#COHERENT TIMELINE I LOVE U

[trentcrimminallybeautiful]

☔ for the ask game!

☔Is there a fic concept you have that you'd like to just explain and share because you're not sure you'll ever write it? If so, what is it?

hm i think i've already shared/talked about most of the high concept ones that i don't actually think i'll write, but i do have a roytrent (or quasi roytrent, i hadn't decided if they'd be endgame although it was likely, but it was still largely about them interacting) au with roy in a time loop. i've actually got several time loop fics i love a good time loop

this one in particular though i had a few specific scenes in mind that basically was like. roy is kind of going nuts in the time loop (the fic takes place when he's already tried all the basic stuff; also generally pre-ted/canon) and is now just kind of fucking around at the apathy stage of coping because nothing matters and time is fake and he decides on an angry random whim to try and seduce trent crimm for some hate sex and see what happens only to accidentally get to know him for real but like. it's a time loop. so on one hand, roy's a lot more reckless and less worried about being vulnerable because he feels like it doesn't matter: crimm can't remember and won't tell anyone because he literally can't. on the other hand, any progress he makes is erased at the end of the loop (which currently in the idea doc is a week long), even once roy starts to get to know him for real. the worst part is roy realizing that once he starts to actually like crimm (horror upon horrors) that it's actually way less of a challenge then it should be to get him to open up, not because roy's gotten to know him that well but because it takes a shockingly small amount of time to get through to him if roy's doing it with actual sincerity. the first time roy gets trent crimm to smile at him for real, all bright and crinkly and lopsided--breathtakingly sincere and horribly earnest--he. kind of feels like throwing up. for like, a lot of reasons, especially because trent isn't going to remember this, is he.

anyway in theory it's mostly about roy breaking through the apathy and dealing with some Time Loop Shit + probably some chapters from a very confused trent-of-that-loop's pov, but i hadn't figured out an ending (i have several time loop aus, though mostly tedtrent, and i might have stolen a similar ending from those tbh) and also it didn't quite come together the way i wanted or feel cohesive enough. like i think i'd need to do more on roy's character and backstory to make it really work--how does roy deal with being in a time loop? but it was also supposed to be largely focused on roy and trent's relationship/dynamic late into this time loop stuff rather than the general concept of "roy kent in a time loop" if that makes sense. idk man. roytrent timeloop

asks for WIPs quotes :)

[exghul]

*kisses her son's forehead @pitborn " I love you, baby bird."

he resists the urge to wriggle free of her grasp, as he might have as a young boy. talia is forward with her affection, showering him in love as if they were a normal mother and son. he would not be so extraordinary if she were a normal mother, if she were eccentric only in small doses and spent hours watching a clock tick down until pickup times.

he tolerates it better now, as her fingers curl around his head and lips press to his forehead. his shoulders are sloped, spine bent at an odd angle to allow her to be so close.

damian does not mind. his mother's affection is welcome on this calm day, her touch does not burn as all used to. accepted or not, he is still quick to pull back, to retreat back into himself and his solitude.

the batman straightens, cowl in his hands. the most dangerous woman in the world looks up at him, her gaze soft, her hands cup his cheeks. he offers the ghost of a smile and a whining voice uncharacteristic of a stoic shadow, he speaks.

❝ mother, ❞ the syllables are dragged out in exasperation. ❝ i am not a baby anymore, nor a bird. ❞ @pitborn ♥

[puruh]

gonna veer towards what i did on kikyō more w my verses which is to list the writing partners i have for particular aus etc, and within that i'll designate exclusivity or mains bc i think that would make more sense maybe? like even if not exclusive with a portrayal in All Ways, i think i'll take exclusivity to be more like .. if we have an au or are writing in a particular setting, then that shouldn't be replicated with another portrayal of the same character, if that makes sense

[deus-ex-mona]

finally reached enough to find a point of commonality between the last row~~

instagirlies and their failgirl bfs:

hw couples in a shellnut (jk)

[crystallizsch]

I DEMAND Yuusha and Jamil content for Vil's hometown event‼️‼️‼️🫵🏻🫵🏻🫵🏻 (jkjk u do what u want HOWEVER I'd love to see the sillies interacting and their reactions to each other's wonderful outfits)

HAKAJSND I WAS JUST THINKING ABOUT THIS HONESTLY???

tapis rouge simply WON'T leave me alone so i went a bit overboard on this one 😭

and by overboard i mean i did a few extra mini tapis rouge scenes in one bc i can't keep a coherent timeline (+ an extremely rough sketch of yuusha's new luxe couture outfit at the very end)

anyways uhhhh yuusha and jamil (also featuring ace and grim in one of em)

(also also i haven’t seen the entire event story and i only know bits and pieces so i just made up scenarios here 💀)

━━━━━━✦

━━━━━━✦ (i also thought about that perfume ask again hfjdksljsd) (and funnily enough this is based on something that actually happened between two of my friends 💀)

━━━━━━✦

━━━━━━✦ (also help why was one of his groovy lines so mean LMAO)

━━━━━━✦ (debated between a ponytail and a bun but kept the bun :3)

[tpher]

stop making me care about topher (respectfully)

my immediate thought was to annoyingly wax poetic abt topher to make it worse so i WILL

topher is 16 by the time hes in the show and the td timeline is all fucky wucky so lets say hes been a fan since the start so hes liked total drama for around 3 years. 3 years? not a lot of time but to a TEEN??? that is SO incredibly long. ESPECIALLY if ur autistic/have a hyperfixation like topher did. so total drama, chris in particular, was his LIFE

it is especially very.. unintentionally meta that so late in the show and in one of the most hated seasons you have this character who competes on the show with the intent of trying to make it better. he still loves it (or at the very least chris) but thinks it wasnt as good as it once was (again. chris). and again as a teen w a hyperfixation it hurts to see something u like go to shit. and in tophers case, its what awakened his dream to become a host someday. so what better way than to "fix" the show you loved by taking over, right? topher certainly has the drive and the motivation to try and make his dreams a reality, even if he does waste time and get distracted a bunch.

so imagine after years and years, you finally meet your idol. youre just so excited and wanna let him know just how much of a fan you are to get on his good side in general, but also as a networking opportunity. youve always wanted to be a host, so now youre not only meeting a host but THE host. so you try to talk but he doesnt really care. and youre just complimenting him and its bugging him. and giving him constructive criticism is also not allowed. and you flat out ask if you could just.. explain a challenge to the others at least once and he gets.. mad at you?

what are you doing wrong? nothing, of course. its just him who doesnt get it. its just him who doesnt appreciate all the years YOUVE put into him. he doesnt understand all the time and effort youve put into being camera-ready and taking meticulous care of your hair and skin; including being in posing classes since age 11 and having a suspiciously intricate knowledge on plastic surgery. most people your age barely even know what theyre going to college for, youve got your whole life figured out compared to them

youve waited long enough, you have the looks and the skills, and if he wont give you what you deserve, then its time to take matters into your own hands

so you grow bitter and impatient (and frown wrinkles, oh no!). youve resulted to stealing this mans phone to contact the network yourself.

and then imagine when you finally put in the effort. and you think your dreams are coming true and it was just your idol-- your FORMER idol-- pulling a prank on you. on international television. for millions of people including potential employers to see. which also cost your team the challenge and got you eliminated in such a humiliating way.

everything you had ever worked for is gone in an instant. and its all thanks to who was once your hero. the one who gave your life a clear trajectory

the last we see of topher, he is unable to form coherent sentences and twitching. we genuinely have no idea how hes doing right now

but i hope hes okay

[some-murmurings]

i'm happy that video essays are a popular format on youtube now. i've loved the genre for years and, with care, it's a reliable source of accessible education.

that said, the popularity of video essays on youtube makes me feel like my brain is leaking out of my ears. it is so easy to immediately tell when an author has no actual investment in the genre and sees it merely as a vehicle for #Content™️©️®️

There are three basic qualities I see suffering the most for this

1. Length

I see so many of these newer channels pumping out 8 hour pieces that are closer to exhaustive book reports then they are tight, well written examinations of something and, while I LOVE the diversity inherent to the video essay format, this is a terrible way to explore a topic. It's boring, lame, and extremely profitable.

Quinton Reviews is a good example; I like his work occasionally, his recent thing on Dan Schneider was genuinely pretty good. It did still suffer from the resulting pacing sickness from overloading on information and underloading on composition & organization. Wendigoon is an even better example. Most "iceberg" style vids also are (not u jan misali. never u.)

Also, there's no defined rule for the length of a video essay. They can be 5 minutes long or 5 hours, flash fiction or a full-bodied thesis. Shots of tequila or a whole bottle of wine can both get you drunk.

2. Pacing

Obviously related to length but this is another problem; video essayists have always struggled with this and it got worse recently anyways.

A lot of that "information overload" is to blame. It's important that, when researching, YOU come to a strong, nuanced understanding of a topic through disparate sources. It is, by nature of the format and genre, an extremely bad idea to try and make your audience learn the information the same way.

We don't need a thousand sources spread across several dozen sentences, we want the 3-4 (max) best sources on a given subtopic concisely synthesized into a coherent idea.

Use music, jokes and relevant graphics to make this information as engaging and interpretable as possible without sacrificing accuracy. It's okay to abridge and note that you were, in fact, abridging. We don't need to know every detail about every single thing loosely related to the topic.

Dan Olson from "Folding Ideas" is a good example of this. His script writing and camera work does an extremely good job of creating effective flow with an appropriate amount of detail & nuance. So, pacing, basically.

3. Topic

U can tell some of these jamokes don't give a fuck or shit about the thing they're discussing. Worse still when it's some inane internet drama they're recounting like its "news."

To be clear: the best video essays are OFTEN on topics you have no previous interest in. Roblox_oof.wav by HBomberguy is an easy example. This shit is a complete mess thematically but, because the author engages deeply and effectively with the topic, it literally doesn't matter. It's an insanely good video you should spend all 2 & 1/2 hours in rn. Go. Watch it.

Nor is internet drama a bad topic to cover. You're allowed, encouraged really, to discuss the weird bullshit people do to each other but like... this is closer to a soap opera than it is a national news headline. Looking at you, "Turkey Tom" or whatever the fuck your name is.

There's something to be said, too, for how quick people are to make an essay about a still moving situation. I know the algorithm is an insatiable maw of content hunger but, counterpoint, ONLY MAKE A VIDEO WHEN YOU CAN ACTUALLY DESCRIBE WHAT HAPPENED. If there's reasonable suspicion stuff isn't done, SHUT THE FUCK UP. It's okay if you misjudge a timeline here or there, you're allowed to admit fault and correct yourself, but, like, cmon.

Also something to be said about how quick so many essayists have ALWAYS been to talk about someone else's business without permission, particularly intimate partner violence.

4. Style/Presentation

Video essays are an extremely novel format, particularly for education, so there's a genuine debt of easy-to-adopt styles. And, because of the recent growth, there are a lot of new people entering the space with very little experience in it.

That said, the next time I hear that fucking "influencer cadence" I'm gonna EXPLODE. You know the one, they slow down towards the end of a sentence to lend "gravitas" and overarticulate every. single. word. to, idk, build credibility?

It's shallow and obnoxious and I hate it. Nothing makes me skip a video faster than a boring intro & a predictable cadence. Be honest about the way you speak. If you struggle to create rhythm & flow with your voice, use music! Seriously, music sampling is a super valid method, most indie artists would be JAZZED to have their stuff in parts of their video. A lot of orchestral stuff is in the public domain, especially a lot of famous "classical" works. Put Beethoven's 5th in your video about potato farming in russia, God might not be real and if she is she'd ALSO think it's funny.

Another problem: predictable cuts & generally uninspired editing. I know editing is a pain in the ass but, like, it IS still a creative process. You do have space to do interesting stuff here and, if you can't focus for that long, literally just make a shorter video.

It's okay if 95% of your transitions are purely functional, the trick is to make those 5% REALLY silly to keep your audience on their toes.

5. Tone

You don't need to be "an authority" on a topic to make a good essay about it. It helps but, as long as you're clear & honest about the limits of your understanding and you've done your due diligence, you almost certainly will be fine to talk about anything you want.

If you want to build credibility quickly, consider starting with disambiguation instead of dry recitation. Dates matter less to me than actually understanding a topic better. Even better if you come across like another autistic person infodumping about whales or w/e.

I'd keep going but my phone's gonna die. U get the gist. Lots of format problems that algorithm-brain is exacerbating.

[secretlyafiveheadeddragon]

Which Jurassic Park is the best?

Rank them and explain your reasoning :)

(I saw u mention it on your 1hr No Notes ask game. Now i want to know)

In order from best to worst:

Jurassic Park (movie, 1995)— Classic film with perfect score, cinematography, and special effects. The practical effects mixed with minimal CGI makes it timeless, and it has aged phenomenally. Bonus points for the fact that instead of overtly sexualizing the female lead, they overtly sexualize Jeff Goldblum instead. Incredible. Def my favorite Spielberg movie, also, my favorite movie period.

Jurassic Park (book, 1990)— Also amazing, a little dense at times, but that is not a big deal. Some truly profound themes are at display here, I get so many goosebumps. I’m reading it again for a lit class and focusing on how it uses nature to further its themes, and it’s so interesting. I fuckjng love this book. It’s a bitter social commentary disguised as a thriller sci-fi novel, and has so many good dinosaur scenes.

The Lost World (book, 1995)— It’s a good sequel, I think that it doesn’t have as interesting of themes as the original and is a lot of the same things, and also Malcom was resurrected after very clearly dying in the first book, but I don’t really care. There’s some amazing dinosaur stuff in this one, and ofc a new set of kids to traumatize.

Jurassic Park: The Lost World (movie, 1997)— The plot isn’t as cohesive, but holy shit are the dinosaur scenes in this are so fucking good. The middle act is a little slow, but Ian Malcom (Jeff Goldblum) is the main character and that gives everything a pass. It comes after the book because they kill a dog, but it’s still an incredible movie and I love it. It bears absolutely no resemblance to the book it’s based off of besides a few names, but that’s fine.

Jurassic Park 3 (movie, 2001)— This is the first movie in the franchise that is BadTM, but I love it so much and you can pry it from my cold dead hands. As the plot loses coherence, the dinosaur scenes get more silly and fun. There’s this one scene where Alan Grant is dreaming on the plane on the way to the island, and a dream velociraptor says “Alan!” In the stupidest voice. 10/10 movie, wouldn’t change anything about it for the world. I consider it Not Canon, because of all the things that completely break the timeline, but holy shit is this movie a ride.

The Entirety of the Jurassic World Movies goes at the bottom, doesn’t really matter the order, they’re all rather bad. I would say the first one is the best, but I haven’t seen it in a while, and it manages to be more misogynistic to the female lead than the original Jurassic Park movies, despite being made like 20 years afterwards. The dinosaurs are all CGI, so there are no practical effects, and in the finale they chose to make the Big Bad this boring callback to Dodgson from the original, and they make the genetic tech threat giant locusts. That, and a shoehorned pandering lesbian, Chris Pratt, and stupid lava, makes these movies forgettable and bad.

[ask-zerotrio]

Epilogue/Author’s final note

Idk if anyone’s been paying attention to how the blog has been transforming over the course of the story, both in answers + meta blog layer, but I hope it’s been a fun ride! I wanted to thank you those who wrote really nice words again ;u; it means a lot, especially when I poured a lot into this blog (Probably more than I should lol.)

Anyway, I really wanted to do a full write up of the blog’s plot/timeline... A summary of the vision, if you will.

Arc 1: An idyllic universe

I’d be lying if I had this plot from the beginning, but the whole of it certainly came in a rush. Anyway, the beginning of this story was very much an AU where Sada and Turo did leave the crater, reuniting with Clavell and Arven before dying. It’s a universe where everything is perfect, and certainly one that Clavell of every universe dreams of, regardless of whether he’s romantically involved with anyone.

Arven gets to have his parents, Clavell gets to have his childhood friends by his side, Sada and Turo see that Paradise was never something found in the past and future.

Arc 2: A crumbling dream

Then, a desire to explore zerotrio “canon” overcame me, and I thought it might be fun to pursue a change in direction via story, as opposed to usual ask blog announcements/retcons. So... upon the mention of harm coming to the trio, Clavell assures himself that Sada and Turo are fine.

Thus begins the crumbling of this ideal world, with Clavell becoming sickly and grieving for something he doesn’t know... But Sada and Turo do. Throughout these few asks, whoever’s responsible for this dream is implied... and I think I’ll leave that for you to guess :)

Reality is rushing back at Clavell, and eventually time runs out for him. Sada and Turo know this, and I hoped I made it clear how apologetic they are (Love these complex, problematic, but fiercely loving professors lol. Their personalities are so intense, Clavell always in the crossfire)...

Arc 3: Zero Lab era

Suddenly, Clavell was no longer available to respond... as per his injury. Instead we have the Zero Lab Search queries: An opportunity for people to investigate what truly happened between the trio historically. No better certainty in happenings than real video footage, no?

An added plus was to show the trio’s early relationship together during the Tera Orb research eras... Fluffy filler between the grimness of what becomes of them.

Although the “footage” isn’t posted in chronological order, they are all still roughly dated to show a coherent-ish timeline of Sada +Turo and Clavell beginning to have different priorities for Arven’s sake. Arguments had and never truly resolved... logs of Sada and Turo’s absence in Arven’s young life... so forth.

Peppered amidst all these were little clues, as well as puzzles. I attempted to throw a red herring, wanting to keep Sada and Turo’s deaths a not so secret for longer.

Eventually however, we reach present day, with lots of footage locked or damaged. Clavell, Sada and Turo are never shown, but their impacts of their action are. (These poor poor wild Scream Tails haha.)

Arc 4: Present day

We finally arrive at the true present day... with Clavell facing off Protocol Sada and Turo on his own.

The reveal isn’t a crazy twist, nor did I really want it to. But the build up had been for a tragedy we already knew/are familiar with: that Sada and Turo died for their dreams....

But in these final moments where Clavell woke from a vision that felt too real, Protocol Sada and Turo weren’t immune to it either.

Zero Lab queries no longer function as they used to, and asking about the past hurts. Sada and Turo’s conscious speaks through the logs. (Its true workings I leave to your imagination, but I liked the thought of the AI and Protocol representing the two parts of a whole Professor.) We see the final moments of Sada and Turo in what is a death-defying retrospective.

What next... complicated/messy resolutions. Clavell saved, Sada and Turo “alive” but different. It’s more open ended than I intended, but I think it’s also alright to leave things to the imagination... 

The trio have always been in search of their respective treasures, and though it takes a long and rough journey...

... lost treasure can always be found.

[speaking-from-the-abyss]

Some random thoughts on Obey Me! Nightbringer up to lesson 10 (with LOTS of spoilers)

If you ask why I'm making a post like this in this blog is cause I will defend that this is a queer coded game to my last breath –and cause is my blog and I do what I want.

Full disclosure: I'm not done with the first game yet so no spoilers for that one please. I'm guessing I'll get spoiled by Nightbringer anyways as the story progresses, and I already did lol, but I wanna gush about this game because I love it so much already.

Starting with the title screen, oh my gosh the art is beautiful. 10/10 would definitely buy a poster of this.

They continue using they/them for MC and that's a thing we all gotta appreciate. Thank u.

The layout and the art of the game is just SO PRETTY in general. Definitely an upgrade from the first game, credits to the designers and artists.

It's a rhythm game!! I like it, the gameplay is easy enough and in classic Obey Me fashion you gotta be really precise when you click or else, which adds a good layer of difficulty.

We don't have 8 different types of support items, just 4, which makes it easier to keep count of how many we have. I am still broke in-game to buy them tho.

WE CAN GET DEVIL POINTS BY COMPLETING LEVELS THANK U SO MUCH. In contrast, I feel like they give less materials when you clear a stage? I mean, they gotta balance it I guess, or maybe is just me.

The game was lagging like hell when I first started playing tho. Idk if it was the game or my phone that couldn't run it or what, but it's fixed now.

I love the fact they're using the character songs for the levels!!! I was waiting for the unit songs and they took a while, but they're there too. The remixes are fun and I can't believe how good they sound.

Speaking of sound, this game's ost is SO GOOD like huh? I was kinda expecting it cause it's a big production and all but bruh. Every now and then I end up having to stop because I gotta appreciate the bgm. There was this one funny song where a banjo started playing and I straight up laughed out loud. 10/10

MK is that you?

Coming back to the layout and the designs: THERE'S SO MUCH RURI HANA IN HERE!!!!!! Love it. 20/10. Best thing ever. Whoever decided to add that I hope they're having an amazing day.

Also, is that a Ruri Hana Miss Em?? Gosh I love this game.

And I'm not done gushing about the designs yet cause LOOK AT HIM!!! LOOK!!!! He's so cute!!!!🧡🧡🧡

HE'S SO PRECIOUS JUST LOOK AT HIM!!!!! 🧡🧡🧡

The art for the cards is really pretty and I need more Levi cards so badly asap

Also, there's a shit ton of extra content, wow. I'm not sure how I feel about the whole 3D models yet (mostly cause my phone only gives me bad renditions of them) but the extra content is slice of life funny bits. I like that they're voice acted, they're good.

Hey so y'know how you can click on the characters and get voice messages in the home screen and how you interact with them in the surprise guest screen? In neither of those I can click on Levi's tail and I consider that a crime against all Levi stans.

OKAY SO when this game was announced and as time went on and we got little pieces of the plot, not gonna lie I was worried. When it comes to time and time travel this franchise has a, well, a record. I'm still worried how it's gonna develop but for now I really like the things they're showing in the main story regarding the characters and the plot. Just, y'know, fingers crossed it doesn't become a mess.

Honestly the timeline is a mess already as it is. We met Luke and he has apparently just started learning how to bake, but in the first game he says he's been doing it for about 300 years, so it's been only 300 years between the end of the Celestial War and the beginning of the first game? Shouldn't the time be at least a few thousand years?? I'm solving this by doing a headcanon that time moves differently in different worlds cause otherwise the lack of coherence bothers me too much.

I'm so intrigued about Nightbringer himself. You think the prologue is giving us a red herring about who he is? Will it be a new character? An old one? Us from the future? They did a good job in implementing the mystery and I can't wait.

I was rereading this chat we have with them at the beginning of the game and something caught my eye:

Do you think maybe we'll start jumping between time as the story continues? So that we'll be at and see different time periods with different characters?? 🤔

This guy has an omurice for an icon when we all know he can't cook to save his life and I find that so ironic xD I like how much he's getting involved in the story so far too

I still don't know who gave them the right to go THIS HARD on a rhythm otome game. I love this thing what the hell. I wish I went this hard with my own projects.

That's all, I'll be waiting for more lessons to drop✌️

[malt-rants-and-stuff]

hey... hey psst. psst. kim dokja. i keep thinking about him because he really seems like the kind of guy i like. time loop guy with a dissociation metaphor thing going on??? and also a play on the self-insert trope?? that's all i REALLY know i think. i dunno how you feel about these kinds of questions but im curious to hear ur thoughts on him. i might never get into orv because the length of it alone requires a grindset of some sort even if you end up in the hyperfixation trenches i feel like, which is something i've been going through with MY game but like. it looks more intimidating when you're not already into it i think. in any case would u ever wanna talk about him...

KIM DOKJA OH MY GOD

you don't even know what you're doing to me rn. if anything I have Too Many thoughts about him it's actually insane.

idk what level of detail I should talk about him at since you said you aren't sure if you'll get into orv but like. ouuughhh kim dokja. need to study him in a controlled environment so bad.

okay but here's the thing about him. it's not really a time loop or at least that's not exactly the biggest part of the angst here though it is partially. especially its about yoo joonghyuk (protagonist) regressing every time he dies and one day kim dokja (reader(orv mc)) shows up and changes the timeline and makes things go better than they ever had but also he won't stop dying because he so desperately wants what he thinks is the Best Ending and that ending had yoo joonghyuk and everyone else happy and away from the apocolypse but that ending never included Him and it's so fucked.

yoo "you fool, if I regress will I meet you again?" joonghyuk and kim "it was a good story, wasn't it yoo joonghyuk?" mother fucking dokja. they need to be stopped. but then they can't just have me be insane over them because here comes han "this story is for that one reader" sooyoung who will do Anything to save kim dokja even when he won't let her and the THEMES oh they are delicious. yoohankim make me so sick it's crazy

the never ending cycle of sacrifice turned self-sacrifice, I was made for you I made you I was made for you, the truth of omniscient reader's viewpoint was that it was never going to end well no matter how desperately they wanted it to happen.

Kim dokja will never let himself be saved, yoo joonghyuk will never stop searching for him, han sooyoung will never stop trying to be his savior. Kim dokja doesn't see himself as worthy of their love he doesn't think he is necessary but when he's gone they just fall apart. Mr. International Terrorist and Ms. Interdimensional Mass Murderer. That one reader who they did all of this for. who they spent thousands of regressions, hundreds of years, unknowable numbers of timelines trying so hard to save. and even after all of that, after the pain and the memory wipes and the separations and the death and just. everything. it will never be enough. Because this is a story for that one reader and he will never stop reading. he will never come back to reality. Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint is a trap of yoohankim's own desperate making. their collective failure to save each other like they saved everyone else is actually astounding.

Kim dokja is everyone we are all kim dokja etc etc, on his deathbed (one of many) he once made the one that he loves most kill him and everyone had just spent multiple chapters fighting to figure out who it was and it was so clear all along that it was painful. the usage of reading skills to tell the story of orv is so cool, the way that you can feel the foreboding energy through every word leading up to it, i fall apart over this book istg. you can clearly tell I have no coherent thoughts on them from this lmao.

also the themes around suicide and healing and regression (haha) and forgiveness and unhealthy love that burrows into your skin and wraps tightly around your bones and death and life and also there is a scene where kim dokja litterally says "eat the dirt yoou joonghyuk." and yjh does and I felt like I needed to be put down like a dog because I was laughing so hard while also crying over literally everything else going on. there is a point where the novel subtly changes from first to third person to signify the effects of something and when I realized it I literally broke down sobbing but it's so amazing like this story really takes advantage of its medium to tell the story it wants to tell. the story for that one reader. also the fourth wall is a actual character in this and its literally amazing, sassy shit who calls kim dokja out on his bullshit while also helping him. they go to a library and I kid you not I have never felt so heartbroken over two characters in my life than I did when one of the children kdj took in as his own acknowledged that he had become a side character type at one point in the novel and that kdj didn't love him as much as the other kid bc he was right it was true he did get pushed off and no one said anything because that's just expected when these types of long books have a pretty decently sized main cast but like in context the usage of this trope only to use it for character writing later was just evil and wrecked me.

the real kim dokja was the diagnosis I got along the process of reading this damn novel

[fountainpenguin]

hi my friend shared one of ur rancher posts with me on twt and i went INSANE- so i wanted to know if u had a twt? (cause thats where im most active for ranchers stuff) :0

?? My post has broken containment??? Incredible. If that's the one I just posted tonight then that's insane skldjf

No, I deleted my Twitter back in like... 2019 or 2020? I was only there to keep up with publishers and PitMad but then I never used it... never looked back, ha ha.

You're welcome to hang around my blog if you like (I use the tag #Team Rancher for all my Rancher commentary, reblogged art, or original art and I like to think I have a pretty good tag system so you can follow me if interested and blacklist stuff from other fandoms you don't care about; I try to talk positively about my fandoms, keep things clean, and not hate on anything since I like having a peaceful fanspace I can sink myself in and step away from the outside world :) But I'm multi-fandom, so I've got a mixed amount of stuff and it's okay if that's not for you).

-> If you haven't looked yet, I encourage you to browse my Team Rancher tag and check out some of those awesome artists and fellow fandom members!

I do have a very active AO3 account. I regularly post MCYT and non-MCYT content there, but you can specifically subscribe to my Pixels Imperfect series on AO3 if you only want emails for my MCYT content. It's a series, but it doesn't have to be read in order (It's just where I keep all my "morally gray pixel people living their best lives despite the outside world being total anarchy" stuff).

Specifically, tomorrow I'm posting the first part of a short story called Criminal Experience and Chapter 1 involves Tango visiting Mumbo's llama farm. Jimmy's not there, but maybe you'll still enjoy if you like Tango, ranch animals, and/or are curious to see if you like my stuff and my Tango portrayal :) [EDIT - Link]

-> I also posted some Jimmy content this past Tuesday; he makes his first big appearance in Chapter 6 of Dog's Life.

Again, totally fine if this doesn't fit what you're looking for since I'm giving you "Tango content" and "Jimmy content" but not specifically "Team Rancher content"... that's just all I've got right now! But I love talking about them and their characterization and you're always welcome to hit me up if you like!

I don't have anything that is specifically Team Rancher on my to-do writing list, but I'm working behind the scenes on a "put all the Life series into a single coherent timeline and making everything as canon as possible" project, so there will probably be some Team Rancher there. It's Scar-centric so I only have the Clockers nailed down right now, but the Ranchers were my faves so they'll probably exist in some shape or form in that series.

That series is called Neighborhood Watch, though I don't have anything posted for it on AO3 yet so I can't link you that one :')

-> If you are a Team Rancher fanartist/fanwriter and you use Twitter to post Rancher content, feel free to reblog or reply to this post and self-advertise! (But keep this post sfw, please)

[Psp psp even if you don't use Twitter, feel free to reblog or reply because I'm firmly a Tumblr user but I'd also love more Team Rancher in my life <3]

I'm glad you enjoyed my post! I really like Team Rancher... they are just very kind to each other and I could talk for ages about how they passed Scott's compatibility test with flying colors even though he was trying to rig it so they break up SLDKFJSLDFJ <3 Tango and Jimmy were just super kind to each other and incredibly comedic... Double Life was such a fun series. I miss them.

I've got a ton of Rancher fanart reblogs in my drafts/queue but I'm trying to space them out to avoid slam-dunking my followers, sldkfj. We love Team Rancher in this household. Thanks for stopping by!

[council-of-beetroot]

a feliks-related question for u since u wanna talk about him!! obviously you can have different versions of your canon for a character, but when talking about feliks' love life who do you think he would have been with and when? and how serious would those relationships over his life have been?

Alright let's try to wrangle in all my ship headcanons and try to make a coherent timeline. My problem is I ship way too much and have the mindset where it's like "there's no evidence suggesting that Feliks and Cuba hooked up in the 1960s canon doesn't say they haven't" but anyway ignore my fallacious argument because an absense of evidence for an argument doesn't immediately imply that the counterargument is true.

I don't have an endgame ship where i want Feliks to end up with which makes my flow of my own canon kinda weird

Tolys

Commonwealth era see them as being in a relationship up until the partitions

I then see Feliks idealizing the commonwealth after the partitions which is the reason he is so desperate to get liet back

I could see them potentially getting back together modern day but idk.

Gilbert

Gilbert is tricky because i just see him as a constant in Feliks' life and the exact balance and situation of their relationship is always in motion. I find 19th polpru to be particularly enjoyable as it's Feliks just not having a good time and Gil just deciding to make it worse

Plus then i can play with some weird messed up Polpru rusliet dynamics there

But i could see Gilbert and Feliks having a relationship in many other periods like when Prussia was a vassal to the Commonwealth or Cold war era

Francis

Definitely see them having a short thing during the Napoleonic wars where Feliks is nationless and just not in a great state. Francis is someone he confides in at the time and looks up to. It's not a long lasting relationship as Francis is definitely the type to not drag on relationships.

Eduard

This one i picture more in modern day I'd say.

Sadık

Definitely could see this one either in like 16th century or 19th century about

[ruvviks]

how would u recommend i get started with your fics? the arasaka timeline first or go by my interest? iw ish to understand the lore

HII THANK YOU SO MUCH <33 so for my cyberpunk universe i basically have two separate storylines going on, one is about vincent who is my canon v and the other is about cassidy, an assassin sent to kill a gang leader and. well. things kinda escalate from there LMAO

for vincent's story, you'd have to start with the arasaka timeline and then you can read the broker fic! the in-game events that happen before all of this are basically the same as canon, i just mixed some elements from different endings together to fabricate my own but with the arasaka timeline it should all make sense :D

for cassidy's story, i started writing a chronological fic here but the fic i posted yesterday jumps ahead in time by YEARS and for now there's not really a coherent timeline for that story so that's really just up to you, and of course if there's any questions i'm always more than happy to answer them i love getting asks >:^)

hope this helps!! and thank you again so much for your interest i appreciate it so much ;-; <3

[burningdarkfire]

books i read in dec 2023

[these are all short + casual reviews - feel free to ask about individual ones if u want my full thoughts or ask for my goodreads!!] 

fighting for my life this december but you know what? i ended with a great and relaxing holiday season 🎄 hope everyone also got some good reading done to close out the year!

captive prince (reread) + pet - c.s. pacat ★★★★☆ (romantasy)

i first read this series 6 years ago and can i just say that i definitely get it now. way more than i did 6 years ago. it's a fucking masterclass in the erotic. a good, slow burn romance where the tension is off the charts and the whole situation is a delicious amount of fucked up

the beak of the finch - jonathan weiner ★★★★☆ (science nonfiction)

there were some obvious gaps, and it drags in the middle chapters, but it's also beautifully written with some lovely turns of phrase

[reread] a dangerous path - erin hunter ★★★★☆ (animal fantasy)

can't believe it's 2023 and i'm still having profound feelings about fireheart and bluestar. one of my faves from the original series

overcoming unwanted intrusive thoughts - sally m. winston ★★★★☆ (psychology nonfiction)

i don't think i actually get intrusive thoughts but this was a useful read to better understand what some people close to me might have going on in their heads <3

the mystery guest - nita prose ★★★★☆ (mystery)

surprisingly really enjoyed this, the main character actually reads like a protagonist instead of a forced gimmick. the mystery itself was pretty subpar but i found the dual timeline pretty compelling

recitatif - toni morrison ★★★★☆ (historical short story)

it's more famously an exercise than it is an actual story, but the story itself is at least functionally interesting

the lottery & other stories - shirley jackson ★★★★☆ (horror short story collection)

impressively thematically coherent for a short story collection, though i think shirley jackson is one of those authors where she and i are simply concerned about different things in life

legendborn - tracy deonn ★★★☆☆ (YA contemporary fantasy)

diverse protag gives a genuinely interesting spin to an otherwise pretty standard YA that's mostly played straight

natural beauty - ling ling huang ★★★☆☆ (horror)

great concept but just didn't quite get there. definitely an interesting debut and i'll be looking for more books from this author

[reread] honeybee - trista mateer ★★★☆☆ (poetry)

reread this to see if i wanted to give it as an xmas gift (the answer was no) it is exactly the kind of middling breakup poetry i was remembering but also more gay

hallowe'en party - agatha christie ★★★☆☆ (mystery)

the actual mystery was quite good but unfortunately agatha christie obviously had uhhh some things on her mind when she wrote this one and it kept getting interrupted by what felt like essentially an unrelated political tirade

the winners - fredrik backman ★★☆☆☆ (contemporary)

the idea behind this was pretty good but unfortunately i am not convinced it needed to exist and especially not for almost 700 pages. the first book is great on its own!

our numbered days - neil hilborn ★★☆☆☆ (poetry)

some spoken word poetry simply is not meant for the page. look this guy up on youtube if you want to see his artistry. but also i think the way he wrote about his exes kind of gave me the ick

[pbpsbff]

🦅 + 🤗 (related to ur "ask the writer" or smt post)

🦅 Do you outline fics or fly by the seat of your pants?

i've been trying to get into the habit of outlining fics because usually that's what ends up biting me in the ass later in multichap fics, but at best it usually turns into a barely coherent idea written in my notes and maybe some dialogue and i'm like yes. this is an outline this is so very planned out. (i think my r&r au is the first time i have ever laid out a coheret timeline for something)

🤗 What advice would you give to new fanfic writers that are just getting started?

this is going to sound really annoying but practice makes progress!!!! i've been writing fics since i was 11 and the ones that are still up are GARBAGE but i kept writing because i knew there were things i couldn't do that i wanted to do and now i'm here??? and i'm still trying to learn 800 new tips and tricks on how to be better idk you can't just expect to be good from day 1 u gotta invest in yourself ok

also be confident in your writing ability to the point of delusion never refuse to post something because it's cringe. you write fanfiction your whole hobby is built on cringe ok put your garbage out into the world because there will always be some 12 year old that thinks it's the best piece of literature that has ever existed. DO YOU WANT TO LET DOWN A 12 YEAR OLD

also also new paragraph every time a new person speaks. please for the love of god