#this is the first one to break the mold btw

[wilcze-kudly]

I will also say that zutara fans talking about Katara being "drawn more maturely in her scenes with Zuko" and even focusing on her breasts and hips is WILD when one of the most famous stories concerning Native American women is the rape of a like 10 year old by a man colonising her land.

Btw, Irene Bedard, the actress who voice acted for Pocahontas also starred in Lakota Woman: Siege at Wounded Knee which is about the life of Mary Brave Bird, activist and member of the American Indian Movement, and about her participation in the Siege at Wounded Knee in 1973. You can find the whole movie on YouTube.

It a very fun and thought provoking watch and Irene Bedard did a wonderful job playing the lead, despite this being her first acting role! She even became the first Native American woman nominated for the Golden Globe Award for this role (Best Performance by an Actress in a Limited Series, Anthology Series, or a Motion Picture Made for Television)!

So if you're looking for a really good movie starring a Native American woman, I recommend this one! It breaks the mold for a lot of tropes and streotypes around Native American women in media and you get to learn about a cool activist too.

[crehador]

mulled it over for a while and ultimately decided i'm really digging this arajin-matakara fight, because like

the whole series has set up arajin as a piece of shit fuckhead (and i LOVE that for him) but this whole lying to matakara about wanting to be a honki people thing... is like the one thing he did not actually do

i get real rambly under the cut but tl;dr the way matakara treats arajin is the way arajin treats mahoro and that is suuuch a juicy parallel to me

throughout the whole series arajin has been not at all subtly trying to get away from these fights

could he have been more direct about that with matakara? sure maybe! but matakara was really ignoring all the signs that arajin is not who he thinks he is

which is such a delicious parallel to how arajin willfully ignores all the signs that mahoro is not into him

like. matakara built this version of arajin up in his head, with all these unreasonable, unrealistic, and honestly unfair? expectations based off some past foolishness from when they were very small children. he's clinging to this version of arajin that only exists in his head and has basically shown zero evidence of existing in real life

(yes arajin shows crumbs of courage but i think the scales are tipped pretty heavily towards his I DO NOT WANT ANY PART OF THIS moments)

this fight between them was like if arajin were to blow up at mahoro like "you've been leading me on this whole time!" when obviously. lol. no she has not

she did initially! just like tiny arajin as a child had those honki people ambitions! his ambitions may have been genuine, while mahoro feigned interest in him with malicious intent, but they're same in the sense that after that initial story beat, they have consistently demonstrated that actually no what happened back then no longer applies (whether because they grew out of it, in arajin's case, or they were faking interest in the first place, in mahoro's case)

but arajin is blinded by what he wants (mahoro) and ignores the reality of mahoro snubbing him at every turn, and matakara does the same, ignoring the reality of arajin really just... being extremely reluctant to have anything at all to do with him

anyway that's the main thing i'm chewing on and loving here, but ALSO i think the story paints this parallel in such an interesting way because like

matakara is just a big sweet ouppy dog of a boy! it's so so so easy to feel sorry for him, to root for him, to think the best of him. which i still do btw, in fact this episode made me like him more than i already did

because matakara is so uwu angelboy perfect, and arajin is such a dickhead, it's easy to instinctively think oh matakara must be completely right to be hurt and arajin must have hurt him. even if that isn't the case! this doesn't make arajin any less of a dickhead, but he's a dickhead mainly for other reasons

the fact that they've been set up as the perfect epitome of the Pure Boy and the Pervy Boy tropes is just such clever framing for this parallel between them, because i imagine a lot of viewers, if told what mataakara is doing to arajin is what arajin is doing to mahoro, would be like omg wtf no my pure angel baby is nothing like that disgusting freak?

except in this case! he literally is!! which is brilliant!!! i think it adds nuance to both matakara's character and arajin's character at the same time, making it so it's not just one of them is Perfect and one of them is Wrong All The Time

what's even better is that this made sense for matakara, like his reaction breaks him out of the Pure Angel mold but doesn't feel out of character. his emotions are already running high with what happened to his brother, plus akutaro is malewife mansplain manipulating him behind the scenes, so of course he feels like he's driven towards this emotional high that leads to this blowup

the groundwork was already laid out, and it wasn't even subtle. it was right on the surface! but this episode really highlighted how matakara's way of treating arajin is so much like arajin's way of treating mahoro and how inevitable it was that things would reach this point

(there are moments, even in this episode, that are in hindsight so clearly setting up this parallel! like arajin trying to talk to mahoro during lunch, mahoro CLEARLY not interested, making viewers think ugh arajin get a clue. then matakara often IMMEDIATELY coming in to try to talk to arajin, when arajin is the one who clearly isn't interested, making viewers think boo arajin be nicer to him! like i think the show deliberately set the audience up to have those emotional reactions, and this is the moment where the rug is pulled out from under us, so to speak, where it becomes even more obvious that... wait... double standard much?)

anyway. personally my only gripe with this episode is i wished they'd done more with aniki than just pseudo-fridge him, and hope they do still do more with him in the coming eps? but kind of understandable if they don't, because it is just a one-cour show after all

the actual blowup between arajin and matakara was just. mawh, chef's kiss. perfect

[novasdarling]

since asks are open: maybe trying to escape from yan nobunaga? love all ur works btw <3 ur a rlly skilled writer

See, I picture him as a love sick yandere who is extremely delusional. He acts so tender yet will kill if someone looks at his darling wrong. So I can only imagine how hurt he'd be when you try to break his image he has of you two.

Also, thank you so much!

Just Try

TW: Kidnapping, Forced Relationship, a Chase, Mentions of Isolation.

The wind was harsh against your face as you ran. Trying to put as much distance between you and that miserable jail cell he had the nerve to call home. Picking up your feet you made your way through the streets. Trying to avoid tripping on anything and slowing yourself down. This was the first time, and if he caught you, the last time he'd make a mistake in locking the doors. This was your only chance to run, to get away from that monster. There was no telling when he'd be home when he'd notice you were gone and you didn't want to be anywhere near when he found out. Nobunaga wasn't sane. You remembered the last few times you disobeyed him and broke his image of a loving couple. It still haunted your dreams.

The streets were barren, with only broken street lights and abandoned buildings. You weren't sure how far this place was from any help, or where the roads would lead. You could figure that out later, all you needed to do was put as much space between you and him until you came up with a plan.

You must have run for over 30 minutes straight before your body began to get tired. It didn't matter, it wasn't far enough. You tried to push yourself to go further, switching to walking now. Your legs would only carry you for another half an hour. Your body was begging you to stop, to take a break. Especially your legs and lungs. You needed to rest. Looking around you hoped there would be someplace you could hide while you caught your breath. There was a plethora of abandoned buildings, but which one would have the least chance of you falling through the floor? Taking a look, you decided on a four-story building down the street. It was the most intact building on the outside so hopefully, it would be too on the inside. Gathering some strength, you made your way to the building. The front door was mostly off its hinges. Just barely hanging on, allowing you easy access to the building.

You had guessed right. Luckily the inside of the building was also in better condition than probably most on the street. A few cracks along the walls and broken tiles were most of the damage. Step by step you went further inside. Trying to gauge how safe the floor really was while trying to find a place to catch your breath. The first floor was mainly open-concept with tons of windows. A poor place to hide. Looking to the stairs, deciding you would take your chance with them. Step by step you went up. Holding onto the railing with all your might. Both for support in case your legs gave out and in case you fell through the stairs.

The second floor was no better, only having a few rooms to it. Looking in them you saw they were once bathrooms. Now filled with black marks along the walls. You hoped they were just mold as you went on. Taking your luck with another set of stairs. Making your way to the third floor. It was much better. It had multiple rooms that didn't seem to be covered in mold. That looked like you could be in them without contracting something. There was a small room at the back of the floor plan. It was simple, with a closet and one window looking onto the side of the building and some of the street. Pushing open the cracked door, you made your way into the room. It didn't seem to be as dirty as the other rooms. Taking a seat by the window. You let yourself relax. Stretching your legs out. Trying to get them comfortable. Running your hands along your thighs and calves. Running had drained you, the adrenaline was leaving your body now. You could breathe now. You felt a bit more relaxed not being out in the open. If he got home and realized you were gone, surely he'd think you were still on the run. Not hiding in a building relatively nearby.

The minutes ticked by. Your body finally finding some peace and being able to relax. You hadn't realized your body was begging for some sleep. Some rest. It needed it. You had been locked away in some small room for months, barely moving even when he brought you around the "house". This was the most movement you've gotten in so long. Your body was screaming for a long-needed break. For sleep. You use to sleep when he was gone to pass the time or to get away from him. Before you knew it, your eyes closed. At first, you simply told yourself it was just to let them rest for a bit, but the rest lasted longer than you expected as you drifted off.

It must have been a few good hours before you began to wake up. Looking out the window you saw how the sky was now dark, the stars littering the night sky. The panic began to set in. Oh god, how long had you been out? Did Nobunaga already make it home? Did he realize you were gone? Panicking you began to get up, ready to start moving. Maybe the darkness would make it easier, you could hide a lot better. Using the shadows to hide in, moving behind the buildings instead of on the road. Though, so could he. You were prepared to begin your journey again before you heard it. It sounded like footsteps, faint, but you could still make them out. They were coming from outside. Freezing for a second you listened. Listened to them get closer and closer. There was no mistaking what that sound was. Footsteps, human footsteps. It couldn't be him, there had to be another reason. Perhaps some teen looking somewhere to graffiti or smoke. Or some lost tourist whose car broke down. The steps were too calm to be him, to be a man looking for his victim. There had to be a reason that didn't lead back to him.

Making your way to the window, you looked out. Trying to stay near the edge, stay hidden as you looked out. Some of the street lights still worked, but most were out. Keeping the street mainly dark, you could see a shadow getting closer on the street. Making its way to you. Standing there, you stared. Waiting and hoping it was just some random stranger and not him. Second, by second the shadow was getting closer, getting smaller under the light. Until the person was right by your building. You could see feet, but the body was mainly blocked by the neighbouring building. Craning your head further towards and out the window, trying to get a better look. From the bits of the body you could see, it defiantly was a man which didn't ease your worry. You waited for them to move, but they just stood there. Out of sight, playing with the shadows to hide them. Trying to ease your worry, you made up scenarios. Telling yourself it was just some teen or some random man with a broken-down car. Right? That seemed plausible. Even though your common sense told you otherwise. Nobunaga wouldn't pick a place to keep you that was high traffic. Sure you had made it pretty far, but you knew him. He wasn't an idiot. No one came around here. Meaning it had to be him.

"I know you're in there."

You were right. It was him. His voice was calm and relaxed like he always was. While you were the opposite. You were sweating, scared beyond belief. The most fear you've felt since the first day he took you.

"Come out, sweetie. It's late and" Nobunaga let out a tired laugh. "I'm exhausted. Work has been rough today. So please, please make this easy."

Like hell, you would. Running out of the room, you made your way to the stairs leading to the last floor. There had to be some kind of fire escape or something. After all, buildings were usually supposed to have more than one kind of exit. Running up the stairs, not giving a damn for safety this time around. You picked up your feet faster when you heard a loud smash from down below. It was him breaking down the front door. Not caring to dive under its opening like you had. He was in the building with you.

You searched frantically around the building. Hoping there was something, that you were right about a second exit. Tearing open every door, looking inside before moving in. Your search became more desperate as you heard his steps making his way up. Nobunaga was taking his time moving, letting the sounds echo throughout the place. He was on the second floor now.

"This is getting tiring, please let's just go home."

You moved to another room, but this time there was not even a window. Moving to a new room, seeing this time there was a huge window. Looking out it, you realized there seemed to be a ladder leading down. It was narrow and looked like it was one of those maintenance ones. Sliding further down when you got closer to the second floor. Nobunaga was moving again. Making his way up the stairs that led to the third floor.

"I'm tired and hungry. Let's just go home. I'm not in the mood to play this game anymore."

You could hear the change in his voice. The cheerfulness or indifference he held with you was gone. Rather, his voice was lower than normal. You could tell he was on the verge of freaking out. He was trying to keep his emotions in check. Something he was horrible with.

You tried to push the window open and get to the ladder, but the window wouldn't budge. You tried again and again. Silently begging for it to open. Pleading to any god out there to let you get away from him. Your panic skyrocketed when you heard him at the bottom of the stairs leading to the fourth floor.

"Get down here now."

The window was beginning to give in. Slowly opening with each push you gave it. It had rusted horribly and been painted shut.

"I'm not asking. Get down here now."

He was shouting now, not just so you could hear him. He was pissed. This was worse than the time you managed to land a hit on him the first few days he had you. He had freaked out, asking how you could hurt him when all he did was love you. He had shut you in a windowless room for what must have been days. Taking the comfort of a bed or entertainment away.

"I've been good."

He took a few steps up the stairs.

"I've been patient."

He was getting closer causing you to push the window more.

"I've tried so hard to love you properly."

You gave one last push for it to open so you could fit out.

"And this is how you thank me."

He was at the top of the stairs. Making his way to the room you had been in. You were trying to fit yourself out of the window.

"You ungrateful little-"

The door was slammed open. Knocking it off its hinges. There he stood, Nobunaga. His sword slung over his shoulder going down his back. He looked dishevelled. His hair was a mess, not neatly in a ponytail like usual. He looked at you with wide eyes. Taking in what he was seeing. You, halfway out a window, taking your chances with a shady-looking latter rather than being with him. You were breaking the little fantasy he had of you two. Of a picture-perfect couple in love. A couple who were simply just having a normal fight. Forcing him to see reality. An image he never wanted to see.

"Get over here now."

You didn't. You both just stared at each other. Nobunaga took a deep breath. Trying to steady himself. He wasn't acting like the normal man you knew. Like the man who would bathe you. Even as you screamed and kicked. He would still hold you down in the tub. Trying to be as gentle as possible. Apologizing over and over as he scrubbed your skin clean. Even then he showed compassion in his eyes. Even if there was hunger and greed mixing with it too. Now though, now there seemed only to be anger and hurt.

There was no time to react to him. Without any warning, he launched towards you. Yanking you out of the window and towards him. His hands gripped your arms. Holding you in place. Nobunaga was looking down at you. Wide eyes, searching your face. You weren't sure what for. All you do was cry though. Cry that your plan failed. That you lost your chance to get away. You could have been so much further if you hadn't rested if you hadn't slept. It was your own fault why you were back in his clutch. You knew him. He would figure out how you got out and make sure it never happened again.

"Oh, sweetheart." Nobunaga was now brushing your tears away instead of clutching your arms. "Did I scare you? Because you scared me."

A hand was placed at the back of your head. Pushing your face into his chest. One hand held your head in place while the other roamed your back. Like he was trying to soothe you.

"Shh, shh, I'm here now." He placed a kiss on the top of your head. "We can talk about your punishment when we get home." His words just made you cry harder. Soaking his top. "I know, I know, but you did leave the house. I told you it's not safe, That I was protecting you and look what you did."

Nobunaga grabbed you and carried you bridal style. Probably not wanting to take a chance of you running again, hurting his feelings even more. Pushing your face back into his chest. He always hated when you cried. Said it made him feel bad like he was the bad guy.

"If you're good on the way home" Nobunaga started his way down the stairs and out of the building. "and say you're sorry. I promise I'll be easy. I'll even give you options."

This was it. You were going back to that jail cell. Likely just to be locked back up in that room again. Spending days and days in there with little food or water. No real contact or conversation with him. Until you were begging for anything. Praying for any kind of affection, even from him. Nobunaga wanted you to play house, wanted a good little partner. One way or another, he was going to get you to play your role.

[kelklown]

Guys, i wanted to share this Wattpad fanfic i read a long time ago, the original is in Spanish so i transtalted it 😭‼️ i’ll put the credits later, i don’t remember the name of the person who wrote this. Btw-..sorry if the translation is wrong or weird. (I used translator bc I’m at school so yeah, I’ll edit the errors later)

Fanfic by: Rinkataku on Wattpad

____________________________________________

Strawberry - Genderbend Beavhead

On a particularly imperfect Highland night, where cicadas were singing in search of a mate and the heat of the day was calmed by the winds of their arid region, another pair of young people sat on the sidewalk of a large fenced yard. The house, tacky like few others, had been given by one of the least acclaimed boys in school, Stewart Stevenson, who took care of her after her parents' business trip. Taking advantage of the absence and given his desperation to break the stereotype of the nerdy chubby person, he agreed to have a totally free party at his house. Free from control, his nerdy friends and security, of course.

However, he invited the only pair of students who noticed his presence so far and broke the mold of the status quo, Beavery and Assgirl. Both seemed to be indifferent to the rest of the school, so the boy considered it a gesture of kindness that would later be rewarded... He still hoped that Beav would notice. Unfortunately, she seemed to be too busy watching other kids, eating, or just laughing at whatever idiotic things were happening. Obviously she had time for anything but him.

The boy, heartbroken, came out for air, finding the girl sitting next to her friend, ending up irritating him. Did they never separate for even a second? Clenching his fists, he turned around and tried to continue with what he did: serve others in an attempt to be recognized.

—Hey, look at it, there it goes. Tremendous idiot, huhuhu

-one of the girls muttered in a meek voice, drawing the attention of the other girl.

-Shit! Shall we do two out of three?

They had bet a milkshake from the self-service to find Stewart first, because being short and plump it was very funny to see him running around the house to lick the soles of all his companions. Assgirl looked back at her friend, laughing.

-Uhh, no.

Beavery's grimace of discontent appeared, being replaced after a while by another broad smile. She relaxed her posture and made clear her intention to stay sitting right there, raising her little blue eyes to the sky half orange due to light pollution.

She frowned, thinking, and decided to change the subject drastically: "Tonight sucks, huh." More than normal.

—Wow! Wait, you're right. —The brunette, instead of looking at the sky, stared at the curvature of Beav's nose, tucking a lock of hair behind her own ear.

We came here, they don't offer us anything, and we don't get to drink alcohol or do anything fun.

—Hehe, I don't even remember why we got ready and dressed well if we were just coming to stupid Stewart's house! -With notable annoyance, she passed a hand over her lips, removing the lipstick that she had so primitively applied, leaving part of her palm fuchsia.

—I shouldn't have listened to you. -She pretended not to have been the one with the idea, but waited for the opposite to get up. Let's get out of this pigsty...Beavery?

There was no case. The girl with blonde curls was immersed in pleasant amazement, stopping to smell the lipstick she had in her hand. Her gaze shone with that flash of childhood that she occasionally let out, giving her friend a reason to stay and wait for her.

-Assgirl, Assgirl! The lipstick smells like strawberry.

I didn't just slap her because...

—Let's see, huhu.

...She also hadn't realized they bought one of those flavored lipsticks.

She held out his palm with the fuchsia mark and watched as the woman hid a smile when she appreciated that sweet aroma. Without adding anything for the moment, both girls stood up from the sidewalk and dodged anyone on their way to the exit. The dawn broke through with a cooler breeze, typical of a night of disappointments like that. However, Beavery's discovery had her shamelessly sniffing her own hand, as if it were glued to her face, hiding the mess she had made on her cheeks when she smudged her lipstick.

From time to time, they both laughed at some joke on their way home.

—Can you imagine a dead body tasted one? -

The blonde asked after a brief silence.

—Huhu, no, one that tastes like shit would be better.

And that alone was enough to keep them entertained without other distractions until they reached the door. Upon entering, the first thing they did was take off their shoes and settle into the couch; With the sweltering summer it was impossible for them to sleep in Assgirl's room, since the garbage under the bed filled the atmosphere with stench. At that time there was little or nothing on the television programming, so they decided to leave a channel where reruns of Jackass were playing in the background to sleep.

The blonde raised her legs and curled up on the couch, facing her partner. She watched her carefully, like someone silently asking for something. Assgirl was about to take off her bra under her shirt, as she usually did, but the opposite inquisitive look left her inhibited for a moment. She pretended to be distracted and crossed her legs, almost breaking out in a cold sweat. When she decided to speak, confronting her friend became impossible; She had come closer until she occupied a large part of the couch.

-What are you--!

—Can I taste your lips?

The brunette sank into the corner, red as a tomato, trembling. And the reaction generated a blush in the opponent that mixed with the pink that remained on her cheeks. Beavery's spontaneity used to be a deadly weapon that she didn't even control. They gave a second of truce while Assgirl took a breath.

-What..?

—Your lips. I want to know if they taste like strawberries. -She dropped to her knees so as not to invade the opponent's personal space so much, relaxing his expression. Don't you?

In fact, it was something that she asked herself in her subconscious as well, and when the mystery came to the surface it ended up turning her face red. She wanted to say no, but if they started to discuss it they couldn't sleep on the same couch without punching and kicking each other first.

—Did you manage to drink beer and not tell me?

Huhu...

The laughter was contagious, but she shook her head, between his typical knowing glances that at that moment seemed to take on other dimensions. In one of the few contacts.

Directly, both pairs of eyes seemed to articulate the same doubt: Would kissing automatically make them lesbians?

—Just a peak. —She lowered the bet considerably, as long as he accepted. Or are you, hehe, a coward?

That last question did seem necessary, because when Beavery asked it for the first time in so long, it lit that fuse of provocation that existed in both hollow leaders. Still red with anger and shame, Assgirl grabbed her friend's cheeks to pull her to her face, as close as her pride would allow, hoping that her opponent would do the same and disappear from her sight. She, just as nervous or perhaps more, worked to extinguish the little distance that remained between both lips, until she captured the other's lips.

However, it was not enough to feel any flavor, just the warmth of the chaste contact and their intertwined breaths, a strong reminder of the closeness that a kiss implied. Before any of them moved away due to the pressure, Beav moved her lips, barely moisturizing them with his tongue and leaving small kisses on the opposite one. Her heart skipped a beat with happiness to see that it was working, she felt the strawberry! It was fucking paradise.

Before she warmed to the sensation, she noticed that she felt somewhat tight. The other's hands closed on her cheeks and hurt enough to bother her. She half-opened his eyes and met the small gaze of her companion, who seemed even more disturbed than her own. She moved away slightly, and when she tried to speak he felt how her hands seemed to want to close more between her cheeks, causing her lips to press together in a sympathetic way. Only when Assgirl asked to be released did she realize that this expression was not a mockery of her partner, but a product of her own nerves. When she released her, her palms were sticky due to the blonde's previous sweat and stains.

None of them could look at each other for a long time, during which they could only hear an eternal infomercial about a kind of lawnmower with insecticide included. When Beavery began to return to her place, she was interrupted by the brunette, who called her with an insult in between.

Filled with courage, she threw himself into her arms and kissed her back, trying to savor also the trace of lipstick that had been left on her friend’s lips. In reciprocation, Beav noted that in addition to feeling like she was in a higher fucking paradise than before, kissing required more than just random movements. Without realizing it, both were trying to keep up, but the nerves and temperature made that contact sticky and irregular. What lasted centuries for both of them was really just a couple of minutes and when they separated they looked at each other between amusement and annoyance.

—Okay, that felt cool. —The girl with braces gave her consent between crude laughs, and then maintained some seriousness. But we are not lesbians.

[zukadiary]

Hi! I hope you're well! I wanted to ask something I was curious about. I recently saw a DVD of Me and My Girl with Yuzuka Rei as Jacqueline. I’m impressed by her versatility, I usually know her for otokoyaku roles. Could you explain how casting decisions are made when otokoyaku are given female roles or vice versa? Are there specific criteria for this? Also, any other notable performances of this kind you'd recommend? Thank you so much for making this blog btw! I've learned so much from it. ^_^

Hi! I don't think there are any hard and fast rules about this, but there are definitely patterns.

First off, there are certain female roles in big-name, frequently restaged shows that are either always or usually played by otokoyaku. Off the top of my head, some include:

Jacqueline in MeMy, as you mentioned

Scarlett in Gone with the Wind

Anita in West Side Story

Rafaela in Grand Hotel

Then sometimes they are just one-off casting decisions (Towaki Sea in Liszt, Ayanagi Shou in Hikarifuru Michi, etc). Regardless of the situation, it's usually for one or a combination of these reasons:

It's a "spunky," or more mature, or canonically cross-dressing role, that would break the mold of the musumeyaku-otokoyaku relationship

It's an incredibly high profile role, but the troupe has no top musumeyaku—e.g. Sena Jun as Elisabeth in '05, Nagina Ruumi in '09—and a secondary musumeyaku would not be nearly as much of a draw to the audience as a higher ranked otokoyaku

Or it's a really high profile role, and otokoyaku just bring in more money than musumeyaku, so a heavy supporting female role goes to an otokoyaku rather than a secondary musumeyaku

Fan service!

Here are some of my recommendations from most to least recent:

Grand Hotel - lots good about it, but cw for egregious racial makeup in supporting characters

Soragumi's Anastasia, for both Kazuki Sora and Kotobuki Tsukasa in female roles

All for One, which is quite fun, and features Saou Kurama as the Duchess of Montpensier

Ok this is pretty Tamaki Ryou heavy for some reason, but Legend of King Arthur for Miya Rurika's Morgane

Shall we Dance, one of my all time favorite shows, featuring Sagiri Seina as the female lead

A Song for Kingdoms, the 2003 Hoshigumi version, featuring Aran Kei as Aida (also cw for some racial makeup)

There's a lot of other great stuff too!

EDIT: HOW COULD I FORGET ADELAIDE??? Highly recommend thanks for the comment!

[bichenique]

TGCF SPOILERS

This is a major spoiler do not open it unless you're done w TGCF.

Jun Wu and Mei Niangqing's relationship somewhat mirrors Xie Lian and Hua Cheng's. A foil, maybe?

I saw a fanart recently of Hua Cheng painting Xie Lian but I had to readjust my eyes because at first glance I thought it was Mei Nianqing painting the Crown Prince of Wuyong.

🎀 Also yipee first long yap sesh post 🎀

pls take my yapping as a grain of salt; i also think other ppl posted abt this already and if that's true i didn't see it yet

Which he does at like, book 7 or 8, I don't remember, I was trying to study for government while reading the book. Mei Niangqing paints murals of Jun Wu and his four vassals around Mt Tonglu so Xie Lian and his gang can find out the truth.

Many readers did establish already that Xie Lian is Jun Wu's mirror/foil because like that was what leads Jun Wu to be obsessed with molding Xie Lian to be like him. They're too alike, it's almost eerie, but let's be honest, Jun Wu was rigging Xie Lian's fate so he will end up like him. Let's focus on HC and MNQ

That being said, here are some scenes I remember that kinda mirrors MNQ and HC:

Mei Nianqing makes art of Jun Wu, in reverence and remembrance of him. Hua Cheng does the same. However, their stances are different. MNQ is wistful about it, HC is more like manifesting his gege into reality and manifesting their marriage.

MNQ and HC both stayed with their princes. MNQ stayed even if the other three vassals left because they were friends and he didn't know JW murdered their other three buddies. However, he left JW the moment he found out abt that. HC stayed with XL and followed him everywhere, even willing to die for his prince, even if it meant dying multiple times.

They were both separated from their hubbies.

MNQ has known Jun Wu in all his eras, and HC has known XL in all his eras too, but maybe only from a distance.

Despite everything Jun Wu and Xie Lian did, MNQ and HC still wanted to stay by their side and remember their true selves. RIP Jun Wu and his mountain tho lmao. MNQ kinda confirmed it for me when he asks Jun Wu after his defeat (not a direct quote btw): Aren't you tired, Your Highness? I just miss how things were. HC tells XL that "what matters is you." The only difference was that MNQ made a choice and worked against Jun Wu while HC consistently made the effort to be there for XL.

I think my Ted Talk is done.

I will say tho, TGCF has this theme of breaking the cycle of abuse and recovering from trauma — Xie Lian choosing to go against Jun Wu, MNQ holding Jun Wu accountable for his crimes, Hua Cheng becoming someone strong so he will never feel unsafe just as he did in his childhood, Lang Qianqiu swearing that he will never be like Xie Lian and then having to revive Qi Rong so Guzi will never have to live the pain of losing one's dad, Mu Qing finding the courage to reunite with old friends, Qi Rong learning to be the person he wanted to be there for him— to name a few, I will probably have separate posts for this.

I guess in Heavenly Official's Blessing, they did shatter taboos.

[lesbianlotties]

Laura lee's death killed Jackie.

Conclusion: Jackielee (one-sided) real.

https://www.tumblr.com/tabithatwo/724857649875894272/disregardcanon-jackie-admiring-laura-lees?source=share

HELLO???? JACKIELEE TRUTHERS RISE

in all seriousness, listen...

i love girls doomed by the narrative, girls with a weakness for brunettes with big sad brown eyes, doomed by their incesant attempts to be 'perfect' and perform the way they're expected to just to fit a mold of the rules of society/religion, girls that try so so hard to be something (perfect team captain and loved by shauna / good catholic girl and savior) and fail so so badly (abandoned by the team and betrayed and killed even if inderectly by shauna / inspiring lottie's downward spiral and encouraging the visions that created a pagan religion and died without saving them)

but if you'll allow me to be silly for a second...

LOOK at the way the look at each other on episode ONE:

they should just kiss. i think

and Jackie being so proud when Laura Lee acts up (making fun of Travis and claling him flex, standing up to Coach Scott)

also laura lee almost killed her with a plane btw and we all know that is gay behavior

and then there's THE HUG™

DO I NEED TO SAY MORE

oh my god oh my god wait wait hold on. jackie-lauralee-lottie love triangle real. wait. fuck. jackie-lauralee-lottie-shauna love square REAL

no wonder jackie has beef with lottie. first she gets the laura lee homoerotic baptism treatment. then she gets shoved into the closet she's trying so hard to break out of. and then she has shauna sexily handling a knife to kill men for her

[olivyh]

I have a ttv malleus brain rot cuz of the yandere ask from that one anon grrr

Mini thought-fic(purely platonic(tw: mentions of su!c!d3, t0rtur3, Yandere thing, insanity, malleus having a god complex and being a douche)):

.

.

.

Thinking about malleus trapping Yuu's soul in a lump of clay if they ever Kermited sewer slide sometime in the cage ending,

A sightless, speechless, paralyzed lump of clay, only able to listen to him as he speaks of his day(or gargoyles), only able to listen to him as he tears other students to shreds. not even being able to scream or cry, trapped with their own jumbled thoughts, they'd probably go insane, or atleast they hope they'd go insane

He'd mold them a new body eventually, and with it he'd gift them their senses back, slowly ofcourse(wouldn't want them running off too quickly), their sights first, then their sense of smell, taste, speech, and finally, their ability to move

Now to malleus, this meant that yuu owed him their life, and ofcourse he dosent take it well if they run away or disobey him for the first time in their new body, so he'll break their clay body and trap them in a tiny little lump however many times it takes to break them, to make them realize he's the only thing standing between them and the abyss, he is their salvation now.

(idia is fuming btw)

Yes, yes, yes yes!

I think he absolutely would use his magic for the worst in that scenario, like most of the other boys in this au. To take it to another level, he would definitely put them in a windowsill or something to torment them even further (showing them how the world will continue without them, and to leave them to struggle with their newfound immortality).

On that same thought, their immortality will ultimately hurt them even more. When you're a ball of clay, just a soul, there will always be something you're attached to. So... one day, centuries later, Malleus will die. Now, if he has children and the bloodline continues, that's an even worse nightmare for them and the torture continues until one of his offspring decides to take mercy on them.

Otherwise... they're trapped there, for all eternity. Which... isn't fun.

Thank you for the submission <3

[runningatypufullspeed]

@vostokmcclellan you have no clue what you have just unleashed within me. You reap what you sow. You have asked, and you shall DEFINITELY receive

Intoduction to C,honny jash 🔥🔥🔥 (no way fire... like from *gets shot)

CLAPS HANDS TOGETHER OKAY. OKAY. so chonny jash is this really cool singer guy song cover man on YouTube he makes some really good goddamn music and if you like tally hall, will wood, lemon demon (all other alternative/indie music creators and bands) then you MIGHT like him.

I think his most popular work/the work that gets most people invested into his music in the first place would be his album CCCC (chonny’s charming chaos compendium) which is a cover album consisting of songs that were originally from tally hall before jash took the lyrics and the music and like. Molded it to fit his ocs. That’s the best way I can describe it.

The three main characters of this album would be Heart, Mind, and Soul, and people (including me) GO ABSOLUTELY NUTS OVER THEM jash’s writing and singing and like general music skills are so good if you want to get into this album I’d seriously consider checking out his mind electric video first (the twelve minute one, it has 3 songs in total and they all do a pretty good job of introducing all three characters respectively).

Not only is the music like REALLY FUCKING GOOD the entire. Differentiation between sepereate characters based off of jash's artistic skills thing + motifs/symbolism for each one is extremely well thought out and the relationships between the three of these guys are CRAZY and TOXIC and RIVETING and bottom line SUPER GODDAMN RELATABLE to the vast majority of those in his audience. I would definitely recommend it if you enjoy concept albums/piecing together a story based off of several songs for me it was certainly an arduous process but BOY was it rewarding.

The lore/message itself is mostly up to listener interpretation but I personally like to think of that album as being centered around how valuable self acceptance is, how important communication and understanding and empathy is in a relationship, learning to break free from the bars that society cages one within, and just general dealings/causations of psychological turmoil. I think that what I like the MOST about CCCC tho is how lax/free you can be with your interpretations. it allows a LOT of space for creative liberty and overall message variation, and I like that. I like that very much.

OH and if you enjoy witty lyricism/enjoy having a bunch of allusions that you can rabbit-hole yourself into then you’ll probably like chonny jash . His stuff is like a puzzle but in video/music form. Anyway chonny jash changed my life I think everybody should listen to and look at the lyrics of one of his songs at least once in their life this shit is so good

Tergun 🤤

AND . AND TRIGUN. TRIGUN ISN’T A VIDEO GAME it’S a space western anime. Well OKAY it was originally a manga from the 90s that got adapted into an anime in the late 90s and then ANOTHER newer anime in 2023 so it’s actually just a broad term for these 3 pieces of media .

This is very general btw and while all adaptations go about it in different ways all of them center around the same plot; humans completely NERFED earth so they sent out these ships in order to find another habitable planet, and this mission is called “project seeds”. Aboard these ships are a bunch of humans put into cold sleep but OBVIOUSLY they can’t survive without resources, so alongside the cold sleep people are these human-made organisms called “Plants” who produce the necessities + more that humans need to survive.

Still with me? Ok So everything’s all fine and dandy, but then suddenly due to an event that I cannot disclose because of spoiler related reasons these ships CRASH on a deserted sandy desolate planet, and the remaining humans are then forced to survive solely off of the remaining plants (since all the technology from the spacefaring age was lost in the crash).

Now that the worldbuilding stuff’s outta the way, the main character is this dude named Vash the Stampede who is constantly being chased and hunted down because of this CRAZY bounty he’s got on his head and this is where . The main themes of Trigun start to shine through. It’s about morality and the lives of other people, about the cycles of abuse that lead to why people do certain things and it dives quite deep into the psychological and philosophical aspects ESPECIALLY since this is like a “kill or be killed” world and the main character ALWAYS chooses NOT to kill, no matter what.

I started out with watching the newest adaptation (Trigun stampede) but there’s no right or wrong order to consume the three medias, so start with whichever one you’d like ,,,, assuming you do want to start watching it, anyway.

Judging from what little i know about ur interests, I think trigun would be more up your alley BUT ALSO chonny jash is so good ESPECIALLY CCCC AND ESPECIALLY IF YOU ENJOY A SMALLER AMOUNT OF CHARACTERS COUGH COUGH COUGH but it's ultimately up to you, this is all assuming you'd wanna delve into anything in the first place. anyway yeah rant over . 👍

[bestygogirl]

BEST YGO GIRL: Round 3, Group D

Match 4

please use this as an opportunity to say why you like a character, not why you don't.

Propaganda under the cut!

Aki Izayoi

An abuse victim who isn't the perfect passive figure but gets to work through her complicated feelings about power, agency, and family. Even with Yusei's help, she is the star of the show when she learns to control her powers and reconciles with her father, it is so fun that a ygo heroine gets to take such an antagonistic role bu not be shamed for her anger

please vote for my main girl, aki izayoi. aki was led to believe she was a monster from a young age by her father, who treated her powers like it made her unworthy of love. as a result, divine was able to swoop in and take advantage of aki's low self esteem. for years, aki believed herself unworthy of love and was molded into a living weapon at the hands of authority figures in her life. she was taken advantage of, and thus when she finally comes face to face with yusei, she refuses to believe he could provide her with unconditional friendship. who would want to be around a monster, after all? aki also nearly beats yusei TWICE in a duel, bringing it down to a single turn difference. she comes toe to toe with him, and it truly is the result of who dueled better. she remains a fierce duelist, btw. the second season, aki gets her duel runner license, and immediately nearly beats the ass of a tournament winning turbo duelist - to the point where once again, a single card is the deciding factor. that's right: she nearly won. if not for a single trap card, aki izayoi would've won. a fierce duelist who was shaped into a loving, caring woman despite years of being beaten down by the world: aki izayoi. vote for her now on your phones.

Shizuka Kawai

Shizuka is obviously very sweet, supportive and positive, but she is also stubborn and brave as hell. There's the obvious ones: Ripped off her post-surgery bandages after being functionally blind in order to jump into deep water to save her brother without a second thought! Perfect win record, won her first ever duel despite having no clue how to play!

But there's a couple really great less obvious character moments as well:

First off, her message to Jounouchi before Duelist Kingdom: It's heavily implied they hadn't spoken in a long time since their parents' divorce. But Shizuka, a very sheltered pre-teen, was the first one to break the silence and reach out to her big brother - even though they were likely deliberately being kept apart by their mother, who seems to believe Jou is a bad influence on his sister. Jou and Shizuka's mom has likely been repeating this narrative to Shizuka growing up, too: "Your brother is no-good just like your dad. Your brother is dangerous. Your brother is a bad influence" etc, etc. But this doesn't stop her from secretly deciding to contact Jou. Shizuka had no idea when reaching out that he'd do something over-the-top like try and win money for her operation. She just wanted to talk to her estranged sibling and update him on her life, including her illness, which was probably really scary for her to talk about.

Second: This kid breaks out of a hospital, still blind and wearing post-surgical bandages after a major operation, to see her brother. She meets all of her brother's friends in one go and immediately is like "Whatever I'll get in your car strange woman, just get me to Katsuya!!" Then after the pier duel she's still so determined to offer what support she can that she gets on the giant aircraft of a well-known local maniac without hesitation. The first things she sees after years of declining eyesight are: her brother nearly drowning, literal gods being summoned, someone she clearly idolizes as a big sister getting Shadow Game'd, Honda getting dropped into a pit of lava, her brother ACTUALLY dying - and she remains kind, cheerful and brave throughout it all.

Third: Despite her clear idolization and respect of Jounouchi, she actually doesn't just thoughtlessly go along with what he says all the time! Several times in the anime, when she feels Jou is being impulsive, stubborn or unkind, she'll call him out on it. A notable example is in Virtual World when Jounouchi suggests they should just leave Kaiba and Mokuba to go off alone. Shizuka firmly tells him "No, that's not the right thing to do," and tries to go off after the Kaibros all by herself. This is really brave as hell, especially seeing as she's evidently prepared to go against ALL of her brother's cool older friends despite being young, a bit naive/inexperienced, and has seen a staggering amount of dangerous things happen to them all up to that point.

Fourth: Virtual World Duel. Yes she has a miniature crisis after seeing her brother's best friend get dropped into lava. But she recovers and wins the duel with a religious-iconography-power-lesbian card. Love that for her.

Fifth: Shizuka is the only character in the entire series to stand in front of Seto Kaiba and say to his face "human lives are more important than card games." And she's not even one of Yuugi's core friend group, who's seen Kaiba at his most vulnerable. From her perspective, this is not only a giant tall scary-looking older guy with the bitchiest resting face this side of the Pacific, he's also one of the most powerful individuals in Domino City (possibly in Japan.) Kaiba is a well-known public figure who Shizuka had previously probably only seen on the news for things like staggering wealth, general lunacy, and patricide. AND YET, she's the one who marches her little self up to him and tells him to land his damn blimp and get Bakura some medical care. (It kind of works, too! Kaiba is difficult and annoying to all of them and implies he doesn't care if Bakura dies, but after Shizuka makes her appeal, only THEN does he admit that KaibaCorp has excellent trained medical staff on board.)

Sixth: Pulls a truly disturbed prank with Mai and then laughs in the face of her brother's devastation. We love a weird kid with an extremely questionable sense of humor. She's definitely fine after all the Horrors(TM) she's witnessed. Probably.

Anyways vote Shizuka she's a fucking great character and the fandom has been SLEEPING on her!!!!

[curious-sootball]

I have finally watched Portal Combat.

It rolled emotional damage against me and it was a critical success.

More rambling (and spoilers!!!) under the cut

*inhales* AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Well, there was a very good reason Liliana told them it was a temporary alliance, but Power Word: Kill?! You know you've exhausted the BBEG's patience when she rolls this spell out. (Also, Dob's deal with the skeletons? Amazingly heartbreaking way to finish a character arc. "I spent the entire campaign honing those magical skills, and I will give them up to save my friend"?! Luke, I applaud your character descision, and I need a few days to recover from this)

Egbert rolling 2 6's on the mace and shrugging off the mold poisoning was spectacular. "When there will be consequences for Egbert?!", indeed (well, technically, there is plenty of consequences of Egbert, like Golden dragons being back in the G'eth wilderness and the concept of lair bnb's).

Corazon. CORAZON. I am decidedly not okay. First monologue in Prism Break, and now this?!?! Andy is shaping up to becoming a menace as a roleplayer (not to imply that he wasn't good before, his roleplay as Corazon and Edvard is good and fun to watch, but he really flexed his acting and planning muscles during the Deadlands campaign and now. Loved the call-back to Johnny steamrolling the final boss fight there, btw). That, right there, is good character development (and him dissing the spell that just killed him is classic Corazon flair). Beautiful farewell for a character (shut up, I know they aren't permanently retiring the guild, they may or may not bring them back for one-shots)

Merilwen and Dob were doing so well in this fight, holy moly. Dob found time to message Suzette! Merilwen nailed the Thing From The Hell Dimension with a Moonbeam! I want to hug them all (almost all; I'd punch Liliana, but 60 skeletons casting Shatter on her at once is enough to sate my bloodlust in that regard)

Really liked the combat in this episode, too - the editing around the giant thing peering into the gap and teleporting into the sky sent shivers down my spine. A+ use of Reanimate Dead and weaponising a fantasy-flavoured koala, very on-brand for Oxventure guild.

[aliothbuzzsawshark]

why do you think Luke would be a better protagonist? I’m curious. Tbh I’m much the same but I wanna hear your take

Luke is like. An amazing idea for a Yugioh protagonist, or at least the more *dumb* Protags. (Judai, Yuma, Yuya) From his personality, goals, cards, and what he means to the themes of Sevens

     Luke has the personality of a typical shounen anime protagonist. He’s kind, energetic, optimistic, brave, and has a very clear goal. However he has flaws that make him not too perfect or too annoying (both in being to great or too bad) Yuga never really seems like he cares about stuff. He does, but he’s not expressive or puts lots of effort into what he does. Luke meanwhile, puts 1,000% perfect of his everything into what he does. You can tell Wehen he cares, what he’s doing, and most importantly, wouldn’t hide his plans from the audience like Yuga. Both aren’t extremely optimistic, but Luke is a a lot more than Yuga 50% of the time. Luke thinks either everything will work or nothing at all, creating comedy for the audience and a certain surprise to what he’ll do. Meanwhile Yuga will look at a situation, go “oh I know what’s gonna happen here and I’ll fix it” for so many episodes it hurts.

    Furthermore, Yuga’s goal is trying to stop something (Rush Duels getting deleted), not gain. Having a goal of stopping something can cause the audience to get bored. Of course there is exceptions (Yuma and Zexal are pretty good examples of that) but Sevens isn’t one. All but 2 out of 7 antagonists aren’t against Yuga because of Rush Duels (thank you Roa and Swirly) and that is so, so repetitive. Meanwhile, Luke’s goal is gaining the King Of Duels Title, and likely also trying to stop rush duels. This creates a balance between stopping and gaining.

     Luke’s deck is very yugioh. I don’t know how else to describe it. Dragias are really cool dragons and that’s like 35% of all yugioh cards. They even change throughout the series, like how Utopia has various versions to show time and characters. “Yuga’s deck also is very yugioh” Not really. Besides the Sevens Roads he just has spellcasters, and they call back to Yugi/Atem. Luke has dragons, which are as Yugioh as you can get. The most known card is BEWD, not Dark Magician. (Not trying to hate on Dark Magician btw, bewd is just more recognizable)

     Sevens is about going against tradition. Tell me, dear reader, what Yuga does to show this past the first episode. Luke, Tatsuhisa Kamijo, is still somehow better at showing this than Yuga. He stands up with breaking tradition about every time, (every time I can find of, but it’s Sevens so probably not every single time) even with his own family. When he ran the school, he broke the rules and created it how he thought people would like. Whenever he gets ANY position of power, he changes it so people would like it. It’s just that he’s Luke, and he “assumes” people would like him. His entire relationship with his family is about breaking the family tradition and then not supporting him. Comparing to Yuga Ohdo, Luke does everything Yuga could’ve done, but didn’t. Yuga creates the Make Your Own Duel Thingy, but that’s more a plot device than an actual action of breaking the mold for people. Even then, it’s way to late to do it right at the last arc to be anything more than a plot device.

     So uh. Yeah. Is that good? Do you want more? I can keep going

[hms-no-fun]

hey can you just generally ramble about your terezi (and (terezi)) choices? I am interested in your process for her characters this chapter.

yeah! naturally i have a lot to say about a lot of things so spoilers for godfeels 3.2 A1 solo below the break!

let me just start this by saying that (Terezi) has been the BIGGEST pain in my ass of the entire core cast since beginning godfeels 3.

getting A1 out the door in general has been something of a nightmare, in part due to inconvenient irl circumstances but also because this track had a LOT of heavy lifting to do. Double Album is an ambitious project --too ambitious, arguably, considering how much time it takes to write (lots) and how little it pays (nothing)-- and this first glimpse into what's to come needed to do a lot of recapping prior events, moving pieces around on the board, clarifying character motivations, giving everyone a reason to be staying/going, and setting up several hefty dozens of plot threads in both major and minor ways, all while simultaneously being entertaining enough to read that old and new readers alike don't just get bored and peace out before we even get to the stuff that this story's actually about.

i think on balance A1 is going to wind up being sort of an odd duck among the tracks for this reason. i've been thinking of it as sort of a pilot episode, very much in the mold of the pilot of LOST whose very minimal flashbacks belied the load-bearing structural centrality that the flashback device would come to occupy in the series. but it's also a pilot episode for a series that's already three seasons in, which just further complicates the logistical job it needed to do. here again i took inspiration from LOST (get used to this comparison, btw-- everything from chapter 8 onwards has been/will be heavily inspired by LOST in theme and structure), where the season openers always had to pull double duty of cleaning up the mess from whatever bomb dropped in the season finale to completely change the status quo AND giving the core cast time to acclimate to the new status quo in a way that sets the audience up for what this season's gonna be about. it's a fun and punishing challenge that takes a lot of trial and error. there have been so many versions of A1 that all conveyed largely the same information in completely different ways to wildly different ends.

i'm glad i put that work in, because i'm really proud of how A1 ultimately turned out. i think it accomplishes the goals i set out for. and in a serial work like this you just don't get a chance to redo your first episode. if this part didn't work, if every character wasn't utilized with absolute precision, everything that followed would be at a disadvantage. i feel more confident in the future of this side of the story than i did when i first started writing it. but it was hard!

and at the center of that challenge was (Terezi), the character whose desire to go with Silverbark is easily the most obvious of the departing cast and yet simultaneously the most mysterious. i have a document for every writing project where i save cut material just in case, and the one for A1 is over 8000 words. of those, just shy of half are scenes involving (Terezi). because ever since the start of gf3, she's been a delightful, infuriating wrench in all my plans. it's easy enough to understand why she would want to go with Silverbark, but what does she feel about it? how does she feel about what she did to June, what June/Risk did to her, or about the state of Earth C today, and especially about the medicated domestic 30-something Vrisrezi who've just shown up out of the blue?

i wrote the dream strangulation scene in 3.1 chapter 1 knowing it would put a dent in her and June's relationship that would be a pain point through the rest of 3.1, but i'd always planned for them to get on better terms before the end (until Vrisrezi showed up, at which point all that progress would be painfully backpedaled). but as soon as she left the house, (Terezi) completely closed herself off and refused to come to the table again. throughout gf3 and especially chapter 8 i tried to find ways to let her talk about what was on her mind, and she just wouldn't. the Host-intruded memory of them getting into an argument watching Consort Jerry Springer and the birthday flashback where (Terezi) eats leafs both wound up defined in their conflict by (Terezi)'s own silence, her refusal to say what's really bothering her. even as she opens up some in the latter scene, she remains infuriatingly closed off to Risk and us. the question she thinks she's answering is why she's uncomfortable on Earth C, but the question June and Risk are really asking is, why am i not good enough to make this place feel like your home?

this is a dominant theme of Divergence Syndrome-- characters ensconced in noise looking for silence, or characters sick of silence hurtling mortally towards cacophony. the strict meaning of silence vs noise change depending on the person. all the circus flashbacks are moments where characters just can't quite bring themselves to say the thing they really want to say. silence and noise, secrets and truth-- you might draw some comparisons here between this theme and the concept of Voidthought as introduced in A1. i try not to push my hand when it feels like characters don't want to be accessible. it's easy to want to give everyone center stage all at once, but it gets to being too much very quickly. you've got to pick your battles, give everyone their moment when the time is right, when you and they both feel ready for it.

but with (Terezi) i genuinely was like. hey. tell me the thing you really want to say. give me something to work with here. i'm trying to understand how you got here from where we left you in gf2. were you just lying when you said you loved how unpredictable June was? were you lying to Kanaya when you said you liked how boring Earth C was compared to Alternia? what changed in those eleven months between gf2 and gf3 and why didn't i see it until it was too late?

and she just WOULDN'T. every time i've tried to get her talking it felt forced and wrong. she only talks in narration when she wants to. she refuses to humor her guilt even to herself. i wrote a complete version of the scene in Dave's room where Silverbark is much, much meaner, just to try and get a rise out of her. but it was so out of character, it was too much, too forceful. you just can't drag secrets out into the open like that. not with a Mind player as stubborn as (Terezi).

that scene was for me, really. i needed to write it because i was mad at her. i won't share it here because i think quite a lot of it will end up recycled in some form down the line. i don't exactly want to give the impression that (Terezi) is a distinct entity, because none of these characters are. it's more that i see the narration itself, and each characters' varying awareness of it, as having strict rules and boundaries. there's that moment at the end of A1 where Vriska pops into the narration just to say, actually no i don't want my feelings on display right now. i'd planned to have a whole lot of prose there! but when i wrote that interjection, it felt right. it showcases a different form of closing one's self off-- where (Terezi) is doing bullheaded self-harm in her silence, Vriska there is being mature and recognizing that sometimes you just have to let things go. good characterization in this story isn't just about dialogue. every word you read is a function of character in some form. 3.1 was narrated largely by VV. 3.2's narration/structure is what i've been calling "paramniscient epistolary" --basically a roving narratorial eye that can take the form of disconnected third person narration but give way to direct influence from characters whenever they desire. the epistolary part will make more sense come future tracks. but all of that is to say that yeah, to let that device be honest in what it is, to really fulfill VV's promise of letting these characters have genuine agency, i need to be willing to step back and let them be obtuse sometimes.

the original version of that scene between (Terezi) and Silverbark broke rules i didn't yet know, and it taught me a lot about what this story wants to be. gf2 was so much about June expositing her every thought, having revelations, working through shit, coming to terms with her Self. gf3, at least so far, is the opposite. (Terezi)'s lack of answers, her refusal to self-examine, is a protest against the kind of sincerity that June often embodies.

the horror of encountering a Terezi who's well-adjusted and happy is that for (Terezi), it feels inevitable. like a death sentence, a sword hanging over her neck. it's proof that if she ever got what she wanted, she would have to lose so many of the things that she still feels are essential to her Self. i think she tried to force herself to get better in gf2, under the assumption that simply being with someone you love who loves you is enough. but getting better requires work. i don't like the pervasive idea in fiction that couples getting together is the Solution to interpersonal problems, because it's not. it can help! but when you're accustomed to being alone, it's easy to stay alone even when you share every waking moment with someone else. i think Terezi is proof to (Terezi) that getting better takes work, and she despises the notion that she needs to do that work, that this version of her "getting better" is obviously preferable to who she is now. it's revealing that she imposes parentheses on herself so immediately upon meeting Terezi. it's worth noting that when Vriska tries to talk to (Terezi) in the A1 solo, she doesn't use those parentheses.

i think (Terezi) knows that if she even started to have a conversation about all this stuff, she'd lose. there are so many little moments where you can see her resolve shake a little. her harshness is a manifestation of instability. to open that door even a crack is to consent to demolishing the whole house. so she closes herself off altogether. she tells Terezi she'll kill her if she speaks to her again, and when Vriska begs her to seek help, (Terezi) spits in her face.

infinite credit to janet girlpillz for all the art in A1 solo but this panel especially. it took a lot of work to get the mood and tone just right. i cannot overstate how lucky i feel to have her in my camp. this moment would be nothing without her.

it was important for me that the impact of this particular patooie be almost entirely on (Terezi). Vriska's shocked, yes, but in the way of being interrupted mid-sentence more than anything. i wanted to see the moment right before Vriska can emotionally process what's just happened. nonverbal, not overly emotive, surprised, taken aback. but not mad. not sad. not angry. it's (Terezi) who's angry. Vriska laughs it off pretty fast once the fluttersled departs, because she sees the gesture for what it is. it's not really about her or for her. it's (Terezi) kicking the dog to chase it away, maybe because she thinks its for the dog's own good, or maybe because she just doesn't want the responsibility of taking care of a dog, except she IS the dog and she might not even know it.

as to (Terezi)'s turn towards "Justice," i'm not even sure she really believes it. does she actually think June is guilty of a crime? or is this just an extremely elaborate means of tethering her fate to the woman she used to love? and in fact, is that love truly in the past tense for her?

right now, (Terezi) and the rest of the crew are in a state of transition, carried forward by the high-stakes manic momentum of chapter 8 into a new life with new rules without really knowing what that actually entails. i think their commitment to any idea of their role in that future is highly precarious, especially as we proceed out of that manic phase into what will, eventually, become the new normal. right now their motivations are all hypothetical, contingent, abstract. that is not enough in the long term. it will take something real, something personal, to get them not just to stay in Silverbark's company, but to live there. Silverbark has sown the seeds of these in each of her conversations with the core cast. but to paraphrase VV, their ultimate reason for choosing to do what they will do is theirs to decide.

it wouldn't take much to shake (Terezi) out of her present self-destructive funk. it's just that there aren't very many things that could, and most of them are on Earth C. the question for me going forward is, what will it take to transform (Terezi)'s present verve for becoming "a detective" from an elaborate larp into a genuine career conviction? she can't maintain her delusion of moral superiority without that. (Terezi)'s a real piece of work but i don't think she enjoys lying, even and perhaps especially to herself. but she is a serial lifelong liar-by-omission. the currency of her deception is silence.

and that's something that (Terezi) and Silverbark have in common.

my final note (dear god does this woman ever shut up) is on the characterization of Terezi. she obviously doesn't get many lines in this chapter, and that's interesting. I have a hard time imagining that even a medicated 30-something Terezi is particularly good at holding her tongue. part of it is just sheer practicality. there are ELEVEN characters with speaking roles in this chapter, and of those Terezi is the least... i don't want to say "important," because she IS important. least relevant, maybe? none of this interpersonal drama has anything to do with her. when you think about it, Terezi is in a similar position now to the one Silverbark was in when she returned to Earth C. older, wiser, fundamentally different, while simultaneously stepping into the role her less mature younger self occupied in all these people's lives. i think she recognizes that the only thing she can do in this situation is cause trouble, so she mostly avoids contributing altogether. her home base in the scene is Vriska, until at last the space opera drama mamas fuck off to their Very Important Story and she can safely make jokes again. wow, what a bitch. let's go get omelettes.

it'll be interesting to see (when we get to it, which will be a long time from now) how Terezi fits in with Jane and Karkat, and on Earth C in general. how will the media respond to her? how will culture at large respond to her? jesus christ man, it's gonna be such a fucking mess.

anyway, those are some rambling thoughts on Terezi and (Terezi)! i hope your thirst is sated, or at least that you didn't drown.

[bluegekk0]

Random thought that went to my head: How would vrym feel about the king molds and wing molds? Would he feel guilty about what happened to them and how would he react to the collector( if they are still alive)?

Btw, your au has been a big inspiration for my own au surrounding the collector, especially the inspiration toward my version of the pale king. Have a great day 😄

First of all, I'm so happy to hear you could find inspiration in my AU! It really warms my heart to hear that people enjoy it so much! And I wish you luck in the making of your own AU!!

Now to answer the question, I actually wrote about void a bit on the WorldAnvil page on higher beings yesterday, so this is really good timing. I'll start with the general idea of void in my AU. I see it as a naturally occuring substance found deep underground, which mutated and evolved into a form which, under certain conditions, can unify and take the shape of a Void Entity, which is considered a very strange type of higher being, under the name of The Shade Lord. But in its basic form, it is a substance which seemingly has some kind of mind, but acts purely on instinct and can't experience pain due to its sludge like form. It has the capability to animate objects if contained within, and I like to think that in the distant past there was some kind of civilization which used it for technological progress (before being wiped out by it, since as it later turned out, starting a settlement in a place dripping with void was way deadlier than anticipated). As void evolved, it became too dangerous to stay around, which is why it was left forgotten in the Abyss, especially after it was sealed away there by The Radiance and Grimm's father (I'm planning to expand this plot point on the WorldAnvil page at some point, so I'll share more details then).

I mention this because, after defeating the weakened Shade Lord that was locked in there (this is how I interpret the Black Wyrm in the AU), and during his experiments on a way to stop the infection, Vyrm learned of the animative properties of void and put together the kingsmould and wing moulds. They were originally going to be the vessels, but unfortunately their artificial shell wasn't strong enough to hold the entities and they were prone to breaking down. He later made the terrible decision to use a living being as the void vessel, but we know how that went.

After the experiments failed, Vyrm was left with a bunch of those animated metal knights that were still intact, so he decided to use them as guards for the Palace. There weren't enough of them to pose any serious risk, and he didn't want to just discard them, so he found a use for them. The moulds were not actually sentient, or at the very least, they had the same level of intelligence as void itself. They could be made to follow orders, so they were pretty decent guards. Of course, they weren't the only ones protecting the Palace, I see them as just an addition to strengthen the defenses. Wingmoulds, meanwhile, were used to carry messages throughout the Palace, and as general surveillance.

With that said, void has proven to not act as expected, as seen in the vessels. They were meant to be obedient and experience no pain, and while Vyrm feared that this could fail, for quite some time it appeared that things went according to plan. Well, they didn't, and that realization made him view void differently as a whole. For all intents and purposes, there is nothing there to feel bad about when it comes to the void moulds, they were not living beings, just metal animated by an oil like substance. But I think despite that, he would feel bad about the kingsmould that broke down at the Palace ruins, as if it died guarding its king to the end of its days. Perhaps he even feels some guilt about disturbing the void in the first place. I think he wishes that he placed the moulds back in the Abyss and allowed the void within to return to the void lake, instead of keeping them for his own gain.

As for the Collector, it's a strange being. I'm not yet sure if I'm going to make them a failed/rogue kingsmould or if its a completely unique entity. What I do know is that he wouldn't be aware of their existence, and so would have no feelings about them. I think the Collector's existence serves as a nice showcase of the unpredictability of void, as well as its ability to take form and even develop some sort of personality as a result. Perhaps they're still alive somewhere out there, be it the City of Tears or someplace else. I haven't thought about them that much aside from occasional ask responses that weren't really meant to be concrete. I quite like the idea of them just being a wild entity that existed at some point and maybe still does.

If Vyrm did bump into them, I'm sure he would be shocked, though perhaps a bit fascinated. Seeing a void entity that does not inhabit any outer shell would be an interesting thing to experience, especially after all his attempts at trying to study it and experiment with it. But it would also make him even more confident in thinking that he should've never disturbed void in the first place, as clearly it can be very unpredictable. So his feelings would remain the same, a mixture of regret and caution.

[koffing-time]

//YEAHH woo cheese is back!!! hi cheese!!! (i mean. we've been in contact) but YEAHHH CHEESE BLOGS ARE BACK

Hey! You're a Poison-type user! This Trubbish won't leave me alone, and I caught him, so he's mine, I think? Is there any way to make him... smell less trashy? Koffing smell too, right? I know that one. So maybe you have some ideas, especially if you're running a café?

-@say-it-with-sizzle

Hi there! first off: congrats! Trubbish are usually not very social pokémon, so being chosen by a wild one is pretty awesome! (that doesn't mean you smell btw)

So, about his smell:

\\headcanon ahead (also long post so i'll make a cut)

Trubbish, like many Poison Types that have unusual diets (Grimer, Varoom etc), their smell and sometimes their appearance depends a lot on what they eat. I've looked at your blog, you're in Nimbassa right? If you caught your Trubbish there, i'm not surprised he smells atrocious. No offense to the people there, but it's a big city with many events and a lot of waste that is pretty disgusting. Imagine a mixture of burnt fireworks and gasoline from the amusement park and musical as well as greasy makeup, half eaten and spoiling food from sport events and whatever unspeakable things can be found in the battle metro? Sounds familiar bc your Trubbish smells exactly like that? (Be glad you didn't catch him in the sewers of castelia lmao)

Yeah... tl:dr get him on a diet that smells better.

You can easily mix some detergents or soaps (with parfume) into his food, he should be quite capable of digesting it and check if there's some stuff that smells bad that he's eaten. There are two things to consider for Trubbish diet though:

1: they need some sort of toxic compounds for their poison type attacks. You should be able to get him a proper assortment from like, cleaning chemicals. Parfumed detergents and stuff, so there is definitely an option for good smell (don't expect too much though, he won't smell like the flower fields near Opelucid). If he doesn't get any of these compounds, he might get stressed at the lack of self-defense options. He'll possibly also try to scavenge public trash cans or stuff like that, and you don't want that for multiple reasons.

2: Trubbish don't do much digestion. They mostly just absorb whatever they eat directly into their body (bonus of being amorphous i guess?) and it stays there until the energy is used up. This means, they often need rotten or spoiling organic food, (or rather the bacteria and molds and stuff) to help break down their (other) food, so they can use more energy quickly. There are foods that smell TERRIBLE when rotting, and other that are... okay-ish, and depending on what you give him, he'll smell similar. Technically they don't need these organic foods, but if they don't have access to them, they grow lethargic and are generally weaker.

Once you change his diet, he possibly won't change his smell significantly for 3 to 4 weeks though, because the stuff usually stays in their body for a longer time than "regular" pokémon.

That being said, please do provide him a proper toxic diet. I mean, he's basically perfectly happy with playing your trashcan. For real, give him food scraps, empty dish soap bottles and stuff like that (keep in mind the smell of whatever it is though). Only giving him (regular) pokémon-food is almost certainly make his life worse and prone to illness, stress and whatnot.

As for Coffee, my Koffing, it's a similar thing. He smells mostly like, well, coffee, because his diet is mostly that. As a result, he's also entirely non-toxic, because he doesn't eat anything that's toxic in the first place. It's really funny how some of the most toxic pokémon in the wild don't produce any toxins themself and just eat them to use them later. Also, Coffee doesn't feel the need to be toxic (i am definitely happy to provide him a proper toxic diet and he knows this). Your trubbish very likely feels different about self defense. So again, please provide him some toxic stuff.

And a little funfact: Koffing sometimes form competing gangs in bigger cities purely based on smell. Owners of Koffing who smell like a certain part of town have to be careful if they go to another one.

[frogs-in3-hills]

clawing my way into the asks again like a little parasite ahem. Thoughts on susato 👁👁

oh my god susato... *breaks down into sobbing* i actually finished the game an hour or two after i saw this ask and wanted to give it a little bit of time to sit in my head before i started trying to analyze things ^_^; but now i think i'm emotionally ready to think about her without destroying my own psyche. readmore cause this kind of turned into an analysis, albeit a very disorganized one

anyways SUSATO GOOD. i love her dynamic with ryuu so much, she's so competent but does still genuinely feel like a teenage girl at the same time. i think she's really the heart of the duology, especially dgs1, i mean she is literally the central piece of the emotional resolutions for each game and also the reason for 90% of the times i cried while playing. which, btw, was significantly more often than any of the other AA games ^_^; i was pretty much in tears from the moment the final trial ended to like, an hour after the credits stopped rolling. the idea of ryuunosuke going to japan without her absolutely destroyed me because he was so depressed during that six month gap :( and i was so relieved that they would continue to change the world together

also can i just say her design and sprites are incredible?? not only is she just. the fucking cutest. her animations and poses are so sweet, oh my god her expressions are amazing, they perfectly encapsulate her yamato nadeshiko elegance, her deep strength & tenacity & curiosity, and even hints at her deeper feelings of inadequacy. i mean god i am thinking about her teary-eyed smile that rips my heart to pieces every time and her stunned expression when she sees the masked assistant. screaming sobbing wailing banging my fists on the table. the same goes for her theme but like times a hundred, like, i don't really know anything about music so i can't explain why but it's so unbelievably perfect for both her and the overall tone of the game. honestly it might beat out turnabout sisters for my favorite track in the series

which by the way, it's so cool how she immediately breaks from the mold of typical AA assistants with her demeanor. she's the picture of temperance and humility, and despite her age she is the heart of the story and a guiding light in ryuunosuke's journey. this stands in huge contrast to characters like maya, who has an incredibly strong heart but really feels like a child lost in a world of suddenly inherited responsibilities and murderous family conflicts that she's 100% not equipped to handle. none of that is to say that i think all the AA assistants are the same because they are absolutely not, but they do have similar ~vibes~ so it's really refreshing to have a protagonist-assistant dynamic that feels so different from the outset.

but then 1-2 kind of destroys whatever initial perception you had of her right? because now susato's out here being actively hostile to you in spite of the slow trickle of evidence exonerating ryuunosuke. she literally attacks you like five times and hardly ever smiles. because just like ryuunosuke, asougi's boundless determination bled into her, to the point that she p much dedicated her life to studying so she could go to london in order to help him. and now that he's gone, she's left completely lost at sea. literally :(

personally i think her attitude after ryuu provides some reasonable doubt is very telling. first, it shows that she's extremely levelheaded in the face of a crisis, because even though it would be so so so easy and even cathartic to blame ryuunosuke, she realizes that it would be unfair and resolves to help him prove his innocence. however, even though it's clear she does believe in ryuu, we still get a bunch of moments where she makes digs at him and acts randomly suspicious again before moving on. these are probably just little jokes not meant to be taken seriously by the writers, but like i can't help but look into them more and wonder if susato is projecting onto ryuunosuke, due to their aforementioned similar situations. i think she's very frustrated with herself for being so helpless. she clearly bases her self worth on her use as a judicial assistant (which is not so healthy but we're getting there), but without kazuma, what does her help and expertise even matter? and she sees that resemblance between herself and ryuunosuke and takes her frustration out on him, even if she doesn't think he actually killed asougi. she reminds me a lot of godot in this case tbh.

speaking of susato having unreasonably high expectations for herself and other people, HEY THAT'S ANOTHER ONE OF MY FAVORITE CHARACTER TROPES

*gets emotionally ripped to shreds by the narrative*

it's quite clear that the high expectations she has of her loved ones-- mainly ryuu, kazuma, sholmes, and gina-- is her version of unflinching belief. every time she encourages ryuunosuke, she's saying things like "i know you can handle this" and "you have everything you need to take this on, so don't give up now" and she is certainly not lying or exaggerating. susato is the one who decided that ryuunosuke deserves to carry on with asougi's legacy, and therefore there's kind of an implicit don't disappoint me in there. nothing demonstrates this more than what she says to gina in the prison:

Susato: I'm sorry to say...that I must reluctantly bid you farewell. Gina: Eh? Farewell? Susato: Tomorrow, I must begin my journey back home. To Japan. ...I fear we may never meet again. Gina: ...! Oh...right... Susato: I've had the pleasure of meeting so many lovely people here in London. I have so many wonderful memories. And yet...as things stand now... ...it will be a glum parting indeed. Poor Iris is so miserable. Iris: Susie... Gina: Well...well...that ain't my business! Susato: Both Iris and Mr Naruhodo believe you to be innocent, Gina. They've put their faith in you. But somehow...you can't find it in your heart to put your faith in them. Gina: Yeah! That's right, I can't! ...Wot of it? Susato: It grieves me greatly to have to say goodbye to my friends when they are so clearly unhappy... ...because of you. Gina: ...! Wot, it's MY fault?! Susato: Yes. So I have one final request, Gina, before our paths never cross again. Right here and now... ...I want you to show both of them that you don't deserve the faith they've invested in you. Gina: Eh?! Susato: Only by doing that... ...will you truly be as alone as you claim to be.

this was like The Moment where i did kind of a double take and went, holy shit, susato is the best character in this game, i get it now. because we're seeing what it looks like when susato is disappointed in you. this the final chance she's extending to gina and she just gets right to business with "i'm tired of wondering if you're going to trust me, so if you're so determined to push away the people who care about you then i expect you to be straight with me. you need to decide right now if you are truly committed to destroying this chance at happiness because i can no longer accept the way you're treating my friends. and if you can prove to me that you're not worth it then i will give up on you." and not only is this fucking perfect because it's exactly the push that gina needs, it shows the epitome of what makes susato so great: her balance! she knows when to hold back and be patient and she knows when to assert herself. she really makes me think of the temperance card in tarot in that way. gina was never going to take to iris' puppydog eyes or ryuunosuke's insistence that he believes in her; she needed somebody to take her anxieties seriously and then say "oh yeah? prove it." and it is so terribly Lawyer of her to pull the evidence card like that, it makes me absolutely insane. i'm going to think about this forever

it's pretty explicit in dgs1 that she expects the most out of herself though with her thinking that she's a failure of a judicial assistant for losing faith, which is something she shares with asougi. asougi is carrying the weight of his family's legacy on his back and the responsibility of changing the world. i don't know a lot about meiji era japan but i know it would have been extremely challenging to become a defense attorney. there is no room for error with him. they also both try to punish themselves when they don't meet those expectations-- susato trying to throw her legal book into the ocean and asougi doing, uh, literally everything he does in dgs2, but specifically giving karuma to ryuunosuke. i wonder if he learned it from her >_>

i will be honest i'm not 100% sure how i feel abt the way she was handled in dgs2, i don't think she was poorly written or anything! just kind of lacking the bite she had in dgs1. it's hard to compare the way she reacts to gina disappointing her vs the way she reacts to kazuma disappointing her, because gina is her cool friend while kazuma is literally her dead adopted brother who came back to life and is kind of being a legendary asshole about it. so like, i'm not gonna say it's definitely inconsistent or out of character for her to react to asougi's Whole Deal by just kind of frowning in the background, but idk i wish she'd had a more active role in that conflict or been allowed to do something. like, they only exchange a couple of lines throughout the whole game and i think that was a huge waste. i would have at least liked to see a follow up of her and ryuunosuke's conversation about his body going missing, now that they know he's alive, because i find myself being unable to parse how she feels about the whole thing. i really expected her to be angrier or to show something bigger than "wow :( this fucking sucks :(" like SHE'S NOT WRONG! but there was so much opportunity to take it in a different direction.

anyways i think the ending of dgs2 is perfect because she's actively rejecting that path that's been expected of her, she was always supposed to stand by asougi's side and yet she allows herself to be selfish and follow ryuunosuke instead. yes, she knows when to be assertive, but she only ever does it for the benefit of other people. here she knows what she wants and is determined to pursue it-- i think it's absolutely wonderful and i am so proud of her ;-; in the first game she would have had to go back home alone, afraid for her father and for gina and for everyone else that she loves, believing that she had failed ryuunosuke and by extension, kazuma and his legacy. but here she gets to go back home of her own volition and continue to follow the path she believes in, assured in her worth and knowing that she has a true friend by her side and all that is to say i fucking love susato so much and i am losing my entire mind over her and i expect to be doing so for the rest of my days