#also more flavors from different cultures too which is cool

[dragpinkman]

i got the coolest mushroom tea + lemonade idk what its going to taste like i have no idea what kind of tea it is im going to be honest i bought it solely for its great packaging it looks so cool

[omghallucinations]

enhypen sunghoon: anti-sagittarius stereotype (subtitle: pluto... what u up to there buddy????)

thanks to a kind anon i now know that dawn has some cultural connotations but i'm going to leave this breakdown because i DID ASTRONOMY for this astrology and i want that on the record!

after SO MUCH searching i found sunghoon was born at dawn then after extensive Learning (i did math for this dude) the exact technical time for dawn on 8 december 2002 in suwon was 7:02am. i'm not insane i know no one's gonna cite the exact scientific time to just colloquially say dawn, but i'm putting it in there anyway!! FROM WHAT I'VE SEEN many enhystrologers lean scorpio rising for sunghoon but i did not--primarily because of the astronomical/nautical/civil twilight times of that day he's a lot more likely to be a sag rising and secondarily because a pluto in the first house can reaaaaally look like a scorpio rising. also it makes sense to me to have sag rising for someone who is a) athletic and b) clearly intensely ambitious and goal-oriented (i assume??? i mean you don't become a pro athlete as a child then decide to become an idol without this??? i am only encurious you guys i'm not an enhexpert yet!)

i'm not gonna go hard on his ascendant or chart ruler since we can't be sure (altho i will touch on features of a sag ascendant because from like 5am on he has his sag sun in his 1st house) and i'm gonna focus on house placements and aspects that are consistent from ~5am-~7am.

sagittarius vibes: escape route planned 24/7

or, party in the first house: everything's not about me.... .but what if it is??? (it is)

so a sagittarius rising or sagittarius sun can be charming and extroverted and blah blah blah but not necessarily. sagittarius is ruled by jupiter and jupiter loves to EXPAND--expansion can mean fun, extroverted, silly, but it doesn't have to, expansion can also mean wanting more or going farther. notably a prominent jupiter can really expand your head. sunghoon does not have this problem, pluto really stepped in to be like hey girl... .ever feel the closeness of death haha? anyway no matter what any sag loves to: leave. goodbye!!!

they spend a lot of time considering the Philosophy of things--meaning is wildly important to a sag rising or sag sun's Purpose. as a leo rising personally i cannot relate, because i don't care about "what is 'good'" or whatever, i care about Vibes and my hair, but each to their own! a sag has to Believe in stuff, they're searching, they have a lot of thinky thoughts. a rising tells you your direction/journey in this life, and sagittarius cares about freedom, meaning, expansion and hitting da bricks. they feel trapped at the slightest provocation. the weather changes and suddenly they are accusing you of restraining them in a prison of your creation and it's like, girl? i'm just sitting here?

however! with the sun in sunghoon's first house he is not free from me, leo rising!! although he also has pluto conjunct his sun, and pluto is a very intense bitch so his rising (sag or scorpio) gets a major scorpio and minor leo flavor. but yet there is more! mercury can be up in there too, depending on time, which could be gemini rising-y but with his possible virgo MC i'm gonna say it gives more of a virgo rising flavor.

(sidenote, the key difference between gemini and virgo:

gemini is like, omg look at all these cool rocks, they are all so cool in different ways wow, i'm gonna take every cool rock home and show them to everybody i know and it will take 5 hours and they will definitely enjoy my 5 hour meandering rock lecture

virgo is like, hm this rock is clearly superior to this rock, i am only going to take the correct rocks home, and i will explain to you how they are actually not exactly correct in the following ways, which you will enjoy, especially my mean and hilarious commentary about the not superior rocks

and they are both weirdo freaks with anxiety. thank u for ur time.)

basically sunghoon is on a real Self Journey in this life!! with his south node near his ascendant and north node near his descendent (either 12th/6th house or 1st/7th house which is more of a Traditional Idol Placement), his journey is both about Discovering His Purpose/Identity and also realizing he's actually just one person in the wide world and there is no objective truth, really (a sagittarus looooooves objective truth, because objective truth is about being right) therefore he is not, personally, Responsible For All The Ills That Have Befallen Anyone (thanx pluto).

with his sun and possible rising in sagittarius, think about that arrow glyph ♐︎, it's really loaded to go-go-go! but not so fast because his lunar nodes (these guys ☋ ☊) are conjunct or near conjunct his ascendant-descendant line. if his north node was conjunct his ascendant it would simply increase the go-go-go and like focused unity of purpose (keep an eye on your transits bc whenever the transiting north node is conjunct ur natal north node you get the go-go-go), but his south node (☋ his past lives, his foundation) is the one conjunct his ascendant. there are 2 types here i think--either you don't care much about goals because I'm gonna get there when i get there, or!!! you are just as driven and intense someone whose north node conjuncts their ascendant, but life is gonna throw stuff in your path to help you periodically reevaluate. so it's more like sunghoon's past life and his ascendant as his like, lil guide to his Journey are standing in front of his instincts being like OK BUD. LET'S JUST SLOW DOWN THERE NOW.

it's not gonna stop him from achieving his goals, but it is gonna force him to reevaluate frequently, change his goals (transition from figure skater to idol??) and also try to get him to slowwww Dowwwnnnn.

so summary before i get deep into any more specifics--

sunghoon's 1st house is gonna color his whole life, so every planet in here is gonna have to do with how he figures out who he is and how he moves through the world:

his sun--he's gonna be in the process of figuring out who he is in his life. not everybody shows up as their sun automatically---but the sun is the energy you need to be or tap into. so he's called to #journey #search find #meaning and also #leave. any fire sun is also called to shine and assert themselves in some way.

his pluto, conjunct his sun--ok this is gonna require a real Treatise so i'm gonna go deep into her next but pls believe me when i say he has deep security needs and fear entwined with his identity bro also he's very powerful and has a lot of intensity and magnetism he is not aware of also he's ultimately deeply secretive (as a security mechanism)

(possible 1st house) his mercury, in detriment in sagittarius-- communication is part of his Journey but he's not like... super good at it. but he does have a real ability to nitpick and critique everything, including himself

(possible 1st house) his capricorn chiron -- ahhh.... yeah.... . ... there's some deep wounds in his perception of self and he feels rejected by society in some way.... tbh he feels like every time he's been Himself he gets hate for it from somewhere, this probably started when he was young. chiron has a lot of exact aspects to other planets too so that childhood agony really affects a lot of stuff in his life!! yoops. when he feels vulnerable he probably shuts down a lot and tries to keep it #business and tries to heal himself through success/trying to adhere to societal standards in some way

pluto conjunct sun: an onion buried deep underground by an overprotective badger

pluto has the sun fully behind an 8 foot deep brick wall. people are like knock knock knock, can i get to know u sunghoon, and pluto is like hell NO nobody is HOME get OUT. this seems very rude and it is but sunghoon's pluto is trying to protect him! like he'll be able to be close to people in his life, but he probably hides a lot even from them, like i doubt anyone knows aaaaanything non surface level about his childhood or like. how he really feels about something.

here is the real kicker about that pluto!! pluto doesn't just want to hide sunghoon's sun from the world, pluto wants to hide sunghoon's sun from sunghoon, like sunghoon feels impenetrable to himself probably. especially trippy because again this is part of his #journey!! knowing himself!!

something about a pluto-sun conjunction or square or many 1st house plutos seem very catholic to me, like very I Am The Sinner I Am The Destroyer I Personally Did Sins So I Myself Caused This Problem subtext, very goth, very stained glass, very gruesome depictions of the deaths of saints... the power of imagery... .. .. people are really into your aesthetic... rituals 4 life... .. .. morbid kids love this....

so like, sunghoon has all this personal power and magneticism but he does not see that about himself and actually he probably really does not have good self esteem at all. when he gets older this will probably get better but he is nooooot there yet like i don't blame him!!

sunghoon, just living his life: sun conjunct pluto in his first house (hades hanging over his shoulder whispering): hey ever think that death could come at any minute? if anyone truly knows you they will betray you :) and steal your identity somehow or force you to be someone else :) sunghoon: (the scream by edvard munch) sun conjunct pluto in his first house: HEY DID YOU KNOW THAT YOU ARE INHERENTLY THE DESTROYER OF WORLDS??? sunghoon: idk why i feel weird and anxious all the time sun conjunct pluto in his first house: you're welcome for protecting you :) i love you :) never sleep anything could happen :)

often the sun in a hard angle (square or opposition) or conjunction with pluto will have a father or father figure who looms really big in their lives and who seemed all-knowing when they were a kid--it probably seemed like this person just Knew if sunghoon had erred in any way.

sunghoon: daddy issues? answer: actually, not traditionally! just has a dad who really influenced his perception of the world!

sunghoon's dad probably:

was very aware of the bad stuff in the world and negative aspects of humanity

tried to protect sunghoon from this reality

sunghoon saw him as vaguely all-knowing (and probably unconsciously sensed the like... fear or tension his dad hid about, handwave, life stuff)

with the sun trine jupiter, sunghoon probably had a great relationship with him especially when he was young--although he may have made his dad into almost like a god, like he could do no wrong and he was always right about everything

so now sunghoon:

hyper-vigilance

LOVES a ritual (ritual can save him????? from anxiety???)

probably still idolizes his father

can take a dad-like role sometimes and come across as paternalistic and patronising, he really means well tho

god complex (i need to be great at everything i do, also everything bad that happens anywhere was my fault somehow)

sun-pluto is so fun because it's like:

sun conjunct pluto: i must become Great... I must become So Special.... . that i have NO SHADOWS i must become SUPERHUMAN i must become BEYOND DEATH i must NEVER FAIL if I FAIL i FALL APART by MARINA i can ENDURE ANYTHING!!!! pluto conjunct sun: ah i am worthless... .. . yet i am so intensely important that inherently i destroy everything i touch somehow.. .. .. every single thing that has ever happened is my fault... .. anyway maybe i should subconsciously self-sabotage and create some situations where i need to develop superhuman willpower idkk.....

usually sagittarius gets by with a very healthy sense of humor and lols, but that pluto conjunction means he takes life REALLY SERIOUSLY as well. too seriously. he must learn to make a mistake and to simultaneously have some self esteem and also have some humility lmao.

since this is such a powerful conjunction, let's look at what else it touches!! whatever it does, it's gonna mean sunghoon has insane expectations of himself there.

pluto-sun (1st house):

square virgo MC (possible, depends on birth time)) --if it does hit it's like he has sky high expectations of himself in his career BUT he keeps making choices that don't align with him well so he ends up criticizing himself SO insanely much leading to overwork to "correct" anything, repeat. trine leo jupiter (8th or 9th house): any fire trine has a talent for risk--and with jupiter it's like it is time to LEAP without EVER LOOKING bro!! with the pluto and possible 8th house aspect it's not necessarily like there is no possibility of failure, but almost like sunghoon is like (clenches fist) there can be no failure if i simply.... brute force myself to success. anyway a fire trine is inspirational and future-y, with the sun and jupiter it is extra this especially because they rule each other (jupiter in leo ruled by the sun in sagittarius ruled by jupiter) so they are partners. but also they have to "and steve" pluto who changes the vibe a lot. still! sunghoon has a lot of creativity, will power and an ability to take his personal identity (1st house, sun, leo) and use it in a global way (jupiter, possible 9th house). altho this... really just increases his complexes lmao. semisquare aquarius moon in the 2nd or 3rd house: man let's hope his moon is in the second to ground it a little bit lmao.... more on our aquarius moon here later, but basically this one shows he is so so so so so sensitive but he doesn't like to show it. people probably think he is much more mentally strong than he is. every criticism seems both objectively true and also like a direct attack on himself as a person. semisquare mars in scorpio (11th or 12th house): deeply focused, ambitious, can be ruthless, suppressed anger (especially in the 12th), needs a goal or an outlet for the Energy (music is good!) otherwise he ouroborus eats himself septile neptune in aquarius (2nd or 3rd house): septile is like a pisces-y aspect, it's very subtle and a little mystical, it just adds a little glaze like a light sheen of water u know what i mean? it's not super deep but it adds to the Flavor. since neptune is a pisces-y planet, sunghoon's identity gets a softening quality which he desperately needs. he has a spiritual ability and, w the sag sun and pluto, probably finds a lot of meaning in spirituality which can offset some of his Stuff. this gives him a like, ophelia in the river painting thing. very delicate, wistful, loves to lie to himself...

because some aspects are super specific and this isn't an exact conjunction, we get a few that may only apply to 1 planet:

sun novile venus in scorpio in the 11th or 12th: a tint of libra, it's a talent here or a calling. in the 12th would give him a self-sacrificing vibe, in the 11th it's more about his beliefs about humanity

sun contraparallel saturn in gemini in the 7th or 8th house: if i can Do Things and Produce and Fix Problems and Overcome Obstacles i will... become worthy...

scorpio venus/mars square aquarius moon/neptune: double life????

any fixed square or opposition has a ton of willpower but hates to change stuff and is very attached to things/ideas/people/whatever, and the scorpio-aquarius fixed square is like

scorpio: tell me ur deepest darkest secrets let's commune on the deepest level intimately you r my twin flame wait NOT YOU i don't trust YOU i trust one and a half people on this earth but with them i want 2 unite souls aquarius: ah, humanity, i have many abstract yet deeply humane ideas about humanity, how fascinating, let us discuss them, objectively and dispassionately, i love friendship, uhhHH not that close though!!!! stay out!!! icky!! yucky a real emotion yuck not like that! this better not awaken anything in me!!

in any square or opposition the two sides do not agree on how to act in any given situation, and since this is a fixed square they are just like... fully in a standoff.

and with sunghoon's venus in detriment in scorpio conjunct his mars on one side of that square, it's giving.... double life. lmao. it's giving.... presents one way in the public eye has his private life way less conventional on the side. it's giving... .taboos??? all of this especially if the venus-mars conjunction is in the 12th. something in his private life is a lil out there--maybe he's into the occult?? fun!! or it could be something relationship-y or sexual especially with venus and mars involved. eyeball emoji indeed....

our scorpio side of this square clearly wants intimacy, it wants intensity, it wants depth and connection. aquarius, this may shock u, super disagrees.

on the aquarius end, our neptune-aquarius conjunction, an aquarius moon can really run the gamut. the stereotypical thing here is like--

loved one: i don't feel loved and cherished please reassure me!! aquarius moon: what is "love," really... what is "reassure".... (lecture about nature of love/interpersonal versus personal love that manages to obscure their own feelings about anything) anyway like i was saying (harry styles voice) choose kindness....

and honestly a lot of the time u truly cannot kill an aquarius moon in any way that truly matters. their emotional center is on another planet you cannot get there. of course that means they feel pretty lonely sometimes. they distance themselves from their feelings so far they can often fool themselves into thinking they don't have them and are absolutely pro at distracting themselves. ever met one existing on your own in silence??? not a single aquarius moon, a never-ending podcast a day keeps the inner demons away.

honestly a sag sun aquarius moon will obviously have an unconventional relationship life barring other factors, they feel trapped SO OFTEN they can't possibly have a "normal" one, so this makes sense. it may be as simple as an open relationship or just a relationship in which one partner travels a lot, idk.

IMPORTANT THO! the moon is widely conjunct neptune, which will piscesify everything.

neptune: so much of life is about connection... beauty.... can we really experience the world if we don't touch the soul of another... aquarius moon: (frantically looking for exactly the right youtube video to shower with it playing in the background so it doesn't have to face its thoughts) neptune: my influence will make u feel so tender and like ur reaching out for connection.... just give in.... maybe try hallucinogens... aquarius moon: NO. NO THOUGHTS. NO. alexa play literally any pocast, anything, please, i don't know what is happening to me, what is this swirling.... emotion???

especially with his mercury in detriment in sagittarius, sunghoon has NO IDEA what any of these feelings are or how to label them. girl get an emotions chart like for kids. it will help.

aquarius LOVES a boundary and neptune HATES a boundary so he has a curious ability to feel everything everyone else is feeling and...... not be able to communicate it at all.

k try to get into the #childhoodissues

moon square mars: ever feel... rejected as a child haha... idk and maybe you sensed your mom had a lot of unspoken anger about society or the extended family or something?? neptune conjunct moon: idk i feel like my childhood was perfect also my mom did everything for me i feel bad.... she had to work so hard... moon square mars: (repressed anger simmering beneath the surface like an icelandic volcano) aquarius moon: what i have learned here is that it is safer to remove yourself from everything and view it all from an objective distance. and whatever else u do, always stay a little removed subconsciously!!! that way u will be safe neptune conjunct moon: haha good luck with that scorpio venus conjunct mars: maybe sexuality and relationships are a great way to deal with hard feelings and repressed whatever???? moon square mars-venus: at least we can agree that it is very important to protect the people u love scorpio mars: and if you must fight, fight and win neptune conjunct moon in aquarius: with our words and ideas because we are demure and mindful

sunghoon's venus-mars conjunction is exact--and this is a really cute conjunction! a mars conjunction can often seem really overwhelming, but with venus it's more like we combine mars's survival impulse with venus's love of art and beauty--so (stop this is so adorable) it's like he pursues artistic expression as an act of survival. ughHH that's beautiful. stop.

it also softens the aquarius moon by aspect--

scorpio venus-mars conjunction: what is life without intimacy and love??? are we alive if there is no romance at all??? can we experience our art authentically if we do not have Romance??? aquarius moon: oh hey guys didn't see u there... idk i was really planning on keeping people at an emotional distance for safety?? idk when people get close to me i'm kind of like uhhHH uh oh danger signals?? sagittarius pluto-sun conjunction: oh #word, #vibes, #mood scorpio venus-mars conjunction: 🥺 mars at home in scorpio: 😈 venus in detriment in scorpio: 👻 ? neptune conjunct moon: idk... i can feel the Aura... the veil between worlds... .. . .. i mean, psychologically would our understanding of the world be incomplete without union with another... idk aquarius moon: :( it's like u guys want to get hurt ugh fine

but i'm really underscoring what i wrote up there about double life dude lmao. he really likes a neat divide between who he is as an idol and what his private life is like.

time for our summary!!

the only other thing i really wanted to touch on leads nicely into the list of influences--sunghoon's gemini saturn opposes his sagittarius placements. sometimes you'll see a chart underline a thing four times using different aspects (with slightly different flavors of course) and you're like ok ok we GET IT.

big theme #1

say it with me, identity! saturn opposing all these first house placements including his sun is a very literal feeling of ---in order to please people around me/society (saturn, 7th house) i need to suppress or control my own power and shine in whatever way. sunghoon's #journey is very much about figuring out who he is, understanding his personal power and learning to harness it.

also really deeply understanding he is not the #destroyerofworlds shit just happens sometimes

big theme #2

balancing his passion (mars/venus in scorpio) with his fear of containment (sagittarius) and defense mechanisms of staying removed from things (aquarius) -- he doesn't have to unite his personal life and public life if he doesn't want to, but he does have to learn about his own feelings and stuff.

he's working towards (north node in gemini in the 7th) viewing life a little more lightly and less like there is one Objective Truth, as well as learning to communicate with others and develop real personal relationships where he allows himself to be vulnerable and doesn't just like... cosplay "relationship" while still maintaining a total independence out of fear.

chart big players:

mars, at home in scorpio--possible chart ruler, definite big player in his prominent aquarius-scorpio square

jupiter, exalted in leo--possible chart ruler, definite ruler of his sun, mercury, south node and pluto. this is interesting because usually a dominant jupiter makes for a very bouncy and exuberant person, but that's not the impression i get of sunghoon but again i barely know much about him so i could be deeply off base!! the vibe i get though is more of a weight on the future-looking parts of jupiter, expansion in a less physical/jubilant more mental or career sense. a totally committed feeling like he's always going to make it and he's going to do well, like opportunities are given to him (and they are), that kind of thing. but pluto really does not want him to bounce and jubilate very much, judging by the aspects there.

his pluto and his sun, going hard in his first house!!

his saturn has the most exact aspects to other planets as well as his only opposition, which makes a lot of sense for an idol--so much is about work, production, value, society. maturation comes easily to sunghoon, for better or worse.

his lunar nodes have wildly a lot of aspects as well as being either conjunct or near conjunct his ascendant-descendant line--this is a really vital life for sunghoon! #journey!! also i am. so jealous of anyone with a natal node conjunct their ascendant, everyone i know with that has such a like. direct and sure path to their goals??? doesn't always work out but damn it seems awesome to be so unified on a goal.

this was really interesting!! it was really cool looking at someone whose sun doesn't seem totally tapped into yet--his chart is really showing these blocks he'll have to work through with all of the different aspects and planets in detriment. and it's a good reminder that often people don't just rock up in life as purely their sun sign--they have to work through things, possibly projecting qualities of their sun sign on other people, before really leaning into that identity.

plus like damn pluto is so powerful, you know??

[mirakurutaimu]

Opinion on Ral Zarek now being an Otter in both meanings of the word?

rant time i talked about this on Twitter a bit yesterday but it's so fucking stupid. like it's kinda cute that Bloomburrow has the kingdom hearts lion king world "if you go here you're an animal while you're here" thing, but also the only thing we were really told about Bloomburrow leading up to it was "there will be no humans on the plane". so we're all like oh shit, cool, sounds like it's gonna be its own unique thing without a bunch of Dudes You Know in it since there's no humans in it, right? we can finally escape the cycle of banal, tropey sets that are mostly just "Characters From Magic's History Dress Up In Costumes" (MKM, Cowpokez, NEO, Capenna) but nope. of course not. if you planeswalk/omenpath to bloomburrow, you turn into a furry! now watch them sell secret lair packs of fur-tfed planeswalkers, because of course every set needs to be a vehicle for a bunch of stupid gimmicky Products™️ they can sell to gamers with extremely loose wallets

oh, yeah, and alongside this announcement was that they're cutting off printing of portuguese cards. it's not the Biggest deal since I've heard firsthand in non-English speaking countries that they usually just end up using the English cards anyways (gee I wonder if this has anything to do with the globalization of American culture lol no problems there). but they only decided to cut off the printing of portuguese (and simplified chinese) cards because they're facing a 2% drop in profits this year... because of all the stupid royalty fees they're paying on their dumbass Universes Beyond crossover bullshit lol

i've loved Magic since i started playing in high school, but as of late that love has been waning a good bit. the game is so bogged down by corporate product shilling bullshit. every card needs 900 alternate arts. 900 alternate borders. every set needs a hideous alternate card treatment. every set needs 56 different kinds of booster packs. no more Block-format releases, no more core sets, just products, products, products, products.

i used to be a big fan of Commander/EDH, but ever since it really caught on and Wizards/Hasbro decided "well, this is the most popular gamemode, we now need to design the entire game around it" and it kinda completely ruined commander imo. what was once a gamemode about running weird, niche interactions and building something with a unique flavor or playstyle now boils down to "well, just pick one of the 92849634796782435678 legendary creatures they've been printing for the past few years and run all these extremely pushed commander staples they keep printing" and it just ain't fun anymore. gotta sit down at the table and look at entire Doctor Who decks and Transformers cards and Tomb Raider cards and etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc. Commander tables are just fucking billboards now lmao

it's very clear WOTC/Hasbro has no idea what to do now that they did the Giant Multiverse-Ending Threat of the Phyrexians in All Will Be One. much like the marvel movie franchise which MTG has been so emulating for years now (AND HAS EVEN SIGNED A FUCKING CROSSOVER DEAL WITH AS OF LAST YEAR, SEE YOU IN 2025 THANOS COMMANDER DECK), we're at the period where they're just throwing shit at the wall and seeing what sticks, twiddling their thumbs with these boring, tropey sets, all the while drowning players in a deluge of alternate arts, secret lairs, crossovers, etc. a common complaint among magic's playerbase is that nowadays they're literally selling too much shit. preview/teasers season for one set will immediately be followed by previews and teasers for another set. there's no time for anything to breathe it's just buy buy buy buy buy buy buy buy buy buy buy buy buy buy buy.

anyways stop giving hasbro money, print proxies and play magic for free :)

[faulty-writes]

hi uh I was wondering if you could maybe write an Indian reader x Bakugou? Indian weddings are a lot different than American ones, and I just think it would be really cute to see him get along with relatives of a different culture maybe, like him in Indian clothes, eating Indian food ( I know he likes spicy food so that’s up his alley) and maybe even learning a certain language too. I speak Tamil, but the majority of India speaks Hindi so that would be cool too :D

[ Sounds good. I hope I did your request justice my dear, Queen Piranhadon. ]

It was an honor to meet Katsuki Bakugou, otherwise known as "Ground Zero", during your family's brief stay in Japan. The intricately woven designs embedded in the fabric of your vibrant and colorful outfit immediately caught his attention. "Tch and just what the hell are you supposed to be?" He demanded, not realizing the cultural difference between the two of you.

When you tell Katsuki about your culture, traditions, and home life, he wears a scowl the whole time. Yet, he does acknowledge that participation in the celebrations you mentioned would be interesting if only to boost his ratings.

"Eh? What's the matter?! What's with those damn looks!?" Your family initially feels intimidated by him, which is understandable given his personality. Even so, they are friendly and compliment him for his strong-willed nature.

Food wasn't necessarily one of his guilty pleasures, and he usually didn't compliment anyone, but the flavor combination of Indian food and spices like cumin, turmeric, and red chili powder had his tongue dancing. Yes, he enjoyed spicy food and began visiting your family frequently for more delicious home-cooked meals.

"What the hell kind of language is this!?" he snapped, quickly growing frustrated as you tried to teach him some basic phrases in Hindi. Despite his frustration, he enjoyed learning new things because he had the heart of an academic student beneath his tough exterior.

Despite your cultural differences, Katsuki was protective of you whenever you faced discrimination or prejudice because of your background and made sure to shut whoever up quickly. Usually, this was done with his fists.

"Don't laugh, dumbass!" He demanded. It never occurred to him that your family would make him a traditional outfit from your culture. You were delighted to see him dressed in a maroon kurta, a vibrant nehru jacket over the kurta, white churidar pants, and golden jutti shoes.

While he wasn't known for his humor, he appreciated that the two of you could joke about your cultural differences, such as how greetings in Indian culture usually mean a hug or a firm handshake, while greetings in Japanese culture usually refrained from touching each other.

"Oh, don't act so damn surprised dumbass..." Although he knew you'd have to return to your own life, he didn't want to leave your side. So instead, he surprised you on the day of your departure and informed you that he was also going to your home country, and there was no room for arguments.

[osomatsuconfessions]

vaping and general smoking thoughts long long long

osomatsu: sticks with just cigarettes mostly, antiquated frame of reference where old and comfortable is the best with little change allowed. matsuzou smokes so i think oso just followed by example and liked the relaxed feeling and repetition aspect. he would maybe try a vape under the idea that a buzz is a buzz and a buzz feels good but would find the synthetic taste and experience to be offputting. has many complaints that comically go against audience expectation: 'whats the point! it doesnt even smell bad! it doesnt even make YOU smell bad! it doesnt even make my lungs burn!' etc etc

karamatsu: impossibly weak nicotine tolerance, smoked one cigarette and got extremely sick and took it as an omen. wouldnt vape because sucking on a little rectangle doesnt line up with his idea of coolness. holds cigarettes and cigars in his mouth to get the image of being intimidating and tough without ever lighting them.

choromatsu: WOULD be interested in vaping out of the fear of what smoking is actively doing to his body and what it says about his restraint and responsibility over himself by putting his lungs in danger, plus (kiddish and so, hard to admit) the flavors sound appealing. would sneak hits of tottys vape really obviously in the middle of the house any time hes not around and would over time want to start branching out with different pods, making his own rankings in his head. choro does not see this as lame but instead something akin to taking up wine tasting as a hobby (same level of prestige in his mind but less cost so its even better. hes even better). writes whole entries in a journal bought specifically for this purpose about the notes and undertones and things. to him this is for explorational AND educational purposes. this is the hobby of a discerning mind. this is not him being addicted to drugs. this is not JUST some guy vaping a ton for the sake of vaping its DIFFERENT. the other matsus find the journal and mock choro and his analysis of unicorn 50w by reciting passages back to his while she goes catatonic and silently switches back to cigarettes. never gets any buzz ever again from the insane tolerance build up but will never share this fact or think deeper about what it says about his habits

ichimatsu: explicitly doesnt smoke nor would vape. shit in his lungs is shit in his lungs it all sucks

jyushimatsu: intermittent cigarette smoker just whenever the chance presents itself. in line with him sharing the coffee milk with osomatsu where its probably more about the taste and getting to chug it and spin around than the effects of caffeine, its a vessel for comedy and appearances (for reference humor to specific archetypes or doing physically impossible tricks) and stuff more than an actual enjoyment of nicotine. he probably finishes other peoples but doesnt start his own. also thinking of jyushimatsus fixation with chewing and teething on shit like cybers heads or the lollipops theres no way hes not chomping the shit out of the filters. i think vapes initially would kind of confuse him same as all the others, but hed be reeled in by the idea of super sweet flavors and the comedic potential of making giant clouds. hed be like a fog machine. teeth marks on the vape too nothings safe if its going in there

todomatsu: would vape, specifically orange or strawberry pods. totty also doesnt really get it but it SEEMS like its hip cause there was a lot of buzz about it a couple years ago and he is forever multiple seasons late to any kind of trend so hes more than willing. hitting it around other people makes him feel like his fingers on the pulse of modern culture and not a guy who spends his time gambling and fishing like an old man. confidence booster plus he thinks it makes you smell better to women, especially compared to tobacco smoke, which is another plus (and cuts down on buying gas station perfume 2 in 1 bargain). when not accompanied by people totty means to impress (the other matsus) he would smoke cigarettes. he (like the rest) is a fiend of habit and behaviors set by osomatsu especially are ingrained so its pretty inevitable that he followed along in earlier adult years and then got hooked. but by s3 hed give it up more (riceballs using their electronic vape things further pushing the idea that this is futuristic and impressive and something that they should get with the times on, which totty would feel self conscious about not understanding/already doing + additionally having already made his extreme departure from following osomatsus actions beat for beat as he otherwise was predisposed to in s1) but would have an itch for it that hed mostly only scratch when drunk or making excuses. to compensate for his late switchover and to further distinguish himself as The Sextuplet In The Know Of Things hed rub in their faces how bad tobacco is for your lungs and how hes gonna live way longer and chide them about how they prioritize getting a hit in over living a long time like 'good luck having sex when youre DEAD with TAR LUNGS idiots!!!' when asked how vapes are at all better for your lungs he goes silent and looks away

.

[lorraineofcominantes]

Tanna Talk: This Week in the Rogue Trader (Video Game) AO3 fandom (March 24- 30 2024)

"Oh, yes, a dance was never just a dance. It was also a display of the soul. It was love, and war, and didn’t they say that all was fair in love and war ?" - Tapestry of Fate, Ch. 34.

Lots of new plot bunnies this week in the trenches. Anyway, this is user aylinvail reporting to you live over vox caster from the Starseeker Bridge.

Cool new fics

Maybe the fic did something new. Maybe it innovated. Maybe it's an entirely new concept we haven't seen yet. A non-comprehensive list.

Two sides of the same Aquila - An AU where the Warrant of Trade is held by two most incompatible individuals in the Koronus Expanse. A series of pivotal moments of their relationship where they need to learn to share the power, space and an Interrogator in order to make it out alive. BOY THAT IS FRESH @vitanithepure.

Eliminate - A fic about Epitaph and Calcazar telling Heinrix to kill you. Told in 500 brilliant bittersweet words. @pycnolite's masterclass in how to keep it short and sweet.

Omega von Valancius - OMG @pallysuune has finally brought us the first A/B/O RT fic. As an omega, Violet von Valancius wasn't fit to be the Rogue Trader, and everyone around her seemed to know it too. But no one was more vocal about it than her so-called-peer. Can her actions ever earn his respect, or will she forever be lesser in his eyes?

The First Engagement - I know, I know, but listen. Have you seen a Lord Captain Heinrix x Interrogator RT yet? No. Fits here. Anyway, if you wanted to see what Heinrix is like as a jackass who "summers" in Janus, here ya go.

Who updated?

Here are the longfics that updated this week.

Starseeker - Heinrix/RT intrigue rewrite of game events with Kunrad-related canon divergence. And a shoujo romance.

gossamer of starlight - RT/Yrliet. Yrliet watches her elantach's dynasty fall apart in slow motion. Non chronological.

Predator & Prey - RT/Marazhai. Aurelia von Valancius has a secret. Marazhai Aezyrraesh has a craving. They're perfectly matched opposites, so long as as they can overcome their differences.

Theatre of Hearts - RT/Nocturne of Oblivion arranged marriage. And from what I hear, getting really cultural difference-flavor of interesting.

Much ado about the Lord Captain - A Comedy of Terrors - RT/Heinrix. A retelling of Rogue Trader with tons of pining. A forest of pine trees. And smut.

Immortalium - RT/Heinrix. NEW! From @cawyden-gaming. The story follows Venria von Valancius on her journey of coming to terms with her past and present.

Iron Maidens - Multiship. An Iron Widow x Rogue Trader crossover.

Omnissiah Forgive Me - RT/Pasqal. Pasqal Haneumann owes his life to the Lord Captain, Kassard. When he joined the Lord Captain's retinue, Pasqal found he had got more than he had bargained for. For the Lord Captain was enough for Pasqal's faith to be shaken to its core.

My Knight So Daring - An Imperial Knight!Heinrix x noble!RogueTrader arranged marriage AU. And from what I hear, getting really hot.

Into Temptation - RT/Marazhai/Heinrix. Former Ministorum Priest now Rogue Trader Cassius Von Valancius must contend with his heretical desires for Marazhai. Matters become even more complicated as his feelings for Heinrix Van Calox deepen.

Edge of Daybreak Unbroken - RT/Heinrix. Heretic Rogue Trader gets brought back to the start of the game. Time travel shenanigans ensue.

Once we were - RT/Heinrix. A story following the events of the game, in which Imogene von Valancius allied her dynasty with Xavier Calcazar and brought peace and prosperity to the Koronus Expanse. But neither last long, and the line between hero and heretic is always blurred.

Domino Effect - Multi. Betrayal is terrible. It never comes from one's foes. But instead from those closest. It comes from a place of safety. Of love.

Addendums

they go here. for in case there are late night updates. im out of spoons bros.

[owlbelly]

@winkingvoid said: 

femmes can be venomous; i'm glad folks are finally talking about it more. it's gotten so harmful how much it's tainted the public queer/trans narrative it's still somewhat rare to see any non-femmes represented for more than a token I'd like to think times will change for the better <3

i mean. just to be clear my issue is not with people who consider themselves "femmes" (who, in my experience, are shitty in exactly the same numbers as people who consider themselves any other flavor of gender. some people are just shitty)

it's with the weird seesaw thing that continues to happen in queer/trans cultural spaces - having been out for almost 25 years i've seen it rock back & forth multiple times - where different gender groups go through periods of feeling underrepresented or unfairly treated within their communities & there's usually a big push for "centering" and "uplifting voices" then a period where that's like. the only people it's cool to hear from or talk about. followed usually by a backlash & a swing in the other direction! femmes vs. butches/mascs, trans men vs. trans women, etc. it's exhausting. & it's not as though it's not a real thing happening or like people don't have real reasons to be upset about who's "represented" or has social power, it's just that it's a miserable repeating cycle rather than a real examination of power dynamics with any nuance.

also imo it very rarely maps onto whatever's going on in mainstream culture/media with regard to queer & trans people. like it's always been hilarious to me that the standby is "butch lesbians are the cultural stereotype so we need femme lesbians in movies/tv/etc." but if i asked you to point to an actual butch on a big screen, lmfao. or the thing where most trans-focused mainstream media is still only ever about trans women, but in actual queer/trans spaces & orgs it's often heavily skewed towards trans men & transmasc folks now (which is a change that i also saw juuuust begin to happen in the mid-to-late 00s). ofc "representation" & "visibility" are double edged too & don't make people safe.

anyway as an extremely agender person who still can't escape getting shoved to one side by cis & trans people alike, i would love to see this shit even out eventually & i would love even more for people to just let go of the whole "war of the sexes" divisive nonsense, we literally do not have to reproduce that cishet dynamic in a "progressive" way :')

[punkbakerchristine]

october 7th marks 1 year since hamas invaded israel. the terror group massacred 1200 people, rampaged the city of sderot and the nova music festival, kidnapped 250 people from all walks of life, from literal infants to little old ladies, from americans to british to thai to israelis, from jews to bedouins to druze to christians to actual muslims, and started this godforsaken war. it was a terror attack, a crime against humanity, an act of genocide, and if you’re going to point fingers at anyone for starting it, blame donald trump (he sold intel about israel to russia, an ally to iran and the base of hamas, which is how they were able to break through the iron dome). israel are not the genocidal ones, and they never have been, either. hamas is. radical islam is. radical islam doesn’t give a single fuck who you are, not even muslims.

it also marks 1 year since i started baking bread. i literally made my first bloomer when it happened (and i was like that guy back east when the pandemic hit, and he was living off the grid and had no idea why everyone was masking up, so he went into a gas station like “can someone please tell me what the hell is going on?!”).

so, i’ve made a bloomer again as both a means of coming full circle and to remember the attacks.

this recipe is based out of the standard bloomer, as every culture has a loaf of bread, and inspired by a cheesy jalapeño loaf from schat’s bakery up in bishop, california, and also chilean flavor profiles (i’ve been on a chile kick lately). the pungency of the cheese and the garlic is like a direct opposite of the sweetness of the foods served at rosh hashanah to commemorate how painful this whole experience has been, and the chili powder, which is piquant and earthy, is meant to be ironic as this conflict is not about land. flavor-wise, it gives a dimension to the garlic and an earthy feeling to the cheese. it’s an oil bread, so it’s kosher. ***i just read that cheddar is not halal unless it’s made by tillamook. otherwise, i’d recommend using a different pungent cheese that’s made with a vegetable rennet. if you’re not a fan of sharp cheese, you can use a milder one like havarti!

nevertheless:

500 grams of all-purpose flour

10 grams of salt

7 grams of fast-action yeast

40 milliliters of olive oil

320 milliliters of cool water

1 tablespoon of minced roasted garlic

1-1 1/2 cups of shredded sharp cheese

1/8 - 1/4 teaspoon of chili powder

***my loaf was actually made with 375 grams of flour (or roughly 3/4 of the measurements because we’re running low on flour as of writing), but the measurements still stand.

***if you’d like an authentic middle eastern version, swap out the chili powder for sesame seeds and za’atar seasoning!

tip the flour into a metal bowl with the salt on one side and the yeast on the opposite (salt can stunt the behavior of the yeast and slow the proving process so it’s best to keep them separated). add the oil plus 240 milliliters of the water. with one hand, stir the ingredients together and begin incorporating them: add more water if the dough is too dry. once you have the dough going and all the flour is mopped up, place on a lightly oiled work surface and begin kneading. put your hands, arms, and back into it!

the kneading should take 5-10 minutes (or longer if you’re new to bread making): you want the dough to be smooth like the inside of your arm.

place into a lightly oiled glass bowl and cover with either plastic wrap or a tea towel and let proof in a warm place for at least 90 minutes (or longer if your kitchen isn’t very warm). you want the dough to double in size. i like to tuck it into the oven so the air is still and the temperature is constant; on a cold day, turn on the oven as you’re kneading to 200° f, and then switch it off once you put the bowl in.

once doubled, gently tip out the dough and begin “knocking it back”, where you’re folding it back and pushing it with the base of your palm to knock out the extra air bubbles made by the yeast. after a minute of knocking, spread the dough flat before you and sprinkle half the cheese, half the garlic, and half the chili powder over the surface. fold the dough over and finishing knocking—it might require some more muscle as there are new things incorporated now.

flatten the dough as best you can into a rough rectangle. fold the long edge furthest from you towards the middle, and then fold the edge closest to you into the middle so you have a seam and somewhat of a log shape.

carefully turn over so the seam is on the bottom. cup your hands on either side of the log and begin tucking in the ends. turn the dough about so the top is smooth and rounded. gently rock it about until you have an oval shape.

place the loaf on a baking sheet lined with either parchment or silicone matting (i prefer the silicone), then place inside a large plastic bag to proof again for 1 hour or when doubled in size. the dough is ready when it springs back slowly upon tapping the surface.

heat up your oven to 425° f / 220° c and place a roasting tray at the bottom rack. pour 1 liter of water into the tray for some steam, which will give the loaf a nice chewy crust.

with a sharp knife, score the top of the loaf (a basic bloomer has four diagonal slits about 1 centimeter deep) to help it “bloom” and steam out. lightly spritz some water over the top of the loaf, then lightly dust with a small handful of flour, followed by more cheese, garlic, and chili powder. be gentle during this step: you don’t want to knock out more air.

bake for 25 minutes, then bump the oven down to 395° f / 200° c and bake for a further 10-15 minutes. you want the loaf to sound hollow on the bottom and the cheese to be browned and melted. let cool on a wire rack, and enjoy 🙏🏻

[rabbitcruiser]

National Pancake Day

A day so nice they made it twice — September 26 is the year’s second National Pancake Day! Get those hotcakes on the griddle, it’s time to prepare some pancakes! Pancakes are an old staple, dating back to Ancient Greece. Since then, many varieties have been created across the globe. In Britain, France, and other parts of Europe, their pancakes (or crepes) are thin and often served with a sweet or savory filling. In Indonesia they consume pancakes known as “serabi”, which are made with rice flour and coconut milk. In Uganda pancakes are made with bananas. These are just a few of the many different variations across the globe. All are delicious and worth celebrating on National Pancake Day! Whichever style of pancake you prefer, get ready to enjoy a stack of them on September 26!

WHEN IS NATIONAL PANCAKE DAY?

National Pancake Day occurs twice a year, and the National Pancake Day on September 26th is actually the second iteration of the holiday.

Of course, IHOP’s National Pancake Day is more than just an excuse to fill up on the floury treats—IHOP also partners with a number of charities that help children battling critical illness, with donations on the day going straight to the charity of your choice.

National Pancake Day Activities

Get cookin’!

Pancakes for dinner!

Make pancake art

It may seem obvious but there's no better way to celebrate National Pancake Day than to whip up some pancakes (and lots of 'em). You can make fluffy pancakes, crepes, sweet or savory flapjacks, or try a new recipe. You can make them with your friends or your kids. No matter what pancakes you choose to make, have fun and enjoy a large stack of them!

If you’ve never had breakfast for dinner, specifically pancakes, you are missing out! Celebrate National Pancake day by whipping some up for your evening meal. Typical sweet pancakes are great for dinner when paired with bacon, sausage, and eggs, but savory pancakes are great for an evening meal too! Get creative and make the perfect pancake dinner!

Pancake art has become a trendy lately with creative minds like Nathan Shields posting their fun flapjacks on YouTube. It may take a few tries, but you can make cool pancake art too! There are tutorials online on how to get it just right, but it involves adding batter to the pan at different places and at different times (thus the color difference throughout). You can divide up your batter and add food coloring to each to make your pancake art colorful if you like! Oh, and don’t forget to make your pancake art in mirror image so when you flip it over it’s facing the correct way. It may sound a little tricky but it’s so much fun!

Why We Love National Pancake Day

There are many different types of pancakes

Pancakes are versatile

They make us happy

With so much variety in the pancake world, there are endless ways to enjoy these flavorful flapjacks. Some are thin and some are fluffy. Some are made with fruit and some are made with vegetables. Some are sweet and some are savory. Every country or region seems to have their own take on pancakes and they are loved in every culture. With so many varieties, there are endless options to keep breakfast (or any meal) new, delicious, and exciting!

While pancakes are generally seen as a breakfast food, they don’t have to be! Pancakes are great for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert! Breakfast for dinner is always a delicious idea, but you can have them any time of day! Indulge with pancakes for dessert with fruit, chocolate, whipped cream, and more! There’s no limit to when and how you can enjoy your pancakes and that’s one thing we love about them!

There’s no denying that pancakes are a comforting food that make us feel good. We enjoy them as children and adults and they are a beloved staple in many culture. The smell of them alone can make us feel content, reminding us of lazy Saturday mornings waking up to a pancake breakfast and a hug from mom. It’s a happy food, and happy food makes for happy tummies!

Source

[fionarara]

HIPSTER KENMA PART 2 WHEN PLEASEEEEE IM OBSESSED

nonni all caps ?? for hipster kenma ?? i thought this idea was an incredibly niche thing in my odd brain which would legit get like zero interaction, i straight up wrote it mostly for myself, so this is a v pleasant surprise (Ｔ▽Ｔ) also, this got longer than expected, but since you requested it with such enthusiasm, i wanted to add in a little extra detail as a treat for you ♡

+ hipster ! kenma . pt. 2 .

(+ part 1 ⇢)

+ hipster ! kenma who feeds his hairless sphynx cat gluten-free food, because he wouldn’t feed his cat a certain diet that he isn’t also on himself

+ hipster ! kenma who thinks much of the fashion industry’s antics are ridiculous for being so overpriced (and that some of their practices can be harmful to the environment), but will drop $375 bucks at a carefully curated, high-end, second-hand designer fashion shop in the arts district on a fresh pair of black jeans, ones that already come pre-ripped and are conveniently labeled as having a 'distressed' look. so edgy. clearly, who needs logical pricing when you can pay a premium to look like you've been through a barbed wire fence? + hipster ! kenma dislikes coffee, because not only is it so acidic on the PH scale, the entire culture surrounding the popular brew (–and yes, he really did call coffee, “the popular brew” when explaining this to you) is so aggressive in prevalent society, as it seemingly promotes an inherent overly capitalist mindset that is so patriarchal. instead, he opts for ~matcha with lion’s mane extract~ for better concentration and whenever he needs a pick-me-up. besides, he prefers things being more chill and calm anyway, and coffee makes him feel too jittery and whacked out + hipster ! kenma doesn’t actually have the best grasp on crypto or stock trading, but from believing and claiming he did, got yaku involved in also investing in that one reddit gamestop stock with him. unfortunately, due to a bad call of not pulling the shares out in time, they lost a considerable amount of money. L. but as short-tempered as yaku used to be, he’s mellowed-out in his older years and only blames himself in the end for even listening to hipster kenma in the first place. anyway it’s cool–when yaku came to visit town from russia, he got taken out by hipster kenma for an evening of partying, all drinks and party drugs on him, as a sort of apology for the risky financial loss—the night ended with the both of them on the floor crying together from reminiscing about past memories and ‘the good ole days’, sheesh + hipster ! kenma who sometimes seems like he hates you, but gets a bit of a kick out of you bringing it up, because whenever you do, he gets to playfully remind you he’s just in resting mode or deep in thought by making the same joke every time, “that’s just my cunty cat face” + hipster ! kenma who is prone to getting some pretty gnarly anxiety at times, so he takes these 15mg edible marijuana gummies to chill himself out. his favorite flavor of THC gummy bear from the packet you gifted him, and which he now regularly takes, is salted caramel and dark chocolate + hipster ! kenma will drag you to see an arthouse docufilm about the music history of video games with modular synthesizers, etc. at this little blackbox theater, complaining that those big blockbuster movie chains are ripping you off by charging way too much for mainstream crap, but then he proceeds to overpay for an overpriced, organic, effervescent, raw kombucha drink once you arrive at the little indie theater (he definitely thinks buying soda at the movie theater is beneath him, “the way i see it, if you want a soda at least make it, like, an actual appropriate setting, go to a carnival and have it with a corn dog.”)

+ hipster ! kenma loves street food. will take you to the local art walk/night market festivals once a month, fascinated by tasting all the different street food vendors and scoping out the community art scene, he’ll even end up treating you with a tasty treat every time from one of the booths. although he doesn’t particularly love overly sweet things, he will especially eat any sweetly-glazed savory snack that comes on a stick. one thing about him that you’ve come to appreciate though is that he doesn’t just gobble down his food, no, hipster kenma actually enjoys taking the time to savor what he consumes while giving insightful commentary on the food’s flavoring, etc. + hipster ! kenma who DIYs…many things, because he figures, let’s be honest, other people can’t be relied upon to make things correctly, not by his standards. especially when it comes to his computer, which of course he built himself: it has a fully transparent case so you can see right through to the whole display of all dazzling gear and deco inside of it, and in his words it had to be, “a state of the art custom loop with full liquid cooling”. you admit the inner flashing lights are pretty and the computer is definitely so decked out, that it's for sure one of the coolest things you’ve ever seen.

+ hipster ! kenma kinda has this weird thing that if he didn’t think of a cool idea for his twitch stream first after seeing it from another popular streamer, then he acts like it’s kinda inherently stupid, mentions how blasé it is to you and his friends, even if deep down he does find the idea interesting or appealing and probably, most definitely, would’ve adopted it himself 

+ hipster ! kenma who can oftentimes hold the belief that adopting a cynical and pessimistic outlook on life makes one more intelligent and analytical, even more sophisticated or enhances his overall cleverness of mind, sad + hipster ! kenma is hot. okay. in such an understated way, which all the more makes him hotter, though he’s not fully aware of his own appeal, or perhaps only mildly—actually attracts a fair amount of bitches when he goes out to the dive bars or local music shows, ones who aren’t intimidated by his sort of mysterious appearance or superior demeanor which is bound to come off a little pretentious, but in truth, he’s actually a bit insecure and shy about being approached so often and therefore tends to stay pretty silent when that happens, unsure of how to fully deal/cope with someone who is being so direct about their interest in him. ultimately prefers the slow get-to-know-you burn when it comes to any romance: a friends first, lovers later kind of thing + hipster ! kenma is incredibly observant, especially in social situations and mostly prefers to just take everything in, only speaking when he has something truly poignant to say … or when an opportunity strikes to completely, calmly, eviscerate someone’s inane or ignorant opinion, delivering a point so smooth, he’ll crush their shitty take all in a such a demure, cool, collected and resolute manner to the point where the dumbass person in question doesn’t even know they’ve been schooled and insulted by him until the roar of jeers and laughter from the surrounding crowd are heckling the unbeknownst fool, sick burn hipster kenma + hipster ! kenma only dares to wear brighter colors when at the beach and the item of clothing is a hoodie (proclaims it’s a light and breathable one though sooo he’s not sure what everyone is making such a fuss over when you, hinata, kuroo and the rest of your beach crew kick up some sand towards him while chiming in unison to urge him to, “take it off! we’re by the ocean, bruh!”) – the brightest colors of those hoodies ever worn at the beach are either a pale mustard, burnt amber, or white with possible cool textile designs. not only that, but he’ll stick to the shade beneath the large beach parasol playing on his nintendo switch, because listen, he isn’t about to get skin cancer on account of the toxic chemicals they put in sunscreen these days just so he can catch some rays (which of course, the sun could also give one cancer) + hipster ! kenma has these annoyingly long pretty dark lashes which are framed so nicely by his non-prescription clear frame glasses, and every so often you will playfully grumble to him about how unfair that is, since he’s a boy and doesn’t even care that he’s got them, then proceed to joke by asking him to give you some of those lashes since he doesn’t in fact need all of them for looks. he’ll respond by lightly chuckling and referencing that one Clockwork Orange film scene where the main character’s eyes are forced to remain horrifically clamped open, slyly suggesting, “if you can manage to get me in a position like that, then and only then, can you have them” but don’t bother, he continues, because you’ll never get past him~~ + hipster ! kenma who, no matter what he seems like on the surface, you know in the end that he’s undeniably ride or die for his friends, 10/10 will always always have their back, willingly giving them a hand without making a big deal of it + hipster ! kenma shelled out quite a hefty price on his ‘Beats by Dre’ headphones, even though as a self-proclaimed audiophile he knows they’re nowhere near being the best on the market, only bought them for the clout, and walks around town wearing them or for his twitch streams + hipster ! kenma secretly cries to bon iver, sufjan stevens, james blake, ryuichi sakamoto, erykah badu, nick cave and portishead when he’s alone + hipster ! kenma watches a looot of documentaries 

+ hipster ! kenma owns this cat shirt ↴ doesn’t wear it out in public though, only to bed, and has had it so long it’s already starting to fray at the sleeves and shoulder's seams:

+link2masterlist.

[kattythingz]

🙌🏻 woah, ❤️🧡💚🖤💔 be upon ye

WOAH!!! Your wish is my command!!! (Repeats were answered in previous asks.)

🧡 - what is a popular (serious) theory you disagree with?

Oooooh, that's a good one! Let's see... Well, I've seen a few that tried explaining the Dragon's Pulse as some geological phenomenon. I've seen one that referred to magma flow too, which is super cool!!! BUUUUT...

I think trying to explain the Pulse takes away from the mystique of alkahestry. Like, is there a scientific explanation for it? Probably, if alchemy is a science and it has a reasonable explanation too. But alkahestry is also deeply rooted in sth also deeply rooted into Xing's culture itself. And I think it works more off of spirituality than anything else. So all these attempts to explain it exactly like alchemy—that is, like a scientific phenomenon—kind of takes away from the differences between alchemy and alkahestry.

That magma flow theory still sounds super cool tho.

💚- what does everyone else get wrong about your favorite character?

Oh my god, people misconstrue SO many things about Ed. I've got a goddamn list. The current flavor for today is that, apparently people think he'd be extremely introverted??? Or at least socially inept?? Listen, I absolutely agree that Ed's an introvert, but canon has proven TIME AND AGAIN that he's actually pretty damn good at socializing when he needs to? And in fact takes joy in it?? LOOK AT LIORE FFS. These people annoy the shit out of him with their religiousness but he still takes the time to socialize and be kind to Rose?? Esp in 03 you can tell they get along, and Ed's enjoying himself! Look again at Youswell! EVEN TUCKER MAN. THERE'S SO MUCH PROOF OF ED THRIVING JUST FINE IN SOCIAL SETTINGS. CoS is an extreme case because Ed's gone through literal hell so many times, oh my god, of course he'd be depressed and unwilling to form connections again in fear of losing people!

He also literally grew up in a small town where everyone knew everyone? Like, he's even buddies with the train station guy in the manga! And all the kids and stuff know him and Al when they return from Izumi's training. THE BOYS ARE INTROVERTED, YES, BUT NOT ANTI-SOCIAL NOR SOCIALLY INEPT. Lest we forget Ed's masterful manipulation of Yoki in Youswell???

That got very passionate so I'll just. Stop while I can.

🖤 - which character is not as morally good as everyone else seems to think?

MUSTANG AND LING. I'm sorry, but one of these men is a literal war criminal who's clearly willing to risk anything just to become Fuhrer (for a good cause, yes, but "anything" is still anything), and the other is—basically the same case? He wants to be emperor by any means, and, again, he went far enough to become literal greed? People seriously underestimate how far Ling's greed goes AND the lengths he'd go for what he wants. Enough of this "oh no Mustang has questionable means sometimes but he's still mostly good!" and "Ling would sacrifice everything for his people when he's emperor without thinking of himself". THEY ARE MORALLY GRAY. SAY IT WITH ME. GRAY. The grayest of grays.

[thenotsosecretdiaryofbiyu]

2024年7月27日-- Rice museum, cafe, one-eyed cat, aboriginal museum

Today we went to the rice museum! It was super cute and we got to play with different types of rice (damaged, rice hulls, and good rice)! Austin and I found a cool roof-top view and we got to see the pretty field art which were cute HUGE birds! There was also a cafe there, and Iris bought some rice wine! I only got a latte though, and even then I only drank part of it. On the way to and from the rice museum, we passed by tons of rice and sugar cane fields, there were also tons of fruit tree fields too!

For lunch, we went to this hot pot restaurant where there were individual pots for everyone! And then after lunch we went to the Taiwan Museum of Prehistoric Culture! I really enjoyed the museum! There were exhibits about earrings and fashion as well as an exhibit about the volcanoes and tectonic plate activity that happened to form the islands of Taiwan!

Later we went to a bakery and I got the FATTEST cinnamon roll I’ve ever seen in my life. And amazingly, it tasted amazing! It wasn’t too sweet and it had tons of cinnamon on it! I’m glad I started eating it immediately on the bus, because the day after, I ended up not being able to taste too much because I was so congested from my cold. While we were in the bakery, we also got to try some of the jams there and they were really tasty (blueberry, raspberry, and orange flavors!). What was super cute was that the shop next door to the bakery had a one-eyed cat! He didn’t like most of us, but he did like Brooke! He was a lil cutie <3

Academic Reflection

For me, the most important thing I learned on today’s trip was about rice farming and how changing Taiwanese consumption habits (towards eating more wheat-based foods) are threatening the security of it. I was happy to read that there is still a constant push for people to eat more rice and return to eating it as a main staple, and that there are movements to diversify the uses of rice and empower consumers to make decisions that best suit their personal tastes. Reading this article and understanding more about the situation made me feel better about me accidentally buying the two bags of rice lol. Supporting the rice farmers by accident! Yay!!! Definitely going to start eating a lot more rice in general though, although that won’t be hard because I don’t really like bread hehe.

The article we were assigned also introduced a lot of different things to me that I had never even thought of before. I had no idea that fragrance was an important aspect of rice in Taiwan, and that rice preferences differ between Taiwan and Japan. In actuality, I was surprised to read about there being “matchmakers” that help match the right rice to the right customer/occasion. Although, I guess that makes sense, because I’ve definitely run into those types of analyses for other foods and drinks such as tea, coffee, and cakes. It’s interesting to think about how many people are likely to become rice connoisseurs and that there’s probably going to be friend groups of rice foodies! I’d like to be part of one of those groups, that sounds fun and tasty!

#signmeupforaricetastingpartypleasepleaseplease

[commiegoth]

Okay after marinating on it (no pun intended) for a few days my (perfectly subjective) opinion of The Menu (2022) is this:

Things I liked: The strongest element of the writing imo is that there is a proper story happening alongside the social themes. A lot of contemporary screenwriting seems to be under the impression that political/social commentary needs to be written as like a 1:1 allegory, which is totally cool when done well, but with less-than-stellar writing it tends to come across as kinda hokey. The Menu does a good job imo of putting together an interesting story without using the social allegory as a crutch to get from Point A to Point B. Like if you were kept on an island you couldn't leave to serve the extremely wealthy who don't appreciate what it does to you, you'd probably snap too. It's easy to understand why all the characters make the choices they do beyond the writing being "this character represents [X] and therefore they need to do this to make the allegory work". More contemporary screenwriters should try to approach allegory from this direction!

Things I did not like: It's sooo obvious that the writers have a background in writing for late night talkshows. While a lot of the humor is pretty strong, some of the jokes just don't land the way I would have liked. What is or isn't "funny" is a pretty subjective standard so I get that not everything will appeal to everyone, but there is a certain particular Flavor of neoliberal late night humor that just makes me roll my eyes. Like basically just boiling some shitty cultural thing down to "Isn't that annoying? That's just the way things are though". Sometimes the horrible things about living in America are more than just "annoying"!! This is turning into a tangent but the residual late night talkshow flavor of the writing was a little irritating and distracting.

There was also something about the overall Style of the film that felt a little more like trying to be like other movies than its own thing. Like there were only a couple moments that I felt were too much like this, so I'll chalk it up to tv writers/director still figuring out how they want their feature film work to differ, but I definitely felt like I wanted it to be More than it was in certain respects. Like as beautifully shot as it was, there's a difference between being a Yorgos Lanthimos Ari Aster-like, and having its own direction inspired by those kinds of movies.

I'm gonna wrap this up cuz I'm talking in circles but that's the gist I thought it was pretty good but I wish it was better check it out

[wri0thesley]

Ok, now I’m starting to think we’re following the same twitter circles because I saw that yesterday too! ✋😂 Definitely gave me pause to see Scara on there when he’s such a goddamn BRAT, which I admittedly do like but that doesn’t make for much of a daddy. Xiao didn’t belong on there either, you’re right, and at this point I’m genuinely convinced your average twitter user doesn’t understand the actual meaning of any word ever, because the gross misusage is legit out of control over there. I’ve long since given up the discourse lifestyle (or so I tell myself cmdkxmse) but some of the stuff I see truly tests my patience for fandom culture nonsense, as well as my self control to keep my mouth shut 😂

The bizarre obsession they have with “minor coded” characters is absolutely one of those things - for example, did you know that there were people trying to insist both Layla AND professor Faruzan are children? Truly, I wish you could’ve seen my face. 😭 Venti is easily the worst offense tho, I’m right there with you on that. It just doesn’t make sense from any perspective but honestly they probably deserve a medal for all the mental gymnastics they had to do to reach that asinine conclusion. He’s just as much of an old man as Zhongli is. His line at the end of the wine festival about feeling like some kind of grandpa should’ve been proof enough of that. lmao

((Zhongli IS my favorite Archon at least partially because he’s dad, daddy and grandpa all rolled into one 😂 but Venti fits the bill too, just in a different flavor. I’m low key convinced there’s some kind of correlation between that and the fact they’re the last remaining two of the original seven buuut I digress))

I like Nahida a lot too, she ended up being way more likable and charming than I originally thought she’d be but yeah, I’m SO ready to move on and delve deeper into the Deshret mystery instead. 👀 Somehow or another there are people who seem to have actually fallen for Al-Haitham’s bio insisting he’s the most normal, plain and unremarkable person to ever walk Teyvat and they’re starting to give up on the their theories but … if anything I think that just made him look all the more suspicious. lol Normal individuals don’t typically have to go out of their way to ensure they continue to appear normal. It’s very … Yoshikage Kira of him. 😂😂😂 Even if he’s not connected to Deshret (unlikely imo, given Cyno and the priest) I’d say he’s still got something going on behind the scenes and I can’t wait to find out what it is. Frankly tho I’m just so eager to go back to the desert again. It’s easily my favorite area in the game so far and also the Golden Slumber quest was just 10 out of fucking 10 imo. I need to know everything, see everything, experience everything. I also miss Dehya … a LOT. *sniffle* What do I have to do to have her top me? 😭

i follow almost nobody on twitter who posts like actual non-art things but the algorithm does like to show me discourse and lore posts (which . . . ok i won't complain about the second but the FIRST)....

GOD he was so . . . he was so grandpa in the whole of the wine event, i love him so much. he is so fun and lovely and also so melancholy at the same time. venti my beloved.

THE CONSTANT INSISTENCE THAT ALHAITHAM IS JUST A NORMAL NORMAL GUY DOING NORMAL NORMAL THINGS IS THE MOST SUSPECT THING ABOUT HIM. please. i don't like the desert very much (i hate the underground and i liked the first half of the desert quest but i am just avoiding doing the second because it's much less fun with less npcs to hang out with), but hopefully the apparently qol update we're getting that tells you the difference between underground and overground teleports will help there! mondstadt is my favourite region followed by inazuma (though the inazuma archon quest . . . oof). i am however extremely excited about SANDWORMS. i just think they will be cool!

[nikkicafeina]

Finally got around to my 2022 book recs list. I read 55 books last year, which is fantastic considering grad school and all that stalled my fun reading for a long time. Obviously I read The Locked Tomb series and I think you should too. Other than that, it's almost all manga and romances on this list. That was my escapism vibe last year, but it's also what the readers in my library enjoy so it's what I'm happy to keep up with.

In vaguely the order I read them, last year's faves are:

How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories--I read the entire Folk of the Air series over December/January and it's all great but this novella was my favorite. Holly Black continues to be the best at fairies. I loved how the two characters in the central romance are desperately feral in their own way. This one will make little to no sense without the context of the whole series, and so I reccomend the whole series. It's about an angry human girl who grows up in Fairyland, the dilettante fairy prince who hates her, and all the amoral fairy intrigue and violence that being part of a high court entails.

In the Dream House--I don't normally read memoirs but this has such an intriguing cover. I didn't expect to be taken for a ride through deep feelings about queerness, gender, latinidad, trauma, historiography, relationships, and just like, being a person who occupies space. It's about the author's abusive relationship, yes, but also it's poetically and ruthlessly about her as an entire person.

Alexis Hall--not a book but a rather prolific romance author. Mostly mlm romances, but he runs the gamut in terms of genre and content. I particularly enjoyed Pansies, where a guy goes back to his small hometown after recently coming out and ends up falling for and trying to make amends to the kid he bullied a bit in high-school. How to Bang a Billionaire looks like it's meant to be a Fifty Shades ripoff but its actually really good BDSM with a sub who's knowledgeable and just having a fun time, but the dom has some heavy trauma that I don't know everyone would be down for so heads up. He also has a couple novels that have become very popular recently, so I expect we'll be seeing him a lot. Overall, I appreciate that all of his protags have way more going on than just the relationship, but also the relationships do have genuine chemistry.

Boys Run the Riot--a short manga series about a Trans high-schooler who wants to start a streetwear brand with his friends. It brings up different aspects of queerness and queer culture in Japan, which is really cool.

From the Mixed up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankwiler--my husband gifted me a copy because it's one of my favorite childhood books and I'm so happy to say it still holds up even a good sixty years later. A girl convinces her brother to run away to the Met and they become caught up in a mystery surrounding a recent acquisition. The kids are smart as heck but still very much kids and E.L. Konigsburg's writing style has always felt very cozy to me.

Totsukuni no Shoujo/The Girl From the Other Side: Siúil a Rún-- we've established I enjoy fairytales where the fae get to be properly monstrous. This is another manga series, this time about a little girl in a cursed forest who is taken in by a creature she calls "Teacher". He tries to care for her and keep her from becoming cursed herself. Charming, a little spooky, a little sad, and very gorgeous.

Perfect World--a manga series where an able-bodied interior designer reconnects with an architect childhood friend who is now disabled and uses a wheelchair; they fall in love, work together to create accesibly designed buildings, and navigate both his specific disability and being disabled in Japanese society at large. A ton of research obviously went into this series, but more importantly a lot of heart.

Wherever is Your Heart-- novella. Anita Kelly writes some good-ass queer romance of all flavors but this one is particularly noteworthy in being butch4butch and having protagonists in their late forties. It's fairly short and sweet, but you don't need much more than that to enjoy it when June finally works up the courage to ask the bartender at her favorite bar on a date.

And the best book I read in 2022:

House of Leaves-- so this is a book about a guy transcribing an academic work written by different guy about a documentary filmed by another guy about moving into a house with his family. It's also about narratives within narratives, the relationship between reading and the reader, and the relationship between the storyteller and the story. It’s a love letter to academic analysis and a scathing critique of academic analysis. It's actual posmodernism. It's a damn good horror novel. It's an experience. It's a book that 100% could never work as anything other than a book. People will tell you it's a hard read but it's not! You just have to engage with it and think about it a little. Read it! It's great!

[blazehedgehog]

Going off a few of your earlier questions, what's your general take on localization? How do you think localization should be handled when a severe cultural difference comes up in the script? Also, do you think game localizers should opt for what River City Girls Zero did in offering a more literal translation of the script alongside a more localized version?

A "Literal vs. Casual" translation option is pretty smart. I didn't know River City Girls Zero did that. One of the leads of River City Girls had a weird interaction on twitter and then nuked their account over it, which looked suspicious as hell to me so I kind of shut off my interest for that game series.

To me, localization is about taking material from one culture and getting it to make sense for another culture. While you should preserve the original culture to some extent (since that's part of the source material's identity) you need to make sure it's not overwhelming or alienating to the target culture, too.

If you are localizing to maintain the language structure of the source material, you're doing it wrong. If you're localizing and have to put subtitle notes explaining jokes or references, you're doing it wrong. Maintain the flavor and maintain the identity but otherwise make the viewing experience as seamless as humanly possible. Translate the intent, not the exact words.

I think people who favor literal translations get all bent out of shape about the word "intent" because it's a fuzzy definition and can create a slippery slope. To that I say: most writers probably aren't as precious about their choice of words as literal translators are. I have written over 7500 posts for this blog, literally millions of words, probably even billions, and I would say that less than 1% of everything I've ever written was me slowly choosing my words with care. It usually doesn't matter that much. It can, sure, but only a very small percentage of the time. It's okay to exercise some wiggle room and use some artistic license. It won't be the end of the world.

How do you think bad anime dubs even happen? Because somebody licenses the show, rewrites the scripts, asks the original production studio "is this okay?" and the studio just shrugs and goes "yeah whatever." They don't care as much as you think they do.

And then you'd hit situations like Ghost Stories where the original scripts were damaged, lost, or otherwise deemed unusable, so the studio went "Eh, just make something up."

A lot of literal translators nowadays seem to be carrying a torch from the days of anime and game translations that don't really exist very much anymore. I grew up in that era, too. The DiC dub of Sailor Moon, the early days of Saban/Ocean's Dragon Ball Z, the time Fox Kids literally tried to turn Escaflowne in to a Saturday Morning Cartoon...

Or all those JRPGs that turned alcohol in to "juice" or "tea" or "rootbeer" at the bare minimum.

I get it. I was there. I know what an awful, stressful, stupid era it was. But people get weird and bent out of shape about censorship, because they're being told it's something they could have, but aren't allowed to have. Censorship ignites a jealousy about what's on the other side of the fence, even if censorship can be legitimately helpful at times.

So we get these militant people who only want everything that's pure, raw, uncut, uncompromised, and maintaining as much of its original shape as it can, even when that strips a thing of most of its mainstream appeal because it's barely comprehensible by most people.

And it starts to feel like elitism. A secret handshake between people who have taught themselves to understand things like "You are my nakama."

But it's all performative! The war is over! You can relax now! But some people never will, I guess. Some people will always think they're too cool for "mainstream appeal." Some people like the secret handshake, and want to protect it.

That's not who I am.