#(and possibly Shellfish) lol

[thebearer]

nothing in the world belongs to me |carmen berzatto x reader|

prompt: still new in your relationship, you show up to the bear for dinner unexpectedly, surprising carmen and the others.

based off this prompt from the other day :)

contains: fluff lol. really, it's just fluff. established-ish relationship (the others don't know). carmen being a little nervous and possessive but mainly cute <3 language.

“Alright, listen up,” Richie stood next to Sydney, flicking through the piles of tickets that were ringing through by the second. It was normal now, an expected task in their routine. “We need to walk the focaccia to table seven, please.” 

“Yes, Chef!” A chorus of nearly robotic voices rose from the sizzling hiss of the lamb searing in Carmen’s pan, lifting the spatula to tip the meat over, before giving it back to the chef on the line. 

“And for table nine, we’ve got a shellfish allergy, alright? So let’s triple check the cross contamination on that. T, can you handle that one?” Richie moved from his leather bound book of notes back to the ticket. 

“Yes, Chef!” Tina chimed, pulling a freshly washed pan, filling it with the veal stock. 

“Table nine, is that- that’s the senator?” Carmen turned to Richie, tasting the roux bubbling on Victoria’s station, giving her a curt nod of approval. 

“No, that’s table eleven.” Richie hummed, looking back at his notebook. “Nine, is… a birthday. Booked online.” Carmen had already begun to drone him out, mind racing with a million other things as Richie listed the guests name. Until he got to one. 

The name Carmen was sure he was hallucinating. The name no one knew- How would they know? How could they possibly know your name? 

You and Carmen had been seeing each other for a little while. A few weeks that were slowly turning into months. A casual thing that was slowly turning more serious. Dates and meetups are becoming more frequent. You’d even invited him over to your place a few times, he’d spent the night last week. 

Still, Carmen hadn’t managed to tell anyone. Selfishly, he liked that you were all his for now. Privacy was not guaranteed in the Berzatto house, in Carmen’s life still. He knew they meant well, they always did- he knew it wasn’t purposeful, the intrusion that almost always led to a demise. Carmen wasn’t ready for it, not yet, he still wanted you all to himself. 

“Carmen?” Sydney’s voice pulled him out of his panicked trance. “Chef, are you- are you good?” Her voice lilted with that familiar suspicious quip, the one always accompanied with her lifted brows. 

“What?” Carmen blinked, hands buzzing, heart thumping. He could see the window, Richie’s frame blocking most of it. “Sorry, yeah- yeah, I’m good, Chef.” 

Sydney watched him carefully, a slow nod before she continued calling out orders. Carmen could feel Richie’s eyes on him, narrowed with curiosity. Carmen tried to be nonchalant, crossing the kitchen back towards Tina, his eyes cutting carefully, looking out the window. 

There you were. 

Sitting pretty at the middle table, surrounded by friends, some Carmen recognized from your Instagram. He’d actually logged in to the app, looked you up after the first date, consumed every photo of yours in the dark of his room. Cheeks burning with excited heat, stomach fluttering in a way he hadn’t felt since junior high. 

“Alright, walk five salads to nine.” Sydney called out. “Where’s our runners? God, Richie, can you run-” 

“-I got it.” Carmen called, the urgency in his tone making Tina jump behind him. Carmen took the tray before Gary could, his hands shaking as he lifted it. 

“Cousin, I can get it.” Richie frowned. 

“No, I-I got it.” Carmen nodded, swallowing down his fluttering nerves. His eyes cut to your table through the window, heart skipping when he saw you. “I got it. I’ll be- I’ll just be a second.” 

“I don’t- I can’t even handle that one right now.” Sydney sighed in exasperation. “Alright, Chefs. Let’s get back on track.” She announced, shaking her head. Richie frowned, pulling out his phone. 

Sugar’s cell buzzed against the hostess stand, excusing herself to check it. 

From: Richie 

‘Look at table nine.’ 

Sugar huffed. 

To: Richie 

‘Why? Is there something wrong?’ 

She stepped back, casually turning to scan the room, eyes landing on the table. A small group of girls, younger, and amongst them- Carmen? 

To: Richie 

‘Is something wrong with the food? Do I need to comp it?’ 

From: Richie 

‘No. Cousin wanted to go out there.’ 

Sugar frowned, angling her body behind the large plant near the front as casually as she could. She watched through the leaves as Carmen passed out the salads, each girl grinning widely, but their eyes always cut to one on the end. 

Carmen saved your salad for last, hoping the lowlights of the restaurant would hide his boyish blush, setting the bowl in front of you carefully. “Hey,” 

“Hi,” You smiled sheepishly, looking to meet his gaze. “Everything looks so good.” 

“Yeah? Thanks.” Carmen nodded. “I-I didn’t know you were comin’ tonight.” 

“I’m sorry.” You cringed softly, embarrassed heat flooding through your veins. You knew better, knew you shouldn’t have done this- showed up at his restaurant unannounced. 

“I, uh, it’s my friend’s birthday.” You nodded towards Alicia at the end of the table. “And I was telling them about that pasta you made me, and they really wanted to come try it.” Your nerves bubbled, rambling in nervous peals that seemed to pour out before you could stop them.  

“Yeah, no, that’s really nice. Thank you.” Carmen nodded, giving a half smile to your friends, hoping they didn’t see the way he wiped his clammy hands on his apron. “Why didn’t- Why didn’t you just call me? Tell me you were comin’ in.” 

“I didn’t want to bother you.” You muttered softly. “I honestly didn’t think you’d even see us here, I swear. I didn’t mean to bother you or anything-” 

“-You’re not bothering me.” Carmen’s voice dropped to a coo, accompanied with a soft smile that had your head spinning. “Never a bother, but, uh, next time? Bother me, ok? Wanna make sure you get the best seat in the house.” 

Your cheeks flushed with heat, your friends excited giggles only intensifying the rushing heat blanketing over your body. Carmen’s own cheeks heated, tongue rolling on the inside of his cheek to hide his grin. 

“Alright?” Carmen added, and in a complete act of shocking boldness, his hand squeezed your shoulder affectionately. A small gesture on the outside, but for Carmen, it was huge. 

“Alright.” You grinned, leaning into his touch, your hands sliding over his. 

“How’s everything so far?” Carmen turned to the table, nodding at the excited gushes of compliments, not missing the way your friends cut their eyes to you with animated glee. 

“Just let me know if you need anything, ok?” Carmen turned to you.

“I will.” You nodded, starry eyed with love sick affection. 

“Good. I’ll see you before you leave, alright?” Carmen muttered, ducking down towards you. His lips brushed over your cheek, your perfume clouding his senses. “You’re not botherin’ me. ‘M glad you’re here.” 

Your cheek pressed to his, a gentle, affectionate rub before Carmen parted. Both of your features painted with shy delight. 

Carmen could feel everyone’s eyes, through flickering gazes and lifted brows. Sydney’s gaze lingering over him skeptically, still counting tickets. Fak’s wide grin from the corner, loading trays to take out. 

“Hey, uh, Marcus.” Carmen ignored Richie’s raised brows, a teasing, questioning remark on the tip of his tongue. 

“Yes, Chef?” Marcus muttered, looking up from the cannolis he was garnishing. 

“Table nine has a birthday. I was thinkin’ maybe the chocolate ganache, punch it with the little circle to make it look like a cake. Add a candle?” Carmen muttered, hand rubbing across his face. 

“Yeah, Chef, I can do that.” Marcus nodded. 

“Thank you.” Carmen nodded. “And Chef? Let me know when it’s ready before you walk it.” 

Marcus frowned. “No, it’s not- I just wanna walk it, ok?” Carmen shook his head. 

“Alright.” Marcus nodded slowly. “Heard, Chef.” 

Richie smirked, leaning against the stainless steel table. “So,” Richie hummed. “There a complaint or somethin’? Need me to go talk to ‘em-” 

“-No,” Carmen snapped, the possessiveness in his tone startling the both of them. “Sorry, it’s- No, I-I don’t need you to do that, Chef. Everything’s good.” 

Richie nodded slowly, passing the dishes to Gary with a nod. “You gonna tell me what that was about?” 

“No, Chef.” Carmen clipped, an edge to his tone that was teetering on annoyed. “But, uh, there’s not gonna be a check on table nine.” 

“What?” Richie frowned. “Did you mess somethin’ up? Seriously, Cousin, if something's wrong it’s my job to know-” 

“-No, it’s not-.” Carmen huffed, eyes pinching closed, running a hand over his face in frustration. “Look, that’s… The girl on the end? I-I’ve been kinda seein’ her, ya know?” He muttered. 

Richie gawked, blinking in disbelief. “No shit.” He grinned. “No shit? You-You’re serious?” He turned to look out the window. 

“Don’t fuckin’ look.” Carmen hissed. “Look, it-it’s not a big deal, alright? Just don’t-don’t say anything o-or do anything.” 

Richie swallowed back a teasing remark, a reactive reaction from years of being with Mikey. How the two of them used to tease Carmen endlessly, until they were fighting on the front lawn, Mikey howling with laughter while Carmen was red faced with mortified anger. 

This time, Richie held back. He wasn’t sure why, call it divine intervention, a gut feeling maybe, but it felt different this time. 

“Alright.” Richie nodded slowly. “No ticket for nine. Heard.” 

Carmen’s foot tapped anxiously. “I mean, right? Th-That’s what I should do right?” Carmen looked over his shoulder out the window. “That would be shitty to give her a check? Be a complete jagoff move to charge her?” 

“Yeah,” Richie scoffed lightly. “Jagoff of the fuckin’ year. Makin’ your girl pay to come to your place.” 

Carmen’s heart swelled at the term- your girl. His girl. You were his girl. 

“Walk four Pappardelle to nine. Walk one Pappardelle vegetarian style to nine.” Sydney called. 

Carmen dipped the spoon in the glaze, garnishing the plate before sliding it towards Sydney. “So, you gonna take these out?” He muttered. 

“No,” Carmen huffed. “Gonna wait until the cake.” 

“Yeah, good idea, Cousin.” Richie nodded with a proud smile. “That when you’re gonna tell them no check tonight?” 

“No,” Carmen shook his head. “I don’t- It would feel weird comin’ from me.” He looked up at Richie. “I was gonna let you do it.” 

“Yeah, I can handle that.” Richie smirked. “And I won’t say anything, Cousin.” He stopped Carmen before he could say it. “I got you, Cousin. I won’t fuck it up, alright?” 

Carmen nodded slowly, a strangled thank you on the tip of his tongue. The door swung open behind Richie, and for a second, Carmen caught a glimpse of you. Smiling and laughing, leaned in over the table, no doubt giggling with your friends about him. Carmen’s heart squeezed, but this time, without fear. No, there was no dooming fear that you were mocking him, making fun of him. This time, he felt the content rush of adrenaline filled love. A change in his routine, yes. Unexpected, sure, but he was glad for it. Glad that you were there- here, with him.

[orbleglorb]

tumblr in the blaseball universe, part 10

part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7, part 8, part 9

image descriptions: the first image is a thick black bar meant to separate posts. the second image is a thin gray bar meant to separate reblogs. they are used continuously throughout the post when appropriate. like right now

☎️ official-jessica-telephone 🔁

☎️ official-jessica-telephone

what happens if the real JT wants this URL. it's a part of me now. who do i become if i have to give it up

🐟 offishal-jessica-telephone Follow

she'll have to krill you for it

☎️ official-jessica-telephone

WHO ARE YOU

102 notes

☕ eyesinthedark11

every day with salmon weather for the past few months, my dad has miraculously "found" fresh salmon for us to have for dinner. should i ask him where he's getting it from

#personal #i know the answer. i just need the verbal confirmation

0 notes

Whoops, looks like this post doesn't exist!

🐍 gamer--gorgon

shoutout to the guy (who i think might be in our shadows?) that goes fishing during every salmon game. you should see if you can get anything from the floods

#if he's a shadows guy it's extra funny because he's gotta come up from new jersey #all the shadows share an apartment there #charla said she thought she knew him but every time she tries to get into the stands to talk to him he just disappears lmfao #i get it king. i really do

41 notes

☎️ official-jessica-telephone

what do you MEAN they're rebooting supernatural???

35 notes

☕️ eyesinthedark11 🔁

☕️ eyesinthedark11

i understand that this is ostensibly a terrible thing to say but i truly do not think parker macmillan did anything wrong. if my mom was the coin i woulda done worse. i wouldn't have only been passively killing

🦆 peripheral-duck

everyone wants to act all gifted kid burn out fleabag mommy issues #coquette #girlblogger but the minute mommy decides murder is okay if it gets her some money it's all "well why didn't PARKER do anything :/" you fake fucking bitches. bro got cursed to bring destruction in his wake and THEN cursed to wander everywhere. we're not going to question that??

☕️ eyesinthedark11

if the coin was my mom i would have burned the whole earth years ago. not even because of firewalker or anything i woulda just done that

#like you are looking at mommy issues supreme. you show some fucking respect #<- PREV #on one hand it feels really weird to say these things about a Real Guy who is possibly still alive #on the other hand. you fake bitches #if you've reblogged a fleabag quote i don't wanna hear shit from you #'maybe the fireballs didn't know what instability was' valid point! #but that does not mean they're not at fault. you know #idk why everyone expects parker to just. fix everything. #if he's in the vault then he's been 19 for like 50+ years. he suffers more than jesus

5 notes

🐶 catgirlfirefighter

it's somehow the league's best kept secret that mike townsend is deaf. people keep coming to me like, "idk how you're friends with the guy, he just ignored me, he's such a dick" bro he can't hear you. and also yeah he is a huge bitch

#right judgement wrong reason #mike if you're reading this. ily <3

112 notes

🦞 marketplace-shellfish

Hey has anyone heard from that guy who was making the "meatcute is not real and can't hurt me" affirmations recently? I can't tell if it's a bit or not but they haven't posted since.

#blaseball #san francisco #san francisco lovers #hopefully it's nothing and i'm just anxious lol

11 notes

[sickficideas]

I return with a new upset tummy idea for Dazai! My mind has been on all-you-can-eat scenarios lately, and I'm sure there's gotta be a place like this that has crab 🦀💖 and I can just see him taking full advantage of that (especially if someone else is paying lol)

But I think he goes way overboard with it and too much seafood/shellfish like that has him feeling very sick. And maybe he's ok until he gets home, or maybe he's already getting queasy while they're still at the restaurant. There's a couple different outcomes possible here tbh.

nausea from overeating is a trope I loveee. this boy loves his crab and he's totally the type to think he can eat way more than he actually can...he eats so little on a regular basis but in moments like these where he's excited to eat he will stuff himself so full. He very rarely eats crab in large quantities so he forgets how nauseating it is to have a tummy full of it...he's totally nauseous already as they're getting ready to leave the restaurant, trying to muffle closed-mouth burps. he tries not to complain out loud because Kunikida paid and he already told him not to eat too much and there he is !! He goes home by himself to lay down on his bed, unbutton his pants to give his tummy some breathing room but he can't get comfortable at all 💔💔 so so nauseous and his tummy is so tight

[thehandwixard]

mm, also im back up to the grove in my current playthrough so i hve some updated notes about building materials:

cannot believe i didnt really clock this before but several of the glass bottles in new carcinia Definitely have intentional holes cut out of them. i dont think this changes much about my take on its valuability, but i think it is important to know they have glass-cutting ability, if not (imo) glass welding and such. careful drilling and cutting is incredibly possible. there is metal welding but i think glass might be a little tougher underwater

also pretty much every building in new carcinia appears to be lit from the inside, and there are even lights on the outside of bottomfeeders, shellfish desires, and the prawn shop. all of the electrical infrastructure seems to be visible only in the lower crust, though the thought hit me that some of it could be snaking through the coral? which is great and healthy. also the the poles the wire connect to are the little door stopper springs lol

[omegaversetheory]

Do you have surgeries or procedures to fit into a single dynamic? If so, would it be possible to choose the dynamic or would it be the dynamic that genes, hormones and instincts are strongest in? How is this seen? Do they have to seek their rights against prejudice and the right to exist and choose? Would it be difficult to find partners?Sorry if I get confused, I don't speak English, I'm using a translator.

Hi!

I'll first begin with a note that it depends of what kind of omegaverse you're talking about (see my earlier post about omegaverse types for more reference). But here's a catchall answer to get your gears moving -

The most common dynamic-enhancement surgeries would be hysterectomies (bye bye uterus) and vasectomies (bye bye testes). This would allow you to remove the parts of your body that may be causing dysphoria. Due to the non-connected nature of gender and dynamic, secondary sex characteristics such as bone structure, breasts, voice, etc.. wouldn't be touched unless the individual also happened to be transgender or asked for that specifically. The same would go for phallo or vaginoplasties. Again, they are available but your doctor won't automatically assume you want one - although they may list that among possible options.

There are a host of hormonal medications that can help aid in other parts of transitioning such as scent, removing/adding heat, enhancing certain instincts like nesting, etc.

In my AU, dynamics are genetic - there is no conscious choice that can be made before you present that will impact the result. I've seen some other AU's floating around the omego-sphere (lol) where individuals can weigh in in one way or another. Next time I see one I'll reblog it for you.

As far as societal perception of transitioning again this would be unique to the world you're creating. But here is an answer that I believe is the most common based on what I've read.

In a culture where an individual's dynamic is very important and takes up a lot of their identity transitioning wouldn't be easy. There would be stigma of all sorts - mostly because it's rare and therefore people wouldn't understand. Finding a partner would require transparency and being okay with rejection. Again, the weight this would have on an individual's romantic/sexual life would be dependant on the culture but let's just assume that it wouldn't be as easy as telling someone you have a shellfish allergy.

Peanut gallery - what do you think? Feel free to weigh in with headcanons from your AUs below!

[fishyfishyfishtimes]

oh oh let me tell you!! i love the idea of pinniped-based merfolk and i once got really obsessed with it and made up tons of possible lore for if a society of merfolk existed based loosely on pinnipeds with pinniped tails and mammalian carnivore traits!! they could spend lots of time underwater but ultimately had to breathe air. often lived on shore or shallow water. had a spoken language as well as a basic signing system/sign language that worked better for clear communication underwater. their culture was loosely based on coastal areas of italy and also irish fishing villages. ceramics was a major art form and export. they fish-farmed in a very sustainable way since it was a long, long cultural tradition. oysters and shellfish were gathered, crabs were caught using crab nets. their dry storage areas were on shore and are essentially low-ceiling houses along canals. post human contact, they often worked as lifeguards in nearby human towns. mate i built a religion and some basic phrases in a made up language, it was so fun and detailed and clearly something is wrong with me lol but yeah that’s what i have to say in regards to your mammalian merfolk breathing post!!

Oh that's so cool!!! If you happened to have a post on them or just wanted to talk more I'd love to have a read! I love merms that are more realistic :) Not always in the way of "these mermaids are hyper realistic and what it would look like if humans evolved to lead an aquatic lifestyle" — though I'm a big fan of those too, the designs are very creative — but rather "let's take the concept of mermaids and expand upon how they would live, how they would behave, what their traditions and culture would be like, etc." sometimes with an explanation for how they came to be.

To ramble some more about merfolk, it overall makes most sense that many populations would choose to live in shallow water and alongside coasts, maybe even on the coast; building infrastructure is easier that way, light is more readily available, and for aquatic mammal-based merms there's of course the readily available air. I have mostly dabbled in temperate and cold climate fish mermaids (because I want to iron out the kinks of how a merm could live in the same latitudes as I do) but I like to imagine that in the modern ages they build homes with tall rooms (partly to fit their long bodies), some rooms reaching above the water with big windows to get as much sunlight in as possible, even in the winter when ice covers the surface of the water. Houses on top of the water on stilts and houses completely or partly on top of land would probably make the most sense for aquatic tetrapod merms! I like to think there's also nomadic merms that travel the middle parts of the seas and oceans and herd massive schools of fish :)

[ratsoh-writes]

Here’s my birdswap notes so far:

Sans:

Possible names?: mango, ruffle, chat, rio, skeet, pina, skip, mogli, gogo, whistle, chirp, kiwi, crash

flamingo wings and flamingo pink magic!

Very bouncy, chatty, affectionate, playful and a bit of a showoff.

He gives this youthful little brother energy that has others protective of him. He’s completely oblivious to this and just thinks every one is his friend.

LOVES SHRIMP, probably other shellfish too, just a big seafood fan in general

Can’t decide on job, thinking either PE teacher or some sort of sports coach like maybe gymnastics? Needs something active and playful.

This cutie pulls, like he gets all the ladies without even trying, has that genuinely nice and cuddly purse sized chihuahua boyfriend charm. Treated like an accessory by his hot friends

Will be tiny like quill

Hobbies will be active, sporty, loves trampoline parks, kids, parties etc… loves water as well, probably will have a koi pond. Is active in the community and does a lot of volunteering

Papyrus:

Possible names?: nan, whoo, toco, bill, guava, palm, reed, whistle, flow

Macaw wings! And navy blue magic with orange ring in eyes

Sarcastic and cheeky, kind, easily flustered, normally pretty chill, not shy, daydreamy

A major dudebro. Seems like he’s high but no he’s just a deep thinker lol. Likes to mess with high people though

Needs a calm go with the flow job, maybe tour guide, or tourist shop, could do drinks like a bartender but that seems fast for him. Street vendor?

Loves coconut rice and rice candies. Just likes rice in general.

Weirdly good at flirting despite being super easy to fluster. Is a sweetie and likes to mingle

Slightly smaller than crow but won’t be on short end for papyrus

Hobbies: likes water, maybe inner tube/lazy river floating, his fruit trees and flowers, will love flowers and flower crowns, joins bro In community service stuff

And for au

Bird monsters will be friendly but considered soft and naive. They come from a dense jungled au of luxury where food and space was plentiful. And relations with humans and other tribes friendly.

Very few soldiers from au, and interest in fighting/defense rare

Prefer mountains and sea/coast towns over city

Royals will be kind, sort of minimal in influence though. Probably focus on food or youth programs? Something fun.

[sleidog]

Questions for you!! Do any of your OCs have unique / special weapons that they always use, and if so what’s the backstory behind them? Also, is there any OC you’re especially proud of / happy with? ( — @astralarias )

yes! quite a few of them do, sometimes it's tied in to plot [Tai] other times it's tied into it being gifted or taken as a 'trophy' i'll go through the simplier ones first; Slei uses the warden's weapons [sylvari cultural tier 3] specifically a longbow and greatsword, though you'll rarely see me use them in combat since his in game self is specced to use a shortbow and axe/torch, which aren't pecific to him at all! he also can be seen with pact weapons sometimes and he has a bow gifted to him by De [bright inquisitors longbow] that he has mostly as a 'for show' weapon that he hasn't fired much Teo's weapons are all stolen or reclaimed/repurposed! in game he has the untamed hammer, but in my head it's literally just a chunk of metal that he's grown branches and vines over and turned into a weapon. that's the only weapon that he always has De's weapons are all gifts from clients, his favorite being a ritualists staff! he also has the endless ocean sword and dagger Aereus has a zodiac rifle that she LOVES but unfortunately a particularly grumpy crab grabbed the barrel and bent it during an excursion into Orr, now she hates shellfish lol Tai under the cut because it's a DOOZY

Tai's weapon/s have plot! he starts out with a simple staff, much like the common skins you see in tyria, a crystal on a stick basically! but when exploring Orr after Zhaitan's death, he comes across a dragon bone staff, it was incomplete, lacking the source of the glow in the eyes, but he thought it interesting enough to add to his growing collection of curios. during further excursions into Orr, the staff starts to rattle and shake in his hands as it it sensed something nearby. On further exploration, it found the body of a fallen dragon champion, reacting to something within it. Tai isn't shy about getting elbow deep in a corpse, and lost his sense of smell around the same time he was lich-ified, so eventually he unearths a rough gem stone that seems to be practically magnetized to the staff, it immediately wants to sit in one of the skull's eye sockets. intrigued, Tai lets it, and alter researches into the staff and it's possibly origins. he can't find anything remotely similar, and instead starts to research the presense of stones of power being formed inside immensely powerful creatures. finding nothing quite as remarkable with tyria's usual threats [besides some promising subjects from shatterer and the claw of jormag] he eventually shelves the project and intends to come back to it later. when he does, it's during the seige on Mordremoth's domain, and tai finds a second stone in the corpse of Adryn, fitting that they were the stavemaster! again, the gem magnetizes with the staff, and Tai goes on to work out what this means for him. years of research later, leads him to find that the two stones are related to the dragons that the champions came from. one stone for death, the other for mind. this results in tai having a staff that can, effectively, control weakminded undead [awakened are uneffected, unchained risen, however, are] and also the ability to steal the soul from a living or undead subject at the point of death. the souls held inside the staff can never outweight Tai's own power or the staff starts to get a will of it's own and turns on him! this ended up being his undoing when he went on a bit of selfish rampage in cantha, resulting in him abandoning his staff to the ocean and instead leaning towards the approach of a harbinger with a pistol to take out his intended target. later, my ex mortician character, Rui, comes across the staff during a fishing trip with his husband, rescognising it as Tai's old staff. Rui then makes it a personal mission to release and 'rehome' all of the spirits still trapped in the staff

[enixamyram]

Desiare had a nightmare and snoop into their mothers bed for comfort. The nightmare is about how she is not their biological kid and she was having hard time of it. Alice tells her her biological mother and how being family doesn’t always require blood.(can you go on with that, I really want an emotional family time, the last family pic is made my heart swell 😍)

   Rae had discovered the truth about her adoption just a few days earlier, and it had plagued on her mind ever since. She’d been playing hide and seek with Blessing and the Mills twins at the time. It was her turn to hide while Blessing counted and she had rushed into the kitchen, ducking into the cupboard under the sink - her mums needed to go shopping for supplies soon so there was a lot of empty space for her small body to squeeze into. She sat waiting in the dark, listening to the mumble of her mums friends and family members next door and the pattering of clumsy feet upstairs.

   That was where Rae had been hiding when uncle Henry and aunt Ella came back into the kitchen to get some more drinks for everyone. At first she’d been focused on listening out for the inevitable squeals of the twins once they were caught, so much so, that she didn’t notice what they were talking about her until they said her name.

   They were discussing adoption. Apparently they were considering it, since it had worked out so well for Alice and Robin before they had Blessing. At first Rae was confused, trying to remember what adoption was… And then she remembered. Mum had explained it to her once that aunt Emma was Henry’s bio mother while aunt ‘Gina was Henry’s adopted mother.

   Henry was adopted. And so was she.

   The shock had left Rae hidden under the cupboard for hours, long after Blessing had given up searching and had instead began calling for her. She’d heard clearly when her mums began to grow worried and they sent out a search party around the house for her but had ignored it. They were just about to go out and search the streets when mama used a spell on Rae’s favourite blanket in order to find her. That just confirmed it. Otherwise they would have used themselves for the spell. But there was no relation between them to use…

   Now she was lying awake, staring at Blessing sleeping soundly across the room. She hadn’t told them she knew. She’d pretended to have fallen asleep before Henry and Ella came in and they all believed her. The rest of the day, and the days that followed, Rae had been too busy trying to get Blessing to leave her alone to think about it properly. The only time she had any peace was at night, but now a nightmare had woken her up, taking even that from her.

   In the nightmare, she and Blessing had been chased by dark shadows. Mum and mama showed up to save them, only to pick up Blessing and turn away. She’d call for them but mama had tearfully told her that they loved her, but these shadows were her real parents. Her mums had cried while the shadows loomed over her, they wanted to help but couldn’t because she wasn’t really theirs.

   Rae had woken just as the shadow had grabbed her hair, pulling like the mean boys in school. Now she lay awake, staring at the girl she thought was her sister. Everyone always said Blessing looked like their mums. And not just because of the blonde hair and the bright smile. She even had each of their eyes. One blue and one green - everyone always complimented them. Rae didn’t look like either of them, with dark brown hair and matching brown eyes. She’d never thought much of it before but now it all made so much sense…

   The worst part was not knowing how to feel. Part of her wanted to cry and part of her wanted to scream. And part of her felt dumb. Uncle Henry was adopted but he was happy. Rae knew her mums loved her but… What if those people (it didn’t feel right thinking of them as her mum or dad) showed up like Emma did? Rae didn’t want them. She didn’t want extra parents. She just wanted her mums.

   Knowing she wouldn’t be getting back to sleep that night, Rae climbed from the sheets and edged out of the room. Blessing was a deep sleeper, but she still tiptoed like she had a private secret to keep. Once in the hallway, she hurried into the next room where her mums were both sleeping. Except, unlike Blessing, mama was a light sleeper.

   “Rae?” Alice mumbled as soon as she heard the squeaking of the door being pushed open, squinting at the sudden light from the hallway that hit her hard in the face. She sat up, pushing the hair from her eyes. “What’s wrong, Sea-Turtle?” She said, using the affectionate nickname she sometimes had for her eldest daughter.

   “Mama,” Rae said, crossing the room and standing beside the bed at her side. “I know I’m adopted.”

   Alice paused, looking more thoughtful than shocked. “I thought you might.” She said finally, reaching down and lifting her up onto her lap. “Henry was worried you’d overheard him.” She wrapped her arms around her tightly. “You know it doesn’t mean anything, right? We love you just as much as your sister.”

   “I know.” Rae mumbled.

   “But it still bothers you? You know DNA doesn’t mean anything. You are always our daughter.” Alice insisted.

   “What’s DNA?” Rae frowned.

   “It’s like… Well it’s what makes two people biologically related.” Alice explained. “Remember, Emma is Henry’s bio mum? Well bio is short for biological and that’s what DNA is.”

   “Oh.” Rae mumbled, frowning down at her lap. “What is someone with my DNA comes for me? Like Emma did for uncle Henry?”

   “Well Henry went to get Emma. Otherwise she wouldn’t have found him.” Alice assured her. “So you don’t need to worry about that. And anyway, the United Realms have a protection spell over it, remember? So no one is going to get in unless we want them to.” She hesitated. “Unless you want them to…”

   “I don’t.” Rae said, shaking her head, tears filling her eyes. “I don’t want any other parents. I just want you and mum… But… If they’re my bio parents then I have to.”

   “Why do you think that?” Alice stressed.

   “Cause Henry… His bio parents found him…” Rae mumbled. “Even his dad… We read it in Lucy’s storybook.”

   “That was a special case,” Alice stressed.

   “But they found him. Cause DNA means you got to find your family. Even if you don’t want to.” Rae whimpered.

   Alice hesitated. “Rae… Did I ever tell you about my biological mother?”

   Rae lifted her head suddenly, blinking back tears. “I thought you didn’t have a mummy.”

   “I don’t.” Alice said firmly. Then hesitated and gathered her thoughts. “But there was a woman who said she was. Because we shared DNA. She tried to hurt my actual family and she thought I would be okay with that because she was my biological mother. But I wasn’t. Because DNA doesn’t mean anything. Family isn’t about blood, it’s about who loves you and who wants the best for you. Emma loves Henry and wants the best for him, and that’s why she’s in his life as well as his other mum. Gothel didn’t love me, and she didn’t want the best for me, so she isn’t in my life. Do you understand?”

   “I think so…” Rae mumbled.

   “No matter what DNA or blood or biology says, family is only ever the people that love you. And your mum and I love you with all our hearts. So we’re your family and we won’t let anyone else take you away from us.” Alice insisted.

   “That’s right.” Robin said suddenly, sitting up and leaning over to put her arms around Alice and their daughter.

   Rae’s throat tightened and she sniffled, wiping a few escaping tears on the back of her hand. “I love you too.” Rae said, turning and wrapping her arms around them as best as she could at the awkward position she was sat with her legs still hanging over the side.

   “Come on, then, let’s get you back to bed.” Alice said, lifting and setting her back on her feet.

   “Or you can sleep in our bed tonight.” Robin offered.

   “That’s okay. I wanna sleep in my own room.” Rae said proudly.

   “Come on.”

   After Alice had led Rae back into her room and tucked her back into her soft sheets, she gave her an equally soft kiss on the forehead and eased silently out of the room, leaving the door open so a small amount of light squeezed through the gap. She was only gone for a few second after Rae had shut her eyes when she heard a shuffling and felt the bed dipping. Opening her eyes she found Blessing squeezing into the space on the bed beside her.

   “You okay?” Blessing said in a loud whisper.

   “Mmm-hmm.” Rae nodded. Then paused. “Hey, Blessing. You know I’m not related to you, right? Cause I’m adopted.”

   “Like Henry?” Blessing quizzed.

   “Yeah,” Rae nodded.

   Blessing paused, then shrugged her shoulders. “But you’re still my sister, right?”

   Rae grinned. “Yeah.”

   “Good.” Blessing nodded, curling up beside her. “Night.”

   “Goodnight little sis.” Rae whispered, placing her hand softly over Blessing’s and smiling as she shut her eyes.

   Outside in the hallway, Alice watched the girls through the gap with a grin on her face, waiting until their breathing had evened out and they had officially gone back to sleep before she slipped away. She eased back into her own room quietly so as not to disturb them further. Robin was laying awake, waiting for her return and watched silently as Alice crawl back in beside her.

   “They okay?” Robin asked, pulling Alice into her arms and kissing her shoulder softly.

   “Perfect.” Alice replied, turning to return the kiss. “How did we get so lucky with them?”

   “No idea. But I’m glad.” Robin smiled, then it spread into a wide grin. “You know we’ve got the best, cutest family in all the realms right?”

   Alice snorted. “Duh!”

[standingappablog]

My interpretation of Toni and Shelbys relationship.

I am re-watching the wilds and I wanna talk about a few things I missed in my first viewing. 

Toni

Starting off in episode one, which I think a lot of us picked up on the gay vibe from both of them, was Tonis front with shelby at the beginning of the show. All talk, and takes no shit. But you can spot her flustered moment easily when Shelby puts her hands on her shoulders and when she begins to sing (while she pees yes lol) But you can just SEE IT on her face. This quickly subsides though as not long after Toni lets a tree branch fly back in her face.

The writers also try confuse you and make you think the reason why Toni  dislikes Shelby so much (at least untill episode 6 before the homophobia) is becuase of her possibly stealing her best friend away. Which of course played a part in it too.

The scenes of her looking at Martha and shelby was a common 0occurrence. You notice though, in most scenes how Martha is sort of out focus and in the backround while shelby takes up most of the shot. Indicating that shelby is the person Tonis gaze is fixed on.

I think the reason why Toni so strongly disliked Shelby in the beginning  is becuase she found herself attracted to her, which she obviously didnt like. With shelby having this happy go lucky optimistic front, and all the jesus talk really clashed with her pretty pesimistic personality. Not to mention how Toni thinks Shelby is extreamly privileged,which in a lot of aspects of her life she is. Considerably more after you find out Tonis backstory. So with that knowledge of her backround you could see why she would assume her life is better than hers. I mean she is a rich white girl from texas, so her assumption wasnt unreasonable. To Toni the idea of liking someone like Shelby is unexpected for her, so she does as much as possible to push her away. Explaining why she was pretty rude to her for the first half of the series. 

Along with Shelbys little “westburo baptist” moment Toni got pretty angry (rightly so) and this probably solidified the irationality of thease feelings she had for Shelby. Giving her even more of a reason to dislike her.

 Despite this Toni finds it in herself to try cheer her up when the two run into each other in the woods after Shelbys biggest insecurity is revealed by leahs theories. Tonis feelings for Shelby are on view a little bit here. Beforehand she barely could interact with her without expressing her dislike for Shelby.

 Though the mood shifts again after Shelby brings up the subject of her views on being gay.

Right up until shelby kisses her, Toni outwardly berates Shelby on how medieval her veiws are, and what a priveleged life she leads. She tells her on this island they are free, and Shelby takes this opportunity to show who she really is.

The kiss the two share as we all saw was in no way one sided, Toni does kiss her back. Obvioiusly this shocks Toni, as well as shelby herself. WIth shelby running off as she tries to escape what she just did with a girl who she thought hated her.

You immideatly see Toni run after her. Her feelings for this girl who Toni thought hated who she was where reciprocated. In this moment her whole attitude towards Shelby changes as she begins to understand why she is the way she is.

Shelby

Shelbys sexuality was pretty obvious to many of the LGBT viewers, we have all been there, obviously not the religious cult part, but putting up a front, hiding who we are. So it was easy to tell that she was gay from the beggining. Its also pretty common in the media to portray a closeted LGBT person like this. The question was how the writers where going to go about revealing the fact that she is gay.

You notice Shelbys attempts to be friendly towards Toni pretty early on with inviting her out to the first exhibition. Of course we all know it ends with her getting a branch to the face. But when questioned about the cut on her temple, she doesnt reveal that Toni was the one who caused it. 

Though as we all know as Shelby begins to become friends with Martha, Toni becomes increasingly more hostile towards her. Probably shattering the hopes of being friends. So we see less of Shelbys perspective of the relestionship between the two from her, and more from Toni. The two become pretty bitter with each other after the shelter building contest, the tension rising pretty quickly, although it seems that Toni is always the one who initiates the fights they have. Even after Toni destroys the hut and storms off, Shelby goes to find her and still tries to have a friendly conversation, possibly she went to comfort her, but of course we know from watching Toni interact with those around her she only initates in deep conversation with those she trusts, and the weird feelings she has for Shelby probably didnt help. 

Fast forward to episode six and Shelby has her little moment when the others are joking around with the shellfish. Of course this one isnt as subtle as previous scenes but it shows Shelbys internalized homophobia.The gestures Toni demonstrated made her uncomfortable becuase she knew thats who she was, the idea of being gay freaked her out, so she did the only thing to stop it. To lash out and reveal how she truely felt about herself. She proably never intended on revealing this, becuase really she doesnt hate the fact that Toni is gay. She hated the fact that she is gay herself. This probably shattered any hope of frienship with Toni after this incedent. (She also mentioned to martha afterwards that she knew it would happen, this revealation pushed everyone away from her considerably for the rest of the season)

When everyone begins to get sick, we see Shelby desperatly trying to prove to everyone and Toni that, she doesnt hate her. Ofcourse we knew by now that the two felt something for each other. In a way this was Shelbys feelings acting out. Her romantic feelings yes, but mostly guilt.Ignoring the others offers to let them give her the pill, instead she desperatly overcomes Tonis pride. Making her take the pill  forcably, so that she would stay alive.

Just before the two share their first kiss, shelby finally opens up about how miserable she finds her life. Toni as we know with a troubled backround claims that she cant “out sad” her. The only thing that Toni has that Shelby doesnt is freedom. Toni seeing the solution around them points out she is more free than ever and that moment you see the contemplation in her face, you can almost see whats going on in her mind just before she leans in and impulsively kisses Toni.

She then runs, obviously horrified with herself. The immeanse internalised homohpbia making her feel ashamed for following her heart.

I honestly loved watching this couple come together, their chemistry and writing was great and super intriuging to watch. I am glad a rewatched it again, there was a few things I missed out on in the first veiwing becuase i was too busy chanting “kiss! kiss! kiss!” everytime they appeared on screen together. This is completley my interpretation of their releationship and how the scenes are done, I honestly could be completley wrong and they are as they are shown to be on the surface. I just really enjoy delving deep into the motives and feelings of characters I enjoy watching. :)

*Edit* My apologies if this is written bad! At the time when I wrote this I was extremely tired. I hadn't slept the night before and I was just back from a full day of school.

[honeyfizzly]

All yttd character name meanings cause I haven't posted on here in forever, long post lolz

Most of this taken from wiki

Beware of spoilers lol, I'll add my own personal notes about the name

Sara-> Sa meaning "(silk) gauze; gossamer" and Ra means "good; pleasing; skilled".

The Hebrew meaning for Sara means "princess/noble women" which is pretty fitting as she has the highest winning rate

Chidouin-> Chi "one thousand", Dou "shrine hall" and In "institution"

Jou-> "length; height"

Note that nankidai said that Jou's name originated from the line "stand up Joe!" From the manga "Ashita no Joe"

Joe isn't really a westernized version of Jou in yttd as vgperson states that both names are used in the source material, the name Joe is used in a more causal manner.

Tazuna-> ta "rice field" zuna "rope; cable"

Kazumi-> Kazu "peace" Mi "oneself"

Mishima-> Mi "three" Shima "island"

I think the island mightve been possible referencing how Mishima would be the first protagonist of your time to shine island existence. Could be just a coincidence though

Kai-> Kai "precept"

Satou- Sa "assistant; help" and Tou "wisteria"

Note that Kai also means shellfish (hence the "kain you believe it" surrounded by shellfish in his laptop) but Kai's name uses different Kanji from the shellfish one.

Alice-> his name is most likely a reference to the band "Alice in chains", since he is a man named Alice who is in chains. The German name Alice means "noble"

Yabusame-> ya "eight", bu "currency" and same "rain"

Reko-> re "waterway" ko "child"

Yabusame-> Ya "eight" Bu "currency" and Same "rain"

Note that her name was spelled as "Reco" but since C isn't really pronounced in the Japanese language, it later on got canonized to be "Reko" and "Reco" was used for her stage name.

Nao-> na "greens" o "cord, thread"

Egokoro-> e "picture" gokoro "heart"

Kanna-> Kan "god; deity" Na "what"

Note that there's also a flower that shares the same name as her

Kizuchi-> Ki "tree" zu "ferry" chi "pond"

Shin-> shin "truth; genuiness"

Tsukimi-> tsuki "moon" mi "see" (aka moon watching or moon viewing)

Qtaro-> Taro "strong, heroic, masculine"

Note that his name is a reference to a Jojo episode where a character uses the name "qtaro kujo"

Burgerburg-> this name dosent really have a meaning.

Qtaro's initials spell out bbq (BurgerBerg Qtaro)

Sou-> sou "suddenly; smoothly"

Keiji-> kei "respect" Ji "two"

Shinogi-> shino "bamboo grass" gi "tree"

Gin-> Gin "silver"

(I couldn't find the meaning for his last name rip)

Note that Sou is also an anagram for the Japanese word for lie, Uso

Hiyori-> hi "sun" yori "harmony"

Note that it can also be read as sunny weather

Midori just means green

Ranmaru-> Ran "orchid" Maru "circle"

Kageyama-> Kage "shadow" Yama "mountain"

Anzu-> An "apricot" Zu "child"

Kinashi-> Ki "tree" Nashi "pear tree"

Shunsuke-> Shun "excellent; genius" Suke "involve oneself; shellfish"

Hayasaka-> Haya "early; fast" Saka "slope; incline"

Naomichi-> nao "direct" Michi "road; path; route"

Kurumada-> kuruma "car" da "rice field"

Mai-> Mai "dance"

Tsurugi-> tsuru "crane (bird)" gi "castle"

Hinako-> Hina "chick" ko "child"

Mishuku-> Mi "honorable; beautiful" shuku "inn"

All of the floormasters have pun names

Sue miley-> smiley

Hoemi-> small smile

Tia safalin-> tears are a fallin

Han'naki-> half crying

Rio ranger-> rearrange

Rio lazier-> realizer

Toto noeru-> to arrange

Koko roeru-> to gain a heart

[gayfrenchtoast]

Okay fine we're doing this. I havent read the books and I'm probably not going to I've only seen the movies so I'm sorry if anything I say is contradictory or has already been stated.

So! Descendants 3 was kinda shit and I dont like it but especially because of the ending because everybody was like "oh yeah island is open and we're all happy with no worries or implications about free villains or people being spiteful about being imprisoned for years!" In fact if anything they joked about those things.

The island is basically its own culture, I can't say how long it's been around, long enough for some almost adult kids to be about and to develop a kind of community.

The Isle is a place of poverty, people are dirty and on the street, eveyone steals from each other and most people don't put much effort into appearance upkeep (personal or of the sourounding area) not because of laziness or being "evil" but because they clearly don't have time or luxury to do such things or possibly even the clean water. Does the Isle have clean water?? How to they get electricity??? Someone tell me!

Another thing that I've noticed is easy to see but is not much explicitly said is the unique style of those on the Isle. As previously stated they don't have much but those who have the most "power" and such on the Isle are the best example of this As they have the most colourful outfits. However these outfits are often made out of patches and ripped things put together, even salvaged things like nets and chains as we can see on thing like Uma and Harry's outfits in D3 they make the best of what they've got and they do fantastic because their outfits are intricate and detailed and just tell you everything you need to know about them. Which is why it's a damn s h a m e when the original VK's ajust their style to be more like Auradon's. That's not an improvement! Be proud of where you came from!! It's like they forgot what it was like being on the Isle in D3!

Moving on, here's something that was touched on in D2 but not enough. Equality. On the Isle there is basically equal opportunity as in saying everything is shit and nome cares what gender and presumably what sexuality you are as long as you can work. Sexism is shown to be almost casual in aurodon from the looks of it, Chad makes sexist comments and litterally none else says anything or seems to see anything wrong with it except Jay who caves to pressure from peers and expectations. He does redeem himself because he's from the isle and he knows you shouldn't give a shit about anyone's gender or anything. If they can do something and ask to be included you give them that opportunity. The sexism is also implied in the way that the rule book has men written specifically in the first place and that it has taken until then for anyone but boys to be allowed on any kind of sports team. We never see it! It seems to be the hetronormative veiw where the boys do sport and girls do cheerleeding and other genders? What other genders? Never heard of that? BAD AURADON!! I bet there's so many trans folk on the island just living their lives, thinking Aurodon is the better place and not knowing that it's a cis het filled nightmare.

Okay no I'm headcannoning now, if their are now a bunch of Isle kids at auradon prep they find it fucking aweful the way all these preppy royals are treating them and make the first LGBT club in Auradon. There is lots of pushback and they get bullied a fuck ton for making themselves the most prominent queer folk in the school until a fight breaks out and the club demand that they should be treated better, taking all the evidence to fairy godmother who is very hesitant because COME ON she's never been that great she is biased to Auradon kids and if putting away those in the Isle is brought up she is all on it, she is jelly spined about doing anything against the royal kids. So the kids are like "Fine, if you won't help us we'll take this to the King himself!" Well mainly the queer mom's of the group (you know the ones I'm talking about) who lead the others and protect the anxious queers as they storm to Ben at his fucking locker and demand an audience because they are being harassed and bullied and none is doing anything. Ben had no idea there was even a LGBT club (too busy ig) and is gassed there is one for a moment before he's like "wait people are harassing you?" So Bisexual King Ben gets his lovely Bi wife and they start coming to club meetings and investing in the pins and stuff the club makes. Most club members are pleased but the queer mom's are apprehensive that this will help until some assholes come to the club to do their usual bullying only to find King and Queen Beast themselves siting there with rainbow bracelets and bi pins and all trying to have a nice old time eating their fucking cupcakes what the fuck are yall doing? The bullying dies down quick once they realise it ain't gonna fly, the other OG VK's that hear about this become members and very protective over their queer children. Did I mention Dizzy and Ceila are a part of the club? They're girlfriend's. Celia is one of the queer moms. Harry becomes one of the biggest protectors over the group as the pan dad. He's been going around snogging everyone and anyone wholl snog him everyone already knew he was queer they just didn't have the balls to try and bully him over it as much as they bullied the lil club members. But now Harry can often be seen in jackets and shit with pan and general queer patches and pins and running around with his gay children yelling "MOVE WE'RE GAY!!" He totally calls them his queer crew. Anyway as a result lots of queer royals start coming out of the woodwork, obvs Lonnie is one of them, and the club eventually serves to bring members of Auradon and the Isle close together.

Where was I? Yada yada auradon expects girls to be pretty princesses and boys to be brave knights or dashing princes. It's shit and should stop being portrayed as good. Moving on!

Food! One of the things we'll established in all movies is that the food of the Isle is shit compared to food of Auradon. The Isle has no fresh fruit which likely means its almost impossible for things to grow there which is fair because again there doesn't seem to be much fresh water and there are always clouds overhead so no sun. Maybe there is some people trying really hard to grow stuff but the general attitude of the Isle seems to be "there is no time for that" and fruits are forgotten so much that the VK's litterally don't knownwhat they are when they come across them. That and anything containing sugar. Actually it's mention by Dizzy and Celia that they enjoy the fact that the cake dosent have dirt or flies so basically food there is terrible. We don't see much food on the Isle but what we do see seems to be beans, eggs, chips and shellfish. Basically protine and carbs that can be easily stored and produced. To be fair beans are kidna good for you but they're likely a sign that if they get any imports from the mainland it is canned stuff. Prison food. There's probably some chef villain that is trying their best to make good food out of the shit but honestly the Isle dwellers should be angry that they've been deprived of good food for so long not happy they're finally been given decency.

Moving on, music! Auradon dosent have nearly as many musical numbers it seems, the Isle songs have a distinct style, to them, the villains that basically "founded" the place were masters of the dramatic songs (with backup or solo) so banging music is basically ingrained in the music's culture, even for battle as we see with the fight between Mal and Uma in D3. Meanwhile Auradon seems to have mainly romance and "I want" songs. Even Audrey's villain song is basically an I want song.

Okay let's talk about the Villains. We've established that the VK's are not inherently bad. However not all of them can be totally good and there are legit OG Villains just kinda chillin on the Isle. They've obviously lost quite a bit of their power, motivation and sanity (isolation will do that to ya as they lost everything and the VKs know no different) but deadass? They were bad guys. You can try to rehabilitate them sure but you've basically just let them free roam, they could make a runner and you wouldn't get the chance. They were also shitty patents which is brushed over/joked about in the interaction between Carlos and...man I feel bad I forgot her name deadass their relationship seemed to come out of nowhere in the second film she didn't seem interested in them at all and friendzoned them multiple times I'm pretty sure Disney did that becaue queer kids were relating to Carlos and headcanoning them as queer (which they deffinatly are) but deadass their mom is an attempted animal murderer and has hurt her child as we can see from how they're afraid of her and her rhetoric and yet it's "haha I'm afraid to meet your ma!" "Me too cus im a dog! Lol!" Fuuuuck offfffff

I think I'm running out of thoughts so here's a last one for now; with the magical barrier down a bunch of magical Villains kids should be coming out for the woodwork. We know Mal has magic basically stored in her so it's is possible, she technically doesn't need the spellbook to do magic it is just inherent to her. So with the diverse range of people from the isle there are deffinatly magic folk in there. Actually if we're following Disney movie law I saw something mentioning Jay being half Genie and yeah! He should be half Genie! Jafar got turned into a Genie he's probably only human because of the barrier! Oh also Ben should be able to go beast on command as long as he had a better beast form than he did in the movies. And give him back the beard and fangs like fuck you he looked so much better

Okay I'm done for now

[magalidragon]

we’ll meet once more | chapter 4:  runaways

it’s here, finally, lol, and wraps up a couple storylines (I hope), which means the final chapter is going to be allllll fluffy town!

“I can't! I'm almost to the Kingswood for this story!" She huffed. He liked to imagine that she was mimicking his motion, pinching her nose. Except he noticed that she liked to close her eyes and take several cleansing breaths. When she did, the necklace that she wore with a little 'R' locket would bob gently on her chest, or nestle in the small hollow where her collarbones met.

Stop it Jon, a voice screamed. Another voice piped up: I wonder what that little hollow in her throat tastes like when you kiss it?

He groaned, head hitting the back of the cab's seat. He hated himself. He was the worst. "What are you doing in the Kingswood?!"

"I'm looking at something for this story that is going to save my career and if I can't find it, I'm screwed, listen, I'm so close. Look..." She rustled with something. It was probably her bag. "I'm going to be here for about fifteen minutes max, I'll head back in. You get the kids, I'll meet you at two at City Hall for the press conference."

The presentation-- maybe-- he could work on, on his phone. It would be tight, but he might be able to do it. He had to get those kids out of there. He checked his watch. It might be possible. He'd have to adapt. Find something to do with the kids while he could also work on the presentation. "Alright," he finally answered, agreeing. "City Hall at two?"

"City Hall at two, listen if you're going to be with Rhaego you should know he's allergic to shellfish, strawberries, latex, grass pollen, tree pollen..."

He rolled his eyes. "We'll be fine." She tried to interrupt, to explain more about Rhaego, but he silenced her, talking over her, which he hated, but she had begun to go off on a tangent about Rhaego's obsession with dragons and dinosaurs. "Dany! Dany, we'll be fine!"

After a quiet second, both of them breathing gently, he closed his eyes. It was kind of nice. A moment to just breathe in the chaos. She hesitated and a tiny distressing noise sounded in her throat. "He's just...he's my world Jon, that's all."

A little smile pulled on his lips too. "I get that. Believe me."

She laughed, weakly. "That's true. You do. More than most."

His skin warmed, tingling over. They were quiet again. A strange phenomenon given their previously fraught conversations that day. He swallowed hard. "I'll get them."

"Thank you. I'll meet you at the press conference."

"Bye." He disconnected and lunged forward to the cab driver, directing him back towards the apartment building. Inside, his stomach ached, wondering exactly how he could salvage this presentation if he was right back where he started before he dropped the kids off at what had been the worst idea ever.

Except, interestingly enough, it meant he'd see Dany again.

there's no time for that, he thought quickly, pushing the notion of anything other than getting through the day out of his mind.

[igarbagecannoteven]

alrighty megs i am asking you 1, 9, 10 but also for writing as well if that's different, 16, 28, 39, and 44 -hazel

hiya hazel! thanks for stopping by, i hope your weekend has been going well :))

1. how long ago did you start reading fanfic? writing fanfic? answered here, but i can answer in terms of 5sos fic! my ao3 history is a hard thing to gauge with bc i reread so much (and it only lists fics once for the last time you opened them, right? or am i thinking of something else) but according to that i started reading 5sos fic in early november 2020 which feels right bc i know i'd had this blog since august and it took me a while to warm up to the idea of rpf. i started writing fic in mid-december i think? early mid-december? idk somewhere around then

9. tag three fic writers you think are underrated/unknown in the fandom/fanfic community. gosh okay i have like, little awareness on how "big" writers are (and also i tend to just gravitate to fic writers whose work i trust and are established which means i don't get out of my bubble a lot) so i'm def leaving out people who deserve shoutouts but @valiantnerdtm is great and big susan summer is absolutely slept on (i'm holding off on reading the newest chapter til i'm in the right headspace but i am so excited!!) and while a lot of nyms stuff is Not Safe For Megs(tm), everything of nyms that i've read has been very good. @bandsanitizer did a wonderful job on the fic she wrote for me with fic exchange is just *chef's kiss* and i'm excited to see how her fic portfolio expands! @4thbrighteststar is a new face in the world of 5sos fic whose work has not blown up as much as it should yet (i mean have you read her ghost of you fic??? the fact that it has less than 20 kudos is a crime)

10. what's your favorite fandom, character, or pairing to read fic for? answered here, but i do have to admit that while i don't look at pairing when picking fics to read, i do think i naturally gravitate more towards lashton and malum plots? i think it's just that storylines that people choose to write for them are usually the ones i'm most interested in (also they were the pairing everyone was writing the most when i first started reading *and* they're what several of the authors i like tend to write more of than others) so as much as i'd love to say i have zero bias in terms of pairing,, i'm working on balancing the scales tho!

16. do you research for your fics? if so, how deep of a rabbit hole have you gone down by accident when researching? i research when i have to. i'm not really a big fan of it, which is why i try to write fics that aren't super research heavy (one of the many reasons i don't write many "canon-verse" fics) but i do it when necessary. probably the biggest rabbit hole was when i did some, uh, "hands on" research for seeing things in a different light where i actually went out and bought a watermelon and hacked it open with multiple oyster shells and lots of help bc my upper body strength is not it boss. also def the most dangerous thing i've ever done for writing bc my brother's friend who helped for a bit has a deadly shellfish allergy and he scraped his hand up on the shell so it could have ended very badly lol. but everyone was fine! only minor injuries occured and the watermelon tasted very good :))

28. how do you deal with writing pressure (ie: pressure to update, negative comments, deadlines, etc)? when it's influenced by external factors, i try to take a step back whenever possible. that's why i'm doing my whole "24 fic challenge" thingy, bc i saw how i was starting to fall into certain unhealthy thought patterns when it came to posting fic and how it was received and yada yada so i took what i could control and tried to set things up in a way that will keep the way i feel about my work healthy! (we'll see if it actually works once i start posting tho lol) as for things i can't control,, i kinda just don't deal with them very well? kldjflksd that sounds bad but also my resting state is worrying so most of the time i just sorta power through it while trying not to scream lol

39. what’s something about your writing that you pride yourself on? my dialogue! it's usually one of the first "positive" critiques i get whenever i'm in a critique group, and i think most of the time writing natural-sounding dialogue comes very easily for me

44. rant about something writing related. idk if this is the kind of rant you're looking for since it's more of, like, a personal vent, but i am really supremely tired of how hard it is for me to just. sit down and type words into a doc. it's not something that i only struggle with when i'm in a slump, it's something i deal with every time i write, even on "good writing days" and it sucks! i know it has a lot to do with how my brain is wired (aka not in a neurotypical way lol) but it's just frustrating! i would not be a slow writer if it was based on typing speed alone, but i am because i can rarely put a decent amount of words in one wip in one sitting. i wish i could, but i can't! it makes me want to take out my brain and go over it with a scrub brush and some dish soap but alas my skull does not have hinges and that is generally recommended by doctors. such is life.

fic writer ask game

[melsmerleawe]

Update: After four days of playing, here are the highlights

1. The amount of information about crops’ total cost and income, etc is now in excel form by very enthusiastic players - Neoseeker, my hats off to you. I deeply appreciate them. (Cucumbers. Don’t sleep on the cucumbers. I struggled so hard to make money by diversifying my crops in the beginning. Broccoli and Leeks are the next biggest crops to grow. A+)

2. I played too early. Some of the customizable features like different eye colors and skin tones did not exist when I created my character. I had to restart my game to customize. I should have waited a couple of hours lol, all that time I wasted… (This is not a problem anymore, all the features promised by the game is there. You can make a pretty androgynous character. I love it.)

3. Compared to the previous games, this is clearly trying to draw in a new customer base. The map and features are Stardew Valley and Animal Crossing inspired. This isn’t an update for longer Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons fans. The map has been simplified and the character list is practically the same number of people as the original Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town. You can decorate your farm in ways we couldn’t do before but it’s a huge disadvantage in the beginning.

The dialogue is pretty awful in the sense of “Wow, is this small town talk or what?”. There are only two events per month, one romantic based and one pet/animal/competition based. Any time an event is about to happen, everyone only talks about the event. Nothing else in the world exists besides how excited they are about the event. It’s a little creepy.

4. Selective hoarding. Part of the charm of Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons is how much you can hoard in the game. Eventually you get to understand what is important to hoard and what isn’t and how you can use it to your advantage but it’s different this time. Storage space is hard to come by. You have to constantly build storage boxes that take huge amounts of real estate on your farm. Between the maker machines, storage boxes, unusable land due to sea and mountain sides, there is very limited farm space. ALSO, you should not occupy all the usable space. Trees, rocks, grass, flowers, etc will randomly appear. The less “free space” you have, the less things generate and therefore less materials to make items. You are in a constant race to clear your free space so new things can generate. (There are technically three farm fields eventually but every farm field generates different trees, rocks, flowers, etc so you have to have “free space” in every location.)

The backpack/rucksack is practically useless for holding large amount of items. Different quality items do not stack and in the beginning, it’s hard to allocate money to update the rucksack into final form (a full 32 item storage). You have to live with 24 item storage for quite some time as there are other things that need money. This leads to mining or any stamina draining activity to be a chore.  

5. Stamina drains so quickly. I can use up all my stamina and the day hasn’t passed halfway. My quick tip for this is to (after updating your tent to log cabin therefore kitchen) make shellfish soup and fried eggs. Less stamina is used per task when you drink soup. Entrees fills up the most stamina hearts but gives you the “full” mood (you cannot consume more food). Shellfish is easy, the shells on your beach, just saving one or two in case someone needs for a townhall mission but any others can be made into soup. Fried eggs is the easiest thing to make after you’ve restored the chicken coop and tamed the free chicken. (Soup first and then entree if you are running out of stamina)

There are plenty of other walkthrough advice videos available but this is my first season advice. Other than the obvious, restore chicken coop, sell medals given to you by title advancement rewarded from town hall, fulfill town hall missions to make easy money, sell at least one of everything you find or make so they show up in stores for purchase (seeds, logs, made items, etc), don’t sell (all) the flowers found on your farm (you really need them later), get on using the lumber and ore maker machines as quickly as possible, store the tools you don’t use into your tool bag and bring them back out if you need them, donate any sea creature to museum… that’s all I can think of.

Yup. Definitely a short post. LOL.

[octopunkmedia]

Well now I'm curious. How DO you manage food allergies on a set??

I have a video about this which covers a lot of my technique here! But the basic gist is, I had so many food allergens on the set of DE that I actually had to hire a custom chef for the set. Luckily, I ran into my friend Donnie from high school, who was starting up his own catering company, and he was able to give me the lowdown on cheap raw materials and also gave me a great deal on his share of the cost. He came out and brought us home cooked food for basically $100 a day plus food cost, which is hella cheap for a caterer.

If you don’t have a Donnie in your life, you may have a mom or grandparent or stay at home friend who is willing to cook up some basic meals and swing them by set for a similar rate (or at cost!). Either way, it’s actually not *terribly* hard to accommodate allergens. Four things that basically no one is allergic to: chicken, broccoli, rice, potatoes. Now, you might run into a vegan or two, which makes things complicated, and luckily I was still able to use meat and dairy on the set of DE, lol. But we virtually eliminated gluten, eggplant, legumes, fruit, buckwheat, nuts, shellfish, mustard, and soy and all of the recipes in the video were free of all those allergens.

The first step in catering is to create a Google Form inquiring about special diets or food allergies. You want to make sure to accommodate things like Kosher, Paleo, etc, in addition to food allergies. If someone has a special diet, don’t just hand them a salad and give everyone else a full meal. That’s pretty rude. There are ENDLESS meals you can make that are allergen friendly and satisfying for everyone. (By the way - I ask about ALL allergies on this form. Latex, animals, medications, etc. I don’t stock my first aid kid with medication allergens. I don’t make people allergic to cats work with cats. And any makeup allergies are passed on to the makeup artist so she can use hypoallergenic foundations and palettes). 

Also be sure to ask if food allergies are consumption based or contact based. I also ask about the severity of the allergen. In the case of Detroit Evolution, everyones’ allergies were consumption only. The person with a nut allergy could be in the same room as nuts - he just couldn’t eat them. That means you could have bags of peanuts available as a snack for your crew, and he would obviously know to avoid them. But we wouldn’t mix peanut butter or peanut oil into the main dishes, to make sure he wouldn’t get sick. 

If there IS a person who cannot be in the same room as their allergen, you will need to completely eliminate that allergen from the set. If someone has an allergy attack by being in the same room as fruit, do not bring a fruit tray to set for everyone else. 

All in all, the internet is a great resource for allergen free recipes. Your food should be simple and anti-inflammatory anyway, to properly fuel your crew without making them sleepy or risking a stomach attack (fun fact, my DP Brett said my set was the first set he’d been on where he didn’t have stomach problems at all during the shoot). And the best way to do this is to cook stuff custom instead of ordering from restaurants. Allergen management at restaurants is a complete crapshoot and the risk for cross contamination or mistakes is highly possible. Better to just dedicate someone like Donnie to handle it and make your recipes allergen-free to begin with.