#but I suddenly realized that rule doesn't need to exist

[artemistorm]

Did you know you're allowed to write and post fics that are less than 1,000 words? I didn't know this.

[oneshlut]

Overjoyed (Dr. Flug x Reader) [Headcanons]

Rules For Requesting

Characters I Will Write For

Masterlist

Summary: General Dr. Flug crushing and confessing headcanons

VERY rarely experiences love. This is very new to him, so he will NOT recognize it the first few months he has a crush

Will think of you as a really close friend! At least, he thinks so. He may get a bit more insecure because he thinks you're a better person than him

If you treat him like a normal person and like.. don't bully him??-- He will get attached. I don't think he's recieved affection in a hot minute

You, overall as a person, fascinate him. How can someone be so kind, smart, witty, good-looking (in a totally platonic way), AND care for him? Part of him thinks you're not real. Don't worry, he just hasn't experienced love that often to know what admiration is

He doesn't understand why he gets so nervous around you. He's not scared of you at all, not like he is around Blackhat--you were, in fact, the opposite of him. So why was he getting all fidgety and jumpy around you? It didn't make sense how he could feel so comfortable around a person, yet still feel so anxious all the while

Over time, he becomes a bit protective over you without really knowing it. He'll push you out of his lab when he's doing a dangerous experiment, or will give you the easiest job on missions (besides 5.0.5.'s). He tries to refrain himself from acting this way sometimes, he doesn't want you to feel like you're incompetent in any way--all his intention was to keep you safe! And now he's spiraling because he doesn't know why he feels so protective over you

Sometimes you'll compliment him, and he feels as if Blackhat himself just told him he did a great job on a mission. Except, this time his heart was beating faster, his palms were more sweaty than usual, it felt stuffy inside his mask, and-- ..Goddammit, why is he getting so nervous again?? He then realizes he hasn't responded to you yet, and mutters a small 'thank you' that made him sound a lot less confident he wished he could've sounded

Eventually, he got sick of it. He needed to find out what the hell was going on. So imagine his mini panic attack when he googles 'why is my heart beating so fast', and Google tells him his heart is failing

It's not like he doesn't know what love is, no, far from it. He's seen his average romcoms (and hated them), he knows what love should be like. Hell, he knows the entire chemical formula for the damn feeling. He was just never able to understand what others felt when they said they were 'in love'. Until now.

For him, it was unbelievably weird to have his heart race for someone that wasn't out of fear. Honestly, he.. liked the feeling. If it weren't for how he reacted to it.

Dr. Flug wasn't this nervous around you before. Normally, not at all. When you hung out at his lab, he would ramble on and on about his inventions, only checking in every few minutes to make sure you weren't getting bored of him or anything. But now, knowing his feelings for you, he feels horribly nervous around you. This affects every little thing he does, and he hates it.

When you hang out with Flug now, he realizes how truly lucky he is for you to even do more than just glance over him. Him? Why him? Why not spend your time with anyone else..?

Then he realizes you actually care about him. His existence. He isn't.. invisible to you. And suddenly he's over the moon.

Right--about the way Flug acts around you. Every conversation you have with him suddenly has this weird air around it. You could tell he was more nervous than.. well, usual, but whenever you asked he just waved it off as some upcoming mission or invention he still had to work on. You'd normally decide not to dwell on it too much.

On his end, he thought he was doing everything horribly wrong in front of you. "Catch you on the flip side"??? When has he ever said something like that?! Not to mention his stammering practically increased by 5 times its normal amount, as he was fumbling over most words in every single sentence he dared mutter around you. If he wasn't talking, he was tripping over his untied shoelaces (he almost always had them tied, god, what happened to his schedule-?) or spilling some important chemical all over his workspace.

Overall, he was more fidgety than normal, and he hated it. It made him want to tear his bag out. Why couldn't he just be normal around you? Now he's just worse than he ever was. All his attempts of impressing you were down the drain at this point. But at least he hasn't completely drawn you away--I mean, you still liked hanging out with him! At least, he thinks you like spending time with him.. Part of him is still just the slightest bit insecure.

His worry for you has increased when you go on missions with him now. Part of him wants to just keep you in the hat ship so you don't get involved in something messy, but he knows that would be unfair for you. Flug just worries about you getting hurt, is all. He tries to focus on you a bit more during missions to make sure you're doing alright, but sometimes this just causes him to fuck up even more in front of you. Way to go, Flug. He suddenly feels as if his engineering and villainy PhDs didn't really do that much for him in the long run.

As we all know, Dr. Flug is far from someone to act on feelings. He acts on his logic, most of the time at least. With this in mind, he is the last person you'd think of as someone who would confess their feelings to someone. In all honesty, even if he did muster up the courage to try, he would pass out on the spot. So, he just tries to wait it out until this crush subsides. Spoiler alert: it doesn't!

Right, right--so, since he probably won't ever come clean about his feelings to you, you'll probably eventually just have to confess yourself. Unless Flug slips up one day and accidentally says he loves you in one of his long-winded rambles, in which would make a very awkward situation.

Under the circumstances that you do confess to him first, he.. well, Flug won't believe you at first. You've probably just gotten yourself mixed in with one of Demencia's pranks. A bit cruel, but nothing he couldn't handle. He will have to talk to Demencia later though, she's been getting on his nerves lately.. And besides, the whole spiel of you actually liking him, caring for him, and wanting to be with him? Yeah, okay.

So he laughs. And then he realizes you're serious. Oh. You're serious.. Oh.

Ohhhhhh crap. Okay! So you like him. It was.. It didn't feel real. But it was. And now that same feeling came back to him, the one where he feels his hands getting sweatier, his bag getting stuffier, and.. a new symptom. His legs turned flimsy, and could now just barely hold his body. He leaned onto his desk for support. If only he could see how red his bag was at the time.

And yes, you were able to calm him down, but even as the day progressed, Flug still couldn't swallow the situation. He laid in his bed unmoving, still, and.. awake. He couldn't get his mind off of anything that had happened that afternoon. He's probably pinched himself at least 6 times now, making sure he wasn't just dreaming or anything. After the 7th pinch.. yep, he wasn't.

Eventually, this surprise faded away into another new emotion.

Overjoyed.

[evvlevie]

Shifting and Manifestation Epiphanies by Evil Evie at 1AM thank you very much for that

I am going to make this quick:

Here are the rules that every single one of us is playing by when it comes to shifting and manifestation (it's the same thing literally)

You are never changing you reality. You are always "just" becoming aware of different realities that you are a part of. Therefore: you are not changing the 3D. You are experiencing another reality in which the 3D is different. Two different pairs of shoes!!! (this is literally a German saying, but you get the message)

You can only manifest who you are. The Physical reality is a physical expression of the things going on inside of you. It has to bend to your imagination always and as a matter of fact, can't do otherwise. Therefore: "Jack doesn't love me" ➡️ Jack doesn't love you and behaves accordingly to that. Therefore also: "I am the best shifter ever" ➡️ you shift effortlessly.

Time is not real. Continuity is a very human way of interpreting reality. All there ever exists is the now. Which is why you either have what you want, or you don't. There is no waiting. There is no time schedule. You either are aware of your manifestations/DR or you simply are not.

"But Evie I have been affirming this and that for days now and I still see the 3D in front of me". Imagination should be your only validation. The physical things you can see are only an interpretation of your imagination anyways. As you can only shift awareness of realities, and not physically change the 3D in the way we think we do, all you need to do is become aware of the actual reality you want to partake in. Becoming aware of the person who is living that reality specifically. You are never shifting physically as in changing places with your body. It's like running around in a forest at night with a flashlight. You see the tree you are focusing the light on. All the other trees exist in that forest still, you just can't see them. If you turn around and shine a light on the other tree, you are now seeing a different tree. You are becoming aware of it. That's basically what you are doing by manifesting/shifting. You are aligning your thoughts/identity to the person who already has what you want, in order to become aware of that version of your realities.

think of it like you are a magnet for realities. If you align yourself with the version of you who has what you want, you pull in the physical form of that. The reality you want to shift to/ the reality in which you have your manifestation. This is a process that usually needs a more or less extensive bridge of incidences that will take you from reality A to B. The way this bridge of incidences may look like is not up to us, and it's actually not our job to make that happen. This bridge can be describes as the events that happen in order to take your story the way you want to. Like if you want to manifest a higher salary, and suddenly you get laid off which makes you find this amazing job offer that pays way more than your old job and now you have your manifestation.

If your 3D triggers you, because it hasn't been showing you what you want to see yet : relax. First of all, the only validation is imagination. Second of all: You could be right in the middle of the bridge of incidences without realizing it and third of all: if you see things you don't like you just ignore that, because you are not aligning with the version of you that doesn't have their manifestation anymore, so that shit happening has nothing to do with you. That's a reality you have left ages ago, remember? You are in reality B now. Go into your imagination to align yourself with that reality again, and feel the fulfillment of knowing that reality B is your actual home now, and reality A is dying out right as we speak. Think from the perspective of You_2.0, have conversations in your mind as that Person, feel the way it feels to be them and accept, that this You_2.0 is the actual you. You_2.0 is not made up. If you can observe You_2.0 and become aware of You_2.0 through imagination, then you ARE You_2.0. The only thing left to do is accept that fact, and embody it despite the things that are left of reality A to experience but those don't matter anyway, REALITY A IS NOT YOUR ADRESS ANYMORE. Just imagine you moved houses. You moved from house A to house B. Some of your mail still goes to house A instead of house B. Would you call the person who sent you the mail and inform them of your new residency or would you go to house A and be all like "OMG THATS SO RIGHT I DO LIVE HERE EVEN THO I FULLY AND OFFICIALLY CHANGED MY ADRESS AND BOUGHT A NEW WHOLE ASS HOUSE AND RENOVATED THAT PLACE!!! THANK YOU DEAR MAIL FOR TELLING ME WHO I AM!!!" no you wouldn't. If a letter gets addressed to your new house and the person it was sent to is named "Katherine Bucket-face" you'd think "Who the fuck is this person" and not "oh since I do live in this house I must be Katherine Bucket-face thanks for the memo!" I hope you get the metaphor but my point is: the 3D doesn't tell you who you are and what is happening. Only you can decide that and the 3D has to follow those instructions regardless of how long it might look for all of that to happen.

[nonbinarydeity]

I started letting myself desire fully/stopped limiting my desires and suddenly I felt something click in my mind? I'm fully in a state of knowing I have what I want right now, and I'm realizing how silly it was to think that I had to do so much to get what I want, because it's so natural once you start allowing yourself to let go of your conditioning.

We're meant to love wholeheartedly, we're meant to live in fulfillment, we're meant to be passionate. You have to let go of this world and its rules to really become your most authentic, natural self. You have to let go of all of the meaning you put on everything, all of the pedestals you've put things on, all of the limits you put on yourself. Once you do that, it's so easy and natural to slip into a pure state of fulfillment.

It's like, this world isn't meant to weigh so heavily on your mind. You're meant to treat this world as a playground with all of your desires, and you're meant to get everything you want as you want it. Anything else isn't natural and it's likely why so many people feel a deep sense of something being off. We aren't meant to be so limited.

The thing is, I wasn't even trying to get here. Lately I've been focusing on trying to let go of the things that have hurt me in the past, and move on. I've been trying to love myself, and allow myself to exist as I am, and in doing so the feeling of the wish fulfilled came to me naturally.

Your natural state is fulfillment. The moment I let myself exist without judgement, I fell into that fulfillment. Basically: let go of all of the pressure you put on yourself to be a certain way, because your desires are meant to be fulfilled.

Manifesting is supposed to be extremely easy, and I think I understand now. It's hard to explain because it happens so naturally, like you really don't have to do anything but shed your ego and become more than this world.

I definitely think that this is one of those things that you have to experience to truly understand it. Like I can tell you to let go of limits all I want, but you have to DO it before you can truly understand what I'm trying to say.

If you apply what you've been learning, you'll be able to tell if it's right for you. If it doesn't feel right, it isn't right. Let yourself be guided towards what will work for you: your mind knows what you need, you just have to listen to it 💕

[blommp717]

could you maybe explain the whole "dropping the desire" thing a bit more closely? cus idk but whenever i hear people saying to drop the desire, it makes me feel like i have to give up everything i "want" and accept this shitty life i have. like i just don't understand. what do i even do when i have nothing to "manifest"? when i have desires, i can tell myself that everything's okay because im gonna be outta here soon (and living my best life having all my desires) but with nd, i don't quite get what the "end goal" is. hope this doesn't sound stupid, it's just that i've been in the manifestation community since 2016 now, having desires every single day and looking forward to finally manifesting them (which never happened btw), so suddenly just dropping them feels so strange to me. it's already so late where i live and i'm tired so this probably doesn't make a lot of sense, but i still hope you can tell what i'm trying to ask😵‍💫

Hello there 🫶☀️🪷 don’t ever feel bad for

Alrighty I can feel that this is gonna be a longer answer so I hope you’re ready.

Firstly, believe me or not but I know exactly what you’re going through, I’m sure allot of people do.

So firstly let’s this out of the way, why do I keep saying there is no manifestation? To understand that, we also have to understand ND. Let’s break it down first from what ND is and what it states, then you’ll automatically get the answer to why manifesting is not real and the reality of the situation is 100x better in my opinion.

Nonduality is the understanding that there is, well, no duality, no separation in any of “this”. Everything is included in this, thoughts, ideas, the world, people, feelings, events, food, cars, money, desire, you, sense of self, all of it. All of existence is just one, all the same. And this is what you are, dissolving labels and everything, we can realize there is no point where you end and the entire universe begins. Without labels, nothing is named, nothing is decided as yes or no or good or bad, it all just is, a nameless is-ness. You are this infinite presence, nameless, timeless, formless, appearing as everything. No-thing appearing as something. A hollow appearance at that but regardless, an appearance.

And if you are everything, if it’s all just one, and this is what we are, then everything is just what we appear as. So the realization of “$100” is the experience of it. There is nothing to do, there is nothing to achieve because it’s all you and the realization or awareness of this idea is the experience. It doesn’t matter how you feel so you can cry, get mad and do whatever you want because it doesn’t change the nature of what you are, this “ “ nameless thing you are remains untouched. There’s no worrying about the what ifs or time delays because again, this is what you appear as by realizing it.

You say your “manifestation” never happened, and I think it’s time to be clear with yourself (as I have done this many times before). Are you affirming and visualizing to change or get something, or as a means to remind yourself of what is yours. And affirmation does not get you anything, it’s what it means to you in terms of identity that matters.

I could look at a rock and rub it 3 times, and because to me it means I’m going to get a free coffee, it’s instantly true.

You can make anything mean you have what you want, you don’t just make the rules your are the rules. This whole idea of dropping is also just a way for people to not worry about their desire. Personally I do what I want. I’m everything, If I feel like thinking about it cus it makes me happy I will, but if I’m thinking about it in a “I need to affirm to get this” kind of way, ima just stop, remember that this is not a technique but a reminder of what naturally we exist as.

You never have to give up on what you like because this life is meant to be cherished and enjoyed.

There’s no reason to live a life that makes you unhappy, your literally god, god is all, you are everything. You. Got. This. Don’t make it a process, don’t make it a journey, and most definitely don’t thing ND is a technique to manifest. There is no manifesting, only being, so this isn’t something you turn off and on. I hope this helped, I myself have been pretty sleepy so I hope this made sense 😭🤭🫶☀️🪷🌚🌝

[ewingstan]

Finished arc 11. While it had a lot of high points (some of the best stuff in the text), the broader setup is frustrating me. Namely, I don't like Cradle or Love Lost as antagonists. Being motivated by an all-encompasing need for revenge can work for a point-of-view character, but it's harder to make interesting for their adversary*. And as much as I'm a sucker for trolley problem stories, this whole process of making Love Lost and Cradle more depraved and having them do more fucked-up shit, emphasizing how dangerous it would be to let them exist even isolated in the margins of society—its all a bit too well set-up to make killing or mega-siberianing them the only reasonable way of dealing with them. We've had stuff like this in the past, there were plenty of characters in Worm who got killed or petrified or time-prisoned that I didn't have a problem saying "yeah that's horrible but it was really the only decision that could've been made." But did we need to have Rain's clustermates suddenly start acting like the Slaughterhouse Nine?

It feels too cartoony and too real-world at the same time. Cradle and LL are not acting like fully realized characters; the story's need for them to be obstacles that can't be met without removing from the board entirely has reduced them. But also, the fact that its peacekeepers who are steeling themselves for the moral necessity of killing criminals, going so far as to have a lawyer look at scenes of child dismemberment so that she would agree that killing such morally depraved people was what needed to be done—what are we doing here? We're mixing utilitarian ethics with retributive justice, we're framing fantasy situations in the language of police and soldiers. It feels less like an elaborate trolley problem and more like reskinned propaganda.

I don't think that was WBs intention, to be clear. I think he was trying to set up a situation where it was believable that Victoria's normal moral's would slide. That's what he does with most of his protagonists, after all. But he was perhaps too concerned with putting her in the right, not concerned enough with making the force pushing her believable, and ended up with something a bit too close to the inciting incident of a Call of Duty game.

*Especially compared to Colt. The "running from a shit homelife, having no place to turn but the people who got you out, misplaced loyalty pushing you onwards and shame fencing you in" stuff is great. Or even Lord of Loss' need to follow self-imposed rules to direct his behavior since he doesn't trust his own decsion-making, that echoes Victoria in a way I'd love to see the text deal with. Its kind of weird to see those very interesting and well-characterized motivations next to "I'm gonna mutilate a bunch of kids because I hate this one dude."

[terrence-silver]

Old man Terry using the Internet Age to find his beloved? 💻 🌐 ⌨️

---

I think Terry Silver relishes the perks new technology and the Internet Age as we know it today brought about --- something that simply didn't exist when he was young(er), along with all the opportunities it placed before him, taking to it like a fish takes to water because I feel he enjoys expensive and intricate toys no matter the decade and he always has the most expensive, modern new thing; I think he loves how it entirely changed the rules of 'the hunt' too. How it gave him a whole extra realm to dominate over.

Which he does. Most expertly.

Well, of course, I mean, there's no denying that in typical old man fashion he might reminisce that 'back in his days' if you wanted to stalk someone, peep on them, be a voyeur, trespass, discover information about them, you'd have to be hands on, do it personally, go out there and physically watch them through their window. Dig through drawers. Listen through walls and doors. Take photos manually. Eavesdrop on conversations. Personally wiretap apartments. Climb over roofs and lower yourself on someone's balcony to enter their bedroom in a style that might put a Ninja to shame. Literally put yourself out there and indulge in the thrill of the chase. The adrenaline of being caught. It took some actual skill. Some balls. Tenacity. Daring. Not schlub could do it. If you wanted something or someone that badly, you had to go out and get them. The Internet? Well, it ensures that almost everything --- every bit of intel you could ever imagine about a person is right there, in your pocket, on a phone that could fit into the palm of your hand. On a laptop that can fit on your desk. And what's best? People put all this information out there all by themselves and often, it's a competition to see who can put more out there giving a seasoned voyeur a lifetime's worth of material to freely browse through. Every day. Every hour. Every second. Worldwide. What's perversely funny to Terry, no doubt, is that they're helpless to prevent who does the watching on the other end of the screen. Who saves what bit of info. With what intentions. What he does with it later, to what end. Giving someone like him, oh, only a million ways to exploit or blackmail someone if he so chooses, feeding the ultimate need for control and having the upper hand in him. Oh, look, he found an uncomfortable post someone made a decade ago that sounds a bit prejudiced and problematic; would be awful if that got into the public, now would it? It doesn't have to be like that, provided you do what he says. This being only an example, of course. How Terry would make a game out of having someone vulnerable and in the palm of his hand. Entirely at his mercy.

Some odd thirty years ago?

That would've been unimaginable and I feel Terry relishes that. Perhaps missing 'the good old days' just a little bit. No denying that the man undoubtedly likes climbing in through someone's window. Hiding in chimneys. Coming and going undetected. Breaking and entering through his own ability. Maybe it's the Spec Ops soldier in him; the ability to show off some skill to nobody in particular to his own self and his ego in the knowledge not everyone can do what he just did.

So, if his beloved is someone who caught his eye online?

The delight of it is shockingly short-lived in him because I imagine it would quickly hit him that whatever he can see --- every punk out there can see as well. Every image. Every update. Every thought. Every bit of information that can be exploited. Every video. Every like, dislike. Everything. There's no intimacy. The man watching through a hole; the clueless ingenue on the other side, not realizing they're observed and no third person 'spoiling' the moment. Rendering his control anything but absolute. Threatening his sense of authority. Suddenly, he's contending with a billion equally faceless strangers out there (potentially leering over beloved?) and he doesn't like that. Oh, he doesn't like that one bit. Beloved doesn't just exclusively live and exist in his phone, tucked away into his pocket like something that belongs to them and him alone. They don't exist solely in front of a camera connected to his laptop. They're aren't just his in this moment in time. They also, potentially live...in everyone else's pocket as well. In everyone else's computer too. The thought would be...visceral? Like, if he took pleasure in spying on every update and upload, every private insight into beloved's life, utilizing hack tricks to go even further, track their IP address, be privy into the search history, transactions, there's the overwhelming notion that Terry would get so possessive and territorial that there's people on the Internet who can do the exact same thing, and the exact same time he's doing it, that he'd undoubtedly use his powers and connections to ensure beloved's just scrubbed clean off of the Internet. Like, their online life? Their profiles? Accounts? Log ins? Passwords? They cease existing overnight. Years and years worth of memories --- poof --- just gone in less than a heartbeat. These things...they were for his eyes only. Nobody else's. Beloved just wakes up one morning finding everything...gone. Is it some kind of domain bug? Sites being down? Should they turn their laptop on and off? Should they visit a repairman? Who can give them any sort of concrete answers!? What the heck's going on?

Oh, yeah, right. Someone just deleted everything.

Unbeknownst to beloved...someone saved everything they lost without recovery too.

That someone being Terry Silver.

Because everything beloved is, everything they ever shared with the World?

It's all his now; the way it should be too.

Not too far fetched for someone with a tenacity for identity theft to then graduate to data theft.

Their address, where they live, where they work, what they ate for lunch last Saturday, years worth of selfies, pictures of their pet along with every minutiae intricacy that could be interesting to nobody else but a possessive secret admirer; these are all bigger and smaller pieces of information forming the intricate mosaic that is beloved's existence are all things Terry Silver now has exclusively, having ultimate, unlimited and uninhibited access to them forever --- and sometimes? Sometimes, the best ways are the good old ways --- just like the best liquor? You guessed it! The best Cognac? The best Whisky? It's old Whisky. It's old Cognac! He'll proceed stalking by using the anachronistic method. The way he has done it decades before the Internet ever even became a thing, because ironically, that very same Internet provided him the necessary tools to find beloved in the flesh as quick as he did. Live. In real life, as the kids call it nowadays. He won't be content with just online voyeurism for long, even though it was a very entertaining and titillating toy, he must admit, and it was grand while it lasted. But, a man of true determination? A man of true determination and actual discipline who intends to win anything in life must go out there and take what is his personally, no matter the decade. That's one thing that never changes and that someone born around the time Terry was born would undoubtedly think shouldn't change because it's what separates a wimp from an individual with some backbone. So, while poor beloved, wherever they might be in the world, might be here breaking their head to figure out what happened to literally every account and profile they ever had since they were a teenager effectively ---- and most importantly, how they can recover everything lost and fix the damage, they don't even realize, that from somewhere far, far away, someone's coming to get them. Claim them as their own. Intending to share them with nobody ever again. Someone they don't even realize is responsible for all of this mess in the first place. Someone they never even met before. Someone who hasn't really met them either, but who, nonetheless, knows more about them than anyone else.

Someone who's been watching them all along.

Someone who, actually, come to think of it, likes to 'hunt' the old fashioned way more.

[jadeyarts]

two years ago i drew art to ... "celebrate" (if you can call it that) the release of fairly odder, and i was asked this question:

truth was i hadn't actually watched it so i couldn't actually answer the question fairly. but now that i've actually watched it: apparently, yeah.

i wouldn't call it a masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination - it's a relatively mundane nickcom that just happens to feature cosmo and wanda. its not as funny as drake and josh or icarly, but not as terrible as sam and kat or... the... superhero nickcom? i definitely like it much better than i liked victorious. and i do think it's a lot more creative than it was initially given credit for when it first released. it doesn't come across as trying to devalue animation as a medium but rather an experiment in blending the two mediums. though the 2d animation in the series is a little wonk when it's more than just cosmo and wanda.

some jokes are really, really miss for me - but a lot do make me laugh. the acting is decent - they're certainly no emmy or oscar winners with these performances. but i really do think they're fine. campy and hammy and perfect for a nickcom. if this had come out around in the early 2000s, 2010s maybe, i could see it doing well - doing better than it did in 2022, at least. it's absurd in all the ways i personally find entertaining in a series. despite everything i see wrong with it and the ways i think it's not good, i'm liking it.

i love the way the plot is introduced adds to timmy's character - emphasizing that empathy and kindness he's always shown in the original series that i loved so much. that he wanted cosmo and wanda to look after his younger cousin he knew would struggle to adjust to a new environment, with her entire life being flipped upside down - wanting them to comfort her and be there for her during this period of her life... it reminds me why i've always loved timmy so much as a character. i love that they establish he's still a good-hearted person.

yes, timmy suddenly having a cousin is a little jarring but i always found it unrealistic that he didn't have any in the original series when he's meant to be an average kid - the average kid has a ton of cousins! - so i think her existence is a good call! sure, i wouldnt call viv or roy (viv maybe, roy definitely not) miserable enough to really need fairies the way timmy ever did, or the way chloe did, but honestly at that point i genuinely believe jorgen would be willing to let the family do what they want as long as they otherwise followed da rules and stayed out of his way. and i like the idea that cosmo and wanda can be godparents in ways that aren't the norm for other godparents anyway.

i'm also liking most of the new characters introduced in fairly odder and i could easily see them fitting into the original series! rachel and zina in particular make me laugh out loud. when they're not making weird jokes about zina's obsession with roy's scent, she cracks me up. i like the way she is confident and charismatic but also a huge obsessive weirdo, but mostly not in a way that made me uncomfortable like tootie. her back and forth with roy is actually entertaining and if she ever actually got together with him i don't think i'd mind at all. in fact maybe i'd even be a fan?

and i like how absolutely inconsiderate and uncaring and truly sick in the head rachel is - she is a bitch in the most literal sense. she barks at people. ty seems a little more considerate considering he realizes he was impulsive and should have told viv about what was going on then apologizes. but rachel is dramatic, describes herself as nuts, and selfish. she's mostly not making much of an effort to bond with viv - it's not like shes a horrible stepmother or anything, she clearly doesn't dislike viv and treats her decently. she's not antagonizing her or going out of her way to be horrible to her - but she is also nuts and rude. and she barks at people constantly. she's fucking weird and self-absorbed and i love her so much.

and roy - i love the way he mirrors timmy's character as someone who is self absorbed and tactless, irresponsible and impulsive... but ultimately extremely caring and loving. he's easy going, and easily accepts the unexpected and strange. the difference is he's exactly as popular as i think timmy realistically would have been, being a charismatic and natural leader. he's not as quick thinking and cunning as i think timmy is, but viv kind of makes up for it, i think.

viv is... a little more... normal than i was hoping for. she's fine, and i think she makes a decent foil for roy in that respect. much like i think chloe made the perfect foil for timmy. but i kind of hoped that viv's neurotic social-awkwardness and people-pleasing would be more exaggerated like chloe's was. not in the same ways, of course, it'd be boring to have an exact duplicate of chloe when roy isn't even an exact duplicate of timmy per say. but i just feel like viv was far more normal than timmy and wanda's conversation about viv being a mess lead me to believe she would be. and while i like the idea that it's cosmo and wanda's influence that helped bring her out of her shell and helped her adjust to dimmsdale, i do wish it could have been shown more.

with their parents' love of dancing and highly dramatic demeanors, combined with the characterization for their children, the whole family kind of has the vibes of a remix of early series timmy's parents, chloe, and timmy - even being in a family set-up similar to what i personally wanted to happen with timmy and chloe - but despite their similarities theyre also different enough to stand apart! i can see them being family because they're similar without being carbon copies. it's fun for me, personally, because exploring extended and blended families and the ways they can be similar and different is something that i like.

i also liked nate buxaplenty! i never liked remy, but nate was funny.

the only real objection i have is the subplot where vicky has a thing for crocker. though i guess honestly thats just because i personally always headcanoned crocker as her uncle but that's not canon so thats not really substantial grounds. the fact theres an age gap would really only be terrible if crocker actually reciprocated but he doesn't so it's weird, but honestly fine. my second instinct is to say it devalues her as a character but she had weird taste in men in the original series and she was repeatedly shown to be exactly like that when infatuated so it fits her character. i still don't like it... but its fine. could do without, though.

[5mcsinatrenchcoat]

THIS TECHNICALLY DOESN'T CONTAIN SPOILERS BUT IF YOU'RE UNAWARE OF THE CAMEOS IN THIS GAME AND HAVEN'T MET THE LORDS OF FORTUNE YOURSELF YET — SCROLL PLS <3

So. About the Lords.

Listen I agree that some factions in DAtV are kinda toothless compared to their established lore, but I need people to realize that Lords of Fortune canonically started as a bunch of friends who decided that sharing info and the cut is more fun and productive than stabbing each other for it. That's it. They thought of the name while drunk. Drinks at the local tavern are free if you come back with a glorious story. That kinda thing. They straight up started a commune and adopt people who don't have anywhere else to go.

They're the most classic adventurers guild ever.

And it's easy to guess that all their rules like not stealing culturally important Qunari relics are quite literally due to being Isabela's friends and Isabela having lived through the events of DA2.

The Lords and the actual pirate armada that Isabela commands maaaaybe overlap, but aren't the same thing. How many actual pirate Lords we see? They're adventures, monster fighters, dragon fighters, seers, etc, these are NOT the same people that give others hell on the sea and pillage and plunder. They never claim to be, to my knowledge!

And their fighting pit rule about "only willing participants" refers to YOU, the challengers who come seeking glory. Your enemies are conjured by the pit itself. I'm guessing by those very spirits the fighting is supposed to entertain and please. All those venatori and darkspawn aren't "willing participants" somehow, they're not real. And the point is in the show and glory, not some literal test of worth and blood like, say, the Provings.

I understand people being unhappy with the Crows' cruelty being swept under a rug and contained in some occasional banter. Or with Minrathous suddenly forgetting it has slavery (somewhat justifiable-ish by the fact that we never see the rich parts of the city, but still). Or, hell, with Solas's fearsome agent network being non-existent.

But Lords of Fortune? If I remember correctly, we didn't even HAVE any lore on them beyond being adventurers/treasure hunters and wearing their achievements as trophy gold on their outfits.

They didn't have lore to defang, they never claim to be THE true actual pirates that Isabela commands. Them being a bunch of adrenaline junkies who mostly care about having fun and one-upping each other's crazy stories instead of dying alone in a ditch doesn't exactly counter anything except for our expectations. Their codex says what they are exactly without any contrast with what we see in-game.

I personally think it's fun. My only qualm with the faction is that I'd like it to be more relevant to the plot. They and the Mourn Watch are the only ones who don't have some major main-plot thing happening in their faction. Then again, it makes sense. They aren't an organization, they're a guild to get jobs and boast about your adventures at. What you do while you're away is mostly your deal. Unless you piss off Rivaini nobles or come asking for help with the world ending.

(Oh my god they are a fucking Fairy Tail guild)

[itsclydebitches]

The amount of times RWBY wants us to feel scared for the safety of characters while conveniently forgetting Aura exists is staggering. Neo attacks Ruby with the intent to kill but her Aura is still active. James almost shoots Marrow with the intent to kill but his Aura is still active. Watts hacks an Atlesian Knight to run towards Qrow, Robyn and the Ace Ops with the intent to explode but their Auras are still all active. Sure the attacks would hurt like hell but they're not gonna kill, why should I fear for their safety?

If we're being generous (I'm having a good night lol) I suppose we could read moments like James vs. Marrow as shocking not because it would be a one-shot death sentence, but because he's threatening - in general - to take Marrow down. Sort of the equivalent of an IRL person raising their fists. Is that an immediate threat to the person's life? No. Are you making it clear that you're willing to fight over this while also ambiguously leaving it open how far you're willing to take things? Yeah.

You're right though, too often RWBY relies on average action threats (a pistol, an explosion, etc.) to raise the stakes without taking into account that none of that should be very scary to our protagonists. Not until their aura breaks (and we have no sense of when that will happen, despite them all supposedly carrying Scrolls to tell them. Which I get because if RWBY introduced clear thresholds of when aura breaks they'd have to actually abide by that rule). I feel the same way about characters about to fall: Ruby hanging off the airship with Neo, Ruby hanging off the cliff while fighting Cordovin, Ruby and Oscar both going down in an airship. The very first technique we're shown is a landing strategy, so how is falling from a massive height - even while taking into account other factors like, say, snagging the farm boy who never went to Huntsmen school and might need to use you as a personal parachute - meant to be taken as a serious threat?

In this regard the void of Volume 8 is actually a GREAT idea. Suddenly your landing strategy doesn't mean a thing if you have nowhere to land. Suddenly a single hit can be a threat. Not because the hit itself would seriously hurt you, but because it might knock you off the edge. I actually love the concept of Yang falling at the start of that fight, RWBY just did such a horrific job of executing it that there's nothing left for me to enjoy. Why does Yang panic like that when, as established, a single hit from Neo is not going to kill Ruby, or even seriously hurt her? Why is she jumping in front of her sister at all when the entire POINT (supposedly) of her Volume 3+ arc was to learn fight smarter, rather than relying on emotional impulsivity? (I will seriously never be over how that moment is an exact repeat of Yang trying to save Blake and yet the show doesn't seem to realize that.) Why does only Blake have a reaction to Yang "dying"? Why didn't the whole team of talented fighters with various ranged weaponry/magic/speed make a serious attempt to catch her?

All of this isn't even taking into account how Yang, as someone who powers up via taking hits, should consistently be standing her ground like she did against the mech, knowing her aura will not only save her, but give her an advantage. She's the tank. If Yang had gotten in front of Ruby with a confident, calm expression that conveyed her understanding that Neo can't one-shot her aura like Adam once did, taking the hit both to spare Ruby's aura and power her semblance as a strategic decision (give her a smirk and a taunting line like, "Thanks for the boost" before knocking Neo back), then later falls some other way after her team tries and fails to save her... that would have been so much better imo.

Yang's lack of engagement with her semblance has been especially frustrating for me after her line about how Adam "cheats." If Yang thinks it sucks that she has to take a beating to gain an edge... show her actually taking a beating to gain an edge. You know, like the show once did. It would be so badass to watch Yang getting in the way of all the attacks against her team, toeing the line between safety and breaking her own aura, before finally EXPLODING with a massive attack she's been saving up for, making that sacrifice worth it.

(Also potentially devastating if she's taking those hits with turning the tide in mind... but then she falls before she can see her plan through.)

[bluechissbrain]

The wave-particle duality of the self in highly masked autism

I don't post my thoughts here often but here goes

With my involvement in disability advocacy and love for neuroscience and psychology reading (I'm working on my PhD in neuroscience), I don't know why it took me this long to finally read "Unmasking Autism" by Dr. Devon Price, but I finally did. I think I would recommend it for anyone interested in neurodiversity, especially for those new to the idea of themself as a potentially autistic person.

It's full of great stories, information, and advice. For me personally, I felt struck with the realization that the people-pleasing mask I have worn all my life to be as successful as I am goes much deeper than smothering my outwardly autistic traits or even the internalized ableism and other deep underlying struggles that I work on with my therapist.

My "self" is like a photon.

When I'm being observed, I exist in particle form whether I like it or not. I have an idea of what kind of person I am or at least the message/aesthetic I am putting out to the people around me. There's something concrete to who I am and what I'm doing. It doesn't have to be direct observation either; working on something that I know others will see or grade is also sufficient to draw me into some reality or some idea of what my goals and values are.

When I'm not being observed, then I'm the wavelength, suddenly non-corporeal. Untethered. I behave differently. I don't follow the same rules. Maybe that's partially being unmasked. Maybe it's partially internalized ableism that I don't like being in this state. But I find myself seeking external observation to be able to interact with my self concept and the physical world, or else I get stuck inside my head. It's paralyzing.

I need to work on projects that can be assessed or seen by others. I need my husband in the room while I do basic tasks around the house. I need to have in-person events or meetings to attend where I can think about how I want to present myself in order to conceptualize what I look like.

Here I am, typing this out here where I know other people might see it, so I can enter particle-mode just enough to put my feelings into words.

There are many things I know help me and make me feel better (yoga, brushing my teeth, etc.) when my mental health is low, but the moment I am unobserved and attempting to do these things at home, the moment I am alone with only my own thoughts, it feels impossible to do anything that involves physically operating my flesh mech.

I'd like to think I have strong values and strong ideas of where I would like to go in my life. But does that constitute who I am? How do allistic people have a sense of who they are? Do autistic people who don't mask so strongly have a sense of selfhood outside of the observation of other people? Do other formerly high-masking autistic people have any advice or relate to this metaphor?

I'm sure growing up in a very rigid environment that discouraged self-exploration as a teen doesn't help with this issue. But I can't help but feel a deep concern that it's too late for me to do the exploration it would take to figure out who I am. I'm an adult with a serious job and serious relationships. And the people in my life have a defined idea of what kind of person I am.

It's exhausting to be so tired and stressed by interacting with others, but yet needing to be observed by others to be able to interact with myself and be productive. Neurodivergent communities (and my amazing neurodivergent husband) have been helpful for this because they are less exhausting to interact with, but still: I want to know who I am when no one else is around.

Maybe the fact that I even care enough to try to find out means I'm headed in the right direction.

[justatalkingface]

My problem with MHA

is something I've realized that can be boiled down to one simple fact: Hori doesn't respect his story. Everything else, everything I and others talk about, originate from that one fact, like waves from a boulder dropped into a pond.

It feels to me that Hori is so focused on telling a story that he's lost track of, or interest in, all the parts in the story. So, this may be dipping too much into personal opinion here, but to me, writing a story like this is like you're creating a world, a world inhabited by people, each of which is motivated by their own fears and desires. When it comes to things happening, what a certain character does at any given point, I think writing should exist around the rule of, 'What would this character do in this situation', and yet in MHA, we see instead, 'What does this character need to do to make what I want to happen happen', mixed with what seems to be an uncertain grasp on the 'what I want to happen' even is.

The thing is... the characters aren't real, but for a story to be successfully, they need to be sold to us as if they're real. Hori can't just point and say, 'This is a bunch of artistically arranged black ink', he has to say, 'Meet Izuku. He's in junior high. He wants to be a hero. He likes helping people and All Might, and cries maybe a smidgen too much, but he really means well'.

We can't just look at his pretty pictures, we have to have a connection to the characters, we have to feel for them, like they're real.

And for that to work, they have to treated like they're people, with desires and impulses of their own, otherwise that connection with them, that thing that's so essential for keeping an audience, isn't going to stick.

Let's go with a super easy example here: Izuku is walking down a street, and he sees a crying child. What does he do?

Does he:

A. Try and comfort the child?

B. Keep walking?

C. Tell them to shut up?

Or, D. Start break dancing because he's filled with the overwhelming desire to go into a career as a background dancer?

...Alright, I don't think I need explain what the correct answer is, but let me ask you this: what if he does, say, B instead? Let's say I'm suddenly a super good artist, and I throw together a chapter where Izuku ignores a crying child as he walks down the road.

Wouldn't that feel weird?

Because that's the thing; it's very clear what Izuku would do in this situation, to the point where it's in his DNA as a character, but if I write it out where he doesn't do what Izuku, as a person, would do, it'll feel off. It's out of character, and out of character behavior is dangerous if you want to have a good story. It can be managed, but if you over do it... well. There's a reason there's a BNHA critical tag.

Like, it can be done well, but there needs to be a reason, is the thing. Let's say that chapter I made continues and suddenly we learn that Izuku was just informed his mom has cancer. That would explain why he's acting different than usual, except he's still being treated as a person, in that he's reacting to something that's happening, an extreme event that's altering his life, and that's the reason why he's not acting like he normally would.

So. Let's apply that logic again.... how about this? Why is Hawks OK with Endeavour abusing his children?

Not, why is he working with Endeavour, because he canonly does things he doesn't want to for what he thinks is the greater good, but why is he OK with it? Why isn't he upset? Why isn't he disappointed that Endeavour, a hero, his hero, the very symbol of hope that kept him going through a childhood an abusive father, is himself an abusive father?

What is the reason, here?

*looks around as crickets echo*

...Nothing? Yeah. There is no reason that we can tell that he should be this overwhelmingly positive about the situation, and yet that is what we have. Hawks, the character, isn't acting like Hawks, the person.

Like I said, this goes back to just about every problem you can have with this story:

Why is Momo, a genius with an OP Quirk so seemingly useless?

Why does everyone just laugh off Bakugou when he treats them like shit?

Why is All Might so stupid when he's a grown ass man who has lived on his own for his entire adult life, isolated from literally everyone, and yet is also wildly successful in his chosen career?

Why doesn't anyone seem angry about Endeavour?

Hell, this logic even applies to the setting:

MHA is set in a society where a major part of the social contract is built off the idea that people can't be trusted to use their Quirks, but they also don't have to, because heroes are there. Every major problem is dealt with by heroes, citizen, so don't sweat the hard stuff and go about your day; the way their society continues is built off an unrealistic and impossible faith in a bunch of people who are being incentivized to act in increasingly mercenary ways, yet it's made clear to us that the average person still thinks everything is fine, and so they continue to be blinded to reality by lifelong propaganda and a social system that will harshly punish those who stir up a fuss by labeling them 'villains', officially or otherwise. The problem being, of course, that that set up is doomed to fail, and by the time of the War Arc, trust in heroes is dropping.... and then thousands of people die as the heroes take an enormous loss in actually achieving their main goals, publicly. With video evidence, to boot. Shigaraki and Co ride off in the sunset and leave the image that everything is going to be OK in ruins behind them.

That fundamental part of the social contract is falling apart, the blinders are falling off, and people are losing trust. So, in that atmosphere, how do people react to the idea that their new Number One Hero made one of the biggest villains around, both in a literal and metaphorical sense? A few angry press conferences? Some angry mobs everyone treats as stupid and pointless?

Or... something more, perhaps? Because that's the thing, with Dabi's plan: it's simple yet effective in that he says, 'Society is a lie', and then he slaps everyone with enough truth that no one can ignore him.

Forget mobs; why in the fuck is the Todoroki's house still standing? Why aren't people throwing things at Endeavour when he walks by them in the streets? Why aren't Dabi's victims suing him for what his son has done? Endeavour is the Number One Hero, he is the symbol of everything 'right' in society, and that fact that symbol is rotten to the core is brushed over in the story.

Doesn't that seem weird? There should be entire arcs on the fallout of this alone, because MHA Japan at that point should be filled with a lot of very scared, very angry, very unhappy people, who are primed to act irrationally and take out their frustrations on anyone they think is responsible for it, and the people in charge are handling their valid concerns... poorly.

*looks at Enji 'Watch Me' Todoroki meaningfully*

It's like that because Hori doesn't respect his world enough to treat it realistically.

And look, I get that he needs to keep writing, and he needs to keep on track, even if he realizes the story would diverge from his plan if he just let things progress organically (even if MHA has some real signs of having been changed once or twice in new, forced directions in it), but what he's been doing all this time is sacrificing his characters to tell his story, not just once or twice but all the time. And the thing is? The characters are how he can tell that story, they are the foundation the story is built off of; if he undermines his characters, then he is undermining his story.

[cantsomeoneelsedoit]

Undead Unluck Theory

So I've been reading Undead Unluck since the beginning, but I haven't actually ever joined the fandom, (i.e., the contents of this blog may be Old News to everyone and/or everyone hates it and I just didn't realize...) but I was showing the anime to a friend and trying to explain my UU theory, so I googled and couldn't find anyone who had laid out something like this. If it already exists, apologies, but this is my version of what UU is all about.

Undead Unluck is a story about writing.

Spoilery things ahead!

The most important thing to know about Undead Unluck is that it's a story-within-a-story. An embedded narrative. Our characters are stock archetypes who are barely on the cusp of learning that they are in a story.

The main story outline stays the same as the author goes through various iterations and edits (aka Loops), testing out new ideas and often scrapping them. Characters evolve into different versions of themselves as the author edits. Our settings are varied as if the author were trying to fit all kinds of different genres into one story. AND THEY ARE!

Suggested listening, btw:

The Author, AKA God, adds variables to the story in the form of rules.

For example, a children's book about a goldfish has no need to mention that there is an entire galaxy of stars in the sky. The goldfish doesn't need to know. The readers don't care. It's irrelevant. That rule can be omitted from a story.

When the author changes the story, for instance, to make the story about a goldfish who goes into outer space, suddenly they need to add the concept of a galaxy, along with all the ancillary ideas (i.e., UFOs).

With their pencil eraser or backspace button, the author changes the reality for ALL of the characters in the work, so that the existence of outer space becomes a Known Thing in-universe. No biggie. It's always been that way, as far as they know. The instant the author changes something, it's done.

This Hand of God kind of author appears in other ways, like the way the Union members arrive via a crack in the sky. They literally fall from the sky like characters in the Barbie movie.

The crack in the sky is a wall-break, but it's not the fourth wall that's broken. It's the wall between the author and the characters!

Remember that cartoon where Daffy Duck argues with the animator's hand? Characters are just playthings for the author. They can be dressed up or imperiled just because.

When you begin to read UU from this perspective, some characters seem more sentient than others.

The characters are tired of being screwed over. They're tired of suffering. They're tired of being tested for no reason. Can't God just give them an easy life? Do all characters hate their authors this much?

Ragnarok is when the author effectively overturns the dollhouse and starts a new story with the same characters, settings, and themes, but adding the kind of slight variations that an author's idle mind might create. The basic "frame" of the dollhouse remains, but we can try out new scenarios like:

"What if X met Y in another time or place?"

"How would X be different if they'd grown up in a harsher or easier environment?"

"What if X was a villain?"

And so the author begins again, pitting their characters in new situations to observe and see how they react. Authors love that shit. Just look at all the ask blogs on tumblr!

Authors enjoy looking at their characters from new perspectives. Even the bad ones! Many times, an author has had a character (say...Victor) in their imagination for a long time, but the character evolves into a slightly different version of themselves (Andy). It's natural to want to keep both versions of this character. And since this is the author's dollhouse, they can do whatever they want, even if this confuses and disturbs Andy/Victor.

Victor and Juiz are, I think, God's starter OCs. Their story is one of seriousness, mystery, and a romance with unresolved tension. They want to be together; we want them to be together; but the author won't let them be happy because keeping that tension burning is what makes the story good. Of course they had a falling out! Of course they're eternally separated in a tragic and beautiful way. After all, they were the main characters for a long time.

You're probably saying, "This theory can't work because we've SEEN God! We've seen Luna!" My idea is that Luna and God are two aspects of the author.

God (Sun) as the author as a writer: Makes brutal changes, can delete everything, loves to start over and test the characters in different environments, never satisfied with the ending.

God wants to make things HARDER for the characters because they are trying to write an interesting shonen story.

God (Luna) as the author as a reader: Authors also like to sit back and read their own works. Sometimes they have a nice cup of tea with them. The tea signifies that Luna is acting as a reader.

Luna, as a reader, has gotten attached to the characters. They want them to succeed. They are trying to make things EASIER for the characters bc they're emotionally invested in the story. Luna also keeps the memories of past rough drafts in the form of artifacts that can be used to bring back discarded story elements.

I don't think either Sun nor Luna truly understand that our characters are capable of suffering, btw.

Luna and God are in a competition with themselves, just like the internal struggle of an author as they want to:

Create an interesting story that will be a success. To get the story "right" and fully explore all the possibilities

but also

2. Just have fun with the characters and help them reach the end of the story.

Killing God means finding a final end to the story so that the characters can have a stable existence. The characters can achieve this by resisting the author's attempts to rewrite.

So, that's the gist of my insanity. I have a bit more in the drafts if anyone is interested in hearing more. I would enjoy doing a read-through blog someday, but I thought I might test the waters with my theory first.

[nonbinarydeity]

Simplifying Manifestation/Shifting

Disclaimer: I don't mind if this isn't how you want to manifest. It's okay to have rules that make it work a certain way for you, it's okay to do things your own way. This is just how I understand manifesting now, and if it doesn't resonate with you, that's fine 🥰

So okay, I've been reading a couple of things from an amino user and I've realized so much more deeply what reality is and how to manifest and just everything. Please please please go read those posts because they explain it really well and I'm not an expert on this (yet!!).

Also I'm going to be focusing on my journey and I'm gonna be deleting the Tumblr app because there are WAY too many limiting beliefs on here. I'll do my best to answer questions about this today and tomorrow, then I'm offline for a while 🥰

The 4D and the 3D

So how I understand it now is different from what a lot of the community believes, but I swear that understanding this makes everything so much more simple and stress free.

The 3D is a reflection of your subconscious mind, which exists on the 4D plane. The biggest thing that people get wrong here is that the subconscious mind needs to be "programmed" a certain way. In reality, the subconscious mind is incredibly smart. It knows more about you and your desires than you do tbh. It's like your best friend, it's always trying to get you what you want, and it follows the rules you give it (more on this in a sec).

All you have to do to manifest/ shift is tell your subconscious mind what you want. That's literally it. You can even just say "I want xyz" and forget about it, and you'll get it.

When you ask for something, the 4D receives it and implements it right away. It gives the signal to the 3D to change, and the 3D does. Sometimes it takes a little while for the 3D to change all the way, but that's okay and normal! All you have to do is just wait and know that it's coming, you don't have to worry about doing anything else.

Rules

So the only thing that can get in the way of your manifestation/ shift is you. See, your subconscious mind follows every rule you give it, and humans have a tendency to put a LOT of rules on things, because that's what we're taught to do.

Say you're manifesting something, and it doesn't show up right away (because the 3D needs a little more time). You, being human, take that as a sign that it's not coming at all, and start assuming that something is wrong, or that you're doing something wrong, and you start putting all these rules in place trying to find an answer (think: I have to affirm more, I have to be in the wish fulfilled more, etc). Your subconscious then takes those rules you gave yourself and implements them, and suddenly it's taking longer to get what you want! This triggers a cycle of this (ask for what you want > don't get it right away > look for reasons why > make more rules/ change your rules > repeat) that can last for an infinite amount of time, until you're exhausted and give up entirely!

The key

From this, I hope you understand what you have to do. Literally, throw out your old mindset entirely and stick to these simple rules:

Ask and you shall receive. (Ask in this term could mean affirm, visualize, command your subconscious, etc)

Be patient. It might take some time but it IS coming to you!

Don't give up or accept that you'll never get it. The 3D could be seconds away from giving you what you want!

Most importantly: don't make a ton of rules for yourself!! Enjoy yourself, enjoy your time, be okay with the 3D for a little while because it IS changing in your favor. Don't force yourself to think about it 24/7, don't make yourself affirm every second of the day, etc!! All of that stuff is pointless! It won't get it to you any faster, if anything it'll make you doubt and spiral, which will lead to that cycle of self sabotage again. Just relax and let it happen 💕

And that's literally it!! Don't overcomplicate this, it's so important that you just relax and let it be for a little while.

I tried this during our walk today, and I had 4/4 successful manifestations (see a yellow car, see a green car, get paczki flavors I wanted [the ordering period was over, but I got the flavors I wanted anyways!!], find money [I started overthinking this, but I reminded myself that it was done, and we found it under a trash can of all things lol]) within my specific parameters (within our 30 minute walk to the store)! Literally all I did was say that's what I wanted and trusted my subconscious to give it to me, nothing else.

Outro

In the end, manifestation is not your job to do. Your job as a human being is literally just to enjoy life and ask for what you want. Everything else is your subconscious' job, and you don't have to worry about it beyond that!

Give yourself time and forgive yourself for overcomplicating it, because everyone does and that's normal and okay. We're human. We overthink. We overcomplicate. That's just what we do, and that's okay 🥰

I'm going to be answering asks about this post specifically for the rest of today and tomorrow, and then I'm going to be deleting the Tumblr app and focusing on my journey. I'll likely be posting again for updates and explanations of this once I understand it more deeply, but for now this is all you need to know!

[silverynight]

The roommate

<---Previous

Part XIX

Turns out the unknown number is from one of the victims. That bit of news doesn't help Izuku (or any of his two boyfriends) feel better about the situation at all.

However, Izuku knows he needs to focus in order not to get into one of the villain's traps again.

That morning, he takes a deep breath and instead he focuses on all the modifications he needs to work on that day.

Is there a way to create something capable of fighting a mimic quirk? Something that could make the person go back to their original form again?

Even though Izuku is very much interested in the idea, he doesn't know how to create something like that at the moment. Besides, he doesn't have the time to work on it.

***

He's cuddling with Shoto on the couch when Katsuki opens the door to their apartment and rushes inside with a feral grin on his face, Izuku can't help but smile at his expression (he does that when he's fighting villains and is about to hit them with the final blow).

"Turns out there are three main different types of mimic quirks that we know about. Although the expert I was talking to prefers to call them shape-shifting quirks," Katsuki says as Izuku rises and greets him with a kiss on the cheek. The pro hero sits next to Shoto and pulls Izuku onto his lap. "There's one they can use touch to transform into the other person, others do that by just looking at the one they want to imitate, but this is the most inaccurate one because they have to rely on memory to fully mimic someone; it's not a strong quirk."

Izuku hums as he notices Shoto scrolling on his phone. "I see," he mumbles every now and then and Izuku knows he's already reading the information Katsuki probably sent him.

"I think we can rule that one out then," Izuku says immediately. "Because the fake Kirishima looked absolutely identical to the real one."

"That's exactly what I thought too," Katsuki nods before pressing his lips against Izuku's neck.

"Then there's–"

"There's another one," Katsuki cuts Shoto off. "The last email I sent you. It's a rare quirk, but it does exist. The person has to drink blood."

Izuku grimaces; that can't be pleasant, unless the quirk makes the person enjoy the taste of blood to make it easier.

"But that'd be more difficult to obtain unless..." Shoto stops then looks at Katsuki with something close to realization written on his features.

"Blood donation!" They say at the same time.

"What? But–"

"There was a blood donation campaign a couple of months ago," Katsuki cuts a very confused Izuku off.

"One that encouraged pro heroes to donate blood," Shoto adds as he starts texting.

"Oh!" Izuku gasps. "I remember you told me about that, Shoto!"

"Although we're still not sure–"

"I asked shitty hair already," Katsuki smirks before Shoto can finish. "He donated blood then. And I remember they called us to make a second donation a month later because a lot of their bags were stolen."

There's a moment of silence in which the three of them just look at each other; Shoto rises from his seat before leaning towards Izuku and giving him a kiss on the lips.

"It seems promising, even though we're still not sure," he comments, walking towards one of the bedrooms.

"Yeah. Haven't asked other pro heroes yet, but I will." Katsuki says, pulling Izuku closer to his chest and nuzzling against his cheek.

"Leave that to me," Shoto tells him, rising his voice a bit so they can both hear him. "I have to go back to the agency anyway."

Izuku has never heard about a mimic... a shape-shifting quirk that needs blood consumption in order to activate. It's interesting and a little bit disturbing at the same time. Even though he knows they can't be sure the villain they're looking for has that quirk, Izuku has the feeling that Katsuki is on the right track.

Suddenly, Katsuki distracts him by giving him a deep kiss on the lips.

"I'm going to take a shower, when I come back I'll make breakfast and you'll stop thinking about that."

"You need to rest," Izuku protests, pouting.

"And you need to relax," Katsuki retorts, although he looks actually amused when he says it.

It must be the fact that he's been a pro hero for a while now, but he doesn't look as tense as Izuku feels at the moment.

Maybe he's right, he needs to relax a bit.

***

"Here it is!" Izuku smiles at the undeniable squeak of delight coming from the invisible girl. The hero suit Izuku designed and made for her (that took months to get right) is one of the things he's the most proud of.

It's a very light green and silver suit, because Hagakure mentioned she loved those colors. However, the best thing about it is that as soon as she puts it on...

"It turns invisible like me!" She squeaks again. "It's very comfortable too! I can't believe it! Now I don't have to fight villains naked!"

Izuku sighs, but the smile on his face doesn't vanish; he's been working on that project alongside his usual work for a while now and finally being able to see it finished (despite all the things he has on his mind lately) is one of the best things.

It takes his mind off what happened a couple of days ago with the villain.

But he's honestly exhausted.

He gasps when Hagakure hugs him and keeps thanking him for the suit.

"Well... it's my job."

"I know, I know! But this is amazing!"

He blushes bright red when Hatsume tells him Hagakure left a huge "tip" for him and even though Izuku is flustered about the amount of money, he immediately thinks about taking his boyfriends to a nice restaurant.

The three of them deserve a romantic dinner after weeks of stress and fear.

But his excitement fades when he notices the expression on Shoto's face as he picks Izuku up from work.

"What is it?"

"I think it's better to discuss it when we get home."

As soon as they get inside, Izuku knows it's bad because Katsuki is waiting for them in his hero suit.

"Tell me," he blurts out, unable to wait longer.

"You remember the victim we found dead?" Katsuki asks, looking worried already.

Izuku nods, allowing Shoto to pull him closer to his chest.

"The villain was telling the truth; they didn't kill her. It was her boyfriend."

Izuku looks from Katsuki to Shoto, who just nods.

"But isn't her boyfriend a pro hero?"

"He is," Katsuki confirms. "Well, not anymore, we just arrested him and since he's going to be found guilty he'll lose that title immediately."

"It doesn't matter, it's going to be hell for all of us as soon as that story comes into the light," Shoto says. "A lot of people are going to think all pro heroes are like that and others are never going to trust us again."

"Do you think this what the villain wanted all along?"

"I don't think that's the only thing they want, love," Shoto leans to kiss Izuku's green curls.

It seems that the good news about his big project can wait. Now it's not the time.

***

Next--->

Patreon

[aliteral-ghost]

This is the gift I made for @calilk for the @mcytblrholidayexchange! I hope you enjoy it!

I was asked for some identity reveal shenanigans and I hope I was able to convey it well! It's Joe and Cleo-centric with a little hurt and a lot more comfort! You can read the whole thing here or on ao3 here.

Beta'd by the amazing @iwillstealyourjawbone!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cleo knows Joe for a whole decade before they even begin to think about whether or not he’s actually human. No one on the Hermitcraft server really is, as far as she knows, but Joe is mostly unassuming and Cleo hasn’t known a human in so many years that she just figures that they all have their quirks. Until one day, when they’re prepping for HHH, and Cleo realizes a trait that Joe Hills has that no one in her many years of existence has had. 

“Joe?” Cleo asks. “Why can't I see your eyes?” Joe blinks, or at least they assume he blinks, from behind the glasses that are perpetually covering his eyes.

“Well, sorry, I didn't realize it was a problem! I can fix that right away.” Eyes appear as a sort of halo around his head, all staring at Cleo. She flinches suddenly at the amount of them watching her.

“No, no, that's fine, Joe. I really don't need to make eye contact…” The eyes disappear as quickly as they arrive, flickering out with a snap of static and sudden rush of air pressure. Cleo's ears pop, or at least they try to, one of the eardrums slightly too rotten to be able to flex that much. They manage to get it to go back to normal with a little fiddling, then smile at Joe again. “Well, shall we? There are hermits to be helped.” 

Or harmed, or hindered, or hugged, or any other verb that starts with ‘h’ that Cleo can think of. It varies wildly through the weeks depending on who needs help, but Joe always knows what they're going to be doing. Even when there isn't really going to be a plan, Joe always knows.

Cleo doesn't really care, though. That's just Joe Hills, in his infinite quirks. They're friends for a reason, of course.

After the helping (holding Tango at swordpoint until he lets them place snow), Joe and Cleo find themselves sitting at the top of Cleo’s castle, watching the sun go down. Predictably, the rest of the hermits were about as flaky as pumpkin pie crust, and it was a monumental task for just the two of them. Tango was grateful at the end of it all, of course, which always feels good, but Cleo’s fingers are practically falling off from the cold, wet snow, and Joe seems like he’s on the verge of falling asleep. 

Neither of them are talking, Cleo making mental notes of all of the things she still has to finish in her base, all the armor stands she wants to fill the rooms with, and Joe staring into the sun. Or, at least, Cleo thinks he is. She can’t see his eyes. His glasses always seem to be reflecting just right. 

It’s not like that’s the strangest thing about Joe, either. Occasionally they will find him just slightly too transparent, or working on something while floating at a strange angle, but that’s always been chalked up to the Joe Hills difference. She’s never thought that it might be because Joe isn’t human.

“I’ve been thinking about your question,” Joe says eventually. It takes Cleo by surprise, not because he’s been thinking about a question she posed, but because he sounds melancholy about that thinking.

“Which one?” Cleo asks. In theory, they know. They both know what question he’s been thinking about, but neither of them really know how to go about saying it.

“About my eyes,” Joe hiccups, a little sort of half-laugh, half-sob, clearly exhausted. “Do you know what I am, Cleo?”

That gives Cleo pause. Sure, she has theories, but the rule of thumb on the Hermitcraft server is always to keep theories to yourself. Never assume. “You're human?” She doesn't mean it to sound like a question.

“I'm a monster,” Joe sighs, nearly deflating. “My kind has done so much harm to the players… I've done so much….”

“If you're a monster,” Cleo says, not sure what they're talking about but just wanting to make things better, “What does that make me? My kind is constantly trying to kill us.”

As if on cue, a zombie groans from somewhere outside, and shuffles closer, as if sensing them through the walls.

“That's different,” Joe says. “You're cognizant. You're you. If you saw my true form… I wouldn't be allowed around here anymore.”

“I may not know ‘your true form,’ or whatever,” Cleo retorts, a little indignant, “But I know you. You're Joe Hills, from Nashville, Tennessee, you like helping people in that strange way you do, and you would never want to hurt any of us.”

Joe curls up like they’ve done hundreds of times before, head on Cleo’s thigh, shoulder pressed firmly to their side. It’s habit, at this point, more than anything, and he eases into a fitful sleep before long. Cleo doesn’t follow suit, counting his breaths and trying to ignore how Joe’s form shifts and morphs in his sleep. It wouldn't be polite to stare.

She doesn’t look up, but if they did they would see a massive halo of eyes, shimmering in every color of the rainbow. They’re not watching Joe and Cleo, instead staring off into the distance, watching every move of the other beings on the server, protecting them.

The next time someone asks about Joe–Gem catches Cleo after one of their Secret Life sessions, eyes wide with curiosity–they just smile. “That’s just how Joe is,” Cleo says. “That’s how he’s always been. Not much more about it.”

“But–” Gem starts, still full of questions.

“It’s the Joe Hills difference,” Cleo insists. “It’s really better if you don’t think too hard about it, anyways. You'll just end up with a headache.” She doesn’t say any more than that, even when Gem keeps pestering her. It’s not their business to share, and if Joe ever feels like telling the other Hermits, he will. They won’t pressure him, they know that, everyone is far too polite to even think about it.

“Okay,” Gem says, sounding like she’s mulling it over. “The Joe Hills difference.” She doesn’t ask any more questions, and Cleo goes about her day, happy that she'd been trusted to protect their friend’s privacy.