#len makes a deal

[mishy-mashy]

Bruce is actually really attractive, and I have enough reasoning to make a list

He's:

Tall (. Tall enough to hit his head on the vault doorframe)

Long-legged

Has a straight nose bridge

Has high cheekbones (more noticeable in 2nd pic below)

Has a strong jawline

Sharp eyes, but they aren't small (plus eyebags if you're into that)

Overall, he has strong, attractive facial features

Has broad, refined shoulders. You can tell he works out (or he did, when he was alive)

Even has a thick, muscly neck

He has MUSCLE. Is SCULPTED. NOICE. VERY NOICE. (nice arms. Nice shoulders. Nice neck. Nice legs. Nice butt-)

(There are actually panels where you can see some of his muscles. Other than those already shown here, he's got bricky thighs-

-and in the panels where we first get his name dropped, he's got those shoulder blades too-)

The one time we see him smile, and he actually has a scary one

Has small, kinda sharp pupils, and his eyes remind me of a cat. We only ever saw him tense or defensive, so his resting/listening face is really cute

Other than the physical appearance stuff, he also:

Takes shit without batting an eye (patience, knowing it's just how Kudo is, etc)

Kudo being all "Cut the crap Bruce and give it to me straight", after Bruce tests his blood and is rightfully Concerned because they just faced AFO

Put up with Kudo's experimenting and testing over Yoichi's transferable Factor

Did ya'll see the look on Kudo's face when he realized he had Yoichi's Factor/will? Kudo was going to start in nonsense and Bruce just dealt with that.

Also something I noticed when looking back at the images here; Bruce has bandages on his arms in the void. But not when he faced AFO in the sewers.

Were he and Kudo cutting their arms open in their experimenting over Yoichi's theory? Is this why Kudo has two gauntlets instead of his one? Why we never see his bare arms in the void? That he always keeps his arms down so there's no slip?

Is smart enough to run blood tests, plus has enough common sense to pick Shinomori as his successor

He picked a guy who avoids society, has an Ability to detect danger so he can always stay away from AFO, is also a coward so he's never going to go throw himself into danger, even without knowing instinctively he stands no chance, etc.

Meanwhile, Kudo chose Bruce, who he played Hot Potato Yoichi with; but he did also trust Bruce, and put the only pure combative Ability in OFA through Bruce.

These two made their choices based on what they valued and saw the Factor needed.

Is logical, analytical, and calm.

He tried advising Midoriya on their Abilities in One For All, especially his own.

Midoriya then tried ignoring him about using Fa Jin for the first time, but found he was right, thinking: "Dammit!! I had [Lady Nagant] right where I wanted her, but... ugh! The Third was right. My parallel Quirk processes are all screwed up!" (ch. 314).

Plus, when Midoriya fixed his processing mistakes, Bruce was analyzing the way he reached his new conclusion. Pure facts, no bias, very calm, just saying it as it was.

We never see him panic. When he's caught by surprise in the sewers by AFO, Kudo, and Yoichi's little bubble event, he immediately reacts. He doesn't falter, he just knows he has to do something right now.

Was more willing to listen than Kudo to Yoichi's beckon, and probably was just following Kudo's rejection of Midoriya

While we don't see Kudo's face, we see Bruce's eyes when Yoichi calls on his heroes. Bruce was more open and receptive, or at least more impacted.

Bruce was also the one to start talking, while Kudo just kept quiet.

He actually communicates a lot

When Yoichi called them to support Midoriya, Bruce started talking to paint a picture of why they thought the way they did, so Yoichi understood where they were coming from.

(Though he seems to beat about the bush sometimes, since Kudo spoke up to be direct on how they couldn't just put their trust in some starry-eyed teenager. Plus, when Kudo tells him to just tell him what's wrong [double Factors])

When Midoriya first used Fa Jin against Nagant, Bruce came out just to tell him he knew what he was trying, but that Midoriya wasn't ready; and Midoriya found he was right. Midoriya just didn't want to listen to him then.

He asks Kudo for clarification after finding Kudo had two Factors in him after the sewer incident ("Just to be sure, All For One didn't touch you, right?") Kudo knew him well enough to go "stop beating around the bush and tell me", so Bruce was probably gonna start with questions, theories, and trying to understand everything in general, before saying "yeah you have two Factors. Don't know why".

Is strong-willed and loyal.

He followed Kudo, even to death, carrying on the cause he started until it ended with him.

Plus, when talking about how AFO needs a strong will to override OFA's own, we first see Bruce, Kudo, and Yoichi.

AFO couldn't steal OFA because the will was too strong for him, and that was back during Banjo's time. Since Shinomori never actually tried opposing AFO and just hid, we can assume the first Three (Yoichi, Kudo, Bruce) already had an accumulation of strong willpower that made OFA un-stealable. Those three are a strong enough foundation, and the main wills, that the other users just become bonuses.

Kudo, also saying that Midoriya needs allies with the same will and drive as him... hey Kudo, you're talking about yourself and your old allies, aren't you? That's why you look at Yoichi and Bruce when you say this.

Not only is Bruce attractive, but he's got good character. THE END.

[jemmo]

Making sense of love for love's sake: the game

Despite all the things i absolutely adore about how the plot unravels and expands in love by love's sake, upon first watch, there's some things i couldn't piece together, which @lurkingshan echoes in their post:

'The way the author was messing with Myungha and forcing cruel choices on him really does not track with a desire to help him find happiness.'

And to preface, this is not something i fully get yet either. I think i'll need a good month and a sizeable reading list of relevant resources to understand just what/who this author/sunbae is and what his role is and how he is associated with myungha. But as always with the best shows for meta (aka bad buddy), as a plot unfolds, you can always find a better understanding by looking backwards and re-contextualising what you've already seen. so i watched ep 1, specifically the scene between myungha and his sunbae at the bar. And i will talk about how everything said in this scene has a whole new meaning now we know the full story, but for now i wanna focus on that question that they keep coming back to; "Then... will you change it for him?".

When you watch the show for the first time, your brain follows the simplest, most obvious version of the story you're being told, one where myungha has been pulled into the world of his sunbae's novel that's being turned into a game and given the opportunity to fix the thing he didn't like about it; making yeowoon happy, and thus you just think the rules of the game are imposed by the author, and so when these cruel choices first come up, you see them as the difficult roadblocks that are nevertheless necessary to any kind of game, forcing the player to make an impossible choice so that the game can continue in a certain direction and its only after that you learn whether it was the right choice or not, or there is no right choice, it simply changes the game you are playing.

And when its revealed what this game actually is, at first i tried to interpret these cruel choices, namely the choice between yeonwoon and myungha's grandma, and at best i could come up with the concept of this being a choice between staying stuck to the past aka choosing his grandma, even though he knows that choice doesn't mean she's safe bc he knows the future where he loses here, its an inevitability, but thats the small happiness he knew before it was taken away and thus that happiness is known and safe, theres no risk, versus choosing to pursue a new happiness, a love of yeowoon and thus himself, which he doesn't know, he hasn't experienced yet, and could be risky. Its a happiness that isn't guaranteed like his grandma, but its a happiness that looks to the future and has hope in it that he can find a new happiness to pursue despite what has happened in his past.

And that fits nice, okayish. But then i watched ep 1 and heard that question "Then... will you change it for him?" And watching through the rest of the eps, we come back to this scene at the bar and each time we get a new run up to the author asking this question, either new dialogue is added or we hear a different piece of the conversation entirely. It starts at the beginning of ep 1 as:

"Because Cha Yeowoon is the only one who's miserable." "It can't be helped that some people's lives are like that" "The fact that some people are destined to live that kind of life is what's vile."

Then a bit later in ep 1 we go back and its expanded.

"It can't be helped that some people's lives are like that" "The fact that some people are destined to live that kind of life is what's vile." "Why? Do you think you'd write it differently?" "Yes, definately. Someone like Cha Yeowoon, or someone like me with an awful life, can also be happy."

And then all the way on in ep 6, we get this new dialogue.

"I don't like talking about destiny." "Why?" "Because it means everything is predestined." "Then do you not believe in fate?" "Fate and destiny are the same. My grandma likes to say that. She said life is like a written book, and how you'll live and die are written in it. (...)I don't like things like this. Even if fate is already destined, I think it can still be changed. Otherwise, there's no point in trying." "Really? Then Myungha..."

And while we don't hear the author ask the same question, I feel like him getting cut off like that insinuates that the conversation leads to that same ending point. All that is to say, every time we hear this question being asked, its like we learn more and more about what this whole thing is, what the game is, what myungha is saying he will do by agreeing to do what the author asks. And every time, we see myungha being more defiant against the idea of yeowoon being resigned to his miserable ending. He starts off thinking that kind of life is destined, and while it's miserable, its not something he can fight. Then he says he'd want to write the story differently, bc yeowoon, or even him, could be happy. He challenges the idea that yeowoon, and thus himself, is fated to be miserable, and opens up the possibility for happiness for them both, but doesn't yet have the means or resolve to do it, its like he knows its possible on a fundamental level, but doesn't see it as something he can actually achieve. But then we circle back to the idea of destiny and books, both of which came up in the previous quote, and seems incredibly pertinent seen as this whole thing is about a novel this author has written. Myungha talks about how he hates the idea that life is a book where everything written is predestined to happen, from the moment you live to the moment you die. He says "Even if fate is already destined, I think it can still be changed. Otherwise, there's no point in trying." That vile way of life he described before that he said was destined, he is now saying it can be changed, and that possibility is now something he's holding onto, its what he sees hope in so that he can keep trying, bc now he finally is trying, he has the resolve, he's trying to realise this thing, this impossibility of rewriting the life he thought was destined through the way he loves yeowoon.

And coming back to those cruel choices, given this fresh context, it made me think. bc this isn't actually a game that myungha has been put into where the rules are dictated by an author completely separate from him. He said himself, he'd rewrite it, he'd change things for yeowoon. And when you start to think of it less as him fighting against a rigid, removed system and more like him being a character in a story he is trying to rewrite himself, that has both the author and his own limitations, or just his own if you're in the school of thought that the author is some figment or part of myungha himself or his conciousness, then you can start to see where these cruel choices might come from. They could be myungha, the author making edits to this new story, imposing his own doubts and limitations on himself. When he says he has to pick between Yeowoon and his grandma, what if that's the new author myungha seeing this story unfold and thinking no this isn't right, he can't have it all, i'm not deserving of this much happiness.

And what makes me like this idea even more is that when we get that second choice between ending after 14 days or getting 100 days back at the cost of resetting Yeowoon's affection to 0, that whole conversation happens in what I think the bar actually is which is this frozen moment in time where myungha is in the water with this extension of a voice in his head that is talking through these things. That conversation in itself needs its own post, but when you look at it both as a decision to break up or not or a decision to hold onto life or not, you can see how the author is just this soundboard relaying the decisions myungha is going through in his head. The author's voice is his own, weighing up his decisions. And if he is the author here, it only reinforces that the person making the rules of this game is him. You can even extend it further to the idea of the debuffs, where he puts in place this thing that makes it so he causes harm to yeowoon when he's around, and its only by garnering affection that he can prevent it. He gives himself a reason from the get go to stay away from yeowoon and reason it as him doing it for yeowoon's safety, when in fact the only way to make yeowoon safe is to increase his affection, which he can only do by being near him. Its a system that at first gives myungha a reason to stay away aka not like himself, but ultimately says the only way you're going to make yeowoon like you, or the only way you can like yourself, is if you accept risk. And that in itself screams to me of a myungha writing in these game systems that are trying to encourage his own-self love while falling at the hurdle of his own lack of self-worth.

The idea is still messy in my head even for me, but i just really like the idea that myungha could be trying to fix this thing both as a character and game master, and that both these versions of him have these flaws that manifest in their different ways to cause the events we see. It kinda is the definition of being your own worst enemy, the idea that in order to work towards loving yourself, the biggest obstacle you have to encounter is yourself, bc we are the ones holding ourselves back, making all these rules that make it harder to like ourselves and pursue our own happiness. The voices in our head telling us that we aren't good enough and aren't deserving are our own, and while the things that happen to us can inform what they say, we're the one's reinforcing those words. And what this show teaches us is that, if we're the one holding that pen all along, we can choose to change what those words are. If we make the rules, you don't have to create a game with concrete ultimatums, you can create a game where rules don't control you. Instead, you make the decisions, and you can make the ones that make you happy.

[biscuitscheesebiscuits]

Reading physical copies of The Queen's Thief series for the first time and realizing that the maps in them are inconsistent???

[irregularbillcipher]

DO YOU KNOW WHAT SPAWNED YOUR EXISTENCE?

[ID: Two lineless, digital paintings, both with warm, dark gray backgrounds. Both canvases are shaped like exact squares.

Painting one shows an adult Bill Cipher, a bright yellow triangle with a top hat, bow tie, cane, singular eye, and long lashes, reaching out to shake hands with the Axolotl, a pink axolotl with an electric blue tail. Bill is looking at the Axolotl casually, and his outstretched hand is engulfed in blue flames, while the Axolotl is smiling at Bill gently, reaching out to take his hand. There are stylized stars, similar to sparkles, in the top right and bottom lefthand corners of the painting. The painting is textured so that you can see the gray of the canvas very faintly through the brush strokes.

Painting two consists mostly of a short passage from Edwin Abbott Abbot's Flatland, written in light gray over the dark background. The passage is the beginning of chapter 7, and reads as follows:

"7. Concerning Irregular Figures

I for my part have never known and Irregular who was not also what Nature evidently intended him to be-- a hypocrite, a misanthropist, and, up to the limits of his power, a perpetrator of all manner of mischief..."

Below the quote, near the very bottom of the page, is a tiny illustration of a very young Bill Cipher. He is drawn completely in grayscale, and is looking down at the ground angrily, fists clenched. He is wearing a pauper's cap and has bandages wrapped around his rightmost angle, which is noticeably longer and more acute than his other angles.

End ID]

[aroaessidhe]

2023 reads // twitter thread

To Shape A Dragon’s Breath

YA fantasy

a young Indigenous girl finds & bonds with a dragon hatchling - the first time in many generations for her people - and is required to go to the coloniser’s dragon academy in their mainland city, to learn how to raise her dragon and the science of its magic

historical inspired setting on the cusp of industrial revolution with steampunk vibes

bi polyamorous MC, Black lesbian SC, nonverbal autistic SC

[kenobihater]

how we doin' netflix haters? 🫶🏼

[dykeomania]

you know that one scene in 21 jump street where channing tatum and jonah hill are trying to buy off of dave franco's character ("you're the uh.. the dealer????? dealer???????????????? guy???" "yup." "oh cool so like do you make this stuff??? or???" "what do i look like, a fucking scientist? no, i just sell it.") yeah that's dealer!ellie x firsttimeweedbuyer!reader

[killjoy-prince]

I FINALLY GOT IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE THEM!!!!!!!

[cocolacola]

sertegra nation we dont talk about this enough

[stop-breaking-my-heart-dragonage]

As much fun as I'm having doing my alternative run of DA2, one thing I really miss about my mage Hawke is his friendship with Merrill.

Those two are best friends and he's 100% supportive in her goals toward the eluvian. Ed has the humorous/charming personality, too, which bounces off super well with Merrill. He doesn't think any less of her for her usage of blood magic; if anything he's impressed by her level of strength and willpower. He's so ready to defend her from the other companions and the clan, and he's absolutely out here attempting to matchmake her and Carver....at least he is in my heart because the game won't let me, it's fine, I'm not bitter about it or anything-

But then my warrior Hawke? She has the diplomatic personality with quite a bit of direct/aggressive thrown in there and she ends up having the same attitude as that one party banter Aveline and Merrill have: "Merrill, you're clearly talented and meant for great things, but you're stupid," and that's so difficult for me to lean into. I'm trying to play Aris differently so she ends up being so condescending to Merrill, like she's trying to gently tell her to give up on the eluvian but it doesn't come off well.

Also if Carver was around, Aris would be the opposite of Ed, she'd look at the suggestion of her brother and Merrill getting together and be like, "No :) I don't think so :) I like Merrill, she's my friend :) but she's not right for Carver."

But I guess it makes sense; if you told him that Bethany would giggle and kick her feet and twirl her hair around Sebastian, Ed would've thrown him in the ocean as a warning. Meanwhile, Aris is like, "A handsome prince that could take my sister away from all of this? Wonderful, we just need to work on his incorrect views on mages, but that shouldn't be a problem :)"

Anyway I miss playing Hawke as the #1 Merrill stan.

[ndostairlyrium]

✨ OC Tag Game ✨

I was tagged by @greypetrel to roast my OCs make Sophie's Choice kind of decisions but these are some fun decisions 👌 thank you so much dear!! Also I'm stealing the magenta and purple color scheme because I'm obsessed lol

I'm tagging here so y'all can avoid this monsterpost and go straight to the tag game lol @underneathestars @sparatus @daggerbean @bruxbea @n7viper @transprincecaspian @that-one-halfwit and those whose name starts with J.

I had to dig deep in my personal can of worms so grab a drink, a bunch of popcorns and a new pair of eyes because this is going to be one of the longest posts I've ever made. I'm not joking, I'm apologizing :'D

Favourite OC:

Ankh/Lav. I played favorites since I created this space and I have no problem exposing my horrible self lol She's the perfect person for me, always challenging herself without being afraid of failure. Even if she has some terrible flaws, she does her best to process them in a mature way. Writing her helped me a lot coming to terms with some things in my personality that I despised :'D she pesters influences the two realms of being, basically. Also she's gorgeous, isn't she? *pinches cheeks* bella de mamma 💛

Newest OC:

HER. The icon, the legend, the witch of the needle. Adra, trans-woman, city elf, much bitch, such stylist. She calls people by titles she invents on the spot based off their personality (which is a thing that cannot be transferred into the english language since titles aren't a thing ;; sigh), she's one that states what's wrong with you right in your face, and she's constantly in pain because of her job - one day is her back, the other it's the eyes, but somehow humidity is always involved. She calls herself old but she's not that old, like, she's in her 60s << anyway, she takes advantage of it a lot for her own entertainment. Coming from the Denerim alienage for then moving to Highever, she has had all the experiences one can think of so she appears a bit skeptical when it comes to big scale projects born from righteous ideals. However she seems to believe in the Inquisition. Well, she trusts its leader and her work, but she's a fereldan through and through so she's leaning more on a "I'm gonna judge the overalls when I see the results" attitude. So far, she's satisfied, but she'll never express it. Queen Anora #1 fangirl.

Oldest OC:

Rhian, daughter of Beathan ...who at the beginning was a Lord of the Rings OC but then she turned into something I'm using for a personal project with a medieval fantasy setting, so now she's running free and untied from a beloved franchise :'D weee There is some bisexual awakening going on but it's actually a story about found family, gender roles, and honesty. I'll get back to it at some point. Hopefully. She's the Mulan of my roster, pretending to be a man to join the local army and having to deal with a big menace while questioning her faith on authority. She's very brave, caustically sarcastic, an average soldier, and has loud opinions that always put her in trouble. Also she's a capricorn, she can open jars and she will let you know until she dies.

Meanest OC:

Lenore fucking Shepard WHO WOULD HAVE GUESSED LMAO She's manipulative, controlling, outright nasty towards pyjaks, and would 100% push you towards the zombie horde as bait if that means she gets to save herself plus her squad. She does have a few reedeeming qualities but it's not even slightly enough to grant her a "maybe she's good on the inside" consolation prize. To be fair, she's the most emotional character of the bunch, super sensitive towards children and people that can't fight for themselves. The ones she likes, yeah, but still! Hands down my favorite store on the Citadel <3

Softest OC:

All of th--

Absolutely him. Mr. Rivelli. Wiccan, chemistry genius, chainsmoker, incapable of interfacing himself emotionally with those surrounding him. He's quite the introvert, but he daydreams like a pro and he's very passionated about his interests. He can't look at people in the eye, but he's the most loving and communicative plant dad one could think of <3 He's a soft boy, he just has a lonely nature. He's part of a project called "The Wedding Planner", it's a boy meets boy story, both of the main characters are in their thirties and there's a "what am I doing with my life" type of approach to the plot. It's a 30 years old / mid life crisis type of story, basically, with a wedding. The wedding is important. Very. It makes it cheesy. We worship cheese in this household.

Most Aloof/Standoffish OC:

Absolutely him, and it's a coping mechanism. Castor "Cass" Actius never shows emotions because he bottles all them up. And it's a long bottle - he's very tall. I was torn between soft and aloof in this case, but he's definitely one that acts like he's the calmest but in truth he's screaming internally all the time. Probably one of the characters I can relate to the most lol He's all legs and sugars, has a thing for tea, he's the fourth of four siblings and probably the most well adjusted out of them - which says a lot about the state of his family considering he's clinically depressed and an addict << He's a great leader, calm and detached, also he doesn't seem very approachable at first. At second as well, and at third, and at... But he's a cool person with big mom energy. If you're under his command, prepare to be scolded frequently, but also to be defended strenuosly in front of his superiors because you're perfect and you did nothing wrong, never in your life!! Best baker of the bunch, sorry Hawke.

Dumbest (affec-- lmao they wish!!) OC:

These three. They all trusted the apostate. On a scale from Stupid to "I trampled on my feet and now the kitchen is on fire" however, Ela is definitely the one sitting on the ambulance with a blankie on her shoulders. Here, have a banner all for yourself, dumbelina <3

Although I'm talking about that kind of stupidity that makes you look like a fool during situations that require a little bit of foresight or planning. She basically winged some of the most important decisions during the Blight, the others were taken because of her strong sense of honor and justice, but like You can't apply that all the time and then go surprised pikachu face when people call you out for being impulsive.

Smartest OC:

Him. Hands down. Serge "Twinkles" R'lyeh. He's MacGyver with the sensitivity of Tori Amos, also he's your therapist and your sugar daddy at the same time. He's an aerospace engineer turned infiltrator turned spy turned college teacher turned practical fx specialist turned distinguished officer during the war turned loving husband and best uncle... Like, there's so much to him! He lived a tons of lifetimes at once because he's talented brilliant incredible amazing showsto-- Probably the second favorite, because he seems like he's perfect but he has a problem taking responsibilities. He's also very childish, egocentric, he second guesses you as if it was a competitive sport when it comes to things he can do better, and his mouth is the envy of every sailor from here to the Attican Traverse - because he swears a lot but also for the other reason *cough* I kinda loved having to deal with someone that was on top of many skills, it made so much room for planning a big downfall <3 oh, and he fell. Hard. I'm gonna stop but know that I would keep writing about him for other 30-40 paragraphs, gushing and blabbering incoherently because he's my special self absorbed space kitty, trust me on that. I'll just say that he built a working real life deluminator when he was a fluff. he smort

OC I'd probably be friends with:

None of them, they're terrible people with a lot of problems and I made them like that so if I had to meet them they'd ki--

It's them. Ankh and Kerry. Who else? I need the extrovert friend who ignores my rain checks and comes to my doorstep with a pile of books concerning the strangest topics, and the chill friend who can cook a brilliant pasta while he listens to me complaining about the post office. Also, they're the ones I'm the least afraid of. On a more serious note, they have a huge deal of compassion and care; he's an empath, she's an active listener. Also I vibe with creative people that show a huge passion for what they're doing, plus I wouldn't mind having to bury some animal bones from time to ti-- cook and bake. I like to roam around the kitchen with my friends and talk about whatever. We talk a lot in this household <<

This was a lot and I'm sorry but y'all read the introduction of this blog, the blorbos are my Jub-Jub Bouvier and I can't help myself :'DDD

[ohitslen]

I have an idea but I thought about the details of it and how it begins roughly, now my brain is about to collapse but I’ll try to word it as best as I can OQNNS

[shinmiyovvi]

With Bo6 now eating my brain out, it makes me remember my two Bell ocs back in BoCW and also some ocs that didn't really got my interest or planning to change them

[bisexualspace]

if you see your doctor on TikTok, get a new doctor

[aaronymous999]

All my homies hate Spider-Man stories that cure the person bit’s disabilities/conditions right away. Especially the glasses thing. Like how cool would it be if it didn’t and he had to engineer his prescriptions into his spidey suit??

Also personally my Spider-Sona is the complete other way around, bro had to wear glasses after being bit because the species that bit him is known for poor eyesight. Also bro literally has four eyes. Lol.

[seldomsee]

Mother 3 fandom is in an interesting position in that all of the major characters have large age gaps in between them and/or are related so instead you see 10000 pieces of fanart shipping Lucas with Ness from the previous game. It’s better than when people ignore the age gaps/relatives aspects but also man it is annoying