#(theoretically the story would be fine but it's not that well written)

[runabout-river]

The Mechanisms of Nobara's Return

The Setup

Her injury is the smallest transfiguration Mahito made without interference

This injury didn't kill Nobara instantly

Nitta used his CT to stop her from dying

Affirmation that Nobara has a chance of survival even if that chance is less than 1%

This setup itself is the biggest indication/confirmation on a meta level that Nobara's return will happen. Because otherwise, Gege wouldn't have written it like this in the first place or he would've written later scenes about her death more explicitly.

Nobara is the female lead of JJK and is often compared to Sakura from Naruto in that regard. I find it hard to believe that Shonen Jump would let Gege discard that lead so early in the story. It would also be an unpopular decision to replace the female lead with another female character (Maki) even for Shonen standards.

Temporarily replacing one on the other hand, is a decision I can see happening. I'm no expert in this but it's known that editors keep the number of female characters low in their titles in SJ. Gege most likely wanted to do something shocking as well, so this a course of action many would be fine with.

If Nobara's death had been meant to be final then not only in the story but also outside of it we would've gotten definite confirmation on it. Instead, I don't recall something like that being said. In story and outside, we have this wishy-washy Schrödinger's Cat situation going on.

Her injury

Idle Transfiguration cannot be healed with positive energy or any other means

That's because positive energy doesn't recognize damage to the body if it's in the same shape as the soul

At this point, her death was suspended in a similar fashion to how Megumi's death was suspended inside his exorcism ritual

This suspension can theoretically be kept up indefinitely as long as Nitta can use his CT

A popular theory in this regard, is Nobara learning Reverse Cursed Technique while at death's door.

Nobara is a Black Flash user, her use of cursed energy is more refined than that of the average sorcerer

Her learning RCT would parallel Gojo learning it after being sliced open. For her, it just takes longer

Having to use RCT constantly would also mirror Gojo, bringing her narratively closer to her teacher after being the one most distant from him

Her Return

Why did Megumi say she was dead?

Theory: because Shoko told him that she was dead:

Because Shoko thought it cruel to keep the hopes of Megumi and Yuji up. She still wasn't finished to try and save her though

Shoko was afraid of the higher-ups interfering in her treatment after Yaga was executed

Having Megumi believe that she died also makes Sukuna believe that she's dead, which makes her comeback unforeseeable to him.

Why don't we see her in the flashbacks?

To keep up suspense. But do you know who else we don't see in the flashbacks? Todo. And that guy isn't even dead.

What is she doing now?

We have some possibilities for the flashbacks:

Learning to function under her RCT

Learning to function on Nitta's CT

Training/secret missions with Todo

Recovering with her grandma/learning to use new forms of her own CT

For the current fights:

She's waiting her turn

Popular theory is that Nobara will use Resonance on Sukuna's last finger. If she does this too early, she will explode. My favorite way for her to do this is like this:

Utahime and Gramps will enhance her CT and she will attack Sukuna's finger right at the moment when Sukuna attacks Yuji to kill him, mirroring the Mahito scene.

Which are the instances where her death wasn't made explicit?

We never saw her corpse

She wasn't at the airport

No one talked to Gojo about her death, they only talked about Nanami

Only Megumi and Yuji talk about her death. The second and last time about Hana potentially replacing her

I think this is about it about Nobara's Return. If you have questions, I will answer.

...

I lied.

There is a way to heal Nobara.

And the person who's going to do that is Megumi.

Megumi will have to infuse one of his shikigami with Mahoraga's Adaptation ability

The Adaptation doesn't happen with CTs, it happens with phenomena

A transfigured body and soul is a phenomenon

After the adaptation, Megumi can order his shikigami to reshape or reverse the transfiguration

This Adaptation to Idle Transfiguration also has a second use: stopping the merger (or reversing it).

Kenjaku used Mahito's IT to change Tengen's barriers. If I remember correctly, he will use IT again in the future or the effects of IT will be relevant later on. And that's when Megumi will have his biggest role.

[espectroshifting]

I Shifted

Sit down...you're sat? Ok lets go.

I've shifted, yeah, crazy right? This isn't my first time, but it is the first time this has happened in a reality similar to the DR I had written in the first place. Obviously it was for Maze Runner, that's the most recent DR that I wrote and was obsessed with, and it was different from any other DR because of: the only thing that told me that place wasn't my DR was an oddity about the sky, I don't even know what, but I trusted that I was right. But let's get to the point, this story is going to be a bit long but I don't want you guys to miss any details:

Then the commotion began, the boys were as confused as I was about what the "breeders" were thinking by sending a girl to the Glade and what they would do about me. Gally was bewildered for a while but soon shouted for everyone to shut up, he saw that the noise and whispering were only making me more and more panic, so he approached: —Calm calm…I'm going to get you out of there, okay?— Then he grabbed me by the arms and sat me down outside the box, on the grass, before going back to remove the items that were sent with me.

He seemed to trust that I wouldn't try something, maybe because of my panicked face, I couldn't disappoint him…so I assessed my surroundings as best I could through the legs that blocked my view I saw the doors of the maze , I slowly got up and ran. My legs moved at a speed I didn't know I was capable of, I heard screams of excitement, followed by screams of warning, until I heard Newt shout: —Get her Minho!—

I wasn't going to look back, I knew that if I looked he would catch me, so I kept running, entered the maze, turned left and started running through the maze of high walls. I heard Minho shout from afar, something about not being able to be there at that moment I think it was getting the time when the gates were going to close taken by the fear of staying inside and ending up dead, I stopped running and came back, finding Minho as I walked back, panting and looking slightly amused. —Come on she-bean, let's go back— and I followed him back to the Glade.

I came back calmer and somewhat refreshed from the little run, I was fine until I turned the corner and came across the group of Gladers waiting for me at the entrance, most of them confused and a little scared that maybe Minho hadn't caught up with me, but it was the look from Thomas, Newt and Gally that made me quickly regret running away. Minho walked past them with a "mission accomplished" attitude and moved away from the crowd, who were ready to see me get scolded, and Thomas was the one who started, holding me tightly by the arms and shaking me lightly: —What were you thinking when you ran into the maze? Do you realize how dangerous it is? - It was at that moment that I realized that he remembered that I was his sister, I couldn't defend myself, I was stupid and deserved that lecture.

But my biggest surprise was that I got lectured by him and Newt, Gally who I expected most of the yelling to come from just stared at me with deadly hatred while the other two boys yelled at me. —Well Thomas, it's your fault, you couldn't stop her from getting in there!— and I was totally surprised, because I don't remember seeing Newt be that angry in the movies only in the last one and he was already infected so I was really surprised to see him not only scream, but hold Thomas responsible, who was my brother and theoretically should have stopped me.

Then they took me to MedJacks to make sure I hadn't been stung and only after confirming I was safe did they relax. I was sitting on the bed in the medical tent with Alby, Newt, Thomas and Gally staring at me. Alby said that I shouldn't have run into the maze, that I was lucky to come back safe and that this was an inflation of the rules, but he wouldn't put me in punishment, since I had agreed to return with Minho without causing a commotion, already that I regretted running away from them. I also think that internally he recognized my actions, I was the only girl among several unknown boys and I had no idea what could happen, he just reasoned and accepted the fact that caused me to panic I gave him a grateful look, I knew they were waiting for an explanation, especially Thomas, who looked at me worried and asked: —What happened and why did they send you here?— and that was the last thing I remember before going back to my CR.

Thats it guys, Im excited for more, still listening subliminals throughout my day and affirming "shifting is easy" "I keep waking up in my DR".

Never give up guys ৎ୭.

[tearueful]

HEY tell me about your boys oc

You've twisted my arm, LMAO.

Time to dump my brain. My The Boys OC is PURE SELF INDULGENCE because she's basically an alt version of Tea but what if The Boys? So you know, a cringe almost self-insert OC that evolved into her own thing in my brain. She 300% only exists to smooch Homelander but as of today and runaway story ideas, MAYBE NOT.

I've got this whole vague outline of a story in my head I've taken notes on and written a few lines and drabbles for, but she'll most likely just stick in my brain cause OC x canon isn't well received and I don't have the free time to RP her with friends like I'd like.

ANYWAY - This is LONG. So LONG.

Her name is Stray, which is super not original to anyone who knows my online aliases or the fact that the first version of my vtube character was named Stray but I like short aliases and Stray is as good a name as any for a cat-based Supe.

Her supe power is that she can shapeshift into any feline. House cat, tiger, leopard, and even prehistoric cats because I want her to lay on Homelander as a polar bear sized saber. THE VISUALS.

Like Doppelganger, Stray fluidly shifts between forms in mere moments but unlike Doppelganger, these forms are all Stray. She can't transform into a visual copy of say, your pet cat.

Like Beast Boy, her animal forms are coded to her colors. She's a calico cat (surprise, surprise) if she's a house cat. A golden tabby coated tiger if she's a tiger. Basically all coat colors try to mimic orange, brown, white to some degree. If she's a lioness, it's a richer orangy hue instead of tawny.

I'd have to pin down the exact colors and make a coat pattern chart, but basically every coat is a little off on what the default is for wild cats. Enough to make you go, 'hmm that seems odd' more than seeing a big cat in a weird spot would. The other thing that's constant is her eye color, same green eyes in all forms. So her hair color / skin color reflect her cat coat patterns and her eye color is consistent, basically.

The main perk is that her supe power scales with form. She's a house cat? Well- That house cat could theoretically blast herself through your skull like Jamie the hamster and come out fine on the other side. This scales, so you get a jaguar biting you it's no longer a 1,500 PSI bite but idfk, biting through steel beams. The bigger Stray is, the more durable and the more damage she can do. Get her big enough and she could bite through Homelander's limbs. :D

The downsides are:

Stray is a perfectly normal, squishy person when not in a feline form. Very fragile, don't let near other Supes when she's a person.

She can't stay in feline form forever. Like Doppelganger, it hurts if she keeps a form for too long but she's been trained (forced) to endure it. After 24 hours, she starts to become debilitated from the pain but can push on depending on desperation level. Regardless, she'll be pretty useless quick.

Stray can be locked out of shifting or locked in a form with a metal band around her neck/wrist/ankle. Say, iron does it because uh- It's the most stable element or something which blocks Stray's atoms from doing whatever the fuck they do to reform her into various kitty cats. Having a power lock is fun for situations.

The backstory is that around the same time of Homelander's debut, Stan Edgar wanted to have a contingency plan. I don't know the exact timeline, but I assume Victoria Neuman was adopted by Edgar around that time as his backup plan for Homelander. Stray was picked up for the same reason, except she was more a creature to get locked away and trained to hate Homelander.

Her SUPER TRAGIC backstory is that she had a normal life, save for being a supe, until she turned 18. Then Vought snatched her up with the excuse of that binding Supe Contract, so her family was none the wiser that through daughter was shipped off to a lab. Meanwhile, Stray was fed some story that her family DIED HORRIBLY because of Homelander with her hatred of him encouraged subtly. Enough to make a bitch pissy, but not rampage through the lab. (That or they kept a bitch collared a lot)

Stan Edgar gets thrown in jail and Stray gets lost in the shuffle, forgotten for the most part until her file is dug up or The Boys are tipped off about something strange over in a SUPER SECRET LAB that Butcher is apparently good at finding, given how he found The Woods in Gen V.

The Boys get a new pet cat as they assume Stray is a suped up animal, since they find her collared and unable to shift. I get to write a few cute drabbles of Stray being tormented as people coo over her as a kitty cat until someone takes her collar off. Then the idiot is hell bent on revenge, which suits Butcher just fine.

She infiltrates Vought Tower by being picked up as a stray cat (haha) by Ryan Butcher. Cue Homelander having beef with a cat who keeps stealing his son's attention. Also, that cat keeps looking at him weird. More excuses to write cute fluff with Ryan getting a pet he can cuddle but can't kill. She chills in Vought Tower with Ryan, getting rather attached to the boy because he is SUCH A SWEETIE PIE.

Stray goes to chomp Homelander's head off eventually, hunting him down like prey and wrecking his shit because I just want to write Homelander being afraid. There's something fun about having Homelander hunted by a bigger predator, something primordial and feral. c:

Ryan intervenes before Stray eats Homelander and she pisses off for a bit. Also, probably dealing with a Compound V high given how much V must be in Homelander's blood.

Something something, Homelander researches the bitch who almost ate him. Figures out her weakness and there's probably MORE DRAMA with them fucking with each other. I haven't banged out the details but these lil shits will be toxic as fuck, but since Stray is a strong supe he'll want her for his supe army. Homelander even shows Stray that her family is alive and she's all, "Well fuck. Uh, my bad bro?"

Ultimately, Stray will waver between hating Vought for what they did, having some loyalty to members of The Boys for their kindness, but loyalty to Homelander and Ryan for similar. She's not a good person so she could go for the DESTROY VOUGHT or SUPE SUPERIORITY side on a coin flip.

She's just a character I want to put in situations within The Boys universe. (Sexual situations)

I want tiger!Stray sprawled out on the floor while Ryan uses her as a living lounge chair as he does his homework.

Bickering between Homelander and Stray. Stray being a VERY FUCKING ANNOYING CAT at Homelander before he knows she's a supe.

Therapy cat for Kimiko. 🥺

Butcher being a jerk and dubbing her 'Moggy'.

Stray leaving bite and claw mark scars on Homelander. c:

[cherrytea556]

Look, i rarely read fan fiction but from what i seen, they call shows like helluva fan fiction because of the set ups and its overall identity crisis. What i mean by this is that helluva has a lot of set ups that either don't pay off or are forgotten by the next episode as well as the shows purpose being all over the place.

An example of the set ups not paying off is the agents from truth seekers. In that episode, we see them interrogate the demons along with containing real footage of them that could've been released to the public already, potentially causing trouble to the i.m.p business and the characters themselves. Now, you think this wouldve been an important set up to expand upon and possibly create a well written pay off for a finale or something like that. No, the characters never mention it again and when they are in the real world again (Seeing stars and Unhappy campers), its never mentioned either. Now you could argue that unhappy campers had moxxie and millie in disguises for people not to spot them like the agents but the thing is....not exactly? That's only from theory, not an actual confirmation of this since its never mentioned there or previously. A set up is suppose to expand within its characters and world in order to create stakes and make us care about the characters and their struggles with this set up, how are we suppose to believe they care about the agents potentially exposing them when they never brought it up again with the agents now just being ignored like one note characters which would be fine (like the murder family from episode 1) if it didnt set up a potentially interesting conflict that would make sense for helluva boss and just do nothing with it.

An example of the set ups being forgotten about even if it presumably payed off is blitzo and moxxie. In the same episode of truth seekers, they open up about their feelings and struggles and blitzo in the end promises to be a better friend. But after this, we never see blitzo treat moxxie any better than previously, its just back to status quo like nothing ever happened. When your setting up characters to develop as a payoff, you have to keep it consistent to show that the character changed, to show that the payoff mattered. But when you pay off the set up yet proceed to revert it back to status quo, your showing that the payoff was pointless because why even add this plotline if the character learnt nothing from it?

And with its identity struggle, helluva isnt sure of what it wants to be. The biggest examples that come to this are exs and oohs and western's energy

Exs and oohs main problem is the balance of seriousness with comedy. One scene is of moxxie crying his eyes out while the next is of him having to hear moaning noises from his boss and ex shagging the shed. One scene is of a goofy ass song of chaz craving sex from moxxie as the next is of moxxie crying his eyes out before another tonal whiplash strikes.

Western energy also has this problem as well like stolas repeating sex jokes 3 times during the scene where striker threatens him of harming him and his family along with stella acting like a saturday morning villain tbh. Like I dont need stella to be likable, I just need her to be interesting and more expanded upon than an angry bitch. The show never even gives us a reason either and again, any explanation from the character is theoretical from what we've already seen from her which isnt that much because they arent expanding her character which itself is tonally a mess since the whole shows shtick is to expand upon demon characters as complex as human beings. It cant decide whether it wants to be a serious character driven story (with serious plotlines, character arcs, character expansions, stakes etc) or a dark comedy like the beginning (one note villains, villains/antagonists we never see again, comedy at supposed serious moments, the status quo etc) and it leaves the show to feel like a tangled mess wrapped up on what it wants to be.

These i believe are why people call it fanfiction from how those problems might typically come from that sort of place. You can argue that it shouldn't be the right term to use when describing problems like those or that those arguments aren't valid but insinuating people calling your show fanfiction is because of homophobia is kinda nonsense to me especially when i argue its more of the term 'woke' that makes more sense for insinuating homophobia than 'fanfic' because whenever a queer character is in a show or a show has somewhat queer themes, alt right content creators, news and the media would often paint it as 'woke', portraying it as propaganda/indoctrination just because of queerness existing in that media.

I am also saying this as a queer woman myself (aromantic), calling people thinking queer shows like helluva are 'fanfic' is thinly veiled homophobia isnt the gotcha moment you think it is either. It's just disingenuous and makes you even more stubborn/hostile towards criticism.

[scullysflannel]

Howdy, hope this finds you well :)

Just dropping in to ask, as someone who’s only up to season 5 of txf, what exactly is it about season 9 that makes it as irredeemable as it is? I plan to go up to season 8 as this show has consumed my life and I’ve done nothing but think about it since I started, but unlike every other season including the revival and second movie, I’m yet to find so much as a good word about season 9 and am morbidly curious as to how they managed to screw the pouch so completely?

Feel free to ignore this one though I appreciate it’s not always fun to talk about the worst of something you adore.

So the thing about season 9 is just that it's not supposed to exist and you can tell. I think there was some pressure from Fox to keep the show going (I tried finding primary sources on this, but googling anything involving "Fox" and "X-Files" and expecting to get info on the studio is a lost cause), even though the season 8 finale was written to work as a series finale, and even though David Duchovny had already made it clear he was not coming back for season 9. The writers' hands were tied in some ways, because they had to work around not having Duchovny after they'd already used up the best excuse for his absence in the books.

But (a) I don't think that's an excuse for the way Mulder's absence in season 9 is handled, which is vague at best and out of character for him and Scully at worst. It's very "out of sight, out of mind" in a way that especially stands out considering how present he feels in season 8. If it's possible to make a version of The X-Files that isn't driven by Mulder (either in his presence or his absence), they didn't find it in season 9.

And (b) the writers also seemed to be writing like their hands were tied when they weren't. The vibe of some of the choices made in season 9, especially when it comes to Scully's story, is very Eric André holding a smoking gun saying "why would Fox do this." It's like, "well we weren't planning on this, but now we have to do it to keep the story going." And the thing is that they actually did not have to do it. There's a bizarre desperation to the way Scully's story is written in season 9. Almost everything they throw at her is traumatic, but also inconsistent and confusing, which makes it all come across as kind of soulless. And it all builds to the most egregious example of "Chris Carter tries to erase the consequences of a story he wrote, thereby creating even more devastating consequences, which he will also ignore" in the history of the show. He didn't have to do that! Scully could have spent a lot of season 9 just being Doggett and Reyes' deadpan pal who does autopsies and it would have been fine.

The thing that "works" "best" about season 9 is that it's theoretically a fresh start, with Doggett and Reyes running the X-Files office: two characters who weren't totally new faces but whose dynamic was mostly unexplored. And to be clear, I think John Doggett rules. The concept of assigning the X-Files to Just a Guy Who's a Very Good Person but Would Rather Be Watching NASCAR is hilarious. I don't think the writers had the same handle on Reyes, but the two of them are interesting together. I will also say I think some of the monster-of-the-week episodes in season 9 (the ones that focus on Doggett and Reyes) are cooler in theory than the motw episodes in season 8.

But it's so rare for those episodes to actually spark. Maybe part of the problem is that, again, the writers made the totally unforced error to focus so much of the mythology on Stressing Scully Out when they could have been deepening Doggett and Reyes' investment in the X-Files outside Scully, which would also liven up their characterization and their dynamic. Season 8 (which has a lot going for it) can skate by on uninteresting motw episodes because Scully's arc in that season is so all-consuming it drives the story forward and makes it meaningful. Season 9 doesn't have that same emotional clarity, so even the motw episodes that have promise feel lacking. (There's also the fact that even if the writers had given Doggett and Reyes better material, they wouldn't be Mulder and Scully. But better material would have helped.)

There's also literally 9/11. I'm this far down on the list of problems with season 9 and I'm just now getting to 9/11. The X-Files gets its edge from its mistrust of the government, but they sanded that down in season 9 because it was so out of step with the mainstream American audience. Until they finally recommitted to critiquing the government in the (original) series finale, the show didn't feel like itself.

It's not even like the problem is the way season 9 ends. The finale is a mixed bag (it's part clip show lol), but I love the final scene, and in most ways it's a more fitting send-off for the show than the final scene of season 8 is. It's just that getting there feels cursed at every step. No one made it out unscathed. There's an episode directed by Michelle MacLaren (her tv directorial debut!) and written by Vince Gilligan, a Breaking Bad partnership for the ages, and even that's bad. Better Call Saul's own Tom Schnauz wrote an episode featuring Aaron Paul and I will never ever watch it again. There's something in the water in season 9. It's just not supposed to be there.

[crazychaoticizzy]

Cultural Differences Part 1

You and Armin get assigned to complete a year long project for your Cultural Arts class together. You never thought it would turn into this . . .

WARNINGS: fem!reader, Mexican!reader, fluff, angst, slow burn, eventual smut, college!au, modern!au, Armin is German in this, and they were roommates, trauma revelations sprinkled throughout, slight hints of racism

DISCLAIMER: the reader in this fic is written to be Mexican, however she does not have predominantly Hispanic features described (I think). Y/n can be perceived as anyone since I don’t specify, however just know that she is written to be Latina. This story is also very personal to me, as Y/n is based very heavily off of myself

Masterlist

AOT Masterlist

Word Count: 3.9k

“Theoretically, if you talked to your roommates about it, could I move in with you?” you asked.

Mikasa’s eyebrows furrowed, and she quickly finished her bite of sandwich before saying, “Yeah, I think they’d be fine with it, and it’d be fun for me. Why, though? Is everything okay with your house mates?”

You continued staring down at the Tupperware container holding your food, moving around a piece of chicken with your fork. “Yeah, we’re fine. It’s just a lot. Hitch brings by a new guy every night and tries to be as loud as possible to make Marlowe jealous. They’re also the biggest group of slobs I’ve ever seen, it’s disgusting.”

Mikasa hummed, bringing her water bottle to her lips and taking a sip. “Right, I forgot they were your roommates.” She set the bottle down, tapping the pads of her fingers against it.

“It also happened again.”

The tapping stopped. “Again?”

You nodded. “Floch misplaced almost five hundred dollars.”

Mikasa rolled her eyes. “Fucking Floch,” she muttered. “And you were . . .?”

She trailed off when you nodded again. “The first one.”

She let out an exasperated sigh. “Where did it end up being?”

“In his goddamn phone case. Why would you put five hundred dollar bills in your fucking phone case?”

“Because it’s Floch. He’s an idiot.” Mikasa shrugged her leather jacket off, folding it up and placing it in her lap. “I’ll definitely ask Eren and Armin if you can move in. I’m sure they’ll agree, so start getting some stuff together. I’ll talk to them about it later and get back to you, yeah?”

“Yeah, that’s fine. It’s fine if they say no, by the way, I’ll figure something out.” You put the fork you were holding down, closing the Tupperware container and pushing it to the side.

Mikasa was silent for a moment before grabbing your hand and giving it a squeeze. “I’m sorry this has to happen to you.”

“Not your fault,” you muttered. Another few seconds of silence passed between the two of you before you said, “I kind of want to cut my hair.”

“Really? I’ve been wanting to do that too, but I don’t know. I’ve been thinking maybe a pixie cut.” Mikasa played with the ends of her hair, running her fingers over them as if to measure how much to cut off.

“That’d look cute. You’d be super pretty with that. What about me, how short should I go? Maybe here?” You held your hand up to just above your shoulder. “Or shorter?”

“Well, you’ve always looked good with shoulder length hair. Maybe a bit shorter this time, though.”

You nodded in thought. “Wanna go get haircuts right now?”

“Absolutely.”

The two of you exchanged a smile, and for just a moment while you cleaned up the table you were sitting at, everything seemed to be just fine.

—

You never talked much to the boy that sat next to you in your Cultural Arts class—a class you had chosen to take purely on a whim. In fact, you don’t think you’ve ever exchanged a word with the blond that sat beside you. But when you entered class the next day and took your seat beside him, he couldn’t help but double take.

“You cut your hair,” he observed.

It caught you off guard. You didn’t really talk to anyone in the class, seeing as no one you knew took it and you were too nervous to start a conversation with someone, so it shocked you that someone actually spoke to you.

“Yeah,” you said quietly. You didn’t mean to, but it was force of habit—always talk quietly when meeting new people. You looked up at him, seeing that his eyes were traveling over your profile to admire your haircut.

“You look nice,” he said simply.

Your eyes widened slightly at the sudden compliment.

You thanked him, giving him a small smile before you redirected your attention to the mechanical pencil in your hands, spinning around the eraser.

“I’m Armin.” He continued talking to you. You weren’t complaining, but it suddenly felt like every beat your heart made was amplified. It was distracting.

You looked back up at him and smiled again. “Y/n. It’s nice to meet you.”

You noticed how pretty he was—how his ocean blue eyes caught the light and the way his golden hair fell over his forehead. His glasses were cute, squareish with a dark tortoiseshell design, sitting halfway down his nose.

His lips curled into a smile, and he nodded. “Likewise.”

He looked familiar. His name sounded familiar, too, but you couldn’t quite place where you might know him from.

Since your professor had yet to enter the class, you decided to attempt a conversation with him. “So how do you like this class so far?”

You’re not sure if you imagined it, but you could have sworn his eyes brightened just a little bit hearing you continue to speak with him.

“I like it so far. I looked over the syllabus the other day and it seems like the class will be going on a couple trips later in the year,” he said. He was facing you in his chair, his hands clasped in front of him.

“Really?” He nodded. “Wow, I guess that’s what happens when you attend a really fancy private school,” you reasoned. “Fancy school trips for elective classes.”

“Yeah, I think the trips are more for the people wanting a career to do with culture, though,” Armin said. “What’s your major? You look familiar, maybe I have you in another class.”

“I doubt it,” you said, “but visual arts. Film, cinematography, video, set design, things like that.”

“What are you wanting to get into?”

“I want to be a set designer or producer. I think costume designing would be nice, too, but I know I want to help with movies. It’s always seemed fun,” you said. “It’s not really what Paradis is known for, but the program here is really good. I’ll get some experience in the field before graduating.”

“No, it’s cool. I have a friend wanting to get into the same thing, maybe you know him? His name is Jean Kirstein.”

You thought for a moment, attempting to put a face to the name. “Maybe? I’m not sure, I don’t really talk to anyone to be honest.”

Armin hummed. “That’s fine. I’ll ask him later and see if he knows you, if that’s alright with you.”

You nodded. “Yeah, perfectly fine.”

A smile painted itself onto Armin’s features, his eyes crinkling at the corners. He was about to say something else, but was interrupted by Professor Smith walking through the door.

He apologized for being late, and continued to begin the class by announcing the year long project mentioned on the syllabus.

“You will be working with your table partners,” he said. “The goal is to get to know them and understand their customs. You are meant to learn about their traditions and heritage, as well as their own personal culture and upbringing. I don’t want something that obviously came from Wikipedia, every family does things a little differently. I expect to see that in these projects. At the end of the year you will each be turning in both a written essay and a Google Slides presentation about your partner and what you learned. There will be a rubric on my desk for you to pick up at the end of class.”

Professor Smith gave his students a couple more minutes to silently converse among themselves, most likely so everyone could begin basic introductions with their partners.

You turned to Armin, finding that he already had his head turned and was looking at you.

“It looks like we’re partners,” he said. You nodded as he reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. He unlocked it, creating a new message box for you to input your number and send something. He handed it to you. “So we can stay in touch better,” he explained.

You took his phone, the dark blue case a nice, matte feeling under your fingertips. You quickly typed in your number and sent a quick hi , feeling your phone buzz in your pocket soon afterwards. You handed his phone back, pulling yours out and changing the contact of his number.

The two of you traded small conversation while you waited for your professor to continue the class. When he started talking again, you tried your best to pay attention to what he was saying (something about Egyptian pyramids, you think), but your mind and gaze kept wandering to the boy sitting next to you.

Little did you know that Armin was in the exact same boat.

—

When Mikasa met up with you for lunch, she started off with saying that her roommates were fine, if not ecstatic, with you moving in. Mikasa hadn’t explained your situation, only saying that you had annoying roommates, and they both accepted almost immediately.

You were practically elated to hear the news. Despite never meeting either of her roommates, Mikasa spoke the world of them to you. You could only assume she did the same with you, speaking to no end about some little thing you did with her roommates.

After lunch she helped you gather your things from your dorm. The two of you were able to fit almost everything into two large suitcases, a smaller one and a backpack. Mikasa helped you carry them to the elevator in the building, and pulled her phone out to text her roommates as you descended.

She talked to you about your room on the way there, mentioning that it was used as a storage room but the three of them had gotten it cleaned out quickly when they came to the agreement that someone else would be staying with them. She also talked about how there was an extra room, something they had discovered behind a wall after they had purchased the house, that they used as a studio for their interests.

“You can set your instruments up in there, if you want,” she said. “They should be fine since Eren doesn’t really go in there.”

Eren, as Mikasa has told you on numerous occasions, was the one constantly up to something. He was stubborn, and only stuck to his ideas with no hope of changing his mind after he made a decision.

You couldn’t remember her second roommate’s name for the life of you, but you knew that he was nice, more reasonable than Eren.

Mikasa soon pulled up in front of a small two story house in a decent looking neighborhood. She parked, grabbing her phone to call someone.

“Get out here and help us,” she said when the receiver had answered. “Y/n’s here, by the way, so don’t be a jackass to her.”

She hung up immediately after saying that. Right as you opened the car door and stepped out, you saw someone with brown hair jogging out the front door to meet you and Mikasa at the car.

He stopped next to Mikasa at the trunk, and helped her pull out your suitcases and place them on the driveway.

You joined them after looking over the house again. It was nice, a blueish-gray exterior with white trim. Nothing seemed like it was about to rot away or fall down, so that was a plus in your book.

“He’s in the shower, he’ll be out in a minute.” That was the only part of their conversation you heard before the brown-haired boy turned to you and gave you a small smile.

Mikasa ended up introducing the two of you, seeing as you didn’t want to initiate conversation and the guy in front of you gave her a side glance. “You should be able to do this yourself. Anyways, Y/n, this is Eren. Eren, meet Y/n.”

Eren gave a curt nod. “Nice to meet you. Uhm, do you have any allergies? I have dinner going in the kitchen and want to make sure you’re not allergic to anything.”

You shook your head. “No, not allergic to anything.”

You spoke quietly again, and you internally scolded yourself for doing so. But then you took his appearance into account and immediately stopped yourself. He was tall, easily one of the tallest people you’ve ever met. He also seemed to carry a lot of muscle under his white long sleeve, and his brown hair was pulled back into a bun to reveal the small tattoo of something you couldn’t figure out behind his ear. His green eyes were piercing, and you couldn’t help but feel he was staring into your soul, learning all your secrets, when he looked at you.

His presence intimidated you, and you silently thanked Mikasa when she told him to start taking things into the house. Eren jokingly rolled his eyes, grabbing one of your suitcases by the handle and wheeling it inside.

“Sorry, he can be a bit”—Mikasa made a motion with her hands, hoping the action conveyed what she was trying to say—“but I promise he’s better once you get to know him. For the most part, at least. Don’t worry, though, he knows you’re one of my best friends and wouldn’t dare pull what he pulls with other girls on you.”

She grabbed the larger suitcase and handed you the smaller one, closing the trunk and locking her car. She gently beckoned you to follow her into the house with a smile, and you followed her.

It was surprisingly put together inside. At least, for a house full of college students. There wasn’t any dirty clothing or dishes lying around, and everything seemed to have a place. It was a bit crowded, but that was likely because of the boxes sitting in the corners.

Mikasa led you to a staircase, where the two of you struggled momentarily to wheel your luggage up before realizing you could pick it up and carry it.

You walked down the hallway to the last door on the right. Mikasa opened it to reveal the sparse room, only being occupied by a bed without sheets.

“This is your room.” Mikasa stood in the center of the room and held her hands out as if what she was showing you was a grand presentation. “It’s a little dirty, but it’s mostly just dust. Eren should almost be done with dinner, so we’ll start putting everything away afterwards, yeah?”

You nodded, reaching behind you to bring in your other two suitcases. You set them in the corner, along with the backpack you had brought with you.

You could hear the shower going; it sounded like it was on the other side of the wall. Mikasa noticed you looking at one of the doors to your right and said, “Oh, that’s just Armin. He’s showering right now. There’s three bathrooms, one downstairs and two up here. The bathrooms up here are shared with the rooms on either side of them, so you’ll be sharing one with him, if that’s alright.”

The name she had said went unheard as you nodded, opening the other door to reveal a small closet with a dresser already inside.

You followed Mikasa out of your room when you closed the closet door for a quick tour of the house.

All the bedrooms were upstairs, you didn’t pay much attention to who they belonged to, but you could tell which one was Mikasa’s—the one across from you, decorated with a Twilight poster and some bookshelves, different knickknacks and book collections on each one. One of her walls was painted black, and had different pieces of paper taped and tacked to it. You spotted a picture of the two of you on her desk, and smiled at the memory associated with it.

She didn’t show you the inside of the other two rooms, saying that her roommates could decide if they wanted you to see them or not.

Downstairs, the dining room and living room were combined, two couches sitting crammed together to make space for the unusually large dining table—rectangular with six seats at it. Half of the table was occupied with unopened mail and other papers, possibly forgotten projects from earlier years, and the other was was completely clean.

It was a rather open house plan. You were able to see into the kitchen from the living room, and saw Eren moving a pot around and grabbing bowls from a cupboard. You followed Mikasa again, and opened the door in the kitchen she stopped in front of to see what was inside.

“This is the pantry. The washer and dryer are also in there, along with, like, other cleaning supplies and things we don’t really use. And then the other bathroom is in the living room,” Mikasa explained.

“Mika,” Eren started, sprinkling some kind of seasoning over the food he had made, “dinner’s almost ready. Go tell Armin.”

Mikasa gave him a thumbs up, telling you something you didn’t quite hear before going upstairs as Eren pulled out a spoon and started scooping dinner into bowls.

You had heard the name, and were trying to figure out where else you knew it from. Obviously Mikasa had mentioned this Armin multiple times in the past, but you swear you knew it from somewhere else . . .

Eren put the big plastic spoon he had been using back into the pot. He lifted a bowl and offered it to you. “It’s fideo. Mikasa said you liked it, so I figured I’d find a recipe and make it for dinner.”

He had pronounced it wrong, but knowing that he had tried to do something to welcome you left a feeling in you that you hadn’t felt in a long time.

You took the bowl, bowing your head slightly to thank him and set it at the table.

You turned back towards him. “Do you need help with anything?”

Eren shrugged. “Not really. I mean, if you want to grab drinks you can, but we usually just grab our own.”

You needed something to do—you would feel awkward if you were the only one at the table—so you walked into the pantry and looked around for a moment. You saw a few packs of soda on the floor—all packages of store brand root beer—and bent down to pick up four cans from the only open box.

You walked out and set them down at the table, seeing that Eren had already set the rest of the bowls in their places and was sitting down.

You sat as well, soon being joined by Mikasa. “He’ll be down in a minute. He’s doing his hair.”

You saw Eren jokingly roll his eyes and mumble something that made Mikasa laugh from next to you. You let out a quiet, nervous breath of air in a sad attempt to laugh at whatever joke they shared.

Soon after the three of you started eating, you were joined by a fourth person that sat across from you. You glanced up when you noticed him, noting the familiar blond hair and glasses.

“Armin.” You’re not sure why you’re surprised, you really should have put together that the blond boy in your Cultural Arts class was the same blond boy Mikasa spoke about. Despite that, you didn’t put together until that moment that they were the same person.

Armin glanced up from his phone, which he immediately turned off and put the the side face down. He took the sight of you in with intent, looking over your gestures as if he was trying to commit them to memory.

His blond hair was still damp, sitting on his head flatter than it had been earlier. His skin seemed to be glowing, and the white T-shirt he was wearing hugged his torso and arms in all the right places.

“Y/n.” He said your name in the same tone you had said his, with genuine surprise and wonder. It might have been your imagination, but you think you saw him sit just a little straighter. “So you’re our new roommate?”

You nodded. “Yeah. I guess this’ll make our project super easy.” You smiled at him, and he immediately returned it with his own, one so bright it would have lit up the world if everything went out.

“Oh, so you two already know each other?” Mikasa asked. She wasn’t oblivious to the way Armin straightened his posture after seeing you, the way your eyes unknowingly lit up after realizing he was your third roommate.

She suddenly felt an abrupt protectiveness over you. Mikasa has only ever seen you seem so interested in someone from the very start once, and that didn’t end well. Despite knowing that Armin was a nice guy, that if you two theoretically entered a relationship he wouldn’t hurt you on purpose (even if he ever did hurt you Mikasa knows he would apologize as soon as possible with the most personal apology you would ever see), the thought still made her uneasy.

She trusted your judgment, of course, and in that hypothetical situation where you and him were dating she trusted that Armin would be the best boyfriend you could have, but she knew your past. She knew your habits and little quirks. She knew how you acted and was worried that if anything grew between the two of you, you would just run from your feelings.

She just didn’t want you to get hurt again.

“Yeah,” you said. “We have the same Cultural Arts class. We’re partners for our project.”

“What’s the project?” Eren asked. He was usually unknowing to emotions the people around him felt, but any idiot could see the spark between you and his best friend. He didn’t know you as well as he knew Armin, but you shared the tell-tale signs of interest through the way you were sitting.

He, for one, was rather excited for what might conspire between you and Armin. Since his best friend’s previous girlfriend broke off the relationship, Armin hadn’t searched for anything romantic, saying things like, No one likes me anyways, why would I look for someone that’ll half-ass our relationship?

“Just to learn about each other, really,” Armin said. “We’re supposed to learn about our partners customs and traditions.”

Mikasa hummed, half-way through chewing a spoonful of soup. When she swallowed, she motioned to you and said, “You should tell him about your Quinceañera.”

“What’s a Quinceañera?” Eren asked.

“It’s kind of like a sweet sixteen,” you said. “Kind of. More like a wedding, really, at least that’s what a lot of people describe it as. It’s just a birthday party Hispanic girls celebrate when they turn fifteen to commemorate becoming a woman.”

“There’s so much symbolism behind everything,” Mikasa said, knowing you wouldn’t elaborate further unless asked the right questions. She knew for a fact that Armin and Eren didn’t know the right questions, so she ended it by telling Armin, “Her sister’s having one later this year, so be sure to ask her about it after she comes back from the trip.”

Armin nodded toward Mikasa, silently thanking her for the continuation of conversation. “Definitely. You have a sister?” he asked you.

You nodded. “Rosalina,” you said. “She gathered her court of honor earlier this year and asked her boyfriend to be her main chambelan.”

Armin had not a clue what any of the words you were saying meant, but he knew that he would love learning about the traditions you celebrated.

He was suddenly more excited for this project than he had been.

Ngl this is me writing for the fun of it. This is basically a shameless self insert so…

If you want to join the tag list for this story just leave a comment or DM me!

next part >>

Tag List: @kellzyy @slishyrats

<3

[ms-all-sunday]

yeah i think video essays are given an air of legitimacy that written blog posts aren't, regardless of the quality of the analysis. which sucks when you have a particularly poor video essayist who makes a video completely missing the point of a particular part of the story and just because they're a popular youtuber it becomes a widely held opinion. tumblr remains the best place for one piece analysis because it's the only platform i've seen consistently new and interesting interpretations of the original story.

theres a lot to account for.

from my perception of melontrees content, i dont think she makes the same kind of analysis i do. she makes very genre-focused analysis while I'm focused on traditional art analysis, (what did it make you feel and why) and there's summarization and analysis, which people get mixed up, even within the context of only-good analysis, things can get confusing if you don't know how to categorize one opinion and another, you might see them as mutually exclusive, when often opinions arent. even in the same kind of analysis, this distinction can be hard to make.

they don't even need for it to be a bad opinion for something to become widespread and a poor opinion, i'll give a theoretical example.

say a video essayer was particularly defensive about something they believed to be true: people would pick up on the lack of confidence and then the doubt the video essayer sowed, despite them having a fine opinion.

and then the narrative would become that doubt and people would become defensive and life would be a whole lot worse because it would become expected that you be defensive about this opinion. (which in my experience has never convinced anybody of anything anyways)

that doesn't help anybody, and the lack of confidence some people have in their opinions in analysis can become a real issue because it doesn't contribute well to analysis. that's the purpose of the formal voice in analysis writing is so problems like this don't arise.

having a varied amount of sources for analysis is key so problems of individuals don't become what you externalize when talking about it

im glad you think tumblr is the best. im happy to hear that. proud of behalf of myself and my peers and associates <3

[unofficialadamtaurus]

What entertains me so much is that the way Adam was written, they try to make it seem like he’s some manipulative mastermind who does everything bad on purpose, where the fact is he’s probably not even that old enough or smart enough to even be THAT conniving.

Yes he’s a smart dude, but it’s just hilarious where they act as if his behavior would be something you could never see coming, especially for characters who— oh I don’t know— HAVE KNOWN HIM FOR YEARS. I mean there is times where they see some parts of him.

Yet. Let’s frame this guy to be some kind of evil genius up until he somehow loses every ounce of respect people have of him (why? people shouldve known what they were getting into, he’s not that fucking secretive good god they would’ve known) and make him look like a loser who also loses every ounce of thought process he ever had.

Have him bee-line to death even though when the Hell has he been shown to bee-line for that type of thing. Like for example.. IMO him finding Blake at beacon was coincidental (prove me if im wrong tho, but also dont blame because its been 15 million years since ive watched v3)

How would his ass even know that Blake was there? Anyway that’s not my point. I’m not saying he’s stupid, he’s really not. I’m simply pointing out that the writers just loved to make it seem as if everything he did was some big well thought out put-on-a-list plan to have power.

Even though before he looked completely fine to be in the rank he had before.

You seriously had to make a whole fucking character short just to implement one itty bitty scene where it seems like he wants more than the rank Sienna gave him.

You had to make a comic to show how deep he lies to people, Like ok maybe that one is a little more solid than the character short but why not show that behaviour more? If he’s so important?

He’s so sadly one dimensional, not a character handled with care at all. Being a hatesink fucking blows.

Why create an empty villain with shitloads of meaning and character just to throw him away? AND HIS ARC AWAY? Could’ve made him with love. Most cheap moment of “anyway!” anyone could ever have.

Racism and incompetence are a killer combo, lemme tell ya.

"Haha Adam is such an incompetent angry and petty loser" and "Adam is a cunning charismatic mastermind who has spent years building up power and influence in the WF in order to launch a (nearly) bloodless coup against a leader who was also framed in the narrative as charismatic enough to overthrow the leader before her" could theoretically coexist in a better written story as a villain spirals, but this show is not that. Adam's "spiral" is more of a sudden nosedive. Hiding any justifications for that nosedive in supplementary material is like trying to put rebar in concrete after the fact. You just can't do it because those afterthoughts actively contradict what we were already shown.

It doesn't help the idea that Adam's supposed to be charismatic that his voice acting is so on-the-nose Bad Guy that you're staring at everyone else in any scene like, "Yo! Do something! He's clearly evil!"

He didn't even find Blake at Beacon, Blake found him. Maybe he was looking for her, maybe he was interrogating-to-death any students he found trying to find one that could point him to her, but she was the one that found him. He just noticed her before she could retreat.

[dryococelas01]

I am so confused by so many worm fanfic writers.

I had a hankering for a Cyberpunk Crossover fanfic (with any setting, not specifically a cyberpunk worm fanfic) for some reason, so I had a look for one. Saw people reccomending skitterdoc, had seen people in worm threads reccomending it.

The description (Taylor triggers, gets bonesaws powers, teleports to cyberpunk world) did not inspire confidence, but I liked the idea of someone from another world interacting with cyberpunk so I thought, screw it, I'll give it a shot.

Why... is this Taylor? She doesn't think like Taylor, she doesn't have Taylors powers, she doesn't act like Taylor.

I don't do much writing, but I always hold the view that when writing you should ask yourself 'what does this add to the story? Why is this here?' before adding any details.

And it's fine if the reason is 'because I think it's sick' for some things. If you're making a cyberpunk (genre not setting) universe and you want a cybernetic to be a laser hand because you like lasers, fine whatever. Enjoy yourself. You can even make it a key part of the setting if you think it through, like people have to get implants to protect themselves from both lasers and ballistics, sometimes there's a tradeoff etc.

But who your protagonist is is a key part of the story and merits a bit more thought, in my opinion.

And in this case the answer can't be 'because I like the character' because you haven't written the character. You've written an OC and stuck her name and backstory on it. If I write, let's say, a marvel/Magic the gathering story where Tony Stark ignites in the caves and becomes a planeswalker, because I like the character Tony Stark (I don't but this is theoretical). But then I write Stark as someone who is shy, never quips and is shit with technology, I clearly don't like the character because that's not the same character. There's shared aspects, but it's not the same.

And like, the cyberpunk worm story where a character gets sent over could legit be good.

What if it was actually bonesaw post-GM? Someone who's trying to be better put into a city and environment that encourages people to be as selfish as possible, and has a power that works amazingly with the implants and stuff in the setting. That could be interesting

Or if you still want taylor to be a protagonist, fine. You could have her post-gm, trying to adjust to a world that seems to encourage her to backslide to her warlord days as much as it can. If you want her to be a Tinker you can even bullshit it by saying that the khepri situation fucked her powers connection enough she's now a drones Tinker or something. I find the bonesaw idea more interesting but this hasn't got no potential.

Could even have trigger taylor transported if you want, though I find that idea less interesting.

It's fine to make the protagonist Taylor because you like her character, but if you then don't even write her character, just an OC with her name, I have to ask... why isn't this an OC? You could then have an interesting protagonist with the characteristics you want while still having taylor in the story.

This doesn't just apply to skitterdoc, I'm just using it as an example, it applies to a lot of worm fanfic and a lot of fanfic in general. But I've never seen a fandom with as bad a case of it as worm.

It's like it's reflex to have taylor be the protagonist, like there's no thought put into it.

And it's fine to have some characteristics of the character change if that's part of an au. Like if you're doing one of those alternative parent fanfics and taylors dad is armsmaster and you want to explore how her character would cha ge by that, then go ahead. But so many of these fanfics seem to just write a different character, slap her name on them, then not justify why it's a different character.

I've edited this part on:

I should say, I'm not shitting on skitterdocs writing or the writing of any fanfic that does this. You can do all this and still be a well written, interesting story.

It's just not a story about the worm character Taylor Hebert, it's a story about your character Taylor Hebert.

[purefandomonium]

Glitchy Red Headcanons for Connection

Thought I'd share some (mostly) spoiler-free headcanons for my Glitchy Red fic just for fun. With what I have posted so far these should all be pretty obvious, but there's a couple more things I want to hint at for the story. Some are just random tidbits that have no reason for existing other than just because.

In my mind, Red is something between a glitch, an AI, and a supernatural entity.

The longer a player interacts with the game, the stronger Red gets. He'd been left dormant for so long that when Leann found him, he hardly had any of his old abilities and was borderline an amnesiac. All he had at that point was his bitter hatred of players and the glitches. Her keeping the game on for so long has allowed him to become himself again.

The glitches he experienced broke him in every way imaginable. Hence the reason it takes him some time to snap into his real self.

Despite all his talk, he has no idea what he is or how he exists. He can't be bothered to care.

Theoretically he could be transferred into a PC or some other more powerful device, but due to the broken nature of his code and the fact he doesn't fully understand what proper programming is, it likely wouldn't end well for whatever he's put in. He's a stubborn bastard now so he'd be fine, but the computer would be bricked.

I feel like, just for shits and giggles, Red's "data" is this impossibly convoluted mess of code that is somehow much larger than it should be. He exists within the Pokémon Red cart, along with the entire game, and this mofo is like, 8GB of data by himself. Makes no sense. Something mind-bogglingly stupid like that.

There's more below the cut, and beware potential spoilers for stuff I haven't written.

Now for some fun ideas I have that I kind of want to do stuff with but I don't know if I'll include it in Connection or not.

Red is powerful enough to physically haunt a person. Only the person claiming ownership over the cartridge can see and hear him. Likewise, Red can only interact with them and no one else. He mostly uses this fact to stare intimidatingly from the corner of a dark room, a la sleep paralysis demon, or just watch them while they struggle to ignore his presence and go about their lives.

In the past he's gone far enough with this that he's tormented players to the point of people thinking they've gone insane. And they pretty much were by that point.

Red's other preferred ghost tactic is to swat things from their hands or wake them up in the middle of the night by prodding at them. Or screaming right in their face.

Unless the player passes the game along to some other poor sap, they'll be stuck with him indefinitely.

The game cannot be destroyed. It lets off major fuck-you energy to anyone who tries. Smash it to bits with a hammer? Lol. Set it on fire? Got any marshmallows? Throw it into a lake? Well, I'd almost say good job but did I forget to mention that the only other thing Red can interact with is his game? Whoops. Hope you don't mind him letting himself back in to give you an earful for throwing him away like that. And no, water can't damage it either.

This is of no deliberate choice from Red. He'd love to let the game be destroyed so he can stop existing in pure agony. The damn thing just won't die though, and subsequently, neither will he.

He doesn't really have anything against kids. Mind you, he doesn't like kids since he gained sapience, but he can tolerate them more than adults. At least children have the excuse of being naïve and clueless when they're breaking the game. Usually. He'll give them the benefit of the doubt. Adults who come back to witness the broken horror of the original game know full-well what they're doing and he can't stand it.

He won't do much to torment kids aside from his usual in-game antics. The adult players are the ones who get thrown out of bed at 3am or have their dreams haunted.

The developers were adults too so the hatred's also pretty obvious. He'd love to get his hands on them some day. He has a paranoid side that is whole-heartedly convinced they're out there looking for his cart, ready to erase him and be rid of the stain on their record.

It's been a while since someone last turned the game on. He seems to have a bit of reputation now.

Has zero concept of the internet but could probably figure it out.

He doesn't hate the new gens so much just because they replaced him. He loathes the fact that they are all genuinely better than he'll ever be. He and his game are broken, not good enough, and now that he has self-awareness he realizes he was never meant to be anything special. He was simply a stepping-stone, a learning curve meant to kickstart an idea. He was, isn't, and never will be anything more than that. His only legacy is how glitchy his game is.

He's very aware of the irony that the very thing that made him what he is, is the whole reason why he was deemed a failure by his creators. If you're smart, you won't bring it up.

I have more, but I think I should stop. I could talk about this little project of mine for hours. Or any project for that matter. If anyone would like to hear more of my deranged ramblings they're more than welcome to ask. 😅

[coruscantguard]

FoxQuin Week, Day 1

Written for the alt prompt, "Groundhog Day"

Warning for implied mind control & vague references to state violence

@foxquinweek

(Ao3 Link)

Fox wakes up on a Taungsday.

Again, and again, and again.

It's fine the first time. It's weird, memorable— the kind of story no one at 79's would believe— the second time. It starts to get annoying the third time.

[[MORE]]

The fourth time is when it starts to set in. The fourth time is when he starts to get pissed. Apathy has been a constant companion for months now— the kind of apathy that comes from all-encompassing despair and hopelessness and helplessness (to which Fox would never admit to ever feeling)— so having anger at his side, for once, is a nice change. It lights a fire under him that reminds him of the earlier months of the war, back when he cared. Back when he didn't know better.

(Here's a secret he'll only admit in the safety of his own mind: he still does care, even though it would be so much easier if he didn't. Because if he didn't care, he wouldn't need the apathy he wears as a shield, wouldn't need to wield the sword of indifference that he does.)

The irritation scratches at his skin during day four. It evolves into a firey heat on day five, one that threatens to burn him on day six.

On day seven, he runs into Quinlan.

Quinlan Vos is what Fox would describe as on a good day as a pain in the ass, and on a bad day as his punishment for... fuck if he knows, honestly. There's a whole list of bullshit he's done at the Chancellor's command that Quinlan could be a punishment for. If asked to make that theoretical list, Fox would need the asker to clarify if they wanted it in chronological or alphabetical order, because the list is just that long. And then he'd need to clarify that this list probably isn't actually exhaustive, because half the time the shit he did is so brain-numbingly slow that he forgets it.

(At least, he thinks that's why he forgets it. Maybe. Probably.)

But that's irrelevant on day seven, because on day seven, Fox says kark it, and abandons his post to go marching up the steps of the Jedi Temple, and metaphorically— or literally, if necessary— bang at their door and demand someone come put and explain what the kriff is going on.

He's halfway up said stairs when he runs into Quinlan.

And Quinlan looks— rough. To put it mildly. He's thinner than he was last time Fox saw him, eyes more hollow, and something that's not quite concern tightens up in Fox's chest.

The thing about Quinlan Vos is that Fox hasn't seen him on the streets in a... while. And he wouldn't say that he's been worried, because if he had the energy to worry about anyone, it would go straight to worrying about his brothers, but he has... noticed it. Noted it, too. Mentioned it to the Guards that patrol Quinlan's usual haunts, ordered them to keep an eye our for anything unusual.

The relief he feels at seeing Quinlan alive and well, however, is concerning. His relief ought to be strictly professional, strictly the relief that comes with knowing that a useful operative is not in enemy hands.

He'll... examine that later.

"Fox!" Quinlan says, just as friendly as ever. His grin would be infectious, if Fox was anyone else except for who he is, but Fox is Fox, so it's not.

"General Vos," he greets, knowing how much Quinlan hates the title, anticipating the wince that comes with the greeting. It's... more amusing than it should be.

And he hates to throw something on Quinlan's shoulders so quickly after that, hates to throw something on his shoulders when he looks so tired, but— this is his best chance to get into the Temple. This is his best chance to get help.

"I need your help." The words almost hurt to get out, and Fox winces as he says them, but— it's true. He does.

Quinlan's eyes sharpen immediately, and Fox can practically see him shifting into professional Jedi mode, even as he keeps his tone laid back.

"What's up?"

"Can we talk inside?"

Quinlan nods, steps to the side. "After you."

Thank kark. Thank karking kark. That alone is enough to help Fox breathe a little easier.

Maybe they will figure this out.

[variousqueerthings]

Hello again!

Anon here, who asked for advice how to avoid River Song episodes.

First of all, thank you so much for your extremely detailed reply and all the work you put into it.😘

Wow… these upcoming storylines are wild, and reading about it made me cringe a few times. Also reading the summary of the events makes it look like the show’s focus shifted somewhat (more towards the personal/ romantic life of the Doctor???). But I’m sure that won’t be true for the story when I finally watch it, and it just seems like it now, because I read the summarized version.

I’m not sure if I already asked this in my original message… But, as you mentioned in your reply, season 9 is the last time River Song actually appears in DW, which seems kinda odd, given that they are married and she was foretold to be the most important person to the Doctor. Did they drop the character or the storyline??? Or is it still too early for their main story, and most of their time together is still a part of the future (of future seasons) ? Plus after reading your answer, I was wondering if the Doctor had time to get to know her as a person and fall in love with her at all? Maybe I’m thinking way to logical about a TV series “love story”. It all sounds just somewhat icky. Obsession turning into love etc.😕

(In the end I probably should stop guessing and start watching, with the help of your guide.)

And another question...

As implied, I haven’t started with s5 yet. So I was wondering if it would be advisable to watch the 60th DW anniversary episodes with David and Catherine now, given I just finished the Donna & Tenth Doctor arc? Or would it be too confusing without the s5 -s13 knowledge?

Thanks again for your detailed reply!

hello hello again!

I hope the guide is useful (I can fall into the trap of over-explaining that lead to a confusion for others, but hey, it's not for lack of enthusiasm that's for sure!)

I can tell you that there's a whole bunch of storyline that isn't related to the doctor and romance. there's some neat stuff with the doctor and the master (played by michelle gomez) in s8-s10 and I like about that narrative how much it throws itself into the un-nameability and complexity of their arc, but people can and do read it as romantic, which is totally fine. but point is it's far more open + the master and the doctor obvs have that... history

outside of river song, the arc of s5-7 isn't romance-based either (well, the ponds are romancing each other, but the doctor is kind of weirded out and/or curiously fascinated like a kid looking at bugs by the Rituals of the whole thing)

I think river song's narrative is over on the tv-show, because of how that final story in s9 ties it all together. there's this odd thing about the timeline of river song in her seasons where she talks about her and the doctor as if they're meeting backwards in chronological order (so for example at one point she kisses the doctor who's like "oh ok... first time for everything," and she answer sadly when he can't hear her that there's also a last), but this is definitely not actually the case, meaning theoretically she could come back, but if they nominally want to keep this idea of them meeting backwards, it's finished. it's doctor who though, and some characters come back after over 50 years off the show sometimes, so who can say

(I uh... personally don't think the doctor was ever written properly as falling in love with river song and that it's very creepy in its whole construction and that river song never seems to have agency in her narrative, right up until she gets trapped in the library for apparently all eternity to "save" her, but then m*ffat has had the doctor seemingly "falling" for a woman who's been into him since childhood twice now (girl in the fireplace), not to mention that amy pond -- while he does not reciprocate thank goodness -- also meets the doctor as a kid first and as an adult wants to have sex with them, so... that's just a weird thing m*ffat does a few times)

but you don't really get that narrative with the watchlist I gave you, because river song barely exists outside of narratives that are actually about the doctor (no really, she's almost always doing things because of the doctor, for the doctor, so the doctor will notice her, or talking about the doctor)/in which she's a plot-point, it's one of the reasons I actually quite like her final episode -- the doctor falls into her adventure, rather than her assisting his narrative (and it turns out the doctor knows next to nothing about her life, which is frankly another embarrassing anti-endorsement to this fuckn "romance") and that format... actually works for me, it's frustrating how it gives a tidbit of a story that might have been quite fun -- still not the romance though, go away

as for the last question: I know some people who watched the Specials before watching m*ffat or chibnall eras (I actually watched the Specials before I watched most of thirteen, just because I couldn't wait, but I had spoiled myself for the major stuff of that era beforehand). there is character development and plot and lore that gives the Specials extra Spice for sure -- I think the main thing that is Very Good in terms of going the long way around is that one of the core themes of the Specials, the doctor's sheer exhaustion and loss, is really felt a whole lot more, buuuut tbh, I think there's a lot of fun in having seen the Specials first and then going back and building to it, with the second time around being "ohhh so that's why- yeah, yeah this Creechur needs a holiday or something!!!" sometimes knowing where things end actually adds to the fun, youknow

but hold on, I'll ask from a direct source: @aq2003 you watched the Specials first and then went back to catch up, do you feel solid about that decision-making in hindsight?

(in the end though, seriously, watch the specials if you're impatient -- I don't subscribe to delayed gratification. get gratified in any order you want, that's more my personal speed, it'll be fun either way)

[wanderlustqueen-writes]

Hi Alice, how are things?

I've got into this little Ask Game now, and was wondering about these two for the Fanfic writer questions:

🥺 - I love this question. How do you create the feels?

😬 - this one made me laugh!

Anyway, hope you're good. I'm procrastinating :)

Hi Terra! I'm also procrastinating a lil bit, but overall I'm fine, thanks for asking ☺️ hope you're good too!

Sorry for taking so long to reply. Here it goes:

🥺 Is there a certain type of moment or common interaction between your characters that never fails to put you in your feels?

I LOVE LOVE LOVE begginings, so the first shifts in the characters relationships are always appealing to me, and it's something I've been trying to explore in my fics. The first time a character notices they wanna be around that "annoying" person 🥺, the first butterflies in the stomach 🥺🥺, the FIRST KISS 🥺🥺🥺(I'm a sucker for first kisses as I'm sure I've made @this-is-krikkit very aware lmao sorry abt that). This doesn't only apply to romantic relationships, I'm all for friendship begginings as well!

😬 Which of your fics would you be most horrified for friends, family, or coworkers to stumble upon?

Well... there's a little Twilight fic that I wrote in 2009 (I was 13 at the time) that I *definetly* don't want anyone to see. It was unplotted, unabashed and UNHINGED. Not a single person or vampire was in-character, and things escalated way to quickly. The first chapter features a very uncalled for burst of rage and a sloppy makeout scene written by someone with no practical or theoretical knowledge on the matter lmao! The website where I posted the fic no longer exists, but unfortunately someone posted the first chapter without my permission on another platform, so the story is still alive there. I thought I'd be fun to read it before answering this and I almost died of cringe 🥲

Thanks for the ask ☺️💖

[cryptid-lucid]

Hello everyone, and welcome to: Lucid Nitpicks commercials!!

this is a post about the verizon commercial that features Ebenezer Scrooge, finding his lack of cell phone service an annoyance.

Using old-fashioned language to truly make the character distinguishable, Ebenezer Scrooge laments that he cannot find service in "the town center," for his phone. There are implications by his use of language describing the issue, as he pinpoints the exact problem, that he knows how cell phones work, and uses his frequently enough. And that he is casual enough with his phone usage to be in public and randomly complaining to no one in particular about his lack of service. In reply a lady offers the information that he can switch to verizon where he will only have to pay $30 a month for better service.

This information would NOT be celebrated by a man from a novel publised in 1843, assuming he was from that time or earlier. Not even as a wealthy man as he was prtrayed to be, due to the purchasing power of $1 in the 1800s being worth about 20 something dollars today. (a more specific ratio for the 'cost' associated with $1 then vs the amount now that you'd have to pay for the same exact purchasing ability would be $1:$23. This data according to a calculations post on officialdata.org)

THEREFORE a man written into existence in the 1800s would have a HUGE adjustment period surrounding just how much the same money was worth then vs what it is now, and even if he had been around long enough to adjust he would likely still feel a bit stingy about his money given the character being written as a selfish man who doesn't like spending his money on unnecessary things. Therefore I believe he would;

a) not adjust well enough to modern inflation to find spending money worth it for ANYTHING enough to celebrate a $30 price for something he lived perfectly fine without,

b) He simply would not want to learn to use new technology if he has to pay for and integrate so much of his life into something he had no knowlege about. The only reason he considered opening up to Christmas was the fear of unfulfillment in the face of his mortality, so I believe it would take a great push to get a stubborn man experiencing much change already, (as the use of the character's old fashioned language suggests he was previously taken from the time period that the story took place, and he is not a modern version of the character or something like that) to open up to something as new and unnecessary seeming as new technologies.

and

c) Even if he had all of his money from the time period, there is no way that he would be able to appropriately convert the value of his money then into $ today due to the prevalence of people willing to lie and scam elderly people instead of help them and the fact that whatever cash he had would likely not be valued the same if brought into today's economy. His money then would not give him a great advantage even if inflation should technically bring the value of his money up to match inflation, it simply would not work that way with physical money the same way it does in theoretical scenarios. He may have a lifestyle adjustment in wealth and property as well as being in a different time and space than he was used to, so I believe technology (including thoughts of the costs) would be the least of his concern.

[singingbun]

Bleach series, in retrospect

It's been years since that manga series has ended. And only been recently since the final arc's first part been animated.

When I think about why I had a love-hate relationship with that series, I used to think the prolonged, dragged out fights was the issue.

But now, I realised that wasn't truly the reason why I found it dissatisfying. It's not about endgame shipping, its got nothing to do with short-awkward endings either.

It's more to do with story promises and pay-offs. Ichigo Kurosaki is a good protagonist. Believe it or not, Orihime is a favourite character of mine as much as I like Rukia. But, the problem I have was how their character arcs did not have the proper catharsis for every fight.

Ichigo, time and time again rises at the top, but will be humbled by stronger enemies. Hyping him up as everyone's trump card to each endgame of every arc. But that's the thing. In all arcs I've seen, I feel like his thunder will end up getting stolen by a side character instead of Ichigo himself. Every 'boss' battle moment, you'd think he won, and then the villain pulls the 180 and say 'Hah' and only to be pulled under the rug by the supposed side character.

This would have been fine, but, there was no catharsis to each win. The story keeps hyping him up, allow him to fall with grace and come back stronger each time he learns from it. But again, I get the stakes is necessary to make this fight engaging, but it feels dissatisfying when another character just steals his moment.

Then I go to Orihime's character arc. And yes, I will defend this lovely girl to the death, but I hated the fact that again, the story hypes her up to be stronger. And yet, in that promised cathartic moment for her to shine and overcome her shortcomings, the story plummets her and reduces her into someone to be saved. Now, if done right, theoretically it is possible to write these moments of weakness. But in this case, the timing is really off. Orihime's abilities was not used to its finest, and the promised moment of catharsis of showing us how she'd become strong enough to stand on her own... well. we all saw how that turned out.

So yeah. Unlike my really bad, toxic outburst of 2016 and my lack of maturity back there, I've reached a point of finally putting some bad opinions to rest. Do I like Bleach now? If I'm being honest, I don't hate it anymore, but I still do have some bones to pick with it. But that's not to say I'm still angry about it, cause I'm not, I've grown out of that. In hindsight, having to learn how to empathise with the context of its serialisation back in the day, I've come to accept why it was flawed and why it was written in that way.

It's all come down to it. I've loved it once, then came to hate it. But now come to respect it. Was it a disservice for me to hate on Tite Kubo for that ending? Yeah, that was disrespectful of me and honestly want to bash myself for thinking in that mindset. I'm super embarrassed and ashamed to even write that reaction I got from how it ended. (I'm so glad I don't engage on social media as often back then, I'd be dooming myself) I honestly hate how it takes me literal years to even learn from my immaturity.

With that said, I owe Tite Kubo an apology. But again, that's not to say I still like how it all went down in the story. I've come to appreciate it more, but like I said, I still have issues surrounding it.

That is all. sorry for the uber long post.

[commanderdazzle]

I have to be awake to go to work in two hours but I can't sleep, figured I'd babble on here for a moment.

If you've seen me on the D.Gray-Man tag, you maybe recognize me as the utter maniac shipping Miranda with Sheril, with an absolutely massive fanfic on Ao3 expressing my emotions.

Well I was thinking the other day about the reason I found the idea so fascinating.

I already had one reason, which was; Miranda interacting with an openly flirtatious character would be hilarious, and I'm disappointed Hoshino never once had Cross notice her. Noise is nice, but Hoshino won't even confirm they're a thing, much less have him say anything directly flirty.

Which brings me to the other reason I like a theoretical Miranda/Sheril pairing.

Hoshino really felt the need to prettify, to round and smoothify Noise, presumably to pair him with Miranda, when she could have left his face the way it was.

Like, now there's a point where he's really cute during the Alma flashback that takes place nine years ago, then he looks tough and hardened during the main story line up until somewhere around Lulubell's attack, where he then looks cute again.

She should have kept his face! I'm not calling him ugly, either, original Noise was still attractive, just unique for not being as pretty as most of the main Exorcists! He looked fine, and it would have been a great dynamic between him and Miranda, but when Hoshino prettifyed him, it just wasn't interesting to me anymore.

That's why Sheril was the next person to come to mind. He's got stereotypical "crazy evil bastard" written all over him, the only information Hoshino has given away about him is that he intentionally looks like a pervert and a snake, he's so not hot but in less than 10 chapters he's somehow convinced quite a few of us that he is? That's how you write charisma!

Of course I had to pair our poor, anxious, sweetheart Miranda with Scumbag Politician Boyfriend?!

Sorry that this got long, I just have so many emotions about them as a concept! Which is why my Trilogy is being expanded into a Quartet.