Op Your Mind - Blog Posts

i hate the v3 ending personally, so i just keep thinking about an alternative where the v3 kids are actual ultimates, escaped a classic killing game, are rescued by the FF somehow, and then move to jabberwock island with the remnants cause its really the only safe place for them. they could get along

hajime and shuichi are detective bros! they bond over generally everything/the kg/same worldviews so thats a given. himiko and gundham talk about magic and animals, shes always in awe by his swag. peko and maki are both assassins + struggle with an understanding of themselves + are generally protective and serious so they get eachother

nick: 🕺

i think it would be really cute if matakara started working at arajin’s mom’s restaurant to save up money for his and his brother’s apartment….

Return to Nyan Nyaight Love-A Happy Ending in Sight?

Before I begin my analysis for Episode 9's NNL segment, I would like to thank everyone who reblogged my previous post and left kind and wholesome compliments about my analysis. It really warms my heart that so many of you guys enjoyed my thoughts on these segments. Especially if they helped provide a clearer understanding of what thematic purpose they serve in the Bucchigiri series. I'm more than happy to help and I appreciate the compliments.

Secondly, I'd like to thank @saph-yells-into-the-void for providing a majority of screenshots for me to use. Even though you didn't mind not being credited, you still deserve it for these great screenshots!

So just as a quick recap, the NNL segments serve as a Greek Chorus as they parallel the main story of Bucchigiri by using the customer's relationship with Jasmine to symbolize various relations and plot events. This time, their relationship parallels the main relationship of the series: Arajin and Matakara.

Episode 9: A Heartfelt Reunion

The segment starts with the customer being nervous as usual about whether he should go in, only to hurry inside as to avoid being spotted by Arajin who's on his way to the bathhouse. The customer is greeted by the receptionist who is still uneasy with him avoiding Jasmine. And even the customer himself looks less indecisive and more somber when he's asking for Pu'er instead of Jasmine.

As I mentioned in the Episode 1 segment, the customer is meant to symbolize Arajin while the catboy receptionist represents the colorful delinquents that Arajin encounters. And even though the first episode had Jasmine stand in for Mahoro, this time she stands in for Matakara.

The receptionist describes Jasmine as being strong-willed, clingy, and too much at times. Many of which are traits that are associated with Matakara.

-While Episode 9 shows him slowly succumbing to Ichiya's twisted therapy sessions, it's worth noting that it's been several days since when he first merged with the Blue Genie til then. So it's worth noting that Matakara lasted a good while before succumbing to Ichiya's will. And even before that, it was his strong will that helped him become stronger and find a place among Minato Kai while also evading the shadows that constantly haunted him. His determination in becoming stronger helped him to evade those shadows; maybe not vanquish them but not to succumb to them either.

-The clingy and too much at times qualities seem to go hand in hand as most of Matakara's screentime has been spent trying to reconnect with Arajin while holding him on a pedestal. Even as Arajin kept pushing him away, Matakara still clinged on to his idealized version of his best friend. One who constantly inspired him to be a Honki person and do the impossible. The too much at times part also works since Mataraka just wouldn't stop gushing over Arajin to his other friends or tries to force Mahoro to talk with him about Arajin and his involvement in Siguma Squad. While is very much a sunshine puppy boy, he can be quite overbearing when it comes to his old friend.

As of the last episode, Arajin made his true feelings for Matakara painfully clear and how he wants to avoid him at all costs. Only now the rest of the cast have taken notice and how much it's effecting Matakara given his refusal to talk to his other friends Zabu and Sakigake mixed with him running away from home. It's become a serious problem and they're all worried about him.

Something peculiar about the receptionist's behavior, and the whole scene overall, is how it's played for dramedy.

The receptionist treats the customer abandoning Jasmine as something tragic and how badly it's effecting her. There's soft music at play as the receptionist speaks his heart out about the cat's distress and how only the customer can help her.

But at the same time, it's just so ridiculous. Utterly ridiculous! There's no reason that the receptionist should need to be so invested in the customer's preferences in cats. They haven't actually bonded with each other apart from letting the customer in so he can spend time with the cats and spend Lord knows how much money. This is his job so it shouldn't matter which cat some random, pathetic everyman chooses to play with since he's still getting paid rather handsomely at the end of the day.

But it does matter to him.

Maybe (as far as we know) the receptionist doesn't know the customer very well but he (supposedly) knows that Jasmine truly misses him and is miserable without him. The receptionist could try to make Jasmine feel better herself given that he sees her more often and knows more about her. But he knows that she holds the customer in his heart and implores him to go back to her.

And while the Minato Kai boys don't care much for Arajin or flat out tell Arajin to patch things up with Matakara, they do make it clear that their friend isn't doing so well after their falling out. He's in need of help and they unfortunately can't do anything about it given how they were brushed aside. And even Mahoro, who also happens to be a colorful character that Arajin met when he entered the Ichizu gang life, has also picked up on Mataraka's despair and wants him to feel better. She clearly doesn't care for Arajin but she knows how much he means to Matakara, someone who understands her when it comes to valuing an older brother figure. She even flat out orders Arajin to go see how he's doing.

Something to consider is that while the Minato Kai boys and Mahoro have their respective but serious scenes with Arajin, they still have their quirky (questionable in Mahoro's case) personalities at play. Such as Sakigake singing his heart out in the bathhouse with Arajin while in his birthday suit to Mahoro having a tea party with a blow up doll of her big brother before learning about Matakara's brother. They're still weird and silly but they show how much heart they have and how they can empathize with someone who's at their lowest. And while they might not be the best person to help out, they know that Arajin is the best person to help them out.

Just like how the customer is the best person to help out the upset cat. And what does he choose when he's asked a second time?

He loses his mopiness for just a moment, becomes slightly more confident and chooses his precious Jasmine. Much to the receptionist's jubilation.

I'm gonna be leaning on the optimistic side and say that this will foreshadow Arajin reconciling with Matakara.

As much as I find Arajin to be a detestable and disappointing human being, I will admit that he is capable of growth. Particularly with bonding with his old childhood friend.

Right after defeating Akutaro, we see Arajin help out a grievously wounded Matakara while mildly complaining about it. We see them being on speaking terms during the Pro Wrestling Episode and Arajin even took the time to teach him how to make gyoza. Not to mention that Arajin was also willing to stick around for Mitsukuni's Welcome Party. The guy is not a good person (ESPECIALLY towards women) but he is capable of becoming better. Maybe at a snail's pace, but it's possible.

And we see those glimpses of growth in Episode 9 with him secretly admitting that there was one person (Matakara) who actually would like his rock for a gift.

So I want to be an optimist and say that Arajin will be able to save Matakara from his despair and they'll reconcile. Maybe accepting that he took Matakra's feelings for granted and how he should have treated his former friend better. How he was acting like a dunderhead and how he doesn't expect to be forgiven after treating him like yesterday's trash. I don't know if the puppy boy will forgive and accept Arajin again so quickly after everything that's happened (it actually would make for an impressive writing choice if Matakara chose not to accept him right away but with their being hope that they'll be friends in the future) but their relationship status will be a hopeful one.

Random Thoughts

When the receptionist brought up how the customer has seen other cats, I had two thoughts in mind. The first is from the Group Date til now, the customer has seen other cats at NNL apart from Pu'er.

The second is that this could be an implied parallel to Ichiya. I don't have enough information since we don't know much about Honki People and the Pasts of the Two Genies, but it's possible that Ichiya has encountered other masters in the thousands of years from when he was human to the present. The other cats could have been masters that Ichiya encountered and tried to possess to take revenge against Senya. But as the receptionist claims, Jasmine kept waiting for the customer. In this case, Jasmine was Senya. Ichiya's oldest friend who still longs to see and reunite with him after so many years of separation and regret.

Another thing I want to bring up is how conclusive this segment feels. It feels like it was wrapping up the plotline between the customer and Jasmine. I find this odd since this happened in Episode 9 and we supposedly have three more episodes before Bucchigiri is officially over. Does that mean we won't get more NNL segments in the final 3? Or will we still get them but in different formats? Like an epilogue of the customer bonding with Jasmine (along with getting an official reveal of who she is) or maybe we get a new customer who's set up to meet another cat potentially foreshadowing a final plot point in the series.

And those would be my thoughts on this segment. No lie, I did not expect this to be this long. But given how conclusive this NNL segment was, I felt there was alot to say about this. And what did you guys think of this segment? As before, feel free to reblog this if you agree with what I wrote, disagree or have another interpretation for this scene. So if you think of something, please say that you know.

"Do you know? Do you know? Do you know what this means?"

The way that Cybertronians move is very important to me.

Doorwings and antennae and little bits of kibble moving around to express their emotions make me so happy. Humans don't really have anything like that, so it's almost animalistic, but in the best way. It's almost like they don't realize they're doing it sometimes.

Of course, some shows don't do it very much, but when they do!!! It makes me very happy.

Look at his doorwings!! They're going down! They're expressing his emotions!

Shockwave is supposed to be an emotionless, logical bot, but look at his little antennae!! They're going up and down!! He's feeling things!! He's alert!!

He's angry!! I love watching Prime!Starscream especially because he uses his wings to make himself look bigger sometimes, and he's so expressive with them!!

Optics!! My favorite example is Orion Pax, but the animators for Prime managed to make everyone's optics so expressive instead of just glowing lights. (Which is also fine and I love those too, but looking at Prime optics does something to me)

You can see the machinery moving!! You can tell it's one big ball behind the soft metal!! It gets smaller without Orion realizing like how our eyes get smaller in light!! But it's an emotional response instead!! And Optimus rarely lets his optics do this, so??? Is it something they can control??? Their optics??? Who knows but it looks cool!

In conclusion:

tradesies

Never underestimate the power of a hearty stew to make an adventure easier!

Surely Sam Gamgee and Senshi would be best friends if they ever met

I made some sticker designs ✨

I really drew this with my whole p*ssy huh

"𝙻𝚊 𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚎 𝚎𝚜 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚘 𝚞𝚗 𝚙𝚊𝚛𝚊𝚌𝚊í𝚍𝚊𝚜… 𝚜𝚘𝚕𝚘 𝚏𝚞𝚗𝚌𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚊 𝚜𝚒 𝚕𝚊 𝚝𝚎𝚗𝚎𝚖𝚘𝚜 𝚊𝚋𝚒𝚎𝚛𝚝𝚊". — 𝙰𝚕𝚋𝚎𝚛𝚝 𝙴𝚒𝚗𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚒𝚗

LOOK AT THEM. LOOK AT THEMMMMM

Meet the amazing Karnak. The most father figure machine in town.

(They will interrupt him. Will he be pissed? Yes. Will he start over? Most likely not. Does he still love them dearly? Absolutely)

glorious evolution

everyone sh. shutd up im cooking smthn

Susan did not see Peter in battle for years—arriving to his stand against Jadis almost too late, catching up while he picked himself up from the torn earth, on the other side of the conflict when the remnants of Jadis’ army tried their luck at the Cair. Sure, she knew he fought and killed, just as she did, just as Edmund and Lucy did—and oh, how Susan loathes that last part, but Lucy had been the one to find the first assassin in their halls and there was nothing to be done about it now. There was entirely too much death in their first year, Susan thinks, the fairytale shine of Narnia soon breaking apart and leaving a country and people in desperate need of rest and time behind. It took her days to get the blood out underneath her and Lucy’s fingernails, and she knew Peter had just as bad a time with Edmund next door. With a lump in her throat, Susan wondered often if this was to be the rest of their lives: washing themselves clean of battles that were forced upon them by a world far too big for their hands to hold. But even then, with the bloodied waters between them all, she never truly saw Peter in battle. A slain Maugrim who had about as much a part in his own death as Peter’s shaking sword did, a witch that Susan never saw die, assassins that ended up on the moth-eaten carpets she had found in old storage rooms; things that should give her pause but she simply couldn’t consider for long with all there was to do. They had killed to end up where they were, and Susan knew deep down that they would have to kill to stay, too. Now, standing with her bow held tight and a quiver empty of arrows, a sword at her side she has yet to finish learning how to swing, Susan finds herself in a pocket of tar-slow time. Here, she stands with a muddied hemline and their castle once more under siege—unknown foes, but foes all the same—and there, across the way, with his hair longer than Susan has ever known him to have, Peter lets out a roaring laugh. Rhindon is far out of sight, a glaive taking its place in Peter’s steady hands. Even from afar, Susan feels it in her bones when Peter’s swing launches an enemy’s torn body across the field. There are bodies, horror-frozen faces, the stench of blood and bile. The steps to the Cair will perhaps forever bear the stain of this assault. They have lost people they held dear. Susan has wept enough to fill an ocean. And Peter laughs. With storm-eyes, bloodied tongue, and bared teeth, her older brother wages joyous war.

made a small animatic, finally brought myself to animate a small bit of an idea ive had for months

Don't mistake my threat for bluff

You have lived more than enough.

ahem THIS IS GORGEOUS?!?!

May the fourth be with you!!! 💫✨

because something really did ask, have a much too long post about my thoughts on laudna’s individual dynamics with the rest of bells hells.

under the cut because it’s almost 3000 words.

laudna/imogen

i struggle to find something to say about imogen and laudna that hasn’t already been said a million times before. the core concept—the thesis—of their arcs, together and separately, is choice. so much of their backstories are defined by helplessness. laudna was chosen and killed because she happened to look like someone else, she was resurrected because she happened to be there. imogen’s mother left, she was burdened with powers she didn’t understand and meant constant pain and isolation. so, they make sure to constantly emphasize that the other person has a choice in everything. imogen tells laudna she only has to come back if she wants to, even though it would have devastated her to lose laudna forever. laudna tells imogen that the gods can’t control her, that no matter what her “destiny” is, if she wants, they can leave and live in a little cottage and raise horses together. the way they love each other unconditionally is all the more incredible given how cruel the world was to them for so long. laudna’s “you make me better” is true for both of them. they give each other a place to be vulnerable and feel all their messiest, worst feelings because they know the other one won’t judge them. they’ll support each other no matter the choices they make.

something i’ve mentioned quite a few times but never gone in depth about is that imogen and laudna do have a fairly significant age difference, and i do think that affects their dynamic. on the one hand, they both have a bit of arrested development—imogen due to her isolation from the rest of gelvaan from 18-26, laudna because she died at 20. on the other, laudna has so much more life experience than imogen. she spent almost 30 years traveling and interacting with the world even if was mostly people trying to kill her, maybe even because of that. the “laudna is imogen’s aunt/mother/older sister” takes were obviously ridiculous, but laudna does canonically look at imogen and see someone young who she wants to protect in a way she never was. she said as much to fcg after the gnarlrock fight. laudna acts as imogen’s rock, her tether if you will, a lot of the time, and part of the reason she can counterbalance imogen’s anxiety is because of the experience that comes with age. for example, during their conversation in episode 49, laudna is able to stay more “rational” and level-headed even when imogen is scared and overwhelmed. 

one of my other favorite things about them, specifically from laudna’s point of view, is that with a few exceptions (the gnarlrock fight, her jealousy of frida), she doesn’t seem insecure about their relationship. again, during episode 49, laudna mentions that she knows they haven’t talked in a while, but she didn’t worry because they “transcend words.” she didn’t need outside assurance from imogen because she felt confident in their love for each other. something i love about that episode 39-49 period is that they didn’t interact a lot, but when they did, they slipped right about in the same kind of intimacy they’d always had—imogen holding launda’s hand when they went into her dream together, laudna’s protectiveness of imogen after she interacted with ludinus. but anyway—that confidence is why i believe the transition from friends to lovers was so easy for laudna. laudna’s unsure of herself, of delilah and what she might do, but she’s absolutely not unsure of the love between her and imogen. that’s why as soon as imogen tells her she’s not a bad person, that she wants to be with laudna in that way, she lets herself embrace it entirely.

in conclusion: they invented romance, they’re the best canon pairing critical role has ever had and one of the best dynamics in general, etc., etc.

laudna/orym

oh my god, WHERE to begin? i feel like my take on their dynamic is slightly controversial. at the very least, i get more push back from people when i post about it than anything else, so let me start with this: orym cares deeply about laudna, i will never dispute that. however, orym is uncomfortable with laudna and has been since the very beginning of the campaign. she’s his friend and he recognizes her beautiful heart and resilient spirit, but he’s uncomfortable with her appearance and her messages in his head, with her macabre humor and her deadness. he can’t reconcile that laudna his friend and laudna the dead woman can’t be separated. laudna’s deadness is a part of her, one laudna embraces. orym, for better or worse, is “normal.” he grew up with a loving family and he had a husband and a career. will and derrig’s deaths were an unbelievable tragedy but one that never challenged his place within the status quo. (sidenote: i’ve always wondered if part of orym’s discomfort with laudna come from the fact that her proximity to death is a reminder of the resurrections will and derrig never got.) he sees himself as a follower, someone that doesn’t stand out, then there’s laudna, who does nothing but stand out. 

something i find fascinating is that orym is the first person to find out laudna’s backstory, and it affects him so much he can’t sleep that night and takes a point of exhaustion. he even explicitly recognizes the dehumanization she’s gone through and how laudna’s relationship with puppets like pate and sashimi mirror that. yet, he still never apologizes for trying to disguise her appearance, something without even asking. yes, i get it’s tactical and for “safety” (though that argument falls a bit flat for me when there’s also a glowing rock person and a fully conscious automaton in the group, but whatever), but it still hurts laudna. even beyond that, orym always qualifies his friendship with laudna to other person, making some mention of how she’s dead-looking and isn’t that crazy, wow, almost as if he wants some validation that it—laudna—is weird (one he, interestingly, rarely ever gets, given how enraptured most of the other pcs, including guests, and even some npcs, are with her). he does this even in situations he absolutely doesn’t need to like, for example, when maeve says laudna “looks cooler than i thought.” all this just sucks. it’s not that the love isn’t there, it is. it just isn’t unconditional, and laudna deserves better than that.

finally: the delilah in the room. no, it isn’t orym’s “fault” delilah is back. yes, he was also having an extremely bad time during the bor’dor fight and it wasn’t his “responsibility” to save laudna from herself, but laudna is orym’s friend. he listened to laudna tell him the trauma delilah put her through, he fought through hell to save laudna from her, and still nodded because part of him thought maybe delilah could help him and that was selfish. the fight against ludinus is important to of the bells, but for orym, it’s personal. it’s been his mission for six years. meanwhile, laudna is the one with the least enthusiasm about this. she has no connection to the gods. in fact, she actively thinks they dislike her, but he’s willing to sacrifice not just his safety, but the safety of her and all his friends for a cause they never set out to fight for.

in conclusion: i want to put them in a salad mixer together and watch them go around and around and around and around and around, then let them out to scream at each other a little.

laudna/ashton

if i had to explain laudna and ashton’s dynamic in one word, it would be “projection.” i adore their relationship, it’s one of my top 5 c3 dynamics, but oh my god, so much projection, and it’s so interesting because of that. ashton thinks he understands laudna, but in reality, he doesn’t at all. i’m an absolute sucker for characters that look very different on the surface but in reality are much more similar than they know, and ashton and laudna are that to a tee. they are very much narrative parallels especially regarding their feelings of “brokenness” and how their traumas are physical, visual parts of themselves, but the ways they diverge are almost more interesting.

certain people have said that her conversations with ashton are the only time laudna is “honest” or that, at the very least, she’s more honest with him than she is with anyone else, and i couldn’t disagree more. laudna can be a joyful, optimistic person and deeply traumatized with a core anger she hasn’t truly processed. laudna is a high-charisma character, and in my opinion, part of how that manifests is her ability to adapt her demeanor to the person she’s talking to. she speaks gently to imogen the same way she matches chetney’s hyperactive energy when they go sky-sailing. of course when she’s with ashton, who makes no effort to hide his anger and bitterness and doesn’t want her to be soft, she isn’t. none of these laudnas are more “real” than the others, they’re all laudna. what those people, and ironically, ashton themself, don’t get, or won’t let himself get, is that all those things can be true at once.

with ashton specifically, i don’t think they want to believe that because then they’d have to admit that growth and healing is a real possibility because anger is so much easier to deal with. people talk most about orym’s choices during the bor’dor fight most, but i’m fascinated by ashton’s as well. i wouldn’t be surprised if there was a part, no matter how small, that wanted laudna to break, to prove to himself that he was right and laudna was just as broken and fucked-up as them. so, laudna killing bor’dor was almost vindication, evidenced by their “what have i done?” “nothing i haven’t done.” exchange afterwards.

i don’t want this to sound like ashton doesn’t care about launda, they do. ashton cares about her so much, and besides imogen and fearne, is the most unabashedly into laudna’s aesthetic. i love how much they love all the weird shit she does. i love how protective ashton is of laudna, especially during battles and their willingness to go above and beyond for her—he carried laudna when she was dead despite his chronic pain without complaining once and were willing to make a deal with hexum after going through an entire museum heist to repay their debt. i love the moments when ashton sees how much laudna is struggling and tells her, as gently as he can, to take a moment and do what she can to ground herself. i love that when laudna way too dramatically assumes they kidnapped imogen, their response is “that’s very fair.” it’s all wonderful, and i love them.

in conclusion: I LOVE THEM SO MUCH AND I WANT TO LOCK THEM IN A ROOM AND FORCE THEM TO TALK ABOUT THEIR FEELINGS FOR HOURS.

laudna/fcg

laudna and fcg have been getting more attention in the past few days for obvious reasons and that has me rubbing my hands together maniacally because even though they have very little actual interaction, the subtext is delicious. 

besides ashton, fcg might be the character laudna parallels the most, especially their struggle with their humanity (if they’re even human at all), which isn’t helped by the constant dehumanization they face from outsiders, including the almost continuous comments they get when they meet someone new. people look at launda and see a horror while they look at fcg and see a novelty (he’s a robot with personality??), and those both suck. i think, for fcg, laudna is an uncomfortable reflection of himself because everything they’re afraid is true about themself is true about laudna. finding out they had a soul was such an important moment for his character (also remember his early campaign habit of calling other people “soul-touched folks”). as a hollow one, who knows if laudna even has a soul. if i’m honest, fcg seems to think less of laudna than the rest of the party (see: him calling her a “former person,” his speech before casting turn undead including, “no offense to laudna but can you please shine your light and wipe these evil, dead souls off the face of this flat planet?”) and that’s probably why. they have such strict ideas about “good,” which has become “godly,” and “wrong,” (“ungodly”), and within that framework, everything seemed to point to laudna as “ungodly,” which is why their empathy towards her is lacking. 

the biggest conflict between fcg and laudna right now is obviously their feelings on the gods. the changebringer brought fcg purpose and tangibly helps them on a daily basis. of course they want to share this incredible thing with everyone they meet, especially his friends. yet, time-and-time again, the world has shown laudna the gods don’t seem to care about her. before someone says anything, pike resurrecting laudna doesn’t automatically mean she has to trust the gods. clerics and paladins spent 30 years running her out of towns for existing and trying to kill her in the name of their gods. if the circumstances were different, there’s a good chance fcg could have been one of those people. for fcg, the world is black-and-white. for laudna, it’s all gray. laudna was able to have a conversation with imogen about the ruby vanguard’s message and the purpose of the gods because she understands the need to question things and thinks that’s a good thing even if she doesn’t agree with the conclusions. fcg’s not there yet, and until he is, their friendship with laudna will never be able to progress past where it is now.

in conclusion: please have a conversation, maybe even two or three. it’d be so good for fcg to learn the world’s incredible nuances and for laudna to see how faith in the gods can be an empowering force for good, not just something beyond her grasp.

laudna/fearne

out of all launda’s dynamics, this is the one i desperately want more of. we’ve gotten so little! almost all their moments are interactions between the three witches that tend to center imogen (making the red-string friendship bracelets and comforting imogen after she talked with relvin come to mind) OR center imogen and fearne’s mutual appreciation for laudna’s… everything. one of my favorite about fearne is that, like imogen, she doesn’t think laudna is gross and creepy, she thinks laudna is gorgeous and charming without any caveats. even ashton, who also loves laudna’s laudnaness, tends more towards “yeah, you’re disgusting and THAT’S why it’s great.”

the other main part of their dynamic i want to sink my teeth into is the coin-toss, more specifically fearne’s guilt over the coin toss. regardless of whether you think fearne lied (i personally find that headcanon FASCINATING but to each their own), she clearly feels so many emotions about having to pick whether to save laudna and orym that she hasn’t even begun to unpack. one of the few sole moments we’ve gotten of them was in episode 42 when laudna asked fearne to help teach her to cast fireball, and in it, fearne, unprompted, blurts out, “how’s it feel being alive again?” almost immediately. she also apologizes to laudna, says they’ll fight any piece of delilah that’s still in there, and tells her, “i missed you terribly for that moment in time.” even when laudna gives her the chance to make the conversation light-hearted, fearne stays so genuine, which is all the more-noteworthy because she’s usually so flippant and almost always keeps her real feelings close to her chest. 

some other examples of fearne’s guilt include: the 4sd where ashley said part of why she was so protective over imogen during their separation arc was that she couldn’t bear having to tell laudna anything happened to her and just this past episode when fearne’s protectiveness after laudna made her only cast first-level cure wounds on fcg after they cast turn undead.

in conclusion: PLEASE LET THEM INTERACT MORE. THERE’S SO MUCH JUICY POTENTIAL AND I WANT TO SEE IT EXPLORED.

laudna/chetney

i don’t have that much to say about them except that their dynamic is absolutely delightful. i love that we’ve gotten to see more of it in recent episodes, and i hope that continues. 

chetney exists at an interesting place between orym’s genuine discomfort and fearne and imogen’s complete enchantment with laudna’s undeadness. he is sometimes grossed out, but he also seems to accept it as a thing about laudna without too much judgment, or at least, that “judgment” is light-hearted in a way orym’s or even fcg’s isn’t.

i love that they’re the characters with the most life experience (even if laudna is technically the fourth oldest, fcg only has two years of memory and fearne is a 100+ but spent 99% of that time in one place) but also embrace being “childish” and silly together, like the entire sky-sail sequence! 

in conclusion: *gently holds* i just think they’re neat!

that’s all! if you read this whole thing, you get my eternal love and gratitude. thank you.

Fondly imagining that glorious pre-Evandrin’s death, pre-Seelie marriage but post-Seelie engagement period of time when the overwhelming impression of the (not-yet-named-such) Ring of Brass was “okay, so how many of them are sleeping with each other?”

Because Evandrin and the Architect Arcane were in each other’s pockets long before Evandrin’s husband showed up, and they still keep sitting in each other’s laps at parties. And Coramar keeps threatening to become Coramar-Seelie but that wedding’s been in the planning stages for years, and in the meantime her fiancé continues to be an automatic flirt. And Laerryn and Patia are whispery wizard besties, Patia and Nydas do conspiracies together and give extravagant gifts, Nydas and Zerxus once had an arm wrestling match at a gala, and Loquatius does the most glowing features on any and all of them… Cerrit is left out of some of the earlier scandalous gossip until, on one of the few occasions his wife shows up for a formal event, people notice that she perfectly bridges the gap between his gruffness and the rest of his friend groups’ cavalier curiosity and pride.

Im sure they have a normal workplace relationship and no underlying issues to address!

RHAENICENT APPRECIATION WEEK 2024 [6/7] au: romcoms (and more!) - part one

This was supposed to be a joke, I got too carried away...

Anyway, what ending do you think Megatron is gonna get

Companions

(can we have them again this time, Supergiant?)

the greatest will-they-won't-they in television sitcom history. i guess.

I need to know now about these AU's if you prefer of course I wouldn't want to force you may remember to take care of yourself and drink lots of water You are loved

AN EXCUSE TO TALK ABOUT MY AUS??? YES PLEEEASSSE RAAAA

ok this is gonna take awhile and be verrrry long so the list is under read more <3

Subfishmas au

so this au some ppl may know :3 cus i started a comic about and and never finished it. Emmet and Ingo are pokemon fish! ingo is a Basculin and dies on Hisui island after an adventure goes wrong, then evolves into Basculegion. Emmet thinks his brother is dead but is desperate to find his body. the people of hisui are not fish, they're just humans. Hisui isn't in the past, and is just an island inaccessible to fish! Ingo and Akari are the only mers that are on the island. I reallly gotta continue it some time

Twin dragons au

we all know at least three variations of this one. Emmet is Reshiram and Ingo is Zekrom. shenanigans ensue. it's not exactly a secret and most regulars to Gear Station know, but those outside of Nimbasa aren't told and would have to find out for themselves.

Masked au

a bit of a weird one but i still love it!!!!! Emmet gets sent to Hisui to find Ingo, but because of the mask he wears, no one knows he's Ingo’s twin. he's also completely nonverbal for the first few months he's in Hisui. even when he becomes more verbal, it's not by much, and he basically only ever talks to Melli. also Warden Emmet!!! he's the Warden of a fire/rock type Galvantula third evo called Drifider

Demon Slayer au

Just your average character replacement au! Ingo is Tanjiro, Emmet is Nezuko, Elesa is Zenitsu, and N is Inosuke. it basically follows the plot of demon slayer but there's Elesa X Emmet X N cus im mentally ill <3

My Other Demon slayer au

Everything is the same but! emmet and ingo are there :) emmet is a thunder breather that can do some basic flame moves, and Ingo is a flame breather that can do some basic thunder moves! for some reason tho, Ingos flames are purple. no one knows why that is :P. also they’re besties with tengen and kyojuro cus i love them <3333

Gem au

Emmet and Ingo are Onyx’s in Steven Universe. they are very small and very confused. they’re off-color Onyx’s that came out much too small, and after an incident where Ingo gets poofed, they decide to escape Homeworld and land on Earth! I actually started writing a fic about this, but haven’t finished lol. maybe some day

Fnaf au

haha what if Ingo and Emmet were the daycare attendants. they're twin robots that share a body, like the DA in canon. And also like canon, Ingo (moon) has a glitch that makes him dangerous. :3

Other fnaf au

Fnaf one style. Emmet and ingo are the only animatronics and elesa is the night guard. they do try to kill her the first few nights, but eventually the become friends :D

Tiny Emmet au

Emmet finds Jirachi and wishes to be with Ingo again, but Jirachi cant send all of Emmet back, so Emmet is sent to Hisui very very small. Ingo finds him. silly goofy shenanigans ensue. Emmet's clothes don't shrink with him, so he uses his coat as a tent and Ingo makes tiny clothes for him.

HLVRAI

Akari is Gordon, Emmet is Coomer, Ingo is Bubby, Elesa is Tommy, Volo is Benry, Laventon is Darnold, N is forzen, Drayden is Gman. silly goofy

Voltron au

Emmet and Ingo are alien gods that run a space subway. also season six never happens!!!!!!!!!!!

Spiderverse au

Ingo and Emmet are now spider-men! Emmet is Galvantula and Ingo is Ariados :3

Hisui caretaker au

Emmet and Ingo are Reshiram and Zekrom, and they are also just infant baby dragons. they accidentally get sent to Hisui and Irida and Adaman end up taking care of them. there are shenanigans.

Yugioh

Emmet is basically Yugi, and Ingo is Emmet's dead brother that's also kind of a pharaoh (because time travel) that possesses Emmet when he plays duel monsters sometimes. Elesa is like a weird anzu/jouno fusion?? Honda is someone. N is Bakura... who on earth would kaiba be....

Tranaformers au

Emmet and Ingo are the cybertronians Emit and In-go (like emitting and ingoing) Ingo loses his memory and is convinced that he's a decepticon by Megatron, so Emit joins the Autobots because they offered to help get Ingo back. (probably tfp cus tfp on top fr)

Minecraft au

Ingo is infected by sculk and becomes the Warden, and Emmet is trying to find a way to reverse this. Ingo kills Emmet a lot and everyone has trauma now

Vampire au

this ones conductorshipping centric lol. Elesa is a vampire and both Emmet and Ingo know this. Emmet gets into an accident and is near death, and help is too far away, so Elesa turns Emmet so he’ll survive. Now Emmet has to navigate being a vampire and also trying to keep a relatively normal life.

Big brother bug brother au

Ingo is Zekrom, Emmet is a Joltik and a bit of a menace. silly goofy fluffy shenanigans ensue.

Dead end au

Ingo just fucking dies in Hisui and then Emmet is sent back in time and has to deal with the fact that his brother is dead and he'll probably never go back home. and everyone is isolating him because he looks too much like Ingo and they don’t wanna see his face. and Emmet also is forced to take over as Lady Sneasler’s Warden. but she ALSO kinda hates him cuz he’s NOT her real Warden, no matter how much he looks like it (i want to say more but SPOILERS RAAAAAARARA)

Fallen angel au

I’m bringing my Christian/bible Lore special interest into this but only a lil bit. Emmet and Ingo are angels (biblically accurate freak’s because ofc <3 ) but Ingo straight up falls outta heaven and into Hisui. now there's a fallen angel (not quite demon) hanging out with the humans

Black butler au

Emmet’s EX va and Sebastian's va is the same person so i had to, don't look at me. anyway what if elesa had TWO demon butlers. and they were Ingo and Emmet. and all three like to harass Ciel <3

Celestial bodies au

I take submas and I put them in space. and also they are gods

Streamer au

au where Emmet and Ingo play video games. that's it, they stream video games. it’s funny

Overlord au

either Emmet and Ingo are NPCs in Nazarick or they’re new worlders that befriend Ainz. i dunno. i think they should interact cus I’m mental illness

Multiverse travel emmet au

while trying to find Ingo, Emmet accidentally figures out how to travel through different universes. he causes problems on purpose to spite god also

Totoro au

the plot of Totoro but with submas. also Drayden is the dad probably

Squidd World au

submas but they are in my OCs world!!!

PMD au

Emmet and Ingo are little beasts now and their rescue team is called ‘Gear Station Rescue Team’

Undertale au

what if Emmet and Ingo were the skeleton brothers. i think that would be funne (emmet is sans and ingo is papyrus btw :3)

Masked dragon au

Same as masked au BUT!!! Emmet is also Reshiram and Ingo is Zekrom (Ingo forgor he’s a dragon lmao)

Partner au

Emmet’s an Eelektross thing and Ingo’s a Chandelure thing. there are shenanigans

Soul bond au

Emmet and Ingo have minor twin telepathy, and can also feel each other's emotions and injuries to a certain extent. this makes Ingo getting sent to Hisui verrrry wack

In my Puter au

Emmet and Ingo are tiny lil sentient AIs that live in Elesa’s computer. also she might build robot bodies for them but who knows

Sonic the hedgehog au

Emmet and Ingo but they are silver foxes (animal, not old hot guy) in the Sonic Hedgehog universe

Emmet has a bad time au

After Ingo gets sent to Hisui, elesa also gets sent to Hisui. Emmet is now completely alone and develops some very bad no good coping mechanisms. and when he's right on the edge and he's about to snap completely, he also gets sent to Hisui.

Star trek au (travelers)

Emmet and Ingo run a space subway and are a ‘character of the week’ type thing

Star trek au (tng)

Submas but they are on next gens enterprise and are besties with Data

Star trek au (ds9)

now they're besties with Odo <3

Star Trek au (disco)

and NOW!!! there are besties with Saru <3 im living out my fantasies through submas and my fantasies are being friends with my Star Trek blorbos

Animal Crossing au

Emmet and Ingo make a town on an island. its Animal Crossing

Sky:cotl au

Emmet and Ingo but they are sky kids!!! Emmet loves grinding for candles and drags Ingo around with him on candle runs

Minecraft beasts au

basically i just make Emmet and Ingo into various mobs and then sic em on player Elesa (they’re friends dw) there are many but im counting it as one cus its a formula

d&d/high fantasy au

shooting Submas with my DND laser beam. not very fleshed out, but i think Elesa would be an elf

We’re okay now au

post PLA where everything’s okay and it's all fluff because that's how i deal with things

flight rising dragon breeders au

Emmet and Ingo breed dragons and go on dragon related adventures because flight rising. also Emmet is addicted to Mahjong

sending emmet to mcu for shenanigans au

I’m sending Emmet to the MCU so he can be friends with my MCU blorbos. (it's Arceus’s fault) Ingo is also there and the Avengers are helping Emmet find him :)

haha what if i made a fullmetal alchemist au

Emmet is Alphonse and Ingo is Edward. it's just more shenanigans honestly.

World champion kids au

Emmet and Ingo take the players role as kids running around challenging gyms. they travel to all the regions made so far and beat everyone the fuck up

Cave creatures au

N finds an injured Galvantula drider in the depths of Chargestone Cave. It's Emmet. N decides the best course of action is to nurse this big fuckin spider back to health 😎👍 but its a big fuckin spider so there are shenanigans. gay people

buzzfeed unsolved au

Emmet as Shane and Ingo as Ryan. silly goofy shenanigans. honestly just made this so i can use Buzzfeed unsolved audio for submas animatics

Terraria au

Emmet is a Melee main, Ingo a magic main, and Elesa is a ranger main. the besties are in terraria and really fuckin op!!! Also N is there and a summoner main. Akari’s a yoyo beast

Backroom wanderers au

Emmet and Ingo get sent to the backrooms!!! adventures and shenanigans ensue!!!

Double Amnesia au

Emmet gets sent to Hisui a bit after Ingo does, and also gets amnesia. He gets picked up by the Diamond Clan and later meets Ingo. Neither knows they are twins, but immediately become besties. Everyone just assumes they’re relatives from different time :P silly goofy shenanigans

Doctor who au

Emmet and Ingo are timelords with a tardis, Elesa is their companion. SHENANIGANS!!!! the tardis has a broken chameleon circuit and looks like a train car

Giratina possession au

Emmet gets possessed by Giratina. Now he's unhinged. no one's okay. this is an excuse to draw unhinged emmet

MLP au

what if they were horses

Pokemon snap au

Emmet, to deal with the loss of Ingo, decides to fuck off into the woods and becomes a photographer, and ends up discovering some wack ass things while he’s at it. Emmet accidentally takes a photo of a newly un-eebied Ingo but it's so blurry he's convinced it's a new pokemon. so he goes to hunt it down. and Ingo desperately tries to hide from this strange guy chasing him cus what the hell??? what does this weirdo want

Sphinx au

what if everyone was animal

Venom au

Elesa is a pathetic girlfail that finds two cringefail malewife aliens goo things and decide that they are her boys now

Soul eater au

Emmet and Ingo are Elesas weapons! shenanigans!! emmet and ingo can also wield each other

HTTYD au

submas but they r… dragon riders :3 lmao are they scottish now

Slay your brother au

slay the princess au. emmet is the princess, ingo is the hero, and volo is the narrator. Volo squished Giratina and arceus into the train men cus he wants arceus super dead (the damsel is replaced with the child also)

Cobblemon au

Emmet and ingo are in cobblemon! they crafted one million master balls someone stop them

Dragonvale au

Emmet and Ingo own a dragon zoo. its dragonvale. they have so many dragons

Infinity nikki au

what if they went on fashion adventures. elesa is definitely there

and thatssss 64 AUs in total! more will be made :3 mark my words

pearl secret rock career

Neither unicorn nor pegasus, Alicorns appear to have traits from both species, but are so much more beyond that.

The first alicorns are known as The Two Sisters, a pair of unicorns with magic so potent, they changed the face of the sky forever. After growing wings, the young alicorns were called princesses and treated like royalty, thanked for their gift of the sun and moon. But as time went on, it became clear that these were not simply horses with extra features, but something else entirely.

When mature, alicorns are massive deities that stretch across the sky, ferrying the sun and moon to all corners of the world, leaving magic and dreams in their wake.

Being larger than the tallest mountains, goddesses generally don't interact with ponies on an individual basis. When they do, it is a terrifying honor; one that will alter the course of your life forever. Listen to the Sun speaking into your mind, and pray you are still the same pony when she is done.

Okay but that whole genre of steddyhands fics that were like "edizzy used to hook up on the reg in the early days but they pulled every wrong bdsm move in the book and when Ed tried to be softer or give aftercare Izzy spat at him like a feral cat and ran off (even though he really wanted that gentleness), and that's what made Ed pull away" no longer ring true at all for me

(they didn't quite line up with my character interpretation before either, but pre s2 I figured that was all just personal taste without canon backing)

Izzy would absolutely take anything Ed gave him, even if he'd never dare ask for softness aloud

Ed never even realized that Another Way was possible until he met Stede, and even after Izzy had come to represent everything Ed hated about the roughest parts of himself and piracy (even when that wasn't true).

You see in order to think Izzy deserved affection or even a thought outside of Ed's immediate whims and desires, he'd have to see Izzy as a person and an equal. Which he never has.

(I think a lot about a post I saw back when the season started airing, along the lines of "Ed would never treat Stede like this." No, he wouldn't.)

and oh god, I need Stede to come in and see this broken to fuck dynamic constructed over decades for everything it is. for someone to finally offer a love that doesn't hurt. I need these three assholes to figure out how to stop digging in the knife.