#or this a design flaw nobodies ever thought to fix

[trynadollsiesplay]

@myondolls Gosh, your answer was good for my last question 🤩. I'm still getting my head around it 🤯. But you seem like you know your way around a doll (rainbow high specifically) so I wanted to ask about it!

Story time: When I only had, like, 5 rainbow high dolls, I pulled some of their hands off to get a jacket on them (before knowing it was a trap). Each time the wrist broke - like in that last post - but further down the wrist-discs rod, so it still basically clicked back into place. It still comes off again if you extend the hand too far (because the rod falls out). And that is sort of a problem ☹.

I have questions about that. And I don't want to break my own doll open to look deep inside, so I thought I'd ask.

a) How far down does that discs pin go? is it all the way down to the elbow?

b) why doesn't the disks pins end (deeper in the arm) fall out when you break it at the wrist. It seems pretty tight in there, and I don't get why. Especially when there are so many people customising arms and hands in the doll customising world. It seems counter-productive to my uneducated brain for it to not do that.

If anyone has thoughts on this, or wants to take on some community doll education for the sake of us uneducated doll collectors, feel free to add on. (I just realised I could probably google this. But it's always nice to hear it from people, yk?)

[the-final-sif]

One of the things I think people as a whole don't understand about the internet today is that so much of what's wrong/dangerous/flawed about the internet exists because so much of the internet started as one person's hobby they built in their spare time or as a specific task for a specific function that was just useful/functional enough that literally everyone started using it. There's tons of biases built into the modern internet and some of that is carelessness but a lot of it is... just like. This was invented by a group of grad students fucking around for a few weeks. How the fuck were they supposed to know it'd be become the global standard and that nobody would bother to address or change these things?

Like, the whole reason that the US government gets the ".gov" domain name is because this entire system was invented in the US primarily for use in universities. Under the original system, you had to phone in to talk to the center who owned the list, tell them what name you wanted and then a person would type your name/ip onto the list attached to a nickname much like a phonebook. Then people slowly figured out domains and maintaining domain registries. And then the system became useful enough that more of the US started using it, and then people realized "oh shit, other countries want to use this too, guess we need to figure that out".

The "world wide web" or the thing we all know as the internet (and the reason that every website you visit has www in front), was invented originally by one dude trying to make his own job easier (Tim Berners-Lee). He thought it was pretty cool and shared it, and he was one guy who only spoke English and was just doing what he thought was going to work.

Like, this is a very lighthearted article talking about him, but I think it illustrates the point really well,

Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the creator of the World Wide Web, has confessed that the // in a web address were actually "unnecessary". He told the Times newspaper that he could easily have designed URLs not to have the forward slashes. "There you go, it seemed like a good idea at the time," he said. He admitted that when he devised the web, almost 20 years ago, he had no idea that the forward slashes in every web address would cause "so much hassle". His light-hearted apology even had a green angle as he accepted that having to add // to every address had wasted time, printing and paper.

via "sorry for the slashs"

We have an entire internet and infrastructure built rather haphazardly but also in such a way that going back and trying to change or fix things either requires an insane amount of work or could render vast swaths of the prior internet inaccessible.

Like, I think everyone here remembers Flash getting shut down and how much of childhood games got wiped off the generally accessible internet and relegated to projects like Flashpoint. It was really hard to see, but Flash was also a project started in 1996 (or 1993 if you count the OG version that turned into flash) that was supposed to be for a limited set of use cases, and not the medium on which major parts of the internet would run. By the time Adobe shut it down, Flash was incredibly dangerous with the constant risks of malware, it was buggy, slow, and there were a million better programs. It had to be killed to make way for better things, but because of how the internet was built, that death came at a pretty high cost.

So if you're ever wondering why it feels like the web is a bunch of dominoes ready to fall down at any time, it's because it is. And it does. And so many people spend so much of their time combating all the problems created by using systems that were never intended to handle everything they are currently handling because the alternative is a task of monstrous undertaking that would almost certainly turn decades of history to dust.

[denndrawings]

Just finished Jedi: Fallen Order so. Thoughts. Mostly spoiler free unless specified.

first of aLL. The music was sO GOOD and the landscapes omg every single planet is so complex and unique and even though you have to stick to the routes in the map the planets feel so bIG and rich in details and gorgEOUS. Kudos to the environment designers. Hands down my fave was Dathomir because it was so beautifully creepy and the aesthetics were On Point and the Sisters storyline is so cool (I loved Merrin So Much omg I hope she has more screentime in the next game).

THE FLASHBACKS. I love how they are used to vertebrate the story and teach us as players the force tricks at the same time Cal remembers them. And how deeply sad they are, (spoilers! Jump to next paragraph if you don’t wanna read them) specially the ones in Dathomir. I played the whole order 66 one at midnight when my house was completely calmed and I could be totally absorbed by the game and I think I will never forget it. OHOHOHO and the one when you are getting the holocrom, how everything gets dark and you light your saber and it’s fUCKING RED. I SWEAR TO GOD I JUMPED BACK AND HIT MY HEAD WITH THE CEILING. That is my favorite moment in the entire game.

Cere!! Her story her character arc I’m- how she deals with guilt and regret and she learns from Cal as much as she teaches him. She feels so damn real and human and flawed. And I’m still not over her look pre-order 66 tbh. And Greez!! He is like a father to me right now. I would love to know more about him in the second game!! How did he and Cere met, how did they learn about Cal, what’s up with him and gambling!! And Cal!! Cal is my boy that’s it that’s my champion my son. I accidentally killed him 1947194719401947 times because I’m bAD AT COORDINATION. But yeah, I’d die for him, no questions asked. His evolution is everything to me, how he looked the past on the eye and decided to build a better future so nobody has to feel like that ever again. And he is like!! Eighteen he is a chILD HE WASNT SUPPOSED TO BE A SOLDIER?? And still, trauma and all, he insists on seeing the good in people and trying to help and !!!! I am feeling so many feelings!!!

BD is my best friend that’s it he’s my favorite droid ever. He tiptoes the line between a dog and a child so gracefully he is sO ENDEARING. (Spoilers! Jump to next paragraph etc) I was separated from him for like. Half an hour. Worst half an hour of my life I missed him so bad.

Listen, I wasn’t a fan few months ago. Hell, I didn’t even know what Star Wars was about, really. Like, shooting stuff and laser swords and spaces naz*s, that is what I knew. Then I watched the prequels with my girlfriend so I could watch Obi Wan and she had So Much patience with me and walked me through the whole thing —still does because I’m not even half way through the movies lol—. She’s kind like that (maybe you’ll read this, I love you cielo! Thank you for everything!). And I think this /this/ has been my breaking point. Cal’s faith, his hope for a better world, his honest best attempt at fixing something that seems so broken beyond repair. Maybe the Jedi as an organization wasn’t perfect because nothing is totally perfect, but, as people, they did their best. And I think that is the kind of thing I needed to hear in a world as terrifying as the one we live in right now. I needed to hear about hope, and rebuilding, and faith on the inherent good in people, and that kindness is a choice that we have to make everyday. Cal said something along the lines of mistakes are a thing from the past and we have to focus on the choices that we can make /now/ that can change the future. That’s so powerful.

Long story short I’ve cried my eyes out a total of like a hundred times through the game, the ending was abSOLUTELY KILLER and I have enjoyed the whole thing so much, I totally didn’t think this game was going to mean this much to me and yet here we are. Go play fucking jedi fallen order if you haven’t.

[leiawritesstories]

Speak To My Heart

Rowaelin Month, Day 15: A bad day

Word count: 3422

Warnings: language, bit of depression, fighting. In short, there is angst in this fic. Hope the ending makes up for the rest.

Linguistics and foreign languages are two of my personal passions, so please bear with the bits of language talk that I couldn’t resist including. Brief word of clarification: a lot of expressions we use in English either translate into something extremely rude or don’t make sense in other languages. Translation companies have been trying for quite some time to make sure they don’t accidentally send a client a translated instruction manual that reads “fuck your mother” instead of “for questions, contact your local energy department.” All right I’ll get off my soapbox. :)

The phrases in foreign languages, marked with *, are translated into English at the end. Enjoy!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rowan’s day had been shit. The second he walked through the door, he’d been bombarded with an endless slew of crash reports, malfunctioning equipment, faulty passwords, and best of all, having to rewrite half the security firewalls because one of the rash young idiots in his department couldn’t be bothered to check his work for errors before sending it to management. And management thought it was the department boss’s job to fix all of his employees’ fuckups.

He hated IT.

Even more so since being promoted to department chair. 

All he wanted to do was the fun stuff--program design and development, fixing the flaws in his own designs, and of course making those who tried to break into his company’s systems regret their pitiful existence. But Cadre Tech’s bitch of a CEO refused to let the best software engineer on her staff actually do his job. 

Most days, he could cope with the pile of useless shit she directed to his desk. Most days. Today was not one of those days. Probably because on top of all the meaningless tasks he’d had to field, he was also forced to sit through one of Maeve’s bullshit “department head strategy sessions,” where every department chair had to pretend they gave a single shit about any word coming from their CEO’s garishly red, pinched mouth. 

As if she knew anything her staff actually did. 

Thanks to the compulsory meeting, Rowan was stuck in his office at nearly ten o’clock, painstakingly combing through the final draft of the update to CT’s translation program. This program had shot the company to fame and fortune, or at least insane stock value. “A Google Translate that actually translates,” their marketing department called it, and by the gods, that stupid slogan worked. And made sense. Rowan knew the program was just as good as it claimed to be.

He’d put in the hours, alongside a team of linguists, software engineers, designers, and people fluent in at least one other language. Frequent were the sessions where the project whiteboard turned into a jumble of words in twenty or more languages, Spanish alongside Arabic next to a column of simplified Japanese characters spilling over into a row of Cyrillic lettering. Rowan himself spoke German and some Spanish, but even he was lost amid the cacophony of eighteen different people switching from language to language, trying to figure out how idiomatic expressions translated from one language to another and what words should never, ever be placed together. 

It took the team well over a year of bickering, or as they called it, friendly linguistic disagreements, to make it from loosely mapped concept to functioning program. By the time it hit the market three years ago, the software had been so well promoted that companies all over the world snapped up their chance to finally communicate properly with the client they’d offended years ago with a bad translation. 

At launch, of course, Maeve stood in front of a sea of shouting reporters brandishing microphones, smiling her serpentine smile, and proceeded to thank the creative team for all their “contributions” before taking all the credit herself. 

Said creative team went to the bar that had become their usual gathering spot that night to get drunk and shit-talk their horrible boss, not necessarily in that order. 

His favorite memory of that night was hearing the chief linguist, an outside contract with multiple advanced degrees who spoke eight separate languages besides English fluently, refer to Maeve as “quella puttana rugosa che non riusciva a convincere un cazzo a venire a dieci metri da lei se si vestiva da figa.*” The Italian speakers on the team were crying with laughter, and so was everyone else, once she translated it.

And then she downed another shot of vodka and hissed something that sounded like “sukya bliyad, no puedo mich betrinken con esta ordures.**” When everyone blinked in confusion, she sighed and relayed the sentiment in English. 

Nobody had laughed as hard as Rowan. Aelin Galathynius just had that effect on him.

She brightened his darkest days.

But she couldn’t ease the strain of today.

And it was all his fault.

~

Aelin glanced up at the clock on her wall and cursed in three different languages when she saw that it was nearly eleven. Without meaning to, she’d spent all afternoon and evening writing lesson notes on idiomatic expressions. She really couldn’t help herself once she got into the topic; it was her pet project.

And the subject of one of her dissertations. Yes, she had multiple. 

She’d worked her ass off for years to get through college, then through graduate and doctoral work while teaching at universities to offset costs, then earned a full-time teaching position at one of the top-ranked universities in the world. She got to teach linguistics, her lifetime love, and give guest lectures at other universities and at conferences, teaching people all over the world about the complexities and interrelatedness of language. Hell, she spoke ten; she’d be qualified to speak on linguistic relationships by virtue of that alone.

Gods, she was the chief linguist behind the most successful translation software ever produced. Even if the bitch who owned the rights to said software had literally threatened to sue over ownership rights if any of the people who’d poured their figurative blood and sweat and literal tears into building the program tried to claim a small piece of the credit each of them so richly deserved. 

That software and her role in its creation--even though Maeve Ond had claimed the public credit, the creative team spoke at interviews and made news features for their work in Cadre Tech’s massive success--had solidified her credentials as a professor of linguistics, had boosted her into her lecturer spot.

Last year, her university granted her tenure. 

She should have been overjoyed, and she was, but not as much as earning tenure deserved. 

Because there was nobody to share her joy.

Three years ago, in the wake of CT’s overnight jump to worldwide fame, Aelin fled a love she did not and never would deserve. 

She told herself she would never look back. But she did. Almost every day, she looked back at the life she’d shared with Rowan and tried to convince herself that she did the right thing.

Try as she might, she could never silence the whisper that echoed always in her mind. 

“You broke both of your hearts” 

Someday, she told herself, someday she would be back in Doranelle. Someday, she would have a chance to apologize. Someday, maybe she could fix the Rowan-shaped chasm that gaped wide in her heart. 

Yet here she was, sitting in a very nicely appointed hotel room in the university district of Doranelle, typing furiously away as if burying herself in notes and prep for tomorrow’s lecture could make the urge to contact Rowan disappear.

~

Three years earlier. Doranelle.

“Knock, knock.”

Rowan’s head jerked up from where it had most definitely not been slumped on his desk. “Wha--Oh. Hi, Aelin.”

“You’re falling asleep, buzzard, let’s go home.” He heard laughter in her soft voice. 

“As if you won’t just get home and start cross-checking every single one of the phrases on your ‘potential problem’ list.”

She chuckled, walking over to him. “Fine. We’re both perfectionist work whores. Doesn’t mean we don’t need sleep.”

“I know you too well to believe you’re actually going to sleep.”

“All right, you win. Come home now, I’ll make some food, and you can put me to bed.” She winked saucily at him, leaving very little doubt what putting her to bed would entail, and he was up out of his chair in seconds. 

“Hand over your computer, Fireheart,” he grinned as they walked into the small house they shared on the outskirts of the city. 

“What?”

“Your computer, love. I’m leaving both of our work bags on the shelf by the front door so we can actually catch some rest tonight.” He pressed a finger to her mouth to silence her protests. “Uh-uh, Ae, we have interviews tomorrow and I won’t let the genius behind this program’s flawless word-to-word be anything but well-rested.”

She sighed, but he saw the love in her eyes. “Here, then, my dear brilliant software engineer. Leave your notebook, too, because I know if it’s anywhere near you, you’ll be up at three in the morning scribbling blocks of gibberish and picking apart your faultless code until you go insane.”

Both of their work satisfactorily put aside, Aelin made good on her promise to cook Rowan dinner. 

And then he made very good on his promise to put her to bed. 

The next morning, they were both awake with the sunrise, content to lay curled in each other’s arms as the morning light spread across their room.

Rowan drifted back into sleep, waking for good when he caught a whiff of coffee from the kitchen’s direction. 

“Morning, you sleepy buzzard,” Aelin grinned, sipping from her mug.

Rowan dropped a kiss on her head as he reached for his mug. He took a long drink, sighing as the milky, sweetened caffeine hit his mouth. 

“I will never understand how you drink your coffee black, Fireheart.”

“Not all of us need to sweeten the hell out of coffee to drink it, Ro. Maybe if you can’t handle the real thing, you should go back to your pretty little cups of crappy cafe tea.”

“Mention my pretty little teacups again, Ae…”

She giggled. “You be quiet and drink your coffee-flavored milk, my love.  We both know you’re impossibly grumpy until you have caffeine in your veins.”

He grumbled something unintelligible as he drank his coffee.

They were nearly late to work that morning, even having planned an extra half hour to arrive, thanks to Aelin wearing what Rowan dubbed her “sexy professor suit.” She fixed the pins in her French twist in the car, making herself once again a portrait of professionalism, and slipped Rowan’s hand from her leg.

“Two hands on the wheel, Whitethorn.”

He pouted. “But I’m a safe driver and I want to hold your hand.”

“My hands are over here, love, not down by my skirt.”

When he pulled into his spot, Aelin closed her eyes and took a deep, slow breath. 

“You good, Fireheart?”

Gods, she loved hearing him call her that. “Yeah. I just…needed a moment to settle myself. To tell myself the cameras aren’t here to tear apart what I say.”

Rowan wrapped his hands around hers. “Dr. Aelin Ashryver Galathynius, the bland reporters are here to stand in awe of your expertise. Not a single word you say will come across as anything but brilliant and beautifully said.”

She squeezed his hands, her usual confidence returning. “I love you, buzzard.”

“I love you too, Fireheart. Let’s go talk about our amazing achievement.”

The day sped by in a blur of reporters, interviewers, teleprompters, practiced speeches, lights, cameras, and crew. When the last bleached-blonde anchor of the last interview of the day cut her crew’s cameras, Aelin flopped against her second-in-linguistic-command, Dr. Nehemia Ytger, the expert on ethnic African languages. 

“If I never see a news crew again, it’ll be too soon,” she sighed. “I’m beat.”

Nehemia snickered. “But we’re done talking about how proud we are that Maeve and her marvelous company have done such a grand service to the world.”

Aelin snorted softly. “Right. And now we servicepeople want to go home and take off our heels.”

“Amen to that.”

As the team filed out of the studio, Rowan made his way over to Aelin. “Holding up?”

“Not anymore,” she said, leaning casually into his side. “My heels are killing me, there’s a hairpin stabbing into my scalp, and I really, really need to pee.”

Rowan laughed, deep and husky. “Let’s get you home, then.”

“I’m stopping in the bathroom first.”

Just before she left the ladies’ room, Aelin heard voices in the break area. Familiar voices--Rowan’s, Maeve’s, and the snippy, borderline whiny tones of Remelle Frelau, who worked in the marketing department and had a hell of a boner for Rowan. 

“--looking at revenue over--” Maeve’s voice cut out, but from the gasps of the other two, the revenue was through the roof. 

“And it’s all thanks to this genius here,” drawled Remelle, who if Aelin had her guess was probably clinging onto Rowan like a platinum-blonde leech. 

“Ms. Frelau, this was the product of a team. No single person could possibly have made it happen alone.”

“Oh, call me Remelle, or even better Remy. And you’re the team leader, so you practically did create it by yourself.”

Aelin snickered to herself. Vapid bitch had no idea what she was saying. 

“That’s not how teams work, Ms. Frelau. We wouldn’t be here without Dr. Galathynius and Dr. Ytger’s language expertise, not to mention the creative genius of the engineers, graphic designers, linguists, and programmers.”

“Ms. Frelau, though her judgment is clearly biased, has a point, Mr. Whitethorn,” Mave said. “You demonstrated remarkable collaborative leadership qualities throughout this project, and I fully expect that you will continue to do so.” Maeve’s heels clicked away. Rowan’s voice followed her.

“Thank you, Ms. Ond, but I have to credit Dr. Galathynius--”

“Will you stop kissing that woman’s ass?” snorted Remelle. “Gods, she’s not worth your time or your praise; all she does is translate words into different languages and you idiots drool over that like it means anything.”

Aelin jerked like she’d been slapped. She knew Remelle was a self-centered, shallow, spiteful bitch, but she hadn’t known she would do this.

“--did more for this project than you and your useless whiteboard of catchphrases,” growled Rowan. 

“I don’t care what she ‘did for the project,’ Rowan, she’s never going to be good enough for you.”

“Thank you for caring about my welfare, Frelau, now please kindly fuck off.”

Aelin chose that moment to saunter out of the bathroom and head straight for Rowan, her face showing no hint of having heard that conversation. She did note with satisfaction Remelle’s vain attempt to march out of the room with some semblance of dignity. Too bad her heel caught on the seam of the hallway carpet and the break room’s tile flooring and she had to grab the doorframe to keep from collapsing. 

“You’re awfully quiet, Aelin.”

“Just thinking. Processing, really. It’s been a hell of a day.”

Rowan nodded. “I bet.”

“And hearing fucking Remelle rip into me for being useless…didn’t make it better.”

“Shit, you heard that?”

“Yeah. I heard that.” Her voice was hollow. 

Rowan pulled into their driveway and shut off the engine. Reaching across the console, he cupped Aelin’s face in his hands. “Aelin. You are brilliant. You are terrifyingly smart. You are a force of nature. Nothing, nothing you will ever do is useless. Don’t let that jealous bitch make you think you are less than the perfect woman.”

She smiled tentatively at him. “She…she told me before that last interview that I could never be enough for you. Because you--because of Lyria.”

Rowan raked a hand through his hair. “Ae, can we talk about this inside?”

That night, he told her about his former fiancé, Lyria. He told her about their whirlwind romance, their youthful dreams. He told her about the horrific crash that stole away Lyria’s life. A drunk trucker, a narrow pass in the mountains. He showed her the box in which he kept all the memories of that life. He cried. Aelin cried. He curled against her, let her comfort him.

“Sometimes, I wish she was still here. She’d understand everything. She always did.”

Aelin had no response. She let Rowan fall asleep, his weight shifting off her and into his bed, and looked through the box. Everything she saw served as another reminder that this was the first woman he loved, the woman who understood everything. 

She was worthy of him. 

But was Aelin?

The more she looked at Rowan and Lyria’s happiness, the more the answer solidified. 

No.

When Rowan woke up the next morning, Lyria’s box sat on Aelin’s side of the bed, a side that had not held Aelin.

He glanced out the window.

Her car was gone.

He got up and frantically paced through the house.

Everything she’d brought into his home was gone.

As was she.

~

Present day. 

Rowan opened his front door mechanically, pulled off his shoes, dropped his work backpack on its shelf, and was halfway to his bedroom before he realized he’d just opened his front door. His front door that was always locked. 

Someone was in his house.

Someone who either had a duplicate key or insanely good lockpicking skills.

Exactly one person owned a duplicate key to his house.

Aelin.

That’s impossible, she lives in Orynth, she can’t be here, he told the traitorous part of his brain that leapt with joy at seeing Aelin’s face again.

He turned around and made his way through the kitchen--nobody there--to the living room. He flicked on a lamp, casting a soft light around the room.

And nearly had a heart attack.

Aelin Galathynius sat on his couch. 

For a moment, he just gawked at her. She looked so…different. Older. Gone was the infectious smile that had captured his heart. Dark shadows smeared under her eyes, testament both to the long hours she devoted to her work and to recent sleepless nights. She was twisting a ring on her right hand, a familiar sign of her nerves. From his angle, Rowan could see a hint of dark script on her wrist. A tattoo. The Aelin he knew didn’t have tattoos.

“I’m not a ghost.” Her voice, weary and hollow, broke the tense silence.

Rowan crossed the room, propped an arm on the fireplace. “Why?”

“Why am I here? Why did I leave? Why did I cut you out of my life?”

“Everything.” He couldn’t keep the waver from his voice, but his eyes burned into hers.

She took a steadying breath. “I’m here to apologize, first of all. I’m here to face what I ruined and to try and start mending it. I’m here to come to terms with everything I broke when I left three years ago.”

Whatever he’d expected her to say, it certainly wasn’t that.

“I’m sorry, Rowan. I’m sorry I left like that. I was…I was scared.”

“You can’t just run away from your fears, Aelin!” He couldn’t keep the frustration from his tone. “You can’t just abandon someone when you have a bad day!”

“I’m sorry! I know I shouldn’t have left! I know I can’t run from my fears; I’ve spent the last three years trying and fucking failing to do that! But I don’t know what else to do.”

“Saying something about it would have been a good first step.” 

“I’m bad at emotions, Rowan. I tried. It wasn’t enough.”

“That’s not a good enough excuse.”

Aelin flicked a tear from her face. “I know.” Her shoulders slumped. “I’m so sorry, Rowan. I should never have left. I let some stupid comment root into my head and make me doubt myself. I made myself believe I would never be good enough for you. I left you. I loved you, and I still left you. I still love you, even though I’ve tried to suppress it. I can never make up for that. I…I just wanted to tell you how much I’ve regretted that horrible decision all these years. I want you to be happy, Rowan, I--”

“How am I supposed to be happy without a source?” He’d dropped onto the couch, close enough to touch her but still keeping his distance.

“What?”

“You didn’t just take yourself away, Aelin. You were my happiness. I’ve spent three fucking years trying to make myself believe I’m better without you in my life, and I can’t.”

She was unabashedly crying by that point. “What do you want me to do? How can I make up for abandoning you?”

“Stay.”

Her gaze locked onto his, both of their eyes pooling with tears.

“Stay with me, Fireheart.”

“But--”

“I never stopped loving you either.”

A choked sob ripped out of Aelin. Rowan couldn’t hold himself in check any longer; he reached out and tugged her gently into his arms. To his shock, she didn’t resist, burying her face into his chest as sobs shook her shoulders. When she calmed, he tilted her chin up.

“Will you stay, Aelin?”

“Yes. Even though I will never deserve your forgiveness, yes.”

~

Translations:

* = “that pinched old whore who couldn’t convince a dick to come within ten metres of her if she dressed up provocatively” (Italian)

** = loosely translated as “Fucking hell, I can’t get drunk off this garbage.” (in order, Russian (badly phonetically spelled out because Rowan POV), Spanish, German, Spanish again, French) (the Russian doesn’t directly translate, so it could mean several different variations of expletive)

~

Might there be a second part? Perhaps......

[ultraintrovertedgryffindor]

hello my favorite writer it is me again i was wondering if i could have another will imagine (gn as usual) and could it be about a reader who feels insecure about being wills partner because they’re still working on being famous and feel like they’re mooching off of wills fame and end up pushing him away slightly and it’s angsty, but ends in fluff with will finally telling them he loves them and reassuring kisses <3

Favorite writer?? You flatter me, darlin', but thank you!

Also, so sorry this took so long! I've been really unmotivated/lazy lately and I wanted to write this as perfect as I possibly could. Also also, ya know how the Powerpuff Girls were made? Sugar, spice, and everything nice but Chemical X was added accidently? Yeah, this is that, but replace Chemical X with a lot of angst. My bad.😬

WARNING: Depressing themes throughout

~~~~~~~~~~

It wasn't often you felt insecure, but you figured it was just one of those days.

You hadn't been in many blockbuster films or tv shows, you were still working hard on your career. You loved the indie projects you worked on, you loved any job where you could act. It was your passion, after all.

You couldn't help feel a little bit insecure when your partner, Will, was where you aspired to be your whole life. He was brilliant, working with amazing people like Tom Hardy and Leonardo DiCaprio. So early in his career too. You looked up to Will so much, praying that you'd be just as talented as him one day. But you knew it wouldn't be easy, acting isn't exactly the easier job in the world, you knew it would take a lucky break.

You always joked that maybe you should work as a waiter in some restaurant, knowing that Edward Norton got his first movie role while working in such a place, only to move on to work beside the amazing Richard Gear.

It was just one day you felt bad about your career, but then it started to snowball into anxiety and depression. It got to the point where it was all you could think about, especially when you were out with Will. And you could tell that he knew something was up, the thousand yard stare that you often had was something that couldn't really go unnoticed.

But for the most part, you acted like everything was fine.

You hated that you let your insecurity pile on and on like this, it normally was something you could handle. You don't know what came over you, but you found yourself scrolling for hours looking at comments on any of your posts. Most people were supportive of you and Will's relationship, and you were thankful for that. But of course, there are always a few bad apples.

The wonderful and lovely, supportive comments were many, outweighing the hate by miles. But just one negative comment could throw you off, ruining your day.

You wished you could just focus on the positive, but unfortunately, that's not how brains are designed. It always has to point out a flaw, find that one odd man out, find the error in the system. Usually, most of those errors can be fixed. You spent your entire life trying to get people to like you, being somewhat of a pushover and a people pleaser, disregarding your own self in favor of praise. So seeing people online hating you for no other reason besides being with Will, seeing that they might never change their minds, it was devastating.

You knew that the hate would usually come from obsessed fans who must've been jealous of you, and you could understand that and it was fine. You remembered the younger years of being jealous of a person who dated your crush, it was something that most people grow out of thankfully. You could get over those comments, saying you weren't good looking enough or not fit enough, any comments about your appearance. The ones that really got to you was the comments about your "horrible" personality.

It was odd, people saying awful things about you when they didn't even know you at all. Most of the contradictory was were amusing. There was a point in time after your relationship with Will was made public, where you'd feel to nervous about going to red carpet events with him. The comments would say, "Y/n's not there with Will? What an unsupportive partner they must be!" or anything similar. But when you started to go with him sometimes, the comments would shift dramatically.

"Y/n's a gold digger."

"They're just using Will for his fame."

"He deserves better than that snake."

It hurt, more than you'd admit. You told Will it didn't bother you that much, just wrote it off that it's normal. Then, you never talked about it again.

You felt awful, every single day. Thoughts of self doubt clouding your brain constantly, thinking, "Am I really deserving of such a kind person like Will?" No matter how you looked at it, the answer was always no.

You started to feel like you shouldn't even be with Will anymore. There was most likely someone else out there, an actor with more talent and more self-sufficient than you were.

You and Will had been together for a couple years, you loved him so much, but when he asked you to move in with him, you said you weren't ready. The biggest lie you ever told, and you instantly regretted it when you saw the disappointed look on his face. But being the gentleman that he is, he said it was completely okay and that there was no pressure.

You absolutely didn't deserve him.

Every time Will asked you to go out with him, you always came up with an excuse to stay home. You felt too anxious about being out in public, the thought of a fan seeing you with Will brought you to the verge of a panic attack. You became distant, trying to distract yourself by throwing yourself into your work. You rarely saw Will anymore, and you knew if you kept up with how you were acting on your insecurity, you'd lose him. But you couldn't bring yourself to try and talk to him about it, you felt too embarrassed.

From Will's point of view, he thought you were becoming distant because of him. He wracked his mind trying to think what was it that he did to make you spend less time with him? At first, he thought, maybe you just needed some space. There were times where he needed to be alone, just like everyone does. But it felt like it was going on for too long. Every time he wanted to take you out somewhere nice, you'd politely decline and you'd opted for a night in.

There came a point where enough was enough, Will was determined to find out what was going on with you.

You stared at your cellphone, the screen lighting up with a picture of Will along with your set ringtone. You sighed, you really didn't feel like answering. You knew you should, but you couldn't bring yourself to. A feeling of dread washed over you, you didn't want him to think you hated him, yet you still couldn't. You rang your fingers through your hair, anxiously scratching your scalp harshly.

Your screen darkened, following with a notification, voicemail and text. "Y/n, what's going on? I've been trying...", you couldn't listen anymore.

"I'm sorry, Will..." You whispered to yourself, wrapping yourself up tightly in a blanket.

You almost screamed when you heard a rapid knock on your door, quickly tensing up when you heard Will call out from outside. "Y/n?"

You wanted to fucking scream.

"I know you're in there, just, please, talk to me."

The desperation in his voice forced you to get up from your couch, tossing away your cozy blanket with a huff. You shakily reached out and opened the door, Will's concerned face filling your view. "...hi."

Will chuckled bitterly. "Hi? That's it? You haven't talked to me in days. What's going on, love?"

"Nothing!" You explained, plastering on a fake smile with a chuckle.

Will smiled sadly. "You're lying." He said simply, pushing his way past you into your home.

"Will, please, I'm not up to talking right now."

"You know, I want to respect your wishes, I really do. But I feel that I've been patient. I've been trying to support you in any way that I can, but I can't help if I don't know what's going on." He sat down on your couch, pleading for you to sit next to him with his eyes. "We used to be open and honest with each other about everything. Tell me what's going on so I can help you."

You huffed, running your hands over your face. "It's not that simple..."

Will casted his gaze to your wooden floor, squeezing his hands together and taking a deep shaky breath. "Is it...is it because it's something I did?"

"What?"

"You're shutting me out. It's because of me, isn't it? I did something-"

"No." You quickly exclaimed, rushing over to his side when you heard his voice waver, taking ahold of one of his hands. "No, it's not you, I promise."

"Then...why? Why are you pushing me away?" Will sighed, biting his lip to keep himself from crying. "Do you not love me anymore?"

"I love you, Will, more than I can express." You chuckled bitterly. "It's hard to talk about."

Will brought a hand up to your face, gently brushing a freshly fallen tear off your face. "You can tell me anything, Y/n, anything."

You smiled weakly, bringing his hand you were holding up to your lips and kissed his knuckles softly. "Okay..." You took a deep breath.

"Take your time, love."

"Being with you, brings me so much happiness that it feels like I'm dreaming. You're so...amazing, and honestly the best and most kind person I've ever met. And I? I feel like I'm nobody."

"Y/n..."

"Compared to others, I'm no one. Just another person trying to live out their dreams that are so far fetched that it doesn't even seem possible to even come close to achieving them. You're so self assured that acting is what you were born to do and you're so talented. I envy you, and I feel so guilty feeling that way. Sometimes I feel like I wasn't meant to be an actor. I feel like...I'm trying to run towards my goal, but every time I make progress, the goal moves farther and farther away until I can't even see it anymore."

"Y/n," Will started softly, "I know how you feel. I've felt that way about my career too. I always wondered if there was going to be a light at the end of the tunnel. Yes, you can work as hard as you humanly can, but it also takes luck. You just have to be at the right place at the right time sometimes. That's why they call it a lucky break, ya know." He smiled, making you giggle tearfully.

"I know, but that's not all." You frowned. "I know you said, it's just better to ignore what the internet has to say, but...I was looking some of our comments a few months ago. And...I just went down a fuckin' rabbit hole. I know I always say that hate comments don't bother me, but...they do. They really do, and I let them get to me. I'm sorry."

"No, darling, I'm sorry. I didn't see what was really going on when I should've."

"You have nothing to be sorry for, Will. I thought I was stronger than this."

Will quickly brought you close to his chest, wrapping around your torso with one arm, the other gently cupping your jaw. "Hey, you are the strongest person I know, okay? Don't think you're weak just because you're feeling something that every human on planet earth feels. Whatever those comments said, there's no one I'd rather be with than you." He leaned forward and kissed you gently, pressing his forehead against yours.

"I felt so embarrassed, Will. I wished I had talked to you sooner."

"It doesn't matter now. You opened up and I'm proud of you for that. I love you so much. And I promise to try my very hardest to never let you feel that way again."

~~~~~~~~~~

hope you enjoyed, @fcvcritecrime ! 🖤

[agent-cupcake]

Hey AC! I love your blog and was wondering if I could get your opinion on something. I've seen some people complaining that Ingrid and Hilda are treated by the fandom, with Ingrid stans saying that Hilda is also racist towards Almyrans (which, granted, she is) but doesn't get nearly as much hate about it as Ingrid does. But personally I feel like their attitudes and the way they react towards Dedue/Cyril are wildly different and Hilda generally seems less hateful/irrational about it. Thoughts?

This is... kind of a touchy topic... I like it though! It’s worth discussing, especially since I feel like it’s broke criticism to simply deflect blame onto a character in order to prop up another.  Full and obvious disclosure: I very much dislike Ingrid and very much love Hilda. That said, I don’t think it’s fair to compare them for the sake of which is worse. I fall into the trap of character criticism through comparison far too often and it's not really valid unless you can fully explore each character in their own right beforehand. Which is why, while writing this, I came to the conclusion that the ways these two characters are interpreted and the reason people view their racist tendencies differently has far more to do with the characters themselves than their actual beliefs.

From first impressions to subsequent playthroughs, this is pretty much how I feel about Ingrid: she brings up her hatred of the Duscur people and Dedue unprompted and uncontested several times at the very beginning of the game, putting it front and center to her character. This is important, it sets a foundational component for how I could come to view her. According to her introduction, she is honorable and respectful, a model lady knight trope. But, as mentioned, she's really racist. Literally standing around thinking about how awful it is that Dimitri would trust a man of Duscur because they are all bad people. Yikes. And nobody calls her on it. Again, this is very important for perception. People judge Sylvain for his bad behavior in a much more harsh way than they do Ingrid for her vitriolic loathing for another classmate who we have seen as nothing but respectful. It's weird. And then, despite the fact that her close friend Sylvain was able to reason out that it’s not possible for the Duscur people to be at fault for the Tragedy, despite the fact that the prince of the country she supposedly hopes to serve with unwavering respect and loyalty has made it clear that he does not believe that Dedue or Duscar are responsible for the Tragedy, and despite the fact that Dimitri, her close friend and the one most affected by the Tragedy (seriously, she lost a guy she might have married and he lost his best friend, mother, and watched his father be killed in front of his eyes) continuously insists that neither Dedue nor Duscur are at fault, she loudly and openly believes that the ensuing massacre of Duscur was deserved and Dedue is inherently culpable simply because of his race. Her motivations for this hatred feel even more cheap considering her dogged hero worship for Glenn was born out of the fact that she was promised to him, making the fact that she’d use his death as reason enough for the destruction of countless innocent lives even more unsympathetic in my eyes. I mean, seriously, she was around 13 and he was older than her, how close could they have truly been? Dimitri says they were in love, but she was a child. Abandoning my modern sensibilities about age of consent or whatever, kids at that age don't have the emotional or mental capability. Maybe this is just nitpicking, but I have a very hard time caring about that relationship. But, if her actual justification is because of what happened to Faerghus as a result of the Tragedy and feels duty-bound as a knight to find justice through the systematic destruction of the Duscur people, then it just circles back to confusion considering the future leader of said country doesn't hold Duscur or Dedue responsible. The importance of perception comes in because despite these paper thin excuses and her seemingly willfully ignorant hatred, she is never challenged on her racist beliefs. The reason she seems to change her mind about Dedue and consider that maybe excusing a genocide is wrong stems from guilt that Dedue continuously comes to her aid in battle at the potential cost of his own life. I can understand, to a certain extent, why she might feel the way she does. But, again, I have such a hard time with any justification when nobody that she's close to is even nearly as hateful as her, there is plenty of evidence (evidence that the people close to her have found!) to provide a very reasonable counterclaim to Duscur's guilt, and that none of that even matters when it would require her to openly contradict the prince of her country to make the claim that Dedue was in any way complicit in the Tragedy. Which would be fine if she wasn't established as the model Lady Knight archetype, which also brings us into Ingrid's moral high horse. Admittedly, I hate the Lady Knight trope. I have a significant bias against these types of characters. However, I really do think that this moral crusade is where she lost me completely. Without even a shred of empathy or self awareness, she lectures Sylvain about his shitty behavior even though their circumstances are at least somewhat similar and he has his reasons (bad ones, maybe, but ones worth understanding if she actually cares about him), she lectures Felix about not being interested in knightly endeavors (an aspect of his character that is born of the trauma she has appropriated), and she lectures Claude about behavior that is befitting of a man in his position. Not because she cares about the girls Sylvain is hurting, not because she thinks there are any grave stakes from Felix choosing to do his own thing, and not because she knows that Claude's behavior affects his ability to lead, but because she doesn't like these behaviors and thinks they should be fixed. Yet, at the same time, she believes Dedue deserved to lose his family, country, and culture based on his birth and nobody ever does anything to morally correct her, it is something she eventually is forced to acknowledge on her own. It's frustrating, infuriating even, that the game lets her get away with being so grossly hypocritical. And, all the while, she is being painted as sympathetic. Again, I have a hard time feeling sympathy for her about Glenn, and I certainty don't feel sympathetic towards her issues about marriage because there's never any actual tension there. Of course she won't be forced to marry, she's a Lady Knight. Beyond being unsympathetic, I also find her massively unlikable. Awful design, poor voice direction, food-loving-as-a-personality-trait, the fact that she's written as one of those stock "feminist" characters who hate makeup and girly things until it benefits them, and constantly butting in on other characters to give her opinion without taking any criticism herself are all aspects that I just personally dislike. Ultimately, Ingrid being racist is only a symptom of the many reasons her character is one of my least favorites. Most of these points can be countered by someone who doesn't take issue with the things that annoy me and to point out that Ingrid DOES get over her racist beliefs. It's not fair to say that she doesn't change but, for me, the damage was already done by the time she became tolerable so I still have a hard time appreciating her. My assumption would be that there are a lot of other people who feel similarly to me regarding their dislike of Ingrid so they focus on one easy character flaw, her being racist at the beginning of the game, as a reason to validate their dislike of her overall.

On the other hand, Hilda's racism isn't a main trait of her character. It's related to her overarching character flaws, but she doesn't bring it up unprompted and can actually be pretty much missed without the Cyrill supports. Like you said, Hilda does seem less hateful and irrational, it doesn't take willful malice and an active rejection of reason for Hilda to dislike the Almyrans, they pose a genuine and provable threat to her family and territory, seemingly senselessly testing the borders and throwing away lives for the sake of conquest. To be clear, her "you're not like those OTHER Almyrans" schtick is legitimately nasty. Her behavior is gross and condescending and it really underscores the fact that Hilda is ignorant, lazy, inconsiderate, and incredibly comfortable in her privilege. She accepts what she's been told at face value because she's too lazy to look into it further. Cyrill does tell her she's stupid to think that way, though. Which is satisfying because Hilda in those supports is insufferable, it really highlights the worst aspects of her character, dismissive, manipulative, and very selfish. However, for me, she's also very likeable. I'm not interested in going over my opinions on her like I did with Ingrid as I don’t feel it’s as important to my point but a few reasons I really like her is because I think Hilda has a fantastic design, cute supports, amazing voice work, and is secretly sweet in a way that absolutely tickles my fancy. I am sure many people do not agree with me, which is fine. Additionally, just as Ingrid grows out of her racist beliefs, so does Hilda. They both end the game as more tolerant and caring people. Still, for the same reason a person could argue that Ingrid is actually great and I'm being unfair, they could argue that Hilda is terrible and I'm too biased. That's fair and true..... but I think the fact that Hilda is more generally appealing in conjunction with the less obvious nature of her racist attitude makes people less likely to dismiss her as a racist in the same way they do Ingrid. Unless they dislike Hilda, in which case, it’s all fair game.

Anyyyways, a main takeaway from this is that I highly doubt people are truly arguing on the individual basis of who's more racist, but that they're engaging in the age old waifu war. As with many characters in this game, it's easier to argue moral superiority when you can't quite articulate what you like or don't like about a character. Or, even worse, when you're arguing opinion. Even now, as is clear by reading this, I am arguing my opinion of why I don't like Ingrid. Not because she's racist, but because of the character traits and writing choices that make her unlikable to me. I like Hilda because, flaws and all, I find her to be compelling and enjoyable. From the people that I know, at least, that is basically how the Ingrid stans v Hilda racism argument is structured, even if they dress it up in different language.

By the by Hilda never talks about how the Almyrans deserve to be wiped out. I think that probably sours a lot of people's opinions of Ingrid no matter what happened afterward but that’s fine we can just pretend that didn’t happen

[shyrose57]

Brothers anon back again. I had a sort of writers block for the last like 2 days which made it really hard to do some questions, but I got em done finally. Sorry about the wait. This one is split between the numbered questions, and next ask is the other questions you asked!

I think I accidentally skipped a question in the last one. I honestly don't completely remember but in case I did skip it by mistake, the groups first travel out of the city's limits and even further beyond in a carriage. When they reach the end of how far the driver is willing to go they then get out and start walking. With Jackie screaming about how their finally going on a adventure. 

1: It thankfully doesn't get to to bad before the others notice. And he immediately told them about Dream, wanting to be very clear with what happened and what they where getting themselves into. But they accepted him anyway and helped him. 

2: Isaac is the leader cause Cletus is too much of a wildcard and too impulsive to lead safely, Charles is too shy to lead, and while Benjamin is perfect for leading he doesnt really like leading and is more of a follower than a leader. But Isaac can joke around and gets along with everyone but also be able to take things seriously and know when something needs to be handled.

5: They do not, they last for a few minutes and unless its a healing or regeneration potion (in which it can take a few days for it to fully go away) they have no long lasting affects. They do know of eachothers past to an extent, they know enough to avoid triggers and enough to know what not to do when around eachother. They know through telling eachother, and they feel awful Grievous and Jackie had to deal with that, but leave it in the past and focus on making their current life better. 

6: Yes and no, while Jackie did mean to throw it at Ran, he ment for it to just hit nearby him, not directly hit him. It was ment to be more of a scare/intimidation tactic than anything else honestly. Grievous's luck is for basically everything, he has won the lottery twice before actually but only those 2 times, he's correctly guessed how many items are in a container more than a few times as well. 

7: I use the height charts and they help mostly for comparison, problem is I have trouble applying it to real world stuff and because of that I still have trouble knowing if something or someone is to tall or short. Jackie can get very mean, like he can make fun of someone who just lost a loved one or experienced a traumatic event at the worst. But he usually doesn't get nearly that mean, most he does normally is making fun of how someone looks or how they do certain things. The others comfort him the best they can when he gets sad, and when he gets mean they either encourage it (Grievous), or discourage it and stop him (Watson. Ran is between either encouraging or discouraging it).

8: He was! He spent most of his life adventuring actually! He misses it somedays now since he lives in Subbin, but he believes giving up his adventuring life for a family and friends who needed him is a more than far trade and would happily pick his family over adventuring again. For around 4 years after Ran left Mizu (including the day he left), Ran traveled everywhere, and learned how to survive himself and taught himself different things, like sewing. Ran has made new socks, fixed clothes, and made blankets for everyone at least once. Watson also designs bows and arrows for show, for top functionality, and for just simple (training) gifts to the others. Ran (and Watson) has visited the nether, though Ran tended to stay in it longer than Watson cause he could withstand the temperatures better. And while digging a new tunnel across the nether he ran into ancient debris, which he then messed with until he figured out to mix it with gold and coat his sword in it. He tried to find more ancient debris but sadly hasn't found any, leaving his sword permanently damaged and at risk of breaking. Jackie isn't good at all at painting, its more of a hobby he's trying out. They try to camp out there at least once a week, where Grievous will sometimes build a pillowfort and either force everyone inside or play a game of capture the fort with them. Sometimes Ran will also read during the pillowfort nights, but not to often. Jackie wants to vist a Snow, Savanna, Jungle,  Tagia, and if possible, a Ice Spike biome. He also wants to vist the nether but he'll have to fight Ran on that. Ran and Jackie's secondary titles are in Javanese!

9: Ran just kinda went "Hey Jackie, stand still for a second." "Ok?" And then he just picked him up and threw up. 

10: When he's first given dinner after already eaten lunch, he just kinda stares at the food. Then asks if they meant to give him food, and when the others say yes, he asks why because he thought people only ate once every few days. His answer shocked the others and they ask him to explain, and he explains futher that he was only allowed to eat and drink once every 3 days. Their horrified by this answer but explain to him how theres 3 meals a day and he can drink whenever, he doesn't believe them at first but eventually accepts it. 

11: When the fishermen first come to Ranbob about their worry, he expresses the same worry as them. But says that it's unlikely Ran will hurt the fishermen specifically, because Rans haunting are already friends with them, and Ran wouldnt risk breaking the friendship unless he deemed it necessary for their safety. 

12: Ranbob is sad that Ran goes to such lengths to avoid him and keep people away from him, but he has resigned himself to it. As he knew that if Ran was alive it was greatly unlikely that he would trust him and knew he would be avoided. Which is actually particularly why he believes Ran will never trust him again and why he views Ran as a kind of lost family member. One he'll never get back no matter what he does.

13: Their first stop is a nearby flower biome, and after that Watson has planned to lead them to a waterfall he found with a shattered Savanna somewhat close to it. They plan to travel for a minimum of 6 months, they can actually travel for as long as they want to, but Prokius made them agree that they must be back before the next General Pit Battles (which happens once every 5 years). 

14: He would 100% run himself into the ground until he's barely alive while searching for them. Benjamin compares Ranbob wanting to go back to Dream, to an abused person wanting to go back to their abusive lover. They believe they've changed and that they truly do love them and want the best for them, but in reality that's not it at all and others have to help them see thats not true and help them save themselves. So it doesn't surprise Benjamin or Isaac that much (it surprises Charles and Cletus though), and after its explained to them, their all more than willing to help Ranbob get over Dream and help him be himself again.

15: Oh definitely. Once they hear the Green-Eyed Enderman is back from hiding they all set out again, and after the group gets attacked and once word spreads that its in a group and there's another enderman with them, they all get targeted. With the Gladiators and Fishermen being targeted as bait or hostages to try to trick the enderman into following a trap. Ran wasnt affected like his brother was. Im talking about trauma and maybe even a bit of PTSD that came from Mizu, caused by Dream. Though both of the brothers have gained different amounts of trauma and PTSD from Dream. I may give the raven to either Watson or Ran, I think its fits both of them really well. I want to have them come across ruins of other Tales but im not sure which ones. Maybe they could find the remains of the Wild West Tale and the Haunted Mansion?

Glad to see you, Brothers Anon, and excited to read!

1: The perfect start to an Adventure. And a funny mental image. Imagining these two groups cramped into carriages is pretty amusing. How ready was everyone to get out by the time they could?

2: The fishermen are really great, and Ranbob is very lucky. I love them.

3: Isaac sounds like he’s a pretty good fit for it then. But nobody’s perfect! What are some flaws of his, leadership-wise?

5: Interesting. What makes Regeneration and Healing last longer? I suppose it’s not relative to the AU, but I am a bit curious. What’s the world’s potions mechanisms, if you don’t mind me asking? And that’s good! They may not know everything, but they know what to avoid, and that’s important. Everyone’s moved forward and are making the best of life, and honestly, that’s pretty cool of them.

6: Welp, Jackie, it seems intimidation tactic failed. However, you have managed to anger Ran, so..there’s that. He won the lottery? Dang. Well, if they ever need money, they can just send him to the nearest casino, I suppose.

7: Aight, so I may have a solution for you there. Whatever height you’re going for, find something in real life that’s just about the same height. Like a tree, or something. Or not, we can always just leave it at short enough to be tossed and tall enough to be the tosser. Jackie sounds like he knows where to hit to make it hurt, honestly. It’s good that they comfort him, though I am curious why they all react as they do to him being mean. Why does Grievous encourage it? And is it more of a depends on the day thing for Ran, or a depends on what was said to Jackie, and what Jackie’s saying thing?

8: Nice! What kind of places did he go? Does he have any particularly interesting knickknacks from that time period? And Ran personally sounds like he knows what he’s doing. Watson’s weapons sound really cool, where did he learn to make them? Is visiting the Nether not a common occurrence these days? Or is it simply that the others never got around to it before? Well, hobbies are always fun to try. Does Jackie keep at it and get better or get bored and try something else? How does Capture the Fort go with these guys, considering they’re gladiators? Why does Jackie want to visit those particular biomes? Is there a reason, or do they just sound cool to him? And why would Ran not want them going to the Nether? Because of the danger?

9: FDXGHJ- He just- tossed him?? No warning?? Oh my gods, I’m dying. How did Jackie react to that? Heck, how did Porkius react to that? I doubt anyone was expecting that display.

10: Oh, no. Now I really want to punch Dream in the face. What the heck, Dream?! He legit asks if they meant to give him food...If one of the fishermen or gladiators doesn’t eventually find a way to punch Dream, I will be forced to travel realities and do it myself. 

11: Kind of sad that Ranbob was equally concerned about it. But hey! He won’t have to be, one day!

12: Poor Ranbob. I hope he’s proven wrong, eventually. Do the fishermen know that he thinks this? If so, how do they feel about it? Or does he kind of just keep those thoughts to himself?

13: Flower biomes are really pretty. What did everyone think about it? Did they bring any flowers with them? So this roadtrip could possibly go on for a few years. Did they leave just after a General Pit Battle, or do they have like, less than five years? Speaking of General, is Jackie still the General in this AU? Does he have extra duties because of it? Or is that not something that happened in this AU?

14: Yikes. Reactions to this? Why does Ranbob believe Dream’s changed, as you put it? Is Dream still able to talk to him, or is it because he just misses being there? So Benjamin and Isaac aren’t all that surprised about it. Do they take the reins in helping out? And how do they all do so? It’s good that they’re helping him though.

15: Well, this sounds like it can’t end well. They try to use the hauntings as bait? Is anyone actually captured? Rescue missions? And alright, that makes a bit more sense. I can see how they’d both be effected differently, and honestly, they’d probably both have very different perspectives of the event, all things considered. Ravens for the win! And it’d be really cool for them to come across the ruins of old Tales buildings. Can you imagine the kind of things they’d find? Diaries, faded photographs, moth-eaten clothes, blood stained floors...Like a walk in the past, but they’ll never know what came to be for the people of that time.

[crawgluvr4]

(warnings: flashbacks of csa, physical abuse, and sexual abuse.)

ana invents the drift within a year of the start of the crisis, contracted by first the egyptian military and then the american, to help them chase a pipe dream. 

something as big as the kaiju to defeat them. something out of a movie, a giant robot capable of safely dispatching the monsters. a familiar tale. they do not say why they need human pilots but it has a lot to do with human judgement and also propaganda. she obliges because the world is on the line.

ana invents the drift, allowing two people to share the neural load of piloting a machine hundreds of times their size. concurrently, the US government plows through five hundred disposable soldiers and get two worth using. she meets them once before the test and she is surprised at how immediately she finds herself caring about their wellbeing. she tells the doctors that the drift will not discriminate between current and past thought, that all memories and thoughts will be shared, and the two soldiers must be aware of this. it’s a huge risk to their health. the doctors nodded their heads and agreed with her and said of course and yes and they fully understand the risks. and she, young, foolishly trusted them to put empathy before efficiency. to put care before brute force. 

neither man enters the drift knowing the burden of it, neither are prepared for the overwhelming surge of memories that will occur. telepathy is a vague concept. you tell a soldier desperate to save the world, one of two of five hundred that survived a procedure designed to make them untouchable - you tell him they’ve invented a telepathic method of controlling something capable of destroying the monsters decimating the world and he will go for it. they both do. no matter what, they would have agreed. 

but it would have been nice to know what was coming. 

gabriel takes right and jack takes left. the helmets have not been refined yet and the neural gel is sickening and it takes jack longer to learn to breathe in it than they would like. ana is as ever the only one concerned for them and uses all the threat she can muster to give them time to adjust. she knows if this is successful she will have much less weight because she legally will have to sign over her research, but they will still need her. for efficiency. 

they’re both nervous but this is before they know anything, so gabriel comes across as cold and focused and jack comes across as confident and a bit arrogant. it's the surface personality each will maintain throughout the rest of their lives until the jaeger explodes in the mediterranean sea. gabriel does it because he wants people to trust his judgement, and jack does it because he wants people to believe in him. it's a roundabout method to the same goal; something they always manage to do. 

jack gets used to breathing and gabriel cracks a smile through his otherwise stern facade, which makes jack nervous in a better way, because he’s not quite acknowledging that he’s basically in love with gabriel. which is fine, because in the past three months since their briefing on the jaeger mission he has been practicing deflecting his thoughts so gabriel wont read them, something he is now uncomfortably good at. this will later be a fatal flaw of his - deflection. not thinking about what needs to be thought about. when drifting becomes refined jack will immediately master the ability to deflect and wall off thoughts and memories, and as such become a template for an ideal drift partner. but for now he is twenty-one and still really truly believes that despite how the government has treated him in the past year that they are telling the truth right now. 

ana's hands tremble as she sets up the machines for the handshake. she has no idea what is about to happen because she is nearly twenty-four and probably the most sensible person in the world right now but her mistrust is not yet enough either. she will regret ignoring the voice that tells her that, despite barely knowing these men, she should talk to them herself about the danger. 

gabriel gives them the all clear. jack watches him and follows suit a moment after. ana inputs the command to initiate neural handshake and says “neural handshake initi-” and doesn’t get to finish it before the computers go wild. 

when you enter the drift there is two seconds of silence as the minds sync. if two pilots are incompatible enough the drift will drop and nothing of importance will be shared, just a moment of disorienting silence. when pilots are compatible, this period is the calm before the storm. after the drift is developed properly people will be trained to think slowly. when overwatch scrabbles itself together years after its fall the training will be largely abandoned in lieu of efficiency and jack will think about the irony of this first and pass the thought onto gabriel. as it stands they have two seconds before jack suddenly thinks “what-” and the memories follow like the tail of a comet. 

what happens is this; two decades of memories, of things neither had ever intended to share, of memories forgotten to their mind, are shared in the span of twenty seven excruciating seconds. 

gabriel sees:

his father come in from the fields and he’s angry so angry because one of the machines broke down today and he won’t take it into town to fix it because he has some sense of pride or something and he knows by the look on his mothers face what his father is going to do, to vent his frustrations he takes a knife and starts cutting up the trees in the forest but then feels so bad he breaks down and cries. the way his fathers hands are only ever used to hurt to scar and to molest. the way the fields look like when it’s night and you stare from the crack of the barn door and try try as you can to leave your body and leave what is being done to you here. his sister’s silhouette on the porch. don’t forget to write.

which makes no sense because as long as he remembers gabriel has lived in the city. 

jack sees:

a loving family that accepts their son when he comes out as their son and cannot understand why he tries to kill himself when he's sixteen, and when he leaves for the military they still dont understand but its the same thread. don't forget to write. he doesn’t write and he doesn’t talk about his relationship with the much older girl his mother was so fond of because she was so polite to her face despite the cruel things she would say to gabriel about her. about how nobody in his family was really there for him, just her, and when she tells him he’s so mature for his age and how good he is in bed for his age he can only take it as the compliment a child feels it is. and he can only blame himself so desperate he is for a different kind of validation and then the guilt of not finding his family’s support enough and seeking it elsewhere drives him off the edge and he can still feel it, the horrible drag of metal through skin and muscle and veins. the way his mother had held his hand and said please don’t die, and two years later the same words as he leaves california behind because how can he tell them he can’t bear to be around her? 

which makes no sense because jack has never visited california and has never even seen the sea.

this is what the drift is. the holder of each memory loses ownership of it to the space between them, involuntary, unbidden, every scrap of pain they have ever felt flitting back and forth between them until they aren’t sure who started with what. in twenty seven seconds both receive the others lifetime of trauma imparted without will or consent, and unable to look away. and worst of all are the things that they had tucked away, forgotten long ago but still stored in some unreachable part of memory - 

gabriel holds his mothers hand at his grandmother's funeral. in whispers he hears his uncle say: why is she here, she isn't even her real kid. and his mother stiffens and goes silent but gabriel is aware she is crying, quietly. but he is young and knows nothing and she is just mourning, after all, mourning her mother. he doesn't see that uncle aside from at big family gatherings and while he is ostracised loosely otherwise in this memory nobody disagrees with him just tuts and tells him to stop that it's not the time or place. his mother is the youngest child and always was the odd one out of her siblings. 

jack remembers before his mother stopped caring and before his father turned to sexual abuse of them both; and they’re at some shopping centre he never did learn the name of and there’s a manmade river cutting through the the centre. there are swans with their babies and jack is holding his sister's hand very tightly and his mother has one hand on his shoulder and says honey you have to learn when to be gentle and when to be firm. know when you're hurting other people. and he loosens his grip and she does not tumble into the river and there are two cygnets and two parent swans and jack thinks what a happy family. the next day his father will push him up against the wall in anger because he is seven and forgot to tidy his room and his mother will argue with his father but also tell jack to try to behave more. 

so what happens is: gabriel sees what jack saw, and jack sees what gabriel saw, and it takes twenty seven seconds before ana hits the emergency desync (because she does not understand what a random access brain impulse trigger is yet) during which time it feels like they are both reliving an entire lifetime. 

jack's first coherent words once they desync are “please, i'm so sorry, please, please forgive me” although it takes a lot of effort for the medical staff to parse this. 

gabriel understands immediately - because now he knows exactly how jack reacts after panic - and jack knows gabriel’s silence is not cruelty but dissociation and that he can't say anything when he is barely in his own body. 

a week later gabriel will ask jack for his forgiveness as well. years later they will almost find it absurd. something to look back on as the start of something better, maybe, just handled so poorly its almost comedic. they understand then that neither of them needed to apologise to the other for what was done to them and that at least they learned good things too, at least they learned how to protect other people from ever experiencing that again. 

but right now jack is retching and the medical staff are checking gabriel for brain hemorrhaging because it's the only real risk they know to check for. physically, he is fine, though pulse elevated and breathing somewhat shallow. the trauma is mental. ana is screaming at the chief medical officer who is fired on the spot despite receiving direct orders to push the pilot testing asap. ana will feel responsibility for this for the rest of her career, going above and beyond friendship for the two men whose trust she feels she irrevocably broke. 

they don't even think about her, in this moment, all but alone despite the swarming medical and military staff. they are still thinking another man's thoughts. for twelve seconds after the end of the drift the psychic link remains, and though it's a messy swirl of disgust and panic and horror, there is one coherent thought: i'm so sorry you understand. 

[bssaz97]

Hey can we get a sequel to the happy room where after much arguing and childish temper tantrums jaune caves in and starts liking the room much the everyone’s delight thank you for reading this have a awesome day

The Happy Place 2

Jaune: “Let me go you traitors! I will not be forced against my will!” *wiggles against his restraints*

Ruby: “Jaune this is for your own good.” *finishes duct-tapping him to the comfort chair*

Jaune: “You can’t just force me to like this place!”

Yang: “Sorry but you really have a choice in the matter now.” *finishes tapping up a controller in his grasp*

Nora: “Here Jaune-Jaune, you even get a gaming cup!” *Pulls out a large plastic cup that’s reminiscent of a sippy cup*

Jaune: “Ok now that’s just degrading!”

Weiss: “If you continue to act like a child Arc, then we will start treating you like a child!” *sticks a pacifier in his mouth*

Jaune: *spits it out* “I’m not a baby! I’m-!”

Ren: *places hand on Jaune’s head*

Jaune: “Fine. Do what you guys want.”

Yang: “Wait a second! You could’ve done that the whole time!” *glares at Ren*

Weiss: “Why didn’t you do that before?!”

Ren: “I can’t use my semblance on something that’s running away.”

Weiss/Yang: “.....Ohhh.”

Ruby: “Sorry Vomit Boy. But since you’ve refused to stay in the room by choice, we’re gonna have to make it mandatory.”

Jaune: “There is no true choice in the world. Only actions and outcomes. Either way what’s the point. We’re all gonna die in the end.”

Oscar: “WOW. He really needs this room more than I thought.”

RWBYNR: “We know.” *deadpans*

Ruby: “Ok Jaune. We’re gonna leave you in here so just sit and relax.” *turns on the screen that has a gaming menu opened with multiple games added on the playlist*

Jaune: “Ok.”

-The Next Day-

Jaune: *left and right* “Ok. Time to go.”

Slowly Jaune creeps by both teams dorms and does his best to keep quiet. They may have caught him yesterday, but they won’t succeed today. He’s secretly memorized each one of his friends sleeping patterns and plans that if he leaves to train before they notice him then they won’t proceed to follow him. Jaune hasn’t done this tactic since Mistral but he knows it’s full proof as he knows no one took notice that he did such a thing while one their journey. He begins to make it down the when he froze when he felt someone tapping on his shoulder.

Jaune: *slowly turns to look behind him*

Behind Jaune was Ruby, Nora, Ren and Blake, giving him the most tired glares he’s ever seen.

Jaune: *whispered* “Umm... Hi, you guys up to go grab a glass of water too?”

Ren: “You grab water with your weapon and armor on?” *points out*

Jaune: “Umm... Maybe.”

Ruby: “You sure you’re not gonna go train in the middle of the night and wake up with barely enough sleep to function tomorrow morning, Vomit Boy?”

Jaune: ‘Curses, I didn’t count on Ruby knowing my secrets! Then again I suppose having my girlfriend finding out I’m sneaking out to go train in the middle of the night isn’t as bad as how most of these situations goes to others. At least I hope not. Never mind that Jaune, you need to think of an excuse to why you’re out here before they try to foil the plan!.’ *thinks to himself*

Jaune: “Well... It makes me feel powerful enough to scare away the night ghouls.”

RBRN: 🤨

Jaune: ‘...Night ghouls. That was your best excuse? It’s was the best I could think of in the time I had! Good gods man, you couldn’t have thought of oh I don’t know any other plausible explanation to explain why you have your freaking armor on in the middle of the night! Hey I don’t see you thinking about anything at the moment, why don’t you try to fix this! Fine I will!’ *mentally arguing with himself*

Jaune: “Sorry that was a bad attempt at a joke. What I meant to say was that I wanted to have my armor on so that no Atlesian guards would catch me in my pajamas. Gotta save some dignity you know?”

Blake: “Wow. That sounds like a great explanation.” *says with a sarcastic tone*

Jaune: “Thank you.” *didn’t notice the sarcasm*

Blake: “But! There’s one flaw in your story.” *points at him with her index finger*

Jaune: “What ever could that be.” *starts getting nervous under her glare*

Blake: “Our rooms have a filtered water dispenser. So why would you ever need to go get water from outside of your room?”

Jaune: ....

RBRN: ....

Jaune: “....YOU’RE NEVER GETTING ME ALIVE!” *starts sprinting down the hall*

Ruby: “Nora.”

Nora: “I got ‘em.” *hold up one of her emptied grenade canister and throws it down the hall in a perfect spiral*

*Ting!*

Jaune: “AGH! MY LEG!”

Nora: “Touchdown!” *raises both arms in the air*

-The Next, Next Day-

Jaune: ‘Ok so the plan last night didn’t work, but that’s no issue you’re not used to seeing. You’ve been through worse situations before and you’ve overcome them... most of the time... ok sometimes. But that’s besides the point. You are an Arc, and Arc’s do not give up remember what your dear old dad said!’

////Flashback////

Papa Arc: “Remember son, if you’re ever in a situation where you are forced to slow down on being a great huntsman... listen to them. Because being a huntsman is bad and you should never try to run away from home and be something you’re not meant to be. Trust me son, it’ll be better for you in the long run. Now run along and play while I go and earn bread for the family. See you in two months son! Also don’t touch great-great grandfather’s sword!”

////Flashback End////

Jaune: 😐

Jaune: “I’m starting to think I have more issues than I originally thought. Anyway, you are a Arc and Arc’s don’t surrender easily! The others are out on missions right now, so there’s nobody around to force me to into that room of lies and deceit.”

Penny: “Salutations friend of Ruby’s!” *says from behind him*

Jaune: “Gah! Where’d you come from!” *jumps in place to turn around*

Penny: “Oh my apologies Friend of Ruby, it was never my intention to startle you. I was just hoping to surprise you with my presence.”

Jaune: “‘sigh’ That’s alright Penny. So what did Ironwood or Winter send you?”

Penny: “Nope. I have actually been issued a special secret assignment from Friend-Ruby to watch over you.” 😊

Jaune: “...Is it still a ‘secret’ mission if you tell me about it?”

Penny: “Silly Friend of Ruby, my mission is to keep it a secret from General Ironwood.” *she says then whispers to him the last part*

Jaune: “Hmm. I guess that makes sense.”

Penny: “I’m pleased that you agree Friend of Ruby.”

Jaune: “Also why are you calling me ‘Friend of Ruby’? Not that there’s anything wrong with that but why not call me by my name?”

Penny: “Oh that’s simple Friend of Ruby, it’s because I have yet to learn your name!”

Jaune: “Really? Ruby never told you my name?”

Penny: “That is correct. Although in Friend-Ruby’s defense I have yet to properly interact with anyone else in your teams.” *her smile never ceasing*

Jaune: ‘Huh. Now that I think about it, none of us has really ever gotten the chance to get to know Penny as well Ruby did.’

Jaune: “Well my name’s Jaune Arc.” *offers to shake hands*

Penny: “Splendid! I’m happy to meet you Friend-Jaune!” *shakes his hand rapidly and enthusiastically*

Jaune: *rubs his sore hand* “‘hiss!’ You don’t need to call me-you know what never mind, it’s probably going to be easier on both of us if I don’t question it.”

Penny: “Very well then, let us be on our way!”

Jaune: “Where are we going?”

Penny: “We are going to be visiting your designated room of happiness. That is what Friend-Ruby asked me to accomplish while she was away.”

Jaune: “Um, actually why don’t we go do something else that’s fun! Like... going to train, I don’t think I ever had the opportunity to spar with you ever so I want to see how I would fair against Mantle’s hero.”

Penny: “‘gasp!’ That sounds like a splendid idea! Let’s- Oh wait! Friend-Ruby instructed me to not allow you near the training room while she was away so I’m afraid that’s going to be impossible to do.”

Jaune: ‘Crap! I should’ve known that Ruby would go ahead and ask Penny to keep me away from the training room. What am I going to do now..... wait a minute.’

Jaune: “Wait so Ruby said that we can’t go to the training room to spar right?”

Penny: “Correct.” *nods*

Jaune: “What about sparring somewhere else then? Someplace that’s not the training room?”

Penny: “Hmm. Friend-Ruby didn’t specify anything about sparring outside of the training room.”

Jaune: “Well there we go then, why don’t we go spar somewhere else that’s not the training room then!” *smiles with exaggerated enthusiasm*

Penny: “Well... I don’t see anything wrong about that then. Come along New Friend-Jaune! We must make haste!”

Penny activates her rocket thrusters then grabs onto Jaune, wrapping her arms under his armpits and carries him along with her to search for a place to spar.

Jaune: “Waitwaitwaitwaitwaitwaitwait Penny!”

*Twenty Minutes Later*

After finding a suitable place to spar, Penny initiated her landing procedure and softly settles Jaune down onto the ground then lands herself onto the ground.

Penny: “What an exhilarating flight! Although I do apologize Friend-Jaune about the several evasive maneuvers during our way here. I was searching in multiple areas to see which would be suitable for our sparring match. I hope it was no problem.”

Jaune: *wiping any vomit residue with his forearm* “‘bleh’ That’s ok... as long as we’re here.”

Penny: “So shall we begin Friend-Jaune?”

Jaune: “You know what, maybe we should wait a minute or so before we start. You know, warm up and stuff.” *says while crouching down so to calm his stomach*

Penny: “Is this how you ‘warm up’, Friend-Jaune?” *says while copying Jaune’s crouching form*

Jaune: “Sure, why not.” *nods*

Penny: “Friend-Jaune, is it alright if ask you a ‘personal’ question?”

Jaune: “Go ahead. We have time.”

Penny: “Do you dislike being happy?” *tilts her head in a innocent manner*

Jaune: “....What?”

Penny: “I do not mean to offend Friend-Jaune. I’m just curious about your view upon the matter.”

Jaune: “Do I dislike being happy? No, of course not. Who in their right mind say ‘no’ to that?”

Penny: “Well, would you like for me to explain my view on the matter?”

Jaune: “Uhhh... sure, go ahead.” *being confused where this conversation was going*

Penny: “Well from what I’ve observed for awhile now there are two significant results to happiness. The first benefit of being happy is that it is a vital part of maintaining one’s proper mental/emotional health and usually leads to a longer life.”

Jaune: ‘Oh boy here we go. This is probably why Ruby asked Penny to watch me.’

Penny: “The secondary benefit to being happy is the most fulfilling I believe! It is a fulfilling emotion or feeling that one gets after doing something good for themselves or others.”

Jaune: “Yep. That sounds about right.”

Penny: “Which brings us back to my previous question. I was confused as to why someone like yourself seems to avoid the fulfillment of happiness when it has been so easily presented in front of you by your teammates and friends. If I were given such a thoughtful gift then I think my Aura core would self destruct from excitement!”

Jaune: “Please tell me that’s an exaggeration.” *says worriedly*

Jaune: ‘Otherwise I gotta tell Ruby to never plan any birthday parties for you at the risk of accidentally blowing you up.’

Penny: “Have no fear Friend-Jaune! My core is made out of a very strong alloy so it will not self destruct.”

Jaune: “Ok good.” *sighs in relief*

Penny: “So Friend-Jaune, when the others showed you the room did you not feel surprised or happy?”

Jaune: “Well I was surprised that’s for sure...”

Penny: “But not happy?”

Jaune: “...I guess not.” *bows head a little bit*

Penny: “Friend-Jaune, is it ok if I ask another question?”

Jaune: “Sure Penny.”

Penny: “Does Ruby or your friends make you happy?”

Jaune: “Of course they do! I wouldn’t know what to do without them. But lately they’ve been trying to force me to go into that room expecting that I’ll be happier just by going there. It feels like whenever I go in there the others think there’s something wrong with me, you know?”

Penny: “Do you think there’s something wrong with you Friend-Jaune?” *asks while tilting her head*

Jaune: “I mean... I’ve been getting better at controlling my emotions. Well I think I am anyway.” *sits down on the snow covered ground*

Penny: “I can detect a bit of uncertainty in your voice Friend-Jaune.” *sits down with him*

Jaune: “...Probably cause there is. Penny do you think everyone is entitled to their own happiness?”

Penny: “Hmmm... well as long as no one is harmed or killed in the process then I don’t see why not.”

Jaune: “I used to think that too, but lately as everything with this fight against Salem has been going on I can’t help but wonder, there are others that have fought and died so that I have the right to be happy, but do I really deserve it? So far I don’t think I have done anything extraordinary or worthy of being happy. Sometimes I wonder why they even bother trying to cheer me up with something that will never last.”

Penny: “Have you considered perhaps it’s not so much of you deserving the happiness but more of your friends wanting to see you be happy and in a good state of mind?”

Jaune: “...I still don’t see the big deal in all this effort though.”

Penny: “Well in my experience of having friends, I’ve determined that making others happy doesn’t always have to be logical.“

Jaune: “Yeah but why give me a room all to myself? That’s just like saying ‘We want you to be happy so don’t feel the need to worry about us, as long as you’re happy!’ It just feels wrong. Like I’m the only one that deserves to be happy in their minds. They’ve done so much more than me if we’re talking about good deeds and they’ve gone through so much more than me.”

Penny: “So you don’t want to go into room because it will feel like it’s exclusively for you?”

Jaune: “Pretty much...”

Penny: “...Does it make you feel excluded from your friends?”

Jaune: “...Yeah.”

Penny: “Well why not tell them that?”

Jaune: “Because they’ve already spent so much effort in making the room. I just...don’t want to let them down.”

Penny: “Well maybe you should ask yourself what makes you happy Friend-Jaune.”

Jaune: “...Thanks Penny, I will. You know you’re actually good at talking to other people. If you weren’t set on being a huntress I’d make you my therapist.”

Penny: “Thank you Friend-Jaune. Now would you like to begin our sparring now or would you rather have me take you back to Atlas?”

Jaune: “We should probably get back, don’t want Ironwood or Winter worried about you.”

Penny: “There’s no need to worry about that. I’ve temporarily disabled their ability to track me before arriving here.”

Jaune: “....And you’re sure that was a good idea?”

Penny: “Why of course Friend-Jaune. They won’t panic if I’m gone for only a few hours.”

Jaune/Penny: ......

Jaune: “We should probably go now.”

Penny: “Yes that be a wise decision.”

*The Next, Next, Next Day*

Jaune stood before team RWBY and his own in front of the dubbed “Happy Room,” as he asked to speak to all of them to discuss about the last few days.

Jaune: “Ok, now I’m sure many of you are wondering why I asked you all to come here. I know things have been pretty hectic for us all in regards to this issue so I’ll be straight to the point.... I have a problem accepting being happy.”

Weiss: “No.” *says in sarcastic tone*

Ruby: *shushes her*

Jaune: “But I’m not here to talk about that bottomless barrel. What I want to talk about is about how we’re going to do about the room situation. I know you all mean well and I do appreciate the effort made to making this place for me...but the truth is I don’t think the way this arrangement is right now is gonna work out for any of us.”

Everyone tensed up at the last part of what Jaune said.

Ruby: “Jaune-.”

Jaune: “Ruby please I just need to say what i need to say.”

Ruby: “...Ok.”

Jaune: *breathes in* “So back to what I was saying before. I don’t think the way this arrangement is right now is gonna work out for any of us...which is why I have an idea that might help fix the problem.”

RWBYNOR: 🤨

Jaune: “I spent a good part of yesterday thinking about this and I think for the benefit of all of us, we should share the room.”

RWBYNOR: O_O

Nora: “Huh?”

Jaune: “I know you all care about me being happier and more relaxed but I also care about your happiness too. Which is why I’ve been so hesitant to actually use the room because I don’t want to exclude any of the time I spend with you all and that’s why I think it would be to everyone’s benefit if this room was used for everyone’s enjoyment. So what do you all think?”

RWBY and NOR think about Jaune’s offer, then huddle up where they all muttered amongst themselves about how everyone felt about it. Once they had finished conversing they separated and Ruby walked forward looking at Jaune.

Ruby: “So if we accept this resolution of yours, will you promise start using the room?”

Jaune: “I will promise as an Arc.” *he nods*

Ruby: *smiles* “Then I personally don’t see why we can’t give this a shot.”

Jaune: “Great to hear. Also sorry that I’ve been giving you all a hard time.”

Yang: “We’ll forgive you as long as you start using the room.”

Jaune: “Of course.”

Ruby: “Also.” *raises a finger*

Jaune: “Hmm?”

Ruby: “...If you give me a hug.” *blushes while opening her arms*

For the past few days things had been tense between the two of them so Ruby greatly missed the warmth his aura/person provided for her.

Jaune: “Sure thing Crater Face.” *envelops her in a hug, lifting her off the ground*

Ruby: ^//_//^

BYN: “Aww.”

*Some Days Later*

RWBY and JNPR by now have fully adjusted to being regular visitors of the ‘Happy Room.’ Despite having mixed feelings towards the place at the start, Jaune found himself enjoying the the time he gets to spend with Ruby, his and her teams while there.

Ruby: “So enjoying the room now?” *said while sitting on his lap while sharing a comic book*

Jaune: “*chuckles* Yep. But it’s definitely better spent while with company.” *pats her head*

Ruby: “Good to know” *snuggles into his chest*

-Fin-

@thelastdragneel6417 hope you and everyone else enjoy this one. Probably gonna finish off this story as a two shot, but I had a blast writing it.

[crimsoncompendium]

“Are you okay?”

Tilly reeled away from the crack in the door.

When she’d heard the knock, she'd remembered she was alive; her heart had started thumping in her chest. But it wasn’t who she’d expected. Of all the people to show up unannounced at her door, it had to be her cousin. Ihana looked great. Of course she does. Tilly hid her face behind her hand.

Ihana pushed the door open and stepped in on clicking heels. “Holy shit, Tilly. What the hell is going on here?” She leaned to gape at the mess in the dining room.

Tilly regarded the remains of the liquor cabinet indifferently. “It fell.”

Ihana looked at Tilly. Her eyes were so bright, her curls so fair, her lips so pink, her skin so porcelain. Tilly envied her for it. Of course she's young and beautiful.

“Are you okay?” she asked again, softer this time.

Tilly found herself somewhat disarmed, but held her cards close to her chest nonetheless. “I, uh...” She looked at the broken glass glinting dully on the dining room floor and pushed thoughts of Nic out of her mind. If she started thinking about him, she would cry. “...It’s just been a messy few days.”

Ihana shut the door behind her. When Tilly heard the lock click, she shook her head. “Unlock it.”

Ihana paused, looking at Tilly uncertainly.

“Unlock it,” she murmured in repeat.

Ihana unlocked the door. “I brought you something,” she chimed, lifting a long black instrument case.

Tilly looked at the case, then at Ihana. “Let’s go to the balcony.”

Ihana slipped out of her heels and followed Tilly’s precarious path through fields of broken glass and over the mountain range formed by the overturned liquor cabinet. At the top of the stairs she discovered a nest of pillows and blankets in Tilly’s den. The fire in the hearth illuminated an open book with sketches of a man littering both visible pages. “Oh, Tilly.”

Of course she's keen. Tilly cringed. She would’ve preferred to keep that detail to herself. She continued to her room to reach for a familiar container under her bed.

“That’s not necessary,” Ihana said first. Then, quieter, she asked, “Did you love him?”

She glanced at Ihana, angry. The air around her felt hot. She was already licking her teeth in preparation for the inevitable outburst when she looked at the tin. The thin grey light of an overcast day gleamed against it.

There on its surface slept the dark grooves of a thumbprint. It was bigger than hers, not her own. Confronted with the evidence of better times—times that would now never return—her rage cooled.

When she returned to the present, she knew her regret was written all over her face. “Yeah, I guess I did,” she finally answered. There was never any guessing involved (and the word did was another lie), but Ihana didn’t need to know that.

“Why aren’t you sleeping in your bed?” Ihana asked as she followed Tilly out of the room and up the stairs.

“There’s a leak.” She took a seat at the table on the balcony and, carefully preserving that salient pattern, began to roll Ihana’s clove spliffs.

Ihana stood awkwardly nearby, still holding her case. “Really, you don’t have to do that. Do you want to see what I brought you?”

“Oh, yeah,” Tilly lied ineffectually, “sure.”

Ihana pursed her lips, but took a seat and set the case on the table.

Tilly popped each of its three latches and lifted the lid. Ihana was already prattling on about “hardware” and “specifications,” but it was easy enough to tune her out, considering what lay in the crushed red velvet lining of its custom case: a prosthetic, newer and sleeker than her current one.

“How did you do this?” Tilly interrupted.

“Dad still has all of his plans and notes from when he designed your old arm. I wanted to take a crack at an updated version.” She gestured at the prosthetic. QED.

Of course her father spends time with her.

“I got the idea when you came and stayed with us for a while,” added Ihana.

Tilly looked down. So much had happened since then that it felt more like a half-forgotten dream than a proper memory. Her stomach churned uneasily.

“I thought we could have it ready before you left,” Ihana continued with a chuff. “It was a big project, though. Ended up taking a much longer time than I ever would’ve guessed. But I’m glad we did it. We both learned a lot. And we’re happy with the end result.”

Of course she’s smart. Of course she’s generous. Of course she’s a good girl with a perfect life. Tilly didn’t want to hug her cousin. She couldn’t manage to feel any gratitude. But she stood up and embraced her perfunctorily while Ihana stayed in her chair. “Thanks, Ihana,” she said with a sudden pang of guilt for her insincerity.

Ihana passed Tilly a meaningful look. “Do you want to talk about it?”

Tilly’s reproachful thoughts manifested in hard, hateful angles in the corners of her mouth. Even so, she found she lacked the energy for such searing self-loathing and breathed a defeated sigh. She had to start telling the truth to herself.

“You were in the Vigil, right?” Tilly eventually asked, depositing herself back into her chair. “You went to Maguuma?”

“That’s right.”

“Did you ever see anything out there that...” Unsure of how to put it into words, she did her best hoped Ihana would understand. “...You couldn’t come back from?”

She noticed how Ihana’s mouth took on those same hard angles that had tightened her own just seconds ago. “I quit, didn’t I?” was her answer, delivered with a cool smile.

Tilly’s heart ached. Tell the truth. She lit the spliff she’d finished rolling and took a draw, then offered it across. “I wanna know what you saw.”

Ihana’s face betrayed a flash of guilt. “I told Drake I wasn’t going to do this anymore after the baby.” Frowning, she finished: “But if this is what you want to talk about.”

They traded hits in the long silence before Ihana finally started talking, her yellow eyes fixed to some distant point. “There were a few mechanics aboard each ship just to make sure things kept running, but the bulk of the auxiliary unit didn’t show up until after the crash.

“I thought I was just going out there to patch up some airships and fix cannons. Turned out to be a search and rescue.” Her voice lowered. “Thing is, when an airship goes down, almost nobody survives. These ships got pulled down—if they weren’t crushed in the sky.

“So it was a lot of searching. Not a lot of rescuing. A lot of...piles of things. Remains. We still don’t know for sure how many of us we lost. In some cases there was just...nothing left.

“And then we won. Killed the Dragon. But all those people he killed...all those families with holes in them. Our victory couldn’t fix that.

“And for some reason, I lived. Me. Mothers, fathers, people much stronger, smarter, and faster than me. Braver than me. Purer than me. All dead. All irreplaceably, irreversibly dead. And there I was.”

Ihana’s voice wavered. “I would’ve given anything to trade places,” she said, hiding behind a spent spliff.

Tilly had forgotten not to stare. She’d watched her, watched her face, watched her hands, listened to her voice. She looked at the prosthetic lying in its case.

She had envied and hated Ihana for as long as she could remember, even when they were children. She’d hated how everyone doted on her, the baby of the family. She’d hated how Ihana had wound up more talented than her, hated how Ihana’s marriage wasn’t in shambles, hated how the baby hadn’t ruined her body. She’d hated how perfect Ihana was, but more importantly, she’d hated how flawed she was in comparison.

Somewhere in Ihana’s recollections, Tilly had begun to see the human in her—the scared thing, the small thing, the fallible thing. She’d glimpsed that same human loneliness in Ihana as she had in herself and understood that, on some level, Ihana was just as flawed as she.

Through years of envy and enmity, Tilly reached for Ihana’s hand. Tears stinging her eyes, she asked, “Will you please stay?”

[snkpolls]

SnK S3E15 Poll Results (Manga Reader Version)

The poll closed with 321 responses. Thank you to everyone who participated!

Please note that these are the results of the manga reader poll. Anime only watchers are suggested not to read if you do not wish to be spoiled about certain events! Anime only viewers, click here to view your poll results!

RATE THE EPISODE 308 Responses

Overall the fandom enjoyed the episode, with the vast majority of votes being at either a 4 or 5.

Best ep of the season thus far, Bert's monologue/transformation was amazing. Some fantastic VA work by Tomohisa and Inoue as well. CG CT also looked far better than I thought he would. These next few episodes are going to kill me. I can't wait.

Fantastic episode. Bertholdt's monologue was the best part.

Great episode, very dramatic, awesome OST. I am not looking forward to the next few eps, except for Floch's villain origin story!

Can’t wait for the next episode, this one was so good!

Editing was a bit choppy, voice lines cut half a second too quick a few times.

First ep of S3P2 to get a 10/10 from me <3

The animation was pretty lacking in this episode. R&B’s running animation on the wall felt pretty lazy, there was that reused shot of the beast Titan’s throw from season 2, Bertholdt’s character design felt inconsistent as well as Zeke’s. They really need to get the old team back on the animation cause the current team clearly doesn’t know how to handle aot. It’s getting on my nerves.

The episode was absolutely awesome.

WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING WAS YOUR FAVORITE MOMENT? 308 Responses

The Bertl Bomb™ was the scene that respondents were most excited about. Following behind that was Mikasa’s brief skirmish with Bertolt, and closely behind that was Armin and Bertolt’s shouting match on the rooftops.

BERUTORUTO=GOD

I’m mikasasexual

As a huge Bertholdt fan, it was so great to see Bert as the centre of attention for once. It makes me really sad knowing what comes next.

Bert bomb made my bomb go off

I love Bertholdt's resolve. This scene made him one of my favorite characters.

Bertholdt vs. Mikasa was so fire 🔥

One of the best episodes without a doubt. Bertholdt's monologue before transforming was even more impactful than in the manga.

Explosion aftermath was disappointing. I expected a sea of fire. The one they gave us doesn't feel like something big just happened

That "Levi's 5 seconds of screen time" was good, too!

Why isn't "Mikasa comforting and protecting Armin" an option for favorite moment in this episode? Because those were definitely my favorite moments in the episode

The partner gesture between Reiner and Bertl is the death of me

Am I the only one who get's goosebumps  in the scene before he transformed himself into the colossalus titan and said: 'I feel like, no matter how this all plays out, I can accept whatever happens. That's right, nobody's in the wrong. There's nothing we could do. Because this world....is just...that cruel.' This scene was impressive back in the manga and I'm proud how good Tomohisa Hashizume nailed it. He's an amazing voice actor, especially for Bertholdt.

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE APETITAN AND YOUSEEBIGGIRL REARRANGES? 296 Responses

Overall the fandom was excited about the new versions of familiar songs with 71% of respondents feeling that they were “totally epic!” 18% agree that the rearranges were good, but that they can’t surpass the original versions.

The soundtrack was lit.

Music was awesome!

Ngl I've watched the episode many times bc the OST during some scenes is just SO GOOD!!

WHO WON THE SHOUTING MATCH? 308 Responses

Over ¾ of the fandom agree that Bertolt dominated the shouting match on the rooftop.

I feel Armin won the "debate" because Bertolt, in his zeal to convince himself that he wanted to kill people he used to see as friends, wasn't making any sense

HOW DID YOU FEEL ABOUT BERTOLT’S DEVELOPMENT AT THIS POINT? 308 Responses

46% of respondents were happy to see how far Bertolt had come as a character at this point in the story, while 34% were just happy to get more dialogue and thoughts from him. A small percentage had been curious where his character would go from here.

Godtolt on the way

He ditched the alter ego built up out of guilt, and it's cool to see him truly one of the strongest characters fighting off Mikasa while in human form

I wish we had more Bertl development! He could’ve been really complex, but just isn’t due to a lack of screentime. Compared to someone like Reiner or Annie, this was his one moment of pure raw character development

He reveals his true warrior colors

I loved it, one of my favourite chapters because of his resolve and how he himself was surprised about it.

He's only moving forward as a character and does what needs to be done. Bertholdt, your doing amazing sweetie!

With all this development just to kill him off was heart breaking.

Honestly, I’m so proud of him. He was amazing and it’s so nice to see a confident Bert. I don’t think it’s a development worth praising in terms of moral standards but it suited and made sense for his character

I feel like this is where his character peaked. It was pretty flat before season 2

I just don’t like bertolt in generalI really like his development but it's a shame that he severely lacked screen time before this episode

I'm not really a fan of Bertolt so I'm neutral on this

I still hate his traitorous guts and can't wait for THAT scene to be animated

Fucking loved it. It's one of my favorite chapters (and now episodes) just because he's talking so much and he's badass af. My boy is finally shining!

HOW DID YOU FEEL ABOUT ARMIN BLUFFING ABOUT ANNIE A SECOND TIME? 306 Responses

Just over half of respondents feel that Armin should have tried a different tactic with Bertolt, while 46% felt that it was worth another shot to try and manipulate Bertolt’s feelings for Annie again.

Has Armin ever convinced anyone of anything they didn't already believe?

He was so used to Bertholdt’s behavior and there was nothing that would’ve made Armin think Bertholdt would have the reaction that he did

Lame. He didn't use much of intelligence here.

It's low, I'm happy it didn't work again

He learned some pretty vital things - how far the Warriors are willing to go, what their priorities are, what Bert's state of mind is, and where his loyalties truly lie. I don't imagine Armin went down that track solely because he thought it would have the exact same effect, but rather to 'check something' - exactly the same as Bertolt.

I think it not only was a good attempt to take (it worked before, why not try it again), but I also think it is incredibly important to show Armin's flaws. Yes, he's an amazing strategist. He's also still sixteen and not always entirely confident. Having Armin make mistakes like relying on old ploys that worked keeps his character more grounded and realistic

Smart people tend to use the same tactics over and over again as long as they're successful and for good reason. After all, why wouldn't you use the same tactic if you know it brings success? If it ain't broke, don't fix it. It's only when said strategy or tactic doesn't work where the individual would entertain the prospect of changing it or never using it again.

That’s Very Unfortunate!

WHAT DID YOU THINK ABOUT CGI COLOSSAL TITAN? 306 Responses

36% of respondents aren’t very impressed with the CGI colossal titan, while 29% actually found the effect to be pretty awesome! 13% feel it’s disturbing and a small 7% just find it cringeworthy.

Alright

CGI doesn't bother me. What bothers me is how animators overly rely on it. Several decades ago animators made great masterpieces without cgi, all by hand. I understand using it because it makes things easier, but exceeding quality should still be top priority. If you can't make it better with CGI, then go old school and do it right.

Decent but could be better

U can still notice it is CGI but I think their CGI has gotten better compared to some of their earlier uses of it

Doesn't fit with the art style, which is as bad as unfair splitting potatoes

Not too bad but could definitely have been better. Understandable since there has only been one full body shot of it before and that was a sharp backwards, down looking angle.

Don’t really care much for cgi complaints, animating that would be a lot of work, their efforts are better elsewhere

It was necessary and didn't look appallingly bad.

I don't get why people hate it so much? I think it's fine

I hated it in season 2 and I hate it more now

Bad

Don't like CGI anything in any anime so take from that what you will

Most angles he looks fine! The only part that he looked off was when we got the face shot of him panning out to the rest of his body

Thought it looked solid. There were some really great shots of him this ep imo. Hopefully the action bits will look as good, and they mix in some 2D shots as well.

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE 104TH RIDING ON TITAN EREN? 306 Responses

Over half of the fandom agree that this detail is something that’s very adorable, while 22% feel it’s just pretty neat. A combined 21% of respondents either feel it’s not that big of a deal or simply don’t care about it.

>AMJCS who cares?

Good boy protecting his friends? Hell Yeah!

I want to ride pieck - Not an innuendo, i just want a go in one of her turrets

It's gay

Lads you would never get me off that thing, I'd be saddling him up to go grocery shopping

Save me a seat guys!!

HOW WELL DID THE EPISODE ADAPT THE CORRESPONDING CHAPTERS? 306 Responses

Manga readers are overall happy with the adaptation of chapters 77 and 78, with over 90% saying that it was close to being perfectly done.

DID MARCO’S DEATH AFFECT YOU AS MUCH AS IT DID IN THE MANGA? 305 Responses

41% of respondents felt more heartbroken to see Marco’s death play out in the anime, while 31% say they felt more sympathetic toward Marco. 14% weren’t affected when this scene played out in either story-telling medium.

About the same level, still utterly heartbreaking, though

DEATH TO THE TITAN TRIO!

Didn't feel as much. Not because it was a bad adaptation, but just because I've already read it and knew what went down.

I felt more sorry for RBA than Marco in this version

I still had lot of emotions with the adaptation, but there's no compare to experiencing it for the first time

I was absolutely sobbing when I read it in the manga. Anime-wise I was more prepared to handle the scene

Watching Marco die again reminds me of why, even in current manga, I still completely and utterly LOATHE/DESPISE/HATE RBA. No, I don't care about their "tragic backstory", they don't deserve empathy of any kind.

It had the same impact when I first watched the trailer for the Lost Girls OVA, which spoiled me his death

It was tough to watch, but it was necessary to deepen Reiner, Bertolt, Annie (and Marco)'s characters. It was very well done, dramatically

Oh fuck it was WAY WORSE animated. Actually hearing his cries and screams is something that can never be duplicated in written form

I did not anticipate being as affected as I was by the Marco flashback. That doesn’t give me hope for how I’m going to handle the rest of the RtS arc. The emotions of the characters are being portrayed very well this season.

NOW THAT WE’VE HAD A CHANCE TO LISTEN TO ZEKE HAVE MORE DIALOGUE, WHAT DO YOU THINK OF HIS VOICE? 305 Responses

The majority of the fandom believe that Zeke’s seiyuu is a good fit for his character, although over half of the fandom had expected his voice to sound a bit different. 10% feel it wasn’t the best choice, while a small sliver of respondents don’t care for the voice at all.

I can't unhear DIO. Thanks Zeke, thanks Koyasu.

Zeke's VA also voices a lovely, kind character in Violet Evergarden, so his lines are making me really, really uncomfortable

WHAT DID YOU THINK ABOUT PIECK’S TITAN VOICE? 307 Responses

30% of respondents are excited about Pieck’s titan voice, while 28% feel it’s not what they expected to hear. 18% find the voice “acceptable” while 17% want to wait and hear more before making a final verdict.

Pieck's voice was unexpected in that it was terrifying, much like Ymir's Titan voice

Holy shit. I'm gonna hear it in my nightmares

I rabu Piku.

REGARDING CURRENT MANGA EVENTS, DO YOU THINK REINER STILL WANTS TO STAY TRUE TO HIS PROMISE TO YMIR? 308 Responses

Nearly half of the fandom believe that Reiner would still like to honor his promise to Ymir, but feel that he will never actually get to pull through. 15% believe that he’s still determined to save Historia no matter what, and 18% believe that he’s actually stopped caring about his promise (or perhaps just Historia in general) altogether.

Good question. I really want to have a scene with him facing Historia, his reaction to her pregnancy should be interesting

He doesn't want to save HISTORIA because he doesn't know her. The one he wanted to save was KRISTA. But she is already "dead"

I think Reiner has done what he needed to

I'm not sure, I think his main concerns are the kids and stopping Eren

It has to be real low on his priority list right about now given the circumstances

Of course not, Reiner only cares about his own manpain

He still calls her Krista and she probably has already chosen a side most likely Yeagerist

ARMIN HAD WISHED FOR A CHANCE TO NEGOTIATE AT THIS POINT, SIMILAR TO CURRENT MANGA EVENTS. IS THIS PROOF THAT HE HASN’T BEEN CHANGED BY BERTOLT’S MEMORIES? 308 Responses

44% don’t want to say either way whether Armin’s pre-titan behavior is indicative of the influence that Bertolt may or may not have over the Armin we know in the current manga. 39% believe that this is proof Eren’s words to Armin were total B.S., and 12% think this isn’t really proof of anything.

Armin Has always been the diplomat, while Eren is a man of force. Mikasa is in between. It has always been that way.

Past and future are influenced the same when paths are concerned so there's no way to tell.

I don’t think it’s enough to prove or disprove but this is an interesting idea

I don't get this 'changed' shit. Of course having access to someone else's memories has its own influence on a person, but that's true of anyone on the planet who's read a memoir as well. Everything has its effect. The titan shifter thing is obviously a bit more invasive than that, but it doesn't mean he's now suddenly possessed by Beartoto's fucking undead spirit.

I'd like to think it is but with everything Isayama's been throwing at us from out of left field who knows

he's always wished for negotiation, but he seems to have changed in his methods for negotiation. armin used to be more abrupt and upfront, whereas now he seems more tentative

No, he wasn't chanced that much. He understands RBA better and has more sympathy for Annie (maybe even has a crush on her) but it has nothing to do with being a slave.

SIMILARLY, MIKASA POINTS OUT HOW BERTOLT FEELS LIKE A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT PERSON. ARE THE MEMORIES OF HIS PREDECESSOR AFFECTING HIM IN THIS ARC? 306 Responses

Over half of the fandom feel that Bertolt’s current behavior at this point in the series is of his own will, and not influenced by any prior holders of the Colossal Titan. 38% think it’s possible he’s being influenced by memories of his predecessor(s) at this time, while a small percentage feel that he is definitely being influenced by someone else’s memories.

He was badass but I think he was affected by memories of the previous CT owner.

I think that Mikasa thinks he’s acting like a different person because he is. I think this is what Bertholdt is really like but with the 104th he was playing a role so he didn’t get too attached to them.

Still wondering if the "he seemed like a different person" comment was a note about development or supposed to foreshadow something about the Titans influencing their hosts.

I think it’s original Ymir controlling him through the paths

Probably. It seems like a bit of a drastic change to go from quiet, self-deprecating and remorseful to cold, outspoken, and trying to morally justify his actions. It's just too drastic a change.

Confidence boost is completely irrelevant to paths.

We don’t even know Bert’s previous predecessors!

Nope, that's have something to do with "character development", people change sometimes after time and grown more indepented and strong of their own shadow.

I always thought of it more as Bertie finally coming down on a side and the pair picking up on that. He was always so meek and indecisive, but now he's been forced to make a choice and to do it he has to shed his old skin and become more ruthless.

Not at all he ditched his guilt that made up the act they knew him for.

WHAT SCENE ARE YOU MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO IN THE PREVIEW? 307 Responses

The overwhelming majority of respondents are looking forward to the Survey Corps’ suicide charge against the Beast Titan and his flying boulders. Nearly 30% are looking forward to the moment that Levi gives Erwin his promise to kill the Beast Titan. A small percentage are most looking forward to Armin and Jean decide who’s going to lead the 104th to victory.

I am not ready for the next two episodes

I’m gonna get my ASS FUCKED SO HARD I DONT KNOW WHAT TO DO. THERES GONNA BE SHIT EVERYWHERE. ERWINS GONNA FUCKING DIE. LEVIS GONNA BE SAD.

fuck next week's shit is good, hype

ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS ON THE EPISODE?

The "predecessor's memory affecting current shifter" is, as far as I'm aware, just a theory that I don't buy into. I've only seen a person "changed" because of the Founding Titan's vow. Otherwise, the shifter's personality remains the same. Armin has always been an advocate for talking and negotiation. We see this in the Trost arc when the Garrison nearly kill Eren with that cannonball. So no, I don't think anyone's memories are "affecting" anyone, including current Eren.

Loved pretty much everything in this episode except for the CGI CT. Didn't expect to see uncensored Reiner, which was weird because Mikasa cutting off Bert's ear was more censored. And I'm a bit disappointed we didn't see more shots of Bert with his V fringe off his forehead. He looked so cool in the manga!

This episode gave me anxiety 'cause I know what we'll going to deal in the next three ones. The soundtrack gave intensity in every scene that its put on it, plus the fantastic job of the VA, perfect work. And just thinking about how the next episodes will be.... *goosebumps*

Wit studio handled the cgi very well imo. It's very difficult to animate this action heavy arca with rubble, smoke, odm scenes etc. and I think they are adapting the manga very well with the right pacing per episode which is also a challenge to fit within 20 minutes.

Bertolt is best boi and this episode was the best of all 3. He deserved to survive and mature up. Hashizume nailed him JUST RIGHT and his interactions with Reiner this episode were on point. The scene where he outsmarted Armin and countered Mikasa was worthy of applause.

i wish it wasn’t too rushed some moments aren’t as emotional as they should be

mikasa looked so good this episode and i'm so happy with how wit isn't screwing her over

After seeing this episode and Marco's death, it makes me sad that Reiner lost his pal Bertolt. They should be suffer bois together. Even still, some of the animation this episode was reallyy not great, so I rated the episode a 4.

Bertolt has proved on this episode that he's one of the best character of the series

I miss berthold so much and seeing him at his best was awesome but it’s really hard knowing what’s going to happen next

This is shaping up to be the best season of Attack On Titan. Cheers for more!

zeke’s beard is the tenth titan shifter

WHERE DO YOU PRIMARILY DISCUSS THE SERIES? 295 Responses

Thank you to everyone who participated! We’ll see you again in a few days! 

[decantae]

[A dealer's choice ask for the celebration thing] You sent me a peach, this gives me entirely too much power. So here's a writing prompt since I love your writing and I'm self-indulgent

Notes: This was originally meant as a gift for @pens-swords-stuff‘s 800 follower celebration, but better late than never! Maybe there will be future parts when the blog hits 2000 ;)

It’s not much –– just a few fluffy/angsty/filler drabbles set in the For Queen and Country ‘verse. 

For some context: Casimir is a dhampire (with a rapidly approaching best-before date, as being a half-vampire is a life-limiting condition) and Callisto is an Unseelie Fae on a mission to take advantage of the political turmoil of Britain after the reveal of the Other to the general populace. They share a flat.

i.

Casimir takes in the sight of the cramped flat around him. There’s holes in the plaster, a jagged ridge on the laminate where he’d taken a spill in recent months, and some creeping damp behind the kitchen sink, but other than those small blips to be taken out of his security deposit when he dies, it’s like playing the most difficult game of spot-the-difference with the photos taken on the day he moved in.

Apparently and according to Callisto, the real flaws in his personal haven have escaped his notice for over a decade. Forget about unavoidable damage –– the real crime was the lurid orange paint flaking off the living room walls, untouched since 1972. Say, Casimir, if the walls were ‘arctic blue’, this room would feel far less claustrophobic. A gouge in the counter-top from an unfortunate encounter with the rock-hard skull of a dhampire (a fainting spell in January) is as good an excuse as any to replace cheap white plastic with tougher stuff. We could replace these, Casimir: imagine we instead had marble, not real marble, of course, don’t look at me like that, but something ‘marble-adjacent’.

At first, he only grins in response to Callisto’s not-so-subtle recommendations. The colour scheme has it’s own garish charm, he says, a relic from a different era of disco and poor design. What was the point in getting new counters if he runs the risk of breaking them again the next time he collapses? Not that he’s ever taken a funny turn in her presence.

That is, of course, one half of his unvoiced objection: why even change it up now that he’s approaching the end of his natural lifespan? His grandmother, the one on his mother’s side given his paternal one died in 1899, spent her eighties in a house that hadn’t changed since her husband died. Not an ornament out of place, not a changed pillowcase. Looking back, Casimir attributes that to more than just nostalgia. A fear of change he is familiar with, of fixing things up only to find out that he doesn’t much like it and there’s no way to eke out another twenty hours from the time he’s got left. Nobody in the history of the world has ever thought, ‘Oh, I want the walls to be floral-patterned when I kick the bucket,’ and yet…

Ditto for burnt orange.

Eventually, he finds things to dislike about the flat himself, however small they might be. “I’ve always hated these curtains,” he confesses in March, out of the blue but a long time coming. “Didn’t even choose them; they came with the place. No time to buy new ones, either…”

Callisto raises an eyebrow and leans in closer, the flowing sleeves of her blouse pooling around her elbows on the island counter.

Unprompted, Casimir spins around once more on the spot, taking in the flat with fresh eyes for the first time in twelve years. “We could spruce it up a bit, give it a lick of paint and such. New furniture.” He whets his lips before suggesting it. “You know, redecorate?”

When she smiles at him, eyes sparkling as if this was her plan all along (which, as it later turns out, was exactly the case) his answer is a sheepish grin at having taken so long to come to his senses.

“That sounds like a grand idea. Where do we start?”

“I’ve never been a big DIY bloke,” he says, “but if we’re on a quest for paint, there’s a place ten minutes away.”

ii.

They wander through the warehouse aimlessly, aisle by aisle, picking up various bits and bobs that are not entirely necessary before they get to the paint. A set of brushes here, ceramic plant-pots there. Those are for a wishful-thinking sort of hobby that Casimir just never found the time to start. Gardening in London is a laugh-out-loud joke: there’s no room for watering or weeding in a fast-moving, barren, grey, polluted city. Faraday Heights was not designed with greenery in mind, and he doubts these would even fit on the balcony.

But the thought of planting something and watching it bloom and grow over the year(s) he has left eases some unspoken tension yet to be overcome. Relief from the dread that he keeps pushing to the dark corners in the back of his mind.

Callisto waits under the light fixtures. She glances at him curiously as he brings his finds back to the trolley.

He shrugs. “It can’t be that hard to grow a plant, can it?”

The world is their oyster and Casimir’s credit cards are limitless –– in theory. No need to fret about debts for a man with one foot in the grave. Regardless of their freedom, to make the experience of planning home decoration less dull is an impossible ask, and as the hour drones on, the monotony is replaced by something much worse. The bright, flickering lights above set a pounding rhythm in his skull, pulsing through every fibre of his being.

Not here, not now.

He was doing so well in ignoring it, too.

“I can go look at floors or something while you pick out colours,” he suggests lightly as the dam begins to crack. The first trickle of pain courses along his jawline. He grits his teeth against both it and the urge to find a dark corner to hide in for half an hour, waiting for it to subside. “I’ve never had an eye for this kind of thing.”

“Don’t be silly. What if I pick something you absolutely loathe?” is all Callisto says, looping her arm through his in a fluid movement before he can even realise he’s being dragged off in the wrong direction. “Plus, I need to show you what ‘arctic blue’ looks like, otherwise you’ll never believe it’s a real colour.”

“Oh, I believe it’s a real colour. I just think that most people call it ‘blue’. Pale blue, at a push,” he teases.

Frayed nerve endings burn beneath his skin, but so do his cheeks. As always, her hands are cold. As long as he focuses on that, on the good, on her, he can maybe mask it for a while longer. That he is going to have to tell her eventually weighs heavily on his mind, shooting distracting pain down his rib-cage until he dismisses that thought for later. B&Q is hardly the place for that.

Deal with it.

There’s something about her expression, brow furrowed in concentration, worrying at her lip as she flicks through the palettes with graceful disdain, that captures and held his attention.

“As long as it’s not red, I’m happy,” he says, surreptitiously leaning most of his weight against the desk. Measuring his breathing against the ringing in his ears. Forcing a small closed-mouthed smile. “Vampire-chic is not my jam.”

He scrapes the inside of his lip with a short, blunted fang.

[desperatelyreviewingdennis]

Endgame

By basically any metric, Endgame was strictly inferior to Infinity War. It was a solid conclusion to he MCU, they wrapped things up nicely. But they really didn't meet the bar they set in the last movie. Visually, sound design, effects, all the technical aspects they nailed.  As always.  But the *story*?  The plot, the meat and bones of it?  Abysmal.  

I don’t remember *exactly* how I felt leaving Infinity War.  I know I did not like it as much as most, I felt they rushed too much into the one story, and they would have been better off with a trilogy [Guardians of the Galaxy 3 followed by Infinity War and Endgame].  I disliked Thor’s sequence in the film in particular, and thought the Snap was poorly handled because it was obviously going to be undone in the next movie so there was no emotional punch [although Peter Parker sure tried, even knowing he’s not really dead that scene stings].  Despite the flaws, though, I felt the movie was largely solid.  The writers crammed too much into one film, but most narrative threads were fully realized and the ones that weren’t have a whole nother movie to wrap up.  Upon a couple rewatches, my opinion has grown.  The tightness of it all is much more apparent, and Thor’s sequence is now my favorite in the movie, despite basically being a retread of his arc in Ragnarok. 

So maybe once I will reevaluate this once its on DVD.  But I suspect my opinion isn’t going to change.  The issues are more fundamental, and there’s no sequel planned to fix the problems.  Honestly, I wonder how much of the writing team carried over, because this movie doesn’t feel like it was the planned sequel to Infinity War.

Also, it seems clear that there was some executive meddling in places that would suggest the problems of Ms Marvel are going to carry forward.

I don’t want to say its a bad movie.  Ms Marvel was a bad movie.  Iron Man 2 was a bad movie.  For the first two thirds of the movie, it had its issues but nothing irredeemable.  And the stuff it did right it did really really right.  The last act, though, really dragged the whole thing down.

Spoilers abound after the break.

First of all, I never watched so much as a trailer for this movie. I wanted to go in completely free from assumptions. I'm glad I did, but I don't know what other people took from different scenes with that additional context.

Movie opens with Hawkeye's family getting dusted. I hate Hawkeye so that was immensely satisfying.

Next scene less so. Why did Tony and Nebula get on the damaged ship? What was their end game (no pun intended)? Not a huge deal but right off the bat I'm questioning character motives. Not a good sign.

Oh, it's because if they're on a ship it's easier for Ms Marvel to save the day. How did she find them? Was she specifically looking for Stark? Why? Nobody on Earth knew what happened with him. Was there a distress signal? Can she sense those now? Nobody knows, and we're not going to find out. The only thing we learn about Ms Marvel is that she didn't help out during the previous movies because she was busy on other planets. I mean, come on. 

The sequence between Stark and Rogers back on Earth was spot on and I loved it.  This will be a recurring theme, specific scenes being perfect with the surrounding material being crud.

They then kill Thanos and we time skip five years. That was actually pretty cool, and an unexpected turn of events.  Take notes, Rian Johnson.  My expectations were subverted but it didn't make me want to murder the Russo's. It does sort of abandon the child Gamora scenes from Infinity War.  Everybody thought that was supposed to be her actual soul in the soul stone, but the Soul Stone is now destroyed so maybe it was just Thanos being crazy?  Maybe it’ll come up later in the movie [Ron Howard: It won’t.]

Commence exposition. Couple thoughts. One, I hated Bruce Banner. The Hulk was a separate, unique personality. Banner killed him, and took over his body. We can debate the morality of it, but I just found it unsatisfying. It all happened off camera, and they never really explain why The Hulk refused to fight in Infinity War. I assumed it was because he was afraid, the Russo's claim it was because he was tired of being Banner's  lap dog. Either way, that character was killed unceremoniously during a time skip and never mentioned again.

Two, Banner’s pretty confident in how Time Travel is going to work.  Time Travel has never been a thing except with Dr Strange, and the two never sat down to discuss the subject before the later was turned to dust.   So where is his confidence coming from?  Their entire plan hinges on him being correct.  What really bugs me about this is that, with about thirty seconds of actual discussion [rather than the comic relief listing time travel movies and Banner shutting them down], they could have reached the same conclusion.  “Why don’t we prevent the snap from happening in the first place?” “Because that would be a paradox, and we don’t know how time responds to paradoxes.  Maybe we all live happily ever after, maybe time itself implodes.  But if we undo the snap in the present, we know exactly what will happen.”   But instead he just knows.  And, oh, also he’s wrong.  We figure that out later in the movie, but never really address it.  

Tony with his daughter was perfect and I loved it.  It was a little unsatisfying that he just sort of tinkered with time travel for an afternoon and figured everything out, but that’s sort of his thing so it works.

Thor... less perfect.  Look, this is the third movie in a row now that is about Thor losing everything then regaining his power.  They did it in Ragnarok.  They did it better in Infinity War.  Do they really need to do it again in End Game?  In fact, it occurs to me just now as I’m writing this that was the plot to the first Thor as well.  So this is four times now that we’ve been in this exact situation.  I’m just done with it, you know?  The scenes were funny enough, and I certainly understand *why* the character is in that place, emotionally, but being understandable is no excuse for retreading old ground.

So now we’re time traveling.  This was like 90% great, but the 10% really drags the whole thing down. 

We’ll start with the Power Stone.  Having Nebula reconnect to the interstellar wifi was inspired.  Obviously they need Thanos to figure out the plan and move to stop it, otherwise there’s no climax.  Obviously there’s no present day Thanos to do that, so it has to be past Thanos.  This also wraps up one of the nagging threads from the first movie.  Thanos has been hunting for these things for years, then just stumbles upon all of them in a couple months?  It seemed a little convenient, but now they’ve shown that he had inspiration from the future telling him exactly where he could find them all.  Just wow.  Then having past Nebula take present Nebula’s place?  I loved it.

Next, time stone.  Remember my annoyance with Banner’s overconfidence earlier?  Here Banner being told he’s full of shit, but they just sort of ignore it.  Its not that you can’t change the past, its that when you change the past you create an alternate reality, and that alternate reality might be super shitty so you shouldn’t do it.  But they hand wave it away with a promise to return the stones back to where they belong on the timeline, so that the timeline doesn’t “branch” and Banner ends up technically correct.  So it works, I’ll put this in the 90% great category.

But here’s the 10% shit: how did The Sorcerous Supreme know how great Dr. Strange was going to be? She can’t see past her own death, but she knows how powerful Strange becomes after she dies?  But she doesn’t know about the Snap, so they’re definitely sticking to the original rules, this isn’t a retcon.  But Strange is dead, so how does he know everything works out?  In fact, not only is Strange dead, the time stone is dead too.  He used the time stone to go further into the future than the time stone itself exists.  This would have been a perfect opportunity to close some loose threads, but they missed them.

Also the scene after they arrive in New York where Banner half heartedly destroys some stuff was pretty cringe.  I think they were playing it as a joke, and people in the audience definitely laughed, but it really drove home the earlier point about how they killed off The Hulk and replaced him with a Green Bruce Banner.  

Next up: Space and Mind Stones.  Talk about important McGuffins.  Studying the Tesseract lead to the creation of SHIELD and Hydra and Captain America and eventually Ms Marvel.  Studying Captain America lead to the creation of The Hulk.  The Mind Stone created Vision, Quicksilver, and the Scarlett Witch. Important stuff here.

But anyhow, 90% good.  Everything was great right up until the end.  The plan, the banter, everything worked for me.  I even loved the bit about “America’s Ass.”  I do wonder if that wasn’t a response to criticisms of Brie Larson’s ass in Ms Marvel?  Or just commentary on comics drawing attention to asses in general?  I’m not sure but I liked it.

10% shit: the plan goes sideways at the last minute, and Loki escapes with the Tesseract.  Ok, now, its been a while since I watched the first Avengers movie, but I don’t remember Loki escaping with the Tesseract?  Isn’t that exactly what Banner said can’t happen, and the Sorcerous Supreme made Banner promise he wouldn’t let happen?  A branch in he timeline?  That’s a pretty goddamn significant change in history.  But whatever, we’re never going to comment on it.  A rogue infinity stone, in the hands of a crazy person, NBD.

So Stark and Rogers go further into the past to steal the Tesseract from SHIELD before Loki could steal it from Rogers stealing it from Hydra stealing it from the Avengers.  No complaints here, Some nice foreshadowing for Rogers, and Stark gets closure with his father.  It was great.

Finally, Soul Stone.  Look, I have always hated Hawkeye, since the first Thor, and love Black Widow so that’s all I have to say about that.  Except that Nat doesn’t get the sort of closure Stark and Rogers do.  Can’t really blame the writers on this one, they didn’t have a lot to work with, but its still disappointing.  At least it wasn’t a pointless death and her and Barton got some time together. 

Finally: the Ether/Reality Stone.  This was just an extension of the previous “we’ve covered this already why is this here?” issue around Thor.  Him getting Mjolnir was pretty tight, though, not gonna lie.  

So now we’re back in the present, we have all the Stones and past Nebula has infiltrated the group.  First of all: this would have been a great place for an Intermission.  Like, seriously, There are literally no dangling story lines, everything’s come back together to one location, and you’ve got a couple minutes of downtime before the action starts anyhow.  Just give people ten minutes to piss, please.

First of all, how did Past Nebula bring an entire fucking battle ship into the present?  Like, they had just enough Pym Particles to get their team back once.  Sure, they picked up some extras but she couldn’t have been expecting that, and the memories she got from Present Nebula should have made that clear.  So what was her end game (no pun intended)?  And if they could send a ship full of people all at once, why didn’t the Avengers do that?  Take the entire team back at once, leaving themselves with eight more doses if they fail.  

Moving on, the scene were they use the stone worked for me, given what they’ve done so far.  Specifically, with respect to the Hulk.  But bear with me here: what if they hadn’t fucked up the Hulk?  Imagine a movie where Banner doesn’t kill a character off camera.  He’s just a regular guy the entire movie.  Maybe they ask him if he still has issues with Hulking out and he says “no, I guess he got tired of cleaning up my messes so now he refuses to come out even when I need him to.”  Then, as Thor is about to don the glove, Banner transforms and everybody is certain he’s about to ruin everything when he puts the glove on himself and snaps his fingers.  After, his body is still green but its Bruce talking.  He doesn’t sense the Hulk inside him anymore.  He sacrificed himself because he knew he could do it and Thor couldn’t.

Just a thought.  As I said, the scene works as it is.

We establish the plan works, then suddenly THANOS.  Opportunity #2 for an intermission.  They launch the barrage of missiles, then fade to black, see you in ten minutes.  Would have been epic.

So we get a nice, super satisfying scene with the three original Avengers fighting Thanos.  Thor is fucking dual wielding, yes please.  And the scene where Steve catches Mjolnir?  I was literally hard.  But Thanos is even more powerful than he was in Infinity War.  Remember Infinity War, that movie a YEAR OLD written and directed by THE SAME PEOPLE?  In that one, Stark went toe to toe with Thanos in control of the Infinity Stones and held his own.  In this one, Thanos has no problem taking down a dual wielding Thor, and literally destroys Cap’s Shield without even the use of the Power Stone.  Its just... blah.  

Now, when things are at their worse: MAGIC.  Literally, Dr Strange uses magic to save the day.  Its not a complaint, its just what happens.  Again, SUPER satisfying.  But lots of things stick out.  One, half the Wakandan army just woke up from being dusted.  As far as they’re concerned its been like half an hour since Infinity War, but they’re all in pretty good shape.  Even if you assume the Wakandan army was made up of survivors, they sure mobilized quickly.  That’s impressive.  Two, where did Valkyrie get a fucking Pegasus?  They’re all dead, remember?  Hela killed them thousands of years ago, it was kind of a big deal.  Yeah, neat scene, loved seeing it, but it doesn't belong.  Third, Pepper Potts shows up.  She abandoned her five year old child to fight alongside Tony.  I get there’s an end of the world argument to be made, but it still doesn’t seem in character.  Both for her to do it, and for Tony to not call her out for it.

Still, nice satisfying fight scene.  Things still kind of go south, though, they just can’t seem to beat Thanos’s army.  Wouldn’t it be convenient if a flying god were to show up for no reason and destroy the battleship causing all the trouble?  That would be convenient, but they’re better writers than that. [Ron Howard: they were not]

To add insult to injury, they literally divide the heroes by sex and have a scene where all the women are together launching an attack.  It wasn’t even like a natural progression of the battle, where the women are thrown together.  Just the one shot of all them showing up for no reason.  

There was no corresponding scene with the male heroes.  

But I’m sure that’s just a coincidence and they weren’t pandering for woke points.

At one point Thanos grabs the Power Stone with his bare hands and uses it to blast somebody [I think Ms Marvel but I don’t remember].  He doesn’t appear to suffer any ill affects, 

Finally, Tony Stark’s big moment.  People were literally weeping in the theater.  I loved it so much.  It was honestly perfect.  Killing everybody wasn’t what I expected, I thought they’d be sent back to the past to preserve the timeline or whatever, but this way it mirrored the end of Infinity War so thematically this works better.

Everything after that was basically shit.

First of all, this movie suffers from a serious case of Return of the King Syndrome.  There was like half an hour of movie left after Thanos died the second time.  Christ.

Past Gamora might or might not still be alive in the present?  She kicks Star Lord in the nuts then kind of vanishes.  There’s no reason to assume Tony’s snap wouldn’t have killed her along with the rest of the past army, but they also didn’t resurrect Present Gamora so she probably survived for Guardians 3. Starlord is using the computer to search for her at the end, but Thor keeps trying to stop him because I guess he’s a prick now?

Also Thor retires.  Just quits.  Names Valkyrie Queen of the Asgardians.  That’s the conclusion of his story.  He just goes off to find himself, gonna spend some time with the Guardians of the Galaxy see where life takes him. Because that’s satisfying.

They still have to return the infinity stones, along with Mjolnir.  Rogers gets to do the honors, and he makes it pretty clear to everybody that he’s saying his goodbyes.  Somehow, nobody notices, and everybody’s super surprised when he doesn’t come back after.  Apparently, he choses to return to the 40s and live out his life with Peggy.  I liked this, it was a satisfying conclusion to his story.  He found a way back to the love of his life.  Nice.

Here’s what’s not nice.  Bucky and Falcon see old Steve sitting near by.  Bucky, Steve’s childhood friend who owes his life to the fact Steve never stopped believing in him, sends Falcon over to talk to him.  Because...I don’t fucking know.  Why didn’t they both just go talk to him?  Why didn’t they call over Bruce, who was standing right there trying to figure out what went wrong?  No, its Falcon’s time.

But more importantly: HOW IS STEVE THERE?  You can’t change the past.  Bruce tells us that.  The Sorcerous Supreme shows us that changes in the past create alternate timelines leaving the original in tact.  They pulled Thanos into the present and killed him before he could collect the Infinity Stones, but the snap still happened.  Present Nebula shot Past Nebula in the heart but didn’t wink out of existence. 

But somehow, when Steve goes into the past, he doesn’t create an alternate timeline where Captain America survives the war. He just inserted himself into the prime timeline, and waited until he had a chance to say hi to his old friend Falcon.

Oh, also he had a second Shield made at some point? 

Look, I liked Steve’s story.  I liked that they passed on the title to Falcon, a nice nod to the source material.  I’m thrilled that Peggy got the dance he promised her all those years ago.  But that scene ruined the core premise behind the entire movie.  Time Travel stories are hard, but if you agree on how they work and stick to those rules its fine.  This movie did neither.

Also: how did Steve return the Soul Stone? How shocked was he to discover the stone was guarded by Red Skull?  Did he just drop it off the cliff and hope the ancient magic would handle the rest? Will Thanos still have to sacrifice Gamora or does Nat’s sacrifice still count?

There’s other issues.  Ms Marvel and Wanda both just sort of vanish.  Wanda especially should have gotten more story, but they just gave her one angry woman scene then she was forgotten about.  They sort of gloss over the massive issues they’d have faced with half the population dead.  They show one overgrown neighborhood, but by and large everything seems to be exactly the same as it was pre-snap.  Just with everybody sadder.  We never see Rocket meet a racoon.  Hawkeye was in the movie.  Nothing really huge.

So that’s all I have to say about that.  Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

[amateur-theater-critic-blog]

Be More Chill

Be More Chill is a disappointing and repetitive play that leans too much on its ability to provide good music to develop any sort of character or original plot. Based on the 2004 novel of the same name by Ned Vizzini, it tells the tale of an average boy going through the troubles of high school when he encounters the Japanese supercomputer nanotechnology called the S.Q.U.I.P. Unfortunately, it doesn’t really do anything with that idea. Instead it uses old overused high school cliches that any casual reader of anything can recognize. Everything you think that will happen, happens. And not even in an original fashion, either. It felt more like going through the motions. We need a strong independent love interest, but she has to fall in love with him in the end, so, in the very last scene, with no prior interest in the main character, she will tell him she loves him and kiss him.

There are also a lot of plot points that are mentioned once - as if to set up conflict or problem, and then is never addressed again. In one scene, the rich kid’s house gets set on fire, and even though it triggers a song and one of the characters walks in crutches, nobody else seems to actually be affected by it. The whole deal is dropped after the song - even the crutches in the next few scenes. There’s also a moment when the SQUIP tells Jeremy that he isn’t going to be cool, he’s going to be chill, while never providing a distinction, even in the story. Other scenes are similarly disjointed, even though they happen within a few days of Jeremy’s life.

None of the characters have any dimension to them, simply given a single characteristic from the beginning that stays with them through the end - a wikipedia one word description, one could say. In addition, the plot itself is flawed, wherein the villain ultimately made everything better and not being yourself is the answer - completely contradicting their attempt at a moral. It is also unclear is Christine, the love interest, was ever interested in Jeremy, making the last scene, where she suddenly proclaims her love to him, a little suspicious. However, I feel like that problem stems from the director not allowing the actors to flesh out their own role, as the first act has a very good base for interesting characters, if not good ones.

If that were the only bad part, I would think it was a pretty okay musical. It fails terribly as a storytelling medium, but at least it would have had good music and songs. And while individually, each song and dance number is reasonably good, when you listen to all of it one after the other, it gets boring. The sound of the people singing feels especially artificial next to the techno style instrumentals, and it is just loud enough that eventually it stops being a song and just becomes word vomit with a catchy beat. When I listened to the playlist of songs on Spotify, I was shocked at the difference in quality. Maybe the problem here is that it was only previews and the issue will be fixed in the real performance, maybe not. Who knows.

The best part of the play, hands down, was the set design and the lighting. With screens lining the front of the stage, and the whole techno vibe, it was absolutely beautiful. The only time it got in the way was when there were lights flashing in the audience, and the balcony was just at the right level to have spotlights flashed right into unsuspecting eyes. Luckily, it was only done once.

In reading reviews of the 2015 off-broadway version, most critics agree with my thoughts, that the story on its own is pretty shallow, so if you don’t particularly like the music, it doesn’t provide much else in the way of entertainment. So, my suggestion is to listen to the Spotify Be More Chill Original cast recording, and if you really like that, like really love it, then sure, go ahead, there’s nothing wrong with enjoying it.

Rating: 2/5

Now In Previews: Opening Night is March 10th

http://bemorechillmusical.com/

Cast and Creative:

Jeremy Heere -- Will Roland

Mr. Heere/Mr. Reyes/Scary Stockboy -- Jason Sweettooth Williams

Jake Dillinger -- Britton Smith

Chloe Valentine -- Katlyn Carlson

Brooke Lohst -- Lauren Marcus

Rich Goranski -- Gerard Canonico

Christine Canigula -- Stephanie Hsu

Jenna Rolan -- Tiffany Mann

Michael Mell -- George Salazar

The Squip -- Jason Tam

Music and Lyrics -- Joe Iconis

Book -- Joe Tracz

Director -- Stephen Brackett

Choreography -- Chase Brock

Music Supervisor and Orchestrator -- Charlie Rosen

Music Director and Vocal Arranger -- Emily Marshall

Scenic Designer -- Beowulf Boritt

Costume Designer -- Bobby Frederick Tilley II

Lighting Designer -- Tyler Micoleau

Sound Designer -- Ryan Rumery

Projection Designer -- Alex Basco Koch

Wig and Makeup Designer -- Dave Bova

Fight Designer -- J. David Brimmer

Music Coordinator -- Michael Aarons

Dance Arrangements -- Rob Berman

Production Stage Manager -- Amanda Michaels

Production Supervisor -- Senovva

Associate Music Director -- Geoffrey Ko

Associate Choreographer -- Alicia Lundgren

Musicians:

Conductor/Keyboard 1 -- Emily Marshall

Theremin/Trumpet/Flugabone/Recorder -- Danny Jonokuchi

Woodwinds/Keyboard 2/Vocoder -- Josh Plotner

Guitar 1 -- Mike Rosengarten

Guitar 2/Ukelele -- Charlie Rosen

Drums/Percussion -- Marques Walls

Bass -- Dennis Michael Keefe

[knightofbalance-13]

http://nerdgasrnz.tumblr.com/post/168146804389/you-bigoted-geek-ass-homophobic-transphobic

Old post I know but-

Point still needs to be made.

You bigoted geek-ass homophobic, transphobic, racist, sexist MOTHERFUCKERS still don’t understand what the problem is, do you?

Looks like you’re finally getting some self awareness.

Oh wait, you’re not talking about yourself? Huh.

This is not the “rwde community” looking to tear RWBY to shreds ever since Monty died or whatever bullshit excuses you keep coming up with everytime ppl critique this cartoon

My past two years say the exact opposite and what should I trust: my instincts or a liar?

This is the fact that REAL LGBT people watch this show; real NON-WHITE people watch this show; real WOMEN watch this show, and WOMEN are the literal lead characters of this show. But those parts of the audience wind up disappointed with the lack of care, consideration, or prioritization in this weak-ass writing, where only the art and animation salvage it.

Heh...

Then why are some of the most prominent fans of the community LGBT, Non-white and/or women? I mean, surely if this was handled so poorly they wouldn’t be so prominent. Unless of course, the issue isn’t with the show but a certain group of people with a similar thought process (that being “If it doesn’t pander to me, it’s bigotry!.’)

Diversity isn’t a fucking myth like you think just because you have less social aptitude than a fucking rock, or because you refuse to interact with anyone that isn’t the same as you.

Says the woman who rejects other LGBT/non white people for not thinking exactly like her.

Monty was GENTLY asked in a post-show interview if there’d be LGBT+ rep in RWBY, and he confirmed yes. That was 2014.

And he also fucked over his own show numerous times. He wasn’t exactly a good writer so him saying that would have probably resulted in a ham fisted, out of place moment of gay angst that would never be mentioned ever again.

What Miles Luna, Kerry Shawcross, and Gray Haddock have done, instead of giving us a named PROTAGONIST character to be the first instance of that rep, they made the first openly gay character a VILLAIN. (no, Matte Sky does not count bc the VOICE ACTOR named them, not the creators)

You mean the single sympathetic villain who would later get a redemption arc among the other straight villians who are portrayed as irredeemable and monstrous *cough* ADAM *cough*.

Oh no, how terrible. You get a complex and well written character instead of the edgelord. 

Nothing is groundbreaking about that trash. LGBT+ historians and fandoms have noted that in the media, villains were portrayed as gay, trans, or implied as such for YEARS. (it’s called “queercoding”)

And that’s called ‘bullshit’ because coding is only ever brought up in subjective ways.

Not only that: You were never promised something GROUND BREAKING. Show me where it was said that. 

Monty was GENTLY asked by fans at a convention when more brown characters would be in RWBY. He confirmed that Sun and Velvet have “cool” dark-skinned teammates. That was 2013. (after an animation panel at Supanova)

So no, this isn’t just “rabid tumblrinas” hounding the creators for the sake of being special snowflakes like you fucking think. These are real fucking people who love the soul of this show but don’t actually SEE THEMSELVES IN IT. And Monty, rest his soul, was so excited and earnest in wanting to be inclusive so this show could be shared and loved by more people.

Yeah and Miles and Kerry get death threats over this. That was proven in 2018. I could not care less.

And here’s the deal: If you cannot relate to a character because they do not share the same skin color as you, you do not DESERVE a character to relate to. Because creators are suppose to make compelling characters and skin color is NOT COMPELLING. Expecting me to find a character compelling because they are white is honestly INSULTING to me.

But the fact is that it’s not as inclusive as it could be. Even when he was alive, he made missteps too. And it’s not even like it’d be a big deal to fix. But hateful people go out of their way EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. to make it seem like it’d be such a lorebreaking addition to make a character brown, gay, or trans.

The fact that ‘it’s not as inclusive as it could have be’ is a flaw shows you do not actually care about the show. Because you care SO LITTLE about the show actually being good you try to prioritize something COMPLETELY DIVORCED from quality above all else.

And no one wanted them to just do it because it was not the right fucking time or place. Imagine a character in Berserk went off on a tangent about how gay they are. That’d be pretty cringy right? Now think of that same thing in MHA. Not even bad now is it? Because one is not built to support this and the other CAN support it.

Honestly, the way they handled Illa, from a purely writing standpoint, is the best way they could have gone about it. It’s used to emphasize her pain with Blake and quickly takes a backburner for Illa’s more personal and universal issues. They showed it was athing before moving onto more pressing matters.

It makes absolutely ZERO SENSE how a FANTASY REALM can be lacking so much variety in terms of its inhabitants. And Diversity is an AFTERTHOUGHT. Or a “lorebreaker” (remember the homophobic “how would you show gay characters? just have them make out during the chaos? That’d make no sense!” argument? Fun times!!!)

Damn near every single piece of fanart about Illa emphasizes her being gay, apparently that was an informed guess on their part. And honestly ticks me off since Illa is so much more than that.

How many times do we have to sift through the garbage comments on fanart (FAN ART!!!) of Blake being portrayed as black, as if that’s some huge leap from what she could have represented in the first place?

Representation doesn't matter here, it's the fact that these designs usually look like shit because the people making don’t care about good character design and use dark skin on a design that is built around light skin. It’s like if someone made a light skinned Emerald-it would look fucking awful.

How many times do ppl turn a blind eye to femslash fanart of team RWBY but suddenly complain when someone mentions the notion of one of the characters in team RWBY actually being canonically gay? Or bi? Or pan? Anything outside or in-between?

Never. I have literally never seen that happened. I’ve seen people be called homophobic for shipping straight ships before I say this.

Hateful people are like “u should be thankful” when they’re having a buffet of representation and we only get, not just breadcrumbs, but moldy ones that the ants are crawling on. Then, when we make our own stuff to satisfy us (again: FAN ART! FANFIC! HEADCANONS!!!) they’re suddenly so defensive and wanna police our shit???

A. Nobody has ever just eaten certain foods because of their color,

B. You actively REFUSE to accept any character that isn’t EXACTLY like you and proceed to try to hurt REAL PEOPLE over this. Mold crumbs with ants on them is more than you deserve, honestly STRAVATION is more than you deserve.

C. Making fanart and fanfics that are fundamentally WORSE than canon and calling it ‘fixed’ or ‘improved’ like these people always do is insulting. You are actively pissing people off.

Oh and D. I have seen people ATTACK OTHERS over them not following their headcanons.

RWBY’s first dark-skinned character was a villain. That’s not representation, that reinforces racist beliefs that black people are thugs and thieves that can’t be trusted and need to be put down.

Yes, a dark skinned character with understandable motives, symapethic beliefs and conflcits about her actions.

Meanwhile, the white guy Adam is portrayed as an edgelord monster who seeks genocide and talks like a Nazi.

RWBY’s first openly GAY character is a villain. That’s NOT representation. That reinforces homophobic beliefs that lesbians are predatory temptresses that seduce your daughters and sisters to lead them down a path of hellfire and brimstone.

Yes, the sympathetic lesbian who has shown more love and care and respect for Blake than her straight abusive boyfriend.

Adam pretty much exists to DISPROVE your shit on this front. All the bullshit you complain about in Illa ACTUALLY EXISTS in Adam except WORSE.

RWBY has been making transphobic jokes since volume 1 (Penny’s “*gasp* Is she a man?” reference to Blake) Those jokes reinforce the transphobic belief that trans people wear disguises to bait unassuming people so that they can harm them eventually.

A. Name me a single trans person who said that, let alone enough people for me to even consider that.

And B. Adam is cisgendered and a genocidial Nazi. Good luck beating that.

It’s not rocket science. Rooster Teeth’s animated show, “RWBY” has a problem not just with it’s writing, but with diversity. Pure and simple. And this show has had since 2014 to improve. But you’re still surprised that some of us are fucking mad.

And yet every single example you gave not only doesn’t work but would set a standard for STRAIGHT WHITE PEOPLE to complain about their representation. 

You and everyone in RWDE are mad because you WANT to be mad. It justifies the immoral bullshit you pull on a daily basis...

Huh, exactly like Adam.

Guess you guys ARE represented after all. And quite accurately.

[c0untzer0]

There are some days...

...even masturbation can't fix. Today was indeed one of those, for two months you work hard on some more and more complicated automation system (GitLab CI/CD Pipelines and management of Helm Charts for OKD (OpenShift) if you are curious enough to read that mumbo jumbo) and you jump out of your bed during the night before the day you are about to show it to the people – realizing there is an implicit design flaw and that fucking carousel won't work as expected.

I remained calm and did not lower my vocabulary to some degree of profanity.

I rewrote my LinkedIN "about" section instead. Just in case.

[PARENTAL ADVISORY]

{explicit:lyrics}

“People also talk about their achievements or previous job experiences here.”

Hello, my name is Radim and these are my adventures.

There is certain character in one of the notorious children’s book. He’s a trustworthy companion to the main protagonist of the book: who is an ant named “Ant”. Our hero goes by name “Bag the bug” and it’s a well known fact that he:

1) Knows very little about a rather lots of things; and

2) Was born and raised in the cinema theatre

Even though he is depicted as a  basically moron of intergalactic proportions, who mostly only boasts of his unbelievable achievements in any given moment, the many adventures and his antsy friend has to deal with would not be possible if he simply wasn't there. The morale of this story is simple: the world needs its clowns.

And this is basically a nicely fitting description of who I am.

But wait, before you go, let me try to at least humour you, shall we?

All my life I’ve been working for one  telecommunication company, starting as the guy in the boroughs of 24/7 interwebz hotline, DPN, ATM, IP and all the things we thought that were here to stay. Over the course of 20+ years I slowly converged from trying to understand console output of the “show ospf” command that does not make sense at all but you simply do not question the Cisco as you are well aware that in the deep space where only Huaweii and Alcatel roams free nobody would even dare to hear your scream. At some point it became abduntantly clear that I was only brought here to suffer – but along came a Perl. And pursuing the knowledge of how things work became my core obsession. Because if “things” work somehow, they can definitely be forced to work better. Harder. I switched to Python before it was cool.

When you need something done, you often have to do it yourself and mostly the only thing you need to do is: to push (your) boundaries hard enough. Knowing the fundamentals of your surrounding environment (i.e.: the people you work with and how things work inside the oversized corporate zaibatsu (observing which is one of my hobby guilty  pleasures nevertheless) for sure helps a lot.

So I try to deliver any kind of an evolution of how we do things. God bless the “agile” project development movement. Huge fan. And it has estimated 60% failure rate as a feature. Some you win, some you lose.

My failure highlights:

— IPTV reporting malfunction, that caused a weeks(!) long state of no-data-delivered-at-all scenario.

— Decommissioning of an internal geo-everything application; utterly unintentional, till the very end. I cry to my atlas every other night.

— CI/CD and VCS mono-repository composition for our internal development.

Even now there is a blood running down from my eyes when I'm trying to read these lines.

Light side of the Moon:

Every of the following wouldn't be possible without our team of beautiful and dedicated people. Martin, Michal, Tomáš and Vendy namely. And my arch–nemesis Aleš deserves credit also.

— Implementation of various new technologies into the realtime data processing inside the ever conservative telco company (being conservative is not a BAD thing, but then again). Logstash, ElasticSearch, Apache NiFi, GitLab on premise, InfluxDB & Grafana, Ansible… we made all these a real thing.

— Thorough delivery IPTV peoplemeter data to a Big Data storages, written mostly from scratch by another of my colleagues. Introducing a by-product of near-realtime Grafana dashboards for broader audience; this was a years later followed by a complete redeployment in form of a Docker microservices utilizing a non-K8s mesh network. The downside of this seemingly good-doing is mentioned above.

— Production deployment of realtime data processing framework (Python) and Docker runtime deployment.

— Delivery of the Apache Kafka messaging bus, built on top of decommissioned hardware, as the punk spirit of distributed software orders us to do.

— Even if it may not seem that way, I do not find any pleasure in achievement taxonomies, but the order was crystal clear: “People also talk about their achievements or previous job experiences here.” Anyway, looking back I have to say I had the time of my life.

Where do you see yourself in five years?

I'm glad you asked. I like the automation as a way of being able to survive our increasingly complicated world. Docker was a huge leap forward indeed, but you cannot write the same Compose files over and over: that is if you're not in a need of a mental illness. I kind of enjoy listening to music, so orchestration as a school of doing magic it is.

I really would like to see the dawn of the 5G mobile network first hand – if not for the thrills it will definitely brings us, then from the reason I believe it's the closest you may ever be in real life to the vanilla example of “The Condom Paradox”. Fear not, if you are not already well versed in this paradox, I'll do you a favor and spare your already bruised mind.

That’s pushing the boundaries just enough for me. I also sort of have a soft spot for languages (which may or may be not obvious at this point) and even softer for nice things, so for some 10+ years I helped with production of week’s long second oldest festival in Czech republic, that revolves around Czech language as a tool of  art. That inevitably ended by founding and typesetting a monthly magazine that publishes unpublished translations of foreign books and stuff. All that in flesh, available at your closest bookstore (probably even as we speak). Did my movies, had my translating essays to a woman’s magazine (the one with a shiny cover) episodes. And we are doing an enigmatic site-specific installations with a group of definitely insane people; it's the kind that takes more time to assembly than stays on a display to a kind crowds. That is done yearly and there definitely is a pattern emerging. Thank you for your time, yours truly, Bag the Bug.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

All the misspelled words and badly used idioms are to be fixed in a series of  bugfix versions of this… how would I call this stream of words you just experienced...? Probably a practical example of: do not even try to write your own bio but simply use any Power Point template available instead! Up to you. Over and out.