#I just don't understand how telling people that their work isn't important is somehow standing up for them

[three--rings]

Arguing for worse craftsmanship is not how you get better labor conditions. Devaluing the work they do is not how you support artists.

Like all laborers, game devs need unions and workplace protection laws passed and enforced. No amount of lower-quality graphics will help a single worker not be taken advantage of.

It may come as a shock to you, but terrible crap is put out all the time by people who are still horribly overworked and mistreated. Getting rid of high-fidelity graphics doesn't reduce overwork. Changing laws and corporate culture and mostly unionizing DOES.

when i say 'i want worse graphics', some ppl assume i mean 'i want stylyzed instead of realistic' then get mad at me for saying it wrong (???) so let me be clear:

i want worse graphics. i want the models topology to be a bit off, i want the rigging to have a few verts mis-weighted, i want the final model to not be accurate to the concept art cuz it would have been too labor intensive to make the scarf that long. i want the shading to do the thing where a real time character shadow is casting on top of another baked in shadow. i want whatever eases the devs workload and prevents crunch so they can go home to their loved ones and actually enjoy their life outside of work

and im not kidding

[stromuprisahat]

The climax of Malyen's two-person blame train

Siege and Storm- Chapter 18

Starting here, I've analysed Malyen's outburst about losing Alina to her importance. I've saved the end for new post, because Aleksander gets dragged in the middle of it, and uses it accordingly.

Ironically, his tantrum only makes Alina feel so lonely she unwittingly reaches out to Aleksander.

And he turns it against her, slightly twisting the facts she doesn't know how else to interpret.

Why is he immediately offended?

Alina's obviously struggling with something, why isn't he worried FOR her? Why only bark "What?" and draw conclusion she's somehow treating him unjustly? They've just discussed she has a lot on her shoulders, but when she doesn't melt as soon as he kisses her, she's rejecting him?!

Even his body language is aggressive.

How can someone, who claims he ~cares~ about Alina as a person, jump to conclusions so quickly?! And force their view, as if they already agreed on it.

He only cares about how will he look if she dumps him.

Reading it over and over- All the time I was standing there, going on like a fool.- the wording makes it sound as if he weren't speaking just about his declaration, but more generally.

Cunty cunt pokes the wound while fresh, entangling it with his own words to make sure Alina remembers he's always right.

Another unfunded conclusion.

It's funny how it's always Alina unable to control her pussy. It never occurs to him she might realize he sucks and dump him without another man involved.

... hoping that you’d miss ME enough to tell them all to go to hell. "Supportive" boyfriend, hoping his girl will get sick of her duties enough to abandon everything AGAIN, and run off with him, because nothing matters more than him.

*giggling*

He just can't shut up, can he?

(Where else isn't he able to shut up?)

Alina finally finds the courage to tell him about her hallucinations, and Malyen demonstrates, why was she reluctant to tell him in the first place.

This is one of many reasons, why I don't believe Alina's "happy" post-R&R. The only close person she has left is Malyen, who:

a.) Hated her being Grisha, so how could he ever get even close to getting a whit of understanding of what was taken from her.

b.) Hates the Darkling being as much as mentioned. He has no clue what's binding him and Alina together, and never wants to hear about any of it.

c.) Just the fact he basically calls Alina Darkles' whore, and a month, two later it doesn't occur to him she might still harbor illicit feelings for him.. there's a new guy, right?! She totally forgot about that first one...

And he doesn't even let her finish a damn sentence.

He doesn't care what's wrong. He doesn't care what's going on. He doesn't care about Alina's feelings. She didn't fall over his neck, all excited, wet and willing, so she doesn't want him. She's just leading him on. Humiliating him... HIM, HIM, HIM...

Funny, how Alina's either whore, or a pathetic inexperienced virgin (derogatory, if you didn't notice), depending on what's easier to shame her with.

And Alina takes all the blame and necessary work on herself.

Alone, she falls apart. Shaky not only due to her duties, but lacking support of the only person she lets close.

Awww, when they comfort the other...

No, but I think this is genuine. On one hand Aleksander wants Alina for himself, but he also realizes the amount of pain she'll have to weather as long as she feels "so strongly" and clings to people, who can never understand her. Or in SOMEONE's case don't even want to.

[kerizaret]

Hello everyone and welcome once again to my brain! Today I want to ramble a bit about

✨️ Tsukasa and Rakunosuke (Emu's grandpa) parallels ✨️

Because I feel like we don't talk about them much. Or at all actually

Now, I'm not pulling this out of nowhere. It's quite literally stated at least once, outright, in the game, that Tsukasa is really similar to Emu's grandpa (or even twice – but the other time I'm unsure 100% whether its about Tsukasa specifically, which I'll get to later). That's not to mention the other little things throughout the stories that I think similar between the two

So here's just some thoughts I've had on the topic after rewatching some events, more or less cohesive

1) Tsukasa's PXL auditon & WMS speech

Starting at the very beginning, we've known ever since the wxs main story that there's something in Tsukasa that has drawn Emu in to him already the first time she's ever saw him, at his audition for PXL, which made her hire him herself. She says "found you" at that moment, as if she's been searching for someone exactly like him. Out of all the possible candidates who applied who she might've seen, why Tsukasa specifically?

It could be just about him boasting about making fantastic shows, which of course is a part of it. But I feel like this isn't all, that there was something else that she noticed, that maybe she didn't fully realise at that moment

Then later, in Wonder Magical Showtime, after Tsukasa's motivational speech, Emu specifically thinks back to that audition and how she felt something special there. And, most importantly, she thinks it as if she's talking to her grandpa – like he's somehow tied to it, to her realisation that Tsukasa is the one

Putting aside the fact they were fighting for Rakunosuke's park, which obviously makes Emu think back to him, there's something more. Emu doesn't think anything of the sort about Rui, even though he was the one who came up with the night show, or about Nene. Nor did she mention any kind of this strong feeling/conviction about having them on the Wonder Stage in the main story

She's focused on Tsukasa, because he's the one that brought all these people together and gave them the last push they needed to fight for PXL. He's the one they listen to, he who understands what this park was all about and why they need to save it. He's standing on the stage her grandpa built, looking at all those people working here, and he's leading them, telling them this dream CAN be made a reality and it's more important than anything else

And I feel like she could have looked at that and been reminded of her grandpa a bit, with how much he loved the park he built and brought people together with the same ideals and love and made dreams come true

2) Miles

Speaking of WMS, I'm sure we all remember Miles, the sorcerer Tsukasa played in the night show in WMS, and how he was a character very clearly based on Rakunosuke. It's not very surprising it's Tsks who got this role, but it's still interesting to me. It feels like no-one else would've been able to get this character right and neither would Emu as Shao with someone else playing Miles

I won't get into what "Miles" Tsukasa says in the play, because that's just the script and not a representation of Tsukasa himself, but I do want to draw attention to the specific scene where Emu's father is watching the night show and looks at Tsukasa, then says this:

This is the first time that – i suspect – Tsukasa is outright "stated" to be like Rakunosuke. Here I say "suspected" since I'm not 100% sure of it for two reasons. One of them being that as we know, the ensekai translation is sometimes often bad. For that I looked up the original text as well as an old translation of the event on YT to check for differences

The line ends up being similar in meaning, more or less, but a bit more vague. That also ties to my second doubt though, which is that Emu's father might be referring not to Tsukasa himself, per se, but rather to the character of Miles he's playing

I feel like both can make sense, in their own way (and the event is a Tsukasa focus for a reason, too), but for here I'm throwing it more as a hint than any kind of outright proof. Food for thought

3) Tsukasa and Rakunosuke's deams

Then, as we reach Popping in my Heart! and learn more of Rakunosuke from Riley's pov, there's another interesting thing that pops up. That is, the fact that Tsukasa and Rakunosuke share the same dream

And then, that's when Emu confirms what I've talked about before – that this whole time, she's felt something about Tsukasa being so reminding of her Grandpa

So Tsukasa has all this time "carried the same spirit" as Rakunosuke – which is possibly the reason why Emu has been feeling strangely drawn to him from the beginning

4) The Wonderland SEKAI

Hey. Hey. Remember this line?

(tl by tsukasa's #3 fan on YT)

Yeah, this one. The same reason why wxs even has "Wonderlands" in their troupe name

You know what else has Wonderland in its name?

That's right! Tsukasa's SEKAI!

Tsukasa's SEKAI. A different world that's created from his feelings, that's a place born from his desire to make everyone smile with his shows. A world that just recently expanded to include plushies representing all those different shows – different worlds – wxs created as a troupe. It's a world that Tsukasa, in a way, made by himself (albeit unconsciously)

Oh did I mention the Wonderland SEKAI is also, primarily, pre-wl, a theme park? With a big ass ferris wheel and several stages and a castle and a train and a merry-go-round, a rollercoaster and more? You know, kind of just like Phoenix Wonderland? Which was built by Emu's grandpa?

Do you ever think about that? That both Tsukasa and Rakunosuke "made" their own "Wonderlands"? That the SEKAI is so similar to PXL? Because I do

Anyway. Those were the main similarities or references I noticed, but I still have some few other miscellaneous thoughts i had aside from that that I'll sum up a bit quicker

Tsukasa and Emu's grandpa both care more about the shows (& pxl) themselves and the effect they have on people to make them smile than any kind of fame or recognition

A reminder, too, that despite the movie's popularity, nobody really knew that Rakunosuke worked on "Smiley" (or that it was even a Riley Entertainment movie at all)

There's also the fact that both tsks and rknsk get stuck more on the excitement they want their audiences to feel rather than on the technical sides or worries about how it would be possible – as seen with Rakunosuke convincing Riley to include all his dreams and ideas in "Smiley" without focusing as much on the budget and all to install that wonder in the viewers, and Tsukasa doing anything to perfect his acting, and also agreeing to most of Rui's stunts and experiments and production ideas as long as it gets the audience to become more immersed

I noticed as well that they're both people who wear their hearts on their sleeves, who easily get emotional and enthusiastic, who empathise a lot with the others' emotions and struggles, becoming happy when something good happens to them

^ he cried here. And later at the fan festa seeing nene sing confidently and happily he teared up again

And also just *gestures vaguely at pandemonium event and Rui's "tsukasa's friends' happiness is his own happiness" line*. Yeah

Most importantly, Tsks and Rknsk both care so, so much about shows ending with smiles and not tears

And overall about everyone smiling and being happy. Like Tsukasa telling Emu in the main story, on the ferris wheel, that when her grandpa meant making EVERYONE smile, it included Emu, too, and he wanted to make sure she's happy as well

There's also everything with Emu, too. The way she's very clingy with Tsukasa, always throwing herself at him (not that she isn't with everyone, but she does seem to jump at him the most often)

She's also implied to open up a bit more around him – in Smile of a Dreamer, when wxs expressed their worries about emu hiding her problems, KAITO implies that its unusual she "hasn't told EVEN Tsukasa"

And it's Tsukasa who first understood that, despite how it may seem that "she always is so optimistic and says whatever's on her mind", in the end "the bigger the problem, the less likely she is to talk" (paraphrased quotes from smile of a dreamer). And also underdstood what's the most important to her and how to give her a push to voice her worries to them

It's Tsukasa who Emu first got so scared of leaving their troupe and her behind

I simply feel like Emu is aware of the similarities her grandpa and Tsukasa share and, subconsciously, trusts him a lot and gets attached to him easily

Anyway. This is just a bunch of thoughts that came to mind that I wanted to share and hear your thoughts on maybe too. I love emukasa so much they have such a great dynamic, and I feel the implied similarities between Rakunosuke and Tsukasa add a lot to that too. I'm really curious if it'll be something they'll explore more in future events. Because I feel these parallels are there for some reason

[sibylsleaves]

I would love to hear about the Tommy + 7.04 thoughts if u ever want to ❤️❤️❤️

hiiiiiii sorry it did take me a while to get to this because. well to be honest i have a threshold for how much tommynalysis i am capable of doing in a given week.

But, since we are relitigating 7x04 today in my inbox anyway. And I do want to preface this by saying like. this is obviously me reading into things and being uncharitable toward Tommy as like. a thought exercise.

If we are taking my original tommynalysis at face value, which basically posits that Tommy is, at all times, driven to present himself as a Nice Guy and contort his own negative feelings to fit that narrative which leads to him basically coming off as just kinda condescending all the time. then I do think the loft scene in 7x04 fits this reading.

Because well, if I'm being perfectly honest, what was Tommy even doing there?? There's no indication that Tommy is in any way aware of what's going on with Buck or knows why he knocked Eddie down at the pick-up game or that it had anything to do with him. Which can only mean that like. when he was taking Eddie to the urgent care Eddie was explaining all of this to him from his perspective as a Buck Understander. and Eddie, by tommy's account, feels bad about it all. he is sitting there ranting to Tommy that like he hurt Buck's feelings and made him feel excluded and that he's his best friend and no one could ever replace him and all this stuff that would probably mean a lot to Buck coming from Eddie himself.

Yet Tommy, for some reason takes it upon himself to go to Buck's and like. tell him all this stuff that's, let's be honest, not really his place to say? Like the whole, "oh you know I could never replace you....Christopher would be so mad for one!" It does come across as condescending to me because Tommy has known Eddie and Buck all of two weeks. He does not know their relationship, he definitely does not know Buck's relationship with Christopher, but somehow he's standing in Buck's kitchen reassuring him like, don't worry kitten....you're still important to them!

and like. IT DOES WORK. Because Buck is kind of easy that way. And it's not that it's not true. It's just why did Tommy think Buck needed to hear this FROM HIM. and not Eddie himself. it's just all very weirdly presumptuous. Like I do think you can look at this scene and read it as Tommy wanting to put himself in the position of peacekeeper, the nice guy who is not trying to ruffle any feathers. which he does by inserting himself into a conflict between Buck and Eddie that, from his perspective, he may have inadvertently contributed to but isn't really about him whatsoever. instead of recognizing that maybe eddie and buck have their own relationship that he does not have total insight into because. again. i have to stress. he just met them like two weeks ago.

And if I'm putting myself in Buck's place here for a minute, if my bestie suddenly got a brand new pal she was ditching me to hang out with and then New Pal came over to tell me 🙂🙂don't worry, 🙂🙂you'll always be important to your Bestie....id be sitting there like girl who the fuck do you think you are.

Obviously, I am not Buck and he is not me. but just like. trying to look at this situation objectively, what is Tommy trying to accomplish here.

I know some people hc that Eddie purposely sent Tommy over to talk to Buck but I really do not buy that at all. I do not think Eddie "lives to provide emotional reassurance to Buck" Diaz was like yeah Tommy, you go ahead and handle this, i owe you one.

[acewithobsessions]

Headcanon ask game yayyy I love it!

I’m thinking what if Thomas went back to his parents’ house to tell his dad and mom he was leaving Britain forever to live with his partner in America. Because he knew he would never see them alive again. Although he very much knew his father would deny him once more, he just hoped maybe in his father’s twilight years, he would finally accept who his son was.

In my mind, Thomas really craved his father’s approval more than anything. That was projected to Carson since Downton became his home. But all was rooted in his father. So he wanted to have this one last chance to turn things around. Because Thomas knew that this was the only way he could truly accept himself, no matter what others think of him now.

I think when you watch Thomas’ expressions, even when he was invited back to be the butler, or when he smiled at Guy after he resigned, you can still see there was a glimpse of sadness behind his eyes. Maybe that was why.

So, do you think Thomas and his father could be reconciled with each other? And how about his mother? I think she would be more accepting (or perhaps she didn’t really care much idk)? Somehow I got the idea that Thomas was the only boy in the Barrow family so it mattered more to his father. Anyway, please tell me what you think <3

Oh man YES!!!!! (For some reason, as soon as you said it, I pictured the scene from les mis where Marius asks his dad for permission to marry Cosette??)

That part about Carson? Yes, PREACH. I love love love it when people pick up on this. It's one of the most fascinating bits of his character, imo.

Ok so in my personal headcanon, the reason he started work a bit later than was typical (he did this right??) is because his mother died, meaning there was no longer any sense of security at home. (Also because from what I remember, he talks about her in the past tense.) But if she were still alive, that adds even more layers to the whole thing. I'll have to set aside half an hour of my usual pacing to think about this lol

I'd imagine he shows up to their house kind of stiff, with a sort of "f*ck it" attitude. Guy's not there. He understands that this is something Thomas has to do by himself, and Thomas wasn't exactly eager to let him meet his parents, either.

There's no small talk -- he barely even comes inside. He just finds his parents and deadpans, "I'm leaving."

"What?" his mother asks, a little bit breathless.

"I'm leaving," he repeats. "I've got a beau and I'm going to America with him."

There's a familiar flash of anger across his father's face, but he looks so tired that it swallows it right up. He stands up and leaves. For a second, Thomas wonders if he's found ways to keep his thunderstorm inside, to stop it from raging and having the lightning strike others. He wonders if it makes a difference. It doesn't, he decides, but all the same, it's good to know.

(He wonders if he knows just how much the storm can hurt you when it is stuck inside.)

His mother asks him questions until she is satisfied. She doesn't approve, he knows that. But she knows her son is happy, and maybe enough of her cares that her disapproval isn't the most important thing to her anymore.

He finds his father leaning over the table, staring into space. He starts into his pre-prepared spiel - I'm sorry if I've disappointed you, this is who I am, blah blah etc - but his father cuts him off.

"I'm not happy for you." He still won't look up. "But truth be told, I don't think I'd have been happy for you if you'd settled down like the rest of us. I don't think I'd have been happy with anyone." Finally, finally, he looks up. They have the same eyes. How has Thomas never noticed this before? "You survived me. I guess that's as close to close as we're going to get."

Is he high? Maybe he's drunk. He looks sober enough, but Thomas can't connect this person with the image of his father he has in his mind.

Thomas leaves without feeling as though anything's been accomplished, but nothing got worse. Pick your battles and all that. Just as he's leaving, he thinks that maybe, maybe, his father's storm has blown itself out.

Ough, sorry, I wasn't actually trying to write anything. Anyways, all in all, I'd absolutely love to see this kinda thing, whether it goes horribly or not. (Tbh, I think his dad being so articulate in this iteration points to how he's been thinking about this for a while. Which is probably optimistic. So this is one of the better situations...)

Tysm for the ask!! Wonderful idea :D

[rockngyrroser]

therapy of the strongest sorcerer. part 2.

PART 2

"I can tell you what bothers me but... it can be harder to deal with it than you could imagine. i need to explain some weird things to you and you probably won't understand-" he said it with such a regret and sadness in his voice.

"i know that  your company said something about different world  when they were talking with me about your sessions, before you get to know that you even will be coming here every week. but explain it to me if you can, gojo-san."

"at first, can you call me gojo-kun? 'san' feels cold, sorry." he looked like a kid now.

"yea, gojo-kun, you better call me (l/n)-san, maybe someday i'll let you call me (l/n)-chan. but.. we'll see. you have problems with trusting others?"

"i think.. maybe? i trust a group of people in my life, but i never tried to trust somebody else. just people who will be by my side for longer time and i know it. i never trusted anybody who would be like my friend for one day..  i can't somehow."

"but still you seem opened, even if you don't trust them, maybe acting? is this a way to escape it?"

"i don't really care about how people see me. i think.. i am important. so they have to respect me." he looked at your notes and then he looked at you, this was the first time when you noticed how blue his eyes are.

"that's bold statement, you know, gojo-kun? it's not like you have a good position in your work so they have to respect you no matter what. maybe as a worker, yes, but as a human? nah.. they definitely don't have to.."

"so how will you change my mind?"

"you want me to? i can, but if you don't want to, this doesn't make any sense." challenging him was the best method to make him take some actions.

"i'll let you change my perspective, if this will be satisfying enough for me, i'll change it in my life."

you looked at him. it was little victory of yours if he would do as he said.

"you sure?" you asked with smile.

"don't trust me? huh?" he said playfully.

"oh, gojo-kun, finally! i'm happy you're like that." you looked at him after you said it and you could see that his cheeks were a little blushed.

"we'll you see..." you started explaining to him that he should look at himself as a person, but with roles in society. he is not only worker, but also a friend, family member etc. you said to him that he has to look at himself in those parts, how he acts towards people in every role, because this is how they see him - through his actions.

"gojo-kun, you have to understand, that some guy on the street will see you as a some random person. maybe he'll forget about you in 5 minutes, but... i don't think so as long as you have white hair and sky blue eyes. you stand out, but i consider it as something good, but that's just my personal opinion." you could see him blush again. it looked like nobody ever gave him personal compliments, but this guy could be like that.. he definitely look like someone who has a bunch of woman in his house. "tell me how do you understand my words."

"that i should be working for my public opinion in every social role that i have, and it all will be my person figure in public. like.. hm.. my actions in every sector of my life will equal my real value. if i'll show respect to other people, they will be showing respect towards me?"

"yea! this is it!" you cheered him. "it feels like you want to be more respected than others respect you, but i think we will talk about it on our next session. it is long topic, so i'll prepare myself more for this."

"oh, it is like a homework for you, isn't it?" he asked.

"maybe? hm.. it is. but your homework will be start treating others with respect."

"okay, just for one week, but if it won't work.. i'll stop."

"oh my god.. i hope the luck will be there with us" you sighed.

"you should be more optimistic, (l/n)-san"

"i already am!" you laughed. it was really different. session with gojo satoru made you laugh and you felt now like sunshine is in your soul.

"our session time is over now, you are free, satoru gojo!"

"yeeaah! freedom!" he laughed. "see you next week then!" he said and left you in your office.

[tenpintsof-sundrop]

Sundrop! Hi, I've always been a quiet reader (not because I don't think offering comments and engagement is important, but because I usually wait until I have something articulate and meaningful to say which can usually take me multiple reads) but I just wanna say I'm literally so sorry that people are critiquing your work. Posting your writing anywhere is a kindness, it's a contribution, and unfortunately, it's really brave. I say unfortunately because you shouldn't have to be brave to engage in what you love, you should be able to share it freely without expecting people to crawl put of the woodwork to tell you all the things they think you did "wrong" like it's their duty to give their opinion like it's fact. Convenient that the parts that aren't to their personal taste are the parts they comment on, it's like they get the message but pay no attention to how it was sent and let their biases take them from there. What about all of the effort that went into the presentation, the carefully selected prose, the references, the way every fic can come across as a love letter if you just think about it the right way? Everything that's missed or misconstrued in the interpretation?

There are some readers out there who can't stand their 'stand in' being flawed or human in any way, down to the smallest of traits or actions. What that really tells me is that they just don't like it when an MC has any discernable personality. I think these people need to start comprehending that relationships are literally just two people deciding to reside in eachothers orbits and be in eachothers space and generally put up with eachother, and making that choice every day. Sorry if that sounds incomprehensible, what I'm trying to say is that nobody, least of all their precious uwu blorbo is being victimised by having to put up with some snark. News flash: these stories only work because Main Pairing Guy is choosing to engage in the titular dynamic as well. They knowingly expose themselves to this 'problematic behaviour'. If you wouldn't 'put up with it personally' good for you. But this isn't real life and even in fiction not everybody thinks like you or just happens to abide by your personal boundaries. (I say guy because somehow I think that female pairings dont get this treatment nearly as much, maybe because the target audience is already marginalised and dont feel the need to marginalise themselves further with blown out of proportion critiques on literal personality traits).

Not being a timid demure little saintly woman figure does not make them malicious or even offensive, it makes them interesting. It makes the exchanges between characters more fun and fulfilling. I actually relate a lot to the way you write your reader characters– and that's because I'm not insecure enough to think that me being sarcastic or standoffish or understandably guarded by nature makes me a bad person, nor does it even make me particularly 'mean'. Anyone who finds issue with these portrayals maybe needs to do a little introspection on themselves and think about why they're taking it so personally that they feel the absolute need to speak up about it on a public forum.

Writing not being to your personal taste doesn't make it bad writing. It just means it's not for you. If you find yourself in that situation, acknowledge that and move on. It costs zero energy to not go around spreading negativity for no reason. You are not the target audience. 'She' was not written with your voice in mind, and that's perfectly okay. You don't have any say on what a content creator puts out, nor should you. It's the writers vision, not yours, be greatful they're willing to share it with you. Nobody is entitled to it. I'm not saying you have to enjoy it, just do the decent thing and keep it to yourself if you don't. 'Don't like, don't read' is such a simple concept.

I hope you continue to enjoy writing and that you don't take their negativity to heart or let it influence your enjoyment of what can be such a fulfilling and downright therapeutic hobby. I know it's hard to see when so many readers choose to stay silent, but they are the loud minority. A lack of engagement is a disappointing reality on pretty much every platform and it must be so disheartening for content creators. I'm doing my best to try and contribute more, even if its just anonymously for now, and I hope more people start speaking up with all the nice things they have to say instead. I'm sorry you had to put up with all my rambling, but I hope at least some of it was something somebody needs ro hear. Sending you good vibes and inspiration! ☆☆☆

Omg, okay. this is very long and I do have a lot to say about this

Well for one - I do appreciate quiet readers.

Something disheartening is when people leave a like on my work and don't comment or reblog - especially when there is a huge disconnect between the amount of likes and the amount of comments. Because when something has 1000s of likes and 2 comments, it's usually from a fandom that is very over saturated and popular, and it feels like people are saying: your work is just like any other, and there is nothing special about it or worth commenting on about your work. I have 100s of fics to choose from, and when I read yours, nothing stood out to me about your work as valuable or particularly entertaining, so I don't care to talk to you about it and I don't care if I lose it in my 1000s of liked posts because it's not that unique or that great. And some people use their liked fics as bookmarks, so seeing so many people leave likes and no comments, it's like "yeah, I saw the summary of your fic, I was interested, I liked it, but I didn't give a shit to come back to it and actually read it. other fics are more worthy of my time."

But if people are too shy to comment or they genuinely don't have anything to say (or if they're worried that they don't have anything thoughtful to say) - reblog it. Reblog it without a comment, and it makes an author feel 1000x times better than if you just leave a like. Especially if your reblog is tagged as 'TBR' or even just tagged with the character's name - it means I know you value my fic and don't want to lose it, whether you have read it already or not. It means I know you think my fic is worth sharing with other people. It means I know you're enthusiastic about my fic. So many other things.

Reblogging can be just as golden as a comment sometimes.

Also I always encourage shy people to comment while using anon.

Anyway - moving on.

Everything you are saying is so, so right. Sharing your art is brave, but I remember a time when people would consistently share fics of a much lower quality - which isn't a mockery, it's just me saying that fandom used to be much more casual, and making 'bad' art used to be widely accepted. Now, people are clearly terrified to make 'bad' art, so even if they make it, they don't share it.

It used to be that fandom was a space where you were joking around with your friends, passing notes in class and goofing off, and now people act like fandom is a fucking transaction. But now people act like fandom is a service where you can blatantly complain if there's stuff you don't like - as if fanfiction writers are the person behind the counter at the Burger King and you go up and order whatever you want, and if they don't give it to you, there is someone above them that you can complain to. (Also the people 'ordering' act like they have aboslutely no power to make a burger for themselves and they are gonna starve if they don't get it right now.)

And there is a huge percentage of people who say that writing fanfiction is 'too hard' so they just don't do it - when they don't realize that 90% of their favourite fics are written by people in their late 20s, 30s, and 40s who used to write the most terrible, cringey, self insert fics riddled with spelling errors and polyvore sets and random Japanese ANs (and people used to write these fics seriously) - all your favourite authors had growing pains.

Nobody starts off perfect. And no, writing fanfiction is not easy - but it's supposed to be a labor of love and passion and it's a skill that you're supposed to develop over time, which is why you do it.

The whole point of fanfiction is that it's fanmade. It's literally the number one 'do it yourself' hobby ever. And there are no fans who are more qualified to make fics than others. If you are a fan of something and you know any written language, you are qualified to make your own fanfiction.

But in this currently climate, people who don't write fics because it's 'too hard' feel entitled to fics written by people who have been practising for years.

Also I love what you have said here: "convenient that the parts that aren't to their personal taste are the parts they comment on"

There is such a recent negativity culture. People don't understand that thinks they don't like aren't for them - they think that everything should be for them, and aspects they don't like about it should be changed or weeded out to their liking. And in the vein of negativity culture, so many people take a strange kind of joy in being openly negative and being such a 'hater'. And it is just so strange to me.

Fandom is supposed to be a space where we come together in order to celebrate our love for something - so why would you bring such a negative attitude to those spaces? Why not participate in these spaces with enthusiasm and love - and if you find something that you don't like, why not just ignore it in favor of the things that you do love?

Especially when there are so many genuinely awful things out there in the world - why do you want to create more negativity in spaces that are supposed to be a fun mental escape? Why waste your energy focusing on things that annoy you, piss you off, make you angry - when fandom is supposed to be about focusing on things we love that bring us joy?

"There are some readers out there who can't stand their 'stand in' being flawed or human in any way, down to the smallest of traits or actions."

This is just true. And it's annoying.

Writing flawed characters - whether it's a reader character or a canon character - makes for something so much more interesting. And I don't understand why people seemingly want to read a story where the characters have no flaws and there is no conflict.

Not being a timid demure little saintly woman figure does not make them malicious or even offensive, it makes them interesting.

Again - thank you.

So many of my female reader characters have been accused of being 'mean' or 'bitchy' - as if that's the worst thing that a female character can be.

"I actually relate a lot to the way you write your reader characters– and that's because I'm not insecure enough to think that me being sarcastic or standoffish or understandably guarded by nature makes me a bad person, nor does it even make me particularly 'mean'."

Genuinely, thank you.

This means a lot to me.

I like it when people enjoy my reader characters because I always try to make their personalities engaging and I try to make them fun to ride with as the story is being told. Some people genuinely expect the reader character to be just like them. They expect the reader character to have no mentions of a backstory, an occupation, nothing. And what bothers me is that this falls into the trap of the reader character - usually female - being some jobless homebody housewife type that the canon character just comes home to. As if a woman's only value in a man's story is to be a sex object for him to come home and fuck.

Like if I had a dime for every single story that intros with the canon character man coming home to his anonymous wifie reader character and with 0 discussion of her life, her interests, her personality, they only discuss his life, his interests, his potential conflicts and then they start fucking. Yes, I get that it's to make the reader character more ambiguous, but it's so boring and it makes all fanfictions so generic with each other and it makes the woman feel like such an accessory to his life rather than feeling like her own person.

I always want the reader and the canon character to be active participants in the story. Because that makes it more interesting.

"Writing not being to your personal taste doesn't make it bad writing. It just means it's not for you. If you find yourself in that situation, acknowledge that and move on. It costs zero energy to not go around spreading negativity for no reason. You are not the target audience."

I just wanted to highlight this.

And thank you - I will continue writing for as long as I can. I hope to continue writing well into my 30s, 40s, etc. as long as my chronic illness allows me to be well enough in order to do so. I really don't want to let stuff like this get me down.

And honestly, I have been writing for so many years - it's my default. I don't think I can stop writing. I just hope that speaking out about stuff like this will make the environment kinder for myself and other writers.

Anyway - thank you so much for this lovely message <3 I really do appreciate it

[tired-of-being-nice]

"help them"

febuwhump day 26! not much actual whump in this one, but it's very important setup for the next (and last :[) febuwhump writing from me, and also it's introducing a new character!! yay! ray uses he/him and she/her pronouns, alternating.

content: mentioned illness, mentioned....really really toxic workplace environments. that's about it

There's a loud hammering at Ray's door in the middle of the night, and naturally her first thought is��fuck, someone's trying to kill me.

But...if someone was trying to kill her, or break into her house even, they wouldn't knock, would they?

While he's considering this, the knock comes again, loud and insistent, and Ray decides that if whoever it is isn't trying to kill them, they're going to want to if he doesn't open the door.

So he gets up, goes downstairs, takes a deep breath, and opens the door while also kind of hiding behind the door.

"Ray," Milo's voice says, and Ray relaxes for a second–oh, good, it's just Milo–before they continue, "Remember that favor you owe me?"

"Um." Ray slowly steps out from behind the door to survey Milo. They look...wow. Ray understands the meaning of the term looking like a drowned rat now. They're also carrying what he really, really hopes isn't a dead body.

"Remember all those favors you owe me?" Milo continues. "Remember just how many of them there are?"

Ray winces. "I'm guessing you do."

"I do," Milo confirms, "and I'm cashing them in. Now."

With that, they step into Ray's house and start heading for her couch. Ray hastily shuts the door and scrambles after them, yelping "Hey hey hey hey, I know I owe you a lot but I don't think it's enough to get me to help you hide a dead body!"

"They're not dead," Milo says, like Ray was supposed to know that somehow. "They're just sick. And I need you to help them not be sick."

"Why me?" Ray protests.

"Because you owe me the most," Milo says, and Ray can't really argue with that, so she just watches in sullen silence as Milo drapes the not-dead person onto her couch.

...At least, she watches in silence until she looks a little too closely at the person, and she notices their uniform, and their hair, which even soaked with rain is an aggressive shade of blue, and she blurts "Holy shit is that—"

"Yes," Milo says, "and no, I'm not explaining why they're here, and I shouldn't have to explain why you are not to tell anyone about this, and do you seriously think they're capable of doing anything to you right now?"

Ray looks at Coren—because that's Coren, holy shit, the Coren is on his couch—and has to admit that no, they don't really look capable of anything. He's seen them once or twice before, but only for brief seconds before he started running or trying to hide. In his memory, they're a lot more intimidating than this...tiny ball of misery currently dripping water onto his couch.

Ray drifts a bit closer, and closer again. It's just kind of fascinating to have them here, right in front of him. Most people don't ever get this close to it without it biting their arm off or something. He–

"Don't poke it," Milo snaps.

"I wasn't going to!" Ray, who was absolutely going to, says defensively. "Um, so– why didn't you just bring it back to its own company? Let them handle it?"

Milo sighs. "Ray, if you got sick, and you told our employers about it, what would they tell you?"

"Take an Advil and come to work tomorrow," Ray says. She sees nothing odd about this. She's heard them say as much several times.

"Right. And if that's what they'd say, what do you think they'd say at a company best known for literally physically hunting down any employees who try to leave?"

Ray considers this. Ray does not point out that the person responsible for said hunting is currently on their couch, but he considers that, too.

The two of them stand in silence for a bit. Considering.

Then: Ray flings her hands in the air and sighs in defeat. "Alright, well, if you're going to be here–for tonight only, may I add–then I guess I should go get some towels so you can stop dripping all over my couch. Stay where you are and for heaven's sake don't get any water on my rug."

He heads upstairs and doesn't look back, which is good, because it gives Milo a chance to finally stop holding themself upright and collapse ungracefully onto the couch, limp with relief.

tag: @whumpsoda

[popculturebuffet]

The Proud Family: Seven Days of Kwanzaa Review (Commission For Weirdkev27)

Happy Kwanzaa all you happy people! Yeah the holiday celebrations aren't done JUST yet as we have one more for you, as it's Kwanza time. Now some of you may be asking…

And i'ts simple: it's an african american holiday created by Maulana Karenga as a way to give the black community an alternative to christmas that wasn't as entrenched in white tradition, though eventually he relaxed things to allow one to celebrate both, the spirit of it, celebrating black culture and history, has remained.

Like Hannukah Kwanzaa hasn't gottne nearly as many specials as Christmas, but it makes what's there stand out all the more. It also makes this episode a bit of a disapointment. See it does show off the holiday well, so even white dumbasses like me can undrestand it. The problem is the rest of the story well….

Yeah while the special does seem to represent Kwanzaa well, as far as I can tell, like with Festival of LIghts i'm an outsider looking in and I know it and am trying my best to be respectful and not act like I thoughly know a holiday that I don't participate in and is very important to a community I don't know all that well, everything else.. isn't very good. It also has one of the most out of nowhere batshit endings i've seen in a long time. Like ti's somehwat set up but man oh man does this one take a weird swerve. So let's look at all this shall we.

The episode follows the Prouds on a typical Christmas where they do the tried and true plot device of shopping on Christmas Eve when hardly anyone does that.. they all do it the days before. What changes though is our proud family runs into a homeless family: Joseph< Margaret and Stephanie. And the show pulled out all the stops as despite being only 11 episodes in, they got Samuel L. Jackson, Vivica A Fox and Raven-Simone, all big names at the time and now, with Raven in paticualr being heavily pushed by the network. I fondly remember her cover of grazing in the grass from the LIon King 1 and 1/2 which I somehow didn't get around to mentoning during my review of that trainwreck earlier this year.

All talented people who naturally do wonderfully. Trudy tries to give to them, while Oscar is a dick about it, assuming jospeh trying to help him with a dropped package is just the man trying to get at ip, making a crack about how we'll be homeless after all these gift, and generally trying to be unpleasant as possible.

I get what the episode is trying to do: They built oscar into a strawman , but one you see all the time: the kind of dickhead who assumes being homeless is a choice, that the homeless are lazy, and that homeless are a plauge to be gotten rid of instead of people who may of lost jobs, not be able to afford housing, or were thrown out by their families for being LBGTQ+, having a mental illness or any number of understandable reasons. It's why I can't fault the episode for wanting to tackle the subject nor using Oscar as the bad guy as with his knee jerk reactions to most things, quick temper and generally douchsiness, it's not a stretch to say this character dosen't respect the homeless. It's why having him be bigoted towards homosexuals in Louder and Prouder also wasn't a huge shock, as Oscar easily strikes me as the kind of guy who while he can be convinced to not be a dickhead about something that really shodun't be that hard to put yoru head around like Gay people have a right ot exist or homeless people need love and empathy not to be shamed for something that's not remotely their fault, and given both things are STILL stuff people need convincing on in 2022, it works. I admire the team for creating an everyman who can be an unlikeable dick one minute and entirely sympathetic the next, and thus is fairly maliable for stories.. while still being a very distinct and hilarious character. You woudln't mistake oscar proud for anyone else but he has many traits both good and bad of a man of his time… and sadly often of a man now.

The problem is they lean on it a bit too hard as they have a scene of him PUTTING A DOLLAR ON A STRING AND YANKING IT FORM CHARITIES. I'm all for cartoony shenanigans, it's one of the things this show really does best, but this stretches it a bit too far. Having Oscar just.. glefully not give to charity is too low even for him. Him being homophobic is defintely lower than this, but at least he gets called out on it by more than one person and got constantly humaited for it till his eventgual ephinay. Here he just gets mildly called out by penny and.. gives to charity later. it dosen't change the fact he was this bad. Oh and he gets a bit muddy and mistaken for homeless. BECAUSE IT'S SO BAD TO GET MISTKAEN FOR HOMELESS WHEN YOUR NOT HOMELESS AND SUCH AH IGH CRIME A YUK YUK YUK.

While this episode TRIES to be empathetic to the homeless it stumbles pretty bad in how it treats them. See there ar epeople who choose not to have a home, who live inc ampers or what have you and want to live the van or rv life. And tha'ts fine: if i't sfinacially sound for you or just th eoption you have, nothing worng with that. The film Nomadland outlines this wohle life style lovingly while not skimping on it's hardships or what would make people choose this. I highly recommend it, true masterpiece.

The problem is the episode comes off really confused as a result as it conflates the kind of people you see on the street begging just to survivie.. with someone who for their own reasons choose. The episode conflates being homeless with some higher calling, as if it's better than having possesions or being chained to the corprations that love our lives. And i'mnot saying living in an rv by choice or what have you isn't. I'm throughly aware captalisim is throughly broken. Wanting to break from it for something diffrent isn't a shame.

The shame.. is assuming all people living on the streets are doing so voluntarily. I dont' think that was the writers intent, but it's the way the episode comes off. The Angel Adults come off very preachy, with Joseph's response to getting christmas gifts, a well meaning gesture by trudy to make sure they too can celebrate by saying he isn't part of the corprations "end of the year selling scheme". or something to that effect. Basically

See it's one thing to me to critcize the captatlist nature of america: the system is often broken, we do often fill our needs with stuff, and we do often put too much importance on having stuff. I agree with it that far. But shaming someone for trying to give you a gift or invite you into their home comes off gross. Am I saying the Prouds are on some higher plane devoid of critcisim of their lifestyles because they were nice enough (or rather everyone but oscar were nice enough), to invite some people needing a warm meal into their home? Fuck no. While what Trudy and Penny are doing is noble, and Oscar is a butt for not going along with it, they can still be flawed> Trudy herself is pretty awful this episode: She gets oscar a nice watch, which itself isn't bad, she said they weren't doing gifts but does something nice fo rhim anyway.. but her expecting a gift RIGHT AFTER both telling oscar they didn't have to and having himn bring that up is shitty. Now granted him trying to cover with a fruit cake the Angels just gave him IN FRONT OF HER was bad and her trying to give his watch to joseph was fair enough as a result, but it's still shitty to give a gift just to expect someone to give it to you in return. That's .. not what christmas is about. I gave kev a gift soley beacuse he's a good friend, and he gave me one back soley to be nice and in the spirit of things. I got Digimon Cookie Cutters because Kev was being enerous and decided to return the sentiment, not because I was expecting him to give me anything. That's how Christmas should work. It's in the good spirit to return a gift with a gift, but it's not why you do it.

The problem is Joesph criticizes their whole middle class life style and won't shut up about it for a chunk of the episode: he outright says the corprate scheme thign while his wife and daughter understandably feel a tad akward not celebrating the holiday, but are polite about it. It's fine to crticize the worse aspects of christmas, MANY a work has crictized how commerical it is all the way back to charlie brown over 40 years ago. But to do so to someone whose welcomed you into their home for the nobelest of reasons, made sure you got a nice gift, and has been NOTHIGN but kind to you isn't right. He coudl've just said "i'm sorry we don't celebrate christmas, but we aprpicate the gesture" There, done. He also does needle oscar later about his materliasim.. but at least there he has what SEEMS to be the high ground and the poitn he makes is a very good one for any holiday: that the family you have is yoru true home, not the stuff.

It also helsp that only oscar.. acts matierlizstic. When Martha does the same to trudy, saying they got tired of captalistic society in so many words, Trudy has again DONE nothing. When Jospeh talks abotu the proceeses turkey goes through, NO ONE had done anything. I get ther'es a lot to critcisie, and i'm not of the shut up and take it school of thought myself.. but when no one is actively being a dick about these topics, maybe just.. let it go. I get not backing down with politics, as some issues like trans rights, gay rights, and black lives mattering.. are all things that shouldn't be talked down and if someone says somnething stupid about them, I get fighting for it. Because it's not a two sided issue at all. Here though.. I coudl see the prouds getting a modified turkey because it's what they coudl find or afford or doing christmas because they enjoy the spirit of giving and family instead of JUST for the shit they get. Someone can be wrong and it be more complicated than that… having the Angels protrayed as entirely right just feels.. off. They feel smug. The end reveal, that in a way they AREN'T homeless, doesn't help that but we'll get to it. It feels like a very tonedeaf privlaged way to write a homeless person: not as a person but some crticising morallly righteous pillar.

The next part does work better, as they come back the next day to celebrate Kwanzaa.. by just.. manefesting into the house.

SO we get a nice education on Kwanzaa, how i'ts more abotu the spirit of family and community, how it's celebrated, and going over the 7 nights, mostly through montage. And this is where the episode honestly shines: Kwanzaa is underrepsrented and not knowing it well myself it was nice to learn what each nigh twas about. it's only real flaw.. is that it's too little of the episode. The setup for this could've been done much faster. I do say a scene with Penny's friends being standoffish with her new friend for being homeless, and her admitting she's fine with it and that her parents are so close their her best friends and she likes reading, is nice: ther'es no stigma for her nor is she a lesson for them to learn, as NONE of those entitled shits learn it. She's just how she is and if they dont' accept it it's on them.

But otherwise.. it w oudl've been nicer to have more of the 7 nights and to show oscar's character growth more convincingly as by the end he likes them. This special.. really needed to be an hour or at least be more about this. Instead they tack on christmas just to get both holidays out of the way and tack on oscar being a douche so he can learn a lesson I guess> the only bit they coudln't of cut out is bobby. Seeing him come down the chimeny was a late christmas present as I had no idea he was in this one. Any episode with Bobby is a good time, and the fact he knows Kwanzaa the best out of the prouds made me smile.

But the spirit of family and community, of them singing songs, giving to charity, just basking in each others togetherness.. that really moved me and made me want to learn more about the holiday. It's a well constructed beautiful holiday not based on getting, but on simply togetherness and ones roots and I admire it for that. I just wish the episode was more about celebrating that and less about a half assed homelesness aseop that woudl've been better served not being shoved into this episode.

The episode also would've worked better.. if the ending wasn't so baffling. Felix returns early needing a forman and since Joesph worked in construction Oscar goes lookign for him.. only for the shelter lady to have no recelction of them visting. The prouds are happy for what the Angels brought them.. only to return home to find their fruitcake has turned into a cool tehcncolor tree.. and the angels are above it, apparenlty being spirits or something having come to teach them about kwanzaa before returning to I guess.. heaven?

This is easily the most baffling ending to a work i've reviewed.. and keep in mind i've reviewed "Scrooge buys an island and pays actors just to teach louie a lesson". The threshold is pretty vast but "Kwanzaa angels" kinda tops it. Not only does it DEMOLISH the homelessness aseop, as they arne't homeless and don't seem to be the ghosts of a homeless family, but it makes all the "their world is better " posteruting that was already packed with unforunate impilcations even worse. Their just beign condescnding.. for no reason. Joesph is a dick because he's an angel. He dosen't have to actually life without food or running water and thus really can't back up his claims. It's heaven. They've got all you can eat and free every media you can imagine and rideable giant pigs. You can't critcize someone for living in a captalist society when you live in heaven, where captalism is dead and you can have whatever you want and party with Leslie Jordan , Prince, David BOwie, Ed Asner , Betty White, Jesus himself…

This episode meant well.. but sometimes meaning well only gets you so far in my good graces. This episode woudl've been better off as one episode about homelessness and another about Kwanzaa angels, which is a sentence I was indeed paid to write but really wish hadn't happened. I really wish this was a better episode, this holiday deserves better and so does the proud family. Maybe they can try again in a future season of Louder and Prouder. one.. can certainly hope.

[whumping-valentine]

CW: Pedophilia, incest, and SA mentions

Some of the replies to this are fucking unhinged, I don't know whether to laugh or cry. This post doesn't mention any kind of specific media. It doesn't talk about age gaps, or incest, or torture, yet some people in the replies are acting like this post flat out said to support child predators, like ????

I'm sorry, but if you think that folks who enjoy taboo topics in fictional media actually want that to happen in real life, that says much more about YOU than it does them. And as a whump blog, I'm not just talking about torture. There is no room on my blog for, "Yes! Unless you write *blank* in which case you should die!" No. No censorship. Period.

Yes, even if they don't continously state that it's immoral and wrong. Yes, even if they present it in a postive light. Yes, even if it's "glamorized". How someone writes literature is not a reflection of themself. It's kinda like acting. Ever hear of an unreliable narrator? I think y'all just have piss poor media literacy. Sometimes I write about kinks I don't have, characters I genuinely can't stand, and content that even squicks ME out. Why? Because I'm writing a story. Again, it's like acting. It's not who I am, and it's not what I believe.

Exploring topics in fiction can be a way of dealing with your own trauma, like how I sometimes write about SA and incest. That does not mean that I support rape or incest, or that I'm somehow a predator, or a rapist. God, it pisses me off so muuuuuchhhh. I'm sure you don't think that everyone who has ever written horror is a serial killer, yeah? It's the ame sentiment, and you know what? Even if people aren't victims of the topic, my verdict still stands. People are allowed to write about whatever shit they want to, even if it hasn't directly harmed them. They don't owe you an explanation in order to make it okay in your eyes. They can write it simply because they enjoy it, and that doesn't make them evil.

The important thing is to tag your works so that folks can avoid topics that may be triggering to them, or to at least warn them before they continue. You are not serving justice by harassing someone that you deem to be dangerous. If you truly think people who write taboo fiction are dangerous, I believe you're too immature to be on the internet in general. Dark fiction is actually much more common and mainstream then you think, you just live in your sanitized little internet bubble so you wouldn't know.

"Your parents would disown you if they knew what you wrote!" My mother recently wrote a novel about a woman who is kidnapped, beaten, and raped by a man and falls in love with him and they live happily ever after. She's paying me to be her editor. She thinks you guys are insane. It's not really my cup of tea, but she wrote it and it's hers. Just because I don't particularly like it, doesn't mean it's wrong or that it should be censored or changed.

And if you're one of those "think of the children!" types, let me tell you, you're just annoying. Dark content is not for children. Children should not be on my blog. They should not be in adult spaces. It is not my responsibility to censor myself just because children could possibly see and read my work. My work is for mature adults who understand that fiction isn't real, and that what I write about is not indicative of my own moral beliefs.

Let me say again; Minors are not allowed on my blog.

If you read that and still wanna yell predator, I don't know what to tell you, man. You're just dumb. The terms predator, pedophile, and groomer really mean NOTHING now, huh? What a way to belittle and water down actual horrible things.

Way to go protecting kids! No one cared that my cousin molested me, but they sure as hell care when I sometimes want to write about incest! 🙂 "but why do you want to write about something that hurt you??" I don't owe you an explanation. 👍

I'm sorry op, I kinda completely derailed your post, I got carried away. I apologize. Rant over.

Repeat after me:

It is OKAY to have content preferences and to be uncomfortable with certain ships or topics, controversial or not. It is OKAY to distance yourself from such content and block certain tags or creators.

It is NOT OKAY to actively hate and harass real people for creating content of fictional characters that features things that make you uncomfortable.

[mylifebeingautistic]

book review: The Cassandra Complex by Holly Smale

Cassie is having the worst day of her life. She is dumped by her boyfriend and fired from her job. Worse, her favourite cafe has run out of her staple banana muffins. She then discovers that she has a magical power: she can time travel to the past.

The book follows Cassie as she tries to fix her life and ensure that the original disastrous day doesn't happen. But things end up going much differently than she had planned.

I found Cassandra to be a really relatable character. I've seen some reviews saying that they didn't like her constant references and infodumps about Greek mythology, but I really enjoyed these, a) because I'm also interested in Greek mythology and b) because I can relate to constantly wanting to bring up my special interests in every conversation, even when they're not particularly relevant! I was surprised that she didn't know she was autistic the whole time, and it was treated more as a reveal at the end.

My favourite thing about the book is the plot twist that's revealed towards the end. I don't want to spoil it, but if you're considering not reading/finishing the book because you think it's all about Cassie getting her ex-boyfriend back, keep reading! There is more to it than that, and it was a really interesting plot.

From this point on, I will be discussing spoilers and quotes from The Cassandra Complex. If you don't want to see those, stop reading here!

I don't think we talk enough, as a species, about how ridiculously difficult it is to make basic conversation. People act like it should be fun, but it isn't.

This is so true! I've always been so bad at conversation. I don't understand how it comes so naturally to other people. I wish there was some rulebook for how to make a conversation, but I think that even if I followed each rule to the letter, I would still feel like I was doing something wrong.

An older lady with grey hair in a neat bun is standing right next to me, also staring at the menu. And I mean right next to me. She's not touching, but she's so close her personal gravitational field feels like it's made out of hot needles. Why do people always do this? What is wrong with them? I can't buy a cheese sandwich in Sainsbury's without a total stranger standing so close I can smell what they use as shower gel.

I also found this so relatable. I think a lot of autistic people have a different sense of personal space to allistic people, and someone standing a bit too close to us can feel so overwhelming, or (as in Cassie's experience) physically painful.

I suddenly realise: I'm not travelling through time to undo the things I've done wrong, or the decisions I've made. I am trying to undo myself.

When Cassandra came to this realisation!!! It's really interesting to think about: most times she travels back to redo something, it's because she had a bad sensory experience and got upset, or because she said something 'wrong', which are just characteristics that are a part of her. It's so sad that society makes us as autistic people feel like we're not good enough, and that we have to change somehow in order for people to like us. When in reality it's society that needs to change, to be more understanding and accepting of autistic people.

"That's OK," I say, standing up. "I don't think that was the relationship the universe was telling me to fix anyway."

I really liked this reveal! When Cassie figures out that the relationship with Will wasn't ever supposed to work out, but that she is meant to fix her relationship with her sister, Artemis. And I loved the whole healing journey that the two sisters go on together, and how they resolve the issues that had driven them apart.

My eyes suddenly fill. "You believe me?"

This moment was so good! If you're familiar with the Cassandra story from mythology, you'll know that her main thing is not being believed. So this moment was so important! And I loved that Cassie and Sal had built up a relationship in this new timeline, such that they were friends and Sal would take her side instead of Derek's.

"People think autism is some kind of error, and it's not. You're not broken or 'disordered', or whatever they say on their little bits of paper. That just means 'not exactly like me'"

I loved Artemis in this moment! She was exactly what Cassie needed at this point, to tell her that she wasn't broken, she was good enough just as she was.

"Bye," Artemis nods, taking a deep breath. "Bye," I smile. And I close my eyes to go back to the beginning.

I'll be honest, the one thing I didn't like about the book was this ending. I feel like Artemis and Will's relationship could have been fixed some other way. Because with this ending, everything that Cassandra has gained is undone, and she has to do it all over again. She's going to lose her new friends, Sal and Sophie, her newly mended relationship with her sister, and she'll have to do all the work towards pursuing her dream of going to university all over again. I felt like everything she'd gained over the course of the book was undone, and I didn't like it.

In general I'm just not a fan of sad or uncertain endings. I like everything to be resolved and happy at the end of the book.

But that's all just my opinions. What did you think of The Cassandra Complex?

[mcbex]

**What is most important?**

I take a deep breath as I walk into my coworkers office. We've known each other 16 years but I don't know her as well as I should like. She calls me in saying something about missing many chances to give me a gift. That happens in the work place I guess. We hurry by each other every day with the kind of busy that keeps us on our toes. Sometimes without ability to really stop and take anything in. If we aren't careful we begin to know of each other instead of creating a space of foundation with each other. Nevertheless the week is over and as I am about to leave I follow her, wondering what she has for me. In the short walk I cannot guess so I take a breath feeling as if it must be important. I pray to take everything in that she is about to say, hoping I won't forget a thing.

She handed me a tiny angle bell with words of pure love. As I held the bell in my hands I listened and began to cry for everything it represents for us. All the words she spoke about finding God and understanding him differently. She was thankful to me but what she may not be aware of is how much I am thankful for her. What she gave me was the most precious gift I may have ever received. It was not the purchase but the acknowledgment that we are family in Christ. Brought together through support and love over the last year. Brought together through blood.

Every year I think there is something exciting about the new year. I often try to reflect back through pictures and conversations. I like to see if my memories can hold true to the feelings I once had. As I write this now I recall that this time last year I was anxiously questioning whether I would still have my job in March. It's crazy how the years go by and time is etched on our skin in the form of laugh lines and sunspots. Our scars can only partially tell the story of our lives as we need the second part of the equation to fill in a life well lived. Those are the friendships we create in the family that goes beyond our genetics.

While last year was kind of a wild ride of intense warfare. I certainly feel like I was in a spiritual fight for my life. While I consider how I was pushed and pulled and misguided some, I recognize we have a God of protection with us always. Who not only knows just what we need but more importantly who we need in our lives. Valuable things are made so base on what society deems them to be. But I would say valuable things hold no monetary value at all. It is sentiment and truth, love and honesty that hold all of the treasure we can ever truly hope to detain. I think of how close I came to some and how new people have somehow quickly become old friends. I think of how day after day I threw myself against the velcro of the planet trying to change into the person God is making me. In this gift I can see that it isn't just about trying to become a better human, it's not about living for today or the next adventure. It's about all of us, together standing on this fabric of time as one.

Colossians 3:12-14 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

Philippians. 4: 5-9 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

1 Corinthians 13:4- 7 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres

[princesscolumbia]

So it's been long enough and I'm expecting to come back to it, but my oldest popular fanfic, Fission, is now up on AO3. If you're not aware, I started penning this work back in 2006 as Ranma 1/2 was starting to lose relevance in anime pop culture. Inu Yasha was taking its place as young women were becoming an anime watching demographic in the USA and, as gender-fluid (literally) as Ranma's core audience is, "Dog-demon-boy hearts girl" had greater appeal to the wider young women demographic than "boy-who-understands-how-important-an-emergency-tampon-is hearts girl".

It also was released in the age of After Fuku Fic (AFF). During the Fuku fic era, there was clone after clone after clone of the core idea of "what if Ranma were to become a senshi?" Every member of the Ranma cast got shoved into a seifuku, it seemed, and any characters on either the Sailor Moon or Ranma parts of the equation that didn't fit just so were often discarded. This isn't to say the sub-sub-sub-genre is bad (I'm writing for it, so clearly I don't think so) but people just got tired of it.

And I dropped Fission in the middle of that and found myself in the rare company of people who wrote a fuku fic that even people who'd been completely burned out on the idea still wanted to read it.

Life happened, and I wound up reading (and writing) MLP-centric fics, then She-ra, and lately dabbling in The Locked Tomb. And yet I still keep drifting back to this oldy but goodie because I've just got so many stories in that sandbox I want to tell.

So without further ado, I present to you...

Fission

A Ranma 1/2 & Sailor Moon fanfic

by Princess Celestia

Ranma is having A Day. The usual wacky relationship hijinks wind up with him tripping while running from his self-declared love interests (it has to do with martial arts, several foreign laws, and an okonomiyaki cart...long story) and falling off a roof (...again, long story) to pass through a stream of water from a broken pipe, triggering the magic that cursed him to turn into a girl with a splash of cold water. But today the wacky cranked right up into the weird when he DIDN'T collide with the other person who also happens to be standing in the spray of water. Usagi is having a pleasant day, actually. She's spending time with her boyfriend, taking in parts of Tokyo she doesn't normally get to, and in all enjoying herself when she gets a call about a monster attack. She ducks into an alley and starts to transform into Sailor Moon when a pipe bursts and sprays her with water right as someone...doesn't collide with her falling from the roof above. The destiny of both Ranma and Usagi has been altered by a random accident that nobody could have planned for or anticipated. Nobody around them is even remotely prepared.

Konatsu pulled his wooden sword and bounced a few more paces away from the youma, "Where are you going, Ranma-sama?"

Ranma was already pelting out of the room, "To get body armor!" he snapped back.

He darted into the next room and leapt into the pool. Body armor, body armor, body armor... ran through his head as he felt the water cover his form. He felt, for the first time, a surge of magic accompanying his transformation, then for no reason that she could at first figure out suddenly shouted out under water, "MOON... AQUA... POWER... ACTIVATE!"

Konatsu had backed far enough away from the monster while goading it onward that he was able to see what Ranma was doing in the next room. Suddenly, both he and the monster recoiled as water blasted from the pool, light and sound sweeping the room.

Ranma was caught up in a strange transformation like she had never experienced before. She somehow knew it was distinct from her usual Jesenkyo curse. She felt her clothes dissolve into magical mist, then felt ribbons brushing her form. She felt the fingerless gloves, the panties and bra, the fuku, the boots, everything form up on her body. She was even more intently aware of something even stranger going on just in front of her chest. She felt magic streaming out of her, but somehow leaving her even more replenished than if she had just taken a nap. Whatever was going on, it was additive, not subtractive. Two distinct colors flowed from her, one white, the other black. It began swirling together, forming the yin/yang symbol that was familiar to any martial artist, but most especially to her thanks to it's unique meaning for her life. It suddenly hardened into what looked like a crystal, then attached itself to her uniform at the join where her sailor sash met just below her neckline.

This all took place in under three seconds and was completely unseen by Konatsu or the monster thanks to the light show. What Konatsu did see was that, launching up from the explosion of water, light, and sound, was Ranma-sama, but not as the ninja had ever seen her before. He gasped in ecstatic surprise, tinged with a hint of girlish jealousy, "Sailor..."

"MOON..." shouted out an enraged Ranma, "CHESTNUT..." her boots slammed down in front of the youma, "STRIKE!" Ranma-ne-Moon's arms became a magically enhanced blur as she began raining blow after blow against the youma. Incredibly, the youma was blocking or deflecting the punches. Sailor Moon bounced away, and the monster lashed out with an unnaturally long reach against both martial artists.

To catch the whole thing before I write the next chapter, check it out on Archive of Our Own.

[morlock-holmes]

I wanted to emphasize that I really don't disagree with the OP; it's a tremendously important point.

I just feel that the allistic people who say it almost universally underestimate the scope of the problem.

Suppose I was learning English as a second language, and I say to you, "Hey, how do I make plural nouns?"

You might say something like,

"Well, there's no single one way to make a plural noun. English is kind of irregular about this and it's going to depend on the specific noun you mean. In fact, even native speakers will often use the incorrect plural when confronted with an unknown noun."

Everything you just said is 100% true.

And I have no idea how to make a plural noun.

And what happens when I listen to enough English and realize that in the vast majority of cases adding an "s" onto the end of the noun is correct, and in the minority of cases where it isn't correct people will understand what I mean and be able to correct me?

I have experience in this:

I'm going to be pissed off at you for your utter inability to speak clearly about something that you actually know about.

Here's a story:

Once upon a time, back in, oh, 90 or 91, I would have been in first or second grade, and I was standing in line at school singing a song from a My Little Pony cartoon that I liked. Another boy asked what it was about and I told him and he and another boy made fun of me for liking My Little Pony.

Now, we live in more enlightened times; when I talk about that with people today, they say that's very sad and those boys shouldn't have done that.

I have never, ever, not once in my life found an allistic person who was surprised by that story.

Because, at least in my memory, and in the memory of dozens of other similar incidents, I was surprised! After all, we talked about Ninja Turtles, why shouldn't I talk about another cartoon that I like?

And hey, you allistic people didn't get the rulebook either, there's no consensus in America, so I bet, like, at least half of you will be as shocked as I was back then? You'll be just as surprised as I was that boys weren't supposed to like girl things, right? And how come that second boy joined in? Isn't it crazy that I found two little boys in 1990 who thought it was funny for a boy to like My Little Pony even though they didn't have any kind of rule book either?

Funny how that kind of thing doesn't actually play out that way.

Funny how I keep running into situations where everybody tells me that there's no consensus and no rulebook but somehow 90% of the people I meet act the same in that same situation.

It's funny how often I meet people who tell me that I don't even need to be looking for a rule or pattern because there aren't any and then, 10 minutes later, tell me what an outlier I am, and that maybe I should consider trying to fit in a little more.

By funny, I of course mean god damned infuriating. Sometimes I want to hit people about it.

America has, genuinely and truly, way less consensus on what "appropriate" behavior is than it did 60 years ago. The scope of appropriate behavior has also expanded. When my dad was a kid random people would give him shit if his hair was shaggy enough to grow past the ears. Today I work in a formal restaurant and wear two foot-long braids and nobody bats an eye. Honestly even in my childhood society was so sexist that I am surprised that I've gotten nothing but compliments.

But what has also happened, and there is profound denial about this, is that when people do have concrete expectations of others, they are much worse at articulating those expectations than they used to be. There is more expectation that you conform yourself to the expectations of others by intuiting those expectations, rather than having them explained to you, even in cases where they can be easily explained. There is a profound discomfort, on the part of allistics, (Particularly younger and more left-wing allistics) with articulating what they expect from the people around them.

I cannot emphasize this enough: This is the case even when the allistic person in question has incredibly concrete expectations.

My autistic peeps, I have one bit of advice for you.

Be extremely selective about who you accept social rule feedback from.

Most autistic folks I know tie themselves up in knots, trying to figure out this social rule book that everybody else seems to have gotten, that they didn't get. In fact a lot of the "rigidity" that I see other therapists complaining about can be put down to the natural effects of people trying really hard to find one goddamn rule that will stay put.

The thing is- most people walk around as if they have the one universal, unassailable, common-sense rule book for social interaction.

And they are utterly full of shit.

In the US in particular there is incredibly low consensus about how people should behave. Just go post on twitter about whether it is or is not rude to wear your shoes in someone's house, or as a 70 year old and a 20 year old about phone etiquette. That's before we get into other demographic differences. Don't even get me started on "professionalism".

Neurotypical people get that feedback to, but are, on average, way more able to flag it as either 1) a rule for working with that person/similar people 2) bullshit. NOT as a universal rule they should have already known, that they should feel bad about not already knowing.

The number of things that people actually universally agree on is really low.

So when people give you feedback that the social rule they expect you to follow is obvious, they are often being a total dick.

Ask questions, look for patterns in specific settings, and make sure you've worked on your values enough to have a reasonable ecosystem of guiding principles.

But remember that nobody has that rule book.

[chaoticevilbean]

Another Star Wars AU, TBN*

*To-Be-Named

I love time travel. A lot. So here is a time-travel au, with the CW trio.

Somehow, perhaps by touching a Sith artifact, perhaps by the Force deciding they should, perhaps from some sort of weird ritual the locals were performing that the trio didn't know about, Obi-Wan, Ahsoka, Anakin, Rex, and Cody travel aback in time.

[Please keep in mind that Canon Timeline has died tragically in a fire, and I am but the weeping widow with an inheritance.]

Due to whatever happened, they all also end up (technically) deaging. They still have their memories and their knowledge and skills, just stuck in smaller bodies. They can think and act like adults, but they also have to struggle a bit more to implement Older Skills in Younger Bodies.

Ahsoka is 2. She's nubby. She's emotional. She's tired and sore from her deaging.

She wakes up in someone's office. She's in a spinny chair, a big one with leather padding. It's kind-of chilly in the room.

She's not thinking, because all her brain is putting together is that she's still tired. She grabs the jacket off the back of the chair and pulls it over herself. She goes back to sleep.

Rex and Cody wake up together.

They are their actual age, which is to say they're both about eleven.

They find themselves on Mandalore. In the more wild areas.

(let me believe that there are parts of the planet that aren't covered in city)

(also, this is the Mandalore in the cartoons)

They find a teen trying to wake them both up. Rex has absolutely no clue what's going on. Cody has a vague idea, because this girl looks very similar to a picture he once saw...

Obi-Wan does not fare as well. He is 3.

He wakes up in someone's arms. He's just as tired and sore as the other three. However, he's also got more awareness because he's in someone's arms.

He looks up to see who's carrying him.

He looks around at the people walking with them.

He starts crying. He cannot help this, as he is suddenly flooded with Emotions, and he is Smol. Smol = harder to handle Emotions.

Because Qui-Gon is walking right next to him, tapping away on a holopad as they go. Dooku is on his other side, on a comm call where both parties sound very tired.

And Obi-Wan is being held... by Obi-Wan.

So, yeah, not that great for a suddenly Smol Obi.

Now, Anakin is 8, so he's better off in that perspective.

But he wakes up on some remote planet without anyone around. He just was in the middle of a group, so he ends up kinda panicking.

Then he hears something coming towards him, and he panics more.

He's Tiny! He's Smol! He's massively at a disadvantage against attacks! He can't fight off whatever is on a planet like this!

It's Mace (and Depa).

Anakin, however, doesn't realize this. He has gone Feral.

Back to the beginning

Jango Fett has been very busy w/Important Mand'alor Paperwork all day. He finally has time to go and relax a little, and he makes it all the way down to the exit before he realizes:

It is really cold outside. He is not in armor bc he was planning to only do paperwork today (though he still has many weapons). When one plans to stay in the same room for almost the entire day, one does not wear normal garb.

That said, he has no protection from the cold. He forgot his jacket upstairs. He rushes back up to his office.

He distinctly remembers that he left the jacket on the back of his chair, not on the seat.

He also is wondering what that lump is.

He arms himself, grabs some of his "emergency" armor plating, and walks over to the chair.

He lifts his jacket up, expecting a bomb or some paperwork that fell off the desk, or something logical.

He does not expect to find a tiny Togruta child clinging onto the fabric, whining as they're woken up by his yanking of the jacket.

Jango's brain stutters for a moment, then he kicks into action.

First things first, he wraps the jacket around the Togruta. They thankfully stay asleep. Then he turns up the heat, because he knows the office has gotten colder in the twenty minutes or so he's been gone, and Togruta are from warm temperate zones.

He decides to call, in this order, a guard who can help him watch the Togruta (they did break in, after all), a medic to check the Togruta’s health, and the first person he can find in his contacts that might know an adult Togruta.

Next group

Rex and Cody manage to get the teen to stop fussing over them for long enough to ask for her name.

Her, clearly lying, but that’s understandable: My name is Ine.

Cody, who knows exactly who this is now: Oh, kriff. You’re Duchess Satine, aren’t you? Kriff.

Rex: Wait, Satine? As in the General’s Satine?

Satine, now very suspicious and reaching for her stunner: I think you need proper medical attention.

Cody, looking down at their eleven-year-old selves: Yeah, I think so, too.

They agree on one thing, at least.

Next

Obi-Wan is crying. Loudly, uncontrollably, w/too many Emotions to even care that he’s supposed to be an adult rn.

Other Obi-Wan is very uncomfortable, bc he doesn’t know how to handle children too well.

They found this kid unconscious in the middle of a ruined, abandoned town.

Obi-Wan was meant to hold this kid while Qui-Gon did research and Master Dooku tried to convince the Council that it was entirely necessary to bring the kid back to Coruscant. Granted, they can still give the child to the locals at any time before they make it back to their ship, but apparently the Force is Being Loud.

The Force was Being Loud when it told Master Dooku to come along.

The Force was Being Loud when it led them to that town.

Qui-Gon and Dooku have argued fifteen and a half times on this mission, and an additional six times on the flight here. Obi-Wan is trying to mediate but also doesn’t want to overstep. The Force is Being Loud, sure, but the kid is also Force-sensitive so it might be something off that.

He didn’t argue with holding the kid bc he thought that it was better than being caught between the Masters.

Holding a crying child and trying to get two adults to stop arguing bc they can’t decide how to comfort the kid is not better.

Obi-Wan keeps walking past them to the ship with this baby. He does what he’s seen some crechemasters do to the younglings. The kid eventually calms a little, and he belatedly realizes that both Masters are still behind him, not with him.

NEXT

Anakin is panakin.

He is currently in a state of Feralness. His instincts have kicked into overdrive, full-on Survival Mode.

Depa and Mace do not know this. All they know is that there was suddenly an extremely powerful Force presence that started fading quickly (bc Anakin started shielding).

They burst into sight of Anakin and are suddenly attacked by all four feet and some of Feral Force Child.

It’s all they can do for a good minute or so to avoid losing their fingers, eyes, or untorn clothes.

Mace puts a few things together very quickly.

This planet is uninhabited by any sapient life. Therefore, this child is utterly alone. This child also is clearly strong in the Force, and knows how to hide their presence, for whatever reasons. Mace is a Jedi, and therefore is bound by certain duties.

He decides it is his Duty to get this kid back to Coruscant safely.

Back to the beginning

Ahsoka wakes up to find a familiar face looking down at her. She’s still tired, but not as much. She’s very aware of her size, and does a few quick observations.

She does not fully know who Jango Fett is. She does know that some clones run off bc they hate war and weren’t given a choice an- no. Not going down that path yet.

Ahsoka assumes, semi-incorrectly, that she was shrunk or deaged and somehow found by a rogue clone.

She knows it’s a rogue clone bc they’ve got weird armor.

So she does the logical thing and tries to comfort this clone bc he looks really worried and kinda panicked. She stands up on the spinny chair and tries to balance and he practically lunges to help her and she can’t help but giggle, but it comes out in a bunch of chirps instead.

The clone picks her up and looks really awkward so she pats his face bc that’s the best she can do bc she doesn’t want to disprove the fact she’s two yet.

For all she knows, this rogue clone has no idea she’s actually a Commander in the GAR.

He doesn’t, but for different reasons than she thinks.

NEXT

Rex and Cody go with Satine to the city. They have introduced themselves and said that they were separated from their aliit. They don't know where said aliit is.

Satine is highly suspicious by this point, bc these two kids recognized her with only part of her name, and they were alone, and they speak Basic with Mando'a thrown in.

Basically, she thinks that they're children of people like Death Watch, but she's too young to know that Death Watch isn't really into children.

Rex and Cody get checked over by a medic, but also start trying to get access to some working comms. They are refused on account of being suspicious children (which makes them a little upset bc they're not children)(Well, they are, but not those types of children)

They have not yet figured out that they are in the past, bc Cody and Rex only know that General Kenobi talks about Duchess Satine, and they know about Padme Amidala from General Skywalker, so clearly this Duchess is really young and the General simply viewed her as someone he wants to protect.

They are very very very wrong.

NEXT

Obi-Wan manages to calm himself somewhat now that it's just him and... him.

He is three, and he knows roughly what's happening, so he knows he should probably act like a 3yo.

Unfortunately, he has very little understanding of how child ages work. 3 is smart enough to go up the stairs and communicate with adults, but def. not old enough to speak sentences that are 15 words long with at least 2 5-syllable words.

Fortunately, his older (younger?) self doesn't know children either.

So when this 3yo starts telling him that he needs to leave the two Masters on the planet and head to Tatooine really fast, Obi-Wan is more concerned about the idea than the strangeness of "this is a 3yo suggesting this".

Obi-Wan is really good at convincing people. Including himself. He manages to get Padawan Kenobi to leave supplies where the ship is supposed to be and head towards Tatooine.

He says that the Masters will be fine, they know how to survive, and they need to be alone together in order to work through all the tension. Plus, it gives them plenty of time to talk to the Council.

Toddler Kenobi also tells himself that he'll take the blow and say he used a mind-trick.

Padawan Kenobi doesn't believe him yet, but Toddler Kenobi smiles like a very smug adult and says "you'll get there eventually". What he truly means is up in the air.

NEXT

Anakin, since waking up, knows much less than everyone else. Which is saying something.

He knows he's Smol. He knows he's Alone. He knows Someone has come and they are Strangers.

One thing about Anakin's instincts is that they are very much Survival Based. He was Feral when he joined the Jedi, only he had to hold those instincts back for most of his life bc of being a slave.

A slave cannot bite someone who approaches and Vibes Wrong.

By the time he felt okay with being Feral Out Loud, he also felt safe enough that he didn't need to activate his Survival Mode.

What I'm trying to say is that Anakin does not realize how strong his Feral Instincts are. He has absolutely no control over them rn.

When Mace decides to Help this child, this child is trying to Maul them.

Mace makes a small ruckus to draw Anakin's attention to him so Depa can move back. Depa pulls out her saber now that she won't hit the kid. The kid notices Purple and Bright and Lightsaber.

Lorge Jedi Mind says this is Good. Safe. Jedi.

Smol Feral Brain says this is Dangerous. Mean.

Anakin freezes on sight and just starts tracking Depa's saber. She does one of those things where a snake or something is focused and the person waves the fire or the food slowly to make sure the wolf is watching it and usually they toss the thing away so the snake follows it.

Mace instead takes this opportunity to wrap Anakin in his cloak. And Depa's cloak. And the spare ones in their bags.

Feral Child is not happy with this. Feral Child is also unable to scratch or Maul or do things other than bite and snarl.

Depa carries Feral Child while Mace comms the Temple and they walk back to their ship.

The Temple is having a field day.

First, one of their Shadows reports that a well-known bounty hunter got an emergency message from a pal of theirs that said Jango Fett needs help learning Togruta childcare.

Then they get a call from Dooku, which is not the mission report they wanted.

Yoda: Mission report, you have?

Dooku: Of a sort. We successfully spoke with the locals, then went to investigate a rather large disturbance.

Mundi: A disturbance?

Dooku: We found the source to be a Force-sensitive child.

Mundi: So you are here to ask for more time on the planet?

Dooku:...

Yoda: Bring the child back, you wish to?

Dooku, unapologetic: He is of an acceptable age to be admitted into the Temple, and no other beings were around at the time to entertain the idea of there being guardians.

The Council is sighing and muttering bc this is a Disaster Lineage (and they haven't even met the other two yet). Their call is interrupted by the sound of crying and Dooku saying the child's woken up.

Then there's another Shadow who sends a message saying a set of twins that seem like Death Watch were found by the heir of Clan Kryze.

Finally, to top everything off, they get a call from Mace Windu and Depa Billaba. Two very dignified, not-at-all chaotic Jedi from a perfectly respectable lineage.

Yeah, most of the Council and the Order itself forgets that Yoda had a hand in raising Windu. Yoda "Feral Grandpa" who throws children at every problem. Grandson isn't doing too well? Throw a child his way. Other grandchild is struggling to cope with grief? Throw another child their way. Oh, there's a war going on and newest grandchild is angry a lot? Here's a child!

The entire lineage has a soft spot for children.

Anyways...

Mace: Our mission was a success. We found the artifact and both specimens.

Koth: How long until your return?

Mace:...

Yoda: Found a child, you did?

Gallia: Master Yoda, that's a rather illogical guess. Once is unusual, twice is-

Mace: Oh, did Qui-Gon find a child as well?

Yoda, smugly: Bringing the child back, are you?

Depa, from the background, after a rather loud snarl is heard: We do not bite things, young one.

*more snarling*

Mace: We have no reason to believe he was not alone.

Tiin: *deep sighing*

Mundi: *mild confusion noises*

Koon, eagerly: Please send photos of this youngling. For the archives, of course.

Mace, nodding sagely: Of course.

*extremely loud yowl* *sounds of Mace turning*

Mace: DEPA!

Depa: He nearly bit off my finger!

Mace: That doesn’t mean you pinch him!

Depa: What else am I supposed to do?!

*sudden exclamation filled solely of Mando’a, Huttese and Twi’leki curses*

Mace: So, I don’t know if he speaks Basic, but Master Che should be able to talk him through a check-up.

Yeah, several Council members are experiencing headaches now. Normally, they would have some empathy for Mace and his own stress-induced migraines. They currently do not.

Right after that call, Dooku calls back to say that Obi-Wan has left without them.

Mundi: He left the child with you, right?

Dooku:

Mundi: He left the child with you, right?

Obi-Wan did not leave himself with the Masters. Obi-Wan has listened to Mini-Obi and is off on some wild space adventure to a criminal-run planet.

The toddler won’t stop staring at him. He asks for a name. The kid says to call him Ben.

OW: Is that your name?

“Ben”: It is a name I am called :)

OW: That isn’t what I meant.

“Ben”: I know :)

Ben also keeps staring at OW’s lightsaber. OW decides to make sure the kid doesn’t start playing with it when he isn’t looking.

MEANWHILE

Ahsoka has figured out that she was really very oh-so wrong. She’s on Mandalore. As in, the Mandalore that is under Jango Fett. Bc she’s with Jango Fett. He’s holding her hand bc she was nervous about the strange looking medic (who was just wearing armor, but not clone armor and civies don’t wear armor.)

Ahsoka knows very little about Jango Fett. Clone Buir, Mandalorian leader, tried to kill Master Kenobi. Also dead.

He asks how she got in. She shrugs. She is too small to fight back so she can’t let him know anything. Whatever everything is right now. But also, he doesn’t seem mean or evil or anything.

Oh yeah. Skyguy said that Mandos love children. That's why the clones were so protective of her, even with Skyguy on her side of the argument.

She decides to use this to her advantage. She can probably get herself a comm, and enough time to call the Temple. If she can convince them she at least knows a Jedi, then they can come get her and she'll work from there.

ELSEWHERE

Rex and Cody are getting really upset. This Duchess is really nice, but she's acting really weird and keeps insisting she's not actually called Duchess. No one will give them a comm, they keep getting weird looks for speaking Mando'a even though they're on Mandalore, and Satine's father keeps mentioning a Fett. Maybe Boba's set a bad example again.

Rex starts to fall asleep, to his chagrin. He's too bored, sitting and getting some abnormally extensive check-up. Cody is fine, but he's used to the calm that is General Kenobi. Rex usually has a Togruta teen in the vents and a Human that is never where he's supposed to be.

Rex does, in fact, fall asleep. His "twin" starts glaring when a doctor goes to wake him up. Cody makes it clear that his brother is like Cat: once asleep, you do not wake.

Satine is giggling, but trying not to let the others hear. Cody does. Cody looks at her. They have a stare-off.

Cody goes back to glaring at the doctors. He will not admit to any emotions besides Protect™.

BACK TO

Obi-Wan and Ben have made it to Tatooine.

[some-messed-up-writing-for-you]

Short Prompt #107

"I... I have to tell you something, boss." - the henchman started, nervously wringing her hands together. "It's- It's important."

"Well, take a seat and tell me then." - Villain replied as he pointed to the chairs standing before his desk.

The woman walked closer slowly, trying to buy herself some time to try and figure out how she was going to explain this. She sat down directly in front of him, taking a moment to study his patient expression.

His calm demeanor helped ease her mind, and so, she decided to be straightforward.

"I-I'm pregnant, sir."

The villain's brows lifted slightly. "Oh. Well, don't worry," - he said with a small smile and dismissive wave of the hand. "This happens pretty often. I may be a villain, but even I understand my minions are people with needs and desires."

"Uh- Yes, but- um-" - Henchman stuttered, confusing her boss.

"Is... there more you wish to tell me?"

The woman's gaze fell, glueing itself to the wooden desk. "Y-Yes, sir. I-"

Her eyes fell closed, muscles tensing as she prepared for the worst.

"The- H-Hero's the father."

...

Silence. Villain doesn't make a sound in reply, and it makes the henchman panic. She starts to ramble, hoping to make this better somehow. "I- We met as- as civilians, and I- I didn't r-realize at the time, I-"

"Henchman." - the criminal cut her off, voice steady, not giving away any of his inner thoughts. "Does... Hero know?"

Tears prickled at the woman's eyes, and she nodded her head. "Y-Yes but he- he thinks I'm just a r-random civilian. H-He doesn't realize I w-work for you."

"...What did he say? How did he react?"

A sob crawled out of her throat, which she failed to hold in. "Hero... He... He revealed his s-secret identity and- and u-used his hero w-work as an excuse... S-Said he... he c-couldn't w-wa-ste h-his time o-on..."

A hand on Henchman's shoulder stopped her, and she opened her eyes in surprise, having not expected the sudden contact. As she looked up, the villain caught her off guard yet again. His other hand was extended to her, holding a tissue.

She took it, muttering a quiet "...Thank you..."

"So... if I'm understanding correctly... Hero ditched you...?"

Not trusting her voice, the woman nodded again.

"...I see. Now I hope this isn't too personal of a question, but... do you have any feelings for him...?"

A bit puzzled by his tone, the henchman looked at her boss. A shiver crawled down her back at the look on his face. Although he appeared calm, the years she spent working for him let her easily identify the rage and bloodlust hiding in his eyes.

She swallowed the lump in her throat. "N-No, sir..."

He gave her that trademark 'I'm gonna fuck shit up so hard they'll regret pissing me off' smile. "That's good to know."

"Now then." - Villain started, standing from his chair. He moved around the desk and over to her. "You're officially on maternity leave."

He motioned for her to follow, and Henchman rose to her feet, trailing behind him towards the door. "You return to your courters and get some rest. I'll worry about Hero, yeah?"

"A-Alright. Th-Thank you, sir." - she said, giving him a small smile as he stood in his office doorway.

He smiled back. "You're welcome, Henchman. Now off you go," he shooed her away gently, earning a giggle from her.

Once she left, the villain retreated into his office and closed the door. Now that he was alone, he allowed his face to twist into an angry snarl.

He had already planned on catching Hero. Granted, it was only for the purpose of getting information out of them, but now...?

Oh, now...

Now Villain would cut Hero's fucking dick off and break all of his worthless bones for daring to hurt his dear Henchman.