#I'm not sure what kind he is so if anyone can identify them i'd really appreciate it

[zelzahdarkcloak]

[May 11, 2023]

snek

[nightlyrequiem]

It’s my first time sending ideas so sorry if I’m not clear enough 😔.

I have a vague idea of Valeria x fem! Reader being on an arranged marriage, readers family owed big money to el sin nombre therefore your fam didn’t had enough to pay desperate for forgiveness Valeria offers taking you instead and leaving your loved ones alone. You were feisty at first not fond of the idea until you knew you were trapped without a way out, accepted your destiny, it wasn’t that bad at the end you had a luxury and power. U can add smut if your write too 🤭..

-🦋🦂

Hi! This is such a fun idea. I've always wanted to try my hand at writing the arranged marriage trope. If it were me being married off to Valeria, I'd fold so fast, can't even lie. That woman has me in a chokehold. Also, so sorry this took me a bit, life finds a way of getting in the way 😔

This is also longer than the one-shots I typically write. About 3019 words :3

Tags/Warnings: Arranged Marriage, kidnapping, WLW, Smut ✂️

In Sickness and in Health

Your relationship with your parents has never been great. Not bad, but not what it should or could be. They never treated you horribly, didn't scream at you or beat you as a child. They just kind of left you alone. They cared, in some way. But deep down you know you'll never come first to them. You've never come first for anyone. Which is why you're feeling a little confused when one day, your parents start really paying attention. Feeding you healthy meals, Booking doctor's appointments. Inquiring about where you've been. You're a little old for them to be trying to parent you. You've been saving up money to move out of town, your brain is only a few years short of full development.

You like the attention though. It feels good to be noticed and worried after. To look into your mother's eyes and see interest instead of boredom is something you could get used to. One Saturday night your parents sat you down in the living room and told you to pack everything you'd need for a long vacation. Your father had been saving up money so you could travel Europe together. Your mother didn't seem as excited as you expected her to be but who are you to deny yourself the chance to experience Europe? So many countries you could visit. Austria, Romania, Czechia? With your parents no less. Maybe things will be different. You can still have a good relationship with them.

You're confused when you get home from work one night a few weeks later to see a woman and three suspiciously dressed men. The balaclavas unnerve you, but your parents are sitting in the living room with them calmly. There is of course a hint of unease identifiable in their body language but there's no sense of urgency. Everyone's head turns to look at you, much to your discomfort. You're still wearing the skimpy waitress uniform from the club you work at. Your steps slow to an insecure stop. The woman drags her gaze over your body.

"Am I interrupting something?" You ask awkwardly. You don't like the look of these people.

"No, Honey." Your mother murmurs. Giving you a strained smile. "Come in and have a seat, we have some... some things to discuss."

You can tell by the tone of her voice that whatever it is, isn't good. Reluctantly you walk into the living room. Sitting down next to your mother. She puts a heavy hand on your shoulder but doesn't look at you.

"This is Valeria." She says quietly. "Valeria, this is my daughter." She says your name. You glance at your dad, confused by the situation. He also refuses to meet your gaze. staring ahead stoically. Valeria smiles and offers her hand.

"It's nice to finally meet you." Her tone is light and friendly. You still don't trust her.

"Sure." You nod. Taking her hand and shaking it. It's softer than you were expecting. Your mother gives your shoulder a squeeze.

"Do you know why I'm here?" Valeria asks. You feel a hint of dread. 

"No."

Valeria turns to your mother. "Why don't you tell her?" She says.

You also turn to look at your mother. Your brows furrowing. Your mother sighs and rubs her hands like they're cold.

"Your father and I..." She trails off. "We made a mistake." You stay quiet, letting her continue. "And we owe some money to some..." She casts a furtive look at Valeria. "Some dangerous people."

You frown. You don't have to ask to know it's the cartel. Although, they seem to be pretty civil. The situation isn't so dire. Not yet anyway. "Is that how you're able to afford this sudden vacation?" You ask. "You borrowed money?"

"There isn't a vacation." Your father pipes up. You turn your head to look at him, confused.

"You cancelled it?" You ask him, feeling disappointed. Unless the money hasn't already been spent you don't know why you can't go anyway.

"No, there wasn't one to begin with." He clarifies.

"You had me pack for one." You reply sharply. Time and time again they'll never fail to disappoint you.

Valeria leans back.

"A vacation?" She murmurs, raising a groomed brow. "It's one thing to not tell your daughter, but to get her to pack her things under false pretenses? You're colder than I thought." She sounds amused, which only adds to the growing pit of dread in your stomach.

"What are you talking about?" You snap. Addressing everyone. "Why did I pack? What's going on?" Neither of your parents will look at you but your dad answers your question.

"You'll be leaving with Valeria."

His quiet words stun you. A warm, soft hand grabs yours and you look at it's owner. Valeria has her eyes narrowed at you. "I'll take good care of you." She promises.

You rip your hand from hers like you were burned.

"What do you mean?" You grit out. You're confused and everyone's answers are only giving you more questions.

"Valeria has agreed to forgive our debt in exchange for you." Your mother whispers.

"I am not a bartering piece. What the hell is wrong with you?" You hiss at her. Hurt and afraid. You don't want to go with this woman. Your mother looks up at you with sorrowful eyes.

"They would've killed us." She says. "You understand it's between life and death, right? Please, just do this for us." Just do this for us. What have they ever done for you? Why are you paying for their irresponsible actions?

"No." You snap. "You don't get to ignore me for my entire life and then demand that I sacrifice myself for you." 

"You don't have much of a choice." Valeria says casually. She crosses her arms over her chest and gives you a cold look. "I'm taking you regardless of what you want."

You level her with a stubborn glare.

"You'll have to drag me out kicking and screaming." You mutter. Already you hate this smug woman. 

Valeria simply shrugs. "That can be arranged." Suddenly one of the big, masked men descends upon you. Roughly hauling you to your feet. You gasp and struggle. Kicking and squirming. You're much weaker than you thought. "Bring her to the car." 

"Put me down!" You cry out. You make it as hard as you can. Dragging your feet and thrashing. You try to wrap your ankles around a chair leg, but he just gives you a sharp yank, dislodging you.

You're rudely shoved into the back of a nondescript black car. You swiftly pull back your fingers back as he slams the door, narrowly avoiding having them crushed. You stare at your dark reflection in the tinted window, you're in shock. In the span of ten minutes your life has changed. You try to open the door but to no one's surprise it's locked. You look towards the front. There's a man in the driver's seat scrolling on his phone. You know better than to ask him for help.

You look around. This isn't happening. You scoot to the other door but just before you touch the handle it swings open. You startle and back up against the other side. Valeria gets in beside you. Calm and pleased, like the cat who caught the canary.

"Your bags are in the other car." She says to you. "If there's anything you're missing just let me know."

"My freedom and rights." You growl. Valeria gives you a small smile.

"Cute. That attitude will get old fast though." She remarks. She buckles herself in and tells the driver to go.

The silence is heavy and foreboding. You can't stand it, and you can't stand not knowing why she's doing this to you.

"Why did you take me?" You ask.

"Because I wanted you." She says simply. Wanted you. Like you were a nice coat or necklace she saw in a shop window.

"What are you going to do to me?" You question. All kinds of grim possibilities flash through your mind.

"You're very inquisitive." Valeria mutters. Turning to look out her window.

"Answer me." You demand. Valeria sighs.

"We are going to get married. Your parents owe me money, but I've been watching you and I've decided that you'd make a fair exchange."

Her words give you pause. "Marriage? You've been stalking me?" You don't know which one you want to be more upset over.

"No, watching." She corrects. "I frequent the club you work at for business, and I see you all the time."

"So that means you have to force me into a marriage with you? What's the point?" You snap at her.

Valeria scoffs at you. "Having a pretty woman waiting at home for you is a big morale booster."

You scowl at her.

"I'm not marrying you. You can't do this." You say angrily. "This is kidnapping, it's not legal." The town passes by through the windows. Buildings become less and less frequent.

"No?" Valeria replies irately. "Really? Kidnapping is illegal?" She sounds annoyed. As if your distress is inconveniencing her.

"You can't do this to me!" You raise your voice. Valeria's hand shoots out quick as a snake strike to grab your face roughly. Squishing your cheeks painfully.

"I can do whatever the hell I want, and I'm going to let you know right here right now that I will not tolerate your whining." She says with a dangerously quiet voice. 

The rest of the drive passes by in a blur. The car finally stops outside of a nice-looking house, and you're ushered out by Valeria. She drapes an arm over your shoulder. You shrug it off, but she just puts it back on you. Pulling you close with more force than she needs to. A warning. She leads you to the large front doors. Staying on the stone pathway bisecting the yard. Wild plants and cacti sprout up from the dry ground. You don't get much time to observe the scenery as you're dragged inside.

Even the way the lights illuminate the foyer are wealthy. The floors are polished and clean. The door rug is also somehow clean. Even the side tables are matching. Not at all like the mismatched furniture at your house. The men drop off your bags and leave. Closing the door behind them. Valeria lets you take it all in for a few seconds before speaking.

"Do you want something to eat, or do you want to take a shower first?" Valeria asks you, taking off her shoes and neatly arranging them off to the side.

"I want to go home." You reply.

"You are home, pasta or stir-fry?" 

You scowl at her. "I'm not touching anything you make."

"Then you can go hungry." She shrugs. "The bedroom is upstairs, feel free to use anything in the bathroom.

You started eating after a few days. It felt like a betrayal to yourself, but you were growing weak. You refused to sleep in the bed. Instead bunkering down in the living room. Getting your sleep on the couch. Every day Valeria tried to interact with you and build some kind of a bond and every day you met her efforts with hostility. Everything was much less... eventful than you thought it was going to be. Even the wedding, which wasn't really a wedding. She just took you down to the courthouse where you signed the papers. No dress, no celebration, nothing.

Valeria was also so much more respectful than you thought she was going to be. She uttered a few threats here and there, but nothing came of it. She didn't beat you or force you into bed. You had free reign of the house and occasionally she'd give you things. You pretended you didn't care. That you didn't want anything she got you, but when she was gone you found yourself trying on the clothes and jewelry she bought you. Admiring the way they looked on you. Valeria... wasn't as bad as you thought.

You spent the day on the couch. Stuffing your face and rotting your brain with reality TV. Valeria made you quit your job. You were pissed about it. In no way did you want to be financially dependent on her, but you didn't have a choice. The argument that followed was loud and a little violent. You screamed at each other and threw things. Now that you've taken the time to rest and relax, you think you were a little too harsh. You check the time, noting that it's going to be another few hours before she returns. The dust has settled into an uneasy peace between the two of you. You get up and walk into the clean kitchen. You'll make her an apology dinner. You still don't appreciate her kidnapping you and forcing you into a marriage but it's not that bad. You don't have to work, don't have to worry about money, really what else could you want?

Valeria returns home just as you finish cooking. You nervously watch her walk into the kitchen and lean against the door frame with her arms crossed.

"Smells good." She compliments. You carefully divide the portions up between the two of you.

"Yeah, thought I'd make supper this time." You reply. Placing the plates at opposite ends of the table. You take your seat and look at her. Valeria regards you with caution.

"It's not poisoned, is it?" She asks. You're a little offended but you can't blame her for being wary. Not with how hostile you've been.

"No." You say. "... I wanted to apologize for how I've been acting." Even though your feelings are more than reasonable. Valeria slowly nods and rounds the table, sitting down. 

You begin to hungrily eat but Valeria picks at her food. Clearly not reassured that you didn't do something. Your first instinct is to lash out and get angry but that will get you nowhere. 

"Pass me your bowl." You say. 

"Why?" Valeria asks, furrowing her brows.

"Just do it." You sigh. Valeria slides her bowl over to you from across the table. You make pointed eye-contact as you lift her spoon to your mouth, eating from it. You slide it back. Hoping she decides to eat now.

You finish before she does, just watching her as she eats.

"This is really good." Valeria murmurs between mouthfuls. 

"Thank you." You say, relaxing. "I was just making stuff up as I go." 

Valeria finishes and gets up, taking both bowls to the sink. "You should cook more often." She hesitates by the sink. Watching you. You've been pretty lonely lately, has Valeria always looked that good? Her hair is a little messy and her dark brown eyes are half-lidded. Your eyes rove over her tan, toned forearms and the tattoos that decorate them. You stand and join her by the sink with the excuse of washing the bowls. She doesn't move and your arms brush. Your skin tingles at the contact. You can feel her staring holes into the side of your head.

Valeria clears her throat.

"I got you something." She says, reaching into her back pocket. "Hold out your hand." She gently drops a necklace into your waiting palm. The delicate chain feels cold. You pick it up and look at it. "I found it on the ground, it reminds me of you." 

You frown and look up at her. "Should I be offended?"

Valeria smiles with amusement. "No, it was glinting in the sunlight."

"And that made you think of me?" You murmur dryly. She leans in a little closer.

"Yeah, it was just another thing on the ground, but it shined and caught my attention."

"That's really stupid." You say. Closing your hand around it. You two stare at each other.

Your back hits the wall with a dull thud as Valeria's lips press against yours. You don't remember taking it off, but your shirt is on the floor, the soft fabric protecting your bare feet from the cold. Valeria's hands fumble with her own shirt before you're both left in your bras. Her hand runs down your waist. Savoring the feel of your skin. You grab her shoulders and back her up into the hallway leading into the living room. Her legs hit the edge of the couch. She drags you down, maneuvering herself on top of you. She breaks the kiss to hurriedly slide your pants off of you, wasting no time in palming the heat between your thighs.

Her own pants don't stay on for much longer. Joining yours in a small, crumpled heap beside the couch, your underwear not far to follow. She presses her dripping cunt against yours, making you see stars with how hard she's grinding down. The room is filled with a cacophony of moans and grunts.

"I knew you'd come around." Valeria pants. "You're so good for me, making me dinner, I wish I could get you pregnant."

You feel yourself throb at the comment. "Fuck." You whine. Valeria's tits demand your attention. Bouncing in your face with each movement. Your hands smooth over her bare back, dragging over her shoulder blades and onto her chest. Valeria grunts as you give them a gentle squeeze, watching the full flesh spill through your fingers.

You shift your legs so you can wrap them around her hips. In turn, Valeria leans down to bury her face into the crook of your neck, biting and kissing you. Your hips buck up to meet hers, your clits dragging against each other. Your orgasm slams into you and you go rigid. A high gasp leaving your parted lips. Valeria isn't too far behind you. Her rhythm breaks but she doesn't still with her climax. She grinds into you, keeping the pleasure up for as long as possible.

She finally slows to a stop and lays her entire weight on you, Sweaty and breathing heavily. 

"Good girl." She whispers. Kissing your neck. One of her hands settles on the side of your face. "Does this mean you're starting to like me?"

You consider her words. This was really just a way to release pent up energy. But, she sounds almost vulnerable and if you're being honest with yourself there's something more than lust making sparks in your stomach. "...I could." You reply softly. "Like you. I think I could do that." Valeria lifts her head and plants a soft kiss onto your lips. Her silent way of acknowledging your words. Maybe this marriage will be a good thing.

[deepdreamnights]

Hey there, saw your post re: harassment around artists using gen ai and thought it was great esp with the debunking of data usage myths. Would you share your thoughts regarding concerns that models are being trained to copy specific art styles and thus pose a direct threat to the artists whose art styles are being used?

Well, there's several levels to that.

The main one is that on copyright grounds, styles are explicitly non-copyrightable. Moreover:

No one's style is unique

No one's style is unimitatable by analogue means.

The second point is important, because anyone can go on Fiverr right now and and find someone to replicate any given art style, and every competent draftsperson has to be able to do it to some degree or another. No major animation house, art studio, or comic company has ever hired someone because they couldn't find someone else that could imitate the surface-level aspects of their style.

The first point is just a matter of basic reality. Ex-nihlo creativity either doesn't exist or is so rare as to be a once-in-an-epoch thing. Everyone builds on the influences that they learn from, and if you think someone has a unique style what they really have is a different media diet than you.

For example, Don Bluth. Born 1937, aged 15 in 1952.

Same year Time released this this picture of Burlesque Performer Dale Strong.

Someone made an impression.

Marilyn Monroe was also a national sex symbol when Bluth was a teen, putting some context to most of his other ladies, but especially Goldie Pheasant (or maybe she's more Jayne Mansfield, hard to tell through the bird-ness). His art style has obvious roots with Tex Avery and I would guess he read Mad Magazine a lot as a kid.

And Not to hang the guy out to dry alone, I was a teenager in the 1990s, and most of my sexy fictional ladies are 9/10 some combination of Dana Scully, Peg Bundy, and Rhonda Shear.

The point being that style isn't something you create intentionally so much as an accumulation of influences, drawn from the commons. Attempting to claim ownership of such a thing is by itself an act of theft in my view, and allowing them to be protected under the law would mean a judge being shown exactly how many pieces of prior art the Walt Disney Corporation owns that your work superficially resembles. Why, they'll even run it through a style recognizing AI to make sure they catch them all.

But let's talk about style matching.

It just takes one image now, and doesn't require training.

Which I'm sure sounds frightening, but this has been the situation since February for Midjourney, and it was available in the Stable Diffusion ecosystem long before that. If the threat were as pronounced as feared, we'd have seen the impact by now. And we haven't, and we're unlikely to, for several reasons, several of them listed above.

The largest is that style isn't even close to the be all/end all of what an artist brings to a given project. And the kinds of execs who are making a 'replace 'em with a robot' kinda decision aren't the kinds of people who care about art style beyond how much it looks like the most recent successful thing. And nobody's ever needed a robot to ride coattails.

But the next largest part is that AI style imitations aren't really accurate because the robot doesn't see style in the same way we do. It's all just math to the robot, and it prioritizes what it notices, not what we do.

I'll demonstrate.

Jack Kirby will be my example, for several reasons.

He has a bold and identifiable style, he's arguably the most famous artist in western comics history, and he has many analogue imitators and homagers.

Using Midjourney and prompting "an illustration of dana scully by jack kirby, 1968, in the style of 1960s marvel comics --ar 3:4 --s 15"

Using the base model, on the first roll we get three complete style mismatches and one that's kinda close, though I'd say that's way more Sal Buscema or John Byrne.

Kirby's women had a certain, difficult to describe oddness about their faces that the robot doesn't seem to grok, and it doesn't touch on the kinds of wild patterns and bold black/white swatches that make Jack's work feel 'jack'.

Tom Scioli's take on Kirby is a sort of lovingly flanderized parody, but it captures the spirit of Jack's art much more directly even if a lot of individual details aren't period-accurate. He draws Kirby the way you remember Kirby from your childhood, but I don't question whether the page above is trying to be a Jack Kirby homage or one to Sal Buscema.

But Midjourney has style reference, so we can inject the Kirby right in. Using the picture of Sersei dancing from above with the same prompt, we get:

Well, the work is more convincingly period, but again, we're not terribly close to being on-point. In fact, they're not very consistent between each other. Top left is any 80s marvel fill-in artist. Top right is maybe Kirby-esq. Bottom Left is flat out Jim Lee, bottom right is very Byrne-y.

Using three reference images to give the best shot, I'm also moving to using images of a similar color style, and all with a woman as the central focus. I have included the infamous Crystal pin-up shot because as I said, Kirby women have a certain oddness to them (fondly).

Results (MJ 6.1 on the left, Niji 6 on the right):

It all says 60s-70s Marvel, but I don't think Kirby would be the first guess for any of them. Maaaaaaybe the lower-left Dana in image #2 if you squint.

And that's Jack Kirby. Massively popular and prolific with a career spanning decades. If anyone in the comics space should be impersonatable by this thing, its him.

I'm sure you could train a LORA to get closer, and sure, the tech is only going to get better from here, but by the nature of how the system works no generation pulls just from what is referenced. Every generation is both blended with other concepts and emphasizes only what the machine catalogs as relevant, not what we might.

There's not much to stop someone from imitating your style with a machine, but there was nothing stopping them from doing the same with an underpaid freelancer. The results are likely to miss the mark regardless.

If the client wants you, they'll try and get you. If they just want something kinda like you, they've always had an avenue to that.

Fortunately, you're more than your style, and whatever anyone can do with the machine, you can do better because you've got access to both.

[littleeyesofpallas]

Hi,

would you make meta stuff about Mayuri's way of speaking? I mean guy speaks strange way compared to other characters and me with friend don't speak japanese and would like to know more about it.

Thank you! 💜

So, i do want to remind anyone reading my blog but please remember i'm not at all fluent in Japanese. I understand the grammar on a textbook level, and with enough dictionary resources I can poke around and sus out nuances of some word choices (particularly stuff like fictional names of people and swords and attacks and stuff, as those kinds of creative choices are very overt*), especially in irregular usage, but when it comes down to things like dialect, slangs, vernacular or phraseology, or more subtle tone indicators I'm pretty blind.

*(sorry to further clarify: when it's stuff like fantasy jargon it's stuff no one would ever actually say, and so the choices made in crafting those words or names from scratch are all reliably very deliberate. But when looking at more casual speech a lot of character voice just kind of defaults to what "sounds" right, and so the distinction between choosing one common word over another isn't always meaningful or readily apparent, both in general and to someone not fully fluent like me.)

Like if someone talks in a stilted overly technical or dry way I might be able to tell that much, but I'd totally miss more structural things like whether it makes them sound more like a mad scientist -vs- a tryhard edgelord fake intellectual -vs- a man out of time -vs- a stuffy rich person --or what the differences i'd even be looking for between all those would be-- I really can't tell outside of what i might be able to glean from things like narrative context more than the dialog itself.

With the exception of some very tropey, and thus easier to identify things like, movie-esque yakuza slang, or melodramatic historical feudal drama formal titles --and even then those are things i might more readily catch when actually spoken than when written on the page-- i'm just as lost as the next person.

That all being said, there are still a few little things i can sort of pick at without feeling totally out of my depth...

I think it's been brought up on some random post of mine before that Mayuri does notably use a "more feminine" 1st person pronoun, watashi[私] which is a pretty common pronoun, although its usage feels weird to explain in English?

Like... it is considered "gender neutral" in that there are other pronouns that are more specifically feminine or masculine and it's not one of them. But then in practice, you'd basically expect men to opt for one of the more overtly masculine pronouns, which just sort of leaves women with watashi as a default?

So it's not that it explicitly makes him sound ""feminine"" so much as it makes him sound less masculine; which suits his intellectual, non physical inclined, and at times cowardly or at least scheming demeanor. But like, it's also considered a little stuffy and sort of overly formal, or technical which is also appropriate to him.

Oh right and it's a formal pronoun as opposed to informal, but there's also a level of very formal pronouns, and it's not one of those, so that doesn't so much triangulate a position as it just leave in vaguely in the middle of the road...

Does that all make sense? it feels like super overexplaining for what is an extremely commonly used pronoun with mostly very neutral implications.

He occasionally ends sentences with a single katakana syllable rather than hiragana, indicating... not quite an "accent".. but like a sort of emphasis. Like a punctuating lilt in tone. Actually Nakao Ryuusei does this really noticeably in the anime and I don't know for sure if I heard it that way in my head and he just nailed it, or if i heard him first and it's just always colored my reading since.

A lot of the rhetorical NE[ネ] which begs confirmation, often translated into English as "...right?" (It's part of that desu ne[ですね] that you hear a lot in anime, where the desu[です] is just the verb to be, so together they tend to translate as "isn't it?")

YO[ヨ] which is again a sort of rhetorical thing that usually gets translated as something like, "...you know?"

and E?[エ?] which isn't even a word or part of speech so much as it's just like, an interrogative noise? Quite literally just "eh?"

But see this is one of those things were like... I can tell it's different from a sort of default neutral mode of speech, but I don't know what that indicates as, like, a point of characterization... Is it specifically condescending? Is it there to sound mechanical or stilted? Is it somehow old fashioned or polite/formal? I have no clue as to these sorts of specifics.

[edit]: I want to reiterate this is a rhetorical device, he's not literally asking a question and waiting for a response. If anything it's functionally the exact opposite, he's saying it to emphasize that he's stating things meant to be taken as facts, it actively closes the dialog off from further questioning.

He also says HOU[ホウ] a lot, which also isn't really a word so much as a sound, but given the pattern in speech above I feel like it's kind of inquisitive, or at least contemplative, which is (i think) how I remember Nakao delivering those lines too. Like a sort of, "Oh?" or "Huh..." or "Hmm..."

And given how close the camera gets to his face most times he says it, it gives an impression of being, not "quiet" exactly, but like you had to be close to hear it, so like, almost under his breath? Like it's clearly a noise he makes to himself, it's not like a thing or expression he's making to the other people int he scene.

FUU[フウ] or alternatively HUU, and I think once or twice FUN'/HUN'[フン] as a sort of grunt? not quite as guttural as that, but not quite a sigh? Like a "hmpf."

He also does your classic YARE YARE[ヤレヤレ] which definitely isn't unusual or unique to him but it has this kind "tut tut" or "tch"/"tsk" tone to it and tends to translated very loosely like, "oh my" or "good grief", but I think of it more like a "well, well, well..." but like kind of implicitly more exasperated than that sounds in english?

I don't know where to start trying to qualify, like... what kind of character says yare yare a lot, but it's definitely something that suits some characters more than others, and Mayuri it definitely fits.

He tends to laugh like ...KU KU...[...クク...] which is a kind of sharp snigger, sneer, or scoff. He really doesn't guffaw or cackle or have much of a more typical dramatic villain laugh, it's very understated.

Although in his fight with Pernida he does let out a full on maniacal FUHAHAHA[フハハハ] laugh for the first time in the whole series

I do love the fonts Kubo uses for a lot of Mayuri's dialog. At a certain point he starts to lean intothe same basic font as everyone else, but particualrly at the beginning he switches between a few unusual ones that are specific to Mayuri.

One's got that rough kind of pseudo handwritten quality to it. It reads to me as kind of scratchy, like a sharp pen nib on thick matte paper, with a kind of clotty ink flow that starts thick and wet but sorta tapers out too fast, leaving the lines spotty and rough.

But he also alternated with a thicker rounder font that has these subtle curls to them that I don't see other character use often.

and then he's got a second font choice that basically has all the same tones as the first one, except maybe a bit, like, louder(?) implicitly just based on context? It tends to be used in creepy action scenes where as the thinner one is more for creepy conversation?

In his very first appearance he chastises Gin, and he changes font between sentences, giving a very distinct sense that it's a change in tone. It reads to me like a low heavy hiss, almost like his voice is normally shallow or throaty, but when the font changes he suddenly drops his voice into a chestier range and speaks almost more smoothly?

Then there's just the perfectly regular fonts he uses sometimes, basically any/every other character uses these same fonts at some point or another.

and he has a neat thin wispy font that he only uses the one time when he liquefies himself. Along with the voice bubbles used, it gives a super distinct impression of his voice barely being audible.

He also one time speaks enthusiastically in an italic version of the more standard font when he arrives in Hueco Mundo.

And then in the Hell Jaw one shot he just has a completely different standard font because Kubo probably didn't keep track of what fonts he'd been using from like 8 years ago

There's also a subtly funky sort of font he uses briefly in the tbtp sidestory? I dunno what to say about this honestly. It gives me these vague 60s-70s vibes that I can't quite place? (I feel like I know i've seen it before but on what? A bowling alley sign? A little back alley cafe? a jazz album cover??)

I have no idea that the take away from that is supposed to be though.

And I guess that's it. I dunno how I thought I was gonna end this. It didn't really reveal any new facets to his character that weren't pretty apparent from the rest of his whole design and demeanor. Plus Nakao's performance in the anime basically nails all of this and i think makes it pretty apparent in tone even if you don't know much about Japanese.

[the-s1lly-corner]

How about digital circus x princess! Reader with their very own castle. Elegantly leaning out of their tower singing lullabies for anyone to hear. Ps Keep up the great work 👍

TADC cast x princess!reader

I know I usually stress that I answer stuff chronologically but I misread this as just jax (I'm sleepy!!) So I went to search for a princess reader post i did weeks ago, snagged the link then reread the request and saw it was the whole cast... but I've already committed to the bit by searching for the link sooooooooo

CAINE:

You and I both know hes goinv to use the fact ypure a princess for IHA... captured princess trope stuff, basically! So have fun with that! Absolutely loves your singing, so so much. Probably joins in with you, complimenting your part..or perhaps he hums.. other princesses have cute fairytale animals accompanying them, and you have..... bubble..... huh....

Really ups the whole... act when talking to you.. bows deeply, waves his arm around in a grand fashion when showing you to a room, ect ect ect

POMNI:

Has probably subconsciously/accidentally said you were pretty outloud. Gets absolutely lost in the sauce when you sing. Like just stands there, hands awkwardly clasped together in front of her as she listens. Probably sways side to side too. Gets very pink when talking to you, her face does the O^O thing... absolutely smitten

RAGATHA:

Ah my favorite, royal princess x common lady... well, at least aesthetically... whether or not you're royalty in the real world is debatable... anyways, that aside, I think this is probably one of my favorite ship dynamics... I love.. similar to pomni she is very bad at hiding her feelings around you. Tends to stare with a blushing face. Loves making you dresses; assuming you can swap out dresses considering the whole "their clothes are attatched to their bodies" thing

While I doubt your clothing can rip or tear thanks to the properties of the digital world, I think if she could, she would patch up any holes

KINGER:

Honestly I think out of this entire post, kinger is the only one who gets a platonic/found family take on this... just an old king and his princess kid. Again I'm not sure if he truly believes he royalty or if he was trying to appeal to the gloink queen by saying "as a royal myself.." but.. honestly I like the idea that he just likes playing the part. Like he knows hes not royalty but. You know? Let this man embellish himself

Pillow fort? No, pillow TOWER! No... pillow CASTLE! Pillow kingdom!!!

Nothing too hyped specific here he's just your dad here

ZOOBLE:

Oh? Cool. I mean your singing isnt really their cup of tea, they look like they're into alt/indie stuff tbh...maybe rock. Confession I'm terrible at identifying genres so I'm literally speaking out of my ass rn on what type of music zooble would listen to I'd have to list specific artists and songs

But this isnt about that

Depends on what kind of princess you are

If you're independent, resourceful, and badass I think you guys could build some chemistry

If you're like, damsel in distress, ,kind of stuck up, whiny, prissy, ect then it's a hard no

Not many ideas here tbh <\3

GANGLE:

Also thinks you're very pretty! Also loves your singing! I think she grew up on disney films, and even if she doesnt remember them it's still a core memory that like. is kind of instinctive atp. So she finds comfort around you, you know? LOVE that trope btw, where a character doesnt remember something but still finds comfort in it while not fully understanding why because as far as they know this is the first time with the thing

Absolutely melts if you compliment her. Sure, she would still melt if you weren't a princess.. but having someone so pretty and graceful saying it hits a certain way for her

JAX:

[scary-white]

I'm writing an essay about subtle LGBTQIA+ tropes in King's work and I was wondering if you had a favorite quote from the book that shows Sue's fascination with Carrie? If not, no worries!

I've got a few to choose from, though some of them are context dependent.

1. "The realization suddenly brought everything up close, made it real, and compassion for Carrie broke through the dullness of her shock." (Pg. 287)

Found in the context of Carrie and Sue sharing a psychic link. Sue finds that the thought of herself comes to her as neither words nor pictures—she just is. Removed from labels, names, and status, this is perhaps the first time Sue can identify herself for who she actually is, and, well, the quote says the rest.

2. "In the aftermath she felt low and melancholy, and her thoughts turned to Carrie in this light." (Pg. 55)

This entire scene is interesting to comb through with a queen lense, and I highly suggest you do. Here, Tommy and Sue have just finished having sex and Sue is unsatisfied. The preceding lines are:

"Tonight was only the second time she had begun to feel something like pleasure, and then it was over. Tommy had held out for as long as he could, but then it was just... over. It seemed like an awful lot of rubbing for a little warmth."

I highly doubt King intended it this way, but wow. Having your character lament over how little she enjoyed sex with her boyfriend only to immediately think about another woman is... Something.

Again, I really think this entire scene is worth examining. Sue thinks about what she's become and what she's on track to become, and she is so dreadfully dissatisfied. She feels that she's only with her boyfriend because they're a nice looking couple, and it's expected of them. She fears conformity, and she fears the path it's leading her down: A path of house-wifery, and child rearing. All of her fears, everything she doesn't want? Its all heteronormative.

Then, after going down the list of all her deep, dark fears, she arrives at this:

"Carrie, it was that god damn Carrie. This was her fault. Perhaps before today she heard the distant, circling foot-falls around their lighted place, but tonight, hearing her own sordid, crummy story, she saw the actual silhouettes of all these things, and yellow eyes that glowed like flashlights in the dark." (Pg. 57)

Another woman made you violently aware of your own impending, disgustingly hetero-normative doom? That's kind of gay.

3. "She was not even aware that she was following Carrie's progress toward The Cavalier, no more than she was aware of the process of respiration unless she thought about it." (Pg. 279)

I don't really have anything intellectual to add here, but I'd like to point out that in my annotated copy I wrote in the margins, "following Carrie is as natural as breathing? THATS GAY."

4: "A. (Sue) Oh, you stupid man! Have you listened to anything that's been said here? Everybody knew it was Carrie! Anyone could have found her if they had put their minds to it.

Q. But not just anyone found her. You did." (Pg. 284)

Sure. Anyone could have found her if they set their mind to it, but she's the only one who cared to. In a way, she's been following after Carrie for the entire novel.

5. "They shared the awful totality of perfect knowledge." (Pg. 287)

This is after they've formed a psychic link. Carrie reveals to Sue her every horrible trauma. Sue discovers first hand how it feels to be Carrie White. Later, Carrie is witness to Sue's inner most thoughts and memories. They're bonded on the deepest level. In a way, they are one in the same— even sharing one death.

Hope this helps! ❤️

[theamityelf]

Uh, I remember you have an AU where Makoto became Hope Tutor for Izuru. Can I asked more detail about it?

Gah, this is my first time doing this I don't know how to ask properly

That's totally fine; you're doing great!

Boy, "hope tutor AU" is definitely what I should have tagged this as, lol. Well, let's see.

First thing is, the AU isn't anime-compliant and might not be compliant with most other supplemental materials, since most of my Danganronpa fan works are based mostly on game canon.

In order for Makoto to have been identified as someone suited to the task of making Izuru come across as more personable and inspiring, he must have earned the faculty's notice in that regard. Which means this could cross over with the debate club AU (seeing as that's a good way for them to have seen him flourish in public speaking), but also it's not all that important to go into when exactly he earned their notice.

I'm thinking Makoto just walks into homeroom one morning and his teacher tells him that the headmaster has asked for him in some other room. He goes to that other room, and a couple of guys in suits are like "Makoto Naegi, the Academy has an important task for you. Should any details of this conversation be told to anyone outside this room, you will face consequences far more severe than expulsion."

Makoto is just like "U-Uh, okay. Are you sure you have the right person for whatever this is?"

They say something like, "Believe me, we're as surprised as you are."

Maybe they have Jin Kirigiri come in to cut the tension, like, "Hey, these guys are pretty intimidating, but really we just need you to help out with this great project we're working on."

And Makoto goes, "Oh, sure, I'd love to help."

And they take him down to the labs- not quite to Kamukura's room, but to a secondary room where Kamukura has also been taken. (Maybe Makoto's blindfolded on the way there.)

He's just left in an almost featureless room to sit across a table from Izuru, who's just Kubrick Staring him through his hair.

"Hi, I'm Makoto Naegi," he says nervously.

Eyes like rubies stare him down.

"They, uh...The guys who brought me here didn't really tell me what I was supposed to be doing. Just that I should come and meet you, and that you would take care of the rest. What's your name? I don't think I've seen you around here, but you look like you're around my age. I wasn't expecting that."

The person seated across from him straightens, raising his chin in a way that almost reminds him of Byakuya, but devoid of any of the fire or ice that usually sits behind Byakuya's eyes. And the stranger still doesn't say anything. (Probably. It would be kind of funny if Izuru went, "What else about my appearance didn't you expect?" and just generally probed at Makoto's words to make him flounder.)

Makoto waits for at least a minute before breaking the silence again, "Sorry, if there's something I'm supposed to be saying or doing, I don't know what it is."

Eventually (either right then or after more false starts), Izuru says, "Makoto Naegi, Ultimate Lucky Student from Hope's Peak's 78th class. You're here so that I can learn you."

"Learn me?"

"Yes. The faculty has assessed that, in terms of general likability and ability to sway people, you're the student who has the most to teach me. Unfortunately, I haven't found anything in your disposition worth emulating in the past few minutes." And actually, I am going to cross this over with the debate club AU, just because I like the idea of Izuru having already been shown footage of Makoto's debate wins before they met. "I've seen the footage of you in debate club. Is this how you are normally?"

"Well, yes. Pretty much."

"That explains why everyone looks surprised when they see you in debate club."

Makoto laughs nervously. "Looks like you've learned me already." Am I allowed to leave now?

"Not yet. Your contradictions are...almost interesting."

I like the idea of the scientists and teachers allotting Izuru an hour or so with Makoto pretty much anytime he wants it, because it means that when his (for lack of a better word) "use" for Makoto goes from pragmatic interest to subjective fascination to just enjoyment of being around him, he'll have people going "Are you sure you still need to talk to Naegi?" And he'll still be saying, "Yes. Bring him here."

And I like the idea that he can do this at pretty much any time, so he can pull Makoto out of any class, lunch, whatever. Maybe one day he's looking at the school's security cameras and sees that Makoto is having a good time alone with Sayaka and he sends for him then, just to separate them. And he wonders why he felt the need to do that, and that's when he realizes that he likes Makoto.

And then it's like, Oh, they were right. Even I like him.

[spaceorphan18]

Yes or no:

You'd prefer to go to dinner with Chris Colfer and Luke Newton (as friendly threesome) than Darren Criss and Nicola Coughlan (another friendly threesome).

I have been fascinated by this question all day, Nonny. I'm sure you didn't realize the kind of question you were giving me, and it makes sense why anyone coming to my blog would pose the question this way. It seems like an obvious yes, right? No - it's way, way, way more complicated than that. Which is, in turn, why I'm so fascinated with the proposition.

I'm not under the assumption that anyone but myself cares about the answer or how I answer it, or even the fact that I've been kind of deep in thought about it and still can't really give you a definitive answer. But I've honestly been having fun making almost a philosophical quandary out of it.

I think if you look at these four actors individually, the obvious answer based on my blog, would be that if I was asked to go to dinner with one of them - I'd choose Chris.

It makes sense on a few different levels -- I've known of Chris for a very long time now. I've actually met him on multiple occasions. And, while I think one should never over self-identify with a celebrity, I do think Chris and I would have the most in common, and probably (possibly) think the most alike.

But I have a few caveats to this automatic assumption. If you asked me who am I the most comfortable with, individually, I might give you a different answer.

Nicola seems like the kindest soul. I would love to go to dinner with her. We're also close(st) in age and just the fact that she's a woman does put me at ease slightly over the guys.

Darren, meanwhile, makes for an excellent conversationalist. He would also, possibly, be the warmest of the four and do more of the social heavy lifting.

Luke, almost by default, ends up at the bottom of the individual list. Adding to possible social awkwardness is the fact that I know nearly zero things about the guy. I mean, I've known (of) Chris (and Darren) for nearly fifteen years now. And even Nicola I knew of from Derry girls. I didn't even know who Luke was five months ago. Add on top of that the fact that, while these are all incredibly attractive people, Luke might be the one I'm most attracted to? Ooff, talk about my social anxiety being high.

So, if you look at individual comfort level, the pairing of Nicola and Darren makes more sense, and therefore the answer might be 'no' to Nonny's original prompt.

But it does lead me to another interesting question -- why is Nonny's original assumption to a 'yes' a Chris and Luke pairing? While it's very well documented that Kurt is my favorite Glee character, it may not be as obvious, but Colin is not my favorite Bridgerton character. Penelope is. So is the automatic assumption, then, I'd go to dinner with those I'm more physically attracted to over not?

It's so curious.

I mean, Nonny, I won't lie - when I first opened this ask, my initial, gut reaction was -- oh, yup. Yes, that makes sense. And then I started down the rabbit hole of introspection.

If we paired them up differently, there's always an obvious choice for me.

Chris and Nicola (over Darren and Luke), yup, sign me up. That would be hilarious and fun (and maybe my most ideal pairing for dinner). (Though I can see Darren and Luke getting along pretty well? And I just don't think it'd be that awkward.)

Chris and Darren (over Nicola and Luke), yeah familiarity is going to win out on that one. (Also, omg, how intrusive would it feel to spend time with Nicola and Luke?)

My point is that Chris seems to be the key factor here. I do always come back to Chris. I always want to come back to Chris. So, maybe Chris is the one I'd feel the most comfortable with. Which also gets me thinking...

What would a conversation between Chris and Luke be like? I have no idea. Darren and Nicola -- I can see it. I can see the dynamic and see what it would be like, and no doubt, it'd be a lot of fun. But Chris and Luke? What is that conversation? I'm now incredibly curious. And I mean, let's take social anxiety out of it. Maybe it's professional - and a lot of my anxiety is alleviated on a professional level. This particular pairing I have no idea what will happen, and that is fascinating.

And now I'm back to 'yes' on Nonny's original question.

We've come full circle.

Do you see why, now, I couldn't just answer the question? My own psychological make up -- my tendency to overanalyze and ponder every angle has prevented me from giving what should be a very simple answer to a silly prompt. Which probably says more about me than the an actual answer to the question.

[goatcheesecak3]

HELLO I HAVE A REQUEST

WOULD IT BE OKAY IF U WROTE SPECS X TRANS GUY READER???

like maybe reader comes out to specs and theres just a whole lotta fluff?

it totally okay if no ofc have a good day :)

Coming out

Specs x Ftm!reader

Warnings: none

Fic type: fluff

Summary: you come out to your boyfriend, Specs

A/n hello! This was such a sweet request! I'm not a trans guy myself, so I hope I did the experience justice! Also I should preface with the fact that I hc specs as being autistic, so there's indirect references to that in here too :^)

"Uh.. specs?" You said, nervously approaching your boyfriend.

Specs was sat hunched over at his desk, painting a warhammer figure in excruciating detail.

"Uh huh?" He said without looking up.

"I need to talk to you about something important"

Specs turned to look at you, his face seemingly concerned- although you could never really get a great read on what his facial expressions meant, he wasn't very good at non verbal cues.

With a deep breath, fumbling with your hands anxiously you bit the bullet and told him the truth that you'd been hiding.

"I think - no - I KNOW, I'm not a girl. I'm a man." You blew out, puffing your cheeks up, realising how hot your face got when you were nervous, "I'm a transgender man and I can't pretend I'm not anymore".

When you were met with silence, you slowly dared to make eye contact with specs, terrified that you would be faced with a horrified look on his face. Instead, his expression was entirely neutral.

"Approximately 1.03% of adults in the U.S identify as transgender" he replied calmly.

Your face twisted in bewilderment, what the hell kind of response was that?!

"Is that your only take away?" You said, sounding a little less afraid, but a lot more confused.

Specs began to chew absent mindedly on his paintbrush for a second, looking up to the ceiling in thought, before looking back at you.

"Would you like to start borrowing my clothes?"

To anyone else, this might have seemed like an incredibly mundane response, but you knew specs very well. As a rule, he NEVER let other people wear his clothes, he had very strict rules for how he liked his clothes to feel and he didn't trust that other people wearing them wouldn't "taint" that clean feeling. But here he was, so willing to to make an exception in the rule for you, just to let you know that he approved. Specs wasn't the best with the overly gooey romantic stuff, but in all honesty this meant a lot more.

"So I take it you're okay with this?" You said, cracking a small smile

"I was unaware that you were asking for my permission" specs replied, seeming far more taken aback by this than your "shocking" revelation.

You let out a small laugh and approached him, letting him gently wrap his arms around you.

"You know this would mean that I'd be your boyfriend now, and not your girlfriend, right?" You asked, making sure everything was clarified properly.

"Of course. I might not understand all the ins and outs of this at first, but we can learn as we go. You know how much I love learning new things," specs looked up at you, his eyes full of love, "as long as you're happy. I love you"

You smiled down, enjoying the tender moment.

"I love you too"

The two of you held eachother in a comforting embrace for a minute or so, and when the moment passed, specs was the one to break the silence.

"Uh... when I said you can borrow my clothes.. my socks are still off limits. I've seen the way you treat yours"

You let out a small chuckle and kissed the top of his head

"Alright babe, it's a deal"

[divinemissem13]

You Say That Like It's a Bad Thing

No True Pair 8 Character Challenge Fandom: Star Trek Voyager, The Closer/ Major Crimes Pair: Chakotay/ Sharon Raydor Word Count: 1,182 Rating: G Prompt: Too many cupcakes

Sharon Raydor never wants to see another cupcake as long as she lives.

She knows that she should appreciate the thought. It was very nice of everyone in the LAPD to bring her cupcakes to celebrate her move to Major Crimes. It's possible that Provenza had spread the word that she loves cupcakes out of the goodness of his heart and not, as she suspects, as a prank. OK, not probable. But possible.

The thing is, Sharon isn't really a dessert person (and chances are good that Provenza knows this). She loves to bake and her Christmas cookies are the stuff of legends among her children's friends, but she doesn't eat many sweets herself. So now she's stuck, staring at a veritable sea of cupcakes, trying to decide if it's even worth figuring out a way to get them all home.

A light knock on her office door pulls Sharon away from her internal debate and she looks up to find a man she's never seen before standing in the doorway, holding a small box that almost certainly contains another cupcake. Sharon could swear that she knows every officer in the LAPD after so many years running Internal Affairs, but it would seem that there's at least one that she missed. She's certain she would have remembered him, with that distinctive and unusual tattoo above his eye. The tattoo should probably be setting off alarm bells in her head — it could be a gang identifier, or maybe some new prison trend. This stranger could be dangerous, just using this dumb cupcake thing to get close enough to harm her — but her instinct tells her she can trust him. So she does.

"Captain Raydor? I'm glad I caught you… sorry to stop by so late," the man says, awkwardly tugging on his ear and avoiding eye contact.

"I'm fairly certain that regular work hours are a thing of the past," she says as she gestures for the man to enter. "And you are?" she demands, when he doesn't immediately introduce himself.

He smiles sheepishly, and an adorable dimple appears on each cheek (and when exactly did Sharon start to find tattooed, dimpled strangers adorable??). "Lt. Chakotay, just transferred up here from New Mexico which is why I didn't know about the cupcake thing until this afternoon. Normally I'd bake some myself but… on short notice this will have to do," he explains, abruptly pushing the box towards Sharon, who zoned out somewhere around learning that this man bakes. "I have it on pretty good authority that this is from the best bakery in downtown LA though."

Chakotay looks around the office and for the first time appears to notice the cupcakes covering every surface. "I guess if it's no good, you've got plenty other ones to choose from," he shrugs and pulls on his ear again. It's an endearing gesture, instantly turning this big, muscular, hunk of a man into a shy little boy and for the first time all day, Sharon finds herself genuinely smiling.

"To be honest, I'm not sure what I'm going to do with all of these," she admits, her hands searching for pockets in a nervous gesture of her own. "I'm just one woman, after all."

"You don't have anyone to share them with?" Chakotay asks. "No husband or boyfriend? Uh, girlfriend? Kids?" He's back peddling and somehow Sharon finds that kind of adorable too.

"My kids are grown up and no longer live in LA. The same could almost be said for my 'husband' except I wouldn't exactly call him a grown up." The words are out of her mouth before she can truly contemplate revealing this much of her private life to a relative stranger, and now she clenches her fists in her pockets and purses her lips defensively. "And you?" she snaps, demanding an equal sacrifice.

He smiles that adorable smile again and runs a hand through his hair. "No one waiting at home except for a very pathetic excuse for a guard dog. He looks tough but wouldn't hurt a fly," he says, pulling out his phone to show her the lock screen. On it is a photo of a big fluffy golden doodle, head resting on daintily crossed paws and one eye completely obscured by a large floppy ear. It is clearly a large dog, but Sharon has to admit, he doesn't appear to have an aggressive bone in his body.

"I suppose it's true what they say about dogs and their owners," Sharon says with a smile. (Oh God, did she say that out loud? Is she flirting with this man now?)

Chakotay blushes and pockets his phone, and now he's rubbing his hand on the back of his neck and Sharon has to wonder just how many adorable tics can one man have?

"Well, anyway, I guess I'll let you get back to it. It was very nice to meet you, Captain," Chakotay says, offering a hand to Sharon.

"And you, Lieutenant," she replies with a smile, and accepts his hand. It is surprisingly soft and gentle, just like the man himself, and Sharon finds she doesn't want to let go quite yet. "Do you like cupcakes?" she blurts out before she can overthink things.

"Sure, who doesn't?" Chakotay replies, still holding on to Sharon's hand.

"Maybe you want to help me taste test these? I think this may be a triage situation," she admits, blushing a little. "Unless you have somewhere to be, of course…"

"I'd love to," Chakotay interjects, flashing her another dazzling smile. "Here? Or…?

"Oh!" Sharon hasn't thought that far ahead. "Uh, break room, I guess? Or, if you want to help me get them to the car, we can go to my place? I have milk, I think. Or at least very good coffee? Or Kahlua? Would that go well with cupcakes for dinner?" Sharon laughs nervously. She realizes that she is still holding Chakotay's hand and she drops it abruptly. "Or the break room. The break room is good," she declares, as if she might be able to erase everything else she has said in between.

"Your place sounds good," Chakotay says with a soft smile as he begins to gather up boxes and platters of cupcakes. "Just lead the way, Captain."

Somehow he has managed to fit almost all of the cupcakes into his arms in a very short period of time and so Sharon picks up the two remaining boxes from her desk — including the one that started this whole thing — and strides past him with a confidence that she doesn't really feel.

As they wait for the elevator, Sharon glances at Chakotay out of the corner of her eye. It's been a long time since a strong, kind, handsome man willingly went anywhere with her, let alone to her condo. She will have to remember to thank Lt. Provenza for his thoughtfulness, she thinks with a small smirk.

As it turns out, there really is no such thing as too many cupcakes.

[bugdogg]

💬🏳️‍🌈 🧑‍🤝‍🧑 💖🍳 ryu and blanch maybe ?😭srry i rly wanna know more abt them

IS FINE, I GOTTA TALK ABOUT THEM MORE ANYWAY! ^W^

💬 - What are some filler/buffer words they use? (Like, um, etc.)

For Blanch, she uses "alright" and "whatever" in her speech a lot, but more often she adds unnecessary cursing to her sentences (she often isn't even angry, it's just a habit). She has a very brash or harsh way of speaking and often times the words she uses implies she's pissed off about something.

For Ryu, they use a lot of "uh"s and "um"s in their sentences and also has a habit of going "eh..." when they finish talking. He speaks in a very slow, laid back way and despite how long it takes him to talk he still tends to not be certain in what he's saying.

🏳️‍🌈 - What do they identify as? What are their pronouns?

(mentioning now: all three my ocs are based on me in some way. For me, identity and labels are very confusing, so all of their identities are kinda undefined as I'm still trying to figure it out myself)

I don't really want to label them right now but Blanch's pronouns are she/her and Ryu's pronouns are he/them.

I'd say for like a basic idea of how I view them is Blanch doesn't like labels really and could be agender but she wouldn't call herself that, and Ryu is transmasc!

(actually a good summary, at least for me, is Mizuki: doesn't know, Blanch: doesn't care, Ryu: does know and does care!)

🧑‍🤝‍🧑 - Do they have any siblings?

Blanch probably had a younger sister she used to care for, I think she'd take the older sister role seriously but would have also been a bully, simultaneously. She lost touch w that sibling after moving out, I don't think she and her family get along at all but I'm sure she'd still stalk her sister's socials to make sure she's okay.

Ryu would've been the middle child I think, they keep in touch w their family and I think have a good relationship w their older sibling but a hint of resentment for the younger one. I think if Ryu introduced Ichimatsu to his family they'd all just go "Oh good, you found someone to connect with." and Ryu would just look so tired.

💖 - How and how often do they try to impress their partner(s)? How and how often do their partner(s) impress them?

Blanch doesn't care for other's opinions on her and never sets out to impress anyone, but I think Choromatsu at least is impressed by her ability to be both insanely hostile and still smart and successful. He'd probably see her as a cartoonish-brute at first but is surprised to see she's actually pretty smart and grows to respect her more, as she also does w him (somewhat).

Choro would often try to impress her I think by trying to one up her in arguments or anything. At first it'd be to try to feed his own ego or feel better about himself, then he'd fail and would actually start trying to impress her. Unintentionally, I think Choro would impress Blanch by being very resilient, something every matsu sorta has but she'd still admire his stupid persistence at trying to win a constantly losing battle.

Ryu tries to impress people by spewing worthless facts... (not really) they don't have any interest in a partner, and, w Ichi and Oso, doesn't feel the need to impress them. Ryu is used to being considered mediocre and has sorta accepted it, he doesn't care to impress people who he doesn't think will ever care so he just talks about things he likes and see's who sticks around to listen.

Ichi and Oso wouldn't care to impress him, I'm pretty sure. All three's dynamic is mostly based around being very chill and just existing together. Maybe occasionally, Ichi would try to do something to get some kind of approval from them but that's about it.

🍳 - How well can they cook?

Blanch is a good cook, she isn't the kind to make some new recipe on the spot or anything but she's memorized how to make some things and is very good at being precise w it. She mostly learned the skills as she started traveling w her bandmates. She already had some skills from making things for her sister back home so she volunteered to make meals when they couldn't afford to eat somewhere and got better as they went.

Ryu can't cook, at all, he can cook things in the microwave, and somewhat follow the directions on the back of the pizza box. But besides that, he doesn't know how to do a lot, and I think they would somehow burn a salad.

[sweetlikehoneystingslikeabee]

Kind of self-indulgent question, but let's say that nonbinary people being able to be comfortable with who they are and having a word to identify themselves is a thing in '60s Batman. How would that Riddler respond to his future s/o telling him that on their first date (since that's probably the kind of thing you want to clear the air with)?

Sorry for all the Gorshin Riddler questions but I just love how you write him. I think he's becoming my favorite.

"Zeros and Ones and Everything Inbetween" 60's Riddler x nonbinary!Reader

Don't be sorry haha. I love it! Not a lot of people write for him so it's definitely one of those "roll up your sleeves and do it yourself" kind of things for content (for me). Life is way too short not to be a little self indulgent.

Plus the ego boost I get from people loving him through my writing is thrilling to say the least ;)

We are going to say in the 60s batman world, the language exists and there's no outright discrimination but it's still a newer concept. 60s batman himself would treat it with a very after-school special kind of gloves. As with most things he doesn't quite get.

Now, Edward Nygma considers himself quite the charmer. Unfortunately for everyone else, he's not wrong- even if he is a huge dork. The first time he saw you, he was awestruck and saddling to your side, asking you a riddle.

"Riddle me this- Why did carbon marry hydrogen?" He looks confident, almost smug while waiting for a guess. When you shrug and tell him you're not sure, he grins, "Because they bonded from the moment they met! Why don't we give it a try?"

If it wasn't the riddle, it was his laugh that brought a smile to your face. As he posed a date, you figured it could be a lot of fun. Why not? You're a cool, independent nonbinary person in Goth- oh right.

The whole thing went by so fast you forgot to mention that, even casually. No matter, you would just... tell him. Right. While you were sure it was fine, it did cross your mind that a criminal may or may not be judgemental about such a thing.

That thought kept occupying your mind as you entered the diner you were supposed to meet him at several days later. It took you a moment to spot him in the place. The Riddler was keeping you on your toes already. He wore a light green gingham button up with darker pants that complimented. Dark purple, almost black question marks were embroidered on each end of the collar of his shirt. You'd half expected him to come in full criminal ensemble, though now you felt a little silly thinking so.

He's all smiles when he spots you, "Pretty thing, there you are! I was wondering if I'd have to hold up another bank to get your attention." A small laugh before he's handing you the menu. He's looking over the options himself when you mention you have something you need to tell him.

He merely hums in response, telling you he's listening. Your voice comes out nervous, "I'm nonbinary."

That's when the Riddler puts down the menu and lifts his brow with a grin, "Is that all? Don't sound so nervous, sweetheart, or I'll worry I frighten you. Do I... frighten you?" There's a teasing look in his eyes as he glances at you up and down.

"No, I- You really don't care?" It wasn't something to be ashamed of, but his lack of reaction caught you off guard.

"There are only two binaries I care about- Can you guess what they are? Tell me, there are two lovers of the alphabet. Destined to be with one another but twelve letters apart. What are they?"

You think on it for a moment, counting on fingers before snorting, "U and I?"

"Precisely! You and I need to explore this connection of ours." He smoothly transitions, "I may be the royal prince of puzzlers, but even I have common decency!"

And that's that. Anyone tries to say anything harmful to you about it and he'll dangle them above a vat of sharks. He can do that you, know. Unless it's batman, they won't have any shark repellent, either!

[elizabethshaw]

thoughts on "echoes"!! under the cut bc of spoilers:

this boxset absolutely came out at one of the worst possible times for me (my busiest day of the week, at a time when i have 6 different exams, a presentation and also assessments for my home uni to prepare for), and i fear it may have regnited my 8das fixation somewhat which is. not something i have time for rn lmao. we'll see how it goes i guess! anyway personal stuff over now-

i definitely enjoyed it overall! i'm still not entirely sure where i'd rank it in comparison with the other post-stranded boxsets but it was a lot of fun, and it was (as expected) a joy to hear this tardis team together again :)

i will say however that i did have one major qualm with it, which is that i felt a bit let down with how little it followed through with the emotional plotlines set up in the preceding two sets. i got the feeling when listening to "what lies inside?" and "connections" that they were very much going somewhere with this team's (particularly helen's) emotional arc, and while i won't deny there were some nice scenes with them in this set, the fact that these threads were otherwise left to one side most of the time was a disappointment. there was potential to do some really interesting character work in continuation from the events of those previous episodes and it just. didn't happen. i don't want to sound too down about it because i did still really enjoy these stories, but i think this side of things was missing a little bit for me. hm.

anyway, episode-by-episode thoughts:

birdsong

i think this was my favourite of the set. i really love audio drama that leans into more horror-adjacent aspects (even though i'm not a massive horror fan otherwise tbh), and also love it when audio drama just gets kinda fucked up with it. this story hit on both counts for me :)

love that this continued the running trend from the previous boxsets of the episode starting with eight, liv and helen just getting to be silly for a bit before the Horrors inevitably happen :D

lowkey actually love the concept of barcodes as a written language! part of me wants to try and work out how that could work now

scots pine trees... it never rains... bracken... sand... they're literally in breckland lmao

saying that it does also have the Suffocating Quietness going on so i think i'm onto something here...

when the vortex previews for this set mentioned a family member of helen's first mentioned in doom coalition being relevant to this story, i wasn't expecting it to be the grandmother she mentioned in "ship in a bottle". however it was actually really nice to have helen's relationship with her developed further, and it was woven into the story well i thought

being Normal about the scene between liv and helen at the fireside. i am being so normal about it

"i'm not sure i could do this with anyone else, you know? everything from exploring strange new worlds... to talking about my family." i'm fine. i'm fine!!!

[putting on my clown shoes] this is how liv/helen can still be canon in some form before helen inevitably dies! :))

i love how vivid this story felt to me. i always end up getting visuals in my head as i listen with any audio drama but some stories end up, for storytelling or sound design reasons, or both, creating really clear and vivid pictures in my mind and this was definitely one of those

i hope to god that when i visit home over the summer and listen to these with my mum (who loves these audios but refuses to listen to them without me, which is kind of sweet of her), my dad is not in the same room. i love him but he absolutely would be asking me to pause it every few minutes so he could identify the bird calls and then also getting really frustrated when i inevitably end up being unable to guess any of them correctly myself lol. the pains of being related to an ornithologist

big fan of the way things got increasingly more disturbing towards the end. i do think the eight-liv-helen era has been lacking in terms of properly creepy stories (this is just my personal taste tbf), so it was cool having them properly lean into that for once. i have to say though the mental image of the scout's body with all the roots forcing their way into her eyes is not going to be leaving me for a long time

also thought the sound design was really well done on this one!! you could really feel the discomfort of the silence i think

got slightly choked up at helen and liv singing to bex as she died. i might have just been in a weird mood while i was listening to it but. yeah. it did something to me

anyway had a lot of fun with this episode! it had a lot of elements that appealed to me personally, and the character work it did was nice. i look forward to listening to it again one day :)

lost hearts

m.r. james episode!! i've only ever read two of his stories (both of which are products of me knowing this episode was coming haha), but was quite excited for this one regardless because a) ghost stories! and b) he's actually got connections to a village in the area i grew up in, and as i've never actually seen/heard any stories set where i come from in my life, it was neat to have a story in my favourite show, featuring some of my favourite characters, star someone more or less from where i'm from :')

have to say though i am disappointed to have lost the unofficial "will they namedrop great livermere" bet i had going on with my mum and brother. it's such a middle-of-nowhere village (it's not on the way to anywhere, has 3 streets (one of which is named "the street" and another of which is actually a dirt track), and you invariably see more chickens there than actual people), it would have been deeply amusing to me for it to have canonically existed in the dwu

loved all the direct (and indirect) callbacks to "the red lady" in this story! it felt fitting seeing as on some levels they do share certain elements in terms of plot/setting, and was also just fun for me as that is one of my favourite stories :)

was also a big fan of how active the story felt (not sure if that's quite the right word?) - each of the characters had a clear role to play and all the main cast got something to do, it never felt hugely like any of them were being sidelined, which does happen on occasion with 3+ person tardis teams

if helen had punched someone at some point in this story i honestly wouldn't have blamed her

"he's like the museum of cairo, stuffed inside a... well, a-" "a rude, ungracious little twerp?" oh my god askdfjdsfjkds

(let her swear!!!)

i like how the story was riffing off some of the plot/vibes of m.r. james' actual short story "lost hearts" (helpfully one of the two i've read)! it gave it that nice kind of connection, without feeling overly derivative and like it was straight-out copying it

my only main issue with this episode was that robert felt kinda underdeveloped. they started off well in his opening scene with liv, but i don't think we got enough of a chance to get to know him as a person after that point and i think the story suffered for it a little. i don't think it helped either that he's not a family member helen had ever mentioned prior to this episode, so they were essentially having to start from scratch and with everything else going on in the narrative, didn't quite find the time to give him sufficient detail

loved the emotional moments that were brought out when helen got erased... "helen, she's my- she's everything i have left" ough

and the salzburg parallels?? liv attempting to fly the tardis in a desperate attempt to rescue her friends, much like helen did? this is so... it's a lot

i won't lie, it did feel a bit odd to me that they would go to such lengths to avoid actually naming the uni in this episode as cambridge. i suppose it may have been to avoid spoiling the "it's m.r. james!!!" reveal at the end, but given that i think anyone who would have guessed it was him from the setting being cambridge probably would have guessed it anyway beforehand either from the episode blurb or the fact that the episode literally starts with him reciting one of his most famous short stories, it feels a little pointless. i mean i clocked it as an m.r. james episode when the set was announced and i had never read any of his work at that point lmao. not a glaring issue or anything, but felt like a weird choice

anyway loved helen getting to geek out a bit at the end... i love her :')

i think i'm going to have to relisten to this at some point so i can fully get my head around it but i did enjoy it!

slow beasts

this was a solid ep. not my favourite story this tardis team has ever had, but i did absolutely enjoy listening to it, and thought there were a lot of really good ideas in it!

the colonialism plotline especially worked really well for me, it felt pertinent in just the right sort of way. it's not necessarily something new for dr who, but i think it was definitely a good example of how to do it well.

i think "simple, but effective" is the way i'd sum this one up tbh. not exceptional, but it knew what it was setting out to do, did it, and did it well, and i think that worked. it did admittedly feel a bit strange after two more complex/experimental sort of stories, but i don't think that's any reflection on its actual quality

"here is the psychic paper. be confident. it only works if you're confident." "but... i- i'm not confident?" me if i got asked to use the psychic paper tbh

enjoyed the use of the translation circuit in this one :) i have a lot of thoughts on it as a general thing so i always like seeing the ways it gets utilized in different stories

so! had fun with these! a couple of things that maybe could have gone better, but overall a set of three stories i had good fun with and i suspect will enjoy listening to again. fingers crossed the december boxset is with these guys again and they do a bit more with helen's emotional plotlines next time :)

[rjmhereunderprotest]

The Polly/Oz Shipping Post for Personal Mental Well-Being

It's been one of those past couple days, and frankly I'm in need of a break from... well a lot of thoughts. I've not been absorbing some stuff well. I'd normally slip into Gwenpool stuff, but at the moment that's kinda being a mental drain. So, I need to focus on something positive and happy and anything that makes me smile and- oh look Polly and Oz of Monster Prom!

For something that is not technically canon in any respect, because Monster Prom's canon is whatever the hell you want it to be relationship wise, Polly and Oz have always spoke to me as the S-Tier Romance of the game. Sure, many people ship Oz with Damien and Polly is... well I'm not sure who is preferred. I've noticed at least one person goes REALLY hard for Polly and Vicky. Regardless both and all Monster Prom ships, regardless of popularity are equally valid. This isn't a definitive statement about canon because right now canon isn't always the answer for me. Even though a lot of Monster Prom's promotional material likes to show Polly teasing Oz in an overtly flirty manner, that isn't a definitive statement about the creator's preferences. They've had Oz decide to date Zoe in a Monster Road Trip trailer, it means nothing. (Although Zoe is fricking awesome and is my second romance choice behind Polly) What matters most in Monster Prom, at least to me, is emotional connection and compatibility. I think it's the same for, well, frankly a lot of ships.

So this is a bit of Fandom Mentality self-care where I talk about why I've written in my mind that Polly and Oz make the most sense for romantic partners. Because I love them a lot and I find them cute and I think it just makes sense. So... let's start.

So, Oz... why do I main Oz so much is probably the real question I should be asking myself? Maybe because they fit the most with me and my high school experience. Oz is an extreme introverted, nervous social outcast. Everything about his dialogue and actions we can see him doing in the game suggests he is a mega nerd, a good student and, quite frankly, at the bottom of the Spooky High totem pole. Like I was.

I'm not a Vicky who was bold and outgoing, I'm not a Brian who was aloof and tried to coast, I'm certainly not Amira, the fiery bad girl. No, I was Oz, perpetually afraid of high school even as I took the work seriously but constantly wanted to get out of there because it was a fucking pressure cooker!

The difference between me and Oz is obvious, THEY are some kind of amorphous shadow creature who, apparently, is the embodiment of fear. He's probably older than even Liam. He's quite possibly super powerful. And his little imaginary friends who he uses to try to cope are real, they're those little phobias who pop up around him and do cute things. And yet, they choose to be THIS, they choose to be this scared high schooler who is insular, lonely looking and desperate for love/affection. At the very least he seems to WANT acceptance. Like most of the super thirsty monsters among the main characters of the game. I identified with that a lot. He doesn't want to hurt anyone, he's clearly lonely and probably not always in the best place mentally as he tries to navigate a high school that he probably doesn't need to be in. Honestly, none of the monsters need to be there though, I mean... they don't exactly LEARN anything there as far as I can tell. I'm not even sure if they have a full staff of teachers or if most of them are just jokes.

So I've always just seen Oz as my closest facsimile to my High School experience, at least in terms of how it felt, terrified of everything and wondering if I even belonged there. So while I like the other characters, Vicky and Brian especially, I always felt more connected to Oz as a result. I know this sounds like "He/They are Literally Me FR", but it's more... I just can more easily place myself into Oz's headspace and emotionally connect with him to a degree. I don't think I'd make all the choices he does, but I can certainly understand him the most out of all the characters in the cast.

When the eventual Monster Prom Reverse is released, I fully expect Oz's character will be better fleshed out. If he hasn't been already in those Monster Road Trip sequences where he can be a hitchhike passenger. This is mostly just my interpretation based on what I've seen. This is the unique thing about Monster Prom shipping when it involves anything with the MCs. A lot of it is speculation and, a little if not a lot, of self-insertion. So it's best to always keep that in mind. This is a dating sim after all, fantasy wish fulfillment is inevitable, it's something even the game criticizes about itself a lot. That a lot of this is very silly and stupid and unrealistic in terms of actually setting up a real relationship with someone, especially a romantic one. It's why it usually doesn't take itself too seriously. Which is epitomized by, who else...

Polly Geist, the ghost party girl who I'd call the face of Monster Prom if I didn't think Damian could arguably be just as much at this point, at least Tumblr wise. Polly is still super popular though and its easy to see why. She funny, fun, cool, extremely sex positive, her outlook is very progressive, lighthearted and she is herself... sexy as hell. She's just a really fun character and it's hard not to enjoy any of her scenes on their own.

Whether she's pulling pranks with Scott, (Well, mostly leading Scott into pulling pranks because the dude is too stupid and nice to know how to do them) starting food fights by flashing people, causing general mayhem in the pursuit of advancing the science of partying or scamming you into performing a nonsensical sex act, Polly is highlight of Monster Prom. Even when she's too drunk to know what's going on, or high, or drunk and high, Polly is the afterlife of the party... which goes on forever from her perspective because she's dead. And yet despite that she is the love interest in Monster Prom who loves life the most and refuses to not spend it to its fullest. You have to admire that level of extroverted joy.

But Polly is not a superficial party girl, she might be dead and therefore removed from all consequences of her lifestyle, but she isn't a shallow sex obsessed ghost. She has actual depth, probably the most out of the other main love interests, barring maybe Vera, but that's mostly because of her sisterhood with Valerie gives her some much needed motivation beyond just being an evil criminal mastermind/capitalist. (Although I imagine a few people would say there's little difference between the two professions) Polly's depth is ALL hers. Because this is the thing... Polly's Forever 22, Stupid and Partying attitude? It's a front.

Oh she doesn't actually HATE partying, sex or drugs. She loves and is ALL about that. That's as much who she is as anything, but she plays up the idea that she's an idiot... when she's far from anything. Polly is actually an accomplished MASTER Chess player, a highly advanced gaming skill level that requires a lot of forward thinking and strategizing. She really good at Chemistry, mostly because it enables to make her own drugs, but Chemistry is a highly analytical field involving math, problem solving and attention to detail. Her favorite field of study though is literature, Classic Russian Literature in the vein of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky. This is reflected in one of the Pre-Game Skill Boost choices, where the FUN option (Which is Polly personified) involves making a movie that has several of the most famous Russian Novelists going off on a Hangover-style adventure.

The point is, Polly isn't an idiot. She's actually highly intelligent... so why does she act like a fool? Because... she wants to. She wants to spend her afterlife how she most desires. That doesn't preclude her other interests of course, she still loves chess, chemistry and "War & Peace", but she's capable of more than just those nerdy pursuits. She pushes herself to remain highly socially, outgoing, never allowing her love of life to dim even in death. And she just doesn't want to advertise, I think, her more intellectual pursuits. Likely because she doesn't want to appear above all of that, as better than the people she cares about, because she does care about people.

Scott is probably her best friend, as a Fellow Prank Masterz (With a Z). And Scott IS an idiot, like a complete idiot. Look up the word Himbo in the dictionary and you find his face. He might be a lovable genuinely nice werewolf jock... but he is very clearly a dumbass. But Polly will spend time with him, why? Because she's enjoys his company, she enjoys being with him and pulling pranks. She never considers being more intelligent than him as something to lord over Scott. She might easily lead him into some situations, but she never wants to make him feel inferior to her.

And that attitude extends to other people, like Kale. You might know him as the plant guy, as well as the Asexual/Aromantic character of the game. He has no interest in sex or romance... but Polly hangs out with him and smokes weed with him anyway. When your character tries to seduce Kale (albeit you do not know he is an ace at the time) Polly is irate with you for making shit weird. It's very clear Polly understands and respects personal boundaries. She'll tease people, try to make them come out of their shells, open up, live a little... but if she knows that someone is not interested she won't push things. Kale is a friend and despite being a flirty party girl, she does not do anything to jeopardize that with him.

There's a lot I could on with about Polly honestly, her friends with benefits relationship with Faith of the Coven, her sunny friendship with the cold Vera, her seemingly really good organizational skills for setting up an Orgy... but at some point I'd just be arguing that Polly is best girl and that's not why we're here. I'd just wanted to lay this all out so we better understood who Polly is.

So why with Oz? I'd be lying if there wasn't some sort of wish fulfillment element to it. Like I said, a lot of dating sims fall into this category and Monster Prom doesn't pretend its any better, it's just trying to acknowledge it and offer a different take on it. So the idea of a popular party girl falling for a neurotic nerd who's afraid of everything is no doubt appealing to me on a personal level, but I like to think there's more to it. If only so my enjoyment of this pairing isn't completely concieted sounding.

Here's the deal, Polly's obvious flirting with Oz, pushing his buttons, taking an interest in him, is clearly an effort to get him to come out of his bubble and enjoy things. To not be so scared to live life. I don't think any of it is pushy though, it's mostly knowing looks, brushing her hands along sensitive spots, she's gentle about it. She never seems to be forcibly pushing Oz to leave his safe space, but urging him to try.

The idea that Oz would be willing to try, because this crazy hot ghost girl takes an interest in him is... well frankly cute in both respects. Him because he's willing to take a risk for personal self-growth. Her because she seems to be doing this without any concept of a reward. She's not overtly trying to get in his pants and I don't think she's maliciously messing with him, playfully yes, but she clearly doesn't have sinister designs to make a fool of him. She's just decided Oz could use the chance to escape his box and she'd like to be the lockpick... and knowing her she'd probably make that into innuendo, but that's just Basic Polly at that point.

But why would Polly be interested in Oz romantically? We can already discern why Oz would be. Polly is a sexy fun party girl, she seems to take an interest in him despite having the pick of the litter. Finding out her hidden depths would like only make Oz like her more, although I suspect he'd be concerned that he thought less of her for a bit. Ultimately Polly is designed, like all the love interests, to illicit this response with ANY of the main characters you can play as. The thing that makes it different, special with Oz is that his personality as the shy nerd boy makes their match with the outgoing party girl appealing aesthetically. But why would Polly be into Oz?

Well those hidden depths I mentioned are part of it to a degree. Polly's intellectual pursuits never held her back. She probably doesn't want the same for Oz. Although I feel their more calm, collected and less extroverted nature would give Polly an anchor that she probably sometimes needs. While she is good at knowing when to stop, what her limits are and should be, let's not kid ourselves, like everyone at Spooky High, Polly has a tendency to go overboard to an extreme degree. Like, one of her endings involves the literal apocalypse so... yeah. Polly could use a tether and she probably wants that to some extent. Both for reasons I'll explain soon and reasons I've already stated. Polly likes to know when she is crossing a line because she isn't outwardly malicious, she doesn't want to hurt people in her pursuit of fun. Polly only ever gets mad if you're ruining her fun by being boring or just by being a jerk to people she thinks don't deserve it. And Oz likely knows better at times what lines she doesn't want to cross herself.

Another part of it is who Oz is himself, besides seeing some things in him that are like her, Oz doesn't come across as the kind of person who would consider Polly as just another sexy girl they can bag. Oz very clearly respects Polly, that's what a lot of the point of the events that can lead to dating of the love interests in the game are about, respect. Respect for yourself and respect for the person you want to be with, understanding who they are and appealing to those aspects, showing you're willing to meet them at their level. In my mind, if anyone would respect Polly as a person rather than just a shallow sex kitten a lot of people sometimes see her as, it would be Oz.

And this is because... well Oz himself, or themself, isn't all they appear to be. They are, after all, the embodiment of fear. As I alluded to, Oz does not seem to fit in Spooky High in any sense. He's probably more of an Eldritch than even Zoe. At least Zoe has a recognizable form as basically an adorable version of some sort of Lovecraft Mythos Tentacle Beast. Oz is some sort of shadow creature. Some people have assumed he's like Slender Man or something to that effect. An SCP that's gone rogue and decided to attend high school. He should not be intimidated by anything here. Although I imagine, if anything could make a shadowy creature that is the living concept of fear itself quake in terror, it would be high school. Oz doesn't strike me as someone who sees people as what they are on the outside. Oh imagine he would be shocked to see how different Polly is on the inside, but he's not going to let that completely deter him. If nothing else I think Oz is a very determined shadow creature. Why would he keep up this appearance of a pathetic frightened geek? Maybe because he is genuinely frightened, maybe he has other motives, maybe he's just doesn't want to be defined by what the world says he has to be. But I am certain that, at the very least, he chooses to be what he is now as much Polly chooses to be what she is now. In a strange way, they're both seemingly living an afterlife... or different life.

As a sort of aside, there is something to be said on a mythic level too of a ghost, a spirit typically meant to evoke fear in people of the inevitability and permanence of death, and a creature that is the literal personification of fear itself, falling in love. A spirit that was once mortal and a being that has just always been since time immemorial. It's kinda like something out of Neil Gaiman's "The Sandman" when you look at it in that respect. And I do like me some Sandman.

But if that's not enough to convince you of at least some substantive reason for why I like Polly and Oz together... well here we go. The one time Polly ever got serious feels most appropriate when it is connected to Oz rather than any other character, to me. Let's talk about the Locket.

The Locket is an Event Item you can unlock in Valerie's Store, like most of the added Event Items that were added in around the Holiday Season, it's meant to flesh out the love interests some. While they're not exactly lighthearted, Scott's deals with being abandoned as a pup, they're not exactly bereft of comedy either. But The Locket comes close. It starts out with the mysterious haunted inhabitant of the locket trying to share his sad story of lost love... and then Polly shows up and decides to hijack that whole plot as she do! Because she's gonna smoke it! Yeah, she's gonna literally smoke a locket and she wants you to join her. This leads to a few choices about responsible drug use, probably useful. Honestly if I ever did drugs I'd at least want to be safe about it.

However the good times of you enabling Polly's addictions is somewhat ruined by the untimely arrival of the Coven, Spooky High's pre-eminent supernatural hero squad in the vein of Charmed/Buffy, except not objectively terrible (Charmed) or written by an asshole. (Buffy) They're quick to do the usual "Just Say No" deal at Polly, wishing she wouldn't supplement her partying with constant drug use. Polly, dropping her usual fun façade, gets serious and lectures back. Insisting she is not being irresponsible... she's dead. And therefore nothing she does can hurt her and even regardless she practices safety first with her drug use. She is not any worse than someone who really enjoys a lot of chocolate and she is in control of her drug use unlike such people. "Drug Use, Not Abuse" she explains.

It almost works, the Coven actually respectfully admit that they're probably sticking their noses in a place they don't belong. Polly isn't stupid, she is responsible and more importantly she is already dead so it's not like she can really harm herself anyway. Then Polly lets it slip that the locket she's smoking contains the soul of a dead guy and they take issue with that. Smoking haunted artifacts is fine, but a clear line in their eyes is basically smoking a soul for your own benefit and possibly destroying said soul's afterlife. Polly is fed up playing nice and tells them to fuck off, because it's HER afterlife and she'll spend it how she wants. Making reference that she knows plenty about drugs because drug use was how she died. Joy, the Coven's leader, then makes a mistake. Thinking this is another bit of the ongoing gag of Polly making up how she died, she has a lot of them and this feels no different, but seemingly more insensitive by making drug abuse a joke. She tells Polly that maybe she wouldn't be so flippant about her drug use if SHE had been harmed by someone's use of drugs.

And this is when Polly loses her shit. The insensitivity of the comment sends Polly over the edge declaring the Coven, and by extension us who have mostly been silent during this whole exchange, have no idea what her life was like and what she's been through and declared that if this is how they're going to speak to her about how she lives her afterlife, fine! Fuck everyone! She's going to party... but not fun party.

Polly's in-game sprite art takes on a horrifying visage. Her eyes glow, her smile turns to a painful scowl, her rage seems to basically circle her head like something out of Poltergeist or the Exorcist. And she can only speak in all-caps rage about how she wants to keep partying forever. Her anger affects the school all around her, as the halls apparently fill with ghastly wails and flying objects. You can't even talk to her at the lunch break, she will beam Liam in the head with a chair just for "Um Actuallying" her. Liam kinda deserves it, so it's funny, but the rest of this is not.

The Coven, mostly Joy, realizing their mistake, enlist you to help them fix this. You can do this by either contacting Polly's mom or a creepy yet friendly psychic kid ala the Sixth Sense. Either way, a successful meeting ends the same way, this reaction really is related to how Polly actually died but if you want to know what happened you need to talk to Polly herself.

You find Polly huffing gas in the school basement, completely forgetting her "Drug Use, not Abuse" statement in favor of just outright indulgence. Joy and the Coven apologize best they can and say they want to understand, but Polly is indignant. Revealing that her death was caused by her father. He was the drug abuser in the family and he made life difficult for everyone. He didn't cause Polly's death deliberately, it was a car accident while he was under the influence, killing Polly, her mom, her little sister... but leaving her father alive. She had been using drugs herself at that age, but she tried to be responsible with them. Possibly as an attempt to connect to her dad, it's not outright said, but it's implied. And despite her being careful she still ended up dying anyway.

Polly at that point demands to know what crazy idiotic choice between two options are you going to pick to suddenly make all this shit better. And even the game admits that this isn't really the time to be funny and offers two options that are sincere, supportive and apologetic. If successful, it breaks through Polly's emotional episode and allows her to finally put herself at ease and come to terms with her feelings.

You might be wondering why the player has to do any of this. It wasn't YOU who stepped on Polly's incorporeal toes and shamed her. You didn't awaken any long buried trauma with insensitive speech. Well, no, but you were kinda enabling Polly's worst habits. Not the drug use, but not considering the harm she could cause to others through it, like smoking another person's soul. So, really you're sorta responsible for not checking Polly's worse tendencies, just letting her ride the haunted locket smoke train without trying to dissuade her because it's just Polly being Polly. So being honest and trying to reach her by admitting that you just want to hear her out or even just be there for her right now, no judgment or anything else, that's an important step here.

Polly of course fakes crossing over as a prank to show that she's back to her old self again and promises to be more mindful of her drug use from now on. But it's not all good. After picking Polly to go to Prom, she admits to the player that she still feels hurt and sad. That in her pursuit of living her afterlife to the fullest, she got caught up in the same mistakes her father made and she's not proud of it. Most importantly though, she admits that despite everything she doesn't hate her dad for what he did, she still loves and misses him. That a lot of her drug use was more about just trying to forget rather than confront these feelings, ignoring the pain rather than dealing with it. Being happy is great and all, but not at the expense of acknowledging when you're hurting.

In all honesty, I feel this ending works best with Oz. Because I can more readily see Oz empathizing the most with Polly in this moment. If anyone knows about hurt, it's a creature that embodies fear. And Polly has admitted to hers, feeling hurt. Oz being there for Polly, trying to show that this is okay, that being not okay is ok, makes the most sense for me. Polly doesn't want to hurt anyone because she knows what it's like to hurt the people you love. And Oz I feel knows a lot about hurt being what they are. And maybe through sharing that kind of pain, in confronting things like Polly encouraged Oz to do with his own fears, they can both be stronger people.

This isn't to say these scenes can't work with other characters, they're not built to only work with one of the MCs. But for me, a lot of Polly's stories and events, this one especially, ring the most true when it involves Oz.

I think the relationship between the two can and could be very endearing. Allowing both to actually confront their fears, center themselves and be better people in the end. Monster Prom's tagline is "Be Your Worst Self", a sort of play on words, but a lot of its romances are actually a play on that concept. The phrase is really about being true to who YOU are more than anything, that includes the worst parts of you. If Monster Prom is about anything it's about finding happiness with who you are before you can truly find happiness with another. And I feel something like PollyxOz stands the best chance of achieving that goal.

I don't want to pretend it's the only solution, of course it isn't, none of this as said before is meant to invalidate your love for Oz getting with Damian or Zoe or Miranda or Polly with Vicky or Brian or even Amira. (Although I feel like no one is beating AmiraxVera on that one) This is about what works for me and my rationalization, you are free to think differently of course. I would hope this at least better explained my preferences and perhaps even helped you a little with your own anxieties as it has mine today.

Well I suppose I should try and lead you to some more Polly/Oz content if you're interested. While I do have ideas for fanfics and there's plenty of art you can look up, I'd rather just send you over to Vanilla Chinchilla, who is probably more prolific and better artistically concerning this than I ever could be. Again, this stuff is all just me working through some junk. Plus their artwork, such as the comic panels right above this paragraph, is really cute and fun and I enjoy it a lot.

That's really all from me, if you've honestly stuck it out this long with me rambling about the romance of two monsters from a silly video game... well I applaud you I honestly don't know if this is really all that compelling. This was an exercise for my own sake, but like I said, I hope you got something out of it. At the very least, I've put something positive into this place rather than just ragging on it for crass reasons. Thank you for your time guys.

[abnorok]

When I first started up my whole fwb thing I was kind of in crisis. Ever since transitioning at who knows what age at this point, I'd identified with lesbian. Lesbian felt like my gender and my identity, but all of a sudden I wanted this one (just one) guys dick all up in my guts.

It's remained the same, I'm not really attracted to any men but him yet I'm drooling over every woman I see.

Either way, I was kind of trapped in this pit of confusion, and all of my searches basically boiled down to "can I still be lesbian?" Tumblr wasn't really what popped up. Reddit and Quora, actually. Lots of posts that were against bi lesbians or trying to belittle people who think that way. "Well, if you like men, it should be obvious you're not a lesbian?" But the label BISEXUAL didn't feel right. Not out of some internalized biphobia, it just...didn't resonate.

So I kind of gave up on the internet answering my problems, and one day I was talking with a straight friend. I asked him, knowing that he's straight his entire life, what would he call himself if he suddenly fell in love with a man.

He paused, took a sip of his coffee, and said. "I guess I'd be straight, still." Which was, in earnest. Not quite the answer I was expecting.

"I'm sure if someone saw me and this hypothetical boyfriend out in public, they'd assume I'm gay. But if I told someone I'm straight, they wouldn't tell me I'm actually bi. They'd just tell me to believe whatever I'd like to believe."

Which has actually been driving me crazy in the years since. Why do we hold LGBT identities in such tight boxes? I'm positive he's right, if a straight man said they were straight nobody is wasting their time trying to change that. Not with any other sexuality.

Oh, you're bi? But what about comphet? Oh you like all genders equally? No matter what you say you MUST be pansexual. Nonbinary lesbians aren't real, you're NEPTUNIC. Bi lesbian? Just call yourself bi and get to it.

This is long and rambley, but in short, I think this community needs to get off of other peoples asses and stop trying to force them into some double standard they don't even apply to anyone else.

[littleapocalypsekitten]

Okay, I just felt myself getting irrationally angry at something (or perhaps rationally, well within my rights, but it just hit me like a wave). I was watching something called "Apologetics Roadshow" on Youtube. I'd seen a couple of episodes of the guy. Rather wary of him, but I'd liked something I saw in counter of the "hurp-de-durp, theists r dumb!" arguments that so many ill-informed, self-important anti-theists (mostly anti-Christians, actually, since most don't research other religions at all, or even most forms of Christianity much). He seemed somewhat progressive (although I avoided his videos regarding Islam entirely), or at least not-fundie. Just a guy talking about Christianity in a rational manner and I could take or leave what I wanted. I still identify as a Progressive Christian, although I veer into unconventional spiritual territory and am not entirely sure what I am anymore. This stuff is still an interest of mine, though. Anyway, I got interested in a video he posted about the loss of his son. Specifically, he addressed horrible comments he got about it. His son was disabled with a genetic muscle disorder and while he got a lot of support, he apparently got a few comments going "Your son is dirt now!" and being angry at him for bringing a disabled child into the world or not letting him die at birth, I guess. (It's not like he and his wife knew, the kid surprised them). Predictably, the Youtuber brought up Real Things That The Nazis Did to humble people who make such horrible, abelist comments. He also did a sermon about the Abraham sacrificing Isaac story and the Angel of the Lord coming to the rescue and concluded it to be basically God, himself, reversing the old Pagan system of sacrificing to Gods into God sacrificing for us. (His take). However, he then went onto going on about how when society rejects God in Christ / this idea, people revert into child-sacrifice. He gave some example of sex trafficking that went on in England and then... ugh... he said the thing that made me click away from the video: "And here in America, parents are putting their children on operating tables subjecting them to Mengele-like mutilation..." I immediately recognised that as an anti-trans red flag and was "Um, buddy, DOESN'T HAPPEN!" If he'd done a modicum of research, he'd know that... top and bottom surgeries do not happen on underage kids? At least I do not think so? Like, at all? I'm pretty sure you have to be at least 16 for a top surgery (correct me if I'm wrong) and it has to have parental consent as well as be desired by the patient (and this is a thing done with cisgendered people as well, as breast reduction surgery is a thing and cancer is a thing). And I'm fairly certain that bottom means you have to be fully-adult, joinin' the Army age at least and well-vetted by psych docs. Like, the most even a teenager can do with gender-stuff is some hormone therapy (which, again, applies to cigendered people with medical conditions, too). And the way he said it, that "parents are subjecting their kids" - um, no they ain't! I don't think there's even such a thing as parents who are forcing their kids to change genders! (Exception being the intersex community? As babies)? And here I thought the lament against modern "child sacrifice" was going to be the old saw of abortion-politics. Um... congratulations transgender persons? You've officially supplanted abortion as the society boogeyman? I guess? I don't even have a dog in this fight, really. I'm a cisgendered old bat who used to be conservative and is repentant of that time in my life and I don't have anyone in my family who is openly trans, so it's more like.... "dammit, I hate it when people don't do the research and get the facts wrong!" And when they say obvious wrong things! He said it like he thinks it's some kind of fad for parents to force their kids to get gender reassignment surgeries against their will and that annoys me.