#power couple + shades of blue is my aesthetic

[stargirlie25]

Me having a conversation with an e/riel. Feel free to fact check by looking at the books.

Me: Why do you ship Elain and Azriel?

E/riel: Well for starters, he was the only one to go save Elain when she was in hybern.

Me: First of all, Cassian offered first. Second of all Feyre was also there and saved her (what Elain said)

E/riel: Ok but still it was romantic

Me: But it was not. Because her sister ALSO saved her :) Feyre went to UTM and got tortured,SAed,killed people and died all for Tamlin anyhow...

E/riel: Well Madja said a mate knows whats wrong with their own mate and Az figured out that Elain was a seer.

Me: Elain being a Seer was not what was wrong with her. Also Rhysand figured out Nestas power.

E/riel: Az gave Elain truthteller when he had given it to no one ever.

Me: Only because Mor begged him with tears in her eyes to stay back. Cassian offered her first (again) and then Az offered her TT bc he would not have to use it. Not to mention, Elain only took it when Feyre assured her she would not have to use it. She gave it back without a glance

E/riel: Well Feyre imagined Elain and Az as ´´Death and his lovely fawn´´

Me: Okay. Well did you also catch when she said TT is the only connection between them? Not to mention something admirable about Elain is that she is always full of light. What literally takes away Light? Darkness=Azriel. Not to mention, Azriel is death and his home sucks the life from Elain. Not that Feyres aesthetic painting mind matters anything to me :)

E/riel: What about the fact that Lucien thought Elain was crazy?

Me: What about the fact when he travelled all around to find somebody on a quest so dangerous and the only confirmation he got was from Elain?

E/riel: Elain was wearing Cobalt blue the first time she met Az.

Me: Considering Elains devotion to Graysen, there is a high chance of her wearing that color for Graysen because his crest is cobalt blue. Even if its not true, Lucien wears a coat that´s fawn brown (exact same shade of Elains eyes)

E/riel: A smile and blush bloomed on Azriel in regards to Elain.

Me: Dont care. Thats just an action. Although since you say that, did you know that a smile bloomed on Elains face after her father died (who she loved dearly) in regards to Lucien?

E/riel: What about when a charged glance went through Elain and Azriel.

Me: Sexual attraction. Lots of characters have it like Feyre and tamlin,Aelin and Chaol,Azriel to Mor....

E/riel: Well, Azriel jacks off to Elain every night while looking at the gift he got for her.

Me: Dont be shy you dont have to say a gift. You can say he jacks off to headache powder. No problem. Almost like when Nesta slept with multiple men. Trust me, that does not affect me!

E/riel: Elriel is true mates because Az was the only one to smell Eluciens bond.

Me: Bryce smelled Nessians bound, Ruhn and Lidia smelled bryce and hunts bond, Tamlin smelled feysands.

E/riel: Gwyn is a lightsinger because Az chest sparked because of her.

Me: Well than ig Lidia and Bryce are lightsingers too. Get those evil bitches away from Hunt and Ruhn right?

E/riel: There is nothing romantic for Gwynriel

Me: Thats literally just your penny for thought. Why would i care when SJM provided common banter, mate language and history for Gwynriel, and scenes where they challenge each other when she said history,sparks,conflict,and challenge all makes a good couple.

E/riel: Elain gave two gifts to Az. Not lucien

Me: Headphones for Az bc Nesta and Cass fuck so loud? So romantic i cant! Im so glad my girl SJM is saving the good,meaningful gifts for Elucien.

E/riel: Az waited for Elain to come to the table and told everybody to not eat until Elain came back.

Me: he was thinking of his mother being a slave. Thats what the situation of eating when Elain was tending to everyone reminded him of. How his mother was treated. Its not romantic but it is a very sad thing to think about.

E/riel: Azriel loves Elain. He only has not thought about a future with her because he does not allow himself to!

Me: Honestly i don´t mind that you think that! Although that is not canon. Sleeping with Elain is the only thoughts he PLEASURED himself to. Not allowed himself as some say. Again, that´s just your penny for thought. He says ´´He hadn't gone that far with his planning´´ Meaning sexual thoughts is fine but anything further is like nope, nope,nope,nope,nope too far.

E/riel: Elain literally loses her newfound boldness around Lucien.

Me: There is so many more reasons that we could come up with than what meets the eye. Have you considered it was because she didnt know what to do. Or she saw the look on Lucien ´ s face and shrank because she did not intentionally cause it and felt bad? Or maybe she FELT Luciens pain and shared it because of the bond? So much possibilities to think of especially considering we have limited text and not the actual characters POV. Also i wonder how far she will shrink when she finds out about Az and Rhysands conversation in the bonus chapter. Or maybe she heard it already?

E/riel: Azriel actually gets Elain.

Me: The way he literally does not though! When Elain begs the IC not to kill graysen Az says its best for him to be killed in acosf. When Elain says nesta cant make choices for her and then Az says she should not be exposed to the innate darkness even though later we figure out Elain is willing? When Elain says she is not a child to be fought over and than Az says he will defeat Lucien in a blood duel with her?

E/riel: Scrying is dangerous! Of course Azriel did not want her too.

Me: Yet, he said ´´Nesta really should do scrying´´ but not Elain because he underestimates her. Which is the ONLY thing SJM provides to what Az could have been doing.

E/riel: Azriel listened to Elains laugh probably because he loves the sound!

Me: Maybe its because Elain never ever laughs like that around him or the ic He was literally monitoring them which means to keep tabs on someone which directly relates to his fricking job 😂. So many words to choose from and SJM chose monitoring.

E/riel: Az gave Elain a rose necklace.

Me: Ok and? Elain gave it back. She does not want that shit. He gave it to another person. It felt wrong to clasp it around Elains neck but it sparked something in his chest and made him smile for Gwyn.

E/riel: Lucien only sees Elain for his mate but Azriel sees her for her.

Me: Nope. His reason for wanting to kiss Elain was simply ´´What fi the cauldron was wrong´´ and refers to Elain as the 3rd. She is literally a theory or more so a possibility to him. One he has not thought through in the slightest. Also, Lucien was going crazy in hybern in regards to Elain before he knew of their bond AND Elain has not accepted the bond yet he still cares for her.

E/riel: Elain called Azriels scars beautiful.

Me: first of all, its a 50% chance she called his scars beautiful. Feyre said she was not sure which one she was complimenting, the scars, or the big glowing cobalt siphon atop his hand. Second of all, even if it was 100% fact that she said his scars specifically was beautiful, it seems he does not believe it at all. He tries to not to look at his hands. He does not want to taint her with his presence or touch her beautiful skin with his scars.

E/riel: His shadows vanish around Elain and lightens. They also do that around mor who he was in love with for 500 years. Also his shadows are like snakes ready to strike in regards to Elain.

Me: Shadows lighting and vanishing are the same thing. Light takes away darkness as darkness takes away light (another reason why they are horrible together) His shadows are losing its darkness around Elain and Mor. Mor was wrong for him. The amount of pain it caused him to be in Love with her? Want that to continue with Elain and Az? Azriel does not need his darkness to be hidden. He needs it to be embraced *insert Gwyn*

E/riel: SJM would never pass on a good angsty trope like forbidden love!

Me: firstly, the only thing forbidding e/riel is Elain herself. If she rejects the bond, she can be with Az all she wants and NO ONE has a say on that. Not Rhysand. Not feyre. Not cassian. Not Lucien himself. Although she hasnt after 2 years. There is an answer to why. Its not like Elain knows she has to wait until her own book to reject it. Second of all, Forbidden love is the absolute WORST trope to give BOTH of them. For Elain, she has always hid in the shadows of her sisters in the series and the fandom. You really think Elain Archeron always full of light wants to hide in the darkness and play out Azriel´s fantasies? As for Azriel, he has been secretly silently in PAIN loving Mor for 500 years. So you want him to go through it again with Elain? No. He wants the bond nessian and feysand have. The love they share. The joy of being with your equal. The connection of a mating bond. Being proud to showcase it to the world. Forbidden love would just tear them apart.

E/riel: SJM does not write about virgin romances! Plus Gwyn is a virgin!

Me: Yes she can. Gwyn already lost her virginity against her will so biologically she is not going through the bleeding and the actual losing her physical virginity. Although it is a fact she has never slept with someone. The scene where Cassian *ahem* first enters nesta is very descriptive and SJM describes the pain of Cassian entering her......So yes she can for sure write about Gwyn having sex. This is also goes against the statement that Gwyn cant have sex because of her trauma. False. She is interested in romance books and asks Nesta if the sex was good. I think Gwyn would enjoy sex with someone she trusts in and out.

[red-water-dragon]

Raren demonstrating a suspicious spell in front of the royal court.

visual storytelling notes:

The bg was left blank until I started painting and the elements added to the bg were designed around the character. I didn't go into this with a little synopsis of what I wanted to convey. Only an abstract idea that Raren was going to be talking to someone, figure it out later. I decided he'd be presenting a new spell in front of a political chamber because he wears a crown and a blue crystal. So he has to be of some form of nobility and magical prowess. He also has blue eyes meaning he is an ice dragon and thus its a blue spell wow. The monarchs he's addressing are left dark and disapproving in the corner while Raren powers a statue beneath them. He could be demonstrating how the spell effects the world around them, maybe it freezes the stone? maybe it brings the statue to life? Either way its primed to eat Raren's opposition. Two of the bg guys are red one is blue maybe he's an arch nemesis who knows.

Art process and wips under the cut

I'm trying and failing to get better at visual story telling while keeping things simple. My long term goal is to have a frequent and consistent posting schedule. Most of the art would be stylized and simple like this and the rest could be fully rendered.

Art has been more of a "draw what's in you head and make it look pretty/ cool to hang up later" thing to me w/ the benefit of being a good source of self reflection as I create. Writing has more so been my go to for expressing that meditation. Writing I don't share because im unnecessarily cagy abt my emotions and my harshest critic lol. I want to tell stories with my art , convey tone, feeling, etc. and right now my paintings don't do that. I don't have the technical skill yet. This painting is the first of many to come that will hopefully change this.

The texture in this is chaotic and the line work is rough. Raren is the only part of this with a full sketch. All other line art was added to create the illusion of detail. There is less attention on rendering each section and more being put into the placement of characters and props. I had hoped this would make the painting go faster and...it has the potential to do so in the future. Sooo a piece that could have taken a couple hours took a whole day.

While im not overly thrilled with the final image im still happy about the process. Normally the dragon would be the only real focal point in my painting with the bg being a gradient, or a simple theme added last second. Conveying a message is more work but it gives more cool things for the eye to look at and the mind to ponder. So in theory even if the final result is aesthetically unappealing the theme can still salvage the work a bit.

what this taught me:

sketchy line work is passable in the final image

it can even add character to the art

plants are a great way of filling space without actually doing so

(hence the wip of the room looking empty af with out them)

the more clothing and eye candy you put on your character the more clutter you have to add to the bg to balance it out

the main oc was sketched the bg was painted on the fly

doing so saved time but harmed the natural flow of the piece

all of the storytelling is happening in quarters and it is almost abrasive to look at

what ill try in the next piece:

perspective guides

less shading and rendering

find a color palette to stick to

or work in greyscale first

write a little picture synopsis

or pick a theme

just find something that acts as a story guide

sketch out bg elements

toy around with the sketch more before moving to painting

[joviantwelve]

a story about video game preservation

The original reason I was interested in the GB Operator is because my Pokemon GSC cartridges had their CMOS batteries die, so the saves disappeared along with the clock functionality. Thankfully, this does not extend to every GB game I own (besides Pokemon Yellow, which I have no idea how that one corrupted, RIP), but I do know that, in general, physical media can't last forever, so I've been interested in how to preserve the rest of what I own...

Now that I have the Operator, this has all been done, but this was not without the terrible tragedy of the aforementioned Pokemon games. I've been with Pokemon since RBY, but GSC is when it felt like a truly huge phenomenon, when I'd chat up random kids and trade with them, etc...

...and more importantly, when I'd start fudging things a little, and cheat. Shh.

This is where our story begins.

During those RBY days, I was vaguely aware of kids using Gamesharks and whatever to hack their teams and Pokedex. I'm fairly certain one of my elementary school friends was doing just that--he'd trade me max level starters, Dragonites, even Mew, etc., when I knew, reasonably, that it didn't make sense he had all of these. There was no breeding yet!! How did he convince someone else to give up their own starter Pokemon?! I never asked him about it, and he moved away, but it's always been in the back of my mind.

Fast forward a couple years after GSC came out. I'm like 11. I see this thing at GameStop:

The Pelican BrainBoy. This is my own photo from today. I have dug this out just for you. (NOTE: The "colorizer" button was so you could apply your own custom palettes into GB games, which was a pretty cute feature, looking back.)

This baby basically let you do anything to Pokemon RBY/GSC, at least as far as Pokemon were concerned. You could modify anything--nicknames, gender, EXP, movesets, etc. It was especially funny throwing the results into Pokemon Stadium and seeing Pokemon Fly or Surf that normally couldn't.

I usually played it pretty low-key though, just marking my Pokedex as complete and raising my 'mons to level 100, because fuck grinding. Reading up about this thing at present though, and I hear stories of people hacking Pokemon to distribute at recess for all their friends...lmao. Why didn't I do any of that?!

I always regretted the Pokedex bit, though, since that wasn't something you could take back. I was really proud of completing all 151 in Blue (though with the help of said suspect-of-cheating friend above), and never had the patience to fill a Pokedex in any game again. Even if I had thrown that challenge out, I still kind of wish I had like…the organic proof of how far I had gotten. Oh well!

(The site does not lead anywhere nowadays. I just checked.)

Anyway, this shit looked absolutely ugly already, but it looks doubly ugly jutting out of a GBA SP. The GB cart goes in upside-down on the other side of the device, creating a monstrosity basically as long and as thick as the SP itself.

I hadn't actually touched the BrainBoy since RSE came out. There was no need to. I had long lost my GSC saves, which still stung. There was still a lot of "me" left behind there. Gold was when I first built a team using entirely what I liked aesthetically, whereas in RBY I was mostly following what seemed the coolest and most powerful. Even though I hacked the Pokedex, the Pokemon in my PC were still all ones I caught organically. I even caught my first shiny, a Spearow! (It only looked one shade different, back then, and I was so disappointed I never evolved it.) Crystal and Silver were more my "anything goes" carts, where I did the majority of my goofy tinkering.

After the batteries died, the only evidence of these games were my teams that I had imported into Pokemon Stadium 2. In some ways it made it hurt more, since the personal decorated bedroom also showed up there after importing a game.......I really loved that feature, lmao. All of that was now just a reminder of nostalgic times I can't even revisit for funsies.

I boot the BrainBoy partially because I want to see if the GB Operator can back it up (it can't; it just detects the cart attached to it), and also to hear the absolutely asinine, obnoxious menu music that bored its way into my brain back then.

God I did not miss that menu music.

But then I notice something.

Huh?

(anime girl voice) EEEEEHHHHHHHHHHHHHH?!??!?

Oh god, I didn't remember this feature at all! Please please please let 11 year old me be as smart as I hope she is PLEASE--

OUGHAURYGHUHARGHHUHRJHUAYRH JACKPOT

IT'S A CHRISTMAS MIRACLE?!

At this point I am basically screaming. All along, my prodigal save file was hiding away in some cheat device I bought on a whim 20 years ago. I had previously contemplated throwing out the BrainBoy MULTIPLE TIMES, since I had no use for it anymore.

BUT I GUESS. I DID ACTUALLY HAVE A USE FOR IT. I JUST. FORGOT?

Honestly, it's likely I just didn't even think of it as a backup device, and used the feature exactly once, just because it was there. I had no idea the clock batteries running out meant the death of your save. I didn't even know those carts had special batteries. I was just here to hack Mew and Celebi into my games. It's no wonder I forgot about it.

I have no idea when these save snapshots were taken, but they seem to have everything I remember. I wasn't really fucking around with my Gold cart until after I beat Red, at least.

Of course, the battery still being dead in the cart means that it doesn't "stick" and still can't be backed up (since turning off the console to put the cart in the GB Operator nukes it), but this is so much more than I ever expected to see again. Like, an actual fucking time capsule. These Pokemon could never escape the GB era; meanwhile, Pokemon from RSE and up could still exist in a game today. It just never felt quite fair to let RBY/GSC be subjected to a slow death of dead batteries and bit rot.

What a surprise this turned out to be!!

And the biggest surprise of all:

I had no idea I nicknamed my first shiny. Her name is Shinygirl.......I kind of got emotional. Shinygirl...!! 😭😭😭

WELL THEN.

I immediately ordered the special kind of screwdriver you need to open up a GB cartridge. Going to pop some fresh batteries in, flash the save through the BrainBoy, and finally preserve these forever!

Moral of the story...always check things before you consider throwing them out. One last time can't hurt.

PS: Pokemon Yellow also had a backup, which is great, because as I said before, I have no idea how that cart erased itself. Maybe I accidentally powered off while saving or something?? But it has no fiddly clock battery, so the cart's holding my save again.

PPS: If you're still here, behold! The Operator also has preserved my old GB Camera pics, which was also shocking to me, because that's another cart I thought erased itself:

????!?!??!?!?!?!??!???!??? We HAD digital cameras...but I deliberately took vacation photos of Yellowstone with the GB Camera, because I was 12 and that's what 12 year olds do when they have a funny toy.

I SWEAR to GOD I distinctly remember, like around college I wanna say, digging out the GB Camera, wanting to revisit that, and being devastated because there were no photos in the gallery. And yet here they are. I didn't even do anything. Magic.

Thank you GB Operator. Thank you Pelican BrainBoy. Wow.

[allisonsilver45]

When the Wind Blows

Soooooooooo, remember when I said there was a mini fic project that I was working on, the one I mention on my previous mini fic? Weeeeellllll, this turned out to be a three part-er and this is the Part 1. So enjoy!

Bdubs cursed his normal sized legs and his gorgeous, but ridiculously long staircase. Panting, he stopped and leaned up against the wall. The diorite stairs laughed at him, their creator and the knowledge that he was only halfway up did nothing to soothe his aching calf muscles.

Why oh why, did he have to build the Mono- King's Tower so freaking tall?!

He grumbled to himself. Of course, he knew why. He was married to Aesthetics not Practicality. Maybe the Tree of Whimzy could suddenly have a group of treehouses gently nestled in its branches.

Finally, huffing and puffing, he reached the top floor and stumbled into the room.

Papers were spread array in piles and in stacks all over the deepslate floor. Enchanted amethyst shards laid scattered among the papers in silver, gold, and blue glowing hues.

And right smack-dab in the middle of it all, curled up in his royal robe, was Ren. Red sneakers peaked out from the foot of his robe, sunglasses, his regular black ones, were pushed up into his hair and the small but intricately detailed crown dangled gently on one of Ren's large wolf ears. The gold glinted in the sunlight. Afternoon's sunshine was pouring in through the Elytra window and gently lit up the sleeping king's face.

King Ren had fallen asleep in the warm sun, amidst his largest project yet.

Bdubs tip-toed carefully around the sleeping form of his friend. He looked so peaceful. So relaxed. Ren had been so stressed the past couple weeks.

Say what you will about his tactics, but so far, Ren's plans have worked and to great success. In the past months, the server's economy has stabilized, he has created a more controlled version of the diamond pillar race(No use denying what it actually is.) and all around been a good servant leader to his fellow hermits.

But that didn't do much for the sour regretful feeling that had blossomed when Ren had told him something. Early into his reign, the king confined in him the thoughts that ran through his mind after the impromptu coronation.

The Hermits. Their friends. They are all wonderful people and Bdubs felt so blessed to have them in his life. He knew that Ren felt likewise.

But Ren had felt with his new kingship, he needed to prove himself. To his friends. The people that had known him for years, and he still felt that he needed to prove that he had worth. He admitted that he secretly wished for something like this to happen. It would mean that he would finally be taken seriously.

Bdubs at the time, pulled himself together and reassured his newly crowned king. However, when the architect found himself alone, the boiling anger seeped in. He wasn't angry at Ren or his fellow hermits. He was furious that they, as a group, made one of their own feel less than enough. As if Ren and his ideas were being pushed to the side. Ren literally felt, that unless he was in a position of power, they wouldn't listen to him. The sadness and sense of wrongness stayed with him and he vowed to be one less person Ren felt that he needed to prove himself too.

A cool breeze gently wafted through the King's tower. Bdubs un-clipped his mossy green cloak and carefully laid it on the sleeping king. He grabbed the seat cushion from the nearby throne and slipped it under Ren's head. Without a stir from the king, Bdubs painstaking removed the crown and sunglasses, setting them aside.

As his friend rested, the moss man got to work. He sorted through the scattered notes, papers and finished quests.

The notes went into one pile; well, one group of piles. The spare papers went into another pile. With half-finished scribbles, faint drawings and one fully shaded comic of Ren and Doc talking about pumpkins of all things, there was really no other place to put them.

Bdubs smirked. No one really knew the thought process of Rendog; sometimes not even Ren himself.

And the crystals... With their sparkling metallic glimmer and lack of names, it would be best just to group them in their own pile.

However, the finished quests, the ones that would last the server for the next month, was the largest piles of all. One hundred and thirty-six to be exact.

'Geez Ren.' Bdubs thought. 'You're insane.'

Yawn.

Bdubs jerked at the sudden movement out of the corner of his eye.

Ren's arm moved to cover his eyes from he sunlight.

"Naughhh..."

The king blinked his eyes open. He slowly sat up, his arms raised in front of him.

"I liive!"

"Yes you do." Bdubs replied, shuffling the papers in his hand. "How was your nap, Your Majesty?"

"It was a bit moist to be honest." The king's cheeks darkened a shade. "I'm sweatin' in places nobody should be sweating."

"Yeah." The moss man glanced at his cloak in Ren's lap. "Sorry about that. But Ren, in all seriousness, no expects you to be king all the time. You can shed some layers if you need to."

Ren's eyebrows furrowed, but before he could say everything in reply, his advisor swiped his green mossy cloak and yanked the monarch up by the arms.

"You'll be a lot cooler if you take the robe off."

"Bdubs!"

"What?! You have a shirt on under there and I am a concerned friend AND a happily married man.. No excuses."

Reluctantly, with Bdubs' squawking, he relinquished his kingly attire which he laid over the arm of his throne. He felt the cool September breeze on his arms and hands for the first time in weeks, his back felt light and unburdened.

Bdubs stepped beside him. "Its ok to be Ren every once in a while."

The king, suspenders showing, scuffed up sneakers wiggling, tail free to wag its heart out... He felt like himself again.

Ren took in a deep breath of the cool Hermitcraft air. "Thanks Bdubs. I really, really needed that."

"I could tell." The moss man smiled.

The king glanced back at the stacks of papers behind them.

"I see you have been busy cleaning up my messes."

Bdubs shrugged. "You were almost done anyway. I just sorted them into piles for us to go through later."

"Thank you." Said Ren, purple mists gathered around his hands.

The server knows he has magic. Most hermits just accept it, just another quirk of his, but certain people he was closer too, unfortunately took full advantage of this knowledge in the most annoying ways.

Iskall, soon after he was told, would not stop jumping off of tall structures, screaming 'Catch me Renny!'

Which would frighten Ren out of his wits, since this was during Season 5 and before the elytra. He would catch the screaming Swede moments before a respawn fall.

Floating in purple sparkles, the cyborg Swede had the audacity to grin wildly at him every single time.

The king waved his hand and brought up the crystals into the air, floating high above their heads.

"Don't you get exhausted with enchanting all these crystals?" Bdubs looked up in awe at the shimmering crystal above him.

"No, not really." The king said as he brought one blue crystal down to him. "My magic is different from admin or even regular magics like Scar and Tango might have." He gently took the crystal from the air, summoned more of the purple mists around his pointer finger and began to inscribe on the crystal. Small blue shavings fell to the ground.

He yawned again. "We can talk about it another time, when I am not sleepy brain."

Ren dissipated the purple mists around his hand and inspected the crystal.

"Of course, my liege." Bdubs said has he watched Ren work. "IS there anything I can do to help you?"

"Yeah, just lemme-OH JEEZ!"

The vibrations of the Giga-com ran up and down Ren's arm, causing him to drop his crystal.

"What was that?"

The king grumbled as he answered his comm. "Rosie! Geez! I love you baby, but could you please fix the vibrations on this thing? I can barely feel my arm!"

The hologram of the small pink golem robot flickered over Ren's wrist.

"Rendog....Must......Warn....." Rosie's voice was punctuated with static.

Ren's eyebrows furrowed. This wasn't supposed to happen. Gigacorp specifically gave him the best comm they had and his and Rosie's comms were whitelsisted by X himself! Something... something had to be interfering.

"Rosie, I'm sorry baby- you're breaking up! What's happening with the comms?"

"Ren...Blocking...Prepare...Coming..."

The transmission was so frazzled, Ren could barely see any color to the once bright pink golem. Her tone was different than her usual sarcastic monotone voice. More urgent, almost as if she was panicking.

Finally, through the static he could hear something.

"He is coming."

Heavy and burdened with static, the transmission abruptly ended.

Pushing the buttons did nothing. The square on his wrist stayed silent.

"Rosie? Rosie!"

"Ren?" Bdubs reached out a hand to his friend.

The king looked up from his comm. "I-I don't know. She was trying to warn me about something."

"Well, that's ominous."

RUMBLE.

Quaking and shifting beneath their feet, the tower shook. Cracks crawled through the walls and ceiling, the throne toppled over, all the while Bdubs was screaming.

"What the heck?"

CRACK!

As if someone had spilt a giant tree, the sound echoed through the small throne room. A glowing red line drew itself along the floor, between Bdubs and Ren.

It opened.

A black maw rippled into existence as the line spilt in two. Temperatures plummeted as frigid gusts erupted from the rift and swirled around the room. Both hermits shivered at the sudden and intense cold.

Then everything went silent. Ren could only hear his and Bdubs' labored breathing and the tempest coming from the rift.

He took one look at Bdubs, shivering in his fuzzy green cloak, then back at the portal. He summoned his sword and totem to his hands. Tucking the totem in his pocket for safe keeping, the king took a step closer to the ever-widening rift.

"Ren-" Bdubs began, his hand out reaching, eyes dark with caution.

Something shot up from the dark.

Long, void black nails on a pale ghostly hand clawed the edge of the rift, as another hand erupted from the rift.

Ren stared, shivering, as a thick sense of fear settled in his stomach.

The fingers tightened against the lip of the rift, bringing a form up from the blackness.

Ren stared in horror at his own likeness, baby blue eyes meeting with harsh glowing red.

It was him.

The nearly transparent figure stood to his feet in front of the two hermits. Towering over the king he stood still. Pale, ghostly grey skin; bloodied crown still dripping.

Bdubs stood in shock at the sight of the Red King. He had already met the monster who had possessed his friend once. It was an experience he never wished to repeat. Third Life messed everyone up. But Ren was the only one(why) who was...... so violated.

Physically, they were the same height; but Ren took a step back, instinctively trying to make himself smaller.

A nasty, victorious smile grew on the Red King's face as he surveyed the two hermits like prey.

"Hello there, Vessel." The apparition grinned hungrily at the King of Hermitcraft.

"Oh hell no." Ren blasted the spirit back, shaking off his shock, melting the icicle of terror that had pierced his heart and summoned his magic.

The Red King flew back into the opposite wall. Ren pushed his royal architect behind him. The king's crystals, previously hanging frostily in the air, gravitated towards their master before flinging themselves down at the ghostly demon.

The otherworldly spirit grunted and growled in surprised fury as crystal after crystal rained down and started to encase him.

"Bdubs!" Ren strained as purple mists gathered around his hands in a furious tiny whirlwind. "Call Xisuma!" He grunted. "I... can't... hold him.. for long."

Bdubs fumbled for his comm. Nothing. "Its fried!" Bdubs looked around at the Elytra window. He moved to fly out, but crashed into something. An invisible barrier.

"We're trapped!"

A dry laugh escaped from the half gem encrusted ghost. "You think I would let my prey escape so easily? You really have forgotten about me."

The Red King broke free of Ren's crystals and lunged forwards, snarling and hands out for Ren's throat.

The King of Hermitcraft punched him in the face with all of the fury, rage and fear he could muster. Pain meant nothing. He would not be made a victim again.

"Believe me, I've tried."

"So, the pup has regrown his spine, has he?" The Red King wiped his disheveled hair from his face and slowly worked to push himself from the floor.

"Thought I ripped it out of ya."

Bdubs stood behind Ren, sword in hand. He was no great pvper, but was scrappy when he needed to be. But instead of advancing on the downed enemy, Ren stopped. Bdubs' heart dropped when he heard those few words. Those simple seven words stopped Ren in his tracks. The king's body was quivering and his fists were clenched, weapons in hand.

"You did." Ren said quietly, as if he was admitting a great and horrible truth.

Purple streams and sparks of floating galactic letters gathered around the King in a darkening cloud.

"But like HELL!" Ren growled in the most furious and hate-fill voice Bdubs had ever heard escape from a person's mouth. "Am I EVER going to let that happen again."

The King of Hermits swung his left hook, pulsating with screaming purple mists...

Only to be stopped dead before he landed his target.

"Oh, Little One."

The apparition stood up, the same magic swirling in his hand. "That's never going to be up to you."

The Red King launched Ren across the room, crashing into the throne with a sickening thud. Bdubs could only stand as his king and friend crashed into the floor.

"REN!" The moss rushed to his king, crumpled on the stone floor, and stood in front of him, facing the ghoul. Panic was quickly settling in his heart. He didn't know what to do. He was no match for the Red King with or without magic, and if he died, he would respawn downstairs, leaving Ren alone.

"Bdubs..." The dog-eared man behind him groaned as he shifted in the rubble.

Not letting the evil ghost out of his sight, he helped the royal lumberjack to his feet.

"We need another way out." Mumbled Ren. He rummaged through his inventory.

"Like what?" Bdubs hissed.

A sword appeared in Ren's hand.

"When I say three." He whispered.

The moss man's eyes widened, and he nodded slowly, brandishing his own blade.

Ren moved in front of Bdubs as if he was ready for round two.

The demon smirked. He raised his fist, magic swirling.

But then Ren spun around.

"Three!"

Ren squeezed his eyes shut as he braced for respawning in his bed.

"Wakey-wakey Prince of Pointless Endevors."

His eyes snapped open. Bdubs' inventory was splattered all around him. He was alone.

Laughter came from behind him.

"You're mine now."

\~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~/

Bdubs shot up from his bed at the bottom level of the tower. "Ren!"

He looked around.

Ren wasn't there.

Scrambling up the stairs he yelled for his friend.

“REN!”

He finally reached the top, finding his items floating in a pile... and the king was hunched over with his back turned to him.

"Ren?"

Bdubs slowly grabbed his sword from the nearby pile on the floor and hesitantly stepped toward the king.

"Is he gone?"

The king raised his head... And began to sing.

"𝐏𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥,

"𝐅𝐮𝐫𝐲 𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐝,"

The King turned slowly.

"𝐉𝐨𝐲𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐞𝐥𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐞,

"𝐉𝐨𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐝𝐢𝐞,"

A pit of dread and fear opened up in Bdubs' heart. Victoriously grinning and red eyes a-glowing, The King stood before him.

𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐦𝐲 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐝,

"𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠'𝐬 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐥 𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐝!"

The purple magic misting around his hand faded to blood red. Baring his teeth, he sang the final verse with a cruel joy that drowned Bdubs in terror.

"𝐇𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐥𝐬 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠!"

B̸͍̲̜̍̊̓̿̂̇͌͆O̷̧̨̺͇̜̒̌̽Ŵ̶̼̺̪̲̦̼̰̠̅͆̊̈͗̅͋̀͘ ̷̼̘̟̤͉̗͍̞̣̘̐̂̃̽̉̒̕Ț̸̨̛̹O̴̖͖̘̎̈́̈́̄̓̊͛̊̇͠ ̸̫͋̐͊̀̒̕͠Y̵̧̼͇̟͓̗̻̋͜Ö̶͍͈̤́̐̿̆̀͝ͅƯ̴̬͎̤͉̟̹̤̈́̊̓̿͑͗R̶̭͖̞̗̮͌̏͝͠ͅ ̵̳̗̜̥̪̗̠̲̯̊B̵̤̤̜̜̒̅͒̃L̵̦͎͈͆͌̾̇̋̽̄͘͠Ȏ̴̙̲̠̯̰͈O̴̢̡̜͚̣͈͓̞͂̌̆̂͜͝D̸̯͂̕ ̶̢͉͓͉͙̬̭͔̼̅͂̀̄C̶̢̼̘̤̮͔̞̙̤͋̍͑͠R̶̨͕̝͝Ó̶͙̺̩̋̉̇̊̊̿̚W̷̡̪̌͋ͅN̷̝̼͍͙̹̲͐͛̄̕͘ͅE̷̢̡͇̹͔͙̪̖̝̱͛̾͘͘͝͝D̴̛̛̯̱̝͔̒͑̉̄̈́͘ ̶̨̗̫͙̥̯̖͙̆͆̈̀̃̂̒͘͜͜K̸̛̹͈͍̦̩̬̙̓̇̎̈̉͑͠͝Ị̶̟͖̖̻̣̆̃̂̇̎̓̿͑͘͜͠N̴̘͙̖̹̜͑̏̒̕͜͝Ģ̵̡̬̯͔͍̜̺̫̽̏!̶͈̥̃̌͒

0.o

[ofonikabutobeetlesandmen]

Fontaine Grind Update #3

The halfway mark to Fontaine is right around the corner and just a couple more patches until Furina drops!

I’ve gotten to 102 Intertwined Fates and I after a super fun :))) trek to fight every Nobushi in my world with a dab of alchemy, I managed to pre-grind all of the hand guards I’d need to level up Finale of the Deep, one my backup weapons for Furina. All’s that’s left is waiting for Fontaine to come out, get the blueprint and then fight those Hydro phantasms and do the domain with the Sacred Dewdrops.

I’ve got over 500 iron chunks, over 400 white iron chunks and between 400-500 of the crystal chunks with 3 each of all of the midlander billets with the exception of the bow billet. According to Honey Hunter, the new Condessence Crystal in Fontaine will be needed to forge the new Fontaine craftable weapons and it doesn’t look like those can be gathered with expeditions so those I’ll have to grind on the overworld.

They can be found by the Elynas creature though on the surface, not the water, so it hopefully won’t be too much trouble getting those. Hoyoverse PLEASE make gathering ores part of expeditions again, especially region specific ores like the purple lumps and these new Fontaine crystals.

As of artifact grinding, as I stated in the last grind post, I’m planning on using the new Marechaussee Hunter set (which got a buff recently woo!!) for Furina but I have a HP% Goblet from Heart of Depth. But like I also said, I was hoping to get an HP% Sands and Hydro DMG Goblet instead. It took forever but I finally do have a good HP% Sands, a 5* Vourukasha’s Glow. So I’ll be transferring that artifact to my Furina an off-piece for 4pc Marechausse Furina.

I know she’s supposed to be a Support/Buffer but I tend to go the DPS/Sub-DPS route with characters I wanna main so we’ll see how she does.

As for the artifacts for Lynette and Clorinde, thanks to the powers that be (a little grinding but mostly the strongboxes) I have the artifacts I’ll be using for them. To keep track of them, Lynette’s are on Sayu and Keqing is holding onto Clorinde’s. Furina’s are being kept on Ayato for right now.

Side note, can we talk about how pretty these Fontaine namecards are?

I’m so glad this one isn’t locked to the battlepass and will be an achievement namecard because it’s an absolutely gorgeous shade of blue. This one has to be my favorite by far in terms of aesthetic, but lorewise I like the Mariner’s namecard the most.

The Traveler has touched ten thousand streams. They all flow from the same font of the world's waters, and all return to the same sea.

Like how intriguing is that?

The lore we get from Fontaine is going to be so good. Sumeru delivered in terms of archon quest and world quests, I look forward to what we will learn when it comes to the former and current Hydro Archons, the Oceanids and whichever NPCs that have tragic backstories and deserve to become playable but never will be (cough JEHT cough)

Anyway, small update post this time. This one is mostly just me being excited that I’ve gotten to 100+ fatesー and a Furina guaranteed, as I’m always happy to point out. Losing the 50/50 to Keqing when I tried getting Baizhu really came in clutch at the right time, yay me!

[deimcs]

Reading my mind again? Mhm. What’s more, I like what I see.

[rosesgonerogue]

I didn’t so much fall in love- It kicked me in the face Chapter Three

The Wayne Manor was exactly what Marinette had come to expect after years of knowing famous people. It was expertly decorated, but it had an almost somber feel to it - it matched Gotham’s general aesthetic. 

Also meeting expectations was the Wayne family itself. Marinette had done her homework, taking hours to research each member long before setting foot in Gotham. It was clear that they had been warned to behave, but chaos still bubbled beneath their calm facades, she could see it in their eyes. 

“Miss Dupain-Cheng, allow me to introduce you to Masters Bruce, Richard, Jason, Timothy, and Damian.” 

Marinette nodded to each in turn, her hand unconsciously tightening on Leo’s. She took a steadying breath. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. I am Marinette Dupain-Cheng, and this is my son Leo. If you’re interested, I made some macarons for you, as I do for most meetings with my clients.” She set the box on the coffee table. “I would recommend eating them in the next day or so.” 

Tim looked like he was going to faint, and it was then that Marinette noticed the harsh bruise on his jaw - almost like he’d gotten kicked. Surely it had to be a coincidence, there was no way… 

Damian huffed, and the entire family seemed to stiffen. When he spoke, his words were sharp, acidic. “You’re meant to be a seamstress, not a baker. Besides, what kind of professional brings a child to a business meeting? Is his father too worthless to watch him?” 

Everyone in the room froze, and Marinette could feel the warmth drain out of her. She felt eerily similar to when Tikki used ice powers, in fact. There was no way for her to know, but when she spoke, Marinette’s words carried the weight of an avalanche. 

“You yourself are legally a child sitting in on a business meeting, Monsieur Wayne, and I did not object to it because I trust your father to parent you how he sees fit. I could explain to you that other than myself, my only options for Leo’s care are my parents, who are busy preparing for my mother’s surgery while running the most successful bakery in Paris, or my friends, who are all dealing with professional lives of their own. I could explain that, but I shouldn’t have to, because he is my son, and I will raise him as I see fit. And I’m a fashion designer, not a seamstress. This isn’t the seventeenth century.” She paused, staring the offender down. “Do you have any further objections, Monsieur Wayne?” 

A small part of her glowed in satisfaction when Damian ducked his head. “Do as you must.” She missed the way that Tim blinked owlishly, exchanging surprised looks with Dick.

Instead she straightened her jacket, murmuring a few comforting words to Leo before finally letting his hand go. “I prefer getting to know my clients before I actually begin, it helps me make the perfect piece. Does some-”

“I’ll be first,” Jason said, shoving Dick out of the way.

“Perfect. If you’ll come this way, Monsieur Todd, we can sit…”

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

The satisfied look on Jason’s face was more than a little disconcerting to Tim. He didn’t really feel like hearing the woman who’d occupied his mind for the past day, so he turned his attention elsewhere. He still needed to come to terms with the fact that she had gone head to head with Damian and come out on top after all.

Leo was scrutinizing one of the paintings on the wall, a tiny version of MDC herself. He had the same dark hair, light freckles on pale skin, and wide blue eyes…

No. Please no. Tim glanced subtly at Bruce. Surely he wouldn’t try to adopt either parts. Marinette was an adult with two living parents, and Leo had Marinette, so they were safe, right? 

Regardless, that would be an issue for another time. Tim found himself crouching next to Leo. “That painting is of Monsieur Bruce’s parents,” he said in French. 

The child switched his soulful eyes to Tim’s face, his expression serious. “You know French.” 

“Yes, I really like languages, so I learned as many as I could,” Tim said, resisting the urge to ruffle the boy’s hair. “Your name is Leo, right?” 

“Yes, Monsieur.” 

“You can call me Tim. Are you enjoying Gotham so far?” 

Leo thought hard for a moment. “Maman and I had a lot of fun today, but yesterday was a little scary, the way it sometimes gets in Paris.” 

He desperately wanted to ask Leo more about the scary things in Paris, but it wasn’t fair to ask a child. Instead, Tim let the boy pull him around the parlor, asking questions about anything he found even remotely interesting. 

“And that is the trophy Dick, my oldest brother, got for gymnastics in seventh grade,” Tim explained, hefting the boy higher up so he could see the object in question more clearly. “That’s the ribbon Jason got for a creative writing contest, and Damian’s martial arts trophy. A couple of these belong to Bruce…” 

Leo stared at the glass case like it would afford him the answers to the universe before looking up to Tim’s face. “Where are your trophies?” 

“What?” 

“Everyone else has trophies. Where are yours?” 

“That’s… I mean, I have some, I just didn’t think they were very important,” Tim said with a shrug. 

“But families should be together,” Leo said with wide, unblinking eyes. “That’s why I wanted to come with Maman, even though it made your brother be mean to her.” 

Tim smiled, pushing down the barrage of emotions fighting within him. “You’re right, you’re absolutely right. Your Maman is a very smart lady.” 

“Maman is the smartest,” Leo said solemnly. 

“You must be right again,” Tim said conspiratorially. “She’s also the best at making clothes.” 

The boy’s face didn’t change in the least, there wasn’t a trace of a smile, but he slowly patted Tim’s cheek. “I like you.” 

“That’s high praise.” 

TIm golted, his cheeks flooding with color when he found himself next to Marinettte. She was smiling kindly when she said, “Thank you for watching Leo, that really wasn’t necessary. But I didn’t know you spoke French. That’s very impressive, Mr. Drake.”

“Call me Tim, please. And you’ve caught me, I have a deep love of languages. It’s helped in this position, though,” he said with a smile. “Business transactions are a lot easier when you don’t need a translator.” 

“I’ve also found that to be true,” Marinette said, lips quirked. “It’s finally your turn for your consultation. We can do it with or without Leo, whatever you would prefer.” 

“Leo and I are friends now, of course I would need his opinion!” Tim said, just barely noticing that he was still holding the child. “After all, I need his help making sure that I have the best suit at the entire Wayne Gala.” 

That actually coaxed a smile out of the boy, and the resemblance between him and his mother had never been stronger. Marinette looked surprised, but her eyes were warm. “A lot of designers despair over men’s fashion, you know. People lash out whenever you stray too far from the traditional designs, and no one can really reinvent the suit. While it doesn’t let us exercise as much creativity and freedom as women’s fashion, I actually love things like this. Men’s suits are all about attention to detail - how I can work to show your personality in an appropriate but memorable manner. Do you have any specific requests?” 

Against his will, Tim felt his face heat up, doubtlessly turning as red as his vigilante suit. “I fully admit that I was the one who originally commissioned you. I even had to fight Damian. And yet, I haven’t thought about the specifics of what I might want until now.” 

Thankfully, Marinette laughed. “You’d be surprised at how often that happens. That’s perfectly fine. I just didn’t want to leave out anything you desperately wanted. Do you have a specific color for your suit in mind?” 

“Black?” Tim asked helplessly. “I’ve followed your career for a long time, Mademoiselle, but that doesn’t mean that I know anything about fashion. I just know that your fashion seems… magical.” 

Marinette’s lips quirked upwards, a knowing sparkle in her eyes. “That’s an interesting comment. I have a proposal for you, Timothy Drake. If you have any pressing requests I will include them, but I want to keep yours a surprise.” 

Tim swallowed, completely unprepared to deal with the sparkle in her eyes. “I trust you.”

“The exterior is going to be a neutral color because you’re a business man who needs to keep up appearances. That means the most fun we’ll get to have is with the lining. Any opinions?” Marinette asked. “I only bring it up because it’s the most flexible part.” 

“I don’t know, I think all of my suit linings are black or gray,” Tim said, slightly distressed. 

Leo stared him down with serious eyes before saying, “Maman, the inside needs to be red. Ladybug red.” 

“Ladybug? You want me to look like a beetle?” Tim asked. 

Marinette smiled slightly at his comment, but her eyes were fixed on her son. “Are you sure, mon cher? Ladybug red?”

“That’s what he needs,” Leo confirmed. 

Thinking about his brothers’ laughter if he showed up in a polka-dot suit, Tim asked again, “Ladybugs? Are you sure, Leo?” 

“Oh, not the bug,” the fashion designer assured him, finally breaking eye contact with her son. “She tries to keep her existence quiet, but Ladybug is one of Paris’s heroes.” 

“She’s the best hero,” Leo said solemnly. “But you’re nice like she is. You need to have red like she does.” 

There was a strange look in Marinette’s eye that Tim couldn’t quite decipher, but she smiled nonetheless. “You should feel honored. Once someone back in Paris asked me to make something in Ladybug red, and Leo hid the fabric so I had to make it in a slightly different shade. He must really like you.” 

He wanted to say something, anything. Tim had never felt so… he didn’t even know how to describe it. He had spent his life building it into what he had wanted it to be, propping himself up with his accomplishments. He stood alone in his skyscraper, trying to catch up to Bruce and his brothers, but Marinette and Leo had violently dragged him down to the ground, standing outside with everyone. Maybe his family had never been as distant as he thought. 

Or maybe the caffeine withdrawal was finally getting to him.

Taglist: 

@ii-fox-demon @queen-in-a-flower-crown @novaloptr @saphiraazure2708 @iamabrownfox @smolplantmum @redhoodedtoad @loysydark @slytheringinger300 @finallyaniguana @brokenwordsarehard2 @abrx2002 @mystery-5-5 @zalladane @moonlightstar64  @marinettepotterandplagg @black-streak @purplesundaze @maribat-is-lifeblood

Note: 

Damian’s going to be a jerk in this. Beware. 

[funwithkpop]

Casting Kpop: Sailor Moon

Just a little post to explain the idols I picked, with the flagship series of this blog, Sailor Moon.

Now people have chosen idols to be the Sailor Scouts before but I wanted to do something a little bit different with my choices.

In addition to the idol’s personality and appearance, I wanted to take age into account. For example, Tuxedo Mask being significantly older than Sailor Moon.

It’s not perfect, Sailor Moon’s pick being the oldest of the Inner Senshi is definitely not expected, but I still like how it all came together.

Sana (Twice) as Sailor Moon

Starting with the titular character, I made the most cliché choice because sometimes the most obvious answer is the right one. Sana started out with a cutesy ditzy klutzy image but she later matured into an elegant yet still cheerful young lady, just like Usagi. The iconic Cheer Up MV, where she cosplays as Sailor Moon, combined with her affinity for pigtails, buns, blonde hair and shades of pink and purple, Sana embodies Sailor Moon perfectly.

Binnie (Oh My Girl) as Sailor Mercury

When I went down the list of female idols known for short hair, few have rocked it as well and as long as Binnie. Also, Ami has a demure gentle vibe and Binnie presents those traits very well in MVs like Closer.

SinB (Gfriend) as Sailor Mars

As queen of the resting bitch face in kpop, SinB is the only idol who can capture the aloof mystery of Rei in the manga and the fiery feistiness of Rei in the anime.

Eunbin (CLC) as Sailor Jupiter

CLC as a whole has the sweet yet tomboyish edge of Makoto but Eunbin really has the look, particularly her tall height and wavy brown hair.

Yeri (Red Velvet) as Sailor Venus

With her occasional blonde hair and affinity for the color orange plus her quirky outspoken personality, Yeri was born to be Minako.

Jin (BTS) as Tuxedo Mask

Worldwide handsome himself just had to be one of the biggest heartthrobs in anime history, not only does Jin have the suave charm and good looks to play Tuxedo Mask, he has the snarky sense of humor to pull off the bickering couple dynamic Mamoru has with Usagi.

The Rest

In regards to the outer senshi, Hani (EXID) is extremely intelligent like Pluto, Moonbyul (Mamamoo) is androgynous like Uranus and Solar (Mamamoo) is sophisticated like Neptune.

Chibi Moon and Saturn were the biggest examples of how age came into play when picking the idols. Honestly I don’t know much about Na Haeun and Takara (Busters), I just know they have the look and feel of Chibiusa and Hotaru respectively.

For the Sailor Starlights, it was simply a choice of female K-Pop stars known for boyish haircuts. Amber is the most iconic androgynous idol ever so she had to be the leader of these trans icons, Seiya, Choa is the most feminine, Yaten, and Cheetah is the most mature, Taiki.

Symbolism

Sailor Moon’s choice being Japanese/foreign is representative of Sailor Moon’s country of origin and the franchise's global reach.

The power couple of the franchise, Mamoru and Usagi, is formed by a member of the biggest boy group, BTS, and the biggest girl group, Twice, in modern K-pop.

Binnie’s zodiac sign is Virgo just like Sailor Mercury.

Jupiter and Venus joined the team significantly later than the first three senshi, Eunbin and Yeri were also later additions to their respective groups. Yeri in particular is the fifth and final member of her group just like Venus.

The picks for the first three Outer Senshi are all intertwined, obviously Moonbyul and Solar are in a group together and often shipped with each other, but Hani and Moonbyul are both part of the famous “1992 club” while Solar has collaborated with Hani.

Music Videos/Eras for Reference

Twice’s Cheer Up-duh

Twice’s Fancy-Sana with blonde hair and pink/purple aesthetic like Sailor Moon.

Oh My Girl’s SSFWL-Binnie appears in icy location, Mercury’s element.

Oh My Girl’s Dun Dun Dance-Binnie with Mercury’s signature blue hair color.

Gfriend’s Apple-SinB dancing in front of fire, Mars’ element

Gfriend’s Mago-SinB wearing a red bodysuit, Mars’ signature color.

CLC’s Helicopter-Eunbin wearing a green dress and pink nail polish, Jupiter’s signature colors as well as reddish brown hair.

Red Velvet’s Red Flavor-Yeri with long blonde hair and scenes of her wearing an orange dress, Venus’ color

BTS’s Boy With Luv-Jin’s killing part with the rose, Tuxedo Mask’s signature item/weapon.

EXID’s Hot Pink-Hani with green hair like Sailor Pluto.

Mamamoo’s Um Oh Ah Yeah-Moonbyul’s presenting a masculine look and Solar swooning over her, representing Uranus and Neptune’s romance.

Final Roll Call

Sailor Moon-Sana (Twice)

Sailor Mercury-Binnie (Oh My Girl)

Sailor Mars-SinB (Gfriend)

Sailor Jupiter-Eunbin (CLC)

Sailor Venus-Yeri (Red Velvet)

Tuxedo Mask-Jin (BTS)

Sailor Chibi Moon-Na Haeun

Sailor Pluto-Hani (EXID)

Sailor Uranus-Moonbyul (Mamamoo)

Sailor Neptune-Solar (Mamamoo)

Sailor Saturn-Takara (Busters)

Star Fighter-Amber (f(x))

Star Maker-Cheetah

Star Healer-Choa (AOA)

[muthaz-rapapa]

Let’s talk TroPreCure! (^∀^ 🌺)

i’m so stupidly proud of this dumb pun “tropurikyua~”, hahahahaha

Last post of the year and wow is there are lot to be excited for!

I even had to make a list for the stuff I want to talk about and I’m sure I already forgot one or two things but we’ll get to them as we continue to float~ along the wave to February 28th, mmkay? :)

Now for what has peaked my interest so far. And yes, we have to talk about the following first:

1) HealPre the shortest Precure season??

Unless they plan for double features in February (which I doubt but you never know), HealPre is likely going to reach only 45 episodes long instead of the usual 48~50 before TroPre I’m using this shortening of the title for now so if there’s a better alternative, tell me and I’ll switch out begins its broadcast.

Understandable because the producers probably want to get back to their normal scheduling as soon as possible (toy sales, y’know) and I suspect pushing the start of the new season back by a month is the most they’re willing to compromise.

As for me, I’m quite happy about this since HealPre’s lost its hold on my attention a while ago so the sooner TroPre gets here, the better. Though the downside might be a scrambled climax and a rushed, underwhelming ending for HealPre (I dunno if it’s January’s titles that feel a bit messy or if the hiatus is still throwing me off) but whatever. We’ll refresh ourselves with the new blood Cures so it’s all good.

2) Tropical movie announced for Autumn 2021, no All Stars??

(source)

First saw this mentioned on Youtube somewhere but it’s all over the fandom forums by now. I mean, HealPre’s movie is set for March, the usual time slot for All Stars release. If Toei intended for there to be an All Stars in 2021, there’s no way they would announce the seasonal movie before it so speculations of them skipping it this year are probably true.

To squeeze it somewhere between March and October-ish would force them to readjust their budgets as well and I don’t think even Toei wants to go through that extra hassle after all the trouble the pandemic’s caused for everyone already. It’s just easier to resume All Stars in 2022.

That, and I think Laura being a major character in TroPre despite not having a Cure title (yet) would make for an awkward situation when the three latest teams gather so perhaps that’s also one of the reasons. But I’ll get back to Laura in a bit.

3) Cure Summer is a RAINBOW Cure

So god help me if I see anyone calling her a Pink Cure.

Yes, she’s the lead Cure for this season. NO, she is not a Pink Cure.

Look, even the official website has a rainbow overlay for her profile pic and text font while everyone else’s respective theme colors are a solid hue:

Therefore, RAINBOW.

In promotional material and merchandising, they’re probably going to advertise her primarily with pink bah and at worst, she might occasionally be labeled as a White Cure with multiple subcolors (her outfit is not pink-dominant) but definitely NOT. PINK.

...also, this goes without saying but f***yea, we finally got a lead Cure practically and unabashedly wearing the LGBTQ flag and you cannot tell me otherwise, Toei!

Own up to it! Declare Manatsu/Cure Summer as the Precure queer icon!

I’m not gonna stop yellin’ until you do! 😠

4) Laura = obvious midseason Cure is obvious

First of all, Laura is a babe. I already love her the best and she’s not even Precure yet. <3

Anyways, the set-up is pretty much in the description. Important main character who’s not a mascot, stated to have a self-confident personality and just speaks her mind (oooh, I like~ :D), magical/foreign being from another world looking for Precure to save her home, possesses her own special item(s), has aspirations to become the next Queen (so she’s a princess-candidate or something to that effect, I suppose).

We’ve seen various combinations of these traits in past midseason (and a few starter) Cures so nobody should be surprised when we all guessed that one of the Cures would be a real live mermaid.

The only question is why not just make Laura a Cure from the get-go if she’s introduced to us at the beginning (like Hime or Lala) and having a team of five with no unnecessary extra add-ons later on (like Smile).

Well, there’s a simple answer for that: formula.

Toei is afraid that if they don’t spit out some new animation sequence at the halfway and third quarter points of the show, the kids will lose interest and abandon the series altogether. Which means failed toy sales. Oh nooo... [/sarcasm]

...Yea. 

And this way they can also have Laura available in the Cure lineup for the next All Stars in 2022 instead of making her sit the fight out if we were going to have one in 2021. I’m convinced that’s gotta be one of the reasons. *shrug*

But ok, whatever. Her debut is gonna be later, that’s all. She’s a delayed Cure.  Midseason Cure, same difference.

Moving along to the more important stuff now like what’s her Cure name gonna be, y/y?

Well, knowing Toei, a translation of the term “mermaid” into another language is the most predictable route even though we already have a Cure Mermaid. Not like that ever stopped them from repeating words before (ex. Cure Happy vs Cure Felice). Though if they do go down that road, I hope they opt for the Spanish/Italian “sirena” and not the French “sirène” because the latter sounds too close to how Cure Selene is pronounced in Japanese. And, putting it nicely, we all know Japanese pronunciation of foreign words is as off kilter as can be.

Hell, even the the Portuguese “sereia” sounds aesthetic as hell so it’d be nice if they can just remember there are other languages that exist out there besides Japanese, English and French when making the final decision at the writing table! *stomps foot* >:/

Alternatively, “nereid” or “naiad” are good choices too but they remind me too much of Greek myths and Laura’s from the Grand Ocean which covers more than just a couple of seas (Greece is surrounded by three, btw) so...

I dunno. But whatever it’s gonna be, she’s definitely got a strong association with water and her powers will probably be based on that.

As for theme color, since there’s noticeably no blue or green Cure in the starter lineup, it’s likely she will take up that spot when she debuts around ep 20.

Pink is also open since Cure Summer, again, is technically not a Pink Cure and Laura’s hair and tail fin are hot and light pink respectively but looking at Laura’s design and concept, does anyone seriously believe that?

Her upper torso consists of aquamarine while the body of her tail is definitely some shade of cyan, implying they’re aiming for somewhere around the middle of green and blue on the lighter spectrum.

And yea, I’m aware that green and blue are considered exchangeable in some perspectives with how close some of their shades are to each other but officially, I think Laura’s gonna be grouped with the Green Cures.

Cuz of the hair. If Laura’s gonna keep it the same or a similar shade after transforming, that is. The Blues have always had cool-colored hair so putting Laura in with them might disrupt that harmony whereas if you put her with the few Greens there are (including Parfait), she’d fit right in.

I mean, we’ll see but that makes the most sense, doesn’t it?

On another note, I just want to say that I love how they added frills to her arms instead of letting her elbows go bare naked. It definitely makes her look more like a genuine mermaid than if she didn’t have them (remember, half fish doesn’t mean half the body :P).

5) Magical Items

Frankly, I’m tired of seeing the transformation device being a compact again even though one of the main motifs is make-up this season. But at least, as far as Precure compacts goes, the Tropical one is my favorite cuz of how cute and delightfully colorful its toy version looks! So I guess I’m okay with it.

The Heart Rouge Rod, though? ...I dunno. I think it would’ve been fine without that...straw (?) jutting out at the top. It looks weird, doesn’t it look weird? :S

As for the collectible clip-ons, I can live without those for the rest of my life. Yeesh.

Laura’s items, the Aqua Pot and the Ocean Prism Mirror.

Again with the portable, travel-size housing. *sigh* 😩

Alright, I can let this year slide cuz Laura (I’m so soft for her, omg) probably won’t be getting legs for 20 weeks so she’s got to move about on land somehow. But unless they’re really thinking about turning this idea of carrying your apartment around in your bag/pocket/purse into a reality (cuz that would be effin’ awesome), please be more creative with your toys.

On the other hand, I’m much more interested in the Ocean Prism Mirror but from what Kusyami (the Precure merchandise reviews I follow on Youtube) said in his latest vid, this is the ED dance item so don’t know if it’ll actually have an relevance to the story or not. But I did hear him mention it having something to do with the Queen as well and since Laura wishes to become Queen, maybe it’ll be important after all? Maybe it’s her transformation device?

That’d be super cool. Let’s continue the trend of the midseason Cure having a different transformation item than the starters. Honestly, we should alternate every other year or two but we’ve gone three seasons with all of them using the same henshin gimmicks up till HealPre and I just want a break from that.

6) Fin sleeves??

These look so impractical for combat so maybe it’s exclusive to group attacks.

And/or a sort of precursor to the super forms?

*GASP* Does that mean they all eventually turn into mermaids? 🤩

7) Yui finally became Precure!! 😭

lol, it’s all crack from this point on so don’t take it too seriously but man, after Yuni’s deceptive braids, I thought I wasn’t gonna see anything that reminded me of Yui for a while and lo behold, Sango.

kehehehehehe xD;

Though Yui might be closer to Minori in terms of personal interests (fairytales and storybooks).

8) Akira, the actual Onee-chan version

I didn’t think this when I first saw her but once I read “Onee-san” in her profile, there’s no saving you now. Sorry, Asuka. 😅

Also, damn, do her sandals make her feet look big! Compare them to the heels she wears as Flamingo. Are they even the same?! lololol

9) ...this sounds awfully familiar...

Translation:

Tokimeku Tokonatsu! [Exciting/Thrilling Everlasting Summer!] Cure Summer! Kirameku Hoseki! [Sparkling Jewel!] Cure Coral!  Hirameku Fuurutsu! [Flashing Fruit!] Cure Papaya!

Japanese reiteration:

Mallow/Mao: Pink no tokimeki! Lillie: Blue no kirameki! Lana/Suiren: Yellow no kagayaki!

….........

@Toei 

Care to explain yourselves, punks?! 

୧(ʘ ∀ ʘ ╬)

[lightleckrereins]

out of curiosity do you prefer the original 2001 or the 2010 revival retj costumes? (personally save for a few exceptions i prefer at least the 2001 costume execution, but i haven't too much thought to the designs)

.So like basicaly everything related to this musical my favorites are a case by case scenario. Costumes is mostly 2010 I love how they took the kind of historical but not really aesthetic, added all the sequins and went with it. (And I am answering this with random photos from the official site because I cannot find my retj files)

First in general my one true love when it comes to costumes is long, wide coats. So basically my first major costume love was this. Long, wide, flowy and with all the sequins. Also the fact that they remove the coats and the vibe changes in different ways for each one of them is amazing.

That being said I have always thought that this show would benefit from an act two costume change. Something that makes it more somber to fit the story. It could even be the same shapes and silhouettes, but in darker tones, with more black and shifting the texture to fabrics and trims instead of sequins and rhinestones.

For the rest. Going in bows order below the cut because I will forget someone otherwise.

Ensemble: 2010, I just love the look in general and how each family has a distinct silhouette and style plus how all of them are unique and have so much detail. But I am weak for the few female ensemble designs with pants 2001 had.

Paris: definitely 2010, the original one is way too extra even for that version

Le poete: none of them. 2001 has no shape and 2010 looks like a regular tuxedo.

La mort: 2010 but the very first version not the newer ones if the makeup is done right. 2001 is conceptually good but the hair gives me a lot of questions.

Le prince: 2010 but by a really small margin, it would have benefited from different materials, the brown leather doesn't say most powerful man in the city (2010 design with 2001 materials please)

Frère Laurent: 2010 again by a really small margin, again don't love the leather, but at least it is interesting my thoughts on 2001 are "meh".

Lady Montaigu: 2010 Have you seen that train? I love this costume so much. It is gorgeous, the wig ismade in the smartest way, that train changing sides is epic, and the whole thing just says this is the matriarch of a powerful family 100/10

Lady Capulet: 2001 Long velvet coat with rised collar that fits like a glove? And then reveals a beautiful dress underneath? What else do you want? It is great and fits the character perfectly, a different hairstyle, some crystals to the coat and a couple small changes to the dress and it fits in the new design perfectly. 2001 Lady Capulet and 2010 Lady Montaigu is the power duo we deserve. Also what is the 2010 dress? It is so weird.

Compte Capulet: Both actually. For different reasons. Same as lady Capulet 2001 with a few more decorations would fit in 2010. Just give me one for act one and one for act two

La nourrice: 2010. Not a huge fan of the hairstyle but I love it, and I love how it is a simplified version of the capulet costumes. If you read into it you can see she is an important servant with rank enough to wear the family colors but not enough money to go all fancy.

Tybalt: 2010. I really feel like some characters blend into the background in 2001 and Tybalt gets the worse of it. But then you get the fancy coat and all the small detailing in 2010. It does fit in with the ensemble but he still stands out from the crowd.

Mercutio: 2010 Long flowy coat, flowy sleeves with sheer undersleeves, all the glitter. This costume design peaks on mercutio.

Benvolio: 2010 He would benefit a lot from an act two costume change. The shiny costume while singing the saddest song in the show feels weird. But still 2010 coats are my favorite

Romeo: 2010 Again he is the lead and the glow up benefits him. He keeps the romantic ruffled shirt while becoming more grand as befits the heir to the house. Also the white ball costume+blue coat is one of my favorite costume looks ever. He really needs a wedding exclusive costume, not just a coat, and something different for act two but I love the entire look.

Juliette: 2010 From all the characters that felt underdesigned in 2001 Juliette had the worse of it. Her medieval sleeves were iconic, but she didn't get anything else that made her shine. While the 2010 dress if glorious. Layers and layers of satin and chiffon in the same silhouette as the rest of the family but different at the same time. I have this concept that juliette dressed in what her mother sees as fashionable: the same idea as her cousins, but with more layers, longer, and more covered, sort of old fashioned. Just imagine baby faced cecilia cara in the 2010 dress. That is my dream. The cloak gets a solo mention because it is glorious. The ball dress is so intricate but girly at the same time. The wedding dress is so fancy and you can believe it is one of her regular gowns that she chose to get married since it is slightly fancier. And the death dress could be grander, but the way it mirrors la mort is beautiful. Only please tune down the pink makeup, she would look way better in more natural shades.

If you read "I have a lot of thoughts and ideas on the design of this show" you are right I have a full design made for it with both sets and costumes. Maybe I'll post it one day

[makuta-tobi]

You knew this was coming. Prime numbers

You're the only person on this godforsaken blue site that interacts with me and this is how you do it smh

2. What is your favorite color? // Black, but if you're one of those "black isn't a colour it's a shade," people, then purple

3. Do you feel more connected to the moon or the sun? // Hmm, I think the moon. It's in a constant state of change and is less harsh

5. Name a movie that makes you genuinely laugh // I think... you know, I can't think of any that have anything that makes me laugh on rewatch

7. What do you enjoy daydreaming about most? // Being in a better fantasy world where my problems here don't affect me anymore and I can use power form god

11. Describe the memory of the last time you felt true happiness. // I think when I had my vacation with Brandee and Tone. There was plenty of stress, but it was such an incredible time that all the bad seemed insignificant

13. What’s your ideal summer aesthetic? // Just what I normally wear - beanie, black shorts, boots, t-shirt or tank top, and my cardigan shawl thing

17. What is something you own that is important to you? What makes it so important? // Hmm, I'm gonna cheap out and say my 6 inch Pikachu plush. I've had him since I was little and even though he's worn and faded, he's been there for me when I needed something to ground me in reality.

19. Do you believe in love at first sight? // I'm kind of indifferent. I think some people experience it, but it's not universal

23. What’s your zodiac sign? Do you think you fit the general characteristics of that sign? // I don't really follow astrology, so I had to look up Pisces but I guess a little bit? The biggest difference is how much of a dumbass I am

29. Do you collect anything? And what are some hobbies you have? // I don't really collect any one thing, no, but I have a lot of blind box rewards and a handful of Pops and stuff. I don't have any hobbies, either, literally all I do is watch TV, play the same couple of games every day, and feel bad for myself

ASK ME QUESTIONS

[generallypo]

move over maschenny, we’ve got a hotter and cooler Khun princess in the tower now.

introducing Khun Aguero Jahad, the one and only princess that Jahad actually, sincerely hopes never wins the competition.

excessive rambling under the cut + a short fic under that. all my warnings are dead and void as of now. cheers!

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

i sat on my salt for a couple of days -- and then finally, finally decided to do something about it. my previous TOG post kinda went ham on that. yeehaw.

i imagine jahadprincess!khun is a little more snakey than the original (is that possible?). having climbed the tower at a blistering pace following her selection, she’s also a more competent fighter, though it additionally means she needs to use her brain less. though she plays more by her family’s and Jahad’s rules, she’s not particularly ruled by her bloodlust in the way Maschenny is, or utter complacency like Repellista. her outfit is shamelessly ripped off of Yuri’s and the casual officewear aesthetic khun sports in s1.

anyways, i did The Big Write. it has been 3 years since i have attempted such a thing. the process was complicated and stressful, i drank milk tea to compensate. i wanted to depict the moment of a big decision in which a characteristically selfish person does something shockingly altruistic, as well as the bystander who questions her motives. it’s not quite khunbam, more like an intense, one-sided dedication and some sorely needed soul searching. 

played fast and loose with characterization, timelines, general TOG canon while banging out this beast. like every middle child, i’m not super proud of it, but it gets the job done. i had a great time with it! really!

-- -- -- -- -- -- 

Unsurprisingly, it’s Yuri who finds her first. 

Her heels, lustrous and scarlet, click faintly on the rooftop tiles, and their mild echo belies nothing of the thunder on her face, or the sibilant presence of the Black March at her side. Aguero turns to meet her, inclines her head in response. 

“Why, princess Yuri. It’s a pleasure, as always.”

“Cut the crap, Aguero,” she snaps. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

Aguero raises her hands. From one of them, Manbarondenna dangles innocently, unclasped buckles gleaming under fake starlight. 

“Waiting for my ride. I’m not expecting a plus one, though.” She smiles pleasantly, eyes narrowed. “Run along now. This is a single-passenger trip.”

Yuri growls. “Seriously?” She steps forward with intent, and Aguero momentarily tenses, fingers flying to her bag — but just barely, Yuri’s features soften, and she stops. Dramatically, she cocks her head, ponytail bobbing with vigor.

“You,” she points emphatically. “You’re actually going to do this. You’re not worried about the consequences.”

She states it like an accusation, but the palest shade of concern colors her voice. Are you sure of what you’re doing? Leaving this place -- leaving all of us? A complicated expression crosses her features, and she scowls. 

“This won’t just affect you, Aguero.” Firmly, her hand rests on the Black March’s handle. Do you want me to stop you?

“… I’m aware.” A pause, and oh, ugh, Aguero’s doing it again — that nasty, calculating look on her face, the one that reminds onlookers, in no uncertain terms, exactly how the princess had come by her position. Yuri balks uncharacteristically, and steps away. 

It’s not like she doesn’t think she can take Aguero in a fight… but it’s not what she had come here for in the first place. After knowing each other this long, the least she can do is offer her support, not another enemy. Aguero has no problems with making — and gleefully crushing — the latter.

She looks at the woman before her. Khun Aguero Jahad, formerly surnamed Agnis. Not so long ago, a nameless little nobody — somebody’s second, second-choice, second-rate daughter, born in a family with too many offspring to invest attention into a daughter lacking outstanding martial prowess or an especially fetching face. A forgotten girl, wholly incongruent to the imposing figure Yuri knows her as now. 

The air around them vibrates with tension, laced with an inexorable chill -- it’s not a trick of the light, Yuri notices, that her breath seems a little more visible than normal, that the sweat on her forehead feels almost solid to her skin. Aguero is watching her, face bright and predatory, and it’s a stark reminder that even beautiful things can be cold and unforgiving.

The crown jewel of the Khun family sneers, and Yuri braces herself for impact.

— — — 

Khun Aguero Agnis had almost always been a slippery, unremarkable thing, with willow branches for arms and a sullen, snarky mien. On her placid, faintly superior face sat two intelligent, gem-blue eyes — pretty enough, but also afflicted with an attitude chilly enough to wither even the most persistent suitor’s desire. To her family, and an equally hostile Tower, she was both undesirable and unsupported — and consequently, insignificant. 

Yuri had met her before, once. It had been an event much, much longer ago, during a nameless, perfectly ordinary mission to deliver some sealed goods. A loaded favor of sorts, from one family to another. Bright and on the cusp of princesshood, hair still bound in youthful twin tails, she had been greeted at the door of one of the numerous Khun establishments by a slim joke of a girl. 

Thanks for your work, the girl had said, eyes blue and sleepless and unreadable. I’ve been expecting you. With mechanical efficiency, the girl received, inspected, and stowed the package away, vanishing from the gate within seconds. 

Baffled, Yuri withdrew, scratching her head. She’d been given a verification stamp to use at the end, but the package had made it to the correct address regardless. 

I’ve been expecting you, the Khun girl had said. That counted as a mission complete, didn’t it?

If not for the silvery-blue shock of her hair, no one would have guessed the girl a child of one of the great ten families. Favored Khuns, after all, were generally not disposed towards handling petty messenger duties. The observation had barely registered for Yuri, and not much later a more exciting adventure came along to wipe the encounter from her mind. Favored or not, there were more interesting, deadly things in the Tower to focus on.

A couple hundred years ago, though… things had changed, and drastically so. Yuri doesn’t know or exactly care for the inner politics or delicate power balances among the characters of Jahad’s court, but the truth of the matter is this: 

Khun Aguero Jahad might have only been recently crowned — but she has always been a threat. 

Since the dawn of the ten families, the Khun staples of education had remained true to three essential subjects: warfare, politics, and assassination. The children learn young, or not at all. A daughter true to her heritage, Khun Aguero Agnis had bared her fangs only at the most opportune moment, sinking them firmly in the throats of her blood sister, a rival from a nearby branch family, and a number of prominent, up-and-coming girls vying for the princess candidacy. 

It had been, without a doubt — a flawless victory, the perfect display of brains and cruel strength. And of course, with those eyes, a blue as deep and pitiless as the sea: beauty, and the arrogance to wield it.

It had taken the entire upper floors by complete surprise, propelled Aguero’s name to the top of the gossip columns, and whispered unrest among the current princesses in a way that hadn’t been felt in at least half a millennium. All it had taken was a hundred years’ worth of waiting, a lighthouse, a well-placed knife, and some dead girls.

As expected, a mere three months after her candidacy was announced, Khun Aguero Agnis became Khun Aguero Jahad, and not a single voice spoke out to disagree.

— — — 

“Are you going to stop me?” Aguero’s voice is low and cool. Like magic, a small blade glimmers in her hand, and while Yuri can’t predict what kinds of weapons her sister carries on her person, she knows better than to think this is her only, or most lethal one.

“... No,” she admits ruefully. “I don’t think I’d be able to, anyway.” Deftly, she stows the Black March in her inventory, and spins around to sit cross-legged by the princess’s side. It’s always a gamble, relying on Aguero’s temper, but it’s more likely than not that the other girl isn’t actually looking for a fight. She can’t afford the attention a real one would draw, or the physical exhaustion it would inflict.

Aguero lets her, and she grins with satisfaction. “I’ll wait with you until your ride is here!” The and buy you time, if necessary, goes unsaid. Yuri yawns, and then stretches, eyes crinkling with cheeky fondness. It won’t take long for her to get bored. What better way to kill time than with invasive questioning?

“Is he really worth it, Aguero? That boy?” Yuri pouts, eyebrows raised. “This better not just be because he’s cute.” Her words have the subtlety of a berserk Shinheuh, but she’s genuinely curious, and Aguero will understand.

A quiet huff of laughter has her squinting in surprise. Dawn hasn’t quite made it to their corner of the rooftop, but she can make out the faint, yet unmistakable curve of a real smile. 

Huh, thinks Yuri, wide-eyed. It’s not a bad look on her. It’s not that Aguero has never smiled, per se, but the intrinsic softness of it all is a wholly foreign creature to her, and she likes to think Aguero does consider her a friend. Or at least as close to one as a Khun is allowed to call a person.

“Oh, he’s cute all right. Like… a puppy, I guess. Big, gold eyes, really nice voice, listens to everything I say.” Aguero snorts, fiddles with her hair. “… For the most part, at least. There was a girl that he came here chasing after — ” and here she pauses briefly, expression hard like ice chips — “but she’s, ah, not a problem anymore.” 

Yuri blinks. By her feet, frost gleams in elegant, spiraling patterns. For a moment, curiosity steals across her thoughts— what kind of girl could that have been, to catch the eye of Aguero’s sweetheart? To make even the pride of the Khuns lose her famously unshakable cool? And what the hell had even happened? But instinct cautions her otherwise, and it’s yet to lead her astray. 

Yuri shakes her head. Best not to pry into those matters. 

“Okay, then. And what are you going to do after you go?” she presses. “You know you can’t come back.”

At first, there’s no response. The seconds slide uneasily by, thick like a finger swirled through honey. The other girl’s face is thoughtful as she slowly replies: “I’m gonna help him climb the Tower.” 

Aguero shifts slightly, and meets Yuri’s gaze. “To be fair, I wasn’t sure about that either at first. He… he’s really weak, you know.”

Yuri cackles, just to fill the silence. “That bad?”

“That bad.” Aguero exhales. “But he’s a monster, too. He has these… moments, when he gets a certain look in his eyes, and it’s almost terrifying. It’s funny, because he’s the gentlest thing I’ve ever met. But he’s going to be amazing in the future. I know it.” 

“... Like Jahad? Or better?” Is it the boy’s power you’re after? His life? It’s not like Yuri can’t understand. But in the Tower, the asking price of violence and overwhelming force comes laughably cheap, and for something as easy as that Aguero would never be so reckless. The conditions of their status are admittedly stifling, but few things are truly unreachable for a Jahad princess.

Or is it something else?

“They’re nothing alike,” Aguero says flatly. “And I don’t want him to be.”

Frustratedly, she runs a hand through her hair, gesturing vaguely. “It’s hard to explain, but he…he’s good, Yuri. He’s good. All those years stuck in a cave, all the trials the Tower ran him through, all that death and backstabbing and grieving that they make the Regulars practically eat and breathe  —  he fought through it purely by his own merit, and still, nothing's broken him of it. I can’t understand it myself.” 

Aguero murmurs to no one in particular, looking bewildered herself. “… It’s dazzling, honestly.” It only lasts a heartbeat, but there’s a heat to her entire bearing, an unexpected intensity, and it looks a lot like hope.

“He’s going to flip this Tower on its goddamned head, just you wait. He’ll need someone to watch his back when he does.” She smiles again, sharp and secretive — and it leaves Yuri reeling from the whiplash, this girl — who suddenly looks more like sunlight on new snow, like devotion underneath domed ceilings and glass sculptures praising unshakable belief, than the glacial stoicism of her bloodline. “The Regulars are supposed to form teams, right? I intend to be his light-bearer.”

“A-aha…I see it now. You’re crazy,” offers Yuri, more weakly than she would prefer. She thinks she can see the bigger picture now. She isn’t sure whether she likes it or not.

… So it’s his love you’re after. Do you think it’ll make you happy?

“I’ve got it all planned out, of course. I had a quick chat with Headon about starting fresh as well, so the Ranker rules shouldn’t apply to me.” It shouldn’t be possible to make throwing away your life so easy, so fulfilling, but Khun Aguero does it somehow, conviction radiating firmly from her entirety. She laughs, bright and determined. “We’re gonna give the floors so much hell, Yuri.”

“As for being a princess,” she continues, “I have a couple of ideas as to making sure no one looks too closely. That’s a secret, though.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah.” Aguero shoots her a mild look, and it’s the end of that discussion. She flicks her fingers with impatience. But one last question still burns a hole in Yuri’s chest, the one that hadn’t actually been answered, and she can’t let the other girl leave without a proper response. If she does, there won’t be a second chance.

The first hints of day yawn loomingly across the horizon. Shades of carnation and marigold, thin and pale, send tendrils of light across the sky. In just a few more minutes, the stars will disappear, eclipsed by their vibrance. And Aguero will be gone, gone, another name to be struck from the records. 

After all their years of friendship, this is where the line gets drawn. It’s a little lonely, if she thinks about it. Yuri steels herself. A younger, less jaded girl might have asked Aguero to reconsider. But regardless of whatever answer she would have been given, it’s not the one she needs to know right now.

No regrets now, Aguero.

Princess Yuri Jahad looks the defector in the eye, feeling fully well the pride and colossal pressure of her status. Bending the rules has never, ever seemed so daunting before. Maybe the weight thudding cold in her chest is her grief. Maybe, she thinks sheepishly, it’s her jealousy. She wouldn’t be surprised if it were all of the above, and more than just her own fair share of the bitterness. 

Believe it or not, she has been a princess for a very, very long time. The other girls would want to know the same.

It’s with hushed longing that she opens her mouth again, one last piece of idle gossip. With resentment, for countless eras spent in solitude and misplaced spite; loneliness, for every generation of lost, loveless young women. Every missed opportunity, every broken dream, every petty, contrived falling-out. She’s old enough to remember most of the worst. Aguero is escaping their shiny little showcase of a birdcage, at the price of losing everything else.

Please, she thinks desperately. Let her be right, this time. This is one of their sisters, after all. They must not have another Anaak Jahad.

“...Aguero. He’s worth it?” she repeats. 

Khun Aguero Agnis steeples her fingers against her chin, staring forward. The sun rises ahead of them, unrelenting and pure, and the light catches on her face and draws it all out in ferocious streaks of gold.

“Yes,” she answers. “He is.”

[lattewithatwistoflemon]

Gundam Wing Essay

January 25, 2021

Gundam Wing has this powerful nostalgia for me, even though I didn’t actually watch the show when it came on television when I was little. I just shrugged it off and said I didn’t like Gundams. Yet I’m finding myself drawn to these characters and wondering if, in some subconscious way, this show influenced who I’ve become. From my love of damaged, traumatized bishounen to my inclination to dress exactly like Relena, despite never consciously thinking about her in all these years... I feel like maybe aspects of this anime molded me into who I am today. 

Every time I heard one of my favorite songs, “Kiss Me” by Sixpence None The Richer, there was a couple there in my head, and I couldn’t pinpoint who they were... But after looking at the Gundam manga issue I got when I was 7, where Heero and Relena are in a romantic garden together, and seeing the ending sequence of the anime, where Relena stands in a field wearing that dress and that hat, I can’t help but think “it’s them”. It’s been Heero and Relena in my head all along, as this idealized fairy tale couple, every time I heard that song. Thinking back on my childhood impression of them, I realized I always imagined them as being like Romeo and Juliet, talking to each other over a balcony, over a courtyard garden, in a star-crossed, Shakespearean romance. In my head, they were always so deeply in love. Perhaps they were a symbol of romance itself. I don’t remember if I had seen a specific scene in the anime as a child that made me see them as a couple, or if my memory is just based on that one chapter of the Ground Zero manga, but either way, they were imprinted on my mind as the most quintessential, devoted lovers. She was a fairy tale princess, and he was the gallant knight who would come rescue her. 

Zechs feels like an ideal fairy tale prince... the kind that will kiss my hand, give me roses, and carry me bridal style through a beautiful European garden, to a sweet little white outdoor table, where we drink tea out of fine China teacups, while the sun shines brightly, and the leaves of the trees around us cast shadows upon us that sway with the breeze. Yet Zechs also possesses that same dark, seductive quality of the Phantom of the Opera, whispering in my ear with that voice that’s both sinister and incredibly romantic at the same time, as if luring me into his embrace. Zechs has this beautiful duality to him. He goes down a dark path on multiple occasions, but even so, he feels terrible guilt for what he does. Because of this, he still comes across as honorable and chivalrous to me. Other anime characters that I’ve seen since then have had a similar feel, such as Yue from Cardcaptor Sakura and Griffith from Berserk. I’ve even created original characters for my own stories who are long haired, princely men with ambiguous morals, who I now wonder if they were subconsciously inspired by this one, long-forgotten figure that I had briefly seen as a 7-year-old. I tended to like blonde characters when I was little, and like most little girls, I loved the idea of a perfect, gentlemanly prince charming. I’m genuinely surprised that I didn’t remember him from when I was a child. Perhaps if I had seen those gentle blue eyes beneath the mask, I would’ve fallen in love.

Duo has a much different quality from Zechs. He feels familiar in a way that’s hard to pinpoint. He’s brash, energetic, and laid-back at the same time. He has this friendly, approachable quality to him that the other characters don’t possess. It feels like I can actually get close to him, while all the others feel like they’d push me away. I’ve realized Duo reminds me of various other characters, most of which are from video games, such as Sonic, Dante, and most importantly… Link. Link was my very first crush. My attachment to Link stemmed from the Ocarina of Time game. It wasn’t until many years later that I watched the animated Zelda series, in which Link is very much like Duo. I never thought of myself as being particularly attracted to that version of Link, yet now, when seeing an actual anime character who resembles him in appearance and personality, I find myself incredibly drawn to him. I can’t say for sure whether my attraction to Duo is due to his similarity to Link or to any other character or if it’s simply because of how warm and approachable he feels compared to the other gundam pilots. I remember that Duo’s design always stuck out to me the most, as the cute one with the braid.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve always been interested in angry, angsty characters who have traumatic backstories. For the longest time, I was under the assumption that Heero would be a basic, friendly protagonist. So when I finally started watching this show 20 years later, I was surprised by him being the type of angst-ridden anti-hero that I love nowadays. When I was 13, I discovered Saiyuki, and instantly obsessed over Genjo Sanzo, who’s exactly like Heero in that sense. His past trauma turned him into a cold, ruthless killer, who, despite his self-loathing, came to the decision that he must continue killing in order to live. While watching Gundam Wing, I saw these same qualities in Heero. Whatever he’s experienced before the start of the anime must have damaged him so badly that he’s become this cold-blooded killer. Judging from how quick he is to throw away his life for his mission, I conclude that he despises himself for all the people he’s killed. Just like Sanzo, he pushes aside that self-loathing to live on and continues fighting for what he believes is right. In addition to Sanzo, another character that I love with a similar personality type is Kai from Beyblade. Although his circumstances aren’t as extreme as Heero’s and Sanzo’s, since he hasn’t killed anyone, he also has a chip on his shoulder from his past trauma that causes him to be cold and put up a wall between himself and the people around him. Out of the characters that I know of who have this personality type, Heero would have been the first one I had seen. Even though I don’t remember knowing that Heero was like this, since I had assumed he was completely different all along, part of me gets this feeling of “what if he was the start of this? What if he’s the reason I love this type of character?” I wonder if it’s possible for him to have influenced my inclination towards these characters without me having any memory of it.

Adding to this topic of traumatized characters, Trowa also fits the bill. His trauma isn’t portrayed as anger against the world, as with the characters listed above. Instead, he’s often depicted as depressed and sometimes frightened, in a way that makes Catherine and myself feel pity for him. When he loses his memory and holds himself, shivering, that is a perfect illustration of the type of characters that I like, due to their vulnerability and need for protection. My very first favorite anime character was Hotaru from Sailor Moon, who very frequently displayed these same actions, which made me instantly love her. Also, Trowa reminds me a lot of Hakkai from Saiyuki.

Both Heero and Trowa are suicidal. Trowa had one or two moments highlighting this, but Heero has had at least 5 instances where it looked to me like he was trying to kill himself. He would often do something incredibly dangerous, without any regard to his own life. In one instance, he very nearly blew himself up, which resulted in him being bed-ridden and covered in bandages. I’ve always had a strong interest in suicidal and self-loathing characters like this. Whether this is from some sort of motherly instinct that makes me want to protect them or some sort of sadistic interest that I have with fictional characters, I’m not entirely sure. But either way, these two Gundam Wing characters stuck out to me very strongly due to their trauma and suicidal intent. Since Heero had always given me the impression of being the epitome of a shounen hero, him being suicidal struck me especially hard, and this just made me like him all the more. Even when I watch more lighthearted shows, I like to headcanon these kinds of things. For instance, I headcanon multiple Beyblade characters to be abused, suicidal child soldiers, so it was interesting to see that these things were canon in Gundam Wing. It’s rare for me to find an anime that focuses on traumatized bishounen characters similar to Saiyuki, so when I realized Gundam Wing was like this, I felt like it was written for me. I’ve come to call this the “pretty boys in need” genre.

Another reason this anime speaks to me is that, whenever I see Relena, I feel like I’m looking at myself as an anime character. Over the years, from high school to college especially, I’d developed my own fashion sense and aesthetic. This consisted of me wanting to wear ruffled blouses and long skirts. I loved feeling like a proper Victorian lady. I wore puffy sleeves, bows, and frills. My favorite colors to wear, which people have said look the best on me, were shades of red, pink, or maroon. I’d also wear a lot of white. My favorite hairstyle has always been straight cut bangs with my hair partly tied back, just like Relena’s. The hairstyle was consciously inspired by Gabrielle from Xena Warrior Princess, but I can’t help but wonder if Relena had some subconscious influence on it as well. My hair is naturally brown, but I was born blonde, and I often bleach my hair, so it’s usually somewhere close to her dark blond/light brown hair. My eyes are also dark teal, like Relena’s. Although I’ve lately been working a lot and hardly have the chance to dress up, I still see this Victorian princess image as my ideal appearance, which makes Relena feel like an idealized anime version of myself. I feel like I’ve grown to become her. Although, this comparison is almost strictly appearance-based. Some people say I’m serious, but in general, I don’t feel like I’m nearly as serious as she is. My life revolves around anime (certainly not politics), and I’m known to be very giggly. Although Relena and I do share an interest in angsty bad boys. I can’t help but wonder if maybe, somewhere deep down in my subconscious, I always wanted to be like her?

Lastly, the entire aesthetic and feel of this show feels incredibly nostalgic to me. There’s a scene in the second opening, where Heero suddenly looks up at the camera in a way that makes my heart skip a beat. I’ve been having trouble figuring out exactly what the feeling is that this evokes for me. I’ll say it’s a mix of sweet nostalgia and perhaps guilt. The characters’ faces and art style are so incredibly familiar to me. I’ve known of them since I was 7, but I never gave the show a chance by trying to watch it. I told myself I didn’t like it, after seeing a couple minutes, because I very quickly came to the conclusion that I didn’t like mecha anime. I was only 7, yet this opinion stuck with me for 20 years, without me ever trying to change it. Over the years, I had almost completely forgotten about Gundam Wing. I shunned the show. Perhaps I shunned Heero most of all, with my assumption that he’s a normal, cliche shounen protagonist. So when he looks directly at the screen like that, while I’m captivated by the familiar beauty of the art style, I also feel a pang of guilt for neglecting him all these years. 

I think the best way for me to conclude what it is about this series that makes me feel so strongly is that this space opera genre possesses the feeling of an Arthurian romance or a Shakespearean tragedy. While watching this show, my mind isn’t focused on the battles or the gundams. What draws me to this show are the characters’ relationships, emotional trauma, and the visual allusions to times long ago. Because of this, the small, barely remembered bits that I had seen as a small child had left such a big impact on me that, now, when I watch it for the first time, it feels like it’s been living inside my soul all along. When I watch this anime, I get this feeling that I can’t believe I’m actually watching it. As something from a bygone era that I had quickly discarded and never thought I would ever get back, it feels like some sort of miracle, as if I had gone back in time to watch this long-forgotten relic of my past.

Leah Marie

[alphaofdarkness]

not me here for the oc ask ! can't wait to answer the ones you asked me, tomorrow i have my exam and then i shall live again haha ! but now i'll ask you 1, 2, 17, 18, 19, 20 and 31 — i know, it is a lot ( you don't have to do them all 💕) , but i really want to know something more about your wonderful babies and Dany ofc ! I missed her sm during this semi-hiatus 🤧💕💕💕 hope you're doing fine, sending you lots of love 💞💕💘

@carmenio Edgy!! 🥺 so happy to hear from you! ✨ I love these kinds of asks, especially on my many, many OC babies! I hope these answers are good and interesting to thee! I’ll present more info on Dany to some way, some how cause I love her 😭💖

I have gone and included the other questions you asked as well! 🤗 Let’s dive in! 😳

1. Gone and Answered Here ! UwU

2. Do you have a personal favorite among your OCs?

Personal favorite is often shown in the one I draw the most lol, which for a long time was Danielle LWW, but just because she was also my wolfsona at the time. After I made my own personal one I think I went onto Sam for a good while, also eventually going to Dany from Bsd!

So a tie between two beautiful girls, Sam is definitely my favorite LWW Oc, she is just precious and the one I hold the most and most always feel terrible and bad when I put her through it TM. 

Also Dany is my self insert, U//w//U, she has definitely allowed me to slowly self love and allow me to appreciate myself, especially the parts of me I didn’t think to much about or consider so appealing, I think? She has definitely been changing gradually into more of myself since I first came up with her almost 2 years ago! Watch me slowly knock her down to my height of 4′9″, let her have her 3 inches for another year maybe lol.

My dearest Atsushi agrees lol ✨🐯

17. Any OC OTPs? 

👀 lol yesss~ so many and so many crack ships too, which I'll answer next 😂

I’ll just go on and list them off, plenty more of them but~:

DanyJay

SoraYama

LidiaTom

AlikLucy

IsabelleKayla

AlexanderIsabelle

DarkwolfmonJatomon

JatamonRaiwolfmon

EarthamonHounmon

HumaamonWolverimon

And lastly TakaSam is the one I have definitely drawn and thought of the most! They are the top OTP and just best trope of Childhood Friends to Lovers trope, also filling in that trope of Oblivious to both of them but everyone else 🙄. While SoraYama may have been the OG Couple in my story, my love and warmth for TakaSam is unmatched TwT.

It is wild cause I always draw anguish between them as could-have-been-lovers-had-it-not-been-for-death, but recently been drawing them purely happy and content. Total sweethearts, the love everyone wants, excluding possibility of being old friends or not!

18. Any OC crackships?

L o l, I never seem to focus on the main couples because of this specific thing.

I’ll again just go off in list an maybe add a trope or something to get an idea of them:

DanyYama: Rivals, Constantly arguing, and can be petty as heck, but oh the potential and just possibility of opening up after the traumaTM 👀 also the couple that is always in your face about being in a relationship.

DanySora: Sparing partners, the sass and stubbornness, BiPan solidarity 👀

DanyLidia: Pure, wholesome, best friends and so much hugging and lifting from the tol to smol, the nature love vibes

SamJay: Wholesome, soft, healing together from traumaTM, protectiveness, also their Digimon were lovers and married in their previous life, what does that make us? 😳

SamDany: Mostly sibling-like relationship, but damn they have that Sun and Moon tropes?! How can you not possibly ship them!

SamLula: Shy and Confident, Bisexual/Lesbian solidarity 💕✨

JaySora: Opposite of the DanyYama tropes, why are our partners constantly arguing, can they please stop, pure and soft together.

DanyTaka: Digimon Au specifically, Oh you and I are the voice of the revolution? We are rallying up the troops together? Oh boi my Digimon feels love for yours, am I falling for you or are we falling together? Depression buddies but also each others hope and spirit boost ;;w;;

Any of the Warriors with the Sins: A whole lo t of mess, and just not healthy ... but I can already seen fandom people sayin g otherwise~

LustWrath: Spicy, no strings attached kind of deal.

WrathEnvy: ...Oof um, not healthy, kind of manipulative, we are devils there is nothing but toxic vibes.

PrideWrath: Rulers, King and Queen vibes, Yeah we are toxic for each other, f*** off.

19. Introduce an OC that means a lot to you (and explain why)

Definitely Darkwolfmon! I am sure I explained in the first question why, but again I consider her to be that other half of me, the part of me I never discovered or the parts that essentially fill in the gaps within me. She is my precious partner Digimon and has honestly come a long, long way since I first created her. I believe sometime in 2009-2010, so almost 11-12 years since. She was the first ever OC of mine and is one I hold closest too in my heart.

For the longest time, even too now, I have always wanted her to just manifest at my side. Go on this journey of life together. While she might not be physically here like my child-self would want, she is still in my stories, my imagination, my inspirational drive. I think that is definitely more than enough, I don't know where or who I would be without having created her. I probably wouldn’t have a whole tale of OC’s and stories to tell if it wasn't for her. 

I am more than grateful and thankful that I am who I am because of this lovely Oc of mine. I can only hope to have her at my side for the rest of my days!

20. Do any of your OCs sing? If they sing, care to share more details (headcanon voice, what kind of songs they like etc)?

Most, if not all, my OC’s can sing! Their voices and tones vary, to which I cannot give a straight answer on how I headcanon most of their voices right now ^^; I will say that Danielle has a British accent to her voice as well as Spanish speak, and Sora has a Russian accent to her voice, so may be just lightly deep, but not to much.

I will definitely go with my Bsd Oc/Self Insert Danielle Mika Mason, however! Because I have gone and done a thing on how she would speak in her Japanese and English Dub! Other than me also being her voice, her Japanese VA would be Yui Ishikawa, same VA of the queen herself, Mikasa 💕 English VA would be Barrett Wilbert Weed, with an English accent, good Veronica from the Heathers! You can have a listen to her here in this post! 

Dany is meek when it comes to her singing, she will often be caught humming and softly singing something, but quickly tends to stop around others. She is often back and forth with how she sounds and often shuts down when she hears someone she considers better than her. She just needs some encouragement and a gentle push from someone she really cares about. When she does feel the push and genuineness from someone she will sing her heart out. But of course prefers to sing for only that one special person~ can ya guess~ 🐯

31.  Pick one OC of yours and explain what their tumblr blog would be like (what they reblog, layout, anything really).

Oh boi! I literally have moodboards to add to this! I pick Samantha, or Sam! 

She would totes have a Tumblr blog, and Instagram! You always look forward to see what she post and just feel an instant calmness and warmth when you see it! She is always tagging her things appropriately, a soft and warm spring like layout that is shades of yellows, golds, orange, white; an occasional blue and teal as well! She would reblog anything of her aesthetic, golds, yellows, dance and ballet related things (may even post videos or poses of herself in practice and dance related things), cafe shops, sweets and desserts, warm night lights, cats, lots and lots of cats and felines of all shapes and sizes! Her best friend/boyfriend, Takaru always cameos in her stories and posts 💖

She would also reblog or spread awareness of any issues happening in the world, marking them and making her own voice heard as well. In spur moments, you may see her not tag things, but will likely go back to name things accordingly. She would also reblog anything of Bi Pride too!

28. Your most dangerous OC? 

Hmmm,,, my most dangerous Oc, I am taking the notion that they are just plain dangerous and likely of evil intent in their actions. Because plenty of my Oc’s on their own are dangerous in their own right, such as the Legendary Wolf Warriors, who have a great power at their paws. They can be destructive in their actions if they lose control or use it for the wrong intentions, which they wouldn't do of their free will. 

I will say Danielle and Sam are the strongest of the seven, because of their powers of Darkness and Light, respectively. Their souls created the others, so the other Warrior’s power does not match theirs. They can definitely be lethal together if used for the wrong reasons or if they are under the control of a Human or Deadly Sin.

Which leads me to say that the most dangerous of my OC’s with the worst intentions and evil thought processes that makes them dangerous is likely the Deadly Soul Sin Pride, or Mikka Penelope King/Pride as her solid name goes. 

She is definitely the most sinister of the seven sins, even worse than Wrath, who you may figure would be the worst. She has a calculating mind and is very precise in her actions and ways of manipulation. She has a poison within her veins that is just as deadly, capable of blinding others or even killing without remorse or care. While she may be a ghost like entity in my stories, a person/digimon holder in my Digimon College Au, she has enough power to influence people to fall under pride and vanity in the most dangerous level possible, heck even possess them if she wishes. That makes her stronger, as well as the other sins. Does not matter if she is dead or fades away for a while, her influence remains and if it does, than she can exist for a long as she desires.

48. OC who is a perfect cinnamon roll, too good for this world, too pure

Lol I saw cinnamon roll and instantly had a list of ocs ready, honestly any child OC I have is instantly a cinnamon roll and to good and put for this world, please treat them all kindly!

Current top Oc’s that come to mind are Haruko Mason-Nakajima, along with their nameless sister/pup! They are the sweetest babies ever and love them so much. Too good and pure, especially nameless pup with her love for tigers; she wants to grow up and be like her sibling and papa 🥺🥰  You can see the post on them here!

Next up is my precious flamey boi named Alik Azure Mizuhara! A next gen. LWW, son of Sora and Yamato! A little sightless boi with the softest heart and warmest empathy for others. Very much like his mother in likeness and pure curiosity of the world’s secrets and tales. His father worries for him a lot, but gradually learns to trust in his ability to guide himself. Don’t worry too much about him, he is very smart and knows how to care and guide himself!

Thank you so much for the time and questions you asked me Edgy! I had so much fun with these and gave me a chance to gush about my dearest OC’s! I do hope you find them of interest! 🤗🥺🥰

May your day be beautiful and amazing!! 🥰✨💖

[simptasia]

ultimate ship meme ask <3 for science trio!

ah, thank you! i’m so sorry it took me this long to respond, i didn’t mean for 2 bloody weeks to pass. i kept procrastinating or being too tired

daniel + charlotte + miles

General:

Rate the Ship Awful | Ew | No pics pls | I’m not comfortable | Alright | I like it! | Got Pics? | Let’s do it! | Why is this not getting more attention?! | The OT3 to Rule all other OT3s

How long will they last? 

eternity and then some

How quickly did/will they fall in love?

daniel @ charlotte, i’m thinking like a week or so. kinda hit him like a bullet

charlotte @ daniel, two or three weeks

daniel @ miles, somewhere from a couple of months to a year

charlotte @ miles, in living timeline didn’t happen, in limboverse, i’ll give her 3 months. and she loved him as a friend already anyways. i imagine it’s her who brings miles into the fold, allowing the sci trio to be fully realised

miles @ daniel and charlotte, oh Fuck Knows. it happens, but [shrugs]. and i like the idea that miles didn’t realise he was in love with daniel and charlotte (and sawyer and juliet) until waaay after their time together. like he falls in love with richard and then The Power Of Hindsight kinda fucks him over

(and for anybody who gets snippy saying that “a couple of weeks is too quick to fall in love!” or some shit: my bf fell in love with me in 2 weeks, and for me it took a month. so nyeh. also hurley/libby, sayid/shannon and charlie/claire)

How was their first kiss?

all of these take place in limboverse

daniel/charlotte: so i imagine this happens like right after they Remember, so emotions are running high and char is like “i’m gonna do something i should have done when we were alive” and just sorta grabs dan’s face and <3

and dan is stunned for a second and then sinks into it. you know that lovely trope of somebody being kissed and their eyes are open and then they practically melt closed from the kissy feelings. and they’re soulmates and this has been a long time coming and i feel cliche but uh, fireworks

daniel/miles: so the three of them have started Their Thing and like, they’re in a sexual relationship now but because char started this, dan is unsure about like, do him and miles do... stuff... together too? is that a thing? they were all touching each other during The Event. plus dan isn’t exactly sure how he feels about miles, but he’s been slowly getting more attracted to him over time. and also dan’s never been with a guy before. so yeah dan is overthinking things and meanwhile, miles is like “if he’s up for it, i’m down” but keeping his distance because like, it’s dan and he doesn’t know if dan is into him

that was a long build up to say, eventually the dan/miles side of the triangle does get figured out and after a moment of awkwardness dan kisses miles, tentative at first and then That Spark happens and they both get into it. at one moment miles pulls back just a bit and dan deliriously like... chases his mouth. because it turns out kissing miles is awesome. and miles notes dan’s a good kisser too, and dan isn’t even offended at the surprised in miles’ tone. 

so in short, dan and miles’ first kiss went on for longer than miles expected because dan got tingly soup brain

also in both of dan’s first kisses with these two he kept his hands to himself outta 1. not thinking clearly because Mouth Things and 2. awkwardness. both char and miles had to grab dan’s hands and place them upon themselves, to remind him, you have these, please use them (there’s a line i give char: “i think you’d find i have many lovely things below my shoulders, dan”). from then on, dan is Characteristically Handsy. annnnyways!

charlotte/miles: it was very shortly after they met actually. pierre introduced them at the museum and there was attraction yes, but also this spark which they both wordlessly acknowledge. when pierre has left (just to get coffee hjjdhasa), they talk for a bit and then casually agree to go somewhere private. a coat check room. they got hit with familiarity and both of them being the type of people who have casual sex that information translated into “i’m gonna fuck this person now”

so basically their first kiss was messy, frantic, impulsive, clothes quickly being taken off, etc etc. thats how their friends with benefits thing started, even before they were friends, really. this was years ago and they became besties

Wedding:

in this set-up, it’d be dan and char getting married

Who proposed?

dan, technically but it wasn’t a surprise. marriage was something both of them discussed for a while before and char was the one who brought it up

(and here is where she jokes “you know what my mum would say about me marrying an american” and daniel gets an Awful Feeling from that)

Who is the best man/men?

well, miles, of course. richard is also one of the groomsman <3

Who is the braid’s maid(s)?

Why Weren’t You Allowed To Have Lady Friends

and besides that, most of the available women in lost have Moved On

annnnd i just remembered char has two sisters. chelsea and chloe

Who did the most planning?

char. it’s not that dan doesn’t care, it’s just she just has more preferences. patterns and colours and things like that. but they all pitch in at least a little

tho miles is the least help. at one point char holds up two swatches for bridesmaids dresses and asks which one he likes more (she’ll decide herself, she just wants Interaction, for her nerves) and miles doesn’t look up from his magazine and says “the left one”. char is annoyed and he says “whichever one is closest to purple”. they’re each a shade of green and blue

Who stressed the most?

oh, char. she never thought she’d get married so she’s never really emotionally prepared herself for it. or for planning a event like this. she isn’t paitent with people she doesn’t already like so dealing with wedding business people has been a task. and just. marriage isn’t stressful, weddings are. which is why dan is gonna be a good boy and absolutely help. and miles is also helping...

char: and how exactly have you been helping??

miles: [serious tone] i’m the plucky comic relief

char: [death glare]

miles: ...i’ll go pick up the flowers

- later -

daniel: heeey miles, you know how you and charlotte like to playfully snipe at each other? ...you can’t do that right now, she’s kinda stressed

miles: [wheeling in dozens of lillies] yeah, i figured that

char, from the other room: WHY ARE CAKES SO FUCKING EXPENSIVE

How fancy was the ceremony?

Back of a pickup truck | 2 | 3 | 4 | Normal Church Wedding | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Kate and William wish they were this big.

i’ll give this a 7 outta 10 on the “ooh aah” scale. oh yeah they could absolutely afford a huge fuck off wedding but they didn’t want one. also another reason they didn’t have a Huge Wedding is that dan, char and miles legit don’t know enough people i always picture their wedding happens in like a park. a nice one. and there’s a real prevalant flower motif happening here. arch covered in flowers, petals on the ground, lotsa white lillies about. there’s a real English Garden / cottage aesthetic vibe to this. char’s got a flower in her hair and i just decided her wedding dress has like cloth white flowers on it, not all over it. so like, the whole thing is cute and elegant  and flowery and more expensive than it looks. the main colours being used are white, light blue and lilac

oh oh, the cake is chocolate on the inside! and it’s white (duh) but with lilac flower trim around each layer. char never planned for a wedding before but once she adjusted to the idea she was like “this is gonna be really really pretty”

Who was specifically not invited to the wedding?

eloise. no explanation needed

Sex:

Who is on top?

well, everybody who can be, has been. char has defo given dan and miles the strap. the least toppage going on is dan topping miles. very rarely happens

Who is the one to instigate things?

well, char is the Most instigate-y and dan is the least instigate-y, with miles in the middle. and damn if that doesn’t sum up their dynamic

How healthy is their sex life?

Barely touch themselves let alone each other | 2 | 3 | 4 | Once a couple weeks, nothing overboard | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | They are humping each other on the couch right now

gonna give them all, overall, a reasonable eight. it happens a Lot, but it’s not a crazy amount. (except when dan and char are trying for a baby, then dan is... dan is... lovingly tenderized)

there’s diff variables (heh) at play here, but for the most part theres quite a bit of sex going all around. so yeah, their neighbours don’t like them very much, because char is Really Really Loud and easily satisfied

How kinky are they?

Straight missionary with the lights off | 2 | 3 | 4 | Might try some butt stuff and toys | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Don’t go into the sex dungeon without a horse’s head

that 8 is via the power of char and miles’ kinky tastes

dan is decidedly more vanilla but willing to try new things. and he’s got some latent kinks/fetishes hiding in him that these two bring out of him

i’ve gone into this many times but basically char is into being dominating, miles loves pain and as far as dan’s brain is concerned, Charlotte Is A Fetish

there’s more going on than that, but i’m being succint

How long do they normally last?

miles doesn’t last notably long, or notably short. but he seems like a real stayer in comparison to dan and charlotte. char comes quickly and repeatedly

dan, oh dan, he’s not. he’s not lasting long. this is not bad thing. he was worried about it at first but char is a-okay with this. she wuvs her boy. and besides, he has pretty good recovery. so second round if the first round was like a bit “oh”

dan is sensitive (and autistic!), sex is a Lot for him. anyways miles has defo joked about these two cumming at the drop of a hate. another reason the neighbours are annoyed, Please Go To Sleep Charlotte (nyet)

Do they make sure each person gets an equal amount of orgasms?

nobody here is unsatisified

How rough are they in bed? -

Softer than a butterfly on the back of a bunny | 2 | 3 | 4 | The bed’s shaking and squeaking every time | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Their dirty talk is so vulgar it’d make Dwayne Johnson blush. Also, the wall’s so weak it could collapse the next time they do it

on this scale, i’m giving dan/char a 2 to 4, char/miles a 5 to 10 and dan/miles a 3 to 6. and all together oh... anything could happen

the general “rule” is Take It Easy On Dan, He’s Delicate

How much cuddling/snuggling do they do?

No touching after sex | 2 | 3 | 4 | A little spooning at night, or on the couch, but not in public | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | They snuggle and kiss more often than a teen couple on their fifth date to a pillow factory

so much. so much cuddle snuggle uwuwuwuwu no no get back here miles you cannot escape, come back here and be loved

dan is a major cuddler, very tactile, char is pretty affectionate. miles used to be “meh” on affection but he’s warm to it these three cuddling in bed lives rent free in my head 24/7

Children:

How many children will they have naturally?

i’ve given dan and char 4 kids (three girls and a boy). penny, ada, marie and isaac. i’ve made charts about this

hypothetically, like in sims, i’ve given char and miles a daughter but i’m not commited to that idea, like i don’t have that in my Internal Canon

but he’s their papa too, emotionally <3

How many children will they adopt?

none, unless you count rats

Who gets stuck with the most diapers?

dan’s job requires the least Work, so he’s at home more often, so yeah

Who is the stricter parent?

char, but she’s not strict strict, this is just in comparison to daniel “but i can’t say mean things to my babies” faraday and miles “wanna learn how to shoplift?” straume. she’s not a Mean Nagging Mum stereotype tho, i won’t allow it

Who stops the kid(s) from doing dangerous stunts after school?

dan and char are Equally “you can’t be doing stuff like this, it’s not safe” whilst miles is lowkey encouraging it. but after a stern look he has to admit riding a scooter on the school roof is kinda fucked up. like miles is... miles but he doesn’t want his babies like actually hurt, he’s still a good dad

Who remembers to pack the lunch(es)?

dan dan the photographic memory man

Who is more likely to attend the PTA meetings?

char, because i think that’d be really funny. and i want all of them to go to at least one meeting together, because they heard some bitch refer to their daughter marie as “that weird child” and that she warned her children to keep away from dan, char and miles kids. and also she refered to dan, char and miles as “deviants” cuz she feels kids shouldn’t have three parents

soooo char is going to publicly cut her down. verbally and viciously. dan and miles are also angery but they’re there to make sure char doesn’t actually physically beat this woman. and also this final caveat:

miles: [eating a sad looking muffin] and your muffins suck too

Who cried the most at graduation?

char but dan and miles are crying too

Who is more likely to bail the child(ren) out of trouble with the law?

MILES IS A COP!!! and it’s never felt so good until the moment ada got busted for drinking at a party when she was only 17. oh miles isn’t that abusing your authority? “yeah but every cop does that, i may as well do it for my kid”

yeah, that crime is  the worst thing i could think of for this, i don’t think these people’s kids would do like actual bad crimes

Cooking:

Who does the most cooking?

you know, i tend to picture miles cooking the most. my typical default for imagining char and miles chatting is that they’re in the kitchen, she’s holding tea and he’s making something on the stove. typically mac & cheese. or bacon

but really i think they all cook a decent amount

Who is the most picky in their food choice?

dan because he’s autistic and has some medical requirements, like my esoteric headcanon that he cannot digest meat at all

Who does the grocery shopping?

char and miles are more used to it, whilst i imagine dan has barely set foot in a grocery store in his life. but upon, like, being a grown up, he starts going more with char and miles and he likes it, for the most part. the lights are a bitch, tho

i think dan does it the least, miles the most, and char and miles go together more often than not. oh, and when char is out of pads and she forgot to stock up, miles is the designated Get Me Pads And Painkillers You Bastard man

tho that trope always confused me, as somebody who has at least 5 packages of pads in my pad drawer at all times. are there really period having people who don’t stock up ahead of time and have to ask their significant other?

but i digress

How often do they bake desserts?

not notably often, but i’ve defo imagined miles making Special Brownies

which daniel proceeded to eat all of in a fit of I’m Suddenly Very Hungry

what’s that puddle over there? oh it’s just dan

but anyways thinking on this, i can see these three making a cake together. and it goes a little wonky because their kitchen is small and Too Many Cooks. but a flat chocolate cake is a cake nonetheless. monch

Are they more of a meat lover or a salad eater?

dan: salad, the other option is No Good, so my boy is a vegetarian

char: i’ve made her more a meat lover than a veggie lover (tis her love of a proper English Breakfast) but not overally so

miles: defo likes meat (and savoury things in general) over salad. he’s not one of those guys whose a dickhead about it tho. veggies are just alright to him

tho i can see miles teasing dan about his “rabbit food diet” (which isn’t even apt because rabbits aren’t in the habit of mainlining noodles and pasta)

Who is more likely to surprise the other(s) with an anniversary dinner?

aaahh this feels like something dan would do, he wants to be ~womantic~

Who is more likely to suggest going out?

char, the extroverted outdoorsy one

Who is more likely to burn the house down accidently while cooking?

dan because he got distracted by something. like he was cooking something in the oven and then some Musical Thoughts overtake him and he’s gotta write it down and wait 30 minutes have past OH GOD THE PIE BEEP BEEP BEEP

Chores:

Who cleans the room?

The Room. the Singular Room

anyways they all clean, it’s not very interesting to think about

Who is really against chores?

none of them. miles will half-heartedly complain sometimes but he grew up used to helping out around the house

Who cleans up after the pets?

dan and char clean up after their rats and cat because they are responsible pet owners. and char will clean miles’ wounds because jean-luc is a bastard cat

Who is more likely to sweep everything under the rug?

what kind of idiot... No!

Who stresses the most when guests are coming over?

i can’t see this, like any of them getting stressed about that

Who found a dollar between the couch cushions while cleaning?

miles’ dollar now

Misc:

Who takes the longer showers/baths?

dan takes longer showers, char takes longer baths

Who takes the dog out for a walk?

no dog, only kitty. kitties don’t go for walks

How often do they decorate the room/house for the holidays?

ohh i imagine char decks the place out for christmas. she loves christmas because good family memories. and also she has knitted christmas jumpers for her boys (and cat). christmas and halloween is the only major holiday that they got ham for. and by they, i mean char and miles

dan is just happy to be here

char: you know miles, it’s january and that little bat is still hanging above the fireplace

miles: if you wanna take him down, you can

char: ...no, i just wanted to adknowledge him

dan: he’s part of the family

What are their goals for the relationship?

uh, love, sex and babies. duh

Who is most likely to sleep till noon?

miles. coffee keeps him on his work schedule

Who plays the most pranks?

well, miles, obviously. i can’t think of any because i don’t really go for pranks but nothing elaborate, simple stuff. does that “orders a black coffee at macdonalds when your kids are in the backseat” count as a prank. miles would do that, pause for enough time for the kids to be like :O and then ask for their orders

there! done! wowee, bless any y’all who take the time to read All Of That

[pop-goes-the-sneasel]

hmmmmm.... how about machoke? they dont get enough appreciation!

I’m probably not the best person to go to for Machoke appreciation, but I’ll do my best :U

So, Machoke. The bara lizard. Or at least lizard-headed bara dude. Honestly, there was a time when Machoke was actually my #1 least-favourite pokemon. The obscene, ripped-open musculature exploding out of its arms coupled with the belt and black speedo combo really result in something that I simply can’t vibe with, at all. This Fighting-type line is based on professional bodybuilders, which I’ve personally always found aesthetically repulsive. Like, muscles are really nice and all, but there’s limits!!!

That said, I’ve surprisingly grown fonder of it in recent years. Usually, humanoid reptiles emphasise scaliness, whereas Machoke is incredibly smooth, like a human (or a salamander), which is…..deeply unpleasant actually. But creative! Moreover, the split-open muscles on its arms are still kinda gross, but in a neat body horror kind of way – so strong its skin can’t even contain it. Its limited clothing still looks silly, but with something so humanoid, it’d probably look pretty distressing without it, so it’s understandable. They also didn’t use it as an excuse to gender-lock it, which is great!

Notably, that belt also serves a purpose – it restrains Machoke’s strength to keep it from losing control of its immense power and inhibit its motions. That feels especially appropriate for a middle-stage evo like Machoke, who’s rapidly gaining strength but doesn’t yet have full control over it, and feels a lot more interesting of a concept than something that’s just exceptionally strong.

Unfortunately, whilst I’ve actually grown almost fond of Machoke over time, there’s really no redeeming its shiny. I’ve said it before, but green shinies really don’t do it for me, especially not such a pukey shade. The blue rips in the arms are neat, but also kinda miss the point, unless shiny Machoke is intended to have blue muscle tissue.

Overall, I’m still not remotely into Machoke. It’s vibes are just completely antithetical to my tastes. But honestly, that’s what I like about it. It’s like clowns: their unpleasantness is what makes them appealing. I think if I could change it in any way, all I’d do would be giving it back the tail it had as a Machop. Tails are usually more interesting than a lack thereof, particularly on something so human-like.

Literally ripped/10.