#idk maybe my core isn't strong enough

[thedisablednaturalist]

Chronic illness is so fucking weird

I walk (aided) probably a few miles everyday for work. Probably 2-5 hours a day. My calves are HARD. My thighs are HARD. I have objectively strong legs.

Today I was walking uphill and had to take a break after. My boss (fucked up ankles) drove us to the other part of the site while my coworker had to walk (sorry bud) because we got tired and I didn't want to trigger a flare. My muscles are strong but it basically doesn't matter because they get inflamed and hurt no matter what.

[altheneum-library]

HIHI

idk if I’m requesting in the right box but here goes nothing

can I have some cotl narinder x reader hcs? :)

I see u want your hubby 👀👀 AIGHT LEMME JUST-

-

Narinder/The one who waits headcanons

GENERAL:

🌑Narinder was always the middle child of the bishops 🌑goes by he/him and sometimes they/them 🌑Always whiny for attention and his siblings make a tease of him for it but he wouldn't admit it 🌑Deeply cares for his siblings, even after his exile, he always thinks of them. it's just that his pride and greed clouded his love 🌑He has this deep russian accent that can either be intimidating and scary or soft and calming, you can't stop me from thinking so 🌑he purrs, he taught everyone how to purr because they were mesmerized with how he seems to be the only one that do it properly 🌑He and Heket always fight but he's always the one who makes up for it, Narinder is also the one who sometimes helps Heket with her farms in her realm 🌑he has a really fluffy tail he hides, it's quite untamed after a long while in his exile 🌑while the lamb did take his crown and title, Narinder is the best at manipulation, who says Lamb is in control when death is still nearby with all his might? 🌑he's quite the charmer when he talks, at first he is silent but whenever he does speak, he somehow has a really professional charm put in his talks. almost like he was still a god of his people. 🌑once a god, always a god.

-

PLATONIC:

🌑Narinder has a lot of trust issues with almost everyone in the cult, so for you to gain his eye and title of being his friend, you're quite the lucky one 🌑He'd do half everything/anything for his friends and secretly casts protection spells or talismans upon them and their home, in hopes they'll be safe and sound 🌑protective, not too much since he knows his lamb's cult is strong enough to take care of itself, but still. he knows how mortal lives are fleeting to the core, let him be protective of something just this once. 🌑he calls you "dear follower, dearest follower, my friend, dear friend" 🌑the cult + lamb secretly ship the both of you because of your chemistry, Narinder knows this and scolds them lightheartedly, it grew to stop soon as you had a partner of your own. 🌑he's the type of bestie who judges your crush/partner closely, if they as so hurt you in any way, he'll ask (manipulate) the Lamb to simply murder them in the most brutal way possible 🌑if you were to ask him to travel with you, he'd say "yes, I will" before you even start asking

-

SPICY/ROMANTIC:

🌑 He's the one with the pants of this relationship, he just know how to make you melt in his hands (paws?) just with his voice

🌑 Teases you about it as well, he loves seeing your face get really red

🌑 Narinder loves going on walks with you in his siblings' realms, taking the time to know about you and maybe know more about the realms he used to love.

🌑 in the woods, in a small clearing where the moonlight gently hits, Narinder asks you for a dance under the moon, whether you're good at dancing or not, Narinder would always love to dance with you no matter what

🌑 in the lake is where you two would often do your "business" around, of course you both also do it in a hot spring when no one is around.

🌑 and when Narinder is desperate? he's taking you in the woods or in his tent, uncaring if the other members can hear you guys

🌑 he loves cooking with you, Narinder isn't great at cooking so for you to teach him is quite the pleasant sight to see. he loves it when you're hard-working, he admires you for it

🌑 Narinder is always so soft and gentle around you when you two are unclothed, you too have scars, little or not. he'd always ask how you got them and he always made sure he loved every part of you

🌑 Narinder particularly doesn't care about appearances but when he sees the fact you have stretch marks because you're chubby? he's gonna plant his face upon your belly and ppuuuuuurrrrrrr

🌑 also, he may have a tad bit of corruption kink, so if you dressed all nice and innocent, he might try and take you somewhere more private.

-

that's all I have! I hope you're happy with this!

[dovahkinniez]

this is an absolutely, shamelessly feral idea- but i hope you’re up for writing submissive, bound farkas in sexual denial 😇

+ no pressure to write it ofc if u don’t like writing for submissive guys!

i saw another fic by someone else with the trope of farkas gone feral from his wolf blood, and asked to be bound down to his bed to try and calm himself, he wears a muzzle that muffles his speech and secretly wears a chastity belt underneath 👀 And so i thought up this continuation of the trope and was hoping you’d write it for me (istg ur work is so good i have like it all archived) Btw the fic is called Wolfs Blood I'm pretty sure.

maybe it would be his wolf blood acting up that made him not realize his internal desires, how he actually wanted to be in this situation for sexual pleasure rather than to calm himself, but he slipped up. being bound to his bed, unable to tell anyone to release him, muzzled and strained by his chastity belt? It would be so unlucky for him to be especially horny and turned on that night. such a pitiful sight for him to be effortlessly struggling in his binds, hot breath escaping his muzzle, demeanor cracking. DESPERATELY trying to release his core from its prison; but just simply can’t. And so effortlessly turned on from the fact that he can't. maybe the reader (who farkas def has a wild crush on at the time) would be the only one awake at that time, only one hearing the grunts and near silent wails from the other room, the only one to investigate it, opening the door to such a sight 😳

being so clouded by desperation and denial, embarrassment and self control completely subsided him as an affect of his heightened wolfs blood making him so honest; he would beg the reader to help him through muffled words. He would have meant for them to release him, to take off his muzzle even- but the reader would have other (consensual) plans, determined not to lose this opportunity to make the oh so strong farkas SOB.

( I honestly didn't plan on making the trope so descriptive but I think I had a little too much fun- still dont really know how you're supposed to request things here.. Nevertheless id b so happy if u could use it 2 make a smut or something. If u don't want to, that's completely okay!!!!!)

` 𖤓 . . . FARKAS.

First of all, thank you so very much for the compliment! I love seeing you guys tell me you like my writing, like fr makes me so happy.

(18+) I did do a semi sub! farkas fic not long back, but it just didn't involve kink, so maybe you'd also like to read that if you haven't. But as I said, it wasn't sub sub, ya get me? Idk. ANYWAY! Yes, submissive men >>>. Gotta love em, I just don't write it out a lot due to the fact most people like them dom (tell me if I'm wrong). So hell, yeah. I love this idea, and the idea from the fic you told me about (I haven't ever read it though). But I have once read a few anime character fics that work along the same lines so I am familiar with the whole 'in a rut and can't control self' thing, and I love it. :D

So credits to the op who wrote that fic, I don't want to steal that person's idea, of course.

I will try and make this as gender neutral as possible, but there may be mentions of a female bodied reader, I'm sorry if I do and that makes you feel uncomfortable, I adore you all. And enjoy!

18+ only! Sexual content ahead, minors dni!!

Hours. That's what it felt like. Fingertips burning as he tugs at the restrains, trying to find some release. It's not working. Eyes glazed over with frustration and desire, his blood is burning through his skin, he's counting down the hours until this...curse...wares off. Hoping the ache in his body subsides, so he can feel normal again. The ceiling grows misty from his lack of vision as he pushes his hips up, feeling the metal of the chastity belt rub against his needy flesh.

Gods, he needed release.

Whining and grunting as he aims to gain as much friction as possible yet it isn't enough. Feeling the hardness of his cock strain against the solid metal stings as it grows tighter against his skin, fuck it hurts.

Asking to be restrained but a few hours ago he didn't expect to feel this worked up already, he knew it'd be bad but not this fast. He feels his body changing each rut he falls into and since meeting... someone. He's noticed his desires increase until it hurts, now he's completely feral as he attempts to grind his restrained cock against the belt, all while thinking of you.

He wants you so fucking bad its driving him crazy.

You walk back in from a night's work, shaking the adrenaline off your limbs; wiping blood from your face with your hand, which is smeared in just as much blood. Cringing at the taste of the blood you make you way into the sleeping quarters, it's silent. Not wanting to make noise you creep around, hearing noise from Farkas' room you freeze slightly, hoping maybe he could help you with some clothes as you didn't want to wake anyone up making a ruckus to get a change of clean clothing.

This had became a routine, as Farkas stayed up late at night he became the person you'd go to if you needed anything after a late night job. In reality the night time was the only time you had Farkas to yourself, enjoying his company uninterrupted and without eyes watching, where you could be yourselves. You found Farkas more comfortable in speaking around this time.

Slowly opening the door the heat hits you, taking your breath slightly at the sheer temperature in the room, Farkas felt you by the door. He could smell you and the blood that coated your form, biting down onto his bottom lip as he pulls on the restraints until it burned at his skin.

"Y/n.." By Dibella. His deep voice broke out into a cry of desperation, the sight took you by complete surprise yet something in the air compelled you to shut the door behind you, watching him closely as he moves his body on the bed, in an attempt to try and get you.

Walking closer you take in the details, feeling the arousal seep through your veins, it was intoxicating as the heat from his body radiated through the entire room. "S-Stop..." "Stop what?" You reply as you watch the sweat on his heaving chest, the way his stomach sucks in as you grow closer, how his back arches, his thighs cling together, tight and muscular. "You're making it worse." He barely growls out, whines passing his mouth as he falls back, watching you with dozy eyes. "Do you need help, puppy?" "Don't tease me." Inside he was begging, pleading and the way his hips push up tells you exactly just that.

Smirking, you begin to realise the power you hold in this situation. He's ready, hot and looking at you with needy eyes, all for you to play with. He notices your smirk, the way you snake your way onto the bed, watching his body as he shakes from not only the rut but now you too. He's always wanted this.

He just didn't realise how badly.

Slowly taking off your armour, he watches with bated breath. "Tell me, do you need help?" You ask again, he watches the blood drip across your naked form as you take ahold of his legs, parting them between you as he lifts himself up, he could cum alone at the sight and smell of you.

"Y/n-" "Farkas. Yes or no. Do you need help?" You cut him off, eyes sharp as he gulps with a nod, "Use your voice, puppy." You smile gently, almost innocently as you rub your hands up his muscular thighs, tugging at the straps of the belt he wiggles his hips up, wanting to be freed.

"Yes. Please. F-Fuck." He hums out, his lip almost bloody from biting down. "I need you-" Farkas whimpers out as you lean up, running your hands across his body, squeezing at his muscles and his neck as he pushes his head back, "Fuck. Me ... Please." He chokes out between breaths as you giggle while licking and kissing against his abs and v-line. "Patience, puppy." He had none. He had been wanting, needing and waiting for too long. He needed release.

You knew this. You decided to take advantage of it instead. So cruel.

"I can't-" "Ah-Ah." You smack his thigh, Farkas mutters a shy sorry, causing you to smile against his skin, "Good boy." Fuck. He felt whatever blood left up shoot right down, his cock pressing against the belt and he swore it felt as if it were bleeding from the pain. Whimpering as he attempts to close his legs, you slap his thigh again, grabbing at the hot flesh as he takes a deep breath in.

Biting and licking against his neck, bruises litter across the skin, you lick up his neck as he moans out, your fingers tangled through the raven locks of his hair as Farkas hangs his head back, like putty in your hand he follows each movement and each motion you make. Hot and sweaty under you, his body laid out ready to be fucked as he whines each time you make eye contact in a desperate attempt for more.

"You're so impatient." You hum out. He only whines more. "Do you want me to suck your cock?" You ask, he moans out, feeling his dick twitch against the metal desperately for your mouth. You laugh out, looking at him as if he were weak and pathetic and fuck, he loved it.

Slowly taking the chastity belt off you pepper kisses along his torso, releasing his cock as it slaps against his stomach, hot and heavy, tip leaking and angrily red.

You couldn't help but laugh, leaning back and simply watch him as his hips jolt, his cock twitching with need. "Please." "Patience." You shush him, running your finger across his thigh, until it reaches to his ballsack, using your hands you tug and gently massage, he grits his teeth, his cock bobbing with anticipation and all you do is watch, eyes low and glued to his face as he watches with a helpless expression, panting for more. Rubbing your hand up to his cock, feeling each vein and the wetness that formed a string from the tip to his stomach, you form a fist around him, slowly pumping, watching his dick swallow your hand as he let's out groans and whines. Fuck, he sounds hot.

You wish to stay there longer, but your mouth waters at the sight and the sounds before you, but it didn't matter how fast leaned down to move your mouth because to poor Farkas it felt hours before he noticed you slowly lean down to lick the tip, gathering the precum on your tongue before you slowly take him I'm your mouth, your jaw expanding until it hurt due to the thickness he bared. "Ohhhhhh ..... Fuck yeah." He breathed out, louder than he expected. Biting down on his bottom lip to mask his moans and to mirror the pain you were causing in his thighs as you dig your fingernails into them, gripping tightly while trying to fit more of him inside your mouth.

It almost felt impossible, too big. Poor puppy is too large for his own good yet he shakes and moans just as well while you lick and press your tongue against him, sucking and licking while making all sorts of ungodly sounds, Farkas listens and forces his own sounds to quieten as he rolls his eyes back, leaning back onto the bed. Arching his head back as you wrap your hands around him, pumping him while focusing your sweet mouth on his weeping tip. Farkas moans like the good boy he is, "Please... I need to come.." He begs, as you rub and fist the saliva that oozed out your mouth and down his shaft.

Tears roll down your cheeks from the sheer size of the man, yet his tears where from pure frustration as you fuck his cock with your pretty mouth and skilled hands. "Cum for me, puppy. Be a good boy." You say lowly, he whimpers and arches his back as he pulls on the restraints. "Fuck - fuck." He grunts as you bob your head up and down, hands rub and please his cock and his balls as your mouth licks and sucks until you feel him pulsating, squirting cum onto your tongue as you groan, you mouth rumbling against him as you tilts your head, licking and sucking down the edges on him, licking at the oozing cum as he continues to moan out like the whore he is, thighs clenched into stone until he gives way, limp and sweaty, whimpering breathlessly as you clean him up with your tongue.

"Gods. I'm not finished." Tonight was going to be a long night. Good job you haven't fucked yourself on him yet.

[cryptidsurveys]

Wednesday, September 11th, 2024.

Which fictional character can you not stand? There aren't any that I can't stand. I can't even think of a character that just really annoys me. I mean, some can be annoying (or snooty, manipulative, backstabbing, or whatever), but in the context of the story, it's fine.

What was the one subject in school that frustrated you because you just couldn’t process it? Math. I was okay at Algebra and Geometry, but once I reached Algebra II/Trig, my understanding of core concepts wasn't strong enough to carry me any further.

What’s the weirdest compliment you’ve ever gotten? I don't think I've ever received an especially weird compliment.

What is an occupation that you would like to do just for one day if you had the chance? I wouldn't want to actually do the job, but I think it would be interesting to shadow someone in nursing. I've just heard so many horror stories that it's become like a morbid fascination.

What do you think people have an unnecessary stick up their ass about? Anything and everything. Pretty much whatever subject you look into, there will be someone there with a stick up their ass about something.

What common advice do you think never works? Idk but lately I've felt stuck between "just ignore it" and "speak up." Neither option has produced satisfactory results so far, so maybe it's time to break out of the binary and try something completely chaotic and unexpected. ;D

What’s the best movie without a happy ending? I'm not sure.

What is something you think is actually better about today’s generation? This obviously isn't true everywhere, but overall living conditions, medical and technological advancements, transportation, access to information and communication, etc. Some of those things can be a double-edged sword or have certain pitfalls, but you know. Probably better than being a peasant in the Dark Ages. But if we're talking about people specifically, then…hmm. People are people wherever you go.

What movie has a worse love story than Twilight? I'm not much of a movie watcher, but I'm sure there are far worse love stories than Twilight.

What seems obvious to you that doesn’t seem to be for other people? That "the government" isn't hiding any aliens.

If your partner in the zombie apocalypse was the main character of the last movie you watched, would you survive? The last movie I watched was Inside Out 2, so unless the little emotion avatars in that teen girl's head can pull some seriously lucky levers, we're fvcked.

What’s the worst episode of your favorite TV show? I don't have a favorite TV show.

You can pick two artists to do a song together, dead or alive, but they have to be from different genres. Who do you pick and why? I can't think of any particular artists, but as far as genres go, maybe some heavenly and numinous choir music merged with some dark and gritty rap/hip-hop. It has potential okay!!!

What is something you would never buy again, even if you were rich? A house (or cabin or apartment or whatever) with carpet. If I could live somewhere with exclusively wood or tiled flooring, I would be so happy. Carpets are just gross.

What do you do regularly despite it being considered very unhealthy or unsafe? Smoke cigarettes.

What is something that most people find attractive in a person that you find unattractive? I can't think of anything that I find unattractive, but there are common beauty standards that are just like…eh. They don't do it for me.

Do you ever use facial masks or scrubs? I've used facial masks a few times. I don't think I've ever used a scrub, though.

What do you think of the recent trend of adult coloring books? I don't have an opinion regarding the trend as a whole. They're nice as a concept and I do own a couple of them, but I just don't have the patience.

Which fictional character do you think you’d be great friends with? I have no idea.

What would you do if you found out your toys came to life similar to Toy Story? Probably go through something like the 5 Stages of Grief, but with way more emotions. Fear, horror, sadness, guilt, embarrassment, confusion…

Do you own any cook books? We have quite a few. But do I ever use them? No.

Is there anything that you’d like to eat right now? I'm not all that hungry, but cashew chicken, fried rice, and cream cheese wontons sounds good.

What book are you currently reading? A Short History Of The World by H. G. Wells.

What is something that you believe in, but aren’t very outspoken about? I'm not very outspoken about any of my beliefs. I'm just not an openly opinionated person. I like to feel people out before getting into any kind of discussion because I'm not someone who enjoys confrontation or debate.

do you think weird it’s for someone to have never tried soda? I guess it would depend on where they lived. If they were in the US, then I would think it was…if not weird, then highly uncommon.

is there any foreign film you recommend? Naw.

do you have the same religious beliefs as your parents? There are definitely some overlaps. My dad is Jewish and my mom is what I would call casually spiritual. If you made a Venn Diagram of their truest beliefs, then I would probably fall somewhere in the middle. Then there are my own interpretations and understandings which expand into territory beyond either one of them. Overall, though, I think I have more in common with my dad because he's a deep diver within his own religion, and religion and spirituality are topics that interest me. We can have some really great discussions on the matter.

which floor of your house/building are you on now? I'm on the second floor.

are there any maps hanging in your room? No.

are you often a third wheel? or is someone a third wheel to you? I felt like that for the longest time at the animal shelter. I knew people generally liked and appreciated me, but I wasn't really fitting in. However, I don't feel that way as much now, not with the new batch of workers back in cattery. I'm still kind of third-wheely (because I'm shy/socially awkward and also a good deal older than they are), but not to the same drastic extent. I feel much more included, relevant, and free to be my silly and sarcastic self. I had it in my head that the problem might be me (and admittedly, some of it probably was and I do still have some work to do), but now it's like…oh. I was likeable the whole time?!?!

what’s the last dvd you bought? I'm not sure.

tell me about your favorite pair of jeans. I don't have a favorite pair of jeans. I basically don't even wear them anymore.

would you ride a motorcycle if given the chance? (or have you?) I've been on the back of one a few times, but I don't think I would like to ride one myself. Driving a car is enough responsibility for me.

is your hair healthy? Ehhh.

if a hotel offered free breakfast in bed, what would you order? I'd go all out. Pancakes, bacon, eggs, biscuits, maybe some fruit, coffee…

how often do you take a train? Aside from the kiddie train at the city park, I don't think I've ever been on a train. I might have gone on the one at the Royal Gorge, but I can't be certain that's a real memory and not some false recollection I settled on after the fact.

what’s your favorite led zeppelin song? Kashmir.

does your home have a balcony/deck/porch? We have a back deck and a front porch.

what does your closet/wardrobe say about you? That I spend a lot of time at an animal shelter. Probably half of my shit is animal shelter shit.

do you enjoy theatre? I don't not enjoy it. It's just not really my thing. I wouldn't want to be in a play, but I would probably go see one with someone if they wanted me to.

how would you feel about traveling abroad alone? Scared, unprepared, inexperienced, lonely, bored…like I had so much to share and no one to share it with. I'd much rather travel with someone.

who would you call a lyrical genius? Idk.

how do you treat yourself? It's time to make dinner, so I'm going to pause this here (9.10.24) and resume it sometime tomorrow… Okay. I just arrived home from a trip to the Mountain Park - which is one of the ways I plan on treating myself this autumn. I feel like I've spread myself too thin with volunteering, so I'm going to take a step back, take an extra day off here and there, and spend more time in the mountains with my dad. Other ways I treat myself include eating fun/favorite foods (so excited for holiday treats!), making time for art, and curling up in bed with my kitties and some YouTube.

do you have an interesting passport? I don't have a passport.

are you going to pursue a career according to what you enjoy? Yeah.

what’s your favorite frozen treat? Ice cream. You know what else I've been enjoying lately? Otter Pops. They're not typically something I would think to eat, but they're great for hot afternoons at the shelter when I need a quick chill out/sugar rush combo.

who supports you financially? Social security and my dad. We share our incomes.

if you wanted to go to the movie cinema, how would you get there? I would drive (or be driven).

how many pillows are on your bed? Two regular pillows, three body pillows, and two decorative pillows.

would you pay more for organic food? I might if I preferred the taste of a certain brand, but otherwise it's not something I pay much attention to.

do you prefer being awake after everyone goes to bed or before they get up? I don't really have a preference.

do you know much about feng shui? (do you use it?) I know very little, and no, I don't use it.

how would you make friends in a quiet class? Make meaningful eye contact? Lmao heck if I know. I'm quiet myself, so if other people are quiet, then it's just gonna be quiet.

are you generally a quick learner? Yeah.

what’s your favorite spot to read? At my computer desk.

did you know that buddha is not considered a god to buddhists? I was aware of that.

do you save tickets from movies, etc.? Not really.

without looking him up, who was jim morrison? The vocalist for The Doors.

when’s the last time your bedroom was painted/wallpapered? Gosh, idk. As far as painting goes, that would have been years and years ago. It wasn't even finished. As for the wallpaper, that was put up before we moved in.

teach me something in another language. Naw.

what type of music do you like and why? I've developed a fondness for classical over the past couple of years.

if you randomly want to eat something in the house, do you eat it or wait? It depends on what it is, what I've already eaten, how close it is to meal/snack time, etc.

who knows the most about you (besides yourself)? My dad.

do you have a nervous habit? (e.g. biting nails, tapping feet, smoking) Picking at my nails.

how’s your favorite pro sports team doing lately? I don't follow any sports teams.

would you be/are you a good role model to a younger sibling? No.

[asukiess]

I feel somewhat ashamed of writing 20k+ words this month and not finishing anything

but maybe ashamed isn't the right word---it's more like frustration. because I have about.... 7 fics I've started this year and I get to 5k, 10k, 15k words and I either lose my steam for it, I start thinking the plot is not strong enough so maybe I add too much else and it's muddied or I feel like I'm focusing on the wrong stuff, or the default "my writing bad". thankfully I think I've shaken a lot of the last one, and realized it's just more of the former reasons.

I think it was a good exercise, and I want to hit my goal (30k) before the end of the month. sometimes I feel like it was quite silly though, because some nights took a long time to get to 1k words. I probably could have spent that idk, getting back to drawing lol. and then I think maybe I should have been doing both each night. and then I think it actually shouldnt be this hard to create at all.

but back to my main point, I wish I could finish something and like. share it. or finish something at all right now. the problem solver side says "okay well get to fixing the core issue" and the other part is like "well I wanna be mad about it for a bit". part of me is mad this about fanfic of all things, part of me maybe wishes to share that I have things I want to say, too. and like, my ao3 stats/ratio/whatever aren't even good enough to justify this kind of internal conflict lmao it's like whatever, write.

would finishing the stories have made me feel more accomplished, in their own right? even if I didn't share them in the end? would finishing the word count goal mean anything? sure, it really did make me happy, more often than not, but sometimes it's frustrating as writing or planning can be, so in that way, it's confusing.

sometimes I think about hacking what docs I do what and do it in a more vignette style. 1-2k word chapters and a lot of them. I like reading fics like that.

anyway. I'm kind of in this treading water stage about it. something something maggie stiefvater asking on her social media the other day if her readers could tell when an author took a long time; something something madeline miller saying it took 10 years to write SoA and someone commented "I can tell"; something something overworked dough.

[fablecore]

i was curious what you thought of the live-action One Piece now that season one is out! personally, i have the same compliants as Geoff of Mother's Basement (youtu.be/43K-H_dtQ9g?si=2n0MLLPmdw0vARk7) where, personally, my main compliants were (1) how clean some of these well-worn outfits and set-pieces were and the bigger one was (2) how Garp was altered but i, like Geoff, have my hopes that s2 can fix that by showing that this is the experience (mostly part from Mihawk) that changed Garp into more of the Garp we see in the manga. "a high 8 or low 9 out of 10" indeed. overall, i think its okay as an adaptation! i like Sanji's perviness being toned down, i dont mind most of the shuffling and changing because it is an adaptation with timeslots and seasons unlike a limitless manga with arcs however long it wants. i can understand if you or others dont like the live-action adaptation though! i just like that it was a good gateway to help me turn some of my friends into One Piece fans, less scared of how BIG One Piece is now the live-action has given them a limited taste, towards the manga or the OnePace.net-editted version of the anime (though i do still plan to have them watched some of the anime-only filler that is fun lmao maybe ill throw a sleepover or something, idk, i just like how OnePace fine-tunes the padded-out pacing problem the later One Piece episodes have) thats the main plus of the live-action adaptation to me

but im curious about your thoughts if you have any?? its okay if you never plan to watch it, i know a few other fans like that and i dont mean for my wuestion to be all peer-pressure-y or anything ♡

i've never heard of onepace until now! i'm in the same boat, i've been watching opla with my sister who's kind of interested in starting one piece but is also intimidated by the anime's episode count. maybe we can watch onepace instead. thanks for letting me know ☺️

i've only seen the first two episodes (but don't care at all about spoilers and have seen a lot already). i didn't like the first episode, zoro particularly, but the second was fun! well... it was camp. combined, i would give it the verdict of "aggressively okay" but this isn't a judgement on anyone who liked it. if you did, i'm happy you had a good time. i just have cinema brain.

what i liked so far: helmeppo's >:O face and his puma trainers. the vfx team in charge of luffy's rubberyness. buggy's "surprise, shithead!" nami's den den mushi earpiece/cellphone.

the rest:

zoro’s zombified no energy go girl give us nothing monotone. 😐 <- why did they tell him to make this face in every shot

they cut the scene where luffy gives zoro his swords back and replaced it with helmeppo ass

"a man needs to be strong. but he also needs to be good.” you are going to cut off a pirate rookie's arm and then obliterate his ship and crew later 👍

what is this whole thing about being "morally good" and "one of the good guys" and "a good pirate" it's ICKY

justice for silly winky vain nami. how are they going to do the personality shift into broody serious arlong park nami when she's been broody and serious the whole time

nami spent like 30 minutes unlocking one (1) locked cage. i guess it's because she and zoro needed to talk/get some exposition in, and i'm not going to suggest a better option because i don't want to rewrite half the script. i just found it amusing because normally it's "suspend your disbelief when a character does something amazing for the plot" and not "when a character is noticeably worse at something they really have no business being this bad at. for the plot"

i'm starting to think that zoro and nami lost core personality traits because the writers wanted them to be luffy foils instead of their actual characters

i did hear taz was the best/most charismatic actor out of the straw hats. i'm assuming this is because they let him be sanji instead of making him into a luffy foil since they have enough luffy foils

cameraperson's love affair with low angle closeups and fisheye lens. i don't hate it (it's camp) just pointing it out

i'm literally so serious about mackenyu's insufferable zoro voice. whenever i hear him talk in that joyless southern california kardashian vocal fry my blood pressure shoots through the roof. who made him do that

even though i have issues with the writing, i think objectively opla has done a decent job of pleasing fans. i'm not one of them but i know there's a lot. but on a technical and artistic level... deep sigh palms pressed together listen... i was hoping for spellbinding artistry from the showrunners. beautifully lit scenes, beautiful camerawork, excellent technical chops, lingering shots of luffy's bruised knuckles, the slightly frayed fabric on zoro's swords, a super close-up of a log pose with the crew talking behind the compass needle, their bodies distorted by the glass. fingerprints on kerosene lamps. barnacles on rotting wood. a searingly hot-blue summer sky (super saturated in post) over shells town or wherever. i wanted lush gorgeous rich interesting artistic ideas from the directors and cinematographers. i haven't seen any of that so far, and what i have seen doesn't compel me to watch more. i'm not saying the actual cinematography was bad! just. okay. it was okay.

(but also some of the nighttime/underlit scenes are bad. put a dang key light on your actors 🤺)

concluding thoughts: at the end of the day, if netflix wants to keep throwing millions per episode at tomorrow studios, i'm fine with overlooking mediocre filmmaking and storytelling. i want everyone in the production crew to get their bag. i hope this show runs for another 50 seasons and is powered by union labor forever and ever until the end of time amen

[thehare1234]

Weekly TV Round Up <3

Alright, it's time to recap TV this week. I tried to only watch either 1 episode, or 1 hour's worth of episodes for each show. So far, I'm still liking watching shows in this format and there was really only one show that I was tempted to binge (At 25:00, in Akasaka) (I think it helps that I don't mind spoilers)

QL SHOWS

🌍- 23.5 (ep 12): And with that, GMMTV's first GL is complete. This episode had a very epilogue feel, which makes sense. It pretty much wrapped up the storylines (I'm still rooting for MawinTon lol). Overall, I'm glad that this shows exists and it's the sign of more to come. There were some things I liked a lot (my fave episode is probably the one where they go watch the meteor shower/stars at the school or the early episode where they try to discover the alien at the school). There were also some things I didn't love and I don't think that Sun's character was really given enough backstory to fully understand. I probably won't rewatch this, but it had a lot of good moments and I think the cast did a great job :)

🦋- My Marvelous Dream Is You (ep 3): The messy lesbians continue. I actually really liked the conflict set up in this episode. I think the show portrays really well the internet reaction to this particular scandal and I like how they highlighted that because they are two women, they have to deal with sexual harassment comments on top of the homophobia. And the ending where the solution to the scandal is to get Dawan to be shipped with a man, and having that solve all the problems also feels realistic. I can see the angst the show is setting up and I think it is balancing the sadder moments with humour well. Also the dream sequences are really well done. I must say though, I think Dawan must know she is gay, or into Kim in some way because how do you dream of making out with your best friend then wake up and just, go about your day without questioning it. But then again it's implied (in the trailer at least) that Kim is also in these dreams and it doesn't seem like she has sorted through her feelings as much so idk

✨ - We Are (ep 8): I feel so conflicted with this show. On one hand, I enjoy watching it every week, and I especially love the dynamics within the friend group. They really feel like a true friend group and the show goes out of its way to bring up how important the friendship is. The problem for me with this show is more the romance aspects and how they're developing. Sometimes it just feels like a bunch of scenes together that aren't related to each other, and I still don't really understand how this show has eight more episodes... So yeah, I like the individual characters a lot and the friend group dynamics, but not really the romance plots that much.

🧍‍♂️- My Stand In (ep 5): This show is still keeping me hooked and I like the arcs that they're setting up. I saw some people talking about how they haven't really been consistent in the body swapping premise of the show or really addressed Joe's angst with that, or reminded the viewers often enough that he is in fact in another body. I actually agree with those takes but for some reason it isn't hindering my enjoyment of the show. Maybe because to me the body swapping part isn't what got me hooked on the show in the first place. This episode, Joe is just repeating the same cycle, and you want to yell at him through the screen. Ming's character continues to be so interesting and I am loving seeing everyone's analysis of this show. For me though, it's Joe. I love a character who at his core is so kind. He's willing to go through his past traumas for a woman he doesn't actually know, but has embraced as his own mother. At the same time, he is stuck making the wrong decisions which hurt him and the people around him.

💟- Wandee Goodday (ep 4): This show is continuing strong for me. I like how every single person in this show continues to clock them for acting like a couple. I also like the dynamic of them talking about their crushes and feeling a little bit of jealousy around that. All in all prime content. I'm interested to get more of both of their families backgrounds, especially Yak's. As always give my man Kao more screen time and a love interest <3

🥘- What did you eat yesterday? (S1 Ep 7-8): I finally can return to this show! Shiro lowkey a new comfort character he just like me for real: loves a deal, loves to cook and has control issues in the kitchen, cannot express his emotions so uses acts of service and gifts instead, etc.). Anyways give me more shows with established couples working through everyday life please!

🎬- At 25:00, in Akasaka (Ep 1-3): This show had a strong start for me. I love shows where the characters are actors. By the end of the show I'll decide whether I think I would have watched the show they're filming lol. Shirasaki took method acting to a whole new level like he really is committed. Also clearly Hayama is already so down bad, like he is fully taking advantage of this method acting and having the time of his life. I'm excited to see where it goes and get the backstory of why Hayama is so attached to him.... Also the cuddling and intimate talking scene at the end of episode 3 was really good, like how are they already acting like this. Finally, if I could transport all of Hayama's outfits to my closet my life would be complete

🏡-Living With Him (Ep 1): I got my gagaoolala subcription again and wanted to make full use of it! So far it's pretty good set up (I have to admit though, childhood friends is one of my least favourite tropes don't kill me)...another show where one of the characters is dowwnnnn bad. Personally, if my roommate kept being like "Hey, there's just no way you got broken up with I'm going to closely observe you to find your flaws" and I wasn't in love with them I would be so annoyed. Also I can't like "I've never done this with a girlfriend I avoided touching them as much as possible" PLS SIR

🥟- She Loves to Cook, She Loves to Eat (Ep 15): This show is too good like they're so cute texting each other. Another wild lesbian appears! And offers her a wlw watch party! Is this my dream? Kasuga saying Nomoto had a fire in her for talking with a stranger on the internet lol. I made cabbage rolls like this once and they were fire and now I'm inspired to make them again.

Non- QL Shows

📚- Abbott Elementary (S3, Ep 14): NOOOO I need more, I'm so sad this season is done. I just want to watch this every week for the end of time. But honestly, 10/10 episode and 10/10 ending...I was really wrong about them dragging out the love story another season but I'm not mad about it...If I was at the party I think I would travel between the board games area and the dance floor lol

👽- 3 Body Problem (Ep 3): Alright, I like the more backstory we got this episode and more context of what the game is for and who the people that were contacted last episode are. I'm still interested in seeing how the game/fleet of ships from the other planet is connected to scientists being forced to stop their work. It ended on such a cliff hanger too which really leads me to believe that the true nature or goal of the organization recruiting people through the game is a lot more sinister than they let on. I think it's probably that they are recruiting the brightest from Earth who will be allowed to stay and help transition the new arrivals while everyone else on Earth will not be allowed to stay. I'm still sort of confused and am wondering if we will get anymore flashbacks to the past to see how Mike Evans is involved. It also lowkey ended on such a cliff hanger.

📝- Bridgerton (S3, Ep 1): Bridgerton is BACK! I think I've had half this show spoiled to me already but I don't mind. This episode gave me exactly what I was expecting from a Bridgerton show so I'm not complaining. I like the set up of the conflict of Penelope shading Colin through Lady Whistledown, that definitely won't come back right? Also, I feel like Colin didn't actually travel anywhere, his travel stories just don't seem to be adding up. Kate and Anthony are also cute, and I may be delulu but I am a Cressida/Eloise shipper.

👯‍♀️- Hello, My Twenties (S1, Ep 5): Me and my gf go back and forth on choosing the show we're watching and this is her pick. I am a fan because I love any show set in University and a show about 5 girls living together during University is perfect. I once lived in a house with 6 girls so a lot of this show is relatable. Like this episode really captures the essence of how fun it is to plan a party and decorate for it with your roommates. Some of the editing choices confuse me and sometimes this show feels very much like it was made in 2016, but it's fun.

🏫- Degrassi (Ep 74-80?): Me and my roommate have been slowly making our way through the 400+ episodes of the Canadian icon that is Degrassi. We are almost done season 4, and this whole season has had so many heavy topics discussed, and as per usual Degrassi I think does a pretty good job at exploring them and balancing between being informational and entertaining without feeling exploitative, it's truly the pioneer. Right now, there's a teacher-student romance arc though so I'm hating that...

Overall, a pretty good week...this year has been pretty mid so far (with a few exceptions) for me with TV shows but I feel like it's starting to pick up so that's exciting!

[khodorkovskaya]

10.06.23

went to my oxford bestie's dance show yesterday and omg she was so good!!! her group did french cancan and she really stole the show!

it was in a town nearby, so lucien drove me and my manchester bestie there. he was on steroids so he acted a bit weirder than usual. but overall it was great!

so i thought about my manchester bestie and i feel like maybe mischaracterised her a bit in my previous posts. bc i really couldn't put my finger on what was it about her that was bothering me so much. it's weird. because she's not stupid, nor is she lost in life. she has very strong values and she understands herself and her boundaries very well. she knows what she wants out of life, despite a lot of other people my age, who just float through life, figuring things out on the go. no, she has an answer to every question and doesn't back down.

she's always been like this. ive known her since we were 14 and i think that's why drifting apart from her is hard for me to begin with. she was my first kiss god damn it! like we had so many teenage firsts together, even more so than with my london bestie! and yeah, she's always had this set in stone moral compass. but now this part of her is even more prominent. she's had a lot of mental health issues, so she's done all kinds of therapy and it really made her hyperaware of her own self. she knows exactly what kind of person she is, what she likes and doesn't like, what's good for her and what isn't, etc. and it should be an admirable trait, right?

but here's the thing. weirdly enough, despite the fact that she's ahead of me in life on every level (she's doing a phd while im only just finishing my bachelors, she's been living by herself ever since she was 18, she's married, she's super well travelled, etc. etc.), she weirdly comes off as very limited. not stupid because she's not stupid. but just like... i don't know how to explain it. despite all of her extraordinary experiences, everything she's been through, etc. her comprehension of the world and society is just like... limited. like the thing i brought up about her talking about how she wants her kids to do the IB. like the way she said it... idk.

like, as i said before, it's not the wealth that's the issue. it's the ignorance. and more specifically, the lack of curiosity. because there are people who, despite their upbringing, are so profound. we talked about this with my stepdad this morning. and he has a very engineer-like way of seeing life. like any time he encounters something new, he wants to understand it to the very core. how does this thing work? why does this process happen? and he asks himself why and how all the time. he's always been like this.

meanwhile with my manchester bestie, she's just like not very curious, if that makes sense...? she has strong values and opinions, which is great and will get her far in life, but she never asks herself questions. and it's so weird.

like i remember when we were teens i invited her to visit my father in montenegro with me over the holidays. and my father is well... yknow. he's a character. and my bestie would be like "oh my god, in my family we aren't allowed to watch tv while eating or slurp our food!". and i was like yep, same here. except that's how it is at my father's place and he doesn't care. he's not my father in the sense that my bestie's father is her father. my mum is my parent, meanwhile my father is just like some dude i go on holiday to. and he lives the life of a childless man with a former hooker girlfriend in the balkans. and my bestie just like couldn't comprehend that. and what's worse, it felt like she didn't even want to pause to try and understand things. so at some point i just stopped trying to "justify" myself by explaining to her why my father would act the was he did. it just didn't come through to her, no matter what.

and that's still how she is i think. just accepting everything she sees in her bubble as normal and as a given, never asking herself questions. and when something is outside the norm, that's "weird" and "wrong", no explanation needed. doing a-levels is wrong because it doesn't give you the same skills as the IB does, not putting your kids into a bunch of after school activities is wrong because your kid is gonna become stupid by spending too much time on their ipad, etc. there couldn't be any other explanation on why some parents don't do that, right?

and, as ive said, the frustrating thing is that she's never gonna have to leave that bubble. all of her friends are from the same kind of social bubble, her husband was also an international school kid, her career isn't gonna make her confront other kinds of realities. and, most importantly, she's just like... not curious. and that's what bothers me about her.

[patchesproblem]

formally requesting karl and joyce hcs once again 😌

though if you want things to be more specific,,,, maybe Thoughts about joyce's relationship with ein and tesla? or with karl in the AU for extra emotional damage

Writing this before I start writing the long paragraphs I have planned, so I'll update on my final 'what have I done' total soon.

To start off strong let's talk about Karl and Welt in the Main universe!

This is petty revenge for you reminding me of how hellish this game was last night Literally just a few minutes ago. </3 Don't worry, though. It's not too mind destroying. Yet.

Soon after Welt takes an L and 300,001 inhabitant of the HoR core I genuinely believe that Karl came looking for him. K

Not only because he was a new inhabitant of the core and might've been confused as to what was even happening, but because he wanted to meet him and thank him.

This'll sound weird, but hear me out. I assume Karl was aware of how much influence he had on Welt, and I assume he also knew what was happening outside to a certain degree. Because of his pure dad energy once Welt arrived he made himself known to him.

His reaction depends on whether or not he knew who Karl was (I don't remember if Einstein ever mentioned his name to him, idk), but once he realized I think he'd be terrified at first that he was there to beat his ass (as for why he'd be terrified, imagine your friends dead dad showing up as soon as you die. It isn't particularly comforting). Obviously, that's not the case, and instead Karl just tells him how proud he is of him.

He'd consider him his son, and would tell him that he was proud of everything he did, and how he managed to keep moving and how he never lost sight of his humanity. Would also say thank you for protecting everyone, and making sure that his daughter (Ein), her friend (Tes), and Emma were okay.

I feel like they'd talk with each other for awhile, and Welt would tell Karl about how far Einstein's come since he wasn't able to witness it for himself. He'd probably try to apologize for the eruption, but Karl wouldn't let him because he never blamed him. He views him as yet another innocent victim of the disaster, and never held anything against him. He'd pull out his psychology skills to try to help him realize that none of this was his fault, and that he couldn't have done anything to prevent it. He'd remind him that he's still a person no matter what his origins were. Even if he wasn't a human in the normal sense, he still had more compassion for others than most humans. He still fought to protect humanity despite their cruelty towards him, and Karl believes that he's done more than enough to prove himself to everyone.

Karl would basically become his dad at that point and would keep him company, and would probably introduce him to the other people within the core. I don't know. I just think that it'd be really sweet that even if Welt's life wasn't the best, the happiness he felt in the last few days of his short life continued beyond the grave. I want them to have their father son relationship even if they aren't technically alive anymore.

They'd bond over how much of a menace Einstein is and how she tormented them both at any chance she got. Though Karl would be terrified to learn that she's not still as bratty as ever, but that now she has an accomplice who's just as bad and that they actively make each other worse. Though he just loses his sanity upon hearing that not only do they make everyone's lives a living hell, they're also annoyingly gay and make everyone else suffer through it (He's very proud of her but is terrified. He already knows he'll lose his sanity once they're reunited again.)

Along with this I like to believe that Karl was with Welt all along. During his time as a lab rat I think he'd be there to comfort him and trying to make him feel better and to not give up. That's probably another reason that Welt was influenced by him the most due to him essentially being his 'inner voice' in a sense. I just think Karl would love him and consider him his son and be proud to say it. Living up to the Gustav name.

Also like to believe that Karl gave Welt the Gustav name, but he still kept Joyce in his name because he didn't want to lose the last remaining thing he had from Tesla. He either made it his middle name, or kept it has his last name and just has two last names.

He probably comforts Welt whenever he starts to miss Tesla and Einstein, and essentially gives him the therapy he desperately needed. He refuses to let him ever think that either of them hated him or blamed him for anything.

Anyways now for insanity and less depressing things.

I'll do what I did last time and section them these off based off of his relationships with Tesla and Einstein and then I'll do the entire trio because it'll be hellish otherwise.

Starting off with the besties who hate each other and want to throw each other off a roof but secretly care about each other more than anything and see each other as siblings but still want to kill each other.

Where do I even begin with these two.. They're terrible but I love them.

Starting off with a basic / kinda sad thing, they probably both understand each other on a basic level. Of course not completely, but they worry for each other. What I mean by this is mostly just because they both are clearly uh.. A bit.. Questionable mentally..

Tesla was worried about him when he first arrived (before she started threatening him over Einstein but hey a girls gotta have priorities ig.) Even at the end she was still worried about him and didn't want to see him hurting or in danger.

I feel like they'd silently help each other in a sense. Tesla silently forcing Welt to realize that he's cared about now and that he's not going to be hurt anymore (unless it's by her own hands). I've mentioned it before, but I feel like Tesla genuinely Does Care about him. She just doesn't like people getting close to her and she hates men just inherently doesn't trust people. Plus she afraid that she'd get sidelined by Einstein and pay more attention to him because she's a disaster but hey.

I like to think that even though it isn't shown much in the vn, I think that they hung out together often. I like to think she dragged him around often just to force him to see the light of day whenever Einstein was too busy ignoring both of them. I like to think that she also taught him a few sciencey-things and had him help her occasionally while working.

Welt's also Teslas rambling buddy. AKA he stays up to make sure she gets home alive at one in the morning when she's drunk and just listens to her ramble on and on when Einsteins asleep (which is always). Because of this rambling sessions he has learned the history of several different civilizations, philosophies, paintings / art works, weird space facts, alchemy things, and unfortunately enough for him, probably just how gay she is for her lab partner. Pray for him he just wants to read in peace. He's losing his sanity.

There's probably been a few times where she's just come home and started rambling on and on about how much she cares for the both of them and just threatens him until he says that he knows how much they care about him.

I think it'd be cute if they both secretly learn about the others interests in an attempt to be able to talk to each other about it even if they themselves are not interested. They're both questioning how the other just so happens to know so much about their interest but neither are smart enough to figure out what's really happening. Einstein is aware but she just doesn't say anything because it's funnier to watch them both get annoyed and get mad that they have 'such similar interests' despite the fact they're nothing alike.

I also think that after Tesla gave him his last name that he started reading works made by the author she took it from. I don't know why, I just think he knew the name must've had some sort of meaning to her and wanted to understand. I say this because she could've just made his last name "Dumbfuck" in a different language but she didn't.

This is going to go on the impression of 'Welt doesn't take an L within the first five seconds', but I think that once his birthday hits that she'd rope Einstein and Joachim in to throw him a party since he never got one before. Literally threatening everyone around her to make sure that it's perfect and then proceeds to deny having anything to do with it afterwards.

Also probably uses her salary to secretly buy him books and sneak them into his room without him knowing it.

This being said she still harasses him and bullies him half to death. She will continue her assault counter, and Einstein has a score board in their lab for how many times she's assaulted him.

Maybe she even has an 'assault jar' which is basically a swear jar but for assaults.

This is Einsteins feelings about the whole situation.

Moving on to Welt and Einstein. If you were expecting some sense of normalcy you are in for a surprise. She's just as bad as Tesla and we all know it. Though compared to Tesla and Welts friendship it's more kinda sane. Kinda. This sections probably going to be shorter than the other two just because I haven't really thought about them as much since their friendships explored more in the vn compared to the others. I'll throw a few of my misc. hc's at the end if I remember.

I'm not going to lie I think she was heavily interested in his existence and that's why he became their lab assistant specifically. Also wouldn't be surprised if Planck didn't play a part in getting him there. This is mainly just due to the fact yanno. Karl kinda took an L and Welt was the only remaining survivor. Obviously she wasn't interested in the 'I want to study your existence, lab rat' type of way, but more of a 'wow maybe I can finally figure out what happened and not have to suffer for the rest of my life not knowing what happened.'

Just like Tesla she relentlessly bullies him. This man can not get a break. Though the main difference is that because nobody can read her it's 30x more effective because it can either be a serious insult, or a joke, and you'll never know.

If he hadn't taken an L I think they would've been besties honestly. I know you asked for my hc's but I'm stealing your hc and you can not stop me (/lh). I think that she'd encourage him to get into astrology and probably help him out with it. Probably pull a few strings to help get him into university classes to get his degree so he can sit at the cool kids table (Teslas at the cool kids table just because she's too powerful and doesn't need a silly piece of paper). Also just miiight pull a few strings to get him a job just for the funsies. She's a bit questionable but hey, whatever works works yanno. Gotta do what you have to do sometimes.

Also they 100% just find the most random shit to do just to annoy and confuse Tesla to hell and back. The rock game was only the beginning, they will find the most obscure game or even make one up just for funsies. She will harass both of them equally. Have to keep balance somehow ig.

Now for the trio because dear god whoever thought putting these three together was a good idea just hates humanity.

Chaos trio. They're insane. They bully each other. They drive each other insane. 1/3 is homophobic only against the other two in particular. Gay rights for everyone except them.

Okay so it's hell on earth (/lh). They all get along and they're essentially those three friends who if you didn't know any better would think hated each other. They drag each other along for their shenanigans and support each other no matter what. They're ride or die, basically. Quite literally.

Einstein plays on both teams and will bully and harass them equally with no loyalties. The bullying is different between the two for obvious reasons, but it's bullying and harassment nonetheless.

I like to believe that Tes and Ein took Welt along with them whenever they were leaving to go investigate / study something (Under the assumption he lived for more than five seconds) just so he didn't have to stay alone.

Tesla drags them all along to go outside to spend time with each other under the guise of "I'm bored and want to talk to Lieserl. I guess you can come too" despite the fact she intentionally does it in front of him so she doesn't have to ask him herself and make it look like it's out of obligation.

All three of them basically full on become Joachims older siblings and treat him like he's their little sibling. They will spoil this child without any regrets or remorse. Though Welt's terrified of the other two watching him because they are the last people who should be near a kid.

OH AND Tesla continuously forces the three to take pictures together so that they can make a little photo album to keep.

Also they'd eventually get a cat just because. Hell on earth, truly.

Oh and none of them can cook. Nobody should be allowed near that kitchen yet somehow they are. Three walking disasters of human beings, truly.

I have so many more but I've been writing so long they've just. Escaped my mind and it's driving me insane. I'll remember them eventually and make another post but here's what I have rn

[incarnateirony]

So like. When I said there was a fucking moron delusional stalker that was too fucking stupid and ignorant to even start to comprehend the level of Work performed to remove her from blighting my existence over the next ~year or so, maybe people are starting to grok.

lmao what did she think the magi are

probably thought it was some equally bullshit title like the octopus pagan or the cat medium idk

like no bitch i meant it, she threw out literally everything she wanted literally over fucking twitter roleplay under the manic screaming crying excuse of lemons, and still pretends she has around lmaooooooo and her cuck of a husband enables it while she has them both dreaming of me and my shadows they project their wishes at, mein gott.

I figured it out. I'm not her body pillow. I'm her everything. He's her body pillow serving as a fill in. A body to groom and train into playing her theater games to act as a stand in for what she fucked up on.

like, the second you realize that, everything about their entanglement here makes sense (beyond how blatant it makes her reasons for mass stalking me for years to get my attention), and they're both reliant on their lies and stuck with pretending to care while he leads her down the path of ripping out her hair and spewing deranged anime nonsense. They both know neither of them can survive on their own strength, so they're stuck together. A mutually socially abusive relationship of liars from the core.

And that's all she'll have now, and broken dreams, delusions, and lost gods. For the rest of her life. Because she's not strong enough to face it and fix it. And she sure isn't the kind of person that could drag in a quick replacement with how her physical and mental health have both not just declined but frankly expired in the last few years. She will run and run until one day, she chooses to run off the planet from herself.

Even after my massive blog dump. Impressive. Probably because I spent a month screaming at this spiritual vampire that I Do Not Consent To This Entanglement.

[syubub]

JUNGKOOK SOULMATE READING

Disclaimer: tarot is speculative and to be taken with a grain of salt.

Let's begin. The long awaited Koo reading.

To start, koos energy is a really rich, solid purple that is kinda pearlescent? It hard to explain but it kinda looks like this

So thats pretty neat. Most of the time the way I see energy it isn't ever really opaque so that was new for me. Another thing that was new for me was when I went to, essentially, connect to koos energy there was this like glass door looking thing and, it sounds nuts I know, but I left an offering of energy at the glass thing? Kinda like leaving flowers outside the door and then he removed the glass thing and connected his energy with me.

Now its even weirder because his soulmates energy was already with him so I didn't even need to connect with his energy in order to connect with the soulmate. His soulmates energy was just this white sparkly blob standing by him (I tend to see the boys when connecting with the energy because I already know what they look like) and immediately his soulmate was "chatting" with me. I was surprised so I was like, "do you have any messages that you want to say?"

SOULMATE DELIVERED.

The messages I got were

You'll see

Open your arms to love

Carry the burdens as a badge

Afraid to lose you

Cool cool cool. I think his soulmate is aware of all the upheaval that he's been doing on a soul level recently. I talked some about it in this reading x and kinda this one x I think his soulmate is being very encouraging. (Also, I think his whole upheaval really had to do with him not feeling like a person? Idk thats just the vibe in getting. Its like he needed to learn how to feel again and learn that he can have true and authentic love)

Now the open your arms to love thing is cute because I also wrote down, "He's suffered enough" and "Love is hard for him" (I swear to God I heard a tiny little "hey!" From jk in the background lol)

His soulmate is very aware of the struggles he's been through and is going through and is very understanding that he needs patience. So cute.

Keep in mind the reading hasn't even started yet. We still hanging on his little energy platform chatting and his Soulmate is like, "I don't know him" ... I didn’t even ask that yet but oki. So they don't know eachother. And again, out of nowhere his soulmate wanted me to know that their hair is blonde. Awesome. This could mean that their hair is blonde when they meet or that's just the natural color.

I was like, dude, I haven't pulled cards yet. And his soulmate was like, "no shit"... soulbae has jokes. I was like, "You're funny" and they were like, "You can write that one down too"

His soulmate and him definitely have witty banter and they tease eachother a lot.

Now, some freaky shit. I was like cool I'm gonna do the reading now, its awesome that you're connecting with me personally and it'd be great if you could just continue to help me through the reading. And they were like, "yeah no prob" and then dissolved into my energy? Idk. Wtf. His soulmate was like cool I'll help out for sure and gave me a massive direct link. That hasn't happened before. Neat.

On to the actual cards finally! So, for the cards that represent Soulbae are, kid you the fuck not, The Lovers and knight of wands rev. So. This person is very passionate and driven. A little scattered and impulsive but with the lovers card they are very sure of the choices they make. Very honest and open in communication. Also the fucking lovers card. Soulmate shit.

Now. For personality I drew 2 of swords rev. Death, hermit and knight of pentacles rev. Now. I think this person is elusive. A wrote down "no one quite knows" so I think this is the type of person that has never ending depth. They are ever changing yet always the same? They are kinda blocked off and hard to get to know. You have to earn their trust for sure. Also definitely a perfectionist. Can get bored easily too. I also got slave, knight rev and bully. This person is very strong willed and might have some past trauma that they've yet to let go of. Has probably been in some shit relationships because they tend to have "delusions" about romance (more so i get the feeling that they had high expectations that would never be able to be fulfilled? Like they have a tendency to plan everything out in their head and if it doesn't go exactly to plan then its not good enough.) This person might also be stuck, not moving forward because they have too much faith that everything is just gonna magically work out. Probably spiritual.

Onto the relationship now. We have THE LOVERS AGAIN, 9 of cups, wheel of fortune and king of wands. So much contentment. Its fucking destiny. Its the most beautiful, strong, loving and influential relationship. It is what you dream of as a kid. Theres so much honest and open communication in this relationship. UGH its so fucking good. They are in love and its fucking destiny thats divinely guided. Thank you for coming to my tedtalk.

We have the pillar of light, sisterhood of the rose and the age of light. They are going to accidently make eachother fucking woke im cackling. They help eachother become more intune with ~spiritual shit~

Now for this person's sign. Air sign with some fire. I think there might be gemini in there somewhere.

Now for career. I'm confused as fuck. Maybe a life coach? Could also be a personal trainer? This person is really successful and does whatever they feel called to do? I'm not really sure?

Now for where they're from. Oki oki oki. This person has probably moved a lot as a kid and probably enjoys travel a lot. They value the knowledge that the wold has to offer!

Message from his soulmate to him: simplify your life, you think someone is lying (they are) and time to let go. Theres something that he is holding onto (some fake friends perhaps?) That he needs to let go of. Theres also a message of slowing down and resting. Life has been busy for him and he needs to... simplify...

Now we have, balance masculine and feminine energies. Koo needs balance in his life. Him and his soulmate balance pretty well in terms of energy!

For the little homemade cards we have, serendipity and focus. This is his soulmate saying, "hey, focus on the now. Keep doing what you're doing and we'll meet when the time is right" I also made a note that they could possibly meet at a concert (I don’t think it would be a bts concert.)

For descriptors we have: older, masculine, outgoing, long hair, light hair (remember when I said blonde earlier), outgoing again. So this person has masculine features. I also made a note of dark eyes that are like, dark brown grey? And a fit and built body. Also dresses like Koo but a bit more professional or classy. Like classy emo.

Now I also pulled a fortune from my bowl of fortunes and got, "you don't get in life what you want; you get in life what you are." He needs to focus on bettering himself.

Cool cool cool. Now we have Defend to the end , the worth while. This card talks about seeing things for what they really are. Not being swayed by gilded things. Its about learning to love and choose love. Not being afraid of fear. Living your truth. To fight for love and honor and ditch the shit that isn't genuine or doesn't come from a place of love. Its about standing your ground even when its hard. Not compromising yourself.

Overall koo and his soulmate have such a cute and loving relationship. Koo has worked really hard on a soul level and physical level. He's betting himself and he's learning about genuine love. His soulmate couldn't give less shits about whether or not he's famous. His soulmate sees him for who he is, who he really truly is at his core. He doesn't need to protect or keep his walls up. He's open and honest with his soulmate and they are both focused on growing and becoming better people.

TLDR: KOO GETS ALL THE LOVE HE DESERVES

[lesbiancarat]

Lol its fine!! Reply whenever you can ^_^

But ahh true, true. Idk why I thought it would be a hint to the music lol but a sort og an evolution of the concept so to speak. Either way, am excited for the comeback because fresh svt is always iconic. Oohhh the concept photos are all pretty and idk which one to pick jfkshfjsjd. Like they are all very on brand for them but also unique and pretty. Very artsy haha.

Ahh yes, rabbitnwas forever iconic and it was what helped other places like discord to do similar things! But ah understandable!! Both seventeen and nct (when I was getting into kpop more) always felt like BIG well known groups due to their fandoms being so big at least to me. Especially when people always recommended their songs i just assumed they have been around for a while like bts when I joined only to realize they are still rookies. Monster rookies indeed!! The fact so many people love them is enough for me to say they are amazing, well respected and loved by many. Those comments annoy me, especially when people downplay their hard work by claiming 'bighit helped them get more famous' like what!? Yes bighit did help with getting more western attention per se but like downplaying as if they haven't achieved anything at all is confusing to me. Claiming how streaming fans aren't doing s good job to which im like one, mass streaming isn't healthy and two, fans who do try their best and we do beat records of our own. Seventeen isn't unpopular, just because they aren't you know who level doesn't mean they aren't big like do people forget what unpopular means?

Anywhoo, a day late but happy late birthday to our tiger King. May he forever rule the tiger land and take over the world with his tiger agenda lol.

yes! one side fits my aesthetic the best but all the concept photos were nice ^^

and yeah it is annoying but at the same time those people are so detached from reality that I'm just sort of like whatever djflgj like 'it's obvious to anyone who knows what they're talking about you're wrong so I'm not going to bother arguing w you' is sort of my mindset when i see those comments dhfkj bc if i don't think of it that way then i get angry easily. the way i see it bh/hybe definitely is helping SVT with western promotions but like. i don't think SVT/pledis would have been incapable of expanding into the western market on their own if they wanted to. but it's a given that it will be easier and faster with hybe bc they have connections and a reputation in the western market already established. honestly I'd guess that was one of pledis's main incentives for agreeing to the acquisition. but at the same time hybe and western media wouldn't give SVT the time of day if they truly were the flops some ppl try to claim they are lol

and yeah agreed, streaming culture can be super unhealthy. it's one thing to do it if you want to but at the same time don't be losing sleep over it or prioritizing it over your real life responsibilities. and definitely don't guilt trip and say a bunch of toxic things to others to get them to stream... i feel like it would be a lot healthier if fanbases just stuck to simply explaining, hey this is what streaming is and why it can be important (for like music shows etc) and here's how to do it properly if you choose to stream, and then just let people decide for themselves. there would still be people more than willing to do it, and without the guilt tripping maybe even more people would just find it enjoyable. but hey, what do i know? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

i also think most kpop stans underestimate how many views from from casual listeners and fans vs hardcore fans/streamers. like streaming does make a difference, but not 100M views difference like some people try to act like it does. tbh there are a lot of groups that have a smaller core fanbase than SVT but get hundreds of millions of views bc they have a lot of casual listeners. you can even see it internally too: don't wanna cry is SVTs most viewed MV by a mile, it's the only one to pass 100M views, let alone 200M. and it has nothing to do w carats streaming dwc extra hard, it's bc it's arguably SVTs most well known song outside of the fandom. i see reactors all the time who react to it and say "oh i know this song! i had no idea it was by seventeen" and you can look at the comments section and see a bunch of people saying the song has a fandom of its own/even if you're not a carat you have to know this song

kpop stans also put too much emphasis on views imo and also equate views to popularity, which on the surface might make sense but isn't always the case. actually in terms of profit, groups/companies make the vast majority of their money off of album, merch, and ticket sales than they do off of views. but those are all things that are a lot harder to "sell" than views, because they actually cost money for the consumer, while you can watch an MV for free. hence why it makes sense that there are a lot of groups with hundreds of millions of views that get relatively low album sales. it's easy to convince casual fans and and listeners to watch an MV than to get them to buy something

and I'm not trying to diss other groups at all or try to say groups that consistently get 200M+ views are flops, they're absolutely not. I'm just trying to point out that kpop stans completely underestimate the amount of casual listeners that exist

but this is why SVT is honestly such a fascinating case. their MV views are nothing to write home about, and yet they're the second highest selling k-act at the moment and are in the top 10 if not top 5 highest selling k-acts of all time, their album sales are literally insane. a lot of people chalk it up to carats being bad streamers but like i said before, streaming isn't going to make a difference of hundreds of millions of views. this indicates to me that seventeen have a bigger core fanbase (ie people who call themselves carats and actually keep track of seventeens activities) but a smaller audience of casual listeners compare to other kpop groups. and i think a lot of people, carats, and non carats alike, pick up on this in some way or another but don't realize that's what's going on and it manifests in kind of weird ways sometimes

and this fact isn't something that bothers me, i actually think it's super important more than anything for SVT to have a strong core fanbase if what they're shooting for is longevity. but i do find it strange bc as i said, groups that do better with digitals than physical sales make total sense from a consumer standpoint!! so how did SVT end up like this!! it's so interesting for me to think about. i think i would have a better idea of why this is if i had been around since debut but alas

the only thing i can come up with is that SVT is better at retaining fans or like... getting fans invested in the group so people who become carats are less likely to be multistans? bc multistans play a huge part in both being and attracting casual listeners. they're the ones making video compilations and edits and content that includes multiple kpop groups, which is how a lot of non-fans get interested in other groups. whereas if someone is just a carat and making content for SVT the people most likely to watch that content is ppl who are already carats. i know im not the only one that's noticed it's kind of rare for SVT to be included in multistan edits and videos. which i don't blame anyone for, i think most of those people genuinely just don't stan SVT and they shouldn't be expected to include a group they don't know we'll or at all. at the end of the day ppl can make what they like. but it's interesting to observe as a general trend. but idk SVT potentially having a lower percentage of multistans still isn't really an explanation for why SVT doesn't have as many casual listeners bc those things kind of just go hand in hand. like either one could be the cause of the other one if that makes sense

ANYWAY sorry for the long reply but as i said the ratio of SVTs core fanbase vs casual listeners is a topic i find endlessly fascinating dhfmfj

[punkscowardschampions]

Gen 4.1 Planning

Libi: Okay, so my basic premise for who Libi is going to be at her core, WOO; I was thinking about how we said that she is Tess' second (lowkey third but I'll let you live gal) chance at 'getting it right' and raising a child well, which, OBVIOUSLY, she's never told or anything but there's an innate pressure in that that you'd know on some level, likewise her mum AND dad died so everyone would be quick with those comparisons always, this family and Liam's mum when that contact is made because her daughter died as well as; Then that made me think of the pressure Ro felt because you know, bad shit happened to Bea (Edie and Liam in this case) and then she got saved by McVickers and felt like she owed everyone to be great and do great things; so my vibe is that BUT COMING FROM A LESS SELFISH, WEIRD, PERFECTIONISM ANGLE soz not soz Ro, we know what you did; I see her being better behaved as she grows up, far more than her parents obviously but lowkey better behaved than any of the mcvickers or cali kids ever were because she thinks everyone deserves that, her not causing any more problems, but again UNLIKE Ro, she wouldn't be different to a degree of not fitting in because she'd make a massive effort to be there for everyone and every event, be likeable and get along with as much of the fam as possible, obviously some of that is natural charm but it's also putting in the time ahem Rosaline; like, she's a people pleaser, to a fault, and all she cares about is making everyone else, Tess, Fearghal, Ali, JJ etc etc, happy and making sure she's being what she thinks they want her to be/need her to be, and like that is what makes her happy because she is doing it out of love and respect not obligation but she doesn't know she's doing it, you know? Again, it's innate, how she is, but that's where the arc can come in, in realising that she goes with what makes everyone else happy, is who they need, but what does SHE want herself, and what does SHE need? A way I thought we could make this a Bobby/Libi storyline if we wanted (but we do not have to) is if she does have feelings for him, could be any point on his timeline gfs and kids wise whatever, but she lets him go and have whatever gf or do whatever thing because she's like that's what he wants he doesn't like me or want me like that etc, because she doesn't let herself want things selfishly or do anything just for herself Bobby: we should totally have them be together as little bubs because they are and it's like a running joke that they are gonna get together/get married like we've lowkey already said but more so but maybe the vibe is he is really shy how he is and lowkey it's like a my sister and me vibe where she does all the talking and socialising for him and like all their friends are joint friends Bobby: not in a creepy Ro and Ali way but Bobby: and we will let you outgrow that sir Libi: it makes sense because obviously we're learning sign language so simply Bobby can't communicate with most kids by himself, that's facts, and it's easier to have another kid help you than Jimmy always being there, or whoever he has helping him at school, you know Bobby: oh snap maybe I flip reverse what I said and Cammie's mum is the deaf one too and the vibe could be that like Libi pushes him to get some deaf friends as they become like tweens/teens so he can communicate himself so he does and does become more outgrowing that way but maybe he lowkey leans too hard into deaf culture for a while there and she feels like pushed out by it because it's something she can't be a part of Libi: ooh yeah, that makes a lot of sense Bobby: it adds something to Cammie's character as well being hearing but having two deaf parents so that's interesting Bobby: and also makes sense why JJ have to help them so much as well as them just being young Libi: right, there's a lot of shit Cammie would have to do from a young age if not for JJ lowkey 'cos it's just easier for a hearing kid than it is a deaf adult in this world Libi: her mum could maybe be more partial for ease but yes Bobby: and like it makes sense that Libi would push her feelings aside when those two grow closer/happen because she'd be like well they're both deaf that's something I can't give him and something I want him to have Libi: exactly, it'd feel really selfish to wreck that even if you didn't have all the ingrained shit she does around it Bobby: and obviously he actually wants to be with her as well but thinks she doesn't want that and before you now it there's baby Cammie so it's like well now I gotta try and make this work because don't wanna be a shit father like I had Libi: oh the drama of it all Libi: love it Libi: and we've not really got (that I can think of) a never mind I'll find someone like you type deal Libi: because usually it's like JUST SAY IT but it actually makes sense here to pine and long but let him go Libi: hence I'm here for it Libi: So, what I'm thinking right now is, that they're like never officially together, like it just keeps being an in-joke kinda vibe and like we're JUST best friends and then kind of like family, but obviously as they get into tween/teen years it's beyond a stage you can pretend you're just a kid playing at being girlfriend and boyfriend and as you said boo, that will coincide with JJ wedding and kids roughly so then it'd be more obvious like it's not going to happen seriously, then she can encourage him to get deaf friends etc, but I feel like he should only meet Cammie's mum just before or at uni (or whatever equivalent he's doing after school) so then it is quick and not like they were even mates before so it's less of a shock for all, you know? Bobby: I totally agree because I strongly pictured him being best man at the JJ wedding (soz Pete) and her being one of the bridesmaids and all the bants that go along with that and them both being SO 😳 Bobby: and yeah he could live the cliché that Jac was mocking and literally get with this girl freshers week I'd believe it Libi: Right? it then mirrors the Jameson/Cammie thing except they literally are just BFFs and there isn't anything going on Libi: there's actually weight to this but we're just like haha no don't be silly Bobby: and we've literally not done that trope with childhood boy girl best friends before really because baze are probably the closest but they were always so clearly in love and refusing to fight it so it's fun Libi: exactly, because unknowingly or otherwise, we're fighting against all the cliches and tropes that come with this family Libi: like I'm going to not do any of those things that caused drama for everyone and this is clearly too close to home, even though I don't think anyone would actually be that bothered, we've just really internalized and gone with it Bobby: like how nobody cares Jac is gay except Jac herself Libi: right Libi: but obviously she's good at keeping this all internal because no one can or is gonna clock it and be like, babe, it's okay Libi: like JJ might be a bit like oop, keeping it in the family but as long as you're both happy they really don't care, and same for mcvickers even if Tess is suspish of everyone that comes into any gal's life 'cos trauma lol Bobby: Bobby wasn't trying to make deaf culture happen for himself but Libi would have been so excited for him to get out there and do it that he would've been excited too and then it is literally like a new world opening up because who has he ever interacted with that's deaf before Bobby: didn't mean to lowkey leave you behind gal but Libi: it's kinda her own fault, not to blame you but clearly literally what we do like okay he's happy now mission accomplished Bobby: and maybe Cammie's mum is like the deaf equivalent of those gays who make it their whole identity so she's really selling it and so he also thinks okay this is who I should be with Libi: we know the vibe, like it's more excusable but still, I get you Libi: I see it Libi: a bit of a baby gay equivalent like go too hard and you're like I need to calm this down Libi: UNRELATED BUT Libi: think it will please you Libi: Jay is born 32 like Bobby, I'm pretty sure, and I thought Libi and her would also make for interesting content because Jay obviously feels she owes a lot to the fam for not being stuck with Chloe etc etc and the very little we did with her gave off a similar energy to me Libi: and she has her commitment issues in relationships because of her mum situation so they can bond over the shit that holds 'em back even though it's different stuff Bobby: and her relationship with Ava being her mum but also not being is something I feel like Libi can relate to because of how she was raised and the Rio and Buster-ness of it all because they wanted to raise her and obvs they wanted to raise Jay for a while there too Bobby: plus all the travelling she does is something that Libi could potentially join her in doing if she needs an escape so that's nice Libi: 100% it makes for a strong friendship there's a lot of parallels if not total similarities Libi: it makes a lot of sense, it's coming together baby Bobby: if you need to get away from seeing Bobby literally playing happy families, I can offer you that gal because I'm gonna have her go to uni/live in new york probably now that Nancy isn't because her face actually did live there idk if they still do or what but Bobby: we know the vibe is that she goes everywhere and can't settle so you'll have lots of chances to run away in a way that won't upset anyone Bobby: and when she gets her man and it works out we could totally coincide that because she can be like if I can do it so can you Libi: a mood a moment Bobby: all I know is Bobby is gonna be more chatty because neither Jimothy or Jesse are so I must but not to Jude levels of !!! Libi: a nice middleground Libi: which is kind of what I see for her honestly Libi: less in your face than 1. we were as a little bub 2. a lot of the fam but still sociable enough that it jives well with most of 'em Bobby: I'm so happy about all of this and honestly Cammie's mum being deaf makes so much sense in terms of what we were already thinking about her being more distant and working a lot Libi: if she doesn't give up the fight, she could be some kind of advocate vibe Libi: 'cos then Cammie can't even call her out really Libi: like soz this is important, maam your child Bobby: exactly what I was thinking we're in sync rn boo Libi: because it all makes sense, you gotta follow one thread and then the story shows itself tbh Libi: because tying in Astrid too, obviously that makes sense because she loses her mum too, and she'd ultimately be a really good influence because after Ro dies Astrid is kind of freed to do whatever she wants for herself Libi: and how much happier it makes her, how much she improves...well Libi: sips tea Bobby: I LOVE THIS Libi: and who else is taking the autistic girl that seriously and letting her teach you things Libi: love that for you Libi: she's living her best life and we can see that Bobby: she can be in their friend group, I'm happy Libi: ALSO, I feel as if she couldn't lie to Astrid Libi: because she says how she sees it bluntly and we're not going to feel comfortable fobbing her off because of that insistence, so that'll be good for you even when we're hiding it from everyone else Libi: everyone else you've just got to be vaguely like oh no no and it's dropped and like okay Bobby: we're gonna get to show so many different sides of Libi, I'm always here for that Bobby: and however far we go down the Astrid and her gf eating disorder rabbit hole, we''ll have Libi not treating her like a kid which is great Libi: yeah, there's loads we can do with the end of gen 4 for them all it's a mood Bobby: okay so what or who would you like to throw Libi at first Libi: that is the question Bobby: just so we know Bobby is going to Trinity and studying Business, Economics and Social Studies (B.E.S.S.) which is business, economics, political science and sociology basically so he can end up working at that advertising place with Jimothy after he has done this 4 years Bobby: Cammie's mum is there doing deaf studies which is also 4 years Libi: do we wanna do a rough timeline for these people mentioned here Libi: Jay born 32, we find out about her when she's 7 in 39 Libi: Bobby is born 32 and comes into the story 38 Libi: Libi is born 34, Edam die 35, we know this situation, is 4 soon to be 5 when she meets Bobby vias JJ Libi: Astrid is born 35 and Ro dies in 44 when Astrid is 9 Libi: JJ can get married 46, so Libi is 12 and Bobby is 14 Libi: doesn't have to be when we intro the deaf friends to the point of exclusion obvs but it's timed so we never have the 'real' relationship chat of it all obvs Libi: so Bobby would go to uni in 50-51 and Camie is born 51 start of 2nd year Libi: that gives us this good 4 year period before uni to play with, then obviously we know the vibe of when she's born and making that work etc Libi: Hmm, I think it would make the most sense to do a gap year then stay local, like that's the ideal Libi: because I really think she'd struggle being away from the fam Libi: but I'm kinda thinking maybe to be cruel she DOES go away because it seems like something the fam are like yay about Libi: 'cos she'd try really, really hard to stay but they should at least notice that and she can transfer for a reprieve Bobby: that's really nice actually Libi: she should do her first year in Liverpool, the rest at Trinity Libi: okay, so film studies, it was only 3 years in Liverpool but we're changing to trinity and you do years 1 and 2 (aka whilst Bobby is still there at least for year 1 but I need to check anyway) there and years 3 and 4 at Columbia uni in new york, aka where Jay is Libi: **remind me to check the times but we need to give him a solid bday and I'm changing hers up too Libi: this is just roughly Libi: but this way we can be cruel with it lol

[championfrita]

Pokémon Sword and Shield Review

So...I've taken some time to fully play Pokémon Shield. Now, I know this is pretty delayed, and I got the double pack so I wanted to play Sword first to see if how I felt was really accurate or if I was being too harsh. That said, let's talk about my experience with the Galar Region.

Initial Impressions

Overall, I was excited to play Shield at first. Everything was bright and exciting and the characters were easy to recognize and not overly generic.

The first few hours of this game, well it's a slow burn. And I do mean SLOW. Even with the text set to Fast and me taking things at my own pace it took me at least a good couple hours to reach the Wild Area. Furthermore, this game has an infernal amount of handholding, even when given the option to say "I know all this already" it still gives a brief explaination for almost anything and STILL makes you sit ALL THE WAY THROUGH the catch tutorial.

It's 2019 and older players still don't get the option to skip this. Come on GameFreak.

That said, the longer I played the more I began to notice...how should I put this? Blatant laziness?

The Wild Area

Now, the CONCEPT of the Wild Area in theory is amazing. It's still not too bad as is, but there are definitely flaws. For starters, the same tree has been copy pasted all over the place to make up 90% of the foliage.

More than that, though, despite the Wild Area having a good selection of Pokémon and a fairly varietied environment (desert, lakes, forest) it feels oddly...empty. There are no real secrets to speak of, no hidden areas, no easily missed items. Everything is all right out there to see and spread pretty far apart. I don't know if it's a lack of Trainers or the fact that I don't have an Online membership so I played alone, but the Wild Area feels like it just needs something MORE.

Dynamax Raid Battles, even when done alone, are fairly fun and sometimes challenging with the turn limit. Radiant AI Trainers spawn in to assist you if you're playing alone so there's no worries about having to take one on with just one Pokémon.

Camping, which can be done anywhere but is introduced to the player here, is an absolute treat. Have YOU played fetch with a unicorn? I have, and I love it. The wide variety of curries you can make with different ingredients is nice, and your Pokémon even get EXP boosts if you play with and feed them while camping.

The Pokémon

Honestly, I'm really not impressed. The Galar Dex of new Pokémon feels painfully small, so much so that playing Pokémon GO and catching a few Unova Pokémon made me yearn for the days when we used to get regions completely FULL of new Pokémon. Remember when you had to wait until AFTER the main game to start catching Pokémon from past gens? I...well, this might be an unpopular opinion, but I LIKED that.

That said, using a sparse selection of Galar Pokémon and Galar Regional Variants on my team definitely made the Gym Challenge more difficult. I picked Scorbunny, because Fire Types, and honestly didn't really care for it or its evolutions at first. Cinderace has really grown on me though and I like Pyro Ball as a move. It's flashy and powerful and that suits me just fine. Most of the new Pokémon's DESIGNS were good and I liked them, there just really weren't ENOUGH of them.

I'm fairly pleased with the regional variants as well. It was difficult to adjust to Ponyta and Rapidash being Psychic Type, but I really liked having them on my team. At the same time...Meowth not evolving into a Persian doesn't really sit right with me.

I'm all for branch evolutions, but Perrserker honestly just looks more like a giant Galar Meowth than anything. I played this with only the info given in the few scattered trailers I'd seen, so I was genuinely excited to see what a Galarian Persian would look like only to end up with Perrserker. The Typing is phenominal, and I think it's great to see a Steel Type Meowth for a change, but I just don't like where they went with it. Eh. Ces't la vie, moving on.

The Story

It's weak. Straight up, the story in this game is poor. There were so many directions they could have gone. I really liked the idea of Rose being this charismatic chairman hype man for the League and being the bad guy. I saw it coming, but it was a nice change to see just based on his personality. Still, it feels rushed. His motivations are really one dimensional and glossed over. Like, "Oh, here's the bad guy. Go get him." It worked in Gen 1 because Giovanni was a MOBSTER. He was MEANT to be a bad guy straight to the core in general, but Rose just doesn't have that vibe.

Not only that, but the "Bad League Members" are kinda meh. That feels REALLY lazy. They didn't even really get a decent uniform change when they started taking on the name Macro Cosmos in Rose Tower. They got black glasses. That's it. Just that. The fight with Eternatus feels painfully rushed and shoehorned in too, almost like they thought "Oh no, we need to give them a big nasty boss to fight! Let's just throw a random monster at them and say Rose summoned it. Seems like a solid plan."

I DID like the after story with Piers though. It really solidifies that older brother sort of nature with him, even if he tries to hide it most of the time.

The Characters

I liked Hop. As a character he's really fun and I like how they gave him this over excited very grand gestured sort of personality. He's really just happy to be ANYWHERE as long as it's with his Pokémon and you. His admiration for his big bro might come off strong and make him seem a little flat at first, but he's overall portrayed as a good kid and I like him.

Leon on the other hand...well I hated him for most of the game. His design is great and he looks fabulous, but he just has the most cocky, obnoxious, pandering personality 90% of the time. Still, I have to give credit where credit is due and recognize that he IS actually a multifaceted character. He showboats not just because he's too confident but also to give the crowd a show and put people at ease in times of danger. Not only that, but his recognition of his little brother's accomplishments and his graceful acceptance of defeat when you beat him reveals a really well written character.

I don't DISlike Sonia, and I have no problem with Prof. Magnolia sitting on the sidelines, but she can be a little...irritating at times with the way she speaks about and to people. The Gym Leaders, aside from Piers, feel a little...light.

I mean, most Gym Leaders don't have detailed backstories, but these ones feel paper thin personality wise as well. I had to look at the official GUIDE just to be sure what the relationship between Melony and Gordie even WAS because you only seem him in her Special League Card in Shield and that tells you nothing about him. The only real leaders that stood out to me were Piers and Raihan, and while I was iffy about his design at first I LOVE Raihan. He has so much more personality and ferocity than any of the other leaders. And the social commentary about him needing to constantly take and post a selfie, even after losing, is a nice touch.

The Galar Region

Is very linear. Like, VERY linear. Even when you take a branching path it either loops back around or gives you a free ride to wherever you have to backtrack to. I hope you like Hammerlocke, cuz you're gonna be visiting there several times.

I know that the region is based off the UK, and maybe my Americanized idea of cities is different (idk, I've never been to the UK), but a lot of the towns in this game feel really small. Like, almost smaller than some of the towns in Hoenn small. Maybe it's a lack of significant interactable buildings, but despite many of them having multiple floors you typically can only access one and that's kind of a disappointment. The hotel in Wyndon won't even let you get in the elevator, and while I get that Alola also did that, it's kind of jarring when the hotel in Motostoke WILL let you see other floors.

That said, I kind of expected more than ONE Wild Area. The one we DID get is fine, and I appreciate what it is and lets us do, but I honestly thought there would be multiple places to really explore outside the standard straight lines. Pokémon has never been a franchise to shy away from puzzles before so I expected this to not be any different. Unfortunately, I was wrong.

Moreover, many of the environment pieces are just UGLY. A lot of the ground textures are reused 3DS assets, and those copy pasted trees I mentioned earlier? Also 3DS assets. How do I know? They're pentagonal instead of round. In other words, they have five sides. Why? Because the 3DS hardware couldn't handle complex environmental shapes that well so they could get away with it, but now that we have nice round berry trees the contrast becomes painful. The Wild Area is so ugly the first time you see it is at NIGHT. They were so aware of what they did they hoped making it darker would hide the lazy flop instead of showing off how bad it was.

It isn't like they COULDN'T fix it either. Look at Ballonlea and Glimwood Tangle. They're absolutely beautiful and very well done. The modeling with them is fantastic and I love the glowing effects. They absolutely could've made the poorly done areas look amazing, but for some reason they didn't and the game suffers some as a result.

Other Thoughts

The Gym Challenges...they were not fun. Like, honestly some were ok. Herding Wooloo was easy, but they really didn't feel like anything I would expect from a Gym. The water puzzle in Nessa's Gym was fine, and I personally liked the spinning cup ride, but the rest just felt like agonizingly long padding because they couldn't come up with anything. Look at Circhester's challenge. It's a dowsing rod gauntlet where you have to avoid falling in pits in an artificial blizzard. It. is. SO. SLOW. That said, Spikemuth having just a Trainer gauntlet instead was kind of awkward. I reached the end and asked myself "Was that it? Is this it? Is this all there is to Spikemuth? Just one giant alleyway and a Pokémon Center?"

Raihan's three trials of worthiness challenge? It was more difficult than the battle AGAINST RAIHAN. Speaking of, I beat Hop, Marnie, Bede, all the Gym Leaders, Rose, Oleana, and Leon on my first try every time. While it was more difficult with my specific Pokémon choices, it really wasn't much. And can I just say that the Gym Badges are kinda lame? I get what they were going for, but the designs of each piece could've been really unique and intricate and instead we got glorified stamps.

I liked a lot of the general features of the game. Camping, clothing shops, League Cards. I love designing League Cards, even if I'm the only one who's ever gonna see em. That said, the clothing choices were really narrow based on what we got in Sun and Moon. The variety of different items was pretty small, though I loved all the punk leather stuff but WOW IS IT EXPENSIVE. Like Lumiose Boutique expensive. AND WHY IS THERE NEVER A REDHEAD HAIR COLOR THAT ISN'T JUST AUBURN RED? There are actually A LOT of redheads with LIGHT RED hair (that's more a personal gripe than anything, I know).

A lot of the music felt almost like rehashes of older BGMs. Like, Postwick, Route 1, and Wedgehurst all sound like they have remixed Hoenn music. A lot of the other music tracks just don't feel fitting for the areas or for Pokémon games in general. I like parts of the Slumbering Weald music and I like the Gym Music, but the opening of Slumbering Weald feels awkward and like it doesn't fit a mysterious forest we're not allowed to be in.

I know I've complained a lot, but there were some things I genuinely liked. A lot of the Pokémon designs, place names, and other radiant decor and parts of the region are actually subtle and not so subtle references to cultural points of the UK. Skwovet and its evolution for example are a gray and red squirrel respectively and are a nod to invasive species, which is neat.

In Conclusion

Is Pokémon Sword and Shield amazing? No. Is it bad? No. Sword and Shield fall into that mediocre middle ground of being ok but nothing to write home about. Could I have done without them? Sure, they aren't some world ending imperitive must play. They're ok, and they make for a fine jumping on point and a fine little adventure if you have spare time. Have other mainline games done it better? Heck yeah, but that doesn't mean Sword and Shield haven't done a few good things too.

Overall, it sort of feels like GameFreak bit off more than they could chew, or were afraid to make changes because of unfamiliarity with the Switch's hardware and software limitations. Pokémon Let's Go had a lot more effort, but it also was much safer and had a much easier to work with art style to everything. Chibi proportions are a lot easier to fake than a more realistic counterpart. Things can be not perfect and it's less noticable than with more realistic proportions, and I think they were afraid to push back the deadline any further for the inevitable backlash despite that being what they likely needed. The DLC may change my mind, but as it stands, just the fact that they feel they can JUSTIFY their laziness with DLC packs really upsets me.

I give Pokémon Sword and Shield a 5/10.

It's just, OK.

[claymorecut]

Journey of a shipper: Kontae and how I fell for this ship?

OKAY! SO I'M FINALLY DOING THIS. Writing a long ass meta about this ship because hell, I love them and this ship is beautiful and I just need more content for this ship, so I'm making some myself! Before I start, it's just my opinion and I don't mean to offend anybody and second, I'm not a great analyst. I'm just going to ramble about stuff here and it's pretty long. So, enjoy!

I remember making this post about gintama ships back when I first started watching Gintama and I remember mentioning Kontae there. The sweet and kind guy falls for the hard-core and strong willed woman. A ship dynamic I really love. And their interactions, so damn funny I can't even say! And the 10 years gap didn't look like a big issue to me; they are both adults so I was okay with it. This ship looked funny to me, Kondou blushing, asking her to marry him, butt hair and all xD but also made me feel like "it may not get too far". But Idk why, I decided to stick with it. Because i was just so much in love with Kondou and Otae's characters. But in between all that, I really didn't see any kind of romance happening between these two and I was like maybe in an AU, they'd make a really good couple. It's not happening in Gintama 'cause I really don't see any kind of romance happening in this universe (and yet, I continued shipping xD)

But, I was wrong.

When the Yagyuu arc came and I watched episode 81. And my faith in this ship was restored. I know there were some ship-tease moments for gintae in the benizakura arc and the yagyuu arc but then this scene came:

I know, I know, it wasn't literal but what if it was? Well, that's not the question here. I was pretty surprised to hear this myself. Gintoki saying "She'll make it up to him" and Hijikata saying "She loves him. She's just playing hard to get" and all then Otae comes and saves Kondou from his Gorilla marriage. I got the verdict here tho. Maybe it was just for comedic purpose, maybe not. But still, it was enough for me to continue shipping them coz they looked hella cute and I just thought I'd just stick to it. Maybe, I'm gonna find something big soon. I found other ships like Hijimitsu and Gintsu! But that's a topic for another day.

AND, YES. I DID!

The pool arc came, which is like ep 217 and yes, nothing huge happened but remember how Gintoki was a making fun of Otae's breasts and how he wasn't interested in looking at her flat chest but Kondou, who was, like always, stalking her, then says he's ready to explore every part of her to find the nipple xD and Otae just punches him. Yeah that was funny. And then Tae later again comments that she can see right through Gintoki's actions and Gintoki retorts again by saying that he's not interested in her camel toe. Then this scene happens:

Kondou says he has no interest in camel toe and Tae again punches him while yelling "YOU DON'T?!"

Weird, right?

I know, it was weird for me too! But what can I say, these short details were what made me feel like maybe, JUST MAYBE, Tae has a thing for Kondou. Just look how offended she is. I know Kondou didn't mean to disrespect her neither was he rejecting her but I think Tae feels like he is. And so she goes like "what do u mean u don't?! Don't you love me!?" Even if it was just a sexual reference, it made me think that maybe, Hijikata was right. She does try to play hard and that there is something.

Then came the love choriss arc and I got a major hint.

How Sayaka-chan was Kondou's virtual girlfriend and how he introduced her to everyone in the Shimura residence. Yup then this happens.

This was stupid and weird and funny and my Kontae heart screamed "YER JEALOUS TAE!"

Just look at her going all dramatic while getting worried about Shinpachi. Well, of course she'll be worried about Shinpachi's well being and how her brother is just drowing into his own virtual world but Why. Throw. Kondou's. Game? If she really doesn't feel anything for him then there's no reason for her to throw Kondou's game. Why not let him stay in his own virtual world with his own virtual girlfriend? What were you planning, Sorachi-sama?

It was the very first time when it looked very evident to me that Tae has something for Kondou deep inside. That whole dramatic scream "THIS CAN'T BE!" just after Kondou introduced Sayaka-chan. I listened to that dialogue very closely and it first started with Kondo introducing her then Gintoki saying something like you're in this shit too? And soon was followed by Tae's dramatic "this can't be! Is Shin-chan going to be like this too!?" while throwing Kondou's game out and Kondou screaming "Sayaka-chan!!"

Tae's jealousy is still a mystery here but I still feel like, somewhere she was.

Moving on!

They went out on a date, which was a disaster and then alongside Kyubei in the Beam Saber arc, how Kondou fought for Otae I started to feel a lot more from Kondou's side. Yes. The stalking is a running gag but Kondou's feelings were given more comedic effect rather than highlighting it in a very serious tone. But that's how Sensei does his work. Gintama is supposed to be funny and this ship is supposed to be funny and I really wasn't expecting any intense and serious Kontae moment in the series.

Well, Sorachi-sama proved me wrong. AND I THANK HIM SO, SO VERY MUCH!

The Genderbender arc came, Kyubei is now this handsome hunk and Tae is blushing furiously and Kondou is this blond bombshell which is his too good! It's been shown over and over again that even if Kondou is a stalker, he just wants to see Otae happy. That's what he always wanted even if he isn't the reason for her happiness. When Jyubei and Tae starts meeting frequently, Kondou comes and encourages Jyubei to stop worrying about other and enjoy himself with Tae. He even says that he's happy with just being her friend and I think this proves how much he cares for her. He gives them those movie tickets telling he actually wanted to ask her out but now that he's like this, can't be with her like the way he always wanted to and now Jyubei is the only one who can take care of her. He was genuinely hurting but what matters most to him is Otae and so he leaves them while saying "if you make her cry, I'll arrest you". Even Kyubei later mentions it that it was him who was hurting and crying and he just happily sacrificed Otae so that she can be happy.

Then came the roach motel arc and OTAE WEARS THE KIMONO THAT KONDOU GAVE! Yes, not in the episode but in opening 15 she does and even in the manga cover! Ah..the feels. Well, coming back to the point, this episode was basically everybody bullying Kondou but the good part here was the ending of this episode. Kondou knowing that he was getting bullied and that Tae was a part of all this but he still says "that's how Otae-san is. This is what makes her, her." That was beautiful; he accepts her for who she is. He knows that she's brash and manipulative and even abusive but she's also kind and strong and beautiful; even after all her flaws he still continues to accept and love her. That's true love. And then comes Otae's part. She slowly starts to learn more and more about him, I think she knew he wasn't stalking her. And then she finally admits that she actually had fun with Kondou and that she got to see a new side of him while hugging that roach mask. She was happy to discover a new side of him, no stalking attached. I was so amazed to see this happening coz like I said, I wasn't expecting all these serious Kontae moments but these were actually happening. It was a breath of fresh air and I was really happy to see a developed relationship between these two characters which just made me ship them even more.

Then comes the love incense arc which was just....bizarre. What was Sensei thinking while writing this arc? Why would you do that to my poor kokoro!? But whatever, nothing is properly explained here, everybody is falling in love with everybody, Kondou turns gay, Gintoki just loses his senses and is sleeping with practically everybody, Tsukuyo's feelings for Gintoki starts to go havoc. But then, Tae and Kyubei comes in the picture. And they're in love with Gintoki too. But then, things change. Take turns out to be in love with Kondou! Hell, she was actually JEALOUS! Yes, it was the love incense and yes, this arc is just too crazy to explain anything properly but hear me out. What if, the love incense actually triggered some of Tae's hidden feelings for Kondou? Just like Tsukuyo's. Coz she actually saw Gintoki's dick first when she inhaled that smoke. Not him. But she ended up discovering her own feelings towards him. So what if this was the same case with Tae? We all saw that she was under the effect of that drug and was in love with Gintoki so Sensei, why this change of plans?

No answers, right? I don't have them either. It's just the little theory I came up with. What was Tae's real feelings? But soon the Shogun Assassination and the Farwell Shinsengumi arcs are followed after this.

And GOOD LORD! Sensei actually proved me wrong! By giving one of the most beautifully written scenes between these two characters.

It isn't always when Sorachi-sama actually decides to go for the romantic plot but in Kontae's case, I felt like he actually hinted a LOT. The very first ship in Gintama where I felt like no, this isn't just one-sided but actually, feelings were shown from both the sides, especially Tae. Like everyone, she misses him. But Tae remembering him like this and crying when she's about to get her neck slashed:

"A real man, a real samurai would never do something like this. That man, would never do something like this."

She knows him, she knows what kind of a man Kondou really is. And even at a time like this, Kondou is the man who comes in her mind. A true man, true police, a true samurai who not for once tried to force himself upon her. Not for once showed any kind of disgrace towards any other people or her. All this time, she comes to learn more and more about him and you know, it was worth the time.

Even Shinpachi sees it.

"I'll bring that man, and everyone, back to you for sure. So wait for us with the same old smile on your face, Sis."

Why exclude him from everybody? There has a meaning behind this and a deep one and tbh, I see a romantic meaning behind this. Shinpachi addressing Kondou like this, it was new. It's not always when Sensei uses such points to evoke a romantic gesture but when he does, it sure leaves an impact.

And this is not the last time he used such implications for KonTae. Fast forward to ep 316, Tae is at Kozenigata's place and she's now leaving. Haji and Konzenigata both tries to stop her because it was dangerous outside and the police organisation isn't working properly and she replies,

"That's exactly why police need to go back to their jobs, and cabaret girls have to go back to their job."

It's like foreshadowing their relationship- the police and the cabaret girl. And then Kozenigata just simply puts a cherry on top.

"They must have come back. Her police."

And Kondou pops out of that dustbin!

FREAKIN' POETIC CINEMA!

And then come the dialogues.

"Don't you think it's high time you stop doing this....You'll catch a cold."

"Why did you have to say that out of all days? I wish you had acted like always, called me a perverted stalker and hit me like you always do. You're....making it hard to say goodbye."

The voice acting, the dialogues, the animation, honestly everything screams romantic here. And yeah, the close-up happy-sad faces, if you've seen/read romantic anime/manga, you should know it's a shoujo trope used to display romantic feelings between two characters. And if I'm just making speculations, they're sharing the same umbrella...

Two people, especially a man and a woman, sharing an umbrella in rain is considered as a symbol of romance in Japan.

This kinda proves that romance is present in this scene.

And then finally this.

ANOTHER SHOUJO TROPE. THE CLOSE-UP EYES!

These eyes literally says it all. It's like Tae saying I'll wait for you and when you come back, I'll happily welcome you and then we can go back to those old days. Just like how Shinpachi said.

And I think, this is the very first and the only time, Sensei used this gesture. And this is just too much for me to not ignore it!

The way Kondou looks at Tae while talking to her, it almost feels like he's telling her to not look so sad. Like I've mentioned before, Kondou wants to see her smile. And i think, in this scene it's crushing for him to see her with such a sad smile on her face. That is the last thing he wants to see. That's why he said he wanted to see her react the way she always did. And Tae not acting like that and instead showing such emotions towards him, it's too overwhelming. Just think how Kondou would be feeling there. Tae seeing him off, her eyes glistening while she sees him walk away but also waits for his arrival in the near future, its simply poetic.

The reunion between these two is as funny as ever, Kontae was back in its own color. When Okita said Kondou was always okay with their usual type of setting, he meant to say that Kondou was happy in those old days. That's what he said in the FS arc, he wanted to see her in her usual self, no sad face, no crying, just a happy Otae who loves to beat the crap outta him but also respects him. Things really were pretty intense in the SA and FS arcs but I don't think Sensei wanted to continue this for long. It was like Sensei saying, we're back to the old days, happy days. The Silver Soul arc and the ongoing arc isn't as intense as these two arcs and that's what Sensei wants to say "we're back to those good ol' day". But that doesn't mean he threw away all those meaningful moments between these two; it was so heavily implied. Just because of a troll scene, one cannot disregard the whole development and say "it was never there" because of course there was something which was very much visible to the viewers/readers, even if it isn't present now doesn't mean it was all a joke or just some i-just-wrote-it-but-now-it-doesnt-mean-anything bullshit. Yeah, the ship isn't canon but that also doesn't mean it sank. I mean, Kondou is not gonna marry that gorilla anymore so....

Imo, KonTae is the only ship in Gintama where romantic feelings are implied from both the sides. It really didnt look unrequited. It's not only Kondou or Tae, it's both of them and both of them have actually shown interest in each other in a way which I won't say is completely ambiguous. The FS arc was the part where it is shown how far their relationship has come and how they have come to learn and respect each other, maybe even love each other. I'm not forcing these ideas on anybody, these are facts and I'm sure even non-shippers must have noticed these moments as well. Honestly, the romantic implications were heavy here, the scenes, the dialogues, the "Take care" which is just too beautiful to not to be ignored. Even if I don't see canon pairings happening here, I still somehow hope for this ship.

My love for Gintsu is eternal but Kontae, this is the only ship where I feel like has come a lot far. And even other characters have mentioned their relationship and in a serious note. Check all those subtle hints, pick up the whole FS arc, it's there. A relationship that started with a gag but now is fully developed where I can see loads of potential. It's a ship that's been here from the very beginning of the series and it didn't look rushed at all. Another universe of how I met your mother lol.

People can ship whatever they like and I'm really not trying to push my thoughts onto anybody here.

But KonTae, this ship is no gag or joke and it deserves more love.

It's stupid, it's hilarious, it's beautiful and it's properly developed and that's why I fell for this ship so hard.