where Carl Barat turns into a cat, but that’s the closest I’ve ever come.  Most of what I write is rated T. 

10. Do you write crossovers?

I have written crossovers!   It was a long time ago, and they were mostly short what-ifs, like, what if Arthur Dent met Light Yagami?   I think it’s more fun to imagine the crossovers in your head than to actually write them, they don’t usually have plots but it’s fun to imagine how the characters would interact.    

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I don’t think so?  I’m not really that popular. 

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Actually yes, I think?   Someone translated a Death Note fic a long time ago.  It’s not on Ao3 though. 

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes, actually!  My Libertines AU where Carl Barat turns into a cat was co-written by the lovely 0_clay_0 who was my favorite writer in the fandom at the time.   So that was pretty great.  She lives in Germany and I went to visit her once, any of you guys out there wondering what the appeal of writing RPF is, it’s that you can meet amazing people who live all around the world if you’re both really passionate about the same thing. 

14. What’s your all-time favourite ship?

Probably Killugon, but I’m getting nostalgic for the Pete/Carl fic as I write this post, haha.  I think the writing in that fandom (Libertiens RPF) was the best of any fandom I’ve ever been in, by a long shot…  Ranma/Akane (Ranma ½) also has a strong nostalgic pull for me. 

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but probably won’t?

I’m gonna finish Freecs Adventure Travel Co, I swear!!!!!   That’s my only posted (to AO3) WIP… most of what I post are oneshots because I know my own limits. 

16. What are your writing strengths?

Varying my sentence lengths.   Also filling in backstory and gaps in the canon, and writing 'densely' so there's multiple ideas per paragraph.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Anything that requires effort: plotting, dialog, action scenes, sex scenes… Most of what I write doesn’t require me to think that hard about what I’m doing.   

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

If it was in-character I would do it.  There’s a certain kind of reader that would enjoy the challenge of having to look up the translation, some people like it when you make them make an effort.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

It was Naruto... now THAT is a WIP I’m never going to finish LOL.  

20. Favourite fic you’ve written?

I’ve said this before, but it’s my Pariging Coffee Shop AU.   I like how Ging’s character came out, he’s not really the same Ging from canon but it works.  And it’s kinda funny?  I’m always writing close to canon but I like reading AUs more, so I'm happy I finally wrote one that's fun for me to re-read.

I'm supposed to tag 20 people for this... here goes! @fury-brand @rosemochi @cateringisalie @nautilusopus @voidcat-senket @recents @ladycrescentvenus @mysterypond @dimensionten @clood @cafeaulater @storybookprincess @dodici12 @cocoa-bop @rabbitprint @kiwizoom @autumnxsunflower @ishouldgetatumbler @fireolin @minimoonstar

[lawlietscaramels]

alike to you, i have my own death note oc :D if it's okay, would you tell us more about yours? i'm genuinely curious how they fit into the story and their role in it altogether.

Miss Rie // 1429

keyo I'm going to squeeze you like a stress ball or something you're awesome and you better tell us all about your oc?!?!? :DD and it is SO okay rr I'm gonna ramble. cw torture mention, mental health issues, manipulation and other such traits.

　★━━─・‥…━━━☆

Relationships, Lore So Far, Personality, Strengths, Weaknesses, Trivia

Relationships

She's aligned with Team L!! of course dnsjhd

Rie and L have a funny relationship because they've worked together for a while and seem close but aren't together (as far as the TF know at least. I'm not sure yet to what degree her relationship with L has progressed at the time the anime is set). but everyone who meets them goes: "a girl in love and a man who's apathetic"

She actually likes Light a lot, because he's a nice guy, when he's not Kira. would be friends with him in another life.

When it comes to 「Kira」 whoever they may be, she dislikes but understands them. She knows that there are problems in the world and a lot of them stem from "evil people", but she doesn't really believe in purely evil people, and also realises that Kira's methods are counterproductive.

Rie does NOT get along with Misa. she can tolerate her but only in small doses. She's always kind to her, though this is mostly so she can try to get information out of her.

As for the rest of the Task Force: Likes them all. She never met Ukita though cause she introduces herself a while after L does in my current plan. Thinks Matsuda is a little naïve and Chief Yagami is blinded by his love for his son.

At the moment I'm thinking Rie isn't an orphan but lived somewhere near Wammy's House when she was little. She loooves annoying Near, Matt and Mello.

Lore So Far

there's a lot of unrefined stuff, what I have here is likely to change

I mentioned beforehand she works with L for a few years before the Kira case. she actually spent a lot of her life tracking him down, basically just to play with him/annoy him because... she's just an ass like that. So eventually she was able to contact him and they played a Game of cat and mouse, detective vs detective (I have a minific written for this that I might share. also Rie's not quite a detective... kinda a vigilante? not sure how to explain)

my current plan is she ends up getting stuck in a situation like Light was, where L suspects her for a case (she hacked into his database and deleted all his files) and has to work with her and keep an eye on her. I'm considering that she purposely got caught bc she was in trouble with more dangerous people, but maybe L catches her because, well, he's the world's greatest detective and the dangerous people just encounter Rie later

she's eventually cleared of suspicion because she wasn't involved in the cases she wiped, she just deleted them to be annoying and win the Game. Rie sticks around to annoy L for a while but then in come the dangerous people!!

the reason for this isn't fully fleshed out yet, but she gets herself kidnapped and once they realise she worked with L they try to get information on him out of her (through torture pretty much). this bit is the bit I'm probably least happy with, I want to work on it more. but in the end her stomach gets cut open, she escapes and collapses/gets rescued, and L realises he can trust her.

Rie goes to various countries and does her own thing for a few years, occasionally assisting L on cases, before she comes to Japan for the Kira case

there's so much Kira related stuff that I think I'll make another post sometime haha.

but that is the simplified and unrefined version of her backstory!

Personality

a proud feminist!! because come on death note needs one. (I know I said earlier she likes Light and dislikes Misa but the way he treats her ticks Rie off)

honestly can be very annoying on purpose, like a sibling

that said she's a good person overall, has done suspicious contract work and whatever, but she loves people and she really cares for everyone in her life

energetic 50% of the time, asleep the other 50%.

Pretty analytical but definitely has and expresses emotions. Probably INTP but I'm not great with MBTI tying.

a sore loser. But instead of trying to win, she will just give up if she knows there's a chance of losing. that way she can tell herself that it was her decision and thus, she won.

Loves her friends + family and has a somewhat motherly vibe

Strengths

she's the smartest woman in the world!! because honestly it is a crime that all the smart people in death note are men and hey, it's kind of cool to make an oc who's the anything-est in the world. (I wouldn't say she's REALLY the smartest, she just has a fairly wide skill set and is intelligent. maybe the highest-achieving)

Well she hacked L's main databases so I think you can tell she's good with technology

Her major in uni was psychology! Criminal and maybe abnormal psych, that is. also has dabbled in sociology and neurology. Rie knows a lot of languages.

a good baker (this may be the real reason L didn't have her killed).

A cheerful presence, good at raising morale and making L seem more approachable and likeable to the Task Force. usually optimistic.

Weaknesses

I know I just said she's optimistic, but this is because she makes a conscious effort to be. Rie's got a lot of anxiety and worries, and struggles with several mental health issues.

Her pride is as bad as L's ego. Actually, she'd claim it's worse.

When she gets angry she gets ANGRY. will straight up punch someone in the face and yell for hours.

bad at processing her emotions in general actually

Rie has attachment and abandonment issues I think. also because of the whole torture thing she's got some pretty bad PTSD.

She can be really rude/blunt. claims this is unintentional.

physically pretty weak, too.

SOOO MANIPULATIVE! like she's a detective and she kind of has to be so to make the most of her psychology knowledge and get info out of suspects, but this will often seep into her personal life. "let's perform experiments on our friends and coworkers to increase efficiency!"

Trivia!

Everyone on the Task Force thinks she binge drinks coffee. It's actually hot chocolate

Rie has a cat! her name is Synonym, nicknamed "Sin"

her favourite flowers are hydrangeas, bluebells, and roses (she's got a literal guns and roses aesthetic going on). Her favourite trees are wisterias and her favourite animals are either otters or elephants.

She's autistic (totally not because I'm autistic and can't write a neurotypical character)

Rie is actually just an alias. I'm debating on, if she lived near Wammy's, she might have met L and this would be a nickname derived from her middle name. but then I have to explain the "woah memory loss!!" in the whole database/suspicion incident. so, it's probably just a name that she likes. or maybe she shortened her own middle name.

The full alias is Rie Takamura. She also goes by Hina Suzuki (Japanese equivalent of Jane Doe) and 1429 (fourteen twenty-nine).

SHE LOVES CASINOS. her theme song would probably be "Joker and the Thief" (or maybe not, but it's in my playlist for her). Rie's very careful not to let herself get addicted to gambling but gosh she loves going to a casino, pretending to be a dumb girl, and counting cards until she can sweep the table off its legs.

lowkey a mad scientist (mostly social-scientist but still.)

　★━━─・‥…━━━☆

I'M SO SORRY I just realised pretty much none of that has to do with DN canon which is kind of what you asked about akdfhsfhrghiwg I'll without a doubt do a part two sooner or later though

𝖎𝖋 𝖞𝖔𝖚 𝖑𝖎𝖐𝖊𝖉 𝖎𝖙 ˏˋ⋆˖⁺˖⁀➷ 𝖕𝖑𝖊𝖆𝖘𝖊 𝖗𝖊𝖇𝖑𝖔𝖌 + 𝖋𝖔𝖑𝖑𝖔𝖜

[undercooked-spaghetti]

As someone who has written to infinity and beyond in the Judgment fandom, I feel like I should say a little something in terms of the Kaito Files DLC. I've briefly mentioned it here and there in my notes on my fics, but I absolutely just didn't like the DLC all that much. I liked small things here and there; I thought Mikiko and Jun were good characters, I liked that we got some Higashi lore: he used to make and serve tea for the Matsugane Family, he gets a new arcade in Ijincho (WHICH WE DON'T FIND AT ALL IN INFINITE WEALTH). BUT... a lot just felt quite lackluster and unlike what I've come to love in RGG games. LET ME COUNT THE WAYS!

First of all, it's a DLC about Kaito. Which is FINE! He's not my favorite, and at times he's really fucking dumb and I don't believe he can be a GREAT detective (or even a good MAIN protagonist for the series), but he means well and is strong. I think he's a good fit alongside Yagami and backs him up. And I guess for big Kaito fans, it's great to finally see him in action! However, the whole "you were engaged 16 years ago and you fall HARD when you're in love" feels like a last minute decision to write some bigger backstory for Kaito.

Now, we know a bit already; he joined up with Matsugane right after graduating middle-school, his dad was a drunk, he went to highschool for a year (??? He mentions it in Lost Judgment, and I guess I assume Matsugane tried to have him go, but it feels off, but whatever). It all seems to fit in with Kaito's character, but the whole engagement thing felt off only because the DLC makes such a big deal about it, shows us flashbacks of him and Mikiko, show us how much it means to Kaito... but until the DLC tells us about the engagement, it just never seems like it comes up or did anything to change his character in any way. It seems more like an afterthought rather than something that works out with an already established character. And it's not the WORST thing at all, but it just really sticks out to me.

I actually really liked the flashbacks of Kaito and Mikiko. It was clear that Kaito cared and Mikiko was a strong woman who wouldn't put up with his bullshit, but instead call him out on it. Kaito would absolutely come to her aid, but she wasn't helpless either. BUT... her introduction rubbed me the wrong way. Not for Mikiko; she was sticking up for her baby sister and doing what she could to protect her. But you can't tell me that an office worker, whether she used self-defense or not, could totally leave the Matsugane office weakened that they needed Kaito to come in and save the day because she could totally take on several yakuza by herself. I know they needed a quick way to tell us she was a no-nonsense woman, but I just felt like it was a weak way to get Kaito around to meet her.

They made it too obvious Kyoya was the bad guy. I don't know if maybe I have a sixth sense for plot-twists or maybe it's just their writing (RGG twists are never the STRONGEST, but sometimes I don't see it coming), but they kept going with every intention of making it OBVIOUS he was not a good guy. He was rich, worked a lot, and then hurt Jun because the kid was just looking at some knives he found. There was NO subtlety about Kyoya, and the fact that he somehow seemed a million times more evil than Soma just seemed annoying, mostly because beyond Kyoya wanting money and to be rich, he barely felt all that complex. Like, he felt cartoonishly evil.

It leads me to the next point that the whole game itself just seemed so predictable. I knew Kyoya was going to be the big bad, I knew Kaito wasn't REALLY gonna be Jun's dad but it would make him want to help more and more even thinking he MIGHT be, and I knew that not only was Mikiko never going to do any damage during her revenge rampage, but she would end up with Kaito. I know I said RGG twists aren't always the strongest, but I feel like despite it, they still weave an intriguing story with twists and turns that become unexpected. But I could almost see everything a mile away and none of it was particularly interesting, if I'm being honest.

The ending I think is what truly soured me to it all. They're on a rooftop, Kyoya has been subdued, and Mikiko is seconds away from shooting him and getting her revenge because Kyoya had his "bestie" Kenmochi burn down her family's house (which apparently he assumed the house would be empty which is why he was okay with it, but he never checked and was really upset he killed people. OKAY?). Kaito stops her and mentions that Jun would be alone, and Kyoya was already in a bad spot and she could end her rampage, so Mikiko DOESN'T shoot him. And it's weird because she already had the detectives (which we never heard about until the DLC) watch Jun while she planned to infiltrate the party. So like, what were her plans for her kid once she DID get her revenge? It's mentioned a lot that despite it all, she loved Jun and tried to always be there for him before her disappearance, but suddenly she needs KAITO to bring up that her kid would watch her shoot his father and then she'd be in jail. Whatever. Kenmochi strangles Kyoya, DIES HIMSELF FROM THE POISON (Kyoya is super evil by the way and poisoned and killed EVERYONE. BECAUSE. HE. IS. EVIL!!!!), Jun is likely traumatized from watching it (plus all the trauma from EVERYTHING ELSE), and... it doesn't get brought up how much that'll fuck him up. Whether his dad was the most evillest villain or not, it's gonna fuck Jun up. And even when Jun talks to Kaito on the roof about wanting to be strong to protect those he cares about, he barely seems affected by watching people die RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIM. YIKES!

AND THEN DON'T WORRY! Mikiko ends up with Kaito in the end! Because not only did the doctor who cared for her during her amnesia fall for her, but for some stupid reason, despite Mikiko now being free from her rampage to pick up the pieces of all the shit she's been through, the best thing to do is to saddle her with a man! AND WHAT BETTER WAY THAN TO FIGHT FOR HER LIKE SHE'S JUST A PRIZE TO BE WON?

And it's mostly for comedic effect I guess, since of course this rando RIPPED doctor would never win the girl when the protagonist is RIGHT THERE, but it's just... so stupid. They just go with Kaito despite EVERYTHING THAT WENT ON like it'll all be okay. And I think that's what really fucking chaps my hide. It felt like Jun's the only one who grew (KIND OF. He got over his fear of knives, I GUESS), and they all lived happily ever after. And don't get me wrong, I like a happy ending too, but it just felt too perfect. Nothing ever felt tense, it never felt like anything was at stake, no one seems all that hurt by anything that has happened (except, again, JUN). On paper I think the outline for the plot seems okay. But man, it just felt like a way to give Kaito some attention because... I dunno, maybe fans were sad he wasn't in Lost Judgment for half the game due to his stab wound?

I know I'm in the minority here. I want the guys to be happy because they've all been through shit, but man, I don't know, it felt too perfectly weaved to end the way it did. Despite how much I liked Kaito/Mikiko, it just feels like it's a leap for Mikiko to uproot her and Jun's lives after ALL THAT SHIT, to go live with Kaito all because... LOVE CONQUERS ALL!!!!111 It just felt so trite and unbelievable given what I'm accustomed to, I guess. I believe Mikiko would see how much Kaito would have changed in so many years, but she has a lot more going on and a lot to unpack, I just guess I don't see her as being so charmed and wooed after everything that had gone on just because Kaito won some stupid dick measuring contest FOR HER LOVE! It felt like they just wanted to have some form of wrap-up, and we got... this. I've seen a lot of talk about how Kaito wouldn't be so bad as a main character, and I FULLY disagree. I think he's a strong side character, but he doesn't feel smart enough to carry a game of mystery and intrigue. I know it was after the fact, but we saw how it went in Gaiden when he was the lead on a case; he had it all wrong and was running off before he heard a client's full story, and then ALSO throwing Higashi under a bus for not picking up that they had been tricked by a yakuza family.

There's a lot of little things that annoyed me as well, such as random woman working at Charles despite part of Higashi's character is that with the Family dissolved, he's been working toward getting Charles profitable so he can hire his guys to work for him because he cared so much about them. And it's not so much that he has a woman working, but more that she's only there so she can be a damsel in distress to show off Jun's character as fighting for what's right and protecting those who don't have the strength to protect themselves. They ditched some small established character lore to create lore for a new character when they could have done it a million other ways. It's a nitpick, but I'm a huge Higashi fan and entitled to my opinion.

I also hated Hoshino's bit. I could see him helping Kaito out on a case, but then he talks about troubles in his and Saori's relationship, how there's distance between them, which is also mentioned here and there in Lost Judgment as well but never taken further. So of course, Kaito says Hoshino should propose. WHY? Who the fuck knows, I guess to foreshadow the upcoming backstory. It's stupid. It's. All. So. Stupid.

Mikiko randomly snooping through Kyoya's laptop and finding evidence he was behind her family's death just also felt lazy. To be fair, I can't quite remember why it was explained she was snooping around, but with how meticulous and calculating they made Kyoya out to be, I just couldn't see him keeping any kind of documentation about it, especially not somewhere where his family could find it so easily. It felt too convenient.

Phew! I had to get it out of my system. I've been playing Lost Judgment here and there, and the stupid DLC stares me in the face when I open the phone, and it's annoying. I nearly gave up on the DLC after the first chapter because I was just so uninvested in it, but I pushed through because achievements and man. It just didn't feel like it got better. And not only was it too formulaic and predictable, the difficulty spike just felt odd. Like fighting as Kaito was fun, but the enemies felt like a chore to get past to the point that I set the difficulty to easy just so I could get through it faster.

Everyone praises the writing, and I'll say the writing was fine. They told the story they wanted to, it wasn't necessarily even a bad story, they even gave us some good characters in Jun and Mikiko, but it just didn't quite feel like a Ryu ga Gotoku story. It felt devoid of any real tension, intrigue, and it never left me feeling like I HAD to know more and at the edge of my seat. I'm glad it came free if you bought the Judgment Collection, because paying any big amount for the DLC would've been a slap in the face.

ANYWAY, Higashi lore was the best part of the DLC for me and it showed what a big heart he has despite trying to keep his edges. Love that for him!

[a-sleepywitch]

Tarot Tips; If you’re feeling stuck!

As with all things, once we’ve gotten the basics down of a particular skill or craft, enough to have gotten comfortable with it, we eventually hit a plateau. In case anyone else is having this problem with tarot (or other divination methods), I decided to compile a small list of things I do to get myself out of a “tarot rut,” so to speak, and hopefully someone else will find it helpful!

Part 2 can be found here!

Short disclaimer: As I'll mention further down, I prefer reading all cards as neutral (so I don't read reversals. Instead, I look at the other cards to get a broader context! You can still use reversals and such if that's your preferred method though, I just wanted to clarify what my practice is like!) The examples listed below are also not a "guide" nor the "real" way to read certain tarot cards, but I wanted to provide some examples for those that may find them to be helpful! Another thing to keep in mind is that I'm mainly speaking from a rider-waite deck's perspective, since that's the one most people are familiar with and what many modern decks are based off of.

Aaaaand finally: I am still learning! I will always be learning. That's what makes tarot so fun, so don't take anything I say too seriously!

1) Movies, shows, books, etc.

This is one of my favorite ways to mindlessly practice and develop my readings. If you’re watching a movie or a show, why not try to divine it with your cards? It’s especially effective in this case as a lot of character archetypes and tropes we see in media can also be found in the cards (think the hermit and Gandalf from lord of the rings, or the negative connotations of justice and Light Yagami from death note). I’ve listed two different versions of this that I like to do, but if a different system works for you, go for it!!

1a) Narrative Arcs

I essentially try to get a reading of the overall plot and its narrative arc. This will usually be from the protagonist’s perspective (due to them… Well, being at the center of the narrative), but you could try to get a more omniscient reading as well!

1b) Character Arcs

In this version, I try to read a specific character's character arc. I usually employ this for antagonists or secondary characters, but it doesn't really matter. What's important is that there is an arc or development of sorts, unless you want something more clean and simplistic! Reading for side characters can definitely be very effective when practicing how to get the most out of minimal information. Tarot can also be used to divine a character's backstory!

2) Personal Associations

Personal associations are a bit like personal correspondences. If you've gotten the basics down and know the gist of reading different cards together, I recommend sitting down, pulling out a card, and just writing down what you associate with said card!

As an example, three of swords is typically associated with heartbreak, grief, troubles relating to love, etc. However, for me personally, that interpretation doesn't always resonate. I associate swords with matter of the mind; logic, intellect, decision making, ideas, etc. As such, I usually interpret the three of swords as a card of warning; telling me that I'm trying to forcefully intellectualise a problem that requires an emotional resolution. I'm following my head where I should be listening to my heart.

Another example is the tower, which is usually described as a very negative card, bringing destruction and chaos due to an abrupt change. But as someone who reads the cards as inherently neutral, this interpretation also doesn't fully resonate. For me, the tower represents a sudden change where there used to be stability, and this change doesn't necessarily have to be destructive. While the tower can be destructive in overthrowing authority, it can also be empowering; an upheaval of an unjust system, demonstrations for social justice, standing up against authoritarianism, etc. It's about a break in the status quo.

3) Daily Associations

This is similar to personal associations, though i find these to be a bit more specific. When I'm going about my day, I'll try to assign various cards with different things/situations/feelings I may encounter throughout the day. For example, for me, I associate the nine of swords with nights before a big exam or a paper is due. Queen of pentacles is when I finish spring cleaning. Ace of wands is picking up a new (usually artistic) hobby, or starting a passion project. Five of wands is a group project for school. Ten of swords is when I wake up in the morning and my brain feels foggy and fuzzy because I slept for too many hours, so on and so forth! This is also a great way to get comfortable and familiar with the imagery of your preferred deck, which will generally help your intuition with the cards as well.

I hope these tips were helpful! If anyone else wants to add onto this or has some other advice, I'd love to hear it! I'm always looking for ways to improve and expand my readings.

[seventeenlovesthree]

Digimon shipping dynamic game

@goqwinworld-blog 

I'm curious as to what you would think of a polycule of Daisuke, Ken, Wallace, and Miyako.

Send me two names among the following 12 and I’ll write a short analysis post about them:

Taichi Yagami | Yamato Ishida | Sora Takenouchi | Koushirou Izumi | Mimi Tachikawa | Jyou Kidou | Takeru Takaishi | Hikari Yagami | Daisuke Motomiya | Miyako Inoue | Iori Hida | Ken Ichijouji + Wallace

Whether canon provides input on them or not:

Unfortunately, I cannot put up a picture of all four of them interacting here, because while one could obviously make a case for each Daisuke/Ken/Miyako and Daisuke/Wallace/Miyako, I will have to get into theory mode a lot to make the overall polycule work.

The most interesting part is that both 3-person-relationships mentioned above have one thing in common: Namely that Miyako, Ken and Wallace all start off somewhat roughly with Daisuke, but end up having very positive, reaffirming and beautful relationships with him. So let’s look at the more obvious aspects canon provides:

Miyako may start off being in a somewhat bickering-siblings-relationship with Daisuke, but they still rely on and value each other a lot (and that means that they can potentially grow into their most honest selves with each other - especially in a universe in which they both swoon about the same person(s)). Ken and Daisuke start off as “rivals” on the football pitch (even though Daisuke already fondly admires him there), then turn into enemies, just for Daisuke to be the first person to forgive Ken for his behaviour, wanting him to move on and live and integrate him into the group, with all the positive affirmations (and heart pounding) you can imagine, turning them into (life) partners in crime easily. And Ken slowly but steadily opens up to Daisuke (and in turn to the others as well, including Miyako). Upon learning about Wallace’s backstory, Daisuke’s once condescending (and somewhat jealous) attutude towards Wallace melts into the urge to help and support him, again, with overwhelming kindness - which actually seems to catch the flirty, witty Wallace off guard as well.

Miyako displays (more or less obvious) crushes on both Ken and Wallace; the latter is very keen on flirting with her, calling her pretty (which in turn, turns Daisuke into a jealous hedgehog), whereas her feelings for Ken go through quite a rollercoaster ride (from crushing on him to despising him to slowly but steadily appreciating and moving towards him again). Ken’s feelings for Miyako, on the flipside, are not heavily focused upon, as the majority of his interactions are reserved for Daisuke, even though the growing respect between them is definitely visible.

Last but not least, there is obviously no canon material for the relationship between Ken and Wallace - but that doesn’t mean that it cannot work regardless.

Whether I think why and how they’d work:

As outlined above, the most logical route for all of them is going for a scenario in which Miyako, Ken and Wallace bond over their mutual feelings for Daisuke. For the first three-way dynamic, you potentially have a convincing baseline: 

Ken canonically ending up marrying Miyako already makes these two romantically involved with each other and considering how incredibly close Daisuke and Ken are emotionally (and physically, as, according to Kizuna, they still spend a lot of time together in their freetime), it wouldn’t be unlikely for these three to end up in a polyamorous relationship - at least in my opinion. Daisuke and Miyako’s bond shall not be underestimated either, because, as mentioned above, they display a lot of familiarity and trust DESPITE the bickering and since they both grow to adore Ken to the core, this could absolutely be something they’d bond over and get closer over with as well. Basically having these three growing closer over their shared feelings for each other, opening up and being honest sounds like it could be a considerably lovely bond on its own already.

Now let’s look where exactly Wallace fits into this. We already ended Hurricane Touchdown on a very promising note, with him being flirty with both Daisuke and Miyako - so them staying in touch with each other should be a given. I could see him and Miyako texting frequently and Daisuke, being canonically good at English and also implied to be close with Mimi, would also visit him in America whenever possible (since he also aims to start his ramen cart there - what a coincidence, huh?). With gate hopping becoming a more and more accessible way of traveling, they might actually visit each other as adults on a regular basis. So again, these three falling for each other (with Daisuke realizing that his jealousy is linked to his feelings for both Miyako and Wallace) makes a lot of sense.

So what about Wallace and Ken? I feel like, upon meeting each other for the first time, they would probably be a bit wary of one another - and also a liiiiittle bit protective over Daiyako in their own right, as they would have to come to terms with each other first. However, as protective as I could see both of them being, as soon as they realize that they both equally love Daisuke and Miyako, I could see them growing soft and rambling to each other about all the things they value about them. Daisuke and Miyako would DEFINITELY try to convince each of them of each other’s greatness as well, but I don’t think they would get romantically involved with each other. So while it’s hard to imagine these two falling for each other in canon, they probably would at least agree to be in love with two pretty amazing people and make some kind of arrangement with it. (On a different note: Dub!Willis being responsible for Diaboromon is somewhat a mirror to Ken being responsible for Kimeramon, so in the Dub!universe, both of them can be considered young geniuses that could bond over their pasts and the losses they suffered.)

Whether I’d prefer them as platonic or romantic ship:

I do like each three-way-combinations a lot, as I could definitey see each of them working out and interacting in the romantic outlined above (with Kendaiyako and Miwasuke being romantically involved and Ken/Wallace being platonic with each other, but romantic with each Daisuke and Miyako). I also enjoy them in a platonic way, either with all four of them just being friends OR as a group with certain ship combinations in between (for example in a universe in which Wasuke became a thing next to canonical Kenyako - or an alternate universe, in which Daiken and Wayako became endgame). Man, I love polyshipping...

[smartzelda]

Blorbo bingo go!

Autor (he counts he's the one your most attached too in the show. I KNOW YOU.)

Mikami

Prompto

Dib

Ienzo/Zexion (throwing him on here cuz you really were an Ienzo apologist for like a solid year buddy.)

Okay so for the good of everyone I've decided to put my answers under the cut because you *know* I can't shut up

ㅤ

Autor:

Okay you know what? That's fair. That's true. I was attached to him BEFORE I knew he was gonna be important. He was the most (side) character of all time to me

Boy sometimes your blorbo is a funky side character who just WANTS TO READ HIS BOOKS IN PEACE IN THE LIBRARY, DAMMIT

(And uh also stalk the pretty boy who comes by to search all the fairytales who you just so happen to be uper jealous of because he gets to live the topic of your special interest)

But he's idk he's more of a voice of reason for other characters, especially early on, but he's also definitely passionate. Somewhere between sensible and will do anything kinda guy. It's almost surprising he hasn't killed a man yet.

ㅤ

Mikami:

*GASP* HIM

I ADORE HIM

Okay I'm aware I'm going to have to explain myself a little

The feral square refers solely to the fact that he gets very much feral when he's passionate about something or generally *really* feeling an emotion. I think how he acts when he writes names in the death note + is noticed by Kira and during the entire yellow box scene (at least in the anime) is proof enough

I will not be explaining the Autism™ square. If you can't get it then 🤷 All you need to know is that even though it's not technically canon it means so much to me that this absolutely factors into his childhood and how things happened to him

Haha you know he's my favorite I couldn't hide it if I tried

He's my pathetic meow meow because he's a serial killer and he dies so tragically and just...sad. He's pathetic and committed atrocities and I love him

Let's be clear, when his mind is at it's clearest, he *is* the voice of reason. And yes this cam be true despite the murder. He has a strong black and white idea of right and wrong, and if he thinks something is wrong he cannot be swayed. It's probably only around Light those reasoning skills dwindle

Technically accidental parental figure is movie canon. I may not have watched the Japanese death note live action movies yet, but by god I live for Teru Mikami adopting Hikari Yagami. Now, of course I'm disappointed from what I know about how that specific plot works and how the movies handle Mikami, but...it's better for the brain if I think about Mikami adopting Light's son and pretending the rest of the plot surrounding that doesn't exist.

By god he needs it so bad. I think most people think he just needs it because he's "insane", likely evidenced by how he acts in the yellow box scene or when writing names, but it’s so much more than "oh, he needs therapy because he's crazy". No, dudes. He's *traumatized* traumatized. I'll spare you all most of my essay for now, but if you take a look at how he narrates his own backstory, it becomes so clear just how messed up a lot of things were, and how some of his feelings on the matter arised after the fact. Teru Mikami, as a middle schooler, did not actually think his mother should die because he asked her to prioritize his own wellbeing and stand down so he wouldn't be bullied. He didn't even begin to think that she must've deserved it and that it was divine justice until she'd died and he had to cope with it. Who he is is such a mix of all the trauma he endured by the bullying and uh harrassment (an understatement), having an absent parent, definitely being neurodivergent, trying to solidify clear differences between right and wrong, being orphaned as a young boy and having to cope with his mother's death, and just...god. Like, come on. There's no way that deciding his dear mother must've deserved death and *that's* why she died along with his bullies, turning from defending the weak to taking out "the bad people", and deciding that he's god's poor meow meow and *that's* why all this is happening because he's "chosen" aren't at least partly coping mechanisms of some sort. Okay, okay. I'll spare you all the full essay

Do I even need to say it? I need to be him now absolutely now. Pretty man with longer hair in trench coat and ah

I mostly marked the muse one for the "haha he's god's poor meow meow" joke but also god I have so much fic I need to write for this man

There's nothing like having identity crisis (in terms of neurodovergence) because you relate too well to a character who is absolutely not neurotypical and dealt with largely similar social problems (minus most of the harassment) to you while also being an intelligent overthinker haha

I don't 100% know why I marked this but it is not derogatory. Does he have a super tragic and traumatic backstory? Check. Is he also literally built to be god's perfect number one follower? Yes. My man looks good and neat, he washes regularly, he can cook, he started working out, he literally thinks he's god's poor meow meow, and he happens to think very very similar to Light so he does get praise. Like of course it implies he worked for most of what he had but by god man he's basically perfect? Like if I was Light I'd malewife him here and now. His life also went coincidentally so just so he *could* see himself and actually become god's poor little meow meow

There are so many reasons to be feral about Teru Mikami

ㅤ

Prompto:

Aaaa I haven't talked about him in a while but god I love him

I need to preface this by saying I only marked angst machine because he is a secret angst machine. Once you get more of his character it just starts leaking out until the dam bursts, man

He is like, quite literally that character who is happy go lucky and a sunshine boy and he's the protag's best friend and everything is great, right? Right??

Wrong. He struggles heavily with body image and fatphobia, his outgoing sunshine personality began as a cover so he'd be more appealing, he feels like a living lie for so many reasons (given that there's a blurred thin line between what of his personality is actually him and what's a curated mask, he pretended he wasn't who he was as a kid thinking Noctis would find him more appealing as he is now, he keeps most of his real thoughts and feelings and insecurities inside because he's afraid to burden them, he feels like an outsider in his own friend group because Noctis is the prince and Gladio and Ignis are connected to that, meanwhile he's just some commoner, and he's not only secretly *from* the empire Noctis's kingdom is at war with, but also was born to become I believe the energy source for the empire's robot soldiers (ik what they're really called don't worry about it)), and he even has an identity crisis! *slaps head of boy* You can fit so much trauma into it! Oh, and also it's implied that his adoptive parents are basically never around and that he's not sure if they care about him so

He needs therapy so bad

He also needs a kiss from his best friend as a treat. It wouldn't fix him but it sure would help

ㅤ

Dib:

Hehehehehehehhehehehehehehe

God I miss him

I am

Mmmmmm

I am literally vibrating okay ah so many thoughts whirring around the brain

I hope what this gets across is that he's an absolute bastard who really has an abnormal threshold for "just a normal Tuesday" and an interesting set of morals. He's a feelings denier, he's absolutely traumatized by all the shit in his life (what, from everything with Zim to going through literal torture to being basically locked in an insane asylum as a child to no one, even his father, ever believing him, to just trying to please a father who's never around and never seems to actually be proud of him, to the best friends he's ever had being another kid who's also probably heavily traumatized and is basically his stalker and well Zim). Whether canon or in aged up fanon this boy is messed up and traumatized, neurodivergent, self sacrificial, easily angered, passionate, and bad at feelings.

ㅤ

Ienzo/Zexion:

Hey HEY

I'm actually still an apologist thank you very much

Yes he did bad things no matter his circumstances and enjoyed it, and yes I acknowledge he could end up turning on the main cast and betraying them

However also he can do no wrong I love him in fact if he just so happened to uh get rid of Ansem tw I would say he deserves it. He can do whatever he wants

By god I am...too tired to go into it right now but wtf when you did into him just

By god so many things have happened to him. At least the rest of the org were older teens this boy was AN 8 YEAR OLD when he became a nobody. Think about that. You're an orphan kid who's practically adopted by the local king and the stern cold man of science. The former is "the fun dad", which means he uses you as an excuse to get his favorite icecream. He doesn't actually hang out with you because he wants to hang with you and doesn't seem to do most of the real parenting. The former cares about his science projects above all, and while he probably does all the parenting work he's far from warm and caring. And then all the people you live with/your older friends practically dramatically exile your technical adoptive parent and convince you that he deserved it, and then coerce you into you know literally having your heart pierced so you can divorce your heart from your body and not have to deal with pesky feelings. So he gets drawn into a literal cult at age 8. And then for the next like eleven years grows up as a nobody/without his heart while being told he's now broken without it and will never be able to truly feel emotion and care, and is also basically raised through these years by said cult made up of his friends and some sketchy people. And then of course he basically dies before coming back to life, and sure he's technically whole but he has complicated feelings about all this and of course now his technically adoptive father is back and just does not acknowledge what he put him through (Ienzo ends up being the one apologizing for everything in front of him as if he's taking the responsibility of it all above himself). I swear he's a ticking time bomb there's no way he can just stay okay with everything that happened to him.

ㅤ

Anyways, thanks for the ask, Xion! You know how I love essaying on my favs🥰

[zhao-tianyou]

Finished watching a playthrough of Lost Judgment with the lads. 

Random blurbs and thoughts will contain spoilers so more under cut! 

1) i fucking love akutsu. dude is a super chad. him getting a selfie with kaito and yagami was so sus and shady. i love it. i love that he was soma’s muscle too. i was really hoping he would get some sort of redemption arc after getting beat down by yagami, but right after i fired off a tweet about it, he gets shot and killed so fuck that i guess 

2) fuck dem kids. i do not care if they all changed for the good, it had to take soma kidnapping one of the bullies and the kid getting bullied for them to finally all change after one had already apologized. fuck them all. koda should have all kicked their asses at the end. 

3) please for the love of god, give higashi his own game. it could be a random game or one about his backstory. there wasnt enough of him and i need more of him. fuck it, have yagami bring him on like kaito. 

4) soma is a babe. he is so deliciously evil. he was really the final boss. idc about kuwana’s final boss battle. soma is the final boss, and you can’t convince me otherwise. you wanted to see him go down at the end, but oh my god i was rooting for the bad guy. he was great. 

5) i need deets on the rk guy who greeted saori when she was uc. he a qt. 

6) i am very conflicted about kuwana. i want to like him because he a qt and he’s pretty cool in general, but i also think he is a massive piece of shit for killing all those bullies. jury is still out on him. 

7) i was going to do a “take a drink every time yagami says ‘sawa-sensei,’ and i’m glad i didn’t now 

8) reiko deserves everything bad. fuck her. her being ride or die with kuwana and then selling him out when her son finally wakes up from his coma. fuck her and fuck kuwana for wanting to help her even after she sold him out. 

9) love the callbacks to the yakuza games with mention of daigo, zhao making the group food when they go to visit tesso, and yagami going to kashmoney’s  kashwagi’s bar

10) fuck bando. he is an absolute skeeze and a dickbag. that’s all that needs to be said about him

11) give me more tesso. i hope he shows up in y8 or judgment 3. he’s great. i love him. give me more of him. give me more of him gushing over zhao too 

12) all the boss themes are wonderful. yakuza/judgment game with good music, what else is new 

13) this game is insanely violent and shows a lot of gruesome stuff. it being part investigation stuff, you expect it, but holy shit. first scene of the game, and you see the fire department and pd find a dead, decaying body and they show it and it’s swarmed with bugs and i almost threw up. yagami almost gets chopped in little bite size pieces and i was waiting for them to show anything violent with any of the grunts getting it instead. 

14) i feel like they kinda left it open somewhat at the end. i hope they revisit kuwana in a later game. 

15) the ending made me cry, so theres that 

16) 10/10 game, would play it if i had a ps 

[grandmarielaylanen]

Nicole Laylanen

Template made by Epel and edited a tad to add a few things by Me. Also, art is by @virunathestarbaby​ (this is also mentioned later in the post).

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"It's a polyamorous relationship, kindly fuck off"

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Basic Information

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Name: Nicole (Aubrey) Laylanen

Gender: Female

Sexuality: Asexual Biromantic

Date Of Birth: December 26th

Profession: Writer

Age: 123 (at the start of the 17th universe)

Species: Covenant

Hobbies: Baking, writing

Zodiac: Capricorn

Personality: Calm, caring, dishonest, protective, secretive

Flaws: Doesn't think about herself, has a tendency to lie, overthinks

Phobias: Thalassophobia (lakes + rivers, has no problem with ocean), Gephyrophobia (ones over water)

Love Interest: Light Yagami (Laylanen-Yagami) and L Lawliet (Laylanen-Yagami)

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"I know I need to take care of myself but.. but how do I do that? How do I start caring if I'll get hurt? How do.. how do I go back to normal..?"

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Looks

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Hair Length: Down to the middle of her back

Hair Color: Red

Eye Color: Purple

Height: 5'1 ft

Weight: 111 lbs

Tattoos: None

Bandages: None

Scars: On her arms, stomach, on her thighs

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"How... How could you do that to them..? Why.. you fucking tortured them.."

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Techniques/Info

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Stamina:

4/10

Jumping:

3/10

Strength:

5/10

Wisdom:

7/10

Charisma:

4/10

Wealth:

10/10

Intelligence:

7/10

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"God that gremlin really knows how to make someone suffer"

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Clothing

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Normal Clothing: Blue jacket with a black shirt and jeans with gray sneakers

Formal Clothing: Periwinkle dress with black flats

Pajamas: Light blue long sleeve shirt with black pj pants

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"I don't want to go through another universe again! I don't I don't I don't!"

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Health

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Sickness: None

Disorder: Complex PTSD, anxiety, depression

Cancer: None

Diseases: None

Weakness: Light and L

Allergies: None

Asthma: None

Disability: None

Fears: The people she cares about getting hurt or dying, crickets, what Anna's capable of, having to save another universe, Otoha burning down their house + squad house, being tortured again, and she has Thalassophobia + Gephyrophobia

Addiction: Alcohol (I think so?)

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"JUST SHUT UP! Aubrey died years ago when I made the deal. SHE'S GONE, SHE'S NOT ME, HASN'T BEEN ME, DON'T FUCKING CALL ME THAT!"

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Personality aspects

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Normal Moods: Calm

Patient/Impatient: Both, depends on situation

Anger Management?: Slightly

Three good things about personality:

° Will always help those she cares about

° Caring

° Understanding

Three bad things of personality:

° Doesn't think of the consequences

° Doesn't listen to others

° Is a liar

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"If you don't give up the notebook, I'll off myself. I know you care about me a lot and you wouldn't want to see that happen, would you?"

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Relationships

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Mother: ??? Laylanen

Father: ??? Laylanen

Sister: Kaylee Laylanen

Brother: None

Partner(s): Light and L Laylanen-Yagami

Daughters: Yui, Nakano, and Hana Laylanen

Sons: Makoto Laylanen

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"I'D RATHER NOT HAVE YOU TRY LECTURE ME ON JUSTICE SINCE YOU BECAME A CRAZY MASS MURDERER!"

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Extra

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Backstory: When she was 15 she made a deal with a ghost girl that promised her she would be able to go to different universes, specifically the Death Note universe since it was her favorite anime. She later fails to save everyone in the 1st Death Note universe and figures out she can't go back home because that's her consequence for making the deal she did. Nicole then keeps trying to save Death Note universes up until the 17th one when she finally succeeds.

Home: 17th universe

Dislikes: Anna, being called “Aubrey”, people who hurt people she cares about

Likes: The boys, baking, writing, macaroni and cheese, pierogi, 

Voice Claim: Maaya Sakamoto (Japanese), Erika Harlacher [think of memoryless Kaede] (English)

Theme Playlist: Nicole's Themes

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"Sorry? You can't get a sorry! You just signed your life away over who knows what! The only way to get out of the deal is to give up your power which causes you to die and if you don't want to do that you're stuck living seeing everyone you've cared about die! Touka why the hell did you make a deal?!"

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Art Credits

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@virunathestarbaby

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"Excuse me but what fucking right do you have to be touching him like that?!"

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[13eyond13]

Well, that's the thing, he established a contrast between L and all the other characters, even though he said he could never have created the other characters either, and only said of L that he didn't feel real for him. That's why it never sat well for me, despite it being a good opinion at first glance.

And I agree. I read some similar things about both Near and Mello in the How to read while checking for that information. I'm not too surprised either about what you say about Platinum End, though I have not read it myself. I don't rely much on them either to form my opinion besides what's in the text, I agree it seems like the best choice all things considering. Like the Ryuzaki thing having to do with L and R sounding similar, I see that, but prefer to roll with Another Note here. It works wonderfully with it being Beyond Birthday's real name (I was this 👌 close to start rambling about identity again but goodness what a wonderful messy thing L has going on there). And still the washing machine bugged me, I couldn't help it. I thought for the longest time it was some kind of absurd joke headcanon popular in the DN fandom and I liked it a lot more as such xD

I don't like to dismiss completely File no. 15 though! I don't know if this is an unpopular opinion (pseudo ☕), but I love that L visits museums and likes art, and that he enjoys going to the park at times, and maybe I'm biased due to my background, but I adore and find so thought inspiring that he finished the demonstration in his first case with "Q.E.D."! The message is long again (with the new limitless asks it's easy to get carried away), but I wanted to add some positive things. I didn't mean to sound so bitter and negative in the other messages, sorry about that.

May I ask what are some of your own unpopular opinions? You don't have to reply, of course.

Oh, I didn't know the asks became limitless recently 😆 No worries, you didn't sound bitter! I tend to like being a bit critical or negative as a way of analyzing or attempting to discuss stuff honestly as well, and that's bound to happen in unpopular opinion sharing. I think it's valid to still be bothered by those things in the HTR13. I was just explaining how much I prioritize it or let it affect my feelings personally when it comes to my own interpretations of things.

Oh man, I haven't thought about my own unpopular opinions in a long time! But I think I made a list of them once in an ask I received way back in the day... I'll copy some here and then add some others, too.

I hope I don't offend anyone with these opinions, I'm not saying these are objectively true or anything but my own subjective takes, but

Some Unpopular Opinions:

-I think Misa is a worse person than Light and would rather hang out with him and be friends with him than with her. This is mostly because of how differently he acted upon losing his memories whereas she stayed almost exactly the same.

-I strongly prefer the manga to the anime because I think it's better written, more consistent, funnier, prettier, and more in-depth with all the characters and themes. I love stuff about the anime like the music, but I don't think the changes the anime made to L such as seemingly giving him regretful emotions before his death and little flashbacks to his past were automatically improvements on his manga self. I think he was far more original and complex as a character without that other stuff added in

-I LOVE LIGHT YAGAMI and can’t comprehend not loving him because he’s such a good character. Roasting him is always fun, but just straight up hating on him with no sense of humour about it is boring to me

-L is probably my all-time fave character but at the same time I think he can get a bit boring after a while if he isn’t fleshed out more in shippy fanfics and things. I love it when people give him a backstory and an interesting life in fics that go in-depth, because otherwise he can be left too much of a question mark

-Lawlight is both my favourite ship and also something I find a little overrated in the fandom at times. I think it's a really entertaining ship as an uncertain one full of tension and mind-games, but when it comes to actually putting them into a secure and loving relationship I end up getting easily bored by it

-sometimes I think Wammy's is overrated in the fandom compared to the other interesting characters and stuff in the series as well. I would love to see a little more exploration of the task force and SPK and mafia and such instead

-I think Higuchi was actually pretty nice to Misa on their date and the only thing that was awkward was that he lunged at her a little in the car when he got excited, lol

-I love Kiyomi and think it’s so silly to hate on her just because she killed Mello, he kidnapped her and made her strip at gunpoint first. I also think she gets blamed more harshly for things the guys also do sometimes, both by the characters in the story and by fans

-I don't believe Matsuda is as much of a pure cinnamon roll as some people seem to think, but he's more interesting with that darker side included in his characterization too

-I LOVE NEAR and think he’s so funny, and one of the most three-dimensional characters in the manga

-I think it was a good story choice that L died when he did and that he wasn't the final one in the warehouse showdown (though if I had only watched the anime that probably wouldn't be the case)

-I like that the story says that all the characters go to MU no matter what they do. I don't see it as just an edgy nihilistic thing which we should pretend isn't part of the story due to being too depressing to think about. In my opinion it's important to include it because it forces the audience to draw their own conclusions about the actions we see onscreen, and who we choose to sympathize with or condemn. If there was some sort of afterlife consequences based on the characters' morality it would easily become way too weirdly preachy or annoyingly nonsensical for me. And I respect how permanent the character deaths are because it would weaken the dramatic stakes and lessen the tension a lot if characters could arbitrarily come back from the dead

[roseunspindle]

What I Read October 2021

finally got volume 2, it took months of it being on back order *sob* quite enjoying the series so far.

Did a re-read of the dears series and I still love it, not a fan of super pervy manga, but this one does honestly focus on relationships and personal arcs more than pervy stuff so it doesn’t squick me out. I do hate the dears outfits though...they make no sense...^_^’

so much is happening *stress!*

Finally into the fullbring arc...the soul society/aizen arcs were so long and so much of the series, it’s weird to have a new thing, but I am intrigued so far.

still going good

Finally read book 2! I love Temeraire and Laurence

I really don’t like Grey... I dunno he bugs me so much.

(64 chapters)

I enjoyed this at the start, but where it kept adding love interests, especially her boss I was getting tired, and the more fun friendships were seemingly being pushed aside for romances. Also Umed was actually the guy I thought seemed to know the main character best/actually in her corner and a good friend but he wasn’t being presented as a love interest, and by the time it looked like one of the guys was going to suddenly switch to another girl and her friends were having her watch porn? I totally lost interest. My favorite chapter was actually the one all about her dog...

Some Train backstory, and I love that Saya wasn’t his “lost love” she was a friend and someone who showed him a new way of life/thinking and that was her big impact on Train.

I’d actually found this manga first before the fate/stay night anime (though I’m currently watching that which prompted me to re-read this volume) ^_^’

This is another that took ages to get (volume 11 isn’t proving easier either) anywho I kinda wanted to punch Mephisto a lot (even more than usual) in this volume. ^_^

Had a interview and I was super nervous so I read a nice calming Beatrix Potter book. (one of my many coping mechanisms)

Started a death note re-read, uncertain if I still like it or not but we’ll see. (want to punch light yagami)

Lots of little things happening in this volume, also Ishtar’s guards are hilarious

Couldn’t help myself, plus this is my favorite Beatrix Potter story

A bit slow moving, but overall good, Terrel has some realizations. 

Keeping current with...

*Tricked into Becoming the Heroines Stepmother

[namenoted]

i have yagami as a flame breather, wanting to inherit to the title of hashira / to become the pillar of flame. he is talented, trained under his father who was a kinoe. his mother and sister act as members of the kakushi. his father is on the brink of retiring. his father trained with rengoku senior, swapping techniques with a decently amicable friendship.

yagami is working on his own tenth form of flame breathing, though no form is available to him currently. his sword is red with the hilt having belonged to his father / grandfather, etc. he knows the ninth form.

as this is in the taisho era, yagami has black hair by birth and generally keeps it tied back / up as it has more length than his canonical counterpart. an incident involving fire ( will be expanded on later ) left his hair deep burgundy.

he is tall, slender, and incredibly fast. all of his attacks are aimed to be precise, and he is constantly strategizing to think ahead of his opponent. ranked highly, and respected by his peers, yagami consistently runs into a demon he is unable to slay -> ryuk

continuing further:

ive beaten it into all of you that yagami has complicated relationships with other human beings, but that actually is really interesting in regards to his kny verse specifically because there are two categories of sentient beings to consider. humans and demons. demons are basically the big bad, they are the true villain against humanity, and are often a reason for despair and injustice. in this way, i think that while yagami still has a hard time forming relationships based on the fact that he will always inherently be who he is, that he would have an easier time pitying people and thus seeing humans as “weak and needing protection” due to these circumstances. the extremities of demons make some of the extremities of humans look like chump change. this isn’t to say he thinks all humans are inherently good, and he does intervene in what he considers immoral human behavior, but his focus is less on that and more on being a demon slayer.

so because of this focus shift, i keep wondering if there are more possibilities for authentic relationships via things such as heavy comradery. he doesn’t have comrades in his original verse, and he feels as if he is actively doing this huge deed on his own with the intent that others will follow the influence. here he is directly part of a common, “good” goal in the moral sense that aligns people together to fight in tandem. so he’s not really having to change anyone’s minds here in the way that he feels he usually has to. everyone seems to be mostly on the same page. this is actually good for yagami. it aligns well with his views. this doesn’t absolve that he actually has less of a tragic backstory than most still and really just deals with the parallels of what happens in his canon, but it still makes for some great content with a lot of emotional charge. whether he likes it or not, yagami acts a lot on emotion with his logic.

i think he still has these small and large goals such as becoming a pillar (somewhat small) to defeating muzan (huge). so there are still things he’s going to have a hard time with such as relating to others on such a deeply emotional way, but in that regard the other cast will assist with their strengths and weaknesses. tanjiro is definitely a very buddha based figure who seems to have reached enlightenment and enlightens others. yagami is not this figure. he’s also never encountered this figure type before, especially not one younger than him. i think a lot about this verse and how it will challenge and shape yagami and how it will force to me let him grow while keeping him ic.

i have a small headcanon that i use more heavily in my kny verse having been altered by circumstance over dye, but i like to think yagami has a tinge of red to his hair. i think his natural hair is more akin to a brownish-black while more heavy on the black side, so when he dyes it that sort of medium brown semi-milk tea like color it brings out a bit of that tinge to it. his hair is a natural reddish-brown in my atla verse.

[jippy-kandi]

Digimon Adventure: 2020 – Episode 20: The Seventh One Awakens (Review)

Thoughts on the twentieth episode of the Digimon Adventure reboot series.

I quite liked this episode. Probably because of my immense love for the Takaishida brothers. Can you tell from the screenshots? :P

I really liked how desperate Yamato was to save Takeru. It brought more realism to a show that otherwise dodges it. XD;

Velgrmon is a cool-looking digimon and a worthy opponent.

Megadramon totally didn’t appear just to get Leomon out of the way so that our heroes could shine, right? No way. :P

Someone should count how many times Yamato and Takeru said each other’s names this episode. It might be more times than Yuuko Yagami thought about her son the entire series! :P

MetalGreymon’s small, weak, damaged-looking wings allow him to fly? Who knew! Not me.

Toshiko Takenouchi in a blurred cameo! Her head looks ginormous, hahaha. It’s nice that she “chewed out” Sora for being missing for three days, but . . . that’s it? She just let her 11-year-old daughter go out again the very next day - after disappearing for three? I don’t know, reboot, that's . . . lame.

The whole “three days missing” thing is something the writers should have really thought more about. It’s just not realistic that their parents wouldn’t be calling the police and panicking like crazy over their disappearance - especially during a power outage/utter chaos. I give a lot of passes for kids’ shows, but the more it’s brought up, the more it just seems really silly.

Sora: “Koushirou-kun, were you OK?” Koushirou: “What? Well . . . My house is, um . . .” Well, I’m intrigued in his backstory! (Also, Sora’s face when she waits for Koushirou’s answer is SO CUTE. The warmth of this girl is amazing.)

I’m not sure why Koushirou felt the need for them to move when other people were around? Tentomon could easily be someone’s Avatar on the internet. Did Toei forget this is 2020? lol

So Tentomon and the others are in the Network, along with some other evil digimon. Interesting.

WereGarurumon riding - and then surfing - on MetalGreymon’s missile was both cool and silly at the same time, haha.

The highlight of the episode for me: Everything Takaishida. Yamato reaching out for Takeru and, just, every single shot of these brothers. Yes, I barely know Takeru, but I could feel Yamato’s desperation for him and it worked for me. LOOK AT TAKERU’S TINY HAND REACHING FOR YAMATO’S LARGER ONE. <3

Although, when Yamato finally pulled Takeru out, I did think he might’ve flung him too far, LOL. (Yamato benches, bro.) But then Takeru fell into his big brother’s loving arms and OMFG THIS MOMENT WAS SO PRECIOUS, IF YOU FELT NOTHING YOU ARE COMPLETELY DEAD INSIDE BELLA. Possibly my favourite moment of the entire reboot so far. <3

When they were falling from the sky they were basically playing catch with each other and I lol’ed.

In this episode we learned that Takeru’s vocabulary only consists of “onii-chan” and “stop it!”.

OH MY, TAKERU WISHED FOR A WHOLE ANGEL. :D A good-looking one, too. But Angemon’s voice does not suit him, lol. Looks like a prince, croaks like a frog. Dude went from a 10 to a 4 real fast. XD;

Angemon gave his power to WereGarurumon and MetalGreymon to defeat Velgrmon - and then died? This angel is super weak, Takeru, get a refund. :P

YOU HAD ONE JOB, TAKERU, ONE JOB - CATCH THE DAMN DIGI-EGG! orz

The fact that Takeru just met Angemon makes his “death” less impactful than in the OG. But that’s OK, it’s not like kids watching the show know that. So it worked fine . . . for now. I guess Takeru won’t have this trauma hanging over him like in 02 where they suddenly pulled it out in an attempt to give his character depth. :P

Overall, I liked this episode.

I think the Angemon plot could’ve been done better (it seems like in an effort to subvert OG expectations, they neutered themselves), but we’ll see where they end up taking it. I thought for sure Devimon vs. Angemon would go down . . . but now that Angemon is in the process of being “reborn”, I doubt he’d be reborn a second time after defeating Devimon.

Then again, the reboot has definitely repeated things before *cough* Omegamon *cough* so I guess Angemon could die again! :P