#(bc don't tell me that's not perfect come on)

[akechi-stole-my-heart]

thinking abt lrb and how there was that whole trend in the fandom where everyone was like "akechi is the only one who knows akira is a normal human being with thoughts and feelings and struggles and the rest of the PT are stupid idiots who put him on a pedestal" and like you could get akechi to that point but. you'd need him to have an arc actually. bc akechi totally does put joker on an unrealistic pedestal actually. he is the ideal form of the person akechi wishes he could be, and as such he believes joker is Perfect. he thinks he's the suave amazing leader who has everything together and loves his friends and has a spotless moral code and is smart enough to challenge him. i think it'd be just as much a shock to him as everyone else just how much joker struggles under the surface.

the one time we get a moment in canon where joker struggles (2/2) akechi is put on the other side telling him to just get over it, stop being a human with emotions, be the perfect ideal of you I see in my head. and it's half because he doesn't want joker to care about him and he's afraid of being stuck in maruki's reality forever but it's also half because he doesn't want to see joker as a flawed person just like he is. he's supposed to be his rival. he's not supposed to struggle the way he does.

like, the interrogation room is the perfect example of this also. akechi straight up says in rank 7, "you are aware of the trap? of how we are on opposite sides and now we must prove our worth to come out on top? good. then beat me if you're truly my rival." he thinks joker is capable of besting him, i think when he kills joker and there was no plot and he's just dead (to akechi's knowledge) he's shocked and disappointed. he expected joker to meet him at his level. and it's also why he thinks his double crossing is entirely fair. they're rivals, if joker is worthy of him, he'll escape. if not, he wasn't worth a damn and akechi doesn't need to have any regrets at having killed him (he does anyway). akechi is not at any point thinking "oh wow joker will be traumatized by this" he's always thinking "joker will be able to handle this easily if he's truly worthy of being my rival."

anyway. point is, akechi is not normal about joker any more than anyone else in this game. there are of course ways he sees beyond the mask in ways the others don't, that is absolutely true. and he would likely be one of the first people to realize there's more going on in a story where joker is struggling specifically because joker is failing to live up to his unrealistic expectations. but he's also part of the problem of p5r framing joker like an infallible hero. everyone puts joker on an unrealistic pedestal, including akechi. and the game in the end mostly thinks they're right to do so. if you want to deconstruct that, give akechi an arc where he realizes the truth about his rival too.

[inkskinned]

you're grabbing lunch with a nice man and he gives you that strange grimace-smile that's popular right now; an almost sardonic "twist" of his mouth while he looks literally down on you. it looks like he practiced the move as he leans back, arms folded. he just finished reciting the details of NFTs to you and explaining Oppenheimer even though he only watched a youtube about it and hasn't actually seen it. you are at the bottom of your wine glass.

you ask the man across from you if he has siblings, desperately looking for a topic. literally anything else.

he says i don't like small talk. and then he smiles again, watching you.

a few years ago, you probably would have said you're above celebrity gossip, but honestly, you've been kind of enjoying the dumb shit of it these days. with the rest of the earth burning, there's something familiar and banal about dragging ariana grande through the mud. you think about jeanette mccurdy, who has often times gently warned the world she's not as nice as she appears. you liked i'm glad my mom died but it made you cry a lot.

he doesn't like small talk, figure out something to say.

you want to talk about responsibility, and how ariana grande is only like 6 days older than you are - which means she just turned 30 and still dresses and acts like a 13 year old, but like sexy. there's something in there about the whole thing - about insecurity, and never growing up, and being sexualized from a young age.

people have been saying that gay people are groomers. like, that's something that's come back into the public. you have even said yourself that it's just ... easier to date men sometimes. you would identify as whatever the opposite of "heteroflexible" is, but here you are again, across from a man. you like every woman, and 3 people on tv. and not this guy. but you're trying. your mother is worried about you. she thinks it's not okay you're single. and honestly this guy was better before you met, back when you were just texting.

wait, shit. are you doing the same thing as ariana grande? are you looking for male validation in order to appease some internalized promise of heteronormativity? do you conform to the idea that your happiness must result in heterosexuality? do you believe that you can resolve your internal loneliness by being accepted into the patriarchy? is there a reason dating men is easier? why are you so scared of fucking it up with women? why don't you reach out to more of them? you have a good sense of humor and a big ol' brain, you could have done a better job at online dating.

also. jesus christ. why can't you just get a drink with somebody without your internal feminism meter pinging. although - in your favor (and judgement aside) in the case of your ariana grande deposition: you have been in enough therapy you probably wouldn't date anyone who had just broken up with their wife of many years (and who has a young child). you'd be like - maybe take some personal time before you begin this journey. like, grande has been on broadway, you'd think she would have heard of the plot of hamlet.

he leans forward and taps two fingers to the table. "i'm not, like an andrew tate guy," he's saying, "but i do think partnership is about two people knowing their place. i like order."

you knew it was going to be hard. being non-straight in any particular way is like, always hard. these days you kind of like answering the question what's your sexuality? with a shrug and a smile - it's fine - is your most common response. like they asked you how your life is going and not to reveal your identity. you like not being straight. you like kissing girls. some days you know you're into men, and sometimes you're sitting across from a man, and you're thinking about the power of compulsory heterosexuality. are you into men, or are you just into the safety that comes from being seen with them? after all, everyone knows you're failing in life unless you have a husband. it almost feels like a gradebook - people see "straight married" as being "all A's", and anything else even vaguely noncompliant as being ... like you dropped out of the school system. you cannot just ignore years of that kind of conditioning, of course you like attention from men.

"so let's talk boundaries." he orders more wine for you, gesturing with one hand like he's rousing an orchestra. sir, this is a fucking chain restaurant. "I am not gonna date someone who still has male friends. also, i don't care about your little friends, i care about me. whatever stupid girls night things - those are lower priority. if i want you there, you're there."

he wasn't like this over text, right? you wouldn't have been even in the building if he was like this. you squint at him. in another version of yourself, you'd be running. you'd just get up and go. that's what happens on the internet - people get annoyed, and they just leave. you are locked in place, almost frozen. you need to go to the bathroom and text someone to call you so you have an excuse, like it's rude to just-leave. like he already kind of owns you. rudeness implies a power paradigm, though. see, even your social anxiety allows the patriarchy to get to you.

you take a sip of the new glass of wine. maybe this will be a funny story. maybe you can write about it on your blog. maybe you can meet ariana grande and ask her if she just maybe needs to take some time to sit and think about her happiness and how she measures her own success.

is this settling down? is this all that's left in your dating pool? just accepting that someone will eventually love you, and you have to stop being picky about who "makes" you a wife?

you look down to your hand, clutching the knife.

[lazylittledragon]

How did you get your tattoo apprenticeship if you don't mind sharing? I've been trying to get one for ages and I want to know if you did anything in particular with your portfolio or anything :)

i'm going to be 100% honest that i just got really lucky, i was still on the mailing list for a studio i'd been tattooed at before and i got an email that they were taking on apprentices so i went for it

i didn't have a LOT of tattoo designs at the time but i sent in what i did have and also some of my graphics/illustration stuff, then i had to make a flash sheet and also do an interview, and at the end of the interview they offered to take me on :3

(important: it wasn't my first application, i reached out to every studio that i could commute to and had just had a failed interview and i'd been slowly building my portfolio on and off for about 3 years so it took a LONG time)

[teatitty]

Really in love with AU's rn wherein Bumblebee used to work for Sentinel. There's so many different avenues you can take that across continuities and a plethora of explanations for how and why he ends up on Team Prime [like spying. I really love the idea of BB initially being a spy for Sentinel who gets found family'd so hard he switches loyalties]

[ave-immaculata]

fellas we're once again wrestling with imperfect vs. perfect contrition and why imperfect contrition with a firm resolution to not sin again and promptly receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation doesn't save

[tangents-within-tangents]

"Are Fives and Rex friends?"

Fives: Yes we are. We’re actually, I would say, friends, yeah!

Fives: I sleep on his couch… he has a very nice couch...

Fives:

Fives: Very nice couch.

Fives:

Fives: Like that couch at Coruscant Hardware you want, with all the pillows, that has the deep sides and the tufted leather. That's like 42 inches deep, it’s like a daybed but a couch! 

Fives: It's like a five thousand credit couch! It’s an aMAZ--and then! He has like the cashmere blankets, that are too small but they’re so warm you curl up to fit under them! He has those! Ah!

Fives: It’s a good couch! 

Fives: It's a good couch, he just needs bigger blankets, he needs dude-sized blankets, like 6x9’s because he has 4x5’s and I don't fit.

*Later*

Rex: Fives has Never. Been. In. My home! 

Rex: I don’t know what couch he’s talking about.

[darabeatha]

Valentines' personality test ! : 𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐘

[baifengxis]

I know it's on me for looking too many comments and reviews about my favorite shows but do you guys ever feel like people just don't know how to like something anymore? Especially when it comes to tv-shows. It's like everyone's so ready to tear something apart, to be disappointed, to be proven right that a show is terrible like they thought it would be. I'm not talking about constructive criticism nor am I talking about being fairly disappointed over something but not only people love being negative but if you dare say that you love a show they all dislike you have to apologize because how dare you? And if you tell them to stop with the negativity because you just WANT TO ENJOY A MFUCKING TV SHOW when everything in this world is shit, they'll tell you you're censoring their opinions. Like it's not that deep please for the love of god, just let people enjoy things, if you don't like something THAT'S FINE but you don't have to make long essays explaining why and not let other people who do like it, enjoy it.

[soupblr]

i kinda wonder how many other ppl are using that same method of suppressing parts of themselves they don't like or that are not socially acceptable that i was using before to deal with my aspd traits? (like poking fun and just dismissing those thoughts as cringe or whatever to the point that even though they're still part of your thought process and way of understanding the world, you just don't really hear them/consciously process them/put words to them). like i'm thinking about how if you voice any thought that isn't pro-social people will often recognize that being out of place/socially unacceptable and respond by putting you in your place in some way, usually by making fun of you. like that meme that's like "when i'm angry my eyes turn redddd" or whatever just popped in my mind when i was reading a comment from someone that was very much not pro-social... idk where i was even going with this but it's interesting i guess? i can understand in the process of socializing someone society generally discourages anti-social behaviours and rewards prosocial behaviours so it makes sense in that context that a common response to people displaying concerning behaviours or ideas is to bully them a bit (even if that is misguided) but i guess random comments online feel so irrelevant that it's just like what was the point lol? it goes from social convention to individual confrontation and just feels kinda weird and like the person responding to make fun is lashing out or something

[britneyshakespeare]

Man is saying weird things to me again

[mutxnts]

man i feel like my writing has actively gotten worse over the course of this year because of how little fic writing i've actually done. i'm staring at this fic like god this just feels so basic and boring and like i don't even know how to write anymore

[burningcomputerpersona]

I CAN'T BELIEVE BELMONT RELEASED A NEW BANGER AND NONE OF Y'ALL THOUGHT TO TELL ME ABOUT IT

[izzy-b-hands]

I get two fucking sentences in on every new draft for every new idea lately, and then my brain goes 'hm, no, actually that's stupid/boring/cloying/not going to be something you can write at your current ability'

I am. vibrating with rage at my brain rn over this bout of writer's block. Bro we literally want to die whenever I go longer than like. a fucking week without writing SOMETHING; why the fuck are you making this harder!!!!!! Just let me write a full fucking thing even if it sucks!!! but i literally physically start to feel sick and can't push myself to keep typing as soon as the above thoughts hit. I have a stupid number of untitled, barely started to almost completely done drafts, for multiple fandoms (mostly our flag tho admittedly lmao), all of which have been started within the last maybe fourteen days.

i wanna scratch my brain out of my fucking skull lmao. free to a good home after i get it out, if anyone else wants to try and rehabilitate it

[kitchensinksurrealism]

listening to my february-june 2022 playlist which led to ⬇️

[racke7]

I took a year's worth of writing-classes, way back in the day. And this was one of the most important things I learned.

It's not your job to "make the story better", it's your job to "help the author make the story that they want to write".

If a scene felt confusing to you, maybe just try to give a step-by-step summary of what happened in that scene (what they were talking about, what they were doing, the implications that you could read into it, etc). Sometimes you're spot-on (and your confusion is important), sometimes you just failed at reading, sometimes the author might go "wait, fuck, did I not explain this part?".

BUT.

But, very importantly, this is for writer's workshops. This is advice for how to be a beta-reader, or an editor. This is the "constructive criticism" that an author specifically asks for prior to publishing.

Don't drop this kind of stuff on someone who's already published their fic (unless they're specifically asking their readers for it). Because that just puts you into the: "unasked for criticism"-hole, and you don't want to go there.

“But let me give you the dark side of writing groups. One really dark side of writing groups is, particularly newer writers, don’t know how to workshop.

“And one of the things they’ll try to do is they’ll try to make your story into the story they would write, instead of a better version of the story you want to write.

“And that is the single worst thing that can happen in feedback, is someone who is not appreciating the story you want to make, and they want to turn it into something else.

“New workshoppers are really bad at doing this. In other words, they’re really good at doing a bad thing, and they’re doing it from the goodness of their heart. They want you to be a better writer. They want to help you. The only way they know is to tell you how they would do it, which can be completely wrong for your story.”

—Brandon Sanderson, Lecture #1 Introduction, Writing Science Fiction And Fantasy

[loverboybrightsideghost]

computer define underdog