#obligatory this is not a vague disclaimer

[kotoyin]

are we all, as a com, perhaps coming to terms with the fact that we're probably better off at least briefly plotting before jumping into interactions?

[guideaus]

i feel like a lot of people see anime as a cringe childish thing, but i really do think getting into it as an adult where you probably have standards and can judge what's good or not is the best way to choose something to watch

[starrybouquet]

how many things would I accidentally block if I just filtered the words "ba'al" and "dc" and "washington"

[sammygender]

personal opinion here but i dont actually like trans eiffel as a headcanon at all and i can never understand why people insist on it. its not THAT common but i still see it show up quite a bit and like sure normally i’m all for trans hcs but i also wish thought was put into how they fit for characters. this is such an irrelevant rant i’m not even going to tag it because it’s not like it’s harmful or anything it just bugs me. its so stupid. he canonically fathers a kid with kate like sure they could both be trans etc etc but that’s obviously not the implication in canon & he’s such a particularly Cis deadbeat dad & obviously prison is sooo much more complicated for trans people which it canonically isn’t for eiffel & i don’t GET it what is it about eiffel that makes people want to attach this status to him. is it just because he’s annoying?? cause he is annoying

& idk i just think it ties in in general to the w359 fandoms tendency to treat canon & canon life events for the character like an unimportant factoid that doesn’t have any real bearing on hcs. and to treat hcs like things which wouldn’t have any bearing on canon!! like sure there’s stuff you could play around with but no one wants to do that he just gets headcanoned as trans or whatever for diversity points. IDK it annoys me this is SUCH a stupid post i refuse to tag it but…. i think personal hcs are cool especially when it’s people projecting their own identity etc etc. im just nitpicky and annoying. BUT. ughhhhhh. maybe this is just an issue i have w trans hcs in general. or with eiffel in general….

like… like it or not eiffel is written to be a white cis guy

[captainjonnitkessler]

The second you start talking about some mysterious "they" that are controlling society in some fashion, you are engaging in dangerous conspiratorial thinking even if you're being woke about it. "They" did not institute the 40 hour work week specifically so you would be too tired to revolt. "They" did not invent the sleek minimalist aesthetic in order to crush the spirit of art in the common people. "They" are not pushing mediocre media into the mainstream in order to poison people's critical thinking skills.

Your best case scenario after that is you talk to someone who actually knows what the fuck they're talking about and you get embarrassed because you can't answer basic questions about your own ideology because you never learned anything past "the ruling class/capitalists/politicians are making things bad and if we got rid of them the bad things would all go away!"

Your worst case scenario is obviously the woo-to-fascist pipeline and you end up believing Jews are poisoning American food supplies with GMOs in order to turn us all into beta cucks, so like . . . maybe just stop blaming "them" before you fall down that route.

Obligatory round of disclaimers: Yes, sometimes people do bad things. Be specific about exactly who is doing what instead of ascribing it to some vague group of shadowy elites. Yes, sometimes things in society are bad. Learn to identify the root causes of complex social issues instead of assuming that they're actually extremely simple to fix and we're just not doing it because of some vague group of shadowy elites. Yes, minimalism isn't for everyone. Learn that some people don't share your tastes and get the fuck over it for the love of god.

[freak-accident419]

weren’t we the stars in heaven

Billy (Burn 2019) x GN!Reader

Part 1 | Part 2

Summary: After a couple days after the confrontation, Billy finally feels ready again.

Word Count: 2.4k

Content: 18+ MDNI, smut, TW: implication of past SA, fluff, angst, vague descriptions of smut, flashbacks, can be read as a stand-alone, Billy gradually regains his sexuality throughout time, affirmations, lovemaking, cuddling, gender-neutral reader

Disclaimer: I tried my absolute best to approach this topic delicately with respect and sensitivity. My intention is not to romanticize or glamorize this topic, or offend or disrespect anybody, but to tell a story.

“Wanna listen to your hands soothe

Listen to your heart beating

Listen to the way you move”

-

You could easily recall the pensive look on his face when he told you that he wanted to try again. It was practically engraved in your memory, actually; desperation, yet with an underlying expression of fear and reluctance. So then, it all began with obligatory reassurance. You ensured that this was what he really wanted, that this was for himself. That he was ready.

Truthfully, Billy had been grotesquely devoured by his own, devastating guilt, feeling stuck in the stomach of his trauma. He felt so broken, every time you kissed him, every time he had to stop your hands when things got too far for him to handle before he would get another flashback. And yet, he wanted it so badly. He wanted to feel good again, he wanted to feel things so badly, like how everyone else could, like how he was able to in the past, so easily. He missed it. The feeling. The feeling of you. Being able to orgasm. To think, before everything, he was free to feel comfortable in his own body, to take off his pants around you so easily. Broken. That’s what he felt he was. That’s what he thought he was. No matter how much you told him he wasn’t, giving you a small nod and a smile to reassure you, he never really believed it.

The two of you made gradual progression. You made sure to take things slow, at Billy’s pace, tending to all his needs. He even recently pleasured you. Either with his hands or mouth, or even toys, but never once his body. He loved pleasing you. Indubitably, it turned him on, but he just… he couldn’t. He felt envy sometimes, towards you. Towards everyone. He so badly wanted everything to go back to normal. To feel normal again.

It’s not like he changed. There was nothing wrong with him. He wasn’t broken to you, he wasn’t abnormal to you. He was perfect. He was your love, the same person you fell for since the beginning. But that could never get through his head. Not after everything.

So tonight, as he kissed you in his arms, his heart raced as he hesitated to communicate what he wanted. He was just sick of it. Sick of everything, sick of having an incident hold him back from the pleasure he so dearly deserved. And so, he told you he wanted it. That he felt ready.

And it was all so very simple at first. Your lips kissed his trembling ones gently, grazing against his at first until he captured your lips back with the same delicate motion. Your hands cupped his face as the kiss slowly deepened, Billy’s hands grasping onto your waist and helping you up on his lap. Really, Billy was terrified. He didn’t want to make so much progress just to break down again and sob in your neck. It’s not like he could control his emotions and his trauma, but he was absolutely sick of it. He wanted this. He felt he needed this.

“I love you,” you could recall to yourself murmuring to him as your lips left his to leave tender kisses across his face, pressing them against his forehead, his cheeks, and the tip of his nose. “So very much.” You hear him let out an angelic giggle, prompting you to throw your arms around his neck, pressing your foreheads against each other and looking deeply in another’s eyes. You swore you could count each other’s eyelashes and every stroke of color in each of your irises. Your eyes marveled at the detail of his very faint freckles, sprawled playfully across his nose.

You whispered sweet mumbles of reassurance in between each kiss and touch, letting him take the lead however, to grant him the liberating feeling of control. It was easy and pleasing to Billy, this part. You had always kissed him so lovingly, and you had always giggled so much for a reason he still didn’t know. There was a fair amount of theories, of course: you felt giddy, or you felt ticklish, or you just thought that the mere action of kissing was silly. Either way, he loved it, your sweet laughter. It ultimately grounded him, especially after the incident. All his worries in this moment would temporarily dissipate from your euphoric voice.

You let out more sweet, reassuring giggles as you kiss his neck, making him feel giddy. You were going to go at his own pace, so you waited for him, being patient for him and letting him know that you could wait as long as he needed. You never knew exactly what happened to Billy, just small fragments of the memory. You would never know how he truly felt or what he went through, so you wanted to be as sensitive as you could with him. Asking him questions relentlessly and making sure he was okay with everything.

He wanted you to strip down first to feel more comfortable about being naked himself, and so you did. Lifting off your shirt, you cupped his face and smiled at him, telling him how amazed you are by him before taking off your pants. You whisper to Billy that he can take as much time as he needed, and he nodded, looking at you with pure infatuation and love.

You told him that you would still love him most ardently, whether he would go through with this or not.

He finally lifted his shirt off, shivering slightly from the cold air conditioning of the new motel room. You leaned in and kissed his lips softly, and you felt his giddy smile against yours. “You are so beautiful,” you whisper, letting out breathy chuckles after as your eye contact remains. “My good looking boy...”

You kissed him softly on the cheek, then his jawline, trailing down to his neck and hearing him chuckle as you knew how ticklish his throat could get against your mouth. You’d covered his neck in breathy, open-mouthed kisses.

You watched him hesitantly reach for his pants, beginning to unbuckle his belt. Billy felt a pang in his heart and his whole body sort of freeze. Suddenly, the warm lights in the room turned into a fluorescent blue and he could feel his own hands on his belt replaced by hers. To you, he looked deeply uncertain, so your hands cupped his face, rubbing his cheeks with the soft pads of your thumbs. His eyes looked into yours in wonder, and you gave him a sad, yet reassuring smile.

“It’s okay,” you nearly whisper, continuing to stroke his face with your thumbs. “I’m here. It’s just me. It’s just you and me, Billy.”

He nodded with a temporary smile. And you felt your thumbs become slightly wet from the single tears that left each of his eyes. Billy had always been so vulnerable with you. You were the only person he could feel his feelings around. He felt solace in your touch, and he especially felt very small under you. It was you. He’s loved you for years.

“Hey… Look at me. Look at me, baby,” his face was held by your hands as you encouraged him. Billy didn’t feel comfortable to even look down at himself as he would undress. He’d feel too ashamed or afraid. It was clear he wasn’t fully ready for everything yet. You weren’t even sure if he’d let you touch him yourself. But it didn’t matter at all. In this moment, you’d take things as slow as he wants and only do what he feels comfortable with. You were going to work with him through this, every step of the way. “I’m here,” you say. The lights in the room were no longer a bright, buzzing neon blue as your soothing voice pulled him out of his trance.

It definitely took a while for him to finally get his pants off. Unbuttoning his jeans and unzipping them had ended up being a very slow process. His boxers, even longer. But you waited for him, undoubtedly. He requested that the lower half of his body was to be covered by the sheets, however, and you complied lovingly.

You were laying on your sides, the two of you facing each other, giving him the exact control that he needed, the thick sheets covering your lower halves. The lights in the room were a warm, nourishing orange, not too white or blue at all—contrary to the irritatingly fluorescent atmosphere of a convenience store, yet not a completely pitch-dark black either.

“Are you sure you want this?” You whisper silently against his face. The atmosphere was silent. Just the two of you breathing softly, apart from the occasional words. “Because you can back out any time if you feel the need to, just say the word, and we can stop. I love you.”

Billy nods, interrupting each of your thoughts with a deep kiss. “I—I do, I want to do this…” he answered confidently, despite his stutters. “I love you more.”

Your hands were on his face as your lips connected, and you let out a small gasp against his mouth when you finally felt him inside of you. It was that warm, fuzzy feeling that was so familiar to you, something you never thought you’d feel again so soon. And you just remembered how much you missed it.

Billy let out a deep, breathy inhale as he entered you, gazing into your eyes to remind himself that he was just with you. That he was safe. And you felt so good around him, so warm, and just… god, so safe.

His hand went towards the back of your neck, and he could feel your racing pulse against his thumb. Even if it was technically yours, it wistfully reminded him that he was alive and breathing.

You felt his coarse, yet gentle hand move down to your thigh, slightly grasping it to move it on top of his for a better angle. The calloused pads of his fingertips tickled your skin as his hand finally moved your leg, wrapping it around his hips to bring you closer. It reminded him so much of your times together before, the simplicity and easiness of chasing pleasure without fear or pain. He was with you, how he’d always been before.

You giggled joyously, kissing his lips so lovingly, and you could feel the blissful grin on them against yours. His hips moved slowly as he thrusted inside of you gently, and it was a satisfying feeling, pleasured sighs leaving your mouth. Before, Billy had been pleasuring you in other ways for the time being, but nothing could beat the feeling of him being completely inside you, filling you up entirely. You missed it indefinitely.

As your lips parted, you saw him smiling, sniffling slightly, accompanied by glassy eyes. You brought your thumbs to the corners of his eyes and wiped away any tears.

Billy nearly laughed them off. “I’m—I’m just,” he sighs, chuckling. “I just missed you. The feeling of you. And just… feeling good like this again.”

You kiss him once again and nuzzle his neck, burying your face in the crook of his shoulder. “You’re doing so amazing, baby…” Your breath quickens as the feelings begin to become more intense. “So good… So proud of you, my love…”

Your arm wrapped around his back, holding him into your embrace as he continued with his slow, easy thrusts. Your hand rubbed his back soothingly, and the two of you gasped with every rush of pleasure. You tightly shut your eyes and began to moan louder as Billy’s pace slowly increased. His grip on your thigh tightened as he grasped it firmly yet lovingly, making it easy for him to move you against him. Soon, your hand found his, and your fingers interlocked very sensually, holding each other’s hands as he made love to you.

Billy wanted to straight up sob. He wanted to start screaming and crying, to let all of his feelings out. It felt so good, you felt so good. He missed this feeling so much and he never thought he would feel it ever again. You were so gentle with him, so sweet with him, your burning love for him nearly melting his heart and entire being.

The night proceeded promptly. Soft, yet loud cries of pleasure escaped both of your lips as you came together, Billy ensuring that he released deep inside of you. He felt incredibly ecstatic, so enraptured by the feeling of his orgasm and yours. He did it. He finally came. From what had been a lost, impeccable enigma that was taken from him, violently pulled right out of his trembling hands, had become something he could reach once again. He was amazed. He did it.

Billy stayed inside of you for a while as the atmosphere became silent, consisting only of your heavy breaths until he would finally pull out of you, leaving you to feel empty once again. He felt very safe inside of you, which was why he was so reluctant to pull out. The warmth and embrace of your body ultimately comforted him.

You kissed Billy deeply, spilling all your love and pride in it, making sure he knew how happy you were for him. “You did so well, my love,” you whisper, cupping his face. “I’m so proud of you.”

He held you closer to his body, embracing you warmly as you bury your face in his neck. “Thank you, baby,” he whispers tiredly. The lovemaking took most of his energy, especially as it had taken longer for him to actually cum, so he immediately felt a warm wave of sleepiness. But the next few hours would probably be the best sleep he’s ever had in a long time.

“Anything for you, my love,” you reply in a low murmur, pressing a short kiss to his neck. “You deserve to feel good. You deserve so much. I love you so much.”

“I love you too,” he softly mumbles in your hair.

It wasn’t going to be any easier from now on just because of this recent progression. Sure, he made a big step in getting his sexuality back and healing from the incident, but it wasn’t like he immediately recovered from everything. He’d still have to take things at his own, slow pace and there was no guarantee that he would even make more progress after tonight. Ultimately, however, it didn’t matter. You were always going to wait for him. You were always going to be patient with him. Because you truly loved him. More than anything in the world.

-

National Sexual Assault Hotline: 1-800-656-4673

Resources

[mortuarybees]

It's just kind of unsettling the direction Bridgerton is taking its characters it presents as nontraditional or on the margins or trying to figure out what their lives could look like outside the roles available to them that they either can't or don't want to fulfill; with penelope, I'm dissatisfied with penelope's ending in ways that are hard to articulate without doing a second viewing of the show focusing on her character, but it was a little jarring to cut forward to her with a baby having just helped her husband, who only accepted and saw the value in her actions after she received the acceptance of the queen and the ton, publish his memoirs, with vague plans to become a columnist both making friends with the ton and holding the powerful to account? Maybe? I also disliked the direction taken in the second half with cressida, it seems as if the show takes the sort of "her reasons for attempting to blackmail penelope and badmouthing the bridgertons were understandable but doing so was inexcusable," especially since she does ultimately get sent away and receive her "comeuppance" for daring to besmirch one of the most powerful families of the ton in an attempt to make an independent life for her. And I disliked the way eloise broke with her when she lost interest; not that it happened, necessarily, but that this is positioned as the correct choice and eloise's return to moral righteousness.

It seems Benedict's final conversation with Tilley is setting him up to fall monogamously in love with a woman unless they change his storyline, which isn't out of the question. I haven't read the books but if they follow how eloise's storyline plays out as I understand it, becoming a governess in an attempt to make an independent life for herself and finding she does actually enjoy the role of a mother and stepping into the premade role of a wife with children appropriate to her own age at that point as if she never missed a single step on the path of a lady's life she spent her whole life thus far attempting to circumvent; assuming, of course, that they don't change her ending either, but this romance arc seems consistent with the show thus far. It seems like the direction they're taking these characters is not actually finding how they can exist as themselves within the strictures of the life they were born into or forge a new life of their own but instead assuring them that they can in fact fit into the roles they initially rejected, not to worry.

Of course this is a very traditional romance anthology intended as wish fulfillment for straight women, but by also giving all the bridgertons full arcs outside their romances since several of them won't even have their romances introduced for several seasons, arcs that involve nonconformity and identity seeking, ending them with conformity and ultimate fulfillment in the very roles they were trying to find an identity outside of ends up feeling fairly hollow and disappointing.

I'm very interested to see what they do with Francesca's story, her widowhood and infertility and romance with a woman necessarily disqualifying her from this typical path, and potentially with cressida's if she is Benedict's love interest's half-sister since she will presumably return for that.

Obligatory disclaimer, these are my initial personal thoughts (as someone who does enjoy historical romance and romance as a genre) on finishing the season and do not represent a close viewing of the entire show or a reading of the books

[kissycat]

when did you start running if i may ask? i'm thinking about starting too, so if you have advice for a beginner i'd love to hear it 🙏

A few months ago, I think

In the beginning for a while I did it "wrong" and would run for ~20 min at pretty high speed, so I was exhausted after - this (running too fast) is how you should NOT do it, and I don't really count that time now because it didn't improve anything

I started consciously training when I found out that to build endurance you're supposed to run at a speed that doesn't feel exhausting, with your heart rate something like 65-75% of your maximum heart rate (which for my age is supposed to be ~200, so the target heart rate is around 130 to 150). Having a watch that shows my pulse was very helpful for me, idk how I would have monitored it otherwise - there's guidelines like "you should be able to talk while running" but that's all quite vague

For me in the beginning staying at this heart rate meant being VERY slow, so slow that I could almost have been faster walking, and in fact often taking walking breaks if my heart rate went too high. Honestly not super fun imo, kind of boring, but then I improved pretty fast and can now run at a constant speed without my heart rate going too high.

Then once youre at that solid point you can include stuff like higher intensity/speed intervals but I haven't really done that systematically yet. For now I'm happy running ~8 km slow af and trying to increase my distance...

Ig the key thing for me was that it's NOT supposed to feel exhausting, you're NOT supposed to be out of breath and then afterwards completely destroyed. That discovery itself made running much more attractive to me because I knew it from school as something deeply unpleasant (and forced), but you're really not supposed to feel like that. Just be slower if it does feel like that, even if it means barely running

One more note is that for me the beginning of a run often feels the most exhausting, when my body is kind of not in the mode yet and I'm like ughhh no way I can do this for an hour... But then once I settle into the rhythm it starts to flow.

Someone here recently recommended me the book "Slow AF Run Club" and I haven't actually looked into it yet but it sounded very helpful!

Obligatory disclaimer that I'm not qualified to give advice on exercise and this is just my own experience :) good luck! It has been really good for me on a lot of levels, but especially as someone who was extremely terrible at sports in school and failed out of running lmao

[xannerz]

100% rambling here but tbh i've known about cara for a while. atm i respect the platform enough, and the space it's trying to build for artists, but with all the chatter given the recent meta/ig AI bs-- idk. i don't like people treating it as the ai-free safe haven for Actual Artists when i'm seeing these 2 points on the site's FAQs. i feel like it's either being overlooked or there's a big game of telephone where people are urging each other to join b/c "oh finally! a space free of ai!!"

it's run by a creative for creatives and is supposed to be a space more hospitable towards artists' needs, but based on what i'm seeing it's still open to normalizing genAI ('ai art') to some extent. the language/attitude below seems contradictory or misleading at worst, and conveniently vague/noncommittal at best.*

overall disappointing because i personally don't think giving genai leeway -- even if there are filters or 'ethically sourced' datasets in place - should be normalized at all. i see it mention portfolios, but this type of approach is also putting the bar on the ground when employers are already undercutting artists and writers in favor of genai. someone can still gain momentum even if they're posting genai as regular posts.

i already see so many IG accounts that are nothing but genAi, but people don't know/don't care, and those posts get circulated here on tumblr. posting genai for discussion is one thing, but still providing some type of genuine platform is still feeding into the machines that are hurting artists (and, honestly, consumers, too!).

like okay, can't post genai in a portfolio, but i can still attract people and normalize genai use by treating my posts as a portfolio, instead. ik filters exist but i don't think that should be normalized (and we see how poorly they're moderated on artstation).

genuinely not trying to be a contrarian/split hairs, i'd like to see this platform succeed, but i'd like to see more of a hardline rule/statement on how genai would be moderated if posts including genai are just to be for reporting/discussion purposes.

*[insert obligatory ethical ai tools developed by and for studios to make their workflows more efficient are distinct from genAI content and media disclaimer here]

[little-mari-on-a-roof]

Along with the official airing of season 5 in France, TFOU released a version of Evolution commented by the writing team. Here's a little summary of what they said, since I know not everyone can speak French or has access to it! Obligatory disclaimer, this is my own interpretation and translation of what they said so take everything with a grain of salt!

Warning: spoilers for Evolution, one small spoiler for Multiplication and Destruction, minor vague spoilers for season 5.

The writing team with, from left to right: Sébastien Thibaudeau, Mélanie Duval, Frédéric.que Engel Lenoir and Thomas Astruc.

Firstly, as we can all notice the episode starts right where the season 4 finale left us. However, there is a slight change in the dialogue: Monarch's name only appears in the dialogue of Evolution so that Gabriel's villain name from season 5 wouldn't be spoiled in Strike back.

The scene is a parallel with the episode Origins from season one, where the exact same thing happened (Hawkmoth speaking via a big replica of his face made out of butterflies, our heroes telling him off and destroying the flying head), but by day.

This season has a different way of showing the episode name but also a very different naming system: they thought having the episodes named after the villain was a bit too spoilery at times so they decided to change that. The need to change the naming system was also reinforced by the fact that in this season, the story will progress way faster than before.

The rest is under the cut because it's a bit long!!

The season 4 finale and the first three episodes of season 5 all follow each other like if they were one big movie. Evolution, Multiplication and Destruction all start at the same time and last a second (at one point, they thought "in a moment of madness" about doing this for every episode of season 5 and thus to have it all happen in the span of one day but then decided against it). However, even with that they still didn't talk about everything that happens in that first second and so they will come back to it later at one point in the season.

They talked about the need to resolve the issue of the rabbit miraculous in the first episode: Fred joked about how fans would tell the writing team that they didn't think about the fact Hawkmoth was now too powerful and could just travel through time to solve everything.

It was a fantasy of Sebastien to have an episode where they'd go back to previous moments in the show. They naively thought it was a good idea because it'd be cheaper but they actually had to pretty much reanimate every scene. Plus having all the kwamis didn't help the animation team (although they'd make a good plushie collection!).

They talked about how in the episode, you can see Nathalie, who was previously always here for Gabriel and ready to help him, is now getting worried.

They talked about how much they love Bunnyx and Sebastien said he'd love to make a separate series about her. In the past, they've had warnings about her being too powerful and eventually "eating Ladybug". However, Fred said that was still left to prove and that the character was awesome anyway.

Thomas said they'd also been told to be careful about time travel since it can easily become too complicated, which is why they decided to make it simpler with a "cartoon course poursuite (a chase)" à la Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote, with the difference that the characters chase each other in time, and not in space.

They talked multiple times about one of the recurrent themes in the show, which is the distribution of power, and what having too much power does to you. Before this episode, it was mostly metaphoric but it's a bit more literal in this one. Indeed, you see Monarch struggling to manage all the miraculous at the same time. The first time he fusions a lot of them, he even gets caught by Ladybug's yoyo (Fred says "the first thing monarch gets for having so much power is almost losing"). They say they played a lot on that to show that accumulating powers isn't the solution.

Another way they did that was by showing Gabriel acting in a dictatorial way and not feeding the kwamis, which led to him reaching his limits.

Gabriel transforms a lot of different ways during the episode, so they had to find a way to show it with his costume without having him change completely each time, since it would've required a lot (9?) of 3D models that would have only been used once. Instead, Thomas designed the butterfly breastplate where each colour represents the power of one miraculous.

A fun fact they shared is that for each one of Gabriel's transformations, the writing team gave him a different name in the script, it was hard since they ended up with very long fusion names, and there's a hint to that in the dialogue of the episode when Chat Noir (Lapin Noir) makes fun of Monarch by calling him "Papi-lapin-tortue-abeille et je sais pas quoi d'autre".

During the scene which happens in a flashback to The Buubler (the one where they're falling down next to the Eiffel Tower) they mention that it is one of their favourite episodes.

They paused during the DJWifi kiss scene from Animan to talk about it more: they said that people wonder what happened in that cage and that Thomas has had the exact scene in his head for years. They'd like to fully animate and show it one day (Sebastien said it was their "ultimate life goal").

Some scenes happen at the same time and appear twice during the episode but filmed from different angles. Because of that they did a little shout out to the directing team: Winny, Cyril and Nicolas who made their ideas come to life. They mention them again later in the scene where Monarch is left alone in the S2 finale and laughs alone: the camera turns around him to show how he's lost his mind.

During the scene that happens during World War 2 and is a comeback to a flashback from a previous episode, they mentioned that Marianne was inspired by Fred's grandma who was a member of the french Resistance. Like a lot of women, she never got a medal, and they said that now, 70 years later she got a miraculous.

They said that Gabriel was technically not completely Monarch yet, but no spoilers!

They looked for episodes where they could show stuff that happened off camera without altering them, like the taxi ride from Reverser (which they called "épisode chouchou", aka their beloved episode).

They said that the scene with master Fu was a way to bring him back and that they cried a lot (literally) while writing the season 3 finale because they didn't want to let go of him. They said it was nice to bring him back along with the original miracle box to go back to simpler times where Ladybug hadn't yet lost everything. Plus during their exchange Ladybug says some key phrases that Fu will repeat later in time and allow him to trust her with something so important.

During the scene in the Louvre museum, they talked about how you can tell Alix's dad already knew what would happen because of the information he got from the future. They said the scene is very emotional because Alix is only 14 and has to leave all of her friends in order to save them and sacrifice her link with her present in order to travel through time. They called Alix exceptional because of her sense of sacrifice and Sebastien jokes about how it's nice the sound isn't too loud because he would otherwise be crying. They also said that for a while people were wondering how Alix got the miraculous and they had to find an unexpected way to show it. Even Alix herself is a bit confused because she leaves as Cannigirl and not as Bunnyx.

This scene also links back to the tone they try to have for the show, which is both fun and funny, but with a tragic side. In Evolution, the amount of time travel can make it a bit confusing but they say that what's important is that the viewer feels the emotion.

They then joked about the scene where Nathalie feeds the kwamis ("the plushies") which they find hilarious and about the fact that the lucky charm (here the tiny miracle box from the season 2 finale) seems obvious but they actually struggled a lot to find it. Sebastien says they spent 4 hours on that one.

They talked about the importance of Gabriel's choice in the burrow, which shows when he turns to madness and chooses his obsession with fighting Ladybug over actually saving Emily by giving her the USB key. It is once more a demonstration of how he is corrupted by power. They also joked about how if he had made the right logical choice they wouldn't have a show to write.

In the Gabemily flashback, you can see Gabriel giving Emily the peacock miraculous and leaving with her in what Thomas calls a "typical bridal carry". Sebastien jokingly tells him he'd like to know what they're going to do with the peacock miraculous (they stay very vague and neutral but to me it screamed sentiadrien 👀👀).

The team then talks a lot about season 4: during it, Ladybug also had too much power and responsibilities which made her leave Chat Noir to the side by distributing miraculouses to other people. He felt lost and left behind, like he became just one of her teammates instead of staying his only partner who she had a privileged relationship with, even though she didn't think that way and didn't realise it. In the season 4 finale, Ladybug realises that she's made a lot of mistakes. Despite that, the fact that Chat Noir stayed by her side made her see him in a new light and she sees his qualities and his loyalty. The writing team repeated a lot of times that Ladybug seeing Chat Noir in a new light will not be without consequences 👀👀. They said that Marinette was "internally boiling" when it comes to her feelings because on top of that, she realised that being in love with Adrien made her do a big mistake (when she confused him with Felix). With how much they talked, Melanie joked about how they should also do commentaries about season 4 (and now I want that too lmao).

They also mentioned that they rewrote the final scene from Strike Back multiple times, including after starting to write season 5. (They called that scene the "chevalier noir" or "dark knight" because it was the comeback of Chat Noir and his privileged relationship with Ladybug.)

They said that miraculous was not only about superpowers but also about superpowers of the heart. When Melanie says Evolution might not seem particularly about feelings, the others mentioned that "ever second of the episode" will in fact have big impacts on the future.

They added that they looked a lot for the proper tragic tone for the end of the episode. The scene is in mirror with the previous one: Ladybug and Chat Noir are getting closer than ever, meanwhile Gabriel and Nathalie are separating. Thomas kept saying she was "ruining him" because he sealed her fate (since she would've never used the broken peacock miraculous which made her sick if Gabriel had given his past self the USB key).

At the end, Lila witnessed the situation and the writing team says she's learned a very important piece of information that will be relevant for her rest of the season 👀👀.

At the very end of the episode, they laugh a bit when Gabriel screams "Ladybug!!!!!" with all the rage in the world, which is my cue to add in my french dub propaganda because the voice acting in this episode is insane, especially at the beginning and during the fight between Gabriel and Nathalie.

Lastly, Sebastien mentions that this episode doesn't have a "post posterpaint scene" but that there will be some in the following episode to end them on little cliffhangers and change the style of this season a bit (just like they did with the episode names).

[fellhellion]

obligatory disclaimer that this is not a vague about anyone following me but like. a Thing a notice a lot in fandom is people who are incredibly creative in their engagement with a story's worldbuilding, but who also seem to believe a lack of exploration into their particular favourite niche of that worldbuilding is like. an actual writing flaw. instead of necessary restraints to the scope and focus of a piece of art.

like im sorry but no, an indepth analysis of this fictional society's bartering system is not inherently the more useful element to explore the themes over our characters/plot etc etc.

[ozwuv]

I would like to draw more but I find myself overthinking it and then losing motivation. So, I was wondering if you ever had a similar issue and if so what do you do to stay motivated and not overthink?

Really good question actually!

What nipped the overthinking for me was just completely dropping the planning stage of drawing. I don't put much thought into composition, colors, etc. I don't have any solid ideas of how I want things to look before I begin. Obligatory disclaimer that this is from my perspective as a hobbyist and therefore not practical for an aspiring professional, & this is gonna sound like BS but hear me out lol

Most of the time the only things I have in mind are 1. What character(s) I want to draw and 2. A vague idea of the atmosphere I want the finished product to convey. And "finished" can mean a lot of things -- a messy sketch can be finished, a fully rendered piece I spent an entire day could be finished. A common pitfall people fall into is having an impractically rigid idea of what a "finished" drawing is and subsequently what they want their art to look like, all the bells and whistles etc, when realistically your art is never going to look exactly how it did in your head. But is that really such a bad thing?

I guess the overarching concept is to just fall in love with the process and enjoy the journey rather than the destination. This obviously sounds easier than it is in reality, but imo people focus way too hard on what they're producing rather than how and why they're producing it. Other people loving what you draw and praising it is wonderful, but if you don't enjoy the process, what was the point? Drawing (and I would venture to say most other forms of art in general) becomes a chore with that mindset applied.

A lack of planning may very well mean you wind up drawing a lot of stuff that doesn't seem interesting, maybe haphazard, difficult to parse, etc, but this is all your perception. It's cliché, but there is always going to someone out there that adores something you think looks like a dumpster fire, and that applies to the things you draw too. Over time, just doing whatever you want and enjoying the process has this trickle effect that will improve your output. In the same vein, constantly overthinking will also inevitably trickles into your output. You can often tell when someone enjoyed the process of something they drew vs when it was just a slog for them to get through (at least relative to their other works).

I would venture to say that you could spend your entire life studying and could be the most technically knowledgeable person about illustration ever in the world, but if you don't genuinely love the process, your work will never be as good as it could be if you did.

If you finish something and think it looks like shit that's always a bummer, but if you had fun with it, I think that was time worth spending. I've said this before, but most of the time I only truly dislike something I've drawn when I spent any part of the process frustrated with how it was going. It's counterintuitive, but I really think that placing so much emphasis in how you want the finished product to look is what ultimately is going to make it look like shit to you.

All that being said, once you do get past that initial overthinking phase, you can start to get more specific with planning and whatnot. The key is to just stop holding onto the idea of what you want and allowing things to develop as you go. Your art will naturally improve this way since you're actually enjoying it. To me, that's what people mean when they say they can tell something was made with love.

Side note: Let go of the need to be consistent/have a developed style. Just let yourself be inconsistent. You don't need strict consistency unless you're like an animator who needs to keep characters on-model or something. Experimenting is not only way more fun, but leads to improvement and discovering new things to implement into your process/style at large.

Tl;dr just get a lil silly w it :3c

[hahniana]

Obligatory disclaimer I only have vague memories of reading the manga when I was like 17 and watching a little bit of the anime when it first came out and recently only seeing some episodes as stand alones but Vento Aureo has always kinda felt carried primarily by having really fun characters. Which isn't something unique to Vento Aureo at all but I can't figure out why exactly it's had such staying power when it feels like that's the Only thing I remember it had in terms of appeal.

[ousamaduo]

What tf is Knights !! arc about, or also why are the kouhais essential to their general arc:

I wrote this as a thread on the bird app, but since someone is k!lling that app, I'm putting this here, with a few tweaks. Obligatory disclaimer that I have kouhais brainrot :)

1. The main !! arc

I've been guilty of complaining that Knights !! arc has been pretty vague, and yeah, it sorta was. The thing is, it was more clear to see how their arc went in !, because it was pretty simple: a bunch of individualists leaning to come together as a unit, and also healing together from their past wounds. But now that they've sorta learned to work together and have a new leader, wtf is their arc even about?

I'd argue it's exactly related to their cute new leader, but first I wanna talk about his cute new kouhais.

2. The kouhais

First we see them mentioned back in the ! arc, in Operetta, which happens in... April, in-game, if I'm not mistaken? Sometime in the Spring, for sure. That was the event that set off my kouhais brainrot <3

Ritsu and Arashi discuss how there are so many newcomers in Knights, that soon it will be as big as Chess was, and how worried they are about it. (They also have a cute moment where they call Tsukasa a miracle, which is sooo adorable, the way they love Tsukasa so much.... sobs).

The convo basically sums up their past arc (the War stuff, Tsukasa being the miracle that helped them heal and come together, etc), but also sets up something that's gonna be recurrent in their future arc: the amount of newbies they have, and how it affects the unit as a whole.

The very first time we see Knights in !!, even before they showed up in the Main Story, was the gacha story Meowsketeers, the first !! gacha. Which, surprise, is dealing with the kouhais :)

In Meowsketeers, Ritsu is bothered by how Tsukasa just bluntly dismissed a bunch of newbies because they weren't taking things seriously. Tsukasa's argument was that it's ok if you just want to have fun as an idol, but in that case they should just go to other units, because, in Knights, he wants only people who take their activities more seriously - after all, they are the top earners of ES. (Which, looking back now, is sooo funny considering how stubborn Tsukasa is in protecting his kouhais later LOL).

Anyway, Ritsu really doesn't agree with that and spends most of the story stressed about it. He understands Tsukasa's point, and he wants to support Tsukasa since they chose him as their King, but he also feels sorry for the newbies. It all gets solved when the newbies send him a video of them practicing, and apologize for not taking it seriously before, and ask him to vouch for them to be let back in the unit, and he promises them he'll convince Tsukasa to let them join again. (We are never told if Tsukasa lets them back in or not btw lol I just assume he did).

In my opinion, it’s not for nothing that this was the first Knights story in !!, as it sets up the important themes of:

- Tsukasa is not adding just anyone, he wants his newbies to make an effort!

- Ritsu is pretty attached to them, despite the worries he voiced in Operetta, and it shows (especially in euthanasia lol)

- Knights as a whole doing their best to support Tsukasa’s decisions as their leader, even if they have complaints (they’re so cute in this story btw, teasing him and all, really, go read it)

But then you might ask, why tf was their first event Next Door, which has nothing to do with the kouhais?

Next Door, my behated <3, sets up another plot that inconveniences Knights later, ESPECIALLY in Sudden Death: Leo getting shipped off to Italy with Izumi. Now, I’m not sure in universe, but irl Leo and Izumi are arguably the most popular Knights, along with Ritsu. So let’s say it might be the same in universe: them being away would be an inconvenience to knights, right?

Exactly :)

Later in SS, when Knights’ orders get leaked, Leo wants to stay in Japan to support them, but he and Izumi have to go to Eurovisio--, I mean, a festival in Europe. Not to mention the amount of times they have to fly back and forth between Japan and Italy in other stories. Back then it was mostly a funny gag, but then Sudden Death actually used it as a real problem for them.

Would Leo and Izumi being there have changed how things happened? Likely not lol but we’ll never know.

I’ll get back to this, but back to the kouhais.

Next event, the first Knights unit song event, euthanasia, they’re once again the source of conflict. Izumi is upset that Knights funds and time are being used on the kouhais, Tsukasa insists it’s a necessary investment. Leo agrees with Tsukasa, because he wants to support him, as the former King (he actually does this a lot through this arc tbh and it’s so cute). Arashi sort of agrees with Izumi, despite being in Yumenosaki and supporting Tsukasa, she agrees that she doesn’t want to spend her time training the newbies, but instead improving herself. Ritsu isn’t happy with all the fighting and proposes a duel, euthanasia.

The thing is euthanasia is just a play for him to prove the kouhais aren’t just useless deadweight (as he has them performing alongside Knights), but he also understands Izumi’s and Arashi’s worries, so his solution is to leave the kouhais training in the hands of the Producer Association.

This event also brings back the concern Ritsu and Arashi had back in Operetta: with this many newbies, soon Knighs will be like Chess, and we know how Chess ended, right? But Ritsu squashes those worries by showing that: 1) unlike Chess members, the newbies are hardworking, and 2) they have the support of groups like the Producer Association now, while back during the War, Chess (and all other units) were on their own.

Also, one thing almost everyone forgets is that Chess actually ended because of the new payment system the student council set up: units received a certain amount for their lives, and it was up to them to share among the members, so the more members a unit had the less the individuals would be paid. Having a unit with more than 5 members would mean their payment would be less than their investments in the show, making it a loss to have to have so many members.

But Knights is a top earner now, one of the Big 3 of ES, so money is not a concern for them.

So now the newbies are not much of a hindrance to Knights, what else next?

After euthanasia, we get Fragrance, which again has nothing to do with the newbies, just like Sunshine, which is just Knights on vacation. But I’ll get back to that.

Fragrance is a pretty fun story, as it picks up on Arashi’s individualistic side (I don’t think it’s a bad thing btw, it’s one of Knights’ charm points imo). They’re offered to work with Aarashi’s favorite perfume brand, but she hesitates because he doesn’t want to taint her good memories of it. The others try to force her hand on it, and she ends up getting mad at them when they try to turn it into a duel. It’s a pretty good story for Arashi, as she shows her more assertive side again (after being more or less just going along with whatever their cute King suggested), but it’s also a pretty interesting story for Ritsu, imo. Back in !, he was a more laid back character who didn’t meddle so much, and Horror Night Halloween demonstrates this pretty well in the flashback sequence: he didn’t have the courage to step in and change things. When Izumi and Leo had that fight, he could only stand there listening behind that door. Now he doesn’t just stand there doing nothing, but actually takes action when Knights need it. Only this time he goes a bit overboard and ends up upsetting Arashi lol. It worked well with the kouhais conflict before, but he’s still learning how to balance his meddling lmao

Then after this we get, Sudden Death. (Man, I hate the SS arc…)

This time we get an interesting info on the kouhais: there are other, smaller, subunits of kouhais competing in Knights’ name in other regions. And there are about six of them accompanying Knights here, although they’re “in hiding”, as apparently they’re not very good yet.

I won’t give a summary on this story because it’s long and I always end up going on a hate tangent, but what’s important here are two things: the already mentioned bit of Izumi and Leo having to be abroad being an actual problem this time, and Tsukasa’s feelings for the kouhais.

I’ve talked a lot about this before on the bird app, but: Tsukasa LOVES these kids, despite whatever he says. Trust me.

After Tsukasa’s, uh, “execution” he’s too depressed to leave his room, so he can’t help Ritsu and Arashi with the plan of performing for an entire week in the avenue they reserved. Instead, it is the six not-very-good kouhais who step in to help them in his place. He reflects that he hadn’t really seen them as individuals before, but as tools, as an investiment for Knights. “Kohaku” argues that that’s not true, he must have cared for them or else they wouldn’t have stepped in to help as they did.

Sudden Death shows Tsukasa’s first failure as Knights’ leader. He trusted someone else and got betrayed. He then refused to fight back, even though he knew it would affect Knights negatively, to protect Kohaku’s family. In Requiem, when he received the crown, he declared he wouldn’t choose between his career as an idol, as Knights, and his family. But here he’s finally forced to choose between Knights and his family (Kohaku and the Oukawa clan). And he chooses his family. And it hurts him so much he’s almost suicidal.

And this is basically the last we see of Knights as a whole in this year, chronologically. We get a small peek at them during the SS finals, but it’s mostly them bickering. After this event, which reportedly left every TsukasaP dead, we rewind back in the year, to Tanabata in Seven Bridges, and the vacation in Sunshine.

Sunshine is a special case, the “funny filler vacation event”, the “beach episode” if you will. Leo fakes a slump to force Knights to go on vacation, except this vacation is basically performing at a summer festival, but which will allow them a few days to relax at the beach. And yeah, it’s funny and cute, until you realize this happens riiiight before A Dark Night’s Passing (aka that whole GFK mess, actually Leo might have already been involved in that guy during this) and Next Door (aka Leo getting scared his friends would use him, but then plotting a Judgment where he’d purposefully lose and allow them to do whatever they wanted with him, which ended up in him benign sent to Izumi to deal with). Fun stuff, right? Haha…. laughs in sad LeoP.

Seven Bridges once again is an Arashi focus, kicking off the 1.5 Main Story arc, with the plot of the cenotaph being removed and Arashi being upset about it. It also introduces Hitsugi/Negi.

But it also shows the kouhais once again, and how they were being treated by the students in the producer course (basically being ignored by the producers-to-be, who were all starry-eyed about working with THE Knights and only seemed to care about Ritsu, Arashi and Tsukasa), and Tsukasa being upset about it.

Now forgive me for being vague as this event wasn’t fully translated yet and I only read the livetweets a while ago. But basically Tsukasa is pretty upset at the Peace Party (a group of producer students who basically decides who will produce Knights, and has been lowkey bullying Anzu and Hitsugi/Negi), and after it is revealed that the cenotaph is being removed because of the Tanabata plan which the Peace Party forced Anzu to sign as her own, coupled with them treating the kouhais as less then, Tsukasa decides to basically boycott the school’s Tanabata festival and refuses to let Knights participate in it, instead choosing to participate in ES’s Tanabata. Of course, they end up participating later (I don’t remember exactly why, but if I’m not mistaken it’s because Anzu changes the plan to mix the school’s festival with ES, or something like that), but what matters to me is: Tsukasa is SO upset on the behalf of Arashi (who’s upset about the cenotaph being removed), Anzu (who’s being bullied by the Peace Party), AND his kouhais (who are being mistreated and ignored by the producer students).

But didn’t he say the kouhais were just some assets to him??

We get now to Mad Tea Party, which is set in November, right after Fragrance. Knights want their newbies to be the ones to participate in Underland (that Alice themed event we saw in Ra*bits and Alkaloid already), to better promote the newbies. Until Izumi learns that a fashion designer he admires is designing the outfits for it, and then he demands to participate too. They decide the five older members will participate along with the kouhais, but again Izumi is pissed that Ritsu/Arashi/Tsukasa are holding back during practice for the kouhais. He demands they choose only the best ones to participate. Tsukasa wants everyone to participate. Fight (duel) ensues.

We once again get Tsukasa “newbies are just an investment” Suou fighting for his kouhais. Once again we get Izumi on the opposite side of him.

This event also has an interesting point for Izumi’s character, with him complaining, why do they have to take it easy with the kouhais? Izumi himself didn’t have it easy when he started as a model and later as an idol! Remember how his favorite hobby is to bully newbies? His justification is that he wants to prepare them for how harsh the entertainment world is. This ends up clasing with how Tsukasa treats the kouhais.

But wait, wasn’t Tsukasa harsh to them during Meowsketeers?? He kicked some of them off because they weren’t taking it seriously!!

Exactly. Back then, during Meowsketeers, which happens early in the timeline, they weren’t taking it seriously. Mad Party happens in November, after euthanasia, where Ritsu mentions their kouhais are hardworking and won’t set them back. They are Knights too.

3. The real arc

I’ve talked a lot, but I’ll try to put it clearly now: this entire time, Knights arc has been about Tsukasa setting in as Knights leader, and how Knights support him/react to his actions.

Tsukasa is the youngest member of the original five. He’s also many times been referred to by them as their miracle. The one who guided them back to the light. Izumi puts it clearly in Requiem that they only kicked their asses back into gear because they had a “cute kouhai” nagging at them.

But because he’s so young and inexperienced, he also needs their support. He makes decisions they’re not always happy about, but he insists he doesn’t want to be a tyrant, so everytime they’re not satisfied with something they argue and duel until they come to an agreement. It always ends up mostly ok, until it doesn’t in Sudden Death.

Everything lines up to go wrong in Sudden Death. They’re up against Tsukasa’s dear Kohakun, who he absolutely trusts. Kohaku doesn’t know what the rest of his unit are up to. Izumi and Leo have to leave and can’t help them. Even Ritsu, Knights’ strategist, didn’t predict what would happen, because despite everyone being wary of Crazy:B, they decided to support Tsukasa who thought he could trust them. The consequences of both Knights and Crazy:B’s orders affect Kohaku, who’s loved by both Crazy:B and Tsukasa.

Even if they could have escaped the trap Crazy:B prepared for them, Tsukasa would have still been affected, as Crazy:B NEEDED to defeat Knights, or else Kohaku’s family would suffer. Tsukasa wasn’t aware of that back then, but the results would still hurt him regardless of what happened.

But it did happen, and Tsukasa had his first failure as Knights leader. And when he was at his lowest and couldn’t be there with his seniors, it were his kouhais who were there. Tsukasa thinks he “neglected” the kouhais, but “Kohaku” claims they must admire him, even be grateful to him.

We are never given names or faces for the kouhais. We are only told of their actions and lines through other characters, they’re basically NPCs. Ironically, they’re a tool in the story (but not in the way Tsukasa thinks lol): they’re here to showcase Tsukasa’s leadership skills. Even though Tsukasa believes he “neglected” them, we see it time and time again in other events how he stubbornly fought for them, even against his own beloved senpais. He diligently trained and invested time and money in them. He might have thought of them as mere assets, but they likely didn’t see it like this. What would you think if you had a senpai fighting for you, investing so much in your idol career, trying his best to make sure you flourish as Knights members? “Kohaku” was probably right. They likely admire him. Why else would they continue to perform even after they lost? Even after they saw their leader go through such a humiliating defeat? Everything Tsukasa did for them led to them being loyal to him.

This also brings back the parallel to Chess, which dissolved immediately after the students were told there wouldn’t be many benefits to being in a big unit. They weren’t loyal to each other, even before that the members barely even tried. When Leo offered them money in exchange for them not participating in Checkmate, resulting in their default loss and Knights victory, they gleefully accepted it. Because they weren’t “serious” about being idols. They didn’t have the pride and the will to win. They didn’t really care about that battle.

Ritsu and Arashi in Operetta, Izumi and Arashi in euthanasia, they were all concerned about Knights ending up like Chess, filled with a bunch of lazy members who would just coast along to their fame and not really do anything. But because of how strict Tsukasa was in Meowsketeers, how stubborn he was about how they were treated in Seven Bridges, how insistent he was through most of the !! events about training and investing in them, the newbies are now hardworking, loyal members to Knights.

Tl;dr: Knights kouhais were necessary tools to showcase Tsukasa’s leadership skills and how different Knights are now from Chess, hope this helps <3. Tsukasa is a LIAR, who says he neglected his kouhais but he’s fought basically everyone in Knights to keep them there. Ritsu is also the ultimate kouhai advocate, maybe even more than Tsukasa himself, and always comes up with a way to help them. IzuAra aren’t too happy, but Arashi still does her best to support Tsukasa, and Izumi ends up armstrong into training the kouhais too in Mad Part LOL. Leo had his Opinions, but ultimately he wants to support Tsukasa, as the old king supporting the new king. Knights kouhais are all stubborn hardworking babies who LOVE Tsukasa, and I’ll keep brainrotting over then as long as happyele keeps giving me Tsukasa being cute with them!

4. Conclusion: two kings?

We still have Knights climax story to go, a guaranteed Tsukasa 5* event. My prediction is that it will pick up from where Sudden Death left off, mostly on Tsukasa’s feelings of how he failed as a leader and how his seniors AND his kouhais still supported him after that.

Back when !! released, there was an interesting plot thread that was thrown in and then forgotten: Leo and Tsukasa acting as the two kings of Knights.

Tsukasa is too belligerent in the new arc, according to main story, and Leo usually acts as the face of Knights, to direct any ill comment towards him instead of at Tsukasa. Leo talked more about it in his first idol story, if I’m not mistaken, saying it confused the fans and how it looked like Knights had two Kings now, and that they might need to solve this with a Judgment lol.

And then that plot thread was just. Completely forgotten and dropped LOL. With Leo being shipped off to Italy with Izumi, supposedly Tsukasa was free to act as the absolute King and ultimate face of Knights, right?

I think that might be brought back after Sudden Death, though. We might get some conflict about how his actions led to Knights defeat, especially contrasted with how Leo wasn’t there to take the brunt of it. We were told the fans weren’t happy at all about what happened, in Parallel World Nazuna comments the fans were MAD at Crazy:B lol. So who knows, maybe the ultimate test of Tsukasa’s leadership is still to come.

It might just be my wishful thinking tho because I want leokasa gay fighting again <3

Thanks for coming to my tedtalk :)

[neixins]

would love to hear abt the akayona skate au!!!!

yay!! i started working on it after i noticed the absolutely Tragique lack of skateboarding in the sports romance genre (seriously why is GOLF ROMANCE a thing but not skateboarding??? i feel like i’m going insane) and it’s a modern au set in 2000s kohka (it could also double as a reincarnation au, i’m leaving that intentionally vague teehee). the basic premise is that hak invites yona to the skatepark, partially in an attempt to cheer her up after the (very suspicious) death of her father and partially bc he’s scared of smth happening to her bc, again, her father’s death was Very Suspicious, and she’s immediately like “whoa :0 i wanna do that too!!” so he ends up teaching her how to skate. and meanwhile, jaeha’s trying to play matchmaker bc witnessing their whole will-they-won’t-they is making him want to eat glass ghcksjd and through a funny little series of events (which may or may not involve hak getting revenge for all the meddling) he ends up “fake” dating gija to help him get out of the seemingly endless dates his granny keeps setting up for him. it’s mostly a silly little romcom (ignore the murder mystery family drama happening in the background) <3

also i just think that everyone’s fighting styles translate SO well into skating so here’s my notes for that too :3 (obligatory i am not a skater i just think they’re neat disclaimer! also i’m gonna be using street and vert to differentiate their styles but technically since they spend most of their time in a skatepark their styles would all fall under park skating which includes both)

yona’s just starting out so she mostly does basic street-style tricks and she WILL spend a week on a single trick if that’s what it takes to land it! also she wants to try vert skating so so so bad bc it looks so cool!!

hak is a freak of nature (affectionate) who can do any trick easily but in the fic he’s mostly seen skating street bc he’s teaching yona (and bc he’s a sap who wants to spend more time with her)

jaeha vert king, icon and legend <3 he can technically skate street too but why would he do that when there’s a halfpipe nearby beckoning to him with her sweet sweet siren song

gija mostly skates street and should NOT be attempting vert with his tendency to overexert himself to the point of passing out but that’s not gonna stop him!!! also he puts 10000% into every trick and cannot stick a landing quietly

sinha skates street and his tricks are all very clean and quiet. he probably could do vert but then everyone would be paying more attention to him so he’s not gonna even attempt it thank u very much!

zeno is exactly like the guy i once saw wipe out down a longass flight of stairs and then promptly get up like that didn’t just happen

yun doesn’t skate. he’s there to keep everyone alive.

[send me an ask about one of my wips]

[officially-other]

A writing post, as promised

So, it only took an existential crisis, but I'm back! Yippee!

I've been running from this belief for a while. It's something that has, for a very long time, felt true and "right" to me. (Obligatory disclaimer; I don't believe I'm objectively right about shit, I'm just some dude. I mean this is right for me.) The multiverse theory, or some vague concept of more than one universe, is well-known and I've believed for a while that some fiction taps into things we cannot explain. I, however, have specifically avoided entertaining the idea that most fiction does, because. Well. As a fanfic writer, that would get awkward. I couldn't imagine how I would navigate writing... about people I believe are real.

Things recently shifted. I hope to write more about the individual things that made it happen, but long story short; I found a hearthome. A hearthome that I feel, in my fucking bones, I've lived in. It's not just a world that makes more sense to me than this one, I've been there. This was a bit of a challenge to my beliefs, considering it's from a video game. But I find that when my first thoughts are about what a new aspect of my identity is not allowed to be, it's just what it is in disguise. I learned of my hearthome and thought two things.

"This cannot be spiritual in nature, and it cannot be related to a kintype. That's too complicated." Well, my past self, I am complicated. Buckle up.

So now, I'm working on.... How the hell do I engage in my special interests now? Writing, especially fanfic writing, and Genshin Impact (be kind, whatever anyone wants to say about the game or fandom, I already know believe me) are MAJOR special interests of mine. I think my poor mother knows more Genshin lore than some Genshin players do. Entertaining the idea that I'm so drawn to that world because part of it is home to me and I've been there, it's.... a lot. Very a lot. The fact that I feel as though there's a kintype hidden in there, somewhere, is especially nerve-wracking because I have no clue who or what that would be, or even if it's a who or a what. I'm taking shots in the dark here, if I'm honest.

Loki- for those of you who don't know, I work with the Norse deity Loki as a witch- has been THRILLED though. I could do a whole post just on how this is absolutely the most Loki flavored direction I could have ended up taking with my practice. They gave me an answer pretty damn quick, as for how to continue to engage in my interests; just work with the characters on the things I write. Connect with them and get their opinions on things. So... fanfic writing as witchcraft. Huh.

Things are getting significantly weirder around here, y'all.