#also in fairness: It is a very good question when you've only just gotten the end of TWEWY dumped in your lap in the most blase way possibl

[regallibellbright]

WIP Wednesday, or, I Guess I'm Writing This Now, the idea would not leave me for two days.

“Neku… why the hell are you dating him?” Rindo asks. “Actually, forget that, why didn’t you shoot him?”

“A question we have all been asking ourselves, some of us daily, for the last three and a half years,” Mr. H says.

“Speak for yourself,” Neku says.

“You’re the only one who hasn’t. I have, Beat and Shiki have. Rhyme got a sense of your emotions at the time and they still question your judgment,” Joshua says.

[fannishstuff]

How would Ford get kicked out instead of Stan?

So, a bit ago, @ckret2 posted an essay expressing frustration about the fandom portrayal of Filbrick. Filbrick is often characterized as violently and irredeemably abusive, whereas ckret2 cites some very convincing evidence that he was a well-meaning but authoritarian father - not a good dad, but not an evil person.

This discussion was prompted because ckret2 was considering an AU in which Ford never goes to college and ckret2 prefers the smallest possible change in AUs.

I wanted to link those posts because they have absolutely gotten me thinking about the subject. The following will make more sense if you've read that essay and this follow-up about Filbrick's regret over Stan's behavior. I accept the contents as canon for the purposes of this post.

(For completion's sake, the entire discussion was prompted by a Ford as a Trucker AU, but the following doesn't actually have anything to do with that.)

Let's make Ford the kind of person Filbrick would kick out of the house

Stan's eviction is the end result of many, many years of contention between Stan and Filbrick - an earnest last-ditch effort by a desperate father to get his delinquent son to shape up, and a decision he only made because he thought Stan was legitimately malicious. Most AUs in which Ford is kicked out instead of Stan will just rewrite the Science Fair scene so that Stan has more to lose than Ford. If we're talking "smallest possible change," though, I don't find that convincing. If Filbrick was an unpredictable maniac who's ready to ditch his kids at a moments notice? Yeah, fine, any small mistake by either one of them would work. But if Filbrick has been earnestly trying to be a good father, and just didn't feel like he was getting through? One mistake, even a big one, from his less troublesome son would be unlikely to prompt a disowning.

So, my question is: what "single small change" early in life would lead Stan and Ford to develop in a way that flipped Filbrick's expectations of them?

Personality traits and how they affect the relationships

Let's talk about Filbrick, Stanley, and Ford.

So, first of all: Filbrick wants is sons to be industrious, tough, honest, and hard-working. Those are the qualities that matter to him. He makes them box so that they'll be able to stand up for themselves and others. He fights with Stanley because Stanley is a thieving scam artist. He demands the kids be profitable and successful because that is a mark of success as an adult for him. If we assume that the twins were an unplanned pregnancy, then he also firmly believes in taking responsibility for your mistakes -- in owning up.

Stanley is a born liar. Like, even his playful and friendly interactions with his family involved good-natured lies. (He reminds me of one of my uncles, who was an avid prankster up until the time he went up against me, but that's a whole story that I won't get into here.) I think in order to be on Filbrick's good side, he'd have to prove that he was honest in his own way - for example, by defending people when it really mattered even at the expense of his own reputation, or by refusing to take advantage of someone who has wronged him. I don't think canon Stan would do either of those things for anyone except family, but canon Stan is also convinced that nothing he does will ever be good enough. His last, dying words were "I guess I was good for something." He never until that moment thought he was. We need to make sure that he earns some self-respect earlier in life.

Now we need to find a flaw in Ford to exacerbate to the scale Stan had in canon. This isn't really hard, honestly. Ford may have been the less troublesome kid in high school, but he is ruthlessly ambitious, and as an adult he will steal or destroy anything to get the results he wants. I think that the reason he was the less troublesome kid is because there really isn't a good way that a high schooler can be ambitious at the expense of the people around them on a scale that matters. The stakes are just too low. Maybe Ford put down his classmates to secure a win in a spelling bee or stole an answer key once or twice, but it's hard to imagine Filbrick caring about schoolkid drama. That said, if Ford did have an aspiration - a science project, for instance - that he became truly obsessed with, it's easy to imagine him stealing or breaking things to achieve it.

So, how would we make stealing and destroying things a pattern of behavior for Ford, instead of a single one-off mistake? And how would we make Stanley's good-heartedness and self-sacrificing nature something that is visible to his father and overwhelms his tendency to lie?

Oh, and one more thing:

The big fight didn't just happen because Ford lost something he wanted. The entire Tale of Two Stans is about two twins who are very close to each other when they're young drifting apart over time as their needs, ambitions, and hobbies begin to diverge.

How do we make this separation happen in a way that flips the script?

Ford as a more isolated kid

Ford has a one-track mind.

In order to make this alternate canon work, I want to isolate Stan and Ford from each other very quickly. Filbrick might not be violently abusive, but he does ignore the kids, and Ford is already isolated from his peers due to bullying and poor social skills. If Stan isn't spending all of his time with Ford, then Ford might become more and more withdrawn. I don't think he would even be unhappy! Maybe a little lonely, but he's a bright kid with varied interests, and he'd keep himself occupied. But he might get a little... unhinged.

My Ford sans Stan is a kid that gets into trouble. A lot of trouble. Way more trouble than parents should have to deal with.

He gets arrested for disassembling abandoned cars. He gets detention for melting things in the chemistry lab. He gets stitches and tetanus shots after climbing under bridges, or ends up in the burn ward because he stuck a fork in an outlet. (I knew multiple academically gifted children who did this, what is wrong with you guys.) He might make a weapon like a nail gun because he thinks it's cool, and while that wouldn't cause as many alarm bells in 1980 as in 2020, it gould get someone seriously hurt. And, moreover, no matter how many times he's yelled at or bailed out or suspended or has his privileges revoked, he just doesn't get it. He'll express genuine remorse every time, but Filbrick will stop believing him after a while because he never changes. He never changes because... well. Because he is incorrect about what's wrong.

This version of Ford is isolated from his peers and doesn't have his brother to entertain him, so he's extremely self-centered. He doesn't think about the consequences of his actions and he doesn't think about how they might affect others. Let's say he snuck into the chemistry lab after hours, did an experiment without adult supervision, and ended up catching a shelf on fire. When he is punished, he's contrite and apologetic. He earnest in his expression of grief. He feels horrible. You'll tell him what he did wrong, and he will say, "I know," and accept his punishment without complaint. But, if you were to actually ask him what he did wrong, the answer will be:

"I used the wrong solvent." Or, at best: "I wasn't careful enough."

Nothing about disrespect for property. Nothing about breaking the rules. Nothing that reflects the fact that he is a child using someone else's resources to try a dangerous experiment without permission or supervision.

I don't think the adults around him, least of all Filbrick, would notice the communication error. Filbrick isn't in the habit of asking young boys about their feelings. Even if they did notice it, I don't think they would handle it well; this is before modern mental health science, and it might actively frighten the adults around him to realize that he doesn't understand morality in the way the kids around him do.

I think that if we start with this version of Ford, it would be very, very easy for him to screw up so badly that Filbrick felt the need to kick him out.

Some ways we can reduce Stan's influence

Option One: Stan might actually be worse off.

Usually, these reverse AUs are about Stan being the golden child and Ford being the one who Filbrick has it out for. However, that doesn't necessarily have to happen in order for Ford to be the one who gets kicked out. If Stan gets caught (or framed) for a crime big enough to send him to juvie for a while, or for Filbrick to send him off to a reform school, Ford would be left alone for years - long enough for Ford to develop the habits I just described.

This AU would fit really well with the themes of canon, too. The show is about how, even though family has its ups and downs, we're better together than we are apart. If Stan is separated from Ford against his will, and the rest of the Pines live to regret it, we address that theme head-on.

In an AU where Stan goes to boarding school, juvie, or something like that, I personally think Stan would still love Ford dearly and do his best to support him. Ford would do his best to make his own way in the world after his falling out with his father, and Stan meets up with him whenever he can. They have their own lives but remain friends.

Option Two: The ever-so-beloved Sports Stan option! If Stan ends up in a successful hobby, it might keep him out of trouble enough to curb his more dishonest tendencies. If that's the case, Ford's isolation comes from Stan having more friends (teammates!), more extracurricular responsibilities, and possibly the kind of social life that keeps him busy during school hours. I figure that in this version, Stan might stand up for Ford getting bullied, and he would be listened to, because you don't fuck with the football team. That would leave Ford with neither friends nor enemies. Ford might hang out with the sports kids for a while, but it would be really awkward, since he's just Stan's brother and doesn't have much in common with these guys.

This version leaves Stan slightly less delinquent but otherwise the same as his canon counterpart. Sports keep him out of trouble, might get him a scholarship, but otherwise leave him pretty much intact.

My problem with both of these two options is that I feel like, for maximum effect, we need to isolate Ford in middle school or earlier - I think fifth grade would do it. Sports don't really get that serious until late middle school or high school, and it's hard for a ten-year-old to get in enough trouble to get sent away.

The sooner the twins begin to separate, the better for this narrative.

Option three: Boy Scouts (or something). In this version, Stanley doesn't just have a hobby he likes - he has a hobby that becomes a lifestyle. He joins a club or meets a mentor that has a profound impact on him as a person. This, I think, would be the biggest possible impact with the smallest possible change.

I'm going to use Boy Scouts as my example, even though I can't really imagine Stan joining a troop without Ford. Just know that this is a placeholder, and it could be anything: he might find a car repair shop with a kindly and avuncular war veteran mechanic, he might fall in with a volunteer group, et cetera. If we go with the boy scouts, though, here's what happens:

Stan is bored and frustrated and has too much energy as a prepubescent or barely pubescent kid. He ends up hanging out with some boy scouts, and they do things that he thinks are really cool. They're the first kids he meets who like boats as much as him, and they know all the rigging knots. Maybe one of them tells him all about how to take care of lizards, and that other kid knows how to light a fire using a flint.

He convinces his parents to let him join the troop. At first, he doesn't fit in at all. All of the other kids have been doing this since first grade, and he's bad at making friends. However, one of the troopmasters becomes a mentor to him: this man intentionally gives him attention, spends time with him, asks him about his interests, teaches him skills that he's missing, et cetera.

If you've ever been or known a young kid who didn't get enough attention and then, suddenly, met someone who made them feel included, you know what happens.

Stan would sell his soul for this guy.

Stan memorizes his handbook, he attends all the functions, he mentors the cubs, the whole shebang. I think Stan would have a blast, too. Boyscouts make up bullshit to tell the little kids constantly. They play pranks on each other and the troopmasters. They haze the new kids. The develop complex internal mythologies for their troops. They get up to all manner of ridiculous shenanigans, oftentimes with the help of knives, ropes and fire. Stan would love it.

By high school, he's working hard toward his Eagle Scout badge, and that means he isn't just attending troop functions. For those who have never been scouts, the whole program is supposed to be about leadership training. The Eagle Scout status is one you earn by doing a project of your own - usually some small but tangible improvement to your hometown, such as building some benches or making an improvement to a museum. So, in the Sports Stan version of events, Stan is busy because of regularly scheduled team sports; in the Scouts Stan version, he's spending a huge chunk of his own free time planning, fundraising for, and building his project.

But there's another thing at play here.

Boy Scouts have a strict code of honor. If Stan was a gung-ho boy scout, he would probably become exactly the kind of person Filbrick wants him to be.

And, well,

I think he'd also become judgemental as hell.

Yeah, he still loves his brother, but here Stan is living his best life and being a good citizen who contributes to society, while Ford's out there... drawing pictures of ghost he insists he saw? Reading about mermaids? Catching the chemistry lab on fire?

Like, seriously bro, you need to get a real hobby.

You know how by the end of high school, Ford was treating Stan as an immature and ignorant kid with no real aspirations who wasn't going to amount to anything in life? You know how Ford was so sickened by Stan's relative lack of ambition that he really believed that Stan would deliberately sabotage his science fair experiment just for a chance to hang out more?

Yeah.

Now imagine that reversed.

[system-of-a-feather]

there's a solid chance you've talked about this before and I just missed it, so I'm super sorry if thats the case, but if you feel comfortable discussing it: what are your thoughts on the whole tulpamancy cultural-appropriation debate? i feel like the debate is populated by a disproportionate amount of non-buddhists, so I'd love to hear your thoughts on it as someone who is actually part of the affected group.

have a good one!!

-ray (@rayssyscourse)

Oh I have talked about it A LOT cause its one of the topics I like to think about and examine from different perspectives (and debate within our parts a lot) but I absolutely don't mind being asked about it. Tbh I welcome any like specific questions cause it's a very complex topic imo that I really honestly couldn't do justice in a single post if I wanted to, particularly since my opinions are pretty complicated. I'll link some of the more recent-ish posts we've made on the topic cause it's easier than going into each of them. I often talk about it whenever I have a Thought On The Matter that I feel is worth sharing AND I have the energy to do so.

The short answer is that I honestly think its way too complicated than any straight forward "side" or answer I could simply summarize in anything less than maybe five paragraphs and even then I'd probably do my opinion disservice.

I do take pride in being one of the main runners who started the first relatively recent wave of Tulpacourse like in 2021 or 2022 I think? At that point I hadn't gotten too into Buddhism beyond a cursory ankle dip into it since I found that when I went into it earlier, as much as it was helpful, it fucked with our dissociation a lot so a lot of my views then were built on a reverence but superficial skin deep understanding of Buddhism (which is still much deeper than the average person's understanding of it since even on a skin deep level there is a lot of misunderstandings due to the western mysticism of Buddhism) and mainly charged from my experiences as a POC interacting with white people.

Generally, I do stand slightly on the "if I have to pick a side" opinion of "it is cultural appropriation and people should probably not use it" as I feel a lot of people that want to use the term don't acknowledge and want to consider the complications, history or any of the details to it and with the community as it stands, I don't think there is enough genuine and honest respect to the history of the term "tulpa" and the harm its done and the relationship it has to orientalism / cultural appropriation and what not. So generally speaking, if you made me say "which side to I stand with", I'd probably lean on the "yeah its cultural appropriation and shouldn't be continued" but that's really only on the conditional that - for whatever reason - talking about it and discussing the nuances, intersectionality, history, and present issues / aspects of the term is off the table.

Ideally, I'd honestly really just like to be able to have a not-heated no-judgement no-name-calling no-winning/loosing discussion with people in the tulpamancy community about a number of things and compared and contrast experiences, practices, values, etc of the tulpamancy community against that of Buddhists and ALSO talk about the complicated and problematic history it has and what can be done to better respect the history.

I don't (anymore) think that people HAVE to not use the "tulpa" term and I really don't think its productive to try to make someone not use a term just by saying "stop its bad" or "stop its racist". I think its much more productive to hold a discussion and talk about it and develop a much more developed understanding of the term and it's history and its relation to complex topics.

I do think there is a large racism issue in the tulpamancy community though, but I don't think its fair to dunk an entire practice, concept, and community based on the bad apples, even if the bad apples may be the majority and/or the loudest bunch.

I've been meaning to continue a conversation on the topic with @discourse-by-candlelight but the two of us are awfully cursed with the "we actually find this topic really interesting and important and so we want to be able to dedicate our full attention and mental space to genuinely considering the information provided and responding with my thoughts and thus RARELY have that ideal perfect mental place to reply"

But honestly, I think there's a lot more benfit to talking about the many intersecting and complex topics within tulpacourse than just simply regurgitating and parroting the not-wrong but also not-right "tulpamancy is cultural appropriation". I also think its especially not helpful when people parrot that in a context that is not it's original intent or use it to push an agenda that is not inline with the original values and intent in statement

(that being, the core issue with that statement is that tulpamancy is bad because its built upon orientalism, eastern mysticism, and just white people taking advantage of eastern cultures; therefore people who actively state other things that ALSO harm AAPI / eastern cultures should not be pretending to be an ally to AAPI; for more on this read the third linked post below)

But genuinely its something I have a lot of thoughts on and if you got any specific questions feel free to ask, cause honestly I like talking about this stuff and navigating the complexities of it and I'd really like to see a more nuanced and conversational discussion on the topic of tulpacourse.

Here's a bit of a directory of some recent-ish posts on it from us:

Nuanced Perspectives and Aspects to Consider in the Tulpamancy-Is-Appropriation Debate and My Thoughts

Anon Asking About the Term Thoughtforms

People who say "tulpamancy is cultural appropriation" but then state that plurality is inherently clinical / disordered / only due to trauma are honestly acting more annoyingly white / western than people who do engage and use the term tulpa / tulpamancy (also known as me being a clown and making "one" post about tulpamancy, spoiler it was way more than one post)

General Reflections on Buddhism, Plurality, Final Fusion / Functional Multiplicity

[lostalienchild]

Makima x Fem reader headcannons cuz I can

Warnings: Spoilers, mentions of intoxication, NSFW themes, yandere ideas cuz it's makima

Minors dni

First of all, makima is a straight woman, but like most people there is some flexibility there. I only write wlw so I'll be discussing wlw dynamics and headcannons based on that. Makima may at most be an unknowing heteroflexible.

At the time of y/n's arrival into her life (devil hunter, or chance encounter) she probably saw you as another pawn or at best (worst) a nobody. Especially if y/n was not particularly close to denji

Makima sees humans as dogs, (which is also curious considering that most humans would die for their dogs) although you may be useful in general, you may not be useful for her original goal.

The key with makima is patterns, aloofness, and idiosyncrasies. makima will not notice you otherwise. You annoy her. Always asking why. Asking why and questioning her logic gets you put on her shit list. Which is in fact a good thing. It may make her even wonder why she is doing what she is doing. If she even wants what she wants?

For instance, when you heard power was put with aki and denji, you argued about how that wasn't fair for aki. About how he was only one person and had to look after 2 fiends. How it was short notice and how she wasn't being considerate. When makima retorted that aki was more than capable of watching after them both, you asked whether or not she even respected him enough to ask him first. It made her pause. On one hand you were a nuisance, on the other hand you were on to something. Especially considering her true goal when it came to aki and the others.

"if you give into people, others will give into you," was your response when she tries to manipulate you once. Without ties to the gun devil you needed more motivation. After another company party and after a round of drinks you were a bit tipsy, but sober enough to function fine. Makima offered to order another round and you refused, being at your limit. Himeno, the bad influence she is, urged you for one more drink before aki reprimanded her. Makima insisted as well saying that parties were rare and should be enjoyed while they lasted. She really dug in, "many people don't stay in section 4 for long, these memories are precious." she got you with that one. You ended up accepting the drink.

After that you weren't in the best of states and makima accompionied you outside, allowing you to lean on her shoulder for support as you stood. She offered to walk you home. With the added liquor you were more sociable than usual. You weren't dumb though. You knew makima wasn't completely trustworthy, but you couldn't put your finger on as to why or what it was. Everyone around loved miss makima. Miss makima was always polite, pristine, and pretty. Her office was bare and housed no personal affects. No pictures or trinkets. She never spoke about herself. Someone like her was off putting. But.. Where was the danger exactly? So you ignore it until that night.

When she offered you a deal you didn't fall for it.

"Kill the gun devil and I'll grant you any request 🧚‍♀"

"??? You don't have to? I'll just do it?"

"Eh?👁👁"

Finishes the rest of the walk in mostly silence. You mean that if people love you they'll just do whatever? No give and take? She thinks she caught any easy break at first, but your way of thinking has a profound affect on her. "Your way of thinking is very profound" "no it's not" "?"

Low-key starts asking some of the other section members questions including you. "y/n why do you work for section 4? Do you trust my leadership?" "Leadership can only be good if it improved, and it can only improve through questioning." Ah, at this point you should be a pain in her side. But you're intriguing, beautiful, and genuine. And she's the control devil, so she does what she does best.

Somehow you lost your housing, oh you poor thing. And now somehow you've gotten yourself into trouble at HQ. Makima said she would do her best but did she really? You were let go, a devastating and confusing occurrence. Makima took pity and allowed you to move in with her and her huskies. She said you could stay with her as her dog.

"Well? Will you just do it this time?"

Her tone makes it sound like an honest question, but you know it's a dig from the previous night where she walked you home. This is an offer that can't be refused. Not if you wanted to live. When you do move in you're overwhelmed by the amount of dogs. Especially if you're a cat person. After a while makima does eventually warm up to the idea of having a cat after a few months.

When you first get to her apartment she doesn't really know what to do with you Other than the usual, which is control you. She gives you a strict schedule and expects you to follow it. In this case you can't question her.

Wake up at 5am

Get breakfast ready by 6:00am

Eat breakfast And feed the dogs

Morning walk with the dogs at 6:30am

Return by 7:15am

Makima leaves by 7:20am

The rest of the day is spent doing house work and running errands which it's self is not easy. High key her tone Changes, goes from manipulative and cunning, to sarcastic and demanding. Missing a chore or doing one incorrectly leads to punishment. She'll give you the idea that everything is fine before bringing up the mistake calmly. Shell tell you to get on your knees.

Treats you like a dog for fun but also for punishment. Has a dog cage for those occasions. Makes you sleep in it. Makes you wear a collar. Calls you a dog, but sometimes a cat depending on your temperament. Has you beg on your knees despite your pride, and even feeds you small treats when you behave. Will sic her dogs on you if you misbehave again. They won't hurt you, but they will restrain you. Her moods are particularly worse on rainy days or days when she meets with the "big wigs". She becomes more silent and short with you. Sometimes you may trigger her, other times there is no trigger. It just happens, she'll come home and place the collar on you and you know makima is in a bad mood

Cooking, baking, and movie nights Are a nightly routine. You're expected to watch her movies and sit through the whole thing, no matter how bad it is. Makima will always watch it all the way through. She prefers happy feel good and dramatic movies like titanic or the note book. She also has her favorites that she revisits every now and again. If a sex scene appears she doesn't even flinch, meanwhile you may be shifting uncomfortably. And looking away. Occasionally watches horror and action movies. Will let you choose a movie every now and then if she's in a good mood.

Cooking and baking with makima is the softest you'll see her. She always looks for new recipes to try and is meticulous about measurements. She loves to meal prep as well. Her kitchen looks like a chefs kitchen. Each spice is weighted and places in its own bowl. Everything is thawed out. The chicken is washed. The knives are sharpened. She has a whole arsenal of cooking utensils. She makes sure both of you are following the recipe to a T.

Makima loves taking walks with you. She's a morning person but often stays up late ish, the latest being 10 pm, before she orders you and the dogs to bed. Walks with her are uncomfortably cordial. She'll ask you about your day as if you haven't spent all day playing house. She'll talk about her day nonchalantly as well without giving too much away. It hurts when she talks about power and the others. She senses that and depending on what she needs she may either change the subject or talk about it more.

Makima has you sleeping in the dog cage at first, but on one particular night, after sobbing over one of her classics you comfort her and she decides to allow you into her bedroom.

That night she gets a bit curious. She calmly demans that you remove your clothes. She tentatively explores your body, as well as her own desires and need for touch. She finds that it's still pleasurable, but you were still Just a place holder. Something to satiate her until she reches her goal.

Will add onto this if I think of something more

[findingzukkarp]

calling out for a zukka rp!

I've been ravenous for a good zukka rp for a while now and have decided to finally reach out into the void in hopes of finding one! Hopefully, the below information will lead wayward people like me into an amazing story!

Basic Information about me:

I am 26 years old

I live in the United States on EST

I only rp on discord.

My writing style is adv lit/novella. (word count is typically 500+ words)

DISCLAIMERS:

Writing style is very important to me. It is genuinely make or break for me. I am also a long time fanfic writer so I believe my writing is very thorough. I am not semi-lit whatsoever. My writing will be lengthy and thorough most often so I please ask that you do not interact with this post if you do not think you will be compatible with my writing style. (Samples will be included in this post!)

I am not too keen on most topics, themes, or tropes that fall under the umbrella term “Dead Dove”. Nothing involving minors and adults together in sexual or romantic relationships. Not too keen on heavy violence, gore, or any type of ageplay.

Who I'm Looking For:

Someone who is 21+ (will settle for 18+)

Someone who writes third person

Someone who is able to write as close as possible to their character’s cannon personality (with some liberties, of course!)

Someone who is comfortable writing NSFW content (smut:plot usually ranges 40:60 but I’m willing to adjust)

Someone who writes adv-lit/novella (very important)

Extra RP Details:

I am primarily interested in writing as Sokka! I can write as Zuko but Sokka is my main muse!

As irrational and immature as it is, I am only interested in Sokka as the primary top. Sorry to all my bottom Sokka lovers- I just find bottom Zuko too beautiful.

I’m pretty open to a wide range of ideas yet I do love to lean a bit more slice-of-life and modern in role plays. I love angsty, plot heavy ideas as well– however, I do wish for a good bit of planning and deliberation beforehand!

Extra Fun Details About Me:

I am a lover of omegaverse (including mpreg) but I am completely fine not including it into my RPs!

Humor in writing is hardwired into my brain so expect bad jokes and terrible puns (Sokka is my muse, after all)

I have a love for slow-burn but I've found that slow-burn in RPs is notoriously frustrating sometimes but I'm always down to try!

You've reached the closing:

Now that you’ve somehow gotten through all of that, please take note of all the information I’ve painstakingly laid out! I will not be negotiating things I have blatantly laid out but I am open to questions or concerns!

Now, without further ado, please give this post a like ❤️ or send me a dm 💬 if you’re interested in starting an rp with me!

Writing samples will be listed from here on so please enjoy!

Samples:

Being Fire Lord came with a slew of advantages and disadvantages alike. He got his meals whenever he pleased, a sprawling bedroom with a chaise lounge, and his own naturally heated mineral spring attached to his quarters. There would never be anything more satisfying than handing scraggly old Fire Councilman their own smoldering asses and then slinking back to his room to slip into warm, healing waters.  There are far too many disadvantages to properly list. It would take a mile long scroll and a bottomless ink pot to scribe them all. 

As Zuko paces the stone floor next to the balcony doors, he laments for what his mind recalls as a false, simpler time. A time where he roamed the Earth Kingdom, free of responsibility, his title, and his name. 

-*-*-

Zuko was fictional. He had to be. Or at least that’s what he thought when his roommate first unlocked their door and paused in the doorway when they’d met for the first time. There was no way in hell that it was even remotely fair to Zuko to look the way he did– even with a gnarly burn wound blooming across the left of his face– wisps of dark hair curling where it met the collar of his shirt. He was the embodiment of every tortured, panty dropper, heartthrob he’d ever read about in his ex-girlfriend’s books (although Suki claimed to never know where they came from) and at that moment, Sokka felt as if his body had plummeted through the earth’s core and was shooting out the ass-end of the planet and somewhere into the stratosphere because holy shit he’s never seen a guy more attractive in his life.  Needless to say, the absolute lack of words Sokka was able to produce probably impacted their first meeting more than he could even think of seeing as when he woke up in the morning, Zuko wasn’t there. When he went to sleep at night, Zuko wasn’t there. On the fifth day, he was beginning to think he’d totally screwed up and was going to have to suffer having accidentally offended his first-ever roommate by gawking at him as if he were a pubescent boy seeing a tit for the first time. 

[poppyseedmuffiin]

poppys amazing guide to free money for in app purchases (not clickbait)

long post ahead, sorry in advance. now idk if anyone else has talked about this at all, at least in the sky community. but with the amount of IAPs in sky (and seeing periodic posts of people offering services like commissions in exchange for season passes or exclusive IAP cosmetics) i feel like i just cant sit on this knowledge any longer if people turn out to not know about it. maybe almost everyone is aware of it and/or already using it or doesnt care and im a silly goose, but if this can save even just one person some money, or allow them to buy something they couldn't have afforded otherwise, then i'll be happy lol. it's certainly helped me and i'd like to share the love.

getting to the point: if you are on android/use google play (sorry everyone else idk if apple/the app store or other platforms have something similar, might be worth looking into or idk maybe this same app is on there too), then you can use this app called Google Opinion Rewards to get free google play credit.

this is going to feel like a cheesy fake youtube sponsorship or something but For Real this app gives you basically free money in response to answering surveys. i downloaded it a few years ago after one guy mentioned it in a video in passing, and as of now i have gotten from it almost $150 of google play credit.

“poppy, this sounds super sus”, you might be thinking, shaking your head. “answering surveys?? isnt this a scam to collect your personal data??” and fair enough! yeah probably the data is being sold (though on the page they claim to not share it with 3rd parties), im not super internet wise or savvy but idk it seems like everything is selling your data nowadays. and to get the most amount of surveys you can, you have to have certain things turned on in your google account.

it might ask you about a place you've been recently, or if you've been looking up something lately, or if you remember watching a certain video on youtube, or whatever. sometimes it's very accurate and specific with the targeted surveys, and sometimes it's totally fucking random. to me its not any creepier than getting an ad for like. wendys after only talking about it out loud with my phone within earshot, and most of them are pretty innocuous anyway, at least in my opinion. idk. u dont have to use this. im just putting it out there for those who might want to give it a whirl.

Before i go into the nitty gritty rambly details (on the google doc below), here’s the reassurance: this is real. Yes, the reward for each survey is less than a dollar, but it adds up. Sometimes there are a whole bunch at once and that can bring in a good haul. Since downloading the app, i’ve answered 730 surveys, and from that earned $142.11 (as of writing this right now) in total rewards/credit.

That’s not nothing! I’ve been able to buy sky IAPs with nothing but credit that i’ve earned from answering these surveys. The longest of these surveys literally take a max of like 20 seconds, and u can go right to them from the notification on your phone. It takes 0 effort essentially and for me it is worth it to see that receipt for $0 in my inbox. I have a compulsive spending habit and use it rly often so in my case mostly it just acts as a discount, subtracting from the price however much is in my balance, but still! That’s better than paying full price! Free money is free money! You can also choose whether or not to use it when making a purchase, and stop answering questions and giving them the data at any time. You can choose what to share with them really easily from the settings in the app, so if you want to turn off just location or something, you can just go to “survey eligibility”, select what you want to change, and manage it as you like. The only thing you have to have is your age, since it won’t send surveys to users with no age on their account. And you can use the credit on other apps too, since it’s google play credit! I just mostly use it for buying sky IAPs. you can save up to buy a season pass! 

If you’re like me (maybe not. Im kind of pathetic. Someone pls validate me), you’ve tried whatever you can to not pay for microtransactions. Yeah there’s stuff like mistplay and those annoying ass “tasks for coins” esque things within an app that have you sign up for online magazines or download other apps and get to level 3 of PigFarmVille or whatever to earn credit or money, but those never got me anywhere and this is the most effective, legitimate thing i’ve ever used for this purpose. It takes time and patience, but before you know it you’ll have $5 kicking around in your balance and you can buy the cute oreo headband or pair of shoes or whatever tgc has in the shop this time. It legitimately feels like i’m cheating, sometimes, or that it’s too good to be true, but i’ve used this for three years now and it’s never let me down. And no i’m not sponsored, just a broke bitch that stumbled across this. They should give me something for this free promotion tho lmaoo

below I have both the sharing link to download the app if anyone wants to and a link to a google doc with my personal tips for this app on it since this post is way too long already and i dont want to waste more of peoples time, but anyway thanks for reading if you did, and if you try it out and it ends up helping lmk! c: and also maybe reblog to spread around if you think others would find this helpful. I almost never do posts like this especially bc im very unsure of myself and tend to think im wrong but sometimes i get stuff right and this feels like something i got right. Hope it helps you too. 

Get paid for answering short surveys. Download Google Opinion Rewards now: https://googleopinionrewards.page.link/share

[eyedelater]

this important scene between koito, tsurumi, and tsukishima at goryokaku (chapter 295) was greatly changed in golden kamuy volume 30. the volume version is above. i decided to translate and then analyze it.

EH scans translated the magazine version of the manga as it was being released, so they haven't done this version, to my knowledge. and VIZ hasn't gotten this far in their official translation yet. so neither of my main sources have done it! that's why i'm translating these pages. i don't know if anyone else has translated this. if someone has, then you can look at their translation AND mine and compare them if you want. (and you can send me a link to their version.)

i want to show you the magazine version for comparison. this is the translation by EH scans:

you'll notice that the page count increased by two for the volume version. you'll also notice that the first and last pages haven't changed at all; i only included them for context because that's the whole scene.

while reading the raw manga, i had intended to check on one of the lines in this scene to see what it said in japanese and compare the translation. the line in question was the one where tsurumi talks about entrusting things to splendid koito. but that line is completely obliterated in the volume version, and i can't find the raw magazine version of this particular chapter, so i'll forget about that forever i guess. it doesn't matter because it's not canon anymore.

now, because i love koito and tsukishima so much, i went to the trouble of typesetting these pages with my own translation. so i'll include them here for your reading pleasure, and THEN i'll go ahead with the inevitable overanalysis in terms of translation and plot significance.

(i typeset it clumsily and also committed the vile typesetting sin of not using an all-caps font. but paint 3d didn't have any all-caps fonts, okay?? i'm very lazy! i'm not gonna go download a font just for this. also i didn't really need to do the first and last pages here because nothing changed and EH scans translated it just fine, but for the sake of completionism, i did them anyway.)

so that's my translation, and you can just read that and walk away if you want. but i'll write a lot more anyway.

line by line translation notes

in order of speech bubble, by page. a slash / indicates a split in a compound speech bubble. a double slash // indicates two separate speech bubbles in one entry. transliterations are rough and not based on any real standard of romaji.

PAGE 1

raw: 月寒あんぱんのひとがついた甘い嘘… transliteration: tsukisappu anpan no hito ga tsuita amai uso… EH scans translation: The tsukisappu anpan person ended up telling sweet lies... my translation: The sweet lies that the Tsukisappu anpan person told... notes: it's a sentence fragment. it makes you think there's going to be a second part to the sentence, but there's not. because there's not, to avoid confusing the reader, EH scans turned it into a full sentence. that's fair. my translation is more literal, so i didn't turn it into a full sentence, but it doesn't sound as good... i guess i didn't need to retranslate this one if it doesn't sound any better... let's move along.

PAGE 2

raw: あなたは嘘をつきすぎて / 嘘で試した人間の「愛」しか本物と思えないのでは? transliteration: anata ha uso wo tsukisugite / uso de tameshita ningen no [ai] shika honmono to omoenai no de ha? my translation: Haven't you lied so much / that you can only believe someone's [love] is real after you've tested them with lies? notes: "love" here is "ai" 愛. it's the same love that tsurumi talks about with his judo teacher when he talks about inspiring love among his soldiers so they will actually kill instead of pretending to kill. it is not "koi" 恋 romantic love, but it is love in the broadest sense.

raw: 鯉登少���! transliteration: koito shoui! my translation: Second Lieutenant Koito! notes: no translation notes, but tsukishima's face did get slightly altered, and the speech bubble has wavery edges now, and dramatic motion lines were added. it's an emotional exclamation!!!

PAGE 3

raw: 中央から見ればここにいる者たちは全員 / 政権転覆を図る反乱分子です transliteration: chuuou kara mireba koko ni iru monotachi ha zen'in / seiken tenpuku wo hakaru hanran bunshi desu my translation: From Central's point of view, all of the people here / are insurgents plotting to overthrow the government. notes: seiken "political administration," tenpuku "overturn/overthrow," hakaru "to plan, to plot, to strive for," hanran "insurrection, rebellion," bunshi "member(s), element(s)." this isn't the first time we've heard the phrase "hanran bunshi." in chapter 78 (volume 8), shortly after tsukishima kicks him and then yells at him for killing maeyama, ogata uses the phrase to describe tsurumi's men. i think a fair translation of "hanran bunshi" would be "rebel faction."

raw: 勝てば官軍負ければ賊軍 / この戦でなにも得られなければ transliteration: kateba kangun makereba zokugun / kono ikusa de nanimo erarenakereba my translation: If you win, you're in the right. If you lose, you're in the wrong. / If we gain nothing from this battle… notes: the first line must be an existing saying, because when i searched zokugun on jisho.org, it brought up that first sentence word for word as one of its example sentences. so i made that the translation, word for word... you know, cos it's an existing saying... plus it's nice and concise...

raw: 我々は軍の裏切り者として裁かれる transliteration: wareware ha gun no uragirimono toshite sabakareru my translation: …we will be judged as traitors to the military.

raw: 私たち親子がここまで来たのは / 自分たちの選択ですからどうなっても受け入れます transliteration: watashitachi oyako ga koko made kita no ha / jibuntachi no sentaku desukara dounattemo ukeiremasu EH scans translation: The fact that my father and I have come this far… / That was the choice we ourselves made, so I can accept whatever comes of it. my translation: My father and I have come this far by choice. / Whatever happens, we will accept it. notes: i learned the word sentaku 選択, meaning "choice, option." it is different from sentaku 洗濯, meaning "laundry." also it seems that this line was not changed in the volume version; it was only moved around. that's why there's an EH scans translation for this entry. i would say their translation is slightly more accurate, but i'm happy with the concise way i phrased it.

raw: だがもしもの時は部下たちを中央から守るために… / 私はあなたを… transliteration: daga moshimo no toki ha bukatachi wo chuuou kara mamoru tame ni… / watashi ha anata wo… my translation: But if circumstance demands it, in order to protect my subordinates from Central… / I will … notes: "moshimo no toki" refers to unexpected circumstances. moshimo = what if, toki = time, so it's a "what if time." you could translate it as "if anything happens," and i was about to, but i had already used the word "happens" in the last speech bubble and i didn't want it to echo. so i took a liberty and made it sound cooler. as for the second half of the speech bubble, the literal translation is "i will ... you" and the verb is left unsaid. you can imagine the verb implied would be either "stop" or "kill." this is the pain of translation from SOV word order to SVO word order. also, there were very similar lines in the EH scans version, but because they didn't match precisely and i haven't seen the raws they were translating from, i couldn't be sure that the lines were exactly the same. so i didn't include EH scans's translation in this entry.

raw: 負けるつもりはない // すべて手に入れる transliteration: makeru tsumori ha nai // subete te ni haireru my translation: I do not intend to lose. // We will obtain everything we seek. notes: note that this is 100% different from the previous version where tsurumi tells koito to kill him. he just flat-out doesn't say that anymore. the first speech bubble is easy to translate. the second one isn't, or rather, it's hard to make it sound good? subete = everything, te ni haireru = to obtain. i took a minor liberty by making it a "we" pronoun because i think tsurumi would emphasize that his goals are for everyone's sake, not just his own. and i added "we seek" for clarity. also it sounds cooler.

PAGE 4

on this page, i changed the order of the contents of the speech bubbles to make it more of a cohesive sentence in english.

raw: 「私のちからになって助けてくれ」と // まっすぐにアタイを見てそげん言ってくいやっちょったら / そいでもついて行ったとに transliteration: [watashi no chikara ni natte tasukete kure] to // massugu ni atai wo mite sogen itte kuiyacchottara / soidemo tsuite itta toni my translation: All you had to do was look me in the eye and say, // [Stand with me and lend me your aid,] / and I would have followed you. notes: most prominent note is that koito lapses completely into satsuma dialect for the parts of the line that aren't in brackets. it isn't played as a joke this time; he is not speaking rapidly. tsurumi was able to understand him speaking like this when they first met, and he can understand him now. he says the bracketed part as what he wishes tsurumi would have said to him, and then he says the rest in dialect. "chikara ni naru" = "to be helpful, to be dependable, to stand by (someone)." if taken literally, "chikara ni naru" would mean "become my strength." but to my understanding, it does not have nearly the same intense connotations as the phrase "become my strength" does in english. i think. so that's the part i translated as "stand with me." then, "tasukete kure" means "help me, save me, assist me, support me." gotta figure out which verb makes the most sense in context. it's in the context of joining his team in a military sense, so it implies in the long term, and i think a phrase with a similar feeling that implies a longer term than "help" would be "lend me your aid." so that's how i arrived at "Stand with me and lend me your aid." this is a super important line; i'll write more about its significance down below. one more translation note: he says "massugu ni" (straightforward, frank, honest) with the verb "miru" (look at). so he's saying to "look at me straightforwardly." i phrased it as "look me in the eye" because that's what you do when you're looking at someone straightforwardly. honesty is the important implication (in contrast to sweet lies).

PAGE 5

raw: いくぞ月島 transliteration: ikuzo tsukishima EH scans translation: Let's go, Tsukishima. my translation: Let's go, Tsukishima. notes: could've also phrased it like, "We're leaving, Tsukishima." i have a feeling this line just slipped out of koito's mouth without any thoughts attached to it.

PAGE 6

raw: 月島? // 私の味方はもうお前だけになってしまったな? transliteration: tsukishima? // watashi no mikata ha mou omae dake ni natte shimatta na? EH scans translation: Tsukishima? // It seems you're the only ally I have left, doesn't it? my translation: Tsukishima? // Now you're the only ally I have left, aren't you? notes: tsurumi's use of "shimatta" carries the implication that this is how things have "ended up." a very literal translation could be, "my allies have now ended up becoming only you, huh?" but of course that doesn't sound natural, so it must be finagled. anyway, probably EH scans' version is better than mine. i just wanted to shed a little light on how you can translate the same sentence different ways and both can be right because japanese grammar is so different that there is no single direct counterpart.

plot analysis notes

i think it goes without saying that the changes to this scene are pretty significant in terms of the plot. some reasons are as follows:

when tsukishima calls out to koito in distress (page 2, second panel), it comes after a different line in this version. in the old version, he interrupts a line about koito and his father having come this far. there's not much significance to that except that he was maybe trying to stop koito from saying too much. but in this version, tsukishima cries out after koito's line about testing people with sweet lies. koito has come out and said too much right away. tsukishima is more upset this time because confronting tsurumi about sweet lies would reveal that tsukishima had talked to koito and given away the fact that the kidnapping was a ruse. tsukishima is distressed because he doesn't want tsurumi to think that he is turning on him as well.

new lines show that koito does understand the nature of tsurumi's rebellion against central. honestly it was kind of up in the air before this, given koito's earnest nature and the fact that his high-ranking father would have had to be in on it too. but now we know for sure that he understands. it's easy to look down on koito because he's so naive and emotional, but he's not stupid.

by changing this scene, noda-sensei makes the most of this confrontation, which is koito's last chance to have a calm conversation with tsurumi. (the only confrontation they have after this is when koito yells up at tsurumi on top of the train and tells him to set tsukishima free. but the subject matter is completely different at that time, and the tension is much higher, so that would be no time to bring up sweet lies again.) in terms of wrapping up the unresolved conflict of the kidnapping incident, it's gotta be this scene or nothing. in the altered scene, koito can now say what he wants to say to tsurumi about the kidnapping, make it clear he knows it was a lie, and gauge how tsurumi responds.

tsurumi no longer taunts koito (saying "kill me" when they both know he won't; implying that he would trust koito to carry on his plans because he's just that splendid when they both know he can't). those lines are tossed in the garbage and don't exist anymore. what he now says is short and simple, and it avoids the heart of the matter completely; he ignores 95% of what koito said and only focuses on one aspect (what might happen if they fail). koito hears this bad-faith response and understands that tsurumi will not voluntarily come clean about his lies. that's why he says his emotional next line and leaves it at that.

the line "Stand with me and lend me your aid" (「私のちからになって助けてくれ」) is a very important addition to this scene!!! the reason is that it is the line that koito says to tsukishima in the final chapter! (i haven't gotten there in the raw manga yet, but i've seen it A Lot in japanese fanart, so i recognized it right away.) that later line becomes a callback to this moment! i had no idea! if you had read the magazine version only (and i think we english language readers are all in the same boat in that respect), then you wouldn't have had the full context of that line in the final chapter. it is more satisfying and makes much more sense this way. and this line carries so much weight in both scenes. koito wishes that tsurumi would have earnestly asked for his help instead of tricking him with sweet lies. then, in the final chapter, koito earnestly asks tsukishima to join him by using that same line! it's a complete rejection of tsurumi's "sweet lies" modus operandi! there doesn't need to be any pretense between the two of them! they can just rely on each other honestly and with their whole hearts! (note: EH scans translated that line in the final chapter as, "Lend me your strength. I require your aid." that's good. i like mine better. maybe someone else could translate it even better. i really don't think VIZ will, though.)

tsukishima has an emotional reaction when koito says that. we get a whole new big panel of his face, so that's our cue to think about how tsukishima must feel at that moment. he looks surprised and thoughtful. i think he is impressed by koito's resolve and frankness and the way he made himself vulnerable in that moment by speaking his mind (in his native dialect). he must also be thinking about how this means that the whole kidnapping scheme was a waste of time and caused pain (and cost lives) for no reason. and he's probably thinking about how nice it would have been if tsurumi had said something like that to him instead of trapping him with sweet lies as well. it's a moment where tsukishima is struck by how koito is honest and honorable, and it stands in stark contrast to tsurumi (especially considering the monster that tsurumi has become). this moment helps us better understand why tsukishima sticks with koito at the end of the story.

the following was clear in the other version too, but when koito says it's time to go, tsukishima is clearly turning to follow him (he turns 180 degrees right in front of us). that's notable. first of all, i don't think koito said that and expected tsukishima to follow him in a "you better choose me or him right now!" kind of way. i think it slipped out. tsukishima has become a staple in his life, and he expects him to be at his side at all times, so he tried to walk away with him out of habit without considering what it would look like to tsurumi. on a similar note, i don't think tsukishima was about to follow koito in a "now we're turning our backs on tsurumi forever" kind of way. it was a kind of subconscious movement; he found himself turning to follow the person he really wanted to follow. and there are motion lines showing that he stops moving when tsurumi calls out to him. if tsurumi hadn't stopped him, i wonder how far he would have gotten before catching himself and thinking about how it would look to tsurumi if he followed koito out of the building.

it seems that that after this scene, koito isn't exactly working toward tsurumi's goals anymore. in the last panel of the last page here, he notices tsukishima isn't following him. that's probably when he thinks about the implications of trying to take tsukishima with him, so he goes off by himself. the next time we see him, he confronts fleeing shiraishi and fights nagakura on the bridge. but why is he doing that? maybe because he thinks tsurumi getting the land deed would be better for japan than if team hijikata kept it. it can't be blind allegiance to tsurumi at this point, right? and then a little later (after jumping in the moat), koito sees tsukishima riding away with tsurumi on horseback, so he follows them and ends up at the train. why does koito board the train and fight hijikata? is it still in pursuit of tsurumi's goals? or is it to protect his subordinates on the train, especially tsukishima? it has to be the latter, right? he doesn't do anything explicitly rebellious, but his allegiance to tsurumi is basically gone at that point, and that's why he is able to confront tsurumi in tsukishima's defense on the back of the train car. so in essence, the scene in this post was the final turning point in the relationship between koito and tsurumi. his goal has become "protecting his subordinates (especially tsukishima) from being sacrified by tsurumi."

in conclusion, i kinda wish noda-sensei wouldn't make sweeping changes to art AND dialogue in very important scenes... but i think this change was pretty good.

EDIT: i found out that piduai also translated these pages, and they ended up with a very similar translation to mine for that one important line! yeahh! i've discovered the MVP piduai! i encourage you to compare the translations.

[thegeminisage]

time for a star trek update. sunday we watched ds9's "dax" and tng's "tapestry," and last night* we watched ds9's "the passenger"

*times changed as always i am actually typing this up at 1am and scheduling it to go up later

dax (ds9):

i feel like we sorely needed this episode bc we havent gotten much out of dax yet, except for how she (he? to refer to the old one right) and sisko fucked twins together or something (and good for them)

i like the ethical questions it presents. IS jadzia responsible for crimes curzon committed? she both is and isn't the same person, but who she is can't be split down the middle, so how can you be fair to both halves?

WWWILD that people fight for the honor of being possessed by a worm. i think that sounds horrible. not everyone has to agree with me, of course

i like whatever sisko and dax have going on. "you used to be way older than me and my father figure and we fucked twins one time but now you're a SUPER hot young woman who i both know very well and also don't know at all and one time you touched my face oh So gently." like, what the hell was that, firstly, and secondly, he can't even decide if he's attracted to her or not. the upshot of it all being that if jadzia was only jadzia she would, hilariously, be way too young for him

kira didn't have much screentime in this episode but i like when she and sisko instantly and nonverbally worked out that she was gonna be a shit about bureaucracy simply to get dax's ass out of the frying pan. and she smiled the whole time she did it!! i love i love i LOVE that she smiles when she's angry. one hundo percent my fav thing about her

they didn't exactly answer any of the questions they set up in this episode bc dax got off on a technicality (didn't do the murder) but i kind of like it better that way. like, you really CAN'T answer where dax ends and jadzia begins, that's the point of it. if i was ranking ds9 characters from most to least favorite (adn trust me i WILL get to that), dax would probably be near be near the bottom, not bc i don't like her but because usually she's very closed off and not interesting, but this was fascinating af. good for her

tapestry (tng):

this episode fucking sucked ass

firstly, q didn't add anything to this episode. like he didn't save picard from danger, or affect change in any way whatsoever. picard coded but lived. that's the exact same thing that would have happened had q not interfered. so what did he even do that for? normally he gives a reason even if it is a bad one but this time it's ???

way too few moments of q wanting desperately to fuck picard while picard wants desperately to be away from him bc he a wretched little man. i bet he watched picard fuck that girl though

which by the way is sooo weird. she's too young to be kissing sir patrick stewart, love and light

the story picard told about getting stabbed to wesley was actually one of the cooler moments of that episode, but seeing it acted out, especially by the actor who played young picard, made it...less cool. sir patrick stewart did a better job because he's sir patrick stewart, but i was so done with the episode by the time we got there that i didn't care

what was the message of this episode exactly? it's dumb to have regrets? you should always get into bar brawls that can kill you and you're a bad friend if you don't do it? don't attempt to initiate a romantic relationship with a girl you've been crushing on who has stated that she likes you back? picard's like "hey maybe we shouldn't provoke these guys who can kill us over a fucking game" and suddenly everyone in his life thinks he's a bad person?? like he was afraid for his life and his friend was just bulldozing over all his concerns THAT GUY is a bad person. not picard?? for once??

johnny nickname stupid. actually picard's whole younger self persona sucks. it's like what society thinks captain kirk was, because of KIRK DRIFT. he's a caricature. and old present day picard is a pussy who never leaves the ship and told worf to kill himself?? is there no middle ground???

oh yeah and isn't it a little insulting to be like...my god, this LOSER who carries around papers all day and does nothing else, this life is a fate worse than death! it's better to be DEAD than in a body of a low ranking science officer. If You Don't Get Stabbed In Bar Fights No One Will Ever Notice You You Will Never Be Offered Opportunities

like sorry who did they think watched star trek...surely not people with day jobs which involved carrying papers to superiors

at least we have dom jot. it look sooooo fun i was utterly captivated by it i wanna play it in REAL LIFE

anyway. bad episodes when we not only don't have the side characters doing nothing but they straight up arent even here. SIGH. i want tng to be good so bad please please please let the next ones be good

the passenger (ds9):

HELLOOOOOO this one served SOOO much cunt. like, first of all, i want that twink obliterated

it's increasingly funny to be watching julian get shot down by dax. it's like the vibe q and picard have but more grounded and less horrible. and you can tell she really likes him but not Like That, more like a "aww this is my pet twink who keeps hitting on me hes so funny" kind of way. she thinks he's adorable but wouldn't fuck him.

I HOPE. i'll be crushed if he has any romantic entanglements because i want to exclusively imagine him with garak but also because whatever he has going on with jadzia is really funny

also, whatever speech he was making to kira in the shuttle about how fucking great he is when this is his first field assignment. he is so unwell and also funny. her giving up in sheer incredulity and playing along for the bit because he's so stupid you can't even be insulted was like. really good.

odo my beloved...he was really autistic in this episode. he was like, i need to know exactly what my duties are and who's in charge and know that i won't be undermined here. considering the xenophobia he's dealt with i absolutely get it. AND!!! he gave that annoying yellowshirt guy full credit where it was due even though he was being annoying and a big meanie earlier. i loved also that sisko was straight with him, said he liked him, AND!!! stood up for him behind his back. picard never supports his people like this he's too busy telling worf to kill himself ro whatever it is that he does

i also like, of course, all that he has going on with quark. "i'm always watching him" or whatever he said. so true. not to be space racist, but if you'd told me before i watched ds9 i'd have so much fun with the ferengi i'd have thought you were out of your fucking mind

anyway, i haven't decided if anyone in ds9 is my specialest little princess yet but odo, sisko, and kira are currently my top contenders.

oh, speaking of that annoying yellowshirt guy, i was SOOO sure the bad guy had jumped in him bc of his personality transplant but he really did just get his act together and the bad guy was in bashir instead. LOVED that twist bc star trek so rarely manages to trick me, but also i solved it ahead of time because of Clues so i got to feel tricked AND feel smart

the guy who plays julian certainly did act. in those scenes. he opened his mouth so wide to enunciate. he spoke so slowly. it was so fucking hilarious

i like when he got back and he was like it's me, don't shoot! they shot his ass anyway. i literally want that twink obliterated

anyway 9/10 great episode the only thing i missed was o'brien

NEXT TIME: tng's "birthright," parts i & ii, hopefully at the same time lol

[variousqueerthings]

I’ll scratch his eye out / It wasn’t me who ran doctor. That was always you

The Magicians Apprentice/The Witch's Familiar. listen, yes Missy is a stupid name, yes I hope I never have to hear the "oh Missy you're so fine" joke again, but fuckn. Michelle Gomez just kills in this role. and also, look. look. there's some absolute bangers in every era and the Master gets it in this episode when she says, "We're Time Lords, not animals. Try, nano-brain, to rise above the reproductive frenzy of your noisy little food chain, and contemplate friendship. A friendship older than your civilisation, and infinitely more complex." ohhh one could talk about these two messy benches forever

anyway, we have a rating's system and because this season is made up of two-parters, we rate it as a two-parter!

sexism rank objectification (female character is ogled/harassed/turned into a sex joke by the doctor and/or a lead we’re supposed to root for and/or the camera): 8/10

sexism rank plot-point (lead female character is only there to serve plot, not to have her emotional interiority explored, or given agency to her emotional interiority): 6/10

interesting complex or pointlessly complex (does the complexity serve the narrative or does it just serve to be confusing as a stand-in for smart, this includes visually): 6/10

furthers character and/or lore and/or plot development (broader question that ties into the previous ones, at least two of these, ideally three should be fulfilled): 7/10

companion matters (the companion doesn’t always have to be there, but if the companion is there, can they function without the doctor– and overall per season how often is the companion the focus or POV of the story): 5/10

the doctor is more than just “godlike” (examines the doctor’s flaws and limitations, doesn’t solve a plot by having it revolve entirely around the doctor’s existence): 9/10

doesn’t look down on previous doctor who (by erasing or mocking its importance, by redoing and “bettering” previous beloved plotpoints or characters, etc.): 6/10

isn’t trying to insert hamfisted sexiness (m*ffat famously talked a lot about how dw should be sexier multiple times, he sucks at writing it): 7/10

internal world has consistency (characters have backgrounds, feel rooted in a place with other people, generally feel like they have Lives): 7/10

Politics (how conservative is the story): 6/10

FULL RATING: 67/100 (if I can count….)

I basically feel like the second episode pulls up the first one, which is fair, the first is largely a set-up. but I also just think the second episode is better in that you've already gotten past the stuff that maybe annoyed you a bit, and now you've bought into the concept that you (I) weren't completely onboard with and it's chill now. also I just. what am I gonna do? it's the Master. everything is better when the Master is there (not for Clara of course, but for me)

but hey, I would call this a good episode! you hear me M*ffat, I think you're capable of writing a good episode!

OBJECTIFICATION: we're ok on the whole on this front. there's still a liiittle bit of that "Missy is a Lady Now And Says Mad Lady Things" but it's not at all as bad as just last season, and actually we do get some genderbending, as well as non-heterosexualisation of the Doctor's and the Master's relationship

PLOT-POINT: Clara has evolved. not onscreen though, she's just working for UNIT now, alongside her school teacher job. she's also very... idk impressive? she gets stuff that UNIT people don't get, which puts UNIT as a whole to shame, including Kate Stewart whom I feel hasn't been given much to do so far since her introduction in s7. that's a whooole other can o' worms though

I feel like part one Clara is categorised a bit differently to part two Clara. I feel weird about... well, the way I feel about Clara as a character. I still feel like she doesn't fit for me, and that may be because she never had an introduction that worked for me, and I'm not sure why the Doctor continues to put faith in her as a Companion after the events of season 8, or why she would be involved with UNIT at all, or how she moved from end-s8 to beginning-s9.

but then her and the Master!

I do like that she's out of her depth opposite Gomez!Master, it humanises her more than when she's travelling with the Doctor and seemingly just becoming whatever the Moment needs her to be (incredibly smart, out of her depth, waiting for the Doctor to cue her, confident or scared, asking questions so the Doctor can be smart, etc). she tries to be very cool and capable, and Gomez!Master outsmarts her with ease every time in a way that puts her in very real danger. and Clara tries to be on the same wavelength, and just... fails to be, because the Master is a terrible no good person who loves fucking with her. it's great Companion-but-evil dynamic

she gets taken down a peg and that works, but I do wonder about the peg she was on, so to speak. whether that peg, as it were, was good character-writing. this is pretty neat, but that's the thing about Clara that I think is a problem. her foundations as a character feel rocky to me, not because of what I feel we know about her (relatively consistent as of season 8 -- control-freak, which is the most consistent characterisation from the beginning, as well as being someone who is quite self-centred in her emotions and her priorities. she's also someone looking for fun and adventure, and often doesn't have a big thought about far-reaching consequences, she's very In The Now), but why others react to those traits in the way they do. why was there not more on the idea that she could kill someone? why does she work with UNIT, other than being a Companion? what are her relationships with people? (a note on s9 as well, her family never makes another return, which is a shame considering how we left her grandmother)

so, maybe I felt a bit of satisfaction watching the Master playing cat and mouse with her, but I'm not sure if I was meant to feel quite that gleeful about it?

COMPLEXITY: SOOOO this feels like a finale plot in an opening story, and I can acknowledge that was probably an experiment, but maaan would I have enjoyed this as an actual finale episode with a bit of season-long teasing and build-up more

EDIT: OKAY I REALISE WHAT THE ACTUAL EXPERIMENT OF THE SEASON IS! TWO-PARTERS LET'S GO! still think this one would have been a very good finale, rather than an opener (I think the next two that I just watched would have been good openers, anyway)

EDIT 2: having watched the finale episodes, I think this was a better episode than that, personally, or at least not right at the beginning... we'll see if I change my mind when I review those episodes, but I thought hell bent was... odd

on the whole it's quite simple, Davros is calling for the Doctor because he's seemingly dying, and here I stop again because I've been having some conversations about DW's broken continuity, but I do think M*ffat pushes that more than he should within this prolonged era -- that is RTD-onwards, and bringing Davros back "just cos" at this point without explanation is juuuust, feels a bit like more work could have been done to make that make sense rather than the montage with the snake man. snake man btw. cool concept, I guess, but for some reason Did not work for me, and I think it's because it makes no sense for him to be there other than to be a cool concept -- yes yes he captures the Doctor a few times, but there could have been a non-snakeman doing that, especially considering this the Daleks. why work with snakes?

snake-conglomeration I should say. no what was that, confederate? constellation? a communion of snakes in the shape of a person. see, cool concept, shouldn't have been this episode iiin my opinion, gimme a whole snake-centric episode

oh yeah, we have another montage and the snake conglomeration is like oooh new spooky villain, and the Doctor is pretending or thinks he's dying I guess -- it's that build-up that's messy, once we actually get to Skaro (wait, I didn't actually check if they are on Skaro, I'm just making an assumption) the episode comes together better in my opinion

so just like. getting past that beginning. with the Doctor playing the electric guitar and fucking with time" just cos" which I mean, the Doctor has done a bit of fucking with time here and there, but to this extent just to do it?? it doesn't work for me, it doesn't mean anything, it's just there to show off Peter Capaldi's sick guitar skills (that is Capaldi isn't it? I think it is, considering he plays guitar for the reason of the season)

also the medieval person turns out to be one of those secret daleks, and can I just say how much I for some reason Do Not Vibe with this concept. I think it's one of my pet peeves of this era - in that I cannot pinpoint why I dislike it so much - no wait, I can, it's because it's a get out of jail free card, just thrown around whenever to cause a *gasp oh no secret dalek plot* around with a side of body-horror, but not once do I think it's been useful for actual plot/feel like there wasn't just a straight-up better way X thing could've happened

I'm not gonna get into dalek-lore purism, because ehhhh, I do have some opinions, but frankly I'm not well-versed enough in classic who to blow that trumpet too much. but it feels silly. didn't the dalek have a secret killer child thing going on in classic!who though?

anyway. hope to not see these again once the era has ended

point is, M*ffat still struggles with Concepts and Scenery that are just there to "look good" but don't serve the plot

the rest of the plot once we're on Skaro, very enjoyable, truly did enjoy, obviously Julian Bleach is a king and the idea of the Doctor currently desperately wanting to believe in forgiveness and growth and just getting spat in the face for that (while still having a plan B, albeit a terrible one), yeahhh that's what I've wanted to see a bit more of

the Master's shenanigans? the sewers of decomposed daleks? Clara yelling for the Doctor to hear her? fun stuff, really truly

oh also I was initially annoyed by this one thing at the beginning, but then I changed my mind as it went along, especially with the ending, and it was because it's kind of a classic M*ffat thing, where the "smartest character in the room" has a little monologue/test situation with the "normie" character to see how smart they are

in this case though, the Master is flipping hilarious about it (even though I cannot see how Clara could have come to the conclusion she did, where does that knowledge come from, this is what I mean about her being characterised for whatever the Moment requires, because then later on the Master gives honestly Very Clear Instructions on how to control the dalek casing and Clara doesn't get it at all or have any kind of hand in saving herself in exactly the same way later on!) and then it comes back at the end with a fun little wink

Argh Gomez!Master is just so gooooood all the time. and youknow, not good, still a villain, but having a blast. do want to have more of a think about the ways the Master is characterised in each era, once I've seen Dhawan, because I think he takes a left turn once again into absolute "fuck you Doctor" villainy, and I like how their dynamic keeps me on my toes

a lot of the Stuff that M*ffat has the Doctor do that makes me dislike him, is great when the Master does it, because it's absolute asshole behaviour. when she's making people around her feel small or stupid, of course she is. when this iteration of the Doctor does it, I just don't root for him (this does however get better, as I remembered it did -- but it's a shame it took roughly a third of twelve's runtime to do so)

does it make sense that Davros is chilling and dying there and just waiting to lure the Doctor over? Mmmm wish there had been more build-up. is it great once we get there? awww yeahhh

CHARACTERS/LORE/PLOT: the Master is alive (shocker). Clara... works for UNIT? sometimes? EDIT: OH THE WAY THIS IS TOTALLY RIDICULOUS BUT WE'LL GET TO THAT WITH THE ZYGONS Davros is ali- oh Skaro is destroyed (seriously hope this is Skaro otherwise I'm just saying shit). The Doctor had some actual growth as a character at last! in a way that interacts with Gallifrey being out there somewhere and growth post-time war, it's good, it's good stuff

COMPANIONS MATTER: Clara. ah, the eternal issue I think with M*ffat's companions is the way they're there to ask questions, do as their told, get into trouble, get saved, rinse and repeat

this time there is some twist, in that Clara is almost entirely hanging out with the Master and it's the evil inverse of the Doctor and Companion (as I'm sure it was meant to be). it does have Clara be a tad too flipping gullible, seriously, latest when the Master handcuffs you while a Dalek is approaching, Do Not Do What She Says!

have there be some real pushback or deliberation -- if Clara had tried to say "no this is my final straw" and the Master had idk, knocked her out and she'd awoken in the Dalek casing, or if she'd gone "I know you don't care about me, but we both care about the Doctor, so I am doing this, but if you mess with me, I swear I will find a way to get you," just... something a bit more substantial there

(another future-me EDIT: I think it's a shame as well that this is the last time Clara and the Master interact. there was actual pretty good bones in that, and they don't go anywhere)

that being said, the end when the Master is saying she died and trying to get the Doctor to shoot her and she's screaming at him from inside, fun fun fun good fun

still wish there was stronger background to Clara and the Master than "just cos" (I seem to have written that a few times this episode -- it truly isn't the most "Just cos" episode I've seen, it's just that a few hens have come home to roost, so to speak, so we're noticing that it's showing dynamics that could have been established better, but fuck it we run with them now! EDIT: I was running with them, but they never came back 😭)

“GODLIKE” DOCTOR: this was fun Doctor stuff. bit of angst, bit of growth, bit of conversation with an old enemy, bit of manipulation and torture, these are classic hits, Capaldi is doing them so well after a season of just being... so dour the whole time

we may have undoured our Doctor at last! or at least made the dourness fun to watch and not soul-suckingly annoying

(I am still not sure about the whole tank-thing I thought that whole scene was oddly framed, there's "we're doing Doctor Who and so we can fuck around a bit" and "we're doing Doctor Who so we're not thinking about core things that drive our character like, idk, not randomly fucking with time")

PREVIOUS DOCTOR WHO: Davros! why? (Just cos). that's fine. there's some mentions of things as well, fun times. I do wish Big Villains wouldn't just appear in a random episode without it having meaning that this is why they appear here, but at least this isn't a Victory Of The Daleks

“SEXINESS”: unsure where to put this, but I think this is the first episode that hints at Clara being bisexual. she mentions that Jane Austen was a very good kisser as an aside

I get that one doesn't have to show an equal amount of interactions indicating attraction for a character to be established as bi, but it would be nice if it's more than this and the clone-moment that I know is coming up (EDIT: realise the clone-moment comes from a short, and it was a terrible no-good-horrible sexist short, although I do love Clara interacting with the Tardis)

EDIT FROM THE FUTURE: yeah we really don't get much more than this. another joke about Jane Austen in "Face The Raven"... it's a bit meh, on the whole

as a contrast -- ways I enjoy a bit of flirtation - the Master has this line early on about how Davros is the Doctor's arch nemesis and she'll "scratch his eyes out," and then right at the end when she saves the Doctor she also pokes him in the eye. lol. queen

INTERNAL WORLD: listen, this does nothing to fuck with the Daleks (looking at you, Asylum my old enemy) so I am happy! also the Dalek sewers, yeah, yeah I am into it

I have a question about UNIT being increasingly depicted as a secret service/secret military. I know it was always that but uh... where was that science first approach Kate? Kate, hey I have questions Ka- *gets black-bagged by UNIT who are absolutely an extra-judicial secret fucking service/paramilitary!*

POLITICS: In watching this I of course think of the Davros and disability drama that's happening around the interwebs, and firstly like. yeah, of course Davros is disabled, the Doctor literally steals his wheelchair in this episode and leaves him helpless on the floor... I think that's kind of the sort of thing RTD is responding to, acknowledge that it's an evil cripple trope

however of course, Davros is an iconic figure, and one isn't just looking for "good" people representation, one is also looking for Really Cool Characters as representation (I mean, in the children in need special he's pre-genesis of the Daleks so it's chill) -- the answer is of course just more disabled characters, in this case specifically wheelchair users, and I think maybe... don't have the Doctor stealing his wheelchair

I'm not sure what the response was at the time, I don't think this is the worst in disability I've seen this show do, buuuut optics maybe not the best way to go about this plot, especially as Davros is depicted really truly helpless in a semi-comedic way

I think because people -- and I might assume M*ffat here as well -- really often don't think of Davros as a disabled character, it's not the same in their head (or wasn't the same, I won't put this on M*ffat now- well I am watching Inside Man, so his general disability writing is still atrocious, but none of them are wheelchair users so who knows on that front) as, say, the Doctor stealing a wheelchair that looks like a wheelchair from someone who looks like we'd usually expect someone using a wheelchair to look (that is, not as a science fiction villain -- although if that's your vibe, you do you!)

it's an interesting lack of Seeing that I think that moment highlights, especially as otherwise -- including in this episode -- Davros is depicted as an interesting, multi-faceted evil character

big write-up to say mmmmm maybe not that particular thing again, but on the whole it's Davros as Davros has been historically depicted and as far as I can tell there wasn't a massive fuss about Davros being disabled to begin with... we just need to do more now (and like hey, hey, I too wish disabled villains upon all of our households, because villainy is fun, but the evil cripple trope is absolutely real, and I'm hoping this conversation about Davros is opening more doors and not closing our fun villain door just to depict us as goody goody two-shoes all the time -- but I don't think so. I'm glad this introduced the trope to so many people for the first time who'd never even heard of it before, I think that's a big win)

(also hey, are there Davros cosplays with functional wheelchairs? I need to know, I'm sure there are)

FULL RATING: 67/100 (if I can count….)

it's really all about the Master and the Doctor-and-Davros dialogue and the Doctor screaming in pain and that bit at the end where the Master almost has the Doctor kill Clara

that's the good stuff!

[bluecatwriter]

Writer asks

O ho HO heck yeah I love surveys! (Thanks for the tag, @mrpinniped!)

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

109 and counting! 

2. What's your total ao3 word count?

356,656

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Mostly Dracula, but I have racked up a fair number of Dorian Gray and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea fics, plus some Jekyll and Hyde, Frankenstein, and Moby Dick.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

Doors Everywhere

I Too Can Love

In Every Sense

Angels Unawares

For Safety Reasons

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I always try to respond— comments always make my day, so I want to let people know that I appreciate them (plus it's fun to chat about plot points or characterization details with readers!).

6. What's the fic you wrote that has the angstiest ending?

Probably The Breaking Point, where Jonathan dies before he even reaches Dracula's castle.

7. What's the fic you wrote that has the happiest ending?

A lot of my fics have very happy/sappy endings, but probably the most unabashedly happy one is Love Multiplying. 

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Fortunately I have gotten only a few snarky comments here and there; the comments are overwhelmingly positive.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Ugh, so much smut. One moment I'm minding my own business, the next moment I'm tearing my hair out trying to write yet another threesome without making it turn out confusing and/or incredibly goofy. My favorite smut is the kind that's the site for dealing with a lot of Big Feelings (even though those are the hardest to write), but I also write fluffy, not-very-serious scenes too.

10. Do you write crossovers?

I've written a few Dracula/Dorian Gray crossovers, which have been a lot of fun!

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Not yet.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Not for fanfiction, though I've done a fair amount of cowriting in the past on other kinds of writing projects.

14. What's your all-time favorite ship?

I have a lot of favorites, but Jonathan/Mina has got to be the top! I absolutely adore them as a couple, and more than that, their relationship is a non-negotiable backdrop of every Dracula fic I write. I just can't imagine splitting them up!

15. What's a wip you want to finish, but don't think you ever will?

I haven't officially given up hope on any of the many (many) fics sitting in my drafts folder, but time will tell. ;)

16. What are your writing strengths?

I feel like I'm pretty good at characterization, especially expanding on what we can glean from a character in canon.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Plot! Plot is so hard for me— every time I write an even remotely plotty fic, I drive myself batty doing it.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I'll occasionally put in a word or phrase in a different language, but since I only speak one language, if there's an extended sequence in a different language I'll just italicize the words.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

On Ao3, Dracula, but my very first fic I ever wrote down was a Steven Universe fanfiction (that will never see the light of day). (If you count stories I made up but never wrote down, my first fandom was Disney's 1940 film Pinocchio— when I was a tiny child I remember making up a story about a girl who helped rescue all the boys-turned-donkeys from Pleasure Island. My first fix-it fic!)

20. Favorite fic you've written?

I think my favorite overall is Love Multiplying, just because writing it was such a journey and I poured so much love and care into it.

Tagging @yallemagne, @see-arcane and @0nelittlebirdtoldme in the lowest-possible-pressure sort of way.  (You can also post it as an askbox meme if you don't want to answer all 20 questions.)

[danikatze]

Shipper Tag Game

Tagged by @tj-dragonblade! I'm not sure if (m)any of these answers will be interesting at all, because apparently I have a bad memory for ships apart from the ones I made fanart of myself, and I haven't read a lot of fanfic for a long long time.. But I've attempted answering these questions anyway!

What ship were you completely obsessed with as a teenager, but now you don’t care about anymore?

I didn't ship much as a teen. I liked the Marauders gang from HP a lot as a kid, tho, likely even in a shippy way. Obviously HP has left a really bad taste my mouth.

Which ship would you consider your first one?

It was probably a HP one, I was properly obsessed with Sirius, James and Remus for a long time, but like I said, I have a hard time telling when I started consciously shipping characters.

Your first fanfic was about which couple?

Hinata and Naruto and it was baaad. I guess it was maaaybe kind of cute, but it was not good.

Do you remember the first couple you saw fan art of?

Not at all. The most likely options are anyone from HP, Death Note, or InuYasha, but it hasn't stuck with me.

Have you ever gotten into ship discourse?

Nah, the closest I've gotten was the time I got put on a blacklist (or two?) for a shipping Yamato and Sai. I didn't care and so didn't address it, until someone sent me a (kind) message about it. I then explained my feelings about the problematic aspect and the (few) responses I got were 100% positive.

Did you used to have a NOTP or have one currently?

There are plenty of ships I don't particularly like, but I wouldn't call them NOTP's. Except maybe the very very popular ones. I only take real issue with ships that become canon, like a fair few Naruto pairs..

Who were the last couple in the last fanfic you read?

Reading has been hard the last couple of years, so I haven't done much of it.. But it has to have been a Dreamling fic - I'm so excited you've been writing again, TJ 💖

Currently, do you have any OTPs?

MatsuMasa, although they're not my otp in the literal sense. I like them both with Yaichi, and Matsu (non-romantically) with Ume - and the fun thing is that it works all at the same time 😎

Is there any couple that, to this day, you are extremely mad about not getting into?

Hmm well I'm kinda mad at not being as into Dreamling as you are, TJ. I like Sandman and Dreamling! Very much looking forward to the second season and I enjoy the things you blog about, but it's never been more than a general appreciation. And that's fine, ofc, but it's always been such a joy to be excited by the same things as you haha

Is there any ship you used to dislike but now you think they’re kind of interesting?

Maybe KakaGai? Only I didn't dislike it, just didn't consider it. And I don't think it's kind of interesting, I deeply love it.

Do you have any ship that, in the past, would have been considered normal but now you would be cancelled over?

I already mentioned YamaSai, but there's also ShisuItachi. Some people say that the latter is incest. It's been too long and I don't remember their specific relationship, but afaik they're not (direct) family, just from the same clan. Can't get too bothered about family trees in fiction.

Kikyo and Kagome from InuYasha is by some considered gross as well, comparable to incest, because Kagome is Kikyo's reincarnation?

Idk, is FjorClay problematic, because Caduceus is canonically aroace? I feel like it's not a super popular ship anyways, but I still like them a lot. In a queer platonic way.

What is your favourite crack ship?

I don't think I have one. Although I wonder if JonGerry from the Magnus Archives could be considered crack ship? They aren't from different fandoms, but they only met once after Gerry had already died. And then at Gerry's request, Jon sort of killed him again. It doesn't really count as a crack ship, but this is my answer anyway

What is the couple you read the most fanfics about?

Hm, I don't know! The last time I really obsessively read them was in my Naruto era.. So who knows - KakaGai is a very plausible answer.

What do most of your ships have in common?

I guess I most commonly like pairings with a Gentle Giant™ (preferably kind of dumb) and someone grumpy and/or cynical and smart and/or skilful. MatsuMasa, BeauYasha and ShikaChou come to mind.

What do you absolutely hate in a ship?

Hard to explain. Wrong vibes lol. Look I can appreciate love-hate or even hate-hate relationships as much as the next shipper, but there needs to be at least some level of respect/consent/two-way-street? I still dislike SasuSaku, because they very much have none of that from what I remember. They've always been close to a NOTP and then they became canon so..

[lostonehero]

Corpse Micheal YouTube or whatever

Micheal hums and looks through the chat as he streams on a sunny Friday. It's his first back to normal stream after he got new legs, and he is trying his best to relax. Maybe he could pull questions for his father to distract himself.

A frequent question popped up on a larger screen Henry set up so him and William had an easier time responding to comments from people who donate. "What did you look like when you were alive?"

William hums. "When I was alive? Oh, I was smaller than this. The spring lock suit is built for me but is also larger and full of metal, obviously. I'm originally 6ft3in. I heard Micheal got taller than I was, which I am proud of. I had brown hair Micheal got from me and green eyes. Henry always considered me too skinny, but I was fine, I guess."

Henry pulls a picture off his phone of both of them on the opening day of the diner. "Here's a picture we're in our 20s in this photo. If you look closely, you can see baby Micheal and baby Charlie asleep in the corner. William cut his hair short for the opening to look more professional. You can see I used to have dark blonde hair before it turned gray."

William pauses, watching the screen zoom by with the same message over and over. "Henry, what does d i l f mean?"

"Jeremy I swear to fuck if you answer I am going to shove my hand so far up you-" Micheal's threat is cut off as his uncle hums.

"Oh, it's a variation on Gilf, Micheal explained to me what that meant, so I did some research on my own, and it seems to be a new subclass of acronyms, uh like how we would make comments in college about the professors, but in regards to father figures." Henry walks back over to William's side and puts his phone back in his pocket.

William pauses, then makes a soft aha noise. "I wasn't a good-looking guy, though. I mean, maybe it would be the height going for me."

"Don't count yourself out, Mr. Afton, Micheal was very, very nice looking when he was alive, and he was your spitting image, except he had blue eyes and freckles." Jeremy chuckles as Micheal covers his face. "Oh, don't be embarrassed. You were hot, and now you're hot in some weird necrophicalic wet dream."

"That's would be you." Micheal sighs.

"Guilty." Jeremy giggles. "Anyway, to be fair, I've met Micheal's mother more than his father. Your mother was fucking creepy."

"Yeah, I'm not going to argue on that one because you're right." Micheal taps his fingers on his mechanical thighs. "Uh, sorry you guys were arranged, Father."

"Wait, who told you?" William's head turns fast to stare at his son, causing the sound of rusted metal grinding on each other.

Micheal blinks. "I found out going through old papers in the old house before I died, but after mother died, and you went missing well died. It's a shitty contract, and you were basically sold like a toy. That's like super fucked up."

The chat is going wild with plot twists and dilfs sprinkled through

"Hey, I kept my end of the deal. I never told him, but I was right. One of your kids would figure it out." Henry taps his cane against the grass. "But that's the past, and we both know we can't change that and only move forward."

William shakes the ground as he falls to sit on the ground. "Well, I'm sorry. The last memories I have of my son were when he was a teenager. No offense, you've grown into a good man, but I don't really recognize you as this undead creature."

Micheal holds up his hand. "Eh, don't apologize. I don't recognize myself anymore when I look at old photos. I've been like this too long. I do miss having actual eyes, though. It would help convey emotions more."

"You just miss rolling your eyes." Jeremy smiles.

"Maybe." Micheal chuckles softly. "Anyway, you two continue the stream is supposed to be about you two because of the demand."

"I still don't understand the appeal. I'm a skeleton in a suit, and Henry should be relaxing, which I know this is the closest he'll ever get." William shrugs.

Henry huffs. "I've gotten better than when we were younger."

"Henry, you haven't even sat down yet." If William could he would be making a I told you so face.

"Oh, Hush, you." Henry sighs.

.....

The streamed dragged on, and Micheal was planning on ending it soon since they shouldn't be broadcasting everything. He stops when his uncle speaks up.

"One night stand?" Henry pauses musing for a moment. "Oh, right, I forgot I told you guys about that."

Micheal quickly runs into the frame. "How about we not talk about that."

Henry chuckles. "We're all adults here, Micheal, and besides, I'm sure your father can add more details he always recovered better after a night of drinks than I did."

"That's because I actually drank water with the alcohol." William hums. "Are you referring to college or the time after we finally made profit for the first time at the diner?"

"Oh, I forgot about that time. Oh, I should apologize to Margaret." Henry scratches at his beard as the chat goes crazy.

"You know she cheated on you for a long time." William crosses his arms.

"I mean, I know that now, but still. Anyway, a lot of drinks were shared, and we had this old beat-up mattress in our old workshop." Henry stops when Micheal makes a groaning noise. "Oh, come now, don't be embarrassed. We're all adults here."

"To be fair, Micheal was a bit sheltered after everything." William hums. "I did go to an all boys school, so I mean it wasn't unheard of where I was. College was the first time I actually had classes with women."

Micheal huffs as Jeremy giggles.

"So, was the sleeping together a normal occurrence?" Jeremy smirks.

William shakes his head, making soft metal grinding noises. "As much as I would have performed to be in a relationship with Henry, the times were different, and we both had kids of our own. I wasn't stupid enough to risk losing our business over feelings besides after the second time Micheal learned how to crawl and well I had to take him everywhere with me unless I wanted to risk Clara doing anything. Besides, Henry also used that as an excuse to bring Charlie to work all the time. To be fair, you both kept each other busy, but then Micheal would find a way to climb out or undo the locks, and Charlie would follow."

Henry starts to laugh. "My, you had Micheal on a leash so he wouldn't accidently hurt himself. I mean, to be fair, you were a very quiet child and easily escaped whatever we tried to keep you in. Up until you were two, William would carry you on his back after the times you escaped. You adored it and would make Charlie jealous, but she hated being held for long periods, unlike you, so as a compromise, she would play with the mascot heads." He smiles. "You were such a trouble maker."

Micheal looks away and crosses his arms. "I know I was a bad kid. You don't have to remind me."

William gets up and places his hand on Micheal. The heavy weight seemed to relax Micheal only slightly. "You weren't bad Micheal you didn't talk till you were 6, so it was very hard keeping track of you since you were so quiet. You started to speak after you spended time with your sister, which made your mother furious because Lizzie's first word was Mikey."

"They were?" Micheal held a look of surprise on his rotted features.

Jeremy smiles as he gets an idea. "Do you blame Micheal for what happened to Evan?"

Micheal gasps. "Jeremy what the actual fuck!"

William tilts his head. "Why would I blame Micheal for that he was a kid. We all did bad things as kids, and Micheal just wanted attention. I know I wasn't there for him, I was stuck trying to figure out what went wrong with Baby and then the guilt about Charlie was eating me up inside and your mother was making things worse so again I'm sorry for ignoring you when you needed me. However, your mother did cause the rift between you two. She didn't want the same mistake that happened with Lizzie in her words she didn't want you getting close to him. I blame her more than you honestly, but that's not something I'm currently willing to discuss with you. Honestly, I regret not being there for you."

Micheal gives a strangled sob from his rotten lips. He is unable to cry but he was getting overwhelmed with the information.

"Hey Mike, it's alright." Jeremy hefts Micheal over his shoulder. "I think he needs a break. You keep chatting in the live." He waves and carries Micheal inside.

William sits back down. "Did I say something wrong?"

Henry shook his head. "No, Micheal just thought you blamed him and hated him."

"I never blamed him." William gave a death rattle of a sigh. "I'm not ready to tell him the full story yet, and you haven't told me what you two fully discussed, so it's hard. I just wish he didn't hate himself. I also thought he would be amused hearing about us. I always thought he knew. You know Charlie did, and she told we we were terrible at hiding it."

"Now you're making things up." Henry raised his brow crossing his arms.

"You can ask her yourself. Children notice more than we give them credit for. Charlie told me a lot like the machines you've hidden under the shed." William chuckles at the surprise expression on Henry's face. "Don't look so shocked she grew up even if she doesn't sound it."

"And why did she tell you and not me?" Henry frowns.

"Because she hates seeing you upset." William hums softly. "It's the same how you are with her. Neither of you two likes to discuss anything serious, afraid to upset each other. She is your daughter."

Henry sighs. "I want to talk to her, but I always worried she wouldn't understand."

"She will." William gets up. "No, go inside and check on Micheal. I'll keep these viewers busy and answer questions."

"You're only asking because you can't fit inside my home doors." Henry smiles softly, making his way inside.

......

"Did you hurt Micheal?"

William growled at the comment, and his voice box glitched for a moment with his heightened emotion. "How dare you accuse me of something so monstrous. I am nothing like my father, and I doted on Micheal. He always got so annoyed as he got older, and he said I embarrassed him. On a rare day after Elizabeth passed, we reconnected for a brief moment." He sighs as uncomfortable as that noise is. "I miss that, and of course, now I can't do anything I want to do with him. I still can't comprehend how much time has passed since I got stuck, and I regret not reaching out. I abandoned him, and I abandoned him when he needed me the most. I don't know how he is now we've only spoken truly a handful of times recently but he seems to avoid any sort of topic that involves the past or even when I bring up happy memories it's as if he can't recall them." He shakes his head. "That's enough of that."

The chat seems to go somewhat wild. Some comments about traumas and ptsd. Then, another bold one popped up with a donation. "Will you ever be romantically involved with Henry?"

William pauses, scratching his chin. "I don't see how that is possible with everything. Again, you guys, I'm literally just bones in an animontric spring lock suit. I mean, Micheal seems to make it work with Jeremy. I don't think Henry ever felt the same about me. It's wishful thinking to think that man could ever love someone like me. He's always been a good man, a kind man, someone I could never get on the same level. He has always been so much better than I have been, so much better with machines, with kids, and with family. I've always been different, odd. I guess probably why I was arranged into marriage." He shrugs.

"What was Clara like?"

"I'm not answering that." William's voice was stern.

The chat started to pick up again. Another donation, another question. "Who topped?"

"Topped? I don't know what that is referring to. If it is a sexual question, I prefer not to. However, I don't have any ability to do anything of that nature in my current state. I know Henry has already started working on my new body. He has finished Micheal's, but he is waiting for his birthday to gift it. I honestly don't know if he'll accept it. I will happily take a new body. I just want the pain to stop."

"You're still in pain?" A few donations had this question.

"Yeah, I am." William looks away. "I mean, it's as if it's the day the failure happened. The pain has never stopped, and I don't understand why. I've spoken to Charlie about it, and she doesn't know. She says it might be fixed if I'm in something different. It's dulled when Henry takes my skull so I can speak to Charlie, but it never goes away. I don't know why we thought this death trap was a good idea."

"You're still answering questions?" Jeremy comes into view of the camera.

"Is everything alright?" William turns his attention to the blonde man.

"Yeah, Micheal's alright for what it is. He needs serious therapy, but again, it's incredibly hard to get him to do anything like that." Jeremy frowns. "Gareth is talking to him right now. Anyway, goodbye." He shuts the camera off along with the stream.

[the-lupine-sojourner]

The Other Autobot, Season 1 [Prologue]

Hi!

I love Transformers: Prime and have been rewatching it, so prepare for a new journey lol.

Also, I'm also putting Mayfly and Robyn into Bumblebee/Rise of the Beasts, potentially, so be on the lookout for that fic if you're interested (please let me know if you're interested cus I have a few chapters ready to go).

Now, here's the prologue and my theory about how the Autobots came to Earth, factoring in my OC.

It stands to reason that the military/Agent Fowler would be among the first responders when the Autobots crashed to Earth, so that's why I wrote it the way I did.

If there is a canon version of their meeting, I am not aware of it, so have taken liberties.

Anyway, without further ado, here y'all go! If you have questions don't hesitate to ask!

God Bless and Good Day!

~The Lupine Sojourner

"Uncle Will, when you said I should serve my country, this isn't exactly what I had in mind." I muse as we drive to yet another base.

"I know, but I promised."

I sigh.

Ah yes, the infamous promise. When I was born, Mom and Dad named Dad's best friend, William Fowler, as my godfather (and my mom's best friend as godmother, but she's…no longer around. KiA…), so when Dad was killed overseas and Mom succumbed to grief and cancer, 'Uncle' Will became my only legal guardian and even now I'm nearly 23, we're still very close.

He never let me enlist as an active-duty soldier despite my many protests, but he did get me various army contract jobs as an inspector, weapons tester, etc.

Now, he'd gotten me a job as basically an archivist digitizing and organizing reports out of a base near Jasper, Nevada.

Joy.

"I know, hun, but you know how I feel about any other service."

I roll my eyes. "Too well. I'm too young and innocent for politics, too inexperienced to be a soldier-"

"That's not why, and you know it."

I sigh. "I know. I'm sorry. I know you're just looking out for me."

"Always."

Soon, I'm shaking hands with my orientation officer. Then it's setting up accounts and employee files, learning how to enter information, getting my clearance badge to be able to handle the confidential material in the reports, on and on, all while Uncle Will got to go home.

Ugh. At least we can be under the same roof when Uncle Will isn't out on assignments.

Finally, I shake the officer's hand once more and am dismissed.

I head outside to where Uncle Will is waiting to pick me up.

"Thanks, Uncle Will." I murmur. "I realize I haven't been as grateful as I should to you for all you've done. It's not fair of me to complain about the one thing you won't let me do. I'm sorry."

"I appreciate that, sweetheart." He replies, patting my leg without taking his eyes off the road. "Apology accepted."

Unsure what else to say, I fall into silence.

We get home soon enough and I cook us up kielbasa and potatoes for dinner. Uncle Will likes it, and I figure I owe him dinner after he got me this job.

=#=#=#=#=

The first day at my new job both dragged on and was over quickly, somehow.

Regardless, I find myself yawning as I grab my keys from my purse.

The rest of the week went by in a blur of boredom and repeating files (most of which I cleared to be deleted or compartmentalized).

Ugh! I want to do something that will actually matter! Like Uncle Will!

But until he says otherwise, I'm stuck on library duty.

So I race myself to see how fast I can get a stack done, but even that doesn't do much for me.

Finally, my first week is done and I sign out to go home and see what Uncle Will is up to.

On the way home, however, I notice a star in the sky, a really bright one.

The sun wasn't set enough to see stars, so I pull over, curious.

That's when the star grew brighter and bigger…and closer!

I hastily drive perpendicular to the meteor (or whatever was coming down to Earth in a hurry) and see a large unmistakable smoke trail as whatever it is continues a crash course for the desert.

On instinct, I drive after it, surprised at the distance it goes before finally crashing.

I pull my car behind some trees and turn it off, trying to think of what to do.

I automatically grab my phone to call Uncle Will, but for some reason, I decide to investigate first.

I mean, I shouldn't report til I have all the facts, right?

So I take a deep breath and grab my taser, just in case.

The meteor is huge! Easily the biggest I've seen. Only…why does it look like metal?

And why is part of it opening?!

I scramble behind a tree and have to stifle a scream as…something comes out of what I now realize is a spaceship! An actual spaceship!

More things come out and I have to make myself take a peek. They look like robots, each of them taller than me.

I'm trembling as I snap a picture on my phone and get a better look.

They seem to be communicating, but it's not in any language I can understand.

I try to get closer, but end up kicking a rock and alerting the robots to my presence.

Before I can get behind any cover, I'm grabbed by the waist and hoisted up.

That weird language sounds from the being holding me (a small-ish female-looking robot compared to the other taller male-looking robots) as I'm hauled into the middle of the group.

"Let me go!" I scream, panicked, beating at the metal hands, but I don't accomplish anything but probably some minor bruising against the metal. "Put me down!" The grip is strong, nearly bruising my ribs, which does not help my current panic at all.

The robot's head tilts as if curious, her glowing blue eyes (something I note in every face) flickering for a moment, as do the others, I note with a glance.

The one holding me smiles. "Hey there. I'm guessing you're a local?"

I go still. "You speak English?"

"Now we do." She replies coyly.

"Easy, human." The tallest robot, painted red and blue with some metal left unpainted, intones in a deep, serious, but ultimately trustworthy voice. "We mean you and your planet no harm."

I squirm. "Then put me down!"

The one holding me does at a nod from the tall one.

"What is your designation, human?" He asks, kneeling to get closer to my level.

"Uh…my name is Robyn. Robyn Burns."

"Robyn Burns, we are autonomous robotic organisms from the planet Cybertron, or Autobots."

I swallow, trying to wrap my brain around being the first human to encounter aliens.

"So, uh, you're…not gonna have to kill me cus I saw you, right?" I whimper, the thought occurring to me.

"Wouldn't be that hard." A second male, this one not as tall as the first who'd spoken, painted white and red, grumbles. "No protective shell."

I back up nervously, but the tall one puts a hand on the other's shoulder.

"Easy, Ratchet."

I swallow, still incredibly nervous as yet another male, with a black and yellow paintjob, looks at me, excited beeps and whirring the only sounds he makes.

"They're hardly that interesting or exciting." 'Ratchet' snorts. "They can't even transform!"

"Regardless, they are a species we have not encountered before, old friend. We must be open to the possibilities on this new planet."

"Um…" I hold up a hand, unsure how to go about talking to these massive robots. "How do you guys speak English so well so quick? You were speaking a different language a second ago! And what do I call you guys, anyway?"

"Autobots, obviously." Ratchet snaps.

"There is no need to make her more uneasy than she already is." The tall one replies patiently and then turns to me. "Robyn Burns, my name is Optimus Prime, the leader of the Autobots. You know Ratchet's name, and this is Mayfly, Bumblebee, and Bulkhead."

I nod, feeling at least a little better now I know they're not gonna hurt me. "H-hi."

"You asked how we speak Earth's languages, Robyn Burns." Optimus continues.

"Yeah, and, uh, just Robyn is, er, is fine."

"Very well." He nods. "We learned Earth's languages through what you call the Worldwide Web or the Internet."

"That fast?" I ask automatically, slightly taken aback.

"They're hardly complicated. Mere data." Ratchet puffs irritably.

"Ratch, c'mon. Ease up, would you?" The one called Bulkhead (a rather, uh, rotund robot with green paint that makes him look almost like an Army soldier) chuckles. "I gotta admit, she's got spunk. I figured she'd freak out." He starts walking around, taking in the scenery. "If we're done with introductions, I figure we should start recon."

"A wise idea, Bulkhead." Optimus notes.

Almost before I know what I'm saying, I'm jogging up to Bulkhead. "Hey, uh, I can help you with that, if you want."

"How could-we hardly need a guide!" Ratchet splutters, but Optimus and Mayfly come to my defense.

"Oh, c'mon! Cut the human some slack!"

"We are strangers on this planet, and have yet to acclimate. I believe it is in our best interest to take Robyn at her word."

I smile, feeling oddly steady the longer I talk to these robots. "Great! So, um, this state is Nevada, on the North American continent in the country of the United States of America. We're outside a town called Jasper, near a military base, in fact." I start rambling.

"Military?" Bulkhead asks. "They won't cause any fuss, will they?"

"Frankly, I dunno. The base is more of an archive, really." I shrug. "As a matter of fact, I work there."

Ratchet starts to speak, but at a stern glance from Optimus says nothing as Optimus addresses me. "Perhaps, then, you can help us assure this military that we mean no harm."

"Maybe! My uncle is a Special Agent who could probably help, too, but, uh, he might not take to the idea of aliens super well." I shrug. "He's a bit old-fashioned."

I lead the way toward my car (unsure what I am going to do when I get there) when Mayfly catches my eye. Her iridescent green paint is beautiful!

"Mayfly, right?" I ask.

"Yep."

"I like your, uh, paint job." Is that weird to say?

"Um…thanks." Yeah, that was the wrong thing to say.

"Sorry. It's just that I like that color is all."

She smiles. "It's alright. I like it, too."

Finally, we reach my car and I pull out my phone. "I should maybe call-"

The sound of a helicopter reaches my ears.

"What is that? 'Cons?!" Mayfly snaps, and her hands change into some kind of gun! In fact, all their hands form guns!

"Wait, hold on!" I cry. "Don't shoot! I think I who it-" As if on cue, my phone rings. I instantly pick up. "Hello, Robyn-"

"Are you out of your Star Spangled mind?!" Yup. Uncle Will saw the Meteor and is probably inbound. Maybe on the chopper…or in the trucks I can see coming in. Either way, it's clear he sees the robots and me.

"Uncle Will, please! I need you to listen! They're not dangerous!"

"I'll believe it when I see it!"

"Trust me! They could've easily killed me, but they didn't! Trust me, please! I can explain!"

The few military trucks pull up, and Uncle Will gets out, hanging up his phone.

"There had better be a darn good explanation, young lady!" He snaps, coming right up to me.

Optimus motions for calm as the Autobots tense.

I lick my lips. "There is, I promise. I was going home when I saw what I thought was a meteor, so I went to investigate, wanting to be able to report all the facts before we jumped the gun. I found these guys. They're friendly, Uncle Will."

"What she says is true." Optimus speaks up preemptively, causing Uncle Will to flinch as he slowly crouches closer to Uncle Will's level.

"It can talk?" He whispers.

"Yup. In English, thanks to the Internet, apparently."

"My name is Optimus Prime, and we are autonomous robotic organisms from the planet Cybertron, or Autobots for short. We mean this planet and it's people no harm. Our ship was damaged and we crashed here. We have no hostile intent."

"...Robyn, I don't think the Pentagon is gonna like this." Uncle Will sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"I know, but we're gonna have to tell at least someone so the military know not to attack them. We can say they're prototype weapons or whatever, just let them stay. I mean, it's not every day we get visitors from space."

"No…no it is not." Uncle Will sighs, orders the troops to back off, and turns to the gathered robots-er, Autobots.

"Uh…welcome to Earth, I guess."

[twilightguardian]

Here’s the definition of shit:

https://imgur.com/a/84BLgug

https://imgur.com/a/23KEKFW

https://imgur.com/a/AVmTEyn

I'd gotten this ask a few days ago and didn't want to address it at first for a few reasons. Namely it being the holidays and also because there's just a lot. But I'm bored and honestly this is fun to do, so why not?

I think the first one is pure commentary while the last two I'm not going to address that much. The second one seems to have some discussion, but it's getting into criticizing the artists, and the last post is purely being an asshole about the art made by volunteers for not being professional. I really don't think I need to talk about why that's a scumbag move, do I?

Also I like how the way this anon gives me these links makes it seem like instead of saying the review is proof that Fixing RWBY is shit, it's saying the review itself is shit. Which... we'll see.

Strap in, guys, it's another long one!

For some reason it starts off talking about episode 2. This person is rather lukewarm on their thoughts about this episode, which is fine.

Though I wish I had context for what made episodes one a train wreck.

Episode 1 of Fixing V5 jumps back in time to the Fall of Beacon. It establishes that Roman wakes up while being digested by the griffon for unknown reasons, but it gives him enough time to destroy it with his cane. We later learn that reason is Ozpin. We get to see efforts of Valeians (?) as they scramble in the direct aftermath of the city's destruction, see people who got injured instead of being just told about it like it was something that happened in another country. We're also treated to Roman desperately looking for Neo and fighting Ozpin all the way, who is being exceedingly patient with his new host. We get hints of one of the Malachite twins having been killed during the Fall, and then it gets proven to us as Melanie resolves to take her revenge on Roman.

It's good at establishing how Roman survived and why he didn't meet up with RNJR until the end of episode 2.

I left both of these together because it was amusing. You have to have some sort of intrigue in order to want to have questions answered. That's kind of how the concept of want works.

My question is why is Roman dragging Qrow home that big a deal? The fall was nearly a year ago so obviously Roman gave up his search at some point and is now doing what Ozpin wants him to do, which is for Roman to search for his companions. Roman never saw Qrow and doesn't know who he's connected to, just that he is one of Ozpin's so-called companions. And he's shitfaced. Just like in canon with Oscar escorting Qrow home, Roman does as well. But Qrow isn't as much of a functional drunk as he is in canon, so instead of him (I think?) giggling while hiding behind the door only to pop in after Oscar asks for Ruby, Qrow is needing to be dragged back home because he can't walk. If you've dealt with very drunk people, you know the experience.

So my question would be why wouldn't he be dragging his Brain Parasite's companion home?

How to tell when a review is disingenuous 101

To be slightly fair to this person, they're all over the place with their commentary for episode 3, stating they have a 'bone to pick' but the overall episode was 'meh' but likes the worldbuilding and aesthetics of Menagerie's city yet complains about Raymond's tone.

Which, idk. The tone he has for Fixing seems pretty in line with canon RWBY if you ask me, so if you have a problem with comedy in Fixing, you have a problem with canon RWBY. Comedy is completely subjective, though, so it's not like I can say this person is wrong for not thinking it's funny. Also since most of Fixing is an outline summary rather than a full on script, comedy is mostly lost here unless he goes into the dialogue.

I'm not entirely sure what this is referring to. Do they mean the beowulves being washed away with a "comedic ARF!" scene? I mean sure? But personally for me I'm not sure how the scene would have been powerful if the ARF had been left out. Also it's not like the grimm haven't been used in comedic scenes before (Yang kicking an ursa in the nards. She really has a thing for inappropriately touching bear nuts, huh) It's a fair criticism, don't get me wrong, they're allowed to think this, I just don't get it lol

Also like... this is RWBY's flavour of comedy what are you mad for?

As much as I appreciate the absolute historical nerdery going on here...

It's a pun, dude. (And foreshadowing, but mostly the pun) There is water. There is a gate. Chill lol

I mean... none of these criticisms are immune from canon RWBY, they do realise, right? Like they've watched the show, haven't they? Mistral in Fixing primarily looks the way it does because it looks that way in canon. The team just made a few tweaks to the design to make it more functional.

Also I guess they just forgot, or neglected to mention, the fact that Mistral has elevators, the glass kind being ones the group used to go meet Lionheart. It's got some old mixed in with the new. That lovely worldbuilding you were praising earlier. That being said, there is some city, like the poorer districts down towards the bottom or the 'swamplands' and I imagine grimm are more likely to come out and play down there.

It would actually be fun to go hard with the worldbuilding and I'm sure to an extent the Sketchy Huntsman did. Though when you go a lot into the worldbuilding nitty gritties in the video you start to become a bit like an old 40s high fantasy novel lol.

"(A possible war due to dust embargo is) stupid considering the circumstances, but realistic, considering the circumstances."

Okay.jpg

I don't get how the fall of Beacon has anything to do with Menagerie's laws. These are different countries. That's like saying "That implies citizens in Germany have the right to lawyers. But there's a problem with that: Qatar"

Also don't get how recent terrorist activity and grimm attacks or gimm existing affect anything related to human-human (or faunus) law. It's a non-sequitur.

Also yeah. No duh he's drawing from a western liberal democratic framework. So do the writers of RWBY. There's been a lot of discussion in RWBY circles I've seen about how Remnant just feels like our world (particularly America) with a neopets-esque coat of fantasy paint slathered on. You also assume Earth-like conditions unless specified otherwise. What's your point?

Oh wait, nevermind it doesn't matter. Guess bringing it up was pretty useless, so I don't know why you did other than to whine.

You don't want me answering that question, Friendo.

You're a person who thinks that the planet Remnant is one giant country that spans multiple continents and that each city state on each continent is just within the Country of Remnant if I'm to believe this commentary. Like, if I have to spell it out for you: A tragic event that happens in another country halfway around the world has little bearing outside of trade and the like.

There's like... a bunch of out of context bitching and whining about Raymond and his server and about the annoying teenager that I don't think anyone liked, either in the SH or in the Tundra. I blocked her soon after interacting with her for the first time because it was very clear she existed in the server specifically to be a little shitstain. And she'd leave of her own accord to prevent being kicked out only to return again until she felt she was overstaying her welcome and leave again.

It is a serious criticism people have, though. Like, I'm pretty sure the major reason people dismiss Fixing is due to the name. It's somehow "arrogant" and "how dare" and all this pearl clutching. I've seen it. There are people in Raymond's comments section, on reddit, on tumblr, all whining about the name of his series and judging the book by its cover and all that. So this person acting like it's not a serious argument is bs. They had every right to address it.

I think we're getting into random commentaries now and not a breakdown/review of any episodes.

(Badly summarizing a youtube comment from Judgmental Critter's video talking about rewrites)

Wait, which of the things that Roman did is the One Bad Thing he'd done?

Also that's not the point. He's not a good person or even a good guy now doing good things. He's still a bad person, he still does bad stuff. He's forced under the circumstances to do something he does not want to do. That's not "now doing good things" that's surviving and adapting to the circumstances. Do you not... get the difference? He's not reformed.

This person gets it lol

It's not meant to be groundbreaking or revolutionary or anything. It's meant to show that RWBY has the potential to be a better show. Whether you like it or not doesn't matter. There are plenty of people who don't and just simply do not engage with it. But this is Kiwi Farms we're talking about, where the norm is someone acting like Big Critic and taking the least charitable thing imaginable to the point of parody and thinking they're intelligent for saying a bunch of edgy words and calling something shit. I don't expect much from them, though I have seen reasonable and intelligent discourse there, it's few and far between. So it's just really funny that this person who sent the ask thinks it's any good at "proving" anything.

Ugh, how dare the concept of volunteers exist!

Like, shit dude. If anyone asks to become a volunteer and expects to be paid, they're an idiot. No one is being forced to do this, they do it because they want to and are passionate about the project as much as Raymond. Everyone who comes into the project (with the exception of one person) understands what this is and what they're in for.

His patreon is going to be there regardless of if Fixing RWBY exists or not. He's a youtuber and youtubers who like making money off their youtube have patreons. That's not a crime. You're complaining about nothing.

There's whining about Critter and Twiins as though that has anything to do with Fixing. Also a bit on Remnants complaining that worldbuilding exists. How dare worldbuilding exist! I hate worldbuilding! Well, it's no wonder you like RWBY then jeeze.

He's not in a villain position anymore, to start. As for his 'fixation', it's literally just that Roman is one of the few charismatic characters in the show. People like charisma. You can call Cinder a lot of things but charismatic is not one of them. Neither is Salem, Lionheart, Hazel, or Neo. Tyrian and Watts are arguably fun in different ways, sort of.

I guess having a favourite character is being 'fixated' now.

Someone's angy and needs to be put in time out for that ableist comment.

I'm mostly highlighting this for the sheer buttmad but also because I wanted to mention that character bloat and underdeveloped protagonists are two different concepts. One solution to this problem is simply developing many of the characters to make them not useless. Getting rid of JNR doesn't inherently mean RWBY will get more development. As it stands, I think the girls are getting development in Fixing. They're getting a lot of focus and growth. It's not like bigger casts are impossible to work with, it's just harder to pull off.

Ignoring the family issues between Yang and Raven in Fixing doesn't mean it didn't happen, y'know. Also... Vernal doesn't add anything relevant to the plot? She was a big red herring in canon. That's not important? I guess doing something with a character that's meant to be important and actually making them important is stupid. Genius.

Also also I guess anything beyond a White Picket Fence nuclear family plus a lonely offshoot is too convoluted for this person to comprehend. It's not like divorced parents can't start other families or have children or anything. Having one half sister is hard enough to comprehend but TWO half sisters? No, that's too real life and hard to brain think. How do you even math that? Women can't have children out of wedlock with other men not their husbands that is verboten.

If these people think RWBY's cast and relationship dynamics is bloated, wait until they hear about the Game of Thrones books.

I don't really have much of anything to say here. I think this is fair criticism. I think keeping canon as intact as it is in Fixing is a double-edged sword. On one hand, it's one of the things people like about the project, but on the other, it also means his major changes have to be few and far between and I think that he could have been a little more liberal with his character culling. Then again, it would be hard to justify someone like Watts being replaced by Emerald considering his history with Atlas.

I feel like removing the relics might be a bit too much in and away from canon, which again, isn't Raymond's goal. His challenge is to work with what he's got as much as he can. Changing the macguffin from relics to dust would really change a lot of things. They're intricately tied to Salem and Ozpin, so it wouldn't work. But since this person would have liked Raymond to remove Salem as well, I think the main complaint here is that the rewrite isn't more drastic and sticks too close to canon. Again. The whole point of Fixing. It's so funny how many people find that difficult to grasp. There are other rewrites out there that are more drastic than Fixing. They're just as valid as Fixing, I'm sure.

Also why would grimm be attracted to dust when they're already attracted to negative emotions? That doesn't make sense. I get that you're trying to solution the problem, Reviewer, but I don't think this is it. Not as easy as first blush, is it?

Also that monkey paw worked in really weird ways, didn't it...

Yeah, man. That sounds really tragic. Building her up to be her own person and not just a red herring, having a friendship with Weiss and meeting her sister, questioning her worship of her mother and being at that right age to start making her own decisions. It really is too bad. It's frustrating. It's sad when characters die, especially when they do have a lot more they could do. Almost like that's the point or something.

The sharp knife of a short life.

These people equate any kind of emotion in Fixing to being like a soap opera, though. So it's kind of hard to take their criticism seriously when iTs A sOaP oPeRa is their criticism. As though soap operas are the only shows that have emotional moments in them. It's a meaningless criticism just meant to be disparaging for the sake of being disparaging because they actually hate giving Fixing any kind of compliment. One of them actually said "I hate to admit it, but--" in one of these images. Which in my mind means they're purposefully trying to find any excuse to shit on Fixing, even when it's unreasonable and then have to begrudgingly admit when they find something they actually, genuinely like.

There's another sOaP oPeRa mention with Weiss vs Vernal when complaining about the fight scenes. Because if using it as a low tier insult when you have nothing of substance to say isn't already obvious: here you go.

The next link is mostly shitting on the character design. Which, whatever. Design tastes are as subjective as comedy. Though there's a lot of "ugh it's so final fantasy" as the go-to. And the idiot tries to use a European knight outfit to compare to Blake's Asian-inspired outfit when talking about practicality. I guess Asian outfits aren't practical.

Also talks about how Jaune needed to have a knightly look... while showing him in the concept art wearing a gambeson and a knight helmet. I don't know if this person knows this, but gambesons are worn by knights. You can't complain about the practicality of the Fixing outfits and then demand Jaune wear full fucking knight armour. It's laughably stupid and makes me think this commentary isn't genuine.

Also calling Ruby a prostitute because her goth dress has a different goth design than in the canon show. Classy.

And more attempts at equating the designs to poor Final Fantasy ripoffs by saying that Nora looks like "discount Aerith" when neither of Aerith's designs in FF or KH have any amount of black in it (her boots...? maybe?) and have a lot of white and yet Nora's whole outfit is surrounded by black with barely any white outside of the fur fringe and boots. Also has a thick, furry viking asian design element to it, which has nothing to do with Aerith's European airy flowergirl aesthetic. Really, the only thing similar between these girls is that they are both wearing pink dresses. It's really a pathetic stretch. Maybe the person felt dirty for the comparison because they knew they were full of shit.

I have little interest in going on, because it's likely more of the same, or being dickless and getting into attacking the artists. So there ya go. The anon who was desperate to prove Fixing is shit spent a lot of time and effort to give me screenshots of a really dumb Kiwi Farms 'review' where the purpose was to find as many wrong things as possible, even if they had to lie about it. Still not impressed.

There was one (1) single legit criticism I've seen out of the whole thing. You wanna make a point and actually talk about things wrong with Fixing? Engage with it honestly and not just because of petty little reasons like these. Or using things that are subjective as all hell, like comedy and fashion, to try and make your point.

[hyeque]

prohibited kisses [kuroo tetsurō]

notes: based on diana's post here and also inspired by my horrible life choices of doing this very thing. anyways this is dedicated to @kuroosruby :] <3

warnings: reader not being very bright, kuroo being a menace but for our own good, delayed smooching 🤕

ah exam season. every college students favorite time of the year. there's nothing like the tense atmosphere that fills the air, students stress at an all time high and a seemingly endless amount of work that needed to be done. students found themselves busier and less time to attend to friends or leisure as they pour their focus into their studies.

except for you.

you are the master of procrastination. it's the one thing that surprisingly hadn't bit you in the ass. you always manage to put things off until the last minute to be completed and spend hours on hours not moving. sometimes your habits were so bad that you end up with minimum sleep and not enough to eat.

your boyfriend kuroo is the complete opposite of you though.

he always manages to lay things out in an organized manner, knowing when he would do things and get them done. he used his planner religiously, color coding and laying out dates for when he would work on something. it's one of the things you love and envy about him. of course when saying that the only thing he said was, "well all you have to do is stop being lazy."

lets just say you weren't exactly happy to hear that.

exam season for both of you made it hard for you to spend time together. kuroo is always frustrated because when he set aside time to spend time with you, you often had to work on something. and with working always came with you being sidetracked.

such as right now. he clicks his tongue, watching you pick up your phone for the third time within five minutes. you idly scroll, not focusing on your work.

eventually you get up and go to the bathroom. your phone lays on the couch. kuroo doesn't hesitate to reach over and grab it, stuffing it in his pocket.

when you come back, you sit down, almost immediately noticing the absence of your cellular device.

you get up, spinning around. you look over at your boyfriend. "tets, have you seen my pho-" you frown once you find it in his hands.

he waves it around. “oh, this?”

"i've been looking for that. thanks." you go to grab the device from the man’s hands but he jerks out of your grasp. thinking he's joking around you reach for it again, but he repeats his previous action.

you frown. "what are you doing?"

he smirks. "the real question is what are you not doing?"

you squint. "huh?"

kuroo points to your laptop. "your homework. you haven't done any of it. i've been watching you since you've gotten here and you're still on the same assignment."

"not true! i got pretty far!" you argue.

kuroo huffs out a laugh. "kitten, you've been on the same third paragraph."

you look away. “well i'm going to get it done."

he arches a brow, leaning into you. you can smell his cologne and it makes your heart race. "yeah, baby? and when is that?"

he takes your silence as an answer and sighs.

“all i’m saying is, is that you really need to break your habit of procrastinating. it’s not fun seeing you all stressed out.” he crosses his arms, looking at you with worry.

“i know, but it’s hard…” you try to curl into his touch like you usually do, but he moves away. you whine, clinging onto his bicep and he tsks, shaking his head.

"no, you don't get to touch me. you have to earn that." he says, pulling your hands off of him.

“what?” you sputter, astonished that he would say such a thing. call you spoiled, but kuroo rarely ever told you no to things that you wanted, especially if it was affection.

“until your work is done, you’re not allowed to touch me, got it? that means no kisses either.”

at this point your jaw is on the floor. “t-that's not fair! you're just going to sit there looking all handsome and sexy and i can't touch you?"

kuroo finds your mini tantrum amusing and laughs. "awe, that's cute of you to say, but sweet talking isn't going to change my mind." he coos, bopping you on the nose.

“think of it as your ‘punishment’ since we were supposed to spend time together today and not work.” he says, sitting across the table from you.

guilt sparks within you and you nod, finding that fair.

you sit back down in front of your computer, sighing heavily.

"you'll be fine. i'll be right here the whole time to help you with anything. okay?” he reassures, looking over at you.

kuroo keeps his word, occasionally checking in on you and looking over anything you need help with. he makes the two of you snacks, reminding you gently to eat and drink water when you get to caught up what you’re doing. he lets you go on your phone only when you have small breaks but reminds you when you should start working again. he doesn’t get mad when you ask for help. he’s so patient and understanding through all of this. he’s never overbearing when it comes to caring about you and that’s something that you always will appreciate.

but that doesn’t mean that not kissing him isn’t killing you…

that evening, he watches over your shoulder as you finish your last assignment for the day. submitting it you let out a small cheer and he hums in approval.

you peer over at him with big eyes as he goes to sit on the couch. fidgeting in your spot, you hope that he’ll grant you the relief you want but you don’t want to make it look too obvious that you’re needy.

kuroo must be a mind reader because a smirk appears on his face when he turns to you. "come here, princess." he says, beckoning you over to him.

finally.

hesitantly, you get up and sit next to him, leaving a significant amount of space between you two. pettiness and agitation from your earlier feelings start to resurface.

"no," he snaps his fingers, "here," pointing to his lap. he can tell that you’re being bratty and he isn’t tolerating it.

you move across his lap, making sure to look him in the eyes, a pout on your face to show how miserable you felt without his touch for the past few hours. it must work because his demeanor is suddenly soft.

a smile crosses his face and he tickles your sides. “don’t pout, i want to see your pretty smile.”

your pout remains. “i’ll smile if you kiss me.”

he rolls his eyes playfully. the both of you knew he suffered as much as you did if not more without a kiss.

“whatever you want…you’re lucky you’re cute.”

the kiss is sweet but quickly becomes eager and hungry. he groans against your mouth, his hands bringing you closer to him. your hands run through his wild locks. the two of you can’t get enough of each other.

when you both pull away he runs his thumb over your cheek endearingly. "you did so good baby, and worked so hard today. so proud of you. now you won't have to cram sunday, see how that all works out?"

his praise makes you melt and you bury your face in his neck, humming in agreement. “i’m sorry i ruined our day. i know i should’ve worked ahead of time so we’d actually spend time together.”

he kisses your forehead and both of your cheeks. “you didn’t ruin anything. studies are important and i just want the best for you, that’s all. we can still do something, so what do you want to do now?”

you lay your head in his shoulder, closing your eyes. “don’t want to move. just want to stay like this.” you respond, clinging to him tighter before springing up. “actually, can we watch some movies?”

a laugh escapes him at your burst of energy. “okay, but not too late. we have to make sure you work on your other homework tomorrow.” he reminds, patting you on the butt.

you frown. “but it’s not that much, do we really need to-” you’re cut short when you notice the stern look on his face that says ‘try me’ before you sigh.

“okay…”

needless to say, you began procrastinating way less to avoid that entire situation from happening again.

do not copy and or repost. likes, reblogs, and comments are appreciated though! (c) 2022 hyeque

[willowedwisteria]

hi hi there, sorry for not responding much since im procrastinating on my project and being busy irl (read: lazy)

i just have this brainrot recently about fasting month (why is it in april ahhhhh)

imagine the confusion and panic the acolytes have when u woke up and make food at 4-5am, not eating NOR drinking throughout the rest of the day and suddenly its evening, u got ur phone out to see what time is breaking fast.

its even worse when they try to give you food when ur fasting and even if u explain why, chances are they’ll either brush it off or go to the extreme to not have you see them eating.

zhongli drinking tea/osmanthus wine? xiao dropkicks him when u step in the room. xiangling eating her food? bam, its gone, all in guobas stomach. (though u reassure them that they can just eat/drink)

but also a good chance u see them fast to experience what u were going through (and fail miserably, except for some, like raiden shogun prolly)

and another thing is that to not get thirsty, i kinda try not to speak as much but vcing with my friend somehow doesnt make me thirsty-

now imagine not speaking as much as usual and now u got the whole squad trying to get u to speak more-

(again, sorry for the sudden disappearance, ill explain why in the future, maybe in may or late april)

It's alright, byul! I get that you're probably busy these days.

About fasting, I don't know much about it, so please don't be afraid to correct me if I make any inaccurate assumptions!! This is a long one.

You would be waking up at the crack of dawn to quickly prepare yourself some food. None of the maids are awake to help you so you try to whip something up yourself.

Depending on which archon decide to have their stay at your place that day - it'll be most likely Zhongli, they don't have a need for sleep.

They'll be wandering around your abode and then find you standing in the kitchen, barely awake and still yawning, making some food for yourself.

The archons don't hesitate to step in which really did wake you up and surprise you. They insist you go back to sleep. For the more... uninformed archons about mortals, they'll let you stay awake.

The archons probably feel very relieved to see you feasting on a lot of food, it would mean that you enjoyed the food and can confirm that you have had the breakfast you needed to start the day.

In the middle of the day, when you look and feel less drowsy, the maids and butlers will do their daily routine of offering you your favorite drinks and snacks.

It does kind of sadden them when you decline their offer. They'll ponder your sudden loss of appetite and report to Zhongli or any other form of authority about this matter.

The servants begin bringing you a wide variety of snacks to check if your tastes have changed. They don't even know about the fact that you're fasting. Poor them, they're unaware of how they're making this worse.

Once you've gotten your fair share of worried looks and stares, at the end of the day, once the sun has finally made its descent, you begin to finally eat and drink.

The acolytes are terribly worried still. They do feel a bit more relaxed once they glance at you merrily munching down on the food prepared, but that doesn't mean that they won't pretend you didn't eat or drink for the whole afternoon!

Is it some kind of new diet? It's an EXTREMELY unhealthy one! Is the food not to your taste, but you don't want to admit it? Assumptions and guesses are being tossed around, yet no one has the courage to ask for the reason why.

The moment someone decides to finally muster up their courage to question you, you explain to them about your culture and faith.

Once they're assured that this will only last for a month, they try their best to support and even join you. Most of them are curious and want to know even more.

Many will hide drinks and snacks from you as a way of helping, they have a personal dining room and make sure that you're not around when they have lunch. The chefs try not to cook anything with a pungent smell as well!

I would assume that many acolytes would try and participate in fasting, but since they're not used to such a lifestyle, they'll unconsciously drink water then realize a few moments later, then fall into despair. It would be even worse if you were the ones who pointed it out.

You don't speak as much as usual since speaking too much causes one's throat to get dry, which would lead most to want to quench their thirst with water.

Seeing this change in behavior, they'll be two types of acolytes. One, the ones who love hearing you speak and feel terrible, they'll try to have a fruitful conversation with you the moment the sun comes down and even wishes for time to pass by faster.

Two, the ones who enjoy their time with you, no matter if you spoke or not. You don't have to speak to enjoy your time with them, they can enjoy the small peaceful moments with you and still have a coherent conversation with you, just nod or shake your head and they'll receive your answer!