#x. mun stuff

[maybehappylittlerobot]

Pink goes good with Green

[lordgrimwing]

Circa early TA 2500

Celebrían loves her star-dust husband. 

She’d loved him since she first saw him—or felt something special at least, even if it had taken her a few years to realize the depth of those feelings. She hadn’t said anything at first, of course; neither had he, though it wasn’t long into their courtship before he admitted (blushing and so sweetly shy for someone nearly four hundred years her senior) as much to her. She’d stayed silent at first because she thought it was a youthful fancy, something she would forget after a few months of knowing and working beside him, and later because he was her mother’s dear friend and Galadriel certainly would not approve (she’d been wrong on that last point, at least once her mother got used to the idea). Now, there was nothing stopping her from sharing her love every day, every moment.

He had an ageless kind of quality about him. His agelessness went beyond the classical elven beauty that went unchanged by time as the centuries rolled ever onward. At first, she was hard pressed to describe precisely what that meant. After so many years of watching how his body changed with the passing time in a way no elf’s ever would, she found the words: he was ageless as the constellations; ageless as the stars that shone before the sun and the moon, before the Trees or the Lamps; ageless as Ilúvatar’s Music.

And sometimes, the divine shines through.

***

Celebrían and Elrond are in bed; she is sitting, sketching the crescent moon as it sails toward the far end of the hidden valley while he sleeps beside her. The short summer night is a few hours away from drawing the nocturnal orchestra to a close, and she listens as the sounds of birds and insects shifts toward diurnal patterns. Her charcoal whispers as she drags it softly over the linen page, filling in the last details.

She has many pages filled with drawings like this one. She never grows tired of the view across Imladris from her bed, and she likes to have a little something to keep er hands occupied on nights when she wishes to stay with her husband but has no need of sleep herself. She will show him the sketch when he wakes and tell him all about the pair of bats that play-chased each other outside while she worked.

The mattress shifts. Her hand stills as she looks over at Elrond.

He is still asleep, dark hair pooled around his head. Stars blink in his hair, weaving in and out of existence with each breath as they are so want to do these days when he cannot be troubled to hide them (it hadn’t been like that when they married. Back then, if he did not choose to share his light then it stayed hidden under his skin for the most part, and when he came to Ereinion’s court, he could not choose one way or the other, it merely happened—sometimes at very inopportune moments, which she wishes she could have seen). He sighs in his sleep and twitches.

She watches. Mannish sleep is cyclical, she’s learned, guessing he is entering the phase when his body can move but is not ready to wake up yet. She spent many nights charting the peculiar cycle and knows it well. He should wake in about an hour, perhaps an hour and a half if they are lucky. His sleep had been troubled as of late, and she’d hoped her presence would deter whatever half-forgotten memories were plaguing his rest. She sooths the back of her hand across his forehead as his breath speeds up, brushing their fëar together as she does to share the calmness of her spirit.

He seems to settle after that. For a minute, she thinks that is the end of it, that all will stay calm until he wakes, rested and happy.

Celebrían should know better by now than to tempt Doom, but she is ever optimistic.

A minute draws into two draws into five. She turns back to her drawing, picking up the charcoal stick.

A twitch of his arm and a shiver against her fëa are the only warnings before Elrond is struggling back into wakefulness, gasping like one half-drowned and fighting against the sheets to escape their confines.

Art entirely discarded, she turns back to him, pulling the bed cover down as he blinks, unfocused and shaking. Light pours from behind star-strewn eyes, leaks from the lines in his skin as he sits up. Fireflies flash in each ragged exhale. In the panicked moments between sleep and full consciousness, his elven veneer is thin and brittle.

“Elrond,” she murmurs to him. When she reaches for him, she finds his fëa has completely retreated behind thorny defenses thicker than any briar growing in Middle-earth. She doesn’t touch him yet; his heart is beating like that of a panicked deer, and she may only startle him further. “Peace, Elrond. Peace. I am here.”

Words and spirit infused with all the calm assurance and love she could pour into them, she let her presence wash over him, gentle and safe.

“Celebrían?” The whispered word comes out of his mouth half broken on a sob and repeats off the walls as though they are in a cavern. He reaches out blindly for her.

She takes his hands in hers. “Yes, love, I’m here. We are in Imladris. All is well.”

He repeats her name as he cries. Relief so thick it’s almost cloying fills the space around them. She tries to hug him, but he grips her hands tighter to stop her from moving them away from his. Instead, she rests her chin on his head, tucking him against her as she murmurs sweet nothing to him until he calms. Stars prick her skin like forgotten needles.

“Was it Sight?” She asked at last when he’d dried his face and was no longer leaking light like it would all burst out of him at any moment.

“A nightmare,” he says firmly, resolutely. He repeats the words again with a shudder.

“Of the children?”

It isn’t uncommon when Elladan and Elrohir went off traveling, as they were now, for Elrond’s sleeping mind to mix the twins into his memories of things that had or might have happened to his own twin brother and himself in war-torn Beleriand. Arwen, too, is not spared from his terrors. The great evils of that time are long banished, but that detail is easily forgotten in the throes of a nightmare.

“Orcs,” he shudders but tells her no more.

She refrains from pushing him. She knows he will tell her more if needed to rid himself of the last of the dream. She strokes his stary hair as they sit entwined, waiting for the sun to rise.

[muninnhuginn]

gonna have a go at a tbhx liveblog. tbh, idk if I'll keep this up or if it'll fade away, but let's have a go.

context in terms of my current knowledge of the series going in:

superheroes? something about public perception dictating how they're seen and some kind of 'trust' rating

one character takes on the role of another

yaoi in episode two(?)

crimes against women discourse

3d/2d animation - given how the other to be hero series operate I'm going to guess this is dependent on world but idk fully

I've seen 'to be hero' and 'to be heroine' so that'll also be informing some stuff here. oh! also, I'll be watching in chinese, though not sure in this case whether the japanese release gets edited down as it did for the previous series in this collection

will be using the tag '#mun watches that hero show' so as not to spam the main tag

Episode 1 thoughts below cut

unsubtle visuals my beloved. anyway, starting themes of the show are "everyone can be a hero" vs "the only path is to accept reality and work hard".

oooh okay nice episode title card. again, on the nose, but it's not like it *needs* to be subtle. also "41 years after commission", iseeisee.

"one day you'll be replaced by someone else" - okay, so. given one of the only spoilers I do know for this series, that's. well.

two seconds later. fingerguns out. wasn't expecting it *quite* that quickly, but comedic timing on point

"who you are is of no importance" - same thing as he was saying himself earlier, but context makes it come off pretty differently

"nice has been doing poorly ever since 'that incident'" taking notes taking notes. that'll definitely come back later

ah, belief system is largely how I'd thought it'd be? belief makes reality, essentially. "as long as we package you flawlessly" and they're having an ad guy do this. fitting.

this question is more fitting to be posed to an obsessive fan than a romantic partner ngl. oh nice, glasses blonde agrees with me

oof rip he actually knows the answer right down to the runtime. that's... kinda embarrassing. obsessive fan it is.

oh. right. okay, I forgot he'd been involved in making a load (all?) of these ads. he gets a pass but he's on thin ice

"she's always been my goddess". I'm taking so much damage here.

oooh the comboing 2d with 3d for the liquid and smokey effects. reminds me of arcane.

trust vs fear. another theme, methinks

so, the villains will represent a fear - in this case, being fired? makes sense. it's presented as though it's a general fear, but I expect that each fear will be relevant to lin ling in some way or another and become increasingly close to his personal fears as the show goes on....?

2d replay of 3d scene. backdrop is somewhat different now though. or rather, the lighting emphasises the poster with the shattered face and saturates out nice almost completely

not the falling imagery. I wasn't gonna make any of this about link click and I know link click doesn't have the monopoly on falling off buildings but. creator footprint.

"I hope that someday I'll be able to protect those worth protecting" noting down as more arc relevant words even if I suspect the first time around will Not go well

moon pulling lin ling out of his fear, not through any actions of her own, but through the marketable version of her he remembers

pshh the flickering between selves as he punches. jjk op vibes.

first re-emphasis of "anyone can be a hero"

interesting how he carries through the final attack still in 2d

visual contradiction. neat.

discussing nice choosing to throw himself off a building as they're heading up to the very top of another building. topical.

yeaaah. wasn't sure exactly how it'd happen but the crimes against women discourse had me thinking she'd die. I'm... not sure if it sticks or if she "comes back" then dies again? I was kinda trying to avoid spoilers but also vaguely curious. I guess I'll find out

Some misc thoughts overall:

Visually, this show seems really strong thus far. Imagery, how it combines the different art styles, how it switches between them for emphasis. Really works

Tonally... kinda all over the place. A lot of this is presented comedically with dark undertones so it's hard to know how seriously you're *meant* to be taking things

The ending (opening) sequence is incredibly focused on a guy we've not met yet, but with visual similarities to Nice. I've managed to avoid most of the promo stuff so I don't actually have a clue who this guy is, though the chess pieces make me think potential "chessmaster" archetype?

oh right. The part about the belief system that struck me the most was the way that Lin Ling's eye colour physically changed. Currently, we're getting all the mirror visuals and seeing Lin Ling's thoughts with him as "himself". I'm curious as to how far his "becoming" Nice will go and whether he'll be able to "return". There's also been a lack so far of information whatsoever about his life prior to this. Whether he has (had?) friends or family. He didn't seem to be calling anyone when he was at the top of the tower but that doesn't mean he *doesn't* have anyone.

Lin Ling's profession as an advertising guy in the context of the trust system. He tended to be on the back end of the marketing work rather than the forefront before this, sure, but it seems super relevant to me that his job was all about public perception. Also, the sheer number of advertising posters/video ads in the backdrop at all times was overwhelming but intentional. Weirdly, am being reminded of Go Go Loser Ranger with some of it

[deficd]

Tagged by @meomonstrumo <3<3<3

Name: Lee Birthday: December 25th Country: unfortunately the USA Gender: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Orientation: sapphic Hobbies: sketching, herping, writing (lol), science stuff, gaming Favorite colors: silver, purple, blue Last song listened to: Flowers of Flesh and Blood by Nicole Dollanganger URL Meaning: "defied" but in the trendy tumblr way

Tagging: @vuulpecula @riiese @nightmarefuele @ofprevioustimes @ofluckandmagic

@unpossession @petitsdieu @id1eyouth @aurentaie @chronically-engaged (or your main!) and YOU!

[paramounticebound]

people i'd like to get to know better

last song i listened to: Keep Your Eyes Peeled by Ultra Sunn currently watching: uhhh Expedition Unknown spicy/savory/sweet: Savory? relationship status: 'til death do I part current obsession(s): the mango lamb korma that I'm currently eating, DUUUUUUNE, Austin Butler's cupid's bow, Xenomorphs (come talk to me about Aliens, Jay), Various people's Sith OCs, my own Sith OC, Giant African Bullfrogs, Runic alphabets

tagged by: @fasciinating ty boo<3

tagging: @learnedlucidity @lettherebemonsters @nightmarefuele @petitsdieu @amarvelousmencgerie

@corsey @ofmuse @vitalphenomena @verreprincesse @rejectory and YOU!

[hxroic-wxlls-fxrever]

//Since @divinityunleashed has a Tony muse, I think throwing a Raiden or X their way to share tech stuff/armor pieces would be a fun idea-//

[tres-fidelis]

((BITING AND GNAWING AT JAYDEN/MARUKI!!

BITING AND GNAWING THEM AND BITING ON THEM AND GNAWING THEM AND HOW CUTE THEY'RE GONNA BE ONCE ALL OF THE METAVERSE SHIT IS DONE AND HOW THEY'RE GONNA WORK ON MAKING THEMSELVES BETTER AND FIGURING OUT WHAT THEIR NEXT STEPS FORWARD ARE TOGETHER!!

BITING AT THEM AAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!))

[medicus-mortem]

   He's glaring at one of the romance novels Ikkaku found that stars him. His jaw is tight. He is not happy.

   "Who the fuck is this guy? 'Cause he ain't me," the doctor growls. "There is an entire chapter that is cliched emotional vulnerability intermixed with dramatic brooding. What the fuck!?"

[blackdragonmedicdean]

Got bored and decided to do a solo campaign for a Fallout and Warhammer one-shot using 4 Primarchs and two oc's of mine (here is who I'm using and what class they are if anyone is interested mostly based around Fallout 4)

Lion El'Jonson - Fighter, Champion

Roboute Guilliman- Paladin, Oath of Heroism (more based on belief in self and in others)

Ferrus Manus- Artificer, Forge Adept

Rogal Dorn- Artificer, MasterMaker

Free Walker- Bard, College of Whispers

Kola Frost- Sorcerer, Aberrant Mind (class and subclass more closely resembles psykers in the fallout universe)

[snakes-of-the-undercity]

Happy New Years, I’m in my room reading COD smut and trying to breathe properly ‘cause I’m sick. YAYYYYYYYYYY

[gnzma]

learning to trust feat // @turnecoat

[pocket-sized-love]

Hey there fellow pokephiles! I wanted to ask anyone that wants to, if they'd be willing to come into my inbox and share their love of pokemon.

You can share anything you like! Sexual desires, stories about your first loves, your current partnerships, past partnerships, your preferences, funny or heartwarming stories. You can even share others' stories, as long as you're not giving me identifying information.

The only thing I will not post is asks talking about their pokemon or pokemon in a manner I find is abusive or dangerous. I only promote consensual relationships on this blog!

Anon is on for your comfort guys, I look forward to hearing all about how much you love Pokemon! <3

[muninnhuginn]

TBHX Episode 4 Thoughts

So, finally approaching the end of the first arc, curious to see how it resolves itself. For previous liveblogs, check here, but otherwise, if you'd like my thoughts on episode four, see below the cut!

Starting with a recap and the perspective from the branding side: essentially, so long as they stay silent, Nice/Moon shippers will overwhelm the narrative and let them retain control. Yay mob mentality? (Not that I'm expecting it to work out as branding would like)

"In one hour, I will kill Moon." I don't know if it's because I have marketing ideas already in my head for this show, but *classic* sales tactic. Adding time pressure to force action without having chance to properly think.

pictured: the power of cnet. But huh, actually I hadn't considered that the will of fans would extend that far. That them just wanting him to act in a particular way would make him do so. It makes sense, given what else we know, but it's not even an existing misconception, so much as them willing this result from thin air.

"I've already sent someone to deal with [Moon]" I'd ask deal in what capacity because I'd usually take that as code for killing her, but given that's what God Eye already 'wants', I'm presuming it's some other tactic to try and wrestle back control. Unless they could kill her *and* turn the story their way. Idk idk.

Huh, that's actually more callous than I'd been taking it. Comes back to the way that the fans clearly don't see 'Nice' as a person. They want him to 'win' within the parameters of the game. Moon was already subsumed to be part of Nice's legacy rather than her own so Nice taking 'priority' makes sense to fans within the Trust framework, because on the most basic level, Moon was always just a 'prize' for Nice anyway.

"chains you must endure" relating to the consequences of fame being contrasted by the swing...

Hm, okay, so they're claiming this new hero is in to save Moon. Clean-up specialist??? That's... not reassuring

"He can also destroy his opponent's memories" <- well that's a brand new pack of worms.

And destroying the memories of those who know Lin Ling is Nice, at that. Essentially locking him into the role. His past has already been taken when it was framed as a suicide, but this would also rob his future. Lin Ling is already pretty isolated at this point, after all.

Using truth to destroy perceptions, similar to the previous episode with Firm Man. Of course, even though this is the truth in this case, it's less about what's true vs. false and more about what information is able to spread. What narratives pick up steam and are latched onto by believers.

2d art!

Am liking the transition through art styles and periods of his life here as he's stripped back to his past.

Back to the promo vid from the start of ep 1 and it's immediately derided as 'crappy', rip.

Ah, his hair is fading back. I'd sorta thought when they were just showing his lower body they were going to pan back to his head as Lin Ling so I was... a quarter right?

Two thoughts here. 1) Seems he's able to cast away some of the effects of the beliefs by disowning the role of Nice (promo vid presumably reminded him). 2) Looking very nervously of that 14m (including ending) left of the episode. Wait, I lied, three thoughts. 3) Big fan of his character design here retaining the one strand of white hair.

"What I wanted to become from the beginning wasn't Nice, but a real hero" Aha, yes, it was the promo vid! ...and also Moon.

Things are Going Well.

"I didn't think his powers would diminish that quickly." Technically, that's not what--

Yay imagery

aww more than one person realised he 'died'. Take that, the one hit on the news article of Lin Ling's 'death'. There were actually maybe two hits.

Smh, tried to get a good screenshot of the cool x-ray shot at the moment he punches him, but couldn't pause at the right time

Not the fans accusing Lin Ling of being parasocial about Moon. I mean, to be fair, he kinda was, especially at first, but have they looked in the mirror lately? Oh? "So the one who cried for her at the wedding" ...the power of shipping has returned to the game?

Got the X guy on the building behind God Eye and all the other buildings are calling Lin Ling FAKE. Also, is that a KFC? Sorry sorry I should be focusing on the motive rant. He does kinda have a point honestly (even if one wrapped up in envy). Plus, "all you in the audience" is fun on a meta level. We don't have the same conflation of fiction and reality as the audience in-universe here, but something something treating real life as a spectator sport can definitely be relevant.

Welcome back, arc words.

More calling back to episode one and inadvertently answering my question from back then about whether he had anyone in his life as Lin Ling to protect back then. (The answer is 'no' apparently)

Headbutt attack breaking through. Lin Ling is staying in 3d for this.

"Vulnerability detected" appearing all over God Eye's screens because Lin Ling's strength *isn't* in perfection. He's doing this entirely imperfectly.

And there's the 2d, as he gains a Trust value as Lin Ling.

Ooh I need to go find some gifsets when I'm fully caught up of the sequence with the explosion onwards. Sakuga.....

And we're back to recruitment going on in the background even mid-fight. Even without being tied down to the Nice role, Lin Ling is still being subject to the pressures.

"What is the truth?" Well, it's what you make it, clearly. Next question.

"Going to pin everything on Enlighter" etc etc. You know when there's a big disaster and it hits the news and everyone else uses it as an excuse to clear out any bad-looking news that on any other day would make the headlines?

"You're an anti-fake and yet you used a fake?" Ends justify the means + it's what information *spreads* not whether it's true or false that matters.

i-it's not KFC, it's XFC

Belated title card:

Something about Moon seeming to make her escape only to still be 'trapped' just the same as Lin Ling 'escaping' the role of Nice only to still be in the same Trust system. <- crossing this out because. well. Like, I knew something was coming and there weren't enough minutes left for there to be ending credits but.

Ugh, sick of them pulling this kind of thing. ('Them' can be general but can also specifically be LH0) At least this time had the foreshadowing in the end of ep 1, but overall, really not a huge fan of such blatant fridging.

Another timeline to keep an eye on. (The other being the x years after commission)

Misc:

Overall, episode four did a good job calling back to the threads laid out previously especially in episode one

Guessing this heroes tournament is going to be overarching plot

I think Lin Ling's arc itself was... relatively well-rounded? Moon had some decent moments too, but given how unceremoniously she was taken out at the end there, I'm retrospectively thinking she didn't have enough actuall--

This show has a tendency to toss out a lot of genuinely fascinating questions about the systems inherent in its world building but then not really answer them? (The PR aspects/Trust value system/most of God Eye's ranting tbh) It could be that it's going to go into these aspects more in future arcs, but I think Lin Ling would have been the obvious entry point to thoroughly explore most of them given his own background in marketing. I guess we'll see

Visuals still really strong. Seemed like less of the symbolism stuff this time, but more than made up for it with the action sequences

Oh yeah, am also presuming the whole Fear deal will continue throughout the arcs. If the aim is to tear down the Trust system it's almost hard to argue against that given that from what we've seen thus far, it punishes the heroes beholden to it. The methods of inflicting Fear itself are obviously exploiting people's vulnerabilities and airing a whole load of dirty laundry in some kind of hyper cancellation, but Trust vs Fear isn't a black and white scenario, at least.

[epitomees]

dibs (even if we haven't interacted too much, I still love your writing! )

send me a ‘dibs’ if you are ridiculously attached to me as an rp partner

((Shhhhshshshshshh that can easily be fixed!! I'm so excited to get to the stuff we already have going and to have EVEN MORE THINGS with you too!! I love your gaggle of muses and I love your writing as well!! You put a lot of heart and thought into each character, and it certainly shows!

[superspookyjanelle]

( ships in order below )

[reddragon-cowboy]

// Anyway, this is an oc x canon/crossover safe-space. I encourage it and I love to see it. I love canon x canon as well but canon x oc gets trashed on for no reason, so this is for the peeps who enjoy it. I got headcanons and stories about the relationship between the characters I write, and other muses I'd like to share whenever I so please. If you don't want to see it or don't like it, you can bounce ;3