#which are both achieveable i just gotta Get There LOL

[hirokiyuu]

i dont think im going to make a large/long self reflection post this year mostly bc this was quite genuinely the worst year of my life but also i have definitely like. hit a point wehre i think things will get better. so thats nice and i like that part

[astermath]

the harrington way･ﾟ☆

pairing: steve harrington x fem!reader

summary: steve won’t stop distracting you from studying for your midterms. to soothe your frustrations he uses his own, supposedly more effective way of quizzing you.

word count: 3.1K

tags: kinda mean!steve, reader is in college, established relationship, oral (f receiving), a bit of a breeding kink lol, reader is a bit of a brat, unprotected sex (wrap it before u tap it guys) minors dni!

notes: inspired by this ask that @stevenose wrote out for me, tysm for the inspo <3 i'm a history major so I sprinkled some history trivia in there lol

please let me know what you think!

Midterms had been positively kicking your ass. You’d been working harder than the devil, spending half your time awake in the library or at your desk, stressed out of your mind. And your boyfriend was well aware of this too.

He’d tried countless times to coax you out of your room for a date, even just to go get dinner, but to no avail. You felt bad, of course, you didn’t want your relationship to suffer under the circumstances of your education. But college is a privilege, your parents both worked very hard to help you achieve your dreams, and you weren’t about to let them down.

So, you’d compromised. You let him stay in your room while you went over your last chapters for premodern history. It was supposed to only be an hour before you’d finish up and the two of you could watch a movie, but the words weren’t sticking in your mind whatsoever. Maybe you’d overworked yourself, your stress levels way beyond anything anyone could consider healthy, but you were determined to keep trying.

You groan, flipping your glasses up to rest on your head while you rub your face. The sound made Steve rise from your bed to his feet, popping up behind you.

“You ‘kay sweetie?” His large hands settle onto your shoulders, concern only growing when he feels how tense they are.

“No,” you lean your head back, and you could see his brows furrow worriedly at the sight of your eye bags, “I’m going to explode if I have to read about another another dynasty…”

“Well, don’t,” he leans down to press a soft kiss to your lips, “I prefer to have you in one piece.”

“And I love you Stevie,” you lean back forward, hunched over the dozens of papers on your desk, “but I prefer to pass this course. I seriously cannot retake this.”

He sighs, hands gripping a little tighter at the taut muscles of your shoulders. It was like you were an elastic band, stretched so thin you could snap any moment. You were grumpy, and it wasn’t your fault, he knew that, but he missed spending time with you. He’s not used to spending this much time apart, even if it for the sake of your studies.

“Come on,” his thumbs press into your shoulder blades, “let me help you out a little, at least.” He starts making circular motions, and you bite your lip to suppress a groan at the contact. “Let Steve’s magical hands to their thing.”

You could just hear the smirk in his tone, but there was no possible way you could be relaxing when you hadn’t even properly revised yet. “Steve, I—“ you interrupt yourself with an accidental whine from his impromptu massage. “I can’t relax right now, I haven’t even used my flash cards yet.”

His eyes flit to the pastel cards placed on your nightstand. Clearly you’d been revising a lot before bed, which wasn’t exactly helping your sleeping schedule either.

“I can help with those.”

“You?” You lean your head back again, expecting a joking grin, but instead being met with a genuine smile. Steve wasn’t exactly what one would call an academic weapon, but you’d be rude not to let him try and help at least. “Hmm… Fine, I don‘t see why not."

He gently brings you up off your desk chair, unable to keep his hands off you now that he's started. His strong arms wrap around your waist, and he senses your hesitation at first. "If I'm gonna quiz you, ya gotta loosen up a little honey," he leans his head down slightly, "plus, I'm gonna quiz you my way."

"Your way huh?" You decide to take his bait. Though he isn’t in college like you, and he never really scored too well in high school, you were intrigued nonetheless. And you weren’t immune to your boyfriend, after all. You were bound to cave to his advances eventually.

"Yeah," his lips ghost over yours, "the Harrington way."

"Alright," you grin, "color me intrigued."

He takes that as his cue to close the distance between you two and press his lips to yours. Usually he'd start off slow, ease you into it, but truth be told, Steve had been deprived of your affection for long enough. The kiss is a lot more passionate than usual, teeth clashing slightly as his tongue slips into your mouth, eliciting a soft whimper from you.

You stumble backwards onto the bed with him on top of you, albeit less by accident and more as an advance. His hips settle between your thighs, and you could feel the reason for his urgency pressing against your heat. Even through a layer of underwear and tight jeans, the shape of him was so clear to you.

"Steeeeve..." You whine, transitioning into a giggle as you drag out his name. His lips move to your neck, pressing sloppy, wet kisses to your sensitive skin. "This all-- fuck-- part of your technique?"

You could feel him smile into the crook of your neck, hands slipping under your shirt, nudging it up.

"Yep, just let me do my thing baby... All part of the plan..."

At this point it was nearly impossible to deny Steve anything. Not just because you felt bad for your distance as of lately, but because your mind tended to go blank with his hands on you like this. You'd already succumbed to his touch, too late to turn back to your desk now.

Your shirt was discarded onto the carpeted floor, his own following soon after. He works on unhooking your bra while leaving feverish kisses all over your chest, nipping every now and then. His breath hitches when it’s discarded, and he’s met with the sight of your bare breasts. It didn't matter how many times he'd seen your tits, he'd never get tired of it. Ever.

He wastes no time in latching onto your nipple, rolling the other one between his fingers. His tongue kitten licked over the sensitive bud, hazel eyes peering up at your expression, which was growing increasingly desperate.

His lips drag over your skin, leaving tingles in their wake as he moved over your stomach. He halts when he reaches the waistband of your shorts, eyes flicking up at you for a moment before he started scattering teasing kisses right above the hem.

"Stevie..." You sigh his nickname, propping yourself up onto your elbows so you could watch him. You knew he was teasing you, lips remaining so close yet so distant from where you needed them to be.

"Impatient?" He questions, hands coming up to settle on your hips, thumbs skirting just over the edge of your bottoms.

"Look who's talking..." You scoff, the cockiness in your voice disappearing as soon as he traces his fingers over your clothed pussy. "O-Okay, jesus, quit... Quit teasing baby--"

He refrains from rolling his eyes at your attitude, knowing you were quite pent up yourself. You'd usually never go this long without fucking, so he understood the sexual frustration. Luckily, that was his exact field of expertise.

He hooks his fingers around your shorts, and you take his hint to lift your hips to help him pull them off, along with your panties, joining the rest of your clothes scattered on the floor. He smiles at the sight of your slick coating your folds so beautifully, proof of just how worked up he'd gotten you by just kissing you and touching you a little.

"Fuck, you're soaked baby," he leans down onto the bed, arms hooking around your thighs and pulling your heat closer to his face. He runs a teasing finger up and down your slit, coating it in your juices. "Jesus, she's just begging for me, isn't she?"

Your hips buck at his dirty words, whining softly. You’re so close to just grabbing his hair and grinding against his face, but you know the payoff to his teasing would be worth it in the end.

He leans down and licks up your cunt, stilling at your clit, flicking his tongue over it a few times. His brown eyes peer up at you, watching you lose your composure over just the faintest of touches. He adores watching you become undone for him like this, melt underneath his touch, loosen yourself up a little.

He continues working on your needy clit, groans sending vibrations through your core that make you grip the sheets beneath you. If your mind wasn't so hazed with what he was doing to you, you might have noticed the hand coming down to his pants, palming himself. He tended to get off on your arousal like that, your moans and whines only spurring him on further.

"Sh-Shit-- Stevie!" You cry out his name, fingers gripping his chocolate locks when his lips closed around the sensitive bundle of nerves. You weren't going to last much longer, and he could tell with the way you were bucking your hips into him.

He wanted to ask you if you were close, in that teasing, cocky voice he knew you secretly loved, but he’d rather die than tear his lips away from your cunt at that moment. So he just kept going, tongue lapping away at your sweet juices, eyes fluttering shut as he loses himself to the sound of your moans.

The coil in your lower stomach snaps, and you moan his name loudly as your orgasm crashes through your body. Your fingers pull at his locks, earning a groan from him as your vision goes white with pleasure. You continue to ride out your orgasm against his face, whimpers falling from your lips with every roll of your hips.

Steve, a bit reluctantly, pulls away from your core, catching his breath. He looks so beautiful, lips swollen and pink, lower face just covered in your slick, hair all messy from your the firm grip you had on it.

He wipes his mouth clean with the back of his hand, grinning at your fucked out expression. “You ‘kay honey?”

You nod, a sweet, dazed smile adorning your face in response. “Yeah… Not quite done with you yet though.”

He smirks, sitting up to undo his belt, eyes not leaving yours for even a second. “Good,” he continues to pull off his jeans and boxers, “because that was only the first step of the Harrington way.”

You roll your eyes, almost having forgotten about the fact that he was supposed to be quizzing you. “You serious?”

He replies by leaning down and pressing a soft kiss to your lips. “Do I look like I want my girl to be failing college?”

You nibble on your bottom lip, shaking your head slowly. You can feel his cock rub against your thigh, and the contact alone is sending tingles of pleasure through your body.

“Good.” He wraps his arms around your waist, almost manhandling you on top of him. You squeal from the sudden change of positions, giggling from the spontaneity of it all.

You’re already reaching down for his cock, ready to line yourself up with him and slide down so painstakingly slow like you usually would. But he grabs your wrist before you get a chance to, and the expression on his face is a lot more stern than the one you saw just moments ago.

“I’m serious about this, so you gotta be too, okay?”

“Yeah, I am, god, just— I need you inside me Steve, like right now.”

“I know sweetie, and you can, if…” He reaches for the flash cards on your desk, picking out a random one and reading over the question. “You can tell me who was widely credited with publishing the first ever printed Bible.”

You whine out of frustration, trying to think back at all of the subject matter you’d crammed into your head the past few weeks. “Shit, baby, you’re kinda putting me on the spot here…”

“C’mon,” his hand reaches down to grab his cock, running the head over your folds and gathering your slick onto him, “think sweetie, you got this.”

You bite your lip, resisting the temptation to force your hips down onto him. You peer down at him, his eyes meeting yours in an expectant gaze. “I-I, uhm… Gutenberg, it was— it was Gutenberg.”

“Good girl,” he coos, and finally pushes up his hips to slide inside you.

“Fuck!” You moan out, louder than usual. You suddenly realize your dormmates are in for quite the treat that night.

You try to move your hips, but his right hand on your hip stops you from doing so. Even with you on top of him, he’s still in full control of you, it was honestly pretty impressive.

He fucks into you at a slow, lazy pace, feet planted flatly onto the mattress to ground himself. His cock drags deliciously over your walls, and you can feel every curve and ridge of him inside you like this.

You whimper when he stills his hips, already opening your mouth to protest before he interrupts you by holding up a finger and taking out another flash card. “I’ll continue if you can tell me when Queen Elizabeth I reigned.”

“W-What… I don’t— I don‘t know, uhm…” You’d never taken the expression “fucked stupid” seriously, up until that point. He was being so mean, so teasing, and you'd be lying if you said you weren't loving it. Maybe this was his payback for being away from him for this long.

"Don't tell me I've already fucked the answers outta you," he smirks, and it makes you whine, clenching down onto his cock. You liked this side of him, so mean, even if you knew he was just going to shower you with kisses and praise after.

"N-No, I--" you furrowed your brows, "uhm... 1558... t-to..." you could feel his cock twitch inside you, and it almost makes you lose your train of thought, "1603, I think-- fuck!"

He wastes no time in driving himself deeper inside you, your treat for answering correctly.

"So smart, look at you-- shit-- my little academic..." He coos, hand coming down so his thumb could play with your clit. You begin moving your hips to meet his halfway, the obscene, almost pornographic sounds of skin slapping skin filling the room.

You almost didn't notice that he'd grabbed another card, too busy chasing your orgasm now that he was finally giving you something more to work with.

"When did Luther post the 95 Theses--"

"1517!" you cry out, hands coming down to rest over his hairy chest, supporting yourself as you worked your hips over his throbbing cock.

He looks up at you, trying to keep his own composure, but it's getting harder by the second. You look so beautiful, tits bouncing, lips parted as his name falls from them after every other whimper and moan. He's doing his best to keep up his strict tutor persona, but he feels his own orgasm creeping closer by the second, not being able to stop his hips from rutting into you.

"A-Alright--" He almost drops the stack of cards on the floor, trying to grab a random one as he reads it aloud, "Which scientist-- fuck-- f-formulated the laws of... of planetary motion-- holy shit baby--" his brown eyes find yours again, unable to hold back the continuous groans and whimpers you're earning from him.

You feel that familiar heat building up in your stomach, your thighs burning from making you bounce over his cock the entire time, but you ignore the strain it has on your body. All you want to do now is cum, feel him fill you up to the brim until it's leaking out of you.

He can tell you're not even thinking about the answer, so, although a bit reluctantly, he starts to slow down. You open your eyes, looking down at him with a pleading gaze. You're about to start sobbing, tears already watering up your vision as you bite your lip. "I-I-- Uhm, fuck, Stevie, I--"

"Come on," He taps your ass lightly to encourage you, "that pretty mind's gotta be good for somethin', think, baby."

A stray tear rolls over your cheek, thoughts of everything you'd been studying running rampant. Your eyes widen, and in a sort of eureka moment, you yell out a name. "Kepler! I-It was Kepler!"

"That's my girl," he groans out, throwing the card besides him and reaching out to fully envelop you in his arms. He starts to piston himself into you at a pace your hips couldn't possibly keep up with, instead holding onto him as tight as you could, moaning his name over and over into the crook of his neck.

"'M gonna cum," you manage to mumble between your pleas, thighs starting to tremble.

"Me too baby, gonna fill you up so good-- shit-- gonna give you your reward-- fuuuck!" He groans loudly, pulling you flush to his chest as he paints your walls in his sticky warm cum.

You follow right after, clenching down on him and milking his cock for every last drop, your body going limp against his from pure exhaustion. Your orgasm ripples through you, the aftermath rendering you completely fucked out, but blessed with the euphoria of your release.

The two of you continue to lay there for a bit longer, catching your breath and enjoying the warmth of each other's bodies. Eventually, Steve pulls out, and you sigh at the emptiness without him inside you. You feel some of his cum dripping onto your thigh, making a mental note to ask for a shower together later. In a moment, at least. When you'd regained your ability to walk.

You pull away from his neck to look at your boyfriend, who seems to be pretty satisfied with himself. "You did so well sweetie," he leans up to press a gentle kiss on your lips, "you're totally gonna ace that exam."

You'd almost forgotten you had an exam the day after, but surprisingly enough, you weren't that stressed. If you could come up with the answers while he was pounding into you, you could write them down in a lecture hall no problem.

"I'm pretty fond of studying the Harrington way, actually," you smile, reaching out to brush some stray brown locks away from his face.

"Really? Huh," he doesn't mention the fact that he didn't even look at the answer the last time. He was way too eager to make you cum, and besides, you're a smart girl. You're going to ace that exam either way. "Well, if you want," he glances at the clock on your nightstand, "I think we have time for another round of revising."

"Hm..." You pretend to mull it over, "in the shower?"

"In the shower."

let me know if you'd like to be added to the tag list for further steve harrington related content!

comments and reblogs are highly appreciated!

[cerastes]

Whats wrong with Near Light?

It is completely clueless as to what its own point is.

"Maria Nearl" made an excellent job of portraying the capitalist bloodsport known as "the Kazimierz Major" as a soulless venture meant to sell dreams and deliver bloodshed, propaganda, and ad revenue instead. It is impeccable in its themes, to the point that Blemishine is in fact told that she is expecting far too much, by EVERYONE else, when she says she'll compete in the Major for the sake of House Nearl having a Knight Primus. Her closest associates end up supporting her not because they truly believe she's right, they support her because they literally don't want her to end up dead. Zofia, Vogelweide, Kowal and Marcin know there's no actual stopping Maria once she sets up her mind on something, so they choose to train her not so she can win, but so she can survive at all in something she's woefully unqualified for. There's absolutely no glory to be made. This is a vie for survival first and foremost.

Near Light then completely disregards all of this and makes Margaret Nearl, a character I really like, into a generic fantasy hero that Must Fight To Achieve Things. It takes the very grounded "meaningless fight for something" from the first event, which is completely in line with old knightly literature, and turns it into a shonen, which I found pretty, well, insulting. Victory equals successful ideals now, because she's Margaret "Kirito SAO" Nearl, so if she does it, it's Fine now. It spins everything into seemingly being honorable knightly duels (but we're the good ones), while giving a horribly passive centrist narrative to what was purely a criticism of late stage capitalism in the prior event. Margaret wants to change things systematically from within.. Which is just a load of hog-fucking-wash when we already established from moment one that the system is in itself flawed, corrupt, and a cesspit of maggots trying to eat each other. It makes you wonder if it was the same writer that wrote both events, because it sure as shit doesn't seem so, and if it was, did they get into NFTs in the meantime or subscribe to Infowars or Andrew Tate or whatever equivalent there is mainland China or something? It went from a clearly muddied look at a system that is inherently flawed into "Actually, if we win enough fights... We can begin the Change Everything castbar, it's pretty simple, actually".

And I bring up those particular shitstains because Margaret Nearl, VERY uncharacteristically, pulls off a "no handouts, let them pull themselves up by their bootstrings" in the event: She refuses to go rescue Pinus Sylvestris because "they can't be saved by those who already have true conviction, they must do it themselves"... Actually what the fuck? You see in Chapter 0, 1 and 7 of the main story that Nearl will go out of her way, risk her very own flesh, to rescue those who are hopeless because that's what she believes in, that's why she's admired, because she'll fucking pull through in these situations... And then she says this shit in Near Light? AND THEN, as if that wasn't enough, smashing a fucking broken thermometer over a salted wound, it is then stated in god damn Operators Files that she did rescue Pinus Sylvestris off-screen anyways, because whoever was responsible for "writing" this, and I'm being fucking magnanimously generous with that word, couldn't just have their cake, but also had to devour it wholesale in one single bite? Get the fuck out.

On screen: Yeah, they gotta earn their lives. [Some fakedeep shit about needing to be devoted enough to their own cause and beliefs] Off screen: Oh I saved them anyways lol, I need to Look Cool.

It's not good writing, g, I'll tell you that fucking much, and it makes me upset because it's a character I like in a setting I love.

Of course I'm not going to like if they Kiritofy a character they had consistently written real damn well prior to an event meant to star her.

It makes me mad because the ultimate resolution of it all is a very cowardly "I Will Now Improve Things From Within" yeah okay and Suzaku was right in Code Geass too, right? Jesus fucking christ, man.

Bottom line, it all feels like they set up something incredible in Maria Nearl, right up until the very end, when Fan Favorite comes out of fucking nowhere to save the day, and then her event contradicts the key tenets of her character thus far to boot.

So you'll have to forgive me but my opinion on Near Light is not particularly positive because it became a "Wow look at how COOL this character is!" kinda shonen shitshow when we had a very "The system is inherently wrong, the solution is not at all simple" sort of seinen narrative going on. It should be telling when Mlynar embodies a more scathingly apt take on the sides Maria herself did not cover in her event towards the narrative than whatever the hell they decided to tarnish Margaret with. It's like the Twilight of Wolumonde writer handled Maria Nearl until the end and then they put the Sword Art Online writer on for Near Light.

It's not because I dislike Margaret Nearl that I feel this way. It's because I like her and they did her dirty. But sure, wau cool horse dom wife mommy or whatever.

[fbj723]

"mini" rant abt bp, dont mind me

tbh what bothers me most abt bp isnt even the pricing, its how its set up as a whole

like, lets look at examples from pgr and pnc, the main 2 gachas i maintain

first up, pnc

the 1st img just shows what you get from bp, that being 2 options:

option 1 ($9.99): you get a skin of a certain char that changes every month + a bunch of currency for banners and just general materials

option 2 ($14.99): everything from option 1 + exclusive decorative items like a profile frame or background to customize your profile, all those decorative items are themed around the char skin you also get

youre not forced to get option 1 to get option 2, option 2 automatically gives you everything from option 1

the 2nd img is how you increase bp level. "but its just the dailies and weeklies tabs" you might be wondering (or not idk lol), but thats exactly it. you increase bp lvl by simply playing the game like you normally would any other day, no additional tasks outside of that

now lets take a look at pgr, which has a different formatting of bp but the concepts relatively the same

just like w pnc, you have 2 options, but this time, these options are completely unrelated from each other

option 1 (30 rc or $5.99): lets you get mats and gacha currency for pets

option 2 (68 rc or $11.99): lets you get a weap skin, gacha currency, and other general mats for chars

the actual $ prices for these options give you extra rc, idk just wanted to point that out lol

again, you are not forced to get option 1 to get option 2 or vice versa. this bp system lets you pick which option you want to buy as they both have completely different uses— you could even buy both if you wanted to

similar to pnc, the way you increase bp lvl is by playing the game like you normally would (i.e. doing your dailies and weeklies). the only addition to this is that theres also event missions, which are very achievable since most of the time the main requirement is to simply just play the events that are currently running during the patch

now lets look at bp in whb

as most of us know by now, you need to buy the advanced tier before getting the superior tier

ideally, we should be able to unlock the superior tier and automatically get everything from the advanced tier, but ig not :') we gotta spend $10+ on top of the $43 just for like 1 sig and general mats :')))

and to progress through bp, we would need to do a multitude of things outside of doing dailies/weeklies, ultimately struggling either due to lack of resources like not having enough tears or having the inability to progress through unholy board if either the ones incomplete rely on pies/insane amounts of tears or youre stuck on needing to get a char's sig

theres also the fact that logging in everyday is a requirement, and that you cannot progress to the next stage without completing the previous one. this would be detrimental to those who either join the game late or start on bp late, as youre essentially unable to progress bc of real time.

honestly an "easy" fix would just be to remove the login requirement, but i can kinda get why the requirement is there just so it forces players to at least log on and maybe play

another thing that irks me is that f2p users still need to "unlock" the advanced/superior rewards despite not even be able to collect those rewards. ideally the free and advanced/superior tiers should be displayed in seperate tiers so at least we can see whats obtainable for free and whats behind a paywall. f2ps shouldnt need to unlock the p2w stuff, they should just need to only unlock the free stuff

theres also the fact that whb's bp isn't like most bps in gachas. bp is generally a monthly thing, while whb has it every once in a while. maybe in the future it would become a monthly thing but rn its essentially a p2w event

now to address the elephant in the room, the prices. i cant compare whb's prices to pgr or pnc, as both pgr and pnc are made by big companies that have been doing this stuff for a while and pb consists of a mere fraction of that. also, pnc and pgr give skins aka cosmetics in bps, not whole chars. yes, pgr gives shards to help boost a char's ranks, but it isnt enough to straight up get the whole char through bp (ignoring bp shop). if i had more knowledge on how pb prices packs/bp/seals aside from it being lower than the usual gacha games in jp servers, mayb i could form a stronger opinion, but rn i cant say much without comparing prices to bigger companies.

theres also the fact that erolabs users have to pay $3-5 more than app store users. while to some that doesnt sound like a lot, im very much a 'every penny counts' kinda guy and $3-5 extra to pay compared to normal is a huge turn off for wanting to spend on this game

thankfully w this bp at least juno isnt dependent on needing specific l ranks (>looks at gabriel needing michael and raphael to work effectively), i just hope that it stays like that? as in, i hope the characters that show up in bp dont need to have other l ranks that are dependent on them

anyw rants over i just wanted to let that out my system 💀

[sammydem0n64]

It’s 12 AM BUT DIALTOWN OC MOMENTS?? 😦😦😦😦😦

I’ll give some info about her under the cut bc I like yapping

Her name is Anais Everett and she's an aspiring model, AND a datable alongside her partner Dior! (POLYAM ROUTE???????, typewriter head only bc they're both lesbians)

Her gist is that she’s an aspiring model, and despite her kind, gentle and sweet personality, she’s EXTREMELY ambitious and loves to take risks. This mainly shows in her model career since she hates following trends to gain popularity and wants to forage her own path. This ultra independence and her willingness to do ANYTHING but follow in the footsteps of others has its positives and negatives! Just as long as she doesn’t go too overboard, yeah?

The basis of her and Dior’s route is that they have different approaches to achieving their dreams (you’ve already heard how Anais wants to be original no matter what, Dior’s the exact opposite in that they’re brash but refuse to try anything original in fear of losing popularity), and the player has the choice to help the gfs out through getting a modeling gig. But if you lean too hard into one’s philosophy (like you focus entirely on Anais’ strive for originality and doing crazy shit to get famous) you’ll get bad endings!!! You gotta help them both find a balance in their work!!!

For basic facts:

-She’s 26 and a Polyam lesbian (as stated before !), she/her pronouns exclusively

-She‘s the caretaker for her sickly and aged aunt. Her aunt used to be a fashion design and have Anais her interest in the modeling industry in the first place! The two of them are incredibly close

-She has a pet bunny named Lily of the Valley (Lily for short)

-Her head is a Sony Mobile Phone which has a keyboard that slips out. She CAN slightly control when the keyboard comes out so she can text others, but otherwise it slips out without her consent when she’s experiencing strong emotions!

-Her fleshhead design’s hair is just dyed. I imagine she’s a natural brunette

-Doesn’t have. The best relationship with her parents and cousins but oh well, her aunt is the only family who matters to her anyways o7

-I haven’t imagined how she’d interact with the canon characters much, but I think she’s THISSSS close to body slamming Lil Billy. She’s tired of being the bigger person and being nice. She wants to go ape shit. HDJDHDJS

-ALSO MAC ORIGINALLY DESIGNED HER. @/ALPACABABS MADE HER I JUST ADOPTED HER LOL maybe go on Mac’s Toyhouse and adopt some of his other designs!!! Teehee

[starcrossedxwriter]

I don’t know if you’ve been asked this before, or if you’ve answered this, but has anyone ever asked Michael or Charlotte where the nickname Honeybee came from? I just thought of that and it tickled me cause how would they answer that with a straight face.

Ok I love this question and I hope you see this, anon! Sorry it took me sooo long but I wanted to write something out cause I thought this was so cute lol and to answer your question, they definitely didn't keep a straight face hahaha Michael's been on Graham Norton a couple times and his interviews were so cute and he is so funny so enjoyyyy!

***

“I’m very excited to have you both on the couch at the same time, Michael and Charlotte. Here to promote Creed III, which is in theaters next week. I’ve had you both here separately but this is a treat to have you both here,” Graham Norton offered, the studio crowd applauding the couple. 

“Thanks man, it’s always a good time here,” Michael responded, Charlotte nodding in agreement. 

“So Creed III out next week. Your directorial debut, which is awesome. Congrats to you, Michael. But I have to ask you, Charlotte, what’s it like being directed by your husband? Is that weird having him boss you around on set? Did you give him a hard time?” 

Charlotte laughed. “You know, actually it was pretty fun. Not sure how other people feel… working with their husbands but I loved it. You know we’ve been doing these movies and playing Bianca and Adonis for almost a decade. And as these characters have grown and evolved so have we and our relationship. So we have developed a short hand and ease on set with each other that made it easier. It also helps when your pillow talk is with the director,” she chuckled. “I kinda had an idea of the shots he wanted at times and could adjust to make sure I was doing my part to help him get it. Honestly, I just felt proud and so excited for my husband in real life getting to watch him achieve his dreams. I would just watch him sometimes on set and think 'damn, that's my man.' It was fun." 

“That’s really sweet. What’s the most annoying thing she did on set?” He asked Michael. 

Charlotte playfully raised her eyebrow as Michael rubbed his chin.

“You tryin’ to get me in trouble, huh??” He chuckled with a jokingly nervous energy. “Nah, she has always been like this but she is clumsy as hell - in character and in real life. So more than once, we'd get like a perfect take and then she'd just trip over like… air and we had to redo it."

Charlotte covered her face with her hand in embarrassment as Graham, the other guests, and the crowd laughed. 

“Is that true?” 

“1000%. I drop everything, I trip alllllllll the time. It’s pretty wild that it hasn’t happened more on red carpets and stuff honestly. And I break a lot of stuff too,” she added, her shoulders shrugging lightly. “I’m worse than our kids and we have twin boys so that’s saying a lot.” 

“Wow… so I imagine it’s gotta be weird giving feedback and getting it from your husband? How’d that go over?” 

“You know she’s pretty perfect so I never gave her anything other than glowing praise,” Michael interjected with his award-winning smile that had every woman in the crowd swooning. 

“Awww, that’s so sweet. And a complete lie,” Charlotte answered playfully, causing the entire crowd to laugh. “I will say, he was very good at giving constructive feedback but I could always tell what kinda feedback was coming just by how he addressed me.” 

“What do you mean?” 

“Well, he never uses my first name. And we try to keep it professional on set so he calls me Els 99% of the time on set and at home. But if he had constructive feedback, he always called me honey bee instead of Els. It was like his tell. But yea if he pulled out honey bee, I knew it was to butter me up,” she laughed. “But the feedback was mostly positive.”

“Honey bee, that’s so sweet,” Olivia Coleman, one of the other guests on the couch added. 

“To be young and in love. None of the rest of us know anything about that,” Graham joked as the other guests had been married far longer than Michael and Charlotte. “I know Els is short for your middle name. Is there a story behind that nickname?” 

Michael and Charlotte shared a glance, Michael trying to stifle his laughter. However, Charlotte could not hide her own, immediately doubling over at the thought of sharing that origin story. They did not mind sharing details of their personal lives and relationship but that was one area they strayed away from.  

“I take it that story is not appropriate to share?” 

They both shook their heads as they laughed. 

“Nah, definitely not, definitely not. It started off as joke but then I liked it and it stuck,” Michael laughed. “That’s her name in my phone too.” 

“Meanwhile, he’s name is just Bakari in mine with a heart and ring emoji. He’s the romantic in this marriage.” She scrunched up her face playfully as he leaned over and pecked her on the cheek, causing a loud awww to echo through the crowd.

***

This was fun! Ask me more stuff like this, friends lol

[baylardo]

DO QUESTION 8. BE LONGWINDED.

8. What's an old project idea that you've lost interest in

im gonna PAGE BREAK this one teehee! dont feel like u gotta read this dookie its hecking DENSE original content lmao. this aint even all of it just the stuff that pertained directly to stories i had in mind

I used to be super passionate about developing my headworld Tenebres which like, I still love it a lot and I think about it sometimes but idk I lost the spark for it I guess haha... I had a few kinda "big arc" stories in it, some of them were just AU's for fandom stuff, but omg I'd always put my heckin heart into it maaaaang. :/

BASICALLY I RAN OUT OF CHARACTERS LOL

Tenebres Lore: Tenebres takes place in present day and focuses on the hidden society(s) of magic and monsters. Characters can vastly range in appearance and abilities; many of the rules are set as suggestions rather than guidelines. The one thing to keep in mind in regards to looks is that if they interact with common folk they need to be able to "blend in" which can be achieved in a variety of ways.  While there are some classifications that entirely define some characters in what they are, there are other circumstances where a character can fall into multiple categories. In these instances, there is usually one that represents them more than the other.  Generally speaking all potential types of magic are fair game in Tenebres. The only exceptions are time and dimension manipulation, which are strictly prohibited by a common code kept by most Magi. 

Vera and Jagger: one of my earliest stories involved me and my friend's OCs Vera and Jagger who were both werewolves. my werewolf lore is a bit dense but suffice to say that Vera is a "moon-blessed" called a Lune werewolf and Jagger is a "moon-cursed" werewolf called a Tenebroso. Tenebroso become uncontrollable, enraged, and lose their sense of self in their wolf form. Tenebroso also target Lunes for some unknown reason, they kinda set them off..... thats da mystery is that this new "strain" of werewolves is attacking packs and Vera in particular is like "haha something's majorly up rn. im gonna get to the bottom of this" so the idea was that Vera discovers Jagger stuck somewhere and through exposure therapy of herself (a Lune) to him theyre able to uncover some of the mysteries surrounding Tenebrosos. AND THEY FALL IN LOVE. Lune Lore: Lunes are the rarest of the four races of werewolves. Their symbol atop their head is an upward-facing crescent with a dot within its arch.  Lunes are so rare because of the means in which one becomes a Lune; Lunes are said to be "blessed" by the moon, seeing as more often than not it is the only time they are able to transform. This does not negate them from transforming at other times, but unlike other werewolf races, they cannot stop or even try to stop the transformation from occurring in the presence of the moon.   Tenebroso Lore: Tenebroso have an upside down crescent with a circle attached to its arch on the outer rim. Some have wondered if they have any correlation with Lunes considering how similar their symbols are, though there is no evidence of this aside from the fact that Tenebroso will specifically target Lunes when they are in the area. Not much is known about Tenebrosos, though it is assumed that their initial transformation occurs under intense emotional distress.  Tenebroso are big and burly, mutated-looking werewolves. Though they do not always look this way. Similar to casts their outward appearances can largely range from one to the other. Normally their bouts of rage occur around Lunes or other werewolves, leading to rampages. When a Tenebroso is out of this state of mind they look more like a normal werewolf.  Their eyes will gleam white when they're attacking and can often times be seen spewing and coughing out black ooze from their mouth. Their entity will darken with a black aura as well.

Juneau my beloved: Juneau's lore is that she was a well-renown mage that began self-experimenting on herself with spells and curses and she ends up irrevocably cursing herself into sometimes becoming a big carnivorous and kinda head-empty beast so she loses her reputation and gets kicked out of prestigious mage school she taught at and lives on her own doing plague doctor work which involves curse removal and cleaning up magic "outbreaks" but she ends up getting sought out by this young familiar named Hemlock who wants to learn advanced magic (which is a no-no for familiars) but juneau's so far removed from mage society that the two agree to risk it and she takes Hemlock and a few other familiars under her wing. there's also Ethel who's a mage that accidentally turned herself into a dragon and she's hiding out with Juneau and faked her death bc she thinks her condition is humiliating, where juneau kinda owns her curse and doesnt care with other magefolk think. her and juneau dont like each other very much, Ethel is very lawful good where Juneau's pretty CHAOTICALLY aligned. she frets over them getting caught teaching familiars advanced magic, but they both have nothing better to do and miss teaching so they do it. eventually they become friends and help their little familiar students excel at magic in a more public light, bringing themselves out of hiding as well. Familiar Lore: Familiars are considered to be lesser magi. The ability to use magic in one's animal form defines what a familiar is. Their magic stems from their animal forms and is usually the form that is able to harness the largest amount of magic. Some familiars are born humans while others are animals; more often than not they're humans. Familiars are sought out at very young ages.  Regardless of what a familiar was born as, every familiar has a unique symbol or symbols somewhere on their body; they are always symmetrical in their position on the body. They normally take on the general look of a swirl though its contents can vary significantly. Normally referred to as the Marks of Change, this is how a familiar is identified as a familiar and not just a magical animal. Marks of Change are normally monochromatic and can be lighter or darker than the familiar's skin. Unlike werewolf markings, Marks of Change are always visible and do not vanish when not in use; in addition to this they cannot be removed. Oftentimes these markings are in places where limbs emerge or change, but not always.  In order for a familiar to be enrolled in a magic school or academy they have to successfully perform their transfiguration; this is a very simple requirement in comparison to other witches and wizards who are not themselves a familiar. Familiars have very low expectations in the magic community, the most a familiar can hope to achieve is being the assistant to a high ranking or prosperous witch or wizard. Most studies for a familiar pertain to their transfigurations as well as catalyst magic, which involves the combining of individuals' magic.  Familiars are intended to be able to naturally shift between states whenever necessary. A familiar's overall comfort in their animal state can range drastically. Some find great ease shifting back and forth between forms while others, more reluctant to the change, can abstain from shifting; this  comes with potential side effects such as an odd mergence of the two forms, one might start growing a tail or feathers if they choose not to shift into their animal state.  Because of their constant fluctuation between forms, Familiars will often wear loose, baggy clothing that is easily removable. It is not required to a Familiar to have, but makes their removal easier when shifting into an animal.  A familiar's animal form does not hinder their lifespan, though it can increase it. As familiars age, their inclination to remain in their animal form grows, though this happens very late in life. This does not mean that they lose their humanity, though in some rare cases familiars can lose their sentience.

Blake and Schofield: just 1917 AU in Tenebres, Schofield's a mage, Blake's an Origin werewolf. blake ends up dying like he does in da movie and he becomes a GHOST that "haunts" schofield, just kinda follows him around and stuff after he dies, the story being theyre trying to figure out why he didnt pass on, why he's still around. it would follow Schofield surviving the war with blake as his invisible buddy, eventually they figure out a way to bring him back and he had a purpose to serve as a ghost.

Origin Lore:  Origin werewolves are identified by the O shape on their forehead.  Origins are one of the more common races of werewolves. Origin werewolves are werewolves born already inheriting their ability to transform. They can come from a single werewolf parent or both, though regardless of their parents' symbol, the offspring will be an Origin. This does not affect or prohibit the inheriting of certain abilities or features from their parents, however.   Origins are considered to be the average for werewolves, not necessarily being the strongest, nor the weakest. They are usually the ones to have their transformations under control at all points in time, given that they were born with the power to do so. They tend to have no special abilities aside from the obvious, and seem to be the most humane of a pack.

Farscape Tenebres AU:

John is a human, over the course of time Aeryn, a mage, teaches him how to use magic and he becomes a mage himself, but in the beginning he's just some guy that falls down a portal that allows him to travel between "mageworlds" which are kinda cut off little mage-made dimensions that magefolk use to avoid using magic around commonfolk. anyway he stumbles upon a mageworld that's sole purpose was to be a prison for people who committed magic crimes and that's how he'd find the "moya crew". D'Argo's a Cast werewolf, Zhaan's a grim reaper, Rygel's a vampire, Chiana (who they'd meet later) is a succubus. They end up escaping and just kinda exist via jumping through portals and running from the law.

I had a name for the magic police written down somewhere but it's been lost to time so it's back to being filler named: [MAGIC POLICE] lore:

The death of a magic-involved individual is something the [MAGIC POLICE] are obviously inclined to investigate

Harm of another wizard has a lot of laws and a lot of potential punishments dependent on the severity of the incident

The [MAGIC POLICE] will also investigate general public crimes that have been involved with magic, for the threat of the magic community being exposed, [MAGIC POLICE] officers are given the okay to use mind manipulation magic on the general public to aid in their forgetting of certain events

The [MAGIC POLICE]'s job is to apprehend wrongdoers whereas plague doctors for example clean up the messes afterwords

[MAGIC PRISON] (Tartarus) is where apprehended criminals are contained, it is seemingly limitless in the capacity it holds

Cast Lore:

Casts have a six-pointed star on their forehead. 

Casts receive their powers by curses or spells acted upon them. The means as to how, why, and what the side effects are for a Cast may vary very much depending on how it was that they became a werewolf. This subtype of werewolves is one of the rarer kinds as magic is not common in today's society, though the ability to become a Cast still exists. They are usually the strongest of a pack, gifted with enhanced skills and strength. A Cast will normally have one particular ability that is unique to only them; that isn't to say that there aren't similarities between Cast abilities either.

Some examples may include but are not limited to: The ability to control an element (Fire, wind, electricity, water, etc.), psychic abilities (Illusion, foresight, telepathy, telekinesis, etc.), enhanced physical capabilities (Increased, strength, sleep, sight, hearing, etc.) 

Casts are only able to use their magic in their wolf forms.

Some Casts can be muleheaded and a bit arrogant in dealing with affairs, though the other werewolves know how to put a Cast in its place. Casts will sometimes have unique coloring and fur, occassionally one may see a Cast with vibrant colors in association with its natural fur color. They are also seen to have odd mutations in their wolf forms such as an extra set of limbs, though not all of them carry this trait.

[tarisilmarwen]

Rebels Rewatch: "The Call"

In which we gain whale friends. :)

RIGHT, SO, FIRST OF ALL, ANYONE WHO CALLED THIS EPISODE USELESS FILLER OWES ME TWENTY BUCKS.

Even when I didn't know the purrgil specifically would be returning I knew this was an important episode for Ezra's character development and for growing his unique Force affinity for animal connection.

Technically falls under the Friendship Fetch Quest episode type, albeit on a bit more of an abstract level.

I love the touch of the fog on the inside window of the Ghost that Hera has to rub off. Everyone's breath fogs, and they even look a bit paler and more harried, eyes more lined, really emphasizing how cold it is.

Ezra's face when he first hears the purrgil song, aww.

It's really interesting that only Ezra can hear the purrgil, even though Kanan also has the Force. Could of course just be his stronger affinity for animals--he's more naturally attuned to them--but he's also more sympathetic to the purrgil throughout the episode, the only one actually listening to them, so maybe that's why he's the only one that can hear. Nice little foreshadowing either way.

Love that even though Kanan can't hear the purrgil, he trusts Ezra enough to believe him.

Right, I'm suspecting I'm going to be using up a lot of my limited photos with caps of Ezra's face this episode.

Subtle animation appreciation moment: Sabine's double-take as she glances forward out the viewport and sees the purrgil.

Purrgil are presented as really interesting creatures, they're not actively malicious at all (unless you really piss them off lol) but they're big and tough-hided and can severely damage a spaceship just by brushing past them. They have natural migration routes that sometimes unfortunately run afoul of hyperspace lanes and ships traveling through them. They're connected to the Force. They live in space. They can achieve hyperspace, naturally.

They're like any herding group of big animals really, whales, elephants, moose, they need to be given a wide, respectful distance.

Which is why flying with them works. They recognize, "Oh, this is part of the herd now. Hello friend!"

Possibly the calls Ezra was hearing earlier was the purrgils' method of saying, "Hey, coming through, get out of the way!" because he says they calm when the Ghost starts flying with them.

Kanan praising Ezra for his good instincts. <3

Oh you know I'm gonna talk about the leitmotifs in this one, I gotta.

So! There are two main themes associated with the purrgil. One of them I'm going to call the "Hyperspace" theme, which is pretty self-explanatory, it's the track that plays when we learn that the purrgil can jump to hyperspace. This cue here that's playing I think might be part of the larger "Triumph of Nature" theme, it definitely sounds like it's in the same key and tempo. I'm calling it that because of the overall underlying archtheme of nature's wrath against the oppressive industrial world that features in this episode specifically and in Rebels and Star Wars overall. It's a very classic motif in extrapersonal conflict fantasy stories, the need to respect and live in harmony with nature, appearing in dozens of classic influential stories from Lord of the Rings to Princess Mononoke. (Both of which were inspirations for Rebels, funnily enough.)

Both cues are later going to come back in the finale.

All right, done with that tangent for now, back to Ezra making whale friends.

Lol he rolls his eyes at Kanan and Hera's argument.

Love how he immediately tries to connect with the purrgil.

The modified TIEs represent the Mining Guild's intimate ties with the Empire. The Empire supplies them TIE fighters to secure and protect their facilities and in exchange gets full exclusive access to the fuel they produce. Once again, Rebels says state corporatization of private industry = bad.

They're so low on fuel the front cannons stop working, Ezra's panic here is adorable.

LOL Hera's face when Kanan gets all smug about not shooting the purrgil. AND I LOVE THAT WHEN SHE CUTS HIM OFF ON THE COMMS HE COMES DOWN FROM THE TURRET TO PERSONALLY FINISH HIS GLOATING.

They're so married.

Love this little music box chime in the music here.

Kanan so completely on Ezra's side this episode it's so sweet.

Therapist!Ezra strikes again, getting Hera to explain why she's not fond of purrgil. Characters around Ezra just seem to have a habit of telling him their darkest secrets lol.

I remember a lot of people kvetched about the physics in this episode, apparently not realizing that this planetoid we're approaching is the source of the gravity. (It's certainly large enough.) And there is atmosphere it's just not breathable for humans, hence the helmets.

The lack of fuel is mostly a plot device for this episode but it works, limiting the movement the Ghost is capable of, necessitating personal infiltration, which puts Ezra more in contact with the purrgil in order to realize why they need the Clouzon. Also another plot element done way better in Rebels than in Last Jed--*shot*

Okay okay, less sequel salt.

Shut up, let me have this.

Ezra completely not actually paying attention to the plan lol.

"You said you just wanted to look at it!" "I did look at it... and it looked bad." <3 Sabine cannot resist painting a blank surface lol.

Gosh this sequence is just so... there's so much lightness and wonder and it just evokes a feeling of flight.

Ezra reaching out to touch the purrgil like the embodiment of every tropeiffic "A Boy/Girl and their [X]".

This is not Ezra's day is it? Lol.

Underrated Papa Wolf Kanan moment: The sheer quickdraw frantic speed at which he put his saber together and shoves Ezra aside to block the blaster shot.

Seriously, I timed it it's less than a second from initial alarmed shout to full saber ignition and blaster deflection.

Kanan's absolute trust in Ezra awwwwwwww.

Hanging a giant lampshade on the tendency for their plans to go sideways lol.

This is a unique cue, feels vaguely like a 90s animal rescue movie score. Which fits.

The running gag of Ezra just completely losing his head to be all, "Whale friends! :D" is hilarious.

Purrgil get colorful after they "refuel", interesting note.

Aaand down he go.

Love this handheld (computer held?) shot tracking Hera to the displays on the wall.

Kanan's spinny flip. <3

And the worry in his voice when Ezra doesn't answer. <3

:(((((

Ezra fortuitously landed on the back of a purrgil so he's not going to be falling to his death.

He is, though, in serious danger of suffocation.

Bbbbyyyyyy. :((((((

Once again embodying the spirit of every heartwarming animal friend movie ever.

And this is so cool. Love it when things get Force Weird.

This scene is also really well acted, Taylor does a great job of conveying the relief when he can breathe again.

"I can't believe we're gonna lose to this guy!" Lol.

REMEMBER THE OTHER LEITMOTIF I SAID THE PURRGIL HAD? THAT REAPPEARS IN THE FINALE LIKE A HEROIC HERALD OF EUCATASTROPHE? YEAH IT'S THIS ONE RIGHT HERE.

"TRIUMPH OF NATURE" BABY.

And the nasty foreman gets his karmic comeuppance.

Oh he got ate. He definitely 100% got ate.

Ezra gets his own cool spinny flip.

And there's the "Hyperspace" theme, closing us out triumphantly.

Even beyond all the implications and connections this episode has for the finale (and hoo boy are there many), this episode is just such a fun classic kind of adventure. It continues the spacefaring as sea voyages metaphor, has a little bit of a environmental message without being obnoxious, has gorgeous animation, is so SO important for Ezra's character and his unique personal Force abilities and it's just... delightful.

Imma just sit here, smug in the knowledge that I loved this episode before it became Plot Important.

Jokes on you it was always Plot Important.

[destinyc1020]

Yea I agree, ppl do gotta keep in mind "wat does tom want?" I think this break gave him the oppurtunity to focus more on his personal life and I think tom wants to have a balanced work and personal life (or even more focus on his personal life). Hes said before about dropping everything and getting married/having kids n disappearing, talked about doing another job and coming back to acting, talked about being more BTS in movies/shows (and seemed to enjoy being a producer and have aspirations of being a director) and talked various times about having kids. His comments, atleaat imo, tell me no, he may nt be as "active" as certain fans want cuz he wants to do other things or just chill. Could also be that he is doing stuff for a role rn that we dnt know about or he is chilling more sincr his gf will b filming n he wants to spend time with her, her family and bothh have time with his family.

Timmy/his team seem to b trying to transform him into a indie boy into a more mainstream, blockbuster type actor. Honestly, their doing a good job (project wise) with Wonka and the Dune movies. JE was known primarily for TKB, then his relationships, and now he seems to b doing well with his movies. I think it was also obvious that JE (from the gfs he was with) always wanted fame 😅 Both differ from Tom cuz Tom was mainstream automstically from Spiderman, JE n Timmy had to work to become mainstream. All 3 are different men and have different goals they want to achieve (personal n professional). Im nt even going to include Z cuz we know she has to work 10x harder as a black/biracial woman (and has) compared to 3 white men who can get 1 role n their automatically famous/critically aclaimed

Yea I agree, ppl do gotta keep in mind "wat does tom want?" I think this break gave him the oppurtunity to focus more on his personal life and I think tom wants to have a balanced work and personal life (or even more focus on his personal life). Hes said before about dropping everything and getting married/having kids n disappearing, talked about doing another job and coming back to acting, talked about being more BTS in movies/shows (and seemed to enjoy being a producer and have aspirations of being a director) and talked various times about having kids. His comments, atleaat imo, tell me no, he may nt be as "active" as certain fans want cuz he wants to do other things or just chill.

EXACTLY. ALL of this....

Im nt even going to include Z cuz we know she has to work 10x harder as a black/biracial woman (and has) compared to 3 white men who can get 1 role n their automatically famous/critically aclaimed

Well, let's not kid ourselves here though... Zendaya has WAY more fame than most of her counterparts....even more so than most of the white male actors you just mentioned lol. 😅

Zendaya is actually in a league of her own....which is an honor and an accomplishment in itself. She goes by one name for goodness sakes. I mean, she got the LOUDEST screams of all during the Dune: Part 2 press in Brazil lol. Like, she's in a totally different stratosphere fame-wise than MOST people who are her peers in Hollywood. That's just a given.

But you're right, she's definitely had to work hard for it, and has dabbled in several outside "gigs" as well in order to supplement her income and keep her busy while she looks for roles that are worthy of her as a WOC in Hollywood. WE all know that HW doesn't give the best roles to WOC, so it might take longer to find roles that aren't so stereotypical, or "fluff" pieces, or those that want to "low-ball" you. 🥴

So yea, she's played the Hollywood game in her career VERY well so far imo. 😉

[aces-and-angels]

i understand this would take a lot of time so this is not a request and rather just a query, but would you consider doing character analysis for the relationships but with all 3 routes (blood/merge/shadow) ? 🙂

Thanks for the message anon! To answer your question: I have and haven't done what you're asking lmaoo- lemmie explain (adding a read more bc tis long and I am incapable of simple saying yes or no, I gotta get into it lol)

---

My methodology when developing my 'final thoughts' posts is fairly simple:

Use my main route save as a reference

Use Rowan's greatest desire seen in the Power realm to determine their ending (blood/mixed/shadow)

See where that takes me lol

I have the ability to see how each route (blood/mixed/shadow) can end with each of the characters. In fact, I have played through each of them with Abel, Amalia, and Matthias. Looking at the other variants was mainly a tool for me to help strengthen my talking points for my canon endings (and to see what could happen, obviously lol) For example: I used MC losing all their nerve if they chose to merge with their Power-half to add to my discussion on why they ultimately become human in Amalia's route.

For Matthias- I responded to a very sweet message (which may or may not be you as well 👀) which you can read here; it goes into Ro's shadow ending with him if they split the Power between themselves aka the 'Power Couple' ending. Highly encourage peeps to stick around till the end of that post bc there's a bonus question that I'd like answered ♥

Since I have seen every variation for his end routes I'll fulfill your request for Matty right here, right now ☺

As for a mixed!route with him- to the best of my knowledge- there isn't a way for your MC to stay with Matthias without merging with the Power. If there is, it really puts a damper on my whole Matthias is only loyal to the Power rhetoric I've been harping on about lol. I think my statement here pretty much covers my thoughts across the endings he can have w/ Ro: humanity and Matthias do not mix. Period. If MC is rocking with Matthias in any way, it points to a very deep character flaw (or slay if you wanna think of it that way lol). They mirror Matthias' insecurities, ambitions, and drive. They both believe that as they are before the conclusion of the series, they are not enough. Utterly desperate and ruthless in their quest to make their desires a reality.

Ro's choice to side w/ Matthias and then betray him as well is a very good twist on a similar thought I had with Abel x MC mixed ending. With the end of their route, I see Abel and MC as a couple proving their words ("But if we truly love each other, we won’t hold each other back.”) with the progression of their relationship post-finale. Whatever transpires between them, it happens with the intent of seeing each other achieve their greatest potential. The double-cross ending is the ultimate I am choosing ME story. Ro chooses themselves over Matthias. Over their 'true purpose' made by Loha. Over the bonds they may have formed between the members of the ILW crew. All of that is cast aside in favor of possessing an unimaginable amount of power. To someone who believes they've never been granted the opportunity to forge their own path, receiving this level of autonomy is gratifying. Absolutely nothing holds Ro back from getting what they want. And nothing ever will again.

---

Luckily for me, I was able to unlock all three endings (blood/shadow/mixed) amongst all the LIs with my main saves.

Abel: mixed

Amalia, Lincoln, Matthias: blood

Jocelyn: shadow

The plan I have right now is to write out my full thoughts on Jocelyn's route first because I have yet to analyze a shadow ending that doesn't end with Rowan and Matty burning the world to the ground lol.

My approach with Lincoln will be slightly different.

By the time I get to writing his post, I will have shared thoughts on all of the possible endings at least once. My main save with Linc allows Ro to successfully achieve each end without losing too much nerve that they need to be revived/killed. Because of this, I decided that I will choose the ending, and not solely base my choice on what is seen in the Power dimension.

---

So after a very lengthy how-to, where does that leave this anon's query? I think I will have a better understanding on what I want to say about each of the routes (blood/mixed/shadow) in regards to each character when I've completed going through all my save files. For now, here are my initial thoughts on alt. routes for the LIs. I will make additional posts if I come up with anything substantial worth mentioning in regards to a specific LI ♥

A mixed ending with Joss as an LI has the highest probability of lasting out of the mixed endings with the other LIs. Disclaimer: I have yet to see Jocelyn's route, but I do know that she is the only one who chooses to stay and help hunt horrors. The others express their desire to leave those days in the past.

The shadow route just hurts- I can understand why it's difficult for players to want to end their journey like that and why it's slipping in the polls LMAO fr tho yall need to give shadow route more dang love its achingly wonderful

But seriously, it's altruism to the extreme. This is a stark contrast to Rowan's reasoning to claim the Power as their sole form in Matthias' route; Them severing all ties to their humanity for the sake of saving the rest of the world is the ultimate sacrifice. What's even more heartbreaking is that the majority of the world will never know of it.

The ones that do (the LIs) hold the heavy burden of trying to honor that sacrifice by enjoying the healed world around them while simultaneously grieving the loss of what they considered to be their world: Rowan. It's a love story that transcends realms- expressed not with soft caresses- but in the soft breeze in the air, the gentle warmth from the sun that hits their skin, the stars that shine brightly in the sky. A physical representation of the peace that was restored by paying the ultimate price.

Blood route: As of 3-9-23, this route is leading the polls as players chosen ending. I've said before that I connect most with a mixed ending. So it is a bit more difficult for me to frame Ro as solely human by the end of the series. If I'm strictly just answering the question of 'will they last?' the Blood route offers the highest potential of achieving a long lasting, established relationship for Ro x their LI simply because the majority of the LIs are ready to move on from their involvement with the Power. Makes sense. They are, in fact, human lmaoo. The drawback with this route is Rowan's guilt for leaving the Power behind. A somewhat selfish, albeit less extreme version of the double-crossing option, choice to put themselves over others in order to achieve their version of happiness.

Overall, each of the LIs will help Ro through this grief. Their approach may differ slightly, but the goal is the same. My main talking point that I think is worth mentioning is how Ro's guilt will manifest post-finale/the consequences of that.

The end scene right before credits roll is Rowan suffering from another nightmare- an indicator of their survivor's guilt. Their ability to move past that guilt is determinant on a player's interpretation

My take: To be connected to the Power for that long, to have it be an integral part of your identity- I cannot see Rowan not getting back into the fold in all things Power-related. Maybe it's my personal bias of wanting a mixed route, but I truly feel that Ro pushing themselves towards 'normalcy' by going full domestic isn't the answer to them overcoming their guilt (except maybe in Amalia's story, since I played the ultimate bff to lovers story) This might not be the case with other MCs. If you played as someone who yearned for that lifestyle, I think your MC will have an easier time coming to terms with their life as a human. How I view MC in the majority of my routes however, makes me think otherwise.

I'll refer to this line from Devon to Rowan to frame my stance:

Devon: Think we can count on you to help us out with that? Rowan: Me? But I'm just a full human now. Devon: So? Most people are just regular humans. I might not be anymore, I guess, but all of our other friends are. Rowan: I... I'll think about it.

This moment alone gives enough opportunity to speculate the POSSIBILITY of Rowan turning back to the life of the Power. To what degree? I can't say, but I play Rowan as someone who has deep ties to their connection to the Power, even if by the end of the Blood route, they have no physical ties to it.

Whew. That was a lot. If you made it this far- CONGRATS! Here's another secret poll so I can see how many people made it to the end 😊

[em-writes-stuff-sometimes]

"I ALSO think that he's probably grown up resenting her and simultaneously expecting to make her his wife, so to have even that taken away from him by the machinations of his uncle would be so, so galling"

So now I gotta know if Babey and Aegon were betrothed and married in some AU, what would that be like? Do you think their relationship would have improved any? Would Aegon slowly start to resent her less? Or would they get along worse than before?

To be honest, I think they would have made it work eventually.

Aegon gets a bad rep in my current fic 'verse, true - but I don't think he's completely irredeemable before Episode 8. He has a fair bit of growing up to do, which being married to Babey might well have helped achieve; Helaena doesn't really seem interested in trying to change her husband's ways, likely because she just prefers avoiding him, lol.

The marriage mightn't start off the best way. The wedding night will be an exercise in pain (for Babey) and embarrassment (Aegon, cuz he'll nut early lol), which might serve to cool the ice a bit - they're both mortified and uncomfortable, which is a change from annoyance. Aegon has pride, I do believe that, so he's gon' "research" how to actually please a woman; his time in the whorehouses was for him, not for the ones he's fucking. Their next round will be a whole lot better, and Babey might actually ask him to stay and cuddle for a bit.

They'll dance around each other for a while, having pretty good seksytimes but not really knowing how to communicate. Something will break that, maybe Babey seeing him flirt drunkenly with a maid at a party or something. She'll wait for him to sober up and get mad at him, and cry, and he'll feel bad because what he feels for her isn't exactly disdain anymore. He promises to try harder.

From then on, the change is evident - he does try harder, because as quiet as Babey is, she still has the more dominating personality over him. She's older, and he can't help but to defer to her sometimes. She seems to have the answers to fucking everything, and what started as an irritant becomes an advantage because he begins to use her knowledge to help himself. Otto will respect him more; Alicent will be easier on him; Viserys pays him more attention because he's so invested in his older daughter, and his son is the one that's actually making her smile.

Eventually, happy ending - tada. Then um, mebbe the Dance. But Rhae's position is a little more fucked because the girl that some circles critical of Jace/Luke/Joff's legitimacy consider her heir is married to the son of the King, effectively neutering her claim. That's another story!

Thanks for the question, nonnie!

[bengiyo]

My School President Ep 8 Stray Thoughts

Last week, Chinzhilla interrogated the purpose of their no-dating before Hot Wave rule as Yo and Gun both managed secret affairs, which included active flirtation from Tinn. The hijinks eventually led to a secret date at the aquarium that was actually kinda fun, though Yo was properly rejected for catfishing. After a dance number, and a staunch rebuttal from their senior, they agreed to keep the rule. Gun has come to appreciate the motivating power of love. Also, there were lesbians.

I really hope we actually get through Hot Wave this week, and I hope the final act is about Tinn growing out from under his mother's thumb. Already worried we'll cliffhanger where we started.

Every time Aun's character shows up around Tinn, I wonder about the future of the music club after this year. Hopefully the final arc involves the band recruiting juniors to continue their traditions.

"But rules are rules, and I am the rule keeper." Keeping this note for the final four episodes on Tinn.

"Mr. School President, don't you want to give me orders?" Um, hello!?! I like Gun recognizing that he can just flirt his way to success with Tinn now.

I've missed Tinn's fantasies. Gun is especially flirty in them. Also, it's interesting that Tinn's mental image of Gun is in his school uniform.

Right now it seems like Tinn is still willing to argue about the interpretation of rules with his mom to get what he wants. Curious how he'll behave when that doesn't work.

Also curious how the band responds to Gun and Tinn going public in the future.

Gun is worried about Tinn being bored and uncomfortable, and Tinn is here fantasizing about all the face time they're going to get.

Oh ho! Tinn flirts back!

Okay, I need to know why the high school student council is meeting until 10 at night.

Lol, nevermind. Kajorn is just a buzzkill.

"Shit! The cops are here!" 😂

I gotta be honest, I'm not keen on a bunch of rowdy boys using a stove unsupervised at school either.

Gun as a belligerent drunk was not something I predicted, but it feels right.

Goddammit. I'm so sick of vomit in Thai BL.

Oh no, Tiwson is sowing chaos by insinuating there's something with Sound. Mark is pretty funny here though.

Mmm, Gun is starting to crack under the strain.

Ah, look at this romantically lit pool for another heartfelt conversation.

Of course Tinn recognized that Gun needed to blow off some steam, and now we get to see them wrestle in the pool. We are eatin' good this weekend.

Oh no, Tinn's mom is here to spoil the moment.

Don't tease me about an underwater kiss, MSP.

Fond looks very good on these two.

Boys hiding from one of their moms? Classic.

The Chinzhilla dynamic is really special, and I'm going to miss them.

Now I'm worried about Sound's wrists.

Yes, I do love seeing boys put helmets on for each other.

"Let me be the hand for you." 🤭

Win has always been caring towards his friends, so it's nice to see it for Sound.

Ah, I'm glad Gun knew about Sound's wrist.

I've really enjoyed how comfortable Gun has become sharing his fears with Tinn.

This tour to relax Gun is cute.

Hey, I like that Tinn told Gun ahead of time that he can't be present. It gives Gun a chance to reassure Tinn. Now when he likely rushes to see Gun play, we'll know it's because he wants to be there for Gun.

Crying over Gun and his mom.

Is this a Japanese BL??? RUN, BABY BOY, RUN!!!!

Oh lord a Nivea ad. It's about to get sappy.

Nivea scenes have never failed us. Feeling emotional about Gun feeling like he achieved something for the first time in his life.

Ah, I was wondering when we'd go to the beach. This was a fun episode.

[rose-tinted-juls]

🏎️💨 THE FORMULA 1 TAG GAME! 🏎️💨

thanks for the tag @vinvantae & thank you to @avida-heidia-5 for making it!

tagging (ignore it if you already did it): @vetteltea @ricc3rodeo @silverstonesainz @strawberrysainz @ofsaintandsinner @monzabee @lxclerc @a-distantdreamer @schuvries @thebearchives @formulaforza

1. who or what got you into F1?

first it was my dad who used to watch it when i was around 7-9, but then he stopped and i did too, i only followed a few ppl on social media to kinda keep up, and then my cousin started watching DTS two years ago and she talked about it to me and it made me wanna watch f1 again and my obsession came back even stronger.

2. who was the very first F1 driver you supported? do you support them now? have your opinions on them differed or stayed the same since then?

as a kid i supported sebastian and jenson, and tbh they are still amongst my top favourites. when i started watching f1 again two years ago, i first supported george and charles. charles is still one of my all time favourites, and i still support george just i guess not as much as back then.

3. who’s your current favourite F1 driver?

i can't choose just one, really. right now it's charles, oscar and danny, i think. why does it actually feel a bit wrong to only say three lol

rest under the cut!

4. is there a driver pairing or pairings you support? what made you attracted to that pairing in the first place?

multiple. i love max & daniel, charles & carlos (even their name combined is chaos, what can it be if not fun?), also carlos & lando. i think these pairings work(ed) really well in many aspects. oh and kimi & seb!

5. do your parents, siblings or relatives have a favourite team and/or favourite driver(s)?

well, my dad's been a jenson fan back in the day, now he's supporting lewis and fernando. my cousin is a big ferrari and charles fan!

6. do you have any favourite races? are there any that stand out to you the most?

singapore 23, and also monza 19, monza 20, monza 21. you just gotta love those. and australia 23 bc it was pure chaos lmao

7. do you have a favourite circuit? can be from the past or from the current calendar.

tbh i don't think i have just one fave. i have several that i like a bit more than others, like monaco, monza, baku, but i guess none exceptionally.

8. have you ever been to an F1 race in real life? feel free to tell us your experience going to one if you like.

nope, never. too broke for that sadly, coming from a broke ass country... i will hopefully attend the hungarian gp though as a volunteer this year!

9. have you ever met an F1 driver in real life?

again, never. (heartbreaking.) hopefully that will change at the prev mentioned hungarian gp this year!

10. do you have a favourite F1 car? if so, what is it?

again, i don't have a favourite, but there are many i like. for example, i liked the red bull fan designed livery in miami 23, and the red and white ferrari livery in las vegas 23.

11. do you have a favourite one win wonder?

pierre and george (and kubica lol gotta love the guy). i literally cried my eyes out when george won in 2022.

12. do you have any favourite quotes from the F1 world? this can either be inspirational or hilarious.

i have so many, serious and funny ones too (mainly funny though). but, if i have to choose, for funny i have to go with "nothing just an inchident on the race" or "what am i now? heavily depressed", and for serious, i will go with my top 3, which are "being second is to be the first of the ones who lose" & "to achieve anything, you must be prepared to dabble on the boundary of disaster" & "you must always strive to be the best, but you must never believe that you are."

but i also gotta mention "one week they love me, one week they hate me, both weeks i get paid" and "i've got balls but none of them are crystal" bc seb is just too funny and i love the guy too much.

and another worthy mention is "he won in spa, he wins in monza" bc i always get goosebumps when i hear it or even think about it.

[izzy-b-hands]

On a happier note, I am enjoying having to research baby milestones for the Midwifery Charge AU (fic and nostalgia rambles below the cut)

(which at this point, thanks to the help of a good friend, I've realised is best done as a collection of lil one shots from moments in it. I just. don't have the mental anything nor the organisation to do a multichap full fic rn. Y'all know I lose steam too easily on those and just don't do them as well as I do simple oneshots. I wrote a full original trilogy at age 10 and again at like age 21; I used all my 'full multichap project' juice too early in life AND both trilogies kind of sucked ass. RIP to them may their memory never find me again let alone be a blessing but I digress)

Bc it means I get to remember all the cute shit the cousins did when I was helping raise them and like. certain bits can be used for baby in the fic even!

Like how the oldest one learned to roll over from one direction, but then couldn't replicate it going the other way, and she would just. lose her shit wailing until someone rolled her over that way. Then she was good until oh fuck oh no, she rolled over right to left again and to her lil brain it was too different from rolling left to right, she's stuck forever oh g-oh hey someone rolled her back to her tummy. neat.

We never let her sit for more than a second or two stuck (mostly to try and encourage her to. ya know. Realise that she could in fact roll herself both ways and it would be fine. Took her time but she got there lol) and I'm just

Dying at the image of the crew so carefully taking turns watching Baby (who I'm gonna reveal bc I don't think I have yet? if i have ignore me lol, is named Basilica after Izzy's deadname (he gave her the name, there's an entire Thing abt it and little moments abt his journey as a trans man tucked into this au), going by Baz for short (thank u to the aforementioned good friend for this as a nickname for the full name, bc I was struggling to figure out how to shorten it and Baz is !!! perfect!!!) )

And she's been with them longer than expected. 4-6 months is the average that I've found for when babies learn to roll over, so maybe she's abt 5 months old at this point.

Doing tummy time with Fang and she does it! Right to left rolling over, absolutely perfect, stunning, no notes, they're gonna make her a medal but-

Oh no. She's gotta roll left to right now, and instead of rolling the other way she just panics and weeps and everyone on this ship is a big fuckin softy (i get it lol, I was with the cousins) so they keep rolling her over the other way to calm her.

Until they have a crew meeting and Jim mentions Nana telling them that sometimes, babies have to just. cry for a minute or two and learn how to do the thing. You can help, but first you have to let them try and encourage them to do it on their own. (they gloss over the fact that Jim also makes clear with this anecdote that Nana absolutely would have taught a baby how to throw a knife. And honestly, is she wrong for this? who can say, not me, but I like knives and think a baby with a knife is hilarious, so I'm biased. I'm never gonna have kids, don't worry lmao.)

Cut to everyone having tummy time while the ship is docked/anchored somewhere safeish (let's be real, for the Kraken crew, nowhere is really fully safe with all the raiding they've been doing. But Ed and Izzy and Fang all know the quieter spots other ppl have forgotten that they can rotate going to for moments like this)

In a circle, around Basilica on the blanket Frenchie designed and knit for her, while she whines and cries bc goddamn it, why is rolling the other direction so hard? So scary?

And they're all lowkey trying not to cry (Ed and Izzy the most out of all of them, for varying personal reasons that all ultimately culminate in a want for Basilica to have a better childhood than they did, including the little moments/early achievements like this) while babytalking like mad, trying to encourage her to roll the other way

It's just not happening, but juuuust as Izzy is abt to break and gently roll her over, a cannon booms in the distance

And if that adorable little shit doesn't roll left to right, then again, trying to lift her head up to see where the big noise came from. She's not even crying anymore, she's just curious!

Unfortunately, said cannon is a sign they need to head out, so they have to pick her up and get her settled in Ed's room(really Ed and Izzy's room, by this point. Are they back together in a healthy way? Not really, but they're Aware of their mutual issues and are just barely talking some of them through. or starting that process, at least) for her own safety and now she's crying bc she's so mad! She wanted to keep rolling over! She was literally on a roll, how fucking dare they pluck her off the floor so easily!!

Despite the potential incoming danger of another ship, everyone is giggling as they get the ship moving. I'm envisioning it like. U know when a baby is So Mad So Incensed, they're making those angry babbles that are loud enough to hear a room away? That sound is all they can hear aside from the waves and the far off cannon fire, and it's a mood lightener. Yeah, they might be about to fight for their lives, but listen to her! She's swearing! (I do absolutely have an idea for her first word being 'fuck' thanks to Izzy lmaooo)

And they're all as excited to escape not just for their lives, but so they can lay the blanket out again and have her show off her new skill. A little soft moment in between having to fight to save themselves or raiding for more loot (and baby gear/supplies, my god not a one of them ever thought they'd be threatening ppl for additional cloth diapers but. here they are lol.)

Anyway. Eventually I'm gonna get all the snippets posted up in an ao3 collection, including the few I've already posted here. When I get that started I'll drop a link, in the meantime I'm gonna see if I can get my brain to actually finish another oneshot for this au today lmao

[maya-matlin]

Last one for the day...unless it isn't lol :) (I think this is, like, the 8th ask I've sent you today? Gotta admire my restraint!) Anyway, I need your help with character analysis. What do you see as the main similarities and differences between Jenna and Alli? They're both often typed as ESFPs (not sure if you're into MBTI) and obviously both start out as very boy crazy, which leads them to make some very impulsive and dubious choices :) They're both sociable, extroverted, emotional, enthusiastic, apt to speak/act before thinking when upset or excited etc. But to me Alli is more of a goal-oriented planner while Jenna is more apt to go with the flow. Alli is definitely more academically inclined and achievement oriented in general, wanting to lead and be involved with a whole bunch of stuff, while Jenna mostly just wants to pursue her passion for music (and passion for certain guys!) Jenna finds religion while Alli seems to step further away from hers. These could all be wildly off base so, as always, I'm eager to read your thoughts!

I just wanted to apologize for taking so long to respond to these! As always, I appreciate the asks more than you know. <3

I am, but I have to admit I'm not super knowledgeable about the specifics of it and what the deciding factors are re: enneagram types. All I know is that I'm an INFP. But honestly, it makes sense that Jenna and Alli would have the same one. They're kindred spirits in a lot of ways. This is why in the long run, Alli ends up being closer to Jenna than Clare. As dearly as Alli loves and values Clare, Jenna is much more similar to Alli and as a result, things tended to be smoother between the two. It also helps that there was never in any crossover when it came to love interests. ;)

You're exactly right about Jenna being much more laidback compared to Alli being more of a planner. That's actually a good example of Clare and Alli sharing a similarity neither has in common with Jenna. Even during the days Alli was downplaying her intelligence and placing school on the backburner in favor of dating and popularity, she was constantly planning and masterminding to get the outcome she wanted. She never left anything up to chance. You could argue Jenna strategized to win over KC but other than that, Jenna mainly allowed life to happen, something that led to an unplanned pregnancy followed by months of denial and relying on a reality show to help her support a child.

I also really love that insight about Jenna and Alli's respective views on religion. Degrassi was very vague when it came to Alli's and Sav's religious stance. More focus was placed on Sav and Alli (more so Sav) being culturally Muslim rather than spiritually Muslim? I don't feel like I'm the person to speak on this, but it literally never comes up. Both Sav and Alli seem to view their religious parents and their expectations as a burden more than anything. Jenna was presumably raised without any clear religion and didn't think much about her beliefs until season 12.

Um.. I honestly think you did a perfect job explaining the differences between Alli and Jenna. Jenna is much more open minded than Alli. Alli is someone very concerned with people's perception of her. Jenna doesn't care as much about that, particularly after giving up her son. Jenna is much more likely to hold herself accountable. Alli struggled to do that a lot, mainly during the older seasons. Someone always supposedly misled her. She never would have done __, ___ and ___ if not for some guy rather than Alli having impulse control and having a very strong need to be noticed.

[nightmarewing]

For the latest ask game, if you'd like: Puppyshipping 2 + 9, and Mokuba 7 if you'd like. Thank you! ILU

Thank you for the ask. :D ILU too.

Puppyshipping:

2. ...why I do or don't ship them. It started with childhood obsession with interest in the characters individually, and I still really love both of them. I don't know if they're my favorites, as I'm attached to so many YGO characters now, but I do still spend a disproportionate amount of time thinking about them.

Ultimately, I've always enjoyed shipping rivals, characters who rub each other the wrong way, and ones with diametrically opposed themes/backgrounds. They're not the actual rivals in YGO, nor do they even interact all that much in the grand scheme of things, but it's always interesting when they do. There's a palpable contrast in their histories and their living situations and their ideals, and that's fun to play with. Lots of room for interesting conflicts.

I also feel like Jounouchi is exactly the right kind of stubborn, temperamental, aggressively affectionate fool to be able to get under Kaiba's skin, given enough time and exposure. That it's difficult only makes him more persistent. He wants to be acknowledged. And I also think, generally speaking, it's good for Kaiba to be wrested out of his own head sometimes. Even at his most irritated, Jounouchi has always cared about Kaiba to some degree. The same is... not true in reverse, lol.

BUT even this scene is really interesting to me, because this is a point that Kaiba acknowledges Jounouchi: when he thinks he died in the pursuit of victory. He disparages him for loss and weakness in the same breath, but Kaiba really and truly believes there's merit in sacrificing yourself for victory and dying if you can't achieve it. Which is why the perspective of Atem and Jounouchi is so fun to confront him with: losing isn't shameful, and strength comes from doing your best and picking yourself up again no matter what happens. The fight, the journey, matters as much as the outcome.

Nobody represents that better than Jounouchi, and it's so much fun to butt up against Kaiba's issues. Jounouchi won't just lay down! He doesn't even have the grace to stay dead when he dies. Jounouchi doesn't care who he loses to or how many times he loses. For Kaiba, that existence would be crushingly shameful, but Jounouchi is fine. He's resilient. He learns from his defeats and (at least according to the text of the series... we won't talk about the idiot ball) gets better at dueling all the time. He's proud of becoming the third best duelist in the world. That's gotta be so irritating from Kaiba's perspective, if he would give it more than half a moment of thought at a time.

... I didn't know if I honestly had that much to say about them that I hadn't said already, but there you go, lol.

9. ...what my ideal endgame for them is.

Hmm, ideal is hard to consider since I'm into exploring them from a lot of different angles with a lot of different conclusions, but I am a sucker for them getting over themselves enough to grow into a comfortable, stable relationship in which they can maybe grow old together. I think they really could be good for each other if they'd slow down and let themselves be vulnerable and not make every conflict the end of the world. Big ifs, lol. I can't even begin to envision them having this kind of relationship until considerably after canon, when they've matured a little and had some distance from everything that happened (and probably from each other as well).

But I like it. I want Kaiba to soften his edges and process his trauma enough to get by without feeling like he has to put himself on the line all the time to be worthy of anyone's time, and I want Jounouchi to get the same kind of recognition and affection he gives so freely without feeling like he has to prove himself all the time either.

Mokuba:

7. ...the scene that I think adds depth to their character or the relationship this character has with someone.

Ahh, this is harder for me because what I've read of the manga is kind of scattered, and I think Mokuba probably is a deeper and more interesting character in the manga. Need to fix that sometime.

But as far as the anime goes, I love how anytime Mokuba is given a little bit of responsibility or authority, he gets so excited, like... it's childlike in a weird way. His circumstances kind of force him to be more mature and responsible in general than any kid that age should have to be, but he still really wants to help and blow his whistle at BC and be baby vice president and wear his DSoD suit and tie. He guesses he can get you a dueling booth at Kaiba Land under the table because, you know, he has connections.

There's just something about the enthusiasm he handles this kind of thing with which serves to point out that he's just a kid who wants his brother's approval, a kid playing at being a bigshot. It's also sad, because he really is stuck being one, dealing with Kaiba's behavior/handling things in his absence, and we can see how Mokuba reacts to even the slightest, most occasional bit of praise for it. Good stuff.

Questions here.