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marikosenwrites · 9 months

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bungo stray dogs dating headcanons

a/n: note this is for all dazai ranpo atsushi chuuya and akutagawa (in that order) simps <3 my bbys they're all short

warning: names called, kind of ooc(?)

gn!reader

dazai osamu

✧this guy is head over heels for you

✧literally

✧will protect you in anyway possible after losing odasaku (sobb)

✧let's say you're in the agency so he sees you like almost everyday

✧you're the motivation that makes him go to the agency??

✧asks you to do a double suicide with him when you least expect it

✧you say, "some time."

✧DAZAI POUTS SO HARD

✧you chuckle, and ruffle his hair.

✧suddenly. he sits on your lap leaning his head on your shoulder-

✧SLEEPS the day goes by so quickly, and soon, it's already time to get off work and go to dinner with him

✧so you wake him up, "'samu? you said you reserved a table at the restaurant nearby, right?"

✧he jolts up excitedly. "yeah, i did! we're leaving, kunikidaa~"

✧you wave to kunikida on the way out and head for the restaurant

✧yall have a great dinner <3 and head back to the dorm, whereas you and dazai share a dorm!!

✧you take a quick bath and so does dazaiii he is so unbelievably fast

✧he sleeps like a koala. you're his tree.

✧you sometimes almost suffocate and then you wake up and kinda move dazai away from you

✧he grabs tighter.

✧shit ya gonna die but...

"n/n... don't leave me...stay..."

edogawa ranpo

✧you accompany ranpo on any case possible, if kunikida lets you go with him.

✧often times he does, and you're grateful for that

✧though there was this one time that you couldnt accompany ranpo on his case because you had to go for an urgent mission kunikida assigned you

✧he ignored you for so long 😭

✧"r-ranpo... i'm sorry, i had to attend the mission..."

✧he doesn't reply, unlike his usual self

✧you just hug him from behind and hand him a snack, a gesture saying that you're sorry

✧eventually he gives in and leans into your hug

✧you guys chill on the couch while eating popcorn

✧"y/n, y/n, do you wanna hear how the world's GREATEST detective solved today's case?" he asks you enthusiastically (is there a typo)

✧as a good partner, OFC you say yes then he rambles on and on while you eat popcorn and occasionally feed him some

✧you guys soon head to sleep

✧not after you guys take a warmmm bath together in your bathtub, though

✧as you tuck him in, you also give him a big kiss on his forehead, like you always do

✧and get in the bed yourself

"mm. much better. night night, sugar."

nakajima atsushi

✧this guy is so soft for you

✧protect him please and thank you

✧though ofc he wouldnt want you to face akutagawa by yourself

✧that's the only thing he wouldnt want you to protect him from

✧though, it would be nice if you protected him from kunikida's wrath of hell

✧he would come and find you to get to work, if you aren't already living together already

✧you guys walk hand-in-hand to the agency or if you live far, you guys meet up at the train station

✧he sits next to you or near to you in the office

✧kunikida's always complaining how he's always talking to you to his therapist (if he has one i feel like he needs one though)

✧is always paired with you on missions

✧"n/n! are you sure you're okay?" atsushi asks you worriedly.

✧"atsushi, i only bumped into a mannequin by accident-"

✧"are you sure??"

✧you OFTEN need to reassure him that you're fine and it was just a small scratch or something like that

✧he asks multiple times during the day and when you guys sleep he's just like searches for scratches that you're hiding not very obviously cuz he's worried

✧likes holding you when you sleep and you just lean into the crook of his neck like <333 you help him get rid of his nightmares

"good night, n/n... sleep well..."

nakahara chuuya

✧best fucking partner i swear

✧head over heels for you part 2

✧is kind of worried about protecting you if you get targeted by the public

✧only kind of though *wink wink*

✧his ability can protect you well and protect the city

✧if you ever get missions, asks you to send all the files to him just in case you go for more than a day and no one knows where you went

✧"baby, make sure to send me the files before you leave for the mission, alright?"

✧"mhm... i'll make sure to send it tonight, then. just in case i forget tomorrow morning."

✧you don't get lost too often though so he doesn't get to shine TwT

✧when you do though, chuuya gets very very worried and heads to the location to find you

✧always checks if you're okay, if you're heavily injured, fights the guys in like one minute and he's done and then carries you back to pm hq

✧if you're not as heavily injured but still injured (which is often the case if you're lost), still ends the guys in one minute and gets a bandage out of nowhere

✧when he gets home with injuries

✧you get to place kisses on them no matter where they are what they look like

✧sleep with you asking you if you want the big spoon or small spoon

✧you often choose the small spoon

✧rare occasions are that chuuya is heavily injured

✧you and chuuya sleep peacefully <3

"good night, doll. sweet dreams."

akutagawa ryuunosuke

✧akutagawa is clueless about almost everything in a relationship

✧except for that you share affection, i guess??

✧you're always paired with him in missions

✧if you're not akutagawa demands a refund from mori lmao

✧he has gin teach him on the basics of relationships, like what you should do while sharing affection and stuff

✧when you're hurt in a mission he picks you up with rashomon no matter what or how bad your injuries are/injury is, he doesnt care and you need care immediately

✧after picking you up kills the bad guys like "RASHOMON!" that kills them "HOW DARE YOU HURT Y/N?!"

✧"ryuunosuke?? it's only a scratch??" you looked confused to him.

✧"any wound is a fatal wound for you. you don't have an ability, y/n." he states bluntly.

✧you would just kind of bonk his head (so cute omg) and then be like "hmph"

✧he prepares an actual bath for you with bath bubbles and all

✧refuses to join you though he's not used to being completely uncovered in front of someone, even his family/lover

✧after a lot a bit of convincing, you manage to get him in the bath tub with you, relaxing

✧you guys finish bathing with some relaxing in each other's arms

✧he sleeps with a shirt on def but with like boxers on only though

✧he feels better with the shirt cuz rashomon

✧he cuddles you like he's protecting you and stuff

"i love you, y/n. always know that. good night."

a/n: also hoped you liked this! you're always free to request, as long as its in my abilities and i have the time.

©all banners, dividers, and stories are made by marikosenwrites and the pictures in it are from pinterest. i own none of the BUNGO STRAY DOGS/BUNGOU STRAY DOGS/文豪ストレイドッグス characters mentioned here.

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starberry-cupcake · 5 months

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I'm back! Thank you so much for your patience and your kind messages and comments ♥ you are so nice about my silly ramblings, I appreciate it a lot.

previously, on harrowsoup the ninth:

this happened

also I posted this and this as previews and this is the whole tag

currently, chapters 23-26:

"an atmosphere of greater unease had settled over the mithraeum"

aka the emperor's bolthole

btw, no kidding, harrow, I hadn't noticed the unease

so, harrow asks around about the herald situation

I have another deck with dragon heralds but I'm not gonna go on a card tangent this time (you're welcome)

everyone gives terrible and useless descriptions

emperor johnny boy says "Whenever they come I am bundled off to a sealed sanctum at the heart of the Mitrhaeum, so that their insanity can't touch me"

asshole coward awful man

harrobean is trying to ask why emperor asshat is so sure about her having to die and if there's no way she can make it

emperor johnny says yandere twin isn't that good at being a lyctor yet, even if she's surprising and that if he was still giving silly names, he'd name her "Saint of Awe"

harrow thinks "that had not quite suited Naberius"

get perpetually owned, chad

harrow also mentions not being able to remember things well

YOU THINK, HARROW?

"it was as though your brain had formed a scab over everything that had happened to you"

I don't think that scab is healing well

emperor johnny insists on the rapier

idk why they all insist on the rapier

gideon and camilla didn't like it and were the fucking best cavaliers ever

ARE, THEY ARE THE BEST CAVALIERS EVER

PRESENT TENSE

but anyway, at this point, it could very well be emperor johnbro has aesthetic demands

not like he'll explain anything

harrowbean sees not!dulcinea's door closed, which isn't usual

she second guesses a bit because she can't always trust what she sees and she remembers crux saying "you saw what you saw, Lady, and the only thing you control now is your reaction thereto"

I didn't like that old man, but that's pretty cool of him to say

harrow opens the door and sees this

alleged gideon the first aka ortus tells harrow to go away very calmly and in a way that is too nice for him, apparently

harrow is upset at the display in front of her salad and goes to complain to yandere twin

which is a terrible place to complain at because she's both into gossip and into kink

if you want someone to take this seriously, that's the last place to go to

"at least you know who's been moving her—so to speak"

this is what we get combining yandere twin and chad

I've used that gif twice for her already

I forgive her, though, because she says "god is a dickhead" and she's right

she also asks harrow to try to remember why emperor john god has given her the sword

and establishes that harrow previously did something to her jaw so that she couldn't tell her

that's going in the 3d model

CHAPTER 24

apparently people are being less mean to harrowbean because they're already mourning her

harrow says that alleged gideon the first aka ortus has the name ortus because "it was just a banal and uncomfortable coincidence, as though he'd carried the name of a dead childhood pet"

she believes that the name must have caught on in the ninth because anastasia must have like brought it in and named people after her pal

I think he's named gideon

and that our gideon is named after him because of direct relationship of some capacity, maybe to someone involved

I considered the mom, but it's uncertain

in any case, he has to die

so, harrow puts a lot of wards and safety things in her room

kind of like this

home alone styling it

but apparently alleged gideon the first aka ortus can bypass wards

much like the sleeper/waker

much like not!dulcinea

wards are basically pointless, I guess, at this point

so he goes into her bathroom when she's bathing because here in the emperor's bolthole, everyone's a disrespectful asshole

harrowbean says he's "a thanergy void" and "the ultimate nemesis of a bone adept"

he tries to kill her while she's looking like this

I want to give this child some cocoa and play a comfort movie for her, like "the bone collector"

she ended up using the teeth she lost in the fight as projectiles in his eyes and got him to leave

she ended up bloody, unmoving, wet, naked and collapsed on the ground to which yandere twin live reacted to and left

she could have given her a hand

or an arm

she decided alleged gideon had to die and ice cube barbie aka probably annabel lee agreed

when gideon was among us, there was not enough time for her to throw hands at people and here there's so many people she could be throwing hands at and she's not here to do so

camilla too, but camilla threw hands at martita in a way that was legendary enough

CHAPTER 25

harrow goes with the chisme to dr reverend professor emperor john

she says "I swear by the Locked Tomb"

to which he replies "I wouldn't swear by that in this instance"

which I sure hope doesn't mean anything nasty with my girl ice cube barbie annabel lee because I'm gonna kill this man

she might not be entirely alive (maybe she is, maybe she's just suspended or something) but she deserves better than this piece of work

then he says "well, that's unfortunate"

this man really knows how to handle a situation, huh

emperor john says that it's pretty unlikely that alleged gideon the first aka ortus was doing the dirty with not!dulcinea because he never showed interest before and is "legendarily unamorous"

that's another tshirt I need

I need that one and the witch one immediately

also, now we've got a problem

not just because my telenovela about how this man might or might not be related to our gideon got more convoluted

but also because if alleged gideon is aroace, I'm gonna have to stan

I don't make the rules over here, I have to stand by my people

I have a conflict of interest now

emperor john also says "you must think us all a depraved set of immortal criminals"

I mean yes, I do, but not because of sexy times with zombies

I'm not here to judge the sexytimes of necromancers and whatever they do in their spare time

I don't know the intricacies of consent with ghosts or whatever, I can't be imparting judgment

it's not that, emperor john

it's because you're unpleasant war criminals who are killing planets for fun

well, the war criminal part I don't have hard evidence on rn but the situation doesn't seem to be in the favor of these people

I feel like when this man talks about the overall situation I'm getting a speech from emperor palpatine

emperor reverend john asks harrow, who has been awake for 25 years, to go to sleep

yeah, sure, she should go to sleep and wait for this guy to come by and try to kill her for the millionth time

meanwhile, harrowbean keeps collecting hours without sleep like

she makes, at the request of emperor camp counselor john, soup for everyone

I don't remember if it was here or before and I forgot but, this is extremely important

they mentioned cassiopeia being the one who cooked before

cassiopeia the same one with the ceramics collection, if I'm remembering correctly

cassiopeia who was also from the sixth, I think

camilla's house

she's checking every single one of my boxes like a sniper

why isn't she here, we're stuck with the grumpy one and the senior chad

ANYWAY, at the mention of harrow cooking I thought, immediately, "that's an awesome way to kill this guy"

I was picturing more like a poison type situation, although I didn't know how that could be achieved

something like this

but I should have known poison was too subtle for harrowcita

like I established back when protozoa's head was found in her closet, subtle isn't harrow's style

so it was more like this

basically, harrow sectioned her tibia to put some in the soup and then she could necrobend it so that it attacked from the inside

if I'm getting it right

insane plan and I love it

emperor john shadyman says "ten thousand years since I've eaten human being, Harrow, and I didn't really want an encore."

were they snacking on people during the Resurrection???

did they kill people by making lunch?????

???????????????????????????????????????????

"you think we're bad because we have sexy times with ghoulies?? uwu" that's the least of my concerns johnny john man

harrow then breaks down and asks straight to his face WHY THE FUCK MUST SHE SUFFER LIKE THIS

she calls herself a nonsense

the only nonsense here is what this emperor man speaks

she tells him she hasn't slept in six days

for a sleep deprived plan, it was excellent tbh

emperor man over here asks yandere twin to take her to sleep

and then stays with mercygirl to whom he says it's insane that harrow could do what she did and how did mercygirl miss that

this is the situation, as I have previously established

augustine looks at harrow "as if he had seen the ghost of someone he did not particularly like"

alleged gideon the first aka ortus salutes her on her way out

he doesn't even have heartburn

CHAPTER 26

we're back on gideon-less canaan house because it's time for more people to die

in ways that make 0 sense at all for what we know so far

regina george twin is pushed to her death by mayonnaise uncle

sounds fake to me

like, come on

regina george twin can probably murder that feeble guy on sight

we saw her spar with gideon, she wanted to be the cav that chad ended up being

she might not be a necro but she can stand her ground in a physical fight

mayonnaise uncle without duracell bunny nephew is like a sweaty guy on an anime con complaining about girls ruining everything while buying a maid figurine

she can take him

anyway, he does that and he says to her "and somewhere out there, may all the blood of your blood suffer even a fraction of what I have suffered"

now, this is weird

is he talking about yandere twin?

he wants revenge because yandere twin obliterated him?

is yandere twin "out there"?

I'd say this might be limbo BUT CAMILLA ISN'T DEAD

harrow is going to him and he says "she has not remembered her end" "is this how it happens then?"

and then he yeeted himself into space

that's what I wanted to do with not!dulcinea all along

so, yeah, well, this canaan business is getting more complicated now that it's not just people being shot

people are throwing themselves and others into space

and the memories of harrow in the emperor's bolthole aren't completely lining up with these

and mayonnaise uncle seemed to have been more aware of things than others around here?? or maybe just more forthcoming??? in that cryptic otaku way of his

also, no camilla at all still

Things are heating up in the emperor's bolthole, hope to come back soon with another one and thanks for the patience, hope it was worth it.

#luly reacts to tlt #harrow the ninth #harrow the ninth spoilers #tlt spoilers #the locked tomb #long post #gif cw

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raijin-tribe · 13 days

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Since I’ve already rambled a little bit about the 100YQ today, I also wanted to share this longer rant that’s been sitting in my drafts for a while.

⚠️ 100 Years Quest - Ch. 123 Spoilers ⚠️

One of the biggest annoyances I’ve had with Fairy Tail’s sequel is the mis-characterization of the Raijinshuu. Don’t get me wrong, I hated their fight against Gray, but I mostly expected that… as sad as it is.

Aside from that, it’s this short sequence with Laxus from Ch. 123 that is truly disappointing to me unlike any other.

Like, I’m sorry, but are these really the only reactions we’re gonna get…?

After returning to the guild, Laxus has a moment where he opens up and admits that he took out his own dragon slayer lacrima, and the Raijinshuu just… boast about him? (Aside from Ever, who seems more shocked at his ‘true power’ than the lacrima being removed.)

You’d think they would initially show more shock/concern and ask Laxus questions about what happened and if he's really okay. Let Freed scold him for being reckless, at least. Not just go 'That's our Laxus!!' and move on. I honestly feel like this is something they would all take more seriously.

It's also annoying how we don’t get to see much reaction out of Makarov either. Remember that this is the same lacrima that Ivan wanted to steal after the BoFT, not caring if it would kill his son or not. But everyone seems to keep looking over the fact that Laxus, again, took out the lacrima that he's had since he was a kid! Just ripped it out of his chest— with his bare hands, no less!

I’m just gonna assume Laxus will tell them everything off-panel, but still… I hate when the Raijinshuu are treated like a 'blindly devoted fan club' rather than his best friends, a strong team, or even as individual characters. Even in that bullshit fight against Gray, he calls them ‘Worshippers of Laxus.’ (100YQ Ch. 30) And it’s stuff like that which I feel undermines how close they really are to him.

For the record, I don’t have an issue with the Raijinshuu fawning over Laxus— that’s always been a part of their characters and has led to some great moments between them. I have an issue when it’s the only thing they do.

Compared to other characters, especially those who were a part of the Tenrou team, it feels as though the Raijinshuu are the most forgotten about. They have no backstory, they barely get any new magic or development, and they were left out of the latest Fairy Tail games altogether!

When was the last time they had a good fight that does their magic justice? Hell, when was the last time their eye magic actually worked in their favor?

I never expected them to have much of a role in the 100YQ, and I still don't, but still, it's... really frustrating.

Sorry if this was long, but I’ve wanted to share my thoughts on this for a while.

I try not to post about the 100YQ too much because it’s mostly criticisms and frustrated rants. I want this blog to be a positive place to appreciate the Raijinshuu as characters instead of complaining about how they could be written better, but I also think it’s good to have discussions and express criticism from time to time as well. It’s just not something I’ll be doing too often.

If you made it this far, thank you so much for reading!!! I really do appreciate it!!! 💕

#textpost #discussion #raijinshuu #freed justine #bickslow #evergreen fairy tail #fairy tail evergreen #100YQ #100 Years Quest #100yq manga #100YQM #100yq spoilers #raijin-tribe

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best-ducktales-episode · 3 months

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what is YOUR favourite dt episode?

A few people have asked me for my favorite episodes, so I thought I’d wait until the end of the tournament to give some of mine!!! Using this ask as an excuse to give my top five!

In the end most of these boil down to favorite character bias, but DuckTales has some amazing characters so can you blame me-

#1 Favorite, Astro B.O.Y.D.!

Yes yeah favorite character bias of course I love Gyro and team Science but also! There is so much more to love outside of them!

First off Gyro's character development?? He was a long established favorite of mine before that and it was so wonderful to not only get his backstory but his development too all in one episode. The way they give us so much about him in just a little dialogue and how much you can read into it- "I swore I would never go back" "Spent my whole life trying to live that down" *immediately goes back and faces it* really shows how huge it was for him to see Boyd again. Just having him there made him so scared of a repeat that he went back to face it with barely a moment's hesitation.

And Boyd oh my god he is the most precious child ever. He's wildly misunderstood! Baby boy! I really want to know how much of his memory he still has in the beginning, because he didn't know anything about what happened but he was still able to recognize Gyro I'm gonna cry. His and Huey's interactions are adorable and amazing, I don't relate much to the autism rep but I sure do fucking appreciate it. Every now and then I think too much about the "just wired a little differently" line and have to sit down for a minute. "That's the nicest thing anyone's said to me" BABIES. DO YOU UNDERSTAND.

Another thing I really appreciate about this episode is Fenton! I was thinking about it recently and I think this is the most of Fenton's personality we get to see. Every other episode centered around him he's having to deal with Mark Beaks or Waddleduck (Mark Beaks) or the date fiasco (Mark Beaks) or fighting an evil robot car (Mark Beaks) or being hacked (Mark Beaks) and so it's fun to just kind of see him Hanging Out in this episode. The way he just whisks Huey and Boyd off in the middle of the night makes me think he's like the fun older relative who drives you to the gas station after dark to get movie snacks. And I will never get over his "2-BOOOOOOO" anime scream.

People in the notes during the tournament complaining The Hug is overhyped no you don't understand. It is not appreciated enough. 1. All Boyd wanted the whole episode was a hug and to get that from the person who he used to care for the most? Who used to care for him the most? I'm not okay. 2. Gyro gets up there and acknowledges what Boyd has been saying this whole time, and it touches Boyd so much that he not only snaps out of evil mind control but his first instinct is just to hug him? 3. Gyro finally sees Boyd and understands what happened and the first thing he does is grab him out of the air and hug him? Gyro is clearly not a very huggy person but he doesn't hesitate there. That hug to me always means "I see you and I'm sorry" god I'm gonna cry.

There is so much more to say about this episode like the animation and Tezuka and Akita (so mad we never saw him in F.O.W.L.) but uhhh I've rambled enough so

#2 Favorite, From the Confidential Case Files of Agent 22!

Again! Favorite character bias, I love crazy evil women. Black Heron you are everything to me I'm so sorry you were so sidelined you deserved another episode. Also what the hell was going on with her and Beakley in the 60s "I've grown very well acquainted with your agent 22" ma'am what do you mean by that. What were you two Doing. Nothing else happens in this episode right-

Kidding! When I say that the S3 finale came out of nowhere I mean the triplets reveal went too fast for me, not the buildup of Webby and Scrooge being close. We had a random-ass episode in the middle of S1 already confirming them as best friends, and it is so adorable to see them bond. Scrooge let her yell a battle cry even though it would likely trigger the robots I love them. He lets her take the final fight against Heron because he knows she can do it I love them.

#3 Favorite, The Outlaw Scrooge McDuck!

"You just like this one because Gyro and Fenton are in it" you're catching on. I'm sorry I did say this is all favorite character bias. I love Marshall and Gyro just pops in for absolutely no reason other than that they needed the Time Tub to be established and they needed an excuse to get tech into the 1800s. He could've been literally any other character they could've made a new one Gyro literally doesn't matter there but he is there just Hanging Out and I love that for him.

I'm not the biggest Scroldie fan but they are fun. My favorite part is when Goldie hits him in the face with a gold pan and leaves him in a water trough. I love seeing more of Goldie here too, "oh I ran out of people to pit against each other" Gaslight Gatekeep Girlboss it's so fun to see her actively manipulating her way out of a situation. Also I fucking love her dress and I yell her "KEY CHANGE" whenever I get a chance to.

#4 Favorite, The First Adventure!

"You just like this one because Black Heron is in it" correct. What did I say. She gets to do whatever the fuck she wants in this episode and I love her for that. "Forgot I set that one" she is everything to me.

I can't not appreciate little Donald and Della though, and we get to see The Note! "Eat the rich uncle" you know they only got away with that because no one can understand Donald. Speaking of which- I was so sad knowing it wasn't going to be Russi Taylor voicing him but I think whoever stepped in did a fantastic job, the only reason I can tell it's someone else is because I was paying so close attention to his voice. I love how Scrooge just hands the controls of a plane to a 10 year old talk about living on the edge. There are too many silly little hijinks with these three to go through but I love all of them they go so well together as characters. They all play off of each other amazingly and I feel like you get that the best in this episode. Also "am I donna or dello" should I make a poll for that.

#5 Favorite, Timephoon!

How does an episode completely change a fandom. Della Duck get behind me. I wasn't even in the fandom when this dropped but if I'm still seeing aftershocks of the chaos years after then I know it was bad. Thing is Della isn't even the thing I often focus on when watching this but I Will talk about it because nobody has any chill. Seriously kudos to her for winning the tournament she deserves it after all of this. I adore her interactions with Beakley in this episode "duuuude why would you step on a butterfly?!" that is not the point and she knows it she just does whatever she can to get out of being responsible. Mood.

The kids are really the focus here! I know Louie's story has more impact on the plot but I really like whatever was happening with Bubba and Huey and Webby. Pure shenanigans trying to reference an older character but god was it funny.

Also I really love everyones outfits at the end, Knight Della and Aaron Burr and/or Mr. Darcy 1800s Gyro especially. I really was expecting what LP said about the future to come up again in the finale, and I don't know if it's good or bad that it didn't because on the one hand that would be an amazing reference and on the other it's just more evidence of LP being silly and saying random shit.

(Honorable favorite mentions, The 87¢ Solution, The Great Dime Chase, Most Dangerous Game Night, Nightmare on Killmotor Hill, and Missing Links of Moorshire)

Anyway! I'm so happy you all are interested in my favorites and it's very fun to get to talk about them, so thank you for the excuse! Sorry they all boiled down to "I just really like this character and they're in this episode" but again that just means DuckTales creates some really fantastic characters. Main reveal I'm @wacky-nameless-inventor-24 come say Hi if you want to! I should do a poll soon of what tournament we should do next!

#ask #thank you!

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moth-p · 2 months

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Tpot 12 ramble because if I dont infodump to anyone I will unironically fucking explode

Spoilers obviously.

HOLY FUCKING SHIT OKAY. SO

1. Since in my tpot 11 ramble I discussed Three on point nr.3 i think its only fair that I talk about One first.

HOLY FUCKING SHIT?

Okay so they went in a completly different direction with one that I thought they would. I thought that she was gonna be a co-host, but honestly? I like the direction they took her character in. We didn't really have a true "villan" in bfdi like. Ever? I think? I mean yeah there are characters that are sadistic, antagonistic, live in your walls and make bad decisions but I don't think we ever had a real villan. A threat. Because you CANNOT. CANNOT tell me that One doesn't have sinister intentions. She's unnerving, and if I learned one thing from the Shrek franchise its that you dont fucking make deals with people that are clearly evil (im talking to you Fanny, Ice cube and possibly anyone else who made a deal) also, she knows a lot more that I think she has the right to. I mean, yeah. She's the stalking type, i get it but she came out of the fucking moon at the END END of tpot 9. (I think?) So thee fact that she knows so much about the contestants is kinda scary. I think the obvious motive for her is uh.. Three. I AM STILL STANDING BY MY POINT THAT THE HAND FROM TPOT 11 IS THREE. I KNOW EVERYONE AGREES ON THIS BUT. I SWEAR.

Also one is very silly. So uhh. Yeah

Point 2, the teams. I will be very honest I did not expect a team swap so soon but then again Just not had exactly three people so I don't think it would be very fair (No teardrop what are you doing here no no no you are not a part of this discussion shoo shoo /aff)

I thought I would dissect them one by one.

Point 2.1 - Death Pact yet Again (DPYA)

Ill be honest? Probably the best team. I like every single character on here.

Gaty is literally top 5 of my favs

Astrobiology is on a team together (yet) again, were winning. I love them both separately too, esp Black Hole after the recent-kinda-still-ongoing-arc. Tree's sass is something I need.

Pin! One of the "Top 4" of the original season. I love her, she was the first character I humanized, and she is actually acting like herself because early Tpot did her dirty as hell.

Marker is silly as always,

And Fanny. Need I say more? Besides, she's the only one we have actually witness make the deal with one. She's getting a lot of screen time lately and I am NOT complaining.

Oh and also Robot Flower I guess. If my tpot 13 predictions are correct, Basketballs deal with one will help her go back to normal. Good. I miss her actual self. (And Flower, I love you. Honest to god I love you. But you did really act like a bitch in the first season huh. Still top 5)

Point 2.2 - Team 2/Two

ERASER. I am so sorry you got separated from your boyfriend 💔💔💔 Probably my favorite from the team, his "rivalry" with Bottle might be interesting.... if she doesn't get voted out next. (I think she will) I think his dynamic with Snowball might be interesting since they are already friends. I think. Right?

Book and Taggy! To be honest JnJ are feeding my heart wholesome yuri and I am very happy. Books dynamic with Ice Cube will be fun to explore because uh... yeah. Also Taggy is developing which is great. Before tpot 10 I thought of them as more of a Naily 2.0, so I'm very glad that JnJ did something with them. Thank goodness they didnt get eliminated, I was kinda worried.

Snowball. Big guy. My man. I was hugely neutral about him before TPOT but god he kinda stole my heart. His relationship with grassy is so cute, and I'm begging for some interactions between him and Ice cube.

Grass boi. Thank you for not being annoying as f-ck anymore. I think youre cool. (Though he is the one I would care the least about if he god eliminated.)

Icyyyy... glad you got your legs back girl.... uhh...

Same as with Fanny. remember kids! Don't make possibly soul binding contracts with unnerving strangers!

Point 2.3 - 🎶🎶/BAGGED

Pen. I'm gonna say the same thing but I am so. So sorry that you got separated from your boyfriend 💔💔💔. His rivalry with Need- NEEDLE, I SAID NEEDLE was cool and I like how he got more competitive. (I voted for him Btw. If he gets eliminated I WILL. Cry. Vote 4 pen propaganda

TV, this one is kinda short because uh.. I dont uhh. Really. Care? I think he has a lot of potential but I dont really remeber him doing anything huge sooo

Needy! Oh. Oh no. *gets slapped into outer space* I like her. The thing with Pen was cool and I just generally enjoy her. Shes the gaslight gatekeep girlboss of the group and honestly? I hope she gets a bigger role.

Tennisball. How many times will I have to do this bit. I am so so so so so so sorry you got separated from your girlfriend 💔💔💔💔 you malewife. Its like actually the first time he and GB weren't on a team together and I think it could be interesting to see him try to kinda. Cope with that. (And also with being a leader, my boy was not made for this kinda stuff)

Basketball! .. dont make deals children.

Also, she is being set up to be an important character (obviously). With the robot flower stuff, her thing with one and rivalry with gb that i think the writers forgot about (or did it get resolved. Idk) she has had a shit ton of screen time and will play a major role in the one stuff.

And Bottle! I uhh. Yeah! Your thing with Eraser is interesting I guess! ... (She will get eliminated)

And finally (but not really)

Point 2.4 - CloudYAY

This is the last time I do this. Gb. I am. So, so so so so sorry that you got separated from your malewife boyfriend 💔💔💔

But seriously I love GB. Your team cant handle your girlboss levels. I seriously hope they will listen to you because if it turns into the 8ball situation again I will do something. (Seriously, why do people hate GB as a leader that much? She is bossy as hell, yeah, but like. Shes a pretty good leader imo)

WINNER! My non-binary pal. My sassy gender neutral gay i mean gay i mean guy. I really hope they do something big with your character again. The clock thing was pretty fun and I hope to get to know them more. Besides, Loser is like. Free. He's probably still being a celebrity like usual. I hope we get to expand even more on their past together. (I voted for them btw)

Barf bag, my dear. Jnj, please do something with her. (Ooh, but Moth, tpot 9 this tpot 9 that she played a big role in tpot 9) DONT CARE. GIVE ME MORE CONTENT OF HER.

Donut. .. so. I really like donut. His friendship with Barf bag is cool, his connection to four back in bfb was cool and i generally like him as a character. That being said.. i dont have high hopes for him. Don't get me wrong, I DONT want him eliminated, but... i dont know. Its a hunch, okay? I dont feel good about this.

Yellow face. You racist motherfucker. You took Icy's legs, donut's arms (possibly creating two traps for one, con fucking gratulations) and you also live inside my fucking walls. Despite what I said i think hes hella entertaining even if his morals are uh.. far from great.

And finally, Pillow. If i had a second guess to who would be getting eliminated, I would say its her. She has had a shit ton of haters recently and uhh.. i can see WHY.. I would love to explore her relationships within the new team. But if she gets eliminated then eh,, whatever.

. Whew, finally we got trough that, huh?

3. . No. NOT AGAIN WE ARE NOT DISCUSSING THREE AGAIN N-

So. In my Tpot 11 ramble i therorised that Three was locked away in Fours for possibly doing something terrible, and while that theory still stands...

Why did they close the door?

I think Three uhh.. lets say.. isnt feeling the best in terms of sanity right now. I mean, the whole vibe of their cage is creepy as hell. Maybe they went insane enough to develop the need to stay there? I dont know

They could have just closed it because they are afraid of four, but the whole vibe off the scene suggests otherwise (but then i am a deltarune fan and we all know about the ending of chapter 1 being a fakeout?? Whatever. sooooo)

4. Four is acting kinda strange. Is it just me? His voice sounds different and they got a very unnerving vibe from them, kinda like one does. Also why do they need the couch? I am kinda concerned.

Okay thats it its almost one am i have enough bye

#tpot 12 #moth content #bfb #tpot #bfdi #death pact yet again #team2 #cloudYAY #BAGGED #tpot 12 spoilers #one tpot #four is actually acting so weird.

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transgamerthoughts · 6 months

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Abandon All Delusions Of Control

this is another cross-post. which is funny because I've paid for a domain name redirect to my tumblr since like 2016.. i never know what site is gonna explode these days. less people follow me here than anywhere but this write ups been passed around so...

I've been playing Dragon's Dogma 2 and while I'd love to talk about gameplay or interesting moments, the game's found itself something of a cultural lightning rod. It is a game with many friction points arising in a cultural moment where gamers are, perhaps more than ever, convinced that "consumers" are kings.

Dragon's Dogma 2 is not readily "solvable" and you can't min-max it. You will make mistakes. You will be scraped and bruised and scarred. Pain is sometimes the only bridge that can take us wher ewe need to go. And gaming culture, fed the lie of mastery and player importance, does not understand that scars can be beautiful. I love this game. I think it's a miracle it came out at all.

I also think in spite of the success it's found… that 2024 might be the worst possible year for it to have released.

Let's ramble about it..

It's easy to feel like Hideaki Itsuno and his team miscalculated the amount of friction that players are willing to endure and while I don't think that's true (he didn't miscalculate moreso stick to his particular vision) it certainly appears that we've reached a point in gaming where players, glutted on convenience, don't really know what to do when robbed of it. I've heard folks complain that they can't sprint everywhere or else balk learning that ferrystones required for fast travel cost 10,000 gold as if these shatter DD2 into pieces. I'm vaguely sympathetic to these concerns but at the same time they seem to spring entirely from a lack of understanding of the game's design goals. Much like how folks demanding a traditionally structured RPG narrative from an Octopath game misunderstand what that team is trying to do, players asking to sprint through the world or teleport with ease fundamentally misunderstand what Dragon's Dogma wants. The world is not a wrapper for a story. It is the story. Dragon's Dogma is a story factory whose various textures create unprecedented triumphs and memorable failure.

It is crucial to the experience to allow both of those to occur and live with whatever follows.

I'm always cautious of talking like this because it can come off as smug or superior but I think ultimately that's the truth of the matter here. This was not a well-played franchise before now and even if it's a AAA title, there's a way in which this game is meant to elide most AAA open world trends. You are expected to traverse. If you want relatively cheap and faster travel, you're meant to find an oxcart and pay the (quite modest) fee to move between trade hubs much like you would pay for a silt strider in Morrowind. Even if you do this, you could be ambushed on the road and in the worst case the ox pulling the cart can be killed. Something being "possible" in a game doesn't always mean it is intentional but Dragon's Dogma continually undercuts the player's ability to avoid long treks. Portcrystals, which act as fast travel destinations, are limited and ferry stones (while not prohibitively expensive compared to weapons and armor) are juuust expensive enough that you need to consider if the expense is worthwhile. Once is happenstance. Multiple times is a pattern. And the pattern in Dragon's Dogma is to disincentivize easy travel. It screams of intent.

Something I could not have imagined playing games growing up is the ways in which even a decade (or two) could lead to radically different attitudes on what games should provide. That's an audience issue to an extent but it's also something games have brought upon themselves. The "language" of an open world game has been solidified through years climbable towers, mini-map marked caves, and options to zip around worlds. When a game deviates from that language, the change is more noticeable than ever.

Hell, even Elden Ring (perhaps the closest modern relative to Dragon's Dogma) allows you to warp between bonfires and gives you a steed to ride. But that's also a much larger game! DD2 is not a large game and the story is not long. Yes, you can spend untold hours wandering about into nooks and crannies but a trek from one end of the world to another is still significantly shorter than bounding through most open worlds and a run through the critical path reveals a speedy game. Not as speedy as the first but brisk by genre standards.

exploration is the glue that binds the combat and progression system in place. Upgrading armor and weapons requires seeking out specific materials and fighting certain monsters. Gathering the funds for big purchases in shops mostly comes from selling your excess monster parts. The entire game hinges on the idea of long expeditions where you accrue materials and supplies on the road and then invest that horde one way or another once you return to town. It's not simply a matter of mood and tone for you to trek throughout the world without ease. The gameplay loop is built around it.

There's another complicating factor that I'm less interested in diving into and it's the presence of certain microtransactions at launch. Principally I'm against MTX in single players games, particularly conveniences of which most of DD2's microtransactions are. But I also think there's been a fundamental misunderstanding of what many of these are. Among the biggest things I've heard (repeatedly!) is that you can pay real life money for fast travel but that's not true. You can buy a single portcrystal offering you one more potential location to warp to. It's a one-time purchase and the only travel convenience offered. This has transformed, partly because of people's lack of familiarity with Dragon's Dogma's mechanics, into a claim that you can pay over and over to teleport around. I think that assumption reveals more about the general audience than anything else.

I think it is worth entertaining a question: does the existence of this extra port crystal signify a compromising of the game's goals regarding travel? That's not a discussion that folks seem to be interested in having—instead opting for more emotional and reactionary panicking—but it is the most interesting question. On face the answer is yes and that raises the follow up question of whether or not the developers had knowledge this convenience (though one-off) would be offered to players. If so, did that knowledge affect how they designed the game? Even slightly? It seems rather clear to me that these purchases are a publisher decision; there's nothing in the game's design that suggest the dev team wants players to have access to an extra portcrystal. As we've established it's quite the opposite!

They want you to haul your fucking ass around and get jumped by goblins, buddy.

Which is many words to say that as much as I care about microtransactions from a consumer standpoint, the way in which they undermine Dragon's Dogma 2's goals is a fair reminder of the ways in which they hurt developers. Ultimately, I do think that these purchases are ignorable and in that sense (combined with the misinformation surrounding them) I'm a little burned by the consumer-minded discussion. Doubly so because of the way it feels, at least in part, tied into a certain kind of rhetoric that's been on the rise lately. Instead, I find myself drawn to the question of the damage they do the devs and if more onerous plans actually would force their hands into undercutting portions of their own designs. The shift of many series into live-service chasing suggest so but even as I entertain these thoughts I don't get the sense that Itsuno and his team were forced to reshape their game world to encourage these microtransactions. The world is as they want.

If it wasn't, they wouldn't make it so failing to act quickly in a quest to find a missing kid stolen by wolves could end with you being too late. They wouldn't make it so buying goods from an Elven shop without an interpreter was a hassle. It's present in Every Damn Thing!

More interesting to consider is why this particular game became such a lightning rod of passion when I'm going to assume that most people caught up in the discussion have no particular fealty to the series. The answer is a combination of factors but there's something about the genre that ignites the panic we're seeing as much as the culture moment we're in. When people try to explain that these MTX purchases are not needed, it's confused for approval of their inclusion but that's not something we need to grant. I don't think anyone wants these things here and when they say "you don't need them" they are referring to the more complex thought that the game is better played without them. But this is not heard because the idea that you'd want to opt into friction and discomfort is not something that the general audience is likely to understand. They're wired against it. They crave ease.

not everyone, mind you. DD2's enjoyed a lot of excited reactions (there's tons of folks who like this game as it is and are happily playing it) but it has faced plenty of folks railing against "bad" design choices but the fact remains that those "bad" choices were intentional.

I'm writing about this stuff instead of, say, the wild journey I took solving one of the Sphinx's riddles because the immediately interesting thing about Dragon's Dogma 2 has been what it's become as a cultural object. It is a game suffering from success. Never designed for a general audience or modern standards but thrust into their hands due to Capcom's ongoing renaissance. Dragon's Dogma is a fine game whose cult status is well earned but the reason DD2 garnered this attention (and therefore becomes a hot-topic game) has as much to do with Capcom's ongoing success rate as anything else. In some ways, it actually IS a good time to release a game like Dragon's Dogma 2. There's certainly a curiousity in place. Partly borne of goodwill and also from folks' genuine desire to try something new.

and yet, we're in a odd moment in games. consumer rights lanaguge, having been fundamentally misunderstood and reconfigured by gamers as a rhetoric for justifying their purchase habits (I'm paying the money! why can't the game do exactly as I demand!?) has stifled many people's ability to have imaginative interpretations of gameplay mechanics. they don't ask "what is this thing doing as a storytelling device" (which mechanics are!) and rather default to "what is this thing doing to me and my FUN and my TIME". which are not bad questions but they also misunderstand the possibility space games have to offer. While we can attribute some of the objections that has arisen to players' thoughts about genre itself and the way in which Dragon's Dogma positions friction as a key gameplay pillar, the fact of the matter is that we would not be having such spirited discussion about these things in, say, 2017. not that things were great back then, but I think the audience is worse now in many, many ways. sarcastically? I blame Game Design YouTube.

Even if there were no microtransactions, we'd still be having a degree of Discourse thanks to a key game mechanic: Dragonplague. It is a disease that can afflict your Pawn companions which initially causes them to get mouthy and start to disobey orders. If you notice these signs (alongside ominous glowing eyes) then your Pawn has been infected and you're expected to dismiss them back to the Rift where that infection can spread to another player. The game gives a pop up to the player explaining this the first time they encounter the disease. However, some players have ignored that warning and found a dire consequence: an untreated Pawn can, when the player rests at an inn, go on an overnight rampage that kills the majority of NPCs in whatever settlement they are in. This includes plot-important characters. The reaction's been intense. Reddit always sucks but man… just look…

I understand some of the ire. It's a drastic shift from your pawn being a bit ornery to instantly killing an entire city. On the other hand, the game does warn of potentially dire consequences if a Pawn's sickness is ignored. Players have simply underestimated the scale of that consequence. Surely no major RPG would mass murder important characters and break questlines! We're in post Oblivion/Skyrim world. Important NPCs are essential and cannot be killed, right? Well, wrong and this is another way in which Dragon's Dogma chases after the legacy of a game like Morrowind more than than it adapts current open world trends. This is a world where things can break and the developers have decided that they are okay with it breaking in a very drastic way. It's hard to think of anything comparable in a contemporary game. We don't really do this kind of thing anymore.

The result has been panic and a spread of information both helpful and hopelessly speculative. Is your game ruined? Well, maybe. There is an item you can find which allows for mass resurrection but that's gonna require some questing. But some players also say that you can wait a while and the game will eventually reset back to the pre-murder status quo. What's true? Hard to know. Dragon's Dogma doesn't show all of its cards and won't always explain itself. We know entire cities can be killed. We know that individual characters can be revived in the city morgue or else the settlement restored (mostly) with a special item. Dragonplague is detectable and the worst case scenario is, to some extent or another, something that the player can ameliorate. Those are facts but they don't really matter.

That's because players issue (panick? hysteria?) with dragonplague is as much to do with what it represents as what it does. Players are used to the notion of game worlds being spaces where they get to determine every state of affair. They are, as I've suggested before, eager to play the tyrant. Eager to enact whatever violences or charities that might strike their fancy. They do this with the expectation that they will be rewarded for the latter but face no consequences for the former. Dragonplague argues otherwise. No, it says, this world is also one that belongs to the developers and they are more than fine with heaping dire consequences on players. Before the dragonplague's consequences were known, players were running around the world killing NPCs in cities because it would stabilize the framerate. They're fine with mass murder on their own terms. they love it!

This is made more clear when we look at how Dragon's Dogma handles saving the game. While there are autosaves between battles, players are expected to rest at inns to save their game. This costs some gold, which is a hassle, but the bigger "issue" is that they only have one save slot. Which means that save scumming is not entirely feasible though not impossible with a bit of planning. What it does mean, however, is that the game is saved when a dragonplague attack happens. you have to rest at an inn for this to trigger. which saves the game. They cannot roll back the clock. The tragedy becomes a fact. It's not the only time Dragon's Dogma does this. For instance, players can come into possession of a special arrow that can slay anything. When used, the game saves. Much like how players are given a warning about dragonplague, they're warned before using this arrow: don't miss.

If you do? that's a real shame. The depth of this consequence is uncommon in today's gaming landscape. Games are mostly frivolous and save data is the amber from which players suck crystallized potentialities. Don't like what happened? No worries. Slide into your files and find the frozen world which suits your proclivities. You are God. In Dragon's Dogma, you are not god. The threads of prophecy can be severed and you must persist in the doomed world that's been created. The mere suggestion is an affront. The fact that Dragon's Dogma has the stones to commit to the bit in 2024 is essentially a miracle.

It's easy to boil everything I'm saying down to "Dragon's Dogma is not afraid to be rude to the player" but that doesn't capture the spirit of the design. It invites players to go on a hike. It makes no attempt to hide that the hike is difficult. But that's the extent of it. It offers little guidance on the path, doesn't check if you're a skilled enough hiker. Your decision to go on the hike is taken as proof of your acceptance of the fact that you might fall down.

This is not unique to Dragon's Dogma. In fact, this is part of the appeal (philosophically) of a game like Elden Ring. The difference being that even FromSofts much-lauded gamer gauntlets (excepting perhaps Sekiro, conincidentally their best work) offer more ways to adjust and fix the world state to the player's liking. Even the darling of difficulty will offering you a hand when you fall. Dragon's Dogma is not so eager to do so. In a decade where convenience is king for video games, that represents both a keen understanding of its lineages and a shocking affront to accepted norms and expectations.

The core of Dragon's Dogma, the very defining characteristics that earned it cult status, are the same things that have caused these modern tensions. It is both a franchise utterly consistent in its design priorities and entirely out of touch with the modern audience. Dragon's Dogma 2 has come into prominence during a time where imaginative interpretation of mechanics is at an all time low and calls for "consumer" gratification are taken as truisms. It is a game entirely at odds with the YouTube ecosystem and the very things that give it allure are the tools that have turned it into a debated object.

This flashpoint of discussion is proof of Dragon Dogma 2's design potency. It's also a sign of the damage that modern design trends have done to games as whole and the ongoing fallout that's come from gamers learning design concepts without really understanding what designing a game entails. And, uh… I dunno respond to that or how to end this. That's both very cool but it also bums me out. Dragon's Dogma 2 is a remarkably confident game but games are long beyond the point of admiring a thing for being honest.

#dragon's dogma 2 #games criticism

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lovelywetdreamer · 7 months

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Hello how have you been ? I hope you're well .

You could write something about Dick Grayson with a Valentine's Day theme, like Dick with his girlfriend on Valentine's Day.

Fluff, just love, slight mention of smut.

Please ❤️🔥

Chocolate and Dick Grayson is perfect for Valentine's Day

I'm getting over the flu. Thank you for asking. Happy Valentines day

"Me stressed? No, no I'm completely fine." That was a big fat. Anyone can tell because you have sweat coming down your forehead like a river. You can't but feel stressed every time it comes to buying Dick a gift for Valentine's Day. How on Earth do you buy a guy whose father is literally a millionaire? Yeah, it's impossible.

"Okay, okay I lied. I am stressed Starfire. I don't what to get Dick for Valentine's Day. I am out of all ideas."

"Oh, I got the idea. Get him something from the heart or an actual heart."

" A homemade gift is perfect by the way humans don't usually like actual hearts, Starfire."

You asked Raven to teach you how to knit and crochet a scarf for Dick. He had been complaining about how cold the night patrol had gotten. Raven's scarf looks professional while yours looks like you made it with your eyes closed. You can't throw out and make a new one. You have no time; you got to see Dick at his place for your guy's Valentine's Day plan.

Bandages all over your hands were the first thing Dick's noticed. "What happened to you?! Who did to you?!" Dick asks while examing your hands. Your hand wasn't as bad as he thought. Just tiny scratches coming from the knitting needles.

"Noone. I was knitting and wanted to give you something from the heart." You say presenting him with a blue scarf barely staying together. You immediately wanted to chuck your gift out the window, but Dick beats you the punch by taking the scarf. He admires it with tears in his eyes.

"This is the best gift I have ever received. Baby, this put my gift to shame." He really did love your gift. He already wrapping it around his neck. "I hope you like my two gifts."

He came out with the most beautiful diamond necklace and for some reason a wheelchair. He presents the necklace to you with his hand all nervous and sweating. His face was a reddish thing you have ever seen.

"Dick, it is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen."

"Before we continue, what is the wheelchair for?"

"Really?"

"Of course! I had never seen such a beautiful thing in my life."

"Whew! Haha, I'm glad you love it", he fell to his knees," It's my mom's necklace. It's the only thing I have left of her. I was worried you were going to hate it. It is outdated. It just means the world to m-

A kiss stops him rambling. " Love the gift and feels so honored." Turn out Dick was more stressed than you about his Valentine's gift to you.

"You're gonna need it after I get done with you, my dear." He says as he throws you in the bed. You did need that wheelchair after he got done with you. Body sores in all the right places and not being able to walk for a week straight.

Happy Valentine's Day everyone and please eat a lot of chocolate.

DC made this wonderful art.

#dick grayson #valentines day #dc #batman #robin #nightwing #dick x reader valentines day #dick x reader hinted smut #suggestive #fluff

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tostadamika · 8 months

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Daniel Watches She-Ra & The Princesses Of Power

-S1E1- 'The Sword Part 1'

Today's She-Ra Watch Art: This shitty Glimmer doodle.

Look I promise they won't all be garbage ;-; I promise

Okay I wanna preface: Not every post is gonna be this detailed, I didn't even intend to go on this long with just one episode but I lost track of time. Some posts I'll be short & sweet. Some I'll be long winded to a comical degree. Depends on my feeling.

I think I'll just keep it to one paragraph per episode, & only pull out the long rambles when I finish a season. I think that'll work. Yeah.

Okay so I have no idea who any of these people are because I literally just started but one of these guys is a lizard. I'm a huge sucker for lizard people in anything ever so I immediately like this fucker. He's a lizard, that is all I need. He's just instantly cool because lizards are fucking rad as hell dude.

So Cat-Ra speaks, that first fucking line of hers.

The fucking "Hey Adora"

The first fucking thing I said to myself, out loud, was the immediate reaction I had to that line: "Oh so they're gay."

I don't know if it's like canon or not but one of the things I know about this show is people ship them a lot. I have no idea if that's actually like a canon thing in the show or not but I've seen a lot of fanart of them so I know people at the very least WANT them to kiss or hold hands or get married & buy a house in the suburbs & raise like 5 kids & watch Shrek on VHS & talk about doing their taxes or whatever idk.

That being an actual thing in the show itself? Uh I guess I'll see what happens so who the fuck knows man. Maybe they just explode idk.

But like....dude. DUDE. The fucking way Cat-Ra said it was just....

SO fucking extra like that immediately felt fruity to me. I'm already getting that vibe from her. On top of that, the way her & Adora continue to interact in the episode also give off a very distinct vibe, a rather, ahem, 'fruity' vibe. I think I'm already getting the idea of why this ship is popular. I do believe I see the vision.

Also, quick tangent, I LOVE the way the animators animated Cat-Ra like an actual cat. Her hair getting puffed up when she's agitated, her ears moving to reflect her mood. Her eyes dilating like how cat eyes actually do. THEY EVEN ALSO MADE HER PURR LIKE AN ACTUAL CAT, LIKE SHE AUDIBLY CAN BE HEARD PURRING. THAT'S SUCH AN ADORABLE DETAIL & IT MAKES HER IMMEDIATLEY ENDEARING AS FUCK.

Also I guess it makes sense Cat-Ra would be into women, yeah?

Because it makes sense that CAT-Ra would be interested in PUSSY.

(Please Laugh) (I'm desperate please think I'm funny I need this)

Now moving on, let me talk about this BITCH.

One. Compared to the original Shadow Weaver, they sure did make her a way more intimidating villain.

Two. FUCK THIS BITCH??????

THE FUCK IS YOUR PROBLEM YOU FUCKING BITCHY, INKBLOT LOOKING, WACKY WAVING TUBE MAN HAIR HAVING, WIZARD-WANNABE MOTHERFUCKER? LITERALLY SHUT UP

+ NO ONE CARES & ALSO YOU SMELL BAD

+ YOU LOOK LIKE A BOOTLEG ERMAC

+ YOU'RE MEAN TO CAT-RA, I MEAN HONESTLY, WHO THE FUCK JUST BULLIES A CAT?

IMAGINE BULLYING A FUCKING CAT. FUCK THIS BITCH.

I DO NOT CARE FOR THIS WOMAN.

HER SMUG AURA MOCKS ME.

Hi so I immediately love you?? Like instantly my favorite character just from the design alone. Glimmer is so real honestly.

I also like Bow, like, Bow is just so fucking cool & nice? He's such a real one, I wanna be best friends with him & hang out he's just so lovable like he's just awesome. I love this man immediately. He deserves all the good in the world actually.

Also holy shit the contrast between Bow in the original show vs this reboot design.

It's funny, the original design WAY more gay than the new one.

The new one that a lot of people (and by people I mean homophobic douchenozzles.) complained about, the design for Bow in this supposedly 'woke tumblr sjw cartoon' has a design that is far less homoerotic in it's design & feel.

The original Bow just outright looks like a fucking gay pornstar.

He's got the trademark 'Gay Porno Mustache™' & everything.

Okay so there's a magic sword or something, etc.

They mentioned Eternia.

Okay so, one of the reasons the original she-ra was lame as fuck compared to He-Man? No Skeletor.

Hordak & literally all the villains in the original show suck ass.

They fucking suck. Hordak is just Skeletor but boring & shitty.

Why the FUCK did they not take the oppurtunity to replace Hordak with Skeletor? You don't even need to add He-Man, I'm fine with that.

But You could have just taken She-Ra & added a better villain because Skeletor fucking rules. He calls people boobs. That's fucking awesome & cool. WHERE IS HE? WHERE THE FUCK IS SKELETOR? LOOK SHOW. HORDAK WAS FUCKING LAME AS FUCK.

SO IF THIS REBOOT IS GOING TO CONVINCE ME THAT HORDAK IS IN ANY WAY A LEGITIMATELY COOL VILLAIN, THEN THEY BETTER FUCKING PULL OUT ALL THE STOPS BECAUSE IT'S GONNA TAKE A LOT TO CONVINCE ME THAT THEY WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN BETTER OFF JUST USING SKELETOR INSTEAD. LIKE, YOU BETTER FUCKING IMPRESS ME BECAUSE OTHERWISE, THE LACK OF SKELETOR IS GONNA BE A HUGE FLAW THAT YOU CANNOT OVERLOOK.

I mean, so far they managed to make me actually LIKE Cat-Ra, & the original Cat-Ra fucking sucks. Shadow Weaver sucked & so far at least this reboot Shadow Weaver is actually intimidating. But man, you better fuckin' impress me show, because the lack of Skeletor is felt deep within my soul.

OH wait hold on.

Okay I see why everyone said this show is gay now.

Anyways I didn't mean to ramble on this long about the show in just one episode, I promise this is gonna be a rare occurrence. I think from now on, I'll keep it shortened to just one paragraph per post. I'll only pull out these long posts when I finish a season or something.

Anyways uh:

-Glimmer is the best

-I'm sorry but I'm not over the skeletor thing WHY DID YOU NOT USE HIM HE WAS RIGHT THERE-

#daniel watches she ra #daniel fossey #first time watch #she ra season 1 #she ra and the princesses of power #daniel fossey art #she ra #she ra fanart #she ra adora #she ra spop #spop #shadow weaver #adora #gecky #artwork #watch along

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moony-2001 · 8 months

Text

Lore Olympus ch. 257-262 critique pt. 1

This one is gonna be split into 2 parts. I'm trying not to ramble on too much but I figure it'll be better if this bad boy is just split up. After that, I may or may not do more chapter critiques. I don’t want my content to *just* be chapter critiques

Ch. 257

I honestly don't remember having a lot to say about the beginning of this chapter. It was very meh. It basically just reconfirms what we already knew about the state of the mortal realm. I did want to discuss a few "stand-out" scenes when we flip back to the meeting room.

The bitter MIL trope

When we cut to Demeter trying to verbalize what's happening in the mortal realm, something she said really pissed me off:

Let me be clear. I'm not mad about what she said. I mean, I am, but I'm more mad at the fact that Rachel made her say this and the overuse of the whole "Demeter is a petty, bitter in-law that can't handle the fact that her daughter has her own life" trope.

Literally what problems is she creating from this plague?? First of all, this is a problem Persephone started, not Demeter, so Demeter confirming that the mortal realm is dying is not "creating problems". Inadvertently, the other gods back her up on this by expressing concern about the fact that what will happen to other non-immortal beings like the nymphs and what will happen if it spreads to the other realms.

I don't know if this is a callback to the original hymn, and if it is, it's in really fucking poor taste. In the original hymn, Demeter did not cause the winter "out of spite". She did it because she was fucking pissed that not only was her daughter taken away from her, but it was done so behind her back and without her consent. Also, can we stop with the "bitter MIL" trope, especially involving Demeter? I know MILs in real life can be a nightmare. Trust me, I know. But I don't think fiercely loving your daughter and not wanting her to be traded away like she's a set of golf clubs constitutes being a bitter mother-in-law.

Apollo

Yeaaaah Apollo is right, I'll give him that. Persephone is, once again, a big part of the problem. I know the gods aren't perfect. No one is perfect. But for some reason, a lot of the plot of this story seems to center around Persephone making these big-ass messes, blaming everyone but herself, and then doing fuck-all to actually fix the situation. Also, I find it hilarious that Hades is so offended by the notion that Apollo would accuse him of trying to expand his kingdom when his entire realm was built by slave labor. When has a slave master ever complained about having more slaves prisoners with jobs? Don't answer, that question is purely rhetorical.

Eris, my beloved

Ugh, the part with Eris is just *chef's kiss*. Especially when she transforms into Artemis??? I just??

I want to redraw the scene when I have time because I feel like it could be a lot more spooky-looking than it is now.

Hera

The rest of the chapter is kinda meh. Hated Hera and Apollo's interaction. Also, I'm pretty sure Rachel spelled "wife" wrong. A "waif" is a homeless person, particularly a child. Much hate to Apollo for what he said to Hera, even though Hera also low-key sucks. And yeaaaah. That's it.

Ch. 258

The handling of Hera and Kronos

Chapter 258 picks up pretty much where we left off with Hera. I gotta say I actually really liked this chapter. I know my whole page now is pretty much constantly shitting on the entirety of LO, but I gotta give major props to Rachel for how she handled 258. Was the chapter leading up to and including the interaction between Hera and Kronos perfect? No. But IMO it was still really good.

The reason why I say this is because not long before this chapter was posted, I and a lot of other anti-LO creators noticed there was a spike in comments both under Rachel's insta and in the comic's comment section romanticizing the relationship between Hera and Kronos. It was disgusting. Never should someone ever romanticize the relationship between a victim/survivor and their abuser. In this chapter, Rachel seemingly put her foot down about this and basically said "This is not okay". Now, she never outright said that anywhere that I saw, but that's the vibes I was picking up. Standing up to your abuser is really hard to do. And I'm proud of Hera (even though she's not real lol).

The one thing I did not like about this portion of the chapter was Hera and Hestia's interaction.

Really? That's all you have to say to your sister that has been going through a hell of a time? Yeah, okay, Hestia.

The ritual

Now that I've fulfilled my once-a-month praise quota for LO, time to get back to the shitting.

Besides the ugly ass art, I introduce a new challenge. The Persephone tries not to make everything about herself challenge: impossible. I see she's picking up a few tricks from Hades in the narcissist department. I've noticed, especially recently, that H&P has a particularly nasty habit of diminishing others' feelings or certain situations to make it all about themselves. I know I mentioned this in my last critique but I feel the need to bring it up again, especially in these last bits of this chapter.

Case in point A is that Hades and Persephone get so wrapped up in each other that they don't even notice that Hecate is, for lack of better terms, wigging out.

Obviously, she turns out fine, but seriously? You didn't even pay attention to her until Morpheus pointed out the fact that something was clearly wrong.

*unholy screaming* pt. 1

So you guys know how I felt about the whole nightie situation with Persephone. Well, you're in luck because the rage I feel for the last part of this chapter makes that pale in comparison.

This is case in point B of Hades and Persephone making everything about themselves.

When I first saw this I was kinda like "Huh???" And then the chapter ended??? I had to wait a whole ass week to find out but my fuckery senses were tingling.

Ch. 259

*unholy screaming* pt. 2

Boy oh boy were my fuckery senses right.

Literally, who fucking cares? This isn't about you!! You aren't the victims in this. They both started all this and they need to be willing to do whatever it takes to fix it. Persephone, to her credit, at least acknowledges that in a much nicer way. But yet again, HADES MAKES IT ABOUT HIMSELF.

"...it will come at a cost to us... we have to basically choose between us and everyone else." Uh. YEAH??? Jfc, stop being a whiney piss baby, and get your shit together! Choosing between yourselves and everyone else? Is that even a question? If you both have to sacrifice yourselves to make this better, tough titties.

The pool scene

This scene is what I was talking about when I mentioned Persephone's speech. But I still can't enjoy it. Why, I hear you ask? I don't know, MAYBE BECAUSE THEY'RE HAVING SEX WHILE THE WORLD IS BURNING DOWN AROUND THEM. Yeah, sure they deserve to have their lovey-dovey moments (I guess. Undeservedly so IMO). But how about you wait to pork until you've saved the world from perilous doom???

Also maybe I'm reading into this waaaaay too much, but tell me why I feel like Persephone just had sex with Hades to talk him off a wall. To me, it almost felt equivalent to "I'm going to kms if you leave me" or some other kind of weird hostage situation where now Persephone has to make HIM feel better even though this is about HER and how SHE fucked up. Idk.

Final notes

Well, that wraps up part 1. I know I've been gone for way longer than I said I was going to be and for that I'm sorry. Overall, pretty yikes but I liked 258 the best.

#anti lore olympus #lo critical #anti lo persephone #lore olympus #unpopular lo #unpopular lore olympus #anti lo #ULO #sorry i’ve been inactive #whoops #I’ll post some sketches as a peace offering #lo hate #lore olympus criticism #lore olympus critical #lo critique #lo critic #lo criticism

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bahrlee · 2 months

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feel free to delete, but i happened to see your post abt yuibros and honestly? yeah. it would be one thing if yui had left the group recently and people were bummed out that she was gone, but it's been six years since the left the group and i don't know how people haven't realized in the past six years that it's WEIRD to speculate so hard about her health and if she'll ever come back while ALSO being rude abt momo in the process. i remember around when momo was announced as the new third member, people were going on about how 'disappointed' they were that it wasn't yui. like, even *IF* she does return to the industry, it's not gonna be under bm.

sorry for the paragraph in your ask box! it just blows my mind. i wish people could move on

Yr all good anon!! Ill even ramble EVEN MORE to make you feel better and bc I'm also a serial yapper:

It rlly does blow my mind too, I'm a new fan (literally this year) but the way people talk about Yui is so strange. Like I get that older fans may have an attachment to Yui and all that she brought to Babymetal, and being sad that she ended up leaving, but the speculation about her health and refusal to move on thats been going on this long is just really weird. People treat her and her departure like everything is so mysterious when in reality... she just left and that's OK. I feel like American fans are so used to celebrities personal lives being shoved in our faces that they forget that in other countries, including Japan, people are more private, including their public figures, so not everything is a bing conspiracy.

And I really feel like it can come from a creepy place because the people who hold onto Yui, who's been immortalized as a teenage girl for the time being, hold onto the idea that the "old babymetal" was better (which can be fine for many more harmless reasons), implying they stopped enjoying the band once the members grew up--which no one can control--and thus had to evolve their sound passed what they were doing as literal children. It gets all sorts of weird, considering the age range of the fans tend to be grown men, even back then. And grown men are the main people I see complaining about Yui being gone 🤢 part of me even thinks that that's why they bodyshamed Momo when she joined, because she has the average body of a woman in her early 20s and is slightly taller with a soft jawline and they just can't handle that, the girls being all grown now.

They'll even go as far as to say things like "no yui, no babymetal" which is not only extremely rude to Momo of course, but to Su and Moa as well, because... yui isnt the only member??? Su is the lead singer, the main voice of the group. Moa has said in interviews she can't imagine a life without BM. Imagine how they'd feel hearing someone say that, 6 years into a single members departure!

At least Babymetal is sticking it to them by absolutely killing it this year. People have warmed up to Momo substantially and see her as her own member more than a replacement now and recognize that she earned her spot as a mainstay. Yuis legacy will always be important to the history of Babymetal and we should never forget her, but the future is very bright, and Yuibros are thankfully few and far between nowadays from what I see.

#babymetal #ooof i had a lot to say that i just didnt in my original post!!!#now IM the one thats sorry haha #ask #anon

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poguesofthebau · 1 year

Text

dating steve would include... (part two)

pairing: steve harrington x fem!henderson!reader part one

-sneaking him into your house for sleepovers

-him complaining whenever you dedicated time to schoolwork instead of him (even if you allowed him to sit with you while you worked)

-both of you being slightly territorial but completely unwilling to admit it, which was always entertaining for your friends to watch in action

-occasionally giving him a hard time over all the girls he dated before you just to see him get all worked up and defensive

-letting robin take the passenger seat when he drives you both to school, until he randomly starts picking you up first and doubling back by his house for robin afterward ("what? you're too nice to tell robin to get in the back, so i had to take matters into my own hands")

-dustin referring to you and steve as every famous duo under the sun •bonnie and clyde •romeo and juliet •holmes and watson

-understanding all the kids' d&d terminology, which only ever surprises steve ("babe, how do you know this stuff? am i the only normal one here?")

-randomly making a statement supporting queer rights during a conversation with steve and robin which eventually led to her coming out to you

-punching billy in the face in the school parking lot one time because he was being racist giving lucas a hard time, which steve was actually pretty mad at you for (“y/n, he could’ve seriously hurt you! do you not understand that?”)

-taking mid-day naps together after you got out of school/he got out of work

-steve being the best listener when you just needed someone to rant to •mumbling a supportive mhmmm whenever you made a specific point during the rant •you rambling for 5 minutes straight, then sighing and saying, “ya know?”, to which steve nods and says “i hear ya, babe” •when your anger fades a little and you ask him, “am i just being crazy?” his immediate response is something like ‘absolutely not! those dickheads are lucky i don't send el to fling them off a rooftop or something'

-dustin barreling into your room while preemptively covering his eyes and yelling threats every time he realizes steve is over and you have the door closed

-him offering to drive you whenever you mentioned having to go somewhere to him

-constantly having to explain lord of the rings/the hobbit references to him (“babe, please just read the books”)

-when you ask what's gonna happen when you go away for college, he looks genuinely dumbfounded before shrugging and saying, "i thought i'd just go wherever you go"

-a double date with nancy and jonathan that was both horribly awkward and incredibly fun

-spearheading all the kids' crazy plans, which drives steve insane

-steve looking at you and saying, “these are the people that are gonna babysit our kids one day” every time your friends did anything abnormal/ridiculous •while dustin, mike, lucas, and will have a full-blown argument over their d&d campaign •after robin trips and face-plants on the walk from her front door to steve's car •when el is using her powers to adjust the tv antenna so no one has to get up from their seats •after nancy convinced everyone to go back into the upside down/face vecna despite the terrible odds

-your mom adoring him, which kind of annoyed dustin but also made his heart feel whole

-his fingers hooked in your belt loops in a crowd to keep from getting separated

-him playing with your fingers while you talked to dustin about something that didn’t interest him

-listening to him sing in the shower when he didn’t realize how loud he was being

-giving him tons of nicknames but only reusing the ones that made him blush •lover •stevie (which he forbade anyone else from calling him) •batman (originally because of his iconic nail bat, but then a double entendre of sorts after his encounter with vecna's bats)

-him knowing your favorite song off the top of his head even before vecna came around

#stranger things #steve harrington #steve harrington x reader #henderson!reader #steve harrington fanfic #steve harrington imagine #steve harrington fanfiction #steve harrington fic #stranger things imagine #stranger things fanfiction #stranger things fanfic #stranger things fic

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rosesradio · 5 months

Note

may i ask why ppl hate caleo so much? I'm reading ToA rn so idk if it's based on stuff that happens there, but in HoO I didn't really catch anything that would make it this "don't touch with a ten foot pole" ship, yk?

/gen

Hi !! Thanks for sending this in. I feel like I and others have kinda gone through some things in the anti-caleo tag, but I'm gonna go through some of the reasons with as much textual evidence and objectivity as possible. (minus my inevitable unorganized rambles, they're contextually relevant, stop looking at me--)

That being said, this is completely a matter of opinion, as all shipping is. I don't mean to say that you are "allowed" to ship or that you're "stupid" for shipping xyz, I couldn't care less what you ship--let's all just be nice to each other.

That being said, let's start with the two most common reasons why most people dislike caleo:

1.) the age gap

2.) their "bickering to lovers" dynamic is not written well/they seem to dislike each other/etc

The easier one to start with would be the age gap. Now (warnings for rent-lowering gunshots around my blog), I meant what I said when I said I don't care about ships. Most of my beloved mutuals ship the nastiest shit imaginable, and I am very anti-censorship (but that's several other posts). I generally have preferences for healthy ships when it comes to a Fluffy Endgame (dark fics with toxic ships are different to me).

That being said, I don't typically enjoy ships with a large age gap, and most other people find them unappealing as well. I could be persuaded with some (nipollo and rachel/apollo, i'm looking at you), but caleo just kinda grosses me out in this regard, probably due to other aspects of their relationship.

(Some people say she's "mentally fifteen", but I don't really buy that--if she were like a faerie or something, maybe, but I see her more as Edward in Twilight--looks young but has wisdom beyond her years. There's no definitive answer on this so it's not something I would like to debate (none of this is lol) but I thought I would mention it anyways.)

Although your question is about ToA, I'm only going to cover HoH through the first ToA book, because I'm still reading through the ToA books (though I know the big spoilers). I know caleo takes on a bigger role in the second book so i might come back and do a part two to uh...complain about their dynamic more? lol

so, without further ado--

The House of Hades

So, this is the first impression we get of Calypso from Leo's perspective--the highlights to keep this from being 1 million years long (it still will be lol)--

"She looked maybe fifteen, about Leo's age, and, sure, she was pretty; but with that angry expression on herface she reminded Leo of every popular girl in every school he'd ever attended—the ones who made fun of him, gossiped a lot, thought they were so superior, and basically did everything they could tomake his life miserable.Leo disliked her instantly.

---

The girl clenched her fists. Leo was pretty sure she was going to march down the crater and punch him in the face.

---

"Show yourself!" the girl yelled at the sky, completely ignoring Leo. "It's not bad enough I am exiled? It's not bad enough you take away the few good heroes I'm allowed to meet? You think it's funny to send me this—this charbroiled runt of a boy to ruin my tranquility? This is NOT FUNNY! Take him back!""

--pg 213 of The House of Hades pdf.

Now, keeping in mind that I read this for the first time at 13 and he was my book boyfriend (Or Whatever), I was not a fan of this, but even now that I've grown out of that, this still rings unfavorable to me.

He compares her to his bullies, the ones who made fun of him and created insecurities within him. And, making no effort to clear her name from this association, what is one of the first things she does? Screams at the gods for sending someone so conventionally unattractive. One of Leo's biggest insecurities in the books is not being as conventionally attractive or built as the other guys in the seven. One of his other insecurities is not having a girlfriend when everyone else is coupled up. So the solution is not to have him learn self-love and/or the love of friends, but to instead give him a girlfriend--the build-up time of which is short and intense. Not only that, but his love interest insults one of his biggest insecurities.

We're off to a great start.

Of course, I can't really blame Calypso for being pissed about the wreckage and about being sent another hero instead of being freed from the island. I would be pretty pissed, too, but she still treats him pretty badly, seemingly because he's not the "right" hero.

(For this next bit I am going through their time together in House of Hades and just noting anything that rings as a red flag to me--which is not a stretch as it's pretty much every other line lol. The brackets [] add context for dialogue, the parentheses () is my commentary, though most of these speak for themselves imo)

""Oh-gee-gee-ah." The girl pronounced it slowly, as if Leo were five years old.

---

She looked like she was about to answer but stopped herself. "It doesn't matter. You'll be gone soon. You're obviously a mistake."

That was harsh, Leo thought.He'd spent enough time thinking he was a mistake—as a demigod, on this quest, in life in general. He didn't need a random crazy goddess reinforcing the idea

---

"What am I supposed to do, then? Sit in the sand dunes until I die?" [Leo asked]

"That would be fine...." The girl threw down her trowel and cursed at the sky. "Except I suppose he can't die here, can he? Zeus! This is not funny!"

---

She looked the same age as him, but he wondered how old she really was. (age gap thing, delicious!)

---

"Would you be sweet," [Calypso said], "if they laughed at you by sending another hero, but a hero who looked like—like you?"

---

"Three thousand." Leo's mouth felt tingly, like he'd just eaten Pop Rocks. "Uh, you look good for three thousand."

---

"And now...the worst insult of all. The gods mock me by sending you." [Calypso said]

Anger bubbled in Leo's stomach.Yeah, typical. If Jason were here, Calypso would fall all over him. She'd beg him to stay, but he'd be all noble about returning to his duties, and he'd leave Calypso brokenhearted. That magic raft would totally arrive for him. (heartbreaking to hear about leo's insecurities but also...he is so gay for jason jdskjfs--)

But Leo? He was the annoying guest she couldn't get rid of. She'd never fall for him, because she was totally out of his league.

---

Despite the gifts, Calypso obviously didn't want to see him. One time he poked his head inside the cave and she freaked out, yelling and throwing pots at his head. (how to treat an abuse survivor 101)

Yeah, she was definitely on Team Leo. (this honestly just reminds me of the Echo scene and, honestly, I'd ship him with Echo Big Time over calypso)

He ended up pitching a more permanent camp near the footpath, where the beach met the hills.That way he was close enough to pick up his meals, but Calypso didn't have to see him and go into a pot-throwing rage.

---

"They are completely fireproof," Calypso promised. "They'll stay clean and expand to fit you,should you ever become less scrawny." (the prev part about her repairing the clothes was actually sweet in a platonic way...could have gone without the body-shaming !)

---

Then he remembered that this annoying fifteen-year-old girl was actually the immortal daughter of a Titan."

--pages 214-227 of The House of Hades pdf

Now, at this point I'll say that their relationship actually becomes quite sweet once they get past the frankly horrible section of time where they want each other to die. They're both lonely, they come to some understanding...I suppose this is a matter of opinion, but the romance aspect does feel forced. Time is different in Ogygia so it's hard to say how long Leo was there, if I were to estimate I'd say 3 weeks, but given that it's like 19 pages (and the text is larger on the pdf copy lol), it does feel rushed. Man do I wish they went for the platonic angle, but Richard could never.

The Blood of Olympus

Everyone's favorite book! lmao.

Now that our lovebirds are in Lovebird Territory (i guess), the amount of toxicity dwindles, but let's bite:

"'Sit tight, Sunshine,' he told Calypso's picture. 'I'll get back to you, just like I promised.'

Leo could imagine her response: 'I am not waiting for you, Leo Valdez. I am not in love with you.And I certainly don't believe your foolish promises!' The thought made him smile. (I guess this is supposed to be sarcastic, but way to reintroduce the concept of her really not liking him?)"

--pg 64 of The Blood of Olympus pdf

So, most of this book has mentions of Calypso from Leo's pov, and I gotta say (forgetting entirely that this doc is supposed to at least try to be subjective)...they neutered my boy. I often don't reread past MoA because of the caleo content, though what glimpses I've seen shows that his pov has experienced a massive shift. I think having so little page time and such an intense relationship buildup causes some readers to dislike how fundamentally she alters Leo's pov.

Additionally, I've seen some posts about Leo's suicide ideation. That is not something I want to go in depth about on this post, but I did want to draw attention to this excerpt I caught:

"Now the Argo II was approaching the end of its voyage. Leo's whole life – his childhood with Tía Callida; his mother's death in that warehouse fire; his years as a foster kid; his months at Camp Half-Blood with Jason and Piper – all of it would culminate tomorrow morning in one final battle.

He opened the access panel. Festus's voice creaked over the intercom.

'Yeah, buddy,' Leo agreed. 'It's time.'

More creaking.

'I know,' Leo said. 'Together till the end?'

Festus squeaked affirmatively.

Leo checked the ancient bronze astrolabe, which was now fitted with the crystal from Ogygia. Leo could only hope it would work.

'I will get back to you, Calypso,' he muttered. 'I promised on the River Styx.'

He flipped a switch and brought the navigation device online. He set the timer for twenty-four hours.

Finally he opened the engine's ventilator line and pushed inside the vial of the physician's cure. It disappeared into the veins of the ship with a decisive thunk.

'Too late to turn back now,' Leo said.

He curled on the floor and closed his eyes, determined to enjoy the familiar hum of the engine for one last night."

--pg 224 of The Blood of Olympus pdf

I'm not going to draw any definitive conclusions on the subtext of this or his plan with the physician's cure, but I will say Leo definitely needs therapy and the support of his friends over his want of a girlfriend. (And I'd say this regardless of ships--even if it were my beloved valdangelo. If Leo's mental health isn't addressed, it just makes it seem like a lazy fix-all)

I'm not going to pretend to be the best writer or understand character arcs better than our good friend Richard, but I think one of the reasons why Leo's character arc failed in this final installment is that Leo got what he wanted instead of what he needed. The best character arcs will display what a character wants, but by the end of the journey, a character will realize what they really need.

For example, in Gravity Falls (great show btw), towards the end of the series, Mabel wants to stay in a magical bubble created as a trick by Bill Cipher so she can stay in Gravity Falls forever. In the end, however, she realizes that what she really needs is to go back home to California with her brother, where they can get through high school with the support of each other.

If Leo had undergone an arc in which he really wants a girlfriend, but later realizes he needs to love himself first, that would have been really great and nice for kids to see that they don't need a significant other to make them whole.

Additionally--surprisingly--there were no glaring red flags for the rest of this book. They have a general vibe of "she doesn't really like him and he's a silly little guy" that I feel like is just rick pulling a "can I copy your homework?" with percabeth but it came out Wrong, but that's a matter of opinion.

ToA: The Hidden Oracle

""Here you go." Leo handed her a glass of lemonade. His expression seemed darker and more anxious, as if...Ah, of course. Leo had rescued Calypso from her prison island. In doing so, Calypso had lost her powers. Leo felt responsible."

--pg 239 of The Hidden Oracle pdf

This seems like something they'd have to work through, which is possible, but also a very intense thing to put on a relationship between an already traumatized 16 year old (and his over 3000 year old girlfriend, etc.) I suppose if this was written through in a thoughtful way I'd understand, but it's kind of one of those things that makes me look at them and go...realistically, at best I see them lasting 6 months to a year.

(tbh a lot of the ships outside of percabeth don't seem to have that...well, percabeth longevity--i mean just look at how jiper broke up. not that Richard would break caleo up atp, of course...unless...)

Final Thoughts (unless I return after finishing ToA but no promises)

And so, we conclude. I think I learned some stuff by revisiting canon instead of just remaining amongst online fandom & my memory of canon. Honestly, I can see why people would like this ship--I still hate it the most out of any pjo ship, but I gotta admit it had its sweet moments. Just as I pointed out red flags and had opinions stated as subjective, other people could point out what they consider green flags and why they think the ship is great.

To conclude (my English teachers quaking in their boots rn), myself and other caleo haters dislike the ship due to the age difference, the rushed nature, and the enemies to lovers dynamic being written in a way that ultimately gives the energy that our love birds do not like each other. I hope this dive into the foundation of their relationship clarifies some of these things for you, and thanks for the ask!

#anti caleo #pjo #leo valdez #i didn't send this to my editor and think a lot into it what are you talking about #rose's asks

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aira-bu · 2 years

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hi!! i saw you in the genshin x reader tag and i read through ur writing and love it so much,, i was wondering if you’d be down to maybe write voicelines the hydro or pyro boys would have about you (+ maybe tighnari if that’s ok because i love him sm …) except in the context that you are childhood friends (with crushes on each other) !! male reader might be nice if you’re ok with that but i’d also be ok with gn reader! and it’s totally ok if you don’t do this request! i hope you have a wonderful day/night and i hope you write more things because i’ve loved reading what you’ve written so far!

hi anon!! im rly happy that u like my writing! this might be posted just a little late bc im a little busy but nonetheless here you go! <3

and i'm gonna write pyro boys + xingqiu voicelines about you bc i've already written tighnari's and the other hydro boys in my last post! the reader will be gender neutral bc since it's a voiceline i don't think it would make much difference if it were to be a female or a male, but feel free to replace the they/thems with any pronouns in your head! i hope this isn't too bad ⬇️

☘︎ their voicelines about you ! 𖧷

☁︎ written as of version 3.3

characters: xingqiu, diluc, thoma, bennett

disclaimers/warnings: gn! reader, use of (y/n) (your name), thoma breaking the 4th wall

☁︎

xingqiu

"*ahem*, maybe we can perhaps move on to a different topic? ...no? fine. yes, i know (y/n). i've known them since we were young, and believe me when i say that they are one of a kind! not everybody can stand me rambling about ancient literature, but i know they can. though, i'm still unsure if they actually like the topic or they're just being nice. speaking of which, i have never took them to a library, maybe i should- ah... apologies, i was rambling. ...a date? to a book store? hey, that may not be such a bad idea! i could- wait.. just why did you suggest a date?!"

can i add that he's flustered

diluc

"there is never a dull time with (y/n)... they're always so... giddy. one thing's for sure is that if they were to ever join the knights of favonius, it would be beneficial to the latter, no doubt. (y/n) is efficient and swift, something the 'knights of favonius' could never have a grasp on. i've known them since... a very long time ago. i'd actually prefer it if they were the one to have been my sworn sibling instead of that alcoholic jerk. but, that would also have been a great inconvenience for me. ..hm? you ask why? you'll see."

thoma

"hm? (y/n)? ah! (y/n)! yes, of course i'm familiar with them! i've known them a long, long time ago, long before i became housekeeper of the kamisato clan. nowadays, they would assist me whenever they come visit, and to be honest, their help means a lot. i'm not complaining about the workload, it's just them being... here, helps soothe the atmosphere a lot. ...i'm going to admit that i might just be a little too excited to see them, but i'm sure they are too considering the fact that they're probably reading this ! hm? oh no i didn't say anything, don't worry!"

bennett

"(y/n)? hehe, of course! i like to think of them as my good luck charm, but of course they mean a lot to me too! ever since i was little, whenever i was with them my bad luck seems to disappear a little. it's still there, but it's better! i don't get struck by lightning one time after the other, treasure chests actuallly have something inside of them, and there's never a random rock falling onto my head! being with them just makes me feel lucky, even if i'm not. if only i had just a little luck to have a chance..."

#genshin impact x reader #genshin x reader #genshin impact voicelines #xingqiu x reader #diluc x reader #thoma x reader #xingqiu #thoma #diluc #bennett #bennett x reader

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