#and it’s actually sad when they get duped :(

[urgeforgoing]

commenting “I’ll wait for the dupe” when a small business advertises a product on social media is so icky. like it’s obviously not something you absolutely NEED so why not instead save up for the original????

[kavehater]

I beg have we been playing the same game orrrr

[arolesbianism]

Thinking abt my dupe ocs again, and I'm returning to my cringe fail silly ones who exist solely for me to have fun. Basically one of the colonies is sort of a lil experimental ground dupe wise where most of the dupes get to have some fun critter biology meshed in there, with most of them being fairly stable, but a few of them having a bit of a harder time for some reason or another. Such as having no bones and the most fragile skin known to dupe kind.

[deathbyathousandspiders]

“ cuddle bugs. ,,

(( REQUEST PART FOUR )).

mcu!peter parker x reader.

!!! read part one | two | three | five here. !!!

IN WHICH — you fell asleep on your best friend’s shoulder during movie night and now things aren’t going the way you anticipating. how far will things go before one of you confess your feelings?

✨masterlist✨.

3.2k.

Peter found it quite amusing how every single trip to the compound kitchen somehow involved Sam Wilson. He wasn’t sure how or why, but perhaps, Sam had been planning this strategically. Every time he went to grab a snack, or make a cup of cocoa, Sam happened to beat him there and lurk in the corner. He also happened to make it his goal to tease him about his feelings for you.

“You going to the holiday party tomorrow night?” Sam asked, a smirk coating his lips. “I heard there’s gonna be mistletoe.” His eyebrows wiggled as he went to sip from his drink. “You should take Y/N and go find it.”

Just the idea of kissing you made Peter’s legs turn to jelly. He’d tried to picture what such an intimate moment would be like with you, but he couldn’t fathom it. He especially couldn’t fathom it when he had to try and picture the rest of the team there, watching. Peter knew he had to make the moment extra special, and if the team was there ogling you both, that would make things extra awkward.

Taking a deep breath, Peter sighed to try and tame how big his grin had gotten. “I’m not gonna do that. I can’t.” He saw the way Sam’s eyes widened a bit, and Peter figured that it was because he’d gotten confused. “I just don’t want..” Peter trailed off, wanting to find a way to explain without getting extra cheesy. He wasn’t sure why Sam wasn’t holding eye contact anymore, leering behind Peter’s shoulder, or why he looked so shocked, but Peter knew he needed to find his words sooner than later.

“You don’t want to kiss me?”

Fuck.

Cold. Everything ran cold with panic. Panic and regret and sadness and desperation to fix this. Peter turned on his heels, meeting your eyes in the state they were; in a state he hadn’t been exposed to. You were hurt, and he could tell. What was so painful for Peter to realize was that he could read that you weren’t just hurt by his words, you were hurt by him and his actions. It sliced at his heart in a way that he didn’t think was possible. He couldn’t tell if the sound of shattered glass came from your heart, or his.

“Y/N, I–”

It absolutely crushed him to see you take distance when he got closer. Peter knew he didn’t set up his point well, but he hated that he couldn’t explain it to you. He hated every second that he couldn’t spend giving you the security that you needed.

“No, no. It’s fine.” You seemed to understand it. Or, you tried to make it seem like you got it. Like it registered the way he wanted it to, but it didn’t. It could never. Peter felt like the scum of the earth; unforgivable, and douchey unlike any other. He felt every single hurting syllable when you said: “But you don’t have to make kissing your best friend sound like such a chore.”

Your tone of voice when you snapped at him was almost as haunting as the sight of you walking away so quickly. Peter wanted nothing more than to rush after you and explain everything, but he also wanted to respect your boundaries. Luckily, Sam rushed after you so that he didn’t have to.

He turned back to face Peter, “Don’t worry, I’ve got a plan.” And that was all he needed to say to give Peter some peace of mind. At least, a little peace of mind.

Peter didn’t know that Sam’s plan was to dupe him into a partnered stakeout with you. He didn’t know that the two of you would be stuck, in a car, alone, for hours. He didn’t know that it was an actual mission. A serious, dangerous, very important mission; and Peter had no idea that Sam and Bucky fully went out of their way to be your guys' backup for the stakeout if it started escalating.

Yet, there you were: alone, in a car, Peter in the driver’s seat, and you riding shotgun. The Prius was parked on a street corner, just as Peter was instructed to leave it by Fury himself. It had already been two hours. Two hours had gone by, and neither of you had spoken a word to the other. Silent, in superhero suits, listening to the wind rattling the windows and the car occasionally click and hum in the quiet.

It was awful.

It was the third longest period of radio silence between the two of you, right next to when you had laryngitis in the fifth grade and when you avoided him senseless three days ago. And Peter didn’t want the silent treatment to go on any longer.

He knew he had to say the first word. He needed to. He just didn’t know how to fix the mess he made, or get you to stop staring out the dashboard like you were mad at it. He knew that the anger you expressed to the sheet of glass was actually directed at him.

Peter tapped his fingers along the steering wheel, pulled at the spandex fabric covering his fingers, and tried to run through and rationalize any and every outcome that could occur once he opened his mouth. You were his best friend, and had been for as long as he could remember. He wasn’t going to let this be the rift that tore your friendship apart.

His eyes finally stuck to your figure for longer than a second’s glance. He saw the way your face was barren, relaxed. It was a look you had when you were lost in thought. Taking a deep breath, Peter tried to suck as much of the thickened tension as he could.

“Y/N, I’m sorry–”

Your eyes shut tight, and your face scrunched in a way that had regret immediately wash out Peter’s bloodstream. You didn’t even look in his direction when you said the word: “Don’t.” Your tone was sharp, trying to slice off any remnants of the conversation; a conversation that you were well trying to move past.

Peter’s lips pressed into a thin line, hiding how frantically he wracked his brain for the right words to say. “But I need to explain myself! Can’t you let me do that?” His body posture craned towards you. One leg tucked beneath the weight of his torso as he looked at you. His brows knit together in desperation, and his eyes sent you a leer that could break you into pieces.

But your walls were becoming too thick for his shattered stare.

You huffed out a breath of frustration. “Peter, I don’t see what’s there to explain.” Your tone was short, stiff, and stuffed with something you hoped sounded like a backbone. Lying to yourself wouldn’t stop the fact that you were hurting, silently grieving over the loss of your expectations. Grieving over the loss of what could’ve been between you and Peter Parker. “You don’t want to kiss me! What else is there to understand?”

“That’s not true!” Peter was quick to defend himself, his voice growing a bit in the process. “I do want to kiss you–”

Scoffing, you also raised your voice a little. “God, Peter! I don’t want your pity!” You couldn’t believe him. He was just pulling shit from his ass to try and make you feel better. “I don’t need your pity either!” You sunk deeper into your seat, a crossed expression staking claim in your eyes, and your arms folding over your chest to hold your ground.

Peter could physically feel the distance you were putting between the two of you. He studied you, how irritated you were, how much hurt he caused. “Y/N, it’s not pity–”

“Harley asked me out.” You cut him off, finally looking at him. It was the first time your eyes had met since yesterday. The first time you let your guard down a little. And the way his eyes widened at you, you could tell this was the first time he’d seen you in such a dimming light; perhaps you really were slipping through his fingers, out of his grasp.

His silence said millions of words, yet none of them were satisfying. It felt so much worse, quite frankly. What you really wanted from him was the reassurance that he felt the same way. It wasn’t just about a kiss, rather than wanting a romantic connection. It wasn’t about the misunderstanding, but the way he’d go about fixing it. And it wasn’t about Harley asking you out, you wanted to see how Peter would react.

The look in his eyes mirrored yours. It was a glisten of betrayal, and the lingering stare of denial. Peter looked at you like it would be the last time he was allowed to. He didn’t know where to go from here, and it was obvious.

You let out a sigh, irritated and remorseful and heartached. “Harley asked me out, and I–” Pausing, you looked straight ahead, unable to meet Peter’s eyes while the words muttered from your lips. “I think I’m going to change my answer.”

Peter’s breath caught, and you could hear his hushed thought process. He filtered through the words you said, and kept searching for the phrase or touch or look that would convince you to stay with him. To choose him.

“I–”

You couldn’t even stomach the sound of his voice. Your nerves spiked much higher than you’d anticipated. What were you even getting at? Making him jealous? All you felt was guilt. Embarrassment. Suddenly, you were nervous. “I need some air.” You choked abruptly, fleeing from the passenger’s seat and exiting the vehicle.

Peter sat in the driver’s side, frozen in his place as he watched you walk further from the car. He couldn’t deny how much of a gut punch your words were, but he also kept replaying the way you’d phrased it like a broken record.

‘I think I’m going to change my answer.’

Even you seemed uncertain about it, and if Peter had any chance with you, he knew he needed to act now. Just as went to get out of the car and follow you, he felt his spider sense heighten. Blood ran cold and the world moved slow as he watched the scene. From behind a bush merely fifteen feet from where Peter was, you were grabbed and pulled out of sight.

“Shit!” Peter panicked. He slipped his mask on, updating KAREN to alert Sam and Bucky. He was lucky that whoever had taken you didn’t spot him, but he felt every fiber of his being spiral about how to get you back. When Peter said he was afraid of losing you, this was not what he meant.

And he was going to do everything in his power to bring you back safely.

Shuttered and softened gasps fell from your lips as your eyes opened, and you watched your breath visibly leave your mouth. Was it below freezing in the room? It had to be. It was the middle of December, after all. Your skin ached as you gained consciousness, every inch of your body screaming for warmth by the time you’d finally come to.

Some scrawny white man with disheveled hair and a short–sleeved t-shirt stood in front of you, holding you in whatever darkened room you seemed to be in. He stood rather close to you, much closer than your comfort levels permitted. He didn’t seem any bit irked by your presence in the slightest.

Maybe that was because your wrists were tightly chained to exposed water–pipes spouting from the floor, or because he’d finally discovered your super–heroine identity. Either way, the light in his eyes was anything but frightened or angered or even confused.

In fact, his eyes scanned your body with marvel and awe. It sent a shiver down your spine.

“Astonishing..” His accent was thick through his words, letting the statement fall heavy with the sigh it traveled through. “It’s working…”

Your blood ran even colder at the words, stilling your posture for a millisecond. What chilled your bones even more was when your body broke out into an intense fit of shivers, and the man laughed. A laugh that was maniacal, entertained, psychopathic. Psychopathic, and relieved.

Thick clouds of steam left your mouth as your breaths drew faster in panic, indicating just how below zero the temperature was. You could barely muster out the words that your throat shoved out: “Wha–what’s so funny?” You asked, clearly freezing.

Now, a bit more serious, the man leaned disarmingly close to your face, eying you in a way that sobered your mind, soul, and being.

“You’re cold.”

The muttered words only caused more confusion, until you finally noticed the two broken syringes on the ground to your left, and how the liquid oozing from the shattered glass had frozen over. It was ice. You became aware of the sweat caking the hairline of the man in front of you, and how disgustingly consuming the warmth of his breath was.

The room wasn’t cold, you were cold. And you were left to assume that it was only a matter of time before you froze to death.

Quite frankly, as much as the dude yapped your ear off with his “diabolical” plan, your brian was clouded with more pressing matters: how you left things with Peter. You didn’t know how long it would take for the team to find you, or if you’d even make it to see this guy get his ass kicked. Either way, you knew Peter was overthinking.

And so were you.

The wave of relief that cast over your body when Sam broke the door down was indescribable. You hadn’t known how long it had been, or how much time you had left, but pins and needles pricked every inch of your body and you’d spent however long shivering just to try and shake the feeling.

Peter immediately swooped down from the ceiling at Sam’s cue, webbed the guy to a wall, and rushed to your aid in the blink of an eye. Not a word was said until he unclasped the restraints and pulled you into a hug. It was the quickest hug he’d ever given you; record time of point–two seconds. “Jesus Christ! Y/N, you’re fucking freezing!!” It were though he hadn’t heard your teeth chattering this entire time.

You could only look at him with a concerned crinkle in your brow, unable to speak through the chill you kept continually catching.

“KAREN!” Peter called out, his mask still on over his face. “Turn on the thermal–heater–protocol thing!! Pronto!” Hearing his panicked demands almost brought you peace, yet nothing could compare to how nice it felt to finally come in contact with warmth.

It barely helped at all, but the contrast was enough to notice. All and every part of you melted into Peter, giving him unspoken permission to pick you up and carry you to the Quinjet. His touch didn’t waver as he sat down on the plane, and his jaw didn’t unclench until his response was requested. His protective demeanor provided a sense of safety, yet it felt tugged from beneath you with one quick statement.

“We should probably call Harley and tell him you’re alright.”

The disappointment tugging at his expression was enough to shatter your heart into a million pieces. You could tell that it broke his just the same, too.

Your head shook against his chest as he sat you down on a bench, seating himself closely beside you to keep you from whatever fridged feeling this kidnapping brought upon you.

“Harley doesn’t– He doesn’t need to know.” Confusion washed over Peter’s face so quickly, you nearly forgot the rut you dug yourself in. “Pe–Pete.. I owe you an apo–ology.” The words were almost impossible to mutter out. You were only getting colder by the second.

His attention was so fixated on you, eyes glued to yours, brows sewn together, and thoughts racing circles trying to grasp whatever you could mean. Peter’s eyes studied your face for the possible answers, but he was getting ahead of himself.

There was nothing left to do other than to come clean. The confession was yours to make, and the look Peter gave you only made that more apparent. His emotions pierced your soul, all his sincerity and curiosity and genuity and eagerness. It was almost like he knew what you were trying to choke out between shivers. Or as though it were his job to fix whatever you presented broken.

You couldn’t tell whether the rapid rhythmic heartbeat was your own, or Peter’s, but either way, you had to force these words out before they staled with the lump in your throat. “I–I–” You took a deep breath to still your chattering teeth, feeling Peter’s grip tighten reassuringly around you in the midst of it. “I was upset that you didn’t want to kiss me.”

The apology flashed in his eyes just as he went to open his mouth, but you weren’t finished. “I was upset, because I–” You nearly sped through the sentence, but halted. “I—” And it were though you froze in place, right then and there. You completely froze, stopped moving, stopped breathing.

Panic. It washed over you like panic, sheer uncontrollable unexpected panic. Your blood ran cold, and if it weren’t for the feeling of your body washing white, you would’ve thought you were dying.

Peter calling your name almost sounded fake. It was so distant and faint that you swore you were dreaming. However, with a small hitch of your breath, reality hit you a lot harder than necessary. Your entire being shook, spazzing in this cold and freezing state. So much so, it was painful.

You knew you were being hugged and blanketed by Peter’s protection much more intently. The press of his biceps communicated that he felt like he was to fault for this. The dazy holler of his voice told you that he felt responsible and sorry and nervous. There wasn’t anything in the world you wanted to do more than to fight against this and assure him that you were okay. You were going to be fine.

Bucky walked over with a sense of urgency, relaying to Peter a medical analysis that Bruce laid out. He stated things about your condition that the author was far too lazy to look up you couldn’t make out in this fridged trance.

Every inch of your body had stopped shouting for warmth and instead now screamed for it, for relief. It begged and pleaded and bruised its knees just for some sense of stillness from whatever blizzard was injected into your system.

So cold, too cold, everything blurred to white. Every sound was washed out, every sensation pricked in spears and spikes against you, and every thought felt too heavy to handle. You weren’t sure how or when, but at a certain point, you passed out. Consciousness suddenly became too overwhelming for your fragile limp little body.

Part of you wasn’t sure whether this was better than feeling the sting of Peter’s rejection, but you knew that was a demon you’d have to face sooner than later. You made a promise to yourself right then and there that regardless of what and when, the next time you saw Peter Parker, you’d tell him how you’d really felt.

You were going to tell your best friend that you’d been in love with him. And still very much so were.

tag–list : @helen-on-earth @ellebutnotwoods @hufflepuff-n-fluff @petersparkerss @tommysfrog @zelzablues @mavex @thatmarvelchick19 @parkersmaterialgirl @justtuesdays @coralineyouareinterribledanger @abucketofweird @cayleejx16 @thievin-stealing

[taldigi]

Hi hello ur P4: Retransmission au has me positively foaming at the mouth(/pos), especially nyarukami and dorktective naoto!!! If you don't mind me asking i was wondering a few things,

is naotos design here based off the concept art? Is that why they don't have a hat (as far as I've seen lol)?

Does Naoto call chie any sort of nickname like "partner" or did Yosuke take the nicknaming in the swap? Does Yosuke call Nyarukami like, Pawrtner or smth?

Does anyone pun back at Nyarukami? Does Teddie still make bear puns?

Do you have any like, fav dynamics between characters in particular?

Sorry I've been thinking about this all day cuz this au is so cool and I love ur art and everything here is top tier o7

is naotos design here based off the concept art? Is that why they don't have a hat (as far as I've seen lol)?

YES IM SO GLAD SOMEONE NOTICED!!

He looks so scrunkled and I thought it was a perfect look!

He gets his hat later, as a gift for performing a character arc.

Does Naoto call chie any sort of nickname like "partner" or did Yosuke take the nicknaming in the swap? Does Yosuke call Nyarukami like, Pawrtner or smth?

It kinda feels sacrilegious to have Naoto call Chie his partner- cause that's like... the Souyo petname. But, I think he uses it in a more formal sense. I think... He also uses "my dear" (in the sense of "my dear Watson" since this Naoto is more performative about it than canon).

There's been debate about the differences between aibou and partner and how there isn't much of a direct translation, but I think it would fall back into that for the Yoosk and Nyarukami. I think it starts with "buddy" before falling back into something like that... as Nyarukami does weird out Yosuke at first before they actually spend time together!

Seeing as Nyarukami isn't a 1-1 Teddie, and does have his calm demeanor and same interests- just lacking leadership qualities. I think they get into some mischief (something this Yosuke sorely needs) and start to click afterwards... then Yosuke not only goes through his gay crisis, but his furry crisis as well. it's great.

Does anyone pun back at Nyarukami? Does Teddie still make bear puns?

For Teddie, I think the puns were sort of a substitute for his verbal tic in the og, but the sentiment of "being annoying to stay remembered" remains. Nyarukami's puns are less jokes, and more in line with verbal tics. He doesn't even know he's making them most the time and is audibly confused when someone tries to pun back at him.. before going, "oh! It's because I am a cat!" and then trying and failing to make a cat pun in return- because when he tries, they are terrible. "That's cat-tastic"

Teddie, while annoying as ever- does not bear pun. It's sad, true, but Nyarukami's got it covered.

Do you have any like, fav dynamics between characters in particular?

Uh, suprisingly- Yukiko and Yosuke? I'm trying not to let favoritism happen toooo much, but Yosuke being the only one to be on Yukiko's side at first is frighteningly charming.

He calls out the IT initially for assuming Yukiko is the killer. And since he's the first victim after the second murder, it's Yukiko who- having been suspicious of the IT- forces them to help her find him.

--

Naoto yipped as he was suddenly grabbed and slammed against the wall, the impact eliciting a sharp wheeze as the balled fists of his assailant crushed him where they held him.

Chie reacted almost immediately, an arm shooting out defensively between Naoto and the assailant- though it did little in holding the assailant from crushing him entirely.

"Start talking, Shirogane." The assailant- whom Chie remembered as Yukiko Amagi -growled, "I don't know.. I don't even care, how you somehow duped the new kid into your stupid little buddy cop roleplay, but you've been snooping around my place."

"I don't.. I don't know what you're talking about-" Naoto squeaked out, hands raised defensively. The reply resulted in slightly more crushing and the sneer on Amagi's face growing larger.

"Amagi-" Chie tried, recoiling as Amagi snapped a firey glare at her.

"Shut up." Amagi snapped, before turning back to Naoto, "I'm not stupid, and you of all people are less than subtle- You know something about him, you're doing something. .. and I for sure know that junk closet you hid in didn't have exits!"

"H..him..?" Naoto managed out, prompting Amagi to pull back and slam Naoto back into the wall- eliciting another harsh wheeze

"Don't suddenly play stupid, shortstack. I know it was you who broke in last night, looking for 'clues' about those murders on the news. T-the people that went missing-"

Amagi took a breath.

"He never misses more than two days. His parents won't let him, even when he's sick." Her voice got quieter, though it still held a quiet crackle as she continued. "Yosuke's been missing for four days- and-"

"Okay." Chie cut in, causing Amagi to ease up her grip, "Okay. Let him go, and we'll tell you, alright?"

A moment passed, maybe two- then, Amagi sighed, and let Naoto drop to the floor with a thud. The little detective scampering up from where he fell- falling in place, safely, behind Chie.

"That's a funny way of asking for help." Naoto grouched, smoothing out his shirt and adjusting his tie.

[pyreo]

was sweeping up some map completion for a gift of exploration and just got reminded of so many cool things I like about original gw2/worldbuilding

I love Orr and how weird and alien it is. The ambience of sitting there with everything damp, dripping, made of coral, literally a lost world that doesn't fit above water any more. I love how oily the sky is and that occasionally a huge shadow sweeps over you as something like Blightghast/other risen dragons go by overhead. I love that it looks like this

It's so otherworldly. I especially like the eerie birdcalls (I know it's just a real bird I'm not used to, but it's so unique and strange)

I like that the end of the Pact storyline doesn't feel... hopeful. At all. Orr is blighted and diseased, mottled with decay, with lost journals from people who were never going to survive. I like that the story culminates here, grandiose but mournful. You're trying again but this place you're in was already lost, with thousands of lives, and it doesn't feel like triumphant reclaiming. I like that none of the game through these >10 years has really framed oncoming war, and fighting to survive, with glory. I like that the fight through Orr doesn't really feel righteous. It's no clash against a tyrant or something with belief in good over 'evil'. It's just sad. Trying to get through and survive it.

I like the clearly LOTR-emulating Orr music, particularly how this one goes into a male chorus at the end-

I like how an entire map is called Malchor's Leap and that clues you in to it being named after something and then you can go find out and it's just even more depressing. But at the same time, it reiterates the history of Orr - that human gods lived there and it must have been full of incredible splendour and that's gone and you will never see it, you can only try to imagine based on the wrecks of cathedrals.

And speaking of the human gods, I just like how each race has their own take on religion and they all get something tailored to their outlook. Nobody disputes one religion over the other like in our world - each one is generally assumed to be true on some level, and in some cases, provably real, but each race gets something different from their history and belief system anyway. Humans used to live alongside their gods but have been abandoned and none of them know why (and we eventually do find out what happened). Norn can invoke a governing spirit from any creature alive and choose the one that they'll serve best, but these spirits can be killed and you can see what happens when they mourn them. Sylvari have a stone of commandments from their long-dead benefactor that has completely fucked up their society because they aren't sure if following the tenets is wise or brainwashing. Asura actually believe there is an equation that can solve the entire universe and everything is part of a grand scheme beyond knowing, which is something more like a philosophy than religion but deserves mentioning because it means the Intellectual Goblin Race weren't made into cut and dry atheists as a cliche. They believe in something and have personal interpretations about it. One of them even made a machine to make the Eternal Alchemy viewable that drove someone insane when they used it and I just like how things asura do tend to backfire.

And the Charr. I mean. They're the atheists and it's all because they were duped into technically following a human god for a while and they're never going to get over-- no, wait. They started getting over it and the Flame Legion integrated with regular society again after their leader was deposed, because things moved forward and changed, and I like that too.

I feel like I can talk and talk on and on about this fictional history because it... just.... works? It's all part of a tapestry of cause and effect and meaningful characterisations. And they deliberately set up the basis for their playable races and then made the story NPCs generally turn those expectations around - Caithe being a grief-ridden assassin, Rox being a superstitious oddball, Zojja being irrational, Canach starting out as a pompous asshole.

I like the Ceera is still around in HoT and if you took the personal story route where her husband died, she still hasn't forgiven you and never does.

I loved Zafirah (bring her back!) showing that badly rooted spirituality can be redirected into something healthy and healing without being negated.

I like how many NPCs show up as part of a story step and you can ask if you know them and they'll say oh, yeah I was in the Pact with that whole thing? Or 'I saw you from a medical tent in maguuma and didn't think I'd make it', constant callbacks and the sense that minor characters have a continuous existence independent of you.

I like how solemnly the game takes its wins. The initial campaign against Zhaitan makes sure to kill characters off and made bringing Destiny's Edge along to it feel like its own entire obstacle. Heart of Thorns smashes any confidence the Pact has after the base game and takes an intentional sacrifice to be won, and I still think about him. Going after a literal god in Path of Fire costs you your life. Going after Kralkatorrik, with Destiny's Edge's guilt weighing on you, costs you your own child. Saving the fate of the world by fulfilling the exact conditions for Aurene to ascend costs you your child again, being taken from you so that the whole world stops rocking on its axis, losing your baby as she turns into a deity. Icebrood Saga puts you in the shoes of a relatable, easygoing crew on the opposing side, then sits back and waits for you to kill them all to continue. When you fight the final dragon as the final boss in Dragon's End you don't want to kill her at all, and she begs you to leave and get away so she won't harm you while you try, in bitterness and desperation, to end her unfathomably long life.

And the entire short but brilliant arc with Joko made sure we don't really feel empowered or just about the choices we've made.

It's just. Been really fucking good.

[thefrogman]

On fucking up...

The house has been incredibly quiet since my dad passed. And that quiet turns into loneliness quite often for me. So last night I decided to use every spoon I had to go to the movies. I swallowed my social anxiety and went out into the world.

The theater had these recliners that sit on a raised step. But when you are actually sitting in the seat you can't see that step. Once the movie was over I forgot about the step. I got up to leave and my ankle caught it on the way down. I flew forward and crashed into the back of a row of seats.

A middle aged gentlemen saw this and said, "Gee buddy, this your first day walking?"

And the other 8 people in the theater gave a boisterous laugh.

I wanted to crawl in a hole and die.

Making a mistake feels bad.

Making a mistake in public is an embarrassing lesson in humility.

And making a mistake witnessed by 15,000 people is terrifying.

When you get something wrong and people call you out, your first instinct is to dig in. Everyone wants to dig in. Which is usually the worst possible reaction. You want to defend yourself. You don't want to believe you were wrong. And you start spewing out reasons why you can't be wrong. I think the current vernacular calls this "tweeting through it."

Over the years I have tried very hard to fight that instinct to dig in. To consider what people have said and recheck my facts to see if my original information could be inaccurate. And sometimes you find out you were right and strengthen your point of view.

But when you find out you were duped or misunderstood the information, there is nothing quite like that sinking feeling.

And when you are wrong in front of 15,000 people... that sinking feeling goes to the center of the earth.

You get sucked into a thought spiral...

"How do I fix this? Do I send a message to all 15,000 people? Do I just post a video of me repeatedly punching myself in the face? Do I delete the post? No, can't delete the post, people will think you are trying to hide your mistake. Plus all those reblogs."

You have to accept the fact that even if you publicly admit you were wrong, a lot of those people are never going to see it. They are going to believe the thing and possibly spread it to others.

You've created a runaway freight train and you just have to watch it crash into stuff.

The sad thing is I have learned this lesson a few times in my 10+ years of being a minor public figure. It has caused me to be so paranoid about passing along bad information that I will fact check things to death. Sometimes 5 or 6 sources. I'll look at reputable sources and disreputable sources. And I'll try to corroborate those disreputable sources just as an exercise to give me confidence I have the best information at that time.

But the other night I finished watching John Wick 4 and was high on action juice. I started watching every John Wick video on YouTube. My history shows about 40 videos. And at 2 or 3am I heard the director being hyperbolic in a podcast clip and thought a fun fact was too great not to share.

I thought, "I'm not telling people to eat horse paste for COVID. I'm not pretending I'm a submarine expert who knows exactly how to save people at the bottom of the ocean. It's just a flippy gun maneuver. I'm sure Chad knows what he is talking about."

So I posted the thing on my personal blog with sleep in my eyes and figured it was fine. And after 500 notes no one had really said anything, so I thought it was okay to share on my main blog.

And that was my biggest mistake. I deemed the subject matter to be trivial so I lowered my standards.

I forgot that damn step was there and flew into the seats.

There are dishonest people on the internet. Tons of them. People who will post dangerous misinformation without a care. People who have a pattern of lying. Grifters who thrive on baiting people for clicks. And I think it has caused us to react to bad information with hostility by default. People forget that there are still honest people who just make a mistake or get duped. Yet they can still feel the need to make people feel stupid for believing something that seems so obvious to them.

I have been guilty of this myself. I have called people out forgetting they are a human being behind that social media avatar.

The first person to call me out just said, "This is not true, LMFAO."

That's not helpful.

People made me feel like I was a liar. And I am very sensitive to that. For years doctors, family, and friends were skeptical of my Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. And when someone accuses me of being dishonest, I get very anxious and see red.

But I tried very hard not to dig in. I asked for more information--for evidence. Just point me in a direction so I can figure out what's true. But I got angry when all they said was that I was wrong without elaboration. Which is another form of digging in.

I guess I'm asking people to start with compassion before hostility. Maybe if we don't know the person or they have been a mostly reliable source, we can give people a chance. If the person has a history of deception, that's a different story. Bad faith is usually pretty easy to spot.

I remember for a long time I used to love telling people their blood was blue until it was exposed to oxygen. It was just the funnest fun fact I had ever heard and I *needed* others to know the thing I knew. Giving people knowledge can be intoxicating. But then I told my good friend who just became a medical resident and he was like, "I don't remember that in medical school. I think that might be an urban legend."

I still got that sinking feeling and I still had flashbacks to every person I told... but I was grateful he was so kind when he corrected me.

You can correct someone with kindness.

I'd ask that you imagine yourself in their shoes. Think about how embarrassing it is when you get something wrong. And just be like, "Hey, I think you got some bad information. Here's why."

When someone faceplants into a row of seats, metaphorically or otherwise, maybe ask if they are okay before laughing at them.

[pernicious-pastas]

*cracks knuckles*

Creeps Headcanons !!

these are a little rushed but here’s some basic headcanons

Masky:

-Masky himself, is just a proxy. He's not Tim, He's not anybody, just alive to serve Slenderman and fulfill “menial” tasks in Slender’s eyes, which of course is actually the emotionless calculated butchering of citizens. He realistically has no discernable looks, age, or even a standing in humanity. But he aligns with whatever body he's in at the moment. While he's Tim- Masky is in his mid-late 20s, strong and incredibly skilled in combat. Muscular arms and broad shoulders with dark brooding eyes.

-While Masky is only here to research, prepare/confirm directions, as well as fulfill most of the missions- He can still have his own personality and tendencies !!

-Short-tempted, blunt, and none of the southern hospitality his vessel’s accent would incline you to believe, Masky can be described as “difficult” by many, many people. Most people actually.

-Around people who he actually does like he’s still a bit of a prick, but you can see there’s more that meets the eye. He’s funny and lighthearted, and willing to lend a helping hand no matter what situation he’ll end up putting himself through.

-smokes Marlboro Red Shorts. Haha.

Hoodie:

-Like Masky, He aligns with his current vessel. Early-mid 20s and incredibly buff, He's the tallest proxy standing at 6’2. Think college gym-bro whose body got snatched and taken to be inhabited by an unhinged sad man. Oh wait-

-Hoodie is quite standoffish and cold to people he doesn’t know, but his friends would describe him as a good soul trapped under a hard exterior and expectations. His hearty laugh is the most contagious of the creeps- if you’re lucky enough to get one out of him.

-Selective mutism whilst on missions/around certain people *caugh* slender *cough* as well as most of the creeps.

-He hangs out with Ben and E. Jack while not on missions. Though he does consider himself a loner and lives in a small cabin near the mansion he built himself a few 30 or so years ago, in a close proximity he also built four other cabins, which he (semi-reluctantly) allows Masky, Toby, and E. Jack use, the other is empty. Throughout his life he’s build countless cabins and camp-outs, which he takes advantage of regularly while out on missions.

Toby:

-Toby is in his mid-20s, with brown locks unkemptly framing his face. He's lean and tall, strong and intelligent, definitely the brains of the proxies. Toby has a few facial piercings from Ben using him as a practice dummy- though he loves the looks (Slender wants to rip them out)

-Because he's the only ‘human’ proxy, Toby’s given fewer missions and hours because of his lower mental and physical stamina, No super strength for Toby :(

-Slender allows him to work a part-time job as a result of that. Hoodie and Masky do the brunt of the work but Toby brings in their dough to survive- so they don’t really mind- they are sort of spiteful though.

-Toby works somewhere in food service… I'll get back to you on that

Ben:

- Ben is a 5’5 male who behaves and appears to be in his early 20s, due to him being in the “ghost” class of creeps, he ‘ages’ incredibly slowly. With a blond shaggy outgrown mullet, he's rocking your classic cool guy stoner look. average Weezer and Nirvana enjoyer (Kurt Cobain dupe ?? 😱). Multiple facial and body piercing/mods. Perks of ghost nerves and pain receptors- He technically has none!

-Being in the mansion for almost 20-30 years now, he's one of the go-to guys when you have questions or just want a buddy around. He's friendly with everyone even if just surface level, which means he's always down to stir the pot when he gets bored.

-Resident stoner and video game enthusiast. Have a few hours to kill and Slender to disappoint? Come hang in Ben's room!

-Part time sales associate in a slow-paced electronic parts & games store. Loves to look busy at the counter doing nothing for hours but is somehow employee of the month?? Favorite part of the job is organizing shelves perfectly and then moving around merchandise to do it all over again. Always late to work even though he comes in through an old tv in the back? what traffic??

-girl flirting with him: *points to the legend of zelda poster behind him* hey, has anyone told you you look like link?

-him, visibly sweating: i don’t know who that is.

Eyeless Jack:

-Jack is normally an ordinary, 6’5 man with dark brown curls that fall over his ears, he has a large muscular frame and shark-like teeth with distinct canines. He has dark grey skin, with long black claws, and of course, empty eye sockets with black tar sporadically leaking from them. So very ordinary!

-When hungry, Jacks's fingernails and teeth start to painfully grow, his eyes become pin-pointed and tunnel-visioned. The only sense he can make out is smell. Ripping into the first thing/person he can find and feeling bad later.

-Jack tries his hardest to stay well-fed. And with friends in high places, it's not a difficult task.

-He's a huge homebody. He doesn't like seeing people or going out, but he does like hanging out with the other creeps. He most enjoys the company of Hoodie or Ben, but doesn't mind the others. he comes off as aloof to the people he doesn't really make an effort to interact with.

-(I'm gonna write a Jack fic soon so just know he's possessive and a lover boy. details soon)

[skygemspeaks]

okay so after seeing all of the first three episodes again last night with friends and falling even more in love with the cast than before, i finally got around to episode 4 today. some thoughts:

i can't gush enough about the set design, it's all absolutely gorgeous. i was completely in love with the little clearing where young zoro and kuina have their match, just seeing the sunlight filtering through the trees...it really gives off that kind of nostalgic, romantic feeling that you get when you think back to a simpler time in your life. and of course, kaya's mansion is gorgeous! it doesn't look like yet another generic rich person mansion. it has character! i loved all the wall art in their dining room, i like the orderly yet cozy cluttered feeling of the kitchen, i love how it all feels lived in, like it has a history

talking more about the technical aspects, i love the costume design too! i like the slightly too clean look of the marine uniforms - it brings notice to the fact that these are new cadets who don't have much fighting history. i like that both nami and sham get to wear practical clothes! no stupid high heels for nami! no short shorts!

i didn't mention this last time, but i LOVE jacob's version of usopp. it's crazy that they managed to find a guy who can do usopp's over the top facial expressions in real life. they really lucked out with this entire main cast, i can't imagine literally anyone else playing our beloved straw hats. i hope we can see at least one more season, and i hope i adore robin and chopper just as much as i love these the east blue crew

as sad as it is, i'm glad that it seems like merry really is dead. i like this more brutal direction for the live action, because it feels like there are actual consequences for them, and i like that you can't take for granted that just because someone survived in the manga/anime, it means they'll survive in the live action too

the child actors are a little stiff, but i think they're really doing a good job given how young they are! young zoro's actor was definitely doing a better job that kojiro's. he sold his grief over kuina's death very well

speaking of koshiro, i still fuckin hate that dude. he did kuina so dirty with his sexism, convincing her she had no future as a swordswoman, making her believe that she could never stand up to men.

i think having koby and helmeppo show up at kaya's mansion and inevitably get duped by kuro was a good choice. it lets koby get a little more experience in a leadership position, and more than that, it helps establish usopp's distrust of the marines. from the beginning he was always interested in the romantic view he had of pirates because of his dad, but seeing that the marines failed him, even after they said they would help him, and that they didn't believe him no matter how much he begged them to, it helps establish a reason for him to go along with the pirates when they invite him to. the marines didn't do shit to protect kaya, but luffy and his friends did everything they could. they loved kaya, maybe not as much as usopp, but they wanted her to be safe.

side note, it's kind of hilarious to think about helmeppo trying to kill luffy, and then going back to the ship and finding out that he's garp's grandson 💀💀

when we are! started playing in the background as the going merry set sail for the first time with her crew...i cried, i'm not ashamed to admit it. gosh, i missed her, and i miss the first opening. it's so nice to see her get to go on more adventures with her crew in this new medium! i know some people were unhappy with her figurehead, but i just adore it, it suits her crew well

luffy's little shit-eating grin when kaya just gives them merry for free, and nami being just SO exasperated because he's gonna be so insufferable now, it made me laugh so hard! i love these idiots

when usopp and luffy were arguing about which one of them was captain, and nami just burst out laughing? and then zoro started chuckling too? that was so healing! they've already had good chemistry so far, and they've shown loyalty, but it's so nice to finally see zoro and nami kind of starting to admit that they do like these people they've become friends with, and it's nice to see that they're coming around to how much they care about luffy

i was a little iffy about them doing the garp reveal at the end. my first instinct was to be really annoyed by it, but after thinking on it for a moment, it honestly does make sense. in the first place there wasn't really a plot reason to put off the reveal until post enies lobby anyways. and then you also have to take into account that it would be a huge success if we ever even get a second season, let alone reaching post enies lobby. so it's not ideal, but i'm not too upset at them about it. ALSO, seeing zoro, nami, and usopp's reaction to the news was fucking hilarious. i hope we get some good dynamics in the next episode! i want to see garp call luffy his idiot grandson. i want that funny family dysfunction.

[stonesparrow]

All’s Fair In Love And War (And Video Games)

General Audiences, No warnings apply.

Crossposted to Ao3!!

Summary: Sai reinvents Super Smash Brothers and asks Senku and Yuzuriha if they’d like to playtest it for him. This leads to some interesting consequences.

Most people, if asked, would say that Ogawa Yuzuriha and Ishigami Senku got along quite well. Friends since middle school, the two of them hardly ever found themselves at odds, and even when they irritated each other it was infrequent and usually quickly amended with a simple sad look from Taiju. 

So it was quite a surprise to Gen when he walked past the rec room at the Tokyo base and heard a bloodcurdling roar of rage from within.

“OH YOU DID NOT JUST DO THAT!!”

As Gen’s heart rate suddenly spiked, an icy cold voice slithered out from the doorway. “So what if I did? You totally had it coming.”

Poking his head inside, Gen saw Senku and Yuzuriha staring at each other down with the most terrifying expressions he’d ever seen on either of them in the nearly ten years he’s known them, a panicked looking Sai pressed up against the wall. 

Fire danced in Senku’s crimson eyes as he glared at his childhood friend. “You better prepare for a world of pain, Ogawa. I’m not going to be beaten so easily.”

Yuzuriha laughed, and it was such a chilling sound compared to her normal warm countenance that Gen could only stare. “By all means keep wasting your pitiful little life trying to bring me down.”

“The only pitiful little thing here is that smile you’re wearing, the one I’m going to tear off your face and burn until there’s nothing but a memory,” Senku growled.

“Uh…what’s appening-hay?“ Gen asked Sai.

“I don’t know!” The programmer yelped, arms flailing. “I just asked if they wanted to playtest the Super Smash Brothers dupe I was working on and then they started going crazy!”

Gen blinked. “What?”

Senku and Yuzuriha seemed to not even register that there were other people in the room. “You must be losing it if you think you have any hope of defeating me,” Yuzuriha said.

Senku’s chuckled. “Your confidence is adorable, but this is the adults’ time to play, princess.”

“Oh?” Yuzuriha snorted. “This from the little boy who slept with a Doraemon plushie for ten years?”

Senku’s eyes narrowed. “Best out of fifteen.”

Yuzuriha smirked. “Challenge accepted, Mister Ishigami.”

The screen in front of them beeped, and both young adults raised their controllers with such intense looks in their eyes that it seemed like they would melt the glass monitor just from staring at it. As soon as their game avatars appeared on the platform, they started mashing away at the buttons in a frenzy, barely even blinking.

Sai shot a desperate look at Gen, mouthing “help me.”

“I…I’m going to get Taiju-chan real quick,” Gen said hurriedly, rushing out of the room.

When he brought Taiju back to the rec room, Yuzuriha suddenly threw her controller down with a shriek. 

“That’s IT! You are DEAD TO ME!!”

Senku scowled. “YOU WERE DEAD TO ME FIRST!!”

“YOU WERE DEAD TO ME BEFORE YOU WERE BORN!!!”

“YOU WERE DEAD TO ME BEFORE THE CONCEPT OF LIFE EXISTED!”

“Please, Taiju—“ Sai gasped. Taiju blinked, glancing at Senku and Yuzuriha’s shouting match, then back at Sai and Gen.

“Is there a problem? This is how they always are during game nights.”

Gen and Sai stared at him. 

“What?” Gen croaked.

“They’re so loud though,” Sai whimpered. Taiju nodded sagely.

“Okay, I understand. I’ll calm them down then.” He cleared his throat. “Hey, it’s dinner time!”

Immediately the screaming stopped.

“Oh, dinner already?” Senku said. “Wow, I’m actually starving.” 

“Time sure flies when you’re having fun, doesn’t it?” Yuzuriha said as the two of them got off the couch and walked towards Taiju.

“No kidding.” Senku nodded. “Anyway awesome work Sai, plays like a charm. We’ll be back soon for sure.”

“Let me know when you get Zelda programmed into the game!” Yuzuriha called. “She’s my favorite!”

The two friends casually strolled out the door, and Taiju smiled.

“See? They were just having fun.”

He followed his friends out, and Gen and Sai stared at each other.

“Those three…really are something,” Sai said.

Gen sighed and rubbed his temple. “You said it.”

[nellie-elizabeth]

What We Do in the Shadows: The Railroad (6x04)

Sean Rinaldi, how I love you.

Cons:

There's this little moment at the start where it seems like Nandor is crushing on the Guide? Now, I'm always complaining that they don't know what to do with the Guide character, and this episode is no exception... so maybe this could be funny or interesting? Maybe it's just a continuation from the hypnosis. It just seems kind of random and uninspired to me, though. Honestly, that goes for Jerry as well - he's here at the start of the episode to continue the whole "taking over America" plan, but it doesn't really go much of anywhere and this character hasn't really had much to do since his introduction in the first episode of the season. I guess we'll see if it all pays off!

Pros:

I thought the main plot and the subplot of this episode were both very strong overall!

Let's start with Colin and Lazlo teaming up to try and trick their neighbor and good pal Sean. This was the most fun I've had with a Lazlo and Colin match-up in a long while. I loved that they both took their responsibility to do the right thing by Sean so seriously, even if Colin was mostly going along with Lazlo's shenanigans. It's definitely a go big or go home situation, with them renting out an office space and hiring a bunch of actors to maintain their lie that they work for the railroad. The funniest part is Sean's inconsistent stupidity. His mental issues come from the over-hypnotizing that Lazlo has subjected him to over the years. So he's stupid enough not to know how to work the elevator, and not to notice that the man conducting his interview is a Frankenstein's monster, but he's smart enough to actually give a really great interview for this job that doesn't exist. That dichotomy is so fun. And Lazlo going on about how stupid he is, and then saying "he's my friend, I can't let him down" got a big laugh out of me.

Nadja is the bridge between this plot thread and the other one, and there's a fun scene where she dupes the finance bros into coming down to the fake railroad office to try and make a sale, and even though the lie is immediately apparent, they still end up thinking the property might be worth snatching up, so Nadja gets some further kudos with the Cannon crowd!

Of course, my favorite material is with Guillermo working his new job. His relationship with Jordan, his new boss, is taking on some master-familiar vibes. Guillermo helps Jordan down from his perch when he makes a speech, very like how he might have helped his master Nandor in and out of his coffin. He nearly slips up and calls him "master," and he is willing to take all manner of berating and abuse, all for the promise of advancement down the road, and the small crumbs of praise thrown his way. There's actually a rather complex character thing going on here with Guillermo. Because while he finally has excised himself from the unhealthy dynamic he had with his old boss, he's now falling right back into old patterns. And said old boss, or bosses if you include Nadja, are meanwhile right there actually working to support him. Nandor is willing to humble himself, and he actually says he's proud of Guillermo, and seems completely sincere in wanting him to be happy. There's no secret ploy from Nandor to get Guillermo fired so he'll come back to his old position. He seems genuinely pleased for his friend, if quietly heartbroken. 

And that's all compounded by the very tender and rather sad scene where Guillermo finally has to fire Nandor, after trying to avoid the task several times. Nandor doesn't turn on Guillermo, doesn't say anything nasty, but shakes his hand and quietly leaves. He tries to take it on the chin even when the camera crew are asking him about the situation. He does have a bit of a breakdown and throw a box down the hall, storming away from the cameras, but it all feels very... grounded and truly emotional, not a heightened and comedic reaction like you might have expected.

There's still a lot of comedy to be mined from the Guillermo and Nandor plot, such as Nandor's ridiculous janitorial tasks, such as mopping computer screens and throwing files away in the trash. Or Nadja's indignation about Guillermo's attitude now that he's making real strides in the workplace, forgetting that Nadja helped make it happen for him. Or Guillermo trying to justify the evils of capitalism by saying it's a net positive for the consumer to get a cheaper product, and a great working opportunity for children overseas. Yikes!

So yeah, this was probably the strongest episode of the season thus far. I'll be excited to see where Guillermo's plot goes from here. I have the sinking feeling that the season will end with Guillermo finally excising himself fully from the lives of the vampires, moving forward with his life while the vampires are stuck in the same old same old. We'll see if that's the direction they take it!

9/10

[antianakin]

I have such mixed feelings about the Clone Wars "Heroes on Both Sides" episode because I appreciate what it's TRYING to do with the idea of showing that the Separatist side has legitimate grievances and the Senators in it are/were good people who've just been duped into being on the side of a war that's literally enslaving people, but I also think it handles it incredibly badly.

Take Mina Bonteri, for example. We're SUPPOSED to like her and think she's this honorable woman who mentored Padme and is still Padme's friend, but she also thinks Dooku's somehow a good honorable person and will literally not hear a single word against him even though this person she's mentored could tell her that Dooku is the one who nearly executed her on Geonosis. Padme can literally speak to how those events in the Geonosis arena ACTUALLY WENT, but she can't because Mina refuses to hear anything bad about Dooku because she's apparently got a political boner for him or something I dunno.

And then her whole story of woe that's meant to show us how the Republic also sometimes commits atrocities boils down to "my husband worked at a lab and clones attacked and now he's dead" and I feel like my reaction is supposed to be "wow that's horrific that the clones attacked an innocent person" but knowing what I know about the Separatists and how they worked my reaction is actually "well what the fuck were they doing at that lab huh Mina? Did you even know your husband or was he a bitch who was coming up with some sort-of bio weapon to use against Republic civilians?" Because I don't believe for a SECOND that the clones would've just attacked a random lab for no obvious reason. That lab was up to some shit and they never tell us what it is because they want us to feel bad for Mina's loss, but I... don't. Because I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility for Mr. Bonteri to have been caught up in shady shit that Mina had no idea about.

And of course then there's her son and the whole interaction he has with Ahsoka. Again, I understand the point of them saying that Ahsoka has only ever met "military commanders" on the Separatist side and not any of the actual Separatist civilians/senators, but the comparison being made is with Lux's experience with the JEDI, who are ALSO military commanders in this war. Ahsoka is judging the Separatists by the people they've PUT IN CHARGE of their side of the war and who are the ones actively causing atrocities. Ahsoka is judging the people who are her PEERS on the Separatist side. And while there is obviously merit to getting to know Separatists civilians, I don't think it counts the same as Lux saying he's never met a Jedi before and is now choosing to judge an entire culture when he's never met a single person from that culture until now.

The Onderon arc and the Gerreras do a WAY better job of getting this concept across, that there are literal REBELS on some of the Separatist planets who didn't choose to be Separatist and don't necessarily care for the Separatist government. Ahsoka (via Anakin) seeing every Separatist as an evil person simply due to being Separatist would have been incredibly paired with having to help out some Separatist rebels fight for their world because they KNOW what's going on, they're LIVING it, they just can't really do much about it due to lack of resources.

I love the idea of making sure the Separatist side is given a little nuance, that there IS an explanation as to why the Separatists seceded and became what they did and all, I just think it got handled SO SO BADLY and it makes me so sad/mad every time I think about that episode.

[carlsdarling]

Forlorn Hope

This is a slow-burn Carl x OC, so, don't like, don't read ;-) I decided to post it, as I started writing it a while ago and I am not writing anything new atm. It's about Sadie, a girl who is found by Carl in the woods and he brings her to Alexandria. Everyone is 18 or older.

WARNINGS: angst, violence, mention of rape, later on: nsfw, smut

In the forest, beyond the halo of light from the small campfire, there was a crack and Sadie flinched. Her tension eased as a deer stepped out of the thicket, eyed her ruminantly, then disappeared. “Damn,” she muttered. Her heart was racing.

Sadie Baron wasn't particularly brave, never had been. She had been ten years old when the outburst came. Almost, at least - she was fully occupied with planning her birthday party, who she wanted to invite and who she didn't, who was allowed to sit next to whom, what icing the cake should have and what kind of party games she wanted to organize. The party never happened.

She thought about how long it had all been and came to the shocking realization that it must have been about eight years. Since the outbreak, she had lost all sense of time; everything that went beyond the mindless sequence of day and night overwhelmed her, blurred into a single mush, even the change of seasons hardly helped. But she thought she could remember eight winters; right now it was summer, and her birthday was on the sixth of June. She was usually too busy surviving to think about trivial things like her age and how many birthdays she had missed. Still, the thought that she had (probably? actually?) come of age without even realizing it made her sad.

This hadn't been what Sadie had imagined. Not that, as a ten-year-old, she'd had any concrete idea of how she wanted to celebrate her eighteenth - her knowledge of what it was like to be 'grown up' was drawn mainly from the existence of Laurie, her nineteen-year-old half-sister. So Sadie's fantasies included things like glittery eyeshadow, having her own car - preferably a pink one! - drinking colorful liquids that made you funny, and secretly puffing on weird-looking, hand-rolled cigarettes. Freedom. And staying up as late as you wanted.

Definitely not this. Alone, filthy, hungry and thirsty (no, half-parched, to be precise), huddled in a forest, leaning against a rugged tree trunk, while she had completely lost her sense of direction - as always. The map she'd stolen from a gas station after she'd managed to dupe Mike and get rid of him didn't help her much - which wasn't the map's fault, of course, but Sadie's own, of that she was aware.

Fuck freedom. She simply wasn't made for this new world, daughter of a wealthy family that she was, with a huge room that offered every comfort and two ponies she owned, with which she had competed in equestrian jumping competitions. This is no place for princesses, Sadie thought bitterly, looking at her torn, bloody fingernails. Unintentionally, Laurie's beautifully painted nails stood before her eyes and she swallowed. Laurie. She didn't want to think about her sister, about her parents, no. Not about what had happened, how they had ended up, how Sadie had had to flee alone, two days before her long-awaited birthday party with a giant bouncy castle and a magician's performance.

She had to put it all out of her mind or she wouldn't be able to go on; she hadn't seen much point in her life for some time anyway. On the run, mostly alone, she had either lost her companions or had had to leave them for various reasons. She no longer had a firearm; near the petrol station she had come across two sinister types who had given her a choice: either she gave them everything she owned voluntarily or they would take it anyway and rape her as well. “Pretty little blonde bird,” one of them had said greedily, undressing her with his eyes. She had no chance, she realized, so she had thrown all her belongings onto the road and run, just run, into the forest while branches whipped her in the face. And now she had nothing left, nothing but the clothes she was wearing. Her backpack with the last photos of her family and her beloved animals, and the gun in it - gone.

Sadie was miserably cold and wanted to cry. The nights were freezing and the hoodie had been in her rucksack. At least she still had her knife, it was in her belt, which was better than nothing. She moved closer to the fire, discovered a tick on her left wrist and removed it without any emotion. The old Sadie, the Sadie from the mansion district with the swimming pools, the Sadie with her ponies, that Sadie would have freaked out. But the new world really wasn't for princesses, and Princess Sadie no longer existed.

Now there was the Sadie who was almost dying of thirst, whose long hair was greasy and matted and twisted into a messy knot, and who hadn't slept for three nights and was wondering whether she could dare to close her eyes for a moment here in the forest. The risks were manageable: she could be attacked and abducted. Or she could be eaten alive.

Not a great prospect, but she was shaky from lack of sleep and could hardly look out of her eyes. She had no other choice - she had to sleep, so she scratched a kind of hollow in the leaves where she intended to hide. Her head jerked upwards and she looked anxiously in all directions. Those had been footsteps, clearly. Walker or human?

Adrenaline shot through her veins and she gripped the knife. “Who's there?” she called out, and it sounded braver than she felt. No answer, the forest lay still. At least that spoke against walkers, as they kept on trampling mindlessly, usually making stupid sounds as well. Humans were not necessarily the better alternative, Sadie had learned that painfully. “Get lost, whoever you are,” she shouted, hoping it was only one. Maybe the guys from the gas station had followed her. “I'm armed!” she shrieked when nothing happened.

“Only with a knife,” a casual voice was heard, then the bushes parted to reveal a slender, tall figure. Sadie recognized a young man with messy, long brown hair. His outfit was strange - one of his eyes was hidden behind some kind of gauze bandage, and he was wearing a sheriff's hat.

“And I can actually handle this,” Sadie growled, holding the knife out in front of her. “So back off!” She realized that her situation was hopeless - unlike her, this guy had a gun. But she couldn't just give up either.

“I don't want to hurt you,” the stranger claimed. “My name is Carl, by the way,” he told her. “And yours?”

What the hell business was that of his? “Rumpelstiltskin,” Sadie hissed, not taking her eyes off him. “Don't come any closer.”

He raised his hands placatingly; Sadie's behavior seemed to amuse him. “All right, Rumpelstiltskin, I'll stay right where I am, okay? Maybe we can talk.” She just stared at him, her eyes wide with panic in that dirty pretty face. He registered her chapped, rough lips. “Are you thirsty?” He didn't wait for her response, but tossed a small water bottle over to her.

Sadie had been searching in vain for water for over a day, her tongue parched in her mouth, and now her thirst was so enormous that she promptly dropped the knife and lunged for the bottle. She hastily unscrewed it and poured the contents down her throat so quickly that she began to cough. The water velvety wetted her throat, which already felt like sandpaper. It was about time. She wanted to back away when she realized that Carl had come closer. “I told you, I don't want to hurt you,” he assured her gently. “Are you hungry too?” Sadie nodded miserably and he handed her an egg and ham sandwich wrapped in aluminum foil. He sat down next to her at a little distance and watched her eat. “Actually, I'm looking for someone else,” he then said. “Maybe you've seen her?”

--

(if someone wants to be tagged for this, please comment)

[bonefall]

Oooh, can you talk about the meta reason you rewrote the blizzard holly relationship and blackstar's backstory?

HOKAY

But I'm gonna preface this one; I hate Blackfoot's Reckoning. I think it's one of the most "solid" written books in the series and I still fucking hate it. I talk about authoritarianism on this blog a lot, and I think BFR was the one time that the series actually tried to textually address what they'd put on the page.

So TW for fascism, including discussion of an incredibly unfortunate quote from the book that is either an accidental or purposeful invocation of the Nuremberg Defense.

Blackfoot's Reckoning is a book that's supposed to delve into Blackfoot's backstory, what made him the cat he was during TPB. Throughout the book they're questioning, "what made him act the way he did?" And trying to drive home that Blackfoot needs to learn from his mistakes so that he doesn't repeat them

But, at the same time, they cling to their slimy Good and Evil dichotomy. So the book decides that Blackstar wasn't an Evil cat, no, he was just a Good Mislead Boy Who Loved His Clan. He's constantly lied to, mislead, people are murdered and he's duped into believing whoever gets framed, suppressing critical thought about his actions. They're trying to both write a "reckoning," but also make his motivations more sympathetic.

So in between questions of, "Is Blackstar really a Bad Boy?" and happy rewards for Blackstar when he goes through a memory, they've decided to shove in replays of Blackstar's most gruesome moments but this time he frowns :( and feels Guilty when he does them. In the eyes of the writers, if you feel sad doing hate crimes, that means there's a goodness inside of you actually.

And just like Clear Sky, all Blackstar "needed" was divine intervention. You can simply retcon in a "reckoning," even if it was never in the main series for the 10+ years the character was alive and active.

But it's not enough that Blackstar himself was getting a stupid retcondemption. No, see, they have to remind you that he was following evil people. The dichotomy inherently crunches away the nuance-- Good and Evil are inherent qualities. Tigerstar and Brokenstar are Evil People. Blackstar asks, "If I was following Evil People, what does that make me?"

The narrative concludes, "A Good Person, but mislead."

And because they can't have nuance with their Good and Evil dichotomy (or couldn't at the time), they failed to address the authoritarianism spectacularly. Think I'm reaching?

They literally wrote the Nuremberg Defense into their book. I'm not doing hyperbole, Blackstar word-for-word thinks the Nuremberg Defense, "I Was Just Following Orders," but then they bury it in a barrage of scenes showing he's Actually A Nice Guy who is Sad to do Bad Things. Either they attempted and failed to do something more meaningful with this book, OR they are so fucking stupid they accidentally included the famous Nazi officer legal defense for a character who DOES A HATE CRIME for a racist dictator.

What was IN TPB was a Blackstar who supported a massacre and expulsion against another group, was complicit in the use of child soldiers, and rehearsed a public execution for a mixed-race character. Like it or not, this is a really heavy subject... and what they decided to do was downplay every one of his actions, because he was good deep down.

And I just find that disgusting. This was ABSOLUTELY the wrong conclusion. They can't show Blackstar ACTUALLY being bigoted. They can't delve into REAL hate, or the idea that maybe he LIKED the power he had over people. Those are Evil People Things. He has to "know," deep down, that what he's doing is wrong.

He cannot have a real change, in spite of the title of the shitty book being Blackfoot's "RECKONING," because he is not bad to begin with.

So, Hollyflower and Blizzardwing.

To recap for everyone who didn't read BFR; Hollyflower is raising her three kits alone because Blizzardwing cheated on Featherstorm with her. Black only learns that he is an accident because he stayed up late one night and overheard an argument. By day, he gets bullied by Clawpaw specifically that he might be mixed-Clan and has to seethe over the truth he knows.

it's dumb. I'm sorry. This is dumb and boring, which is even worse

The war criminal was bullied as a child and that's why he did bad things :( He was good all along he was just sad :( shut up shut up shut up

The "bad environment" he was raised into was... having a single mom and being suspected of maybe being half-clan, but then learning that he isn't half-clan, and being indignant that he can't just share the information he knows about because it would make things complicated or something idk

None of this particularly contributes to his mindset as an adult because he does not HAVE a unique mindset as an adult.

He was just nebulously Sad and followed whatever strongman leader came along, constantly being tricked and bamboozled by outright lies.

"Omg WindClan killed Raggedstar >:0 ??? Oughhhhh that butters my biscuits... was it wrong that Brokenstar sent my baby nephew to battle? No, nevermind that thought that makes me uncomfortable :("

He never has any particular bigotries that were exploited, he was just tricked and mislead the entire time, while also being sad, because God Forbid Blackstar ever have been an 'evil cat'

He gets THANKED by his dead parents for keeping the secret??????????????????? girl ok.....

as usual the bully itself never really gets addressed

It was cheap and easy to just make Blackfoot's backstory the same shitty 'bullying' they write for most villains. This bullying is how he ends up bonding with Brokenkit, a villainous 5-year-old who says, "other cats don't matter" because he's eeeeeevil.

They're supposed to have a commonality connection, Blackstar who is Good Deep Down and Brokenstar who is Evil Deep Down, and that is supposed to serve as the reason why Blackstar willingly blinds himself to the incredibly obviously evil things that his superiors do.

His flaw isn't that he had bad intentions, it's that he didn't think.

FUCK that. FUCK this book. FUCK the Erins for trying to say that there are fundamentally good and bad people. That with the death of Tigerstar, of Brokenstar, of whoever, the society gets to return to 'peace' because now there's no Evil Tyrant to lead everyone astray.

The Erin's depictions of hard childhoods are sauceless. Dry, unbuttered, burnt bread. You want to see a BAD home environment? I'll SHOW you a bad home environment, not just a single teenager being rude. You wanna see the sorts of conditions that prime young people to joining radical causes for a sense of belonging? I'll GIVE you those conditions. Let's TALK about what bounces around in the head of people who aid and abet tyrants.

It's not this dumb ass sadboy shit I'll tell you that much

[kiwipineappleparasol]

oh Yeah I forgot I never Posted the rest of my Thoughts on the TTYD remake ... Whoops! These things happen I suppose. Since it’s almost OG TTYD’s NA release again, might as well post them now ! Spoilers below for the whole game and post game!

THE EXCESS EXPRESS IS SOOO PRETTY WITH THE NEW LIGHTING !!! I had to take so many screenshots. Especially at sunset or at night. And the MUSIC… The evening atmosphere in general is just soooo good. I would keep trying to get images of my partners sitting at the dining tables to little success.

I remember getting a taste of all the new poses before the remake came out with some comparison images but it's still so cool to me

I had Vivian out when I inspected the stains on the dining car floor and . Actually I'll just put the clip here . Beldam SUCKS (we knew this it's just being reiterated)

the Ghost T sequence looks awesome. The light of Heaven…. Of course I read his diary, and holy shit the glitching effects and stuff wasn't what I expected at all (can’t remember if they were in the og) but it really adds to the DEATH CURSE .

my mother asked why they'd bother to tie up Doopliss because he did nothing wrong . This is true Doopliss has never done anything wrong in his (after)life (joking statement)

Riverside station is soooo pretty….. Unclear how the sun is supposed to be going through the mountains like that though. Not like it matters when it looks so Cool and Wavy.

The inside of the station looks less run down than it did from my memory and moreso just old and abandoned, in a way that I like. It just feels so …empty in a good way.

When you're supposed to hit the Smorgs with your hammer, if you have any partner other than Goombella out and use the Partner Hint, she will tell you as much -- but if you have Flurrie out, Flurrie will instead tell you that, and that she can blow them away! Such a neat touch. They really thought of everything.

the scene of TEC shutting down … It just has such Drama to it. I didn't get to that part in my last playthrough so I can't compare it mentally but I liked it.

Slight Detour: to defeat Bonetail and save a kid’s dad ! Gotta wait for Frankly anyways right

Anyways! back on track . I forgot to write many notes for the last two chapters Unfortunately. Here’s what I got:

AWESOME SHOOTING TO THE MOON CUTSCENE

if you have Vivian out during the cutscene entering the X Naut fortress she's like "not this place again…" I love how she actually references being there before

LORD CRUMP'S STUPID EVIL LAUGH POSE is so good . I love all the new poses so much and I don't think he had it in the original? But idk . He literally only has it for like. Two seconds. But either they thought it was so important and I respect it.

he sucks up the audience with his .. um. his. why is the vacuum coming out from between Magnus Von Grapple's legs.

The scene of the Thousand Year Door opening was so sick I had to watch it multiple times . The crystal stars look so awesome here, and the presence the door has … The way it cracks and opens to this swirling darkness… Awesome.

We get to finally give Beldam a taste of her medicine, or as Vivian said "it's her turn to get punished" … Sad to see Doopliss get duped in this nonsense. In the tattle log it said Beldam specifically sought him out … Definitely after he ran by them crying after Chapter 4 . Beldam loves targeting people she thinks are weak! How likeable. She is directly called abusive by Goombella in Doopliss' tattle -- not that it isn't obvious but you know, happy to see it called what it is.

There's another puzzle moment where you could use either Koops or Yoshi Kid -- you're expected to use Koops but if you have Yoshi Kid out he'll say as much. So cool. I loooove accounting for multiple solutions.

when Grodus said the world is mine. Well. I had to laugh. Someone show him Miku. Also when he got INCINERATED BY THE SHADOW QUEEN. That moment has always been so funny to me. He's so fucking stupid did he think the demon would actually listen to him. That's what he gets for trying to kill Lord Crump off LMAO. also for what he did to TEC I Guess 🙄

THE HANDS CRAWLING ACROSS THE LAND . LETS GO

The epilogue of Goombella visiting everyone has always been sweet, showing that while direct interactions between everyone weren't really shown, they did become friends -- but they all had their own lives before this. So they take their new inspirations they gained on their adventure with Mario to continue on new paths and all.

PAUSE! welcome to my STORY CRITIQUE SECTION! (Yes, I can criticize my favorite video game of all time. These problems were in the original however so it's not a remake thing.)

Listen we love Goombella threatening Beldam to never hurt Vivian again but Vivian deserved an ending outside of her life with her sisters. Yes, it's in character for her to want a happy ending with them but c'mon. Noone deserves to stick around Beldam. If you asked me I would have changed her ending with her reconciling with Marilyn and Doopliss but not Beldam because those two were also victims of Beldam -- and Doopliss literally replaced her as the scapegoat lmao. They have so much to talk about. I think that's my one critique with Vivian's storyline. Grubba never showed his face again; Beldam didn't have to either.

I can absolutely believe that Grodus ditched the full on evil act though. I mean. He's just a head now. And now he has to have his minions carry him everywhere. Plus getting incinerated at the apex of his World Conquest Plan probably killed off his motivation. He's so pathetic now. Definitely still a bad person but what is he going to do about it. Beldam however suffered no such consequences aside from … I guess getting beat up in the Palace of Shadow once? Which is unfortunate and she doesn't deserve any forgiveness from… Literally anyone. So I don't see why she would ditch being an Asshole -- especially considering unlike Grodus, the shadow queen actually respects Beldam. Beldam should feel more robbed because this was her victory that Mario & Co took from her. But I guess they just wanted to give everyone a happy ending -- I just don't think any ending with Beldam in it is happy for anyone involved.

OK BACK TO SHAMELESS GUSHING!

THE CREDIT SEQUENCE ANIMATIONS ARE SO CUTE!!! THEY MADE THE CREDITS SEQUENCE ALL ANIMATED IN THE REMAKE FOR ME!! IT IS SO . FUCKING GOOD. AND ALL THE IMAGES IN THE BACKGROUND ARE ACTUALLY UNIQUE FROM RHE GAMEPLAY??? THEY HAVE MULTIPLE PARTNERS AND UNIQUE PERSPECTIVES AND HUHHH?? THEY MADE THIS SO COOL??? I need to rewatch it because there's so many segments I love . A complete and total upgrade from the original and so much more in line with the charm from the Original Paper Mario's credit sequence . We loveeee you people who made the remake credit sequence you did this for meeee

THE REDONE PAPER MARIO 64 THEME WHEN YOU TALK TO BOW !!! I love it I listened to it in the music player a bunch … Also her and Bootlers new poses are great.

The Prince Mush fight is actually a perfect extra hard boss that takes advantage of the unique battle mechanics and I absolutely love it. Like, adding an optional boss to the remake that has to be defeated by superguarding is such a great way to put a mechanic not everyone will be using to the forefront, and that naturally makes this boss difficult until you master it. I know I failed several times, but I also had the unsimplifier badge on… Once I took that off I won without even needing to heal. Felt so cool.

The New secret fight in the Pit of Hundred Trials was also really neat ! I think I cheesed it a bit using Vivian's Veil, but the amount of damage he can rack up is crazy . Took out multiple of my partners, but I ultimately beat it the first time without even using my healing items. I still need to find out what trial stew does…

And with that, I had gotten every tattle, recipe, badge, and completed every trouble (my final trouble was removing the graffiti in the Pit of a Hundred trials, did that on the way to that secret fight you get after you had beat the pit once and some other requirements)

In Conclusion: I FUCKING LOVE TTYD !! still can’t believe this is real just reading back through my notes and looking at my screenshots, it feels like a dream. I’m so glad I got to experience this.

[bethanydelleman]

I just can't understand why Sophia Grey married Willoughby even after knowing about what he was doing to Marianne and being aware that he doesn't love her. Yes, he's good looking and was probably very charming in the beginning but she could have had pretty much anyone with her £50,000. Yet she picks a broke guy of dubious character (she most definitely doesn't know about Eliza but even then he's said to be wasteful and i honestly can't remember a single positive trait apart from "is lively and charming") who at first doesn't care about her and later actively dislikes if not hate her.

I can't see her being actually happy at least since she recognized Marianne as a threat, maybe even before that. He can't be that sexy! And I also can't see him have sex with her after all that happened between them so what was even the point???

Anyway Sophia Grey baffles me as a character and i wish she had dumped his ass and found someone who at least likes her. She seemed very jealous but not actually mean and being stuck with Willoughby seems like a cruel fate.

I HAVE THOUGHTS!

I actually find the character of Sophia Grey fascinating. Why did she want to marry Willoughby so badly? With 50,000 pounds, you would imagine she wouldn't suffer much from breaking the engagement, someone is going to want to marry her. So how is it that her choice is a poverty-stricken seducer like Willoughby!

One common theory is that Willoughby seduced her and she can't see his faults, but I actually do believe that Sophia wrote the "break-up" letter to Marianne which means she had power over him. If she was duped, I have a hard time seeing her do that. (I believe she did because Willoughby seemed very happy to ghost Marianne and not write to her).

My theory then is that Sophia wanted a husband who was at her mercy. Willoughby is desperate when he marries her, probably desperate enough to get a very bad deal. I imagine that Sophia ensured her jointure and pin money were as high as possible. I bet she wrote a ton of stipulations into their wedding arrangement, because we do hear:

His wife was not always out of humour, nor his home always uncomfortable

Which implies she has the power to make his life uncomfortable. And I don't think it's just by nagging or something like that, she has financial power over him. Like Mrs. Ferrars actually, who controls her children with money...

Oh man that is the perfect reversal isn't it! Edward's upright conduct frees him from the control of Lucy and his mother, but Willoughby's disgraceful doings put him in the power of Mrs. Smith and Sophia Grey! I like that. Anyway, I feel like Sophia knew she'd be marrying someone for money anyway, so she went with the hottest arm candy she could capture.

I wrote two stories centered on Sophia, one where she doesn't see the letter from Marianne (it's sad, be warned), and one where we see her side. I wish we knew more about her motives!