#again: wildcard.

[carnivalcarriondiscarded]

for some reason im really feeling the Queer Euphoria in this chilis tonight, specifically: being so ambiguous its hilarious. there is No label to describe my orientation/gender. like yeah i use nonbinary bc technically it fits but also bc the flag Fucks. if asked, my only correct answer would be "Wildcard, Motherfucker!"

[dredgesnails]

the complete tonal shift between scar and gem's videos is absolutely killing me. an apocalyptic horror thriller flick about a killer immortal snail that keeps you constantly on the edge of your seat vs a coming of age slice of life film about a girl and her snail overcoming their differences and learning to get along 🩷 heartwarming 🩷

[visenyaism]

rhaenys targaryen standing there telling rhaenyra it’s hard to say where this cycle of violence started. was it when daemon killed that baby. was it when aemond killed luke. was it when luke took aemond’s eye. was it the great council. ma’am maybe it was when you blew up nine hundred peasants with your dragon

[hadopelagian]

they (gem and joel) can't keep getting away with this

[disgr-aced]

waitwaitwait okay this might ve already been theorised but I'm getting my thoughts out anyway

so what if. each wildcard thematically represents each season so far?

We've had:

1: Growing/shrinking (the link here is tenuous to third life but I'm make the link because the wildcard was something the players were in control of, and the drama and antics happened because of player interaction, which was how third life played out as well) (there's also how certain players keep referencing third life and I won't say who but we all know)

2: Constant hunger and eating everything in sight (again the link is tenuous but I'm still making it cause in last life everything was a bit more bloodthirsty, what with the boogeyman kills and mass red teamups towards the end. Thematically, never being satisfied and always being hungry mirrors that.)

3: Immortal snails (THIS is more obvious and I've seen people make the same link, cause double life was all about being soul bound to another, and the snails were soul bound to them in health and in death)

4: Time dilation (AND AGAIN limited life was all about time, and so was the most recent wildcard. It's the same, but adjacent.)

Are we. Are we seeing, each session, a twisted mimicry and callback to the previous seasons? And if so, what fresh hell is going to happen in a wildcard mimicking the chaos of secret life??

[designernishiki]

it’s kinda funny to me how that dumb scene in kiwami 1 of majima getting shot and left for dead in the harbor was basically just added as a half-assed way to explain majima not being around for a bit of the plot, but they accidentally(?) just made it seem like start of a chain reaction where majima ended up feeling slighted and heartbroken after being abandoned like that and then lashed out about it via smashing a big truck into the building kiryu was in. and yeah that isn’t inherently a romantic thing as-is but then they go and add the part where majima grabs a hostess and performatively hits on her as in-kiryu’s-face as possible, she says she’s already in love with someone, and majima lets her go immediately, no questions asked, making a big fucking point of it just to say see THAT kiryu? I appreciate when people are HONEST about their FEELINGS. people who won’t just BACKSTAB someone who CARES about them to save themselves. is that so crazy kiryu?? huh??? anyway make it up to me get down here and fight me right fucking now

[huggywuggysuppy]

I need your thoughts on gem and pearls shinyduo divorce/complicated relationship. Is it pride stopping them, is it past grudges? This really is the divorce season. Next wild card is just divorce papers

I am SO glad you asked. Short answer, based on what we see in session 5, Gem is letting go of her grudge while Pearl is starting to get one. Punished for her actions in SL that weren't really wrong, yet urged by her allies to let that unreasonable treatment go, Pearl is making an effort to move on anyway. However, Gem is doubling down, playing nice while still considering the G's her enemy. Passing off her aggression as a whim: simply wanting to hurt Pearl for the sake of it. Faced with that, of course Pearl doesn't want to be allies (or remarried, as it were.) They've been enemies for too long in WL to go back, at least until one dies by the other's hands.

LONG answer, well, this got away from me. Here we go!

Pearl has infinite patience when it comes to Gem. Even in SL, when Gem had killed her and her allies over and over again, Pearl remained on friendly terms. Throughout WL, Gem's been tormenting, plotting against, and generally antagonizing Pearl throughout, for a vague grudge that Pearl doesn't agree she's at fault for. But she's no stranger to working with her enemy, and if Gem's willing to forgive, so is she.

Ultimately, Gem's grievance with Pearl is that she thought they were closer in SL, but Pearl didn't feel the same. They worked together to cull the server, pretty enthusiastically on both ends, only for her to choose someone else at the end. As others have written, "WE could've 2v1'd Scar." From there, it's just Pearl not apologizing or validating that she hurt Gem, because Pearl doesn't believe she did anything wrong. Unfortunately for everyone involved, the rest of the server (and fandom) generally took Gem's side, so Pearl had to fight to get her side of the story out.

VERY brief summary of Pearl's perspective: Gem was her enemy for most if not all of SL. Murder Camel and the Mounders/G&TS in session 9 were fun, but tactical. She was never seriously allied with Gem. Meanwhile she had beef with Scar, because who didn't, but he generally sided with the Mounders throughout SL and chose their side in the faceoff. Honestly, her only crime was consorting so much with the enemy: making Gem think she forgave her when she hadn't. Killing Gem at the end was the natural catharsis for being enemies, satisfying Pearl, but it came as a surprise betrayal on Gem's end.

(Everyone playing nice with Gem mostly for her tactical value is it's own post, but I digress.)

Gem knows the SL thing isn't 100% Pearl's fault, and that she chose violence instead of giving Pearl a chance to defend herself without an audience. It took Pearl pulling her aside and spelling out everything one on one before Gem finally chilled out. Nobody in Life handles conflict appropriately, and we don't ask them too. But that's it. The end. They've cleared the air, right? I mean, Gem hasn't admitted out loud exactly why she's so hurt at the 2v1, and Pearl's allies still consider backing her up "enabling" instead of support, but they've mostly talked it out. Why couldn't we get another Murder Camel, or remarriage, or at least some mutual server terrorization?

There's 5 episodes of consequences to work out.

I said at the beginning that Pearl is patient with Gem. But I lied. Pearl is always willing to hear Gem out and be civil, if not friendly. That was the whole problem in SL: that Pearl was nice and worked with Gem even though they were still enemies in her mind. But Pearl doesn't easily forgive, and will never ally with someone who has wronged her. In DL, when they were being hunted she still split off from the divorce quartet, even though it was super dangerous, because they'd hurt her and still showed no remorse for it. She's intensely loyal, and extraordinarily honest. Once again, Gem's worked against and hurt Pearl, and she's not gonna let that go.

For the most part, Pearl hasn't retaliated against Gem's revenge. She's badgered her and been a nuisance, encouraged others to target Gem, and half-heartedly attempted a couple traps. But she hasn't chased her down, railed others against her, or even strongly denounce Gem beyond defending herself. At least, not yet. The way things are moving, the G's and the Family will outwardly clash soon enough, especially since Pearl is their red "guard dog." Pearl's coming up on her chance. And she's running out of reasons to hold back.

Catharsis in Life Series usually comes from a final kill. Grian killing Scar in the cactus circle resolved their complicated relationship for 3rd life. Scar winning SL cleared any real grievances others held for him that series, and vice versa -- he's not a villain anymore. This goes double for betrayals and enemies. Without a final kill, the grudge festers: extending into other seasons such as Cleo with BigB or Joel with Scott. They need to "get even."

Pearl is famously denied that finality. She was left hanging for a proper goodbye to Scott in Last, where her lives/death helped him win, then wronged even further in DL. And his suicide at the end robbed her of releasing all her resentment and pain. Even in WL, she tells Scott that what she really wants is a proper 1v1. But in SL, Pearl was able to kill Gem, who had been terrorizing her and her team all season. They've gotten even. But in doing so, she accidentally created a new grudge, and the balance is off again.

Unfortunately, Gem's grievance is a final kill. So, it carries over into the next season. Many players start a season with "I want this person to win," but it's rare to have "I want this person to die." That's part of why the divorce seems so off. Gem is responding to the pain from SL, and Pearl is reacting to that with fresh aggression. The cycle continues until one of them acts and the other decides they're even.

Gem knows all of this. She knows they can't walk back the divorce, that she's gone too far and they can't make up this time. And she's having fun with it. She's playing nice, which the server is all too willing to enable since it's seems safer, while having the same hostile intentions. Telling Pearl to take one of Scott's lives and assassinating Cleo is the most obvious, but so is buttering up Scott while planning to trap him with Jimmy. While Pearl slowly boils, trapped in this horrible pseudo-forgiveness, Gem keeps poking and prodding. And because of their talk, when Pearl retaliates she will look like the aggressor.

So to answer your ask, anon, the divorce can't be undone, at least not in this season. It's not pride so much as hurt: they haven't forgiven each other -- for SL or WL -- and won't until they're even. I don't know if they've consciously realized that yet, and very well might continue on in a weird limbo, or even ally at the very end Murder Camel style. But they certainly haven't resolved anything yet.

Something wicked this way comes...

(And I'd be remiss if I didn't talk about the Meta-narrative aspect. Both CC's are amused by and noticeably pushing for the divorce narrative. While I do think their C's have genuine beef over WL now at least, if not the 2v1, it's exaggerated and ultimately just fun for the CC's to rp out. Also, everyone in Life Series is a bit awkward/forced the first time they start drama with someone. I've mentioned elsewhere but Gem started divorce drama with Pearl "Expert Divorcee" Moon as her first, so part of the imbalance is figuring out how to tell that story. Pearl is putting in the legwork on her end and Cleo "Expert Friend Of Divorcees" called out that Gem needs a reason, so she just has to put the pieces together and make her case out loud.)

(Personally, I think she really could pursue "Still hung up about SL and wants an apology/catharsis, but won't admit it especially now that she's overreacted, so now playing nice while trying to sabotage her." Imagine the quiet confessions to Joel about how she's still angry, and the tearful "why are you doing this to me?" "because I lied! I'm still mad you hurt me!" And it would fit SUPER well into Pearl's ongoing story with Scott downplaying his own mistakes. Both grievances happened because Pearl misunderstood the other person's feelings (Gem thought they were closer in SL, Scott was hurt by Pearl's disregard for finding him in DL), which means Pearl is the villain in both, at least to them. But we'll see what happens next week :D)

Thanks for the ask, and for reading all this! I do believe shinyduo are at their best when they're enemies. And I think they know that too.

[slenderofthejoker]

F!@#$ING FINALLY.

[deusvervewrites]

Start Again X Wildcard:

Akari in the Original Timeline: The Wildcard is terrifying.

Akari during the first week at UA: The Wildcard is a dork and I have no idea why anybody would ever be scared of him.

Akari graduating from UA: Midoriya is a great friend… and I am unbelievably thankful for that fact, because the things he can do scare the shit out of me if I think about it for too long.

Sounds about right

[daily-hanamura]

[evilevilevilnotevilevilagain]

the advocate my beloved <3

[markerofthemidnight]

😶

Er… Luxury? You… didn’t tell me which character you want me to dump some headcanons about…

…ah, whatever. Guess this is a wildcard. Well, while I’m at it, I know a place that could attract some attention to my ask blog… and a way to capitalise on a little joke I came up with as of recent…

�� A random headcanon!

Soul and Heart never really named their weapons. The closest they have to real names are “the Trident” and “the Mistake”.

Mind, however, is not Soul or Heart. Well, not anymore, that is. He wasn’t born with his weapon: instead, the Headspace gave him the parts he needed to make it, a test of intelligence perfect for a ruler such as himself.

And so, he did indeed name it. It’s called Solar Flare, his very own personal chainsaw.

(Oh yeah, you thought I was done with this joke, didn’t you?)

He very rarely uses Solar Flare for anything. Chainsaws are more than effective, but too heavy, which is definitely a problem considering he’s the least mobile Jashling even without one.

He only even considers using it when he knows, for a fact, that some shit is about to go down. And even when he does, he’d never use it against Soul or even Heart. Sure, he took out that fucker’s eyes without hesitation, but that was- as much as he doesn’t want to admit it- an accident: purely heat of the moment, and nothing else.

There’s no way he’s dumb enough to try to throw a chainsaw at a moving target. And despite the fact that being a weapon is its purpose, Solar Flare is still his precious creation. He’s not getting blood (or rather, more blood) on his baby boy.

But when he does use it… be careful around him. You can run, but you can’t hide. And every second you’re not running, he’s only getting closer.

[sidesteppostinghours]

Oc ask! I'll try 9, 20 and a wildcard for your choice. For as many oc's as you like. 👀

evening!! thank you for the ask wonda <3

9. Do they empathize with non-sentient things (dolls, plants, books…)?

Caine- no? i mean, maybe a plant, since thats alive, but what is there to empathize with? there arent any thoughts or feelings there. caine already struggles to empathize with people, non sentient things is Not happening.

Cyrus- no, of course not! who would do something that ridiculous???? (he would. mr "i have so much empathy i regularly fuck up manipulating people" would. of course whether he Cares is a different matter.)

Cecilia- ehhhh. she doesnt empathize with things, but she is protective of them and takes care of her things well. i think she could grow to empathize with things, but its not something on her mind if that makes sense?

Cynthia- oh absolutely. she has a certain soft spot for plushes and books, and shed love gardening if she ever gave it a shot.

20. What do they like that nobody else does?

Man ok uh. this is hard. what do other people not like???? i was honestly tempted to leave this at "villainy" but in the interest of properly answering the questions:

Caine- stretching the definition of like here but id say a lot of the food he cooks. contrary to popular belief, caine is actually a pretty decent cook, its just that most of said food is. um. inventive and efficient, lets say. ortega had to learn a very hard lesson to never let caine inside a kitchen without a recipe.

Cyrus- makeup. i dont thinkk this is something thats really come up before? he uses it to cover up his own freckles and scars but in terms of like. makeup to enhance features(???? is that the word????) he likes it as long as it isnt on himself. depending on what kind he gets dysphoric over it.

Cecilia- straight up? literally just pissing people the fuck off. theres no pleasure that could bring warmth to her heart quite like feeling that little annoyed spike in somebodys brain after something she said or did. she lives with joy knowing that she goes through life going "XD lol!!!!" and everybody wants to kill her with knives about it.

Cynthia- medical work. call it morbid curiosity, but shes really interested in biology and thats only partially because of its usefulness to herself (in terms of stitching herself back together). in the past, she would dump about it to ortega. nowadays, she has eve talk about it a lot with mortum.

questions from here!

[carnivalcarriondiscarded]

Hello Hi! I’m alive and I saw DnD au.

I’m a very big DnD nerd and I want to say a thing!

1: I thought for a moment “no Howdy would be a martial Class” but you are so right, he makes inventions. So cool

2: WARLOCK WALLY WARLOCK WALLY WARLOCK WALLY (from a person who loves Warlocks this fills my heart with glee)

3: I am 5 seconds away from designing homebrew for them/building off actual subclasses for them. I am Actively trying to figure out how to Give Wally the Big House spell (which is an actual spell) bc it fits his vibe.

hello welcome back!

honestly i struggled for a Minute there w/ Howdy's classification cause yeah... four hands made for punching... but then Clown's response to an ask about what each neighbor would do in Splatoon said that Howdy would use some sorta bomb (i don't know the names/terms! i dont play!) so my brain went "ah! ranged attacks!" honestly most of my choices here are based off of that post.... its nice to know the Roles they would all take in battle!

ok im not a huge dnd nerd but like. im guessing 'big house spell' is the magnificent mansion, and isnt that a wizard spell? if you were willing to fuck with boundaries a lil, you could reason that wizard/warlock are juuuuust similar enough that either could use that spell

[akela-nakamura]

🌞 ✏

Okay fairly sure this is for the fic ask game, however the sun is for any question you wanna ask...and you haven't asked one lmao.

Pretty sure the pencil is for: ✎ how do you think readers would guess a fic was yours if you posted anonymously?: And as someone who has played a round or five of Who Wrote That, the answer...varies.

If you're @tourettesdog you apparently see the phrase "trigger discipline" and IMMEDIATELY go "Yeah, that's Akela alright" and ask no further questions. (To be fair, apparently several people got me on that one lol)

The other way is to simple look at all these damn italics and think for a moment on who it could possibly be.

It's a damn mystery.

I also apparently have a paragraph structure that's easy to see? Like how I separate my paragraphs and how long I make them? IDK I don't see it lmao.

My style also tends towards heavy sensory descriptions with less dialogue. I'm very emotion heavy and how that feels in the body lol.

I Phoned in a friend (my beta) and she says I also have immediate hooks to my stories.

There's probably more but those are the main ones lol. WWT coming in clutch for this question :P

If you wanted to ask another question, please feel free to send in another ask. Going to bed for tonight so my response will be delayed. Nice to see ya Nonnie!

[wield-the-mighty-pen]

To cope with my writer’s block, I've decided that I want to do some drabbles!

To make this fun for me, I decided to do 'playlist prompt' drabbles. So, if you'd like, please send me a lovesquare pairing and a number between 1 and 144 and hopefully I'll write a drabble based on the corresponding song in my playlist to that number

My inbox is open, so please feel free to send requests!