#also good think it’s a recent RG

[yuritsukikage]

Finally done with the chest

This kit is beautiful to build

A pain in the butt to remove the tight under gates though

Will take a small break and thinking whether I should do the arms or do the backpack (core lander)

[fritzes]

and so it begins... the wimbledon draw. here are my thoughts

wta:

iga's draw is a nightmare (and somewhat reminiscent of ao). she has kenin in the first round, who upset coco in the first round last year. in the third round she could play siniakova, who has been really good on grass this season. and of course the big one is the possibility of ostapenko in the fourth round, who she has never beaten. however, there is some hope for iga because ostapenko plays ajla tomljanovic in the first round, and the last time they played at wimbledon it was a drama-fueled match that ajla won. if she's in good form, she could definitely trouble ostapenko. on the other side of this quarter is defending champion marketa, and as much as I'd love to say I have faith in her going deep, I don't. she had a good run at rg, but she's just so inconsistent that I don't know if I can see her keeping that form. also, she's never dealt with the pressure of a slam title defense before. krejcikova and especially collins could trouble her and steal her quarterfinal spot, and either of those two could beat iga if she makes it there

the second quarter is kind of ridiculous. the top seed here is elena rybakina, who will probably either win the tournament or withdraw due to illness. there's really no one on her side of the quarter that I can see beating her, but she's just impossible to predict when it comes to her physical health. if she's healthy, I have full faith in her making the quarterfinals. the other side of the quarter is where things get complicated: we have one of each of last year's quarterfinalist, semifinalist, and finalist in jess, elina, and of course ons. there is also katie boulter, who has proven herself on grass recently. if ons is in her usual wimbledon form, the others don't stand a chance, but we really just don't know how ons is right now. I'm not sure if being back at wimbledon will affect her mentality positively or negatively. jess is coming off the berlin title and could definitely see a quarterfinal here, but if she did I think her curse would continue against elena

if the projected semifinal does happen, I would be truly shocked if iga won. elena is normally a tough matchup for her, and on grass it would only be worse

in the third quarter, we have aryna who had to withdraw from her last match because of a shoulder injury. I don't know how serious it is, but she has been practicing at wimbledon so hopefully it doesn't affect her too much. in the fourth round, she will probably play dasha, who won't trouble her on grass or mirra, who aryna can probably beat as long as she's healthy. in the rg quarterfinal, she was really sick and probably didn't play as well as she could have. there's also karolina muchova lurking in this section of the draw, and she may be rusty and with a questionable wrist, but on any given day she can play like the best in the world. she's good on every surface, and if she's on top of her game then everyone else better watch out. on the other side of this quarter is maria and qinwen. since qinwen is pretty bad on grass, this should be a good draw for maria but... it's maria. emma raducanu could actually make a really good run here, but I don't think anyone from the other half of the quarter could beat aryna in the quarterfinals if it came down to it

and finally, coco gauff is far far away from iga in the draw. after losing in the first round last year, she's ready to make a deep run. azarenka in the fourth round could be tough, but as long as coco can keep her serving consistent, she can absolutely make at least qfs and maybe even more. jasmine, kostyuk, naomi, and madi keys are all contenders to face her in the quarterfinal and I really can't pick a favorite between them. I think any of them against coco could be a toss-up, roller coaster match

for this projected semifinal, I really can't predict it. the aryna/coco h2h is super competitive and neither one of them is the clear favorite against each other. this has match of the tournament potential

interesting round 1 matches: swiatek/kenin, tomljanovic/ ostapenko, alexandrova/raducanu, badosa/muchova, andreescu/cristian, azarenka/stephens

atp:

well, jannik sinner's first slam as the 1 seed gave him quite the draw. the possibility of grass specialist and compatriot matteo in the second round is just ridiculous. and poor tallon griekspoor in the third in honestly just cruel at this point. ben shelton is projected to play jannik in the fourth round, but that's not happening. will denis shapovalov sweep and take that fourth round spot? honestly, considering his history at this tournament, it's totally possible. on the other side of the quarter is daniil and grigor, both of whom would probably rather not see jannik again. if jannik gets through that minefield of a draw to the quarterfinals, I don't think daniil or grigor can beat him, and between those two I'm not sure which one would actually get to the quarterfinals. zhang, who just beat daniil, is his projected third round opponent and could make things really tough for him

and on the same side of the draw (sigh) is defending champion carlos. he honestly couldn't have asked for a better draw. casper ruud is the projected quarterfinalist you want to see when you're a top seed, and in his section, tiafoe, baez, and humbert can't really challenge him. I think the likely scenario is that carlos plays tommy paul in the quarterfinal (or maybe bublik if he decides to take tennis seriously for the week). that has the potential to be a really good match since both of them have proven their grass competence. still, I would favor carlos

and the projected semifinal. SIGH. their previous slam matches really tell you everything you need to know: carlos starts slow but will outlast jannik in five sets. if someone wins it in three or four, it's probably jannik but if someone wins it in five, it's probably carlos. that being said, I really can't predict this. I wish it was possible for it to be the final

and now for the ugh quarter of the draw. the top seed is zverev, the next two seeds are rublev and tsitsipas, and somehow korda, the "wimbledon favorite", is here too. honestly though, I truly think zverev could lose to jack draper in the third round. jack has proven himself in the past few weeks on grass, which zverev has never done. taylor fritz could also make a dent here, being a really good grass player. the rublev/tsitsipas/musetti/korda section of this quarter is gonna be chaos. the whole thing is gonna be chaos. I could not tell you who I think is gonna come out of this quarter

and finally, novak djokovic. we just don't really know where his level is at right now, and we haven't known all season. funnily enough, he could play luca nardi in the third round. the big looming specter for him is hubi of course, but even before that, there's holger. it's truly impossible to predict holger, but he did make the quarterfinals here last year and was a tiebreak away from making the quarterfinals at rg. if he does play novak in the fourth round, I really think he has a chance of winning. on the other side of the quarter, I would be shocked if hubi didn't make the quarterfinals. there's really no one who can keep up with his serve, and honestly I think he has a chance at semis here

like with rg, this projected semifinal is not happening

interesting round 1 matches: berrettini/fuscovics, jarry/shapovalov, monfils/mannarino, arnaldi/tiafoe, mensik/bublik, fils/stricker, etcheverry/nardi

[outrunningthedark]

The way I read your post, guessed people were claiming the RG bts stuff was because Buddie is going canon, went looking and yup. That's the current theory lol.

TBH, I wasn't planning on being serious about this ask, but it's motivating me to get something off my chest. (Nothing to do with anon, just a general overview of where things stand.) I'm about to say something that might come off as (unintentionally) mean? (I cannot control how anyone will interpret this), but I also don't know how else to describe what I've been feeling. I know that recently we (collectively) discussed sunk cost fallacy as a big reason for why people cannot let the idea of Canon Buddie become go, but to me...it's become deeper than that for some, and it's honestly...alarming. You know how it's common for people to use social media sites as an "escape" from real life/the real world? Yeah. I think we've reached that stage with a fictional ship. Some (not all!) fans are, IMO, using Buddie as an "escape" from whatever's going on in their lives outside the internet. (Real life putting your mental health in the gutter? Just ignore all of that and focus on the happy stuff instead. In this case, Buddie.) Their happiness has become dependent on being right about a ship going canon. So they can have this one good thing. And while I can sympathize with the motivation behind certain actions (look at me with WWE and other sports - sports make me happy), I worry about those who don't want to face the fact that the joy over Buddie (possibly) going canon will be short-lived in the long run when real life doesn't get better as a direct result of what happens in fiction. There's also the flip side of the coin, the darker side. If someone's happiness is dependent on Buddie ending up together in canon, what's going to happen if/when they never get together at all? How will fans cope? (I think we've already seen some of the above, though. The longer it takes Buddie to go canon the more people we find are on "hiatus" from the fandom or have deactivated their accounts entirely and gone MIA. They don't know how to find joy in the show or the fandom experience unless they're getting exactly what they want.)

[valiantstarlights]

[Loving You is Cherry Pie] Chapter 3

Read on AO3 / Chapter 1 / Chapter 2

Featuring doting father Alpha!Hob (43) and his son, recently presented Omega!Dream (20).

By happy coincidence, this chapter fills the prompts 'Call in the night' and 'College' for @mr-sadman's Sandmanniversary2024 Day 2. 😊 Thanks to @seiya-starsniper for helping me with one of the sections! 🥰

CWs: Off-screen violence. 👀

--

SAN

"...'llo?"

"Good evening, Corinthian."

"Whuh-- (crash) Shit-- (a dull, heavy sounding thud) Fuck! (pained wheeze, rustling fabric, scrambling) Hello? Dream?"

"...I'm here. Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm-- (pained hiss) I'm good. I just, you know. Fell."

"I heard. Has the fall exacerbated your injuries?"

"...Uh, what?"

"Exacer-- Has the fall made your injuries worse?"

"Oh. Uh... (rustling fabric) No? I don't think so?"

"That's good."

"..."

"..."

"...Are you calling to check up on me? 'Cause I'm fine. That bitch didn't beat me up as badly as I beat her."

"I apologize."

"What for? If anyone should be apologizing, it's her. Are you alright?"

"...Yes. Thank you for lending me your jumper. I'll give it back to you after I have it washed and scent-cleaned."

"No. Keep it."

"Corinthian--"

"I'm serious. I have more, and black looks better on you than it does on me anyway."

"..."

"(sigh) It doesn't... It doesn't have to mean anything. But if it keeps you warm and my scent protects you from--"

"(sharp inhale) You...?"

"...Yeah. But if you're worried I'll tell anyone, I won't. Trust me."

"..."

"Look, I... (deep breath followed by a long, drawn out sigh) My omega parent. He also..."

"...Oh. Is he..?"

"No."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. It wasn't your fault. (sigh) I promise, I don't have any hidden agendas or whatever about you keeping my sweater. Jumper? And anyway, I already know you don't like me--"

"I did not say that. It's just, that night, I wasn't... I was having a very stressful evening."

"Yeah, no kidding."

"So today... Thank you. For doing what you did."

"Of course. It was the proper thing to do."

"..."

"(stifled yawn) Oh, sorry."

"No. I have taken too much of your time that you could've otherwise spent sleeping. Good night, Corinthian."

"Yeah, alright. And you're sure you're okay? Aside from..."

"Yes."

"Well, alright then. G'night, Dream."

--

RG

Good morning, baby! I hope you slept well. (brightly smiling emoji)  Eleanor and I went jogging awhile ago. We're early enough to watch the sunrise for a bit, and now we're dining at this restaurant owned by a nice old lady who used to be a weightlifter in her youth! I think that even at 70, she has bigger muscles than I do. Here's my order: one chicken burger with a side of sweet potato fries, and a watermelon smoothie. (RG sent a photo.) [Image description: A delicious-looking chicken burger piled high with romaine lettuce is on a porcelain plate beside a generous serving of sweet potato fries. The watermelon smoothie is three-quarters full, and while it has a drinking straw leaning against one side of the glass cup, there is a hint of light pink lipstick on the rim of the cup. Across the table, Eleanor's pale, delicate hands are seen holding a knife and fork over her own food, which is some type of steak salad.] I think you would love the food here. Shall we go together next time?

(✔ Seen)

--

SAN

I'm serious about the sweater. Keep it. And if you need someone to talk to, just call. No strings whatsoever. 

Noted. Thank you.

--

The Raven Tricycle

Matthew Youngman Luce, is Dream wearing an alpha's jumper? My beta nose can't smell anything rn except food, grass, and other students panicking about being late for class. Oh hey that rhymed! (smiling emoji with shades)

Lucienne Oldman He is. Can't place whose scent it is, though. Any ideas, Jessamy?

Jessamy Middleman Later.

Matthew Youngman Okay he's gone now. (Matthew sent a GIF.) [Image description: A posh blonde woman in a white sundress is slowly sipping her tea with obvious enjoyment. The text below reads, "Spill the tea, sis."]

Lucienne Oldman Why are you still typing? Just tell us out loud.

Jessamy Middleman Matty is 100% gonna yell. I'm typing so he can just yell in all caps in the chat.

Matthew Youngman (roll eyes emoji) OW You didn't have to hit me.

Lucienne Oldman You were bouncing your leg. I got annoyed. Just wait patiently for Jessamy to finish typing.

Matthew Youngman (roll eyes emoji)

Jessamy Middleman Okay. So before I say anything, I want you both to know that I learned about all of this from other people. Not Dream. Dream didn't tell me ANYTHING.

Lucienne Oldman Go on.

Matthew Youngman (Matthew sent a GIF.) [Image description: A cartoon hamster wearing a chef's uniform is chopping some chives. The words, 'CHOP CHOP' are flashing on the bottom area of the GIF.]

Jessamy Middleman Yesterday afternoon, Hippolyta Trevor (omega, Interior or Fashion Design major, not sure which) confronted Dream about him """stealing""" her boyfriend.

Matthew Youngman Nah. No way.

Jessamy Middleman That's what the quotation marks are for, Matty.

Lucienne Oldman Who's her boyfriend?

Jessamy Middleman Hector Hall. Alpha. Architecture major. Good-looking guy, but definitely not Dream's type.

Matthew Youngman And you know his type? OW STOP HITTING ME

Jessamy Middleman Anyway. So apparently, Hippolyta threw an entire bucket of very cold and very disgusting sewer water at Dream, threw the bucket AT him, pushed him so hard he fell on the floor on his ass, and then she starts to yell at him for being an S word.

Matthew Youngman THE FUCK??

Lucienne Oldman Christ.

Matthew Youngman CRAZY PSYCHO BITCH Also S word??? 

Lucienne Oldman Slut, Matthew.

Matthew Youngman I knew that.

Lucienne Oldman Are there videos of this?

Jessamy Middleman No. Not that part, anyway. The videos taken by the witnesses only caught the later parts.

Lucienne Oldman And then? Did Dream fight back?

Jessamy Middleman Not physically? He apparently just said something.

Matthew Youngman Something???

Jessamy Middleman The person I heard it from was more focused on Hippolyta going batshit crazy to hear what Dream said.

Lucienne Oldman But they said Dream said something to Hippolyta. Definitely?

Jessamy Middleman Yeah.

Matthew Youngman And then? What did she say? In reply to Dream? Oh my god you're typing so muchhh (one crying emoji followed by three tea emojis)

Jessamy Middleman Just more accusations of Dream being, and I quote, "a slut who would spread his legs for anybody." And then Dream said something like, "You would know." Which, while being a sick burn, also made Hippolyta scream at him some more then tackle him to the ground.

Matthew Youngman TEAM DREAM TEAM DREAM ALSO DESTRUCTION 100 FOR HIPPOCRATES HIPPOLYTA*

Lucienne Oldman There's more. You're still typing. Good gods.

Jessamy Middleman But just as she was about to beat Dream up MMA style, Corinthian (yes, that one) comes out of nowhere, bodily lifts Hippolyta from Dream and throws her against the nearest wall, takes his jumper off and tells Dream to put it on, and then he starts to beat HER up.

Lucienne Oldman SHUT THE FUCK UP MATTHEW

Jessamy Middleman I TOLD YOU HE WOULD YELL

Matthew Youngman SORRY

Lucienne Oldman And then?

Jessamy Middleman Dream managed to leave unnoticed in the chaos, Hippolyta is currently recovering in the omegan wing of the infirmary but won't get punished AT ALL, and Corinthian is suspended for a month.

Matthew Youngman (five exclamation point and question mark emojis)

Lucienne Oldman But that's ridiculous. He was only defending Dream against Hippolyta.

Jessamy Middleman Yeah, I don't think administration knows that. The most circulated videos only caught Corinthian beating Hippolyta up, while there is absolutely zero videos circulating right now that caught Hippolyta attacking Dream.

Lucienne Oldman Seriously?

Jessamy Middleman Yeah. And anyway, to administration, it's still an alpha male beating up an omega female. It doesn't look good.

Lucienne Oldman Without any context, Corinthian WOULD be seen as the bad guy. Never mind that he was only acting in defense of Dream. Christ. What a mess.

Matthew Youngman So now Dream is...what, wearing Corinthian's jumper to show everyone that he and Corinthian are together, actually, and that Corinthian was just defending his omega boyfriend from getting beaten up by another omega?

Lucienne Oldman They're not together, Matthew.

Matthew Youngman Yeah, but...If you don't know either of them, you'd think that, right? If you saw Dream wearing Corinthian's jumper?

Jessamy Middleman Right.

Matthew Youngman What can I say? I'm a genius. (smiling emoji with shades)

Jessamy Middleman Do I tell this to Mr. G? I feel like I should, but...

Lucienne Oldman Jessamy, you know he would descend upon the university like an angel of the apocalypse and ruin Hippolyta's life for what she did. Possibly even Hector's as well.

Matthew Youngman She deserves it though. But wait, what about the Hector guy?

Lucienne Oldman What about him?

Matthew Youngman Where was he when all this happened?

Jessamy Middleman Fuck if I know. But he IS one of the alphas leaving courting gifts for Dream at our dorm. That's why I recognized his name when it was mentioned, and how I know what he looks like.

Matthew Youngman FUCKING PLOT TWIST

Lucienne Oldman And you're sure nothing happened between him and Dream?

Jessamy Middleman 100%. Dream isn't pregnant with Hector's kid or whatever it is you're thinking. What? Don't look at me like that. Do you really think that if I find out that someone forced Dream into something he didn't want to do, that I wouldn't inform Mr. G. immediately, beat the person up while waiting for him to arrive, and then gleefully watch as he unalives them with his bare hands?

Matthew Youngman ...You scare me sometimes, sis.

Jessamy Middleman Good.

Matthew Youngman (Matthew sent a GIF.) [Image description: A cartoon raven is hiding inside a Halloween pumpkin. It is very cautiously peeking one eye out through one of the pumpkin's 'eyes.']

Lucienne Oldman I think you should talk to Dream first, Jess. Find out what really happened, and then decide whether or not Hippolyta Trevor deserves to meet her end in the form of Mr. Gadling.

Jessamy Middleman Okay. Hold on.

Lucienne Oldman I didn't say you have to do it right now. 

Matthew Youngman Shhh

--

Jessamy

"(whispering) Yes?"

"...Why are you whispering?"

"(whispering) I'm in class right now."

"What class? You're free until 2:30."

"(whispering) Sitting in. What is it?"

"...Never mind. Let's talk later."

--

The Raven Tricycle

Jessamy Middleman He's sitting in on some class.

Matthew Youngman Why are we still talking over chat? My thumbs are taaairdddeiueioueio

Jessamy Middleman Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realize you were the one typing a whole bunch. (roll eyes emoji)

Lucienne Oldman Maybe he's sitting in on Corinthian's classes and taking notes for him as thanks?

Jessamy Middleman Probably.

Lucienne Oldman Stop biting your nails.

Jessamy Middleman Sorry. I'm just. I don't know what to do, Luce. I feel like I should tell Mr. G what's going on, but I KNOW Dream wouldn't want me to.

Matthew Youngman Then don't? Butt out and quit being a busybody? FUCKING OW STOP IT (three ambulance emojis, followed by three police emojis)

Lucienne Oldman Alright, children, that's enough. Jessamy, stop punching Matthew. Matthew, stop antagonizing Jessamy.

Matthew Youngman SHE STARTED IT

Jessamy Middleman I am NOT a busybody!

Lucienne Oldman (sighing emoji) Stop fighting for a second and let me type.

Matthew Youngman (Matthew sent a GIF.) [Image description: A teenage girl wearing a muddy shirt and denim overalls is sticking her tongue out mockingly and making faces.]

Jessamy Middleman (middle finger emoji)

Lucienne Oldman As much as it pains me to admit it, Matthew is PARTIALLY right. Out of the three of us, you know Dream the best. And if you think that he wouldn't want you to go behind his back and tell his dad about what happened, then you shouldn't. THAT BEING SAID, if this escalates, like say Hippolyta gets better and decides to attack Dream again, then with or without Dream's consent, you HAVE to tell Mr. Gadling. Stop biting your nails, Jessamy. Seriously what is it? What are you not telling us?

Matthew Youngman Is this about Corinthian? Because like, the guy did rescue Dream from getting beaten into a pulp. AND he lent him his jumper after Hippolyta threw nasty ass water at him.

Jessamy Middleman Just really worried, I guess.

Matthew Youngman sus

Jessamy Middleman Fuck off.

Lucienne Oldman Let's just continue this later. You and Matthew have a class in five minutes.

Matthew Youngman I'm vamoosing Bye old people

Jessamy Middleman Kk Have a good time at the library! (cheerful hug emoji)

--

SAN

"Hey."

"Yes?"

"Are you the one who sent me handwritten class notes?"

"Perhaps."

"You didn't have to."

"I wanted to. As thanks."

"...Oh. Uh...thank you. That's really... Thank you."

"Of course."

"I mean...wow. (paper rustling) These are really detailed."

"Were you expecting anything less?"

"Honestly? I wasn't expecting anything at all. (paper rustling) Your handwriting is fucking gorgeous."

"..."

"Oh. Uh. Sorry. I didn't-- That doesn't-- I wasn't flirting. I was just--"

"It's fine. Thank you. For the compliment."

"Yeah. Of course."

"..."

"...So uh. Thanks. For the notes."

"Yes. You're welcome."

"I'm gonna hang up now."

"Goodbye, Corinthian."

"Bye. (muffled) 'Fucking gorgeous?'  What the hell is wrong with me? Stupid, stupid, stup--(the line abruptly cuts off)"

"...(hangs up)"

--

Dream

Hey, baby. I know you're busy being the most brilliant student your university has ever seen, but if you could just text your lonely Papa how you are right now, you would make me the happiest man in the world. Hey, Bean. Aunt Jo here. Confiscated Hob's phone for a sec because he's being incredibly needy and pathetic. You're okay though, right? Aside from the seenzone you subjected him to earlier this morning?

I'm fine. Must've snoozed while replying. Is he drunk?

As an animal that rhymes with drunk. I can't remember which one that is right now. But I'm not drunk! I'm tipsy. That's a very important distinction.

Take care going home.

Will do, Beanie. Love you! Hob is fighting me right now, claiming that he loves you more, but gzlutqkharsgz Don't listen to your Aunt Jo, baby. I love you the most. Not more, but most. More than anything or anyone.

I'm calling Mervyn.

--

Mervyn

Got your dad and aunt safely home, kid. (Mervyn sent a photo.)  [Image description: Jo and Hob, both dressed in business wear, are lying on long, comfortable-looking couches parallel to each other. They have hand towels over their eyes. Their footwear have been removed and are placed on the floor next to their feet. On the coffee table between the two couches is a plastic pitcher full of water, two plastic cups, and two white pills. There is an empty bucket on the floor near Jo's head.]

Thank you, Mervyn. Say hello to your family for me.

Yep. (Mervyn sent a video.) [Video description: Mervyn's voice from behind the camera is immediately heard. He says, "Dream says hi." The man being filmed is an older Chilean gentleman who smiles brightly at the mention of Dream's name. He says nothing and just waves at the camera. In his arms is a sleeping corgi.] After I stopped recording, he asked how you are and when you'll visit. I think he's itching to cook up a feast. For my sake please say you'll go.

I'll go.

(Mervyn sent a video.)  [Video description: Mervyn's husband, now sitting in bed to his left, is excitedly flipping through a thick notebook filled with handwritten recipes. He has a bunch of bookmarks on one hand, and he is marking pages as he goes.] Bring food containers if you know what's good for you.

Dare I ask how many?

At least 50.

...Will do. Good night to you three.

Good night, kid. (Mervyn sent a photo.) [Image description: The corgi is now sleeping on its back in the space between Mervyn and his husband's legs. The bedside lamp on the left side is still on, implying that Mervyn's husband is still looking at recipes.]

--

RG

Good morning, baby. Sorry about yesterday. Jo and I did a cheese and wine tasting, and...well. But I meant what I said. I do love you the most, and it would make me very happy to get updates from you. How you are, what you're eating, what you're learning in class, what's going on in your friend group's DND campaign...anything, really. Only when you're not too busy, though! I just miss you a lot these days, and it would mean the world to me to hear from you more often.

(You sent a photo.) [Image description: A beautiful pink-hued sunrise in the background looks striking against the greys of university buildings in the middle ground. The foreground is a bit chaotic, however, with Jessamy and Matthew having photobombed the shot. Jessamy is making a silly face and holding up a peace sign, while Matthew is a blur in mid-air, caught in the middle of a jump kick. Lucienne is at the very edge of the photo with a cup of coffee in her hands, looking very done with the younger two's antics.] It's a beautiful day.

Still not as beautiful as you, baby. But thank you for the update. Love you.

(black heart emoji)

[rwbyrg]

Am I alone in feeling mostly relieved our side of the FNDM is as small as it is? Of course, I'm not opposed to any new fresh meat coming in to join the fun, but at the same time, I think the scale of the RG corner kinda means we have less weirdos, and more genuinely talented and passionate people carrying on creativity for the other half to enjoy. Something something limitations breed creativity.

While I don't think you're alone in feeling how you do, I do not feel the same way... because I, myself, am a weirdo. Sorry. 😳 nah but fr, i know this ask is probably harmless and well intended, but I'm not keen on this way of thinking.

There are a lot more rg supporters than it seems. Most of them just don't engage with it publicly because of how unsafe the fandom landscape is these days; and that makes me sad. i can't count the number of people that said me or others being vocal about the ship finally made them feel comfortable enough to post about it. can't count how many more left the community because the harassment and lack of support just became too much to handle.

which is also part of the reason why I'm not keen on separating people into a "weird vs. normal" or "us vs. them" mindset.

Weirdness, talent, and passion, are not mutually exclusive of each other. Plenty of very skilled creatives have strange interests, make weird art, write inappropriate stories, or have been harmful to others. A person's artistic skill or creativity is not an indicator of their integrity, morality, or actions behind closed doors. That train of thinking is a very slippery slope, and I'm speaking from experience here when i say it can hurt you and people within your community if you're not careful.

I'm a weirdo to people who don't engage with fandom for having a blog dedicated to two fictional characters. I'm a weirdo to antis because those characters happen to be rg (which makes us weirdos-in-arms, dear anon 😘). I'm a weirdo to other rg shippers for not shipping it the same way they do. I'm close friends with a few creatives here, and on bad terms with a few others. Most of them are weirdos in one way or another. Some are kindhearted, earnest, and lovely individuals that have been cancelled, called out, and harassed for the most vanilla, harmless, and ordinary things you can imagine. Others, despite their talent, are assholes whom you could not pay me to be in the same "room" with again. And those jerks have and do say the same things of me in their own spaces.

If anything, I think these sorts of mentalities are the reason there are so few of us here in this little garden. We're treated like the blacksheep of the FNDM at large. We're unwelcome, ostracized, and chased out of most general spaces even when we aren't doing anything wrong. And because of that, these narratives and pressures around being "normal" or "one of the good ones" seeps into our spaces and only divides us all further.

Weirdness is subjective, people all have their own quirks, and being in fandom wasn't even considered "normal" until very recently. So, as far as I'm concerned, so long as you're not hurting anyone, we're all weird here.

[fangsnpaws]

puppy rg!rory keaner headcannons ✩ wc: ~200 ✩ [div.]

this is about sfw petre. dni if k¡nk. i’m a minor.

☆ first, and most obviously, he’s a golden retriever puppy!! look at these gifs and tell me he’s not /rh

★ he. is so hyper and just wants to play around most of the time. always bringing you some toy or nosing at your hand.

☆ he also regresses sometimes when he gets really sleepy, and then he’s calm. i think he’d be really clingy, but especially so when he’s sleepy.

★ he’s just a big snugglebug 😞 he Loves to cuddle and always wants some sort of physical affection. but he would be okay if his cg wasn’t comfy with that!

☆ yknow how kids will just start telling u the most random things? yeah, he’d do that. and ask a Lot of questions just like kids do. whether it be telling you some arbitrary fact, a story about benny and ethan, his recent vampire ninja adventures, or asking about your day, what you’re doing, etc. typical talkative rory!!

★ he’s just so puppycoded it’s wild. absolutely wild. i think he’d love to be called a puppy or a good boy! and being spoken to like a puppy. definitely a “who’s a good boy?” kinda puppy!!

sorry this was kinda short! i may do a part two :3

gifs

[otomegamesandme]

Em's Personal Favorite Shoujo and Josei manga!

Since one (1) person mentioned they would like a recommendation list of shoujo and josei mangas, I decided to throw one together of my personal favorites! Some of these are well known, some aren't. I also kept it short, so it's more a sample of my tastes. Future lists will probably revolve around themes/genres, but for now here's this!

My Lovesick Life as a 90s Otaku

Demo: Josei

Genre: Romance, Slice-of-Life, Historical

This is a short four volume series about a middle aged mother who reflects back on her teen years and being a big otaku in the 90s. I honestly loved this? There were so many cameos of classic series, and I enjoyed the characters and themes in this a lot. It did make me cringe, just because it reminded me how me and my friends used to be as teens in all the good and bad ways. That relatability is also the reason I was a big fan. It does wrap up pretty quickly at the end, but for a short series, it's one of the josei series I've read that left an impression on me!

Magic Knight Rayearth

Demo: Shoujo

Genre: Fantasy, Isekai

It feels like a crime to not mention Clamp when talking about any of my favorite manga (Tsubasa Chronicles is my favorite Shonen and Chobits is my favorite Seinen, so they're really just winning). Choosing between this and RG Veda was difficult, but this is such a classic. I loved the characters, the world, and how the story reveals itself to be a gut punch at the end. If you still haven't read it, here's yet another rec post telling you to check it out.

Children of the Whales

Demo: Shoujo

Genre: Science Fantasy, Tragedy

This follows a group of people on a floating island, the Mud Whale, which is trapped in a sea of sand. One day, when they send people out to search one of the sunken islands in the sand for resources, they find another human, and through meeting her, learn the truth about their home.

The story telling in this is gorgeous. The mangaka said she was inspired by a lost journal she found, and you really get that feeling while reading it. This is also a series to read if you just feel like being Really Sad. It's one of my all time favorite series, but I did have to read it with breaks between volumes (for reference, I normally binge like five volumes a day when I'm really into a series). There's a rich world and history in this, and each detail feels so carefully considered and thought out. This is one of the series I wished more people talked about.

Dokuhime

Demo: Josei

Genre: Fantasy, Romance, Tragedy

A group of orphan girls are raised to be living weapons by consuming poison. They're then sent out to enemy countries to seduce and kill the men in charge, as their bodies are all poisonous.

This doesn't have any official English translations and I came across it randomly one day and just fell in love. It's an older series, and there's plenty of triggering content here (violence and SA being major). But I loved this world and characters so much? My summary does not do it justice, but the dynamics with the main character and the three princes in the country she's infiltrating is so interesting. It also reads very much like a dark fairy tale, especially with how it's structured and the way it goes through each scene and chapter. I know this is likely too old and unknown to ever get picked up officially, but maybe if I get more people to read it, we can all bother seven seas via their licensing survey or something-

A Condition Called Love

Demo: Shoujo

Genre: Romance, Slice-of-Life

I don't think this needs a summary since it's a recent popular one lol, but I love messy characters who face consequences for their messy actions and are forced to grow as people!! I love when bad habits in a relationship get challenged, and it doesn't automatically lead to breaking up but trying to fix things. Hotaru and Hananoi just have my favorite relationship in any modern shoujo series I've read, and while the series isn't over yet, I can imagine them remaining a favorite for a long time.

Chihayafuru

Demo: Josei

Genre: Sports, Slice-of-Life (and romance in the background)

If you know about Chihayafuru, it's that everyone who talks about it is Not Normal about it lol I have never encountered a series with such a large cast where each one is given such weight and brevity as this series. I know it's about such a niche Japanese sport, but listen, the growth and story arch of these three main characters, and how they're affected by the people they meet and how they affect others and grow is just...so good. You want God Tier character work, this is the series you read.

Prince Freya

Demo: Shoujo

Genre: Fantasy, Adventure (and romance if you squint)

I love brutal shoujo. The first chapter of this was not what I was expecting, and it's probably because I went in blind. Anyway, this follows the story of Freya who lives in a kingdom trying not to get conquered by an Empire taking over the continent. The only person keeping the kingdom standing was the Prince, who was poisoned and killed. Since Freya looks almost exactly like him, she's forced to pretend to be the Prince of this country in hopes the kingdom won't fall to the empire.

Freya's character growth in this is a lot of fun to witness play out. I also really have been enjoying seeing the way the world keeps expanding and growing with each volume. I will say, the first few volumes have pacing issues, but by volume 3/4 it was all smooth sailing. I also really enjoy how unflinching it can be, and it doesn't shy away from death or violence when needed, but it also doesn't overdue it either. It's just a solid shoujo fantasy series, and the only bad part about it is waiting for the next volume to drop (Viz it's been 6 months, please-).

[thespoonisvictory]

to be so honest I haven't even watched the most recent fhjy ep yet but I think it's hard to pick one singular reason why the rat grinders aspect felt so flat for people. On the whole, I thought the season was great and really loved it (compared to neverafter which I had issues with throughout), but this one aspect of the plot just kind of got crushed underfoot, which, tbh, it's dnd that's what happens sometimes brennan is still more talented than I could ever dream of being. anyway here are some reasons why we didn't get more rat grinders:

the downtime mechanics were cool, but highly rewarded deprioritizing social interaction to make sure you passed your classes.

the bad kids are so established as pcs that they already have a well-developed host of relationships, meaning they're less likely to reach out to new people (see how the mazey side-plot also fell flat for me). on top of that, this is more speculation, but the Intrepid Heroes play the bad kid's social cards closer to their chest and metagame more, probably bc they're the oldest pcs and the ones they're most attached to.

brennan, probably because he was juggling a ton of stuff, hardly initiated any rg subplot stuff. this made things like the oisin crush plot work, well, not at all, because what was the plot? all of his advances needed high perception checks to even notice, nothing was explicit, and it didn't go anywhere! they never even had a solo conversation! same thing with ivy and fabian, she just completely dropped off

the bad kids are also canonically paranoid PCs, who were given no carrot nor stick to interact with a group of people who they knew were associated with an enemy, especially when the downtime mechanics pushed them to prioritize other things

all of these issues led to an end of season lore dump where we learned pretty basic info about the rgs that we probably should have found less than halfway into the season. throughout the season, there were just a bunch of dropped balls from both brennan and the pcs that could have helped pick things up, had they been caught. it was both an oversaturation of plot threads and the insanely hostile (for comedy! because rude makes good comedy!) way the bad kids were played in general.

I don't think the rg inherently had to be redeemed. but putting aside that it thematically feels weird to not even mention it in a season about corruption, redemption, and rage, it's also not... really about that. take oisin for example: imagine a world where we get those interactions, maybe a date or even just hanging out more. there's an avenue where he legitimately catches feelings and can be swayed, or one where he plays a much more actively manipulative role. Either way, we learn way more about him, and either way, him getting killed means so much more.

if the rgs were not meant to be a prominent part of the season, it's surprising that brennan dropped so many details that suggested a sympathetic nuance! this was not a penelope everpetal level of detail, here. arguably, it was way more attention that ragh got pre-redemption. it just feels strange.

ultimately, fhjy just had too much to juggle, kind of a reoccurring theme with d20 at this point. there's so much I love and enjoy in the season (once again as compared to trw or neverafter), and I think it succeeds at being a comedy first dnd show! it is hilarious! but the number of plot points that felt like they were either blindly dropped or hastily resolved makes me really hope there's a senior year in the works to try to clean some of this up, and also that d20 will consider longer or simpler seasons.

[markrosewater]

Hi Mark, I want to register my disappointment that it seems like whenever there's an unusual/unique draft archetype in recent sets, it's almost always severely underpowered. UW tap in WOE, UG scry in LTR, and UG transform in MOM are the three most recent sets and all follow this pattern. Moving back a little further, the RW Lorehold graveyard theme in STX and RG werewolves in MID are also good examples. Can you pass along that limited players would like to see weird themes pushed a little more?

When you're working with something you're unfamilar with, it's a lot riskier to push power levels, because you have no idea exactly what power level you're at. With themes we're familiar with we have a better ability to pinpoint where we think they'll end up. As we repeat themes, it becomes easier to push them appropriately.

[peterneptune16]

⚠️Warning, Major RWBY Volume 9 Spoilers⚠️

WhiteKnight - A ship I did not appreciate fully until the past few volumes

As I have probably proven with my posts in the past, My ideals on Weiss and Jaune ships are a bit odd. I’ve shown expressions of support for Arkos, Iceberg, and White Knight. And these are all ships that I love and always will love. But I wanted to make a post talking about how I feel about White Knight. Because really the more time and volumes have gone on, the more and more I really really love this ship and hope it becomes canon. As I have seen a lot of evidence for it someday being a canon ship, not quite as much as RG, but still a very substantial amount.

To start things off- I want to talk about Jaune’s relationship with Weiss, cause this is overall a far less complex part but still very worth talking about. As we all know, Jaune started off with a crush on Weiss. But then that slowly faded with time, instead his crush being on Pyrrha, especially in Volume 3. But ever since then, Jaune has shown signs of truly appreciating and liking Weiss’ friendship. And for most of the recent volumes, he has at first seemed to keep things mostly on a platonic level from my point of view. But, the more I look into it, there is legit evidence he could still have some serious feelings for her. Especially in Volume 8, he was devastated whenever Weiss didn’t come back with Winter. And it could be argued that he even felt this way in V5, with his devastated reaction to her being impaled by Cinder.

Next thing- Weiss’ feelings towards Jaune. This is a bit more of a complex and fun part. Weiss of course started off thinking Jaune was unqualified and not worth her time, even finding him annoying. Although, she did start to feel differently about him towards Volume 3, seeming to overall appear more friendly towards Jaune in the few interactions they had. Then, there was Volume 5, where it was shown it seemed she did truly miss Jaune and his antics, and she was grateful for his help at Haven. Clearly she was happy to see Jaune again and to be reunited with all of her former classmates. Then in Volume 6, She was even quick to try and defuse Jaune’s anger towards Oscar. Whereas around the time of Volume 1, she likely would have just made fun of him or done something else to make him even more mad. Then there was Volume 7, where she was quick to actually want to go see a movie with him and Oscar, a parallel to her rejecting his offer to see a movie together in the earlier volumes. Showing that she had grown more comfortable around Jaune in all this time. Then it became even more complex in Volume 8- to start things off- all of the characters seemed to be divided via people they were closest with/in a relationship with. Ruby/Oscar, Blake/Yang, and Nora/Ren. This would leave Weiss and Jaune as the last pair. That may not be actually concrete evidence but I do find it kind of fun and think that there was a choice there for symbolism, CRWBY loves the smaller details. Then we have the ending episodes of RWBY Volume 8, and in those Weiss showed more worry for Jaune it would seem. Even looking worried as he stopped boosting her aura and ran towards Penny. Then ofc, they sat together and she seemed to wanna keep her eyes on Jaune. Then finally, in the finale of that Volume, Jaune and Weiss were there for each other the whole fight. Weiss showing remorse for Jaune due to him having to kill Penny and actively wanted to help him out, physically helping him stand again after he fell to his knees. Finally- Volume 9. Of course we had Weiss saying Jaune was more “Mature~” and blushing profusely afterwards. But more than that, Weiss also showed genuine concern for Jaune’s mental state and also was the first one to try and ease Jaune’s mind over him feeling like a failure, like he wasn’t a good enough hero, and subsequently being the first one to hug him. She then also showed the most expressive response to Jaune being his old self again, giggling at his reaction to being back to his old self. It may not be the most concrete evidence to say she has feelings for him, but there seems to be a lot of stuff pointing to there being something there that wasn’t there before.

So while there may be less solid evidence for it than with RoseGarden, I really really like this ship and would not be mad if it became canon. It would make me happy to see these two get a happy ending together, they both deserve a happy ending after all.

[myx-on-earth]

Splitgate 2’s Private Playtest- Better Than The Rest (AKA: The Best)

The term “gamefeel” is abstract, but 1047 Games seems to understand it more than anyone in the games industry.

Recently, I had the pleasure of participating in a private limited-time playtest for Splitgate 2- and while I was excited for the game already, I think somehow they’ve managed to knock this thing even MORE out of the park than before. I’ve said before that 1047 Games is a developer to keep an eye on, and my opinion has only been strengthened; I cannot WAIT for the full game to release. Below, I’ll detail some of my thoughts on what’s new, what’s changed, and ultimately my full unfiltered thoughts on the package presented here.

Before we get into the meat of this, a disclaimer- due to the terms presented by the playtest, I am not personally able to show footage or screenshots of the playtest. However, I am fully able to write about my thoughts- but if you’d like to avoid spoilers for the multiplayer sandbox, you’ve been warned. -RG

Firstly- new content. There isn’t a huge amount to discuss here, but what there IS presents a good slice of what may be coming in the future. 

In terms of weapons, one has been added- a bolt-action sniper called the Deadbolt. This thing handles and feels like a dream, bringing to mind the Kraber from Titanfall in more ways than one. It’s powerful, it’s well balanced, and hitting no-scopes with it is a huge boost to my ego.

No new classes in sight (yet), but all three received new and reworked perks. While all interesting, my favorite has to be the new Aeros “Sliiiiiide” perk- which extends and improves the speed AND maneuverability of the already buttery-smooth movement. Funnily, it reminded me of ANOTHER shooter’s more unique slide mechanic- Quake Champions. Feels fantastic.

One new map, an outside sunset arena called Bypass. Visually clean and modern (reminding me a bit of some areas of the Olympus map from Apex Legends), it had a more open feel than the other maps previously available, feeling to ME more like something from Splitgate 1. I’m not sure the open sightlines and extra area are necessarily a good thing- but I’m sure there’s still room for map tweaks.

Secondly- many weapons and abilities underwent a balance pass. While I don’t have a list of patch notes in front of me to confirm some of the changes, the main direction seems to be about leveling the playing field rather than outright nerfing things. The other two power weapons available in the previous playtest have been altered with new mechanics, like the Fubar rocket launcher firing all three barrels when not scoped and the Splitstream SMG smoothly transitioning between single gun and double gun modes when aiming. Additionally, the Aeros class had the overshield removed from the main ability, seemingly compensated with higher speed. If this kind of balance philosophy (offering trade offs rather than directly nerfing the items players find fun) continues, this might end up being one of the healthiest weapon sandboxes in any game ever. Time will tell, though. As a final note, some miscellaneous observations:

Minor UI changes have been implemented in good ways, and the overall game feel in menus couldn’t be smoother.

Art direction is still stellar and much more cohesive than the first game- none of the new additions clashed or felt out of place.

Connections felt decently stable for a playtest, and I didn’t have any experiences with poor matchmaking- every match felt reasonably balanced and fun.

My one major gripe overall is with the performance issues and graphical errors, which have notably increased in frequency since the first playtest. However, this shouldn’t be TOO much of a problem, as, again, this is a playtest- and there is also the ever-present issue of my personal hardware itself being outdated.

Overall, I can’t wait to see what 1047 is creating here. It’s very exciting for me that there is, seemingly, a fresh new shooter on the market that is actually adapting and creating a great experience rather than the 15th iteration of the same puppeted corpse of a game in a row. Keep up the good work, gents- I can’t wait to get back into the arena.

Splitgate 2 is a team-based multiplayer shooter releasing in 2025. You can find more info about the game on 1047’s website (www.splitgate.com) or on social media under 1047 Games.

Article written by Rose "Myxolydian" Gilbert (November 11th, 2024)

[itsevanffs]

a lot of tag games

i'm just gonna combine them into one post because otherwise i think the next like 10 posts you see are all gonna be my tag games. below the cut etc etc

so, first and foremost, @aglassroseneverfades tagged me in a get to know tag game:

Relationship status: proud cat owner. i'm committed

Favorite color: probably the colour of alana's eyes. or her nose. or her beans. but cardinal red is a close contender

Song stuck in my head: nothing in particular, but i've been listening to all of cam ostrom's stuff on repeat recently. also bought his first EP the second i found him haha

Favorite food: broccoli and camembert pie (quiche?) with cashews

Last song I listened to: another familiar window by cam ostrom

Dream trip: home

Last thing I googled: tumblr

@raehb336 and @toast-ranger-to-a-stranger tagged me in a wip tag game:

post all the names of the files in your wip folder, no matter how obscure or ridiculous. ok. it says to tag someone for every wip but i don't think i can tag like 80 people and i honestly don't want to. i have these in alphabetical order based on fandom btw

FS: rewrite

GF: cat eyes

HP: 2.5

HP: a/b/o fic canon adjacent

HP: a/b/o fic sacred nests

HP: a/b/o fic teacher/student

HP: a/b/o incest for monsieur

HP: a/b/o incest scarves

HP: a/b/o laundry au

HP: a learning experience

HP: at the expense of the world

HP: audio fic

HP: blood in your mouth

HP: blood relations 6

HP: boogeyman au

HP: chav au

HP: childhood pictures

HP: cnpg

HP: crash & burn

HP: curfew

HP: DNP

HP: DNA

HP: doll au

HP: egg creature fic

HP: emd fic of fic

HP: enamoured

HP: eton au

HP: fae au

HP: favours

HP: forced fem au

HP: forcedpreg kidnapping au

HP: futuristic ABO au

HP: hold me down (fuck me up)

HP: hooker au

HP: icarus au

HP: incest au 20

HP: incest inf nc

HP: in the dark rewrite

HP: junkie au

HP: lucifer au

HP: maid au

HP: mamma mia au

HP: mirror au

HP: monastery au

HP: monastery au 2

HP: new politics

HP: oedipus fic

HP: oviparous

HP: ovipos intersex

HP: priest incest au

HP: priest au n

HP: rage, rage

HP: red riding hood au

HP: reverse a/b/o au

HP: robot au

HP: romeo & juliet au

HP: smart move

HP: snow white au

HP: songbird au

HP: stalker au

HP: storm & silence au

HP: swan lake au

HP: tentacles

HP: the darker the weather

HP: the mark upon your heart rewrite

HP: therapy au

HP: tomcest bar sex

HP: tomcest sr 6

HP: vampire au

HP: vee pov genfic

HP: vespertine rewrite

HP: violent resurrection fic

HP: vol de lys

HP: zombie a/b/o au

RG: lecture

SS: swallowing smoke

SV: cnc

SV: eggs

SV: final exam

SV: god's just sleeping

SV: jumper au

SV: slowly

SV: sugar

SV: the worst

SN: demon

and no, these aren't all my fics, they're literally just the ones marked wip. my total fic count reaches 169, because i keep track.

@aglassroseneverfades tagged me in a picrew/uquiz combination, so that's going here:

i don't know if i 100% agree with the quiz but i do like taking care of people, up to a point. beyond that you're on your own, though i can help take care of some of the cleanup.

@toast-ranger-to-a-stranger tagged me in seven sentence sunday, which is good timing on my part because it is in fact sunday:

Mr O’Hara hums. “You like the rain?” “I don’t like-like it,” Miles begins, then changes his mind. “Well, I like it when I’m inside. Not when I’m stuck in a downpour in the middle of nowhere.” “I don’t think Brooklyn counts as the middle of nowhere.” “I live outside the boundaries of human norms.”

that's seven, right?

@aspengray tagged me in a 'get to know' tag game:

3 ships you like: miguel o'hara/miles morales, tomarrymort, and uhh the christian grey/anna steele dynamic i invented in my head. they're cute i like em

first ship ever: god. uh. that depends because it's either bella/edward from twilight, or it's... wait no it is just bella and edward, winx... wait no i watched it in dutchl. so yeah either bella/edward or bloom and that teacher guy from season 2 or three. jesus christ what was his deal. he was hot though

last song you heard: i see you by cam ostrom (it changed because i have spent like an hour on this already)

favourite childhood book: twilight

currently reading: the witcher blood of elves by andrzej sapkowski

currently watching: i don't watch series or tv but i'm always in the mood for a rewatch of spider-man across the spiderverse

currently consuming: water with syrup

currently craving: nothing. i just ate soup

@moontearpensfic, @atredys and @goldenzingy46 tagged me in 10 characters, 10 fandoms, 10 tags, to which i have no context but i just assume you pick your favourite of each fandom:

voldemort - harry potter

miguel o'hara - spider-man: across the spiderverse

rikkard ambrose - storm & silence

john winchester - supernatural

bill cipher - gravity falls

rosalie cullen - twilight

geralt - the witcher

sans - undertale

jim - the jrasl original fiction universe

me - irl

in no particular order. i ran out of actual fandoms i like about 5 entries in so forgive me for cheating. link to jrasl for context though, jim is actually a fictional character and i want him to crack me like a glowstick

@alittlebitofharrypotterinmylife tagged me with yet another get to know tag game, but a different one from the previous two:

last song: crossing the bridge by ólafur arnalds

favourite colour: prussian blue

currently reading: sources on extra virgin olive oil

sweet/savoury/spicy: spicy all the way tbh. i have been craving the burn

relationship status: single

current obsession: miguel o'hara's scrumptious tits. have you SEEN his chest. apparently we were deprived of additional ass which is a travesty but he's still so big that i had to seriously reevaluate my previous love for twinks the second i saw him

erm yeah. sources for the images used as text breaks are all me. moi. follow me on @itsevansart or whatever, do what you want. i am so glad i am caught up. i think. maybe i missed a few but we'll see <3

thanks for the tags though! this year has been brutal but i'm so glad it'll be december soon and we can all get a well deserved break. what do you mean check the calendar? what's a calendar?

[fritzes]

rg draw, here we go:

wta:

thing are looking pretty good for iga. ostapenko is not in her quarter which is always a relief, and her projected qf opponent is marketa, who obviously has a great history at rg but has been really inconsistent lately. if she’s on top of her game she could be a threat, but that’s a big if. I think the more likely quarterfinalist is danielle, and I don’t think she can challenge iga on clay. marta kostyuk is also lurking in this quarter and could do some damage if she’s playing well, but again, is that good enough to beat iga at rg? probably not. iga could play naomi second round, and while that wouldn’t really be competitive, it could be nice to see!

across the draw, coco also has a pretty decent path to the semis but unlike iga, she isn’t rock-solid at rg and if she double faults the way she’s been doing the last few months, that’s gonna be a huge problem. she could play haddad maia in the round of 16, a semifinalist from last year. but haddad maia is super streaky and upset-prone, so it’s debatable whether she’ll get there. in the bottom half of this quarter is ons, who’s been having a really terrible season. I would love to see her make a deep run, but I could see her losing to ostapenko or garcia in the round of 16 if not earlier. in the quarterfinals, either of the two mentioned above could make things difficult for coco, especially if ostapenko is at the rg level we all know she’s capable of

if the projected semifinal does happen, it’s probably gonna be a repeat of the 2022 final if not worse. coco just doesn’t have a chance against iga on clay, and especially not at rg

I think the third quarter is gonna be pretty crazy. elena’s health has been in question lately and her recent slam results haven’t been great. of course, at any given moment she could play like the best in the world, so who knows. I could see elina or nastia being quarterfinalists here. elena is capable of beating both of them, but on clay I think they’re both capable of beating her. at the other end of this quarter is qinwen, who’s results since the ao haven’t been great. I don’t think she’s very comfortable on clay, and I would predict jasmine or kalinskaya as quarterfinalists over her. also, bianca andreescu is apparently back and in this quarter, so it will be interesting to see how she does

I would be really surprised if aryna doesn’t make the semifinals. her potential early seeded are boulter, navarro, and keys, none of whom are clay players. there’s also the potential of playing paula again, but paula would have to get there and if she does, aryna is the heavy favorite. I really don’t know who the other quarterfinalist will be. I’d love to have confidence in maria, but noskova and especially dasha could be threats. still, there’s no one aryna can’t beat in this quarter

if the projected semifinal for this half happens, I would majorly favor aryna. she just beat elena in madrid, and she’s way more comfortable on slow clay

interesting r1 matches: bronzetti/osaka, yastremska/tomljanovic, ostapenko/cristian, andreescu/sorribes tormo, azarenka/podoroska, boulter/badosa

atp:

people like to say that novak saves his best tennis for slams, that his recent slump will come to an end here. I’m not so sure about that. in his path to the quarterfinals he’s got potential musetti and cerundolo, both good rg players. even tommy paul could trouble him. and, if he has his usual thing of playing his way into form with tough early matches, he’s going to be exhausted if he does make qfs and plays rg specialist casper ruud. mensik is an early hurdle, but I really don’t think casper has a difficult draw at all. taylor in the round of 16 should be easy on clay, and his confidence against novak is at an all time high after monte carlo. if there was ever a time to get revenge for last year’s final, it’s now

the second quarter… I can’t believe this is real. rafa vs zverev in the first round. unfortunately zverev is the favorite to win, but it is rafa at rg. you never know. even with that aside, this quarter is crazy. holger is always a wild card at rg, and he is definitely capable of taking out zverev to make the qfs. and on the other end is the hard court specialist himself, daniil medvedev. this is honestly the best draw he could ask for, with bublik and de minaur as predicted seeds. I don’t think he could beat holger at rg, but I do think he could do what he’s been doing for so very long and beat zverev

I have very little faith in the projected semifinal actually happening. maybe one will get there, but I doubt both will

to the much more pleasant half of the draw, carlos has a decent path to the qfs. his projected early opponents, draper and korda, are both ridiculously inconsistent and not great on clay. ben or felix in the round of 16 shouldn’t be an issue either. on the other hand, the other potential quarterfinalists have a terrible draw with a ton of french people and of course each other: andrey and stefanos. will andrey’s few tools beat him again? I’m not sure. stefanos is great at rg and I think he can beat andrey, but his record against carlos is abysmal. stefanos has a better chance in the round of 16, but andrey has a better chance in the qf

jannik couldn’t have asked for a better draw, and if he’s healthy I think he can really go far here. baez isn’t a challenger to him and jarry is super inconsistent which jannik can take advantage of. the projected quarterfinalist is hubi, but I think it’s more likely to be grigor considering how much hubi relies on his serve. also, after the week he had in rome, maybe tabilo could make a deep run as well, who knows

words cannot express how much I want this projected semifinal to happen. and if it does, I think I would have to pick carlos to win because he’s jus that much more comfortable on clay. then again, jannik did beat carlos in the umag final, so you never know

interesting r1 matches: fritz/coria, etcheverry/cazaux, ruud/mensik, zverev/nadal, navone/carreño busta, arnaldi/fils, wawrinka/murray (I can’t believe this is real)

[goldensunset]

How does death work in the TWEWY universe, from the perspective of the living?

Thinking logically, I might believe that the Players are merely in a coma, stubbornly refusing to die until they either get erased or win.

But it's also so amusing to have the idea of a Player winning the game and crawling out of their own grave because they were, in fact, Actually Deceased.

REAL this is bonkers to me

•the coma idea is neat but i doubt there’s any doubt in the minds of living people that these guys are dead. we know eri referred to shiki as having died.

•i believe it was established in the reports in the first game that by the composer’s power they are reformed with a new body (iirc). which begs the question of what happens to their old body that’s been buried or cremated or w/e. wouldn’t that be wild if it just remained so when the person died again now they had two bodies in the same grave or w/e lol*

•i think it was implied in neo at some point that once someone comes back to life the living sort of just. forget??? that the person ever died??? which is insane. like their memories of reality are overwritten by the lie that the composer feeds them. only the reborn person knows the truth which. ouch. that has to be a horrible burden to carry. but it makes sense

•but i also think. if i remember correctly shoka has a line (i think she was talking to beat?) that’s like ‘geez how does she even remember you’ when he’s talking about how he’s communicating with rhyme. which. girl what do you MEAN. is she implying that the living forget the dead ever existed at all even if the dead have not been erased yet??? that can’t be right. we know eri remembered shiki. or is it specifically because of the weird thing that happened to the people who got pulled into the game without dying. where like their entire presence online got erased (why exactly did that happen? idk)

•i think they say something about how rhyme and shiki, as former ug residents, can see beat, rindo, fret, and nagi even across ground lines because those guys are not truly dead. ordinary rg residents can’t see them at all and no rg residents can see neku and shoka are truly dead. idk. but still i would like to know what the situation was like for, say, nagi. someone alive in the ug. did the people who knew her temporarily forget her. dude

*another set of questions has been raised. sorry <3

•first question: do all of the recent dead in an area automatically join the game? most are probably erased, and probably immediately. twewy week one has dialogue that implies the size of that week’s game was a mere 12 people. idk what average number of people in a given population die per week in real life so idk what conclusion to draw there. but probably more than 12 in all of shibuya lol.

•anyway, if it’s not everyone, if where do the other dead go??? instant erasure?? i think it might be that as a test to see who’s worthy of rebirth, only certain people even get a ticket into said test. like the reapers use their prejudice to determine if you’re even worth inviting. or if that’s not the case, the people who get in could simply be the people who WANT to live again. a lot of people probably just accept oblivion. the reason we only see plucky young kids (or like. nerds and influencers in neo lol) is because they still had entire lives ahead of them and were not at all prepared for death. so the reapers might’ve just like read their souls and determined their desire. of course we see like the twewy main 5 all being like ahhhh idk if i have anything to come back to am i even worth it… but that’s just them lamenting the state of their lives. that’s not the same as openly welcoming death.

•second question: could you die and play the reaper’s game multiple times? cheating death infinitely because you’re just that good at solving puzzles beating noise? imagine a player on their fifth life and death the reapers are like ‘c’mon man just join us already it’s the only path to angelhood aka the ideal highest state of being. every game is a gamble and you’re only getting older and less capable. don’t you want to chill out and live in peace?’ and the player’s like ‘no shut up i don’t want your crummy job. i still have so many books to read and my cats need me. i’ll see you in like a month when i inevitably fall down the stairs again’

tldr: ‘oh simple ask i’ll respond right away with just a few words and a normal amount of thoughts about the twewyverse’

[nottoxicfr]

Pfffff! I Didn't double check what I wrote. I meant to ask "What are your Rosegarden Headcannons?"

What are my Rosegarden head canons? Hmmmm…that’s a pretty good question. I’ve never made a list to be honest. My brain is more like a highway where my neurons activate when I think of the pairing. I'll try and cover what seems to be the foundational stuff first, then maybe get more specific?

Who falls in love first?

Oscar falls in love first, but he doesn't fall in love immediately. He get a crush on her fairly quickly but actual love only starts during the time when Oz is hiding in Oscar's mind. He has more time to think about stuff that isn't an impending death of identity, and he naturally thinks about why he likes Ruby. He has the realization of love in Salem's dungeon, which is a depressing time to realize you love someone. I like that timeframe of events because it makes Emerald interrupting the Rosegarden hug funnier and a little sadder, which I like. He just realized he loves a girl and he can’t even get a hug! Maybe he could confess to her later, but then she dies…(kind of). He's entirely devastated and barely recovers.

Ruby falls in love with Oscar second, but it’s falling. There’s not a slow descent from affection to crush to romantic love. That wouldn’t happen until after V9, though there is a certain lovely feeling to Ruby being in love with Oscar but prior to V9 just feeling like she can’t be in love the world is ending and I need to save it so I can’t be in love. I respect anyone who head canons that. For mine, I think the first big indication is writing a recurring thread of Ruby missing Oscar in the Ever After.

“Oscar would know what to do. Oscar would know what to say. Oscar would think this is weird.”

It’s incredibly important that the thoughts don’t indicate that she thinks Oscar is better than her (a perilous trap for RWBY writers of all pairings) but that she thinks he would be able to take the lead while she is free to fall apart. She wants someone else to be there and she trusts Oscar to be that person.

NSFW Questions? Y'know, like sex.

I don't really think about them having sex. Partly that's because that seems like a good policy to prevent mean behavior on my posts (I assume you've seen anti-RG rationale) but also my mind just doesn't really go that direction. It's not quite to the point of Aesexual! RoseGarden, although I enjoy that too. Most of the time that I write big consummation of romance scenes, it ends up being more about kissing or they essentially propose to each other and swap necklaces or something. Rings are a hassles! This is influenced by FFXIII...

I do think they’re the type of people to adopt and co-parent a kid while living together, but not be in a confirmed romantic relationship. They’d sleep in the same room with two beds next to each other. Eventually they’d confirm that relationship and switch to one bed, but the important thing is starting off with two beds in one room because they are not dating. I think it is 1) Funny and 2) Filled with the comfortable tension of co-habitation. It’s very Advent Children.

I’ve written them with a kid twice (unpublished), both times adopted and both times it was a Grimm that had evolved to the point of essentially being a human. Once was post-series and the other was a thing where a Grimm ate part of Ozcar’s magic and got turned into a kid between V6 and V8. I’m very fond of the second because it’s incredibly silly to me to do that at that specific time. I need to talk about that sometime.

Who is taller? That comes up a lot, right?

Oscar is taller than Ruby, but it’s close enough that it really depends on who laid down the most recently. A height difference of maybe three inches? Something that’s easy to catch up to for Ruby by wearing tall shoes and standing up straighter. I like negligible height differences.

What’s another thing people are always talking about? I don't get involved in discussion a lot...

Food?

Oscar likes coffee, but Ruby enjoys fruit smoothies. Oscar has a weakness for sour (not bitter) desserts like lemon tarts or lime sorbet, but not much of a sweet tooth. Their main point of agreement is orange cookies.

Is there any song I associate with RoseGarden?

Steven Universe's True Kinda Love, specifically the end part where Steven (Universe) is climbing up the big Injector-Thing to reach Spinel. Oscar is hardly Steven, and Ruby's no Spinel, but during V9's Peak Ruby Breakdown Time I liked to imagine Oscar climbing the Tree to reach Ruby.

Also Simple and Clean from Kingdom Hearts 0.2.

Also also Lightning's Theme from Final Fantasy XIII. It has a lot of sentimental meaning to me, but it plays under dialogue about growing up in the wake of grief. I strongly associate that with time-skipped Oscar.

Who supports the pairing the most?

Emerald and Blake/Yang are the biggest supporters of the pairing for Oscar and Ruby respectively.

I think we've discussed Emerald and Oscar as a duo before, but I'll say again that my long term hope is that Emerald and Oscar become close pals. I like to write angst and the EO duo, so I write Emerald as being aware of Oscar's plentiful sadness and also his determination to live.

On the other hand, I think Blake likes Rosegarden because she's a suppressed romantic and also because she thinks they're a good couple conceptually. She wants them to get their happy ending!

Yang supports the couple mostly because she wants Ruby to be with someone who has open arms, meaning Oscar doesn't hesitate to give Ruby his time or affection. He's also very good at detecting when she needs his attention/affection/time (mostly because he asks).

My ideal HC ending?

Oscar decides to go on a road trip at the end of the series and Ruby goes with him. His idea stems from the feeling that Oz was very familiar with Remnant’s past, but Oz has passed on now. Both Ozma and Oscar loved the world, but Ozma is gone now. There’s only one person of their duo to live in the world they love, and Oscar wants to see Remnant as it is now, and he wants to live to see the future. He wants to live!

Ruby goes with him for several reasons. She wants to see Remnant. She wants to be a hero. She doesn’t want to be the hero. She thinks she can probably do that on a smaller scale and still help the world. She thinks Oscar's likely to disappear from her world if she lets him slip away.

Together, they also share a formidable feeling that they’ve completed the major plot of their lives. They feel lost without a major goal in their world, and everyone else they know is settling into their lives in their new roles, so Ruby and Oscar bond together to take care of each other. In the short term, Ruby’s goal is to keep Oscar alive. Oscar’s goal is to teach Ruby how to drive.

In the long term, I like to imagine Ruby as a courier with a bike that she can use to zoom across continent and Oscar as…something? His day job would be like an innkeeper or a librarian, a job which stays in one place. He takes the calls for the Rose Courier Service. However, people also call for him a lot. They need help or advice or wisdom, so he isn't actually all that stationary. They both have adventure, but they also both have a place to return to.

I really like angst and AUs so I have a lot of head canons about that stuff. I tried to limit the above to what seemed most relevant. Below, I'll will do some more AU-esque head canons.

Favorite Time-Skip head canon?

I have a recurring image of Oscar walking in the desert walking past scenes of Oz's life and then being confronted by the "ghost" of Ruby standing in front of him. Sometimes he stops and sometimes he keeps moving, but it always does something.

Emerald is Oscar's most frequent friend during the time-skip, and she's the only one who knows the depth of Oscar's feelings for Ruby. After Ruby comes back, Emerald pushes Oscar into hugging her at some point.

Ruby is strongly caught off guard by Oscar running around trying to keep everyone coordinated, or by how well he's doing. For the entirety of the time-skip, they've been trying to prepare for Salem trying to destroy Vacuo. Ruby thinks Oscar takes to leadership strongly, but he is not doing very well.

One person Oscar never talks to about Ruby or his feelings is Qrow. Things go from peaceful to bitter and back again really quickly between them, and Oscar is certain being in love with one of his dead nieces wouldn't help. Qrow would just be sad about it though.

Oz is quiet more often now. There's a space between them, but Oscar is more dedicated to protecting the world than ever before so he thinks that's part of the reason. The actual reason is that Oz wants Oscar to live on his own while he can be Oscar. They're very fused together still.

If any of this interests you, please ask away! I have a lot more timeskip stuff to talk about.

Is there a head canon prompt I enjoy?

I really like writing the faux Dojo Scene 2. The Dojo Scene being Oscar asking Ruby how she deals with everything (you already know this). The Dojo Scene 2 is the much anticipated reversal, but I like writing it where Oscar dodges her questions. He's not sure how to feel around a resurrected Ruby Rose, much less answer her questions about how he is handling everything.

Favorite AUs (I just wanted to list this one)

My personal favorite is the FFXIII AU I have where Oscar is a l'Cie (meaning someone given a mission by a god to complete or turn into a monster, given access to magic and such) and Ruby (a third year at Signal) has to escort him across Remnant to awaken sleeping gods. I intend to publish this one on AO3 later on! Generally though, I really like Time Travel AUs, with Lost Parallax being a favorite of mine.

I'm very passionate about fanfiction, and that makes me a bit of an airhead when I talk about this. I'm also kind of bad at answering questions. I hope you enjoyed reading this, and I hope you feel free to ask anything ever. I love answering!!

I also submitted an ask to Chaikachi about headcanon reactions to scars, but I was so nervous about it that I made it anonymous. If you see it, that's me!

[camillahex]

okay i've been thinking a lot about the rat grinders (abbreviated as rgs) and here are my ideas on the different roles they could have this season and an analysis of their appearance so far (putting this under a read more bc it got long)

major antagonists - the rat grinders are directly involved/responsible for whatever the big bad is this season. something like they are causing the quangles in order to get aguefort to leave school and take over w/ Grix to change everything to be hyper rules oriented in order to fuck over the bad kids or take over the world or whatever the big bad actually ends up being. quite frankly, i don't think this is at all likely and it wouldn't make for a very good story imo

minor antagonists - not directly in league w bb but indirectly a part of the problem. one theory i've seen around is they have somehow reprorammed grix (potentially with henry the artificer teacher who has the same last name as the rg bard) and are trying to change the school bc they are fed up w agueforts loosey-goosey ness (this is mainly based on kipperlilly) and they tangentially aid the big bad by doing this as well. i think this is more likely and could be good depending on how it unfolds

antagonistic but not antagonists - feud stays purely in the academic/school life. the rgs maybe show up the bad kids a little, do better than them in classes or at sports, take some of the wind out of their popularity (like at this now abandoned party), maybe kipperlilly even wins pres - but it's not deeper than just being the school worsties of the bad kids

reluctant allies - kind of plays off previous; rgs and bad kids end up having to work together at various points and even battle together (maybe for like the big finale battle) bc they can recognize that saving the world id more important than their school feud

genuine understanding - also plays off previous two; interactions lead to interpersonal conflict at first but through being forced to work and battle together they each begin to see that there is more to the other. bad kids acknowledge that rgs have a lot of raw skill and strength in their own right (as already evidenced by mary ann's athletics and kipperlilly's inplied rogue abilities) and that it takes a lot of dedication and (especially) discipline to work as a party killing rats for three hours every day. rgs acknowledge that large-scale adventuring requires a certain loose attitude for the "rules" and that having being specifically subject to arthur aguefort's chaos may not necessarily be a good thing

now, narratively speaking, i think the rat grinders as a party will have immense specific strength and skills, but will not be prepared for more "real" life or death battles. improvisation really is the better part of planning (thanks calroy) and a plan never survives first contact with the enemy, but they likely have not needed to create complex, or on the fly plans, or improvise when the bad guy throws out some insane shit, while simply killing tens of thousands of rats, spiders, and tree gremlins. none of those beasts would have taught them how to practically deal with ranged weapon attacks or any kind of spell attack, and i could also see them not being the best with playing to each others strengths and covering each others' weaknesses due to the sheer monotony of only ever battling the exact same creatures. i'd also be surprised if they have any experience at all with genuinely dying and having to be revived or even with going into unconsciousness. i do think classes go over that kind of thing but learning the theory of something and then actually having to apply it under pressure are two radically different experiences.

one thing that could complicate this is that the rgs have recently gotten a new cleric party member, who we know is a transfer from highcourt, helioic, and loved by kristen's parents (as an aside, this is going to be so juicy and cause so much conflict w kristen, i'm so excited). clerics are pretty vital for parties going on intense adventures, being the strongest healers of the group, so there are two ways i see a cleric introduction as having to occur. one, is that the rgs have never had a cleric and spending your days killing low level creatures likely does not create much in the way of life threatening scenarios or injuries a long rest couldn't heal. and now that they feel they're strong enough, they want to move to more extreme adventures and feel they need a cleric to make it work

however, option two is that the rgs did have a cleric, and that at some point their cleric fully died. as we've learned, parties who have a member die immediately go on pass/fail and don't have to do a yearly project. if this happened to the rgs last year (or maybe even their first year, i forget if the pass/fail was only through the year or not) they would not have had to do the sophomore year project, and it would explain how they've manages to keep only killing low level creatures. also, this could be especially narratively significant, because, the bad kids had party members die on their very first day of school, one of which was their cleric kristen. they were only revived by aguefort committing ritualistic murder-suicide to bring them back to life. this could definitely read as preferential treatment from aguefort, even though the bad kids could have been anyone and aguefort was just doing his own plan to sneak into heaven and stop being poisoned. a dead cleric would be another level of parallel the rgs would have with the bad kids and could be an aspect of their resentment.

on a more meta/symbolic level, i feel like the rgs, and in particular kipperlilly and her campaign spiel, are representative of an intensely regimented, regulated education system where everyone must do the exact same things, get the exact same help, and all be measured on the exact same axes of success, in a very standardized testing kind of way. now, abstractly, in a vacuum, in a perfect world, this is fine; this is equal treatment under the rules. but the realities on life and people are messy and complex. there's any number of reasons why someone might need more help, different accommodations, and be measured on a different metric of success than someone else and none of it makes it preferential treatment; it's just that everyone has different needs. the solution should always be more diversity in accessibility, not less.

and to bring it back to the narrative, we've been told that adventurers, and by extension the students of the adventuring academy, are basically vigilantes doing, uh, extralegal vigilantism. a regimented system based on grinding out experience by killing rats in the woods would in no way produce successful adventurers, just like really strong exterminators. the things the bad kids have gotten in trouble doing are things it has been explicitly said they are supposed to be doing ad burgeoning adventurers, and the only reason they got in trouble in the first place and weren't allowed to do their thing solving mysteries (as presumably, many many parties before them have done) was because aguefort was missing. even when adaine was kidnapped by fallinel, the school protections she invoked protects all of aguefort's students. we have heard many times that students throughout the adventuring academy's history have been encouraged to act as the extralegal vigilantes they are training to be, and haven't seen anything that suggest it's only been selectively applied to favorites

ultimately, i hope that the realization develops that the school has been failing both the rat grinders and the bad kids. we haven't seen a lot of the rat grinders but based on kipperlilly's complaints i think it would be a failure in a lack support in helping the students find their own adventures (as opposed to just keeping on going killing rats in the woods) and/or a lack of protection for when they bite off more than they could chew (if they did in fact have a cleric who died). for the bad kids, it would be a lack of support and accommodation for when you do find a big adventure and can't keep up with schoolwork, a failure to recognize and interfere when you see students struggling before it reaches a critical breaking point (kristen and fig being close to expulsion), a lack of support wrt university funds/scholarship or required school supplies funding (riz and adaine), a refusal to recognize when students exceed in ways outside of the typical curriculum (gorgug and fabian).

the enemy is the system, not your fellow classmates