#( it's funny how you learn things when you just start writing about them. xD )

[secriden]

an introduction to daouoffroad: a record (mostly for me)

so, the lovely @luthienmpl was very kind and gave me a daouoffroad starter pack so i'm gonna learn about them!

i adore finding out about something this way because it's like someone shared their love of The Thing with me! how lovely! how lucky to catch a glimpse of how much joy The Thing gives someone else!!

this is literally just random stream of consciousness thoughts as i watch the videos so i'll spare anyone who isn't interested and put it under a cut.

oh my god they met as contestants on a survival boyband show wtf!? what kind of fanfic kdrama au start is this already!?

ok damn but daou's runs tho :O <3

nooooooo offroad is crying and thanking daou for his support how dARE YOU TOY WITH MY HEART LIKE THIS!? ;A;

ohmygosh is that the actress who plays P'Joy in LITA??? <3

fuck, the pressing the face into the tummy of the one standing thing. why is that so cute. ugh D:<

waitwaitWAIT is that a thing? do directors just... write stories/shows for couples who have good chemistry whatttt?? is this like a thai ent industry staple? (oh i guess mame kind of did that with fortpeat/mutrak) that's so funny omg. xDDD

laz1 is so kpop styled :O and i must add Last Kiss to my playlist imMEDIATELY its such a pretty song?? <3333

thiS BRIDGE i AM FEELING IT!?!?! DAOU WHAT IS THAT RIFF!?!??! HOLY SHIT THAT WAS SUCH A SMOOTH TRANSITION UP TO THE HIGH NOTE!? *O* <3

(was daou already an established singer before or something?? boy has pIPES!)

*faintly* d-did he try to... bite... the cat's... paw??

/SCREAMS nO THE HARMONIES yeah ok i'm a fan weLP THA TWAS QUICK

(i'm such a sucker for vocal line groups ugh dammit TwT)

wait, enlistment?? huh i did not know thailand also did that... is it the same as skorea?

oh-- oh my god he sent flowers? through his sister?? *whispers* that's so sweet ;u;

goodness, offroad literally running and jumping into daou's arms while daou is still in military fatigues-- guys this is either zero attempt at being subtle or the best cp marketing i've seen in my life wow

awww did offroad bring his graduation gown to the event just so he could get pics with daou?? that's so cute! ;A;

okAY SIR?? SIR NO the sleeping right pressed up to offroad as he pretends to snore but like daou is just paSSED OUT HALF ON TOP OF HIm NO SIR NO I CANNOT HANDLE THIS NOPE BYE

(the cut right as daou reaches up to shut offroad up had me cracking up tho, they've got a wicked sense of humour i really like them)

ahahahah the members playing along is really cute!! poor daou has to be relegated to the "jealous bf" -- this is SO interesting to watch coming out of old kpop fandom and kpop skinship to this xD like... i am enLIGHTEND *O*

*cries* what is this... poolside actual love confession proposal with rings and pLANNING to commemorate their.. working.. relationship!?!? i'm??? they are so LOUD wtf-- i'm not... used to this... !?! *incoherent noises*

sidebar: i'm struggling to get a handle on their honorifics... are they phi/nong? but sometimes dauo sounds like he's using mueng/guu when he addresses offroad directly?

ljsdfjsLfj THE FACE. IN THE TUMMY. ITS BACK <3

OH FUCK OFFROAD WITH THE ASH HAIR. *O* YEAH YEAH OKOKOK i'M NORMAL ABOUT THIS!!!!

oh oh NO did daou just push offroad to the inside of the road so he's on the outside like that's--t hat's so boyfriend coded wtf

bahahaHAHAH is offroad going on about the bracelet because now daou *has* to buy one for him? xD what a smart cookie. xDDD

wAIT DID IT WORK!? PAHAHA--

other thoughts:

pentor looks SO FAMILIAR and i can't figure out why??? ;A; is he in something else?? i'm so confused but i think i love him already WHAT AN ADORABLE DIMPLED BOI *O*

i know you included the Whats The Matter? MV but I'm sorry I'm going to live in Last Kiss for like the next 5 days especially thAT BRIDGE WTF <3

the acoustic/live version is so PRETTY omg ;A; that 3 part harmony in the first chorus *chefs kiss*

sOMEONE is doing like a really high harmony in the pre-chorus and its so thin and wispy and pRETTY ahhh <3

although also ngl i think daou needs maybe some more vocal training he sounds quite strained sometimes... and he's got a lot of tension in his throat but good GOD his range!! he's SO talented wtf; ALSO their youngest member has SUCH a nice tone UGH <33333

their 2 shows:

ok love in translation actually sounds like exactly my cup of tea hahahah it looks so cute <3 and potentially heartbreaking but like not TOO heartbreaking

century of love... yeah ok i'm gonna put that on my list of things to get to when i'm in the right headspace for that kind of angst but what an interesting concept!! its like comphet, the series. xD

wait both their shows are comphet the series? xDDDD they just swapped who was suffering from it.

hoboy they are SO LOUD already from the beginning wtf

(sidenote but I would KILL for fortpeat to go on something like this cAN YOU IMAGINE the sHINANIGANS!! peat being so happy at all the food. fort's teasing. ugh. where can i start a petition ya'll)

the heIGHT DIFFERENCE am i'm feeling some type of way about it, yes yes i am

bAHAHAH the mandatory piggyback ride that they actually just SAY is boyfriend material i'm-- i'm not use do this lack of wink wink nudge nudge skinship approach in my boyband duos like?? *confused noises pt 2*

oh oh my gosh they have auntie fans too??? how adorableeeee!!!?! damn offroad sounds so soft in southern dialect idk whats going on my ears are blessed *u* <3

I don't know why but daou's "Try traditional snack!" made me crack up xDDDD

i have just realised what a mistake it was to start this on an empty stomach T___T that all looks SO GOOD wtf

lol that poor lady with the corgi's just wanted to go on her way and she got way-landed by these insane boys xDD

wft the nUZZING INTO THE NECK THING. IT S STILL. SO MUCH. IHAVE FEELIGNS ABOUT THIS MOMENT Tu T <3

guYS-- GUYS you said you both paid half... so you don't... you don't still need to do the cheek kisse-- oh nevermind you did them already ok then

i mean ok but for real tho the amount of times offroad just cracks up at somethign random daou does is genuinely really sweet?? like they seem to really have this wavelength that is just their own *u*

[tboyblogger]

finally finished the profile for the danseiroido!! this took way too long just because drawing anime headshot is my biggest nightmare... and then ended up not even looking That anime LOL... i've already had a few comics up in the tag (search em to read!) but. a brief intro is that i basically just made them idols (somewhat) and threw them in the same boygroup to write sitcom/4-koma slice of life random jokes, as i always do! they also share the same universe with my entire vocaloid neighborhood setup (but this will - might - be for another day)

there isnt a deep overarching plot as for now, its just daily lives of a boygroup that doesnt really do anything idol-like and occasionally featuring others around them from the vocal synth ville. oh and idk if i can call them a polycule because they dont really think or operate that way But! i do want all of them to fool around and have their own "ship moment" (if you want to call it that? i dont really label these things and i want to write it that way) tldr they all fuck one another. every single ship in the group canon (EXCEPT the obvious anyone x len. timeout for him he got his ass kicked out whenever they do it...)

my concept/idea for it (not much tbh this is just me rediscovering my love for vocaloid - though one can argue it never went away - and started make up random shits for them so its pretty much spontaneous and not a serious project or anything) is a parody of sort on stereotypical otome/bl genres and boygroups and anime tropes and obviously the vocaloid fandom/history. but i dont think i know enough about bl nor anime nor boygroups so at the end of the day its just guys hanging out XD hm i should just tag my other vocaloid stuff something else too considering its an elaborated world now, with these guys in it, but... that... really is for another day...

wait forgot to say also making len the leader is idk vocaloid meta funny or sth since hes the most popular but here hes just a wee child not even allowed to getting involved much (to be fair its cause most of the involvement are either freakish or sexual. or both) hes already more than involved in the irl success go away little boy. but Boom! funny ass kid leading army of 6 gay ass men (one of them isnt even a man. but only when its convenient) (sometimes there are 7 of them)

also: everyone learn vietnamese to understand how funny their viet names are rn

SORRY I KEEP EDITING. but they also have a playlist... just for funsies. some of them are serious canon lore related the rest are probably all shitposts

[judasiskariot]

✨Writing Interview Tag Game✨

The 🖤judasiskariot❤ round - thank you lovely delightful @pinkberrytea for the tag 💕🌸

When did you start writing?

Already enjoyed writing creative essays at school. Wrote my first fanfiction (yugioh) as a teenie at an anime/fandom website. Got really into it, with writing fanfiction about a RPG I were playing/writing at the very same time.

Are there different themes or genres you enjoy reading than what you write?

Maybe I read more smut than writing it. Because it seems I always need to put up huge story before smut, so it makes sense, cause the ghost of dumb it is ooc comments are still in my head.

Is there a writer you want to emulate or get compared to often?

I guess not. Both ways (I just often say I am a film noir or Tolkien type cause I often get lost in description or heavy in inner monologue. We could be in Mordor....or only went down the hill, same length. So happens with me. (So gods no never ever would I say I can write like Tolkien!!!! I just mean by that, that I do not keep some things sharp and short when maybe needed, as I do prefer in real life)

I am a huge Dante Alighieri and Vergil fan, compare me to them and I will always love you 🤣🤣

I just feel like a bardic soul 💜📜🪶

Can you tell me a bit about your writing space?

Desk is always occupied. Also is there gym, man sleeping medieval storage cave (The Manc Ave, right Terry and Korvo? 😉Dig old bicks)

Hardly wifi connection in there. I have no stationary pc, only cheap small laptop (it is hard to be a bard xD) so writing on the couch.

I have reading and writing candles (my luxury; even I should not)

Love to write in my bard poetry book outside in the nature 🌳🏞️🏕️☀️

What's your most effective way to muster up a muse?

🤷‍♀️

Are there any recurring themes in your writing? Do they surprise you?

DRAMA OVER BLOODY DRAMA

I am the drama queen.

Love some angst and emotional damage; make it harder than it needs to be.

But also horror, gore, love and smut.

Never surprised.

and dumb sassy joking; could write forever funny crosstalks like chat. Would anyone read that? Than I would write all my ideas, ALL! So efficient and quickly. Sooo...I get lost in my Tolkien surroundings 😅🙈

maybe i write more cheesy and theatrically than I thought 🤔

What is your reason for writing?

SOMEONE HAS TO DO IT, RIGHT?🤷‍♀️

😄

No. I am not skilled in any other divine arts and I guess that's the only thing I can call on. I like it. I always liked it. I can create something, that's nice. And I've written so much RPG and FF as a teenager, I messed it up and I hate that I didn't do it for over 10 years now. Why abandon the thing you were good at, had fun with, made progress while practicing? So that all progress seems lost and you have to start from zero?

I'm glad I've started making progress again, maintaining what I once set out to do, and learning to be better.

Is there any specific comment or type of comment you find particularly motivating?

I'm incredibly happy with every single comment, even if it's just a smiley.

" You really did read my thing? How great is that!?!?" 😍🤩

But comments with a specific part or a line that they liked or whatever, their specific thoughts on certain parts are incredible. As a writer, I need feedback to know if I'm doing well and if I'm on the right track. Do others know what I wanted to say? Does it come out right? Otherwise I cannot improve.

If someone shares their exact first thoughts, what they thought about certain passages while reading, then the work pays off. 😍😍🤤🤤

How do you want to be thought about by your readers?

As someome whose writig is good? 😅🤷‍♀️🙈 someone they can talk to. some nerdie partner in crime.

What do you feel is your greatest strength as a writer?

I have no clue. No one told me. I guess maybe having drama ideas and writing the inner struggles of characters.

How do you feel about your own writing?

Also here not much confidence in my own writing.

I got the two beasts in me: GOD YES! BEST WRITING EVER. THIS IS SO GOOD! THEY HAVE TO LOVE IT! CAN'T WAIT FOR REACTON TO THIS!🤩

Reread it: what da fuck is this?! 😠 I thought this was good?! I have no clue where I wanted to go with that 🤷‍♀️

BUT I can also be proud, reread it and think "I did this. I created that myself. It may be not the best, just small and silly and cliché, but I created it myself!" Be proud, all of you writers!! 👏🏻🫵🏻💪🏻 We are forgotten so often.

Do people criticize paintings for being ooc? Well..I guess assholes being assholes in every aspect of life 😅😆

When you write, are you influenced by what others might enjoy reading, or do you write purely for yourself, or a mix of both?

I do it cause I want to. But of course the external motivation is important. Lack of comments and feedback makes you quit, mean people make you quit. You post cause you want to share your joy with others, hope they enjoy it too. When they do not, it can be bitter.

But still for me I guess. But non the less, I pick up things I think others will like (but not troping or so, writing things I dislike myself cause they are gaining online likes and so on; not in that way never) When I know a certain mutual/friend is reading the thing, I put easter eggs/insiders in it, they should get; things I think they might like and makes them smile. If someone would request some things they would like to happen/read, I would totally pick it up when possible. Shared happyness is happyness doubled.

thanks for the tag lovely

All my muts, please keep tagging me. I just keep forget doing it, when I can't do it right away.

And spinning head prevents me from that. I see what nonsense I write in the DMs and in every lil post a huge amount of spelling mistakes; I can't do it better at the moment; so embarrassing🙈

I've had a hectic time, sorry, but I love things like that and always smile when I get tagged😃😘 (and sometimes I'm a little unsure about telling something about myself. The urge to disappear completely one day and the next day I urge to overshare. Plus bad experiences with some folks😅🙈 )

I tag @nihil-ism @damadisangue

@sorceresssundries

@mercymaker

maybe you guys want to ramble a lil bit

[check out their works (if you like 😘)]

[katyspersonal]

Well- I've made really great strides in SoTE! FINALLY! Going to write down the progress in 2-3 posts in order before I forgot, but at the moment I reached the final boss gfhtfjj

1) So, I was checking remaining points of interest, such as finishing killing bosses and minor enemies! Turned out there was a furnace golem I needed to activate to fight, that was blocking Ruins of Unte! You need to throw a Hefty Furnace Pot in its opening!

So, behind it was the secret place with flowers, an incantation, and this item:

2) In fact, I've gotten REALLY good at killing Furnace Golems x) I finally adapted to the timing of jumping when they attack!! Like... I didn't even need their Cracked Tears, nor they drop much runes, nor I had anything to explore left that they prevented me from. I just made it my mission to kill all of them and I did bfgthfh

However, one on the way to Manus Metyr and one in Charo's Grave ('the red area') are only killed by getting at the high spot and throwing like 3 Hefty Furnace Pots in them! There was in fact an in-game hint to do that in one of the broken ones before entrance to Shadow's Keep, I just forgor 💀 so @val-of-the-north had to explain me XD But yes, this is why there are Spiritsprings near them and their legs don't get damage!

3) So, after all dragons and all Furnace Golems were gone from the DLC map, the only thing left was remaining Tree Spirits and big hyppos!

^ Interesting lore (dropped by the Tree Spirit in the Elac river that leads to Cerulean Coast eventually!)

4) Again, my other objective was to kill two big hippos that I remembered were on the way to the way towards Abyssal Woods, just didn't engage with at the time! I got stuck though, because I didn't see what it gave me.. so I asked Val and he mentioned Village of Flies should have been somewhere around!

Apparently it was some place I've missed, even despite the fact that I did activate the grace needed for it before! I never got other instructions, however, now that I knew there was some secret place nearby, I started to find one secret nook after other!!!

^ For example, this was in a secret waterfall nooks! I did explore that area before, just.. not enough, I guess? This is a really cool symbol of why they searched a new way! fAlLiNg LeAvEs TeLl a StOrY

5) However, that was NOT the village I was seeking, knowing nothing but 'it should be here', but I found it in another turn!

THIS IS A SURPRISE TOOL THAT WILL HELP US LATER because trust me some big lore discussion with Val followed regarding the flies sickness gfhghgj That happened later though!

I just think it is so funny how this area was actually easy to find if you explore well... and I DO explore well. For example, right now I have Scadutree Blessing lvl 18 and I did NOT look up any guide to find these! I just discovered them as I proceeded to explore every corner! Sometimes you can only find something as long as you KNOW it exists XD Psychology is hilarious

5.1) Honestly, Scadutree Fragments + Revered Ashes mechanic is one of the coolest things in DLC! Extra rewards for exploring the open world game are!!

6) Another loose end to pick was to finally challenge Dane, who kicked my ass too much earlier:

Granted, he kicked my ass again hghhghg Guess his concept of getting stronger by not allowing much interaction, let alone attachment, works just fine :p I won though

They added cool dual wield and fist combat weapons in this DLC though, I like that! Can't wait to get to NG+ to try all the new stuff in the base game properly!

7) At first, I didn't even know this seal existed:

I learned about it when I was taking closer looks at Spirit Ashes, and when me and Val were done losing it at Queelign's image I asked him what WAS he holding in his hand. ...turned out that was really easy to find, it was in the room at Shadow's Keep's drowned church with headless Marika statue after water got drained 🤡 "I explore the world well", huh?

8) Speaking of Shadow's Keep, it had a painting puzzle in it earlier that I never solved gfbgjf It gave one of the dragon hearts:

Another one apparently was supposed to be a reward for defeating Bayle picked from Florissax, that I've never gotten because I completed her questline properly! (Got her incantation, spirit ash and her calling me 'my good lord' affectionately tho 😳)

So whereas her transformation would empower Dragon Cult incantations (the zappy ones), this one empowered Dragon Communion ones (the head/claw ones received by eating Dragon hearts). Does this item imply that before, even the Drakes' hearts were more stone-like? They really are just a branch of alternative evolution from Ancient Dragons, aren't they? :p

9) And there was another painting puzzle, in that area where we learned Formless Mother lore! In the furthest part on the hill! There was also variant of Leda's armor

^ this was the reward for that puzzle!

10) For final one, I vaguely recalled that I saw an item in Belurat that I never figured out how to pick up! In search for it, I ended up also finding a letter from Leda and a Cross below that I've missed earlier, but apparently was supposed to check 🤡🤡🤡 And I did get the item, it was a dried bouquet that powers up attacks if the spirit you summoned dies!

11) So.. I really, really could not think of any other loose end to pick up. I did literally everything except for proceeding with the "actual" game. xd (If I forgot anything @val-of-the-north and others you know where to find me gfhhghh)

I killed every optional boss/enemy and I picked every item I could think of, so I had to go to the Rauh Ruins.. That was a bit of headache :^) Though looking back at it, it was fun.. Okay I'll share in the next episode post!

[kitkatopinions]

Okay, so I just watched a Miles Luna cameo video talking about the chant Pyrrha does to unlock Jaune's aura, link here to the reddit post of it. And it's a very interesting video for a number of reasons. Please note that while talking about this, I wanna be aware that my interpretations of what he's saying may not be definitively true. Miles Luna is someone I don't know and I'm unable to ask for clarification on anything he says. I'm simply talking about what this video made me think and how it came across, not trying to say like "this thing he said definitely means blah blah blah." This was just very interesting and I wanted to talk about what I found interesting and what I got out of it.

So he was answering the question "what's the deal with Pyrrha's aura unlocking chant thing in volume one? Was it like a standarized thing, or was the mantra unique to a person's beliefs?"

I'm going to be putting things that Miles said in indented and then talk about the things I think are worth talking about.

"I've always been in the camp that it's the latter, that that's like a Pyrrha Nikos thing."

So this'll happen again, but it's just interesting that Miles' answer comes in the form of 'this is how I saw it' rather than 'this is how we saw it,' which makes it seem like there wasn't an agreed upon conclusion or even an agreed on supposition on what this moment even was.

"The story behind that is a wild one, it takes us back to volume one. Back when me, Monty, and Kerry were... Learning how to tell stories." *Laughs* "Stories that lasted more than like - you know - five minutes, and build worlds and stuff. And back then, you know, so much stuff was rough around the edges. And it was a lot of experimentation, and just trying things, and having to just like, throw ideas out there and commit to them because we just had to work really quickly and..."

Miles talking about how rushed they were, how they didn't know how to tell a real story yet and were just 'throwing out ideas and committing to them' is just... To me, it really seems like it indicates what I already thought, that things weren't 'planned from the beginning' because they were just writing, and writing on a deadline, so they were putting things into the story without fully thinking them through and committing to them because it was all they could do.

"I remember we were trying to establish, you know, we need to teach the audience how aura works. First off-" *Laughing* "I don't think we did a super good job with that. The same with semblances, and a bunch of things."

It's so funny to me that if rwde posters and rwby critics said something along those lines, like 'they weren't good at telling us how aura worked' or 'they really just didn't establish a lot of things very well,' many anti-rwde posters would just hate us. XD And this is what I mean when I talk about how overly defensive some people in the fandom are, because one of the main writers and creators can look back and laugh about the ways they went wrong in the early volumes and recognize that they weren't the best at storytelling, and meanwhile there are fans that would be like 'ummm why do you need your handheld? Obviously aura works like *insert headcanon here* and you should've gotten that through the brilliant scene, you fucking idiot." Like, it's so much easier for me to fondly smile and shake my head at the sort of charming follies of early-RWBY. Random tangent, but it reminds me of watching a movie with my ex-boyfriend where he got angry that I said a character who was getting in a physical fight was aggressive and he rewound the movie several times and made me watch the character start a physical fight repeatedly to 'prove to me' that the character wasn't being aggressive, and I was just sitting there thinking 'I would like this movie a lot more if you weren't so defensive over it.' But anyway, back to the video.

"But I remember we were like 'okay, well Jaune's kind of our like - our big dummy who needs to be taught everything so the audience can learn a lot through Jaune. So Jaune doesn't - It makes sense that Jaune doesn't have an aura, and maybe he like um, unlocks it at some point like during the - the Emerald Forest trials, but like how?' And we were trying to figure stuff out, and Monty goes like-" *Shrugs* "'What if we just have Pyrrha unlock it for him?' And we were like 'how would that work?' And he was like 'I don't know, man, Pyrrha's supposed to be the best. Maybe she's really in tune with her aura. And so like, you know, maybe if like, people are really in tune with themselves and - and in sync with their aura, they can give people with more potential - they can just give them a little nudge.' And we went 'yeah, sure! Why not?'"

So if you applied the ideas of the two criteria here to world building, you have 'People who are really in tune with themselves and in sync with their aura can unlock other auras' and 'People who have potential can get their auras unlocked.' Which means potentially characters who are shown to be confident, self-assured and who know who and what they are - like Glynda, Robin, Maria, maybe WBY now that they had their 'I am a Huntress' moments - could hypothetically have this power if it hadn't been dropped. And who has potential is a bit trickier, but civilians who can or want to fight, maybe? So, would Whitley count as being able to unlock an aura? See, the interesting thing is that I wouldn't consider Pyrrha to be particularly self-assured emotionally. Physically, yes, but emotionally I think she suffers from some insecurities that might give her blind spots. So maybe unlocking aura requires someone to be physically in tune with their body.

"I remember Monty wanted to write uh, Pyrrha's monologue and - and it's so Monty. Um, but it's one of the few things where he was like 'Hey, can I take a stab at that? I think it would be fun.' And he did, and I think it's really great."

Him saying 'one of the few things' is also interesting to me. But I do tend to have the opinion that from what I've heard, Monty would have ideas and Kerry and Miles are the ones that did most of the writing and like, turning the ideas into a firm thing. That's just the vibes I've gotten from the way that they've talked, and this just kind of makes me think that more.

"And it's very - It comes across as very, like, mystical. And like, ooh, exciting, mysterious. Because that was - that was kind of what we wanted the vibe to be about like aura. Like it's this spiritual thing that like, we understand how we can kind of use it um, practically, in combat. But like, emotionally and spiritually, there's so much more depth there. It has room to grow, there's things about it we don't understand. And um, we felt that what Monty wrote kind of encapsulated that sort of mysterious, spiritual um, like, side of it. And also for Pyrrha too. Like it made her seem like she was just levels upon levels higher than where Jaune was at the time. And we also felt - I mean I definitely feel as though, that it's something that like, she likes to think about and something that she says to herself to give her courage. Because if she's gonna fall in battle, then so be it. But she believes that her spirit - that there's a part of her that will live on, long after her body falls, and will go to some other plane on some grand adventure."

A part of me wishes that this had been so much more explained, but also I feel like the spiritual part of things isn't something that I want heavy emphasis in when it comes to the characters that seem to disregard their lives a bit, if that makes sense? Like, don't get me wrong, I'm not one of the people who think that Pyrrha going to fight Cinder is some indication of fault with her or Ozpin or something, I think it's perfectly logical that she went up to fight Cinder. I just also think that adding in that Pyrrha thinks 'if she falls then so be it,' before having her actually die. RWBY has a very dicey at best track record when it comes to suicide (Penny, Ruby in V8) and I think adding in these elements for Pyrrha would just have made it even worse.

"And I think that gives her the courage to... Be Pyrrha Nikos, out on the battlefield, fighting for the lives of others. That's kind of always been my take on it. But yeah, the short behind the scenes answer is um, Monty thought it would be a cool thing to do. Um, that was the answer to a lot of things from back then."

More 'not everything was well planned' indications here.

"Um, and I - and I like it a lot too, because we were really trying to explain to the audience that the creatures of Grimm don't have souls. There should be no moral quandaries about slaughtering hordes and hordes of these scary looking creatures."

Okay, so... I'm going to get into some controversial stuff here, because if they wanted to ensure that there were no moral quandaries about fighting the Grimm in the early seasons, why were they comfortable having the White Fang being such prominent enemies who Team RWBY would throw off of train cars that were blowing up in a tunnel soon to be overrun by Grimm? To me, if I was concerned that people would take issue with the main protagonist mowing down animal-like creatures that acted mindless and therefore had to establish that they don't have souls, I would be five times more concerned with making sure my main protagonist wasn't just tossing aside talking sentient humans especially if I had made them part of an in-universe marginalized minority group. Just a thought.

"And then, you know, on the opposite side of that, if the things that all of our protagonists fight are soulless, then we should make something that makes huntsman and huntresses really strong, it's the fact that they do have a soul that can manifest itself in ways that can protect the user - like the body of the person. Uh - uh, it's just something that, I don't know. It's like warm, fuzzy like faith and belief. And just, it felt like the nice counterbalance to the like, hollow, cold, violent Grimm."

What's interesting to me about this statement is that they wanted Huntsman and Huntresses specifically to counterbalance the Grimm by having proof of their humanity in their souls being so blatantly represented. If it were me, I would have humanity in general separated from the Grimm through their souls. But it's almost like the only people they care about and the only people they want the audience to care about are the hunters and huntresses, and not the civilian figures and random people just living their lives. I think that does sort of come across in the writing with things like Cinder killing people on the bridge in volume eight and knocking them down but then later on Yang saying in volume nine that they saved everyone, and Weiss throwing the guards into the ocean never to be seen again, and no one really bringing up or caring about how Mistral is pretty much defenseless, and so on and so forth. I think this also comes across in the fandom, where I've seen people talk about 'why would we care about the NPCs' and things like that. This just makes it seem to me that the writers don't really care about civilians.

"So yeah, that's kind of my all over the place answer, I hope you like it. Because that's how I always felt about it. We kind of just rolled with it back then, because we had to, because we had to work so fast, with so many constraints working against us."

The fact that even the main writers and creators seemed to be on time crunches where they couldn't take the time to really figure things out speaks volumes I think about how Rooster Teeth does business. Also, more little reasons here to not believe everything was planned from the beginning. Miles Luna says they just rolled with things not even because they wanted to but because they had to, because they didn't have time to put more thought into what they'd do before they did it.

"And we were super inexperienced. Um, if I were to do it all again, I would wanna - I would wanna dig into that more. I think there's some cool, untapped potential there. And in a million other places in the show."

This is so true that there is so much untapped potential in RWBY. But I just think it's really funny that once again, this is something rwde posters and rwby critics would get blasted for saying. XD Like I remember one time posting like 'there's so much I would change and explore more in RWBY if I could reboot it' and someone in the comment section was like 'I bet your writing sucks, idk why you think you could improve anything about RWBY.' If I said RWBY was full of untapped potential and I wish it was dug into more, I might get accused of being a know-nothing idiot or an obnoxious entitled brat, lol. XD

"Um, but, you know, those rough edges and that sort of like - amateur is too strong a word - but the - the over ambition of RWBY, I think has always been one of its greatest strengths and also greatest weaknesses."

For once, I completely agree with Miles Luna. One reason why RWBY is something I keep coming back to is that there's just so much there to work with, so much that could be really good. But it's also one of the biggest flaws of RWBY that it always packs so much in that it just doesn't seem to have any interest in properly exploring or following through on, and I do think it would be a much better written show if the writers would just stop and take a breath and scale back and edit to what they can handle. It's like filling your fridge with a ton of perishable food in the hopes of cooking amazing meals, but then not taking the time to ever really cook or do anything good with the ingredients and then throwing together a hodgepodge sandwich before (or even after) things start spoiling in the fridge. It's great for creativity and it makes me want to actually cook something good with all those ingredients, but you still think they shouldn't have been that ambitious and you're like 'next time you go shopping just buy stuff for a regular old sandwich because apparently you can't handle it, and this sandwich has moldy cheese, too many vegetables, balsamic vinegar, mustard seeds, uncooked lobster, and a twinkie. What were you thinking?' Anyway, long spiel short, RWBY has great potential, endless heaps of good ideas that are inspiring and that's one of the best things about the show! But it's also way too ambitious and it leaves the show in a mess. I don't even have a good solution that would keep the scope of the show and how it gets the creative juices flowing without being too much for the writers who can't seem to do any real depth or follow through, I'm just talking. XD

"Uh, but it has a lot of charm, and we had a lot of heart back then. And i'm glad that people still think about volume one to this day. It's just cool."

It's interesting to me that Miles Luna says 'we had a lot of heart back then.' Now again, I'm not trying to say 'Miles Luna definitely meant that they don't have heart now,' because I don't know him and I don't know what he meant, but just the nostalgia in his tone and the way he talked, it made me think about how RWBY used to feel like this loved thing that people really wanted to do, whereas now sometimes RWBY feels like the thing that people don't want to do that they're just plugging away at, and like skipping past loads of exposition and having their characters act exasperated and tired out by everything. I've gotten to that state where I was really excited about writing something, and then when I got out of the mood to write it and was just forcing myself too, it would leak into skipping over important things and just writing the characters to go through the motions in like vague annoyance because I was vaguely annoyed. It's a sign that I need to grow as a writer, but it also makes me go 'do I really want to even be writing this, does this even spark joy' and sometimes the answer is no. And it just kind of feels like sometimes that's what RWBY is now, a project people don't want to do anymore that no longer sparks that same joy that it used to.

But on a better, lighter note, I'm glad too that people are still thinking about volume one, because it often feels like the RWBY fandom on the general whole just doesn't even like the early volumes and wants to forget them, or even forget seasons 4-6 sometimes. Some people will act like the only thing that matters is the present, and looking at the setup or the early established things is just stupid when it's like... No, that's the whole thing that RWBY was built on. Volumes 7-9 alone don't tell a complete story. It's a hodgepodge sandwich full of a bunch of mismatched stuff maybe, but I really feel like the people that eat the whole thing and might complain about the bad parts actually like the sandwich way more than the people who take the top piece of bread and then tell you that all that other stuff doesn't matter anymore. XD But yeah, that's just the things that I was thinking about when I saw that cameo video.

[kingboohoo37]

KBH RANDOM RANT

I'M BACK... at least I try to post more often. Streams will also come more regularly (surely...).

I'm slowly getting back to work so my time is still very limited. I thought this was a good time to bring back my random rants about fandoms since I just revisited an old classic from my childhood.

YEP we're talking about Kim Possible one of the most ludicrous fictional universes I've ever seen... In a good way!

First up: This show is FUDGING 22 YEARS OLD THIS YEAR... I'm really getting old...

The funny part about that is it was made during the peak of the 2000s... and you really notice that. The language that most teenagers use in this show is so stereotypical for that time it feels so nostalgic even watching it XD

Anyway, let's get the obvious out of the way. I know this is supposed to be a kids cartoon and I know that I'm an adult man but that doesn't stop me from watching it.

So, why is this show so great?

Good question! Its primary charm probably comes from its simple comedic attitude of telling a story.

The characters are so ridiculous that you should never be able to take this show seriously simply because most of their actions or the situations around them don't even make sense. This show just requires you to take in its vibe and go with the flow. I mean... a teenager knowing 16 forms of Kung Fu and saving the world on any given occasion is nothing that can possibly make sense. Don't forget: "Anything's possible for a Possible!"

Let's get into the characters:

Kim is your basic teenage girl, and she's here to save the world. You can't stop her 'cause...

Okay I'll stop xD

Apart from her being an ass-kicking girl boss, her main character traits are kinda the things you expect from a main character. She saves the world out of sheer will to stick to her morals. In short: she wants to help people. That obviously doesn't always work out and she sometimes ends up judging people by what they are instead of who they are. On top of that, she gets jealous easily.

BUT she is brave, smart, and makes usually good choices in the heat of the moment (except when it comes to love xD), and is otherwise very mature for her age.

Well... the opening song didn't lie. She really is your basic teenage girl. That doesn't mean she isn't cool xD

Well, obviously I can't end it without talking about the man and his very smart and hungry naked little friend.

What makes this show so funny is well... its ability to deliver comedy simply by a character existing and Ron Stoppable plays a big part in that.

He is pretty much a normal guy who just happens to be Kim's childhood friend and later somehow steals her heart xD

He is an absolute doofus. He is silly and rarely takes anything seriously. He is also lazy and loves his favorite junk food joint Bueno Nacho.

Despite all that he still cares for his friends, his naked mole rat Rufus, and usually learns a very important lesson after an episode.

He accompanies Kim on pretty much every mission and is usually more of a hindrance than a help. Despite all that Kim still loves him in her own way. And he also saves the day a couple of times, so it's not like he is a complete slob.

Rufus is just the cherry on top. Both of these guys are hilarious and I was honestly surprised by how much I laughed watching this show.

I could go on and on but I'm gonna try to finish up this post here before it gets too long xD

Even though every episode has kind of a similar structure, it never gets boring. The villains, the side characters... all of them add something very unique to the table. You just throw some characters together and boom the story kind of writes itself XD

Season 4 was my absolute favorite part of the show since guess what ... that was when Kim and Ron started dating and BOY DO THEY MAKE A CUTE COUPLE.

Ahem... anyways. I do not regret watching all 87 episodes in the last 2-3 weeks. If you're looking for a comfortable. goofy and funny way to escape reality for a moment I can only recommend this old classic.

[autumn-foxfire]

How funny, this case makes Shinichi not know what perfect pitch is but the movies go "nah, this boy is known to have extremely great hearing, he has perfect pitch"

Because it was stupid that Gosho retconned his knowledge of music to begin with, just so he could give Shinichi a reason to ask Ran for advice (even though there are plenty other things that he could ask Ran advice on such as latest celebrities and fashion which she has shown an interest in, along with martial arts, something he doesn't).

It's such a stupid choice because Shinichi adores Holmes, the movie understood this better and believed he would also try and learn the violin just because Holme's played too.

Shinichi and his bad habit of running into burning buildings. Because he has ~trauma~ from letting someone burn to death in a building in the past and he doesn't want it to ever happen again.

Kogoro isn't the Shinigami, it's his little shadow who attracts Death like the plague.

Gosho: Shinichi doesn't know anything about music and needs to ask Ran for advice.

Gosho: But he does know violins and only violins, nothing about the actual music.

MAKE IT MAKE SENSE. JUST LET HIM PLAY, GOSHO.

And of course Ran is the one to notice it was a musical scale even though Gosho did have Shinichi know what a musical scale was at the start of the episode T-T His writing is so inconsistent, please save me.

Yukiko knows how to play the piano. At one point in time, Shinichi also knew how to play a piano. She taught him. I also appreciate that she didn't insult his singing, considering she was teaching him (by the looks of it) it was actually good practise seen from her.

Shinichi has conditioned everyone to believe Kogoro will solve cases when he falls asleep XD

Takagi: You are going to make me do something dangerous, aren't you.

Megure: Don't worry-

Takagi almost falls out the window.

Shinichi and his absolute refusal to let anyone die on his watch if he can prevent it. It's probably also why he takes murders committed in front of him so personally, because he believes if he had just noticed sooner he could have prevented them. The boy needs therapy.

So Shinichi does have better hearing than Ran and did know the notes when she didn't. SO WHY MAKE IT SO HE DOESN'T KNOW MUSIC?!

I'm getting a collection of these faces now. The BO really has left a large scar.

[cometcon]

@jam-n-jay @obazervazi @controlled-haterade @20yearoldguy

So a while back there was a hilarious interaction between @jam-n-jay and a user called poligraf on a post about electrical plugs and conservative weirdness around them for transphobic reasons and poligraf was writing big long essays with long elipses for some reason while @jam-n-jay was just having a ball with them. XD Do you remember? It was very funny and @jam-n-jay mentioned they'd love to see someone do a comic for it.

Well, I finally finished my friend's birthday comic and am somewhat more free to work on it. I want to try and I seem to get the most non-study/from-my-head drawings done with shitpost drawings so this'll be good for making myself practice things too without having photos to reference easily. And because it's a shitpost it'll be less pressure to make it look high quality which I can't do yet. But this'll definitely help me learn. :D I'll start on it soon and it'll be posted here when it's done.

(I've tagged you four because you all either expressed interest in seeing it when it was done or were talking with jam-n-jay about how that would be funny to see in the notes section of that post.)

[croik]

Hastur’s mind buzzed excitedly. Though he had virtually no experience teaching his own language to a mind as relatively simple as a human’s, every inch forward in Arthur’s progress brought him a prickly delight. To say nothing of his particular choice… “Yes,” he answered with as much restraint as he could muster. “Though stressing verbs like that is more of a regional dialect. In Carcosa we would simply use the word for longing, myhrey.”

(if you're still accepting fic asks!)

(Yes, I love talking about worldbuilding and characters!!)

Not sure if you're more interested in Hastur or the language stuff here, so I guess I'll blah about both XD;

There are only a few phrases of canon "Cthuvian" in the mythos - three or four famous sentences by HPL himself, and a few add ons from other authors. As far as I can tell there isn't much in the way of fan-completed con-langs because there's not much to work with, the language is *supposed* to be unintelligible, and some of the authors who added to it were lazily just slapping funny spelled words on English sentence structure etc. But there are a few things that seem relatively consistent: pronouns that become a prefix when attached to a verb, like "ya / y'"; prepositions also become prefixes to the noun they're describing like l'ebumna and l'geg. There's only one example in the spattering of words that uses repetition (n'gha-gha) and I don't think we know what it's supposed to mean, but while randomly googling language concepts, I was thinking of how in English we use repetition to slightly change the meanings of things ("do you LIKE HIM like him?") and was amused by the idea of inserting something similar to Cthuvian. So this part of their lesson is not "canon" but nothing says it couldn't be either.

I have a little spreadsheet devoted to what I've sussed out of the Cthuvian that appeared in the actual stories, and I've been slowly adding some things just for fun, trying to work out the basics of how the language could be structured. But I'm not a linguist so I doubt it's impressive yet lol. I haven't really done much research other than some language classes in college while learning Japanese.

This fic (I Long to be Filled) I started writing before the story that now comes before it. I originally meant for it to take place someone fairly soon after the Squeezing, but ultimately decided I wanted them to have some "normal" sex before Hastur whipped his real dick out, which is why there are references to the Scholars and such things that came up before but haven't been paid off yet (oops). I've since developed a lot more backstory for how the King came to Carcosa in the first place, which may come to light later. But I especially think that part of what sets the King in Yellow apart from other mythos figures is his canonical connection to theater, music, and the arts. He fancies himself not just as a god but royalty among gods; he distinguishes himself by his ornaments (he's the king IN yellow, the play describes "the tatters of the king" rather than the king himself). Compared to his half brother, he's CULTURED. We get to see a little of that in Malevolent but way more in John (and Yellow) than with the King himself, which is interesting considering that John is in some ways a more pure version of the King, free from thousands of years of experience.

So this whole fic we get to see a version of John who is learning that his appreciation of these things has a long and illustrious history, and a version of the King who is finding new ways to delight in parts of his nature that have been commonplace to the point of complacency, relearning himself through Arthur's study. And that's very exciting for him :3

Thank you for the ask!

[mymanymerrymuses]

Lucifer Assassin AU!

Last night I had a dream about a thread where Lucifer was both human and an assassin, so now I'm putting together all of the information I've got about Lucifer in this verse so far, just in case anyone is interested ^-^

It became a bit more drabble-esk than regular information, but, blame @widdlestwucifer, they've been encouraging me all day and I got excited XD

Heaven and Hell don't really factor in to this verse. Only 'good' and 'bad', if you can categorise what goes on that neatly.

For the sake of drama in writing, I'm thinking at the moment that generally the world is much like hell, but with areas that are much safer, and even ignorant to the horrid nature of their literal neighbours. You could essentially walk from a slum to a paradise, but people don't typically move between the two without good reason.

God, who I'll simply refer to as Lucifer's father, is the head of a very affluent family. They're old money, probably with fancy titles, definitely with strong links to businesses that have far too much influence over things they arguably shouldn't. They are, unsurprisingly, in the safe, pretty, ignorant sections of the world.

Lucifer grows up in this environment, learning about it and being part of it, and he's happy. But he isn't stupid, and he isn't as naive as his siblings prove themselves to be when Adam shows up.

Adam wants a piece of all of this. Everything about him proves that he's bad news, he will get what he wants without care for what it takes. There are rumours that he's done horrible things, rumours that he's killed people before.

Lucifer worries. He worries about the safety of his family. He tries everything to get Adam out of the loop, but nothing works. Everytime he tries to tell someone not to trust Adam, he's dismissed.

Eventually, he can't take it anymore. He's seeing threatening behaviour, he knows that if Adam doesn't get given what he wants he's going to start taking it, he's going to start hurting people. Lucifer thinks of all of his family, imagines Adam starting with the most vulnerable, imagines him starting with Charlie (who might change age depending on what's happening but in conversation today was set at roughly 4 years old because it was funny) and snaps.

Lucifer kills Adam. He does it to protect his family, because there isn't any other way.

His father agrees. Acknowledges the danger only now it's passed, but still will not forgive Lucifer's actions. In protecting his family, Lucifer loses them. He's turned out, only just managing to take his daughter with him - he can't trust them to protect her now, not after all of this - and he starts anew.

Except he doesn't know how. None of the 'good' areas will accept him, because he's 'bad', but he can't let Charlie live in danger. That's what leads him to his work. He can't get his daughter back into the areas that would be safest, so he sets about trying to make the dangerous areas safer for her. He becomes an assassin to do just that.

It takes a little while, but he's surprisingly good at taking out targets. He disguises himself well; it's a talent of his, almost like shapeshifting; and only accepts hits on people proven to be dangerous. After a few, he starts gaining a name. People call him The Devil. Why wouldn't they? Who else punishes people for their sins?

[elvenbeard]

Long long rambly headcanon post regarding my V and Kerry specifically, because I have feeeeeels XD On a meta level this time, bc some coincidences you just cannot plan out beforehand.

I know this all is gonna sound so fake, but I promise, it's not xD Also, it's maybe not as deep, but I want to write about all these things at some point in more detail too and not forget about them, so here they go for now!

I put several details into V's background way before meeting Kerry in game that ended up connecting to his life and questline in amazing ways. Mind you, I went into my first playthrough almost entirely blind. All I'd looked up at some point was the romanceable characters' names and who can romance them, because River was sending so many mixed signals xD.

Heck, I wasn't even too excited about Kerry XD I was hell-bent on River, bc V and he hit it off so well imo, and when I looked up that River is not available to romance for masc body/ masc voice V I was so disappointed xD Thinking "urgh fine, let's see how Kerry is like then, if he's the only MLM option". I was half-expecting though to probably finish the game without playing any of the romances - wouldn't have been the first time that happend to me in a game, sometimes my OC just doesn't click with any of the characters XD

During Johnny's first flashback it didn't even fully register with me that you're actually talking to *the* Kerry there, just his younger self. I'd basically forgotten about him again until the Voodoo Boys job. And overall, the little Johnny says about him didn't intrigue me (or V on that matter) that much, beyond an "okay, noted, it's complicated with you two". Overall I was basically expecting a less funny Johnny 2.0 with Kerry, personality-wise. I was still looking forward to meeting him, because he was taking his sweet time to show up XD But otherwise I had zero expectations.

Since I didn't know the lore or world of Cyberpunk that well either, a lot of stuff I made up for V's background along the way, and it led to so many amazing coincidences in the end...

Like, Vince his half-Japanese. That I settled on while messing in the CC, filling in some gaps as I got to know the world better. His father was a huge admirer of the Arasakas, Hanako in particular, gave his life for the corp, yadayada. He wanted his family and his kid to resemble the Arasakas' grandiosity in as many ways as possible, and so amongst other things V learned how to play the piano when he was a kid. He ended up hating it, stopped playing, because it was not something he wanted to do but was forced to do, more or less. Then, what's the first thing you see walking into Kerry's mansion the first time? Front and center, big piano. Admittedly, pianos show up here and there elsewhere, but somehow at Kerry's villa it felt the most out of place for me, just how V felt like out of place snooping around there. I'd like to think that Kerry inspired him to pick it up again at some point, on his own terms this time, playing what he wanted, not what others told him. Out of the other former Samurai members he also gets along best with Nancy, and they stay in regular contact after he helped her out with her request.

Another thing, I don't even remember where you can read about it in-game - in Kerry's database entry, or in a shard? - that kinda caught me a little off guard, a "what the heck" moment, was Kerry apparently doing yoga on his patio every morning. I think one of the first things I added to Vince's background for flavor was that he did yoga for a long time, picking it up some time after starting at Arasaka (recommendation by his life coach to cope with the stress) and eventually falling out of the habit after leaving the corp, because all his routines kind of went out the window for a while there. Here I'd also like to think Kerry makes him pick it up again, bc it's some additional time they can spend together in the mornings, especially important when the rest of the day they don't get to see each other anymore, until late at night maybe.

When V and Takemura talked about their childhoods during Gimme Danger, first thing I did afterwards was drive to Charter Hill and figure out where V might have grown up, which street and building he and his family could have lived in. The building I ended up settling on turned out to be one of the first you see when you step onto the rooftop lounge of the Dark Matter with Kerry. The thought of Kerry going there during important moments in his life, and the kid that would really change everything for the better for him a few years down the road living right across the street, neither of them aware of the other... I live for shit like that. So if anything, that one settled the deal for me for good XD Not to mention that Kerry was not what I had expected in the slightest, and I mean that in the best way possible.

The more I think about it, and as I'm replaying the game, I might notice or remember even more stuff or little coincidences. But yes... they were meant for each other, from the start, without me or either of them realizing it then, and I love it XD

[dp-marvel94]

Hi!

I (finally, don't know what took me so long) read Face to Face, and just, wow. I left a comment on the fic itself but I wanted to send something here too!

I was definitely surprised that they told Jack & Maddie so early in the fic, since that's usually part of the end of the fic, but I absolutely love the way you did it. Danny (both of him) having his family supporting him for most of the split is definitely better than him trying to figure it out himself.

Also very impressed by all the things you touched on! I know it would be easier to have them resolve a lot of the problems quickly, but them having setbacks (especially almost merging and failing) makes it so much more real.

I was a little worried you were just going to forget about them almost merging, to be completely honest. Should have known better. The way you brought it up when they finally told Jack & Maddie what happened was perfect. Poor all of them, really, working on/waiting for the ghost catcher without realizing they could merge on their own.

I love the way Danny has to accept himself- not just his ghost half, or his human half, but both of them together, to become whole again. Especially because it wasn't just something stated and accepted- they tried, twice, to merge but couldn't because they hadn't accepted themselves.

All the stuff with sharing memories and thoughts and occasionally using eachother's bodies is a fascinating concept. I wonder how Danny will deal with having two sets of memories from that week?

I read a comment on Ao3 that mentioned him learning to duplicate faster because of this, and I think it would be hilarious if he did it in the middle of a fight accidentally. Can see him panicking for a few seconds that they separated again before realizing he's still fine. Would duplicates be mindless? I know that's how most fics write them, though I think it would be more interesting if it was a situation they're both fully Danny, but other than that it's the same as when they were separate.

Imagine him working on homework the way they would when there were two of them and then just fusing back afterwards. I'd bet that it would be a little disorienting to not be in two places at once anymore, even if it's definitely a good thing. Maybe someone walks in on them doing homework or playing games or something idk and also freaks out a bit, that could be funny. There are so many things he could use it for.

There's more I could talk about, but this is pretty long already:). Can't wait to see more of Face to Face, and how our (now whole!) halfa reacts when he wakes up.

Link to the story at the end.

Thank you so much for reading! I saw your comment on the fic earlier. :)

Honestly, when I had the Dannys tell Jack and Maddie, I wasn't anticipating there to be so much story after. 😂 At that point, I knew that I wanted the boys' relationship with their parents to improve and for both halves to love and fully accept themselves. I guess I didn't realize how many chapters that would take.

But yeah, having Jack and Maddie in the know from early on definitely made things earlier on the Dannys. It also let me write a bunch of post-reveal content that was super nice.

And the sets backs! I loved making those emotional arcs more realistic. Healing takes a lot of time and is complicated. So it takes time for those conflicts to resolve and relationships to heal.

XD I think several people thought I was going to forget about the failed merge but bringing it up again was always in the plan. I couldn't have the Dannys remember until they were ready. I almost feel bad for all the stress and drama related to the Ghost Catcher.

Face to Face is a bit of an unconventional love story. Using split Danny to explore the idea of loving and forgiving yourself has been so exciting for me. I've talked about it a bit in other posts but before I started writing this story, I read pretty much all of the split Danny/ seperate Fenton and Phantom content that exists. A few stories touched on the themes I wanted (Here's a post I made listing a bunch of those fics.) but nothing dug as deep as I really wanted. So I wrote it myself.

Shenanigans with having two bodies was really fun to play with! I love love the mind-bending strangeness. And memories are so important to who someone is and how they experience the world. It ties into those identity questions I love to wrest with in fiction. As for how the whole Danny deals with two sets of memories, I'm planning on addressing that in the last few chapters. :)

And duplication shenanigans! I'm really tempted to write a tie-in one shot. And probably will eventually.... 😅

I'm also imagining it happening during a fight. Danny will definitely be confused and freaked out for a bit, before realizes he didn't actually split again. Danny has had so much experience existing in two bodies at once that his duplicates definitely wouldn't be mindless. He would probably have no idea which body is the original and which is the duplicate. Not that it actually maters, both are just him.

He'll definitely practice and use the skill to work on homework and talk about his problems. I can see that freaking people out. 😂 Granted, being in two bodies probably isn't the most comfortable for him and it does take some energy to maintain. So Danny can't do it all the time. But he's cool with it, since he can fuse back whenever he wants.

Thanks for the comment and ask again! I'm always happy to talk about Face to Face. If you have anymore thoughts or questions, I'd love to hear them!

[blazichu]

I really love your fics and snippets with special emphasis on how you write Ingo and Emmet. You are very consistent with giving each of them interesting emotional development without diluting it into just sad times for sadness sake. I'm not saying it's bad to write things just to feel a strong emotion, but those emotions are more interesting and compelling to explore when characters get to feel them and come back stronger or even just learn from them in general.

I know I probably touched about this in the fic comments on AO3, but MHIMH was a wonderful example of this. I thoroughly enjoyed the ups and downs of Ingo's learning process where he has to push forward in an unfair situation. In the end he not only survived, he is now stronger and more in tuned with his ideals than ever while still holding his emotions and resolve to go home close to his heart.

I am so excited to see Emmet's side of this story in AGAS. I love the start and how it talks about how, while the pain is still there, he manages as well with life even if it is with a heavy heart. Emmet is also a very strong person and I will enjoy seeing his emotional development through his side of the story. As he learns of his brother's trials and resolve.

It is so rewarding to see that even when they are so far apart they will find strength in the other to move forward.

Oh, thank you! It's really kind of you to go out of the way to share your thoughts, and I'm very happy to hear that you enjoy my writing enough to break it down like this!

I agree that there's absolutely nothing wrong with a fic where bad things happen just because that's the story someone wants to tell-- and frankly, I see shades of that in one of my own pieces-- but in general, I believe that the depth of angst, horror, or what have you will always be enhanced by giving the piece moments of levity and hope. I think that probably contributes a lot to characterizations, too-- allowing them to fall into both extremes.

Admittedly, I do get a bit self conscious about my interpretation of the twins, because there are certain fanon conventions that I've started pulling away from in the past year. I feel like it's more visible with Emmet than Ingo, and that's going to be coming up in AGAS. As to your hopes for seeing him develop as a character, I think that definitely does happen, but I'm not going to go any further into that for now.

Ingo in particular… it's funny. I know you described Emmet as an "unstoppable force" in an earlier comment, and I see Ingo as being very similar, just in a more subtle or gradual sense-- like an inevitability. They have two very different connotations, but at their core, are very alike; it's an interesting interplay and part of what makes the characters fun to work with. Idk, maybe I'm being pretentious again xD

"It is so rewarding to see that even when they are so far apart they will find strength in the other to move forward." Just wanted to repeat that, because I love the way you worded it. I absolutely agree!

[sentimentalscientia]

I’d like to take this chance to thank the amazing people that I’ve met and gotten to interact with on here. I hope this year will be a better one for us all!

@mournus It’s been so fun getting to build up so many friendships/relationships with you. I’m obsessive with the expansive treasure hunt everyone is on and I and the wolves just adore all of the crew. Luke gets a special call out for being such a good buddy. Even with how horrible Saint can be at times. I look forward to what will unfold as the adventure continues. And of us having random ooc chats about all the cool and sad things that happen.

@thehighlandhealer @anedendarkly I know our interactions are relatively new but I’m very glad they were started. I’m very curious how everything will play out. If Itsuki can help Kelly out of his shell and if he and Rhys will possibly manage to be friends. I also want to thank you all for the nice ooc chats. It’s been a pleasure to meet you both.

@thelonelynoones We don’t really seem to catch each other when we pop up but I’m still happy you are around. Your crew are some of the pack’s longstanding friends and I always look forward to getting to start threads with you.

@garnishedarrogance Mel and Saint would hate a world without their little red riding hood. I’m glad we randomly crossed paths so the the witch and wolves could make such a wonderful friendship.

@erebus-kingdom While I love your whole blog, there’s a special place in my heart for Aszi. They are funny and sweet and the wolves love getting to be around them. They also don’t trigger Saint’s jealousy so that is a wonderful bonus!

@elysiumxii Words can not express how precious you and Rene are. I’ve loved getting to have random and gushing ooc talks with you and it’s been a delight to see all the new sides he brings out of Itsuki. It’s gonna be very fun to see their lives and family grow. Poor Rene is lucky his heart doesn’t beat or he’d be dealing with nightly heart attacks. XD

@latoreid Our interactions have just begun, but Saint and I are already very curious of haein. It will be interesting to see exactly how open they will end up being with each other. Or if they will only present the very basic parts of their past. Either way I know it will be interesting.

@wontgodowninhistory We haven’t started writing with your new blog yet BUT WE WILL. I’m so freaking excited to throw the wolves out and let them take Robin into a safe little cocoon. And perhaps let Maddie and Mel have another taste of happiness . 🥺

@pillowxtalk @unavernales It seems I don’t really interact with you all at this point, but I just wanted to say how much I’ve enjoyed the interactions we’ve had and how much I’ve gotten to learn. It’s been a genuine pleasure to rp and I like getting to see you across my dash.

- I love you all and thank you so much for giving me a chance to interact with all of your amazing muses!

[katyspersonal]

I ended up playing more SoTE after a break of several days, actually some interesting progress but also two-parter!

1) Went to Scorpion River catacoms on accident while trying to explore that interesting area with RED Kindred of Rot, and was lowkey disappointed.. because it is a repetitive one. :/ I believed the previous catacomb featuring Godwyn lore was unique! But this one's purpose is to give you another Knight of Death weapon and another variant of talisman by Godwyn @ his Knights! 🙄

^....and also another Messmer's Knight Spirit Ash variant, when Andreas is the hammer-wielder variant! Though the bit about personal attachment by Messmer is a cool one! Same unique ash energy as Ogha or Finlay I suppose

2) Okay MAYBE this catacomb wasn't THAT repetitive since it featured unique mechanics of goddamn Basylisk statues shooting THESE GODDAMN STUPID EYES

3) Also if a second person in this world exists who has weird fixation of collecting everything even if they will never use it.. do not grind the Lion-mask Imps for the helmet. They do drop their swords, but not their helmets. Their head piece is FOUND in this catacomb!

Basically it is exactly what you think - it is on one of the platforms accessed by jumping on the spikey plate as soon as it got down and then getting down fast enough when it moves! Just boost your death resistance here since it is in the room with the rocky bridge!

4) Okay so after that I finally decided to go to the Finger Ruins now that I've learned it was accessible by normal means!!! That was so cool! Really large place with many nooks though;;

5) At first I thought these were snakes with arms and legs, but no! They're lampreys!

(Really liked how I could get this angle gfjyhf)

6) Whereas most of these enemies sorcerer (?) variants used the spell I wasn't familiar with, one of them was using exactly the same purple spell as ringed Fingercreepers use! I took screenshots of it and usually when I have to screenshot something too fast for the phone I just then take a picture of THE screenshot on my phone gfghvv This time I forgot, but yes I still got it on PS! This is really interesting though? I wonder whether lamprey people adopted it from Fingercreepers, or, since only ringed Fingercreepers can use that spell it were lampreys that taught them and gave them a catalyst!

7) I was running around the area for a while instead of getting straight to the point, staring at these formations wondering whether they are cracked eggs (of lamprey?) or the fingers:

I assume that they are the latter by now! They in many places look like they are digging out of the earth, they vary in sizes and often look multilayered more than cracked! Also since these giant fingers are also rocky and are shown broken sometimes!

8) This is actually really funny how there are canonically characters that were obsessed with researching Fingercreepers to the point of insanity, considering how I kept breaking my mind trying to figure them out at least four times gfhbbbgfb

And there is a ghost near which you pick it that does state these ruins are their place of origin! Damn my pre-DLC thoughts on Fingercreepers aged like MILK, granted today I finally nuked the post. XD

I am definitely writing it in the list of the times ER's lore transcended the narrative and effected the reality x) *looks at people who were brainwashed to think Shabriri's solution was good* look who is talking

9) Who wish to become fucking WHAT??

Just another normal day in the Elden Ring universe I suppose hfhtgghjh

10) Got this talisman after ringing that big bell:

I thought it was an odd choice of the reward, but I guess not really? Okay so, I returned to Ymir about it and,

11) Well I saw this 🌛

So he gave me a map and the talisman, and then had new dialogue about Marika and Miquella, further explaining how Erdtree thing was corrupt / doomed to rot from the start to explain why Miquella had to remove all of it from himself to actually get anywhere! That makes drop of that talisman from the rock less random.. They've connected the dots, they've connected them.

12) I start to understand why the girls like him so much from what I've seen, this guy really thinks on some other plane x)

13) The talisman that he gave also reminded me of Sellen's monologue about primeval current and how everyone were children of the stars after all and needed to return to them!

Honestly that stuff was one of my favourite niches to think about, and what I did not expect from the DLC was returning to these themes! Feels very comfy! Like, I got something I did not even ask for only because I didn't even hope for elaboration :')

14) He also could teach two new spells after this, that are basically just variants of one another:

I haven't tested them yet, but sorcerer lamprey in the Finger Ruins were using these sorceries I believe! They were also pale blue and ricochetting!

15) After that I of course wanted to get to the next Finger Ruins already, so I asked @val-of-the-north how do I get to that spot on the map without passing the Shadow's Keep.. Turned out that I don't. 🤡 That is pretty much the area I've been avoiding, but yeah, I had to make my way to it now! That's on the next post though I am out of screenshot spots 🌛

[bl-recs-and-reviews]

This is BL challenge for you (if you choose to accept them).

1.a) Please write your top 3 or top 5 favorite tropes in BL.

b) From each trope, write at least 3 BL that you love.

(Feel free if you want to write the reasons or not of why you love them).

2. a) What is the first BL that make you want to know more about and eventually love BL?

b) What is that one BL that have a special place in your heart (for whatever reason)?

The BL can be in in the form of manga, manhwa, manhua, books, tv series or movies.

Thanks so much if you want to answer this long ask.

This looks like fun :) I accept!

Sorry for the late reply this took a while to answer properly ❤ It' so hard to choose

1. Top 5 Favorite Tropes in BL and corresponding shows (in no particular order)

Arragended relationship: - Seven Days (manga) - Now this is one of my favorite manga of all time. So simple yet so good. How you end up falling in love with someone as a result of an experiment - Ookami e no Yomeiri (series/manhwa) - This one is beautiful to look at. Not for the people that cringe at furry stuff. It's an arranged marriage, and how by observing/looking at the other person you like what you discover. - Kieta Hatsukoi (series/manga) - This one is probably known by all. Cute, simple, funny and light hearted. Honestly the more time goes by, the more I think of it fondly ❤

Enemies to lovers: - We Best Love (series) - It's not everyday that a show manages to do an enemies to lovers twice with the same couple. I particularly love S2. And how the love is clearly still there but the hurt is still hurting. - Bad Buddy (series) - Not perfect but with perfect moments. Some amazing scenes that will forever be my favorite. The rooftop scene particularly makes me put it here ;) - Semantic Error (series/manhwa) - The best kbl out there. Proper enemies to lovers, with an adorable height difference. Amazing. 10/10

Miscomunication (done right) - My Personal Weatherman (series) - I am currently losing my mind over this show because of how many of my favorite tropes are happening in it. They miscommunications on this show feel very true and understandable. And despite them they sometimes do manage to communicate well :) - Escape Journey (manga) - Ogeretsu Tanaka is one of my favorite mangaka. And in Escape Journey she manages to make a very realistic depiction of a relationships between flawed people who's happiness is stopped by their lack of communication - Cupid's Last Wish (series) - This is one of those underrated gems that not a lot of people have watched. But let me tell you I loved it, so much. Especially when you have complex relationships, made complex because of unresolved feelings and lack of understanding of the complexities of other people. I love it when characters fuck up and then have to learn to fixs thing properly

Opposites attract - Doukyuusei (manga/movie) - I feel like I talk about this one all the time, but I love it so much. It's such a good story. The pace, the build up, the characters, the love, the everything. I just love it very much. Sunshine x Glasses guy basically xD - King's Maker (manhwa) - What's with me and blond action mains and calculating dark haired with glasses smart guys? In any case, one of the only manhwa's I've read. And I love it. It's got politics, angst and pinning. What else do you need? Kabe Koji (series) - Guess who's also a sunshine boy in love with a dark broody guy? This is the epitome of opposites attract, and japan knows how to do them. Another little hidden gem that maybe not a lot of people know

Hurt/comfort - Mou Ichido Nandodemo (manga) - This is one of my favorite use of the anmesia trope. It's a short manga, where amnesia comes to fuck us around but then it gets overcome in a really cool way. One of my favorite mangas :) - Mainichi Seiten series (manga) - This was one of the first long series of various volumes that I read. It starts very lightheartedly and then goes to sorta dark places. I really liked it because of how bittersweet it was - Oni to Tengoku (manga) - This one is a comedy. With an age gap and questionable behavior older men manage to have a very sweet love story while healing from past trauma. Isn't it neat? Also I love when sex is used as a healing tool, it resonates with me

2. a) The first BL that made me interested in BL

My gosh this one is hard. I don't really remember cause it's been forever. And I was always into "unusual romances". I really liked the strong "bromance" between Zoisite and Kunsite in Sailor Moon, back when I was a kid. I think the first BL coulpe I consciously liked was Touya and Yukito from CardCaptor Sakura. So I always had a penchant for liking those secondary couples. I guess there was no proper first BL that made me interested in BL. I just ended up finding the genre because I had a prior interest.

However, probably my first proper BL was Junjou Romantica. It was the first long length BL anime that I saw. I was blown away. Up until then it had only been crumbs and soap opera side couples. Oh, how things have changed since then :)

b) A BL with a special place in my heart

So many. And it always changes. But I guess one that will always have a space in my heart is the combo Tokyo Babylon and X/1999. CLAMP's golden age of mangas are some of my favorite of all times. And X was so good (but forever in hiatus). The characters, the conflicts, the angst, the everything. Subaru and Seishirou's love story. The fate of the world depending on Kamui's love. Where else are you gonna find a story where the choice that might save the world is the selfish one? Where realizing that you're in love with your childhood friend is what might stop the fighting? And also this moment:

source

If you know, you know. I wonder what I would think if I read it now, but still forever in my heart.

This was a lot of fun! Thank you so much for the ask ❤