#They're probably the most competent to lead

[localguy2]

I find it highly amusing how in situations where the ninja are separated/it's just the OG four, Kai and Zane immediately assume control/start spearheading the team because apparently no one else is sane enough or in the right mind to do so.

Your honour, they literally have one of the best dynamics in the show, with how they're probably the most protective people in the team. And it makes me mad how this is overlooked by the fandom and the show.

[demilypyro]

I'm interested in the gradual development of Miss Pauling.

Originally an almost incidental character in the Team Fortress 2 comics alone, no official model existed for Miss Pauling for the longest time. Her first appearance was in the WAR comic from 2009, two years after the game's release. She is mentioned by name, but you can tell her character isn't nailed down here yet. They probably aren't even sure if they're going to reuse her at this point. The Administrator herself isn't even fully developed yet.

Despite the tangential nature of her character, she made regular appearances in the TF2 comics, always executing the Administrator's will, though not much was really established about her personality or characteristics beyond being hardworking, extremely competent, and very loyal.

Around this time, the fans started making their own models to use her in fanworks, though with not much to go on in regards to her personality, there weren't many people taking an interest in her. The few times she did appear in fanworks, she was often relegated to just being the token girl character.

In 2013, Valve released Ring of Fired, the first of seven full-length Team Fortress 2 comics that would end up being the main source of character development and plot progression for the universe. And Miss Pauling was there as one of the lead characters, although her characterisation was still rather thin in this first issue.

The big moment here is the Love and War update. In 2014, seven years after the game's launch, the short film Expiration Date was released, the 15 minute video supposedly being a pilot for a potential TF2 tv show. That tv show never happened. However, Miss Pauling was one of the lead characters of the video. It finally gave Miss Pauling an official 3D model, which was notably somewhat different looking from her comic appearances up to this point, as well as a canonical voice.

It also established several defining traits to her character: she was extremely neurotic, kind of awkward, a bit silly, and she had a knack for gallows humor. These traits were heightened with the following Gun Mettle and Jungle Inferno updates, which gave her a bunch of voice lines where she talked to the player characters and let her kookier side show.

These traits would make it back into her characterisation in the comics going forward, finally reaching Maximum Pauling. She became the true Main Character of the TF2 comics, usually being the main perspective character, as well as being the character with the heaviest choices to make as the plot reaches its climax.

While Miss Pauling still to this day doesn't physically appear in the Team Fortress 2 videogame, she has become one of the most important characters of its surrounding universe, and you'd be hard pressed to find a fan who doesn't really like her. It's been fun to watch her develop from an incidental lore character to the unofficial tenth member of the main cast. I'm a huge fan of her.

Okay end of post

[radioactiverats]

Mentor Starscream x seeker!reader (5/?)

Inspired by @xarology amazing art - just my own wild thoughts on nose scar because HALAS;DFJL;AFJD

Thank you @jackalackqwq and @swiftyangx12 for lovely art and always following my random thoughts with comments ily guys <3 Literally bringing this story to life with the amazing visualisations! And ty everyone for the reblogs, likes and comments they keep me going!!

Nose scar: You crash due to someone's incompetence and totally crack your faceplate open. Cue Starscream screeching

The war had totally upended your previous way of life, but one thing that remained constant through it all was the nonstop training. That was fine with you for the most part, as it provided a mote of familiarity amidst all the uncertainty. But aside from improving your ability in the air, there was another practical reason for it.

Group attacks.

Common, of course, but there was an issue.

Back in the academy, group maneuvers were only introduced towards the end of the program. Not only did seekers need competence in solo flight, but friendship, for the lack of a better word, was a significant contributory factor to success. As it turned out, closeness was most important in determining the harmony of a group flight, so you were ordinarily given a few years to form bonds with one another before actually being allowed anywhere near group maneuvers.

However, the war affords you no such luxury, and you find yourself lumped in with bots you've never met before in preparation to attempt a group drill. As usual, Starscream had been in command with a few other lieutenants to provide air support, but as soon as the session started, he'd been abruptly called away to attend to matters on the bridge.

Scores collected from individual drills means that you've been assigned the lead, and you stiffen as soon as you hear this. Part of you swells with pride to see proof of your hard work - even though you're contented yourself with being a follower, you've always wanted to be like Starscream. Having your capabilities acknowledged to be of leadership quality pleased you immensely, but at the same time... Starscream would never have risked your helm by putting you in such a high-profile position. However, a lieutenant seeker was now temporarily in charge, and had no such qualms about putting you straight in the firing line. He’d glanced at the score when was your turn and promptly waved you to the front.

“But-”

“You telling me that someone with your abilities should be wasted in the back?”

You promptly shut your intake.

You glance at the two other bots you're with - older than you, and probably more experienced, too. But they hadn't said anything when you timidly stepped to the front of the formation. You hope they're not the sort to take offense.

Lifting off without issue, it’s smooth sailing for the most part. The extent of your communications remained blessedly limited to curt reports on flight conditions as you soared straight ahead, and you're hopeful for an equally peaceful descent before you go your separate ways.

Unfortunately, no such luck.

Just as you think you’ll be able to make it safely back, your sensors pick up on a strange wind pattern up ahead. The collision point of a Ferrell cell and a Hadley cell - this planet had its own unique system of atmospheric circulation, which led to the collision of strong, opposing winds at certain latitudes. Starscream had taught you how to recognise them before, with an ominous warning that flying into them could disable even the most experienced of seekers.

You activate your comms. "In eight hundred metres, bank right.”

There’s a momentary silence before your comms crackle back online. “What did you say?”

“There’s really strong winds up ahead. We can’t just fly through it,” You say. You’re getting a bad feeling about this. Now would be a horrible time for your partners to misunderstand your urgent instructions as a show of power, rather than an increasingly frantic attempt to save your sparks.

“Strong winds, my aft,” The other jet’s derisive laughter crackles mockingly through your comms. “My sensors didn’t detect anything. Maybe you’re just a weakling.”

“No! Just look!”

The worst thing was that this formation required you to fly together at incredibly close quarters - meaning that you weren’t able to stop, because the others would crash right into your wings.

Five hundred meters.

“Come on, don’t you guys want to impress the lieutenant?���

“He’s a fragging slaghead,” Was the immediate response you got.

Just as you truly begin to panic - “Wait,” The other jet suddenly says. “I think they’re right.” As you fly closer, the clouds almost seem to be distorting before your optics, warped by fierce columns of wind.

“A likely story,” The first one snorts. “How long have you been flying? Longer than our squad leader -" his voice takes on a derisive tone - “has been alive.”

“Two hundred meters,” You warn.

A tense silence falls over your comms.

“I’m following what they said,” Crackles decisively through. “You’ll have to send me to the scrapheap before I fly through that just to make a point.”

“Frag you,” Growls the other voice, outraged static marring his words.

One hundred meters.

“Come on,” You say again, frantic, on the cusp of pleading.

The other jet says nothing, but you can feel the spike of his EM field when the column of wind begins to make itself known against the plates of your altmodes.

Fifty meters. Surely he wouldn’t be that stubborn. It was hard enough to stay alive in a war - would a mech really risk his spark over something as inconsequential as this?

You decide to take a gamble. If he banks with you at the last minute, no harm, no foul. If he doesn’t…

Surely, surely he would.

Twenty meters.

Ten.

The screaming of engines overtakes your audials as you and the jet to your left swerve sharply to the right - and your optics widen in fear as you realize what the defiant jet to your right has decided to do.

He’d wisely decided not to challenge the whipping column of wind, but in order to defy you, he’d decided to maneuver upwards instead. You’ve been told that losing position is one of the worst things that can happen, and you’re about to find out precisely why that is. The jet’s altmode clips your wing. Being of a heftier build, he wobbles in the air before managing to right himself. However, you are not so lucky. The momentum of your turn sends you careening straight for the wind column. Burning pain radiating outwards from the dent in your wing, you find yourself buffeted by the winds and unable to regain control of your spiralling frame.

You hurtle through cloud layer after cloud layer in a wild tailspin, mist obscuring your vision as you’re tossed around like a ragdoll by the roaring winds. Next to the Terrans, you may be a giant. But at the mercy of the natural world, you may as well be an ant. Through the panic that fizzles your processor, you suddenly latch onto something Starscream had drilled into your processor before.

You were done for the day - you’d done everything exactly as he instructed and by all standards, the session should have ended on a high. But as Starscream had quietly turns round, ready to return to base, an oddly somber mood had settled over you both. It took only two steps before he was glancing back at you, seemingly torn over whether or not to share what was bothering him.

“Sir?”

“…If you ever find yourself without control over your frame in the air, and nothing you do is working,” Starscream says, “transform into bot mode. Less resistance on the wings.” His voice has an edge to it, but you can’t quite discern what the emotion tingeing his words is. “Understand?”

“…Yes?” To you, this felt completely out of the blue - advice, while you were certain of its value, had nothing to do with the maneuvers you practiced today.

Starscream pivots to face you head on, optics feverishly bright. “Repeat it.”

Your confusion lasts for a few nanokliks too long for his liking, because he bares his denta in a frustrated snarl. “Are your audials working? Repeat what I just said!”

“Uh,” You fumble, trying to gather your thoughts. “If I don’t have control over my frame in the air, I should transform into bot mode?”

“Because there’s less resistance on the wings,” Starscream repeats. He sniffs, even if his plating isn’t drawn so tight now that he knows you’ve listened to what he said. “I hope I don’t have to spell out the necessity of transforming back into your altmode as soon as you regain control of the situation.”

“No, sir.”

“Good.”

The mood when you walk back to base is considerably lighter, but what prompted that sudden piece of emergency spark-saving advice had always been a mystery to you.

Well, now in the air and reduced to a chew toy flung around by the screaming forces of nature, it clicks into place. With all your strength, you activate transformation protocols, and feel the acute resistance against your plates and gears even as you transform. The sudden shift in mass and surface area throws you off-kilter for a nanoklik, but it’s in your favour. You’re abruptly thrown from the column of wind and into open air before your frame continues its downward plummet, gathering speed as the lush colours of the Terran earth once more bleed into your vision.

The Earth is green, you realise. Oh so green. Blurs of Decepticon paint zip into view. You send a silent apology to Starscream, already having calculated your odds. You’re sorry for not obeying his orders well enough. You’re sorry for being an embarrassment. You’re sorry for making him worry.

You grit your denta and focus the last ounce of strength you have into transforming into your alt mode, thrusters screaming as you try to pull up - however, you simply don’t have enough airspace to pull it off successfully. It’s enough to save your spark, you think, as you make agonising contact with the unforgiving earth. You just don’t know how permanent the damage will be.

For a nanoklik, your sensors are so overwhelmed with sensation that the pain doesn’t kick in right away. Everything happens at once - a billion warnings leap up on your HUD, the agony flares across the entirety of your plating, arcing through your wires like electricity. Through the ringing in your audials, you hear shouts approaching - echoing, warping through your rattled processor. Vaguely, you could make out the lieutenant, your partners - and… was that… Starscream…?

Scrap.

Half of you didn’t want him to see you like this. The other half of you wept and screamed for him to comfort you.

It seemed you had no choice, though. When you tried to move, or at least transform back into bot mode, you realised that you were as good as frozen - systems locked as your frame desperately tried to minimise further damage.

“CADET!”

You only manage a horrific crackle of static in response. But through the pain, you can still feel Starscream’s warm servo on the nose of your altmode. You focus with everything you have on that source of warmth, of kindness. “Listen to me,” Starscream says, next to your shattered cockpit. He’s forcing himself to sound calm, neutral - but the underlying tension in his voice threatens to bleed through, stringing his words tight. “I know it’ll use up the rest of your reserves, but you need to transform now so I can take you to med bay.”

You want to obey, but you’re so tired, the fuzziness of pain and exhaustion weighing your frame down. You try to tell your commander this, through another slurred buzz of static and frag, that hurt. Didn’t even know you could hurt there.

Distantly, you feel the panicked fluctuations of Starscream's EM field. “For the love of Primus, TRANSFORM!” Starscream roars, panic rearing its head as he abandons all pretence of neutrality. They can’t fix you like this. Maybe on Vos, once upon a time. But Knockout, for all that he can do, is not a seeker - and there are limits to what can be done with the seeker altmode without specialised knowledge. Besides, you wouldn’t fit into his med bay, and all of these become urgent problems when Starscream can feel your EM field growing fainter by the nanoklik.

Blearily, you register the frantic spikes of his EM field against your plating. Was he upset? You didn’t want Starscream to be upset. You could fix it. What was that he was yelling at you to do?

Transforming hurts. Every inch of your frame screams as loose screws and fractured plates twist and warp themselves into bot mode. Two warm servos clamp down on either side of your helm, and Starscream’s panicked expression swims into view. “Good,” He murmurs, and you hear his vocaliser reset as he forces the tremor from his voice. “Now, was that so hard?”

No, you want to say, because it was you who asked it of me. But all that comes out is another garbled mess of incoherent static and this time, you’re more aware that there’s something wrong with your intake, beyond your vocaliser. Without thinking, you shakily raise a servo to touch, to find out exactly what’s wrong. But Starscream sees your servo move and promptly scolds you back into submission, even if his frantic worry steals the bite from his words. Slowly, you take in the warnings on your HUD and realise it’s way more than just your intake. Another wave of pain sweeps through your misfiring sensors, cracking through your helm and splintering across your faceplate. Oh, scrap. Was Starscream… holding you together? That would explain the look on his faceplate.

There’s so many things you want to tell him, but only manage to place your bloodied servo over his - a firework show of popups on your HUD are all the warning you get before you’re out like a light. It's a shame that the all warnings have to obscure Starscream's faceplate before that.

---

The screech of a welder is what you awaken to. Knockout abruptly switches it off as soon as he notices you're awake - you can't help but think that it's uncharacteristically gentle of him, but you're thankful enough not to question it.

"Nasty tumble you took there," He remarks, as you groan. The pain has lessened, but your frame feels like lead and the warnings on your HUD are relentless despite your continuous attempts to close them.

Knockout regards you for a nanoklik more before shaking his helm, tutting disapprovingly. "Such a nice paintjob, too. Now hold still, I'm nearly done."

Gritting your denta as the welder screams to life again, you wish you had just stayed unconscious because by Solus, getting soldered back into one piece fragging hurt. You note with surprise and pleasure, however, that you've regained your sensory systems in your faceplate. Gently touching a servo to your cheek, you gratefully realise Knockout has chosen to work in order of most to least pain - as he'd knocked out (you bite your glossa to keep the inappropriate laughter back) the most painful aspects of your repair while you were still unconscious. The crack across your faceplate from chin to optic has been welded and buffed to perfection, save for... you frown as your fingers find a sizeable dent in your nose. Knowing Knockout's perfectionist streak, you wonder why something so obvious would have been left out, but hesitate to ask since he's already done such a good job on the rest of your frame and you feel guilty asking for more. However, you fail to quell the disquieting sense of unease that bubbles up in your chassis, which tells you that Knockout wouldn't have left your nose out without a very good reason.

You're panting by the time he finishes, plates drawn tight against your frame as you work through the residual pain. The dull grey of your metal shines through in patches, having ungracefully smeared the Terran grass with your paint - but your once-fractured plates are perfectly smooth and polished thanks to Knockout's handiwork.

It's relatively smooth sailing up until that point, because the final part of your frame requiring repair is your wings. Tender, not to mention the pain that arcs through your leading edges, spoilers, ailerons whenever you move... Primus. You decide not to think too hard about it. You have no idea how Starscream managed to stay still under your trembling servos that time you had to patch him up - every touch of the welder to your wings has you seizing in pain, writhing under Knockout's servos no matter how he tries to soothe you. Finally, he clicks the welder offline, with your wings still largely in disrepair.

Your ragged in-vents are all that fill the med bay. "Primus," Knockout mutters. "This isn't working."

For some reason, you get the feeling that his disgusted snarls of frustration aren't directed at you.

You watch quietly as he paces the length of his med bay, before finally whirling around to face you. "No matter what you're about to say, kid, I'm paging Starscream," He informs you. "Primus knows how many times he's had his wings repaired."

Knockout tilts his helm towards the ceiling, optics shuttered and his intake set in a grim line. "After all that effort to keep him out of my med bay, too."

The mental image of Starscream attempting to force his way into med bay just to make sure you're alright is almost too mind-boggling to entertain. Still, now is not the time. Your wings droop as Knockout sends the message out, angry at yourself for causing so much trouble. The pain that radiates from your wing joints at such a movement is deserved, you tell yourself. Is this how you repay Starscream for all that he's done for you? However, your downward spiral is promptly cut short by aggressive hammering at the door of med bay - Knockout emits a long-suffering sigh before going to open it. Starscream all but hurtles into the room, but you'd sensed his EM field even before that - spiking in waves as he attempts to suppress the panic before it gets the better of him.

"Well?" He demands, having taken in your prone form, patches of paint missing and the bridge of your nose chipped.

"Calm yourself," Knockout sniffs. "This is some of my best work to date."

"Best?" Starscream hisses. "Look at their nose! What do you call that?"

"Ah." Knockout looks oddly solemn at that. "One of the reasons I called you here. Filling in a part of one's anatomy requires high quality metal - and as you know, our glorious leader has deemed it un-utilitarian to allow soldiers access to such materials."

"Then put it under my designation," Starscream snarls, but Knockout shakes his helm, almost looking regretful.

"Even if you could, we're simply too short on materials to conduct such an operation. Abundant on Cybertron, sure. On the Terrans' planet, however? In a word: lacking."

By now, you're sure the anger pulsing off Starscream's EM field could power a small spaceship. Unfortunately, Knockout isn't done yet.

"The more pressing matter, however," he continues, "is the repair of their wings. I'm sure you understand."

At that, Starscream freezes. His optics zero in on you with intense precision and in the next nanoklik he's striding over to you, no-nonsense. "Show me."

You shuffle your frame upright, baring your wings to him. Judging by Starscream's sharp in-vent, it's not looking good. A few tense nanokliks pass, and you swivel back round to see Starscream nod curtly at Knockout. "I'll take it from here."

Turning back to you, he jerks his helm in the direction of the door. "Come on."

Before you can protest, Starscream loops a servo round your waist to support you, mindful of your wings. You strain to stay upright in front of the wandering eyes of other Decepticons, thankful that Starscream is more or less holding you up. You won't disgrace him any further. You won't - but finally, in the privacy of Starscream's habsuite, you can't hold back the ragged gasp of pain as the door slides shut behind you.

"On the berth, wings up," Starscream says shortly. He's already dug the welder out. But in spite of your best efforts, you can't stop trembling, already anticipating the pain.

However, instead of the unforgiving heat of the welder, Starscream's warm servo lands comfortingly on an unblemished area of your wings. "Brave," he murmurs, in Vosian, and it nearly makes coolant spring to your optics all over again.

There's a few instances in which you thrash so hard under the welder that Starscream has to hold you down, but you understand why Knockout decided to call Starscream in for wing repairs. Starscream murmuring to you in Vosian takes the raw edge of pain off, gently stroking the broad sections of your wings in between welds.

You're exhausted by the time he's finished, tremors jolting your frame even as the pain subsides. "All done," Starscream says, even if his vocaliser clips out for a nanoklik. "Now, was that so hard?"

Another garbled mess of static is all you can manage, but you determinedly extend your EM field to brush against his. Starscream stiffens before ex-venting deeply and allowing your fields to merge. "Recharge," He commands gently, tucking your frame against his, mindful of fresh welds. Exhaustion sweeping over you like a tidal wave, you're distantly aware of Starscream lightly stroking a thumb over the jagged scar on your nose. "'m sorry," You mumble into his chassis. "Hush," Starscream scolds. "What are you even sorry for?"

"Didn't do your lessons justice," You slur. "'m a waste of time." Starscream's arms tighten around you at that.

"Don't you dare call yourself a waste of time," He growls. "It's not your fault that some slagheads can't deal with their own incompetence. You're under my watch. That's all you, and the others, need to know."

"Mm," You mutter, burrowing closer to his warmth. "Yesssir."

Starscream ex-vents, but it's fond. He gently strokes his servo over your wings, soothing you enough to fall into recharge.

"Patience," He murmurs, more to himself than to you. "One day, they'll pay for what they've done."

Previous / Next

Edit: Now with more art!!!!!

[ninupi]

Hello I have a request! Could you write a scenario where either Kakucho or Draken (you can write for both or do one or the other I don't mind) have a crush on reader(they're friends though but they haven't confessed) however there's someone else who also likes reader and asks them to help them get together with reader🥸How would they react? And what would they do? I hope that makes sense 😅

Thank you 😊

Jealous | k. draken & kakucho (separately)

₊˚⊹♡ tags; fem!reader, both of these are in a good timeline where everyone look gets along, mention of reader looking up at draken, everyone lowk making fun of sanzu in drakens lol, ran being canonically blind but refusing to wear glasses is so funny to me LMFAOO, kakucho being a liar boy

₊˚⊹♡ wc; 830 (draken) 331 (kakucho)

₊˚⊹♡ a/n; ahh im so happy I finally found time to write this, I literally couldn't stop thinking about it when I first saw it lol

k. draken

Draken was intensely watching the TV from the couch while Mikey and Mitsuya were competing in mortal combat on the TV. Most of the guys were over at Mikey's house right now taking turns playing the new game. 

"I'm going to kick your ass Mitsuya..." Mikey warned after receiving a combo almost ending his character's life "You said that the last two rounds, maybe you should focus on fighting!" Mitsuya laughed nudging Mikey with his elbow trying to distract him. 

"You seriously suck at this Mikey!" Smiley laughs angering the blonde even more "Next round, you and me asshole!" Mikey yells pointing at Smiley after Mitsuya's character brutally rips Mikey's apart. "Ok let's go, this is gonna be a piece of cake" he smiles while switching places with mitsuya to sit on the floor. 

While the two of them argued about who they wanted to play Draken heard the front door open "I'm home! And I brought y/n so don't be weird!" Draken perked up once he heard Emma mention your name, you two had become friends earlier this year at school and Emma's been bringing you around a lot more. 

"Ok, so no one cares that I'm home?" Emma asks walking into the living room while y/n is behind her "No, not really" Mikey answers locking his character in "Oh screw you Mikey, I hope you lose!" she yells throwing a couch pillow at the back of his head.

"Hi y/n! How are you?" Draken can't help the way his face contorts in disgust at Sanzu's tone of voice "Hi Haru, I'm fine. Are you playing too?" Haru? Draken didn't know that the two of you were so close "Yeah, I played against Baji earlier and won" he bragged causing Baji to yell at him. 

"Are you not going to say hi to me Draken?" you question softly kicking his leg, he can feel the back of his neck getwarm. "Hey" He knows he probably seems like an asshole he just gets so nervous every time he talks to you. But when he sees you smile at him he knows you don't mind his cold demeanor. 

"Come on y/n, let's go!" Emma grumbles grabbing your hand and leading you toward her room "Bye y/n!" Sanzu calls out waving to you "Bye Haru! Bye Draken!" you smile waving at the two of them. Draken gives Sanzu a certain look when he hears Baji speak up. 

"You're so embarrassing man..." he sighs and Draken looks at Baji who's nodding towards Sanzu "Huh? What do you mean?" Sanzu questions offended "When are you going to tell her you like her? I'm sure she knows but it's best to get rejected now" Smiley laughs starting up his round with Mikey. 

"What are you guys talking about? I don't like y/n..." Draken turns to give Sanzu giving him an unimpressed look while everyone else turns to look at him including Smiley who paused the game to do so, much to Mikey's dismay. "NO!" he screamed out at the paused screen displaying how he was about to hit a combo on Smiley's character. 

"Do you think we're dumb?" Mitsuya genuinely questions fully turning to face Sanzu "Hi y/n! I love you y/n! Can I lick your shoes y/n!" smiley mocks Sanzu causing the guys to all laugh except Sanzu who starts protesting in embarrassment "I don't sound like that, and be quiet what if she hears you!" he hisses looking in the direction of Emma's room where the two of you were. 

"Her room is on the other side of the house, they can't hear anything" Mikey explains while fidgeting with the controller in his hands "Whatever man just ask her out already she might say yes, who knows" Smiley shrugs turning back to the tvand unpausing the game.

"Can you help me ask her out?" Draken can't even hide the way his face contorts in disgust before facing Sanzu "What?" he asks even though he heard him the first time "Can you help me ask y/n out?" Sanzu asks again a bit more harshly this time "No, do it yourself" Draken snaps feeling a bit annoyed about Sanzu's presence now. 

He feels Sanzu slump into the couch next to him when he gets up saying he needs a drink when the others ask him where he's going "Get me a soda!" Mikey calls out before losing to Smiley, again. When Draken walks into the kitchen he sees you sitting there almost like you were waiting for him. 

"Hey..." he mutters walking to the fridge "I heard you guys," you say without much emotion "Oh" Draken just continues to stare at the inside of the fridge not really caring about a drink anymore "I don't really like Haru like that you know..." you sigh leaning against the counter next to the fridge. 

Draken can feel a weight lift off of his shoulders "Oh really?" he questions standing up a bit straighter while closing the fridge, without grabbing a drink. "Yeah I kinda like someone else...someone a bit taller." you smile looking up at him. "That's nice to know" he smiles giving you his full attention now. 

kakucho

Kakucho really liked ran haitani, but right now he really wanted to punch his teeth in. "I'm real sorry about that sweetheart, are you alright?" Kakucho watched ran held your arm softly with a clenched jaw as he approached the two of you "Yeah I'm fine, don't worry about it" you smiled up at him.

"Hey, what happened?" Kakucho questioned walking up behind you softly pulling you out of rans hold. "Oh nothing, we just bumped into each other" you explain with a soft laugh while ran moved a bit closer to Kakucho squinting at him. 

"You should wear your glasses, then you'd see where you're going" Kakucho muttered pushing Ran's face away roughly "Come on my eyesight ain't that bad" he laughed standing straight realizing it was Kakucho who joined the conversation. 

"It actually really is, you need glasses" Kakucho sighs wondering how Ran's gotten this far in life being so blind "Oh yeah you should probably get glasses if it's that bad! But I have to go, I'll see you later kakucho?" you question looking at him with hopeful eyes. 

"Yeah, I'll come pick you up" he smiles nudging you with his elbow "Ok great, I'll see you later, bye guys!" you call out, running towards your class "You gotta set me up with her Kakucho" ran immediately says once you're out of earshot, nudging him with his elbow.

  "Yeah, not happening man," Kakucho says walking away from the taller boy "What? Why not? C'mon, help me out man" Ran sighed throwing an arm over the younger boy's shoulder "I'm not gonna help you ask out my girlfriend."

Kakucho is forced to stop when ran stops walking looking at him slightly shocked "Oh man I'm sorry, I didn't know you two were dating…that's my bad" Kakucho refused to look at ran knowing he was lying straight to his face. Ran didn't need to know that right now though, "It's fine, but yeah I'm not setting you up with her."

[inchidentally]

can't believe we live in an economy where I'm backlogged with landoscar content to do my stupid reactions to but gonna enjoy it !!

ok the fact that Lando is given the camera and film automatically makes sense but the way he chews his lip and his eyes dart nervously between the film and the camera itself bc he's choosing which is his and which is Oscar's ??? and his little division of responsibilities makes sense where Oscar takes primary control of the actual (breakable) machinery and Lando tears into the (not as breakable) film BUT Oscar makes sure to let Lando lead rather than help him out bc photography is Lando's Thing and he knows Lando will want to be in charge this time

the way Lando gets SO close into Oscar's space and they're both so comfortable, their stupid little heads tilted together as if their problem-solving ability is heightened by proximity of their little brains. and then when they close the camera up and both their little hands work together

and Lando's feet just sort of slot right in around Oscar's ??

bc one of the first signs of them getting friendlier and closer last season was them easing into each other's space. casual touching is still iffy! they're not "bros" or brotherly in the way Lando is with other driver friends or how Oscar was with the F2 and F3 boys. they maysn't perhaps ever be broey enough with each other to bosh each other around or friendly punching or gay chicken. but The Fondness has progressed to comfortably invading each other's space <3<3 similar to how they watch each other closely while they talk and Oscar starts his predictive text thing for Lando.

Lando "teaching" Oscar about the camera while speaking over Henrik (who actually knows how to use it) bc Lando wanting to be competent but failing while being adorable is His Thing With Oscar - just like Oscar being competent/a very quick learner but always helping Lando's brain to fill in gaps and figure out solutions is His Thing With Lando. they're both genuinely equally competent albeit they go about things in completely different ways, but Lando would rather be loved than thought clever and Oscar would rather have Lando nearby than crow too loud about being a step ahead.

Oscar's high helpless giggle !!!

the way this illustrates the height difference as Oscar's grown and Lando looks soooo teensy tiny

the difference between being in front of the camera where Lando is immediately jumping around and smiling vs Oscar staring stoically into the lens ;__;

AND OK BUT THE SHARING - Oscar goes first bc realistically he and everyone else knows that Lando is absolutely dying to have a go with it and will probably monopolize it the most and they all love him and let it happen

Oscar's genuine "that is perfect!" while watching Lando - Lando's "that was beautiful!" and their thoughts overlapping again

butttt also Oscar saying that so genuinely and looking at Lando Like That bc Lando is busy w the camera and won't see the look on Oscar's face gonna kms over them

[kyeranmari]

The Emperor Incarnated | SVT Destiny Matrix | Jeonghan

hello, this is kyeranmari ⋆.ೃ࿔*:･

welcome to the first installment of my seventeen destiny matrix readings!

since this is a special time, i'd like to start by reading into the destiny matrix chart of my ult bias: jeonghan ⋆˚｡⋆୨୧˚

in particular, i'd like to explore his central arcana.

for those who aren't familiar, the central arcana is basically the energy that lives in your core. similar to your sun sign in astrology, this is the energy that sort of...summarizes all the other aspects & energies you can find in your chart. this is who you are in your most comfortable state.

jeonghan's central arcana is symbolized by the number 4. this is the energy of the emperor.

often associated with "authority, leadership, control, and structure", the emperor is regarded as one of the most powerful energies in all of tarot and numerology. having this in any aspect of your destiny matrix chart calls you to take lead, be dutiful, be in control, and/or be organized. in addition, this also signifies that you have a natural talent for resolving problems, guiding people, making salient decisions, and establishing solid foundations.

and we've seen evidences of these in jeonghan's life and his relationship with seventeen.

one that sticks out to me is, in the first episode of game caterers x seventeen, it was revealed that jeonghan had a very vital role in the group. he was the boys' main confidant and counselor.

he claims that he does this because he doesn't do much in the team (which i absolutely 100% disagree with), and so he took the role of listening and guiding them through their woes.

anyone who has been in this position had once or has constantly wondered why people come to them with the trust that they have the right answers for their problems. and more often than not, they fail to recognize that it is because of their natural gift of wisdom that draws people in.

although i don't know how their exchanges go in particular, as someone with the empress at their core, i could infer that the themes and language of the wisdom they seek from jeonghan is more objective and structural (unlike that of the empress' affective and spiritual approach). despite na pd characterizing jeonghan's role as "motherly", i'd like to argue that jeonghan's approach might be more of a "dad's way" of looking at the world. i am in no way claiming that this approach is unemotional. rather, it's probably more focused on "what are you gonna do about it?" than "how are you feeling about it?"

people with the emperor at the center are generally caring people. they make taking care of the things they love their duty and responsibility. you can expect them to be committed to giving love and affection.

and we could see jeonghan embody this trait through his most recent series called haniwajjong, a special spin to i-goya (his svt rec series) consisting of all the vlogs he filmed starting from september of 2023. according to him, he did this so that carats could have something to watch while he's in the period of military service.

i would be lying if i say i don't find this so touching, that it almost brings me to tears. as a jjongjjongiefan, i couldn't help but miss him a heck ton, even though i used to say that i won't be emotional about it. but alas, and behold! my ult bias is dedicated to caring about his fans. he didn't have to do this. no one asked for it. but he did it out of his own volition.

he found a way to resolve the dilemma between his civic duties and his deemed responsibility as an idol. this, to me, is how he embodies the energy of the emperor the most. im trying not to cry.

people like jeonghan who hold the emperor at their center are also blessed with wit, strategy, and competency to the point of victory. you know that they're in their best state when they win or they're in a situation where they can exercise these qualities.

this explains why jeonghan is just unbelievably good at every game and every sport he participates in. remember when they dedicated a whole going seventeen series (one million won) just so seventeen can have a chance to beat him?

jeonghan shines best in gose series that make use of strategy and brain power (one million won, liar liar, catch stock, don't lie, good offer).

not to mention, he's also athletic as fuck. any carat who's watched at least half of the entirety of going seventeen knows how the members are always drawn to him during physical team games. this moment from game caterers x seventeen is one of my favorites.

because it's in this same show that he's opened up about his energy "deficiency" (he's so my bias here because me too), and yet we see him still play so well, proving that his athleticism stems from a natural gift of it.

jeonghan's smarts go beyond his entertainment career, though, as he's currently pursuing his mba in anyang university. prior to this, he graduated with a degree in practical music (major in k-pop) from hanyang university's institute for future talents. which makes sense, though, as education is important to seventeen as a group themselves!

oh, and another thing!

something one must remember about the emperor is that this card/number has the energy of the divine masculine. in pop culture (on tiktok, specifically, ugh), the divine masculine is often associated with a man who's strong, well-built, powerful, and is a provider. think a hunky ceo with slicked back hair, a clean beard, with his head always in the game. he's always quiet and observant, always watching like an omnipotent being. however, i'd like everyone to understand that while this could be a result of having the emperor in your chart if you're a man, this isn't the one true image of it.

i mentioned this because i know people might be curious about this aspect, too. but quite honestly, i don't want to elaborate on this much as someone's sexuality is even more personal than the aspects i mentioned above.

all i can say is that to me, jeonghan deserves to be the face of divine masculinity more than the average man. because apart from looking godly (taking the literal meaning of divine here just for the giggles), jeonghan expresses his masculinity to us in such a comfortable way. i can't help but appreciate the complexity of his character. to me, jeonghan is what masculinity looks like if it had evolutions, and he's the final form.

besides, didn't seungcheol mention somewhere that jeonghan is the manliest out of all of them? like...look at him....im....weak

if you think i have a preference for long, black-haired jeonghan no i don't i swear i-

in conclusion, it's not surprising that a lot of people love and rely on jeonghan. he has such an admirable and inspiring core that naturally draws people to him. he inspires action within other people, whether it by simply breathing or by using his cutieful antics. to me, he's the perfect caricature of what a man should be.

a true reflection of the emperor at the core.

----------

notes: as i've mentioned in this post, i'll be using seventeen's destiny matrix charts as a way to hone my skills as a reader. i'd also like to note the readings i do may contain inaccuracies as there are a lot of factors that prevent me from reading accurately. though i'm familiar with divination, i'm still at the starting point of my journey in practicing it. plus, i don't know seventeen personally, so i'm basing my readings based off of the things they show us. ⋆✴︎˚｡⋆

i'll also be taking it slow for now, only sharing bits and pieces of information as it takes a lot of energy to read and find supporting materials. so forgive me if the information you might be looking for isn't in any of my readings today and in the future! joesorryhamnida 人´∀｀)

if you have additional input, corrections, and/or questions, please don't hesitate to share them! i'd love to learn with & from my fellow carats ✧ദ്ദി( ˶^ᗜ^˶ ) so let's yap about this together!

anyway, if you've made it this far, thank you so much for having the patience to read through! i know it's a lot of ramble & reflection, but i appreciate your attention! ⸜(｡˃ ᵕ ˂ )⸝♡

see ya in the next post, caratdeul ദ്ദി(｡•̀ ,<)~✩‧₊

p.s. i love you and i miss you so much jeonghan ૮(˶ㅠ︿ㅠ)ა please take care always my love (ෆ˙ᵕ˙ෆ)♡

[15-lizards]

if you’re after dune asks 👉👈 how do you imagine the signature differences in great house clothings?? do they have different embroidery or accessories or colours etc?? what styles do you think they favour??

(sorry, i just started reading dune and i love your asoiaf fashion posts)

Haiii I’m thinking ab dune costumes constantly bc im always trying to imagine what sci fi feudalism clothing would b like

Firstly, I think the Atreides are trying to keep a balance between “militarily competent” and “welcoming and humanistic” in order to be perceived as the ideal nobles. The family dresses in lots of blues and greens as a symbol of their house pride, and the falcon sigil is probably prominent too. I love the inspiration the movie takes from the early 20th century Russian military for the men’s formal dress. Which leads me to my idea that the Atredies are toeing a very odd line of utilitarian military looks and comfortable gowns for Letos propaganda reasons

The Harkonnens are interesting bc they have a lot more color than what's shown in the movies. Their clothes and planet have lots of blues and oranges, like their sigil. Which makes me think Herbert wanted them to be imagined as gaudy and over the top. A sign that they're trying too hard to be perceived as worthy of being noble. This is probably a radically different perception than what most ppl have, but I still hold black leather BDSM Harkonnens close to my heart dw.

The Corrinos would have a similar sense of extreme affluence, but unlike the Harkonnens, they never seem gaudy. Being the rulers of the known universe, they would favor long fabric, heavy ornamentation, very intricate patterns and painstakingly detailed embroidery. The word excess is probably best used to describe the styles of the imperial family. However I do like the more minimalist take in the recent movies as well, it gives off a more stoic and serious vibe, which is fitting.

For the Fenring's I'm sticking by my previous assertion that their name is Chinese, and using mostly the Tang and Ming dynasties to inspire my outfit ideas. I think they prefer a slim, relatively simple silhouette and clean, unbroken lines. I think this better communicates the unassuming, but observant nature that Lord Fenring and Margot give off in the books. Light colors as well, to appear non-threatening. And I didn't have enough space but everyone should go look at my other post ab the Fenrings in my Dune tag so you can all see the beauty of Weimaos and Milis as a fashion choice for them :]

[yarrayora]

On Adulthood in Dungeon Meshi Universe

i've seen multiple people use math to convert the ages of fantasy races in dunmeshi into a Normal Human Age, or in this case, a tallman's, as a metric of adulthood

i feel like that's obviously an unreliable way to go about it, especially since a half-elf like marcille exists, her growth is far too slow compared to the short-lived races, and we still don't know how that compares to an actual elf. and that's when you only consider the physical aspects of it.

we have chilchuck who became a dad at age 13, a year before he could be considered of age in half-foot community. maybe with that we could assume 14 in half-foot is like 18 in tallman and do the math from there? except 16 is considered the age of maturity for tallmen in-universe. and we also have to consider whether the concept of legal age exists in dunmeshi universe, because the term of "age of maturity" used in adventurer's bible could very well refers to puberty and not what the society at large consider to be adulthood.

hell, do we even know if different cultures in different continents agree on what age is considered 'adult' even when they're of the same race? probably not! the cultures in dunmeshi universe are pretty clearly insular

for example, back in the touden siblings' hometown, being a gravekeeper is considered an ill-omen, but marcille talked about it as a respectable job falin could have taken if she didn't run off to go dungeon diving with laios

people at the island don't know that rice is a staple food in the eastern continent. and so on and so forth.

so how do we figure out whether someone is an adult or not in dungeon meshi? by figuring out their role in society

let's go back to chilchuck

it could be because adventuring is really dangerous that he retires early, but considering the reasoning provided was "in terms of age" it's more likely 26 is middle-aged or older for half-foots. although since we already find out that he's already a father of three grown adults, nobody would argue against this.

the most controversial topic regarding this whole subject seems to be marcille. was she a child when she was in magic school? was she an adult? surely because she's more of an elf than a human she's actually still a child at the age of 50! especially when an elf's age of maturity is at 80 years old!

we don't really see a lot of children getting their own roles in dungeon meshi universe, but what little we see in canon paints a picture of how children are treated there. let's focus on the orcs

orc is considered an adult at 14, Leed is 14 and she leads her own hunts. and despite their pride as a warrior race, just like every other community they don't make their young hunt for their own food.

so what we got from here is that despite only reaching adulthood recently, Zon considers his sister competent enough to be in charge.

if we use that as a metric of adulthood, then Marcille who was a teaching assistant at the magic school, has reached adulthood for quite a while now. especially when her main job involved researching illnesses, a responsibility you wouldn't hand over to a child

don't forget that a lot of those who came from long-lived races are biased against short-lived ones and dismissing their metric of adulthood

southern continent where the magic school is situated is mostly populated by gnomes and dwarves, so clearly even to them marcille is already considered an adult

even in the real world the concept of adulthood changes depending on the eras and the culture. there were times in history when it was common for 14 years old children to shoulder the responsibility of a working adult in 21st century, and that includes marriage. in japan the legal age used to be 20, and only recently changed to 18 during 2016. but that's not their age of consent either, that's their legal age for being eligible to vote

maybe centuries later when comfort and leisure become much more common in the dungeon meshi universe people will balk at the idea of a 14 years old orc being considered a full-pledged adult, but as of the standard of the year 514, marcille is an adult, and her role in society proves that

[apas-95]

abt the 'exit strategy for capitalism' thing obviously the natural advantages of socialist states will lead to their uncontested military and economical dominance in the coming decades, at which point they'll have both means and motive to buy out bourgeois interests and their 'possessions' and transition the economical system while there's no easy way for imperial core states to outright end these trends, their policies obviously do affect the economical development of socialist states and there's probably enough variance to shift the timetable on all this happening by a couple years, so y'know exert whatever influence you have on the particular flavor of capitalism that's in vogue if done well (and what I'm seeing rn actually gives me hope for that) the capitalists at no point have an incentive to burn the whole thing down out of spite bc they keep earning right until they don't, you know how the saying abt ropes and hangings goes (and if done poorly and they cling to and suck dry the last scraps of the world's economy they control at least everywhere else should be out of reach by then) and my main concern with a revolution is actually that one will 100% get accused of having foreign backing, at which point you just needlessly raise the odds of some general deciding he (or she #imwithher) might as well let those nukes fly (even if they're losing, especially if they're losing) But it's all w/e, I could be convinced either way, this all just makes a lot more sense to me than a succesful imperial core revolution that doesn't end with the northern hemisphere irradiated

fundamentally the notion of a peaceful transition out of capitalism is simply not in agreement with reality. no class has ever abandoned the world stage without fighting to maintain itself, and the imperial core is already both undertaking massive violence and war against the sections of the global south it already has under its heel, and preparing for high-intensity conflict against the communists that have slipped its shackles. there is no point where the bourgeoisie would simply peacefully allow themselves to be stripped of power.

the point of nukes is exactly *why* there has to be revolution within the imperial core, rather than having the rest of the world do the job for them - there is precisely one place the US has no nuclear deterrent against, which is itself. if the thing we're supposed to fear is that both 'the US military's high command, likely facing severe mutiny, rather than ordering a negotiated surrender during civil war, decides to nuke themselves' as well as 'the US strategic missile forces, upon receiving the order to nuke themselves, carry it out', then so be it - such a fundamental strategic insanity would be just as likely to start a nuclear exchange even if there weren't a revolution - which brings us to the final point.

world war is on the horizon. the economic reasons for world war remain as they did a century and a half ago. the world has been fully carved up, and the profits are drying out. the imperialist blocks, principally the US and EU, are driven to compete against each other for their holdings, first peacefully, then through proxy war, and finally through direct conflict. as it was a hundred years ago, the buildup of war is accepted on all sides with the target of the socialist bloc and the potential for its pillaging, but (as has already started breaking out among larger and larger regional powers) any conflict of this sort would manifest as general war and looting, as desperate, recession-wracked imperialists take opportunity as it presents itself. in inter-imperialist war the most ruthless techniques are used, and a nuclear exchange would not be off the table -- and, fundamentally, the conditions that lead to world war are the same that lead to instability, insurrection, and revolution within individual countries.

war is, at this juncture, an inevitability. the only question is whether revolutionary war will win out over unjust war, will convert the war between nations to a war between classes. we are against war, but we are not afraid of it.

[eff-plays]

That's what I found funny about those comments about Rook not being the 'super special protagonist'. Hawke started off as a nobody,and yet people on here generally seemed to like them,but the kicker was that Hawke was still extremely competent working as a mercenary and all that,despite the surrounding messiness of Kirkwall. With Rook its like the devs were more concerned with making them oh so quirky,funny and #relatable and I've never wanted to dropkick a protagonist in a Bioware game more than I did them which caught me off guard!😅

It's not even about competence, because Rook is perfectly competent. But that's about all they are. Competent. In fact, they're just as if not less competent than the companions. There's no real reason for why they're the leader, despite leadership supposedly being sooooo central to their story. A good game will give you a reason as to why you're the leader of your ragtag group, even if mechanically, it's a given.

Like. The Warden is recruited why? They did some insane shit and Duncan went "oh fuck I need someone like this ASAP" and/or "this compentent person's about to be murdered and I gotta grab them before that." There's myriad reasons, but you, as the player, are there to see it, and it makes sense to you. After Ostagar, why are you the leader? Because Alistair doesn't want to be. That's his big character trait, he doesn't want to lead, he's not comfortable making decisions. But somebody has to, or else Ferelden is fucked! This trait of his creates consequences for him and for the player, which builds both their characters. So the Warden is a leader out of necessity, and it adds to the desperation of the story but also the characterization of the Warden: no matter the reason why, this is a person who will step up when shit hits the fan, and get shit done.

Hawke. Why is Hawke the leader? Well, initially they lead the family because of family dynamics. They're the eldest sibling, and Malcom left them in charge, not Leandra. Again, this builds character for both Hawke and Leandra. They defer to her out of respect and because she's their mother, but it's made obvious in the prologue that she's not the one leading the party out of Lothering. Why won't Bethany lead? She's too timid, too used to hiding in the shadows. Why won't Carver lead? He's brash and has something to prove, his ego will get in the way of getting shit done. Also, both of them are like, 18. So yeah. Aveline? She's busy taking care of her husband, who is very much too dying to throw his dick around, as seen by Hawke standing up to him when he threatens Bethany. So? That leaves Hawke.

Why does Hawke keep leading the Kirkwall gang, then? Varric is comfortable close to the action but not the one leading it, he's a little freak who likes to watch and take notes. When he's made Kirkwall's Viscount, he fucking hates it. Anders? No. Fenris? He'd behead Anders the first chance he got, who's the only healer around, and Fenris needs to keep a low profile on account of being hunted. So he's deader than dead after a few months at best. Merrill? No. Aveline? She's in a position of authority, but as the game shows us, she's not very good at that, either. Isabella? She's probably the closest to a competent leader out of the guys left, and she's a former ship captain, so that makes sense, but without Hawke's influence, she's too selfish to stick around for long, so she'd just use the gang for her ends and then fuck off. She'd also have a hard time getting Aveline to behave.

So. It has to be Hawke. They're the only one who can utilize the companions in a productive way while keeping their most destructive tendencies in check, consciously or not. Mind you, being a GOOD leader isn't a priority in a game. You can be a huge asshole, but still there needs to be an in-universe reason for why it's the player character and nobody else. More on this later.

Inquisitor? They're the easiest to explain, because they have the Anchor, but even with that narrative gimme, the writers show them becoming The Inquisitor after a while. After they work for the Inquisition as an agent first, proving themselves very capable out of necessity or a genuine desire, after Haven, where we see they have what it takes to lead a large amount of people while also putting those people above themselves (potentially out of optics/necessity). Even there, the narrative goes out of its way to show how and why the player character is in charge, the progression of events that leads there. Notably also, the Inquisitor isn't shown to be good at everything nor handle everything personally, they have advisors and agents, so even there it's not "everything is your job personally and only you can fix it" but "you're the main guy, both figurehead and the only one with the literal means to fix this, but you're just one person so you need help". It makes sense from a narrative standpoint.

Rook? Oh boy. First of all let's see why they're in the story in the first place. Varric recruited them. Off-screen. Where they did a thing that saved people instead of a powerful person's investment. Cool. We don't see this happening, or how Rook went about doing this. We're meant to be swayed by just the concept of somebody not being down to sacrifice people for the profit of some guy, we're meant to think this is what makes Rook a good leader. But it doesn't? It just makes them a vaguely good person, yet we're meant to think Varric, who's seen so much shit, thought this quaint little action was enough to mark Rook as special. Need I remind you that he recruited Hawke because they were a very competent mercenary. And yeah, the man has done a lot of growth in the years since, but you get what I'm saying, right? If anything, he'd think this was a naive little rookie (ha) who hadn't yet been hardened by the world.

But sure, okay. Varric recruited this do-gooder go-getter, and then he croaks, leaving them in charge. Why? No really, why are they in charge? Why do Harding and Neve defer to them? Harding was an Inquisition scout and worked to stop Solas before Rook was even recruited, so she'd have seniority over them in this regard. Neve is a hardened seasoned Batman detective or what the fuck ever. She's not even getting paid at this point, so she sticks around out of morality than anything else. Why doesn't she take charge to lead the investigation? Esp since Rook and Harding are more used to following orders than she is. As the later companions join, it gets even more ridonk that Rook is in charge. Davrin is explicitly a superior to a Warden Rook, and he does give them the order that he'll be the one to kill the Archdemon instead of them. Emmrich is explicitly always senior to a Mourn Watch Rook, and he's a professor, and older than everyone else. This guy knows how to lead. Rook is always outclassed by whoever shares their faction. And yet, they're in charge.

"Well they have Solas in their head" sure. But Rook could just as easily have been an advisor type who relayed the information to whoever else led the Veilguard. Solas' manipulation is a Doylist justification for their leadership, but provides no real reason for why everyone else is down to listen to the guy who has the enemy whispering secrets in their brain. Solas needs a foil, yeah, so he creates his own foil. But "Solas needs a foil" can't be the justification you give the rest of the characters in-fiction. If Davrin asked "hey why am I listening to the orders of a junior member" Rook shouldn't answer "well it's because one of the guys we're fighting who caused all this tells me what to do :)" Good thing everyone's so nice and never asks questions, I guess.

The one thing Rook has going for them is that they're so nice and can talk people through their problems. But that's a therapist, not a leader. And we don't really get the sense that being nice and a good listener is unique to them in any way. Because everyone is always nice to each other, we don't get the sense that any of them have a connection to Rook they don't have to anyone else. In fact, we can't talk to anyone outside of when they want to talk to us, with our only option being that we have to eavesdrop on them talking in private, and they stop as soon as they notice us. That makes Rook feel uniquely isolated from the others, not like they have a special connection to each of them. It's more like we truly are the therapist, somebody who has to be nice and understanding out of obligation rather than any genuine connection.

One thing that stuck with me is that Iron Bull line from Inquisition, where he says that being a leader isn't about being the best or strongest or most powerful, but being willing to make tough decisions when nobody else is. And this, this could have worked wonders in Veilguard. If everybody else remained as nice as they were, but Rook was pragmatic and ruthless and didn't shy away from hard choices? That would have made sense, especially with the angle the game tries to go for of "uwu the burdens of leadership uwu." Rook never has to consciously make hard decisions, they never have to weigh the pros and cons and consider the consequences, because they can never know those before they make a choice. The main ones being Treviso vs Minrathous and Harding vs Davrin.

In Treviso vs Minrathous it's pretty ridiculous how the companion from the city you don't save gets mad at Rook. The same amount of people went to each city, and people didn't know they needed the dagger to kill the dragon. As far as Rook knew, both cities had the same chances of survival, and it was unfortunate luck that this wasn't the case. And while it makes some sense for the companion to have this irrational blame for Rook for a bit, the game can't really frame this as "Rook's choice", because it wasn't. It's not their failure. The consequences of that choice are not fully theirs to claim, and thus that burden of leadership doesn't apply to them quite as much as the game pretends to.

The Harding vs Davrin choice is even dumber in that regard. Rook sends one of them to hold off a second hostile force. Which they successfully do, regardless of who you pick. Davrin/Harding then chooses to launch themselves at Gil. That is 100% out of Rook's control. Rook didn't send either of them to their deaths, and it's only a consequence of the player's actions in a gameplay sense, NOT Rook's. Which is why the whole Regret prison sequence feels so weird. The game conflates the player as an actor with Rook as a character.

Actually, let's talk about the Regret prison. The game's whole "oh woe the burdens of leadership, Rook vs. Solas as leaders, oh these parallels!!" Except when it comes to actually hold Rook accountable for anything they do, it chickens out. The game bombards you with The Walking Dead style popups like you have the object permanence of a toddler, "THIS ACTION WILL HAVE CONSEQUENCES", but then when it's time to face those consequences in the Regret prison, Rook gets outta there lickety-split because, well, they have no regrets! And the ones they do have aren't theirs to claim! Davrin/Harding chose to launch themselves at Gil! Bellara/Neve volunteered to deal with the barriers! All of Rook's allies are grown adults who know what they're doing!! Rook has to rely on their friends who are also fighting to save the world!! :))))

So the game spends its entire self trying to convince you that your choices matter and that they will have consequences, but in the end it goes "um actually. any leader must rely on their pals :) and their pals will willingly die for the cause (: so it's not your fault!!"

Honestly, it would've been brilliant commentary on agency in narratives like this if it was only a little bit more intentional. And the one thing that could've saved this would've been Rook going "actually, I have no regrets. Yeah it sucks my companions died but like. I succeeded in what I set out to do. Yeah Treviso burned but that's because Minrathous didn't. Yeah Harding died but that's because somebody had to keep the darkspawn away. Yeah Bellara got taken but that's because the barriers had to come down." If Rook's lack of regret wasn't because their companions are soooo competent and sooo responsible for their own fates, but because Rook WAS responsible, and they knew it, and they OWNED it, that would have been baller. But Rook's regrets aren't theirs to claim. And they're not allowed to have those they try to claim, in the end.

Instead, Rook is sad because of things that are blamed on them despite not being their fault but the game presents them as their fault, but then they're absolved not because it wasn't their fault from the start, but because the companions apparently had all the agency to begin with and simply take Rook's regrets away. So Rook feels bad about being a bad leader after experiencing the consequences they could never have predicted or owned, but are then absolved of having to feel bad because those actions were never theirs, and they actually did super great!! So, in the end, did Rook actually do ... anything? Anything at all? Can they claim to have done a single thing, if they're not even allowed to take the blame for their own choices? Can they take ownership of consequences they could never predict? Are they even a leader, or simply the most replacable therapist in all of Thedas whose only job was to tie up someone else's loose ends and enable them to save the world? And if that was the point, why yap about leadership and Solas parallells and the inane popups?

Am I making sense? If not, it's because I'm trying to untangle some bullshit that never made sense in the first place. I'm a lot like Rook in this scenario. No agency in sight.

But yeah um. I'm totally pissed because I'm not the main character. Totally just malding that I don't get to self-insert as the Mary Sue protagonist. Sure. Whatever dude.

EDIT: I just realized that a game I finished recently, Wandersong, does the whole "infinitely good therapist type fixes the world through being nice and they're NOT the main character" shtick so much better lmao.

[qoldenskies]

prev ask abt donnie being all sparkly eyed abt twin sense and leo shutting his mouth and letting his (little) brother have this eeeeeeee /pos

also would love to hear you talk more abt raph+leo and donnie+mikey dynamics

i could talk for hoooours about raph and leo's dynamic specifically because they are SO interesting and im sure it shines through in the way that i write them at least a little, because i do like getting the chance to pair them together and make them riff off each other. what can i say, they're fun when they're bickering about nothing (or, they're actually bickering about something but leo gets offended and derails it and raph takes the bait) and they're fun when they get along and comfortably colead, or when they just have one whole braincell when they put their heads together

i also really enjoy the potential of a post-movie dynamic where when leo is more comfortably situated into a leadership role being a really important voice of reassurance for raph, more than he already is at least. leo could come in and help calm raph down and tell him it's not so bad/it's going to be okay, but i think raph KNOWING there's someone else who knows how to care of everything is going to seriously help his blood pressure lmfao. especially because leo responds to stress more competently and is a lot better at making structured plans on the fly.

honestly i would love to see more hurt/comfort or whump with these two where raph is the one going Through It especially because leo is actually pretty protective of him in canon, he always gets the MOST upset/offended when people fuck with raph in particular. leo knows very very well that raph is easily upset and he gets angry when people push him around and take advantage of that. unless he gets to do it but if he did raph totally had it coming (/lie)

and when i talk about how second oldest leo feels key to their dynamic i mostly mean when it comes to their conflict like ... raph holds leo to a higher standard than he does anyone else, at first at least. he's always telling him to take responsibility, trying to catch him out in a lie, and arguing with him about the way forward,, and like, leo having a more contrarian personality and being easily suspicious of people (especially because he's so perceptive) is a big reason for this, but i think raph and leo kind of being in their own camp as the oldest two would explain this trait and explain why raph puts so much focus on leo shaping up specifically. i also notice that raph is a lot more comfortable making fun of leo which plays into it LOL

^^^ and post-movie a lot of these problems are resolved-- raph learned pretty early on (in bug busters, probably) that taking things seriously and not listening to leo just for the sake of it was only going to lead them into danger, and in the movie leo learned that being uncooperative and petulant as a defense mechanism was only going to hurt his family and himself by extension-- but i also think there's a lot of angst potential in this dynamic on both sides tbh. it's pretty apparent they fought/fight so much because they fundamentally just misunderstand each other. leo is trying to 4D chess his way out of this unwanted responsibility but it doesnt work at all on raph who is so direct-- raph just keeps trying to lecture leo and make him understand because he's not picking up any of leo's cues at all. really all of their problems would be solved by direct communication but leo would rather die than do that (<- kind of literally? he comes close) and raph doesn't really strike me as someone who's very good at articulating himself and laying all his cards out on the table, he has a lot of emotions that are difficult to put into words. means they can scuffle lots and that's fun

[bestworstcase]

Say, what was that about the 1/2/4 motif for Ozpin you mentioned the other day? I’ve been reading your stuff for a good minute now and I don’t think I’ve seen it come up once before that.

it's about the symbolism of the huntsmen academy teams and the vytal festival; huntsmen and huntresses are meant to "protect their fellow man" and

for this reason, trainees are grouped into teams, ensuring the continual development of communication, empathy, and teamwork; traits that are vital to any guardian of peace.

but the way the initiation process is designed, the way these teams form, creates conditions detrimental to this notional goal: you're tossing a bunch of teenagers who don't know each other into semi-random pairs to choose a single token which, unbeknownst to them, selects the other half of their team, and then you put one of them in charge and more or less tell them to figure it out.

it should come as no surprise that most professional huntsmen work alone or in pairs. there is one (1) singular example of an academic-model team-of-four functioning at the professional level—team BRIR in arrowfell. and of course we have team STRQ, who fell apart in spectacular fashion within at most five or six years of leaving beacon.

aside from the more general issue that the mechanism used to assemble these teams is just not a terribly effective way to build functional teams, the interesting part with regard to oz is that the system is designed such that the pairs are most likely choosing their token under pressure—i.e., while fending off grimm, i.e. not having any time to actually deliberate or discuss or otherwise work together to make this very important, defining choice about their futures; and indeed they're not even told that it will be defining in any sense so they're unlikely to treat it as important at all.

which is to say, the probable outcome for any given pair is that one of them will grab a token without putting much thought into it, and then they run. this is—i suspect, at least in part—a test to find out which of the pair is most decisive under pressure. whether they know it or not, every student undergoing the initiation is also auditioning for a leadership position and the structure of the initiation reflects that.

so you have this one -> two -> four pattern. the teams of four are composed of two pairs, each of which first faces a task which inherently sort of expects one to make the pivotal choice.

and then the end result is one student leading three others with no real structure beyond that. delegation and separation of duties is left wholly to the leader's discretion.

we see this same kind of symbolism at work in the vytal tournament, wherein the point of the quads bracket is for the winning team to select its two best fighters to go on to the doubles round, and then winning doubles pick the best solo combatant to compete for the championship alone by fighting a series of 1v1 duels. notionally the point of the vytal festival is to celebrate peace, cooperation, harmony—but its main event is about breaking down the team into smaller and smaller units until One Warrior emerges as the very best, standing victorious all alone.

it gives the lie to all of ozpin's talk about the importance of standing together; even his Festival About Standing Together is really about finding The Chosen One. the point of the team and of the pair is to act as a good enough foundation for The Lone Champion to reach the actual tournament. the quads aren't even properly part of the tournament itself, they're the qualifiers.

and that's why the teams fail, fundamentally. they exist in a system whose underlying purpose is really to pry them apart and extract singular heroes from teams that are good enough. whether oz consciously intended it this way or just cannot let go of trying to find the right Chosen One to replace himself is an open question, but it is top to bottom designed to find The Ones Who Are Special.

[liminalpsych]

Queer reading of Vulgate pt 2: Intro pt 1

preface | intro pt 1 | intro pt 2

The introduction is written by the translator of The Quest for the Holy Grail, E. Jane Burns. Burns begins by laying out the context of the Vulgate Cycle's structure, its history and development, and the different expectations historical readers have brought to the text.

Which underscores how expectation colors perception.

What happens if we imagine the possibility of multiple writers with different backgrounds, views, progressiveness, and agendas? Instead of assuming heteronormativity, homophobia, toxic masculinity, misogyny, and a single unified author with a singular agenda and vision - what if we stay open to the possibility of a different concept of gender than we're used to? What about possible queer subtext and the possibility of queercoding in medieval fiction, not just in modern fiction?

What if we look for those things, rather than assuming and looking for explanations that match the modern stereotypical assumptions of medieval people/writers/beliefs? (After all, it's those modern assumptions that lead to the phenomenon of "history will say they were roommates," or the all too common error of "woman buried with warrior stuff? must be religious, can't possibly be because she actually fought.")

That's what I mean by reading with a queer lens. Because most of the time, these works are read with a heteronormative, gender-normative lens, just unconscious or subconscious as a bias, and so any queer elements are missed entirely.

(Like. I still don't understand how anyone can read the passages with Galehaut as anything other than Extremely Gay. How do you miss that? Yet so many people assume it's "comrades" and "bros" despite the text going out of its way to say that it's more than companionship. Because of the default, unexamined lens that they're using.)

….anyway. off the soapbox. Back to the intro.

"Many literary historians… have mistakenly sought in Arthurian romance a recognizable ancestor text for the modern novel" and are disappointed in the somewhat disjointed conglomeration of the Vulgate. They then either dismissed it as incoherent and terrible, or defended it as having an underlying coherence and attempted to legitimize it by imagining a singular author (or unifying editor).

"The unwieldy mix of spiritual and chivalric modes that crisscross unevenly throughout… mark the Vulgate Cycle as a product of the emergent social and political tensions in thirteenth-century France," with the popularized chivalric tales of knights from the mid-twelfth-century getting infused with Biblical allusions and Grail mysteries around 1200. Prose had a more religious connotation and association than verse, which was more recreational (condemned sometimes as "vain pleasures").

"Lady readers, in particular, were exhorted after 1200 to abandon the deceptive tales of Arthurian knights." Which supports the idea that one of the primary audiences for these stories were women! Women of the 1200's French court, in the case of the French romances, though I'm sure readership extended beyond that.

This is another example of how expectation shapes perception. There's a tendency for modern readers to assume that medieval literature will be dry, dull, misogynistic, homophobic, etc… and so I've seen people assume that the vast numbers of unnamed ladies/maidens/queens are a product of misogyny, of being seen as too unimportant for distinct names.

And certainly there was systemic misogyny in the culture, just as there is nowadays - but I don't think that's the core reason for the nameless female characters. It doesn't match up with the Vulgate's characterization of these women as clever, competent, independent, and saving knights more often than being saved by knights. (Nor does it match up with how many women are named.)

I've heard a theory (probably on Tumblr somewhere, I can't remember where) that the unnamed women are the equivalent of "y/n" ("your name") in modern fanfic. Reader-insert. Perhaps the author(s) expected women reading the story to project themselves onto the characters, and so made extra room for them to do so.

…But back to the introduction once more. Burns unravels the idea of a single author or even a solid, novel-like coherent narrative for the Vulgate Cycle, and arrives at this:

"The Vulgate Cycle then provides us with a text that is not a text in the modern sense of the term, a text that is always fragmentary but always a composite of more than one text, a text located somewhere and uncertainly in the complex relation between many narrative versions created by many authorial if not authoritative hands.

"The literary map accurately representing this cycle of tales would contrast starkly with Lot’s set calendar. It would be a map that changed continually as we move through the narrative terrain it charts. Although it might incorporate on one level and for the text of the Prose Lancelot in particular the existence of a predictable calendar of events, a map detailing the whole of the Vulgate Cycle would have to reflect a much looser and more flexible narrative structure.

"It would be a map with no fixed perimeter, and no set or authorized format, a map that could shift and reshape itself at successive moments and with successive readings."

A shifting mélange of a narrative, flexible and unbounded, containing multitudes, eluding attempts to define or confine it into one single known element…

…Well. That sounds like the very definition of queer.

[kujakumai]

would you like to elaborate on the "catastrophic mommy issues"? I'd love to hear what your thoughts are on that lol

Thief King is a child raised by a mass of vengeful tortured souls in the ruined basement where they all died, all of whom are in effect a stand-in for family/community/parents. They are all TKB has left, and they are highly protective of him; they seem not entirely within their right minds, not capable of competent childcare, and they give him explicit instructions on how to destroy and take over the world, which he follows enthusiastically.

I think about this a lot, like a lot a lot, and while we don't see much I think its gotta be a very tangled dynamic. When writing him I tend to use "mom issues" or general references to his mom as an emotional stand in because I think she's probably the most likely person he'd remember clearly when he needs a real face, but that's not necessary. All of Kul Elna is Mom for these purposes.

There is a lot going on here, for example:

>Kul Elna does not seem to leave the temple unless accompanied, or at very least they prefer to stay there. This means TKB probably spent a significant portion of his childhood in the same ruins and possibly the same room where he watched everyone die. Cool! Great!

>Kul Elna appears to be only partially corporeal, limited in their ability to do much besides menace, and TKB says they are "in hell" (unclear what that means). I do not think they are up to the daily tasks of feeding, bathing, or taking care of a small child. I think he probably grew up as an urchin mainly in squalor.

The closest real-life analogue to this is, probably, simply a child in the care of someone who is ill or disabled such that they cannot effectively take care of even themselves without support; so you have a situation where no one has done anything wrong, and this family loves each other very much, and the only real culprit is the society that failed them. But you're still going to end up with a kid who is not getting their needs met, is in a situation that is often stressful and sometimes scary, and that will lead to a rapid Adultification where the kid takes on the role of steward without ever having a proper childhood.

>The Zork-raising instructions were given to TKB by Kul Elna. He tells us this. I am less concerned by Kul Elna's obviously Zork-influenced plan to destroy everything than I am its effect on a 16 year old boy who loves them very much because they're all he has left in the entire world. When did they bring this up? Is it recent? Has it been an ongoing plan for years--has TKB effectively been raised on the idea that he is to be Egypt's own destined apocalypse maiden? How fucked up would that be?

Fandom is hesitant, I think, to ascribe anything malicious to Kul Elna or suggest that their relationship with TKB is sinister--which, for the record, I don't think it is, I think this fucked-up little family has nothing but love for this kid in the depths of whatever humanity they have left--because Kul Elna gets such an unjust treatment in canon it makes us incandescent. Yet the same would apply to TKB--if they want the world in ruins and him at the top, how could he even think anything different? After everything the pharaoh did to them, and to you, of the life they deprived you of? Impossible to suggest something different. You can't tell him they're wrong. What's that old softer world bit; I am a pacifist, and I will be a pacifist until I die, or someone threatens my mother.

>TKB does not need survivors guilt to be an unfailingly loyal Mama's Boy to his ghost family (Ghost's Boy?) but he's got to have it. A simultaneous immense guilt for getting out when no one else did; the immense loss of being left behind, like they all went to become this without him; the weight of being the only one left, the only one who can take revenge not only for you but for them, and if you fail then no one will remember any of their names, or yours. One chance. Avenge them or die a nobody. Don't fuck this up. It's your responsibility, like it or not, because no one else can help, and no one else can help because of what your enemies did to them, which is why you need to do it. It's almost self-justifying.

If you want me to editorialize, I don't think he actually cares much about ruling the world, nor does that goal make sense. I think in the back of his little brain he thinks that if he wins he finally gets to join them somehow.

tldr; I think TKB's relationship with whatever the hell Kul Elna has going on is way, way more complicated and nuanced than even he is consciously aware of and you can love someone very much and still fuck them up immensely (arguably a major them of ygo itself). TKB's has such catastrophic mommy issues he literally tries to end the world. We are talking literal apocalyptic mom issues. Cataclysmic.

[lestappenforever]

hi again!

did lestappen really unfollow each other after the Austrian gp 2019? why?

ps: im new here

Hi anon, and welcome to the unhinged world of Lestappen lore! We're so happy to have you. ❤️

Now have a seat and get cozy, because it's story time.

Charles made it into F1 in 2018 and after spending his maiden season at Alfa Romeo Sauber, his life-long dream finally came true as he was snatched up by Scuderia Ferrari to replace the man, the myth, the legend that is Kimi Räikkönen. Needless to say, 2019 was a big year for Charles. His first season in the team he had always dreamed of driving for. He was ready. He was hungry.

Now, enter Max Emilian Verstappen, who at this point had already been in F1 since 2015, when he was signed at the ripe age of 17. Already a seasoned F1 driver, which is impressive as fuck at that age. At this point, Max and Charles were following each other on social media. After all, they'd known each other for most of their lives, had grown up together in karting, and were now competing at the top level.

Today, we know Austria as the Lestappen holy ground following that podium in 2022. (Borderline pornographic podium celebration? Don't mind if I do.) But, it had potential to become the Lestappen holy ground even back in 2019, because Max and Charles were on fire. Talking, laughing, joking, mirroring each other in the pre-race press conference, and generally acting like teenagers with a crush. (As you do with your emotional support rival.) Things were good. Great, even.

And then Sunday rolled around, and the race happened. Charles and Max were doing what they do best and what they love the most, namely fighting each other on track, likely having the time of their fucking lives. But then this overtake happened, there's a little bit of contact and Charles briefly ends up off the track, and Max goes on to win the race, with Charles finishing P2. (Anyone else hearing "He's just unfair. I'm leading, he wants to pass, he push me, I push him back" and "Nothing, just an inchident"? in their heads watching that overtake? Just me? Okay.)

Charles was pissed, absolutely convinced that Max had done something wrong, that it wasn't a clean move, and the move was investigated, as all similar moves are. FIA, however, ends up deeming it a clean move and Max doesn't get a penalty, meaning his win stands. And, well, this is where Charles Leclerc shows the world what it means to truly be ✨dramatic.✨ (We love a dramatic king in this house, ngl. Nothing is more entertaining to me than grown-ass men acting like children.)

A look that could kill? Check. Dramatically fixing your cap? Check. Looking away dramatically while plotting someone else's demise? Check. Looking like finishing P2 is not a huge accomplishment in your first season in Scuderia Ferrari? Check. Squeezing past as the winner getting drenched in champagne because you're not about to stand there and watch him celebrate? Check. Whatever the fuck this face is? Check.

Now, here's where it gets really fucking hilarious: Charles and Max fly home from Austria on the same flight. On this flight, where Max is probably sitting in Charles' direct line of sight, Charles goes to Max's Instagram and unfollows him. Probably glaring at Max the entire fucking time. Because he's a fully grown adult man capable of making reasonable, mature decisions when things don't go his way. Clearly. And Max, upon noticing this (or his team noticing it), remembers that he is also a fully grown adult man capable of making reasonable, mature decisions, and responds by unfollowing Charles back. Obviously.

It has been four years and our boys have clearly moved past the events of Austria 2019, but the Great Unfollowing has remained. Has it become an inside joke between them, which is why they're still not following each other after all these years? Probably, if Charles threatening to unfollow Matt from P1 with Matt & Tommy during a Ferrari challenge (and fucking following through on the threat, too) is anything to go by. Does it still make me cackle every time I think about it? Abso-fucking-lutely.

[aymayzing]

I have made a Mourn Watcher Rook and then came up with a few quick ideas for some buddies of his down in the Necropolis. And of course I ended up thinking too much about them so here's a post with some info on them

Sotiris 'Rook' Ingellvar

Mourn Watch's crypt baby

hoped to be a mage, ended up a Warrior Reaper

sweetest kindest guy you'll ever meet but also the beefiest and he's like 7 ft tall; also socially awkward. it's not his fault, he spent his youth playing with skeletons

got in so much shit over the War of the Banners he got pretty much banished from the country for a while only to end up leading the effort to save the world??? apparently???

magic and history nerd

ends up snatching THE professor Emmrich Volkarin (no one is fully certain how he managed that, not even Sotiris himself)

Hannes

my original Rook but they ended up demoted to supporting cast, they'd be too powerful as Rook (sorry Hannes...)

street urchin who kept breaking into the Necropolis to steal from the graves and hang out with the undead so much that the Mourn Watch decided it'd make more sense to just take them in

constanly on thin ice with the higher ups but much adored by the spirits

aims to be seen as the silly goofy one of the group but has the best people skills so everyone comes to them for advice. or when they need a lock picked

Mirka Kanarek

archivist poached by the Mourn Watch from the City Hall (the City Hall is still angry) to deal with the bureaucratic backlog in the Grand Necropolis

convinced she has the best job in the world

does no field work, she's a corporate girlie with skeleton assisstants

probably the most normal and well-adjusted from the group

surface dwarf whose family is newly arrived from Orzammar and is still kind of confused and put out by all the dead bodies. they're very supportive of her career though

Visna Lievenkroft

the only member of this crew with a normal career path (read: once her influential rich noble family realized she was a mage, they paid off everyone they could to get her into a program with the Mourn Watch)

she truly loves her work and wishes to remain with the Watch

she is aware she got into the Necropolis due to nepotism and corruption so she works extremely hard to prove herself

has long held romantic feelings for Sotiris but by the time she managed to fess up, he was already dating Emmrich. who actually used to be her teacher. double whammy, I guess. sorry Visna :(

Alvilda Anaxas

yes, from the Anaxas family - the Duke of Cumberland is her uncle

think of her as Sotiris' reverse Hezenkoss - if Emmrich and Johanna started off as friends and academic partners to end up enemies, Alvilda and Sotiris spent the first years of their relationship competing academically and despising each other, only to grow to appreciate each other's skills and eventually become close friends

also got into a lot of trouble over the War of the Banners but Sotiris covered for her; she's still not allowed to work on her own projects which annoys her endlessly, especially as Sotiris is fully reinstated and fighting undead dragons in long forgotten crypts or some other nonsense