#75% of my traits are already his traits

[angelstrawbabie420]

this feels so insanely weird

[savingsallow]

Quick Thank You From Val

Shout out to all the MC and OC friends that Val made in 2024!!! 📢✨

When I became active in the fandom around July/August of last year, I didn't expect that my little sassy but sweet kid would make so many friends.

So here's a quick thank you and shout out to all of you from Val ❤️‍🔥

🌟 @ravenwind-75: shout out to the lovely and chaotic jo 💜! you're one of the first mcs that val gets to interact with and she's thankful that you two are now friends and even in the hcu together! 💪🏻

⋆✴︎˚｡⋆ ⋆✴︎˚｡⋆ ⋆✴︎˚｡⋆ ⋆✴︎˚｡⋆ ⋆✴︎˚｡⋆

🌟 @acslytherpuff : shout out to the baddie ✨cassie luna✨ aka val's human moon best friend 🌙 and soul sister 🤍 cassie def has a special place in val's heart and will protect and support her no matter what! 🫂p.s. shout out to alvin and alex as well!!!✨

🌟 @espressoristretto-patronum: shout out to the kind but fierce tori! ☀️ not only that tori and val are both grumpy without coffee in their system 😆☕ but val also looks up to tori for always being so kind, funny, and overall positive and light energy to be around!✨

🌟 @ps-cactus: shout out to nomnombelyn alyn! 🩵 aka val's first adopted introvert here! 😆🫶🏻 val says that she loves alyn very much and is thankful that they became friends! 🥺🫂 now she'll def spoil her with chocolates 🍫 and books 📚!!!

🌟 @diana-bluewolf: shout out to (grumpy but lovable) chris! 🐺💚 another introvert that val adopted 😆 who knew asking someone for snacks could be the start of a friendship 😌🍬 val says thank you to chris for tolerating her and letting her hang out with him 😆🫂 oh! and for offering different points of view and a calming presence✨

🌟 @fulminare-within-her-soul: shout out to euphie! 🐉💙 a total badass and academic weapon✨ euphie and eleazar are always fun to hang out with and there's always something new and intriguing with you guys! 🤩 i guess opposites do attract 🤝

🌟 @syrooo: shout out to renn! 🔥 aka val's long lost sibling or version of her in a different universe 🤔❤️‍🔥 the lore is still in the kitchen and cooking 😁 there's not much interaction yet but i'm already excited for these two!!! 🔥🔥🔥

🌟 @myokk: shout out to the best cousins ever, eloise and leo!!! 💚family gatherings are waaaay better when there's eloise and leo! val is sending many hugs and love to these two 🫂🫂🫂

🌟 @ozunafieldguide: shout out to this enigmatic cutie, lo! 💙 very interesting and deep, a few traits that val admires about lo 🤭 i hope these two get more interaction soon and val would love to braid lo's hair✨

🌟 @leaping-toadstool-caps: shout out to this big babie, jaimsen!! 💛 a big foodie like val and she appreciates his sunshine personality so much!! ☀️ shout out to florence as well!! ngl but he and val could be besties, too! 🤭🩵

🌟 @girl-named-matty: shout out to this beautiful specimen, callan!aka val's s/o in the hcu and her first oc x oc ship!! ❤️‍🔥 val is always in awe of him but she won't admit it 😆🫶🏻 shout out as well to the amazing matty ♥️ cutie theo 💛 and helena (mother) 🥵🔥

🌟 @theladyofshalott1989: shout out to the very patient, damien! 💙 another foodie like jaimsen and val! she admires damien's patience and his fun personality! always a fun guy to be around✨

🌟 @accio-bagel: shout out to the hottest lovable rogue, ellie! 💚✨ aka val's biggest girl crush and fAvOrItE rOoMaTe 🤨 val went from adoring her from afar to now being homies with ellie 🤭 and she's more than grateful to have her around!! ❤️‍🔥

🌟 @freddiestheproblemchild: shout out to roan!! 💚✨ this isn't really from val but from ale 😆 he wants to thank roan for having more adopted siblings and he says he'll continue to be a good brother to them!!! 🫂❤️‍🔥 p.s. shout out to freddie, the croft triplets, and lucinda!✨

—

more shout out to all the mcs that val interacted with last year! 📣

🔥 @alibasnur: to chen from the hogwarts food club! ♥️✨

🔥 @ask-felix-aberg: to this lovely and kind lad, felix, that val respects bc of his kindness and warm presence! 🫂🩵

🔥 @rypnami: to auri, phillip, and elsie! their interaction may be short but val is sending them all some warm hugs!!! 🫂🫂🫂

🔥 @thursdaymoonrise11: to the very fab phoebe!! 🩵✨ val would certainly try to hang out more with phoebe this year cuz she loves her overall vibes!!! 🤌🏻🤌🏻🤌🏻

🔥 @starry-slithers: to the cutie cariad! these two need more interaction but val certainly adores her! ❤️‍🔥

🔥 @theravenchild: to the very lovely hellendil! 🩵✨ he and val don't have any official interaction yet, but she'd love to have a tea party with him sometime! 🍵✨

🔥 @pikadrawsthings: to these bunch of lovable af traumatized children, elijah, lilith, raymond, and weiss!!! 💛💚♥️💙 val is very excited to get to know them more and have more interactions with every one of them! 🤩 (don't worry, i'm cooking their interaction 🫡 just really slow 🫠) sending love to all of these cuties!!! ❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥

⋆✴︎˚｡⋆ ⋆✴︎˚｡⋆ ⋆✴︎˚｡⋆ ⋆✴︎˚｡⋆ ⋆✴︎˚｡⋆

there are more mcs that val adores but has no interaction yet 😅 but dw! she'll make her first move at some point this year! 🫡

so watch out 😏✨

again, thank you to all and sending love and support to each and every one of you! ❤️‍🔥

— val

[abbysimsfun]

Sims In Bloom: Generation 2 Pt. 75 ½ (Where Ash Actually Ages Up!)

He didn't have time to age up in yesterday's episode, so this one's for the legacy's first Gen 3 kid, Ash Landgraab: heir to an empire (but not the legacy). A short post to give him his due, outside storyline.

He went from being a bossy, outgoing, and lovable toddler to a Genius! Take that, Nancy. No private preschool required! This was a random roll, which I'm doing for all the kids who aren't the next gen heir since the heir's traits are pre-selected in the In Bloom challenge.

Ash maxed out everything on his Wabbit Tablet and even used it to learn SSL/ASL (Heather and especially Conrad would have been all for this and I'd imagine the Landgraabs would have been impressed as well), so he immediately started getting annoyed with every TV show that didn't have accessibility options available as soon as he aged up to child.

In addition to being a genius, I don't want to give too much away as to what he's like because all will be revealed in time, but he's five and already has layers to him. He's also about to become a big brother twice over when his mother and stepmother give birth.

We won't see him outside his outerwear for a while because it's almost winter and Brindleton Bay is constantly frozen, so here's a bit of him without his hair under a knit hat. Looks-wise there's a lot of Heather in there though he has his father's eyes (from Nancy!), and I'm so curious to see who he resembles more when he gets older.

He's not the legacy heir, but he is the Landgraab heir, so Watcher only knows what he'll become with a possible centuries-old Landgraab curse hanging over his shoulder. He survived near-death once and it sent Heather and Conrad on a quest to learn everything they could about death flowers, ambrosia, and ghosts to keep him safe, even though they "don't believe" in the curse. Ash is also destined for a lot of money and expectation, and I can't wait to see how he responds to it all as he gets older.

I took some family portraits you might see again in the background on a wall someday, but didn't really serve any particular plot and I wanted to share. From Family Poses by @sunivaa (below). The one above on their patio sofa is from Legacy Pose Pack by Sofi Sparks. They're not for pregnant sims so clipping is my fault, but they worked for what I wanted and thank you for sharing them!

Tomorrow, a quick Harvestfest and life with Ash resumes! We're in the homestretch with nooboo, but Saturday is Heather's due date. ->

<- Previous Chapter | Gen 2 Start | Gen 1 Summary | Gen 1 Start

[insert-random-account-name]

Crappy Character Analysis, part 7

part 1 (Broken) part 2 (Skeptic) part 3 (Cold)

part 4 (Paranoid) part 5 (Stubborn) part 6 (Contrarian)

part 7 (You are here) part 8 (Opportunist) part 9 (Cheated)

part 10 (Hunted) part 11 (Hero)

VOICE OF THE SMITTEN

This is another voice I liked (as a person, not as a character) less after the Pristine Cut was released. In his original dialogue, he was a comedically unhinged simp. Although he made some weird comments, and killed you on one occasion, he was still loved by the community. (I don’t think there’s a single let’s-player who gets him and doesn’t instantly start imitating him.) In the Damsel, where 75% of his content lies, Smitten is endearing by sheer ridiculousness alone. This theme continued in the (burned) Grey, the Razor, and the MoC. In the Thorn, Smitten comes through with an unexpected tenderness, making it the most romantic route of the game. And then there’s the new Chapter three he features in: The Happily Ever After. In the lead-up to the chapter, he forces you to rip your heart out, manipulates the threads of your body, and takes over the construct. In the chapter, he traps you and the Princess in the cabin, making you feel like you can’t resist, and tries to keep you there forever, in the name of your happy ending. This chapter is one of the most emotional ones in the game, and it’s clear how unhappy and scared the Princess is throughout. This adds a new disturbing filter to not only his character, but to everything else he’s previously said that could’ve been brushed off before.

Before I start my thoughts on him, I want to emphasize that I am not excusing Smitten’s actions, but explaining them. The whole point of this analysis is to understand why these characters do what they do, and I want to make it perfectly clear that I do not condone his actions. That out of the way, I don’t think the Smitten had malicious intent in the HEA. But first, let’s unpack him in general. I don’t actually think the Smitten’s “purpose” is to love the Princess. I think his purpose is to be The Hero of your story. It’s already been discussed how the voices don’t really match up with the personality traits attributed to them, so I won’t go into that, but I think the means through which you get him are not necessarily the most romantic, but instead are the ones that correlate the most with the traditional ideas of a hero and a princess. Rushing into the cabin unarmed and sacrificing yourself to save her? Pretty typical of a fairy-tale hero. Treating her with love even when she threatens to stab you? Also a “heroic” thing to do. Smitten even talks like someone out of an old adventure tale. If this is true, why does he love the Princess? Because that’s how the story goes! You find the cabin, rescue the Princess, fall in love at first sight, and live happily ever after. This is also why he loves the Princess regardless of her form or actions. Those are mere setbacks in the tale of your undying love and persistence. Because of this worldview, Smitten goes into the cabin already expecting the ending he knows is coming. The dark side to his character comes out when this expectation is subverted. Slaying the Damsel shifts the narrative in a way he hadn’t thought to predict. In a desperate attempt to steer the story back on track, Smitten plunges your blade though your heart, because that’s how the story goes. One lover perishes and the other, wracked with grief, quickly follows suit. However, when you find yourself back in the woods again, he quickly tries to restore the narrative that was tossed aside. Finally, in the HEA, when you suggest staying in the cabin, Smitten leaps on the idea. Even if it’s not the typical idea of a happily ever after, it’s still romantic, and that’s what counts. However, when the Princess shows discomfort and apprehension at living with a virtual stranger, Smitten starts to panic. Isn’t this love at first sight? Why isn’t she as happy as you are? Is the story wrong? No, he just did it wrong! This place isn’t welcoming enough, or you aren’t dashing enough, or the torches don’t burn as brightly as they need to! If he just changes things, she’ll be happy. Everyone will be happy. He can’t accept anything else. This is what backs his actions in HEA. His thoughts are that if the Princess leaves, that means he failed. He failed to achieve the happy ending he longed for. He failed to show her how much he loves her, for if she loved him, she wouldn’t leave. This logic is obviously flawed, but Smitten is so obviously deranged that it makes its own kind of twisted sense. Smitten doesn’t mean to be abusive, but that doesn’t stop him from pushing the Princess to a breaking point as she tip-toes on eggshells to avoid his wrath.

Of course, there are other sides to Smitten. In the Thorn, he recognizes the Princess’s pain, and understands that there is forgiveness on the horizon, as long as you’re willing to put in the effort. In the Burned Grey, you see more of his wrath (or wroth, as he pronounces it) first-hand, with his iconic back-and-forth with Cold, and you see his madness as he insists you burn with a lover scorned. While Smitten is one of my favorite characters, if I met him in real life, I’d get a restraining order. Those are most of my thoughts on him, anything else would just be something that’s already been said many times over.

(To the person who tagged this as read later, I added more links >:))

[fiveredlights]

extended author's note for The DAUD

ah The DAUD. what is there to say about The DAUD. first time i’ve fallen out of my chair whilst writing actually. had a great bruise on my thigh for a fortnight and my head hurt for a day and i did blame benjamin.  

the many drafts of The DAUD

so originally The DAUD was just going to be the opening scene, straight to season launch, straight to the race and then the closing scene. which would’ve taken place at a mcdonald’s carpark mind you. 

daniel was admittedly much less depressed, much less anxious, but as i got to writing i just couldn’t ignore everything to do with [Redacted Race & Team] and obviously benjamin’s presence forced my hand and i just couldn’t pretend that daniel was all happy smiley sunshine etc. 

any reminders of f1, and i would feel another wave of grief hit me. it would happen again and again and again and all this grief and sadness would start to build up as anger and i don’t know where to place all the grief and sadness and anger. 

i had a lot of cues to drive all these big things and honestly like 99.9% just came from the haha in daniel’s post. like. maybe the overarching thesis of this whole fic is how much can one four letter word ruin my life and the answer is A LOT! 

the 0.01% is me feeling just so tired of f1 now. exhausted. wrung out. i hate change, and i know fear of it will not make it stop, but seeing everything and everyone move on so easily gutted my little heart out. i got so irrationally angry at the people who wanted daniel to do this, or that, etc because all that lingered in the background of my mind was the haha. if i devoted basically my whole life to a sport that turned on me and started hating me, i would devote myself to absolutely nothing for the rest of my life. which is maybe also why daniel really struggles with max’s presence. 

to him, it is only time before max turns around and starts hating him, just like the sport did. difficult to devote, when all they do is leave. 

weirdly i feel like this is some sort of spiritual successor of i’ll never leave (never mind) even though the max/daniel relationship are in two different places, but the daniel’s themselves are obviously similar. INLNM daniel ends the fic with hiding how he’s feeling, DAUD daniel starts the fic with him hiding how he’s feeling, until we slowly start to descend into the Snap Point. 

one draft had actually social media bits in it but that was quickly abandoned after i realised my university kicked me out of the adobe plan (which is so rude considering how much money i pay them every year) and i didn’t want to do the text version because it would break immersion—i’d already introduced the wikipedia page the chapter before. 

(but apparently i did write a text only version so that’ll be down there someone.) 

benjamin (and julian) 

here’s the thing. i have so many notes everywhere that express my bitter hatred towards benjamin. hated him. he was genuinely the most unwieldy character to write and i thought that about matthew. freudian slip. 

i would say it wasn’t until the last week, until i wrote the scene where he reheats the food for max i was like wait. actually. maybe you aren’t so bad. then he left and i was like maybe i do miss you.

(then i wrote the epilogue and i didn’t miss him at all.)

benjamin was originally called jaxson, but once julian came into play, jaxson was changed into benjamin and the rest is history. julian’s identity actually wasn’t meant to be revealed in the fic at all, not until the epilogue but benjamin just couldn’t keep his mouth shut. benjamin is somehow the worst and best secret keeper ever.

my favourite scene does go to him though. when max stabs his salad in the exact same way benjamin did earlier. my little heart goes and falls off a cliff. so endeared by these silly little guys and their silly little traits. 

daniel and the very unreliable narration

the thing is i don’t even know if they’re like dating by the end of it. they’re like 75% of the way there and the last 25% is just for them. if you asked max he would probably be like “yeah we’re together???” and if you asked daniel it would be “we’re working our way towards it” — but i think max knows that and they’re just taking it day by day. they have time. 

i knew i wanted to write his depression and his anxiety in a very specific way aka the way i know because it is easier to write what you know but i did *try* to focus on the physicality of it? i’m wording this horribly, but honestly a little bit for my own emotional stability and sanity, i needed daniel to zone in on the physical aspects vs the emotional. 

(look i was already opening a bag of worms writing about anxiety and depression—i too thought i had kept my own shit locked, loaded, thrown out the key, hashtag very good with everything, hashtag love and light, but with the amount of times i cried whilst writing this i’m not too sure.)

i actually don't know where i'm going with this. moving on.

random in universe lore drops

benjamin and julian drove for italian teams in f2/f3, julian for PREMA and benjamin for Trident. i don’t think julian’s with any driver academies right now, a free agent if you will.

there was a planned subplot where there was only two beds for three people because grace had stolen the third bed from daniel’s house for one of their relatives staying and never gave it back (there was no relative she was trying to reverse parent trap them)

this was deleted because they somehow ended up in one bed anyway. at this point i am 3 for 3 in max and daniel somehow ending up in one bed. okay i didn’t plan for it to happen it just happened! 

when daniel and max have children, they have two twin girls name jemima and julianne :)

easter eggs

because it wouldn’t be a FRL-fic if i didn’t refer to my other children at least once! 

the blue sweater max throws at daniel is the same blue sweater he stole/is wearing during their veranda-sunrise scene in glitter on the floor prequel -> daniel is wearing it this time during their balcony-night time scene :) 

julian’s favourite cowboy song is cowboy like me, famously sung by takes one to know one daniel to max. not too much on CLM benjamin… do you KNOW how important that song is to max and daniel in that universe? (also originally they were throwing phones at each other before i cut it out because we gotta tone them down)

know in my heart i wanted the cats quentin and ziggy to either be gary and steve OR matthew and callan. gary and steve i could’ve probably got away with, but matthew and callan are just too blatant. but know deep in my heart i wanted it to be them. 

the enchante collection daniel and max go through is very vaguely intended to be the Enchanté x MV33 collection from old habits, but obviously without the MV33. 

the social media deleted bits

(originally LL was still in RB and benjamin was going to finish in P10. but i decided that even fictional RB doesn’t deserve anything good, so no points for you!) 

Formula 1 F1 · 17 Feb

The wait is almost over for the biggest F1 launch event ever 🙌

F1 75 Live at The 02 is happening tomorrow! With livery reveals from all 10 teams, interviews with drivers and team principals, it’s an unmissable event 🤩

(Keep an eye out at the 2025 DAUD reveal… we heard it’s a big name 👀)

#F1 #F175Live

129 replies 482 reposts 8,291 likes

Visa Cash App Racing Bulls VisaCashAppRB ·  17 Feb

1️⃣ MORE SLEEP 😴

Who else is ready to see our 2025 livery and meet our DAUD  🙋

[Photo: The car underneath a black sheet, the lights dimmed out.]

12 replies 11 reposts 328 likes

—

ric3stappen

place your bets on who the DAUD will be this year. i’m thinking alternate fernando finally found a way to bribe the FIA and we’ll finally get some like weird twin driver thing this year

#truly it’s what we deserve #what’s the point of using the DAUD program if you aren’t going to have any fun with it 

392 notes

jeanie 🤠 COTADANIEL ·17 Feb

the funniest option ever would be another daniel being the DAUD

12 replies 19 reposts 282 likes

jeanie 🤠 COTADANIEL · 17 Feb

Replying to COTADANIEL

i say funny but i honestly might just start crying like i’m still not doing emotionally well

4 replies 0 reposts 98 likes

F175 Live at The 02 — 2025 F1 Season Launch

532K watching Started 55 min ago #F1…more

F1 10.8M

[00:55:33]

A lift below the stage rises to reveal the Racing Bull’s car, Yuki Tsunoda and Isack Hadjar. The car slides forward, as both drivers walk around waving at the crowd. The lift rises again to Benjamin walking out.

—

maxielupdates

am i hallucinating 

38 notes

tris ☘️ THREETHREETHREE · 17 Feb

I’M SO SORRY DID YOU SAY RICCIARDO ?!

8 replies 58 reposts 283 likes

bigriccenergy

like daniel ricciardo… that ricciardo… what the fuck

#what in the DANIEL CURSE IS HAPPENING

128 notes

jeanie 🤠 COTADANIEL · 17 Feb

i have started crying for those keeping track i did mean it when i said i am emotionally unwell

2 replies 0 reposts 12 likes

—

[Photo: Benjamin standing in front of the car, with his arms crossed. 36 is his driver’s number.]

Liked by maxverstappen1 and others

visacashapprb You did hear that right, introducing the DAUD for the 2025 season is none other than Benjamin Ricciardo 👏

Read more at the 🔗in our bio.

View all 12,382 comments

matthewevca As in Daniel Ricciardo’s son or ??????????

23 February

—

jake 381racers · 23 Feb

So I guess this technically means that Max has driven against a Ricciardo in every single year of his F1 career so far still

5 replies 1 reposts 192 likes 

kadey danyellricciardo · 23 Feb

Replying to 381racers

i love that this is your first thought 

1 replies 0 reposts 21 likes

jake 381racers · 23 Feb

Replying to danyellricciardo

It has to be otherwise suddenly I’m at Milton Keynes and Faenza with lighter fluid and matches

0 replies 9 reposts 59 likes

verstappenricciardo

do you think that benjamin tried to go back to his universe after finding out what red bull did to daniel here or

#that or he's going to crash the car at every possible point to really fuck with the costcap and i would support him#wait i just had an awful thought what if his daniel also went through what we went through NOOOOOO #guys i have to believe that one universe out there is just beautiful and we got what we wanted again so delete that thought

842 notes

—

danielricciardo 36m

[Photo: Daniel and Benjamin sitting next to each other, attempting to mirror each other.

Text reads: Seeing (almost) double 👨👨]

—

tris ☘️ THREETHREETHREE · 24 Feb

literally fell out my chair seeing that IG story like how does one process this

3 replies 7 reposts 48 likes

—

F1TV: 2025 PRE SEASON TESTING DAY 1

Will BUXTON: Now is probably a good time as ever to talk about the Australian sized elephant sitting in the Racing Bulls garage, this year’s Designated Alternate Universe Driver is Benjamin Ricciardo. Some of you at home might be new to the sport, you might have heard of Ricciardo before, but Laura just talk us through the significance of the DAUD program and Benjamin Ricciardo being in the Racing Bulls.

Laura WINTER: Absolutely, so for those new to the sport, welcome, we’re glad to have you. Every year the sport welcomes a driver from another universe, otherwise known as the DAUD, they arrive for pre-season testing and complete the first race of the season before going back to their universe. The DAUD program was introduced as a way for teams to potentially become more competitive depending on where their DAUD came from, and it’s just a really interesting way to challenge teams up and down the grid. Teams work on a rotation depending on the last number of the year, so since it is 2025, Racing Bulls have the pleasure of hosting the DAUD who ended up being Benjamin Ricciardo.

BUXTON: It’s not a coincidence if you are recognising the Ricciardo name, he is related to Daniel Ricciardo, he is in fact Daniel’s son. But not the Daniel that we currently know, the whole alternate universe can start to confuse people.

WINTER: I find that if you try and not to think about it then it actually makes more sense. But obviously the timing of everything given the past season with Daniel leaving Racing Bulls midway through the season for Liam Lawson, who now has Daniel’s kid as his teammate for one race is probably not what anyone expected coming into the season. 

BUXTON: I have to assume that it’s probably a little bit awkward in that garage, for everyone involved. I’ve been told that Daniel is not in Bahrain to watch Benjamin, but we’ll see whether he shows up in Melbourne. It is his home race, for both Benjamin and Daniel.

WINTER: We’re in early stages of testing, so I’m interested to see how Benjamin will fare. He does also have that time difference to fare with, I believe he also did travel back twenty years as well as hopping universes, so I can only assume Daniel gave him a bunch of tips on how to drive the car. 

—

ric3stappen 

me clocking in to watch all three days of testing even though i vowed to never give a single fuck about the sport ever again 

#you put daniel’s son in front of me and you tell me you’re also not watching him every time he races… c’mon

verstappenricciardo

omg they gave benjamin pierre hamelin maybe all is right with the world

#i would put money that pierre LEPT at the opportunity #every race last year with lawson he sounded done you know he misses daniel 

bigriccenergy 

please tell me you guys saw that video of max watching benjamin in the garage GOD MY HEART

#and why is he filming?? omg is he filming for daniel #im gonna go lay down

jake 381racers 

why max verstappen jet in perth? max verstappen in perth? why max verstappen jet not in melbourne? max verstappen visiting daniel ricciardo? 

deuxmoi 3hr

[Sent via form submission from Deuxmoi

Pseudonyms, Please: Thrice is Nice

Email: thriceisnice@/gmail.com

Subject: Third wheeling

Message: Max Verstappen seen at Perth arrivals airport this morning (around 3:30am). Was with Benjamin as well, Daniel and his mum picked them up from arrivals hall—the two former teammates looking veryyyyyy cosy. Almost too cosy. Make of that what you will.

Text overlayed: For my F1 enjoyers 👀]

—

maxielupdates 

look deuxmoi is like the gossips of all gossips, BUT we do know max is in perth. so. make of that what you will. 

#subject line being third wheeling…so interesting

tris

hold on… max is in perth… with benjamin… and daniel … and his family… there’s something there but i’ll be shot into the sun if i say it 

ric3stappen 

ASK: have you seen this: tumblr maxielupdates post

my favourite sentence is the too cozy one because for normal people i assume it just means like a long hug but for these two social norms have and will always continue to be broken so i just assume they were like holding a staring contest in the middle of the terminal or something idk

#i can imagine them just 👁️👁️ across the terminal and people around them being like wtf 

20 notes

—

F1 Press Conference

Drivers: Max VERSTAPPEN (Red Bull), Benjamin RICCIARDO (Racing Bulls), Oscar PIASTRI (McLaren) 

Q: Benjamin, seeing as you’re new to the grid for this race, we’ll start with you. It must feel exciting coming into this as our DAUD for the 2025 season, just talk us through how this past month has been for you?

Benjamin RICCIARDO: It’s definitely been hectic, like the second I stepped out it was such an immediate change than what I’m used to, even just being twenty or so years back than the time period I’m used to, let alone being in a completely different universe, but it’s been cool. You know how parents are always like “back in my day…” type of things and we would be like “yeah whatever” as a kid, but I actually now get to experience it, which is crazy. Obviously things aren’t you know a one for one recreation of my parents lives, but it’s pretty similar.

Q: Speaking of your parents, it would be remiss not to bring them up. How do you feel coming into the DAUD program being related to Daniel?

BR: There are like four people in this room who are ready to throw water at me if I say too much, but the DAUDs being related to F1 drivers isn’t exactly a new concept. I think you guys had one of Lewis’ or Rosberg’s kids a couple years back—I don’t exactly remember—but I think it’s probably just… let’s say the timing of everything that’s probably assisted in it being a bigger deal than it needs to be. 

Q: You mention the timing of everything, there must be some awkwardness within the team given who you are and what happened to Daniel in the previous season?

BR: I feel like a lot of people forget that all the DAUDs are crosschecked so that we don’t exist in this current universe. Like, it can be weird to think about, but Daniel here obviously didn’t have a baby last year, so there’s no physical way that I could exist here. So yes, whilst technically he is my dad, he’s not. Daniel here is like my bonus dad, in a weird alternate universe–twin way. I’m obviously aware of what happened here, but I can’t really speak too much about what unfortunately happened between Daniel here and the team. I think it’s pretty ******* stupid what happened, but you know, hopefully I’ll be able to make him proud with what I’ll do here. Honestly, I just came here to race. I didn’t realise there would be so many questions!

Max VERSTAPPEN: I think in this universe you are holding the wrong names and passport! 

BR: You know that the other ones would cause even more questions.

Q: What do you mean by that Benjamin?

BR: I would love to tell you, but unless the memory wiping machines from Men In Black suddenly existed, I’m contractually obligated to say absolutely nothing. Maybe you’ll find out in like thirty three years, who knows. Is that when the statute of limitations are up?

—

kadey danyellricciardo · 

now i know why they haven’t let benjamin do any press until his race, he’s like three seconds away from saying FUCK THOSE NDAs 😭

ric3stappen

i have questions. so many questions. but apparently i won’t find out until 2058. 

#such a specific number benjamin… what do you know #max… what do you know

tris THREETHREETHREE

literally rotating between i want benjamin to score points but also not wanting him to score points because i want that team to fucking burn to the ground

maxielupdates

Full post race radio between Benjamin and Pierre: 

That is P10, P10 Benjamin. Excellent, excellent, excellent. Some very good driving, especially at the end with the attacking. You should be very pleased with yourself. 

That was fun! I scared myself at the end with the dive down, but we made it stick so that’s all that matters. Probably scared you guys as well!

You have been wonderful to work with over pre-season testing and this race weekend, your feedback has always been so concise and clear, and I speak for everyone in the garage that you are clearly a very talented driver, we wish you all the best for whatever comes when you go back home. And I was about to say that you got another point for fastest lap, but no we do not do that now. But still, one point is very good!

Thank you, you’ve been great to work with Pierre and everyone in the garage. I'll print this radio message out and get you guys to sign it when I go back home as my references, haha. I’m happy to leave the fastest lap award for Daniel, I think that one will always be his. Where did Max finish?

Max finished in P1, managed to pass Oscar on the last lap. Enjoy the final cool down lap Benjamin, and P0 when you pull into the pitlane and switch off the car.

Copy. Thank you guys. 

#pierre now misses not one but two ricciardos… free my guy #i love benjamin he just says whatever without a care in the world like how do you know about the ricciardo rule 

219 notes

jake 

What happens if we just didn’t send Ben back. Just kept him for the rest of the season. Then what. 

bigriccenergy

ALEXA PLAY SILVER SPRINGS BECAUSE BOY WILL TIME CASTS A SPELL BUT YOU WON’T FORGET ME I KNOW I COULD HAVE LOVED YOU BUT YOU WOULD NOT LET ME AND I’LL FOLLOW YOU DOWN TIL THE SOUND OF MY VOICE WILL HAUNT YOU GUYS YOU’LL NEVER GET AWAY FROM THE SOUND OF THE WOMAN THAT LOVES YOU (AND YES YOU WERE A FOOL)

#you can kill him. but maybe the universe will work in mysterious ways and send his son to humble you. #and that is hashtag love and light folks. #you can reshape the narrative how ever you want but the truth will persist and i think that is beautiful #you’ll never get away baby never get away 😝

281 notes

—

ric3stappen

okay now that i presume benjamin is long gone back to his own universe i can finally say it: do you guys think that benjamin isn’t just a ricciardo…. he’s a ricciardo-verstappen… because to me he honestly looks more like max than he does daniel… i can not be the only one who sees this

#like i’m not kidding go look at photos from australia where it’s three of them and pull your focus to look past the hair and the nose #i can’t be the only one seriously 

3,633 notes

[sweetescapeartist]

ULTRA EGO EXPLAINED

"Wagamamma Gokui" A.K.A. "Ultra Ego." A form that Vegeta says isn't to be compared to Goku's Ultra Instinct, but ironically he still compares and gives it a similar name.

But, what are the abilities of Ultra Ego? Well, many fans say that it gives Vegeta...

The ability to use Hakai energy at a God of Destruction level.

The ability to get stronger from taking damage.

Even though the DBS manga illustrates that Vegeta gets stronger from taking damage when in his Ultra Ego transformation, Ultra Ego DOES NOT give Vegeta the ability to turn damage into fuel. How bold of me to disagree with what is said and shown to the reader!! Well... I have my reasons.

TLDR; Ultra Ego is actually the amplification of your natural abilities & personality along with the ability to use God of Destruction power to a higher degree.

To fully understand my reasoning, let's look at Vegeta's abilities & Ultra Ego's "abilities."

SAIYAN ABILITIES vs ULTRA EGO

VEGETA:

"SAIYAN-POWER": Vegeta gets stronger from taking damage due to the innate Saiyan ability to get stronger during battle. And the thrill of combat is what Saiyans live for.

ULTRA EGO:

"BATTLE SOUL": While taking damage in this transformed state, Vegeta grows stronger due to his so-called "battle soul" burning hot. And as a Saiyan, the thrill of combat is what he lives for.

VEGETA:

HAKAI TECHNIQUE: Vegeta learned how to use Hakai energy from Beerus.

ULTRA EGO:

HAKAI TECHNIQUE: While in this transformed state, Vegeta is granted greater power to create stronger Hakai attacks that he could not perform prior to this God of Destruction transformation.

VEGETA:

ATTITUDE: Arrogant.

ULTRA EGO:

ATTITUDE: Egomaniac.

Now, what I stated at the begining is making sense. Saiyans already get stronger from taking damage & Vegeta can use the Hakai technique in his base form. Ultra Ego is meant to greatly amplify what Vegeta can naturally do & has learned.

Furthermore, we can examine the traits of another mortal who used a God of Destruction transformation; Toppo from the DBS Anime Continuity.

THE POWER OF A GOD OF DESTRUCTION

TOPPO

VEGETA

Ultra Ego is simply a God of Destruction transformation that alters the appearance, greatly amplifies power & natural abilities, & allows the user to use GoD level Hakai attacks.

It's literally the same type of power as Toppo's Hakaishin form from the DBS Anime Continuity, except Anime Toppo & Manga Vegeta use Hakai abilities differently. The manga decides to shift focus soley on a single type of Hakai attack; the "explosive" Hakai. But there are other Hakai techniques performed in both the anime continuity & manga continuity; Explosive, Sand, Disenigration.

TO SUMMARIZE:

WHAT IS ULTRA EGO?

Obviously, Ultra Ego is simply God of Destruction power just as the title for DBS Chapter 75 informs us. Vegeta just makes up a name for the power on the fly.

WHAT DOES GOD OF DESTRUCTION POWER DO?

Beerus taught Vegeta that GoD power is unbounded. Meaning "Ultra Ego" is a type of limit-breaking power. Similarly, the limit-breaking power of SSBE is referred to as "boundless energy."

However, Ultra Ego allows you to push yourself beyond your limit until you completely exhaust yourself & fall out of the GoD transformation. SSBE doesn't let the body get pushed to such an extreme that leaves you completely vulnerable for the sake of power that will burn out.

We can conclude that what the limit-breaking power of "Ultra Ego" does is...

alter the appearance of a mortal using the GoD form

increase strength & durability

enhance the natural abilities & the strength of techniques

grant the user to use GoD level Hakai attacks

amplify the personality of the user

EXTRA:

By looking at context clues & using some deductive reasoning, it appears that ONLY when Vegeta is engaged in battle while using the Ultra Ego form, there is "no limit" for his God of Destruction power.

But, since Vegeta is not a true GoD like Beerus, once Vegeta runs out of "fuel" or when he powers down from his Ultra Ego form, the extra strength that he gained through taking damage during combat is gone because the power boosts leave when the Ultra Ego power leaves. Vegeta will have to restart his power progression all over again whenever he transforms back into Ultra Ego.

From my understanding, Ultra Ego appears to function something like this...

[yanderewonderlandgame]

Mad Hatter Doctor Route

Small Preview for the mad doctor route.

now that its nearing the 75% completion what left are the last 2 chapters.

This wonderland story he is not a mad hatter, but a mad doctor at a mental asylum, Octavius Blackwood transforms a once familiar place for the MC into a mental Asylum with the intent on keeping the mc as a patient. The moment she enters this place, there's no escape.

(Its like that for a lot of the routes. A single choice might lock you in to one as Yanderes are true to their traits in this story are quite... forceful lol, if you get that first encounter wrong or talk too long to one there's a good chance you will be stuck on their route hence many prologue branches)

Octavius Blackwood appears clinically unforgiving in his actions, attempting to force the MC to be his permanent patient by any means necessary.

Preview:

Octavius’s lips curl into a smile, his fingers steady as he brings the needle closer to my skin.

“Because, Alice, I want you to experience everything. I want you to see exactly what I’m doing to you. Every change I make. You will understand what it means to belong to me.”

He leans closer, his breath warm on my ear.

“And as the changes take place in your body, you’ll feel a new sense of clarity. A different way of thinking. You’ll be able to see everything more clearly. The fog you’ve been in will fade. You’ll realize that this was always meant to be.”

“You won’t feel the surgery, Alice, but you will feel everything else. Every alteration in your mind, every shift in your body’s chemistry. And you’ll understand... that it was all for you.”

---

Im happy with how this story has already turned out, I'll be finishing Cyrus's route after this. (he's an exiled king of clovers and probably the darkest, and most sadistic in the game) See you tomorrow!

[returnsandreturns]

re-working the grumpy/sunshine eating disorder recovery romance

“I understand it’s upsetting to hear,” Ella says, patiently, “but it kind of feels like you’re upset with me for having a childhood straight out of a SVU episode.”

“What?” Riley asks. “God, no — just — I don’t understand how you’re so. . .so. ..”

“I’m going to guess based on our previous interactions,” she says. "Obnoxious? Fake? Ella, if I could get away with killing you for talking at that volume this early in the morning, I would do it?”

“Did I say that?” Riley asks, wincing

“In your defense, I was being very loud,” she says, smiling, “and it was very early.”

“I’m such a dick,” he says, faintly.

“I interpret it as about 25% being a dick,” she says, lifting her head up as the wind picks up a little, sending her curls flying, “and 75% trying to make everybody think that you’re a dick so they’ll stop inviting you to stupid little town events and you can maintain your status as town hermit.”

He squints at her.

“You’re inexplicable,” he says, with the slightest hint of a tired, genuine smile that makes her stomach do something absolutely horrific. Butterflies. She doesn’t get those. “You know that, kid?”

“I feel like I’m pretty explicable,” she says, “but I guess there are a lot pieces to put together to get there.”

Riley’s smile grows a little before it settles into something sadder, eyes searching her face before he looks away, saying, “I know that saying I’m sorry is a useless thing to say when it comes to what you went through, so just—imagine that I said whatever the comforting version of that is, okay?”

“. . .that was actually pretty damn comforting,” she says, nudging him a little.

“You’re not fake at all, are you?” he asks, after a moment, like he’s been working it out in his head. “I thought the whole—walking on sunshine, consummate morning person, good girl schtick was a schtick but you’re just. . .like that. I don’t think you could walk out of all the bullshit that life has piled on you and still be able to fake. . .this.”

He gestures vaguely at her and she smirks.

“It’s not like I’m not fucked up,” she says, sighing. “I just. . .I woke up one day and decided to take as many buses as I needed until I hit ocean. I could either figure out how to live or walk right in and I picked the first one. I’m not gonna let everything I left behind eat the rest of my fucking life away. I can’t put any more energy into hating everything.”

Riley stares at her, looking surprised.

“Did I strike a chord?” she asks, unable to put the smirk away.

“Don’t get cocky,” Riley says, rolling his eyes.

She kicks her heels a little, looking out into the grey sky, the choppy water on the rocks. There’s a storm coming and the wind is making her shiver in old jeans and a too big t-shirt. Riley eyes her skeptically when she glances up at him, like they had the same thought at the same time.

“I’m supposed to give you my jacket now,” he says. “Aren’t I?”

“The townsfolk will talk,” she says, voice lilting.

“They already talk,” he says, dryly, shrugging off his jacket and cautiously putting it around her, like he’s trying not actually touch her. “Better?”

“Better,” she echoes, fluttering her lashes at him exaggeratedly.

“I’m taking it back,” he says, plucking at one of the sleeves, and she laughs and leans to the side.

“Absolutely not,” she says. “You’re repairing some emotional damage of mine right now, dude, don’t ruin it.”

“Well, fuck, if it’s that useful,” he says, sighing and wrapping an arm around her, letting her lean into him heavily. She knows that the scent of old books from his store isn’t strong enough to make him smell like that but her brain still imagines it. In reality, it’s one of those manly body washes that smells like a forest, which is honestly a close second. The tendency to smell like a forest is one of few redeeming traits men have in her experience. She opens her mouth to say something along those lines but Riley’s face is content as he looks ahead and she pauses.

Ella’s never met a silence she was comfortable with.

She’s really fucking comfortable right now.

[ash4prez]

ok but here’s the thing as soon as tnp arrives we lose every last drop of sandstorms remaining personality

like this is controversial but i think the erins did a good job in continuing firestars blatant obliviousness and questionable decision making through to the second arc, keeping with his core personality traits even though he’s not the main character anymore

but sandstorm, my god, wtf did they DO to her? like bbg had already lost 75% of her core personality traits by the time tpb wrapped up, mostly due to being mates w fire, but even tho she was more of a background character in tnp they could’ve at least given her a smudge of personality that separated her from the vanilla characters like brackenfur and thornclaw (no hate to those goofies i still stan)

real ones know i’ve already made a rant about sandstorm back when i was a warriors foetus and still halfway through TPB, but i can’t keep away from this subject because it’s like the erins are TRYING to piss me off

they could’ve done so much with sandstorm! they could’ve shown how her relationship with dustpelt had changed since their apprenticeship, how she behaved when her authority was threatened (because we all know she does NOT like feeling inferior), how she felt about the main plotlines etc etc

ik we aren’t gonna get chapters of sandstorm, we’re not gonna have intricate plotlines involving her anymore, but at least give me a conversation that lasts more than two sentences sometimes?! like i’ve not read POT yet so idk if she gets better, but the best i’ve gotten from her in TNP was “don’t worry firestar, i’m sure they’ll return safely” like WHERE IS THE SANDSTORM WHO WOULDVE BEEN LIKE “ayo firebitch get off your depressed ass and do sm for once in your goddamn life you’re fuckin leader not some weakass kit who can’t look after themself now go touch some grass you mopey wanker being emo isn’t making your kids come back”

she used to have so much personality in the early books, like she was proud and stubborn and very very pro-clanborn (maybe not the best thing)! when i used to picture sandstorm, i pictured this badass, headstrong, iconic apprentice who was pretty rude but also amazing, now i just think “oh yeah that’s firestars mate, she’s…nice”

tbh i just wish they would’ve done more with sandstorm

[mylittlemenandme]

VOXBREAKER

Oh dear.

Well, let's go through my camera photos and see what I've been up to since the turn of the year...

First up, my amazing Secret Santa from the community - a beautifully painted and heavily tooled up marine, who I ran as a Reiver Lieutenant in my first game of the year.

My lore for him is that he has been seconded from another Great Company to better hone his skills behind enemy lines.

Speaking of my first game of the year, I got in a Tempest of War game at my local club against an opponent I missed out on playing at the end of last year's Crusade League.

A narrow (2 points difference!) victory against Tyranids in the end, with Herja continuing her streak of charging into the nastiest thing on the board, a Swarmlord this time (the lead photo - it didn't go well for her).

This was also the first game post-Armour of Contempt and the points drops, so it was surprising how many models I had on the board!

With a new Crusade League starting up, and with the Phobos-heavy Vanguard Spearhead rules expiring in June (surely not because everything was?), I decided that would be what I ran. My one concession was that I would run them as Wolfspear in order to open a few more relevant options with regards Warlord Traits and Relics.

It also meant that I needed to get this two built and painted...

...as well as a chance to paint up and (finally) run some Hounds of Morkai.

But first! An away weekend with a community meet-up, this time at Bristol Independent Gaming. Games included my regular foe of the Emperor's Children...

...Ragnar Blackmane carving people up in a 4-way Boarding Actions game...

...and a punishing game against a Nurgle and Khorne daemon army.

The Crusade League was then up-and-running when I returned. My opening round at 25 Power Level was a bye, and then a game against Orks run by the Tyranid player from earlier. A good game, but I was well and truly krumped.

I then concentrated on my reinforcements for the 50PL round of game, and managed to get two more Eliminator squads and one of my Invictors ready in time for a family photo.

That next round involved a game against Necrons, and then Chaos Knights. Two narrow defeats mean that my only points so far are from my first round bye, but at least the boys are getting a run out I guess.

And now I'm getting models ready for the 75 and 100PL rounds. The Reivers and Incursors are ready for the next set of games (bar the base rims), and I'm already working on the second Invictor from earlier for the final round.

And once that's all wrapped up, it'll be time for 10th edition! The rules previews have all looked extremely promising, and I'm looking forward to the crumb of information we'll be given about Space Wolves tomorrow. And I'll have a pretty big all-Phobos army ready for it as well! (Oh, and all the Death Guard from Christmas? They're all primed too!)

[owlyflufff]

What was your first impression of bokuto and akaashi? How did you originally perceive their relationship? Who was your favorite character from the training camp arc? Sorry if it's a lot of questions, I'm just curious!

No worries anon! In fact these are really interesting asks and I'm more than happy to answer them <33

What was your first impression of Bokuto and Akaashi?

Bokuto:

An absolute force of nature and unbridled ball of chaotic energy, I love him.

Personally, it was really refreshing to learn that Bokuto was the team captain of Fukurodani because in a sense, he was the first captain that was, "energetic"? , constantly chasing after the thrill compared to the other captains who are more seemingly level headed like Daichi and Kuroo (Oikawa seemingly falls under the energetic ish part as well but not as vibrant as Bokuto if that makes sense ^^;). With it, I was really interested with how Furudate-sensei would write him, as no one in Haikyu has ever really been written with the intention of being defined by merely one character trait.

Additionally, I wasn't fazed or "annoyed' about Bokuto's personality since he was the sunshine or energetic type character which are my favorite character tropes <33!

Akaashi:

Admittedly, I couldn't form an opinion on him because he was genuinely paired or seen with Bokuto the most in at least 75% of the training camp arc ^^:. It's the thing, cause as much as I love Bokuaka, I want to ramble about Akaashi individually but I can't really do that either when a good number of his scenes included or involved Bokuto so TvT.

In the very least, I will say that I thought that he was a sort of serious and strategic type of character. It was also fun to just seem him constantly counter and jab at almost everything Bokuto says, ying and yang of sorts. Additionally, he sort of gave me tired parental figure vibes cause he had to deal with both Bokuto and Hinata the entire time. Give him some credit and cut him some slack he already has a chaotic partner, why must he inherit a chaotic son xD.

Overall, my first impression of Akaashi was he was fairly stoic and reminiscent or something close to Tsukishima's personality. Of course, my perspective of his character changed and I'm glad he got a lot more moments to shine on his own outside of his partnership with Bokuto <33.

How did you originally perceive Bokuaka's relationship?

Similar to what I mentioned above and going back to a previous ask, I saw their dynamic as ying and yang, night and day, light and dark to which has always been my favorite type of dynamic. However, I didn't wholeheartedly perceive their dynamic to be outright romantic nor was I a dieheart shipper of Bokuaka originally.

It was a very casual attachment to their dynamic and I liked it a lot, had a lot of fun seeing Bokuto act confident and silly only for Akaashi to retort with a deadpan comment of sorts. Their exchanges were nice and I overall appreciated them both in a platonic and romantic manner.

However, we all know that changed after the manga because at this rate nothing Bokuaka has ever done starting from the training camp was platonic they are romantic to the moon and back-

Who was your favorite character from the training camp arc?

Oh m not quite sure what you're implying here as in who was my new favorite character that was introduced during the training camp? Or who was my favorite character/ character development in the training camp? I'll answer both if ever

(I'm also mainly stating the latter question too cause I loved all of the Haikyuu characters during this time so it's not as if I grew favorites in the training camp arc since I love them all equally!

Additionally, since it's a fairly good giveaway, I'll be taking Tsukishima away as an answer cause it's given that I definitely liked his growth the most and I also loved his character even before his change in the training camp arc)

Favorite character in the training camp arc:

Given that he was technically introduced via an OVA thus making the training camp arc his proper first introduction to the main anime series, I will say that I loved Lev's character the most during the training camp arc!

Personally, the one thing I loved most about Lev was his pursuit to do better and determination to reach the level of his seniors like Kuroo despite his already provided advantage which is his height. Even though he had something that put him above (literally and figuratively) above others, it did not stop him from wanting to improve his skills which was generally seen during the Third gym squad training moments (which is also a show and continuation of his general goal back in the OVA where he wanted to connect with Nekoma better) . Aside from that, it was horrendously funny to just see Hinata trying to pick a fight/ challenge him since Lev was just standing there and existing, he's trying his best he really is xD.

Not to mention his interactions too with Yaku, all very funny and Lev is just a silly and precious character to me I love him a lot and he deserves more appreciation too <33.

Favorite growth in the training camp arc:

Throughout the arc, I would say I really loved Kageyama's growth the most during this arc!

The audience had always been shown in season 1 that Kageyama was this generally flawless, strategic, and quick witted individual in the field of volleyball, a prodigy at an early age. However, it is in this training arc that it sort of just gave the audience an opportunity and proof to realize that Kageyama's skills as a player never came into existence when he was born nor was it something he was immediately good at, much like everyone in the series, Kageyama's talent grew because of the continuous time, effort and dedication he spent to practicing.

Kageyama didn't master the minus tempo toss at the very beginning, it was something he needed to learn and practice, he went back to phase one.

Simply, the training arc just came to show the effort Kageyama puts into playing volleyball and prodigy or not, he is but a human still wishing to improve despite his already seemingly fleshed out skills during the time of Season 1.

[bootlegpancake]

Thought about posting a description page of my original characters from Tabula Rasa, the Lies of P / Ai Somnium crossover fiction I'm working on. Have pictures and data under the cut! n_n

The data seen here are before the chapters that I have published online already. Some aspects have been changed since then, but those are mentioned in the chapters.

Content warning! Mentions of domestic abuse.

Current name: Gloria Goldstein

Previous name: Gloria Zabolotny

Online handle: Burp

Age: 29

Occupation: Agent of ABIS, psyncer.

Partners: Kanra, Victor Sullivan

Speciality: Hypersensitive auditorial sense. She can usually tell if a person is lying, just by listening to their intonation. Her skill is usually 75% accurate, so she doesn't take it for granted.

Hobbies: Martial arts, wine drinking, listening to music.

Likes: snails, snakes, pestering Victor, trolling around with Kanra, the internet.

Dislikes: bullies, old people who harass her for her seat on the bus, touching noodles.

Negative personality traits: despite her talent and normal amount of empathy, she sometimes says very inappropriate and borderline rude things. She tends to talk before thinking first. She is also very emotionally driven and can see red very quickly.

Background:

Gloria is an only child, daughter of Molly Smith and Laslo Zabolotny. Up until she was five years old, Gloria had a normal childhood, but after her father was fired from his job, Laslo turned alcoholic and regularly beat his wife and child. The family soon got pushed to the edge of poverty. Despite this, Gloria managed to enroll in an elite elementary school due to insane luck, where she met Victor, the only son of a wealthy family. Unbeknownst to them, just a small interaction sparked a lifelong friendship between the two.

After years of struggle, Gloria's mother divorced and never got married again. She took custody of Gloria and although they were safe from the abusive father, the mental scars remained. After the divorce, Molly changed Gloria's name to Goldstein, much to the girl's joy. Gloria then took on different jobs to help keep her and her mother afloat and sometimes Victor helped them out financially.

After finishing her psychological studies in university, Victor encouraged Gloria to try her luck with one of the open positions at the newly formed branch of ABIS, where he was working as head technical developer on a project. Gloria got the job and now she works alongside Victor.

Gloria Golstein, before the events of Tabula Rasa.

______________________________________

Name: Kanra

Age: 3

Occupation: AI ball

Father: Victor Sullivan, however the blueprints for his creation were made by Pewter in the Japanese branch of ABIS. Kanra is based on Aiba, but Victor tweaked the pink AI ball up a bit.

Partner: Gloria Goldstein, Victor Sullivan, Jeremy.

Special features:

Kanra can bring music into Somniums, hence his avatar always had headphones on. This feature was added due to Gloria's speciality with auditory sensory.

Kanra, when interacting in the real world, can turn himself into a 'necklace'. In this form, Gloria can wear him and disguise him as a piece of gaudy jewellery.

Kanra can also create a hologram of himself, so people can view his human form outside a Somnium.

Likes: trolling Victor, Gloria, puns and inappropriate jokes, corrupting Jeremy.

Dislikes: ping pong

Kanra's hamster form:

Kanra's human form in Somnium:

Despite his sassy attitude, Kanra does care about his human and AI peers, as much as an AI can.

______________________________________

Name: Victor Sullivan

Online handle: Zip

Age: 30

Occupation: Agent of ABIS, lead technical developer.

Partners: Kanra, Gloria Goldstein

Hobbies: playing video games, playing chess, shooting with guns, guns, guns.

Likes: guns, spaghetti, teasing Victoria, guns, cats, anime, video games and bodypillows.

Dislikes: olives on pizza

Negative personality traits: he can be stubborn as a mule. Despite having a decent amount of empathy, he unfortunately can be stuck running around in circles and growling about the same issue, only for the sake of getting angry and lashing out. Despite the solution being in front of him, he sometimes stubbornly remains where he is, just to prove a (ridiculous) point.

Background:

Victor Sullivan was born to Jasmine Hertz and Frank Sullivan. The Sullivan family has acquired great wealth over the last decades due to the family's technical genius and the only child of Jasmine and Frank has been pampered since his birth. Alas, just how with most rich kid's stories, Victor has always felt a constant lack in his life and that was true connection.

Most of the people who interacted with him had an ulterior motive, no matter what age. He learned it fairly quickly in elementary school, how children can be just as shallow as adults. He was always a stellar student, but a lone wolf.

During his time in elementary school, he met Gloria, the only oddball in his class, who not only was refreshingly honest, but came from a vastly different family background as well. The two struck a friendship, after one interaction.

Their relationship deepend in highschool, where Victor first realized he wasn't really into girls and opened up to Gloria about it. Her being so open and accepting about his sexuality cemented their friendship forever. Later, he realized he was actually bisexual and updated Gloria about it, who again, had a very open reaction to it, much to the young man's joy.

Victor hid his sexual orientation from his parents until he managed to move away and received his job at ABIS as a technical developer. The family had mixed reactions about his coming out, but they are supporting their child, despite not truly understanding the concept.

Victor is also a technical genius, who automatized his entire home, he barely has to do anything. He received his job at ABIS when he recreated the AI ball for the entrance exam and even added new features to it.

After from Kanra, he created Jeremy.

Victor Sullivan, as he is usually seen. He sometimes puts his hair in a ponytail, but most of the time, he lets his hair down, where he resembles a certain mafioso in Death Note.

Sometimes, when he's on a video game or series binge for months, he stops cutting his hair.

______________________________________

Name: Jeremy

Age: 2

Occupation: Emotional support AI ball for P

Father: Victor Sullivan, however the blueprints for his creation were made by Pewter in the Japanese branch of ABIS. He has no extra features, has the same functions as Aiba does.

Partner: P, Victor Sullivan, Kanra

Special features:

Jeremy, when interacting in the real world, can turn himself into a 'necklace' as well.

Despite having the ability, Jeremy almost never psyncs. He can make a hologram of himself, just like Kanra, so people can see him without entering a Somnium.

Likes: P, Kanra, Victor, Gloria and butterflies

Dislikes: Violence

Jeremy's hamster form:

Jeremy's human avatar in Somnium:

[deadcactuswalking]

REVIEWING THE CHARTS: 05/08/2023 (Travis Scott's 'UTOPIA', Calvin Harris/Sam Smith, Central Cee/Drake)

Content warning: More Drake than usual

For a ninth consecutive week, we have Dave and Cench at the top of the charts with “Sprinter” - welcome back to REVIEWING THE CHARTS!

Rundown

This sure was a week. A pretty busy one at that, one that’ll be a pain to write about, so in all honesty, my main goal is to keep this pretty brief… not that it’s all that easy when there are 12 new songs and a ton of what we always start with - the notable dropouts, which are songs exiting from the UK Top 75 after five weeks in the region or a peak in the top 40. This week, we say farewell to last week’s debut, “K-POP” by Travis Scott featuring Bad Bunny and The Weeknd, for obvious reasons we’ll discuss later, but also songs that actually stayed around for at least one week longer, like “Militerian” by J Hus featuring Naira Marley, “Makeba” by Jain, “Toxic Trait” by Stormzy and Fredo, “Don’t Say Love” by Leigh-Anne, “Tattoo” by Loreen, “Cupid” by FIFTY FIFTY, “Until I Found You” by Stephen Sanchez, “Boy’s a liar” by PinkPantheress, “I’m Good (Blue)” by David Guetta and Bebe Rexha, “I Ain’t Worried” by OneRepublic and “Riptide” by Vance Joy - why was that still here anyway?

We then see returns for Post Malone as his #3 album AUSTIN makes its impact. We have a debut later on, but “Mourning” and “Chemical” re-enter to take up his other two spots on the chart at #56 and #24 respectively. As for our gains, which are usually infinitely more interesting, we see boosts for “Highs & Lows” by Prinz featuring Gabriela Bee at #60, “Asking” by Sonny Fodera and MK featuring Clementine Douglas at #51, “Nothing Compares 2 U” by the late Sinéad O’Connor at #30 since the impact of her death straddled between two weeks and then gains for the Barbie phenomenon: “Pink” by Lizzo is at #27, “I’m Just Ken” by Ryan Gosling is at #14 and Charli XCX gets her sixth top 10 with “Speed Drive” at #9.

This week’s top five on the UK Singles Chart has most of the surrounding madness kind of absent, as it’s pretty standard - it consists of “vampire” by Olivia Rodrigo at #5, “Barbie World” by Nicki Minaj, Ice Spice and Aqua at #4, “Dance the Night” by Dua Lipa at #3, “What Was I Made For?” by Billie Eilish at #2 and of course, “Sprinter” at the very top. Now for the mess below.

NEW ARRIVALS

#72 - “Deli” - Ice Spice

Produced by RIOTUSA

Okay so not only is this a busy week, it’s also not a great one. A lot of these new arrivals I am not near to being a fan of - apologies to break the illusion that I write these in order - and sadly, this deluxe track from Ice Spice is no different. Sure, the Jersey club beat is propulsing and overwhelming with its slightly fuzzier but still dominant bass and the pretty cool syncopation with the large, distorted claps and the 808 - it sounds cool, bordering on intricate beatwork and unplanned synthesis. Miss Poopie here, however, tries to convince us she’s not a “regular artist” by raising her voice for once and providing incredibly basic bars in that still limited flow. Personality doesn’t really make up for everything, and given the lack of groove or really all that many dynamics in the very short time this song has to even do anything, I think I’m starting to already be kind of over the slight novelty of Ice Spice. It’d be great if someone like Lay Bankz was here to do the beat some justice.

#68 - “Rave Out” - Turno, Skepsis and Charlotte Plank

Produced by Skepsis and Turno

Who, who and who here are UK drum and bass DJs Turno and Skepsis, and singer Charlotte Plank, who’s still charting with “Dancing is Healing” as of this week. The song is… fantastic. Genuinely, this is incredible. We have three drum and bass songs to cover here, they’re all kind of the saving grace of this week, but this one is by far the best. I don’t know if this is a sample - I couldn’t find one in my research - but the hypnotic reggae beat that starts the song is really unexpected and incredibly smooth, with the apathetic blast of horns and organic bass perfectly fitting the content about the comedown from a “rave”, which I think means a lot more than a party here. The way everything from this reggae instrumental just melts down into a liquid drum and bass groove, as Plank repeats the same paranoid questions asking where the person is going to go “when the rave’s out”, is really striking, especially with the start-stop tendencies of the chorus and the splatter of spikier bass tones warping in and out in the post-chorus. The horns come back with rising synths, but none of it is worth all that much when it gets compressed into this mindless, carefree break. If I had to nit-pick, Plank isn’t exactly as enveloping as she could be to make this tone really work, but considering the song is actually relevant to men’s mental health, with the echoed reminders from Plank serving not as a complete control over the guy’s mind but rather just a sinking feeling regarding how men don’t feel like they have much of a space to actually confide in people or relax their brains due to constantly feeling like they have to be in control or stoic. It’s a touching message and a mesmerising banger of a song to tell it in, so good work - hope to hear more of it on the charts. Oh, wait, I will…

#65 - “Bittersweet Goodbye” - Issey Cross

Produced by Luude

Alright, Luude, this may be getting kind of silly now. “Bitter Sweet Symphony”? Really? When I first heard of this, I wasn’t necessarily shocked of the sample flip but it was amusing and when I first listened to the song, I nearly did a spit-take. To do my due diligence as the chart person, I should mention that the original song by The Verve hit #2 in 1997, being blocked by Puff Daddy’s version of “I’ll be Missing You”… both songs actually sample classic rock bands, funnily enough, though The Verve do it in a much more subtle way, even if the strings from the Andrew Oldham Orchestra’s version of The Rolling Stones’ 1965 #1 hit “The Last Time”. That’s right - this is sample-ception already before Luude even touched it. For the record, I’m not much of a fan of the song, but the orchestral lead - that I personally think gets very tiring over six minutes - is pretty iconic nowadays. It’s also a bit risky to sample, given the song is infamously the host of a slimy songwriting dispute, but Richard Ashcroft is now the sole writer credited on the track as of 2019 so most of the Issey Cross royalties I have to imagine are also going to him, which should help on some of the lost residuals. There is actually very little to say about the new song itself, funnily enough, as whilst Luude may be making his money doing silly drum and bass flips of classic songs, the returns aren’t always fantastic. I still laugh every time Ms. Cross harmonises with the string melody in the pre-chorus, and the drop has fairly enough push to it to work without being fully comical. I’m not big on the song overall, but it is a fairly standard flip of a very difficult-to-deny loop, with an okay vocal performance so it just by a pinch becomes serviceable, mostly on novelty factor.

#58 - “One Direction” - ArrDee and Bugzy Malone

Produced by LiTek and WhYJay

This new collaboration from ArrDee and Bugzy Malone isn’t exactly the best song ever, but what makes it beautiful is that - okay, I’ll stop, mostly because I can’t say this is beautiful. The horn line is just staccato and obnoxious, as even if it provides some needed bombast to drill that ArrDee can absolutely replicate, it does blow the song up to grander proportions that it cannot fully reach, mostly because the refrain is… awkward, as they vaguely trade bars, and the verses range from ArrDee ironically saying that comedians should steer clear of him - in a really lazy Eddie Murphy reference that doesn’t actually make any sense - whilst delivering what is basically a comedy-rap verse. Bugzy sounds more awake than usual, sure, but mostly because he’s surrounded by annoying sound effects so it’s like he has to work for the attention of the mix, which to be fair, is pretty well done considering how much it has to deal with that is just straight-up annoying. I really want to like this given the energy, but I can’t endorse something as obnoxious as this unless it embraces the silliness of itself more so than just a couple pop culture references.

#52 - “Enough is Enough” - Post Malone

Produced by Post Malone, Louis Bell, Rami and Max Martin

Dropping on the same day as UTOPIA seems like a mistake in the short-term but honestly, I somewhat doubt the audiences overlap that much anymore, especially considering that I’m convinced now that this synth-infused depresso pop-rock is the kind of music Post actually wants to make. This didn’t stop the Official Charts Company from accidentally missing the song out when they first posted the chart, so maybe they agree that enough truly is enough? Well, I don’t see how you could be convinced either positively or negatively by this track in particular. It’s 12 tracks into the album, without a video, so this really must be the fan favourite… and it’s okay. It’s got a typical acoustic frolick and Post’s signature warble, sometimes reaching into really rough falsetto, but any potential it could have had is quashed immediately by those terribly-mixed synthpop drums crashing down into the song and rendering it worthy of car adverts, with no update to the lyrical content to warrant a more serious sound, and no real bridge to be found… so this is practically just a regurgitation of a pop formula that vaguely works. I wish Post the best, but this is dull and doesn’t really make me want to check out any more of that album.

#53 - “Big 7” - Burna Boy

Produced by Danitello, MD$, Mike Wavvs, Otis and Super Miles

Burna Boy seems to be leading up to an album with these singles and honestly, overall, they seem pretty promising, ESPECIALLY this one. Sure, it’s another pop-R&B crossover, but the vintage-sounding keys function great off of the messy bounce, which may get in the way of Burna Boy’s flow initially, but he quickly grows into it and delivers one of his richer, more soulful performances, with a rasp on the chorus that sounds experienced and wiser as a result of the deaths in his life that he mentions in the verses, of Sidhu Moose Wala and Virgil Abloh, wherein he starts to come to grips with his now-international role as a self-proclaimed simultaneous “ghetto gospel preacher” and “two-times community service breacher”. It’s not exactly anything all too new or out there, but it’s an honest and catchy song about his experiences that deserves some spins.

#31 - “Baddadan” - Chase & Status and Bou featuring IRAH, Flowdan, Trigga and Takura

Produced by Chase & Status and Bou

Read the song’s credit and its production credits - you’ve just said the word “and” five times, and it would be generous to call whatever you constructed a sentence. If you’re thinking “Who the Hell are these people?”, I kind of am too, but apart from the drum and bass DJs at the helm that we know, as well as Flowdan from the Roll Deep grime collective who actually charted earlier this year with Skrillex on “Rumble”, we have IRAH, who seems to post at least one voice-over of Family Guy scenes on his Facebook page, Takura, who’s from Zimbabwe and has actually charted with Chase & Status before at #98 in 2011 on “Flashing Lights” and Trigga, who sure is Trigga, and has collaborated with Bou before. In fact, they all seem pretty accustomed to emceeing or at least guesting on drum and bass tracks, so what harm can be done by putting them all on a track together? The trio at the production helm have curated a pretty atmospheric and dark, menacing beat with a very 2014-feeling progression, especially with the wonky synth and reverb on Takura’s voice, and none of the emcees really impress or disappoint. IRAH’s introductory verse has the most menace, but Flowdan kind of runs away with the spotlight, mostly because his rhyme scheme is so percussive that it perfectly plays with the breaks. Most of the content are just threats, and I can’t say I’m over the Moon about the drop or Takura’s contributions in general, but the melodrama Chase & Status always bring is still there, and I could see it growing on me due to its sheer intensity soon enough.

#26 - “On the Radar Freestyle” - Drake and Central Cee

Produced by Harley Arsenault and Kid Masterpiece

“You know that’s how Jesus died, that’s how Julius Ceasar died - I bet they were decent guys, I swear they remind of me sometimes” already feels like a classic Drake bar. In fact, the song has a vintage aura surrounding it - mostly because this is the best verse Drake has delivered for about a decade, and the soul sample in the back, whilst bizarrely mixed like everything else in this “song”, adds a lot of sweetness to this otherwise hype-focused Jersey drill beat. Hell, for a YouTube freestyle video, this production is pretty unique, smattering the silky sample in a lot of filtering to the point of unrecognisability under an insanely hard and groovy drill pattern. I actually really like Drake here too - I’m not a hater, but I’ll sound like one later - as he actually delivers some pretty great lines regarding his status in Canada and he’s not going for menace or intensity here as much as he is just rampantly flexing, and it comes off pretty well, especially with that recurring “six” theme referring to where he grew up in Toronto, but being implemented really slickly - particularly in the opening line where he has to put emojis over three faces because the feds can’t see those (six) eyes. When Drake wants to, he can really deliver, and the awkward pauses after some of the weirder sex bars seem absolutely built for the reaction videos. Whilst Cench isn’t nearly as lyrical, stepping up to rap after old man Drake sits down, he sounds relentless in a lot of honestly pissy and vengeful-sounding bars, riding the beat excellently and intensely with lyrics a tad more compelling than I think is probably given credit, and his flow, whilst the same as Drake’s, sounds effortless and honestly kind of better coming from Central Cee. This may not really be a song, but it’s a damn impressive set of two verses that actually has some replay value for me so whilst I don’t think it’ll stick around at all, it was great whilst it was here.

#21 - “HYAENA” - Travis Scott

Produced by Travis Scott, MIKE DEAN, WondaGurl, Noah Goldstein and Jahaan Sweet

I didn’t like the substanceless void of vaguely-cool-sounding nothingness that was UTOPIA. At best, it was a set of guest collaborators putting in their best efforts only to be trampled on by the lack of ambition of its lead artist, and at worst, that lead artist’s ambition somehow gets way ahead of him and makes a formless mess that failed at any point to actually grip me into his world like he’d done before. We don’t exactly have the three best tracks from the album lined up here either, but at least we have one of them in the form of the opening track, “HYAENA”. It is on here that Travis sounds the most focused, and it is absolutely a convicting opener when you first press play on a Travis Scott album and are met with isolated progressive rock vocals carelessly slopping into a distorted jungle of groove. It probably has Travis’ only good verses on the entire album, delivered with energy and full of… well, nothing, but it’s at least delivered well, in place of a real hook, because it really doesn’t need one. Even when trying to deliver a crazy, industrial track, Travis ends up sounding the most human on this one, even if the content isn’t exactly thoughtful. Sadly, what I expect is for this one not to last and be replaced by a fan favourite like “I KNOW ?” next week, as can be the case when the three-song rule and big albums collide.

#18 - “Desire” - Calvin Harris and Sam Smith

Produced by Calvin Harris and BURNS

Hmm… this sounds familiar. Anyway, ahem… You know, even with a weak chart, I did not expect the hype for a new Calvin Harris track to be this [DECENTLY] high. After all, his disco efforts were met with underwhelming results, and… [SAM SMITH] hasn’t had a [SOLO] hit of [THEIR] own in years, so this collaboration being as immediate of a smash as it was kind of took me aback. I do like that Harris can experiment now and step his foot into different passions for both singles and albums markets, even if the British public clearly prefers one over the other, and with BURNS on co-production (yes, seriously, that hasn’t changed either), I think I’m predisposed to as well. [SAM SMITH] sings about a relationship that gives [THEM] a heavenly euphoria and begs [THEIR] partner to take the chance to go further, and I could not think of a better instrumental for that young-love energy, as spiralling keys and synths surround [THEIR] cooing. Once [THEY GET] into [THEIR] falsetto, the plummeting hardcore bass arrives and picks up the pace, allowing for the rickety drums to clash through. Instead of a drop after that, though, we get an – admittedly cheap but charmingly so – piano breakdown that then builds itself up through a simple emotional force. It’s a basic piano melody that then hides itself back under the catchy hardcore beat for another verse, until [THEIR] falsetto once again rubs itself against a deeper bass fuzz, except this time the escalation is immediate and grandiose, with fluttering percussion reflecting their accelerating heartbeats. It never fully locks into a groove either, because their love going further, whilst possible, is still a “[DESIRE]” – only starting to feel real. My only real complaint is that it fades out for radio purposes, when I want to hear this go further and further because it deserves an even higher level of detail, I want to hear this narrative pushed through, I want to hear what happens next, and that’s the most frustrating thing. Maybe a remix will give me more closure, but an extended edit would be great, or even just hearing how this is used in a DJ mix. The fact that Calvin Harris and BURNS have me gripped into the sonic theming of this track should be telling of how well they’ve constructed it though, and if Harris is going to briefly dip back into EDM tunes, I absolutely want to hear more where this came from - and God, if that’s what I said all those months ago when I first reviewed “Miracle”, maybe the blame is on me, but this is alarmingly similar down to even the lead vocal melodies, the song’s limited vocabulary and I have the exact same qualms, given it’s also way too short… but I’m not as interested in the Sam Smith narrative than I am Ellie Goulding’s, and it does come off as a cheap recreation. Just like this review.

#13 - “FE!N” - Travis Scott featuring Playboi Carti

Produced by Travis Scott and Jahaan Sweet

This is depressingly bad. We start with cheap rage synths that don’t carry any of the filtered weight as many of the beats Carti ends up on, so it just flairs through the instrumental as Travis murmurs an intro before the beat shuts down said synth into a clogged-down bassy trap number, as it remains for the rest of its runtime. In Travis’ verse, you can hear these little MIKE DEAN-esque synth inflections that are sprinkled on top in a desperate attempt to make anything about this actually interesting, especially Travis is full of nothing as always, and Carti’s hook is mind-numbing. His verse… can you call it that? Does that fit the legal definition of a verse? His second one does, and I at least appreciate his attempt at going for a deeper voice and inflection - it’s more experimentation than Travis is doing on this. With that said, the song ends abruptly with no catharsis for any of the previous three minutes, before Sheck Wes, who’s on ad-libs, can even get a word in edgewise, which is a shame since he’s the most interesting vocal presence here. Maybe with a more lyrical rapper on one of Travis’ more mindless cuts, there can be at least something of intrigue, so we’ll see with…

#10 - “MELTDOWN” - Travis Scott featuring Drake

Produced by Coleman, BNYX, Boi-1da, Vinylz, Tay Keith, Skeleton Cartier and Travis Scott

I get so easily tired of “menacing” Drake. It never sounds authentic, and is more often just an excuse for him to say absolutely embarrassing bars and still come off as “cool” - as he does in this, or deplete himself of any required energy, as he tries not to do here but considering all three of these beats - it’s like the BTEC “SICKO MODE” - refuse to wake up. We have a rote Memphis-influenced beat with strings, followed by a beat that acts like fanfare - or at least it would if we didn’t have sound effects and Travis’ backing vocals drowning out any impact the bass could have had. I do kind of like the way that certain parts of the beats maintain their presence, even if the transitions are not as exciting or innovative as “SICKO MODE”, which it is clearly trying to emulate, especially given the last beat is a Tay Keith clunker wherein Travis kind of sounds like he’s alive… vaguely. Apparently, Drake sends shots as Pharrell and Pusha on this one, but to be honest, if I were them, I wouldn’t see much point responding as the man burns bridges for headlines that he doesn’t need. Once again, I am asking for you to retire.

Conclusion

Once again, that sure was a week. Best of the Week goes to Turno, Skepsis and Charlotte Plank with “Rave Out” though the “On the Radar Freestyle” by Central Cee and Drake was way closer than I’d usually admit, as it grabs the Honourable Mention straight from poor Burna Boy this week. As for the worst, it really is a plentiful set to choose from, but I’ll go with “FE!N” by Travis Scott featuring Playboi Carti as the Worst of the Week with a Dishonourable Mention to… hey, look, it’s Travis Scott again with “MELTDOWN” featuring Drake. Hopefully a lot of this will clear out soon enough but for now, thank you for reading and I’ll see you next week!

[pinky-the-bunny]

My reading of insomnia by @wily-art

SPOILER WARNING!!!!!

Pgs 1 & 2: Already at the first page and I already like how they did sans here. Also, gaster looks very cool.

Pgs 3 & 4: OOOOHHHH, sans almost recognised gaster there. Clever.

Pgs 5-7 : OH SHIT!!!

Pgs 8&9: Oh fuck, I just realized his soul and powers are red now!

pgs 10 - 12: WHAT THE FUCK!?!?!? THEY JUST CYNED HIM! (Also that exchanged with papyrus was funny)

Pgs 13 & 14: Poor papyrus, he was just concern- HOLY SHIT, WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT!?!?!?

Pgs 15-17: sans remembers resets in this one...I like that fanon idea on him, so this story is right up my alley. (it already is, i'm so invested.)

Pgs. 18-20: THEIR IN THE SURFACE!!!!

Pgs. 21-24: I love papy in this! Also, I find it interesting how he said not red or blue...which makes the art of his soul being blue sort of tie in with the red would from before.

Pgs 25 - 29: Yeah...sans is going through it.

Pgs 30 - 34: okay, so the souls colors are at least connected to chara, right?

Pgs 35 & 36: OH SHIT, HERE WE GO!

Pgs 37 - 38: WOAH!!! I GENUINELY GOT CHILLS THERE!

Pgs. 39 - 41: wow, okay, so that was a lot to take in. So from what I'm getting is that gaster and sans used to work together to make a human-like soul replacement to break the barrier. And the soul traits are like the 7 fallen humans soul names. I wonder what happened with that...

Pgs 42 & 43: I wonder if present sans can feel past sanses emotions at the same time? Cause every time Past sans seems to be stressed his dialogue box turns blue and present sanses soul turns bluer. Plus, when chara is near him, his soul gets redder.

Pgs 44 - 48: WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING?!?!?

Pgs 40 - 52: He teleported??? Is he still dreaming??? Was this a dream at all???

Pgs 53 - 56: that guy was so sweet, I gave him a surfer voice cause I saw him like that, Lol.

Pgs 57 - 60: And yet he's still throwing away his problems like always...

Pgs 61 - 65: damn, that escalated quickly.

Pgs 66 - 68: oh please don't tell me he's gonna hurt papyrus at some point...

Pgs 69 - 72: poor frisk doesn't know what their favorite skeleton is going through.

pgs 73 - 75: So...is the chara from the "dream" A different chara? Also, I love how they draw chara. Its different.

Pgs 76 - 79: he's bleeding more, I'm worried.

Pgs 80 & 81: Alphys has a team now? Awsome! I can only imagine what having her as a boss is like.

Pgs 82 - 85: man, alphys is so underrated. She is just as important as all the other characters and I am happy how she is portrayed in this.

Pgs 86 - 89: She has a cat phone! Cute!

Pgs 90 - 96: oh, either he's pissed or he's doing something

Pgs 97 - 99: Awww, he wants to help!

Pgs 100 -103: I really like this. A lot of people seem to think that being naive equals stupid, so I really like how they made papyrus find out quickly that sans was lying to him and is trying to help him through whatever problem he has.

Pgs 104 - 108: Its okay, sans. I don't like tea either.

Pgs 109 - 113: Oooh, that hit hard...

Pgs 114 - 118: Oh god, sans is having anxiety.

Pgs 119 - 121: AAAAAAWWWWWWW!!!!❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

Pgs 122 - 125: Papyrus giving us a therapy session right now.

Pgs 126 - 128: Oh thank god, I really thought he was gonna...

Pgs 129 - 135: PAPYRUS'S GASTER BLASTER REVEAL!!!

Pgs 136 - 140: Oh, that's cool as fuck!

Pgs 141 - 144: He would survive in a horror move for sure.

Pgs 145 - 149: THAT'S FROM THE TRAILER!

Pgs 150 - 154: he kinda...

Pgs 155 - 156: Look at how past sans waters those plants! Very demure, very mindful!

Pgs 157 - 162: Damn, past sans is really nailing the whole "you're trying to forget your fuck up, huh? Too bad."

Pgs 163 - 166: He old as fuck.

Pgs 167 - 170: Oh shit, here we go...

Pgs 171 - 172: He so cocky, I love him!

Pgs 173 - 174: Well, I'm still gonna call ya past sans honey.

Pgs 175 - 178: Past sans is such a bully.

Pgs 179 - 181: That dog is obviously named cupcake.

Pgs 182 - 184: Aaaaand there it is...

Pgs 185 - 187: Of course there be complications.

Pgs 188 & 189: Yep! He has the fucking traits.

Pgs 190 - 192: Oh shit, chara's here.

Pgs 193 & 194: Yay! No more supressing! We love character development!

Pgs 195 - 197: The void!?

Pgs 198 & 199: Are we back?

Pgs 200 & 203: Back to the other chara.

Pgs 204 - 207: ASRIEL!!!!

Pgs 208 - 211: OH?

Pgs 212 - 214: Frisk...no...

Pgs 215 - 218: Scary...

Pgs 219 - 221: THATS FUCKING COOL! also frisk has no eyes???

Pgs 222 - 226: What the fuck is he gonna do...?

Pgs 227 - 229: Poor asriel...

230 - 231: what the fuck...

232 - 236: PFFT-!

Pgs 237 - 240: OH FUCK!

Pgs 241 - 244: had a feeling he would know they ate buttercups.

Pgs 245 - 248: *Starts eating popcorn intensely*

Pgs 249 - 250: this is so intense.

Pgs 251 - 255: Aw, frisk!

Pgs 256 - 259: These pages keep getting better and better! Omg!

Pgs 260 - 263: oh....

Pgs 264: This goes hard.

Pgs 265 & 266: Oh god what would happen if they do? I don't it would be what they'd expect.

Pgs 267 - 270: and papyrus has to FIGHT this guy?

Pgs 271 & 272: OH MY GOD, ITS THE TITLE OF THE SERIES!

Pgs 273 - 275: JESUS CHRIST!

Pgs 276 - 279: Wait, is that an actual thing?

Pgs 280 - 282: Is he gonna tell him!?

Pgs 283 - 286: Does one of the mugs have muscles???

Pgs 287 - 291: I don't get that one but funny Haha papy got mad at pun.

And that's it! I can't wait to see the episodes but that's about it from the comic itself. I hope I gave you all a good laugh and please give the comic a read!

[cathumanwarriors]

Any genetics headcanons for each clan?

To explain how I came to the conclusion I did for each Clan, I'd have to write an entire analysis for how the ideas originated, how I applied them to real world cultures, how the ideas have evolved over the years, and what my intention is with my choice of the Clans being so different in ancestry. I hesitate to use the term genetics because genetics as a field is more complex than the method I use, which is a bare bones "50% mother, 50% father. If you've got Dustpelt and Ferncloud, it's not accurate to state their children are 50% of each of them. Instead, they have varying traits of each parent that will cause them to differ in appearance. Foxleap and Birchfall are brothers, but Birchfall is lighter skinned than Foxleap and Spiderleg has inherited his height from Rooktail while both his parents are on the shorter side.

And I will do a major deep dive into my thoughts about my creative decisions one day as I refine what I already have, so for now, here are my ancestral headcanons for first arc leaders. It gives a good look into what my thoughts are.

Bluestar: Kenyan ancestry through Moonflower by Rooktail, unknown African ancestry from Stormtail through his mother, Russian ancestry through Stormtail by his father, Stonepelt, Irish ancestry through Moonflower by her mother, Daisytoe, and English ancestry through Moonflower by her mother, Daisytoe. 

The calculations for this using the method described above would be the following: 50% African (Kenyan, Unknown), 25% Russian, 15.62% Irish, 9.38% English

Brokenstar: Russian ancestry through Yellowfang and Raggedstar, by both Brightflower and Brackenfoot; by Featherstorm, Persian (Note: ethnically Persian in the 1700s) ancestry through Yellowfang by Brightflower; through Raggedstar by Hal, and Polish ancestry through Yellowfang by Brackenpelt. 

The calculations would be: 50% Russian, 37.5% Persian, 12.5% Polish

Tallstar: Japanese ancestry through both Palebird and Sandgorse stretching back to his great grandfather Flamepelt, whose parents migrated from Japan. This makes Tallstar a 5th generation WindClan warrior, or that his family have been in WindClan for 5 generations. 

Crookedstar: Italian ancestry through Rainflower and Shellheart and French ancestry through Shellheart by Willownose. Crookedstar’s family has been part of RiverClan since the late 1500s, which made his parents highly respected in RiverClan society. He can trace his family line back to Spikestar (Spiketail from Cloudstar’s Journey), which gives him additional points on how high his family ranked in RiverClan. 

The calculations would be: 75% Italian, 25% French

(Note: This type of genetic calculation is purely used for informational and documentation purposes, where you take 50% of the mother and 50% of the father and add them together then divide. Real genetics is much more complicated.)

[rubyastari]

The Saddest Thing About Life I’ve Learned So Far …

Me: “My father was the only honest man I really knew.”

Them: “Why? What did he say?”

Me: “He once said: ‘Nobody can or will always stay with and for you.’ And he was right.”

#realisticallyspeaking

Many may interpret this as my expression of grief. I’m going to have to say … yes and no.

Dad passed away on January 19, 2014. His birthday is on October 23. He’d be 75 if he were still around.

Then, what about me? Well, I turned 42 in November this year. How does it feel to be at that age and still single? Not surprisingly, nothing special. I’m not dreading or relishing anything from that. You could say that I’ve probably grown numb.

Must I worry? I honestly don’t know. I haven’t really had a chance to analyze or identify my own feelings lately. I’m too busy with work and simply trying to get by. It’s getting harder to set aside time to just do something like this:

Writing … for the sake of writing …

I’m also struggling to catch up on my reading. I used to be able to read a lot and finish faster — one book after another. I also did that with countless of articles, short stories, and poems too — per week.

Nowadays, I can only finish reading one article per day … if I’m lucky. Still better than nothing, eh? I also slowly finish reading a book one page at a time. Not ideal, I know, but once again — it’s still better than nothing at all.

Isn’t it typical of us — human beings — to miss what we’ve often taken for granted before?

Have I already grown cold on the inside? Hopefully not. I’m glad I still feel because the current news in Gaza is still making me cry. I wish they’d stop with the killings and the lies. Ceasefire now!

I know Dad was never the most openly emotional man. You could never imagine him as the father who would comfort his daughters after a breakup with a boyfriend. He never did.

Instead, he’d always challenged me with the same question: “So, what’s next?”

“Huh, what do you mean?”

“Okay, so you’re in trouble / stuck in a rut / rejected. What are you going to do next?”

Those who had misunderstood him in the past (I included, shamefully) must have thought he was being dismissive. According to Ma, he didn’t know how to comfort a person, let alone a woman or his own daughters. He was never taught that and he felt he couldn’t teach himself that well. Since he was a little boy, he’d been taught that showing real feelings — including grief — was a sign of weakness. Anger was necessary, especially when he needed to defend himself.

“Your father was an unhappy man.”

When I sometimes look back, I remember him and those sad stories about him. I have to resist the urge to cry. I wish I’d had more time to get to know him more / better, to understand him better …

… and to have forgiven him sooner, for all he couldn’t do or should’ve done …

On the outside, I began to imitate some of his traits. People say I look more like him, but that’s not really accurate. My brother is a carbon copy of him, although he’s got a taller, leaner figure like our maternal grandfather. I don’t glare like he did and I’ve got Ma’s snub nose.

However, I’ve picked his old mannerisms along the way. These days, I tend to shut myself down all too easily. I rarely talk; I’ve grown quiet and I sometimes get myself lost in my own thoughts.

Some people ask me why I work in North Jakarta while still living in the South. It’s ridiculously far. I’ll need at least an hour and a half to get there and another to get back — whether it is by motorbike or by bus and train. Why not move to North Jakarta instead, closer to work? Or, why not try to find a job much closer to where I still live?

I get those questions a lot. I like living in the city center because it’s easy for me to get around. It’s easier for people to reach me as well. About the job? Well, that wasn’t my original plan. I got transferred to the North branch during the Covid-19 pandemic because the other one close by had closed down.

I like the job okay so far. I can manage, as long as I can still steal some time outside to write.

Of course, there’s also another strange reason I don’t tell them all:

I simply love being on the road these days, despite the traffic. I get to emotionally detach myself from people for a while — and just be at peace with myself. Sounds like a paradox to you? Maybe. To many people, a traffic jam is equal to chaos. To me, it’s an opportunity to blend in and sort of disappear for a while.

That way, I don’t have to interact with people that I don’t like. I don’t have to answer their super intrusive questions as if I owe them an explanation of why I’m like this. I know I sound defensive, but I sometimes feel the need to be (left) alone.

Dad was right — and he couldn’t be more right if he could see me today. I guess now I can see why he’d taught me to be more independent, down to the point that I’ve forgotten how to open up properly and let people in.

Eventually, everybody leaves. I know that because I’ve experienced a lot of departures. I’ve been the girl who had to see every guy she’d ever loved to end up with somebody else — and people blamed her for that. I’ve been that girl who’d been lied to by guys who claimed to have loved her, only to either take those words back or worse — play her around. This is why I always hate it when people accuse me of “not trying hard enough” or “not making more effort”.

What the hell do they all know? Nothing. They don’t even care that what they say can make you feel ugly as hell as if you’ll never be good enough for anyone out there. What effort — when the other side just won’t do the same for you too? That is so stupid! You’ll only look sad and desperate with that.

The bad news is, they’ll be the same people who mock you for that too. Believe me, you can never win with them.

Even your friends who once promised to always be there for you would turn away too. People change. They can either get too busy or quarrel over something so petty. They can die before you do too.

This is why I have no problem being alone. Dad had been right all along. As sad as this may sound to you, I have to be good at being on my own. This includes learning how to not take everything way too personally like some angry, self-entitled bratty girl.

This is why I have to be ready to always look after myself, just in case:

· Romance may not be meant for everyone.

· Friends abandon you, especially over petty reasons, such as you disagree with them, but it’s perfectly okay for them to dismiss your every valid argument. Double standards much?

· You’re not really a priority to anyone, even when they claim that you are theirs.

· You’re the last resort, not a destination or a companion. Hell, you’re not even their first option.

· You’re about to be forgotten …

R.