#I like hyper analyzing things that more than likely don't matter

[thesimulacrumb]

Something I like about Q!ironmouse lore is that she hardly focus's on being a demon any time its brought up she's pretty casual about it, sure she's proud but that's cause its really just what her heritage is. sure people are gonna be like "Holy shit your a demon?" but to her she's been a demon for as long as she remembers and there's nothing her or anyone else can do about it, its only after her talk with Tina where she really starts thinking about how different she is even asking if its okay to be herself to her child

[do0zy-artz]

Mirror - 3k Words

“Why are you staring at the mirror like that?” Shadow jumps, and jerks his head around to see Rouge; the bat leaning against the bathroom’s doorway “Looking at it like what?” He asks, watching as she takes a few steps into the bathroom. Rouge comes to stand beside him at the sink, looking at her own reflection. Her eyes don't linger there long, the bat much more intrigued on whatever Shadow’s seeing in his. “Like it just killed your dog.” Day three of @teamdarkweek

Shadow doesn’t like looking at himself in the mirror.

This is not new information to him. Shadow has never been particularly fond of his reflection, even back on the ARK. He has always found his appearance to be something that simply…exists. It’s not something he loves, and barely something he likes; it’s just how he looks. Though lately, every glance in the mirror has been veering his cold indifference more towards dislike. Every morning he stares at himself in the mirror, and seems to find more and more things he doesn’t like. Finds more parts of the person looking back that he would rather do without. More pieces he wished were not part of the puzzle.

Shadow doesn’t know why his feelings on the matter have changed so drastically, or so suddenly, but it bothers him greatly. So much so, that he finds it easy to get lost in a swirl of negative thoughts; staring listlessly into the small bathroom mirror before him. He finds it easy to look at himself, to hyper analyze every feature he can see, and wonder why. Wonder why he doesn’t like it, wonder what could possibly be wrong with it, to wonder what has-

“Why are you staring at the mirror like that?”

Shadow jumps, and jerks his head around to see Rouge; the bat leaning against the bathroom’s doorway. She’s dressed in her pajamas still, an oversized pink shirt hanging off her shoulder and completely hiding the old, patterned short shorts she’s wearing. She’s looking at him curiously, an eyebrow raised as she waits for an answer. It isn’t every day you find your teammate dissociating in the bathroom at nine A.M, after all.

“Looking at it like what?” He asks, watching as she takes a few steps into the bathroom. Rouge comes to stand beside him at the sink, looking at her own reflection. Her eyes don't linger there long, the bat much more intrigued on whatever Shadow’s seeing in his

“Like it just killed your dog.” Rouge looks at the mirror, as if inspecting it, as if looking for whatever could be causing her friend to make such a face. She then turns her gaze to him, wearing an expression that says she couldn’t find anything with the mirror that would make him look so upset. The poor mirror is perfectly fine, so what’s got him making a sour face?

Shadow rolls his eyes. “I was not looking at it like that.” He was the Ultimate Lifeform, he did not look at mirrors like they killed his hypothetical dog. Looking at a mirror like that is also nonsense. It is an inanimate object, it cannot kill a dog by itself. Plus, Shadow does not have a dog, Hence why he referred to the animal as hypotherial. The inanimate object cannot kill anything, especially a thing that doesn’t exist, therefore Shadow has no reason to be giving it that ludicrous look Rouge has just described.

“Yes you were, and I wanna know why.” His roommate pokes him in the cheek lightly, because she knows it’s gonna annoy him. Annoying her boys this early in the morning is practically a free source of entertainment, since they always get so hilariously miffed by it. A teasing smirk crosses her face when Shadow goes to bat her hand away, only missing because Rouge moves away quicker than he can reach.

“....I don’t like mirrors.” Shadow says, and almost leaves it at that. Then, Rouges gives him a look, one that wants him to elaborate further because she cannot work with only four words, Shadow. She needs more than four words to help him with the problem, because unfortunately for everyone, she is not inside his stupid head and cannot read his stupid thoughts. Rouge often complains that her life would be easier if she could read her idiot teammates' thoughts, Omega included. (She’s less serious about it than she sounds. Rouge had kept them because they were stupid idiots, not in spite of it. They were her stupid idiots, just as she is theirs.) Shadow can only sigh as he forces a further, but equally as short, elaboration out of his mouth. “I dislike my reflection.”

“Ah, yeah, that’ll do it.” Rouge clicks her tongue, then falls silent. She likely doesn’t know what to say to that, and Shadow wouldn’t either. He knows he doesn’t look like the type to feel so…negatively about his self-image; especially with all the comments he gets on his looks. Comments he always politely acknowledges, then promptly forget he ever heard. It must be just as much of a shock to her as it had been to him.

He hears Rouge take a breath before speaking again. “I used to hate mirrors too, ya know?” Her voice wavers slightly at the end, and Shadow decides to politely ignore it. To act like it didn’t happen. It was rare for Rouge to open up about things like this. Soiling the moment would frankly be an insult to her and the amount of trust they place in each other as friends.

“Really?” Shadow glances at his friend, surprised. Rouge had always been a pillar of confidence, so much so it was hard to imagine her as anything but. To see her be anything but entirely sure of herself at all times, without her usual assertiveness, would be jarring. So much so, a world where Rouge had been anything but is near impossible for him to comprehend. If she still has these insecurities about her appearance, she either found a very good way to work on them, or got pretty damn good at keeping them locked up.

“Really.” Rouge confirms with a nod, a small smile starting to slip onto her face. Shadow doesn’t know if it’s a genuine on, or one made to cover something up. He figures that information is probably not for him to know, and ceases his wonderings on the matter there.

“How’d you stop?” He asks, the words spilling out of his mouth before he realizes he’s even speaking. Shadow hadn’t meant to say that outloud, mouth moving before his brain caught up to speed; but he did genuinely want to know. To know how Rouge was able to overcome such feelings, to know if there’s a way to stop feeling so bad. If there’s a way for Shadow to fix this, for him to stop feeling such distaste when he catches a glimpse of a reflection.Rouge pauses, a thoughtful expression briefly flashed across her face.

“Well, first I had to figure out why I didn’t like myself. Then, I changed it so I did like that part.” She pauses again, as if searching for the right way to phrase the rest of the explanation. This part of the conversation feels strangely more delicate than the rest, in a way. Delicate for himself, for Rouge, or both, Shadow can’t tell. “And you have a whole bunch of unlikeable parts right now.”

“Like what?” He snorts, amused by the sudden bluntness. He knows some parts of him are less than desribale, in his own mind at least, but he;s curious to know what Rouge thinks those parts are, They’re opinions on these things have been known to clash before.

“For one, your quills are a mess.” She says, scanning over him like a popular girl in a high school movie surveying the significantly less cool, unpopular protagonist. Shadow does not know if Rouge would appreciate being mentally compared to characters like Regina George and Heather Chandler. He decides it best to keep those comparisons to himself if they are to happen again.

“They are not.” He scoffs, not unlike a child would. His quills, while lacking a little in maintenance, are perfectly fine and acceptable. They look just the same as they usually do, minus a handful of rough patches. That is all that could possibly be wrong with them, yes, a few rough patches.

Rouge raises an eyebrow at him, and reaches over till she can run her fingers through some. The area, very coincidentally, is one of the few matted ones, and the hedgehog winces as her fingers get temporarily tangled in his messed up spikes. He tries very hard not to instinctually spike them up in defense. “Shadow, when was the last time you cleaned these?”

Shadow does not respond, though his silence is just as good as any words would be.

“Alright,” Rouge claps her hand together, causing the hedgehog to jump slightly in surprise. A determined look spreads across her face, and Shadow knows there is absolutely no getting out of whatever idea she’s just cooked up. Part of him is horribly intrigued to see how she’s planning to change him, or whatever. “We’re having an impromptu spa day.”

“Now?” Shadow glances at her, an eyebrow raised. He did not sign up for a spa day when he (literally) dragged himself out of bed this morning, especially not one that begins at nine in the morning. Omega hasn’t even unplugged himself for his power cord yet; meaning that, if this goes anything like their usual spa days, their other roommate will be terribly upset at missing it. Omega is rather fond of having his outer parts beautified.

“You don’t have anywhere else to be, do you?” Rouge asks, even though they both know damn well that doesn’t matter. All other plans have been canceled until she decides she’s done with him. Spa day is a very important occasion, and one of the few things in their apartment that takes top priority over anything else.

“No….” He grumbles, allowing a small pout to form on his face. Shadow would rather not be fussed over in such a manner, but once Rouge made up her mind on something, it was hard to change it. Plus, he had been growing a little…disheveled; the hedgehog finding himself unable to do his usual self care routines. The task seemed more and more laborious by the day, especially when spending fifty percent of the day in bed required far less mental cheerleading to get him out of said bed. Though he had not anticipated skipping his routines for the better part of a week would leave him at Rouge-intervening level of bedraggled…

With now either most of their day or an hour planned out, his roommate excuses herself for a quick second, returning two minutes later with a stool. Shadow does not know where she got that stool, or that they even had one in the first place. He also knows better than to question where and how Rouge gets their furniture from, and therefore says nothing as she sets it in front of the sink and tells him to sit down and get comfortable.

He takes a seat on said stool, and allows Rouge to shift him around as she sees fit; giving her access to the quills along his back as well as his head. Shadow is left in a fairly awkward position, hunched over the bathroom sink and sitting on a decently uncomfortable stool. Rouge starts the slow and usually time consuming process of tidying up hedgehog quills, and Shadow mentally prepares himself to be there a while.

“Careful.” He warns, feeling the way her finger snags against a claw. He wouldn’t want her to hurt herself during the cleaning process. Due to the whole ‘test tube baby diabolical.’ as some of their friends liked to call it, Shadow’s quills were sharper and rougher than a normal mobian hedgehog’s would be. He’d cut his own hand enough times, and heard enough meaningless complaints from Sonic after a scrap, to know that cutting yourself on one could be a rather nasty ordeal. And he would like to not drive Rouge to the hospital for a sliced open finger, or administer any structures today, thank you very much.

“I have gloves on,” Rouge hums in mild amusement, continuing to clean through his quills in the same possibly unsafe pace. Despite her light words and mirth, and the personal knowledge of how durable their gloves are, Shadow is not as reassured as his roommate would probably like. “I don’t really think I can prick myself.”

“Just try and be cautious.” He sighs, and allows Rouge to work her magic without any further complaints. And work her magic she does, Shadow finding it concerningly easily to zone out as she tends to him. If he'd known she was this good at quills, or that he was this tired, Shadow would've let her do this sooner. (He wonders how she got so good at handling quills, since Rouge obviously had none herself. Shadow decides that's a question for later.)

“Oh you definitely haven’t been taking care of these.” Rouge says, her voice drawing him back to the present. She’s paused her preening, clearly looking at a specific spot in the mess. Shadow is horribly curious to know what was so important he had to stop being pampered.

“Why?” He asks, glancing at the mirror. He cannot see Rouge’s face in it, only her ears being shown in the reflection, but he looks anyway. So he can see at least one part of her while they converse. Shadow pointedly does not look at his ragged reflection, and quickly glances away when he feels his eyes wandering. Getting all sour over his appearance once more would only ruin his friend's generous quill work.

“There’s a big ingrown one right here.” Rouge pokes at the quill she means, causing Shadow to let out an involuntary hiss. She mutters a quick sorry, and then moves away from the affected area; her hand no longer being in Shadow’s quills. He is half tempted to ask her to ignore the ingrown one, and keep untangling the rest so he can zone out again. Unfortunately, ingrown quills hurt too much for such a request to be possible.

“That’s why that area hurt last night.” Shadow mumbles mostly to himself, remembering the sharp pain that had spiked through his head the night prior. The hedgehog, too mentally tired to do anything other than rot in his bedroom, had only changed positions until the pain went away. In hindsight, doing that was not ideal, and removing the source of the pain would've been the wisest decision. But he had just been so tired, and it was barely better today….

Rouge makes a sound in the back of her throat. Shadow cannot tell what emotion it's supposed to convey, and doesn't know if wants to. He decides not to ponder on it, and focus on what his teammate is saying instead. “Hand me the neosporin and tweezers?”

Shadow shifts slightly, so he can reach up and open the medicine cabinet without strain. It takes a second of feeling around, the items being further back in the cabinet that anticipated, but he grabs them eventually; handing them over to his teammate wordlessly. Shadow then mentally prepares himself for the pain that comes with removing ingrown quills. Hopefully Rouge is better at this than he is.

Carefully, Rouge removes the ingrown quill; muttering apologies under her breath with every pained sound Shadow makes. She then applies the neosporin to the wound, significantly decreasing the risk of infection, then hands the medicine and tweezers back to the hedgehog. He carelessly shoves them back in the cabinet, then resumes his previous position. It’s actually quite the comfortable one, once you get used to it. Rouge, praying there’s not anymore ingrown quills, untangle the surrounding area with more care than she gives the rest of his spikes. If Shadow is satisfied by her finally exerting a necessary amount of caution, he makes no comment on it. Audibly, at least.

Shadow allows himself to relax, head resting against the bathroom counter. Rouge, for someone who has (presumably) never taken care of hedgehog quills before, is surprisingly good at it. She untangles his quills with ease, humming a tune to herself as she works. It’s a melody that sounds vaguely familiar, probably one of her songs Shadow had heard blasting from a Spotify playlist. No matter how hard he thinks on it, the name of the tune escapes him. He’ll have to go find it later. The stupid pop melody is rather catchy, unfortunately.

He doesn’t know how much time passes, how long he sits there; comfortably dozing off on the bathroom counter like some animal, but a considerable amount of time does pass. Enough so, that when Rouge’s voice finally draws him out of his stupor and her hand moves away from his head, it is certainly nowhere near nine A.M anymore. Omega might have been unplugged himself from the charging port. “All done!”

Shadow blinks himself out of his daydream at Rouge’s exclamation, slowly lifting his head. He blinks a few times, getting the sleep out of his eyes and refocusing on the reflection staring back at him. He cannot yet tell if there are any significant changes. Shadow wants there to be some so desperately it scares him.

Carefully, he scans over himself in the mirror, once again hyper aware of any features he may be less than pleased with. And while yes, there are still some, he finds that there are significantly less than there were before. His quills are no longer matted, no longer sticking up in weird, ugly angles. He actually looks the most groomed he has all week, almost like his self care routines have resumed. The dislike of his reflection is still there, but it’s not as strong as it was before. It is now something weaker, something more manageable, and something that won’t leave him looking like a mirror killed a dog.

(Mentally, he feels so much lighter than he did before. It’s amazing.)

“So? Any improvements?” Rouge asks, slinging an arm around his shoulders. She draws him close to her with a smile, Shadow resisting the urge to roll his eyes. He’s close enough that she can squeeze some of the air out of him, which is what she’s currently doing, but not so much that she ruins all her hard work so soon after finishing. He fears if that were to happen, they’d be stuck in this bathroom for an even longer, even more undescribed amount of time. Omega would’ve definitely unplugged himself by then.

Shadow glances over at her, and stiffens a smile. This woman truly was magic when it came to tasks like this, he had to admit. Even more magic than his beloved, ten step skin care routines could be. He knew there was a reason he kept her around. “...Yes.”

“If you ever need mirror help again, you know where to find me~” Rouge ruffles the fur atop his head teasingly, then slips out of the bathroom; most likely going back to her room, or to the living room to steal their shared TV for the whole day. Shadow scowls as his fur is messed up, quickly smoothing it back down again.

Rouge was right. He hates looking in the mirror a little less now. If they invest in miniature spa days like this more often, the dislike might even vanish altogether. (Shadow hums to himself as he leaves the bathroom, strangely content, and makes a mental note to drag Rouge back in there whenever he next feels down about his appearance.)

[dubwhal]

deltarune is a narrative

so, i don't like being an active participant in online things much, but i feel the deltarune community is forgetting some things and becoming a little too trigger happy with their theories.

now, i'm in no way trying to be hostile or aggressive in tone. if it feels like i'm attacking people or something, i'm not, im just bad at tone ;-; and if you find me pretentious... then find me pretentious! i think i am a little, feel free to humble me :D

// SPOILERS FOR DELTARUNE AND UNDERTALE AHEAD //

i love the wild wacky theories of this community, i love my "PILES OF ASRIEL'S DUST" brain rot, but when so many aspects are treated the exact same with this over analyzation of every detail and hyper inspection, it gets... weird (route).

the most important thing i think that a lot of people have forgotten... is that deltarune is a narrative, it's a story being told by a storyteller, who's human. it's a story with THEMES. the most clear example of this is "your choices don't matter," and the "and only one ending...?" in the game description. freedom has been established to be a thematic topic; look at the secret bosses. chapter 4, prophecy, has now convinced me that deltarune's main and core theme will take from "your choices don't matter."

"your choices don't matter" is most likely a thematic point the game wishes to prove or disprove, and remember, DISPROVE. a lot of people are convinced that because it was the first thing said, that's how it'll be the rest of the game. no, this isn't right; "your choices don't matter" is the equivalent of "it's kill or be killed" in undertale. it's a flawed perspective of the world, and throughout the development of the story, it'll probably be disproven. it's how ralsei enters the picture with the flawed prespective that friendship is all fluff and kindness and smiles, before susie comes along to prove it is something far, far greater than he imagine (susie's role in the narrative is also fascinating).

this next paragraph will be a purely speculative one, operating under the assumption that gaster will be an important character to the narrative. there is the likelihood that the one in the survey sequence at the start of chapter 1, the one who says "...will now be discarded. no-one can choose who they are in this world" is NOT our good friend wing gaster the royal scientist. the speech style is different, and in the japanese localization the style matches chara's/the first fallen human's (but i don't think it's chara). then, that means we have a character, gaster, offering us choice and freedom of expression through the survey and through the creation of our own vessel, and a separate unknown character ERASING our vessel, and delivering the thematic statement of the game. they represent the clashing ideologies.

back to my own rants, we have the philosophy that your choices matter, clashing against the philosophy that your choices don't. the theme of deltarune? whichever philosophy wins in the end. this is made more evident through chapter 4's "last prophecy." which... let me go on a tangent; this is my rant i choose where it goes.

i'm not sure how to describe it, but there's a certain way people have been treating this chapters, that's not necessarily been treated as "the events of a story." chapter 1 is an introduction. chapter 2 and most of chapter 3 lets us get a little more familiar with the concepts and whatnot, but we are fed the clues to something larger (ralsei being mysterious like and all the info he gives us, kris opening a dark fountain). the end of chapter 3 hits us with the main conflict of the story, which involves everyone's favorite Rouxls Kaa- i mean, Roaring Knight, and afterwards expains on this conflict through kris and carol and the voice on the phone - it's factions, factions with conflicting ideologies. the knight is the antagonist because it clashes against the notion that we DON'T want the roaring to occur, while the character literally with "THE ROARING" in its name wants it.

speaking of the knight, i think the community hype up the "mystery" aspect of things too much, especially the mystery of the roaring knight. in hindsight it should've been rather clear that the roaring knight, someone who's been built up as an antagonist, would be introduced in the FIRST HALF of deltarune; the primary antagonist tends to be introduced in the first half of the story... otherwise what are you doing with the story??? the community is now focused on "who person if knight is deer antlers?" or something, and honestly i don't feel like speculating on this or trying to disprove or prove anything. because quite plainly, we don't have enough information, it's too early in the story (and the right time will likely be close to the climax). is it dess? well, maybe! is it carol? well, maybe! is it rudy? well, maybe! is it nubert? well- actually, it's 100% definitely nubert...... but even though i think the mystery was hyped up too much, people should still remember it's... a mystery. we're wondering, "who is this knight exactly?" and that's likely what toby is trying to invoke. remember that red herrings exist. evidence can support one person... until we get MORE information that points to someone else... because of how little we really know about the knight, there's not a lot we can definitively say. which is why we should be civil!! you might believe strongly in one person being the knight; entertain that idea! and if someone else says another person could be the knight, entertain THAT idea! or if someone says "the knight could just be... the knight as its own entity," entertain that idea!!! but don't be convinced on trying to find a definitive answer. it's cool if you get a theory right! a theory is sort of like making a prediction while reading a book, getting it right is cool. but you might not get it right, and that's cool too. we're not trying to SOLVE deltarune. just remember red herrings can exist, and something that might be of note would be, how narratively satisfying would it be if that person was the knight?

anyway, back to the notion regarding the chapter structures of deltarune - chapter 4 is a kind of turning point, and personally i think chapter 4 is where we get more of our conflict with the knight, as well as the introduction to our philosophical conflict. our protagonists are faced with the truth that the prophecy has correctly predicted EVERYTHING, and now they see it with ONE ending. our protagonists are now trying to make their own endings, their own stories, and defy fate. so, the prophecy's original ending may come true. or it might not. we'll see!!!

but, see, there's another thing to think about... defying the ending can be one way to prove "your choices don't matter" incorrect. but... you could still have ONE ending, and achieve the same result, can't you? technically almost everything in the world ends in death. there's definitely been a lot of people who have found themselves overwhelmed with the realization that they don't matter to the grand scheme of things, because it all just leads to emptiness in the end...

now, does this discount the choices you made?

deltarune could end in us defying fate. but fate might not be defied after all. yet it could still prove the theme that your choices DO matter. there's one ending, but what about everything that came before it? your decision to hug ralsei for the picture in chapter 2, your decision to comfort ralsei when he says "look, i'm smiling!" in chapter 4 - sure, maybe the prophecy doesn't care about that, but... ralsei cares about that, and the player cares about that.

there's a whole other level to deltarune with its metaness and whatnot. i don't have the brain power for that. and honestly, i might not even have the brain power for a regular narrative and could just be spewing dumb nonsense. but this is what i like to believe.

undertale explored the good that can come of your choices. i think deltarune is exploring the nature of your choices.

and here's another thing about choices... noelle holiday and when things get weird (route). the thing that makes you feel like you're breaking the game, doing things you're not supposed to... similar to the feeling that something was immensely wrong while playing genocide in undertale.

now, in theory, the prophecy can still account for the weird route. prophecies are funny little things, in that they can use their wording in such a way to account for several things. take undertale's prophecy. "the angel, the one who has seen the surface, will return, and the underground will go empty." in true pacifist, this accounts for asriel. asriel has seen the surface. asriel RETURNS after absorbing a buncha souls like me chomping on food at 3 am. and everyone leaves the underground.

the angel also accounts for the dubious nature of chara/the first fallen human. now, i'm going to be straight with you, i don't think chara is evil (i'll have a paragraph about "x character is EVIL" later). but here's what i think: toriel says something like, "i wasn't protect you... but THEM." flowey is all "its YOU isn't it its YOU!!!" like shayy exclaiming "YOU!!" to the smile guy in ralsei's dark world explanation. and of course there's chara at the end. now, look. this doesn't mean chara is the evil being who killed everyone. no, YOU, YOU THE PLAYER, are the evil being who kills everyone in undertale. to me it feels like you invoked chara and some corruption happened, i dunno man, someone smarter than me figure it out. but chara is the one who has seen the surface and RETURNED in no mercy - frisk or the player feel like they could be candidates but it doesn't account for the world "RETURN."

so, the weird route can happen and still lead to the same ending of the prophecy. the weird route can ALSO lead to something else - a breaking of the prophecy. already it feels like things are crumbling with the weird route - it's... well, weird. so, doing the weird route COULD in theory hail another result.

now, "evil characters." undertale fans. deltarune fans. there's something called "nuance" that exists. sure, kris is working with some mysterious phone voice and stuff, and kris is doing strange shenanigans behind our back, but is kris evil? not necessarily. this is where the nuance comes in. because kris might be doing these things, yet kris is also CLEARLY a troubled child. and also, look at us controlling kris. tricky tony is setting something up with the distinction between kris and player, something i don't have the brain power to figure out, and maybe it's not meant to be figured out yet. but anyway, kris has nuance. kris playing the piano in the holiday house and in the dark sanctuary i think is MEANT to throw a wrench into anyone thinking "wow kris is evil" because it extends BEYOND just that. we're able to understand that SUSIE isn't evil because she develops in chapter 1, and also because many understand the delinquent archetype, it feels like one of those things that inherently makes you think, "i wonder why they're like that?" and of course kris can still swing a little bit more toward being "bad", we'll just have to wait until more is revealed on kris as a character to judge their actions, since you can have your reasons, but you also can't really just pretend someone never did something because of that; responsibility still needs to be taken. the only character who is truly 100% evil in deltarune is nubert the roaring knight.

also, fandom expectations... people tend to get really hung up in the fandom and it might lead to absurd expectations. remember guys, toby fox is still a guy. still human. toby makes mistakes, all writers make mistakes in their stories. toby probably didn't account for EVERY SINGLE detail and EVERY SINGLE possible outcome. but it ends up being VERY clear when he DOES account for the details, such as kris calling for noelle's name vs YOU calling for her name in the weird route. toby fox isn't perfect. and i'm not trying to be mean in this, because literally it's impossible to be perfect. he's a MAGNIFICENT storyteller, as evident by the feelings he managed to invoke with ONE chord in "the place where it rained," but it feels like some people have put him a little TOO high on a pedestal. he's a masterful and highly highly highly creative person, he's insanely respectable creator, but he's not perfect in everything, since he's still human just like us.

anyway, those are my thoughts, this is probably being lost to the thousands of posts but who cares, if it's lost then it's lost... girl. lost girl. but anyway. sorry to get on my high horse and be "erm, actually, deltarune is a narrative." but it really is. it's still a story. sorry if i came across as pretentious in this post; i encourage non hostile (we love being civil) and constructive criticism. i'm also sorry if it felt like i was aggressive or mean, im not trying to be, and im sorry if i was a bit of a downer at any point. sorry this post isn't really cohesive, it's just me sort of typing without organization. and i probably messed up several times in wording and grammar and whatnot and didn't properly convey something. but yeah. i'm gonna stop with the literary stuff, and get back to posting art.

[novabun-ships]

Had another jerk in my inbox so I think I need to write this. I don't expect people to read it but if you do, don't be a dick... I'm honestly— upset. So I'm getting real.

A lot of people misunderstand something about me. They see the way I talk about sw, the way I talk about my partners, and they assume that because I’m not constantly writing 5,000-word deep dives into every scene, every character arc, every possible thematic interpretation, that I must not have thought about it. That I must not know. That I must not care enough to be “serious” about it. And that’s just not true.

The reality is, I have thought about it. I do know my partners as characters. Probably better than most people who want to sit and debate their motivations for the sake of sounding smart. I don’t need to prove that to anyone. I just don’t find joy in constantly analyzing every little thing to death. Not because I can’t, but because I don’t want to. Because it’s exhausting.

And frankly? The way people nitpick and dissect things online—especially in fandom spaces—starts to feel less like passion and more like a competition. A weird little arms race of “who can prove they know sw better” or “who can psychoanalyze a character the most accurately.” in order to "fit in" And I don’t want to participate in that. I don’t want to be the “uhm, ackshually 🤓☝” person. That’s not why I love sw. That’s not why I love my partners—

I love them because they make me happy. Because I feel close to them. Because they've helped me through some of the most traumatizing times of my life. At the end of the day, I don’t need to justify my love for them through hyper-intellectual analysis. I just want to exist with them. To feel that connection without having to turn it into an essay every time I post about them, so I yell, key smash, repeating things, caplock my excitement, be "annoying"

And yet, I still get hate for it. People call me “stupid” or an “idiot” because I’m loud, because I’m enthusiastic, because I don’t curate my love for sw and my partners in the way they think I should. But that loud, excitable version of me? That’s not the whole picture. That’s what I let people see. That’s what I choose to share. Because it makes me happy. Because it’s comforting. Because its less intimidating.

Just because I act that way online doesn’t mean that’s all I am. That doesn’t mean I don’t think deeply, that I don’t have layers, that I don’t feel things in a way that words can’t always capture and honestly? I shouldn’t have to prove that to anyone.

I don’t owe people a dissertation to validate my love for the franchise or my partners. I don’t need to be the smartest person in the room to matter. I just want to be here. To love what I love. To be close to the characters who mean everything to me and that should be enough...

[clovermarigold]

Smoke & Ice Head cannons and facts

Small facts and characteristics that are cannon to my fic, Smoke & Ice. Please note I do not claim any of these to be cannon to the MK franchise!

Don't worry I won't do any woobifying.

Also note after finishing this, I should have named this Angst angst and more angst

pt.2 pt.3

Calla has actually never been in a relationship because she always felt responsible for the Mangrove and like their parents/caretaker/sibling, even when they were around her age. (#oldest daughter vibes)

Bi han grew up with a different side of his father compared to his siblings. I head cannon that he probably learned his assholery from his father when he was younger. But he grew as a person as he had more kids.

Thats also why I think Bi han has both his evident hate and some internalized hate for Smoke. Because he's jealous of how soft and easy he went on him. (#oldest son vibes). This coldness and quiet resentment are also why he is TERRIBLE with children. He will seriously treat them like whole ass adults.

Calla: Go on. Talk to him

Bi han: ...Wanna beer?

Calla: NO!

Smoke on the other hand, is amazing with children. He didn't have a lot of interactions or experience with children, but that didn't stop him from being really good at it. Kids are really good at vibe checks, they can tell.

Smoke tends to hyper analyze and feel guilty after being around the children however, because he feels like he's projecting his memories of his sister onto them.

Smoke despite having MAJOR trauma has a habit of minimalizing it and brushing it off. Which infuriates Kuai Liang to no end.

Kuai Liang is the middle child that acts like the eldest. He got a glimpse to the kind of man their father was, since he's not that much younger than Bi han. But he was one of the first things to inspire their father to grow as a person.

Despite being the middle child, and the brother Bi han hates the least. It's usually Smoke who is the mediator between the two brothers.

The three brothers have vastly different relationships with their parents.

Bi han was an absolute mama's boy. He was always closer to his mom since she was the only person he would accept kindness, love, and even pity from. The day she died was when he truly became the Bi han we all know today. He had a terrible relationship with his father. Due to being put through grueling training when he was younger, as well and having the Lin Kuei's greatness instilled in his mind. Only to watch his father change and abandon this ideology as he aged. To him, any attack to his values is an attack on him.

Kuai Liang on the other hand unfortunately suffered from middle child syndrome. Often not being prioritized due to his mother's focus on Bi han, as well as his father's priority on training Bi han to lead, and later favoritism of Tomas. This neglect is what made him easily the most independent of bunch in their youth. Though this did change after the loss of their mother, which left Bi han to be the most independent and cold.

Smoke, however, is a more complicated matter. While he is undoubtably a daddy's boy. Due to his lack of a present birth father growing up and being taken in by him. His relationship with their mother is difficult. In no way does he dislike or have any problems with her. He just can't bring himself to truly see her as his mom. After watching the death of his true mother and sister, Tomas inherited a number of mental issues that the Lin Kuei never truly bothered to address. The loss of his twin sister made him incredibly clingy and reliant on his brothers, but the loss of his mother left him feeling guilty any time he tried to bond with his adoptive one.

Johhny cage has MAJOR daddy issues and minor mommy issues. Based on character interactions from both MK11 & MK1, we can deduce that he was an asshole. His dad switched between emotionally abusive and absent all together.

While he absolutely adores and loves his mom for being the parent who stayed and raised him, it didn't change the fact that she gave mostly tough love, being a cop and a single mother of two. (His brother who is said to be an asshole though we don't know the extent)

Movies were his main escape from his shitty home life and social life. I decided to keep his characteristics from Mortal Kombat Cage Match, being that he was bullied as a kid. Both by classmates and his brother. As a result, he absolutely loathes bullies, and is fully down to beat the shit out of any adult or minor that bullies any future kids of his, nephews, nieces, or just friend's.

When recreating the timeline, Liu Kang had to decide what to do with the children of Kronica and whether or not to include them in it.

I don't have a canon decision of Shinnok, since we won't be focusing on that in the story, and it'll probably be explained in future games. But Cetrion is a different story.

Cetrion was made to be a caretaker of the earth realm and its life. However, after falling in love with a mortal, was granted permission by Liu Kang to live among them as a mortal.

Their children would eventually become the dryad and subsequentially the Hamadryad, which is why they do not exist in any other previous timelines. It is also why Cetrion was able to become mortal without abandoning her duties. By creating a clan tasked with her previous role.

Anyways! Hope you enjoyed my "Head cannons". Have some tissues on your way out, I know I needed them.

Tag list

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

@whore-of-many-hot-men

@cherryblossomly

[lieslab]

what would be your ideal picks?

(also yes istg every time I check they're almost all different!)

The last time I checked, we were at roughly eighty votes per post and now we're at nearly a hundred for all of them and I'm SO SCARED. It keeps changing. I was originally going to give you all three options to pick from, but then I decided against it. There's only so many members and so many specialties and the more specialties, the more plots I can create.

You want me to hyper-analyze the guys and tell you which specialty I think they'd be the best at? Over-analyzing things is one of my favorite things to do, especially when it comes to the media and whatnot. Hold my mason jar of iced coffee and prepare for an entire deep dive:

Ideally? Chan: ER Doctor. He works well under pressure, good with tight deadlines, on the constant go. The emergency room is so hectic. It's constantly moving and shifting. Your mind is kinda scattered and you also have to be a good leader and great at giving orders to nurses and fellow staff members. Quick decision making is key here and I think we've seen that time and time again from Chan.

I don't know what it is about Minho, but I could see him being a cardiologist, or an OB-GYN. OB-GYN is a choice because I wanted to write about babies, honestly. I feel like he'd be really passionate about his patients in whichever pick he ends up with. He's not the kind of guy that would lie to you and I think he'd be a really casual doctor. A bit intimidating at first, but then he'd mellow out and you'd realize he really cares about his patients. He wouldn't be the type of doctor to embarrass you in a vulnerable situation. He'd probably crack the awkwardness with a joke, or distract you by talking about his cats.

Changbin has huge muscles and he's always yapping about protein, gyms, and so on. I think he'd be an amazing orthopedic doctor because of it. Sports injuries can also cause so many issues with the body and that whole vibe reminds me of him. I can imagine him bonding over patients with little things, but he'd also be super realistic. The guys have said Changbin gives good advice, so if something goes wrong and a patient is devastated because of their injury, I think he'd be able to pivot their thoughts and provide comfort with his words. Plus, say someone needs a hip, or knee replacement, those muscles would come in handy.

Hyunjin is also one of the ones that I don't really mind which one he gets placed as. I was originally set on the idea of him being a plastic surgeon. I think he's the kind of doctor you fall in love with at first sight. I believe, if the lore goes right, Hyunjin was told he'd get through the survival show, just because of his looks alone. That caused him to work harder because he didn't want to be known for just his looks. He wanted to be more than that. I always assume for a while, he probably hated his looks because that alone was giving him so much attention, but I think he's finally found confidence in how he's perceived by people. People have plastic surgery for a multitude of reasons, but no matter what that reason would be, he'd do what he could to make them happy.

At one point, the psychiatrist side was winning and then I didn't mind it. Hyunjin has said quite a few things that trigger such powerful thoughts such as "what if heaven and hell aren't places, but rather states of beings?" He'll just casually drop the most insane philosophical thoughts on a random Thursday afternoon and go about his day like nothing happened. He's very charming and when he's not being silly and loud, his voice comes out softly. I think a lot of people, especially when you're mentally struggling, would find comfort in that.

Han Jisung, our little ace, I originally wanted him to be a general surgeon. They're good at a variety of different things. They can diagnose a plethora of problems, but I don't mind that the cardiologist side has started to win. He makes songs that really speak to the heart, so why not have him literally fix hearts? He'd make an endearing doctor, no doubt about it. He's goofy, he's funny, he's a bit of a klutz, but he takes his passion very seriously and he'd do the same with his specialty.

Felix has always been a pediatrician in my eyes. I used to want to be a pediatrician, but I realized I don't have the intelligence for that. Medicine can be difficult. He's very sunshine infused with other people and I think kids would be drawn to that. He'd probably give shots and distract kids with a "can you count how many freckles I have real quick?" He'd trick them, so they'd focus on him and not the quick jab of the needle.

Even if the OB-GYN section wins, I think he'd bring new parents so much comfort. I don't know how to describe it. Felix carries around a certain kind of ethereal energy and when they say windows are the eyes to the soul, he looks otherworldly in some photos. He doesn't fully feel human, if that makes sense. He's the kind of person that makes being alive feel like a gift. No matter what happened, he'd do whatever he could to make everyone comfortable.

Seungmin is quick-witted and they say those with wit have high intelligence. I don't doubt it. I think he'd be an amazing neurologist and I think he'd also wear the dumbest scrub caps he could find to ease his patients minds before surgery. They'd start laughing and forget their worries.

Oncology is difficult, but I think he'd be good at it. He'd try to put patients at ease the best that he could. The patients that end up in remission, I think he'd probably get a little teared up and pretend his allergies were flaring up. He'd be good at it, no matter if he was dealing with an elder patient, or someone far younger.

As for Jeongin, I also kinda want him to be a pediatrician. I think because he has a younger brother, he grew up being used to taking care of someone younger than him. He has talked about wishing he was older, so he could be a role model for the guys. Even with him wanting to be a kindergarten teacher, he definitely wants to take care of children and it's sweet.

I think he'd be good at being a psychiatrist, too. I think it was Chan, or Hyunjin, they mentioned that sometimes Jeongin also gives good advice. I think they play into the whole "oh, he's our baby thing" a lot, but deep down, Jeongin comes off as incredibly intelligent. If you watch in some Skz interviews, he listens far more than he speaks, taking in everyone's words. A good psychiatrist listens and observes.

He seems to pause and think about what he wants to say before he blurts it out. If a member struggles, he seems to pick up on it and quietly gravitates towards them. Even without speaking, he says a thousand words. That's a gift that not everyone has.

Regardless of what I want, I've let you pick. That's part of the fun. I'm terrified for what you pick, but that's part of my growth. I have to learn and adapt. As fun as it is for you, it's growth for my writing and me. So if you've picked from the polls, you're taking part in challenging my writing and for that, I am forever grateful <3

[pig-piggy]

RIIZE's "Bag Bad Back"

Yesterday (2nd of may, friday), RIIZE released their pre-release single for their upcoming album "ODYSSEY", to be released on May 19th.

All in all, the song is really good, as RIIZE's discography has been until now. Well, in my opinion, that's something that can't ever go wrong with SM Entertainment: their music quality.

However, I feel like it (slightly) lacks creativity. The chorus sounds a lot like the song "Gas" by NCT 127, especially with the constant repetition of the word "Bag", just in the same tempo and tone as the word "Gas" is repeated in NCT 127's song. Also, I believe that it doesn't help that these words, "gas" and "bag" both give off a sort of similar sound.

But that's the only flaw I felt like I had to point out about this song. Besides that, the song is very enjoyable. It gives off a hyper feeling, and both the pre-chorus and bridge are extremely good (props to Anton and Sohee).

I also feel like I must talk about these two. Anton, of course, is Anton, and as biased as I am, he will always stand out to me. However, Sohee really shines, and not only in this comeback, but whenever. He really has a sort of star factor that pulls you in, be that his vocals or simply his face. So, despite SM Entertainment always pushing for Wonbin, Sungchan and Shotaro to shine more than the others, Anton and Sohee definitely shine the brightest in my eyes. The thing that is always a bit disappointing (but that has nothing to do with RIIZE itself or their music) is the fact that Eunseok is constantly overshadowed. I wish that would be something SM Entertainment actually put effort into trying to fix.

I've spoken about vocals (in terms of singing), but I also need to talk about their rapping. I don't have a lot of expertise on this area, so I can only talk about what sounds good and what doesn't. And what I know I can say for a fact is that I was completely mindblown by Sunghcan's and Shotaro's rap section. Sungchan's rapping is no longer a surprise for me, since I've always found him to be very good at it. Shotaro, however? I'm not saying he was ever bad at it, but this specific one is absolutely incredible, especially because he is doing it in a language that is not his mother tongue. All in all, the song gives off a very strong feeling, and I believe RIIZE portrayed it very well. Also, thank you, RIIZE, for bringing back songs longer than 2 minutes!

Song analyzed, moving on to the music video. This music video is great, but I don't think it's one of the best RIIZE has ever put out. I don't really like the yellowish color grading in some of the scenes, but that aside, I have no problem with the coloring choice. Nevertheless, despite this music video being of great quality and entertaining, it just falls short in comparison to all the others they've put out before (except "Boom Boom Bass", maybe). Also, the CGI is just awful, but maybe, just maybe, that's intentional, so I'll let it slide. Either way, it's understandable that, since this is their pre-release track, the music video wouldn't be something over the top.

Finally, choreography. RIIZE are exquisite dancers, so no matter what they do, I always eat it up and my eyes don't stray from them for even a second, and this time it was exactly the same. In this choreohraphy, it really stood out this specific movement where they're supposedly holding a bag, during the chorus. But that aside, I believe the choreo lacked a bit of creativity. But that, once again, is not RIIZE's fault nor does it make the song any less good.

So, in conclusion, I believe this to be a very good pre-release track. It hyped me up for their upcoming full-album, and I also think it's kind of an "attention grabber", if SM knows how to play their cards well. Does it sound NCTish? Yes, definitely. Do I like it? Absolutely.

Hooks: 8

Production: 9

Longevity: 7

Bias: 9 Final Rating: 8,25 (B)

[sippinggossip]

Why are you guys so quick to assume Victoria is a terrible person?

Do we have any concrete proof she doesn't get along with ALL her friends' gfs?

Not an assumption

Not her not liking posts or not following them

We need concrete proof

We know at the very least...

She and Lavinia get along

She and Dove haven't gotten a chance to truly hang out since she's been busy ASF for the past year

We nothing on her and cyd afaik

And stop with the body shaming, Idgaf if she gets injections or surgery stop associating cosmetic enhancements with ill morals, it's backwards, outdated and not aligned with the feminist values that should be present today, doing so only pits women against each other, damned if she does damned if she doesn't

If she hates the way she looks and does nothing she's the madonna who needs to be shown how to love herself

If she hates the way she looks and changes it she's the superficial whore who needs to be shown how to love herself

If she loves the way she looks and doesn't change then she's the superficial whore who needs to be taken down a few pegs and humbled

If she loves the way she looks and gets enhancements then she's the superficial whore whose vain and self-hating and needs to be taken down a few pegs and humbled

No matter what she does she cannot win

Stop with the fucking slut shaming seriously it's getting irritating how people feel the need to hyper criticize and over police what she wears bc what she wears when performing as a DJ or on stage is probably not the same thing that she's wearing and day-to-day life and regardless it's not our business to go this hard and critiquing over analyzing and being unbearable bitches to her

Most likely you have been slut-shamed in one way or another and does not feel good so why are we doing it to someone else especially someone who we are claiming to be a fan of and if you've slut shamed someone get the fuck off your high horse seriously putting others down won't lift you up and it's getting really irritating seeing the amount of slut shaming and misogynistic derogatory remarks made about Victoria and her friends especially considering the band and their aesthetic I can assure you the last thing they're doing is worrying about what the fuck other people are wearing

Måneskin is the LAST band that would demand modesty If you want to dress modestly congratulations that's your business more power to you whatever makes you feel comfortable

If you want to dress in a way that is not modest congratulations that's your business more power to you whatever makes you feel comfortable

It truly truly gives pick me energy the way that you guys are ripping Victoria to shreds because the guys go topless quite often but when the guys do it it's more acceptable than my Victoria is topless

Who fucking cares if she's topless boobs are boobs stop sexualizing the human body stop assuming nudity is inherently sexual and even if an adult nude body is posted online in a sexual manner that is not a moral failing and is in fact surprisingly the business of the adult who posted their own body

Her being topless on a boat or at the beach is not a moral failing is not a bad thing and it's not surprising given The fact that in places like Italy being topless on the beach is completely normal and don't even try to use the excuse that you're American and for Americans going topless is not normal because I'm American unless you're living in middle of bum fuck nowhere USA (on the coasts at least) you can find a topless beach and in general we need to stop over sexualizing the human form this is also something that the band has been pushing for quite some time

The guys are topless in boats and at the beach why is it bad for her but not for the guys

Make it make sense

Stop being misogynistic hateful "I'm not like other girls"ass bitches

Because I bet a lot of you say that you're for feminism and that you're against bigotry and backward mindsets but then you jump on here and act like the people you hate same shit different font essentially.

And shockingly I have yet to see you guys hyper criticize the guys for being with their friend groups it's because they're not always posting each other? Is it because you don't care? Because surprisingly the band members are not friendless losers who only have each other! If Victoria only had guy friends you guys would criticize her for that and we already see the way you guys act with her being around her girl friends

You guys can criticize behavior but the second you bring misogyny and bigotry into the critique your words are no longer a valid critique

It is very clear that a lot of you guys are not girls girls because a girl's girl would never use the disgusting rancid misogyny slut shaming and hateful narratives that I have seen here from anons you can critique behavior but don't you dare bring hateful narratives and misogyny into the critique cuz then it has no basis other than to bring other women down

And I think that's what pisses me off the most at least anti-feminists have the balls to say that they're anti-feminists they're up front about it you bitches are wolves in sheep's clothing I might be wrong but anti-feminists who are clear that they are anti-feminists they are wolves you see them coming you know what they are they say what they are they don't try to hide behind a cloak of wool

Y'all act like you're feminists and want to make the world a better place but it's very clear that is a bunch of bullshit

God forbid Victoria is confident in herself God forbid she post whatever the fuck she wants to post on her social media

But yeah the misogyny / misogynoir that I've seen in this fandom both on here and on Twitter is disgusting and upsetting especially as a woman of color and I'm really getting tired of it sorry for the rant

Let’s be clear that the admin of this blog doesn’t think Vic is a terrible person and whatnot.

I’m sorry you’re getting tired of this, anon. Your rant is allowed.

[kyrodo]

There's one clear difference between Choskey and Shine. As far as crushes go I mean. Shine is always mindful for Snowy whenever he's visiting us. Always tries to make him feel included, always tries to ensure he doesn't feel isolated when he's being affectionate with me. At the same time, it's still somewhat obvious that he likes me a lot in particular. He'll be mindful of Choskey, he'll be mindful of Red, Lupy, Icy, BalloonToes, whoever is visiting us and ensure he's interacted with them all at least once. He's always making this effort to make everyone feel included, even though he kinda magnets to me for most of it. Which fits with his theme. Helping people, making people feel comfortable, making people not feel lonely, always being mindful of people's emotions perhaps to an extreme. The opposite of Choskey.

Choskey back in the day when I was jealous of him and CarboorCat, or Lightfostpaw, or even WolfangCerberus to a degree, I used to get hyper jealous. He'd always be inching closer to someone other than me, leaving me with the choices to either inch closer to remain included or in most cases sulk alone by myself or even hop worlds to see other people. He used to be completely oblivious of my feelings and always make me feel excluded. Which he does have difficulty with empathy or being mindful of what other think or feel and even admits it.

Shine is an overthinker like me, but an affectionate type. I'm more spiteful, sulky, jealous, selfish, just very good at hiding it at least in the moment. I'm always hoping for some degree of mind reading, hoping people will always be mindful of how I feel, or eventually notice enough to start wondering how I feel. Which is partly why it's beneficial for me to have a semi-private space to spill all that. Since other wise it would strain my friendships with the people I feel for or care about the most. But yeah... it's very clear Shine missed me a lot and was very happy to see me last night. I was getting nightly messages from him on the days we couldn't see each other on vrchat, to kind of make up for the fact we didn't see each other that night. Which I doubt Choskey or others have had that same kind of treatment.

The comfortable voice. The willing to share personal things. The warm paws for phantom sense. The highly compatible by his own words. Always purring and meowing to no end regardless of who's around or what they think of us. That is still me.

And not to toot my own horn but, the soothing voice, by multiple sources, multiple separate people have told me that, the warm paws for phantom sense also multiple separate people even someone I had just met day of at a khnfucat meetup told me the same exact thing Shine did the night before. And it is... I love having that identity. I love representing that. I love how consistent that is. I love how people feel that way about me without even pushing for it, that is objectively what people think of me. Lupyraster's said that too and even confirmed that with IcyCoyote who agreed. And that is the opposite of what people thought of me when I was all text on twitter.

People say all these positive things about me. Always positive. Unless it's some rando in a public lobby going "ew furries" people are generally accepting of me and enjoy my presence. And yet not some years ago some people I was hoping to be trusting with was doing the exact opposite.

And analyzing the past, analyzing the reaction I was observing when I was first being spied upon, that air I had in the irls was always there. It was just very much hidden by how negative I can be when I am spilling thoughts online. In vrchat, I can show my full potential without having to prove myself or fight for it. I literally just have to be my natural self.

That's the thing about manipulative or gaslighty people like Ronnie or his friends. No matter who you are or how good you can be, they will always make you out to be the worst person on the internet if you don't put an excessive amount of effort to quell every lie they make or imply about you because of the way they communicate, or the sheer level of injustice they put to what you're trying to communicate or who you actually are. You will always feel violated around people like that. Because the reality stops mattering, all that matters is who you could be which they'll maximize all the negative stuff as much as possible until just defending yourself is proof that whatever preassumptions have been made still feel likely to them. You will never feel comfortable. You will always feel hated.

Everything they say about you or whatever you have to say is so offputting that even the "positive" stuff they have to say about you feels like carefully veiled insults. This is the world I came from. And nobody sees it. Nobody sees the environment I survived. Nobody sees all the heartbreak, frustration, embarassment, sadness, pain or anger it took to make it here. Shine is one of the few people who truly understands the full extent of what I've experienced.

And once again I appreciate how socially and emotionally rich my life is in the present compared to back then. Both near and far. I still remember when Shine was shyly asking about discordant discourse wishing to be a part of it. Nearly everyone I've added to it has been active in it except Beastner. Though Choskey monopolized me enough that he stopped being interested in interacting with me much. That and he's overly self conscious about the french thing. He made a little too much noise in the voice calls when he was at work though so it's for the best but I wish I had a bit more time to include him more in our gaming at least. But he still got some value out of RGB up until he made his own server.

But other than him everyone I've added since vrchat became this little family I have, even carboorcat and lightfostpaw, who used to be my competition became friends to hang out with. We have this little hang out home, we're always seeing each other on vrchat when we can and that is the type of cohesion I wanted. I didn't get much value out of Omi's group chat and I didn't have anywhere else to go up until vrc. But when it's our own server it's a lot easier to be a part of things, it's a lot easier to be involved. And as long as I remain selective and slow about who I add to the server and how well personalities will fit with it, it will continue to be this lively tight nit community.

Vrchat added so much value to my life, identity wise, social wise, romantic wise, even got a job out of it, like I can't overstate how much vrchat turned my life around. Or how directly it eases my trauma wounds. So yeah, maybe I'm not for everyone, but most people seem to like me. You're just not most people. And that's okay.

It's clear that back when I was wondering if I would be a good fit for your group, I should have actually been thinking about if you would be good fit for mine. And a shitty manipulative personality like yours is never finding it's way inside my home. All this time and shit never seems to go in your favor does it? Not when it comes to me, not even when you're feeding me to the mob. The funny thing on my end of things is even though I would spout all these out into public places, which was and still is perhaps not okay, I didn't build a fucking army against you. I wasn't talking about you behind your back except to select people like my therapy friend or my bff. The only person who does that kinda shit is you. I don't mind if you spy on me now, kiss my fucking ass. Show all your friends how good I actually am, it sure fucking worked the first time around.

Maybe next time consider more finding out than fucking around. Maybe then you'll start looking less like a fucking asshole. Only you could take careful obvious diplomatic planning and turn it into a total disaster. You're just a beacon of amazing decision making skills. You ever change, or are you just the same old you?

Happy Halloween and all. I hate to admit that my sona kinda fits the part. But I clearly didn't have the right person to bring me into the horror scene. I don't care how well my sona goes with someone if they're a shitty person. Nothing makes up for having a trainwreck as a personality. So what am I supposed to say. Didn't have the right environment to be a great person? Yeah well you sure didn't give me the right environment either. When I'm emotionally fucked, I'm not looking for someone to be emotionally fucked with, I'm looking for a fucking cure. Distrust and gaslighting doesn't make for great treatment.

Who are you? What do you represent? If choices make you who you are than who are you? My point of reference is very limited I admit but I don't hold much hope for you at all. You don't exactly seem the learning type. You're the blame everyone for your mistakes type. You're the wounded ego type that doesn't give a shit if they're doing something wrong or not. That's the only side of you you've ever shown me. The Ghost in the Shell. You like doing everything the hard way especially when it comes to basic communication so who am I to fucking stop you.

In heavy contrast when I can be myself, when I get the soft and forthcoming environment I want, I fucking thrive. You're only great when you're the only choice.

[eregyrn-falls]

YES. YES. YES.

I'm extremely fond of DD&MD as an episode, and I also admire the way it functions to balance out our introduction to Ford in ATOTS, and establish a number of points about him as a character that complicates the conclusion of his introduction. After all, ATOTS ends with that bitter exchange between Stan and Ford, and no matter how much the episode has done to round him out and try to make his viewpoint understandable, it's troubling for a viewer to end on that "You give me my house back" speech from him.

So to follow that up with DD&MD is like... as an episode, it's not just a break from the heaviness of the past several eps. It also does a LOT to expand the audience's view of what Ford is like NOW, as an adult, post-Portal. It gives him a lot more complexity, and, it also does several things that kind of immediately tell us that the note we ended ATOTS on is not necessarily as final as it may have sounded.

I could write lots more about the opening, and other points in the ep. But let's just focus on this mentioned bit!

For one thing, the bickering between Stan and Ford that leads up to this moment is a lot more like just... sibling bickering, than two men who are genuinely angry at each other. ("Move that and pay the price!" - "Oh, what? 50 magical dwarf dollars?" - "Don't mock our fantastical monetary system!") But, Ford drawing back a bit and regaining his composure, and then suggesting that Stan would have fun if he played the game with them -- yeah, that IS showing that Ford is working on himself. And it's also Ford making an overture to Stan. You can't be THAT angry at a guy, or hate a guy that much, if you're inviting him to join you in playing a game that you love.

It's not really the RIGHT kind of overture at that moment -- I think it comes from a genuine place for Ford (he does love this game), but it's not something that's going to appeal to Stan. So it doesn't work. But it's a small sign that things aren't necessarily irreparable between the two of them. If Ford, at that point, is the main obstacle to their reconciliation, it's an indication that he is more open to making peace with Stan than it seemed at the end of ATOTS.

(I also find it interesting that there's no mention in the episode of Ford blaming Stan for the predicament they wind up in. Not that Stan is really to blame anyway -- he didn't know what throwing the dice bag could have done. Although, you know -- don't grab others' things and throw them, kids. But if Ford was only interested in being hyper-critical of Stan, then he could have made some kind of remark about it. Instead he just kind of ruefully admits that he's the one to got carried away, at the end. I also did write a long essay analyzing a little micro-expression of his when Stan is apologizing to Dipper, that I find fascinating. Anyway.)

There's also the small moment at the end, when Ford reveals to Dipper that he's dismantled the Portal. What Ford says is, "That's why I was mad at Stan for using it." It's a tiny thing, but he's using the past tense. In any writing situation, you always have choices about how to phrase something. There are other ways to write it, if you want to convey that Ford continues to be mad at Stan for using it to save him; or that Ford will never forgive him, or something. If what you want to do is emphasize how intractable this problem is between them, then you can do that.

But I don't think the line that they ended up with does that. I think, rather, that it conveys that Ford has cooled down a bit in the day or two or three since he got back. And that, taken all together, there are these indications throughout the episode that Ford is much more open to repairing his relationship with Stan than it seemed at the end of ATOTS. The building blocks are there. Watch this space, etc.

Theres a part in Dungeons Dungeons and More Dungeons that I really like. When Dipper and Ford have overtaken the living room and Ford and Stan start to get in an argument, Ford starts to yell at him, but he stops himself and calmly suggests Stan might have fun playing too.

I think sometimes people feel like Ford hadn't learned anything about his behaviors till the finale. We've seen his negative emotions get the best of him in the past, twice with Stan and once with Fiddleford.

But that tiny two second exchange in DDMD is a pretty clear marker the man's been working on himself since the portal. To me anyway.

[littlestarprincess]

More Haunting Adeline stuff before work. I don't know that I'm doing a good job of actually analyzing things . . . I'm still mostly just making notes of details here and then mulling over more details in my head haha

It's interesting to me that we're opening with a scene where Daya sexualizes Addie's grandma in the same way as she and Addie tend to sexualize each other, and Addie is like "NO, gross" about it, which is understandable.

I have no experience with platonic relationships being this sexual, but I do know that more conservative girls I've interacted with interact with each other in this kind of way, so I wouldn't say it seems unrealistic so much as now that I'm paying attention to Addie's self image, and in particular how she interacts with the concept of sex, it's a constant barrage.

We talk about how Cishet Guys think everything is about sex; "liberal" woman who are actually hyper-conservative (aka, women who adopt the aesthetics [talking about being Empaths or woo woo spiritual stuff rather than Christian Talking Points is really the big one that comes to mind] of being liberal but act according to conservative values, for whatever reason) will talk about how men are like dogs / animals that can't control themselves around sex, blah blah blah, but in actuality, conservative women tend to be hyper sexual in exactly the same ways and conservative guys, and this is really illustrated in this scene between Addie and Daya, where Daya suggests Addie's grandma was into freaky sex stuff based on her lingerie, and Addie ends up suggesting Daya do a strip tease to "scare off ghosts".

Addie straight up talks about how it's necessary for her to neg Daya:

"She knows damn well she's beautiful, which is why I tend to tease her about being the opposite. Someone's gotta humble the sexy bitch every once in a while. She'll get too big for this earth if I don't."

What??? Does this mean??? I would not want to be friends with Addie, and I would not want to be friends with Daya. They seem like very, very toxic people. Addie is giving big "praying on your downfall" energy.

Zade has left another rose, and Addie is freaked out, not knowing if he's still in the house or not. He could be, and she thinks to herself that she doesn't want to be the stupid girl in a horror movie who goes investigating and ends up victim, and she doesn't want to let some asshole intimidate her, and I think think this is the crux of the story, the dilemma that the fantasy is built on: she doesn't want to be stupid and she doesn't want to be weak.

It's funny that even when she decides on a course of action, she still has to be self-depreciating and kind of sexist about it. I'm not surprised that Addie has low self esteem, but it's getting increasingly obvious that the way she sees herself is as a loser, no matter how much she tries to talk herself up.

After Addie tells Daya what happened, Daya talks about trying to get Addie to not sleep in this old house, and offhandedly suggests dragging out Addie by her hair -- this gives Addie a pause where her only action is to frown and be like, I don't want to be dragged out by my hair.

Which is ultimately my way of saying, for all that they're pretending they're joking when they're cruel to each other, it's still cruel???

The aesthetics in this book are really strong when it comes to the actual stalking & scenes (somewhat lacking when it comes to Daya and Addie, but eh, it's a romance novel) -- the juxtaposition of the ghosts and haunted house vibes pairs really well to create the sense of "haunting" when Zade leaves deliberate traces of himself in the house.

[seafoamreadings]

week of april 9th, 2023

aries: this week is a little less hyper-aries, although it is still aries season. seize the opportunity for restful rejuvenation; do what thrills you but don't worry too much about anything that doesn't.

taurus: your ruling planet venus heads out of your sign and into gemini. but don't despair, that's your second house and it's great for you financially. venus is never a bad thing! this is money-magnet taurus.

gemini: venus moves into your sign and then promptly squares saturn in pisces. so it's a blessing mostly, it's hard to see venus in any other way. saturn imposes some restrictions, but sometimes those are for the best. analyze for yourself which restrictions serve you and which are meant to be (later) broken.

cancerians: this week is pretty calm and cool for you, even pretty supportive. *next* week though? get ready for eclipse season. you're so lunar-sensitive you may even be feeling the vibes by the end of this week, especially if you have planets in late cancer. do relax now, so you don't freak out later.

leo: sun on jupiter is super lucky for leos. so what if it's near chiron or eris? a healthy disagreement never hurt anyone, right? this is your fiery 9th house, you'll grow and expand like a beautiful flower no matter what anyone else says.

virgo: you're in a fairy tale. it's not happily ever after yet, but it's not over until it's over. this is sort of a mini climax in your life, your ruler (ceres) in your sign and neptune, your 7th house's ruler, in its domicile, conversing with each other like any lovers should. its surreal, but your fairy godmother or woodland creature friends are backing you up.

libra: your ruling planet venus shifts rather out of her element, and yet still somewhat in your wheelhouse. your wheelhouse in this case is your 9th house; smarts are endlessly attractive here. find some aesthetically pleasing library and a fun book and see what unfolds for you.

scorpio: because the south node hangs out in your sign these days, you feel the impending eclipse season more than most. it's soon but it isn't yet. stay calm and collected, at least externally. prepare for a little chaos in the next couple weeks on both personal and social scales. if you can prepare well, you can stay calm and collected in the midst of it too.

sagittarius: venus into gemini means big googoo heart eyes. are you making them or receiving them from someone special? don't let the square to saturn worry you. it slows things down but wouldn't you rather it smolder than fizzle out quick?

capricorn: it's a saturnine week featuring a capricorn moon so you're really comfortable with the vibe most likely. but don't get too comfortable, with a lot of aries activity not quite appearing on the horizon just yet there is some sort of home/family drama brewing.

aquarius: i know some of you have dreaded the ingress of pluto. this week's trine from venus in gemini, however, is really nice for you; very romantic in an intense and perhaps operatic way. just enjoy it, you don't have to sort everything out at this time. a little drama isn't so bad.

pisces: the surreal and sentimental tone of the week fits you well. next week is less your speed. for now just enjoy the silence of empty space, the stillness. the connectedness of all things.

[tangledbea]

I'm writing a new dream fic, and Analyzing Character Psychology™️ is kinda hard. What would you say are Rapunzel and Eugene's biggest flaws? What are their most crucial *positive* qualities?

On that topic, what advice do you have for writing characters IN character? How to get them right?

Oof, this is a difficult question, because do you want me to stick to series canon or the way I see and portray them?

Rapunzel's Flaws

The Series: Her biggest flaw in the series is that she cannot see the world from any perspective but her own. In their attempt to make Rapunzel "always right," they made her come across as dismissive of other people's feelings and point of view. This is what leads her to bugging Cassandra incessantly at the beginning of "Under Raps" (or what caused her to try to force her to be her friend in the first place), and to dismiss Eugene's concerns about someone stealing the identity of Flynn Rider, none of which I felt was in character for her.

The reason I don't agree with this is because of the way she was raised. Gothel raised her to be attentive and obedient, which would cause her to be hyper-aware of people's moods and know when it's best to stay out of their way. The movie shows her being nonconfrontational. The series got right that she's a people pleaser, because all she knew until she left the tower, was to do things so that the only other person in her life would like/love her more. She felt her only worth was in her hair and what she could give others. She would not insist upon doing everything her own way.

My Interpretation: Her biggest flaw in my interpretation is that she wants to be all things to all people, and that means taking on responsibilities and emotional burdens that she can't really bear, but not sharing them with other people because she doesn't want to be a bother to them. She gives and gives and gives of herself until she's burned out, and even then, she forces herself to smile through the fatigue and pain. There is a lot going on behind that sunshiny personality.

Rapunzel's Positive Traits

The Series: The series has her most positive trait fragrantly be that she doesn't give up on people, no matter what. And yes, her willingness to give people a second, third, fifth, fiftieth chance is a good thing, but it can also be taken too far and turn her into an assault victim (and yet she'll keep getting up and not giving up on the person who wants her dead).

The reason I don't agree with this is because she did eventually stand up to Gothel when she realized she'd been done dirty. And though she didn't particularly want to harm her, she was 100% ready to walk out of her life forever and never look back. Rapunzel knew that her hair was keeping Gothel alive, but she swore to never let her use it again. I don't think she'd be so keen to keep trying to "save" Cassandra, given that Cassandra was literally trying to kill her.

My Interpretation: To me, her most positive trait is that she sees the world with new eyes. Because she wasn't raised in a society, she notices and questions things that most of society just grows up taking for granted. This attitude will lead her to lift up the very people who were trying to take her and the other nobles down in "Tangled: before Ever After". And because of my previous complaint with how the series portrays her biggest flaw, I fully believe that she will listen to the people she's trying to reform and find out what made them turn to crime in the first place. Rapunzel is the sort of person to fix the system, not the problems the system caused.

Eugene's Flaws

The Series: The series would have us believe that Eugene's biggest flaw is his vanity. They play it up for laughs ("Be Very Afraid") and have it be this annoying thing he's utterly obsessed with.

I don't agree with this, but it's closer than their version of Rapunzel's biggest flaw. Eugene's vanity is a symptom of his actual biggest flaw, which I'll address below.

My Interpretation: Eugene's biggest flaw is that he has no sense of self-worth. The series actually does touch on this multiple times, and in that respect they did him proud. The vanity is there because, just as beauty is only skin-deep, so is his self worth. But if he looks good on the outside, then that will buy him time to convince people he's worth theirs. (Besides, there's literally nothing wrong with a man being well-groomed and liking his appearance.) Eugene's sense of self-worth is so low that he spent over half his life pretending to be someone else. He told Rapunzel that she fixed him, because he didn't see himself as being able to do it on his own. He begins the series literally not knowing who he is as a person, because the person he pretended to be has been retired. And while he does spend the series gaining confidence in himself and finding purpose, I don't agree with what they decided his purpose eventually is.

Eugene's Positive Traits

The Series: His loyalty. And you know what? For the most part, I don't disagree with this. However, they took his loyalty and turned it into a flaw by having him just go along with whatever Rapunzel wanted. Not having self-worth doesn't mean that he has no thoughts or opinions of his own.

I don't think even for a moment that he'd forgive Cassandra for everything that she did. She didn't just betray Rapunzel, she betrayed them all. Not only that, she attempted to kill him and his entire close friend group, especially Rapunzel, she took over the only place that ever felt like home to him, she helped the greatest evil and threat become unleashed. He wouldn't sit in a burning building drinking coffee and saying, "This is fine." Nor would he turn a blind eye and say, "Glad you're back to normal."

My Interpretation: His loyalty, not only to Rapunzel, but to himself and his standards. Once you win his trust, he's got your back. But if you then stab him in the back, he is done with you. We don't know what happened between him and Lance to make them part ways, but Eugene didn't trust Lance not to ruin his new way of life, even after Lance had started to reform (see "The Way of the Willow"). Eugene might not have much self-worth, but he protects that which he cares about (so long as it hasn't hurt him in the process).

Secondly to this is his compassion. He acts tough and thoughtless, but he actually cares deeply, and you can see it in how he treats people once he warms up to them.

Keeping Characters In Character

The best way I've found to keep a character I'm writing in character is to think about what a situation makes them think and how a it makes them feel. (And explaining this thought process in the writing with both descriptive words [He was amazed.] and actual reactive thoughts [Did that really just happen? What was he supposed to do with that?!].) Writing a character's reaction to something isn't always easy, and sometimes you're going to find that the reaction you anticipated them having is not the one you're getting. In those cases, you either let their new reaction carry the story in a slightly altered direction, or else you slightly alter events to get the reaction you wanted. Always keep their backstory in mind, and how that backstory would affect their emotions. But include all of the backstory, including the recent past. Rapunzel is not the same person post-series as she is in the movie, because she's experienced a lot in that time period. But who she was raised to be will still affect her actions going forward. You can't just undo 18 years of trauma, neglect, and abuse.

As for dialogue, write the gist of what you want them to say, then read it back to yourself in their voice. Can you clearly hear it in their voice in your head, or does it feel clunky and not like something they'd say? Adjust it until it sounds like them. (One of my biggest jobs when editing Tangled: Between the Kisses is making sure the dialogue is phrased in such a way as it sounds like the character saying in.)

I hope this helps! Feel free to ask me if you've got any other questions!

[thegirlwhowrites642]

Hinny shippers and romione

Note: if you start reading this, you have to finish it, especially if you want to comment or reblog.

It had never dawned on me until recently that a significant amount of hinny shippers doesn't seem to be particularly fond of romione (at least this is the impression I got). Which I have to admit surprised me a little because with all the crazy non-canon ships this fandom has, canon shippers always stuck together in my head.

Now, as the biggest nerd on this planet and a hardcore hinny shipper who always liked romione, I feel like I'm qualified and impartial enough to take up the challenge of analyzing where this dislike for romione in hinny shippers comes from. Even if I'm sure not all the hinny shippers who don't like romione will identify with all the points.

I believe there are different angles on this matter that we have to discuss.

The differences between hinny and romione

An inevitable factor to take into consideration is that we are talking about the taste of people who are very into hinny. Therefore I consider it essential to highlight the differences between these two ships.

What we know about hinny and romione from the books

The books are written from Harry's point of view (it's slightly more complex but I'm simplifying) which means that we have inside information on hinny.

We know how they behave when they are alone, we have extremely emotionally intimate moments between them, we know why they are appealing to each other, they are always described in hyper poetic ways because we have the opportunity of getting into Harry's feelings. Understanding the reasons why they are a perfect fit is not that hard.

For the same reason, we don't know a thing about romione as a couple.

We don't know how they behave when they are alone, how they make each other feel on an intimate level, you can make suppositions, sure, and there are nice moments between them, but you don't actually know, which considering that they are not the two most compatible people on earth, at least on paper, can make a lot of people struggling in imagining them in a relationship.

If maybe having them get together sooner would have solved the issue because Harry would have been presented with them as an actual couple, this possibility was destroyed by the plot necessity of them getting together at the very end of the series.

In short, we know why Harry and Ginny love each other, we know why they are in for the long haul, with Ron and Hermione you lack all the answers to the whys that are not speculation, even if usually supported by canon material.

The different narratives that hinny and romione portray

Stating that hinny and romione have completely different dynamics seems like using a euphemism. They are like night and day. As a writer, I actually appreciate it but it's also true that some dynamics are more emotionally appealing than others depending on well, personal taste, life experience, therefore is not really surprising that someone would have a clear favorite between these two couples.

Harry and Ginny have a soulmates dynamic. They are presented as characters who were always meant for each other, had an instant connection, and were kept separate by lack of knowledge of each other/external factors/previous misconceptions. It's never about them not getting along or not being compatible until a certain point in time. It's always about them not having time to talk/spend together, being distracted by various traumas and life-threatening situations, and so on. There are also certain passages in the books that bring up this symbolism of a love that defeats death and logic. They are the ones that can read each other minds and who find peace in one another, the ones that even when jealous of each other treat the other with such grace. This is not the first time I bring this up in my posts and it probably deserves its analysis but this is not what we are doing right now. To make it short: hinny is built on the "it's always been you" trope. Which is pretty much the textbook technique to create a soulmates dynamic. If you don't see it and don't trust my opinion, trust JKR's one seeing that she wrote them and called them soulmates on more than one occasion, if you don't trust her then trust Harry who chose life over death to build a family with Ginny.

On the other side, we have Ron and Hermione. They have known each other and been best friends since age eleven and yet it took them seven years and a war to get together. Insecurities, inability to open up to each other, petty jealousy is what kept them apart. They were kept apart by themselves. They had to go through all the life experiences we see in the books to actually be a good fit for one another. This is a very short explanation of why Ron and Hermione are not soulmates. You can argue with me about terries hunting otters all day long if you want, but it doesn't change the fact that they are not presented as soulmates. What comes out of the books is two people who shaped each other and who were shaped by what they went through into the right partner for the other one. A good exercise to understand if two characters are written as soulmates is putting them in an alternate universe where their lives are different. If you do that you'll realize that Ron and Hermione could have easily not ended up together [depending on your consideration of TCC this could be explicitly canon; I do not consider TCC canon]. I do think that in every scenario in which they are at school together (unless you consider wrong sortings) and they have their canon childhoods, they end up dating because they were always attracted to each other, but I don't know if they would end up married in all of them.

Now, of course there's beauty in both narratives, at least in my opinion, but if you are particularly fond of one you might not be too big on the other.

Ron and Hermione could be your parents or your bestfriend's parents, Harry and Ginny are that type of couple you meet maybe once in your life with those crazy stories like "we met and three months later we were married, now we have been together for forty years".

Added note, because apparently, it's not as obvious as I thought: When I'm talking about soulmates, I'm referring to the romantic matching souls that always end up finding each other. A concept present in a lot of pagan beliefs. And not to the overused by the mainstream media version of two people simply being a good romantic match.

The perception of Hermione

I don't think it necessary to explain that the perception of a character in a ship can influence the perception of the ship itself.

Hermione in the books

The thing about people who produce/enjoy content on canon ships is that they are probably very into canon. They know the characters really well, can analyze them and all that. With this in mind, Hermione is a very useful character in the books in terms of plot, she moves the plot on a lot, so regardless of what unpleasant behavior she may have during the books she always compensates with being useful. The moment people think about her a bit more though, maybe they try to put her in another context for a story they want to write, they are left to contemplate only her personality and often end up realizing they don't find her so pleasant. As someone who views Hermione as a version of herself stripped away from a lot of her favorite qualities of herself, I know where they are coming from. Every time I read about people having Hermione as their favorite character, I get very skeptical about their perception of canon because I know from first-hand experience that Hermione is someone that very few people would want around.

Opinions on Ron and how Hermione treats him

As far as I'm aware, Ron is very beloved in the hinny fandom. He's closer in personality to Harry and Ginny after all. I don't think there's a single hinny shipper out there that will tell you that they don't like romione because Hermione deserves better. On the other hand, there will be someone who will tell you that Ron deserves better. Considering that we are talking about people obsessed over a ship like hinny where respect and grace are on the front line and Hermione sent bloody canaries to eat Ron alive, it's not that crazy.

Hermione in the movies and that disgusting borderline incestuous ship

If you were already someone who wasn't too fond of Hermione in the books, I have a feeling the movies didn't really improve your opinion. If Hermione's character in the books holds a certain value with not being presented as perfect but an actual human being with flaws, Hermione in the movies is what it's commonly known as a Mary Sue. This was not only an insult to feminism but an excellent way of making Hermione unbearable to the people who happen to actually enjoy the books.

Add to all of this that Kloves, who probably never had a friend of the opposite gender in his entire life, decided to push his harmi*ne propaganda in the movies while simultaneously destroying Ginny and hinny not only in the storyline of the movies but in the perception of all those people who never read the books, and the dislike of Hermione from hinny shippers isn't that inconceivable. In this case, instead of being logical it's purely an emotional reaction due to exasperation.

Conclusion

If the nature of these two couples inevitably brings the reader to pick a favorite, I believe what ultimately produces the dislike of the ship in some hinny shippers is the dislike of Hermione.

Personal opinion

As I stated more than once during this analysis I enjoy romione as a pairing and to be completely honest I argued on more than one occasion both on the Internet and in real life to defend them.

I'd dare say that JKR wouldn't be so objective if she had to do this same analysis.

Final note, please read

Hinny and romione are two valid ships and in this godforsaken fandom where people are shipping decent characters with death eaters, we canon shippers should honestly stick together.

It's absolutely normal to like hinny or romione more, being two very different ships I find it hard to believe that someone could like them equally.

Of course, if you don't like one of these ships it's fine, just don't go mental shipping one of these four characters with adults or pathetic human beings like Malfoy ;D .

And not liking a positive character is fine too as long as you are respectful about it and have reasons for it that don't steam down to things like sexism (like it often happens with Ginny) or classism (like it often happens with Ron).

I hope this post won't start some war between hinny and romione shippers, not that I think my blog is that relevant but I'd like to specify just in case.

That said, I'm pretty sure there are more romione shippers who don't like hinny anyway.

[terrence-silver]

imagine Terry talking to beloved about his friendship with John. He would say how much he wished John had the best things life could offer. The best things he could offer John even today if John hadn't broken his heart and punished him with endless silence. "I would even share you with him if he wanted to." Terry would say to Beloved. "Then you must be a better person than I am, because I would never share you with anyone. Not even the ones I love." How would Terry react to that?

This is a new, unfamiliar sensation which Terry adores.

But, he's also confused by it. A bit lost.

And he doesn't like not knowing what to think in the moment, on his feet.

See, when you really analyze it, I don't think anyone ever selfishly and unapologetically wanted him above everyone else, is the problem; either as a friend. A lover, just for the sake of loving him. As a teacher, he often had to outright tactically bribe students with incredible benefits, perks, merch, lowered class prices, state of the art hyper-modernistic dojos and gifts --- or to lie to them and groom them to lure them in, like in the case of Daniel. His fake friend circle he keeps around in later decades with immeasurable and outright financing --- not to mention practically fabricating a whole personality to be accepted and to in effect blend in as someone who he technically wasn't. Especially in his later years. In the 80's and 70's, post-war, he does amazing favours for John to repay him for the debt he feels he owes after the war. One gets the impression, although it is never quite confirmed, that he enlisted in Vietnam despite the privileges of his birth that could easily have him skipping the draft altogether purely to appease or impress his despotic father who was prepared to, maybe, cut him out of his inheritance if he didn't join the army or do something drastic to show his quality as a ''real man''. For Terry Silver, literally everything in life comes with a heavy price and indeed, nothing is for free. Everything has to be earned and wrestled out of people. Coaxed out of them. Bled out of them. So much so, that he legitimately would happily share his beloved (and everything else) with John despite being the most territorially possessive person you can imagine if it meant he could show fealty and ultimate devotion to John through it. It wouldn't even be something that eats away at Terry. It is an instinct. He would, in fact, be delighted to do so, again, especially in the 80's. Goes without saying that what is his is John's, even though John might be unwilling to accept as readily as people think. No matter, Terry talks him into it. C'mon, Johnny, try it! I insist! Johnny, c'moooon!

Brothers-in-arms always share everything, naturally.

But, to hear someone is in fact attached to him to the point they would never share him under any circumstance and where he takes ultimate precedence, as he is, over everything else is...it is new. Sure, Terry is a narcissist and of course he at one point viewed himself as deity, but to actually hear it in this particular context is something else. It is unknown. It is something that makes him feel a bit like a wild, feral animal. He isn't sure if he should laugh off such a statement or be rendered silent. For all his bravado, charm, worldliness, materialism, cruelty, seductive qualities, I really don't think Terry heard such a declaration before. That he would never be shared with anyone. See, it turns out that his loved ones always loved someone a bit more than him, or at least, exhibited more yearning for others than him. John might've been a bit more attached to Johnny than him, because caring for Johnny, a boy and then a teenager, rather than a grown-up Terry was more normal. More paternalistic than questionable. He wore his hair in remembrance of Ponytail all his life but one has to ask if Ponytail would ever do the same in return if their situations were switched --- if Twig was the one who died. Kim Da-Eun cared for her grandfather's legacy more than him --- in fact, one feels she didn't care for him at all. Captain Turner was convinced Terry wasn't worth fighting for and that he would die anyway. His tofu social scene cared for the financial goods and the clout they'd achieve mingling around a billionaire's turf. Daniel Larusso cared infinitely more for Mr. Miyagi. His own father seemed to care more about his son proofing some arbitrary point of manhood than, you know, not dying in a war abroad, and so on. Terry needs absolute devotion and its assurance but when he actually gets it from beloved after seeking it in various people he collected for goodness knows how long, actually embracing it is difficult in any stage of his life and it takes a long time actually for him o actually compute what was said to him.

Maybe, in the gravitas of beloved's words, all Terry registers is one thing:

There are others who beloved loves?

Well, not for long.

He found someone willing to be perfectly his.

This time around, though, he will share them with nobody. No half measures.

[ivi-prism]

yooo how do you think dream and hermits will interact and work together? (and how will the fandoms react)

Disclaimer I approach this in the mindset that they are CC's that share spaces and will have interacted with eachother and also that they are each trying to do their best. No take of "Yeah that won't work because Dream is an asshole" here because he is not. Man goes to MCC to win and his strategies clash with others but it is never with malicious intent so if I see any of that... I will stare at you very dissapointed because we don't have to be rude okay?

Disclaimers aside lets analyze!

I belive the interactions would vary greatly depending on the configuration of the team! But in general I belive it will be a wild ride regardless lol.

If the ratio was Dream + a Hermit trio that would probably neutralize most of Dream's hyper competitivness simply cause man would be very awkward and he wouldn't have a right hand man to rely on so he would probably end in a more supportive role simply because he would be "the outsider". Still I have no doubt the Hermits would try to include him in that case and it would be very chill! Ren and Grian would probably try and do more casual conversationn than Cub or False... Pearl is inbetween... feel like she makes conversation easier depending on which other Hermits are close.

But overall no matter the Hermit trio that would be a more chill team

Now if it is a 2:2 ratio it gets interesting depending on what pairs you do! Dream won't be with George or Sapnap (this MCC) because they are on other teams alredy and thats the two people with whom he shares the most positive synergy and previous performances have shown that Dream in this situations would rather go for risky plays on his own and trust his team to back him up. Now Hermits (no matter what Hermits) are solid team players! They do best with a leader as they provide support and can step up in areas the leader might not be as knowledgable (often in Big Sales at Buildmart or Rocket Spleef)

Having both things clear then it makes the fourth person important, since it can either make it easier for Dream by turning on his right hand man and allowing him his risky plays while he stays with the Hermits for back up, or it can be a person that takes on the leader position and that + Hermits would again neutralize Dream.

Each configuration would vary greatly but I'm sure it would be chaotic, we would get memes and it might stir more or less salt from the fanbases... since this one can vary more I have no concrete answer sorry lol

Now the case of 3:1 but the alone person is a Hermit. The only Hermits that have done this are Pearl (since she wasn't a Hermit back then), Cub and Grian. False and Ren come in pairs, do not separate them. So regardless of the Hermit (Pearl, Cub or Grian) they will go into a support role because that's what they often do. Hermits even if alone will not be ENTIRELY alone so they would be playing with a Hermit adjacent friend or an S tier they've adopted alredy (Think Pete, Fruitberries, Ilumina, Jimmy, Scott, Martyn, Joel, etc)

Thus this looks similar to the 2:2 configuration alredy! but the Hermit friend and the person paired up with Dream are then the ones that make the difference.

If Dream's partner allows him to be the leader then we return to the "Dream makes risky plays and relays on team for backup" escenario, but if the Hermit friend is an S-tier they will probably take leadership and return to the "Dream gets neutralized and plays backup with the others" so this last escenario is the most volatile (as in it can vary the most)

Would any of this ones be awkward? I have no idea since I don't know the CC's and we wouldn't know if they have trained before MCC. Dream often helps train less expirienced CC's so that would be a great opportunity to strenghten the teams synergy.

Would it be funny? Absolutely! Hermits are very kind people but they can get sassy lol so I'm sure we would get at least a moment that reddit and Tumblr will meme to hell and back.

Will it be fun? I dunno! I hope it is! I hope both Dream and Hermits share a positive expirience if we get a team where they are teamed up. That depends on them at the end of the day and I'm sure if something does go wrong it will be solved or it won't be taken seriously stopping any drama.

Is that me being an idealist? You bet! And I rather be an idealist because I know for a FACT that no matter what happens with the team- The fanbases are going to EXPLODE

Now answering the second part of the question relates a lot with the scenarios proposed in the first ones. If the team has a positive expirience in reduces the chances for the fanbases to get upset.

But still there is tension between the two fanbases so it won't be a smooth ride.

On one hand we have Hermitfans and Dream fans that regardless of what happen will be chill about it, because it is a minecraft tournament with no price so either they win or they lose or something just explodes this fans will be very calm about it, or indifferent as well.

Next you have the true winners of the event, the hc x dsmp people (hello!) no matter what the hell happens with the fanbases as long as that section of fans can take this interactions as refferent for future hc x dsmp content, it will be all hunky- dory

And now you have the section of the fans that will raise hell if something goes wrong and the most vocal sector that will probably suck the fun out of the event and put us all through a spiral of negativity. The people that get defensive.

The people that get defensive (now will be reffered to as LC for Loud Crowd to make things easier for me) will receive this team negatively from the start.

Either LC peeps that are fans of Dream will be upset their CC has been paired with a bunch of 'nobodies' or will have another preconcived reason to hate on the Hermits (it can be hermitwt, or something ''''''problematic'''''' or they just don't vibe with them, pick one cause it could be any of those).

Or the LC on the Hermits side will be mad that Hermits have to team up with Dream and will go too far on an attempt to defend the Hermits. Moving the conversation from neutral grounds to a shouting match (yes I'm on hermitblr and hermitwt, yes we have failed guys. We can be upset but going too far won't help us)

Both sides don't come from the same point of view, the Hermits are an inconvinience for the LC in Dream's side and Dream is a threat for the LC in the side fo the Hermits. This is terrible because Hermit fans that have legitimate reasons to not be happy about it cannot express them since it will provoque Dream's LC and on an attempt to defend themselves an unhappy Hermit fan will escalate, and yes this will result in a LC trying to protect the Hermits as well.

We saw this last MCC with the Red Rabbits win. Hbomb's fans (and by extension Hermitwt/hermitblr and other sectors of mcytblr/mcytwt) where not thrilled, not after H was harrassed by some of the Dream Team fans even if the glitch has been done previously and even Sapnap repeated that MCC (no matter if the circumstances where different, nobody deserves to be harassed. NO ONE, being upset is no excuse to harass people. NEVER).

This anger was directed at the offending fans that harassed H, but it also started being directed directly to the Red Rabbits (which is why many posts on tumblr and twitter circulated like 'hey doing that makes us no better come on') THE THING IS. The Dream Team's fanbase saw this, and a section (the LC) got mad that people where not happy Red Rabbits had won that + the posts of people being mad about Red Rabbits winning basically became a negative feedback.

If you where not a Red Rabbits fan you would get angry seeing that crowd demand people be happy about it and acting toxic over it. And if you where a Red Rabbit fan you would get angry at the people attacking your team.

Of course this is a gross oversimplification and the situation was far more complex, but I bring it up to explain what will happen. Both LC in either side will get defensive, provoquing eachother and escalating. This even before the event has started, and it can be made better or made worse depending on how things go for the team.

No matter if the other fans go "guys there is no need for this, we can be civil" this sort of negative feedback is too loud, too noticeable, too difficult to ignore that even if caused by a small percentage of people, will suck away the fun of the event.

So as to how the fanbases will react? I will hope that with curiosity, maybe caution but openess to see what happens, many people will be happy about it, maybe will not but will be chill about it and overall it won't be bad. What you get to see? thats an entire different story and I fear that most likely it won't be a pretty one.

But hey! We can be sure it will be an interesting event and that most likely we will get super fun and chaotic and memeable moments out of that team!