#at least it wasn't us though.

[stabbyfoxandrew]

oh my god my parents almost fell for a facebook scam.

someone they know posted that they were selling a car and my parents asked me to help them send a down payment over paypal.

thank GOD they asked me instead of just trying to do it themselves.

[artharakka]

Beautiful, But Broken

[rev-velvet]

In the wise words of our queen:

Lowkey though Im not even mad nor suprised that Team Bear cubs won yall was fightin like Mr.Grizz was 'bout to cut your pay by 80% if you didn't

[where-the-water-flows]

like on the one hand, obviously di feisheng wouldn't have been at all surprised when the first (second third however many were sent after him to their deaths) di assassin came for him, because he's im/ex-plicitly doing what he's doing (best at sword/founding the alliance etc) to keep himself safe from di fortress, and you don't do that unless there's, y'know, something to keep yourself safe from.

on the other hand. killing other di fortress kids clearly fucked him up! it was not something he wanted to do or enjoyed doing, it was something he was grimly doing because it was that or die, and also under threat of the mind control bug/ringing bell torture. even when he has amnesia, his nightmares feature him begging to know why they have to kill each other.

literally as soon as he physically can, he goes back to di fortress to free the other orphans, and when he's storming the gates, he very clearly uses nonlethal tactics on everyone between him and master Di. He bowls those kids standing guard over, but they show up at the end at the back of the crowd getting freed like everyone else, not really looking that worse for wear considering the second most powerful man in the jianghu just rolled through them.

so. how fucked up you think he was when he had to fight - and presumably kill - another di fortress orphan, after he'd escaped. after he thought he was free of it, after he thought that he was out?

the later ones, sure, it's awful but at that point it's sort of a numb horror of 'never quite free'; the first one, though, after however long of not having to do that, after maybe even convincing himself that he can just bide his time and get strong enough and no one will ever make him do that again, that between his skill and his (in)famous identity and maybe even the fucking alliance he's formed he's almost safe, that he's as free from the fortress as he can possibly be with the bug still in him....

and then he finds himself locked in combat, again, with another kid who knows the feeling of ringing in his bones and who knows that the only way this fight ends is with one of them dead at master Di's command.

(bonus round: how grimly grateful was he to be able to free the ones sent after him, even if it was through death - he at least could make it fast, make it...clean, ish, for a death in combat.

make it almost kind.

how long has he spent his life with that as the shitty back up/consolation plan - if he can't find a way to deal with the bug in him somehow, the knowledge that at least maybe he can get a few of them out from under the control of the fortress, even if it's just via the edge of his dao)

[technically-human]

There are currently 6 requests left on my inbox, and it might take me a while to do them all, but don't worry, I've received them 💕

[madphantom]

I'm starting to feel like my current horror film project is just cursed

Like, I made a first attempt to shoot it back in early 2020, but just when I had a cast the pandemic started.

In late 2021 I made another attempt, had everything ready, but then the pandemic worsened and due to Covid restrictions I couldn't meet up with everyone for the shoot and we just gave up.

Then last fall I started my current attempt after joining my film club, this time around with a larger cast and crew. I wanted to start shooting in January, but had organization issues, so I pushed back the shoot to early March.

Two weeks before the planned start, one of the actors suddenly said he won't be able to make it, but luckily I found a replacement fairly quickly.

The same day another actor texted me to let me know he's in intensive care in the hospital and might not make it to the first day of shooting, so I moved all his shots to a later date.

One week before the planned start a stand-in actress left the project because she noticed she had exams during the time. I texted several other people to no avail until I ultimately found someone after three days.

TWO DAYS BEFORE THE PLANNED START ONE OF THE LEAD ACTRESSES LEFT THE PROJECT DUE TO A FAMILY EMERGENCY so I texted my friend in high panic mode and luckily she had time.

All this and the new availabilities led to me pushing the shoot back two more weeks.

And now we wait what's gonna go wrong until then.

[morrigan-sims]

Knight-Commander Theodore Marshall

Carrion's former mentor and father figure, and the commander of the Knights of the Silver Order. Just a Dad trying his best. Regrets nothing more than leaving the boy he knew as Reverence for dead. Unfortunately for him, Reverence Carrion is alive, and wants him dead...

[closeup of his face and official art reference under the cut]

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

What's your opinion on malewife/house husband Adrien posts? I asked this to another blog, and like I said to them, I find them a guilty pleasure: The concept is cute, but I know that would be the last thing Adrien would ever wanna be after all his dad put him through.

I don't think that it would be the last thing that Adrien would ever want. I actually think it suits his character in a lot of ways, you just have to handle the topic with care.

First let's talk about why it suits him.

Miraculous has totally failed to give Adrien any sort of career-based passion and - if we ignore the senti complication - I honestly love that for him! I want more characters with no major life ambitions to balance out the Marinettes of the world!

I think that society places way too much pressure and value on finding the perfect career that fulfills us in every way while also allowing us to put food on the table. Most people will never find that and that's okay. It doesn't mean that you've failed or that you're lesser. For most people, the goal is to find a career that pays the bills and that you enjoy enough that you don't hate doing it 40hrs/week. Along similar lines, for most people, your passion will be something that doesn't make money. It will be something like a hobby or spending time with those you love or analyzing badly written French TV shows.

This brings us back to Adrien.

Adrien seems to get a great deal of joy from being around his loved ones and making them happy, so I can absolutely picture him finding a lot of joy in running a home. This is extra true because Marinette is pretty clearly career driven and she's planning to go into a creative field, so she'll probably have a pretty crazy schedule and struggle to stay on top of it all. Having a loving husband to take things like cooking and cleaning off of her plate would be a blessing and a gift that she'd greatly appreciate, but that would feel unbalanced if Adrien was working, too. (Yes, they could hire staff, but that risks the secret identity thing, so I don't see them doing that.)

If they both have power careers, then they'd barely see each other and I hate that for them. I think that it would make Adrien incredibly sad and depressed. Plus, while Marinette thrives off of competition and staying busy, only needing occasional breaks before diving right back in, Adrien seems to hate busy schedules and heavy work loads.

Given all of that, I think that there's a lot to be said for Adrien stepping away from the working world. Especially since he's been in it for years and being a child celebrity is no joke! I think it would be nice for him to escape from strict schedules and expectations. Dinner fails? Order takeout!

While we're on the topic of food, I really like the idea of Adrien falling in love with cooking. Dude needs a creative outlet and that's honestly a great one (I hate it when people write characters as unable to figure out cooking like it's some cute quirk. While an initial struggle is believable, it's not a mystical art that takes years of practice. Between YouTube, the wider Internet, and maybe some classes if he wants to get fancy, I think that he'll be fine.) There's so much variety with what you can do in the kitchen and the end result gets to be shared and appreciated by those you love. It just seems like a perfect fit for him, but I would never make him a professional chef because the hours are insane and the pressure to be perfect is high. I only see him loving it as a hobby where he can go at his own pace, take days off, and make lazy meals when he's not feeling like being a show off.

The big concerns that come with making him a homemaker are a lack of financial independence and a lack of socialization. I don't see the first thing as an issue for Adrien since he comes from a wealthy family, so that one doesn't phase me.

The isolation could very easily be an issue, but it could just as easily be a problem if he started working, too. It's not as if a job is a sure way to have friends or even just consistent positive social interactions, which is another reason why I don't really see a need to give him a traditional job. You can get a vibrant social life in lots of other ways.

Here are the two big things that I keep in mind when writing an Adrien-as-a-homemaker or similar setup as it is where I tend to have Adrien land for all of the above reasons:

Adrien needs to be active in some organization or project. Volunteer work is a good fit as is being an active stay-at-home parent or some combination of the two. Voice acting is also on my radar, but my default is to have him act as the head of team miraculous' out-of-battle activities. Scheduling meet and greets. Going to see sick kids. Jetting around the world for humanitarian aid missions. Basically let Chat Noir be his "career" which gives him a lot of much needed flexibility for making his own schedule, especially if he's a stay-at-home parent to any eventual kids. I also like the poetic nature of Adrien finally being proud to be the face of a "brand" via his hero side while his civilian side becomes just some guy that people kind of remember from old ads.

Consider having a non-traditional living arrangement. I am a big fan of hero teams living together, so my default is to take the Agreste mansion and remodel it into a secret HQ for the team. Adrien and Marinette would have their own apartment/wing/whatever, but they'd still be surrounded by their found family on a near-daily basis, so that social isolation is the last thing on Adrien's mind. There's almost always someone to hang out with! You could also just have Alya and Nino or other friends live in the same apartment building so that they're over a lot/Adrien has a place to hang when Marinette is working late because you know that she'd do that.

Basically, Adrien's rich, so he doesn't need to make money and he doesn't seem to have any interest in a normal job, so I really like letting him having a unique life where he doesn't have a traditional job. He is a superhero, after all. Unique career paths are pretty par for the course. You just have to be careful to make sure that all of this feels like his fully informed and carefully considered choice and not like you forced it on him to make Marinette's life perfect (I only brought her up earlier because this is a story and it makes sense to design characters around each other). I usually do this by sending Adrien to therapy in his late teens or by giving him some other parth of self discovery.

Do note that all of the above is inspired by my read of Adrien which may be totally different from your read of him and that's fine! I just can't picture him as someone who thrives in a traditional career path based on knowing people who strike me as similar to him and from whom I draw my understanding of how to write that part of Adrien's character. I think that he'd be perfectly able to have a traditional career path, but I also think that he'd be pretty miserable for a lot of reasons.

I'll also note that I'm not sure what posts spawned this ask, so there may be elements of those that I'd have criticisms of. This post was about the general concept of Adrien being a homemaker. I tend to avoid the broader fandom for my own sanity and the use of the term "malewife" has me concerned that I'm implying support of something I wouldn't actually support because that's a new one for me and it sounds incredibly sexist.

I'm not a fan of implying that the default definition of "wife" is "submissive homemaker" so a man taking on a homemaking role is clearly submissive and acting like a woman does while his aggressive, domineering wife is acting like a man, which is the definition of this word that I'm finding online and yikes! Wife and husband are legal/social status in my book. They are not clearly defined jobs/roles/personality types, so I'm not a fan of using gendered terms to refer to stuff like this especially since I do actively try to use gender neutral words in my own writing whenever I can, though I'm certainly far from perfect on that front.

I also don't see homemaking as a submissive act. It certainly can be, but that's not how I picture Adrien at all! I picture him as relaxed and plesent, but 100% in charge of the home and all choices about how it's run. I also see him being in charge of their finances like homemakers often were in the "old days" since they were the ones in charge of things like scheduling cleaners, buying food, and other things that needed strong budgeting skills while the person who worked wasn't actually spending money or managing the home since they were at work. I like to think that Nathalie would prep Adrien to be a wealthy man and so he'd have strong skills in finance management.

[lovecolibri]

Just sitting here at work looking at everything Oliver keeps saying, and hearing couch theory is coming up and I just

[houseofheroesau]

*hug attacks Time*

He doesn't like being startled

[kurokoros]

still mad that we didn't get Vecna possessing Steve. haha silly Steve who asks stupid questions and everyone dunks on as if he's not an athlete and one of the better combatants in the group. Steve, who knocked out a trained soldier at 19. Steve, who has been beaten to hell every season and gotten right back up afterwards. just goofy old Steve.

but what if Steve wasn't actually Steve anymore?

[yanlideservedbetter]

A rather bad picture of some nice lotus and beef stew I had last year. I'd always wanted to try it and I saw a Chinese restaurant near me that served it and had to get some.

As a whole, I don't think I would ever crave this dish, but I really enjoy the texture of lotus roots, so I thought it was nice. The roots aren't particularly flavourful, though, so I can imagine others wouldn't enjoy it much.

[everysongineverykey]

i dunno it kinda bothers me sometimes to see characters who are referred to with they/them pronouns in games described as "ambiguously gendered" or "gender left unclear" or "gender unstated" by fans and stuff like. yeah absolutely they are sometimes that. sometimes the creator had a gender in mind for them while creating them and just didn't think to talk about it in the game. but also, like. sometimes characters can just be nonbinary? and it makes me kinda sad that everyone's first reaction to they/them pronouns in games is "oh, they have a binary gender, it's just up to the player/not stated in-game".

[rawliverandgoronspice]

behold: my second least favorite string of words in the entirety of Tears of the Kingdom.

(it's a little less transparent why this time so I'll explain my thoughts under the cut)

So why do I not like this?

In so many words: because if you remove it, the scene still works, but you lose the moral certainty of what is going on.

This single sentence does so much legwork for the entire game (the kind I dislike), to the point where I'm about 60% sure it's the product of a rework that realized how ambiguous Rauru's position was as the Good Rightful King and needed to nervously reassure the players that Ganondorf Is and Always Was the Invader, Actually.

(no matter that it leaves the gerudos in this awkward in-between state of both invaders and victims, while never dwelling in the specifics of their history and their own agency in the entire thing; brushed off as a sin they have to expiate through loyalty to the winners of that particular strife, but without explicitely blaming them either to avoid the implications of what that would have looked like)

If you remove it, not only do you lose a pretty clunky line that detracts from Ganondorf's intimidating presence (who is he even speaking to? who needs to hear this right now?) that honestly speaks for itself when it comes to his experience with warfare, but also you lose any tension and any mystery regarding why he is attacking in the first place.

You also... kind of rob Ganondorf's motivations of their meaning. "Hyrule will bow down before me" leads to asking... why? What does he want? What does he see in those lands? And what little we get with Rauru and then Link during the final fight begs more questions; why do you prefer hardship to peace? Why do you value strength? What leads you to want to rule a land devoid of survivors, become a king without a kingdom? I don't think we ever get satisfactory answers. If you remove this sentence, on the other hand... Subtextually, it becomes pretty clear that his motivations is that he felt threatened by Rauru's power, which is ripe with subtext and questions about whether this is a legitimate reaction, whether his "no survivor" stance is due to a feeling of betrayal when his own people turned against him post the Demon King shenanigans... I'm not saying it would fix the entire game's writing, far from it, but it would already do *so much more*.

(genuinely, I think he could have stayed completely silent during the Molduga Assault, speaking only in the Show of Fealty before going completely nuts after Sonia's murder, and it would have worked MUCH better in terms of characterization but anyway anyway

EDIT: ALSO!!! that way he wouldn't speak hylian to fellow gerudos, which is weird inherently)

Without this line, the core of the tension between the gerudos and Hyrule comes front in his conversation with Rauru; it allows the cause of his hostility to be Rauru's invitations, that he would have taken as a threat, and would have still made him warlike and domineering without making him cartoonishly flat, because, once again, Rauru is not acting in a particularly more legitimate way when Zelda arrives in Ancient Hyrule; and it would have been... fair to point that out. And make for better characterization for Rauru, and Sonia, and Mineru, and everybody. But the priority was for Hyrule to be pictured as unquestionably holy; always legitimate, always truthful, always beautiful, always just.

Also, and this is more of a nitpick but: why would Ganondorf want Hyrule, specifically, to bow down before him also? Was he at war with the rest of the disparate tribes before, and just carried on his ambitions to the very very newly-founded kingdom as they allied under a new banner? (though it seems to be implies the lands were crawling under monsters in a generic sense, and not Ganondorf's attacks in particular) Why would he even consider Hyrule a legitimate entity worth taking over then, if it is so new, born from the will of a powerful rival, founded by what is basically a stranger to these lands? Why would he covet something so young instead of destroying it and just calling the lands Gerudo Lands II or Grooseland or something?

I don't think any of that was even accounted for, because, beyond everything else: to me, this sentence is so clearly and painfully crammed in here to shield Hyrule from any potential blame and immediately characterize Ganondorf as Bad without having to remove any of the causes that could lead one to side-eye Rauru's little pet project as equally questionable.

Beyond the clumsiness, it is cowardly --and, I think, a little damning.

[fictionadventurer]

I didn't realize just how much Little Town on the Prairie meant to me as a book. I've barely started and every bit feels iconic. This one and Little House on the Prairie feel more like home than most of the other books do.

[humanmorph]

I just don't know what to do with Gur now. I'd already somewhat written them off as fucked forever I guess considering the divine they're bound to is imprisoned*. Would that be unceremonious & somewhat unsatisfying (at least to me)? Sure but it happens. But Austin twice(!) (once in the chat at Jack's Palisade soundtrack livestream & then I think in the Post Mortem) made a weird "oh well who knows about Gur" type comment & it's like. MAN.... WHY WOULD YOU SAY THAT.... If they're not just fucked forever, what is happening to them? In what state could they possibly exit that situation, and how could they ever at all?

I guess the most we get about what's happening with Gur now comes from Future in the PAL46 intro: "No more visions of tomorrow for you. Now, simply recollect." Is this Gur reliving the moment of his death over & over again?

---

*I don't super remember but I'm guessing that's what happened to Future after Brnine got it back from Jesset? Also I know the whole deal there was that it's hard to enact justice on beings with the livespans that divines have - that eventually, on a long enough timeline, they could all be free again. But I don't think this matters much here, because there probably won't be that big a time jump between PALISADE & P3.