#but it's been difficult bc of it but i finally got some answers on stuff

[lerni-esti-auxtisma]

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[yuri-is-online]

I've got a theory question for tdb (bear with me, I've blazed through story so remembering the beginning is a little difficult)

So at the beginning, the anomaly we met was actively texting us right? Said something about how they've "been waiting to see us" or somethin like that

Which we know anomalies can be sentient (especially if we run with the theory with towa). And I dunno, I wanna loop in the time loop theory somewhere here. If we go with the idea of mc being the girl in the tower and her jumping before a loop maybe, then what (or who) is the anomaly we met?

I've been going through the tdb tag to see if you've mentioned it yet and no one has asked, so I figured I would bc I like bouncing theories... I need to hop on tdb reddit

SO I lurk in the discord server some people on the reddit put together and it was pointed out there that shortly after that happened the dev's other game had a Rapunzel themed event 💀💀💀 so that's what the line about the girl in the tower was likely referencing since it makes sense someone like Taiga would "not be into that shit (i.e. not his game) at all." THAT BEING SAID I am so glad you brought up the anomaly in the beginning because there's some stuff about it I find interesting.

I went and took some screenshots from the summoning and the person who commented under that little theory was right in that the person who is falling does land in the woods, so it could be that whoever jumps off of the tower at the end of the loop does end up in the woods somewhere. It might mean nothing, but I'll hold onto this thought just in case.

Dorms rarely cooperate on missions, so Taiga and Haku being on one together is odd. Taiga also does not seem to have lines referencing Haku, but he seems to have given up on trying to escape the timeloop and wants "the others" to join him in his nihilism. I think this sort of goes with his being a gambler who says there is "no trick to winning you just have keep playing" but still desperately looking to the MC for "something I could do different" or a reason. He wants to have hope again but he isn't able to.

I personally think these "others" he talks about are probably Tohma and Romeo, Tohma because he seems to be one of the more active ones working to isolate the traitor and Romeo because that's his best friend. Oh and while I am on the subject of the traitor, someone brought up to me a crack theory about Luca being the traitor and I have seen some votes for Towa too. While I obviously think that it is almost certain to be Haku, I think there is a potential for a faction split between people who agree with whatever Haku's take on the ghoul's situation is and people who agree with Tohma. Luca is a very good candidate for someone who I could see being manipulated into siding with the "evil" side if he thought it meant it was the only way to protect his brother. Towa will go wherever Haru does, and I can't really see Haru siding with Haku if it involves hurting the anomalous creatures in any way. That and Haku seems very convinced that he's in whatever he's in alone.

But to finally answer your question/talk about what's been bugging me: the anomaly who curses the MC takes her into something that reminds me of a cursed domain from JJK and turns the scenery all red. And like you said they text her! Like it's been stalking her for a long time. I hope we get to learn about how Haku's flute works in the Hotarubi chapter because I want to know how and why he was able to take MC out of the anomaly's domain and return her to the train car. That almost made me think he could control it in some way... I'll have to level his affection enough to see what his pfp is in his texts because it it is remotely similar to the one the anomaly uses I will have a stroke.

As for what the anomaly is... it's profile picture is a spider lily and it uses the name "Mina" when talking to MC. It's head has roses, spider lilies and what I think are supposed to be poppies growing on its head. Apparently there is a Chinese legend about spider lilies and I keep seeing the same text copy and pasted everywhere about it, but I feel comfortable sharing what I found since I was able to find it on Wuhan University's English website: (x)

I imagine when we meet whatever monster cursed MC it will be a bit different than whatever is going on here, but MC is talking about how "if she knew it would end like this she never would have fallen for them in the first place." Sure she's just talking about how her favorite band just broke up, but maybe that feeling drew the spirit towards her since it is attracted to/preys on lost loves.

If I am allowed to cope a whole bunch here, I think it would make for solid timeloop building if MC's feelings weren't about the band at all, but about her lost love who jumped off the building at the start of the game. Since the loop has restarted she doesn't remember him, so she thinks her feelings are and directs them towards the band she used to love, but the strength of her disappointment comes from somewhere else.

Thank you very much for your question, it made me think a whole lot!

[bigprettygothgf]

anyway i beat the elden ring dlc a few days ago (started lvl 100 and eventually capped at 150 and 18 scadutree blessing by the end) and my final verdict is that its fucking incredible, i cant say its a 10/10 bc theres still some frankly inexcusable bullshit (5+ reused dragon fights including a new all time worst, final boss phase 2 performance impact, npc gank fight*) but literally everything else is fucking stellar. the map is one of the best designed world maps ive ever seen in a game and going through the individual segments really recaptured the feeling of opening up lordran for the first time in ds1. as for that thing everyones talking about - im sorry to use the SI words but to be blunt all the complaints about the dlc's difficulty have entirely been a skill issue lol. yes its hard but fromsoft dlcs are always hard and given how difficult elden ring already was what else were people expecting? the expansion literally gives you its own self contained leveling mechanic. use it.

yet more camera issues aside most of the new bosses are amazing - special shoutout to messmer, the dancing lion, bayle once i switched to a longer range weapon, metyr, and maybe midra. negative shoutouts to the golden hippo and commander gayass for their ds2 hitboxes but they are comically weak to fire and i was using the new anvil weapon on them so they died in like 10 hits lol. rellana was also fucking annoying but i have a feeling ill figure her out when i get to rl1. of course the elephant in the room is the final boss and my thoughts on him are uh. well i dont know. i love the first phase but dear god they really went overboard with the onscreen effects in phase 2 and i dont think he would even be half as difficult if you could actually see wtf hes doing. the hair does not help. lorewise no one would actually be confused why hes there if they actually did the npc quests but its a fromsoft game so admittedly i cant really blame people for missing those. but still. my final thoughts are that his design decisions are highly questionable but after beating him i got that good sense of accomplishment instead of "thank fuckign christ thats over" so thats a good sign. i dont feel like going into more plot stuff rn but i think it did a mostly (but not entirely) satisfactory job answering questions i had about the base games (very messy) story. prepare to see some really bad takes about miquella lol

anyway yeah its fantastic. literally the size of an entire souls game on its own. well worth the purchase. play it

*yes i know the game really wants you to summon for it but i simply refuse to use summons and there is 0 excuse for how those npcs behave together in a 3v1. fucking eat me from behind leda.

[oidheadh-con-culainn]

so i’ve been drawing ulster cycle/tain bo cuailnge characters for a while now and a problem that i have repeatedly run into is that i have no idea how these people dress. their clothes always end up looking wrong and i don’t know where to look to find good info about it or references to work from, and it can be difficult to differentiate the more faithful depictions from the stereotypical “ancient celtic warrior” stuff, especially since i’m not well versed in most of the texts they’re based on. do you have any advice/resources/tips/anything to help? thanks :)

i am not particularly an expert on historic clothing and i have to admit it's not an area i have a great deal of knowledge about in the context of the ulster cycle specifically but here are some thoughts!

a good starting point would be the descriptions of clothes within the texts themselves. so you can just go to the online edition of o'rahilly's translations (recension 1 / book of leinster) and search a word like "cloak" or "tunic" and get all the descriptions of cloaks and tunics that show up in the story itself. e.g:

this is a good starting point bc what you'll be representing is at least clothing as it's presented in these stories even if it doesn't necessarily 100% represent historical fact, because it's often stylised, idealised, uses colours for symbolic value rather than practicalities of dyeing etc

(here's a link to the index of translated texts on this part of the CELT site if you wanna have a browse for others)

but that can be tricky without visual references which is where you start needing other sources

and that's where it's worth noting that the ulster cycle texts are set a long time before they're written, but the material culture in the stories is generally neither a historically accurate representation of the distant past, or a totally contemporary and up-to-date depiction of what people were wearing at the time (bc there's a degree of archaising and trying to make stuff sound old and also drawing on earlier sources). so you end up with multiple options for what period you might be trying to represent -- ~1st cent BCE when they're set? ~8th cent when our earliest surviving stories show up? ~11th-12th cent when TBC was written in its surviving form?

the good news is that you can probably learn a lot from reenactors and experimental archaeologists and living history types -- from vikings in ireland through to normans in ireland is pretty well covered in that regard, but there's some earlier bronze-iron age stuff as well, and that should give you some visual references to draw on. i'm sure some more reenactment and living history minded followers of mine will have specific recs for resources there, but you could try looking at the UCD experimental arch folks, craggaunowen living history centre in the west of ireland (they have a video on weaving and clothing), the dublinia museum for viking-age stuff, etc

and the big advantage of the texts not being "historically accurate" themselves is that you don't have to stick too closely to a specific century or whatever if you don't want to! not that the basic design of a tunic would change a huge amount but if you wanna mix and match the vibes somewhat, nobody could really call you out on it

the HARDEST part is probably representing armour, which shows up fairly rarely, but you've got things like cu chulainn's 27 'waxed shirts' and i've seen various theories about what that's supposed to entail but i don't think there's a definite answer. having said that, most of the time he's not wearing that so you can just... ignore it, if you want to and don't want to conform to any specific theory about it lol

finally you can't go wrong with tunics. just layers of tunics. long tunics under short tunics. tunics with cloaks. fancy tunics. simple tunics. people loved a tunic

[aesrot]

I’ve been playing so much inscryption and I’m getting SO like obsessive over the gameplay mechanics… it’s simple enough that I can easily do that… I’m sitting at the map playing Kaycee’s mod and going Hmm… what’s gonna be the best for my current deck. I’m awful at deck builders but I have had some really overpowered decks bc if u play ur cards right u can get some really powerful cards. I am going to ramble so much about gameplay stuff.

Kaycee’s mod is a base game add on that you get when you complete the game for the first time and it’s got a bunch of challenges that you can do it’s also like stupidly difficult and I think I’ve put in at least 5-6 hours so far and haven’t completed one challenge even tho the challenge I’ve been grinding is like *easy* (you don’t get the angler’s fishhook which I never use anyway!)

Forever thinking about my child 13 card that I gave the 3 blood sigil (so child 13 is an infinite sacrifice rare card but when you sacrifice it once it’ll transform into a beefier more powerful version. But sacrificing it again makes it go back to its weak baby state) and that would’ve been such a powerful card and I KEEP making that card bc it’s surprisingly easy to get… but I never get the chance to use it.

I also decided to go back and replay the base game bc I was getting very frustrated with Kaycee’s mod and I had been struggling so much with it the base game feels like so easy in comparison and I blazed through the bosses so easily and got the “too fast too soon” wall of bears on I think the angler! (Basically if you’re progressing through the story too fast without dying… bc dying is an important part of the game to progress the story, the game will “glitch” Leshy will say too fast too soon and then a wall of 8 grizzly cards will spawn on the other side of the board and those are basically 4 damage 6 health and they also have the flying shield on them. It’s basically an insta death). And that scared the hell out of me bc I forgot that’s a thing and the game glitches out when it does it.

I died the first time and then the second round through I got all the way to the trapper and trader (the final boss before Leshy) and it gave me the wall of bears AGAIN. I didn’t even KNOW you could get the too fast too soon on the trapper boss it was crazy. But I actually managed to BEAT THE WALL OF GRIZLIES. I had a really overpowered deck where I had a No Cost death card that did I think 6 damage because it had the bifurcated strike (so it strikes diagonal twice instead of directly forward) which had the bee hive sigil and the undying sigil. So everytime it got hit I got a bee in my hand (which is also no cost and undying bc of the sigil of the base card) so I was able to place the bees down to block the bears while my death card chewed away at the bears and came back to my hand. I was so proud of myself for this and then I died to Leshy first combat round in his boss battle so </3

im so sorry bestie but i got none of that 😭 im gonna revisit this ask after i watch the videos and then i'll give you a more appropriate answer. but honestly tho, from what ive seen of the gae, the regular game already looks complex af to me, adding a mod that makes it even harder?? its actually impressive

[cal-writes]

I FINALLY GOT AROUND TO CHECKING OUT THOSE WRITER ASKS, so excuse me, I'm going to disturb your schedule now with some things I want to ask. For 2023 review asks: 1, 3, 9, 23, 24, and 30 please. For the AO3 wrapped asks: 3, 5, 20, and 30, if you'd be so kind. Hope you are having an excellent time and lots of rest, Cal!

at least this time im at my computer and not on mobile so it will be infitely easier to reply! thank you <3

What’s something new that you tried in a fic this year? How did it turn out and would you do it again?

writing present tense actually! my dear beta has been suggesting it for years bc i mostly wrote past tense (or both i would switch in the middle of a work constantly, sorry @vaguelyreferential) so i dont even know what made me do it one piece fic just had the vibes for it i guess

What’s something you learned about yourself as a writer?

i write best at night and unfortunately like it best to write on my laptop. unfortunately bc i got an ergonomic keyboard for reasons and with the laptop thats not really compatible (i can of course conntect it but i like the vibe of the laptop yknow) i think it might have something to do with my double monitor setup on my main computer which tends to distract me so. fun things about being creative with adhd

What fic meant the most to you to write?

woof. thats a tough one. i mean to a certain degree they all mean something to me yknow. or i wouldnt write them. but i think meaningful to me personally is probably Salt of Midgar its the first long ongoing fic ive done in a while and i really tried to be consistent with uploads and stuff and try to hone the whole "done is better than perfect" with it. i sadly lost the consisitency with putting out chapters with it but i am still very dedicated to finishing it and plan to do it next year.

also have to say one of my unfinished 00Q fics has a soft spot in my heart bc i met my beta through it and got back into writing in the first place bc of the james bond fandom. i have planned to "reboot it" of sorts aka rewrite and actually finish it (bc its so old at this point my style wouldnt really work with it anymore and i also have no idea where i was going). it got shelved bc i got swallowed up my one piece fandom but yknow

Share the final version of a sentence or paragraph you struggled with. What about it was challenging? Are you happy with how it turned out?

“You don’t have to have all the answers for him right now, you know that right?” Kazuha told him gently and he glanced up, feeling small and terrified at the gulf that was opening in his chest. She smiled and nudged their joined hands. “Just talk to him and tell him the truth. Left to your own devices you two just reach the worst conclusions possible.” She added teasingly and Heiji felt himself snort. She had them there. “Communication.” She stressed in a tone of voice Heiji was too familiar with from their time as a couple.  With a final squeeze, he extracted his hands and groaned, letting his head hang over the back of the chair. “Why do I have to be the mature one? Why can’t he come talk to me?” He whined.  “Because Shinichi is emotionally stunted and you are better at interpersonal relationships than him.” She said placatingly and Heiji gaped at her. He narrowed his eyes at her. Kazuha grinned as innocently as possible. Oh, she was goading him.

this whole conversation from the third chapter of One Trick Pony probably. i struggled with that whole chapter in general a whole lot. this conversation originally took place on the train before i scrapped that location change so to speak and had them stay in kazuha's place. what was difficult at the time with that chapter is how miserable the characters were and i got really into that headspace which kinda made writing hard. but im glad with how it turned out in the end!

What's something that surprised you while you were working on a fic? Did it change the story?

i think i have a lot of my "oho" moments when im not actively writing. such as kaito working for the friend of heijis mom. that was like a "yknow what would be funny" and then i implemented that and from that alone came The Simple Life of Kaito. otherwise my writing process is often just getting possessed by ideas and getting them out of my head the way they want it

What’s something that you want to write in 2024?

as said above i want to finish up Salt of Midgar which i think are 2-3 chapters by my last count.

i also had another one piece thing thats basically done that i need to polish up which is in universe and two other things that i might finish up ive been trucking away at those for a while. one is a sequel to laws eleven and the other is a new AU. also of course lucky charm. that reminds me i have to finish up the next chapter for that whoops

i'll post this now just so i dont lose it all but will reply to the other questions in a reblog!!

[goobernormieomi]

i hope it’s okay to ask for advice and stuff, i wanted to ask you since it seemed like something you can probably answer!! if not that’s okay but ty a lot

i recently got into a new relationship after like 2 years now and everything is pretty alright with my partner but i’ve noticed for a while now that i’m kinda on the aroace spectrum and the aro side of me is significant in this topic. i rarely feel any feelings of romance or anything or it’s at least rare for me and i’m starting to think that maybe it’s always been like this for me and i’m just realizing it. and to clarify, i have in fact communicated this w/ my partner and he doesn’t mind at all and will happily be the more romantic one :’)

i feel like what i wanna ask specifically, if it’s not personal at all, is how do you make sure your partner knows they’re loved and satisfied? i’ve almost been a bit self conscious about it, and it’s kinda hard to accept that i’m not really a romantic partner and all, and i feel i just really need some tips or advice or any thoughts that can maybe help bc i rlly want to be the best partner i can be, i also want to stop questioning myself with this, at least not as much, and finally feel comfortable about being in a relationship again. and yes, i’m very aware that love comes in many different ways which is the most important thing, and despite having a hard time w/ romance itself i still love my partner more than words can even say and i want to make this work for as long as possible and i wanna keep him happy and shower him with love <3

happy pride month to you and your gf btw!!

sorry this took so long for me to reply to! I had lots of stuff going on but I’m free at the moment and have time so I thought I’d reply to this

firstly, be true to yourself and don’t apologize for it! not being as affectionately romantic doesn’t mean you can’t express love in different ways that might be more comfortable to you! Personally despite being an aroace I am a pretty romantic person (I blame all the fanfics I’ve read they’ve prepared me for this) so I can’t say from experience how it is but I can imagine it is difficult to express something you might not be 100% comfortable and used to expressing, so heres my advice personally

Use gift giving as a way to be romantic, draw, make small paper things, buy him things, all that type of stuff! Hell give him cool rocks you find on the road, thats so you can feel like you’re doing plenty for the other person, but! That being said though, don’t overextend yourself either

communication will always be key for a relationship, practice it heavily with your partner, and learn to listen and trust your partners word as well, if he says that he is fine being the most romantic one from the two of you then you should trust him on it! If he had an issue, let him know he can communicate that with you, and be sure to listen and assure him on what he feels, he should know that if he wants or needs something from you, he should ask! Otherwise you won’t know

thats my best advice really! Don’t feel bad for asking or anything I understand the confusion you might feel and all, I am sorry for how late I’m posting this but I had to think about it and also had things to attend to, I hope you can still read this and find some answers from it!

[lemonhemlock]

Actually episode 4 being Rook's Rest plus Alan Taylor directing it has been pretty much confirmed including by reliable sources like Redanian Intelligence (sure, they don't have a 100% track record for accuracy and they do get things wrong sometimes but that's RARE, everyone who's been following them either for Witcher stuff or HOTD knows this). Like the other anon had said, some directors and their cinematographers were photographed on set…so it really isn't that hard to deduce who is filming what based on information we already know. And let's be real, Alan Taylor is pretty big and they're not gonna bring him on location to shoot some random scenes with Aemond, Criston and Gwayne that don't belong to a major episode. He was very much directing scenes related to the battle. I know it's very easy to dismiss every piece of information as trolls making stuff up but some of these people DO have inside sources. The thing is no one will be exposing them because some fans on the internet refuse to believe the claims they're making. Yes, there is this notorious troll on Reddit who's been making the same claim that Rook's Rest will be episode 4 since last Autumn but please, it's obvious he accidentally got it right. Other reliable source/leak accounts have been calling him out on his fabricated leaks from the start. They never relied on his "leaked" outline for S2 nor did they ever prop it up as truth. Not wanting to be spoiled, not following leaks/filming news and relying on Condal's words that the season will be paced like the early GOT seasons, that it will focusing on the kids (now adults) and won't be rushing things is totally fine, but pretty much anyone who's been following them knows for sure the fourth episode is indeed RR, the second one is very likely B&C (although the first one seems to be be the actual set-up for the assassination and Daemon will be unsurprisingly behind it), the third one is for sure Jaehaerys' funeral. The main question now, that no one seems to have a definitive answer on, is whether or not the fall of KL is the season finale since the Battle of the Gullet has been pretty surely moved to S3. At this point, denying the obvious and believing the battle of Rook's Rest will be happening later in the season, or will be the season's finale together with Aemond being crowned as Prince Regent, is just cope. I don't like it either, it's too rushed, but I'd rather be honest from the start about how things are looking: not very good.

well......i don't follow the redanian intelligence to form an evaluation of their accuracy rate, though i do vaguely remember some kind of drama i tangentially encountered on twitter by scrolling

i guess that something to keep in mind for these scavenger hunts is also that scenes can be filmed out of order, so they may film a scene from one episode here and after that a scene from another episode with another director etc. i would think it's prioritised by set, too, so for example if scenes from harrenhal appear in several episodes, they're gonna build that set / go to that location and then film all the material there before moving onto another location? so you'd have sightings of several actors/directors filming their episodes in a similar window of time, which wouldn't necessarily speak to the chronology of their episodes

idk bc i've never worked in film or anything of the sort but it would make more sense from a cost perspective. so i suppose that's how things can start getting confusing fast

other than yet, i have no doubt some leakers have inside info, it's just that sometimes it's difficult to parse through the real and the fake. ofc the people truly in the know won't reveal their sources just bc some rando in the comments doesn't believe them, so, at the end of the day, it's only after you see the finished product that you can identify the real ones without the shadow of a doubt

anyway, who is this notorious troll on reddit :)) sounds spicy 🌶️

[kitamars]

hope you don't mind me sending in another ask so soon but i always find this kinda stuff interesting- now that you've survived two big serious arcs how would you rank the main cast in terms of like. favs & stuff?

don't apologise for the asks at all!! i love answering them and rambling about my thoughts so actually thank YOU for giving me a viable outlet haha

so I had to pull out my notes app to draft this one bc i can't do things simply apparently. i can't rank characters for shit so I'm just gonna rate the main ones (at least to me) out of ten and that's that lol, so onward beyond the cut!

Gintoki: I'm in love with him. 10/10.

He's captivated me with his dead fish eyes and pathetic charm, the way he subverts the general shonen protag archetype really works for me (bc i tend to get annoyed with the genre every now and then) but other than that he's such an interesting character on his own that I cannot get into for fear of rambling too much but yeah. I like him a lot. I might cry about someday in the tags of some art or whatever

(also beam saber arc is UNDERRATED (to me) and its very much overshadowed by everything before and after it but I DON'T CARE it has some of my favourite gin character bits this is my propaganda i just felt like i had to put this here THANKS)

Shinpachi: the human-wearing-glasses gag is absolutely hilarious and I hope it never stops. 8/10.

I love shinpachi a lot I promise, i love how dedicated he is to the straight man role and also the times when he's not. Honestly he could have very easily annoyed me after a bit, but he's genuinely just so loveable and a lot of his charm just comes from his VA's delivery, I've never heard anyone else able to convey the emotional range that I've heard from shinpachi in this anime fnsnjrjgjs

I do think he needs more screentime though (watch beam saber arc),,,kagura tends to get a lot of the spotlight (which I'm not mad about) but he also needs some love!! he's just some guy yk gotta give some appreciation!!

Kagura: queen of kabukicho and the queen of my heart. 10/10.

SHE IS LITERALLY EVERYTHING TO ME. i don't have words to express how much I love her, she's one of my all time favorites ever. She's just doing her thing, eating gin-san out of house and home and kicking ass while she's at it and she's so valid for that.

A big part of why I like her is also just her relationship with the yorozuya. the amount of times I've felt like exploding when I see her and gin or shinpachi just interacting in the background of a scene or something similar is impossible to count. She's my little mimi and she deserves literally the world

(Also there's this one compilation of her singing on YouTube and i listen to it RELIGIOUSLY kugimiya rie is a blessing for this character for real it's insane)

Sadaharu interlude: Big ball of fluff/10 (he's adorable)

Hijikata: this man makes me feel a similar range of emotions I feel cramming the night before a final, if not more. 10/10.

He drives me NUTS. you know me, i love my dark-haired chainsmoking men with issues, and he's just chock full of them, it's like a dream come true. Every arc that's focused on him has been absolutely incredible, and even on his own he's such an interesting and funny character. Fully biased towards his VA btw, i don't think anyone else could voice him as effectively, the delivery is always top notch.

His dynamic with the rest of the shinsengumi is honestly one of my favourites, he's got so much range as a serious and gag character, especially when the plot decides to chuck his coolness out the window with that little mayonnaise addiction of his (now everytime I put mayonnaise on anything at all i give myself a dirty look, idk why).

Also i should mention that tosshi was one of the only things that made my watching experience truly difficult. I'd just cringe out of existence everytime he opened his mouth it was. An experience. I still love him very much. Too much maybe.

Sougo: sadism has never looked more fun. 9/10.

I don't think I really have much to say about him? he's genuinely a really fun character, and his endless quests to smear hijikata across the asphalt is always the highlight of any viewing experience. i loved him regardless, but the mitsuba and farewell shinsengumi arcs gave him that extra bit of depth that really solidified him as a fav hehe

YOU DONT GET CHARACTERS LIKE HIM VERY OFTEN AND I LOVE HIM SO MUCH

kondo: gorilla gorilla/10 (9/10)

thi guy is just the fucking funniest. he's one of the perfect examples of how gintama does characterisation through comedy because by introducing him with all his hilarious gags, you start to care a lot more about him when things actually get serious. Plus the joke never really gets old with him, if he shows up in an episode I know I'm about to have a great time.

but as a serious character as well he's just so good. Him being the glue of the shinsengumi is incredible and sometimes in the plot (crisis and farewell arcs) you can see exactly what it is in this man that makes people want to follow him to the ends of the earth, he is just a good person and I love him for that.

also he's the reason i realised I have not grown out of my 14 year old dick joke phase so there's that

Otose: gintoki's overdue rent/10 (9/10)

I enjoy her so much actually, she's already incredibly fun, but whenever they show more background to gintoki and her's relationship, all of a sudden i am in a puddle of tears on the floor, it's one of the most important things ever to me, the foster parent trope is my weak point.

evidently, kabukicho four devas was my kryptonite (in a really really good way)

Catherine: the heavy accent is pretty funny. 7/10.

I don't really have strong feelings about her tbh, she's alright and funny enough, that's pretty much all I can say

Tama: total number of her leukocytes/10 (9/10)

I LIKE TAMA SOOOOO MUCH SHES SO SWEET AND KIND AND ADORABLE. all of the tama centric arcs have been really fun and each episode involving her is so nice. Finding out she was the time traveller in the bfy movie was such a great twist but immediately made sense bc OF COURSE she would go that far for her very first friends!!!!! i love her innocence so dearly and the way she simply just wants to help others, also otose seeing her as a daughter makes me so emotional

Hasegawa: the madaodog madaonaire episode made me choke at the speed at which I got that reference. 8/10.

Incredibly funny character, the fact that he cannot win a single W is both hilarious but also a bit sad and pathetic, but he's authentic to himself regardless.

He also ruined my later attempts at trying to watch NGE

Otae: the price of one dom peri/10 (8/10)

I love her SOOOOO much she's so entertaining...again I don't have much to say but it's not really in a bad way, i just like her a lot and that's mostly it hehe

Kyubei: otae love/10 (9/10)

as a nb person I have a huge bias towards kyubei, their struggle to figure out where they stand in the binary is pretty relatable, and while I can say that you don't always see a character like that in media who is also hopelessly in love with a woman (so real for that though) i can also admit that this show isn't the best handling of it all, but honestly it's a very "take what I can get situation" so I try not to be too bothered, dekobokko was a bit strange but the ending for kyubei is better than most other instances I've seen, even if it doesn't stay consistent in the series

Also where is jugem jugem? i miss that little bastard so much that arc was so good

Tsukuyo: where does she stash all that kunai. 9/10.

TSUKUYO IS MY WIFE AND GINTOKI NEEDS TO MOVE OVER BC I WANT TO KISS HER. thank you

no but seriously she's a really fun character, and I love everything about her and yoshiwara and her relationship with hinowa and seita and he hyakka and ACK. yoshiwara in flames and the red spider arcs were really good for her, and her slightly confused air at most times is so charming, i love her muah

Sacchan: uhhhhhh huh. 7/10.

I'm gonna be honest, she's one of the only characters I really didn't like since she was introduced, i just found her so incredibly annoying all the time. But then came shogun assassination and suddenly I could stand her a lot more when her personality didn't revolve around gin-san's massive d– (but like. I hate that I can relate to her)

also I don't know where her strange friendship with tsukuyo came from but I actually genuinely like it a lot..........sillies with sharp knives, what could possibly go wrong?

Okay I'm running out of steam here honestly so if I've missed anyone (I'm very sure I have) feel free to ask in replies and I'll tell you what i think jgjekkfkd

this is terrible. Everyone is a main character in my eyes

EDIT: I MISSED THE REST OF THE JOUI 4. I WILL DISEMBOWEL MYSELF. BUT FOR NOW HAVE A LIGHTNING ROUND

katsura: 10/10.

One of my all time favourite characters ever, literal definition of head empty no thoughts, he is so stupid and I want to kiss him passionately under the moonlight

Sakamoto: 10(00000)/10

He is my everything. He needs more screentime. I'm begging on my knees. He is the perfect man.

Takasugi: 9/10

He's great. Shogun assassination made me cry over him. I'm forever sad about him now he was so mochi.....and then the trauma.............ue

Anyways now I think I'm done. time to atone

[sayakxmi]

[Magi rewatch] Episode 12: Determination and Separation [Part 1]

Sorry I did little to nothing last week, I had two exams and then I badly needed to recharge. But now I feel pretty alright!

On a different note, I've finished the first part of that Final Arc rewrite which I've been (probably?) mumbling about every now and then. Pretty excited about it, ngl. One day I might even post it, lol.

Ok, but the actual episode.

I genuinely cannot imagine being under so much pressure.

Five days till the wedding.

No one will let him breathe. Only more pressure and responsibility.

-judging-

God, look at the relief on his face after Sinbad joined the conversation.

So, I joke a lot about Sinbad and Alibaba's father-son relationship of sorts, but tbh, I don't blame Alibaba. It's not just about Sinbad being his hero, or being an adult guy who acknowledges his existence more. Sinbad is probably the first person since Anise and Cassim who made him feel less pressured about everything. By taking control of the situation, Sinbad took some of that responsibility from him - if something were to go wrong, Sinbad was there to fix it. That's kind of what parents are meant to do for their children, ensure they have somebody to fall back on in a difficult situation. The sheer relief he must feel that Sinbad is there must be unreal, especially after years and years of guilt and having to fend for himself. Alibaba is seventeen, and people are putting the responsibility for an entire severely messed up country on his shoulders.

More judgement.

Cool shot, ngl

:(

"My homeland needs somebody to save it... but is that person really me?"

Can't blame him for these doubts.

Honestly, it's kind of funny how his eyes go soft as he starts talking about Sinbad, even though I know it's about self-deprecation. Also, again, bro, you're 17, and Sinbad had years of experience with this stuff.

"Compared to him, I'm a nobody..."

In the manga he doesn't add that "I'm a nobody", I think, but, honestly? Not a big change. You get the impression that this is how he feels, anyway. And, like, can you blame him? Everybody's always putting him down, and he's the type to care too much about everything. It's bound to mess him up somehow.

Also, birds again. I guess it's symbolic? Of what, though. Freedom, or maybe that he'll take action soon? Cuz they're flying - moving forward. Hm.

...maybe it's about them being connected by fate or something, since Rukh are golden birds... Or just fate in general...

"S: This country needs to be built anew by somebody who really loves it. / J: You mean Alibaba? / S: To be honest, I don't have high expectations of him."

Bro's seventeen. Not everybody has been told that their special and can do absolutely anything since they were like four, cut him some slack.

But I'll be actually honest, I don't blame Sinbad for coming to this conclusion. I don't like how he is about it, bc he makes it sounds like it's Alibaba's fault for being a kid and getting very understandably overwhelmed, but he isn't completely wrong. This entire time he sees Alibaba following others around (Cassim), fail at actually leading the Fog Troupe, and even fail at easing his people's worries. Even when he's faced with the fact that his country is about to be turned into a slave factory, Alibaba still can't answer nor promise anything to anybody.

This is something I've always liked about Magi - there's so many points of view, and sometimes it's not about who's right, because simply nobody is completely wrong in the conclusions they make. Except Hakuryuu, maybe. But Hakuryuu's an exception to many things. Including the consequences of his stupidass actions. But that's a rant for another day. But anyway, Sinbad isn't wrong to have doubts about Alibaba, just like Alibaba's fears aren't really out of place and irrational. That's just how it is sometimes.

On a different note, I also don't completely blame Sinbad for drinking here. Bro really went to restore trade with his country, then got caught up in this entire mess, and had to take charge there. He might be more together than Alibaba, but it doesn't mean he isn't stressing about it. I would say it's actually a decent way at humanizing Sinbad to us - he might be an amazing person, but he's still a person.

You go, girl.

Ok, it's a small difference, but I have mixed feelings about it. In the manga she talks about Alibaba on her way out, but here she starts while she's still in. Idk, I feel like the former gives you the impression that she was still deciding whether to say it or not, while the latter is like, yea, I overheard and came to argue.

Always gets me that this is how Morgiana views it. Alibaba didn't think so hard about it, he just did what he believed to be the right thing. It actually happens a lot with him - he doesn't realize how meaningful his gestures are to others, even the simple ones like offerring to be somebody's friend. And at times it comes off as man, this world really is sad that something so small is so important to the other person, but at times it's Alibaba not realizing how much he actually does, because to him it's just the barest minimum. Not enough to warrant more than simple thanks at most.

Once upon a time I was talking with a friend, and they've said that it wasn't Alibaba who broke the chains but Aladdin and Goltas, and the thing is, Alibaba would've been the first person to say that. To him, he did nothing of importance. To Morgiana, he told her she didn't need to be in the Dungeon, and then stayed in Qishan, freed all the slaves, made sure that being free is something that stuck with them, and only after that left. It changes so much about that Dungeon interaction, bc in Amon it was easy for her to see it as Alibaba trying to pretty much bribe her - which wouldn't have been that uncharacteristic for him - but once they left he didn't change his mind all of sudden. He more than proved that while, yes, sure, he tried to get her to stop attacking them, he still meant what he'd said. I feel like that was what recontextualized that entire interaction to her, and that's why she sees him like that benefactor.

On a different note, the smile he has in her imagination is really cute.

"I believe he can save this country."

Ok, sliiightly disappointing. In the manga the Banker literally lied to... I fucking hate this guys name, I always have to check the spelling, I'm gonna start calling you 23rd like my friend Henry does. Anyway, in the manga the Banker tells him that Kou isn't a brutal and strategic country, which in a cool way transitions to Sinbad saying that, yeah, they're a militaristic country, bad news. Here the Banker simply doesn't add that last part that they're not a danger at all, which, F.

Here that person has normal pants. Also, I haven't noticed the magi silhouette until now, F. Love how these guys always have braids.

No hilarious "Was it the same for you, Sinbad-san? / No, I'm different.". What a shame. Ok, there it is, later. "But I'm an exception.". I still think "No, I'm different." is a much funnier wording.

Oh, hey, in the anime they added Kouha and Koumei! I love Kouha's mad grin. You go, little murder boy, you go.

Kouha is kinda like Judar, except not an awful human being.

Haven't noticed until now, but they added chess here. Kinda random choice, but at the same time, it's a scene where they pretty much only talk, so maybe it was done to have, idk, some animation be there.

Back to the father-son thing, another thing Sinbad does is offer guidance (from Alibaba's perspective, at least). And it's worth noting the way Sinbad goes about it. Just like Cassim, he pretty much tells Alibaba what to do, but he's much gentler and more calculated about it. Cassim pretty much emotionally gut-punches him whenever Alibaba tries to question him to shut him up, while Sinbad let's him cool off. Not even that, Sinbad is actually trying to build up Alibaba's confidence there rather than drag it through the dirt. He talks about his father, how Rashid spoke about him etc, while Cassim constantly reminds him of something he blames himself for even though was compltely out of his control.

Sinbad: Alibaba, you're special. And a Dungeon Conqueror, just like me! : ) Alibaba: No.

The moment he sees Alibaba freak out abt the whole You need to become a King, he immediately offers his support.

I don't blame Alibaba for reacting like that. I would've gotten overwhelmed, too.

Damn. In the manga he looks more sad/disappointed. In the anime he looks kinda pissed.

Pretty

[bubblegumknuckles]

I don't mean to overstep so feel free to ignore this ask but do you really have narcolepsy. Could you tell me more about narcolepsy and how it affects you?

From and ignoramus anon

Hi you arent over stepping, no worries. Sorry for the delay, I have a hard time answering back anybody, and ive been sleeping a ton.

So, when I wrote that I had Narcolepsy in my bio, it was a few months ago & for different health reasons I wasnt able to get the final results of my final sleep study test (4th one.) Narcolepsy was what was most likely, especially since my primary doctor said her mom has narcolepsy & I wasnt even taking about sleeping problems to her, but fatigue was mentioned because I was explaining my symptoms that point towards a few autoimmune disorders….and she asked a few questions & said I sounded exactly like her mom who has Narcolepsy & it took her like 20 years to get diagnosed…. At first i was like nahhhh because the only knowledge I had of it was from tv. She gave me a referral to a sleep doctor but I ignored it for a few months, before doing research because my sleep keeps getting worse.

Then actually going, they dont really believe you at first. Insurance also makes you jump through hoops & i had to wait months each time, &the day of a sleep study, my insurance would finally say Not approved…so id have to reschedule. Its been a huge headache and hassle. I had to prove to the doctor and insurance basically how i dont have sleep apnea or restless leg syndrome or anything else before they will consider Narcolepsy. and even then the test for Narcolepsy is so difficult to pass, if you fail else, then they will diagnose you as Idiopathic Hypersomnia meaning they dont know whats wrong with you. but something is off. thats the official diagnosis, but Narcolepsy and IH are both treated very similar. Oh and theres two types of Narcolepsy, one being the more known one with cataplexy (like fainting and dropping out of nowhere at all times sleeping) & there is N2 that is basically without cataplexy (I dont drop out of nowhere and sleep)

So yeah, the results that finally came out said on some of my naps I fell asleep in 9 minutes & basically the criteria for narcolepsy is so strict it has to be under 8 minutes. i was like….thats pretty close. But nah they wanna use math and average it out and blah blah I dont qualify as technically narcolepy. I got diagnosed with Idiopathic Hypersomnia instead. I would be more irritated but at least its treated similar or the same. It was noted i have 0% sleep apnea & he said it is very strange that for an adult, I sleep so deeply, like I hit the deepest parts of sleep that usually just babies and children get to. Soooo I tried to get him to think on that….like bro im telling you I sleep that deeply and that much AND still have to continue napping thru the day. I sleep so much. Its impacting my life. And its weirdly gotten worse over the pandemic, altho I have always been like this.

Um sorry Idk if that answered your question bc I wouldve gotten more specific how narcolepsy affects me n stuff. But since I just finally got the official diagnosis of IH instead & its technically not Narcolepsy, i didnt know if u wanted to know more. In my every day life, im probably going to still call it Narcolepsy tbh bc thats what people know a little more about. Theyll be like “oh she really does have a sleeping disorder” does that make sense?

Anyway you can ask more questions if you want:)

[emma-radfemcanu]

Hi you’re my favourite blog on tumblr and I’m always too scared to message you but I really need a friend for a moment so I’m hoping I can borrow your ear lol

So yesterday was my 25th birthday, it’s also the 15th anniversary of me becoming a Swiftie (I got Fearless on my 10th birthday as a present, instantly fell in love), but instead of being at Taylor’s Eras Tour concert in Sydney (just a state over from where I live) I spent the night at home.

All this because the ticketing company for the Aus leg of the tour is dog shit. Im on a disability pension so I had literally spent years saving up for a chance to one day see her, I didn’t even go to see Harry Styles on tour bc I’ve never seen Taylor live (I’ve never seen Harry live either but Taylor is my priority). I spent 10 hours online trying to get tickets, I didn’t have anyone to help me so I only had one chance. I never once even made it into the online ticket lobby.

I’m actually so crushed. It’s been getting me down for ages but I was hoping that for the actual day of, I might be able to go out with a friend to take my mind off it and hopefully enjoy my birthday but all my friends managed to get tickets and so went to the concert without me. Also just to rub salt in the wound I didn’t get any birthday presents, which like I get it I’m an adult and my family is pretty poor but it still would’ve been nice to at least get a card. My Mum did cook me my favourite dinner which was nice and she and my Dad tried to cheer me up by insisting I watch the SpongeBob movie with them, I used to watch it as a kid whenever I was sick, and it used to work to cheer me up but yesterday it just reminded me of spending my childhood in a hospital and having no friends. So yeah I just feel really shit.

Sorry to dump all this on you but i can’t really talk to any of my irl friends about it bc for some bizarre reason they just say I’m being ungrateful (I don’t get why but that’s just how my friends are lol). I just had to get it out of my system you know? I hope it doesn’t bum you out too much. I spent some time scrolling on your blog and as always it’s cheered me up a great deal so thank you💖

Ok anyway if you read this thank you you’re the best, I’m gonna cry in the shower now lol (btw we have the same name which I think is really cool🥰)

Another rad Emma xxx

Hello! (I am v excited that I can finally answer asks again- I meant to contact tumblr support so many times but was afraid of getting termed, but I saw the beginning of this and it made me finally do it)

I'm sorry that you didn't have a nice birthday :( it sucks when you really look forward to something and then it doesn't work out. It is what it is but you shouldn't feel bad for feeling disappointed- even if your parents did make an effort I get why you would feel sad about it

And unfortunately you definitely weren't the only one who had this experience with Eras tickets- the sales were enough of a shitshow as it was lol, I can only imagine how difficult and frustrating it must be trying to get accessibility tickets. And it was especially crappy timing for you with it being your birthday. I really hope that you'll get to see Taylor (and Harry) someday even if it wasn't to be this time

It was very sweet of you to say that you love my blog 💕 and I am always happy for people to send me stuff so please do if you want to talk!

(although just for clarification my name is not actually Emma haha, my url is a tennis pun)

[kyuala]

god im so fucking angry

[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

So I (finally!) bought a pair of really good noise cancelling headphones, and it has changed my life! It's the fanciest thing I've bought in years, so to recoup some of the cost, I’ve researched & written a little essay based on my experiences with extreme noise sensitivity.

Hypersensitivity to sound is something I’ve dealt with all of my life, but I only recently found out it's medically known a Hyperacusis. (Please note this is a separate condition from Misophonia.) If you consistently struggle to cope with noise, the info below could be helpful! I’m including a link to my ko-fi, and I will be answering questions in the notes.

(skip to the bottom to read fun facts about my tax return and/or street organs vendettas!)

DISCLAIMER: I am not a professional, this is based solely on my experiences as a patient, and on what I have read and been told by professionals. Please notify me if you have corrections or concerns about accuracy!

BACKGROUND: Sensitivity to sound is a common type of sensory issue. While anyone can experience such issues (most people, for example, might be bothered by loud music in a crowded restaurant), some people are more sensitive than others, to the point it becomes a quality-of-life aka a medical issue.

If you consistently struggle with environmental stimuli that other people aren’t bothered by (background noises, bright lights, certain textures and tastes, etc), to the point it causes daily discomfort or limits the environments you can be in, I recommend reading about Sensory Processing Disorder.

SPD and sound sensitivity are both super common in autistic folks (like me!), but allistic (non-autistic) people can experience them too. Weep, ye prisoners of mortal coil, for none are safe, nothing sacred, not in this thy most accursed tomb of human flesh!

Anyway.

SOUND SENSITIVITY or HYPERACUSIS: Noise issues are particularly difficult to navigate in a world that is increasingly...noisy. The relatively new phenomenon of constant overhead music in restaurants, grocery stores, shopping malls etc—all of this means that public spaces are increasingly inaccessible to people with auditory issues.*

As a kid, nothing quite triggered sensory overload/meltdowns for me like the constant exposure to noise I couldn’t control—the background chatter of other kids in the lunchroom, the constant noise in public spaces, being trapped in the car with the radio on.... I had so many fights with my siblings about the car radio, and who got to choose the music.**

But it’s not just loud sounds that are the problem. As an adult who lives alone and works from home***, I’m lucky enough to be able to avoid loud environments most of the time. This does wonders for my general levels of anxiety and discomfort. But even in a mostly controlled environment, I still experience problems. Because part of sound sensitivity is that even normal or quiet sounds can feel loud and intrusive. Here are some “normal” sounds that can cause me discomfort (ranging from annoyance to outright pain, depending on the day):

refrigerator/AC/ceiling lights humming

dishwasher/washing machine noises

ceiling fan making that damn ceiling fan noise

faint sounds of traffic

riding in a car

other people having a normal conversation in the background

someone talking to me in a perfectly normal inside voice

Unfortunately, even in a “controlled” environment, many triggering noises can’t be controlled. And many parts of life can’t be lived in a controlled environment. This presents...some incredibly freaking annoying problems. Luckily there are solutions!

Sorta.

There are sorta some solutions.

They are imperfect, but they help.

TREATMENT: And now I have something rather shame-faced to admit. In all the years of managing my symptoms, it never once occurred to me to see a hearing specialist for my issues with sound. I wasn’t even aware that treatment options exist, because none of my other doctors mentioned it. Instead, I’ve spent years finding my own coping mechanisms and tools, with help from therapists and psychiatrists, but without ever consulting an audiologist/ENT. It was only while researching this post that I found out that was even an option, holy shit.

So it turns out I am going to be making an appointment with my local ENT practice. shit.

Apparently treatment options include sound/acoustic therapy, systematic desensitization/exposure therapy, cognitive behavior therapy, sound machines, and other options that I had no idea even existed, goddammit.

MANAGEMENT: In the meantime, here are my current coping mechanisms. I’ve relied rather heavily on hearing protection, which is very useful when used in moderation. Unfortunately, it can cause its own problems: it’s important not to overuse hearing protection, because in the long-term this can increase your sensitivity. So again: a useful tool, but be careful not to overdo it.

With that in mind, here are some of the coping strategies I’ve used over the last decade to manage my symptoms. This is not a perfect system and you should contact your local ENT clinic for better, long-term solutions, but in the meantime here are some tips I use to just get myself through the damn day:

Regularly spending time in a quiet controlled environment, to allow my nervous system to decompress.

Wearing earplugs, (I use two different grade, depending on the level of noise prevention I need), and always carrying an extra pair in case I need them unexpectedly. I bought a 50 pack for $7 and put spares in all my bags and jacket pockets.

(I mostly use Mack’s Ultra Soft, but there are so many types and materials and brands, including foam, silicone, wax, custom moldable etc. Even if you have trouble wearing things in your ears, you might be able to find something comfortable.)

Similarly: hearing protection earmuffs, the kind used in gun ranges and on construction sites. I bought mine online for $10. they look like normal wireless headphones, so I've never gotten comments when wearing mine in public (other than “cool heaphones” bc i added skull glitter stickers).

Sometimes I wear the earmuffs on top of earplugs, when life is just too damn LOUD.

Listening to music w/ earbuds or headphones is a great way to balance out background noises, especially if you can find soothing playlists that help you concentrate. Also useful to put in just one earbud when you need to pay attention in class/at work.

Pro tip: if your hair is long enough you can wear wireless earbuds without anyone knowing.

White noise, rain noises, ocean noises etc can be helpful! Some people like whale songs although personally this activates my primal fear response

Active noise cancelling headphones: the reason I wrote this post to begin with—I finally bought a pair! As in, a really good pair! As in, a depressingly expensive pair with noise cancelling technology that actually WORKS, holy shit. I probably need to wear them a little less at home (bc overprotection causes problems in the longterm) but they have absolutely transformed my ability to go out in public and i never ever want to take these suckers off again please take a power screwdriver and nail these to my head, bury me in the sweet sweet shroud of silence. holy canoli and cream puffs I want to marry form a civil partnership with these headphones. Plus they have a bunch of features, like being able to control the level of noise cancellation, so I can hold a conversation or be aware of some ambient noise for safety reasons.

Oh, and also they play music I guess?

Sorry sorry I promise this post wasn’t supposed to be me shilling for Big Electronics. I’m just excited, I’m an excited flabby little ball of expired flubber. ANC headphones aren’t a perfect solution, and I still sometimes wear earplugs underneath, and I will always be uncomfortable some of the time, but for me it’s been a big step.

Unfortunately the cost of good quality ANC technology means this isn’t an option for everyone, and the (much cheaper) gunshot protection earmuffs I mentioned earlier still provide an impressive amount of protection and bang-for-your buck (maybe even an equal amount of protection, if you can find ones that fit well). But if noise consistently prevents you from enjoying public space and life in general, and you’ve already tried earmuffs & earplugs and find they don’t offer enough comfort/convenience/protection, and if you’re in a position to save up for a one time non-necessity purchase of $150+, noise cancelling headphones are an option to be aware of. (Please always check the return policy so you can try before you buy. I ended up buying and returning 2 pairs before finding what worked best for me. And please look for a retailer that offers an extended warranty. You want those motherforkers to last).

There are cheaper options available, including some under $50. The ones I tried didn't work as well as my hearing protection earmuffs, but some people report good experiences, so that is something to consider. it's always good to know your options! Passive noise canceling is another affordable alternative.

Medication: A final tool in my toolbox, which for me personally has helped as much as every other method combined. Like, a lot, it’s helped a lot. It turns out some anti-anxiety medications can also help sensory issues. There’s not much research on this, and I only discovered it firsthand when a medication my doctor prescribed for anxiety ended up significantly helping my sensory issues. I no longer need medication for anxiety, but my psychiatrist still prescribes that same medication off-label for my sensory stuff. Ask your psychiatrist to research your options (they will probably have to do some digging to find relevant research, but you deserve to know all your options, even the obscure ones). Fyi, the medication I use is in the benzodiazepines class, but there are other options for those concerned about dependency or side effects.

(I'm also told anti-anxiety supplements may be helpful, though I haven't tried this yet. If you're on prescription meds, always talk to your doctor about contraindications before taking anything over-the-counter.)

So there you have it, my main coping strategies for sound sensitivity! They are not a replacement for medical treatment (except that last one which is in fact...medical treatment), but I find them helpful and I hope some of you will too! I’ve struggled for a long time, and I’m very pleased to have reached the point where I can just do things in public. Eating out in loud restaurants? I can do that now, and even enjoy it, holy shit! I can comfortably travel in cars for hours at a time, and walk around shopping malls and grocery stores with overhead music, and, and —and just exist. It is so so freeing, to feel like maybe, after everything, you are actually allowed to just exist in a world that wasn’t really designed for you.

Again, be careful not to overuse hearing protection—the goal is to allow you to be less uncomfortable and to function better, but if you find you are becoming more sensitive to noise, it is time to dial it back a notch. Or maybe consider listening to music (at a reasonable volume) to block out background noise instead.

*(This also includes people with hearing loss and related issues, btw. While that’s not my area of knowledge, I would welcome it if any of my HoH followers want to share their experiences.)

**A sign of sensory issues that parents often miss is when a child complains about music being too loud—but has no problem listening to their own music at high volume. This is because music that is already familiar to the listener (and that the listener enjoys) is much easier for the brain to process, since it knows what pattern of sounds to expect. Loud music that they get to control can be soothing for people with sound issues, especially when it blocks out background noise and sensations. This is why repetitively playing the same songs can be a helpful form of stimming.

***(working on this blog, actually. since it’s my only source of income, my 2020 income tax return literally lists my occupation as ‘Tumblr Blogger.’ Oddly, my parent didn’t feel this achievement was worth including in the holiday family newsletter.)

bonus fun fact: Charles Babbage aka “father of the computer” may have been autistic and hypersensitive to sound. He definitely had a huge problem with public noise pollution, and spent his later year waging a war on street musicians (and organ grinders in particular).

(bc like, yeah. screw organ grinders.)

Sometimes when I’m out in public and the overhead music is particularly unbearable, I’ll take a moment to look up to the sky and scream out: “HE TRIED TO WARN US! THE FATHER OF COMPUTERS TRIED TO WARN US!!! we should have listened, sweet heaven we should have listened!”

except i don’t scream it, i say it very quietly under my breath

(i have issues with noise)

so yeah that is my short essay. and here is the ko-fi goal

k ciao i gotta go pick out glitter stickers for my headphones

[fruggo]

the boys x tough f!reader (part 2)

requested by : @dranonymous

i love this idea and i hope you all enjoy part two! :D here’s part 1 with the original request.

warnings: swearing, canon-typical violence, dwight is really cute, danny is an asshole, jake is that cute “stoic man who is actually caring and thoughtful” trope because i say so

𝐃𝐖𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 𝐅𝐀𝐈𝐑𝐅𝐈𝐄𝐋𝐃

you are so cool. like ,,,,,so cool

dwight admires you so much. you just got here and yet you are breaking pyramid head’s ankles—dodging his trail of torment left and right, the killer just can’t touch you.

and how did you feel about everything? terrified, honestly, but nobody would ever be able to tell because you didn’t let it get to you. it was like you had already been here before, because the second you learned how to do something, you had it down no problem. fixing generators came naturally, and you could also run the killer for the whole trial if you had to. teammates could easily rely on you to do whatever needed to be done.

that was what made you and dwight such a powerful duo. from the moment you met, you knew you felt comfortable around this guy. he was sweet, maybe a little timid sometimes, but he knew how to step up and be a leader for everyone despite his fears.

you both knew what to do, and you fit together like a glove. your minds worked in very similar ways, which made communicating that much easier and efficient; the second a decision needed to be made, dwight was on top of it, encouraging the teammates and helping them get on their feet. you were already ahead of them, so dwight would just nod to you, knowing you could do your job well.

of course, there were times when dwight’s anxiety got the better of him, and you had to be the one encouraging him.

dwight hated the hag. despised her. he could not stand her jumpscares when a trap was triggered, he would swear he was about to have a heart attack. he couldn’t admit this at first, but you figured it out when feng min was hooked and dwight stuck to the generator, nervously glancing over his shoulder every few seconds. he always went for the saves, so something was obviously wrong.

“dwight? why don’t you go save her?” you asked, eyeing him from your side of the generator.

he didn’t respond, looking over his shoulder again.

you decided to rescue min, but when you got back, you were going to chew dwight out until he gave you a straight answer.

you crawled up to the hook to avoid triggering a trap and gently lowered min to the ground. the two of you inched away carefully until you were far enough away to patch her wound.

“dwight, get off your ass and answer me,” you demanded (affectionately) once you were back at the generator, which was nearly finished. “what’s wrong?”

his eyes conveyed nervousness in every sense of the word; they darted all around, searching for any incoming danger. this was your first time seeing him like this, so you were confused. was he alright?

“it’s just…the hag,” he started, still fiddling with the wires. “her traps, i can’t…”

oh. was he anxious about the traps?

“i just can’t deal with them,” he finally said with difficulty. that was understandable; when they caught you off guard it definitely made you leap out of your skin.

“dwight, listen,” you said. “you’ve dealt with every other killer in this realm, haven’t you? you’ve bested the nurse, the huntress, micky myers, and even the spirit, who’s a bitch. i know hag’s traps are fucking terrifying, but you’re dwight! you are a leader, and you are good at being a leader. you can get out of here, i promise. and besides, with me here, you have nothing to worry about. i’ll kick that witch’s ass, got it?”

your very inspirational speech got him to smile. you were right, anyways—you could definitely kick the hag’s ass. what could go wrong?

nothing, actually. genuinely nothing went wrong. you took chase for the rest of the trial so that dwight didn’t have to worry about a thing, and everybody escaped with no problem. he didn’t understand how you were so good at evading capture—but perhaps you would tell him about your past eventually. you hadn’t yet decided.

back at the campfire, you and dwight comfortably sat side-by-side, patiently waiting until your next trials.

“thanks,” he said.

“for what?”

“for that very motivational speech you gave me,” he laughed.

you wiped imaginary dust off of your shoulder, giving him a confident smile. “i got your back. and man, that hag lady really is a bitch, huh? i can see why you hate her.”

that comment unintentionally caused one of dwight’s long, angry rants about his least favorite killer, and all you could do was watch him and listen with a soft grin on your lips. you’d never seen him angry before—it was adorable. made you wonder if you should just piss him off for fun sometimes.

𝐉𝐀𝐊𝐄 𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐊

this guy has hella respect for you

you’re independent and easy to teach, and that’s everything he could ask for.

now and then, the other survivors basically gave newbies to jake to teach them everything about the realm—they considered him the expert on all things survival. you were one of those newbies he was forced to take care of.

jake normally hated teaching new survivors more than anything, because it was never his choice and they were all so difficult. but you were different. you were responsible, reliable, and smart, and it made his job so much easier. as time went on, he grew to be quite fond of you.

word eventually got out that the new girl had managed to charm jake out of his “hermit ways,” but he insisted that it was not true (he also disagreed about the “hermit ways” part). it was never spoken of between the two of you, but it definitely floated around in the air waiting to be addressed.

it really couldn’t be ignored any longer. anytime you were seen anywhere within 24 feet of each other, the other survivors would give you looks and wiggle their eyebrows or shoot you a thumbs up—all of which were unwanted. it created a weird tension between you and jake that wasn’t there before, and you really didn’t like it.

you missed when you were first starting out, and jake had just realized how competent you are. those days were fun—he respected you a lot; you could see it in his face when he looked at you. you always knew when he was pleased and when you did stuff right, because he would have the tiniest, most subtle grin on his face, but you could see it, and it made you feel accomplished.

you knew he still respected you, but you had basically jumped the learning curve of the realm and quickly adapted to every killer, every challenge, and every task. how you did it, nobody could ever know. but you were almost sad, because there was kind of no reason for you and jake to spend a lot of time together anymore. if you did, then everybody would freak out for the wrong reasons, and it would ruin your friendship.

so what if you had a few small feelings for him? no one gave a shit—you knew jake probably wouldn’t give a shit. to him, you were just another annoying survivor he was forced to teach. besides, you didn’t have time for that kind of thing.

man, were you wrong, though. he really, really wanted to be around you, but you already knew everything, so he didn’t know what to do to spend time with you. his way of initial bonding was sharing knowledge, but that had already been done, so…what now?

then came the one trial that changed everything.

it was normal at first. the killer, blight, was doing well, so you had to step up your game. one generator was completed and he had 4 hooks on three different people—you were the only one not hooked yet.

he was after you, and you were expertly dodging every rush and swing he threw your way. unfortunately, you accidentally ran to the generator that jake was working on, and things got a little complicated.

when the blight rushed at the wall, then at you, jake ran towards you while you ran towards him—you were both looking over your shoulders—and alas, bonk. you crashed into each other.

oh, no!! how terrible!! looks like jake fell on top of you :/ what an unfortunate situation to be in /s /s /s /s /s

wowwww near proximity ! you’d never been so close before and it was awkward but nice (?)

then you remembered there was a crazy drug addict or whatever over there and he was chasing you, and the moment was ruined. jake quickly rose and pulled you up with him, and you went in opposite directions, both nervous and wide-eyed now.

lol

after that, the trial went quite south. everybody was sacrificed. perhaps the loss could be partly attributed to you and jake avoiding each other like the plague. but who knows, right?

back at the campfire, you began feeling overwhelmed by all the weird stuff happening lately, so you excused yourself to the edge of the woods to have some quiet time to yourself. a few minutes later, jake came to check on you bc he is a fucking gentleman and yes i will die for the “stoic man who is actually caring and thoughtful” trope. fuck you

it’s slightly awkward at first, but then you start talking like normal and things feel a lot better. a little bit of the tension eases away, but not completely. what the fuck do you do with feelings like this?????

you simply composed yourself as best you could. it would have to do.

now that you felt a little more normal (lie), you trekked back to the campfire to wait for your next trials side-by-side. there was no one you felt more comfortable with or more respected by than jake. he appreciated you for your competency, and that was one of the best things you could ask for.

and to your surprise, jake actually took your hand and laced your fingers with his own. and it felt nice. never in your existence would you have thought he would be okay with displaying public affection, but you smiled up at him and gave his hand a light squeeze.

maybe the entity gave him drugs.

or he just liked you that much. either one would make sense.

𝐃𝐀𝐍𝐍𝐘 𝐉𝐎𝐇𝐍𝐒𝐎𝐍

danny hated you. he really did.

you were so unbothered, so calm, so good at knowing what to do. it really pissed him off.

you got so much attention from the other survivors for your skill and that really pissed him off too. it’s not like you cared or wanted it or anything, but how dare they even touch you when you so clearly belonged to danny?

…who knows wtf that even means. so anyways-

when you realized how much time danny spent chasing you in trials when he should have been patrolling generators, you began to get suspicious. especially when he would take you to the hatch and then close it in your face, watching you die to the entity. he obviously had some kind of beef with you.

you were determined to find out what he had against you, so you began to tease him a bit in chases. your favorite and most frequent phrase was something like, "can't catch me? lil baby man? lil baby? lil baby man gonna cry?" you were really testing your luck with that one, and that's why you loved it.

once, you told him his fly was down, and he actually fell for it, making you nearly keel over in laughter. you got moried without even being hooked after that.

despite the horrors that frequented this place, you were never in a crisis about it. you simply learned what had to be done, and then you did it, much to the chagrin of danny. you had skipped the big "useless baby survivor" phase, and that one was his favorite :( he loved trials with new survivors because it was so easy and fun!

but alas, from the beginning, you were always on top of things, always slamming pallets onto his head or saving teammates with a flashlight.

oh, don't even get him started on your flashlight usage. you were the absolute worst to go against--every pallet stun, boom: danny's eyes fucking burned out. every time he picks up a survivor, boom: danny's eyes fucking burned out. you were a bitch with that item.

he finally began to get so fed up with your behavior that he decided you must be taught a lesson. somehow, countless mori and tunneling and camping incidents had not even managed to bother you. you literally did not care. but he had something different in mind this time.

the realm was haddonfield, of course. all of the killers despised this map, and for good reason--you ran danny around the entire neighborhood for three generators. did he have to chase you? no. but he needed to for himself.

he finally caught you in a dead zone, rejoicing to himself as you fell to the ground in defeat. "wow, that was a good chase," you mumbled under your breath, feeling accomplished. one of your best against danny, probably.

you were expecting him to pick you up, but instead he snatched the flashlight from your grasp and chucked it as far away as he could. and before you could protest, he pulled you up to stand again and yanked you towards himself, gripping your wrists so tightly you swore it left bruises.

"what's wrong...lil baby man?" you said with a pout, trying not to laugh. "is baby man angry?"

you were slightly scared if you were being honest, but you couldn't let him know that.

danny sighed. you really didn't know when to stop, did you?

"bitch," he spat, voice dangerously quiet. "cut that shit out."

"what shit?"

he squeezed your arms tighter, provoking an "okay, okay, i get it!" from you.

"do you?"

"sure. what's the worst you could possibly do to me anyways?" after those words left your mouth, you got a weird feeling that the killer was smiling behind his mask.

"listen, uhh, danny, is it?" you said, putting as much nonchalance into your voice as you could. "i just wanna know why you hate me so much. remember that time you closed the hatch in my face? the fuck was that for?"

he frowned at the use of his name but responded regardless, "you're a little bitch, and you deserved that."

you gasped dramatically, feigning offense. "ouch. that one hurt."

"i can make you hurt a lot more," he said darkly. you probably should have been scared, but you just really couldn't take him seriously.

so you laughed. it shouldn't have been funny, but it just was and now you couldn't stop. "you're just--you--i can't--" you wheezed, shaking from the laughter. "i'm sorry, it's really not funny."

danny didn't understand you. anybody else would have been sobbing if he so much as touched them, and here you were acting like it was a joke.

what could he do if you truly were not afraid of him?

perhaps it was time to let it go.

while his guard was down, suddenly you reached above his head and plucked his mask off, revealing his face and continuing your bouts of laughter at his shocked expression.

you threw the mask in the same direction as the flashlight, composing yourself and putting your hands on your hips. "you look pretty nice," you said, nodding.

wow. what the hell was danny supposed to do with you? perhaps the only completely unbothered, completely unserious survivor? he knew you were smart, and you knew what you were doing. he didn't even want to kill you anymore, you were just that fascinating.

that trial ended in you standing at the exit gate, your finger and your thumb in the shape of an L on your forehead. danny couldn’t care less at this point--he was done with your shit. but somehow he still liked you, and this definitely would not be the last time you saw him without his mask.

[quirrrky]

CHOOSE YOUR YANDERE ●_● HAIKYUU BOYS EDITION  (Part 1) ✧

PART 2 ✧ PART 3

Here’s your new round of yandere selection featuring some of our hq boys! Reminder: I love ‘em boys and this is just for fun!

Rating: T+ Warning: Mild psychological triggers (mentions of kinks and stuff) Selected characters only ~(⊕⌢⊕)~

HINATA SHOYO aka THE ANNOYING TANGERINE (but still loveable tho)

This fella’ follows you all the time!

Asks you tons of questions and invites you to a lot things

Pretty persistent about getting your heart and making him a part of your life

Very chatty and energetic…Will never leave your side

If it’s possible, he’ll tie himself around you (please don’t inform him of this idea, he might actually do this)

Calls you when you finally gets home, he’ll climb your window if you won’t answer

Attempts of avoiding him is close to impossible

He’s like…everywhere

Literally threatens and challenges all the other guys who come near you (they better not!)

He’d do anything and everything in his power to win

He’s pretty delusional too thinking that you might actually like him back if he keeps on “trying his best” to win you

Tbh, he thinks you’re actually liking him back O_O

When you’re being hard to “talk to”, he has that look on his face like he’s so in it for the kill

Despite it all, he can never bring himself to hurt you

“Oh, Y/N. Why haven’t you answered my calls? I’ve been calling you for like…78 times already! I got so worried that I sneak into your bedroom. Hehehe~ I’ll talk to you ’til you fall asleep. Then…I’ll watch you.” Eyes wide staring into you.

Danger level: 40% Pet peeve: You avoiding or ignoring him

KAGEYAMA TOBIO aka THE CRUEL KING

He’s not called ‘The King’ for nothing, y’know

When he’s set his eyes on you, no one’s stopping this guy

At first, he was in awe of you and puts you in a pedestal like some kind of an idol or sum’n

You liked that about him add that he knows you like it’s natural

You thought it was a soulmate connection but think again!

Little did you know that he followed you and studied your every movement

Also knew your daily schedule and routine and imitated your way of life

Once he finally got you, the King shows up

He saw many errors in your way thus he wanted to bring out the “best” in you

Doesn’t hurt you tho, but he lacks consideration 

Or he may actually hurt you at times when he got totally irritated

Loves pushing you to the limit…more than your body can bear (and it’s not volleyball we’re talking about here)

Will rile you up until you lose consciousness (doesn’t matter if you’re hurting or what)

You’re wondering where that stamina was coming from and…

Don’t think it sexy cuz you’re basically a slave here who just does what he orders you to do (unless you really like it, yknow)

Worst part of it all, you’re starting to like it and before you even know it, he got you all wrapped around his finger

“I’m doing you so good so keep up with my pace! Too slow! You’re too slow! Are you even moving?” He lashed out on you then followed up through his gritted teeth. “What are you saying you can’t feel your legs anymore? We’re not even getting there yet.”

Danger level: 50% Pet peeve: Your sheer incompetence

TSUKISHIMA KEI aka THE SCHEMING BLOCKER

This guy’s smart, so he’s probably planning an effective course of action to monopolize you without you even noticing it

No, he won’t eliminate anyone (not that we are aware of??? srsly, this guy could stage his innocence for a murder)

But he’s so good at setting you up that you can only see him

You will not know what makes you follow him around and he’s even acting so nonchalantly about it

You don’t know why but he has you begging for his attention

It’s all part of his intricate plan as he carefully analyzed  your behavior

And telling your mind creeping into your subconscious what you should believe in

When he has you all under his control, he’ll waste no time to tease and deny you

This guy’s degrading kink gaming is strong

Will call you names, literally belittles you for his amusement (just bc he’s tall lololol)

Yet you kept liking it more and more

Until he’s seriously the only one on your mind and on your sight clearly blocking any aspect of this universe in your perspective BUT HIM

Loves playing you around

Secretly turned on when you talk back (it makes him want tease you even more)

“Oh, I never thought you like me that much, huh, midget.“ He evilly chuckled (it’s sexy don’t @ me) and grinned at you looking down. “What if I say I’m not convinced enough? What would you do? Ahh, don’t talk back to me with that stupid little mouth of yours. You might not like what’s gonna happen next…”

Danger level: 70% Pet peeve: Your stupid ass (but he kinda’ likes that too)

YAMAGUCHI TADASHI aka YOUR HUMBLE SERVER

Like Hinata, this guy will follow you around but…

He possesses a beyond normal amount of servitude (which will only show when you get to be with him for longer)

Worships you and offers to be your servant

For him, there’s nothing more beautiful and wonderful but you

It’s not difficult to like him back, he’s really adorable and gentle and normal (?)

Until, he’s gradually getting overboard with lowering himself before you

Very obsessed with you like everything he does is for you in an extremely overrated manner

Like if you’re a girl, he’s even more aware of your period more than you are

Even this sweet being can have a possessive side tho he seemed like can’t hurt anybody

You wouldn’t know it but people who try to cross you are shivering in their legs under his rather stealth intimidation

Will lie for you, steal for you and kill for you

Loves you that much he showers you with affection in a way you can never let go of him even if his moments of self-deprecation is disturbing

Adores you even more when you talk down on him

Even if you want out, you can’t cuz you’re scaredt of what he’ll do to himself if you leave (TT-TT he’s such a bean)

“It’s raining, you can use my umbrella if you don’t have one. I’m perfectly fine under the rain, it’s just a little drizzle. Oh there’s a puddle! Here, you can step on my-“ NO PLEASE DON’T! TT-TT

Danger level: 30% Pet peeve: Things and people that makes you uncomfortable

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