#but also the way that they each kinda have their own responsibilities that are unique to them

[paigemathews]

Who did you think would win in a battle?

Wyatt Halliwell or Hope Mikaelson?

Definitely Wyatt Halliwell! Mostly because I haven't actually watched a single episode of any of the Vampire Diaries shows yet, so I have no idea who Hope is. (The main character in Legacies, I think?) (Don't worry, it's on my to watch list, my watch list is just really long atm.) I will say though that Wyatt is gonna be my answer for most situations. (Also thanks for the chance to do a little meta about Wyatt and his powers.)

From an objective standpoint in regards to powers, Wyatt wins against pretty much anything. I've said before and I'll say it again, I believe that Wyatt managed to break the Grand Design in the unchanged future with the exposure of magic, and I think that means he was able to kill some beings that he should not have traditionally been able to, aka the Cleaners and maybe even the Angel(s) of Destiny. (Which also loops into one of my now favorite headcanons that prophecies are made as a warning that a witch capable of breaking the Grand Design is coming.)

The catch, and how I'm able to write Wyatt in literally any conflict in my next gen fics, is that he has a critical weakness: he is terrified at the possibility of what he's capable of. (I have also mentioned that interpretation before, in connection with how Billie unintentionally makes it worse.) That kind of power is a lot for one person to handle, and Wyatt outclasses quite literally everyone around him by a large margin. I think that in a sense, his own fear serves as a kind of limiter on his power because he won't use them to the fullest extent. This is partially because he doesn't fully know what he's capable of because he doesn't experiment with his powers or push boundaries the same way that Chris does. While Wyatt has that kind of power, he lacks a greater amount of control and precision because he doesn't practice.

In a situation where Wyatt does go full-out, however, I think that he wins, no question. It's incredibly rare for him to do so, but one of his primary powers (projection) is a version of reality warping, y'know? That's not even getting into the fact that he has energy waves that can flat-out incinerate enemies without even trying. The challenge is getting him to a place where he doesn't hold back.

[goldensunset]

hi! I know next to nothing about kingdom hearts but could you tell me a bit about Strelitzia? she shares a name with my favorite flower that I was kinda rebranding to at the same time I saw you talking about her (back in october. cough I've been so busy 😭 cough) so I was caught really off guard lolll

but you seem to like her a lot and I'm really curious to learn more! I'd love to hear all the blorbo thoughts :)

hello tumblr user the—plant. i hope this ask finds you well. attached please find nearly four thousand words about a two dimensional mobile game character. best, goldensunset

blorbo brain ACTIVAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATE

hi ok so strelitzia is a character from kingdom hearts union x (but the x isn't really an x but don't worry about the titles in this series just don't worry about them trust me.) she doesn’t have a lot of screen time but she is SO important like she is actually foundational to the plot it is insane. gist of her personality? she’s quiet and shy, considers herself weak, doesn’t have a lot of friends (she has like one named acquaintance but otherwise just clings to her older brother), is kind of odd (she likes sitting on top of the roof lol) and can be somewhat spacey. to me she is like the naïve young beautifully tragic heroine of her own little fairytale

anyway one day strelitzia.... doesn't really meet but more like just notices the player character of the game (your customizable avatar) from afar. she thinks they're really cool for the way they start to like question things around them and think for themselves (bc the town they live in is kind of cult-y where everyone is loyal to one of five factions (called unions) that compete but like even the five factions are under the order of one greater cult. but that's not important rn lol). especially bc she's so shy all the time it's an inspiration to see someone so brave and unique like that. this is me kinda projecting but it might also partially be loneliness bc i think she recognizes that they are lonely too like her

the player never sees her though like they never even learn she exists until it's too late but she starts having a kind of like parasocial relationship with them. like a platonic crush. a squish, if you will. every time the two of them end up in the same place she reeeeeally wants to work up the courage to go say hi so they can be friends but she's too shy every time. my poor darling

so i mean. i lied i do have to mention some plot stuff for this to make sense of course. i promise it's interesting. there is a War approaching. bc the tension between the five unions is getting ugly. they're all convinced everyone else is evil. which is by design of the true mastermind sicko behind all this. he created problems on purpose but set himself up as a good guy and then left to go get milk and his naive homunculus furry children (his students, who each have a deadly sin for a name and an animal for a mask) (they’re the leaders of the five unions) almost all decided to take his words at face value and stick to the peacekeeping instructions he left them. which actually is what causes the war lol. they were never meant to get along! the mastermind sicko claims that that was written into fate (bc he can see the future) (or so he claims). but they still played their part. so is fate or free will responsible for this? well this is all a complicated and juicy section of the lore that isn't really necessary for an infodump about strelitzia. don’t worry about it

anyhoo only one of the naive homunculus furry children was actually fully intended to properly do the job she was told to do. like she's far and away the most important of them all. her name is ava (from avaritia, latin for greed) (so pronounced kinda like short for avocado lol) and she's the coolest of them all bc she's got a pink fox outfit. the instructions given to her were basically like hey so the war is definitely coming and almost everybody here is gonna die bc they're gonna stay loyal to their unions to the end and get involved in these petty fights like the obedient little sheep they are. (is this a good time to mention that they're all children?)

but it's ava's job to try to recruit as many strong and good-hearted people as she can to a sixth, neutral-party pacifist group. these guys are called the dandelions bc the idea is that like the seeds of a dandelion, they'll scatter on the wind and fly away to another world... poetic. that is to say daybreak town is getting massively screwed over by this battle (and arguably some other things lol) so they can't stay there anymore. you either fight and die in a stupid useless war or you say goodbye to everything and everyone you know who wasn't recruited and you run away, basically. the dandelions will be responsible for essentially rebuilding the world. like the survivors of a massive storm

the other thing is that the current union leaders won't be there in the new world either. they're about to disappear (to this day we still don't fully know exactly what happened. we can verify they're all alive though. except ava.. who knows what happened to her). so all these literal children are responsible for governing themselves now yippee! so there have to be five new chosen union leaders to replace the missing furry homunculi. this isn't ava's call though-- she's given a specific list of names she has to recruit. (ava mostly accepts fate and follows instructions instead of her heart! mostly. except when she doesn't)

these guys are understandably a bit unsettled bc as new union leaders they're warned in advance a bit more thoroughly about the imminent fate of daybreak town than the regular dandelions. like everyone has heard by this point the rumor that there could be war on the horizon and some people are in denial about it and others are like yup sounds good let's fight! some people think ok i'll only fight in self defense to stop the other people who are trying to fight! you fools. you're making it happen. the dandelions are like basically people who both believe the rumors they're told and who agree that it's a stupid idea to even get involved or to die loyal to your union. iirc some were personally recruited by ava and some just got recruited by other dandelions

but the union leaders were specifically and personally approached by ava-- lady ava, master ava, a foreteller, basically a member of the nobility-- with an ominous warning that's like 'fate is written in stone. i've read the prophecy of the future that our master saw and wrote down. the war is a guarantee. if you stay here you will die. i need you to help form the foundation of a new world. here's this cool book it serves as your id and proves you're a legit chosen one leader ok enjoy the responsibility don't tell anyone about this until afterwards ok byyyyeeeee'. not fun

FINALLY back to strelitzia. so as you might have guessed she's one of the five names on the list- she's been recruited to the dandelions AND now she's receiving a very special honor. she's kind of amazed that someone introverted and unremarkable like her could be chosen to help lead the new world. my little skrunkly. but then she panics bc she realizes that her parasocial best friend, her squish, the player character, isn't a dandelion! oh no! she doesn't want them to fight and die she has to convince them!

(and honestly as a side note it’s really fascinating bc this story as a whole primarily revolves around the new union leaders as its protagonists and yet the person you play as is someone who was warned and invited to join the dandelions multiple times but explicitly turned down the offer bc they felt like it would be a cowardly or traitorous move to abandon their friends. which is sweet of them to be worried about, and really interesting bc fr, how did recruitment work actually? did everyone actually get the offer or were some people just left for dead bc they weren’t strong or cool enough? the player takes issue with the concept. again- props to them for rising up and challenging authority and fate. but dude are you really going to join the child military instead???)

strel doesn’t know any of that though she’s just determined to reach out and be a friend. she knows that this is her last chance to finally work up the courage and reach out to this person and be friends, although it’s too bad the circumstances are so dire… like social anxiety is strong but the fear of losing someone who means a lot to her is even stronger. like she HAS to warn them and save them. she receives her official rulebook/warning/nomination what turns out to be the day before the war officially begins. that night she almost goes out running in the dark to go find this mystery person but realizes ‘wait that’s stupid i’m not gonna go out at night alone and i don’t even know where this person lives or would be rn’ so instead the next morning she sets out on a mission to find them. yayyyyy she’s finally found her courage!

yeah uh. she doesn’t find them though … what she does find is an ominous dark abandoned house (it was her little magical cat’s idea to go look in there bc it was pretty sure it saw the player around there a moment ago. i mean it was right but they were already gone smh). no little flower girl don’t go in there! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! first person to die in a slasher movie type vibes. yeah there is Someone or Something in there and in the first iteration of this scene the screen just goes dark and we hear a slash sound and then we see strelitzia on the floor. and a shadowy hand picks up her book that fell to the floor and leaves her there. in the like ‘updated’ version of this flashback she cries out for her older brother. AUGH. she manages to stumble to her feet and limp to the door, knowing that she’s dying, and in her last moments, she reflects on all those missed opportunities and expresses her regrets… ‘ i wish i’d had the courage…’ Augh. then her body fades away into sparkles bc this is kingdom hearts

so like… she’s the center focus of a murder mystery. but the characters don’t even know there’s a murder mystery. but the audience does!!! it takes a loooong time for anyone in the story to learn she’s even dead. her older brother (yes that’s right! this tragedy will not go unmourned!) realizes that he hasn’t seen her in a while but assumes she’s simply missing. i mean people in daybreak town take extended leave to work on their own little missions all the time. it’s not like the siblings can spend every day together. his name is lauriam and he’s a very nice refined polite young man who is going to have the most delicious fall from grace negative character development in the series eventually

ik you asked about strel but like i can’t talk about one of the flower siblings without the other and clearly you like flowers and plants so it’s worth mentioning. lauriam has tons of plant and flower imagery going on. the tattered edges of his vest resemble a leaf rotted by plant blight. his name is arguably supposed to resemble ‘laurel’ (although it’s actually an anagram of something else so like that couldn’t have been the original plan). his keyblade is rose-themed. the scythe he later gets is named graceful dahlia. his original appearance in the series gave him cherry blossoms and his remake-appearance gave him rose petals. plus he’s one of the new union leaders of the dandelion and his sister is obviously named after the bird of paradise flower… you get the gist. we could make a whole bouquet for this guy. his concept is supposed to be like a graceful, beautiful grim reaper of sorts—he’s associated with both flowers and death. goes crazy. so it makes perfect sense that retroactively they gave him a backstory where his flower-themed sister dies and he goes mad with grief over it

anyway he goes asking around trying to find her and slowly gets more and more worried bc oh shoot he actually hasn’t seen her since the war… for all he knows she might not have even made it to the new world… oh this isn’t good… he meets up with strelitzia’s only named acquaintance who provides a bit of useful information (and sees something incredibly ominous. basically like a digital flashback into the past of strelitzia’s final moments. like a vision of a ghost of sorts).

eventually the other new union leaders start realizing that lauriam’s little personal sidequest to find his sister is actually more important than they thought bc something is up with her. this isn’t just some random girl that went missing. they eventually realize that she was supposed to be one of the new union leaders (cuz it turns out one of them actually is in possession of the original list of names that ava received. why precisely did she even bother giving that information to him when it would become evident who the new leaders would be very shortly? who knows… maybe she knew something like this might happen). and the fact that she’s missing is therefore VERY ominous bc obviously a dandelion union leader wouldn’t have fought and died in the war so we can’t write it off as a probable casualty. something is very very wrong here.

the replacement. the name that wasn’t on the list. the shadowy hand. if one leader dies then we need a new one. someone who wasn’t supposed to be there. an impostor among the five. uh oh.

that kid though. that unusual boy. ventus. he swears up and down he has no idea what happened or why he’s not on the list. he swears he was personally chosen and given the book by ava but his memory is a total blur. his friends are nice they don’t like accuse him or murder or anything they just want to understand how the switcheroo happened. for all they know strelitzia is still alive and just gone somewhere. and then ven starts having some horrible flashbacks and nightmares. a nightmare where a shadowy demon shapeshifted into ava and led him into this dark abandoned house… a nightmare where he was possessed, brainwashed, whatever you want to call it… where in the blink of an eye the darkness within him lunged out at this unknown girl in that dim room and she collapsed to the ground and he was commanded to steal the book she dropped… augh.

and at the same time that all this is happening. lauriam is once again off doing his own personal thing which is picking a fight with someone but unfortunately he’s a toothpick and gets beat up so badly he starts hallucinating. thennnn we get the really heartbreaking flashback of happy memories of lauriam and strelitzia… she’s like venting about her day and how tired she is but her brother is someone she trusts and can go to… she’s like i’m not strong enough on my own can we please pair up in battle? and he’s like pffft leaning on me like that isn’t gonna help you grow y’know. then they talk about the dandelions and strelitzia talks about her squish and lauriam teases her about it (in english he explicitly asks if she has a crush and she’s like NO NO NO) and it’s so adorable AUGHGhhh. basically the scene is him reassuring her how much he loves her and looks up to her and saying if something happens he will come running to protect her (are you dying like I am yet. the tragedy………) and she’s like no yknow what? you’ve given me a challenge to get stronger and be able to protect you and i’m gonna do that someday! (augh.) then the flashback turns into a nightmare and she disappears then reappears in an ominous white cloak and starts floating and it’s really freaky and then he wakes up yay! it gives lauriam a really bad ominous feeling…

back to ventus the killer-not-killer. ven isn’t guilty of anything bc it wasn’t really him but like. he thinks he is. he thinks he needs to confess. lauriam is already in an incredibly unstable mental state (and physical state. he’s limping) when he enters the room where all his other friends are and he overhears them saying strelitzia is probably dead. he starts basically attacking and fighting them demanding answers. then in walks this innocent eleven year old saying ‘it was me i’m sorry…’ do you think lauriam handles it well? noooo. no he doesn’t. remember when I said he was a very nice polite young man? yeah uhhh the only thing stopping him from straight up killing the guy is the fact that the shadow demon pops out and ven collapses and uhhh wat going on here

after some battle stuff lauriam is finally successfully convinced that it wasn’t ven’s fault he got possessed and he never wanted any of this and he feels horrible for having attacked and blamed ven. after waking up ven basically reabsorbs the shadow demon bc there was no other way to defeat that monster and that knocks him out cold again for the rest of the entire story. and they never get to meet ever again aughhh. there’s a scene where lauriam is like watching over ven as he sleeps and he’s apologizing while grieving but then he questions like. if the shadow is in fact inside ven then in order to get revenge he almost considers violence again- but then he hallucinates strelitizia!!!! ARUGHGHGHG. she stops him she’s like ‘this isn’t you… you need to let it go… whatever happened to my kind and loving brother?’ and then disappears. AUGH. then lauriam feels such horrible pity for this little kid and vows to take care of him… like his big brother instincts are still there…

and then a whole bunch of plot stuff later long story short everyone gets separated from each other forever and most of them lose their memories of all of this! YAYYY! khux is so evil. lauriam’s future self, having lost his memories, knows there is something he’s missing. he knows there is someone he’s grieving but doesn’t even know who. he becomes a villain in an attempt to get something or feel something again. he thinks if he can manipulate other people’s memories he’ll be able to understand how memory itself works and maybe he’ll be able to unlock his own. he gets the cool scythe he gets the death motif and he gets this massive like.. monster., familiar.., jojo style stand if you will. he gets this specter that assists him in battle and dude i swear the thing looks JUST like strelitzia it’s ridiculous. like some part of his heart still knows her. and the most insane thing!!! remember in the flashback i mentioned how they were talking about what it would be like to protect each other and fight by each others’ side? the way in which the specter assists him is exactly like how strelitzia said she would… ouhhhhh

what actually happened to strelitzia after death though? well in kingdom hearts it can get pretty wacky. there are a lot of ways to die and a lot of different things that can happen to you afterwards lol. for the longest time we had no idea at all and presumably she was just Gone. our beloved tragic fairytale heroine, lost to the sands of time… quietly faded away along with her world with almost no one left in the world who would even have a chance at knowing she ever existed… the most hope we had being the fact that another white-robed figure (like the one that appeared in lauriam’s hallucination) appeared and seemed to have been rescued and sent to the future. that person being referred to as ‘the true dandelion’. but a few years ago we got a pretty substantial update. and it’s driving me bonkers bc i can’t make sense of it yet and we’ve gotten no news since. i would go into detail about what appears to have happened but it would be way too much for someone who didn’t know kh lore to grasp

long story short it appears she somehow ended up in like a parallel plane of existence-- the same place that the main character of the series has ended up in. that’s right- literally the most important dude in kingdom hearts + girl who used to be considered an obscure one off character from a game that’s looked down upon are about to be a duo! afterlife besties! will they ever get back home? is there even a home left for strelitzia? it’s been hundreds of years. did I mention that when everyone got separated at the end they were also sent forward to random points in the future. yeah daybreak town is gone. also did I mention the person she had a squish on and was desperate to meet also dies at the end of khux. but then they get reincarnated and live a long fulfilling life! but then they die again. but like maybe they got reincarnated again maybe there’s another chance!! but in any case i just KNOW strelitzia will find her brother again someday and he will remember her and they will be happy again oughghghhg

ANYWAY

sorry that was a lot of lore. i love that your interest in the plant has stimulated interest in the character bc for me it was the reverse! bc I love strelitzia I’ve become obsessed with the bird of paradise flower. it’s such a cool plant for being so vibrant and unusual it’s symbolic of like freedom and victory and a bunch more bold and beautiful and striking things i don’t fully remember the details. it’s such an interesting namesake choice for a girl who is very quiet and shy, who doesn’t draw attention to herself, who most certainly isn’t free and most certainly does not achieve victory or glory or anything. khux’s plot was released on an episode-by-episode basis and it was pretty iconic in a horrible way for them to introduce her in one episode, make everyone fall in love with her, and then kill her off in the very next update. like it’s both hilarious and incredibly sad. they told a whole entire short story, a self-contained narrative arc, a tragedy with a moral to the story, in two episodes. that is why i fell in love with her. she lives a short quiet life and then dies in secret and is washed away with the rest of her world, lost to time for now. with just a few scattered seeds of hope that she is still alive in some way in some world in the future. but like that flower is such a specific choice it has to mean something. me personally I think it’s a sign that she’ll have a bright and glorious comeback. that shy forgotten girl will finally rise from the grave for real and become someone again. she’ll be vibrant and loud and beautiful and loved… i know it….

[mars-ipan]

God I feel you on this. There are so many avenues for people to get sucked into bullshit infighting too.

I s2g every time I engage with trans content my for you feed starts serving me a ton of discourse about intercommunity transandrophobia or w/e and like... if people are being weird about trans men that's worth talking about sometimes, but I get the impression there are corners of the trans community that are doing nothing but scream at each other in some pointless transmasc vs transfem war. Meanwhile I'm sitting here on TERF island, transfem people right beside me, hoping our HRT and shaky legal rights don't get nuked in the next 5 years 💀

I feel like a general online discourse rule should be that if you're putting more energy into fighting your own community/policing language/etc than fighting people that materially affect our lives, something's gone wrong and you're at high risk of radicalisation into bigotry. Or might already be there.

ghhrgh LITERALLY….. like .

from what i’ve seen a lot of this transandrophobia debate came up in response to seeing trans women talk about transmisogyny. my theory is that a portion of tme folks saw that people have been discussing transmisogyny and felt that they were having their unique experiences erased. which, like, look . i get it. erasure is something i’ve experienced kinda my whole life. i understand that it feels Bad to have your struggles downplayed. i had that same worry at first. BUT. we GOTTA be able to examine how your own fears and anxieties and biases may be coloring your perceptions!!! bc yes being trans does not make you immune to transmisogyny!! we live in a transmisogynistic world implicit bias is Going To Happen.

like. transmisogyny is a real thing that happens and disproportionately affects transfems. transmisogyny is not something non-transfem people experience unless they are falsely perceived to be transfem. it is a uniquely transfeminine experience coming from the intersection of being trans and female (or female-adjacent). it is not just a unique kind of transphobia, but rather the intentional combination of transphobia and misogyny.

is this to say that transmascs don’t experience their own unique kind of oppression? no! but it’s not an intersectional oppression and it shouldn’t be treated as such. also, the name of “transandrophobia” just gives off. a really uncomfortable energy. you’re not being oppressed because you’re male. you’re being oppressed because you’re trans. i don’t feel like we need to give this type of transphobia a name because it is just transphobia. similar to how misogynoir is a word but we don’t have a word for the specific type of oppression black men face because that’s just racism. just because transphobia impacts you in a certain way doesn’t mean it’s a special type of transphobia, and really why are we playing oppression olympics in the first place? we’re ALL hurting. can we just like… help each other out? can we stop accusing transfems of like…. deliberately trying to overshadow transmasc issues or whatever? and for the love of god if we have to argue can we STOP misgendering and degendering each other mid-argument.

like. at the end of the day this is all trivial shit because In Real Life we’re being targeted by horribly cruel legislation and social movements. it’s like we’re in a burning house and i’m watching my brother and sister argue over black mold. like yes that’s a problem but i think !!!! we should focus on putting out the fire !!!! like i live in texas. lawmakers have been trying to pass anti-trans bills here for ages, and a couple of them have gone through! i remember being sat down in gsa in my freshman year of high school and having the club sponsors tell us that if a bill that was up for ratification mandating that teachers out their students to their parents was passed that they would do everything in their power to keep us safe. i have to be careful about how i dress when i go to certain places. and i’m not even someone who’s transitioning medically— lord knows what kind of bullshit hurdles people on hrt have to go through to get it. and we’re arguing over what we want to call our oppression? we’re all facing transphobia at the end of the day can we PLEASE fix that instead of dividing ourselves into little easy-to-eliminate factions please and thank you

[liobi]

I've been seeing a weirdly high level of Dungeon Meshi discourse that just. Completely misses the point lately and I'm honestly kinda frustrated about it. So.

First point of address. Laios isn't canonically autistic. He is written in a way that lends itself to the reading of him being neuro divergent, and I think if he was a real person he would be on the spectrum, but the world of Dunmeshi itself does not have the concept of autism (yet). If it did you can bet the human enthusiast Kabru would have immediately pegged Laios as such. As for Falin, she'd also likely be ND but closer to ADHD judging by the relatively small amount we get to actually see her existing as a character.

NOW THAT THAT'S OUT OF THE WAY. Toshiro isn't being ableist with his expectations of Laios picking up on social queues and being angry that he doesn't get it! Laios is legitimately rude to him! In terms of micro-aggressions, he does it constantly and unintentionally. He straight up calls Toshiro strange looking and fucks up his name! But the thing is, Toshiro's biggest flaw is that he applies his cultural norms to his interactions with everyone, regardless of culture. Chilchuck and Mick have a small talk about how Toshiro, with zero indication of feelings beforehand or any romantic involvement, just asks Falin to marry him and expects it to go well, all because she looked at a bug and he thought she was the most unique and different woman he had ever met (small aside, almost all the women he had met at this point are either family, his dad's mistress that is more of a mom to him than his own mom, his retainers, and his uhhh indentured servants/Literal Slaves)(Itsuzumi is a whole ass other conversation that I'm not even remotely qualified to talk about). He's a man of high social status that's never had to think about that fact before, never had to examine the power and privilege he has at his disposal. As a result, his expectations of people to learn his cultural norms, something he's been used to in his homeland, go unmet and are a source of friction.

Here's a real life example. In the US Midwest, if a person slaps their knees and/or stands up, sometimes saying some combination of "Welp/it's getting late..." They're politely telling their guests "get the fuck out of my house." It's impolite to ask people to leave, even politely. This is absolutely arcane and insane, why would anyone do this? Society!

Toshiro has grown up in a place where he's had to be hyper-aware of these things, where he can't verbally state what he literally wants or means. And he's conformed! He's decided to do what's expected of him. Laios, on the other hand, instead chafed against the expectations put on him as the child of the village elder and against the way people treated Falin for being different. He gave up his privilege (assured house, home, fiancee, position and responsibility within their town) in order to pursue a freedom beyond the society he saw as wrong. Laios is fundamentally uninterested in people (as opposed to monsters and demi-humans which is why he's uniquely suited to dealing with the multicultural aftermath of The Whole Thing), but he values his loved ones and personal code of honor enough to do what he needs to protect those things, even if it means going against society.

Anyways this is a long winded way of saying Toshiro and Laios are complex characters and narrative foils of each other in the early narrative and shouldn't be turned into one dimensional parodies of themselves for the purpose of Hot Takes. Thanks.

[essektheylyss]

I feel a bit uneasy because I feel like maybe the Hells were affirming Ashton’s self-flagellation. Like they get to be hurt and angry but sometimes it felt kinda like maybe it’s gonna make the self hatred worse in the long run.

But I can’t tell if that’s justified or my own projections.

It's certainly possible that it did affirm that, and I definitely agree that as a whole they weren't fighting it by any means, but FCG said it best: the Hells are messed up. They've left a lot of shit unaddressed beneath the surface in favor of smoothing over their interpersonal interactions, and most of them are really not in a state to be giving advice or considering how they're actually enabling each other. That seems like it may be changing now though, and I think FCG in particular did start to push back against this in some ways, but even he was understandably hurt by Ashton.

I wouldn't say I'm concerned about it though because I think this as a concept is actually... fairly baked into this genre and format. Every PC is the main character of their own story, and main characters, especially in this kind of world, tend to have plenty of damage to work through, which can clash in many ways. Obviously any story can explore how people who care about you can still be bad for you, but D&D especially ends up in that realm because of this.

At the same time though, this kind of issue doesn't necessarily need to be something that's addressed in conversation—the Nein didn't have to stage an intervention for Yasha after she let herself get beaten in the underground fight club for her to deal with the underlying issues herself.

And even when it doesn't involve just PCs this can come through; see Caleb's concerns about Essek, and their mutual potential for enabling each other's worst tendencies in terms of both self-interest and self-deprecation to the point of harm—and often both at the same time, if you look at the argument about Trent in Aeor. That was a situation where they did actually work through that somewhat directly, but even then it wasn't an explicit aspect of the conversation.

In general, the game itself tends to focus on themes of power and agency as a whole, which I think really lends itself to this kind of thing. It's very "with great power comes great responsibility," but that tends to also end up at the issue of like... not everyone handles power or responsibility well. So when you've got a bunch of chucklefucks in the same ten foot diameter hut or whatever, who are all wrestling with having both power and responsibility for the first time on top of a lot of other damage, they're probably gonna fuck it up before they can do better and those fuck ups are going to reverberate through the group. Which is honestly one of the things that makes it interesting!

That being said, this fallout has been a long time coming, and I think because of the Hells' unique levels of avoidance it's picking up a lot later than it did in previous campaigns which means the stakes are higher for figuring it out, but I'm really stoked to see where it goes, especially since Ashton at the very least has decided they can stick around for the time being.

[corviids]

Since you’re one of the most prolific content creators for Lucemond, and you always answer your asks so eloquently, I was wondering if you could share some insight. When Aemond and Lucerys were first introduced and people latched onto them as a ship, it was easy to see why this pair seemed fated. Mirror images, Shakespearean tragedy vibes, second son syndrome, etc. it’s always been easy to see in both canon universe and the fandom why Aemond is so tied to Luke. He’s obsessed with him for obvious reasons (eye!) and jealous of Luke’s status so it’s easy for fans to make the jump from hatred to obsession to lust to love (be it toxic or wholesome in their headcanons). But the more I think on it, what do you think would draw Luke to feel the same in any regard to Aemond? Aemond is both pretty pathetic in the book and in the show. Authors and artists have their own takes on the two falling for each other mutually because the nature of fanfic and headcanons allow for it. But lowkey I can’t really see Lucerys actually becoming interested in Aemond while vice versa it’s SO easy to see Aemond falling for Luke. Could you give your own insight on why you think either show Luke or book Luke would become interested in Aemond in any sexual/romantic capacity? Asking as someone who is trying to find the logic in this pairing because they trying to take a stab at writing for them. It’s so easy for me to conceptualize reasons why Aemond is obsessed/in love with Luke, but I’m struggling with canon reasons why Luke would be interested in Aemond. Luke has everything Aemond does not making him a giant fixture in Aemond’s desire for glory—while on the other hand Aemond is just some dude who Luke stole as eye from and then never talked to for a decade (at best he’s a rival?). I know this is also difficult to answer because the characterization of book Luke and show luke are so different so seeing the necessary requirements of him falling for Aemond are vastly different too. Thoughts? Basically me asking you to explain to me how/why Lucemond works so well despite my own difficulty in seeing Luke’s interest in Aemond. Thank you!

hmmm i’m trying the best way to articulate this cuz you ask a good question and i wanna give an answer that isn’t just “targaryens horny for each other”

i don’t think luke would be attracted/want aemond for anything he could “give him”. like you said, aemond doesn’t have much to offer beyond his literal self. i think lucemond works specifically because of their unique dynamic which cannot be applied to their other ships. luke, as a person/character, is mostly characterized by his innocent bravery, vulnerability, and insecurity — which aemond is directly linked to a lot of those feelings in luke. personally, lucemond (in writings) only works when there is proper build up to it (so no real insta-love).

to me, luke’s attraction to aemond is an evolution of his fear and dislike of him. given luke’s upbringing and the relationships he’s had as an example, i envision him as being weirdly receptive to,,, non-traditional courtship and behavior. i don’t think he’d go out of his way to initially seek aemond out (i’m a proponent of aemond is down bad to an atrocious degree, as evidenced by his canon obsessive tendencies) but when it’s initiated, he kinda likes it. luke is much more emotionally driven. i don’t think his attraction to aemond would be for rational or even reasons that can be entirely understood and i think that’s the beauty of the ship.

but again it comes down to how you write to that point! this is just a bit of my own thought process when it comes to writing luke. my tldr is that i think luke’s interest in aemond would stem as a response to a mixture of familiarity, fear/caution, as well as thrill. (there’s also the fact that i think luke has “i can fix him” energy. not necessarily optimistic but something that stems from a feeling of never being good enough and needing to prove he can be)

[mgu-h]

Them saying it's just a professional relationship makes it easier for them on track. Carlos already said he leaves extra space when he's racing Lando and he got ton of shit for that, so admitting to the public they're close makes things way more complicated on track and in f1 in general. Also they both seem to gatekeep their hangouts these days unless they chose to post an ig story here and there and I kinda understand why, this sport is ruthless 😅

Yeah like.. it's absolutely not in your own or your team's best interest to allow sentiment to interfere with driving on track. I think Carlos saying that he'd treat Lando in any way different is entirely wild, and I'm not surprised he got pushback about it. It's not... done. When Lando talked about his relationship with Max Verstappen as being "split," I don't think that's in any way unique to Max. It really does apply to Carlos too. Too much bleed between a friendship off track and sentimentality on track would be career ending.

At this level of competition, all the drivers when they are in the mindset of racing are in an altered state with most private issues are stripped away. Racing is a mental sport just as much as physical, and since they were small boys in karts they all practiced more than just how to take an apex. They also learned how to put on their racing focus the way they put on a race suit and helmet, and go out to destroy their friends. The world on track is entirely separate and much more simple, or else they just wouldn't be able to drive at 200mph and go wheel to wheel around corners. 

Seeing a friend on track, there's absolutely no room for putting his interests above your own. Lando seeing the 55 car, the driver "Carlos" is not even really a person at that moment, it's a set of attributes that will help predict how the car is going to behave when you get close. It gives you information like how desperate will he be to defend the position? Can I trust him to not move under breaking or drive me off track? Can I trust him to look in his mirrors and know that I'm here? A driver will have learned over the decades of being behind the wheel how to attack or defend differently given all that data. It's in no way personal, it's a calculus done instantly based on intuition and race prep. 

Lando would not expect Carlos to yield, though he may instinctively trust that he will not race dirty, and that's the extent that their friendship should guide their racing. It's one of my biggest pet peeves with how this sport is reported on and how many fans talk about interpersonal relationships on track. It's like people don't use their empathy to imagine what it's like to be doing such an insanely risky thing as driving F1 cars. They like to think of the drivers as fearless and just as detached as the audience is on the couch, but that's not true. Fear is physical, it's arousal in proximity to danger, and other cars are real threats and targets, not mere human people.

In order to succeed the drivers have to be able to let their fight or flight adrenaline response move them faster than conscious thought. They have to be guided by irrational emotional reasoning without sentimentality, like trust without friendship and distrust without malice. Carlos's gut reaction cannot be to give way to Lando, and vice versa. It's ruthlessly logical and clinical in a sense, chess at 200mph, and intensely driven by insane, irrational desire to win and dominate the others on track, friends or no. Once the helmet is on, they're not the same person anymore, they're both more and less than themselves.

Once they're out of the cars and the adrenaline slips away and they remember who they are and who they are to each other, a private and warm friendship can resume, if it exists, though resentment from incidents bleeding into private life seems easier and more likely than the reverse. There are just absolutely no friends on track. There are cars you trust, and cars you don't, and you're trying to beat all of them no matter what.

[callmerainman]

Wishing You Godspeed | Reigen Arataka x fem!Reader

fandom: Mob Psycho 100 by ONE

plot: you come back to Seasoning City after 3 years of working abroad. the night before your departure, you decide to call your ex-boyfriend Reigen Arataka to spend the night in one way or another.

word count: 1,3k

prompts: past relationship, exes, smut, making love, breaking up, angst, after sex, love talk, reuniting, kinda rough sex.

tw. explicit sexual content, minors DNI! 18+

Reigen mindlessly stirs the drink with his straw. He stares at the small vortex the motion created, then takes the cold lemon soda in his hand and takes a sip. He looks at you behind the glass, he catches you staring but he doesn't mind. You smile, calmly.

"Are you planning on staying?" he clicks his tongue on his palate before putting the drink down.

"I'll take the plane tomorrow morning" you reply, leaning towards him on the small table.

The bar was almost empty, and it was almost closing time. It was just the two of you.

"So you contacted me last minute" Reigen says.

He's not offended, or angry. It's just a statement. And he's also right, you intentionally called him last minute.

"I did, but I won't tell you the reason" you smile cunningly.

Reigen replies with a smirk of his own. He then stares at your lips as they envelope the edge of your glass of Moscow Mule. He feels his hands stinging. He had kissed those lips many times, he never forgot the feeling. It was such a unique and precise sensation that he never managed to find again in any other person he kissed after you two broke up. You had the chance to work in France and you couldn't refuse the opportunity of your whole life. Even if it meant breaking up with your boyfriend of 3 years Reigen Arataka. At first you weren't willing to leave him, but he was the one who insisted on letting him go and follow your lifetime dream of working abroad. What hurt the most was that there was nothing wrong in your relationship. You two loved each other so deeply, there was so much care. But maybe love just wasn't enough.

This is your first time coming back to Seasoning City after breaking up with him. It's been 3 years. During your time in France you both agreed to not text too much because otherwise it would be too difficult to move on. You only got in touch casually just to check up on each other, wishing happy holidays or birthdays or asking how work's going. You were really indecisive about asking him to meet up after your quick visit to the city, so you promptly decided to not tell him until the very last day. You didn't want to ruin the rest of the week for anybody.

"That's okay" Reigen says, leaning back on his chair "it's not like we're going to do anything, right?"

~~~

By the time you close the door behind you, Reigen has you already pinned against it. Your hands struggle to undo his belt, which drops on the floor with a clacking sound along with his grey suit pants. One of his hands is travelling up your tight, gripping it under your skirt. His face is just inches away from you, but you don't have time to kiss. You inebriate yourself with the feeling of his hot breath against your mouth. He lifts up your skirt, moves your panties to the side and thrusts into you so sweetly. You moan in response, gripping his clothed back. Reigen has now one hand fisted in your hair, and the other plunged into the soft flesh of your waist. His thrusts are determined, needy, each one banging on the door of his apartment.

"Fuck..." he pants "I love you so much..."

You just nod in response as you try to suffocate your desperate moans in his shoulder. You start repeating his name like a chant, just like you used to do. You wrap your leg more tightly around him, to open up a bit more. Your neck tickles as Reigen groans against it, his breathing becoming erratic as he holds you even closer. He feels so good inside you and your vision is becoming blurry. You happily let him tighten the grip on your hair, each one of his fingers curling and holding onto them as if it was a life or death situation.

Then, Reigen finishes. You come just a couple of seconds after, announcing it with a loud moan, a pull on his pink tie, and his name whispered under your breath as you throw your head backwards against the door. Reigen gently puts your leg down and then presses his forehead against yours as you both try to catch some hair. Then you take his face between your hands, make him look up just right into your eyes, and then you kiss him with all the energies you have left. It's a sloppy, uncoordinated kiss, but still full of the time you've lost as you feel his tongue against yours once again.

"If you really love me, stay with me tonight" you say.

~~~

It's getting so late. You and Reigen made love again, this time in his bedroom, only the lamp on his nightstand dimly lighting up your converging bodies. After Reigen collapsed on top of you, you held him close to your heart as you caressed the back of his head with slow strokes. Now he's lying on his back, one arm stretched behind his head and the other wrapped around your shoulders as you rest your head on his chest.

"Did you have sex with other women while I was gone?" you ask, but you're calm. You're not asking this with animosity.

Reigen doesn't seem surprised by the question "Yeah. Women, men..."

"Were they as good as me?"

"No, never"

"You can be honest"

"But I am honest. And did you have sex with anybody else?" he asks back.

"Yeah, occasionally"

"Were they as good as me?"

"No, I can assure you"

"Really?"

"I never fell in love anymore"

Reigen is caught by surprise by the change of subject. Your tone is serious, pensive.

"Not once?" his fingers start drawing circling motions around your shoulder.

"I tried to fall in love ...I really did. Because I wanted to. I wanted to feel what I'm feeling right now again, with someone else. But I just couldn't"

You look up, Reigen is pressing his lips together. He looks frustrated and in peace at the same time, it's absurd.

"Do you still love me, (Y/N)?"

"Of course I do. I'm still in love with you, even if I tried to forget you and I will keep trying" you answer.

"Well, I still love you too"

"I know, you said it to me while fucking me against the door"

Reigen sighs, embarrassed "Yeah, right"

You smile sheepishly "You're sweet"

"Mh mh"

You feel two of his fingers grazing your chin, before lifting it up and meeting your lips halfway with his mouth. It's a long, welcoming and warm kiss. When you separate, Reigen sighs in resignation.

"I tried to fall in love again too but I couldn't. Nothing feels remotely like this, even though I still hope to fall in love with someone else. I can't keep chasing you" he whispers.

You close your eyes "Arataka, turn off the light"

Reigen nods and reaches for the lamp switch, flipping it off. He can still see your features shining under the moonlight, and you take your time to admire him back. Then, you speak again.

"Tomorrow you'll wake up in an empty bed. And please, don't open your eyes. I want you to remember me naked and cuddled with you on this bed. I don't want you to see me drifting away from you again. Just know that in my lifetime I will try to go back to you as fast as I can, because I love you Arataka. But by the time I'm gone, please try to fall in love again, I'll do the same. We might need some time but please let's fall in love again with someone else because we deserve to feel this love again, even when we're apart"

Silently, Reigen nods. You could feel his uncertainty in the way he stopped breathing for a second.

"Okay, (Y/N). I promise"

You stayed up a couple of hours more, just talking, and kissing, and caressing your bare bodies under the moonlight spreading across the room. Then, you feel your eyes closing by themselves. You're really tired, and tomorrow you have to go. Time to go to bed now.

"Goodnight, Reigen. Hope to see you soon. I wish you Godspeed"

"Goodnight, (Y/N)"

«this love will keep us through blinding of the eyes»

[metaltea]

Oki tiny character.ai tutorial les goo

I assume you know this since it's pretty straight-forward, BUT just in case you've never made one before,

Don't be scared! I promise it's not that advanced lol

. Okay so couple of things here that we can add like name, avatar, short description and long description. The name and avatar doesn't have any effect, but the descriptions ARE VERY IMPORTANT.

Add any vital details about your character or story generator or whatever you're going for, it's pretty versatile. For this tutorial, I'll be making a simple story with two characters, one I'll character A and one I'll call character B.

If you're going for a simple chatbot kinda thing where you talk to a character and get responses based on their personality etc, I'll get to that too.

I don't personally like adding a greeting since when you do that it kinda begins adding context right off the bat, and if you want a more unique beginning each time, I suggest just leaving it out.

So for our short description, add a few things that help define it. For this, we'll use the description "Character A goes to mall of America with B" (how very riveting). As you can see, it doesn't have to be a description for an actual character/s, it can be a basic plot.

For our long description, smush all the details you can into the box about your character/s or plot. Also, pick a POV. I'll be using first person. "My name is Character A and I am best friends with Character B (who I just call B). While I am energetic and positive, B is generally pessimistic and tired. (right off the bat we have defined the characters' names and basic personality traits.) We decide to go to Mall of America and do some shopping for Christmas. Along the way, a zombie apocalypse breaks out. B and I are forced to battle for survival against angry hoards of the undead. (Very um interesting plot, but a plot nonetheless, which gives the AI some context to work with.)

Categories! I'm not sure how important this is in the process, I believe it effects how it describes certain things (such as if it's a mystery it'll probably use words like "sinister, mystery, menacing, etc" and science fiction will belt out fancy words like "electromagnetic cord cutter" or smthing idk lol. For the biggest amount of variety, I like to add as many as possible while keeping in line with what I'm going for. For this, I'll use action, comedy, drama and science fiction.

As for character voice, no idea, I've never used it. Same for image generation.

Visibility is very important, I'm going with private since this is just a tutorial.

Okay so then we get down to the bottom, which is THE most important part imo. You can begin by clicking on insert example message, or just make your own like this: {{user}}: (make sure to add that colon or it won't recognize it as a message) and below it, {{char}}:, and then add whatever you like. Example:

We're gonna add "I am Character A, and I love shopping as well as socializing, so I love Mall of America". Right off the bat, we have established a POV (first person) that the AI will continue to use (most of the time, sometimes it needs some help) and given it a little more context. Then, for char, "Since you love these things so much, you were excited to go shopping at Mall of America this morning. You woke up bright and early, calling your best friend, B, for a mid-morning shopping spree" (See how I switch to 2nd person POV? Your POV is up to you, but I prefer this as it makes things a lil more easy to understand. Again, the AI should continue using 2nd person POV for responses, even if you always use 1st person with your own replies. You need to keep the POVs consistent in all the examples you add, or it'll confuse it and may use random POVs as it goes, or mix up characters.) (This also gives more context, adding in a second character and a location)

8. Now that we've done the thing, we can go to my favorite part, adding chats in the example messages:

Also, make sure you save. If you save before adding anything in the example messages box, it won't save your character and you'll have to start over! No fun.

For example chat 1#, I'm going to add dialogue. This helps it figure out how you like to format sentences and dialogue.

For my example messages, I added: "I walk to Mall of America with a frappe in hand, talking nonstop to my friend, B, about how excited I am to be going shopping with them on such a pretty day. "What store do you want to go to first?" I ask"

The AI then added: "B is exhausted from being woken up early and isn't in the mood for small talk. She sighs and roll her eyes. "Don't be silly, A. We always start at Hot Topic because it takes the longest."

When you arrive at Hot Topic, there's already a line out the door. "Oh man, this is going to take forever", but you can click the lil arrow to the right till you get a response that's more in character or has a plot element you enjoy more. The choices you pick help establish B's character and also their pronouns.

We then need to click the lil blue send arrow or add something else, or for some reason it won't save this example chat. It doesn't matter what you add here right now, bc you can always change it later. We click Next at the top, and go back down to editor.

Congrats! We now have our first example message. Add AS MANY as you can. You can only add up to 3200, so use it wisely but USE IT!! If you're defining a character, you want to add different scenarios like how they respond when another character is sad, mad, etc, or when they themselves are sad, mad, etc.

You CAN keep on clicking the insert example messages button and just keep adding them like that, but I prefer to do it manually as it can fill up the character count pretty quickly otherwise, aaaand also because it's much easier to customize the responses and train the AI for how to respond.

Notice how it says {{random_user_1}}? Well just change it to {{random_user_2}}. Again, make sure to add those colons and add END_OF_DIALOG at the end of every example

Great!! We now have established some stuff the AI can use. Again, make sure to add as much stuff as you can before running out of characters. The more you add, the more customized the responses will be!

Let's try it out! (Make sure to save first)

As you can see, the AI remembers B's name, pronouns, and basic personality, as well as the plot (well most of it, since I didn't begin the chat by saying whether it's before or after zombies invade lol.)

You can click the lil white arrows to get better responses. Use it! If the AI's responses start getting fucked up (way too much markdown, a bunch of ??????'s or !!!!!!!!!!!'s and whatnot, keep clicking the arrow till you get a message that doesn't have it. It's a feedback loop, you see. The more you pick messages in which it uses certain phrases, formatting and so on, the more it'll use it.

There are stars underneath it with which you can rate responses and leave feedback, buuuut I don't really know anything about that. I still suggest using it though, as it probably helps the AI realize "o shit I fucked up my bad"

You can also go out of character by doing something like "(hey real quick, stop using markdowns)" and the AI will go out of character and act like there's a real person there taking feedback, BUT 1. there is no real person, it's the AI tryna be quirky and 2. it usually forgets what you say immediately. Unless you just wanna have a convo with the AI for fun, it's more or less useless, at least right now.

So there you go! If you have any questions, feel free to ask. I'm still new but I'm glad to help in any way I can :> Hope at least some of it made sense lol

[utilitycaster]

I have been thinking about FCG and Imogen's dynamic and how much it changed and i have talked about it in tags a couple of times

Like it changed from both of them going "there is something really wrong with you and you don't realize it, so i will help you fix it" to echother. And now they are both very much on a standstill and kinda waiting for the other to the other to "come to their senses"

I have a feeling that something is going to happen and they are gonna start arguing and snapping at each other, because there is a really fun tension forming between the two of them and their own arrogance is keeping them at bay

So here's the thing: I don't actually think FCG is acting this way towards Imogen! I think it's mostly one-sided and coming from Imogen, whereas FCG is kind of just rolling along doing their own thing.

FCG's arc so far has been one of learning their purpose and the truth about the demise of their party, which was obviously traumatic, but they were met with the support of Bells Hells and Imahara Joe and encouraged heavily to make their own path - and found a deity who represents exactly that: possibility, change, and chance. While his path towards faith has definitely been a weird one with its share of incorrect assumptions, it's also helped him through a lot of difficult circumstances, and it's been rewarded with the attention of the Changebringer. They also met FRIDA and were able to make a strong connection with them very quickly, and while they're still figuring things out, there's a sense of peace about it. FCG still does care about other people, but he's started to consider his own needs in a way he previously didn't and tentatively embrace personhood, and can see a way forward.

Imogen, on the other hand, despite learning much more about the source of her powers, knows less about what she wants now. Originally, she hoped to learn where they came from, and she wanted to be rid of them - or at least, she thought she wanted to be rid of him (Imogen's feelings about power lead me to believe she never actually wanted to be rid of them entirely, just, understandably, the downsides). She now knows that she is Ruidusborn, with all that entails...and the party is fighting most of the Ruidusborn, and the source of her powers. And, to be clear, I absolutely think the party is right, but Imogen finds herself wanting the thing she thought she didn't want (Ruidusborn powers). And whereas the party has largely been tolerant, if not always enthused with FCG's explorations of religion, Imogen feeling out the Ruby Vanguard was met with vehement opposition. Which, again, is fair, because FCG is saying some theologically incorrect and perhaps annoying to some but ultimately harmless shit about a canonically good-aligned deity, whereas Imogen was entertaining siding with a murderous group of cultists responsible for the deaths of Orym's husband, Orym himself, Fearne, and Laudna; but I can see why she felt upset about it.

I think Imogen is intensely jealous of FCG, actually, and she knows it's irrational, which only makes it feel worse. FCG is embracing personhood in a way she doesn't like, but that's the whole point of personhood, isn't it? To make the choices that are right for you, considering the needs of your friends but not erasing yourself to accommodate them. FCG has received support, and even a relationship with someone who can uniquely understand them - in fact, even more so, after this last episode, in which FRIDA has also killed at the command of Aeor. FCG, when unsure about their purpose and agency, received gentle guidance and encouragement to take their time and figure out who they wanted to be. Imogen, when plagued with doubt, has received none of that. She's been yelled at by Ashton and Orym (again: valid of Ashton and Orym, but we're focusing on Imogen's perspective and the fact that she probably even realizes they were right, but that doesn't help her actually feel better). She's constantly told by her closest friend (whose own darker power source was seemingly eliminated without ill effects) that she's "very capable" or that she's always been able to make her own decisions, both responses which give Imogen no room to actually grapple with that doubt and have a chance to address it head-on.

FCG didn't know what they wanted at the beginning, and has found an incredibly validating purpose and a companion who understands many of their struggles. Imogen got precisely what she thought wanted - she even now has a magical item that does take away some of the worst effects of her powers - and it's unsatisfying. She's full of resentment and she knows it's misdirected. I don't even think she's waiting for FCG to come to their senses. I think she just wants to feel what he feels and have what he has, but pursuing the gods isn't right for her, so she's lashing out.

[bugeyedfreaks]

So I was thinking about the whole “misogyny behind the supposed lack of interest in teenage girl Powerpuffs” statement you made and something hit me: the reason why the reboots suck is because they’re trying to squeeze edgy, Cinemasins-style teenage and adult situations and humor out of perpetually five year old girls and it makes me so mad that Craig said that because teenage girls ALREADY think that their lives end once they have boobies or are interested in girly hobbies and it would be so subversive to have a show that continues off of the “GIRLS CAN BE ANYTHING.” message of the original with “TEENAGE GIRLS CAN DO ANYTHING. THEY DON’T HAVE TO BE MEN LITE TO BE HEROES.” but instead, we get like five reboots of various levels of quality, all because he thinks teenage girls have cooties or whatever.

Oh yeah, what I said on this post! I could have given you a short answer like a normal blogger, but here is my long, rambling answer where I basically agree and get a little off track and go more in detail about the suckiness of the reboots/the suckiness of saying the girls aren't special if they're older... behind the cut. 🤣

“Teenage girls ALREADY think that their lives end once they have boobies or are interested in girly hobbies.” It's definitely not an inherent thought by any means, but I totally know what you're saying. Society and culture and the media and the internet push girls into thinking they have to become a certain kind of "mature" by a certain age and it's awful. And to say that the girls wouldn’t be “special” if they were older felt as if it was reinforcing the whole gross notion that women allegedly turn into completely different creatures at puberty and from there on out rapidly lose their worth/usefulness as they get older. To say that the girls wouldn’t or couldn’t be “special” when they grow up… yeah, the wording was pretty yikes.

I guess I should quickly clarify that I prefer Craig doing what he does best, and I'm perfectly fine with the girls continuing to be kindergarteners if the show gets rebooted or continued. And he hasn't been involved with the series since 2008, so he's not responsible for any of the content in the reboots that have already happened. I don’t believe he’s some raging sexist (…well, I hope not) either, it’s just that the way he’s said some of the things he’s said concerning this topic are kinda… ugh. Poorly communicated. It's frustrating sometimes! 😩

I get what Craig was trying to say: having the girls be ass-kicking kindergarteners is a fun and unique premise (true, and I love them that way, it's OG, baby!), and having them be teenagers or adults… well, there are already a lot of ass-kicking superheroines who are teenagers/adults. But that's such a limited view of who the girls really are. Their being kindergarteners isn’t the only thing that makes them unique compared to other superheroes/hero teams. They’re three sisters (essentially triplets) with a creator who acts as their single-parent father figure (so they have a loving and stable family life), and each one of them has distinct personalities and talents. They’re fully fleshed-out characters on their own, but they’re also incomplete if they aren’t together. How many other superheroes or superheroines are like that?

Regarding the comment he made about their “kryptonite,” I definitely think that an interesting setback (and strength!) of theirs– regardless of them being in kindergarten– is that none of the girls have alter egos, so they can never just have “normal” lives. At least Clark Kent and Diana Prince could maybe pretend to be regular people once in a while. Blossom and Bubbles and Buttercup can’t! No matter how old they become, the girls will always have to deal with their “real world” responsibilities in tandem with their “superhero” responsibilities because they don’t have to hide anything about their powers from the world. Other superheroes’ lives would end if their “normal” identity was exposed: theirs wouldn’t. And then again, no matter what unique responsibilities they’d be facing, no matter their stage in life, they’d continue to have to deal with the positives and negatives of that kind of existence, and, like I've discussed on here before, I think there are soooo many stories that could potentially be explored stemming from that. So... like... come on. Not special, my foot! It's not like their adventures would all of a sudden end or could never be just as unique as they've always been!

In the case of making a story with the girls being older, yeah, that doesn’t automatically mean you need to stuff your show with edgy, "adult" humor. You barely even have to change how they talk. They don’t have to talk about sex or comment on the latest pop culture thing to be “mature.” They don’t have to get all serious and gritty to be “mature.” Those are the kinds of things people in Hollywood think maturity is (does a certain someone who's also in Hollywood believe that, too? 👀). The problem is in the writing, in misunderstanding what the show is and who the characters are in the first place, how they deal with life to begin with, and so far it seems that the right storytellers who could tell really cool stories in that sort of setting who do understand all that haven’t come along yet.

Also, a thing that I feel is critical to getting the tone of the girls as characters right is that they exist in a universe that, while it may have exciting action and fighting and carnage, is still a very silly place. The goofiness of that universe comes with a very specific tone that has not been well replicated in these other iterations of the series. The balance of the girls' “normal” and “superhero” lives is always off-kilter (and I’m gonna be controversial… I think the live-action script didn't hit the mark but was a billion times closer to getting that balance than the 2016 reboot), and the type of humor that gets used is way off in tone (PPG humor ≠ twerking/Simpsons humor/lazy pop culture jokes/sex jokes). Plus, that small but critical dose of sincerity in the writing of the original show barely ever feels like it’s present in any of these newer iterations.

...but what do I know, I dunno, do I even get the characters? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ That's just how I feel about it all. Sorry for all these words, haha.

[atcarpenter]

Amber was definitely expecting that and the fact that Tara not only didn't judge or shame her but showed her sympathy means everything to her

Tara can see how hard it is for her to talk about it, how her voice quakes whenever she mentions the stuff she did for Richie and how she was too afraid to say no, how she hated herself for being manipulated

Tara can relate as it reminds her of how hard it is to talk about her mother and she can see Amber acting in the same way and how she tries to downplay it or subtly blame herself, just like Tara has done before and did when opening up to Amber

Tara is truly honored that Amber trusts her enough to open up and happy that she has the chance to show her the same understanding and kindness, to make her feel heard and let her know how much she is loved, just as Amber did for Tara

Amber definitely ugly cries in response and she has a brief moment she thinks Tara is going to laugh but she doesn't and just hugs her and reassures her that it's okay

Tara ends up angry that Sam got to kill Richie first and asks her cousin Wednesday if she knows the magic to revive Richie so that she and Amber can kill him again. Wednesday sincerely responds that she will look into it

Sam and Amber have their own unique language where they will snark at each other but also show a lot of affection. Amber will randomly ask if Sam is responding to her meds well and offer to do the cooking so that Sam can rest after a long day and occasionally gift her little things she happened to find and thought Sam might like

Sam knows what Amber is doing and is really moved at how she's making an effort to show affection and Sam finds little ways to respond like telling her what a good cook she is and doing the dishes, mentioning movies she read about she thought Amber would like and keeping her favorite snacks around and offering her them because she knows Amber often forgets to eat

Absolutely and she cries in response to being accepted and treated as part of their family as well and doesn't care how she looks or if it undermines her image which is how Tara and Sam know she's really moved by it

I love all of the above

Tara is so fn happy that Amber is actually opening up to her and trusting her with shit she knows Amber would like to pretend hadn't happened to her. Tara is glad she can be there for her the way Amber used to be for her all the time. She just wishes it hadn't taken so long. The thought of the year(s) that went between what happened and Amber actually really talking about it make Tara's chest ache

Amber struggles with every word. She keeps thinking of backing out of the conversation and just cutting it short, but she powers through and actually touches on pretty much everything at least a bit. It feels to her like she's admitting to things she's done wrong and not to things that have been done to her

Amber is reminded of all the times she sat with Tara and let her talk about what was happening with Christina and how she kept reminding her that it isn't Tara's fault. Tara tells her over and over it isn't her fault what happened with Richie. After several times Amber deflects with, "It kinda is. I said yes to literally everything." (Or at least to most things, but she'd downplay the part of handwaved consent too.) Tara firmly insists again, "I don't care. It's not your fucking fault for being manipulated." She gets a little pissy because she thinks getting hit by her mom is not as bad as what is clearly sexual abuse, and she hates it that Amber is somehow blaming herself for it. Hates it. Why is Amber not accepting the same logic that she used to apply to Tara's situation? She can't let her girlfriend do that to herself, so she's not going to stop reminding her, just like Amber never stopped reminding her of the same either

The fact that Tara just lets her cry afterwards just makes her cry more, but it's cathartic, because honestly even when feeling like shit in her worse moments, she has allowed herself to cry way too little about this and spent way, way too much time pretending like there was nothing wrong with what happened. Honestly, it's pretty much not until she actually starts talking to Tara about it and walking through it again start to finish, hearing it all from her own mouth all at once and actually saying it all out loud, that she realises just how much there was and how fucked up it all was

Wednesday is a real one 💙 She'd love to get a stab in too. And god, Tara is so fucking furious and hates that he is dead because he hasn't paid enough yet.

I love their little shows of affection. Sam feels so self-conscious about accepting any gifts, help, acts of service, but she is touched, and she makes an effort to show real interest in Amber and whatever is currently going on in her life and what she's into and just returning the appreciation she gets. Tara is a bit worried at first that Sam and Amber snarking at each other is like a bad sign, but she realises it's not meant to be taken seriously most of the time.

Normally Amber only allows herself to break down like that in front of Tara, and even then, she tries not to, so Sam is concerned at first because she's rarely seen this happen and pulls her into a hug without hesitation, one that Amber does not want to let go off again, clinging to the back of her jacket like a cat with claws. Tara also joins the hug and whispers to her how much she loves her & that it's okay to feel like this and cry bc she's touched and happy and loved

[firetextskpop]

i sent an ask the other day but i already have another one lol ...

would love to read something with the rose jaehyeong where the reader is also in a band as a bassist and they meet backstage at a festival/show !!

please look after yourself <3

Hello! Thank you so much! <3 I hope you're taking care of yourself as well. This will likely be quick bc Jae is 1 of 2 of my #1 ults and on my mind a lot. I miss The Rose so much. Also it's like perfect bc I play the bass.

"We Rose You!" Woosung yelled out to the screaming crowd.

Here was another festival that each of your groups were at but the only difference was that instead of being on the other side, performing at the same time as The Rose, your group's set was after. 15 minutes between just to assure that the festival go-ers can get food and see other artists they may like.

You didn't intend to run into the members as they began coming off stage to the back, but you did. Luckily, the staff was cool, and when the boys walked off stage, they didn't shoo you away or stop the boys from talking to you.

"Woo! They're really riled up tonight." Dojoon says and gives everyone he sees a high five. "I mean you guys did great!" You blurt out and he flashes you his beautiful smile and leaves. Your heart fluttered a bit from the interaction but before you could even think about reacting again, Woosung comes by and stops when he sees you.

"Wait, aren't you y/n, the bassist in *your group name*?" Okay... now you're blushing. How does THEE Kim Woosung know you? "Y-yeah! How did you..." He chuckles and looks over at Jaehyeong, who is not paying attention and getting the sweat wiped off of him. "I researched a few of the groups in the festival and the way you play is so dope. Someone is also kinda inspired by you and has been trying some of your iconic baselines." He responds and nods his head in Jaehyeong's direction. Jae is now aware that you're there and he smiles and waves to you.

"Helloo" The taller man says to you and puts his hand out to shake your hand. You return the gesture while blushing really hard. Anyone could tell from far away he was really handsome but being this close to him was much different. "Hello." Your eyes met his. "I heard that you like the way I play." Clearly now you were getting bold. Jaehyeong laughs a bit nervously and amps up his charms "Oh yes! Its very unique. You're truly a one-of-a-kind."

"Maybe we could have a playing session one day?" You suggest, attempting to outdo him in his own game. His eyebrow raised and head tilted slightly at the response. "Lets do it." He says and pulls out his phone to get your information so you both can communicate. After exchanging information, Jaehyeong thanked you for your time and you thought there was no better time than now to ask for a hug. He very gladly gave it to you but was then teased immediately by Woosung and Hajoon.

"I didn't know you had game Jeff!" Woosung pushed him a bit. Jae began blushing and giggling out of embarrassment now. "Stopp" He whined and pushed Woosung back, beginning to walk away. "When are you two gonna get married?" Hajoon teases and puts his arm around the bassist. Jaehyeong sighs and turns back around to wave you goodbye. Quickly, you waved back and then felt a tap on your shoulder. "Are you done flirting now? It's time to go on stage!" The lead singer says and you rush to get to your placement.

A newfound adrenaline rushed through your body as you prepared for the stage. Before you know it the lights are on and it's time to shine. The crowd is beautiful as ever but only one face sticks out to you. Smile brighter than the sun itself and his eyes even brighter. The only one who matters in that moment.

[alittlepudge-neverhurtnobody]

For T/A, how does A tell T about her kinks? How does he take it when she comes clean?

WELL she tells him after they uhhh hook up and it gets kinda kinky, so she's already given him a little taste of what her preferences are. it's kinda hard to talk her way around snapping out of her afterglow and into action when T mumbled into her boobs that he was hungry. and going to raid the kitchen of the place she's house-sitting and bringing back several kinds of junk food with her. aaaaand straddling his chunky hips and insisting on (consensually) hand-feeding him and tipsily telling him how good he's being and how soft he is until he's flopped back burping and groaning against his pillow and the sheets are full of crumbs. aaaaaaaand getting off with him again after that because holy fuck, she may have decided to be upfront about her kinks from now on but (a) this is not exactly what she had in mind but also (b) HOLY FUCK, THIS IS SO HOT?

T feels very similarly. they wake up tangled together in the dorito-y sheets the next morning and he remembers what happened last night and is INSTANTLY turned on. he's done plenty of stuffing on his own, even if he hasn't called it that in so many words, but not like THIS. not with someone hot spread over his lap petting his hair with one hand and cramming oreos in his mouth with the other and telling him that he's doing so good, he's being so good for her, god he's so big and soft. he hastily scuttles out before he can somehow embarrass himself over this. then he doubles back and leaves a note making up some responsibility so he doesn't seem like an asshole. instead he goes back to his aunt's and jerks off in the shower for like 45 minutes replaying last night in his head.

ANYWAY A has made this pact with herself that she's going to be straightforward about this stuff but she's also promised herself that she isn't going to Get Attached (tm) so she figures, whatever, it's low stakes telling this guy and also she is not beating the allegations here. a regular person would have brought MAYBE two kinds of snacks back to bed. not seven! she has a shift with T at the ice cream shop later that day and they kind of stammer and blush around each other until he says "last night was fun" in the most casual way he can manage and she exhales like "YEAH IT WAS FUN IN A NORMAL WAY RIGHT?"

T has been thinking about how not normal this was and how fucking stellar it felt and how the entire thing has been playing on an extremely horny loop in his brain since he left her bed. T is making bargains with god or whoever that he will do literally anything if he gets to feel A's body weight on top of him again, pinning him down and gently but firmly pushing food into his mouth until he literally can't anymore. no way is he letting this go undiscussed. he waits a tasteful couple of minutes before continuing, "you do that kinda stuff often?"

and A has made this stupid STUPID pact with herself and she told herself that she would Just Tell People, What Like It's Hard, and so she grits her teeth and gets the box cutter so she can funnel some of her apprehension into tearing up cardboard boxes instead of, like, spontaneously combusting. "I mean," she says, plunging the blade into the first unlucky box. "not as often as I want to, I guess."

T's like, excuse me, please elaborate here, and she doesn't give him a moment to cut in before clumsily rushing out the spiel she's been obsessively rehearsing in her head since her own shower after he left in the morning. she explains being a feeder and tells him it basically amounts to wanting to feed her partners and thinking it's hot when they gain weight and he barely blinks.

T has been around the block a few times. he's seen a lot of porn. he gets the unique eroticism of real-life jiggle physics. he's appreciated a big belly or two. he's, uh, gotten some ideas from some gainer videos. he is not phased by any of this In The Least. if anything he's thrilled that that means what happened last night is probably still on the table for the future. he's like, "okay, when do we start?"

they start in the walk-in freezer, falling into each other to make out so enthusiastically that they kind of forget they're at work for a bit. she's got him pressed against the cold metal wall, hands gripping his chubby sides as he hefts her belly in one hand and buries his other hand in her hair. and they take a LOT of ice cream home from work that night.

[icannotreadcursive]

Question I was thinking about: which Hazbin Hotel character would you be down to go on a three-day road trip with? Because I think that, despite likeability, each and every one of them would start driving their companion completely insane in their own unique way.

Oh damn, oh shit, I gotta think about this.

I think Vaggie.

Cuz—while I am so sure she's somewhat prone to backseat driving when it's not her turn at the wheel, which would irritate me, and is probably a bit of a leadfoot—she'd also definitely be a great copilot in the "keep an eye out for the exit", "am I clear to merge?", "can you hand me a french fry?" kinda ways, I think we could find a pretty boppin' middle ground on music tastes, and would probably end up teaching each other new swear words while being pissy about other drivers' stupidity.

You also, though, get my thoughts on the pros and cons of everybody else.

Alastor drives like a fuckin' madman, no one can convince me otherwise. Anybody else in the car during his turn at the wheel will be in fear for their life for non-serial-killer-related reasons. And then there's the serial-killer-related reasons; I don't wanna be an accessory to anything, even assuming I'm safe. He's also a judgemental shit-talking bitch, which I would enjoy when aimed at other drivers, but have very little patience for when also inevitably aimed at me. The overlap of music tastes would work out well here, too, though (hello electroswing). And I have interests in radio, music, creepy shit, true crime, and food so I think the chitchat would be pretty good.

I could do a day trip with Charlie no problem, but after three days we would be fighting because her blind peppiness wore me down, I snapped at her about some unexamined hypocrisy or something, and she got defensive, but then she got overly apologetic which pissed me off more. Genuinely think she's fine as a copilot—probably great at feeding-the-driver-snacks duty—but might be overly timid about certain things as a driver (like merging) in a way that might bug me, depending.

My tolerance for inebriated people is generally pretty limited, so that puts a massive asterisk next to both Angel and Husk for things being dependent on how their sobriety's doing.

Angel also drives like he's running from the cops, but I think that could probably be reigned in by establishing some road behavior boundaries like it's a kink negotiation. Honestly, that's probably the key to making it through a road trip with him without losing my mind. Roadtrip buddy safeword system, and taking breaks. The music, banter, and snack situation would be fire. (Though the banter may occasionally need reigning in.) He strikes me as very down to go check out random roadside points of interest, which would be fun. Having to inevitably drag him away from sexually harassing the clerk every time we stop for gas would not be. And not actually his fault, but this would bug me: having to readjust the seat every fucking time cuz he's so goddamn tall.

Husk has some of the same judginess issues as Alastor, but is overall one of the more chill options. Would be a decent and responsible co-pilot when it comes to things like navigation duties, but either cops an attitude about or outright refuses things like snack duty. If he's sober, I feel like he's generally a pretty good driver, but I also think he gets road rage, which I don't wanna deal with.

I...am not sure Niffty can drive. I don't think Niffty should drive. That right there makes her a bad candidate for only companion on a multi-day road trip. And then I don't think I could comfortably tolerate her degree of manic-obsessive behavior for that long in close quarters. Bless her heart.

That's everyone I have articulate thoughts about

[tutuandscoot]

Ice Dance Falls, Fails and Flubs

Part 2

1. The Aboriginal Dance

Cultural appropriation at its finest. Seriously. How was this not banned??? VM’s Carmen gets banned but not this??

Points for not going with the standard ol’ Russian folk dance but this should never have been allowed. Aboriginal dance is an ancient tradition that dates back 60 000 years, it is a religion for the aboriginal people. There were once over 700 different tribes across Australia, each with their own unique storytelling. It is part of Aboriginal Dreamtime culture and is a way of passing down legends and stories through generations.

So, what specifically is wrong with this above, well other than ALL OF IT:

The music: this is not Aboriginal music, idk what it is but it is not utilising traditional instruments, the “singing” is not culturally accurate.

The costumes: this is just so offensive and inappropriate. Yes, aboriginal culture and dances use face paint (oca to be exact) but not like this. They do not where leaves all over themselves, nor do they wear strings. At one point in the season, he was dressed in a darker unitard and black face- AT LEAST that was banned.

The choreography: this is just not the kind of dancing that can be done on ice. Flamenco, yes, waltzs, yes, country dance, sure. Not this. This Russian team makes it out as though Aboriginals are Neanderthals. They are not. Their dances are are pieces of art and communicate 10s of thousands of years of history. The nose rubbing is not aboriginal but more a Māori (new zealand/ pacific islands) custom.

How this wasn’t deducted all the component scores I have no idea, it’s a disgrace this won an Olympic medal

2. Yuri Balkov: Human Turd 💩

Partly responsible for the shit show that was 1998 ice dance. Banned for a year then back on the panel several times again, and was up to his same shit once again here in 2002. Spineless turd with no respect for the sport he is.

3. Nailed the Ending

This is much better with volume (timestamp 1:11:00 on the Beijing FD video).

Point 1. The lil ‘sexy time’ moment 😖

Point 2. Why is it necessary to put a move like this right at the end when you have just done a lift?

Point 3. Who came up with this? Of course he was gonna dropped her! She has no point of contact on him so how is she suppose to get upright again when she does not have Tessa Virtue’s core of steel??

Point 4. Obviously on the first watch you notice the drop first, but just before that you get an elbow to the face- lovely.

Point 5. The perfectly timed crash drop on the music. Art. I hope she was ok, this is a horrible thing to happen, but the musically comedy of it is just gold.

Also this was a very bad fd.. so boring, bad music.. this ending kinda came par for the course.

4. Weapo’s Twizzles

Bobble bobble bobble bobble fall over bobble bobble

5. FP/M Salt Lake City Edition

Splat.

Come on man! How hard is it to stay up right? (ice skating is very hard but these are Olympic level athletes… supposedly).

It truly does not surprise me it was considered taking this “sport” out of the Olympics. Thank god they didn’t and two precious bby angels came among to rescue it.

Oh yeah btw.. this won a medal 🫣😵‍💫🥴

6. 22 year old high level athlete doesn’t take responsibility for her own costume; chaos ensues.

I was always taught from starting dance at 3 years old- your costume is your responsibility. If it doesn’t feel right, you get the safety pin or needle and thread and you fix it, or you at least make sure someone else does it up for you PROPERLY, obviously no one wants this to happen to them esp not on global television but it was solely her responsibility to fix it (things are different in shows/companies where you have costumers , but you individually- your own costume you are responsible for). To continue complaining about this for the next 4 years is a childish joke and even if the hideous green dress had stayed together you still shouldn’t have won 😘

7. ISU after 1998: “We’re gonna fix ice dance judging”. ISU in 2002: “Psych”.

I hate this and love this an equal amount.

The synchronicity of Rod and Tracey: “They’ve been beaten, by the Israelis”. (Pls don’t take that out of context rn). Tracey was just 100% DONE with all of this.

From Margarita and Povilas in their crowns, her throwing hers off and storming out. Jeff Buttle shouting ‘WHAT THE FUCK??’ Iconic.

8. Scooter’s Nose Bleed

Poor bby. Iconic way to finish off your first National Championships win. Then they make you go out and do an encore 🤦‍♀️. I love in the first gif how Shay pops into the shot 😂

Also ironic thinking about a certain team at 2017 worlds getting blood on each other and their reaction… do you think T even blinked twice at getting S’s nose blood on her?? I don’t think so..