#plus it makes sense for a lot of characters to be ripped I'm not even gonna list them all

[night-dragon937]

i think a lot of my cosplays would be much better if i was ripped and that's probably the biggest encouragement to start working out I've had my entire life

[fluffypotatey]

To be honest I am a huge Nalu shipper. But the thing is I want to know the difference between the way Natsu cares about his guildmates and Lucy. Like what is the obvious difference since that boy sees every as Nakama so how can we say that the wag he cares about Lucy is different?

Like even when Erza passed away? (All the way back in first season there was a segment where the guild was gathered at her grave and all) Natsu was still very reactive. Plus he was also said to be depressed even when Lisanna passed.

What's the difference between all of them and Lucy?

the fact that he stayed. the fact that before he met Lucy, Natsu wasn't one to stay in a group or even want to work with anyone besides Happy at the start of the story. hell, he was ready to just file Lucy down as "New Guildmate" once they reached Fairy Tail

but then, Lucy doesn't leave. she follows him on his mission to save Macao despite her not needing to or even really understanding everything about it. she stays and then fights with him and saves him. it's no secret that Natsu is strong and can take care of himself really well. he's been going on solo missions for years now, and no one has really stopped him, but that means he's been in a lot of sticky situations where he and Happy are on their own and have no backup. and yet, without asking, Lucy offers it

and i think this is the moment when Natsu considers that maybe it's okay to have someone there to have his back (sans Happy)

"but Natsu only needed Lucy for the next quest because of the requirements," well, Natsu also wouldn't have taken or even considered that quest if it weren't for Lucy, yeah? he was not a team player (in the picking job's sense) or really wanted other people to help him on his quests sans Happy. and then he goes and picks a job that caters to their team whilst ensuring that Lucy can't say no

or maybe i'm reading too much into it 🤷🏻‍♀️

or maybe Natsu's got horrible abandonment issues that he will latch onto people so fast (Igneel & Lisanna) but also cause him to distance himself so far when left behind (his 1st time at the guild, Lisanna's death). Erza and Gray are Natsu's closet friends after Lisanna and yet they cannot reach him when he closes himself off. and then we have Lucy, who stuck by and had his back, so who is to say Natsu didn't make some contingencies to ensure whether or not she'd join him?

but maybe it's the rose, colored ship glasses i have on

because yeah, Natsu cares for all of his guildmates. the power of friendship is his biggest motivator. when we meet Natsu, our first introductions of him is defending his guild's reputation from Bora (who was using it as a guise for human trafficking) and saving Macao. and our 1st big arc (Galuna Island), where Natsu adamantly refuses to allow Gray to use Ice Shell and sacrifice himself despite how antagonistic they've been to each other. we get Natsu 100% at Erza's defense throughout the Tower of Heaven and he is even ready to defend Wendy though they only met hours ago

Natsu is a character with a bleeding heart and cannot help but wear it on his sleeve, but we don't really see him allow others to fight his battles or have his back until Lucy comes in. to be honest, i don't even think he had his heart on his sleeve until Lucy. he still has a bleeding heart (i don't think anything could stop that), but he was not ready to be open in receiving company because he was so used to it being ripped away from him

that being said: of all the characters he interacts with, he finds Lucy to be someone compatible enough for him to start going on team missions and inviting her on them (for example, his 1st S-class mission, which he stole, he went to her house to show it to her. the fact that part of the reward was a celestial key might be a coincidence, but i wouldn't doubt it as Natsu and Happy's trump card in case she refused)

but yeah, the difference is that he stayed and didn't push her away at the beginning, but instead continued to invite her along with him to the point that doing a mission without Lucy wasn't his regular anymore. compared to the rest of the guild, of whom he spent most of his childhood with, even if he spoke to no one, they would still be around and talk to him anyway. he might not invite them on job and only challenge them to fights, but the guild is his home and a constant in his life, a constant he needs (bc heavy abandonment issues).

"okay, but he still pushed her away after he watched Igneel die right in front of him. and he left the guild for a whole year, too. so what's the difference there?" you may ask.

so 1) Natsu never thought the guild would disband. he returns to Fiore after a year and is the last to know that they disbanded. he assumed, like all the other times before and while he and others were sealed for 7 years, that Fairy Tail would still be there when he returned. he assumed that his disappearance would not impact so hard because the guild would still be around and Lucy would have the others with her

which, did not happen :)

and like, so many guild members go off on jobs, quests, or even just leave for an indiscriminate amount of time (which i, personally, believe was his rationality for leaving), so him being gone for a year was nothing! right? no harm, eh? his plan was never to be gone forever :))))

2) he just watched his father die and lose any chance of having some semblance of a long term reunion with Igneel. he literally lost one of his main driving motivations for getting stronger and taking jobs. before Fairy Tail, before anyone, it was Igneel. and to learn that a) Igneel was always with him to begin with and b) he only got to see him for less than a day after 14 years of nothing......i would feel lost too ngl

man's needed space from everybody. and he also needed comfort, but Natsu has been shown not to really be the character who asks to receive comfort (and when he does receive it, it's usually when he's already emotionally compromised). he is in the habit of shutting people out after being abandoned or losing someone close to him, with his next rationale being to "get stronger" in order to prevent what happened in the past to ever happen in the future.

anyway

what makes this different? well for one, he sent the letter only to Lucy (or it's implied since no one else is shown getting one) because of how the two spend most of their time together. even the line that goes with the panel makes it sound like Natsu is unsure on how the note will be received (maybe even hesitant? but that could be my own hopes)

and one of the 1st people he reunites with after a year is Lucy and we get such a similar parallel to the first chapter of Fairy Tail between the two as if the narrative itself is slotting them together to say "ah yes, now everything is back to normal and new journeys can begin"

but yeah, this is just a long way of saying, that Natsu does love his friends and guildmates but even when he is close to them, he kept to himself (and Happy) and sort of stayed in their orbit but always with some emotional distance because of his fear of abandonment. and then you have Lucy where he will stay for and allow her to orbit around him and he will invite to new adventures no questions asked

that's the difference

[spacebarbarianweird]

I'm honestly very proud how Alethaine (Astarion's daughter) and Elren (her husband-to-be) turned out.

Alethaine looks like a dark witch. She wears black, ressurects the dead, knows a lot dark spells, also can rip your throat.

But on the inside...

She is cute and soft.

Alethaine is literally this meme. Everyone thinks she is Wednesday but on the inside... she's def Enid.

She likes sweet things. She prefers the life of comfort. Plus, she is smart - reads a lot, knows a few languages. Alethaine is an introvert, the only time you can see her in a tavern is when she looks for a job.

Also, Alethaine is demisexual to the point of asexual. She literally never slept with anyone before she turned 300 just because it hadn't been interesting enough for her.

At the same Alethaine often makes close friends. She treats Theris (her tiefling dhampir friend) and Mierni (Gale's adopted dhampir son) as her brothers and cares about them.

She likes kids and can care about them even if they have special needs.

But she is also selfish (she enlisted for the "saving the world" quest only because she was going to be paid dearly). Cruel - kills without mercy. Barely cares about anything and anyone unless they gain her trust.

Alethaine stuck between three worlds: the world of mortals, the world of undead and the world of elves never truly belonging to any of them. But over the course of her life she learns to enjoy what life has to offer.

--

Elren Goldenroot has a few layers as a character. The first impression of him is that typical elven hero who saves the less fortunate fighting with his family sword.

But he doesn't just fight monsters or villains. He hunts the demons straight from the Abyss. And he knows everything about those lovecraftian creatures. When Alethaine asks him to bring her a shovel to intorogata a corpse, he doesn't ask 'why', he asks 'when'.

He is tolerant to anyone and anything - maybe one the reasons Astarion adores his son-in-law.

He has a lot of friends. He literally has a friend in every village or a town he visits. But at the same there is a great sorrow - he believes he witnesses the dawn of his race. But the moment he realizes there is still hope for elves, he invests himself in the battle against the demons and pledges allegiance to the king of elves, the promised saviour. But when the savior dies... He makes a decision to take his place. Not because he wants, but because he believes his people need a leader.

At the same time... Elren is extremely vulnerable. He feels himself a ragged doll stitched of different pieces. His father was a Wood Elf and he'd died before Elren was born. His mother was half a Sun Elf, half a Moon Elf (from her he'd inherited golden hair and pale skin). She suffered from post-partum depression and died when Elren was only two. He was raised by her secon cousin, a half-elf, and his human family. Elren overlived them all - and had to take care of his third cousins when they grew old (meanwhile they were younger). Elren learned Elven only when grew up and it was his second tongue for many decades.

His identity makes no sense to any elf - it's a mix of different cultures plus learned languae. He spent all his youth trying to shape himself from reading about elves and talking to the few he met.

Also, he is a CSA victim. Repeatedly raped by a human cleric in his teens, he carries a deep sense of embarassment about what happend. His memories were so messed up his testimony sounded implausible (he couldn't say how many times it had happened, on what days etc) and people decided his family just wanted to frame 'an honet man'. Elren's uncle had to sell his farm and meanwhile none of his family tried to blame Elren, he considered himself guilty.

--

By the time Elren and Alethaine meet they have 300 years of life experience. Both have their own sorrows and regrets and very little hope to the better future. But together they will have to make decisions that will lead them to become the first Queen and King of Elves in millenia.

--

Thank you for reading the rant. I just love my OCs

[spacealligator]

Sannin students success analysis

Tsunade:

Shizune: awesome doctor, often forgotten, kept Tsunade alive for years despite loan sharks going after her as she tried to drink herself to death, assistent to the 5th and 6th Hokages, still alive by the end of the series -> 8/10 because I'm mad she doesn't get any recognition

Sakura: heir of Tsunade's legacy, protagonist's friend, plot armor, did good in the war, got what she wanted and married childhood crush, still alive -> 8/10 because we all know Sakura could be better

Success rate: 100% as in all her students are still alive, but the final rate is 80% because of the patriarchy

Orochimaru:

Anko: cool premise, forgotten character, became a joke in Boruto because she put on weight and apparently that's something to laugh at, but at least she still alive? -> 4/10 I miss cool Anko

Kabuto: the type we love to hate, important to the war because he did a lot of stupid shit, full snake sage, had a cool fight with Itachi and Sasuke giving them some Bonding Time, and is still alive -> 9/10 with 1 point deduction because his motives as a villain during the war don't make sense and he's reformed phase, like Orochimaru's, makes no sense

Sasuke: Naruto's boyfriend -> 10/10 successful student with good plot armor

Success rate: 100% of all students are still alive, 10% deduction because I'm still mad at Anko's (lack of) storyline and 10% deduction because of all the trauma inflicted, making expenses on shrinks for Konoha skyrocket, 80% final score

Jiraiya:

Konan: cool paper jutsu that nobody explains and we just accept it, patience to make 600 billions origami paper bombs, sunhine protector, dead by the end of the anime, very cool fight with Obito and makes him use Izanagi -> 5/10 she still lost though

Yahiko: sunshine smile, mirrors Naruto, super chill, could've been the Kage of Rain Country based on charisma alone, dead by offing himself to save his friends -> 2/10, his body made for a cool Pain though

Nagato: spoke one of Naruto's most recognizable quote, one of the most remembered fights in the anime, made Naruto use 8 tail plus giant toads, two rinnegan, sunshine protector, dead by the end of the anime -> 7/10 one point reduction because he fell for Naruto's blah blah blah no jutsu

Minato: 4th Hokage, father of the protagonist, once killed 1000 shinobi in one go, Kushina's husband, dead before the anime even started -> 6/10 because if you're dead you're not exactely successful

Naruto: the anime is called Naruto -> 11/10 successful student even with dead sensei (RIP Jiraiya)

Success rate: 20% of his students are still alive, 20% bonus because 2 of his stundents became Kage, 10% bonus because Pain is so iconic, 300% bonus because of protagonist plot armor, 350% final score

Source for ratings: voices inside my head

[invested-in-your-future]

I am new to rwde stuff, and I'm wondering why Miles is so often singled out in criticism? Like, with self-insert stuff that makes sense, but I also see people criticize the relics/gods worldbuilding as a Miles thing, without mention of Kerry. Same for similar criticisms like the plot driving them into a corner in v10, or the mishandling of the WF plot line. Is there a reason for that, or is it holdover from not liking him for the self-insert? Is he the one who talks about it the most, or has he specifically claimed responsibility for that, or he writes more than Kerry, or something? Is it because he just seems to be the more public of the two of them, doing things like his cameos? Is he simply the more unlikable one? Thank you in advance, if you answer this question.

I think it is that, yeah - Miles is the one most often putting his foot in his mouth with weird hot takes that come back to bite him.

Him being tasked by Monty to watch a bunch of anime to see what NOT to do and ending up gushing about sword art online and loving the one soul eater character he was supposed to understand about being crass?

Him going on an off-tangent rant about how Korra world building is bad only to then rip off parts of that lore and it all end up a mess.

Him ranting how on how LGBTQ+ rep in Korra has absolutely no build up only for BB ending up getting ZERO PROPER DEVELOPMENT that it SHOULD HAVE GOTTEN FOR VOLUMES (because the show was too busy queerbaiting) and only getting a desperate kiss to attempt to get the views back up... (Mind you Korra was under a LOT of network restrictions and actually doing what the show did took actual guts while the only excuse RT has for dancing around the topic is "we don't wanna")

Him watching Land of Lustrous (a show about an immortal being experiencing trauma and PTSD and dealing with grief and existential crisis) and going "I don't get it" and then delivering the absolute messy v9 nonsense that literally vilifies trauma and goes against basic mental wellness concepts.

There's a trail of Miles stepping on the same rake over and over again going back years so he kind of became the face of all the wrong decisions taken in the show.

Plus, you know, yeah, Jaune is his baby and he somehow ends up being the faux protagonist of the show leeching off the screen time of actual protagonists and getting more development and focus than actual protagonists. And him being the guy to whom "the idea of brother gods came to in a dream" and it's easy to see why he kind of became the poster child for everything bad in the show.

However, Kerry is just as guilty for a lot of aspects of the writing but people are bit more lenient because again two worst parts of the show - Jaune and brother gods both come from Miles.

RWBY having borderline nonsensical setting and offensive problematic writing is a group effort though because RT as a whole never grew out of the "edgy homophobic jokes machinima youtuber" phase - not even after becoming a company that owns million dollar franchises.

[thetokentrans]

so I have thoughts about this week's episode of 911. My partner and I ranted at one another when we watched it yesterday, and I need to put my thoughts out into the world. Spoilers under the cut. Also tagged though, just to be safe.

Alright so, I wanna say first that while I've mostly enjoyed this season, some of the arcs and basically all of the pacing has me really frustrated? And not frustrated because of cliffhangers and not frustrated because the writing wants me to be. Frustrated because the pacing has been far too quick - though, I expect the super truncated season is to be blamed for that - but also some of the writing and character arcs just..... Do not fit the vibe of the show up until this season? Plus, the lack of calls/focus on characters personal lives has also got me sad. Like, I love the characters and love seeing the peeks into their loves, but I really hope the show doesn't maintain the equation of one big emergency, a few calls sprinkled through out the season, and then mostly focused on the characters lives because *I* preferred the balance it was before. Or would have been happy with a tiny bit more focus on their personal lives, but not to the extent it is now, know?

Eddie and Kim are a great example. Especially what it culminated to in 7x09. It just makes no God damned sense and does not fit Eddie's characterization in my opinion? It came out of left field. It's a really, really weird god damned story line. I *am* glad that Buck approached Eddie about it AS SOON as he learned about the situation though. Like if it wasn't anything, Eddie... You wouldn't have hid her from Buck OR Marisol. If it wasn't anything, you wouldn't have lied and said you didn't have a gf. And it frustrates me that before this episode, he had been looking back on his relationship with Shannon with such rose colored glasses and forgetting the very large, sort of insurmountable issues that they had. Though that isn't out of character for him, I just hated it. Lol

And the stuff with the councilwoman in this episode also made me insanely angry. And went way too quick. Politicians can grease a lot of wheels but that entire situation - Maria's adoption getting stopped, AND her getting ripped out of their house because their foster license got revoked - really felt like it happened way too quick and should have raised some red flags/encountered some road blocks in the system???

Also I hate that NO ONE outside of Athena seemed to question Bobby's definitely very weird behavior. Like I feel like super anxious to every change in someone's demeanor Buck, and INSANELY perceptive Hen would have picked up that something was wrong????

Also idk man, Athena going to Amir, AND BRINGING HIM INTO HER HOUSE THAT HAS ALL OF THIS EVIDENCE OF HOW GOOD BOBBY HAS IT NOW - even if Bobby doesn't think he deserves it, even if Bobby has been stewing in his self loathing basically since childhood and his dad dying - to help with Bobby's spiralings/self destruction cycle felt a little out of characterly naive of her?

Like.. I don't think he's the one who set the house on fire at the end of the episode - I did at first, but my partner pointed out that it'd be the too obvious choice - but I just don't think either Bobby OR Amir are ready for that. And I feel like history shows, and her characterization shows, that she'd be more perceptive and realize that.

That being said, some things I *liked* about the episode:

Chim getting to clapback at racist homophobic Gerrard (spelling?) at the award ceremony

Bobby telling Buck that he knows Tommy is good for him because Buck hasn't spiraled about their relationship/ranted about it to him.

Buck telling Eddie that he's worried about him. That interaction, Buck calling Eddie out, it felt good and like the 911 I'm used to.

Athena calling Bobby out on his self destruction cycle. I do wish she would have pointed out how often she has leaned on him (as much as a chronically independent woman like her, can anyway) especially when it came to finally solving her fiancé's murder for instance.

Idk man, the show just doesn't feel the same as it has in the past and I'm really hoping it's because of the change in network and is just an adjustment period.

[blackraged]

MORTAL KOMBAT 1 Thoughts Pt1.

[❌❌contains SPOILERS❌❌]

I've been waiting for this for such a long time and we finally got it. Now with MK1 being practically a full reboot, A LOT of changes are to follow. So here are my current thoughts in order how the story went:

Chapter 1

Kung Lao and Raiden being practically brothers is my fave thing in the world.

Half of the MK1 boys are full on babygirl and honestly? I love that for them. Except for Shang Tsung because that feels very much illegal.

That last scene with Madam Bo felt like a fcking fever dream.

WHAT DO YOU MEAN KUAI LIANG IS SCORPION? WHAT THE FCK DO YOU MEAN?? WHERE IS HANZO?? That feels very wrong. Only Hanzo is allowed to say "gET OVER HERE" that is HIS iconic line. I'm not sure if I like this change.

I KNEW the boys were pulling their punches. I KNEW IT. The entire fight felt so awkward and staged. For a short moment I legit thought NRS pushed down on their fighting animation.

Chapter 2

Sooo...Johnny is a failed Actor now? What happened to the glamour? That's not very Cage behavior.

Okay but I love love LOVED Liu Kang literally showing up in front at Johnny's Door all serious, and Johnny being Johnny.

What made NRS choose to paint Kenshi as a former Yakuza?? I mean the idea isn't too bad, because it would make sense for him to be searching for Sento to free his family. But I still prefer his revenge timeline more. Hell, even him being a cocky arse warrior trying to fight anyone and everyone made more sense.

Chapter 3

Idk why but I half expected Kano to show up in this chapter. The trailers made it look like he was at the Wu Shi academy

Liu Kang practically pathed the way for human Raiden to be champion and it shows. I'd like to think it's out of respect for former God Raiden from before, who practically raised Liu Kang and was a father figure to him.

General Shao is so fine, I can't. He was hot before, but now he's so....so..... y'know?

Liu Kang really wanted to give Kitana the loving Fam she deserved qwq

Everyone is so mean to Li Mei :(( I feel so bad for her

Reiko tho😳😳😳

Raiden has a cruuush~ Raiden has a cruuush~ unexpected but cute. I wonder what Liu Kang thinks about this.

Chapter 4

Johnny and Sonya are forever iconic...but Johnny and Kenshi? I didn't know I needed it until I had it. Their bickering is GOLD. They're so married.

Wealthy merchant Baraka???

Props to Quan Chis new look. He looks like a clown escaped asylum. Very uncanny.

Are they...are they trying to redeem Shang Tsung? No,that would be way too obvious. Plus that intro scene with Krusty Kronika makes it super sus.

Called it.

Chapter 5

KENSHIS BLINDFOLD WAS PART OF JOHNNYS ARMOR. Y'all NRS knew what they were doing. I am eating this up

I adore Reptiles human form. Very baby girl, very cute.

So if Tarkat is transmitted via physical contact, wouldn't that mean that the guys would have it too when they fought the prisoners in this chapter? You even see Johnny react in Chapter 4 to that fact when Baraka told them. Could it be that it's not infectious since they're clones/experiments?

So help me out here... Baraka is strong enough to rip the cages open that seem to be made of the same metal as their cell door, but failed to open that? Plot, I know, but c'mon.

REPTILE IS EVEN MORE BABY OMGGGGG. Pls let me hold him,, poor baby boy,, his sadness is literally tugging at my heart strings.

I love how honorable Baraka is. This is great character improvement. For a beast (visually) to be showing mercy. It's like he accepts who he is now but still holds onto that human (edenian) side of him.

Stopping here for tonight, but will continue tomorrow. So far it's going great but I have a hard time remembering which of some stories in this timeline are kept the same as from the previous timeline.

I'm still pleasantly overwhelmed by the amount if babygirls.

[rainofbrasspetal]

Grappler Baki: The Stitchy Review

Started Grappler Baki June 17 2024.

Finished Grappler Baki July 6 2024.

Stitchy's Score: 9/10

I, like many others, have seen those infamous clips and "WTF is Baki even about" memes. I finally decided to take a look at the source for myself. WTF is Baki? Well, it's peak, I'm afraid.

I was once a hater of Itagaki Sensei's artstyle, I thought Baki was so ugly. "How can people stand to look at it?" I would ask myself. I am extremely happy to report, however, that I now have no choice but to stan my king and Baki's art. I think Baki has fantastic and engaging art. Baki's girlfriend, his landlady, his mother, ect, they all look like regular people. Only the guys that fight and have dedicated themselves to being "the strongest" have these horrificly muscular bodies. It makes a lot of sense to me and makes everything else pretty easy to swallow.

Each character is also pretty destinct which is also fantastic. I happened to really fall in love with the cast. I brought up my character designer friend in my Mashle review, but I was discussing Baki with her earlier today. She correctly noted that hight difference is also really important and Baki has it in spades. Yujiro Hanma is like the strongest dude ever to exist and there are actually a few characters taller than or almost as tall as he is. Baki himself is also pretty short, which is great. It makes everyone stand out more and helps the silhouette of the characters. Baki also looks like he really is a 17 year old boy! Another plus in a world where I am supposed to believe that Kiyomaro Takamine (Zatch/Gash Bell) is a middle schooler! He also has a great personality, a fun protagonist that almost seems out of place in such a violent story.

Grappler Baki is the most "normal" of the series, from what I can tell. All the big memes aren't going to be found here, unfortunately. That being said, this manga is still absolute nonsense. There's biting and ripping and breaking and just incredibly unbelievable violence. Baki characters feel like cockroaches! Baki himself takes a ridiculous amount of damage and just is fine at the end of the day sometimes. It really reminds me of the old brutal Mortal Kombat 9 x-ray moves, like Sub-Zero freezing your stomach and crushing it, before just continuing the fight like that didn't happen to you. The fights are so brutal and engaging to watch. Even when the side characters were going to fight, I often found myself excited to see how it went. It's just a good old time.

If you've never read or watched Baki, I don't want to give too much away from the plot (MAKE SURE YOU DO SOME RESEARCH! It really took me a minute to figure out what order best to consume the story as a whole. There's like 5 or 6 Baki mangas and two of them have the same name). I will say that I was really locked in the whole time, though! UNFORTUNATELY, this also has the bit where it loses that perfect 10/10 score. I will tell you that Grappler Baki has maybe four important female characters and unfortunately they are pretty lacking. They really don't get to do too much, Baki's girlfriend especially doesn't do much.

Most of our story revolves around a tournament, which is also a big plus. What arcs does everyone love? Naruto's Chunin Exams, Yu Yu Hakusho's Dark Tournament and, Dragon Ball's Tenka'ichi Budōkai, Yu-Gi-Oh's Battle City! The people love tournament arcs! We yearn for the tournament! Even Oda stuck one in One Piece during Dressrosa! A main plot that revolves around a tournament, what more could we ask of Grappler Baki?

Another thing I believe Grappler Baki handles well is what I'm going to call, "The Vegeta Problem." I call it The Vegeta Problem because he is always the first character I'll think of in the context. I define it as: introducing a character that is supposed to be so strong and intimidating but usually gets whipped before the main character gets to take his turn and beat the bad guy. Frieza, Cell, Majin Buu. Since Baki's villain is Yujiro Hanma, and he's said to be untouchable and just a ridiculously impossible standard, it never feels like someone is weak when they lose to him. Even people who lose often put up decent fights. Baki is very good at making fights really edge of your seat, which is refreshing!

In conclusion, Grappler Baki is a fantastic read. It has everything someone would want from a manga mainly about fighting. A ridiculous ride that grabs you and makes you really want to see where the twists and turns take the story!

[frenziedslashers]

How about 31 and Jed sawyer (2017) for the prompt thing? Maybe it’s his first night back with the sawyers after he gets shot and everything? (If this is too specific feel free to scrap it)

I love your writing and I hope you’re doing well <3

Look At Me;;

A/N: So sorry for taking so long on this! I wanted to write a little more than just a Drabble for Jed since I never get to write for him! I love him so much. All versions of Leatherface I am in love with, I swear LMAO Also super glad that you sent this in since I miss writing for the slasher fandom. I'm just super picky with the characters that I wanna write for at certain times if that makes sense? Idk, but thank you bestie 🫶

Pairing: Jedediah Sawer (2017) x Reader

Warnings: Canon Typical Violence, Gore, Blood, Severe Injury, Trauma, Let me know if I need to add anything else!

SLASHER MASTERLIST || REQUESTING INFO

Blood.

There was so much of it. Dripping from the side of his face. Pooling in his mouth and exiting through the side of his face. He was almost unrecognizable - hell, if it weren't for Mama saying his name you would have never known it was him. Even without the giant wound on the side of his face. You hadn't seen him since he was ripped from his family. Your family.

You weren't blood-related, but the Sawyers took you in since you were Jed's best friend. The two of you practically did everything together when you were little. A part of Mama hoped that if Jed were to come back. Maybe you would help spark his memory of his family.

Your family was never the best. Your Ma had left you and your Pa when you were little. Your Pa was a drunken fool, drinking himself to death by the time you were 17. The Sawyers were all you had.

The screaming made you flinch as you tended to Jed's wounds. Sure, you were half used to it by now. This wasn't exactly your first rodeo, but you couldn't help but feel so on edge with the state your best friend was in. Plus, the factor is that he might not even remember you. What if he thought you replaced him? What if he hated you for some reason? What if things weren't the same as they were twenty-some years ago?

He stared at you with such a piercing gaze. It made your stomach lurch. Earlier food threatened to come back up with how nervous you felt. "Am I hurtin' you?" You asked with such a soft and fragile voice. If he wasn't in so much shock with everything going on he might've cried at just the sound of it. He missed you. Not a day went by that he didn't think about you.

He shook his head 'no,' while keeping his eyes locked on yours. He stared at you with such a mix of awe and shock. You weren't real, were you? This was just another hallucination of his. Like the many, he had daydreamed in his cell or the lunch hall back at the hospital.

You flinched once more at another loud shout from Drayton and this time Jed reacted.

The man before you reached up to cup the side of your face. Redirecting your gaze to his own like he did so many times when you were both younger. "All eyes on me, that's it, breathe," he used to tell you. He couldn't talk now, but you knew he was thinking it by the way he was looking at you.

"You remember?" You blurted, biting your lip to hide how it threatened to tremble. A wave of emotion after emotion washing over you. Relief, fear, anger, sadness, it was almost too much for you.

He nodded his head, gurgling something that you couldn't comprehend. Shushing him with a soft smile. "Jed, ya gotta rest your mouth. Don't talk," you told him, even against how much you wanted to hear his voice. You wondered how much had it changed since you last heard it. From the deepness of just him humming and muttering you could tell it changed quite a lot. You supposed your own had, too.

"I missed you," you told him. This time a tear did escape. Something about you admitting that you missed him just broke him. A few more tears rolled down his face while he nodded frantically. His hand ran through your hair while his eyes scanned over every inch of your face. It was almost like he finally realized you were actually here. That you were with him and he actually had you back for once. It was nice not having to pretend that he knew what you looked and sounded like now.

"Jed, honey, yer gift is ready," Mama called, and the both of you departed from one another to meet her in the other room.

----

That night was rough for him and you could tell. Pacing, screaming, crying. He couldn't sleep, and you got to hear it all from the confinements of your own room. It wasn't until you heard something clash that you raced out of your room and towards the basement.

"Jed," you called out as you knocked on his door. Shuffling from inside the room came to a halt and you rocked from foot to foot anxiously.

"Jed," you called out again. Your voice was laced with more worry than before. "Jed, answer me, are you okay?" You spoke, and he could hear the worry in your voice. He ran his hands through his hair with guilt and fear.

Why were you still here? Why were you even talking to him? He was hideous. His face wasn't even his own anymore. It was ripped and jagged. It was as broken as he felt. He wished he could tell you to go away, but nothing other than a distressed grunt left his throat. He couldn't move his jaw without a paralyzing pain shooting through his head.

His startled noise made you frown. Waiting for a few seconds before you finally answered again. “You shouldn’t be alone tonight.”

He couldn't believe what he was hearing. He'd laugh if he could. He hadn't had anyone care like that for him since - well, he couldn't even remember. Since Mama did when he was little, he supposed.

"Look, I just want you to know I'm here for you," you continued, and he took a step closer to the door. "Jed, I never stopped caring about you." Another step. "Even if it has been over a decade, hell, almost two. I never stopped. None of us did, we love you," you prayed he wasn't at the door as you muttered the final bit. "I'll always love you," he was right at the door, though. Eyes wide and watery at the words that left your mouth.

He'd never felt so loved before. He couldn't remember the last time he felt supported by anyone. The nights in the hospital were so long and grim. Bud was the only comfort that he had, and he was ripped from him just like you and his family were so many years before. Just he couldn't get Bud back like he got you all back.

He wished he was someone different, sometimes. That he was just some guy living in the world. Struggling with bills, and maybe a cat or two. With an overworking job that made him want to fall off the face of the earth. Not the crippling disorders that he suffered from daily.

The 'monsters in my head' as he would tell his nurse.

The door opened and you took a step back. Giving yourself room to look at Jed with more space between the both of you. He didn't lift his head to look at you. His eyes fixated on the ground while you both stood there in silence. That was until you broke it.

You took a step closer. Cautiously toeing the ground and watching how he reacted to you getting closer. If you saw any signs of him growing uncomfortable with your presence, you would step further away. You'd leave if he asked. You'd do anything for the man in front of you. All you wanted was to make him feel at home again. For him to finally feel like he's himself and not someone else. Not Jackson, but Jedediah Sawyer.

"Can I come in?" He didn't answer. He only stepped to the side to allow you into the room with him. Shutting the door once you were inside with him.

Your eyes scanned the basement. The broken mirror that you assumed was the source of the noise that had you running down there in the first place. You instinctively headed for the glass to begin picking up the shards so he wouldn't happen to step on them, but he stopped you.

His hand was on your wrist pulling you back. When you turned your head to look at him you finally saw the mask on his face. It was the woman that he killed earlier that night, and you were unsure what to say at first. He let out a muffled noise. He sounded scared, maybe worried? Was he worried you didn't like it? You had to admit, you wished it was someone else's face, but if that's what he liked. Who were you to judge when you've quite literally eaten people before.

"You look beautiful, don't worry," you told him and he seemed to relax. "Maybe you could do my makeup sometime," you half-joked with a smile, but the spark in his eye made you reconsider the joke as a genuine proposition.

The two of you stood there for a moment longer. Eyes anxiously looking around as if to search for words to say. Or actions to do. It had been so long since the two of you had spoken. What was either of you even to say or do?

"Did you want to try and sleep?" You asked, and he sighed. Turned his head towards the bed, then back to you. Shaking his head with a sluggish 'no.' You frowned at that. You pulled your wrist from him in order to put your hand in his. You kept the grip loose in case he wanted to pull away from the action.

He didn't, though. If anything, he wished he had you holding all of him. To be engulfed by you is all he wanted right now.

"Why don't you want to?" You asked, and he looked down. "Bad dreams?" You asked another question, and he nodded a 'yes' this time. "What if I lay down with you?" He peaked up at this. Curious eyes looked over your face as if to see if you were joking around, but all he saw was genuineness. "You like that idea?" You questioned, and reluctantly, he nodded. It sounded amazing to him. At the moment at least.

Jed allowed you to drag him to bed. He felt like you were both eight again. Hanging out in his room while you both sluggishly moved towards the bed on a hot summer day to lay down and take an afternoon nap. All of Jed's chores were done giving him all the time to sleep in that creaky bed. You'd both start out on your back or sides. Soon a tangle of limbs while you both seeked out comfort in one another's touch. Unless it was a particularly hot day. Then you always seemed to be pushing him away from you since even on the hottest of days he always seeked out your touch.

But now you were both grown. You were older, and so was he. The both of you mature. He felt even more awkward now than he ever did as a kid around you. He almost wished he still had some of his boyish-carefree-attitude left. Now he was scared of you, almost. You were even more attractive than he ever remembered you being. Which was saying a lot, since Jed always assumed you were an angel that graced his farm.

When you crawled into the bed you beckoned him to come lay with you. The man stood beside it for a moment. Fidgeting with his hands before he finally climbed in beside you.

His hands were glued to his side. Lying on his back with his eyes fixated on the ceiling. Dragging over each crease and crevice above you. What did you even feel like anymore? Were you as soft as your face was when he held it earlier? He cringed at the thoughts that coursed his brain. Thankful for his mask that hid the blush that swam over his face.

"Jed, you can touch me, you know?" you told him, and he felt his body curling in on itself. He felt like an armadillo. He wished he was one. Able to roll up and hide away in his shell from the embarrassment that was coursing him. This was a mistake, it had to be.

His chest was beginning to heave as he lay there frozen beside you. He felt trapped like his arms and legs were restrained. It was like being trapped in the chairs at the hospital all over again. Jed thrashing and screaming as they shocked him or injected him with only God knows what.

His body began to tremble, whimpering while tears began forming in his eyes. You felt your heart sinking at his reaction. Maybe you were a little too blunt and bold with your words and actions. You should have just left the room after you figured out he was all right.

You sat up to assess him better. A gentle hand was placed on the side of his face while you scanned his eyes with yours. "Jed, look at me," you called out, and he shot up. His head nearly coming to meet your own. An accident that would have you both crying out in pain.

Your hands left his body. Scooting away from him in case he wanted to leave or kick you out. "I can go," you told him, but he shouted a blubber of gibberish while shaking his head. "All right, I'll stay, just breathe, look at me, please." You told him, noticing how he began taking shallower breaths after you spoke. He sat there staring at his hands for a few minutes before he finally looked at you.

"There's my handsome Jed," you told him. Jed eased up at the praise. Bashful eyes darting to the side before he looked back at you. "No one's going to hurt you again, okay?" he only stared at you. He wanted to nod his head and agree, but he was scared that'd be a lie. "I won't let anyone hurt you again, not while I'm alive." you reached out to brush some of the hair from his forehead with slow and careful movements. Smiling at the way his eyes fluttered shut with just the small bit of touch.

You finally laid back down on the bed, reaching out to the other with a small smile. "Wanna try this again?" You hummed, and he nodded. You weren't going anywhere, and hearing you say he was safe seemed to reassure him more than anything else in the world did.

Jed finally laid down. His head rested on your chest while he listened to the steady rhythm of your heart and breathing. He swallowed thickly before allowing himself to relax. His hands holding you while fidgeting with your shirt or the bare skin that they found. Your arm around his torso and the other with your hand playing in his hair had him melting against you. He felt safe. You made him feel safe.

His eyes fell shut. Falling asleep to the feeling of your fingers running through his hair while massaging his scalp. A motion that had him easing into total bliss. The beat of your heart was a lullaby that shushed him to sleep.

He never wanted to be alone again.

[prototypelq]

Some additional MHW impressions:

- The character animations are great. The terrain is pretty much never flat, and while this is no Death Stranding, this game is also not a pure walking simulator, and the way the characters stumble and flail around, plus the sliding animations are all very fluid. This is not a big thing, but it adds a lot to the immersion and believability of the World. Even just traversing this world is a challenge for your hunter.

- I hate the item management. The item wheel specifically makes me want to rip my hair out. That atrocious thing in a game, where preparation and bringing the right tools with you is a key part of the gameplay, makes no sense to me. I'm okay with having...a lot of item options to bring to the hunt and counter different states, however the horrible interface makes me want to bring as little to a hunt as a potion and an antidote at most.

Update: apparently the item wheel is customisable, which is a blessing, but I also wish I learned this from somewhere in-game, rather than the internet.

- The food system is...so obscure. 30+ hours into the game and I knew literally nothing about it, and it is an extremely useful one! I was struggling to get Rations, which are a very useful item, but there is no way to craft them or buy them from vendors. Turns out, you can cook them in the canteen. This habit of leaving out information is especially jarring, when opposed when the oppressively hand-holding tutorials and extremely detailed text tutorials.

- I love the subtle way the cutscenes teach you game mechanics. It may even bee too subtle, because I did not realise the things characters did in the cutscenes are applicable to the actual gameplay. Like all the slinger uses in cutscenes are genuine hunting tips. The Handler specifically shows you that the fire ammo can clear out toxic gas in the Rotten Vale even, but I still didn't really get it. Guess I underestimated the elemental system in the game, and I should pay more attention to it.

- The monster capturing practise of the hunters disturb me greatly. It was always jarring that you need to beat a monster to half-death for capture, but I excused this as being a game mechanic. But...but you get More monster parts from a capture quest on completion. This makes me think you bring in a barely alive animal for a dissection, rather than capture.

[cursedvibes]

For the ask game, I’d be really interested to hear your thoughts on SukuIta?

Also love love LOVE all your posts about Kenjaku, Tengen, Uraume etc - they’ve inspired me to reread some of the chapters that I must’ve initially skimmed past and so didn’t realise how juicy the characters and their dynamics were!

Thank you for the ask and I'm glad I could help spread the love for Kenjaku, Tengen and Uraume! They are really underappreciated. Hopefully we even get to see all three interact with each other at some point. I'm pretty sure Uraume was in contact with Tengen too in the past because they didn't seem too surprised about Sukuna's mummy. But well, we'll see :)

SukuIta

Don't Ship It

Why don’t you ship it?

Hm, the possession and how they bring out weakness in each other that Yuuji learns to overcome is very interesting, plus you have cannibalism mixed in there, but overall I think it's Sukuna's personality that turns me off the most about it. Applies to most Sukuna ships I would say. He's different around Uraume, more like a normal person, so I guess that's why I like their dynamic much more compared to others. Yuuji on the other hand brings out the most petty schoolyard bully antics out of Sukuna that betray how absolutely fragile his ego is. That in itself can be appealing too, clearly is to many, but it mostly just makes me annoyed at Sukuna. Current events in canon are not helping the matter really, since I'm getting a bit exhausted by him, so that might be my bias speaking here as well. But yeah, the way Sukuna is always so desperate to affirm that he is better than Yuuji or anyone around him really, makes him not very appealing in my eyes in a shipping sense. I like their dynamic in general, but I'm not wild over it.

What would have made you like it?

I think I mainly need more depth to Sukuna. I enjoy him when he has his more introspective moments and I think his backstory and relationships with the Heian sorcerers is the most interesting thing about him. If he just managed to move past this desperate need to prove he's a sigma male (a lone wolf, no goals, no ideals, no attachments, standing alone above mere mortals), I might find it more enjoyable, at least in a platonic "let's rip each other apart" sense. I liked his reflection about how he is unable to break Yuuji. More of that.

Despite not shipping it, do you have anything positive to say about it?

The shippers make really good art, usually with a lot of nice symbolism connected with it like the ripped fingers, pulled out heart or mirror/twin imagery and such.

[picnokinesis]

Loved your 13th Doctor headcanons! Do you have any for the Master as well? (Loving Campervan p6 btw 💛)

Aaah thank you! And ooh hm I'm walking to work so just quickly:

Talking about dhawan master specifically, @taardisblue has infected me with the headcanon that because the Master regenerated close to a black hole (hello, time dilation) AND only came into being because simm master killed missy, which is a mess in and of itself but also we know that when timelords cross their own timelines it messes with their heads a bit afterwards simply to preserve the timeline's integrity. So then - the Master regenerates in the temporal and spatial proximity of BOTH of these things....and it completely messes with his timesense. I feel like it's both extremely sensitive (possibly even painful) but also extremely difficult for him to interpret in a coherent way, and like...man, what is his perception of time even like, then? I don't know, I need to write a fic going into it more deeply (I actually have an idea for a timeloop oneshot where the Master can tell that they're stuck in a loop waaaaaay before the Doctor, but because his timesense is a mess and way more sensitive then it starts to genuinely hurt him and he steadily gets more incoherent as it goes on. Meanwhile the Doctor clocks it a few loops later because it smells like quarantined time and the temporal loops they used to weaponise in the Time War, and once she realises and starts to mess with the timeline within like, the two minute loop they're stuck in, she starts to get temporal nitrogen narcosis SKKSKS). Anyway, I also infected @taardisblue with a certain Stargate: Universe fic in return where a character has issues with time perception, and now we both say things like "the Master has trouble with temporal sequencing" in relation to this headcanon skskks so that's fun

And then - I've definitely done this in one of my fics before (notches in your spine, if you want to know which one) but I think that when Tecteun encoded the Doctor's division memories into the matrix and corrupted the files, she would have absolutely put a failsafe on what was left of those memories just in case the Doctor went digging. The failsafe consists of psychic barbs that only go one way, so it means that if you force your way INTO the files, then you just slip past them, but when you try and get OUT again, you're moving against the barbs and it rips your mind apart. And so then my hc is that this is exactly what happened to the Master, and it SHOULD have completely destroyed his mind probably, but 1) he's so used to his mind being something to fight against/pain to fight THROUGH, that he managed to pull himself back together but also 2) he was SO ANGRY about what he'd discovered, and he used that anger to pull himself through the other side of it all. Which is in part why he is drowning in his fury so much this go around - it was the only thing that got him through, and he literally used it to stitch his mind back together

AND THEN finally bc I'm almost at work - because Twelve and Missy, dhawan master actually learnt to feel a lot of empathy, and so that plus his extremely volatile and overwhelming feelings of his own, he feels a LOT of emotion as a rule, and does not know how to deal with it. Hence: literally everything he does in the show.

I've probably explained everything terribly (see: walking) but hope that it makes at least a vague semblance of sense!!!

[garthofshayeris]

MY OFFICIAL THOUGHTS AND OPINIONS ON AQUAMAN AND THE LOST KINGDOM. Spoilers ahead.

OKAY. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked it. It was very fun and it did not have the problem of too many villains that I was expecting based on everything I read. If that was the result of the rewrites and reshoots, I am happy for them.

A lot of the visuals and smaller adventures felt very Silver Age! There were certain creatures that were directly from the 60s, which I appreciated. Topo was lovely. If you know me, you know one of my major gripes with some of the recent Aquaman comics is that they do not lean into the animal sidekick thing anymore. And the group of whales straight up killing all those people? THAT is the Aquaman content I like to see.

The horror elements were just enough to balance out the sillier parts. Although I knew Arthur Jr was never in any actual danger, this is the closest DC has come since the 70s to making it even somewhat realistic that they would kill a baby. Like, I knew they wouldn't. But for once I said to myself, "they've established this enough that I believe this threat." You know my stance on DC trying to bait another Death of a Prince...

The cursed Trident possessing Manta was giving such Preboot Orm vibes. I liked it, I appreciate a slow possession arc. Manta was scary and felt like a real threat, which is difficult to achieve when he's a human and he's fighting people so much stronger than him. Shin was also SO good, you knew he was going to redeem himself but it still felt very natural for him to do so. Idk why Manta trusted him with the baby duffel bag tho, after all the times Shin clearly was snooping and giving Manta disapproving looks. Also why did they put that baby in a duffel bag lmao

Overall, it was a pretty straightforward story that felt easy to follow. This isn't always the case for superhero films, so it was refreshing. And a good end to the franchise. This actually felt like it would have been a great end to a TRILOGY, and that we were missing a middle story...

HOWEVER.

Not to make this about me and my blorbo but.......this would have made a lot more sense as a story about Arthur and Garth. I'm sorry, but it's true. Every time I saw a Silver Age reference, I just said to myself "oh yeah, that's a story with Aqualad in it, but now it's Orm." I KNOW that Orm needed his lil redemption arc, but if Patrick Wilson was not besties with James Wan, I don't think he would have gotten one.

Because Kordax was Slizzath. He just was. They took Slizzath's story and renamed him Kordax. So many parts of the movie I was like "this is adapted from Tempest (1996)" BUT IF THEY HAD USED SLIZZATH WITHOUT GARTH I WOULD HAVE BEEN PISSED so I get it but I don't get it, you know? But Kordax was just Slizzath.

I posted a few years ago about my ideal Aquaman trilogy, and tbh this felt like my ideal third movie, plot-wise and tone-wise......except my vision was about Garth, not Orm. Orm could be there, I guess, but imo he should have had a sequel redemption and then the third movie should have introduced the evil sorcerer thing. It would have made perfect sense to need Atlan's blood, thinking they're fine because they saved the baby but then Garth accidentally bleeds on the altar and unlocking his powers, and releasing Slizzath. PLUS then he could freeze the ice caps again with his new found powers lmao I'm worried about the implications.........nobody in this universe has ice powers.....

I get that it would have been hard to introduce a new character for a sequel with absolutely no chance at a third movie, so I do understand that Garth was never an option....but holy shit, Garth would have been a perfect fit for this movie.

AGAIN, not to make it about my blorbo .......

also I cannot believe they killed Vulko via plague?? I almost laughed out loud. It's absolutely because they could not reconcile that if Vulko was alive, Arthur would not need Orm's help lmao RIP Vulko I choose to believe you were hanging around as a ghost like in Vol 5

One last gripe but omg Atlan's trident looked so BAD in some scenes??? It looked very prop-like, and not metal at all??? did anyone else notice it? It's really bad on the iceberg scene. The costumes were actually great but omg that trident prop lmao

OVERALL, it was a really fun movie. I'm happy to say that I liked it. I think it will get bad critic reviews and really good audience reviews. It just felt very fun and heartfelt. The action scenes were also well lit and easy to follow, and that alone should convince people to see it

I'm going to see it again tomorrow and I want to make a list of the other random things that I noticed. I know I'm missing a lot. How did ya'll feel about it??

[sagevalleymusings]

Ted Lasso is an extremely subtle and nuanced show that we don't deserve and I'm going to defend a character I hate to prove it

So the series finale of Ted Lasso aired last night and I went out of my way to watch it even though I don't have a Hulumaxflix plus account, because I have utterly adored this whole season. I have seen a lot of disappointed fans and negative takes, even outside of the "it's woke now" brigade, and I disagree with pretty much all of the analyses I've seen so far. People are disappointed at the Tedbecca tease that never panned out, they're disappointed Jamie is talking to his dad again, they're disappointed all this stuff they wanted to happen didn't happen, tale as old as time. But I think the issue here is that Ted Lasso is written in the style of a daytime tv comedy while actually being an extremely heartfelt and pained letter to an abusive father that one of our writer was never able to send.

Co-creator and star Jason Sudeikis has gone on record saying the show is about bad dads. And we see examples of this all over the place. Some are more subtle than others.

But the problem with subtle shows is that you have a very wide audience to appeal to. I have seen and dare I say it even enjoyed both Primer and Groundhog Day. But trying to apply the time travel logic of the former to the latter just because they're both time travel movies would be folly. And this is how I feel about Ted Lasso. It has a lot of similarities to a style of show which is usually nowhere near this deep and it makes people expect something of it that it isn't providing. 

How do you know I'm not talking out my ass? Jack Danvers.

I hate Jack Danvers. We get a fucking lesbian for a change and she's an abusive cowardly closeted slut shaming piece of shit.

I love Jack Danvers. Because I knew she was 1) Keeley's financer and 2) a lesbian in under ten seconds of meeting this person, having seen only her shoes.

Jack is quiet and possibly even a little uncomfortable chatting with Keeley in the bathroom. But Keeley's so charming and open that you can't help but appreciate the quiet bonding moment it turns into.

But I've definitely been there. Women are so comfortable talking to each other in the bathroom and it makes me so uncomfortable. There have been so many times I have been made to feel unwelcome in this space and you want to have a chat...  Please go away.

Once it's revealed this is in fact Jack, it comes as a minor shock that Jack is a woman actually. Why is her name Jack if she's a woman?

It's because "my father wanted a boy."

Jack is one of Jason's "bad dad" characters. Which means her actions are a reflection of her childhood environment in a very pronounced way. Slowly but surely, we learn that Jack believes love is conditional.

Jack introduces us to the concept of love bombing and I think because the relationship progresses past that point, the audience is encouraged to forget this, but… love bombing isn't just new relationship energy. It's an abuse tactic. And we're told pretty explicitly that it's an abuse tactic because the person telling us about it is Rebecca, regarding her shitty and manipulative ex husband.

That Jack's relationship starts on this beat is noteworthy, because it sets up the dynamic that Jack believes she can only retain Keeley's affection if she buys it. Why does she think that?

Moving forward, we start to lapse into a false sense of security as Jack loudly proclaims their love in front of the whole office and is planning on showing Keeley off, only to have the rug ripped out from us the second something even slightly bad happens. 

But it isn't Jack's decision to make Keeley read out that apology and then pull funding when she refuses. Not if we're to believe Jack's word on it at least. It was "the board" whoever that is.

Jack peaces out to Argentina before the final shoe can drop, and it displays lastly an absolute cowardice on her part that she didn't even give Keeley the satisfaction of a break up. 

All of this combined makes me realize though that the sudden scrambling retreat is literally the other side of love bombing - we didn't drop that plot point just because we stopped talking about it. The motivations for both actions come from the same place. Jack believes love is conditional. She feels that she must earn Keeley's affection, and sees nothing wrong with withdrawing her own if Keeley doesn't do the same. And also, the actions of her partner reflecting negatively on her means that love can be withdrawn *from her* if she doesn't bow to pressure from those whose respect she's trying to maintain. 

The coming out moments in parallel with this lens are stark. Coming out to the office wasn't just about being open -it was about speed running earning Keeley's love and trust with grand acts of affection. And there are no consequences to coming out to people that far beneath you socially. Jack owns the HR firm that KJPR… might not have? Meanwhile her old college friend does matter. And when Keeley was a successful business woman to show off, that would have been fine. But now that she's part of a scandal? They're just friends. It serves her to come out to the firm in the interest of gaining Keeley's love, and it serves her to keep it hidden from her college friend, to avoid messy questions later that might make her look bad.

With her very name, Jack has been taught that there's a version of herself other people want her to be that she's incapable of reaching. And absolutely nothing we see from her suggests she's worked to unpack that trauma.

Jack is a minor character - a brief love interest in Keeley's life. But her decisions are deliberate and weighty. The good and bad moments are both informed by the same parental trauma, and the writers stick to it. They're true to character, even if it's "bad representation," even if it's not what fans want.

So let's talk about Tedbecca. I will reiterate that this show is about "bad dads" and more broadly about the ways in which who our parents are and how they raised us results in intergenerational trauma that's difficult to disrupt.

Ted and Rebecca are foils for each other. They both have absent fathers (eventually even they both have dead fathers) and they both have emotionally controlling mothers (more on that in a moment). They both are starting a new chapter in their lives because of a divorce, and family is an important component of that divorce. 

And they are both responding to their trauma, especially in early episodes, the way they've always been taught to respond to that trauma. Rebecca schemes vengefully while pretending everything is fine on the outside because she's been taught that the people in her back will not support her. Her mother put up with shitty behavior from her father for years. Then when her father left, her mother turned into a flighty unreliable hypochondriac. She doesn't want to allow Rupert the same power over her, so she reacts like a cornered tiger.

But at the end of the day, what she wants is a family, and in a lot of ways Ted can't give her that. Is Ted going to have one child in America and another in Britain and split his time between the two? Does that sound like the kind of thing Ted would be willing to do? Nor do I think it's what Rebecca really wants because her desire for family isn't just about having a child, but having a stable family unit to come back to, one she didn't really have growing up. Maybe you could see them hooking up, but by the time their relationship has progressed that either of them could have, they've both grown past the desire to do so. Tedbecca isn't endgame because Rebecca needs someone calm and warm and relaxed to come home to, in contrast to her childhood being a parent to her mother, or the cat and mouse dance with her ex husband.

But Ted isn't much better. We see that his father's suicide soured their relationship, but holy crap do I want to talk about Ted's mom.

In every single scene that Ted and his mom are interacting in right up to the blowout fight, she is guilting him into behaving a particular way. She says he "was born nice" but in reality it's obvious that he's extremely used to having to guess at what someone wants and bend his life around that. Ted's mom wants to visit him so *waits around his apartment* until he notices and offers her a place to stay. Ted's mom wants to sleep in the bed while insisting otherwise (but immediately starts having specific plans about what that means re: suitcases don't go on the bed). Ted's mom wants to go to the game and Ted doesn't insist she go, so she sends a text saying she wishes she were there. It is a relentless barrage of emotional abuse.

No wonder Ted is so sensitive to the lies she's telling people, also the whole time. How many fights have they had where he's done something because she asked him to, only for her to turn around and say "I never asked for that" and have that technically be true? And in fact we are explicitly told in the blow out that she responded to her *husband's suicide* by pretending everything was normal.

And then, finally, we get the truth. She's not there because she wanted to visit London (a thing she said explicitly which turns out was also a lie). She's there to guilt Ted into coming home by using his guilt over leaving his son. Is Ted… also a bad dad?

Ted's entire generous, forgiving personality was shaped by these two parents. One, who was a good man despite making what I would say is the only unforgivable act of selfishness, and the other, who is a manipulative woman who demands generosity from the people around her despite never overtly saying such.

Ted isn't just forgiving of Beard because of the guilt and anger over his father's death. He's also willing to go the extra mile for people because he thinks it's his job. 

Ted leaves for Richmond because his wife wants space, but in a lot of ways it's also an act of selfishness. After all, his ex wife says that she didn't want them to take a break, she wanted to know that Ted would fight for their relationship. And he doesn't - in fact he does the opposite. We now have context to know that asking for something without really asking for it explicitly is a trigger for Ted. So he sees what looks like the emotional manipulation of his mother coming from his wife, panics, and runs as fast and as far away from the situation as he can.

That Ted could never be in a relationship with his boss. Tedbecca isn't endgame because Ted needs a relationship where he can be selfish. 

And I think, genuinely, that all of this is intentional on the part of the writers. A relationship with Ted and Rebecca could never have been healthy, because they are the same character, but one of them is fight and the other is flight.

This show is so, so smart. And I think it's absolutely tragic how much of that smartness is missed because we aren't used to shows with this level of carefully crafted nuance. My god, the scene where Nate comes out of his room and the first shot is an all white hallway with absolutely no distinguishing features? My god. The flex of having the characters singing, and you can hear them walking off, Dani is literally getting louder as he gets closer to the camera! That's studio audio because their breathing doesn't line up with the dancing, but it sure sounds like it was recorded on a soccer pitch. I looked up the name of Keeley's form because I distinctly remember the last scene *not* saying KJPR and turns out in a blink and you'll miss it moment, she changed the name to KBPR to honor the fact that Barbara stood by her when Jack pulled funding.1

I could go on and on and on. There's so many moments where the writers just jam packed meaning and nuance to bursting in this show. 

In the "morning after" scene in the series finale, Ted is wearing a KC shirt, specifically a KC Current shirt, which is a women's professional soccer team. That says a lot all on its own for that being the shirt

In fact, Ted wears a lot of KC shirts on the show. He wears Richmond shirts… when he's at work. 

There's a lot more I could say, and maybe even will. I want to give the jamie/keeley/roy OT3 another look from the top at some point. But I just wanted to get something topical out quickly, because good shows deserve to be showered in praise, and I really think the negative publicity on Ted Lasso specifically is an absolute crime. We can't expect to see writers take a chance on something this detail oriented and nuanced again any time soon if we just skip all the nuance and get mad they didn't doll smash our favorite characters together.

[krikeymate]

Okay so this is kinda gonna be long and a bit of a ramble, so apologies in advance.

One thing I never understood was the idea that Amber truly cared about Tara, in scream 5 we know that the plan is for her to attack Tara which would then lead to Sam going back to Woodsboro so that Ritchie can have his ending.

However my confusion stems from how much Amber hurts Tara, she stabs her several times and breaks her leg (brutally might I add, like yikes!) Plus when Tara gets stabbed through the hand that knife is aiming straight for her chest in what could've been a killing blow ( I say 'could've' because we've seen Chad get absolutely carved up but still survive somehow so y'know movie logic).

If she really cared about Tara the attack didn't necessarily have to go that far, just enough for Tara to report the fact that there's a new Ghostface killer on the loose, leading to Wes calling Sam and so on so forth. Plus Amber had no problem trying to kill her her other childhood friends of which she did succeed (RIP Liv, Chad may have forgotten you but I didn't lol) so who knows.

The idea that maybe Amber was spiting Sam could make sense in a way, her being the one to 'care' about Tara because Sam left but to me that seems more controlling/possessive than caring. Especially if you take into account how quickly Sam & Tara reconnect after everything that must've added to her anger at Sam.

I wonder what your take on this is?

Hopefully this makes some semblance of sense and I apologise if it doesn't. ♤

Agreed! I find it very hard to believe Amber cared about Tara... or anyone else, at all. I think her motives for everything she does are incredibly self-serving. It's why when I write her I try to stick to the characterisation that her interest in Tara is only so far as having an adoring fan, so to speak. I think she likes being the center of Tara's world, that she's hers like a pet is yours.

Sam is a threat because Tara loves her more than Amber, which is obviously something she can't abide by. So it's fair to say that Amber has animosity for Sam, and we do see some of that in the movie, however it outright tells us Amber's motive - to make a good movie. Tara was just collateral damage for that. Amber will get the Jill treatment for surviving a Ghostface attack anyway.

A lot of people think that it was intended for Tara to survive her initial attack, I disagree. It was incredibly brutal, she was stabbed seven times and had her leg broken. You can bring up that she survived four rounds with Amber, I would bring up that Amber and Richie's plans went off the rails the moment Tara didn't die, and they were then struggling to get it back on track. The plans for Tara changed once they got her and Sam to the house, and that's why Amber ties her up instead of outright killing her. The fourth round, she throws this invalid over the couch and storms off because she's angry and trying to regain control of the situation. She believes she's knocked Tara out, and... I'm pretty sure she did. Tara's hardly a threat at that point, Amber even overpowered her pretty quickly once she got over the shock of being clotheslined by a crutch.

But of course, on fandom side, I've a lot of love for Amber, she was a beautiful unhinged woman. And shipping is just part of the fun and can make it angsty and who doesn't want their resident terrible person character to see some sort of redemption? Part of it I think is that Amber was a sadly underdeveloped character (weren't they all lol), but she was a really interesting one, so people want to see more of her, and that involves fleshing her out and giving her more interesting motives.

[flowerslut]

Popped on to wish you a speedy and healthy recovery from your procedures 🖤

Also, thank you for updating Roots, and I hope it’s because you wanted to and not because you felt you had to. Please put yourself first right now 🖤

But since you updated…I wanted to say on first read this is my instinctive raw gut reaction without analysis…I was loving you having Jasper come back to himself so much…when he first recognises Edward, then when he sees Emmett - the burst of rage and regret and guilt he has! Remembering Alice, running to check on her… until a certain someone snapped him back into his automatic response and the thought he had….makes me feel sick. But I know he wouldn’t do that to Alice, and you mentioned something in your tags about infidelity not being a tag..

(I also hope Alice didn’t see that particular vision with her fragile state right now, would not be helpful for her)

I’m really hoping you let him come back to himself soon and see Alice even though it’ll rip our poor troubled Jasper’s heart out at seeing her like that/knowing what was done to her 💔

My heart is breaking for Rosalie!

And being the Peter/(Charlotte RIP) stan I am, I kind of lowkey love the fact he was stinking of venom and rot because that screams to me that he carried and held Alice all the way back home and we love that for his character 🖤

tldr; take care of yourself and Roots is better than the entire plot of The Twilight Saga altogether, sending positive vibes and all the Jalice love 🖤

Clara x

(PS, I may be back with a more in depth analysis once I’ve reread this chapter after some sleep after a 12 hour working day)

thank you so much!!!! I'm feeling better every day and I'm in good spirits so that's a huge plus!! and omfg lmfaooo don't worry!! every single time I've worked hard to squeeze in a roots update is because I'm fucking feral about this story and I LOVE thinking about it and posting it and talking about it etc etc!! 🥰 for as obsessed with roots as everyone says they are, just know that I'm over here also feeling the same stuff!!! sure there's a sense of obligation there since I like posting regular updates but it's 10000% percent because I love! to write!!! and I love! the fics!! I write!!!!

gonna reply to the rest under a cut bc of spoilers! ♡

don't worry, if jasper's disorientation/current mental state is making you feel sick or nervous or anxious then that means my job here is done 💀 this poor man is still trying to mesh the good (his current life) with the bad (his past life) in his brain and it's causing a full fracture to happen. we (jalice stans) often talk a lot about jasper's trauma because it's a really interesting subject to dive into, but being able to write and explore a traumatized character going through psychosis has always been something I like to explore in fanfic and with characters I like (who are all very traumatized individuals. hm. wonder what that says about me 💀)

anyways you'll have a better idea of what alice is and isn't seeing two chapters from now! but don't worry, I will give you one assurance and say that this past chapter (48) is as disoriented as jasper gets in the fic. he starts clearing up more little by little as the story progresses. unfortunately, I can't say the same about alice

and poor rosalie oh my godddd :( I think that whumping emmett (or renesmee, if we're being real here) is probably the best way to get rosalie to break down. and rosalie is interesting because she's so quick to anger. but when there's no immediate target for that anger, and when the person she loves more than anything is in such a state, you can only imagine what she's going through right now. (which is why edward's current job is keeping rosalie from trying to fight maria because she badly needs something to tear into) you definitely get a little more peter & alice content in the next alice chapter, but not a wild amount. peter's main job right now is 'keep alice alive' and if that means having to begrudgingly follow maria's orders...well, he'll do it, but he won't like it...

thank you again for always being so sweet!! I'm so happy you and other people love this story so much! it feels so good to have a fic that I was insane about for a year straight finally infect my readers in the same way that it did me 💀 I can't wait for you guys to have the full thing by the end of the year!!!!!!! thanks again! ♡