#i wish there were more people that posted about things that are culturally familiar to me

[cloverpattch]

almost said I wish there were more spaniards on tumblr....but then i thought better

[snarky-art]

I love theory videos about Zelda stuff but man I really hate a lot of them when they talk about the Zonai. So often they use weighted language such as “primitive” and “less” and terms that we’re really trying to move away from in anthropology and art history since it just isn’t accurate to the way a lot of civilizations were and 9/10 times places the area of comparison on European and Anglo-sphere structures as the main point of reference. There’s also the idea that “progress” and “advancement” is strictly linear, which just isn’t the case.

The fields that are used in academia for these areas of study were founded by white men in Europe using eugenics or the ideology that would go on to be the basis of eugenics as a reference point. It’s based in highly problematic (to say the least) structures and we’re working on deconstructing that.

I just wish more people who aren’t as familiar with these fields knew that so I could better enjoy the videos and so the videos themself could actually have things of substance instead of a misplaced idea of “less tech like what the Hylian’s and Shiekah used means they were dumber and less advanced” when if we’re going to use our understanding of the current field of study, it just means they most likely just had different priorities and also just because the structures we’re looking at are made of stone instead of metals doesn’t mean they’re less “advanced”

Media and its relation to our reality and society is cyclical and the reinforcement of those ideas to a larger audience who doesn’t know better is harmful for real world reasons and also isn’t a viable way of analyzing things even if it’s “just a video game,” even if that is the way Nintendo intended it since they have a huge imperialist past that’s still ingrained in their culture to this day and is reenforced by the same things I’m critiquing in this post.

I dunno I’m just tired lol

[yuuneeyart]

Well it's been a while hasn't it? After everything that's gone on and my twitter suspension back in December, I've just decided to take a step back and focus on my personal life. Spending less time online, focusing on my job, that kinda boring shit that adults do.

But I have (slowly) and (only when I can) been working on shit. Mostly my Undertale creepypasta, UNDERTALE: The Garden. I'm sure some people remember that… but not many probably do. So I thought that since it's The Figure’s (formally Flower Child’s) birthday, I thought I'd show some stuff off.

art by me

So what is UNDERTALE: The Garden? Well.. UNDERTALE: The Garden is a story about an Undertale fan game that had been lost to time. The story focuses on the narrator finding an old and unfinished version of a fan game titled UNDERTALE: The Garden that had started its development fairly shortly after the original game’s demo had come out back in 2013. Created by an anonymous tumblr user who went by Tokumei, the game was originally meant to expand on the small amount of lore of the demo, adding more areas to the ruins, giving a new interpretation and backstory to the world, and much more. However the game went radio silent after a few years of development hell and Tokumei had not been seen since then.

Now years later, the narrator finds a gamejolt page with a familiar game on it. Excited to play it, they decided to discuss their findings on a tumblr blog. As well as archive any assets, information about development, and songs they can get their hands on. The narrator eventually finds out the game has much more to it than it was originally leading on…

art by me

There's a lot of things I have planned for the story that I don't wanna get into here (don't wanna spoil things before they come to light) but I've been working on making the actual world of The Garden much different than the original game. I've been taking an NES Godzilla approach for worldbuilding where the game just looks so vastly different from its original state using real life caves as well as Christian and Muslim imagery and cultures for inspiration for everything.

art by anonymous, pixel art by me and anonymous

But now the main attraction of the au, The Figure. She's definitely changed since you first met her 2 years ago. Instead of going to exes and helping them, she's now someone who simply wishes to be left alone. Staying in her world trying to make it as perfect as she sees it.

And now some trivia i guess for the funsies

She is not sentient, everything in the garden that happens is just a weird fangame.  The whole idea of *The game is alive and REAL!!!* has become a cliche of the creepypasta community that I don’t wanna repeat

She has a canon voice now, which can be heard here

Her facial expression never changes

The monsters that get deformed are still alive. If they were to die, you would have seen a pile of dust

art by me

That's all I have for now though, hopefully this at least peaked interest for some. This isn't me making a grand return either, just thought I'd at least post something about a character I've cared about for the past 2 years since it was her 2 year anniversary. Anyways, imma go to bed, cheers.

[beevean]

We finally watched Nocturne.

... what? No, no endless post this time :P not only because it's just one season. It's just as I expected: it's not as infuriating as its big sibling. (unless you're familiar with the French Revolution coughcough@the-crow-binary)

We only watched the first four episodes so far, and I have already said a lot, so let's go.

The thing I complained the most about, I noticed, was the worldbuilding, mostly how vampires work. The original show "elfified" vampires, only keeping the basic traits "need blood, don't like sunlight or running water, can turn into things like bats and mist". They were portrayed as this ancient rage, one with its own culture (much superior than the dumb humans who forget everything because church bad): they sleep normally, they can eat food if they so wish, apparently they can have sex with zero issues lol, and infamously child vampires are treated as, well, innocent children and not as poor human kids suffering a terrible fate. Trevor even kindly tells us that the reason vampires hate crosses regardless of their faith is because their eyesight is so advanced that they freak out at the sight of geometrical shapes. The only monstruous trait they have is that apparently they have a tendency to go insane and crave power. Honestly, they kind of remind me of Twilight.

And somehow Nocturne manages to get it worse.

Now, yes, vampires in Nocturne bite far more often than in the OG show. I think in that other show we see them doing that... twice? And Carmilla and Lenore lick Hector's blood; then they just drink from their stock of blood à la Drac from SoTN. Anyway, Nocturne is more willing to show them as beasts, so good job. Hell, Sun Thundercat even turns a human!

But in this setting, vampires seem to not even have those few weaknesses they had in the OG show. For a story centered on how Sun Thundercat will bring eternal night to the world because sun is the number 1 obstacle to vampires, it's baffling how easily they can just walk around in plain daylight. Olrox looks out of the window with his face illuminated by the sun. Drolta can literally walk just fine, even without a parasol. @spinningbuster98 kept asking "why don't peasants or slaves just destroy the windows of the places where they know vampires live?" - well clearly they'd be fine!

And special shoutout to Drolta who openly mocks the concept of her being hurt by being in a church. At least in S1, Blue Fangs explained its presence in the Bishop's church by blaming his heinous actions for pushing God away.

Vampires are also shockingly well integrated into society. These extremely pale people, with visible pointy ears and long fangs, can chill around in a nice palace or stroll into a theatre, and no one bats an eye. How? In the OG show, vampires could be in a position of power (see the council of Styria), but they mostly worked from the shadows. Did humans just... accept the presence of these monsters?

(the cross weakness becomes way funnier now. Vampires are weak to the religion they used to believe in, so Annette can ask the help of the Christian God to harm previously Christian vampires. I actually like this. But then this makes that OG "vampires have super freaky eyesight" scene even stupider than it used to be)

Another point for the clumsy worldbuilding. Hey, remember how I complained that N!Hector wearing Hector's CoD outfit makes no sense? Because that's what he could cobble up from his old Devil Forgemaster uniform and it's basically the best he can wear for running through the country and fighting, while N!Hector 1) is still in Drac's service in S2 so you'd expect a more professional uniform from him, like the one worn by N!Isaac, and 2) he very much does not fight, making details like the arm guard and the single glove look redudant. We have a similar issue here: Maria, whose design was taken straight out of DXC, complains in the first episode that her mother is too poor to pay taxes. You can tell that she doesn't look that poor. To make things even worse, in the second episode, Tera is able to offer bread to Annette and Edouard: the French Revolution started, among other reasons, because even bread got ridiculously expensive for common people! So which is it? Is Maria one of the common people, or a well-off young woman who really has no business leading the revolution?

And this... is tied to other problems.

The French Revolution is nothing more than a shallow backdrop for the main plot being the Vampire Messiah being hyped up as the greatest evil to ever evil. You can tell the writers did not care when they cast Vaublanc, a real person who fought against slavery, as a vampire slaveowner. I think. I think you shouldn't do that.

The point is, it becomes increasingly jarring when you see that the main protagonists, the ones who spout the most generic "liberty, equality, fraternity"... are not even French. Maria has Russian origins, and as I've shown she seems to be doing well. Richter is a Romanian who grew up in the US. Annette, who gets to make a super epic speech about freedom, is a runaway from Saint-Domingue. Edouard is a rich opera singer, also from Saint-Domingue.

Oh, Annette.

You know, I want to say something. I'd have much more patience for her abrasive, ungrateful, condescending behavior, I'd justify it as a result of her trauma, if it weren't for how mean-spirited she is and for how no one seems to even react to her.

bruh.

You did that, huh. Richter has been nothing but kind and supportive to you, relating to the loss of your friend and of your mother - this isn't a Trevor situation where you can fall for what the story tells you and believe he's actually rude, no, Richter is on-screen a very nice guy! And you say that? To his face? After he revealed to you that the Belmonts used to do magic but he can't because he lost his mom? Something you should know how devastating it feels? And you THROW THAT TO HIS FACE??

Richter is the one who gasps, by the way. Maria and Tera over there? Nah they're just eating popcorn as this stranger is deliberately hitting Richter where it hurts the most. Thanks girls.

Oh but she's not done!

I know what this is. Look at her, the Stronk former slave who suffered Hardships which inherently makes her more Mature and World Wise, looking down on the two white French people who obviously had it so easy in their lives.

Hey, Ms. Adult. Who's the one who lost control of her powers, leading to Edouard becoming a Night Creature? Richter is too nice to throw that in your face. I'm not :)

Hey, Ms. I Suffered More Than You. Who's the one who only managed to save herself from the plantation only due to magical god-inherited powers? Which is also incredibly insensitive to the real-life slaves who managed to escape with nothing more but human skills and intellect?

Hey, Ms. I'm More Mature Than You Whiteys. Who's the one who needed the help of a rich half-white man to be protected? Not that you even know the concept of being grateful.

Uh, and Tera? You mind chiming in? You mind defending your daughter and your adopted son from this stranger who keeps being rude and disrespectful? No? Okay. She just suggests how to save Edouard, but lets Annette's words slide. You and Lisa can compete for the title of Mom of the Year.

Oh, but this is not a sexism or racism issue. This is literally the same thing as Alucard in S2 being the biggest hypercunt to Trevor, making fun of his traumatic childhood, cruelly mocking his family and his legacy, and treating him like he's nothing more than a failure of a drunkard when the dude has been nothing but a help in fights and gave them access to the vast Belmont Hold... and Sypha always rushed in Alucard's defense because boohoo his depression is an icy well of sadness, he Suffered More Than You!

This is just the writers shitting on the Belmonts, and I am sick of it. Trevor did not deserve this, and Richter doesn't deserve this.

Anyway, characters. I have little to say. Richter is the best one, being reasonably cocky as you would expect from him; not to an insufferable degree, just yeah he comes off as an immature young man who needs to grow up. I like him. Maria is a parody of teens on Twitter talking about seizing the means of production, and I kind of forget she's there. Annette, yeah :) Edouard got retroactively characterized after his death, but I still don't know how to describe his personality beyond "helpful" and "source of infodumps". Tera exists. The abbot is profoundly stupid for allying himself with vampires for the sake of crushing the "Godless" Revolution (there's an N!Hector joke to make here but it's not worth it). Drolta is basically Isaac who slapped a pair of tits on himself and just like that she's a beloved slay queen icon. Templar Agent Stone Mizrak is mere bara bait so far. Olrox... well, so far he's mildly intriguing for being outside of the hero/villain dichotomy. Kind of a tryhard, though, and I still don't know why he didn't just kill Richter.

My last complaint is that it's really boring how they hype up Sun Thundercat as this harbinger of DEATH AND SUFFERING AND PAIN AND TERROR way before we even see her. It reminds me of Alucard exposing how a world without humans would be: just this empty, edgy narration with nothing to show for it. But at least by then we had a taste of Dracula's anger and powers, so this is even worse. You need to try harder to build up an antagonist.

and finally, have the best moment in the whole franchise

BUT, AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

[professor-amaryllis]

:{ A video file is embedded. This post has been helpfully translated from Kantonian to Unovan using Poryphone™ translation technology!

It is... beautiful here. The trees still clad in the greens and golds of late summer sway gently in the breeze and the sound of chimes drift ever so faintly through the air. As the camera pans over this seemingly empty cemetery the shapes and sizes of various tombstones and monuments are what initially catch the eye. Creeping moss covers some of the older stones, obscuring some of the epitaphs carved so carefully in Kantonian. It creates a somber, weathered spirit to this place, almost timeless in it's serenity.

The camera watches a pair of Stantler walk slowly among the monuments for a moment, before finally turning about and focusing on a figure that sits quietly on the grass. You don't recognize them at first, faced away from the camera and lost in their own thoughts, the clothes that they wear are so... different from what you might expect. The leather jacket is beautiful, the leather well cared for, the stitching careful and the metal spikes on the shoulders placed meticulously, hand painted patches scattered here and there. It's the design on the back that gives them away, the glare of a familiar Arbok's hood almost daring anyone disturb this scene.

They sit in silence for a few minutes, looking at a particular stone. The name is hard to read at first but with a shaking hand they brush away the dirt and dust of the years. Taylor 'Fable' Morris, 1986-2013. When they finally do speak, the voice is theirs, soft and melodic, but the accent is wrong- no trace of the usual Johtoian dialect, their Kantonian is fluid and easy, the urban Saffron accent heavy and tired.

"... I'm sorry. I'm sorry for all of it. I'm sorry for what happened to you and- and I'm sorry for leaving you behind. I hope you know that I didn't want to... That if I had had my way i really would be right there with you still, just like we promised. ...You didn't deserve any of this."

They wipe their eyes with a small sniffle, adjusting to rest their elbows on their knees. There's a long pause.

"You wouldn't believe how things have changed... how I have. I'm a Professor now. Me. Fuck, I've been on tv. Can you believe that? People like me, i think, not fear, not respect. Well, they like the person they think I am, anyway. There are a few though... a few that know and still stand by me. It's... hard to believe. I'm even married. Hah, I bet you never would have seen that coming... I'm lucky, i think. Despite everything. I never really thought that I would have people that loved me, aside from you i guess. I think you would like them. I hope you would. I do."

"... I wish I remembered more. I know enough to know that you were kind, that people liked you. Hell, someone had to have been taking care of this stone, at least to keep the moss off... I know that you were the reason I learned sign. I know that you were the most important person in my life... I know that i loved you." There's a waver in their voice and they swallow, pausing a moment to gather themselves.

"I wish I could remember you. I wish I could remember your face, your laugh. You were everything to me, my best friend. It isn't fair that that was taken from me... I lost everything that day. My life, my language, my culture, my family. You... I know it was my fault. I should never have opened my mouth but... to loose even the memory. It's... cruel. I know some of these things, i can get... closer to them when I drink. But it isn't the same as remembering. I'm so sorry. I'm so- I'm so sorry Taylor."

Their voice breaks, a small sob ripped from their chest, and the Echo within the camera seems to shift, whether discomfort or distraction is unclear, but as she turns away from the professor a second grave right next to the first is revealed for a moment. The dark stone is covered in dust and moss and broken into a few large, jagged pieces. Its hard to make out the name, but with effort it's possible.

Aiko "Melody" Mori 1988 - 2013

Video Ends. }:

[silent-sanctum]

✧ Polaris ✧ - Jotaro x Reader

PART V. Stranger in the Shadows

— The previous parts of the fic can be found in the pinned post of my profile. Hope you enjoy! —

cw: afab! reader, reader is a stand user, sfw, paranoia, mentions of death, joot still being in denial of his feels

Word count: 7K+ The journey continued on but the further you progressed, the more your mind started playing tricks with you when you spot an uncanny figure from the past looming in the background among the sea of people.

You didn’t know when it started and you weren’t even sure if they were actually there, but seeing them pass by in the background blending with the crowd sent an uneasy feeling throughout your body.

The first recollection of what could have started your initial stage of paranoia was on the train ride to Calcutta, India. You and the other Crusaders left first thing in the morning to make it in time for the boarding and even when all 6 you had to find your seats, all was well in a compartment filled with civilians of different cultures.

You had no problem joining in on Joseph and Avdol’s conversation about the discussion of Indian culture, practicing friendship handshakes with Kakyoin and Polnareff, or even engaging in a playful tease-off with Jotaro once you noticed how he was unable to face you directly without having his face turn faint red, probably still not over the “one-bed” situation.

It was only when you decided to take a nap beside an already-napping Polnareff did you start sensing them.

You blinked your eyes open to the music of a piano, only to catch a glimpse of one of the random passengers near your seat hunched over his table, staring at you with unknown yet seemingly malicious intent in his eyes. The worst thing was that you recognized him… from 11 years ago.

The slouched posture and crooked fingers. The jagged scar across his neck. The one streak of blond dye that ran down his deep brown hair. One of the-

Your pulse spiked just then and you shot upright, your Stand nearly manifesting. However, after a double take, it was simply an unknown person chatting away with his companion. You were lucky the Frenchman didn’t wake from his peaceful nap.

You wished that was the only circumstance of it happening, but as you followed the men out of the train having arrived at their destination, a chill brushed past you as someone pushed past your shoulders. You were about to call out a “hey” until you saw those watchful eyes again, staring at you with a dead gaze as he continued walking.

You shuddered, your hand balling into a fist against your skirt as you watched him disappear into the crowd. He can’t be here. That’s not possible. He’s in prison back in my hometown. Was it not over after all this time-

“Oi.” You snapped your attention away from the masses to focus on Jotaro, looking at you with one brow cocked. The first time he was able to face you since the hotel stay. “Something wrong?”

 Brush it off. It’s nothing. You swallowed your made-belief paranoia and put up one of your reassuring smiles despite your chest still closing in on itself from the idea of that guy looming around the corner, waiting for the right moment to approach you. “Nope. I saw something that reminded me of a clumsy mistake I made back when I was in middle school. So horrible, I tell you.”

You skipped ahead to walk by Kakyoin’s side to continue your talk about his love for cherries amidst the approaching eager locals without having to notice the delinquent’s doubtful response to your excuse.

Every step you took forward made you conflicted about whether to look around you or not look at all, afraid of spotting the familiar stranger hovering about in the middle of the busy street. You tried to keep yourself busy and bounce back and forth with your companions with that pep in your speech.

But you could have sworn he was there even if you knew he shouldn’t. In the alleyway beside you. In front of a merchant’s booth. In a room looking out an open window.

Despite that, you laughed at Joseph’s witty comment about one of his business dealings in New York and mused at the Frenchman’s apparent culture shock. And every time you shared glances with your raven-haired friend, you kept up your usual beaming expression and sent him tiny gestures of acknowledgment (a wave, a peace sign, a wink, etc.).

You kept it up even if you didn’t know what went on inside that reserved mind of his. You could only hope Jotaro was somewhat dense so he doesn’t have to keep staring at you as if you were a madman that escaped an asylum.

As Joseph led the group into a restaurant for lunch, you tried not to glance at the silhouette sitting nearby with that slouched form of his and instead focused your attention on the menu presented to you. Without knowing, you were the first to sit followed by the delinquent taking his spot beside you.

Minutes passed, orders were made, the dishes were served, and Pol excused himself to the bathroom. You giggled at a comment he made about the toilets in the area, but this led to the mistake of looking up as you saw the same man stand from his table.  Just don’t pay attention and he’ll pass. In your peripherals, he walked away from his table and in your direction. You gripped your thighs. Don’t pay attention.

“Y/N-san?”

“Hm?” You hummed in acknowledgment, turning to Avdol with wide eyes and a slight tilt of your head. “Yeah?”

“Do you have to relieve yourself too? You seem to be gripping onto Jotaro’s thigh a bit too tight.” You were about to question him until you realized that one of your hands was on the latter instead of your own. You jerked your hand back, flustered for a second as you muttered a quick “sorry”.

Jotaro didn’t reply, holding his share of the food without eating.

Sparing the awkward silence, Kakyoin chuckled and got up. “I’ll tell Pol to hurry up then.”

“You should. Who knows if that guy’s having a crisis dealing with foreign toilet systems back there,” Joseph commented. “Ought to teach him a lesson on foreign manners.”

“A lesson you yourself don’t adhere to when it comes to the Japanese?” The old man shushed Avdol in a second, prompting the latter to bask in his seldom moment of smugness.

You wanted to giggle at his remark, but that looming aura grew uncomfortably close. As if it was standing behind you. You knew that wasn’t possible since the others would’ve noticed if so. But why is it those uneven fingers are able to brush your hair and caress your shoulders? For a second, your breath hitched in sudden anxiety. Why-

The abrupt shattering of glass alarmed everyone within the establishment. Fortunately for you, the looming aura vanished and you let out a deep sigh of relief, only to tense up again at the sight of Polnareff rushing out of the comfort room, angered and distressed.

In a second, your paranoia switched to concern as you hurried to follow the Frenchman bolting out of the restaurant, calling out to him to wait. Though you could already tell that it was most likely a Stand attack related to the incident that happened with his sister.

 “Pol! Wait!”

You hurried after him, worried that he might have run into the mix of people crowding the busy street. Fortunately, the Frenchman halted right by the entrance as he surveyed his surroundings. Behind you, sets of footsteps trailed after you, no doubt it was the others who grew concerned at his outburst.

“There’s too many people…” Polnareff cursed under his breath. “Damnit.”

“What’s the matter?” Joseph asked.

“If that Stand I faced in that room was what I think it was, then…” He clenched his fists. “Then it means I finally found him.” He turned to look over his shoulder, making eye contact with you and Jotaro. “The Stand user who uses the mirrors… he’s here.”

You paled. Could it be that guy? Your chest ached in that growing paranoia once again, taking a risk to look at the many locals crowding the bustling street. No. It couldn’t. I would’ve seen his Stand when I was still a kid since Sanctuary was already with me.

“That bastard who killed my sister… my angelic sister…” You never heard the man this serious in a while and hearing him with that grit in his voice and a tone so sullen and angry, sent a bout of concern throughout your conscience. “The scum who heartlessly trampled her life, soul, and pride…”

“He who destroyed the world’s purest heart!” He cried out, all his pent-up revenge coming alight. “Finally… finally we meet!”

 “Pol, are you sure it was him?” You asked in return, still dubious at his current attitude.

But the Frenchman ignored your concern, too deep in his mindset of vengeance. “It’s settled Mr. Joestar. I’ll be traveling on my own from here on out.”

“Pol!” You shook your head, not favoring his bold decision, and based on the subtle gasps behind you, they weren’t either. “Please think this through. You’re just caught up in the heat of the moment.” 

You kept your gaze fixed on Polnareff’s eyes, hoping he’d see the plea in yours, but the moment he turned a bit more to face the group, there was a near-crazed look in his eyes. He didn’t hear your remarks. “With her murderer within reach, I’ll be damned if I have to wait for him to come after me.”

“I’m screwed if he gets the drop on me and that’s just not my style,” he let out an empty chuckle. “I’ll find him. I’ll find him first then kill him the second I spot him!”

“Pol-“

“You don’t even know what he looks like Polnareff,” Kakyoin butted in an attempt to rationalize with the heated adult.

“I told you already that he’s got 2 right hands,” he said. “And that’s enough for me. If that bastard dared to attack me, then he’s expecting me to come after him.” Polnareff slung his bag over his shoulder. “That should put him on the defensive, giving me the advantage.”

He spared one glance at you before turning around. “See ya.” As he started taking a few steps forward away from the group, your breath shook as a sudden flashback of the past replayed in mind- one of a boy a bit older than you with a bag on his back.

“I have to go now… Yah, you don’t worry about him. I’ll deal with that stranger before he could reach you.”

“But you don’t even know what he looks like! Plus no one knows you enough to help you fight him!”

“Hmm, I’ve always handled these things by myself. Besides, who needs to know what he looks like when he’s always around you? I’m always around you too. So, I’ll protect you if some weird guy comes close.”

The person who swore to protect you never returned the second he turned his back on you. You barely remembered what had happened then but you knew you were only 4 when he walked away the same way Polnareff did just now.

The pain you’d felt back then was- You bit your lip. You never wanted that to happen ever again, no matter who was leaving or what their intent on leaving was. With a shaky breath, you prepared to call him only for the Egyptian to beat you to it.

“Tough talk for a man who’s digging his own grave.”

You snapped your head to Avdol, surprised. However, the footsteps came to a stop and the Frenchman spoke. “And that means?”

“Just as it sounds friend.”

Polnareff scoffed, walking towards Avdol. “Are you implying I’m gonna lose?”

“Yes. Can’t you see? The enemy attacked to isolate you,” the latter calmly said. “He’s exploiting your biggest weakness.”

You stood on the sidelines, watching your two companions engage in an argument. This isn’t right. You’re making it worse. “Y/N?” You heard a deep voice call out to you, but you couldn’t pay attention to that when the Frenchman bit back at Avdol.

“Listen up. I’m only gonna say this once… Never once did I give a damn about DIO. I told you back in Hong Kong that I would only go along with you so that I could get my revenge.” He swept his gaze from you to the 2 Joestars behind you. “You 3 knew that.”

“I’ve been alone from the beginning- I’ve…” He gritted his teeth. “I’ve always been fighting alone!”

“I’ve always handled these things by myself.”

The crowd came to a halt around you, witnessing the heated argument between the 2 men before them, and while you tried to not dwell on them too much, you heard the faint tune of a piano in the back of your mind as you caught a glimpse of the stranger with the blonde streak and jagged scar among the people.

No. Please no. You could’ve sworn he was grinning in the back. 

“You selfish fool!” Avdol butted forward, pointing a finger to the other’s chest. Please stop. Stop making everything worse. You weren’t aware of your nails digging into the palm of your hand. “Did you forget you were brainwashed by DIO?! Or are you so foolish that you forgot he was the root of all this?”

Stop it. Stop it. Stop it.  “You have no idea how it feels to have your sister murdered so you don’t have the right to dictate what the hell I should do you divine-believing cowar-“

“Shut up! Can everyone just shut the hell up?! For fuck’s sake!”

You yelled as loud as you could, immediately drawing both everyone’s attention to you. Polnareff. Avdol. Kakyoin. Joseph. Jotaro. Even the stranger as he scowled, disappearing into the mess of people, disappointed.

“Y-Y/N?” Polnareff turned to you, shoving the dark-skinned man back.

“Look what you 2 are causing!’” You said and motioned a hand to the gathered crowd, prompting them to avert their focus and continue with their day. You pushed the 2 adults away, glaring at Polnareff. “We’re all aware of what happened to your sister ‘cause you told us the moment you decided to tag along. Don’t blame us if we just wanted to help out.”

You snapped towards Avdol next. “And I expected you out of all us to be the one with the even temper yet here you are.” Avdol cast his head to the side with what appeared as shame.

“Why do you have to be so reckless about this…” You breathed, trying to calm yourself down. “Why couldn’t you just tell us what had happened and we could have helped you immediately?”

The Frenchman tightened his lips, conflicted. “And what could you guys have done? Knowing Mr. Joestar and the rest, you all would still waste time thinking things out while that bastard is out there probably making his escape because you are keeping me chained here for god knows how long now-“

“You think you’d be able to go in there and win?” You said, your own emotions rising in you. “Knowing how unpredictable everything is? You don’t even know the full extent of what his Stand could do nor if he had brought another user to kill you while you were distracted-“

“You don’t know what it feels like to lose your precious sibling to some stranger out of fucking nowhere-!”

“But I do!” You yelled back at him. Polnareff took a sharp intake of breath, stunned. “I know what it feels like to have someone say they’d deal with the problem only for them to come back dead… murdered.”

“Y/N…” 

“What would Sherry feel?” Pol sucked in a breath at the name of his sister and made a move to turn away, refusing to talk about her, but you grabbed his arm. “Look at me.” He did. “Polnareff look at me, I swear to god bless her soul but if you walked into some area where he’s waiting to kill you, do you think Sherry would rejoice knowing her brother mindlessly walked in blind without caring about himself? For her sake?”

“She… she’d be….”

“You and I both lost someone important to us, but for the love of god, don’t be stupid and walk away like you’re invincible just because you’re grieving and vengeful.”

The adult turned pensive, his previously frustrated expression giving way to a semblance of sadness. “I… I don’t know what happened with your brother, and I’m sorry, but I know I won’t know peace until I at least get to know who killed her. He’s here and I just- I need-“

“Then let us help you.” You said with a gentler voice, bringing your other hand to join the one holding his arm. “Don’t be rash.”

Polnareff gave you one sad smile and shook his head, gently prying your hands off his elbow. “It’s a bit too late for that now. I’ve sworn I’d do this myself. Meeting DIO was the only mistake I regret doing and admittedly, I appreciate you guys for helping me out of his grasp.”

“But just like Mr. Joestar and Jotaro over there, I have my own goal to finish while you guys have your own. Don’t let me stall any more of your time.”

“Pol…”

“I’ll be fine mademoiselle,” he said, slinging his bag over his shoulder once more. “Trust in Silver Chariot’s exquisite swordsmanship, okay?”

You couldn’t say anything back.   

“Get going now.” He patted your shoulders as he cast one glance at the speechless crew behind you. “Who knows? I might be able to catch up.”

With that, he turned on his heels and walked away on a more positive note than earlier, but you couldn’t convince him regardless.

The persistent muffled song of the piano that seemed to follow you grew a bit clearer just then.

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Aggressive outbursts were always his thing ever since he turned to delinquency.

But witnessing you do exactly that with the same words he always uses made his previous moments of yelling seem petty and childish. Just as how Polnareff and Avdol reacted, Jotaro was stunned. He never saw you so violently upset before to the point you had to scream for the 2 hotheads to break off.

No. You were already upset before the argument had happened. You were just skilled at not showing it through a show of optimistic friendliness towards others, but Jotaro knew better than to pretend he was dense about it.

He saw how you paled on the train ride to India as you stared off into the background, how you shivered when somebody brushed past you, and how you were so rigid on the way to the restaurant the old man suggested going, eyes focused on the shoes of others or making direct eye-contact with the crew as you avoided taking glances at the people around you.

The way you gripped his thigh with a shaken tinge to your expression all the more confirmed his suspicions.

 And with the sudden mention of your sibling…

You shared a lot of details about your day-to-day back before everything, but never once about your past. He figured it was for a reason and your uncharacteristic intervention as a response to the Frenchman’s stubbornness revealed why.

But that was just one fragment of your history. Who knows what other awful shit you kept hidden for so long?

And here you are now- standing with your head hung and your arms stiff by your side in the middle of a student and 2 adults consoling you the best that they can. Jotaro wanted to help, hold you in some way, and offer support but…

“Y/N we should head back inside. Anyone could attack us out here.” All he could say was what his logical brain could conjure, with the thought that thinking about her safety might flatter or ease her even just by a bit. Though, with the tone of his speech, he doubted the intention would be interpreted correctly.

You slowly looked at Jotaro with your furrowed brows and shining eyes, and he could notice the tiny beads of tears threatening to spill out from their corners. He hesitantly looked away, not wanting to offer something half-assed as an excuse to comfort you. But god he wanted to. His chest ached and his hands balled in response. Goddamnit Polnareff, look what you fucking done.

“Jotaro’s right. We’re too vulnerable to Stand attacks if we continue to stay here,” Joseph said, placing his gloved hands on your shoulders. “I’m sure the food inside would take your mind off of things-“

“Mr. Joestar…,” you suddenly spoke, calm and composed yet were able to make everyone, especially Jotaro, stop and turn to you. “…I don’t think food will fill this appetite.”

“What do you mean?”

The delinquent watched as you steeled yourself upright, combing through your hair with a deep breath, before looking at the group with a newfound determination in those eyes of yours. “Right now, a close friend of ours thought he succeeded in escaping this situation I put up to stop him.”

“But he didn’t because I’m going after him,” you said with no hesitation. “No way in hell will I let him go there by himself.”

“But he’d just send you back if he noticed you following,” Kakyoin said.

“He won’t if I don’t make myself obvious.”

“What if you were the one who got hurt?” You widened your eyes as you faced the raven-haired student the second he uttered those words. Recognizing what he just did, he was as surprised as the other Crusaders. Did… Did I just- “I mean… The enemy could be watching from any angle at a distance… they might use you as leverage against him.”

Whether you noticed or not, a flattering smile graced your stubborn face. “Did you forget Silent Sanctuary’s main feature? If she can defend me from a speeding punch in close proximity, then she can defend me in this one.”

Jotaro didn’t say anything back in return, given that you were right. Damn.  

“He must have walked a fair distance away right about now.” You faced the crowd, ready to run after the Frenchman, only pausing for a second to look over your shoulder and spare a glance at the crew. “I’ll be right back… and I’m bringing Polnareff with me.” And you were off.

What- Jotaro turned to look at his companions, waiting for at least one of them to respond to your departure. Why aren’t any of you fuckers doing anything?  Without him knowing, his foot began tapping on its own, reflecting his impatience. He could chase after you himself but he didn’t know why he couldn’t. Was it because in doing so, it would make him look desperate?

The delinquent shuddered. Was he really?

Then the old man moved and he snapped his head to his grandfather. “Oh my god…” The old man took off his hat to rake it through his grey hair.

That’s it? He was a second away from ditching the group and just making a run for you. “Are you fucking-“

“We’re already involved in this,” Avdol suddenly spoke, still flustered by his actions judging from him averting his eyes away from the rest. “We should follow their footsteps. Lest we let them fend for themselves.”

“I’ll find us a car,” Kakyoin said, bolting off into the direction of the vehicle while the remaining men agreed to find you and Polnareff.

Jotaro sighed. Finally.

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You rushed past person after person with cautious nimbleness, minimizing making your footsteps too noticeable for Polnareff to hear.

Though the drive to provide support for your friend overran the majority of your mind, you still tend to avoid looking too much into the mess of locals around you just so you could avoid spotting the stranger that kept taunting you throughout the day.

Ideally speaking, finding a white man among a sea of brown-skinned people shouldn’t be difficult, and yet here you still were, scanning every individual, alley, booth, and building unable to locate the aforementioned adult. Sweat beaded down the side of your face and you cursed, wiping them off. “Where are you, Pol?”

With perfect timing, another crowd formed at distance, watching whatever was happening in their bustling town. Figured nothing else stood out, you made your way to the commotion and wormed your way through the locals until you breached past the front.

In the space before you stood Polnareff laughing alongside someone you weren’t familiar with- an obvious Westerner. American if you were to be specific judging from the blond hair, cowboy-looking outfit, and general vibe of his personality.

Though once they let whatever funny thought out of their systems, both men turned alert and in synch said. “I’ll kill you!”

And while Polnareff’s Silver Chariot was an entity with a rapier, this Stand user summoned a gun to point in his general direction. Wait a gun? Kinda lame but it’s there, I guess. At first glance, you could say it was just a gun Stand probably with unlimited bullets as its main quirk.

You tilted your head in confusion. Was this really the murderer? Doesn’t seem like it. You were sure that your friend would be able to fend off a single bullet with his speedier Chariot. 

However, as the tiny projectile drew closer to Silver Chariot’s blade, it swerved itself around the Stand as if it had a mind of its own. The Frenchman gaped at the sudden change of trajectory and stood frozen, bracing for impact.

“Pol!”

You rushed forward, a single rose-gold fabric shooting out of you in a split second, making itself taut in front of Polnareff’s face, deflecting the speeding bullet into the sky, and away from burying itself in his head. You made it past the countless puddles and stood before the Frenchman. “See how right I am you big dumb dumb? Sherry would be so disappointed.”  

“Y/N you… followed me?”

“Honestly you should’ve expected me to follow you,” you said with a lighter tone to your voice and a small slap on his arm.

“Hey hey hey pretty missus, how rude of you to interrupt our little showdown.” A voice spoke with a clear accent of American descent.

You scowled at him. “You’re in Calcutta India, not Texas USA, so your whole showdown-duel shtick doesn’t quite apply pardner.” You drawled out the accent on the last word and the guy scoffed, albeit slightly amused at your passive-aggressiveness.  “Who the hell are you anyway?”

He kept on that smug smirk as he said, “The name’s Hol Horse miss, and the gun and bullet you skillfully blocked off is my Stand Emperor.” He splayed out his hand and a revolver-pistol hybrid manifested in his grip.

“Wow…,” you said, unimpressed. “Such a prestigious name for a shit Stand. Truly amazing how naming works.”

Polnareff stifled a laugh and you stole the smug smirk off of the American’s face, successful in bruising his ego a bit indicated by the subtle eye twitch. Sadly, his smirk returned though there was something… off-putting in his eyes.

“Big words for a small mouth. I highly consider you take back what you said before you regret it forever.”

You cocked your head, unsure what he was getting at but with Polnareff now back on the defensive, you were too. “What… do you mean by-”

“Y/N! Watch your back!”

Out of nowhere, Avdol called out, and having only a second to take in what he said, you flinched as Silent Sanctuary’s impenetrable cloths instantly surfaced from your shoulder, feeling something sudden prod against your upper back. Most likely a blade that’s supposed to pierce through you. “Another Stand?! Again?!”

The Frenchman cursed. “It’s that bastard’s Stand. I recognized it from the mirror earlier.”

“Magician’s Red!” Both you and the adult looked at the Egyptian as he called out his flaming bird-human Stand to shoot a fireball past you, making you flinch yet again from the blazing heat. “The other man’s bullet made a turn towards you so I was courteous enough to melt it before it happened.”

You were about to say your thanks until you caught a glimpse of the other Stand, crawling towards Avdol, blade raised and ready to strike. “Avdol! Move!” More alert than you were, the dark-skinned man immediately jumped forward, losing his reflection in the water and dodging the attack.  

“This Stand’s power is done through the reflective surface of the puddles…,” you snapped your fingers and turned to the Egyptian. “Avdol-san, can you get rid of the water on the playing field?”

Understanding your intentions, Avdol nodded and summoned Magician once more to radiate a hotter heatwave blended with the sun above, resulting in the collective evaporation of the puddles surrounding you and your group mates.

Hol, still standing at a distance, noticeably shifted from where he stood with a rising worry etched on his face. “Well, I’ll be damned for your travel buddies to have a fire-wielding Stand at your disposal. Kinda unfair, don’t you think?”

“Yeah? And the Stand that moves through water surfaces is?” With Sanctuary still hovering close to you, you stepped forward to confront the nervous American together with Polnareff and Avdol.

Though at your snide remark, whatever confidence he lost returned to him as he snickered. “Oh, you think his Stand just moves through water reflections?”

“What do you-“

 A gasp left you as your Stand moved quickly on its own to wrap your midsection just as an invisible force mimicking a knife in motion attempted to cut you in the stomach. However, the sound of 2 different surprised grunts a few steps back told you that your companions weren’t so lucky.

“Pol! Avdol-san!” You called out, looking behind you to see the 2 men pressing a gash inflicted on their bicep and waist respectively. Though your instinctual reaction would be to help them, you averted your gaze to the sidelines, scanning.

Then your eyes caught sight of the shining metallic pipes, polished mirrors, and clear glass windows surrounding you and your friends. It clicked. It’s not just the water. It’s any reflective surfaces it could find.

“We should get out of here.,” you said, stepping close to the 2 with your Stand’s fabrics unraveled. “The thing’s traveling through any reflective surface it can access within the area.”

Though Avdol agreed to your suggestion, Polnareff shifted on his feet with conflict in his eyes. “Pol-“

“Hey forgot about me? Sure, my ally got some fancy mirror Stand, but-”

“You’re the least of our worries right now,” you said, snapping back to Hol Horse’s bored sentiments and cutting him off before he adds to your current list of frustrations. “So shut up.”

“Why you little sh-“

 An abrupt honk of a car interrupted the cowboy’s dialogue. In the next minute, an old rusty pick-up truck drove into the scene, sending large clouds of sand and dust up to the air as it swerved itself around the place until stopping in between you and the enemy.

You waved off the dirt blowing past your face and squinted to make out the intruding driver. You beamed as you caught a glimpse of bright red hair and green uniform. “Hey! Do you need help?”

“Kakyoin!” Polnareff exclaimed, happy as you were upon seeing the student, though the brief relief of backup cut short as you were able to shield the Frenchman from an incoming attack thanks to the glass surface of the store near you. “Right, no time for pleasantries.”

He rushed past you and hopped into the car seat beside the cherry-haired teenager and quickly said, “His Stand’s still chasing after us, but knowing my connections to her, it’s after me first.”

“What?”

You caught something glinting on the surface of a 2nd-floor window with a silhouette moving about, blade raised and ready to strike, and you called out to the student on the driver’s seat. “Enough talking! Get moving!”

Kakyoin, despite being as confused and startled as he was with the situation, nodded and floored the gas pedal and drove off at high speed, and just as Polnareff had speculated, the same glinting you saw by the windows trailed after the speeding vehicle.

This left you and Avdol alone with Hol Horse.

Not that it was a bad thing- it was a great thing given how disadvantageous his Emperor was against the blazing flames of Magician’s Red and the tough fabrics of Silent Sanctuary.

However, the cowboy knew what luck he had left in the situation and took advantage of Kakyoin’s intervention to get a couple of steps away from the duo.

With no further notice, you and the Egyptian made a run for the fleeing enemy Stand user.

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For someone who looked like he rode animals to get by, he was doing well for himself getting away from you and Avdol. That speedy shit.

If you were to guess, 5 to 6 minutes might as well flew by, chasing after a Western man all around Calcutta. It was a miracle your legs still hadn’t given up on you.

Hol Horse swerved into an alleyway to his left and just as you and your companion reached the entrance of it, the cowboy flew back onto the ground in front of you. Mildly ticked and very much tired, Sanctuary’s fabrics manifested and bound his arms and legs together so he wouldn’t have any other ideas of fleeing.

“Y/N. Avdol.” From the alleyway he shot back out from, Jotaro and Joseph stood there with the younger of the 2 cracking his knuckles as the one responsible for preventing him from escaping.

“Mr. Joestar,” you acknowledged and looked at the delinquent with a smile. “Jotaro.” He tipped his hat to greet you back.

“Seems like Polnareff and Kakyoin’s still not here. I’ll assume that he’s still dealing with somebody else’s Stand,” Joseph said as he looked at the 2 of you with a relieved sigh. “Glad you 2 made it out of the situation alive.”

“Your predictions would be correct Mr. Joestar that alongside this runner, there was another user whose Stand is being handled by the other 2 somewhere else,” Avdol replied and patted your shoulder once. “And you should thank Y/N. Without her, I would not have known about the mirror Stand and would’ve been killed.”

You flushed from the praise and shook your head. “Ah, it’s nothing really. Just looking out for all of you.” Both the old man and the Egyptian chuckled, all while you caught Jotaro staring at you with what appeared to be adoration in his gaze together with a hint of a smile.

You smiled in return.

A rough drag against the dusty ground brought everyone’s attention back to their captive enemy. Hol Horse trembled within the binds of your Stand, writhing around as if that would help him out. “The guy who tried to shoot Polnareff and me, and a living distraction to aid the other in attempted murder against Avdol…” 

The Westerner squeaked in fear at the intense glare of the Crusaders. “What shoulder we do with him?”

“Help me!”

Everyone’s attention shifted yet again, this time behind you to the scene of a woman standing by the ledge of a nearby building as 2 burly men walked toward her. Without realizing it, her foot slipped, tipping her back, and fell with a scream.

All of you were too far for anyone to catch her, leaving you with no choice but to let your Stand unwind the fabrics keeping Hol Horse down and direct them to catch the falling woman instead.

You rushed forward as Sanctuary slowly brought her to the ground, while the rest of the 3 focused more on dealing with the men that were after the lady. “You okay?” You asked though she didn’t answer. The group returned and asked the same question.

But instead of an appropriate response, she turned to look ahead and called out, “I’ve done what I can darling! Hurry and run!”

Wait. You snapped your head to where the cowboy was supposed to be, only to find the aforementioned man getting away on horseback with a cocky smile on his face. “Well done my little sweetheart! I’ll gladly accept your feelings and keep on living baby!”

You were about to make another run for it to allow Sanctuary to be in range to wrap him again, but a hand stopped you from doing so. “Let him be. He no longer had any intention of fighting with us anyways.”

“Mr. Joestar…”

He turned to the fallen woman and pulled out a clean strip of white cloth, bending down to wrap a bleeding wound you failed to notice on her arm. “Besides, we have no time to deal with him. We have to forge on.”

“He’s right. It’s already been 15 days so we don’t have much time to waste,” Avdol added.

“Hey! What’s going on now around here?” The group looked to their right and saw both a bleeding Kakyoin and Polnareff waving their hands as if their wounds were non-existent. “Where’s that bastard with the gun?”

“He fled,” you sighed. “She diverted our attention to her, allowing him to escape.” 

Polnareff threw a hard glare at the silent woman and made a move to approach her. “Why you-“

“Pol,” you firmly held his bicep, shaking your head. “Hurting her won’t do anything. Calm down.”

It took him a full minute before he could let out a heavy exhale and stepped back. “Guess it can’t be helped. What matters is that that my sister’s murderer is dead. At least there’s that.”

“What now?” Kakyoin inquired while Joseph is tending to his gashes. “With your goal accomplished, what do you plan to do now?”

“We continue onward to Egypt of course!” You and the rest of the group widened their eyes at the enthusiasm of the Frenchman. “Listen up! In order to defeat DIO, we have to fight as one.” Polnareff looked at you and Avdol. “I’ve learned that we can’t go off on our own or else we’ll play right into the enemies’ hands. Right?”

Everyone, especially Avdol, smirked and nodded.

Polnareff pumped a fist up. “Now let’s get a move on!”

“Ugh, could you at least give us a short moment to breathe…” Kakyoin said, still reeling from his wounds.

You hid a giggle behind your hand and went to stand beside the delinquent. He turned to you and you cocked a brow at him with a teasing smirk. “Come on. You heard what the man said.”

 “Good grief…”

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Boarding another vehicle shouldn’t be this nerve-wracking and yet here you were.

With the adrenaline from the enemy encounter and chase dying down, your paranoia returned full time and you resorted back to staring at the floor or ankles of the person in front of you, not wanting to see that stranger again. The muffled piano tune resonated yet again and you would give anything for that damn sound to go away.

You found yourself sitting beside Polnareff on the seat by the aisle, and though you had no qualms in having him as your seatmate, you had to be conscious enough to not look up and around while also being able to entertain to the Frenchman’s lighthearted conversations and not look stiff.

I can do this. You closed your eyes and released a shaky breath.

“Oi.” You opened them again and found Jotaro standing by your seat, hands in his pockets as he sent a hard stare to the friend beside you. Polnareff, in response, turned to him and waved only to be cut off by a stern, one-word declaration. “Move.”

The latter whined, clearly wanting to be in your presence, but the delinquent remained firm and repeated. “I said move.”

Polnareff sought defense from you and you shrugged. “There’s no fighting him. We can talk when we get there.” Defeated, the adult sullenly left his spot, excused himself past your legs, and occupied the empty seat beside Kakyoin.

Jotaro turned to you next and gestured for you to move to the window seat. You followed and let the raven-haired student occupy your previous seat.

From your new spot, you were able to see less of the passengers boarding the bus thanks to the delinquent’s massive frame blocking the view. You huffed and gave him a light nudge. “If you wanted to sit with me that bad, you should’ve been a bit faster.”

“I’m fine sitting elsewhere, but it’s annoying to see you have to tolerate his bullshit while you’re trying not to look like you want to disappear.” Your teasing remarks stuck in your throat and caught light of his intention. Did he know?

“Jotaro…”

“The old man told me the next destination is a bit far from here. I suggest sleeping but do whatever,” he said without looking at your stunned expression, his hat tipped over his face as he began to doze off himself.

The engine roared to life and the bus trembled for a moment and in the next moment, the vehicle started to move out of the terminal.

 Was your paranoia that obvious? No, it couldn’t. The others didn’t notice and you thought the delinquent didn’t as well, but it was him, out of everyone, who did and you didn’t know whether to feel grateful or worried.

But what you did feel as of now was temporary peace and for that, you were thankful that he intervened.

With the gentle motions of the moving bus, you allowed yourself to lull into relaxation and followed his advice of falling into deep slumber. 

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He often felt embarrassed if he does anything remotely friendly, but this was a different case.

He knew you were bound to return to your unusual stiffness once the action was over and seeing that fear linger in your eyes was something he couldn’t tolerate. He wanted to help you in a way he could, and by doing this seemingly nonchalant gesture, he hoped you would notice it.

Though from the corner of his vision, he could make out your widened eyes turning soft, your agape lips closing into a small smile, and your cheeks blooming a faint pink.

You didn’t say anything back but your reaction was enough of an indicator for him.

It was still strange for him to behave like this around you and he was still unsure of the reason behind it.

However, as the trip progressed on, Jotaro woke to a gentle thud against his shoulder. Opening his eyes, his heart raced a bit faster than before at the sight of your head resting on his shoulder. He subtly tried to look behind him, wishing the rest of the crew wasn’t watching, but you nuzzled closer to him and he froze.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. He wasn’t panicking but he might as well be.

He opted to repeat what he had done back in that hotel room in Singapore- settle you off of him and onto a more comfortable position and do whatever it is he was going to do. But at the same time, he anticipated that this won’t be the last time you would do something like this.

In the end, Jotaro refused to think further and overcomplicate things, and returned to slumber with your head on his shoulder. You experienced moments you wished you hadn’t and revealed information that you preferred to not say.

You should at least have this as compensation for your worries.

Without you or him knowing, in the middle of his sleep, Jotaro had his head resting against yours.  

[biconickyoshi]

hey there!

this might be like a weird ask, but i've seen you post a lot about the legend of korra, so.

do you think it's worth watching the show? i've been avoiding it for a while now simply because i'm afraid it's gonna disappoint. i know it is a separate narrative with entirely new characters, but from the few scenes i've seen it just looks sooooo different from the gaang's story that i'm just afraid they've butchered the original universe. plus, my favorite character from atla is aang, and i do not know if any character from korra will have that same kind of charm.

on the other hand, i know it attracts a lot of fans. what do you think?:)

(btw, amazzzzzzing job on both your zukaang fanfic and the artwork for it !!)

Hi anon! :) This isn't a weird ask at all, I'd be happy to help!

So the short answer is: yes, I think it's worth watching! I know exactly how you feel - Aang is also my favorite AtLA character, so I was also very apprehensive when LoK was first announced way back in like 2011. But my apprehension didn't stop me from looking forward to and eventually enjoying it, mainly because AtLA was/still is my strongest and longest running hyperfixation to date, and I (especially at that time) was willing to consume any scrap of media related to it lol. We were very starved for content in the olden days :')

I'll go ahead and give you a spoiler-free breakdown of the four LoK seasons - this might help you decide:

Book 1: Air is definitely is quite a bit different from AtLA (which was done on purpose by the creators to differentiate it so it wouldn't just feel like the exact same show). Book 1 is still my least favorite of the LoK seasons for this reason (as well as for questionable writing decisions), but there are still some great moments. You may notice that Book 1 ends very "neatly" - this is because LoK was originally supposed to be a miniseries before Nickelodeon picked it up for 3 more seasons (which I think was a large part of why the writing suffers a lot in the first half of the show as a whole).

Book 2: Spirits also starts out pretty rough (with more questionable writing decisions), but it picks up about halfway through. Some people say this is their least favorite season, but I've always enjoyed it overall a ton more than Book 1. While some of the additions to the lore of the Avatar and the Spirit World are polarizing amongst the fandom (and there are some things I wish they'd done differently), I still ate that shit up when it first aired lol.

Book 3: Change is where, in my and many others' opinions, the show suddenly rises to the same level of quality as AtLA. There's a lot of traveling, we get to see some familiar faces and several classic AtLA locations from Book 2: Earth, the villains are the best villains in any Avatar media, and the plot and emotional core of the season are just so, so good. I can't say any more because I don't want to spoil even a little bit of it. I personally think LoK is worth watching just for this season alone.

Book 4: Balance is not as good as Book 3, but I enjoyed it a lot more than Book 1 and Book 2. It does a really good job of exploring trauma/PTSD and the relevance of the role of the Avatar in a modernizing world, and is a decent followup to Book 3. What happens at the end of Book 4 is also SO culturally impactful (not sure if you know why, but I won't say anything specific), especially for queer AtLA fans such as myself.

While LoK definitely isn't perfect, I still accept it as canon for the world of Avatar, and it's still a show I've rewatched several times (though I tend to skip a lot of Book 1 and the first half of Book 2 when I do lmao). If you decide to watch it, go in with an open mind knowing that it is not going to be exactly like AtLA. Even in the not-as-good seasons, there's still some gems to behold. And what's also nice about LoK is that each season is about 12ish episodes, so you'll get to the really good stuff (Book 3) pretty quickly if you binge lol.

Feel free to send me another ask if you have any more specific questions about LoK! :)

[sleepy-razor]

Request!!: I would sell my soup to Satan for you to write a Xiao x reader fanfiction where Xiao is clumsily trying to figure out "modern mortal courting" cause (at least in my hc anyway) he's vaugely aware of really old courting traditions but is trying to learn new ones for his s/o.

Notes: Anon when I tell you I laughed so hard from reading the first line, I mean it. I’m guessing you meant to type “soul” and it didn’t quite work out for you, but regardless it was a good laugh. I did my best with researching dating culture in older China compared to now, but if there’s anything incorrect that you guys catch, please let me know as I am not Chinese or Asian in any capacity!

Warnings: I don’t think there are any here? As always, if you think I should have posted a warning for anything in my works, please let me know and I can correct it!

Characters: Xiao, GN!Reader, Reader’s parents(only mentioned)

To say that Xiao was a bit out of touch with human culture is an understatement

He has no clue how to go about starting a relationship in the ways people do it nowadays

He’s more familiar with the traditional way of doing things, although he’s never wanted to partake.

He’s used to arranged marriages, no dating required, and those are always set up by the parents rather than the parties actually involved, so when you approach him and ask him if he’d like to go on a date with you, he’s at a loss.

Poor guy is so clueless, he’s stiff as a board on your first date and he didn’t do great as a conversation partner.

He was surprised when you wanted to go on a second date.

To be completely honest, he was surprised you wanted to go out with him in general. He sees himself as nothing more than a weapon at Morax’s expense, so the thought of you liking him as a person?? Unheard of.

He’s a bit apprehensive at the thought of a second date, worried that you’ll be tainted by his karma if you got too close, but he decides to just let it be.

He eases into it eventually, but please be patient with him, he has no idea how this works.

“I’m sorry, could you repeat that?”

“Won’t your parents be upset that you’re going against their wishes?”

If it had been anyone else, you’d expect them to burst out laughing and claim they were just messing with you, but Xiao looks dead serious as he stares at you from across the table.

Confused, you put your spoon back down on the wooden tabletop. “Against what wishes?”

Xiao frowns. “Did your parents not arrange a marriage for you?”

“Arrange a what?”

“Is… that not the practice anymore?”

Xiao sounds so utterly clueless when he asks you this question, watching you with wide eyes that sparkled with curiosity and self-consciousness.

“For some families, probably,” you answer, waving your hand. “But not mine. I’m as free as a bird!”

You grin at him, and return to your food as Xiao falls into a thoughtful silence.

In all honesty, Xiao is relieved to hear that your parents aren’t upset with your decision.

He ends up approaching Yanfei and Ganyu to ask how to arrange dates, and while Ganyu isn’t able to help much, Yanfei is able to direct him to someone who CAN help.

It takes a while, but he slowly eases into the modern practices, although he’s still learning, so please go easy on him and give him feedback. He just wants to impress you and make you happy.

[noneedtoamputate]

happy birthday jess! i hope you have an amazing day with all the people you love :) in the meantime, what made you come up with the main concept for "every beautiful thing"? there aren't many post-war bob fics, which makes your fic really interesting!

also, do you have any good non-fiction ww1 book recs? (if not that's fine, i'm just curious)

Hi Blu! Thanks so much for the birthday wishes. I rewatched BoB th past summer for the first time in more than a decade. I was drawn to Chuck from the first episode on, I think, because I knew how it ended for him. I started doing some basic research on his life after the war, and I couldn't find much. When I thought about writing a BoB fic, giving Chuck a happy ending, or at least some kind of resolution appealed to me. I knew with his kind of inury, recovery would take a long time. Then i read this fic and it gave me a jumping-off point. I think setting the fic post-war gives me a lot of freedom. I don't have to worry about canon or as many historical details (although I still find myself looking up all kinds of facts when I'm writing).

Learning more about WWI is on my reading/history to-do list. While I know the major elements, for what is arguably the defining event of the 20th century, most Americans don't know as much as we should, probably because we were only in the war for less than a year. One book I read in college was Paul Fussell's The Great War and Modern Memory. While it's more literary cricticsm than history, it discusses how the culture was changed by Great War literature. A fantastic book, especially if you are familiar with the WWI poets.

BIrthday Ask Me Anything

[ashleywool]

Hi, I saw the show on February 4th and it was so amazing!! You were so fantastic as Jessica; I related to that character a lot and even wore an outfit inspired by her/ Caroline to work the next day lol. I also really appreciated how you stayed at the stage door for so long talking to people - fully expected you to leave before you made it the whole way down the line (which I would have supported as it was very loud and very crowded/ overwhelming. I almost left twice). Anyway, I was wondering if you have any thoughts about being recognized just in daily life because of htdio. Obviously being on broadway puts you in the public eye a little bit but not to the level of a tv show or movie. Would it be weird if someone came up to you and said they loved the show, or would you be excited? (Largely asking this because I’m 95% sure I saw Amelia Fei in a coffee shop yesterday and I wanted to say something but instead I just stood there, frozen, actively listening to the songs from the show.) I might ask some other people from the cast this too so if you see they’ve replied and don’t want to answer, that’s cool. Thanks for reading my long rambling message and hope you’re feeling better after the surgery you posted about!

First of all, your username is excellent. Fact.

As to your question about how I feel about being recognized: it's a good and reasonable question in and of itself, but knowing it was asked of one autistic person to another adds all kinds of intriguing nuances. And if there's one thing I love about Tumblr (and one thing that I wish people on not-Tumblr would do more often), it's how invested people get in all the intriguing nuances. So...here goes something.

I should probably preface this by saying that I'm still in the relatively early stages of being known on this level for this thing, and I'm still working through what it all means for me in both my professional life and my personal life. In many ways it feels like I'm relearning how to be a human with a whole new set of social rules or expectations or limitations that did not exist for me before--and, in a perfect world, would not exist. On top of that, the cultural concept of "fame," and the social rules surrounding it, is evolving rapidly. So whatever I say, feel, or believe right now may not necessarily reflect where I stand a year from now.

But back to your question.

Would it be weird if someone came up to you and said they loved the show, or would you be excited?

First of all, I can guarantee with 100% certainty that absolutely no one, no matter how famous they are, will ever get tired of people saying "I love your work." You might think it's tired and cliched and doesn't really mean much to them because they've heard it before and you're just another voice in the chorus.

But the thing is--we know you're not just another voice in the chorus. You're you. The story of how you became familiar with my work, and how and why it resonated with you, is completely unique to you. Your life. Your memories. Your relationships. Your pain. Your joy. We might have drastically different upbringings, cultural backgrounds, life and work experiences, political views, religious views, whatever...and yet, something in the work I did transcended all of that and connected with you.

In a world that expects us to be constantly and aggressively polarized and divided over all sorts of things, what could possibly be more important than that?

If my very soul doesn't joyfully blaze like a bonfire of gratitude at every single voice that tells me they love my work...then what's the point of the work? What's the point of anything?

THAT BEING SAID...

Yeah, sometimes getting recognized can be a little jarring. While I luckily haven't had any outright negative experiences with being recognized (yet), anticipating the possibility of being recognized certain places has raised several etiquette considerations that I simply never had to think about before.

For instance, when I waited outside the Barrymore for two hours one frozen morning to get rush tickets for the last Thursday matinee of Harmony, a few people on that line recognized me from Ohio. They were very nice, and not at all intrusive, but I remember thinking, I hope nobody recognizes me in the audience at the actual show. I didn't want my presence to distract anyone from their experience with a show I was not working on. Especially a new musical that had opened while we were in tech, we had signed each other's opening night cards, and now we were closing within a week of each other.

My concern about being recognized in that space was not rooted in "I don't want people to talk to me," but rather in "this is their show and I don't want things to be about me right now."

I got a box seat at the matinee, which all but eliminated the possibility of people recognizing me (or even really seeing me), and even if they had, it's not like I'm, you know, a celebrity celebrity. So my concern about being recognized may have been a bit disproportionate to the situation.

But that could change one day. No matter what my humility-cum-imposter-syndrome impulses want me to think, the plausible and pragmatic reality is...that could change. So I might as well start processing all of those things now, when my presence in the public eye is at a significantly-increased-but-still-manageable level.

What sucks, though, is that I haven't been able to find or access very many mental or emotional health resources specifically tailored towards "how to process and cope with a life in the public eye." The few therapists out there specializing in those issues wouldn't take my insurance; they're overbooked with celebrity celebrities.

And that's a bummer. Fame-related mental and emotional health issues are not just relevant for wealthy A-listers, especially in the age of social media. An ordinary person who's not even looking for the attention can post one video and go viral within 24 hours--sometimes for positive reasons, sometimes for negative reasons, but either way, they are overwhelmed, because nothing in their upbringing even thought to prepare them for a situation like that. Whether you're an A-lister, an accidental viral star, or a mildly niche-famous T-list Broadway person, I don't think humans, on a neurological level, were built for fame.

Our natural trajectory of cognitive and emotional development is intended for our families and immediate communities. We are not naturally neurologically equipped to handle attention from "the masses." It's well-documented that we have a more difficult time empathizing with "the masses" than with individual people--psychology calls this the identifiable victim effect.

This effect is not rooted in cruelty or apathy--it's a well-documented neurological survival mechanism that all humans have, and all humans need in order for their empathy to function at all.

But try telling that to anybody on American social media during an election year. Everybody needs you to believe that all of the people on ~the other side~ are numb to human suffering or are refusing to take action on behalf of a group of people because their brains sometimes have to focus on other stuff.

You ever see a celebrity post an innocuous, uncontroversial Instagram picture from their regular degular life, and the comments are like, "don't you realize there's a WAR going on? how can you just SIT there, eating a BURRITO, with your CATS?" Or like, "well, it's obvious you care more about your CATS than about [insert cause/issue/group of people]." Or like, "it's been X amount of time since Y atrocity and you have said NOTHING about it. What's the matter, are you afraid to speak up for [victims of atrocity] because it'll interrupt the aesthetic of your burritos-and-cats feed? Your silence is DEAFENING."

To tie it all back to the original question: no, it's not inherently weird or bad or awkward to be recognized in my current daily life as a T-list Broadway person. So far, it has been a generally positive and harmless experience.

But I'd be lying if I said I didn't worry sometimes about my future ability to just eat a burrito with my cats without someone making an Internet about all the things they think they have the authority to tell me I should be doing instead.

[vicholas]

This whole article is pretty laughable and badly written but also I feel it’s a pretty good example of something I’ve been thinking a lot about Wikipedia, which is that if you get well familiar with how things are done in there, the kind of language Wikipedia admins like, and how to try to decorate an irrelevant topic to make it look more notable than it is, they won’t delete your article and will be happy to keep it there.

Wikipedia admins and editors claim to be pretty strict about notability of topics and about having tight standards on what to deem notable and what not, but along with a lot of documented bias they have, they have a very pedant quality of appreciating more bullshit articles that try to polish a turd by making it look encyclopedic, over the kind of articles that can be more important but were written by someone less familiar with Wikipedia’s formatting and culture.

Here in the Mako Mori Test article, you have a neat little section at the beginning talking about gender theory in film to make the article look serious and that it knows what’s talking about, talking about Judith Butler’s views that have nothing to do with this to make it seem there’s more historical precedent to your fucking Tumblr test than there actually is.

You have a section in the article about criticisms towards the Bechdel Test being used as measure for Feminism In Movies, which the article uses to boost as proof the Mako Mori test is the cool hip new alternative despite that test not being mentioned in those criticisms sourced at all. But citing those criticisms makes the bullshit test seem more valid.

Bullshit “respectable” sources to make your turd article look important is easy when you know when to do it. The Mako Mori Test article has 30 sources listed, including academic books, all formatted neatly to make it look good and disguise that their main source is a fucking Tumblr post and most of those sources don’t talk about said test at all, most are about unrelated reviews of Pacific Rim, of the Bechdel Test, of feminism and movies, of feminism criticism of Disney movies. 

Of the 30 sources in the article, only 9 talk about the titular test:

Of those: 2 are Tumblr posts, 3 others are other kinds of blogs, 1 is Aja Romano of all fucking people, 1 is a women's lifestyle magazine, 1 is an independent science fiction magazine, and 1 is Slate, arguably the most respectable and credible source from the whole list. And the Slate article is not about the test itself, it’s about the treatment of Mori in the second film and brings up the test related to the character’s impact and reactions to her treatment in both films. 

Bullshitting sources to make your topic seem more notable than it is gets easier as time goes as internet journalism relies more and more on reporting on whatever trend is popular in social media to be topical, and those sources are counted as reliable by Wikipedia. See the, fucking, Wikipedia article on "Dark Academia” which has Nytimes and The Guardian articles talking about the topic in its sources.

This whole following section of the article feels like it’s just there to have more sources at the end of the article (each source is just. a link to a site defining each of these concepts listed in relation to feminism analysis) lmao:

I could continue dissecting the article but this post is so long already. Anyway I get frustrated with Wikipedia a lot, I wish the stupid ways Wikipedia works would be discussed more instead of being treated as this whole. flawless system. Wikipedia admins are humans, and often pretty dumbass and shallow ones.

[bleachbleachbleach]

7/29 - 8/6/2023

I started last weekend really excited about writing Renji 2, and had a good time with that. And then proceeded to have no writing time past last weekend. =_= I just need to chill out and accept that life is going to be about driving and People and racecars and the Women's World Cup rn and not about my blorbos and stories. Not that I don't also like the aforementioned but also MY BLORBOS AND STORIES THO. ):

As excited as I am about this chapter I'm still not sure if it ~works because Renji is just infodumping about 79 different things, and the part I wrote was about written vs. actually-followed easement policy in West Rukongai and how long it takes to run places. Which on one hand, Renji Why, but on the other, Why Not, Renji.

Something I have done a lot of this week, though, is driving—more in the last 7 days than in the last 7 months, to be specific—and I got reacquainted with my nemesis, audiobooks. I still don’t think I actually like audiobooks, but all of the books I listened to were very enjoyable in spite of the format, and I recommend all of them! This is especially exciting because these choices were guided by "what is currently available at the library."

The week’s roadtrip audiobook selections:

H is for Hawk, Helen MacDonald (2014)

Psalm for the Wild-Built, Becky Chambers (2021)

Orange World, Karen Russell (2019)

The Nickel Boys, Colson Whitehead (2019)

H is for Hawk, Helen MacDonald (2014) I’ve been wanting to read this book for a long time, but I’m glad I didn’t get a chance to until now, because coming off of condor!Tobiume this book was especially exciting. I didn’t realize until listening that it drew so heavily on The Once and Future King (and TH White’s biography in general) as intertext, which has really made me want to re-read that book, since I haven’t read it since the summer after I graduated high school. H is for Hawk is a falconry memoir, and it is quite a bit about birds—the goshawk Mabel in particular—which I figured would be a good time, from a creative nonfiction, ecology writing POV, two genres I generally like. But oh my god it is so much better than I already thought it was going to be! MacDonald has such strong analysis of masculinist, neoliberal cultures past and present, and the kinds of mythologies falconry comes from with regard to class and gender (and sexuality, re: TH White), and her own parsing of these things as she grows up. I want to read this book again.

Psalm for the Wild-Built, Becky Chambers (2021) I am OBSESSED with this book and I keep recommending it to everyone I see. It’s about a tea monk on a future moon where, in the distant past, robots developed to work in human factories gained sapience and left the human places to go live freely and separate in the wilds. Yearning for something missing from their life, the tea monk sets off into the wilds and encounters a robot who has been sent out to check in on the humans, and to answer the question, “What do humans need?” I don’t know that I am usually a robot person—but I am a traveling tea monk person haha—but I love these robots so, so much. They name themselves for the first things they see, so they all have plant/animal names. They hyperfixate on watching stalagmites grow, for centuries. This book is so soft and thoughtful and incredibly thought-provoking. It’s about a future that doesn’t rely on post-apocalypse; nothing overtly dramatic happens but everything is gripping.

Orange World, Karen Russell (2019) This is collection of short stories—I was able to pay attention to some far more than others, but Russell had the most interesting prose for me. There were lines where I was like, man, I wish I were reading this so I could copy this down.” Really strong sense of region and place in each story, and the world building (as one might hope of a book titled Orange World) is superb. I was familiar with Russell conceptually but hadn’t read anything by her before. My favorites were the story about Plains State/Midwestern storm farmers, who captured, husbanded, and rented out storms of various stripes—and now their industry was being affected by climate change. And the story about four sisters who are gondoliers, and use echolocation (of a sort) to navigate the span of a short story.

WIP-wise, I guess LOL I’d love to write as beautifully as Karen Russell does!! But more seriously I guess it’s about being bold about the mechanics of a world and how much it is possible to accomplish even in the span of a short story.

The Nickel Boys, Colson Whitehead (2019) I’m only halfway through this one, but it’s historical fiction about a reform school in the South during Brown v Board of Education, and the false promises experienced while attempting to integrate the South.

As far as where this could be WIP research, Whitehead does a great job of minor timeskips across the parts of the novel, including skips of actually writing out major precipitating events, which makes me feel more embolden about how I’ve structured some of this WIP.

[spectre-ship]

What is it about the Victorian era that interests you the most? Specific decades, and also things like technology, social and intellectual movements, fashion history, etc. What do you wish was more well-known about the Victorians?

This is such a fun question! I've made two passes at this and they both turn out essay length, so apologies in advance for the beast of a post here, haha.

The overarching thing that I'd say fascinates me is that to study the Victorian era is to ingest a heady blend of modernity and antiquity--in so many ways the people of the 19th century were the architects of the modern day, and I'm continually surprised by the tiny ways in which the Victorian era feels so much closer than ~150ish years ago. And yet it's also so distant in so many ways, and particularly early in the period or in rural areas, the rhythms of life are quite alien to us. Madame Bovary is a novel about the wife of a doctor who mounts his horse to make house calls; the pharmacist in it keeps a jar of arsenic on his shelf; yet it's also a book where I thought "I know someone exactly like this" about pretty much every character. That to me is the fascinating thing about history generally, but especially about the 19th century, so far and yet so close.

I think this extends to pretty much everything. The books of the 19th century use mostly familiar words and the same punctuation as today, but across genres and authors there's such a distinct 19th century tone and style and word choice. Technologically the century is full of so many interesting first passes and middle chapters; the steel pen superseded the quill but is generally obsoleted today by the ballpoint, as an archetypal example. The list goes on.

In more specific terms: one thing I love is Victorian print culture. I'm a printing and typography nerd; I love the neat hairline strokes of 19th century body text typefaces, the wild maximalism of the era's display fonts. I love the seven column broadsheets that jam as much news as possible into four pages with zero pictures; I love the magazines and periodicals lavishly illustrated with steel and copper engravings. I love to imagine what they would have felt like to read when they were first printed, try to put myself in the shoes of the people of the past, get in their heads. (As my writing style probably indicates I have read far too many old books and newspapers, and as a result Victorian sentence structure and phraseology has irreversibly seeped into my brain.)

Fashion history is another big interest of mine. My big interest is in men's clothing, particularly around midcentury—the pinched waists and long hair, the puffy shirts and narrow pants. I like 19th century clothing generally, of course, and I like the Regency tailcoats and breeches, and the boxy sack coats of century's end, as much as the next guy; but something about that midcentury style is just my favorite. I don't have too much philosophy or deeper meaning on this one, if I'm being perfectly honest; I mostly just like the look, here. But I think fashion and textiles history is a pretty interesting field and well worth study in its own right. Learning what exactly broadcloth is, for instance, helped me understand much more intimately why one of the underpinnings of the Industrial Revolution was the textiles industry.

There's a lot of artistic and literary movements that I'm interested in; Victorian medievalism is always fascinating, I'm fond of Romanticism, and, well, maybe not quite so much Gothic proper, per se, but the post-Gothic echoes of Victorian literature, The Signalman and In A Glass Darkly and The Picture of Dorian Grey and Dracula, anything by Poe, the 'golden age' of ghost stories c. 1890-1920.

I could list off a great many other things that interest me—I'm fascinated by the early history of socialism (now and then lately I've been reading Karl Marx's correspondence and his old New York Herald articles,) I'm of course always interested in that historian's holy grail of Trying To Better Understand Everyday Life, I like architectural and art history, maritime history is a perennial favorite—but to write down every last thing would be to make this absurdly long post even longer, so I'll have to make this highlights reel suffice.

Things I wish were more well-known... I think this is maybe one of those topics where I know enough that my idea of what the "average person" knows is skewed, so I might have to sit on that one for a while before I can think up something interesting; I encounter a lot of odd and interesting misconceptions at work, but none of them are fresh in my mind. I suppose a classic go-to would be that 19th century clothing (and, honestly, historical clothing more generally) is way more comfortable than it looks.

[elliepassmore]

Fathomfolk review

5/5 stars Recommended if you like: urban fantasy, political intrigue, underwater myths, multiple POVs

Big thanks to Netgalley, Orbit, and the author for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I really liked diving into the world of Fathomfolk. There's a lot of interesting things going on with the people and with the worldbuilding, and I think the different perspectives offer quite interesting views on the whole thing.

This book is set in a fantastical post-apocalyptic world where rising seas and the Great Bathyal War resulted in most (all?) land being underwater and humans having to live in a floating city while fathomfolk, live either in underwater havens or as second-class citizens in the city alongside humans. Tiankawi is a fairly advanced city, with skyscrapers and elevator trams to take people places, but it also has its more downtrodden areas as well where people, human and folk alike, have to struggle to make a living. None of our POV characters come from the privileged side of the city, but all three of them end up walking in those circles, and so we get to see different aspects of Tiankawi's many sides.

Tiankawi is a city on the edge. There are factions within factions and near everyone seems to be scheming in some way. More things are done through backroom channels and underhanded maneuvering than out in the open, which makes it tricky to determine at times where things will go next. It's definitely a city ripe for violence and I think the situation and where it leads felt very realistic.

I also thought the folk were pretty interesting. There are nagas and dragons and sirens and kelpies, and a whole bunch of other kinds of creatures that I'm less familiar with or hadn't heard of. It was interesting seeing the range of folk there were and the different ways their magical nature showed up and how that impacted them and their culture. I'm definitely interested in learning more about the various folk in book 2 and seeing how things stay the same or change after everything that happened at the end of this book.

Mira is a half-siren, half-human border patrol who's determined to use whatever influence she has to try and change the way folk are treated in Tiankawi. Over and over again she's proven herself to be the best and has climbed up the ranks through dedication and hard work, but she's also not blind to the things going on in Tiankawi and the way people see her. She takes the stance that things need to change but that meaningful change means exerting influence inside the system little by little until the system is doing what you want it to be doing. Her fiancé, the dragon prince and ambassador to one of the havens, Kai, fits in that same category and the two of them work well as a team trying to get their agenda achieved. Mira is my favorite POV character and I wish she got more page time in this book since I thought she had a very level way of looking at things and had a realistic sense of the humans and the folk. I also really liked her relationship with Kai and thought it was super sweet.

Nami is Kai's younger sister and has a rebellious streak a mile long. She also wants to change things but is more radical about it and believes the only way to do it is to work outside the law. She was part of a student group in her haven and pulled a stunt that got her banished. Tiankawi surprises her in many ways, and though I do think she began to see both sides of it, there was definitely a part of her for a good portion of the book that continued wanting to use force to achieve her goals. Nami is very stubborn and set in her beliefs, which can make her a frustrating character at times since she tended to act without seeing the whole picture first and kind of had a tendency to make things worse. That being said, Nami undergoes a lot of personal growth in this book and I think she comes out better for it. I also don't entirely blame her for all of her actions since 1) she does start waking up to reality, and 2) she's 100% being manipulated by someone who is very good at what they do. I don't really think all of Nami's actions are always her own, and once her mistakes are made, she does do her best to make up for them.

Cordelia is another major POV character and is a seawitch with a tentacle in every pot. She makes deals all over the place and is behind the scenes pulling the strings in a surprising number of ways. Cordelia is an interesting character but she's definitely not one I like, though at times she does seem to make some sympathetic decisions. I just feel like I don't have a good feel on her and that makes it hard to want to sympathize with her. Her family is clearly a big motivator, but there's an undercurrent of ambition there that I think drives her more than she lets on.

For side characters, Kai is my favorite. He's not in it too much since he has his own things going on outside of Mira and Nami, but he's a gentle and understanding character, and it's clear he cares a ton about his family, folk in general, and Tiankawi as a whole. He has a lot of grace, even in circumstances where I think it would be okay if he lost it a little. Overall a very lovable and wholesome character.

Trish is Mira's mother and someone Mira would risk a lot for. Trish is an older siren who's been around for a while and has seen all sorts of what the city has to offer. Despite that, she's a lot like Mira and has a very level head about things. She exerts a fairly calming influence as well and I think her and Nami's relationship is something that Nami desperately needed. She definitely feels like a mother, which is kind of silly to say, but I really think Chan was able to get Trish's vibe down very well.

Firth is another side character, though he's a member of the Drawbacks, a radical folk group in Tiankawi that stages demonstrations. They have a reputation for being dangerous, so naturally Nami falls in with them. Firth is a slippery sort and a smooth talker. He seems like someone who's pretty open and just wants you to give them a try,' but over the course of the book I feel like his vibe slowly changes to something a little more solid and a little more hardline than he first came across. I'm not really a fan of his character, but I also don't think we're supposed to like him. I am interested to see what he gets up to in book 2 though.

The ending of this book was a rollercoaster. So many things came to a head in succession, some of it quite surprising. I liked how all the pieces came together and I liked how unexpected some of it was. One of the solutions was actually downright hilarious, not going to lie, and I'm super intrigued to see where it will go. The ending-ending is bittersweet and I'm holding out hope there's a solution though I don't know if I actually expect that or not.

Overall I enjoyed this book and can't wait for book 2. There's a lot of getting to know Tiankawi and the culture of the city and the people and folk who occupy it, so the beginning can be kind of slow at times. However, the payoff is definitely worth it and all the characters are intriguing and have depth to them.

[ellavaday]

Hello! We're back to Sandra talking too much about DRES3.

I promised myself to make these shorter unless something truly horrific happens in the subtitles lol (which is, thankfully, not usually the first episode, so this is relatively short and sweet)

Here's the reference post for the first episode.

I have a drinking game for you. Take a shot each time someone mentions Torremolinos. (Disclaimer you might die of alcohol poisoning). Think of Torremolinos as the equivalent of Palm Springs. Where all of the gays go on holiday and where all the drag queens go to die retire.

Pinkchadora makes a joke of Supremme's pictures in the work room bc her name is also the name of a McDonald's burger here (yes, the entire name, Supreme Deluxe, hence the bbq sauce comment). People Pinkchadora mentioned as inspiration/references for her drag: Lola Flores (flamenco singer); Sonia and Selena (one hit wonder duo of the early 00s)

Pakita's intro line in the work room is a pun 'i whisked my milk so much' (de tanto batir la leche) ((yes yes masturbation joke)) 'i ended up whipped' (he terminado montada) we call the act of getting/being in drag as montarse/estar montada in Spain

Pakita said she's what happens when you put a Furby and Falete in a cocktail shaker. Falete is a nb flamenco singer.

Bestiah says she comes from the cultural capital of the province... Leganés. Which is a joke but we love Madrid working class neighborhood pride in this blog (sidenote there's a lesbian and a nonbinary flag in their entrance look and they're my comfort punky this season)

Pitita's name comes from Pitita Ridruejo, a socialité (that reported seeing various Marian apparitions when she was alive for which it's safe to say she was not only filthy rich she was also more than a little insane)

María Edilia came dressed like the logo of Harina Pan (the Venezuelan precooked maize corn flour used to make arepas) and in the colors of the Venezuelan flag

When Chuchi entered they talk about how they won the Canarian drag gala of 2019. There's nothing to compare Canarian drag to and it's like saying you won the most ferocious drag competition @supremmedeluxe did a post about Canarian drag if you wish to know more but like. Suffice to say it really is a league of their own

Chanel's intro line in the work room is a pun with badmouthing ("turning someone green") ((she's the one in green skin ofc))

In the mini challenge Pitita says her rat is named Obregón and it's a ref to Ana Obregón, an actress that is better known for the 'sexy sexy sexy' bit Pitita mentions (it's from the romcom Ana and the 7, in which she's a stripper that gets a job as the nanny of the seven children of a widow man, a raunchier version of The Nanny lol)

A bonus fact about how insanely talented Clover is (bc I'm in love and they talk about people thinking cis girls can't do drag): Last year there was an official viewing party hosted by Pupi in which there were also local drag performers and there were mini contests w the audience (think butch queen realness, dance offs, lipsyncs, all that, it was amazing). Clover won that thing when she was like 3 months into drag, she's really that bitch

I don't think there's much to explain for the talent shows but just in case...

Vania Vainilla mentions an app called To Good to Go that I don't know if it exists outside of Europe so we'll just mention it, it's for restaurants to sell a bit more cheaply the food that is still perfectly good but might get thrown away

Spain is Different. Alright. Welcome to my history class. So you might be familiar with how Spain was in a dictatorship for about 40 years. After WW2 Franco realized he needed to get friendlier with the US government if he wanted to keep in power bc money ((Spain was neutral in WW2 so it didn't qualify for the Marshall Plan in the beginning but it got in basically bc Franco was a massive prick that hated anything remotely Communist leaning and the USA gov... Is what it is))

Pitita's was my favorite talent show but I do realize it was the hardest to understand without references. The women in the wheel she was spinning are pop culture icons here, and she was imitating stuff that represents them. The first one was Manuela Trasobares (a mezzo-soprano trans activist) who got famous for getting very angry when discussing LGBT rights on tv on an interview and breaking a glass. Then Carmen Lomana who is a filthy rich woman that made an ad for BK that went viral bc seeing such an elegant woman in that ad was kind of camp. Then there's Terelu, there was a reality tv about how was her life and her mother's (a well known newswoman) called Las Campos (they tried to make it something akin to The Kardashians) and she famously told her mother to go fuck herself bc she asked her if she wanted a churro which became a meme so her eating churros became viral. Ana María Aldon however is a little less clear to me (the time she got COVID maybe? The fact that her disgusting ex who is the one that was actually in the wheel is one of those super macho man and famously said in an interview his sperm was still strong and wanted another kid w her??? Eh still insanely funny)

Part of said efforts was making a very strong tourist campaign under the slogan "Spain is Different" which was used to promote... Literally every single stereotype you know about the country. Toros. Flamenco. All that. So that's how you get Bestiah dressed like jamón serrano, Macarena as a comment against bullfighting (which *chef's kiss*), Hornella in a Goya/locomia inspired fan look, Maria Edilia as a flamenco souvenir doll, Vania and Kelly as homages to Sara Montiel (la Violetera and Sandra Montiel the official Sara Montiel impersonator and an icon of Torremolinos), Chuchi as a disco ball representing the party scene (very Paco Rabane too), Chanel as the dumb tourist shirts, Clover as the 12 grapes tradition on NYE, Visa as La Sagrera and then the Parc Güell in BCN

But we also now use it as a very sarcastic way to talk about things that suck but of fucking course happen in Spain. Like Pitita making a commentary on corrupt politicians (listen people trying to get away w illegal money in trash bags is a surprisingly common occurrence I'm not even going to mention a case there's a dozen), Pinkchadora talking about the Spanish cinema dedicated specifically to juvenile delinquency and in a very heartwarming example, Pakita and her homage to Ocaña (LGBT icon from the 80s that we love and adore thank you very much)

((((SPOILER ON WHO LEAVES NEXT))))

María Edilia's exit line was for me and me alone (and every other Venezuelan bc no one else would have understood it lmao). The national beauty pageant is a huge deal in my country and she sang the hymn song of the contest. It's extremely catchy and I'm now humming it lol.

I think that's all for this episode 😊 if you made it this far, thanks 💖 lmk what you thought about the episode

[mrangeldevil]

ive been thinking about this way too long and im forcing everybody to hear me out

The 2010s Cinnamon Roll vs The 2020s Blorbo

both words have extremely similar meanings and intentions, but entirely different effects

the term ‘precious cinnamon roll’ was mainly used in the 2010s in fandom to describe someones favorite character (and is still used to this day but with much less frequency esp since its seen as a “cringy” word or a millenial word even though it was used in the 2010s which many gen z were definitely there to witness but i digress)

then the term ‘blorbo’ is also a word with the same meaning, a fandom word to describe someones favorite character, but this time it is the word for the 2020s and much like ‘precious cinnamon roll’ it will likely be looked down upon as an outdated internet slang in a few years (or maybe even by next year considering how fast the internet goes compared to before)

but while both terms mean the same thing, they come across completely differently. for one, ‘precious cinnamon roll’ is not only a lot longer but is a word that drips with sweetness, like something your grandma would call you, and is generally reserved for characters who are sweet in themselves. and while you can technically call any character your precious cinnamon roll, it is undeniably weird/funny when you call a character like Wolverine your precious cinnamon roll. its longer phrasing also leans in well to the kind of internet culture before, as in the 2020s things run a lot faster so a word that is easy and quick to say like “blorbo” makes sense. i also find it interesting that the term is generally also said as “my precious cinnamon roll” adding a personal quality compared to “the blorbo” which can sound more impersonal due to its phrasing.

now before i go onto blorbo i do want to mention that another thing both terms share is the idea of “!!!!!XD sO RaNdOm!!!!!” just different flavors of it. the 2010s used randomness in a way that involved using familiar things in unconventional ways but not too unconventional. cinnamon roll being a perfect example as using a random food to describe a fictional character is, very random. the 2020s meanwhile, use randomness in a way that makes everything feel like an elaborate inside joke that is completely incomprehensible. someone who isnt familiar to the internet can probably put together why people call things “precious cinnamon roll” pretty fast but how in the world would you understand “blorbo”? theres no way to tie the term to anything in real life, blorbo is a purely internet joke that simply cannot exist outside the internet because its basically an inside joke that we’re all in on

and that brings me to blorbo (also associated with scrunkly, scrimblo and the works): blorbo originated from this hellsite, being a term originally to parody fandom spaces. its a bit hard to describe but the best way to put it is, you make a post and it blows up and fandoms immediately keep naming a shit ton of characters you have no idea who the fuck they are so you just pick a random word out of your ass and you say “guys i do not care about Blorvo Blingblong please for the love of fuck stop saying it”

annnd thats how you end up with the term Blorbo. it is the definition of a stupidly elaborate inside joke that only chronically online people will ever get. and that perfectly describes the type of humor of the 2020s.

and the term itself has a very different connotation to ‘precious cinnamon roll’ while that terms connotation of sweetness is extremely obvious, blorbo is extremely vague and very much left to personal interpretation and its absolute randomness, while adding a funny factor that cinnamon roll could only wish to achieve, is undeniably very inpersonal as it was designed that way. it is designed to fit literally ANY character, its a throwaway name, you could use it anytime on anyone, Walter White can be a fucking blorbo if you wanted him to be.

now this isnt trying to actually pick a fight between these two terms, thatd be fucking stupid and if you did try to you need to get offline more. i just wanted to analyze these two words and how people use them.

im personally a fan of neither while loving both, cinnamon roll comes across as very ‘grandma’ and can have a fan-girl attribute to it that, as a masculine dude dont personally like but still find myself appreciating its use as it was the word i grew up seeing used in fandom and was pretty commonplace till 2019. i also appreciate how much more personal the word is, it conveys an overwhelming feeling of sweetness and personal investment and that is probably why some people still prefer the term. meanwhile blorbo is pretty gender neutral (albeit mostly used by girls it still has no gendered connotation) its a lot quicker to say, its an extremely funny word to say, and its the word that is the most popular now, but it loses a lot of the personal feeling that cinnamon roll had and is very reflective of the time period its from, its funny and quick for a moment till it becomes bland and meaningless in a year or so

idk how to end this off, this is just some linguist hobbyist’s rant about two stupid words but which ones do you prefer if you read all this way?