#let's be honest most of my original posts are going to be about ghosts for the foreseeable future

[hugmeimtouchdeprived]

Ghost! Johnny "Soap" MacTavish x fem!reader - Chapter 2

Chapter 2!!! I'm busy with school and assignments and looking for a summer job and starting my final thesis, but I write when I have time and energy to do so😊

Let's ignore the fact that I posted this a few hours ago, but deleted it because I came up with something that I really wanted to change so I'm posting it again now

Content warning: Talk of possible stalking and breaking in (not really what's happening, but it's mentioned?), mention of blood.

Original drabble | Prologue | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2

“Come on, what else could it be?”

“I’m not being haunted, Donna,” you groan, rubbing the bridge of your nose between two fingers. You glance around the small café, fairly empty of other patrons at this time of the day. The two of you sit next to the large windows, watching as people walk and drive by. It’s a weekday, middle of the day, so most people are likely still at school or work.

Donna is an old family friend. Used to be your neighbour when you were a kid and would often babysit you if your parents couldn’t find another babysitter. The two of you grew close until she got married and moved to the states briefly, before returning with her wife. It’s rare the two of you get time to see each other, but it’s always nice when you do.

You swear she hasn’t changed a bit since you were a kid. She’s in her early 50s, you’d guess, and still just as full of energy as she was all those years ago. Her wife is a bit of a mystery to you, but you know she travels a lot for work.

And that Donna loves her more than anything.

“What else could it be?” Donna repeats for the hundredth time. “You’re being followed by something; we both know it,” she insists. Donna has always been fairly enthusiastic, or at least interested in, the afterlife and ghosts and whatnot. You, not so much. Sure, it is intriguing, what happens after death and all the different views on the subject, if ghosts and spirits exist. Intriguing, but not very believable in your mind.

“You know, there was that terrorist attack in that tunnel a few months ago. A lot of people died there, I heard there was a soldier that passed, too,” she continues, her tone more serious now.

Donna always seems to know things. Sure, the attack, its casualties, have been public knowledge, at least some part of it. But Donna always seems to have more information than even the news do. You always joke she must have someone on the inside of all these things. “Something like that,” she’d respond.

You told her about everything as a joke, to try and ease your own nerves. She ended up taking it way more seriously than you would have anticipated. Maybe you should have predicted that, in hindsight, but at least she doesn’t seem to think you’ve lost your mind.

And sure, you promised yourself you wouldn’t talk about it to anyone, that you’d just go on with your merry life and ignore it, assume it’s a figment of your imagination. But you trust Donna, you wouldn’t be surprised if she knows you better than your parents do. Probably better than you do, if you’re being honest. And things really are getting out of hand with your ghostly friend. Roommate, squatter, stalker, whatever. You’re not sure what to call him, but it’s all too real to really keep ignoring it.

He’s in your goddamn home, your sanctuary, your safe space. Where you haven’t yet allowed even some of your friends to visit, you’re not sure if your coworkers even really know where you live. And this- this thing has invaded it, made himself right at home. Begging, yelling at him to leave you alone, to leave your home at once. The train station and the bookstore were manageable, at least. This? No. No way. This is your home, your apartment. It’s yours! You live alone and you quite like that, thank you very much.

You swear you see the shadow shake and shift, as if trying to hold in his laughter. He does seem to give you more space after that, though; instead of standing right next to or behind you, he stands in doorways, corners of rooms. That’s something, you guess.

And that’s the other thing. He’s so human, you often mistake him for an actual person standing in the corner of your room. It’s like having an extra clingy roommate, following you around the apartment. At least you can shower and change your clothes in peace. (That’s what you think. He’s not snooping or being creepy, of course not! He’s just lonely, needs the comfort of being with someone.)

It’s almost freaky how used to it you’ve gotten. It has been, what, a few months? You know by now that he, whoever he is, isn’t going to be leaving anytime soon.

The shadow in the corner of your eye no longer freaks you out nearly as much. You still don’t know who he is, or was, why he’s here and with you of all people, but you accept it. Not that you’d have a choice in the matter, anyway.

You watch movies with him. You see him next to you on your couch, almost feel his weight on the cushions, as if sitting next to a real, living person. Somehow, you can just tell when you’ve picked something he likes. The air around you feels different, more relaxed. He looks like he’s leaning forward in his seat, sitting on the edge of the couch when the movie gets exciting or interesting. You hear him laugh, not even the airy sound it was before, but an almost proper one.

He audibly groans if you pick something he doesn’t like. Might even throw a pillow on the floor or keeps turning the tv off. You’ll either scold him and keep attempting to turn it back on until he gets bored and gives up, or you’ll give up first and put on something he might like more. Problem is, you’re both stubborn beings, and might “argue” over the movie for a long time.

During horror movies you find yourself leaning towards him, looking for that feeling of safety he provides. It always takes you a moment to realize you can’t curl into his side, with his arm around you, like you would if he was physically there.

As more time goes by, you see more of him. He becomes more refined, quite literally. Going from a shadow in the corner of your eye, disappearing the moment you try to look at it, to what you’re sure is a human man. You can’t exactly see the details of his features, his face, but there are some things that are certain.

He's tall. Taller than you, at least. Muscular, too, by the looks of it, and wearing some sort of gear. Military, maybe? Donna did mention hearing of some soldier who died in those tunnels some months ago. Or maybe you’re being haunted by some terrorist who has taken a liking to you. You sincerely hope it’s the first one, though.

And then there’s the very obvious gunshot wound to his temple, oozing blood down the side of his face and neck. It drips down his chin and vanishes before hitting the floor. It’s more visible in darkness, or in the light of the moon and stars. You do your best to ignore it, there’ll be time to ask about it later. Surely not a subject he’d be very open to discuss or reminisce over.

At some point, it starts to feel nice to have some company over, even if it means you get little to no privacy. His presence makes you feel safer, in a way. You’re not sure if he could do much if someone was to break into your apartment or harass you at work or while running errands, or if he even would do anything to help you, but it still feels almost like having a guard dog. A dog that no one else can even see, unless he wants to be seen.

That’s what you think, at least. You see him because he wants you to. There’s not much concrete evidence of how ghosts really work, so you’re mostly going on what you’ve read about the subject and different cultures, and your own gut instinct.

You know your ghost can talk, too. A little bit, at least, not quite full sentences. You’ve heard what you swear was a laugh, a groan, mumbled words. He’s getting stronger, and you’re certain he will answer your questions, eventually. You’ll be patient.

One evening, you ask for his name while getting ready for bed in the bathroom. You see his hulking figure behind you in the mirror, dark shadow almost looking like he’s leaning against the wall. Not that you were expecting any response, but it’s still disappointing to not get one. The bar of soap at your sink gets tossed to the floor. “It was just a question, you know. No need to start throwing stuff around if you don’t want to answer,” you mumble as you pick it up. It’s back on the floor as soon as you turn your back to toss your clothes in the laundry basket.

You wake up feeling cold that night. Glancing at the clock, it’s barely past midnight. You close your eyes, wanting to go back to sleep; having an early morning tomorrow, you want to at least try to get a proper night of sleep.

Something’s wrong, though. It takes you a while to realize what exactly that is. It’s cold, unusually so even under your thick duvet. A weight behind you in bed as you lie on her side. An arm around your waist, weighing you down. Someone’s cold, hard chest pressed against your back.

This is a dream. A fucking nightmare. It must be.

Feeling the weight shift behind you, a cold breath of air at the back of your neck, wakes you up rather quickly. The panic settles in slow, creeping up as you process the situation, eyes wide open.

You squeeze your eyes shut, considering your options. You could tear that arm off you and make a run for it. Scream as you go, get the attention of your neighbours; the middle-aged lady whose name you haven’t bothered to learn, who is always so quick to blame you for any and every sound she hears. Or you could just go back to sleep, ignore your problems until the morning, or until the person behind you decides to do something. Just- just ignore it until then.

Or you could turn around and see who it is.

What if they’re not even asleep? Watching, waiting for you to react?

You try to rationalize it, you always do. Always have a plan, always prepared for anything.

Not this, though.

How the hell could anyone ever be prepared for waking up to something like this?

You try to move, to slide out of bed, moving so slow the person behind you wouldn’t notice if they’re truly asleep. Their grip only tightens around your waist, stilling your movement. You hold your breath.

What the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck?!

What’s a person supposed to do here, in a situation like this? You’ve heard enough horror stories – stories from real life, real people, not mere fiction – about how these things usually end. A woman living alone, someone forcing entry to their home after weeks, or even months of stalking them, getting to know their schedule, their workplace, their life. Every option, every possible action you could take has its risks, and your mind in running a million miles per hour.

You decide to turn, the pure fear getting to you. Fear of simply not knowing who this person is, why or how they’re here, in your home. In your bed.

You turn, moving slowly and carefully again, to face whoever is in the bed with you. Your heart pounds in your chest, the fear and anxiety or what or who you’ll see terrifying you to your very core.

There’s nothing there. In the dark room, you only see the moonlight peeking through the blinds, not doing much to light your room.

There’s nothing there.

Your eyes close and you take a deep breath, telling yourself it was some fucked up dream that just felt too real. You have been stressed out lately, more so than usual, so it's not that out of the question that it would start affecting you in different ways.

You promptly choose to ignore the still cold to the touch indentation on the mattress beside you.

You don’t even notice the now familiar eyes watching you from the corner of your bedroom.

Thank you so much for reading! Likes, comments and reblogs are appreciated!🌷

Also, I've been very busy and stressed recently, mostly with uni and assignments and starting my final thesis. I've found writing this to be sort of relaxing, like a way to get my mind off of things when it gets too much and my brain turns to mush. :)

[todayinmagicalgirlhistory]

The Magical Girl Guide to: Banshees

I was in the mood to make another guide post and figured why not recreate one of my old ones. Samhain is on the way and while I was trying to wait until that day to post this, I got a little too excited to talk about one of the types of faeries I work with the most. This time, I’ll be talking about banshee, a faerie often miscategorized in media.

As always, these sorts of posts aren’t a 100% ‘I know All’ piece on a topic, rather just a look into the folklore and my own UPG. Don’t use this post alone as the extent of your research on any topics, let alone the fae. Think of this as a small push into doing your own research about banshees, not me being an all-knowing expert whose UPG is the end all be all knowledge on banshee.

This is just me discussing the folklore as well as my own experience with banshees which can be different from the experience others have.

what is a banshee?

Also spelled as beansidhe and ben síde, banshees are faeries hailing from Irish mythology whose name translate to ‘woman of the faerie mound’ or ‘faerie woman’. They’re heralds of death, announcing the deaths of a family member by keening, wailing, shrieking or screaming. Their names are connected to the mounds (síde) which are believed in Irish folklore to be connected to the fair folk.

In certain parts of Leinster, however, she is referred to as the bean chaointe (keening woman) whose wail can be so piercing that it shatters glass.

banshee in folklore

In Irish folklore, banshee appearances range from old women with long hair and red eyes from all their crying to red heads in green dresses and gray cloaks. Strangely enough, the size of banshees can also vary from region to region with some saying banshee are unnaturally tall to others saying she is exceptionally short. The keens and wails of a banshee are seen as warnings to tell someone a member of their family has died or will die soon. A banshee would also keen if someone was going to enter a situation they likely wouldn’t come back alive from.

There are also similar spirits in other cultures:

In Scottish folklore, there is a being known as bean nighe (or ban nigheachain or nigheag na h-àth) a woman who would wash the bloodstained clothes or armor of those who would soon die.

In Welsh folklore, the cyhyraeth is a ghost that moans before someone’s death. According to legend, the moans sound like the groans and sighs of someone deathly ill and sounds three times as a threefold warning for the soon-to-be deceased.

banshee in media

Now if there is a faerie you will often see in media, it will be the banshee. However... it isn’t ever as a faerie. No the banshee is often categorized in shows like Charmed as Demons who feed on the pain of others, dangerous ghosts or aliens in games like Castlevania and Mass Effect 3 to people who just have supernatural connections to death as showcased in Teen Wolf.

As such, you can’t really take everything (or to be honest, anything) as serious fact about them in those medias as they’re so far removed from their faerie origins that they’re essentially different beings that just shriek at their intended targets.

But, out of the few examples I mentioned... ironically enough, Teen Wolf comes close in regards to the screams Lydia produced but we can get to that in the UPG section of the post.

upg

Before we really start, one thing I’d like to clarify is the misunderstanding of the words ‘herald’ and ‘harbinger’. Nowadays they’re used in the context that it means ‘bringer of’ and as such, people tend to wrongly believe that banshee purposefully bring death to those they keen for. The definitions for these two words are:

Herald:

noun

an official messenger bringing news.

a person or thing viewed as a sign that something is about to happen.

verb

be a sign that (something) is about to happen.

Harbinger:

noun

a person or thing that announces or signals the approach of another.

a forerunner of something.

Banshees are not bringers of death, they are announcers of death. Their keens and wails only announce when a death is on the horizon. It’s a message, not a cause cause of death. That is a very important distinction.

Now that we’ve gotten that clarification out of the way, allow me to tell you more about these fascinating faeries.

From my experience, those who would work best with banshees are death witches. It already goes hand in hand and you will have mutual understanding of each other’s work. Of course this isn’t a requirement to work with banshees or be the companion of one, but you must understand their part in the cycle of life and death and be respectful of that. To accept a banshee in your life is to accept all of them, not only the parts you find palatable.

They also don’t tend to be involved in Court politics. That honestly applies to most death-related faeries. Death comes for us all and as such, no one is above it. Therefore, it makes sense that there’s that things that entities related to wouldn’t get caught up in such a thing.

As for deities, I do wish to mention two in particular: The Morrigan and Clíodhna. If you know anything of the second goddess, you will know that in addition to being a goddess of love and beauty, Clíodhna is also referred to as the Queen of the Banshee and you will find plenty of banshee that follow her. But in my experience, there are also plenty of banshee that follow the Morrigan, a goddess with many aspects including the cycle of life and death. Considering banshee as a species, it makes sense why there would be a good handful that follow either goddess.

In the case of some, they were women who had tragic deaths that were then turned into banshees usually be a high fae or a goddess, usually one of the aforementioned deities. But there are banshee who are born, not just created.

I’ve personally only ever interacted directly with banshee that work with the Morrigan, however, so I cannot tell you much about Clíodhna-affiliated banshee except for hearsay and the hearsay I do know is very limited.

As for additional information on banshee, even by fae standards I feel like the fae affiliated with the Death Court can be quite elusive and mysterious. They have their secrets rites and rituals and the best way to find out about those are on your own and getting to know them yourself. So I’ll only talk about things that are more general and I feel I am allowed to share here.

I’ve met banshees that only keen for specific families and others that don’t. In the case of banshees who do keen for a specific family line, from what I understand if their family line dies off with no descendants, they can be given a new family line or they can herald the deaths of various individuals. It’s up to her preference.

Banshee also work in tandem with dullahan, the headless horsemen of Faerie. A banshee announces the upcoming death of an individual or individuals with her wails, screams and keens which is heard by a dullahan. When the time of death arrives, the dullahan is the one to summon them to the afterlife by calling their name.

Should the death be something on a grand scale, it isn’t strange to see multiple banshees come together to announce it. There are different family lines that could be involved in a scenario like that. I can’t really comment on the holy or great thing in folklore, that could be the influence of Catholicism or just something I’ve never witnessed or even both.

As I mentioned in the previous section there were a couple things that were accurate to banshees in Teen Wolf, however few (ignore my nitpicks, I do love Teen Wolf as a show). Banshee screams and wails can be used if necessary to defend a banshee from harm through stunning the offender to damaging their ear drums. Banshees in general do have different calls that can be used to communicate with each other across distances different meanings, though I can’t delve into all the specifics.

As a species, despite how they may seem from first glance, banshee are quite peaceful and kind. I personally always feel at ease with members of the Death Court and I would say they are tied with selkies for the kinds of fae I work with most. They’re an empathetic race and one I’ve talked to says she believes they cry more than even water fae.

Banshee are very loyal to their own and those they care for, their friendship is something you shouldn’t take for granted.

suitable offerings

The disclaimer here is that these are general offerings that most banshees should like. Should you ever find yourself working frequently with a banshee or find yourself the companion of one, there could be other things that they specifically like or dislike. But you usually can’t go wrong with:

bones (ethically sourced of course)

dirt from a cemetery

gems that are affiliated with death witchcraft like amethyst, onyx, lapis lazuli, etc [here is a post on it]

how to gain the attention of a banshee

1) old fashioned offerings

2) astral travel

3) spirit attraction spell

I’m not a promoter of conjuring or otherwise, forcefully bringing a spirit to your vicinity. Think about it like this: you’re at a wedding. You’re best friend in the entire world is getting hitched to the love of their life, and you’re among the audience. You’re welling up with emotion and pride for your friend to have made such an important milestone in their life when… Suddenly, you’re not at their wedding anymore.

No, instead you’re looking at some random stranger who summoned you to their home who say it’s because they’re interested in working with those of your kind. You wouldn’t be too happy about this, would you?

Not only is conjuring or summoning bad for the entity, it can be bad for you if this entity isn’t easily forgiving of being torn away from their personal life to your home and you can end up paying the consequences for it. Instead, I recommend a spell that attracts entities to your home or if you’re sufficiently prepared, astral travel it up.

[puckish-rogue-archive-deux]

I've been thinking a lot as of late about Django's skill set, and the almost nightmarish reality of the type of violence and destruction he's capable of committing all on his very own. I'll probably make this into a more structured and proper HC post in the future. But for now, I just kinda want to ramble about this for a second because I don't think I've really had the opportunity to fully display just what kind of a one-man wrecking crew/army he is.

Talk to anyone who's a fan of SR and takes pride in their own version of The Boss, and they will tell you what sort of aspects they really lean into when depicting them in writing, art, or anything remotely creative. For me, aside from wanting to really explore the whole idea of a customizable character and that disconnect from most people, I really leaned into the more violent aspects that make up the character. And that's because when you stop and think about it, the sort of things that The Boss is able to accomplish throughout the original series—at least on their own—is really fucking astounding. And even more so terrifying.

You can make the argument that the original iteration of the Saints wouldn't have gotten to the point they did if The Boss hadn't come in and just carried the load, and got their hands as dirty as they did. Which isn't to say that everyone else wasn't pulling their weight. But it's clear to me that anything that was remotely significant was handed off to this random kid who got swept into the gang life. And when I apply that to my portrayal, Django starts to come across as almost relentless whenever there's work for him to do.

Said relentlessness can also be applied to how he handles the work he receives, or really, any sort of task at hand. He is goal-oriented. He is focused, despite what he may lead you to believe. A plan may fall apart and make it seem as if you need to go back and reconsider your approach. Not for Django. He will finish the task at hand by any means necessary. Even if wanton destruction is left in his wake. He is the human equivalent of the nastiest hurricane you could ever imagine. And he's got the body count and property damage to back that title up.

Let's talk about violence for a second. The guy loves it. Fighting in general gets his blood pumping, and his adrenaline spiking higher and higher. He is a sick freak that enjoys hurting his enemies and fighting tougher opponents just to better his own skills. Whenever he REALLY starts to get into a fight, I would equate it to a dog being let off a leash and getting zoomies. He's basically frenzied, and more than ready to put someone down if it comes to that.

And when I think about that kind of attitude, plus the way he can seemingly go through wave after wave of enemies, it really begins to paint a picture of what that may look like to an outside observer. Or hell, anyone for that matter, regardless of what side they're on. Like, it wouldn't surprise me if, as the years go on, people just made up ghost stories about the guy. Sure, he's prolific as hell. But you can't imagine what kinds of things he gets up to whenever there isn't a news camera on him. Plus, I would think that with everything he and the gang have accomplished, that anyone in the big leagues—whether it be in the criminal underworld, or from law enforcement—would take heavy consideration as to how to approach the guy given what he's able to do.

We're talking about someone here who has not only toppled several different gangs with varying degrees of influence and power, but gone up against cops, SWAT teams, the FBI, and even people who are as close to the honest-to-god military as possible.

I really don't have a proper way to end this because it was meant to be a long ramble in the first place. But man, I don't know. There's just a lot to consider about what Django's reputation would be throughout the world in his own canon. And this also goes for crossovers, AU's, all sorts of things. His penchant for violence is something that will be on full display no matter what the playing field may be when writing the guy. And I just hope people keep that in mind whenever we plot stuff out, or just have discussions in general.

[kamenstranger]

Batman: Caped Crusader Review.

Well, I didn't expect to be reviewing another cartoon so soon but I forgot this was still happening and here we are. So much like X-men '97 I will be getting into spoilers, even some finale stuff. But it's nothing you probably wouldn't already know. Like is saying something along the lines of "Harvey becomes Two-Face" or "Selina becomes Catwoman" really a spoiler? Still, if you want to go in completely clean then I'll give short spoiler-free summary: It's fine. It's good, even very good. It has enough going on without being overly reliant on nostalgia, though a lot concepts and ideas that never made it into TAS are used; which is obvious in some episodes like 2 and 8 which honest to god feel like lost episodes (sans the obnoxious references in 8.) But even a number of other episodes feel like they could've fit right in.

Likewise, the animation is simply lovely and feels like an appropriate continuation of the DCAU while also working as a throw back to TAS with its use of shadows and art deco design. They even have a film grain effect that looks shockingly good; uplifting the show's late 30s early 40s aesthetic by adding some literal grit. I've seen numerous productions go overboard with adding grain in post, but Caped Crusader keeps it very subtle and is probably the best you're going to do with a modern production. Frederik Wiedmann's score also complements the atmosphere, adding that quintessential gothic noir vibe. The entire soundtrack is on youtube and is well worth listening in isolation.

If I had one compliant... it's that Batman is the weakest and most underwritten part of the show. Regardless, the show has enough quality elements to make it worth a watch.

However, if you're interested in leaning more about my thoughts, hit the jump.

Let's start with some background information. Contrary to how it seems, this isn't nor was it ever intended to be a prequel to TAS-- at least that's what they say. It was originally a sequel to The New Batman Adventures before transmogrifying into another 30s-ish setting and using abandoned episode concepts from TAS along with completely original works. A number of episodes at the very least feel like they were written with a prequel mindset, and the final shot of the series was absolutely conceptualized as lead-in to TAS and is begging for the Walker Theme to kick in. But despite how much this could work as a prequel with just a few tweaks, I think making it disconnected was the right call. For one thing, with Conroy gone I don't think you could ever make something that leads into that very specific version of Batman, it wouldn't feel right. Secondly, it allows the series to stand on it's own and not rely on TAS as a crutch; even if comparisons are inevitable with the period setting and Bruce Timm's designs. Additionally the tone of the series is right in line with The Animated Series, only slightly darker and never going overboard just to be considered "adult." Characters say damn, people die, sometimes there's blood, the occasional gruesome character design, some stories are super pulpy and even have a slower pace than what they would've done on network TV for Y7+. But otherwise this would've fit fine on Toonami back in the day and the option to go darker is there should the story demand it. I will admit I'm a bit of an easy mark for this, particularly the heavy pulp elements that remind of The Shadow and The Spider.

On that note, Cape Crusader is a bit more basic in terms of setting and scope. I'm using "basic" loosely because there are still some eccentricities like Gentleman Ghost showing up, but outside the one supernatural aspect-- and an umbrella cannon-- there's nothing too crazy. No Freeze guns, mutant plant ladies, robots, Lazarus pits, mind controlling cards, airships etc. Clayface might be the one other outlier, but even that's just a guy who can change his appearance, not a big clay monster who can form a mace hand. I'm perfectly fine with all of this. We've already had a vintage Batman series that did all that anyway, so why not do something a little different and keep it simple? In maintaining that simplicity, most of CC is episodic with a larger narrative sprinkled throughout: Ruport Thorne is slowly taking over Gotham and begins trying to leverage Harvey Dent who is running for Mayor. That's it, that's the main plot. The more nitty-gritty parts largely center on relatively self contained adventures around the trio of Lawyer Barbara Gordon, GCPD detective Renee Montoya, and Therapist Harleen Quinzel.

It's a decent compromise between how involved modern shows have become sprawling season long stories while still maintaining the appeal of a self contained case in any given episode.

Of the three, Barbara (Krystal Joy Brown) has the most active role throughout the entire run and is arguably the main character of the show. She's compassionate about people, her clients, criminals and their circumstances. She has a strong balance between someone who is optimistic yet not naive, although still young enough to not have the harsher experiences as her father. This allows a contrast between her and Gordon's world weary, almost Black and White POV. In fact, her willingness to hear people out and consider alternatives leads to her establishing a form of contact with Batman before her father.

Renee Montoya (Michelle C. Bonilla) is about on par with Barbara in playing an active role in the series, albeit almost always work related for obvious reasons. She's a consummate professional, brilliant detective and the only trustworthy cop outside Gordon. That last part is particularly note worthy since it actually gives Gordon a reliable subordinate and not just Bullock. She has solid chemistry with Barbara and there's a lot of untapped potential with her and Harley. And hey, nice to get little bit of the two dating and smooching. Speaking of, Harley (Jamie Chung) is surprisingly prominent in the first half and I love how they handle her. She's legit intelligent and even knows there's something up with the public perception of Bruce. She's quirky without rehashing the whole bubbly blonde routine, she's delightfully flirty with Renee and she's also fucking demented. Oh yes, Harley is already cracked, but in a curious way where she's not exactly insane but clearly has a dark side she indulges. Honestly? Really neat to see a version of a character not influenced by Joker. She's still a Harlequin, of course, but much more traditional and I love that we don't waste time going through an origin. She just uses her therapist profession as a means to hash out her idea of justice against clients she can't reach, often mind breaking rich jackasses who refuse to better themselves. Harley assigns them personalities and forces repetitive tasks or absurd tortures. In a cute little meta nod she's responsible for creating the persona of King Tut, a character originally created for the '66 show, just as she was a creation for TAS.

I also have to mention Chung's voice acting, which the VA in the show is great all around, of course. But villain roles always get to stick out, and this is a prime example. The shift between that very intelligent caring quirky woman to… what I can only call an analytical seductive manipulator and abuser, well it's just wonderful. We've had so much of bubbly Quinn and silly crass Quinn that this version is so refreshing and one of the most pleasant surprises out of the show.

There are other characters outside the trio, but I simply don't have much to say about Gordan, Flass, or Bullock. The VA is impeccable, as previously mentioned; I love Eric Morgan's Gordon, Gary Anthony Williams' Flass and John DiMaggio's Bullock. Perfect casting. But character wise they simply serve a role and I don't have much to say about them. Gordon is, well, Gordon trying his best among a corrupt department full of people like Flass and Bullock. Flass himself is brilliantly sly and Bullock is a slob who does all the dirty work. I will say that even if I don't have much to go into with them, I do appreciate how much Flass and Bullock are featured and how effectively they're utilized.

The only major reoccurring character left to go in-depth on, outside Batman, is Harvey Dent; ironically voiced by Brave and the Bold Batman, Diedrich Bader. Harvey is… odd in this series. He's a dick headed "tough on crime" sleazy DA who is self interested in becoming Mayor, no matter who he has to steamroll to get there. On one hand it is an interesting angle; a man of once upstanding morals slowing eroding them to gain political favor with the ultimate goal of proper reform-- assuming he even has any left by the end of it. There is an inkling of a great idea in the political process of Gotham grinding you down, bringing out your worst, makes you compromise too much. The system changes you, not the other way around.

The issue is the tragedy of a good if flawed man giving into his worse impulses doesn't entirely work due to the simple fact we hardly see a good side to Harvey. No signs of a different better person underneath or who he used to be before DA. The show only gives Harvey one very minor scene of empathy and moral upstanding before his disfigurement, so he kinda goes from jaded cynical asshat to homicidal asshat. To give the show credit, that is in part the intent. We don't like Harvey all that much but still feel bad when we see how sad and broken he is, all because he finally did something good and he's punished for it. The episode dealing with the aftermath of the acid attack is really solid at showcasing his slip into insanity and drawing forth pathos. In a bubble it works beautifully; A man who was already breaking, even if they didn't know, now thinks everyone is out to get him. Almost every invasive thought is acted upon. They also don't make Two-Face the default or more common of the personas, it's a lot of back and forth. Harvey is relatively calm one moment but suddenly becomes violent the next. Hell, he even has moments of clarity and great remorse not only for his actions as Two-Face but as DA. The episode is handled very well and Bader is selling the hell out of it. I just wish there was more before that change, a little more to like about Harvey Dent. Bruce was friends with this guy and from an audience perspective it's kinda hard to see why, Harvey is a shit head, an absolute knob. I dunno, Batman is kind of dick in this so maybe there's something to be said there? But even so, his dynamic with Barbara is FAR more engaging and nuanced than with Bruce because Barbara has more impactful scenes and is the direct opposite of the same coin. I kinda wonder if the stuff with Bruce was something shoved in at the last minute because they felt they had to. Which I guess that finally bring me to Batman, who you may have noticed I've talked very little about in this Batman show up until now.

Batman is a boring wet white rice motherfucker with barely a character arc and almost no connections to the main cast.

Oh sure, every episode has Batman doing things that move the plot along, provides some very minor characterization or some plain 'ol detective work which is fun to see. But even when he does investigating, finds a clue, confronts a villain etc. it feels lacking because his interactions with the rest of the cast are severely limited and sporadic.

Batman himself is integral to the show, but he's more like an anchor for the rest of the cast who have far more captivating screen time and better defined relationships. Babs is friends with Harley and Renee, Harley and Renee are dating, Renee works for Gordon, Barbara is of course Gordon's daughter, Harley has a brief stint as a consultant for the GCPD, and Harvey works opposite Barbara. These people flow into each others stories, converse, have opposing or similar ideologies to make stories around. Batman lock picks and punches things. I mean, Christ, he doesn't have a friendship with Gordon because this is long before that, he treats Alfred like a valuable tool rather than family and he has more empathy for Nocturna in a one off episode than Harvey over the entire season. I'm serious when I say I think the friendship was tacked on, because there's a line in ep 6 about Dent's biggest donors pulling out of his campaign, implying Bruce never gave any money. Maybe they could've made an entire subplot about the Batman aspect taking so much priority that he ignored Dent's troubles until it was too late. Have Batman learn a lesson about balancing the personas and how Bruce Wayne can be equally useful in aiding Gotham-- and the consequences of forgetting that. Maybe even intersperse flashbacks to a younger Bruce and more optimistic and likeable Dent to show why and how they became friends. This could've been done in a two-parter just like how Robin was handled in TAS.

For the instances the show does put a spotlight on just Batman it's simply going through the motions. The best we get is Bruce Wayne attending therapy sessions with Quinn, which is a great concept ultimately wasted on flashbacks of Bruce's childhood I've seen a dozen times over and maybe should've been used to explore his relationship with Dent.

Another reason why this Batman is so bland is because there are almost no sympathetic villains, which you've probably gathered by now. Harvey in the last episode and Nocturna in ep. 8 are the only two that fit the criteria (And frankly Barbara does more to help Harvey.) But everyone else? No tragic backstory, no victim of circumstance, no injustice, and no chance to showcase Batman's greatest attribute. On paper I understand what they were going for; this is an early Batman attempting (and sometimes failing) to be emotionally walled off. He's in the background, he needs to learn to open up and temper his anger. Midway into the season have something drastic happen to shake his resolve (endangering Alfred, of course)

By the end of the series he begins casually referring to him as Alfred rather than "Pennyworth" and he's established connections with Barbara, Jim and Renee. I don't dislike this slow burn, I enjoy seeing Batman's humanity slowly seep through. The series has a lot of great little moments where we see that happening, like Batman chastising Barbara for being reckless right after she saved his ass and a friend of hers is assumed dead. She's going through a lot and Batman clearly doesn't know how to processes the situation, he doesn't know how to be comforting.

There's also a great scene in the finale that I'm pretty sure was a giant middle finger to a certain director. The problem is the entire season is doing things like that. Sure we get growth for the character, but that's grueling for a 10 episode season. Maybe it's just me, but I'd kinda like to be more invested in the title character before the season finale. But as is so often the case with streaming we're limited to just 10 episodes per season. It's... so tiresome spending an entire run getting Batman to a state where we can actually tie him in with the rest of the ensemble cast and show some goddamn empathy. I realize rushing through this could result in the opposite problem, but this once again leads to me pointing out, as always, the stories writers want to tell are too big for these gimped 6-10 episode season the modern streaming has pushed on all of us. You know the first season of The Animated Series was a whopping 65 episodes? I probably wouldn't be talking about this problem if we even had a quarter of that.

I do want to stress this is no fault of the performance, which I know is going to be on everyone's mind. This is a problem with writing, the limited episode count, and possibly Zaslav not seeing enough blood in his stool before dumping this production onto Amazon. Conroy alone wouldn't have been enough to elevate the more shallow aspects of Batman's character, it just wouldn't. The writing for Batman specifically is very by the numbers at best. If this was material that fell flat because of Conroy's absence that would be one thing, but it's just bland characterization from the get go and no amount of nostalgia, art style, or iconic voice work will cover that up. It's kind of funny because the show is enjoyable by in large, but the title character is the weakest part. I wouldn't be surprised if a great deal of the mixed reception was because of that. "Batman is the worst part of a Batman show" is a perfectly valid and damning criticism.

That said, I do want to praise Hamish Linklater, the poor guy's got his work cut out for him, being in the Shadow of the Bat, as it were, and he does a fine job. I can tell it's not Conroy, obviously, and sometimes it sounds like a mix of Brave and the Bold with New Frontier Batman where I'm not sure if he's trying to do an impression or not. But midway through the series it starts to get really close, there are even moments that remind me of Conroy's performance in TAS' Two-Face two parter, glimpses where Linklater almost has the softer tones down pat. And his Bruce is damn near spot on. I hope he stays on as a voice for Batman and gets more opportunities as the character, he could potentially become to Conroy's Batman what Matthew Lillard is to Casey Kasem's Shaggy; It's not the same, but goddamn do they do a fine job capturing the tone and vibe while being a fine performer in their own right.

But they have GOT to give him better material because this Batman is sorely lacking in the things I love most about the character.

Speaking of, I don't want to spend too long discussing the second season (Which it is getting) but I have concerns there. The big one for me is foreshadowing that Alfred is keeping a secret about the night the Waynes were shot. I HATE when they over complicate the murder and try to make it something more like a targeted hit, or the court of owls or some other stupid shit. That's the one major thing I hate in The Batman movie is them muddying the waters with a perfectly good victim of circumstance story-- although it's kinda worse there because they wouldn't even fully commit. But I digress. I do not want the shit with the Waynes more complicated than it needs to be. If Alfred suggested a shortcut and he feels responsible for their deaths, sure, whatever. That's simple enough to add some character drama without going overboard. But it's probably gonna be the big overarching story next season with secret twists and- blegh. Honestly, I think I'd rather just have stand alone episodes without a running narrative thread; just have the characters and their dynamics developing and that be it. The show is clearly better when it's just that. But alas, modern streaming.

But with all that said, I still liked the season well enough. As I said at the beginning, the series is good to very good. I love the atmosphere, I enjoy most of the character and the cast, the self contained stories are solid and there's plenty of potential. But next season I need Batman and the villains to be more interesting, let Linklater give a sympathetic performance for fucks sake. If Season 2 is just more of the same, I'll clock out.

Still, I guess anything is better than say Harley assaulting Nightwing... Or the Killing Joke. You know what, there's a blurb of recommendation for Caped Crusader: "No weirdo awkwardly shoved their fetishes into the story." So check it out.

[hellcifrogs]

Okay. alright, I needed a separate post to go in detail, because now I'm pumped! BTW I only quickly looked up the bijuus’ references to have some guidance, so they might not be all exact, I also went a bit by their appearaces alone.

Unfortunately I can’t fit the number of tails, but this is a great excuse for me to ramble about these lovely myths to anyone interested.

Ichibi Shukaku, the shapeshifting tanuki - I might be probably forgeting some, but I decided to go with an animal I like. It kinda matches how bloodthirsty Shukaku was in the begining, but it’s a bird instead. Matinta Pereira is a little owl (sometimes mistaken or also described as a potoo) that brings the news of death. Sometimes it takes the shape of a witch, other times is an old man seeking petty regenge. Another nice detail: since both tanukis and kitsunes are somewhat tricksters, the Matinta is actually sometimes related to the creature I chose for Kyuubi too.

Nibi Matatabi, the cat ghost - The obvious here would be to go with the Alma-de-gato (Cat soul) which is literally a shadow or spectral cat that appears to haunt children who misbehave, silently staring into their souls with (literal) burning eyes. Totally fits and I’d be happy with it. BUT if we take what looks the most like the beast in the series and just overall vibe, I’d have to go with Boitatá. Nothing to do with cats, just a giant fire snake with its body covered in eyes. This myth is actually closely related to the will-o'-wisp so many times the fire is made blue

Anon says “Boitatá would make a fucking awesome bijuu let’s be honest” and that is true! Boitatá IS one of my favorite myths for a reason! Not only it looks badass the legend says the snake protects fields and forests from anyone trying to set illegal fires by blinding them, or driving them into madness or just straight up killing them.

Sanbi Isobu, the sea demon - Here I picked the Ipupiará who’s basically another sea demon, though more humanoid, kind of resembling a mermaid, but more of a walrus shaped one. There are multiple stories and creatures similar to this one, but I like the older and more murderous version for this. Option TWO is another one of my favorites (another giant snake, of course it’s another snake): Boiúna, the black snake. A huge, river long, pitch black snake with flame red eyes, that just scares anyone living by the rivers by sinking ships or straight up swallowing them. Neither of these has any moral or motivation, they’re just beasts.

Yonbi Son Goku, the monkey king - For this one I went with the idea of an “Imposing monkey-like creature” and got: Mapinguari, this huge, smelly, man devouring monster. These monsters, mostly known in the amazon region, easily stand at over 2 meters tall, sometimes depicted with a single eye in the forehead and with a huge mouth full of razor sharp teeth stretching all the way to the bellybutton. They attract the prey by screaming like desperate humans and deceiving people to go help. To have this one as a source of power is nice, but wouldn’t be nearly as respectable as the original.

Gobi Kokuou, Hanging horse head and ghost whale - Okay so a horse. that’s easy: Mula sem cabeça, literally a Headless horse, with fire coming out of its neck. This one is widely known in the country so it has many MANY variations, but the shape is what matters here, so ‘only head horse’ for ‘no head horse’. Not sure how to fit the whale ghost part :(

Rokubi Saiken, the shellfish ogre - Alamoa! I’ve been told not many people know about this one?? But searching for this shellfish ogre, the wiki description fits quite perfectly with the Alamoa. She is a storm (thunder? lightning?) ghost, who appears on stormy nights dancing naked in the beaches of Fernando de Noronha. She is very pale and with near white blonde hair and attracts fishermen with her beauty and treasures, only to trap them and turn into an skeleton before killing them.

Nanabi Choumei, a rhinoceros beetle - This one was surprisingly hard, but let’s go with a simple one: Minhocão (literally big worm). Huge worm like creature living in rivers or underground that also goes around sinking ships. I would also take the ‘lucky seven’ joke and turn it around by using Caapora (out of the numerous names, this is the one I’m most familiar with), who is said to bring bad luck! Caapora can be an angry little girl, a creature with red skin and hair or even a cyclops, they ride a boar (queixada) and cause depression and bad luck to whoever meets them.

Hachibi Gyuki, the cow demon - Immediate choice: Boi Bumbá (with many name variations). It’s an annual performance/celebration telling the story of death and ressucitation of an ox. There’s a lot of dance and colorful outfits involved so it makes for a nice visual for a magical beast. BUT I also remembered a more regional one called Boi Vaquim: a winged bull with golden horns and diamonds for eyes that spits fire. How badass is that?

Fun fact: ‘boi’ is the actual portuguese word for bull/ox, but in native tupí language ‘boi’ stands for snake so we have the snakes boitatá and boiúna.

Kyuubi Kurama, the kitsune - Absolutely NOTHING to do with foxes, but I’m going to pick Saci! Simply for the trickster nature. Sacis are probably the most famous supernatural creature in brazilian mythology. They vary in shape (can be human or have goat horns and beard or bird foot), size (from tiny little fairies living in flowers to 2m tall with scales and claws), power (can create small tornadoes, grant wishes, spoil food), nature (they go from harmless and inconvenient pranks to kidnapping children and beating up animals to death), but the base look is of a pitch black humanoid creature - most times a black boy - with a single leg and red pointy hat. Option two for visuals: Maned wolf.

[man-tittiesmwah]

Xiaolin chronicles is trash. Here's why:

First of all, it acts as if it is a sequel/continuation of showdown. The only clue we get of that fact is the monks ranks, the fact that it is clear that they already know each other and the conversation about a new monk joining in. But then there is the scene of Jack freeing Wuya(why did they change the means of her imprisonment? Actually, why was she a ghost at all? When they show the possibly future monks the hologram of Wuya's imprisonment, there is no mention of the monks capturing her again. And if they did, wouldn't they keep her somewhere safe? Didn't they learn from the last time?). I am sure there are more plotholes, but I I only watched this in 2017(that's when it aired in my country).

Another thing that bothered me is the lack of originality for the characters personalities. Let's be honest, in essence, xiaolin showdown wasn't all that original, there were the good guys fighting the bad guys who either wanna rule the world or rule and destroy it just because they are evil. But it did a great job handleling these characters, that's what makes the show special.

Firstly, Ping pong had no purpose beside being an incorporation of the element wood, an actual element in chinese mythology. That's it. My guy is so unimportant that he doesn't even have his own desing or personality, he is just omi #2 but nice.

Oh, and Omi..... He's my second favorite character in showdown, but I just can't stand him in chronicles. He used to be cute and his moments of saltyness were pretty funny. Here he is just insuferable, he is rude, extremely jealous for no apparent reason, his ego has its own gravitational orbit and I think worst of all, he treats dojo terribly, even tho he is shown to really care about him in showdown ( also, treating him as a maid is uncharacteristic for omi out of all people, he is very serious about chores and is shown to don't like it when people do his work for him).

Jack just became a punching bag, it's not funny anymore.

Master Fung is useless, he dips when the monks need him the most. Dojo crying for him got old really quickly.

That's kind of this show's entire problem. It took things that used to be funny in showdown and overused it until it became annoying.

Chase became just a stereotypical bad guy. I was on the verge of tears when i saw the new desing of his lair. His relationship with Shadow or whatever that was supposed to be was weird af. He overall became the wrong kind of creepy. He used to be the mysterious guy who killed thousands of people, incinerates towns because he cans and wants to, tried to eat dojo and has cannibalistic tendencies kind of creepy. Now he is the "nice guy" you don't want to meet when you're alone at night kind of creepy (that's the best i could come up with).

Where tf is Hannibal?

Why can't i remember one sentence from the secondary antagonists (tubbimura, katnappe)? (not counting that weird episode when jack becomes good and they cheer for him)

Why did they waste Shadow? She actually had potential. I'd much rather see her become her own character than watch whatever tf was going on betwen her and Chase.

Why does the episode "Chase lays an egg" exist?

Why did they whitewash Wuya in her human form?

Tigress woo or whatever is boring, don't even make me get started.

Where tf is Master Monk Guan?

Why wasn't Jermaine the fifth monk?

Why give Chase a new backstory that makes him look even weirder? ( bassically, he bacame evil because a girl didn't want to date him) His original backstory was perfect to show how similar him and omi are, they both seek to be something grand, but want to achieve it by walking on different paths.

Ok, i think this is all, if i remember anything else i'll make another post. Good night🫶

[freneticfloetry]

hi courtney! @reyesstrand here on my main blog ajdnskd but for nice ask day i’d love to know about to build a home…what was the writing process like? any little tidbits you want to share about it? it’s one of my absolute all time favourite fics, so anything you’d want to share would be amazing <3 also!! i saw your ask where you mention you saw hozier and i’m seeing him on tuesday (!!!) so any hozier songs you feel speak to the lone star characters/relationships the most?

Hey Maddie!

First of all, hugs and kisses to you for all your kind words on to build a home (here and in feedback). I’m so glad it struck a chord.

I’m not sure what else to say about it, to be honest! Um… okay, there were four scenes in my original outline that I cut. Well, three scenes cut and two others combined. Very early on there was a scene at the honky tonk the night TK and Carlos met, sort of the tail end and aftermath of their first hookup and Carlos deciding that he needed to see this boy again, even if it meant breaking his rules and bringing him home. I never even started that scene proper — once things got flowing it made much more sense to just refer to that in the scene following, after TK stormed out on the date. Immediately after that one was supposed to be the scene when Carlos finds out Iris is alive, which got the axe for two reasons: one, I really didn’t want to write Michelle, and two — more importantly — I needed Iris to stay a sort of ghost for Carlos until he’s forced to unearth all that later.

Chapter Two pretty much proceeded exactly as planned, with the exception of the post-fire scene at Owen’s — that was just supposed to be Carlos laying in the dark and sort of inside his own head, reflecting on all the things he lost but the one thing he came out with being the only thing he couldn’t bear to lose. But TK sort of stormed the castle. I was chugging along, and all of the sudden, I’d typed that he’d woken up. It was literally like he said “my baby’s hurting, he needs me.” Which was cute, but not the plan. 😂 Still, I was really happy with the conversation that emerged.

Chapter Three, though… well, like mother like son. Not only did TK go rogue again, so did Gwyn, with the whole “future” talk toward the end of their conversation. The post-Cooper scene was originally post-Sadie, but it was too raw and too soon for TK to have processed things in a way that would have let him have that talk with Carlos (who would’ve been too freshly-mired in his own guilt, at that point, instead of adrift and unsure in Cooper’s wake). Switching it was definitely the right call, for me. The We Need to Talk About Iris of it all had huge changes in the moment, because once I started the scene, even though I had a plan, I wrote one line in particular and it unlocked everything else. Going over it with @ambiguouspenny, I thought they were going to have a meltdown. But in a good way! The hospital scene threw me a curveball, in the form of tying up a loose end from the first chapter, so that’s how Dom happened. It derailed the original plan for the first half of that conversation with Gabriel — he was going to tell Carlos that his abuela had always called him such a homebody, that after he came out he couldn’t leave home fast enough, and Carlos was going to confess that he’d sort of detached because he wasn’t sure he’d have a place under their roof after everything, that he had a bag that lived in Iris’ trunk for months, because it was better to be ready than to be blindsided — but I actually like the detour better. There was a scene planned immediately following — the boys coming back to the loft from the hospital after Marjan’s whole ordeal, where TK tries to convince Carlos to take the detective exam — but once I finished the scene before that was the easiest cut ever. It would’ve derailed all the emotional momentum from the scene before. And the wedding and wedding night were supposed to be two separate scenes, but halfway through the hospital scene I randomly got the urge to combine them, and I really love how it turned out.

There are a few lines and snippets that didn’t make the cut, one piece of dialogue in particular that inspired a whole new fic. (Also there was an extended exchange during the move-in scene, with Carlos’ crack about the exercise bike, that kind of went something like this:

TK: “Seriously, how does a guy who looks like you own zero gym equipment?” And then, like a little lightbulb: “Oh my god, you were that kinda gay.”

Carlos: “There’s a gym at the precinct, TK.”

TK: “And I’m sure that’s what you use now.”)

So basically… the writing process was chaos. I guess I had things to say after all! 😂

Second, YAY, A HOZIER SHOW OF YOUR VERY OWN!

Re: Hozier speaking to Lone Star characters and pairings, why yes, don’t mind if I do.

I think there are a bunch of things that fit, actually. Tarlos and Francesca are clearly a match made in heaven, but First Time has hella TK vibes, both Shrike and Sunlight are Carlos as hell (though the former fits TK too), and I, Carrion (Icarian) fits for both Tarlos and Judd/Grace, from TK or Judd or even Grace’s perspective. From Eden is such a Judd-about-Grace song, as is NFWMB, but I think Would That I is his truest theme. Better Love could be Judd or Carlos. Unknown/Nth is my Breakup Era Carlos Anthem, and As It Was fits for TK during that same stretch. I have too many feelings about Movement to even nail down who it belongs to. All Things End feels like it would work well for Owen and Gwyn, and I’ll be damned if Arsonist’s Lullaby isn’t Owen’s buried anger issues to a tee.

I won’t even get started on individual lyrics/verses (but “I get along without you very well some other nights” and “be still my foolish heart, don’t ruin this on me” is the most TK Strand shit ever).

Not that I’ve thought about this at all. 😜

(Oh my god, this was an utterly unhinged answer, I’m so sorry.)

[ornstein]

For the character ask game Ryuzo (who else lol): 3, 4, 8

3. Least favorite canon thing about this character?

I'll be honest, I may not be completely happy with the answer because I feel like could be explaining more. I feel like there's definitely an underuse of him in the game, which, as a whole fails to create more depth. This is not only a problem I feel happens with Ryuzo, but with many of the side characters too. Missing scenes that make it seem like his decision to join the Khan was easily made after his men were captured and fed, or wondering what kind of vibe there was within the Straw Hats before the invasion. Weren't it for the Open The Gate moment, I think he wouldn't have had half the appreciation he's gotten (tho he's definitely not the most popular character other than Jin, not even in the jp fandom. Actually, in a poll Norio was the winner in that one), and since that is a crucial scene, making players become attached to him and to sympathize with him. I was pretty surprised when I learnt that this scene wasn't even part of SP's initial script. I don't know if SP had planned more content for him and Jin and it was scrapped completely because the final product was nearing the limits of their budget, or if they didn't have anything extra planned. Surprisingly though, his betrayal in Kaneda castle was pretty different in the original storyboard, and I'm glad they changed that one.😂 I know you're aware Life After Phasma released cut content of the game, which included some background info about Ryuzo, but I wonder if SP discarded that because they didn't like it, or thought it was just not important. I don't know what I would have done if I had full control of the game. Probably developing an entire game about him and making the studio go bankrupt because it would not generate enough funds because Jin is not the main attraction this time and/or the story would suck. Wish I could be wrong, though.

Something I feel a little meeeeh about is how Jin in one of his hallucinations in Ikishima is showing bitter resentment about having trusted Ryuzo, and then it ends like that. This I would appreciate more if it was delved into, like how his trauma with Kazumasa is explored and explained throughout the dlc, until he kinda gets to "heal" from it. In the post-credits, Ryuzo's betrayal and loss feels like unfinished business for Jin, a trauma not yet healed. And I hope this gets to be explored and established in the next game. I'll be disappointed if Ryuzo isn't ever mentioned once in the sequel, to be honest.

4. If you could put this character in any other media, be it a book, a movie, anything, what would you put them in?

Definitely Lies of P, which I have an AU for.

Ghost of Tsushima as a soulslike would be pretty awesome, too.

8. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you despise?

Despise is a very negative word. I'll tone it down as just being something I don't quite enjoy, personally. One thing: when people make him too likeable and extroverted for my taste. He is probably not that likeable, deep down, let's face it. (Tho I'm guilty as charged for making him a questionably amazing hugger).

Also, there seems to be a general establishment that he's a top in his sexual dynamic with Jin. Well, I think he is a just pillow princess with an inferiority complex.

[chattegeorgiana]

Hey Chatte hope all is well! I saw your special Narusakra comic and your most recent post on IG showing off the Crown of the Sun for Sakura. Can’t wait to read & see how she gets there. I saw a lot of awesome pieces for NarSaukra day so I want to thank you and the rest of the community for keeping it alive.

I have been rereading Kaika and the chapters 11-13 so far are my favorite. I’m excited to how you are going to make the aliens/gods work and to be honest you have done a better than the canon. As for everyone’s favorite snake sanin I’m interested to how he ends in the plot. While personally I didn’t care for him be a “good” guy in canon in the present. He will always be a creature of habit and self serving. So I’m excited. Also a headcannon I thought of regarding him and Shina’s Gen. He would be interested Shina the most compared to the U twins probably feed up with Uchilas in general. Also given the fact that he probably shoot’s himself for overlooking Naruto and Sakura originally for the more polished product in Sauake. Shina also looking and sharing personality with Minmato would be funny because he would take as Minmato ghost coming back and trolling him. Best part is Shina would have no idea how much his presence would be triggering for him lol.

One last point it’s a little something I wanted to share with you. So I used to live in this suburb next to Newark NJ, USA and in Newark there is this section called Forest Hills. This neighborhood is famous for two reasons one is its old fashion mansions and Branch Brooke Park, which has over 5,000 Japanese cherry blossoms trees planted there. They have their own cherry blossoms festival and everything.

Hiii dear, welcome back again to my inbox!

Glad to hear you liked the NaruSaku special and Sakura's Crown of the Sun art.

To be honest, can't wait to get there myself. I have sooo many interesting ideas about how she gets it. Too many even, lol. I finally got to understand what other writers were meaning when they said you will get to discard some ideas at some point.

In the beginning I was like naa, I won't be doing that. But with time the ideas developed so much, that I see no other way than to drop a few from the beginning or better said, reform some of them to fit the new, updated idea lol.

Also thank you for your kind words. It is my pleasure, and many other artists, I'm sure, to keep the community alive.

After all, it's just pure love for them and that's it. We're free of the shackles of canon, so yay for us!

Now, to get back to Kaika.

First of all, thank you once again for your compliments! I'm so happy to see you liked what - at least - I'm trying to do there with the Otsutsukis.

I believe that the idea with them was not bad. It's the execution that's problematic, imo. That's why I tried to take a different route with them, while still referencing the canon element. I will be referencing a lot of elements from the OG franchise, because I do like the idea. I just don't like the execution.

As for Orochimaru well... We have a here saying in my country that says the wolf changes its fur, but not its habits.

What I can say is that, that's what I'll follow. Narratively as well.

Because like you said, deep down, he's a creature of habit. Habits are our second nature. That's why it's not that easy to change one self and you first gotta change your habits.

In OG it is shown to us that Oro didn't actually changed his habits at all, he is just being let loose. Which narratively makes so little sense?

You tell me that the man who basically put in motion everything that we've been witnessing along the path of Naruto manga, is just going to be left to do whatever he wants because... he's a necessary evil?

That's not how you act with the necessary evil. You don't let it loose and just barely keep him under supervision, imo.

If anything, he's a "joker" type of character. You never know when he's gonna pop off the box to scare ya away with some machiavellian ploy.

As for your headcanon of him and Shina, well, there is a common element in there that we have. I can't say that he's fed-up with the Uchihas (after all, Uchihas were his obsession), but...

I have a certain idea in mind about the path I have with him and him overlooking Naruto & Sakura's family, generally, because well, Sakura Haruno doesn't come from any prestigious clan that could benefit his pursuits, right?

And yet, surprise-surprise, the ones you least expect are the ones who get to bring the biggest turnarounds.

The thing is, I have two routes I want to take with him in terms of his eventual demise and I'm undecided on which side to go with, lol.

One involved him and Tsunade and was kinda dramatic, and the other one involves NaruSaku family, ironically. So I really don't know which way to go.

Because all this will be happening in Kaika Shinsei's timeline, which I am yet to settle.

I guess I'll see after I finish writing Saisei how things evolve until then, so that'll probably help me decide.

And WOOW, thank you so much for sharing that piece of info with me?! I ADORE cherry blossoms.

I grew-up with them and other types of blossoms, so for me, spring blossoms, especially cherry ones, are very special.

Actually the city where I moved has some parks filled with

I dream of travelling to Japan one day and live the original cherry blossoms season experience. But until then I enjoy the wanna-be one from here haha.

ANyway, thanks once again for the ask. Hope you have an amazing rest of your time today/tonight. <3

[unrestricted-chaos]

Introductions are kinda important:

Since I haven't gotten anything edited and ready, I suppose I should introduce myself so my blog isn't just blank. I may have jumped the gun creating this without having a post you know ready... But I digress. Now let's see, I'm in multiple fandoms, actively and passively. There are ones that I only write, some I only read, a few that I do both [though to be honest if I write the fandom, I don't usually read it... I'm usually too distracted by the plot bunnies], and others that are from my younger days. The fandoms I started with when I was in my early teens I haven't interacted with too much, but still go out of my way to look through, even though they are small and some of the fandoms are just about dead. I read more than a dozen fandoms though, and write at least half of them. Most of my Arcane knowledge comes from my League of Legends days and the lore of Runeterra. I don't have netflix, and have only seen parts of the show. So nearly everything I write is Canon Divergent from that alone. That being said some of the things I have written fanfiction [or plotted] stories for in the past couple years include the fandoms of:

The Isle of the Lost

Graceling Realm

Naruto

League of Legends/Arcane

Ghost Hunt (Anime)

Devil May Cry 5

Stranger Things

Miraculous Ladybug

Batman

Fullmetal Alchemist

K (Anime)

That being said, right now I am writing quite a few different Timebomb fics and will be editing up a bunch that I wrote this month.

I think I'll probably post some drabbles here as well as some fics.

Now I do have a few rules for myself when I write going forward to post online. The first is simply that I do not want to post a multi-chapter fic if I do not have at least 80% of the story written down and half of that in edited format. I often get bad cases of the plot bunnies, and I will write more than I have time to edit. All of the time. The second is trying to keep a schedule for updates. I write nearly entirely for myself, and I will read my absolute bare bone fics all of the time without editing them, because I know my brain. This usually means editing is on the back burner. I don't want that. I want to be better at editing and have the practice since I also write original fiction in my spare time to entertain myself. I don't care to much for TV or Movies, but I do watch youtube sometimes, though it's not very often. I do enjoy reading and going for walks as much as I can. For anyone who has stumbled upon this introduction and read all the way through, I have a question, if you are in any of my fandoms, what your favorite ships?

-Eden

[titlemewickedwonderland]

Wonder I loooove your fics, every update on the manager series has me so excited! I'm curious do you have a favourite ghoul? In general, but also to write for? And do you have a favourite work of your own? Anything you're excited to write, or you want to? Small impromptu q/a sorry I'm just curious!

Hi friend! Thank you so much! I'm super excited that you like reading my work! It's always fun to write new things and being on a Ghost binge has obviously been a highlight of my writing in the last few months so I'm glad everybody is enjoying my work so much! I don't mind the impromptu questions at all! I love hearing from my followers and stalkers of my work and answering any questions you may have as much as getting oneshot requests! So, let's get to those questions!

Favorite Ghoul?: Hmm, probably from the majority of the fans out there I am a simp for Dew and Swiss alike but probably more Dew. But each ghoul has their own certain kind of essence they bring to the stage so my feelings jump all over the rainbow for all of them! (That also includes Phantom...he's starting to grow on me because of his similarities to Dewdrop)

Favorite Ghoul to write for?: Again that's a tough one because despite the lore being pretty open when it comes to the character's personas it could go so many ways depending on the lore caster you know? Dewdrop and Swiss is the easiest to write for and thus probably the most fun but it's interesting to try my hand at writing a little bit of Rain and Mountain too because not a lot of really known about them (Rain is too shy; slowly getting out of his comfort zone on stage and Mountain is stuck behind drums so he's a largely open lore to work with)

Favorite Work of Mine?: Well, that's a tough one, I write for many fandoms to be honest so I can't really answer that one straight off the bat; I could name one from each fandom I've written for but we would be here awhile so I'll just answer for the Ghost fandom works I've done. My favorites are in the top 3 that tally for my favorites...'Our Beloved', 'Mask Off', and even though this isn't exactly a series and came from a blurb that never made it into a story; a oneshot version of a blurb called 'The Debt' that was supposed to be a fanfiction idea that never came to fruition. It's a good one to read if you are looking for some good angst! (just bring tissue....box)

Excited/Want to Write: Phew well, that's a hard one too. Of course, I love writing Ghost but I may start dabbling back into writing for The Witcher, Supernatural, or even post some original work of my own if I ever feel up to it! When I started writing and posting my content I actually had started in Stranger Things and real life actor x reader oneshots so maybe I may stick my fingers in the cookie jar with that again, who knows?! Anything could happen! Maybe something will catch my attention and obsession and I'll start writing for that fandom next but until then...Ghost will hold highest tier right now! <3

~

Thanks so much for the questions and for wanting to get to know me a little more! Sorry if the answers weren't exactly decisive. I have a hard time picking favorites; it honestly really depends on my mood. Sometimes I need a different kind of comfort depending on the day and my favorites change a lot! I'm generally an easygoing person so I'm cool with just about anything! Thanks again and hope to hear from you again soon! Take care! Wonder out! <3

[mortallyclearwonderland]

A Christmas Carol adaptations

You thought it was weird we have 3 Pinocchio movies this year?

Now we have 2 A Christmas Carol adaptations. Spirited on Apple TV+ and Scrooge: A Christmas Carol on Netflix.

Streaming wars part 2 Christmas boogaloo.

Let me start this post by telling you, I'm a Christian I love Christmas and I love Charles Dickens's novel. I and my sister each have a copy of his book.

I'm not some religious freak that cries over there not being enough Christian stories or how the stories with those elements get censured or scratched. I love Disney's Little Mermaid even without her wanting to have a soul subplot. Its remake will suck all on its own.

What I am actually worried about is the desecration of a great novel.

I want to talk about the art of film making, both live-action and animated, is in terrible shape.

Unless the trailers are really misleading which is also the symptom and part of the problem.

Loud obnoxious orchestrated music and choir hyping you up for a fun and awesome adventure. Who cares if it doesn't fit the story or the scene?

Putting jokes, quips and slapstick.

Deep and emotional phrases (''you can't run from your past'') that boil down the whole moral of the story.

Ghost of Christmas yet to come who looks like the ripper. Have Scrooge slap him on the arm, call him a friend and be completely dismissive of him. It's not like there's a scary, emotional scene in just a second.

We can not have a second to take a breath, to take in the scenery, the atmosphere, or to look at the visuals because everything has to move at breakneck speed. People have no attention spans, don't you know?

Spoiling the whole plot of the movie in the trailer. I know most people probably know this story, but they don't know this version of the story. And just because something is an adaptation it doesn't mean it doesn't have to try to build up anything and expect you to like it like the original.

I'm going to make an individual post for each trailer and give my honest thoughts and reaction.

''You can judge it yet. It's just a trailer.''

I have this to say, that means it's a terrible trailer. I don't want them to spoil the story and show all their best visuals, jokes, and character development. But I want to know the feel of the movie.

When I watch those movies I'll tell you whether I liked them or not and if the trailers were honest or misleading.

My favorite is the 2009 version. 

The creepy motion capture one? Yes! The animation fits perfectly with the setting and the story. Ghosts look scary, Ebenezer Scrooge actually looks old (I get to it in another post), and London is dark and creepy and cold like winter. And Jim Carrey does a great job voice acting.

What's your favorite version of this story? Last time I checked there were 135 adaptations. And that probably doesn't include all the theater plays or episode specials of cartoon shows.

[sunsrefuge]

Hi, answer me 2, 5, 7, 14 and 15 for Khozzak. (from the gw2 ask meme, though I guess if you want to do song asks you can do those as well :D)

OH… UR FEEDING ME SO WELL TY TY TY <3 im gonna be honest. Im doing both <3

Under a readmore since I'm doing both, this is gonna get kinda long! <3

2. What class would your character just absolutely blow at?

Ranger! Idk why exactly, i just like to think that Khozzak isn’t… he’s not bad with animals necessarily, he just really doesn’t know what you… do with them??? Fjklsdjf I mean, his Jackal is a construct; his Warclaw is a construct; his Griffon… well, Hornet just decided that she really liked him and now she follows him around. She’s allowed to do whatever her little heart desires. He doesn’t know how to deal with animals so she’s the most spoiled little Griffon in the world ♥

5. What would they look like as the side character in someone else's story?

Still a Lightbringer for the Order of Whispers! He specializes in foiling enemy mesmers, so he could be a recurring character for shenanigans VS evil mesmers! :D In AU’s he isn’t the Commander, he actually eventually leaves the Order of Whispers and makes his own Guild! It’s made under a serious premise but basically turns into “thieves and minor criminals accidentally find a family in each other.” ^^

7. Do they have any skills or abilities that their class wouldn't normally have/just go about their class differently in some kind of way?

He’s always had a knack for connecting to the Mists, due to a weird incident when he was a kid that he doesn’t remember himself! In that sense, he’s a Revenant before they’re properly introduced, but was originally trained as a Warrior. He thought of his Rev tricks as just “putting his own flair on it” lmao.

Specifically during and post-Icebrood: He gets a kind of freezing dodge! I mean, he gets iced, and he acts kind of like a spooky ghost ability-wise for Icebrood Saga. Basically, he can now dash through enemies and freeze/chill them on his way through! <3

14. Biggest misconception about them?

hm… Probably, since that Level 70 fear story - that he’s easily foiled by mesmers! While that was true back then, he doubled down and took to studying mesmers as well as he could to make sure that he never made such a mistake again. So, while the general public probably believes that mesmers are his main weakness, they’re not anymore! >:) Now he’s become their weakness! It’s my favorite bit because when I first played story with him, I… somehow picked every single story step where mesmers were out for your head. I have no idea how I managed that, but it gave him a vendetta Lmfao.

15. What is their favorite and least favorite part of being the commander (or whatever role they play in your canon)?

His favorite part would be that he gets to travel! He always meant to when he was younger, and just never had the time because he was taking care of himself and two sisters. His least favorite part… learning that enemy mesmers are the actual worst. :) thinks about that Level 70 fear story again, where you get tricked into murdering your own troops <3 "he had such a great time! it was so fun!" i said, you know. like a liar.

-- SONG ASKS -- These only go up to ten, so i did 2, 5, and 7!

2. a song lyric to describe their love life?

Love, let my love inside go free.

Free by Mother Mother

I like this one, because it’s right off of his playlist and specifically highlights how he has trouble expressing emotions a lot! His childhood was a rough one, where it was better to hide your emotions rather than show them in any form. Spending most of his teenage years and adult life in the Order of Whispers, where he was taught how to hide them further, definitely didn’t help him learn how to express himself at all! It’s all in there, it’s just… having trouble getting out somehow. :’) It’s okay though, he figures out that people really like home-baked bread and stuff, so he starts doing that and giving it out to his friends and all aksddfgkj (He makes Qlikk’s favorite cookies at least once a month ♥)

5. a song lyric to describe their physical appearance?

Look around. Leaves are brown, And the sky, Is a hazy shade of winter.

Hazy Shade of Winter - Epic Trailer Version by Hidden Citizens & JAXSON GAMBLE

Okay, the specific version is because that’s what’s on his playlist! ^^; But yeah, he’s icey now! <3 Also this is just a really good song for Icebrood Saga stuff !! It’s very dramatic and the second verse always hits me with Bjora Marches for some reason:

Seasons change, with the scenery. Weaving time in a tapestry, Won’t you stop and remember me?

7. a song lyric that would comfort them when they’re sad?

Fill my cup with endless ambition, And paint this town with my very own vision.

Machine by Imagine Dragons

Does smth that helps you get up and get moving again count as comfort?? He’d count it as comfort !! i dont have a lot to spill for this one i think - but! There are themes in the song that are very “I’m going to prove my own individual worth, whether you’re pay attention or not” kind of themes! Khozzak lives to spite his dad Lmao

[pencil-for-a-dog]

Stalk a kid, summon the king, save a... bat?

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Category: Gen

Fandoms:Gravity Falls, Danny Phantom, Batman - All Media Types

Relationships: Danny Fenton & Dipper Pines, Past Mabel Pines/Danny Fenton, Danny Fenton/Dipper Pines if you squint

Characters: Dipper Pines, Danny Fenton, Bruce Wayne, Original Characters

Tags: Mention of Death, Crack, i think, Ghost King Danny Fenton, Magic Dipper Pines, Witch Dipper Pines, Curses, magic is weird and complex, summon circle, Cultist, Cultists, I wrote the most of this in two hours in a comment in youtube, You have the same context as I do for this, Swear words but they're censored, I do not speak english nor had a beta for thisit's a warning, I almost forgot, Eldritch Danny Fenton, BAMF Danny Fenton, Danny Fenton is a Little Shit, Italics are meant to be use, This fic will be edited in a future

Summary: To be honest Dipper didn't know what he expected when he decided to follow Chad, (He lies, he expected some minor cult or even a sacrifice) but it wasn't this, seriously.

Or:

As I wait here I'm gonna write a fanfic in English even though it's not my first language and post it in the moment I get a notification, or even ended it, it's gonna be a gravity falls (Edit: it became a crossover with Dc (and Danny phantom, what have I created???)) one, why not? let's go.

...

(-1 hour mark... I have been writing for a whole hour, guys it's like 1 a.m I'm not sure how many times I will be here.... Ugh, I shouldn't have put discord notifications off)

...

(-2 hours mark, i don't know what the heck I'm doing, it's two a.m and everyone is asleep. This fic is about to get weirder because I forgot that I had Batman in it and I'm about to do something stupid. It's so long that this started to get lagged, send help)

[ao3feed-brucewayne]

Stalk a kid, summon the king, save a... bat?

by Pencil_and_paper_writings

To be honest Dipper didn't know what he expected when he decided to follow Chad, (He lies, he expected some minor cult or even a sacrifice) but it wasn't this, seriously.

  Or:

As I wait here I'm gonna write a fanfic in English even though it's not my first language and post it in the moment I get a notification, or even ended it, it's gonna be a gravity falls (Edit: it became a crossover with Dc (and Danny phantom, what have I created???)) one, why not? let's go.

...

(-1 hour mark... I have been writing for a whole hour, guys it's like 1 a.m I'm not sure how many times I will be here.... Ugh, I shouldn't have put discord notifications off)

...

(-2 hours mark, i don't know what the heck I'm doing, it's two a.m and everyone is asleep. This fic is about to get weirder because I forgot that I had Batman in it and I'm about to do something stupid. It's so long that this started to get lagged, send help)

Words: 2913, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Fandoms: Gravity Falls, Danny Phantom, Batman - All Media Types

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: Gen

Characters: Dipper Pines, Danny Fenton, Bruce Wayne, Original Characters

Relationships: Danny Fenton & Dipper Pines, Past Mabel Pines/Danny Fenton, Danny Fenton/Dipper Pines if you squint

Additional Tags: Mention of Death, Crack, i think, Ghost King Danny Fenton, Magic Dipper Pines, Witch Dipper Pines, Curses, magic is weird and complex, summon circle, Cultist, Cultists, I wrote the most of this in two hours in a comment in youtube, You have the same context as I do for this, Swear words but they're censored, I do not speak english nor had a beta for this, it's a warning, I almost forgot, Eldritch Danny Fenton, BAMF Danny Fenton, Danny Fenton is a Little Shit, Italics are meant to be use, This fic will be edited in a future

source https://archiveofourown.org/works/42501588

[sunriseverse]

For the fic writer asks: 2, 3, 4, 7, 9, 10, 13

2. Where did you first post your fics?

i actually spent years writing fanfic by hand because i didn’t have an email address to set up an account to post my writing with (probably for the better, since it was all quite bad by my current standards), but once i did i started off with ffnet—though my account there is in permanent hiatus and i don’t cross post anything anymore, and have a permanent “find me on ao3 at the same username” section in my profile, and it’s not just because the UI is terrible.

3. What was your first fandom?

i was going to say warriors, but then i realised i actually got into guardians of ga’hoole a year before i read warriors, so that’s the answer i guess. despite how flawed the books are, they hold a special place in my heart. also, seemingly post-apocalyptic owl society with magic and armour fucks. (i also got into the swordbird series years later, to no surprise, for many of the same reasons.)

4. A fic of yours you think is underrated?

probably daymare! it’s very short, and i mainly wrote it as a thought exercise, style experiment, and exploration of a dropped canon thread, and since it’s not shippy or about the main cast of the REST of the series it hasn’t gotten much attention, which i think is a shame because i, personally, think it’s quite good.

7.What's the best title you've come up with?

i’ll be honest choosing titles is one of my two most hated things about posting fanfic, so titles don’t stick with me too much (i usually cannot recognise my own works based off title alone). but i guess ghost rhythms isn’t a half bad original title when you consider i mostly steal from poetry or lyrics.

9. Do you read your own fics for fun?

yeah sometimes. i tend to enter a fugue state when i write so i genuinely don’t remember what i’ve written very well, especially after a few days, let alone weeks or months. my writing is decent so i tend to enjoy rereading it when i stumble across it again in a tag.

10. Do you post WIPs or wait until you're finished writing to post?

depends. most of what i write are oneshots, even if they tend to be 5k+, so i wait until i have the entire thing written before i post. on the other hand, the few times i’ve actively written multichapter fics, assuming they didn’t get abandoned, i usually just post update to update and don’t bother trying to write everything out before i post, because then i just get pissed and bored waiting. that said recently i’ve gotten into actually outlining my multichapter projects and, what would you know, it’s actually really helpful! and necessary for sunrise specifically, since it has so many moving parts.