#I honestly have no idea why I'm putting the most development into her

[foxblaze]

Sorry it's been a while since I've posted any art, the heat has been killing my art drive, and I got busy with a convention. But here's what I have so far for Sandstorm! Out of all my characters I've drawn, she's definitely gone through the most significant design changes. I think the funniest part is before I got the idea of having cross breed pokemon show the father's traits, she was just a normal eevee. Then she ended up being a giant eevee. Then I decided to give a reason for that since she's literally double the size of a normal eevee and it's hard to chalk it up to 'normal size variations' and have it believable 🤣

For now her father is a secret, as it is a HUGE part of her backstory. And since Eevee are genetically unstable, i decided that would have an effect on how traits are passed down. I can't wait to see what people try to guess 👀

[seventeenytiny]

♡ Stray Kids as Dads ♡

Word Count: 637 Author's Note: As always this is just for funsies, feel free to add on your own ideas ♡

Bang Chan

He's such a girl dad and I don't think anyone will disagree with this. His daughter is the apple of his eye, the most precious thing he has ever seen. Everything he does in life is for his daughter and family. He will always do his best to take time off work to not miss big milestones and events. I can imagine him smiling ear to ear watching his child's first choir concert, even if it sounds bad he is still so proud of his baby girl.

Lee Know

I can't quite explain why I view him as a father of twins but I just do, it'll be one boy and one girl. When the two of you found out you were having twins his immediate excitement for it took away all your anxiety. If you choose to breast feed he will do everything he can to help you such as cleaning your pumps and changing diapers so you can rest. When the kids get older he will take great pride in making them healthy and yummy homecooked meals.

Changbin

Girl dad 100%, you can't convince me otherwise. He became very protective of his baby girl the second he saw the ultrasound. He does as much as he can while the baby is a newborn to help develop a bond. This includes things like skin-to-skin cuddles, diaper changes, and baths. When his daughter gets older he will always be picking out the cutest outfits for her.

Hyunjin

Honestly, I could see him as both a girl and boy dad but I think his first might be a girl. I can see him as the dad who plays dress-up with his daughter. He'd let his girl paint his nails, do his hair, and put makeup on him and he'd do the same to her. They'd also do crafts together, once his daughter develops better motor skills he will definitely teach her how to paint.

Han

Baby girl is the father of a baby girl. He loves spending one-on-one time with his daughter. He will take her to the park to play while also allowing his partner to have some quiet time to themselves. When his daughter is a little bit older he will take her on "dates" so she can learn how a man should treat her. By dates, I mean things like daddy-daughter dances where he will bring her flowers, open car doors for her, and treat her to dinner.

Felix

I have a feeling if he decides to have kids he would like to settle back down in Australia. He would love to take his son to all of the places he has fond memories of in his hometown. I'm sure he would be thrilled if his child showed interest in doing taekwondo as well. Everyone will be wondering if his son will have that same signature deep voice he has.

Seungmin

I think he would really like having a child he can play sports with and roughhouse with. Obviously, he can do that with either a girl or a boy but I think he ultimately would like a mini him to play with. He'd love playing catch with his boy and taking him out to sports games. They'd probably play outside all day, rain or sunshine, and always come back in covered in mud and ravenously hungry.

I.N

Like Seungmin, he also can't wait to have a mini him. He and his child will be so mischievous together, they will always be doing stuff like playing pranks on each other. Jeongin also has two brothers so I could see him and his bros taking his son on a classic boy's trip. He will also teach his son how to be the perfect gentleman, the two of them will always come back with flowers for mom.

[imnotasuperhero]

To follow the compass (that beats in our chests)

Wanda Maximoff x Reader.

A/N: Hello buddies. I honestly don't know how to define this, so let's say it's just an idea I developed in different chunks of free time I had and I decided to just put it out in the open and see if it was good enough considering the astronomical hiatus I've took. This was not proofread.

Let me know your thoughts!

Sipping on the hot, bitter coffee, you relaxed on the park bench enjoying the calmness of the Saturday morning, forcing your mind to stop thinking about the stressful streak you’ve been having for the last few weeks.

And the smile on your lips grew at the realization the cutest puppy came barking and wagging its tail, sitting at your feet as if it was your own.

“Hi, buddy!” You giggled as you scratched on its fur. “Yeah, you’re a good puppy, aren’t you?” 

“Sparky!” A nervous voice called and you couldn’t help the chilling wave running down your spine.

Looking up, you saw the most beautiful woman ever, walking rapidly to you, “Come here, boy,” she kept calling unsuccessfully.

“It’s okay,” you kept on your smile when she was in hearing range while you kept on petting her dog, as if trying to calm her.

“I’m so sorry, he never sprints at strangers. I don’t know what-”

“Hey,” you stood up and placed a hand on her shoulder. “It’s okay, really.” You guided her to sit on the bench, worried about her state.

Inhaling deeply, her green eyes stared at you with some spark you couldn’t decipher. “I’m sorry.”

“No need to be,” you smiled kindly, sitting by her side. “I’m Y/N,”

“Wanda,” she nodded curtly, her attention on the dog sitting between you two, looking back with curiosity. But before you could comment on some random thing to say, her grunt called your attention.

“Are you okay?” Your attention focused on the woman beside you.

“I'm fine… it's just a small kick,” she rubbed her protruding belly.

“Oh,” you realized just now she was pregnant. “How far are you?” 

“It's pretty early. About to enter the sixth month,” she smiled softly and you could feel her beautiful smile being tattooed on your soul.

“Do you have a name, yet?” You asked curiously.

“I just found out it's a boy on Wednesday, so I still have to decide on a few,”

“There you two are!” a familiar voice made your words die on your lips.

“Pietro?” You stood up with your smile growing its size.

“Hey, Y/N!” The blonde man smiled equally excited as he hugged you tightly.

“Now I know why he seemed so familiar,” you looked at the dog at Pietro’s feet requesting to be petted.

“Now I know why he ran to you out of nowhere,” Wanda chimed in, taking one of the two cups Pietro had. “Thank you,”

Winking at the brunette, Pietro turned his attention to you. “Glad to see you’re feeling better,” his smile never left his face. “I miss you at work,”

“Oh, I bet it’s torture,” you giggled, rolling your eyes.

“It’s true! George is just… too much.”

“Poor Pietro, he can’t manage a teenager,” you mocked him. “I’ll be back on Monday.” You assured.

“But what he can manage is finding a new place for his sister to move into.” The blonde stated with a cheeky smile.

“Wait, what?” Wanda frowned at her brother as if had grown two heads.

“Well, it’s simple math! You’re still looking for a roommate, right?” Pietro looked at you expectantly, waiting for your confirmation. “And you can’t handle living with me anymore. Ouch, by the way,” he turned to his sister. “That means you can move in with-”

“Does she even want me to move in?” Wanda interrupted her brother’s rant, and you felt the pressure as two pairs of eyes set on you.

“As long as you don’t smoke and keep at least the common areas tidy-”

“YES! She accepts the deal.” Pietro grabbed your hand and shook it as if it was a deal.

“There’s a problem, though.” Wanda looked down to where her hand was placed on her belly bump.

“I’m not new to babies. It’s okay by me,” you shrugged and couldn’t help the heat on your face as those green eyes shone with something warm.

That’s how the very next night, you’ve found yourself sliding in bed after a well deserved hot shower, for all the hard work you’ve done helping Wanda move into the empty spare room in your apartment.

But just as you were about to drift into sleep, a chocked scream washed away every bit of sleep you’ve collected through the day.

“Wands?” You entered her dark room, setting your eyes on the sitting form on the bed. Her soft features illuminated by the moonlight.

“I’m sorry I woke you,” she sighed.

“No need to,” you sat beside her on the bed. “Can I help you with something?”

At the tension levitating in the air, you insisted.

“I know I’m a grown up mother-to-be. But can you stay?” 

Getting under the covers, you opened your arms waiting.

“What happens in this room stays in this room,” the brunette joked as she settled half on top of you, and you couldn’t help the soft smile as you felt the extra weight on your side.

“Deal,” you refrained from kissing her head, wrapping your arm around her shoulders instead, allowing sleep to take over you once and for all.

Days and weeks passed, you’ve found yourself enjoying Wanda’s presence around you when neither of you were at work. Even more so when she took over dinner claiming she needed to destress from whatever case she had that day.

But for the last 4 days, Wanda had been assigned the night shift as she had to cover for a colleague and you sank deeper on the couch at the realization that hit you like a train.

So after a few minutes of wallowing in the newfound feeling, you stood up and walked to the kitchen, checking  on the food cooking on the stove.

Inhaling the warm smell you felt your chest inflate with joy. “Yummy,” you smiled as you grabbed the wooden spoon and stirred before tasting the stew. “Double yum.”

Moving to the cupboard you took a plate and stared at it for a second too long, deciding to grab two small containers instead.

As the floor-to-ceiling doors closed behind you, you granted yourself a few seconds to calm down, unbelieving the impulse that brought you here.

“Hi,” you greeted the first nurse you’ve found after the receptionist indicated where the pediatric floor was.

“Hello darling,” the nice old lady smiled at you. “How may I help you?”

“I’m looking for Dr. Maximoff, please.”

After checking on the screen, the big brown eyes looked back at you with a compassionate look. “She’s in surgery right now, but should be done in any minute.”

“Oh, okay. I’ll wait for her,” you faked your best smile, not being a fan of hospitals.

But before you could end up walking away from the stress the place provided you, a tap on your shoulder called your attention.

“Hi,” you smiled brightly as you took off your earphones.

“Hello yourself,” the brunette matched your smile. “What are you doing here?”

“I brought us dinner.”

“Oh, my. You’re the best,” Wanda’s arms wrapped around you and you felt the familiar warmth you’ve got used to. “I definitely need something after that O.R.”

“Was it an emergency?” You asked, following her to what you assumed was the common room.

“Sadly, yes.��� Wanda took two water bottles before sitting down at the table. “Remember the girl I told you about yesterday?”

“The one with heart failure?” You took the containers and opened them, filling the room with the warm tasty smell.

“Oh, lord. Looks so good,” Wanda took a bite and smiled. “It is good,” she nodded to herself and you couldn’t help the giggles. “But yes, that one. Turns out she had a clog on her aorta so we had to operate.”

“Poor thing,” you pouted, it was sad to hear some of Wanda’s patients’ medical records. “So now her heart surgery has to wait.”

“At least another day, yes.” She took a mouthful. “What brought you here? And with food?”

“The apartment felt empty and I was bored,” you shrugged nonchalantly.

“You sure it's not the fact you miss me?” Wanda raised her eyebrow.

“Ehh, that’s just details.” You waved it off.

“And here I thought I was special,” the brunette pouted, making you purse your lips to avoid you from smiling.

The next few minutes were spent in a comfortable silence, which wasn’t strange to you both since you easily found quite the comfort in the other’s company. But that bubble popped when Wanda’s pager rang with a nine-eleven call.

“I’m so sorry, Detka.”

“No, don’t worry, duty calls.” You eased her as you took her hands from the picked up forks. “I’ve got it. You go save lives and I’ll see you at home,”

“I’ll make it up to you,” she pecked your lips and stormed off the room, leaving you frozen.

Caressing your lips, you tried to process the day’s unfolding. Where did that come from? Was it just a reflex or was it something she’s wanted to do willingly?

All these questions ran through your mind, slowly indulging the feeling that was hidden in a box, burning madly like a flame that could consume the restraints in any minute. And to be honest, it didn’t scare you, because if anything, all the pent up tension meant there was more in store for you and Wanda than just be friends.

[eww-y-tho]

Colin VS Toxic Masculinity and Why Penelope Had to Reveal Herself as LW

I made a previous post with my two cents on why the idea of them both figuring out a solution to LW was an inferior concept to just Penelope figuring it out on her own, but it was small and I want to go more in-depth.

So, in order to grasp ✨my perspective✨ of the story, we first need to talk about Colin's struggles with toxic masculinity and his inferiority complex.

Naturally, Colin is a hopeless romantic with demisexual tendencies and a more prominent softness compared to other male leads. He's a bit dense (I say with love) until he figures out what he wants and how he's going to get it, and then he is a man of frankly ridiculous action. He's a sensitive boi who has a difficult time fitting in with the other men in his life and being taken seriously by his family, as he puts it himself. An empath, lol.

Honestly, Colin being a "rake" was an integral point of his character arc, and if you haven't picked up on that text by now, I would ask where your media literacy is. Violet put it best, he's putting on armour to protect himself from the way that society treats his character, and naturally, he develops a small, albeit persistent inferiority complex because of this. He doesn't feel like he's providing enough to the people around him because of toxic masculine standards.

I honestly think it's been with him since s1, and Pen is the only person who could bring these thoughts to the surface, which is why it comes to a head in s3 p2.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

In his efforts to fit in, he does some questionable things, such as the 2x8 comment, which he regrets as soon as he realizes how much damage it has done to his relationship with Pen. He hangs around with douchebags that he can't stand because he feels a need to conform and "be the kind of man society expects him to be."

But he also absorbs toxic masculine tendencies in the process. His gut instinct of general envy that a woman, Pen, is more successful than him (I hate to put it that bluntly, but that's how I took it), asking for her to quit LW because of these reasons, completely disregarding Pen's autonomy and her perspective by blindly charging forward to stop Cressida's blackmail, among other smaller things.

It's kind of ✨subtle✨, but I know it's there.

Pair that with his inferiority complex and you have a man who is trying to put down Penelope to his level, if that makes sense. By this point, he's already conquered the idea that he needs to conform by the way he cuts off his toxic friend group, but he isn't completely free from the systemic perspective.

Therefore, the idea that Pen would need him in order to find a solution to her problem confirms that toxic masculine trait. Let's be real, Penelope didn't and doesn't need Colin in order to help with LW's problems. She's managed without him before and will continue to manage it by herself. This is not to say that Penelope doesn't have an issue with accepting help from others and feeling the need to handle her problems alone because of her old situation, but she takes the emotionally intelligent move by LITERALLY voicing what she needs from Colin and their relationship.

She needs his companionship, she needs his love, she needs a rock she can come to at the end of the day and be able to depend on. She does not need him to do anything for LW, as it is a part of her identity and an accomplishment that she is proud of and will not let go of. Colin cannot make the demand that she drop everything she's worked for for him.

And that's how relationships work in the real world. You have things you are willing to let go of, and some things you are not. Your partner has to accept those boundaries you have set or leave the relationship, and you shouldn't have to abandon those things in order to get the person of your dreams, because that would make it a toxic relationship from the start and will most likely end in you losing parts of yourself in your partner.

Anyway, all this is to say that Penelope had to get out of her situation by her own means and with full autonomy on what she wanted to do to finish off her character arc.

And Colin needed to realize that his envy is a baseless emotion that simply has no value compared to the woman he knows her as. A strong, independent woman who doesn't need him to do things for her. He also needed to humble himself and see the way that LW is not competing with him, but a part of her. They both demonstrate that what they need from the relationship is not transactional in nature, but rather a shared bond powered by love.

I understand the idea of wanting them to both find a way out of the blackmail as a team, but again, that's explicitly not what they need from each other, and why I think this perspective is again a misunderstanding of their character arcs.

I think I've articulated this the best way I can, but I do know I wanted to say some other things. I'm tired tho, so yeah, ending it here.

Hopefully, this made sense.

Bai!

[gb-patch]

Hi! I saw your ask about skin tones and honestly, that is very much a barebones excuse to not include skintones in your game. You act as though adding skintones to a sprite would be a complete hand-drawn new asset when it would quite literally be filling in a pre drawn base for both Opal and the mc. Not only that but you potentially have thousands of mc outfits you promised for specific tier havers on the kickstarter. And then for 250,000 dollars, you're telling me we'll get more colors but not even 2 or 4 skintones when there are games with Less funding who have more skintones? Especially considering OL:B&A had the exact same amount of skintones and I could count all the afro centric hairstyles in that game on my two hands. I rather have more skintones than just pale, peach, olive, tan, brown and dark brown (most of which screams a 2000s foundation line of tones) than have more hair or clothing colors. I'm sorry, I love your games, I really do but that's an extremely lazy and abhorrent response from you and I am extremely disappointed.

"Hi. I just saw the post about you not adding in more skintones. I really hope this doesn't come across as rude or demanding but I find your reasoning for not being able to add them...lackluster at best. With all due respect, you set this goal for 250k, over three times the original goal you set for the kickstarter, the idea that somehow you can promise an additional set of darker colours for the clothes, accesories hair and eyes alongside the additional MC pieces people are going to request but not an additional skintone because of Opal seems a little ridiculous. I'm not an experienced artist but I do know how art files tend to work and I imagine adding additional colours to Opal's base design wouldn't be an extreme undertaking. In fact, by contrast, the work to add more colours to the clothes and hairs seems much more labourous considering the amount of them and the fact that some of the clothes have subcolours.

Again, I do hope I don't come accross as rude but I just feel like this announcement was highly dissapointing, especially considering the fact that the additional colours are currently the biggest goal for the kickstarter at the moment" There were two replies, so I put them together. I hope that's alright.

I understand. It would be bad and make no sense if that didn’t happen. I can say that this has nothing to do with funding. I'm not gonna attach more skin tones to a stretch goal, that’s not fair. It’ll be done whenever it can be regardless of what happens with the Kickstarter.

The other colors for hair and such is something I confirmed can be done by our programmer ahead of time using a color picker system in coding.

The situation as it stands today for Opal is that I personally don't have the skills to recolor her myself, the artist we have is in a situation where it would be unkind to increase how much work they have to do (it'd be easier if even less work could be on them), and while another artist could be hired- that hasn't happened at this point. So, saying it "could happen but maybe not" is cautious development process. It’s how it went with both the Cove Patreon Bonus Moments, where I pretended for months that it may or may not happen while working on it behind the scenes because I wasn’t sure how long I’d need to finish it and was worried it could be delayed for long stretches of time.

Being realistic, it is virtually a 100% certainly that before the game comes out, the skin tones will be expanded. There is no good reason why it wouldn’t. I was waiting until things got to a better point in production before coming out to officially say that it’s happening.

And I could’ve said it’s extremely likely but we’re not able to do it quite yet and avoided making anyone feel hurt. I wish my way of handling it hadn’t made the people who believed in our games sad. The reason why I didn’t is that I just can’t help but be averse to making promises I can’t do/the team can’t do and so have to rely on something else working out at some point in the future, even if it is entirely likely that it will.

That’s because I know that these things will make a lot of people happy. I want the excitement and any praise that might come to not happen until the goal has been achieved or is on the way to being achieved for sure. To a degree it’s helpful for players to have confidence in what the company is promoting, but it’s mainly to help with my own habit of catastrophizing. I tend to believe bad things could happen and I’ll let people down even when it’s so unlikely it’s not worth considering. I consider it anyway. And so, you get this kind of long-term hedging before the feature people hoped for suddenly appears. Even now my compulsion is to add a caveat that “there’s still a chance something (I don’t even know what) could happen and it won’t be added so don’t thank me yet” despite me already coming out with the truth that there’s every intention to have it added. I’m sorry to have disappointed you and made you feel disregarded by doing this. Hopefully when the skin options are expanded people will be able to enjoy the game a lot more than how it is with the current demo. And thanks for taking the time to let me know what you thought rather than giving up on the project entirely.

[supercorpkid]

Yours Truly, Pink Kryptonite

Supergirl. Kara Danvers x Reader!, Alex Danvers, Lena Luthor

Word Count: 3003.

"As you can see here, we'll start this presentation with an overview of the current business –" You look out the window to see Supergirl staring at you and waving excitedly. "landscape, and, um, the importance of embracing innovation." 

You look around, making sure no one is paying attention to the Kryptonian calling out for you from the other side of the window. What the hell could she possibly want right in the middle of your most important work presentation ever?

You obviously know Kara does a lot of things, but working 9 to 5 isn't one of them. She runs off from CatCo whenever she wants or has an emergency.

Emergency! God, there must be an emergency!

Your mouth dries, and your eyes widen. "Or, you know, everyone knows this." You look at your boss, furrowing his brows at you. "We know our company and where we stand. So instead of wasting our time with the introduction, why don't we just skip to –" You press the control skipping through basically half of your presentation. "the expansion to new markets. And who better to talk about that than my team! I'll leave it to you guys, and will answer to this very important call from our program developer. We know he hates to wait. I'm sorry. I have to –" 

You slip out of the conference room, heart on your throat, completely unaware of what you just said in there.

Supergirl meets you at the balcony of your office with a wide smile. "Kara!" You close the door behind you, looking around you to make sure no one is paying attention or seeing the both of you through glassy walls. "What's the emergency?"

Kara tilts her head to the sides, like a confused puppy. "Emergency?"

You touch her arms, looking for something that could explain why she is here in the middle of the day. "Yes! I mean, isn't there an emergency?"

"Not that I'm aware of." She smiles widely.

It's your turn to master your most confused face. "Then why are you here?"

"Oh!" Kara lets go of your arm, and puts a lock of your hair behind your ear. "I came to ask you out."

"What?"

"On a date! Tonight!" You're still looking at her like you haven't got the faintest idea of what's going on. "Maybe lunch?" She tries to get a different reaction. "Now?"

You look around. This must be a prank. Is someone filming this? Is today April Fools? Surely not. 

"You're not saying no." Her smile brightens up, like this is the most amazing thing that's ever happened. "So that means I can fly the hottest woman out of here right now?"

"What?" You repeat, yet again, baffled by everything that is happening. "You can't. I — I'm working."

"And you sounded so smart in that board meeting, baby." 

"Baby?" You whisper to yourself, more confused now than before. If that's even possible.

"But work is boring," Kara strokes your cheek lightly. "and you're honestly so pretty that I'm sure you'd never have to work if you wanted. Oh! You know what, we should do that!"

"Never work again?" You ask and she agrees enthusiastically. "It's not like you do anyways." You try a little joke and Kara laughs like you just said the funniest thing in the universe.

She composes herself, after a loud snort. "Ok. So you're smart, and pretty, and hot and funny. Golly, how did I get so lucky to get you to go on a date with little old me?"

You open your mouth a couple of times, but keep your comments to yourself. She is literally Supergirl; You never said yes to any date; and WHAT THE HELL! Are some of the things you refrain from saying.

"Kara, I have to go back to work. This presentation is really important." You point to the door and she agrees, once again, vividly with her head. 

"Ok, ok. But lunch?"

"I can't. I have a meeting with the developer." She pouts like a child, and you can't say no to her. Not when she looks so adorable. You breathe deep. "Dinner."

Kara bites her lower lip, holding back a huge smile. "Dinner is perfect. I'll organize everything, and you just have to go and be pretty, which is basically what you do all day anyways."

You furrow your brows one more time and agree with a nod. You make your way to the door, and make a mental note to call Alex and ask her what the hell! 

"Hey baby," You look over your shoulders and back at her one more time. "Your butt looks awesome in this outfit." 

"Thanks?" While your face burns red in embarrassment. 

You spend the rest of the day trying to concentrate on your work, but you can't really because you need to understand what happened between you and Kara this morning.

Sure, you two are used to a little bit of flirting. Subtle and awfully vague. Just little jokes that usually makes Kara completely uncomfortable, and makes her blush in no time. And now, just out of fucking nowhere, she is calling you baby and asking you out on dates?

You: hey! Kara's a bit off today. Something happened? Alex 🌈: oh, yeah. Pink Kryptonite. Why? You: great! One more! What does this one do? Alex 🌈: not sure. Just discovered it. Send me a list of symptoms.

A list of symptoms. Ok. You can do this. 1. She looked extremely happy. But that's not a symptom. 2. She had the courage to ask you out. Could that be a symptom? No. Surely not. Asking people out is not a symptom of being exposed to kryptonite. 3. She called you baby. Yeah, you don't have a list.

You: IDK, just weird. We'll meet up later and I'll try to investigate further. Alex 🌈: great! Will do the same from here.

Not good enough. You look down on your phone one more time. Change conversations.

You: hey! did you happen to see Kara today? Lena the witch: Yeah… You: everything alright? Lena the witch: If by alright you mean weird, then sure.  You: weird how? Lena the witch: She spent the entire duration of our lunch saying you butt looked great today. You: got it ✨super weird✨. Lena the witch: What's up with that? You: unsure. will let you know as soon as I figure it out.

You get ready for your date. It feels weird thinking about it. You've been kinda flirting kinda joking with Kara for a long while. You never thought this was going anywhere. It's not like you didn't want it to happen, but Kara Danvers is not gay. Which is unfortunate for you.

Except today she was the gayest of the gays. Queen of the lesbians. So you can't help but look in the mirror one more time, before saying out loud this time, "What the hell!"

Of course you like the idea of you and Kara going on a date, but it feels hard to enjoy this when it is so sudden and out of the blue. Just yesterday when you were leaving the Tower late at night and said goodbye with a simple, 'see you later handsome', Kara blushed so hard, she lost all her words and stumbled on her own two feet on the way out the elevator. How was she so smooth this morning?

You open the door, after the doorbell rings once. Kara is on the other side, the brightest smile on her face and flowers on her hands. "Hey baby."

You blush furiously. Can't keep your body in check, no matter how much you want to not enjoy this moment before you find out exactly what's going on with Kara.

"You look incredible. You always look incredible." She makes sure, a thumb sliding on your cheek delicately. And it's only the second time she's done this, and you're already addicted to it. "Oh, I brought your favorite flowers."

You look at it, bite your lower lip and hold your breath. She looks beautiful. Like an angel in front of you. Blonde waves cascading down her shoulders, blue eyes as bright as the day sky, smile as wide and white as possible, and she is here holding your favorite flowers. How the hell are you going to resist her?

"Thanks, baby.” God, no! What are you doing? No flirting! 

You turn around, putting the flowers on a vase, and trying to keep your hands and yourself busy so you don't jump on her and kiss her senseless. "Hey, what does Pink Kryptonite do?"

"Um, Pink Kryptonite?" Kara plays coy and you don't even have to look behind yourself to know she is smoothing her hand over her vest, right after touching her glasses. "Where did you see that?"

"Well, baby," You turn around to face her. "it seems that you've been exposed to it." Kara's mouth drops, not knowing what to say. You close the distance. "And believe me, I'm loving what's happening here, but I need to know if this is you or the kryptonite talking. So, what does it do?"

"It turns Kryptonians alittlegay." She mumbles under her breath, and it is only with much effort from your part that you understand it.

Your face drops. "Right." 

It's not like you're shocked about her revelation, she was acting like the lesbian jesus right after being exposed to a hot new type of kryptonite (why so many?). You breathe out, looking at the flowers and trying to ignore your selfish heart and desire to just go along with it.

"You should go."

"What?" Kara's eyes get full of tears. "But, the dinner."

"You're not in love with a woman, Kara. The effects of the kryptonite will fade and you'll regret this whole thing. So before we do something that can ruin our friendship, you should go." 

A tear falls from her eye, and she bites her lower lip to keep herself from crying out loud. Your heart is squeezing in your chest and you're having to summon all of your strength to keep going with this and not just simply kiss her better. 

"But that's not it." She tries, sounding small and in pain.

"Kara, it's ok." It's your turn to stroke her cheek lovingly and carefully, wiping the single tear away. "It was fun, but it isn't you. And for this to happen, I need to be you. Ok?" You're explaining yourself with caution, almost as if you're talking to a child. She agrees with her head, slowly, looking small in her tall body. "Don't worry. It will wear off soon, and you'll be yourself again. And you’ll be glad this didn’t happen." You kiss her cheek and give her a wistful smile.

Kara makes her way out of your apartment, crestfallen and so disheartened you almost feel bad. You take a deep breath. She'll be fine. She'll thank you for this when she wakes up free of the Pink Kryptonite.

Gee, a kryptonite that turns them gay. What the hell was going on in Krypton? But also, you wish you were there. The parties must have been wild.

You turn around in your bed, the flowers that Kara brought keep haunting you, because you decided to put them right next to your bed. You sit up, rubbing your face awake. Why the hell did you kick Kara out the door? It could've happened! It could finally have happened! Why didn't you take advantage of it?

Oh yeah. Yours truly, Pink Kryptonite. Ugh. She didn't really want you, she was just gay for a day. You roll your eyes to yourself. Now you'll just have to live with the awkwardness and the desire while you're around her. Great.

You hear a light tap on the glass and you let out a shit-scare scream, only to see Supergirl flying on the other side of your window. You hear a soft, "sorry." when she realizes how shaken you got.

You open the window to find a glowing Supergirl, and it doesn't take much deducing to understand she's been under the yellow sun bed for a while.

"I flew as close as I could to the sun." She explains, still on the other side, but it's quick to make her way inside. "The yellow sun emulators are alright, but there's nothing better than the real thing."

"Yeah." It's all you can say.

"I wanted to get rid of the Pink Kryptonite as fast as possible." Kara explains it further, and finally puts her glass back so she can change back into her normal clothes. "I was going to wait until tomorrow, but I heard you were still up. I wanted to apologize."

"Whoa, I knew you'd regret it, but God that was fast. Must be some kind of new record for me." You sit back on your bed with a loud sigh.

"No, no." Kara is quick to follow you, kneeling in front of you and holding your hand. "I wanted to apologize for waiting for the kryptonite to finally show me what my life could've been like if I had a little bit of courage."

"Kara, you are the epitome of courage."

"No, I'm not. I've been wanting to ask you out for months and haven't got the courage." She confesses. "Do you know how many times I almost called you baby these past few weeks?"

"You said Pink Kryptonite turns Kryptonian gays." She shakes her head agreeing. "For you to be turned into something, you can't already be that something."

"It turned me extra gay." 

You bite your lip to hold back a laugh, but she's not scared of showing you her wide smile. "Let me show you."

"Show me what?" 

Kara perches up, thumb sliding across your cheek until her hand cups your face. "Let me show you that it wasn't the Pink Kryptonite that turned me gay." She brings your face closer. "Let me show you how you were the one that did it."

"Are you sure this isn't the Pink Kryptonite talking?"

"I'll tell you what," Her breath is hot in your mouth, and you're holding your own breath in anticipation. "why don't we go to sleep and when we wake up you can ask me again?"

"Ok." But your resolution is weakening by the minute, especially after she spoons you in bed and places a little goodnight kiss on your neck.

You wake up with more flowers and breakfast in bed. Kara has a warm smile, and she looks so damn beautiful just fresh out of bed it's annoying.

"Good morning, baby." She holds your face between her hands, thumb caressing your cheek in the way that makes your heart flutter. She’s obviously able to hear it.

You swallow deep. "Is this you or the Pink Kryptonite?"

"Why don't you ask me again after work?" Kara says feeding you a strawberry, and you agree weakly with your head.

She shows up at lunch time, and holds your smelly tuna sandwich out of your reach, convincing you that you deserve better food. She has it all set out on your balcony, a whole picnic that makes all of your colleagues so jealous of your lunch date. Little do they know she actually flew to Italy for that pasta.

And it's another thumb stroke and another, "Is this the Pink Kryptonite?" question that makes her head tilt a little bit farther and she reaches the corner of your mouth, instead of your lips.

"Ask me again at our dinner tonight."”

After work pick-ups and holding hands and perhaps it's Pink Kryptonite. Flowers and dinner dates and maybe it's just the exposure. Movie nights and cuddles and what if it is still turning you gay. Slow dancing to the TV light and thumbs slowly stroking your cheeks and why don't you ask again tomorrow. And that goes on for weeks.

Alex texts you that Kara was exposed to real Kryptonite this time. You know, not the one that turns her into the queen of gays, but the one that turns her bones into flaming hot goo. You run to the Tower and watch her unawake under the yellow sunlight. 

"Hey, it's ok." Alex holds your shoulder while you cry. "She'll be fine. A few hours under the sun and she's good as new."

"What?"

"Yeah, the effects of the kryptonite aren't lasting. It wears off if we deal with it fast."

"With all of the different types?" You furrow your brows at her and Alex agrees with her head.

Well, haven't you been wasting precious time?

You run into the medbay, and sit beside her bed. Like clockwork, a couple hours later, Kara's eyes open and she looks at you on the other side. "Hey baby."

"Oh my God, baby!" You run to her, not caring about anyone on the other side of the glass that might be able to see you both. You throw yourself at her, kissing her entire face. "You scared me."

She smiles widely. "And would do it again to have you kissing my face like that."

You hold her face between your hands, and slide your thumb across her cheek. "Don't you dare." She smiles, but soon her eyes widen when she realizes what's coming next. You meet her lips with yours softly. But soon she deepens the kiss, and next thing you know she's pulling you up the bed while sitting herself up. You’re full on sitting on her lap, while your lips crash and tongues slide and hands explore visible skin. And honestly, the yellow sunlight doesn’t help when you’re body already feels like it is on fire. 

Kara parts the kiss for some air, and looks at you with full-blown pupils. "Is this you or Pink Kryptonite?"

You roll your eyes and give her a chuckle. "Shut up and kiss me again before I think the Green Kryptonite is also turning you gay."

Kara’s tongue is almost inside your mouth again when you hear a yell from the other side of the glass.

"NO! Absolutely not! We can see everything!” Kara is quick to move her hands out of your butt. “That was more than enough!" 

Alex's face is red from yelling, Lena's face is red from embarrassment, and Nia's cellphone case is red from all the pictures she's been taking.

"Keep going! I'm gonna turn these into GIFs!"

You and Kara look at each other, "We should go." "Yeah."

So Kara was right, it wasn't the exposure that turned her gay. Still you do appreciate yours truly, Pink Kryptonite, because at least it gave her courage to be her true gay self.

[knickynoo]

Well, I was sufficiently enabled for the idea, so here it is: ✨Alex P. Keaton's Top Neurodivergent Moments✨

The funny thing is that the amount of time I put into scrolling through my encyclopedic mental inventory of Family Ties scenes, compiling these moments in a list, making gifs, and finding past gifsets/analysis to link back to makes creating this post one of my most neurodivergent moments. Good for me.

These will be organized by season (easier for me than trying to rank on a scale) and are in no way ALL of the moments. I'd need like...15 posts for that. Also, tumblr only allows 30 images/gifs per post, so I'm going to include links to past posts when possible.

ENJOY!

• Alex gets his first-ever failing grade and immediately decides to quit school

Exactly what it says. Alex strolls into college all bright-eyed and confident and ends up a broken shell of a guy just a week or so later. The prototypical Gifted Kid from the moment he learned to speak, Alex cannot handle anything less than perfection. Getting the first F of his life shatters his entire self-image, and he wants to drop out of college entirely.

• Alex's friend Doug announces he's getting married, and Alex spirals into despair. As one does.

The entirety of the "Best Man" episode is one big Alex displaying neurodivergent behaviors moment, honestly. There are a whole lot of Alex-centered plots that are set into motion because A Change happens, and he just cannot deal with it, and this is one of the best examples. Alex is so distraught at the suddenly altered dynamic that he wanders the house like a lost soul—sad and confused and needy. He walks in on Steven's shower just to give him a hug, offers to go shopping with Mal and play dolls with Jen, and also draws up a seven-year contract for his other friends to sign to ensure they stick to their regularly scheduled card games, lest they also run off to get married and destroy his life.

• Alex P. Keaton: child development expert

When faced with the news of another sibling on the way, Alex has some very nurturing advice at the ready for when the baby is crying.

• The Keatons all laugh at a funny story. Alex is not amused.

This is one of my favorite Alex scenes of the series. Uncle Rob shares a memory of the time Steven was young and got in trouble because he started rebelling against the system and refused to write his name in the designated spot on his school test papers. The family shares a hearty laugh. Alex, king of black-and-white thinking and lover of rules, is deeply upset.

I love him so much. He genuinely cannot see how they're enjoying such a story. The Name Spot is for names. And his father dared to write in the Not For Names Spot?? Jail for Steven.

He's so ridiculously autistic.

• Alex's favorite childhood toy

It was a cardboard box. I can't quite put into words why this sets off my ND radar, but it does. Maybe it's the being attached to unusual items thing that's common with autism? The intense fixations that make other people go ????

The Alex and Ba-ba plotline provides some wonderful Alex Lore.

• Mr. Mustache

Yeah, those intense fixations? In the "Fool for Love" episode, Alex grows a mustache and legitimately cannot speak about anything else for the several days that follow. He's asked to present a speech at Mallory's homecoming dance and centers his entire speech around his mustache. He's unable to have a conversation that doesn't involve mustaches. It's incredible.

• Everything in "Matchmaker"

Alex is so sweet in this one. After Mallory comes home crying after a bad date, Alex promises to help her find a great guy. Unfortunately, putting someone who struggles socially and with processing emotions in charge of your love life isn't exactly a great fit. Alex uses the power of science to craft a formula to find Mallory's perfect match (he isn't), then tags along on their date and helps foster a very natural environment (it isn't) for the relationship to flourish (it doesn't).

The episode ends with a great scene between Alex and Mallory that shows just how well Mal understands the inner-workings of her big brother's head.

• Divorce is tough. Alex has some advice.

The Keaton kids are shocked to learn that their Uncle Rob is divorcing their Aunt Maureen. As Jen and Mallory reel from the information, Alex helps to reframe things.

He then pulls out the Special Interest Card and compares the divorce of their aunt and uncle to a "failed merger, not unlike the breakup of the phone company—although obviously less emotional. Nothing more than a natural fluctuation in the marketplace of love and marriage."

And the thing is, he IS impacted by the news. He just hasn't the slightest clue how to actually process it. So, a simple failed merger it is!

• You had one job

Mallory needs some croissants for a fancy get-together she's having with her poetry class. Alex helpfully offers to go pick them up.

Now, I debated about this one because there's part of me that's like, "Hmm, did Alex purposely do this to annoy Mallory?" Is this just a jerk move? But you know what? It stays on the list because the whole "I personally don't like this thing and struggle to see how anyone else could. Therefore, I will get the thing I like" is (for me) a relatable aspect of being ND.

• Every single second of "A, My Name is Alex"

For real, though. This episode is a deep dive into how Alex became the person he is, and it is FILLED with "flashbacks" of an intensely neurodivergent child whose issues were made worse by the people around him. (Mostly teachers and peers. Steven and Elyse did their best with him, but I do also have some critiques of the way they parented him). Anyway, he represses his emotions to the point of a meltdown

And then there's this

Full coin gifset here. Also, I made posts on the full episode, which can be found here and here.

• "Alex has a weird body"

That's Mallory's explanation to Andy as to why Alex can't help her when she needs someone to model one of her latest clothing creations. She says Alex's head is too big for his body, and those words, unfortunately, find their way back to him. In a mini plot reminiscent of the mustache one, Alex proceeds to obsess over the comment.

And I mean, I think being told your head is too big for your body would make anyone insecure, but it's the way Alex handles it. He's unable to have regular conversations for a while because he can't stop fixating on the size of his noggin'.

Both of the "Read it and Weep" episodes fit in this list, to be honest

• An accurate statement by Lauren

I've got to include this because it really does neatly condense a lot of who Alex is

So true, bestie.

And then, to wrap this whole thing up, there's all of this

And this is just what I can fit in this here post without going over the limit lol. Obsessed with the way MJF played Alex.

Thanks for reading ✌️

This is me with Alex, btw

[universitysunflowers]

Ok I've had some time to process heres my detailed thoughts (TBB spoilers)

First I want to get my biggest issue with the finale out of the way - Tech and CX-2. I have been delusional about him but not to the point that I wouldn't accept his death or other clones as CX-2, and I was staying open. But then they went and did exactly what I hoped they wouldn't: they gave us no confirmation of his identity at all and left him thumbtacked to a wall with no face reveal. Not only is this exactly what they did in Ahsoka, but I also feel like it left a huge gap in the finale storyline. They put so much emphasis on him throughout season 3, including the last episode, and we got nothing out of it. I also felt like this made Tech's death kind of meaningless?? Which I absolutely hate saying because of what he sacrificed in season 2, but why kill him when the rest of the batch gets to live happily on Pabu and grow old with Omega? Maybe the writers had a good reason and I just didn't pick up on it?

I also felt like we were gaslit into thinking it was Tech, only for the ending to imply he's been gone the whole time. Domicile? Phee? CX-2's fight with Crosshair and the waterfall? the way he got the most screen time out of a group that was so clearly meant to be an imperial reflection of the original squad? Idk guys I feel like we got cheated there.

I also wish we got some idea of what happened to Wolffe and Cody, but maybe that is an opening for another show? perhaps?

Ok now that that is out of the way I can talk about how much I absolutely loved the rest of the finale.

Emerie's character development was amazing I've been routing for her since the season 2 finale and you know those Jango Fett genes are coming in strong she will take such good care of those kids for as long as they need. I also think it would be cool to see her again in future productions, her character definitely has potential.

Echo survived!! All the parallels between him and CW season 6 Fives had me terrified that he was about to die but that arc trooper experience paid off. His reaction to Omega freeing the zillo is by far one of my favorite parts of the episode he was so proud of her and I was glad to see him work so well with Emerie. I am also fully ready to enjoy Echo and Rex leading a clone rebellion whenever they deem us deserving of it (looking at you Filoni). I know we don't have proof of anything but there are still to many unanswered questions surrounding the clones, I hope they finish those storylines.

The last Domino is still standing, they would be so proud of him (and his dad jokes).

Hemlock finally got what he deserved and oh I was so happy that Hunter was the one who did it, especially after all the batch went through because of him. And what came after that? Even better. We finally got a Crosshair and Omega hug (plus Hunter) and they all made it off Tantiss alive I mean what more could we ask for?

I have so many feelings on the ending and the epilogue and I'm not really sure how to put them into words but my first instinct when I finished the episode was to spend 40 minutes c r y i n g

they got a happy ending? they have peace and happiness on Pabu and got to see Omega grow up? Omega is going to fly with the rebellion and fight back against the empire?

and Tech will be with her the whole time???

I am unwell. This has left me emotionally unstable. Not only is that the best ending I could have hoped for given the past seasons but it is also such an amazing last look at their family. No matter how you think of them you have to admit Hunter was right, she is their kid and that will never change. That line alone will be living in my head rent free from here on out. Her last talk with Hunter was so well done and is one of the best moments in the whole show, but honestly Tech's goggles on her ship's dash is what broke me; he would be so proud of her I need at least 3-5 business days to process this.

Yes I have my issues with the unfinished storylines but wow that finale was something I don't think I will ever recover from. It may be one of the best endings we have ever seen in star wars. Like I said, I have a lot feelings and if I tried to put them all in a post it would have to be a multi-volume novel.

If you made it this far thank you! Feel free to add your own thoughts I like hearing what other people have to say. I'm just going to go burrow straight into the ground now and pretend I don't have finals next week because honestly who can be productive after something like that?

Oddly enough this is making me want to go back and watch the Clone Wars again, maybe Rebels too? Definitely making me nostalgic.

[xinnamonbun]

Xinnimon's Theory Times

Our finalists: Knife and Suitcase; we love them dearly. Both of them definitely deserve the win, between how they interact, and how they've developed, it's a great final 2.

However...

What would they do with the money if they actually won? I've talked about this briefly previously but for this post I want to focus on Suitcase. Besides the fact that I'm rooting for her personally, she also has something interesting that she could do with the money that simply would have less impact with Knife.

Travel.

Seems odd at first but I have multiple reasons to think that Adamation is going to pull a "Steven Universe Future" on us.

(this is pretty long so I'm putting a cut and TLDR at the bottom)

1: She's a Suitcase

My first point is that she's literally a suitcase. Why would this matter? Because of what object shows are known for. Symbolism! Fan being a fan of the show. Test Tube being smart. Knife being aggressive. Cabby being organized. I could find a reason why every single other contestant symbolizes something but we'd be here forever.

Suitcase arguably already has symbolism like: baggage, keeping things to herself (until recently), ect. But that doesn't mean that she can't have more. It would make TOTAL sense for a suitcase to go see the world and travel considering the fact she's made for it, literally.

2: The Big Reveal

I think her traveling could help a LOT with this realization. Why? Because she can see what is real! I've seen some people thinking that Mephone4 made the entire world mainly because of Cobs saying "he basically made a world" but I think that was just his wording trying to trick us. He said "basically" for a reason. I think that there is a reality that the contestants have interacted with.

The first objects that come to mind; the unvitationals! (minus Walkie Talkie and Springy) MePhone4 seemed surprised by Groscar saying she liked the show and she seems to have an audience outside of II. The camera people just aren't there that much (probably cuz they have their own lives) and anytime they are on screen they're just a mild annoyance for Mephone4. Dr. Fizz doesn't have many reasons to be real besides saying that Box needs to go to a hospital but there's nothing pointing to him being fake either. And of course there's the entirety of Meeple! If Meeple isn't real that wouldn't make a lot of sense considering the fact that that would mean that Mephone4 would have had to generate his own trauma. That doesn't add up. So that means that most likely Steve Cobs and all the Meeple products are real in the sense that they were either biologically or artificially built with no generation involved.

We've seen season 3 contestants interacting with unvitationals, and season 2 contestants interacting with Meeple. Which means that there is a probably a real world for them, and they can access, interact, and be a part of it.

3: The Talk

(If you don't feel like watching the whole clip rn, here's what I want you to take away from it for this post)

She quite literally mentions the idea of leaving to move on. Do I think she'd leave forever? No. Do I think that her staying with the contestants to try and fix her issues with them would be the healthiest option? Honestly also no.

I think she had a point in which she needs to be by herself for a while to figure out her issues, how to tackle them, and how to move on from the show in a healthy way; without dragging her friends down with her. (which she doesn't seem interested in anyways)

I don't know about you but after having my entire reality shattered, I would want to see what is real out there, enjoy what is there. In fact I think it'd make me feel more alive, more real if I was in a real environment!

Granted this wouldn't solve all of her issues. Like Knife had a point when he says later in the conversation, "careful there, you're starting to sound like MePhone" if this is the only thing she does she just running away from her problems and trying to forget everything. But instead of doing that she could genuinely take some time to figure out who she is and even if she was made a bit unconventionally she is still real.

She's important.

TLDR:

She's a suitcase, it would make the most sense out of all the contestants for her to travel.

After the big reveal in the newest episode, seeing the world outside of the show (which I'm sure exists) would be good.

It would probably be healthy for her to be by herself for a while and figure out who she is outside of the show.

...

I think it's also worth mentioning that there's a good chance they might not even get the money, it could be a tie/draw, everyone could freaking DIE, we simply don't know. But this is assuming two things that are really unpredictable (suitcase winning and using the prize money, if it even exists, to travel which would be slightly odd considering the past prizes have been for everyone)

If you have any bonus thoughts, please, don't be afraid to reblog! Or if you don't want this on your blog you could always just shoot down a reply. This is a theory post! I want to hear what people think and contradictions! No idea is a dumb one! (...or don't, honestly the fact that you bothered to read all this is enough :)

[skayafair]

Daaaaaaaaaamn this boy has absolutely no idea how to process his feelings *head in hands*

^ this is about episode 4 ending by the way

And, well, yes, Crystal does refocus any talk about others' problems to hers, okay. Usually there's at least a bridge of "yeah I get you, it's really rough" before sharing your own experience to connect, but she just goes straight to "And I...". Which... honestly she has every right to, but it's also her old self talking, yes.

I'm a bit stuck on Charles' "I cant help her, I can't help you, I can't help anyone or anything" because. It's so damn familiar. It's not that he can't help anyone - he does so plenty. It's not even that he can't SAVE anyone - they DO. But he can't see this, because the ones the closest to him are the ones he cannot save. This isn't about helping, that's a fucking saviour complex. An "if I'm not useful or helpful they don't need me", only just "helping" has never been enough now, has it? It's never enough, whatever you do. Moral support or help with research, little daily things are help, too. But it doesn't count. It has to be big, something you can't overlook, and it has to be final, to make who you're trying to save happy, forever. Only it's not possible. That's why the saviour complex is so bad - you can't save someone whose life is not over over completely, forever. You can only help bit by bit, but it won't ever be enough for you, because it has never been enough for someone big and important in your life, someone from family.

I kinda knew where exactly my - the same - issues stemmed from but never looked at it from this specific angle. I didn't connect the dots at first because Charles had an actual physically abusive parent while for mine it's just narcissistic tendences, but. Honestly the general outline is too familiar and I was tiggered and more perceptive today so yeah, thanks again for the insight, DBD.

The feeling of "I can't help my best friend, I can't help my family, I can't help anyone or anything, so what's even the point of me at all?" is too familiar. And I believe the show didn't create a resolution for Charles' problem, more like put it on hold because there were more pressing matters at hand. If we get season 2, I hope it developes this theme further. I need someone to tell him "your worth has nothing to do with this".

Speaking of which, I can't help being astonished at how psychologically accurate and nuanced the show is. With all the characters, really, but Charles' case is the most obvious, I think. The way he's always drawn to the same kind of people and - wow, Charles, that was unusually perceptive! - even noticed it himself? What he didn't notice yet is that this is the kind of people not only with similar personality traits, but also unavailable. Edwin's metaphorical walls, Crystal being alive and honestly just not very interested? Both are rather rude and I couldn't help noticing how uncomfortable Charles often looks when either of his sweethearts is at it again. I could almost see the cogs in his head turning, figuring out how to balance out yet another moody fit of theirs, be it Edwin or Crystal. And not being offended by obvious insults? Hell, Crystal noticed it right away. Yeah he's used to it with Edwin but that's not normal??? There's nothing good about it??? Have some self-worth, boy!

And. Well. Chasing after an unavailable partner is a totally common thing with this kind of trauma. Toxic relationship is the only normal you know. The only kind of "love" you know. If it doesn't hurt even a little, doesn't have these highs and lows, if you don't have to accomodate another's fits - what are we even talking about, yeah?

Charles is honestly lucky though. Edwin tries to be nicer, amitting his flaws, and generally they are pretty well-balanced and keep growing together (but there's always room for developement). Crystal is doing her best and is caring all over as well. The intent is there and it's good at its heart.

But I'm still waiting for the resolution. "You're the best man I've ever known" doesn't cut it.

Also it would be REALLY interesting to see Charles' developement in s2 because while Crystal is probably still off-limits due to the whole the living and the dead thing (and she wants to be friends), Edwin has opened up. Are there going to be any changes in this regard, because this isn't even about romantic or platonic and the orientation, it's about the dynamic in whole? Or is this going to be glossed over? I mean, when Crystal was being emotionally available as a friend - same episode 4 - Charles got angry fot prying. He doesn't know how to deal with all this but has made some progress. Will we see more of it?

We need season 2 SO. BAD.

[littlespoonevan]

*slips you a fiver* hi i'd like to hear about those abby/tommy parallels please

oh anon, i am Obsessed with you for asking me this question askdjf let's go!!!

okay. so rewinding to 5x04: the thing that endeared me most to buck/tommy as a pairing and the reason why i'm more on board with them than i ever was with buck/taylor or buck/natalia is mostly because of buck's reaction to tommy during the kiss. it's been over a month but i still haven't quite come to terms with just how lovely???? his reaction was???

because buck, in the immediate aftermath of the kiss, is just so in awe. and so shocked at the possibility of this thing that he never thought he could have. and it honestly really reminded me of how he was with abby??? i think i made a post about it at the time but in both instances it felt like a moment where buck was realising, "oh i can have this if i want it???"

in abby's case, the 'this' in question was romantic love. the possibility of real feelings and a real connection with somebody who wanted him back.

in tommy's case, the 'this' is obviously the idea of romantic love with a man and discovering a part of himself he never lingered too much on before.

in both scenarios, it offers us up a side of buck that's just so genuinely happy and excited and giddy almost??? most likely because of how real it feels and how much he's letting himself feel it??? like, idk if you've rewatched s1 recently but s1 buck is just so Open with his feelings for abby????? and regardless of what happened afterwards or if you ship them, seeing that side of him is just askfja it makes me giddy lmao.

and i definitely think we're seeing something similar with buck now. like, it's a little different - buck being open in s1 meant him being very charming and very upfront about his feelings whereas in s7 buck is more open in the sense that he's not shying away from his feelings for tommy even though coming to terms with his sexuality is obviously a very big thing too.

and i just don't think we've seen that from him with ali/taylor/natalia. with ali, it's understandable since she was barely in s2 and it was really just his attempt to start moving on after abby. with taylor, i think the 'buck is taylor's abby' theory still holds a Lot of weight and i think he never really knew how to be all in with her the way he was with abby. and with natalia, well, we all know that didn't really get any development. so seeing him like this now is just very refreshing, y'know???

(i'm not saying he didn't care about those partners, he obviously did, but the sense of anticipation there now is very much something that i feel is only on a par with his pursuit of abby)

and then ofc, on a more basic level, there are parallels in them both being older and having a lived a Life outside of buck that maybe he doesn't full comprehend yet and them both being a sort of guiding hand to him as he navigates a new part of himself.

but in terms of where things'll go now and how it might affect buck? i think buck is a very different person from season 1. he's also lived a Life (several really at this point) and his current personal life is so much more full than it ever was when he was dating abby so i don't think he'll be pinning all his hopes on tommy the way he sort of did with her. i think he can definitely still get swept up in his feelings (as we've seen lol) but i also think he's willing to take this thing between him and tommy for what it is and not put pressure on it like he would've before.

tl;dr it's not necessarily about the tommy/abby parallels and more about the buck parallels when he's with both of them, y'know??? :')

[noveratus]

I just finished listening to the last episode of this season of the Magnus Protocol, and I have thoughts, both for the episode and the season overall. Spoilers below.

I have mixed feelings regarding this episode. To put it short, I think it is fine as a regular episode, but I don't like it as a season finale. I think that Celia's reveal and Gwen taking over Lena's position was handled really well, but I think it was done kind of late. I will get more into this in the season review since that is where my main issues lie, the structure of the season itself. Also, the whole 'Sam being taken' thing and being shoved into this other universe betrayal would have felt more meaningful if we had an idea of what the other world looks like, because, if I remember correctly, Sam is falling into a world without the entities where people are most likely rebuilding now so it really doesn't feel that bad and he can just walk through the portal again which is why I wish this reveal had been done in a different episode. It simply doesn't feel worthy of the season finale, and the cliffhanger was very undeserved. We already know the Archivist doesn't want Sam dead. In fact, I have a theory it was trying to save Sam from Celia. Honestly, I'm more interested in whatever is happening to Collin because that guy is dead dead now. There is no way he is living.

Ok, for my season reveal: I think that this season was alright, good even! Not as great as season 4 or 5, but better than season 2 for certain. I think I might like season 1 of the Magnus Archives better simply because of the build up. Are the things real? Are they not? And then Martyn being terrorized for weeks and it all culminating with that attack. It was really cool and had an actual resolution, even if not all questions were answers, there was a sense of finity by the end of it which this one lacks. It just doesn't answer enough questions. "Oh, but Celia-" I think Celia was too obvious to be considered fulfilling, which isn't to say the reveal wasn't great, but I think it needed more. They had to at least have revealed what happened to Collin I think.

Now, for my main issue with the season, it started really well and it was pretty interesting in the first episodes, the character dynamics were really fun and I wanted to learn more about the computers, but at some point the show became the 170th love triangle this side of the pacific with a forced romantic subplot on the house. I think that Alice and Sam being exes is an interesting development, but you didn't need the romance man. You already have Alice as the foil for them just not wanting them to investigate, you don't need to make their previous relationship and current relationship be a whole thing, genuinely, who wanted this? And it wasn't built up, it just happened so that Sam would follow Celia around like a puppy dog (as if he wouldn't do that as was with him being obsessed with solving the secrets of the institute as seen with him exploring with Alice) and half of the season felt like Sam and Celia talking about how they were going to investigate about this and never really doing any investigating while the plot hit Alice like a truck.

And then there is Sam, who is probably the most boring character in his show. His personality traits are that he is into women, is obsessed with solving mysteries, and that's it. Considering that his obsession with his job is something he shares with both Celia and Gwen, that only makes him feel even less appealing. Also, Celia and Gwen have a much stronger reason for why they are who they are, which in Celia's case is her son and the trauma from being in the apocalypse while Gwen is proving herself, which is something that Sam is apparently trying to do as well, except in his case it is not really all that well built. Like I have said before in my previous posts is Gwen, while I despise her and I dream of her death every day, is a really well written character, because that is what the audience is meant to feel. They are meant to hate her, she is kind of a bitch. Alice? She is the most well written character in the show. She has nuance, you understand why she does what she does. Celia? She has potential. Personality wise, Celia is a bit flat for my taste, but she has enough of a backstory and motive to be very interesting if you just remove the stupid forced romance plotline. She is just a woman, a mother, trying to do her best in a pretty shitty situation, which I can stand behind. But Sam is none of those things. Yes, he got rejected by the magnus Institute and saw some fucked up things, cool, but compared to the rest of the cast, it just feels flat. It doesn't have the same impact as Jon retelling his story of how he came across the first book, so what you end up with is a cardboard protagonist surrounded by otherwise very interesting characters! Hell, even Lena and Colin who are meant to be secondary characters are more interesting than Sam since Colin has the paranoia Jon had and makes you wonder just what the hell is he seeing? And Lena, who is in charge of these monsters and yet still clearly cares about people is genuinely fascinating and I want to learn more, and I hope she doesn't die off screen. I want to like Sam. I really, really want to like him, but by God he feels like every protagonist ever and it is so stale and it is so boring and it doesn't help that the season drags on for too long on the later half with people talking about how they are going to do things and never doing them which is my main issue with Season 2 of TMA where there is a lot of people talking about how they will do stuff and how people will do stuff but nothing of importance actually happen. I genuinely think you can cut from season 1 to season 3 of the original show and skip most of season 2 without anything of notice and the same can be said about a solid 5 episodes of this first season of the Magnus Protocol which, since they are on the latter half. There is a lot of build up, and it is not that it doesn't go anywhere, but it is not the reveal one might think it would be. Which is kind of insane considering the writers are the same people who wrote seasons 4 and 5 of the magnus archive, which are probably some of my favorite pieces of media ever and I get that it could be a slow burn and all that, but this is just 2 seasons. There isn't a lot of time to burn slowly here, especially since they are adding a lot of new concepts like alchemy that I feel like won't be handled how they should be handled.

Another point I want to bring up regarding the The Magnus Protocol, actually starts in the Magnus Archive with how it handles its female characters. So, in modern media we have something that I like to call the Nagging Wife problem, in which writers will write women, particularly the love interest of MCs as being 'smart' so they will oppose the MC whenever they act in a dumb way or a way perceived as dumb by them, which puts them in a position antagonistic to your Main Character. Think Wanda from Fairly Oddparents or Marge from the Simpsons for example. And that is a very glaring issue present in TMA where despite not being love interests, all of the main female characters will, at one point or the other, act as Jon's 'nagging wife' at some point, leading to their nagging irrevocably affecting the plot and making Jon act as more of a whump since 'oh look how poorly treated Jon is' and hey, this could have worked, but because the cast is mainly female and none of the characters is really given as much depth as the male characters, we just get Jon's many nagging wives and entire episodes of them doing pretty much that and it can be very inconsistent with their character and very annoying and off putting. Luckily, the Magnus Protocol doesn't have as much of that. Yes, there is Gwen, I suppose, but that's her point in the narrative. She is the most morally dubious one. But I was so terrified that Celia and, particularly, Alice would fall under the 'Nagging Wife' problem, but luckily, for the most part that isn't the case because, while yes, Alice does go against Sam, I think she is pretty consistent overall and they do call her out on it which definitely helps avoiding the issue.

Overall, I like the Magnus Protocol, but I don't think it is anywhere near as great as the Magnus Archive, neither as a stand alone story nor as a sequel. I hope this changes with the next season, because, as it stands right now, I don't think it has that much of a reason to exist- as a sequel. As a standalone story, it is good, not as great as its predecessor, but good, which might sound harsh considering that I said I like this podcast, but then you need to remember how TMA ended and so far, this season hasn't really improved on the ending nor surpassed it.

Final score: 7/10, but only as a standalone story, Gwen and Alice carry it hard, with Celia being a solid character as well and the side characters being interesting enough, but not enough happened to them. Put them in more situations, please, and thank you. As a sequel, as it stands, it's a 5/10, maybe lower, but it has asked a lot of questions that could lead to something great.

Have a doodle of my beloved and my beloathed for the trouble as well :)

[kittenintheden]

Writer Interview Game

hee fun, thank you for the tag, @eraserspiral!

When did you start writing?

blah blah blah been writing stories since I was a kid blah but honestly I'd say I legitimately developed an interest in writing fiction when I was around 13. you'll never guess this but I was on the jr high literary magazine and I wrote a sweet lil 13yo romance story where a marine biologist verbally abuses a dude who hits a dolphin with his boat and then he gets them both to the emergency vet and then it turns into a meet-cute. I used the word "dumbass" in the story and my teaching advisor let it slide and it was published with the swear intact. it was a whole thing.

Are there different themes or genres you enjoy reading than what you write?

I read all kinds of things I don't especially want to write. a lot of nonfiction and investigative journalism, memoirs, literary classics a la Virginia Woolf. no interest whatsoever in writing it but it's good reading.

Is there a writer you want to emulate or get compared to often?

there isn't like a specific writer I aspire to write like, but I have historically been compared to Neil Gaiman, which is very flattering. mostly I admire the writing chops of Laini Taylor for her beautiful lyrical imagery and dreamlike framing, Carmen Maria Machado for the way she blends horror elements with life, queerness and emotion, Christopher Moore for his incredible humor writing, and (surprise) Neil Gaiman for his approach to speculative fiction that feels so accessible and tied to the real world. like you could turn over a rock and find an entire magical world you never knew was there.

I don't necessarily want to EMULATE them but I have been influenced by them, for sure.

Can you tell me a bit about your writing space?

I write on a laptop curled up in the corner of my couch with noise-cancelling headphones on and am frequently interrupted by pets, a spouse, or children. which is why I tend to write late at night.

What’s your most effective way to muster up a muse?

sit my ass down and start typing. like I know that is not romantic or fun but part of writing is that I have to get into my flow state, and I can't do that by dicking around doing stuff that isn't writing. it can be really, really hard. sometimes it'll feel like shit. but I do it anyway.

something that helps me a lot is putting on the headphones and listening to mood music or a dialogue video to kind of kickstart my brain into the creative space.

I also do a weed. doing a weed relaxes my inner critic. sometimes.

Are there any recurring themes in your writing? Do they surprise you?

sibling relationships tend to feature prominently. I have several siblings and sibling dynamics are fascinating to me. there also tend to be themes of self-sacrifice, choosing love (romantic or platonic), and messy but ride-or-die style friendships.

What is your reason for writing?

I feel compelled to put the movies playing in my head to the page. it brings me joy to transcribe my weird ideas and give them form.

Is there any specific comment or type of comment you find particularly motivating?

when people tell me they've come back to reread something I wrote because it stuck with them. that's like. wow. what a feeling. what a motivator.

How do you want to be thought about by your readers?

I try not to think about how other people think about me if I can help it, which I often can't, lol. but mostly I hope readers (and people in general) think of me as someone who tells emotionally resonant stories that make them smile or laugh.

What do you feel is your greatest strength as a writer?

dialogue. expressing an emotion succinctly on the page.

How do you feel about your own writing?

I'm in a pretty good place about it these days. I write both professionally and for fun, and what I do in this space is my fun time. I can let go, be experimental and weird, not overanalyze every single word, and make something for/with a community that I really enjoy.

When you write, are you influenced by what others might enjoy reading, or do you write purely for yourself, or a mix of both?

a mix of both, I guess? mostly for myself, honestly. I write the things I would enjoy reading. I write the smut I would find hot. I write the jokes that make me laugh. but I also love giving little winks to readers and letting them know that they're part of the experience, too.

no pressure tags: @shewhowas39 @spacebarbarianweird @ghostfire @brain-rot-central @brabblesblog

[journey-to-the-attic]

Hi Kin. I wanted to ask, how did you manage things like writer's block or creative burnout while writing JTTA? I'm midway through a longfic now and it's kind of exhausting. I feel like I'm whining but I barely get any comments or asks or anything.

hi anon! honestly i'm not sure if i was the right person to ask this, because i... kind of didn't? as in, i didn't really have these problems - boring answer, i know!

i got lucky because i hit a sweet spot where the base story and characters were strong, but with just enough gaps in plot, worldbuilding, development, etc. such that the momentum of filling everything in carried me through the whole process. but there were definitely a lot of occasions where i sat there thinking "okay i have no idea what to do now"

in those cases, often i had to just step back and ruminate on it for a little while - i've pretty much constantly got little ideas bouncing around my head, and sometimes they hit each other like snowballs and form into more fully-fledged plot points, scenes, dialogue, so on. i try to keep track of these in notes apps, personal discord channels, etc, and dip into them if i'm stuck on something!

not sure if your fic is for obey me, but this could still apply even if not - with all the pop quizzes and devilgrams that put the characters in a bunch of new contexts, it's helpful seeing how that character's static vs dynamic traits persist/change depending on them, and often that'll give you inspiration as well. depending on what you've got available, you could browse through source material, or brainstorm aus, whichever you enjoy most

i'm really not sure HOW i've stuck with obey me for so long, but somehow it's just stuck with me. i don't remember being so invested in it before jtta, so that's probably why, but i just really love these guys, and i suppose that's why i never burnt out of it? i think it was also because i knew what story i wanted to tell, and i really wanted to make sure ik got her happy ending, and that carried me through as well

seriously, though - do take breaks. every writer's mileage varies, so take a step back whenever you need to. writing fics should be fun! sometimes it does feel like a chore, and it becomes more like 'the only thing i hate more than writing is not writing', but it happens to all of us. sometimes you've just got to rest until your second wind comes along

in terms of comments and such... yeah, it's a tough one! the unfortunate thing is that a vast majority of readers - even if they really enjoyed your writing! - won't leave a comment. don't take this as a direct reflection on your writing! often the reader can't think of what to say, is too shy, or quite simply forgot

again though... i'm not sure if i'm the best person to ask for advice here! i started publishing jtta without much expectation for an audience, given the genre of game it's written for, so any attention was more a nice surprise than anything. i suppose that, later on, when the fic was more well-established, i did start holding some expectation of response - and it really is tough when you don't get as much of one as you were hoping for

i've seen people talking about how the ask culture on tumblr has died down a lot in recent times, so i'm sure you're not the only one feeling like this! all i can suggest is trying to find more friends (mutuals?) and... networking, i guess? i've seen advice saying to share your fic within communities of writers, too

i can't honestly say if these things'll work, because i'm very bad about interacting with a wider fandom in anything - i usually keep to myself, so often i don't have much of an expectation for how and when people come chat. as in real life, i'm only a chatterbox when approached first haha

i'm not sure how helpful this has been, but i'm rooting for you! if you'd like to share your fic here, please do - though i understand if that's something you'd rather keep to yourself as well.

creating things is a joy - it might take some searching to find a circle, but the beauty of the internet is that you will, somewhere out there! wishing you the best ^^

[lorethebookworm]

Since my PJO brainrot is back in full swing I went back to check out my notes on the sun and the star and let me tell you as an Italian that book was a whole experience ( I mean it mostly in a positive way I swear )

Allow me to elaborate

Nico, my man , my bestie, my dude is actually called NICCOLO. I know this doesn't seem like much but it's such a normal regular name I was stunned speechless. Do I know someone named Percy? Or Annabeth? Or Even Bianca?No. Do I know someone named Niccolo?? YES. Don't ask me to elaborate further , this was just extremely weird

Then there was this part were Nico tells us his mother had him learn Dante.

And honestly this feels like Rick looked up "Italian+author+hell" and went along with the first thing that came up. Rationally I know that he probably put a little more thought behind this but to me this felt so random. I don't know how things were in the 1930s but I'm pretty sure people didn't just read those books to literal children. Yes ,the Divine Comedy was very important in the development of the Italian language but my brother is eight years old and guess what? I'd never read him those books. We don't even know about them until middle school. Unless Maria di Angelo was a very passionate literature teacher I really don't see why she would read those books to Nico. I'm laughing so hard at the mental image of Rick going " Yes, Italians probably love this man so much that they have parts of his works memorized from an early age" like babe no we immediately forget about him one day after finishing high school.

3. Not happy, Rick then proceeded to say this about Dante's inferno , which honestly made me laugh so hard

If you want to warm up your kid to the idea of Underworld you should just not use these books and not just because of Dante's non-existent survival skills. They are extremely gory, the souls there are obviously full of despair and they get tortured in the most awful and depressing ways it's very much not appropriate for a child. I'm imagining Maria tucking her sweet little son in and then opening the Inferno and going " these people were awful in life so now they rot in a swamp and eat each other for all eternity :)) Get your sleep so tomorrow we can read about those who were doomed to lay in flaming tombs and the ones that are eternally teared apart by ravenous dogs :)))"

4. Back to a sillier note we have this infamous word that killed me

Listen, I have no idea who Rick's source is but they have it very much wrong. On the other hand Maria's Italian is from the 1930s so it's most definitely me who's in the wrong , but still. Nowadays the spelling is "figliolo" and it's still kind of and awkward word that is being used less and less. This particular spelling makes it sound even more ancient and dramatic so I was immediately taken aback.

Now that I've thought about it a little more I'm pretty sure this spelling still exists but it's from a dialect, not proper Italian, so you use it only if you want to sound very dramatic. Tbh I've only ever heard southern Italian grannies say that so it checks out

[rwby-encrusted-blog]

What's your thoughts on the Topaz ship?

(Still no idea why they call it that, but hey)

I prefer to see them as siblings, but sometimes the mood for romance between these two strikes me. Maybe I'm weird for it, but I honestly like Silent Knight, Knightfall, or even Caduceus more than Topaz Romantically.

But onto why this ship is good;

It has the same basic premise as most "Bad Guy Henchmen x Good Guy" Ships, Bad Guy (Emerald in this case) has a bad life and as such never develops empathy/sympathy/compassion for others, only following the one person that can protect them and that "Cares" for them.

Then it all falls apart when Good Guy shows them genuine care and kindness and start to defect.

The difference is that Emerald Does, to some degree, regret her actions. At least a little. She still kills, helps assault and hurt, but she is shown to hold more outward pain from having done all that she's done.

She does it because if she doesn't, she'll be killed. Contrasted to Mercury, who holds no hesitation in his assignments because he believes that's just what his life is meant to be.

And it isn't the good guy that shows her kindness first. It's surprisingly Merc and Hazel.

Mercury is her 'friend', and even while Hazel definitely treats her like a coworker in a job he holds no respect for, She's still a person doing bad things like he is. She deserves just as much respect as he does.

As soon as Emerald is shown a way out, when someone reaches out to pick her up out of kindness despite her cruelties, she takes that hand.

She Follows Hazel and Oscar out of Monstro and find JRY.

And Jaune's a Good Guy. But I don't think he's the type to just Forgive and Forget.

Which is another point where the Redemption Enemies-to-lovers is different from the base.

You need to earn that from him. You need to show you've reformed and given up on being a bad person, but you can't be doing it actively. it just needs to be something that happens. This isn't to say he'd lord those mistakes over Emerald, but he's not just going to be "That's my Best Friend" immediately. It takes time, but He'll give that time. Because he wants that goodness to be proven.

Outside of Canon, Yeah. It works. I'm of the opinion that the majority of RWBY's cast can work with one another, with few exceptions to the Rule.

Also Jaune has commited a lot of Crimes (Theft, Trepassing, Destruction of Military Property, Resisting Arrest, ETC.) And I think that Him and Emerald would just commit an obscene amount of Petty Crime, so long as no one was put in danger.

Tearing up hostile architecture, stealing from big box stores, so on and so forth.

However they would never Ride a bike without a helmet, or Run a Red Light, or Pickpockets of everday folk.

Topaz gets a Moody (PKMN Ability)/ Speed Boost (PKMN Ability)

It's the Crime Couple comin' to town.