#but the way it is most appealing to them is to merge with the person they love

[keen-eye]

i see a lot of posts about how dean would want to crawl inside sam and live there forever but i’ve always felt the opposite would be true. that dean would want to keep sam inside him to protect him from the outside world, to know that nothing can ever touch him. dean would keep sam behind his ribcage, or inside his shirt pocket or a locket. sam would still be with dean at all times and he’d always know where sam is and that’s he’s safe (let’s ignore that sam actually wouldn’t be much safer inside dean because their lives are constantly in danger, but maybe dean wouldn’t be so reckless). and dean wouldn’t have to worry about sam making any decisions that could potentially harm himself, meaning no more arguments.

although it depends on the context. the above applies to the time when they can’t escape the hunting life, which is pretty much the entire show. once the burden of saving the world is no longer theirs i think dean would want to live inside sam. then sam could live a normal life (which both sam & dean want more than anything) and not feel guilty for leaving dean (dean’s worst nightmare). because after being together their entire lives dean is the one who couldn’t bear separation the most.

dean would be happy and never have to miss a moment of sam’s life again, and sam wouldn’t have to experience dean’s death. i don’t believe that dean would ever be fully content quitting hunting for good, but now he wouldn’t have to die a warrior’s death which is the alternative. dean can enjoy his rest, then sam and dean’s souls ascend to heaven at the same time and dean doesn’t have to wait for him.

[tinydefector]

Okay. You've got me invested on the newest installation of Human Effects.

Now I can't stop imagine both Humans and Mechs alike having some sort of Google Form where they click on the Human/Mech they want to fuck and see which is the most desired amongst their respective species.

Now that I think about it, I think there'll be a lot of fighting. And chaos.

But then again, we live for the drama.

Human Effects Lost Records

Wordcount: 1.5k

Warnings: talk of sex, human/alien, pornhunting

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Lab logs

Did I take this as an opportunity to merge Human effects and laboratory logs together into a series yes I did. I'll be working on the human Effects timeline where human Effects 2 is spin-off pieces from the mainline.

_____________________

The Holo, cyber and inter webs had a strange beauty to them. It has given many the ability to communicate with different planets, species, to share culture, laughter, debates, videos And all sorts thanks to the many different satellites floating out in space. Everyone also enjoyed it for the use of downtime the most. Some had taken to enjoying Earth's entertainment platforms such as YouTube, Netflix and many other sights, others fell into more depraved sights such as Reddit, Twitter,Tumblr, Pornhub, interlink, Processed and other sights. 

Commlink: post Humans Aboard BLO freight.

BigBotNoStop: Alright mechs, I come bearing an inquiry. As you may have heard from some of my last posts, the newest additions to our crew are a thriving colony of soft, squishy humans. Word in the taproom is some have taken quite an interest in... extending cultural exchanges, if you catch my drift. Not really my field of experience and was hoping some of Xeno's here might have some input. 

Posted to Sublink: Human and cybertronian relationships?

But I'm curious, are interspecies acts even possible without harm? Their frames seem so fragile. One wrong motion and SPLAT! No more humans. quite a few members of our crew have shown interest in flirting... Thoughts? Suggestions for how to proceed with care- help a mech out!

Blazemech: Yo! You got fleshies on your ship! Fragging jealousy!. Your ship is looking for any dock workers?

TailOrTrails: Oh Primus, are we really having this discussion?? Look, I get the appeal of those soft little flesh bags. Really, I do - different wiring can be so freakin' hot. But there's no way a romp with one of those puny things ends well for them! Even accidentally bumping into a table puts them in the medbay. Think of the mess, One wrong thrust and you've got squish all over your plating.

ISOCLEAN: Just download some holofacing and use your imagination if you're that jonesing for an organic interface. Trust me, it's not worth the risk - or hassle of cleaning up after. sure you can find something from the Human sites on Mechanophilia, slutty Show and shine or Car Washes. Stay shiny and keep those servos to yourself, mechs! Some curiosities are better left to fantasies.

Flyboi69: Don't leave a mech hanging, I want deets!, has anybot here actually gotten friendly with a fleshie before? I'm talking about hands-on experience. We've all gotten curious watching, but has the real thing lived up to the fantasy? 

Pimptheride: Any tips for coaxing one into the berth, or does their tiny size mean you've got to take it slow and gentle? And most importantly... any videos out there of the deed? A mech's gotta do some, ah, research before taking the plunge. Hook a brother up if you've found any good amateur organic-on-mech action out there in the 'net. Gotta see it to believe it. 

ScienceSorcerer: For reasons. Does anyone know if humans have both Spikes and Valves? Or if they have any human anatomy holos or books and such from Earth they are willing to sell for some decent Shanix.  

T-Wrexz: Primus, you mechs are hungrier than fragging scraplets. As far as I know, relations between our kinds are still uncharted territory. Could be amazing, could end badly - who's to say until we try? Personally I'm keeping an optic out, just curious to see what new experiences those squishy aliens can offer us tough metal mechs. 

Bar-rizzla: Oho, look who's swapping tall tales. I've been keeping a close optic on our ships squishy company since they came aboard. And between you and me... I may have an in with their ambassador that could lead to some juicy first-hand intel. Just trying to track down the bot we think they are berthing with. Crews got bets out. Turns out they get just as curious about us big metal hunks as we are them!. The other night, their chat got particularly saucy after a few drinks. Lots of gossip and speculation about which lucky bot one of them might take for a private ride. 

WPHAS-Violation: I may have a certain special "human entertainment" vid I could share. Let's just say the organic in question got quite... friendly with an eager mini-con. You know where to find me if you're brave enough to watch! 

Tapemix54: Oho, mechs - think you've got it bad now? You should've seen some of the real deviants back before the war. When I was still stationed on Petrex, I knew this one smuggler - went by the name Rattler. Sneaky little scraplet, but Primus if he didn't have the wildest stories. Rattler used to run goods across time and space, dodging security at every turn. He'd pop up out of nowhere selling the rarest exotic "pets" to rich senators and other high caste mechs looking for a thrill. I'm talking aliens so bizarre even our data banks had never heard of their kind. But the highest bidder always walked away with a new "plaything" to break in, if you catch my drift. Word was Rattler even had a collection of sentient organics that he'd let special clients "test drive" between runs. Humans were apparently a favourite - their smaller frames could take all sorts of creative handling. Rattler had vids, too, of course, to entice buyers. I saw one once, let's just say "versatile" doesn't begin to cover it. Naturally the vids have all been scrubbed by now. But I bet if you knew where to dig in the deep web or some easily swayable Archivist, you might find traces of Rattler's stash still floating around out there.

 T-Wrexz: Whoa, whoa, slow your intake there tapemix! As much as I love a good far-fetched tale, I gotta call scrap on this one. Humans weren't even around back then, much less roaming the streets of Rodion as black market pets, I'm all for imagining exotic interface scenarios, but let's keep the stories at least somewhat rooted in known history, yeah?. Last I checked it was probably fabricated by Caminus cartels to make their actual goods seem tame. 

A few other mechs agree with T-Wrexz before a few kliks later a new post is put up. 

Post: 

"Old Iacon records saved of the Senator and his human Conjunx”

It's a file collection of holotapes and pictures: "Enjoy these are pre war photos of Senator Shockwave and his Human holding their sparkling" 

There are many holos and videos of the long gone senator smiling with his human perched on his shoulder, in the crystal garden with a young sparkling held in the human's arms. Videos of the sparkling playing with the two but the last The last holo looks like a family portrait with Shockwave’s frame in a lime green blue white paint with gold accessories,  his human lover is dressed in elegant robes and the small blue praxian sparkling held in their arms. Each holo is dated with the Iacon records seal of authentication. 

FlyBoi69: NO FREAKIN' WAY. Is this real?! *downloads files faster than Blurr* FRAG ME SIDEWAYS, I think I just popped a gasket! How in the PIT did you manage to dig up the holos of senator Shockwave, most of his speeches, debates and lectures were wiped. Where did you find this! 

Jackin0: of all mechs, with an actual human back in the Golden Age?!. I'm calling scrap on this being real. It's gotta be a flawless deepfake. By PRIMUS if true - to think ol' Shockers was living it up with a squishy. Maybe there's more to those Senatorial types than meets the optic...

T-Wrexz: Okay, I'll bite... but someone better explain to me RIGHT NOW how any of this computes! Last I checked, time travel and inter-species relationships were the stuff of erotic imagination, not legitimate pre-war archives. Tapemix, you better start talking. Where in the PIT did you source these files? How do we know they're authentic and not just an incredibly convincing parlour trick? Because if I'm gonna let these images ruin me, I wanna be ruined by the real deal! Spill it, mech. 

Iacon-Records: Tapemix54 could i please request where you discovered these as i work with Iacon records and this here is history that needs to be preserved. I'm willing to talk with you through a contractor if you would be willing for us to add these back into the new hall of records. Cybertron has lost so much and to find something like this I ask that we find a way to preserve it.  

BigBotNoStop: Pit take me now... I think I may have to reassess everything I thought I knew about interface and partnerships. That human is holding a sparkling curled around them - frag if it isn't the most beautiful thing I've ever seen! If anything could make me believe in miracles, it's this! Tapemix, you glorious glitch - how can I ever repay such an enlightening gift?

Tapemix54: These were filed only cycles after Shockwaves Emputra; they were added to the Iacon records by some Archivist under the title. 'I will Remember you for who you were'. This was right when the senate fell apart on the brink of the war. From my knowledge of information on Rattler he apparently had an outlier who he got to take them to different times since he was a shuttle made it easier to transport. That's from the  records that still exist at least. I'll take you up on that offer Iacon-records. 

________

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_____________

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[nayatarot777]

Lilith in Scorpio/8th house

this is intuitive astrology. meaning that i’m making these notes based on what i intuitively pick up about this astrological point being merged with these signs. take it with a grain of salt and understand that you might not relate to everything that i get from your placement 🖤

Astrology Masterlist

scorpio/8th house themes are always surrounding the taboo areas of life: death + birth/rebirth, trauma, debt + taxes, other people’s assets that they give to you (like an inheritance, for example), conscious secrets and fears (not secrets and fears like what you find in pisces/12th house - you don’t realise exist. 8th house secrets and fears are those that you consciously know about but don’t talk about), intimacy, sexuality, shared resources, and power and control.

the first thing that i think of when i see this placement is people shaming you for your traumas. the people who literally get victim blamed for the ways that they’ve been abused, shamed, and oppressed.

you could’ve experienced shame towards the way that you grieve too. towards someone’s death or your own trauma. for some reason, people love to shame you out of purging very real and very valid emotions during the grieving process.

your lilith energy is potent in scorpio/8th house. since this sign and house is the area of taboos, people could literally treat you like you’re a taboo yourself. as if you’re a topic of conversation that shouldn’t be touched on.

this placement could make a lot of people fear you as taboos and the unknown are usually feared - therefore avoided.

^ that’s another point. you’ve probably experienced people avoiding you like the plague. simply because your energy seems ‘dangerous’ or scary in some way.

an obsession with the taboos of society - sex, death, murder - anything that you can think of that society would look at you like you’re crazy for freely talking about.

also indicates a lot of obsession with anything occult. occultism could be where you find your personal power. where you channel your rage from all of the times that you were scapegoated, oppressed, and abused. for example: someone who send dark and baneful magic to those who’ve fucked with them.

you guys have the most potent energy of a man-eater if you’re a woman. this isn’t like lilith in the 1st house/aries in which men will see you as their opponent to challenge. you’re literally seen by them as woman who are threats. threats that they can’t fight or dominate because they wouldn’t even know how to oppose you.

^ again, your feminine energy is one big taboo. and taboos are never ventured into. it’s like trying to fight the darkness. or a ghost. something that you know of but don’t understand and don’t want to. men could never.

if you find yourself suppressing this energy, then you’ll find yourself meeting people and falling victim to people (especially men) who are the worst human beings that you could imagine. murderous-type people. the people who could cause you serious harm. and these are usually men who you end up merging with heavily in relationships (as this is the sign/house of intimacy).

you could face a double dose of shame from yourself for the secrets that you know you carry. especially if they’re sexual secrets.

your sexuality could be very taboo too. i said this in the lilith in taurus/2nd house observations - lilith in scorpio/8th house is a placement that could indicate prostitution. actually having sex with clients in exchange for money, and not just using sex appeal or the image of sex to make money.

^ but random, but if you have lilith in gemini in the 8th house, or your lilith placement just has aspects to 3rd house planets/mercury, you could lead a double life that involves you selling sexual content online. and nobody knows about this.

this placement is also a placement that makes me think of people who marry rich people for the sake of gaining that inheritance money after their spouse dies. you know the young women who marry old men who are knocking at death’s door? yeah 😂

you find a lot of shame from others for your sexuality but a lot of power too. could be into power dynamics in your relationships/deep sexual relationships - like BDSM dynamics.

you have the power to manipulate people into giving you their money/possessions and assets through your sexuality. doesn’t even have to be through sex itself because your sexual energy is POTENT. you hold power over other people’s shit.

you could fear showing femininity in a way. just because you know that - considering the world we live in - femininity is not viewed as something powerful by men. and lilith in scorpio/8th house is all about holding onto power. therefore, you may keep your feminine side a secret to yourself.

could’ve experienced the most shame in long term relationships, after marriage, etc. after you gain a certain level of intimacy with someone, that person turns around and shames you.

and that’s why lilith here is a very prominent placement for experiencing extremely heavy-hitting betrayals. therefore gaining a huge fear of intimacy and being betrayed again.

your sexuality could be very dark. adding onto the sexual secrets, you could have secret kinks and fetishes that you feel like the average person would shame you and demonise you heavily for.

[transscribepage]

"We are ambivalent, then, about beginnings- their 'creation myth' aspect appeals to our sense of narrative imperative, but we sometimes find the 'first it wasn't, then it was' lie-to-children unpalatable. We have even more trouble with becomings. Our minds attach labels to things in the surrounding world, and we interpret those labels as discontinuities. If things have different labels, then we expect there to be a clear line of demarcation between them. The universe, however, runs on processes rather than things, and a process starts as one thing and becomes another without ever crossing a clear boundary. Worse, if there is some apparent boundary, we are likely to point to it and shout 'that's it!' just because we can't see anything else worth getting agitated about.

How many times have you been in a discussion in which somebody says 'We have to decide where to draw the line'? For instance, most people seem to accept that in general terms women should be permitted abortions during the earliest stages of pregnancy but not during the very late stages. 'Where you draw the line' , though, is hotly debated - and of course some people wish to draw it and one extreme or the other. There are similar debates about exactly when a developing embryo becomes a person, with legal and moral rights. Is it at conception? When the brain first forms? At birth? Or was it always a potential person, even when it 'existed' as one egg and one sperm?

The 'draw a line' philosophy offers a substantial political advantage to people with hidden agendas. The method for getting what you want is first to draw the line somewhere that nobody would object to, and then gradually move it to where you really want it, arguing continuity all the way. For example, having agreed that killing a child is murder, the line labelled 'murder' is then slid back to the instant of conception; having agreed that people should be allowed to read whichever newspaper they like, you end up supporting the right to put the recipe for nerve gas on the Internet.

If we were less obsessed with labels and discontinuity, it would b much easier to recognize that the problem here is not where to draw the line: it is that the image of drawing a line is inappropriate. There is no sharp line, only shades of grey that merge unnoticed into one another- - despite which, one end is manifestly white and the other is equally clearly black. An embryo is not a person, but as it develops it gradually becomes one. There is no magic moment at which it switches from non-person to person - instead, it merges continuously from one into the other. Unfortunately our legal system operates in rigid black-and-white terms - legal or illegal, no shades of grey - and this causes a mismatch, reinforced by our use of words as labels. A kind of triage might be better: this end of the spectrum is legal, that end of the spectrum is illegal, and in between is a grey area which we do our best to avoid if we possibly can. if we can't avoid it, we can at least adjust the degree of criminality and the appropriate penalty according to whereabouts in the spectrum the activity seems to lie.

Even such obviously black-and-white- distinctions as alive/dead or male/female turn out, on close examination, to be more like a continuous merging than a sharp discontinuity. Pork sausages from the butcher's contain many live pig cells. With today's techniques you might even clone an adult pig from one. A person's brain can have ceased to function but their body, with medical assistance, can keep going. There are at least a dozen different combinations of sex chromosomes in humans, of which only XX represent the traditional female and XY the traditional male."

-The Science of Discworld, Terry Pratchett, Ian Stewart, Jack Cohen

[utilitycaster]

i've seen some people say kipperlilly is neurodivergent but it's more them being like BUT THE RATGRINDERS ARE KIDS!!! and it's like yeah??? so are most of the characters in this show? it's set in high school? penelope everpetal is in hell right now? so idk why THESE kids are being treated differently

RIGHT.

I'm trying to answer a question about both the D20 discourse and the CR discourse but like. There is a post going around in the CR fandom about how it doesn't make sense to apply real-world morality to ttrpgs, which firstly is not entirely wrong but it's much more complicated than that and secondly and more importantly I'd take it way more seriously if it weren't coming from the people who threw a fit when I said that treating Imogen's powers as a metaphor for real-world queerness is reductive and stupid and who keep treating Orym's status as a guard as a member of like, the US Military. The real answer is "D&D settings have their own moral framework, and you need to make arguments based on those, rather than the real world, but there is often some overlap."

I think, as your post points out, this is one of those cases where you do need to work within the moral framework of the show. Penelope is in hell. It is a show about teenage adventurers. Two of the Bad Kids died in the second episode, famously. While I suspect they'd never cross the line of like, a serious romantic or sexual relationship between and adult and one of the high schoolers, in basically any other context the students of the Aguefort Academy are treated as children or adults based on, essentially, which is funnier. The way to get your magic GED is to battle monsters to the death. The way to graduate is to go on a full D&D adventure. It's normal for a high school senior to have access to like, Power Word Kill. The premise of this world is "D&D but in a John Hughes movie setting" and the premise of a lot of D&D is "killing your enemies is part of the story." Like, I've said this before (as has Brennan) but a big appeal of D&D is that you don't need to be patient and send a polite email and let the person who dangerously cut you off on the highway merge in because otherwise you'll get in an accident and smile through the microagressions (let alone put up with larger injustices); you can just straight up kill your way through problems and wake up the next morning fresh and refreshed with full HP and 8 hours of sleep behind you. You don't have to swallow your anger; you can cast fireball on a bitch. As I've also said before, if your entire table likes finding peaceful solutions in D&D, fine, play that way, but I came here to cast fireball and I find you preachy, boring, and stupid.

The rules of this world are "teens are full-blown adventurers and are treated as such." The Rat Grinders are on the same footing as the Bad Kids; there is no imbalance of power here (indeed, they even have the favor of some teachers themselves)! Yeah, if the Bad Kids were actually a bunch of 30-somethings this would play much differently but if they're their classmates? go off.

[justaghostingon]

God Games: A master class in Character Depth

An analysis of God Games from Epic the Musical

Handling Characters is hard, especially when u have only a few lines in a song to establish an entire personality, while sharing it with five other new characters. Where most would result in sterotypes or flat characters, Epic the musical manages to make its gods seem developed and three dimensional, and act it does by deliberately playing against audience expectations.

In the modern era, Greek mythology is fairly mainstream, thanks to works like Percy Jackson. The gods in god games, Apollo, Hephestis, Aphrodite, Ares, and Hera, are all well known, with established canon. Even if u don’t pay attention to greek mythologu if u can help it, u prob know thr basics like Hera getting mad at Zeus and his (often unwilling) affair partners, Aphrodite as the goddess of love who is always causing problems, or Ares as the brash god of war. Epic the musical knows this. Its expecting you, who have listened for this long, to be familiar with the core myths, and so builds off what you already know by subverting expectations.

Beginning at the first solo with Apollo, famous for music and the sun, we see this begin. Now arguably Apollo is the least well known of the bunch, so he has to establish himself in the opening “you all know im a fan of catchy songs.” But what fasinates me is what he doesn’t say. Now im not a hundred percent certain if Apollo and Helios have been merged in Epic the musical, since in Mutiny they don’t to my knowledge mention the sun god’s name, but its implied to be apollo. Apollo’s friends, the immortal cows, have been killed by Odysseus’s crew, but Apollo doesn’t hold a grudge against that. He doesn’t even mention it. Instead he focuses on the sirens, who most would consider monsters, and argues for their personhood by denouncing their massacre: “with so many siren’s gone, i think ody’s in the wrong” Athena backs up this personhood established by Apollo by never once acusing them of being less human than Odysseus, only arguing that they struck first. She even claims it will teach the other sirens to be more cautious, which ultimately wins Apollo over. Taken together, this paints Apollo as far more than a flippant singer, but rather someone who does not hold the actions of others against Ody, and instead sees personhood in those who are often denied it. He is just and compassionate, and it is through appealing to both his sense of justice and compassion that Athena wins.

Next is Hephestis, blacksmith of the gods. Although his birth of being thrown off olympus by Zeus for being ugly and subsequently working his way back up is fairly well known, his most common myth is his marriage to Aphrodite and her subsequent cheating on him. Hephestis in god games shows signs of being burned by this betrayal, focusing on thr work it takes to trust someone. “trust is not given its forged” In asking why he should help someone who “sacrified his own cohort” he is essentially asking why he should help someone like aphrodite and Zeus, who were willing to turn their backs on those that trusted them for their own petty gain. Athena then refutes this by reminding Hephestis of the differences in Odysseus’s story and his own. Odysseus was betrayed first, and thus has thr right to act, as Hephestis once did when he literally caught Aphrodite and Ares cheating in a golden net and left them that way for all the gods to laugh at them. To close the deal, Athena reminds Hephestis that Odysseus still has people who trust and miss him, and he has thr opportunity to rebuild, just as Hephestis himself has had to do, thus winning his support.

Aphrodite marks the beginning of the most famous trio introduced in this song. Most listeners already know her as the frivolous god who pushes romantic above everythinf, even to the people’s own detriment. Just look at the mess she made with Helena and Paris! Aphrodite herself is well aware of her reputation, calling Athena out for judging her, “little miss high and mighty.” But her beef with Odysseus is not for his rejection of Calypso or even Circe, but rather his mother’s suffering. The focus on the platonic love between mother and son reveals another side to her character, that she is representing other types of love as well, especially that of women who are so often forgotten in the grand scheme of things. Even Athena overlooks Aphrodite’s point, claiming that Odysseus’s war was a justifablr reason to overlook it. However Aphrodite stands her ground, pointing out how his proud snd unnecessary actions are the reason he could not get back to his mother in time “more like busy spiting the cyclops” Athena seems to realize this in the end, switching her tune to a gentler one to match Aphrodite’s before she is intrupted. In the end, it is the reminder that “a broken heart can mend” and i suspect the mention of Odysseus’s son that sway her. Unlike his mother, Odysseus has a chance to mend his son’s broken heart, a goal Aphrodite is willing to release him to meet.

Ares interuption establishes two things about him right up front. First that he is every bit the brash, dangerous god he’s known as, and to establish he has his own sense of honor, which disaproves of Athena changing her tone to sway Aphrodite “really athena? These old tricks.” His following rant about Odysseus leaving his friends to die without even trying further establish his worldview. He’s not mad at Odysseus for failing against Cyilla, he’s mad he ��held back” his power and “didn’t even try.” Much like Uncle Ben, Ares believes with great power comes great responsibility. By Odysseus “holding back” he fails in his responsibility as a leader anf a warrior. In Ares eyes, every fight should be fair, face to face instead of using tricks, a proper test of skill and power. To hold back power or to resort to trickery is in his mind the same as having none leading to the comparison with Odysseus’s son. It is here he makes his misstep. By calling someone Athena values as weak, he is escentually calling Athena weak, giving her the opportunity to call him out This briefly gives Athena the upper hand, “hold your tongue now, his son’s my friend!” Which she uses to both finish her arguement with Aphrodite, “tell your lover,” and remind Ares that despite his actions in the past, Odysseus in not going to hold back anymore, not against the men camped out in his palace harrassinf his wife and kid. This ultimately causes both Aphrodite and Ares to agree, though nether is fully convinced.

The final battle of wits is against Hera, the queen of thr gods herself. In most common myths, Hera comes across as bitter and petty, lashing out at the unfortunate women her husband takes advantage of (and their hero children) instead of her husband. But God games hera instead stands aloof, almost omnipotent. “So many heroes, so many tales” she reminds Athena that to her, Odysseus (and even Athena herself) is mearly a story character, one of thousands of stories she has seen. Why should she interfere? What makes this story different? “Give me one good reason why yours should prevail.” Hera isn’t impressed by any of Odysseus’s accomplishments or skills: “he’d got the mind of a genius, try harder.” What matters to her, (and what i suspect Athena knew from the getgo would be her trump card) is the marriages she is the goddess of, and the faithfulness even her own godly husband is incapable of. “Never once has he cheated on his wife.” In bringing up this fact, in making it personal, Athena turns Odysseus from a character in a story hera is tired of, to one she is rooting for, thus winning her support.

All in all, i think god games did an excellent job of handling these five gods’ introductions. The depth of character is truely impressive.

And if u don’t know what im talking about, look up god games on youtube, they’ve got some beautiful animatics.

[leliwardens]

kind of want to throw together a collection of my thoughts from the new veilguard news and while i do have exceptionally positive thoughts over some things most is...not. and that was kind of what i expected from what i had seen previously, and the limited choices thing.

(spoilers + negativity under the cut)

like the return of a certain character, horrific and racist design aside, is for...who exactly? with no choices to influence them, then it's not really for long term fans outside the ones that just like random cameos i suppose? and it's presumably a fun npc for new fans but that could of been fulfilled with a new npc with no ties to previous games.

from what i've seen i do think that really sums it up for my biggest issue. it's even worse than inquisition with trying to cater to everyone, but this time around there's less for the longterm fans (unless you played a certain route, it seems).

and this in mind with veilguard being described as a "send off"? for...who exactly i ask again? i know that's far more opinion based with reviews and will vary from person to person, but like...given you have no influence over any returning characters or major previous events, then it's not sending off anything for long term fans. the most i can assume/hope for is a bookend with killing the last of the old gods and finding a cure, but without any mention of the hero of ferelden it rings hollow. and i truly can believe this is a send off to, i guess, any final remnants of everything that came before a big time skip which i always suspected would happen just not coming from a game that already cut off previous material.

and this is purely my opinion but one of the small fears i had was this was just a springboard for the next mass effect game it......unfortunately seems like the case. both franchises are cash cows but the space military shooter is the bigger one i guess lmao. i like me fine, casual fan, but it never stuck with me the way da did, and i never liked how regressive it felt compared TO da or restrictive when it comes to roleplay. but again opinions. i just want both franchises to be their own thing, but it's being blended together probably because the dev cycles are hot fucking garbage for bigger and bigger games and having to merge elements to make it a big more bearable and more general audience appeal. so i won't be surprised if veilguard was a testing ground for me5 and it shows.

idk, there's other things like i'm not sure what to make of the apparent lack of conflict between characters of lack of meaningful choices, both are very objective based and from what i under don't come from unbias places. regardless i wouldn't be surprised if it were the case given how toothless inquisition was made, so this seems like it's on the right track. and the lack of moral grey? apparently? still feeling like it's an unfortunate natural progression also from inquisition, with the broadening of the audience appeal because you gotta make more and more money but i'd also not be surprised of fan backlash (some fair and some not) lead to more basic palatable choices.

we'll see how it goes when i play but i think my opinion won't change much given there isn't anything you can do about the limited choices, which is really what killed it for me.

[squib-2006]

like a month and a half ago I wrote about Ninjago for a school essay and it has been itching at my brain cuz my teacher gave me an 80 on both the draft and final despite me adding three new paragraphs to it like he suggested and also having three people proofread it and say it was good. he didn't even tell me what I did wrong and it's driving me insane. so I thought I might share it here because I put a lot of effort into it.

(will include spoilers for Dragons Rising season one but not season 2 cuz this was written before it came out)

Ninjago Dragons Rising and How to do a Soft Reboot

When a show goes on for a while, it can become pretty stagnant. The way showrunners and creators try to fix this problem is with a soft reboot. They introduce new characters and locations to spice things up, or in the most extreme cases, they reset the entire story, but still try to acknowledge that everything that happened before still happened. This can have a polarizing effect on fans of the show, and it may, or may not, drive some fans away. In the case of Lego Ninjago, a show that has been going on for fifteen seasons as of 2022, the writers have a challenge in trying to do a soft reboot, while not sacrificing the history and appeal of the show. This is the first time I have seen a soft reboot that has managed to keep the heart and soul of a show while making things fresh and new.

One of the first things that they improved was the characterization. A lot of the time, if a show goes on for a while, the characters can suffer from Flanderization. “The act of taking a single (often minor) action or trait of a character within a work and exaggerating it more and more over time until it completely consumes the character. Most always, the trait/action becomes completely outlandish, and it becomes their defining characteristic, turning them into a caricature of their former selves” (“Flanderization”). This is often quite common in media that has gone on for a while. For example, one of the characters Kai started out as a hot-headed brave person, but as the show went on, he became more stupid and reckless.

The show fixed this by giving the characters a new purpose. Kai became a mentor to Wyldfyre, a new character in the show, and he became more levelheaded and enjoyable as a character. He isn’t the only character to benefit from new characters being added. All of the new characters serve a purpose to the show. Arin is one of the new main characters, he acts as an audience surrogate, specifically for the returning fans of the series. To put it in simple terms, Arin is a super fan of the main cast. This background allows him to make references to the older seasons, without it sounding forced or out of place. On the other hand, his counterpart Sora has the exact opposite role. She is the audience surrogate for newcomers. She isn’t from the original world where some of the main cast came from. Thus, she is able to ask questions that will fill in newcomers to the show on old lore from previous seasons.

Another thing that they did, that I haven’t seen in other shows, is expand the world. In the world of the show, there exists sixteen realms. The whole plot of the soft reboot is that all of these realms merge together, which makes one massive new world. This opens up a lot of possibilities, and the world that the show existed in before the soft reboot was already thoroughly explored. Adding the new area definitely adds a new layer of excitement to the show.

The show also had a problem with stale villains. They have recycled villains multiple times, and most villains are pretty bland. With the new show, they added the kingdom of Imperium, which has its own villain empress Beatrix. Her lackeys, Ras and Rapton, are both unique in their own ways. Rapton is a dragon hunter, who is obsessed with capturing dragons for fun. While Ras is a mysterious outsider from another realm, he has an allegiance to another unknown person, and this adds mystery to his character.

I have watched this show since I was in third grade. It has been an important part of my life for years. Every time there was a new trailer, I would spend hours looking over every little detail and theorizing what would happen next. Up until season 10, all the episodes would air on Cartoon Network, which was unfortunate since my family used streaming services instead. I was so excited to go to my grandparents and watch the episodes since they had cable. Eventually with season 11, they moved the show to Netflix, and I got to watch them as they came out instead of binging them all at once when I went to my grandparents’ house.

Unfortunately for me season 11 was extremely disappointing. The season had a good concept, but a poor execution. It also used a lot of tropes for the characters and failed to resolve the conflict in a satisfying way. This season is known amongst fans as one of the worst seasons to ever come out of the show. It was so disappointing to me, that when I saw the trailer for season 12, I just lost interest. The plot seemed boring, and I didn’t care for the character they were focusing on. So, I dropped the show and ignored it for about two years, until I saw a clip from an episode I had never watched. To my surprise, I liked it, and it was actually funny for once. I ended up looking up more clips and episodes, eventually watched the seasons I missed, and regretted giving up the show. Season 11 was just a rough patch, and due to me dropping the show, I had missed two of the best seasons the show had ever had, seasons 13 and 14. Season 15 was an ok season all together. Looking back a year and a half later, it was definitely made to tie up any loose ends that the show had before the soft reboot happened.

All this change and improvement is great for the series. When the creators first announced that Ninjago was getting a new TV show, and that it would be a soft reboot of the show, I was concerned. Soft reboots have a history of not really benefiting a show at all. It often ends up falling back on old ideas or introduces new ideas that don’t fit well with the show. As more trailers and clips started releasing, I was once again reminded why I love the show so much. The world and characters are amazing, and the story never fails to reel me in. This new TV series is a promising new step in a good direction. I personally can’t wait until the next season.

[nevereverthem]

how do you think the mystic falls gang would have reacted if bonnie actually hooked up with kai?

TVD what if :

Ok, I tried thinking about this one and it was a bit hard. I focus so much on Bonkai these days that I kind of forgot how the other characters think and act.

I still wrote some stuff. Hope it's not OOC or at least not too much.

Please tell me in the comments !!!!

It doesn't make people want to read when I denigrate my own thoughts and writing, does it ? 💀💀💀💀

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

Depends on the moment, but let's imagine Bonnie and Kai actually stayed longer in the prison world. They decide on a sort of 'truce' and end up hooking up not so long after. You know, sexual tension and all. 🙄 Then Kai will remember his sister's knife, betray Bonnie etc....

We've got Kai post-merge. He helps the gang stop Bonnie from killing herself. She comes back home.

Blabla.... Here we are a little time before they go to get the Salvatore mom from 1903.

Kai gets to handle his new emotions but is still being cocky and insensitive at times.

Damon's reaction :

Kai's nonchalantly sitting on a couch in the Salvatore house. Damon's here, keeping an eye on him.

_ You know, I can't believe you spent four months in that hellhole with such a beautiful woman and never tried anything.

Damon rolls his eyes at him, annoyed.

_ Maybe you're not her type. Though it only took me two weeks to get her consent.

The vampire can't believe what he just heard. His body tenses.

_ What are you saying ?

Kai grins wide, pleased he piqued Damon's curiosity.

_ Two witches in a bedroom. What could have happened ? I say bedroom but I should add couch, kitchen-

He doesn't have the time to finish his sentence that he's shoved against the nearest wall, vampire arms' strength keeping him in place.

_ She would never touch you.

Damon almost spits his words at Kai who's not impressed.

_ Oh, she did.

The vampire pushes him further on the wall if it's even possible. His eyes are dark, filled with rage.

_ Damon, stop !

Bonnie's voice reaches them from the side. They both look at her, then back at each other.

_ That's her bossy side that appealed me the most.

_ Shut up Kai.

_ See ?

Damon sakes him once more. Kai could easily throw him away with magic but it's way more fun to see him lose his temper over their sexual interaction.

_ What did he do ?

The vampire answers, eyes locked on the man he's maintaining on the wall.

_ He says you slept with him.

There's a short moment of silence.

_ Oh, that.... Yes, I did.

_ What !?

Damon turns his head to her, an incredulous look on his face.

_ I slept with him. So, what ?

_ We're talking about Kai.

The man in question raises a hand.

_ Yup. Here !

He's being ignored by both of them, so he lowers his hand. Damon continues.

_ The guy tried to kill me when we met. He shot you with an arrow. He left you in that prison world all by yourself and-

_ And, yet you ask me to work with him to get your mom back. Let's say we're even.

Damon freezes a second, he doesn't say anything. Kai mouthes a 'wow' with his lips and nods on agreement.

_ So, now would you please let him go ? We need him for the spell.

Damon looks back at Kai with murderous eyes. The bastard wears a stupid smile on his face. He's lucky to be useful today. The vampire reluctantly releases him, stepping back.

Kai gives Bonnie a warm smile.

_ Thank you-

_ Don't.

She stops him, hand in the air. She then turns her back on them, heading to the kitchen. Damon follows her, throwing Kai a look that indicates him to leave them alone....

Caroline's reaction :

I think she would want to argue about the 'bad guy, bad decision' thing. Blabla.

But she had no existence in what happened to Bonnie. She was too busy taking care of her mom who was in hospital. Then, when she was dead, Caroline decided to turn her humanity off. She didn't even have any sort of reaction when she saw Bonnie was back.

And in my opinion she would be the last person to be able to judge her since she slept with Klaus. And we all know all that it implies.

Overall, I think she might want to argue but then just make sure her friend is okay (when she has her humanity back on).

Elena's reaction :

I feel like she would understand-ish. ~

I mean, she's in love with a guy who kills people when he's heartbroken sooooo..... 🙄

She would be like "Sure, he kidnapped me, chased me through our highschool and practiced magic on me like I was his personal guinea pig.... But he's cute and I'm sure there's good in him, deep down. I found it in Damon, so hey, who am I to judge ? Also, the guy almost died to help saving you from killing yourself. So I guess sleeping with him balances it all. Oh right you didn't know about that part ? Surprise ! You would be dead if that weren't for him. Yes, that's his fault you were trapped by yourself in the first place....... He fixed his 'mistake' ? Anyway, I don't mind......... Is he good in bed ? .... What ? Just asking. 🙄🤣

Stefan's reaction :

Honestly I have no idea. He's been too busy with Caroline, basically. 😭

Kai sort of helped get Stefan's mom back.

I suppose he'd just want to be sure Bonnie's alright. And he'd be like 🤷‍♀️.

Matt's reaction :

I'm sure he would be like "WTF Bonnie ?"

He would be shocked at first but he would be more worried than anything else. Bonnie's traumatized by what she went through. The conflict between the trauma and the sexual interaction could be hard on her.

At the same time, he's used to having friends who make dubious choices. So, he's focused on being happy Bonnie's here.

_ Whatever you decide. Just be safe.

_ I'm not in a relationship. I've just slept with him.

_ Whatever. Just be safe. I don't want to lose more of my friend to that supernatural shit.

Tyler's reaction :

At that point, he would be so protective of Liv that the shock is sort of rapidly replaced by something like "Use whatever sexual power you have over him to keep him away from Liv."

When Liv decided to go and try to kill Kai she "chose death over" Tyler. Now they're separated. But he still cares.

_ I love her. So keep him away.

Bonnie's like "WTF !?"

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

So, that's it !

I hope my rambling was up to your expectations. That's what came to mind when I thought about your question.

Btw, I first wrote it entirely and was so satisfied, but I forgot to save it..... I was so pissed and had to write it all again. I feel like the previous version was way better but I could not remember it all perfectly. 😭😭😭😭

So here we are.

Tell me what you think in the comments !

💀💀💀💀

The Vampire Diaries Masterlist

[terrence-silver]

What would Terry and Beloved wear to the Met Gala?

---

Terry Silver strikes me as a bit more lowkey as to attend the Met Gala.

Not because he has anything particularly for or against it, but simply because it's not his scene necessarily, I don't think. Well, not in the way most people would understand, that is. He's not actor. He's not a singer. He's not an aspiring Starlet. He's not looking for a role. He's not a celebrity in the classical sense. He's wealth. He's power. He's that person half of Hollywood probably wants to be like. He's the guy on a gala afterparty who hangs out with all the bigwigs in a joint or salon off limits even to most A-listers where actual business is being discussed while everyone outside's doing rounds on the Red Carpet, showing off their respective frills and feathers, wooing journalists, fans and reporters. And that's not to say Terry Silver's quite so lowkey as not to be flashy or revile costume events, because we all know this man's extravagant as all hell (after all, he showed up to the All-Valley in a silk red ascot) it is just that he's probably looking for ways to make a profit, swindle a deal, make some sort of connection, discover a secret he could later use as leverage or expand a businesses even at such a major event and it literally takes minimal effort on his part to steal everyone's limelight even if he does briefly appear in front of the actual cameras; everyone's there, decked out in excessive levels of elaborate, thematic costuming and Terry Silver shows up in a classical, immaculately-tailored tux and he's still somehow the highlight of the Red Carpet because of how imposing and handsome he is, without any adornments needed to enhance him --- a fact that makes him infinitely gleeful because that right there --- that's influence. He's not a dance monkey. He watches all the other monkeys dance.

As for beloved?

Does he want to share them with the whole world? To be judged? Their outfit measured and rated? Deemed good or bad? Their face? Body? Eyes? Hands? Nose? Legs? Hair? All on display for everyone who isn't him? Plastered across the news? Across TV? I don't think so. If they attend, they never leave his side for a moment, tucked away with him at some private VIP lounge, where their presence remains confined with him and for him only --- he's selfish and greedy like that. Terry Silver shows up at the Met Gala very briefly, becomes the talk of the whole event, spoils it for everyone who put Millions of dollars into outfits only to be outshined by someone in a tux and a Rolls Royce, disappears at will and the reason he appeared in the first place was to meet up with some Los Angeles fat cats and toast to a newly merged business; a million dollar deal happening behind closed doors.

In his older days, present time?

He's more prone to have an actual celebrity that appeals to young people and the general crowd attend with some sort of Cobra Kai related insignia in the theme of their outfit in order to promote his line of dojos, tactically hooking in people to sign up, rather than do anything of the sort himself. Hey. It's excellent marketing. We'd be shocked how many people will feel drawn to a thing if, say, in the 80's, Paula Abdul stepped out at the Met with the Cobra Kai symbol on her dress or if thirty years later, some famous person did the same. Or if even several of them did it at the same time.

[etirabys]

Over the past few years I've eased off on trying to be an "appealing blog" and have let myself be weird and boring. I feel less vulnerable but more of a full person. It's nice.

I'm kind of touched people still engage with me / seem to like my posts even though I'm dequeuing random stuff that feels important and real to me but isn't interesting.

The part of me that wants to play popularity / follower-count-go-up games is getting exercised on twitter. I expect to get bored of this – my follower count is lower on twitter, but the negative interaction rate is higher due to the algorithm showing my content to randos faster than I can block them. My lust for attention will almost certainly be slaked before I hit 10K. After that, maybe I'll find another outlet.

My relationship with internet attention is different. I used to treat the internet as my diary because I wanted understanding, and because I had a deep and right feeling that my thoughts are public property. Now, at least on tumblr, the second factor is dominant. (I disclose much less than when I was younger because my irl and internet social spheres merged and intense disclosure embarrasses me, and because my most vibrant thoughts are increasingly about other people's private thoughts. It is nice to not be lonely, but what a cost.)

I notice I've barely linked my porn of the past 4 months anywhere, including in my actual porn server on Discord*. I just don't think those works are very good. I would love to get a flood of reviews and kudos, but the lack of it doesn't bother me. I am content to put the works out there and get 500 hits.

*By the way, if you have zero triggers, want an invite to my erotica writing and reccing Discord, and are okay being declined after a brief vetting conversation, DM me.

The me of five or ten years ago – who craved attention for her creativity – would be shocked by this attitude. But I'm now comfortable with the long game – if what I write is really good, eventually lots of people will be reading everything I write, the way I read everything by an author who passes a certain bar of competence / kink compatibility. If I'm good enough, it'll happen. If I'm not, it won't. Seems fine.

I'm happy to feel this way and not the way I used to feel. And I'm happy to be boring on here, and make meandering posts like this.

[captmickey]

Noticing the “Open” sign on your shop, I mosey in to talk.

- Favourite act of Three Adventurers?

- The secrets to bear in mind when mapping out a comic page?

- Creativity is most fun when ________.

- Share a behind the scenes moment from your art/writing. (I blank out if asked questions like this, but maybe one will come to mind while answering another question?)

- If you were a fan creating a favourite quotes page from your works, what would be some of the quotes you’d collect?

-How far can Link’s ears toggle? What is the range of those things?

(Pick and choose any of the above!)

1 - Favourite act of Three Adventurers? Ooooh... hmm, I feel like it'll change as I go further down the line, but so far it's a tie between acts 5 and 7. Five because it forced me to get creative with how to distinguish the boys when they're one person (and I'm sorry, but I love Effie so much and I miss her as well as Giggle). Seven because I really did try to do better with pacing, I got to explore more with Guybrush within 3adv, how all of ya'll reacted towards Mako (and me clapping my hands like a seal with each week), and because I FINALLY got to do the cool action shot I've been dying to do since I started 3adv- which was Graham shooting the ice arrow as he's shot out of the water.

2 - The secrets to bear in mind when mapping out a comic page? DO. NOT. CLUTTER. LESS IS MORE. I have to scream that at myself and then go "Can this panel, if it's not working for the page, be pushed to the next page? Does it add anything? Can it be scrapped? Can a different panel be scrapped or even merged?" and go from there. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but I try to make my panels cohesive and not a jumble of too many panels. Also reeeeeeeally helps to have the speech bubbles easy to follow and lead the eye. I read it somewhere once and it kinda lived in my head ever since.

3 - Creativity is most fun when ________. When you do it for yourself. I know it's more appealing and even rewarding when others respond or give feedback (I'd be a liar if I didn't admit of being guilty of wanting it), but it's super important and critical and even liberating when you create things for yourself first. I read somewhere, I think it was Alex Hirsch or Rebecca Sugar (or both and I'm combining the two) how when they made their shows, they did it as a something that they wanted to see and refused to budge for the fans, so I take that to heart when I make things. It might not be everyone's cup of tea, it might even anger or frustrate or have them throw a fit how it's not what they want... but when I'm making things for myself, it becomes way more fun and I don't feel so pressured. I even might surprise myself with what I'm able to pull off and that, as a creator, is so much fun.

4 - Share a behind the scenes moment from your art/writing. I have too many, ha ha. But one in particular was how I recently broke out of a writer's block of sorts of Act 8 of 3adv. Mainly I was on my way to work and honestly it was just.... a very ridiculous Looney Tunes-esqe kind of scenario with Guybrush that made me burst out loud in the car that I had to share with my sister (she is the only one that knows the entire spoiler for all of 3adv and tragically the one I bombard for feedback) and she, bless her so much, slam-dunked with an even dumber idea that made us both laugh super hard and things began to click so perfectly that I got to writing again after um... actively avoiding it. So when the act drops, and you see a joke that seems almost TOO cartoonish.... I apologize in advance.

5 - If you were a fan creating a favourite quotes page from your works, what would be some of the quotes you’d collect? You're really making me go through my works aren't ya? Ha ha, lets see.... off the top of my head that is posted and not, y'know, a WIP. From Act 7: The pirate’s jaw tightened slightly before he gave a smile that dripped with venomous resentment. “I did, actually. In fact, I’d say I thought it rather well considering you were more focused on beating me up both physically AND emotionally! Wow, who’d a thought a simple pirate such as myself could do such a thing!”  From Perspective: Number Two slammed the final nail in the coffin as Number One bursted out laughing, unable to contain himself. Did that boy really bring that in and thought it was a ticket? Who was the trickster that convinced him it was one?! The other guards laughed alongside him, but he simply had to leave the Theater out of fear that he would appear to be more unprofessional than he already was, laughing the whole way out.

From This Can Be Explained: “Okay, so don’t freak out–”

“Guybrush, there’s a dead body on the floor! How can I not freak out?!” Link shouted. From Sea of Adventurers: “Although… you two made it very clear that the seas doesn’t run in your veins.”

“How so?” Graham asked, sounding somewhat insulted, even though it was the truth.

“You two screamed the entire journey from where you initially washed up to this town when you witnessed the kraken and sharks.” The Pirate Lord explained. “You also crashed your ship repeatedly into the deck, anchored in the wrong place and at one point managed to set it on fire.”

There are more quote that I'm blanking out on... but I am curious what ya'lls favorite quotes are.

6 - How far can Link’s ears toggle? What is the range of those things? Pretty expressive! But mostly it goes up and down, not back and forward. I think I showed its range?

But yeah, it's rarely super high up but it does perk up when extremely happy, twitches when he hears noises and droops when annoyed, scared or bummed. But by default his ears is like.... juuuuuuust partially up, always listening. I ah........... realized it became canon when it happened in Breath of the Wild. So of course I made it canon in 3adv.

[loser-jpg]

i wanted to talk more about professor venomous shadowy figure and shadowy venomous.

So shadowy figure was created as an alternate persona while professor venomous was trying to regain his powers, but SF and PV have nothing in common. SF is obsessed with power, thats his whole thing. There is not a single episode with SF that does not have him obsessing over power. The main example being his obsession with glorbs. Glorbs literally ARE power in the ok ko universe. Glorbs can be sold or traded because they are so sought after, they can be used to power machinery, or they can be used to even give a person a temporary power up. Shadowy figure almost in every appearance goes after them. Most of the time manipulating KO to get them. Another thing SF seems to care so much about is TKO. He continuously tries to get KO to unleash TKO, telling him to "unleash his true power/potential". SF does not care about TKO the person, but the power TKO has.

This is not only different but contradictory to PV, whose whole arc is abandoning the climb for power. At first he stops trying to regain his powers, something he cared about so much, when he goes to villainy, but then again when he joins Boxmore. Most of PVs early appearances he seems depressed and bored with villainy, only excited when Boxman is around, fighting heroes. Boxmans version of villainy is different from the other villains PV knows, the other villains also obsess over power, but Boxman simply wants to attack the plaza and fight heroes. Boxman has no wish for power, even using a large amount of glorbs carelessly only using them to build his machines. PV finds this version of villainy much more appealing and abandons power AGAIN, by merging Voxmore. PV has no real interest in power, which shows the difference between him and SF as SF even has a higher pow card number.

These contradictory goals and ideas make it impossible for PV and SF to be the same person. And although the show never claims this to be the case, it does claim that PV is Shadowy Venomous, and SF is too. SV is supposed to be a merge of PV and SF, but any characteristics SV shares with PV are characteristics SF has. And SV shares many similarities with SF that PV does not have. The main thing being once again power. One of the first things we see SV do is get KO to bring out TKO. But does SV want to meet TKO because he's his son? No. He wants TKO to make a deal with him, a deal for power. SVs main plain is to get all the glorbs that are underneath the plaza, he does this but first, he and TKO destroy not only the plaza, but all over. This isn't something PV would do, but it is something SF would do. SV also has no respect for TKO, getting mad at him when he doesn't do what SV wants, but PV has lots of respect for KO. When KO brings PV to the glorb tree, PV doesn't take a single glorb. Fink does, but once KO tells PV not to take any, he just turns away from them. PV also never pressures KO to do anything evil with him. Always willing to do what KO wants, even if thats hero stuff. Thats a major part of PV that both SF and SV lack, his care for those important to him. PV cares for Fink deeply, but SV ignores her entirely. PV and Boxman act as a unit, pretty much a married couple, since the Voxmore merge, and PV is shown to have so much respect for Boxman. But SV makes Boxman leave after being very cruel and mean to him. He also kicks out the robots, which is something PV wouldn't have done as the robots are important to Boxman and PV respects him. There are just too many differences between PV and SV for them to be the same person.

Another point I want to bring up is KOs relationship with TKO vs PVs relationship with SF and SV. People in the show treat TKO the same as KO. This makes sense because they are the same person. KO says this himself, "You're a part of me and I'm a part of you." TKO is just KO but angry and more powerful. People treat SF and SV completely differently than PV. Fink ignores SV in the same way she ignores SF and even teams up with Rad and Enid against him because "He took away my boss," referring to PV and SV as separate people. Boxman also treats SV different as he seems upset when TKO and SV team up, almost scared, and he gets angry at SV and tells him to leave, in a way he would never talk to PV. At the end of the show SF is even removed from PV, getting rid of SV entirely. At the same time, KO and TKO join together not to make something new, but to just be KO, because thats what they are.

There is nothing that proves that SV and PV are the same person. But there is so much that proves they are different people and that in fact, SV is just SF. What most likely happened was that when PV tried to get rid of SF he accidentally made him more powerful or made a deal to leave the others alone that backfired and gave SF control. It's also likely that SF simply recovered from his fight with Fink and KO and just took control again. After this he probably pretended to be PV to gain KOs trust, then lied about joining with PV to make SV to get TKOs trust, and make a deal with him. Further proved by Fink avoiding him even while he looks like PV.

sorry that this is pretty much an essay just to explain every point i have that shadowy venomous and professor venomous arent the same person but i really wanted to say this

[causticcorvus]

Input on a NV AU

So, I have been considering varying angles to do a S2 Bakugan AU/rewrite with 99% more Alice and Masquerade and I am someone conflicted, and wanted to gauge some opinions.

For one, I wanted to make it a tad bit more than a straight up NV rewrite with Alice being there, but I'm not sure how far to really deviate. I was tossing around the idea of NV's disturbance causing some Bakugan to return/flee to earth, and Spectra and co coming to hunt them down, but I don't know if that would be too much going on in addition to the stuff going on in Vestroia proper. I thought it would be interesting for the Brawlers to be in the dark about what's going on in Vestroia for a few months. Having a blonde, masked man stealing Bakugan from people would definitely cast shade on Alice, and having an arc where she (and Masquerade) have to prove their innocence is very appealing to me.. but again, does it distract too much from NV's actual plot?

The other thing I'm struggling with is how to handle Masquerade himself. I definitely want him to come back, as an anti-hero type character, but how, when, and in what capacity are all the sticking points. I have played around with so many different scenarios by this point, that I just need feedback. When is the most straightforward question, options being a) He's always been there/never really went away and Alice has already learned to live with his presence b) He returns right around the time the Bakugan do, and Alice is aware of it c)Alice hears the rumors about a masked man stealing Bakugan and panics, thinking it could be her, only for the real Masquerade to show up to confront him. (Oh and if I don't end up including the above arc, then only option 1 or 2 could realistically apply, with 2 being replaced by when she goes to New Vestroia) Option 1 kinda lacks tension, however option 3 might rush character development too much.

How and what capacity seem similar, but not entirely. I know that I slowly want them to come to terms with working together, but I don't think it should come easily. I also don't want to take away from Alice herself- she has her own talents to offer, and I want her to be able to stand on her own. Actually, that's where the capacity part comes in, so we'll start with that. There's a point in the show where it is stated that Masquerade is Alice, in a way. So for something like this, there's two ways of looking at it a) Alice and Masquerade are distinct people, don't think too hard about it (yugioh style) b) Alice and Masquerade are one soul splintered in two, and can only be whole when working together and sharing the aspects of themselves that the other lacks. With case 2, you'd begin to blur the line with where Masquerade begins and Alice ends, with them taking on some traits of each other over time. I think Alice accepting and embracing Masquerade as part of herself could be a good way embolden her as a character. I only worry about explaining why they don't fully integrate, and if I can handle writing something like this adequately.

Lastly, the 'how'. If going with option 1 above, it's easier to justify Masquerade being able to manifest fully, but with option 2, it could make that less appealing. But I'm torn because it would be cool to have Masquerade battle Spectra as himself. So, more or less- a) Masquerade and Alice take/switch control when needed, and Masquerade appears as himself all the time. b) Masquerade is more like a 'Yubel' to Alice, merging with her thoughts and sharing control of their actions c) a mix of both a and b? Such as times when Alice herself may not be able to handle a certain situation or be injured. I think if going with B or C, I would make the mask itself entirely cosmetic- Masquerade could have partial or full control over Alice and still appear to be Alice unless wearing it. Especially if they really are just meant to be two facets of the same person, a body wouldn't change just because the control switched. I honestly really like this idea, and it could allow Alice to hide his influence for longer around her friends if needed. And they can still wear the mask if they want. It's decently intimidating, and I think in the cases Masquerade has full control, he wouldn't be comfortable in Alice's skin.

This was rambly, but I hope it makes some sense. I would just like some input, especially on the plot question.. that's going to determine how the rest of this would play out anyway, ultimately.

[zonerobotnik]

Which Danny Phantom ships do you like and what do you see in them?

Uhm…oh man, there's way too many for me to go over them all and I can't remember all the names right now. Let me get the list.

So, surprisingly, Pompous Pep(VladxDanny) is actually not one of my main ones, I actually mainly ship SuperFun/PitchPearl (DannyxPhantom), Amethyst Ocean (SamxDanny), Dark Gray (DanxValerie), Gray Ghost (DannyxValerie), Teddy Ghost (DashxDanny), uhm…Jailbait (WalkerxDanny), Tyrannous Hope (PariahxDanny), Haunted Past (DanxDanny), and my personal brand of PitchPearl, Broken Heart (DanxFutureDanny). By Future Danny, I mean Grim Danny OR any version of him that isn't killed by Dan and instead survives to fight him or is held as his prisoner for years. I don't know if I'm the only one that ships them or not, but I do.

Also, I haven't given it a special Danny Phantom-brand ship name, but I also like DanNear. I think I'll just use "Quarantine Buddies".

Now, what do I see in them. uh, in order…

Pompous Pep:

Generally, when I ship them, it's because of Vlad taking advantage of Danny, actually, either because he's so broken by something (like in my fic "Are you Awake" on FF, where Phantom just completely wanted to destroy himself after losing Danny or the whole mess in "Desperate Sin") or is trying to break him and lures him into a false sense of security before hurting him. I don't think I've ever done anything with him that doesn't have him taking advantage of him in some way, though in "Are you Awake", he's at least reluctant about it and it's Plasmius that is the aggressive one. (Spoilers, that fic has them finding out that Phantom and Plasmius are absorbed twins that got turned into ghosts by the portal blasting them with enough ectoenergy and electricity to kill a t-rex.)

But, I'm sure, once they get over themselves and Danny is all grown up, maybe comes back from college all hot and buff, Vlad might hit that post-AGIT.

SuperFun:

Much like my own ship Broken Heart, these two have the appeal of wanting to be back together, but maybe they don't want to be merged, y'know? They balance each other out, Phantom would die again to protect Danny and Danny would kill to protect Phantom. While they disagree on some things, they also can't live without each other.

Though, they have many questions on how the ectoenergy-remover split their minds, they try not to think about it. After all, they're one person, always have been…right?

PitchPearl:

Basically, this ship is either selfcest or "what if they were two different people". The possibilities are pretty much endless here, and a lot of people, myself included, have fun with the ship.

The most common interpretations for them being separate is they meet by chance and Phantom falls for him before they even meet and that he saves Danny's life after he went into the portal by giving him his own ectoenergy to heal him or he's the Ghost Prince/Pariah's son or Walker's son and he grew interested in the son of the ghost hunters that tore open a hole into their dimension--seriously, endless.

Amethyst Ocean:

While I think Sam is, frankly, a jealous Cass-level bitch at times, she does have her sweet moments and she and Danny are actually really nice together, when she's not being jealous of him flirting with other girls. She's loyal and knows him better than anyone and while I don't really like that it was canon endgame because of how it was handled, I think that they could be good together.

Dark Gray:

Who doesn't love a good rough-and-tumble enemies-to-lovers? These two are the HeroxVillain ship, and I REALLY love those, and the thought of him only sparing the city, even after destroying the barrier, because of lingering feelings from his Gray Ghost days is just…MMM! I love it. And they try to deny they've grown to anticipate those fights, and those times when people have them working together against a bigger threat…FUUCK yes!

On that note, go read Karma. It's a part of a big compilation on FF but it's being posted as its own thing on AO3 and I LOVE this story!

Anyways, seriously, what is NOT to love about this ship?

So, let's go back into the past and discuss…

Gray Ghost:

This one is such a lovable mess. Because of a misunderstanding, she got into ghost-fighting for the sole purpose of kicking Phantom's ass for ruining her life. XD While her primary target is Phantom, she also fights other ghosts, and sometimes works WITH Phantom, who she doesn't know is Danny, to fight the other ghosts. Most notably is when she and Phantom were captured by Skulker and they had to fight to stay alive, and all while not letting their flour-sack baby get destroyed. XD

And then there's the moments where they are actually really nice to each other, and they put aside their differences, and those are just so, so good. But, oh, the pain about her dumping Danny to protect him because she thinks Phantom might go after Danny to get to her and also she keeps ditching their dates to go fight ghosts, it's just SO SAD but SO GOOD and they would be AWESOME as a couple.

Anyways, I really like them.

Teddy Ghost:

Dash is hot for Phantom. This is not fanon, this is canon, he wants to be with Phantom. He and Paulina both fawn over him like CRAZY and they're the ones that notice the most that if Danny is around, Phantom isn't far away. I think that if he were to figure out that Danny IS Phantom, he would not only apologize for all the "wailing on" he did, but also ask him out.

And Danny, well, he isn't going to deny it, Dash is a LOOKER. And if they were actually getting along, I think they could grow to be a good couple.

But, it's mostly Dash obsessing over Phantom unrequitedly.

Jailbait:

Warden. Prisoner. Prison. It's pretty cut and dry. Walker wants Danny, like, REALLY wants him, more than any other prisoner. Is it pride? Is he obsessed with the fact that he's a piece of the human world he can take into the Ghost Zone long-term without it being ruined? Is it just pure lust and sexual frustration from him escaping him so much? Either way, Walker uses other criminals and breaks a LOT of laws trying to track down Danny and it's pretty clear that, if he actually gets him, he's going to make him his prison-bitch.

Tyrannous Hope:

Is Danny actually the Ghost King? Was Pariah Dark actually defeated? Does he have true claim to the throne, or could Pariah Dark, when he breaks free again, come to take it back from Danny? A conflict of interest, a battle between Kings, they must either surrender, be defeated, or come to a peaceful compromise if neither can win. The compromise: Marriage.

This ship can be either weirdly-fluffy or so full of abuse and assault of all kinds and the range is fascinating.

Haunted Past:

If Dan can't have his OWN Danny, he may as well take the one that defeated him before. His heart beats the same, right? Whether out of obsession, attachment or pride, Dan claims Danny for his own or, (like in my fic "Powerless"), Dan breaks free and tries to fight someone stronger than him and Danny takes him in and what happens from there depends on how good or twisted Danny is.

Post-AGIT, I see him crawling into bed with Danny despite having his own body now and resting his head on his chest to hear his real, non-clone heart beat. As for the shipping part, I don't know enough about AGIT as a whole to say.

Broken Heart:

Phantom has been ripped out of Danny, he can no longer feel or hear his heartbeat, and the worst part is that it was done painfully and it was Danny's idea and he's still feeling the grief and rage that enveloped Danny before. So, he attacks his human half, and what happens from there is where things diverge.

The Grim Danny route: Phantom kills Danny by ripping out his still-beating heart and Danny, realizing that he didn't want to be a ghost, becomes a Grim Reaper and Phantom is both relieved to see him again and furious because he hates him but loves him but he feels so broken without him, I'msorryI'msorryI'msorryforkillingyou.

The Capture Route: After hurting Danny severely, Phantom takes him away near-death and uses ectoplasm to bring him back from the brink and threatens him into never leaving where he's kept, coming back after terrorizing people to hurt him in some way to punish him for trying to leave him. Post-TUE, Danny escapes and is found by Valerie, and feels a sense of loss about Phantom being gone.

The Enemies Route: Danny is severely hurt by Phantom, but he doesn't take his body because Vlad finds a weapon and shoots him and then calls for someone to get them, that Danny is seriously hurt. and they both need medical treatment. Danny then joins Valerie with fighting to protect the city from Phantom, so it's basically Dark Gray but with Danny as a bonus love-interest.

Bonus Round:

Quarantine Buddies:

Based on my in-progress fic "Tutor", where Near from the show Death Note is sent to Amity Park to investigate Danny when he's 14 during his post-Wammy training and he moves in with the Fentons as a transfer student from England and they become friends through the course of the story.

The DanNear stuff actually starts with the start of Covid19, when Near, who is horribly co-dependent and aware of Danny's true nature, calls for his immune friend to come and take care of him because his usual assist are all being quarantined. Danny agrees and as the world opens up, Danny gets Near to also open up and try new things, starting with wearing more colors, going outside more, coming with him on shopping trips instead of just staying home while Danny shops. Though he doesn't need a ghostly-buddy to care for him anymore, Danny is still here, and they gradually fell in love.

Also, Danny hates Christmas with a passion, but he will put with it for Near if Near will wear a Christmas sweater for him. Fair's fair.

And that's all of them! That I can think of right now, at least.

Also, I should note, I don't actually normally ship Phantom Punk (DannyxEmber), so I didn't include it on the list. I think I made the one fic I have with them as a request before, but I don't remember who requested it.

[bitchfitch]

Idk. I think Grinning Thing might be ace/aro. Like. it's entire deal is that it only wants what other people do. Like, it doesn't give a shit about any of its ultra nice treasures and priceless bit of real estate. It just doesn't want anyone else to have those things bc they're covetted. and it's an ass.

This plays into it being ace/aro bc like. It wouldn't look twice at basically anyone for any reason. Sex and relationships are too boring of wants. Too many folk want them and they're too nonspecific and acquirable. So sex and relationships would have legitimately no appeal to it.

But then one of its own kind had to go and want a specific man. And that's too interesting. Things like it are the ultimate source of greed and envy so Obviously it can't let another like it have this guy, even if it just wants him for the same reason Grinning Thing wanted it's own body. Other Thing was just looking for a chrysalis.

And that still wouldn't have caused Grinning Thing to be particularly interested in this guy, but then Other Thing gets to whispering in his ear. The moment Other Thing starts looking elsewhere, Grinning Thing will have no interest in him anymore. and Guy is fucking smitten with Grinning thing because Grinning Thing's entire Thing is making other people Want and the only thing its put in proximity for him to want is itself. So obviously Guy can't let other thing look elsewhere. And starts willfully letting it merge with him even though That's what he went to Grinning Thing to stop in the first place.

and since the Things don't like. destroy their hosts, it's a true Mixing where they both exist as one now, Other thing in the flesh and blood world still has all of Guy's emotions and like, personality and his wants. And fuck did Guy want Something with Grinning Thing. He didn't care what he just Wanted.

And it doesn't matter because now a Thing has those wants and Grinning Thing Needs what others want. It's still definitely ace/aro, there's no romance between the things beyond the most superficial elements and Clinginess, and sex is fun but it doesn't crave it. and it's just this intensely performative romance between two fetal apocalypse monsters that's toxic in every way but which feeds into itself endlessly.

Grinning Thing made Guy want, Other Thing inherited Guy's wants, Other Thing makes Grinning Thing want, and the cycle repeats since there's Just enough human left in Guy/Other Thing for it to influence him.