#critical thinking suddenly dissapeared

[averysherwood]

Every time spop critic mentions toh as an "almost flawless show with well-written villians, redemptions and love lines" or toh critic mentions catradora as "better wlw representation than lumity" a cute little puppy die

[lkigami]

A/N : currently thuggin’ it out for the Isagi fic ‘cause life is getting in the way— this was the original draft for it, fits Bachira way better though so here you go.

Wc: ~600

Not proofread we die like men LETSGO

Bachira doesn’t exactly understand why he feels this way. In some ways, you remind him more of his mother than anyone else; the way paintbrushes and late night walks seem to meld together into a journal of core memories — waiting for him to open that journal and flip through the pages of fleeting events that could dissapear at a moments notice.

Bachira, well — Bachira is, certainly an interesting individual. Those traits that seem to simmer and reflect into his yellow irises whenever you’re close to him. It’s not as if you were much more different than he was.

Every time he looks at you, he feels his stomach tie into a knot— your laughter teases him. He always thought you were pretty. It wasn’t as if he never looked past personality: he could think of a dozen girls whom had managed to attract him. Still, he always finds himself feeling this— this feeling.

A bit like a pathetic teenage boy whenever you walk the streets of outer Tokyo at night , when the lamps illuminate the city that supposedly “never sleeps”. It’s the only thing he remembers from sociology , ironically the one thing you mentioned to him while walking. Sometimes, only sometimes ; he catches himself staring a little too long at his reflection in the mirror after having walked you home when the “night walk” get dangerously close to an all nighter.

Its in that sliver of a moment , that his cheeks get red and suddenly poor little Bachira can’t comprehend why you never seem to teeter on that edge of seduction— he sulks , because he wants you to battle the same temptation he does whenever your faces get a little too close to eachother— maybe if he got you to play football with him— maybe then he could play off his lips accidentally touching yours when pretending to fall off and plant face first to the ground.

Like a pendulum, you swing towards him. Always going that extra mile whenever you manage to scramble whatever nickles you have dangling around in your school bag and buy him those sour pineapple flavored candies he loves from the vending machine outside of the school entrance. When you help him do all of those essays he always puts off to the last minute and then hastens to finish. When you call out to him after his football practice.

But just like a pendulum swings towards something, it also swings away from it.

He can’t help all those rumours that make him out to be a monster. He can’t mitigate the presentiment that he’s ransacking you of a social life that you deserve. When your classmates criticize your friendship with him, he feels something hideous creep into him— that alarming feeling of wanting to do things that are pure evil to those who harm you.

And he feels guilty for that.

He feels guilty for wanting to dictate your own life— to mallow what you feel inside so that you atleast know what it is he goes through every single day. Whenever you seem to unconsciously doubt a decision that would lead you astray from him, he convinces you to do a complete detour, to return to what you know best and—

And he snaps out of it.

Because he’s no longer in front of his bathroom mirror but in front of you,on his bed. Suddenly everything seems to come crashing down as his inner monster tell him to kiss you.

And he does.

[opinated-user]

Sorry im new here, who is sparky. and why are they like this?

simply put, they're a predator that has been around the Miraculous Ladybug and other fandoms that have a bunch of young people in it. he used to be fairly active in the LO critical blogs, sending us all messages, DMs and even screenshots criticizing LO. but after we collectively called him out and started blocking him, suddenly he decided to cozy up to LO by feeding her the exact kind of narrative that LO craves for, that is: we're abusive to each other. meanwhile he was also messaging and getting in contact with fans of LO that were underaged. we begged to LO for days in our blog to dennounce sparky, to say anything, even just to share the call out post made about him. originally he had nothing to do with us or with her, so saying to her audience "this is a dangerous person, please block them" would have costed her nothing at all. she still choose to say nothing. and no, i won't believe that LO never saw it. we wouldn't shut up about this for days. we know she reads our blogs. she just choose to say nothing because it would undermine one of the very few voices speaking in her favor, just like she was willing to laugh along and celebrate a nazi as long they said what LO needed them to say. sparky goes through this phase where he tries to gain attention whatever means necesary, crumbles the second we call him out and dissapears to repeat the cycle in a few weeks or months. in one of those cycles he send all the critical blog, including to MO too, some long and graphic descriptions of necrophilic CSA. i still have no idea why. because he liked to think he could shock us, i guess. he's an extremly unwell individual that has utterly refused to do anything for his mental health, so all we have left is try to sniff him out whenever possible and keep him away from our spaces when we can.

[mermaidsirennikita]

What is the problem with a guaranteed happy ending? I can still enjoy the journey

And also, mentioning another example of some ypu mentioned, My Darling Duke also has a happy ending with challenges, they are happily married but also Alex's condition doesn't dissapear and there are thing that still can't do

That's another good example--and I actually think that a lack of appreciation for a journey and the challenges and growth that presents is really what a lot of my irritation with "vibes only" centers on.

(Stacy Reid actually does a lot of interesting things with endings, imo, and she doesn't get enough credit it for it. When she presents heroes and heroines with say, disabilities that I think past authors would have simply gone "boop, here's a fix" to, they stick. I often see MDD get criticized for "fixing" his ED, but the reality is that he never actually had a complete lack of function and the book makes that clear pretty early on. The man was DEPRESSED and had zero motivation and frankly a lot of shame around trying to accept his new life and the new ways in which he'd have to live. I also think of When the Earl Met His Match by Stacy Reid--I was cringing the entire time, expecting the hero to suddenly begin speaking at the end... and he didn't. And that was fine. The heroine had to do the work, which is something I also don't think we see enough of, frankly.

Lorraine Heath's Surrender to the Devil is another one where I think there's a choice to have Sterling simply come to... if not peace, reluctant acceptance of his impending blindness. And we know he never fixes it, and that's okay, and when we see him in later appearances beyond the epilogue, Lorraine is very clear that he is almost completely blind. To me, there's a real challenge to decades of societal norms suggesting that there is no HEA with disability, you will always be "missing" something, OR everything is hunky dory and there are no challenges and the person with the disability can't have negative feelings about it and be overall happy. Which is why I appreciate books like these which come to these types of points. In When the Duke Was Wicked, part of Grace's motivation in finding a husband is that she wants Sterling to be able to dance with her on her wedding day. That's hard! These things are difficult!

And of course, Grace too has a challenging arc we don't often see in any form of romance, let alone historicals--similar to Lockwood in The Duke Gets Even. She's had breast cancer. She's been through intensely traumatic treatment. She's had a partial mastectomy. She knows it may come back. Lovingdon cannot deal with this, and then he has to, and it does in fact come back according to the epilogue and she does have to have a total mastectomy. And who knows? It may come back again. In that era, it PROBABLY will. They have to accept this and live happily as long as they can--this is something the romance community struggles with a lot imo, the idea that things like illness can be compatible with an HEA. But if we don't come to terms with it, we're saying that people with long-term, chronic illnesses that may in fact be terminal one day can't have happy endings. And that's just not okay with me. Everyone dies. I mean, the majority of romances I definitely just pretend they don't lol, but Lorraine actually challenges us on this level in several books.)

There is a challenge and an art and a craft that comes with creating a good journey. No matter how your story ends, if the journey is nothing, the ending is meaningless.

[fl0ating-tree]

c!technoblade is in the wrong more often than not

(unless i use ���cc!” before the name, assume i’m talking about the characters as well as the fact that this is all /rp) (also this is very c!techno critical and it’s meant to be that way, i understand there’s a whole other perspective if you look at it from techno’s view but this is purposefully seeing the situation only from c!tubbo/c!tommy or other’s perspectives) 

it’s been over a month since doomsday and since cc!techno’s content/lore has simmered down a bit i feel like it’s a good time to point out how from nearly everyone’s POV, except techno’s and phil’s, techno is in the wrong.

this is VERY analytical and c!techno critical and i would love if someone who’s a diehard techno apologist could give me their imput on this, feel free to debate this in the replies or reblogs or even send me an ask about it!

First of all, let’s go all the way back to when Technoblade first joined the smp. One of the biggest defenses for Techno is that he was clear about his goals of destroying the government to Wilbur and Tommy, and that Wilbur and Tommy went behind his back to set up a government. While I don’t have exact timestamps, if you watch through Tommy’s Dream SMP videos on his YouTube channel from when Techno joins to before the festival announcement both Wilbur and Tommy make it clear that they are gather resources and manpower to revolt against Manberg. Not rebel, which would imply simply destroying the government, but to go back to L’manberg and reinstate their places as President and Vice President. Technoblade joined their cause on the offer to train Tommy and Wilbur to be able to overthrow Schlatt. It was only after the festival that Techno revealed his motives to be destroying the government, after Wilbur came to the same conclusion. In the same vein, Techno’s vendetta against Tommy for ‘establishing a government’ doesn’t hold any water because Wilbur elected Tommy, not the other way around, and when Tommy actively tried to be uninvolved in government Wilbur made Tubbo president. Tommy was not involved in the creation of the government what so ever. To claim that Tommy betrayed Techno by establish a government you also have to admit that Technoblade betrayed Tommy by destroying L’manberg instead of helping train them. 

Then comes Tubbo’s execution. Techno’s argument of peer pressure holds absolutely no ground considering when it came to blowing up L’manberg on Doomsday he didn’t seem to have any qualms even after nearly the entire server was against him doing it. Part of me feels like that defense came from cc!Techno simply having to think on the fly with improv, but that’s a little too meta of an argument for this analysis. I will admit that Techno’s defense of being surrounded is a lot more solid. Wilbur wasn’t /msg-ing him anything about what to do, and Techno had no personal reason to not shoot Tubbo. However Techno’s insistence that ‘it stays in the pit’ shows another downfall of his character in the fact that the argument between him and Tommy didn’t start with violence and therefore couldn’t simply end with violence. There’s a really well written analysis on how Techno’s character relies on violence rather than words because there’s no one, asides from Dream maybe, who could beat him in combat but a lot of them could hold their own in a verbal argument. Techno really didn’t have a solid defense for executing Tubbo, so he physically fought Tommy and claimed that that settled the argument. It was unfair to both Tubbo and Tommy. That was another betrayal of trust on Techno’s part; to Tommy, loyalty is being willing to die to protect someone. Techno being unwilling to fight, and possibly die to, Schlatt in order to protect Tubbo was a betrayal to him. 

There’s also Tommy’s exile. I’ve seen people claim that Techno manipulated Tommy into siding with him and while I think that’s a bit extreme of an explanation I do think Techno gave Tommy an ultimatum. Tommy could either be thrown out of Techno’s home and most likely fall back into Dream’s hands, or help Techno. Tommy was in a very fragile state, he felt hurt by New L’manberg and their government and was emotionally vulnerable because of the abuse from Dream. Of course Techno’s proposal of “You help me minorly terrorize L’manberg, I’ll help you get your beloved possessions back” would sound appealing. That’s another thing to highlight here- Techno promised he wouldn’t hurt Tubbo in that deal. Every time he gave Tommy their ‘to-do list’ he would remove “DESTROY L’MANBERG” from it. He told Tommy his clear intentions inevitably, but Tommy was still hard-set on not hurting Tubbo. There was no way this agreement could’ve worked, their goals fundamentally conflicted. So in the same way that Tommy betrayed Techno by siding with the government after agreeing to destroy it, Techno betrayed Tommy by destroying Tubbo’s home and hardwork and therefore hurting Tubbo. Techno betrayed Tommy just as much- if not more- than Tommy betrayed him because while Techno promised not to hurt Tubbo, Tommy never promised to help completely obliterate L’manberg. 

Another area that Techno get’s sympathy from the viewers for is his execution but that’s because we can see his POV. Let’s look at that situation from Tubbo’s POV. Tubbo was just elected president of L’manberg. Technoblade then shoots him and kills him (not canon, so plot-wise this means he probably severly injured him). Wilbur blows up L’manberg and Techno spawns Withers and attacks all of them. They manage to kill the Withers but Techno promises that if he hears anything about them establishing a government he will come back and kill them all and destroy L’manberg once and for all. Technoblade then dissapears and Tubbo sets out to rebuild. Dream has an iron grip on their government so Quackity proposes they do the next best thing to protect L’manberg and go after Technoblade, who they haven’t heard from since he promised to kill them all. They go to kill Technoblade, he escapes and kills Quackity. He then takes a hostage to get his belongings back, and finally he destroys L’manberg to bedrock. 

Techno never once told anyone but Phil and Ghostbur, and later Tommy, that he was retired. Even if he did, retiring doesn’t suddenly absolve you from your crimes. Technoblade was a terrorist that threatened L’manberg and Tubbo did what he thought was best to protect his country. Tommy had no choice but to side with Techno and even then made his position clear to not hurt Tubbo. Tommy and Wilbur (when he was sane) made it clear that they would reestablish government. A big theme in the Dream SMP is miscommunication and multiple times does Techno seem to think people can read is mind because he fails to tell others what he wants and what he’s doing, and then claims he’s been betrayed when people don’t do what he wants. 

Like I said in the beginning, this post was written purposefully ignoring Techno’s perspective, because a lot of his actions become a lot more understandable when you see his point of view. However, character’s don’t have access to his POV and both the audience and c!techno need to stop acting like everyone can see his side of events. Technoblade has betrayed people just as much, if not more, than they’ve betrayed him and characters, especially tubbo and tommy, have every right to hate him for it. 

[cyberiade]

Team Kakashi & their s/o having their own Christmas Tradition

the ask: Hey so I was wondering if members of Team Kakashi have some interesting Christmas traditions with their s/o?

OH YES (congrats for being the first person to send an ask, anon) THANK YOU I did this more like ‘how something became a christmas tradition’, I hope it’s okay. Also, you forgot to specialize what should it be so I’ve chosen quick scenarios 

word count: 814

warnings: none

genre: fluff

I wrote it in one day I want to die

Kakashi: christmas lights

As you know, he isn’t really vocal with his desires, so you need to pay attention to details in his behavior 

One time when you two were on a walk and you noticed how he looks at people decorating their houses for Christmas 

“Hey, wanna do that too?” 

When he agreed immediately, you knew you made a good decision 

You bought a few cords of fairy lights, garlands and such 

Nothing extravagant, but quite cute 

When you started you were extatic 

But a few hours later, when it still didn’t look acceptable, you got pissed 

How a pair of shinobis can’t hang one garland in the right place? 

Eventually you finished with a little help from Pakkun 

Why does a dog have more fashion sense than you 

Anyway 

You were satisfied with the outcome 

And though the process was a pain in the ass, it was worth it 

So you decided to do that nex year too 

Naruto: building snow figures 

One time the Hokage’s office was nearly fully under a huge pile of snow 

And Shikamaru had to take care of this 

Which he did handle like a fully grown-up adult, the right hand man of the Hokage by telling your very own dork that the snow was there on purpose 

“It’s a suprise for you and Y/N” he said. 

“You can build a snowman family or something, I don’t really care” 

“Shikamaru you get a raise” 

When you arrived at his office a hour later, Naruto jumped out of his window the moment he noticed you. 

He was so thrilled to build a huge snowman that you just couldn’t refuse 

After you made sure that your sculpture won’t cover any important entrance, you let yourself have some fun 

You two decided to go with a huge figure of a fox wrapping his tails around the office 

Not so long after you started your friends started to join you 

Which of course turned to a snowball fight when Lee came

But after it ended, even more people joined 

Long story short, it turned from avoiding snow cleaning costs to Konoha’s Snow Sculpture Festival 

Sai: gingerbread cookies 

You couldn’t imagine Christmas without gingerbread cookies 

So it was not suprise that you made them

When you started to prepare icing, Sai entered the kitchen 

You thought it was a really good idea for him to help you and he was eager to do so 

He finished 60 cookies in 30 minutes 

Every single one with a different pattern 

Sai looked really upset when he realized there’s no more cookies to decorate 

So you made another portion 

And another 

And another 

You ended up with around 230 cookies (you ate some) 

Saying you were terrified was an understatement 

“We won’t eat them until next year!” 

“We can give some to Naruto, Sakura, Kakashi-sensei and Yamato-sensei" 

Not a bad idea 

You ended up giving them to everyone you like as a ‘bonus’ to your presents 

Sakura: ugly holiday sweaters

You two were shopping for presents

When suddenly you saw one of the ugliest sweaters you’ve ever seen 

It propably was big enough to easily fit you two inside (or fit Choji)

Normally you would just laugh and ignore it 

But you felt bad for the sweater 

No one ever wanted to buy it, poor little one 

“Hey, what do you think about this one?” 

“Babe, I love you, but if you really like this sweater I’ll have to take your shopping privileges under advisement” 

You explained why you wanted to buy it 

Sakura agreed, amazed by your sensitivity, but still grossed out at the thought of actually wearing this fashion tragedy 

The two of you decided to ‘adopt it’ 

When the cashier told you that no one even touch this sweater you couldn’t decide between crying and laughing 

Walking with shopping bags, the sweater showing through transparent plastic bag you carried it in, a lot of people frowned at the sight of it 

But frowns quickly dissapeared when Sakura flexed her arms, wordlessly showing everyone what will she do if they’ll criticize your fashion choices 

Your smile and cuddles at the end of the day was totally worth buying the horrifying pullover 

10/10 would do it again next year 

Yamato: visiting animal shelter 

Due to your lifestyle, you can’t visit the shelter as often as you two want to 

But this Christmas both of you had a day off, so you could go 

First you went to meet the dogs, take them on a walk and play with them 

Then you helped to feed a few sick birds 

You nearly got your finger bit off 

At the end, the cherry on top: c a t s 

You found one cat that looked exactly like Yamato 

Same eyes, same hair/fur color 

As you played with the little creature, you could tell that their characters matched too

If your stomachs didn’t rumble, you wouldn’t notice that you two spent 4 hours in the animal shelter already 

He treated you to some hot chocolate and cookies after  

I love this man so much 

[renatogpadilla]

FFVI as a D&D Campaign:

OK, so I've been watching "Critical Role" (Campaign 1, Episode 31, no spoilers!) a LOT lately and it got me thinking how FFVI (arguably the BEST "Final Fantasy" game out there) is essentialy that. The biggest moments could be atributted to CRAZY rolls! I can see each of the characters being played by one of the people at the table! * Marisha as Terra Branford: Would be phenomenal. Her mentality is kinda in-line with Keyleth's. The "Kill Their Own Emotions" moment in the boat shakes the table as a whole. And when it's time to run an orphanage and protect her kids from Humbaba, the emotion in her voice destroys everyone in the Party. The "Mama?" moment becomes the most fan-arted moment for her character until the final fight. Her Trance ability is agreed to be the coolest looking skill at the table. To say nothing of the way she'd react to the whole Slave Crown bussiness!

Matt: "She killed 50 imperial soldiers in a few minutes." Marisha, and the whole table: *S H A K I N G*

* Taliesin as Locke Cole: "Treasure Hunter!" every single time somebody calls him a thief or a rogue. The "Rachel" story would be absolutely heartbreaking with Taliesin's expressions. The solo-sneak through the town while meeting Celes would be one of the highlights of the Campaign... That and his frienship with Terra would only be accentuated by Taliesin's and Marisha's irl friendship. Not to mention him puking on the ship would serve as some comedic timing straight out of "Critical Role"! Also, "That bow looks good on you" LAUNCHES the ship to heights undreamt of.

* Sam as Edgar Figaro: I mean, COME ON! IT WRITES ITSELF! Besides, it would be enjoyable to see him use his -Artificer- Machinist abilities as creatively as he does! Can you IMAGINE him rolling high enough one day and then he just creates the Noiseblaster? And with that he pulls out the microphone every time he uses it and proceeds to shout some thing Scanlan would be proud of... Not to mention his friendship with Sabin would be amazing if played by Sam! "The little shrimp has become a mighty Lobster!" You can HEAR Sam Riegel's voice come out of that! And the two headed coin? Now THAT's a Scanlan! This without mentioning the violations of the Geneva Convention that the Bioblaster would certainly entail...

* Laura as Celes Chere: I mean, OBVIOUSLY. Meeting Locke in the dungeon? The apparent betrayal? THE OPERA HOUSE?! "I'm a former General, not some... Opera floozy!" TELL ME you don't hear Laura Bailey saying that! And then she rolls a Natural 20 on performance and EVERYONE looses their shit! Her Runic ability is the target of MANY close saves. Also, the way Locke and Celes' interactions happen, she'd be perfect opposite Taliesin. The chat on the bridge in Albrook? HEARTSTOPPING. The attempted suicide? You KNOW Matt would call the sesion there!

* Travis as Sabin Figaro: This one was obvious. Monk/Barb that gets mistaken for a bear, and acts like an absolute teddy bear around Terra? Yes. Gods above, YES. "You think a tiny thing like the end of the world was going to be enough to keep me down?" You heard Grog too, right? The moments would be worth MILLIONS. The Opera house and Travis going "Why is everyone singing?" and then getting more and more into it! Him holding up the house for Celes! "MISTER THOU"... But best of all, and probably the single most famous Sabin moment EVER, The Phantom Train:

Matt: The train tracks suddenly lurch to the side. Even after this long and hard-fought battle it seems *chukles* it seems this train isn't letting you get away with your lives. That brings us to you, Travis! Travis, on his 5000 IQ shit: I grapple the train.

Entire Table: ARE YOU FUCKING NUTS?!?!

Matt: No way in hell are you gonna- You know what? Roll for it. *Picks up dice for the Train* Taliesin: He's dead. He's so fucking dea-

Travis: NATURAL 20.

Entire Table: *Silent disbelief, everyone looks at Matt*.

Matt: *Also in disbelief* ...Rolled a 1.

Entire Table: *Inintelligeble gasping and hyperventilating*

Travis: I'm going to use my last Blitz as Meteor Strike and suplex the Train!

Matt: *Looking at the sheet, knowing damn well what's about to happen* Go ahead and roll for damage...

Travis: *Rolls for damage*

Matt: *Braces for impact* How do you wanna do this?

Entire Table and the Internet: *EXPLODES*

The Fanart keeps coming, even YEARS after the Campaign is done...

* Liam as Setzer Gabbiani: Since he's LITERALY "Mister Steal Your Girl", I think Liam would be PERFECT. Just imagine him getting set up as this suave and smooth rougue who wanted to kidnap a beautiful singer and then gets Laura instead! (Which isn't entirely wrong...) IMAGINE his expresions and his dissapearing under the table laughing as the others barely climb aboard The Blackjack. THE ENTIRE PARTY giving him shit for a low roll on a Wisdom Check (the double-headed coin) and him segwaying that into joining the party, only to find out that he actually knew all along... Priceless. The total and undistilled heartbreak as his ship falls apart, him trying to reach out for Terra and everyone falling on different places. And then meeting Celes a year later and doing the whole Daryll story... Liam would be the one to steal the audience every time he takes the spotlight! Though he would be a little like Percy in the sense that he doesn't get much to do until his arc happens.

"Money, Money, Money!" every time he throws coins to attack, the loaded dice (in character, not at the table?) and the card throws would make him so stylish in a D&D setting I'll be surprised if somebody hasn't done it already.

* Ashley as Relm Arrowny: She takes forever to join because of her constantly being away for filming, but once she's here? HOO BOY, does the fun keep coming! Her paintings coming alive and helping them fight? Her giving Sam shit for Edgar's love life? "Fuddy-Duddy!" becoming A Thing? All of those moments would be hilarious... But probably her most notorious moment comes when they find her a year later, serving a posessed brush, telling her to paint, paint, paint under the Magic House... "Keep painting until I'm complete..." The party snaps her out of it before she finishes the greatest painting she's ever done, her Magnum Opus, and then the painting coming alive prematurely in order to force her to finish... To give her form. And then the Lakshmi boss fight happens... Matt: And with the last of her strength gone, the banshee-like apparition dissipates into mist, and before any of you can react, Relm's magic brush begins to glow, like it had when you first came in here. The glow slowly creeps off the hairs and darts! Off towards the mistified form of it's mistress, enveloping itself into a thicc layer on top of the mist, swirling around... and around and around.

Ashley: Oh god, now what?

Matt: The colors dissipate, and Lakshmi unleashes a terrible wail! *DM monster noises* As it is now joined with this colorful cloud... And it compresses, smaller and smaller... And more solid until it's not mist anymore.

Marisha: *Gets it* ¡WAIT A MINUTE!

Travis: *Exited* ¡OH SHIT, HOLD ON!

Matt: The fog dissipates... And the calm returns to Relm's senses. Ashley you are now holding an innert, ordinary paint brush. However! Floating in the air, you see a crystal with a small glowing core, the particular essence of Life embeded in the middle, Terra you *points at Marisha* feel this and recognize it instantly, as it falls to the ground, and bounces a couple times... A brand new shard of Magicite.

Party: *FERAL LOOTING*

"Lakshmi" becomes the most PAINFUL fanart to make, and it's ALWAYS the one that's valued the most among the fandom.

The rest of the Party (Strago, Umaro, Mog, Cyan, Gau and GoGo) can be the guests that come over every once in a while (I particualrly see Wil Wheaton as Strago Magus, Mary McGlynn as GoGo and Will Friedle as Clyde "Shadow" Arrowny) with Shadow coming and going with the excuse that "His contract is up" (and let's face it, after surviving/witnessing the Phantom Train? My contract would be up too...) and coming back whenever his schedule/the plot allows. Eventually, everyone comes together for one last session and the battle with God Kefka. Setting their affairs in order, the reveal of who Shadow really is during a lone chat with Strago shakes the Critters to their core. Everything makes sense! Why Interceptor went straight to Relm when they met... Why his nightmares kept showing a village of magic users, yet they never mention Shadow in Thamasa! The group is RATTLED and wether or not he survives at the end becomes a HEATED argument between everyone at the table. Only Strago knows the truth...

The sendoff on The Falcon with everyone saying goodbye and seeing what the World will bring next is regarded as one of the most emotional scenes in "Critical Role" history... But the most completely DESTRUCTIVE force in this entire cast is Matt Mercer as Kefka Palazzo:

The personality... the narrative... The absolute slime in his voice when he poisons Doma. When he kills Leo and brings forth the Light of Judgement. Matt definitely has his moments playing Ultros. He's fun! And Emperor Ghestal was more of a political "Darth Sidious" villain. But Kefka? OH, LORD. NOBODY was ready for Kefka. "Enjoy the barbicue!" gets memed to no end, while also sending a horrible shiver down people's spine whenever somebody brings it up. Truly, the villain to end all villains. I can see it happen so vividly... If anybody wants to talk about this more, PLEASE hit me up! This just feels too good! Until off course the party moves on to their next Campaign in the setting for "Final Fantasy 5" but that's a whole OTHER can of worms!

[yoongitexts]

=10,000 Hours=

Jeon Jungkook Fluff

Summary: Jungkook has a reoccurring dream every time he drifts off to sleep during work of a girl who takes his hand and brings him to the middle of a field of yellow dandelions only for her to suddenly dissapear into thin air right before he wakes up. He longed for every hour to meet the dandelion girl, until he finally met you.

‘No it can’t really be her’ Jungkook thought to himself. He stared at you from across the office in disbelief, his cheek pressed up against the dip of his palm to prop his head up. He had to keep from passing out somehow. He battled himself in his head weather or not it was really the girl in the dandelion field sitting there in a desk across from his. You looked up from the article you were writing to find the eyes you could already sense on you. Jungkook was startled at how quickly you had noticed him and looked away red with embarrassment. You would be mad at him for staring but he was cute, the glasses sliding down his nose as he typed away and his parted hair that draped over his eyebrows were somewhat enchanting.

“Hey, who’s that?” You asked the only coworker you knew who sat at the desk in front of yours while pointing at the delightfully looking boy.

“Jeon Jungkook, the poor spaz is always falling asleep in the office, I don’t think he ever sleeps.” She said chuckling. You felt sorry that she was criticizing Jungkook even though you weren’t even the one doing it.

You stared at him throughout the hours of the day that he napped at his desk until the sun began to set. Everyone exited the office as you finally finished your article. You noticed that Jungkook was still asleep and would probable stay locked in the building over night if someone didn’t wake him up.

You hesitantly touched his shoulder, when you felt muscle through his fleece sweater you were taken back for a moment before shaking him lightly.

“Jungkook?” You whispered.

Slowly his doe eyes blinked open and when his vision focused on your face he jumped out of his chair. You stepped back frightened by his sudden movement and shuddered in fear that he’d be mad that you woke him.

“S-sorry to wake you it’s just everyone left and you seemed pretty knocked out and I didn’t want you to get locked up in here.” You said. “I’m y/n.” You added extending your hand for him to shake it.

He slowly grasped your hand and shook it gently. The whole time analyzing all your many features.

‘It is her.’ He thought to him self in awe.

“Oh don’t apologize, and thank you, really.” He said happily. You gave him a short smile before making your way out of the office.

“Hey wait.” He said stopping you. You turned around and looked up at him.

“Do you maybe wanna get coffee sometime tomorrow?” He asked.

Your heart began to race as a smile threatened your lips.

“S-sure, I think you and I could both use it.” You joked. Jungkooks eyes smiled with excitement.

“Okay.” He said.

“Okay.” You whispered backing away out the door of the office.

——————

The day at the office couldn’t have gone slower but as soon as your shift was over you walked over to Jungkook’s desk to wake him up once again.

“Um... Jungkook?” You asked.

He jolted up and rubbed his eyes before standing suddenly. You were shocked at how quickly he could go from being dead asleep to wide awake in a nanosecond.

“You ready?” He asked grabbing his coat from the back of his chair.

“Yeah.” You siad.

“Let’s go then.” He said smiling.

You walked to the café across the street mostly making small talk about office gossip and the weather before sitting next the large window of the shop.

“Okay so this is gonna sound really weird...” Jungkook said trailing off.

“Oh god.” You said jokingly worried. Jungkooks hand slid through his silk hair as he giggled lightly before finishing.

“So, I think we knew eachother in a past life, or this life, or some life.” He said clasping his hands together and resting them on the table.

“And why do you think that?” You asked genuinely interested at this point.

“So basically before you worked in the office, looong before you started working in the office I had this reoccurring dream where I knew you and you would take me to this field of dandelions but my dream would always end before I could ask your name.” He said. You were now confused at what he was saying. You found it creepy in the most endearing way that he dreamt of you.

“... I know it’s weird.” He said.

“No it’s not weird! Well it’s a little bit weird but it’s cute, and I love dandelions by the way.” You said trying not to make him feel awkward.

“Really?” He asked with a gleam of excitement in his eyes.

“Yeah, they’re he only flowers that are still pretty after they die, it’s pretty cool I guess.” You said.

Jungkook stared at you in awe. You were everything he’d imagined you to be, kind hearted, funny, breathtaking and gentle. You watched him stare at you before waving.

“Is there something on my face?” You asked.

“No just...gorgeous...” he whispered. You smiled fondly at Jungkook as his face remained smitten.

“Who knows Jungkook maybe I’ve dreamed about you too and I just don’t remember it they say a dream that feels like an hour is really only five minutes long so really, who knows?” You said your cheeks growing closer to your eyes.

“Even if you have, I’ve dreamed about you ten thousand times that, so I win.” He said chuckling.

“You’re right, you do win, ten thousand hours is a long time.” You admitted.

“Not long enough.” He added.

The rest of the evening was quiet and sweet.

Jungkook no longer dreamed of you.

For everyday then on was a dream to him.

You by his side.

The dandelions morphing.

Hours slowly passing.

[ick25]

Rockman.EXE Episode 41 Review.

The cutest and funniest episode of Rockman.EXE I’ve seen so far!

“Good” is a relative term.

We open the episode with some shots of Densan city under a thunder storm. A lightning bolt hits a building causing a black out, and for some reason the lightning bolt also appears in the cyber world shocking a strange glass case with what looks like a cat inside. The cat escapes and somehow appears as a giant in the real world, covering the whole city with it’s shadow.

After the title card, we see a dog happily munching on a bone when something strange walks by causing it to drop the bone in shock.

The strange creature stops in front of Netto’s house where we see our blue bandana boy enjoying some curry his useless mom brought him along with some tea while Midorikawa talks in the news about the weird cat shadow seen last night.

Netto finishes his meal, but notices that the tea is missing.

What is wrong with this woman? In what universe is that normal?! (oh, right, anime, and maybe Charlie Brown)

Netto is understandibly confused about seeing Rush in the real world, he even touches him to see if he is a hologram.

He is not. I doubt Rush has hair, so I guess his head must feel pretty smooth.

Right after this, Netto receives a phone call from Meiru-chan telling him that she can’t find Rush. Netto tells her that Rush is drinking tea at his house, they are both confused about this so they think their Navis might know what is going on. 

Netto runs to his room to talk to Rockman, but...

I got to be honest, the first time I saw this I was actually expecting to see Rockman on Netto’s bed or something, but that already happened in the manga, and it was freaking hilarious! XD

                                                                                            <----------------------------

Also, Netto’s mom was called out for being so calm in weird situations.

                                                                                                            <---------------

Anyway, instead, Netto and Meiru get this.

So cute! :3

Both Rock and Roll have become cat navis. Their confused netops ask them why they look like that, but nya-ther of them know the cause.

According to Japan, cats say “Nya” instead of “Meow”. The more you know.

Inmediately after, Netto receives calls from Dekao, Yaito and Tohru at the same time, their Navis have also been turned into cats.

Iceman is playing with Gutsman tail during this scene. X3

Not only our heroes, but according to Midorikawa, the whole net has been affected, Navis and viruses everywhere have turn into cats for some unknowen reason.

LOL, Higure’s face.

Like we need a reminder that CGI is inmune to these kinds of things. But if that’s the case, then how come she was under the control of a virus in episode 27?

Netto and friends are wondering whats going on, luckily for them, Netto’s dad appears out of nowhere to give them the answer.

“Where the hell have you been?!”

“Doing computer stuff in the Bahamas, nothing out of the ordinary”

Seriously, nobody asks about the tan! O-O

Netto’s new tanned dad tells them that the cause of everything is a new computer virus that escaped a research lab last night. The virus is called the “Neko Virus”, which means “Cat virus”, and it has the ability to transform Navis and other viruses into cats.

Netto asks about Rush appearing in the real world as well, but amazingly enough, his dad has no clue and doesn’t think it’s related to the Neko virus. After taking another look at his adorable new cat navi, Netto asks if there is a way to change them back.

At least somebody finds her useful.

We cut to the Net Agents ready to jump into action.

But somehow they didn’t realize that their Navis were also affected by the Neko virus. The worst part is that Sharkman is still a fish.

Not the kind of catfish you’d expect to see in the internet-nya? :3

After a pointless scene of Netto’s useless mom serving them lunch, and Rush trying to seem charming, we see the Navis thinking in the cyberworld until something suddenly happens to Iceman.

Yuichiro tells them that if they don’t get a vaccine soon, the Navis will permanently become cats and that the speed of the transformation depends on the size of the Navi. The vaccine might not be ready on time, so their only hope is to find and capture the Neko Virus. 

In the next scene we see the five Navis walking around an empty Internet City trying to find the virus.

That’s a brilliant plan, Rockman. Also, wasn’t Iceman’s body transformed in the last scene? And where is his tail? Just how consistent is the animation for this episode?

They even look for the Neko virus at a ball shop, yes, a “Ball” shop, just so we can get this scene where one of the balls fall out forcing the Navis, except for Iceman, to fight their feline instincs of playing with it.

I’m all for the Rockman butt shots, but do we have to see Gutsman’s butt too? And there is a coloring mistake in the fourth panel which answers my question of the animation quality for this episode.

The Navis keep searching knowing that they can now relate to the Neko virus, they deduced that the virus is taking a nap, since cats love to take naps, and the best place for that is the park.

They arrive at Internet city’s park where they find the Neko virus sleeping and they try to ambush it, but the virus wakes up and scratches Gutsman out of its way.

Gutsman gets angry and tries to attack the Neko virus, but ends up getting his claws stuck.

Now, lets forget for a moment that Battle chips are not allowed in Internet City and just enjoy this next scene.

Rockman gives chase to the Neko virus, Netto sends him a Mini Bomb, but since the bomb is round you can guess where this is going.

“Iceman got to play with a ball, it was my turn!”

Netto then sends a Sword, but for some reason it won’t appear, so Rockman tries to attack the Neko virus with his claws, but he misses and gets scratched instead.

Neko virus uses fury swipes, its a critical hit.

The Neko virus dissapears after this, and a huge tremor happens in the real world where Netto and the others discover that the virus has materialized in Akihara.

CATZILLA!!!

After commercials, Netto and the others are out on the street trying to figure out what the heck is going on.

There are two things wrong with this. One, Netto already checked earlier that Rush isn’t a hologram, and two, if Rush isn’t affected by the Neko virus because he is a dog, then why are other animal type viruses and Navis affected by it? Sounds like the Neko virus is racist against dogs.

As they keep staring at Nekozilla, Tohru discovers that Iceman has fully become a cat.

At least Icecat hasn’t lost his freezing powers- nya :3

Netto fears that Rockman will have the same fate and runs to capture the Neko virus by himself.

Sea lion? I wouldn’t be mad, I would be confused.

The Neko virus gives chase to Netto.

At least one of his parents worries about him.

Netto lures the Neko virus into a street between two large buildings and this happens.

.....

The giant Neko virus struggling causes debris to fall on Netto, but Rush saves him in the last second. But before a second block of concrete from the building falls on them, Yuichiro figured out why the Neko virus grew so big and creates a lightning bolt with his computer to hit Rush. For real.

“By the power of science! I summon a thunder storm!”

This is where the episode passes from cute and funny to ridiculous. 

Acording to Yuhichiro the lightning bolt at the begining of the episode was what caused the Neko Virus to become a giant in the real world. Now, with his super scientific power and a really awesome computer, he creates a lightning bolt to make Rush become a giant as well, saving Netto from the falling debris.

Rush becomes a giant and fights the Neko virus, but I’m not gonna waste time taking sceen shots because the “battle” was also a waste of time, it’s like watching Snoopy trying to be epic and failing.

Anyway, the Neko virus starts beating the crap out of Rush until he summons a hole underneath it.

Long live the king-nya :3

The hole sends the Neko virus back to cyberworld where Rockman and the others can finally catch him.

Unfortunately they’ve gone too deep into the transformation to remember what they were suppoused to do.

After Gutsman and Glyde’s bodies change, which disproves what Dr. Hikari said about the transformation depending on the size of the Navi, the Neko virus starts to walk away. 

Netto checks his chips to see what he can do to prevent the Neko virus from escaping again and has an idea.

Netto uses the Ratton virus chip to make Rockman and the others happily chase it around. Also note that Gutsman and Glyde’s bodies aren’t different, once again the art department got lazy.

The Ratton virus dissapears near the Neko virus and Netto fools the Navis into attacking it.

Looks like Rockman snaps out of it, because inmediately after, Netto activates the Elec Brother Style and we get this Nya style change sequence. :3

Why can’t they put this amount of effort in the other scenes? I guess that’s too much to ask because the Neko virus tries to get away from the normal looking Rockman, but Elec Brother Rockman stops it by using one of Roll-nya’s candy hearts.

Rockman uses his electrical attack and defeats the Neko virus, and gets the cat girl. Nya! :3

Thats a nice detail how the electric attack looks like a cat.

And the episode ends with Rockman narrating everything that happend afterwards.

Tell me about it, Rock.

What do I think?

This was a fun episode to watch, and even if you want to pretend that this isn’t canon, it is because Rush can now travel between the cyberworld and the real world as he pleases, giving me another reason to hate this character.

As you may already know from my review of episode 24, I talked about why I dislike Rush. At first he is just a pet for Roll that appeared once in a while to help the Navis with something by using his holes, in this episode the writers decided to give him a “personality”, but all they did was make him a japanese Snoopy, and giving him the ability to travel between worlds was pushing it too far. Many fans, including myself, would love to see Rockman and Netto in the same space together, because we know that since Netto is a human and Rockman is a computer program that can only exist in the cyberworld it isn’t possible, so having seen an opportunity for this to happen and giving it to a minor character feels like the anime was trolling us. >:C

Japan seems to have a thing for cat like characters or just cat girls in their animes, so there was bound to be an episode featuring that in any way that they could posibly think of.

In case you were wondering, no, there was no scene showing Blues as a cat, even though there is no way Enzan could prevent that from happening, he is just too cool to appear in a funny episode.

[marias-studyblr]

Hey there. I just want to pour whats in my head lately. Idk whats happening but i feel like i dont do well in med school anymore. (i used to get straight A's, but these day its just kinda hard). I dont feel good about this mentally and i am tired seeing my friends's faces everyday thinking they would judge me based on my performance. And this whole thing keep draining me :/ i just want dissapear.

Hello love. you can always pour your head in my inbox! :)

🥀

I understand you completely.

and I know almost every student has to cope with this feeling of not meeting other people’s expectations. we are not alone!

I think the fact is we all have our ups and downs. Our grades fluctuate. And we are our own best critics because we know every single grade we have by heart. We know how much and how well we studied for those tests, we know things other people don’t.

When we critique ourselves like that, we must see it in the brighter light and not in a damaging way.

However, we can’t control the way others judge us.

🥀

The truth is, in my experience, there were a lot of my colleagues and teachers who were curious to know everyone’s grades, mine included. And unfortunately, grades at my college are absolutely public. 

Some people are more discrete about it and others just bluntly asked me and even insisted (in a nice way, nothing rude) when I said no. I can’t vouch that it’s the same for everyone but it was my experience. It always frustrates me why people are so obsessed with everyone’s results. However, however, that doesn’t make them bad people.

🥀

I also have had experiences with strangers, teachers, other students, treating me differently because of my grades. This is a reality I never talked about in here. for example, colleagues asking me for advice and stuff after they know I had a good grade and abruptly stop after I get a lower grade. it’s just those subtleties, no one has ever actually been rude to me! and I understand where they are coming from!

but to me, it sounds like they suddenly thought I was a genius as soon as I got a high grade. intelligence and scores have no correlation, or at least, there are so many other factors pending on the score. It’s easy to forget that.

and because my grades have fluctuated a bunch in this first year, from high to mediocre, I got those experiences a lot.

and I wish I could tell you, “no, no one cares about your grades”, but that’s just not what I experienced.

Obviously, there are a lot of people who don’t care about your grades. I never check anyone else’s grades, both by principle and to not compare myself, and I know people who don’t either. I just know what people feel comfortable telling me spontaneously and I prefer it that way.

But at the end of the day, you have to be prepared to deal with these situations.

🌼 dealing mentally with it

You have to remind yourself that at the end of the day, only you can judge your grades because once again, you know things others don’t. And only you can say if you are satisfied with them or not. It’s an introspective evaluation.

Bad grades motivate me to do better, to be better. I take full responsibility and I want to do better for myself and for my parents.

But bad grades shouldn’t take away my self-worth, they don’t remove anything from me. They don’t take away my intelligence, my wit, my past and future success. It’s just a failure along the way, among many other successes and failures, that’s just how life is. For everyone.

When it comes to colleagues knowing, instead of seeing it as being draining, see it as a way to motivate yourself for the next test, the next grade, where you’ll be able to surprise them with a better grade. I always turn my inner Elle Woods on. It’s nice to just work in silence, understand your mistakes, and then see your efforts rewarded when you do end up achieving a better result, and being recognized for it. If you feel underestimated, let that fuel you.

You can prove you can get good grades to whoever you think you need to prove that to.

Keep in mind though, that once you do, you’ll see that feeling is very superficial. Don’t let those numbers be the only thing you feel proud about in your medicine education!

Being used to having straight A’s and then getting a few bad grades in a row, even when working hard, it’s a very humbling process. It’s more of a hit to your ego than anything else because obviously people know you are a good student, they know you. So it’s more of a mental leap that you have to make - a separation between what defines you as a student and your grades or results.

Also, I want you to keep in mind that

true friends don’t judge your worth by your school performance. Friends care about you. Sometimes we project our insecurities in our conversations, so maybe it’s the case that your friends aren’t judging you by your grades but you’re scared they will.

The best policy is always to have an honest conversation, I always explain my feelings to the people I care about, when I’m feeling scared they are going to judge me, I tell them. 

And without a fail, my friends and family support me.

👩‍🎓 all students go through it!

Like I’ve said before, these things happen to everyone. You may think that your friends, especially in medicine, that we’re all made of steel, that good students don’t have insecurities. But we all do. Of course we do.

Me and my classmates we were very honest with each other throughout the year, and I could see that we were all scared. Even the most confident ones. Tests, college, it’s hard. Everyone is human. Failures happen and we get sad.

So don’t feel like you’re the only one just because some people show more confidence. We all have our insecurities.

🕊️ 

Either way - either if it’s fear that you need to surpass or if it’s a real experience - the way to deal with judgement from others comes from within.

You need to be self confident enough to know that your self worth is not based on your grades.

You need to understand how amazing and hardworking you are and reward yourself, even when failure happens, and no matter what anyone thinks!! It’s all good.

Wanting to disappear, hide in a hole, you can do that. But was it good for if you’re still carrying all that weight inside of you?

You need to let that weight go.

Let the insecurities go, just be happy and grateful that you are doing the best you can, in the course you love, enjoying it while advancing in your career.

When you’re old and look back, the grades won’t matter. The experiences will.

Ok. 

I’m going to stop writing now ahah I hope this was able to ease your mind a little bit.

This question, I just, I can relate to it a lot. It was sent a few days ago, so I hope you’re feeling better by now.

You can always count on me, and I think you are doing absolutely amazing.

There are bumps and lows. Keep working hard. I know you will be able to get your results where you want them to be.

❤️ a huge hug! sending happy vibes your way ~ ❤️❤️❤️ anything else my inbox is always open for you

[spacefaringviking]

Humans are Eldritch Horrors: Biomechanical Technology

Okay so this is a long one, be warned.

I’ve been on a binge between Wikipedia and YouTube, looking up extremophiles, protists, and “intelligent” slime molds that have potential for biomechanical applications.

Imagine if you would, that this biotechnological trend is picked up as a norm for humanity as a whole. Biological material is not suited for every application, true. But graphene, being made purely of carbon, can be integrated into both biological and technological systems. Certain multicellular and monocellular organisms can metabolize heavy metals. Slime molds and human neurons can be surprisingly efficient computers.

Imagine sea sponges designed by humans to build skeletons out of iron, cadmium, or a gold-titanium alloy instead of calcium. Imagine stomatolites building shells for massive spaceships out of the “waste” materials from mining processes. Imagine spacesuits made out of chitin and a bioglass reminiscent of that which tardigrades produce. Instead of air tanks, whole miniature biomes that produce oxygen at a rapid rate when fed biomass.

Essentially, the Engineers from Prometheus. Or like, 99% of H.R. Giger’s work.

Now imagine throwing black hole reactors, Alcubierre/EM/Fold/Quantum drives, mass accelerators (for weapons or other uses) and quantum computing thrown in a big ol’ mixing bowl with biomechanical fuckery. And no horror show biomechanical stuff, but like sleek, fine lighting, no jagged edges, no skulls and pure horror, no wet and nasty slimy shite (aside from the slime molds and several production processes…), but like, upstanding and respectable stuff, beautiful sleek lines mixed in with angles that are a bit too perfect…

Then introduce this to aliens who adopted a purely technological path.

—————- —————- —————-

Xyrhum had seen nothing like it before. About [500 kilometers] away from the jump-entry point of this system, straight off the prow of his corvette, was a [10km] long construct. It was a sleek structure that conjoined its long, near perfectly-straight pair of “prongs” in a semicircle at one end. It bowed out near the semicircular end and was riddled with ridges and bumps and grooves all along its sleek and organic body lines. It emitted a rumble that could be felt more than heard, even inside a ship of this size this far away.

Xyrhum tapped his feelers on the armrest of his chair, the armor at the tips of his appendages making near-deafening clacks and taps in the utter silence of the bridge.

“Pilot, perform a wide maneuver around the structure. Advance no further than [350 kilometers] from it. Do not get too close. Operations, engage stealth.”

“Aye, commander,” replied both officers.

Xyrhum turned to his communications officer, who was staring at him in a mix of anticipation and apprehension. “Communications, perform a passive scan of the structure.”

He turned to the co-pilot. “Retract any hardpoints besides the scanner.”

The communications officer piped up.

“Sir, the construct… It knows we’re here. I’m picking up a tight-beamed signal emanating from the… whatever it is.”

“So, our stealth drives mean nothing,” quipped the commander. “Drop stealth.”

“Dropping stealth.”

“For all intents and purposes, this appears to be a First Contact situation. Prepare the data packet, and begin the ‘friendly contact’ signal. Start with the [Algebraic] equa-”

The ship lurched forward suddenly, cutting off the commander and accelerating at an uncomfortable speed towards the construct.

“Pilot, we have breached the [350km] mark and are accelerating at an unsafe speed toward the construct. Desist this instant!”

At that, the pilot raised his arms from the console. “This is not my doing, commander. The forward engines are at zero acceleration. Inertia dampeners are trying to fight but are overcome.”

“So, these aliens want a more face-to-face first contact.”

“It would seem so.”

“Communications, any changes on the construct? Has it deployed anything our active scanners can detect?”

“Several portions of its surface have shifted. There are numerous structures raising from its hull, but I detect no radiological spikes. If those are weapons, I’d imagine this to be more a threat display than anything else.”

“No chances. Raise shields to maximum.”

“Aye.”

Just as the shields arced to life and covered the ship in a shimmering protective shell, a flash pulsed from the side of the construct, and the ship went dark.

“Report!” Exclaimed the commander, as he began drifting out of his seat.

“Engines and main reactor have spun to zero,” reported the Ensign. “Weapons and scanners offline. We’re drifting without a gun, sir.”

“Damn. Life support?”

“Compromised, but active. Backup reactor coming online. We’ll have full life support, gravity, and lights in [30 seconds] and counting.”

A slow, purplish ghostly wave drifted through the bridge. It passed over every nook and cranny in the room, and tingled every atom in the commander’s body as it passed over him.

“What in the hundred hells was that?”

“Unsure, sir. Hazard a guess, I think we were scanned.”

The ship continued to move toward the construct without spin or deviation. A tractor beam…?

A smaller construct broke off of the hull of the larger ship. It drifted away for a good [minute], seemingly inactive. It suddenly pulsed to life, bright bluish-white lines dancing into activity along its fine and sleek oblong shape. Along its horizontal equator, a line of light traced from the aft end to the fore and culminated in a point of light at the nose. The point of light then moved as the new construct maneuvered to be edge- on with the commander’s craft. The point of light slid along an invisible tract and aligned itself with the craft.

“It’s looking at us,” piped up the communications officer.

At that, the smaller craft deployed long, thick arms from its bottom, unfolding them in what appeared to be a threat display. It swung its aft around with no visible propulsion as it dissapeared above the commander’s ship. Moments later, the ship shook and shuddered. Clanging sounds and depressurization alarms could be heard throughout the ship.

“What’s happening? Ensign, report!”

“Multiple depressurizations in non-critical areas. Crew quarters, medbay, and bridge are secure. We have been captured by the alien vessel… and we’re moving again.”

“Sir, scans for biological activity have… returned. This… ship… whatever it is… it’s hardly mechanical at all.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, that this structure is alive. I’m reading intense biological activity. The outside of the ship is a heavy-metal composite in a carbon-based organic lattice.”

“Living ships? Tractor beams? Emissionless propulsion? Gravitic signatures? What next?” the commander mumbled under his breath.

Everyone was silent as the smaller craft guided the commander’s ship through several [hundred meters] of white-lit oval-shaped corridor. From the port and starboard viewports, he could see a menagerie of other creatures fast at work in the corridors of the vessel. There were strange four-legged things scurrying about and hefting containers of sorts in the low gravity. There were tall bipedal hulks with bowed legs walking along the gangways of the corridor and staring at the ship intensely. They appeared to be aiming at the vessel. Protruding from the floor and ceiling of the corridor were circular domes with spindly appendages jutting out of one side. They tracked the ship’s every movement with a glaring red eye. Turrets?

The ship began to slow as it drifted toward a flat circular platform. Three figures stood in a room separated from the platform with a thick plate of glass, flanked by two of the large bipeds seen moments ago. The craft that had latched on to the commander’s vessel guided his ship forward into a cradle of armlike appendages. A blue field of arcing electricity shot out from the panels above and held the ship steady as the arms enclosed around it. The cradle that held the ship descended from the ceiling and brought the ship to rest on the floor of the platform. Several tendrils rose from the floor and embedded themselves in the ship’s hull.

Suddenly, the ship’s system sprang to life. The docking runtime ran through its paces and the docking hatch opened. A thick hollow tube, ringed with grasping appendages, extended from the wall and affixed itself to the docking hatch. With a thud and a hiss, pressure was restored in the ship.

“Welcome to Gilgamesh,” said the computer.

“How does the computer know the name of the vessel?”

“It was hacked,” said the Ensign. “None of the officers or myself can control the ship. We’re locked out.”

The emergency lights on the floor came to life and led to the airlock.

A voice crackled from the communications panel, causing the communications officer, who was already on edge, to leave the bridge in a nervous wreck.

The center of the five figures in the room adjacent to the ship stepped forward, and began to speak in fluent Union Standard.

“We apologize for the forceful… apprehension… of your vessel. We hope this transgression can be forgiven. However, you entered our space withojt consent and refused to answer any of our hails. The transgression aside, we have been eager to meet an alien race for some time, and did not want to lose out on such an enriching opportunity. We did not expect them to be so… rudimentary, however.”

The commander rise from his chair and stepped to the forward window of the bridge, and met gaze with the figure. “Who are you? How can you speak our language?”

I am a member of the human race. We utilized complex mathematical algorithms to decrypt your computer, and merely gutted a cantelope to get the berries of your language.“

"Gutted… A what?”

“Did that not make sense?”

“…not at all.”

“Ah. It is not a perfect system, mind you. We hope to resolve this.”

“Your peaceful intentions aside, while appreciated, do not excuse your actions. You realize that by seizing a military scouting vessel, hacking it, and taking information without consent, you have not only broken several rules of first contact etiquette, but have committed acts worthy of declaration of war?”

“Humanity does not seek war with anyone. We have outgrown such petty practices. However, and we remind you, you had entered our space, unannounced, in an armed vessel, which warranted a rather forceful response from us. We seem to have stepped on each other’s toes. I do not advise escalation.”

“Or?”

At that, an arm unfolded from the wall and aimed a spindly protrusion at the ship. The protrusion began to glow blue as the air began to ripple from heat.

The ship-board AI chirped to life; “Warning: radiological signature detected.”

“That,” the Human quipped.

“Very well.”

“Please, come aboard. We welcome you peacefully. We wish to discuss many things with you, as well as terms of reparation and harmonious relations.”

The crew departed the ship and crossed through the boarding tube. The air was surprisingly dry and warm.

They entered the room through an airlock of iris-style doors, unfolding with a slight cracking and the sound of sliding stone. The three figures, standing at a whopping [2.5m], stood in the center of the room, flanked by their [5m] behemoths.

The center figure departed the group, flowing robes rippling as it waltzed effortlessly toward him. It stopped at a close, yet respectful distance of [6m].

Suddenly, the plates that composed its cranium shifted and split, hissing out a steamy gust of air as it opened and neatly folded away. What it revealed was the true face of the human; a round head, with pinkish-gray soft skin, nearly hairless and featureless. On either side was a flesh protrusion, full of ridges and bumps, angled forward. Atop its head was a tuft of… hair? It had a rather flat face with a gentle ridge above its pair of forward-set predatory eyes and a protrusion in the center of it all with two holes. Beneath that was a horizontal slit composed of two fleshy lobes. The lobes peeled back to reveal a set of bony protrusions.

“I am Heyatha, the commander of this frigate. It is my honor to greet you, Commander Xyrhum, on behalf of humanity. There is so much for us both to learn from this meeting.”

Submission by the amazing @bartwelchii

[popmusicu]

The burn out of the kpop industry

A while ago I was watching a youtube video called "the last great era of kpop" by mera. This video basicallly talked about how there's a feeling of exhaustion in the fandom towards the kpop industry as a result of an high demand the last years. I felt somehow iluminated by this video so today i want to give my own opinions and reflexion about this statement. 

First at all, if you are new in kpop (you got into this world these last 2 years) probably you aren't really aware of this, and makes sense because you are just discovering things, chilling with all the content kpop groups have to offer, the tons of new songs every month etc. so you can just enjoy kpop easily. But as a more veteran kpop stan, I've noticing things that aren't common before (or maybe i'm just old for this lmao).

With the pandemic, lot of people began to search for new hobbies that can be do it in our houses. The blow up of TikTok, a great amount of new anime or kpop fans (or both) are some of the consequences of this. Suddenly, something just you know it was all over the place, and you can see even more content about the things you like. It's not that bad,right? but just like Tiktok have burned a lot of songs faster than before, you can get tired easier of the things you used to love. 

This isn't just the overuse of social media but also companies fault. With all the new people supporting kpop groups, agencies began to debut new ones trying to capture part of this atention, but this didn't work and even few of them disappeared shortly after without being noticed. On the other hand, already popular kpop groups with a big stable fanbase become more famous than before, and know they can't rest in an attempt to mantain their popularity even if it isn't really necessary (yes i'm talking about Twice), and the idols are getting tired too of this exploitation. At this point it's just about squeezing the money out of the fans for as long as possible, cause even with the lack of concerts they manage to make an alternative paid content. 

Following this, isn't uncommon for kpop groups having two comeback in a year separated for a good amount of time, but now you can see groups promoting three or more times in a year, sometimes overseas to satisfy western public (cofcofmorelikegringoscofcof), so you are still boping to a song when they release another one, becoming kinda overwhelming. This also makes the song less iconic because you don't have the time to proccess it. For example,  Alcohol-free was a bop but i can't remember it with the same enthusiasm as I remember Fancy.  For some people recent comebacks are also less impresive in terms of music originality or that doesn't comply with the concept that the group had before, so these levels of criticism also don't help to reduce the actual fatigue. 

Finally, these last years we've also seen the end of a lot of groups from the second and third generation, to make way for fourth generation. It's very sad when you see the end of something you grew up with, and the people you looked up to is not there anymore. Many of these goodbyes were even without the fans due to the pandemic, and in the worst cases, without announcement, they just dissapeared one day.

It's not literally the worst era of kpop, these kind of things happened before but it was less noticeable because fans also had a different way  interacting with kpop. but the talented people it's still there. I think we just need a break because our high demand is oversaturating the industry and ourselves and in the end is gonna be less entertainment for us.

-María Jesús Garrido Muñoz

[opinated-user]

I find it telling that lily has suddenly just claimed that actually it was Courtney that was sexually abusing her and Courtney's accusations are just 'poisoning the well' (this is wording a lily critical blog used to describe her actions just a few days ago, so it seems she just used it cuz she saw in her tag).

It's really hard to believe this is true given she never brought this up before, even when she was open about being SAd by a teacher around the same time. Lily went on to blame Courtney for not telling adults about it (even though it was made clear they didn't know about it at the time), but not a peep about Courtney actually abusing her as well.

It just seems lily has decided playing the uno reverse card is the best way to get people off her back because denying wasn't working well enough. But she knows being a victim might silence people and will paint anyone that doesn't buy it as victim blamers.

But it feels so blatantly obvious this is false if u read her past posts where she only talked about beating up Courtney for a TV remote and claimed she was a spoiled brat. Yet now, with new accusations, suddenly Courtney was one of her biggest abusers, and was also SAing her. But I guess that wasn't relevant until months after Courtney's testimony came out.

i think at the very start of Courtney speaking out and LO first denying everything, one anon speculated that garanteed LO was going to try to turn everything on Courtney and claim she was the one being abused. well, congratulations to that one anon for being right! LO has always done this, though. when Brittany calls her a groomer, now Brittany is the groomer. when we call out her hypocresy, now we're the hypocrites. when we call her out for racism, we're the racist. every accusation is always a confession and never her just wanting to take attention away from herself. abusers and cowards do that all the time. everything before ever accepting any blame on anything they do. if on top of that LO was raised having all her problem dissapear because of daddy and excused everything with things outside of her control, then no wonder she prefers to die on the hill of "i have never done a damn thing wrong my entire life" before ever trying to improve as a person. it was only a matter of time.

[saltoftheao3]

1/3 I saw a post on here about how fandom is supposed to be about possibility and it made me laugh. Fandom is not canon it said. It shouldn't be, but unfortunately fandom, aside from being very 'white man gay', pretty much falls in line with everything canon is: a space that is unsafe, unwelcoming and devoid of both POC fans and POC fictional characters, a space where female characters and ships fall into the background or simply dissapear, a space where interest begins and ends with males...

2/3 a space that is completely unwilling to accept criticism especially one that comes from mlm or POCs, a space that exploits real life pain in the name of art, and oh no no better not hear a peep from people who felt and feel that pain! because ‘censorship!!’ and ‘how dare you limit me’ and ‘DLDR!’, because of course art should be limitless right? and how lucky we are to have people willing to take it that far huh! and explore the darkness of humanity 

3/3…except when you point out the limits of fanworks suddenly its ‘well I’m limited by canon u see’ or ‘I’m limited by my knowledge’ or ‘I only write for fun’. Apparently writing a slavery AU is within reach, but writing a POC character is just too hard. If you think fandom is a perfect place of fun possibilities, it’s probably because it caters to you and is centered around you, for some of us its just same ol’, except we have to shut up and drink the kool-aid cause nobody like a party pooper            

Hey anon, those are all very valid concerns, and it’s true that fandom often sucks. Here’s a very good list of tumblr blogs on POC representation, to put positie diverse content on your dash.

In general, I find it hard to criticize people for just, you know, liking things. Yes, the reason why particular narratives/characters are appealing and why other are dismissed is often shaped by internalized mysoginy, racism etc. - but that happens mostly on an unconscious level, and therefore is hard to change through actively calling people out on it. Being passionate about fictional stuff doesn’t feel like a political act to most, even when on some underlying level, it is.

I do hope that movies like Black Panther or series like Brooklyn 99 will be game-changer and set new trends in fandom, make fans be invested in POC and wlw more.

Anyway, I can relate to your bitterness, representation, even fictional one, matters so much.

(p.s. followers, I know this is a touchy subject, but let’s keep the discussion civil, shall we?) 

[xiaobaemoon]

Key Chains~ A Doyoung Soulmate AU: Part 10 -Final

A/N: Thank you for everyone who was following this story. My laptop was broken so I could not present it to you before. I’m terribly sorry for the inconvinience. Please remember that everything happening in this story is fiction and I do not support any behaviors like cheating, etc. I can’t thank you again and I hope you will stayed tuned for my new upcoming series (probably coming middle of may hehe) and my reactions, which I’m going to post one next week. Have a wonderful day and come tell me your opinion and critic! I’m open for it <3

Word Count: 1. 419 Words

I love this look so much!!

As fast as your dress allowed it you run down the streets. It was already dark outside, so only the stars and the street lights showed you the way to the nearest train station. This was not how you had planned your wedding!No, this was total disaster! Exhausted you collapsed on one of the benches in front of the train track.  You had no specific place in mind, you just wanted to go away as fast as possible. Maybe you could start a new life in a town far away, maybe even in another country. A place, where people you trust would not be lying at you. A place, where you finally would learn to trust your guts more than someone elses words.

The cold air around you made your breath appear as white smoke covering smaller and smaller spaces of the sky. For your suprise the train station was empty, which allowed you to let out a deep sigh. Your head fell down on our chest and you noticed that you had something inside your right hand. It was the wedding ring you recieved just an hour ago. You could not bring yourself to throw it away, not  yet. Hesitantly you closed your eyes and slowly repeated everything that had happened:

You were marrying Doyoung, the love of your life, as suddenly the woman who walked at your bridal store crashed the ceremony. She was crying and yelled that Doyoung would marry her. Only a few minutes later he confessed something to you, which you always had at the back of your mind but which you never dared to actually think about.

Where was Doyoung by the way? He had been running after you, shouting your name like a crazy person but at some point he must have lost track of you. A train was arriving, but you did not feel like going on it. You would take the next one, or the one after that. You had more than plenty of time now.

You repeated the words he had said to you. You repeated his vow and then his confession. Everything seemed so clear now to you. Everything he had told you about this mysterious Mei was a lie. She was not the soulmate of his roommate, but rather his life-long friend who he was cheating on you with. He tried to explain himself, but you did not listen to it. It did not matter. You looked at the night sky. The stars were shining brightly, the only good thing on this terrible night. “At least you guys are happy“ you whispered at the constelations above, eventhough they could not hear a word you said. Your only companion was deaf and not even a real person. You could not fall any deeper.

After a time that felt like a small eterninty a train arrived again. You had no idea where this would be heading either, but it felt right to go on it. However, before the train stopped someone grabbed you by your wrist and shoved you in another direction. The hand belonged to a man wearing a suit. You turned your face around. It was Doyoung, breathing heavily.

Both of you seated yourself on the bench again. While Doyoung tried to catch his breath again, you looked at your crossed fingers in front of you, waiting for him to start, but when he was finally able to say something you cut him off. “I don‘t want to hear your stupid lies and excuses anymore“ you said angry. You wanted Doyoung to scream at you. Hell, you even wanted him  to cry, but he did nothing. He just watched you with his huge dark eyes.

 “I know“ he answered after a while. “But I also know that it was wrong what I did. I even said it in my vow, y/n! At first I started the relationship because I was scared that ours would not work. But soon I realized that you were the right one and tried to cut ties with Mei, yet she would not let me! Believe me! I even changed my phone number, remember?“

He was right, he had actually changed his number a few months ago, but this was not an excuse. On one hand you could understand his reason. Commiting into a relationship was scary, especially if it was the first one. Yet your trust was shattered , even though he knew of your anxious thoughts towards  the relationship. You could not break up with him, because he was your assigned soulmate after all, but you could not marry him anymore , not now.

“I still love you Doyoung“ you slowly made up your mind.“ but I‘m hurt. I‘m really hurt because of you and I think it would be better if we seperate for at least two months. I have to think about a few things and you probably have to do the same.“

As soon as you said those words two strange things happened: Doyoungs face started to turn as pale as the stars above your heads and a woman suddenly appeared out of nowhere. She was wearing a bright purple uniform and held a notebook in her arm. With fast steps she walked into your directions and stopped right in front of you.

“I‘m from the goverment and I have to tell you something, Miss Y/N and Mr. Kim“ she explained in a high pitched voice. “You may remember the yellow paint on the backside of the papers with the date of your wedding. This is from an experiment we started this year. Yellow means that something unexpected will happen on your wedding day and you will get a new one. Here!“ She handed both of you a small strip of paper. “This is your real date. I wish you both a wonderful night.“ Without saying another word she dissapeared as fast as she had showed up.

Doyoung and you looked in eachothers eyes and started to laugh. This could only happen to you! You laughed like a mad person as you listened to the loud giggles of your soulmate. His laugh was gorgeous. You adored it with your whole being and for a second you started to think about how much you would miss it in those two months, but they were necessary, you knew that and he knew it too.

When you calmed down both of you closed your eyes and turned the paper around. On one hand you really wanted to see the new date, on the other hand you did not dare to. Was this even real life? The whole day appeared to you like it was out of a bad soap opera. “Ready?“ Doyoung asked with a slightly shaking voice. You answered with yes and opened your eyes.

You will marry on March 13th next year

Doyoung held your hand for the last time as you slowly walked inside the train. His hand was warm and you enjoyed feeling it. You were still hurt, but you also knew that he was the right one. Everybody makes mistakes, but some are just worse and need more time to accept. “ I will wait for you“ he whispered, looking at your interlaced fingers. “I will return and I will think of you“ you answered. “And we will marry“ he added, before the doors of the trains slowly started to close. “And we will marry“ you repeated. As fast as you could you placed a soft kiss on his lips and watched the doors fully close. You would be apart for two months. You had no idea wher you would go and what you would do, but you needed time for yourself. You wanted to become a person Doyoung could love with every fiber of his being, without any fears and doubts.

You seated yourself on one of the many empty seated and reached inside your small emergency backpack you took eveywhere. In it you had a first-aid kit, a hoodie and a thick leggins. With shaking legs you walked inside the toilet cabin and changed your clothes into something more comfy and less strange.  As you were back on your seat you looked at a digital clock above your head. It was already 1:27 a.m . “Only sixty days are left Doyoungie“ you said to yourself. They would pass in no time and you would meet him again, finally doing what you always wanted to: marry your soulmate, the person you loved more than everything.

[thatcrazybookwormgeek]

Magic and Tears - Part 1

A/N: This is my first time ever posting any of my work, on any site, so please be kind. Criticism is appreciated as long as it's constructive. Enjoy!

Warnings: A swear word, other than that just fluff.

Pairings: Fem!Reader x Loki, Tony Stark x Daughter!Reader.

Without further adu, here it is...

   I could smell the magic the moment he walked in. Powerful, dark yet beautiful.    "This is my brother, Loki. He will be staying here for awhile." Thor's voice was loud and demanding, as if waiting for someone to challenge him.    "Just stay away from me, and her." My dad added a certain tone to it, as if begging Loki to let him test out his new weapons.    With a roll of my eyes I looked at Loki and offered to take him on a tour. I figured it would tick my dad off, and boy was I right.    "No. No, no, no. Absolutely not." My dad said as he raced to get his Iron-man suit.   "Friday, lock down code 5457310 please." I stated as I walked towards the elevator.    "You coming?" I asked Loki.    "He seemed pretty against that idea." Loki stated, as if it was obvious.    "Yeah, well, he can get over it."    "I don't think that's such a great idea Y/N." Steve said as I led Loki to the elevator.    "Like I said, he can get over it."    Once we were in the elevator I told Loki, "Let's stop by your room first, so you can put your stuff away."    It turns out that Loki's room is right next to mine. Dad is not going to like that. Oh well, I can take care of myself. I've been trained by Natasha since I could walk.    "So, does the rest of the team know you have magic?" Loki asked as he walked into his room.    "No, and I would like to keep it that way." I responded as I flipped the switch on my watch stopping FRIDAY from recording.    "How long have you had them?"    "Three months"    "How did you get them?"    "I was fighting with the avengers and a beam of blue light hit me, I woke up, thought I was ok. Turns out I was better than ok."    "What was the blue light?"    "We don't know, all I know is that it happened when you were invading earth. That's why Tony was so protective. He thinks you had something to do with it. Not that he knows about my powers."    "Can you control it?"    "Sort of, I know how to turn it off. What's with all the questions?"    "I'm just trying to get to know you better, is that such a crime."    "Ok, well we should probably head to the kitchen though, before Tony realizes I shut FRIDAY off."    "FRIDAY?"    "A.I. in the mainframe, he has acess to all the cameras and hidden mics. Anything you say or do is monitered."    "That's kind of creepy."    "You get used to him."    We had just reached the kitchen as Barton came up to me and told me to expect trouble.    "What the hell?! I take off and you override FRIDAY! Not cool."    "Yeah, well neither is being treated like a helpless kid. So..."    "Y/N, I'm just trying to protect you."    "I don't need your protection."    I stormed off to my room, leaving Loki all by himself in an embarrassing situation.    A blue mist circled around me as I shaped some of it into a teddy bear. The bear disappeared suddenly as I cried into it. I could only hold it for so long. I conjured another one, this one taking the form of Steve, the moment Loki walked in.    "How did you do that?" He asked.    "Here let me show you." I said as I manipulated the blue mist around me to form into a bear. I added embellishments such as a horned hat, a scepter, and a green robe to make it look like Loki.    "Here, this is for you." I passed the bear to Loki, trying to focus on keeping it up.    It took him a few minutes to get it, but once he did there was no stopping him. He didn't seem to be getting tired, but I was exhausted.    "Why doesn't this take as big of a toll on you as it does on me?" I asked Loki as I made my bears dissapear.    "You have to focus on an emotion, something strong, but it takes time to learn, you'll get it soon."    I was just about to thank him as the mission alarm went off. I dashed off to the Armory to grab my stuff. I quickly put on my skin-tight leather outfit similar to Natasha's, grabbed my throwing knives, and headed out the door.    Loki wasn't far behind me as we dashed to the living room.    "You coming?" I asked Loki as he stared in confusion. He took no time in getting his armor and grabbing his staff. We were out the door in no-time.

Part 2