#but again again no act 3 yet so who goddamn knows at this point

[silentsockfeet]

with the obvious addendum that act 3 isn’t out yet and we can’t form true opinions until the show’s officially done, i’m still really feeling like it could have maybe benefited from a third season. they’re hitting all the right plot points and those moments are full of really intense emotion, but everything in the middle feels so underwhelming in comparison and so much of it still feels rushed to me. idk

[productofaritual]

Guess who's gonna yell about eh!Ranboo again THAT'S RIGHT IT'S ME

I wanted to send this as an ask to a moot but I sent it like a week ago and they haven't replied so I'm JUST YELLING HERE

Today on "Lar's thoughts about event horizon part three billion": Holy fuck does eh!Ranboo underestimate tf out of eh!Tubbo

(Rambling rambling rambling, the rest is under cut)

Well it's not just Tubbo, it's also Ozzi, but they're batshit fucking insane and if you can predict what they'll do you should get a diploma or some shit. We love them for it tho <3

Anyway BACK TO TUBBO.

Before we get to the why, let's make sure we all get the what.

Ranboo, the idiot /aff, assumes that Tubbo just. Does not know about the majority of his mental issues. And while he's not entirely wrong, he is still WRONG. Dude, that is the person who managed to 'read' you the fastest out of anyone. That is the person who actually looks at you because he cares. You're supposed to be good at knowing people, and yet. AND YET HE DOESN'T MAKE THE CONNECTION THAT TUBBO WOULD KNOW ANYTHING. But we know he does and Ranboo should know it too, because while reminiscing about the things that happened in Ad Astra he SPECIFICALLY POINTS OUT that it scared him how observant Tubbo was! And like?? Do you think he's gonna stop because you're friends now?

Now that we have the what. The why.

Obviously I don't know for sure, I didn't write the thing, but I HAVE THEORIES. And no, 'it's a plot hole' or 'suspension of disbelief' won't cut it, Matpat taught me better than that.

It's actually based on something my friend pointed out while reading, and that is the fact that Ranboo actually idealizes Tubbo. Because if you look at how Tubbo is described from his own POV versus from Ranboo's, you'll find that the difference is more than just being described by someone else. From Ranboo's POV, Tubbo can literally do no wrong. He is near perfect, even though we know he clearly fucking isn't. But to Ranboo he's basically the equivalent of Beatrice from the Divine Comedy (iykyk). But then what that leads to is Ranboo having this idealized version of Tubbo that he bases his assumptions on rather than the real one, similarly to the spectre, except he doesn't seem to be able to realize he's still wrong about the real Tubbo. And that's what trips him up, because for Ranboo, the ideal scenario is one where Tubbo doesn't find out anything. He literally says it in the goddamn book, he admits that he wasn't ever going to tell Tubbo anything, that he didn't want him to know. But the real Tubbo is one hell of a lot more observant.

And his idealized version gets absolutely fucking SHATTERED when Tubbo admits he knows something, when Tubbo lashes out or doesn't act the way Ranboo expects him to and Ranboo doesn't know how to handle that. And AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH yeah that's pretty much it I dunno I've read this fic way too many times can u tell

[kazumist]

aki!!! 11 with cyno for ur 1k event ? WUWUU CONGRATS ULE ATE (∩˃o˂∩) ♡

prompt: brushing dirt off of their face

note: i got a bit carried away,, this is also slightly based off a tot card (just the idea of cyno thinking that you could never know that he's actually bad at something. nothing big, really) also thank u amai!! i hope you like it mwa <3

1k milestone event: open!

if you were thinking, what can the general mahamatra not do? well, here’s your answer!

it’s gardening. 

cyno was not born with a green thumb, unfortunately. every plant that he tries to grow ends up dying, even if he takes care of them pretty well! (kind of, if accidentally watering the plants too much or sometimes forgetting to water them at all counts as a “good job” for gardening). and because of that, cyno vowed that he'd never let you know that he’s actually bad at something.

that is, until the day you asked him to do some gardening with you.

“love, can you hand me the trowel?” you asked cyno, who had a concentrated look on his face as he looked into the flower pot in front of him.

“cyno?”

“cynoooo, earth to cyno? hello?” you called out, lifting a hand and waving it in front of him. that seemed to help him snap out of the trance he was in, perking his head up and turning it in your direction now. “sorry, what was that?”

“i said, can you hand me the trowel? the one next to you.”

cyno looks to where you pointed, and well, confused is an understatement. there were just a few gardening tools by his side, and cyno doesn’t have the slightest clue what a trowel is. he stares at the tools laid out, trying hard to think what a trowel could possibly be. he had to act fast, or else you’d get suspicious about why he’s taking so long to get what you’re asking for.

but with absolutely zero proper knowledge of gardening, he had to pick a random tool. he just hopes that he’s right.

“cyno… that’s a spade,” you sweatdropped.

goddamn.

“oh, you’re right. sorry, they looked similar.” looked similar his ass, what even is a spade? isn’t that a suit in a deck of cards?

“it’s okay! and you’re right, they look kinda similar. but what i’m actually asking for is the mini shovel that’s a bit curved over there.”

cyno had never felt more relieved when you told him that he was right. if he were to be wrong, then he would’ve blown his cover. he doesn’t know if he can keep this up much longer, especially when he hasn’t even planted a single seed in the fertilizer yet.

seeing as your lover was trapped in his thoughts again, he didn’t seem to notice that he had a bit of dirt on his cheek. “love, look at me for a second.”

“hm?”

a hand reaches up to cyno’s face as you gently brush the dirt off of his face. “you didn’t realize that you got some dirt there, you said as you slightly laughed at his blank yet a tad bit surprised expression.

yeah, you could never find out that he actually doesn’t know a thing about gardening.

bonus:

“love, did you know that i’m a flower? because i just need somebudy like you.”

“cyno, are you seriously giving me pick-up lines based on flowers just because we’re gardening right now?”

“cmon, can you at least admit that was witty?”

“uh-huh, whatever you say.”

[darklinaforever]

Ok. I need to address this.

Are there people who seriously think that Stydia was just fan service, out of nowhere in season 6? Seriously ? What series did you watch exactly? There are countless strong Stydia scenes with ambiguous and or romantic implications, or outright ROMANTIC background music in the series, long before Season 6! In 5X14 alone, Stiles asks Lydia to wake up while holding her hand with the song Where's My Love playing in the background. And yet people didn't see the romantic subtext in there? Really ? What do you need then?

Also, I've seen some haters claiming that there was nothing to be surprised about when Stydia broke up in the movie, because Dylan O'brien always hated Stydia, and said in an interview that they would have broken up at the after a few weeks...

So that's wrong.

Yes, Dylan said that, before going on to the fact that he was joking and that the two were meant to be together and happy. It's beautiful denial in some people anyway. To distort the words of an actor at this point to prove himself right.

Then it was Dylan who improvised the Stydia kiss on the cheek in 6X01. My ass he hates Stydia.

Also, quite a few of the cast members themselves were shipping Stydia together. To claim otherwise is bullshit.

And to anyone complaining that Stydia was too long and therefore no longer made sense...

It was fucking slowburn. A slowburn is supposed to be long to get a final realization! That's the point ! Canonically, in their universe, Stydia took 3 years to be together after being friends in high school. Sorry to tell you, but it's not an eternity or unrealistic. Not everyone gets in couple quickly.

Besides, I don't understand this obsession to say that Stydia is not valid because we've never seen them be a couple in a direct way...

You know, it's like complaining that fairy tales end right on the reunion of lovers finally reunited, or their marriage, being done, we have no insight into how their romantic relationship really works. But no one ever gets upset about it, or says it makes the relationship less valid. Besides, it's not a scheme found only in fairy tales, but including in a lot of classic novels with a central romance, or more recently in some romantic comedies.

And honestly? I don't care to see my ship's life as a couple! What matters is the buildup and the fact that they finally end up together in the end. Seeing them in couple mode is ultimately just a bonus, which I don't care about, because I can easily imagine it myself.

Oh, and if you're backing up the Stydia shit script of the movie as confirmation of your dumb ideas about this couple being forced, ridiculous, meant to break up forever, etc, well that just proves you're hopeless. This movie was absolute shit in every way, a goddamn thing that ruins the whole series, and not just Stydia. Even Allison's comeback is stupid. (and I say that as I ship Scott and Allison)

But in addition, knowing that the film still remains in the idea that Lydia is in love with Stiles and visibly sad to have abandoned him, and that Jeff Davis himself said in an interview that the two will most likely meet again... How is this supposed to be a victory for the anti?!

It mostly feels like a stupid breakup made to create unnecessary drama that would probably get a resolution later. Like the majority of couples getting together in a series that continues and has not actually ended its story.

Another of the reasons why I prefer the story to end once the couple are together rather than stretching out and seeing inevitable breakups / reconciliations made to keep the viewer hooked.

And as much as I'm a fan of Stydia, I absolutely refuse that this film be entitled to a sequel one day. It's shit, from A to Z, that deserves to be ignored and forgotten.

Teen Wolf movie sequel =

Also, those who act like Stydia aren't in a 6X20 couple are... pathetic at best? Everyone forgets this scene where Stydia takes her hand by instinct and where Lydia, remembering her first kiss with Stiles, tells Malia to kiss Scott to help calm him down? No, of course, let's forget this scene to justify our fantasy of: There was never anything ambiguous or romantic about Stydia, including in the last episode, proving that season 6A was a mistake!

And there are anti Stiles, acting like his character is toxic? People act like Stydia is toxic? Really ? It's so stupid it honestly makes me laugh.

I've been on tumblr for 2 years, but I only took a look at the Stydia/Teen wolf tag recently, and the crap I've seen there is really startling.

[disco-elysium-via-polls]

🎵 Whirling in Rags, 8 AM

3. "Yeah, keep telling yourself that. I know for a fact there's still plenty of drugs out there."

TITUS HARDIE - "No, there aren't. Some little shit and his dad are doing speed. Boo-fucking-hoo. The stuff's probably from Jamrock."

EUGENE - "Whatever you've seen is peanuts. Look at the big picture, man. The place is a paradise -- and all thanks to Hardie boys!"

TITUS HARDIE - "Theoretically, of course. We're just talking politics here. My answer to your drug accusation is: *How dare you? Go fuck yourself!*"

KIM KITSURAGI - "Not quite yet, Mr. Hardie. There were eight sets of prints on the crime scene. There are only seven Hardie boys here."

"The eighth Hardie -- the one who's missing. She runs the thing, right?"

TITUS HARDIE - "My answer is: *fuck off*!" He takes a step closer. "Mind your own business. There is no *eighth Hardie*. I run this goddamn scene!"

SUGGESTION [Easy: Success] - Finally, you got something out of him. This could prove useful in the future.

ELIZABETH - "Aaaand here we go. Back to the usual." The woman sighs.

SHANKY - "I know, I know!" The little man raises his index finger excitedly. "Fattie walked on all fours. He's so fucking fat he left two sets of footprints."

FAT ANGUS - "Go fuck your mom, Dennis."

ELIZABETH - "That's more like it, boys." She turns to you. "You heard him, it was Angus on all fours. Anything else you need to know?"

Task complete: Confront Hardie boys about drug trade

+30 XP

Level up!

We've learned something. Let's go back and approach this from another angle.

2. "I want to talk about the hanging again."

TITUS HARDIE - "Again? Just get the dead guy's autograph -- since you're his biggest fan."

SHANKY - A burst of laughter in the room; the little guy is the loudest. "Good one, Titus!" he fawns.

Skipping ahead slightly...

(Address Titus.) "No, but seriously -- who calls the shots around here?"

TITUS HARDIE - "Who do you fucking think does?" He sounds more amused than angry.

AUTHORITY [Medium: Success] - He's so sure it's him -- but it's not that simple. There's someone above him (or beside him?) sharing the leadership. Hard to say who...

We now have a new option.

6. "It's the eighth Hardie boy. The one who's missing. The big dick."

GLEN - A moment of silence. The long haired one breaks it: "Titus, no one was thinking..."

+5 XP

AUTHORITY - That's it. There's some kind of power issue they don't want to admit -- and the missing Hardie is involved.

TITUS HARDIE - "No, no, no..." He shakes his head: "FUCK NO! The big dick is right here, asshole! You're looking at it!" He grabs his crotch. "Right fucking here!"

ELIZABETH - "Disregard the outburst, officer." She gives Titus a condescending glance. "None of the boys have any more comments on their power relations. That night they acted as one. That's all."

Back to the main hub.

3. "I talked to Joyce. The merc you hanged -- his friends are coming for you."

TITUS HARDIE - "Yeah?" He doesn't seem worried. "By friends you mean his squadmates from Krenel?"

EUGENE - "Wouldn't wanna beat up his grandma." There's snickering in the room. Some of the men put their beers down.

EMPATHY [Formidable: Success] - Titus did his best, but his men are a bit unsettled.

"Yes, they are forming some kind of *tribunal* -- and they're coming for you."

"Forget I mentioned it, it was probably nothing."

KIM KITSURAGI - "This is what happens if you take the law into your own hands. Other people start doing it too."

GLEN - "Let them come!" Blondie yells across the cafeteria. "The Hardie boys are right fucking here!"

TITUS HARDIE - "You heard the man -- right here." He points to the ground. "We're armed, we got the whole district behind us and Glen... Glen is fucking *crazy*."

ALAIN - "Yeah, a well oiled murder-machine!" He punches blondie on the shoulder.

"This Krenel is bad news. You know that, right?"

"The mercenaries are armed with automatic weapons."

"Joyce said they've gone rogue. Nobody is controlling them."

"Okay." (Conclude with a shrug.)

TITUS HARDIE - "Pft!" A spray of beer. "So were the local gangs. The fuckin' *Barmy Army* and the Madre scum. You've been out there. Seen any around?"

ALAIN - "Yeah? Where are they now, huh?" He points South. "Sent back to Madre in an airtight cargo crate."

KIM KITSURAGI - "These people are trained military professionals. Special forces, as you said. They're not a gang, or a *Barmy Army*."

TITUS HARDIE - "No, they're not. They're un-coordinated and drunk. We know more about them than you think."

2. "The mercenaries are armed with automatic weapons."

TITUS HARDIE - "We got weapons of our own." He cracks open his vest to give you a glimpse of his holster. "We got Ister 50s, Zielegers, Glen's got a nock-cannon at home..."

"Will they pierce ceramic armour?"

"Well if Glen has a *nock-cannon* at home I guess you'll be alright."

TITUS HARDIE - "I guess we're gonna see, aren't we?"

"See what? That they don't?"

"For your sake, I hope you're right."

TITUS HARDIE - "Yeah, like you've been up against ceramic armour..." He takes a sip of beer to bide his time, then tries to get the last word in.

"You haven't even seen the whole suit, right? I've seen the whole fucking thing and it didn't make him immortal."

3. "Joyce said they've gone rogue. Nobody is controlling them."

TITUS HARDIE - "Big fucking surprise..." He mutters. "They hire psycho scum, arm them to the teeth and let them loose in the city. What do you think is gonna happen?"

4. "Okay." (Conclude with a shrug.)

TITUS HARDIE - "What do you mean *okay*?" He jerks forward a bit.

[coruscant-cosmonaut]

If I'm honest, I find it disappointing that B*lly has become the poster boy for the Stranger Things fandom lacking empathy for characters handling trauma poorly. Because there is an issue with it, but...uh...he is the worst example of it? Like ever? Like, by season:

Even in season 1, we have Lucas clearly struggling with the stress of Will going missing. He wants to find his friend, he feels like he's being manipulated and his friends care more about a stranger than Will. In my mind it's like, of course he'd be upset! But there are people to this day who still hate him for being rude to El.

Season 2 is just the spawn point thousands of traumas.

Nancy lashes out at Steve because she's traumatized by Barb's loss and everyone, including him, is ignoring that. The fandom calls her a bitch - hell, I even saw a post saying she abused him!

Mike is traumatized by watching El - in his mind - literally being vaporized and dying inches from his face. Probably also, I don't know, from nearly dying when he threw himself off a cliff. Yet there was so little sympathy from fans when he didn't want Max in the party (which is entirely reasonable, by the way! He was rude about it, but Dustin and Lucas were entirely unfair for only half letting Max in, knowing it put her in danger.) People who do give him slack don't at all acknowledge his suffering - even wanting him to go back to this era.

Max herself! She'd just been hauled across the country, isolated to her abusive family. And I still saw a lack of sympathy.

In season 3 and 4 Mike is massively struggling. He's an insecure teen in his first relationship. He's not even a year out from believing he watched El die. And you don't expect him to be a little concerned when people are asking her to use her powers willy nilly again? To worry she won't need him in season 4? For fucks sake! People have that worry in normal, non-super power relationships.

Let's not even get into Will. People seem to be of two mind with him. The truth is, he was immensely self-centered and selfish in season 3 and 4. I sympathize with his struggle, but it was rude to constantly nag Lucas and Mike when they were clearly upset and entitled to expect Mike to do all of the work to connect with him after the move.

But he's not the goddamn devil! He's a traumatized kid trying to get back to normal. Yet people seem to act like admitting his behavior was bad is the same as calling him evil - either refusing to admit it and boiling him down to a poor innocent baby or treating him like the single worst person in existence.

And finally, Lucas. Again. If anyone tells me he "abandoned his friends" I will bite them. Or at least block them. He didn't want to be bullied and he finally found a way to not be! More over, Lucas actually seem to enjoy basketball. Imagine watching him find a new hobby and explore it, his friends shoot it down and even mock him for it, and then decide "yeah, Lucas is the bad guy." Good lord.

And I'm sure people could find more. But yes, the person that really needs to be defended is the racist abuser. The one the creators have gone out of their way to say is a racist abuser. I could turn this into a whole rant about how protagonists are held to impossibly high standards, especially compared to antagonists, but that's another post.

[jossujb]

I am just relistening early episodes of Jago & Litefoot (you should too if you have Audible or Spotify or have like pennies to spare, the early seasons are really cheap these days) and goddamn the chemistry between the gentlemen is chef's kiss <3

The Necropolis Express is like the best episode to introduce the series to a newcomer, if you really must just pick one random episode. The contrast between Litefoot and Jago is really prominent mostly cos they are still somewhat new in their relationship, so they're bit more formal than later seasons, which brings out the upperclass vs lower class, formally educated vs learned on the job, science vs supernatural contrasts -

BUT

The thing that makes Jago & Litefoot makes so good that never sides with one characters. For example in The Necropolis Express the first half is poking fun at how superstitious and frankly ridiculous Jago is thinking that all the corpses in the coffins are alive and how the movements on the earth are machinations from Hell, and Litefoot is pointing out natural and calms explanations for all of them - ONLY for Jago to be exactly right on the money, and Litefoot is just painted bing annoying not believing first hand witness.

Then again, later in the same episode, they meet a person who has veiled their face is harsh, but somewhat polite, suspicious, yet Jago is giving every benefit of the doubt. He may be poor, down on his luck, not used to visitors, shy and reserved and that's contrasted against how Litefoot is immediately thorny and made his mind o the person - and this case Litefoot is ON POINT, he's the motherfucker of the story.

But do you see how their dynamic would work in different situations? neither really character flaws per se, they just have different sets of assets. In some episodes it's absolutely vital that Litefoot is solid on his scientifics and does't swallow any old nonsense people spew - but in other episodes that makes him a quite a annoying besserwisser. Jago is easily spooked by stories and has talent of making himself more scared with imagination - but he he doesn't doubt on the face of the devil, if he has to kill a werewolf or fight a zombie or whatever he can't be stopped by saying "but but there ain't such things as zombies." Bitch, if it bites, I act upon that, right?

Also, it's generally a positive personality trait that Jago is never bigoted or prejudiced person. On some episodes it does put him in a harm's way tho if he excuses someone too long. Litefoot has that on the spot vibe check that more often than not is useful in their infernal investigations - but it has made him strongly despise some people for flippant reasons, that make him less kind that he probably thinks he is. And on that note, sometimes he also trusts people solely on the fact that vibes didn't go off, and that's also dangerous.

So you know. Every personality trait they have is good on an one episode and bad in the next. That feels really realistic to me.

[seriously-mike]

Elephant on the Road

or, How I Had To Re-Learn How To Drive After Two Decades

As you know, my father died over a year ago, leaving not only his apartment with a fully-stocked fridge, but also his car - a 2000 Nissan Patrol, at that point disassembled and split between a mechanic and a body shop, with the extensive repairs paid only halfway. A year later, it was finally put back together, with 3/4s of the drivetrain replaced, the frame rust-proofed and a new coat of Raptor finish in graphite color. Then, it stood at the local parking lot for five goddamn months before I got the courage to get behind the wheel and drive it.

So holy shit, there I was, trying to wriggle a two-ton War Elephant out of its parking space, some guy's shiny new Mercedes to the left, three trucks behind me and zero knowledge how the whole thing behaves - acceleration, braking, turn radius, I knew fuck-all about that. But, with some slight fettling, I got out of the parking space, out of the parking lot's gate and OHMOTHERFUCKERITURNEDTOOHARD. Literally, I turned the steering wheel too hard, jumped the curb, ran over the remnants of a decorative fence all of four inches tall and swung the car back onto the road in the initial stages of a heart attack.

Fuck. And I mean, FFFFFFFUCK. Turned out that the two-ton War Elephant has really nice power steering for a beast slightly more than half my age and I need to turn gently. So, down the street I go, letting the pedestrians cross the road as they have the right of way on crossings without traffic lights, the brakes aren't that bad either, the soundtrack from Brutal Legend is blasting from the radio because my dad bought one with an USB port long ago and then asked me to make a thumb drive with his favorite songs on it (which I, sadly, failed to do), I'm GOING. Baby, am I going. But then, I have to turn into the large avenue and I'm all kinds of afraid what's gonna happen then.

So, apparently, the first rule of the road is "act like everyone else, and nobody will suspect you don't have a driver's license" (I actually do, for the record, I just didn't have a car for the last two decades and the last one I had to drive was a rusted-out fifth-gen Nissan Sunny with a busted manual gearbox that had issues with switching gears). So I'm rolling down the avenue, regulation 50 per (km/h, mind you), and I haven't even killed anyone yet. I'm even using turn signals, correctly, because the War Elephant has an American dashboard with two separate turn indicator lights so I know whether I'm flashing left or right. So, off to the right lane and I tuuuurn right into another avenue.

Much to my joy, I see a "Speed Limit: 80" sign on the overpass (this one is a part of the large transit road through the town), so I floor it. I floor it so eagerly to keep on the tail of the guy before me that I go all the way to 100 per before noticing and gently slow down back to 80 before hitting the tunnel.

I fucking knew I forgot something, and that something were the headlights. Halfway into the tunnel, I turn the headlight knob, swearing and hoping that no undercover cop car saw me. Okay, now we're driving 100% legit, only one car honked at me, no hits, no scrapes, I stay in my line like a motherfucking tram. Off a roundabout that isn't a fucking roundabout (who even named it like that?!), down another street and after some more uneventful ride I arrive at my dad's former apartment to pick up some junk from the basement. Hell, even parallel parking was easy because someone was nice enough to leave a car and a half's worth of space between the two already there.

I forgot to turn off the lights, as you can see in the photo, because I'm a derp and I haven't figured out what the incessant pinging after turning the engine off meant. So I take the photo, notice the lights on, open the car again, turn the lights off and head to the basement to pick up the junk.

Coming back was a bit more difficult, mostly due to me being unable to tell which of the three turns left was the correct one (note to self, it's the third one, the largest), but it resulted in an "always wanted to say that" moment when some absolute fuckwad decided to cut from the right lane all the way to the left and up the overpass, prompting me to go "Turning left from the right lane, you unschooled dickwad?! Last time I've seen idiots like you in Night City!"

[aster-d-angelo]

Reth and Valia — Growing Pains

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

Sweet Lord above, I’m gonna murder him. I don’t know how yet, but I’ll find a way.

It’s only been a week and already I’ve developed a twitch that kicks in with a vengeance whenever he’s brought up.

*sigh*

Where to begin…

Okay, so I realize being a handler is supposed to be a good thing. It shows I can handle my responsibilities and care for a living being without fail. It might even be enough for a promotion in the near future.

But good God, did it have to be him?

Yes, I know I shouldn’t complain. I was given a responsibility and I’m gonna fulfill it even if it kills me, which at the rate things are going is a likely possibility, but dammit, he can’t go a little easier on me?

Every day, it’s the same: get up, go take care of the giant bastard, nearly grind my teeth to dust, and then go about the rest of my day.

Until dinner, when I have to do it all over again. Rinse and repeat.

It actually wouldn’t be so bad if he didn’t make it an excruciating point to get on my nerves every single minute of every single day. He just won’t let up; every other sentence out of his mouth is teasing, insulting, or downright flirting, and the whiplash from irritation to anger to embarrassment and back has long since given me a near-constant headache in his presence.

I just…I just don’t know how to act around him. His moods flip like a goddamn light switch, leaving me scrambling to keep up. Just when I’m feeling sympathetic towards him, he starts teasing me again, and the moment I’m ready to flip my lid, he sobers up or God forbid starts flirting.

That’s probably the worst part, feeling like I’m just another warm body for him to hit on. I realize he doesn’t get out much, but it feels so useless. Like, are you really getting something out of that?

I’m probably being too hard on him, but would it really kill him to stop trying to get a rise out of me for more than two seconds? It doesn’t help that he’s so good at it…freakin’ jerk…

With a heavy sigh, Valia pushed back from her desk, dropping her pen and stretching out stiff muscles. It was probably best that she stop that particular entry right there before it devolved into a spate of name-calling and increasingly violent threats.

A glance at the clock brought on another sigh and Valia reluctantly threw on a jacket, latching the gauntlet back on and grabbing her key before heading out.

Nights were cool lately, much cooler than the warm days they’d been having. The indigo sky above was speckled with stars, wisps of cloud barely visible in the dying light. Hands in her pockets, head craned back, Valia star-gazed until the barracks blocked her view.

Walking down the dark, silent corridor alone was never fun, Valia hurrying past cage after cage trying not to look inside any of them. She almost walked past Reth’s cage in the dark, turning on the little lantern light set in the wall by the door so she could see to use the key. Should really think about a flashlight…

The cage door squeaked open, Valia slipping inside and venturing a couple steps into the darkness beyond. The lantern light didn’t reach inside very well and her skin crawled at the impenetrable blackness filling the cage. “Anybody home?”

Not ten feet in front of her, a pair of teal eyes suddenly blinked open, shining eerily in the dim lamp light and scaring the shit out of her. Before she could beat a hasty retreat back to the door, however, a hand materialized behind her, dimly backlit and deepening the gloom around her. A toothy smile gleamed in the shadows, sending a shiver up her spine.

“Well, look who’s back,” came the low rumble she was slowly becoming accustomed to. “Wasn’t sure you’d be back after this morning.”

Ah, yes, this morning, when she’d basically stormed out the second his needs had been met, head ready to explode with frustration. “Yeah well, I have a responsibility to take care of you. I’m not going to abandon my duty just because you’re being a massive jerk,” Valia shot back, a thread of steel in her tone despite the lightest tremors running through her.

The hand withdrew with a chuckle, trailing light drag marks through the dust. “Ouch. Tell me how you really feel.” Sand and clothing shifted, Reth presumably sitting up in preparation. “What're we waiting for, then?”

Mouth thinning, Valia twisted the dial, smacking the button. The bright flash illuminated the cage for a second, an afterimage of a light dust cloud and a swiftly shrinking giant burned into her night vision. Then darkness returned, Reth soon sauntering into the dim light, hands stuck in his pockets. For once, he didn’t say anything, a fact for which Valia was secretly grateful as she led the way back down the hall.

Their first and only stop was the “cafeteria” — really just a fancy name for the patch-of-dirt courtyard across from the wash stations. Reth plunked down in his usual spot against the wall while Valia went to retrieve his meal. The tray was twice the size of normal ones, half-full of stale bread, a handful of slightly overripe fruits and veggies, a cut of jerky, and a cup of water. The cadet couldn’t help the wince as she hauled the tray back to the giant — at least it wasn’t gruel.

Reth accepted the tray like he always did, with a nod and a smirk. Valia just ignored him like she always did, leaning against the wall and crossing her arms as she scanned the courtyard. They were a little later than usual today, so only a couple other assets were around, finishing up their own meals. Their handlers looked bored as hell, hardly acknowledging their asset’s existence until they were done, then leading them back to their cages with hardly a word or even a glance.

Unexpectedly, a sliver of guilt slithered through her chest, watching fellow officers handle their assets so callously and sensing an uncomfortable similarity to her own actions. She’d never thought of herself as a cruel person, and from what Reth had said when they first met, she was different, apparently more kind than others had been. She had taken a strange sense of pride in that, having won the vague approval of a species that severely disliked her own.

But given how quiet and relatively compliant Reth had been lately, she wasn’t sure how well she’d kept that up. Indifferent could be just as bad as cruel, after all.

A poking sensation pulled her from her thoughts, Valia skittering to the side instinctively as she noticed Reth in her immediate peripheral, a hunk of bread in his hand. “Wha…did you just poke me with your food?” she sputtered, brushing at her uniform and scowling at the bread crumbs.

“Well, nothing else was getting your attention, sweetheart,” Reth answered lazily, tearing off another chunk of bread and holding out the tray with a smirk.

With a huff, Valia snatched it up, feeling heat climb her neck a bit as she took the tray back.

They made their way back to the cage without issue, Reth ducking inside and heading for the corner while Valia trailed some feet behind. Another twist, another click, and Reth was full-size once more, invisible in the dark as he presumably settled against the wall.

And that was that. Okay, time to head back to the dorms and hit the books for tomorrow’s quiz—

A yelp escaped her as a hand abruptly descended, cutting off her path to the door. Valia whipped around, staring up at disembodied teal eyes, mind racing for an explanation.

“Where’s the fire, sweetheart?”

She struggled with the spike of irritation. “I’m going back to my dorm. I have a quiz tomorrow.”

“And you hafta be studying every second until then, right?” She could hear that goddamn smirk as he tilted his head. “Do you ever relax?”

Breathe, Val, just breathe. “I do, actually. Thanks for the concern, if that’s what that was,” Valia snipped, pivoting on her heel and attempting to sidestep the long fingers in her way.

They shifted with her, making her teeth grit as she glared over her shoulder.

“I don’t think ya do.” His fingertip gently tapped her shoulder, making her jerk back. “How ‘bout you hang out with me for a bit so I can be sure?”

He couldn’t really want her to stick around; hell must’ve frozen over.

“What’s the catch?” was out of her mouth before she realized it.

Another chuckle, soft and amused. “You wound me, sweetheart.” His arm came down just like before, letting him lean down into the dim light and putting her level with his smirk. His warm breath just vaguely brushing past her, Valia resisted the overwhelming urge to step back, her back mere inches from his fingers, breath held as their gazes locked.

“…maybe I just appreciate your company,” he said quietly, making her freeze in place.

Hold up. Was this flirting? It seemed like flirting, but…

Her mouth opened once or twice, but her usual sarcastic responses didn’t seem appropriate somehow and she didn’t really have any others handy…

The silence stretched almost to the point of uncomfortable, Valia struggling to process as her face slowly flushed. Thankfully, it was enough for Reth to pull back with a snort, hand moving just off to the side, essentially freeing her. “Well, that’s a no. Don’t study too hard, kay?”

For the second time that night, guilt squeezed her chest as that neutral expression of his slid back into place. It didn’t take a genius to know why he wanted the company and used her wellbeing as an excuse, but she still couldn’t wrap her head around why he’d choose her. They hadn’t had a decent interaction the entire week she’d known him, barring that one moment when they’d first met, and even now, she couldn’t talk to him without wanting to punch him in his big smug face. Sure, she was around him the most, but he had to have somebody else to hang out with!

…right?

No, now she was just being stupid. He spent at least half of each day in the cage, interaction between assets outside the cage was frowned upon, and none of the officers wanted anything to do with the assets — there was literally no one else.

She took a deep breath and let it out.

Alright — time to start being the decent human being he apparently thought she was.

Before she could change her mind, Valia moved a little closer, hesitantly taking a seat on the sandy floor and catching his attention. “I guess I can stay for a few more minutes,” she mumbled, a finger swirling through the sand as she tried to avoid eye contact. “But you try to pick me up again and we’re gonna have a problem.”

A moment’s pause and she felt more than saw him lie down on the dusty floor, getting settled a comfortable distance away to her mild surprise. Eyes still on the floor, she missed the little smile that appeared.

“Yes, ma’am,” he murmured, and Valia’s heart skipped a beat as the words practically vibrated through her.

This was gonna take some getting used to.

-.-

Shutting her dorm door behind her, Valia stifled a yawn as she made her way to her desk, rummaging through her textbooks. Finding the one she needed, she plunked down and went to crack it open, only to catch sight of her abandoned journal entry just off to the side. A thoughtful pause had her toying with her pen, eyes tracing the neat, tight words.

It’d only been a few minutes and she’d pretty much hightailed it out of there, but…

Her pen scrawled another few words at the bottom of the page.

Okay, he’s not so bad.

Satisfied, Valia turned back to her book, settling in for a night of study.

The next morning, she went about her duties as usual, stopping in for breakfast before heading to the cage.

“Morning,” she murmured absently, mind occupied by the day’s schedule as she unlocked the cage door and stepped inside. It was a fairly light day and her quiz wasn’t until after lunch, so she could squeak in a review if she needed to…

The lack of response finally broke into her thoughts and Valia glanced up to see Reth propped up on an elbow, watching her with an unreadable expression on his face. He was unusually quiet, making her squint suspiciously. “What?”

A smug little grin appeared, Reth tilting his head. “Nothing.”

What was his deal this morning? Valia just rolled her eyes, spinning the dial. “Whatever.”

[howdywrites]

The Encounter

WIP: In The Woods Somewhere Characters: Jackie and Benny Word Count: 1,070 ***Content Warnings: no gore but gross descriptions of bodily fluids, mild suspense***

This takes place early in ITWS, when Benny and Jackie run into someone who will not be human very soon. Just a reminder: this WIP is set during the early apocalypse, contains zombies, and is sapphic! Created for mature audiences!

Another note, I have had severe writers block and generally been stupid busy, so this is only 1/3 of the work I did on this novel recently. I’m hoping this will encourage me to keep writing!

Wet, acrid heat engulfed Jackie. This time of year the air was sticky and hot, carrying the scent of pine and goldenrod flowers on the wind. She shielded her eyes with her free hand, leaning against her rake that she stabbed into the moist earth. Buzzards swarmed overhead, cawing and floating along the blue sky.

"Something must've died," Benny puffed, his shoulders hunched and hands resting on his knees. His back moved up and down rapidly as he tried to catch his breath.

"Please tell me you brought sunscreen with you," Jackie raised a brow while looking at the young ranger intern. Benny's cheeks were scarlet, sweat falling in large beads down his freckled cheeks. He lifted his head, dirty blond hair sticking to his forehead, and grinned ear to ear.

"Nope!"

"Goddamn it, Benny..." Jackie unclipped the portable fan from around her neck and handed it to him. "Chief is going to kill you, you know. If skin cancer doesn't get to you first."

"It's such a pain - why do I have to reapply it every thirty minutes? Can't they just make sunscreen that lasts all day?" Jackie knew he was kidding, but the urge to give the young man a tongue lashing crept up the back of her throat. So she gave him a deep frown, watching as he fanned himself at full volume. His eyes widened, brows turning upward in the saddest display of puppy eyes. "C'mon, Jack, you know I didn't mean to. I had a billion things on my mind this morning."

Jackie shook her head, yanking her rake out of the ground. "No, I shouldn't be talking to you like you're a kid. Sorry, Benny." Her face smoothed out, a small smile curling at the corner of her lip. "Let's take care of whatever the hell that is and get out of Dodge." She jutted a thumb towards the carnivorous birds. They had migrated closer to the two of them during their spat, hovering only a dozen feet overhead.

The two rangers were tasked with clearing out the overgrown shrubbery that crept along the [trail name] trail. After hours of backbreaking work under the sun, they had it back to tip-top shape, allowing the path to be seen properly by hikers. While not the ideal task at the park, Jackie preferred being in nature over being yelled at by summer holiday campers at the trailheads and welcome center. The primary downside of working the trails was the inevitability of coming across something dead or finding yet another problem that needed fixing.

"Five bucks it's just a squirrel again," Benny laughed, giving Jackie her fan back and looking much cooler than before.

"I don't know. Four buzzards for one squirrel?" She took the lead, heading into a thicket of trees with her eyes on the birds.

"Maybe, there's been a lot of weird animal things going on lately."

"Maybe."

He wasn't wrong. Jackie had seen a few strange events since summer began. She chocked it up to the summer heat. It was at least ten degrees warmer than last July, and the Wildlife Biology team pointed out that animals were avoiding human contact in larger numbers than in previous seasons. The animals that did interact with humans tended to be far more aggressive than usual, too.

Jackie trembled thinking about her run in with an emaciated bear cub in early spring. How its eyes were caked in puss and mouth dripping with a sickly yellow foam. Rabies, the biologists told her, and abandoned by its mother. But she had never seen bear cubs act like that before - or look like that. It attacked her like it had a grudge against her personally, not like it was hungry.

"Jackie?" Benny's voice behind her grew quiet, nearly a whisper. She took pause, drawing her gaze away from the gaps in the tree canopy. A twig snapped ahead of them. The thick scent of vomit hit her like a ton of bricks. There, in a small clearing among the overgrowth, stood a human. A man, on the heavier side, back hunched slightly and head down like he was sleeping while standing upright. Flies buzzed past her ear, zooming towards the fresh feast of vomit at the man's sandled feet. She swallowed a gag, standing up straighter. If the man noticed their presence, he didn't acknowledge them.

Jackie cleared her throat. "Sir? Are you lost? This trail is closed for maintenance and it's advised that you stick to the path." She used her 'teacher voice' as JJ called it. A mix of disappointment and authority that usually steered park guests in the right direction.

The man's head lulled from side to side, slow and methodical, before lifting. He looked over his shoulder at them, eyes wet and face ghostly white. He blinked, as if he saw through them. "Sorry..." he croaked. His words had the cadence of someone whose tongue was too large for their mouth.

"Do you need medical attention?" Jackie prodded, using a gentler tone. She stepped a few paces closer, Benny staying back.

"Little Bear to Papa Bear, we have a situation out on [trail name]." He muttered into his walkie talkie. "Can we get medical out here, over."

"No." The man's head wavered again and he ran a fist over his eyes. A thick goo stuck to his skin, a bit of it dribbling down his cheek. "Just tired. Where am I?"

"You're near the trail, don't worry." Jackie motioned for him to follow them back towards safety. "Let's get you some water, we have a team headed this way that will get you back to your camp, okay?"

'Papa Bear to Little Bear, medic is on their way, over.'

The stranger shuffled his feet, moving like he was attached to weights and moving through water. When he turned, Jackie noticed the front of his shirt was covered in sweat from collar to belly button. How long had he been standing out in he heat? She tried not to curl her nose in disgust as he hacked up some more bile. It landed between them in a thick puddle.

"Careful, now. Did you know you were sick, sir?"

"Jus'a cold." he followed slowly, just behind Jackie. Benny took the lead back to the trail, straying as far away from the stranger as possible. "Not even that sick."

"Well, we'll let our med team decide that."

-

Folks who were interested when I posted about sharing a snippet: @draculinawrites​ @antique-symbolism​ 

[masterthespianduchovny]

no one fucking gaslit you but yourself. I a! so goddamned sick of the tedbecca shippers appropriating the actual experiences of actual abuse survivors to whine about not getting the ship that was very clearly never going to happen, and acting like having yet another bland straight white couple is somehow groundbreaking television.

y'all write whole goddamn essays about how you're so oppressed by *shit that did not fucking happen*. it's fucking tedious. your sydcarmy ship isn't happening either and I hope you die mad about it too

all y'all are doing is exposing yourselves for thinking that a woman only exists as a whole for your fave fictional white men to fuck and I'm tired of the endless tantrums in the tags about it

sorry you're incapable of media literacy and didn't immediately get the incredibly obvious joke in the finale but that's a personal problem. congratulations you played yourself. next time don't brainwash yourself with gifsets instead of watching what the show actually does. goddamned immature brats

Ooh, chile, you shouldn’t have told me that you’re sick of us spamming the tag because I’m going to make sure to write even more here and spam it all fucking day, baby. Thanks for that. ☺️

Now on to your bullshit post:

1. No one’s appropriating anything. You seem like the person who believes that only army veterans can have PTSD. Newsflash: that’s false just like your understand how who can be effected by gaslighting is false—it’s broader than you believe.

2. I’m a fucking black woman, let’s not get into politics over shipping because you will lose regardless of race. The show is predominantly WHITE and to ship either of the leads with the black men on the show, which has canonically happened for a pairing, is problematic as fuck.

3. Whoever said they were fucking oppressed, you need to talk to them NOT me. However, I can criticize what I deem as POOR writing. That’s not oppression, that’s a grievance that writers can learn from in the future.

5. I have a fucking degree in CINEMA AND MEDIA STUDIES. The lowest grade I ever received on film and TV analysis was a B and that was because I was trying less than usual. I’ve been apart of film/tv and have been on the crew of independent movies—even got an IMDb credit for it. I was briefly an English major before switching to cinema and I’m currently writing a book, this is all to say:

I very likely watch tv (and film) more intently than you do and ever have. I break down character, plot, dynamics, tropes, themes, etc subconsciously and can recall small details and plot points that most people cannot.

I’m in the process of being a guest for a movie podcast, launching my own movie and tv podcast in a few months, and writing an article on the function of filler episodes in tv, both past and present.

So while my criticism is focused on a ship, it’s due to my intimate knowledge of tv, my education, and career path. The goal is to end up as a writer of movies and tv. Like, I’m true to this, not new to this.

I don’t give a fuck what you think is tedious. Bad writing is bad writing. It’s why Ted Lasso was shut out at the TCAs and will likely have very few or NO Emmy’s because the last season was terrible. The final episode doesn’t make any since even when you don’t account for Tedbecca. If you bothered reading that tedious writing, you’d know that. Don’t worry, I’ll write a post and flood the tag again.

The bantr reveal fake out does not make any sense if they never intended to AT LEAST explore ted and Rebecca’s feelings. That’s taking up important space in the narrative. We literally didn’t need it. Setting ted and rebecca up as soulmates regardless of it it was romantic OR platonic with NO pay off is BAD writing. Harping on their connection only for them to spend most of the season apart and very little screen time with ted being inattentive to rebecca in the last episode is BAD WRITING.

I’m sorry that you don’t know what bad writing looks like, but media literacy is being able to discern narrative consistency and how writing qualify influences that.

Part of the criticism of Tedbecca is that if it weren’t going happen, why were all of those unnecessary details there?

The other problem is that is was gaslighting because of how the writers, producers, and Jason interacted with fans. They led fans on, and Brendan was an asshole about the w tire thing during his AMA.

Like why in the fuck is Jason saying, “what if you had a crush on your boss” and invoking Nora Ephron? I don’t want to hear any bullshit about subversion when 1. The writing wasn’t good enough in the third season to subvert shit 2. Outside of shipper complaints, the show has fallen off hard in SM discourse. Went out with a whimper!

5. So wanting Rebecca AND Ted together means we think a woman only exists for our fave fictional white man? Mighty presumptuous of you to assume that Ted is my fave white man—that’s Mike Lawson and Fox Mulder. Even then, many who ship tedbecca are rebecca/Hannah stans and are actually pissed that her storyline didn’t involve therapy and focus on her professional life more. Hell, she didn’t even get adequate apologies from Higgins or one from Nate. The romance is only one of many ways the show has failed her and it has been discussed at length on Twitter. Please keep showing how you’re all assumption and don’t read or maybe you just lack comprehension skills. You’re the one exposing yourself here and lack the self reflection to understand that.

I suppose that’s hard when you have one brain cell. Don’t work it too hard!

We’re immature, but you’re sending anon hate mail to me because you’re upset. LOLOLOLOL!!! People have the right to complain if they want for long they want, get over it. The real immaturity is being unable to deal with the fact that people feel differently than you, not understand why (may be due to the one brain cell), and attacking us over it.

6. There’s no reason for me to be upset if SydCarmy doesn’t happen. While I do believe a foundation is being laid, The Bear can actually maintain high quality writing. So whatever they choose to do, even if it’s not marking my ship canon, I have confidence in the direction they choose to go.

7. Your head is so far up your ass that you think people didn’t get their pedestrian joke. Lol. You’re defending writing that, for TWO SEASONS, painted Jane as an abuser and that Beard needed to get out of their toxic relationship only for them to get a happily ever after that glosses over said abuse. Keep in mind that Jane fucking SHREDDED his passport.

Come get your clown make up kit, you’ve earned it, dear.

Because I want you to explain and justify THAT to me.

Let’s also breakdown Ted’s narrative arc, which doesn’t make a lick of sense and was changed in the third season.

Or how Jamie and Roy fighting over keeley was nonsensical.

And that Michelle’s ex was sabotaged narratively in the last ep and I don’t even like that dude.

Or how keeley and rebecca wanting to create and run a woman’s football league is random as fuck and has never been discussed, teased, alluded to, or anything else.

You think this is the first time a ship hasn’t happened for me? Hell, I’ve had one half of my ship did and they were CANON at one point. As a matter of fact, it was TWO ships only one canon and, for the latter, there was rampant RACISM going on behind the scenes.

Because I don’t know who else, if anyone else, you’re sending these anon messages to, but I’m very well versed when it comes to fiction and I don’t fuck around. I stand ten toes down in everything I say because it’s backed up with facts and careful thought.

So if you want to get into, we can get into it, but I guarantee you, you’ll be exposed as a fraud of who doesn’t know shit about fuck.

We can do this or not, the choice is yours.

[frostdeer]

so i have slept on it and have some final esc thoughts

overall, i think i enjoyed last year more bc of the fun shenanigans in between. this year it seemed, well, more serious for some reason?

fuck the jury

i actually wished they would give us MORE of the iconic ukrainian acts, like, fucking hell, Go_A and Verka being there for 30 seconds at the start? I expected more. More of Ukrainians and not more of prev winners

fuck the jury

i never really liked loreen lets be honest but how in the FUCK she won again with the most generic unoriginal pop song? Oh. The jury. She did not even look surprised. Or happy.

JSYK - fuck the jury

on that note how in the FUCK did isr get so many points? how?? is it because 'do you wanna see me daaaance', bc the song was... idk? (let's not get into the fact on how are they still allowed to participate bc you know.. the.. things going on in there)

fuck the jury

once again i will repeat that prev winners should not be allowed to participate

fuck the jury very much

all for returning artists if they have not won yet (hello Moldova, I love you)

fuck the fucking jury

You are my winner Käärijä, the public loved you, everyone loved you, we heard the cha-cha-chants and you deserved so much better our cha cha dancing pina colada drinking finnish king <3

fuck the boring ass jury and whoever wanted Sweden to host in 2024 coincidentally on Abba's 50year anniversary win (:

On the other hand I have learned how to make pina coladas this year, and next year Petra Mede might return (possibly with Mans since he's there every year anyway). I just don't know if I will enjoy watching it as much knowing we could have had Jerevision 2024, which would have been a goddamn TREAT.

That's about it. What a lousy end to otherwise a great lineup.

Fuck the jury, Sweden this year and everyone who voted for them.

[bassds]

Star Lovers Ꝏ: How we got here, and where we’re going  Welcome, all; BassDS here after a long time lurking around in the Undernets of tumblr and Twitter, mulling and contemplating several things I want to do that luckily I’ve gotten the ball rolling on, but it’s now time to focus on the one thing that has been neglected during these past few years, and to give those who don’t know a crash course into what led to the creation of this project:

Star Lovers Ꝏ.

Time for a history lesson. AND pretty much an autopsy, because oh boy, I’m gonna tell you how stupid I was in some of these design choices that took place during the original installments.

The one thing I was notoriously known for in the latter part of the 2000s was my set of stories based within the Mega Man Star Force sub-series of the Mega Man franchise, that being my original creation, Star Lovers, which centered around a small budding romance between the main hero of the games, Geo Stelar; the titular Mega Man in this case, and the heroine/side accomplice Sonia Strumm, also known as Harp Note, who essentially served as the Roll.EXE of Star Force.

So, before we progress any further, I do have a SMALL confession to make.

At one point, for a small and VERY short time, I shipped Geo with the other female character in the series, Luna Platz; but hear me out here; this was a time when it took time to get games released over here between Japan and North American, so info on these games and the story was limited, as you had to wait for people to slowly translate info. On a whim, I saw some art of them and thought they looked cute; that was all.

THEN enters Sonia, and soon more of the game’s story is translated and we get to know more about her, coming to find out she’s dealing with the loss of her mother, just as Geo has spent the previous 3 years lamenting the loss of his father in space; they have relatable backstories with each other that helps them to understand the other, and in the end, Geo and Sonia form a Brotherband; with this being their first for each other, and Geo’s first main interaction with anyone since his father’s supposed death. It really showed just how DEEP the character development in this game was.

With this, my eyes were open to the truth; Geo and Sonia were the shipping successors in this sequel series just as the original Mega Man Battle Network games constantly nudged romantic feelings for Lan Hikari and Mayl Sakurai in the previous series, and it seemed they were bent as hell on repeating that again, and I punched my ticket along for the ride.

With this, a few days after I had beaten the first Star Force game, I wanted to write a small continuation; my own thing, to tide myself and many others over until Star Force 2 released the next year.

This led to the creation of the original Star Lovers story.

And looking back now, UGH, it was so cringe.

I DID NOT know how to write a story properly; sentence structure, paragraphs, all that stuff; for all intents and purposes, I was a goddamn noob at it, despite having done some other failed previous ventures with other series of fiction.

Yet, despite it hardly being coherently legible and having the story that just honestly felt all over the place just to enact a confession from both characters...it proved popular. Today it still stands as one of my most viewed stories on Fanfiction.net; nothing else I’ve done even comes close, apart from a story I did featuring them that wasn’t even a part of Star Lovers at all; but people liked it, and looking back at it, to this day I’m still mystified as to how it even got to that point.

A year later, and Star Force 2 comes out, so naturally it was time to create a sequel story to act as a bridge for the impending release of Star Force 3.

And this is when things REALLY started going off the rails.

The story of Star Lovers 2 took the postgame from Star Force 2 and I turned it into my own thing...though in hindsight there were MANY choices I regret so damn much…

Geo and Sonia having alternate counterparts that went by their Japanese names, calling Rogue, Solo’s EM wave form who was introduced in Star Force 2 by his Japanese name Burai, because I thought it sounded cooler...and this was around the time I found Super Sentai, and delving into Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger, that had a character named Burai, but the most CRINGEIEST thing I could do...was be influenced by another series I still enjoy to this day; Digimon, and implement a character that had an EM Wave Parter who was a reformatted Omnimon...and I… Sometimes I really hate my younger, inexperienced and impressionable self for stupid stuff like this; incorporating something that had absolutely zero business being a part of it…

It’s not the first time I’ve hated my past self for stupid shit either. Sold my entire Pokemon Gen 3 collection because I was scared using an Action Replay corrupted the cart’s code and could be detected by Nintendo and I’d get banned even if I started a new game, and LOOK how much those things go for nowadays...I still need to rebuy them, and it’s going to kill my wallet.

Anyway, let’s get back on track, shall we?

This is where the first seeds for Star Lovers Ꝏ were planted, a story originally titled Star Lovers R; a short lived idea that was meant to be a more...proper rewrite of the original story, but that got quickly abandoned by the release of Star Force 3, and in turn, Star Lovers 3: Crimson Advent.

Now, in hindsight, my writing had gotten a bit better at this point; I can say I was improving, for what it was, Star Lovers 3 was a story that didn’t really deviate from the norms of the Star Force games; the plot was a bit decent, characters were okay. It was fine. Just fine.

At this point, the last sort of presence Star Force had in general was a small crossover in Mega Man Battle Network: Operation Star Force, which involved Geo going back through time to save Sonia by a newly created Net Navi called ClockMan, and winding up right in the middle of the original Battle Network; which is all OSS was: a small Battle Network 1 update.

And it never left Japan.

After the release of the Classic Series entry, Mega Man 10...Mega Man as a whole just went into a LONG hibernation; Star Force in total sold less than Battle Network in general, and as we know now that we didn’t back in 2011, there WAS a Star Force 4 in pre-development, but was ultimately canceled upon the low sales numbers of Star Force and the dismal amount OSS sold.

Not knowing if a Star Force 4 would happen or not, it was time to take things into my own hands and give a definitive end to my story and Star Force in general.

The results were Star Lovers: Black Hole Crisis, and Star Lovers 4.

And ONCE AGAIN, the faults that plagued Star Lovers 2 came back in full force, as by this time, I was HEAVILY immersed with Kingdom Hearts, so much so that for the villains of both stories, I unapologetically based them off Organization XIII; a faction of traitors ala Chain of Memories in Black Hole Crisis, the main villain using the common X in his name except twice, because you know, for good measure; don’t want to make it TOO apparent, and you know what, let’s throw in Geo and Sonia’s time traveling son to help his parents defeat this evil and save his future from being ruined.

Now gee...where have we seen THAT before? What a mystery…

The end of Star Lovers 4 served as an end on two fronts; the first being the end to the original story I had written and expanded upon 3 years prior, and a personal end on my side of things as I was finishing high school, and it was time to start adulting.

But during the last couple months of high school, the idea to redo my original story, and now possibly the others re-emerged in the form of the Star Lovers Final Mix series…

See that? That’s the Kingdom Hearts influence trying to rear itself into my works again.

Needless to say, that idea didn’t last long, as a more, ambitious idea soon came about: I wanted to tell a coherent and exciting story that made sense, that took place in the reality of the series it was based on, while also taking my own creative liberties to flesh out the story.

This led to the creation of Shooting Star Lovers; the precursor to what would eventually evolve into Star Lovers Ꝏ.

Between 2011 and 2013, some decent progress was made on Shooting Star Lovers; but it met an unfortunate end due to a multitude of things. The first was, seeing as I was out of high school; I was working now, so that meant most of my free time was gone, seeing as how I mostly wrote the stories while at certain periods during the school day.

The second was an unfortunate one. In early 2013, my grandmother who I was living with was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer and was given only six months left to live. Needless to say, it was hard to want to do anything productive watching her go through that before finally passing that following November. From there, I just lost interest, wanted to do different things to get over, which led to me attempting many times to become a Youtuber focusing in Let’s Plays, which lasted a while, until I burned myself out and stopped.

But the idea of reinvigorating Star Lovers as a completely new story; one that I wanted to serve as a true end to Star Force since the series was presumably dead by this point; that seed was still in my head, so while Shooting Star Lovers got too close to the sun and like Icarus, lost its wings; it’s failure set the stage for what would soon become Star Lovers Ꝏ.

I wanted to plan every detail out, make sure I followed the canonicity of Star Force; use them to my advantage to craft the story I felt those that were still waiting around for something at all from me deserved.

Part 1: Beginnings was the first act to a planned total of five overarching and interconnected stories in my plans, and was published in July 2020, right when the world was deep in the COVID-19 pandemic.

It would receive two more updates in 2021 before being put on the backburner once again, as I wanted to focus on other aims, mainly attempted to amass the equipment I would need to attempt being a streamer; but Star Lovers Ꝏ was only merely resting, though I had no idea when I would get back to it; but the roadmap of the story was still laid out within my mind. I KNEW what I wanted to do with it, I just got sidetracked by other ventures.

Then, a realization hit in early 2022, when I abruptly lost my mother, and I’ll admit, it did have me depressed for a good long while. It made me mull over the choices I had made in life to that point, and it made one thing vitally clear to me.

I don’t know when my time is coming. It could happen tomorrow, or even 15 years from now; it can happen on a whim just like that.

But I know that if that was every to happen, I would not be able to rest in peace knowing something I worked so hard to formula in my mind, what I considered to be my magnum opus that no one else would know about; I REFUSED the notion of letting Star Lovers Ꝏ be incomplete.

And now, that brings me to today, and I’m glad to say that after a year, Star Lovers Ꝏ IS back in production, with a new chapter just having been recently release, and another on the way.

No one wants to leave the world with unfinished business...and I’ll be damned if I fall into that same category.

So for all those who enjoyed my works before, seen the false starts I had attempted, those who share the same love for this ship between Geo and Sonia as I do, one way or another, it WILL see a conclusive end, and it will be on my terms as my best work of art.

Unless something happens to me, in which case I really am fucked.

But those of you that I have piqued your interest or reinvigorated your excitement for this project; join me, and let’s see this through to the end. To Star Lovers Ꝏ https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13635841/1/Star-Lovers-%EA%9D%8E-Part-1-Beginnings

[review-anon]

I have never read THE MISTAKE and have no intention to do so but am also curious so pls tell me about rival boy’s problems and all that bad shit he does

Okay so I’m putting this under the cut due to how messed up The Mistake is on why the rival character I find so loathsome. This so nobody doesn’t get triggered due to how insensitive this stuff is.

When we first meet the character, his first words are a variation of “Stay the fuck away from me or else I would kill you.” Like talk about worst introduction ever as even characters like Fuyuhiko didn’t act like that.

As I mentioned before both murders in Chapters 1 and 2 are his fault. In Chapter 1 he took advantage of how the barastia lady had depression and wasn’t taking the killing game well, and encouraged her to kill someone. She did so by poisoning the drinks but because she’s quite forgetful she forgot which drink was poisoned, drunk her own poison and died. So suicide right? Nope because Fencer guy gave her the poisoned drink that he didn’t know was poisoned and in more bullshit then what happened with Hibiki and Nikei, this counted as a murder. He also made sure nobody could vomit the poison out by clogging all the toilets with towels.

It then gets worse in Chapter 2, as he decides to again kill someone, by dressing up as a masked attacked and attack the victim of the chapter, who was trying to kill him at the same time. Then it turns out that the culprit of the chapter, was also trying to kill him but wires got crossed and she killed the wrong person. Oh and he knew of both plot because of reasons. And he then proceeded to laugh at everyone who tried to kill him.

Chapter 3 he then decides to do a Kokichi and try to hijack the Killing Game by kidnapping who was one of the masterminds though we didn’t know that at the time. And all of this time he’s been very unapologetic about what he has done, mocked everyone who has mourned the dead, and has literally become a complete hate sink at this point.

Now if he was meant to be hated, that’s fine. But then the narrative, for no fucking goddamn reason, decides to do a complete 180 on the guy and try to make you feel sorry for him. First we get a new 17th student out of nowhere because why. She is also apparently got history with the rival toxic man and they seem friendly.

He then suddenly seems to be more friendly to the cast despite trying to kill them several times at this point, and doing actions that would in any normal circumstances get him completely ostracised from any group. Like Nagito did less and everyone hated him, Kokichi did less heck even Mikado Sannoji didn’t pull half the shit he did and they were considered outcasts and yet the entire cast…decided to completely forgive him and let him back into the group. Like are you all completely brain dead?

We then have him try to explain his actions, that he was trying to protect his family, his younger brother who was in a coma, and his girlfriend who are all held hostage by the masterminds. But did they tell him to go nuts? No, no they didn’t. And we find out he won TWO KILLING GAMES at this point.

He was the one who decided how the first mastermind should die and as a dick move, she killed his brother as well. All of this is extremely and blatant emotional manipulative writing which completely fails because at this point, I have grown very dull and said the 8 Deadly Words at this point; I Don’t Care What Happens To These Characters.

And then he starts crying and the MC tries to comfort him, but I got pissed off that his actions were swept under the rug and everyone says it’s fine since he has a sad past.

Long story short, he commits actions which are magnitudes worse then any canon or Fanganronpa character who is not the Mastermind or made to be hated has done, the narrative expects us to sympathise with him and the cast says it’s fine he almost killed everyone on three separate occasions because he had a waa-waa back story.

And then you act surprised when I don’t forget this, I don’t like the character and declare you and your entire setting a mistake.

So yeah that’s why I don’t like the rival toxic mistake guy, as the writing is bad, he does the most horrible of things and he is let off the hook with them by the cast. Like Mikado would kill for the PR team this guy has.

[maryelizapink]

Just like you gave me an imaginary future to imagine, and an imaginary baby to play with in a plastic bag, I’ll just have an imaginary boyfriend. And thanks for my 30 dollar engagement ring, literally cost me a bottle of Ativan. He didn’t buy me dinner, but he did pay for my anxiety meds once, because i asked him to i was in a desperate situation. Then, toward the end of our ‘relationship’ he (internal screams) had the audacity to ask me for gas money to come see me and acted like he didn’t really have that much time to see me after having not seen me for two weeks.

Yeah, and you wonder why I fucking dumped you and told you to never speak to me again? You took me to a sex shop and treated me like a hoe, and you wanted me to treat you like you were my husband. You’re like ‘you’re not really wife material’ ‘you don’t act like one’ bitch, you don’t act like a guy who’s even trying to seriously date me. You just wanted easy, and that’s the truth you didnt’ wanna try that hard, and you were a lazy mother fucker, who literally fell asleep while talking to me on multiple occasions claiming it was like a narcolepsy issue instead of just admitting the truth which is that you just kept me around to use me like a whore and weren’t all that interested in me at all, or in connecting with me.

You saw me as a piece of flesh to use, and you just played the part hoping that your ‘act’ would work, as if i couldn’t see through the mask.

I asked repeatedly for honesty and gave you so many chances… and the stupid shit you wrote on your blog and posted on your instagram, your fake social media accounts, your horrible track record with pathological lying and being literally locked up for selling cocaine, having 3 baby mama’s and a wife on your goddamn phone screen when you met me- well that is till she made you pack up all your stuff and kicked you the fuck out on the goddamn street

And you say all you like to do is fight and fuck but i haven’t seen you in the fuckin ring yet, you’re supposed to at least be some MMA champion, but you acted like a bitch and i barely touched your nose. You deserve to be run over with a truck at this point.

And there were guys who were so in love with me they wanted to kill themselves because i didn’t love them back- and you had the audacity to treat me like utter garbage in comparison. Like, you think i don’t know what a well behaved proper man looks like and how to be treated properly etc? You think i don’t have boundaries and that I’m just an idiot whore?

Hah, think again. I was just using you from the jump, like i said, i thought i was gay.

[fizzbot]

I L O V E U (For the ask game :3333)

AWWW thats cute :33333 but of caurse!!!!! <333 love u too!!!!!!!!!!!!!

fandom ask game og post here!

I - Has Tumblr caused you to stop liking any fandoms, if so, which and why? uhh. a couple, probably?? but i cant think of any off the top of my head :PP most of the ones that i can think of ALSO come from things like. me growing up. like, south park?? i grew out of that one HARD, but also seeing all the incredibly weird/bad takes on tumblr really sped up the process LOL. other ones i have never been into but their fandom just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. like, welcome home?? yikes

L - Say something genuinely nice about a character who isn’t one of your faves. (Characters you’re neutral about are fair game, as are characters you merely dislike. Characters that you absolutely loathe with the fire of ten thousand suns are exempt, as there is no point in giving yourself an aneurysm over a character that you hate.) uhhhhhh......okay.........ill say charlie. as much as i dont really like her character, i will say. she makes up for it by how well her energy bounces off others. even though im basically never interested in her by itself, its almost HARD to come up with a dynamic with her that ISNT interesting in some way!!! one of my favorite little pasttimes is looking up rarepair edits/art, and even if none of them are ROMANTICALLY compelling to me, its really fun to imagine what charlie would be like with basically anyone!!!!!

O - Choose a song at random. Which ship or character does it remind you of? LOVE this question!!!!! LMAO one of them immediately jumped to mind, but i decided that wasnt "random" enough so i hit shuffle on my music playlist and. it landed on that song, anyway. so this isnt hellaverse related, but my (current) favorite song of all time is 'sin eater' by penelope scott!!! i associate it with basically the entire smith family from rick and morty, esp rick prime :PPP thats not hellaverse related though sooooooo skdfhsjkfd 'twist the knife' by that handsome devil is THE MOST vox/radiosilence coded song ever. like come on

V - Which character do you relate to most? like. ever? out of all characters ever made? not that is matters because the answer is (unfortunately) blitz.

E - Have you added anything cracky/hilarious to your fandom? If so, what? LOL we basically dont do anything else <33333333333 the stupid bit of lore we came up with of "the deadly sins went on a roadtrip and mammon let (baby) charlie wander into the woods of wrath where she got lost for 3 hours" gets me literally every single time. also just. madam. they are insane

U - Three favorite characters from three different fandoms, and why they’re your favorites. OH FUCK YES. umm. im gonna combine all of the hellaverse here to say "striker" as my number 1 over all. hes my favorite because he is the only one in his show that has ANY SENSE. plus his character design is good, his voice acting is great (i miss you norman reedus) i cant imagine not liking him the most. thats my snake boy. extra points for being so hot. umm.......rick and morty came to mind next, again, bc thats what we were into last. birddaughter is my fave character in that one :) she has.....what, 20 seconds of screentime?? and yet she is perfect. shes emo, shes got the CUTEST voice, i am so goddamn obesessed with herr!!!!!! i need to see her more NOWWWWWW SEASON 8 OF RNM PLEASSSEEE. annddd the last character, a classic, im sure you know who im gonna say, is papierwaite from sam and max!!!!! before the hellaverse i wouldve said he was the guy i related to the most, he takes easy second place. i love him to death, he FASCINATES me. skunkape release the remaster for devils playhouse PLEASE IM BEGGING YOU