#this was just a quick recap from memory

[homeosloven]

wait wait why was the ex pope bad. i’m not into christianity so i have no clue are people celebrating his death just bc he was a priest in power or did he do some shit

being a catholic already makes you a bad person, if you're a catholic priest you're worse, a bishop is worse than a priest, an archbishop is worse than a bishop, a cardinal is way worse than an archbishop and in the end of course there's the main bitch of them all, His Holiness the Pope, arguably the worst catholic on earth. Now, Mr Ratzinger here was a religious fundamentalist, opposed any and all attempts at modernizing the Church, he fought hard against anti-aids/anti-hiv campaigns that promoted safe sex/contraception (because the virus is god's punishment for promiscuity and homosexuality), he was militantly against same sex marriage and used all institutional and lobbying power in his hand to stop progressive legislation around the world, but mainly in Italy, where the Vatican is most welcome in governmental palaces.

His biggest scandals were by far the cover-up of various child abuses by priests, cardinals, bishops etc all over the world (most notably in Germany and the US). All this obviously accompanied by corruption, financial speculation, bribing of national officials around Europe etc. He was the staunch conservator of a rotting institution, and he did everything in his power to move it and everyone around it back to the middle ages.

[luvjunie]

— Unforgettable ( 3 )

part one • part two • part three • part four • part five

pairing: e-1610!miles x fem!reader

contains: sooo much fluff, plot progression, a glimpse into reader and miles’ relationship, the moment we’ve all been waiting for 🤭, and another itty bitty plot twist

summary: a bump in with a certain boy at the bodega threatens to ruin your previously perfect afternoon until he offers to fix it. you assumed things would end there, and then you ran into him again. wc: 3,254

a/n: i know y’all ain’t think i forgot about this series!!! but here’s a long chapter as an apology since i made y’all wait so long </3 also did i say an ‘itty bitty’ plot twist? cause i be lying. recap of part two is in small italics!

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“You had her approval as soon as you called her Mrs. Morales.”

Your head tilted in question, eyes panning to the ceiling in thought. “Isn’t that normal? Calling someone’s parent by their last name?”

A comfortable silence settled, just for a moment.

“You’d think so.” A smile curled Miles’ lips, the memory of when he’d introduced the first girl he’d ever liked to his parents flashing into his mind; his interest in tossing the ball paused momentarily as images from the past flooded his thoughts.

Wait… Why was he thinking about her?

. . .

“Miles?”

“Milesss?”

“Huh?” Miles blinked quickly as he brought himself back to the present, his slightly startled gaze landing on your puzzled expression.

“Earth to Morales?” Your tone leaked with a playfulness as you quirked a brow at him. “Did you hear a word I just said?”

“Nah, sorry,” Miles cleared his throat, then scratched his forehead with a laugh he hoped didn’t sound too awkward. “Just spaced out for a sec. What’d you say?”

“I saiddd,” Laying on your stomach as your thumbs twiddled along the screen of your phone, you sent a quick text before you continued. “—It’s getting kinda late, and if I’m not home in the next thirty minutes my Grandma will alert the entire police force over my absence.” you chuckled, the perpetual buzzes of replies sounding from your phone only furthering your point.

“Oh— Yeah, you’re right. My bad, I didn’t even realize.” Miles stood and grabbed his coat from the hook off his closet door before he turned towards you with a warm grin.

“C’mon, I’ll walk you home.”

—

Miles had been staring at his ceiling ever since he got back home, headphones blasting music over his ears to drown out the inevitable. For what seemed like hours, and for what probably was, he was trapped in an endless rumination he didn’t want to be a part of.

The grace his weekend temporarily granted him had unfortunately come to an end, and before he knew it, there was a knock on his bedroom door that reminded him of the upcoming drive him and his dad had to make back to Visions.

—

“Dude, this is so stupid. My head is about to explode from all this thinking.” Clad in a wifebeater and plaid boxers as he laid on the top bunk, Miles whined out what had only been his hundredth complaint in the span of fifteen minutes.

“And I can’t find my bonnet!”

Miles’ voice was muffled by the fluff of his pillow, the same pillow that was clutched tightly and caged between his arms as an effort to cling onto the last bit of his sanity. Also the same pillow that’d gone flat nearly two months ago. How convenient.

He thought talking Ganke’s ear off about all his feelings would help sort through his thoughts, but it did the exact opposite. Miles’ feelings for you were growing, that was an undeniable fact, so he still couldn’t figure out why after an entire year, Gwen was still on his mind. Why couldn’t he just forget about her?

“I really like this girl, man. Like, really, really like her. Like, Sunflower ain’t got shit on this girl, like her.” Miles blinked, astonished at his own words as he carried on, “Like, I offered to walk her home instead of having my mom drive her, like her—“

“Bro— Bro. I get it,” Ganke interrupted.

“I didn’t even know I could feel like this for someone else!” Pulling himself into a seated position, Miles let his legs dangle over the side of the bed. “I mean, I even let her meet my parents. You know how I am about that!” He exclaimed, arms outstretched as if they would help him present his case better. Ganke, in fact, did not know how he was about that.

“That obviously means I’m over Gwen! Right?”

No answer.

“Right?”

“I dunno, dude! Now you see why I don’t even bother dealing with that kind’a junk. It’s confusing as hell. “ Ganke’s eyes darted from side to side as they tracked the video game on his PC’s monitor, tongue poking at his lip in intense concentration. His half-baked advice to Miles was as much as he could muster without losing focus on his Call of Duty mission. “That’s love for you, man.”

Miles’ eyes went wide and his heart began to race. “Woah woah woah— I ain’t say anything about love!” Technically, he did, just in different words.

With a weighted sigh the controller plunked out of Ganke’s hands and down onto the desk, ‘MISSION FAILED’ flashing in bold onto the screen.

“Alright, look,” Ganke spun around in his chair and glanced up at the top bunk. “If you like this girl as much as you say you do, why don’t you just go for it? What’s stopping you? A girl who’s not even here anymore?” he scoffed. “Quit dwelling on the past and look at what’s right in front of you. You know, someone who’s actually in this universe.”

Miles sat with pursed lips as he stared down at his open palms, treading in the water of his thoughts.

“You know what,” Head raising, he looked to his roommate with a newfound determination. “You’re right, Ganke. Starting tonight, I’m done thinking about the past.” Miles nodded.

“Great, now either let me get back to my mission in peace, or grab a damn controller and help me.”

Ganke was right. Gwen’s gone, and she wasn’t coming back. It’s not even possible.

Miles let the conclusion settle within him as he dug around in the junk drawer for the spare controller.

It’s time for him to move on.

—

As you relaxed on your back in the room you’d been in more times than you could even remember at this point, head idly bopping to an album by Tears for Fears, you thought back to the time before you knew Miles. And even though you hadn’t known him for nearly as long as you’d known yourself— maybe just caught up in the whirlwind of something new and exciting, or him in general— you couldn’t help but feel as if his presence had been missing from your life this entire time.

Spending the day with him had become as normal as breathing to you. His space had become your space (his words), and it rang true as you hummed along to the tune echoing from the record player on his desk.

“Help me to decide. Help me make the most of freedom, and of pleasure. Nothing ever lasts forever…”

The song ‘Everybody Wants to Rule the World’ wrapped you snug in a warm sense of nostalgia, it having been one of your favorites since middle school. And paired with being around your favorite person— you were sure you never wanted to leave this moment. You smiled to yourself at the upside down image you had of Miles as you let your head hang over the side of his bed, the beads on the ends of your braids clinking against his wooden floors when your head tilted with a new found query.

“Miles,”

He hummed, but it wasn’t the kind that sounded as if you’d interrupted him, or as if he were annoyed. It was the kind that let you know he was interested in whatever you wanted to tell him, and that you had his attention even if his eyes weren’t on you.

“Okay, bear with me here. And answer carefully, because this kind of decides the type of person you are and whether I’ll even speak to you afterwards.”

“Wait, what is it?” He quickly looked up at you—upside down you, at least— with concerned eyes and you struggled to hide your grin.

“What color do you think science is?”

“Are you serious?” He deadpanned.

Your brow raise was his answer.

“Green, obviously.”

“Interesting choice. Why green?”

Miles shrugged, “Cause of the environment. Plants are green. And when I think of plants, I think of photosynthesis. Photosynthesis, equals science. Therefore,” pen in hand, he made a ‘viola’ gesture. “Green.”

“Mm,” You scrunched your nose, eyes panning back to the ceiling. “I guess I can see that.”

“And math is blue.” He tacked on.

“Blue!?” You balked, flipping over onto your stomach so his face was right side-up now. “Math? Blue? Are you deadass?”

“As dead as ass can be.” Miles quipped with a snort and continued to scribble away at the page he’d been sketching on for the last half hour.

“History is blue, not math!” You scoffed.

“Alright Y/n, what other color would math be then?” He asked incredulously.

“Red, duh.”

“Red?” He repeated breathlessly. “Why would math be red?”

“Well,” you started, “Math makes me angry. And when I think about anger, I think about the color red, just like everybody else does. And I hate red, just like I hate math. Numbers and letters do not belong together, just like pineapple on pizza. Therefore,” you mimicked his previous gesture to the air with a confident grin. “Red.”

“Pineapple— Numbers… What?” Miles blinked at you with both disbelief and confusion, the corners of his mouth threatening to expose his amusement as they lifted. “That’s it? That’s your grand explanation?”

“Mm-hm.” You hummed proudly, chin perched in both your hands.

Miles shook his head as his smile finally made itself known, dimples and all the moment your lashes batted at him.

“Not gon’ lie to you, that sounded like a whole bunch’a bullshit.” He laughed at your fake offended expression.

One of Miles’ favorite things about you was how you always seemed to ramble about everything, and nothing at the same time. He thought it was adorable.

“Well, the math part I understand, I guess.” he shrugged. “But you can’t possibly hate the color red all that much.”

Your brows furrowed at him, “What makes you say that?”

“Cause,” Miles turned his sketchbook towards you, the drawing he’d been working on this entire time revealed to be a moment he’d caught of you, gazing up at his ceiling just the way you were a moment ago. “Look.”

You nearly felt your heart stop as you took in what was in front of you. All this time while you were in your own world, singing along to whatever song came and went, he’d been focused solely on you. You dragged your eyes up from the paper so they’d meet his, your calves swiftly tucking under your thighs when you rushed to sit up in a straighter position.

“I—Is that me?” You blabbed out before you could think.

“Nah, it’s Boo-Boo the fool.” Miles huffed out a laugh. “Yes, it’s you dummy.”

Gentle strokes of red to the thin paper framed your face and lips, the attention to detail he used brought your eyes to life on the page, and he’d even managed to capture the beads on the bottom of your braids, too.

“How the hell did you do that?”

He shrugged shyly and turned his artwork to face him once more, studying the page as if he hadn’t been doing just that all this time. His heart was beginning to race faster than he’d originally predicted, and he wondered if he should’ve shown you.

“It’s kind of muscle memory at this point.”

Miles heard the words that came out of his own mouth, and you did too, but it was like the both of you comprehended exactly what he’d said at the same time.

“Don’t—“ He tried, but it was too late, you were already gushing, and he was already blushing.

“Awwwww!”

“Please—“

“Milessss!” you teased, ignoring his plea.

“Stop it.” Flustered, he shielded a smile behind his hand and tried to look anywhere else but your face.

“You’re so cute when you blush.”

—

Things were beyond easy with Miles.

The two of you never ran out of things to talk about and he always matched your energy, as if he were the other half of you.

There were no awkward moments, or pressure towards the other about making a move, because deep down you both knew what this was, and that everything would fall into place with time.

It was apparent in the way he looked at you, in how perfectly you fit in his arms when he hugged you goodbye, and how you always relaxed in his embrace when he would hold onto you just a bit longer.

Your first date went perfectly. Well, not really, but that’s what made it even better.

An ominous ‘be ready in 20 mins’ text to your phone and about a half hour later, Miles popped up at your door, pink tulips in hand and a smile big enough to match his signature jacket.

The two of you decided to catch a movie after a short train ride to the theater, and he let you pick. Horror being one of your favorite genres, that’s what you went with, and like everything else that came with you, Miles agreed.

But just thirteen minutes in at one of the simplest jumpscares (if you could even call it one), Miles let out a scream belonging on one of the highest vocal registers your ears had ever heard, and it sent you into such an uncontrollable fit of laughter that you ended up accidentally spilling your fresh popcorn all over the floor.

Miles’ ego wasn’t nearly big enough for him to remain embarrassed once the tears started rolling from your eyes, and eventually, the laughter he tried to stifle made itself known to everyone sitting around you. And when you say everyone, you mean everyone.

It only took two minutes of you guys cackling and snorting before the both of you were asked to leave, and you had no idea how you made it out of the theater with how hard your stomachs were cramping.

—

Sure, the movie hadn’t gone quite as planned, but you didn’t mind and neither did he. As long as you both were in each other’s company, you wouldn’t mind watching paint dry.

The blue hue of the night had long enveloped the city, and as you and Miles sat up on the roof of his apartment, the dimmed fairy lights twinkling in the darkness from where they were strung across the perimeter, you made a mental note to study up on the movie you told your Grandma you were staying out late to see.

You leaned into Miles and rested your head on his shoulder, knees pulling to your chest as you exhaled softly.

“You cold?”

Far from it, actually.

A perpetual breeze prompted your bodies to curl into each other more, though goosebumps and chattering teeth were nowhere in sight, only fingers secretly inching closer and hearts growing fonder.

“I should be asking you, I’m wearing your jacket.” you joked.

“Nah,” he chuckled. “I’m alright.”

The silence was comfortable. You didn’t want to go home just yet and Miles wasn’t ready to say goodbye for the night, so you stayed.

This had become a new norm for the two of you, so much so that this was pretty much how all your hangouts ended. You’d stay just a little longer, and then he’d take you home. You couldn’t put your finger on it, but for some weird reason you always felt much safer when you were with Miles, like he’d be able to protect you if anything were to happen when the two of you were together.

“Y/n?”

“Hm?”

“Have you ever been in love before?”

Miles’ voice was quiet, nearly drowned out from the lively sounds of the city around you. You were surprised you even heard it.

You swallowed, and it took so much effort to form your lips around the simple word you answered with. “W-what?”

He cleared his throat as his posture straightened slightly. “Like, do you know what love is? Is what I mean...” He clarified quickly, mentally cursing himself for how badly he worded things, even if it’s what he meant. He didn’t even know if you felt the same.

You lifted your head from his shoulder, prompting his own to turn towards you, but you didn’t meet his eyes. You settled for toying with the sleeve of his jacket as your heart began to thrum a little faster.

Nibbling at the inside of your lip, you inhaled quietly before answering. “When they’re the first person your mind thinks of when you hear the word ‘love’. Or maybe when the thought of them gets you out of bed in the morning instead of your alarm clock. You know when you know, basically. That’s what I was taught, and I think it checks out.” you glanced over at him, and he felt like time stopped when your eyes locked.

“Do you?” you asked.

“H-Huh?” Miles was enthralled with how pretty you looked, and how your features were perfectly illuminated by the gentle glow of the city lights, so much so that he could hardly think straight.

Rolling your eyes and suppressing a giggle, you shook your head at him. “—Do you know what love is, dummy.”

“Not exactly— uh, I don’t think so, no.” Miles’ jaw tensed and his gaze met yours once more. The twinkle in your eyes temporarily dimming due to the fear of this all being in your head.

“Oh.” you murmured.

“But I think I know what it feels like.” He said softly.

“Really?”

Lips parting slightly for a shaky breath to pass, Miles nodded. “Positive.”

Your eyes fell down to his lips almost immediately, then lifted back up to see that his had done the same to yours.

“Well… What does it feel like?”

The question left your mouth long before you could’ve thought to stop it, yet regret was the last thing you felt. What you were feeling was something entirely different.

Your faces grew closer until your noses brushed against each others, a second spared as a chance for either of you to bail on what you both knew was bound to happen in a matter of time.

He leaned in and you let him— let your arms curl around his neck and his around your waist so your lips could meet faster. Let your lips move against each other’s because it felt right, because that’s what you knew love to be. Letting something happen because it felt right.

He felt right.

Miles pulled away, but barely, his breath warm against your lips. “Come to my parent’s party tomorrow?” He blurted.

Hands holding the back of his neck, you blinked yourself out of your daze, brows furrowed. “What?”

“My dad, they’re making him police captain. We’re celebrating tomorrow, here, and I want you to come.” Miles licked his lips. “Well I— I was gonna invite you anyway. But now I really want you to come. And I wanted you to come before this happened, obviously—“

“I’d love to.” You smiled, and let him pull you back into him the second you’d given your answer.

—

Miles remembered what it was like to be so head over heels in love with someone that it consumed him entirely. How it corrupted his days and fogged his mind with nothing but the thought of them, and he could feel himself slipping back into it again, but this time, with you. And if he were being honest, it kind of scared him, how quickly you’d claimed his heart.

But what he did know was that you liked him, and he liked you. He’ll admit, he didn’t expect his feelings for you to develop as fast as they did, for them to hit him as hard as they had. But he was past that now. Tomorrow was going to be special, and not just for his family, but for the two of you. He was finally going to take the leap he’d been too scared to make before tonight.

You were the perfect girl, that he was sure of. And who’d be dumb enough to not accept perfect when it was right in front of them?

He wanted this. He wanted you.

But any chance for another sensical thought was interrupted when the impossible happened.

‘Impossible’, being the multi-layered hexagonal portal that suddenly opened up on his ceiling, and the blonde-haired, gap-toothed girl he thought he’d never see again, appearing with it.

Bright and beaming down at him with a heart-halting grin, Miles felt his stomach drop as soon as she spoke.

“Miles!”

Shit.

taglist: @burymeinside @secret-ssociety @whatamidoing89 @urmotherswhor3 @valovesyou @inlovewithfictionalppl @edgyficuselastica @motherwanda @mybfmiles @axeoverblade @miumiulicious @sukisprettyface @gwennesy @simpnotapimp @kanvis @cleo-dearts @retirement-home @lunaramune @silas-222 @citrusequalsfrogs @itsberrydreemurstuff @spritecranverry @mewhenimanangel @wisteriaflowersss

(if you asked to be tagged and i didn’t tag you, that’s because your user didn’t show up 💔)

[kindestegg]

Putting together a timeline for the Collector's backstory

Hi!! For the Future just happened!! It was insane!! Anyway as a Collector superfan, fantasy worldbuilding fanatic, and also Collector's actual chosen dad (real, not fake, he revealed this to me in a dream /j), I decided to try and interpret the crumbs we got both from direct and indirect clues in the new episode, as well as tying back to earlier episodes.

I want to start first with the paintings on the Archive halls, which seem to tell a story. I chose to interpret them, from the first shot we see them in, as chronological from left to right, as that usually tends to be how one would read things (at least in the west, don't worry, I haven't forgotten about manga and all that, but I don't think the crew was following manga rules).

Here is a picture of the hallway I am using for reference. This specific shot seems to only have unique paintings aligning (there is an animation quirk that happens later on that makes it not so but I will get to this later), which is why I have elected to extract the timeline from this. Another reason is that, as we will see, the first three pictures definitely seem to fit in a neat chronological order, which would make it hard to doubt the placement of these paintings as being chronological here.

The first seems to depict our Collector, as the smaller one of his species, and three, bigger collectors. For convenience's sake I am in fact choosing to interpret these paintings as being things that happened to him and part of his memories. It makes sense: there is an emphasis on this smaller figure several times throughout the paintings and I cannot think why Collector would put random pictures of some other child collector's life, as well as we have to imagine the crew wanted to tell a story with these, otherwise they would be as random as the sun and moon paintings on the other side of the hall.

So it seems in this first picture, the bigger collectors, perhaps his family, are observing a planet, maybe even the planet the world of the Demon Realm is on.

Here is where I take a detour to add excerpts from the book Collector had King read to him (I should eventually make an analysis post on why Collector wanted this read to him, but all in its due time):

As the book states, collectors, by nature, observe things and then collect them by keeping them in stasis.

Going back to the painting, all indicates that this would show these particular collectors, likely the family of our younger Collector, were interested in the planet the Boiling Isles is on, and this painting depicts the first stage of their plan, observing this planet.

As a quick aside, I would like to say it is likely collectors do know what families are, and they may even form familial bonds and hierarchies. One such nod to this is of course Collector calling Odalia "Mamadalia", but also, this:

It is barely visible, but in a few quick shots you can see the next page of the book. Not only does it seem to use the words "interdimensional" and "dimension(s)", likely referring to the nature of collectors themselves or their residence, but it also uses the word "Family".

So, to recap, three adult collectors, likely our Collector's family, had their sights set on the planet the Boiling Isles is on.

And one of their first contacts was the Titan Trappers.

We now know that despite the resemblance to titans at first glance, titan trappers only wear their skulls and pelts to look like them, making the hunt easier, as well as to, I imagine, indicate pride in their spoils. The indication we have this is not a titan is primarily the spear utilized here, the fact the fur does not match the rest of the body, and the yellow glowing eyes.

I will discuss this further down through showing evidence with the other paintings, but there seems to be a recurring theme in the paintings that depicts the trappers and collectors as always having yellow eyes, whereas the titans are depicted with red eyes.

As Lilith explains further on, books found in the archive detail that a titan's power can actually cancel out the collectors' powers.

She also goes on to say that this why Collector's predecessors (her words not mine) wiped out all the titans.

If such is the case, then that explains why they chose to ally themselves with the trappers. It's likely they needed an intermediator, otherwise they would have not been able to fight the titans full on. In exchange, they likely shared whatever arcane knowledge they could to help in the fights, powering up the trappers.

This would line up perfectly with the trappers' worship of their Grand Huntsman, who as we all know, derives from the Collector and his entire species in aesthetic and looks.

As for why they did not want to risk peaceful contact with the titans besides the reason of their powers being able to be canceled out by titans, there is also the crossed out passage in the book:

Though our Collector declares he tried to "fix" it, we can still clearly see what was originally written, implying that any creature who attempts to stop their work shall meet a deadly end, and maybe even the entire planet will have all of its life wiped out.

So it is likely the titans were not fond of the collectors attempting to collect things in their planet, and fought back, causing the collectors to learn firsthand of their weakness to a titan's power, and to then ally themselves with the trappers.

Which, leads again, to the second painting, depicting two collectors in front of a trapper. The taller one, which I assume is part of our Collector's family, is trying on a skull.

By their side, I will assume is our Collector, due to the smaller stature, and something curious about the body language placed here for him seems to indicate he is examining the skull before putting it on. This could indicate he had an interest on the titans from early on. This will be important later.

As a quick addendum before we move on, I have come to conclude it's highly likely collectors have the ability to change size. In the first painting, the three adults are larger than the entire planet, with our Collector being only a bit smaller than the planet itself. However, in this second painting, the adult is not even as tall as the trapper depicted here, which, if we assume trappers are common witches and demons simply adorned with pelts and skulls just like the modern ones, were not as giant. Similarly, Collector is also way smaller, hence the theory that they change size.

We have seen our Collector possibly changing sizes in canon as well, both in the Owl Beast dream as their hooded figure form seemed massive, and then when they have just broken out of their prison. It's possible collectors scale down their massive size to fit whatever planet they are on.

Next is the third painting, which depicts a familiar scene...

Indeed, this seems to be an almost one to one recreation of the mural we see in Echoes of the Past inside King's castle. We even receive some extra content to it: We now know the titan depicted here had wing like structures on their arms, as well as was protecting an egg, and was accompanied by a smaller, likely juvenile titan.

Notice also how they both have red eyes, but the trapper has yellow eyes.

This all but confirms that the mural is depicting a trapper smithing a titan (whether it is our Titan we do not know for sure), and that the collectors had a hand in this.

Moving on, we have this painting:

Again, going out of the assumption the smaller figure is our Collector, he seems to be approached by four other adult collectors. These collectors however, are slightly different than three he was earlier with: first of all there are four of them, they have no split faces, and their hats are adorned with celestial bodies on their tips. For the sake of convenience I will refer to these as "The Elders", as their difference from our Collector's supposed family, as well as possible authority denoted by their hats, makes me think they are older and more powerful than our Collector's family.

Anyway, The Elders appear to be satisfied with our Collector, one even extending an open palm to them in a friendly gesture. I confess my interpretation of this is more speculative than the other paintings, simply because of the vagueness of it and how it does not seem to tie well into any other pictures or current lore we have.

But my current understanding is that, since one of The Elders is making such a gesture at Collector, they are maybe giving something to them, offering an opportunity. Their authority would certainly denote power above even Collector and his family, so they would likely be able to call the shots in their hierarchy.

Due to this, and considering the next paintings, I have elected to interpret this as The Elders entrusting Collector full control of watching over and collecting things from the planet he and his family had their eyes on. If this happens chronologically after the deal with the trappers as well, this could indicate the Elders have deemed it safe for our Collector to take over.

It also would explain why he calls himself The Collector, he's the designated collector for that planet, the caretaker of this planet and the one meant to observe and collect from it.

Which makes this next painting all the more interesting.

Collector, is surrounded by what seems to be four baby titans. They have their arms up, reaching for him, running to him. Playing. His expression also indicates happiness, eyes wide, hands on his chin, a little smile.

Recall for a moment that in the painting depicting the first contact with the trappers, our Collector had stopped to examine the titan skull. He was interested in them, he wanted to play.

This would align with Collector's "fixing" of the book, going to the lengths of desecrating what is likely an ancient book that dictates/documents the entire culture of his species to ensure his message of playing and friendship is more important.

If we take this painting and the book addition in conjunction, we can come to the conclusion Collector, once left alone, went out of his way to befriend and play with whatever titan babies were left out there. He was likely happy with this, as nothing about this picture indicates a struggle. And once again, these are definitely titan babies due to their eyes being red.

One may be concerned considering the fact the stars here could indicate they are in space, but there are a few counter arguments to this: Collector does not seem to imagine someone could suffocate in space as he suggests people on the moon could just hold their breaths, so this contradicts the idea he would have had experience with this.

The baby titans also seem to have playful body language rather than showing any anguish. And furthermore, when discussing the painting with my boyfriend he pointed out the blue waves could be an abstraction of the shoreline, indicating they were playing on the beach. In short, it is just the simplest explanation this depicts a peaceful scene rather than one with the babies suffocating, as it would not align with the rest of the story here.

There is also the matter of Collector straight up denouncing "the others", which we can only assume refers to the other collectors. It's no wonder he would feel that way, since they were the reason for his new friends' families being all but wiped out, and were less interested in playing with the creatures they observed and rather only preserving them.

Which only makes the present of the Isles and the state of titans and collectors all the more worrying, as well as concerns us with a last, pretty elusive painting...

This is what I meant by animation quirk: Getting a picture of this painting was so hard because it's the very last one in the timeline line up I showed you in that first screenshot, but when the camera zooms in on King and he runs up to get Hooty and we SHOULD get a proper look at it...

... It's pushed back again and the last two paintings get repeated. Which makes me think this is either an animation error, or they REALLY want to make it hard for us to get it.

BUT! After a bunch of rewatches and looking at some slowed down clips again, I was finally able to find the ONE place it repeated, on the scene where Belos!Raine is walking down the halls ominously.

And it is quite the revelation.

This depicts three adult collectors, likely our Collector's parents, staring down menacingly at a titan... perhaps THE Titan this time? It's worth noting this is not the same titan depicted in the painting with the trapper hunting down one that was protecting their egg, as that one had smaller wings and a skull that covered their entire jaw, whereas this one's skull only goes to the muzzle, just like King's does.

Something interesting is that this titan is accompanied either by other very weird looking titans, or these are other creatures that inhabited the Boiling Isles at the time and were also casualties in the collectors' path.

There is also fire surrounding this picture, which makes me think again of the "clear the earth, scorch the air" verse. It's also odd these collectors are approaching the titan(s) despite the fact titan magic could easily push them back, so it could be that they are betting it all on this and going on to cause massive destruction. But the titan seems to be holding up a hand as if gesturing for them to stop, or wait... they're not fighting back like with the trappers. Why?

Well, if this takes place after the painting with Collector playing the baby titans, it's possible these titans had become accustomed to our Collector and did not expect such an attack. It's likely they may have at first understood that this Collector was a child, one that was more interested in playing and befriending them rather than hurting anyone, and cautiously took them in.

Now, whether it was a misunderstanding with Collector's family thinking they were in danger or they were angered by their refusal to hurt titans... we know how the story ends. The titans were all wiped out, safe for King's egg, and Collector was sealed away by King's dad, likely one of the last things he'd ever do.

Overall I think our Collector's backstory is both horrifying and sad. Horrifying because of what his species is capable of, but also sad because despite his efforts to make peace with the titans, it couldn't save them and cost him his freedom. It's no wonder he was so happy to see a titan again, and latched onto King: this is like his second chance.

[maryhadalittlehobby]

Recap of IWTV Screening and Conversation at 92stY

(Please dont repost/reupload my pics or vids from here or IG anywhere else. Sharing/linkinh is ok. Thanks!)

I started the day with a fang gang meetup hosted by Black Girl Talks Fangs. The restaurant was cute and the food great. I'm not a big wine drinker but got a blood red Chateau in honor of the occasion. After, we headed over to the event space.

In my experience attending different events there, the actors typically come in just before the event starts or a few minutes into the screening.

In this case- it was both.

Eric strolled up super casual and had a convo with myself and a few other fans asking if we had read the books and what we were looking forward to. He gave a parting message that the season is amazing and he is not just saying that because he is part of it. I believe him. He was super personable and down to earth.

Delainey arrived next and again kind and generous with her time. She has a very chill energy. Her outfit was more casual this day but I thought chic and the face card never declines. Her makeup artist does her right! And can we talk about that sleek ass ponytail

She complimented my cosplay and said she thinks my beret might be the screen accurate one!

She asked to touch it and said mine was softer!

She also said Carol Cutshall gifted her the beret so she owns Claudia's.

I put this cosplay together in 3 weeks which is barely enough time. Thankfully I had the idea knocking around since October when we first saw this fit in the trailer that dropped at NYCC 23.

Myself and a few fans waited till about 15 minutes into the start of the screening before we gave up on waiting for Jam Reiderson.

While running to the screening I nearly literally ran into Rolin. I asked for a quick pic which he obliged.

The episode was amazing. Very much on par of season 1 so far. Can't wait to see the full thing. Delainey fit into Claudia seamlessly.

The panel itself was great as well. I have a few vids in my IWTV highlight on IG and a few others in an upcoming youtube video I will make AFTER the episode drops. There are some spoiler bits plus 92Y is dropping the full panel too after the ep airs.

Highlights include watching Jam Reiderson literally communicate telepathically- what was the fun on set story?!

Sam slapping Jacobs' lower inner thigh in front of god (Rolin) and everyone.

Working together is like putting on an old glove. An old sock?! Lol what. 'Is that dirty?'

Assad trauma dumping on main. "Armands lost...like me." "I'm intimidated by the cast" Sir please!

Assad also being spicy saying he thinks Armands memory of Lestat is pretty accurate. Drag him king😄

Delainey and Jacob gushing about how they immediately bonded and established their father/daughter/sibling vibes.

Eric calling Jam puppies and Jacob saying "I'm a grown man a parent"lol Sir you are a baby girl as evidenced by

Rolin saying that's a book and this is a show. To me that said was book lovers have the book and you always will but this is a new thing that respects the source but isn't tied down to every single detail.

Then Sam saying there are contradictions even within the series. Please lets talk about it.

And I love this new narrative everyone is spinning, even Sam, who seemed to be in the Lestat is right and Louis is lying boat last press go round. Now everyone is saying there is no right and wrong or truth and lies-the story is told by different people with different perspectives and that's all. Which yes! that's ALWAYS how I saw it! Just because Lestat became the main character and most favored doesn't mean he is infallible.

Jacob and that plushie. Who would have imagined he'd love it so much. Another fan was coming with their Lestat. I don't know if they had intentions of giving it to Sam but sadly they didn't make it.

After the panel I went back to the spot and aimed to get Jacobs signature on my Street of Immortality print which I managed.

I would have loved to get Sam's to but I also wanted to give other fans the chance to get photos and autos. I was already so lucky.

They signed for a loooong time. So long I thought our side wouldnt have a chance or only a few people would. Turns out fans were conducting mini interviews with them lol Someone needs to collect all the questions and answers.

Also they are the smallest cast you've ever seem. Pocketbsized. Everyone one of them is so unassuming.

Overall I had a super good time. The audience vibes were immaculate. The person beside me during the screening/panel was losing their shit then apologizing. But honestly I was here for it lol

Also you could 100% tell it was an audience full of the online fandom.

I ended the night checking out the Time Square ad. It was awesome to see our vamps represented. Hopefully we get a ton of new fans from all the amazing marketing this year.

[cheynovak]

A new addiction - Part 2

Jensen Ackles x F/reader (Y/N)

Warning: 18+, nothing too graphic but still, age difference, Open relationship

Side note: English isn’t my first language.

Let's make it very clear I don't want to denigrate, break up or talk bad about Danneel, their relationship or family. I love them and wish both all the happiness. 

This story is pure fiction. Have fun!

-> A new addiction masterlist <-

Story: Recap.

Jensen and Danneel are going through a difficult time in their relationship. After being together for so long and married for 14 years the excitement and sexual tension is gone. 

After going to marriage counseling Danneel had the idea of trying a semi-open relationship, each choosing 3 persons they are allowed to experiment with. 

And guess who is on Jensen's list…

--

Morning After  

The sun peeked through the curtains, casting a warm glow across the room. Y/N stirred, her eyelids heavy with sleep. As she blinked away the remnants of dreams, memories of the previous night flooded back. She glanced beside her to find Jensen, still asleep, his features softened by the morning light.  

Their clothes lay scattered across the floor, a silent testament to the passion shared just hours before. Y/N couldn't help but smile, tracing the contours of Jensen's face with her eyes. The events of the night replayed in her mind like scenes from a movie. They had been drawn together by an undeniable chemistry. Building up for weeks, months on end.  

Their conversations flowed effortlessly, laughter always filling the air. Leaving each other longing for more without being able to say it. But now, in the quiet of the morning, a different kind of intimacy enveloped them. Y/N reached out to gently brush a lock of hair from his forehead, marvelling at the vulnerability that sleep brought. She felt a surge of affection for this man lying beside her, a feeling she couldn't quite put into words.  

As Jensen began to stir, his eyes fluttering open, her heart skipped a beat. He smiled sleepily, his gaze meeting hers with warmth and tenderness. In that moment, everything felt right. They lingered in bed just a little longer before they finally rose to greet the day, facing the reality. Y/N knew that the memories of this night would stay with her forever, a reminder of the magic found in unexpected moments of connection.  

Troubled with guilt she took a quick shower after Jensen had already freshened up. Seeing how he was already dressed, waiting for her to say goodbye. Y/N walked out of the shower with a towel covering her body. Jensen's eyes carried the same guilt like her.  

“How are you feeling?” She asked. “I'm not sure… I enjoyed it, but…” He didn't finish his sentence. “I know, I feel the same.” He didn't understand why she would feel guilt. “Why would you?” - “I think as a woman, you need to have a code. Like don't sleep with a married man.” Jensen took a deep breath.  

“Well, we have an open relationship… so guess that makes up for it… right?” Y/N didn't answer that “Jay… if you don't want this, if you regret it, if it makes you feel bad. Tell Danneel.” Y/N took a seat next to him in the bed. “You tell her you need monogamy, find a way to spice things up between the two of you. If that is what you need.” His green eyes looked in hers before saying “I don't know what I need. We tried so many things.” He sighs before continuing.” I thought I would feel terrible after, but I don't. I don't regret it, that is the problem.”  

He took her hands in his “I want more nights like this. But you said you don't want that afraid of falling in love and I understand, you want stability relationship, but I can't give you any of that. Neither do I want to give this up.” “I just don't want to be a plan B or booty call or something Jay.” He nodded. “Can you promise me this… If you do ever change your mind, or you need a booty call.” They laughed softly “Call me please.” She kissed his lips in response. “Promise” 

–  

Jensen's footsteps echoed in the empty hallway as he approached the door to the living room. Danneel was sitting on the couch, a book in her hands, her expression one of quiet contentment. She looked up as Jensen entered, a smile lighting up her face. "Hey, you're home early," she said, her voice warm with affection.  

Jensen felt a lump form in his throat as he met her gaze, unable to bear the innocence in her eyes. How could he face her knowing what he had done hours ago. He forced himself to smile, to feign normalcy, but the guilt threatened to consume him from within. Unnecessary since they had the deal but still, feeling guilty.  

As the evening wore on, Jensen found himself drowning between regret and wanting more of Y/N. He longed to tell Danneel what happened. But scared she would have some stories to tell herself. By the end of the night, while the kids were in bed he found the courage to ask her. “So eh, did you… find someone?” He asked eyes still on the tv screen. “I did. Didn't meet up yet. You?” His heart stopped for a second. 

“Yeah, she eh, she agreed. Does he live close?” Danneel pauses the screen. “I thought you didn't want to know.” - ”You're right. I'm sorry.” He kissed his wife's head before leaving for the kitchen. Breaking the awkwardness between them.  

Jensen lays in bed, the weight of his actions pressing down on him like a lead blanket. His mind was a whirlwind of conflicting emotions, but one face kept surfacing amidst the turmoil – Y/N's. Her image lingered in his thoughts, her laughter echoing in his ears like a haunting melody. As he stared up at the ceiling, Jensen couldn't shake the memory of their night together. The intimacy they shared, the passion that had ignited between them.  

It was a stark contrast to the love he had for Danneel, yet in that moment, it had felt so right. Weeks went on. Jensen focused on being a dad before leaving again on press tours. He knew he would see Y/N again. Part of him wanted to see her, part of him felt bad leaving his kids again. Danneel noticed the strange behaviour in her husband but didn't think much of it.  

Press tour  

Jensen's heart pounded as he stepped onto the stage for the press tour, his mind still haunted by memories of Y/N. He had tried to push thoughts of her aside, to focus on his career and his marriage, but her presence lingered like a ghost in the back of his mind. As he settled into his seat, Jensen forced himself to focus on the task at hand.  

But when Y/N walked onto the stage, his breath caught in his throat. She was just as beautiful as he remembered, her smile lighting up the room in a way that made his heart ache. For a moment, their eyes met, there was no anger in Y/N's eyes, no resentment or bitterness. Instead, there was a flicker of something else – kindness, caring, understanding maybe even lust? No, he had to misinterpret it. 

As they began their interviews, Jensen found himself drawn to Y/N's presence, her easy laughter and quick wit a stark contrast to the tension that hung between them. They fell into a rhythm, exchanging banter and anecdotes as if no time had passed at all. But beneath the surface, there was an unspoken tension, a silent acknowledgment of the secrets they both carried. And as the press tour continued, Jensen couldn't shake the feeling that their paths were destined to cross once more. 

In the quiet moments between interviews, when they were alone backstage, Jensen found himself drawn to Y/N's side. They talked of trivial things – movies, music, anything to fill the silence that hung between them – but underneath it all, there was an undeniable connection that neither could ignore.  

“Are you doing the red-carpet thing tomorrow?” He asked her. “Yes, actually.” -” How about… would you like to accompany me?” That question stunned Y/N. “Danneel not going?” -”No, she's staying with the kids.” “Sure, why not.” She answered, Jensen felt his heart jump.  

Jensen and Y/N stepped onto the red carpet, the flash of cameras illuminating the night sky like bursts of fireworks. As they posed for the photographers, their bodies almost touching but never quite meeting. Jensen couldn't help but feel the heat of Y/N's presence like a physical force. Her nearness sent a shiver down his spine, igniting a fire deep within him that he struggled to contain. 

 Their fingers brushed as they walked, sending electric shocks racing through his veins. He longed to reach out and touch her, to pull her close and lose himself in the warmth of her embrace. But he knew he couldn't, not here, not now, with the world watching their every move.  

Until...

“Jensen hold her please!”  

“Y/N can you turn closer to Jensen!”  

“Jensen, Y/N over here! Closer. Please”  

“Give him a kiss on his cheek!” 

They were asking for it. The temptation was too strong to resist. Jensen found himself turning to Y/N, his heart pounding in his chest while his hand wrapped around her waist. Her hand on his shoulders while the other brushed over his. And as they reached the end of the red carpet he could feel his hand slip even a little lower.  

Touching the curve of her behind, kneading soft. He looked into her eyes. Seeing how they had darkened softly bit her lip. Jensen pulled her in, his lips to her ear. "Would you like to get out of here?" he asked, his voice barely above a whisper. Y/N's lips curved into a smile, a knowing glint in her eyes. "I'd like that," she replied, her voice low and husky.  

And with that, they slipped away from the chaos of the red carpet, disappearing into a back room of the theatre, their lips melted together desperately needing to free the passion that had been building between them for so long. And as they lost themselves in the heat of the moment, Jensen knew that no matter what the future held, he would always crave the touch of Y/N's skin against his own. “I missed you.” He said under his breath while he unzipped Y/N's dress before turning her back around and placing her on a table.  

Legs spread while he lowered his pants. He kissed her hard and fast. The slow burning passion they had on their first night had spread into an open fire. His fingers dipped down to her core. Feeling how wet she was made him moan. “I don't think I'm able to go slow today sweetheart.” She bit his lip. “Then don't… take fast and hard.”  

The table hit the wall with every thrust. Deep breathing became moans and prayers. They way Y/N begged him to fuck her could get him over the edge. Just by hearing her sweet voice. His thrust became uneven. She pushed him away so she could kneel in front of him. Taking him in her mouth.  

“Fuck Y/N…” Jensen's head fell back. Holding her close, guiding her with his large hand. “Good girl. That's it…” He breathed, repeating when he hit the back of her throat. After their quick adventure they dressed back up and got back to the party.

Hearing Karl yell. “There you are! They want one with the cast, come on!”  

The paparazzi needed on last shot before they could enjoy the party. Jensen stood slightly behind Y/N, his hand wrapped again around her waist. Pressing her close to his body. While whispering in her ear. “I'm not done with you yet.” Kneading her while she looked back at him, smiling mischievous.  

–  

Danneel sat at home, her heart heavy as she watched the footage of Jensen and Y/N on TV. The red carpet event played out before her eyes, each frame a painful reminder of the distance that had grown between her and her husband. She saw the way Jensen looked at Y/N, the longing in his eyes impossible to ignore.  

She had known something was wrong, she had felt the distance between them growing with each passing day, knowing there was something on her husband's mind. But seeing it play out so publicly was a wound that cut straight to the core. She knew it was her idea to experiment but seeing how Jensen looked at Y/N reminded her of how he used to look at her. 

And as the footage continued, Danneel couldn't help but wonder where it had all gone wrong. Had she been blind to the signs, too wrapped up in her own life to see the cracks forming in their relationship? Or had Jensen's heart already begun to stray long before she realized?  

Maybe not even he fully realized. And did she just give him a push in the direction of a younger woman? Allowing him to feed the love he felt for another? 

----

I really feel inspired writing this story. Might make a few more parts, let's see how their relationship evolves.

Please, let me know what you think! Feel free to like, share or comment. Make sure you check out my masterlist.

[nephilimbrute]

with side order coming up i decided to make a recap(???) of my side order au. apologies if some of it isn't clear / doesn't make sense

it starts with the retirement of off the hook after octo expansion, roughly 2 years after splat2. (note that the chaos vs. order splatfest likely didn't happen, splat3 happens in some other way idk.) this part is a little janky but there's this "commander" (not related to tartar in any way) that decides to take over inkopolis via power and mind control. out of spite and as a first step they decided to go ahead and literally Kill pearl, who later died in marina's arms. after that marina wasn't able to do anything for the remainder of the day but hold pearl's body, and as the sun came up the next day only then did she decide to bury pearl just outside the pygmy mansion

her grief still persists, marina tried her best to keep the death of pearl a secret, during interviews she just says "oh she's been off the grid lately" or "visiting family", and when going out she'd try to make it quick to avoid being spotted by fans and it would only be for running errands. marina's grief (unfortunately) keeps her alive, she takes care of herself since its what pearl would've wanted. frequently she hallucinates pearl being there, and she's developed a fear for being around others, as well as gaslighting herself into thinking pearl is still alive, just away. she spends all of her time staying in the pygmy mansion. she waits and lingers, doing this routine over and over again for ~100 years, and eventually inkopolis itself crumbles to dust and is left barren

those 100 years pass and it's marina's time to shine!..kind of...the only feasible option for her was to brainwash everybody into a state of being "calm", making them into mindless walking zombies. despite everything she still felt guilt for what happened to pearl. inkopolis turns into a bleached dystopia, corals grow due to the neglect of it being cleaned, it becomes completely quiet and only marina is left with her thoughts

by the time the side order DLC takes place, she ""accidentally"" frees agent 8 from their "hypnosis". agent 8 suffers a splitting headache as soon as they're released and completely loses the ability to speak, their memory getting worse by each passing second. often times they get a sort of "déjà vu" or "flashbacks" of when pearl and marina were happier. marina still loves them dearly but she's afraid of hurting them, so she distances herself away from them, but 8 keeps on trying to reach her. in the DLC, marina acts like a final boss to the story, and when going against her she doesn't try to stop 8 from defeating her or attack back but instead she accepts it

extra stuff; the brain coral is used to control the minds of the inkfish, the other bleached corals represent neglect. the whole theme of side order is focusing on one's mental state and watching it deteriorate(?), memory loss (and similarly to octo expansion, 8 trying to get their memories back). marina sometimes wakes up with scratches or bruises (to which she denies), and she becomes somewhat dependent on agent 8

[youkaigakkou-tl]

The TRUTH behind the soul pieces

Preamble: I started writing this expecting nothing, but I actually found something??? not clickbait???? gone right???

Warning: the expected reaction of reading this is “damn. I’ve never seen someone grasp harder at straws” and “I dunno about this one chief”

So. "The soul pieces aren't exactly what we're told they are" is an idea I've had for a while now. (I wouldn’t even call it a theory, it’s just a passing thought.) Not that "they're manifestations of Haruaki's traits" is wrong, but I think there's more to them than immediately obvious. I just haven't talked about this much because even I don't fully buy into it and it kinda verges on horoscope-type confirmation bias territory. It’s kind of a, I THINK there’s more to it but I don’t know what exactly is more.

A brief recap

First one shown is his "worldly desires", animal trio vs Seiryuu.

Second is his "freak athleticism", that Kurahashi's team and Ebisu just ran into.

With just these two he runs off to find Sano

Third is his "cowardice", found by Sano's team and Byakko, which gets away and hides in Sano's pocket.

Fourth is his "memory", originally found by Hijita's team and Genbu, which gets picked up by Genbu and then the whole Heian flashback happens.

And last is his "intelligence", which for some reason is also the one that can use his exorcism power.

So immediately a couple details stood out to me.

Why is "memory" here?? I wouldn't call that a trait exactly??

Also, when it first broke apart and flew off in five directions, it's specifically pointed out that it's "like a five pointed star" (even though it's not really if you look at the actual locations on a map lol)

And the sticking point, if it was as clean and simple a split as “Haruaki’s traits”, why do the traits bleed into each other? “Athleticism” is into sailor uniforms too, and “Cowardice” and “Intelligence” are pretty quick by themselves. Also, even without his “Memory” at the time, he remembered that conversation with Seimei in ch87.

The five pointed star detail, considering everything in the arc heavily relates to the Four Gods and Seimei's star, which relates to Wuxing, almost begs to be referencing that too.

What is Wuxing?

Wuxing, five elements, five phases, gogyo, whatever other name for it: I’ve talked about it briefly in my Kyoto arc analysis

(Wait. Is this actually all I mentioned regarding Wuxing in that analysis???? This tells you nothing!!)

(Tbh I think I had a longer explanation about it but I cut it because I thought it was irrelevant)

Wuxing 五行, roughly translated as five elements or phases, is a concept that comes from Taoism. The five elements are Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water and describes the interactions between them. Here’s the wikipedia page if you really want to get into the details.

The “xing” means movements/moving, and the entire concept of Wuxing comes from the five classical planets’ (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn) movements affecting… things? In general? (It’s horoscopes)

In fact, the names of those five planets in Chinese and Japanese are tied with the Wuxing:

Mercury = 水星 water star

Venus = 金星 metal/gold star

Mars = 火星 fire star

Jupiter = 木星 wood star

Saturn = 土星 earth star

You’re taught these as a kid but not the reasoning behind it (because it’s hella irrelevant lmao) but I guess it kinda makes instinctual sense? (Venus = yellow, Mars = red, Jupiter = stripes, like tree rings?? Saturn = brown. Mercury = it looks like there’s rivers? idk how much detail they were seeing in the BC times)

And just to sate curiosity, the planets that were discovered after telescopes were invented are just based off the English names

Uranus = 天王星 sky god star

Neptune = 海王星 sea god star

Pluto = 冥王星 underworld god star

By the way, this is also why the days of the week are named after elements in Japanese; it’s not actually the elements, rather it’s referring to the celestial bodies: those 5 planets + the moon and the sun. It’s the classical Chinese system that Japan adopted around the 5th century AD, and they haven’t changed it since then. (Chinese uses stuff like “weekday 1” for monday now.) And China itself adopted the Greco-Roman system of the 7 day week, days named after celestial bodies around the 4th century AD, which is also why the planets and days line up if you look at the English and Japanese names now.

Would be crazy if they independently decided to have 7 days in a week and name days after celestial bodies and assigned the same planets to the days huh.

(Also, TIL from looking at this chart that the sun (taiyang) is indeed called that because it’s the “great yang star”, and the moon is called the “great yin star”, you know, like yin-yang)

I’m remembering why it’s so hard to research and write about this stuff now. Everything is so inextricably connected to everything else its hard to talk about one thing in isolation. Thanks for indulging my astronomy tangent I love astronomy.

(I always got saturn on da mind when I think about Seimei cus of this art…)

The only useful part of this essay

So. Wuxing. Here’s a pretty standard diagram of it so it’s easier to visualise

There are five types of processes Wuxing describes:

Generating: Wood feeds fire

The reverse side of generating: Fire burns wood

Regulating: Wood grasps earth

Excessive regulating (destruction): Wood depletes earth

The reverse side of regulation (exhaustion): Earth rots wood

And here’s a full list of it, from wikipedia

With this in mind, you’ll notice that it pops up all over the place in Kyoto arc!

If we take lightning as aligned with metal (because Byakko = metal = lightning user), this is the regulating interaction of metal -> wood

Metal cuts wood, but wood also dulls metal

Water… nourishing wood….???

Water destabilizes earth

(“This is just pokemon lol” WRONG!! Pokemon types and every other element system in videogames came from Wuxing!! (Or Godai))

Back to the soul pieces

So you see, it’s incredibly tempting to connect the five soul pieces with the five elements of Wuxing. It’s basically begging for it. The Wuxing has been associated with lots of things that come in sets of five, including things like senses, tastes, smells, emotions, mental qualities, periods of one’s life, body parts. It has applications in divination and traditional chinese medicine after all. If there was a clear, 1-to-1 match between the soul pieces and the elements, you bet I would have talked about it more by now. But the connections are tenuous at best, and even I don’t really believe it. They might, probably, just be the traits we’re told they are. So this really is just to humor myself, and maybe someone can glean something more from this.

Let’s lay out the things surrounding the soul pieces:

“Desires” was at Arashiyama (a bamboo forest) and Seiryuu was present, both associated with Wood

“Athleticism” was at Ginkaku-ji (silver pavilion), none of the four gods were present, no obvious element associations here.

“Cowardice” was at Mount Kurama (mountain = earth?), Byakko was present (metal?)

“Memory” was at Kiyomizu-dera (clear water temple), and Genbu was present, water association

“Intelligence” was at Kinkaku-ji (gold pavilion), and none of the four gods were present initially. (gold = metal?)

The other thing I’ve yet to mention is all the soul pieces seem to be of different points in Haruaki’s life. (Well. Four of them at least.)

“Desires” and “Athletics” seem to look and act younger (as much as you can tell with chibis…), both wearing simple t-shirts, and “Athletics” t-shirt and shorts look like what Haruaki wore as a kid in the Miki arc flashback. Adding on to that, we’re constantly told how into sailor uniforms Haruaki was as a little kid (literally whenever his childhood gets brought up: Mamaaki talking about it in ch8, him saying his first cry as a newborn was “sailor uniform” in ch43, the ch51.5 extra) (ok to be fair. his sailor uniform fetish gets brought up at every opportunity. but i feel like it’s Pretty emphasized here) Also I feel like “Desires” especially talks like a kid.

Meanwhile “Cowardice” and “Memory” are dressed the way he currently does, and “Cowardice” seems to parallel the way Haruaki was at the start of the series. It’s Sano’s team that runs into him, he acts like how Haruaki did early on just amped way up, and he ends up hiding on Sano.

IQ-kun… still don’t know what to make of him and how he fits into this lol

Put like this, doesn’t it almost seem like, in the order they appear, they represent points in Haruaki’s life too?

Or, this could all be nothing, because they’re all wearing the same thing in the jacket for Volume 14.

So anyway, from this angle, it seems like Desires and Athletics line up fairly cleanly with Wood and Fire respectively, but Cowardice, Memory and Intelligence are a little murkier. Cowardice only somewhat lines up with Earth, and both Memory and Intelligence could align with Water, while Memory could also be Metal. (I dropped the quotation marks bc they were getting distracting)

Here’s a diagram to illustrate.

(See it’s kinda, pick-and-choosey, horoscope-type shit)

Immediately a couple problems arise. First and most majorly is the horoscopey-ness of it all. And then there’s the matter that, if the four gods represent four out of five of the elements and earth is the outlier, wouldn’t it also make sense if IQ-kun as the outlier would be assigned that?

There’s also the possibility that the first four are a set, and IQ-kun makes up the “yin” to the rest of Haruaki’s “yang” (But then what would the first four correspond to individually? idk….)

We’re getting nowhere with this analogy, so let’s look at some adjacent philosophies in sets of five, just for fun, and see if they line up any better.

Traditional Chinese Medicine

This one is the most related to Wuxing, there are five main “organs” in TCM that have associated Wuxing elements. They might be called the same names as the anatomical organs, but they’re actually more like concepts only roughly correlated with locations on the body. This is stuff codified thousands of years ago before modern knowledge of the human body, mind you.

Heart (fire): stores the “aggregate soul” (the mind)

Spleen (earth): governs transportation of qi and blood, and governs muscles and limbs

Lung (metal): stores the “po 魄” (physical soul)

Kidney (water): responsible for willpower or fear

Liver (wood): governs free flow of qi, blood and emotions. Stores blood, which stores the “hun 魂” (ethereal soul)

(The wikipedia page I linked has more in depth descriptions)

And if we sorta line up the attributes…

Desires = Liver/wood

Athleticism = Spleen/earth

Cowardice = Kidney/water

Memory = Lung/metal

Intelligence = Heart/fire

Something like this? It doesn’t line up particularly nicely either, and certainly doesn’t line up with the first theory…

But reading up on this actually brought something useful to my attention: the concept of “hun” and “po”

See, there’s this Chinese compound word “hun po 魂魄” that generally just means “soul”, but if you get really semantic they’re two different types of souls?

The “hun” is the yang-aligned “ethereal soul” typically understood as the wits/mind of a person, whatever constitutes the personality, and is the part of the soul that leaves the body on death.

The “po” is the yin-aligned “physical soul”, sometimes described as the “baser animal spirit” of a person, and is attached to the body.

This could explain why Haruaki’s soul is also Seimei’s soul, but also Seimei is in the underworld?

This scene I got real hung up about in my Kyoto arc post?

It lining up and being a reasonable explanation is one thing, but whether sensei is deliberately referencing a property of Chinese linguistics that doesn’t have an equivalent in Japanese kanji is another thing. And honestly, I could see Tanaka “I’ll have to read up on Chinese history, but off the top of my head Byakko and Seiryuu are from 4000BC and Suzaku and Genbu are younger” Mai could and would do it. (Good god, what I wouldn’t give to see sensei’s notes. Yohaji fanbook explaining every cultural reference PLEASEEEE IM BEGGINGGG)

Godai

Godai (“the five great (elements)”), while also a thing with five elements that features prominently in Japanese culture, differs from Wuxing in that it originates from the concept of Mahābhūta in Indian Buddhism, and features Fire, Water, Earth, Wind and Void. It’s a more inert definition and describes the elements as building blocks, contrasting with Wuxing which is more concerned with the balancing and interaction between the elements and the changes they cause in each other.

Godai also isn’t ever depicted as a star (and Wuxing is only depicted as a star as a byproduct of all the arrows denoting the interactions, sometimes the 5 elements are arranged like the 5 side of a dice with lines connecting everything) and is typically depicted as a Gorinto, a stone structure.

In order from top to bottom, it goes Void, Wind, Fire, Water, Earth, and represents the structure of the universe in Buddhism.

So. Attributes and if they line up any better.

Earth: unmoving, stability

Water: fluidity, adaptability, motion

Fire: passion, power, energy

Wind: growth, freedom

Void: the spirit? thought? there’s not really a clear description of this one. To begin with, originally in Buddhism, it’s just said that “from void emerged air, from air emerged fire, (etc)”

I could see wind = Memory and void = Intelligence, but the rest… I dunno man

The five aggregates in Buddhism

And now, following the thread back from Godai, to the Buddhist concept of Skandhas, or the “five aggregates of clinging”, described as the five factors that make up a sentient being’s personality. (Hey, this sounds like it could be onto something here!)

The five aggregates are:

Form or matter: the material form of a person

Sensation or feeling: the five senses + intellectual sensation, and the feelings that occur whether pleasant, unpleasant or neutral

Perception: cognition and recognizing what has been previously noted

Mental formations: dispositions, or something that motivates a person to take action (or sometimes described as the influences of a previous life?!)

Consciousness: cognizance, or the base that supports experience, sometimes translated as mind, intelligence or life force

Wait… This kinda… lines up…? No way…?

Form = Athleticism

Sensation = Cowardice

Perception = Memory

Mental formations = Desires

Consciousness = Intelligence

This… kinda works? They all basically line up and it’s not too tenuous, and there’s enough matching details in the descriptions of the five aggregates that it’s kinda scary…?

I’ll be real, prior to writing this section I hadn’t actually read the descriptions of each of them too carefully (I had the tab open and roughly noted the descriptions kinda worked) and I entirely expected to end this essay with a “in conclusion: no conclusion i learned nothing lol” but there’s actually something here????

And Tanaka Mai is known to reference Buddhism a lot, so this could entirely be intentional…??? I’m kinda shaken rn tbh

I mean, I guess I should have looked to Buddhism first considering sensei’s track record, what with how the arc opened with Haruaki getting put under a waterfall to get rid of his worldly desires, and how 3 out of 5 locations were Buddhist temples, but Buddhism concepts usually use their Sanskrit names and I don’t know how to google for that… (making excuses. classic)

Um. Hope you enjoyed reading this and that you learned something? Here’s all the relevant wikipedia pages if you want to go down your own rabbit hole:

Wuxing (Chinese five elements)

Godai (Japanese Buddhism five elements)

Mahābhūta (Indian Buddhism five elements)

Hun and po (two concepts of souls)

Skandha (five aggregates that make up a person)

Twelve Nidanas (didn’t mention this one, but it’s related to skandhas)

If you read all this you should read all my other long rambly things too if you haven’t, they’re all under the #rambles tag 👍

[melverie]

⸺ LESSON 10 ⸺

Solomon

Lucifer

Solomon & "Nightbringer"

MC's magic

strange feelings & soup

the 'MC is human' situation

records of a banshee

misc

- lesson 9 || lesson 11 || all posts so far -

I'm going to reveal my crack theory on Nightbringer's identity soon since the brainrot is getting out of hand, but then again, it shouldn't be hard to guess based on the points I bring up for this lesson :) I'm still preparing a sideblog for that tho, so it might take a bit Also if someone wants to get tagged for these recaps, do let me know! General spoiler warning for all of Obey Me Nightbringer, as well as for the original Obey Me

⸺ SOLOMON ⸺

Solomon suddenly shows up at HoL uninvited and claims he and Simeon have plans for drinking tea together. Simeon doesn't remember ever making such plans [10-4] -> while we're not told what they are talking about, I'm guessing it has to do with 10-A -> love how he just was at Nightbringer's tea party, and now his immediate response when asked why he's here is just "......Simeon and I are having a tea party" lol

by the time Solomon arrived at HoL, Satan was already outside, yet he didn't realize Solomon came over [10-18] -> while you can argue that Satan was just so caught up in watching the cat, he does notice MC coming over, the brothers leaving to the Demon Lord's Castle, AND this is the same demon that could later tell on that MC was standing in front of his bedroom door based on the intervall of their footsteps

⸺ LUCIFER ⸺

Belphegor talks about Lucifer trying (+ failing) to hold in his laughter [10-1]. Demon!Lucifer would never :(

Lucifer seems overly reluctant to take MC with him and Belphegor at first [10-4]. When asked why, he deflects -> he was kind of quick to entertain the idea of taking Solomon with him as the 'uninvolved third party' though

Lucifer seems surprised that Belphegor was denied entry to a shop back when they first arrived in the Devildom [10-6; pic below] -> since this treatment from the denizens was part of the reason Mammon wanted to gain the title of 'Rulers of the Underworld', you'd think that Lucifer would be aware of this kind of treatment happening in the first place...

it's raining, which reminds the brothers of the day before the Great Celestial War + according to Lucifer, it was unusally quiet [10-9]. The brothers talk about what everyone was doing that day:

Belphegor was napping in a tree and was all alone that day [10-11] Beelzebub was off in the human world to run an errand on Michael's behave [10-11] Asmodeus was taking a bath, and thinking of ways to get out of Raphael scolding him later on [lesson 10 hard mode] we don't get any comment on Satan, but he was obviously still part of Lucifer, so uh... Would have been interesting to know if he has any fragments of Lucifer's memories of that time tho Leviathan and Michael were taking a walk and talking [lesson 10 hard mode] Mammon was tasked with covering Beelzebub's gatekeeping duty, but he ended up skipping out of it [lesson 10 hard mode] and then there's Lucifer who was......somewhere. The game doesn't tell us what he was up to, but instead points out that no one knows where he was [lesson 10 hard mode; pic below]

Lucifer hogging the family braincell as usual and immediately realizes that, yep, MC has the Ring of Light [10-16] -> btw kind of unrelated but I do find it funny that out of all the characters to (originally) head to the Demon Lord's Castle to free Beel, it was MC and Luci & Belphie. You know. The only two brothers that wanted to attack MC once they found out that they are a human. Imagine what would have happened if Mammon, Levi and Asmo hadn't shown up lol

⸺ SOLOMON & "NIGHTBRINGER" ⸺

[hi, this is probably the only time I'm bringing the Japanese version into this recap simply because I already translated this specific scene here]

illusion!Diavolo and illusion!Simeon pressure Solomon into choosing either demons or angels. Solomon chooses the secret third option :) [10-A] -> since this illusion was most likely created by Nightbringer, we can assume that he wants Solomon to either choose his side (whichever that may be), OR to simply abandon humanity altogether -> a little later on Solomon implies that Nightbringer should know by now that Solomon won't ever waver on his convictions -> Nightbringer knows Solomon well enough to know that threatening MC's safety might get him to change his mind. Solomon does stop smiling at this threat, so he does seem to take the threat seriously

during the illusion tea party, Solomon says that he just wants to be free, and that that's part of his agreement with "him" [10-A] -> while we don't know for certain, I'm guessing his agreement is with Nightbringer since it would make sense narrative-wise

Solomon also tells Nightbrignger that he sounds like a demon [10-A] -> sounds like something you'd either say to someone who isn't a demon, or someone who only recently became a demon

Nightbringer says that Solomon is acting more like a demon than he is because of his arrogance [10-A] -> Solomon then says that it is inevitable that he behaves like a demon since Nightbringer made him to the person he is today

Two fun facts about the Japanese version! 1. Nightbringer uses 「傲慢」 for 'arrogant', which also happens to be the word used in the game for the deadly sin 'pride' 2. instead of saying "you're the one who made me who I am today", Solomon says that Nightbringer is the one who reduced him to what he is now

when Solomon calls Nightbringer......'Nightbringer' (lol), he actually puts his name in quotation marks in the Japanese version [10-A; pic below]. Makes you wonder if he actually is the historic Nightbringer we learn a little of later on, or if it's just someone using that name...

「」 are the Japanese quotation marks

⸺ MC'S MAGIC ⸺

MC one again absorbs the brother's magic in order to calm down Beelzebub [10-16]

⸺ STRANGE FEELINGS & SOUP ⸺

beast mode Beelzebub is heading to the colosseum, and Lucifer points out that it was build on the exact spot the brothers first landed in the Devildom [10-13]. That was a year ago. Why is it built already??

Leviathan points out that the Great Celestial War feels like a really long time ago [lesson 10 hard mode]

⸺ THE 'MC IS HUMAN' SITUATION ⸺

[hey, we finally reached the reason I wanted to make this its own category, whuu!]

so here's the thing:

1. back in lesson 8, Diavolo said that while he is now fairly confident that MC is indeed a human, he still can't be 100% sure because there is "something else" within MC [8-1; first pic below] 2. back in OG season 3, fairy illusion!Lucifer asks MC what they are. If MC answers that they are an angel, illusion!Lucifer says this that he knows when he is in the presence of an angel, but also admits that there is something else within them and that he can't say so for certain [OG 52-5; second pic below]

THE REASON I'M BRINGING ALL THIS UP is because now in lesson 10, Lucifer once again mentions being able to tell when he's in the presence of an angel. This time, however, he indirectly claims that he can tell that MC isn't one [10-16; third pic below]

⸺ RECORDS OF A BANSHEE ⸺

Beelzebub managed to escape from his prison cell and we learn about the state he is in [10-9; pic below]. Once again, it seems like too big a reaction for just hearing the word 'banshee'

we also learn that Beelzebub's rampage started right after the brothers left earlier [10-9; pic below]

Barbatos actually blames the brothers for Beelzebub's escape [10-9] and I am inclinded to believe him because:

1. Solomon was (supposedly) with him earlier, meaning Barbatos would have known had Solomon tried to pull something. And yet he is blaming the brothers 2. while Solomon could have just been sneaky & teleported away right after putting some kind of spell/curse on Beelzebub, the other characters mentioned last lesson that Beelzebub was already acting beside himself during the dinner party, meaning it must have been someone who was also at the dinner party. From what we know, Solomon was with MC at the time 3. while it could have been both Solomon AND Barbatos, I seriously doubt that Barbatos was involved in this situation in any way. Diavolo is already in a lot of distress because of suddenly having to govern the Devildom, MC's situation, Lucifer's comment last lesson and so. much. more. The Beel situation right now just causes Diavolo even more stress, and doing something like that just feels COMPLETELY out of character for Barbatos 4. speaking of seeming out of character, it's not like Barbatos to just baselessly accuse others like that, meaning he probably had a solid reason to blame the brothers 5. I am reaching with this one, but I like the idea lol--Diavolo still has the ability to tell lie from truth, and while Belphegor vehemently denies having played any part in Beelzebub's escape, Lucifer never outright says so

they suddenly start arguing that Beelzebub is acting like this because he's hungry [10-13] -> thing is, we later learn that he's lacking his "demonic disposition" and that the hunger he feels is all No. 6's doing. So unless No. 6 suddenly decided to go all in that can't be true

⸺ MISC ⸺

Belphegor tells MC a little more about Lilith + we get Michael lore (he looks like a jellyfish :] ) [10-1]

Belphegor also tells us that the Celestial Realm forbids angels from intervering with a human's life [10-1]

Belphegor's line from the website [10-1; pic below]

the sibling bickering <3 [10-6; pic below]

Simeon reassures Satan that they will one day be known as "the seven brothers" [10-18]

[italianpersonwithashippersheart]

DFF Questions And Theories Recap

I wanted to do a post where I could put down all the major questions that are still unanwered from the show and give all my thoughts and theories on each.

What Happened to Non?

Earlier I saw this post by @slayerkitty that pretty much outlined my own thoughts on this.

I have been leaning into the idea that the boys pranked and drugged him for a while now. And episode 7 just confirmed it.

What I am the most unsure off, is what happened after. Because the fact that some of these boys seem to be sure he is dead while others aren't makes me think that something happened after the prank

Now is Non alive? This one I am not sure off, if he is I am leaning thowards maybe him being in a coma or catatonic or in some kind of hospitalized situation, maybe under a fake name, thanks to Phi's dad.

Because the Mafia (Tee's Uncle) want him dead, so a fake name for both him and his brother/family might be to keep them safe.

I am not positive he is the third killer (if there even is one) if he is alive.

Most of my brain is on camp Non is dead. For the simple reason that Tan especially seem to be focused on knowing what happened to Non, and/or getting a confession. And if he can talk to Non there would just be no used for that. There would be no need to wait that long. I don't know just a feeling.

Who Are The Killers and How Many there are? And Is Tan Non's older brother?

I will start with the obvious, Phi has to be one of the killers, we are all on board with that.

While my previous theory was that Tan was not the brother and the brother was an unknown player I think I have changed my mind.

I am now 90% sure Tan is New, Non's older brother. Am I still a little bit miffed they probably casted an actor who is the same age as Barcode to play his older brother, yeah, but I figured if the actor pulls it off I can overlook the real life age, it's not like we have not ignored that before in BL land.

About the number I waffle back and fort. I am currently leaning more with there are only two killers. But I can't ever fully commit to it. If you discount the quick appereances I think I have a handle on who did what and when, mostly. And they could have definately pulled it off just Phi and Tan.

Again I do still think the way the guy that is supposed to come pick them up was introduce feel like a set up for a third killer. But it could just be about making sure they are trapped there. I don't know.

I think that Tan might be a bit of blank character on porpouse because if he is the brother, which I am becoming more and more sure with each episode, the bulk of his characterization will be post reveal.

It's definately a delicate balance to struck, because if you make the character too distinct then the reveal feels like it's coming out of nowhere. I really like the actor's microexpression and the way the camera stays on his face sometimes, I think it's very subtle and the actor does a very good job with them.

Who realesed the video?

This section is a bit shorter, I mostly just want to highlight the two post I have seen pointing out some stuff about the video

This one by @firstmix

and This one by @raelle-writing

I wanted to add that maybe Tee and/or Top hide themselves in the office because they thought they could film the teacher giving Non money, and then caught something else instead.

I also think don't think (EDIT: I made a mistake in the og post) it's Jin that realesed the video.

Humans or Suprenatural

I am firmly on camp there is no supernatural, there is no cult. It's all staged.

I think the killers might be using drugs on the boys (see this post by @lukaherehelp for an excelled post on that)

And maybe some sort of induced hynosis/trance on Top, but it also just might be that the drugs and the fear are making him more inclined to help the masked killer, especially if he already thinks it's a ghost.

Also I don't currently have a specific post or remember the specific person sorry my memory is trash, but someone pointed out that sounds, the voices they hear and stuff, might also be used to fuck with people, if you are the person with that theory and see this tell me I will edit this. EDIT: @slayerkitty pointed out it was @shannankle who had this theory, thank you.

I think the dissapearing quick motionless apparitions might be some sort of projection. Specifically something tech related. I am thinking about Tan weirdly awakard talk with White about how he totally doesn't know anything about technology (that was a lie if I ever heard one)

And finally last but certanly not least: What are the killers realtionship/attitude thowards White and What is White role in the story?

White is the wild card, he wasn't supposed to be there. We have at least two conflicting statement on whose idea him coming with them was. Tee initially says, we agreed you would be good if you came and then says actually you didn't want to come and I instited later.

I don't think he is one of the killers there are way too many shots of him alone that make no sense if he is in on it.

Phi seems to be occasionally protective over him. In the scene where they are seeing Tee and White make out he is laughing with everyone but then after Tee says enough my little one will be sad (something of that effect) he turns to see White being embarred and puts a stop to it. He also always seem to want to keep White at the house where he could be safer.

Then of course there is the little awkward moment with the hands when Phi is telling him what to do for the shoot. It was such a odd moment to include, that it makes me believe there is something behind it we are not seeing.

Tan instead seems to be gently stearing him in a specific direction, the direction where he asks questions and wants the truth. Someone left the page of newspaper about Tee's uncle before leaving Fluke and White alone in the house, probably hoping that White would find it. I don't want to used the world manipulation yet, but it does feel a little like he is using him.

White has to be one of the final standing boys. I am not sure if he is going to be the only one. If Jin didn't realsed the video then Jin might also make it. And of course it depends about the killers. Making the killers so symphatethic the audience root for them is always a gamble if you want to end your series with both of them dead.

Is White meant to have some parallels with Non? Tee obviously is trying to change himself and be better for White, although he struggles between care and selfinesh still. White might also come from a poor background, the boys might have been more nice to him because they felt guilty about what happened to Non. There is also that moment with the rash that I think will have a bigger meaning eventually.

And has @shannankle has pointed out in their post on colors. He and Phi have some color connections with the orange.

I think that is it. Obviously the last question is about the ending, but I don't really have any theories I am ready to share for that yet. As you can see I am sure of very little.

[pleasanttaleswithkaityb]

The Burb Household

Spring, Year 1 - Recap

As spring blossomed in Pleasantview, the Burb household was riding the tides of ordinary life, punctuated by moments of pure exhilaration and the subtleties of everyday drama. With his heart forever amidst nature, John stole moments of serenity with Tucker, their loyal dog, while juggling the reality of burgeoning bills and the weight of educational choices for the kids. Jen, in her newfound role as a Competent Clerk, discovered a balance between professional aspirations and the tender demands of motherhood, all while hinting at a potential new beginning stirring within her. Lucy, a whirlwind of teenage zeal, faced the rites of passage into adolescence with excitement and trepidation, her days a rollercoaster ride between the thrills of first crushes and the blush of puberty's awkward bloom. Meanwhile, Kody, the little daredevil, embraced his sports hobby with gusto, his birthday celebration at the bowling alley a strike of joy, epitomizing the lively spirit of a Sagittarius. The season was a patchwork quilt of karaoke nights, where John's unabashed performances left Jen swooning with renewed affection, and family picnics that turned simple meals into treasured memories. Through it all, the Burbs remained a tight-knit clan, their love an anchor amid life's capricious waves. As leaves turned green and the days grew warmer, whispers of a new life, a subtle rounding of Jen's belly, and shared glances full of meaning hinted at a deepening of the family narrative. The season's end found the Burbs poised on the cusp of change, their story a captivating blend of the hilariously mundane and the quietly profound, with the sweet suspense of expectancy hanging in the air like the promise of summer's first golden sunrise.

Previous || End of the season! Did you miss most of the season, or do you just wanna reread it? Start from the beginning of their Spring!

We’re now on to the Ramirez Household with Checo, Lisa, Tessa, and little Gloria! Get to know more about them here: [get to know the neighbors] And don't forget to check out their previous recaps for a quick reminder of what's to come!

[schploinky]

AAAA kinda old art (that's a lie i made it like three weeks ago) but I wanted to talk more about the supporting characters of the High Tide AU! Those being. Misako, Maya, and Ray (I had no idea what to do with Wu so i've. set him aside for now)

This isn't going to be anything super in-depth. Just a little . idk. recap?

Misako and Maya become very close (that's. platonic) in the weeks following Nya's sacrifice. They already knew each other to an extent, but after she and Ray went missing, Maya never had the chance to get to know Misako as a true friend. But now she does! And they're like besties! The two bond over their shared experiences of motherhood and Misako uses knowledge gained from years of love and loss to help Maya through the grieving process.

Maya and Ray stay at the monastery for a few months after Nya's sacrifice to support Kai. Ray didn't know Nya the way Kai did, so they often reminisce on what she was like when they're together as a way to reconnect. Kai really struggles with feeling overly-responsible for the other ninja as they navigate their way through grief together; he feels as if it's down to him to do everything in his power to prevent his friends from suffering the same fate as his sister, but is quick to lose himself in the process. Being able to retell these memories with his father allows Kai to process his grief, and strengthen his relationship with the rest of his family too.

I'm doing my best to be as angst-free as possible with this AU and I hope it's paying off <\3 I don't want this to be the most devastating story ever, I just want to rewrite the scenario of Nya's sacrifice in a way that brings the ninja together instead of tearing them apart.

[svnaaaaaa]

Monte Carlo : Charles Leclerc AU (Part Five)

pairing : charles leclerc x fem reader

summary : the damage has done and y/n felt crushed.

warning(s) : google-translated french, angry charles, angst

previous : part four

next : part six

masterlist

author's note : i felt unmotivated so i decided to post this early. enjoy!

tagging : (if you want to be tagged in, let me know)

recap :

"thank you." was all y/n said and left out the car, leaving charles speechless. didn't wait any longer charles drove away back to his apartment in confuse.

-

as y/n entered the hotel suite that she shared with grace, grace saw her friend and her eyes got sadden up. she opened up her arms and in quick time, y/n wrapped her arms around grace and with that, she was bawling out her tears. grace rubbed y/n's back, sighing that she knew that eventually, this thing will come out sooner or later but she couldn't dare to say about it.

"you want to talk about it?" grace asked in hushed voice. y/n shooked her head no and grace understood of it by nodding her head, continued on rubbing her back. "you know y/n, you already know this but, now you're heartbroken about it aren't you?" grace asked once again and slowly, y/n nodded her head yes. "he thought i am amélie but he enjoyed hanging out with me." y/n told grace, where she just nodded her head while continued on rubbing y/n's back.

the next day came by and y/n decided not to go to the race day where she doesn't want to burden charles with her explanation. instead, she decided to make a phone call with amélie which she knew that her sister is with their brother at the moment. "wait what?" y/n asked as she couldn't believe what amélie just told her. "i told you, we met granddad, or so he said so himself that." amélie replied as she was standing outside of joseph's town house, watching people passing by. "anyways, are you going to the race today?" amélie asked as she was wandering around the neighbourhood. "no, i'm not." y/n sighed, slumped onto her bed back. "what, whyy?!" amélie asked as she looked around and found that people were staring weirdly at her. "it's complicated but, i don't think i can go on with this anymore ames. i don't want to be someone i am not." y/n told her. y/n heard amélie sighed through the phone. "you like him, don't you?" amélie asked as y/n leaned her head back into her pillow, nodding her head yes. "you know i couldn't see you but i assuming you're nodding your head yes." amélie said annoyingly, making y/n chuckled. amélie joined in. "you know, this is the first time i've known you to know that you like a guy." amélie told her.

in all their life living together until the age of 19, this is the first time amélie realized her twin sister liking a guy. while amélie, has been liking guys after guys ever since she realizes that she can like guys after her father and brother. her first boyfriend was a guy from a summer camp in 6th grade, charlie edwards. it was just a short term because each other was missing their families. right after the summer camp ended, the relationship ended too. ended up charlie went up crying to his mother back home.

then, amélie's phone had an incoming call, from an unknown number. "hey y/n, i call you later cause i have an incoming call." amélie told her. weird enough, amélie never gave her personal number to her clients because the phone that have amélie's business number's phone is left in her monte carlo office, where she left it for y/n. both of them said their good bye before amélie ended the call and answered the incoming call. "bonjour, c'est amélie thomas qui parle. (hello, this is amélie thomas speaking.)" amélie answered. "bonjour, c'est charles leclerc. (hello, this is charles leclerc.)" charles informed as amélie was confused, was she ever encountered with charles leclerc before? if yes, which company was he that amélie felt brave enough to leave her personal number to him? amélie have no recollection memories of him at all. "qui? (who?)" amélie asked which makes charles confused as how she was acting when she was with him the night before, and since when she was so fluent in speaking french?

"it's charles, from ferrari?" charles said feeling unsure with amélie's façade, was it something he did? "oh!" charles heard amélie said. "you see here charles, there has been a mistake." amélie told him, making charles even confuse. "i, i don't understand amélie. what do you mean by that?" charles asked her back, making amélie sighed silently, thinking 'this is why i hate french guys'. "meaning this is you're calling right now is the real amélie, the one you met before you make this call was my twin sister, y/n." amélie started, making charles stumbled, wanting a chair to sit down before he could faint, not because of passing out but because of a shock.

"what?" was all charles could say.

'this for you sis.' amélie thought to herself as she exhaled.

-

the office phone rang and y/n picked it up. "bonjour, c'est y/n thomas qui parle. (hello, this is y/n thomas speaking.)" y/n answered as she looked through the reports that needed to attend to. "y/n, this is mother." marie informed and y/n sighed. "what is it?" y/n asked lazily as it shooked marie. usually ever since y/n was a little girl, she always corrected by saying marie's name and not calling her as her mother.

"y/n, go to your mother." beau directed little girl y/n. y/n glared at beau. "marie." she told him. "fine, go to marie." beau sighed.

"i was wondering if the necklace i gave before has arrived to you yet?" marie asked. y/n's eyes couldn't get any larger than a normal human can, as she opened her table drawers left to right, top to bottom. "let me ask grace first, i'll let you know later." y/n informed marie as she ended the call without letting marie said anything. she stood up and walked out of her office room as she went to grace's office room and knock on it. "come in!" y/n entered the room and closed it on her way. "'sup." grace greeted as she saw y/n sat on chair in front of her. "where's the necklace gave by marie?" y/n asked and this time, grace's eyes widen up.

slamming her hands onto the office table, grace looked at y/n. "help me." grace whispered. "what?! don't tell me you lost it?" y/n asked as she stood up and walked over grace's table, opening every drawer of the table. "where did you put it grace?" y/n asked again.

then there was a knock on grace's office door. "miss thomas, there is someone here to meet you but he doesn't made any reservation." the assistant of monte carlo's branch, francesca, informed. y/n looked at grace weirdly as grace also have a weird face on, who is this guy? "uh yea sure, send him in." y/n told francesca as she nodded her head yes and went out of grace's office room. "you keep on looking for the necklace." y/n told grace next and went out of grace's room and entered her office room, which she faced the back of a brown haired guy.

"charles?" the brown haired guy turned around and yes, it happen to be charles leclerc, in her office, with a neutral face on. "w-what are you doing here?" y/n asked as she neared him but charles didn't flinched even a bit. "don't you have another story to tell amélie?" charles asked with a monotone, which confused y/n even more. "what do you mean? i don't understand." y/n told him as she heard charles scoffed at her statement. "let me rephrase that, don't you have another story to tell, y/n?" charles asked once again but this time, it fills with hatred. y/n's eyes got widen up once again and as she tried to recompose herself, her office door was opened wide with grace entering. "y/n, i found the necklace!" grace yelled and as soon she saw charles in the room, she stood silent. "oh." was all grace said.

charles looked at y/n with disappointment on his facial expression, making y/n looked at the floor. "i can explain this, please give me time." y/n begged, charles shooked his head no. "i've got no time with you, this situation is giving enough of explanation, besides the real amélie has given me enough explanation." charles informed as y/n looked at charles with shock face. "amélie? w-what do you mean by that?" y/n asked, charles walked towards the door. "i don't know who you are but if you're here to play with my feelings, you're wrong. to think that i started to feel comfortable around you, i knew something was wrong." charles told y/n and then he left the office room, making y/n slumped onto her knees. grace ran towards y/n, grabbing by her shoulders. "shh, you're okay y/n." grace whispered as she pulled y/n into a hug while y/n started to cry her eyes out.

[they-bite]

Aight, I'll ask. Monsters vs. Aliens with Megamind? If it's not too much trouble?

It's more of a fan theory than like a fic idea or anything, and I'm surely not the first person to mention this, but two other ppl asked about it so I digress --

Quick recap of the first couple minutes of Megamind: Megamind (and Metroman) were both shuttled off of dying planets by their parents a la Superman. Megamind was also given Minion, a fish with some kind of satellite implant, and told Minion would "take care of him".

Minion's existence here implies two things: one, that Megamind's planet hosted more species than just the blue humanoids Megamind is a member of; and two, that these species (as well as whatever other species existed with them) have a hierarchal relationship. Given that Megamind's planet is also very blue, and what little architecture we see is wide-open and curvilinear, we can also theorize a bit about Megamind's species being amphibious or semi-aquatic. Megamind's incredible intellect and predisposition to engineering also seems to have a precedent on his homeworld: a supercomputer and some out-of-focus machinery are shown in close proximity to baby Megs' crib, implying that his people were a highly industrial species relying on advanced technology.

Now consider Gallaxhar's design from Monsters vs. Aliens.

Distended cranium, blue (indigo, but still) skin, purplish flush on his ears implying red blood and black eyebrows – all features Megamind's species has. He's even got the glittery white clothing and high collar that Megamind's parents wear. Now of course, Gallaxhar also has considerably different features – he's in the 7-8 foot range, his head is much taller than those of Megs' species, four eyes instead of two, and six tentacles instead of two legs. It's highly possible that hierarchal scale, larger craniums and extra limbs/eyes were prized features on Megamind's world – more brainpower and ability to multitask, which are both ideal in industrial cultures.

So extrapolating off of our theories on Megamind's planet, it's possible that Gallaxhar is of a species that dominated over Megamind's before their planet was destroyed.

Consider, further, this bit of Gallaxhar's backstory:

Now, Megs' planet was pulled into a black hole, it didn't have the relatively easier destruction of a core meltdown. But we're never given a good ceiling for the abilities at Gallaxhar's disposal, and "destroyed" could mean anything from "I caused a black hole to happen" to "I knew it was happening and decided not to warn anybody". (You could go with the latter option if you wanted the Superman callbacks in Megs' backstory to hold out.)

What does this mean for Megs? Personally I'm given to think the events of Monsters vs. Aliens happened before the events of Megamind, since MvA came out a year before. And Megamind seems to have eidetic (or at least very clear) memory of his homeworld – I wouldn't put it past him to have scrounged the wreckage of Gallaxhar's ship both for parts and for answers about himself.

Especially where his de-gun comes in. What is that blue glowing stuff it uses, anyway?

Trace quantonium, perhaps?

Other ideas for an actual crossover are as follows:

-A legal loophole of some sort prevents Area Fifty-Something from appropriating Megs and Minion since they were already in federal incarceration (The Metro City Prison warden and General Monger have had more than a few annoyed calls over the years)

-Roxanne and Derek are related (they have similar coloring, slim figures and squared-off jawlines. Derek is like, Roxie's cousin who's unashamedly trying to replicate her success) or they at the very least know of each other

-In the same vein of thinking, Roxie taking Susan out to lunch sometime

-Megamind & Dr. Cockroach team up (but quickly get more preoccupied with Minion becoming drinking buddies w the Missing Link)

-Somehow I want B.O.B. and Metroman to meet and B.O.B. fucking loves MM's music. They're himbo kings

-Also B.O.B. reading Hal to filth

-Again, I don't have like, actual fic ideas for this, but I do at some point want to draw Susan holding Megs in the palm of her hand because that would be incredibly cute.

[talknerdytome18]

Ranking All Books by Holly Jackson

Since I've read all of Holly's books, I'm going to rank them! Disclaimer: This is my opinion. If we don't have the same opinion, then respect that. Let's go!

Warning: this may contain spoilers for all books published by Holly Jackson. If you don't want to be spoiled, then scroll away.

6. Killjoy (2021)

I found this story cute! Very fun and fast-paced. I loved seeing how it all started and loved seeing the friend group's dynamic again. I just found this to not be the best out of all of Holly's books (granted this is a novella, but it's not my fave). Also, too much Ant Lowe in my opinion. I would have preferred more Jamie Reynolds. Also, I personally think Connor and Zach should've kissed but oh well.

Overall, fun book! If you wanna go back to where it all started, then this novella is worth it.

5. Five Survive (2022)

Guys... I have a reason why this book is ranked so low. I'm going to start by saying that I did not hate this book. I found the story intriguing and was engaged once the action started. For her first standalone, this book was really good and exceeded my expectations. My main problem with this book was that I found that I could care less about the characters. Personally, I found Red Kenny to be a weak protagonist in comparison to Pip and Bel and, not to mention how I could care less about Red and Arthur. Red and Arthur are cute, but honestly, I could care less if they got together or not.

Again, I don't hate this book. For Holly's first standalone, it was really good. However, I found that I didn't really care for any of the characters.

Overall, good book! Wish I connected more to the characters because the premise is incredible.

4. Good Girl, Bad Blood (2020)

All books in the AGGGTM series are five star reads in my opinion, but I find this the weakest book in the trilogy. Honestly, I love this book with my whole heart. Coming from being Connor Reynolds's biggest fan, I love how much he appeared in this book and how he aided in finding Jamie.

I think this book suffers from what I've dubbed "Sequel Slump" - meaning that the first book is so good that the sequel "slumps" in comparison. In this case, A Good Girl's Guide to Murder is so good that this book just "slumps" in comparison, and I think it's because it takes a while for the mystery to officially begin, since we're taken through a quick recap over the previous book's events and then the memorial.

Also, I personally think that Connor and Zach should've kissed. Connor going to Zach's house to play Fortnite after the memorial? Very fruity to me (joking... or am I?)

Overall, love this book. Wish it got more recognition in the fandom.

3. A Good Girl's Guide to Murder (2019)

LOVE THIS BOOK. This book is fast-paced, thrilling and mysterious. It has a healthy dose of mystery and romance, along with characters I truly felt interested in. Pip's an amazing protagonist who fought hard to prove Sal innocent and find the real killer under the guise of her EPQ, all as she got the guy (Ravi Singh) in the end.

I loved that this book kept me guessing until the very end. I was suspecting everyone (Max, Jason, Naomi, Elliot, etc) and was genuinely surprised finding out Elliot killed Sal. Holly had written him to be such a likeable person that I couldn't believe he would kill Sal just so he could frame him as Andie's killer. AND BECCA? Never would've guessed it. Holly Jackson knows how to write compelling thrillers and I love that for her.

My only real complaint is again, Zach and Connor should've kissed. Connor honey I get that you liked Pip, but Zach Chen is literally right there. You boys are soulmates and I pray that the show recognises that (along with LauCara).

Overall, AMAZING BOOK. Deserves all the hype!

2. As Good as Dead (2021)

AHHHHH I LOVE THIS BOOK SO MUCH. THIS BOOK IS HOW YOU END A TRILOGY GUYS. From the beginning, I was hooked by the mystery of Pip's stalker. This book broke my heart with Andie's email - poor girl was so scared of her father and died trying to escape him. I really like how this book doesn't give Andie a full redemption arc, rather it explains her actions. It really humanises Andie - a girl who grew up in a toxic environment and died trying to save herself and her sister.

My heart shattered when Pip broke up with Ravi. AND HIS SUGGESTION WAS TO MARRY SO THEY COULD GET SPOUSAL PRIVILEDGE??? RAVI FUCKING SINGH WHY DO YOU DO THIS TO ME???

The ending? EVIL. FUCKING EVILLLL BUT I LOVE HOLLY EITHER WAY. In my heart, I believe Pip got back together with him and they married. They also got another golden retriever in my mind after they got married.

Only complaint was WHERE WAS ZACH CHEN? CONNOR AND HIM SHOULD'VE KISSED WTF. Not to mention Lauren and Cara... Love my girl Steph though. Hoping that Lauren and Cara are a thing in the show though since we don't know much about Steph.

Overall, BEST BOOK IN THE TRILOGY GUYS.

The Reappearance of Rachel Price (2024)

HOLY FUCKING SHIT.

THIS BOOK... I WILL ONLY SAY ONE WORD: BRILLIANT.

When Holly Jackson said that this book was her favourite, I can see why it is. While I struggled to get into it from the beginning, once I read past 100 pages, I was hooked. Bel Price is such a complex protagonist that I could find myself relating to. All the characters were just so complex and you truly don't know who's lying until the very end, when we find out (spoiler alert) that Charlie (Bel's dad) had ordered his father to kill Rachel.

Not to mention how insane the sibling plotline was??? I NEVER WOULD HAVE SUSPECTED THAT CARTER WAS RACHEL'S BIOLOGICAL DAUGHTER. My heart broke when Rachel spoke about how Patrick took Carter away from her when Carter was only two weeks old. The Price family are truly disgusting - Rachel, Bel and Carter deserved so much better.

Also, I preferred the romance between Ash and Bel over Arthur and Red. Ash is such a fun character and I was genuinely sad when him and Bel weren't endgame. I believe that one day, in the near future, they reunite and get together officially.

Overall, LOVE THIS BOOK. If you haven't picked this up yet, then do so now!

~~~~

That's it! If you wanna talk, then my inbox is open :) - Em

[disfrutalakia]

Hi. I lurked your blog a lot a while ago but I stopped watching qsmp in January and eventually lost track of what was going on in the server except for some of the stuff with the admins. I also lost interest in Portuguese around January because after what happened around That Time, even that was just making me sad and upset.

I'm remembering that around this time last year was when I started watching a lot of qsmp, and I miss it. (A whole damn YEAR?!) And I miss some of the fanbase too. I learned just as much about language and culture from people in the fandom as I learned from the server itself. I especially miss the Brazilian CCs and I want to start watching them and/or qsmp again (Pac and Cellbit especially) and trying to learn Portuguese again. But I have no idea what's been going on and it's surprisingly difficult to try to figure it out by digging around on tumblr.

May I please ask for a quick summary, if you're up for it? Just as much as you feel like, it doesn't have to be extensive if you do it. I would be incredibly grateful but I know it might be a lot of work. (I already know about the stuff with Cellbit's ex, but I have no idea what else has been going on with him.)

And honestly, the main thing I want to know is the situation with Richarlyson's admin. If they're no longer in the project, that's okay, it's probably best for their health and I support it. But I just need to know if they know how loved and appreciated they are. Richas was my favorite egg and the admin was my favorite admin too. I hope they're doing well, wherever they are and whoever they are.

Sincerely, some random American

Hello!

Anon I will try my best but I have to be honest with you, I haven't kept up that well since january (my mental health was really fucked from all that happened and I needed to take a step back) but from important bullet points that I can remember

Please people add onto this so anon can get a true lore recap

- we had the server restart that introduced the mechanics of coins system and all that

- the mr duck from before was apparently replaced by a mr bunny

- Badboyhalo fucking died and then came back without any memories (if you want to see him dying the stream is sweet despair and it's beautiful and sad one)

- Tubbo died too but also came back

- Creation lore (literally cannot explain this, need some tublings on the job please)

- Fit's mission deadline arrived

- Fit was sent to a pit by Madagio (his boss) and like, he is still there right now

- on Cellbit, well, he was having a skate arc (literally, he would skateboard everywhere)

That's as much as I can remember right now (it's 3am so my memory is extremely fucked) and if anyone wants to add onto this please do, clearly I couldn't remember everything lmao

Now on Richas situation, he is currently on the server, he woke up and was on Bad's stream earlier today! So he is still around and shows up on Mike's streams a lot and also Bad

I'm sorry that I couldn't be of much help </3 but like I said, january fucked with me and I couldn't keep up as much or I would get physically anxious, so

[chthonicgodling]

The Taki Fuego “BEST OF” Clip Show*~ AN INTERLUDE [prev / next]

aka EXPOSITION AND NUMB DEFLECTION: THE COMIC; a recap explanation of things to come!

Once again - in the wake of our most recent turns of events (SHH WE’LL GET THERE), working on assembling some choice scenes from the recent few months in Elysium between the Taki Fuego trio, through a series of comics starring all canon dialogue, quick Elysium Drama Update snapshots. Previously - funny comedy hour and banter! But this is an INTERMISSION before returning to the grayscale scribbles - THIS is dialed back EVEN FURTHER…. Allllll the way back to the solemn and serious talk taking place just BEFORE Loki agreed to have a baby with them (it was actually the very literal same convo).

EeL’s deepest psyche re: his deep rooted anxiety and ✨issues✨ are common knowledge to MEEE and Fenixe (and some of you!!) yes, but dragging it all out into the open in this brief window is crucial, I think, to provide some context for some upcoming moments Loki has now shared through his pregnancy with Maci and Tory 🥺 …relevant meme here aHEM.

I’ve certainly written no shortage of essays on tumblr about Loki’s kids in here but in case anyone’s missed those essays: the tragic and traumatic fates of Loki’s (myth!) children Sleipnir, Hela, Fenris, Jormundgandr, Vali & Nari are EXTREMELY canon. and haunt EeL to this day. Even though he’s gotten 4 out of 6 back! Doesn’t change the memories trapped in the story of his past forever! Sleipnir and the trio confiscated by Odin - the twins murdered at Odin’s hands…. And now YOU can painfully remember this too!

yknow. It is always so fun to write EeL’s dialogue but drawing all of this was incredible as well. How do you illustrate the words of someone nonchalant, aloof and clipped and cool, shrugging within his protective haughty shell like “none of this is a big deal, don’t be silly”…. while already beginning to twitch on the inside?

How do you illustrate the monologue of a traumatized liar (affectionate)???🥺🥺🥺🥺 AUGH

😌 Well the tragic backstory reminder may have made Maci cry but HE’S fine, Pft don’t be ridiculous. Boy this definitely isn’t going to have any emotional repercussions within the near future probably! haha!🤪hhhahahhahh

Tory & his brief involvement in this drawing (but his absolutely crucial and vital role in this trio) belongs to hiatus’d @fenixethekid : Maci is mine and EeL and his endless weary pontificating is all mine toooooooo… Next part coming soon; return to more current canon, the other half of prev. Stay tuned!