#and also like i like being able to read at my own pace vs the pace of a narrator

[queenerdloser]

gotta say it's a little wild to me that the reading community has decided that audiobooks aren't "real reading" considering humanity has spent thousands of years with a oral storytelling tradition and only a couple hundred with a widespread literate tradition. before books became so cheap and affordable everyone could get their own copy, reading out loud to a group (your family, your friends) was extremely commonplace. humanity has shared stories orally since the dawn of storytelling. like stop being snobby about how people consume books but also if anyone should get to be snobs about what counts as "real reading" it's probably audiobook people.

[owlbelly]

so. i understand where the sentiment "listening to an audiobook is the same thing as reading the book" is coming from - i mean, yes, the bottom line is you are taking in the same words in what is possibly a more accessible (or maybe just more enjoyable) format for you! and i'm 100% in agreement that "book snobs" who say "no you didn't really read it" if you listened to the audiobook are full of shit. ofc you should engage with stories in whatever way works for you, there is no moral or intellectual superiority to reading words off a page vs. listening to them

but it also is different? an audiobook is a performance. choices a narrator makes about line readings can drastically influence the meaning of the lines. even just different voices, accents, etc. - there are creative choices being made by the person delivering the words to you, and that affects your experience of the story in a different way than if you were making those choices in your own head. it might even change the way you visualize what's going on!

this isn't a bad thing it's just An Actual Thing & i think it's worth talking about. it rubs me the wrong way when people act like accommodations (and for many people audiobooks are an accommodation) always result in a completely identical experience, or even that they should, & if you suggest that people accessing media in different ways are having different experiences it's somehow ableist

anyway on rare occasions i really enjoy audiobooks but mostly they are much less accessible to me than words on a page (i need to be able to reread, flip back and forth, go at my own pace) & i also just really strongly prefer to encounter a text on my own before hearing someone else's performance of it, if possible! again i don't think it's "better" to read a physical book i just think it is a Distinct form of experiencing a story & acting like the two things are entirely the same is sort of doing a disservice to both

[revelboo]

I tried to send this ask before but Tumblr said "Something went wrong" so I am trying again and hopefully you don't get a duplicate:

I have a couple questions 🧐

For science of course 🤭

1. I am wondering, in the universes of your writings, what the difference is in certain details/sensations/anything else between the bots fragging a human vs a fembot. Just curious if you have any thoughts

2. I read your writeup for Megs' size kink 🫣 It made me wonder if your IDW Megs would purposefully mass shift a little less every time, or maybe even mass shift carefully while inside reader, to see how much his little mate/pet can safely take? Idk if mass shifting can be controlled that precisely, and since it isn't possible in real life, idk how safe that is, but this is fanfic so how practical do we need to be? 😅

Also every time you post a new installment you should think of your followers reacting kinda like Knockout in that "This is going to be JUICY" scene lol

I only got it the one time ☺️ I’m just fighting a losing battle

🔞 Mass displaced mech 🌶️

Just my thoughts, but I’d think humans in general are a lot more tactile/sensitive to touch than Cybertronians are. They can feel a touch on their plating or mesh, but certain areas are more sensitive than others. But nothing like our skin. Plating is integrated into their nervous system and sensory nets. They can probably deaden damaged bits after the injury occurs until they can be removed- those damaged bits would be what they salvage pieces from for conjunx gifts. After they’re removed. Or if they’re just a freak like space crack grandpa Megs, they’re sawing bits off themselves with it still attached and synced into their sensory nets.

Meanwhile we’re freakishly sensitive compared to them. We feel everything and we respond to it. I’d figure with a human partner, there’s a lot less prep work needed compared to getting a Cybertronian partner slick and ready to take a spike. And we’re of course, a lot softer than they are, whereas I see a valve being much firmer inside and it can be harder to move freely inside if the valve tightens. So the partner taking the spike can seize control of the encounter and set the pace if they don’t like what their partner is doing or just lock down with the spike inside if they’re being mean. I’d think a lot of the intrigue with humans is a mix of how soft and tight we are around a spike, how easily we respond to the sensations of the ridges or bumps of that spike rubbing inside us, or just the feeling of being stretched, and the size difference between a human and a Cybertronian partner. Even a cassette is going to be bigger than a human. Any mass displaced mech is going to be much bigger still.

I’d think Megatron, Blaster, and Soundwave, basically the bots that have a more pronounced difference between their alt mode’s size and their bot form, have some degree of control over their ability to mass shift compared to other Cybertronians. And yeah, Megs would subtly play with how far he can mass shift and his partner still be able to take his spike even though he’s already much bigger. And he wouldn’t tell them what he’s doing unless he got called out on it

Mass Shifting

Megatron x Reader

• Fingers fisting in your blankets as your breath catches, feeling the faint burn of him stretching you wobbling that knife’s edge between pleasure and pain, you groan. See his lips curl lazily as you force yourself to relax and he slowly slides deep to make your toes curl feeling every ridge of his spike. You’d think as many times as you’ve done this with him, you’d have adjusted to him by now. Big hands palming your hips as he rolls his own to make you arch, you moan.

• Optics half shuttered as he moves against you, attention focused on his spike slowly slipping free of your heat, slicked with you. And you’re wrapped so tight around him, one of your legs sliding against his hip where he’s dragged you to the edge of the berth. Pressing deep, he smiles as you move under him with a gasping moan of protest when he doesn’t move inside you. Splaying his palm against your soft belly, a shudder of arousal twists through him at how much skin his hand covers now. That he can wrap his hands around your waist and his servos overlap. Training you slowly, as he mass shifts a little less each time he claims you. And you’re already so tight, so much smaller under him. Loves watching his spike disappear inside you, listening to those needy sounds you make as you take him.

• Finally he vents and begins to move and even though you’d needed him to move inside you, you aren’t ready. Back arching on a breathy whimper at feel of his thick spike thrusting deep as his hips pump against you. How can he still feel as big as the first time every time? Big hands wrap around your waist as he lifts your hips slightly and you come apart with a startled cry. Groaning, he keeps moving against you, drawing it out until you’re begging mindlessly and he overloads with a snarl, hips rocking against you as he fills you and he’s making a mess, filling you in excess. And the wet sound of his spike inside you when he starts moving again is almost obscene, your body heating again in response.

[utilitycaster]

Inspired actually by me nonstop thinking about the Young Witch Solving The Disappearance Of Her Neighbor's Cat In The Alps tweet since last night and a number of other unrelated posts I have been thinking about the concept of maturity in media, because I think there's a lot of different dimensions to that. It's a series of spectra, rather than a binary, and if you use the terms "mature" or "immature" you can quickly realize that a lot of our societal metrics for what's adult-appropriate vs. child appropriate are very skewed in specific and in my opinion untrue and unhelpful directions. This could honestly be a 10 page essay and I may very well write that when I'm on break but just to give you my outline here:

Stimulation - is it grabbing your attention with bright lights and loud sounds and fast action, or do you have to actively focus? Action films can be just as "jangly keys" as children's animation despite being an "adult" work, whereas something like Mad Men can have vivid colors but would bore a child to tears in terms of pace and action. However, and this will be an ongoing theme, you can have a very choppy, fast-paced narrative that is complex and a very slow and dull one that is incredibly simple and childish.

"Ratings" Subject Matter: Sex/Violence/Profanity. This is the one I think is most misleading, because you can have an incredibly puerile R-rated film, and you can have an immensely complex narrative without any of the above. [note: I have zero patience for people who act like sex and violence are inherently unnecessary wastes of time; they are merely things within a narrative that can be executed well or poorly, but it is true that something can have a simple plot and constant bright lights and stimulation and essentially be big old jingling mobile for infants but there's a sex scene in it so it's Adult Now. Unfortunately a lot of people are like "and this is why YA is inherently better" which we shall see is not the case.]

Other Difficult Subject Matter (I don't have a good name for it, but to give examples, death, racism, genocide, abuse, serious or chronic illness, etc). This one is tricky because all of the above are topics present in works for quite young children, because they can experience all the above or have someone close to them experience them, and fiction is a powerful teaching tool. Obviously the nature of how this is presented varies, and later points will cover it, but while in my opinion the simple presence of these topics says nothing about the work's level of maturity on its own I'm including it because you do get people who think that children should be shielded from all the above and would consider the mere inclusion of those topics as inappropriate. They're wrong, but it's definitely an axis of judgement/categorization that exists.

Adult-level processing of information (probably a misnomer in that teens can do this but like, teens read adult books all the time, and as Tumblr has shown us, many adults cannot do this): does the narrative require you be able to pick up on subtext? Do you need to understand what is relevant to the story and what isn't? Do you need to be comfortable with or at least able to tolerate not knowing entirely what is going on right away? Do you need to have a sense of irony? Is there an unreliable narrator?

Adult-level processing of moral complexity (in my limited, not a parent or educator experience, I honestly think teens do better with the information processing than this, ie, this is one of the last things to develop; also Tumblr is even worse): does the narrative require you accept that sometimes things are unfair and will never be fair? Do you need to accept a story in which the Quote Unquote Bad Guys walk free without real consequence? Do you need to accept a story in which no one's actions are entirely defensible or in which no choices are easy and clean and harmless? Do you need to attempt to understand an alien perspective? Is there senseless tragedy? This incidentally is how you separate out the children's books from the adult books on topics like illness or catastrophic events; a lot of children's books end with a message of "it's hard and sad, but it will be okay eventually" and focus on very relatable POV characters which is understandable! But, to use an example as someone who went to a Jewish school with a robust Holocaust education, elementary schoolers read Number the Stars in which the (entirely fictional) Jewish family escapes to Sweden; middle schoolers read Night in which Wiesel's (real) father dies painfully in front of him.

None of this is to say that escapism/cozy fiction/whatever you want to call it is bad - I am not interested in a diet entirely made of thorny moral quandaries and no happy endings. I enjoy a stupid turn off your brain action movie, or a fluffy romantasy. But I do think that a demand that every ending be happy and that Justice Be Served in every story is no less immature than saying "ew, there's kissing in this???"

[attempted--eloquence]

Hi hi!! I'm the person whos been leaving heinously long comments on ao3 lately- heh

I honestly just wanted to hear what first drew you to theo and liam as a ship. I always felt like they had such a push-pull dynamic in the show (almost noxious chemistry) but i feel like my view of them has evovled so much since while reading Handle With Care. Also, thiam aside, what drew you to Theo as a character on his own? My friend and I have always (lovingly lol) fought over him because she hates his guts and ive always felt this strange pull to him. Like is he a bad human being? Yes. Is he so much more than that though? Also yes. You're takes on him are always fascinating to me.

Sorry for such a big question! I'm always so wordy 🤭

Omg HI!!!!!!! 💗 Also there is no such thing as heinously long comments I would rejoice over a dissertation in my inbox I stg!!!

Okay, regarding Liam and Theo: you show me two characters who communicate like they hate each other but all their actions scream the opposite, I will be LOOKING👀 Make those two characters also have incredibly complex emotional backgrounds and an ugly history together and I am done for. I’m gonna get really ramble-y here so more under the cut!!

You’re so right, there is such a push-pull between them not only literally in their interactions but also in their personality traits!! Something complementary about them that I think borders on clashing. A sort of heart vs brain thing. Open book vs brick wall.

Theo seems to treat emotion as a tool at best and a weakness at worst (boy always had the waterworks ON TAP in s5 whenever he needed to manipulate someone lmao), so for him to be sooo mindful of Liam’s emotional state in s6—even if he’s provoking him, it’s for a reason—and also weirdly encouraging toward him is such a pleasant change of pace. Obsessed with the way their relationship started under the guise of responsibility and was held together by the threat of Theo being sent back, became a sort of begrudged alliance, became trust??? Kinship??? I’m like foaming at the mouth.

Theo is like at the center of Liam’s guilt over stuff that happened in s5: missing Hayden’s death + trying to kill Scott. I think there’s something to be said about Liam bringing Theo back not only giving Theo a chance to “redeem” himself (heavy on the air-quotes, I have convoluted thoughts about Theo and the idea of redemption, but I digress) but also that it could’ve facilitated Liam forgiving himself for s5. (Cough cough, “Scott will never forgive you,” Liam says to Theo in the middle of a scene that revolves around Liam’s anger and his inability to stop himself from hurting people when he’s having an outburst. In the locker room, as they’re STANDING IN FRONT OF A MIRROR. The idea that Liam is projecting his own guilt and concerns about Scott’s forgiveness onto Theo here is positively yummy.)

From “you’re going to help us or you’re going back [in the ground]” to Theo voluntarily showing up to save Liam’s ass and Liam saying “I will fight with you” just…nghhh I dunno to me it feels like now being able to look at the past and accept it, even if it’s ugly. Not being wounded by it anymore. For both of them.

Okay, so regarding what drew me to Theo…..he is just so…[dreamy sigh] fucked up. What can I say, he lured me in with his sociopathic swagger in s5 and won me over with his kicked dog demeanor in s6💘 also I think he’s a fucking freak (affectionate). I wish I could better articulate what made me obsessed with him but I’m past the point of no return with my fixation on him that I can’t remember my brain being normal anymore. There is simple B.T. and A.T. (Before Theo and After Theo).

Like…he shows up in s5 with this story about Scott helping him through an asthma attack tucked beneath his tongue and all these speeches at the ready for why he showed up to join Scott’s pack and I can’t help but wonder how long he planned for that. How long he practiced those lines and his delivery and the inflection and the facial expressions. He spent part of his childhood being raised by such inhuman unfeeling robotic beings and yet he can tap into this emotional expressiveness like no other; he smiles, he plays coy, he feigns concern, he gives hugs, he constantly offers help, he cries, and it’s all an act. But I feel like the most honest thing about him in s5 is whenever he has to interact with the Dread Doctors—it’s like he can’t stop being a scared kid. He’s all false bravado, a paper tiger.

And beyond trying to take Scott’s power to become an alpha (and sever the tie between him and the DDs by being a real werewolf), I feel like Theo was also kind of trying to assert his flawed existence in front of a creator that can’t see him as anything but a failed experiment. A sort of, I am like this because you made me like this. To think that The Surgeon came into the whole chimera/beast project kind of out of…love? (A desire to bring back your closest friend that drives you to the point of abandoning all humanity for a centuries-long scientific pursuit is a beautifully insane form of love to me lmfao). And there’s some kind of devotion between a scientist and its experiment, something like love in the act of surgery, and yet they regard Theo with such indifference because he’s not successful in the right way. The failure was the Dread Doctors’ but Theo wore it like his own. Dude’s fucked.

((Not to mention The Beast gets resurrected and fucking kills them. There it is!!! Theres the success! There’s the love! What they wanted was this creature that would kill them instead of acquiesce. They wanted a monster but they raised a kid.))

I also think part of what’s appealing about Theo from a writing perspective is that his backstory is vague enough that there’s room to creatively fill in some blanks, but also the parts of his life that we do know about—and the parts we can infer from everyone else’s interactions with the DDs—are pretty bleak. He’s also really easy to project onto for that reason. Fear of imperfection and/or failure? Check! Inferiority complex? Check! Childhood upended by trauma? Check! Alienated from your own body? Check! Feeling inherently different than everyone around you? Check! Isolated and unable to authentically connect with other people? Check and check.

This is totally a headcanon bc obviously we don’t know if the Dread Doctors kept Theo in BH the whole time, but lately I’ve been fixated on the idea of him potentially growing up in the tunnels — and, like, those run underground all over Beacon Hills, right? The idea of him having this life that runs parallel to Scott and Stiles, but beneath their feet the whole time, makes me crazy. Stiles said that he used to skateboard in the tunnels and I’m bashing my head against a wall at the thought of Theo watching him from afar. Of Theo watching from afar every time the pack members go in the tunnels over the course of the show pre-s5. Of him living adjacent to the pack but not a part of it. Dude wants to be part of something soooo bad he wants to be accepted as he is soooo bad (gonna lose it over him being in the tunnels with Mason and saying “maybe I want to be in the pack”).

Okay I’m so sorry I don’t even think I scratched the surface of my thoughts on Theo here yet I’m rambling past the point of meaning right now😭 so, in summary…I just think he’s neat.

[petalstem]

Finished the second graphic novel! The pacing was QUITE fast again, which definitely hurt it in some places (The battle between Brokenstar and his rogues VS ThunderClan felt HORRIBLY paced with how it just suddenly ended, and warrior names being gained happening either off-screen or mentioned in passing I wasn't huge on), but unlike the first one, I do think it had the benefit of the ENTIRE book being the same breakneck pace, whereas the first book started slower and then suddenly SPED through the final third. Ultimately I won't hold it TOO hard against the graphic novels though, given that they have a LOT of material to cover and can't go on forever, but I do feel there's some aspects that could've been done a bit better.

The ableism is almost entirely fixed! This is a MASSIVE boon and makes things SO much better to read. They wouldn't have been able to reach the levels of ableism of the originals ANYWAYS just thanks to the change in medium, we can't spend a million paragraphs on Fireheart's inner monologue about disability being the worst thing that could ever happen, but beyond just that, they made an active effort to make Cinderpelt her own person and have her own agency in her life, and I MASSIVELY appreciated that! Cinderpelt chooses what she wants and she is ACTIVELY given that choice, with Fireheart being an active member in making sure she knows she CAN choose, as opposed to original Fireheart who sees Cinderpelt enjoying her job and cries about how she can't be a full person. Thank God Fireheart is no longer the worlds most ableist cat on the planet

Unfortunately, they didn't change Princess's weird dialogue about wanting to "choose Cloudkit's fate", but it's both not as bad as the original in my opinion, but also gets contrasted later on with Sandstorm saying how Cloudkit could choose to become a kittypet if he wants, just as Fireheart chose to become a warrior.

I really like the contrast between Silverstream's death and Brokentail's, I love Yellowfang repeating the line about not being able to save everyone, with the extremely clear visual indication that she actively killed him. Works super well!

I think the condensing of Cloudpaw's arc actually served itself well. Given how fast these books are and how much there is to tell, shortening Cloudpaw's arc down to just a few pages benefits in that it still gets the point across, but doesn't take up time from other important story beats that need to be hit

As per usual, the ThunderClan fire remains my favorite scene in the first arc. While, thanks to the change in medium, the fire itself was foreshadowed as much or in the way I absolutely adore from the originals, I think it was still absolutely great, I love the ThunderClan fire for how tense and dramatic it is without relying on battles, it really feels like the absolute calamity that it is

The ending was, by far, the best part of the book. I think the book as a whole WAS quite good, but the ending, with Bluestar yelling against the background of dogs, is VERY well done foreshadowing and a way to integrate the prologue of the next book seamlessly, and I think it also really works to sell the emotion of Bluestar, while also not being SOLELY metaphorical, given that we know the dogs will be relevant next book.

As per usual, art was fantastic! I think they have some issues with pushing expressions just a tad too far in some places, there's one in particular of Fireheart yawning that just feels a bit too much, but as a whole, I'd rather they be too expressive over not expressive enough. And even with that said, the too exaggerated expressions are not that prevalent, and I actually think the book does the more somber, subdued expressions quite well, basically any scene where a character expresses closed mouth or mostly closed mouth shock really is done quite well

As a whole. I loved it! I think these graphic novels are basically the only piece of genuinely good warriors media in an extremely long time, and I'm excited to see how they handle the finale of arc 1!

[gold-rhine]

i don't play HSR but i like reading your thoughts about the game (plus my friends play the game, i can't help but to somewhat know the plot beat by osmosis). i remember that in your complaints about sunday's arc you also bring up scara's arc. would you like to expand that comparison in greater depth? 👀👀👀

uuuuugh tbh i dont know how its even gonna make sense to someone who didnt play the game. heres the post with my rants about it in more detail, but in short penacony is like if sumeru was written like natlan. i.e. strong initial metaphor about capitalism exploiting ppl's dreams with religious conflict in the mix, but it just goes nowhere. sunday is the final boss who is trying to become a god, so thats where the main parallel with scara starts. except that sunday is doing it ~~for the greater good~~ bc he wants to make a matrix simulation where all people will be happy bc like real world is too harsh. which is fine by itself, not every villain needs to be a little shit like scara, but the problem is that they are sooo focused on woobyfying sunday that we are not allowed to meaningfully confront him at all. sunday is bad timeline of ayato ifd he was a repressed catholic, so we have hsr ayaka here too, and her entire character is just being nice and woobyfying her brother. like we have to break the pacing to spend like 40 minutes listening to how sunday thinks poor ppl are weak and dont deserve agency for their own good, and then at final battle our friends are like wow ayato you are SUCH a good leader and you have SUCH good intentions, you are just lil misguided. and ayaka is like oooh brother its SOOO hard for u, bc if you make the matrix you will be the only one NOT in the matrix and you will be so lonely! you are such a self sacrificial saint! not to mention he literally has like jesus animations. its so fucking egregious, like we GET IT, hes such a nice mormon guy. and then after we defeat him, ayaka jumps to catch him when hes falling down from his own giant robot god, and hugs him. like. compare and contrast to scara falling face first on the floor and nahida leaving him there bc ITS NOT ABOUT HIM

like obv i think entire penacony should be rewritten from scratch, but for sunday specifically not only main characters should be able to confront him on his MANY hypocrisies, but also like. ayaka was right there! she should feel betrayed, horrified, she should be the one to confront her brother, that could be such a juicy and challenging conflict. instead shes woobyfying him the entire time unconditionally bc god forbid players dont like him

and then sunday has an interlude that is also very similar to scara. but like. he is captured not by penacony, but by ipc which is slavery amazon, and they let him go. i had sunday fans in my notes be like well thats same as scara, he also wasnt punished, but like thts a cop mentality, its not about being punished, its about being responsible, scara is captured by nahida, a ruler of a country he harmed, and hes working to repay that FOR that very country. sunday is captured by villains who want to exploit penacony and let go for their secret evil goals AGAINST wishes of penacony. penacony is trying to capture him! and he shows up and welt just immediately agrees to help him and hides him from penacony trying to capture him with literally zero confrontation or questioning.

its like. if like abyss order captured scara and then let him go, and traveler was hiding him from nahida. ipc amazon are not the ones who he harmed and not the ones who should have any say in this! and then if paimon was like scara wants to travel with us, do you agree traveler? and you go no, fuck him??? and paimon goes no, fuck you, he's going with us! like????

another thing similar with scara, is that in sunday interlude we meet like alternate version of him. instead of that version being him like with lost memory, thats like an AU of him. the religious conflict of penacony is harmony vs order, and sunday tried to become the god of order, basically puppeteer controlling everyone else in the matrix, and harmony is about like unity and ppl working together. order was like a secret cult inside of broader harmony religion. like american christian death cults inside of larger christianity. anyway, we meet his AU where he's on harmony path instead of order. and like. thats just a way better guy asdfghjkl. he has sense of humor, he urges sunday to open up and connect with others and esp his sister, hes practical and down to earth, even if still with some manipulation. its basically ayato. and sunday like HATES him, but its never examined why. like he hates jokes bc hes stick in ther ass, sure, but nothing else is explored. he just says he hates harmony. like this a perfect opportunity to explore the failings of harmony, to have sunday explain why he chose to follow order, but they just dont do it. he never says anything of meaning, they just meander around and, the most STUPID part, in the end the harmony AU for some reason takes form of sunday order boss and you have to fight him. like??? the sunday boss is specifically order!!! why would harmony AU guy take the order boss form??? it makes no sense! if anything sunday should be representing order boss fight and harmony guy should be fighting against it (and we should keep him bc hes legit better lol)

i think parallels with scara are obvious. we meet alternate version of scara, but its him with memory wiped, to show him at his blank slate, to show his anxiety, his alienation, how he earns to belong. and then we are shown that even in that blank slate he is still stubborn and strong willed enough to face the consequences of his actions and his past. like at this point the past is erased, he could forget all that and live a new life. but he chooses to remember and to accept who he is. and he fights the boss battle of himself bc its about his old belief of being incomplete, of being worthless without gnosis vs him now accepting himself, accepting his own worth and meaning, that he doesnt have to fulfill a predestined role of holding a gnosis.

tldr; scara is allowed to be treated like a villain, while sunday is forcibly shoved at players with no option to meaningfully confront him, scara takes responsibility and works to help these he harmed (including inazuma btw, he is helping to restore inazuma sword schools he ruined) while sunday just runs from all accountability, sunday interlude quest about confronting alternsate version of self makes no fucking sense vs scara being one of the best written character developments in the game

[evelhak]

It may be weird to say, but I love reading about your thoughts on writing. I don't know how to explain it, but it makes me happy to see someone else taking all of this so seriously because writing is, and has always been, the most important thing in my life. It's a shame i can't read Finnish because the way you talk about your writing makes me certain I would LOVE your books.

I can relate to the being too focused on fanworks to focus on personal writing because that's the reason I stayed away from most fandom stuff for a year. I try not to get as involved in fandom anymore (despite how much i love it) because it really clogs my personal work. I used to spend too much time thinking about the stories I love to make significant progress on my own stories. (I think I've finally found a balance. I can only hope I'll manage to keep it!)

Anyway, that was just a bit of rambling in your inbox, sorry if it didn't make sense. I hope you have a wonderful day 💙

Saying what you did couldn't possibly be weirder to say than my rambling is in the first place. 🙈🩵 If that makes sense. And I relate, I absolutely love to read writers go all out and unfiltered about their process, because there are certain things about it that would probably only occur to someone who is, not just a writer, but a similar writer, and that connection is really precious to find... And on the other hand it's also really interesting to learn about completely different writing processes. Actually you're making me feel like maybe I should ramble more often myself. 🙏

And I'm really touched that you would think you'd love my books. 🥺 (*Cue impostor syndrome*) I do want my books published in English at some point, even if I have to do that myself, so I actually did this little experiment... I'm about to have a short story collection come out by the end of the month, which I translated myself, with the help of a native English speaking editor, and my publisher decided to take it, since we are going to an international book con which is a good place for it to come out. Anyway... there is also going to be an ebook of it soon. I just wanted to tell you in case that would interest you. It's just four short stories and a novella, because translating a full novel myself seemed somehow too risky to me. But yeah, it's an attempt to branch out, which I really hope won't blow back in my face in some way. 😅

And oh yes, the dilemma about fanwork vs. original work. It's forever, really. I was really strict about it when I was younger, I didn't do any fanworks for seven years, after I had drawn a fan comic in high school for a year and it had swallowed me whole. But then I had to give in for KagaKuro, they were so pressing, somehow, and that's how I started writing fic. And I was so happy I did. I grew so much as a writer through fanfiction, because I was able to be a lot more experimental with it, than my original fiction. It was so good to have a sandbox where all pressure was off. And for years I was able to write both as planned. But then, shit happened in my life, and I think it was because I was really depressed and sick that I only had energy for one thing really, and fanfic became that. And then I didn't write new original fiction for two years. (I just edited old manuscripts for publication). Maybe it's dramatic but I felt like fanfic was my purpose in life, like that was the only thing why I was still here. And now I'm doing a LOT better so... I hope that I'll be able to balance both and not leave fanfic out because I really get so much from it. But I do have to reduce my pace with it. 😅 I guess I'm hoping that I might write one original project, then fanfic, and so on, keep switching after I've completed one thing, somehow, since I'm not good at focusing on multiple things at a time. But yeah. The struggle is real, even though both feel so important to me I'm not ready to give anything up. I'm really happy to hear you've found balance! I guess the hard thing about it is, that balance is an active thing and what works one time, won't necessarily work at another time... So, good luck to us both. ☺️

Oh, you absolutely made sense, don't worry. 🩵 Really happy to see you in my inbox and to talk about writing. ✨ My inbox is a free space to ramble. 👍 If you ever need another writer to talk about your writing with, or just ramble, I'm here.

[aquaquadrant]

Popping in to say that I’ve been following ur htp au since like,,, October last year? I’ve left some asks before about how much I love it (I was that anon who was needing out about tango and bravo’s names and the international flag code from several months ago + a few other asks)

The ending was the most beautiful and SATISFYING piece of literature I’ve ever written. Genuinely. Wtf. And I’ve read a lot of books. I’m an English/creative writing major and your work is so beautiful, the story arcs, every loose end was tied up, you’re like the new standard for awesomeness. Seriously.

every loose end was wrapped up so well, all the closure and follow up we wanted, explanations of things like Scáil, hels meanings, their admin, even other hermits at the end there that were mentioned about in asks before but I never thought would be relevant in the main story. Things we didn’t even need to know like bX I was not expecting at all, I was content with just what we knew about him but you made it even better.

also the callbacks to earlier chapters, earlier moments and little jokes, bravo and Timmy’s not a builder moment was awesome, the way you portrayed bravo and tangos mindsets was phenomenal and with such intricacies. Stunning. And you didn’t force a reconciliation between bravo and timmy either, so natural.

Everything had a reason, an explanation, even the intricacies of herobrine? wasnt expecting that at all. Or Alex???! You didn’t need to include that detail BUT YOU DID AND I LOVE IT

the way you explained the greater player universe learning about hels, also the pausing on the red stone tutorial!! Loved that part. The pov switches and pacing of the last chapter p 1 and 2 were perfect. Well executed to keep the reader able to understand but still enough suspense. Not to mention once again your way of capturing each persons way of talking. Bravo having similar vocab to tango especially really drives home their similarities.

The way atlas breaks. It’s so hard to make an ending with someone like him SATISFYING because man I’ve read so many stories where it’s just not it. But you did it so fucking well. And subjected to retail salesman lifestyle on top of that? Wonderful. His damn glasses finally broken. Good. Or The watchers and listeners in the background too! Loved that. You explained things that were talked about in asks so well that even those who don’t read the asks could understand.

Most of all emotional and moral nuance. So perfectly explained. As someone who used to have a hard time with moral ocd I relate a lot to the obsession with good vs evil that I’ve had to come to terms with in my own journey and I can really see that mirrored in this fic, just like the characters learn.

And in addition to it all, I loved the ending with the Minecraft credits end message. You not only made it interesting and beautiful story and awareness of the player’s existence without being too confusing, but perfectly replicated the voices of the end credits characters. The tone and language that the original has. Last week I beat the enderdragon for the first time. I used to only play on public servers or private worlds with friends, even in single player I was a big coward and hated fighting mobs even with keep inventory and no mob griefing, they just stress me out!! But I did it for the first time and I read through the entire end credits of a game I’ve loved for so long for the first time and it made me cry. And you replicated it perfectly which is SO hard to do. The benevolence of the universe, no plot holes to be found about the logic of hels, the voices of the two people and their storytelling and acknowledging of the story. The universe is described so similarly in cannon about the good and bad that it’s like the au fits perfectly. The “why them?” Beautiful. It was like deja vu scrolling through like the end credits with the same benevolent warmth that envelops you like a wordless, comforting presence from this fictional universe. A touching moral about games and stories and people. And just like the end credits of both the game and this fic said, there will be another game and another story. The universe still loves the player just as it did before. This was such a special story to read and I am so glad I did. Genuinely, this will stay with me for a long time, we can learn a lot not just about writing and storytelling techniques, but about ourselves and eachother too.

Thank you.

AUUGHHHH…. genuinely one of the loveliest reviews i’ve ever gotten… your reaction to the finale is everything i could’ve hoped to achieve. thank you thank you THANK YOU <333

[bottlecaprabbitgames]

Before i begin, i just wanna say that i don't intend to be rude or deliberately try to upset you with what i'm about to say, as this i just my subjective view and some honest criticism.

I'm gonna seperate my critique points in to segments, some overall concerns/critiques and something related to the games(as an example i'm using Voldiir here cause that had the last update)

Overall i had two questions:

1: Why did you exactly change from CS to chapbook, cause i personaly find chapbook to just look super outdated and honestly not really good to read as well. 2: I feel like you are pumping the stories out as if they were a product of factory work, not to say that this is per se bad, but this actually brings me to my critiques on the games(specially Voldiir as said prior)

Voldiir

1: It feels lack luster and without real thought being put into it. Why? Cause we get thrown into the world without any information beforehand, there are relationship changes without reason(the part when we get ambushed by the bandits i.e why does the rel. stat drop from 65 to 5 from one choice), the characters are not really introduced, mc is just existent and we have no info on the character that we play, the pacing is just all over the place(it begins way to abrupt and changes scenes like it's a dia show), the relationship gains and progress is just what, we don't know anything about them and we instantly can progress to a romantic relationship with some...wrong pacing, the world overall seems kinda barren. 2: Mc, yes i know mc probably has some set things but somethings would be cool, that the player/reader could decide, i.e topic customization, we can choose skin/eye/hair color, but not height and bodybuild(while it is mentioned that the mc is apperantly bigger than Lorelei) i feel like that this takes away/limits the ability to be able to really create our own mc(at least in my subjective opinion), also mc seems like they also want to just fight here and there and the reader has no choice in maybe deciding if our mc likes fighting or not, maybe(or to decide this without a major drop in any relationship stat) 3: The gameplay, a subject that is iffy i know, the stats are kinda useless(example: siren char; 20 charisma not able to calm the horse or get's shut down by the guard instantly vs human char; 0 charisma is able to calm the horse and is able to charm the guard -> why it makes no sense)

Ok, i understand this is a lot and you don't need to accept nor do anything/change smths, but i wanted to give you honest critique. But i also wanted to just maybe tell you with that in a rather honest but respectful way, that you should maybe take a bit more time with your projects(as someone who follows since the rather early day's of MG:O/T and has scene how amazing your writing can be) i just felt it would be good to give some feedback, as i personaly feel that your current projects just seem to have a lack of fleshed out story progression and a barren feel of worldbuilding in them, even tho we know that you can do exelent worldbuilding(take TiT as an example), your latest projects just seem to miss that flare and feel more like a factory project.

Again this is just subjective and i hope that you don't feel attacked by what i said, if there was something that upset you, then please accept my deepest apologies.

with kind regards,

~ anon

Hi! I will say before I begin, you have several good criticisms and questions. I do not mean to sound defensive if I do, I just have a hard time carrying my tone via text; I want to actually respond to all you have said, as it deserves a response!

Let's begin from the top.

I chose to leave ChoiceScript for Twine for the reason that i am unable to be published through ChoiceofGames. I would like to monetize some of my games, and the only way that will ever be an option is if I move from CS as I simply do not have $20,000 to pay for each license of every game. (Yes, that is what COG quoted me on the cost to monetize a game outside of COG, plus 25% of gross receipts.) Also, CS is so interconnected with COG and I hate COG's business practices, so I do not want to be connected to them any longer if I can help it.

I have been heavily writing lately, this is true! I mean, I'm unemployed until July, so I have nothing else to do really! And I actually feel like writing for once.

I'll agree my pacing is wild in that game; my pacing across my games needs work lately. Some of your concerns are due to me being new to Sugarcube and trying hard to understand it, but it is a lot! The relationship drop in particular is from an issue in the code, that I can tell. I will say I wanted Voldiir to be like a DND campaign, where you are just thrown in and have to make a go of it! The romance is a bit fast-paced as I plan for this to be a short experience! I have the romance as optional in case you are interested in any of the ROs, but if not, no worries, you can continue on.

I can agree that I need to add more customization, though I do like some height things being... relative. Lorelei being shorter than MC, Cassian being taller, and Aenwyn being the same height. I think it is interesting to have relative heights on ROs. I agree I do railroad some; part of me wants to say it is because of Twine being a bit limiting in that if I have too many passages, it starts to lag; but that is more of an excuse. I could definitely do with more choices for the MC, like you would in a CYOA game typically seen in the IF community.

I will say your example is again just a show of me being SHIT at coding in Sugarcube atm :/ I am learning! But it is a process; I think I've mentioned a few times that there may be bugs and to report them, as I am the main person testing things but even I am human and miss things.

I get where you are coming from, and I can't help but agree. My writing feels... more elementary these days than it used to be. I don't know what changed; did being in an abusive situation make me a better writer? Did my medication change something fundamental about my abilities? I don't know. I'm trying to figure out what is exactly going wrong and rectify it, as it feels like I'm not nearly as good as I used to be.

I hope my responses are understandable and feel free to come back! I think a lot of your critiques are valid and make sense. My worldbuilding as of late could definitely use work, now that I reflect on it... I just am unsure of what exactly is missing to make it better.

[kadextra]

so on a whim I started reading omniscient reader’s viewpoint manhwa

..and got hooked on the story so hard that I easily blasted through all available eps in less than a week. istg they put dr*gs in this thing it’s so good???? 😭

[SPOILER WARNING! big ramble ahead. if you’ve never read it, leave this post. consider checking it out you won’t be able to put it down]

lets get this out of the way first.

RAHHHHHH KIM DOKJA….. KIM DOKJA I LOVE YOU

GUYSSSSS 🥺 LISTEN. HE’S SUCH A GOOD PROTAGONIST. MY TRAUMA BOY. MY DUDE WITH THE POWER TO INFODUMP PEOPLE TO DEATH. YOU SELF-SACRIFICING IDIOT. his cunning intelligence makes him super attractive what can I say, I LOVE smart mcs with ambiguous morality and self sacrificial nature

here’s a big ✨shut your mouth✨ to every character who’s said he’s ugly- get your eyes checked, get a job get away from him (I know it’s because of the fourth wall’s filter it’s not their fault I’m just being silly)

the fourth wall is such a cool power to have. the complexity of how it acts based on his perception of fiction vs reality as the reader …. that’s very interesting and well thought out!!! how it lowkey has a consciousness too and it’s so tied into his mental state makes me want to psychoanalyze this guy even more. probably one of the most unique powers I’ve seen created and explored in a story tbh

I think the entire system of how the world works is really well done in general. constellations watching the apocalyptic bloodbath via livestream and sending donos to their favorite little guys shouldn’t work as well as it does and cracks me up so much 😭 (uriel is the best). I enjoy learning about all the irl different fables, history & mythologies too. plus doing my own research is fun! I did a deep dive through the web to learn about dokkaebi folklore lol I’m having a good time

I also related hard to how dokja read TWSA throughout his life, the story was a companion for him. got choked up bc I reflected on how much my own favorite companion stories for years mean to me. there’s been situations I’ve thought “what would (character) do?” dokja saying stuff like “what would joonghyuk do?” felt like I got called out <3 I’d probably be the same as him if my favorite characters suddenly came to life

anyways yeah I caught up with the manhwa looked online and discovered it comes from an already completed novel with over 500 chapters and the manhwa is barely a third into adapting it though it’s been releasing every week for 4 years. and that it’ll take like 10 more years to finish. I then planted my face in my hands and screamed with despair

I’ll shrivel up waiting to see what happens……………heyyy woahhhh.. whats this light of salvation ? the novel file just completed download on my phone ? that’s crazyy wow I opened it ? im scrolling it right now ? omg I’m telling myself in the mirror “pace yourself, try to space your reading out do NOT read too fast” ?

jokes aside im excited, first I’ll take some time to read back through the earlier chapters for extra context of scenes! >:D after I finish doing that…. pls pray for my self-control to try stretching this for as long as possible. I’m pumped to see what happens next with this demon king part so maybe I’ll read along with the manhwa unless I get too impatient heh

to conclude- I had no idea the fandom of orv was so passionate. while closing my eyes to spoilers, I was looking at beautiful fanart and animatics (watched this one and ascended that’s one of my fav rin songs). I can tell how much you guys love the story, there’s always going to be people like me who get interested so keep it up :D if the fandom does end up reading this, ummm *knocks on the door* hi im new

I will likely talk about it more in the future!! tagging under “#kade reads orv” ! might draw fanart on my art blog too bc brainworms <3 happy reading everyone

[bleachbleachbleach]

My co-blogger and I watch anime together as a social activity, so I kind of figured that I'd never read the Haikyuu manga--despite the fact that we rewatch all of Haikyuu and Engeki Haikyuu every!! year!!--because who has time for that? (Middle and high school me, that's who.) But 2025 me is like, if I'm going to spend time reading manga, it's going to be Bleach!! And we all know what my pace is on that count.

But!

Our home county library system has all(?) the Haikyuu volumes available digitally. And I'm mooching off my dad's library card so I can borrow things from that library system on Libby, as well, because, frankly, I live in the middle of nowhere and our county+regional library systems are limited. So I was like, well, it IS probably doable to read the Haikyuu manga... IF it comes in self-contained forms and includes strict due dates, instead of just being this mass of hyperlinks that stretches into some ambiguous eternity. What if???

The wait time for Haikyuu Vol. 1 was TEN WEEKS, but I've done it! I've read it! I checked out Vol. 2!

At first I thought that reading manga on my phone was going to be the world's dumbest experience, because I have an iPhone 12s, which is small in the realm of modern smartphones (on purpose... I want a small phone...) but it turns out it's actually ideal for zooming in on everyone's stupid little facial expressions and reading panel by panel rather than scanning page by page. And it's so nice to just like, sit in the car after you've arrived somewhere hideously too-early and read a chapter for ten minutes.

LOOK HOW CUTE HE IS. BABY:

At my previous job, one of my colleagues at had a high school-age daughter who enjoyed Haikyuu, in a genuine but also kind of ironic way where she took great pleasure in making fun of "the power of friendship." Which I always thought was kind of funny, because I never really got that vibe from the series. (NB: I say that as someone who routinely forgets that Food Wars has any ecchi material at all, despite this being what it is literally primarily known for. LOOK, THAT CONTENT DOESN'T SERVE ME. I FORGOT ABOUT IT.) I mean, Haikyuu is definitely about forming bonds and friendship and working together, but, for one thing, I think it is also really and truly very much about volleyball. Like, it's not "sure, the skin is volleyball, but it's really about--." It is really about volleyball. These kids are 80% volleyball and 20% anxiety. Anyway, the way the characters interact with each other feels a lot more interesting to me than your boilerplate "power of friendship" schtick, even at their most emotionally ridiculous.

I feel like the manga might actually be a little more "power of friendship," if only because the narrative relies a lot more on laying things out verbally, because it can't rely on the profundity of the sound of squeaky shoes on waxed gym floors alone.

But it's really nice to be able to sit with scenes and process them at my own pace, because stuff happens pretty fast in modern anime, and due to timezones whenever we watch anything it's egregiously late on my end and I am probably asleep for half of it, rip.

But something I've always really valued about Kageyama in both the manga and anime is his particular manifestation of the shounen manga bread and butter, Red Guy vs. Blue Guy. You know, the cool, probably kind of angsty, dickish rival who needs to learn how the power of friendship works.

I love that Kageyama essentially starts the series already trying to distance himself from that idea, and actively wanting to be a different person. He is self-motivated to change, even if he has absolutely no idea how to do that and is, despite sometimes being cool, and being pretty good at volleyball, the world's most awkward person. And is, even if he perceives Hinata as a baby, just as much of a baby with his little milk cartons and such.

(I also love that despite Kageyama's angery rep, while he was middle school teammates with Oikawa, Oikawa's dramatic rivalry with him was basically all in Oikawa's weird, weird head [said with UTMOST love]. Meanwhile, bb Kageyama is over here offering him tissue packets and calling him senpai.)

And his Angery comes from such a specific place. It's partly being lost in the sauce of his own prodigious talent, sure, but it's really him being a serious-ass person and wanting desperately for people to take things seriously--well, to take volleyball seriously--for the sake of volleyball itself, even if you don't have to in order to procure the result you want. People half-assing things because they can get away with it is upsetting to him, and you know what, same, man:

And I LOVE THIS LINE: "How am I supposed to display something vague like a sense of being teammates?"

HE'S SO REAL FOR THAT TOO. And like, Daichi knows this is kind of silly, but he's guessing Kageyama will not, and will take it very seriously, and he does. But I think this goes back to my whole thing about "the power of friendship" [but interesting], on one hand, and on another is such a great aspect of Kageyama's personality. What is a guy even supposed to do with that directive but agonize over defining its terms. I love him.

And then there's the hi-jinks, from Tanaka's ACE facial expression here (lollllll)

and Hinata and Kageyama being two idiots speaking offshoots of the same onomatopoetic language:

I actually hope I don't feel compelled to write a whole post about every Haikyuu volume, because again, who has time for that, but why not spend some time in Kageyama appreciation mode, for enrichment.

[fangweaver2099]

From TheLocalRou: A Statement on Fawnteeth and A Minor Slip-up

Hello, I'm TheLocalRou, you can just call me Rou for short. I'm a cowriter on "A Minor Slip-up" and "Fawnteeth." I use they/them pronouns. My fellow co-writers and myself have been misgendered a lot during this situation, so I just ask that you please respect my pronouns.

My name has been thrown into the mix of all of this, and my integrity as a writer has been called into question. Fangweaver has given me the opportunity to make a statement as I don't use tumblr nor am I part of any Miguel/ATSV spaces.

I am not part of the ATSV fandom, nor am I in Miguel centered spaces. I'm a fantasy fiction writer and I excel in writing super emotionally complex, angsty plots, in a lengthy, word-rich writing style. That is why I was invited onto the project of both fics and I have had a lot of fun writing them both despite knowing jack shit about the character of Miguel O'Hara. Fangweaver has personally explained the plot of several old Miguel comics to me, how this character works within the comic universe, and how that's applied to their outline and ideas. Even then because I am clueless of how the comic universe works, my contributions to these two fics has been character interaction, and dialogue as well as general grammar and wording editing. I was not invited to personally work on the project until long after the outline was made and my writing was based on said outline. I have never been part of the plot brainstorming process of A Minor Slip-Up. I have for Fawnteeth as I have been more personally involved in the creation of that fic vs the Miguel becomes Y'n's babydaddy fic.

I do not read any Miguel fic, nor have I interacted with tarjapearce's work as I found out about their series of Miguelverse fics when the first set of tumblr posts made by Tarja was made back in June. I still have not read them nor do I really want to because, believe it or not but I am not interested in Miguel O'Hara as a character. I am a lesbian and am active in completely different fanspaces.

I was invited to be a co-creator on Jun 21 after being promoted from an editor. I titled a Minor Slip-Up (AMSU), created the summary for Fawnteeth (FT) and a lot of my original work and writing have been poured into both fics.

AMSU and FT is actually the work of 4 people poured into one fic. Fang, their husband, Pluto, and myself. This is why we were able to write and post chapters at a much quicker pace compared to just one writer alone. I've contributed to all of FT, (the bulk of my work the entirety of ch 7 and large portions of chapter 6...as well as the inclusion of my own OC Aurora and most of her dialogue), and had written for AMSU from ch 2 onwards. I am unsure of what specific lines are claiming to be plagiarized, but everything I have contributed to both fics has been my own original work as I have been paid for my services to these two projects via agreed upon artwork. I have not contributed heavily to any smut/lemon/nsfw scenes because uncomfy.

All of my Miguel fic has either been a gift for a friend (published independently to my AO3 account and labeled as a gift accordingly) or paid work. I have loved working on these two fics and will continue my work with FT.

I've also been told that Tarja never read the outline, so I'm even further confused as to where the claim of plagiarism has come from beyond the scope of an unplanned pregnancy fic, and feeling like they were owed credit for the premise of the fic itself. I'm not too sure how the entirety of the fic can be plagiarized when they publicly confessed to having not read the outline and thus do not know the extent of the plot.

Until now I have not involved myself in any of this. I have never sent any anon asks, commented on any fics, nor have I ever personally spoken to tarjapearce.

As for the accusations of harassment, I can personally vouch that we have received harassment as a direct result of tarjapearce's posts. Those guest comments were horrific to wade through with slurs, transpobia and even death threats have been sent our way.

As of 7/17/2024 I, Rou, have never been approached by, personally spoken with, nor communicated with tarjapearce or any of their editors or betas in any shape or form. I was blocked on ao3 when the first set of tumblr posts were made back in June. Tarjapearce has never made any attempt to reach out to me, nor I to them.

All of my contributions to the writing of both fics have been my own in terms of verbiage, and style of being written. I have never interacted and thus never have taken any inspiration from any of tarjapearce's work.

I am only speaking for myself, I do not speak for anyone else.

Thank you for taking the time to read this, I am okay with answering questions.

[happyk44]

So I just found out that Poseidon is also the god of droughts and what are your thoughts on a child of poseidon with drought powers, a complete opposite to their more sea based children?

[ID: Screenshot of a google search. The search term reads, "god of drought in gr...". The search term is cut off due to the mobile layout of the screenshot. A featured snippet at the top comes from wikipedia, reading, "List of water of deities".

The core of the screenshot is the People Also Ask section, of which the return is "Who is the Greek god of drought?" This question has been dropped down to show a result from "www.theoi.com". The answer reads, "Poseidon was the Olympian god of the sea, earthquake, floods, drought and horses. He was depicted as a mature man with a sturdy build and a dark beard holding a trident (a three-pronged fisherman's spear)." /end ID]

Oh! I knew this 🙌 I think it's related to him being the god of the sea/water, sort of like how Apollo is associated with healing but also the plague. I always find it funny when that happens 🤣

So for the kids who skew more to the side of drought, obviously they still have their sea powers. They're probably far more dry in tone, less empathic, less emotional. Maybe they're more prone to the earthshaker side of Poseidon as well, and the equine, to make up for the lesser interest in the sea. Plus earthquakes and horses are more land-based and a drought affects the land (agricultural loss, wildfires, increased sandstorms, etc).

In PJO canon, I'd want to say drought-based kids grew up more inland where access to a large body of water was difficult to come across. So it's less about internal nature (as with my interpretation of the freshwater vs seastorm Neptune babies), and more about familiarity and adaptation - sort of like how catci and other desert plants have evolved to handle long periods without water.

Powers that they have an increased capability for over their sea counterparts:

causing earthquakes! they can manipulate them on a small or large scale, but they have higher propensity. it's a little harder for them to cause underwater earthquakes tho (which. can become tsunamis btw)

dehydration - sort of an inverse of drowning a person in their own fluids, they will the liquids inside them to dry up at a rapid pace

as a subset of that, i think it would be so cool if they could pull a tantalus-like punishment with enough focus on someone. no matter how much you drink, you will always be thirsty, you will never be satisfied, you will be captain barbosa and his crew, turning skeletal in the moonlight

they can withstand higher and drier heats than their sea-preferred counterparts (for example, percy would be hanging off of carter in the desert, crying for water, while they're chilling and vibing, truly a cactus of a person)

similarly, they retain water better, and sweat less. their bodies need less fluid to keep going on (this makes them better at giving blood lol, stay juicy everybody!)

while most children of poseidon are capable of piling water in the air into something usable, the drought prone kids have picked up how to pull water/usable liquid from anything available, as dry climates may lack enough water in the air for it to be worthwhile compared to humid climates --- so they're more likely to pull water out of living things, pull water out of the ground, or even find water deep underground (well water!)

due to the above, they're more capable of causing inland floods, they can pull water out from deep in the earth and force it to surround areas that are devoid of rivers, lakes, or even high rainfalls - this isn't just because of the whole "god of floods" thing either, it's because after a long period of drought, sudden rains can cause flash flooding to occur, so they're good at making flood happens

heat generation! they may be able to make things hotter, and/or drier

they have perpetual black thumbs. they are... not very good at growing plants lol

finding/summoning horses. it might take a while, but if there is a horse, they will find it (like the horse version of a dowsing rod, which, lol, they're kind of the human version of a dowsing rod, i guess), and if there are no horses nearby, they will get one to come to them through ✨ vibes ✨

their version of a storm is a heatwave OR extreme rain. yes, they can summon hurricanes or typhoons, but those are much more ocean-based things. so forcing high and burning levels of heat that makes everyone stumble and sag, sweating through every inch of fabric they have OR extreme and heavy rainfall that practically drowns you where you stand and knocks you to the ground is more their instinct

lowkey i wanna give them sandstorms as well, since that can be an effective of long-period of drought, but. you know. idk how much greece was ever getting pummeled by sandstorms for that to be something they associated with drought. (egypt, on the other hand, set, my dangerous and beloved)

(funnily enough set is also the god of foreigners, so like, who knows, maybe he and poseidon struck a funny deal when one of his kids traipsed over there while wandering around)

Since I think the difference between sea-based Poseidon babies and land-based Poseidon babies is just due to their adaptation of their environment, I think someone who is sea-based could easily become more land-based after living in such conditions for a while, and vice versa. Sort of like accents, lol. You know, if Percy decided to up and move to the desert in his 40s, he'd adapt after an initial period of "oh my gods oh my gods where is the fucking water where is the ocean i am dying" lol. it would take him a lot longer to pick up on the accent of the land than if he were younger, and so he'd still maintain his "sea" accent long-term

Because of this, I think it would be really neat if, way back when, it was common for the kids to take a few months away from camp to go living in the desert for a bit so they could pick up some land skills - like a rite of passage for poseidon demigods. one of the older cabin members goes out with them to make sure they don't die, helps them hone into the skills they might not have tapped into before, etc and so on. The kids come back at the end of their outing, more well-rounded and capable of tapping into the opposite side of their powers, when and if needed. Some of the kids might repeat the outing more than once for funsies, but most of them usually just do the one time thing, and then practice their land-based powers on a smaller scale at camp.

If a land-based kid comes into camp when they're much older, they don't typically have to do the outing, but sometimes they'll go out, not to learn anything, but to help the others, since they'll essentially receive assistance with their sea-based powers while they're at camp (presuming every version of camp has been based near the ocean or some giant water mass throughout the years - if not, then it goes the other way around, where they take a few months to go chill out on a beach for a few months).

Thanks for asking! If anyone else has any extra ideas, feel free to add them on! :)

Additionally, just 'cause, here are the four types of droughts I came across while googling "drought causes" because, lol, I'm an island boy, I am not familiar with droughts and wanted to get some facts in that weren't high temps and low rainfall (source):

Meteorological: region-specific; occur when an area receives less rainfall than normal; often measured by comparing the current situation to previous years’ rainfall. Some locations are affected more harshly than others.

Agricultural: when there is not enough moisture in the soil to sustain the growth of crops. Crops need different amounts of water based on their level of maturity, so they can be susceptible to droughts at different times. For example, most plants require moist topsoil to germinate, but this could be less important down the line as the plant matures. So, the effects of an agricultural drought hinge largely on the growth stage of the plants.

Hydrological: when there is a lack of surface and subsurface water supply; detrimental effects can be most readily observed in watersheds and river basins; affect the entire water cycle, take longer to notice, and have effects less immediately obvious than with other droughts.

Socioeconomic: when the water supply is too low to support human and environmental needs; wreaks havoc on the supply and demand of crucial commodities like water, grains, fish, and hydroelectric power.

[raelyn-dreams]

Hi hi!! Did you read the valkyrie climax event? What are your thoughts on it? Do you think it was a good development for Valkyrie as a unit (and for shumika)? 🤔

Hi!!! It's lovely to see you again :)

So originally this post started off with a Le temps des fleurs analysis...that got so long that rather than subject everyone to a five page post, I've decided I'll post separately in the future lol.

But yes, I have read through Raison D'etre! To be honest, I don't think this post will be able to sum up all my thoughts, but I'll try to hit the important parts!

I feel that first I need to define what, to me, makes a good climax event. A good climax event, by my personal definition, ties up loose threads of the current storyline, addresses built-up conflicts with good pacing and in-character reactions, and resolves the current story thread of the unit while still allowing many more narratives to be weaved in the future. So far, of the other units we've gotten climax events of (fine, Crazy:B, Ra*bits, Double Face, and as of recently, 2wink), I think this has all been done fairly well - a couple character slip-ups, a few pacing issues here and there, a shoved-in conflict or two - but ultimately, they did their job, and I came away feeling fairly satisfied by their current conclusions.

I think I also need to state that I do not expect, nor frankly want, all of the character's issues and relationships to come away squeaky clean and unproblematic. I'm always for development of course (Neverland's garbage talk made me sob over how far Shu and Mika have come), but ultimately, this game is about a bunch of screwed-up kids in an exploitative industry, and how they navigate it while facing their own personal issues. Like other gacha games, from otomes like Obey Me to fellow joseimukes like Twisted Wonderland, the end goal is not to make the characters perfect, or even relatively good people. It's to weave a satisfying narrative, something that hooks and engages people. And while I will be the first to say the Enstars writing is not always "good" and can be riddled with problems, I still see a lot of potential in it and ultimately enjoy it, which is why I'm writing this.

I'm happy to say that Valkyrie did not break the pattern of satisfying climax events for me, and in fact, has come away as my favorite of them thus far. I readily admit that bias does in fact play a factor in my enjoyment - as it did with 2wink's and I'm sure it will when Alkaloid's drops - but I truly did feel that Valkyrie's climax event was incredibly satisfying for both of them.

So, onto the story!

Some of my favorite bits:

Shu defending Nazuna's autonomy was so asdfghjkl 😭 GODDAMN that hit me right in the feels! I liked that despite Nazuna being part of the event, the writing didn't try to dredge up ex-valk issues, and instead used Nazuna as a person close to them in order to forward their development, rather than as an angst tool, if that makes sense? He also seems to be doing a lot better since Ra*bits climax (poor man finally caught a break), so good for him! Also, Mika gaining weight! He is finally eating properly 🥺 I'm so proud.

Ok, so adding onto the above, initially the Kuro-Nazuna crossdressing subplot made me wary since I was afraid enstars was backtracking into some of its more...iffy writing choices (*stares at Poltergeist*). However, after reading the story through, I can safely say that the way it ties back into the theme was good, and ultimately, neither Kuro nor Nazuna exhibited any behavior that impacted my enjoyment of the story (+ this thread addressing issues people had with Kuro here, because my dude was getting attacked when this dropped).

Instead of "haha man in a dress", it showed a good progression of attitudes with old vs new era and Japan vs West that I felt was explored pretty thoughtfully, and the way Shu and Mika honored that by having such gnc stage costumes was very lovely! Kuro and Nazuna's good reactions to it also showed how much more open-minded they were as compared to Shu's grandfathers era, and also showed a reflection of enstars own writing changes between ! and !! era (ex. Koga and Subaru dropping their slur usage towards Arashi, Kaoru being more thoughtful towards Adonis's background, etc). I'm not trying to be a suck-up to the writers, since there is some stuff they've written that is...less than lovely. However, I don't think this situation was one of them, and overall, it tied back into Shu's journey well.

One scene I really want to talk about is the foie gras conversation because that was just!!! so!!! It's a very small scene in the grand scheme of things, but I thought it showed their development really well (Raelyn get new phrases challenge lol), so I wanted to mention it here! Mika wants to try foie gras, and Shu is like "why. it's gross and inhumane and there are so many better foods" which is totally fair (foie gras is often inhumanely created). However, Mika doesn't automatically apologize and back down like he would in the past, stating that he knows, but he still finds it interesting. Shu also does not shut Mika down; he states that maybe at another time, though he sticks to his own boundaries of not having it himself.

What I really like about this scene on Shu's end (and his relationship with Mika as a whole) is that he does not regress into treating Mika like he did Nazuna; he does not try to insist that Mika is perfect and should not soil himself with such indelicacies, nor does he put him on a pedestal and automatically throw out his own opinions for Mika (essentially, treating him as Mika treated him). Shu truly treats him as an equal here, by stating his own opinion and having an open and meaningful conversation with Mika, getting his view on it without completely sacrificing his own thoughts. Mika, in turn, does not treat Shu's words as gospel, nor does he feel the need to plead his case; the conversation is entirely casual, a mere exchange between partners, but its so important because its one of the first times they've demonstrated that they've made it to this point. The whole thing is wrapped very nicely in a bow by Shu creating something with a similar taste and texture to foie gras to give Mika a similar experience, without having to cook the actual thing - its a great compromise both are satisfied with, and gives us a look into how their current art and performances are being created.

(Translations below by mika_enstars)

Shu's whole-hearted acceptance of Mika also comes back into play during the grave-robbing aftermath, which is something I have a lot of thoughts on, so I'll save it for a separate post.

Getting into what blew every enstars fan's mind, time to discuss the very queer themes of Raison D'etre. This shocked me when the translations first came out - I think the closest we've EVER gotten to this amount of explicit rep was Beasts and Pretty Mission, and even those can be argued for different interpretations, though I feel their text is pretty clear. Lots of queer fans (including me) gravitate to Valkyrie, and enstars as a whole tbh, for good reason - lots of their story aspects can be considered queer, from Shu's feminine interests and subsequent bullying, Nazuna feeling "trapped" by ex-Valk's expectations, and Mika's alt interests and unwavering devotion.

The doll plot was confusing as hell lol, but I get why it was done in such a convoluted manner, since it was supposed to be left up to interpretation, and force Shu and Mika to come to their own conclusions. Shu's grandfather deliberately set it up in such a way that Shu would be forced to weave the story he wants, and in doing so, accept the parts of himself he had hidden away - a fairly thin parallel to his grandfather's queer youth.

However, the difference here is that Shu does not plan on hiding, he does not plan on bundling away his feelings in a neat little box (or journal, in this case), and leaving them behind. In Antique Legend, we see that Shu's grandfather clearly tried to conform to what was expected of him, and impart those same values onto Shu - though Shu never fully stuck to those principles in favor of forging his own path, which I think his grandfather was secretly proud of him for.

(Antique Legend: Dumps of Dreams, Ep 8)

Shu internally monologues about how different his grandfather's time and the current one he lives in are, and how things are evolving in such a way that he can stand on stage without the ridicule his grandfather may have faced. This, along with the ending of "Let's live together happily, Kagehira" as an ode to his grandfather's dreams, really does read like a love story to me, especially the part right before where Mika compares the love Shu's grandmother has for his grandfather as the same love Shu has for him - which Shu doesn't deny.

A couple other things to wrap up:

I found it so interesting how Mika and Shu had different takes on his grandfather's life, and trying to unravel the truth was both fun and a chore and a half for me lol. All in all, the audience isn't meant to know fully, but I think Mika's theory might hold a bit more water (Shu's grandfather being gnc and dating the landlady), since he had extra info and is bffs with Naru, giving him a bit more insight. However, I can definitely see why Shu went with his theory of "grandpa had many different male lovers in his youth", as not only is it the one that does not imply cheating, but it is a closer representation of how Shu feels, and I think that's what grandpa was trying to get at.

The use of "boku" and "ore" was also pretty good storytelling imo, and adds an extra layer of projection, since Shu uses "boku" while Mika uses "ore" in day-to-day life. "Boku" is also seen as politer and more formal, while "ore" is more casual and was at one point seen as crass, which reflected their story roles well!

The fact that Shu's grandfather just??? Fakes his death on a regular basis is???? So???? I can't even asdfghjkl. Kuro being like "yeah, I comforted him the first 5 times, but then I got kinda sick of it" is so funny too. I wonder if any of the rich enstars kids are gonna do this in the future, my money's on Eichi (for profit), Ritsu (for fun), or Hiyori (for drama) personally.

I know I said I wouldn't talk about it here, but the grave-robbing aftermath where Shu describes Mika as a fairy during their first meeting, as a contrast to how he had always described him as a ghost? That got me so good, especially since it's something so idealistic being used when Mika is currently cold and covered in dirt. It's just such wholehearted acceptance of his partner, it's so beautiful.

Anyways, I think I'll end it here, but again, thank you so much for the ask and patience Dia!!!

(Edit: accidentally included RYUSEITAI with the climax units, it's fixed now)

[8bitsupervillain]

Higurashi When The Manga Cry Ch. 8 Matsuribayashi pt. 106

There’s an old debate I want to reignite, and that’s the topic of manga vs. anime. I prefer the manga versions of things to the anime version generally. Primarily it comes down to detail in the drawings, things generally look better in manga form than anime. There’s a certain charm to seeing things in motion, but I like to believe I’m pretty good at imagining how things would look in motion, so often times seeing a scene from a manga in motion it’s a bit disappointing to me. Plus I enjoy being in control of the pace a which I get to experience the events. Sometimes anime can use the pacing of a conversation, for instance, to be able to create tension in a scene, but generally I like to let my imagination do a lot of the heavy lifting and try to imagine the pauses and so on in conversation.

Also I'm pleased with myself because I remembered to title this correctly, and not use the placeholder title from my text document.

I wonder how much Takano herself believed she’d be able to convince Tomitake to join her side? Or if it was just a fleeting vain hope that maybe he would join her, but deep down she knew it wouldn’t happen? Her characterization in Minagoroshi didn’t seem particularly surprised he rejected her, so I wonder if she figured he wouldn’t join forces, but decided to try regardless?

Anyway, zounds Irie! Looks like Tomitake is in some deep trouble, should probably make your daring escape after calling Akasaka!

Wonder why the Wild Dogs ditched the van so far away to nab Irie on foot? Seems like a bit of an odd decision. Thinking about it now, I wonder if Takano had any sort of plan in mind for Satoshi after beginning Operation Doomsday (renamed to Operation Apocalypse earlier in the manga) in earnest? I know she eventually confides in Tomitake she knows they’re going to betray when all’s said and done, but I like to imagine she was like “oh yeah, we still got the Houjou boyjou, I can poke around his noodle before it’s all over.” Also thinking yet more on it, do you think Takano can tell if someone is near terminal just by looking at them? I’m thinking back on some of her actions in Tatarigoroshi and Tsumihoroboshi when she has her conversations with Keiichi, and Rena respectively. Were her antics then her just genuinely screwing with them, or were they her attempt to get them to hit terminal levels quicker? I’m pretty sure it’s just she was messing with them for her own amusement, but who knows for certain.

Rather than dwell on the magically appearing Kasai and Shion I want to give the Wild Dogs here some much deserved guff over the fact they ditched their machine gun when trying to apprehend Irie. I think Irie would be much more obedient with a machine gun pointed at him, especially given that they just shot him off the road.

See, I’m not so much bothered by the notion of the tracking device existing, they’re a secret government research facility after all. It was just the way Takano in the VN acts like this is all according to plan that bothered me. I admit that this is probably just me getting too hung up on arbitrary plot points.

All these different times I’ve forced you to read variations on this line I decided that it’s probably not because she’s a short girl that caused her to slip up on the ladder. After all, Satoko and Hanyuu made it just fine, I think she slipped because she’s wearing flip-flops. Everyone else is wearing regular shoes, so they made it just fine.

Why do the Sonozakis have their cache of illegal guns? Is it just a remnant from the dam war? Are they a secret secessionist group plotting a government overthrow? Arms dealers? Are they in cahoots with bigger yakuza outfits in Tokyo and are supplying them with Soviet weaponry? Are they gearing up to go to war with the Tojo clan for the empty lot in Kamurocho in a few years time? My money is on arms dealing personally, it makes sense to me from the angle of the Sonozaki family seemed to rise to prominence post-World War II. Sell gathered guns from the war, bulk up your war chest, you know?

I went on a small mental journey of having the cast from Higurashi as characters in a Like a Dragon (Yakuza) game. You know what I choose to blame my flights of fancy with replacing game characters with wildly inappropriate ones on? The Girls’ Frontline mods for the Call of Duty games, also I just think it would be particularly amusing to me to see something like a Metal Gear and just replace the characters with cute anime girls.

I somehow never noticed that everyone is wearing their casual clothes. This just reminded me that Rena wears thigh high socks in the official art. Anyway, composure slap. Moving along to the fisticuffs between Okonogi and Akasaka.

I just like the exchange of “I’m Okonogi from the Wild Dogs,” and “well good for you.” It’s not the most bad ass line written, but it conveys a certain coldness that just tickles me.

I’m sure the outfit she’s wearing with the crown is a reference to something, but who cares? We got Superpaper!

"Moms are tough." Nora Estheim, Final Fantasy XIII. Unlike Nora however Shion won't die almost instantly after saying this.

Okonogi looks like either a weird elf, or a vampire with his pointy ears. Manga Okonogi looks like he belongs in a Baldur’s Gate or the Witcher. I was going to go for a Vampire: The Masquerade reference, but I haven’t actually played any of those. Shadowrun seems like a bit of a deep cut. Looks like he should be on his way to Icewind Dale to become either a bandit fight, or an elf NPC. The gangs of Neverwinter Nights are missing their lead henchman.

These are from closer to the end of the series, but I thought I would include these pages of Keiichi dressed as Battler, and Rena as Kanon. They’re a nice little piece of fan service.