#i'm relearning so ignore whatever is going on with it

[random-introverted-blog]

No More [Selunite!Shadowheart x F!Reader/Tav]

NOTE: THIS IS A CONTINUATION OF FLICKERS OF LOSS. Yes, I did it, thank AO3 you cowards.

Honestly, I planned more but like where it ended too much to drag it out [sandcastles next time?]

Continuation/Part 3 - Shadows of Shar

Intended Audience: Mature [it gets a teeny bit questionable but that's why the teens will ignore this rating anyway]

Who be smoochin?: Shadowheart x F!Reader/Tav (I got tired of y/n, broke my writing immersion)

The Bit: It's been a month since Selunite!Shadowheart and you escaped DarkJusticiar!Shadowheart. You haven't been sleeping well, and are struggling to adjust. It doesn't help that the wound she left on your hand, binding you to her, still torments you. Or the nightmares you have nearly every time you lay down. Or that you have few memories of your prior life with Selunite!Shadowheart to guide you.

Warnings/Advisories: Fluffy hurt comfort. You're going through it, lingering Stockholm Syndrome is making your thoughts questionable at times, one of your nightmares gets pretty spooky, you're still pretty damn brainwashed and your girlfriend is mega supportive. Mildly graphic detail of a relived memory, a distinct lack of sandcastles (sorry guys it was mostly written by the time it was suggested BUT... maybe next time? NO PROMISES)

Words, all the word (count): 2,583, baebeeeee

Link to the AO3 page if you prefer reading there

MINIMAL EDITING - WE FORGET AND DIE LIKE SHARRANS (AGAIN)

Providing a continuation I didn't think I'd actually write I'm 3...2...1...

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Absentmindedly, your fingertips brushed over the wounds on your hand, staring into the darkness of the night surrounding the cottage. The rough texture of the log you've perched yourself on helped keep your mind from wandering too far while the chirping of crickets and hooting owls provided a beautiful, calming melody.

Dawn would break in two or so hours. You think. It was still odd, having to relearn things that came so simply to others. There was no need to memorize the lights in the sky when you seldom found yourself beneath them.

Twinkling and bright, they soothed something in you. Sure, the moon was beautiful, and you'd always be eternally grateful for everything Selûne has done. After all, it was her amulet around your neck that provided enduring guardianship over you. But sometimes... you just wanted the sparkling freckles scattered along the dark canvas of the night sky.

But your mind always wandered back to where it shouldn't. Or maybe it should. It was still so hard to tell. Even as you trace the shapes scarred into your flesh, something inside you... ached. Was that man hurting her? Does he make sure she has her black velvet tea stuff in the morning? Does she miss you?

Like you miss her...

Gods, how pathetic can you be?

A searing, throbbing burst of pain surges across your nerves from your hand, spreading up your arm and finally subsiding at your elbow. The scars-turned-sigils flickering a brief violet, while you wince and hiss. You were getting better at tolerating the pain...

Familiar footfalls crunched the leaves and twigs leading to your log. The first time, you jumped and darted into the woods. Found only when your wound flared so intensely, you screamed. The times after that, you jumped.

You've started to relearn the feeling of her presence, like a warm embrace that lingers in your memory. Differentiate it from what you were trained to know.

She took a seat beside you, positioning herself on your right. Close enough, you could feel her, distant enough to avoid suffocating you. The soft rustle of her clothing barely registered amidst the ambient songs of the evening. Silence enveloped her but was not unexpected, as she occasionally left you to your own musings. Just by being there, she effortlessly offered endless support. Provide soothing reassurance, an attentive ear or a warm shoulder - Whatever you needed, she would make sure you had it. It was one of the first things she taught you.

Though... recovery was still difficult. Part of you wanted to hear her. Scoot closer until you could feel her warmth. All you had to do was ask. Reach out for her. You weren't sure how to do much of that yet, but you wanted to try... you wanted to so badly. "I... don't want to sleep anymore." The words escape your lips in a hushed murmur, echoing the reason behind your presence in this place, reminding you why you're out here in the first place. And you fought desperately to shut it out.

"I know." She whispers, tone brimming with empathy. As you glance sideways, you can see her eyes locked on you, watching your every move. "But you need to. Running from it won't heal you, my love." Her hand moves closer to you, silently asking for permission.

All you do is return your hand to your side on the log, and Shadowheart does the rest. Her fingers delicately traced the contours of your hand as she slid hers over yours. You hesitantly meet her eyes, feeling a surge of nervous anticipation. All the warmth and happiness you wanted so badly was now laid bare and raw before you. Ready for you to come to your senses, get over yourself and...

Again, but worse this time. Your arm throbbed intensely, the pain spreading from your hand and into your shoulder, igniting a blazing fire pulsating through your entire body. It felt as though invisible knives were mercilessly carving your skin, prompting an involuntary cry of agony for just a fleeting moment before you quickly stifled it by clenching your teeth, your eyes screwed tightly shut.

You're barely aware of Shadowheart's hands clasped around yours, closer to you now, her soft-spoken words of affection and comfort. "Shh," she coos warmly, trying to soothe you. "It'll pass... just breathe. Shh... I'm right here, listen to me and breathe, love..." As your hand relaxes between hers and your breathing finds a steady rhythm, she can't help but smile. "There... See? Already passed." Shadowheart adds, placing a delicate peck to your temple, sending a warm tingle down your spine.

"Mine is bound to..."

"I know..." She cuts you off gently, rubbing soft circles on your hand. "This is the most she can do to you now. And the more you reclaim of yourself, the less this will matter. I promise."

Giving your hand a gentle squeeze before rising to her feet and gently pulling you with her. You don't fight her.

Leading you back inside, she playfully shoos away a dog lingering at the door, giggling quietly as it scampers off. A frown briefly creases your lips, wishing you could recognize the animals as much as they recognized you.

As she led you up the stairs to your bedroom, she made sure to keep your hand in hers, providing a constant sense of comfort until you reached the bed. She lifts a cat from your side of the bed and settles it on the floor before reaching for you to help you in. But she reads the look on your face, smiles almost apologetically and settles for just holding your hand until you sit on the edge of the bed.

Once you appear to relax, she gracefully rounds the bed and climbs in on her side, the mattress sinking slightly beneath her weight. Her eyes burning into your back as you sit there, hesitating. "Love, please..."

Her fingers lightly graze your exposed shoulder, causing you to flinch involuntarily. Shadowheart pauses, and you cringe at the hurt you sense radiating from her now still hand. But she tries, so slowly and timidly. "I'll be right here, sweetheart. Whatever comes, you won't face it alone this time. I swear..."

The tenderness in her voice is so different from the harsh commands you've come to expect. It's like a balm to your wary mind and you carefully ease yourself down to rest your head on the pillow.

For a split second, you're staring at the dark ceiling of that place and your core twitches in anticipation, ready to give everything and anything she wants of you.

A warm hand settles over yours, its touch so gentle that you don't notice your own trembling until she holds them steady. "You're safe here." Shadowheart reassures, voice barely above a whisper beside you. Nights have been difficult for the entire month you've been here, beset by restless sleep and haunting dreams. Surely it was wearing on her, this constant need to comfort and ground you... But here she was, just as patient and present as she was the first night. Not so much as implying a single complaint, passive or otherwise. "Can I hold you?" She asks, voice deliberate and measured, like the very words would startle you into the woods.

You offer a subtle nod, the faint sound of your affirmation barely audible in the room. As you do, you notice her cautious shuffle, the soft rustling of her moving across the bed. The moonlight through the window behind the bed casts a gentle glow, illuminating her hands, which she purposefully positions within your line of sight. You can sense her deliberate awareness, her conscious effort to ensure her actions remain visible. Gradually, she encircles you with her arms, her touch conveying a tender and guarded embrace. The scent of her envelops you - lavender and night orchids - adding a touch of familiarity.

She would never have... your body was hers to suit her whims...

"You're safe here..." Shadowheart whispers into your ear, returning you to the cottage. The present. Her nose gently presses into the crook of your neck, the warmth of her breath a soft caress you fixate on as your eyelids drift closed.

The initial darkness is hushed and welcoming, like a gentle whisper in the night... until it's not.

Until it's frigid and gripping at your limbs so tight, you almost lose feeling in them... Until they're pulling at the seams of you, tearing at you and boils your blood hot enough you swear your skin is melting off your bones like wax off a wick. You would scream if your mouth were allowed to open. "You've strayed, pet..." the icy voice scolds, her tone low. From the depths of the darkness, a faint silhouette emerges, steadily approaching you. "And we both know deep down that's not your honest desire."

Closing the distance between you, She emerges and looms above, her presence dominating. You realize now you're on your knees, with a sense of vulnerability washing over you.. Wearing her black robe you could still vividly envision even without seeing it. "Recall your prayer of contrition, when you first came to the Nightsingers' embrace."

You do, and the sharp pang of unmitigated anguish shoots through you. "When you wavered at the altar, when you turned away from her and hesitated to send Nyxara to her endless dark." It's as if a floodgate opens, and the memory of your first friend in the cloister rushes in. And your first act of wickedness to earn your place in it.

How She had to take your hand and drive the blade into her chest. The ghostly touch of tears streaming down your face lingers, as if they were shed just moments ago. You could almost still feel her heart beating its last into your palm through the dagger, as if you were still holding it. Could nearly feel the warmth of her life ebbing away in your hand.

You were permitted a pass only because She needed you initiated as soon as possible. But you had to pray for hours, the soft murmurs of your pleas mingling with the soft rustle of her robe as She circled you. Watched over you. Ensured your prayers were offered with utmost deference and reverence. Punishing you with your wound if you slipped in fervor.

Before you were called again to sacrifice Umbric, your only other friend. Your last one. Both a second chance to do it properly, and to repent of your failure... No more attachments. Only Shar. Only Her.

You knew better than to make friends after that.

Her slow crouch brought her eyes, icy green and intense, to meet yours, leaving you feeling completely powerless, entranced and held captive by her gaze. "Recite it. Recite it and repent for forswearing your faith to Lady Shar." The demand feels impossible to ignore, your mouth returning to you and an expectant glare follows.

"Mistress Shar, in the shadow of loss, I beseech your forgiveness. Forgive my faltering..."

"Tav!"

Your body lurches forward, drawing in a deep breath that fills your starving lungs. You feel your entire body trembling until warm, comforting arms encircle you. Offering a sense of security and safety. "I've got you, you're okay..."

"F-forgive my faltering faith, Mistress Shar—"

"Tav, no," Shadowheart says firmly, "come back to me, my love, I know you're stronger than her..." the stifled tremor is enough to clear the fog in your mind. "You're more than a puppet for her amusement. You always have been..." pressing a soft kiss to the top of your head before nestling her nose in your hair. Drawing you deeper into her arms.

Recite it.

"I... don't want to..." Finally you break, the intensity of your training and your hunger for this new way of life conflicting so fiercely it overwhelms you.

Without further clarification, she amazingly understands. "No, my love, you don't have to. Not anymore... Never again." Shadowheart mutters into your hair. Holding you tighter when she feels the wet warmth you're bathing her shirt in. "Gods, I'm so sorry," she mutters, her voice filled with a self-reproach. "I should have done more, planned better, gotten to you sooner..."

You don't think, not really. You just act. Like you know already. The motions are a blur, but you know you pull back just enough... then your lips are on hers. She takes a moment to gather herself, but eventually eases into the moment and reciprocates. And it's unbelievably amazing.

The way she kisses you is sweet and tender, as if she wants to savor every moment with you. How she touched you, looked at you, now kissing you, like you were the most cherished and adored person in the world. Her lips against yours is so soft and electrifying that it sends wonderful shivers down your spine, and your body tingles in bliss.

There's no teeth, no pain, no blood. Only the warmth of her mouth moving slowly with yours like a delicate caress. Her hands are soft on your back, maintaining the security her arms provide you. It's everything beautiful that your stunted memory can recall of her kisses, and more... and you never want her to stop, craving for more. How have you gone this long without realizing how indescribably incredible she is?

But surely she does, if ever slightly. Neither of you seems ready to fully disconnect from each other. Your eyes remaining closed. "No more..." you whisper quietly.

"No more..." Shadowheart echoes just as quietly. Her lips twitching slightly, one hand brushing away a few lingering tears from your cheek. "Not anymore." Pressing a small kiss to your lips. "Never again." And another before her smile spreads wider.

Shadowheart gracefully maneuvers you both again to lie down in bed. This time you're practically on top of her, your face nuzzled into her shoulder. You gently weave your fingers through her smooth, flowing white hair, which partially cascades over her other shoulder, eliciting both a smile and a small sigh of appreciation from her. Mesmerized by her beauty, you can't help gawk in awe. Bathed in the ethereal glow of the moonlight streaming through the window, she looks absolutely radiant.

Her hand, still playing with the hair behind your head, guides you to rest on her shoulder. Securing you against her with her arm.

The memory crosses your mind and though you tense a moment; it doesn't... hurt as much as you've come to expect. Shadowheart gently tightens her arms in silent reassurance, and you respond by wiggling impossibly closer to her. The last thing you want is for her to think you feel or appreciate nothing she's done.

Instead, you gently drape your arm over her waist, feeling a sense of belonging and protection, as your mind wanders to Shadowheart... Your Shadowheart, savoring how your body melds so perfectly with hers. The adventures you must have shared. Wondering if there's a way to get those memories back.

Shadowheart fills all the dark corners of your thoughts, leaving no room for her to overrun your peace of mind. Before long, the rhythmic rise and fall of her chest, her steady breathing, has created a soothing lullaby that lulls you back to sleep.

This time, you're welcomed by a soft radiance and a soothing warmth.

In your fragmented memory, you can't recall a time when you've slept as soundly as you do now, peacefully drifting into a deep slumber.

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A/N: Wowowow okay hi. I didn't honestly expect to write anything beyond where it ended. Nothing public anyways. But AO3 asked very nicely (thanks!) for a continuation. I honestly intended this to be a beefy one but really liked the vibe and way it ended. Ya get what ya get. Quality over quantity, yeah?

Thanks again to everyone who likes, reblogs, replies, supports this little project in anyway you deem worth your time! And with that... Unpopular writer, awayyyy...

[greyskyflowers]

This is kind of rambling because I just really wish I saw more of this but whatever.

I wish I saw more stuff about Zoro's eye and the crew. I'm really interested in how that wound would have been handled by the crew.

The world already thinks the strawhats are fucking nuts, so I have the firm belief that they only let themselves be true, squishy humans with each other. Reindeer and skeleton included.

The rest of the world has seen them cry, bleed, near death, etc but the real stuff is for crew eyes only. The nightmares, the chronic pains, the panic attacks, the depression, the parts of healing that aren't pretty, etc.

Those belong to the crew. No one else gets to see that because being human in front of the world is different than be vulnerable in front of the world. And they love each other too much to let any of them be stripped bare for the world if they have anything to say about it.

I think of Zoro and Luffy as having the first real injuries of the crew. The point of no return injuries. The sealed their fate as pirates in blood and flesh injuries.

No one on the crew has lost anything quite like Zoro's eye. No one has lost any arms or legs, no lost fingers or toes, no lost of the senses like sight or hearing, and no truly horrific scars. Other than Zoro. And after the timeskip, Zoro and Luffy.

So Zoro missing an eye should have been a thing because this isn't something that heals. An eye doesn't grow back. The world changed for Zoro when he lost it (or whatever happened since we don't 100% know).

That's the injury of a human and Luffy and Zoro, and often Sanji, are seen as beyond human by so much of the world. Even the crew.

And that injury must have been fucking wild. Like so much there to unpack. The pain, the recovery, any infection, relearning how to live daily life with half your vision gone. That's a lot of time to be vulnerable.

It bothers the crew that they weren't there to cover his vulnerabilities like they should have been. They weren't there to do that for Luffy or Zoro. But this post is about Zoro, so that's what we're focusing on.

I have been brainstorming how I'd like to see the crew have to deal with this and I think a great way to make this into a hell of an idea for a fic would be way more simple than I was making it. I was originally thinking about shorting the timeskip, ignoring orders to stay separate, the wound happening closer to when they meet, etc.

But then I thought devil fruit. Duh.

What if the crew runs into a devil fruit user with the ability to recreate wounds? It'd have to be some type of time based power that would allow the user to touch the spot of a scar or other old injury and revert it back to the worst stage of it. Maybe it was when it was first received, a infection, etc.

It would work for other things too. The user notices someone doesn't have any glaringly obvious scars to focus on? Try the head, they probably had a concussion at some point. Try the arm, they've probably broken it at some point.

It also requires the user to revert the wound back to it's present state or it has to heal naturally all over again.

And someone who's fighting the strawhats with this power would go right for Luffy's chest scar. Take the captain down in one hit. He probably won't survive the wound again.

There's a couple ways I could see this playing out specifically with Zoro.

Either the user can't get Luffy and goes for the next best, Zoro's eye. (Or chest would be interesting. Maybe both)

Or they almost get Luffy but Zoro gets in the way. Thriller bark all over again.

I think that wound was nasty because I can't imagine Zoro losing an eye with a clean cut. Most importantly though is what stage it goes back to.

It's clearly not when he first got it. The wound is ragged and inflamed. Dried blood is holding the edges and the skin is stained a rusty color. Not that you can tell over all the bruising, big blooms of black and purple and yellow, that creep across his face and even down his neck.

It's a little terrifying.

But that's not even all of it. The wound fucks with a lot of stuff that they hadn't even thought of.

He's got constant, debilitating headaches and ringing in his ears. It makes basic things like focusing, walking, turning his head, etc all very hard and painful.

Loss of appetite due to pain and medication and chewing and even drinking all pull at the wound. So rapidly losing weight becomes a problem.

Sleep is almost impossible. His exhaustion slows the healing process.

Nausea and vomiting from the trauma, headaches and exhaustion. Even further loss of weight, energy, and necessary nutrients.

And once those settle enough, all the other issues become prominent.

Having to relearn balance and depth perception. Both in daily life and fighting.

Having to readjust for having his field of vision cut in half.

The general trauma. Honestly, I just need him flinching away sometimes when he just wakes up and someone comes in on his blind side. Only with them though, that's the only time he lets himself relax enough to be caught off gaurd or allow someone to surprise him.

The body remembers wounds like that. The mind remembers wounds like that. Zoro is a master at mind over matter stuff but even then, sometimes things are so deep and instinctive that it would be very hard to override those responses.

I want to see the crew reacting to it all.

The nights were Zoro stumbles up, pressing a hand to his eye, dripping sweat, and gasping for air because he managed to actually fall asleep, but in doing so forget to take pain medication before it was too late.

The days where getting him to eat something is the hardest battle the crew has had in days.

Chopper near tears with worry and fury. The rest of the crew in similar mindsets.

They find he sleeps best sitting against the wall with one of them, back supported and unable to roll into a painful position accidentally. His head resting on their shoulder and a careful, so so careful, hand to nudge him back if he starts to do something that will hurt.

He lets Chopper have full access to the wound, not even rejecting the pain medication and that alone speaks to the agony he's in.

They want to squirrel him away deep in the ship until he's better, he's too vulnerable anywhere else. It sets their teeth on edge and the idea of anyone seeing Zoro hurt and bleeding like this is unacceptable.

A healed wound to show the world is one thing, like the scar he had before the devil fruit user, and even a wound still healing, like Luffy's when he rang the bell after marineford, is different. Both of those are warnings. I'll come back stronger, you can't keep me down.

This is something else.

Someone hurt their swordsman. And they knew that of course, even when it was just a scar, but seeing it makes it real.

It makes something burn in their bellies with fury, wanting to snap their teeth at anything or anyone not crew.

It's a wild possessive and protective feeling. Vicious, a little blood thirsty, and demanding names. They want to know who did it.

Part of what makes Zoro Zoro is how he handles injuries and protects the crew. When he first got the wound he was by himself and probably hid away for a bit to lick his wounds before pushing himself back into everything too quick and with too little care.

So this time they want to care for it right, they want to care for him right.

The wound will heal with or without pain medication, but there's no reason to not make sure he's comfortable and supported.

He can sleep with or without someone, but if having someone there helps keep him in one spot all night and keeps the nightmares at bay, why would they let him sleep alone?

The bandages will be changed regardless, but if his hands shake less when someone else is helping him with the cleaning of the wound and the new bandages, why would they leave him to do it by himself?

It's not weakness, it's trust. It's love and vulnerability that belong to each other, not the world.

Being loved enough to be vulnerable is a privilege they'd never deny each other.

[leggerefiore]

Back in your inbox to discuss Cyrus bullshit again lmfao. I am normal. Totally normal.

So media literacy decline aside (no really, the reports are scary, less people can interpret nuance and hints), I blame 1) how young most of us were when we first played the games, 2) the OG Diamond and Pearl characterization (because it was a little different than Platinum's) and 3) the Pokemon Anime.

Largely skipping over the age thing because it speaks for itself. A good number of players were probably too young to catch all of the hints or grasp how irrational and emotionally driven Cyrus really was. Like, a legit Trauma Meter for our age group (20s) would be to ask if Cyrus freaked them out, or if they thought he had a point. Whatever the collective's first impression was would've colored YEARS of discussion and content. And I'm pretty sure I remember his reception being negative. Of course, the theory that he wrote the old notebook and that the old man was his Grandpa (meaning Cyrus was an abuse/neglect survivor) always existed. But before USUM and PokeMas added more implications, they were treated as "Just Theories" or after Platinum, retcons. Likewise, I think a good number of the older players WANTED Cyrus to be evil, so they kinda ignored it. Though there was an equal faction WISHING for a well written Sympathetic Villian. They missed Giovanni and had little hope GameFreak could write a worthwhile sympathetic villian because while Maxie and Archie weren't evil, their plan was just so stupid? Maybe it's because I grew up in a rural area at the start of the Going Green era, but I can remember being taught basic ecosystems in like 3rd or 4th Grade Science and learning that major changes to the environment were bad? And they were supposed to be super smart scientists?

On to game characterization, D/P Cyrus and Platinum Cyrus were portrayed slightly differently and I don't know if it was intentional or not, given how subtle the changes in the overall story were. But it boils down to a matter of A Means to an End, where D/P Cyrus seemed like he was changing the world to become a God, while Platinum Cyrus wanted to change the world and has to become a God to do so. Likewise, I don't think the implications that Cyrus was the abused/neglected grandson of that Old Man and the author of the old notebook were as strong. Also every scene with Cyrus in the Distortion World didn't exist in D/P so you didn't witness his breakdown or him admitting to his own faults. Charon/Pluto also wasn't in D/P, nor was the Rotom Room which was the first thing to give the "Cyrus wrote the Old Notebook Theory" any credibility.

My last reason was the Poke Anime and I talked a bit about it in a comment the other day. I have since looked it up and the D/P Anime aired the same day as the D/P Game Release, in Japan at least. So the 2nd most prevalent and remembered version of Cyrus is an ASS. The Anime did a great job of showing us the double life he was living, smiling and dressing/acting normal, albiet hammy, in front of Cynthia and that one old lady. But for a cold, stoic villian, he was super agressive, loud, short-tempered and dismissive in the anime. In that clip you shared, he wasn't calmly explaining why fighting was useless, he was about to snap on his admins. He yelled at someone else to (Ash I think). So it didn't even do a good job of portraying him as the kind of villian he was supposed to be, though this may have been because the series ended in 2011, so it may have been affected by the Platinum retcons.

But yeah, I'm also kinda sad about how people see Cyrus, but it isn't surprising. For everyone who "grew out of" pokemon or just never played Platinum, USUM, PokeMas or BDSP, they have to go back and relearn everything and not everyone does that. Nor will everyone want to because again, some people wanted Cyrus to be genuinely evil. And even if they do want to learn what changed and are open to it, they have to sift through years of content saying he was actually that bad.

It was a nightmare explaining to two of my homies why I was suddenly trying to write fanfic and draw fanart of him because they didn't get the memo.

Quick correction - It is not a theory that the old man is Cyrus's grandpa. It's confirmed from my understanding. Which it means Cyrus is likely an abuse victim (though, what Cyrus was going through was never entirely specified. Just that it was bad enough to concern his grandfather.)

I will note that his characterisation did change between Diamond-Pearl and Platinum (and now BDSP has introduced younger people to the pre-Platinum story), so I will give them that. But specifically, I was on the USUM battle theme still seeing it. (Interestingly, not at all on the BDSP rendition, though. Maybe because it's just Sinnoh fans who already know everything.) One of the top comments was ironically a joke about him seeing the Rotom Dex and wanting to kill everyone.

I think his character is really just generally misunderstood because of how subtle everything was is what I was originally trying to say. Like you said, some of it is general literacy issues. It just makes me sad to see him so misunderstood... I think Game Freak did a really good job writing him. Though, he does clearly read as emotional in both Diamond-Pearl and Platinum. At least, seeing his little chibi march up to you in BDSP after you ruin his plans really shows how emotional he truly is. While the Rotom Room journal is clearly only a theory, I do truly think he is the only logical character who fills that role so well. (Charon 100% would use Cyrus's childhood trauma journal for its precious Rotom research without a doubt seeing how quick he was to try to take over Team Galactic.)

I am glad that they gave him depth rather than just making him a generic bad guy... Actually, considering that Platinum was just before BW (well, a few years but development wise, I mean), I think it might have been their first steps into more character driven plots. I do hope people end up looking more into Cyrus, but I know he isn't the most popular villain at all. (I believe that crown goes to either Archie or Guzma. Or. Well. Lusamine, actually, probably.)

I convinced my friend by telling her about the Rotom Room stuff, actually. She already liked Cyrus since she is super into Sinnoh, but apparently, learning that he was besties with Rotom when he was a child sold her. Now she bravely helps me write for him sometimes lmao. My other friend, however... She still doesn't believe that he's actually 27.

Granted. Youtube comment section opinions should probably always be discarded.

Except maybe... This one. This is the only good and acceptable one lmao

[gritsandbrits]

Adam Learns Feminism (Hazbin x OC Drabble)

Summary: Avaline tries to help great grampy Adam unpack his misogyny. Familial, not a Romance Ship. Adam x Granddaughter!OC.

🎸

Avaline slammed a stack of books down on the table in front of Adam.

"The hell are these?" He asked, his voice muffled with food.

"Since you seem to forget what it's like to be human, I thought I'd give you a refresher," replied Avaline perkily.

Adam grabbed the book on top and read the title out loud.

"The Feminine Mystique. What's so mystique about women? I had that shit figured out ages ago!" Boasted the fallen angel.

"Aw yes, cuz women love being called the b word," the blonde human retorted with a roll of her eyes. She remembered the times he'd stop by her mom's workplace and scared off her female coworkers. All except one but they all didn't like her, Adam included.

"Anyways I took it upon myself to teach you how to understand our gender better. So you won't go around calling random strangers names, and respect women's boundaries."

"Please, as someone who lived thousands of years I don't need to relearn stuff I already know," huffed the First Man.

"Besides the ladies love me. You should've seen me back in the day they were crawling all over me and LOVING IT!"

"Says the guy who got divorced twice and has a pick me for a girlfriend," snarked Evan as she walked past them towards the fridge. She ignored Adam's indignant cry and opened up the fridge, only to groan miserably when she didn't find what she was hoping for.

"Hey who ate up the lamb chops!"

She looked at the table and saw bones on Adam's plate.

"Should've ate them when you had the chance," he tsked. As if to rub it in he started to gnaw on the bone with the most meat.

Evan's eyes narrowed. "Fat ass!"

"You make it sound like it belongs to you did it have your name on it?" Adam grinned.

Evan huffed and went arouns fir more food. She grabbed a couple luscious green apples, still arguing with Adam over the ownership of the leftovers.

"Y'all stop," Ava sighed as she took a seat beside Adam. "I'm tryin to help him be more conscious,"

"Good luck with that," said Evan. "The old bastard is so set in his ways, it'll probably take till the final judgement to get him to change his mind."

Adam felt insulted. "Hey are you trying to say I'm unable to change?!"

"I mean you said the same thing about Charlie and look how THAT turned out," Evan replied, gesturing to the Sinner's lackluster appearance.

"I take great offence to your statement!" Adam shot back.

Ava sighed again. No wonder Abel left, she said to herself. "Look it's not going to take all day, we'll start with reading a few chapters each week, then increase as we go along," Ava explained.

"Y'all have fun," she waved goodbye and left the kitchen.

"But grampy you have to learn go be mores respectful to women if you want to have a better chance at keeping them," Ava pointed out.

"Now we can keep arguing and lose progress or..." She left that statement unfinished

"Or?" Adam challenged.

"Or I'm telling Grandma Cass you ate the rest of her pork chops." Ava pointed at the empty plate.

Fear struck Adam in the chest. He hated the old bat. He'd rather marry the gremlin who stabbed him than spend a single minute with the elderly fool.

But since Cass was the mother of his granddaughter Flora, and the only other person willing to house him on Earth, he had no choice but to respect her.

He grumbled, cursing the feminist mystery and uppity teenagers. Great now his afternoon would be taken up by modern day bullshit!

Ava showed him a few chapters and read them out loud. The whole time Adam sitting with his head in his hand bored out of his mind.

The Feminarchy Mystic, whatever it's called, was an beloved book by human standards, and a stale one by his standard. Ava said its significance is why she decided to start with it first.

After an hour Avaline decided it was time to end the session.

"Alright class let's see what we've got." Adam pushed his paper to show her what he had written.

"I'M SORRY WOMAN." scribbled in hasty, near ineligible mess. The rest of the paper were childlike doodles Adam drew of himself, and strangling Lucifer with lilith and eve cheering him from the background

Ava's mouth twisted in an awkward smile. "It's a start."

[wolfstrong]

season 6 thoughts and reflections lets go baby

I'd just like to start out by saying this last like 2 months I've been watching season 6 have been like the craziest of my life, like I graduated college and I'm now living on a farm on the opposite side of the country, so like my recollection of this season isn't the best. AND ALSO this season was sooooo all over the place so its fitting I guess.

Okay, I'm not gonna be the first person to say this but season 6 was uhhhhh kinda weird guys! But I can proudly say I didn't hate it. there were PARTS of it I hated very very deeply. but overall I think there was some real good in it. This season did not have so much of an overarching plot, it had like SEVERAL plots going on. I think this maybe could have been done well but it wasn't. PLOT NUMBER ONE: buffy comes back wrong which makes her have sex with spike. I honestly HATED this. every Spuffy conversation was the exact same thing in this season and it all went NOWHERE. i swear every episode they would have the most word salad nonsensical conversation that always went pretty much like Buffy saying that despite having sex with him she hates spike and then spike responding like "whhhatttt no that cant be true". Ugh I was seriously so sick of it. When we learn that Buffy went to heaven after she died and actually DIDN'T want to come back that was like a really interesting direction to take things. but then they like kinda did nothing with that other then like Buffy being depressed all the time. Which is fine but like don't you think this leaves great potential for Buffy to relearn why the world is awesome? shouldn't this have created great great drama between her and Willow, the person who brought there back? they like slightly tried to work with these things but also didn't. and instead focused soooo much time on spuffy. like okay. PLOT NUMBER TWO: Xander and Anya divorce arc. I actually liked this plot point honestly. It was a very interesting exploration of both their characters and I feel like it made them both feel real. I liked Xanders nervousness leading up to the wedding and Anyas sort of ignorance in thinking they were gonna live happily ever after even tho we as the audience know that things will not end well. And I liked when Anya slept with Spike, it was just the kinda good drama you can really get into. PLOT NUMBER THREE: Willows magic addiction. I don't know this really could have been something. like it was so close to not being incredibly stupid but then it was. The issue is they decided half way through to treat her drug addiction like it was 1 to 1 a drug addiction which literally made like. no sense. Willow does not seem like the type to ever get into like heroin or something. I feel like the reason a lot of people to drugs is for the escape, but Willow was actually in a somewhat stable and happy place in her life? what makes much much more sense and what they almost did was have her addicted to the POWER that comes with magic. like this is good and real and not stupid. and they kinda did this but they also kind of had it be a drug thing? also this arc kinda culminated in Tara dying and therefore I hate it by default. PLOT NUMBER FOUR: whatever the fuck was going on with the trio. I thought this was funny and good honestly. I like the trio and villains because its like. not every evil is a supernatural demon. sometimes the most evil forced in the world are stupid virgin loser nerd guys. and like brother that is so true. in real life incel men ARE some of the most deeply evil and horrible people you will ever meet. So I'm glad they went there and also the trio just was genuinely funny in a sit com big bang theory type of way.

Also i just have to say, Giles leaving was REALLLYYYY a major hit to the show and a driving factor of why it wasn't as good. I really felt his absence, sure since season 3 he hasn't had so much to do, but the group NEEDS him. he's like the straight man/ responsible adult and person who puts a end to the lame bullshit. idk he's just the anchor of the whole show i think, he keeps the thing grounded. and without him we were just floating about nonsensically. And while I'm being a hater, I think the dialogue in this season was just awful. I have a lot of thoughts on "buffy speak" and how it can actually be really great if done correctly. in this season, it was done badly. it was way too much and all of the time and just plain stupid. oh and also, THIS IS THE SEASON WHERE AMY GETS UNRATTED. which is awesome if you are me specifically, so shout out to that plot point. I'm trying to think of something else positive to say about this season but uh, I really can't. Okay I suppose what I can say is that it had potential. Like it could have been really interesting, and I can imagine a version of it in my head, with a few tweaks, that would actually be great. I won't even say it was almost there, it was far from there, but that's almost better I think. If something is really close to being great and they fumble it, that's usually like, way worse. but If its bad enough, then its like kinda camp. And by the end of it, this season truly was camp. I hate dark willow, I think it's stupid as hell, but when Dark Willow and Giles started to have a Super Saiyan anime type battle of magic, that was lowkey iconic. like fuck it, remember the nerdy girl and old man librarian from season 1? well they are both shooting at each other with beams of light now and destroying the whole damn building. That's camp bitch, they truly didn't give a fuck anymore. Oh, and of course, as a Willow and Xander best friend forever applicator I love the resolution of the finale. Like literally love and friendship saved the whole entire world, bitch. OKAY

EPISODES I LIKE:

All The Way: I just love Dawnie so a Dawn centric episode yessssssss and I just love to see her be such a angsty teenager while also being a huge dork cuz all 15 year olds are just like that. This episode had such early season energy and I love that

Once more with feeling: duhhhhh okay duh. DUHHH.

Tabula Rasa: oh boy this episode. its sooooooo its SOOOOO. like i busted a gut laughing and then it just ended SO TERRIBLY. but whatever I can still appreciate the hijinx of everyone losing their memory

Double Meat Palace: literally iconic and genuinely good I don't care what anyone says. GREAT atmospheric episode that genuinely gave me chills are points. THIS EPISODE WAS GREAT AND NOT EVEN THAT STUPID YALL JUST DONT GET IT. its literally about the horror of mediocrity and excepting that you'll never be anything more then a cog in the machine

Hell's Bells: SOOOO much in this episode. SOOO MUCH. like some truly funny bits and some things that are just gut-wrenching. It's like such a train wreck but like if a train full of clowns is what got wrecked.

Entropy: iconic freak media. And I love Anya okay.

Worst episodes:

Wrecked: the downfall of the season, the moment I realized that all my hopes and dreams for the plots they were setting up were going absolutely no where. and Spike and Buffy fucking so hard they break down an entire house is DUMBBBBBB

Gone: wtf even was this episode. BUFFY ACTS SOOOO FUCKING OOC HERE IT"S INSANE. i hated watching this actually it was bad

As You Were: to be honest with you, this one is SOOOOO bad that it's almost iconic. Like this has to actually be the worst episode of BTVS I have ever seen. I didn't even feel like I was watching btvs in this moment, it felt like some other horrible show. but like its Riley man. it's literally the episode where Riley comes back and I expect none the less.

Characters:

No one new to talk about other then the trio, who I said I really liked. I'm glad to hear Andrew will be in season 7 cuz I think he's great. It's funny that the show is like. he's very obviously supposed to be closeted but we aren't gonna say anything about it cuz if we did then we can't be homophobic to him. Also everyone is sleeping on the trio toxic yaoi which is literally canon. its so canon and no one cares. literally that scene where Andrew is crying after Warren ditched him and hes like "I though he loved... hanging out with me!" (obviously about to say "I thought he loved me") like Andrew being Warrens little minion cuz he was in closeted gay love with him when his boy Johnathan was there for him all along,,, who he was really meant to be with... guys the angest the hurt comfort the. I'm not insane listen to me get back here.

ANYWAY. season 6! yayyyy!

[kazooku]

Introducing Casey Windro, the time traveling menace!!

God Casey's been one of my favorite OCs ever since I made it back in January. I'm so glad that I can finally post about it now. It's also been kinda my punching bag lately oops. They're an MCU OC and the first of probably many. I'm also trying to figure out ways to insert Casey into other Marvel medias, but for now, they're MCU only.

Casey's whole gimmick is that they're a time traveler who can't change the past. It is a snap survivor. The snap happened when it was 10, and despite none of their family snapping they're two only friends did. Casey doesn't have the best relationship with its family, even from an early age. It's dad was constantly busy, and it's mom had an idea of what she wanted Casey to be and ignored them whenever they drifted from that idea, which was often. It's friends were their family, and that family was gone.

The 5 years that the snap lasted Casey retreated into itself. It didn't try to get close to anyone again because there was no point to it. The people they were close to disappeared into thin air, and the irrational voice in their head said it'll happen again if they did. In the middle of the snap, their great grandma died and left it her pocket watch. The watch was broken and had been broken for as long as Casey could remember, so they made it their mission to fix it.

They fixed it a month after the snap was reversed and with it unlocked time travel but with a cost. Casey could not change any major events. No matter how hard it tried, it couldn't stop the snap. It acted out. Causing chaos but impossible to leave lasting damage. It got on a certain spider's radar for that reason and possibly gained a new friend.

Casey is no longer close to the friends they once considered friends. They're 5 years older now. If asked it would say the Casey they knew died and they deserve better than the shell of their old self that they are.

Casey uses it/they and is a triple A battery (Aromantic, Asexual, and Agender) and a lesbian.

Running out of text space on Instagram and added more in comments so lemme just add those here

When it stops traveling back it needs to relearn consequences. They could do whatever they wanted in the past without a real effect. Now in the present they turn reckless and self destructive forgetting that there's no undoing what happens. They're rash impulsive. It takes a few good years in therapy to get these behaviors under control.

They stop time traveling mostly after a year. It doesn't completely stop but there's larger gaps in between. The people around them who know are getting them to see the damage they're doing to themself through this.

I'm being purposely vague here on the friendship between Casey and Peter but they are close. Starting off as mutual annoyances to inseparable.

Might talk about it more in another post but Casey actually dodges the spell in NWH. They get into an argument and Casey storms off into the past. When they come back and no one remembers him they're confused as hell. It takes them 2 months to track him down and break into his apartment.

Casey is autistic adhd like me lol. Can't write an OC without that oops. Anyways it has a special interest in crow bars. It's weird, it's strange, but they love them. Their favorite is a white one with hello kitty painted on it.

I have a design and plot for a timeskip Casey. I will draw them eventually and talk more there but!! It takes place when Casey is 20 and is them getting into shit with their college friends and occasionally dragging Peter along. They are an English major btw

Working on a Spiderverse Casey variant. So far the plan is the snap is never undone and while time traveling Casey gets frustrated and tells Peter he will die and he tells them yo take over. After failing to change the past they give in and become the new Spider-Man but going by a different name.

They start getting therapy at 17

It has fangs because pre snap friend dared it to file their teeth. It did. The fangs are sensitive to temperature.

Originally posted on May 23rd on Instagram

[x0401x]

Yes, please do a post after every Tsurune ep, reading them from your pov is amazing!! :D

Ask and ye shall receive. Here comes my opinion of episode 7. Really sorry for taking so long with this!

I usually begin with the positive points when doing these reviews, but I have to break this default here because I've never thought we'd come to this with KyoAni out of all studios. I almost fell off my chair with the horrible CGI in this episode. Yes, 3D and 2D walk hand-in-hand, especially for anime like Tsurune, but the viewers are not supposed to spot the 3D. I did mention before that the animation quality suddenly decreases at certain moments in this season, and this episode has been the worst example of that so far. This legit terrifies me and what makes it worse is that there are several causes for it. And again, this isn't just KyoAni. All Japanese animation studios have been seeing even if just a slight downgrade in overall quality for a few years now. We've just lost another one to this horrifying trend. I know it doesn't seem so bad and sounds like I'm exaggerating here, but this is unthinkable to the standards of such big-name studios. Unfortunately, the tendency is for it to continue, at least for now.

Another thing that bothered me is that this episode seems to be focused on long shots and showing the character's faces as least frequently as possible in order to mask the drop in quality. This is actually a commendable decision, since they're not just giving us static shots that feel a few seconds too lengthy, and instead are using these moments to explore the locations (gotta love that drawing of Kaito on the black board, for example). But it's hard to ignore the discrepancy in art style between said long shots and the contrasting close-ups.

Okay, enough about the animation and on to the story.

It's easy to tell from the first few minutes that KyoAni is still pushing Seiya as the MVP. Just as Seiya was the one who got Minato to realize where and how he had messed up in the tournament with the brilliant idea to record everything, and just as he was an indirect assistance to Kaito and Nanao making up not just by arranging for them to meet up at the dojo but also giving Kaito a prep talk, we have him being ahead of everyone once again in this episode. It's obvious from the beginning that, whatever the boys are trying to grasp here, he already has it all down and is just waiting for them to catch up to him. Yamamura Takuya might as well just make Seiya the protagonist at this point.

The whole deal here was about teamwork once again, but this time around, it was specifically about synchronization. Which, I must say, is one more thing that we should've had in S1 and are getting only now, therefore creating a disconnect between the level that this team should be and the level that it currently is. Just as I discussed in episode 6 that Minato shouldn't have to relearn everything from scratch because that's narratively inconsistent, the same applies to the way that the boys' team is relearning how to... well, be a team. They'd already been doing all of this for a while now, so it's kind of confusing to see them act like it's the first-ever time that they're trying it (not to mention it makes the viewers wonder how the hell they won the prefecturals when they can't even line up properly). Literally all of these movements and tips that they’re just figuring out are things they had been doing perfectly fine until this point and they wouldn’t even be able to participate in tournaments without knowing these basics in the first place. Yet suddenly they don’t. Make it make sense.

Another thing I'd like to make sense of is... why is Eisuke poor in the anime? I get that KyoAni is trying to sell him as someone Relatable TM, but that's going a bit overboard. He already has biological disadvantages (photosensibility), mental disadvantages (claustrophobia), club-related disadvantages (no dojo, no coach) and even spiritual disadvantages (wrong mindset being a bitch in general). There's already enough to sympathize without actually rooting for him. The scenes of Eisuke working hard at a café and having no money to hang out with his colleagues coming right in-between Ryouhei visiting Shuu's extravagant estate are kind of... not a very good look. Eisuke's situation in the anime sort of validate his envy. Makes it seem reasonable, and the only motive as to why it's not truly reasonable is because envy is Bad and you shouldn't harbor it even when the world is so ridiculously unfair. Miss me with that bullshit. I want this little shit to be the spoiled brat he is in canon. Life gave him lemons and he decided to take them and throw on other people. No amount of handicaps can redeem him from the pettiness of having lost to his juniors one (1) time.

All right, now following in this reverse order, we have the good points coming up!

I quite like that this episode showed a side of Masaki we hadn't gotten to see in S1, which is the pure-hearted, childlike elation he displays at his disciples fumbling for solutions and working together to solve problems. S1 was hellbent on the weird revenge stuff and kinda forgot that this guy genuinely loves to see his pupils making progress. The whole point of Masaki as a character is that he doesn’t see himself as the best fit for the job, but he actually is. Because he actually cares about these kids. Because he isn’t using them for revenge in canon. Because that doesn’t suit his personality at all in any possible way. And apparently, KyoAni at last understands that now, thank you very much.

One more thing that got butchered in S1 and this episode finally gave to us was Masaki's second nickname, "pervy old man". I gotta say I was particularly pleased by the fact that Minato's face and voice when he said it were exactly like how I'd imagined it when reading the books, but I'm still not digging the way that this was framed to make Masaki look like an actual pervert for the things he says without thinking. I get that the animators are trying to go for some lighthearted comic relief here, but underneath the joke, it's evident that they're also using these tidbits to poke fun at anything that seems remotely not-heterosexual in the series.

Sounds like another exaggeration, I know, but looking back at S1 and then at this episode, it's easy to find a pattern where Masaki either spouts a double entendre or is caught performing an action that doesn't seem appropriate, and when confronted by anyone about it, he responds in either a desperate or exasperated manner in order to clear up the misunderstanding immediately. These double entendres or actions always frame Masaki as preying on the boys, which is, of course, something that would never happen, so it's all played as a joke. The message this sends out is that the other person is totally overreacting, because Masaki would never make advances on his pupils, except this card is only ever used on the boys, specifically. So what we get between the lines is that making presumptions about Masaki's reckless word choice is ridiculous not just because he clearly isn't into kids, but also because that would be gay.

It's a simple recipe. We viewers are shown ambiguity on purpose and yet we're treated like we're reading too much into it if we so much as assume that it's ambiguous in the first place. Because if we assume it's ambiguous, we're also presuming the presence of homoerotic subtext, which is then shot down as something far-fetched, if not near-impossible. You know those scenes in movies where someone’s trying to connect the dots and comes up with overarching explanations as to how A relates to B, only to be dismissed by other characters telling them that they’re watching too much TV or something? That’s the vibe I get from this cheap-ass narrative device. It’s almost as if KyoAni is speaking directly to us, like, “I know this seems gay as fucking hell, but how dare you assume it's gay! You're implying that this perfectly decent man is a predator!”

Don't get me wrong, of course Masaki isn't actually suggesting or doing anything other than what he's supposed to. But what rubs me wrong about this approach is the fact that it gets gayness and p*dophilia lumped together. That's how KyoAni subtly rids this series of any unjustified gayness (i.e. gayness where you can't pay the "they're really good friends" card). And this is probably the clearest example of the difference between how the anime handles the gay subtext and how the novel does it. The anime makes it come from Masaki, in ways that are wholly unnatural, mostly through word usage that anyone with the bare minimum of common sense would never go for. It then makes the kids react negatively so that Masaki can brush off the delusions of these silly teenagers, because just how far ahead of themselves do they have to get to assume that their coach would want anything of the sort with them!

True enough, he would never want anything of that nature. The novel totally agrees with this. Except it doesn't laugh the gay away as a joke, oh no. The novel takes the gay very seriously. Which is why it gives the subtext from Minato's perspective.

Always from Minato's perspective.

Whenever we have anything coming from Masaki that looks or sounds like something else, it's from Minato's POV, 100% of the time. Not even other characters. Only Minato. And when it sounds like something else, it's usually Masaki being funny, but when it looks like something else, that's mostly Minato being confronted with something he wants that is directly related to Masaki, but that he can't have. Take the scene that this anime equivalent was based off as an example. Everybody (Seiya also tipped in) getting to have an exclusive lecture from Masaki, except for Minato. And there's great emphasis on the fact that everybody got to touch Masaki while Minato didn't. Plus the fact that even Shuu got to have his own share of it, despite him being from a whole different school. And Minato keeps sulking at how unfair all of that is, for days. He wanted to be there. Heck, he wanted to be the only one who gets this privilege. He has to hold it back and it gnaws at him. The pinning is real and it's never framed as negative, because it isn't.

When all is said and done, he manages to keep his ground. And in the end, he gets some sort of compensation for it, which always comes in the form of a private lesson and quality time. That's where he gets to have twice if not thrice as much of what he initially wanted. This is Ayano Kotoko working in accordance to Zen principles: you fight your inner demonds and desires, and for that, you get compensated with enlightenment. In Minato's case, he gets compensated both with that and... with Masaki. As far as plot devices go, that's just mandatory in the novel. It has both a character development and storytelling purpose and acts as a nod to Japanese archery and Buddhist ideologies, so removing that part is very much a disservice to the author’s intentions, but hey! KyoAni can’t pretend that it isn’t gay if it’s from Minato’s perspective. This would be just a kid having a puppy crush, which isn’t a crime and has no reason to be frowned upon if it’s unrequited. Ayano knows this and she makes conscious writing decisions based on that fact. So does KyoAni when reversing the positions.

Basically, KyoAni uses gay subtext in order to dismiss it in a total dick move. It's kind of their way of signaling, "Don't worry, snowflake audience who can't take anything that isn't cishet seriously, you can enjoy this show", and I find this kinda gross, to be honest. Meanwhile, the novel makes the subtext into the text itself, because Ayano Kotoko is powerful like that.

Anyway. I digress. Back to the good things.

The dedication to detail keeps delivering. I love the little things. The way Ryouhei goes back from school on a bus that is headed to a hospital. The knock on his door after he raises his voice that he knows is from his sister. The lush vegetation on the other side of the window looking like it's sprouting from Ryouhei when seen from behind. Shuu's reflex on the dojo's floor being tinted green. The way that a maple leaf falls on the pond and the ripples push away the other four leaves when Ryouhei starts talking about how far behind he is in comparison to everyone else in his team.

But I also love the big, in-your-face things. Ryouhei's shirt having no print except for the word "nice" in a small font next to his heart. Toujou serving cola in porcelain cups. Sae having the exact same reaction as Shuu when he drank it for the first time. The way that the light bulb lits up when Ryouhei talks about how Shuu's family is really supportive of him. The close-up on their wish slips.

My favorite has to be that fucking arrow casting a shadow over Ryouhei and Shuu. Second favorite those paper stripes. All of them represent not just the Kazemai boys' team, but also the girls' team, Masaki, Tomio, Shuu, Sae, Eisuke, Koushirou and even Minato's mom. I dare guess that one of them also represents Ryouhei's sister.

Honorable mention to the most obvious visual symbolism of this episode: the paintings. They sure were used a lot this time around. The painting in Shuu's study and the way his head fits perfectly under the crown in the center. When Eisuke is coarsed into hanging out with Koushirou after work, there's a painting of a grey dog being patted on the head beside him. When Shuu finally asks how Ryouhei and Sae knew each other, we see a painting of opening doors behind him. And goddamn. Goddamn. The way that the rest of the painting is revealed in the next scene. And the way the little boy looks like it's running from Shuu to Ryouhei. Fucking hell, what a good addition. If only KyoAni would put as much effort into the plot as it puts into this.

Also, other than paintings, there was that hilarious coca cola poster behind Eisuke when he's meeting up with Koushirou. For those who couldn't read it, it says, "Beginnings taste good. Peak youth", and that's a referrence to what the characters are going through right now. We're onto a new phase and that's youth at it's max.

Speaking of coca cola, anyone else feeling like KyoAni's going a little overboard with the marketing? First it was the kyudo tools, which I don't really mind, but then the accessories and now this. It's one thing to promote culture and small businesses that keep it alive, but coca cola.......... was kind of annoying. Even more so when there are already so many shows that are basically just one big ad nowadays.

[wiseatom]

so I've been thinking about?? trying to write?? a botw byler au, and I was thinking about it before totk so I was thinking of it with the party as the champions, but then totk came out and the sages were there and more relevant and so I was like oh shit maybe this might need to change maybe I should ask other people would they prefer OVERWHELMING TRAGEDY AND ANGST or actual active plot contribution so I ran this poll lmao and realized while running it that I'm actually team angst but um. ok wait this is an unnecessarily long winded way of asking your opinion. you're a fic writer i admire and you like loz so which one do you think is better. angst or plot contribution

RUBBING MY LITTLE HANDS TOGETHER OK OKOKOK. I HAVE THOUGHTS AND ALSO FEELINGS!!

first of all i would eat up any loz au. i'm already panting and getting saliva all over this ask answer so sorry abt that. second of all i so aggressively agree w what you said abt the champions in that post you linked and i am so distraught and also upset that someone would ever disrespect them by calling them COWORKERS. third of all i'm going to make a case for both and you can either ask for further input or make a choice from that or ignore me completely 👍 i'm going to put this under a cut bc it is so long:

the thing about botw+the champions that is so just like. (gestures wildly with hands) to me is that you Know the champions but you also Don't. i know botw has received so much (undeserved imo) criticism from the way the story is told through the game -- namely, that it's optional -- but i have always said that i think it's very funny that the people who say this also praise the post-apocalyptic sandbox vibes in the same breath, as if that is not The Exact Reason botw's story is told the way it is, and a story being optional doesn't mean it's not important or impactful, BUT I DIGRESS. the thing w the champions that i love is that once upon a time, these friends meant everything to link, to the point where they literally died for him and zelda and their people and their collective shared kingdom, and he 1. also died and 2. got a second chance where they didn't. there's so much to explore from link's perspective, because he's the one who got the second chance, and then he woke up with no memory of it (a merciful spare from the grief), and then he had to relearn who all of them were, and why he loved them, and grow that love all over again, and then experience that grief in a very complicated way, because on one hand -- he doesn't fully remember everything, and so his grief might not be as impactful, but on the other, he remembers Enough to know that he loved them fiercely. very interesting to explore re: grief and guilt, bc both are very, very complicated! you then also have the juxtaposition of zelda and her guilt and her grief, because she remembers EVERYTHING, and her "failure" was the catalyst for an event so catastrophic it altered hyrule forever (i use failure loosely bc i do not think it was entirely her fault but i digress x2).

from a totk+sages perspective, Yes, you could say the sages have more personality, but that's literally bc we. actually have game time with them? that takes place in the present? lol. i think with the sages and their motivations it's broken down, for me, into three things, unranked: their people, their connection to link, and personal fulfillment. the fact that each of their regions and, essentially, their people, is being impacted by whatever phenomena is happening is enough of a motivation to make them want to be a sage. riju, sidon, and yunobo all have connections to link from the previous game, and tulin knows link well enough to have a baseline connection with him, so obviously that motivates them to want to help him and be a sage. and then there's the fact that they all, to varying degrees, need this for Themselves -- whether it be for glory or self actualization or reassurance or whatever you want to call it. i also like the idea of this being a Second Chance narrative in many regards, because it is a second chance for the imprisoning war but also a second chance for the champions, almost. to be able to rise up together and defeat a common enemy just like their ancestors were destined to do. i think there is also a desperation to totk that botw doesn't have bc botw the ending has already been decided, whereas with totk, you have a chance to save everyone -- especially zelda.

it really honestly depends on what kind of story you want to write. it depends on the messages you want conveyed and what you want byler's focus to be. for me, botw is a zelink getting together narrative (or, least, it sets up for them to -- link literally spends the entire game falling in love w zelda for the second time), whereas totk is an established relationship vibe. i think botw puts byler more center stage with the rest of the party taking more of a backseat role and totk does the opposite. i think it is maybe obvious on which of the 2 games i prefer from what i said but i say go with your gut and evaluate the takeaways you want from this fic. don't go for the angst just bc it's angst and don't go for the easy route just bc it's the easy route. think about what you want this fic to make people feel when they read it and i think the answer might come easily!!

i hope this was helpful literally at all. i would apologize for rambling but you did come into my ask box and ask me to talk about zelda and i think you knew you were going to get a ramble out of it

[bixbythemartian]

Hey! I hope it’s okay to ask you some questions about dentures? If not, feel free to ignore this

So, I have EDS, and my teeth are kinda shit. I brush regularly and all that but I still get new cavities all the time, and it’s expensive paying for them to be fixed. How did you decide that it was the right time for you to get dentures? I’m pretty sure I’m going to need them eventually, and I’m not sure if it’s the kind of thing I should put off as long as I can, or if I can go ahead and do it at a young age (23 rn) and get it over with.

What was the cost like for you?

You mentioned recovery being difficult—how long did it take?

Do you still have to worry about any dental health issues or is it pretty much fine to eat sugary foods and such now?

Unfortunately, my current dentist is committed to “saving” as many of my teeth as possible, so I haven’t been able to discuss this with her.

Thanks much <3

Hey this answer is long af. (Sorry it took me a few days it's been a very full week.)

The decision to get dentures, for me, was a matter of my ability to consume food. I had some medical neglect as a kid and a genetic predisposition towards bad teeth, and it fucking accordioned into a nightmare mouth situation. I spent years in pain from eating most things. Many of the roots in my mouth were exposed, I had constant infections and was sick all the time. I'm incredibly lucky that I didn't die, so many people die from untreated dental infections.

Ideally, it's better to wait as long as you can to get them, because pulling that many teeth does fuck up all the bone around it, and the jaw bone will compact down over time, impacting your mouth shape and bite strength, or something like that? It's better to wait, if possible. I was just about to turn 29, I think, when I got mine? I'm not sure- and that's young for full dentures, but it was (at that point) extremely necessary. If you can stay on top of filling cavities and such, it's really a lot better to hold onto your own teeth for as long as possible.

I'm really sorry, but I don't remember the cost- I know we had to get care credit and a loan from my (now former) in-laws, and I went to a dentist who specialized in low-income no-insurance situations and basically did the operation for me at cost, because they were worried if they didn't do it I was going to die, and I only went under local anesthetic instead of being knocked out. So it was relatively cheap? But this was around ten years ago and I honestly don't remember the numbers.

Full recovery took about six months, that's how long it takes your jaw to heal from being brutalized. I would say I could eat most things okay about 6 weeks in- you have to be careful and cut everything into little bites when your mouth is healing at first. And that means everything. Sandwiches, whatever. You're not supposed to bite into things until the incisions in your mouth heal. Stick to his as rigorously as you can. You also have to relearn how to bite into things. Also, you're going to bite your tongue a lot- your teeth have changed position and shape. It's kind of a lot, but in comparison to 'I can eat three soft things and my mouth hurts all the time forever', t'was a vast improvement.

I don't worry about my dental health issues, if any, because I don't have dental health insurance or teeth- I don't know if I need any per se, I just don't do it. The only stuff I can't eat because of my dentures is stuff that's real tacky- taffy, gum, chewy caramels. (I actually tend to suck on taffy or caramels rather than try to chew them.) I have not found a gum that works with dentures yet, even the ones that claim they will work. But they don't pull the dentures apart or anything, they're just a pain in the ass to chew and stick to the denture in difficult and awkward ways. (Also, I find puffy cheetohs obnoxious to eat with my dentures- they adhere in awkward ways.)

Hope these answers were helpful! Thank you for your patience in me getting back to you.

[koreanstudyjunkie]

Things That Hinder Your Korean Progress | How to learn more efficiently.

Disclaimer: These are just some tips to hopefully help you stay on track or get back on track if you’ve been out of it recently. I think It can help you if you're lost.

1. Relying On Romanization or Hesitating To Learn Hangul

Romanization is not inherently bad or evil though a lot of people in the Korean learning community may act as if it is. English is written in "roman" letters and when a Korean word is written out in these "English" letters, It is referred to as "Romanization". When you first start learning to read, you want to stop relying on romanization as early on as possible.

2. Ignoring Particles

there's no need to learn every single particle at once, but once you start learning grammar and making your own sentences, definitely don't negelct the particles. [Click here to see a list of all the major Korean particles & their usages]

3. Neglecting To Practice Speaking (or any one skill in general whether it be reading, writing, listening, or speaking)

This also depends on your goal. If you just want to be able to have a conversation, then of course you want to practice speaking & listening most of all. But It's also good to know that writing and reading can improve both speaking & listening skills and vice versa. So why not try and do them all here and there.

4. Not Learning About Korean Culture

Culture directly affects your Korean. The best way to learn about the culture is to watch & engage with Korea media (shows, social media, videos, etc.)

5.) Not Learning Enough Grammar/Vocabulary (Learning too much grammar/vocabulary)

It happens to the best of us. Sometimes you may get into a phase where you only study grammar or only study vocab. But try to balance both.

> Quizlet: Vocabulary Masterlist

6. Skipping Review

I'm so guilty of this, but reviewing is essential. What's the point of learning something if you forget about it every time and have to re-learn it over and over again.

> The Best Technique For Studying/Reviewing Grammar: how to remember grammar you learn

7. Overdoing it and then getting burned out

I do this as well. we all get excited and study a lot but then we might get burned out and not study for a long time. Study to your heart's content, but be sure to plan for after that excitement dies down and you're less motivated.

> How to make a Korean study routine

8. Not taking breaks when needed (believing that you’ll forget everything of you don’t study for a day or a few days)

Trust me when I say, a day off or even a week off will not kill all of your progress. You may forget a few things, but you'll relearn quicker than when you first learned it and you'll be much happier for it at the end of the day.

Even when studying, taking a break after some time (20-30-40 minutes or whatever) or hours of studying is just a good practice to have. Not just studying, but with any tasks that you spend lots of time doing.

9. Comparing yourself to others

So what If someone has studied for less time than you but "knows" more. We're all learning at our own pace. You're situation is not the same as everyone else.

10. Thinking it’s a one and done situation.

It's not just 2 years or 3 years of studying and your done forever. Learning a language is a life-long thing. The more you learn, the less you know and this is not meant to discourage you.

I believe it actually will improve your mindset towards studying Korean to know that you have the rest of your life to improve not just a year or a few months.

Korean is EASY to learn BUT HARD to master. Most of you may have hit a plateau, just know it's okay and happens to everyone. Keep studying. You progress fast in the beginning and then it slows down to a more realistic pace. The only way to break past is to keep going!

[thecoddaughter]

As I am writing the next piece for the drabble collection, I came across another Penelope Scott song that just screams QSMP, so here's another song break down!

7 O'CLOCK BY PENELOPE SCOTT BREAKDOWN BELOW THE LINE

Cellbit while investigating:

So it hits me real hard

'Round seven o'clock

Drink a coffee and floor it

And get ready to rock

Foolish after the nether:

But there's nobody here

And nobody downtown

Jaiden being gone but not searched for:

If nobody hears you

Are you really around?

Forever as the new president:

So I'll wake up alone with salt in my eyes

And I haven't the slightest

And I haven't the right

The right or a clue

I wouldn't know if I knew

Slime having an existential crisis:

Trees bend in the wind and they are dark f------g blue

We never existed and continue to not

Street caves like it's rubber and it's not even hot

Maxo and whatever code stuff is going on with him (that I saw on tiktok):

The glitch in the game

I loop like a bug

And all I ever wanted was a really tight hug

F---k, man!

Roier about Jaiden growing distant again and again:

I'll call her again

But she's a huge f------g ghost

I fell for dead air 'cause it was all I could host

Tallulah about being ignored: 

And I'll cut up my shirts

And I'll sing in the rain

It doesn't quite matter

'Cause it all feels the same

Bad about wanting Skeppy there but also just wanting to leave:

I don't want what I want

Feels bad to feel good

CodeFlippa… (i think i’m funny):

I'm made of bad code

I'm waterlogged wood

Mariana after losing JuanaFlippa:

Ride through the feeling

Stay in bed for the fun

Felps after getting to the island and almost immediately being kidnapped:

The brand-new beginning

And I'm already done

Sophia being locked and then taken:

The future is static

It drips on the floor

And makes its way underneath my bedroom door

Quackity being back and having to relearn the world:

A glitch in the game

I loop like a bug

Trump… (again, I think I am funny):

And all that I ever died for was another tight hug

Ladies and gentlemen, a word from our sponsors

I am deceased, my nuts have been busted (bulls--t!)

Dapper about A1 (this is mean…):

So just get wrecked I guess

I mean you kinda failed the cool kids' test, I guess

It's kinda sad, if this is you at your best, I guess

It's not fun anymore

Ramon to Dapper (I kinda think of their dynamic as something that could turn into something like PacMike’s friendship):

I'm kinda bored so let's go f--k s--t up, c'mon

Let's go out

I am deceased, my nuts have been busted

Philza about trying to stay out of the federation’s way:

So I'll wake up again to twelve o'clock light

And I haven't the slightest

And I haven't the right

The right or a clue

I wouldn't know if I knew

Richarylson about not being like the other eggs (no bed, proper adoption): 

Trees bend in the wind and they are dark f-----g blue

We never existed and continue to not

The street caves like it's rubber and it's not even hot

Arin/Luzu because of this brief appearance this week:

A glitch in the game

I loop like a bug

And all that I even died for was another tight hug

[we-pay-for-everything]

Since it’s send Monica asks day (s) lol here’s another bangel one for you: do you think that Buffy and Angel are more compatible by the end of the series? Do you think if they ever did get back together, that it would work out, even if he is still a vampire?

Here’s what I think (which you didn’t ask but here we are haha): they are more compatible, and they could make it work even with him as a vampire because I feel like they’re both in such a different place by the end of the series where they would be okay with spending whatever time they have, together. But their breakup and separate journeys were necessary to get them to that place. Buffy needed to figure out what she actually wanted and I don’t believe that a normal life the way she previously envisioned it, is something she desperately wants anymore. Angel needed to build a life outside of her and become a more whole person because:

1. It’s not fair to Buffy or to Angel for her to be the center of his universe and he needed to open his heart to other people (I don’t mean romantically but in general) and build a life of his own so that he could further form his own identity outside of her. Not to say he didn’t have an identity outside of Buffy on btvs, but he was still trying to figure it out and she was his only anchor and connection to humanity/a greater purpose.

2. He had to grow into someone who is her equal in every way, which by the end he does, and I would argue he is her only true equal.

I just find the concept of them finding their way back to each so interesting because it would be messy and hard. Contrary to the popular opinion that bangel shippers just want them to end up together because we’re nostalgic and sappy or whatever other condescending things people say, I personally am not interested in seeing a tv show Bangel 2.0 because I’ve seen it and I mostly like it as it is. I want to explore a NEW dynamic that is build on putting in the work to relearn each other after years of change and separation. I just happen to think that they’re both very capable and willing to do the work and it helps that they never stop loving each other.

Sorry this is so long 🫣

I do believe they are more compatible and explained about why here.

It's implied in season 5 of Angel that Buffy was trying to live a normal life post-Chosen (clubbing, dating another vampire for some reason). Even if you ignore ATS's inadequate attempts at writing Buffy, she also expressed a strong desire to be normal in season 7 (eg. taking up a job as a school counselor, going on a date with Wood, her dynamic with Xander, etc.). I'm not sure being with Angel knowing he won't age and that his priorities are redemption and saving people, while hers might be to finally enjoy life, was what Buffy had in mind after all she survived. Would she continue the slaying gig post-Chosen, either fighting or training new slayers? Or would she gradually turn her back on it all? Was she capable of walking away? Was she destined to die prematurely? It really all depends on her intentions. But even if she continued to slay (lmao) she wouldn't give up on a normal life. Maybe one day, like she said, she'd be okay with committing to an immortal again, but Buffy was rather jaded towards the end so I don't know... Angel would mostly be okay with her not ageing, but it could be hard for him to watch. It could also increase his desire to achieve Shanshu, and perhaps make him reckless and obsessed (he has a tendency for both). I don't know... Season 3 Buffy would be okay with dating Angel even if she aged while he stayed the same, and Angel would accept her decision (assuming it still happened post-season 7), but season 7 Buffy? Dunno. It'd be fun to see Angel and Buffy fighting side by side again though, and I think I read a fic like that once.

I don't disagree that it was good for Angel to build a life on his own, but I disagree that he needed to become her "equal". He was already Buffy's equal. We're all equals. Buffy isn't some god; if anything, he grew while she regressed. Anyway, they have always been equals.

Thanks for the ask!

[essential-randomness]

I'm sorry for whatever it is that happened. I don't know you, so feel free to just ignore this- but here's what I've experienced with grief.

It doesn't really ever fully go away. Nor does it follow some kind of cyclical pattern. But with time and patience, as shitty as it feels, you learn to live with it. In the meantime, you hold the people you love close and do the things that bring you joy and comfort. Eat some chocolate, hug your pet or stuffed animal or go full blanket burrito, scream and sob to a therapist or a blog or a journal. Write down your happy memories. Remember that grief will ebb and flow, and someday you'll feel happy once again.

Thank you so much. I read so much about grief when I went through this rollercoaster journey the first time (the story is a couple posts back), and all I've learned maps to what you've said.

It just feels like everything that mattered barely 24 hours ago don't matter anymore now. I don't know how I'll continue doing the important work I'm doing. But I already started again once, and I know I will again. I just wish everything could stop forever now that my baby (cat)boy is sick.

Thank you for your words. Hearing from other is helping. I feel like I need to relearn all my coping strategies from scratch.

[sweet-beezus]

Hiya!

I'm Sham, they/them, and I'm an ✨artist✨

Welcome to my b(l)og, I hope the water's nice :)

If you want tags to peruse, I have a few that might interest you!

▪︎#sham's art <- my art tag

▪︎#sweet memery <- my meme tag

▪︎#trope scope <- writing tropes that really get my brain factory gears grinding

▪︎#sham's favs <- thins it out to the things that make me giggle and live rent free in my brain, mix of both tags like a nice soup, though nowadays I tag anything as a fav... Might need a new tag-

▪︎#other's art / #friend art <- art appreciation tags :)

I also have sideblogs!

@shams-kiddies <- OC art sideblog, it's better organized than my main in terms of tags

@the-briar-brigade <- AoR sideblog dedicated to an ongoing long form Kingdom Hearts roleplay, periodically mass updates because I'm forgetful!

My ask box is always open if you ever have any questions or silly things to share!

I'm a lil DM shy when it comes to new folks, so I apologize if I never answer or respond to your questions and concerns!

Currently, I am not accepting commissions, since I have a busy work life and chronic pain (plus I don't even have a commission sheet set up, alas-), however I'm open to art trades and conditional requests if my burnout allows!

For a more competitive art trade experience during the month of July, you can find me on Artfight as ShamSpam!

That's all for surface level stuff, I'll leave some more about me and my work under the cut :)

I have no concept of a consistent social life or media presence, so I just post whatever and whenever I want to, usually mid afternoon for me because that's my time to Survive™ my day to day stressors. Whatever hits my dopamine reserves just right will probably end up here!

I am a self taught artist who only really picked up on certain techniques and styles in recent years, I have quite a few inspirations for the directions my art is going in and I actually adore how my style(s) look right now! Which is good because it's a lot of work maintaining and improving all the time-

I mostly indulge in art and writing of my OCs, and the occasional fan art here and there when I'm in a particular mood, and everything (I would hope) is made with the love in my heart for my creations, from the 6+ hours of work on a digital piece to maybe a 10 min sketch of my OCs smooching from the confines of my canvasses.

We can ignore the musician part for now, at this time I haven't really delved too deep into making my own tunes aside from some really rough drafts, but eventually I will! I am a sucker for orchestral pieces, but I need to relearn music theory-

I have a few fandoms and things I like to participate or indulge in from time to time, so if you're curious here's a list!

Music Artists:

▪︎Josh Groban

▪︎Thomas Bergersen

▪︎Celine Dion

▪︎Phil Collins

▪︎Ricky Montgomery

▪︎The classics from an edgy teen's childhood (Linkin Park, Evanescence, Disturbed, etc. also including Christian rock, it was unavoidable you could say-)

▪︎Also classic artists from before my time (Journey, Michael Jackson, The Bee Gees, ABBA, etc.)

▪︎Very weird pickings from a variety of places, I'm honestly too tired to list most of them because I'm in and out of listening fixations like a pendulum- Usually it's a select handful of songs that don't have a tremendous impact, y'know?

Current Brainworms (fictional media):

▪︎The machinations of my own mind (my OCs <3)

▪︎Kingdom Hearts (KHUx era and AoR AU mostly, though the latter's kinda dwindled lately lol)

▪︎Ghostbusters

▪︎ARGs/Analog Horror

▪︎Wizard101

Things I Revisit Periodically:

▪︎Okami

▪︎Persona 5

▪︎Sonic the Hedgehog

▪︎Splatoon

▪︎Ace Attorney

▪︎Doctor Who

▪︎ABZÛ/The Pathless

▪︎FNaF

▪︎Various musicals (feel free to ask which ones!)

▪︎Lego games (currently spinning the Lego Batman trilogy in my brain like a microwave)

▪︎Celtic mythology

Misc. Items That Are Ever Present But Not Constant:

▪︎Sea creatures

▪︎Dungeons and Dragons

▪︎Frogs and turtles

▪︎Tragic love stories

▪︎The concepts of loss and love in general

▪︎Emotional catharsis as a whole tbh

▪︎Phoenixes (for some reason)

▪︎Red pandas

▪︎Moss (especially in ball form)

▪︎Religious imagery/history

▪︎Tarot cards

▪︎Vincent Van Gogh

▪︎Ravens

I have SO MANY OCs I could talk about for hours, so if you ever see one that interests you don't hesitate to send me an ask about them!!

And I think that's all for now, I'll probably add stuff on if I ever remember anything I need to add-

Anyway happy browsing!!