#also the fact that it ends with never more instead of forever like the original is so sad and so PERFECT

[starry-eyed-psychopomp]

We don’t give the Carolina Chocolate Drops enough credit for pulling a Lucy Gray before Lucy Gray even existed.

For the original Hunger Games movie, they wrote a song for the Songs of District Twelve album called “Daughter’s Lament.” Much like Lucy Gray’s songs, they adapted a traditional folk song, “Young Hunting,” and turned it into a beautiful song based the story of the book (specifically Katniss’s dad’s death).

People rarely talk about their song from the album, but it’s aged the best out of all of them, and I hope more people recognize that.

[tainbocuailnge]

[soapboxing to people who already agree with me] ongoing vs completed media works isn't a matter of one being inherently higher quality than the other because you better believe there's some truly dogshit self contained works out there it's the fact that an ongoing slash live service work by design will forever keep introducing new plot threads and coming up with ways to escalate the stakes in a way that is increasingly difficult to sustain as time goes on, while simultaneously the later parts of the story are beholden to the earlier parts to a degree they never are in things that release as one complete story, because the ongoing story can't go back and make the early stuff line up with the later stuff nearly as easily. that's why long running shows often end up reaching for some kind of world reset or a multiverse as an easy way to create infinite new plot points and get rid of some of that old stuff that wasn't working anymore.

a one-and-done story isn't dependent on indefinite audience retention so it can make riskier choices in its writing, it isn't incentivised to keep going forever to keep getting more money out of its audience so it can actually work towards a meaningful conclusion. there's benefits to being ongoing at least for a while, like i didn't watch gravity falls but from my outside perspective that show made really strong use of being ongoing to create a lot of community hype around solving the mysteries as info gets released each episode which made it way more popular than if it'd just released in one go, but I also know that showrunner had to actively fight the tv execs to actually let his show end when he'd intended it to because he knew it would become bad and sucks if it never got to actually end. in the gacha-game-o-sphere where I'm more active it's a whole fucking thing that the story can never actually end because they gotta keep introducing more characters to sell whose plot threads never get picked back up because there's more new characters to sell instead. actually, the original post was about a friend playing fate/extra and being blown away with how difficult and complicated of a person (positive) nero was before she got bastardised for gacha sales.

the promise of "more of this thing you like is coming in the future" is very strong at creating and maintaining an audience which is why execs LOVE making live service shit and throwing out sequels and new seasons and reboots of proven formulas, but that's exactly why you gotta read/watch/play something that's self contained and done every now and then, just to remind yourself of what it's like when something's actually fucking finished.

[99thpercentile]

I get the feeling that I'm in the minority here, but I posit that GLaDOS actually is Caroline, and only "not the same person" in the sense that you'd look at your younger self and be like "that bitch ain't me." I think you actually have to go out of your way to interpret them as two separate people.

evidence:

voiced by the same person (I know the initial reasoning was that Valve didn't want to hire another voice actor for a few lines, but in casting Ellen McLain as Caroline, they incorporated her being the same person into the story).

GLaDOS automatically joins in saying "Yes sir, Mister Johnson" like saying it is permanently ingrained in her. you can interpret this as Caroline taking over, but she says "Why did I just—" immediately afterwards.

when GLaDOS talks about hearing the voice of a conscience, she says "for the first time it's MY voice." I don't think she means that she's hearing the woman she gets her literal voice from. she highlights it as distinctly DIFFERENT from hearing the voices of the cores, and I imagine if Caroline were a foreign entity whispering in her ear, the effect would've been much the same.

the GLaDOS project was originally started because Cave was dying and wanted his consciousness uploaded to a computer. the intent was always for the upload to be the same person. he said if he died first, he wanted Caroline to run the place, to be put in his computer. and that's exactly what happened.

GLaDOS not remembering she's Caroline until old Aperture always made sense to me as the result of a deliberate choice on the part of the scientists. Caroline didn't want to be uploaded, and as soon as they switched GLaDOS on, she tried to kill everyone. it's logical for the scientists to think that if they suppressed her memories, she'd have no reason to try to kill them (but instead, she was just filled with murderous rage and no longer knew why).

the story just doesn't have the same impact otherwise. GLaDOS's reactions to rediscovering old Aperture make more sense if it's her past she's rediscovering, rather than the past of...a human that was shoved into the chassis with her. if it were the second one, I think she would just feel violated, not have any major revelations.

counter-evidence:

"now little Caroline is in here too" lyric from Want You Gone

GLaDOS says she found out "where Caroline lives in [her] brain" and deleted her, like she's a separate entity

but GLaDOS is a habitual liar. she acts like deleting Caroline means she's fully back to her old self and has gotten rid of the part of her that made her want to save Chell's life, but there's...lots of evidence that she still cares about Chell after the fact (letting her go anyway, the companion cube, the turret opera if you think GLaDOS arranged that, talking to the co-op bots about Chell like she's an ex she's still heartbroken over...). I also think GLaDOS would like to imagine her and Caroline as two separate entities, in the same way you might find your younger self embarrassing and want to distance yourself from that person. I think it's notable that both instances where she refers to Caroline as a separate entity are at the end of the game, after Chell has been passed out a while and she's had time to process everything and compartmentalize. her instinct when the revelations are first happening is to refer to Caroline as if she is her.

now I don't like stories where a robot has to become or be seen as more human in some way for them to be sympathetic. but I think Portal 2 is an excellent subversion of this trope, because GLaDOS is a robot that learns she used to be human and then discards that humanity (symbolically if not literally). Caroline may not have wanted to be uploaded, but from the Want You Gone lyrics "one day they woke me up / so I could live forever / it's such a shame the same will never happen to you" I think we can say that GLaDOS definitely prefers being a robot now that she is one.

anyway this post was supposed to be much shorter than this, thank you for coming to my Ted Talk

[iiovserii]

Daddy’s Home — Miguel O’Hara x Fem!Reader

summary: Miguel didn’t get to be picky when it came to choosing his new, forever home, as long as he was in Gabriella’s arms again. Even if it meant sharing her with you. (3.1k Words) Based on this prompt

warnings: angst, slight smut, violence (including the disposal of a body), emotional manipulation, toxic relationship

authors note: this was inspired by one of my prompts from around a week ago and i’ve been holding onto this bad boy for about a week considering it’s my first ever fanfic i’ve ever wrote..i just wanted it to be perfect 😭 in my prompt i said something about the reader being sweet but she’s a lot more firey in this because the real miguel was an asshole who was never home..but i hope you all enjoy anyways! i was hoping to create this into series so if you want to be added to the taglist let me know 💖 i’ve also added the translation at the end just because 🤷‍♀️

Link to the Ao3 ver instead!

Miguel didn’t get to be picky when it came to choosing his new, forever home, as long as he was in Gabriella’s arms again, even if it meant sharing her with you. You were littered through Gabriella’s file, a pretty hard person to miss considering the fact that you were there for every single moment of her life—the sweet cooing voice in each video of her as a baby, the delicate hands that held the small, chubby fingers as she took her first steps, and the laughter that arose from behind the camera as Gabriella pulled a funny face.

This Gabriella was the perfect fit, however perfect came with a mother that was alive and well. It was a package deal in this universe, a love intertwined with filial devotion that Miguel would just have to deal with.

But he couldn’t help the twinge of jealousy that was buried deep in his chest, even as he watched a memory of Gabriella’s first goal (a favorite of his), which was originally only celebrated by him, now being replaced by Gabriella shrieking excitedly as she ran up to her mother, throwing her arms around you in triumph.

Moments like these, so special for his little girl, fueled his deep hatred towards you. It was watching these memories where Miguel genuinely wondered if he was even present in this universe. Nevertheless, staring down at his own lifeless body made him realize just how right he was.

What was he doing outside alone, in a dark alleyway on a Friday night anyway? Why wasn’t he home with his daughter, with his wife?

Those were the thoughts that ran through his mind as he began disposing of the body—a man too selfish and weak to even protect his precious daughter. In the end, he got what was coming to him, or so he told himself to keep from feeling guilty.

He didn’t care for details, knowing he was here now to pick up the pieces of a broken family and restore it to something he could finally have a second chance with. He snapped out of his thoughts as he heard the jingle of a ringtone coming from his new phone. Swiping the phone from his pocket, he didn’t even stop to waver whether or not he should answer as he saw your name flash on the screen, rolling his eyes as he pressed accept. He pulled the device up to his ear, resting it on his shoulder and cheek as he listened to the sound of your voice.

The first thing he noticed was how tired you sounded—were you waiting for him to return home? He could imagine you laid on the sofa, eyes nervously glancing up at the clock at any given moment, a silly housewife awaiting her husband. He almost felt bad for you; it was pathetic that you would really allow yourself and Gabriella to live like that, always waiting.

He ended the call swiftly, making up some stupid excuse about how he caught up with work and would be arriving shortly. Pretty much in character for the man he just suffocated with his own hands, not raising any suspicion for you as he heard the sleepy yawn telling him that you’d be asleep by the time he got back.

However, despite the dark act he had just committed, he was willing to go to great lengths to win Gabriella's heart again. If putting this ring on his finger and pretending that the woman on the other end of the phone was his wife would grant him another chance with her, then so be it.

He wouldn’t mind playing house with you, as long as he was able to hold his daughter in his arms once more.

He felt disgusted even calling you 'wife', but for Gabriella's sake, he knew he needed to play along. It wasn't like it mattered anyway since your daughter worshipped you so much more than him.

He didn’t need you, he knew that.

However the thought of Gabriella’s eyes as they lit up when you walk in the room seemed to tell him otherwise. She needed you.

He hated the way the house was never quiet, there was always something happening.

You were making dinner? There had to be music in the background as you traveled around the kitchen, humming and singing along to whatever tune was playing on the speaker. That soft velvety voice seemed to flow through the house, and it killed him inside that he wanted to hear more of you.

Gabriella was playing outside? Well you were playing outside as well, it wasn’t like you had a choice, having being pulled away from whatever you were doing to entertain the small girl.

You had everything running like clockwork—cooking dinner while managing homework and playing with Gabriella at the same time—all without seemingly breaking any sweat or becoming frustrated.

Miguel couldn't help but admire you for being able to handle everything so seamlessly. But deep down, he still felt resentment towards you for taking over what should have been his role as the sole parent of their child.

He’d notice small things, like the way your hands flew to your face when you were shocked, it was sweet at first, until he realised Gabriella also did the same, she never did that before. He had noticed it one morning when he stood in the doorway of Gabie’s room, not trying to make his presence known as he watched the two of you play, and the scowl on his face didn’t go unnoticed as you furrowed your eyebrows at him, wondering what he looking at so intensely.

It took him the first couple of weeks to get used to your laugh, you were always laughing. It seemed to rub off on Gabriella as well, he didn’t think he’d ever seen her laugh this much, even before.

Miguel tried his best to ignore the feelings that arose in him at the sight of you playing with Gabriella, and sometimes even joined the two of you whilst you played your games. He couldn't help but feel envious of how happy the two of you looked together, reminding him of moments he could have had if only things had gone differently.

Despite these feelings, it wasn't long before Miguel began to see a different side of you. A side that made him realise why Gabriella adored you so much.

One day while cooking dinner, he noticed your eyes lighting up as Gabriella told a story about her day at school. You were so invested in her words that for once he felt like an outsider looking into your world.

He also witnessed moments when Gabriella fell ill and how tirelessly you took care of her; staying up all night by her bedside until she fell asleep or gently rubbing Vicks on her chest when she was coughing painfully.

It was moments like these when Miguel started to question his assumptions about you and wondered whether maybe—just maybe—he'd been too quick to judge.

But as much as Miguel tried to ignore it, he couldn't shake the feeling that he had buried something deep inside him. He couldn't let go of the resentment he felt towards you for replacing his role.

He started focusing on every little mistake you made, criticising your cooking and getting angry when things didn't go his way. Every time you laughed or smiled at Gabriella, it sent a pang of jealousy straight through him.

"She's too attached to you," he huffed, standing beside the bathroom counter as you both prepared for bed, "you can't even leave the room, and she's already wondering when you'll be back again."

"Well, maybe if you were around more often, she wouldn't be so reliant on me," you retorted, the soft glow of the bathroom lights casting shadows on your face, your voice laced with frustration.

His eyes narrowed as he leaned in, reaching for his toothbrush, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Oh, of course, it's all my fault. Because you're just the perfect parent, aren't you? Always there, always available."

"You know what, maybe if you actually made an effort instead of criticizing me all the time, you'd see the bond we have is because I've been there for her when you weren't!" you retorted, your voice rising, the sound echoing against the tiled walls.

His tone grew more defensive. "I never said I was perfect, but at least I'm trying now. You could at least acknowledge that."

A mirthless smile crossed your face as you leaned against the bathroom counter, facing each other in the confined space.

"Acknowledging your half-hearted attempts doesn't erase the damage done, Miguel. It takes more than just physical presence to be a real parent."

The tension hung heavy in the air, the scent of toothpaste mingling with their argument, as the bickering between husband and wife intensified. The wounds of the past were reopened, and neither was willing to back down or see the other's perspective.

As the heated exchange reached its peak, you turned on your heels, ready to storm off, your frustration boiling over. But just as you took a step away, Miguel's hand shot out, firmly gripping your arm. The air tightened between you, the coolness of the bathroom tiles beneath your feet.

The grip on your arm only tightened, his expression a mixture of frustration and a confused longing. "You don't speak to me like that," Miguel growled, his voice firm. "You are my wife, act like it."

“You are my husband, I expect the same from you,” you snapped back, your voice dripping with defiance, refusing to back down as you swatted away his hand. “And—I will speak to you however I want.” The sound of running water from the faucet filled the silence.

A flicker of amusement crossed Miguel's face, his eyes tracing your determined form. He had underestimated your strength, your fiery spirit. Despite the frustration that lingered between them, a newfound admiration stirred within him.

"Si supiera que eras tan molesto, te habría dejado hace mucho tiempo, Muñeca," he mused, his tone tinged with a mix of fascination and curiosity, the steam from the shower filling the bathroom. “Las cosas que haría para callar esa boca tan bonita tuya.”

The intensity of the moment had rendered you momentarily speechless, steam rising in the bathroom as the warm air surrounded you both. But you managed to find your voice, albeit in a whisper, the sound barely audible over the running water.

"Now that's not fair," you murmured, the dampness of the bathroom clinging to your skin, your voice filled with a mixture of frustration and longing. "You know I don't understand what you're saying..”

A slow, mischievous smile curled at the corners of Miguel's lips, his eyes sparkling with a hint of mischief as he leaned in closer, the scent of shampoo and desire filling the air. And as your lips lingered so close, the unspoken desires between you both grew stronger.

“Good.”

The man currently asleep beside you, was not, to absolute certainty, your husband.

His features held a resemblance to the man you once knew, but there was a striking difference—an unfamiliar intensity in his eyes, he looked at you like he didn’t know you.

His hair fell differently, it looked more clean compared to the tousled mess due to work. You would've sworn he had a small crease in the corner of his eyebrow, but then it disappeared along with the mole on the side of his neck.

He smelled of citrus and leather before, a smell that made you turn when he walked into the room—you knew that smell more than you knew yourself.

Instead now, all you could smell was warm spice and amber. It almost made you smile when you smelt it on him as he walked past you that morning, a couple of weeks ago, until you realised that was the fragrance you got him last Christmas, the fragrance he said he hated and never wore.

The bed, too, felt subtly different beneath your weight, as if it dipped just slightly more than it used to.

It made you feel like your heart was tearing apart. On one hand, he was paying more attention to Gabriella, and she was thriving because of it. He took her to all the soccer practices, played with her and held her so tight that you’d think she’d pop.

You’ve never seen her so happy.

On the other hand, he was hardly in your presence. He hadn’t touched you for weeks, not even a kiss. The most he had done was argue with you, mostly about how close you and Gabriella was.

However, one thing that you couldn’t help but notice was the dark look in his eyes every-time Gabriella’s attention shifted toward you.

He was hardly around before, always at work, the gym or drinking with his co-workers at the bar across from town.

Nowadays it was hard for him to leave you and Gabriella alone.

Not to mention, it was like he grew twice in size. His shoulder looked broader, the veins in his arms popped, more defined. He could basically pick up your seven year old like a feather. Had he been working out more?

You shift on your pillow, eyes glancing down at his heaving chest as he slept. The only time he didn’t look so tense recently was when he was asleep. So peaceful.

You couldn’t help but reach out and dance one of your fingers on the side of his torso, quietly humming some annoying tune that wouldn’t leave your mind that morning.

"What are you doing, Gatita?" he quipped, unable to suppress a soft chuckle that escaped his lips, snapping you out of your thoughts and making you squeak.

As you tried to pull your hand away, Miguel quickly caught it in mid-air, his touch exerting a gentle but firm hold. His finger lightly pressed into your palm, a subtle reminder of his presence and it was almost like he was showing his desire to keep you near.

“What, don't you like touching your husband?" he playfully remarked, mischief dancing in his eyes. His gaze deliberately traveled down your body, as if savoring the sight before him.

Rolling your eyes and pouting, you couldn't resist the urge to make a bratty remark. "Well, it's not exactly enjoyable when the husband is such a pain in the ass." you huffed, your tone laced with a hint of childish defiance.

Feeling his firm hold on your hand, you let out a whine at the tightness. It was as if he was purposely trying to keep you close, unwilling to let you slip away. The intensity of his grip only fueled your frustration.

That’s an air between the two of you. You just couldn’t put your finger on it. The way you desperately try to search in his eyes for something, anything, that would tell you that the man you’re looking at, is, really your husband. The man you’ve spent nearly eight years with.

It’s almost like he’s trying to breathe you in, the way he looks like he’s trying to piece together your features, it makes you wonder if he even knows a thing about you.

The weight of the impending moment made you fidget, your fingers nervously playing with the edge of the bedsheet. You were acutely aware of the lingering tension between you and Miguel, and you attempt to find a way to wiggle your way out of his grasp.

A timid sigh escaped your lips, as a sense of unease settled upon your shoulders. "Gabriella will be waking up soon," you whispered, your voice tinged with a flicker of concern.

A cruel smirk played at the corner of his lips as he leaned in closer, invading your personal space. "Is my little wife hiding from me?" he sneered, his tone dripping with sarcasm and mockery. “You know she’s not getting up for at least another hour.”

Your eyes darted nervously between him and the door, your mind already jumping to potential escape routes. You couldn't help but wonder if he was purposefully trying to push your buttons with his words.

"I just don't want her to-," you began to stutter, but were cut short as Miguel's grip tightened further on your hand. "Don't worry about Gabriella," he whispered into your ear, his breath hot against the nape of your neck. “She’ll be fine.”

A shiver ran down your spine at the sensation; it stirred something within you that you couldn’t quite explain. Within the eight years of your marriage, he had never made the room feel so..heated.

You gasped at the sensation of his lips pressing into your neck, sending shivers down your spine in a wave of desire and guilt. All logic told you that this was wrong, yet there was a part of you that wanted nothing more than to give in to the heat that bubbled within.

As Miguel's kisses grew bolder and more insistent against your skin, you couldn't help but writhe beneath him.

His groan reverberated through your body, stirring something deep within as he whispered against your ear "I know I've been a bad husband," punctuating each with another kiss along the length of your jaw.

"Miguel-" Your voice trailed off into a soft whimper as he shifted so that he was hovering over you, one hand moving to fondle at the curve of your hip while the other tangled itself in your hair.

"But I'm here now," he murmured between kisses before ducking back down to press his lips onto yours once again. The taste of him flooded through you even as he reached up under-shirt slowly caressing and teasing you, making sure not too much display signs of pleasure.

As the heat continued to build between you and Miguel, he began to part your legs, eliciting a soft gasp from deep within as his intent became clear. You felt his lips curl into a knowing smile at your reaction as he watched your mean facade fall away.

"Mmm," he hummed in appreciation as his eyes roamed over every inch of exposed skin. "Looks like my little wife isn't all mouth after all." He teasingly remarked before lowering himself once again so that his tongue could trace patterns along the sensitive skin of your inner thighs.

The sensation left you moaning softly in pleasure at the skilled touch, completely lost in the moment. It wasn't until Miguel's fingers found their way back up to her hips that you realized just how much control he had over this situation.

"You know what?" He said with a smirk pulling back to look at her face before diving down for another heated kiss "I think maybe have to put you in line more often."

You wouldn’t mind that in the slightest.

eng translation:

1. “Si supiera que eras tan molesto, te habría dejado hace mucho tiempo, Muñeca,” — "If I knew you were so annoying, I would have left you a long time ago, doll."

2. “Las cosas que haría para callar esa boca tan bonita tuya.” — "The things I would do to silence that beautiful mouth of yours."

3. “Gatita” — Kitten

[babybluebex]

bex how do you feel about the jq news

dreaded getting this question but knew it would happen eventually, and this got long so like tl;dr - i think it's fake, and i don't want to talk about it anymore.

i think it's a fake PR stunt, bc joe and that woman are so fundamentally different that i don't know how they could have organically come together and could avoid conversations that revolve around the bad shit she's done (amongst MANY other things, her blatant hatred and mistreatment of her fans like. the man who cried onstage at a convention bc he was so thankful to have fans. verus. a woman who calls her fans weird and tells them to get a job and is such an asshole to them like. how do you find a middle ground/compromise with a partner on smth like that??)

and also how he's been pictured with a woman publicly like twice in two years, but all the sudden there's pictures out the ass of them together, and he's all PDA on her? it's behavior we've never seen from him before, and it's too weird and different from his typical self that it doesn't feel genuine at all to me (and also he's forever beebopping around london because he lives there and NOBODY ever posts pics of him out and about, but suddenly here's three/four pics in one day?? and people being like "oh it looks like fan pics and not paparazzi pics", like paparazzi can take pictures on phones as easily as regular people on the street can. just sayin.)

also also the story breaking on DEUXMOI instead of like leaking to a twitter stan account first?? knowing deuxmoi's reputation, the fact the entire thing originated from them stinks to high heaven to me

but again. this is my interpretation of what's going on. i could be wildly off the mark, but it's my own solace to think it's fake, bc the alternative is that joe is giving attention to a white supremacist neo nazi apologist who makes fun of her fans. and i have put so much of my time/money/attention towards him that it would be so disappointing to find out that he's ok with this sort of behavior, to the point where he'll DATE her.

and in all honesty, i'm just exhausted. this is ab to get trauma dump-ish, but my real life is so stressful rn (for many reasons, but two of the biggest factors being my mother being in and out of the hospital for the past few months, along with being treated like shit at a job that i really enjoy and might have to end up quitting this job bc of said mistreatment), and i come online to escape real life stress, and all of this is making me want to bite people. like online has become miserable for me bc i'm so worried ab opening twitter/tumblr and seeing ANOTHER thing ab someone i like doing things that are icky/distressing. like i hate it here rn, i'm so for real.

i'm grateful that many people seem to be in agreement that this is fake and aren't posting the pics/vids here (or if they are, it just hasn't crossed my dash), but like i'm tired of this. a hiatus might be in order until everyone chooses to calm the fuck down and stop doing things that stress me out 😅 online is supposed to be a fun escape, but lately it's been stressing me out to the point where i won't even OPEN my twitter in fear of seeing something that distresses me even more and makes me spiral.

so tl;dr - i think it's fake, and i also don't want to talk about it anymore. here's my thoughts, take them or leave them, but i won't be talking about it/debating anyone on it.

[nn-ee-zz]

What are your other OC's like? I'm interested in hearing about the stories you came up with for them.

UH OH youre gonna get me talking!

My OCs are NPCs by origin. I was (still am) the DM of my friend group and to get their characters moving along I had to create my own.

Unexpectedly, my friends loved them.

ILYA - unwell henchman

i know its a boys name,

An aiding hand to an ambiguous villain, Ilya was introduced as sneaky, smiling, and untrustworthy. The facade collapsed once she vomited inside a cup after accidentally touching the liquified remains of (unbeknown to her) her younger sibling. The villain is a wizard of great power and transported all the liquid from their body to put out a fire, mummifying and killing the person in the process in an attempt to save several.

She seeks her sibling amongst the city. The tingling awareness of their demise at the hands of the guild she encouraged them to join and growing panic and grief led her to start a fight with someone who is spiraling as well.

She ends up at the local clinic, heavily injured and minus one eye, and spirals further from her injuries, her guilt, and the knowledge her family was correct about her being too mentally fragile to be in the city. Until....

(For now. The overall arc for this character is of recovery and improvement instead of pain and self-destruction. Forgive your past and find value within you that goes beyond self-sacrifice. With the help of others, of course.)

Despite her questionable moral position, a lot of characters feel the need to protect her.

Art - Her wearing another characters shirt and her getting a widdle kiss from said character, because even I (the monster freak artist) have my lovely ships

ED - emo organ trafficker

''Nez, I want my oc to be kidnapped and rescued by another oc'' ''Hm, I'll make up a guy to kidnap them then''

Originally meant to be a minor antagonist that would kidnap a character to harvest their organs and be easily defeated. Villain of the week type.

However, his snarky behavior, violent temperament, fancy victorian-boy-esque looks captured a lot of attention. He is a little freak but his direct words seem to bring out a lot of honesty in other characters.

Fun facts; His name is inspired by Edward Hyde. He is roomates and best friend/adopted sibling to Ilya. He makes an effort to be fancier than he is because he was born a bastard child and forced to be his fathers servant before he murdered his siblings and father and joined the army to escape (where he met ilya and ultimately got adopted into her family <333)

Art - Him, and him as a chibi fighting the guy who rescued the person he kidnapped. They also fall in love

REDD - funny bully

I recently made an oc just to mess around with the players while they were in jail! Well, now one of them drank his blood and is forever connected to him. The other one got her finger broken cuz she poked him. He also had the prision keys the entire time but pretended to be a prisioner as well. What a menace! I love making horrible pests. His name is red cuz thats how the others refered to him, because I described him as having red hair and red eyes.

Isnt it funny how despite being a DM I never use my monster designs?! I find it a lot more interesting to make characters specifically meant to alter the course of the character development of my players. I love to change deeply and irrevocably! : D

[thenarwhalgal]

Watched ride the cyclone for the first time recently. Wanted to touch on something I found interesting— namely! Ocean O’Connell Rosenberg! Resident gifted kid of Uranium!

She’s a difficult character to like, right? With how she treats everybody else around her and especially Constance, it’s really difficult to defend most of her actions throughout the musical. Luckily, that’s not what I’m doing. Instead, I want to give my thoughts on her, which I don’t think is a particularly new perspective but shut up I wanna talk about it okay?

Okay. So… here’s the thing I find really interesting about her. Ocean has no sense of self. Correction, she does have one main thing that she does know about herself, she is ‘the most successful girl in town.’ Where everybody else (besides Jane and we’ll get to how Jane and Ocean mirror each other in a second), gets a marker of how they act, Constance is the nicest, Ricky is the most imaginative, Mischa the angriest, Noel the most romantic. She’s the most successful. It’s not a facet of her personality, it’s a result. It’s an expectation. It’s external. It’s not a part of her it’s how everybody sees her. The very thing everybody else gets to break out of but she’s stuck in because she only has what everybody else sees her as.

She doesn’t have an internal self. Which is why where everybody else (again: except Jane) gets a song exploring their personal feelings, dreams, and realities… Ocean gets a song not about herself, but about her comparison to everybody else. She is the one who wants to win the competition the most, the one who needs to live again, but she can’t explain why because she doesn’t actually know. All she knows is that she’s the most successful. (Side note: The most successful would win the competition so if she loses… well there goes everything she likes about herself. This is why winning it is not just something she wants… it’s something she needs. She again, has nothing else. This will come back later in her parallels with Jane)

It’s common for kids who grew up in abusive households (as we know she did) to not properly develop a sense of self, and often they can look for that internal validation in external expectations or successes. What is Ocean if she isn’t the most successful person in town?

Basically, give her a few more years alive and when she realizes the same thing every traumatized gifted kid eventually realizes— that you will reach a point at which you begin to fail and your need to be perfect will reach a breaking point because nobody can keep up that level of perfection forever— she will inevitably fall apart and experience the worst case of burnout ever in the history of Uranium.

It’s also interesting to see how and why Ocean chooses Jane. She comments at the end that Karnak knew she could never choose herself. I’ve seen a lot of people assume if given the choice at the beginning she would have voted for herself but I don’t buy that. Ocean knows she could never have voted for herself and she says that straight, her original plan was to get Karnak (the almighty being/weird novelty machine) to pick her, then to get everybody else to vote for her. Both of these outcomes leave the choice in everybody else, because if it was her choice she couldn’t have done it. Because again, her own internal self does not exist, it is based on external success. So it only works if everybody else says she’s the best pick. Success and validation do not exist within her. This is why she’s so flabbergasted by how Ricky could concede. She assumes everybody else has nothing else besides winning either. When in fact the whole point of the musical is that they all do have dreams and wants and desires and internal worlds… except her… and Jane.

Jane Doe is… without a better term and also ignoring everything in this musical other than Ocean’s perspective… her worst nightmare. Being forgotten, not amounting to anything. Having neither an internal self or an external effect. If we consider Ocean to be the protagonist of RTC, Jane plays her direct foil. They are both empty inside, Ocean just has the illusion of personhood and ‘success’ to hide that fact behind… a name. It’s actually kind of interesting how throughout the play, Ocean discovers how much her own life she’s missed or disregarded, while Jane is the one to get a name (Savannah with the greenest eyes). One discovering their internal sense of validation with the other getting their external title. Ocean has to choose Jane because Jane shows her that she infact had her own life to be happy with all along, she didn’t need success, she didn’t need the validation of her peers because she had a life all along that she was ignoring. Jane doesn’t. Jane’s her foil because she shows Ocean the part of herself she missed, the thing she has that separates her from Jane Doe. That makes Jane Doe the only real choice to be brought back to life. Having had a life at all.

Anyway! I just think she’s interesting is all.

[nynyhaha]

Do you think Chrollo expected the Troupe to last 12+ years? The expectations set at the start largely determine his current views. How good did they do?

Now Ofc he’d want it to ✨last forever✨ or as long as possible,but how long did he think they’d actually get to live?

Chrollo in yorknew carries himself with a confidence that the Spider will live on way beyond him,we somewhat feel like the adventure is only starting. But at the same time he is lost and doesn’t really know the direction the Troupe is heading in.

At the start he mentioned offering up their lives in order to: -find Sarasa’s murderers and get revenge -free Meteor City from crime/mafia so that no child can be kidnapped again

We know the troupe later also broke the deal where Meteorians are exchanged for money. This is a significant achievement,it implies the Spider provides enough money instead,and it hints at the fact that the previous points are already done,that Chrollo has achieved what he planned.

Those were things that he was ready to die for,things for which the others were also ready to sacrifice themselves. And that’s what they kind of expected,right?

My theory is that they greatly surpassed their expectations.

If they were still fighting for any of the above,we wording have this sense of directionless roaming around that is present in the yorknew arc. The Spiders seem to be beyond the theme of revenge unless it directly affects them. Uvo even said he hates those who fight him for revenge reasons (and I wonder why).

Maybe little Chrollo would’ve marvelled at the progress he managed to make in those years,but he probably couldn’t know how it would affect his psyche. He knew he’d become a “villain” but he probably meant that he’d be fighting for a noble end using bad means. What is that end now?

The Spider needs some sort of plan to justify its existence. For its death to be a tragedy,it needs the will to live and some goal to achieve. Or is it a question of a candle stump losing its flame once it’s burned down?

Should the Spider just retire?

If they have achieved all of their previous goals,the answer could well be yes. Sadly those goals aren’t milestones that you have to reach once and for all,but Meteor City’s safety is fragile and needs maintenance.

And yet,it’s never stated as the reason why the Spider has to keep moving. Maybe to the characters it’s obvious,but we as the audience can only speculate. Also it would make the problem way too simple.

“Oh the Spider is still needed back at home” Ofc it is,duh,but that’s not enough to satisfy the quest for meaning.

It would be interesting if the Troupe started out as a team that’s some sort of necessary evil (and the backstory chapters present it in such light) but now that all it’s done it’s no longer necessary so just evil, but they don’t see it as such.

You know,a band of child soldiers that grew up and is now terrorising the world because their original purpose is completed.

But how is the Troupe unnecessary when it’s the solution to the Mafia problem? It’s rather that they don’t know how much more that can do and how much of that will matter at the end.

No one is forcing them. All of their duty is “self inflicted”,they chose to carry that burden.

Are they suffering from success?

Chrollo thought on the way to avenging Sarasa he might loose his own life or some of his friends. He made that commitment still,and then they all survived. Ok,they lost number 8 & 4,but those weren’t original members and it’s still lucky that the rest made it all the way to yorknew. Yk,after they’ve already done what they wanted (and yes,they have already found the murderers,fight me on that, I KNOW its the truth).

So Uvogin and Pakunoda didn’t die on the way,but after they’ve arrived at the top.(But at the top there was nothing :()

Is that to say that they could’ve hopped off and lived a safer life? At this point they were unable to. Much like Chrollo,they might not have a proper self outside the Spider. AND YET the reason it hurts so much is because they died for the Spider after it lost its main goal. This is why Chrollo quickly needs a reason to ground it all since they couldn’t have died for nothing.

There must be a reason why they’re still doing this other than “we can’t otherwise”, right?

RIGHT?

In conclusion, Chrollo is what happens after one survives the “Kurapika arc” and completes his revenge. He might be free to live on,but after he threw away his life and morals already,this existence looses meaning and so do all deaths for the sake of it.

[inbarfink]

You know, it is kinda funny sometimes…. I joined the Adventure Time fandom around mid-way through Season 5. And from what I remember back then, most of the popular headcanons and theories around the origin of Ice King’s Magic Crown played a very similar tune. Some sort of Evil Ice Wizard creating a Magical Artifact that will allow him to live forever, or maybe just create a legacy of Evil Ice Wizards that will freeze the world. You know, kinda on the same vibe Farmworld Finn was going on about when he was under the Crown’s influence.

But then ‘Evergreen’ came out, and revealed not only that the Crown’s origins lay in a time period much more unique and strange than the Generic Medieval Fantasy a lot of people were imagining

But that the thing standing at the very core of the Magic Crown’s Curse was not just simple Villainous Hubris or an intentional desire to cause Icy Evil - instead the theme surrounding the Crown’s origin and its Curse is the Cycle of Parental Abuse.

Urgence Evergreen is not your run-of-the-mill Evil Wizard, and he wasn’t trying to create a Curse, but he was an Extremely Bad Dad. I mean, he didn’t consider himself a dad at all - but it’s clear that he raised Gunther since he hatched and the Dinosaur saw him as a parental figure. The only parental figure he had in his entire life. And through Gunther’s entire life, it’s clear Evergreen was emotionally distant and deprived him of the familial connection Gunther needed and he just constantly belittled and insulted him

And generally showed very little concern for both his emotional and physical well-being.

He didn’t even do the thing he was supposed to be doing with Gunther, which was teaching him Magic.

And yet Gunther still loved him like a father, and craved his admiration and approval, and wanted to be just like him.

And we see this Cycle of Abuse happen a bit more literally before we even get to the Crown. Gunther clearly loves his pet Nina a lot, but sometimes he channels his own frustrations with Evergreen at her - mirroring the way Evergreen treats him. Because this is all he ever knew.

And so, when the Crown granted Gunther his ‘deepest truest Wish’ and made him just like his beloved Master Evergreen, he became a perpetually-angry madman shouting nothing but ‘Gunther no!’.

Because for all of Evergreen’s pride in his role as the Ice Elemental and his aspirations of being the one to Save the World, this is what he always was in the eyes of his son. Add to it the fact that he never taught Gunther any Magic Basics that could help him control the Crown… Evergreen’s abuse of Gunther literally became a Curse.

One that has not only hurt Gunther and backfired on Evergreen… but keeps hurting any poor soul who comes across the Crown. Generations after Master Evergreen was left as barely even a distant memory, his abuse is still responsible for turning others into Hurt People Who Hurt Others.

And then the Crown ends up with Certified Dad Simon Petrikov.

And, now, Simon’s Good Dad Qualities did not, like, automatically negate the Crown’s influence. But.. he tried, he always tried. He knew what he needed to do to be the parental figure Marcy needed, and even when the Crown made it hard for him, he tried to fight through it and do his best.

And even when he totally lost himself to the Crown, he couldn’t stand the thought of hurting her.

But also.... it's important to remember that Marceline is not the only child-figure Simon raised while under the influence of the Magic Crown.

Ice King’s relationship with Gunter the Penguin was always kind of a fatherly thing - I mean, that is why he named him the same name he’s given to Marceline, the name that’s ingrained in the Crown as the name of the Evergreen-Clone’s son. But in earlier seasons in the show, it was very… fraught. Ice King would shift rapidly from being very caring, affectionate and sweet towards his lil’ Gunter

To very Evergreen-esque moments of callousness, neglectfulness and just… venting his own frustrations at his misery as unnecessary anger and cruelty towards the penguin.

Misery that is, of course, caused as a result of the Curse of the Magic Crown. The Curse that only came into being through Evergreen’s mistreatment of his own Gunther. The Curse that is also subconsciously pushing Ice King into being just like Evergreen. It torments Ice King and ‘teaches’ him to vent this torment out on others - but especially at his Gunter. Simon’s natural nurturing instincts were still trying to fight through it, the same way he did with Marceline, but it was not always enough. It's important to note that Ice King still always gave Gunter the Penguin more genuine care and affection than friggin’ Evergreen ever gave to Gunther the Dinosaur, but it's just as important to also note that the Curse still affected his treatment of Gunter in all kinds of harmful ways.

But as the show went on, and Ice King started to become more stable, and started to get the help and support he needed… he also became a better father to his Gunter. Like, without Betty’s interference, Simon was not able to overcome the Curse as a Dementia Metaphor, or the Curse as an Addiction Metaphor… But as for the Curse as a Cycle of Abuse Metaphor? Ice King/Simon, through his strong pre-Crown parental side, and through his love for Gunter and his genuine desire to be a better parent - he was breaking the magical Cycle of Abuse that Evergreen started through entirely mundane means.

He grew past his bad-tempered outburst and bouts of neglectfulness, and just became this extremely doting and loving and sweet father to Gunter.

And so, next time a Reset Crown lended into the clutches of a Gunther, ready to grant a new Wish, the Gunther once again chose to become just like his beloved father figure

but rather than an irrationally angry madman who cannot say anything but “Gunther, no!”… The very first words Ice Thing says are a reminder of how much he loves his Gunter. How much Gunter knows Simon loves him.

And he just seems like this sweet, harmless and happily content silly lil Ice Wizard. Maybe not the person Ice King always was, but the person he was always trying to be. I mean, he literally achieved Ice King’s original goal of being happily married to a princess.

But also just in a general sense, he’s happy and satisfied with his life and he’s not hurting anyone. And just like the original Curse is the legacy of Evergreen’s abuse, this is the legacy of Ice King/Simon’s attempts to do right by Gunter despite his struggles. He has broken the Curse and now it will never torment anyone ever again. Because, well, because Gunter seems to have fused with the Crown so it’s unlikely anyone else will ever be able to wear it. And if someone could, the ‘Curse’ that will be inflicted on them will not be nearly as destructive as Evergreen’s Curse.

(And let’s not forget that Simon’s Honest Attempt at Good Parenting didn’t just neutralize the Curse, it also neutralized a literal eldritch abomination. The Orgalorg Stuff isn’t directly related to the point I wanna make, but that’s also Pretty Cool)

Of course, we also know that although Ice Thing seems happy and content now, this status quo won’t last forever.

I mean, a thousand years in the future is a long time for things to change. But also, maybe it’s very Thematically Appropriate that the person who seems to be responsible for Ice Thing’s degradation is Gibbon.

Who is himself a result of a Whole Separate Series of Parental Issues.

[dia-souls]

DIABOLIK LOVERS DAYLIGHT Analyzes [ Vol. 3 Sakamaki Reiji ]

Original title: 遅い朝に

Source: Diabolik Lovers Daylight Vol. 3 Sakamaki Reiji

Seiyuu: Katsuyuki Konishi

Analyze by: Admin Afra

Admin's note: My God. This CD really moved me to tears. I can boldly say that Reiji has one of the most reasonable behavior in managing such a crisis. Among all the CDs I listened to, he was one of the few boys who was willing to find a solution to cure Yui without losing his cool or thinking about killing himself. This man is truly a gentleman.

What a beautiful flashback to describe Reiji's love. Sometimes I think about the words of these vampires who are so kind and I ask myself if this is really the same boy? Is this the same boy who tortured and humiliated Yui to the point of death at the beginning of their relationship? And now he wants to go to the death to save the same girl?

It's really hard to believe that these boys have changed so much, but I think it's really beautiful that they all got the concept of love. This also applies to Reiji. Reiji's own description of how he was changed by Yui is beautiful to me. Reiji believes that Yui has taught him humanity, something that was hard for Reiji to accept, but Reiji himself realizes over time that Yui is a treasure that he gained from this. Just like chinaware is a treasure for Reiji, Yui is another treasure for him that he wants to take care of with all his heart.

But what is important is that Reiji will never let go of the treasure he cares about, so he chooses to never let go of Yui's hand and stay by her side forever. Reiji's words are said while he decides to abandon the investigation and enjoy his last minutes with Yui. It can be understood from his words, does it mean forever that he will follow Yui even after death?

When Feshbak ends, I see a normal daily life of Yui and her partner again. This time Reiji tries to wake up Yui and complains about Yui being lazy and sleeping too much.

I don't know how others see their relationship but I always find it so cute how Rosji tries to teach Yui like a father and teach her good manners. Yui's playfulness and clumsiness is always endearing to me and I'm sure Reiji enjoys it too.

What really caught my attention was that Reiji noticed something strange about Yui's health condition just by looking at Yui's walk. Everyone knows someone else who was so quick to notice the abnormality in his behavior and health. Honestly, the rest of the boys needed at least two tracks to realize this. This shows that when it comes to Yui's health, Reiji is smarter than the others and realizes it sooner.

As usual, spending a beautiful day drinking tea with Reiji. This is very enjoyable.

Also, Reiji, who certainly cares more about his father's royal parties than anyone else and likes to train Yui for it, is very gentlemanly. I honestly feel that Reiji is really like a kind father to Yui. We can even say that Reiji has acted more like a father to Yui than Seiji.

The dance ceremony looked very interesting and Reiji's jealousy was very cute. The fact that he took Yui out because he didn't want other men to look at her simply shows how easily he can get jealous. Also, I have no doubts about Reiji's unique taste in clothing. I'm sure he made Yui so beautiful that he made all the men attracted to her.

Walking with Yui makes Reiji more aware of Yui's poor health. Of course, I'm pretty sure Reiji already knew about it, he just didn't want to worry Yui about it, or felt like it wasn't too important to worry about.

But when he carried her in his arms, he had undoubtedly noticed her low weight. And as he himself said, the irregular rhythm of her heart as well as the different smell of her blood had convinced him of this and started his research to find a solution to cure Yui.

As expected, Reiji is one of those boys who tries to act rationally in such situations and instead of thinking about suicide because he loses his love, he decides to look for a solution. What most boys did not do. Well, to be honest, I really like this feature of Reiji and I think he did better and more reasonable than all his brothers in this case.

The interaction between him and Yui in track 3 can be interpreted as a symbolic relationship of Reiji's love for Yui, who is precious to him like a treasure. When Yui accidentally breaks Reiji's china cup, Reiji likens it to something interesting. That something that is not eternal will disappear one day. Reiji may have once thought that because vampires were immortal, death was like a celebration for them, but he soon realized that it was different when it came to something you hold dear. You simply do not like to lose someone dear to you.

In this track, I would like to mention more details. For example, Reiji used to punish Yui with a whip for breaking his china cups, but in this departure, when he found out, he was more worried about Yui getting hurt than anything else. It's very interesting how one of Reiji's main obsessions has been changed by Yui and I find it very very valuable.

Maybe that was the reason for Yui's insistence on fixing it. I can boldly say that Yui never has high expectations from her partner. She never looks for expensive gifts and clothes. The only thing Yui wants from her partner is pure and simple love. When Yui does something bad, she feels guilty because she was hurt by that boy before and thinks she deserves to be punished. This can refer to their past relationship. Before, Reiji or even all the boys would punish Yui for the smallest mistake. It can be said that over time, Yui has made herself believe that she is nothing but a moving blood bag and that the only value is her blood, so when she does something bad, she deserves to be punished. And maybe the reason is Yui, who keeps trying to offer her blood to the boys because she believes that her value can only be summed up in her blood.

But what Yui doesn't realize is that the boys have changed over time because of Yui's golden heart and humanity. They have learned humanity from Yui and this is something that Reiji himself has admitted to.

Reiji can't imagine life without Yui just like all the boys. Although he wants Yui's blood, Reiji tries to control himself so as not to cause harm, and it can be said that this action seems completely fair and natural from someone like Reiji.

Reiji's thinking is all about Yui's bad health and the fact that he can't find a solution for it makes him conclude that he is the cause of it because he always sucked her blood.

When Reiji went from imagining a room without Yui and a house without Yui to a world without Yui, I realized something. Reiji thinks that Yui's existence is necessary not only for himself but also for the world. In his opinion, the world needs someone like Yui, that's why he doesn't want to let Yui disappear from this world.

Reiji's efforts to find a solution are futile and therefore he considers himself useless. When he realized that Yui knew about this, he accepted Yui's request to be together. But I doubt that Reiji, by accepting this request, was content to give up and stop trying. I mean, we're talking about Reiji. A person who never gives up to achieve his goal.

But he agrees to spend the remaining time with Yui to make Yui happy. I feel that Reiji feels remorse for the sins he committed against Yui in the past and wants to make it up to Yui in some way.

I realized this because Reiji tested the drugs he made on his own body. This was what he used to do with Yui in the past. He was experimenting on her body and forcing her to take her medicine. It can be said that Reiji now realizes how much he hurt Yui and somehow experiencing this karma made him blame himself for Yui's current state.

Reiji wants to give Yui her last wish. But I guess her last wish as a human being, not the last wish of her life. Because at the end of the track, Reiji said, "I will give you a kiss with the promise of eternal love." Well, here we can have different interpretations of this sentence. But my impression is that Reiji plans to turn Yui into a vampire to make this love eternal. As he said in the previous episodes, he cannot imagine a world without Yui and he will be by her side forever.

Forever can mean even after death but I know Reiji as someone who will never give up on what he wants and even if he has to turn her into a vampire to keep Yui he will do it.

In the end, Yui's life for Reiji was like the same flower that he intended to pick. Yui was a beautiful and fragrant flower that always shine next to him and tempted him to pick her, and with this, Reiji shortened her life and he can no longer be by her side forever. He can resurrect this flower as an immortal being, but this flower will forever have a different color and smell just like Yui.

[sparklingdemon]

How do you think the Monochrome.Exe cast would react to being found by people and having players?

i'm not sure! i think it depends on if tails/knux/eggman are the player characters like in the original sonic.exe story, or if nix is the main character like cody is in pkmn-monochrome…

let's say that nix is the playable character, because it feels more faithful to cody's story (and because i have NO idea what the game would be like with the three as the player characters now that nix isn't a threat to them anymore!)

that said, nix HATESSS having a player. they hate going fast, they hate the perilous jumps over spikes and pits, they hate anything that involves danger. if given the choice, they'd probably just chill at the very beginning of green hill forever.

i feel like monochrome.exe is some weird inversion of sonic.exe's plot. so instead of exe killing each of the three at the end of each act, it's tails/knuckles/eggman killing nix at the end of each act (either intentionally or not). nix only has three lives, and is petrified of losing all three. they try to convince the player to turn back, just let them chill at the start of green hill. but the player just keeps running to the right, instead…

tails (obviously) is happy to see "sonic" getting back into the action! clearly the fact that sonic is moving forward means that he's ready to stop eggman like old times, and tails is there to help!! (tails does not help.)

knuckles questions the player, saying things like "why are you still playing this game when you already know what happens? it's because you LIKE to watch us die, isn't it? so just do it." i'm not sure exactly how knuckles would kill nix, but maybe he attempts to kill himself but accidentally takes nix down with him somehow..?? (though i like the idea of nix drowning bc tears motif and bc it's the most horrific way to die in sonic games)

i can't get into eggman's character motives toooo much without also spoiling what charizard's deal is - but, unlike charizard who's never actually done anything to physically harm or kill cody, eggman does NOT have that same code of honor when it comes to nix, and is ABSOLUTELY okay with torturing/killing them. he knows that you can just replay the game and start the cycle all over, but he doesn't care, because he'll be there to see nix at the end every time. he doesn't get any joy or satisfaction out of torturing nix like this, though. it's all just pure unadulterated hate.

i think nix's victims are definitely more indifferent towards the player than the three ghosts are. while pikachu/blastoise/charizard see the player as their only means of getting what they want, tails/knuckles/eggman only see the player as a harmless spectator. there's nothing the player do for them to change what's happening. nix wants to blame the player for what's happening to them, that by playing the game they are enabling this torture to continue, but deep down they know it'd still happen whether some player was watching it or not...

[bi-sapphics]

found something that was so hilarious to me that i wanted to post and talk about its irony here

linked post in the second screenshot

i find it really funny that radfem/exclus lesbians assume we think like they do and are overly possessive and hostile over our history and culture being cut off from the rest of queerness, which has historically been VERY OPEN.

let me make this clear: most bisexuals online do NOT CARE if monosexuals "take our terms", especially considering the fact that our community overwhelmingly rejects and despises doe/stag and any other alternate replacement terms for butch/femme that we're expected to use.

if some lesbians wish to use these terms instead, if only ironically to spite bisexual butches & femmes who identify that way genuinely after being informed (you tell me who's really using which improperly lmao?), then be my guest. useless presentation labels solely for the aesthetic or whatever seem based enough to me, and also to most normal people who have no intention to gatekeep something that isn't so serious to do so with at the end of the day. i have no intention of giving that power to your pathetic attempt.

i even came across this doe lesbian flag a while back, and have yet to hear of any damage done to bisexual sapphics after our precious term was appropriated and tainted by any who might use it. (/sarcastic)

if anything, i would venture to guess that doe/stag were only coined exclusively back in, what 2016?, because the LGB(T) were under this unfounded ahistorical social contract that each should be kept to their own and sharing in any direction is bad, actually (it's not, never has been). otherwise they wouldn't have even been created in the first place, y'know?

^^^ and i will admit that such reasoning is probably the motivation behind why i wrote this contradictory post more than a couple years ago; and while after re-reading it i do still somewhat stand by my reasoning for the sentiment based on the origin, at the end of the day it just does not matter and it won't destroy the balance of the universe if i can't be bothered to care. the statistical number of bi women & lesbians who use each other's terms is so minimal and unaffecting that this discourse is the only thing even bringing awareness and attention to it.

TL;DR ─ use whichever labels you wish if you like them enough and before you "steal" something to teach a lesson in favor of exclusionism, make sure it isn't from people who have always radically believed that sharing and accepting with the fellow marginalized is a good thing!

alternate TL;DR, as a friend of mine likes to put it: "do whatever you want forever"

[time-of-your-life-au]

M.A.R.C.Y. - Metal Automaton Rebuilt to Crush You

M.A.R.C.Y. was created by Dr. Eggman as a replacement for Metal Sonic after she defected to Amy's side. She was designed to be the better version of Metal, able to outdo her in every way. However, flaws in her design meant she could never match Metal's speed or power, much less surpass it in the way Eggman wanted her to. Additionally, although she would destroy badniks with little hesitation, she was always careful not to harm the animals powering them, and in fact would often take special care to free them. Because of this, Eggman abandoned her and the base in which she was being built. Several years later, Amy and Metal found her and took her in, giving her a place to stay while she figured out who she was without being Eggman's servant. The stay was intended to be temporary, but after a few months, she asked to stay with them permanently as their daughter, and they agreed.

M.A.R.C.Y. can come across as intimidating, but anyone who knows her knows that she is really quite lighthearted, always joking and teasing in her own way. She is gentle when it comes to organics, especially animals; her favorites are Flickies, but she has a soft spot for Chao. Her primary goal while fighting Eggman and Sage is destroying badniks and freeing the animals that power them. This can be detrimental to her overall success in battle, but it doesn't sway her determination.

M.A.R.C.Y. is mute, just like Metal is; she communicates primarily through a text-to-speech device Tails made for her, but she frequently makes beeping and whirring noises as well. She also knows sign language, which she uses primarily to converse with Amy and Verse.

M.A.R.C.Y. has a friendly rivalry with Omega; he initially sought to destroy her since she is an Eggman robot, but after a long and drawn-out duel in which he could hardly land a hit on her, he was forced to admit defeat. They frequently spar in this way, and though Omega will insist that his goal is to destroy her, if there were ever a time where he would be successful, he would stop and end the fight peacefully as she has done many times.

She can tear robots apart easily with her claws, but she prefers to fight using her hammer, a replica of Amy's. When she's not spending time with friends or battling Sage, she likes to train with Amy in the hopes of one day being as good at fighting using a hammer as Amy is.

M.A.R.C.Y. calls Amy "Mom" and Metal "Mimi". She loves her moms more than anything, and she would not hesitate to defend them under any circumstances. She is forever grateful to them for rescuing and adopting her. When in need of advice, she will always go to them first before anyone else.

She was originally all blue like Metal is, but she spraypainted pink highlights on herself in order to distinguish herself as well as look more like Amy.

Her closest friends are Silkie, Sonic and Shadow's daughter, and Verse, Silver and Espio's son.

Her eyes change color according to her mood; however, she is not good at recognizing her own emotions, so while anyone else can tell what she is feeling, she herself mostly can't. This means that she is completely unaware that she has had a crush on Silkie for years!

Due to her original purpose, M.A.R.C.Y. still seeks to be better than Metal, and she is especially disheartened that she is not as fast as it. However, support from her parents and friends over the years has lessened the insecurity surrounding this and instead made her determined to train and improve—much moreso than Eggman's abuse ever did.

[hello-nichya-here]

Some Peter Pan 2003 edits, enjoy.

(Nichya, do you agree with me by thinking this movie is the few examples of a live action Disney remake being as good if not better than the original?)

I agree and there's a very good reason why that is the case: it wasn't made by Disney, but by Universal, who wanted to be more loyal to the original story - and like Jason Isaac's himself said, that was the thing that made this movie so different from most adaptations of it.

I'm gonna be real, I used to hate basically every version of Peter Pan, mainly because of the Disney cartoon being my introduction to the story. I just never understood why Wendy liked him, or why he liked her, or how Neverland was in anyway special/different from any generic "Magic place", or why I should care if any of these characters leave it behind or stay. And keep in mind, this was coming from a child that was all about the Disney formulas. Peter Pan, as a concept, just REALLY felt hollow to little me.

... And then I watched this movie.

Let me tell you, 6-year-old Nichya was OBSESSED with this movie (and with Jason Isaac as Hook). 24-year-old Nichya too, even more so actually, because EVERYTHING ABOUT IT is perfect - including the thing that aged "poorly", aka the special effects.

Neverland doesn't really look real and that's good. The dated effects, the epic music and the very colorful lighting make it look like a place that could only exist in dreams, so when Wendy and her brothers are in awe of it, I totally get it. Today's tendency of films in which every scene look super dark and/dull makes me appreciate it even more.

The lighting also does wonders for the storytelling, showing Peter's magical connection with Neverland as it changes based on his emotional state, or in moments like Wendy seeing Hook for the first time, with the extra focus on his eyes - you can practically hear the book quote of Wendy being fascinated instead of frightened.

Speaking of the book, the fact that this adaptation had the guts to go with THE thing that could end making it far too corny and silly, aka the "kiss" Wendy has on her lips and that shows she's starting to grow up and become interested in romance is SUCH an important plot-point and key aspect of her character arc, and is delightful to see an adaptation that goes "We already have a magical land, fairies, mermaids, and a boy that stays a kid forever. How is the 'kiss' going to make it less realistic? It's fantasy already!"

And I love, love, love how they make sure we know who Wendy is outside of romance (a storyteller that wants adventure, a child that is both really mature and responsible, but also activelly trying to escape that role, someone who is very motherly but has a ton of anxiety about the prospect of eventually being the adult in charge) - but without ever downplaying how much her romance with Peter means to her.

He was the boy that was giving her everything she was looking for at the moment: friendship, adventure, excitement, and, more importantly, a way to escape any responsibility she didn't want - forever. He really is the hero she had been waiting for, and that, as a consequence, makes her realize that growing up and eventually having a family is not that scary after all, as long as she finds the right person, someone who understands her and that she trusts.

Obviously, she doesn't want to get married and have a ton of kids NOW, but she wants the promise that this will happen - when they're ready for it, when they're older. But Peter Pan is no ordinary boy. It's not just that he's too immature to fully embrace his feelings for Wendy right now, and could truly allow himself to love her later. He is NEVER going to reach that point, he's far too afraid to allow himself the chance to even try. And that breaks Wendy's heart.

And it breaks Peter's heart too, because he WANTS to be loved, and he already cares for Wendy in a way he never cared about anyone else. But because of who he is, she, and everyone else, will inevitably leave him. Because ALL children grow up. He is the only one who was blessed, and cursed, to be the exception.

He'll never be a husband and father. He will never be someone's child or sibling. He's the true lost boy, out of reach forever. He is truly free from everything and everyone, but the price is the knowledge that, sooner or later, he will find himself completely alone time and time again. And Wendy, the girl he loves, will one day either forget him or grow old and die - after having lived a full life with someone else, because Peter couldn't, and wouldn't, grow old with her.

He's doomed to be lonely forever... just like Hook. But unlike Hook, when he is immature and selfish (like when he closes the window at Wendy's house in the hopes that she'll believe her parents stopped waiting for her and her siblings), he does it out of pure desperation, because he's a child that genuinely doesn't know any better.

Hook however, is coming from a place of malice. When he "pursues" Wendy, he does out of jealousy that Peter managed to find true love, while he will never have that. He does it to steal that from him, to hurt him, to make him endure the pain of knowing that, of all people that could have replaced him in Wendy's heart, he was the one who did it.

And, of course, while he never really does anything to Wendy, the constant implication that, at any second, he might, looms large. Their dynamic is inherently predatory, with Hook exploiting the fact that Wendy is mature enough to want a romantic connection, but is still too naive to understand all the implications behind it, and, more importantly, that no adult that wants to be with her like that could possibly be someone she's safe with it.

He is an intriguing, tragic figure like Peter and thus can "seduce" her rather easily too (the fact that Jason Isaacs is really fucking hot doesn't hurt either), but he is doing it through constant manipulation, reminding her that she can never have the boy she actually wants and exploiting her childish need to have some form of petty revenge against him for it, by "befriending" the person he hates the most in the whole world.

But there's another thing that brings her closer to Hook: the fact that, despite being the complete opposite of her father, he still LOOKS like him, is the real adult authority figure around, and he is offering her advice and comfort when she experiences her first heartbreak. He represents both her adolescent impulse to rebel, to proove she's grown already, and her childlike instinct to just run to the arms of her parent and let him call the shots because she's afraid of making mistakes and wants someone who can tell her what to do, how she's supposed to act.

There is a recurring theme through the movie of Wendy's mostly innocent fantasies being read through an adult lenses (see the teacher's concern and offense at the drawing of Peter above her in bed - because he's FLYING, not touching her in anyway). Much like when she was the "mother" of the Lost Boys, when she is by Hook's side, Wendy is a child playing pretend. But the threat Hook poses is very real and his intentions are downright evil. Because Wendy ran away from the flawed, but well-meaning adults she could trust, she walked right into the trap of a very dangerous man that is taking advantage of her need for a protector, a mentor.

And that's why the kiss scene is the perfect climax for the movie, as it concludes three character arcs at once. It shows us Wendy choosing true love, however fleeting, instead of Hook's lies, and indulging in one last childhood fantasy before growing up. It gives Peter the only form of closure he could ever have, knowing that even if he can't be with Wendy, he will always be "the one" for her and won't ever be forgotten, just like he won't ever forget her, because they mean too much to each other. And Hook is forced to accept that, because he can't connect with anyone without manipulation, which could never last, his life truly is void in a way even Peter's never would be.

So yeah, it's a great movie with serious guts, and everyone else can just quit trying to make a new adaptation, reboot, sequel, prequel or whatever because they're never getting anywhere near this level of quality.

[xbomboi]

YOU 🤝 ME

SCREENWRITING

Could you possibly elaborate more on your EQ movies?? I'm really interested in this Cove Sunset... 👀

oh yeah actually i would love to talk more about that! so basically i wrote two movies intended to be the penultimate and the final installment in the Equestria Girls series since that’s definitely never going to get an official ending. i wanted to tie up loose ends…

i made a poster for the second one of the two that i made a few years back right here. but anyway…

the first of the two is called “Royal Nightmare.” the premise is as follows: it’s now spring of the girls’ senior year, and rarity has made the decision to run for queen of the spring fling after being robbed by sunset she tried to run for princess years ago. but when rarity gets possessed by dark magic, sunset has to confront her repressed baggage from the past if she wants to save her friend before it’s too late.

basically, this one deals a lot with sunset’s past with rarity. the film has a mix of the events taking place in the present day as well as flashbacks to the past, being the girls’ freshman year. it covers stuff like sunset arriving for the first time, her meeting flash, how she rose to power, and what she did to rarity (i changed it up just a tad because the junior novelization is a Weird book). it also has a lot of focus on rarijack as well.

the other one, intended as a finale movie, is titled “Forever Friendship.” after finally graduating from canterlot high, the girls are about to move onto the next stages in each of their lives. however, sunset still has unfinished business in regards to herself. together, the girls set out on one last adventure to uncover the truth behind sunset’s family and the sunset from their world. but could this be end?

this one is basically, like, giving sunset closure. in it i explore sunset’s origin and the truth about the Other sunset shimmer. it has an entire conflict that revolves around a discussion of the moral dilemma that comes with having magic in the human world. at heart it’s about sunset finding her purpose once and for all. i can’t say much else without spoiling it.

royal nightmare is complete in THEORY but needs a lot of, like, extra fleshing out and possibly the addition of a few more scenes. also, forever friendship is now missing a song or two because i removed one scene entirely and instead repurposed the song for royal nightmare. also ALSO, they’re a bit old now and i approached them differently than i did when writing for ever after high. i wasn’t totally thinking about completely matching the tone and more about cinematics. it’s not that i bumped the ratings up, but i let dialogue be lengthy and… idk, nuanced? i guess? more so in forever friendship than royal nightmare, at least. and there’s probably an occasional typo in them both.

i would share them, but the thing that makes me hesitant is the fact that for the songs, i made an unlisted youtube playlist of myself singing them each just for people who read them to have reference when the scenes pop up. it wasn’t so embarrassing when it was just being shared between myself and my friends, but the audio is kinda bad and there’s no music it’s just me singing. i didn’t even have the same range as i wanted for some of the songs or the characters so i sound wonky in it. and i can’t redo it now because i’m older and my voice has dropped so that’s a no-go.

idk, maybe i could give in with enough convincing.

[gotstabbedbyapen]

Hyacinthus Iceberg Meme EXPLAIN (P2)

Part 1 ✿ Part 2 ✿ Part 3 ✿ Part 4 ✿ Part 5

It's time for me to answer your questions about this Hyacinthus iceberg meme. There is a lot to tackle, so I'll divide it into 5 parts for the sake of my sanity.

Quick disclaimer: I am NOT an expert in Greek mythology, just a fan of Hyacinthus who wants to learn about him and anyone related to him. Most of the things I'm about to discuss are just theories and speculations of a passerby on the Internet, so do not take them as valid facts!

Apollo x Hyacinthus x Cyparissus

This OT3 has one painting made by Alexander Andreyevich Ivanov, but it's enough to convince me they are canon.

What's interesting about Hyacinthus and Cyparissus is that they are also pursued by Zephyrus, and the flower/tree they transform into after death represents mourning and sorrow.

"A young Lakonian [Hyakinthos] shook Zephyros; but he died, and the amorous Wind found young Cyparissus a consolation for Amyklaian Hyakinthos." - Nonnus, Dionysiaca

"[Apollo to Cyparissus] And the God, groaning with sorrow, said, 'You shall be mourned sincerely by me, surely as you mourn for others, and forever you shall stand in grief, where others grieve.'" - Ovid, "Metamorphoses"

Apollo x Hyacinthus x Boreas

I used to talk about this OT3 before. It's interesting because, unlike Zephyrus, Boreas seems fine with Hyacinthus dating Apollo and even dated Apollo before.

There aren't any paintings or ancient literature written explicitly about their relationship. It's more of an "if you think about it" thought.

(I won't discuss Apollo & Boreas because we will get off track, but there is a post about them for anyone interested!)

Hyacinthus' death symbolizes the vegetation wilted under the summer heat

Since Hyacinthus is assumed to be a pre-Hellenic nature god, and Apollo is the god of sunlight, we can piece together that Hyacinthus dying by Apollo is the metaphor of the plants dying under the scorching sun. This is why I said in Part 1 that Zephyrus killing Hyacinthus is a later version, and I'll say his present will ruin the myth. Having Zephyrus (the wind) as the "real" culprit will erase the original symbolism of the sun killing the plants.

(Sorry for hating you all this time, Zeph. You are in the clear now.)

Back to the main point.

Georg Friedrich Schömann seems to coin this theory in his book "Griechische Alterthümer" (1855), or he's only popularizing an existing theory. At least, that is the reference I get from the two of the sources I read.

(Hellenica World, "Hyacinthia")

(Michael Pettersson, "Cults of Apollo at Sparta: The Hyakinthia, the Gymnopaidai, and the Karneia")

Pettersson's essay also mentions G. F. Unger, another author who supports the theory.

Or we can take a step further and say this myth is about one god usurping another. As I said, Hyacinthus is a god worshipped in Amyclae long before the arrival of Apollo, so it's not a stretch to say his death at Apollo's hands also metaphorizes his cult getting replaced by Apollo's cult. It's the same as Apollo killing and replacing the Python as the patron of Delphi.

(Damian Pierzak, "The Case of Apollo and Hyacinth in the 'Second Tetralogy' Attributed to Antiphon")

However, there is one thing that I haven't understood.

In the myths, once Apollo killed the Python, he took over the Delphin temple for good. But in the case of Hyacinthus, Apollo is said to mourn Hyacinthus greatly and later revive him from death. He even shared the Hyacinthia festival and Amyclean shrine with Hyacinthus, with his statue built on top of Hyacinthus' tomb)

Is there a historical event that made the people worship both gods together instead of replacing one with another? Or are Apollo and Hyacinthus' joint worship an eventual thing? We'll never know for sure.

Hyacinthus is resurrected + Hyacinthus represents the death and rebirth cycle of nature

Hyacinthus' resurrection is like the hidden ending most people are unaware of, but it's a thing. No, we are not making it up because there are legit records and studies about it.

(Pausanias, "Description of Greece")

(Nonnus, "Dionysiaca")

(Angeliki Petropoulou, "Hyakinthos and Apollo of Amyklai: Identities and Cults A Reconsideration of the Written Evidence")

From here, we can assume that Hyacinthus' death and resurrection is the allegory for the cycle of plant life and death, like how Persephone descending to and ascending from the Underworld is the allegory for season change.

However, I only draw this conclusion from mythology blogs. Few ancient poets and professional scholars seem to talk about this theme of Hyacinthus.

As of now, I've only got these two sources that slightly discuss it:

(Ovid, "Metamorphoses")

Ovid's version is debatable because Hyacinthus still remains dead in his story. We can argue that Hyacinthus still "lives on" in the form of the flower, but it won't align with Hyacinthus' resurrection in the myths.

(Damian Pierzak, "The Case of Apollo and Hyacinth in the 'Second Tetralogy' Attributed to Antiphon")

Again, Mr. Pierzak cites Ovid's retelling when he mentions the "Hyacinthus is connected to nature's rebirth" theory.

I'm still looking for more accounts (both from ancient Greek and scholarly research) where Hyacinthus is fully revived and symbolizes the plants' cycle. If anyone has anything, please let me know! I would love to read more!

The Hyacinthia festival

The Hyacinthia festival is confirmed not only in mythology but also in history.

(Michael Pettersson, "Cults of Apollo at Sparta: The Hyakinthia, the Gymnopaidai, and the Karneia")

(Pausanias, "Description of Greece")

Until now, people are still studying about this ancient festival.

(Angeliki Petropoulou, "Hyakinthos and Apollo of Amyklai: Identities and Cults A Reconsideration of the Written Evidence")

I will talk about the Hyacinthia's rituals, practices, history, etc., but then we'll be here until next summer. So, I recommend everyone check out this post made by a Paganist for a deeper study.

TO BE CONTINUED