#spoiler but she’s also the war devil now…

[cptnghoulowl]

I have nothing to say except that Yoru might actually be my favourite character in Chainsaw Man part 2.

She is such a cringefail dumb bitch (affectionate).

Absolute dumb dumb.

[antaresr]

I had been looking at the theories about what Sylus is, and I took it upon myself to use my nerdy powers to research, look for relationships between things and an explanation, this is still a theory, I don't have the absolute truth.

Caution contains spoilers

The first thing we have to take into account is the meaning of his name, Sylus is a diminutive of the Greek name Silouanus, derived from the Latin name Silvanus, from silva, which means "forest".

With this we can look for a root within the Greek mythology, among the myths there are two that we can highlight:

1. Cronos, Cronos is the name of the King of the Titans who dethroned his father Uranus and whom we know as "Father Time", who is represented with his relentless sickle and accompanied by a crow.

2. Apollo, Apollo fell in love with the daughter of a king, whom he courted and fell in love with and got pregnant, however Apollo had to travel and left his beloved but to protect her he left a crow following her everywhere, however the woman cheated on Apollo with another man and according to interpretations Apollo or his sister, Artemis, kill her but save the baby who was Asclepius, God of medicine.

However these are very noble associations for the Sylus Backstory, so we can also consider Hades or Ares.

In the case of Hades, crows were considered his faithful companions and guardians of the underworld. It was believed that these dark birds accompanied the god on his travels through the realm of the dead and acted as his eyes and ears in the underworld. Their presence was seen as a symbol of the connection between the world of the living and the dead. The crow of Hades was considered a symbol of protection and good omen. Its presence in the world of the living was believed to be a sign that Hades was watching over and protecting those who were loyal to him. On the other hand, it was also thought that the crow of Hades could punish those who defied the established order and dared to challenge the god of the underworld.

On the other hand, Ares, the god of war, also had a close relationship with the crows. These birds were considered his allies and were associated with violence and death on the battlefield. Their presence was interpreted as a harbinger of war and bloodshed.

Crows occupy a prominent place in Greek mythology as divine messengers and bearers of omens.

Now on to the favorite child, Mephisto.

Mephistopheles (also called Mephisto and other variants) is a demon of German folklore. Mephistopheles is commonly regarded as a minion of Satan charged with capturing souls, or else as a type character of Satan himself.

Mephistopheles is associated with the Faust legend of an ambitious scholar, based on the historical Johann Georg Faust. In the legend, Faust makes a deal with the Devil at the price of his soul, with Mephistopheles acting as the Devil's agent.

So we can think that Sylus, like Zayne, has some relationship with some kind of god, a god of death, war or time, which if we think of various gods there are many that represent more than one thing like Sekhmet who was the goddess of war, the drunkenness and of the medicine or the goddess Tiamat, the goddess of the creation and the Chaos, so we can consider that inside the universe of LADS The god representative of Sylus is the god of the time, the war and death and for that reason we are in a cycle of eternal reincarnation between to live, to fight and to die, and assuming that was the case it could be a matter of a fight between gods, Astra vs. The god of Sylus, both want the Aether protocore which has ended up in MC's hands time and time again. However Sylus like Apollo, fell in love and instead of taking the Aether from her, has protected her with Mephisto, keeping surveillance over her, but as Mephisto is in charge of always watching MC he knows everything she does where she goes and who she relates with, that way Sylus knew that MC was looking to enter the N109 and as in the legend thanks to Mephisto MC manages to make a deal with Sylus who would be like "Satan" or the "bad guy".

Within the game with Sylus reference is made to both things with Sylus, when "the monster with wings and horns" appears people die but for MC it is a symbol of protection.

And Sylus probably knows what is going on, in the last chapter they have released when MC tells Sylus that she saw something he deflects the conversation and doesn't give it importance, which is suspicious.

So we can think that Sylus, is some kind of demigod, one that being related to bad things like death and war is satanized as a demon, like Hades who in mythology did not do anything bad but in the present time if you look for a villain of Greek mythology it is always Hades, so this explains many things about Sylus.

[party-time]

I'm having so much thoughts about Chainsaw Man part 2 rn- dunno what else to do with them other than dump them here after the latest chapter just dropped.

Also this is all just MY thoughts and how i see it, is okay if you don't think i'm right or if you want to add your own take, it keeps things interesting tbf.

Spoilers for Chainsaw Man part 2 under the read more!

Yoru, the war devil.

I just gotta say after this chapter i loved Yoru's character even more, even though i am still pretty resentful for what she did to Denji on that alleyway — which i am not going to talk about here btw—, i gotta say that Yoru being the Gun devil's mother is something that really got me thinking.

We all know that in part 1 the main focus was the Gun devil to a certain point before it all went downhill because of Makima, which only adds another layer of significance for Yoru being the Gun devil's mother.

Yoru clearly CARES about the Gun devil and Tank devil, she cares enough how to NOT turn them into weapons to fight Chainsaw Man at first even after constantly insisting of wanting to defeat him. Sure you could argue is a different type of care and not an actual attachment, after all the few horsemen of the apocalypse we've been introduced to were all pretty much selfish and apathetic to others who didn't had any kind of usefulness to their plans.

Makima wanted Pochita so she used about everyone that Denji cared and got rid of them, Famine most likely helped kill Nayuta to get Denji to snap so Black Chainsaw Man could appear. These were all acts made out of cold blood for their own benefits one way or another, even more we could add that Makima basically killed part of her family, the Gun devil and forced them to become a fiend just for Denji to kill them again. And if Fami really had something to do with Nayuta's death she also killed part of her family without a hesitation.

It's enough to say that Yoru turning her children as weapons now and not long time ago is more of a last resort than out of care for them. But let me also add something to the picture:

She said it. It requires guilt to create a powerful weapon. I don't think is just how powerful the devil might already be but also the amount of guilt Yoru might be feeling for turning said devil into a weapon, in her conversation with Asa she also states that her comrades were all eaten by Chainsaw Man with a look that to me just says that she cared for said comrades to an extent, just enough to make Chainsaw Man vomit them back.

But then again she said the way she could beat Chainsaw Man was by creating two powerful weapons, more than the ones Asa already makes: because they are made out of sheer guilt and attachment.

Even if there was a possibility she wasn't using ALL of her children's body for the weapons there was still the risk of them never recovering from her actions, so it adds up to the guilt for Yoru. We could also make it a possibility that in part 1 the reason why the Gun devil attacked Pochita in the first place was to protect their mother, since we already know that Chainsaw Man ate part of war before in order to weaken her and probably that's when her children come into the scene. Plus we know Makima was also trying to fight him for his attention at that time, so he was basically just jumped by a good bunch of powerful devils.

Sure he gets back up everytime but we already know he's not able to entirety win right away when there's more than one powerful enemy going against him, so at some point he must have been actually defeated and that leads to the whole beginning of part 1.

Probably from that point on when Pochita mets Denji a whole bunch of stuff was happening that we don't know, like probably Makima deciding to use the Gun devil as a way to get close once more to Chainsaw Man or Yoru having to take time to recover while thinking of a way to defeat Chainsaw Man.

You could also say that the reason why the War devil might feel guilty for using her own children as weapons is because she's using Asa's body at the moment, since Yoru already stated that she could feel the same things Asa feels. There are frankly many valid points to believe Yoru doesn't actually feel guilty or attached to her children in any way other than just ownership, after all another requirement for her to turn things into weapons is that Yoru has to believe they are hers.

But would you really look at me and tell me that she doesn't actually feel anything to her children at the moment of this conversation?

Even Asa calls her out asking if she couldn't just have turned the Gun devil and Tank devil as weapons before, even more she brought up the fact that Yoru could just chose to not fight Chainsaw Man at all, after all everyone already started remembering war enough, right? No need to keep chasing after a goal that probably won't make her happy in the end, with a bigger repercussion...

Except that she doesn't. This is a mix of competitiveness and survival, the War devil KNOWS that Chainsaw Man could easily defeat her if he actually wanted to and almost did so, he managed to eat part of her and weaken her once. Nothing could guarantee her that she is "safe" from him, besides it already is pretty obvious she wants to win against him for real, she wants him down and gone not just kill him once but the next moment he's alive again.

She's a horsemen of the apocalypse, yes, one of the most powerful devils there is. But she's not safe either way, i'd say one of the other main factors for Yoru to feel the need of fighting Chainsaw Man is because of the Gun devil.

In part 1 we were already shown that the Gun devil was incredibly feared at those moments due to their attacks, since they're War's children then that also want it or not contributed to Yoru's recovery to be able to go search for Chainsaw Man in part 2, but then we got Makima defeating the Gun devil and everything that happened after that with Aki. My best guess is that the Gun devil appeared in hell again but far weakened after everything that happened, sure people still feared him but i don't think nearly as much as they did before the whole fight with Denji since the Gun devil isn't mentioned anymore in part 2 (as far as i am aware, feel free to correct me if wrong.)

Which if Yoru did cared for her children then that makes her recurring to such lengths as to share bodies with Asa have a lot more of sense, she thought that with all of Asa's guilt over almost everything would make her powerful enough to defeat Chainsaw Man plus people remembering War's terrors, so no need to use her children and enjoy the victory.

Yet that didn't happened, she had to use them anyway and that's what happens.

Even she asks this question to herself before doing so: Would i really go that far?

The answer for more heartless that it seems is not too out of character, after all in wars sacrifices are inevitable just think about the many people that die because of them, people that really have nothing to do with the beginning of said war. That's why Yoru went with it because she wouldn't be the War devil without making sacrifices for a victory, even if the sacrifice was using her children as weapons for a fight that probably won't make her happy in the end.

A mother often has to make sacrifices for her children, in war sacrifices has to be made too. In this case? Yoru just had to make the biggest sacrifice a mother could make in a war that she alone decided to continue.

[littlejuicebox]

Midnight Chimes 4 / Ringleader

Pairing: Astarion x F!Reader Warlock.

Word Count: 2,415

Summary/Setting: You and Astarion have met before, though you think it meant more to you than it did to him. You are an apothecary shop owner that has recently gained some mysterious Warlock powers; Astarion is, in your eyes, a rake that you wouldn’t trust as far as you can throw him. You two run into one another again after the nautiloid crash.

Preview:

It hadn’t really been you that found the three new party members, after all. It had been your patron. The blasted thing seemed to alternate between completely ignoring you and positively strong arming you into submission.  And it seemed unfortunately hellbent on collecting every straggler along the way of this little adventure. Though you supposed the cleric, the githyanki, and the Blade would likely prove to be more useful additions than the pale elf sitting nearby.  But how could you explain the connection to the celestial being to Gale or anyone else if you did not truly understand the connection yourself? How could you explain they were putting their trust in the wrong person for the job? Gods, you needed to get back to Baldur’s Gate and head to Sorcerous Sundries. Surely they would have some information about this unwilling bond. And speaking of unwilling bonds…

Warnings: eventual smut and gore 18+ / in game spoilers / angst, trauma, fluff

A/N: Finally feeling (almost) 100% back to my normal, healthy self! Thank you for the good vibes and well wishes! <3

The warlock, the wizard, and the rogue.

This little group started off with the makings of some ridiculous fairytale your parents would have read to you before bed.

Though, despite your parents wishes, you hadn’t really been a child interested in fairytales and make believe. Your penchant for pragmatics had developed early on, and before long mama and papa had all but given up on their dreams of a perfect princess daughter. In her place stood some sort of mad scientist… at least in their eyes.

You hadn’t actually been mad. Not then, at least. Though you were starting to worry that between the parasite and your patron, you might truly be going crazy now. No doubt the two were at war, trying to determine who would wrestle ultimate control of your mind.

Should you simply choose between the lesser of two evils, when your fate already feels sealed as it is? 

Gale and Astarion had blindly followed your lead the first day, and remained silent every time you decided to stop and change course, prodded in another direction by the celestial being playing with your psyche. This abrupt switch in traveling plans led you all to Lae’zel, where you convinced the tieflings to let her go, and Shadowheart, as she desperately tried to break open the door of some abandoned ruins. 

Astarion had simply picked the lock of the ruins, earning him some clout among the others for his skill set and further suspicion from you. After all, why exactly did a man like Astarion have any need for a skill like that? 

Subsequently, the five of you explored the dank, dilapidated building. After downing a handful of humanoids and some reanimated corpses, the group happened upon a strange, skeletal being named Withers. He said he would see you again soon.

After a relatively restless night in camp, you all happened upon the Grove on the second day of exploration. Some druid named Halsin is missing, though it turns out he may be the answer to your little predicament, Nettie tried to poison you (stupid, really, to try to poison an apothecary with one of the most basic tricks in the book), you saved a little tiefling thief from death, and then you met Wyll… all in a couple of hours.

The Blade of Frontiers is looking for some devil he’s supposed to kill; he’s also got a tadpole in his head, and like Gale, seems in relatively good spirits for such a grim situation. Those two seem suspiciously well-adjusted. 

The entire journey thus far had only been two days long and exceedingly… well, odd. 

It was certainly a much different experience from your day to day of brewing potions and tending the shop. You wanted nothing more than to return to the comforts of city life. But instead, you were forced to be the unwilling ringleader of this circus, despite your protests on the matter.

You are discussing your concerns about leadership with Gale as the group takes a short rest not far from the Grove. Wyll is gathering the last of his supplies and will meet up with all of you in mere moments. 

“Oh, but you’re doing a fantastic job, Demetria!” Gale exclaims, somehow unfailingly supportive of a woman he barely knew. 

Oh, how you wished to trust anyone half as much. 

“You have such remarkable intuition. We wouldn’t have found Shadowheart, Lae’zel, Wyll, or all this great loot without you!” He continues, before gesturing to a handful of gold and scrolls while positively beaming.

The wizard clasps a friendly hand on your back and then scans the surrounding area. He smiles at you once more, “Now I plan to make myself useful and harvest some flora! If you plan to make use of that newly procured cauldron, I best give you materials to work with.” 

You smile softly and nod at the wizard before he disappears into the shrubbery. Brewing potions was easy; you could craft all the basic ones by memory alone. But leading a group of people through the wilds based on some sort of fabled intuition and instinct? You weren’t so sure about that. 

It hadn’t really been you that found the three new party members, after all. It had been your patron. The blasted thing seemed to alternate between completely ignoring you and positively strong arming you into submission. 

And it seemed unfortunately hellbent on collecting every straggler along the way of this little adventure. Though you supposed the cleric, the githyanki, and the Blade would likely prove to be more useful additions than the pale elf sitting nearby. 

But how could you explain the connection to the celestial being to Gale or anyone else if you did not truly understand the connection yourself? How could you explain they were putting their trust in the wrong person for the job?

Gods, you needed to get back to Baldur’s Gate and head to Sorcerous Sundries. Surely they would have some information about this unwilling bond. And speaking of unwilling bonds…

Astarion is perched on a fallen log, basking in the midday sun’s rays. He’s the picture of relaxation, as if this entire sordid affair is a holiday away from Baldur’s Gate.

Sure, the pale elf had been helpful in battle, and he seemed to have a strange knack for opening locks, but as far as participating in camp efforts went, he certainly left a lot to be desired. You should have guessed as much. With the princely attitude and haughty confidence, it was likely he was merely another spoiled, rich elf. He reminded you of…

Nevermind.

You look to Shadowheart, hoping to pursue a conversation with the woman, but she is a few feet away, resting on her knees in prayer. Lae’zel is also preoccupied as she meticulously sharpens her already deathly blade. You’ve spent almost all day trying to intentionally avoid Astarion and keep any conversation with him to a minimum. But as everyone else seems busy doing their own thing, you’re left with no choice but to take a few minutes of reprieve near the rogue. 

You sigh and nestle yourself on the ground, unwilling to take the empty spot on the log next to Astarion; sitting like an animal in the dirt seemed the better option for your pride. As you lean back to stretch your aching muscles, the warm country breeze picks up, swirling around the elf’s silver curls. You are sitting downwind from the rogue, and the gust pushes a whiff of bergamot and rosemary in your direction. 

You can’t help it. The fragrance angers you. Astarion hadn’t even written to you once, even to send a simple rejection or at least compliment your sample. He’d wasted your time on your last few hours of vacation three years ago. All for what, exactly? 

He hadn’t even gotten to bed you, which had surely been his goal, in the end. 

You glare at him, in all his world-endingly beautiful privilege, as he simply lounges about in the sun as if nothing is wrong.

“It seems you liked my perfume sample enough to procure a rip off of it, but not enough to write.” You state coolly, watching the pale elf as he snaps his eyes open to study you. You notice him thinking, no doubt calculating some sort of smooth response.

“You can save the piss-poor excuses, Astarion.” You sigh, now reaching into your pack, trying to find the small vial of perfume oil you’d had inside your robes when that ship snatched you up. You open the vial and take a deep breath, basking in the comfort of familiarity.

It smelled like home. Like your quaint little townhome, in Waterdeep. Too bad scents can’t transport you back in time… at least not literally. 

There are a few beats of silence as Astarion watches you.

“I do apologize for not recognizing you before, and for not writing…” He begins, slowly, as if trying to soothe a wild animal, “I lost your card. I have a tendency to be… forgetful. And I lose things a lot. But, I did quite like the scent, as you can tell.”

You nod, acknowledging the apology but not willing to acquiesce any further. You cannot decipher if Astarion’s words are the truth or if they are simply honeyed lines meant to subdue you. Your pinky finger presses against the perfume bottle’s rim and you rub a bit of the fragranced liquid behind your ears.

The wind shifts, blowing your thick, dark hair forward around your face, obscuring your vision. You cap the small vial and then quickly tie your hair back. When you are able to see again, Astarion is almost gawking at you, scarlet eyes blown wide in surprise. 

He shifts and recovers quickly, jerking his gaze away and running a hand through his windswept curls. When he speaks, his voice has a manufactured, airy nonchalance to it, “It is quite windy out here, isn’t it?”

You don’t respond, and he turns to face you once again. His jaw tenses for a moment, and then he leans back, assessing you once more. He tries another tactic.

“That is… another lovely scent that you’re wearing.” He murmurs, and this time, the genuine, hesitant intrigue in his voice catches you off guard.

“Thank you,” You begin, and despite yourself, you are flattered by his statement. You truly love when others notice and compliment the artistry of your craft. You shrug and offer the vial to Astarion. Perhaps a small olive branch is due, if the two of you are stuck tethered together for who knows how long. 

The rogue takes the bottle and inhales the fragrance, and then he emits a noise that sounds something like a soft moan or groan. It’s a deep, uninhibited sound from the back of his throat, almost as if he’s absolutely losing himself in the scent. When he focuses on you again, there’s a relaxed look in his eyes paired with a soft, unguarded smile. It reminds you of the way he looked at you in your parent’s tavern. 

“Delicious…” He murmurs, his tone dropping into that salacious one he’d used on you at the tavern all those years ago, when asking if you planned to murder someone with poisons. Something about the way he said the word while staring directly into your eyes, his pupils blown from the fragrance he’d just inhaled, made your face grow hot.

You aren’t interested in a rake, and you won’t be fooled again, you remind yourself. No matter how beautiful the bastard truly is. 

You extend your hand out, motioning for the vial and he obliges with a disappointed tut.

“It’s a combination of lavender, sage, and vanilla.” You explain, tucking the precious vial back into your pack.

“And what else? There’s something else, isn’t there? It’s the same thing that was in the sample you gave me.” He responds, eyebrow cocked in curiosity.

You laugh in genuine surprise, “Good nose. Are you trying to steal my recipe so that when you return to Baldur’s Gate, you can have an exact duplication instead of the lesser version you have now, Astarion?”

You are partly joking, partly serious. 

The elf shakes his head, brows crinkling together in absent thought, “No… merely curious, I suppose. I’ve never smelt anything quite like your concoctions. I have to admit the memory of the scent from that night has… stayed with me. I would have written to you to tell you as much, if I could have. If I hadn’t… lost your card.”

You squint your eyes. There is something genuine in Astarion’s statement, despite the strange excuse about losing the card. Sure, he may have truly lost it. But then, he could have simply returned to the Drunken Dragon and asked your cousin for your address.

The next time you visited your family on holiday, after your conversation with the rake, your cousin indicated the elf hadn’t been by since that night. When you asked about Astarion every year, feigning nonchalance, your family always indicated he hadn’t been seen. 

It was almost as if he were avoiding the Drunken Dragon altogether for those three years.

You’d ultimately assumed he moved away… or perhaps died, murdered by one of his jealous lovers.

“It’s dragonsblood… just a drop.” You admit, eyeing the silver-haired elf with suspicious curiosity.

A sudden bark of laughter escapes Astarion’s lips. And then his head tips back and he positively cackles in a mixture of amusement and delight. He seems to find this information exceptionally hilarious. Your brows stitch together in confusion as you watch the rogue chortle.

Sure, it was an unusual additive. But it wasn’t exactly hilarious, was it? 

“Dragonsblood!” He exclaims, clapping his hands together in front of him as his eyes crinkle with mirth, “How… unique. You are quite the artist, Demetria.”

You feel the flush rise in your cheeks at the compliment while you murmur another thank you. Surely he’s flattering you, trying to ingratiate himself and hoping you’ll forgive his slight against you, isn’t he? 

Astarion’s eyes flit between yours now, and he hums in thought, “You look… different. From my memory at the tavern.”

“Really? Well you didn’t actually remember me at all until the parasite helped you, so I’m not quite sure how reliable your memory of me is. You look the same as I remember.” You deadpan, instantly trying to deflect from his observation. 

You know what he means… the ring hadn’t just affected your mind. It has permanently altered the color of your eyes into a strange purple, reminiscent of the cosmos itself. But you aren’t ready to share anything about your patron or the damn ring with anyone else just yet.

Astarion cocks his head, and he is about to say something more, but then Gale is bursting back through the brush. His eyes are wide with apprehension as he looks between you and the rogue. The concerned expression on your otherwise affable campmate causes everyone in the vicinity to quickly rise to their feet.

Gale grimaces as he addresses his new traveling companions with some level of unease, “I think you all might want to see this.”

And then he disappears back into the brush without another word. Part of you thinks you shouldn’t follow him, but you do anyway. After all, how could this possibly get stranger than it already is? 

Your patron is laughing again. Poor little apothecary, you have no idea.

[nozomijoestar]

LIFTING THE SPOILER WARNING ON THIS POST FOR LAUNCH DAY

Here's my initial analysis and thoughts on Asuka's ending (character episode) in Tekken 8

caught yearning in 1080p

handsome

thinking abt getting students now that the Zaibatsu ate shit (btw you don't find out the Zaibatsu is pretty much on track to being done with no leader again, which is why they continue the tournament presumably after the final battle unless you look through the character episodes, not the main story, for some fucking reason)

Asuka finally smiled at her accepting her and the feeling is mutual, this ending had great role reversal in the sense instead of previously only getting clear insight into Lili's feelings and thoughts now we're openly getting them from Asuka in response- she also felt tempted to give in to her old reaction first think later ways but here she's finally thinking before deciding it doesn't matter why, she enjoys fighting Lili and she finally seems to recognize what Lili's schemes are about on a level (wanting Asuka's attention and getting back at her for having lost), this is the closest so far we've ever gotten to a "I like you too"

this is on top of the teasing and compliment she gave Lili's ability in the same scene, and also correcting Lili on the Kazama Motto Asuka learned, which only Asuka could have told her at some point suggesting further closeness

"Softness overcomes hardness" you two are (HOPEFULLY) starting to change your relationship to be softer (also the hilarious hypocrisy of Asuka BARELY being a person living by any softness in practice)

I love that she even refers to Lili as "That noble (rich) girl", an ojou-sama, which is far better than calling her by nothing or using a rude form of You (anta) as in the past (and generally she's given up calling Lili by rude terms be it in the story mode or otherwise including Shaheen's ending, which is honestly more about AsuLili than him lol, it's also incredible seeing Asuka glad Lili's life was protected and joking about Lili being a handful with someone else)

And despite provoking Asuka in a very shitty way reminiscent of Feng, the premise of this ending is Asuka beating Lili at the tournament so Lili will honor her word of putting Asuka's dojo back the way it was before she bought it- which Lili does after losing rather than refuse out of spite, even if she then uses taking it in a fight to provoke Asuka again, it's nice that she IS willing to listen to Asuka when it comes to promises

honestly if you cut the entire scene into only my screenshots here it still looks so fucking gay

Video source ( @ 1:03 )

This is the de-facto best Asuka ending yet, at last she's happy, hopeful, not confused, and at some form of peace and connection in her life

ALSO ASUKA DIDN'T CALL LILI A DINGBAT SHE CALLED HER AHOU (Idiot/Moron) LIKE ALWAYS AND IT WAS SOFT THIS TIME 😭😭😭😭

Plus Asuka might finally get the dojo back up and become the next leader with Jin's image being fixed and thus how people would see Asuka since they're related, as well as the current war being over- though Reina's new devil bullshit will probably ruin this in the future

EDIT: I FORGOT TO MENTION

PAIR OF BIRDS; BIRD MOTIF FOR KAZAMAS RETURNS

I doubt these are Jun's birds specifically it's more likely just symbolic of Asuka and Lili if it means anything at all. Also doesn't have to specify meaning lovebirds, in general their characters will always be put together. But it is funny how Jun's birds always appear to show her connection to someone she loves, so there could be a parallel here that Asuka's bird imagery would represent the same sense of connection. If it is a visual metaphor for lovebirds though by the time we get Tekken 9 then, the cinema of it all.

ALSO Harada has said Jun attracts animals because of her spiritual mastery over martial arts. She's at a level of power where animals don't run because of sensing her aura; she can suppress her fighting spirit. With how at peace AND in control of herself Asuka is in this ending, maybe the birds imply she can move in a similar direction from here on. And it makes sense too because Asuka has returned to a state of equilibrium now that she doesn't have the stress of the world being in chaos affecting her. As a person who prefers being in control, she's back to feeling some control over her life.

----

THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE:

1. It's great that the tone of their relationship is now friendlier, but like in story mode and other places they appear as a pair, we're never shown anything on how they started transitioning from fighting all the time to agreeing to listen and partner up in general, nevermind during a global war they're supposed to have their own personal stakes in beyond not wanting to die (those personal stakes ended up being entirely irrelevant anyway which is it's own problem)

There's a problem present where you're shown the end result of an emotional shift with none of the journey or even a simple scene explaining how they got there, much like the main story and other characters in general many plot points and character changes are resolved off screen showing only the results with no explanation the majority of the time. In the main story this gets even more egregious because even how a character knows specific information usually doesn't get explained at all either unless it relates to Jin understanding the devil gene. This writing makes a lot of things simply happen like it's checking off a list.

In essence, WHERE is a scene connecting Asuka who did nothing but fight Lili and get pissed with her to the Asuka who's tolerant of her, is more catty and accepting than outright angry, is now willing to joke and play around with her, who taught Lili the Kazama Motto she learned (though I guess this one you can say Lili found it while looking up Asuka's family, something we ALSO don't get Asuka's thoughts on beyond surprise) and so on

2. The fact this scene ends with provoking another fight, as much as I like that it's friendly now, isn't the best direction. This fits again into problem 1; there's no on screen room to let these characters breathe and illustrate what made them change now to the viewer. There's no fresh angle given about their relationship outside fighting or even a new approach on their relationship within it. There's no pause in the formula which many people are tired of (and people are already back to calling Asuka a useless piece of shit who's a complete fucking joke, and I can't really blame them entirely because on a surface level all they see is the exact same situation as it's been for twenty years of cutscenes).

Also the logic of having this scene exist is confusing in itself. Nothing in the game story clarified if Asuka sat the tournament out or did participate but was eliminated and decided to follow Lili's progress in Rome as a spectator. A scene explaining either of those would give better weight and context to this one.

3. Zero mention of Asuka's father or his current condition

4. Having Lili imitate what Feng Wei did to dojos like Asuka's is the cruelest way she's ever provoked her. Whereas before it was often ridiculous, silly, and teasing, involving an event that led Asuka to spiral adds something uncharacteristically spiteful toward her from Lili's end. Insofar as what Lili has previously used to get her attention anyway. Keeping Asuka's trauma out of it has always seemed to be a line Lili was willing to respect. And it's off too because this is happening when they're supposed to be becoming friends/are friends now. It's too personal to be brushed off the way it is.

The only way I can rationalize it is if Asuka has let go of her anger towards what Feng did in part (but she still has a special intro where she wants to attack him on sight saying they finally meet so, I don't fuckin know, that may as well have been included as an easter egg if they're gonna do nothing with it) or she never really gave enough of a shit about the entire thing in the first place. You can make a loose argument using prior games to show Asuka never really cared about the revenge aspect as much- but her behavior sorta contradicts this at the same time. So really who fucking knows. Based on how she reacts here I guess it's not a big deal at this point cuz she doesn't get mad and jumps into messing around with Lili like a friend anyway.

Maybe this could be explained too by whatever made them act friendly now in the first place, but again we never saw that. So instead it comes out worse than if we knew.

5. WHY THE FUCK DID THEY MENTION THE ENTIRE MAIN KAZAMA FAMILY WAS ELIMINATED BY OGRE IN THE STORY MODE THEN HAVE THE NEWS NOT IMPACT ASUKA AT ALL

We also never see them discuss what Lili knows about the family in any depth between themselves

Viva le sex gay I guess but now I have more questions than answers and that's a problem when the game acts like I've been given answers it never provided. I got something I wanted but with nothing to show for it.

EDIT 1/27/2024 : However that won't discount that I do love what I received and the potential it represents; I adore this shit.

[minaamc]

About the relationship between Jin and Xiaoyu…

Since i read an article by @purpura-xiao, i get the motivation to write an article, too, because I also had noticed something:

As I remember, there was an article where someone wrote that Jin and Xiaoyu don't interact much and how could they fall in love or something. For more information, please read the articles of @purpura-xiao . She explained well the relationship between Jin and Xiaoyu 🥰❤️ So I want to include some other information and why I think Jin and Xiaoyu will have more romantic moments in the dlc(including kissing scene):

I noticed in Naruto for example that it took many years for Naruto and Hinata to come together. They shared a kiss in the movie: Naruto the Last.

But why years later and not earlier? First, before we answer the question, let's analyze it first:

The thing is that Naruto and his friends had to fight enemies and they were also in a war. And Naruto was in character development and fighting to become the Hokage. It took years to get to where he is now and be the strongest man to protect everyone.

Also final fantasies Cloud and Tifa shared their first kiss years later

Naruto and Hinata shared their first kiss years later

Jin and Xiaoyu...years later they shared their feelings…

But WHY all these years later?

Because of the development of men. First fight your weakness, train to be strong, find the right path and save the world, be the strongest and then: WHEN THE WORLD IS SAFE NOW, TAKE YOUR WIFE AND GO THE SAME PATH WITH HER.

But what does this have to do with Jin and Xiaoyu?

Well, Jin and Xiaoyu went to the same school, became friends, and after Heichachi's betrayal to Jin, "losing" his mother to Ogre (SPOILER TEKKEN 8 JUN IS ALIVE), and dealing with the devil gene, Jin has gone down the wrong path by starting the war and hurting his comrades, especially Xiaoyu. All because he wanted to get rid of the devil gene and end the Mishima bloodline. Then he realized that this was the wrong way, so he finally found the right way with the help of his comrades, especially Xiaoyu and his mother. In the end, instead of killing his father, he spared his life after defeating him. In the happy ending, we see Jin and Xiaoyu riding bikes in the USA. Jin always had feelings for Xiaoyu, but for her safety, he kept his distance to protect her. Xiaoyu is one of the most precious people in his life.✨🌸

Conclusion

These men love their women, but before they could go any further, they first want to find themselves, develop their character, become strong and make the world a safe place before they can live happily ever after with their love of their life and make babies. 👶 😁

[itzrafee]

One Piece Chapter Discussion (Chapter 1126)

Ooh looks like the mystery continues with Yamato investigating the disappearances. I am so curious to see what kind of long lasting effects this will have as with this chapter we’re getting some resolution on a six to seven year old cover story. It’s nice to see Oda expanding on the story around Wano as it’s clear he had a lot of thoughts around it when he was writing it that he didn’t get to explore. I’m also quite curious as to what will happen with the cover stories the closer we get to the end. Whereas he has space to explore other facets of Wano through the cover story, is that something he’ll be able to do with Elbaph with it being so close to the end? Anyways, the rest of the discussion, which is spoiler filled, can be found below the cut!

I don’t know about y’all but I think it would be absolutely terrifying to be where the Straw Hats are in this first page if they weren’t allies with the giants. They straight up just kinda look like their dinner. But we’re not talking about Big Mom so I think the Straw Hats are probably safe. Also while somewhat terrifying, the designs of the Giants are great, they all ooze personality and joviality. I would not want to see them angry either. It’s interesting that the name of the absinthe they’re drinking is the “Green Fairy” and that it can cause hallucinations. Is that just set up to explain how and why the two parties got separated or is it set up for some absinthe-driven hallucinations? 

It’s interesting to me on a story structure level that this chapter kind of illustrates how Oda might have to delve into more slice of life stuff with the crew going forward. That before making this chapter important by flitting around the world and getting updates, Oda first spends some time with the crew just having fun and goofing off. It satisfies the pre-timeskip crowd clamoring for these types of scenes, me among that crowd.

This small sequence with Bonney also gets me right in the heart. Not only does she feel comfortable enough to finally be a child and not put on the airs of a grown adult that the One Piece world requires of people but also she gets to finally be free with her father. One Piece has this startling quality to it that makes the reality of war and oppression so real by contrasting the comedic with the emotional. And nothing hits quite as hard as the fate of the children of this series. We see through the suffering of the Straw Hats as children, Nami, Sanji, and Robin, among a few other characters throughout the series, on how oppression forces you to grow up and be stronger than any child should have to be. In recent arcs that oppression is a reality our young adult Straw Hats face head on. From Otama and Toko in Wano to the metaphors of growing up too fast that Bonney and Momo face us with, Oda is able to use these fantastical elements to deliver truths in more digestible ways. The tragedy of Momo and Bonney having to grow up so fast is such a potent and heart wrenching way to show this side of opression. But Oda is able to provide us with a catharsis that the real world so often denies by having Bonney feel safe again. By having Momo be safe and surrounded by loved ones.

Moving on from that dour and entirely too real note, we finally get a resolution on a cover story from wayyyy long ago where Bartolomeo burned down Shanks flag in Luffy’s name. And there’s a lot to talk about here. For such a fan-favourite and an audience surrogate for many, including myself, It’s odd that it’s been so long since we’ve seen Barto(don’t even get me started on Bon Clay!!). But it’s interesting that Oda seems to understand his impact as it seems like he’s being placed on the same level as Kid and Law in a way. Now this might be a little tin foil hatty of me but don’t you find it odd that Kid, Law, and Barto, all devil fruit users by the way, were all sunk at sea in the New World, the most dangerous sea maybe aside from the Calm Belt? 

And if we remember certain man with a burn scar who was first mentioned in chapter 1056(56=GoMu) and then again brought up in 1081 where it was mentioned that anyone who comes close to him gets swallowed up by whirlpools, I think we might have an option for what might’ve happened to those three. Adding on to that, if we go allll the way back to chapter 2 and full tin foil hat, we can see Luffy getting sucked into a whirlpool soon after he sets out on his journey but then bursting out of a barrel sometime after with Koby. In my head, I can totally see the aforementioned three joining Luffy on Elbaph, especially now that’s been separated from his crew. Maybe Luffy was also kidnapped by this whirlpool wielding man with a burn scar…again.

Okay, fanciful thinking aside we still gotta talk about how we’ve seen Shank’s main crew be ruthless badasses. Lucky Roux in Chapter 1 straight killed a dude while the whole crew laughed. Benn Beckman not only threatened Kizaru but also cut off Kid’s arm. And here, Yassop basically has a cannon attached to his gun and blows up a fleeing Barto Club. While these guys may seem easygoing, they’re still stone cold pirates. Also that ultimatum with the poison was pretty cold too. Barto’s ship blowing up also shows how lethal Yassop’s Haki must be, because I can imagine that Barto might’ve tried to shield his ship with his devil fruit.

I find it curious that Koby was so important to Blackbeard’s plans. I wonder if Blackbeard wanted to use Koby like how the Marines used Ace? We know how much Blackbeard’s plans mean to him. His scheming, though a lot of the time quite impromptu, is half the reason he’s an emperor already. And Blackbeard is in prime position to execute some big time operations. Not only does he have leverage in Garp(though thinking about it, wouldn’t the marines be glad to be rid of him?), he also has Pudding and all the knowledge Caribou brings. Oda makes it a point to show that Caribou has finally gotten to Blackbeard. It’s interesting that he’s surveilling the Revolutionary's too. Especially with Lafitte. Maybe he’s trying to get the heat off of himself by having Lafitte do some undercover hits and then blame it on the Revo’s?

Though, weirdly, the most important tidbit here to me is that Moria got away. It seems most likely that Moria will join Cross Guild as it seems to be the place for Warlord Alumni and Perona already has connections there in the form of Mihawk. I’d originally thought that Blackbeard was going to get Moria to reanimate Kaido, Big Mom, and Garp’s corpses with the obstacle standing in their way being that Blackbeard was responsible for Absolams death but now it seems like Moria’s going to be a player for Cross Guild, with at least the Yonkou resurrections still on the table. Also if Cross Guild is the place to be for former Warlords then we could see Boa join too. And maybe even Kuma and Doflamingo if the latter breaks out of Impel Down. Which I kinda hope he does just purely due to the fact that it might provide a path for Bon Clay to get out too.

This scene with Bonney and Jinbei is adorable but uhh, what’s Lilith staring at? Could she be communicating with Vegapunk?

Finally, in the last page we get some weird shenanigans happening. First, someone wakes Nami up but it appears that she’s alone. She’s had a change of clothes and seems to be in a lego house. The floor is kind of undeniable proof of that even if you want to try and explain away everything else. And finally, she seems to be alone. The going theory seems to be that this is Prince Loki’s lego house and that he’s playing with the StrawHats like toys. He could’ve been the one to call out for Nami. He could be a fan of the StrawHats. And honestly, that theory kinda makes sense, I totally subscribe to it. Loki could be a somewhat petulant giant like Big Mom. I also don’t think the impatient figure at the end of 1124 is him either as that seemed to be a human who was drinking, my going theory about that person being that it was Scopper Gaban, the third crew member of the Roger Pirates after Roger and Rayliegh. See ya next week!

[elden-12]

That new episode of DW amazing! If it weren't for Vincent and the Doctor it would be my fav New Who story. As it is it's an extremely close second place.

Spoilers and thoughts under the cut.

Love Fifteen and Ruby and their dynamic and it getting tested under pressure here. Both actors are brilliant and their dynamic is already one of my fav TARDIS teams.

Will definitely need to get the popcorn out for the inevitable idiot conservatives who (somehow) think they're fans being pissed about the Doctor being anti-war, anti-capitalism and (mostly, aside from slightly softening at the end) anti-religion. Which (softening aside) I absolutely loved! Aside from that the only thing I didn't like was the fish fingers and custard line. All the other references were great but the whole point of the original scene was that each new incarnation has their own different tastes and likes. So changing it into "no; all the Doctors like that now" was an irritating retcon and really frustrated me.

Now speaking of continuity; something is definitely off with time and I'm wondering whether it's intentional and in character or a mistake. All of Fifteen and Ruby's stories so far have seemed to lead directly into each other.

The Church on Ruby Road was set on Christmas 2023 and did explicitly lead directly into Space Babies. Yet in The Devil's Chord where Ruby still seems new to things and is choosing a destination for the first time the Doctor says she's from June 2024.

And here in Boom where she is explicitly seeing her first alien planet the Doctor mentions it being October the Fifth! Something odd going on...

Also Varada Sethu was a nice surprise. I didn't recognise her from the OOC pics so got a surprise once I saw her name in the credits!

I assume she'll be playing a new character and not Mundy, but either way she gave a great performance and I can't wait to see her as new companion.

[theluciferswar]

Lucifers VS Lucifers : Round 3

Propaganda under the cut

Lucifer (Obey Me !)

He's the real ex-angel Lucifer except him and his brothers fell cause God wanted to delete their sister from existence for feeding a human she had fallen in love with angel food to save him. God. Wanted to get rid. Of his sister. For saving a human.

So he did war about it, and lost, and now he's a demon with stress and a homoerotic bond with the Lord of the Devildom and 6 unruly little brothers which are the other avatars of sin.

He's like a middle aged single father and he needs a break I stg. He's getting grey hairs! Some of those are caused by the MC also! Because they're a little shit sometimes! Also he's hot. Wears glasses sometimes. I think they should actually salt and pepper his hair but no one listens to me and my huge brain. Give him wrinkles also. I know hes an ageless being but I want hot middle aged men and not just more twinks.

Sorry that's unrelated op my bad. Anyways his family is chaotic but he still loves them deeply despite it all.

Lucifer (WicDiv)

Luci is the heart of WicDiv. It's a book about her. Or, more accurately, it's a book about her death. She's an irreverant hedonist, a lonely teenager thrust into stardom, and, above all else, the Devil Incarnate.

WicDiv is incredible, a masterpiece of indie comics, and all about 12 teenagers (mostly 18-19yos) who incarnate as gods - they will be loved, they will be hated, within two years they will be dead...and Lucifer is the first to die, though she does it before her time.

SPOILERS, but she gets better, and the ending is incredible - they all announce that they're giving up their godhood to end the cycle / save everything, and Lucifer goes last, and follows the same, "I'm not a god..." format, only to go, "...I've never been a god. I'm Lucifer." And it's iconic. And the scene that follows it up, where "Persephone" goes to rescue her - "there were two girls in hell" ??? incredible.

Also, in universe after her death, people started wearing Lucifer Died For Our Sins t-shirts, and they started selling them as real shirts, and I think it's fucking hilarious. https://wicdiv.threadless.com/designs/lucifer-died-for-our-sins-dark/mens/t-shirt

[gothitelleex]

I love Raphael from BG3.

He's a complex character and I absolutely adore every take I've seen and the different prospectives on his character from the fandom.

I also signed the petition for the romance route. But honestly speaking: I want an ending where Tav/Durge/OC gets to decide join him in conquering the 9 layers of hells. I don't even care if it's only as a foot soldier! Or even better, a maid! I honestly would still enjoy it nevertheless.

So. This made me think: what would be like to work under Raphael?

(This is my personal take, so don't come at me please, I have anxiety. Also, I might have gone really deep into the argument in my own way, have mercy.)

(Spoilers under the cut for act 2, 3 and post final boss)

Generally speaking + surviving methods: we get some details from the game already on how Raphael's behaves as a boss. He can be absolutely cruel and straight up torture you if you screw up big time or even small time (or in the case of Hope, he'll keep you in his basement if you don't play along with his whims and refuse to submit). He could scorch your fingers for minimum mistakes (like we read in the house of hope, pardon me I don't remember if it was a diary or not, where he described the performances of the people working under him). What these minimum mistakes could be? For how I see it, it could be when one of his warlocks/debtors are late, or they aren't dressed the part, or they accidentally knocked something down, ect.

Raphael strikes me as the tipe who wants everything to be perfect in his standards at every moment. He also loves to have everything and everyone around him under control, and he is more or less quick to anger; so to survive, the worker would need to be an expert in his mood swings too, and they would need the capacity to dose their words well in some situations. Raphael would want perfection, so the worker should at least be good at covering up their mishap unless they want to join the lemurs.

Would bootlicking work? I think he's not so stupid to not realize when people are sucking up to him, so I believe it could be fine depending on the situation. I also think the bootlicking shouldn't be too obvious or he may think the person in front of him is making fun of him and that could result in death. Or worse: it's hell, who knows what could happen there.

Of course I believe he can be a gentle boss as long as you live up to his standards: something that is almost impossible, and I say almost since Korilla exist. That woman got her fingers scorched a few time and that was it, and I'm pretty sure she's the only one who didn't get punished more severely.

Korilla is the idol of every loyal worker to Raphael, I can bet my soul on that! Everyone who works with her envies her and/or take example from her.

Long story short: if you want to survive while working under Raphael, be Korilla. ʕ　·ᴥ·ʔ👍🏻

Post ending: durge and co have defeated the Nether brain and it's now time to fulfill the deal and give the crown to Raphael.

Now, speaking of the game. I'm going to use Durge because it's my durge Iris that would be crazy enough to sell her soul to be a servant of Raphael. That drow is batshit crazy, but that's a story for another post.

So Raphael comes to collect his crown at Wither's party, and durge not only kneels to give it to him, but they also ask to be granted the honor of working under him in order to see the Archdevil Supreme Raphael's triumph! Raphael would accept and create a new contract, I believe.

Your Durge has accepted Bhaal? No problem! They just have to tell daddy dearest that mortals aren't a worthy sacrifice, so they decided to start their murder spree with devils! Hey, besides it's a war in the hells, there is no place for morality there, so Durge could go crazy without restrain. I believe in this case Raphael wouldn't trust Durge to remain loyal to him and put aside Bhaal's orders, so he would take precautions in any case. Whatever your Durge would want to betray Raphael in the end or not, it would add more spice to the already complicated situation in the hells and in their relationship, whatever it is. I like to think how the situation could lead to a delicious psychological dark romance! In this case I imagine Raphael using every chance to subtly remind Durge who's boss. And unless Durge really enrages him, I don't think he would stop being polite, especially because it was Durge who gave him the crown. My ideal ending if this scenario would be Durge usurping Bhaal and take his place as the God of murder, while also being married to the Archdevil Supreme of the nine hells, Raphael. ʕ ꈍᴥꈍʔ💅🏻

If your Durge is a resist Durge? In this case things would be less violent and I believe Raphael would be less wary of them in general, tho in the case of a contract, I doubt he would be as kind as he was before when he needed something from them. Now they're his to command, he's not just a simple ally to them anymore. So Durge would need to be Korilla 2.0. And as much I'd like the contrary, I don't think Raphael would have someone work closely under him without a contract. So, yet again, praise Korilla for her existence.

Long story short again: be Korilla. ᕦʕ •ᴥ•ʔᕤ

If you've read everything, just know that I love you🪅

P. S: I would work for him as a maid who cleans just to enjoy all the drama while being in the sideline. Just let me be a random NPC who cleans and secretly simps for their boss lol.

P.p.s: I love you Korilla, please just a chance!

[cookierunauprompts]

https://www.tumblr.com/cookierunauprompts/741012613726633984/great-now-i-cant-help-but-think-of-one-dnd-au?source=share same anon!

Yes kingdoms and cookies! Aaaaaaalso I think white lily and dark enchantress would be separate in this because of well...spoilers below and marked where spoilers are. but idea basically is like for the specific prompt if you want it...well got two prompts and idk which one you'd wanna do first so I'll list them both (also forgot to mention...imagine it being a big dnd club and the characters who arent in that specific part of the campaign like in the beast yeast chapter, when the other ancients arent with pure vanilla, they are gathered around the table to watch and eat snacks and basically be giving advice....oooor for the cookies who decided to watch to try to be the devil on someone's shoulder "hey, you should try blank!"):

Potential prompt 1: the session where y/n is like "ok guys! Today, shadow milk will be joining us and he already got his character sheet...and he wrote himself as...very crazy, which isn't surprising since he is crazy himself! Sooooo this should be fun!"

Potential prompt 2: the session of the final battle...the prologue to the campaign aaaaand maybe when golden cheese rolls her nat one...curious who would laugh buuuut I bet gingerbrave at the table might be like "OH MY WITCHES, GOLDEN CHEESE IM SO SORRY!!!"

Keep reading if you want spoilers:

Ok, I warned ya!

The fact that later on in the story, it is revealed that somehow white lily cookie and dark enchantress cookie are two separate people...surprising, I know!

Requested Prompts #37 - ✦

" Alright everyone, that brings us to the end of the Dark Flour War." You say, glancing around the table at the cookies gathered. A collective sigh of relief swept through them, it had been a rough session, that was for sure. " Now then," You say, clasping your hands together. " I'd like you all to roll for the status of your kingdoms, just a plain d20, aight?" " But what about me?" White Lily Cookie speaks up, ah, right, technically she didn't have a kingdom of her own. Then again, the two of you did have something planned. " Uh... Roll for your own safety." You advised, and you could soon hear the clatter of dice upon the table. " Natural Twenty! Woohoo!" You could hear Hollyberry Cookie cheer, and you gave her a small applause for what was her first and only nat20 of the session. She'd gotten close with some 19's, but no twenties. " Alright, that leaves the Hollyberry Kingdom with pretty mild, yet very fixable damages. Very few died to the flames of the war, and it's overall decent." You explain, referencing your small chart that you had prepped for a moment before looking back up. " Who wants to say their roll next?" " I will." Dark Cacao spoke up, taking a moment to glance down at his roll. " ...Fourteen. Is that good?" " It's good enough," You begin, checking your chart. " There are some decent damages, nothing too broken though considering your kingdom's defenses, and some casualties. But overall the Dark Cacao Kingdom should be able to bounce back." Dark Cacao gave a nod of approval, meanwhile Pure Vanilla Cookie was next to speak. " I got a ten, how well off is the Vanilla Kingdom?" He asked, you could just sense the nervousness in his voice. Though all of you knew that it wouldn't be doing any good considering that the final battle took place there. " Hm... Well, after the war; The Vanilla Kingdom is mostly destroyed and abandoned... Though a lot of the citizens were able to escape via airship." You explain, catching sight of Pure Vanilla's expression melting into some form of relief. Even though it was just a game of Kingdoms and Cookies, it couldn't help but feel real to a degree. That's just how good of a dungeon master you are! " Um.. I got a five." White Lily then speaks up, and you already know your response. " Comatose in a glass coffin over at the Faerie Kingdom." You say almost immediately before turning your attention to Golden Cheese Cookie, who was staring at her dice rather intensely. " Golden Cheese Cookie? How about you?" Golden Cheese Cookie didn't respond, simply just staring down at her dice, what she rolled, dumbfoundedly. The staring continued for a moment before Golden Cheese slumped on the table, head in her hands. " ... natural one." She whispered as quiet as a mouse. " I'm sorry, what did you say?" You asked, not having quite heard her. " I got a natural one..." Golden Cheese admitted, and now you felt sorry for what you were about to tell her. " Oh, I'm very sorry for your loss." You begin, " The Golden Cheese Kingdom... For as far as you know, is completely destroyed. It's people, your friends there, your treasures. All of them... are gone." Golden Cheese Cookie looked devastated beyond words, meanwhile Dark Cacao Cookie offered some comfort in the for of a few pats on the back. Due to the fact that he was the closest to Golden Cheese in their positions on the table.

[lunarspiral1127]

X-men 97 episode 7 *SPOILERS*

Gambit's funeral

UGH, WHY?!?!? GAMBIT, NOOOOO!!!! 😭

I didn't recognize everyone at the funeral, but are they his friends from his past or his family? Cause I have no idea.

Nightcrawler with the eulogy. He sure has a way with words. Plus, him being there as a priest makes sense. Also, he looks so adorable with the robes.

Logan comforting Jubilee was sweet, bit it got me thinking that her screentime has been spent most with Roberto than the other X-Men.

Rogue going solo

Honestly, I don't blame her for hunting down Gyrich and Trask. Especially when it was later on revealed that they were involved but not the mastermind.

Cameos of Thunderbolt Ross and Captain America. Now, last time I saw 90s Steve Rogers was in the Spider-Man animated series during that show's own version of Secret Wars. Before that, he was trapped in a vortex with Red Skull. So, I guess he got out which is why he was there?

I was bummed that he didn't go help Rogue get Gyrich, but I get that he has to do things by the books. Cause that's who he is. Although, Rogue did him dirty by throwing his shield far into the mountains. It was funny and I don’t blame her for doing that. But I do kinda feel bad for him.

Her fighting Ross's army was cool. Also, if the base was durable against the Hulk, does that mean she's stronger than the Hulk?

Nightcrawler best brother! The way he talked to Rogue, hugged her when she was finally mourning over Gambit and Magneto (still don't like the Rogueneto ship), and even called her "sister"! God, I love this blue devil man! 😭 And if anything bad happens to him in the next three episode, Imma be pissed!

Roberto "coming out" of the Mutant closet to her mom

Well, it went better than when Iceman told his family in the X-2 movie. It was a relief to see his mom accepting of him and not hating him.

However, it's unfortunate that she told him to keep it a secret because of their business reputation l. It would've made more sense if it was to protect her son due to the humans' stances on mutants and what happened in Genosha. At least, that way, it would've been more of a good reason than about their business.

Jubilee being supportive and being there for him was sweet.

Yeah, that's pretty much it. Jubilee isn't really part of the main plot, though, so I don't know if we'll see her in action, nor if we'll see Roberto use more of his powers.

Genosha aftermath

More of Jean and Scott talking, so that's good. They're communicating and are still working as a team despite what happened. So, there may be hope that their relationship will survive, but we won't know for sure. So much crap has happened, and I blame Sinister for all of it.

Emma Frost survived, and she got her diamond form! She must've been stuck in all that debris for days. Also, how is she gonna react when she finds out Sebastian Shaw is dead?

Beast and the reporter. Considering how all these relationships have been going in this show so far, I was very, VERY worried about Beast. But, because of what Trish (I think that's her name) said, it ended before it even started.

Trask

Y'know when he said he didn't want to be made a monster more than what Sinister did, I thought he was talking about Genosha, but I think he was talking about him turning him into a human sentinel.

Also, yes, we're getting Prime Sentinels, which is very very bad. They ain't no joke cause Trask as one took out the X-Men one by one. Rogue was knocked out with a single hit!

Speaking of Trask, I have no sympathy for that sunuvabeech. But, it was messed up how his body was twisted.

And, all because Rogue dropped him off the building! Like, DAMN ROGUE! Again, I have no sympathy for Trask, and I get why she did it but it was still a holy crap moment. Also, everyone else could've tried to save him, but they just stood there. I think only Wolverine was cool with it.

Thank god, Cable was there to save them. Doesn't seem like he likes Scott despite him being his dad, even though he cared for his mom back in episode 5. Then again, daddy issues have been a thing in the Summers' family. But, I hope that's not the case cause animated Scott is cool.

Bastion

This whole time, Bastion was the true mastermind?! God dammit, how did I not see this coming! OZT was Operation Zero Tolerance, I should've seen this coming, but I thought it was Apocalypse or Nimrod!

This is his first animated debut, btw. And, I'm surprised he was working with Mr. Sinister cause he's a mutant, and Bastion is a human looking sentinel thing. That explains the Genosha massacre cause, of course, he'd wanna exterminate them.

Magneto's alive! But, he's held captive by Bastion. Okay, I don't know how the hell he survived or how he got captured when he was in Genosha. I hope that'll be explained. But, if he's there then where's Leech? Where are the Morlocks? Cause they were there with Magneto.

I'm really really worried for Magneto. He must've been captured for days or weeks, and I think Bastion is gonna turn him into a Prime Sentinel like Trask. That would be so so terrible if that happened. He'll become the thing he fought against. The thing he despises. God, what's taking Xavier so long?! He gotta go save him!

So, a good episode again. But next week begins the three-parter finale which I'm really nervous how it'll turn out. I hope the show will stick the landing, but I can't handle it more of my favorite characters get killed or worse.

[kristailine]

Tekken 8 storymode thoughts/rant/review

Obviously will contain spoilers

But I have to say that

Surprisingly, I really liked Tekken 8's story (which is something I really didn't expect. I was preparing to gaslight myself that I liked the story because I was expecting a mid plot. But I can definitely say that I genuinely enjoyed this installment's storymode)

I'm going to remove my kazujun stan lens for this review

Jin has always been an after thought to me. The only time I care about him is if it's connected either to Kazuya or Jun (as a kazujun shipper). But the way he was written in Tekken 8 added layers to him and developed his character well. Don't get me wrong though, IT WOULD NEVER REALLY ERASE THE FUCKED UP SHIT THEY DID WITH TK5-7, but Tekken 8 was sweeping up some of the garbage left behind.

I always joke about Jin and his war crimes. Obviously, waging war is bad irl, but this is fiction okay. Anyway, Tekken 8 somehow managed to make me really feel like Jin didn't want to wage war. It was more of a result of his own self deprecation. Add to this, he was already suicidal before he took over the Zaibatsu, but after Tk6, he just really sulked into the idea of having to carry his sins and let it define him for the rest of his life.

The way they turned Jin from this guy who's hopeless and is submerged in his own hatred towards his bloodline and himself to this guy who finally acknowledges that all of the bad things are a part of who he is, but it doesn't have to be who he completely is, was really really really written decently. This whole character development with Jin instantly makes Tekken 8 on par, if not equal to, Tekken 4 story writing. And I was really impressed and blown away with how they unfolded the development. Because I really didn't want the romanticization of all his past mistakes, and his allies just cheering him on. Instead, his allies actually acknowledge JIN AS A DEVIL literally and figuratively (e.g Hwoa saying Jin has those dope-ass powers, Leroy asking Jin who is he, Xiaoyu saying she isn't scared of Jin despite the devil look), but they all believed in the chance they gave him to atone for everything he's done wrong.

I wish we could've gotten more about the history of the devil gene. It's still a very vague concept, and I was kinda expecting Tekken 8 to answer most of the questions about it, but still no.

Although as a Jun stan, I'm upset she never really appeared in the real world, I have to say that I really like how they still kept going with Jun's persona as a mysterious woman. If you see a previous post of mine, I have always been scared that Tekken 8 would finally be the franchise who would ruin Jun's character, but they played safe with it. She's still as mysterious as ever, but they allowed her to show more of her kindheartedness.

Like I said, I really wish we could've gotten more. I wish we could've also got to explore Kazuya's perspective. It's been like 6 consecutive games, and we still haven't had a storymode that focuses on Kazuya's character (always the one sided villain). Although, I understand why they couldn't do it (maybe because of budget constraints, and it would really diminish and compress the quality of Jin's char dev if they're gonna focus on both of them). I'm assuming at least that we get Tekken 9 and have it shine a spotlight on Kaz.

Overall, I really liked it. It gets an 8/10 for me!

More things I kinda didn't like:

- Where the hell is Yoshimitsu???? He appears in the tournament and then goes Bye Felicia once Kazuya absorbed Azazel LMAOOOOO. His bio about investigating the Mishima bloodline and whatever didn't really reflect on the storymode :<<

- Nina and Steve.... Uhhh.... We already had them in Tk 7, and I was at least expecting that they would continue it in Tk 8

- The Asuka Kazama erasure.... She's just treated as another one of the side characters at this point. I fear she's just only in the game now because of Lili. She's very underdeveloped and underutilized and I feel so sad about it :<<

Tekken has a very interesting set of characters with amazing dynamics and chemistry with everyone else. It has a huge amount of lore to explore as well. And they could really do better by exploring and developing most of the characters. Here's to hoping we get a story expansion DLC not just for the main story, but also for the other beloved characters in the game.

[hbnjhgv]

My Aot Ships !SPOILERS!

EreMika (Eren x Mikasa) omg do I even need to elaborate? First of all THE FACT THAT MIKASA LOOKS PRETTIER WHEN ITS IN ERENS POV? And not to mention the fact that in episode 12 Ian even says to Mikasa 'defend your boyfriend' in sub and in dub he said 'go save the man you love' also when Eren asked Mikasa what he is to her it was obious he wasnt wanting the answer "your my family" AND THE FACT THAT THEY KISSED IN THE FINAL EPISODE

NicoSasha (Niccolo x Sasha) LITTERALLY CANNON BUT ISAYAMA HATES LOVE APARENTLY. Niccolo looked mesmerised and looked so inlove while blushing when he saw Sasha CRYING over how good his food was. Omg and the way he reacted when his conrad called Sasha a 'filth blooded potato grubbing devil' MY MAN WAS GOING TO KILL SOMEONE and when he said "What is this brat someone specil to you? Is that why he tried to protect you earlier? You care about him huh? Well I used to care about someone too! A DIRT BLOODED ELDIAN! A DECENDENT OF DEVILS! THE WOMAN WHO ENJOYED THE FOOD I COOKED MORE THAN ANYONE ID EVER MET BEFORE! She saved me from this shitty ass pointless war... she showed me that the person I ment to be as a man who brings people happiness through his cooking... that was Sasha Braus... she was amzing. AND YOU STOLE HER FROM ME!" OMG LIKE HOW CAN YOU HEAR HIM SAY THAT AND NOT THINK ITS CANNON?!

AurEtra (Ouro x Petra) OMG ISAYAMA LITTERALLY SAID THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO GET MARRIED! Also I noticed that they argue very much like a couple. sorry i dont have much to say about this ship. I just really like it.

MikeNana (Miche x Nannaba) Ok listen. This isn't a mega huge ship I have I just think its really cute. Also everytime Miche and Nannaba interact omg its adorable. Thats about it.

KenUri (Kenny x Uri) THE WAY THEY INTERACTED WITH EACHOTHER OMGGG now I dont this its super inlove. I just think they were atleast a little inlove with eachoter. THEY ARE SOULMATES AND NO ONE CAN CONVINCE ME OTHERWISE! Also in the OFFICIAL AOT GUIDE BOOK THIS IS A CONVERSATION ISAYAMA HAD WITH AN INTERVEIWER Interviewer: "So he (Kenny) thought id he eliminated Uri, the world would become right again. But he lost the fight." Isayama: "Kenny's way of judging value is: 'The strong are in the right', and so for that reason he was attracted to Uri." LIKE OMG HE LITTERALLY SAID KENNY WAS ATTRACTED TO URI! (and no one say "oh well he wouldn't make Kenny be intrested in men" when Yumir and Historia are LITTERALLY CONFERMINED LESBIANS.

YumiHisu (Yumir x Historia) This is gonna be short because it's obious this ship is cannon. Yumir always telling Historia "You are so gonna have to marry me after all this shit is over!" When Historia was with Yumir after the tower fell. The way they looked at eachother. The fact that Historia was more worried about Yumir than anything when Reiner and Bertolt reveled their titans and took Eren and Yumir. WHEN YUMIR SAID TO REINER AND BERTOLT "You guys have no idea what it's like. She knows what a shitty person I am, but she still smiles at me. I can't..." THE FACT THAT HISTORIA TOLD YUMIR "I will always be your ally" EVEN AFTER YUMIR BASICALLY ATE HER. HISTORIA PROTECTING YUMIR WHEN MIKASA ALMOST KILLED HER TO SAVE EREN! WHEN HISTORIA SAID "But with Yumir gone I've lost my purpose. I don't even know what I'm fighting for anymore." OMG NOT TO MENTION THE LETTER?! 'To my dear Historia, as I write this Reiner's standing at my side. He knows this is a love letter, but he's still sneaking peaks. Honestly, it's no wonder the creep's still single. That said.. he did give me his word that he'd deliver this letter to you. He says he owes me for the time I doubled back to save him. I'm sorry about then... I never would've imagined myself choosing those two.. over you... I'm going to die soon. But... I'll die without regrets. Or that's what I'd like to say. Truth is... I do have one. It's that I never got to marry you. With Love, Yumir' I MEAN HOW CAN YOU READ THAT AND NOT SHIP THEM?!

MobuHan (Moblit x Hange) OMG MOBLITS PRTECTIVENESS AND THE WAY HES SO PACIENT WITH THEM! He's always trying to protect them. AND HOW THEY INTERACT WITH EACHOTHER! M: "I don't think thats the way you want to talk to the leader of our whole regiment" H: "SHUT UP >:( AS I WAS SAYING" ALSO THIS MOMENT. M: "PLEASE DONT GO ALONE! IT'S TOO DANGEROUS!" AND MOBLITS LITTLE "STOPPPP!" WHEN HANGE RODE AWAY! H: "dont try to call me bluff" M: "Please dont!"

[wanderersrest]

The Devil That Is Capitalism

Content Warning: this post is going to potentially be talking about a whole smorgasbord of dicey topics including child abuse, child sexual abuse, child soldiers, war crimes, death, fates worse than death, politics, militarism, casual mention of suicide, and, of course, capitalism.

Also Spoiler Warning for Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans

Reader discretion is advised.

Mobile Suit Gundam has always been a series about the horrors of war. To me, though, one of the more fascinating things about the series is that a lot of the wars in the various timelines stem from some form of unchecked capitalism. Though I haven't watched every series in the franchise yet, I do think one series in particular stands out in its portrayal of capitalism and its woes: 2015's Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans. Strap yourselves in, because this is going to be an extremely long post, and make sure that you've read the content warning at the top of the post.

Oh, and it might help to read my Spoilery Rant on Iron-Blooded Orphans. It is informed, in part, by what I'm about to say in this post. And also make sure you read the context post about Gundam and its thematic ties to capitalism. And you might want to open up TVTropes' character page, because there are going to be a lot of nouns thrown around.

Left For The Wolves

Iron-Blooded Orphans begins with our titular orphans, the Third Company of the Chryse Guard Security organization (CGS), being chosen to escort one Kudelia Aina Bernstein from Mars to Earth so that she can meet with the leaders of the Earth economic blocs and negotiate the freedom of her nation of Chryse. After they are left to die by their superiors when Gjallarhorn, the protectors of the Earth sphere, attack, the Third Company manage to pull through using an old Mobile Suit that CGS had been using as a power source: the ASW-G-08 Gundam Barbatos (ehe intensifies). Once the dust settles, the members of the Third Group stage a violent coup against their owners and rename themselves Tekkadan: the Iron Flower That Never Wilts.

And right away, we can see how capitalism shapes the Post-Disaster timeline. The fact that children are not only forced to pick up undesirable jobs in order to just barely eke out a living, to say nothing of the fact that those who become child soldiers are forced to undergo surgery to have the Alaya-Vijyana System implanted into them. And, uh...

Getting the AV Implant is not good. IF the surgery is successful, then you are now capable of piloting the tank-like Mobile Worker. But due to the fact that the Alaya-Vijyana System has been outlawed by Gjallarhorn, the only people who perform it by the time Iron-Blooded Orphans are back alley doctors. And if your body rejects the AV System, you'll only be paralyzed from the waist down. If you're lucky.

So it's either that or, in the case of Atra, it's brothel work. The only thing that saved Atra was the fact that she was too young to do anything serious, so she was relegated to cleaning and dishwashing. But it isn't unheard of for these Martian street rats to be used for the other unsavory acts, as we'll soon find out.

Pitting the Poor Against One Another (Featuring Ein Dalton)

Another aspect of Iron-Blooded Orphans that exemplifies the worst parts of capitalism is how the systems put in place by capitalism will pit poor people against other poor people. The best example of this in action in IBO is everyone's favorite ball of rage: Ein Dalton.

Like the orphans who populate Tekkadan, Ein is a member of Gjallarhorn who was born and raised in Mars. Of course, due to its nature as a colony of the Earth Sphere, citizens of Mars are generally treated as second-class citizens. And even though he is a soldier of Gjallarhorn, Ein is treated just like the street rats of Mars. It is important to note that when Ein is introduced, the only person who really respects him as a human being is his direct superior Crank Zent.

And Crank ends up committing suicide by Tekkadan. And then Tekkadan, the people who killed Crank, end up commandeering his Mobile Suit for their own purposes. This ends up setting up a good amount of bad blood between Ein and Tekkadan, which lasts for the rest of the first season. And it's a real shame for Ein since, in theory, he and the members of Tekkadan have a shared upbringing as Martian citizens. But because Ein is working for Gjallarhorn, he is placed in an organization that treats him as a second-class citizen. And only two people in this organization treat him with respect: the now deceased Crank and Gaelio Bauduin, who takes Ein under his wing immediately after Crank's passing.

This kind of exploitation that pits marginalized groups against one another is a key component of capitalism and its more sinister cousin, imperialism. Since Mars is treated as a place that has lots of resources, the people don't matter. The people only exist to help extract said resources. So this, coupled with Ein being stuck in an organization where one of the few people who treat him as a human being is killed off for rather selfish (but really understandable) reasons, he ends up loathing the people whose struggles are most sympathetic to his own.

So when a mortally wounded Ein gets strapped into the EB-AX-2 Graze Ein, it makes sense in a really sad way that he is reduced to a screaming mess of a mechanical monster. And boy, if I had a nickel for every time Iron-Blooded Orphans introduced a screaming mechanical monster, well... you should just start calling me Doofenschmertz. But more on that soon.

It's All About Who Has the Power and the Money

Moving on to Gjallarhorn itself, we can see how capitalism and the status quo has made the organization complacent. Our first introduction to Gjallarhorn includes the head of the Mars Branch being bribed by Kudelia's father in an attempt to bring her back home. The Mars Branch head decides that killing her along with everyone who is trying to give her passage to Earth. So right from the get-go, we know that Gjallarhorn members are willing to commit crimes all because no one will really stop them. After all, Gjallarhorn have basically been the one true military power in the Post-Disaster timeline for more than 300 years at this point.

Gjallarhorn at this point is a corrupt and hollow shell of its former self. At this point in the Post-Disaster timeline, the organization has gone from a group that protected humanity from the Mobile Armors to an organization that protects the status quo at all costs while protecting the worst of the lot. The attack on CGS at the beginning of the series is a great example of this, and it doesn't stop there.

Gjallarhorn is guilty of election interference due to their involvement with economic bloc nation Arbrau's elections, as they had place Tomonosuke Makanai under house arrest in an attempt to keep him from being elected. Gjallarhorn is also guilty of committing multiple false flag operations, which I will talk about later. There's also the fact that one of the heads of the Seven Stars married off his son to a child, though in that case that is largely to make said son look bad (and we'll touch on the son soon).

And nothing exemplifies Gjallarhorn's descent into decadence more than at least two heads of the Seven Stars, Carta Issue and Iok Kujan, being glory hounds who will sacrifice all of their men just to look good. Both only look out for themselves, with the latter in particular being a detriment to not just his enemies but his allies as well. In fact, I would go so far as to say that Iok actively screws everyone over by being the biggest failson the series has to offer. And Iok's stupidity rears its head at one of the worst moments imaginable: the awakening of the Mobile Armor Hashmal. And the worst part about this? Hashmal isn't the biggest monster the series has to offer.

The monster is also not Gundam Barbatos, or really any of the Gundam frames, for that matter.

The Real Monster Was Rustal Elion

One of the more maddening takes that's pervasive one places like Reddit is the idea that Orga and McGillis are the bad guys. Like we all just forgot that Rustal Elion exists? Or for that matter Nobliss Gordon, Jasley Donomikols, or Iok Kujan?

And the real irony of this is that, contrary to what Gundam is famous for, Iron-Blooded Orphans is one of the few Gundam series where there are actual, capital V villains. Yes, our protagonists are violent even by the standards of Gundam protagonists and will do whatever it takes to win, but they're all creations of the systems of violence that capitalism have produced. And yes, that does include resident Char Clone McGillis Fareed (though, as I have said before, I can understand if someone said he was a villain too). It turns out being a street urchin who is adopted by a man who would proceed to sexually abuse McGillis is going to mess you up mentally. That's why, in their final confrontation, Gaelio can only look on McGillis in pity. It doesn't absolve McGillis of any wrongdoing, but it does make sense why he wouldn't trust anyone with his plan of dismantling Gjallarhorn. Doubly so when Gaelio all but states that he would have joined McGillis in his cause had the latter just opened up to the former.

But people like YouTuber Boofire191 will swear to you that the "protagonists" are the bad guys. Right...

Because performing multiple false flag operations as a justification for committing multiple war crimes makes you a good guy, right? Because that's something that both Rustal and Iok have done, twice in the case of Rustal specifically, three times if we count him as also being Iok's superior.

Or murdering civilians in cold blood just to get a rise out of your rival? That has Jasley written all over it. Oh, and Iok is also partly responsible for this as well as killing off unarmed civilians on top of hiring Jasley.

Or, for that matter, trying to have a Martian politician assassinated? Nobliss tried to pull this off with Kudelia in season one. Heck, Nobliss' whole MO is fighting for Martian independence in such a way that he can also make a profit while doing so. That's why he ultimately sells Tekkadan out to Rustal in season 2.

Or what about awakening a mobile armor even though your enemies are literally telling you not to? Because Iok sure didn't care about the fact that he could potentially awaken the nightmare of the Calamity War. His foolish mistakes end up costing everyone everything, including Rustal.

Yes, really. Iok is so much of a failson that he manages to ruin Rustal's plans. Because remember: Rustal's end game is not just restoring the status quo. It's restoring the status quo in such a way that he, Rustal Elion, would be the new head of the Seven Stars. Of course, Iok screws this up in the best way he ever could:

By slowly getting slowly crushed to death by Akihiro and the Gusion Rebake Full City.

I single out Rustal, by the way, for one very specific reason: he's the only one of these villains who is still alive by the end of the show. Jasley gets his just desserts when Tekkadan leaves Teiwaz (which I haven't even mentioned, good lord) for the sole purpose of getting revenge for Naze Turbine and company's demise at the hands of Jasley. Nobliss Gordon is gunned down in a bathroom stall by an older Ride Mass, which makes for a fitting end for a greedy corporate fat cat like Gordon. And that slimeball named Iok Kujan... is crushed to death in the most satisfying of manners by the GOAT, Akihiro Altland.

I had to bring it up again. Iok's death always sparks joy in me.

But Rustal is not defeated. And this is important, because Rustal represents the status quo. This is why my point about Iok screwing things up even for Rustal is so important: with at least four of the Seven Stars families out of commission, it is all but impossible for things to continue the way they are now. And remember, Rustal still wins in the end. He gets to save face as the hero who stopped the Devil of Tekkadan, all while people don't hear about the war crimes he committed just to do so.

And don't forget: the people Rustal won against were almost exclusively children. He slaughtered children in the name of the status quo.

Conclusion

To tie it all together, everything in the Post-Disaster timeline is about power. Money speaks volumes in Iron-Blooded Orphans, and it's what sets Orga and Tekkadan on their path to fame, infamy, and ruin. Tekkadan's arrival onto the scene, alongside the scheming of one McGillis Fareed, sets us up for a situation where people who could shake things up are appearing. And if there is anything capitalists hate, it's anything that rocks the boat.

In a way, Rustal Elion ultimately serves as the setting's equivalent to an immune response. These dangerous entities have appeared and are threatening the status quo, so it is up to Rustal and his Arianrhod Fleet to crush them. And like an immune response, whether it be a real one or the kind seen in Cells At Work, his response is ruthless. But it isn't enough, and he is ultimately forced to compromise.

And that, to me, is a fitting end to a man obsessed with power.

[moonsorchid]

Rewatching ep.29 of Love Between Fairy and Devil

Part 1 - I tried to include my comments in one post, but again so many things happen in this episode

(spoilers ahead)

So we learn that DFQC didn’t drink the elixir that would prevent him from feeling Xiao Lanhua’s pain while she was in the cave. And we also get this wonderful speech: “Since we are to be husband and wife, we must stay together until death do us part for better or worse. Even though I cannot bear this trial for her, how can I let her suffer alone?”

At this point, they haven’t said “I love you” (as far as I remember, correct me please if I am wrong), they have barely shared any intimate moments, yet their love for each other is so deep and beyond conventional relationship milestones, that they are willing to go through all this suffering.

Awe Xunfeng, now you make me feel bad for saying all those bad things for you. You have a heart, I may like you from now on.

He truly worries for her (I did not remember this at all) I am sorry, Xunfeng :(

Xiao Lanhua remembers their moments together (their first kiss in the prison, how DFQC was cooling the dew water for her, how he kissed her underwater, how he saved her from the immortals, riding the dragon, DFQC making petals flow around her, trying to get her pin, teaching him how to smile, kissing on the bridge, watching the sunrise together) to endure the torture. I am melting

Can I just say that I love Shangque? His devotion and kindness to DFQC are admirable

I loooooove this scene where they acknowledge her as their Queen

Ok, Xunfeng, I take it all back. I love you, now. So happy he accepted her as his Queen. *I have a goofy smile on my face*

Uff, such a powerful scene when DFQC enters the room - the signs of exhaustion obvious on his face and the way he walks – and approaches her. His touch is so tender, the way he looks at her so sweet. I am dying, I love them so much

They are back in the palace and everyone kneels in front of their Moon Queen. So proud of my babies!

Look how happy Shangque is!!! So cute!

And what a shock for Changheng to realize that the Goddess he was engaged to is in fact Orchid.

How fast did I watch this the first time that I don’t remember her saying this? Poor Danyin :( I love her character development.

Ok, so Ronghao claims that the Moon tribe was the one that killed the 3000 heavenly soldiers. And the Emperor is like yes, I believe the prisoner, without investigating further, and I am going to start a war without any second thoughts.

Pausing to appreciate his calmness and beauty.

Um, excuse me, Ronghao, but you just started a war

Do you know how much I love sweet puppy dragon? He just gave Jieli a key to all his savings. I mean he is the purest, most innocent person in the world. He knows her, he knows what she’s like and yet he opens his heart (and his savings) to her, fully aware she might steal them and never look back. Because he wants to see the good in people. The cynical part of me thinks he is naive, but another part of me believes he is precious.

Haha Jieli is already thinking about opening a store with him. They are so cute together!

I mean look at how happy he is! 

See you in part 2 (hopefully soon, because I miss them already)

Also, you can use my post as a drinking game for the words "love" and "cute" :D