#and yeah.....I did realize that the most recent setting in any of these is literally the early 1950s

[ophelialoveshandsomemen]

I've been seeing a trendy tag game on here, which is posting your ten favourite movies as gifs. And since the likelihood of me getting tagged are devastatingly low, I shall just do the game on my own post and tag others in it. Why, cuz it's fun! Anyways, here goes!

In no particular order and probably different to my list of ten movies from a month or so ago:

no pressure tags! @virtie333 @thekenobee @russell-crowe

[coridallasmultipass]

Finally got around to buying the Nikke profile stickers I want since I keep drawing dupes! Bought all the Bow Wow Paradise ones!! It was one of my fave events bc I love dogs and dog girls and Happy Zoo and ESPECIALLY Biscuit so much. As you can see, I got all the 'dog' girls as my showcase team, too, lol:

Also, as an aside, I just got a new personal record in Overclock at level 16!! Which is why I remembered I needed to edit my profile when I went to check if it changed to 16 (I think I was at 12 maybe last time they ran Overclock in the Simulation Room).

[cheriladycl01]

I'm not scared! Colby Brock x MotoGPDriver! Reader Part 4

Plot: You made a tweet about Sam and Colby and were in a podcast and they brought up Sam and Colby where you talked about the paranormal and how it doesn't really scare you because you drive motorcycles at over 200mph.

Credit to misscalliopecruz for the GIF

You didn't realize just how easy it was for Sam and Colby to make calls to these haunted locations and be given permissions to film investigations.

You'd been set up for literally 3 days time which made you guys feel even more excited as it was such short notice. Colby and Sam spent the time charging all the equipment, booking hotels and doing all the admin stuff you'd offered to help them with but they'd refused saying you should try and get a few good nights of sleep while you could, so you stayed in your flat making sure you had a comfy enough outfit ready to go in.

Colby had practically begged you to wear their merch, so of course you took the hoodie he'd given to you. You'd planned to wear it with a pair of bootleg jeans as even though it was very clearly British Time you gathered in the middle of the night in an old creepy castle it would get cold. Which is why you were thankful for the hoodie rather than a top as the piece of merch Colby gifted you.

You kind of wanted to make Colby and Sam wear some of you Red Bull Merch but thought maybe that was going a bit too far so you left them packed away in the rucksack you were going to be taking with you.

You had a later night on the day before the investigation so you were able to stay up till around 4 or 5am, ending up waking up for around 11am. You did your morning workout before getting something to eat and had a slow evening before meeting up with the boys.

"Are you okay driving?" Colby asks as you all walk down to the car park of the hotel they were staying in.

"Any reason, or just because I'm the better driver?" you smirk, knowing full well you were the better driver.

"I just don't like driving in the UK, it's way more complicated than the US, those roundabouts... wild things!" he jokes, even though there was some truth to it.

"Yeah sure, I don't mind... but If I'm driving its my Spotify playlist on shuffle..." you reason and they both nod agreeing, not petty enough to start a disagreement over music, especially when you guys would probably have similar music tastes.

The drive to the castle was fun, you were all talking about the history you guys had researched and what was there.

When you pulled up, you got this zing of excitement down you spine.

"Guys, I'm really excited for this" you exclaim looking back at them getting all the stuff out the car while you were in awe of the building.

It was a huge location and you already knew that the boys would challenge you to go somewhere alone because of how big it was.

The boys got out their camera and you waited off to the side as they did their intro.

"What's up guys its Sam and Colby and today we are here a Dannamore Castle in the UK, one of the most haunted Castles in the world!" Colby says with that normal cryptic sort of look on his face.

"And as you guys probably expected from our recent trip to see out good friend, today we have Y/N Y/L/N here with us!" Sam introduces panning the camera round to you making you smile and bunch up closer to them.

"Hey!" you grin and the boys turn to you.

"Okay for those who don't know Y/N is a MotoGP rider to she basically rides motorbikes really quickly round race-tracks for a living and she's really good at it too. The reason she is here is because she said she wouldn't be scared to come onto one of our videos and we really want to put that to the test" Colby mentions and you blush at the praise, entirely used to but it still got you every time.

They cut the cameras after showing the outside of the area saying that they'd be filming a lot of the history out-takes in their studio at home and having watched their videos you knew what they meant.

Two men and a lady came out, one was the caretaker, another was a tour guide and the other a medium of sorts that worked with the place.

Sam and Colby started to talk to the caretaker that would help in showing you round later when you walked off.

You thought you saw something dash out the corner of your eye, Sam and Colby were too busy listening too all the ins and outs of the area, what rooms you didn't have access to which in this particular castle wasn't actually that many just the unsafe spaces where the wooden flooring had gotten too old and they hadn't rebuilt it yet.

"Where's your friend?" the caretaker asks seeing that the girl wasn't where she had been a minute ago.

The others look around trying to see if you were behind the car or near the entrance but you were nowhere in sight.

"Y/N?" Colby yelled out. Sam following with a shout of his own name.

"Yeah?" you ask walking from behind a stone wall that ran behind the castle into the gardens.

"Where did you run off to?" Sam asks and the caretakers also look intrigued.

"Something caught the corner of my eye and I wanted to see if anyone else was on the property" you shrug your shoulder making Sam look to the now turned on camera Colby had, as they had started to film the minute the group were aware that you were missing.

"You just left, because you saw something?" Colby asks and you nod, making Sam chuckle. They cut the cameras, giving you a small run down of the castle, which rooms you guys weren't allowed it and when you guys had to leave by.

They also further explained not having got there before that it would just be you guys in there tonight, the caretaker however stays in the barn that was technically 'on the property' but not inside the castle just for legal purposes.

"So this is the centre of the castle. Back in the day, all residents from the Dannamore family and their friends would have been around here as this was and still is a hub" the tour guide smiles as you all look around the expanse of the hall.

"Who was part of the Dannamore Family, I'm guessing we'll meet some of them tonight?" you smile asking intrigued.

"Well Drake Dannamore has always been the most present spirit we have here. He is the original resident of the castle" she starts and you all nod.

"Is he cool?" Colby asks making you turn to him in shock. How is he referring to a like 1000 year old spirit as cool.

"He's a kind spirit yes. Y/N you'll get most the activity from him, he's the protector of this house... practically the women" she smiles.

"Really? Why's that?" Sam asks.

"Well, Drake..." she starts and you guys hear a knock from the back of the room making you all look there and the guide and caretaker laugh a little.

"I think he's here with us!" she smiles looking around before continuing.

"He married Valisa Dupont a French Lady from a wealthy family. Their family gifted and built this castle as a sign of their gratitude for Drake protecting Valisa. However, Valisa did not love Drake and apparently she became very spiteful towards him. She would cheat on him with the bakers boy who worked and lived in the home. She neglected their children making Drake exhausted" she starts and you feel a sort of overwhelming sadness wash over you. Enough for you to reach up and hold you chest.

"Vasila attempted to kill Drake but ended up mistakenly poisoning his sister Darcey. He ended the relationship with her, and she was livid. He moved on and married Bianca, who mysteriously died one night after saying for years she felt like she was being watched. People working in the castle at the time reported that Vasila killed Bianca out of jealously. Drake was in anguish and after that refused to marry again. He tried to protect Bianca as much as possible thinking Vasila was terrorizing her. After that its said that Drake either pushed her or she threw herself from the east tower, falling to her death" she finishes and you all look in shock.

"So he protects females that come into the castle from Vasila, who i'm guessing remains here as a negative energy because he feels like he needs to do what he couldn't do for Bianca?" you ask and a creak or footsteps was heard from above making all your heads snap up.

"I'd take that as a yes!" Colby laughs making you laugh as well.

"So this is an active place for all the spirits?" Sam asks looking around.

"Not all, but most. Drake can be found here along with his children who are also protectors of the home. Bianca is also here who is a very friendly and kind spirit. But its not just people who have lived in the castle. There's portals here too" the caretaker answers showing the mirrors that were facing each other.

"Woah?" you say stepping closer to Colby where the mirrors are.

"So what do we need to be wary of?" Colby asks.

"Vasila, of course. She doesn't like any-one male or female. She's been known to touch and scratch and make lots of loud noises but she's only in certain areas of the house like the tower and the pantry room" she explains.

"Because of her relationship with the baker boy?" Sam asks and she nods.

"Y/N you'll need to be extra careful of the baker boy" she admits and you look off to the left.

"Why?"

"He doesn't like ... dominant women!" she exclaims looking down, making you frown with a small laugh.

"I'm a dominant woman?" you ask with a laugh.

"Just like your presence, the tattoos, biker personality and just your aura she means, your head strong which is something Madison didn't like" the medium says for the first time since being here.

"Madison?" Sam asks.

"The baker boy, that was his name Madison!" he answers.

This would make for an interesting night!

Taglist:

@richardsamboramylove55 @braveangel777 @rockwyu @jada-lockwood @itzdarling

[shotoyami]

Can I request Scott summers x reader ( gender doesn't matter ) where Scott is reminiscing about his life with the reader. Scott and reader are bestfriends and have always been together as X-Men, they have never left eachother. As he is reminiscing he's like shoot I think I'm in love with my bestfriend.

Bro, what if we like…kissed right now? Wouldn’t that be, idk, crazy?

prenotes: first off: I’M IN LOVE WITH THIS, SOFT SCOTT OMGGGG!!!!

that aside, my absolute obsession for this man aside,

this request literally made my heart melt, imagining how silly and cliche it is to realize you’re in love with your best friend; literally one of my favorite troupes, hands down.

Thank you so much for the request, anon<3

pairing: Scott Summers + gender neutral reader

warnings: none, yet again!

genre: fluff, absolute filthy fluff– like, seriously, enough to make even the strongest man crumble and slam his fist to the ground

notes: as mentioned above, one of my favorite troupes. it’s everywhere in media, but you can’t help but squeal and kick your feet when you see it happening. I am but a simple human being, in love with the cutest, most sweetest concepts known to man. that aside, I hope everyone enjoys this one as much as I enjoyed writing!!!

word count: 700

Scott’s always deemed himself as awkward. Yeah, sure, it’s a pretty huge flaw of his, but everyone is awkward about something at some point. 

That being admitted, Scott fully understands that friends aren’t awkward with each other (at least, not from any experience of his). In fact, he finds himself quite content in his friendships, especially one with his best friend, (y/n). A silly little mutant, one that instantly clicked with him. It was refreshing to have someone that didn’t immediately smartass him. They’d always been so respectful of him and valued his say-so– it really didn’t come as a huge surprise to anyone that the two were fast friends.

It’s refreshing to have a best friend like (y/n), someone he can speak unfiltered to. For example, when he and Jean broke up (gosh, he’s cringing so hard at the memory– her admitting she’s leaving him for Logan of all people), (y/n) was the first to check up on him, and even did their best to keep his morale high.

Now, don’t get him wrong, Scott is no sort of rule breaker, not by a long shot, but who can say no to (y/n)’s pouting face when they asked him to sneak out one night and just…take a break from the mansion, from other mutants, for one night to just be at peace.

And he appreciated it a lot. It definitely helped. But, being around (y/n) in general is always so much fun, it’s almost upsetting when he has to retreat to his dorm for the night– well, unless they had an impromptu sleepover, set with a pillow fort and everything. 

To have someone understand him so well, someone he genuinely enjoys being around and listening to, from going on missions together, to just listening to them rant about whoever had annoyed them the most that day, even to just laying next to each other (not touching, of course, Scott prides himself on being extremely respectful of boundaries, thank you very much).

That all being said, Scott just couldn’t shake a growing feeling recently, one that made him stop and think about how he feels his best around his best friend. It’s like he’s been seeking their presence more and more recently– but he wouldn’t consider himself clingy? It’s all confusing, and a lot to digest, so he’s just pushed it aside.

But now, sitting in his dorm, lost in thought while still attentively nodding as (y/n) rambles about their latest annoyance (Gambit’s daily card trick that involved blowing up the fridge), Scott can’t help it as it hits him. The realization hits him hard– like a train carrying 5000 tons of freight had ran right into him. ‘Holy shit, I’m in love with my best friend.’ Scott stares blankly for a second. It all made so much sense now, the lingering touch they shared when passing an item to one another, the longing gaze that followed (y/n) any time they’d leave the general area.

“(y/n) I have something to tell you!” Scott blurts out, leaving the other person confused, though they tilt their head, urging him to continue since apparently it was important enough to interrupt them. “I think I like you- like, a lot, but I don’t want to jinx or ruin what we have, I value our friendship so much and-”

“Damn, that’s gay Scott.” ‘What? Is that really all they have to say?!’ Scott frowns a bit after hearing that response, it was unserious and clashing with him as if they think he’s joking or– “Alright, I’m chill with gay. Gimme a smooch, Scotty.” Though a bit caught off guard by the random nickname, Scott finds himself unable to argue, scooting closer to them and– hesitantly, looking for further consent– reaches to cup a hand against their cheek. He leans in and– god, it’s everything he’s ever wanted and more, so soft and full of feelings, a silent admission from their side of reciprocation. He finds himself chasing after the feeling of the kiss when they separate, which only causes (y/n) to giggle. “Gosh, desperate are we?”

“Only for you…”

[anonzentimes]

how do people that dont immediately fall in love with nagitos character do it like chapter 1 he was so polite and nice i literally didnt wanna spend time with any other character, i caught on that nagito was responsible for SOMETHING before the first trial started and was genuenly so terrified he killed twogami cause i didnt want him to die, and then he had his breakdown and i was like yeah this is my favorite character in the entire series (i was still pissed at him for the rest of the trial lmfao

OH MY GOSH SAME!!! Like, everyone has a different experience, but as someone who loved him from day ONE I don't understand the experience of only eventually loving him lol. Even just people not loving his very existence and mannerisms is so different compared to me that I get confused! Finding him annoying sounds miserable I love him very much and not having him to hyper fixate on no, no, not having his impact on my life PERIOD would change my life drastically and I'd say for the worse. He's been so influential to so many parts of my life and continues to be such a fun brain worm consistently. I feel pity for those who can't experience the joy of his character and how happy he makes me, I know that there's no one with the exact impacts he's had on my life because he's so special to me.

At the time I saw Danganronpa 2 I was pretty depressed and every day felt the same, I was so miserable most of the time and was getting burnt out of life. I was loving Danganronpa though, I loved the first game and it gave me something to look forward to every day.

For Danganronpa 2 I had heard about Nagito, I knew he was popular but I didn't know why. I thought he'd be a major character so when he was just chill at first I was surprised. I was suspicious of him but that still didn't stop me from really liking him, my favorite from the first game was Makoto so his parallels and personality were really nice, fun, and interesting but I still was suspicious if there was more. When his breakdown happened my suspicion fell and instead of feeling conflicted and getting more suspicious it all made sense to me. He was so interesting and different, I loved everything about him and I wanted to understand him. It's kind of embarrassing but, it genuinely did help me at the time. After feeling as if every day felt the same in a weird helpless cycle my emotions about him were extreme enough that I loved that I was even feeling something which added to my love for him.

I saw the rest of Danganronpa 2 in 5 days because I was so invested and got a headache at Chapter 6, I cried at his death and it's the most I've cried at any specific media in recent years that I can remember lmao. I wanted to understand him more so I watched videos and read his wikis, I watched his free time events, I set him as all my profile pictures and wallpapers so I could have something that made me feel happy, I learned to draw him and his hair and he's all I wanted to draw which helped me improve, I joined the fandom early and met crucial people to my life before I finished the rest of the franchise because I loved him specifically so much, I got pinterest specifically so I could find more art of him, I read the komahina wiki just because I wanted to understand him more which led me to start shipping things that weren't strictly said to be canon, I discovered the term hyper fixations and realized I was neurodivergent because of him, like I could go on all day with the list of impacts on my life because of him but you get the point. He's still the most extreme hyper fixation I've ever experienced lmao. He's a special interest and I can say without a doubt that he still remains to be such a positive influence to my life. I'm grateful to experience such passion and happiness from something like him, haha! My love for his character STILL is helping my life even now by allowing me to practice articulating things about him, which has led to being able to get better at articulation in general, which has led to being better at english even having fun with it now and being less overwhelmed because I can express myself.

Oh my gosh I went on a yap sesh my bad LMAO!! But my point is, my experience with him is very specific and probably biased. But even so, I struggle to understand those who have such a different experience from me with him since I loved him from the start and my love only grew and has never stopped. I'm biased and I'm sure people have other interests that make them just as happy as he makes me, but I still feel sorry for those who don't experience what I do with him. But in the end one of the main beautiful things about media is subjectivity, so I'm okay being able to be so grateful for his existence and how it makes me feel.

Got a bit personal and sentimental with this since you struck something I was already thinking about when you sent this haha, sorry I said I agree in the longest way possible like it was a yapping content LMAO... thank you for your ask! <3

[koiguy94]

A Schizo Rant

Let me say this: everything that I'm about to say is pretty much nonsense, and if I lose you less than a quarter in, I don't blame you, I probably will too once I get started.

Why do people do anything?

I don't know.

Take a moment to soak in the beautiful simplicity of those words.

I've realized after years of constantly being consumed by what seemed to be an unbearable thorn in my side, the answer to all questions, the complete culmination of all of my passing thoughts.

I don't know.

Let me explain how I came here.

A long time ago, I had a thought.

"Why not do everything logically? Is it possible to do everything logically?"

The answer? I don't know. Well, sort of. I don't know everything is closer to the truth.

I think I hate my way of living, because I tried to embody that thought, and instead of being as helpful as I thought it would be, it just made me anti-social and completely apathetic toward most subjects.

I'm not saying that I'm definite.

No human being can be trusted or relied upon for any reason or purpose. It's just a fact.

Maybe tomorrow I could wake up, read this, then realize what an absolute schizo I sound like.

Well, I do that anyways, ever since I started writing mini entries 30 minutes at a time every odd day or so.

I'm getting off topic, then again, there wasn't really a topic to begin with.

I think what I just made was a perfect summary of why thinking logically doesn't work.

In every single one of these segments, I've tried to introduce a topic, explain it, and conclude it.

Despite doing this for every segment, it's completely fragmented, and makes no sense.

I mentioned this earlier, but now it's lost in the word spaghetti.

People cannot be relied upon.

If you put a man on the earth, gave him immortality, and then waited an infinite amount of years, then at some point, he's going to break. His sanity, his mental fortitude, all of it. It's going to collapse like a house of cards, or maybe more like a lego set? Yeah, that's more accurate.

A child smashing a lego set as hard as they can into the floor. Shattering and fragmenting.

People just aren't made to be logical.

If you make a machine and wait an infinite amount of time, then nothing will change about it.

It's just how free will works. We contradict ourselves in every way possible, so it's quite difficult to come up with a system to govern ourselves, since at the end of the day, I don't think we're equipped to.

Did I get the main point? I hope so.

In any case, I hate this way of living.

Let me explain my firsthand experiences, despite quite literally nobody caring.

A couple of years ago, I put together a friend group. It was full of people I had just met, and they ended up splitting recently, but it was nice while it lasted.

In any case, I realized something.

This year, the one before, and the one before that, I've slowly become more and more governed by this logical point of view. I've started holding my tongue, not telling anyone anything unless they ABSOLUTELY needed to hear it.

In fact, when all my koi fish died, I didn't tell anyone because, in my words "why would I tell someone something that made me sad? That's stupid."

I noticed a connection.

As I mentioned, I've been growing introverted, and as well as this, I've been applying logic so much in my everyday life that it's habitual. It's almost my first response now.

But, it keeps me from doing things that younger me would've otherwise jumped directly into without thinking at all.

There's no words I can use to describe anything that I'm feeling. Why attempt? If it leads to failure, then simply address it.

I won't embarrass myself by drowning in my own despair if it came by means of my own hand. Then again, it's all in my head, and if it's all in my head, then maybe there's nothing wrong?

Apathy is the killer of everything.

I've had days where depression had overtaken me so severely that I didn't leave bed at all.

I would cry into my pillow, pitifully lying in shame of my lack of productivity of understanding. I claimed things that weren't even true so I could have the pleasure of being a disappointment.

Even after affirming myself in understanding and in productivity, I still feel just as miserable, and yet, just as satisfied.

Nothing really changed.

Not the years that I spent applying logic, but the emotions. They never change.

I remember my father told me not to use words I didn't understand, and so, I did anyways. I would apply the wrong words in the right places.

But, after awhile, I got the hang of it.

But even after I had learned, he still insisted at random that I was using them wrong.

Why?

In the past, never once before I had a mind of my own I had ever done something that I thought would make me seem strong, intelligent, charming, or popular.

So why then, would he assume that me speaking the way that I do was some way of trying to impress him?

Oh, I've been using lots of fancy wording. I'm gonna stop that starting now.

Long story short, I hate this.

What's "this" you say?

I don't know.

My head is a big jumbled mess of memories and thoughts. I can't seem to actually remember a single thing, but I can make vague connections sometimes.

I'm not insane or anything, at least I hope I'm not.

I say that, because I'm starting to feel that the more I express myself, the more I feel I'm spewing the occasional nonsense.

So, while I'm lying in my bed, occasionally glancing at the part of my carpet to check if it's aligned properly with the floor layout, I can feel this itch.

It's an itch I've built up over years, and it's in my head.

It chimes in every now and again, and it reminds me.

"Why are you doing this? What point is there?"

"You'd be putting in a lot of effort for no real reason. There's no guaranteed returns."

"I'm not NOT talking because I can't, it's just because I don't want to. So, I don't have to, I'm not obligated."

But, old me?

Old me would've said something along the lines of:

"I don't need to... but it would make it easier to talk to people in the future if I ever need to."

HOLY SHIT.

Sorry, I just realized that in writing this entire goddamn tome, I accidentally came to a conclusion to my own problem.

I don't need to talk to people, but the motivation I can give myself is that it's good practice to brush up on.

I mean, a big part of the problem isn't solved, but I guess I don't have to worry about my social dilemma anyways.

Almost every part of my body is screaming at me to just copy and paste this into my notes instead of posting this online.

But I think it would be pretty funny to spite myself, so who cares?

Final note: ALIENS ARE AMONGST US IN DISGUISE AS US!!!!

[cabeswaterdrowned]

🔥 anything tsc related

the biggest problem with Queen of Air and Darkness to me is that it really should have been two books. I really enjoy the grief exploration in that book in the wake of Livvy’s death felt cathartic to me on reread and I find Julian’s switch-off arc in relation to that fascinating. I enjoy Thule in terms of how it ties into the main arc with the blackthorns although I’m not crazy about the twp set ups from it. Basically there’s quite a bit in that book I do like but as a finale it’s rushed and disappointing. I also do think either Julian or Emma or both dying would have made the ending slay and I say this as someone who clearly looooves them both and Blackstairs (considering how much I love blackstairs as it is think I would be even more insane about it if we got full tragic potential realized).

Grace x Lucie is thee toxic yuri dynamic in tsc and I think ya’ll are cowards for not paying attention to it. Literally the only reason I would reread tlh is to write fic about them ChoI era because someone should.

on a related note Lucie Herondale reads as a lesbian to me, she says at one point she’s never been attracted to a boy other than Jesse who is kind of a phantom she can make into whatever she wants / project storybook romance tropes onto in a sense for most of the books and she reads as more attracted to Cordelia with the whole ‘Beautiful Cordelia’ fanfiction and like I said her most interesting dynamic with the most chemistry is her and Grace, so yeah I get comp het vibes personally I know that’s my subjective read.

I’m pretty neutral on Clary sometimes I really liked her sometimes I was frustrated by her but I do think this counts as unpopular since most either hate or love her. I do think she falls into the 2010s heroine who is written to have an overly romantically focused arc but all her interesting bits of characterization are about tangential platonic dynamics that the author doesn’t care to elaborate on much… but also this could be an ungenerous or overly generous assessment since it’s been years since I touched og tmi. I do side eye some people for giving Jace a lot of grace to be ‘complex’ and process his trauma and be dismissive of how much she goes through in the books ( I kind of hate Jace. without nuance)

I think I deserve one on one Tessa and Julian interactions in twp, not for any logical reason I just think I deserve it since they’re my two favorite tsc characters. And there’s a lot of fan service in recent tsc anyway… let me have this.

Kieran is overrated I don’t dislike him and enjoy him in the context of Kierarktina and as a foil to Julian, but I don’t fervently love him the way a lot of people do. (I also really disliked his fandom when the tda books were coming out so that might influence this).

I want Thule! Emma to come into play in twp … I’m very interested in the idea of her in the aftermath of Thule Julian and Sebastian’s deaths. I had an idea for a fic about her but didn’t write it partly because of laziness partly because I felt I’d have to go back to tmi to remember endarkened lore for that.

Grace Blackthorn discourse was kind of unserious… not because I don’t think people can have valid reasons to dislike her obviously those exist. What she did to James was sexual assault and of course fans who hate her for it are valid. But I COULD NOT with some of statements about her especially on twitter that were like ‘well if she was a Male Character ya’ll would never forgive her and she would never get a redemption arc she only does cause she’s a pretty white girl’ like GORL. GORL what universe are you living in what paranormal/fantasy media do you consume and engage in fandoms for if you think that a male character who does a nebulous magical consent violation is going to get Less grace (no pun intended) from the narrative and fandom than a female character and would NEVER get a redemption arc. I can’t even ya’ll are dumb. If I’m being really generous maybe they just don’t read/watch a lot of paranormal media other than tsc because otherwise I…

Thanks for the ask <3

(send me a 🔥+topic/fandom and I’ll give some unpopular opinions)

[belit0]

Arranged Marriage

Why doesn't Izuna talk? It's not like their brothers forced them to marry for peace or something... Izuna is unbearable when being a brat, but when he gives you the silent treatment? Damn

Pairing: Uchiha Izuna / Senju Tobirama

The albino walks angrily to his favorite hiding place. That secluded little spot in the Senju village where Hashirama never found him. His older brother might possess the intellect of a tree, but for finding Tobirama's whereabouts, he always got it right.

Sometimes, he wonders if it's out of fear of losing the last brother he has left.

After many years of struggling through the frustration at being tracked by the stubborn Senju leader despite clearly being on the run from him, Tobi has found that one site so unique it escapes Hashirama's attention.

A large clearing shines on the border of the territory, where any child fears to go because enemies dare to trespass, where terrible monsters can eat your soul and the ghost of Butsuma himself hunts you if you disturb him!… yeah, no, those are cruel lies he himself spread when encountering a group of youngsters too close for his liking.

But who can blame him? Tobirama loves the peace and solitude of that quiet little piece of heaven.

And it seems he's not the only one.

So does his recently forced husband.

He pats himself on the back for remaining so quiet since Izuna doesn't even notice his presence. It has been three months since the Uchiha was coerced to move into the village because of the arranged marriage for peace.

Three torturous months, in which his enemy did not even speak a single word. One would think he might try to set Tobirama's house on fire as soon as he got there, but on the contrary, Izuna took a depressing vow of silence against the entire world.

It's not like Tobirama cares either, but he knows Hashirama suffers it. Stupid Anija makes sure Madara's younger brother finds comfort among those who are historically his enemies and saps Tobi's patience.

He didn't choose who to marry. They literally wed him to whoever was most convenient for the stupid dream the new leaders maintained. They are both selfish bastards, and if it were up to him, he would fight the Uchihas to the end of his days.

Yet incredibly, for the first time in this agonizing span with the person in front of his gaze, he notices something strange.

Izuna's eyes shine wide, big and bright, a scarlet color which always froze his blood dances inside them. However, the Sharingan does not seem to work any Genjutsu or visual power, and while it is active, Izuna smiles.

Izuna laughs.

He giggles and chuckles like a little boy, as the Senju never heard before. The Uchiha looks happy, and at that moment, Tobirama notices how his sight is not fixed on any exact point. No, he is probably using his Dōjutsu to look into his own memories, and whatever he is laughing at with such animosity is alien to him.

The realization hits him at that point, as he ceases to perceive his husband's orbs like deadly weapons by doing what he was always forbidden and taught to avoid, looking directly into those eyes for the very first time.

The world around him falls into darkness and gloom, and Tobirama wonders if perhaps it was a trap. Maybe he underestimated Izuna. Maybe he is still his enemy, despite everything.

But those intrusive thoughts disappear when two figures emerge out of nowhere, full of light, bathed in sunshine and love and protection and everything he feels for Hashirama. Izuna and Madara, in adolescent bodies and seemingly some years ago, playfully arrive in front of him, hitting each other without harm as laughter and insults explode from all sides. It is Madara who ends up on the ground, but out of self-surrender and claiming he is too old to act like a child, while his younger brother throws himself on his stomach and gently slaps his cheeks.

Before he knows it, Tobirama also smiles.

Tobirama laughs.

So does Izuna.

And just as that beautiful memory full of innocence dances in front of him, suddenly disappears, snapping him back to reality. He is still in front of his husband, but now, those red eyes stare at him, letting him know he is aware of his proximity.

Tobirama would have expected a yelling and swearing fit, maybe even a fight against his former rival for sticking his nose where it wasn't called, but the Uchiha simply closes his eyes, deactivates his Sharingan, and leaves.

He disappears into the shadows of the afternoon without saying a single word, as in all these three months, and the Senju feels a chill run through his body as he comprehends what happened.

He stared an Uchiha straight in the eye. And lives to tell the tale.

[foxpunk]

like, on one hand i get it. i logically understand the motives behind why tumblr is making the decisions they are making. i just do not think that their motives MUST line up with these specific decisions.

in the end, tumblr needs more revenue. full stop. that is not up for debate. if they do not get it somehow, then tumblr is going to shut down because they simply cannot keep things running, and it will happen much MUCH sooner than most of y'all are at all prepared for. hell, it's already something they've been delaying well past when other sites would have been scrapped (well...aside from twitter but that is a recent and extreme example).

so i get why they need more activity, i get why they need more users, i get why they need to have a shop and micro-transactions. i truly do.

but tumblr is not going to be gaining any new users if it becomes a copy-cat for something that already exists. the amount of new and active and dedicated users they will get is minimal when those users can simply be active on another app/site that does the same thing (and likely already does it better). why seek out tumblr when every other app already has an algorithmic main feed? why seek out tumblr when every other app has live video? why seek out tumblr when every other site has a minimally customizable default profile?

what makes tumblr what it is? the surface answer is it's the communities and the fandoms and the memes, but what is it about tumblr that allowed these to develop the way they did? it certainly wasn't an algorithm, or live stream, or online shop.

if you want people to get hooked on tumblr, show them what they can do HERE that they CAN'T simply do on another app. yeah sure all the new features (live, for you, etc.) are fun for new users who are used to twitter and instagram and the like, and the option to use them can make those new users feel less out of their depth. but if that's all you're promoting they aren't gonna stick around, cause they can get that literally anywhere else. if you're gonna try n sell tumblr as a product then you need to realize the key to selling a product amongst competition is making it so that people need that product and what it offers Specifically.

one thing i never see talked about for this is hashtags not just as a promotional tool but as an organizational one. you can search through specific blog and see everything in a specific tag On That Blog. thats HUGE. it's SO useful. regardless of how it can mess up at times, literally NO other modern social media site lets you do that! livejournal and wordpress are the only things that come close, and livejournal is old as shit and largely inactive, while wordpress has a VERY different target audience.

pair that together with how reblogs work and you have an AMAZING thing going here and you're just letting it Sit There with no spotlight on it.

another thing: ASKS. GOD. WHY ARE Y'ALL NOT PROMOTING ASKS. HELLO. they're such a fun and unique way to interact on this site. the messenger is great but every social media has DMs these days. asks are something truly different and, again, they're just sitting there with NO spotlight on them.

another recent feature that i actually really really love is reblog controls. they are separate from having to turn your entire account private to get people to not look at/spread a post. they're perfect for people who don't want to bother password protecting their entire damn blog but still don't want a certain post spreading. talk about that! i'm sure it'd draw some people away from twitter, since you have to adjust privacy settings for your entire profile if you wanna manage who can and can't interact with a tweet.

and if you're worried about people being confused by reblogs and replies and the like. it is literally as simple as having a little slide show with cute graphics explaining what those are when people are signing up. hell, make multiple cute little slideshows. explain reblogs vs replies, explain tags and the specific way they work on tumblr, explain the different sections on the dash. don't make it little pop text bubbles on the dashboard, people hate pop ups. 9/10 they are not gonna look at them or accidentally click out of them and then they're gone and your user is lost. just have it be a page people are directed to before they hit the dashboard. it is THAT simple. let people be able to revisit that page easily. boom. one and done. you had that annoying ass wind up denture icon popping up for all of us, why not put a little icon in the corner for new accounts to revisit the "tutorial" if they forgot something? it literally is that easy it is SO easy. holy shit.

if you're so worried about users being confused by anything different from other social media, it's your job to EXPLAIN THOSE DIFFERENCES. NOT squash them out, are you fucking kidding me hellooo!! sure okay make things a lil more streamlined and definitely improve WCAG, but don't just fucking toss out features that aren't ACTUALLY complicated or inaccessible!! GODDD

it is not actually that complicated to explain a few new concepts to new users. learn how to frame things in a fun way upon sign-up instead of obfuscating any and all information behind 10 different staff/support/wip/changes/etc blogs and the least helpful help desk in existence.

also, i know they already clarified they aren't gonna be doing this, but if they push non-optional algorithm onto the Main Feed i'm gonna blow this whole place up (for legal reasons i must clarify this is a Joke). like. just find me on mastodon at that point.

edit: to clarify what i've already said. i think having algorithmic options (OPTIONAL options) for new users is Fine in the end. like, it's a fair compromise (mentioned that in some tags earlier but realized i didn't say that on this post specifically). i have issues with how it's opt-OUT rather than opt-IN, but in the end it's not really going to affect much (so long as chrono feeds are an option, and are not taken from users who already have them set as chrono). and honestly neither will all the smaller (general UI) changes they are going to be experimenting with. the site and it's core features will largely function the same way.

i'm mostly frustrated with tumblr making all these changes to conform rather than to stand out from the pack.

the one thing i AM worried about is that they hinted at messing with reblogs and replies more though. don't touch them lol. like i said, just actually explain shit to your new users and you'll be FINE lord almighty

[fictionkinfessions]

(Warning: this post contains mentions of homophobia, transphobia, bullying, and emotional neglect, as well as general issues with ahistoricism and cultural ignorance within the fictionkin community. Also, this only applies to sources that are meant to take place in a relatively realistic setting or are based on a real-world reigon/time period! If that's not you, feel free to ignore this.)

Hm... I was scrolling around and saw an ask from a really long time ago, and it made me want to say something.

Obviously I'm okay with people using whatever labels and pronouns they want for their kins! It's their kintype, so it's their business, sure, fine, all cool with me. However, even if you do remember being LGBTQ+, you have to take the time period and location into account.

For example, hello, I'm Kennith. I was born in 1969 in an average suburban town in Michigan. Nowadays, in this life, I'd say that I was demigreyromantic, gay, genderfluid, transmasc, and generally gnc, and I would've used he/they pronouns.

However, back when I was still alive as a teenager in the 80s, I knew the word gay and... yeah, that really was about it. If you had asked me then, I would've described the rest of that stuff as "I'm not really that much of a romance guy" and "I'm a guy who was born as a girl and hated it, but I still don't mind looking like a girl sometimes", and I used strictly he/him back then since "I'm a guy and that's what you call guys", because again, I was a teenager in the 80s, and I had no idea any of this stuff was even an option.

And, quick reminder, this is a relatively modern time frame, and it's in the United States. You may have all of these really cool microlabels and neopronouns to describe yourself now, and there's nothing wrong with that! It's never too late to discover who you truly are/were. However, you have to realize that you sure as hell weren't using those labels as, say, a member of ancient Japanese royalty. In terms of both the time frame and the language itself, that's just not how that would've worked.

Also, not to get overly negative, but chances are, if you are from sometime back in the day, even if it's as relatively recent as I was, people would most likely have not been accepting of you. I know people weren't accepting of me. I was bullied ruthlessly in school by nearly everyone for being gay and presenting myself femininely despite being transmasc. "Pretty Boy" was actually the tamest of the awful names they would call me, and it didn't even stop at insults. They would deliberately misgender and deadname me at every opportunity, bump me into walls and shit like that, and I even remember them beating me up a few times. My teachers and counselor did absolute jack-shit, and basically told me that I deserved it since I was so "different" (which is the word they used instead of calling me slurs! fun!). My parents were never much help either since A: I wasn't out to them, and B: they never gave a shit about literally anything else. The only people who respected me at all during that time were Stephanie and Greg, but I was barely able to see Greg outside of the gas station he worked at, and I've already gone into what ended up happening with fucking Stephanie... ugh.

Anyways, once again I say, this was in the United States in the 1980s. If people didn't accept me there and then, the chances of people accepting you for who you in another place and/or an earlier time are next to nothing. I'm sorry, it fucking sucks that it had to be that way, but it's true. I'm obviously not saying that you're not valid if you did have people who accepted you, I'm just saying that it's highly unlikely, given historical context.

I'm sorry for ranting once again, and I'm sorry if I said anything hurtful. The last thing I want to do is invalidate anyone. This is just something to consider, I guess... Ah well, who am I to tell you guys what you can and can't do? If I was still alive I'd be like 54 years old. Old Man Yells at Cloud.

-Kennith Simmons

[ghost-town-story]

Hello and welcome to the thing I've been excited to do since July, aka holy fuck CoFaS is 10 years old now

So a few years ago, I went and reread the very first story I ever wrote and it was....... a fuckin time. So when I realized CoFaS was turning a decade this year, I thought it would be fun to do the same thing (reread and comment in a tumblr post as I go), but taking one piece of advice from the last time I did this.

Aka this is gonna be a drinking game lol

The rules are simple: 1. Drink whenever I cringe 2. Drink whenever the nickname "kitten" is used to blatantly pad the word count (because I do remember that is exactly the way I got to 50,006 words that year lol)

So, I've got my emotional support bottle of wine, some snacks, a sleepy kitty, and the old doc pulled up. Les go.

A quick aside, this is the reason why it's an emotional support bottle of wine:

A gift from a while ago from somebody who knows I go by Starlight online :D

Alright, les go

And immediately gonna pour one out for the awful age gap we have here. Blah blah blah, not all age gaps are bad, but considering Aiden starts out 11 and James is 19........ *takes a big fuckin drink*

At least the wine is good lol

Ah yes, establishing from the very first line that CoFaS is peak "Aiden gets hurt/traumatized and I'm having fun doing it"

I'm also counting moments where I just pause and start laughing bc oh god what is this description as cringing lol but yeah Aiden and Sirius had the most awkward relationship to write for the longest time and it really wasn't until pretty recently that I actually started to nail it down and it stopped being so gotdamn awkward

Also right now there's literally no plot. Ok to be fair there's no overarching plot of CoFaS other than "snippets of Aiden's life" but there are arcs usually but. We're three chapter/scenes in and there's not even an arc going right now. It's just. setting up characterization I guess?

Also lmao at my worldbuilding. In my defense I was what, 15 and in the middle of high school shit? learning how to write on the fly? not gonna hold it against tiny me but I'm still gonna smh

Yeah this age gap is not sitting well with me anymore. Not at fuckin all Do I want James and Aiden to be cute together? hell yeah would I rather James be like..... 14 in this scene rather than 20? hell yeah

Look I understand I wanted to show the traumatic event *sparkle sparkle* but I just. That's not how flashback dreams work at all *source: mild amounts of research I've done since then. Also the fact that I doubt he would remember shit with so much clarity from when he was two and passed out for part of it

One credit I will give to past me here though, I still don't know if that's actually how two-year-olds act lmao

Okay so at least part of this is gonna be me reading shit and going "lmao that's not how it works anymore!" scene: Aiden wakes up from a nightmare, wants his dad to comfort him how it would go now: wakes up from nightmare, will absolutely refuse to tell anybody about it except maybe James or Lexi. And only if they heard him wake up Sorry Aid, you have daddy issues now lol (and mommy issues. More of those tbh)

Okay I'm so fucking glad I scrapped that bit of worldbuilding bc why??? would only 1 of the 4 nations have a special name????? that allows others to control them????????

James you are 20 and he's 12 do not darling him

Also lmao at the number of times I describe somebody by their age rather than ya know. their fuckin name

Also we still have not had any arc that lasts more than 2 scenes and we're on page 4. On one hand: yeah fair writing fun offhand scenes is still a thing I do. On the other: I posted this to Figment oh my god. Anybody expecting a coherent story just gets this fuckin. mess What the fuck did I even put for the summary on Figment? I hope it was something that explained "hey this is a gotdamned mess with no overarching plot other than Aiden's life" lol

RIP Figment. You were the real one and I simultaneously mourn your loss and am glad you don't exist anymore cause I don't want people reading my old stuff but I wouldn't have the heart to delete it myself

Anyways I literally just said that and we reached an arc that has at least 3 scenes!

Oh no I spooped my cat cause of my laughing this one caused by the fact that I never fuckin specify how healing works at all. Just that it works enough to cause the maximum amount of whump I guess. That may not be the right word but bruh I am nearly through a glass of wine by now lol

babby Aiden is babby. and mildly a mood lmao

James, you need to stop fuckin flirting with a 12 year old one day I'll stop yelling about this. that'll be when Aiden is actually old/mature enough to be flirted with

“Dad’s not really the comforting type.” THEN WHY THE FUCK DID YOU ASK FOR HIM 3-4 CHAPTERS AGO????

this age gap shenanigans is gonna give me an aneurysm i swear and i don't know if it's better or worse that Sirius is endorsing these shenanigans

Alright kitty has woken up and says it's break time so i'm making this a mandatory "go bury your face in nearby fluff and regain sanity from this nonsense" moment

Alright, had my break for snaccs and arguing about whether or not I'll be sober in 36-48 hours (long story), time to get back into the shenanigans also we're on page 5/77 and i'm about 1/3 through the wine. hence why the questions of sobriety in time for dnd sunday. anyhoot

AND IMMEDIATELY INTO THE WARRIOR CATS SCENE

okay so like. ya i was a warrior cats kid sue me lmao. so this next fucking scene (or maybe the next next there might be a leadup scene) is basically me going "i want the clan leaders meeting!" and having absolutely 0 justification otherwise. so ya. it is entirely for drama and to introduce "hey lookie all these other elementals none of whom we care about except for kinda Flame!" (and now I care a lot about Water too. Rip fuckin Earth lmao)

and another drink for fuckin what the fuck descriptions

yeah okay this bit of dialogue basically hits the nail of why i fucking hate the fuckin special name for Flame thingy. just a la "don't use that name." "it's your middle name deal with it" and like, Sirius is not meant to be seen as an abusive father! neglectful, kinda yeah. absolutely Does Not know how to talk/relate to his kid? abso-fuckin-lutely. full on abusive? no. but that bit of dialogue veers into sketchy/abuse territory and i don't like it

thank you to Lexi for interrupting this round of "James stop fucking flirting with a young teenager when you're 21"

I seriously don't think I actually named Sirius until this point, 7 whole pages in some mild clarification, I write in wall of text style. this current scene is 2 pages long with no proper paragraph breaks so. yeah

Ah yes. another thing that's different now, Fintan's entire characterization lol

you know, I'm just staring at this scene like "this would be a great set up for some plot" but at the same time I know that this is it. It's this fight and then these wolves are never showing up again. guess they got beat up in one fight! cool beans!

Kiddo you're way too alert for somebody who's hovering on the edge of consciousness lmao

For once we have some James characterization that I still like! aka he's a dumbass more concerned with other people's (in this case Will's) health than his own!

Oh god I posted this scene on the NaNo website as a snippet from the story. And I can tell you with 100% certainty that this fuckin scene was inspired by the Kingdom Keepers series (that I haven't read any of since like, 2013 probably lmao)

Oh yeah! this was when Will had selective mutism! but also. Aiden, James is periodically flirting with you and hanging out with you a ton. How do you not know this world's equivalent of sign language by now lol

Look, I still absolutely fuckin love dragons, but I just.... why here?? especially since I'm 90% sure they're never mentioned again??????

Okay, so I may have fallen asleep after only 10 pages, but in my defense I was tired from work/shit sleep schedule, and half a bottle of wine Did Not help lol. Anyways, onto day 2 and the rest of this scene (and arc if I remember correctly)

Lexi is a menace and a treasure and I gotdamned love her lol. I'm making it official she's the saving grace of 2013 CoFaS and we're not gonna talk about what happens to her yet

Oh Will you sweet awkward not-yet-a-sassy-sarcastic-bitch of a child <3

And again. Would much rather James be like, 15/16 in this scene than fuckin 21

I lied. There's one more scene to finish out this arc whoops lol

Again with the fuckin out-of-body experiences to show important plot points. like bitch just change perspectives you're gonna do it later anyways!

Two things I love *sarcasm* about this 1. I did no editing even when posting this to Figment. I coulda gone back and just made this random nameless healer Seren, but nooooooo Did Not think about that until now probably 2. Logically, why the fuck is James in this scene? Boi is getting invited to shenanigans he should not realistically be invited to lol

I like how I can recognize which arc this is from Sirius's first line bad news: I dislike this arc for many reasons now. tldr don't like it cause of compulsory/systematic heteronormativity, forced/arranged marriage of a goddamn 14 year old, more sketch age gaps (tho 5 years is better than the James/Aiden gap of 8), and the fact that I 100% fridged Lexi cause said systematic heteronormativity made her get in the way of my ship.

Anyways Sirius and Aiden interactions are still so awkward and ngl, I'm looking forward to [redacted unless you know of the CoFaS rewrite] bc it'll mean the end of the awkwardness

And James is immediately jealous. It would be kinda cute in an angsty way if he wasn't 22 (to clarify, jealous but trying to hide it cause he ain't gonna fuck up his sister's and best friend's "happiness")

Protective older brother speech? yeah okay questioning Aiden about if he actually loves Lexi? okay back off ma dude (also fun aside: my oldest brother "threatened" both of my exes while I was dating them. Cyrus was terrified of him for basically the rest of the time I knew him. Screw went "lol bet". So while these incidents were still a few years off for 2013 me, yeah I can see what inspired James's speech here lol)

OH MY GOD JAMES THAT'S HOW YOU GET EXECUTED FOR REGICIDE FUCKIN HELL

also lmao at the tiny-me not swearing bits

oh look, a perspective shift! wonder why I didn't use that earlier *deadpan stare*

Okay James is being a solid angsty drama queen this entire scene, which fair angst whatever but I gotta object to one thing and that is I don't really think losing your wings and watching someone you love marry your sister are really comparable here dude

also bud have you even asked Lexi if she loves Aiden or are you just assuming this is a marriage of convenience from all sides? (I sincerely don't know the answer for 2013 CoFaS. The answer for rewrite is yes love all around baybe)

heh, telepathy is just ported over from the OG universe just cuz

This also might've been the origin for Will calling her Lex and James calling her Lexi. Maybe. It's quite possible.

Oh James. You're such an overdramatic pining asshole lol

And that wedding scene is making me honestly contemplate finishing my glass of wine except it's a bit too full but several drinks are in order cause 1. No idea (then and now tbh) how "typical" weddings work 2. more broody jealous James 3. the knowledge of the gotdamn fridging to come 4. oh yeah the middle name shenanigans as well

oh and we immediately skip straight to the fridging! okay! goddamn! no goddamn martial bliss scenes for these two! nope just immediate "yeah Lexi's dying now" god I feel so bad for Lexi in this

Yeah okay maybe it's the fact that I'm a slut for angst but this scene was.... pretty good? like

Aiden let out a sound that was almost a hiccup, and he bit his lower lip hard to prevent any more sound from escaping.

goddamn that's a line I'd still use now tbh is the scene perfect? no Is it the best thing I've read so far of CoFaS? probably

also fun fact this is Alec's first appearance as a character. And it's the reason why in Band AU/basically anywhere else he appears he dyes his hair burgundy, cause that's his hair color in CoFaS. Callbacks yo

James. James now is not the fucking time. have some gotdamn respect for Lexi and stahp

I think this scene is gonna finish off my emotional support wine. We've got James flirting at inappropriate times! We've got awkward af Sirius trying to be a good dad! We've got more James flirting! and being mildly manipulative! fuckin hell!

Ya okay I know I like drama but this shit is hella toxic

Look I have no idea how old Aiden is right now but I'm gonna solidly say he's still too young for you to darling him James especially right after that emotional rollercoaster you put him through

"'If you're jealous,' [James said]" I'm sorry sir who's the jealous one in this relationship cause I'm pretty damn sure it ain't Aiden

Oh my god Aiden is 16. For fuck's sake man

"As James approached his room, which he rarely used now, and Aiden’s, which he was in far too often to be proper," I'm not giving y'all the end of this line but I like it lol

Yeah this is. definitely a sign of how I've changed over the years past-me: doesn't like unhappy endings at all, therefore *magically* gives Aiden his wings back bc it'd be too sad if he didn't have them now-me: BITTERSWEET SYMPHONY BAYBE (aka he has stumps of wings and they never grow back. just enough for tattered feathers and bitter reminders)

and Awkward Sirius makes an immediate reappearance! and like, cool, you're cool with your son being gay, but maybe you should be having an issue with the fact that he's 16 and James is 24 ffs

“[Dumb] names have power.” “I know. You tend to use mine a lot when I’m being unruly.” I! Hate! This! Worldbuilding! Thank Fuck It's Scrapped!!

Wait. Wait wait wait. so whoever gives them the dumb name-- actually fuckit i'm too tipsy again to explain this I'll just quote the snippet

It’s not just the name itself that has power, but who gives it to him. For example, if your mother had been the one to give you your [dumb] name, then you would have been loyal to her, even at the cost of your wings.

THEN WHO DID ACTUALLY GIVE AIDEN HIS NAME???? I'd assume it'd have to be a Person of Flame due to ya know. It being a Flame thing but like. Then who??? Fintan????? some rando????? not Ashton cause he wasn't born yet (at least in redone canon but still they're close enough in age that he would have been unborn or babby af) but. who the fuck gave Aiden his name then?????????????? We don't get a fuckin answer and I'm not sure I ever had one!!!!

so sometimes I have to laugh cause otherwise i'd have to scream "what the fuck" at this and i have neighbors and it's currently 10 pm and I like to have the moral high ground thank you very much (over their dumbass yappy dog who barks at 1 am sometimes) but anyhoot I start laughing and woke up my kitty so while she bullies me I'm implementing another "bury face in the fluff and maybe get a snacc" break

Alright have gotten some snaccs again, bullied nats for a bit (<3), discovered that bubbly pink moscato is sadly Not It and broke out the second, non-emotional-support bottle of rosé. Time to continue Also we're now 22 pages in. we're doin great lol

they're married now and i'm still smh at how fuckin young Aiden is for this relationship. goddamn I like how I aged Aiden up for all of the main tragedies but I made them hit way fuckin harder in the rewrite. (he's 16/17 in original, ~20 if i remember correctly in rewrite) (also 2 vs 8/10? for wings)

Ah yes, an actually reoccurring antagonist: humanity :P

also yeah baby me did not like the thought of her uwu-baby characters actually killing people. p sure I made the faceless waves of enemies in the OG story robots for that purpose, and now James is just knocking people out cause he don't wanna kill how the fuck did he get promoted to head guard at this rate Sirius what the fuck is the state of your guards Do I think irl murder is bad? yes! do I think that characters and stories are a different matter and there's a lotta nuance! also yes! is this shit that may get me "cancelled"? probably!! but fuckin hell rené's arc in the superhero wip is gonna cause that anyways!

meanwhile I'm pretty sure Will just electrocuted like at least a dozen people and I'm fine with that XD "unconscious from electrocution" now I'm not doctor and I don't want to concern my dad by texting him "hey if you get electrocuted is it 100% chance of death or like 50/50 between death and unconsciousness?" and my selo (med student) is probably asleep by now, but I'm gonna go out on a limb and say if they're unconscious, they're probably pretty dang close to death *take everything said just above with a grain of salt. again, i'm not a doctor, i'm tipsy, and i don't feel like googling this shit lol

Okay I distinctly remember this bit was inspired by this series I read called Eon/Eona? specifically the part where the emperor had the necklace of his position sewn to his throat. pretty fuckin metal for it to stick with me better than the title of the books lmao. But yeah. That's where the initial idea of the leaders' "necklaces" came from

James is once again a dumbass about his own health in favor of worrying about others! (this time Aiden)

90% sure this isn't how the medical side of this works

seriously why can't the kid have a sedative or three lol

and some potential gross medical negligence here but hey, who's counting! what doctors are gonna read this shit! (maybe selo, if she read the original while it was up on Figment lol but that was well before she was a med student)

absolutely not the point but something got corrupted somewhere in the what, 4 computer swaps since this was written? and now there's just a random "emoji error" box at the end of this paragraph and I don't know why lol cause I swear I never put emojis of any sort in my official writing (except for stuff that was explicitly characters texting) and definitely not at the end of the paragraph where Aiden's about to go to his father's funeral

ok it wasn't technically medical negligence cause James basically discharged himself against medical advice/medical attempts to keep him in bed lol

I am fairly certain that unless Alec is on a chair right now, that action should be impossible without Aiden leaning/crouching down, except I just say "reach". ffs and Aiden's definitely standing so i really dunno lol

Yeah I just couldn't write formal ceremony stuff for shit lol

There's so much going on that I'm just like. man. what the fuck. so much drama. so much sketchy stuff happening in the name of "i love you"

oh it's mild flashback time to a different POV okay lol

okay so. James. how do you not know about Aiden's fire powers? bc again. known each other for basically Aiden's whole life and also. pretty sure Aiden saved James's life earlier with them (but i don't remember cause i was tipsy when I read that last night and I don't wanna backtrack lol)

okay again. I have no idea how two-year-olds work. but i get the feeling this is...... not quite right?

Whump time!!

ah yes, overprotective James

yeah for the most part that wasn't bad until the last fuckin bit. You know, Sirius may be dead now but I think Fintan decided he was immediately going to step into the role of "awkward father figure" for Aiden smh

whump whump!!

ah yes, the ol' "christianity apparently exists in this universe cause i'm very raised catholic!"

babby Alec!!!! again not sure if I'm writing him right for a two year old but I don't care right now it's babby Alec and Ryder! (oh yeah Ryder is also originally from CoFaS lol)

"I'm Sky. Look I'll show you my dad is Sky." Alec honey you have wings that's proof enough that you're at least part Sky oh now you mention the wings! smh child

okay it's official Alec and Ryder are carrying the story with their cuteness cause I don't have to facepalm every time they flirt (when they're older) cause they're actually close to the same age! no sketch ass age gaps here!!

lmao Ashton's first bit of actual characterization. He's not bad as a character, just... underutilized probably

Alanna-now-Laguna! now the babbiest of babbies now that Alec's eight

but good news I think we're at the age where I can reluctantly be okay with the Aiden/James relationship.

oh yeah! I didn't exactly forget but I definitely got surprised by the revelation that Aiden's mother and the guy who helped cut off his wings were actually married

Okay actually I wanna outline what the fuck is happening a la Ashley (Aiden's mother, gonna be renamed like Ashton), Sirius, nameless guy, and Ashton (at least in the rewrite version, though 2013 was mostly similar) so. Ashley and nameless guy are married for love. partners in crime and all that jazz Sirius has a mild crush on Ashley since basically he's a teenager, but due to unspecified war between the Sky and Flame, obviously does not act on that until his father dies and Sirius goes "hey Fintan. Wanna end this war and do political marriage stuff wink wink" So, (this is specifically rewrite lore), they get married, with the stipulation that their first child will be the heir to the Sky, and their second will be heir to Flame, as at the time Ashley was Fintan's only child and therefore the heir to Flame. Ashley is Not Happy, but since marriage to nameless guy was basically secret shotgun wedding, Fintan doesn't know and she doesn't want to tell him about it. Plus, she's like "nah let's keep going with this war stuff I kinda hate Sky." well due to political shenanigans she gets strongarmed into the political marriage, but she and nameless dude conspire that okay, if she has to do this, then she's gonna take down the Sky Kingdom from the inside, using her child the heir of the Sky (Aiden) She refuses to have a second child, which Fintan catches onto after a while, and either planned or a happy accident, Ashton is born and declared the heir of Flame Ashley then kidnaps Aiden once his wings grow and cuts them off so he'll look a better Flame puppet, things backfire and she gets caught and imprisoned for that, with nameless guy slipping free of justice

and apparently in the 2013 version Ashley and nameless guy planned to kill off Sirius if Aiden was born Flame, and when he was born Sky they cut off his wings basically out of spite so there's that, and also planned to throw Ashley under the bus for cutting off Aiden's wings so nameless guy could keep their evil plans going.

also apparently I used to not be consistent whether I used Sky or Air. Cause Aiden's referred to as a Child of Air here, but in the title it's very specifically Child of Flame and Sky, and I've definitely standardized it to be the Sky by now

Aiden honey it's the simplest fucking code and Fintan practically gave it to you I'm begging you to be smart honey no Fintan has to be explicit before Aiden gets it okay *disappointed sigh in my blorbo*

and again with the knocking people out, not killing them shenanigans lol

whump and trauma time!!

damn that's gotta be not hygienic, an operating table stained with blood that's about 2 decades old

that's called a concussion my dear Aiden <3

yeah okay that's some fuckin racism right there (to be fair, framed as a bad thing, but still. sheesh)

another cat break. she's very pretty and purrsuasive what can i say?

James, honey, I understand what you're going for, but this is a shit way to comfort your very traumatized husband right now

okay and immediate 180 into cute teenage Alec and Ryder shenanigans, okay lol

Alec you wannabe-suave motherfucker lol

Ryder: blushes red Me: but his blood is blue!! And if it's later in this version that I mention James blushing blue or something like that I'm gonna take a drink for this mistake. I know I def fixed that by like, the rewrite lol

Ah yes, Alec is taking after his uncle :P aka please honey, I know you're being romantic, but get a fucking yes outta him first before you start kissing him also I'm 90% sure I've swapped their personalities now lol like CoFaS Alec: wannabe-suave and flirty CoFaS Ryder: awkward, unsure of how to react Band AU Alec: unsure of how to react when cute boy flirts with him Band AU Ryder: friendly and outgoing and willing to flirt with cute boys

Okay he did get a yes this time so baby steps in the right direction!

goddamn nerds lol

Okay this is both a. the origins of the kitten nickname for Aiden and b. the origins of the fox association i sometimes have for Alec

"The cat didn't answer, being a cat" I LOVE THIS SO MUCH

do do do do do WHAT DOES THE FOX SAY? Alec: the fox says fuck off (I have that as a reoccurring joke between Alex and Jason. Cause Jason's a fox shapeshifter in OG/ASTHC canon and they are my 2013-2015 meme children)

Yeah I definitely swapped who's the more uuuuuh... dom is the best word I can think of in this relationship

lmao somehow despite knowing Alec since they were both ~2 Ryder somehow doesn't know that's a nickname

Also, Alec having premonitions of the future is what inspired Lexi in the rewrite to have them as well. Alec inherits a decent amount from his mother: her premonitions, her purple-tipped wings, I can't think of more rn lol

Okay I do like describing Alec as ashen because. He looks more Flame than Sky lol

Aiden no stop that that's shitty parenting!

and Alec has a very valid reaction to Aiden and then Ryder continually using his dumb name! good for you Alec! "I would have never told you if I knew you would abuse it like this!" Ah. see this? this hurts in an "Alec honey you're so fucking right" way

Ryder that's real fuckin shit of you to be like "ok come here I'll comfort you" only to immediately turn around and try and control your boyfriend again. I know you have orders from his dad, but that's still really fuckin shit of you dude luckily Alec has the proper response of slapping Ryder and calling him out on his bullshit

i like how outta all the characters, Ryder is the one who has no restrictions on killing people. At the beginning of this arc he was introduced as training with James to be part of the royal guard, and now like 3/4 scenes later he's just straight up killed at least 2 people on screen. goddamn ma boi

“Knife training 101,” he said, almost irritated. “Stab them, don’t get stabbed yourself, try to aim for the head or heart. Understand?” fuckin lmao

welcome to the trauma boat Alec! your dad will help you get acquainted. probably

hello deus-ex-machina my old friend, you've probably appeared before but this is the most blatant to me

You know, the thought just occurred to me: Sirius with Aiden: kingly duties come before parental duties Aiden: yeah that sounds about right Aiden with Alec: Parental duties come before kingly duties Alec: you have king stuff to do and that obviously takes precedence over me

That line is a goddamn quote and I don't remember from what book potentially a Shadowhunters book??? update I looked it up and the answer is yes and of course it's a malec quote lol i'm still fucking soft for malec despite not having read any shadowhunters books since high school let me live (fun aside: i got selo to read those books and she came to tennis practice and yelled across the court "WHAT THE HELL IS UP WITH ALL THE INCEST" and i just died laughing and told her to wait for whatever the book was (CoG, if I remember correctly is when the incest is revealed to not be incest. not that I cared that was/is my least favorite ship) ANYHOOT)

yeah okay that whole bit is making me laugh harder than it should. curse you wine lol

anyways this was 100% the origin of Willow and Wisp before I coopted them for Nova!

oh my fucking god so the chapter that was origins of Aiden = cat and Alec = fox apparently was added later, potentially near the end of that NaNo. You know how I know that? cause I remember having to edit this scene for continuity and it's still awkward as hell!

poor babby Alec. he's doin his best and also nobody has told him "hey your boyfriend's alive" yet

god Rowan is just. a fuckin cardboard cutout of a character. he has no personality beyond what's necessary in the moment

Aiden this is not the way to deal with your son grieving his boyfriend just fuckin tell him ffs

I do appreciate Aiden just full naming Alec and not dumb naming him when he's like "Alec stop doing the dumb thing you're doing"

more Aiden whump! and cute Alec and Ryder reunion dawww

"Aiden was struggling for something to distract him from the pain, to distract his mind from the fact that his entire forearm was cut open and the skin peeled away for wires." goddamn my dude. you're really having a rough time aren't you lol

Oh my god I just shifted POV in the middle of a scene goddamnit

sir i really doubt you could avoid a gunshot at basically point blank range lol

And at this point, I fucked up bc Alec escaped in the last scene, and then I had him fighting alongside Ryder in this scene until I remembered continuity is a thing and went back to fix it lol

James sir water is not a softer landing than sand, especially from high up lol

oh my god i remember that i was gonna make that a thing throughout all my universes, and then i never did except for maybe the original OG James and Aiden story that got scrapped XD

and another pov shift in the middle of a scene smh

they are both such stubborn bastards omg

yeah of course they've been happy too long we've gotta add the misunderstandings plot in :P

Ah yes some good ol' fashioned sexism :P

yaas bois communicate like the fuckin adults you are

oh those nerds

so we're winding up the "story" which means major time skips now!

oh this is..... not the best way to kill off a character, but hey, i guess i wanted to get one last stab in at Aiden huh?

good lord that was...... something. later chapters were better than earlier ones, though that may have been because the level of tipsiness was higher lmao. but also I just like drama more and the early chapters were a lot more awkward setting up shit while later ones were "hey have actual situations with consequences!" if that makes any sense. If not, that's cool, i'm hella tipsy anyways

anyhoot, kudos to past me for doing that while being in high school + doing theater (pretty sure we were close to if not putting on a show during november) + finding time to binge watch Sword Art Online + all the shenanigans required of being a functional member of the family. I have no idea what I was on during high school but gotdamn would I like a hit or three now lol

So, two nights and 1.5 bottles of wine later, I bid you adieu. have fun, don't die, don't get kidnapped, I'll see y'all with my last couple spotify wrapped prompts soonish and then in February ✌️

[angel-maybe-alive]

Twilight worse sin is being boring

I remember back in the early 2000s when twilight was "The" book/movie franchise, it was quite like mint ice cream some love some hate and I was in the love side as I was still on k-12 when the movies where released, and surprisingly I was on a team Jacob school as I remember most of my class mates fighting for the unofficial and probably illegal sets of twilight cards they used to sell with his face on it.

As I grew older and more rebellious I started hating it because all the cool kids hated it

It's been a long time since I even thought about twilight the most I thought about it recently was that famous butterfly effect of 9/11 caused the end of Ellen DeGeneres career (of course I only knew that because it involved my chemical romance, and speaking of them the song vampire money is another twilight thing I had been thinking about)

Anyway I went to the library recently and realized that I never actually read the books to form my own opinion, so I did and my opinion is that

It's a boring book

Yeah it's also a objectively bad book, it's whiter than a kkk party and Edward is objectively a creep (he literally uses the "you are so mature for your age" line) the quilelute tribe doesn't have a big participation yet but even if I didn't knew how this would go I won't thought that they would have a good treatment

But all sins considered what surprised me is how utterly boring this book is

Maybe TikTok and fanfic burned my attention span maybe I am being judgemental but this book was a snooze

There are no stakes (pun intended)

Because Meyer's vampire's have to be objectively good angels (literally she calls Edward that in the end) it robs the story of the easiest and more attractive concept of vampire romance which is the erotic yet sinful concept of blood drinking

Edward keeps repeating over and over again how dangerous and tortured he is and yet he does nothing objectively evil(recognized by the text, again he is creepy)

To pair with Edward I'm evil but not really vibes we have bella who only reaction to anything is polite interest or overtly distaste, she is the live embodiment of IDGAF but not on a ironic way more on a disassociating way

Ad this combination creatures two annoying ass characters Edward makes a big deal of anything he does and bella just reacts with interest but not excitement

Also by the fifth or sixth time bella described Edward's beauty I was ready to throw this book at a wall, this is what you get when your characters have the depth of a tea spoon you have to hammer over and over again about their hotness so the reader won't think about how again he has nothing else going on .

We could've had a conflict about loving a creature who kills to live, but he doesn't kill he eats animals, or loving something so much older than the character, but bella is mature for her age, or is him doing all this to get a lunch but Edward refuses to even consider taking a sip

So we have pages and more pages of nothing and then some action right in the end but you have to go through the boring parts

It's a boring book

I'm not good at ratings but this book is a solid 3/5 for me good concept shitty execution go read any other vampire media at least there's horny blood drinking

[joellesolo]

So this past weekend, I listed this vintage school desk we've had for over five years on marketplace finally (it's a really long story; basically, I told my mom, do not give it to Peanut, we don't have room for it, we don't want it, she's never going to use it, don't you dare bring it over... guess what she gave Pea for her second birthday 🙃 anyway. Pea is seven, now. So, it's been over five years and this stupid fucking enormous desk has just been taking up space in the guest room, which then turned into Michael's office, and then eventually became Lily's room, annnnd here we are today...)

I am most likely not going to get my asking price of $200 (even though they go for $400-$700 in other cities), like, whatever, I'd be happy if someone offered me half of that, and just fucking took it off my hands at this point, I just want it GONE, thank you?!

(Oh, also, important to note! Please keep in mind: been SUUPER fucking manic for two weeks, med changes and shit, and then unmedicated since Monday; just, you know, VERY unstable and crazy and out of my mind, it's probably contributing to the pure rage I feel right now, just, an general fyi!)

Anyway! On Thursday morning, I get a message through marketplace and... well, uh, I don't really have words, so, here you go!

Uh... really, Justin? ARE you sorry to bother me? Because... it feels like IF you didn't want to bother me, you could have simply... not sent the message?

Like, damn, bro! So, obviously I get instantly enraged. Because who does this? Why is this okay? This guy is sending a literal STRANGER a message through FACEBOOK MARKETPLACE, of all fucking places, and he KNOWS it's inappropriate so he's trying to soften it?!

Also, I have my facebook privacy settings so if you aren't my friends, pretty much the only things you are able to see are my profile picture (if you go the my "my face" tag on my tumblr, it's my most recent post), my cover picture (a picture of the girls from a couple Valentine's Day's ago), and that I'm married to Michael. So if he attempted to look through my profile (which... probably 😒) he KNOWS I'm married. With children. And still sent this message anyway?!

But let's give him the benefit of the doubt? Even IF he didn't look at my profile, and DIDN'T KNOW I was married with kids, like... why would he think this was an okay thing to send to someone just trying to sell a fucking children's desk?!

... okay, I just typed that out and realized I take back the benefit of the doubt; he must know I have kids, because I am fucking selling a goddamn kid's school desk 😒 (yeah okay sure MAYBE I could be some vintage furniture collector but, I'm not buying that...)

Anyway. That was Thursday. I was super pissed, and raged about it to friends and family, and then because of my severe mental health crises, more or less forgot about it, and, yeah. Here we are now. Saturday.

So, JUST IMAGINE MY SURPRISE, when my phone goes *ding* and I pick it up thinking it's a mom friend or something, and instead I see the following:

... okay, like, I thought I was pissed the first time?!

Ha. Uh, ha, no? WHY DID HE THINK MY SILENCE WAS AN INVITATION TO SEND ANOTHER MESSAGE?! LIKE WHAT THE FUCK??!

I have no doubt this is one of those "your body, my choice" fuckers. NO DOUBT AT ALL. This is absolutely what the people chose. They have been emboldened one hundred percent. It's absolutely just... ugh.

I told my friends, and they're all like, wtf 😡🤢🤬 I told my family, and I get, "well Joelle, why didn't you just block him!!"

... yes. Because this is somehow all my fault? I totally asked for these unwelcome messages in the first place by posting the desk, like, oh wow, how dare I?!

🤦🏽‍♀️

No, stfu, get out of here 😒 My next step is figuring out how to report him to facebook, obviously, so he doesn't send me any other goddamn messages. Because I feel like they would just get worse?

BUT. He's going to know it was me! Unless he happens to be sending messages to women selling stuff all over Reno? Because I will just not show up in his messenger any more... but he has my name? He can just try to google me and find me?

JESUS FUCKING CHRIST I JUST GOOGLED MY OWN NAME AND THERE'S A GODDAMN WEBSITE AND IT LITERALLY HAS MY FULL FUCKING HOME ADDRESS ON THERE, SEVERAL PREVIOUS ADDRESSES, SEVERAL PREVIOUS PHONE NUMBERS, AND MOST OF MY GODDAMN RELATIVES, WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK IS TRUE PEOPLE SEARCH AND HOW THE FUCK DID THEY GET ALL THIS PERSONAL INFORMATION ABOUT ME?!!?!!?

okay well this is a fucking great turn of events now i'm scared to report him because what if he fucking GOOGLES ME AND COMES TO MY HOME AND TRIES TO HARM ME OR MY DAUGHTERS FUCK THIS

AHHH JESUS

sorry for having a goddamn literal freak out midpost

but FUCK TRUE PEOPLE SEARCH WOW

guess i need to figure out how to get all my information removed off there FIRST and then report the creepy fucker on marketplace?!!??! so much for resting today.... wow 😭😭😭

NONE OF THIS IS OKAY ABSOLUTELY NONE OF IT

[anomaly-high-diaries]

Connie’s Basic Diary:

Cover: Don’t read my diary. Please. Just, just don’t.

August 30th

So uh, my roommate, Lavande (apparently it is the French word for Lavender?) said I might like to keep a diary, so I got one. It just showed up, with my name on it. It is kinda peculiar, but, whatever.

So my name is Connie D. Tainer, my middle name is personal information. I am 15 years old. I’ve been homeschooled my whole life until recently. Actually, I have not really left the house until recently. My parents said it was for the best if I just stayed home, so I have not really had any friends until, again, recently. My dad would stay here to teach me, and my mom would go to her lab. I knew she was a scientist, but I did not know much else until, once again, recently.

So earlier this month, my parents got a letter saying I had been chosen to go somewhere called Anomaly High? And my mom revealed that she worked at a Foundation that contained such… anomalies. They said I was a normal girl though. They also explained the People Room, oh, I forgot to mention the People Room!

So, there is a big room back home with a bunch of pictures of people I have never met before. They would add another picture at least once every other week. They were my friends, I would talk to them, and they would… continue to be inanimate objects. My best friend was there before I was born, it was this old white guy. What set him apart from the other old white guys was that he had heterochromia, one brown eye, one green eye. I loved that.

So it turns out that the room was to honor dead coworkers. Yeah. Surprised I did not ask until then. That kinda… reinvents my entire life.

Back on topic, they said I could go as long as I routinely wrote back letters describing what it was like. I would be an agent discovering this new anomaly. I was just excited to finally leave the house, but I was also excited to be an agent. I was excited to be something other than this one autistic girl that barely anyone knows exists.

I woke up there the next day, met Lavande, and yeah that is my life so far. Kinda boring.

September 1st.

I have come to realize that “Anomaly High” is a more fitting name than I thought. I am not a fool, I knew no one would be normal (Lav couldn’t exactly pass for human) nothing could prepare you for actually going to a school and knowing no one there is normal. No one except you, of course. I could not figure out for the life of me why I was there when, after asking around, I determined that everyone else in my dormitory (there are multiple dormitories where about six students stay, three dorms, each with two students, that’s how it works) was,

Lavande Merle: An artificial humanoid. She’s white, like, literally. Black sclera too, and yellow eyes. Apparently she is about 49% whatever her dad is, 49% human, and 2% other stuff to balance it out. Whatever that means. She doesn’t know where the human DNA came from however, since “he died before (she) was created”. … That’s not… great, but eh, you don’t pick how you’re born.

Oozelle Manson: Girl looks like a walking corpse covered in black goop. She got offended when I called her a zombie though. I do not… actually know what she is. I do not think she trusts me. Really should not have called her a zombie.

Aviya El Asem: She looks the most human, but she’s covered in these red markings, and her eyes? Equally red. She said she wanted to show me a cool party trick and then summoned a red knife. She then stabbed the palm of her hand, which then reformed when she took the knife out. I am worried she got some weird infection but she said that was silly. She has a pig.

Scalett Reptile: Exactly what you’re thinking, minus the fact she is not red. Tall and technically humanoid, however, so there is that. Lav got weird vibes from her. Wish I could say more but she did not want to talk.

Rosé Copperhead: Fae. With butterfly wings and stuff, specifically a pink rose butterfly to my knowledge. Insistent she got her name ethically. Good for her, I guess??? Do not really have much else to add.

Gosh, I stick out like a sore thumb. Why am I here? I am nothing special.

September 2nd

Oozelle bit me. She bit my freaking arm and I had to go to the nurse. Oozelle was really apologetic and swore I was not gonna get rabies or something, but she still freaking bit me!!

Nurse… Nurse, that is literally her name, managed to patch me up. Oozelle explained that her species can… only properly eat human flesh. Great. Apparently this school (and her home dimension, because apparently she is from another freaking dimension) have these plates that can turn normal meat into human flesh, so she does not kill people, luckily. Apparently she was anxious about track and forgot to eat, but like, gosh, my arm hurts so bad oh my gosh.

I’m just worried that I am not as upset as I should be over this. I do not know, at least it was not my dominant arm, or something?

September 3rd

It is becoming more clear to me that I, as a human, am the minority in this school. Some boy named Forrest dragged this weird demon girl, Molly, to me telling her to apologize about something. Apparently he’s also human (though he knows magic) and Molly asked if humans like salt in their wounds “in a funny prank way” because she heard the phrase, and thought it might be a fun prank to put salt in my arm wound.

At least she asked, I guess? Better than her actually doing it, no questions asked. Gosh, I have grown way too numb to this crap,

Anyways, Forrest knows magic, huh? I have an idea on how to fit in with the other students. I am going to ask him to teach me all that he knows.

September 4th.

He said no. Apparently he is not true if I can be trusted, and while he does know magic, he does not know how to teach it, and it was this whole thing that I do not wish to get into. No one here is willing to help me fit in. I am truly alone here.

But I am more alone at home. Here, I have Lavande, she is a wonderful friend. But is our connection true? What if it is all a lie? What am I supposed to do? I am in a madhouse and I cannot for the life of me figure out what got me here! I just want to belong, why can I not have that? What did I do?

September 4th (continued)

Hello Connie! I saw you writing in here while crying and I know it’s rude to read someone else’s diary but this felt like a good exception since you refused to talk to me about it, and I really want to help you. If I can’t fix Ray-Ray, at least I can fix you, maybe? Please don’t be mad at me, I won’t do it again if you don’t want me to.

You do belong here. It doesn’t matter if you don’t have some special ability or aren’t some sort of creature or whatever. You belong here because you’re my best friend, and I would never have met you if you weren’t here. That alone is enough. And besides, maybe you’re just like a late bloomer, or something! You might sprout a tail tomorrow! Seriously though, you do belong here, no matter what happens. You can talk with me if you ever doubt that so I don’t have to read your diary again. And if you want, I can share a super personal secret with you, you know, so it evens out.

September 5th

Lavande, if you are reading this, stop. I appreciate your intervention yesterday and all that, but you do not need to do that again, ok? Seriously though, thank you. Now stop unless it is an emergency or something.

Anyways, I talked about it with Lavande, and she was super understanding??? She said she cared. Honestly, it just felt good to talk about it with someone. I really won the roommate lottery, huh?

…Anyways, she did share something personal, and I’m just gonna write it down here (with their permission). They told me about their human DNA donor.

Apparently back in the late 2010s, before I was born, her father had been kept at the same facility my parents worked at. I would say small world, but eh, context clues would have told me that anyway. Apparently her “human dad” as she calls him, was the only person they got along with there. But unfortunately, one day, her father was forced to kill him. She did not elaborate on why. Anyways, her father later escaped (she would not tell me how) and has been in hiding ever since. They created Lavande, using some of the doctor's DNA (she would not tell me why they had it) as a tribute. She did not know his name, but she did have a picture (they would not tell me where it was from). Now, here is where it gets… concerning. Lavande, if you are reading this, please stop, you are better off not knowing the following information. It would affect our bond, despite not involving either of our personal actions.

One brown eye, one green eye.

[raincitygirl76]

I love and greatly miss Farscape. And yes, its characters all start the premiere episode strangers to each other, thrown together by chance. And crucially, all the characters start out in that episode utterly isolated from any previous support systems and biological families. Those strangers, over the course of time, really do become a family. Sometimes a very messy and dysfunctional family who can barely stand each other. But family all the same.

Farscape was an uneven show. It could be and often was absolutely fucking brilliant. Particularly in seasons 2 and 3. That show could make me bray with laughter at how funny it was, and cry my eyes out when it was sad. But there were, admittedly, some episodes that were absolute turkeys. But Farscape’s creators took creative risks. Those risks didn’t always pay off, but they kept right on trying. And when the risks did pay off, the show was spellbinding.

Farscape (1999-2004) is also the last major tv series to avoid CGI alien creatures, shortly before CGI took over Hollywood. All the aliens for the show were puppets created by the Jim Henson Creature Shop. The actors frequently physically interacted with the puppet characters in scenes. It was so much better than acting against a green screen for a CGI alien that will be added later via pixels.

I realize that puppetry is expensive and labour-intensive, while CGI gets cheaper all the time. Mostly due to the exploitation of digital effects artists, who are not unionized and are often expected to work 60 to 70 hour weeks while only being paid for 40 hours. But relying on CGI special effects is a race to the bottom, from an artistic POV. As we see from the puppet aliens on Farscape, who are unmistakably real. On my most recent rewatch, I realized just how shitty supposedly “state of the art” CGI on movies and TV shows released in 2023 looks compared to a TV show that started in 1999 and avoided green screens.

John Crichton talking to the non-humanoid alien character Rygel (just as one example from an early episode in S1) was absolutely believable, because Ben Browder literally had his hands on Rygel (voiced by an actor but onscreen, “played” by a puppet). Now, obviously, that scene, like every other “hands on the puppet” scene, must have been meticulously choreographed.

The director, Browder, and the puppeteers operating Rygel must have worked together to do the scene without damaging the very expensive puppet or injuring any of the puppeteers. But the effect of the actors physically interacting with the puppets is bloody amazing. I didn’t think of Rygel (or the other non-humanoid characters) as the creation of puppeteers and a voice actor. They were as real as any other character. Here’s a scene from Season 1 between Crichton and Rygel. It’s not an especially physical scene, but it was the first I could find on YouTube.

I also recently discovered Farscape is available digitally for purchase on the iTunes Store. The advantage of buying it on iTunes is I now have digital copies that I own. Apple can’t take them away from me, even if they lose the rights to sell downloads of the show in future. Those digital downloads remain my legal property. Which is great! Although pay attention to the pricing. iTunes Store Canada was offering all 4 seasons plus the miniseries for $79.99 CAD. But if you buy each season and the miniseries as 5 separate purchases, it only adds up to $73 CAD.

I’d gone looking for it digitally the first time a few years ago. At the time, it was only available digitally on one of the streaming services with a monthly subscription. Can’t remember now which service (possibly Amazon Prime?), but you only have access to the content as long as you keep the subscription. And of course, when the streaming service’s contract with the production company that made the show expires, the show can easily disappear from the platform.

Yeah, i still have my Farscape DVD box sets from back in the day, and no plans to get rid of them. But I watch less and less TV on my actual television set these days. My couch isn’t very comfortable, and the living room blinds let in too much sun, the glare make it hard to see the screen sometimes. Over the past few years, with more and more of what I watch being streaming on Netflix or other platforms, or with digital downloads I own, I often grab my laptop and watch TV in bed. The bedroom has blackout curtains, and my bed is comfy. Also, the laptop screen is much smaller than my TV, but I’m sitting or lying much closer to it. And my laptop screen has excellent resolution.

Obviously, not everyone is in a position where they can drop $73 CAD to buy digital downloads of a show they already own on DVD, and/or could access much more cheaply via a streamer’s monthly subscription. Owning the show both digitally and on DVD is an optional extra. But for me, it was a nice treat to myself a few days after I got my tax refund.

Everybody who’s ever called a group of people who vaguely get along “found family trope” owes the farscape crew $500 for appropriating the term. You WISH you had what they have

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So I was being a basic bitch the other day and listening to my true crime podcasts when it occurred to me just how suspicious Nile’s “death” would look to everyone not in the Guard, leading me to a train of thought that, 2200 words later, absolutely got away from me but I can’t let go so I’m inflicting it on all of you!

To set the stage, we know the movie takes place over approximately a week. Here’s what happens to Nile from the military’s point of view:

She dies is very seriously injured

She heals without a scratch

Just before she’s supposed to be shipped out to Germany, she vanishes, leaving two men concussed (and presumably reporting being knocked out by a woman with short hair wearing civilian clothes)

She goes AWOL for several days

They get word from the CIA that she is to be reported killed in action (details unclear)

So, at the beginning of this very weird week, the USMC has to tell Nile’s family of her death critical injury. What her family was told depends on how long she was dead – a Google search tells me that family will be notified in person within 8 hours of a soldier’s death, but we don’t know how long her first death lasted. For an injury, however, they’d get a phone call to notify them and the unit would arrange for them to visit as soon as the soldier is transferred out of a combat zone. Like I remember when I was in high school, a guy from my church who was a Marine was really seriously injured in a helicopter crash in Iraq and from what I could tell, his parents were told immediately and were flown out to Germany to see him, so it stands to reason that Nile’s family would have been informed relatively quickly after her throat was slashed, one way or another.

And then, she goes AWOL. Her family would be notified while the USMC tried to figure out where she went, not least because the military would want to know if she’s contacted them. (And it’s possible that her family may have been on the way to Germany to see her since we know that’s where she was supposed to go!) So for several days:

Nile’s mom and brother have no idea where she is

They know she was seriously injured and most certainly should not have been moving around on her own

They can’t get a hold of her

The military can’t tell them anything

And the next thing they know for sure is that she was “killed in action.” After being injured and vanishing into thin air. And they presumably cannot produce her body or any concrete evidence of her death. In any case, something sketchy is going on, so they’re like. SMELLS LIKE A MILITARY COVERUP.

In a surprise to probably no one, there is a well-documented legacy of mysterious US military deaths, particularly of women of color (TW for sexual assault in these links). The cases of LaVena Johnson and Vanessa Guillenin particular have made national news because of their families’ persistence in seeking justice. Likewise, Nile is a Black woman, and her mom and brother are most certainly hypercognizant of (a) state violence against Black people and (b) these high-profile cases of suspicious military deaths. So her family are seriously side-eyeing the situation, knowing that (a) the military has a serious incentive (and a documented history) of covering up things that make them look bad and (b) nothing about Nile’s disappearance and supposed death are adding up.

And Andy’s right. Nile does come from warriors. And you know who else does? Her brother.

Don’t get me wrong. Nile’s mom would absolutely not back down. She’d know something was up and want to get to the bottom of it. But based on what I know about Gen X parents (mine), they’re not the most technologically savvy. Like they can use the internet, but they didn’t grow up with it the way we young millennials and Gen Z did. So Nile’s brother takes the lead. And what do zillennials do best?

Social media.

Nile’s brother starts going hard on any site he can, trying to get the word out to see if anyone knows what happened to his sister. He starts a Reddit thread. He starts a Facebook group. He reaches out to the media and true crime bloggers and podcasters à la Sarah Turney, getting loud and being a general nuisance in hopes of getting some answers. He gets his friends and Nile’s friends involved. Maybe eventually Dizzy, Jay, and others from Nile’s unit hear about it and reach out, telling him what they saw and how weird it all was. He’s drumming up interest, and soon “Nile Freeman” becomes a household name (at least among the true crime fans).

Copley is, of course, trying his best, but at this point there is just so much that it’s impossible for him to scrub everything. Sure, he can erase new footage of Nile and the Guard, but what can he do about Reddit threads and podcast episodes that are speculating something weird has happened? Maybe he could hack the sites and shut those things down, but honestly, that’s the last thing he’d want to do, because that only adds weight to the theory that Nile’s disappearance is a military coverup. So eventually he has to tell Andy what’s going on.

Andy, obviously, does not take the news well. However, she is also completely computer illiterate, because that’s Booker’s job and he’s the only one who ever bothered to learn what the internet is in any meaningful way. (She probably calls Booker for advice, and for the record, I think Booker would have no qualms about shutting down conspiracy threads, tinhats be damned, but Copley is too concerned about the consequences. He’s ex-CIA for crying out loud, he knows how it’ll look if they scrub every mention of Nile’s name from the internet.) Maybe she confers with Joe and Nicky but, let’s be honest, they’d be equally unhelpful. So at this point, she knows they have to bring in Nile.

But the thing about Nile is that she, too, knows how to use the internet (duh). Aside from her being a young millennial/digital native, we know from the cave scene where she’s giving Booker suggestions on how to track Copley that she clearly is even more computer savvy than the average person. And for that reason she almost definitely took over the day-to-day tech stuff after Booker’s exile. So I think it would be foolish to expect her to be unaware of what’s happening. She’s not contacting her family or posting on the message boards or anything, but she knows what’s up. So Copley and the team probably sit her down to “break the news,” but we know the girl does not have a poker face (see: literally shooting herself in the foot and not being able to play it cool whatsoever) and cracks immediately, telling them she’s seen everything about her case – she’s not interacting with any of it, she certainly didn’t instigate anything, but she knows. (And she is so goddamn proud of her brother.)

At this point, I’d like to pause and consider Nile’s role in the overall narrative of this movie. She’s set up as a foil to Andy, obviously, but she’s also a foil to Booker. Booker, who, like Andy, is a serious pessimist, but who, unlike Andy, still has very fresh memories and trauma associated with being the new kid, which have destroyed him. In his mind (and Andy’s), if Nile communicates with her family, she’ll become just like him in a century or two – bitter, alone, and stuck with her grief and memories of watching her family die and knowing they died resenting her. It’s a small sample size, but this is the only experience they have to go off of.

But it doesn’t have to be like that.

There’s been a lot of discussion of TOG being a fundamentally queer movie – a group of people brought together because of something inherent about themselves that is different, that must be hidden, that causes others to hate, fear, and reject them. Booker’s backstory is the archetypal traumatic “coming out” story – his family learns who he is, hate him for it, and attempt to cast him out of their lives. He’s stuck with his trauma, his pain, his loss, and it consumes him.

But what if Nile’s family would be the opposite? What if her “coming out” to them as immortal is met with acceptance, love, celebration? What if her family is just overjoyed to have her back, and they don’t care what the circumstances are? I'm reminded of this incredible post from @shitty-old-guard-deaths a while back, where Nile’s mother hits Booker with a frying pan because “my baby let me believe she was dead for FIVE YEARS based on your bad advice???” (which may or may not have inspired this whole tangent). Nile takes the advice of someone who did the same thing she wants to do because she doesn’t want to risk her family’s rejection. She wants the good memories with her family and is afraid that showing them her true self will bring her unbearable pain, forever replacing those memories. But, with high risk comes high reward.

Anyway. Nile and the team are trying to come up with a plan for how to handle this whole thing, but she’s not really participating because she’s too afraid to hope. Until finally, quickly, so she doesn’t lose her nerve, she suggests she reach out to them, knowing that, realistically, that’s the only solution before things snowball even further out of control. The team is shocked, but realize that she has a point. They decide that Copley should actually be the first point of contact, posing as a US government official to talk with them and test the waters.

So Copley goes to Nile’s family’s house to talk with her mom and brother. They’re probably distrustful and apprehensive, but nonetheless secretly ecstatic that their work has paid off. They talk and review all of the information that they’ve collected, including testimonials from the people on Nile’s base and recent sightings (along with photos) of Nile (with the same three people) over the last few years that people have sent them but they haven’t posted publicly. At this point, Copley’s like, yeah this is about to blow up, we gotta put our cards on the table. He convinces them to come with him to some safe house/black site/whatever he can get that is technologically impenetrable (I’m picturing them in like, an interrogation room at a police station kind of deal), takes their phones, locks the doors, and brings in Nile.

What follows is the most delightful reunion scene of all time, bringing Joe, Nicky, and even Andy to tears as they watch and listen from outside the room. With Copley’s help, Nile tells her mom and brother about her immortality and what’s been going on since she died (within reason, of course), and they are thrilled. They don’t understand why (because no one does) but they don’t question it and they see it as a gift from God – she’s been resurrected, she will live, and she has a purpose. Her mother and brother are so happy to see her again and are willing to agree with pretty much anything to stay in her life as long as they can.

So. They set up some complicated agreement (they bring in the other three for support/intimidation as needed) setting the terms of their relationship. They swear Nile’s family to secrecy, maybe bringing up the lab to show how high the stakes are, and they readily agree. They come up with some cover story for Nile’s brother to share on the message boards (maybe that the government has opened an investigation but because it’s an open case he has to shut it all down? Tells people to direct their tips somewhere else? Something to that effect). There’s still speculation, of course, but without Nile’s brother at the helm providing the energy, the hype dies down as news stories are wont to do without any movement. And Nile’s family goes to work for the team. The experience has taught them that Copley can’t possibly do everything himself, especially when it comes to social media, so Nile’s brother takes the lead on the day-to-day tracking/social media while Copley and her mom focus on finding jobs and scrubbing their traces afterward.

So there you have it: Nile gets to integrate her biological family into her found family and spend the rest of their lives with them as it should be, Copley gets some badly needed help managing the reality of social media, the team finally has a positive narrative surrounding outsiders Knowing About Them AND about interacting with people from their previous life, and the audience gets the happy ending to this very lovely and very queer story to counteract the pain associated with Booker’s family.

Plus, you know, I’m a sucker for both a good government conspiracy theory and for Nile getting every good thing she deserves.