Also Love This Cause Of The Pining!! I Have Such A Soft Spot For Insecure Characters And I’ve Read

my questionably fatal flaw is having like 20 small scale writing ideas that aren't enough to make a fic so i mash things together and create a fic using 2-4 initially separate ideas

"A gun that shoots cards? What for?"

4.7 interlude/archon quest spoilers

no matter what, they always think of each other T-T this game for reallllllll traveller forgetting all their other questions, simply wanting to ask why they can't stay together abyss sibling, remembering what their sibling said all those years ago, perhaps wanting their sibling to see the name. not to mention, the indication they they're concerned about how the sibling perceives them (i was soooooooooooooooooooooooooo right about this in my headcanons and im so vindicated and i love them so much) caribert is probs my fav npc now ngl Q-Q he's technically very gary stu vibe but he hits all my soft spots and the part with him at the end with the twins!! i wish all of them could be happy together. all these memories....whats going to happen to them? (anyway I love the indicated dainsleif angst, theres very vague hsr vibes to it. i wonder what had happened to them, and why dain was excluded...?)

Okay but Skip Beat will live on in my memory as being one of the first major pining stories ive ever read and theres SO much tension (that arc where Ren was acting as Cain...) They're not one of my active ships but Ren and Kyoko have my whole heart and soul and yes the series is ongoing and yes it started in 2002. .....my plot memory is insane why are half of my major investments over a decade old ongoing?? (GSNK, OnS, DetCo, ToG, probs more)

crack au where Kim Dokja finds an abandoned toddler/smol child by the garbage and takes her(?) in (it’s biyoo). Years later, he finds a handsome man lying passed out on top of the garbage and, against his better rationality, also brings him home (it’s Yoo Joonghyuk). yes it’s crack because while finding passed out pretty boys in sketchy areas is a very real cliche, deciding to take home a stranger is b o l d.

ALNST Till is so good at singing??? (Even though his rebelliousness would make me assume otherwise and it adds even more complexity to his character)

I was rewatching all the MVs after reading a rlly good fic and first of all there’s so many details in all of the MVs and I give so many props to the creators and also Till is so amazingly good at singing?? I have zero musical experience so I unfortunately can’t explain how good he is, but his control of his voice in CURE is absolutely astounding, the way his tone goes from fragile to shattering in the span of 2 seconds, the changes in how much strength he’s using, from whisper-like to scraping-throat-raw and its done super smoothly. Especially contrasting the style in Unknown versus in Cure, Till has such a huge range and his skill level is insane. Everyone in ALNST is a good singer but Till gives me chills (and/or we’ve just seen his range the most) So props to AKUGETSU, of course!! But also in context of the lore, wtf??? On one hand, it pieces together the question of “if he’s so rebellious, how is he still in the running?” (He’s THAT good). On the other hand, how is he that good? He doesn’t seem like he would have voluntarily gone along with whatever vocal training they were forced to do, so it’s purely a case of training. Did he practice on his own? Does he enjoy singing? If so, it’s incredibly tragic how this thing he enjoys and is good at has become something to dread, and something that has killed his loved ones. Idk it’s something my brain munches on, the way Till would not have complied with vocal training (def not to best of his abilities…even if he’s singing quieter purely so he could hear Mizi better) versus his skill in singing. Isn’t that amazing ironic? The aliens’ competitive singing stage, where one of their top singers is someone none of the aliens like. Since we don’t fully see Till’s perspective on singing and songwriting and everything, it also adds a cool layer of complexity An obvious idea is: maybe he’s just talented. Born with it, a genius. But, hmmmmmmmmmm, sure maybe a bit but he has definitely practiced. You can be born with a good voice and an affinity, but can you be born with that kind of skill? I don’t think so. Plus, the sheer amount of emotion he displays in his songs? He doesn’t *have* to try as hard as he does, he could easily throw the competition. But even in round 6 he doesn’t sing badly, he chooses…to not sing at all. Maybe that hints on his perspective on singing; perhaps he can’t stomach the thought of ruining something as sacred as music by doing it badly? After all, it’s definitely a sort of outlet for him, and he works hard on it. I’m not sure where I’m going with this but my mind can’t stop munching on the dichotomy between his rebelliousness and how he performs on stage ^^’ super hyped for round 7. Give this man an award! (And his friends)

TBHK Ch 114 (manga spoilers)

moving on to TBHK cause I think Aoi is a bit underrated and Teru a bit oversimplified and the new chapter is SO much fun

It’s so interesting to compare Aoi now vs then!! Based off scraps. She seems better at acting cute but also seems more jaded which I wonder is because of Teri’s influence (boy can be toxic), the engagement, or the changes of her family (lore of her father?? I can’t tell if her family has changed from past line to this line but him having two whole other daughters is insane :<< she seems a bit more unhinged (slaps him with cold eyes and then pouts a second later) and whether that’s her stronger manipulation or the effects of her mixed-message childhood, it’s interesting…

I’m also still so curious about her relationship with Akane. Has he confessed at all? Or hasn’t because she’s engaged? Does her ver of him know neither of them want it? Are they still close or are they more distant? Props to Aidairo for trying to navigate all the convolution and idk we’ll ever find because we have our Akane not hers. But it’s interesting to think about.

on the earlier topic of family, it’s really sad because this whole chapter reinforces the idea that while everyone else lives are improved, Aoi became worse, esp if she and Akane are not close. While she potentially lost her family earlier than og, has a stupid amount of expectations on her due to her status as Teru’s fiancée, and might be chronically be looked down upon by Teru (cause he can be condescending and she’s def the type he doesn’t like), Teru has..more?

He has his mother now (which OMG the Kou-mother interaction T-T and she’s bad at cooking) which potentially can be SO much to him. His father appears to be more present as well. I’m not sure if Tiara is there or not. But either way, he doesn’t have to grow up quite as quickly as he does in canon. It’s hard to say how present line him is different from our line him cause Aoi can tell that’s something is up but that might mostly be to him not acting the way we agreed on?

I’m lowk brainrotting over Aoi cause I feel SO bad for her and omg kid Teru was an unfiltered child. Amazing chapter as always from Aidairo!

The animated short inspired me to go back to my 2022, 4k words with categories analysis on the twins that maybe one day hopefully I'll finish, but here's some of the quick-edited twins I made from cutting and pasting hangout images! Some headcanons I had that seem a bit confirmed

People are more easily drawn to Aether while Lumine pays more attention to people

Aether as talkative and sociable (why people are drawn to him) while Lumine is more quiet/reserved

but, she's really affectionate to the people she loves!!

Lumine appreciates beauty more, and points beauty out to Aether (sharing food, sharing kite, taking the time to step into a lake)

Things I didn't guess but i really love

lumine is playful!! She's actually a bit more childish than I had expected but I love how that follows the way she's the younger sister

Aether and Lumine switch off quite a lot in who's being chatty that day (among themselves). In the quest, Aether was the one excitedly chatting as they walked along the beach, here, Lumine seems more upbeat/playful.

Anyway here's the quick edits I spent WAY too much time on

A lot of these fit really well which made me happy TvT

Disclaimer that a few of these are horizontally flipped for the duo effect but since I made most of them in 2022, I'm not sure which are. These are taken from hangouts!

this this this this

i feel like their journeys and character arcs change drastically depending on who the traveller is. Lumine as a reserved girl who becomes a villain? Stereotypical. Lumine as a reserved girl who has a coming of age arc underscored by grief and loss and insecurity? amazing Also if Aether is the abyss sibling then it's like, wtf happened for the sunshine guy who cares so much about his sister to become so cold? He talked SO MUCH in that dream flashback and when he meets his sister again, he says like 2 sentences?? Maybe it's the passage of time or whatever but the extreme change in his character creates so much interest

I love Aether as the traveler and Lumine as the Abyss princess I think that makes a lot of sense and is really fitting for the story. Plus abyss Lumine is hot af 🫶

But

I much prefer Lumine as the traveler and Aether as the abyss prince. I’m probably biased as I picked Lumine but I just find it really interesting. It’s a bit generic having the sunshine boy the good guy and the cold mean girl the bad. If you reverse it and make it the sunshine boy turned bad and the cold mean girl forced to be the hero, it becomes a much more compelling story.

Just imagine, the man who’s too kind for his own good, always helping people, friendly and social, has gone through that much trauma and pain that he wants to get revenge on the very people he once stood for. On the brink of insanity from all of the hatred he feels.

Now imagine Lumine. Cold, distant, calculating. Someone who’s never been in the hero role before and has suddenly just been thrust into it out of nowhere. She’s in her brothers place. This is a scenario her brother would thrive in. Not her. To make matters worse, she still has absolutely no idea where he is. She doesn’t know what to do. She’s absolutely trapped.

She has to learn to adapt over time. Learn more empathy. Be able to make friends more. Feel like she can truly trust people. It’s a learning curve for both of them. Lumine learning that she can trust people other than her brother, Aether learning that he can trust a lot less people than he originally thought.

Though, with everyone new Lumine meets she becomes more and more agitated and even more angry over time. She wants her brother. She doesn’t want to save nations. She doesn’t want to save people.

Her and Aether are two halves of one whole. They are what the other isn’t. They can’t cope properly without each other. All she wants is him. Imagine her desperation when she learns he’s missing. Her frustration and anger as no one properly helping her or taking her seriously. Knowing he’s alive but where the hell could he be!? Her utter relief and joy when seeing him again. Thinking they are going to go back home.

Now imagine her distraught when that same brother chooses the abyss over her.

mlb Adrienette wattpad story AU with emo!marinette as the “bad boy”

It fits so well and I find that absolutely hilarious in the best way??

New kid Adrien, who is good looking and smart but isn’t sure how to fit in and feels awkward + doesn’t really make any close friends anytime soon

Delinquent Marinette, who everyone avoids like the plague. She’s always asleep during class (sleep deprived) and doesn’t really respond when people approach her

The seat he’s assigned is the one next to her :) is this wattpad or shoujo cliche? I no longer know

they start interacting more one way or another, via circumstance (because Adrien wouldn’t persistently approach someone who’s made it clear they’re not comfy with that). Maybe it’s a group project. Maybe he’s told to be her tutor because she’s failing physics. Maybe she saves him from bullies (unlikely; who would bully Adrien??) and he’s trying to thank her. Maybe it’s because they’re seatmates

regardless, their quiet acquaintanceship becomes a tense friendship. How close of friends they are can honestly vary pretty wildly!

and then marinette stands up for Adrien in front of his father, and Adrien falls. *hard.* he had a good impression of her before due to friendship, but in one fell swoop it went from platonic attraction to romantic

either marinette liked him pretty early on, or she falls very slowly as he started to pursue her! Personally I prefer the latter since demi representation is pretty rare, but either is cute

this process takes place over the course of multiple months :)

That’s the basics but additional possible fun details are

Adrien using shoujo anime as a reference for how to flirt

marinette has zero immunity so she’s confused and embarrassed but it’s working??

night time ride on her scooter! Adrien has so much fun

all the cliches of “stoic to everyone else but smiles when they see their loved one (Adrien).” Marinette is naturally affectionate so the gap between how she treats everyone else versus her friends is huge.

the whole standard process of mc seeing bad boy as “delinquent to be careful of” to a “sweet, kind person who’s kind of adorable at times”

maybe marinette hijacks one of the parties because Adrien told her he was tired/bored/not feeling well, and she kidnaps him (with his consent)

marinette doing his nails/eyeliner/other

its technically the sunshine x ice prince ship pairing with sunshine Adrien and ice princess Marinette >v< and then it becomes sunshine x sunshine when she becomes more comfortable

also marinette is def wary of Adrien from the start because she’s not used to people being friendly + his friendship with Chloe

wholesome study + gaming hangouts!

standard cliche of whenever marinette looks cool for any reason whatsoever, Adrien has to take a minute to reboot

both of them learning how to navigate their first relationship

adrien is the one who confesses + convinces because marinette is scared of losing one of her rare friendships (maybe some trial dates?)