#which will finally give the fandom new material to work with

[hezuart]

Don't watch then? If you're going to be disappointed no matter what then don't watch

I think some people don't realize that Helluva and Hazbin are capable of good writing, that they are capable of amazing animation, good songs, and ideas. They HAVE that stuff, they've done it before, and continue to do it, not as often as before, but there are diamonds in the rough. It's the execution and vast changes in direction that fall flat, that are not good because the direction is lost, interactions become contradictory, the story doesn't seem as complex... and from a fandom standpoint, a lot of people within a fandom write fics, comics, or draw art based off things they wanted to see more of in the show. AUs to twist a direction, explore different arcs, expand a character, showcase a potential relationship- all of which the show did not. Whether a show is super good or terribly horrible, out of hype or spite, it is still an inspiration.

[gffa]

Guess who fell right smack back into BATFAMILY feelings hell?  Who has two thumbs and really thought they were truly out of the DC game, that it had been like ten years since they’d read a single comic, that they were finally safe from crying about stupid bats and birds?  Yeah, that’s right, this nerd.  And now I’m waking up and choosing violence on the rest of you by throwing every I’m Having Dick Grayson Feelings Fic at you that I can find, because this fandom is fantastic for it.   This list will skew towards my fave, but I hope there will be some good Jason, Tim, Damian, Cass, and Steph fic for anyone who wanders by for them!  You just have to scroll for a second first. I probably tend towards a slighty softer view than canon always provides (I will grab hold of Nightwing #100 with both hands and a death grip, though, and you can’t take Dick & Bruce hugs away from me now) but that’s what fic is for!  All the emotional resolution the source material cannot give us itself and I am GOING to inhale all of it like it’s oxygen and I’m on a run.  And then shove it at everyone I can while crying on them, too. BATFAM FIC RECS - BABY DICK IS THE CUTEST FERAL ROBIN I’M NOT HEARING ANY ARGUMENTS: ✦ Stay a Child by ijustwanttodestroy, dick & bruce & alfred, 2.2k      “Redo it,” Bruce orders. “Aw, come on!” Dick dares to pout — a thing that he uses often, and would work on anyone but Bruce and Alfred. Sometimes. Bruce gives him a look. “I’m not going to do it for you.” “I’m going to misdo it until you do,” Dick threatens. ✦ Sweater Weather by MashpotatoeQueen, dick & bruce, 2.2k      Dick Grayson is eight, Bruce Wayne is trying, and there’s a walk home in the rain. ✦ Hay Is for Horses by lurkinglurkerwholurks, dick & clark & cast, 2.7k      The sleepover had been Dick’s idea. In which Clark is a good but very overwhelmed uncle who is Trying His Best. ✦ Eye of the Storm by Janie__loops, dick & bruce & cast, de-aged!dick, 2.5k      Dick Grayson becomes once again a traumatized volatile murderous eight year old, and the only thing more surprising is how adept Bruce is at handling him. ✦ A Blur of Spinning Wheels by chinuplilpup, dick & bruce & alfred, 10.1k      Dick is on the chandelier. An eight year old. A genius gymnast, to be sure, but a child, small for his age and under Bruce’s legal care. On the chandelier. Twenty five feet above the ground, surrounded by glass and kept up by a single fifty-year-old chain bolted to the ceiling. Bruce is going to have to check his blood pressure after Dick is safe on the ground. ✦ The Flame and the Night: A Bedtime Story by WingFeathers, dick & clark, 1.8k      Dick’s thrilled to stay with the Kents, but they go to bed far too early for him to sleep. It turns out to be a job for Superman, who shows Dick the Kansas night sky and tells him a story from Krypton––a story about two gods, called Nightwing and Flamebird. ✦ (T)his Child by shanahane, dick & bruce & alfred, 2.1k      ”I’m here for the elephant,” Bruce says bluntly. ”Elephant?” Haly says. ”We haven’t had elephants in over two decades, what…?” ”The toy. That Dick left on his bed.” OR What wouldn’t Bruce do for… this child? ✦ 5 Times Dick Grayson was in the Newspaper Because of Bruce Wayne by Engineerd, dick & bruce & alfred & clark & cast, 4.7k      Batman and Robin are Gotham’s urban legends, and Bruce wants to keep it that way. “I know that,” Clark said. “But when Robin eventually goes officially public, I want to be the one that does the interview.” ✦ we don’t allow monsters in these walls. by thychesters, dick & bruce, 1.8k     New dad Bruce is still trying to figure things out with Dick. He’s not his dad, not his brother, he’s just … he’s B, the guy Dick runs around with at night fighting crime. He’s worried, and he’s scared, and he’s too protective. Tonight the protective side just won out. ✦ shades of monochrome by renecdote, dick & bruce & clark, 6.1k      He can’t even think, let alone think how to act. His brain is like a broken record, stuck on a loop of blood and ringing gunshots and Bruce is going to die. “It’s going to be okay,“ Alfred says. But it isn’t. How can it be? Dick takes a deep breath and screams for Clark as loud as he can. (The one where Bruce gets shot and Dick cries a lot.) BATFAM FIC RECS - ADULT BATSON AND BATDAD ARE MY KRYPTONITE, I FOLD LIKE WET CARDBOARD FOR THEM: ✦ Ghosts by fanfictiongreenirises, dick & bruce & batfam, 2.5k      “Nights like this, when everything was balanced on the edge of a knife, when Bruce could feel Gotham clawing at them with her claws, he could feel their gazes scraping his back.” Bruce waits for backup with an unconscious Nightwing tucked in his cape. ✦ When I Touch the Water by audreycritter, dick & bruce, 2.7k      Bruce is trying to deal with an old injury alone, and alone is exactly the opposite of how Dick Grayson is willing to let him handle it. But Bruce can’t really complain because it’s nice to see his son again and not fight for once. ✦ Making Time by CaptainOzone, dick & bruce & cast, 6.5k      Bruce does not remember anything leading up to this moment. He does not remember teaming up with Superman recently, nor does he remember being anywhere but Gotham proper. He does remember having Robin at his side. Robin, it turns out, is not there any longer. God does he hate magic. ✦ to love is not to leave by daringyounggrayson, dick & bruce, 1k      Dick called Alfred for a medical consult last night, so when he hears someone at his door, he’s not exactly surprised. What does surprise him is that the man who came to check in on him isn’t Alfred: it’s Bruce. ✦ Olive by Ptelea, dick & bruce, 1.5k      In which Dick and Bruce catch up in the kitchen sometime after episode 11, “Not It,” Dick peppers his speech with condiment-related puns, and Bruce is sort of amazed by his life sometimes. ✦ too lost and hurting to carry my load by daringyounggrayson, dick & bruce, 1.8k      Dick is sick and feverish, and those two things are forcing him to face some previously-stifled fears and insecurities. He really just needs someone to take care of him. ✦ No Other Songbird Like You by SilverSkiesAtMidnight, dick & bruce & damian, 8.5k      The difference between grappling off a building and free-falling off a building is actually a very small difference. Really, it’s just the difference between firing your gun before you jump, like Bruce always insisted on according to safety protocols, and firing after you jump, when it’s more fun. The fun way, ninety-nine times out of a hundred, is totally fine and has absolutely no consequences. ✦ mid-May’s eldest child by one_step_closer_to_death, dick & bruce, 1.2k      Dick’s sick and Bruce takes care of him. BATFAM FIC RECS - EVERYBODY LOVES DICK: ✦ Handle with Care by takadainmate, dick & bruce & damian, 3.4k      Dick is sick. Alfred isn’t around. Bruce and Damian do their best. Damian had known something was wrong. ✦ Off The Record by amathela, dick/donna, NSFW, 1.2k      Dick and Donna work off the aftereffects of a mission. ✦ Rejoice in Youth by FlashThroughLight, dick & bruce & tim & damian & jason & alfred, 6.1k      Dick has been regressed to the age of four, now Bruce and the rest of the family has to look after him until he returns to his rightful age. If Bruce thought teenage Dick Grayson was unruly, nothing could prepare for the storm that is Dickie Grayson. AKA Dick cons his family into giving him hugs. ✦ The Real in Funereal by lowflyingfruit, dick & damian & alfred & tim & jason & barbara & selina & cass & cast, 9.3k wip      Batman is dead. So is Bruce Wayne. And the Bat-family is struggling to cope, both publicly and privately. But crime in Gotham waits for no Bat, and like it or not, new grievances and old, the family must pick themselves up. Gotham needs its defenders, before their grief tears them apart. (Battle for the Cowl AU) ✦ Visions of Sugarplums by CamsthiSky, dick & bruce & damian, 3.7k      See, it happens like this. Everything’s normal for them all—or, well. As normal as a family full of vigilantes can get. But things are running smoothly. He keeps his head up and his ears open, though, because he may be able to move forward, but he isn’t stupid enough to think that he’s not going to hit a bump in the road. He always hits a bump in the road. He just hadn’t expected this. ✦ Safety First by SuperWhoLockianFangirl, bruce & dick/babs & dick/roy & dick/wally, 2.6k      Bruce Wayne can handle lunatics like the Joker without even flinching, but the hurtles of raising a teenage boy prove more daunting. When it comes time to give Dick the “Talk”, he has absolutely no idea what he’s doing. And unfortunately for him, he finds himself repeating the experience multiple times over the years. BATFAM FIC RECS - BATKIDS ALL HAVE MANY SIBLINGS AND THEY’RE ALL PETTY ASSHOLES AND/OR WONDERFUL BABIES AND I LOVE THEM WITH MY WHOLE BEING: ✦ Catch by Ptelea, dick & jason & tim & damian & bruce & cass & steph, 13.7k     Five times Dick caught one of the younger Bats, and one time he wasn’t the one to do so ✦ Stubborn by audreycritter, dick & jason & tim & damian & cast, 20.3k     Dick is usually the one taking care of everyone else and he’s bad at asking for help. So bad, in fact, that he never even actually asks– but Jason shows up anyway. And then Dick returns the favor. And then they both do for Tim. And it’s just going to keep going from there. It’s probably Alfred’s fault. When your butler mom calls and says, "Go check on your brother,” you don’t argue. You just do it. ✦ Without Question by lowflyingfruit, dick & jason & tim & damian & bruce, 6.2k     There is something very wrong with Dick at the moment. He’s doing everything Bruce says without a hint of protest. Tim’s going to get to the bottom of this. ✦ Ranking Robins by Beauty_In_Her_Darkness, dick & jason & tim & damian & bruce, 5k     Buzzfeed has been cranking out quiz after quiz about Gotham’s Bat-themed superheroes. When Jason shows them to his family, him and his brothers decide that not only should their adoring fans get to rank the Robins: Bruce should too. ✦ Carry by Ptelea, dick & jason, 4.9k     Whoever said, “He ain’t heavy, he’s my brother,” didn’t have to haul you around. ✦ a pointless resistance by emavee, bruce & dick & jason & alfred, time loop, 26.7k     It starts with a news report running in the background of a greasy little diner, but it ends with Dick dead. Except, it doesn’t stop there. It keeps on ending, over and over. Bruce’s son keeps dying, and nothing he does seems to make any sort of difference. ✦ while you see it your way by irnan, bruce & dick/babs & tim & cass & damian & alfred, 4.5k     Wherein Damian acts his age for once, and - to the astonishment of absolutely no one - it’s all Bruce’s fault. ✦ Manor-Dad lets me drive the Batmobile by loosingletters, bruce & dick & jason & tim & cass & steph & damian & duke & cast, 21.2k wip     Bruce had two options when Dick found the Cave. 1) Tell him the truth. 2) Go along with Dick’s excited “You’re dating Batman!” until he figured out the truth. Several children later Bruce wished he’d gone with option 1) or he wouldn’t have to deal with all his kids believing he and Batman were separate people. ✦ Bomb Sing Se by Cephalogod, dick & jason & tim & cass & steph & damian, 2.2k     The thing was…it wasn’t actually the worst idea. (The bombs in the gauntlets part; Jason had vocally disapproved of every aesthetic decision Dick had ever made since they were teenagers, Dick wasn’t going to start listening to him about that now.) ✦ Above Any Price by centreoftheselights, dick & jason & tim & damian, 1.6k     Dick gets the news that Jason has been taken hostage. This time, he’s going to save his brother. ✦ Upside Down by withthekeyisking, dick & jason, de-aged!dick, 2.1k     Something that was not on Jason agenda for the night, but somehow now is: take care of the de-aged version of his big brother, who is—in his tiny mind—apparently running away from juvie. Because, sure. Why the fuck not. ✦ straight up, what did you hope to learn about here by irnan, bruce & dick & damian & barbara & jason (background dick/babs), 3.8k     (or: Three Conversations Dick Grayson Has About Jason Todd, That One Time A Couple Years Ago When Jay Was Dead, And How Talia Al Ghul Is Why Dick Can’t Have Nice Things.) ✦ Now Comes Good Sailing by geminus_17, dick & jason, 2.3k     Dick and Jason escape to Walden Pond and have a healing talk about the meaning of life and death, and insult Henry David Thoreau. ✦ on the other side by MermaidMarie, dick & jason & tim, 3.6k     In which Tim and Jason are staying up all night in the hallway, after Dick gets his memories back. ✦ Control Alt Delete by audreycritter, bruce & dick & jason & tim & damian & cass & stephanie & riddler, 1.9k     Sometimes the only way to solve an impossible riddle is to give up. ✦ Extension by smilebackwards, tim/kon & dick & jason & bruce, 5.9k     Tim’s going to need to learn to be less conspicuous about this hopeless crush he’s developed; he lives with an entire family of detectives. Or: Tim has a crush on Conner and everyone has something to say about it. BATFAM FIC RECS - JASON TODD IS AN ASSHOLE CAT, I’M GONNA THROW HIM AT DICK BECAUSE IT’S FUNNY (AND MAYBE SOME OF HIS OTHER SIBLINGS TOO): ✦ The 70 Days After Groundhog Day by Ptelea, dick & jason & batfam, time loop, 43.9k      There’s a time loop that only Jason remembers. It acts as a catalyst for changes within the family. Some arguments, some misunderstandings, some bonding, some healing, and quite a lot of conversations that mostly take place over food. Dick POV, focused on Dick and Jason but with the other Bats around and very present. ✦ Fair is Fowl by Lysical, dick & jason & batfam, 4.3k      Dick Grayson is visiting the Manor. Jason Todd has the chickenpox. They might not be brothers, but maybe they can get along for one evening. ✦ Ensemble Performance by lowflyingfruit, jason & damian & batfam, 4.8k      Damian has a deep, dark secret he needs kept from Grayson, his father, and most of all Drake, at all costs: he has, quite unwillingly, been volunteered for a part in his school’s annual musical. As a grouchy dinosaur. This is now Jason’s problem. Or his blackmail opportunity. Whichever. ✦ Home Intrusion by daedalusdavinci, dick & jason & cast, 7.2k      There are moments when the… everything of Dick’s life catches up with him, and exhaustion sinks deep into his skin. However, when he goes dark on everyone else, Jason doesn’t quite get the memo. Rules never seem to apply to little brothers. After two weeks of little more than clipped texts, Jason shoves his way into Dick’s life and gets him up and moving again. BATFAM FIC RECS - DICK AND DAMIAN WERE THE BEST BATMAN & ROBIN, I’M NOT HEARING ARGUMENTS ABOUT THAT EITHER: ✦ 3:16 by partingxshot, dick & damian & alfred & stephanie & cast, 70.7k      The knife pushes thin along Dick’s carotid artery, cupping the indent between neck and jawline—forcing him to angle his chin. The metal is warm, pulled with execution speed from under Damian’s pillow. “Okay,” Dick says quietly, tracking the intricacies of his own heartbeat—counting the space between breaths. “Guess I did need a shave.” (With faltering steps, Dick and Damian become Batman and Robin.) ✦ The R Stands for – by Cirth, dick & damian & bruce & talia, 5.8k      Damian pretends to focus on lacing up his boots as his father tugs Drake to his side, plants a gruff, casual kiss in his hair. Drake’s lips curl into a pleased smile, and Damian yanks the strings so hard his palms burn. ✦ The Rule Stands by Engineerd, dick & damian & bruce & tim & alfred, time travel, 11k      Damian meets a 10-year-old Dick Grayson, and they become best friends. ✦ this tiny little space by Alienu, dick & damian, 2.1k      The landing on his fire escape is nearly silent. Nearly. ✦ waiting for the tides to meet by partingxshot, dick & damian, 2k      Grayson behaves like this sometimes: like Damian needs to be protected. It twists his stomach in sharp and unfamiliar ways. “You leave, then!“ Damian spits. "I’ll—I’ll track Clayface on my own.” Another shudder takes him. The pain floods him all over again. It doesn’t matter: he won’t cry out. The rain pelts the dumpster behind him. It pools in cracks in the concrete. ✦ the city without stars in its skies by Alienu, dick & damian & batfam, 18.5k      (Or, in a world where he was never sent to live with his father, Damian al Ghul is contracted to assassinate one Dick Grayson.) ✦ Catch Me (All Records Indicate) by Engineerd, dick & damian & batfam, 9.5k      Damian had studied each of his father’s prior proteges briefly before he’d left the League of Assassins. Somehow, Grayson in person is nothing like Grayson on paper. OR “Are you sure you can catch me?” Grayson asked. Damian could hear his heart beating. He wasn’t sure. “Yes,” he answered anyways. ✦ Even in the Midst of Grief by Ellegrine, dick & damian, 4.3k      Richard Grayson has never hurt Damian. It’s unforgivable that anyone should believe otherwise. BATFAM FIC RECS - TAKE THE ANGST DIAL, TURN IT UP TO ELEVEN, AND BREAK THE KNOB OFF, MAKE ME CRY ABOUT BATS AND BIRDS, THAT’S WHAT I’M HERE FOR: ✦ Second Generation by lowflyingfruit, dick & bruce & tim & barbara & jason & alfred & cass & cast, aftermath of rape + depression, 108.9k      Nine months after the ‘Blockbuster Incident’, a call from Lockhaven Penitentiary regarding Catalina Flores brings all Dick Grayson’s plans for his future in Bludhaven crashing down. Thrust suddenly into parenthood and hiding what happened to make him a parent in the first place, Dick must decide, adjust, and accept - and no matter what, the family has to pull together to help him. ✦ Savior Complex by Arwriter, dick & bruce & barbara & tim & jason & damian & alfred & cast, 11.6k      “All I did was disappoint you.” He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t catch his breath. “I just wanted to do good. I just wanted to be better and all I did was make everyone angry.” Or: When Bruce comes back from the dead, Dick goes nonverbal. Nobody seems to have the time to notice. ✦ Essential Actions by CKBookish, dick & clark & bruce & wally & cast, 8.8k      Clark shifted his weight making the floorboards creak and groan under his feet. “Dick I hate to see you–” He paused searching for the right word. Dick snorted. “Wallow?” Clark sighed. “That’s not what I was going to say.” “I know. I can go to the barn and hang out there if I’m bothering you and Lois.” Dick pushed himself up. Of course he should have thought of that. Lois didn’t want some random teen laying around her home on Christmas Eve. Dick’s first Christmas without Bruce after he’s fired. ✦ The Night It All Came Crashing Down by chibi_nightowl, dick & jason, rape aftermath/read the tags, 4k      After a difficult night on patrol, memories Dick would much rather forget come to the surface. Thankfully, Jason’s there to catch him before he falls. ✦ The Winter of Our Discontent by BloodFromTheThorn, dick & bruce & jason & tim & alfred, 10.2k      Why did criminals always think that the best time to make a disturbance was in the middle of winter? Between the snow, Clayface and Scarecrow, Dick’s having a really bad day. It really doesn’t help that Batman’s late. ✦ The Universe Doesn’t Get to Take This by fishfingersandjellybabies, dick & bruce & damian, 1.9k      “And they’re so important that you don’t come home to check on your recently un-amnesiac brother? And here, I thought I was your favorite.” BATFAM FIC RECS - THROW BABY DICK AT BATTISON, C'MON DO IT, IT’LL BE HILARIOUS: ✦ In This or Any Other Universe by wildsofmarch, dick & bruce & alfred, 33.4k      Dick Grayson (DCU) accidentally lands himself in Battinson’s Gotham. ✦ I’m a Good Pretender by shipNslash, dick & bruce & alfred, 40.4k      Dick’s mother raised her son to be a star. Dick’s father raised his son to be an athlete. Bruce’s new ward is charming (manipulative), dedicated (obsessive), and way, way too smart for either of their own good. ✦ take these broken wings and learn to fly by fishingclocks, dick & bruce & alfred & cast, 45.5k wip      or, How Dick Grayson Burrowed His Way Inextricably into the Heart of Bruce Wayne ✦ i turned around, there was nothing there by lwbones123, dick & bruce & alfred, 3.1k      the batman got me thinking about battinson with a robin. this is that. ✦ Robin’s Light by iammadeofmemories, dick & bruce, ~1k      ‘Lies still’. Murder weapon still missing, Why riddles? Why leave a code? And why— “B! Whatcha working on?” or, in which I throw nine-year-old Dick Grayson at Battinson.

[rin-fukuroi]

𝐁𝐃𝐒𝐌 [𝐁𝐥𝐚𝐝𝐞]

Please do not translate or publish my works without my permission.

The originals of my works can be read here

Fandom: Honkai: Star Rail

Pairings: dom!Blade x sub!fem!reader

Warnings: NSFW, bondage, rough sex, cumshot.

Note: English is not my native language, so I apologize if there are errors in the text qq

Blade is created for BDSM. And no one will convince me otherwise (｢• ω •)｢

art: @tiredceles_

It's so hard not to touch that amazing back at least once a day. His muscles contract so sexually, and his shoulder blades cast a seductive shadow on his skin as he rummages through the drawer. Your gaze slides over every scar that adorns his body. Every time, as if for the first time, you notice the muscular, embossed forearms and shiny long tarry hair, slightly blocking your view of the full picture of his magnificent back. You want to reach forward, gather the black curls in your palm, tossing them on his shoulder, and shower kisses on every scar on his pale skin. You're so annoyed by those gray trousers that fit his buttocks too perfectly, making you feel dissatisfied and even angry because you can't touch him.

Your hands are tightly tied behind your back with a rope that almost painfully cuts into your skin. You are once again desperately testing its strength, but your strength is not enough to even reach the knot with your fingers, let alone tear it to shreds. And you want it so much that tears of despair almost come to your eyes.

— Don't fidget, you know it's useless, — Blade's low, velvety voice echoes in the silence of the room while he's still rummaging through the drawer, talking to himself without turning his head in your direction.

— It's cruel, you know.

— We haven't even started yet, — you can't see his face, but you're pretty sure his lips are stretched into a smug grin.

You hear the sound of a drawer closing and Blade finally turns around. In one of his bare palms there is a wide satin black ribbon, and in the other there is a silicone red gag, perfectly combined with the scarlet hue of the ropes that tighten your soft flesh. You nervously swallow the lump in your throat when your gaze stops at the threatening gag.

— What is it, are you really afraid?

The expression on your face changes like a switch when you furrow your eyebrows and give Blade an angry look.

— N-no! It's just that I've never done this before, — you wanted to sound confident, but your voice sounded low because of the unpleasant feeling squeezing your stomach.

— Great, — after these words, the last thing you see is how the gag falls on the bedside table when Blade straightens the ribbon in his hands. The next moment, black satin covers your eyes with pitch darkness. You squirm on the soft mattress, bringing your hips together to somehow cover your body, feeling the tingling touch of fear to your spine. A sad thought flashed through your head that you were deprived of the opportunity to even visually enjoy Blade's body, which made your lips tighten in a grimace of resentment. But it wasn't for long either.

You felt strong fingers pressing into your jaw, forcibly forcing you to open your mouth when something round and pleasant to the touch touched your lips, but dense enough that pressing your teeth could not flatten the material. A thick belt stretches across your soft cheeks, closing at the back of your head. Ah, now the gag you were so afraid of has come into play.

You felt so defenseless and as if you were even more naked, considering that even before that there was not a single hint of anything covering your naked body, except for tight ropes, on the contrary, only emphasizing all the charms of your figure. Although it was all so new and scary, you trust Blade and take a deep breath through your nose, trying to calm your nerves that are stretched like strings.

— If only you could see how amazing you look right now, — Blade laughed hoarsely, and you realized that he was still looming over you, just like before he made it impossible for you to see him. — Hm-m… I think I can show you.

You heard the rustle of the fabric of his trousers. Having lost your sight, all the sounds around you seemed to become ten times clearer, it was… So unusual.

While you were trying to comprehend the new unusual sensations, there was a clicking sound in the silence of the room. You knew right away what had happened. You squirmed, pulling on tight ropes, unable to utter a word, spewing only incoherent grunts from your throat.

— When we're done, I'll take another photo so that you can see yourself in all its glory afterwards.

How annoying he is. You could have sworn that right now your face looked no less red than the ropes snaking through your body and the gag already glistening with your saliva in the dim light of the room.

The suffocating embarrassment immediately receded into the background when you felt a painful grip on your hips. Blade's fingers dug into your soft sides to push you onto the bed and turn you over on your stomach. You unconsciously arched your back, fidgeting on the soft sheets, giving Blade a delightful view of the curve of your buttocks when you were still trying to hide at least your crotch by bringing your hips together.

In less than a couple of seconds, a strong, hard pressure spread your legs apart, making you squeal softly. Your face pressed into the sheets, making it difficult to breathe, as Blade wrapped his big hands around your hips again, lifting your ass up, forcing you to rest your knees on the bed. It was a terribly uncomfortable position due to the fact that your hands were still tied behind your back, which did not give you any space between your face and the mattress. You whined in alarm, panting and already regretting that you had agreed to this at all. The only way you could get even a little air was to turn your head to the side when you felt his hands let go of your legs and you heard the rustle of his trousers again. Louder than the last time he took his phone out of his pocket.

— You look like a slut. I wish I had the patience and time to capture this sight too.

There are so many curses running through your head that you will definitely remember to say them out loud as soon as your mouth is free of the annoying gag that absorbs any words swirling on the tip of your tongue. Your legs immediately tensed in an attempt to close your hips when you felt a sharp pain on your buttocks, which spread like heat under your delicate skin.

— Don't even think about it, — you felt his hot breath against your ear and soft hair streaming down your back. — You're going to lie still like an obedient bitch, am I making myself clear?

Another whiplash, and you felt how hard, hot, such an ideal member for you plunged into your insides with amazing ease. You were so caught up in your lump of irritation that settled in your stomach that you didn't notice how much you were actually aroused by what was happening.

You sobbed, desperately trying to get as much air into your lungs as possible in that position. His cock throbbed so pleasantly inside you, trembling every time you made those sweet sounds of despair, either because you wanted to break out and touch him so much, or because Blade remained completely motionless, pressing his groin into your buttocks, as if savoring the moment, in which you finally gave up.

— Good girl. If you had behaved so obediently from the very beginning, I would have fucked you senseless by now.

His long fingers possessively slid, squeezed, massaged your body, paying special attention to your burning buttocks, throbbing painfully after his brutal blows. You wanted so much to pull away and plant yourself on his cock with the same force with which he pushed into you, but all you could think about was that one wrong move from you and he would deprive you of any pleasure for disobedience. He's done it before and you're not as sure about anything as you are that he's going to do it now.

You could hear his quiet but heavy breathing, you could feel his greedy, domineering gaze sliding along the ropes, which would surely cover your body with purple bruises, so tightly they tightened your skin.

— Do you want me to start moving?

You almost screamed at how cruelly he bullied you, knowing full well that you couldn't answer him, but you obediently nodded your head in agreement.

Blade reveled in your charming obedience, despite the fact that you were probably beside yourself with rage. This is the level of submission that you should always strive for. You have to feel his undeniable dominance over you, you have to listen to every word he says, you have to remember who you belong to and who gives you pleasure. You have to remember who can take it away from you.

Noticing the tears that he loves to see running down your cheeks, Blade's cock twitched inside you. You screamed and dug your nails into the tight ropes as his hips abruptly began to push towards you in a frenzied rhythm, and the room was filled with the sounds of loud skin-on-skin slaps and his growls. Strong fingers painfully dug into the flesh of your buttocks while Blade impaled your immobilized body on his cock in a hard rough rhythm, knocking out any hint of air from your lungs. Shiny drops of saliva mixed with salty tears, flowing down the matte surface of the ball in your mouth, drawing a wet spot on the sheet under your cheek.

Every hard thrust made you scream as the tip of his cock pounded into you all the way. It hurts, but it feels so good. Your mind was fluttering with a mixture of thrills, tormenting your body more than usual due to heightened senses. You so desperately wanted to scream his name over and over again, begging him not to stop until that knot at the bottom of your stomach, as tight as the one that fixes the rope on your wrists, comes loose, spreading blissful waves through every cell of your body.

The reddish tips of Blade's bangs stuck to his forehead as small beads of sweat poured down his chiseled cheekbones. Velvety lips parted, and hoarse, delicious moans burst from his throat, caressing your sharpened hearing. His hips don't slow down for a second as his thick cock swells in your contracting walls, resisting every time he empties your insides.

— Just look at yourself, — is another pun that you would have snapped at if you didn't care so much about any words coming off his tongue right now. — You resisted so much, and now you're squeezing around my dick harder than usual. Do you like? Do you like being fucked like a whore?

His thrusts become more and more careless and deep, his hips collide more and more whiplashingly with your ass, causing your eyes to roll under the satin ribbon, and your teeth to desperately dig into the silicone ball in your mouth. You can feel his cock throbbing inside, and your stomach is cramping from a familiar, but such an intense feeling that makes you squirm in your shackles until a single thought covers your mind — you want to cum so badly on this divine penis.

You hear a hoarse loud moan, merging into an obscene symphony with your sobs, screams and the sounds of his thrusts into your bleeding walls, your head feels heavy when you press your face into the mattress, convulsively shuddering from the unearthly orgasm that has fallen on your exhausted body. A heavy cock bursts out of your wildly spasming insides to pour hot sticky cum on the scarlet ropes and the delicate skin of your back.

Blade is still hovering over you, breathing heavily and trying to recover from an incredibly intoxicating orgasm, even for him. Your body goes limp while you're still basking in the warm waves of pleasure relaxing every muscle, barely holding on to the last threads of reason so as not to lose consciousness.

A sinister grin stretches across Blade's face.

— Do you still mind doing it again?

[captainsophiestark]

Intervention

Piper McLean x Reader

Masterlist - Join My Taglist!

Fandom: Percy Jackson

Summary: Piper's girlfriend has been holed up in the Athena cabin working overtime on a project with Annabeth. Late on the second day with no breaks or sleep, Piper and Percy decide it's time to stage an intervention.

Word Count: 1,361

Category: Fluff

Requested on Wattpad!

Putting work into an AI program without permission is illegal. You do not have my permission. Do not do it.

Piper's POV

"Hey! Percy!"

The man in question turned to greet me with a smile and a wave as I crossed Camp to reach him where he stood on the docks of the lake. I waved back as he called out to me.

"Hey Piper! What's up?"

"Have you seen either of our girlfriends?" I asked, finally coming to a stop in front of him with both hands on my hips. "I've hardly seen mine in days."

Percy shook his head, a fond grin pulling at his mouth all the same.

"No, Annabeth's been holed up in her cabin working on some crazy architecture-engineering project. I was actually planning to check on her today, make sure she's remembering to sleep and eat and drink water. Your girlfriend's probably right there with her, if you want to join me."

"Yes," I decided without hesitation. "Yes I do."

****************

Y/N's POV

"Okay, what if we changed the building material all together?" I asked, slumped all the way over the table in the middle of the Athena cabin, one hand absent-mindedly tugging at my hair. Annabeth and I had been tearing our hair out trying to perfect a joint engineering-architecture project, and without sleeping or leaving our cabin for a few days, we were both starting to go a little crazy.

"We could... but wouldn't that affect some of our design elements here, since it won't hold weight and interact with other materials in the same way?"

"Ugh, you're right. So, do we change the design to fit the existing material, or do we change the design to try to accommodate a new material? Which one do we think will give us less of a headache in the long run?"

Annabeth hummed, staring at the blueprints and the 3D mockup we'd made on Daedalus' laptop for so long that I thought she might've fallen asleep with her eyes open. Finally though, she took a deep breath in and moved forward, turning the design and pointing at it with her face so close to the screen the blue glow completely lit her up, even with a few low lights on in our cabin.

"What about this space right here? Could we fit in some extra supports or something like that with minimal design changes?"

I leaned forward, getting my face right next to Annabeth's to look at whatever she was seeing. At the same time, I heard the door to our cabin slam open behind us, sunlight flooding the dim room. I hissed, throwing my hands up and turning to glare at whoever had just interrupted our work session so rudely, only to find my girlfriend standing in the doorway with her hands on her hips, Percy Jackson right behind her.

"Did you literally just hiss?" she demanded. I just narrowed my eyes at her.

"What are the two of you doing?" I whined. "And can you shut the door please? The glare's gonna make it hard to see the details we need to on the screen."

Piper and Percy shared a look that I didn't love, then both crossed the room to Annabeth and I, leaving the door wide open behind them. To my left, I saw Annabeth glaring daggers at Percy, but my attention quickly shifted to Piper as she came to a stop right in front of me, hands still on her hips.

"You've been sitting in this cave working in the dark nonstop for days," she said. "You need to take a break and go outside, you fucking vampire."

"No, Pipe, I need to finish this project. Seriously, we're so close-"

"We're not close," Annabeth deadpanned from beside me. I whipped around to look at her, mouth open and eyes wide from betrayal, but she just looked back at me with a blank, exhausted face. Vaguely, in the back of my mind, I wondered if I had the same raccoon dark circles under my eyes as she did. If so, it would explain why Piper was acting so urgent.

Annabeth just shrugged in response to my glare. Percy had his arms around her shoulders, and I could see her giving in to his persuasion inch by inch.

"We're not close. We found a major flaw that's going to take a lot of work to fix," she said with a tired sigh. "It might not hurt to take a short break. Who knows, maybe inspiration will strike once we finally focus on something else for a change."

I gave a long, dramatic, drawn-out sigh, then flopped my head back to look at my girlfriend. Her arms were still crossed, and I could tell that she was not going to give up before she drug me out of this cabin.

"Fine. What, exactly, did you have in mind for a break then, Pipe?"

She grinned and held out her hand. "Come on and let me show you."

With a tiny little bit more whining and complaining from me, I let Piper lead me out of the Athena cabin and into the sunlight. Percy found similar success, and he and Annabeth headed towards the lake while Piper and I peeled off towards the forest.

"Don't tell me your idea of a break is taking me into the woods to fight monsters," I teased, still holding Piper's hand as I trailed behind her through the cabins. She glanced back to shoot me the stink eye.

"Of course not, don't be ridiculous."

Part of me had been expecting more information, but I should've known Piper would keep making me wait. None of her surprises had ever failed before though, so I didn't mind too much.

A few minutes later, just beyond the first few lines of trees, we came to a small clearing with a picnic laid out, right on the edge of the creek. This close to Camp, we were unlikely to run into monsters, which made this the perfect spot for a relaxing afternoon with my girlfriend.

"You are... incredible," I said, a little dazed as Piper and I settled onto the blanket together. She grinned.

"I know. But I'm always happy to hear it. So do you want to tell me about that project you're working on?"

I eyed her suspiciously as I took out a sandwich, not sure if she meant it or wanted to test if I'd really let the work go for the afternoon break. Piper caught the look and rolled her eyes with a sigh.

"It just seems like an important project that I haven't heard a lot about yet. You don't have to talk about it now, but if you want to tell me, I'd love to hear about it."

I grinned, biting into the sandwich as I leaned back against Piper. She put her free arm around me without hesitation, and with every second I spent close to her like this the stress of the project melted farther away.

"I love you, Pipe. But I'll respect your break bubble for now. Let's talk about what you've been up to while I've been holed up with Annabeth."

"Are you sure?"

I nodded. "Totally sure. Maybe later I can talk about it a little, but right now, as the focus and adrenaline are wearing off... I think my brain might be a little too fried to think about it anymore."

Piper laughed, then pulled me in a little closer to her.

"Well, let's see if we can do anything about that, then. Um... Rachel convinced me to help her with some painting yesterday."

"Ooo, really? What did you paint? Can I see it?"

"Sure. It can be the next stop on our break tour after the picnic."

I smiled, not even bothered by the new activity that would take me away from work a little longer. My project with Annabeth was important, and I loved the work we were doing, but I also loved my girlfriend. Every single moment that I could spend with her I wanted to take, and I truly couldn't imagine any better place to be. Thank all the gods and Fates that I had her in my life.

****************

Everything Taglist: @rosecentury @kmc1989

Percy Jackson Taglist: @valkyriepirate

[dca-fanart-gallery]

DCA Palooza CommentFest!

[ID: A three panel comic arranged from left to right. The first panel shows yn sitting up in bed as they wake up yawning, the curtains of his window open in the background so you can see Sun peeking in through their window. In the second panel yn is shown first looking at their mailbox in confusion, seeing that it's budging in the front, and then beneath they begin opening the door. Their eyes widen and the bird perched on the mailbox starts to flap its wings as something shoots out towards yn. In the final panel, yn is completely buried beneath a pile of letters with one arm extended up from the pile holding a single piece of mail. End ID]

The DCA Palooza is hosting a Commentfest, an event to encourage fic writers and help all of you find new fics to read, but most importantly to spread positivity and nice, thoughtful comments.

Members of the community will submit a fic they want feedback or comments on and all the works we collect will be sorted into categories to help people choose what they want to read (or find one at random!) and when the event begins all the masterlists will be posted! Then, read! Enjoy fics your fellow community members have written, give and receive meaningful comments on works, and have a good time!

Fic Submission Info:

Please fill out the fic submission form and provide as much information about your fic as you can to help us categorize it correctly! Only one fic submission is allowed per person for each submission form!

Any fics are welcome, but if it contains any triggering material (heavy angst, gore, death etc) please tell us in your submission so we can mark it appropriately! There is a form for SFW fics only and a form for NSFW fics only, please make sure to submit the appropriate fic to each!

You do not need to be a member of the Palooza discord server to take part in this event, we’re posting it here for everyone!

Other Event rules:

Only give concrit to authors that have explicitly asked for it

Respect creator boundaries 

Be kind in your comments, no harassment or bullying will be tolerated

No ship-based hate or harassment will be allowed and will result in mod discipline

Any images within fics must contain a photo ID, as well as any comments left on fics which contain images or gifs

If you have any other questions about the rules, submissions, or event in general you're welcome to reach out to @galaxygnc , the coordinator of this event, directly.

Submit a SFW Fic here:

Our submission form for NSFW fics will be below the readmore as well as some tips for leaving thoughtful comments.

We didn’t want to leave out such a huge part of fandom and fics so we have a separate form to submit spicy or smut fics to receive comments and appreciation on!

When submitting please keep in mind that while we’re doing our best to moderate and dissuade minors from engaging with fics that contain adult content we may not be able to prevent this entirely.

Submit NSFW fics here:

A Guide to Thoughtful Comments:

You don’t have to follow any kind of guide to leave nice, thoughtful comments but here’s some tips and a cheatsheet to help you write meaningful comments to make the author’s day!

The structure of a thoughtful comment can be broken down into FIVE main bodies:

Telling the author you liked the fic. Saying something like… 

“I wish I could leave another kudos!”

“This was lovely!”

“I wish I could read this story again for the first time”

“This was so well done”

Complimenting an aspect of the story such as the…

Characterization of a character

Character development

Pacing of the story

Description of a place/scene

Writing quality

Quoting a segment from the story and talking about it. Try saying something like… 

“This line made me (laugh/smile/cry/cringe/squeal/scream/snort/want to vomit)”

“Their line here was especially powerful given the extra backstory you gave them”

“I could totally see [x character] a saying that”

“The comedic timing of this line was perfect”

Talking about how the story made you feel! For example… 

“This fic melted my heart”

“The angst here killed me”

“This fluffy fic made my day better”

Ending line! Try something like…

“Thanks for writing this!”

“Such a great read, I loved it!”

“Now I want to read more” 

“Going to go read more of your work now, bye!” (only use this if you plan to)

“Bookmarking to read again!” (only use this if you plan to) 

If you want some further reading with more detail going into the structure of a thoughtful way to comment on fics, please check out the full guide here!

[encyclopediacr]

Wiki Survey results: Feedback Pt. 1

Some useful background: Encyclopedia Exandria is a fork of the Critical Role wiki from Fandom. We began initial work in April/May of 2022, and formally announced the split around the time that EXU Calamity aired (early June 2022). A wiki is a living document, so many pages originally created on the Fandom wiki have since been heavily edited, but others have not. Feedback on all pages is helpful, but this is mentioned to give everyone some context on some choices, stylistic changes, and inconsistencies.

Another thing we want to address up front: our editorship is fairly small, and this is a volunteer endeavor. Additionally, within the past year, Critical Role has added both Candela Obscura and Midst - both of which we cover - to their repertoire. Darrington Press has put out two new full games, both of which we cover to an extent; and there are three separate comic series. We are pretty much entirely occupied by keeping up with new content and have not been able to go back to older material in depth. It may put things into perspective that unlike many other fan wikis, we summarize at least 4+ hours of new material almost every week, year-round. The single greatest way to address the majority of this feedback is by becoming an editor - even an infrequent one.

To that end, we are thinking about ways to make editing easier based on some of the feedback we received. Also: there are no qualifications! You do not need to have an encyclopedic knowledge - you just need to be able to look things up and make a good faith effort in citing them. 

We also want to direct you to other fandom projects and official sources, as some of the items we do not cover can be found here:

CR Stats stopped adding new episode information as of the beginning of this year, but has full detailed statistics for Campaigns 1 and 2 and Campaign 3 through episode 81. If you are looking for specific castings of a spell, detailed stats by level, or other granular discrete information, please check out the years of great work they did!

The Omen Archive intends to take up at least part of the mantle from CR Stats and has recently gone live!

The transcript search is an excellent resource as well; we rely on it heavily.

CR's fan art gallery and cosplay galleries are great resources if you are looking for a place to start for fan art and cosplay.

Finally: some of these questions are answered or addressed via the wiki's policies. These are available in the sidebar menu under “Wiki policies and help”. We'll mention some specific examples.

The following addresses constructive feedback from the survey, but thank you to everyone who left positive notes as well as to everyone who provided information on why and how they use the wiki!

The Feedback, Part 1: Existing Pages

The one to address first is quicker updates for new episodes. This is a volunteer endeavor, and the editor who writes the summaries works full time and lives on the East Coast of the US. The summary usually up within 36 hours of the episode's start (ie, by 7 am Pacific time on the following Saturday), and is often up within 24 hours. With the exception of current PC pages and relationship pages, which require some degree of analysis, most pages judged to be relevant to the latest episode are updated before the VOD drops on Monday. If there is someone who has a schedule such that they can immediately write the summary and would volunteer to do so that would be great, but until then, this is a turnaround we are satisfied with.

Relationship pages have recently been updated! These are difficult to keep up to date, and more editors are highly encouraged, especially since relationship pages are one of the more likely sources of bias and so multiple editors and perspectives are helpful in trying to avoid this.

Official images vs fan-created/galleries: All of our images are at this time from official sources (though many official artists are also fan artists). While in theory we would accept fan art and would distinguish that from official art, in practice we have chosen not to. The main reasons are that we want to prioritize canon depictions rather than pushing forth a specific fan's interpretation (with the understanding that there is variation even in official depictions), and, again, time. It takes time to seek out fan art, acquire permission, upload it, and post it. It can become outdated or even in contradiction with canon if we learn new information, and keeping up with permissions can become difficult if the fan artist leaves a social media site or the fandom. We love and support this fandom's artists and hope you check out their work - and our RSS feed on the main page is a great way to get to the fan art gallery - but we have decided not to pursue posting fan art for the above reasons. For more see our Image policy.

Google Search Priority: FANDOM is a for-profit business with an entire SEO team. We are a small group of volunteers. We would love to appear above them in Google searches, but FANDOM's entire business model is ensuring they appear first; they often appear above official materials for various fandoms. We do however own the domains EncyclopediaExandria.com and criticalrolewiki.com, and you can access us through those (which will redirect to our main page).

Style inconsistencies, page length, etc: different editors do different summaries, and have different thoughts re: relevance. The same editor may try new things. The nature of the episode also drives the exact stylistic choices: an all-combat episode will necessarily focus in more depth on the round-by-round combat since that is the content of that episode, whereas a brief skirmish in a more RP-heavy episode might be summarized more succinctly, even if neither combat is particularly heavy on RP or plot. If a difference in style seems to indicate a bias, or if you feel something isn’t being adequately covered in the summaries, please let us know; but as anyone can edit and is encouraged to do so, expect some variation.

Showing the abilities of magical items in table form: We are unsure of the benefit of this, particularly as many items are not terribly complex. If you'd like to elaborate, please feel free to follow up.

E69 or episode 69 or c3e69 not pulling up the episode: C3E69 (and other capitalizations) should work, as does 3x69, so if you have run into issues (especially recently after the server upgrades) please let us know. E69/Episode 69 will not, because if you don't specify a campaign, there are three episode 69s (nice). To make this a bit clearer, imagine you search on episode 1: at this point this could mean the first episode of three different campaigns; the first episode of four Candela chapters; the first episode of two TLOVM seasons; the first episode of three Midst seasons; or the first episode of three EXU miniseries. With that said, we can make a page on episode code conventions if that would be helpful.

Navigability in general: CirrusSearch has recently been turned on and is being stress-tested, so that may help with searching, but we'd love to hear more. We have improved some of the categories, but we’d appreciate more specific feedback.

Covering no longer available content: people are working through old Talks pages. It is a long and ongoing project, and as with everything else, your assistance and patience are appreciated, but it is actively being worked on! We also have a summary of the Feast of Legends, and a number of other since-removed one-shots such as Bar Room Blitz. See above regarding one-shots generally. Summaries for removed one-shots are of a higher priority of this lower-priority group.

Articles that don't correlate with fact or read like meta: This is something we take seriously, and if you could provide specific articles so that we know what it refers to, that would be a major help (the response did not provide any examples of articles) especially because this was an identified issue when a similar survey was run for the Fandom wiki. You can also flag these yourself if you wish; see the Neutral POV policy here, which includes instructions on how to mark a page as needing review.

Requests for a spoiler free option: The choice to not hide spoilers is a conscious one and is outlined in the policy here.

Thank you everyone, and we'll finish up our report of the survey results tomorrow!

[sockonaleash]

Lucky :: shuichi x reader

fandom : danganronpav3

type : oneshot ; adult au ; hurt comfort (reader comforting shu) : just some sweet domestic stuff.

note : sigh. writing this at 2am is giving me a headache but he's really pretty and simply i'm a weak, weak simp. From sleep deprivation this lost its way and became messy. (It's fine right??)

requested : no

Your boyfriend is the sweetest person you know.

And you're not saying that just because you're dating him, nope. You say that because every day he goes out of his day to help you. Be it by helping you with groceries, holding your hand as the both of you cross the crosswalk, or cover the edge of the table as you duck to get something that fell on the floor.

But the world doesn't seem to want to repay his kindness in the same way, instead, it gives him the worst possible day ever. You know it the moment he walks into your shared apartment with a sad look on his face. All the giddiness you felt before he arrived has dissappeared, being instead replaced with a sinking feeling at the bottom of your stomach.

"....I'm home." Shuichi states from the entrance, slipping his shoes off while his hands are tugging off his blazer. You peek around the corner, watching him silently. Usually your partner would come in with this happy smile or content look on his face from solving another case at the agency he was currently working in (he was just that amazing, solving cases left and right, your little genius), but unfortunately today was different.

Your feet were already walking towards him before you could think about doing so, your hands grasping the soft material of his blazer to put it on the coat hanger. The strong smell of coffee wafted from his clothes and when you finally turned to look at your partner he had this dejected look on his face. His eyebags seemed darker than usual, his shoulders slumped, hands fidgety, messy hair, smudged eyeliner and so on.

A worried feeling tangled down your throat and your hands raised to caress his cheeks, your thumbs attempting to wipe his messed up eyeliner (and failing miserably, only smudging it more).

"God, Shu... What happened?" You whispered. And he sighed.

Shuichi's hands went to hold your waist, to pull you close and lay his chin on your shoulder. "Ah, just...-" He sighed, mind running haywire from too much information. He wanted to say everything and nothing all at once. To scream at his boss and cry with his co-workers. "-...a lot going on at work. There's this new case we're working on and..."

You hummed, "Do you wanna talk about it?"

He shook his head.

"Okay, that's alright. Do you want some tea?"

He nodded.

"Which type?"

"Chamomile...Thank you."

So, you slowly stepped back and headed for the kitchen. Not before telling Shuichi to wait in the living room and watching him wrap himself in the biggest and fattest blanket you have.

With some giggling you began to prepare your partners tea and once you finished your task you moved to sit beside him on the couch and handed him the mug.

"Careful, it's hot."

Shuichi took a sip from the warm beverage, a blissful sigh leaving his lips. Very kissable lips might you add, how could god create a being this perfect? From his nicely shaped lips, his cute button nose and his acne scars (usually covered up by his concealer, you assumed he was in a rush this morning and didn't have time to apply any). God, was he handsome.

I'm so lucky to have him as my partner, you thought.

[cburambles]

I'm so giddy about the way they decided to re-introduce Elena's character in the new trailer because I was worried at the idea they would take the route of doing what the fandom (who don't read the novels) mostly perceive her with: a comic relief due to her klutzy tendencies & her crush, who constantly need to be hand-held by the boys in the group to the point the fandom interpreation render her as a shy or genki girl/ almost swap her personnality with other female characters as if she was a blank state.

But the devs instead decided to follow throught how she was depicted in the compilation: A flawed, fierce, unapologetic woman from the slums coming from an emotionnally distant family, who was the top student of military school while working in a bar in Wall Market prior joining the Turks ( who used to belittle her all the time, mind you) for the sake to gain people's approval, to prove that she's better than her sister and doesn't hesitate to beat up & torture people in front of their sickly relatives. her gung-ho attitude create a mutual frustration in the group, even Tseng doesn't really get an hold on her.

She also can be competent as she was the top student of the military academy but also did some significant contributions post-OG: She is the one who managed to have Midgar's population mostly evacuated post-Meteorfall, she is the one who goes to ask questions to people during investigations, she is the one who maintain a cordial relationship between the towns around Healen's Lodge by proposing & organizing the distribution of medicine to Rufus & then goes looking for the materials & employees necessary for its production. She is the one who find the Jenova's remains in AC & get them to Rude & Reno before going back to fight the remnants to help Tseng. She was in OG the Turks with the most powerful stats as well.

She's not a character you can swap with Cissneï (like some people apparently hoped?) We don't get to skip or not her boss fight this time. She is re-introduced as her class of origin: a martial artist (instead of giving her a gun like in AC). She is an actual threat & even Rude this time warn the party about it. Which I hope will be kind of omnimous story-wise as I think Avalanche & the Turks may become more & more aggressive toward each other throughout the story.

I think we're also gonna see interesting dynamic in the group, as since she's the newbie with an inquisitive & active side, she may be the player eyes into the dynamics & conspiracy in Shinra.

I also think it's the first time we see a Turks get that violent with Aerith & we know that Reno, Rude & Tseng cares about her. Among the group, the one who is never show feeling sorry about being a Turks is Elena.

I hope Rebirth will finally bring justice to her, with her qualities & flaws. She is as important as her comrades within the structure of Shinra & I want it to be explicitly acknowledged in the story.

[solaroppositesyaoi]

Hold on ,,, i kinda fell out of the fandom a while ago

Is Tervo canon now?? Like... earnest canon? Not just in that limbo between homophobic jokes and queerbaiting but like... Actual committed, loving relationship that they're both working on and they don't just sometimes kiss for laughs?

Because in that case i might start watching again

(I fell off just before the christmas special)

OH BOY ANON YOU JUST ACTIVATED MY AUTISM

So the short answer is yes though not 100% and I understand if that’s not what you’re looking for but if you have time you can listen to me go off:

So they pretty much do everything except stare directly at the audience and announce that their in a relationship but the show pretty much tells us they’re in relationship

We’ll start with the Christmas Special since you stopped there.

There’s only one “tervo” scene where Terry reveals he’s been practicing punching for Korvo’s Christmas present and they share a kiss which is the best kiss we’ve gotten from them.

It’s very sweet

Now onto s3

I’m linking my own video if you want to watch the scenes yourself but don’t worry I’m gonna break into them: link to video

There’s a lot of little things through out the season the word “husband” is thrown around a lot, in episode 2 Terry refers to Korvo as babe a personal fave of mine. There’s also huge implications they’re having sex with each other which you know helps.

The main episodes with the biggest Tervo moments are episode 3 The Pupas Big Day and episode 8 The Cubic Lattice Crystallizer

The Pupa’s Big Day features jealous Korvo in the best possible way (this is my personally favorite episode in the series by the way)

I don’t want to ruin the episodes for you but Terry is buddy buddy with a new character and it drives Korvo crazy. In the end the episode ends with with this line:

Tervo for the soul

The Cubic Lattice Crystallizer starts well with this:

After the fam goes on vacation and a few shenanigans happens until Terry and Korvo end up a museum of betrayals which features an animatronic of Korvo getting banged by Chris the red goobler

This sets off Terry who shows quite a bit a jealousy from the situation I’m not going to show it cause of tumblr’s nsfw rules but the animatronic says something along the lines

“I’m coming harder than I do with Terry”

The final scene I want to talk about come from the season finale The Fog of Pupa. Ms. Frankie reveals the cunnilingus Korvo gave her in the s2 finale and Terry give him this look:

It’s just screams Terry’s pissed at Korvo for this but why would he be if they weren’t in a relationship??

Outside that we have the Halloween special where it’s revealed Korvo gave Terry bj coupons for Valentines Day

Cute

Also found this excerpt article with Mike McMahan (here’s a link for the entire article)

In the s4 preview (youtube link) Terry pretty much is the sole reason Korvo is British now because it made him horny, he also calls Korvo sweetie in the clip.

We also have a Valentines episode to look forward too which a lot of people are speculating a tervo wedding as “something big” is suppose to happen to two characters hmmm…..

So are they in a relationship? I like to think so but I’m also autistic and a little insane and I eat up all the scraps they give me. Maybe I’m delusional but i feel there’s a ton of evidence here. If you think this is just queerbait material I understand but I think it’s pretty clear they’re in love with each other. Either way I can't wait for s4 and more tervo content for me to tear into and analyze the death.

Anyway thanks for sticking with me here and I hope this answered your question!

[elwenyere]

Hello! The conversation about careening had me wondering--how do you like to do research for your stories? Are there any topics or sources you particularly enjoy delving into or including in your work?

Hello, my friend!!! What a wonderful ask: thank you for these great questions.

After reflecting, I think I could describe my process as having two general categories: as-needed research and broader worldbuilding research.

The first category is a part of almost every fic I write, and it involves things like sourcing locations, verifying timelines, tracking down character names, and (very often) looking up what it feels like to receive various injuries. If it's a Star Wars fic, at least one Wookiepedia visit is a given (the raw materials page is a frequent hit). And there are likely to be a few other general internet searches I repeat several times ("aviation terms," for example, or "New Orleans plant life," depending on the fic and fandom).

The second category covers the exploratory reading and viewing I do for fics that involve more worldbuilding because they extend further outside (or completely outside) canon. The Codywan Pirate AU has me doing all kinds of targeted searches for naval ranks and sailing ship terminology, for example, but I've also been browsing maritime museums for descriptions of what life on ships was like from day to day (look at this cool page about sailor libraries and sailing literature!) and for images that give me a visual sense of the environment. I also love looking at digitized resources through academic libraries. When @festiveferret and I were collaborating on Citation Needed, an MCU professor AU in which history prof Tony is writing a monograph about weapons development during WWII, I used the online special collections at University of Massachusetts - Amherst to learn what the primary documents (enlistment records, ration cards, etc.) featured in the fic would look like. (Ferret then did incredible edits for the epistolary portion of the fic: this post has the collected documents.)

In a couple cases it's actually been the research that has come first and inspired the fic. The initial ideas for Separation, for example, which is a Top Gun fic that leans into the context of the AIDS crisis in the 80s and 90s, came from prep that I'd been doing for a queer literature class, so I was listening to music by queer bands in the period, reading poetry and essays about queer life in NYC and San Francisco (including this piece that discusses Nan Goldin, Thom Gunn's The Man with Night Sweats, "The Fall of 1992" by Randall Mann, and Alexander Chee's essay "After Peter"), and watching the documentary How to Survive a Plague, about the ACT UP movement. Much of that research informed the choices I made in writing the fic, even if it doesn't all appear directly.

Finally, I should confess that I am pretty self-indulgent with my fic research: I spend a lot of time studying and tracking things down when it's a subject I find interesting and/or when having more information will allow me to texture the choices I'm making in ways I personally find compelling; but I am also very unfussed about leaving other things vague or about fudging some details in service of the story. It's not at all out of the ordinary for me to spend 30 minutes looking up the names of camera models that hit shelves in 1991 and then write a sentence that says "when he gets off the carrier in mid-July, he goes to the mall" without specifying which carrier or which mall, because I couldn't be bothered to figure out the military logistics involved. This is one of the joys of writing fic for me: freedom to pour energy into those areas where research helps get me closer to things I want to discover and describe.

Thank you again for the terrific asks, my friend!!! This was very fun to write. <3<3<3

[dreambunnynotes]

daily reflection: nov. 26th ❤︎

today was a really, really good day in terms of getting things done and feeling positively about myself! my mental health really improved once i figured out my direction for the week, so that's good for me to know for the future. anyway, here is my reflection on the day:

accomplishments:

i did my whole morning routine and felt so great about it! checking off a to-do list first thing in the morning really gives me the structure i need to feel safe and motivated, i really love it so far.

i had an amazing guitar lesson; we came up with a fantastic plan for a long-term guitar project and i am so thrilled to be motivated again! my teacher is everything i had hoped for when searching for someone to work with and i couldn't have asked for a more empathetic and knowledgeable person to learn from 😭 they also seemed genuinely excited and interested in the project idea which made me feel so much better about suggesting such a lofty goal.

i spent a long time practicing guitar today after my lesson, and also arranged a whole song on piano which was SO fun! it wasn't even challenging for me to chart out the sheet music which used to be my biggest weakness. it was nice to see how much i've improved!

i ordered all of my mum's christmas presents for my dad (he's not the best with computers so i helped lol) and it was so satisfying! i also figured out what i'm going to make her for christmas and plan on getting all of the materials this week.

i joined a discord server for fanfic writers from my favourite fandom, and i'm so proud of myself for trying something new to make friends and also to inspire my writing!

even though i got to bed late, i still did my evening skincare and proved to myself that i can follow through on my goals!

things to improve:

i am really struggling to get to bed at a good hour, oof. even when i complete all of my evening tasks as early as 8:30pm i still end up staying up until 12:00am or later, mindlessly seeking dopamine. i need to figure out how to trick my brain into enjoying the wind-down / sleep process, so tomorrow i might make a "romanticizing bedtime" list to help myself out.

i think it would really help me to finish up my dream life and waiting room scripts, since i've also been majorly slacking on those. i'll make it a goal this week to finally finish those up.

have a great sleep and take care everyone, excited to report back tomorrow and hope you're taking good care of your lovely self! ❤

[ladyluscinia]

Tell me if you've seen this one.

You're watching a romcom. A beautiful woman with a wealthy, city-boy fiancé goes to visit family in a small town. (Let's be honest... It's Christmas. It's basically always Christmas.) While there, she has an instant connection with the film's hot small-town love interest and starts reevaluating her city life. Does the fiancé work too much, or not like dogs? (Does he not understand the joy of Santa Claus?) At the movie's end, she makes a dramatic choice to break off her engagement, quit her job, and move back home to date the guy who was obviously the only love interest in play all movie long.

It's a very standard romcom love triangle.

It's also the kind of love triangle that OFMD is setting up, with Izzy and Stede antagonizing each other and representing two possibilities for Edward to choose... all the way down to how the final choice has been pretty obvious from the start. He's going to end up with Stede. (And hopefully have an overall better written arc than the one described above. That's a standard romcom, but not often a good one!)

Now, this works because love triangles are a narrative tool. They can be purely a source of shipping drama (especially in a drama genre) like tumblr fandoms seem to define them as, but that's only one variation, and far from the most interesting. Or even, I would argue, the most common.

So let's get into what love triangles actually are, and how this applies.

---

I would say most stories - especially character focused ones - use a love triangle as a way to take an abstract choice the protagonist needs to make, and give it some grounded symbolism in the love interests.

Hell, even in its most basic forms, there is a reason the most classic love triangles are a man choosing between Good Girl "Betty" vs Bad Girl "Veronica" or a woman choosing either the Respectable Gentleman or the Sexy Scoundrel. Which love interest the author makes endgame will correlate pretty strongly with whether the story ends on social conformity or encouraging passion, and social conformity always has the edge. This comes through even when the character differences are mostly personality, but it will get a lot more blatant if something like "finding a spouse" is a major plot point and we start getting material concerns like finances involved.

OFMD, though, is not really being basic about this - the ship for a "social conformity" option has long sailed, for one - so what are some more complex choices?

First, we can loop back to the small town Christmas romcom from the start. The men are potential lifestyles. The protagonist starts in very career / finance focused place with a partner from the same. They won't have children or be planning for them. The new guy is small town living - community, family, holidays, etc. He's got a respectable working class job. Maybe a kid. He'd be traumatized by an urban public transport map but he can probably ride a horse. These movies are targeted at small town housewives, so the "better" lifestyle is that one.

Or, another great example, the options can symbolize political or moral values. This also gives you a nice out from the love triangle when one love interest proves their unworthiness by finally crossing a line the protagonist won't. The Hunger Games had shades of this and fans definitely picked up on it (though I definitely remember being a "ditch them both" truther myself, lol).

And what about character growth? This can come into play when a story is about a protagonist fixing their life or self-improving. It's why - seemingly paradoxically - the established relationship is almost always expected to lose out to the new person in their life, despite being, well, established. They end up paired with the one who knows them as who they are becoming, not who they used to be.

...I think I've made my point about symbolism.

So. Back to OFMD! You'll probably notice all of the above could apply to BlackBonnet - Stede being the better lifestyle and values is kind of his whole thing, what with the acceptance boat culture and all (even if Stede himself needs to work on practicing as he preaches). Plus Edward is on an arc of self-improvement to fit into that culture. This is why absolutely nobody is going to be shocked that he doesn't end up with Izzy. But I do think (or at least hope 🫠) that the writing is good, and that's probably going to entail a bit of complexity in the choice.

The choice being "Stede, Stede, 100% definitely Stede, why would I even hesitate?" is rather boring. Especially since they have to make Edward hesitate so the show has a plot and stakes, and that's how you get plot contrivances and drawn out drama between two people (despite framing them as perfect for each other).

Conversely, if choosing Izzy aka his current life (the competing love interest angle is barely subtextual with the wife comparisons) actually has some appeal for Edward, then even though the endgame is obvious, it still makes sense why he's hanging back. It gives him a conflict with Stede / Stede's life that can take time to resolve, and one that will slot really nicely into the main story beats of a romcom. Edward is struggling a lot with identity, so tying the two men to different aspects he needs to choose between for himself is very compelling. (I'm just gonna drop my main Edward meta here.)

And, finally, how they handle the choice part is going to inform what they do with Izzy once Edward picks Stede. Yeah, there are the love triangles that make the bad option a horrible person, destroy their life, and skip away to the happy ending, but those can be kind of fucked up? And I think an unsympathetic ending for Izzy is unlikely for a few reasons... But that's a different meta.

(Maybe they should just OT3 for us??? 😆)

Anyway... This is why anyone starting from the stance that OFMD is not doing a love triangle because there's not actually a chance of BlackHands endgame has fundamentally misunderstood the argument being made, which unfortunately has been a common point of dispute. And with Season 2 coming I imagine it will come back with a vengeance, so I'm getting this out of my drafts now. 😘

Here's to love triangle shenanigans!!!

[etherealsworldvision]

General Message

Before I begin the reading I’d like to take a moment to talk about: Restore the Delta. They’re a non-profit organization whose mission is to ensure the health of San Francisco Bay-Delta estuary and Delta Communities. Click here if you’d like to donate.

🚨 P.S.A 🚨 I DO NOT GIVE PERSONAL READINGS

Credits: Photography by Jack W. Dykinga; Layout by Triso Gamboa

Note: The reason I used Triso’s layout is a trial run to see the type of engagement this will get. For sure I will (and would love to) create my own template.

[ Messages: ‘I feel no shame, I’m in love, sweet love don’t you ever go away it’ll always be this way.’ - Sweet Love by Anita Bake; ‘Fear is found in bravery. Without it then we will always remain sheltered — take that step.’; ‘If soulmates do exist they are not found, they are made. People meet, they get a good feeling, and they work on building a relationship.’; Picture a wave. In the ocean. You can see it, measure it, its height, the way the sunlight refracts when it passes through. And it's there. And you can see it, you know what it is. It's a wave. And then it crashes in the shore and it's gone. But the water is still there. The wave was just a different way for the water to be, for a little while. You know it's one conception of death for Buddhists: the wave returns to the ocean, where it came from and where it's supposed to be.’; May you Pursue what lights you up; May it be effortless; May you know you are worthy of a gift; May you extend your reach.]

[ Additional Messages: Yellow of the Sun - Nao; 444; 1010; completion; pirate ships; crews; cruise; The Good Place.]

Cards: The World; 10 of Cups; Justice; 10 of Pentacles. King of Diamonds; 4 of Spades; Ace of Diamonds; Ace of Clubs. Joy; Ease; Receive; Stretch.

Wow you guys are coming into a new energy! I feel that this may be coming in by late spring to late summer, meaning June — September. Some of you may be my Leo’s because that season is popping up OR you may have a good time during Leo season. You may find stability within your finances and emotions or will be coming into it.

I’m getting that during the time you’re reading this you have been struggling for the past few months. Like you’re just stuck in a rut. You know that one song ‘nothings new’ by Rio Romeo — they kept singing nothing’s new…yeah. You might have even closed yourself off or couldn’t find the time to connect with people because of the situation.

Now I’m not saying “this is the end yiipieee!” It’s more of hey you’re gonna set sail again because the weather conditions are right. Because when you’re a sailor you know when you can set sail and when you have to navigate through the storms while clenching the wheel as tight as you can.

I’m also getting the radio host from the song ‘Hopscotch’by Tinashe. ‘Alright, we got another beautiful day here in sunny Los Angeles, California. Let’s take a look at our seven day forecast — we’re seeing lots of sunshine all week long — temperatures in the mid to upper 70s’. Yeah I typed that out cause it’s fun and it adds to the fun lol. I’ll even add it here lol.

Anyway before spring ends, you may get into a new hobby or fandom that just makes your world sparkle. For some reason that is the key indicator that you’ll get a break. Because of this new hobby/entertainment you’ll feel emotionally reconnected which makes you want to be motivated to explore yourself and everything around you.

As you start to explore and expand things start to escalate. It might become overwhelming so of course you need something to balance it out and that is where material/finances come in. It really could be finance or something that’s physical coming in fruition. Honestly for some of you — you may have been working on a looong project and you finally see the results.

The important thing to know is that this experience will find you instead of you looking for it. Like it really feels that this is going to randomly pop up (on your feed for some of you). Okay this is all I’m getting for you, I wish you all well :)!

[figureofdismay]

so, you guys don't know me because I've been away from txf fandom for 20 years (and thank g.d i never posted my teenage msr scribblings lol!) but I'm finally coming out of my slump and I have three x-files fic ideas that are concrete enough to actually start working on. Except I stopped writing for 8 months due to burnout in a highly stressful previous fandom and I'm worried starting all 3 at once will make me backslide, thus, A Poll!

option one: 'Resonance Frequency,' as it says, an AU that slightly exaggerates and focuses on the abilities that Scully is haphazardly hinted to have throughout the series. Playing up the idea of her as an aware but completely unwilling psychic perceptive, she can sense the difference between legit phenomena and red herring/hoax in ways Mulder simply can't but she does *not* want to explain or deal with it (or admit it to herself). She wants proof and quantification of what she senses to make it fit with the way she wants to view the world (ie driven by concrete rules and therefore predictable), and she's afraid to talk to Mulder about it both because of how he treats her faith and not wanting his 'seek out and expose the truth' ways to put a spotlight on her, and Mulder has to come to terms with the fact that his single mindedness and black-and-white thinking is harming the person he cares about, and in a different more direct way than 'if he keeps pushing ~they will hurt her in retribution.'

option two: 'Cuckoo's Children,' taking some of the idea of CGB creating William/revival baby but not using Scully to get there, Spender Sr. arranged for some kind of mysterious clone-hybrid Mulder Take II baby to try again to have a pawn and heir -- a process started when they had access to him for the experimental brain surgery. Mulder and Scully get tipped off about the child and set out to track him down and then have to find a way to cure/stabilize him health-wise. Undecided if the boy is a clone-clone or of half of his genetic material will turn out to be Diana's, or Scully's, or even Samantha's. Themes of Scully working through multiple kinds of jealousy, longing, and grief (Diana's intrusion into their world was recent, Emily was created to be used and discarded but this child seems to be created to be used but kept), Mulder dealing with thinking of himself as a changling child who is poisonous to his loved ones and having to accept that casting himself in that role, though partially true, gives him 100% more feeling of agency than he actually had. (slightly Pawn In Frankinsence by Dorothy Dunnett inspired but without [chess game] and without spitting up the main couple for most of the plot. iykyk)

option three: 'Nothing to Pack,' title in reference to Lisa Hannigan's song Home, the posit of an affair between M & S that began somewhere either in the aftermath of Ice or after Phoebe's mind games, that leaves them both completely overwhelmed and even bewildered in the face of their explosive chemistry and inchoate feelings in the midst of trying to do the work, making it impossible to stay apart and not get wrapped up in each other even when it's risky. Then Scully is taken and Mulder goes into a fugue of loss. When she's back everything is different and wary and brittle, and Mulder treats her with this new distance, and Scully almost begins to doubt that their past innocence and their affair even happened -- everything from Before seems less real -- but they're like 'so, I guess we found a way to get over that habit, we're not going to risk that level of personal entanglement taking over everything and exploding the work again, we're not going back there and in fact it's better to pretend we never went there in the first place, the work trumps everything,' which is, of course, completely a unworkable long term plan given who they are and how they together, and given the fact that you can't just turn human emotions off at the switch.

(*disclaimer that if my sense of inspiration gets ornery, the fic that wins the poll might still not be the one I concentrate on first lol, but I do want to make an effort to focus where the potential reader interest is!)

[ladyaj-13]

LadyAJ’s 2023 Fics

This year I wrote 16 new stories (and one new chapter on an old one!) across five fandoms - One Direction, Endeavour, Kingsman, The Eagle and new-to-me Ted Lasso. Details below, I hope you’ll check some out - I like to think there’s a bit of something for everyone. 

One Direction

Bloom - T, 28k, Louis/Liam

Do you like historical AUs? Do you like awesome art by @whatagreatproblemtohave? Then you’ll like this, written for the One Direction Big Bang.

In early 1970s Oxford, Detective Sergeant Louis Tomlinson has to deal with the dual pressures of a case that hits too close to home, and the arrival of new colleague Liam Payne. Payne is both the bane of his existence and, uh... dangerous. Very dangerous. His eyes, that is. His lips. The way he stands.

A story of rain and cobblestones, cigarettes, and repression. And the sunshine after the storm.

In Shining Armour of Trackie and Trainers - T, 9k, Louis/Harry

Because who wouldn’t love white knight Louis coming to their rescue?

Online dating isn't exactly working for Harry. In fact, it couldn't really be going much worse. But then the door of the bar opens, and the pack of friends walking in parts and - that’s Louis Tomlinson.

Louis fucking Tomlinson.

Pageant Material - G, 6k, Louis/Zayn

Watch me throw Miss Congeniality and Kacey Musgraves together, shake it up, and give it a Zouis twist. Written for the Zouis fest.

Louis flicks a nearby switch, lighting the bulbs around his mirror in a soft glow. The buttery yellow catches on the edges of his cheekbones, sharpening the dip. He looks more grown up this year. Some of his baby fat has melted away, and he sucks in his cheeks to see what he might look like by twenty five if this pattern continues. Then he crosses his eyes and sticks out his tongue.

Or, the Zouis teen beauty pageant AU.

The Way to My Heart - T, 6k, Louis/Harry

Fluffy, funny AU Larry with lots of Nouis friendship on the side. Written for the a/b/o fest.

Louis' having a bit of a dry spell, until he bumps into an attractive alpha in the supermarket and leaves with his number. It was a hard bump. Very... muscular.

The only problem is, said alpha asks Louis to cook for him - which is not exactly his skill set.

Feeling Feline - T, 4k, Louis/Niall

Nouis, my beloved, with shelter-worker!Niall and magical cat transformations. Written for the Louis rare pair fest.

“I’m telling you,” drifts through the cracked door, and Louis’ ears prick, twitching with interest. “There’s something wrong with that cat.”

“Have you talked to Liam?” asks another voice, worried. Louis thinks it’s the tall one with curly hair. Taller one. They’re all tall when you’re ten inches high.

“Not medically wrong,” the blond one says. “But I swear, and I know this sounds nuts, but I don’t think he’s a cat?”

Fine Line - G, 1k, Louis/Nick Grimshaw

It’s present day, it’s canon compliant, it’s just long enough to read while waiting for the bus assuming it’s not got stuck in traffic.

Telling his family was always going to be a big deal, but doing it alone was a sacrifice he could make.

He never thought they’d fall about laughing.

In The Dark - T, 666, Gen

Choose your own character in this spooky snippet written for the trick or treat fest.

It’s the dreams.

He’d be fine without the dreams… suggesting things. If he could face all this - whatever this is - with a clear, rested mind.

Bound - G, 619, Liam/Zayn

Vampire AU? Check. 

Months should pass like hours for a vampire, but to Zayn they’ve felt endless. Now, finally, it has come. The day he takes his consort.

Endeavour

Tread Carefully into my Life - T, 29k, WIP, Morse/Jakes

See? I told you it’s not abandoned. Maybe 2024 is the year I finally finish this canon rewrite where Jakes stayed - in the meantime, enjoy nearly thirty thousand words of their on/off up/down shenanigans!

He can't help the way his eyes drift across the room, to Morse in his shirtsleeves, arms crossed across his body. It’s a defensive posture, which is no surprise, but otherwise he looks collected. Calm. Like facing down man eating beasts is all part of the job, and despite the evidence of today, it most certainly is not part of the job.

Tigers. For the love of God, give him an axe murderer any day.

Stepping Out - G, 9k, Morse/Jakes/Joan

Established polyamory with the Oxford disaster trio. Jakes didn’t leave.

“You know what I haven't done in ages?” Joan asks, punctuating her question by flinging her legs up and leaning dramatically backwards against the sofa arm. Peter almost spills his tea. “Gone dancing. We should go.”

Kindred - G, 2k, Gen

Ohhh series nine. Pre-slash Morse/Sam if you really squint.

Sam Thursday, Morse, and the power of orange juice.

Offcuts - G, 2k, Morse/Jakes/Joan

With this final instalment, the series is complete. As a whole it's almost 32k, so if you like Endeavour and polyamorous relationships, set aside a Saturday and dive in.

Snapshot scenes of life with the trio.

Adding it Up - G, 887, Morse/Jakes

Let’s return to series three, because Jakes.

Fred’s been a copper for a long time. It’s in his bones at this point, a habit so engrained he can’t turn it off. Like Morse with his beer and Jakes with his cigarettes, Fred’s addiction is piecing things together. Even when he’d rather not.

Ted Lasso

Would You Rather - G, 1k - Colin & Jamie, Roy/Jamie

It had to happen! Diving into a new fandom is always a pleasure.

"I’m talking about percentages. Like, yeah, you’re gay. So maybe you’re at like, eighty, ninety per cent. But if I say who’d you rather fuck out of Ms Welton, Keeley and Maisie from the canteen, you know what you’d say, right?”

Colin is beginning to think Jamie doesn’t know what gay is. "Erm, no."

Squeegee - M, 525 - Roy/Jamie

Short and snappy ;)

Jamie’s beautifully vocal in bed, but long, pitchy squeaking is new.

Kingsman

The Honeypots - T, 5k - Eggsy/Harry

Partial AU with undercover, honeypot spy shenanigans and obliviousness? I wrote it for a reason. I mean, it’s right up my street.

Eggsy is MI6. Harry is Kingsman. They have each been tasked to seduce a suspected rival intelligence agent.

The intelligence part may be overselling it.

The Eagle of the Ninth

Winter Sunlight - G, 1k, Marcus/Esca

I think writing a fluffy, happy gay farmers fic is actually a requirement of this fandom. Here’s my offering.

“How is it,” a familiar voice mutters drowsily, muffled by the drape of skins and fur, “that after all these years, you still can’t manage a proper lie in?”

[itsclydebitches]

RWBY Recaps: Volume 9 "A Place of Particular Concern"

Happy start of a new Volume, everyone! 🎉

Shaving off a little more than a month, it’s been two years since I was writing a RWBY Recap. Is that long enough to count as nostalgic? Definitely long enough to inspire a minor existential crisis on the passage of time, so how about we just collectively pretend it’s still 2013, yeah?

Of course, that would mean we were watching RWBY on YouTube and RT’s website, not... Crunchyroll. Listen, I’ll be real with you all and admit I know incredibly little about the site’s sketchy history which, from what I’ve gleaned lately, has led to a number of RWBY fans boycotting its use. Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum. However, I noted the two week free trial and decided to give that a go first, if only to make my life a little easier for the premiere. I’d planned to either shell out the 24-ish dollars necessary to watch the other eight episodes - which, honestly, isn’t much in the grand scheme of things, especially if we factor in my Starbucks addiction... - or don my parrot and eye-patch once I hit that two week mark.

So there was a plan!

This plan was a mistake.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and guess that writing, “Wow, Crunchyroll’s website doesn’t work very well, does it?” maybe isn’t news to anyone else? I read that the new episode was supposed to drop at 9:30am. I then tried unsuccessfully to get it to load through 4:00pm. During this, while trying various avenues in the hopes of getting this video started, I noticed a Google link with a four hour timestamp, which would have put the release at around 11:00 my time, closer to what we’re used to.

Regardless of when it actually dropped, I was finally able to start watching at around 4:00pm. By which I mean I watched the first 17 seconds of the episode. Then it froze. I made it to the minute mark using a different browser. Then it froze again. I let things sit for a while and finally restarted my original vid, completing the episode without any additional problems, but by then I was more than a little frustrated.

Was it my internet? Crunchyroll? The will of the RWBY gods who don’t want me critiquing the hell out of this episode? Who can say, but I think I’ll be hoisting the flag sooner than intended.

“This is the story of a girl who had a lot of problems.”

If you’re thinking that this line sounds at all familiar, it’s because we’ve heard it before. Actually, the entirety of the first seven minutes is made up of our promo clips which, in a fourteen minute episode without opening and credits, is a lot. RWBY has been gone (in its canon state, anyway) for two years. I can’t speak for anyone else, but my impression of the Ruby PoV clip was that it was purely promotional material, not the start of our far-off Volume. So it was more than a little disappointing to finally get my hands on new content only to realize that half of it wasn’t new at all. We’d already seen it, discussed it, dissected it weeks, or even months ago. Combined with how much of our starter material was in our trailer (two emotional shots of Ruby I’ll be unpacking later) and how much the fandom was able to easily infer (Weiss and Blake are captured while trying to retrieve her weapon) it almost didn’t feel like a RWBY premiere at all. There is, almost literally, nothing new for the fandom to sink their teeth into. We knew they were in this Ever After place, we knew the basic plot of the first couple of episodes, we’ve seen glimpses of all the side characters... I’d actually argue that there’s more to analyze in the opening than the totality of our first episode.

Not that that's going to stop me from writing a shit ton about it, you know ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

None of which bodes well and, frankly, this episode is enough of a mess that I can’t even take solace in RT executing the repetition well. Thus, I’m going to move fairly quickly (for me lol) through the first half of the episode, if only because I’ve already given my thoughts on it in other posts. So to recap within the recap:

Yang’s fall into the void and the ways in which this moment differs from the original animation is still a sore spot for me, especially given how the characters react (or rather, don’t) to finding her alive. While I commend RT for trying something different by giving us Ruby’s PoV, Lindsay’s acting grates here and the constant whimpers/gasps just highlight how much Ruby didn’t emote in the original version of the scene. Likewise, the halo of white around Ruby’s vision prior to falling proves that the writers were very aware of her silver eyes in that moment, yet inexplicably decided not to use them. As we’re seeing more and more lately, characters loose all their powers and strategic thinking the moment something needs to happen for the plot. Why craft a legitimate failure for the heroes when you could simply have them forget that their longest-running villain is in the city with them, or have Yang repeat a major mistake she’s supposedly outgrown, or have Ruby not use the one, unique ability that would save her from certain death?

As said, we know this old tune.

A detail I don't think I picked up on the first time around though is that Ruby is reaching desperately for Blake when they fall... and Blake just isn’t paying her any mind lol.

I mean I get it. Of course she’d be looking towards the villains/the bridges that represent safety, but given the non-relationship between Ruby and Blake, it struck me as funny that even when they’re “dying” together Blake barely seems to register Ruby’s presence. ‘I really look up to you!’ Yeah. Sure you do.

Ruby floats through the orange orbs of the void and, given that they show up in our opening, I hope we receive an explanation for what they are exactly. Perhaps the souls of other people who have fallen? Idk, I'm reaching. Neo shows up and fights in various disguises, blah blah blah. Ruby wakes on the beach to someone calling her name.

I feel like I asked this the first time around, but is anyone confident on whose voice that is? It almost sounds like Ruby’s own to me - perhaps heralding the split we saw in the trailer - but it could also be a repeat of Yang’s when she saved her? Honestly though, that second option feels too emotionally nuanced for what we got in the rest of this episode.

Right now, I’m inclined to ignore the voice until something actually comes of it. RWBY history has taught me that such minor mysteries may not last past the twenty minute mark.

As we saw in the released clip, we're immediately given some details of this strange land, including giant flora and twin suns. That’s... pretty tame. I’m of the opinion that if you’re going to do an Alice in Wonderland-inspired story, you’ve got two routes you can follow. The first (and for more satisfying option, I think) is to study the ways in which the original story functioned as a metaphor for the life of a child navigating an adult world and, similarly, use the weirdness of this land to impart some message. The second option (far easier, but still entertaining) is to really lean into the oddities, captivating your audience through the sheer WTF-ness of what you’ve put on screen, even if the strangeness isn’t actually representative of anything other than a "Well damn, that was weird" reaction.

Sadly, RWBY’s “A Place of Particular Concern” doesn’t seem to be achieving either. I mentioned when the trailer dropped that I don’t trust the story to say anything meaningful via its environments, but nor are the environments spectacular enough to engage us through novelty alone. Don’t get me wrong, I think the animators have achieved an impressive feat here, especially given the constraints and terrible working conditions we know they’ve faced before, but the oddness of the Ever After is mediocre at best. Oh look, small things like shells are now big. Real birds like the Dodo now come in flashier colors. A mouse talks!

...in a story where a main character is a cat girl.

Just like RWBY failed to distinguish how magic was different - and, ultimately, more shocking - than semblances, it’s now failing to inspire that sense of awe when our characters already hail from a pretty odd world. Sure, this is a different kind of odd, but the switch lacks any real punch. Compare RWBY’s Remnant/Ever After to Alice’s Normal World/Wonderland. She doesn’t have things like faunus and grimm, so something as relatively simple as a cat smiling unnerves her (and the reader). She doesn’t just see a slightly off bird, she finds out you now use them to play croquet. And she’s at the center of every oddity, experiencing these changes first-hand. Ruby sees a giant shell for a single shot. Alice becomes a giant and deals with the social horror of filling up someone’s house. I knew this was going to be a problem back when our clip dropped because despite being a separate realm supposedly governed by its own rules, we’ve still got a mouse terrified of cats. There’s this implication that the Ever After is oh so strange and horrifyingly unfamiliar... but then we immediately turn around and learn, no wait, most of what Ruby is encountering is familiar. At least enough to get by.

Ruby: “I should have known! I’ve seen plenty of cartoons!”

Volume 9 is playing it super safe with the Wonderland references and it’s really disheartening. If RWBY doesn’t have anything to say via this weirdness, I would have at least liked to see something truly weird.

To get back to the plot, Ruby immediately starts walking into the jungle and I - true story - groaned at the screen. Despite knowing it was coming! Because how can you have a character go through everything Ruby just did and not provide some reflection on it? This girl wakes up in a fantasy world after The Most Traumatic Fight Ever and waltzes off like an automaton following a coded directive. Where’s the shocked examination of her surroundings? Where’s the horrified, “Where am I? Did I die?” questioning? Where’s the post-fight panic where she desperately shouts for her teammates, begging someone to answer her? I literally can’t think of another instance in which a character goes through that much and then, literally, walks it off.

Later in the episode Ruby will inform Weiss and Blake that she spotted an overhang on the cliff and decided to try and get up there so she could survey her surroundings. It sure would have been nice to know about that while she was wandering. During the actual act of her travel I had no idea what Ruby was trying to accomplish other than, in true RWBY fashion, what I assumed was her most logical goal(s) - like finding her teammates. The kicker is that there are a ton of easy ways to keep the viewer informed despite lacking voice-overs. Let Ruby talk to herself as a way to self-sooth. Or use Little as a sounding board (why else is this mouse even here...) Show us a shot of Ruby spotting her target, taking a deep, fortifying breath, and going, “Okay... you can do this. Just make it to the cliff. One step at a time," a goal that’s ruined once her steps start going in circles. You can add a bit of character work by having Ruby remember Tai and Qrow’s training: always get a sense of your surroundings first. You can setup Ruby’s (presumably) Volume-long depression by having her just lie in the sand for a while, the suns passing overhead, staring at them listlessly, only moving when the surf starts hitting her mouth. Hell, is anyone even carrying their scrolls anymore? I don’t care how unlikely it is that it’ll work here, the first thing Ruby should do is whip that out and try to call her teammates.

Watching this moment in the context of the whole episode made it that much worse for me. It’s just so glaring how rushed this entire premiere was, with every logical reaction - to say nothing of the emotional beats necessary after that finale - getting brushed aside so that the team can get back together in under fifteen minutes. We’ve only got ten episodes, Ruby, so hurry it up. Go on, girl, give us nothing!

So we know the rest of this silliness, yeah? There’s the implication that a small amount of time has passed, an annoying dodo bird that must have been animated in later because Ruby doesn’t react to that either, a circular path of the jungle, and the soon to be named Little watching all this from a rock.

I want to emphasize that our first tonal emphasis here is humor. Having Ruby continually ending up in the same place, growing frustrated with cutsey voice acting, and the quick cuts of Little in various poses all function as lighthearted amusement for the audience... which is really fucking weird in a Volume following up on the trauma of last season. This is going to be an ongoing problem for the entirety of the episode and severely undermines the reveal that Penny has died (again). This is the exact thing RWDE folks have been worried about for literal years now, from the moment we realized we were getting a Wonderland-type world. I have little doubt that the fandom is right in saying that the rest of the Volume will likely get much darker than this (it almost always does nowadays), but that doesn’t matter because the damage has already been done. RWBY cannot continually flip-flop like this and expect its viewers to still buy into the serious moments. So many of us have lost faith in the writers’ abilities to treat these subjects respectfully and segueing from the (supposedly) fascist storyline that ends in horrific tragedy straight into, “What a whacky world, am I right? 🤪” is a damn good way to continually alienate viewers who want an emotional connection with this show.

Every time this criticism comes up there are other RWBY fans pushing back with the claim that a show - especially one that began so lighthearted and silly - simply can’t just be doom and gloom all the time. And you know what? They’re absolutely right. However, there are numerous ways to infuse comedy into your story without outright undermining the primary tone. Given that I’m reading it at the moment, I’d like to briefly use Kim Carnby’s Sweet Home as an example.

For those who are unaware, Sweet Home is a webtoon turned Netflix series that follows 18 year old Cha Hyun-soo after both his parents and sister die in a car accident. Given that he’s technically an adult, but without much financial support and already grappling with a deep depression, he moves into a rundown apartment complex and schedules his own suicide. Before he can go through with it though, a virus sweeps through the world, turning people into various kinds of monsters. These monsters - entertainingly creative - are modeled after whatever the infected person’s greatest desire is at the time of their turning, resulting in some benign beings... but much more hungry, violent, terrifying beasts. Thus, the story is centered around Cha Hyun-soo’s attempts to survive, the horrors found in his apartment complex, and the question of why he’s trying so hard to live when he’d already planned to die.

It’s dark, is what I’m getting at.

It also has moments like this:

And just a little while later:

Here, a generational divide infuses some much needed comedy into the story without detracting from the world’s overall tone (note too that Cha Hyun-soo remains looking stressed and anxious the whole time). It would be a problem if our depressed, terrified teenage suddenly started jumping like he’s having the time of his life (Weiss). It would be a problem if the entire first volume, which is meant to highlight the horror of this situation, was constantly peppered with lame jokes involving cutesy animals (the mice). If you’re going to add comedy, keep it subtle, relatable, and in this case bound to the characters’ internal monologue. By having them each compliment the other with age-appropriate comparisons that cause confusion, but without verbally acknowledging that confusion, the humor exists purely for the audience’s sake. The characters aren’t supposed to be laughing it up right now... so they don’t. The humor is for the reader alone, recognizing the miscommunication and enjoying it as an element separate from the dark tone of the characters’ world. Because this is the vibe of the scene directly before:

RWBY fails at this division. A lot. Like, that failure makes up the majority of this episode.

You know what? It’s easier to just keep a count going.

Little’s introduction is Ill-suited Comedy Example #1.

All of which means that when Ruby starts crying - and by that I mean a few sniffles and a single tear track - I have no investment in the moment. Even if the animation were close to what I’d expect after such a tragedy, its impact is obliterated by the, “Look! Cute mouse!” immediately proceeding and following it.

Also, love how Little has never seen a human before, is watching Ruby intently during this entire process... yet makes no effort to engage with her. I suppose I get it given the emphasis on how scared the mice are of predators, but from a character perspective it leaves something to be desired. In regards to Ruby not (yet) utilizing Little as a means of expressing her thoughts to the audience, our first Ever After character is just kinda... there. Ruby stumbles across them. (BTW, is they/them what the fandom is using for our first non-binary rep?) They only speak because they feel obligated to help Ruby after she retrieves the cheese. They come on this adventure because, by their own admission, they simply have nothing better to do. What’s the point of Little again? How are they serving the story? They don’t even lead Ruby to Blake and Weiss - she stumbles across them on her own while Little sleeps. In fact, it’s already a running gag that Little naps instead of doing anything useful. I wouldn’t care so much if RWBY weren’t already a show suffering from character bloat and an inability to manage that (because the former isn’t necessarily a problem on its own). Now that we’ve finally got the girls alone(-ish) and primed for some character development, I don’t want to squander it on stupid mouse jokes.

Given which: Little’s ‘Gimme The Cheese’ dance + accompanying sounds effects is Ill-Suited Comedy Example #2.

I mentioned the first time around that I am weak for a cute, animal companion. That remains true. Unfortunately, Little’s cuteness is only carrying them so far with me. Their negative impact on the narrative as a whole is, thus far, simply too much to fix with grabby motions and snot bubbles.

They ask the thematic, “What are you?” question and introduce a number of other theoretical ideas that, frankly, I doubt the Volume will capitalize on. Is your name your purpose? (Like Huntress Ruby Rose.) How does one "Little"? The team is “similar, but different.” Until the Volume actually does something with these questions, I’m inclined to read them as simple ‘nonsense’ language included to try and emulate Carroll’s style.

With Little planning to show Ruby her village (but doesn't actually succeed in that), we cut to Weiss and Blake traversing the jungle together. How did they find one another? No idea. Why did they find one another when Blake fell with Ruby? No idea. The story tries to bypass this by, as expected, leaning into the illogical nature of the world. If they somehow found each other, then they might be able to likewise find Blake’s weapon, despite the fact that it fell long after her. Honestly, this feels more like a very convenient plot device than an interesting characteristic of this world. Things happen so randomly here! Funny how that randomness seems to solely benefit the heroes.

Sidenote: I really like that Weiss says “Gambol Shroud” because the weapon names have felt only semi-canon for a very long time. Other than Ruby referring to Crescent Rose back in the first couple episodes, have we heard the names at all? I can’t recall off the top of my head, but regardless this makes for a nice moment between Weiss and Blake. It’s a small thing, but it helps sell the idea that they do actually know one another well.

The rest of the scene is... passable. Weiss has a “Blake... I’m really glad you’re okay” line and gets a “I’m really glad you are too” in response. This is one of those cases where I think fiction needs to deviate sharply from reality. Irl that’s probably exactly the kind of awkward, rushed line I’d give a close friend because I myself am awkward and struggle to verbalize my care for others (gift giving ftw!). But in fiction an exchange like that just comes across as wooden. “I’m really glad you’re okay,” says the girl who thought this friend had died and for real saw another friend get killed by a third like, an hour ago. Wow, what a reaction! This is also a case of RWBY’s animation acting as a constraint. As said earlier, I think the animators are doing the best they can under the circumstances, but better writing, time, and funds would likely lend itself to a more expressive reunion for all the girls. It also highlights how convenient the time-skip is. You can easily argue that these two cried and hugged and went through their Face Journeys when they first found one another. No need to rehash that though because it already happened off screen!

All of this is made worse for me by the fact that Blake says that if they’re fine, the others “might” be okay too. Might! That’s a loaded word choice with absolutely no follow up. Remember, this is the girl who was beside herself with anger and grief when Yang “died.” So glad to see that emotion carried over into the next Volume. I mean hell, give me a Blake who’s screaming at Weiss to just ditch her weapon. Why are they bothering with that when Yang is still missing?? Screw vines and mice, I’m going to go find my partner!

If only.

Everything in this episode just rings so hollow to me. I mean, I expected that given RWBY’s track record, but this is a severe failure to me given the intensity of Volume 8. From Penny's death to destroying a Kingdom, the fate of their friends to lost Relics, we needed a stellar start to this emotional journey and we simply didn’t get it.

That includes Weiss dodging the question of what happened after Blake fell. I really enjoyed this on the surface, just not - as is so often the case - in the context of RWBY as a whole. Because what is Weiss doing here except keeping another secret? In her defense, it doesn’t last long and there’s a case to be made about how difficult it is to discuss such things, especially after they just happened, so as said, I think that’s a compelling situation to put her in. It’s just one that also happens to poke at a RWDE sore spot because we had such a strong anti-secret rhetoric for three Volumes. Thanks to that arc, my initial reaction is not, “Poor Weiss. Grappling with this traumatic event.” It’s “See, Weiss? See how hard it is to discuss something horrific that you went through? But oh, you and the others had no sympathy for Ozpin in that regard, so just get over it and spill the crucial information already. Snap, snap, keeping Blake informed is more important than your mental health.”

All of which isn’t even touching on how she explains the situation... but we’ll get to that.

So they have this exchange that’s passable in many regards and fails largely due to the problems RWBY has carried with it for years now. They stumble across Gambol Shroud and proceed to spend a while trying to cut the vines/reach it from a nearby tree. This is how Weiss cheers Blake on.

Weiss: “Yah! Woo!”

Example #3, folks.

Weiss’ completely inappropriate cheer-leading aside, the entire time I’m going, “How is this in any way a problem?” I know Blake has become the useless fighter who can’t take out a single grimm without Ruby’s help, and Weiss has forgotten everything except her summoning, but has the audience forgotten how these girls used to fight? Anyone recall this moment from their very first battle?

Oh no, a giant pile of vines! However will we get past this obstacle?😱

I don’t know, maybe just... jump? Or you could get a little more creative by summoning a clone and doing a cool person-tower move to reach the top? That’s definitely not me pulling from my love of Yu Yu Hakusho or anything.

TEAMWORK, BABY!

My point is that moments like this fall flat precisely because RWBY has spent so much time showing us the group’s extreme abilities. Remember that scenes like the Ace Ops fight hinge on their presumed excellence. This is a group that beat the best team in Atlas! But now they can’t even bypass a pile of vines? The downside of giving your characters great power is that you then have to continually come up with ways for them to still face challenging conflict. Some shows handle this rather badly (like Castiel not just blowing up every demon/mortal that opposes them) and some shows handle it rather well (we establish early on that despite technically having the power to get the crew out of sticky situations, Star Trek’s transporter is prone to glitches and interference from the weather). Basically, you can’t go, “These girls are brimming with power because that looks awesome in a fight! But oh, now they can’t use that power because... uh... because that would interfere with our lame gag?” There has to be a reason. And this is far from the first time RWBY has conveniently forgotten the characters’ abilities. I still cringe at Ruby hanging off the cliff during the Cordovin battle. It’s meant to be a dramatic moment wherein she faces great danger from a fall, but they tried to give that to the girl who can fly.

So this is just incredibly stupid to me. Bad enough that we have gags following the intensity of Volume 8, but RWBY hasn’t even put in the effort to make them good gags. This episode honestly feels like RWBY satire to me, more akin to a Chibi episode, or a YouTuber poking fun, than the content fans waited two years for.

Right as Blake reaches her weapon they learn that the vines were a trap and they move, ensnaring both girls. We knew that was going to occur from the trailer and I thought that this was just another aspect of the Ever After. The vegetation (a bit like Alice’s flowers) is alive, sentient, capable of helping or hurting you. That’s pretty cool and, as I mentioned in regards to the environment responding to Ruby’s emotions, could be utilized in fantastic ways for combat.

However, this isn’t actually the case. Apparently the mice have sprung this trap because... Blake is a cat?

Wait.

So let me get this straight. This village of mice - who have never seen a human before, but have definitely seen cats - assume that Blake is exactly the same because she has cat ears. Then they found her weapon before her, somehow realize it is her weapon (even though Blake has yet to even stand next to it within the Ever After), and set an elaborate trap so that they can be the “hunters” for once, instead of the prey. Blake happens to come along with another human, but who cares? Capture her too! What are they going to do with them then?

Uh... the only thing we know about these mice is that they spend the majority of their time foraging for food and they struggle greatly to get the cheese out of the ground, and this would certainly be a way to both feed the village and eliminate a presumed enemy, so...

You know what? Never mind. I’m not going there lol.

This is stupid and illogical, but not in a wacky Wonderland way. Also, anyone else a little uncomfortable with the mice calling her a cat and Blake just going with it? Is that the stance we’re going with after eight seasons of a civil rights movement? That a faunus girl and an animal are fundamentally interchangeable?😬

They could have used this moment to let Blake explain her identity to someone coming from a place of well-meaning ignorance but noooo, why would we have an interesting conversation with the mice when they can just cheer about cheese instead? “She pulled the cheese out of the ground ON HER OWN!” Little cries, causing another mouse to faint in shock.

Example #4

While all this is going on Ruby shows up because remember, the premiere is trying to get the group back together as quickly as humanly possible. Or magically possible, in this case. We get Ruby asking if Little is drooling on her - “Yuck” - before spotting the village of mice about to do presumably unspeakable things to her teammates. Remember the shot from the trailer where Ruby looks properly horrified and I wondered what could possibly be causing that reaction? Yeah. It’s just this.

Example #5. Sigh.

If you were hoping for a proper reunion between these three, keep hoping. We segue immediately into a practical explanation where Ruby explains, about five minutes too late, what she was trying to accomplish while wandering around the jungle. Little has her freak-out about Blake, explains Ruby’s magic cheese gathering skills to the others, and then decides to tag along to find Yang because, and I quote, “I don’t have anything to do yet.” For a hot second I thought this was going to lead into more information about mouse culture. You know, how Little has already admitted that they don’t have a name, how they equate names with a purpose, and therefore if they have nothing to do in their village yet because they’re so young, they’ll find a purpose by traveling with these humans. We might have even put off Little’s naming to this moment, having them or one of the girls come up with something appropriate to the task ahead: something like Guide, or even Friend (of Humans).

But no, apparently Little is tagging along just because they literally have nothing better to do? In the sense that they’re bored and why the hell not? It’s not exactly a compelling reason and, given that they’ve yet to provide any actual assistance to the girls, I’m continually questioning their place in the story. This is what critics mean when they say that time is wasted with Volume-specific side characters when we could be doing more, better work with the core team.

Case in point: Little says that they’ll be “your trusty guide!” and then the joke is that they’re immediately asleep again once the girls set out.

#6!

I do like the following scene though. As the trio follows a path that they’ve found, Weiss walks ahead with her back (obviously) facing Blake and Ruby. When Ruby likewise questions what happened after they fell, there’s this long pause where Weiss considers how to respond, not turning around. It’s a powerful little detail, refusing to show us, or the girls, her face. It leaves her expression up to interpretation while maintaining the impression that she’s hiding from her teammates, due to not knowing how to address their failure. Her insistence on finding Yang first just highlights that avoidance. Really, I think this moment works quite well and I wish the whole episode had been treated this seriously.

Just as Ruby is about to press the issue they hear a roar from nearby. Following it, they discover a creature that fans have already dubbed RWBY’s version of the Jabberwocky.

"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!

The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!

Bewared the Jubjub bird, and shun

The frumious Bandersnatch!"

Kudos to RWBY for trying here. It’s no secret that I think one of the best grimm lately have been The Apathy, so having another horror-leaning creature was a good decision in my opinion. Unfortunately, I like the idea more than the execution. The twitching motion of the Jabberwocky could have been creepy, but it doesn’t quite capture that feeling of unnatural otherness that makes your skin crawl. A problem with the animation, or something the engine itself just isn’t equipped to create? I’m not sure. Its voice is also a nice touch, with the exception that it’s really hard to understand once it starts yelling. At first I thought RWBY was leaning into the Jabberwocky’s origins. That is, using nonsense words like those from Carroll’s poem whose meaning is understood only in context. Now though, I think it’s just a badly voiced character? I’m not sure because Crunchyroll’s subtitles wouldn’t work for me (of course) and all I got was the “Searching. Stalking. Detecting.” in the beginning.

Which, you know, is an interesting bit of dialogue. RWBY has always straddled the line between fantasy and Sci-Fi, so I’m pleased to see some of the latter worming its way into the distinctly fantasy setting of the Ever After. The Jabberwocky sounds like an AI creation following a coded command. Out of everything this episode, I’m most eager to learn more about it.

Of course, we can’t learn anything now. Despite the fact that Yang stumbles out of the jungle, arm gone, throwing a rock at the Jabberwocky, and looking like she’s been through hell and back. Would you like to know what Yang experienced while on her own here? Or how she came across the Jabberwocky? What she might already know about it?

Would you like to see an actual battle in the combat show’s premiere?

Too bad.

The Jabberwocky just runs off and we get an... interesting reunion for the whole team. First off, Weiss just isn’t a part of this. Given that she’s not Yang’s sister or the Schrodinger girlfriend, she’s shuffled off to the side. Second, Ruby is greeted with a, “Dammit! You weren’t supposed to be here” which I really like. Rather than going the pure fluff route, the writing seems to consider the fact that Yang (as we’ll learn soon) thinks she may have died, so of course she’s horrified to see her little sister here too. This isn’t a joyful reunion for her, it's evidence that her (stupid) sacrifice was in vain. As always, I wish we could have explored that a little more - specifically this idea that Yang thought she was dead and was still trying to defend herself against hostile creatures - but a single line is all we’re given.

Ruby gets that soft smile of hers, kneels down, and says, “If you thought we wouldn’t have come for you then you must have forgotten who raised me.” Aww.

...wait.

Hold up.

The fuck??

First of all, that is NOT what happened. Ruby didn’t come looking for Yang, she lost to Cinder - DESPITE HAVING A UNIQUE ABILITY TO BEAT HER, I WILL CONTINUALLY ADD - and failed to rose-petal her way to safety. Wow, way to imply a heroic rescue that doesn’t exist, Ruby. Also, this simultaneously implies that if they had won the fight Ruby would have dove into the void afterwards to try and find Yang which... you know... I highly doubt. Just given her non-reaction to her sister “dying.” If there was going to be any rescue attempts, give me a Ruby who jumps after Yang as she’s falling and they both go in together.

So that’s a huge misrepresentation of events and then Ruby follows that up with, “you must have forgotten who raised me"? What exactly is that supposed to mean? Because a lot of people raised Ruby. Is it Tai, Summer, Qrow... or Yang herself? This almost feels bait-y to me, in the sense that the writers must know that mom!Yang has been a huge debate in the fandom for years, so they toss in this ambiguous line that could go either way. Is Ruby referring to her many capable, loving, adult guardians? Or her older sister that maybe, sorta “raised her” while their dad was recovering from the death of his wife? I don’t know, why don’t you all fight about it ;)

But no, let’s talk about the actual bait: bumblebee.

Now, for a long time I’ve refrained from calling Blake/Yang queerbaiting for the simple reason that I’ve expected the show to follow through with the romance in a way I don’t expect that from “real” queerbaiting. Remember, the word originates from a hard “No” on the queer front, that’s why it’s baiting and not a slow-burn towards representation. However, we’ve now entered an age of television where, yes, many couples do become canon, but only in the final hour when the writers don’t have to actually write a queer romance. That’s the modern from of queerbaiting and goddamn, is bumblebee fitting it to a T.

I know the fandom has some memory problems, but everyone recalls the surety that Yang and Blake’s romance would kickstart after Yang “died” right? That having Blake mourn her and then discover her alive would finally push her to go in for a kiss? We pictured a plot where the girls were separated for the first couple of episodes, still believing the others were gone, Blake stumbling across Yang in the Ever After, the confusion and shock and relief at finding her again, the kiss that would finally bring RWBY into 2023--

Yeah. There’s none of that.

I myself said that THIS was the time to do it. If you ever needed an excuse to get the queer couple together (which you don’t) then the reunion after one thinks the other has died is 100% the time to do it. Emotions will never be stronger! Inhibitions will never be lower! Don’t pass up such a golden opportunity!

They totally passed it up.

This reunion is just as generically ambiguous as all the others, right down to Yang hugging Blake with a tenderness that’s equal to what she’s given other characters:

Friends. This is all the same hug. There is nothing coded romantic in this reunion, not unless we want to claim that Yang is also romantically attracted to Ren, Weiss, and her sister.

I’ve already seen some fans talking about the importance of Blake initiating contact when before she always held back and yeah, sure, that can be read as character growth, but that’s the kind of minuscule step forward we needed years ago. Not now. Now we’re firmly in bait territory and need confirmation.

“But, Clyde, it’s just the start of the Volume. They could still kiss!”

I don’t care. RT had an opportunity and they squandered it. If there's a kiss, a confession, or whatever comes later in the Volume, it’s still more time that the show has spent in a will-they-won’t-they dance. I’m so sick of it. RWBY’s queer rep is atrocious and I find that to be particularly insulting in a show that’s praised for and celebrates its own diversity. I watch plenty of television with no queer rep at all, but I don’t give them the same kind of shit because they’re not pretending to be the Pinnacle of Queer Representation. If you’re going to claim that you have a queer main couple, then actually give us a queer main couple.

God I was actually so hopeful I’d be writing a, “We’ve finally confirmed it!” recap. It’s beyond frustrating at this point and I’m continually shocked at the fans who are celebrating that hug like they’ve been given a feast and not crumbs. If I were more emotionally invested in bumblebee as a ship - meaning, if I cared more about the relationship itself rather than how it functions as representation for RWBY - I’d be pissed as hell. Yang “died,” Blake lost her mind over it, we waited two years, and then you give us... that? If I were a hardcore bumblebee shipper I’d be writing about my extreme disappointment in RT, not my happiness that Yang touched Blake’s hair.

Actually no, I grew up in the age of no rep/the original queerbaiting, so really I’d be rolling my eyes at anyone who expected a canonical relationship and instead going off to write it myself as fic. I still believe very strongly that ships don’t need a canonical basis and in some ways fandom has limited itself by only writing about what’s canon, or “realistically” canon ([waves old man cane] “In my day we shipped characters who were never even on screen together!”), but I acknowledge that we’ve entered a new age of television. Viewers expect more. They should expect more and they should get it.

With the disappointing hug behind us, Yang observers that if they’re all here then things must have gone really badly up top. This finally pushes Weiss over the edge and she starts the not-crying that all the RWBY girls do, where she has wet eyes and a single tear track. “Penny,” she says. “Jaune tried to help... but she scarified herself...”

And by that you mean Jaune killed her? Weiss’ recounting of events makes it sound like her own stabbing by Cinder: Penny was hurt and Jaune tried to heal her, only this time it wasn’t enough. When in reality we’ve got Jaune giving up because his “I’ve had a human body for twenty minutes” patient says there’s no hope and then slitting her throat because Penny mistakenly believes all she can do with her life is give it up.

Again: what happened to telling your team everything? Where did the importance of context and the complete picture go? For a team that’s so furious when others provide incomplete or misleading information, they sure do that themselves a lot. We can add, “Weiss horribly mischaracterizes Penny’s death” to the “Yang is keeping the Spring Maiden a secret, twists all their failures into victories to win a fight with Ren, and Ruby straight up lied to Ironwood” list.

In another show I’d have more faith that this would come back to bite Weiss; that the girls will later learn the truth and express some actual emotion at her inability to keep them informed... but who am I kidding. This is RWBY. It’ll be forgotten - or retconned - by next episode.

Ruby faints at hearing that Penny has died (again) and man, I really want to like this moment because it’s definitely more of a reaction than I was expecting based on our post-Volume 3 writing. However, this is primarily used as a way to avoid Ruby’s reaction, wherein she wakes up some undetermined time later and is allowed to pretend to be fine, thereby jumping over any conversation/crying/actual emotion we might have seen from her. I know that Ruby will be grappling with this for the entire Volume - our intro proves as much - but it’s still disappointing that we don’t get to see Ruby grapple with her initial feelings because she was too busy being unconscious.

Also, anyone else frustrated that the same action used to depict horror and grief is used for a gag just a few minutes earlier? A mouse faints at the thought of someone being able to pull up cheese with a single tug! Ruby faints at the thought of her dear friend dying for a second time! This is why all that earlier humor messes with the more serious moments.

Our final scene once again fails to convince me that any of these characters love each other outside of the Grand Gestures delivered post-tragedy. No one is holding Ruby while she’s unconscious. No one has made her a makeshift pillow or blanket. Yang asks once if she’s alright - when she’s clearly not - and then just drops the subject when Ruby says yeah, she’s fine. None of them waited until she’d woken up to have this important conversation. After Weiss’ tears and Ruby’s faint, there are no reactions to Penny’s death. Do Blake and Yang care? Presumably not considering they never had a real relationship with her, but RWBY likely wants us to assume that their reactions exist off screen. Remember, given that we’re primarily following Ruby as our protagonist, her being unconscious means that we also skip over how everyone else reacts too. The viewer only gets to continue seeing the story when Ruby wakes up.

I had low expectations for the Volume 8 follow up, but overall this is pretty bad even by my nonexistent standards. It’s not that the premiere doesn’t give us any worthwhile moments, it’s that none of them are capitalized on. They just sit, unexplored, or outright undermined by what the rest of the episode has produced.

It’s disappointing, to say the least. As are our final lines. Yang admits that she thought she was dead, but there’s no time to let her or the others explore that. We hear a throwaway line that her arm was stolen - which relies a lot on the viewer having seen the trailer to understand how and why that happened, at least until next episode. And then Blake follows a bit of light shining through to them, parting some of the vines to look out across the entirety of Ever After.

“I know how this sounds, but... I think we’re in a fairy tale.”

Our final line, folks! Is there anyone else that would have preferred ending on Ruby’s faint? Feels more dramatic and would have let the fandom theorize a bunch before she wakes up next episode (even if then, inevitably, there would have been disappointment that nothing was done with it). Really, I get why they want to end on the shot of Ever After, but all I could think was, how in the world did you come to that conclusion, Blake? Given that this is a world based off of a real fairy tale and not the fairy tales that exist in Remnant. I would 100% buy a character from our world recognizing that they’re in a place similar to Wonderland, but nothing we’ve seen here reflects the tales of Remnant.

Well no, there is one thing, but it exists in the opening. Blake’s been reading the script again.

So let’s unpack that, shall we?

(Sorry, I need to slam all the important opening screenshots together because tumblr won't let me upload any more images boooo).

Our first shot is of Jaune! 🤦‍♀️

Really? That’s the beginning of every episode’s opening? Jaune crying with his broken, bloody sword? Hmm, I wonder if the character imposing on the girls’ team journey will be important this Volume. We also get another shot of him with a clock motif, making me wonder if the theories about him having (somehow) spent longer in the Ever After will prove to be true.

This initial shot is paired with Neo looking sad, presumably over Roman’s death and her continued failure to avenge him. She appears in the trailer a fair bit which, alongside the Jabberwocky, is the thing I’m most excited for. I’m glad that, at least based on this, it doesn’t look like they’re going to squander her role as a villain here. We see Neo drinking her tea with a fantastic smirk, surrounded by a group of shadowy antagonists.

A huge list of one-off baddies, or the various looks she’ll be adopting to mess with the characters? I’m hoping for the latter, especially since some fans think that one of the silhouettes looks like Jacques. However, I do question whether she can actually pull something like that off. I love the idea of Neo manipulating the group, especially in a Volume hosting a grief arc, especially in a place that, as far as they know, might contain their dead loved ones. For a brief moment I even questioned if that other Ruby we see in the trailer was Neo. The problem is I’m pretty sure she speaks and, thus, it’s very difficult for a villain to pretend to be an ally for more than a few seconds when she’s mute. Combine that with the fact that Ruby knows Neo is here and that all just kinda... falls apart. Which is unfortunate because I would have loved to see a Neo using the Ever After’s impossibilities and her own semblance to mess with the heroes. Still, a final shot at the end appears to show everything stemming from Neo, which makes me think she’s going to be the major antagonistic force this Volume and/or gains control of the Ever After somehow. Fitting, for a woman with control over illusions.

Whether Neo makes much use of her semblance or not, I hope we don’t have another 8+ characters to introduce because there’s already Little, the other mice, the cat, racoon, the forge lady, the knight (same person?), the Red Queen, the creature hiding in the leaves, the caterpillar, the Jabberwocky, and this new girl. People get why that’s a lot to manage, right? Especially in a story with four main protagonists, with two others thrown into the void with them. I get that they don’t want the Ever After to be a wasteland, but RWBY continually has a problem with side characters eating up the time and focus. Then they’re left behind and that work feels wasted. Why spend a Volume developing Little (or Ilia, Sun, Neptune, etc.) just to drop them? This bloated cast means it’s a bit of a relief that Volume 9 doesn’t seem to be trying to jump between here and Vacuo, but damn. Three years to find out what’s happening with the others? The growing chance that there will be a time skip and that the girls will come back to find all these ongoing problems resolved off screen: We somehow rescued all the people from the desert! Ren and Nora are officially together! Winter has long gotten used to her powers! Oscar merged while you were gone and now we don’t have to worry about Ozpin anymore!

Not looking forward to it.

Out of all these new characters, the most important is the young girl. My current theory is that she’s the girl from “The Girl Who Fell Through the World,” with perhaps our opening line - “This is the story of a girl who had a lot of problems” - being the first line of her tale. We know due to Ozpin that many of Remnant’s fairy tales are based on true events, so it would make sense if that one came about after a young woman literally fell into a different world. We see her arrive on the beach before Crescent Rose shows up, implying that she’s been there a long time, and there are some implications that she’s a rather powerful figure now: she leads the group through the various environments (with Ruby lagging farther and farther behind. Perhaps the introduction of a new team leader will increase her feelings of inferiority and failure?), she appears right before an evil copy of Ruby turns around (love that grin), and she's in a painting with another, shadowed figure behind her. Despite the fact that we already have this reference (short of) it gives me Ozma/Tip vibes, wherein the original Wizard of Oz books Ozma is turned into a boy named Tip in an effort to keep her hidden.

Regardless of her role, I have the feeling this girl will end up being more of an antagonist than an ally; a representation of the ways Ever After can twist a long-term resident and likely a foil to Ruby (the true leader) and Jaune (someone who will overcome the world’s allure and return with the girls).

There are a number of other thematically significant shots throughout the opening. All the girls are shown in their various outfits, smiling or smirking, but Ruby grows sadder and her most recent counterpart hides in her cloak, facing away from the viewer.

Her tears - more than we’ve seen her actually cry in the show, I'd like to point out - transforms into Crescent Rose.

The girls try to navigate an impossible maze where the Ruby copy shows up, they run up the tree before being blown back (falling remains relevant then), the girls are once again gloriously saturated in their colors (even if Weiss is still more blue than white), and I really like the shot of Ruby falling past the rabbit. Actually, I like the painted style of that fall far more than I like the look of the rest of the Volume.

However, what interests me the most about this intro is a series of images that may well be connected: two streaks of blue falling through the sky, a massive explosion that engulfs the life tree, and the burning of a book of fairy tales.

Look, I don’t care how awful the gods actually are, especially when RWBY has done nothing to explore that. I don’t care if this is one of their realms and the heroes need to take drastic measures to escape it.

You are NOT going to have the girls destroy a whole-ass world after they destroyed a Kingdom, right?

Right?

On that thoroughly optimistic note, let’s end with a miscellaneous section because we are nearly 10k in and this poor recap needs to be put to bed. (As do I.)

Thanks for reading! :)

Misc. Observations

I enjoyed the little detail of Ruby wringing out her cloak as she surveyed the jungle. Nice job remembering she just came out of the water.

I didn’t enjoy the actual shot of the landscape though. I totally get that there’s wonky perspective stuff going on given how far back the ‘camera’ is, but am I the only one who thinks the jungle looks WAY too small in that opening scene?

I definitely mentioned this the first time I examined our promo clip (and briefly above), but I wonder if the weather here is influenced by emotion, given that the rain appears to start and stop when Ruby cries. I want to say “No” now just because this already isn’t consistent - there’s no rain when Weiss cries, you’d think we’d see some kind of weather influence when Ruby faints - but a part of me is hopeful just because it’s such a cool concept. Especially for a combat show where terrain can make-or-break a battle. As we’ve seen, each little bit of Ever After seems to function differently - Ruby doesn’t hit another patch of repeating jungle, for example - so maybe this is something that will return sporadically?

This is definitely me being nitpicky and petty, but you’ve gotta love that, other than the repeat dialogue of Volume 8 and the faint shouts of “Ruby!” our first words of the Volume are, “Now if only you could help me.” I don’t begrudge anyone help, certainly not the protagonist of a story that wants to be centered around unification, but Ruby has struggled with agency so much I can’t help but roll my eyes a little. Yes, why would we write our protagonist figuring out how to help herself when the random mouse she stumbles across can do it instead? And then, you know, not actually do anything, allowing the protagonist to instead just stumble on what she wants, rather than actively retrieving it.

So you know how Little not-so-subtly mentions that an easy way to get on their village’s good side is to bring more of that cheese? Surely then when we next see Ruby she’ll be animated carrying a couple of those cheeses as a bribe? Spoiler: she's not.

Anyone else feeling iffy about Blake’s description of Yang? The one where she refers to Yang as the scary looking one? As someone who has been frustrated with Yang’s lack of anger management the last couple of Volumes, I’m not a big fan of her “scariness” being played as a cute character quirk.

Ruby remembers right before the non-battle starts that she’s without Crescent Rose. Funny how she didn’t appear to notice its absence before, or go looking for her precious weapon like Blake did. (Seriously, I know I’ve said this a hundred times by now, but the girls’ reactions to landing here and everything they’ve lost are nonexistent.) This also highlights how useless most of the girls are without a weapon in hand. Didn’t we have a mini-arc back in Volume 5 about them learning hand-to-hand? Wasn’t that specifically labeled as Ruby’s flaw? Now it crops back up and she just hangs back, scared? Once again I'm asking what the point of any of that was if we're not going to see the development. Something something only the most recent Volume is canon.