#all i can think about is how i wouldnt change a thing

[yourmoonmomma]

*not a reading* Maple may I please ask for your advice? I’ve typed this out so many times and the app keeps crashing on me (what’s going on universe?)

How soon is too soon to get into a relationship? I met a guy at the beginning of the year, we would see each other here and there but it wasn’t until late march that we started talking and after a few days/week (early april) of talking we went on a date. According to him we’ve been boyfriend and girlfriend since after the first date, I didn’t know and was waiting for him to make it official even on our third date 😂. Of course, I’m thrilled, he’s so sweet and caring. He always takes me out and plans things based on what he remembers me telling him I liked etc.

But there’s a lingering thought that we’ve rushed and we’ll lose that spark.. I really like him Maple, I guess that’s why part of me is scared to get close to him because I have a feeling we won’t last long and I know for sure it’ll be a difficult heartbreak. According to his friends he’s the type to look for long term commitment, which I’m not opposed to. He’s the type to make decisions with 100% confidence and doesn’t doubt his judgement but I can’t help but feel scared :( No one has cared for me this much, I really don’t deserve him and constantly tell him to feel free to look for someone else, to which he’s adamant that he’s happy with me.

I’m also moving out of the city, not too far, but far enough that I won’t be able to see him weekly. I want nothing more than to stay with him but I’m so so scared that it’s making me insecure.

I should also mention, he’s asked me to meet his friends and go on holiday (just us two) we were going to meet a friend last week but plans changed and i’m meeting them in the summer. I’m super nervous, like, not because of the speed of the timeline but instead I’m worried he’ll get bored of me/realise that I’m not what he wants in a partner or his friends won’t like me. sorry if this was long, just needed to get my thoughts out.

Hi love, of course you can! I'm sorry to hear the app kept crashing omg, that is one of the most frustrating things when you're trying to send a longer message!

I really do think it varies from person to person. Jayson and I met in August (2019), and started dating that October, after only a week or two of "courting", if you will. But I also told him we weren't to post about it or make it a big deal for the first few months, as like a "trial run" that way it isn't like... embarrassing or something if it doesn't last. I think we probably ended up waiting close to half a year before I made any social media posts about him!

He sounds like a very sweet person!! You remind me a lot of myself, from a few years ago, and I know how scary those feelings can be. Especially if you feel almost... unworthy, perhaps, of what he has to offer you. But you aren't, and you do deserve love, regardless of how long it lasts. It can be a really scary concept, to think of letting yourself open up fully and love and be loved, without the promise of it lasting forever. But we never get that promise. And you cannot hold yourself back from experiencing these wonderful feelings because of that.

With that, it is also okay to take things slow! You can talk to him about these fears and concerns you have, maybe he's worried you'll also lose interest in him. Talking about it, and figuring out a path that works best for the both of you, will help a lot <33

Anyway, I just want to say you DO deserve him. And you deserve to be loved. I promise <3

[oceanwithouthermoon]

ive been unhealthily fixated on kubosai for the past few weeks, i just have no idea how to put it into words. kuboyasu aren and saiki kusuo are in love btw

[thegreatyin]

to put a long story short: at the end of ffxiv's base game, literally Directly before the beginning of its first expansion (heavensward), there is a series of quests and story arcs that eventually snowball into an hour-long cutscene in which the entire thing comes to a head in the literal worst way possible. like, "the hero's plans all go horribly wrong and several major characters die onscreen, with others going missing (presumed dead), eventually culminating in the player character being framed for the murder of the leader of a nation-state and being Literally Forced To Flee The Country" wrong.

heavensward leads directly on from this plotline. you arrive at the major location of the expansion in the midst of seeking asylum whilst being a wanted criminal everywhere else in the world right now. it's like. A Whole Thing. the game makes such a big deal out of it all. the fandom does as well. and for good reason!! it's a really good moment!!!!!!

and then roughly 1/3rds of the way into heavensward you find out that literally none of it mattered. nobody important actually died, no changes were actually made to the status quo, and nothing comes of being literally kicked out of the country for (what is implied to be) several in-universe weeks, if not months. None Of It Mattered. None.

TLDR; the bloody banquet is a major, exciting, and very infamous twist that seems like it's going to segway into a MAJOR upheaval of the status quo and some really intriguing ramifications for the story as a whole... and then heavensward does away with literally all of that and practically writes the entire thing off as a waste of time.

you may be able to see why i'm so salty about it.

[feline-evil]

Dick or no dick confirmation Pickles was always going to be trans to me anyways; if he's swingin' somethin that's phallo babes, if he's not then his t-dick fat. What's not to get.

[youngpettyqueen]

thinking about trans Julian again specifically thinking about the idea of Julian being trans but electing to not undergo any gender-affirming surgeries

like I was thinking about this the other day in the context of his line about him and Kira being the only other options for a womb when he had to transplant the baby from Keiko, because the implication that Julian has a womb also implies he's elected out of having a hysterectomy for gender-affirming purposes. I say that because we know gender-affirming surgeries- at least the more cosmetic ones- are very easy to undergo (see Profit and Lace, where they very quickly and easily turn Quark into a woman (yes I know it wasn't gender-affirming for him but its the easiest episode to use for my point)) so I feel like it wouldnt be a reach to say that a hysterectomy would be a fairly easy procedure to ask for and undergo

which as ive been thinking about it more I think this like. perfectly tracks with Julian as a character, that he would opt out of undergoing gender-affirming procedures. because I think, considering what his parents did to him and how strongly he resents it, that he would steer clear of anything he would view as "changing" himself. honestly so far in the future I think its safe to assume views of transitioning are very different, and I'd like to think that there wouldnt be nearly as much social pressure to physically transition at all, but even if there was I think Julian would be very resistant to the idea that he would "have" to change anything about himself. Julian is very unapologetically himself in every regard, so im pretty confident in saying that that would translate over to his gender identity and asserting that he is a man, and he doesnt need to change anything about himself or his body to be one

[tame-a-messenger]

Oh no, man. I decided to watch the Damien episode of Perfect Person coz I only found out about it from the Angela appearance.

There's a part (around 2:45) where he says he booked the Starfield VA gig right when he first started at Smosh so with it coming out recently, it kinda bookended "this part of his internet life".

And I was like, WHAT DOES HE MEAN? IS HE LEAVING SMOSH??

<darthvader.gif> NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!

I find it interesting that he also says right before at (2:46) that he's trying to "Focus up, here soon" and since this Podcast was only 4months ago... Wonder what that means!

Ok ok joking aside I don't really think that's exactly what he meant by the things he said. I think he was mainly talking about doing more voice over work and "focus" on it more, not that he's going to fully leave Smosh.

He also says that he spent 5-6 yrs recording for that game, so that's why I think him saying "bookended this whole part of my internet life" is ONLY referring to him voicing over that game.

I'm also pretty sure "this whole" is (although it does sound like it could mean what you thought) almost definitely his southerner coming out, and what he meant was "the game coming out has bookended 5-6yrs worth of work for the voice over I did" not that he's quitting anything (I'm becoming the truth speaker of Damien Haas)

Holy shit bro, I'm getting good at this 'decoding whatever people assume Damien meant' stuff! I felt my skin glowing while I was trying to decipher what he meant lmao

I am become Truth, the Breaker of Assumptions

[perilegs]

ok i might need to force myself to not romance astarion bc i don't want to know what it says about me to turn down karlach, the woman of my dreams, the character made to cater me personally, like, if she was real i'd bring the moon and stars down for the chance to see her smile, she's everything i've hoped for in a rpg companion, what does it say about me if i turn that down for someone like astarion

[secretlythatsme]

anyway, i think my hot take regarding the whole canon vs fanon thing for the dpxdc fandom is that fanon is fine but it also gets boring. there's a reason why 90% of the dpxdc creative content feels exactly the same. i'm not trying to like,, shit on anyone's work, but so many of these fics are very, very similar in plot and dynamics. and that's a product of the fact that most of the fandom doesn't actually know anything about dc.

if you're relying solely on fandom osmosis to learn about the characters and events, then you end up missing out on a lot. it's not Bad, but it's basically the footnotes. the sparknotes. the starred review compared to the actual book. you aren't getting a lot, is what i'm saying. and that's why so much of the content feels exactly the same! it's because everyone is getting their info from the same decade old jokes. so creative work ends up blending into each other because the creators don't actually have anything else to work with (because they don't Know anything else) so they rely on the same five fanon jokes and headcanons that they do know.

as a dc fan, i Do encourage dpxdc fans to look into dc and read the comics and be more active on the dc side of things, not because fanon is inherently Bad, but because it opens up so many more avenues for creativity. i'd love to see people talk about danny fighting evil vampire nightwing or going on missions with karen or having fun with kara. but most dp fans don't even know characters outside of the most popular 10 and know even less about any of the plots or universes. so like, it's not exactly a surprise that every fic sounds the same. and like. does that not get boring to you guys?

[agnimybeloved]

regarding that last post... not that black butler's canon has to be uplifting or have dadbastian or a happy ending to be "good" (i'm actually partial to tragedies especially the cyclical kind and would love for the series to straight up end with despair and the collection on the contract lol) but i do think that toboso's largely fumbled the found-family/interpersonal,/introspective aspects of her story and sacrificed a lot of narrative and thematic meat there for low-brow and off-putting comedy.... which is really exactly all she does with ciel's trauma as well-- shallowly using it for the purposes of trauma porn and/or comedy/inappropriate fanservice.

ciel only seems to have reasonable responses to his trauma when its aesthetically convenient if that makes sense. i honestly could go as far as to say that she depicts his trauma fetishistically-- every instance i can recall of ciel having an extreme traumatic response (i.e. vomiting, flashbacks, psychosis) is represented with (imo but honestly.... i'd be shocked if this wasn't intentional...) sexual undertones. his episode during the green witch arc doesn't have one of these moments within the episode itself as far as i can recall, but certainly i think the preceding/inciting medical emergency that forces him and sebastian to bathe together contributes to the reoccurring sexualization of "sickness" (physical & psychological).

not to mention ciel's subsequent episode is treated as the dramatic peak of his ptsd and something that he "overcomes" through sheer force of will (and the threats of sebastian... neither of which are a proper/reasonable way to handle such an extreme trauma response) and doesn't really battle going forward in the story. of course a lot of stories take this "one dramatic moment and then its fixed" approach to representing mental illness, and it makes narrative sense for toboso to want to more or less settle that thread to gear up for the important blue cult arc, but i think toboso's handling of mental illness in general goes so far beyond suspension of disbelief and tastelessness that i think she should lowkey be brained for it. the way she intermittently writes ciel's traumatic experiences as something horrifying and wrong and to be given sympathy meanwhile relentlessly putting ciel in inappropriate fanservice situations that diminish the severity of csa & pedophilia as well as disrespect the complexities of trauma and turn them into comedy... mind boggling...

overall though i think that black butler shows a real mastery of narrative arcs while falling short in terms of character arcs. most of the time these arcs are shown in retrospect with the addition of new backstory, but it feels as if the characters in present have barely grown at all... not that every story has to be character driven and a static character type makes sense for someone like sebastian, but for all that ciel is a unique and mature thirteen year old due to the circumstances of his life, he is still a thirteen year old, and one that has experienced a significant trauma quite recently at that. not allowing him coming of age-esque character arcs considering all that sort of breaks the believability of his character imo.

but i think that coattails does a lot in staying loyal to ciel's character and experiences while also respecting his trauma and bringing the depth and flexibility of adolescence to his worldview and actions that toboso unfortunately seems disinterested in. i love that aforementioned chapter of coattails and its sentiments especially with how it reexamines ciel's actions at kelvin's manor and the worldview that lead to burning it down with the children inside... not that it was an out of character decision for ciel in the moment, but i think it established a lot more severe facts about his character and worldview than toboso is willing to address in her writing and therefore feels unresolved. coattails' remedy to that awkwardness by coming full circle is so intriguing and fulfilling in contrast... it shows how adolescence and trauma can work together to so completely convince one of hopelessness and yet how just a bit of hope can change that worldview entirely. literally just the honest love of a random dog and the mundane care of a guardian... there is a cure and it is this..... what da helllll....

[get-more-bald]

the thing about X6 is that he's essentially a slave given to the Sole Survivor by the Institute. and I think that the fandom's treatment of him would be different if the game addressed it or even just said it

[phagodyke]

ykw actually I am angry + disappointed w them. I've been pushing how I feel aside and trying to make it my own fault so it's all contained but I think theyve just been mean. and they really should know me better ik I try to pretend I don't expect more from them so I feel less hurt when they do things that upset me but we've been friends for years by this point. like come on.

[olehoncho]

How I would fix Dr Who (revisited)

While I am sure there are folks that love the Doctor Who show and the direction it has taken under Chibnal, I know there are others who are not satisfied with certain developments. Ever since the end of Matt Smith's run there have been issues with the continuity of the series: - The expansion of The Doctor's regenerations was first explained via a "time lord energy infusion" in Town of Christmas, but was later revealed to be an aspect of the Timeless Child. - The swapping of sex/gender was first done with the Master and later explored with the Doctor. - Letting go of a Time Lord's power was explored in Human Nature and later in Uptopia, but revisited as being a "female presenting" quality later. - The Bi-Generation creating two time lords.

A lot of this new canon has been... not easy to absorb. And I'm not going to say there's any connection to ratings or audience scores, but as someone who is more interested in the science fiction aspect of the show, I think there is enough of the new canon to play with to fit in with the long-running series canon.

Make The Doctor a distinct being separate from The Timeless Child. - This is the main one, and could be done a couple of different ways. My previous theory was to make The Timeless Child the Time Vortex at the heart of the TARDIS (which explains why it is different from other TARDIS). This would explain the leeching of memories and power to other individuals as well. - Another way to do this would be to have The Doctor either be a bi-generation from The Timeless Child, or perhaps be the son of The Timeless Child who inherited some memories. There are options.

Restore the Regeneration Limit and explain how it was bypassed. - The previous explanation is that The Doctor is the first Time Lord and therefore has endless regenerations. This never felt right. The Doctor being a Time Lord whose uniqueness comes from their decisions, the promise to be "The Doctor" rather than their particular history is the key to the character. - You could do another bi-generation backstory into The Doctor's past, and that part of The Doctor has been dormant, sleeping aboard the TARDIS for near a thousand years (my personal choice would be the regeneration from 2nd to 3rd Doctor). - Then you would have to explain that The Doctor who has been adventuring has been part of The Doctor, but a being who got mixed up with The Timeless Child and is therefore confused. Then explain that the reason for the regeneration limit being bypassed is because of the TARDIS - so many Doctors regenerate in the TARDIS and this is shown to have led to many explosions of energy which were not present in earlier regenerations because this version of The Doctor is growing unstable. - Time Lords are not meant to live more than 12 regenerations, because the energy in their bodies becomes more than they can handle, like a dying star they either go supernova or become dwarf stars.

Kill off the current version of The Doctor and bring in "The Original" - This could be a series-long arc involving The Valeyard - with the "current Doctor" being the Valeyard and "The Original" questing to stop them, but would end up with The Doctor dying and creating their grave on Trenzalore that is eventually visited by 11 and Clara. - The "original" Doctor would then continue the adventures, absorbing all the memories of their alternate selves - and resume the regeneration limit from 3 (a new 3, not Pertwee) and then regenerating into 4.

Anyways, that's how I'd rework Doctor Who if it was up to me. But it's not, so whatever.

[olivegardenhunter]

uhhhh cw? I talk about adhd struggles

the worst part about getting diagnosed with adhd is needing to come to terms that this is actually a real disability that I have that does affect basically every aspect of my life. it's fun to laugh along to adhd jokes and relatable content and think haha sorry my adhd makes me a lil funny silly guy sometimes. but. at the end of the day. this is a disability. and one I live with. and one that gets debilitating some days. and one that very much fucks up with my life and my plans more than I'd like to admit. acknowledging and admitting that this is a real thing that very much gets in the way of my life and makes things that are easy for others so difficult for me. that's genuinely the hardest part. cause once you do? it's hard to not feel hopeless. or scorned. like you've been dealt an unfair hand. and cause when you admit that, then you also gotta admit that youre spending the rest of your life working doubly hard than everyone else. and there's nothing you can do about it.

[hauntingblue]

"The fight for sanji's masculinity" in a world where being gay is normal and hetero is the exception

[g3othermal3scapism]

MY BEEF WITH STRANGER THINGS

ok i want it to be known that i like stranger things a lot and im pretty deep in the fandom and its been one of. my biggest hyperfixations…. but this does not mean i think the show ia good!!!!! i see sm people acting like the duffers are god of writing and they js… arent. the shows writing is literal ass, the show sucks pretty much alll around other than being fun sometimes and even those moments are poorly done. the partys group dynamic was so poorly done, every character is handled poorly, they don’t know how to write deaths, (maxs was the only good one, and they brought her back anyways?? like i love max and im very much glad shes alive but stop being a pussy!!!! kill someone people care about for the love of god!!!!!!!) and hot take i really dont like the monster designs but i guess that more just my personal preference. the entire thing is just so full of wasted potential to be great. there are a lot of great ideas, a lot of great character ideas, and a lot of great actors. and the comedy writing for some seasons was pretty ok! but overall its just lackinf and even though i love these characters like theyre my own children, do not be fooled!!!! i am aware that the show sucks!!!!!!!

[orcelito]

I'm almost 60 hours into tales of arise and I'm realizing that endgame is. Not that far away, honestly

How am I supposed to go through with this 😭😭😭😭😭 I don't want it to end