#I mean with literally 0 effort on my part.

[girl-with-bones]

hi hello i am a different person you have never met. also I vaguely dislike you for some reason

huh wow that's a really mean thing to say. Why would you do that. I'm sure this will net me zero internet points for having a funny response and/or displaying an inflammatory statement that gets people to interact.

Thanks, different random person. What a funny and/or shocking spontaneous interaction we're having.

[akirathedramaqueen]

The bias is not always conscious

And that's the case with Stolas. That's it, that's basically the post, so you can count it as your tl;dr, but let me elaborate. :)

(A little gratitude note! Sorry @tealvenetianmask, I failed being concise here, but I thank you for encouraging me to put it all together :3 I also thank you for our conversations about Stolas and about museums in particular which heavily contributed to it)

I think there's some misunderstanding when people get offended by the suggestion that Stolas acts classist/racist. It seems that people assume we’re implying he is malicious and intentional with it, but the actual problem is that he doesn't think.

S2EP2, Seeing Stars, 1:29

The problematic behavior we're discussing is reflexive and internalized. Stolas was raised in an environment where the lower demon class is looked down upon, and while he believes he expresses nothing but deep respect for Blitzø and treats him as an equal…

Goodnight, Blitzø. S1EP7, Ozzie's, 14:50

And while you can see from this bow that this intention is sincere, which is both wonderful and fascinating—he preserved this profound gesture ever since he was a kid, despite being actively discouraged from doing so!...

[Stolas]: I'm Stolas! It's nice... Ouch! [Paimon]: Don't bow to that one! He bows to us! Idiot! S2EP1, The Circus, 7:40

He was still raised in privilege and influenced by the narratives around him. For him, it's acceptable because that's what he was taught is fine. It's part of his everyday speech, and he never actually asks Blitzø, or anyone else, how they feel about the literally belittling nicknames (like literally—do you notice how often he uses the word "little" when referring to imps?).

I mean... there's a lot, okay? I'm just going to pull out some examples off the top of my head. All of them are from Season 1, and I'll explain why later.

I was hoping you brave little imps would accompany us! S1EP2, Loo Loo Land, 5:15

Ugh, that's better... Where's Blitzy? He's my knight in shining armor, not you, littler ones! S1EP2, Loo Loo Land, 13:22

And it [grimoire] isn't supposed to be lent out to itty-bitty imps like yourself. S1EP5, The Harvest Moon Festival, 0:30

Greetings, tiny Wrath Ring imps! S1EP5, The Harvest Moon Festival, 8:22

[Stolas, in the background]: Who dares threaten my little impish plaything? S1EP6, Truth Seekers, 18:20

How the fuck did you get caught by humans? Are you little creatures not being careful up here? S1EP6, Truth Seekers, 19:38

He also takes pride in being part of Ars Goetia. That pride seeps into his mind whether he wants it to or not. He lives in a huge palace, never worries about money, can arrange a seat in a club that’s always booked out, and gets admitted to a hospital immediately, while hellhounds wait five years for a Hellbies shot.

Being part of the Goetia family is rather valuable, you know. S1EP2, Loo Loo Land, 4:39

Most of these examples come from Season 1 because, after the disastrous Ozzie’s date, Stolas begins to unconsciously cut back on this language. He seems to sense that something is wrong, though he doesn’t fully understand why. However, he is acutely aware of the problems with the transaction and the unfair dynamics it creates, and he is serious about putting Blitzø on equal ground by providing him with the means to run his business independently of Stolas.

And still, he maintains full control over the conversation during the Full Moon meeting, immediately dismisses Blitzø after one mistake, and throws him out. He continues to impose his narrative on Blitzø and…

I don't look down on you! How many times do I— When have I ever?! S2EP9, Apology Tour, 2:45

When have you ever indeed, Stolas? You literally look down on Blitzø saying that. This moment illustrates the problem clearly. He isn’t lying when he says he doesn’t look down on Blitzø because he genuinely believes he doesn’t.

Despite all said, Stolas is making a tremendous effort and is progressing, and he is far ahead of Stella, who is openly classist/racist and very conscious of her biases. So I believe—no, I know—he will get there one day. But not today.

This is something I take quite seriously, and I think people need to understand how dangerous this subtlety can be, as it happens all the time in real life too.

How often do you ask yourself why medical research groups are predominantly represented by white, cis, upper-middle-class males, and how this affects the efficiency of treatments suggested in these studies for everyone else—women, people of color, non-binary folks, and those who struggle financially?

How often do you visit museums and see art created by wealthy aristocrats who defined what constitutes 'fine art,' while 'folk art'—often created by marginalized communities—is overlooked and lost to time?

I could elaborate further on how deep and cruel this bias is, but I’ll stop here. I just ask you to consider why you might get offended when someone points out Stolas's subtle bigotry and why you might downplay it compared to the loud, aggressive Blitzø, whose anger and avoidant issues are obvious.

Just sit with it.

[ivryne]

late night, telephones ˖ ࣪

⋆ ᳝ ֺ alhaitham x gn!reader | modern high school!au

— in which Kaveh made it his life mission to find out who is his roommate’s secret lover. [ pt two here ]

“Yes, goodnight darling. I’ll see you tomorrow. Yeah, love you too.”

Accidentally overhearing Alhaitham’s late night phone call was one thing Kaveh didn’t plan on. But hearing those words spur from his literally cold-as-ice tongue made him question his existence. Alhaitham?? Being affectionate with someone???? Saying ‘I love you’ back??? Was Kaveh about the be called up to celestia and live his remaining life with the primodial one??

Okay it’s not even about the fact that he called them darling. OR THE FACT THAT HE SAID I LOVE YOU BACK. Even though those facts alone were something he desperately need to talk about later. But one thing Kaveh was mostly surprised at was the fact that someone wanted to be affectionate with him.

That made him wonder. Like the green haired moron does literally nothing but sit and read. Without his pretty face, perfect brawns, and outstandingly smart brain, he would be nothing. No but seriously, did you ever see Alhaitham taking a step forward to start a conversation? No, exactly! In fact he’s the one that takes the initiative to stop them.

So from now on, Kaveh decided to make it his life mission to find out who exactly is willing to suffer for the sake of being with Alhaitham.

Going to his lists of candidates he has…uhm. He can’t really think of anyone right now rather than the librarian that spends 24/7 in the library. I mean he guessed they do have one thing in common. But no let’s cross that out.

Oh yeah! Alhaitham was in the student council. He was there as secretary! Okay that opened up a few spots for some people Alhaitham could be dating.

Okay so far here is his list:

1. Vice president of the student council, Cyno

Notes: possibility 40%. Seen them talk before but they hate each other sm. Honestly giving enemies to lovers vibe but didn’t Cyno had a thing w Tighnari? Idk need to check again.

2. Student council head of social media department, Nilou

Notes: possibility 60%. Very very pretty, single too (I think??) Seen them talk but I think only abt student council matters (or is it??). Kinda too good for Alhaitham. She doesn’t seem to be the type that likes cold guys. Does that cross her out??

3. Student council head of sports department, Dehya

Notes: possibility -100%. Definitely not. Rumour spreading around that she’s dating Dunyazard. Ship them sm ngl if she turned out to he dating Alhaitham I’ll kill him for ruining my ship. But overall definitely not.

4. Student council president, [ Name ]

Notes: possibility 25%. Nah bro they too good for him. They’re literally the definition of social butterfly and he’s likes the opposite. So many ppl chasing after them fr so if they turned out to be taken by Alhaitham, I’ll personally go back to celestia myself.

So far that was the list! It was okay so far but he needed more evidence. The one with most percentage on his list was Nilou. He’ll have to ask around to find more candidates too. But he was sure that the list of candidates wouldn’t be more than 5.

Before you questioned Kaveh to why didn’t he just asked Alhaitham, it’s because he would just stare at him blatantly and said “It’s not your problem” ! Honestly, getting an answer from Alhaitham aside for calculus matters is extremely difficult.

He did his research and observations. Alhaitham goes to the library every day (literally). He spends his time there reading the same kind of shit he does at home, staying quietly at a remote corner, away from all the other students.

There was no way this man is taken. The problem is he doesn’t even try. Like at all. 0 efforts. If Kaveh was his lover, he would’ve dump his ass in public and let him suffer the embarrassment. The worst part about that is the fact that he probably won’t even care!

After what seemed like 30 minutes, Kaveh decided that all was hopeless and finally went his merry away. Ah, if only he stayed just a minute more. Then he wouldn’t have missed your approaching figure heading towards the man whose nose is stuck in a book.

“Hi.” A small smile graced your lips, your eyes melt into those turquoise hues, one that reeked of fondness and admiration.

No words of greetings has yet to leaves his tongue, but the way he scooted over to the right, indicating you too sit by him was more than enough.

“So, when are we going to tell him?” Alhaitham averted his gaze from his book unto you. His eyes slightly squinted, showcasing evidence of him clearly thinking.

“Is it really equivalent for him to know?” Your boyfriend asked, earning a soft chuckle from you.

“Statically speaking, not really. But the way he’s searching for candidates is so hilarious and amusing to watch, don’t you think, darling?” Alhatham lifted his book up to eye level, covering the dust of pink that shimmered around his features.

He pondered awhile before replying “Ah you’re not wrong. It is quite the fun to see him run around chasing for some bit of evidence. A mastermind are you, my love?” Now it was your turn to flush shades of red. You can see the smile of adoration on his eyes cascading through the shades of his irises.

Times like these are where you love him most. Where the two of you sit in the presence of one another, quietly scheming and watching that friend of yours running around like a detective on a case. Seeing him desperately looking for the answer when it is right in front of him, sitting cross legged and maneuvering the most amusing smile.

do not repost, share, or copy ! Reblogs and likes very much appreciated!! Thankyou for taking ur time to read this hope you enjoyed it! Follow me for more xx

©️ shrslair.

[ljbrary]

You absolute dunce. Either wake up, or stop trying to pretend you care about what’s happening on Gaza. It’s not a “war,” and it’s not a “conflict.” It’s a full-fledged genocide. A war or conflict can only occur between two free nations, who are more or less standing on equal ground. That is NOT what is happening between Palestine and Izrahell. In what kind of a conflict/war does one side control the water, electricity, food, aid etc going into the other side? None. It’snotreal is a parasitic, violent occupation, and the Palestinian people have every right to resist. You have literal Holocaust survivors begging for ceasefire and calling it a genocide, not wanting it to continue. But of course, zios are just modern-day nazis and don’t care about what even the actual Jews, the living Holocaust survivors have to say.

omg my first antisemitic anon hate!! thank you!!!!

Anyone who I actually care about knows who I am as a person and how I feel about the sanctity of human life, so I don't really care about your opinion of me, and especially don't feel the need to indulge in a litmus test on geopolitical politics from you of all people, hope this helps!!

Anyway, I hope you take constructive criticism.

Your review:

Delivery: 6/10.

You get points for decent grammar and sentence structure. It was easy to read, and I like how you used quotation marks correctly, so bonus points for that. First sentence was a good hook, but the incorrect use of commas at the end kinda threw me off a little :/

Creativity: 1/10.

Literally, did you even try?? Not one single independent thought was expressed. Boring. Seen it before. Try harder, please. If you're going to try to play with words, make sure you actually know what they mean; you semantically can't do that to the word "Israel," sorry. It's a Hebrew word, so butchering it in English just feels really juvenile. Would like to have seen better effort with that.

Word choice: 0/10.

You would have gotten points for the words "dunce," because I haven't heard that word since like the 1930s, and "parasitic," because I thought that was an interesting use of the word, but unfortunately you got points taken off for using a KKK slur :/

Literary devices: -17/10.

The Holocaust inversion was not part of the rubric, so I had to take extra points off for that, and unfortunately it went into the negatives. Sorry :/ (I would have given you points for the use of irony, when you equated a KKK slur for Jews to the entity responsible for the worst genocide of Jews in history, but I'm absolutely sure that you did not use it on purpose, so the points were voided.)

Other notes:

The choice to be a coward (anonymous) really added to the ambiance of the message, but unfortunately I don't see a spot on the rubric for that, so no points were awarded.

Overall: -10/40 = -25%. Congrats, you failed! Disrespectfully, go fuck yourself!

.עם ישראל חי

[steamberrystudio]

27/08/2023

So now that Gilded Shadows is wrapping up, I am promoting When Stars Collide from "Spare time project" to "Part time project"

What is the difference? Well, when I work on something in my spare time, that means it is late at night or the weekend. Literally when I am not doing anything else and just feel like tinkering with it. 

As a part time project, this means that I will be spending an hour or two each day during the work week to do things for this project. It will start making more steady progress even if I'm not focusing on it full time.

This is basically taking it from me spending 0 - 4 hours on it a week to 8-10 hours on it a week. 

My goal is to have the draft complete before the end of the year (by 'draft', I mean 'rough draft'). But more on that below.

Summary

Finished all scenes for the new chapter three

Finished Yren chapter 6 scenes

Started catching Kav's route up to the others

Edited Asher's CG to account for the new conference room BG

Small adjustments to Wil's first CG

Ramble

This week my big focus for WSC has been on writing. As I mentioned, I really want to get the rough draft completed by the end of the year. Currently the draft is nearly 70% complete (for those following updates in multiple places, when you see different percentages....it's because I've written more since then. Rofl).

Now, the draft was nearly 70% in the past as well but I added another route since then, so I lost some progress due to the increase in target word count. I'm also calculating things more precisely now as I created a newer and fancier writing spreadsheet to track my progress and keep myself on track.

I went back and wrote in the new chapter 3, reorganising all the existing chapters and scenes to accommodate it. 

I finished Yren chapter 6 (which catches him up to Noel and Raif). 

And now I'm working on catching Kav, the new character, up to Yren, Noel, and Raif. (Remember, Daaz and Asher's routes are already fully drafted).

I have written about 15000 words since my last update here. I don't expect to write that much every week and my goal is actually a fair bit more modest than that. Gilded Shadows is not 100% complete yet. I still have multiple KS related things to finish and, of course, I will be making corrections and focusing on its beta testing once testers have had a bit more time with it. 

WSC is still a part time project. This was just a particularly good week for it.

I have also worked on a few other things for WSC - mostly UI related and some art related things.

I received a new BG since my last update, and realised that...I have to revamp all the existing CGs. Or at least update them to change the background elements. I've only edited one so far but I don't think it'll be too much effort to fix the others.

And I continue to streamline and adjust the UI to make it look nicer and be more efficient.

So...

Kav. The new character. Kav'isari Tiaine, a Ka'mérian crew member who works in the space labs most of the time and specialises in identifying alien technology (what species it belongs to and what it does).

To explain where Kav came from, he actually popped into my head months ago. And every so often, I would contemplate whether or not I wanted to add him. I would say I first had the idea in January or February of this year. I would repeatedly think about it and dismiss it.

I then mentioned it to a friend sort of off-handedly back at the very beginning of June. A month and a half later, I mentioned him on a voice call on my server knowing full well that if I really talked about him and had a conversation about him, I would probably end up doing enough character brainstorming that he would become "real." And I talked about him anyway.

And that's exactly how he became an actual character. I think I had his sprite sketched out by the end of that day.

But he had existed as a concept long before that. The main reason I was willing to add him instead of ruthlessly telling myself no is just that I felt there was a gap in the cast for a gadfly style character who has a little mystery to him. And I just knew I could manage another route based on the length of Asher and Daaz's routes.

So...yeah. That is how Kav came into being. His introduction into the story has caused a few minor changes to standing lore or things in the prologue (just mentions of him, etc). But the changes to the currently public content of the game are pretty minor.

Kav won't actually appear in the game until Chapter 3. He gets mentioned a few times up to that point. There are some logistical considerations to his route but I have talked about those more on Patreon.

Speaking of Patreon, now that WSC is moved into "part time" status, I will be starting to slowly release some Patreon-exclusive lore posts for this game there. Like most games monetised through Patreon content, the lore posts will not be critical to having a full and complete game experience. Rather, it is going to be comprised of additional and extra lore content.

Some of the lore content released on Patreon will be in the game (such as character back stories) but Patrons will get to see it early and will get it presented in a different format.

Much of the content can be considered "extras" rather than necessary.

I will also be updating on the development progress weekly there (available to all patrons) rather than bi-weekly, and my updates there (going forward) will tend to be more detailed than the ones here.

Once episode releases start, Patrons will be able to access them before they the public releases. But backing on Patreon is not necessary to be able to play the game and get a full and complete game experience. It's just how this particular game will be monetised as I'm looking for more sustainable release styles so I can continue to make games.

That is all for this update. I will see you in a couple of weeks to talk about WSC again!

[maespri]

my thoughts on the your turn to die percentage sheets

i keep thinking about how strange the percentage sheets are in your turn to die. so. here’s my thought dump. everything under the cut.

spoiler warning for the whole game, just in case…

so. from my understanding, they’re based off of the AI test runs of the death game, or off of the characters personalities prior to being put in the death game. but how exactly would either of those things work?

for starters, if they’re based off the AI runs, then the percentages instantly become unreliable the moment any uncontrolled variable enters the death game. in this case, that would be joe and (if im remembering correctly) nao. joe and nao presumably were not part of the test runs, considering the fact that neither character had an AI made for them in chapter 2 (besides joe, technically, but he wasn’t part of the main panel, so… he’s up in the air). therefore, the fact that they are in the death game instantly makes the percentages null. it’s like throwing a slice of banana into a smoothie full of vegetables- it may seem small, but now the entire composition of the smoothie is totally different.

literally every characters percentage could be different based on the sole fact that joe and nao are in the death game. you might assume it would only really affect sara or mishima, but this isn’t true at all- from big questions, such as who would’ve picked up the sacrifice cards in chapter 1 and 2?- to small questions, like… in chapter 1, would sara have ever even opened that door under the bar that shin couldn’t get open if joe hadn’t done it?

we’ve heard that sara’s percentage was only so high because in every run, she would do terrible things to win, becoming increasingly violent with sole interest in self preservation. so joe was put in to be a handicap for her. but, once again, this makes her percentage- you guessed it- inaccurate! it would presumably be considerably lower with joe there.

if the percentages are based on the characters personalities prior to the death game test runs, based on what asunaro has gathered from watching these people for forever, i think that actually only makes them even more inaccurate. that means the percentages are entirely based on assumption. just because sara can be an intense person, does not mean she would have the highest chance of winning. similarly, just because shin is weaker than a newborn baby, doesn’t necessarily mean he would have a 0% chance of winning.

so, here’s my thing with the percentages. i think either way, it fails to consider one of the games overarching themes, and a topic i could go into extreme detail on in another post: humans are inherently good. and inherently very unpredictable. and AI can never replicate that, no matter how accurate asunaro’s data may be on these people. they can run the AI death game a million times, but the robot versions of each person cannot perfectly simulate how a real human would genuinely act in such a situation. this is also because AI can imitate fear and desperation, but it cannot actually feel it, and i’d argue feeling is the driving force behind every decision characters make in this game.

another thing i want to note is the concept of zero probability and impossibility, which basically just means the chance of something happening can never be 0%. anything can happen. and that means that in at least one simulation of the AI death games, each character won, even if it was only 1 time out of 1 billion runs. which means that shin’s percentage absolutely could not be 0%.

it does the beg the question of why asunaro made the AI’s at all, because if they put that much effort into them, i don’t think they would A) make their data totally unreliable by throwing in unknown variables during the real thing, or B) run all those death games tests and collect the data. i honestly think the AI’s were solely to impede the characters.

this isn’t to fault the game at all, however- in fact, i think the percentage sheet is incredibly genius if only for the amount of chaos it causes. it’s a completely unreliable piece of information, and yet shin sees it and thinks, “15% versus my 0%… ok, this seventeen year old girl is my WORST enemy now…”

another thing that i’m too lazy to figure out for myself rn but is a question i had- do the percentages even add up to 100? because i don’t think they do. which begs the question of what they’re actually out of. sara has a 15% chance of winning, out of… 100? out of 20? out of 50? out of 1000? i know percentages don’t have to add up to 100, but it just adds to the unreliableness. technically, we don’t know what these percentages are measured out of.

i guess my overarching point here is just that the percentages sheet is really interesting, and simultaneously really useless and unreliable. but that’s what makes it so interesting. i think it instills a feeling of dread and uncertainty in the player seeing how low certain percentages for other characters are, or maybe it instills confidence and superiority seeing how high sara’s is. either way, it definitely helps you understand why shin acts the way he does once you figure out he’s known about the sheet from the beginning.

anyway. that’s it. i’m sure someone else has talked about this or everyone knew about it blah blah blah but. whatever i had fun writing it out. Peace and love

[pencileraser1]

:0 penny for your thoughts on Neil, Charlie + Knox and their parental relationships?

ok so i have had a post floating around in m drafts about this that i just didn't finish so here it is but finished:

charlie and knox in the drop the annual scene in particular i find interesting. watching charlie specifically you can tell a lot about both his relationship with neil and his relationship with his parents. when neil and mr. perry leave the room and he just kinda looks at the door with this sort of angry, almost vindictive look and it was like. he knows!! he understands exactly what neil's father is like!! and then there's the "so i don't like it any more than you do" line after that which makes it clear that charlies parents are about as controlling an neil's father. we put so much emphasis on todd's relationship with neil but i think neil and charlie's relationship is also really fucking interesting. overall the way charlie deals with how controlling his parents are is very different to neil (intentionally acting out vs. trying incredibly hard to fulfill their expectations) but their parents are actually probably extremely similar in a lot of ways.

i've always gotten the impression that knox had a good relationship with his parents, particularly when compared to neil charlie and todd, but i didn't really have any concrete reasoning other than just inferences. after rewatching the movie the last few times i think its just how he seems so content to mostly do the things his parents want him to do. he goes to the danburry's kind of rolling his eyes about it but other than that seems fully content just to go. he's the one who tells neil to tell his dad off. neil points out that knox and charlie don't go against their parents; charlie's says that he doesn't like being controlled by them either, and knox says nothing. plus from one cutscene you find out he's in the "sons of alumni" club. which doesn't necessarily mean anything but could?? i guess. he says that his parents will kill him for trying to go after chris but still does it without really thinking about the consequences, which contrasts with neil doing everything he can to prevent his father from finding out about the play and charlie submitting the article in a way that is hinted he did to get into trouble on purpose.

idk i just think the contrast between knox vs. neil vs. charlie's relationships with their parents is interesting. like all three having specific expectations put on them but while charlie and neil very much don't want to fulfill those expectations, knox doesn't seem to mind being exactly the person his parents want him to be. additionally i do think knox's parents may be a lot less strict which probably also adds to that difference. meanwhile charlie and neil definitely seem to feel the stress that's being put on them by their parents, but act in opposite ways because of it. neil tries extremely hard to follow what his parents want him to do whereas charlie is shown repeatedly and intentionally acting out because of it. instead of hiding everything he does that his parents wont approve of like neil, he makes what he's doing extremely obvious. the most obvious time was submitting the article to the school paper, to which nolan literally tells him that he isn't the first student to try to get expelled. and while i'm not sure how hard charlie Was trying to get expelled (i don't think that was the only motivation although it was probably part of it, the movie makes a point to tell us that and probably wouldnt've if it werent true. and in the end he does get expelled. neil on the other hand tries so hard to not directly go against his parents that he decides that killing himself is the best option. his justification of "i can't tell my dad i'm in the play because if he doesn't know, i won't be directly disobeying him" is very telling. and finally while knox does say that his parents will kill him if he tries to get with chris, he makes very little effort either trying to hide it from his parents, or trying to make it obvious in the way charlie did. he seems to actually be most concerned about chet danburry's reaction, and that is the only person he does anything different because of. while his parents may be mad at him for getting with chris, he likely isn't nearly as concerned about their reaction, given that other than mentioning they'd be mad, he does nothing about it

[utilitycaster]

Wizard Breakdown Tracker: Mighty Nein Reunited, Part 2

Gather ye wizards while ye may, though with the return to Campaign 3, we are finally headed to Yios, where there are wizards, once we finish with the Gloomed Jungles, where there are were-creatures, which are also very cool. The hierarchy is, as always: paladins; wizards; were-creatures; literally everyone else; dhampyrs, kalashtar, changelings, and "hey DM, can I play a tiefling bard with intelligence 7". But I digress.

Ludinus Da'leth: So at this point (ie, shortly post-this episode), Caleb, known bridge between the Cerberus Assembly and the Cobalt Soul, has taken a job at the Soltryce Academy, which means any efforts to make a new, slightly more palatable volstrucker program and quietly keep it from Archmage Becke are going to go straight out the window. The walls are closing in, and he doesn't even know that Jester can go to the Feywild. 7/10.

Astrid Becke: Caleb listened and took the job! That's one success in what's got to be a thankless new position in many ways. Also I still really want to know who the hell has become Archmage of Antiquity, or if the Assembly just writes that one off as "make a deal to bring back a powerful Age of Arcanum entity and raise it to godhood once, shame on you; make a deal to bring back an powerful Age of Arcanum entity and raise it to godhood twice, shame on us and also what the fuck are we going to do with two nickels in a society that uses gold, silver, and copper currency." 3/10; Astrid's doing better than she ever has in this tracker, and good for her.

Eadwulf Grieve: Caleb is still keeping him in mind, which is good, because he really is like...look, he's a wizard, so he's not dumb muscle, but compared to his two former lovers he's very clearly the 'And Peggy' of the bunch. On the other hand this means he's probably just organizing the Temple of the Raven Queen Yulisen Night Potlucks and inventing the Exandrian equivalent of Minnesota Hot Dish or something. 0/10.

Yussa Errenis: Is aware of the storm on the horizon. Is chilling in his tower. Is largely unbothered. Other people pointed out that while he has developed a reputation for fucking around and finding out, he has also technically never physically left his tower to do so, which is honestly impressive, but does explain why Beau did not have to bamf out a partially dissolved old wizard when she ended up in Uk'otoa's gullet. Anyway, glad he's keeping up with Caleb and making potions. 3/10, for being aware of the storm.

Allura Vysoren, whose name I keep misspelling: Yasha did give Kima back the sword, and Caleb doesn't seem to have her staff, and she helped make a new, cooler sword! 2/10 for League of Miracles reasons only.

Essek Thelyss: Still under a lot of political pressure, regardless of where he is...but he's also getting, as Figueroth Faeth would say, his kisses in, so better than I expected! 5/10.

Caleb Widogast: So here's the thing. It is, as the other post said, about the green beans. And it is, as my last iteration of this said, not time for deep Caleb meta in here. But I do have a lot of thoughts about the similarities between Caleb and Fjord, as I always do, and about how neither of them really had much of an understand of what happens in their life past That One Big Thing They Need To Do, having already woken up at some point and been like *Mitski voice* I used to think I'd be done by 20. I do feel that the Caleb Widogast of part 1 of this two-shot was truly a Caleb Widogast who could go either way re: the T-Dock usage, and the Caleb Widogast of part 2 of this two-shot is not; the event has not (in my understanding, at least) occurred but the decision has unconsciously been made. Also he's dating Essek and he gets to have Dragon Time, which sounds like Floor Time but better. He does get a 4/10 though, because he takes it upon himself to become the Mighty Nein's Social Event Coordinator. As someone who just had to cancel a carefully scheduled D&D session for tonight because I am sick but also the DM and if I have to talk for 2 hours while simultaneously using my brain I will cry, this is very stressful.

Veth Brenatto: Camp's going great! Only one kid died, and not permanently! 1/10.

Known Gem Wizard Hotsauce Lutefisk: Oh so the demigod leviathan CALAMITY SNAKE gets released from its prison beneath the sea, three seals in three temples broken in under 18 months, and yet, I, Halas Lutagran,

Bonus!

Warlock Breakdown Tracker

Fjord: For real? Who knows. I personally imagine that it does, as they say, briefly go to 11, because though Uk'otoa is dealt with and Zehir seems to have understandably gone "you are way too interested in love and the ocean for me to give a shit, I'm going back to bed", Fjord (not unlike Caleb) has to sit with the fact that he's done with that and he's happy OH GOD HE'S HAPPY WHAT THE FUCK DOES HE DO WITH THIS. Also he has to deal with the orphanage, which is going to be traumatic and unpleasant for sure, plus you know someone named "Grankton" is going to be holding a massive grudge against the world at large. But with time, it settles back down somewhere more reasonable, only to briefly spike and resolve again during Kingsley's little maneuver. So you know. Some numbers, probably.

[stuckinapril]

hey cianna!! love to me anon here (i don’t know if you still remember me, but here’s to hoping!), and i wanted to ask. how do you know when you’re absolutely done. like, i’ve given everything i ever had to everyone i’ve ever met and it’s still not enough.. but. there’s always a “but” to my mindset and words, and even though i’ve tried to fix it over the past few months, it’s just not working. i don’t know what else to do nor fix anymore

I’m done when I see that the person is willing to put 0 effort into trying and nothing will change. I’m done when I realize that the person has checked out of a relationship (romantic or platonic) and at this point I’m chasing breadcrumbs just to feel like they really care. I’m done when I see they refuse to communicate about the problem. I’m done when all the sweet memories I have w them are from a long time ago rather than recent, meaning I’m clinging on to a version of them that no longer exists.

Have you asked yourself just why you’re willing to extend so much grace to people? I feel like it’s easy to say “bc I’m just patient” “I’m attached to them” etc etc but I have had this issue before, and on digging deeper I realized a big part of it was bc of the scarcity mindset. I was scared that I would not find any better if I were to cut them off, or I was attached to a version of them that no longer existed, or dysfunction was all I knew and I literally could not even conceive the idea of more healthy, more dynamic friendships. I’m not saying that you should liberally cut off anyone you don’t 100% mesh with, but you should really uproot the reasons as to why you’re okay with disrespecting your own boundaries over and over for people who’re not even willing to return the effort. For me it boiled down to insecurity.

To reiterate, I’m not saying you have to dramatically cut them off or anything. This really depends on a case to case basis. But at the very least, dedicate less of your time to those who drain your energy and more to those who nourish it. You will be so much happier for it.

[pluralthey]

can i ask for more about shiloh? She has such an unique design and her and Jessie's relationship seems interesting :0

shiloh is hard to describe from any one angle i feel like. when i made her character, i needed her to be someone who would immediately catch jessie's eye just walking past her, someone who would willingly enter a relationship with god without fear, and someone who had some kind of power in the relationship between them. she ended up as someone older, more experienced, and more confident than jessie, someone eccentric and unafraid to look the part, and someone who isn't necessarily trying to drown but isn't trying to paddle to shore either.

as a naked mole rat, she can't really feel pain. whatever fear reflex people learn from pain, she did not, although other naked mole rats might still have more self-preservation due to a natural predispositions. i see her as someone closer to having an unnatural level of analgesia even for a mole rat; she isn't incapable of feeling pain, but it will only be in areas where a lot of nerves would be clustered anyway, because adult naked mole rats' pain tolerance comes from a reduction in nerve population to conserve biological resources (they are born with a normal amount, and i think shiloh was born with an already reduced amount of receptors that became even sparser). that's not to say that shiloh doesn't feel fear, but it isn't in the back of her mind in the same way it might be for others. she doesn't look at a flame and think "i shouldn't get too close to that" without actual conscious effort to recall it.

shiloh seeks rather extreme sensations, partially due to a perceived sense of physical ennui, with the other component being a literal sense of ennui. the thing i see in common between her and jessie is a pervasive sense of boredom or dissatisfaction. extremes are more unique. they're less predictable... less boring. i've said it before but i think her relationship with jessie could easily still work out without the god powers due to jessie's erratic emotional states and stupidity - they make her entertaining to shiloh and force her to think in new ways if only to explain a concept she feels is common sense. this is Because shiloh is a person constantly seeking relief from boredom.

she is a super spiritual, but not religious (at least, until god announces herself...) person, and she could probably be described with nietzschean philosophies. she had a hard time believing free will existed prior to The Jessie Event and certainly stopped believing in it after that; it doesn't make sense in a world created by an all-powerful god. shiloh, however, channels this nihilistic take into a strong belief in fate. she may relinquish control in ways other people find absurd because she wants to see her fate. she wants life to have meaning very badly - otherwise, it's all noise... boring, boring noise. actually, i already wrote about this a while ago in my notes. here:

shiloh can frequently be passive because she deliberately refrains from constructing narratives. She wants a meaning told to her by life instead of finding it herself. This lack of an intrinsic narrative makes her particularly receptive to a wide variety of ideas and subtleties, but it also makes her unable or unwilling to definitively shut the book on the relationship with Jessie no matter how many red flags.

aside from that stuff... shiloh is a logic-driven person who seeks and finds patterns easily. novelty often feels meaningful to her because she can quickly categorize interactions, and novel interactions can't be categorized without fabricating a new category. you'll see her in the story notice more about jessie manipulating reality than jessie would prefer even when her memories are altered because she notices discrepancies in patterns that jessie just. does not. as a foil for jessie... shiloh is also kind of a pleasure maximizer, whereas jessie is a pleasure satisficer. if you've never heard of the maximization paradox, it's an interesting topic and very relevant to shiloh in particular: maximizer types will sacrifice more resources into a decision for additional options in order to (potentially) maximize the return on the decision -- however, this type of behavior reduces satisfaction. the more thought and effort you put into a decision, the less satisfying the decision tends to be. (jessie as a satisficer picks primarily from immediately available options based on the most satisfactory result and finds even childish, stupid solutions gratifying as an exercise of power, conversely.)

i've described shiloh as a "this is how it is" person, which can sound like someone who's kind of rolled over on their back and submitted. she's like this whether she's the one dominating or being dominated, though. she's not morally bankrupt like jessie, but she's not the most moral person, either -- especially in terms of choosing to intervene with suffering instead of remaining apathetic. like what happens to her, what happens to others is fate. it's more interesting to see what happens to them than trying to impose a desired meaning onto reality. notably this acceptance of both dominating and being dominated means that, while she prefers to submit and have the powers that be decide, she is willing to exercise her own power, and she enjoys doing so when she does. when i mention things like shiloh seeing taking GOD's virginity as a badge of pride or knowing she's going to be living in jessie's head rent-free forever, the knowledge that shiloh is someone who enjoys having power over others can make it make more sense. it isn't a side of her that gets much attention in the story because she simply can't exercise that much power over someone all-powerful. any act of outsmarting jessie is temporary as she learns. i think i find her to be a uniquely interesting character because while i have to have other characters who ultimately accept jessie's godhood, shiloh is a character who DOES NOT shy away from how fucked up it is. some of the other characters may just hope it turns out well or cope by assuming they're only dreaming, but shiloh is like "this is horrible and it's actually kind of fucking awesome"

i think i talked a lot about her psychology that makes her feelings for jessie sound detached and manipulative, she is just... smitten. in her own way. she is a detached person, but she still has human feelings and investment in an emotional life.

[youraveragecatastrophe]

Rating VILE operatives' codenames in french

(Season 1 edition)

Black sheep = Mouton Noir. Literal translation. It works. Longer and more of a mouthful than Black sheep though. 9/10

Crackle = Crackle, or should I say Craqueul. God does the french accent shine through in those English words, it's embarrassing. Anyway they didn't try very hard but Crackle is nice. Short, sweet, straight to the point. Though it's not a french word, it's close enough to french words and onomatopoeia like crac and craquement to bring to mind electricity with a threatening edge. Deducting a point because it's still not that transparent for french speakers. 9/10

Le Chèvre = La Chèvre. YES YES THEY CORRECTED MY BIGGEST PET PEEVE!!! "Chèvre" is a feminine noun in french, you say "la chèvre" and never "le chèvre", it just doesn't make sense. I am so happy. 100000/10

El Topo = El Topo. You know what they say: if it ain't broke... Also very glad they didn't translate as there are few names in spanish. 10/10

Tigress = Tigresse. Literal translation, which works well bc the two words are very close. The french pronounciation keeps giving me a double take so I'll deduct a point. 9/10

Mime Bomb = le Mime Marteau ("marteau" literally means hammer but it's also a colloquial way of saying "crazy"). Okay I used to think it was fucking stupid but I was just an uncultured swine. It references Marcel Marceau, aka "le Mime Marceau", a french mime and actor. I do prefer Mime Bomb bc it's both funny and gives a subtle air of menace, while to me "marteau" only conveys weirdness, but Mime Marteau is pretty good too. 10/10 for the effort.

Dash Haber = Dash Haber. 0 effort and it's not even a pun in french, for fuck's sake. 2/10

Paperstar = Origamine. There's been an effort, I'll give them that. This is a portemanteau word of "origami" (don't think I need to explain this one) and "gamine" (feminine form of "gamin", french informal word meaning kid). Buuuut... why would Paperstar call herself a kid. Yes, she has a soft singsong voice and does that humming thing, but she doesn't really... make it part of her identity?? She looks young but she doesn't strike me as wanting to be called a kid. 5/10 because i'm still very lukewarm about it.

Cookie Booker = Cathy Compta. Cathy like the name and Compta as the shortened version of "comptabilité", as in "accounting". This is the worst name ever. I love it. It HAS to be the name of a character from an old game or show because they would never have just invented it for the 2019 show. It's cheesy and sounds absolutely terrible and it cracked me up, this is so classic Carmen Sandiego. 9/10

[lady-of-snails]

bae what are ur thoughts on the new bnha chapters and how the ending is looking so far!!! i've been a fan of your fics since the beginning (since "snail has bkdk brainrot" had three parts LOL) and i know you haven't posted fics in a while but would LOVE to here ur interpretation/perspective on the canon events/the trajectory of bkdk's relationship!! i love how you illustrate and characterize their relationship sm and thank u for all the joy you've brought me through ur work the past few years!!

omg an og snail reader hi!! ty for the love <3 and UGH my thoughts about the ending,,, i will put them under the cut to hide spoilers!

honestly? i'm a fan of bkdk's ending!! ik its not the canonization everyone dreamed of but i actually love that there were 0 canon ships by the end :') so often stories feel like shakespeare comedies where absolutely everyone has to get paired up in some way even if that doesn't make sense, and i'm really glad hori didn't do that!! esp with ochako and izuku - I HAVE SO MANY BIG FEELINS ABOUT OCHAKOS ENDING TOO BTW :')) I LOVE HER SO MUCH AND I LOVE THAT SHES CARRYING TOGA WITH HER AND ACTUALLY MAKING AN ACTIVE EFFORT TO CHANGE THE WORLD (even though i HATE that toga died and think that shouldn't have happened,,,).

ok, as for bkdk specifically - QUIRKLESS DEKU GETTING TO STILL BE A HERO??? KATSUKI CANONICALLY DEDICATING YEARS OF HIS LIFE AND MONEY TO MAKING DEKU'S "IMPOSSIBLE" DREAMS COME TRUE BC HE CANT STAND THE IDEA OF IZUKU NOT BEING A HERO BY HIS SIDE?? KATSUKI CANONICALLY DREAMING OF BEING A HERO WITH IZUKU FOR THE REST OF HIS LIFE?? literally what more could i realistically ask for (except for a final hand holding panel,,, hori pls we were so close </3). in my mind that is canon bkdk they love each other so much they're best friends they get to be heroes together, AND we get to see that deku really CAN be a hero without a quirk :') i loved the bait n switch ending where u think it's just gonna be deku saying "at least i can still inspire people" (which is sweet but a lil cliche) and then NOPE,, ur gay ass boyfriend changed his entire belief system just bc of you <3

the development of katsuki throughout the whole thing just means SO much to me,,, he grew up so much and now hes an ADULT and he's so beautiful :')) and the devotion that he and izuku show each other throughout, whether or not it has any specific labels, means SO much to me too (esp as a person who doesn't always feel comfortable with labels of any kind). the fact that hori emphasized that it was KATSUKI who drove the fundraising efforts, but also that all of class 1-A worked together, is just lsdskldklsd izuku is so so loved :'))

and god. i love ochako so much. her moments in the last chapters were so dear to my heart, watching her break down while trying to hold it in behind a smile was so painful and so izuku-like of her and i was so happy when he came over the hill to comfort her because those two are so similar and they are so best friends and their relationships means SO MUCH TO MEEEE. ik im rambling im just,, full of love for these characters.

and they all love each other so much,,, in so many different ways. and that just really strikes a chord with me <33 and pro hero bkdk and support gear deku are CANON!!! lfg

[debbiechanclub]

(disclaimer that I’m not out here simping for or trying to defend a million dollar company, just a fan with frustrations)

the njpw/aew partnership has always felt incredibly unbalanced. FTR didn’t defend or talk about the IWGP tag belts and skipped out on WTL, Kenny (as much as I love the dude) has done 0 with the US belt, AEW did nothing to promote Willow being part of the Strong Tournament. Desperado set a match with Mox and that didn’t get mentioned. They didn’t even talk about Dominion until after it happened. New Japan social media and commentary make a big effort to keep continuity and talk about things going on in their partner promotions.

Even with Takeshita. DDT has tweeted about the heel turn, their wrestlers have mentioned it, I cannot remember the last time DDT was even mentioned on the show

I get that All Together Again and the Road Tour means 90% of their roster is booked up and it would be a struggle to appear live. But a build to a show doesn’t need to be done 2 weeks before. This is something we should have had going since tickets went on sale. Or at the very least, ask them to film backstage promos to send in, not just play the promotional videos and press conferences that New Japan did themselves.

Sorry, you sent this after I fell asleep, but I agree with everything you've said! Like, I'm not even trying to shit on AEW―it's just facts.

FTR and Kenny were the first people I thought of when Aussie Open had to relinquish the IWGP and Strong tag titles even though Mark would only be out 6 weeks. And Kevin Kelly explained at a later date that if the Dominion match hadn't been set they could have just kept the titles which, okay, fine. But that doesn't change that FTR and Kenny just sat/are just sitting on their respective titles. Also, I was Big Mad when Kenny defended the US title against Jeff Cobb on Dynamite and not a few weeks later at Capital Collision. Like, that's an NJPW belt, my guy. Kenny by God Omega coulda shoulda woulda brought soooooo many more eyes to Capital Collision/NJPW. (And I thought he would have known better, too? That was his home for years?)

But you hit the nail on the head—it's an unbalanced relationship and I frankly don't know what NJPW is getting out of it? Forbidden Door 2 is probably gonna be another routing of their talent like the first FD was.

And like you said, there's absolutely ways to work around people not being able to come to America in order to build a feud/to a PPV. But like I said to that anon, David Finlay been around and available. AEW had the time to meaningfully address the long, long history between him and BOTH Jay and Juice. Juice literally turned on Finlay to join Bullet Club and now Finlay is the leader and you're just gonna ignore that?! And Jay's been exiled from NJPW but he's still out here acting like he's in Bullet Club?! As if (in storyline) Finlay would just allow that happen?! PLEASE. Make it make sense.

Editing to add: there's still a chance to meaningfully introduce the White/Finlay feud AT Forbidden Door. As I said, Jay's been kayfabe exiled from NJPW (and working with NJPW talent, I believe?), so he really SHOULD NOT be anywhere near Toronto on June 25th if they're gonna uphold that. But he could show up because it's also an AEW event. And then Finlay could show up and be like, "Wtf do you think you're doing?" And boom, there you go. I HOPE that happens, genuinely. If not... I will fly to Florida just to smack Tony Khan.

[mqfx]

id love to hear your thoughts on jyl! freudian or otherwise, with however many mentions of soup that you prefer 🥺🤲

just saw this :0 well i wouldn't say that i have many intelligent thoughts about jyl anymore especially since i don't really get the chance to talk about mdzs / cql much so i'm afraid i'll have to disappoint you on this count (which makes me a hypocrite i know)

but i did go insane below this line so watch out!

but i will say again what i said a few weeks back about us (fandom, society--you choose) missing out on a broader richer storytelling experience (?) when we continue to look over women's stories to get to the "more interesting" men because "well the author made more content about them so there's more to work with". not gonna belabor this point bc many have already pointed out that people will come up with all sorts of elaborate headcanons to talk about mr. blorbo who showed up in the back for ten seconds but nary a word to spare for the women who did quite a lot of narrative heavy lifting. did you know that i literally found a fic where wen chao becomes a ghost and gets together with qi rong in the underworld? do you see the same effort given to women with a similar level of narrative importance or prominence?

in this case part of it IS the fault of mxtx; more named men have died in mdzs than there are named women characters in it altogether (and even then, most of those women died too!). let's count:

women: wen qing, granny wen, jiang yanli, yu ziyuan, luo qingyang (mianmian), baoshan sanren, cangse sanren, a-qing, madam jin, jinzhu and yinzhu, meng shi (jgy's mom), qin su (jgy's wife). i bolded the ones who are dead by the end of the series (total: 13 women, 11 of whom are dead)

"important" men who died: wei changze, jiang fengmian, jin guangshan, jin zixuan, jin zixun, jin guangyao, jin rusong (child), su she, wen chao, wen zhuliu, wen ruohan, wen xu, wen ning (came back), song lan, xiao xingchen, xue yang, nie mingjue, wei wuxian (came back), mo xuanyu (total dead: 19, or 17 if you don't count the resurrected, 16 if you don't count the child)

13 total women characters vs let's say 16 dead men. and i'm sure i missed a few (<- nearly forgot xue yang) but who cares right now. what does this say about mxtx's priorities as a writer, or at the very least how women figure in her imagination?

''but charlie! they had a great impact on the narrative!" this is true. without meng shi's suffering there would be no raison d'etre for jin guangyao. without baoshan sanren's teachings there would be no xiao xingchen and song lan's tragedy, and no a-qing means we wouldn't even have known. no cangse sanren means no wei wuxian means no story at all. no wen qing = no core transfer. no jiang yanli = no jin ling, no yunmeng brothers, no heart to tether them from falling off the edge of morality (both have committed heinous acts in war regardless but jiang yanli represents for them why they had to do it. she's their home and their family that they fought to protect--and for what!) i could go on with each one, but my point is that if you take even one of these women out of the story, it all falls apart, right?

so why don't i hear anything about them?

and because you asked and i love you, let's focus on jiang yanli here: WHY is she more often than not excluded or otherwise glossed over in all the myriad discussions about how tragic the yunmeng brothers are? was she not also their sibling, their family? did she not also suffer the war and the near-total wipeout of her sect? the death of her husband? she DID but no one seems to give a shit about her unless it's to fucking call her SOUP as if that's the only thing she did!

no paragaph-long popular elegiac posts on her experiences and the incredible fortitude it might have taken not only to withstand all that but to do so with nothing but forgiveness? (speaking of forgiveness: that she forgive jin zixuan at all? out of unwavering love????) because it's not easy to stay kind in regular real-life conditions let alone what she had to face, on top of which was the daily terror that she might lose the last three people in her family she depended on as a non-powerful woman in a misogynistic society. how much of this was because mxtx couldn't be assed to develop her character, and how much of it is actually because despite what mxtx might have written, most people would not even notice because she's a woman?

the thing with interpreting fictional works or talking about characters is that you can't accurately pinpoint how much of the character was authorial intent, how much is your projection, and how much was a happy accident. what makes the curtains blue? i could just as easily say that "jiang yanli was the strongest character in mdzs because unlike the men who used their pain to justify their descents into crimes, heinous acts, and corruption, she (who had suffered equally or worse) managed to remain steadfast to her principles" as i could "jiang yanli remained static as a character because mxtx couldn't think of a way to develop her, or otherwise didn't give a shit about her role aside from sacrificial lamb for wei wuxian's and jiang cheng's pain".

but we can't even get to those goddamn discussions when people refuse to take her as seriously as they take their fucking war criminal beeboos so i'd be wasting everyone's FUCKING TIME

[an-aura-about-you]

I have finally got my house mostly clean including fully cleaning my bathroom, so let's see how much Handbook for Mortals I can do during the rest of my lunch.

going into Chapter 10 part 1:

when we last left our hero, Scheherazade hadn't really done anything, but we saw a bunch of boys gushing about her. seems kinda ironic since one of those characters bothers to mention that girls gush when they like a guy and we hadn't actually seen that yet.

anyway, Chapter 10: The Hanged Man

-tbh I can't think of the Hanged Man without thinking of Drumbot Brian in High Noon Over Camelot, and I would probably enjoy this a lot better if the Mechanisms showed up and caused a bunch of violence.

-Zade, as usual, is thinking about Mac and Jackson, but this time she's at the same bar where the gang celebrated Drew's birthday! idk if I mentioned that Zade wasn't there because she doesn't actually make an effort to make friends.

-she once again says Mac and Jackson had been friends before, but again, we don't really see this. Jackson spent his part of the last chapter needling Mac about how he's going after Zade. that is literally the only time we've seen those two interact and it was antagonistic.

-here we are, 11 chapters into the book (remembering to count Chapter 0) and we FINALLY get something resembling world building, and it's cribbed from Queen Terf's magical British school system books because Zade tells us it's frowned upon for those with magic (no I am not gonna spell it with the k) to get with mortals.

-this is also the first time Zade mentions ANYTHING about her father, and that's saying he's a mortal. this is insulting with all the other shit she's keeping under wraps about her dad.

-Zade's like, "I wasn't marrying anyone," as if we haven't been hit over the head every single time someone brings up dating that a long-term commitment is expected. girl, forever is not guaranteed. what happened to just dating people? for fun?

-quotations are placed weird in this bit:

Jackson was close to perfect minus the whole "just a mortal situation"

also

...something I hadn't quite place [sic] my finger on.

-"It could just be fear and my lack of ability to want to make a decision." excuse the fuck outta me?????? I'm so mad that this is going unexamined. you KNOW you're gonna have to make a choice at SOME point right? if you're insisting that the love triangle is the most significant thing going on in this book, that means you're gonna have to figure out WHY you don't want to make a decision. is it the destiny bullshit? do you have any agency at all??????

-this following passage pisses me off so bad:

I have always hated making tough decisions, but usually the tarot was far more helpful than it had been so far, considering that it hadn't given me a clear-cut winner no matter how I asked it. Its "freewill clause" must have been behind some kind of weird lesson I was supposed to learn.

first off, you IGNORED a trump card in your spread because you ~didn't know why it was there~ meaning you're skipping over any insight you might have gotten from it. (though if we're going with my interpretation, you overlooked it because seeing it would have meant admitting to yourself that you're the problem.) you also overlooked part of the nature of the Lovers in your spread, a fairly important part since its imagery was mirrored in another card in that same spread.

second, what the fuck do you mean by this "freewill clause" bullshit???? I know you're some kind of fatalist, but if that's the case why are you even entertaining the idea of free will? and if you're not a fatalist, then you know that means the cards are telling you that YOU'RE the one who has to make the choice on this one, right?????

I get. so very mad when tarot cards are viewed this way. they help you make decisions through interrogation, meditation, and self-examination, not because they're a 78-sided die in a Magic 8 Ball!

(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻

my poor tarot cards are now scattered all over the floor.

and my lunch is basically over so we're putting a pin in it.

[merakiui]

AAAAAAHH THE SCARA FIC!!! it was so good!! the part where he's mean to us for attempting to receive help from teyvatcord rather than the internet ( ; ω ; ) and the fact u call it teyvatcord instead of discord is so cute!! honestly I feel like that small detail made me enjoy it 10x more because I'm a sucker for little canon eastereggs—and!! the harbingers and knights of favonius mention (scaras right, that name is lame!! like, who names their team 'knights of favonius') T_T sobsob <33 scara being mad at his teammates was so adorably funny hehe — that whole little segment was so funny and domestic , him mocking us and the little bickering between us <33 AND!! THE ENDING (＠_＠) don't even get me started orz.. he was surprisingly cute and somewhat nice T_T and his little ego-boost and cocky demeanor after finding out it was our first time!! (>_<) and, and!! him crying at the end aaaaa my heart orz

AND I SEE U ALREADY UPDATED UR LUNAR LOVE HOTEL M-LIST (≧▽≦)!! it's cute how u give us a little snippet and idea of what the next work will be about and who will be featured (excited for the idia piece!!) :3 I'm not really sure what u plan working on next (I think u mentioned dru? :o) but either way I am so excited and ready for anything u post (๑˃ᴗ˂)ﻭ reading ur work always makes me happy; your blog is an addiction for me!! (>_<)

I hope u have a good rest of your weekend and make sure to rest up if you can!! :D u deserve any and all rest u can get after all the effort and work you put into feeding us so well ^_^

AHAHDHWHF (ᗒᗣᗕ)՞ I LITERALLY JUST SENT AN ASK IN BUT I FORGOT TO TALK ABOUT HOW MUCH I LOVED SCARA COOKING FOR US (｡T ω T｡) he was so cute and such a little loser wanting to make sure we got three meals a day and keeping us comfortable (＞﹏＜) and the way we were teasing him about it aaaa!! the crumbs of scara's domesticity while being in his captivity LOLL

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LOVELY, WONDERFUL, SWEET ANON, THANK YOU FOR SUCH A KIND MESSAGE OMG!!!!! ＊*♡( ⁎ᵕᴗᵕ⁎ ）

I'm very flattered you liked the little easter eggs I sprinkled throughout. I like the sound of Teyvatcord; it's really cute, so I'm happy you could enjoy it as well! And the Knights of Favonius versus Harbingers for the tournament Scaramouche was complaining about... I had fun mentioning it! Hopefully his team can win in the tournament!!! ᕙ( •̀ ᗜ •́ )ᕗ and subtly dropping Xiao into the story, too!! >:D aaaaa so many fun little allusions are packed in there!!

But I'm glad you liked the part where he's getting angry at his teammates (writing "can you stop spamming the chat for five seconds, Tartaglia? Damn!" had me cracking a silly smile because I could hear it in his voice so perfectly). I had so much fun writing that scene and his banter with Reader!! They have such a fun chemistry. >0< and his ego boost at learning you're a virgin!! He shouldn't let it feed his pride too much because he's also a virgin LOL. I had fun writing the sex scenes. Scara is so cute and lovable when he isn't being a bully. <3 originally, he was going to be very mean and it would be more so punishment sex than anything, but I liked the idea of Scara softening over the fact that it's your first time as well. Even he can be sentimental at times hehe!!

And cooking for you yes!!!! Beyond the death threats, he cares in very subtle ways and one of those is making sure you're always fed. It's perfect domestic malewife energy. Scara just wants you to be content when you're here as his kitten-captive-roommate???? All of those things... orz he's a loser, but he's a loser who cares and isn't that so sweet!!!! ^v^

I did indeed update the masterlist hehe!!! :D I'm happy to know you're looking forward to Idia's ficlet! As for what I am working on next, the upcoming chapter for DRU is halfway complete, so I might release it before finishing "The Most Dangerous Game" (a yan!Jade fic). After those fics, I'll either finish Dr. Riddle, the next Bittersweet Secret chapter, or begin writing yandere!Trey. I hope those fics can be something you can look forward to!!! (˚ᗜ˚*)

Thank you again for enjoying what I post!!! <3 I'm glad that it can make you happy!!!!! And I will be sure to get plenty of rest! Please also make sure to get enough rest and eat delicious foods and drink water and don't forget to take any medicines or vitamins you may need!!!