#(not only bc it would be obviously triggering to them and i'm not THAT mean of a person even if it's how i really feel)

[sureuncertainty]

at first i felt so bad for blocking my mutual who turned out to be a terf, or at least to be transphobic as shit, mostly bc i know this person was having a lot of anxiety about it and made posts about how they were so worried about losing friends etc. over it but you know what i decided fuck that lol good. i hope they feel anxious about it. i hope every transphobe never has a moment's peace

[glitchychara]

Amnesia

Tyler One Shot, 3,384 words

I really hate puzzles. It's weird, because I'm more of a problem solving girl, but puzzles just piss me off for some reason. I hate TVs too. I don't know what it is about them, but they just bug me. Mario's always watching some stupid thing on the TV, which kinda makes me wanna smash it to pieces with a hammer. Again, it makes no sense to me since I don't mind playing video games with them, even when I keep losing to everyone because I've never played before. It's just the TV in general, I guess. Although I recently learned my biggest trigger is TV static. I don't know why, but I get weird flashbacks everytime I hear it. Even though it was only once since I've been here. I started seeing images and they filled up my head and I didn't know what was going on and then someone reached out and I couldn't see who it was so I swung but it turned out to be Meggy so she blocked me and she asked me if I was okay and then-

And then I got up. And I left. And I came back a few hours later. And they never brought it up. Nor have I heard any TV static since. 

But anyways, Meggy and Smg4 took me to the doctor yesterday, which I don't know why a centaur would wanna be in the medical field, nor did I trust the guy, but at least he was gonna tell me exactly what was wrong with me….until he gave me my doctors note and it was literally a scribble. Like, excuse me sir, what the HELL is this supposed to be? Chicken scratch?? Anyways I gave it to the axolotl looking guy who was working at the pharmacy and somehow HE KNEW WHAT IT SAID?? I swear I'll NEVER understand doctors. Anyways, he gave me this bottle of pills and sent me on my merry way. Guess who STILL doesn't know what's wrong with her? Me :). So I figured I'd Google what the pills were for and guess what? Apparently I have something called “Amnesia” which, according to Google, means “permanent or temporary memory loss.” 

Huh??

add “doctors” and “pharmacists” to the list of things I hate.

I talked to Three recently, and he asked me if I was going to get my own house. I told him I didn't plan too. “Why not?” he asked, stacking cups next to the coffee machine. I shrugged and continued my task-cleaning out the new pastry display. “Smg4 lets me live in his guest room for free. Why would I wanna pay for a house?” He laughed and asked if I wanted to live with him forever. “Well, not forever, obviously. Just until I go home.” I replied, now adding pastries to the display case. “Tyler. About that…” I turned and looked at him, confused. It was the first time I've ever seen him look sad. “Tyler, you don't even know where you're from. How do you plan on getting home if you can't remember how you got here? Might as well get used to living in the Mushroom Kingdom, you know.” I rolled my eyes and ignored him. What would he know? I'm completely fine living in the castle. It's not like Smg4 does much anyways, other than making videos. Which he should make better, by the way. I mean, he lacks creativity, and a story in general. The whole point of making something is to entertain your audience. How is he going to do that if he's so focused on his “it doesn't have to be perfect” bs? I swear, some people don't deserve their fame, or money, or power or reviews or stars. 

5. stars.

What am I saying? I don't know anything about true art. I've never even made anything myself. Maybe those doctors were right.

Damn Amnesia…

(tagging @its-a-me-mango and @psychologistlemon bc I thought you guys being the doctor/pharmacist was funny)

[mychlapci]

rapid fire cybertronian headcannons go

I like to think that while cybertronians look and act mostly humanoid they also do some not human things that make humans go "oh yeah, alien"

for example i think that every couple thousand years cybertronians shed their armor like some sort of bug or shrimp to get rid of damaged plating and their repair nanites go into overdrive to build new ones. during that period bots will nibble on metal to get material. a shed can also trigger early if a bot gets regularly roughed up or if they changed alt-modes recently. this could lead to a potencial hilarious situation where there's no fighting for like a week sometime after bots and cons arrived on earth since both groups got new alt-modes which triggered a mass shedding and noone wants to fight while they're squishy and itchy. que human friend coming into the autobot base and while talking to their bot friend a piece of the bot's armor just falls off. so of course human freaks out because they think their friend is dying while the bot is confused and going like "why are you screaming i'm just shedding. wdym humans don't do that?" or mabye the human comes in during the everyone is mostly shed phase and going "why r yall nakey" either way that thay humans learn cybertronians are space shrimp.

another headcannon i have is that just chilling in places in alt-mode is the cybertronian equivalent of a cat loaf. cybertronians also purr by idling their engine (obviously) and keep the joints in their hands from going stiff by making biscuits.

cybertronian sight is primarily their sensors (like sharks) with optics being a secondary sight organ and mostly just provide aditional information so taking out a cybertronians optics would do nothing but take out their sensors and they're blind as a bat because of their poor eyesight. i also like how in tfp everyone has unique optics

they can also speak with their mouth closed or without moving it since a voicebox is more like a speaker than vocal cords. moving their mouth just helps with adjusting volume or making sound clearer.

OOoh i am a “transformers shed” believer. For maintenance, or because of age, or because of injuries, i think it has many factors...

I don’t think they’d be squishy underneath, though I think that they have some silicone components that jiggle, but having raw wires and circuitry revealed is already a pretty vulnerable state to be in. (tbh I am also very fond of the thought of cybertronians being able to just remove their armour and parts of their plating on a whim… it’s rare for them to do it, but i think it could be very intimate. I will stop before i delve into places we cannot delve in this week ok)

I am absolutely down for the “optics are only a secondary sensory organ” thing bc honestly i believe that too. I actually imagine that whatever you notice on a bot’s head first, chevron, horns, finials, etc. etc. are actually most sensitive to all kinds of input, like EM fields, vibrations, sound and even light, and i know it’s not canon but i like to imagine that depriving a bot of their horns/chevron/antenna blinds them more than taking out both their optics possibly could. Not to mention, they probably have “eyes” on different parts of their bodies, as in, they can register visual input with their headlight, their rearview mirror and side mirrors. Their optics are actually very weak and taking out their sensors renders them incapable of most things.

Now what i had never considered was transformers doing biscuits to keep their joints flexible. That means medics would have to do extra biscuits so that their joints are at their best. I am now thinking about Drift coming back to their habsuite after a long day on the bridge and Ratchet’s just dozing off after an equally long shift in the med-bay, kneading the pillows happily. I am obsessed. Drift probably joins in bc as a swordsman, he has to keep his hands flexible as well. And them they’re purring their engines bc they’re comfy… aaaaah okay that’s adorable

[still-a-morosexual-help]

I CAN'T

That's was really good chapter, really good

I can feel that MC was really triggered when Belphie go for attack, body remember everything...

Also, I started to love Asmo, I mean I always love all of them, but no, Asmo plus one favorite, favorite trio😭😭😭😭

THEY'RE DIDN'T HESITATE AND BELIEVE MC, I JUST CAN'T

Sol Is awesome and I'm so glad to be here with him, I always loved him, but I didn't get enough of him, so yeah, win not only for Mammon stan, but for Sol stan, my two precious white haired grandpa

Sol is so protective of MC

That line was so powerful, where he was be like, and you think that I'm not angry? 🤗

I want to know what happened to him, I HOPE WE'LL KNOW, I need more lore, bc he was almost dead and Barb helped him, what the fuck happened between them >_<

Also, fuck you Belphie, NOT HIM TALKING ABOUT HONESTY LOL still my little meow meow

But I really interested...how Beel and Satan would react on that. Want to believe that Satan on our side. I mean, humans didn't get him, pls he's my favorite too....

13 IS MY WIFE AAAHHHHHH

she was so sweet and liked our soul, awwww

And I really feel bad for MC, I love angst for my girl, but... It's hurt. Your family doesn't know you, some of them want to kill you, and you can't make yourself to hurt them because of love, but also cant tell them that you know them and you're family :(

They may be strong in every aspect, but still.

Lucifer is not angry, but more feel betrayed and hurt, I think that's the case :(

Pls let MC get some rest, bc I'm worried bc of that promise 🙂

Also that moment with choosing side...was interesting. I love how Sol so protective of own people and how he wanted to be powerful, now everything makes sense. But a little sad, that it doesn't seem that MC with him on this. MC not attached to the own world, sometimes I feel like that they're doesn't have a place in the world bc they're not exactly human, not demon and not angel, really interesting moment

And have a good day!

Yes!! Yes! Everything you said! You basically summarised all my thoughts!

The Asmo-Levi-Mammon-MC friend group is so wholesome!!!??? I love that the three of them believed MC no questions asked! And Levi, in Nightbringer, before he gets more used to being a demon is so shy??? I want to squeeze him. And Asmo's so sweet!????? They can be mean, obviously, but it's nowhere near what they are like as fully fledged demons

The Solomon backstory and his relationship with both Thirteen & Barbatos was so good! Also Candy!! I'm so glad we got to find out more about her too

Thirteen & Solomon technically being roommates? The fact that Thirteen actually really cares about Solomon!? I'm😭 That Barbatos really cares about him as well🥺

Oh! Oh! Yes Solomon saying the you think I'm not angry line while just 😊 smiling was amazing. Man was fucking livid

He cares about MC so much, and he cares about humanity so much that if it comes to it he would fight viciously against people he has come to consider his friends and he expects MC to be the same. Because Solomon's been without a human friend/companion for so long and he finally found someone like him and he expected them to hold the same views and ideals as him because of course when you ask a human to choose between humanity and demons they'll choose humanity no matter what bond they have with the demons right!? Except MC went haha actually.....lol and then gave the grimoire to Lucifer with 0 hesitation and then promised to protect them & bring happiness to them in a place they were told not to make promises (my bet is it'll make their promise binding and they knew that too right!? Because they spoke about not making promises there twice with Thirteen. and if that's the case that means they knowingly made a binding promise meaning if it comes down to it if there's a war they'll never be on humanity's side) God, Solomon must be devastated

Also the fact that Nightbringer was right about what MC will choose!?

Satan might actually just not pick a side? Like he wouldn't be bothered to go out of his way to help MC the way the other three did, but at the same time if it meant going against Lucifer......

Beel, I'm not sure. Because as of rn MC hasn't had a big bonding moment with Beel and it's just been 1yr since they lost Lilith. He may not hate humans the way Belphie does but I feel like he'll take Belphie's side, the same way he did in that Devilgram where Belphie protested the exchange program

Lucifer was definitely hurt and scared and covering it up with anger

And yeah I get the same feeling that general MC doesn't really have anything in the human world. It's kinda been hinted at in the previous seasons as well and nightbringer might as well have confirmed it during the last lesson

In conclusion,

Let MC take a fucking nap

[amethystfairy1]

hi again. i did end up posting some of my art but idk if there's a way to link it in the ask (kinda new to tumblr lol), so im just gonna trust that you know how to find it. Anyways, I have more questions for you :)

jumping into the deep end w/ traveling thieves:

is there any way to remove a collar without the owner's permission? Could a non-collared person do it? Are they physically destructible? What happens if the owner dies? Basically anything that could free Jimmy and Scott T-T

Can any nether-born wield fire, or just blaze-borns? bc hypothetically, we could get some team ZIT going if impulse is a nether-born (he's normally head cannoned as a demon, but I like the idea of wither skeleton instead for this au, if you don't already have plans for him). he could join Zed and Tango :)))

how does the siren song work? can you get anyone to do anything with it if you were good enough? considering song is in the name, is it more effective if it's more melodic?

how do the rune trigger thingies work? Does the staff need to be continuously touching the person to trigger the collar, or does it have a time limit, or is it a secret third option? (this is for a lil piece i've written that I may or may not post lol)

That's it for now, although I do want to say that it would be adorable if Katherine got Shelby a sun-lamp so she could grow over-city plants down there :3

actually that's not it. it'd be fun if you wrote a piece where Grian helps Mumbo and Scar pull a (not so ethical) job. just an idea :)

ok goodbye

Hello hello!

I found the art! I reblogged the art! I LOVE THE ART!

I said it in my reblog but again here they are SO PRETTY I love Cute Guy his wings are beautiful and his shoes are so KILLER and then the SWAGON from Traveling Thieves! It's even got Grian's lil bay window! It makes me so happy! I will treasure them, thank you so much for sharing!

Questions questions! 🏃‍♀️

Short answer: No. Long Answer: Not any way that Scott or Jimmy currently have access too. If their current owner dies the contract has a clause that will automatically transfer them to whoever said owner designated as the inheritor, this being a built in safety measure to ensure enslaved hybrids don't try to one-hit kill their masters before a punishment can kick in to go free. They are technically physically destructible but any attempt at cutting them or unlatching them will trigger the punishment runes. And they are very tough, reinforced by the magic in the runes, again to ensure this isn't attempted, so it would be far to painful to attempt to just endure the punishment long enough to cut them off. This doesn't mean it's completely impossible for them to get them off without their current masters permission...but we haven't gotten to that yet. 😉

Blaze-borns specifically can wield fire as physical parts of their body, but other nether hybrids are able to pull similar tricks such as heating up their hands to work metal, and obviously they're fireproof. Plus, considering our lovely dark fantasy AU, some of them have proficiency with fire magic! I do have plans for Impulse in Traveling Thieves! Please look forward to it!

It's basically voice-based charm magic. I may have messed this up, but I'm pretty sure I only ever refer to it as 'siren spells' and not 'siren songs'? Is there anywhere I screwed that up? Siren spells also give the user the ability to make their voice more pleasant and tend to have good singing voices anyway. If someone is extremely good with it (ex: Scott's Dad) they could 100% use it to strongly compel others, but it's not like brainwashing. Like when Scott used it, all it really did was make the ice mage suddenly care about his opinion, and that confused her enough that she hesitated on using magic. It still has to be something understandable. It wouldn't have been enough to, say, get her to fire a spell at her companion and kill him. It's more like it makes the users words much more influential in the mind of whoever is hearing it. It can also do other things, though! Like how I mention that Scott's Dad would sing for the Queen, Scott's Mom, to help her relax, that's not just because he's a beautiful singer (which of course he is) he's also using siren spells to lower her stress.

One hit triggers the punishment runes. A second hit makes them stop. Like an on-off switch! They also specifically have to get hit with the gem at the end of the rune trigger. If you do post anything anywhere please do send another ask/post it somewhere I can see, I'd absolutely love to see what you do with the AU! ☺️

Awwww...Katherine could totally get Shelby a sun-lamp, that'd be so cute! Also I totally plan on writing a piece at some point where the Swagon Trio steal something, it's a series called Traveling THIEVES and there has been a distinct lack of thievery so I need to fix that. 😤

Thanks so much for all your lovely questions, and thank you again for sharing your beautiful art! 💖

[utilitycaster]

the imogen and ashton of c3e78 is soooo juicy like everything you said about imogen looking into ashton’s thoughts is so real but also in the group she is the only one who can do that. she’s the only one who can see directly what they feel and think and the fact that it mollifies her rage but almost seems to heighten her frustration? ashton and imogen have my fav dynamic in c3 bc of their understanding of pain and how they reflect each other’s selfishness (if that makes sense) and im so excited to see how (if?) this moment becomes anything More

Hey anon, I'm glad you liked their conversation and presumably my analysis, but I have to admit there's a lot in here either I don't follow, or which I can't say I agree with:

FCG can also look into Ashton's mind and chooses not to (slash, might not have the spell slots left for it due to the healing), instead talking through it - and in doing so they jump to some incorrect conclusions, but also I think have a very important conversation and eventually do come to a deeper understanding, and I still think it would be good for Imogen to talk instead of jump to Detect Thoughts.

With that said, I think she is justified given how extreme the situation was, and it's not terribly surprising that looking into Ashton's mind affects Imogen this way! As others have discussed, Imogen tends to judge people based on thoughts rather than actions (eg: reading people's thoughts alone and judging their overall morality from that moment rather than how they behave). I think part of what made this incident different is because she actually processed the combination of intent and action, rather than only intent. I think the fact that it wasn't pure self-aggrandizement and that their thought patterns of trying to connect with absent parents did both mollify her but also frustrate her, because she felt the same thing and she brought it to the party, who told her in no uncertain terms that the Vanguard sucked. She can intimately understand how they feel and also be furious at what they did as a result.

It was a great conversation between them, and I really enjoy whenever Imogen and Ashton interact, and longer RP moments between members of Bells Hells can sometimes be hard to find, but I have to be honest: I've found the fandom's perception of Imogen and Ashton's friendship and the basis of their shared experiences of pain to be vastly overblown. Notably, I found it was often really overstated before episode 70, when they had their great conversation after their time at All-Minds-Burn, because that was their first real talk that wasn't a group chat or Imogen (consensually) probing his memories, so while it's less baseless now, until a few months ago a lot of people acted like they had talked when they really hadn't. (This is true for several Bells Hells friendships tbh).

I also think that the physical drawbacks of Imogen's abilities are similarly vastly overblown; "Migraine Buddies" or what have you is almost pure fanon. Imogen has had like three canon headaches, and one of them was pretty directly tied to the events of the solstice. People just really latched onto her initial characterization and stopped paying attention. That doesn't mean it's not a consideration for her, or at least that it was before she got the circlet! But because she so rarely used the ability that triggered them I understand her best as someone who used to have a chronic condition who had it well-controlled, though with some effort, prior to the campaign, and now has since had a radical new treatment that effectively removes the need for effort. It's still obviously a factor for her; but Imogen's abilities always felt rather more like severe sensory processing issues, or a migraine disorder but one where she could relatively easily avoid triggers vs. Ashton's chronic pain.

I think some of why this fanon arose is because people wanted to project onto Imogen based on those one or two early mentions of headaches, before Ashton's disability was confirmed, and it never really got addressed and so they assumed similarities and kinship between Imogen and Ashton on a basis that was heavily projected. I agree that they have a lot in common - a cynical worldview and low expectations of others; a combination of lack of self-regard that wraps around into self-absorption (the ugly truth of self-loathing is that it is also self-centered and can still hurt others even while also hurting one's self); the above parallels between their parents. I agree that I'd love to see them interact more (thought I'm not sure if by "More" you mean an actual friendship or what) - I think the post-solstice onset arc has really allowed Laura to do what she does best for Imogen now that she's not constantly in the spotlight, and the remaining gap is that her interpersonal relationships with many party members are somewhat lacking - but it's hard to call it my favorite dynamic when it's only just being developed. And for what it's worth, going back to the first point, I think a lot of similar parallels can be found between Ashton and FCG, who do have a more developed dynamic.

[thegeminisage]

star trek update time! last night we watched ds9's "vortex" and "battle lines." mwah. every day i wish tng's pussy could pop like ds9's does.

vortex (ds9):

ANOTHER ODO EPISODE! was i not JUST saying i wish he had more to do

i really really really liked this one...i love that odo has such a strong sense of right and wrong. it would be wrong to take this's guy stone. it would be wrong to release a prisoner he was duty-bound to transport. it would also be wrong to orphan this man's daughter. he has a strict moral code, but it's his own moral code, not starfleet's.

AND it affects the people around him. that guy was totally gonna leave odo for dead and then changed his mind. LOVE that <3

obviously it's sad that this guy is lying, but it's only season 1...AND we got an official species name and a semi-alive stone odo can call "cousin" which is both sad and kind of funny

i liked how when odo wanted answers he went to quark and was threatening and quark was like brushing him off like girl i don't know ANYTHING til he saw odo was serious and then he also got serious. quark isn't always my favorite character bc i dont like the ferengi BUT i DO really like the way he can shift his energy to match the situation instead of remaining rigid - like getting scared when finding out his friends were his game pieces.

some of the alien's digs were sooo mean. my favorite was "THEY (the other changelings) don't keep a humanoid form." really speaks to odo feeling outside of his own community...which means now of course that he's my favoritest specialest little guy. where's that post about star trek characters with autism...he can join the autism gang with spock and data. i think when we get to the end of s1 i'll be ready to do a character rank.

battle lines (ds9):

THIS ONE FUCKED! before getting into the big obvious stuff i actually liked the minor character work it did for bashir - he volunteers to go because "its a slow day 😇" and then proves useful at both flying and repairing the ship, and EVEN got a few rare noncomedic moments in. as much as i love to giggle at this guy i really appreciate they gave him some serious stuff - both wondering if it was ethical to help these people die and then being absolutely disgusted when the folks in question wanted to turn his idea into a weapon for slaughter.

talking to these people is like TALKING TO A WALL. no wonder kira wanted to distance herself from them...and no wonder she recognized herself in them. this whole sitch was practically designed to trigger her ptsd. i love what a great actress she is - she wasn't just crying on cue, she was sobbing with like spit and everything, which is gross, but god damn

more o'brien this episode though imho still not enough. i wanted him to have more stuff to do on ds9. give him something to do!!!

i really really like kai opaka...i'm glad she's not Dead dead but she might as well be. i feel like she's the only kind of person who could get through to those people.

i like where they rolled credits bc it made both of us go DAMN HOLY SHIT aloud but i also wonder what will happen when they go back without the prophet...feels like there'll be hell to pay

TONIGHT, hopefully: tng's "the chase" and ds9's "the storyteller"

[gallus-rising]

B,C,K and T please!

B: A pairing–platonic, romantic or sexual–that you initially didn’t consider, but someone changed your mind.

i'd never considered ekumob before the broccoli arc was animated. their Powerful friendship is obviously v important to me but i didn't ship them. the Korean fans i was following at the time were fuckin on something tho when that happened and my eyes were opened

the Dungeon Meshi fandom is currently making a strong argument for Laios/Chilchuck. that old man's looking at Laios like "nobody can fix him, but i can fuck him and maybe that'll calm him down at least" and Laios is "me and the dilf i pulled by being aromantic and therefor not triggering his numerous relationship hang-ups ❤❤" i'm increasingly talking myself into them being fuckbuddies

C: A ship you have never liked and probably never will.

Laios/Kabru 😔 like i've said i get the appeal but they're not doing it for me for some reason. maybe as the anime advances

Risotto/Prosciutto which is PAIN and SUFFERING since they're the only squadra ship ppl care about!!!! i accept them in the context of polysquadra but that's it

K: What character has your favorite development arc/the best development arc?

hhhngh well Greed obviously altered my DNA from a young age, which predetermined me to die over Dimple.

T: Do you have any hard and fast headcanons that you will die defending?

if i've fired the aro/ace or autism lasers at a character then there's no stopping me. but i think ones i'd actually have to fight over bc no one agrees w my correct opinions would be

aroace Laios and Izutsumi (they were immune to the succubi!! (mostly))

all current and former Spirits & Such employees + various hangers-on are aspec. a lot of ppl agree on aro Tsubomi but they're doing it wrong. they don't know her like i do

mean and bitchy arogay Rohan Kishibe. ALSO RISOTTO IS A BOTTOM I WILL NOT BE SILENCED--

[luke-life]

replying to your tags bc :3 thank you for your thoughts they're tasty and im chewing on them

I didn't think too hard but omg yes if he's a delivery/cargo escort boy then he can reasonably meet xingqiu, delivering his family's silk shipments or smth, or moving some books from xingqiu's random warehouse in qingce lolllll i also agree they'd have similar food prefs !! i think gaming would enjoy xingqiu's crystal shrimp dumplings haha he seems the type to like fresher dishes that have less like heavy oil/seasoning

about your proposal of chongyun angst 👀 wwww if you care to elaborate i'm looking very hard, i need to see our boy put in Situations!! i wonder if they meet... would cy feel deficient seeing gaming get along so well w everyone whereas he has to try so hard to keep his condition under control which limits how much he can get excited n stuff T_T I hope gaming can help him w it though </3 after all they can be boyfailures together (/JJJJJJJJ) with gaming's rather... unsuccessful lion dance monetization and chongyun's problems with exorcisms

it just with how Ga-Ming is described it sounds very similar ,obviously I would rather they be friends first but if not the angst please.

So to add on ap, chongyun’s Yang state has a variation of responses, he has tame ones like in the poetry event those are fine. It’s the chaotic ones that are a problem “he chases people around, passed out,danced on top of furniture, broken furniture, and gotten injured and he sometimes doesn’t even remember himself being in Yang state.

and then when all is said and done he still get’s told that he’s entertainment(a sign in wangshu btw), that his Yang state is the real him and the fact that his friends always seem to be giving him chilis because they think that his Yang side is better for him.

Then here comes Ga-Ming he’s good at fighting , he can dance and perform all he wants, he’s happy and cheerful without consequences, he uses a claymore, he admires Xiao as well, he’s probably friends with his own friends.

a big slap in the face that tells him “ hey, you know that Yang side of you that causes you a lot of trouble personally, yeah well seems that they prefer you that way” and boom the angst

Now I obviously I don’t think chongyun’s friends are *that mean or that they even have bad intentions but it’s always personally bothered me the language they use around him and about him idk it always feels insensitive. Not only that but the disregard of his own feelings and boundaries always bothered me. Doesn’t help that his Yang and anything related to chilis is meant for jokes. But c���mon Xiangling’s job is literally a chef her whole job is meant to be making food, she can scold people for being picky but she sometimes puts chilis in her friends food even though he can pass out like where’s the logic. At least she makes him his popsicles. this includes hu Tao also like she is a prankster and all but she takes her job seriously and one of the things she has to do is keep the balance of yin and Yang so like you’d think she’d be like “hey my friend having a pure Yang body is probably not a good thing but nah let’s prank him even though he clearly doesn’t like)

like c’mon he’s just asking for no chilis in his food it’s not hard

anyway that’s my idea basically it can also happen the opposite way with Ga-Ming being a friend who does respect his boundaries(please just one friend) and still finds way to include him in events without triggering his Yang so Chongyun hangs out with him which leads to other’s self reflection. so yeah that’s all I have.

thank you for listening.

[definitely-not-a-wasp]

Maximum Ride versus Spontaneous Power Ups

Part 1

I'm not saying that giving the bird kids power ups isn't fun and funky. But I am definitely not the first person to point out that they're not the best executed, and often take more away from the plot than they add. And someone asked me to state my opinions about one (1) contrived power-up, so now you get to hear about all of them.

Speaking from a general perspective, I have some major problems with Maximum Ride superpowers, and they're as-follows:

They just HAPPEN. There's no trigger, there's no effort on the flock's part to "unlock" them, and there's no explanation given.

They're often these one-off powers that don't maintain narrative significance or further explanations.

Most of the time, they have absolutely no drawbacks.

Yes, I know this is copy-pasted from part 1, what about it?

So this is what I would do to try to solve some of those issues without changing the plot too much. And because I'm nice, I'm sticking it under a read-more.

Pre-Book 1

In the beginning of book 1, Max states that a lot of the flock has "little quirks" like Angel's telepathy, and then the text makes it clear that this is only true of Angel and Gazzy. That means it's completely acceptable to shove a few more powers into pre-series, with the implication that the School caused this before they escaped.

Angel's telepathy, obviously: I've extensively talked about my thoughts surrounding Angel's telepathy, but to rehash, there are plenty of advantages and drawbacks to anything concerning the brain. Telepathy is a boon, but it shouldn't be a pleasant boon. And while this power can definitely grow throughout the series, I think it should stick to telepathy, and not extend towards clairvoyance/precognition like it did in later books.

Gazzy's mimickry: I think this doesn't even need to count as a power, because Lyrebirds can already do that. As Angel grows more powerful, his mimickry can further extend from bird calls to specific human voices to the sounds of objects, and have him learn how to throw his voice.

Nudge's Psychometry: similar to Angel's telepathy, this is a psionic ability, and putting it in pre-series instead of when they miraculously need it makes it feel built-into the narrative. This can also be slowly expanded upon throughout the series, from touching an object and knowing any emotions associated with it, to being able to recall certain moments attached to the object, so being able to touch something and know its entire history.

Gazzy's precognition: "Wait, Gazzy doesn't have precognition", you're totally right, but consider: Precognition is already a thing in the books, because Angel. Gazzy only has two power-ups and one of them is farts. By transferring precognition from Angel to Gazzy and making it start pre-series, there's a bit more of a balance to keep us from getting an OP six-year-old. Like Nudge and Angel, this can start small (having "bad feelings" and being really good at dodging attacks bc he sees them pre-emptively) and build up to something like knowing when someone dies or the exact date and time the world is supposed to end.

Max's, Fang's, and Iggy's ability to withstand the younger three's powers: I think that they should be essentially immune to their younger siblings not because of their own powers, but because of exposure. The younger kids can definitely glean some things, especially when their powers are weak, but the more invasive their powers become, the more immune the older kids get. IE: Angel can read their emotions and sometimes their minds, but she can't control them. Nudge can pick something up and know it's associated with one of them/important to them, but can't tell what they did with it. Gazzy knows if something bad is going to happen, but looking for anything specific or intentional feels like trying to see past a brick wall.

So all of the psionics are at the beginning. And furthermore, there's a clear divide that shows when the School started handling psionic powers. Max, Fang, and Iggy don't have powers. They're old models. But somewhere between Iggy and Nudge, the School had a breakthrough, and the new models have brain powers.

Once the Plot Starts

The next round of powerups makes most sense if it happens as a result of the School's experimentation in TAE-- have the flock NOT be threatened with murder, and instead have tests run on them until they break out, which can take a lot longer. This means that Iggy and Gazzy are excluded, because they were not in the School. But after they escape the School, some abilities can begin to crop up, like:

Max's super speed: originally put in SoF and developed after a slight fever, it could also easily fit into TAE, with Max breaking out of the School while heavily feverish and developing fast flight, specifically regarding dives— similarly to Gazzy's mimickry, this can be staged as less of a power and more of something that happened to her because of her bird DNA that the whitecoats were activation/fine-tuning at the School. The ridiculousness of 350 mph can only occur during dives, though.

Everyone except for Iggy and Gazzy breathing underwater: I didn't realize until I read the wikipedia page that everyone except Iggy and Gazzy canonically has this power, making it a PERFECT power-up to give them after being kidnapped when Iggy and Gazzy were conveniently NOT kidnapped. That being said, this is also a great power to give drawbacks to show that the Flock is not immune to experiments going wrong: FIrstly, they can only breathe underwater in fresh water, like lungfish; they suddenly have to drink a lot more water and easily get dehydrated; they are really suseptible to bronchitis and pneumonia because they're taking water into their lungs that were not originally designed to do that, so they try to do it as little as possible.

And from there, we have...

The Voice

Fuck this thing in particular. There are TWO directions Voice can take in my mind:

It doesn't exist. Full-stop get rid of it, because all it does is take away character agency and give Max answers instead of make the authors think about how Max can figure it out herself.

It's an instrument of the School, preferably controlled by Jeb Batchelder (if it wants to be wishy washy about whose side its on) OR Marian Janssen (if it's an outright antagonist). It disappears once the School is dealt with, and most importantly, is not her own power or a power of her flock. It is a power being used on her.

I've already wasted too much of my life on thinking about this. Since I've already covered gills and psychometry, let's skip over the NYC arc.

After the IFHL

From here, I think there are a few moments where some powers can be gained, and some should definitely not be gained.

Firstly, there's Fang's superspeed. This can develop like it did in canon, where Max donates blood, and Fang gets a fraction of her abilities. However, this isn't even a School-done power, so I think they should reject the blood at first. They get really sick, the doctors have to put them on heavy immuno-suppressants for pretty much the entirety of being at Anne's, and their body temperature permanently jumps up past where it should be.

Then they leave Anne's house, they go on the run, Max gets kidnapped and shoved in a sensory deprivation tank, and she absolutely does not to get to shut down her organs, because it never comes up again and never needs to. Her being able to smell the flock and track them down can have one of two solutions:

She doesn't. She tracks them down another way.

Instead of her hallucinating herself turning into an Eraser, Gazzy has been feeling increasing unease about Max being in proximity to Erasers and can't tell why bc he can't see Max's future. Then, when she escapes the tank in ITEX, she does so by biting an Eraser and swallowing quite a bit of blood and sinew on accident. Suddenly she can smell so many things and her teeth are much sharper than they were a few days ago. Congrats, Max! Power up!

Finally, they reach the School again/are kidnapped again, which is where I guess Angel could possibly unlock shapeshifting, but considering the School was talking about exterminating all of them, I'm thinking no. I think shapeshifting is also on the cutting room floor. However, I think the School definitely should have taken them all out for testing over a few days rather than skipping right to "kill the multi-million dollar investments that are supposed to save the world, bc why not?" (Seriously, who wrote this?), because—

Iggy's Powerups

I've talked about this before, I'll talk about it again, but Iggy's powerups were not brought on by the School, were not spotaneous, were not accidental power transfers, but were intentionally done by Iggy, who was gathering data and running tests throughout the entire series. He doesn't get enough data until he's kidnapped by the School again, at which point Max and Fang probably realize that he's getting a bit sickly and his eyes look permanently irritated, then that there are bruises on his arm he doesn't want to talk about. Then, after breaking into ITEX again and gathering proper resources, he gets:

Detecting light and movement against bright backgrounds, which was his intention.

Color sense, which was an accidental side effect, and not a pleasant sensation for him. Also comes with a disadvantage of not remembering what many colors look like, so he has to guess for a lot of them.

Decreased Oxygen Intake: "wait, he didn't get this in canon!" yeah, because the only power-up JP gave him was pseudo-sight to fix his blindness, so I'm giving him more. Turned out, what he was honing in on was making his eyes function despite them not getting enough oxygen. And he was doing that for his whole body, completely on accident. So his Blood Oxygen percentage can drop to 60 without any ill-effects, his resting heart rate is slowed to about 10 bpm, and he's taking about 1 breath every 10-15 minutes unless he needs air to talk. This takes place over weeks, so he doesn't actually notice it until someone points it out.

This comes with not-so-great side effects. He's cold all the time, his eyes hurt constantly and have permanently burst blood vessels, and his fingers and lips are permanently discolored.

Through the Late Series

After ITEX is taken down, I think the power-getting would decrease exponentially, because they're not being experimented on nearly as much. However, there are a few that I think could be fit in.

Nudge's "Magnetism": I put this in bold and parentheses, because it wouldn't be magnetism, it would be a honing of her psychometry; if an object has a strong enough emotional attachment to her or any of the other psionic kids, she can attract it. Minor telekenesis. As a treat. This is the closest thing I can justify.

Fang's Camoflauge: This was pure accident, and less of a power-up and more of a "came back wrong". Triggered by their death and revival, both of which were unnatural, Fang gets the voluntary organ shutdown that Max doesn't get, and has spaces of time where they don't need to breathe, blink, and their heart slows considerably, meaning that they can be perfectly still in a way that makes people look at them and think "object" instead of "person", and their vision just... glances over them. However, this is not something they can do intentionally. This is almost always when they're dissociating.

Fang's Immortality Genes: I guess that since it's integral to the plot of Nevermore, I can make it work. This was building from School's Out Forever, when they nearly died from Ari's attack, being killed in Fang, nearly getting blown up in Angel, and getting thrown off a cliff in Nevermore. In fact, I would go as far as having their expiration date show up and then pass. By then, it's discovered that they have the "secret to immortality". This does not actually protect them from dying. It protects their genes from unravelling over time, which means they're not ageing. This is not a power-up. This is not a successful experiment. This is the scifi equivalent of being undead, because Fang is pretty much a walking corpse by the end of the series.

Powers Left on the Cutting Room Floor

Angel's Shapeshifting: I barely like shapeshifting Erasers, and it occurs so late in the series that it's not needed.

Gazzy's Flatulence Bombs: Just let him do chemical warfare the old fashioned way I'm begging you.

Max's voluntary organ shutdown: IT ONLY HAPPENS ONCE. I promise you, Max could've thought her way out of that situation.

[sarahinara]

it's like 230am and I've already taken my meds but let's see how coherent I can manage to make this.

first oof omg. okay but the like. conflating of maine and the meta (with sigma & eventually the others) and the meta (without the ais) within fandom is so?? like distressing lmao.

the fandom wiki goes on and on about he was ambitious and conniving and power hungry but I just feel like that's so unfair?

because looking at the leaderboard across seasons nine and ten, I think the main reasons for him climbing the board are due to other people's actions and then like. taking a bullet or twenty to protect the briefcase/carolina during the terrible no-good very-bad heist™, and then once sigma gets involved it sure does seem like he does a lot of whispering in maine's ear. (the whole 'sic him' moment will never not be unsettling asdfghjkl)

BUT! but sigma was supposed to be carolina's and she gives him up so that maine can still communicate with the group but like. a decent majority of them can Already make sense of what he's saying? and sigma obviously has his own agenda like friendo iunno if your interpretation of what maine Means to say is wholly accurate.

I'm gonna get to Washington in a hot minute I just have a lot of feelings ;__; because he's got creativity&ambition via carolina, and then fear and happiness from her too. and then theta was next I think?? then gamma and omega, and finally delta? the order he acquires them in aren't intentional I'm sure but it still has me feeling like the pepe silva meme.

and he has So Many all at once? I mean there's that whole 'oh he was power hungry and that's why he&sigma are scooping all of the ais and tech up' but there's also that like. is it so wrong to want them to all be together? in the scheme of things? do they talk with one another in his head? is it Almost like being part of a team again? when does the mental exertion start to melt his brain and hollow him out into the seemingly single minded Meta? what was it like to suddenly have them all gone again? alone alone alone in his head and he can't even properly use his equipment anymore. absolute bullet in the kneecap no wonder he's so petulant and sassy to wash in s8.

anyways. pfl strong silent aggro tank maine and messy rookie 5ever washington make my heart hurt. they both (wash later, mostly) have that hair trigger tip into sudden sharp violence and Yet that 'my friends are in danger gotta toss myself in front of oncoming bodily harm bc that's how I operate' aspect to them as well. how washington is the only one still sitting in the lecture room while sigma fiddles around with the concept of metastability. like what was That about. those moments in s8 where it's almost back to normal exasperated banter? you can't see it but wash is prolly making exasperated lil bitchfaces all the time?

the whole. whose idea was it to bring the meta back along on the epsilon retrieval quest. his brain is prolly fried and he can't use his armor properly and his more than a little unstable. was it the chairman? surely he must have seen some sort of flaw in sending him back out there. was it washington? insisting that the shell of one of his dear friends needed to tag along with him? was there a trade thrown in there somewhere for maine's sake? would he have wasted away in some unsc prison somewhere if not?

wash knew the meta was likely going to try some nonsense when it came to epsilon (and later beta) and yet!!! and yet they're still a team and duoship weird not quite wary friends again not quite perfectly civil work partners. breaks my HEART!

anyways ;__;

okok putting my thoughts under a read more because this got long LMAO

pre-sigma maine (+wash)

YES justice for pre-sigma maine. when it come to the freelancers and the leaderboard, the only ones who reeeeeally cared about the rankings (that we saw) were carolina, south, and ct. the others mention it at points (york and north had a short convo about it), but they have the most reactions to changes/their placements on the board.

but maine? the guy who just does his job of kicking ass when asked? he’s not the one trying to jump off buildings and compete against his fellow agents (a la carolina after tex shows up), nor does he push himself to perform in the field (a la york after his eye injury). you’re absolutely right that maine probably  climbs the leaderboard because he’s just good at what he does.

I think that’s partially why I love the maine+wash duo so much—neither of them played to the project’s machinations of the leaderboard. wash comments so. many. times. about the absurdity of what they’re doing that partnering with maine is probably a breath of fresh air. no-nonsense, you-charge-ahead-I’ll-cover-the-field, oh-right-my-trackers-thanks—they know their strengths, that they’re good, and don’t need a leaderboard to tell them that.

post-sigma maine aka the meta

sigma is absolutely the source of any ambition for power in maine. at this point, the other AIs in use were omega, gamma, delta, and theta; tex probably didn’t talk to anyone about omega, gamma was just sorta odd, delta was calm but logical, and theta was unassumingly cute. maine didn’t have any reason to be overly cautious about sigma when he first got him, and sigma probably kept up pretences during their initial days in order to gain maine’s trust.

and then he has this AI, this piece of hardware wired into his brain and every thought—maybe sigma doesn’t interpret for maine 100% correctly, but he’s able to convince maine that he does. maybe sigma oversteps his boundaries as an AI, and goes down neural pathways he shouldn’t. then, when sigma whispers to maine, how is maine supposed to know if it’s the AI’s thoughts or his own?

I like to think that maybe that’s why he was able to have multiple fragments at once and still function, unlike carolina. whereas eta and iota kept to the AI-designated areas of their freelancer, sigma had such a handle on maine that his want to become human became maine’s as well, because suddenly he realizes that he feels the fragmentation as much as his AI does.

with each fragment he collects, maybe maine feels more whole despite the strain he’s putting on his body. each new voice in his head is like him remembering how to feel—happiness, fear, trust. when they talk to each other, it’s just like any other time he’s rationalized with himself.

this is when maine becomes the meta. when “maine”—everything he was before sigma was implanted—just becomes another fragment of the alpha, desperate for the other pieces that they lost. I don’t think meta is hollow-minded necessarily, but just an amalgamation that transforms maine away from what he once was.

post-meta maine (+wash)

the EMP goes off and it is so quiet.

I think maine is left reeling, still feeling like a fragment despite all biological evidence to the contrary, and doesn’t remember how to be human anymore. his combat abilities are deeply-ingrained muscle memory, but his thoughts? his emotion? the AIs were so intertwined with his mind that every flare of feeling is new and alarming.

then he meets S8 wash, and it only makes it so much worse. because the angry, betrayed man in front of maine is so conflicting with who he remembers, and he doesn’t have the capacity to process that. wash gives him an order and it’s so familiar and maine knows that he should trust wash, that he wouldn’t have hesitated once upon a time, but his mind is broken and all he can focus on is how quiet it is why can’t I trust you why can’t you trust anyone—

why does maine go with wash to search for epsilon? I think they’re both loose ends for freelancer, but neither with any lingering love for the project. wash is tired of it all; maine is a lost man wandering through each day. wash offers his efforts in exchange for his freedom; maine is offered freedom in exchange for his efforts. the chairman pairs them together because the records are clear—they were a good team, and they won’t come anywhere near freelancer after this.

I think if their goal was anything else, if they weren’t dealing with AIs, then maybe wash and maine could’ve come out from their mission a little better for it. his friend is broken but he’s here, and wash learns how to trust again when he feels that white armor pressing against his back in a firefight; his friend is broken but he’s here, and maine finds his own voice again when they’re killing time between objectives. with time, they both feel less alone.

but they were hunting epsilon, and this is maine’s chance to feel whole again, like how he felt when he had the fragments filling his head. there is no downtime, no chance for either of them to heal with their mission looming over their heads. maine might work with wash throughout S8, but when the opportunity presents itself to collect epsilon and beta? the opportunity to be human again?

he never had a choice.

[suga-kookiemonster]

do you grin and bear it when you come across fics that are clearly white-coded? i find it really upsetting because there are some fics out there that are so good and then i come across a word, phrase or description that describes reader as clearly being white or if not white, then with light features and then i just can’t finish the fic anymore.

then i realize no one is saying anything, everyone just accepts it. the fic gets thousands of notes and not one is mentioning it. i don’t think there is anything wrong about having a particular race in mind when writing (people often write from their own lived experiences) but maybe let people know beforehand?

but i guess these days i kinda grit my teeth and bare through it. the worst though is when they write the bts member with pink nipples and pale skin, i just don’t understand why they would do that. why are they erasing their melanin. because they might as well be writing about timothy chalomet at this point. bc what? people have the right to their own preferences but when it comes to fanfics about asian men, poc, then there are literally no excuses unless they are written in a particular au, but then again. they are asian so why are you whitewashing them

hey babe! i hear you and i feel you. i've been writing fanfic for a very long time, but the bts fandom was the first one i encountered reader insert fics. i'll admit, it was definitely disconcerting and slightly triggering at first to read all of these stories about clearly white ocs who i obviously couldn't insert myself into. it was especially mind-boggling to me that i was being othered in a fandom literally centered around men of color. ultimately, i had no choice but to acknowledge that the primary fanfiction that got pushed in the fandom was written by white creators for white audiences.

but while i acknowledged that, i didn't accept it. i simply decided to write the representation i didn't see--and that's how ego was born 😊 nowadays, i'm ecstatic to be seeing a lot more poc representation in the fandom (from all different backgrounds and viewpoints), but that doesn't mean whiteness isn't still being used--likely unknowingly, as media in general often caters to whiteness, and people write what they're used to and what they know--as the "baseline" and "general" oc. (absolutely zero excuse for whitewashing the boys tho. not you nonchalantly giving the both the oc and bts pink nipples 🤦🏽‍♀️😂)

obviously, there is nothing wrong with writing a white character/from a white person's point of view when you yourself are white, but i just think that until everyone is more equally represented in the fandom and white stories aren't the only ones people bother to hype up and circulate, special care should be taken to ensure readers aren't blatantly white so poc don't feel like the fandom isn't unwelcoming of them.

i can go on and on, but i actually talked about this exact topic on a podcast i did a little while ago with my friends. feel free to check it out if you have time 💜 i also wanna point you to this wonderful post by @vyduan that lists wonderful poc writers in the fandom. please know you belong here just like everyone else and i see you!

[lover-of-mine]

i know eddie has been through some shit in terms of his military trauma, but i would love it if season 7 remembered he actually has medical/combat experience that the others don’t. i recently watched season 2 again and omg there are so many times when he gives advice or takes control of something bc of his experience. the only time i can remember off the top of my head since then is season 5 when he gives the advice about the bomb when he’s at dispatch. i need them to have a call where there’s something really awful happening, mass chaos, mass injury etc etc, and there are multiple ladder teams there and another captain asks if there’s anyone with expertise in something like this and bobby just goes ‘i know a guy 🙂’ and then hard cut to eddie storming around giving people orders and telling them what to do and where and when! he gets to have a bamf moment where he remembers that his military experience can also be an asset rather than just a burden (and bonus points if it affeCTS buck, i you know what i mean lol)

OH MY GOD I WAS THINKING ABOUT THIS LITERALLY LAST NIGHT BEFORE I WENT TO BED. I was thinking about when Taylor (derogatory) is introduced and he just starts talking physics and deals with the whole helicopter. And obviously there's the bomb, the grenade, and the few times he says I've seen a few of these in combat, but like, it's an expertise they never talked about again. Besides the medical training, the academy training, he also has around 5 (?) years of army experience and it would be great to see him use that knowledge and I think it would be good for him to also see that he can use that in a way, and somewhere he would have people around to support him if it triggered him (ideally it wouldn't but they could use that to go all recovery isn't linear). They could've gone in such fun ways with his knowledge outside the academy, and they just never used again. And I guess sure, if you're in Los Angeles the expectation would be for him to not encounter that type of situation but it would interesting to see him bend what he knows to apply there. He clearly dealt with bombs in the past, some improvisation skills, even the random tipbits about why rushing into a specific situation would be bad like he does with the helicopter and the dynamic rollovet, and I'm pretty sure there's another call he starts talking physics I don't remember what now, that could add a whole layer as to why he is so good at the job, because, yes, it traumatized him, but I think it would be good for him to realize that he got something useful from all that too.

Also yes please, call where Eddie is taking over and Buck is just "this is definitely working for me, yes sir"

[amethystfairy1]

hi I'm back, back again. I did more art, this time of witch Martyn, bc I LOVE him :)))

also I have more questions for u

so u know how u said in ttsbc that it's respectful to learn the courting rituals of the individual you're trying to woo? Well, I was just wondering if that happened with doc and Etho, and I did some research, and...

I might draw this lol. I'm picturing Doc just SCREAMING and Etho w/ a thought bubble that just says "hot" LOL.

Anyways the question was over whether doc ever did that for etho or vice versa, but considering the rituals, I'd think not...

2. For traveling thieves, do the collars respond to intentions? In the latest treebark fic, the guy says "do not harm him" whilst referring to Martyn, which made me wonder how vague it could get. Could you say "don't go too far away" in leu of any other movement restrictions (ex. Grian's old "don't fly higher than twice the height of the market), and the collar would just understand? Or, even vaguer, "don't do anything I don't want you to do" to prevent any loopholes people like Pearl would find?

3. Are witches that rare/powerful? Ren comments that Martyn could have the world eating out of the palm of his hand, just because he's a witch, which makes me wonder how important they really are. For example, would he or Gem have more authority? Also what powers do they have besides the training in healing that Martyn got? Any fighting ability, or stuff like that?

ok that's all, have a good day :)

Hello!!!

I SAW! I SAW WITCH MARTYN! He's SO PRETTY! I absolutely ADORE HIM! Thank you so much for drawing and sharing him! I reblogged him as well, I absolutely love him! Super super cool!

Doc just screeching at Etho and Etho doing the like anime girl blush is absolutely hilarious to me. Y'know what. Headcanon away. I love this idea. 😆

Questionsssss 🏃‍♀️

2. Ok, lemme see if I can explain this properly. The collars respond to an 'understanding' of the order. They'll enforce whatever the hybrid hearing it understands the order to be. So in this situation, Ren understands the arena master is referring to Martyn when he says 'do not harm him' so therefore the collar accepts that as the order, and Ren can't make any aggressive moves toward Martyn without triggering it. For your other example, if someone said to Pearl 'don't do anything I don't want you to do' there's a million loopholes in that, because Pearl doesn't know for sure what her master does or doesn't want her to do. I mean, obviously they wouldn't want her attacking them, but like...what if she attacked some other guy? What if she flew really high in the sky? What if she stole some food? She doesn't know for certain that those things aren't things her master would want her doing, so the collar wouldn't trigger. Another example would be if someone said the same thing, 'Do not harm him' but the hybrid truly didn't understand who was being referred too. Then the collar wouldn't trigger. They didn't understand. Of course, in these scenarios, most hybrids as we know them would ask for clarification to ensure they didn't disobey, but even still, that's how it would work. Hopefully this makes sense!

3. Witches are quite rare and powerful, yes! Not to the extent that they're insanely rare and completely unheard of, but like, if you saw one walking down the street, it would be quite the event. Most major cities have a coven of witches established in them, but that's only a few dozen individuals within a population of tens of thousands, so that's still quite rare. Martyn is headed out into the sticks, so the more remote areas he heads too probably only have one witch per town, and so that witch would command a great deal of respect and their word would carry a lot of sway. Martyn being someone on the same playing field as those sorts of people automatically makes him very important. Comparing him to Gem isn't exactly possible. Gem holds a ton of authority in the underbelly of cities and with the mercenary guild, but with your average person...well, they wouldn't even recognize her. Like in the story where she and Pearl are going after that dude, he doesn't recognize her as the Slayer, she has to tell him that's who she is. Martyn is obviously a witch, from how he dresses to his charms and pendant, you can tell at a glance, so that's a much more sweeping sort of authority. He'll come into any conversation already being heavily respected and any average person would take him at his word. As far as powers go, the thing about witches is that they have an incredibly high level of inborn mana, to the point that they can actually die from mana overdose as kids if they don't find someone to help them with training, and we hear about how this almost happened to Martyn, but lucky his teacher took him in. Witches are special because they have unique inborn skills, such as the pocket dimension spell 'Inventory' (yes I know I'm very clever 😭) and also several different appraisal skills. But that's not all! They also aren't restricted to one form of magic. Martyn studied healing magic, but he can still cast fireballs, ice spells, weather magic...pretty much nothing is off the table for him so long as he's at least passable familiar with it. He might not be as good as an expert, but he can pull it off. The only sorts of things he couldn't do would be nature magic, which is specific to elves. But basically any magic a human is capable of, Martyn is capable of. And he also trained and studied for the purpose of being able to mimic and manipulate spells and mana usage that he sees off the cuff, unlike mages who would need to train up to using spells in their domain. And Martyn isn't trained as a fighter! He can't throw a punch, but he can throw a fireball! That's why he needs Ren, because like all good witches, he needs space, focus, and casting time to get spells off. Suddenly being assaulted by bandits on the road by himself wouldn't end well for him, so he needs someone like Ren who is capable of physical combat to keep him safe and give him that time to get his magic going!

Jeez that was long-winded...whoopsie! Well, I hope you enjoyed my rambling! Thank you again SO SO SO much for the witch Martyn art! I will cherish him! 💖

[coredrill]

fans of the SPIRAL POWER SHOW when their movie theater chair starts spinning:

and more moviegoing/dub thoughts below the cut!!

okay. i'm gonna be as organized as possible about this but i am probably gonna be all over the place and add to it later LMAO. BUT.

4dx thoughts first: jesus fuck lmao. i've never actually been to a 4d movie before and i feel like this experience is NOT representative of what a normal movie would be like but they really shook us around huh!!! i think those seats only stopped moving when kamina died, and i say "i think" bc there may have been more times when they stopped but my ass was unawares because i still felt like i was moving anyways LMAO.

they played an interview with imaishi, koyama, and wakabayashi (most likely filmed at anyc) before the showing (they did it before my dub showing too, even tho i just saw that one in a regular theater) and these mfs are so funny i swear lmao. they were like "we wanted to use the effects to their fullest so we added in movement during the emotional scenes too!" and then wakabayashi was like "i fell out of my seat while watching!" and then imaishi was like "my keys fell out of my pocket and i almost left them in the theater because they were between the seats" and then they laughed and THEN wakabayashi was like "oh wait they're watching gurren-hen right? nvm they'll be fine" but like. that shit felt like a ROLLERCOASTER so WTF IS LAGANN-HEN GONNA BE!!!!!!!!!! it made me so curious so now i also plan to see the sub of that one in 4dx LMAO. me when i literally die because the insane ppl at trigger decided to mimic a galaxy being thrown at a giant mecha and wanted me to feel it.

also. they sprayed us with water during the scene where gurren lagann's spiral energy feeds back and simon/lagann throw up. and like. i mean i can't say i ever WANTED to get vomited on by my fav anime boy, but it sure did happen!

okay. friend-who-hasn't-seen-ttgl-before-thoughts next: i was REALLY surprised how much it hooked him considering that i've always viewed the movies as subpar compared to the show but it REALLY sold him on it!!! and i'm so happy cause idk if he ever would've made it through those first 7 episodes of the show without knowing what was to come lmao. unfortunately he can't make it next week so we'll have to watch lagann-hen later on, as well as the show proper, but i'm SO curious to see what he thinks. especially bc the only complaint he rly had (aside from being violently shaken LMAO) was that simon, kamina, and yoko were really the only characters he could keep track of. like even nia didn't show up early enough for him to really track what was going on with her i think!!

when it comes to lagann-hen i am SO curious what he'll think of rossiu. cause rossiu's my other favorite anime boy but DAMN they really give him like two seconds of screen time total in this movie LMFAO. and THEY DON'T EVEN ESTABLISH THAT HE IS FOREHEAD BOY?????? like they play that scene where kamina's like "i wanna give simon and gimmy and darry and forehead boy a good future" and my friend was like "WHO?" lmao. i guess you're just supposed to see the size of his forehead and come to your own conclusions FDLKSJFHSLKJ. and i did tell my friend that rossiu is Important in lagann-hen but i'm so curious as to whether that whole plot point will actually. like. make sense? and if he can track why rossiu is all of a sudden In Charge and Like That? idk but i can't WAIT to see it. similarly though i do wonder what he'll think of kittan's sacrifice cause kittan got a nothingburger this movie too LMAO.

when it comes to the show i am AGAIN curious what he'll think of rossiu, like what he'll think going from a smaller role for him in the film to a larger role in the show. cause obviously i am -_- at the downsizing but rossiu adds SOOOOOOOOO much to the show on the whole that i wonder if having a different first impression will frame him as a character differently??? IDK!!!! and ALSO i am curious what my friend will think WHEN EXTRA BITCHES START DYING AT THE END LMAO. like it's one thing to do from all of dai-gurren dying to them all living, but from them all living to DYING?????? i'm SO CURIOUS. i feel like watching these movies with him has me appreciating them more in the same way that watching eva with friends made me appreciate eva more too. except i like ttgl a whole heck of a lot more to begin with, even the movies, so i think this might just kill me entirely LMAO.

NOW. ONTO THE DUB.

prefacing this section with Holy Fuck I Am So Glad This Exists I've Cried Over It And Could Cry More. the fact that i've wanted this so bad and it HAPPENED. do the impossible i suppose but i can still HARDLY BELIEVE IT'S REAL. and listening to every single second of it was just a complete and total joy and i wouldn't trade it for anything <3

and now that the sappy stuff is outta the way SAM RIEGEL THE VIRAL THAT YOU ARE!!!!!! he did the ABSOLUTE BEST IMO, he still captured the same voice he did in the show dub AND he managed to like, have a coherent new take on some of the scenes? like during his first or second confrontation with kamina he had this more bored tone that worked SO WELL for me because. yeah!!!! viral thinks humans are inferior at that point, so he WOULDN'T be giving this battle 100%!!!! excellent choices all around and whenever they release this on home video i am gonna listen to this performance for like a week straight.

other generally great stand-outs were LORDGENOME ofc and also dayakka was pretty great too!! they didn't have a whole lot of changes but they worked well in the OG so they ofc worked well here too!! oh and kittan and his sisters too!!! they didn't get as much to do but kittan's still got it and if i heard correctly they even got the same VAs for his sisters too? like stephanie sheh kinon doesn't surprise me bc she's still so active in the industry but kiyal especially sounded rly similar in her like. three lines LMAO.

i WAS actually rly curious abt if they would recast leeron into literally anyone other than "steve blum doing a ~gay voice~" and uh. they didn't lmao. but tbh i think it worked for me anyways; the movies cut out so much of the blatant homophobic jokes which is one super nice thing about them, and also they were SO diligent with getting the rest of the cast back that it makes sense he'd come back too? like i didn't expect DAYAKKA to return but it sure sounded like the same guy to me, let alone the bachika sisters and gimmy and darry, so i get why they kept blum too and it was fine in most parts imo

i really liked bridget hoffman nia too!! she didn't sound the same as hynden walch ofc but i think she gave a great performance and i think it'll be really beneficial to have this sort of continuity of voice going between pre- and post-skip nia.

my adai kiddos...........well jyb didn't have a whole lot of lines as rossiu so i don't have much to say other than i think he did fine with what he had LMAO, i'm SOOOOOO excited to hear him in lagann-hen though!!! especially towards the end, where rossiu's belief gives simon et al the strength they need to finish the battle and win, and also the "so many others like us out there" line....... i MAY burst into tears hearing that in a theater LMAO. also it threw me off when they pronounced darry's name as "dairy" SKLDJFH

YURI LOWENTHAL............oh honey you do not sound like a fourteen year old boy anymore LMAO. it really sounded like he was putting in the EFFORT to make his voice as high as preskip simon's is haha. but his performance was still fucking amazing, especially in the hot-blooded parts where it needed to be, and tbh it was kinda sweet that he sounds different now? like, it's a charming reminder that even if it took a while, enough people loved this story hard enough that the dub got made FIFTEEN YEARS LATER, and simply typing that is making me tear up LMAO so yeah i obviously didn't mind. can't fucking wait to hear him as adult simon tho, that may awaken something in me yet again >:)

aaaaaaaand yoko and kamina lmao. obviosuly these are the hardest to judge because they also, alongside simon, have the most lines? so there is more material to compare LMAO. and both of them certainly gave very different performances that i'm not quite sure how to feel about yet. like the acting itself was still amazing, but it was different and not like sam riegel's in a way that was so obviously elevated that i'm having a bit more trouble parsing my thoughts lmao. like my knee-jerk reaction is "different, so not the thing i love, so worse" but that's not true!!! that's not true at all, and i think i may just need to hear it a few more times for the new inflections and what not to gel with me lmao. though i will say, like literally everyone else, that i think michelle ruff was directed differently as yoko - you could tell there was more effort to make her voice more nasally, or to use her head voice in general, or to sound more cutesy/girly. and i PERSONALLY don't think that's the right choice for yoko, as she's got so much more going on with her gender than just being a cute girl, but this is not the place for that discussion LMAO. so they certainly weren't bad by any means, i think they might just need a few more watches to grow on me the same way the show performances have. or just to have more fleshed-out opinions! anyways, 4k uhd english dubbed bluray WHEN aniplex.

overall the differences were SUPER interesting to hear tho!!! like i'm not well-versed enough in dubbing as a product of the late 00's versus now, but i imagine it's partially changed as an art form and that led to some of the performance differences. in general it was really funny when they slightly changed the dialogue and the lip flaps and pauses wound up in different places!!

the imaishi koyama wakabayashi interview mentioned the same thing that they said at anyc, that they were hoping to make a show that could last ten years. and now 15 years later it's STILL loved enough to get a whole ass new dub and theatrical release. and i just. i'm gonna make myself cry again LMAO, i love this story so much and it's been such a great experience <3

[lifeonthemurdersim]

🥑 🔪 🧩 🌿 for the writer ask meme please :3

Thank you 😊

Writer's truth or dare ask meme

🥑- you accidentally killed somebody, which mutual(s) do you text for help?

C'mon, obviously YOU and @cptsadist. I mean technically not text, who texts anymore? But message. Obviously there would be a severe geographical hindrance to either of you physically helping but I'd need the moral support. Plus I feel like both of you would genuinely come up with some creative solutions 😆 Win-win.

🔪- what's the weirdest topic you researched for a writing project?

Oh my god so many 🤣 I'm counting RPs in this bc they are collaborative writing as far as I'm concerned. Here are a few I can think of off the top of my head:

How to perform a relay attack to steal a car.

How dark you can tint your windows in different states.

Lot of shit about Michigan slang and phrasing.

The route from Washington DC to NYC. But like in great detail.

Like practically everything I could find about Lawrence from Gato's old ask tumblr.

So much drug stuff. How to knock someone out for example, and how long one can be unconscious without brain damage. Effects of various recreational drugs too and crucially, how to actually take most of them 😅

What a full-body orgasm feels/looks like for an AMAB person. And stuff like refractory periods and such.

On that note, actually, average distance of ejaculation 🤣 OK that one was for an art piece but it had text so I technically "wrote" it.

"Do Americans say (word/phrase)?" 😅

Less deadly bullet wounds, dangerous but healable bullet wounds etc.

Quite a lot of BDSM stuff.

Stalking people's OCs to write them correctly.

If MI5 are watching me, I'm either a very kinky fucker or a serious threat.

🧩- what will make you click away from a fanfiction immediately?

I'll preface this by saying I don't really read much fanfic, in fact I don't read books either anymore, so the fact I can even write coherently frequently surprises me! I generally have read mostly smutty oneshots in the past which is why I think I'm pretty hypocritical for writing a 300k word fic and expecting people to actually read it(there is a lot of smut though)!

I mean there are a lot of things I wouldn't click on in the first place, underage and incest for example, I'm also very wary of non-con even in the context of murder sim fandoms bc it's hard to know what I'll personally find triggering.

There are writing/layout choices that my brain would struggle with, but I feel like I can't really think of an example? I try to keep an open mind with things like point of view, tense and spelling.

I'm also fairly neutral about most kinks I'm not into and will read stuff if it's recommended to me or I otherwise think I might enjoy it. I have a few nopes but I feel like if I get specific that's being critical of those kinks? When really it's just things that personally don't appeal to me.

Yes I have turn offs. Sorry to shock anyone. 😅

🌿- give some advice on writer's block and low creativity

Possibly controversial. If you're not loving it, don't do it. Go do something else, whether that's switching to a different project, a different media or just going to do something else entirely.

By all means let your friends and/or fans know you'll be taking a break! But for me, I have to be passionately focused on something for it to work.

I do have one other tip though. If we're talking fanfic, weigh up the pros and cons of when to post. If you have more ready, it gives you time to catch up. I managed to get weekly 8k chapters out of my old longfic because I had 60% of the thing written already. I made it through several writer's blocks and only got a little behind. Thay said, there were days when the regular comments were the only thing keeping me going. It's difficult to find a balance. I guess it's a personal thing, but as I say, weigh it up.