#...it's also probably the most dramatic out of these four but it's still good stuff if you're into that

[onewholivesinloops]

hey gamo i got a fun question for u :) i wanna get more into yuri-centric stuff (women <3) and i know ur knowledgeable but idk where to start. could u maybe recommend me smth? or a lot of things i do not mind ^^ thank you in advance ur lovely

...I'm probably not as knowledgeable as a lot of people I'm mutuals with but here's some stuff I read a while ago and think is really great u_u

(Order is from top left going clockwise)

How Do We Relationship? by Tamifull

Run Away With Me, Girl by Battan

Still Sick by Akashi

Octave by Haru Akiyama

[princeloww]

DAVID TENNANT ROLES STARTERPACK

(Different roles, where to find them and what they're like!!!) (+ more that I didn't go into included at the end)

*disclaimer: this is sort of UK orientated, 'cos I don't know any American streaming services or where stuff is available in other countries, so PLEASE comment other places you can watch things!!!!

- Takin' Over the Asylum (CAMPBELL BAIN)

Follows a DJ and a group of patients trying to keep a radio station going in a mental hospital. David plays one of the main characters, Campbell Bain, a mostly upbeat and energetic young boy with lots of enthusiasm and spirit. Some angst!

☆ YOUTUBE (free)

- Blackpool (PETER CARLISLE)

A body is found in an arcade run by Ripley Holden, and him and his entire family are pulled into the murder investigation surrounding it. DI Peter Carlisle is working on the case, and highly suspicious of Ripley. He's a pretty major character and has a romantic plot - as well as a few funny musical numbers. Includes sex scenes.

☆ UKTV PLAY (free in UK), AMAZON PRIME VIDEO

- Casanova (GIACOMO CASANOVA)

The (mostly sexual) adventures of Giacomo Casanova, a charming and fraudulent man who falls in love very quickly and very dramatically with a lot of people, all while essentially bullshitting through life and jumping on every opportunity to make money. Includes sex scenes but also angst, such as illness, injuries, some violence, and general suffering.

☆ MYFLIXERX.TO (free), AMAZON

- Recovery (ALAN HAMILTON)

A man and his family coping with the recovery and rehabilitation process after he (Alan, David Tennant) suffers from brain damage. Angsty. Lots of crying, suicide references, head injury stuff.

☆ YOUTUBE (free)

- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (BARTY CROUCH JR)

I recommend pirating this one so you're not supporting JK Rowling. DT plays Barty Crouch JR, an antagonist and the son of Barty Crouch. He's kind of a minor character, as he's not actually in a lot of scenes.

☆ Probably on most pirating sites (my go to is MYFLIXERX.TO)

- Learners (CHRISTOPHER ??)

Lighthearted movie about a woman trying to pass her driving test. David plays Chris, her driving instructor. He's a bit of a dork, very sweet and kind. Has a love plot, briefly fights a guy. No major angst.

☆ YOUTUBE (free)

- Hamlet (HAMLET)

Hamlet. Prince of Denmark wants vengeance after his father's death. I haven't actually watched this one yet but I assume it's got the same amount of angst and drama as Hamlet typically does.

☆ AMAZON PRIME VIDEO

- Single Father (DAVE TYLER)

After a fatal car accident, Dave Tyler (DT) is left to parent four children on his own. Still struggling through grief, Dave falls in love again and attempts to hide it. Has LOTS of crying, lots of kissing, sex scenes, DT being miserable and sobbing, etc.

☆ MYFLIXERX.TO (free)

- Rex Is Not Your Lawyer (REX ALEXANDER)

Unaired pilot. Only 40 minutes. Show wasn't picked up, but it is very good. Rex is a successful and skilled lawyer who is forced to stop practising when he starts having panic attacks every time he speaks in court. He decides instead to coach people who want to represent themselves. Lots of DT in very tight suits. American accent. Not MAJOR angst but he does has daddy issues and a panic disorder, so.

☆ YOUTUBE (free)

- Fright Night (PETER VINCENT)

A kid discovers that his neighbour is a vampire, and he seeks out a famous vampire slayer to help him. Peter Vincent (DT) does not live up to his name, and turns out to actually be sort of pathetic. No major angst, not a lot of clothes, no romance, but lots of eyeliner. He's very bisexual. Violence, vampire horror, creepy neighbour.

☆ DISNEY+, AMAZON PRIME

- The Decoy Bride (JAMES ARBER)

Celebrity Lara Tyler tries to get married to her author fiancé James Arber, but the paparazzi interrupts the wedding. Desperate to keep it private, she takes James to the island that he based his book on. Somehow, the paparazzi still find them, and they hire a decoy bride to pretend to be Lara. Romance, kissing, light hearted, minimal angst. David in a funny outfit. Fake dating trope?

☆ AMAZON PRIME

- Nativity 2: Danger in the Manger (Donald and Roderick Peterson)

Sequel to Nativity, but you don't need to watch the first one. Primary school teacher Donald Peterson (DT) is forced to take his class to Wales to participate in A Song For Christmas, a festive singing competition. Here he is put against his twin brother, who is a successful composer and with whom he has a strained relationship. Light angst - lots of daddy issues, but generally sweet.

☆ AMAZON, I think its on NOW TV???

- The Escape Artist (WILL BURTON)

A defence lawyer, Will Burton, gets a murderer off free, and very quickly grows to regret it, when his client comes after his family next. Lots of murder. Like three murders I think. Hot lawyer DT.

☆ AMAZON (I can't believe I forgot this one)

- What We Did On Our Holiday (DOUG MCLEOD)

A family go to Scotland for their grandfather's 70th birthday. Doug (DT) and his wife (Rosamund Pike) are getting a divorce, but are hiding it from the rest of the family. Movie is mostly focused on the kids and their grandad, but David has a few moments, and he's generally present throughout. Funny, slightly shocking at times, family film. No major angst. Character death.

☆ AMAZON PRIME

- Richard II (RICHARD II)

Shakespeare's Richard II. David plays the titular character, the extravagant, heartless and cold King of England, Richard II. We see his fall from grace as he is stripped of everything he owns and knows. Quite angsty. Long hair, androgynous David. Queer kiss scene (although they are cousins, soo...)

☆ you can find a link in a REDDIT comment if you search for it, AMAZON PRIME

- Broadchurch (ALEC HARDY)

An eleven-year-old boy is murdered in a small town, sending shock-waves through the community. Story follows both the family and communities response to the crime, as well as the investigation done by DI Alec Hardy (DT) and DS Ellie Miller (Olivia Coleman). Lots of angst from Alec. He is sick and hiding it. Injury, dizziness, panic attacks, that sort of thing - as well as a heart attack. He has a lot of trauma and daddy issues. Season three touches on topics of rape (warning).

- Mad To Be Normal (RD LIANG)

Biopic about RD Liang, a Scottish psychiatrist. Sex, misogyny, mental health topics, some self-harm (done by another character)

☆ AMAZON (sensing a pattern)

- Good Omens (CROWLEY)

An angel (Michael Sheen) and a demon work together to stop the end of the world. Queer romance (canon), some angst. Drama, comedy, LGBTQ+. David plays Crowley, the demon (who "sauntered vaguely downwards" rather than fell from heaven)

☆ AMAZON PRIME

- Staged (DAVID TENNANT)

A COVID lockdown comedy about David Tennant and Michael Sheen talking via Zoom during the lockdown. Actually quite sad at times? Mostly silly, though. Features Georgia Tennant and Anna Lundberg.

☆ BBC Iplayer (UK) (or VPN)

- Around The World in 80 Days (PHILEAS FOGG)

Phileas Fogg, a quiet and reserved man, decides to travel around the world in 80 days, after he receives an anonymous postcard calling him a coward. Cute found family, drama, angst (ex-lover stuff, internalised cowardice, illness, near death experience), some violence. There's a scene where Phileas gets flogged (whipped, essentially) quite violently, and it's somewhat graphic. Touches on themes of racism. Phileas is 100% neurodivergent.

☆ BBC Iplayer (UK) (or VPN)

- Inside Man (HARRY WATLING)

DT plays a vicar, Harry, who is involved in a murder after trying to protect his son - who was accused of having CP. Suicide themes, murder, self-harm - explores the idea that any person can murder, if they're pushed the right way. Includes topics to do with CP and pedophilia.

☆ NETFLIX, AMAZON

- Litvinenko (LITVINENKO)

Biopic about Alexander Litvinenko. A group of detectives investigate the poisoning of Litvinenko. David is bald in this show. (Scary)

☆ ITVX (UK) (or VPN)

- Doctor who (10TH AND 14TH DOCTORS)

Do I need to explain Doctor Who???? David Tennant plays the tenth and fourteenth regenerations of The Doctor, a Time Lord from outerspace. He travels around in the TARDIS with human companions.

☆ BBC Iplayer (UK)

I think I'm gonna leave it there, but there are a LOT that I have not touched on. This post is a very accurate and long list of everything on DT's filmography, so i recommend you check that out.

Other things I didn't mention (off the top of my head):

There She Goes, Bad Samaritan, Einstein and Eddington, Rab. C Nesbitt, Bright Young Things, LA Without a Map, Much Ado About Nothing, Duck Patrol, True Love, Gracepoint, Camping (US), Nan's Christmas Carol, Mary Queen of Scots, (You, Me and Him), Secret Smile, Deadwater Fell, Jessica Jones, Dramarama, Spies of Warsaw, AND A LOT MORE. (+ voice acting roles, and also his narrating work on Spy In The Wild (2017)

[thewertsearch]

Asks Comp 4/8

The thing is, Davesprite's situation is more complicated than an unfulfilled time loop. His timeline isn't an irrelevant offshoot - in fact, it's integral to the existence of the Alpha Timeline, and presumably always was. Davesprite forms part of a weird, fully intact time loop which spans multiple timelines.

And since this is a future Dave, you have to assume he knows about Bro. The two clearly had a complicated relationship, but he's surely shaken by his death - if nothing else, it's a sign of how serious things have become.

That'll be a fun thing to check out when I've finished the comic! It reminds me of those Hunger Games simulators that were doing the rounds a couple of years ago.

That's true. Dave knows how strong the Underlings have become - and yet, he's still confident that Jade can stand up to them. Presumably she finds some sort of workaround for their First Guardian powers?

Sunslammer is so good! A standout song, even in a comic with as many bangers as this one.

Honestly, part of why I'm dragging my feet on the album reviews is because I want to hear these songs for the first time in context. If I'd heard Descend before watching Descend, I feel like it would have robbed the song of some of its dramatic weight.

I assumed it was just because witches are associated with frogs.

That would have explained why they're part of her Land, but I'm pretty sure that Kanaya's glitched planet was also a frog Land, and she's not a Witch, so...?

*The rest of Sal's response has been redacted, lest we fall once more into the Frog Theory Black Hole.*

I'm pretty sure that's a statue of Echidna, the mother of monsters and Jade's Denizen. Dave's probably close to LOFAF's Palace!

The Seer sees all - and sometimes, she understands the implications before we do.

It'd certainly be interesting. I just reread that conversation, and the biggest takeaway would have been that the kids were going to befriend the trolls, and get involved in their personal drama. This would certainly be consistent with the tone established by an Act 1 Hivebent!

Yup. Vriska was only able to 'create' Perfect Jack because Becquerel didn't object.

Really, he could have prototyped anything he liked, no matter what Vriska did. Even if she tried to shut the Entry down by incapacitating Jade, he could simply have activated the piñata himself.

I mean, that's basically what happened!

If any Aspect is geared around survival, then it's Feferi's. There's no breath left in her body, but our girl is still in the game!

Getting back to the trolls will be interesting, especially since - I assume - we'll be zipping back to when Feferi was still alive. The Veil is a much less friendly place, now - but does Feferi know this? What, exactly, is about to happen to the trolls?

I suppose. I guess there's no reason for every Carapacian to be created with knowledge of the Rings.

Actually, Sburb might not want them to know - Jack's probably not the only one who wouldn't respect the Ring's rules. There could be potential ringwielders out there who are far more dangerous.

Thank you! I feel like I've been doing a lot more character analysis in Act 5 versus previous Acts, where most of my speculation was about the lore. It's a fun change of pace.

Damn, I didn't think we'd actually be explaining these!

It's moments like these which really enhance the comic for me - justifications for things that I genuinely thought were just nitpicks on my part. It's really gratifying, honestly.

@thelegendofgreg asked: Here's some commentary from the jade enter flash, theres uh. alot to read but its all neat stuff "I talked about this way back, maybe even in an earlier book? Well, here I go again, so hold on to your ass. There are four entry items: Apple of knowledge, Bottle of wine, Crow's egg, Dog piñata. A, B, C, D. All of them are related to new life or new beginnings. You bite the apple, you fall from grace, enter a new world, begin this wild journey. You smash a bottle to christen a ship. An egg hatches, creating new life. You break a piöata to celebrate a birthday. Each involves breaking or puncturing something. Each involves a form of sustenance, or something to consume (piñatas have candy inside). Two are vessels for the substance (bottle, Piñata), two are the food items themselves (apple, egg), and one arguably counts as both (egg). Two of them drop from the same basic tree template (apple, piñata). They ramp up in complexity. John's is a simple test: bite the forbidden fruit. Not much to it. A single unit of departure, almost conceptually elemental, like an apple, as Rose goes on about later. The challenges get trickier. Rose has to break a bottle. Easy enough idea, but things go wrong, and she has to take a blind leap to get it done. A sacrificial gesture, and one of faith in a friend (Jaspers). Dave's is even more obscure. A simple test of patience, but one that's not clear. He isn't told what to do and just has to wait. Non-action is the key, and in a way it's another gesture of faith under dire circumstances. Finally, Jade's challenge incorporates a lot of these elements. It's another "blind faith" situation. She has to take a shot in the dark. There's a sacrificial gesture, but instead of risking herself (like Rose), Jade must symbolically sacrifice her friend via effigy and cannot complete the sacrifice without help from that friend. (Bec must redirect the bullet. There's no way this works if he doesn't.) It is also a signifier that the pet she knew as a friend her whole life is about to, in a way, become her enemy. Like a good dog gone bad, who now must be put down."

So they are all intended to be foodstuffs! And, apparently, alphabetical - although I think 'Crow's egg' is a bit of a stretch.

There are also themes of sacrifice and faith that I didn't really think about before. Choosing to enter Sburb at all, knowing the stakes, is absolutely a leap of faith - and it's a game which sacrifices your whole planet. Skaia's been telling us the score this whole time.

Homestuck absolutely deals with dark themes - but they start out buried under the surface, and even now, are still in the process of revealing themselves. This makes sense for Homestuck, a coming-of-age-story whose protagonists are slowly coming to terms with some dark truths about their lives.

Awful Hospital, however, immediately says: here's our protagonist. Her baby is dying. She just woke in a strange room. She doesn't know how she got here. Her baby has been stolen. There are monsters inside her brain. By the way, here's a quip, because this is actually a funny comic. It just felt... dissonant, and not in a fun way. I don't really know what it's going for, tonally.

Don't take this as a negative review, though! I only read a couple dozen pages, so I'm really not qualified to rate the comic - I just wasn't feeling it at the time, so I shelved it. I enjoy a lot of Bogleech's writing, and Awful Hospital's lore sounds pretty interesting, so I'll probably give it another shot at some point.

Not for the most part! I'm super into time travel stories, though, so I'm well-Primed to understand their intricacies.

So there might be intermittent stages between the four we've seen in the kids' session? That'd be interesting - I'd love to see the intermediary stage between John's 2D chessboard and Rose's 3D cube.

There are, at this point, too many awesome songs for me to pick favorites. Umbral Ultimatum and Sunslammer are excellent, but what songs aren't, at this point?

I can't imagine what we're in for when we reach the Act 5.2 finale...

Ooh, interesting. Considering how many accidental references Hussie seems to make, it's honestly up in the air whether that was intentional.

That said....

Jack is looking awfully divine these days.

I suppose Tavros has probably logged the most rocket-hours, yeah.

I'm sure all Breath Players probably learn to fly, unless there are some oddball classes which don't let you interact with your Aspect.

Anonymous asked: forwarding this message to you from someone who doesn't have a tumblr account. ~DJ "Important fact. Dave and Aradia both use musical instruments for time travel, but different ones. Aradia’s is a music box, it has a single prerecorded music, the only way to “play” it is to turn it so it plays the music that was always in it. Dave’s is turntables. They contain a preexisting music, but what you do with them is to jump, cut and shuffle this music, creating something new, having full control of it. - RM"

I like it! As Time Players, they both follow the set path of the Alpha Timeline - but Dave gets a little funky with it, multiplying himself with a complex series of time loops.

Aradia, ever the fatalist, instead turns to doomed clones for reinforcements. I don't think we've ever seen her make a stable loop.

[jocelynscrazyideas]

Do we have time? | Mackie Samoskevich x Reader

Summary: Mackie chose to leave Michigan for Florida. You wake up for a suprise.

Warnings: language, heartbreak?!

A:N- really short! Sorry, but a Quinn Hughes smut is coming soon!!

━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━

The Michigan hockey team had just lost in the third round of the frozen four games. It’s been a week since Mackie had left for Charlotte.

~the day of the game~

“Michigan shoots! And they miss! We have 10 seconds remaining, will Michigan beat quinnipiac?” The announcer had informed us. They have a live stream play by play on in the family seats.

“QUINNAPIAC WINS!” the buzzer triggered. I see Mark look up, and followed by Nolan, and Mackie. I know they feel guilt. They were the last few guys that were in the ice, we had two guys in the box and we had an open netter.

The players shake hands and the bobcats celebrate for one last time before they skate off, the wolverines sit on the ice for a good minute.

Mackie skates off, shaking his head, I see him from afar, he has tears steaming down his face. The camera zooms into his face, he’s all red. The Jumbotron centered Mackie and he looks up, he sees me and tears up more.

I wait for Mack for a while outside the let locker room. Guys start to pool out and of course Mackie is the last one to walk out. “We need to talk.” Mackie voices.

He stares at me with this sad expression, his eyes are slightly puffy, he seemed to cry about something, his mind was occupied. I know it wasn’t just the loss, it had to be something else making him cry.

“No. No!” I look at him. I see Mackie look around. He hugs me, he stuffs his head into my shoulder. The crook of my neck filling with warmth, and Mackie cries into me.

“I know. I don’t want to go, not yet.” Mackie insisted, which I know he’s lying. He really excited deep down, but he didn’t want to leave me here in Michigan.

“Say it. If you don’t say it, then it’s not real.” I told him, I might just be wrong. I’m looking for clarification in his eyes. I’m clearly just dramatic. He’s not leaving-

“I’m leaving for Charlotte.” He cuts me off. I’m not upset, I’m proud.

I smile, and I catch him inside my arms. He hugs me as he strats to walk with me. His bag on his shoulder and me in his arms.

~present day~

“Movie?” Mackie walks into my room with his computer and a blanket. “I brought your favorite blankie!” Mackie informs me. He holds onto my hamstrings while I lay on my stomach pretending to sleep.

“I know you’re faking.” He flips me over. Mackie set his stuff on my bed as he jumps onto my bed. “I love you.” Mackie looks into my eyes. He whispers something that I can’t hear.

“I miss you already.” I cry. Today is the last day with Mackie in Michigan. He’s leaving tonight.

~

We watched She’s the man. THE best movie ever!!

Mackie held me until I fell asleep, and he got up, and left. He took his bags, and left me with his blanket. He wrote me a note for me when I wake up. I felt so overwhelmed with everything.

I woke up to the sound of cars leaving. It’s about 8:36 AM, Mackie is probably in Florida by now.

I go onto my phone and see a sweet message.

To my love,

I will 4ever miss the way you smell, the way you look at me when I say something stupid. Most importantly I’ll miss the late night talks. I hope you don’t get really mad, but I took some of your perfumes- only to use when I miss your presence.

I’m exhausted with all of the moving and the constant “welcome to Charlotte!” and the “nice to meet yous.”

I’m glad you and I had figured things out.

Peace and love, hardcore lover-

Mack the man 💗

I hate him. Why does he have to be such a man. I love him.

~

The letter he left me on my night table read:

Sorry, I love you so much… but I think we need to break up. I still love you, but I just can’t stay with you when I’m across the country. I hope we connect again soon. I also have decided to make my debut, but move down to the AHL, and play for the Charlotte Checkers.

-love Mack.

~

My heart dropped. He seriously ddint give me any time to fight him on this. We can make it work. We can!!

I feel tears bawling up on my eyes. I feel the stress and pain leave my body. My heart smashed through the floor of my bedroom. I can’t.

I call Mackie. He doesn’t answer. I’m going to fly myslef down there. I can’t believe him! I call Ethan.

“ETHAN FUCKING EDWARDS!” I scream. I know Ethan drove Mackie down to the airport. I’m so upset. Not about him leaving. But the fact he though we wouldn’t make it. I get it. Maybe he wanted to get his own girlfriend down in Florida agin. I mean it’s home, he’s a Florida man at heart. I can’t handle it.

“you finally woke up?” Ethan mumbles in. Sleepy tone. I let my tear fall out of my burning eyes. “Yeah.” I trail off as I smell my hoodie. It still smells like him. “I miss him already.” I’m so proud of Mackie. I just can’t date other guys when he’s walking around the earth.

[0l-unreliable]

Feel free to be as long-winded or short as you want with this; but can you explain Homestuck to me? I've tried many times to get into it, but it confuses me and I just want it in layman's terms please 🙏

So in the most boiled down, simplified, BASIC terms: Homestuck is a coming of age, saving the world story that gets interrupted by the narrative, the creator (Hussie self inserts so much he's basically a main side character that the characters can and do reference), timeline bullshit, and the introduction and subsequent abandonment of new plots/characters. Though it's technically a comic, the text alone could fill probably 3-5 novels. I'd also like to say I ONLY read the original comic and I only read it 2 1/2 times in the past 10 years

Ok that stuff out of the way here's as fatless as I can serve: John and co. (Dave, rose and jade) Decide to play a game called 'sburb', unknowingly triggering both the beginning of their adventure and the end of their world, while they navigate getting into the game (like, physically, since their planet is being pelted by meteors) we're introduced to some weird fuckin grey dudes (the trolls, unplanned and frankly maybe unwanted at the point by me at least) we find out they went through this same 'game-that-ends-the-world' scenario but with 12 different kids instead of four, which made the whole thing more complicated and dramatic (and here we're also introduced to the blood caste system aka the fantasy racism system, there are 11-12 different blood colors with candy red being the rarest and the lowest/worst). They make it into the game and are left to wait while they figure shit out and this is when they start communicating with John and co, since they're technically not in the same timeline as the humans they can jump around and pick any point to talk to them (ex: a troll can click a button and talk to a version of John already in the game then five seconds later click another button and talk to a John that has never even heard of the game). Unfortunately this is when the timeline/doomed reality shenanigans start. I will not be untangling all that, sorry. They figure out that they (the trolls +John and co) have to make a NEW universe out of a special frog and make plans to all meet. Dave and Rose have already managed to get to the same place the trolls are (a random meteor) but John and Jade still must travel to get to them, which will take 3-4 years (this was probably because at this point everyone has been 13 for the past 3 real human years and hussie wanted a time skip). I cannot stress the weight of the next statement enough: some bullshit happens. You meet 12 NEW trolls that are basically the ancestors to the trolls we know and love/hate. To me they don't super have a point, but this is also where we learn that every person who died and every version from a 'doomed timeline' who died is in fact alive as ghost in bubbles of space-time and can interact both with other dead versions of themselves and the alive versions of themselves when they pass through. Like I said. Some bullshit happens. Then..oh and then...we get shot both into the future, the past, and an alternative timeline. This time, it's with the ancestors/guardians of John and co. This is were Dirk and Jake are. (And Roxy and Jane ofc) At this point I believe hussie has majorly checked out. This new group of humans (the 'Alphas', named after their timeline) don't get much in terms of story compared to the others, but what we do see it that while Jake and Jane live in the good ol' current time of 2016, Dirk and Roxy live far far FAR into the future. A future where a tyrannical troll has conquered Earth and flooded it in an attempt to expand her watery empire. They are the last two people alive, made from the genetic remains of their timelines Dave and Rose. Their only hope of survival is the game, luckily they get in, unluckily Hussie has Checked Out. They are in a dead game and must wait to either be attacked by the big bad (of which there are at least three I'm sorry but mentioning their whole deal is....daunting. remember this is all still simple) and/or be pulled to the OG group of trolls and humans. Eventually everyone gathers up, Hussie retcons some shit through John, they fight all bazillion big bads at once and BAM. make a new universe in which all TWENTY of them are gods. The end.

This is as simple as I can make it based on how I understood it/what I remember. It's not called the worlds longest webcomic for nothing. If you made it this far and still think you may want to try again to read but don't want to spend a large chunk of your life reading a textual nightmare, there are videos on YouTube that read it for you that have gotten pretty far, I have left A LOT out.

HS is a super confusing, badly written, reference heavy peice of work. I think ultimately it's about how YOU interpret things and where you stop reading. It seems random, and it is, but Hussie manages to round most things out, there's a lot of characters that explain a lot of things very often. Sometimes you don't know What The Hell is Happening until 5 acts and 3 intermissions later. That's fine.

Thanks for letting me yap. Feel free to ask about more anytime either in dms or through asks.

[novosg]

Being the ASL trio’s sister would include…

A/n: first time writing something like this but I hope y’all enjoy!

written with fem black reader in mind

for this let’s say you’re about a year or two older than luffy but still younger than ace and sabo

Luffy:

If you think he stresses Nami out, just wait ‘til he gets around you.

You’re shadow and best friend since y’all were kids.

Usually tried to act all tough and protective even though you’re older than him.

Whenever Ace would yell at him he’d go running off to either you or Sabo (mainly you because you wouldn’t hesitate to yell right back).

You’re the first official member of his crew and his vice captain. No if, ands, or buts about it.

You’re also the only one who he’ll bother to share his food with.

Whenever his mouth is full and he tries to talk you usually end up translating for him.

“Mnrf duff manauce?”

“He wants to know if there’s any more of that sauce left.”

Nami and everyone are always looking to you to keep him in check which makes you his impromptu baby sitter.

He’s not a stranger to you knocking him upside the head, either. He knocked the two of you into the ocean once (right after your wash day too) and you had never swung on him faster.

Most definitely wraps around you the most. The boy loves physical touch and he loves you so it’s only natural.

When you do meet him, Law simply cannot fathom how the two of you are related.

You being on his crew ramps up his protectiveness 100%. He knows good and well you can take care of yourself, but that doesn’t mean he won’t keep an eye out every now and then. Especially after losing Ace

Sometimes you both will just sit and talk about your childhoods and the stuff you got up to with Ace and Sabo.

Whenever the new bounties come in he always rockets himself to your side so you can look at them both together.

If you wanted to date any of your friends or someone from the crew he honestly wouldn’t mind as long your happy! But the second he sees you’re upset and that something’s wrong the captain/little brother mode turns on and he’s ready to fight.

Best believe that no matter what happens you’re never gonna get rid of this boy.

Ace:

The type of brother that’ll say “no” if you ask him to buy you something but then immediately buys it anyways.

Listen, when y’all first met, Ace honestly couldn’t stand you.

It was bad enough having Luffy following him around, but now you too? It irritated him to no end.

Obviously y’all grew closer and once you became his sister this mfer refused to leave you alone.

Y’all definitely bickered the most out of the four of you. Usually Dadan or Sabo had to step in and diffuse the situation.

“Shut up already Y/N! It probably doesn’t even hurt that bad! You cry like a little girl!”

*crying stops* “…I AM A GIRL YOU IDIOT!-”

Yeah…’least he helped you learn how to throw hands.

Stole your bonnet once when y’all were kids and you caught him with it on and you swear you’ve never seen him blush faster.

When you see him again during Alabasta he refuses to leave you alone. Messes up your hair, asks you a million questions, teases you, the whole shabang.

Jokingly asks if you’ve found a boyfriend yet but becomes absolutely laser focused whenever he spots Sanji spinning over towards you and spouting his usual dramatics. Says he could always beat him up if he’s bothering you. He’s joking, of course…kind of.

Regardless, he’s so proud once he sees you and Luffy again, and he’s thrilled knowing you guys have such great friends. It makes him feel a bit more at ease.

When he gets the chance, he secretly tells the two of you separately to keep looking out for each other no matter what. He can’t always be there for the two of you, so he at least wants y’all to be there for each other.

Brags about you and Luffy all the time on Whitebeard’s ship to who ever will listen. And if they don’t wanna hear about you two? Too bad Ace has already started.

He definitely keeps yours and Luffy’s bounty posters hung up in his room by the way.

We don’t talk about marineford but we’re going too

Ace’s death wrecks you just like it did Luffy and Sabo. It ended up knocking you out for three days as well.

There’s a huge hole in your heart after his passing, but you keep moving forward, wanting to be strong for Luffy.

Just like Luffy and Sabo, you can’t help but lash out at anyone who insults Ace and his memory.

You don’t talk about Ace often, the wound still practically fresh even after two years, but you do think about him all the time.

Sabo:

Best brother lowkey

Even when you both were kids and not yet sworn siblings Sabo had a huge soft spot for you.

Would jokingly call you his favorite just to rile Luffy and Ace up.

Used to help you do your hair some days. (Was surprisingly good at it too)

When you finally see him again at Dressrosa you have a similar reaction to Luffy’s. Even if you do try to keep yourself composed his shirt still ends up soaked through from your tears.

He tells you how thankful he is that you’re still alive as well and it only makes you cry harder.

Y’know how he’ll drop basically anything he’s doing to come to Luffy’s aid if he thinks he’s in danger? Well he’s the exact same way with you, but he moves that much faster.

He’ll be damned if he loses another brother, but someone might as well go ahead and put him down if he loses his only sister too.

Now that he’s got his memories back and he’s seen you and Luffy again, he never shuts up about the two of you. Remind you of anyone?

Koala says she knows more about you and Luffy then the two of your probably know about yourselves.

Is always the first to grab the newspaper now if there’s even a chance of seeing anything about you or Luffy.

His comrades have long learned that trying to talk to him when he reads something about the two of you is futile. He becomes practically deaf to the outside world.

They’ve also all been given the task to report back to him if they ended up on an island you and Luffy happened to be on.

“By the way, Sabo, we spotted your brother and sister while we were-”

“WHAT? Where! How were they? Were their friends with them? Tell them I said hi!”

Sometimes he can’t even sleep because he’s too busy worrying about you guys.

He makes sure to work even harder for the revolutionary army’s cause just so he can make sure the world is a better place for you and Luffy to live in.

Never hesitates to fight if he overhears anyone saying something even remotely bad about you two. Doesn’t matter if he’s on a mission or not and he needs to be subtle - they gotta go.

Overall, Sabo couldn’t be more grateful for you and Luffy. It makes life a bit more easier knowing his little brother and sister are out there and have each other’s backs.

[an-indecisive-nerd]

Sibling Questionnaire

Tagged by @the-letterbox-archives here and @paeliae-occasionally here

Gonna respond with Alexander and Melantha, and I'll do a bonus answer including Lucia and Phoebe.

1. Who looks most like their father?

Neither of them look much like either of their parents, but Mel's facial structure looks closest to her father, and she acts the most like him.

Out of all four of them Phoebe probably looks most like William, but Mel still seems the most like him if that makes sense.

2. Who looks most like their mother?

Again, neither really look like their parents, but Alex probably looks closer to their mother. No one who knows their family situation would ever say that though.

Lucia looks very similar to Eleanor, but again, no one would ever say that to her.

3. Who eats the most?

It depends on what part of the story we're in, but most of the time it would probably be Mel, even with all four of them. She does a lot of physical stuff and needs the calories.

4. Who has been in the weirdest situations?

Ooh, honestly? It's probably a tie between the twins. Their lives are kind of insane.

5. Who sleeps the most?

Out of the twins, Alexander. He's the more responsible one.

Out of all of them, Phoebe, because she's the youngest and hasn't had anything happen to ruin her sleep schedule.

6. Most stable romantic life?

Oh my God the twins both have such weird love lives. Like their partners are great and they're very happy, the instability comes from various forms of magic bullshit and plot shenanigans. So yeah it's a tie.

Out of all four of them, the winner is Lucia. She’s happily married with kids and has no shenanigans going on.

7. Worst habit of each?

Oh boy they have so many bad habits lol. Alexander is a perfectionist. Melantha neglects her personal health for the sake of others. Neither of them are good at asking for help.

Lucia bottles her emotions. Phoebe is naive, but she's also literally a small child so that's not her fault.

8. Who's the most dramatic?

They all have their moments, but it's definitely Mel overall.

9. Who had the weird phase?

Mel is currently in her goth phase and has never and will never get out of it, so I'd say her.

10. Who's the best cook?

Alex is the only one who can't cook, because in his time men didn't really cook and his mom was low key sexist so he was never taught. Out of the four of them Lucia is the best cook.

11. Best memory together?

Ooh, tough one. For Alex and Mel it's probably when they first started their training. For all four of them, probably the months after they found out Mel was going to die soon so they tried to get as much quality time together as they could.

12. Worst memory together?

When Phoebe got sick.

13. Dream trip together?

Honestly, they would love being able to go anywhere all together, as long as their mother wasn't coming with.

14. Would you rather not be able to shower or change clothes?

They would all die if they had to go too long without showering.

15. Who's older?

Lucia is the oldest. Alexander and Melantha are four years younger than her. Mel is slightly younger than Alex. Phoebe is six years younger than the twins.

16. Describe the others in 3 words.

Lucia: "Alexander is smart, responsible, and social. Melantha is strong, protective, and reckless. Phoebe is sweet, cute, and kind."

Alexander: "Lucia is responsible, reserved, and thoughtful. Mel is a reckless stubborn idiot. Phoebe is an adorable little sweetheart."

Melantha: "Alex is an annoying perfect princess. I agree with his descriptions of Lucy and Phoebe though."

Phoebe: "Lucia is smart, nice, and like a mom! A good mom! Alex is friendly, smart, and awesome! And Mel is pretty, strong, and super cool!"

Mel: "Awww, thanks Pumpkin."

17. Role model?

Lucia doesn't really have one. Alexander's role model is Melantha, but he'd never admit that. Mel's role model is her dad. Phoebe’s is all her siblings and her dad.

18. Who has the worst ideas?

Mel has plenty of good ideas, but she definitely has her fair share of bad one too.

19. Who kills the bugs?

Alex would kill the bug with no issues. Phoebe would befriend the bug and cry if anyone killed the bug. Mel would pick up the bug and chase Lucia around with it.

Tagging the taglist (if you want to be added, interact here)

@thelovelymachinery @unforgettable-sensations @littleladymab

@megamijadeheart @my-bright-legacy @ominous-feychild

@thecomfywriter @wyked-ao3 @anamelessfacelessnerd

@differentnighttale @mysticstarlightduck @the-letterbox-archives

@leahnardo-da-veggie @paeliae-occasionally

[macawritesupdates]

Ooh man there have been so many updates thank you so much they've all been delightful. I loved all of them but I was so busy for a bit I didn't have time to comment and let you know how much I loved them. Things have settled down now so now I can gush about your lovely fics! I'm stupidly excited for the next lessons chapter. I loved this latest one and I'm so excited for baby shenanigans 💗 💕. Sukuna is so fun in this chapter. His internal monologue was wonderful. He's so dramatic this man is like a feral cat that has decided the whole neighborhood is its territory now. He's got so many new friends (and little low stake enemies to casually mess with) it's great. Poor Yuuji, all Sukuna's new buddies are going to hear about every little mistake he makes for the foreseeable future huh. I am kinda on team steal the dogs haha Sukuna needs some little buddies to give him endless affection and companionship while his brat is away. That whole section had me smiling this damn menace (if the puppies are being kept outside with no supervision for most of the day Sukuna actually might be doing them a favor especially if the weather is harsh i know a rescue dog who refused to go outside for a long time after he was saved because he was traumatized. Said dog is doing fantastic now but he still only likes going out with his person. The puppies in this fic seem happy enough though so they're probably healthy but I still support them going to a home with someone who'll spend more time with them). That being said there'll also be a baby on the way so this might not be the best time for new pets. Sukuna finding new ways to keep his brats attention while he's away via text taunts is great. Listen he may be a bastard but it's so cute how much he wants to have Yuuji's attention. I am delighted with him. Suku waifu is great now everyone who hears it gets to take psychic damage and I get to laugh. Ahh Sukuna's fear of parenthood vs Yuuji's joy and optimism 😄 I love them. I love Yuuji choosing to be so supportive and figure out what was wrong. He was wonderful. Sukuna knowing Yuuji wants the baby and will love it unconditionally and that knowledge giving him strength made me so happy I can't wait for him to meet his baby. I hope the love hits him like a truck. I can't wait for Yuuji to get to hold the baby. He'll be such a good dad! I'm actually hoping the baby will have four arms like true form Sukuna. I want him to see a child just like him being loved and cared for. In an ideal world the little one would have many sorcerer aunties and uncles who would also love them right alongside their parents. Speaking of uncles I bet once Yuuji gets Choso he'd be totally willing to babysit for him so the couple could still go out and do fun stuff together. It was a delightful chapter. Thank you for writing and sharing with us!!

Sukuna getting bored and starts to interact with others because he just wants something to do XD So now he has friends and working with them to cause his havoc like the gremlin he is u_u He seems the type to just find people and bring out their worse just to see what would happen lol

Also he likes the brat's attention on him, because then they can be more and more in their horrible hatemance u 3 u have to make sure Yuuji is so annoyed with him after all! And the parenting thing was such a delight to explore! Glad you enjoyed that section as it was my favorite part to write!

[lgcyubin]

here to present (bad trumpet playing noises) the illustrious kim yubin whooohoooo (crickets chirping) please like this post if you're down to plot and i'll mosey over to your tumblr ims. i have a discord if that's easier (tho i am slower on it) - just lmk and we can swap usernames :) also clearly bandwagon-ing so i may be even slower here, but i made a twitter since it's come up a few times! i'm also still (slowly) reading through event stuff but to the extent anyone's still looking for event partners please hmu!

better known as jamie (not james) kim, kim yubin's a california boy who's found his way to seoul with lukewarm dreams(?) of becoming a kpop idol.

quick tl;dr of his relevant journey: joined lgc in july 2021 by sheer happenstance. it's been two long years and he's still not sure if this is what he's allowed(?) to do, but for now he's trying to dabble in a little bit of everything to figure out what he likes, and works his ass off regardless of what he does bc it's in his nature. he doesn't have a self-declared focus, but his (current) penchant is for rap.

vs. what he'd put on his hinge profile: fluent in english and korean, the proud owner of two on-and-off dimples that may as well be a craters, and his t-shirt's made of boyfriend materi—

family bg: born to an affluent family of doctors. literally. all doctors, all successful, all brilliant. he's the youngest of four (three older sisters) and the black sheep of the family because he's... well, not exactly studying for the mcat right now. he's smart and hard-working, but certainly doesn't think he is - growing up in the shadows of steep expectations will do that to ya.

for as critical of himself as he is, however, he likes to keep most of his neuroses strictly to himself. you will not get him to be vulnerable without an ample amount of kicking and screaming.

self-inflicted mental saw traps aside, yubin comes across as remarkably... well, unconcerned on the outside. he's a flippant person who has zero issues making small talk with complete strangers. he's candid, straightforward, and he's got a wicked sharp wit and a penchant for dramatics. he's a funny guy! sarcasm is his crutch! and he'd much rather you laugh at or with him than see him cry.

WANTED CONNECTIONS

in desperate need of: friends. and specifically: friends who will put up with him whipping his head around dramatically every time you whisper "look at the hot person behind you but don't make it obvious" (he would be such a good wingman fyi)

best friends! but just a couple, max. he's a closed off person so if he did have any best friends that might have a better grasp of the inner workings of kim yubin, it's a limited number, and you've probably known him since he joined lgc (or longer—he's not a seoul native, but he was in town most summers). fair warning that he will be calling you his work wife/husband (it's a show of affection).

at the back of my mind, he is very loudly like "i would rather die than have feelings for someone" so naturally i feel inclined to write out a terrible ex plot. or a crush plot. or both. any breakup with him was probably messy and might be accompanied by some resentment (at least from his end), and any crush he could possibly have will be saddled with internal conflict. let's give it up for being unlovable!

no one's seen him cry except maybe a close friend or his sisters but you happen to catch him at the worst possible time and he is now avoiding you like his life depends on it. even if it means hiding behind a potted plant the second he sees you down the hall.

someone go on a perilous hike with him where you end up terribly lost and start to think you may have to spend the last moments of your life in each other's company so you might as well dish out all of your regrets and dashed hopes, right? it's not like you're just meters away from the path you were supposed to be on, right? good thing neither of you are drama queens, right???

if you would like to entertain the idea of having an inconsequential crush on the most charmless guy alive, please do so because he'd be so so uncomfortable with the concept of it and it'd be funny.

familial connection — he joined lgc back in july 2021 with his cousin (female), and she is 100% the reason why he's here. he's all about tough love and being mister sass pants so no one figures out just how much he cares about them, but he would do just about anything for his family and he's especially close to her.

[theurgic-necromancer]

You awake from another nightmare.

You hate how frequent they've been since you woke up. They were annoyingly frequent before, but they were closer to every other week back then. Now, they seem to come every few days... if not more frequently. You're not the only one getting them, at least. But Zia seems to be less affected by them than you are. It probably helps that she keeps crawling into someone's tent to curl up with them whenever she has a nightmare. People keep waking up to a girl (and sometimes a dog) sleeping next to them.

You, on the other hand, prefer to drown it all in booze.

Astarion happens to stumble across you sitting on the edge of camp, with a bottle of booze you happened to scrounge up from that Zhent stash a while ago. He always seems to be able to find you wherever you manage to crawl off to.

He sits beside you with a dramatic sigh. You don't pay him too much mind. The two of you are usually the only ones up late at night, anyway, owing to the whole "only need four hours of sleep" thing elves have going for them.

"Can you wiggle your ears?" you ask. Astarion stares at you, and you almost laugh when you catch a glimpse of his face out of the corner of your eye.

"No," he says, sounding irritated. "Can you?"

There's a sarcastic tone to his voice. You decide to ignore that for the moment. Screwing your eyes shut, you concentrate really hard on moving your ears. You usually do it without thinking, so it's difficult to do on command.

"...No, it doesn't seem you can," Astarion says after a moment. He sounds vaguely confused by this whole thing. "Why did you even ask? How drunk are you?"

"I'm just buzzed," you claim. It might even be true. Astarion sighs and you open your eyes to see him rolling his.

"If this is what you're like buzzed then I'd hate to see what you look like drunk off your arse."

"If I keep having nightmares, you just might get to see for yourself," you say, squinting into the depths of your current bottle.

"Is it even good booze?" Astarion grabs the bottle from you and takes a swig. He immediately makes a face, lip curling in disgust. "Ugh. Awful."

"It's from the Zhent stash," you point out.

"They have terrible taste in booze." Astarion hands the bottle back to you. "How can you even stomach this stuff?"

You shrug. "I'm not here for the taste right now."

Astarion clicks his tongue and shakes his head. "Darling, if you're going to drink yourself into oblivion, then at least find something better than watered down swill. Like a nice red wine."

"You really like your red stuff, don't you?" you say with an amused snort. "Red wine, red meat..."

"Well, when most of what I eat is already red..."

"Most," you say, gesturing vaguely to your own neck. "Still can't believe you didn't notice."

Astarion huffs. "All blood looks more or less black when it's dark out."

"Sure, sure," you say, grinning.

"...Huh," Astarion says, staring at you. You blink in response. "I didn't realize you also had fangs."

You poke at your teeth absentmindedly. "Oh, right. I sometimes forget about those."

"Are you sure you aren't secretly a dhampyr?" Astarion jokes. You snort again.

"Very sure. I may be an orphan, but I do know who my parents were."

"Oh an orphan, huh?" Astarion says, leaning forward and resting his chin on his hand. "Well, don't you just sound like a protagonist from some sappy hero's tale."

You scoff. "I don't think a lot of people these days would consider me a hero."

"Why not? You certainly have the attitude of one." Astarion wrinkles his nose. "A little goody-two-shoes, on par with Wyll."

"Wyll's like a baby hero, at best," you say, rolling your eyes. "He wants to be the charming prince—the dashing rogue at worst—but he can't see how close he already is to falling from grace."

"Well, if that's not the most scathing thing I've ever heard you say," Astarion says, sounding vaguely impressed. "Seems the alcohol has really loosened your tongue."

You frown and squint into the bottle again. "...Maybe that's my cue to ease up."

Astarion huffs. "Oh, don't be such a spoilsport. Aren't you having fun?"

"Talking to you, yeah," you say, which seems to give Astarion pause. "But the drinking part is suddenly looking less and less fun."

You attempt to haul yourself to your feet. You're not sure if it's the booze or your general lack of coordination that causes you to need more than one attempt. But either way, you manage to stand and stagger off to your tent again.

[brsb4hls]

I think one of the main issues with not only s2 but some of s1 as well as that only neil was involved with the creation of both of them because terry unfortunately passed away. It lost something vital in that moment. In s1, they still had the book and I think s1 did a good job as far as adaptations go with some grievances, but now in s2, it's whatever neil is going to do and with how active he is on tumblr and how the fans are and how he's reacting to them, it's losing the spirit of the original even further. Not BECAUSE the ship is canon, but everything else surrounding the ship and how we got there and how the writers and the actors are changing the characters more as they progress from one season to the next. I watched s2 feeling giddy for more good omens and very quickly that giddiness turned sort of confused and disappointed. I didn't want disjointed filler fanfic with a loose plot. It didn't fit. It didn't feel right. Overall, I didn't hate the season, but I didn't quite like it either. The handful of you good omens critical blogs have summed it up very well for me and I'm surprised it's not a more popular opinion. I've just seen a couple people talking about how book fans are complaining which is the most dismissive way to put it. I'm not sure if people are blinded by their theories and canon ship or they just don't care that this season felt almost fanmade, but I'm sad that the book and tv show versions are now miles apart rather than cousins.

That's a long ask, thank you for sharing!

I actually did like season 1, too. The book is very hard to transfer to tv imo and choices had to be made.

Technically, Adam is the main character, but putting more focus on him would either mean a) a kid show with a lot of stuff about the them or b) more Anathema and conspiracy theories discussion.

That probs wouldn't have worked that well, so Gaiman made the two most colourfull characters the protagonists and in order to flesh them out added to their relationship.

Other stuff was added for comedic reasons or drama. Which I get.

So season one was a fair interpretation with necessary (to appeal to a mainstream audience) changes.

And both actors were doing an amazing job, so that helps.

Another plus is that a lot of new fans had so much fun with the material and created a ton of art/fics and revived the fandom.

And then it went off the rails somehow.

The thing is, Good Omens isn't a drama. A lot of dramatic events happen, but they feel understated, it's mainly weird, quirky and funny.

It also isn't a love story. In the romantic sense.

There is a lot of love in the book.

And I truely do not know what exactly happened, that turned such a unique little thing into the most bland, generic romance.

Probably capitalism.

I mean, just watching Crowley and Aziraphale trying to weather everyday life without having their jobs anymore would have been hilarious, but probs to niche.

And I would love to know what made Gaiman change his tune in regards to the nature of their relationship.

He does not really answer stuff, though, he's good at circumventing.

I hope at least it wasn't tumblr that influenced him. In most cases a creative process suffers from too much social media interaction. (Season 3 could get even worse).

The fandom dynamics regarding criticsm are always complicated.

I do speculate that most hyper positive fans are fairly new, just in it for the ship and going with the flow.

Also critcism is kinda a four letter word these days.

Sadly.

I mean it can be fun and relieving to went or pick apart or even ridicule and as long as it's tagged correctly nobody gets hurt by it.

Maybe 'Good Omens' also is a sore subject, because after years of being vague, Crowley/Aziraphale actually got canonized, and no matter what they represent as, they do look like a gay couple to the general audience, and people might be afraid criticsm might reflect badly on the representation they finally got.

Who knows.

In the end, one can always cherry pick. I do like some scenes, I do ship Crowley/Aziraphale, but I'm disappointed that their characters went full on angel/demon cliche contrary to the appealing, nuanced book versions.

And yeah, there is no actual plot so we might as well have gotten smth like Crowley tries to earn money by becoming an uber driver or smth (there's great fanfic about that).

But that's just me, I do get why people enjoy it. Criticsm just helps to deal a bit with the disappointment, because, like you, I was initially thrilled about the second season.

[judgeanon]

Plastic Skies - Model 8: F-16A Falcon

It’s been a little under two months since the last time I posted one of these, but without being dramatic, it feels closer to two years. Issues with getting paid at work meant I spent most of the early weeks of 2023 in a constant state of anxiety, and models only added to it. Or rather, knowing that I wasn’t gonna be getting any models done any time soon. Eventually, the fever broke and after paying any outstanding debts, I decided to treat myself. And it sure was a treat.

I like the F-16 Falcon a lot. Light, compact but still sporting some fine lines and a great silhouette, I always think of it as the pony car to the F-14′s muscle drag racer. The Camaro of fighter jets. That love for the F-16 runs deep, since I remember it being another one of the kits my brother or I built as kids, and one I had a big fondness for. The intake in particular I remember thinking looked very cool. And more recently, I kept running into it on every single Ace Combat game I touched, along with its cool seafaring Japanese cousin, the F-2.

Speaking of Japan, this particular F-16 comes from the fine folks at Hobby Boss, and is the first time I bought a Japanese kit. I got it for a decent price and at a 1/72 scale, mostly because all the 1/144 kits I could find had some wacky paintjob or something. So HB it was, and right out of the box, I was in love. The plastic felt strong and durable, the pieces all looked beautiful, none of them had to be cut or drilled, and as I would later find out, the kit came witha  bunch of small touches to make it an extremely easy build.

Along with the model, I also bought a couple of extra tools and paints I’d been missing, including one that was an immediate “How the FUCK have I been doing this for so long without you?” moment: a pair of spruce cutting pliers that made separating parts an absolute joy. That was, in general, my main goal with this model. Joy, relaxation, just having a good time building one of my favorites and giving it a cool desert camo job (appropriate, considering the scorching summer we had while I was building it). But I also had a bunch of other goals in mind that turned this kit into a test bed of sorts.

The first and most obvious one was finally getting to use a bottle of Mig Jimenez’ AMMO paint, a particular shade of grey I bought months ago in preparation for the “final boss” project I’ve had in my mind pretty much since I started doing this stuff. It’s a very strange kind of grey, almost turquoise under certain lights, but definitely eyecatching. I wanted to see how it’d look like when applied, and while it was a little weird at first, the more I got used to it, the more I liked it.

For the top, as mentioned above, I decided to go for a desert camo. I'd already painted two woodland camos before, so I figured this would be a nice change of pace while still using brown. Beyond the paints, however, the build proved to be really satisfying. All the pieces fit together perfectly (although some required a bit more pressure than usual) and the whole model, even before being finished, felt sturdy in ways no other model had felt so far. Turns out, the “Boss” part of Hobby Boss ain’t just hype.

Speaking of Japan, I also bought a can of Tamiya’s burnt iron metallic paint, since I’d seen it in a lot of instruction manuals. And just like every other metallic paint before it, I immediately fell in love with its easy application and lovely tone. This feels like the edgy member of the metallic paint crew and if I could, I’d probably try to paint a whole plane with it. Just to see what that’d look like.

And speaking of paints, the brown part was a bit painful, requiring about three coats before it looked decent enough to varnish. Maybe I need to start using primer, but I swear I have three or four specific paints that just refuse to stick properly until I get a bunch of coats in there. A bit frustrating, but the end result was still decent enough, and before I knew it, it was time for decals.

This is where things got a little interesting: the model I bought had decals for the Belgian and Norwegian air forces. But I had other plans. Using a couple of USAF roundels leftover from my F-14 Tomcat (as seen in Plastic Skies: Model 3) and a pair of emblems from the Ace Combat decal sheet I’d ordered last year, I decided to turn this into a Warwolf Squadron F-16, from Ace Combat: Assault Horizon. It was never going to be canon, since that game’s desert F-16 has a different camo scheme and I didn’t have any serial number decals, but the idea was to test the decals I did have while also finally doing something with those USAF emblems. And something was done indeed.

Unfortunately, however, decal application ended up being an absolute mess. The sheet that came with the plane was extremely packed together, so cutting around things was a terrifying labor. The decal solution I used dried up terribly quick, leading to decals that landed on a surface and immediately refused to move no matter what I tried. And one or two decals were just absolutely nuts to begin with. The job was taxing and the results were a bit disheartening, but I’ve long since learned to accept imperfections. Or at least, I try.

Lastly, I applied a bit of grey wash to accent the panel lines, a process that continues to haunt me. I’m trying not to rely on the “sludge” method of just covering the entire surface in wash and then cleaning it up, but I’ve tried three brands of wash so far and none of them seem to really slip into the lines as easily as advertised. I’m worried that I might be the problem, that my paints and varnishes may be so thick that the washes just can’t find the lines, but despite asking a couple of shop owners it seems like I’m doing everything right. Oh well.

Of course, you might notice something missing, and not just talent or skill. Hobby Boss, turns out, sells missiles and other weaponry separate from their models. I already knew this going in, having looked at the model on a few websites, and to be honest it was a little relaxing to not have to worry about tiny little decals on tiny little missiles. Plus, I already have a plan laid out to deal with this. But the way things are going, it might take a while.

Despite problems big and small, I’m pretty happy with this F-16. Every time I spend more than a month without building a new kit, I’m terrified that I’ll get rusty, that my hands will forget the meager skills I’ve gained so far and that my final goal keeps getting away. So doing something in this scale and spending so much time on it was a relief in several ways. And who knows? Maybe someday I will find some applicable serial decals for the fin. Still, it’s good to be back on the saddle.

And thanks to a very generous friend, the wait until the next one would end up being way, way shorter this time.

[salty-dracon]

Trying, and possibly failing, to understand the new Valorant map trailer

I like examining Valorant lore and stuff. Here are my thoughts on the trailer, based on what I already know about the lore up to this point:

Brimstone, who was a former Kingdom mercenary, has officially decided to break off all ties with Kingdom. We know he was part of K-SEC before, and still had good ties within their ranks until recently, until he made his associates angry and they cut off all ties with him. Brimstone appears to have been in turmoil over this, but it seems that in this cinematic, he's finally turned against them for good.

Underneath Los Angeles, Kingdom built a portal to the “Interverse”, which requires a lot of power but we don’t really know what the Interverse is. It doesn't look like the usual portal between Alpha and Omega. It looks goopy and purple. However, we can surmise based on what happened in this trailer that it’s where Gekko’s four funky friends, the Radivore polar bear that bit Deadlock, and potentially some other creatures came from. We also know that Kingdom has been sending crates there, but we don't know why, nor do we know what's in them.

The Alpha squad was there to shut it down, but judging by the fact that the Kingdom scientist locked the control panel before running away, Kingdom needed to keep it operational at all costs. At first the Protocol tried to shut it down normally, first by using a passcode and then by slicing off a researcher's thumb, but both attempts failed, meaning they needed to use force.

As Gekko noted, the portal looks like Wingman- or at least has the same purple accents, fluid-filled body, and triangular particles inside. We know from previous Range patches that the Radivore bear and Gekko's creatures are functionally the same. Furthermore, when Wingman bit Gekko, or did something to him, Gekko and Wingman were able to communicate telepathically to some extent. (This might have also already been done- Sage mentioned in a previous note that "Gekko's account of the creature bonding process contradicts our every assumption", and most creatures don't bond to humans by biting them and forming telepathic bonds with them.) So the Interverse is likely where all Radivores come from, and it's likely many of them have the ability to form sympathetic bonds. We've also learned that Radivores can split their bodies via mitosis, that or another Wingman escaped the portal before it blew, as evidenced by Gekko finding a baby Wingman. I think it's the former, as the baby Wingman seemed to recognize his best friend. Also they wouldn't just... kill off Gekko's ult. That would cause confusion.

Deadlock's attempt at shutting down the portal from the outside caused it to become unstable and spread its area of influence (?), which didn't hit Brimstone or Reyna to that strong of an extent. That being said, there is some kind of an echo effect created by the portal, where any sound created is repeated a few seconds later. I'm unsure if this is a dramatic effect, or it's actually an effect of the Interverse. It also did render the humans immobile, while Wingman was able to move around normally. So we can assume that on some level he's used to this sort of environment.

Once Wingman did whatever he did, the portal spit out energy and sucked it back in, then exploded outward with so much force that it created a massive crater in the facility's parking lot. I'm really unsure how Wingman managed to accomplish that with just some nanowire spooling. Furthermore, parts of Sunset appear to have been affected by the same "floating island" effect as Venice, which Project Landfall was attempting to fix.

We also know from the preview of the map itself that the portal's frame is now half-submerged in purple goop, meaning, yeah, it's been destroyed, but it's probably dangerous down there.

Brimstone's final words in the trailer- that Kingdom was attempting to stop the bleeding, and that the real enemy was Omega Earth- leads me to believe that it was actually the goal for Kingdom to repair the effects of the detonated spikes on Alpha Earth, but Legion took advantage of that to steal more of Alpha's radianite.

My biggest questions are still "how did Wingman manage to shut down a multiversal portal with just some nanowire?". As well as "what was Kingdom transporting through the Interverse?" and "What even is the Interverse, and how does it differ from the supposed multiverse that the Guardians were aware of?"

[red-riding-wood]

Back from Hiatus

Trigger warning? I think? Brief mentions of medical stuff, nothing graphic. Oh, and death (but none occurred).

TLDR if you don't want to read seven paragraphs: Physical health bad, mental health bad, now hospitalised, fucked up when transferring my story files, hospital bad, home soon?, regardless you will be seeing me back in your feed probably more than you'd like

Rambling below cut

So, about a month ago I had to take a step back from Tumblr... and then an even bigger step back from Tumblr, because I had taken a step back from writing and I found that I just pressured myself too much to write and post when I did use the app. (I did my best to save your guys' stories in my drafts to read later but... I may have missed some and I definitely have some catching up to do.)

Why did I take a hiatus from writing? Well, that was due to my physical health declining in a real bad way. I won't get into it too much here, because I would end up telling a dramatic yet probably honestly boring story of the last four years of my life, but I'm willing to answer any questions if anyone's curious.

Anyway, that sent my head into a state of just utter... fear, I suppose. It's very difficult to care or focus on anything else when death is literally on your mind, and I was also in this weird state of limbo because I wasn't sure if I would be going to hospital or dying or what... so I didn't write, or really do anything except try to take care of myself the best I could. And I pretty much just isolated.

I've been in hospital a couple days now. The fear of death has lessened, and I think I'm gonna be okay, though I'm straight up not having a good time. I had this idea that what would get me through it was writing, so I sent myself all of my docs for my WIPs. Thing is, I keep shortcuts to them on my desktop, and apparently they don't save changes to the root file?? A lesson I learned after I showed up and found that massive chunks of my writing, notes, and storyboards were missing. Yeah, I fucked up.

But now there is talk of outpatient care as soon as this Friday which means I can maybe go home with my TPN (feeding through a vein tube which is the best way I can describe it since I am not a medical professional; it's basically a hardcore IV and I assure you it's badass and exactly like Cyberpunk 2077 -- that was sarcasm but seriously, props to anyone who lives with these because these are terrifying). If that's the case, I'll be able to carry on with White Ribbon and the fics I had started for Darjeeling and Budapest, and it will probably be a lot easier for me to write in general. I haven't tried writing yet, but hospital is a really uncomfortable environment for me (I mean, I'm sure it is for most people but I have a lovely lifetime dose of trauma on top of the usual) and I'm not managing as well as I thought I would so I have my doubts on how well I will be able to focus. (Don't worry about requests, guys... I haven't forgotten about any of them and I still fully intend to fulfill them, even if it means writing your smutty fantasies in hospital.)

If that's not the case, and I'm stuck here until surgery, well, I am willing it into the damn universe that I'm gonna write again regardless. So if you don't see me post something in the next week you have my blessing to send copious amounts of hate mail.

Thank you for reading my long-winded explanation. Oh, and, don't hesitate to message/reach out or tag me in anything! I'm feeling more social again now that I'm not, you know, dying and stuff.

[couldbebetterforsure]

Still slowly (VERY slowly 😭) making progress on replaying Fire Emblem Engage so I can get back to the point I was at before my save got deleted and continue my liveblog. As I’m doing that I decided it had been too long since I enjoyed an otome game so I have also been playing Jack Jeanne!

It’s funny when I first heard the news of Jack Jeanne being localized it actually didn’t catch my attention. But like a week ago I saw a random post about it praising it and then I looked it up and saw it was getting a TON of praise. I also looked up some non-spoilery art and info and thought the style looked gorgeous and liked the bits of story and gameplay I found. So I said fuck it and bought it like four days ago.

And WOW I am happy I did!!!!!

First off, the art in this game is BEAUTIFUL! Sui Ishida, the writer and artist for Tokyo Ghoul, is responsible not only for the gorgeous art and character designs but also did a bunch of other stuff for this game (even writing the lyrics for the songs which is incredible). Seriously the amount of time I spend just staring at CGs is nuts, they’re all so incredible whether they’re comedic or dramatic. The character designs are all so wonderful too and so expressive!

The music is so incredible too! The background tracks are great and fitting for the situations. So far I only just finished the Newcomers’ Performance so the only vocal songs I’ve heard so far are the main theme Jack & Jeanne of Quartz, and the two songs for The Sleepless King: Fortune Color is Crystal and Beyond the Plane Tree. Bruh….I never skip the main theme that’s how good it is. And it’s sung in character by the heroine and the six LIs. I went and bought the mp3 for it I’ve been obsessing over it that much. Fortune Color is Crystal was not what I expected considering the nature of the play it’s in but it’s so catchy! And holy fucking shit Beyond the Plane Tree is one of the most beautiful songs I’ve ever heard, the harmonies in it are so 😭😭😭😭 I’m playing this game blind (with a spoiler free guide) so I haven’t listened ahead to the other songs but I was so impressed by these three that not only did I buy the mp3 for the main theme I ordered the vocal collection since the other songs aren’t available for mp3 download.

The story is definitely interesting me so far. Like I said I’ve only just finished the Newcomers Performance so I’m not that far in the story but it managed to hook me in entirely despite the seemingly simple sounding premise of “heroine disguised herself as a boy to attend all boys academy”. I’m actually surprised by how many times so far I actually forgot our heroine is supposed to be in disguise 😂😂😂 Not because the game doesn’t use the premise properly but more because there’s so much shit going on!!! And it slowly introduces new characters and plot points so that I’m always eager to see what happens next. Especially in terms of the plays (oh yeah this takes place in a theater school sorry I forgot to bring that up)! With this first play I was excited to see who was cast in what roles, the plot of it, watching the rehearsals, and seeing it all come together in the end in spectacular fashion! I like the stat raising element, nothing complex or luck based about it so it’s not aggravating. I’m totally in love with the rhythm game aspect, though it means whenever we get to the actual plays I’m more focused on getting a top score than watching the video of the performance. But that’s what the gallery is for right? The interesting thing about this game from what I hear is that, unlike typical otome games, Jack Jeanne is like 80% common route. Like while you make choices that earn affection and can pick who you hang out with, the LI specific routes don’t come in until WAAAAAY later. I thought I would mind since I generally prefer more romance in my otome (sounds silly but people who play otome games probably understand what I mean) but so far I don’t care because the story is just that enjoyable (and it’s not like there’s no moments at all).

And then there’s the characters. I like when MCs are voiced and I’m especially glad Kisa is voiced since this is a story about theater. I really like her so far she’s sweet and a hard worker, I can’t wait to see how she grows as both an actor and a person! I love her standing up to Otori and doubling down on seeking assistance and working together during practice. And I love how sweet and bell-like her voice is! Suzu (to the surprise of no one because I’m Miss Predictable) is my fave. Sweetheart, earnest, energetic, puppy in human form? Yeah that’s a LI tailor made for Willow! I love how much he has already grown as an actor from how robotic he sounded when he first practiced his lines to his PHENOMENAL performance for his first time on stage in The Sleepless King (which by the way how did my boy Suzu not win any award for that performance?!?!?! This game is rigged😡). And bruh I nearly fucked up both rhythm game segments for the Newcomers Performance because of how blindsided I was by how beautiful his singing voice is (don’t know why I was so shocked I know his VA is incredible). Sou is so soft and sweet so far and I can already see some hints for where his story might go (possibly about him not standing out as much?). I like that he’s in the know about Kisa and I do love me some childhood friend romances! Mitsuki makes me laugh with his tsundereness but I love how compared to typical tsundere characters he’s more softspoken and doesn’t go heavy handed on it. Negi is so funny so far I really enjoy whenever he’s onscreen talking a mile a minute or causing his own little brand of chaos. Kai seems super kind and I love that he seems like an animal expert, I wanna know more about him. And Fumi is just super cool to me, his design to his voice to his personality. I really love this Quartz squad, they’re so lovable and have such enjoyable dynamics with each other! Regarding side characters I’m only just beginning to know some, and I know there are a ton I have yet to meet, but I really like the ones I’ve met so far. They’re either kind, funny, a mix of both, or have yet to really display any trait that makes me feel one way or another. The only side character I have strong feelings towards as of where I am now in the game is Otori. And even then I find him enjoyably annoying. He’s talented and knows it, but he’s also an annoying dick and I enjoy proving him wrong. Also he’s hilarious without ever meaning to be, which keeps me from being too annoyed at him.

Anyways yeah that’s my ramble about Jack Jeanne so far! There’s probably a ton I missed or forgot but I just wanted to gush for a moment about this great game! I’m having so much fun so far and can’t wait to see what the rest of the game is gonna bring. I’m at the very start of June so it’s the Summer Performance next!

[tellthemeerkatsitsfine]

I’ve just watched Heart-Throbs, the third and final of the Peacock & Gamble double act Edinburgh hours. The first was Emergency Broadcast in 2011, which isn’t online (that I’ve found) as a whole show, but there are a bunch of video clips on Pateron from various nights as well as a partial audio bootleg of an early WIP, and I can put those together to have a pretty decent idea of what went on, I think. Then Peacock & Gamble Don’t Even Want To Be On Telly Anyway, from which we’ve been blessed with two different hour-long videos, one the first WIP and one from Edinburgh, and that’s amazing. And Heart-Throbs, a full video of the first night in Edinburgh that was uploaded relatively recently, as well as a couple of clips from a WIP, and a compilation of times when later versions deviated from that first night. Really a lot of stuff for not very much money, if anyone else happens to be interested in this and wanted to find them on this Patreon page.

Emergency Broadcast, I get the impression was cool because so little of it had been actually written beforehand, so much was worked out during WIPs and even during the run in Edinburgh, so many curveballs were thrown with such force, so much was just funny stuff that had come up between them in random moments and got chucked at the wall during the show. It felt spontaneous and exciting that way. Don’t Even Want to Be On Telly Anyway was so good – so very, very good – because it clearly had been carefully written beforehand, there was obviously some room for off-leash behaviour but this one had coherent narratives and themes and a whole lot of work gone into making it seem effortless, ramshackle in a curated way, it all fit together.

Heart-Throbs was… maybe not quite as much of the best of either of those worlds, I thought, but still really, really good. I’ll put it this way – in 2012, they got four stars from Chortle, and they got angry because they said it was a five-star show. A bold claim, thinking four stars isn’t good enough. But I think they were actually right. Very few things are five-star shows, but Don’t Even Want To Be On Telly Anyway seemed like probably a five-star show. Heart-Throbs also got four stars from Chortle, and that seems fair, Heart-Throbs was probably a four-star show. Some of it seemed slightly less well written than the previous one, but it was still better than most other shows. In my personal and subjective opinion, which is definitely more accurate than Steve Bennett’s personal and subjective opinion.

Some of it was still brilliant though. There were a few amazing individual sketches. Ray Peacock singing a song from Greece at the top of this voice, committing to the bit so hard for the entire song, made me laugh very hard. There was a great sketch with a deer-based game show where Ed Gamble got to also be funny, as opposed to some of the show where he was kind of sidelined (the joke was that Ed Gamble is sick of being the unfunny straight man, but the only way those jokes could work was by making him kind of actually an unfunny straight man). Ray Peacock playing a waiter was amazing. They both threw their entire voices into all of it and I’m surprised they could still speak by the end of the run.

The narrative was slightly harder to follow than the one in the previous show, more convoluted and further removed from reality. This one was a story they’d invented entirely, rather than the previous one where they exaggerated bits of real life, which may be why it wasn’t as easy to keep track of the thread. Though there was definitely still some dramatic irony in this one, like in the previous one. It ends on a poster of Ray and Ed the says they’ll be “best friends together at the bottom [of mainstream success] – all the time, everywhere, every day”, which I think can still count as ironic even if it's just a picture of fictional characters played by them. It packs an extra punch if you see it in 2024. Not even a punch that has anything to do with them, just a general remembering that yeah, sure, we all made promises in 2013. You make promises in 2013 about being underdogs together but then someone gets a couple of spots on the national team or offers from national training centres or a call from Mock the Week or whatever and then where did that go? It’s fine, you cannot hold people to everything they said in 2013. That was a message in the fictional narrative that they definitely did not intend to write into it at the time.

There were so many funny bits in Heart-Throbs though, possibly more individual funny moments that I'll remember from this one than from Don't Even Want To Be On Telly Anyway, if I look back when they're not both fresh in my mind. Both characters got to have even more breakdowns in this show, and those are always funny. I'm probably not going to be able to go any more Mother's Days without thinking about the joke that if your birthday is on Mother's Day it means you're a mother. I don't know why but that's probably going to be the one I remember the most.