#but that's honestly kinda lofty

[n1et]

I have been struck by a ray of inspiration!

[ttrpg-smash-pass-vs]

Yeah, honestly the new hobgoblin lore (at least the playable version) feels very underdeveloped. Like, they couldn’t have added SOMETHING that explains why Maglubiyet or any other evil being typically uses them as foot soldiers? Even just an explanation as to why most are warriors that you find? It really feels like they had no idea how to connect the new and old lore, even though there very much is a way they could (guess what skills would be really useful for a close knit army?).

Yes! Like they do mention that they're famed for thier unity, but that doesn't explain the heel turn in every other aspect of personality. Like becoming obsessed with order and tyranny. The lore we have for the playable kind and the monster kind just clashes. I guess the idea of "you're actively breaking of your species's culture" is just too lofty for them, have to make the PC species the good guys as a baseline.

But "remove all the lore and replace it with 2-5 sentences" was the point of the MPMM it seems. I mean look at the harengon. Small or Medium size (so 2-8 feet doesn't specify), a sentence mentioning they were originally fey, and then a description of the picture. I had to derive all other info from the monster statblocks. And that other info? "They have no usual personality, they just kinda morph into the type of person who would hang around who they're currently hanging around." I guess WotC just doesn't like giving information anymore. Not sure if it's cutting out writing staff or just "you can't be mad about racism in the lore if there's no lore!"

[malwaredykes]

on a related note cheers to people who get to like and enjoy ulysses but to me, unlike cass who at the end of the day is some lady and therefore the avellone damage is somewhat contained, ulysses is just like. the sound of chris jerking off. he and the SECRET contrived BACKSTORY he provides to the main character and his 10 in all stats and his disproportionate mountain of dialogue and his THEMES AND WISDOM and him being like 10 seconds away from achieving CHIM and breaking the 4th and 5th and 6th wall and him being avellone's self insert which he admitted to but honestly didnt have to. like i cant do it. i cant do it. im into the idea of ulysses as a legion-sympathetic Weird And Peculiar companion who hangs out somewhere else from everyone and whos got some weird lofty kinda detached ideas. the ulysses we got, i cant do it. i can NOT do it. and he thinks josh graham is smart and admirable? get outta here man...

[tennessoui]

For the prompts:

“I believe in you”, but if possible said in a funny/teasing way ? Like when someone doesn’t want to do something that they’re perfectly capable of doing and they kinda drag themself to do it so you’re like “you can do it, I believe in you lol”. Does that make sense ? I’m not sure it makes sense.

hello!

so this is a teasing "i believe in you" but it definitely isn't. like. as light-hearted as maybe was desired. this is set in the cheating au (list of the ficlets in the beginning notes of this ao3 chapter) where obi-wan and anakin are married to other people, satine and padmé respectively, but they cheat on their spouses to be together. satine knows and is fine with it, so long as obi-wan doesn't divorce her. padme doesn't know.

padmé wouldn't be fine with it if she did know....especially because this affair has lasted years, her husband is cheating on her with her senate mentor and friend, and said mentor keeps trying to edge her out of her own family and co-parent her twins which is going honestly pretty successfully at times

(2.1k)

It is a rare sweltering day on Coruscant. The systems meant to create cool air to filter through the entirety of the city-planet malfunctioned late last night. A Senate investigation will be opened into the incident to determine if someone should be held in contempt on sabotage or if this had been a natural break of a system used near daily and updated perhaps once a decade.

It’s not really any of Anakin’s business. Padmé will tell him about it if she finds herself on the committee. Obi-Wan will tell him about it if he requests the information far enough in advance that Obi-Wan has time to bully the latest from any number of Senate staffers.

Anakin doesn’t particularly care about the workings of the Senate. It frustrates his wife sometimes, he knows.

It thrills his lover, he knows this as well.

With Padmé, he must nod and look concerned about the idea of some malicious sabotage on their air cooling system. He must ruminate aloud rather or not this qualifies as an attack upon democracy as he fixes their morning caf the way they both like: hers, with two splashes of cream and a cube of sugar. His, with three sugars and no cream.

He must care about the answer as he helps her feed the twins. Luke is going through a stage where he will not willingly eat any food. Leia is going through a stage where she will only eat Luke’s food, which Luke does not like at all.

He must ask his wife questions about the Senate, about the possible committee, about how long it may take to bring the saboteur to justice, and what that justice looks like.

He must not under any circumstance throw the plastic spoon heaped with mushed zana fruit onto the table and ask her why this isn’t enough for her. Their family, Luke’s diet, Leia’s reluctance to wear her bib and the fact that she keeps ruining the hundred credit blouses Padmé’s parents keep sending them. He must not demand to know why he should care about democracy and Senatorial committees and malicious intent when his babies are right there in front of him, tiny fingers reaching out to grasp his thumb.

He knows Padmé loves their children with her entire heart, of course. He believes that. Understands it to be true.

But his wife’s heart is larger than his own. She has room in it to love her lofty ideals, her planet’s people, the seats she holds on her Senate committees. She loves all of this and her family, her twins and her husband.

Anakin’s heart is small in comparison, narrow and focused completely on the few things he loves. That is enough for him.

When Padmé steps out of the room to begin her long process of donning her Senatorial outfit, one of those few things calls his comm.

It is not the first time he wonders if Senator Kenobi has monitoring equipment set up in his home. No man’s luck is that good so as to only call his paramour when the paramour’s wife is not around.

“Do not talk to me about the karking central cooling systems, I swear on the Force, Obi-Wan,” Anakin mutters into his comm link as he wriggles his spoon of zana fruit in front of his face in the hopes of awakening latent predator instincts. “I’ll hang up, I’m not joking.”

“Darling, as much as I enjoy your dirty mouth, you should be careful in front of the children,” Obi-Wan replies lightly.

“Okay,” Anakin puts down his spoon, and Luke coos in victory. “Do you actually have my house bugged?”

“Don’t be silly,” Obi-Wan says airily, which isn’t actually an answer. “It is early enough in the morning that you don’t need to get ready to go to work and the twins’ care providers have not yet arrived. Of course you are around them.”

Leia lets out a bubbling laugh of agreement that seems to startle her. She glares at him as if it’s his fault.

Anakin glares back because he doesn’t know how to feel about Obi-Wan’s words, the truth behind them: that he does not need to spy on him. He just…knows him.

Knows his life intimately well, even when he is not physically present with him.

It makes Anakin’s heart race, his chest tighten the way it always does when he is confronted with the truth of how far he has allowed this affair to invade his life, how much of himself Obi-Wan Kenobi possesses, how much he knows.

“What do you want?” he mutters, rubbing a hand down his face and quieting his voice. The twins are barely two years old, they can understand him, but it isn’t him he’s afraid of eavesdropping. His wife is somewhere in the other room. She may have—questions, if she walked in on a commm conversation with her mentor and her husband, people she believes are loose acquaintances at best.

“What are your plans for the day?” Obi-Wan asks. “To beat this unrelenting heat."

“It’s not that hot,” Anakin says. “You’re just used to cool, human controlled air temperatures.”

“Darling, not everyone grew up in a desert,” his lover says, but he’s smiling, Anakin can tell. “For us unlucky folk, it is quite sweltering outside. If I were you, I’d be worried about the paintings in your art gallery.”

“What, do you think the paint will melt off?” Anakin asks, and now he’s smiling as well. Luke grins back at him. 

Obi-Wan hums agreeably. “It is so very hot that I think there’s a good chance that your metal sculptures will melt if they’re left out in the sun,” and he sounds so very certain that Anakin feels a familiar pang of painful love followed by a swell of hatred: it isn’t fair that Obi-Wan Kenobi is so attractive and ridiculous, that he knows how to make Anakin smile, how to make him blush.

It isn’t fair that Obi-Wan has made it so very easy to fall in love with him, despite all the reasons Anakin knows he shouldn’t have ever even considered it.

“Actually, I thought perhaps we could venture to the Valiuem Community Pools for the day,” Obi-Wan proposes lightly. “Take the children, perhaps pack a lunch.”

Anakin’s eyebrows furrow. “Don’t you have to work?” He looks down the long hallway Padmé disappeared through. “Pads is getting ready to go in right now.”

“Nonsense,” Obi-Wan says. His tone is more cutting. It always gets like this when Anakin accidentally reminds him of the affection that exists between himself and his wife. Existed. Had once existed. “It’s much too hot for assembly today, I have it on good authority they will give us recess until the air systems are fixed. Anything else would probably spark galactic war.”

“The twins don’t know how to swim,” Anakin points out, and Obi-Wan laughs brightly. He must know he is winning, that Anakin is picturing the feeling of the cool water on his overheated skin, the warm, solid presence of Obi-Wan beside him, a twin in each lap so they have an excuse for their closeness should anyone be looking.

“Yes, I suppose teaching them how to swim was part of my nefarious plot,” Obi-Wan agrees.

“Just a part?”

“Well, the other part was, of course, to see you scantily clad and dripping with water.”

Anakin gets up from the table so fast he hits his knee hard against its underside. “Fuck,” he hisses into the comm. He goes to stand in front of the large windows overlooking Coruscant so he won’t be looking at his babies while his mind is playing a reel of explicit images.

“It will be fun,” Obi-Wan coaxes, laughter still in his voice. “Korkie will be out of school, it’s been so long since he went for a swim.”

And it’s been a few weeks since Anakin saw Korkie too. He hums before an awful thought occurs to him. “What about her?” he asks.

“Yours or mine?” Obi-Wan shoots back and Anakin glares out the window. 

“Yours,” he grits out.

“Satine can be convinced to come along or stay away. What would your preference be, darling?”

Anakin opens his mouth to say that Obi-Wan knows his preference, but before he can say anything at all, Padmé’s voice cuts him off at the knees. “Anakin?” she asks, “Who are you talking to?”

He turns to face her. “Just Obi-Wan, angel. We were discussing the weather.”

“Were we?” Obi-Wan asks. There’s something dangerous in his tone. “I don’t recall much of that.”

“Oh, put him on speaker,” Padmé instructs, bending down to pick up the abandoned spoon still loaded with mushed zana fruit and holding it out to Luke plaintively. “I want to get his thoughts on the sub-committee for the—”

“He’s not interested,” Anakin says even as he flicks the comm to speaker and sets it on the table. “Luke,” he clarifies when Padmé makes an offended noise. “I’m sure Obi-Wan would love to discuss Senate committees with you.”

“What is Luke not interested in?” Obi-Wan asks keenly, voice back to his normal, slightly higher register as he must realize that he is in fact on speaker. “Not politics, I should hope, though he may have too much of your husband in him, dear.”

Padmé laughs and offers the spoon to Anakin. “I think it’s a bit soon to tell who they take after more, Obi-Wan. We’ll have to give it a few years yet.”

“If he survives this damn hunger strike,” Anakin adds, and Luke yells his agreement.

“Hm,” Obi-Wan says. “Is this recent?”

“Just for the last month or so,” Padmé says, rolling her eyes at Anakin, smile pulling at her painted lips. She looks beautiful. She looks at him like she’s in love with him. Anakin hates it.

“He ate the other day,” Obi-Wan says, and he sounds confused, as if Luke’s reluctance to eat food has baffled him. “I fed him that whole container of mushed blueberries.”

Anakin stills as he watches the smile slip off of Padmé’s face. “I didn’t realize you’d seen the twins recently,” she says carefully.

“Oh, I suppose I really haven’t, not in a substantial way,” Obi-Wan replies. Anakin can hear the shrug in his voice. He can also hear the forced brevity of the words. But why is Obi-Wan talking about this? What is his goal? Why would he— “Oh, it must have been a week ago, right, Anakin? Our walks in the park near the Senate building coincided. It became a sort of picnic when Leia decided she would simply perish if your husband did not feed her her specific favorite brand of bland mush—”

“It’s baby food, Obi-Wan,” Anakin gripes, “it’s supposed to be bland—”

“And while he ran to the store to buy it, I sat with the twins. Luke loved the blueberry mix.”

And after the twins were fed and asleep, Obi-Wan had coaxed Anakin into his office at the Stewjoni Cultural Affairs museum for an afternoon delight of their own. 

For obvious reasons, the story ends before the truth leaks out. 

“Well, we don’t have blueberry mush,” Padmé snaps, her previous good humor nowhere to be found. “We have zana fruit and baju melon.”

“He should like the zana fruit,” Obi-Wan says, as if he is not treading on very thin ice. “Have you tried making pod-racing noises?”

“What.” Anakin says.

“He has much of you in him, Anakin,” Obi-Wan laughs, voice warming. “Wriggle the spoon and make pod-racing sounds as you fly it into his mouth. He loves it.”

Anakin takes the spoon from Padmé’s hand. “I think you just want to make me look foolish in front of my wife,” he mutters.

Obi-Wan ignores this, which isn’t really a surprise. It is also, possibly the kindest thing he could do, seeing as the truth of the matter is that Padmé, sitting next to him and listening to Obi-Wan recount a date, listening to her husband chat with his secret lover, is already the fool without even knowing it. If he thinks about it too hard, the guilt will kill him.

“Come on, Ani,” Obi-Wan coaxes, his tone somewhere between playful teasing and dark promise. This is not about feeding Luke anymore.

It is about Obi-Wan proving that he is a good parent to Anakin’s child, right in front of the child’s mother, who is looking at him with a confused and vaguely offended expression.

“I believe in you,” Obi-Wan says down the line, teasing and gentle and evil and the thing Anakin’s narrow and terrible heart loves most in the entire galaxy.

Anakin sighs and lifts the spoon up so it’s in Luke’s line of sight. The boy looks up at him skeptically.

“Vroom,” Anakin says, wriggling the spoon. “Vroom, krccck, pudda-pudda whoosh vroom.”

Luke laughs delightedly, claps his hands, and allows the food into his mouth with a happy shriek.

“Good boy,” Obi-Wan says cheerfully. Anakin doesn’t know if he’s talking to him or his son, but he hangs up the comm before the older man can clarify.

[raisinchallah]

like honestly world would be so much better if people understood and truly to their core believed u could live a good life single or understood that marriage kinda sucks like idk kinda depressing u know like ok my grandparents marriage sucked but it was the norm at the time they didnt really have lofty expectations my grandmother had a vibrant social life u know and did divorce that man when no fault divorce became possible and lol everyone liked her so much she kept all those connections but i fear now like in some ways people expect so much more out of long term partners and marriages but idk if people are way happier but its now such a main social unit u do things together people stop investing in outside relationships friends matter less its just like damn im not sure that much has changed and its sad seeing how my mom is often left out by people for being single and that she always has to be extremely proactive to socialize but also that so many of her friends are stuck in miserable marriages that also take up most of their life but still cant really manage the complex social and financial repurcussions of divorce and i dont really think anythings changing in future generations either theres still such a fear of being single that people will put up with so much and idk i am not immune to it in the sense that yeah i do really worry its a state of being that will continue to compound my existing alienation and that idk if anyone else would make a long term commitment in life to u know helping take care of each other which is of course something that can be deeply toxic and misery making but is also something people u know stick with bad family bad partners because those are the only socisl connections that have that expectation and its just like wow has much even changed its sad like damn how did feminism and the gay rights movement fail so utterly in the realm of personal relationships and community care

[j2zara]

YAAAAAAY EHEH I GET TO SEND YOU A BUNCH OF ASKS 💖💖💖💖💖(<- these ones are just me being excited)

💖📥👀📊🍰🌝💻🧠

HIIIII SORRY THIS TOOK ALL DAY im so exhausted which is why i feel like my answers are not the best but here u go

💖 What do you like most about your own writing?

Argh…. Ngl i sent this one to more than one person in the circle of perverts bc I want to force ppl to say nice things abt themselves and now i gotta do the same thing. I feel like my answer before this year would’ve been my dialogue!!!!!!! Like. I do think i’m good at that. It’s hard to even say that because I feel like when I do enjoy a good quip and i feel like whenever i reread my original stuff im like “oh. I’m so marvel brained”. I don’t think dialogue is my strength in cloneverse tho.  At least. I don’t think it stands out. But otherwise that’s what i would land on.

Maybe it’s bc i’ve been in a very sorry for myself slump lately bc my current wip is giving me such a struggle but i don’t even know. Before now and my latest wip driving me crazy I would’ve said. Maybe coherence or theming? Like i don’t even know if thats a thing i CAN say like is it possible to be good at themes? Sorry im being so hard on myself rn I think if i were to look at my writing i would say i think it’s halfway decent but i don’t know the answer to the question…

📥 What is your fave fic to receive comments/messages on?

Oh this is an interesting one. For such a long time the answer would’ve been my old Talentswap fic for DR, tbh it always was like. Surprising and honestly kinda nice to get like a random comment of someone being like ‘hey i just discovered this! Sad its not updating but i really enjoyed it!” something like that. And I think b/c it was multichap it was very interesting and different when ppl were reading Almost for sure.

My secret weird answer is IYWD. Like. I’m at peace with the fact that its practically dead and nobody is gonna find it again i guess but a small part of me still considers it my favorite thing i’ve done in a long time so nobody does comment anymore but. That would be the thing i secretly kinda want. I’ll take literally anything tho obviously i love anybody that ever comments on anything.

👀 Do you have any WIPs that you would never let see the light of day? If yes, what are they about?

I have a Love is Blind au for a fandom I’m not gonna mention. Idk i might’ve mentioned it somewhere but eh. Its like ten chapters but only the first 5-ish are done i’m kinda 

And i’ve talked abt this this isn’t really a. Like. Oh I’m hiding this forever thing but. I have a DR Togakure hookup fic that’s written like. To take place during a naegiri wedding like in the post first game canon. And it is one of my favorite things i’ve ever written even tho it is smut, ngl my friends have been trying to convince me to post it and i might but im genuinely terrified nobody is gonna read it and im gonna be. Sad about it

📊 Current number of WIPs

Lol um… lj3porter fic. I’m two sentences into twelfth night coded j2 wooing Jace for Porter fic. Unfinished creeper Jace + j2porter fic…  a Jace topping Zara zarajaceporter fic. A fic that is in the IYWD verse that’s like a prequel that’s normal SB related. And if we could old fandoms I have semi abandoned talent swap (the ch 3.3 doc is like 10k lmao). Love is blind au.

If we’re counting original projects. My fantasy pseudo taming retelling. Horror comedy / locked room mystery called Date / Die. I have a. Sports romance (don’t look at me). And my weird lofty rom com thing that is this decade spanning story and used to be abt a “platonic” romance but idk I was like. They’re best friends they’re the most important ppl in the world to each other and they like having sex does that make this a normal romance. Maybe. Maybe not.

So ten. Yikes.

🍰 Name one of your fave comfort fics (doesn’t have to be your all time fave).

This is such a weird pull b/c i haven’t read it in years but Wing Man is a Bokuaka fic thats one of my fav of all time that makes me so happy idk its so like. Sweet and tbh i feel bad i never commented on it i really should bc they deserve to know i still think about it. but i just don’t reread fic all that often even my favs.

Actually that’s a lie i just remembered! I’ll cite something recent and i’m a little shy to cite something from the circle of perverts but also this is completely sincere i know i jokingly call @innskeep bambi’s LJ3 fic the perfect piece of fiction all the time but i do reread it… I just like them. I think it’s really cute and i like my little guys…  I love getting J3’s pov so much like i genuinely think its so comforting and special…

🌝 Who is one character you haven’t yet written for that you would like to?

I won’t lie I have a total DurDawn soft spot so like. I do think it wouldn’t fun to write something small for them. Also fucking hilarious as zukkacore that I’ve never written zukka and like. In my heart I would like too but they’re almost too precious for that? It’s hard to explain. Actually another answer might be for Mailee I actually think Mailee is soooooo underrated as a ship bc they have so much potential to be good for each other that wasn’t able to foster under azula’s thumb so I like that slightly toxic edge 

💻 Do you do research for your fics? What’s the deepest dive you’ve done?

I do a little bit of research but honestly not at much as i should. Last super deep dive i did was on the different filipino mythologies and history throughout the different regions bc ithink that subject is so interesting. but that has nothing to do with the sb circle that was for my own stuff. Lately I had to look up a little bit of elvish for something sb related lol. im such a fake fan of LOTR i love it but i’ve never actually read the books

🧠 What’s an idea you have that you can’t quite call a WIP yet?

A few! I’ve talked abt Jace hireling au I think that would be fun. And I joke abt Clone gamechanger au all the time and I SAID I wanted to try and make it work so like. Maybe. I’d love to try clone gamechanger au i think its funny and cute and i wanna do something indulgent.I feel like i’m forgetting something. Jess has real estate in j2porter vegas roleplay so i kinda wanna try maybe doing J2porter 50s housewife roleplay as a sort of sequel? I still like the idea of doing a You’ve Got Mail Shop Around the Corning fic. And. I feel so so so so indulgent wanting to write LJ3 stuff but like i just like them. I don’t know what i would wann write for them but i just like them

[zukkacore]

In the kindest way possible me seeing you reblog the “One must imagine Jace happy” post Twice makes me So Happy bc that WAS Janelle bait. I did fully post that going “there are at least two people who are gonna Get This and one of them is Janelle” and I was RIGHT

JFKDKDKDKKDDK honestly it’s incredible I didnt already make that joke (I did think abt it I don’t know why I didn’t go for it) bc I literally love nothing more than comparing Jace Stardiamond’s plight to the texts with serious literary merit and other texts that are like. Worthy of serious treatment bc I love hyperbole and treating silly fandom things like they are so so so important and lofty.

Twice for a good reason. First time was bc it was earnest and true and I think it is both funny and real to compare Jace to Sisyphus and imagine him happy

Second is bc. Well is not our way of imagining him getting some semblance of something good in this moral coil even if it is only for a short while (kinda like. Sisyphus if I’m being honest) just us being like well at least he’s getting dicked down. Bc doesn’t he deserve that

[extraneousdominomask]

What I did on my summer vacation

As you've no doubt gathered by now, for the last two years I've been playing various old games with my wife. I often used to post about that adventure here, and then I kinda stopped. I feel bad about that, especially when it comes to the two excellent, free indie games I had fully intended to spotlight. So here's a quick rundown!

Celeste, OJONMRAG, Double Cross

Three great indies I got in the same bundle. Celeste needs no introduction, and I've spoken about it before. I don't know if I ever mentioned Oh Jeez Oh No My Rabbits Are Gone!!!, but it's a fun puzzle game with cute visuals and surprisingly catchy music. And speaking of those two things, Double Cross is a hidden gem of a game. We really enjoyed its eclectic cast, and still sometimes quote the zany catgirl in particular. ("All cats are tyrants, Zahra.")

Manic Miners

Lego Rock Raiders was a toy line in the 1990s, which earned its own video game tie-in. I remember it fondly... as did one absolute hero, who remastered the dang thing as a non-profit passion project. Manic Miners is available via Itch for free - because it's a fan game! He had to ask very nicely to do this at all! - and it completely revitalizes what was an engaging but flawed fuzzy memory from my childhood. As well as adding several quality of life improvements to make the game flow better, cut content is restored and entirely new features are added in, such as a character creator. If you want an accessible game that can provide the sweet, sweet satisfaction of collecting every scrap of resources from a initially messy environment, I highly recommend this.

inFamous 2: Festival of Blood

An important thing to know about me is that I hate vampires. I don't like 'em and I don't like looking at 'em, so I usually avoid and and all vampiric media, even if they're getting slaughtered. For that reason, despite loving inFamous 2, I never checked out its DLC side-adventure Festival of Blood... until now. (Making a new purchase on the PS3 digital store was hard, but not impossible. Thanks for complaining every time they try to shut it down, everybody!) It's a short experience, but a lot of fun, thanks to the wise decision to let Zeke narrate the whole bullshit stor- I mean, thrilling tale of true heroism. I found Bloody Mary to be an entertainingly nasty villain, despite my biases.

Psychonauts 2

Psychonauts is one of the video games ever, no question. Expectations were lofty for its much-delayed sequel. If anything, I think I prefer this one! The core (the gameplay, visuals, hilarious writing, and Peter McConnell's consistently excellent music) all remain unchanged, with new mechanics, some quality of life improvements, and an impressive voice cast all added on top. Jack Black and Elijah Wood are both in this game, and they're both great!

Pokémon White

this one kinda sucked ngl

Halo: Combat Evolved

Mostly, I'm showing my wife a game and not the other way around. There was one major franchise that I had almost entirely missed, however - aside from a few free-form skirmishes at parties - that she fondly remembers. This summer, we both experienced the first Halo together, and in short: yeah, I can see why this changed the course of the industry singlehandedly. It still feels great to play, even with my wife assuring me that the sequel is a big improvement from these already solid bones. I frankly don't relish slaughtering the fleeing, crying Grunts, since we as a society have moved on considerably when it comes to the rights of funny little guys. But it feels great to shoot aleins and Cortana is my friend. Exactly as advertised.

Jak II: Renegade

this one definitely sucked, holy shit. I remember this being a good game. I remembered incorrectly.

Shantae (2002)

I've played two of the more recent Shantae games, and I found them charming. But how does the original hold up? Pretty well, honestly! It's far from perfect - the day and night cycle really adds nothing beyond referencing Castlevania - but the music and visuals are truly impressive for the original GameBoy. I'm gonna be thinking about Shantae's cute little 8-bit dances for a while.

Undertale Yellow

Like anyone who listens to a lot of Toby Fox's music over YouTube, I've seen my fair share of dubious OCs and "epic fights" floating at the corner of my vision. With that in mind, I went into UY with managed expectations, despite the positive buzz. Could a fangame really match the unique energy and charm of one of the greatest independent games of our generation?

Uh... yeah! I'm as surprised as anyone else, but everything from the music to the gameplay to the writing was really bang-on. It's not a flawless experience - the El Bailador fight needed reworking, it was WAY harder than other, more impactful fights - but the eight years of passion very much shine through. If you're a fan of UT/DR and need something to tide you over as we all wait for Chapters 3+, I fully recommend this. It's free!!!!

Spyro the Dragon (1998)

Finished this just yesterday! I got the remaster when it came out, but - no offense - nothing beats the blocky low-poly charm of the original. This was my first time replaying it in several years, and for the first time, it felt small. Levels I remember struggling with posed no challenge any more. But I think that only speaks to how many times I replayed this lovely little adventure. Also, did you know that of the, like, four voice actors in this game, one of them is Clancy goddamn Brown? He plays like 30 of these polygonal dragons!

...I would normally try to end a post this long on a more climactic note, but, uh... yeah.

[aeivyen]

1 and 16 and 18 for the writer asks please! (Sorry for being incapable of choosing just one)

Aw thanks for the questions~ Link to the asks

Do you prefer writing one-shots or multi-chaptered fics?

I feel like I always start out with a one-shot idea and it spawns into something with multiple chapters (that I usually don't finish).

16. How many fic ideas are you nurturing right now? Share one of them?

Honestly, I've been so caught up in my original wip that I haven't been thinking of a lot of fic, but before that I was working on a taakitz piece that was a ghost au? The big idea I started with was "what if a ghost [Kravitz] was haunted by the living [Taako]" (pretty sure I saw the idea floated somewhere on here, but by the time I started writing it I'd lost track of that post) where I wanted to capture, like. Well, why would a ghost necessarily know they were dead? What if they were caught in the loop of living through the last day of their life, except for the interruptions of the people who came after them?

Lofty, I think. I'll have to revisit it. I remember the part that kinda stuck me was how to portray the same day over and over (for Krav's pov; I was doing both his and Taako's) without it being too repetitive for the reader

18. Do you title your fics before, during, or after the writing process? How do you come up with titles?

I think I've done all of these before. Most of them start out as "ghost au" or whatever, unless they're an OC fic, then they'll usually be titled just as that OCs name to begin with. As I'm writing I try to keep an eye out for the themes that kinda settle in and use that when (and if) the dust clears and I get to the point where I want to post

[castlebyersafterdark]

now that the seal has been broken and you guys mentioned the prns, three things:

there's a couple called shauntondavid and the video titles are silly but there's one ('passionate pounding' lmaooo) where he's wearing a baseball cap and the body type, tall and thin, dark curly hair, it just looks so much like mike/finn and i havent seen that body type in prn before so it was really interesting to watch even if this specific video wasnt my thing per se... but it gave me a visual of what byler spice could look like. cos will's body type is easier to find than mike's, so i really liked seeing this wiry pale guy. i want to draw spicy byler in a way that looks like a shot from the show, rather than explicit erotic fanart

another called fran_josu who have the most gorgeous romantic sex w my boyf video, they look nothing like byler except size difference, but the positioning? the intimacy? the hooked leg that obscures enough body parts to be possible on screen? literally my dream for byler tbh, show this to an intimacy co-ord STAT

i found a vid of a guy with the birthmark on his peeeeeen! its actually kind of hot. johann wood. he's in a forest too.. lover's lake anyone? he's actually kind of thin and pale and interesting too... mike vibes... hmmmmmm yes

it just hit me we might actually be seeing skin on screen? oh my god. literally who is ready for noah and finn to perform this. they might already have?!?!!!?!??! wtfffffffff i need a glass of water. hose me down like hopper in that prison loooooool

Yesssss I'm shocked more like this hasn't come up before! I am always down for these conversations heehee

Ooooh I see what you mean! Those skinny legs feel very familiar. Definitely not the most common body type in this medium so that's cool. The few I skimmed where had the hat on did give major vibes 🤭 I appreciated how slightly strange their videos are, like what are these positions? But honestly? This kinda amateur, more real stuff is more interesting and often hotter to me. Studio stuff gets very annoying very quickly so. Realer stuff is my preference unless I'm looking for something very specific. And agree!! Well, I'd be into anything drawn on this flavor because there's not much spice in general on the fanart side. But! Some real passionate but tasteful cinematic looking shots - like film stills, oh that would be lovely. Lofty art dreams/goals...

Them I've seen!! They're so hot, love their stuff. Their size difference is nice, they're just real fucking attractive oh man. Great stuff. Always love a real couple in videos, it adds! (I had a bunch of their videos bookmarked already 🤭🤭) Like literally, it's prn, but slightly romantic? I'm so into that. That specific video you mentioned - yes! I know what you mean! The leg positioning? Hmmm oh yes. I'm not sure how far the show would go, maybe that's quite further than we'd see but... nothings impossible? Suggestive implication. And oooh while looking back through, ok, hear me out, idk why I need yall to hear me out, this is spicy town after all - there's a specific position in their video "ass eating breakfast" that I desperately need to draw with the boys. It's perfect.

Ahhh I understand that vision more now from previous birthmark chat. I wasn't exactly sure how to picture it, that helps. And interesting account from that guy hahaha, but he doooo got a real nice one so I get why it's the star haha 😉 I'm always mourning any completely devoid of all body hair look though, but hey, preferences exist and many are into that look so fair's fair!!

Contemplating what may be depicted in the show is gonna keep us guessing for the next year and how fun to imagine and brain storm. With you completely reveling in that feral energy ahhh I'm both beyond ready and unprepared to deal with it all. Man though, there are so many things I want to draw and I am so inconsistent in practicing. This was all... inspiring.

[bugcatcherwill]

Okay Imma be honest I know the poll says most of y'all want me to just "fuck it we ball" release the 10k word chapter this week but I don't think it's ready yet.

I don't wanna force myself to push out writing I'm not comfortable/satisfied with, so I'm gonna split it in half so the editing will be way less frantic and I can spend more time on it. Honestly deciding that I was gonna split it up felt like a huge load was taken off my chest so I'm gonna make the choice that's better for my mental health LMAO

And also to kinda hedge my burnout because good GOD I wrote a lot this week. I'm surprised I haven't slowed down at all but I don't wanna risk it. I love getting out weekly chapters for my readers and the last thing I wanna do is give myself burnout for setting too lofty of a deadline.

So this week's chapter is still gonna be peak fiction, but next week is gonna be even PEAKER fiction

I hope y'all understand because I'm really proud of this (these) chapter(s) and wanna make it REALLY land like I envisioned it :3

[caatws]

What you said about the mcu being uwu about Gamora's death at the hands of her abuser is exactly where they screwed up. It's not always comfortable to have these conversations or deal with issues of equality but the reality is you can't use a light touch and sugarcoat abuse, trauma and death when it comes to women and poc. It's unfair and not right but people will connect with and empathize with a white male character dying even without all the bells and whistles of a funeral and flowery words and open emotions far more easily than they will for other characters like Gamora. You have to be bold and loud and show some of the nitty gritty details if you want people to care even half as much for a character like Gamora.

They needed vol 3 to be a Gamora love fest with bells and whistles galore and it wasn't. But to make matters worse the whole movie skirted the line of being just subtle enough about all the characters feelings outside of Peter and dismissive enough of her death and life all together that they unfortunately pushed her right over the line of non entity for many people. I know in the next week or so vol 3 discussions will fade away because the movie will have been out for a while and new interests will pop up, but I'm still kinda torn that this is the end of the trilogy and where Gamora's story ended. I think even one movie or Disney plus special about her that had more thought and details could have made all the difference. Or as lofty as it might be some detailed commentary from James Gunn about the complexity of Gamora's role in vol 3 and how before she died she was an important team member. Something official to balance what's lacking in the movie would be really nice

yeah! honestly i had a similar issue with the mcu's tone with black widow seeming to try to walk a line between being actually really dark and serious in a realistic way with its kind of graphic depiction of human trafficking (especially in the opening credit sequence) and still being a comedic mcu film. i think when/if the mcu wants to tackle serious themes, they need to commit more fully and not try to uwu-ify it with as much mcu humor and stuff. so in the case of gamora - another victim of both abuse and trafficking, just like nat and yelena (and nebula) - there was a whole lotta care that needed to be given when handling her storyline that just...really wasn't in iw/eg.

at least vol 3 showing how much everyone loved and missed her would've shown how much the characters lost. and i think you and i are both right to consider her race and gender as factors to consider in why her death, the circumstances of her death, and her legacy were handled the way they were in canon. there was definitely more story to tell there before the endpoint we reached

[scatteredfangirling]

Four Continents 2023: Men’s FS

okay i made it !!

work’s been a complete bitch this week but glad I finally got to tune in for this :^)

came in the middle of group 2 -

Sihyeong Lee (KOR)

so many rippon arms...like damn

such a good fight!! i really do like this program on him

korean skating is onward and upward man...i’m so excited for this whole team

Liam Kapeikis (USA)

ah yes moulin rouge the warhorse...it has so much of a reputation that there’s so much pressure to deliver a good program for it...

had some bobbles and bad jumps...and then started getting it back together

also kinda suffers from windmill arms...

so many falls T-T my guy, your time will come

Mikhail Shaidorov (KAZ)

literally have never watched mikhail ever, so interested to see how this goes

good technical foundation as far as i can see, nice flow on his jumps

def was struggling stamina wise at the step sequence towards the end...colorado really is unforgiving with the altitude difference

Stephen Gogolev (CAN)

i feel like i saw his spartacus program at the very beginning of the season, so curious to see how it’s evolved

not the 2S... and the other 2S... :’)

ignoring the double sals...a solid showing!! it just sucks that he literally gets no points for those :|

Koshiro Shimada (JPN)

not my fave program of his (imo nobody does chaplin like javi), but oh well

he’s really zipping around the ice today - his lines are always sooo nice

the 2a jump sequence... man that was a lofty one and he still had enough momentum to do an euler and a triple sal after???

def still waiting on him to grow his performance/presence more in the next few seasons...this wasn’t technically his best or worst performance, but adding just a bit more Energy to it makes such a difference

Jaeseok Kyeong (KOR)

first time watching him - his outfit is giving me cute stylish bookworm vibes

wish he’d extend his lines all the way through his hands - they’re really pretty and then it stops at his wrist

good recovery after the fall on the opening 3A. he’s also pretty speedy

the music shift is fun !!

i’m obsessed, this whole program was so fun, and you felt the energy in the first 20s even though he completely bombed the first jump

Maxim Naumov (USA)

i’ve also never watched maxim ever so this will be new for me

the music is called “iron, shadows, loyal” is this a fantasy soundtrack cut or have i been living under a rock

rough start with several hard falls :(

what is with the men and 2_1Eu3_ sequences tonight

i like this music cut though...(feels like he’s trying to follow in jimmy’s stylistic footsteps) but tonight’s performance was stressful

what can i say, i love men who can perform and have terrible jump consistency

Conrad Orzel (CAN)

it’s been eons since i last watched conrad...

ohhh “paint it black” ??? just wish he had a more interesting all black outfit

solid perf technically, hoping he is able to give it more oomph by the time worlds rolls around (assuming he is sent to worlds)

Shun Sato (JPN)

(oh my god i swear i typed shun’s thing and then it didn’t save smh)

his jumps are so soft and precise !! so smooth

can’t wait for him to grow a bit more in the next few seasons and become a total Show Stopper

Junhwan Cha (KOR)

junhwan pls medal PLS

that opening jump on the james bond theme...man oh man

noooo he tapped the boards when he fell

the fuckin popped 2A...chaotic

this is such a great james bond music cut, but alas this was not his best showing

Boyang Jin (CHN)

i honestly feel like i haven’t seen boyang since olys...which were a full year ago...

it’s so weird to me that nathan and shoma aren’t at this comp with him...there was an era where the three of them were everywhere

this is soft and unsnoozy music, aka perfect

not his best skate, but so good to see him out here !! can’t wait to see this program when he’s in better shape and not competing a mile high

Jimmy Ma (USA)

jimmy getting 3rd in the SP was not something i was expecting...but let’s gooo

clair de lune is a very Normal choice...and then it cuts to the EDM music we expect from him (always can rely on jimmy to bring us to the club)

there were some chaos pops (1A...lol) but he seems happy with it overall !!

3rd in the sp to 11th in the fs to 7th overall...yup the chaos of the men’s event

Keegan Messing (CAN)

the world’s favorite, father of two - i’m emo over him giving jimmy a hug as they pass each other on the ice

i’ve seen this program so much this year, and it’s a packaging that would be cheesy for anyone else, but it works SO well for him

two clean 4Ts and 3As?? he’s on FIRE

that’s it, 4CC is over, give him the gold (i’m sorry kao, it literally doesn’t matter how well you do. keegan deserves first in my heart)

Kao Miura (JPN)

kao literally wasn’t on my radar until i saw him this season during the grand prix series...and MAN oh MAN when he’s on, he’s ON

when he ups his performance energy, it will be the end of me

his jumps rotate so evenly (idt that makes sense, but it makes sense to me)

really milking the chorus of this song...hell yeah !!

wow. what an event !!

[koriand3r]

random nonsensical thoughts regarding shiv or tom i wanted to write down before s4 - its all really just long rambling that need not be read (pt 1)

The only headcanon i've really had for succession, is that tom and shiv got together approximately 3 years before the start of the series. It seems like a reasonable amount of time considering shiv's surprise that tom wasn't at the previous years’ recny and they may have not been as serious for the year before that. But more importantly we know that shiv was “a total mess when we hooked up and i needed you so much i was in a very bad way and we've got the business angle that works we're good on that we have a plan” and i’ve just kept thinking on what that situation was like and what could've caused it. I know Jesse and the cast didn't have anything specific in mind when they wrote that, but I really do think it could have been from the fallout of kendall’s whole rehab incident. (Also three years ago is when she started working for joyce but i'll get to that later)

I just think about the combination of emotions she must have had at that time... Her older brother having serious dangerous drug issues brought up VERY publicly, but also her relationship with Kendall being VERY complex. She loves him, She hates him, She's better than him, She wants to be him. cue parkinglotbird's shiv brutus edit + "You lack killer instinct, you're wet, you're green, you're intellectually insecure, you're not emotionally strong enough, you have addiction issues" She has this all on her tongue and probably more at the ready only hours after Logan first pulled the rug out from under ken. She KNOWS she'd be better. You can kinda see it in her talk with logan in 2.01 the resentment of logan and telling him its better to sell her shares than have it be kendall again. Its never her. Its always Kendall. kendall kendall kendall why is logan still always choosing kendall? I bet you this reached peak clarity three years ago where I think shiv honestly thought she was it. Kendall is seemingly out of the picture: he's failed as the chosen one and is in rehab, Roman's screwing around in LA soon to quit, Connor is connor. Who. Else. Shiv is most like Logan. Shiv is a killer. Shiv's made it on her own she's made a name for herself apart from Waystar. She chose the party opposite to the one that her father has his claws in. She left on her own, gathered experience and connections and knowledge that Logan was lacking and is ready to finally be The One. But she is the prodigal son rejected. cue tomwambsgirl's post "shiv the only daughter who is functionally a prodigal son and the best heir but she’s a woman so this is worthless." Logan played her then or just ignored her "Yes. Yes OF COURSE I WOULD BE INTERESTED. If Its Real... Why did you never ask me huh? I would KILL it. I would fucking destroy it"

I think this was the "total mess" downpoint in Shiv's life and where Tom comes in. And I really think that "the plan" is truly the root/foundation of their relationship from the beginning. I don't mean that shiv instantly cooked up a plan for tom to be her minion on the inside. Tom's safe, he's goofy and sweet and makes her laugh, he's a bit of a sycophant, a bit of a snake, but she understands that thirst and ambition and she's comfortable with that and she can use that. but she really does love him. but love isn't a firm enough basis for a relationship. not to her. her parents, her older brothers all failed their relationships, they let it get all messy but they didn't have what we have. we have the plan.

"The plan" is never laid out in full detail. We only get bits and pieces. To me the plan has two faces. Unstructured, simple, and lofty enough to be unobtainable. The plan is Let's Rule The World Together. I'll Control This Half And You Get The Other. But its also something that they mold again and again strategizing in little steps evolving with the variables. I like to think that the plan could've started out as an inside joke or as something as simple as Lets Get You Out Of Here And Evade The Paparazzi and then the plan transmutates daily to Today At The Party We Talk To Logan To Get You In Charge Of Parks. I think the shape of the original plan they made together was shiv to take the job with Joyce, make her president, gain that control over waystar in the face of logan's rejection of her. Shiv you don't need to be in the company screw logan screw ken lets get tom in the company he can work his way up. We'll have both the white house AND waystar. that's the plan.

[cervenakoviny]

Koščej.

But honestly... There are others who qualify in various little ways, some kind of bastardom, hilarity, some kind of growing-on-you-before-you-know-it.

I mean... Main boys are mainly good, just kinda coarse and up to their necks in violence of the times in general and a war campaign in particular. A state of matters lamented every now and then by one or the other. So it might be a question of how willing a reader is to put up with standards of the time.

Then there are less stalwart dudes.

Sveneld...

is a creature of viking/varangian era in eastern Europe through and through and so are others around him. But somehow he comes close to embodiyng also how frustrating can contemporary older generation come across to younger one (beside being an asshole in general). He is the more classist and racist one, always-know-better undermining figure clinging to authority he used to command, sticker to ruthlessness of old ways and contemptous towards Sviatoslav and his attempts to establish himself as slavicized leader who wields clemency together with a sword and aims beyond simple plunder. All the more fun to watch him get his ass handed to him every now and then.

Sviatoslav...

himself has some lofty inclinations and there are moments when he's conflicted about extent of collateral damage, but this is still a storm of his own making. His idea to make a name for himself on a battlefield, to contribute to his fiefdom by means of expansion instead of internal advancement. And attack of Khazaria is framed as comeuppance for a past humiliating costly betrayal, but at its core it is a power grab. And he sure does have a bloodthirsty streak. Combine that with charismatic presence, cunning, vissionarism and how all this is a learning curve for him, his first time on his own with such a huge responsibility and it sure makes for an interesting journey. He is both a person and a cog on which other fates hinge.

Bragi...

is a traitorious piece of ginger shit and the fact he saved Dinara from being eaten by Zilant because of her beauty, does not exactly whitewash that he changed his mind about selling her at slave market when he decided to rape her and keep for himself. He made her his wife with all the rights that a norseman's wife, in fact a wife of a konung (independent war leader, top dog) has instead of a mere sex toy, but he still said he would do so even if she refused him. In a way Dinara is lucky to have trauma-bonded to him as a lesser evil and the single source of stability in a hostile world in which her razed home village and slaughtered tribe no longer exist. Otherwise she would have reasons to feel trapped instead of content. Aside from that... He. Stands. By. Those. Who. Are. His. And he fucks with the rest of people like it's an olympic discipline and that's kinda fun to witness.

Einar...

whose purpose in life is robbery and I declare him a vandalist and kleptomaniac by nature. I know, I know, war campaign ain't everyday compulsive psychological issue and yet... Gold plating of palace door, nuff said. And he owns it honestly and does some nice mutual life saving with the main lads too.

Herod...

is loyal only to himself and in his view everything and everyone else is expendable without second thought, but he sure has some wonderful quotes when negotiating with Kuria.

I gotta also say that Koščej stepping on the stage happens simultaneously with some of these fellows showing some more sympathetic side. Those two factors combined endear these characters more than either of them would on its own.

And Koščej himself...

descends into being almost one-dimensionally loathsome by the time of the last book, but he still remains a tragic figure of sort with a compelling arc that I could not let go of.

i sometimes like characters that fucking suck. when a character is a shit head in just the right way it can be so funny and/or compelling. like this is my beloved character, Asshole The Hater. they suck and i love them. someone dropped them into a ditch on the side of the road and i picked them out of the ditch and put them in my pocket

[draganwhorror]

3, 8, 27, 55, 74, and 95!

3. If you could have one superpower, what would it be? Teleportation. I love traveling and going to different places, but sometimes I swear it's so expensive just for the sake of being expensive. Being able to just teleport where I wanted to go would be awesome.

8. What are your current goals? Uh, to not die anytime soon? haha. No, but seriously, I think right now, my current goals are to get my passport renewed and update my WIPs on A03. Nothing too exciting, but considering I'm a slacker and procrastinate a lot, those are lofty goals for me. lol

27. What was the last book/movie that really impressed you? Hmm... the last movie I was impressed with that I can think of off the top of my head was probably Eddie Presley. I know I'm probably biased because it's a movie with Ted in it, but honestly, after I finished it, I couldn't stop thinking about it. Especially the ending. It got really heavy and emotional there, and it just kinda hit harder than I expected it to. It may have been slow to start, but it impressed me more than I thought it would. As for a book, that's a bit tougher. I think I'd have to go with... Hell Spring by Isaac Thorne. It's a horror novel set in rural Tennessee in 1955. At first, I found it a bit too weird and confusing, and I didn't think it was going to be a book I could finish. But after I got through the beginning and into the meat of the story, I was hooked. It's not a book for the easily offended or triggered. There are themes involving self-mutilation, questioning religion, domestic violence, hints of racism, and a character in denial over his sexuality. It's not an easy read, but it is a good read. There are some interesting elements to the story as well. Like the manipulation of time. I don't want to say anything to spoil things, though. That's the last book I read that I think actually impressed me with how good it was.

55. What is your favorite flower? Easy! I love sunflowers and daisies! I'm a simple girl. haha

74. Favorite candy? I'm a sucker for chocolate. But I think my favorite candy is Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. If we're talking non-chocolate, my favorite is probably... Swedish Fish. Or those vanilla flavored Tootsie Rolls.

95. Share your favorite quote. Uh... I've always been fond of the quote, "Don't dream it, be it."