#and having issues with comparisment

[mercurytrinemoon]

Idk if it's because her Mars is on my Mercury but sometimes I'd hear a Olivia Rodrigo song and I realize she explores topics that I often think about that others rarely (if ever) talk about.

Like a few years ago I started obsessing over the fact that every relationship is just rehashing the pevious one and how fucked up it is and how mentally uncomfortable that makes me feel and then I heard she has a song about it (Deja Vu). Or I like how she explores themes of envy and jealousy towards other women, which, especially in this day and age, is a big no no cause you may come off as a "not a girl's girl", but like???? These feelings are normal???? And I think about it a lot. Or not avoiding admitting that one does have obsessions over your partner's exes and stuff. Like jealousy in general is one thing, that is explored in music a lot, but not in the context of ex partners I feel.

[jmagnabo92]

Hey The Prongsfoot Anon, who is dissatisfied with James, here, ,,

THaks for taking your time out and replying.

I did not get what I was looking for but i am really grateful for your words all the same.

Have a nice day!

Also i have read the small stories you wirte on the pair. I told you that i was talking about the long stories on Prongsfoot. It wasn't about the stories you write. THey are sweet and cute. I love them all. But then I go looking for long stories and don't like that the source of all angst is about made about sirius who is struggling more than James is. There it seems that James has it easy.

Also I wanted to clear that i am not against divorce. In fact I am pro for it. I meant that in the society around me, divorce has a reason. Like in your recent fic, Marlene felt that Sirius has always been in love with James and tried with her less etc. she felt cheated and wanted to hurt sirius. THis is the type of divorce I was talking aabout feels real. In comparision Jily divoice felt like they woke up one morning. Talked , they were on the same page, ready to divorce and co-parent harry and harry is all okay and chill with his parent's sepration. No one has gone through any emotional turmoil due to sepration. all is fine is dandy. Again, I am just using your story as an example because almost all the story with lily alive and jily divorce are based on the concep of a painless smooth jily divorce and that is what i was saying that if they were so good in communication, if they are so in link with each other, why divorce and not try more for the marriage. so it feels unreal- the being in each other's life - best friends and giving advices and being all chummy after divorce.

Also the serial you mentioned. I only have watched the initual episodes of 911 but that lady and thier kids are really effected by that man's coming out. The children are not readily acceptng. THe woman herself feels betrayed for a brief period. Later they may have reconcilefd etc but they have had a journey. Also i remeber that the lady married the man because her bilogical clock was ticking. Almost like the pact of marrying your freind after certain age. Jily is different because if canon way is chosen then at 20 they were not compromising by saddling with each other. They chose each other.

I think the grit is missing with jily break and divorce in Progsffot fandom. James and Lily behave too matures.

You don't have to reply for this. I was just really appreciative of the efforts it took for you to type that long reply and i wanted to explain my side of story a bit more.

WHat I said about James's maturity is that after those early years in stories that his struggles are over. WHat i meant when i said that i imagine him as a person who will have trouble maturing is because i think that he is the perfect mix of naive and optimistic to be like that. THe teenager who thinks that all problems are over once he reaches adulthood.thinking that being adult means having anwers to all problems. Etc.

What I mean that a James in his 30's has to have his own struggles with life. which are appropriate to experiece of a man that age which brings new obstacles and pains. Maybe Harry is entering his teen age where all kids begin hating their parents. Maybe he is having quarter life crisis. MAybe Lily is upset that he is asking for divorce when she is happy in her marriage life. Etc.

This is alos the issue, Lily is Petunia's sister. Petunia wanted to come accross as a settled woman with great life. SO, Lily being okay with divorce seems ooc.

Also I think i mentioned in my previous ask but i never said that SIruis is feminized. What i meant him taking that girly roles meant that in soap operas and in traditional romance stories, the girl is the one who is struggling and then the boy swoops in to save the day. A prongsfoot story in which James has no life problems and is chill feels like that. Not the best comparisiion but Prongsfoot angst is always heavy on Sirius's side that is why i drew the comparision.

So, yes this was all.

Again you don't have to reply again. I just thought I owed it to you to explain my side a bit better. I am not sure if I was succesful or not....

Anyways. Take care.....

Well, hello, Anon.  

I know you said that I didn’t have to answer, but I felt compelled, too, because I’m genuinely curious - what WERE you hoping to get out of these asks?  

I’m also curious about why if you know that my stories genuinely don’t focus on the Sirius angst or struggling more than James, that you came to me?  

If you’re curious, I think Sirius angst comes from being Sirius fans first.  Some people like to torture their favs and Sirius has more page-time than James does.  We know him better from canon than we do James, so we tend to focus on him.   I also don’t think James has it easy.  He still has to deal with figuring out himself and breaking up his marriage (if he’s married, which isn’t easy), he still loses his parents and finds himself without that safety net.  My dad’s 62 and just lost his last parent recently and he’s been struggling - I can’t imagine losing both parents when he’s still technically a teen and not struggling with that.  That’s almost always there.

So, he has struggles.

So, you said that this wasn’t about a particular fic, but then you bring up “Fun in the Sun” - well, what you probably don’t know is that the prompt behind that fic was Sirius/Marlene have a terrible divorce while Jily have an amicable divorce.  James was always *meant* to help Sirius per the prompt and discussion with the artist.  It was written purposely to highlight the two different types of divorces, and I wanted to follow through with that concept because it’s what the artist wanted.  I don’t usually do divorce fic (or focus on it if I do) like I did in this fic.  Jily also divorced 3 years before SM did because Marlene dragged the divorce out to punish Sirius.  So, yeah, Jily is friends and have had an easy time co-parenting because it’s been going on for *years* all the growing pains that initially happened, already happened.  

This was a Prongsfoot fic, I don’t care about Jily’s divorce, it was a plot device.  That’s it.  And like, that’s another thing with Prongsfoot Long-fics that deal with Jily divorce.  We aren’t here to focus on Jily - we’re here for Prongsfoot, so why would we bother having the ‘emotional turmoil’ especially when the divorce happened years before.

Yes, Athena/Micheal struggle at first in 9-1-1, but if you were to look at the middle/end of S2, they’re perfectly fine.  Which is approximately a year or two into the divorce - which is where Jily was during this fic.  So, yeah, no there’s no reason for there to be issues - again, that was part of the prompt.

Again - we’re not here for Jily, so maybe there’s no grit, but that’s not why we are Prongsfoot fans, so… Sorry?  Not, Sorry.  If you don’t want Jily divorce, you can always filter it out.  A03 is amazing for filters :)

Like I said, James’ struggles are subjective.  Sometimes the fic just focuses more than one thing than another and like that’s up to the writer, if it’s not your cup of tea - that’s cool, you can always write your own?

I usually don’t get into Lily’s head much, ‘cause again I’m here for Prongsfoot - over 400 fics tells you that - Although sometimes I have them share James (I bet you’d really love those fics :) ). Anyhoo, maybe she is struggling or maybe she feels relief.  But I can’t imagine why you think Petunia’s views on Divorce have any impact on her sister’s?  ‘Cause like, siblings can have different views - I know I have four siblings and ain’t none of us agree on nothing.  :)3

Lily’s view on divorce is highly subjective since we know so little about her.  But she doesn’t seem like the type to stay in an unhappy marriage and forcing someone to stay always leads to unhappiness.  

I never said you said he was feminized, although I think you did?  What you’re saying here is suggesting that he’s a “damsel in distress” and needs a hero - which is a) very sexist and b) just not true.  Sirius is a badass in every Prongsfoot fic I have ever read.  I can’t speak for every fic in existence but Fuck man, struggling and having support from James is not the same thing as being the heroine that waits around for her hero to save her - and even if that was the case… the implication that he’s girly for it really grinds my gears.

Anyway, we focus on Sirius and angsting him because he’s easier to angst since we know more about him, but if you don’t like that - that’s okay, you can always write what you wanna read.  

Thanks, take care :)

[suchusoid]

How other villains worked better as sympathetic where the league failed

I know I said I was going to make a post regarding my final oc villain, anonymous, but due to recents events, i just dont have the energy to do so. To clear my mind, I've decided to take a break from oc posts and talk about how certain character archetypes from this series are done betger by other shows, movies and books, starting with the league of villains.

For this comparision, I'll be comparing the LOV with a group of villains that actually inspired my oc (ghoulian my beloved) the sadler trio from the goosebumps book "ghost beach"

Is probably what you're thinking. The sadler trio are the ghosts of a trio of immigrant siblings from england who traveled to new england in hopes of a better life. Unfortunately, they ended up dying in cold and have roamed the beach as ghosts for 300 years. They long for companions in death and plan to take their distant cousins jerry and terri to the grave.

Louisa is the girl with the pigtails and velvet dress, sam is the boy with the white hair and black vest, and nat is the boy with the bowl cut and the striped t shirt, remember that now.

The first thing I want to talk about is the family dynamics

The leagues bonds are, for a lack of a better word, shaky. While we do see certain memebers like twice and toga showing genuinely nice moments of friendship, and magne being a well liked and respected member, earning her the title of "big sis mags", other members like shigaraki and dabi contradict the found family dynamic the story and fandom are selling. Shigaraki barely shows any care for his fellow members, when magne died, he was more concerned about staying on top while toga and twice actually wanted to avenge their fallen ally. Shigaraki also doesnt have any reaction to twices death either. Dabi is honestly worse as he refuses to pitch in at times, called spinner a derogetory slur, and then pulled a bruno marcotulli and said he shouldnt get upset about it. Spinners motives also dont align with shigarakis in the slightest, to the point where they straight up had to retcon his motives not once, but twice, just to make shigaraki seem like a good leader. Truth is their motives and personalities clash too hard for their dynamic not to feel forced.

The sadlers on the other hand actually do show genuine care and concern for each other, most notably when nat clings to louisa as a source of comfort when he gets scared and sam being the mediator and voice of reason, showing how they do care for eachother and work cohesively as a group, while the league is more dysfunctional than a 50's sitcom family.

Next is motives, the leagues motives at the end of the day, are to cause destruction and misery to whoever they please with no consequences, I really dont know how else to put it. Shigaraki wants to destroy everything, dabi wants to hurt his father and is willing to drag innocent people into the mix, toga gets off to killing, and the other three are just along for the ride with no qualms about their peers actions. This really doesnt help making them sympathetic when the story tries to shove a bunch of sad backstories in our face and say "please feel bad for them!"

Comparitively, the sadlers motives are far more understandable. At the end of the day, all they want is companionship. Its far more easy to get behind "we were robbed lf a decent life and have lived in solidarity on this beach for centuries with a guy whos been planning our downfall, we desperately want you to stay with us" as opposed to " we are societal outcasts who just want to lash out and makes things worse for everyone else without even trying to combat the societal issues that caused things in the first place."

On top of that, the sadlers actions, which include trying to kill harrison sadler( the ghost hunter) attempting to kill jerry and terri, and eating a dog (dogs can sense ghosts and would give them away.), while morally reprehensible , come from a place of desperation as opposed to malice. The sadler trio never take enjoyment out of their actions. Heck, when its revealed they're ghosts there practically on their hands and knees begging the twins to stay with them.

Thisis unlike the league, who take full pleasure in hurting others to achieve their goals *cough* toga *cough* shigaraki * cough* dabi * cough*.

Lastly is their fates, the sadlers are trpaped in magic cave the essentially sends ghosts to the afterlife and puts them to rest. Makes sense since their motives were from them being stuck in a proverbial limbo.

The leaghes fate is hori hyping up them being saved... and then all die or just get arrested, making their whole arcs feel like a waste of time.

Phew, now thats cleared up my min, I may get to doing anonymous' character sheet sometime soon, let me know what you guys think, and have a good evening!

[shinakazami1]

Timothy breakdown pwease 🙏

HI KRO HI HI I JUMP OFC ONE TIMOTHY BUD FOR U

How I feel about this character

BRO. One of my favs. The fact he was the first character I played as for Borderlands games was a great choice.

I adore this guy. He's funny, anxious, a bit of an asshole. He had to learn to play Jack but he absolutely sucks at it but I think it works since nobody knows jack well, only his image. LIKE it's hilarious we play as doppelganger and everybody knows in the game we are one instead of him. Like BRO you LITERALLY HAVE ONE SINGLE JOB AND U SUCK AT IT! and then you learn he's great with guns. And you learn that doppelganger is just there to kill. Esp since in bl2 the doppelganger there also sucked ass (I loved the guy a lot. I wish we could have met one more for comparisment).

It's interesting how he sucks so bad at his job and not only that, he presents himself. He's not into doing additional work. He gets grumpy and childish sometimes with wanting to back off or run. But in the end, he continues and keeps on going.

And God. The one soldier that asks you for mercy and you can keep him alive.

'I'm not you, Jack.'

Then, in the bl3 dlc, he had to kill doppelganger and hides away to survive. And somehow?? Still made friends???? That he abandoned cus he felt ashamed prob and just. God. I love this guy a lot. Top 3 for me Fr Fr

All the people I ship romantically with this character

(ATP i should prob change the romantic thing jshshshs)

Moxxi and Timothy are similar to how I see Sasha and Rhys. Not something that would work out but, they can grow with one another.

I also think him and Rhys could be an interesting thing. They both are asshole with some softness inside and mutual trauma. They bit lost a lot due to Jack.

My non-romantic OTP for this character

Give me some of that Loader Bot Timothy action. They would understand each other. I also think his relationship with Jack is very nuanced. Jack is his boss but Timothy from the first moment he gets to finally meet him talks back. He states his opinions clearly. And Jack respects the man's work enough not to jump to kill him. There is a lot to explore about how they influenced each other.

My unpopular opinion about this character

THIS MAN IS SEEN OFTEN AS LITTLE SOFT MEOW MEOW. And like he can be but PLEASE please guys. Play pre-sequel. Idk if the mischsracterisation is still a big issue and hope not but dear lort.

This man like most characters in the series IS AN ASSHOLE. He talks back, he kills for a living, and he can get nervous around folks but he also lies, just does his job and gets around. And I love him for it! You go girl <3 and as I asked you for the comparison - while he hides himself away and holds a lot of anger for misjust he had to suffer he still can get so shy around Moxxi. It doesn't make him weak, it doesn't make him a soft character. It's a part of him and i love it. The fact this man cuts his hand off to save the place too. He's used to making sacrifices. One way or another.

AND SECONDLY. I discussed it with @kitkat578 and I took their headcanon that Timothy, in fact wasn't marked under the mask, since you can't see the mark in the crack. I feel he was only told that happened, to resent Lilith. And that headcanon changed something in me.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.

Meet. With. Rhys. Please.

And don't change to Jack. Stay your own. Be free

[xjackjackx]

I have no idea how popular this opinion is, but to be honest... Burnout fucking sucked in my opinion.

First off, Green's development felt very rushed, and there's a non-0 chance he's actually stupid. If it was all in a span of 1 day, then the normally happy and confident Green just... randomly becomes depressed for a few hours, gets a sudden reality check after... going on a walk without his friends??? And is suddenly back to normal. Even excluding how flat-out weird this is (a few hours of having no friends and you get depression and rethink all your life decisions???), it feels... extremely rushed and anti-climactic. If it was over a few days then it's better, but it creates the whole problem of neither Green nor Alan, for god knows how long, not noticing the mess on the desktop nor hearing Greenscreen's temper tantrums on YouTube, which makes Green an actual idiot as we KNOW he had to have been leaving his little house to go Minecraft.

I also feel like Green's redemption was... mishandled, if you couldn't tell. Given that Green was straight-up having mental health issues like addiction and seemingly depression (or at least a cartoonish version of it where he's just Big Sad), it feels weird that his solution was just... getting his shit together by himself after spending some time alone. I know it's not what Alan intended and I shouldn't expect some deep dive into these things from the Funny Stickman Series, but with how seriously it played Green's fall into internet addiction, him healing just like that was, by comparision, rushed, anticlimactic and simply unsatisfying. A simple way to fix it would be to bring Purple to help him. Maybe Green calls him to spend time together cause the stick gang isn't there, or something. Not only would it have potential for a great Ep 29 callback where the roles are switched, but it would show that you need help from people to deal with addictions, and you can't fix it by yourself.

Speaking of "redemptions", Greenscreen also didn't have a good one tbh. I feel like he has the King Orange Syndrome of "his redemption makes sense on paper, in execution it's flawed". It makes sense that King was so caught up in anger he didn't realise he loves Purple, but for us, it's an asspull that had no foreshadowing and was thrown in at the last second to justify not killing the guy. Similarly, it makes sense Greenscreen wants to be uploaded as a video, but ir had no foreshadowing and was thrown into Ep 3 out of nowhere, making his redemption also feel rushed.

Also, this might be just me, but I'm frankly getting sick and tired of Alan's redemption arcs. Not because I believe every villain needs to be a Bill Cipher/Jack Horner style "pure, irredeemable evil", but frankly cause Alan doesn't do good redemptions, and every redemption is the exact same: There is this villain that wants to kill the heroes, out of nowhere for [inser reason here] he feels regret/apologizes, he's forgiven with 0 punishment no matter how bad he was, and he immediately leaves the scene. This happened to Alan himself, Ethan, Mario, Q*bert, all the mob friends in AVMS3 (even if they were barely evil), King Orange (THE biggest offender given how evil he was), Purple TWICE, and now Greenscreen. With the singular exception of Purple (purely cause we've always known he's not truly evil, since AVM S1), every single time it's rushed, it's unsatisfying cause the villains gets away with everything (King and arguably Ethan as the biggest examples), and it doesn't matter because the villain never appears again, so we don't even get to enjoy the content of them being friends with the heroes (again, excluding Purple and this time Alan too) (but I doubt the last point will matter to much fans, as 99% of AVA fans doesn't care about any character that's not a stick figure).

If the redemptions were satisfying and went hard, I'd like it, which is why I love Purple's redemption. If they were different in some way each time, I'd also be more accepting. But every single time it's the same formula repeated, and it's not fun. At this point I fully believe that Victim, after torturing Chosen in "The Box" and all the evil shit he'll inevitably do in future episodes, will be forgiven with not even a hint of punishment, and Alan will think him getting hugged/hand-shaked/whatever by the Stick Gang will magically make us satisfied with the conclusion. I know I won't be, unless Vic's case will be executed similarly to Purple.

Also on a more minor side, the fight sucked. Besides the hype moment of Green using Aquaman's trident among other weapons from posters, it really was a nothing burger compared to the awesomeness of Green's Channel. The comedy didn't land either (Red's "you big bully" was honestly cringe. this isn't a disney cartoon alan, you can have red say something even as small as "jerk" or "monster").

To be clear, I am a MASSIVE fan of Alan Becker. AVA is one of my favorite series. I don't dislike any other episode, at worst I find them boring. This is the only one that I genuinely can't bring myself to like.

[arkadiaasks]

Your take on togashi is absolutely rancid. Try and have some basic human empathy and imagine why an artist might want to personally continue the manga he put his blood, sweat, and tears into for years. He should be praised for trying to continue his work and yet you're upset it's not coming out as fast as you would like. You obviously lack any frame of reference on how a chronic illness can affect your life along with the notion of being committed to something you love.

I'm sympathetic to wanting to continue the story and his health, but...

From everything I've heard, he's rejected every option to heavily smooth the production line for himself (even if it means most of the artwork is handled by staff and he does the bare minimum name) or take the off ramp to end the story or find some other means of telling his story at the least self harm to himself.

Considering Miura of Berserk had seemingly similar workaholic and OCD personality issues (which killed him), it's honestly baffling to me, though I guess also unsurprising, that he hasn't made a change when he's known for over a decade his current state of affairs is not going to work.

My father quotes a line to me "A Man Has To Know His Limitations".

For comparision:

The author of Paranatural, a webcomic, destroyed their wrist due to work that they now do it as an illustrated novel instead of a webcomic, and I respect that because they understood and accepted and adjusted their entire workflow, presentation and story to deal with the fact they have severe carpal tunnel that makes a standard comic book style untenable.

(this is also no nevermind, if togashi was anyone else, hunter x hunter would of been canned during his first major medical hiatus and it's only survived as long as it has due to him being Jump's wonder child that saved the magazine between Dragon Ball and One Piece and he quite literally has a very unique contract).

If "I want him to be able to tell his story in a more efficient manner that is better for not aggravating his own chronic medical conditions (which all seem to be results from his mangaka work) that lets him tell it within his lifetime" is somehow a toxic position, than so be it.

[yuwumeniji]

Eyy Yuwu!!!!🍌 Thanks for your great writings! Could I request headcanons about Luxiem when they're drunk? Such as, who would be the affectionate, melancholic, can handle the drink(s) well, or the confesser of truths? Thanks <3

Luxiem as Drunkards

WARNING: Please remember that I am writing about Luxiem based on their characters online and not of the people behind their vtuber avatars, thank you!

EXTRA NOTES: i am not counting the drunk streams each boy did LMAO

GENERAL

Again, not counting their drunk streams (ok kinda, but i didn't watch them fully)

maybe kinda nsfw in the sense that there is h*nd h*ld*ng (flushge)

in my 19 years of living i never drank alcohol so......... soooo.......................... lmao

proofreader? hardly even know 'er!

MORE BELOW THE CUT

⊰᯽⊱┈───── ��� ─────┈⊰᯽⊱

IKE EVELAND

a talkative and somewhat flirty drunk ; a lightweight(?)

he drinks often, especially after submitting the final draft of his manuscript as a celebration of "boy-did-i-procrastinate-on-this-thing-but-it-turned-out-great!"

he usually drinks with caution but tonight's manuscript was a big one - he deserves it

THE GAP MOE????

like he's flying off tables, he's dancing like a madman and oh my god get down from there PLEASE

he also goes around flirting with everything that breathes

like "hey baby do you want to get a drink together ;)"

but then he starts talking about how much he hates his shitty editors and how his next manuscript is

he then goes on rants about nonsensical things to how there's a rock in his left heel, how lukewarm the glass is and how come you have such a pretty face???

please take him home before he talks you ear off

LUCA KANESHIRO

the man of sex ; somewhat heavyweight(?)

for a mafia boss, drinking is second nature, especially with the people he's been meeting - however, he's in such a good mood tonight that he got a little reckless

picture; a secluded bar with just you, him and the bar staff - it's the perfect noire setting

if you think ike is flirty when drunk, wait til you meet drunk!luca

he's slinging out pickup lines left and right

but they're not like "aha are you a photographer? because i could picture you and i together ;)"

THEYRE THE ADULT ONES (eyes emoji)

he's also quite handsy, grabbing at others left and right and resting his face in the crook of your neck as you guys sit on a couch or something

actually he's the kind to rub his face in your shoulder like a big cat, it's kinda cute (?)

he does whine a little and gets a bit pouty if you try to push away

if anyone from the mafia family saw this, i wonder what the outcome would be?

MYSTA RIAS

a big baby drunkard who cries over the tiniest things ; the lightest lightweight out of the boys

he goes out drinking whenever cases don't go his way - the trial was a bummer, the criminal got loose and did he have to redo the case from square one because a variable was missing??

so pretty often

lets face it, despite his silliness, he tends to keep up a stoic face in front of everyone so the minute he winds down and has a swig of beer, he's already bawling his eyes out

"BUT WHAT IF THAT CASE I SOLVED WAS WRONG??" "WHY ME??" "WHY IS THE PANEL ON THE WALL A SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT SHADE OF BROWN IN COMPARISION TO THE REST UEUEUE"

actually, please never give him alcohol because he'll start crying to the point you wonder if he's got enough water in his body for that

SHU YAMINO

a very sleepy drunk ; world time heavyweight champion (it is difficult to get him drunk, also he's the most responsible out of them - he's actually a lightweight too)

shu doesn't drink. well, doesn't drink often BUT he does if he's out for social circumstances, so he was always cautious of his alcohol intake.

tonight was a little different! just a celebration between the two of you and it's at home anyways, so what's the issue here? well, many things

for starters, you would never have thought that he would start babbling nonsensical things - usually, he approaches every situation with logic, so the fact he starts talking about unicorns and whatnot is a big sign that "oh boy, he's drunk"

secondly, he could barely keep a conversation - he starts dozing off in between words and only hiccuping or accidentally banging his head on the table (because his head slipped from his hand) would wake him up

oh yeah did i mention he has a bad case of the hiccups

VOX AKUMA

also another baby ; a ...h...heavyweight??

vox is another social drinker who usually watches what he drinks - i mean, you wouldn't want to slip up to others that you were actually alive for 500+ years or whatever, right?

tonight, he decided to let loose a little y'know, feelin a little vulnerable rn

ok when i say baby, i meant like literally a baby

he's crying, he's whining and "y/nnnn~~~ uppies!!!"

but he also drinks whenever he gets down in the dumps... like REALLY down in the dumps

he's the kind of baby drunkard who would sob as he tells everything and everyone who would listen his whole life story

i dont expect you to lift a grown demon, but i'll give you props if you do i guess??

[sallysavestheday]

💛 for Celegorm?

Thank you for the ask!

💛(family relationships)

Celegorm's relationships with his family are complex. He is much like his father, in his quick intellect, his love for the world outside Tirion, his fiery spirit, and his oratorical skills, and Feanor holds him close to his heart for those reasons and because he looks like Miriel. They diverge, however, on issues of faith, and in fact his deep connection to Orome is a wedge between him and the rest of the family that only grows wider with time. Nerdanel understands the drive to worship and his loyalty to Orome, but by the time it becomes a truly divisive issue she is gone from the home and he is alone in his resistance to Feanor's heresy. It's always a fight waiting to start, after that.

Celegorm allows himself to be led by Maedhros (and to a certain extent Maglor), but it is very much a permission given by him to them, not an innate respect for the family hierarchy (and it collapses under the pressure of the Oath). He hovers protectively over Curufin and the twins: the twins because they have the same wildness that he does, and Curvo because of the resemblance to their father. Because he spends so much time with Curufin, people think of him in comparision as the big, dumb one, but he is in fact quite canny and curious and cultivates a semi-feral reputation to mask his maneuvering mind. It's a game that he and Curufin play with increasingly bitter enjoyment in Nargothrond.

I like to think that he has an oddly comfortable relationship with Caranthir, especially in Beleriand: they are so different that they don't trouble each other, and Celegorm retreats occasionally to the orderliness of Thargelion when he needs structure and comfort. Caranthir finds him strangely comfortable to have around, and it's only because Celegorm asks that he agrees to join the attack on Doriath. He doesn't want Celegorm, of whom he is secretly extremely fond, to die alone.

[bravadoting]

⚠️ Nirvana Initiative Spoilers under the cut ⚠️

Did you know that Nirvana Initiative contains scene direction within the game files? Pretty cool, right?

While most of the commentary concerns details that become apparent upon replay/the true order, it also clarifies scenes that don’t receive further elaboration. I’ll be focusing on the latter category here.

1) One thing I felt the game overlooked was Bibi going to Sekiba High after she was estranged from the Chiedas. I’m glad the devs thought of this scenario, even if it’s heartbreaking to see how Bibi distanced herself from Kizuna :[

(I wonder if Bibi skips school because of her health issues or just to avoid Kizuna when their history becomes too overwhelming.)

2) It’s very interesting to see that Date actually held a grudge against Ryuki for the Cathedral Incident. Granted, it was very short-lived as Date softened seeing how much Ryuki continues to beat himself up for hurting everyone. However, I’d still love to see them have proper reconciliation for that event.

3) In Mizuki CH1, Gen!Date slips up and describes the actions of both himself and the real Gen on the previous day. In Ryuki’s introduction, we see him making reference to two Gens, but Date tries to dismiss it as just an illusion with the Lewis Carroll reference.

4) Finally, the developers mentioned that Tokiko was projecting her feelings about Jin and Uru onto Gen and Shoma respectively.

It makes sense as Jin had to live a solitary life based on his facial abnormalities just as Gen similarly resigned himself. As for Shoma, it is very clear from his Somnium that both him and Uru resorted to using the simulation theory to cope with their pain. I know Shoma would hate the comparision though :’)

(I’m also curious to see how Shoma broke free from Naix ideology during the timeskip. It really deserves more explanation).

Here are the sources in case you want to see the developer commentary for yourself. Unfortunately, I haven’t seen the English version available in its entirety. If anyone has a full compilation, I’d greatly appreciate it >:D

https://tcrf.net/AI:THE_SOMNIUM_FILES-_nirvanA_Initiative/Developer_Comments (up to Ryuki CH3 R2)

https://youtu.be/HzTaybohPx8

[magmythedevil]

Hey!! I wanted to know your thoughts since I know this is becoming more important now especially with the recent episode of Murder Drones. So I've seen some people say that Nuzi and their romance is getting in the way and ruining the show and it's being forced into our faces?? To an extent I can see that and it does feel that way at times but again it feels like both Uzi and N have been set up to be something more than just friends ever since the pilot honestly, but I don't know if some of these people are just diehard Envy shippers saying this..because some of them, especially on Twitter are just horrible, I do wonder if the other way was switched around like if Envy was being shoved in, would people be saying the same thing? Nuzi is already a ship that tends to get a shit on in the fandom and is still seen as uncomfortable and problematic, even though it's not. But anyways, I've seen some say that the show has been going downhill since about EP 4 (Especially YouTube Vanitymoth, he hasn't been enjoying the series lately and he's a MD reviewer if you're wondering) and some have left the show because they feel like it's being ruined by romance and such + it's comedy, hell I saw one person somewhere in the comments said it's going the HB direction, that show got very bad especially in S2, but MD is more watchable and such.

But anyways I kinda wanted to know your thoughts about this especially since I've seen some posts on Tumblr (and even Twitter) from fans and others about how Nuzi is an issue and it's ruining the show and it'll cause fans to leave and stop watching or that this show is becoming Star Vs 2.0.

Nahhhh Nuzi was always meant to be people were just in denial.

If they cant enjoy the show anymore its probally because they were waiting something different so thats on them. And some people leaving and giving bad reviews is not something to be so worried about, because every show will have that, especially when theyre popular. And the show its at its biggest Peak with a lot fans, so they will have a lot of support regardless.

BUT OMG WHAT IS THIS STAR 2.0 AND HB COMPARISIONS STOPPOOPPPP murder drones is perfectly watchable if you dont have any weird especific bias and pay attention to the litte details. And the fast pacing is not that bad honestly, i can understand the things pretty well.

People get so focused watching that the episodes may feel short/fast when they arent lol

[marvelstars]

Baylan Skoll and Anakin Skywalker

I am actually liking Baylan more and more, if he was a Jedi of the old Order his reaction to Anakin, his indignation about him turning to the darkside after being an actual celebrity in the republic and in some ways, at the Temple, then his words here are completely understable but the fact of the matter is that he isn´t hidding he himself is close to the darkside if he hasn´t fallen already, he is ready to begin another galactic war for his own reasons and has made an actual alliance with the remains of the Empire, at the point he´s being called "Lord Baylan" as an echo of "Lord Vader" and his main motivation seems to be "secure the future" with "power beyond their imagination"

Still given he is about to fight Ahsoka here and comented to Morgan he didn´t want to kill her because very few Jedi remained, I believe we have to take his words to Ahsoka with a grain of salt, here he wanted to make her angry so she would attack sooner and make mistakes during their duel, this is a common strategy in swordmanship and given he seems to have some hability to read minds, then his words to Ahsoka here may have a lot more to do with what Ahsoka herself believes happened and not so much his own take on Anakin´s story.

Words like "That´s why you abandoned him?" "Your legacy, just like your master is full of death and destruction" I believe those are ideas Ahsoka keeps telling herself over and over again and are part of the reason why she keeps herself appart from everybody, including Sabine and Hera, the people closer to her at the moment.

But this "Anakin spoke highly of you" sounds too personal, he´s calling Anakin by his name, not skywalker, like the majority of Jedi called him, Jedi called each other by their last names when they didn´t have a close bond, he admits he didn´t know Anakin personally but "everybody in the Order knew who Anakin Skywalker was" so he definitely wasnt close to him yet he knows how well Anakin spoke of Ahsoka and how much he cared about her, this is unusual for a Jedi, Anakin didn´t talk much with other members of the Order besides Obi-Wan and the Jedi council, especially in the last years of the war before Ahsoka left and Ahsoka didn´t know him either so his knowledge about them is because he has a personal investment in knowing about them.

Baylan sounds like someone who used to follow Anakin´s story and to a point had a fascination with it, including his relationship with Ahsoka and now he´s symbolically taking Lord Vader´s place in company of the "Heir of the Empire" but I don´t believe this is his end game, some fans have the theory that he probably wants to have access to the world between worlds portal which is on Thrawn´s ship "The Chimera" and in this sense, his words about getting power beyond imagination makes a lot of sense, he isn´t a full sith yet here so he would be able to make changes in the timeline if he´s able to enter the world between worlds.

Or maybe not, maybe he wants to rebuilt a new galactic order with Thrawn, one different to the one Palpatine built with Vader, especially now that there´s already a sector of the surviving imperial grand admirals looking towards bringing Palpatine back from death.

I also wonder if he knows or suspects it was Vader himself the one who killed Palpatine and that´s why adapting a symol and place within the new Empire doesn´t bother him as much, because if he, in some way, is still attracted to Anakin´s story then him discovering he killed the Emperor would bring it back in full and maybe motivate him into action, like he´s doing now and taking a stand after many years of hiding.

I also believe he has many issues with the Republic, the way he killed the republic officers was too violent in comparision to how contained he has shown himself to be in the rest of the series, his "We are not Jedi" sounds too full of anger and pain and I wonder if he, in some way, is resentful of the republic for giving their backs to the Jedi in their highest moment of need and that´s why he´s supporting an imperial galactic order, just one not ran by the Sith.

[voidcat]

Hey hun! 2, 5, 9, and 25 for Dazai and Togame ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ

Hi darling!!!! ;w;

oooh the free renters<3

2. Favorite canon thing about this character?

for togame, his compassion and self sacrifice for the ones he loves as well as how he feels more of an aloof and old-timer character compared to his peers as well as his preference towards comfort above all (sandals and preferring phonecalls gang lmaoooo)

and for dazai i love how he always, no matter what, inserts himself into the plans he makes (this becomes really obvious one you see how fyodor plans and operates in comparision to him) and despite this, how dazai always excludes himself from big scenes of reconciling, getting togethers, sharing a moment type of emotional things- no matter how much has happened and passed, he still avoids people and crowds though he desperately wants to be loved and accepted (even though he hasnt fully accepted this fact himself just yet)

5. What's the first song that comes to mind when you think about them?

hmm for Jo i'd go for Kino songs- Апрель or Кукушка especially. (or "lets go to bed" by the cure)

and for dazai any car seat headrest or mitski song really... (minus "i bet on losing dogs" tbh esp Francis Forever & First Love/Late Spring (A Pearl gets a honorary mention bc i never got to write and post the scene with that song for my dazai long fic...)

9. Could you be roommates with this character?

with jo? absolutely! i feel like we'd hit it off and adjust to each others routine in no time. plus since he loves public baths so much, there wont be such issues as him taking forever in the shower lmaoooo. however if we lived tgt... it might be too distracting for us........... he'll have to learn to live w "too many cats for one house though"

if i were ever face to face with bsd!dazai i'd punch him in the face so hard so its a no from me<3 (its a joke but also not. i know myself and im not taking any chances he can take his broke ass and alcoholism to a cardboard box)

25. What was your first impression of this character? How about now?

jo: mostly neutral, i first read a fic of him so i was unsure what to expect for his personality and behavior in the manga but i fell in love immediately. and that love only grew further

dazai: oh great another comedic relief stereotypical hot anime guy thats not even the main character but will be loved more than the main character- wym suicide- ok maybe he is not so bad- *in the midst of wriitng my drabble [love is...] "oh... shit- oooooh fuck"* relating to this bastard a bit too much for my preferences has not been a fun revelation:D but hey at least i have no doubt nailng his characterization in fics now LOL

CHARACTER ASKGAME

[thekaijudude]

Submission by: @alexamajapas

Do you think Koichi Sakamoto have been ruining or destroying the Showa Universe since 2009 with his awful Galaxy movie?

Cause he is BIAS on his favorite Leo Bros where everytime they appear they seem to be pefect fighters that CAN'T NEVER LOSE only causa they are his favorite but everyone else who aren't his favorites such as (Ultra Bros, Powered, Neos, Max, Mebius etc) most be treated like Shit in comparision so let's take a look on his record:

Ultra Galaxy Legend Movie: EVERYONE GOT NERFED in favor of Zero who was the Weakest character at the time and Leo Bros got saved by the same fate cause they are Sakamoto's Favorites.

Ultra Fight Victory: Ace lost but the Leo Bros always keep badass and Never lost cause they are Sakamoto's Favorites.

Ultra Fight Orb: Jack and Zoffy combined forced only GRABED Tyrant for save time for ZERO and a new Orb form do the Job and then leaving Jack and Zoffy behind like if they are Useless.

Ultraman Geed: Father of Ultra got the same treatment as Jack and Zoffy cause he only Grabed Belial to make a fucking Shild then he is Useless again.

Ultra Galaxy Fight 2: Ultra Bros got beaten AGAIN By Belial but this time with Tregear together with Both in early stylies and Powered up by Tartarus.

Ultra Galaxy Fight 3: Zoffy, Man, Jack, Ace, Taro and Mebius can't never have the right to Fight Tartarus but Leo Bros have cause they are Sakamoto's favorites and only Let Seven fight Tartarus cause he is related to Leo and Zero which also lead to Bias treatment where Man, Jack, Ace and Mebius ONLY FIGHTS WEAKER MINIONS.

like Seriously what the Fuck this guy is even thinking?

He always seems to underestimate the Power of the Ultra Brothers or any other character that isn't his favorite just to make Leo Bros, Zero, Geed, Ribut shine which I find very unsatisfactory because it seems like M78's Ultraman since Galaxy Legend Movie looks more like a Sakamoto Fantasy rather than Ultraman that we used to know

-

Tbh Im actually fine with Sakamoto lol since there are explanations for the points you mentioned (at least copiums)

(Totally non-biased POV since Sakamoto is my fav director since hes the best at directing fight scenes)

But ya the first Zero movie was an issue cause in my headcanon (lol) King probably amped him up before he left to face Belial. And normal kaiju themselves are actually all fodder to the average ultra, much more the Ultra Brothers, and them being nerfed to not make fights short is already an accepted standard, so any members should have been able to dispose the kaiju the same way that Zero. Not to mention we can still say that they are still weakened from their first fight against Belial (we this very often that blue color timer dosent neccessary mean they are in peak fighting condition, see Arc's own explanation in ep 14 as the latest example)

Furthermore, Zero was amped by the Plasma Spark midway too

We also need to take into account the fact that Belial was also probably imprisoned for 30 000 years and was literally fighting absolutely everyone and made a nonstop journey to revive the 100+ kaiju

We can see his true strength even during Omega Armageddon, Base Belial was able to defeat Ultimate Zero (imo in the 2nd movie, Ultimate was either buffed due to first usage and/or Arch Belial was intrinsically nerfed becauss note that Kaiser had a scar that could not recover, which is weird for Ultras since we know that they can recover scars easily so we know he was incredibly weakened atm)

Secondly, for UFV, Leo Brothers were also having some difficulty facing the chojus no? Not to mention Ace was understandably caught off guard by Victory Killer which at the end they both ended off on a strong note by finish Super Grand King Spectre together

Thirdly, Jack did mention that Tyrant was amped by Reibatos at the time so Jack and Zoffy mightve fought Tyrant for quite a while to weaken it before Seven, Zero and Orb ES came to finish the job

Fourthly ah this I was pissed as well, but they mentioned that Ken and Belial Atrocious did fight within the barrier for 24hrs before it deactivated and Ken lost, they just didnt protray it well and it just seemed like he was just holding Belial within it lol

UGF2 I rmb I did address this tho that PI belial is still at least 130 000 years old, him even without PI Toregia and AT amp would be able to solo all the Ultra Brothers regardless, even if they werent weakened first from fusing into Super Taro, refer to this for more details:

PI Belial is still toying around with everyone

UGF3 I think its cause the Zero vs AT was marketed as one of the 3 main matchups anyways, like with Ribut vs Titan and Regulus vs Diablo. Not to mention there are just so many characters (iirc Sakamoto said 100 ultra suits are used in UGF3) so they can really afford to only involve those related to Zero to take turns fighting AT

(Not to mention each Elite Absolutian is scaled to at least around 2 UBs, refer to powerscaling post for details)

Not to mention we need to probably get our head around the fact that Zero is indeed a prodigy, that is able to punch above his age class, not to mention he has received permanent amps from the Plasma Spark itself as well as the Ultimate Aegis, this puts him on par with an Ultra about 10 000 years older than him. This is something I have an easier time accepting since my favorite ultra himself, Taro was a stated prodigy that could also scale with ultras about 10 000 years older or even beyond as well. So while it would be a valid point to say that Zero has too much attention, but we cant really say that hes not intrinsically strong himself.

But just not yet stronger than UBs, as we've seen that even at the Wild Burst - US Zero wasnt able to do as well against AT as Seven did

Ngl this all seems like copium but I was able to rely on these so as to not ruin the experience for me and it has worked over the past decade or so at least lol

Thanks for the question!

Submission by: @alexamajapas

[chiveburger]

hi candice! I was wondering which walking pad you have, and if you like it? are there certain ones you’d recommend? ty!!☺️

I have the sperax walking pad that I bought off of amazon! It's not bad, and for its price (~200CAD) it gets the job done. I certainly think if you're on the market to get a walking pad/treadmill hybrid you will have to invest in something that has more range in regards to speed because mine only goes up to a fast walking pace (~3.8). also, if you're wary on falling or tripping you might also want to buy a walking pad that has a foldable handrail, which mine doesn't. with my whole weight loss challenge videos I can say that the walking pad was absolutely worth it and and for mine specifically, I'd rate it as a 7/10. mainly because it's relatively small and doesn't take up much space, but it's a little loud in my opinion and the reason it's cheaper is because it's speed range is very low compared to others. I have no issue with it having no handlebars but the simple display (ie: calories, speed, distance walked) is very very unreliable and often wrong. however! most fitness machines are not accurate either so you can easily bypass this, or at least have a frame of comparision if you have a fitness watch. If you're looking for an affordable walking pad that has very little problems other than being noisy then this might be a good option for you!

[monsterfloofs]

Hey, I was re-going through your art tag (which your art is so unique and creative and beautiful by the way.)

But when I passed by the Teddy drawing you made of him reading the book with the vintage if not antique looking cover. It got me asking, does he read books considered steamy books closer to semi-modern to 30-40 years ago romance/cheesy novels or is it reminiscent to Victorian-esq/Regency scandal books that seem more tame to us now?

I’d really love to know though both options are very funny.

Like if it’s the older style of risqué books then it makes the booksellers reaction in the holiday story funnier because we worry it’s something incredulous only to be like ‘they’re leggings were showing. scandalously!”

Or he reads those types of cheesy romance novels with the shirtless Fabio-esq guy on the cover with funny pun names that are usually bought by mothers in their later years to feel a special spark of romance in their day to day.

Again both are funny options and are a cute trait for him to have.

Anyway I hope you have a wonderful day and thank you if you read through and answer this.

SKXKSKSDKXMSXKS THANK YOU?!?! ´​꒦ິ∀꒦ິ` ) That is so sweet, I really appreciate you!

👀👀👀👀 Teddy... will happily read any cheesy romance book you give him. I mean, if you went out of Wroughtworth, and brought more romance books back with you. He would absolutely read them and love you forever for it! =3 I mean the rest of the town already treats him like he's as mad as a senile hatter so! You know! Let him hoard as many of the cheesy romance books he wants! >: D

I know a number of the WroughtWorth Vampires are prudish, but that level in comparision to the era the mimic remains to be seen! I can tell you there are some parallels of ideals they choose to hold onto, but there are also a number of differences where they didn't agree with human ideology at that time and have majorly diverted! (Sometimes choices where done out spite! = D)

There are a number of things they are leaps and bounds more accepting with, things like gender, sexuality and ethnicity. Especially at the time where they were driven underground, it was either we survive as a community, or we don't survive at all. But that obession with roots, while blind is some ways still has it's issues, and their obsession with who knows who, whose family is higher up on the food chain... who is marrying who for political leverage- blah blah!

But Teddy doesn't care, he just wants to read his books!

I kind of like to think, his favorite series is... famously schlocky, like if you took the over dramatized writing of the original Dark Shadows, added a hefty pound of slow burn romance, with teenage soap opera angst fan fic and put it into a book. And most other vampires in the community think it's the worst kind of drivel that has hit the market-- AND YET SOMEHOW THE SERIES STILL KEEPS GOING!

It's quite possible that one man is keeping this series alive, and donates a sum of money to the writer because it's his favorite. SJDKSKDKSKS

Those might just be rumors spread around to make a certain someone look bad but. . . You never know! 🤣

[siberianchan]

Comparision: MB Rouge et Noir vs. Majohn F9

Hello there, I'm currently basking in my 5 minutes of fame off having my snake fountain pen ask answered by Neil Gailman.

Since I am currently, as @thegrimshapeofyoursmile said, fame let me introduce myself.

I am Sibi, I am a writer of fantasy, historical fiction and everything queer under the sun - and I collect fountain pens.

Recently I finished editing a novel that was a lot of hard, rewarding and enlightening work. Neil's posts on creative writing and him encouraging people in his asks cheered me up a lot during the first round of editing.

And then there's the fact that I named the pen Crowley for obvious reasons.

It was my holy duty as an elder tumblrina to be all parasocial about it.

The pen I was - and still am - so chuffed about is a Montblanc Heritage Collection Rouge et Noir Serpent. (They also have a Spider one).

(Yes. It is that expensive. No, I am not rich. I earn a decent wage and have disposable income which I can - and did - save up. I am pissed that our economy is so nightmarish that this is genuinely a privilege.)

A few folks reblogged the ask claiming the pen was a Majohn F9.

Fair enough, Majohn specializes in copycat designs and the F9 is a copycat of the Rouge et Noir (they also did one for the spider themed one). They make nice pens.

I own a F9 myself. It was this pen, in fact that convinced me to save up and reward myself for a MAJOR milestone with it. That milestone being having finished that novel.

Considering all the mix-ups, I thought about comparing the two of them and make a list of how to tell them apart. The F9 is a rightfully popular pen and I really don't want people to try and find the pen they saw in the Neil Gailman ask, then die of shock at the price tag. Neither do I want people to order a F9 and then be disappointed that it doesn't look like the snake pen in the Neil Gailman ask, then not give it a chance just because of that.

Sooo here we go!

I got my F9 about two years ago and I love it. However, the paint quickly started to chip due to friction with other pens, so I kept it at home. (I since then updated my pen roll.) Since then, the paint has developed tiny bumps and bubbles and has a rough feel to it. Probably deterioration. At least the chipping should be no issue with proper storage, that was my bad.

The Rouge et Noir is my first modern MB all others are vintage flea market finds, so it remains to be seen whether the resin will act the same. I never heard anything about it, so I honestly doubt it would happen. (Cause let's be real, we would make a huge and justified stink about it)

Sizewise: no difference. Same length, same circumference. The MB cap screws nicely on the F9. Vice versa not so much, the grip section of the f9 is a bit thicker and the cap is actually a little larger than that of the MB. Serious kudos to Majohn for sneaking in subtle differences while keeping the overall proportions the same.

The clip is the biggest visual difference, with MB putting in a rather detailed snake, whereas the F9 sports a beautiful, stylized dragon with a wing on top. I know people who specifically prefer the F9 because they like dragons and the F9 is a beautiful, subtle dragon pen. Also good on you, Majohn for sidestepping the Montblanc Crest on the finial.

The snake design on the nibs is exactly the same with the only differences being the shape of the breather hole, the size mark on the Majohn and the individual brand markers (and the fact that the grain on the tip is flattened on the upside on the MB which . If your main argument for a pen is the snake on the nib and the snake on the nib alone - stop reading now and get the F9.

(I do think the MB nib is a hint bigger though and it looks like it was molded with the snake design while it is etched on on the F9 nib.)

Weight wise - even fully inked, with 30g the F9 is significantly lighter than the MB who clocks in at 35g after having been inked and in use for about 8 pages of writing. Some people don't like heavy pens, so that's a consideration to make.

Now the big question: how do they write? I inked them up with Diamine's Bloody Absinth, tried them and... Well, both are lovely. I bought the F9 with a fine nib in stainless steel, it is perfect for little notes in the margins or a detailed doodle of my bored coworker. The nib is quite stiff, s no line variation. The inkflow is quite juicy and it writes without issue or scratching. Good. Pen.

The MB comes with a 14k gold nib that has a beautiful stinginess to it (not that my pettiness gets much use out of it). Since I have developed a love for broader nibs when writing I got me an M and I do not regret it. Especially when you like sheeny inks a broader nib and the ability to get a little variation in the ink flow make your writing just POP. I am utterly in LUST with this.

So... which one would I recommend?

Honestly, they are both great. If you have the Rouge et Noir as a grail pen, you chosen well and I wish you good luck hunting one down. But... this pen will not be an everyday carry. It will spend its days in my showcase or on my desk when I write short stories. It will be treasured and cherished (and insured) for it's own artistic merit and the craftsmanship that went into it, but also for the achievement it stands for. (And yes, also because I call him Crowley.) This is an 800 dollar pen. I will NOT take that to the office. Or anywhere near my family.

If you want a fancy looking everyday carry pen with a cute snake on the nib - go for the F9.

(I bet similar conclusions can be made about the spider themed Rouge et Noir and F9)

But also... have me being a happy little gremlin about having gotten my grail pen.

(Also I will definitely not buy any pens this year. Let's focus on and enjoy what we have r.n.)