#obviously they're on good terms now but it's still wild

[shikai-the-storyteller]

It's still so crazy to me that Pac made it canon that Felps saw Cell maul him in prison. I wonder who he hated more in that moment — the perpetrator or the bystander

[misscinnamonroll16]

Brozone headcanons

Clay is the type of brother to not believe what any of the others tell him. Whether they're lying to him or not, he don't believe them

John Dory can get his brothers to fall asleep in minutes. He's got all the tricks that knock them out. They worked when they were kids and still work now that they're adults.

Whoever ends up with John will get a wonderful lil house husband. He can cook, clean, bake, sew, and take care of children. Basically a house husband (or pod in this case)

John definitely dated Delta Dawn. They broke up bc they were too similar and too different. This was shortly after the band broke up and before Delta became queen. They were both young and adventurous. They wanted to travel the world together but Delta had responsibilities that she couldn't leave.

Floyd had ONE girlfriend. When he got on his own, Floyd told people he was bisexual bc he knew he wasn't straight but he thought he liked girls. He and that girl broke up on good terms bc she understood when he told her he's gay.

Floyd is scared of clowns

Bruce probably traumatized the little brothers more than John Dory did. He was the one that would force them to go into a haunted house, purposely jump out with a scary mask on type stuff

Drinks of choice: JD prefers whiskey, Bruce likes margaritas and brandy (obviously), Clay doesn't drink often, he likes white wine while he reads, Floyd likes SHOTS SHOTS and mixed drink (club/party drinks), branch doesn't drink much either but likes wine and occasionally mixed drinks.

Floyd is the holder of all the family secrets. He's really good at keeping them secret. Bruce and John are too but they're also known for telling embarrassing stories so none of the brothers want to tell them their secrets and risk it getting leaked

John is incredibly handy, he's very good at fixing most things. He can FIX things most of the time. He's no good at building.

All the boys are hopeless romantics

When one of the brothers (excluding Bruce in this case) get married after reuniting, they are all excitedly helping plan the wedding

Floyd can walk in heels

John Dory handles his machete very well. Nothing gets cut that he doesn't want cut. He also flips it around like a butterfly knife

When JD and Spruce went out to those teenage parties, they had a silent rule of one of them had to stay sober to make sure the other didn't do anything stupid, was safe and they both got home in enough time to get some sleep before having to wake up for the day. Spruce made sure John didn't wander off while stoned and listened to him talk whatever came to his high mind. John Dory made sure Spruce didn't eat something he wasn't supposed to while stoned or do anything stupid while drunk. It was never discussed but they knew that one of them had to be responsible for the other

Despite the band getting back together, both John and Floyd have sole careers that take off. Floyd is more for the performing and shows, JD is more for releasing songs and disappearing for several months. Floyd is selling out shows, John is dropping a song on YouTube that blows up within the first ten minutes. Brozone fans eat it up

While on stage and interacting with fans, the boys do very different things. John Dory leans towards the crowd and the fans go wild, he's a bit taken back but blows them a kiss (cue someone fainting). Bruce still plays up the heartthrob card, showing off his body, a fan yells and calls him daddy. He whispers into his mic "I didn't give you permission to call me that." in a flirty tone, cue the deafening screams. Clay was always shocked a little bit when fans start screaming when he gets close to the end of the stage, he's talking into his mic like "you good? You need something?" which causes the fans to all scream something at him. Floyd is the most memeable, hes making faces and sitting on the edge of the stage. He didn't used to that but after V&V he gets tired pretty quick. So he often ends up laying on the stage, his leg hanging off, his mic by his head along with a bottle of water. Clay kicked him off once and nobody knows if it was on purpose or not. Branch is NOT used to the fans. They're screaming at him and he's backing away. He's also very memeable until he gets more used to it. He didn't perform as much as his brothers (by that i mean he only truly performed once)

Bruce teaches John Dory how to surf. After several hours he gets the hang of it, it's like skateboarding only rougher.

Bruce sometimes watches his boys and sees him and his bros. Theyre wrestling and he can practically see himself, Clay and Floyd on the floor of their Grandma's pod

Grandma Rosiepuff spanked JD and Bruce with a wooden spoon. By the time she stopped, Clay was old enough for him to be next, so he got lucky. The wooden spoon she used had a wooden chunk taken out of it from when she hit John once. They find it while going through her old stuff that Branch had. "Hey look it's the whooping spoon!" "The what?!" "The whooping spoon. The spoon grandma used to spank us." "What makes you say that?" "You see this chunk taken out, that's from my ass."

[strixcattus]

The Official Comprehensive Princess Rankings

I posted yesterday about the complexity of the official Princess-ranking poll and how I felt it had a couple weaknesses in its format. As of right now... I still haven't submitted my response. I'm thinking that writing this post up will cement the rankings, and then I can send them in.

I'm considering several factors in the rankings, and I'm weighing both how much I like the Princess and how much I like the chapter she's found within. A good narrative will boost a Princess I'm indifferent to, and an emotional attachment to the Princess will cause me to rank a chapter higher than another I find equally narratively-respectable. Since the poll talks about things in terms of Princesses, my liking towards a Princess will generally outweigh my liking towards a chapter's narrative.

Specifically, the things I'm primarily considering are: —Liking of the Princess, both on an emotional level and on a more cognitive, "I enjoy teasing apart what makes her tick" or "I can appreciate the existence of this character" level. On the emotional level, like outweighs dislike—but having any feelings about a Princess, even if they're negative, is an indication that they're sticking with me somehow, so the worst a Princess can do on this level is for me to be entirely indifferent towards her. —How fun or exciting the chapter is to play out. —How much I feel the chapter's narrative to be satisfying, or to say something interesting about the narrative around it. —How much the Princess or the chapter generally made an impact on me. This one isn't quite as explicable as the others—it's just a general impression or bias that's hard to put into words.

Some chapters have been split in two. I already said my piece about the Wounded vs. Networked Wild (though I'll be explaining each ranking here as well). In addition, there are two Chapter IIIs with significant differences based on the Voice you get in them—Den and EOTN. Each of these chapters has two different "success" outcomes and a "failure" outcome—and I'll be splitting them accordingly, since I find some of their narratives to be more satisfying than others.

The Greys, on the other hand, have been merged, because I don't see a significant difference between them. Nor do I particularly between the Damsel and the Deconstructed Damsel, but I'm still splitting them up because it gives me an excuse to talk about what the latter actually is. The Razor chapters do have a significant distinction, but since my only difference in opinion between the two is because of the Voices present, I'm leaving them together.

Without further ado, the List:

The Witch At any given moment there are only two Princesses I am liable to be rotating in my mind, so obviously they're cemented for top two. Witch wins out over Razor because I find the narrative of her chapter to be more fun, interesting, and complex.

The Razor I don't have much more to say about her specifically. She's a fun character.

The Den (flight) I don't much care for fighting the Den—though I think it's likely this will change post–Pristine Cut. Fleeing her, though, leads to a moment of sympathy at the end that I particularly enjoy—as you might have been able to guess, I like her narrative on this path. Admittedly, her high position here is due in large part to emotional attachment... which is all entwined in the "flight" ending, so the "fight/fail" endings don't get the boost.

The Wounded Wild I have a marked dislike for the Networked Wild and, by extension, most of the Wild chapter—but I'll get to that when it's relevant. The Wounded Wild, on the other hand, I feel has a very satisfying narrative when you choose to cut her free—you and she were never meant to be the same, but that doesn't mean you need to continue hurting each other. She's the only Princess I can't bear to slay, even just to see what happens.

The Damsel See this post. In summary, I like how she seems to be particularly narrative-savvy, perhaps even more so than most other Princesses.

The Deconstructed Damsel She loses some points when made to stand as her own entity from being removed from what I enjoy about the Damsel in general, but I do like what she means. I see on occasion posts about how the Damsel has had her agency stripped from her, which I don't see at all—but the Deconstructed Damsel is what you get when you insist that must be the case. The Princess is a creature of perception, and if you go looking for an empty shell, an empty shell is what you will find.

The Fury Her hold on her position is tenuous due to how the narrative of her chapter fails to live up to the first impression—but boy what a first impression she makes. MEAT indeed. The narrative falls flat with its one-option, illusion-of-choice structure, but I'm content to wait and see how the Pristine Cut will improve that.

The Eye of the Needle (fight) This was one of the Chapter IIIs I reached on my first run, and boy is it a good first impression of EOTN. If I were basing this ranking solely off of how thrilling I find the chapters, she'd be in first place with a wide gulf behind her. Definitely one of the most fun chapters... though the other versions trail quite a bit behind.

The Adversary This is where things get muddled. The Adversary, and the two after her, are at a point where they're being judged more on their chapters than their Princesses. For the Adversary specifically, I'm largely neutral on her as a character, but I do enjoy just how much there is to discover in her chapter. I'm still certain I haven't found it all.

The Thorn As a Princess, again I'm largely neutral on her—but I do have to appreciate a good narrative arc, and I do have to acknowledge here that this is one of only two chapters that actually make me guilty about certain choices—though unlike in the Wounded Wild, I actually have abandoned and attempted to slay the Thorn. For the achievements, you must understand, and usually reverted via autosaves afterwards.

The Stranger I preface this by saying I have not played her version of the newly-refurbished ending, though I doubt it'd improve her standing significantly. What I like about her is her chapter, and the peek behind the curtains it affords, and the perfectly-drawn road map it provides, all without the context needed to read it.

The Spectre Her position, too, is tenuous. I carry a good impression of her, and there was a time where I'd confidently assert her as my favourite Princess, or at least top three alongside the Witch and the Thorn. But when looking at her with an analytic eye... there's nothing concrete there to grasp, and her chapter doesn't stick with me as well as many others. She is fun, though, I suppose, and I'm greatly excited for what the Pristine Cut will do for her.

The Eye of the Needle (fail) i.e. ignoring your newest Voice's suggestions and attacking her head-on in the tunnel. I just think it's fun.

The Nightmare Voice of the Paranoid carried her chapter. She also has the honor of being one of a scarce few Princesses I dislike! Right there with Tower, Wraith, MoC, and maybe Networked Wild, but she's my least favourite of the bunch! This is why she places so highly in my rankings compared to the rest of them and to all the Princesses I'm largely neutral on. In fact, I dislike her so much she actually managed to beat out my objective appreciation of the next entry on this list:

The Shifting Mound I'm largely moderate in my opinions on her. Granted, I'd rather not live forever with her as my only company, but it's not because I dislike her—we just have a very fundamental difference of opinion that I really can't look past. Objectively, I appreciate what she is and how she achieves being what she is, and I feel she was executed well. (Figuratively, I mean. I hate executing her literally.) If not for that one tiny disagreement I have with her, I might actually like her. (16–19 is a set of very close calls)

The Prisoner I don't have much to say on her or the next Princess. Getting to pull one over on someone inside your own head is pretty cool, though.

The Beast I appreciate that there's a good few things to experiment with during her chapter. The Princess herself I'm largely neutral on, though.

The Wraith Conversing with her is fun and throwing yourself into the void out of spite is deeply satisfying. Enough said.

The Apotheosis I'm not a fan of largely linear chapters where you don't have many meaningful choices... so the Pristine Cut will probably do wonders for her standing. Getting to stand against a literal god is cool, though... but is largely outweighed by the fact that it doesn't actually have any visible consequences.

The Moment of Clarity Narratively, to be sure, this poses an interesting void of information. I'm not actually sure why I'm ranking her so low, since this is the one linear chapter where I actually think its linearity adds to the effect... but I don't know. I can't see myself dragging her a single spot upwards.

The base Princess A complicated situation. Her personality doesn't really come through until the end, but I do enjoy talking with her in the final cabin, and that's enough, I suppose, to allow her a place here, hovering above the ones I genuinely don't really like.

The Networked Wild I do not like being one with the Princess, nor do I feel it a satisfying narrative to remain that way. Perhaps it's a good thing she sits here, near the bottom, though—it makes the Wounded Wild and the denial of this oneness that she represents so much more beautiful. The peek behind the curtains the Network Wild affords, though, despite paling in comparison to the Stranger's, is enough to keep her out of the gutter.

The Den (fight/fail) There's just not a lot to see here.

The Eye of the Needle (free) All I could think of when I went down this route was how I wasn't fighting her, and thus the chapter was truncated. It left a bit of a sour taste.

The Greys (Burning and Drowned) I dunno, team.

The Tower I may dislike her a bit, but even more so, there's something unsatisfying about her chapter. Something that makes it feel linear even when it isn't. Like it has fundamentally less choice than any other Chapter II. It itches.

(For the record: It wouldn't fit in the list (somehow I filled up the character limit almost perfectly), but I somewhat prefer the "harsh" version of the Princess at the end to the "soft" version. Can't articulate why; just do.)

[chenfordspiral]

Invading your ask box!

I suck at coming up with questions and also I'm curious of everyone's answers, so in light of manifesting season 7, what are your hopes for when we hopefully get a full season 7?

Go as wild and unrealistic as you want!

Oh boy, this is tough 😂 but thank you so much for asking! I’ve missed being on tumblr and this was so nice to see in my inbox last night 🥰

Well, we might not know what the rest of season 6 will bring but if it doesn’t come up in any of the other six episodes, I’d love to have Lucy and Tim talk about officially moving in together and then actually doing so. I know they’re practically living together already, but I’d love for them to maybe get their own new place together? Get a whole new apartment/house that’s theirs. Honestly, just gimme all the cutesy domestic moments they can fit in because I’m a sucker for that - what else is new? But also, please let them keep working on properly communicating with one another even if it’s hard because no relationship can survive without good communication. 

And, you know, if they're feeling like it, I would also not say no to a proposal.

I WANNA KNOW BABY GIRL EVERS’ NAME FFS. Obviously I’m most invested in Chenford, but it’s driving me insane that we’re 4 eps in, and still don’t know her name. Speaking of kids, I’d love to see more of all the kids Lopez and Harper have. Get rid of some of the unnecessary Bailan domesticity crap and gimme any of the other couples instead. 

Speaking of Bailey.. I’m not a hater, also not exactly a fan, but can we get her in a storyline that doesn’t involve Nolan in some way? I think if she were to interact more with the other characters, we as the audience could potentially get more involved with her character. She’s basically tied to Nolan, and sometimes it feels like a disservice to everyone (including Jenna as an actress) to limit her interactions to basically just him and quick two-sentence exchanges thrown in every 20 eps like with Lucy in 6x04. 

I know it’ll never happen, but I would love to see Chenford babysitting either Jack and his baby sister or baby Leah because we know they’d just.. well, maybe not suck at it but they’d likely struggle and lose a kid or two lol and it’d just be so much fun to watch. 

I also gotta broach the sensitive topic.. I’ve been hoping for Lucy to do a long-term UC op practically since I started watching the show and even more so since Chenford became canon simply because I want to see how she would handle not being able to contact anyone she cares about. Give her a handler that’s not Tim, not Harper, not anyone she’s familiar with so she can experience what it would be like to be completely cut off from her life and the people she loves. Maybe I’m understanding her desire to be a deep cover UC officer and she’d flourish under those circumstances, but I think if she experienced an op without any of her friends (or her boyfriend) as her handler/back up, she’d have a better idea of what her life would really look like if she chose that path. She’s a people person, and I personally don’t think she’d like it as much as I think she wants to like it. (6x02 hinted at her not being as fine about it as she claims to be, and I hope we get to see more of the topic.) If not that, I’d also just like to see an op gone wrong. They’ve all been fairly straight forward without any kind of consequences even after her cover had been blown, and I’d be very interested in seeing something just not go as smoothly. Also, Lucy could do ANY job within the LAPD and absolutely kick ass. Where are all the departments wanting her on their team that the cop offering her that spot at UC school talked about?? Where?! WHERE?!?

I’m rambling now, great. Okay, I’m gonna stop here. I may have missed some obvious wishes here but for now these are some I could think of right off the bat.

Oh oh oh! Lucy’s called Tim babe before, can we get Tim calling Lucy by a pet name? Pretty pleaseeeee 🥺 and last but not least, give us Kojo back. And bring Genny.

Now I’m done. Thank you so much for thinking of me, Suz! ❤︎ This was so much fun!

[jasonsmirrorball]

okay my neighbor!jason and roommate!jason thots are going wild right now bc I feel like both of their slow burns end so differently. Like yours and neighbor!jason’s relationship is a slow and steady pining that is more sweet and the catalyst is a “why don’t you just stay here?” after you try to watch all of the lord of the rings movies in one night. and it’s all cuddles and soft kisses and making breakfast and morning sex bc you’re just that comfortable and close at that point you don’t even care you’re just glad it’s finally happening.

meanwhileeee you and roommate!jason have spent so long tiptoeing around each other and suppressing your feelings, convincing yourself the other doesn’t feel the same that it almost ends in a fight of “well how do you think I feel watching you go out with other people?/hearing you get off in the other room?/knowing it’s not me?” and then a “well maybe I wish it was!” and the hottest and filthiest make out session and sex ever known to man and also god.

have a good day/night🫡

nonnie im so glad u get it.

also minors dni + have your age in your bio if you interact

like with neighbour!jason i just imagine it being very luke and lorelai esque, where he's just that guy. like he's your (i imagine him a little older, maybe late twenties/early thirties) hot as shit neighbour who you can always always count on. because he's a good guy. he sees you in the hall and he says hello and you guys talk and hang out occasionally but it's never beyond platonic even though sometimes you feel like he might be flirting with you and sometimes he gets a little quiet when he looks at you. and you grow closer and closer, and you get comfortable enough to blur that line when you flirt with him in the mornings to get a reaction, you feel less inclined to hide your quirks etc. because he's jason. he's wonderful. and you're going to be so happy for whoever he ends up with but at the same time, the thought of someone coming into your lives–because he's part of your life now! he's your friend as much as he's your neighbour. he's seen you cry and he's seen you messy and he's seen you when you've just woken up. the thought of there being someone else makes you a little envious, a little sad. he goes from being the hot guy next door to someone you genuinely care about and love, and that complicates it, because love is scary and you don't want to ruin one of the best relationships in your life. (neighbour!jason is just waiting for you to come to terms with it because he already knows what he wants, age has made him steady, left him assured of himself. but he won't make any moves until he's certain that you're certain)

and with roommate!jason. oh my god. exactly that. i spoke about this with one of my moots but i imagine that the way roomie and jason end up together is extremely messy. they're both very explosive and young(er) and have so much learning to do even if they are adults living on their own with their own jobs/studies. like there's obviously that comfort of being friends but also, there's that tension between them because you're both so attracted to each other and aware of each other, but you still navigate yourselves like you're just roommates when underneath the surface there are so many feelings just simmering, simmering, simmering. you go on dates, jason pretends he isn't extremely jealous, you have to bite down your own envy when other girls eye him up at the store, he's heard you touch yourself–has jerked off to you. it all bubbles up. i imagine it takes a while before you guys end up officially together because you do it backwards. roommate!jason turns to roommate with benefits!jason who eventually turns into roommate/boyfriend!jason. you guys fuck and you know you've crossed the lines of your arrangement from the beginning but feelings are again. so vulnerable. and scary. so you keep quiet until once more someone gets jealous and the actual, deeper feelings come out.

anyway i am rambling. but thank you for sending these thoughts in. i've missed roommate jason and neighbour jason (even though i'm writing a fic for the former atm) and will take any opportunity to talk about them

[dropintomanga]

Don't See Yourself As a Cuckoo

I started reading Chica Umino's March Comes In Like a Lion after years of hearing about its great outlook on characters dealing with a variety of emotional issues. In particular, its main character, Rei Kiriyama and his struggles to come to terms with his past involving a surrogate parental figure who raised him after his family died, but ignored their own kids for the sake of Rei's future.

I see this first hand near the end of the 1st volume when Rei reminisces about the past and how he got into shogi.

It's scary that I felt the same as Rei about 13 years ago. I remember one time where I felt like I was dragging my family down a hell hole when we moved into a new living situation. I was dealing with so much uncertainty and didn't know how to handle it. I think at the time, we had limited resources. I felt that I was selfish because I wanted to move to a better place badly over everyone else's preferences, but my sister reminded me that I wasn't the only one who wanted out. She even said my thinking was warped. I think I was just so afraid of hurting my family and felt they had to do so much for my depression. I wanted them to stop helping me. I felt like a cuckoo despite not actually being a cuckoo.

When I look back at that time now, I realized that I was facing a new situation that I was overreacting to. It's fine to react in ways that make you fearful, but there's a point where it affects your relationships in not-so-healthy ways. You have to be realistic and trust in the people around you despite what your inner critic says.

Rei's quote about being a bird and free of emotional pain reminded me of my experiences with birds. I used to have a pet African finch and felt that he had it much easier than me. He got to eat, sing, fly around, sleep, poop, etc. And then I remember my finch lived in a cage and was taken care of by creatures (i.e. human beings) that he can't exactly communicate with. There's no freedom for him here. And even if my finch was free and roaming, he would have to deal with how vicious wild birds are due to being domesticated. My finch died in 2019 after 11 years of raising him and while I do think he lived a long life for his kind, I have to be careful in saying he lived a good life.

After my finch died, I later discovered an avian center that housed birds of all kinds that were on display while walking on a lunch break from work. There were a variety of them living in a special housing display for everyone to see. All of them were either injured, old, and/or couldn't be raised by regular folks. I had a lot of joy looking at those birds and would walk by to see them almost all the time. Some of them did die over time, but the birds reminded me how important it is to recognize that we deserve people to care for us when life deals us a terrible hand. I still stop by the avian center bird display because all the birds there are precious to me.

I sometimes wished I was a bird because it sucks being sad a good amount. It sucks to cry when you least expect it. And then I think about what that actually will entail. I don't want to anthropomorphize animals because it's hard to compare.

The grand truth is that everyone and everything (humans/animals/plants) goes through pain in some fashion. We decay and wither from time to time. That's how life works. Obviously, some pain isn't worth it. But I feel that we have to appreciate to a certain degree how we learn who we really are through our rough experiences. They make us value what's important in our lives. Despite whatever gaslighting we may get, we can get through the pain and/or live with it in healthy ways.

I will say that one thing I notice about birds is that they're usually together a lot. During the 1st year of COVID, I saw a family of mourning doves living in the back of my place for a short time. It was one of the cutest things I ever saw. The parents would fly away to look for food, while the kids parked themselves at their temporary home. I don't know how they're doing now, but I like to think that they're doing okay out there. Whenever I see families of mourning doves, I think of that one family.

Maybe a part of me still wants to be a bird - soaring into the air and being out in nature, free of modern life constraints. The real cuckoo isn't me; it's those who want us to ignore the interdependence of all things that truly makes human beings feel that they matter.

If you ever feel like you're a cuckoo, it's not your fault. You're a person who deserves the unconditional foundation to live a life full of love to process the pain you unfortunately had to deal with.

Much like what the manga seems to entail, springtime is a time to renew yourself with others around, whether human or animal, after the harshness of winter.

[bunny-heels]

Rainbow and Desmond are different from each other in terms of personality, motives, and what they want to appear as, but they're the same in terms of how they got to where they were in the game.

Desmond is implied to have been pushed by his parents to be a doctor, unclear of whether they wanted him to specifically be a therapist, or something else they deem useful. He gives off the vibe that he's very sympathetic and empathetic towards people and tries his best to understand them. Obviously that side of him intensified when he was dating Magdalena, but it was too much, to the point where they had to break up. All he had left was Tonia, who made him feel safe and at peace. But then she went away too, due to him not knowing just the smallest but life saving specific facts, and that nearly broke him.

Rainbow was specifically designed to strike fear and paranoia, and pretty much nothing else. He taps into the parts of the brain that make the imagination go wild and give into the person's deepest terrors. And he was apparently perfect for it, seeing as what Lucas had done under his influence. But he was TOO good at it, to where they had to stop because he was a danger to the enemy AND the allies. Then they restart development, apparently in an attempt to make him less deadly, which results in human experiments. And here comes Rosemary, who's the only one who finds out that he can be used to connect everyone's Collective Unconscious together, and doesn't want the higher ups to know about it so that he can be safely tested. But she was betrayed, and when she tried telling someone the truth, she was killed and replace. And then Rainbow had no one to try and see what other potentials he had other than fear, and now, probably some form of mind control if anything.

So both were pushed to be something of a specific purpose, but became too good at it to the point of being left alone and isolated, then when someone was there to actually try and bring out the best in them, they were taken away from them too. As well, both of them have to do with getting into a person's head, making them think of things that they pushed into the back because they didn't want to confront it.

The end result for them is different, though. Desmond became a therapist, wanting to help people overcome what makes them feel lesser, and at the end wants to save Milton Haven and possibly the rest of the world from being lost under the effects of psychological and bio-weapon warfare, but Rainbow wants the opposite. He doesn't care about people, thriving on their suffering, and wants the world to just end gruesomely.

And it's weird how even though Rainbow is meant to be Desmond's shadow, his complete opposite, and has apparently been with him all his life-for some reason he is also a personification of a government bio-weapon. Why is that? If anything Desmond's shadow could've been some sort of animal, or a guitar, or even a recorder of some sort. But for some reason, he's the one to get a shadow that's also just a representation of a drug. They physically don't have anything connected to them apart from having the same voice, they don't even play the same instrument, Rainbow claims he hates cats-It almost makes no sense.

The only thing that connects them together in some way is age. Desmond is 41 in the current year of the game, 1997, so he was born in, most likely, 1956 or around. And Rainbow was developed in the 60s, which was the same time Lucas was in the war. But even then they have no contact with one another, so it still doesn't add up.

Compared to everyone else's shadows, Rainbow actually seems like his own separate person as well, rather than just being THE person but in a monster form with a violent tendency. He acknowledges being a part of Desmond and even says during their fight "You're literally fighting with yourself", but even with that they seem like two different people.

Either Rainbow attached himself to Desmond at a very young age in the 60s, or Desmond's parents were involved with something that he doesn't know about.

But either way, Rainbow clearly feels attached to Desmond in some form. It was enough to where he didn't immediately kill him like he probably was supposed to, and for Desmond to fight it for probably hours while still somehow coming out alive. Does Desmond have some sort of natural immunity to Rainbow, maybe because they're now truly connected, or was he just lucky? Is Rainbow lying about being Desmond's shadow and maybe his real one is tucked away somewhere in his psyche begging to come out? Why does Rainbow even have this attachment to Desmond? Can he relate to his life story of being pushed to be perfect but still being too much to handle? Losing someone who saw potential in you because you could've done something different? Does Rainbow have any feelings towards Rosemary because of how she viewed his effect? She clearly still had trust that he could be used for good, but had to subside it to get Desmond safe. Is Rose basically Rainbow's "Magdalena"? Or rather is she his "Tonia"? Or a combination of the two?

I really hope in the sequel, if Desmond and Rainbow actually get the proper chances to interact, we learn more about Rainbow as if he were his own person, because he clearly sees himself as such, even with him admitting he's part of Desmond and being a walking manifestation of a drug.

[stormxpadme]

the fake fic ask game

Title: White Lightnin' bound to drive you wild

Tags: Mission Gone Wrong, Safe House, There's only one bed, Rivals to Lovers, Awkward Confessions, Touch Starved, First Kiss, Laughter and Humor, Sass and Snark, Mutual pining, Idiots in love

You can either do the same summary for both or two different story summaries. :D (And yes, the title is a song lyric from a song I LOVE.)

the fake fic ask game

Okay, this definitely screams for two stories :D.

a) old X-Men movie verse, set within my main X-Men verse

Title

White Lightnin' bound to drive you wild

Summary:

It's 20 years after the Battle of Liberty Island, and after the latest couple of almost apocalyptic crises and the odd near-death experience, deaths, and resurrections, Scott finally makes good on his promise regarding a holiday in the Maldives to his wife. Because it's Scott and holidays though, also known as opposite polarities, that planned beach hangout doesn't turn out as it was meant to, of course. The general global mood regarding mutants is once more not exactly shiny after Mystique just had the whole city of New York enslaved, emptied, and turned into a mutant paradise for a while. So when there's an unexpected tropical storm threatening the island group where Scott and Katja are residing and Katja reluctantly reveals herself to the rest of that beach resort in order to clear the sky with her powers and prevent damage and casualties in that little paradise, our heroes are faced with hostility instead of gratitude. Before the situation can get too ugly, our lovebirds are extracted with the Blackbird piloted by Remy and Marie, just having come back from a mission, who have been alerted by Jean telepathically that they need to make a little detour. Sensing how devastated their friends are by the spoiled holiday and the ongoing discrimination issues, Marie and Remy decide against flying back to Westchester but take the jet to Marie's former home state instead as she knows they'll not run into a lot of people there in the countryside. In a run-down country club with lots of karaoke fun, the two couples enjoy a surprisingly nice evening, coming to terms with the realization there are a lot of places even for mutants to enjoy the merits of normalcy and that it doesn't have to take luxury escapes and cocktails under palm trees for a little bit of true happiness.

*************************************************

b) current cartoon verse, taking place after episode 3.5

Tags

Mission Gone Wrong, Safe House, There's only one bed, Rivals to Lovers, Awkward Confessions, Touch Starved, First Kiss, Laughter and Humor, Sass and Snark, Mutual pining, Idiots in love

Summary:

After that whole drama with Maddie and Nathan, Scott and Jean have decided to divorce as they can no longer tell what is and was real in their relationship and can't stand even sleeping in the same bed anymore. After having earned a painful rejection by Jean himself, Logan has finally given up on that dream that was never meant to be and reluctantly comes to Scott's support in keeping the things in the mansion together while Scott is still shaken from having to give up on his newborn son and now his relationship. Challenging his old rival in regular Danger Room sessions to distract Scott and help him keep his mind and body sharp, Logan realizes that with those burdensome feelings and rivalry regarding Jean out of the way, Scott and he have a lot more in common than they'd used to think. Bit by bit, Logan even gets Scott to let go of his latest control issues a little and engage in team activities like cooking and sports for fun which almost ends with Scott burning down the kitchen, trying to make Canadian pancakes for them for breakfast though, and more than one awkward boner in public on Logan's side because Scott looks and moves just as ridiculous as hot in baseball shorts. Obviously, none of them makes a move though because they're firmly convinced, the other one still hates them. When the team receives a distress call by Forge regarding Ororo, Logan and Scott leave for Forge's home only to find it half in ruins and their ally gone, with Ororo nowhere to be seen. After combing the area in vain for hours, they're being attacked by the same mysterious enemy who has already taken their friends and need to return to the house for Logan to patch Scott up and for both of them to take an hour of rest. Which means having to share the only intact bed left while at home in the mansion, Jean telepathically tries to find a new lead for them to follow. Waiting for those news, Scott and Logan, to absolutely no one's surprise but their own, end up fucking their frustration and anxiety away.

[mermaidsirennikita]

I'm on a Lorraine Heath kick thanks to your recommendations so I'd love to know your Top Reads of hers!

Aaah I'm so glad! Lorraine is really so good. A true icon.

My chief favorites include...

Obviously, When the Duke Was Wicked, which feels stupid to say as I'm word vomiting about it right now, but in case someone is in my recs tag later, I love this book and I think it's probably one of the most well-executed romances I've ever read.

Waking Up with the Duke is one that I think has risen among Lorraine fans to be upheld as one of the best, and if I think about everything I've read by her... There's one thing that I think is, in terms of dating and the way we talk about romance, worth critiquing. But in terms of the quality of the love story, her prose, the plot, the EMOTION, it may be her best yeah. It's really moving and really angsty and it takes a truly bizarre plot and plays it so straight and gives you SO MUCH feeling. I just really love this book.

The Earl Takes All is Gorilla Twins, so you've kinda gotta read it, but it's also genuinely a great book. Like, the entire plot is incredibly wild lol, but the drama and twists are done so well. The way she does the REVEAL is not what I think anyone would expect when reading this novel. And it's so messy. God, I love it.

The Duke and The Lady in Red is another one I think we could discuss on some levels but damn did I love it. It's sooooo romantic, and Avendale is honestly a difficult hero because he's such an asshole beforehand, and he has a genuinely super rough backstory. This one made me cry, but I also found it very sexy and like, full of tension throughout because our hero and heroine do initially have a very transactional relationship that gradually becomes more genuinely emotional.

Between the Devil and Desire is one I'd argue could possibly rival Waking Up with the Duke for the crown, because it just hits every beat. A snappy, rough hero who doesn't seem to care about anyone; a chilly, bitchy (yet incredibly horny) widow who sees him as a threat on every level. One of the only children in romance who WORKS and that's because Jack Dodger is the ULTIMATE father who stepped up in romance, imo. Fabulous.

The Scoundrel in Her Bed is a recent favorite. It's second chance, it's extremely angsty, and it destroyed me emotionally. Like. This one probably made me cry the most out of any of the Lorraine books I've read because it just really luxuriated in how like. Sometimes love doesn't fix everything that's gone wrong because love isn't a time machine, but we can still move forward and so on and so on. Also, I'm a sucker for a second chance romance, especially one where they like, took each others' precious flowers and then got separated and are both now SUPER BITTER TBH.

Scoundrel of My Heart is another second chance one where it's like "what happened to us, what did we lose, can we get it back" (no but you can get something new!!!) and obviously I love that shit. It's also one of those second chance books where they were separated when they were just beginning, and they never got to have sex, and now they're back in each other's orbit and it is TENSE.

[cursedvibes]

ship bingo on yuuji pairings! yuuji/megumi, yuuji/yuko, yuuji/junpei, yuuji/sukuna, and oryuuji/gojo

Oh wow, that's a lot 😂😅 to shorten it a bit, I'll say upfront that I don't ship GoYuu or SukuIta. Like at all.

Moving on to the others....

Yuuji/Yuko

While she has obviously a crush on Yuuji, I think the message of that whole chapter is that it would be better for them to not be together. For one, Yuuji doesn't seem to see her as more than an ex-classmate he gets along with, and the whole point for Yuko was to come to the realization that she doesn't need to place her self-worth on others and her own appearance. Her feelings for Yuuji also seem to stem more from him being one of the few people who noticed her and didn't bully her. I'm sure she will have no problem making friends and even meeting a partner, once she moves places and also gains more self-confidence. So yeah, I think it's better for her to move on from Yuuji.

ItaFushi

"I can see it" is the best description for that one. They obviously care for each other and I could see it having a romantic or sexual aspect as well, but their dynamic doesn't drive me wild. I enjoy Yuuji and Nobara's relationship more. Still, right now Yuuji & Megumi have this codependent thing going on that lends itself well to shipping and you can milk tons of angst and drama from it. I have to say though, I can only really see them in canon, not fanon. Like, if you put them in a low stakes High School AU for example, I couldn't see them together. Maybe there's a physical attraction, but I don't think they'd work in a stable long-term relationship. They're very trauma-dependent. One of them always has to be close to death to create some tension.

Yuuji/Junpei

I think this might be the only Yuuji ship I have some investment in. They compliment each other well in their personality, they have similar interest and I got the feeling that they could really open up to each other and talk about anything from horror movies to personal problems and suicidality. While they both have suicidal tendencies in different ways, I think that could've actually helped them overcome those feelings had they been given the time. They just seem like a good match for each other and I like the morbid aspects of their relationship. They both have this fascination for death and the absurd. Idk, I just think them being together would be interesting. I don't want Junpei to join Jujutsu High though. That's the wrong environment for him and he would fit in just as little as Hakari or Kirara. I'd prefer they'd meet outside of it or Yuuji leaves the school. A No Curse AU would be interesting too, where Junpei still has his misanthropic tendencies and they look at dead people together. (Mahito could be a bad influence on them both)

[leqclerc]

Who do you think will replace Hamilton at Mercedes? | Personally I think it is between Albon or Andrea Kimi Antonelli.

Hello! 👋🏻

It largely depends on what they're looking for. Personally I think Alex would be a good option. His Red Bull stint didn't work out, but lbr he was thrown into a near-impossible situation with little experience and was expected to match an ascendant Max who'd been embedded in the team for some time already, knew what he wanted and knew Red Bull would give it to him. Plus all the pressure from internal figures (ahem Marko.)

That was some years ago at this point and I think he's grown massively as a driver and a person since then. His time at Williams in particular is letting him thrive and flourish, and you can tell how much everyone there appreciates him, his dedication and feedback. You could argue the optics are favourable because he keeps getting paired with rookies, but regardless of that, I think he's shown he's a dependable team player who can hold his own. Imo he became massively underrated as a result of the short-lived RB era and honestly I'd love to see him make a comeback with a top 3/4 team. He's actually one of the drivers I would've liked to see in Ferrari... well, before the bombshell dropped and we realized Ferrari's taking their lineup to an atomic level ajsdkfg

Now, this might sound kind of wild but hear me out: Checo. He's out of contract at the end of the season anyway, and obviously there's the question of Daniel possibly making a Red Bull comeback if he performs well at the sister team (I'm still calling it AlphaTauri) and they want him there. So for Checo it might be worth keeping an eye on the Mercedes situation. He raced Mercedes-engine powered cars for most of his career before the Red Bull move. I know recency bias means a lot of people don't rate him, but he's still a solid driver, he has years of experience (and probably some RB tea), he'd bring in points, and Mercedes comparatively probably wouldn't be such a pressure cooker. Iirc he also brings some big money personal sponsors. I think he more or less does what Carlos does, but in more difficult circumstances (let's not forget Ferrari made several adjustments to their cars for his sake, some of them detrimental to the overall performance, and he got some favourable strategies. Red Bull haven't been half as accommodating for Checo imo.) Plus I would trust him not to meddle internally more than someone like Carlos with his story-planting shit-tweeting entourage 🙄 I think they could get a few years out of him, at least until they deem Antonelli to be ready or someone else they're interested in becomes available.

Antonelli is a promising prospect and I'm sure they're keeping an eye on him as a potential long-term plan for Mercedes. Whether he'll be ready for a 2025 seat...depends. Maybe, if he has a mega season in F2. Mercedes tends to be conservative with rookies—George was in Williams for three whole seasons before he was promoted, something I think he felt kind of bitter about. So F2 -> Mercedes seat feels kind of uncharacteristic for them. They'd probably prefer to put him in a smaller team, at least for a season, to see how he adjusts to F1 first. Look at how Mick's time at Haas altered perceptions. Just four years ago, a lot of us thought a Mick-Charles lineup is on the cards, but now he's not even a top contender for the Mercedes seat—at least, not from what I've seen personally. If they bring in an older driver for 2025 then there's likely going to be more urgency to get Antonelli promoted asap. Whereas if they bring in someone younger, someone they can maybe get more "mileage" out of, then they have more time to put Antonelli through his paces and see if he's the guy for the job.

Other names I've seen thrown out are Carlos, Fernando and—oddly enough, Hulk.

I can see why Carlos would be an option, but then again, the optics might look a bit...strange if Mercedes is "settling" for the guy who just lost the seat to the driver they just lost. Unless they don't care about that, or don't have the luxury of caring about that right now. They went from holding all the cards to being under some serious pressure. And I think they're going to have to consider what they actually want in a driver now. Personally I think a Carlos/George lineup would have the potential for fireworks, but hey, if I'm not invested personally then it could be fun to watch asdkfjdfk

Fernando would generate buzz as the only other old guard champion on the grid, someone who is generally considered to be of Lewis's calibre. Fans and media alike were super impressed with his 2023 season and momentum is definitely on his side. But he's the king of chaos and has been known to fuck over teams for his own benefit and damn well knows this is his reputation and openly embraces it. And I'm not sure Mercedes would want to take a shot on someone they would see as volatile in that way. I think they really like maintaining this image of running a tight ship, having things neatly under control, no one going off script (just look at how traumatized Toto still is after the Nico and Lewis years, how he swore up an down that he'd never allow a situation like that to develop again.) George and Fernando seem to get along well outside of work, they've sure been seen socializing quite a bit, but obviously being teammates is a whole other issue and this could get spicy. 🔥🧯

But tbh I'm not sure a move like that makes sense for Fernando—unless I guess Aston fucks up astronomically this year and he's fed up with them. He seems pretty comfortable where he is—chummy with Lawrence Stroll and with enough freedom to be essentially the lead driver of the team since, well, Lance isn't exactly posing much of a threat. I mean Fernando literally carried Aston on his back in 2023. I'm sure he'll be keeping an eye on the developments but right now (Lewis jumping ship, Mercedes bleeding high profile staff) it would seem like a lateral move at best, with potentially more to lose than gain.

As much as I don't rate Hulk personally, I did see this one suggested on Reddit and... honestly? He did just have a pretty good season and for him it would be a clear step up so he'd probably have less demands and be more acquiescent than someone with more leverage. If they want to just get someone in as a stopgap until they deem Antonelli ready, someone to pick up points without outshining George... Pretty sure he's out of contract at the end of this season.

But another interesting aspect of all of this, coming to light with the news that the Mercedes Benz Group didn't approve Lewis's long-term ambassadorship, is that allegedly they're losing interest in the F1 team branch of their brand and generally aren't willing to shell out on it as much because they've shifted their focus to other aspects of the motor industry. Iirc this was already a talking point in 2020, but of course the team was still dominant at the time. If they fumble the 2026 regulations I can see the parent company pulling the plug on the racing team (Andretti buyout?????)

[concerningwolves]

i just keep thinking about how crime drama is seen as 'quintessentially British' and 'the bedrock of British TV', a trend which is often linked back to the wild popularity of Sherlock Holmes – and yet the actual Holmes canon is categorically and emphatically not at all what British crime drama currently is. I also keep thinking about the pervasiveness of copaganda in the crime drama genre, how "crime drama" has become synonymous with "police drama", and how Sherlock Holmes remains an excellent example of how to create mystery and crime drama plots without needing to have a police focus.

Like, I think it's fair to say that 99% of the time, "crime drama" on British television is actually police procedural drama (ahem, copaganda). Off the top of my head right now, thinking about popular British crime dramas, there's Line of Duty, London Kills, McDonald and Dobbs, Death in Paradise, Van der Valk, Broadchurch, Grace, Sherwood, The Responder, Shetland ... obviously, not all of these are the same in terms of the genre flavour they give. Some are dark and gritty, while some are just good fun, with a fair bit in between. But they're all about the police, and most of the time, they're about police/ police detectives who are "different" or "quirky" or "troubled and misunderstood". There are a lot of detectives who survive on coffee and spite, who feel like a weird hybrid of the Sherlock Holmes archetype and a hardboiled noir detective (and these are mostly men, I think it's important to note).

The shows that have the biggest Holmesian influences (that I've watched) are probably Death in Paradise and McDonald and Dobbs. The former is a long-running TV series that has followed a lineup of various unorthodixically brilliant detective inspectors who've ended up on the fictional Caribbean island of St Marie. (Paradise was also my insomnia binge go-to for a few months). It's a bog-standard crime drama, what I'd call a bit of fun rather than anything really engaging, which follows a formulaic structure that hardly varied across the six or so seasons that I watched. The detectives always have the observation-based intelligence that harkens back to Holmes, and because of the Caribbean setting, they do sometimes get away with taking the law into their own hands and letting criminals go as Holmes sometimes did. McDonald and Dobbs meanwhile is set in Bath in the UK, with the titular Dobbs as the awkward genius DS to McDonald's street smarts and investigative skills, and is still on the "bit of fun" side.

But you can never get away from the fact that they're still police. And this really irks me, because I've had a sneaking suspicion for a while that what makes Holmes so popular and enduring (at least in part) is that he gives people a hope that the police simply can't provide. Right now, Britain feels increasingly like it's devolving into a police state, but if global politics of the last decade have taught us anything, it's that the police service as an institution is not a friend to the joe public. This was very much true in the Victorian era, and it's still true now. It's probably one of the things that can be best carried into a modernised Holmes or Holmes-influenced show, but we never see it because British TV is so glutted with police drama and therefore copaganda.

When Sherlock Holmes breaks into a man's home to find his blackmail material, he does so as an individual seeking to do the right thing on behalf of a victim. Whether he's right to take that power into his own hands is contentious (and Conan Doyle doesn't shy away from the fact that Holmes is committing a crime, or from the fact that some of Holmes' methods in going undercover weren't right!), but ultimately he's one man. When a police officer breaks into a man's home to find evidence to build a case, that officer is committing gross violations of public trust that, in an ideal world, would see them sacked and probably arrested. But we're not in an ideal world. We're in a world where the police routinely get away with horrors because of systemic abuses of power and institutionalised bigotry. If you're not white, cis, abled and rich (or at least comfortably affluent), then the police are not your ally and they're certainly not a source of hope for justice or recompense.

In police dramas, however, these detectives do things that should see them thrown off the force, and it's framed as okay by the narrative because we're all meant to sympathise with this poor, tortured genius or whatever detective trope they've used. Even Line of Duty, a series that's meant to be about the anti-corruption unit who sniff out and quash police corruption, isn't free from this. It's what makes copaganda so pervasive and insidious. If the public consistently see their fictional and sympathetically-portrayed police do things that they absolutely shouldn't get away with, then the public will internalise the idea that this is normal. It's one of those cases where fiction very much does influence reality.

Surely crime dramas like Peaky Blinders and Father Brown show us the versatility that the genre could offer, too. You can have a gritty period crime drama that's literally about the criminals, or a silly series about a Roman Catholic priest solving crimes. The investigator/detective character doesn't have to be the (anti)hero of the narrative, either, which is something I feel gets too often forgotten. The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton is one of my favourite Holmes stories because although Holmes does all the investigative legwork and acts as a champion for victims who've been pushed down by someone rich and powerful, it's one of the victims who takes matters into her own hands and saves her own day. I'm also deeply fond of the Holmes stories where there isn't even a criminal element! The Adventure of the Yellow Face starts with a criminal investigative feel when Holmes suspects blackmail, but turns out to be a purely personal issue regarding a lady's past. The Adventure of the Creeping Man touches on criminal medical malpractice and/or fraud, I suppose, but it really just boils down to "man takes monkey drug" which is just plain weird.

So while I'm not saying that TV writers should do something with a "man takes monkey drug and acts like an ape" plot, I am a firm believer that crime drama could be so much more if it wasn't currently a massive slurry of copaganda and Holmes-influenced media that doesn't understand the material it's drawing from.

[loki-zen]

The AAVE policing thing gets much worse than you even suggest, in that there's typically no objective way of determining whether a turn of phrase was specifically invented and popularized by black people, just vibes. Insofar as the facts exist, they're only there to back up the vibes. The phenomenon is bad even in theory but the theory isn't the practice. It's racialized class policing, a kind of ass-backwards version of an archetypal middle-class 1950s busybody racist demanding her kids straighten up and act white. It is one of the most intensely racially hateful memes I have ever seen take off, a cartoonish demand for full cultural segregation.

I believe that the tense-aspect thingies I was primarily talking about have been pretty solidly and credibly linked to AAVE, although it's certainly also true that people on social media have of late made a lot of wild claims about phrasings originating in AAVE when that's certainly not uncomplicatedly/obviously true.

I've heard it claimed of phrases that, in my experience of it, just generally became popular on tumblr (a place where you don't know what race most people you casually interact with are!) and I don't know where they originated, and certainly can't falsify the claim that they're AAVE-derived (or 'invented and popularised by black people', which I would say is a slightly* different claim), but also they were just claims presented not only without evidence, but in the sort of tone that suggests asking for it is gonna get you called racist.

I have also heard it claimed of at least one word that I know to be just generally in use in certain parts of the US, but the weird relationship with geography racially-inflected dialects have means that there are also places where it's primarily said by black people. More wanking about that under the cut

Anyway, I agree. It's worryingly racebrained thinking to me to think that a Race can have like a collective copyright on something how does that even work, and it is as you say basically culturally segregationist.

I think it's often coming from a place of genuine hurt - posts about this stuff often have parts where they go into all of the horrible bullshit that has gone on in terms of devaluing the amazing cultural contributions of black americans, or repackaging and selling them with white faces attached and not giving credit. It's absurd how long it took Sister Rosetta to get in the rock and roll hall of fame. It's white supremecist bullshit that people see AAVE constructions as 'ungrammatical' and 'not proper English' when they're actually grammatically rich and incredibly useful and easy to understand once you know what they mean.

But this isn't the solution. And the people saying it is will say it's not my place to say that. To which I would respond that 'you're the wrong colour' has never been a valid rebuttal to anything and why would it start now.

(To be maximally charitable to these claims, I can sooorta see how someone living in one of the latter places might decide that if their white friend who is from here starts saying it they are more likely to be aping nearby black people than Texans or something?? but that doesn't excuse claiming point-blank "Y'all is AAVE." This also seems like a good time to note that since I've only ever heard this shit on social media I cannot fully know (a) the racial demographics of the people being dumb about this stuff - this could be crazy 'Ally' shit who knows - or (b) how much is sincere vs trolling.)

*'slightly' in this context because implicitly the people claiming things are invented and popularised by black people still mean black people from the USA. 'Invented and popularised by black people' could also be a completely different claim from 'AAVE-derived' if you were talking about, idk, reggae, or aspects of MLE.

[ectonurites]

I'm disappointed with the amount of people that assume Jancy is endgame. Even if their S4 ending wasn't as dramatically awful as Melvin, they too ended on a bad and unsatisfying note. They are still lying to each other and nothing has been resolved. Jonathan is still thinking about a slow-motion breakup. They both want different things for college. Yes they have a Byler parallel in S4 but they also have a Melvin parallel. I liked how they got together in S2, but their relationship hasn't felt solid to me since then . Sometimes people just grow apart or realize they have fundamental differences in values. Someone did a post of endgame couples and they chose Jancy from the end of S4 where Jonathan is looking tight-lipped and guilty as hell. And the forehead kiss instead of a kiss on the lips.....i know a lot of kids in here think it's goals, but it actually seemed like Milkvan's desert reunion or the way Mike kisses El's cheek/forehead in the airport. Not passionate/romantic at all. Just wild to me

-Totes Unpops

strongly agree | agree | neutral | disagree | strongly disagree

OOOOooo OKAY. So I don't 100% agree with all of this but.. I do agree with big chunks of it.

Because like, listen. I love Jancy and I do WANT them to sort out their issues, but I am totally in agreement on feeling a bit... uneasy about the way so many people seem to ASSUME 100% that everything will get neatly resolved and they'll be endgame. I want them to find a way to make things work, but I also think it could be very possible and make plenty of sense for them to end the show no longer actively together because of the sort of 'growing apart' thing you're talking about. Just with that sort of scenario I'd hope for it to be on good terms/open ended, in a way where you can look at them easily thinking 'maybe someday down the line when they're at a different point in their lives they'll rekindle this, but just not right now'.

The thing I don't really agree with though is comparing their reunion to the Mike & El desert/airport reunions... idk like I think it's fair to maybe not call it super passionate (because there is obviously tension between them!), but overall it still felt far more romantic than either of those Mike & El scenes to me, personally.

[trifectum]

“LIAVOSSO’S GALACTIC JOURNAL! - entry 2: the Lybadora”

Entry two - still very rudimentary- but maybe she’ll get there in the end. Passion takes work!

“So - second entry! I’ve been working on my technique- got some tips from a ProtoDemon on Earth (I had the notes he gave me over tea tagged onto the end of the latest pages)

I’m ready for round two! Turns out, I can specify whether or not I want text highlighted - and they won’t directly write what I wrote! Check it out! PLANTS ARE JUST EXTREMELY LAZY ANIMALS! I can do other stuff too, like this, this, and this - but I’ll save those for a rainy day. For now - let’s get on with it!

The Lybadora

These big, red, handsy people are my second choice for this journal for good reason - they're easy to get undressed, and easy to make a quick sketch of. After such a miserable experience with the Mantisi, I needed a simple set of subjects to actually have a conversation with and enjoy the company of. That and a bonus of having all the most difficult to talk formally about out of the way for the rest of the entries.

Biology

While Lybadora are actually pretty genetically similar to humans, what with their generally humanoid silhouette and organs, there are a few differences. Obviously, four arms, no external nose, three fingers, and spiky hair are some, but the height difference also tends to be a little wide. I’ve heard of humans and Lybadora being attracted to and marrying each other before, so I guess the hormonal similarities are quite distinct. That or the Lybadora’ll spend a night with anything that works, and so will the majority of humans. Either way, they are prone to their ‘emotions’.

Speaking of which - I did have to ‘human proof’ them a little. For example, the male sitting in a chair is my problem solving for that ‘bag’ situation. As you may have guessed - human and Lybadora sex organs are similar too. To all us non-humans that’s fine (who cares, right?), but most of humanity tends to be outwardly prudish, and really enjoys censoring anything that even implies a recognisable sex organ. So I’m just gonna respect that for the sake of staying off the watchlist of the Curator.

History

I don’t think I elaborated this enough the first time - but this is for my evaluation of encounters I’ve had with the allotted species. I guess I can also mention a bit of general history here and there - but I’m not a trained historian, so fair warning. Generally me and Lybadora are rather well separated. In terms of aggressive situations, nothing much is exchanged that wouldn’t have been if it were any other species. At most, their natural tendency to challenge worthy opponents is a tad bit informal. No one really knows why they’ve learned to challenge people to combat - just that it had to be some kind of adapted ritual from an era where such a thing had more weight. They are traditionally a hedonistic society, which does sort of fuel some opinions they tend to have of beings like me: being almost entirely unique is a ‘pull’ to most of the more adventurous ones. But that’s almost atypical really, Lybadora are famously forward.

Opinion

The Lybadora are decent people. It’s not too difficult to talk to one, and their personal ideals aren’t typically malicious. I guess they can be very off putting to an idle human observer - but an active conversation is always a little off from the sidelines. They… did sort of make me wonder about my advertising though; couldn’t exactly pay them with money if they were extremely hopeful of a ‘different equity’. Eh - we’re all consenting adults - it’s just a matter of specifying that I pay in Qwarts alone next time. OH and of course Kria is off with the Blade on the safest section of the allotted planet during my figure-sketching sessions.

Summary

If you like the kinds of party loving, fight loving, loving loving people you rarely see being themselves out in the wild - you like Lybadora. They’re a cuddly alternative to trying to befriend a wallkeeper in the docks of the Hell Facility, and can sniff out a good time from a mile away. Just keep an eye on them if you suspect anything more.

Hey! That’s it - much better this time, aye? Make sure to ask your questions wherever the questions are asked! Until next time!”

[sylvies-chen]

Chenford is canon babyyyyy. Also I adore how much we got from Lucy in regards to how important Tim is to her bc I feel like we were more in the dark about her thoughts than Tim. Her saying he's the most important relationship of her life left me on the floor. Her saying he's not ... *Looks at Tim*. Breaking up with Chris bc it's not working out but essentially admitting she was still with him bc she was scared of being with Tim and ruining things. Her going straight back to the precinct to tell Tim that they broke up. Like she loves him so much and I love that. Also I love how these two episodes ended with them, they've been doing that frequently lately. Usually the episodes almost always end on Nolan and he still get the most screentime but they are actually balancing the ensemble well and giving us decent chenford screentime. Obviously we need a couple of episodes where the focus is mostly on them but what they're doing rn is great.

CHENFORD IS CANON!! Anon you’re so right, Lucy had definitely been using Chris as a shield to avoid exploring her feelings for Tim and exposing those feelings, and I think that had very much been translated into her thought process and emotions being slighlty blocked from the viewers as well as from Chris and Tim so it’s SO nice that we finally got to see that dam break and all of her real desires, fears, and struggles come out onto the surface.

And the MOMENTS they had in these episodes that you’re describing! They were fantastic! Like yeah, Lucy absolutely implied that she doesn’t love Chris because he’s not Tim, and in that sense sort of implied that she loves him??? SO WILD. I have a feeling those big L bombs are going to be saved for later in the season though, like I think the writers are gonna save them to actually saying it to each other for something big. (Not that this isn’t big, of course, but they’re still very new and in the beginning stages of a relationship and so I think that love word will be brought up in a more intense or serious situation as opposed to this sort of light and happy version of them we get to see right now.) Still, this content is EVERYTHING TO ME. And you’re right, I feel like these episodes did a very good job of balancing out the storylines so that the scales weren’t tipped in anyone’s favour in terms of screen time. Quality of the screentime, however, goes to Chenford hands down! And they’re smart because the Chenford stuff is the emotional and sweet parts of the episodes, as opposed to the very interestingly random pairing of Nolan and Genny, or the slightly traumatizing storyline involving Grey’s daughter. They know that Chenford is always a really good note to end on so I’m really glad they had that inclination to make them the ending scenes for both episodes.