#don't mean to clog up dashes

[steakout-05]

art from Jetpack Joyride's Facebook page encouraging players to share a picture of their best distance, in which Barry falls smackbang on his face and it's really funny. point and laugh

[ddejavvu]

hiii! this is my first time requesting and I just love your writing so much, you are so talented!

I was thinking about telling early season spencer (3-4) that he has a “slutty waist” and he’s all shy about bc he doesn’t even know what that means.

i’m on spencer’s waist tiktok right now and this popped up in my head😭

It's a bleary observation that you're too groggy to be making in the early hours of the morning, but Spencer hears it anyways, "You've got a slutty waist, Spence."

He actually thinks he mishears you at first, eyes narrowing as he turns from where he'd been tying his tie in the mirror, "Huh?"

"Your waist," You grumble, turned on your side now - still, mercifully, buried beneath the covers with several hours left to sleep - to watch him where he stands, "It's slutty."

"Slutty?" He echoes in disbelief, and you wonder if it's the first time the offensive word has ever passed through his lips, "What does that- what? My waist?"

"Yeah," You nod as vigorously as your sleep-clogged muscles will allow you to, "Look at it, it's all skinny and tight and- and it moves when you walk."

"Are you drunk?" Spencer asks, looking partly aghast and partly amused, "Or- or did you take really strong sleeping medication? You're loopy."

"I'm fine," You manage, brain beginning to fire on more than just one meager cylinder, "Come kiss me, you slut."

"Please stop calling me that," Spencer begs bashfully, cheeks lit up a bright pink. but he complies in record time. Maybe it's to shut you up faster, but he hunches over the bed where you're laying to kiss your sleep-tacked lips.

"I don't wanna," You lament, letting him tuck you back beneath the covers as he rushes to leave, too flustered to handle another round of your rather brash observations about his body without time for a cold shower. He dashes for the door once he's tucked you in, like the blankets are bindings and would stop you from chasing after him. You watch his retreating form, calling out after him, "Have a good day at work, my little slut!"

[mandiemegatron]

Why kill off the reader in the second part of losing the war? I was expecting Kidd or Killer to get hurt or something but killing the reader? Tell us you don't care about your readers without telling us you don't care about your readers. Who the fuck kills off the READER? Take the L and maybe stop acting like your writing is better than it actually is.

*deep breath*

Okay.

I've received a handful of anons similar to this one and I didn't think I'd have to come on here to break down my ideas and give reasons as to why I wrote something the way I did, but clearly some people are pretty pressed over my choices for Just Come Home. Everything under the readmore so I don't clog up people's dash.

Let's break this down one point at a time. So firstly, my choice to kill off the Reader was actually a last-minute decision while finishing it off. My original idea was reader never forgives Kid and decides to fight Kid and Killer instead, losing and being left for dead (for Law to find), but decided, why not even more hurt? More pain and more anguish, as I was asked to put Kid through via some askers/anons. I found the best way to do that, was to kill off the reader. Have them make amends only to have that ripped from Kids hands and destroyed with a simple flick of the wrist, and honestly, the fact that I had myself in tears while writing it gave me the motivation to continue with that idea.

I also wanted to delve into trying my hand at Law who felt backed into a wall and decided to spill blood, all for the sake of having an upper hand, and if that meant he had to off the reader to keep that upper hand, then so be it. I wanted to write something different from my usual angst, something a little more devastating and I feel like I hit that mark pretty damn close. Truly, I'm sorry you feel differently about it.

Secondly, don't you EVER come into my inbox and point fingers, saying I don't care about my readers. Buddy, I probably care TOO MUCH about my readers, about what they think and about how they feel when reading my writing. This is incredibly hurtful for you to come up here and essentially scream in my face that this isn't good enough. I need you to understand that if you dont enjoy something, that means it wasn't written for YOU. Not everything you come across is going to be to your taste and it's insanely self-centered and entitled of you to come in here and tell me I don't give a fuck about my readers because YOU thought it was stupid. It feels like you're taking this a little personally and I don't understand why.

Lastly, i don't sit here and brag about my writing. In fact, I feel like I stay pretty quiet other than some self reblogs of things I've written when I'm feeling that certain blorbo. It's confusing and again, hurtful, for you to come in here and essentially tell me to shut the fuck up... on my own blog. That's some strange activities there, buddy. I think you maybe need to log off for a bit, go sit in nature and do some deep breathing because this is crossing the line over to chronically online. Please go outside for a bit. Please revise your manners and remember the golden rule. You don't have to be religious for you to understand "treat others the way you want to be treated".

Do better.

[unformula1]

Guilt and Regret (LS2 x OP81)

synopsis: doubts, doubts and more doubts. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ pairing: Logan Sargeant x Oscar Piastri (Loscar) w/c: 1364 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ a/n: it was supposed to be short, but not anymore I guess. i missed a day but man, it's alright. enjoy!!! >>masterlist<< day 10/11 of Loscar posts until we get a loscar podium!!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Logan Sargeant opens up about his racing life

"I think it's tough. You don't really know what to expect, you lose a lot trying to gain everything."

The article never once mentioned Oscar's name but he knew Logan was referring to him for most of it. How much Logan wanted Oscar again, and how much Oscar didn't give a shit.

"It's a high risk sport, I would say. There's very little room for error but the smallest mistake could cost everything."

"Sometimes you get on the bad side of people you love."

“I mean, losing friends, it’s part of it all”

Oscar almost coughed up his water after reading that. He definitely knew who Logan was referring to.

Oscar wanted to slam his head against a wall. Logan was speaking up about his racing life but all Oscar could think about was Logan's subtle hints toward Logan.

He felt horrible. He felt disgusting. He felt like a failure of a friend.

From someone who promised Logan he'd be there whenever Logan needed, this was pretty shitty of him.

Oscar had let Logan down. Oscar disappointed him. For once it wasn't the other way round, and it took everything Oscar had out of him.

He felt his guilt wash up into his lungs, clogging it up, forcing him to gasp for air constantly. It was drowning him.

He felt the regret engulf his heart, wrapping around it with a tight hug that could kill. It was suffocating.

He turned off his phone, taking a very deep breath. The 5 minute read felt like an eternity of smacks in the face about how much he overlooked his best friend's pain.

Oscar always regarded himself as someone who noticed a lot. He always felt as if he would notice the small details in his friends and remember them forever.

Guess not.

He placed his phone on the bedside table and laid down on his bed, looking up at the hotel room ceiling. Despite being a boring, bland plain white colour, it stood out.

Memories of Oscar and Logan played on the ceiling, like a film, running through the different scenes.

Happiness.

Laughs.

Smiles.

Then it all fell apart. And guess who was to blame...

Oscar shut his eyes tightly, reminiscing for a bit, everything was just so overwhelming. How did a 5 minute article cause him to cry about something he thought he'd gotten over a few months ago.

He'd swore he'd stopped crying about Logan and his relationship months ago. It was supposed to never affect him again, and here he was crying about it once again.

Oscar never regarded himself as sensitive, in fact he was probably the dead opposite, but something about missing Logan always struck something in him.

Everything had to change. Oscar was sure of it, he wasn't sure if Logan even cared anymore, after all the snippets of interviews and quotes he'd read online. Maybe Logan was done trying to repair everything himself, maybe he'd moved on.

Oscar coughed again, choking on the imminent tears, he was a failure of a friend. He wanted Logan as a friend again. He knew that.

"It wasn't up to expectation but I'll keep going!"

Logan's interview played on the big screens. Oscar swore he'd heard this statement a few million times, and every single time Oscar had failed to even ask Logan how he was holding up.

Horrible.

Oscar sprinted over to where the interview was taking place. The sound of Logan's interview still playing in the background.

"I mean, I'll always love doing this no matter what."

Oscar tried his best to tune out the interview but to no avail. It was louder than ever.

"People come and go. I guess that's how it works but I'll try my best always."

There was no way he wasn't referring to Oscar.

He dashed past the personnel and maneuvered his way through the barricades.

"And I mean, things happen..." Logan continued.

Oscar halted to a shrieking stop right next to Logan's interview, causing Logan's voice to falter to silence as he watched Oscar run over.

"Hey Oscar." The interviewer commented.

Oscar tried to catch his breath before saying anything.

Logan just stood there awkwardly, holding the mic as the camera panned over to Oscar.

Oscar shook his head, "No... no sorry for interrupting... keep going." Oscar said in between heavy pants.

"Alright." The interviewer said.

The interview wrapped up pretty quickly after that and the cameras cut.

"Oscar, what happened." Logan asked.

Oscar didn't know if his mind was playing tricks on him but Logan's tone had a piercing lack of sympathy, as if this was just a pointless question that was expecting a dry answer like "I'm okay".

"I'm..." Oscar hesitated. I'm okay. Say it. I'm fine. I am. Nothing's new.

Logan raised an eyebrow, adjusting his shirt as he did so.

"I wanted to talk to you." Oscar forced out, hoping he didn't choke up any words.

"Clearly." Logan joked. Oscar tried to get a laugh but nothing came out.

"Oh. It's a serious kind." Logan cleared his throat, "Shall we go somewhere more private."

When was Logan ever this formal? If this wasn't a hit in the face that Logan didn't care about Oscar anymore, he didn't know what was.

Oscar nodded, before following wherever Logan was bringing him.

They were in a secluded room, away from the press, away from their teams, away from everyone. 

“Go on.” Logan said.

“I… uhm… so…�� Oscar stuttered, contemplating his choice of words constantly.

Logan smiled and nodded, signalling for Oscar to continue.

“I saw your article, slash, interview.” Oscar tried to sound less awkward, “And uhm… I… wanted to talk about it.”

Logan nodded, rather excitedly, “You read it? Did I sound too attention seeking? Did I sound ungrateful?”

“No. No… none of that. It was more about me, actually.”

Logan furrowed his eyebrows, the gears clearly shifting in his head.

“Uhm… were you talking about me?” Oscar said. The words vomited out his mouth, coming out quick and swiftly.

“As in?” Logan asked.

“When you said something about losing friends, getting on their bad side. I don’t know, vaguely something like that.” Oscar’s voice came out unnatural, as if he was muffling a few cries. 

“Oh…” Logan’s head lowered, his feet shuffled a little, “Maybe…? A little?”

“What does that mean?” Oscar practically started begging, “Please. I need to know. I’m sorry if I’ve ever been such a horrible friend but please. I need to know if you hate me or something.”

Logan was about to say something when Oscar interrupted.

“Maybe you don’t want to talk to me ever again but I promise you, just say how you feel about me and I’ll never be in your business again. Please. PLEASE.” Oscar blabbered, “Oh shit, I interrupted you. Sorry. Fuck. Sorry.”

A small, tiny smile crept onto Logan’s face. A small chuckle escaping.

Oscar was confused, obviously. He tilted his head to the side.

“Osc. I thought I was the one messing up here. I thought I wasn’t doing good enough for you. I really thought I was the issue here.” Logan said.

“Really. Well because- wait. No. You thought you weren’t doing good enough?” Oscar said, “you thought YOU weren’t doing good enough for me?” 

Logan sheepishly nodded.

“Logan, you'll always be enough for me. Always.” Oscar remarked, rather sassily.

“Okay well, you’ve never been a horrible friend. I thought I was just… never living up to being your friend. You’ve been nothing but the best.” Logan admitted, smiling a little wider.

Oscar dragged an ‘ugh’ for a few seconds.

“This was so stupid.” Oscar said, “God… you’re amazing Logan.”

“You are too. The best, probably.” Logan said as he pulled Oscar in for a hug, which Oscar reciprocated.

Both of them stayed like that for a while. It’s been a while since Oscar had felt anything as good as this. The warmth filled his entire body.

It unclogged his lungs from all the guilt as Logan’s words resounded through his head.

It released all the regret from his heart, knowing Logan was never going to give up on Oscar, ever.

[nyoomerr]

Tips for writing shizun-is a teacher I wish to fuck blorbo Shen Yuan and 300 women but only truly want one man blorbo Bingge? They are so tasty but I want to characterize them accurately 👌👌

they are indeed the tastiest 😌🍴 and i'm glad that you enjoy my characterization of them enough that you trust me to give advice on them!

that said, i'll go ahead and add my usual sort of disclaimer when giving writing advice -- this is how i interpret these characters, and it's highly unlikely that everyone will agree with all aspects of my understanding of them. feel free to take/leave whichever pieces of this advice suit you personally!

(after all, i don't even take my own advice to heart all the time. there are always exceptions, especially in fandom / fic, where the guiding principle should always just be "do whatever is most fun!")

⬇ ⬇ all advice under the cut to avoid clogging ppl's dashes ⬇ ⬇

for writing shen yuan,

he's an asshole! i often see sy portrayed as kind and innocent as a heavenly saint, but this is the same guy who delighted in harassing the writer of his (not) favorite book. he's argumentative and a bit mean, and he enjoys being those things, particularly when it makes him feel as if he's "won" something. to write this part of his character,

within his own narration, i'll include casual insults directed at anyone/thing that causes him a mild inconvenience

in conversations between him and someone he dislikes, i try to ensure he's never the one to disengage first unless something forces him to, instead writing him as always wanting to get the last word in.

whatever quips/insults/methods of revenge he enacts, i try to ensure that they match his own image of who he is. when he's sqq, his bitchiness doesn't "win" anything unless the way he enacts it fits within his image as an aloof immortal. even when he's a NEET in his original world, he has an image of himself that he wants to maintain (i.e. "winning" on the internet means "people believe you're right.")

he can be sweet, but it's an attitude reserved for people/things he likes very much. even then, it only reinforces his bitchiness; i try to always write him as most mean when someone is attacking something he likes.

he's conditionally oblivious, not completely so. although oblivious!sy is super fun, he's really only "oblivious" to things that would be inconvenient for him to know/understand, and even then, it's less that he doesn't notice and more that he doesn't want to notice. to write this part of his character,

i still have him notice whatever is happening, but within his own narration he'll complete whatever mental gymnastics are necessary to reach a more convenient conclusion than the obvious one.

i try to portray these mental gymnastics as increasingly frantic / borderline panicked depending on how big the jump is between "what is easy for sy to think" and "what the reality is." kinda as if sy can tell that his own excuses are falling apart in real time and is desperately trying to cover it up.

a lot of "what is easy for sy to think" lies in his comphet, but not all of it. it's also easy for him to think that he's right - so when he makes a reasonable assumption, and then he learns new information that disproves that assumption, i usually take that as a chance to throw in some mental gymnastics, too.

when he does finally allow himself to understand, it's often because he's reached the tipping point of "what is easy for me to think is now actively harmful to me or someone i care about." i'll often write sy doing his mental backflips for chapters on end without any sign of stopping, but then very suddenly come to a halt and recognize the truth when he's faced with irrefutable proof that his assumptions are making things Worse (i.e., binghe is crying).

for writing bingge,

his motivation for chasing after a sy of his own lies primarily in the emotion of "this isn't FAIR" as opposed to a genuine desire to have a happy life with sy specifically. it isn't fair that he got a cruel sqq while bingmei got one that grew to care for him, it isn't fair that bingmei is happier in his life than bingge is in his ""objectively"" more accomplished life, etc etc. to write this part of his character,

he'll expect sy to treat him just like sy!sqq treated bingmei right out the gate, because sy doing so would make things "fair" for bingge. when sy fails to meet these expectations, i'll write bingge experiencing the frustration of a child denied the treatment their sibling got, not the distress of a man being rejected by someone he loves.

he has to learn to want sy romantically, and learn how that's different from just vaguely wanting "whatever bingmei had that i didn't." when he reaches this point, i'll try to write some key change in the way he treats sy in order to show that his mental framing of the situation has changed. often, i change the way bingge addresses sy at this point (i.e. calling sy with a diminutive instead of by his name).

he has very firm ideas about what is "good," and very little of them actually match what he wants. by the time bingge reached a position of power, he'd spent a lot of time reinforcing particular ways of thinking and acting because they were what kept him alive during difficult times. to write this part of his character,

he'll lash out at anything that has the chance to hurt him, because striking first is how he's survived. bc of this, i'll write him as very quick to lash out at sy or run away from their relationship if he gets even the slightest hint that sy might have messed up somewhere... but only after bingge has grown to like sy enough that he's emotionally vulnerable to what sy might do to him.

before that point, i'll write him as just mildly frustrated that this nice new toy he found isn't playing with him correctly.

he was only respected and listened to after he became powerful and scary, so he'll resist showing any other side of himself. i'll often use this as a point of conflict, highlighting how 'what makes a good romantic partner' has very little overlap with 'what makes a scary emperor' and forcing bingge to hesitantly change his habits.

i also have tips i wrote specifically about the bingmei-ification process here, if you wanted to check those out :>

anyway, i hope these help a bit! thank you again for trusting me for advice, it's very sweet of you. good luck with your own writing adventures, i'm sure you're going to kill it!!! 😤💪

[sentientsky]

So Everything Everywhere All at Once huh

[through a mouthful of my own blood] yeagh. i'm actually so normal about this movie [i trip and fall and a bunch of scenes fall out of my pockets]

additional thoughts and infodump below the cut lol!

No, but genuinely, this film is so fucking incredible!

And I'm glad to see we're on the same page, 'cause I every time I watch this movie, I also spend the last 15-20 mins weeping uncontrollably lol

There are so many facets of it that make me feel as though my heart is clawing its way out of my chest: The enduring message of hope and resilience and compassion—that nothing matters on a cosmic scale, and that things are going to knock the air out of our lungs and leave us reeling with pain. But we create meaning. We are not alone and we are not fundamentally unloveable or worthless or wrong. And we are deserving of care and for people to try to understand and SEE us.

It also (imo) deals with depression and suicidality in such an evocative and important way. Jobu's apathy and exhaustion is so relatable. And the scene where Evelyn reaches into the bagel to pull her daughter back from the precipice of self-destruction? Instant tears. Sobbing uncontrollably.

I also really love the way it subverts the notion of masculinity as something that is emotionally closed-off and dismissive. Waymond is a hero by virtue of his compassion and gentleness (Pop Culture Detective has a really good video on the topic here)

And of course, the mommy issues. A woman traveling through all of time and space—ripping a hole in the side of the universe—just to get her mother to see and accept her? To have someone understand her? Painfully relatable. Send help.

I could go on, but it's pretty late here and my brain is starting to power down (also I don't want to clog up my mutuals' dashes lol). SORRY anyway thank u for this ask, i LOVED it ajskjfskdgds

[rambleyrambles]

Hey buddies!

What's up with Mollie in Chapter 1?

There's a couple different things I wanna cover, so bear with me as I ramble on a little bit to figure out where to start. Like, I've got something I haven't seen others mention, a few theories tied to it, and other speculation. So I guess I should start with that appearance?

Also note: I'm not going to be going over the mascots as a whole here. They definitely need something all to themselves, so maybe I'll ramble about that some other time.

And just so we don't get too long and clog anyone's dash~💜✨

So! A Mollie thing I haven't seen anyone else talk about!

Well, the other day I saw this post, and as you can see by my tags (under the little "info" tab at the top) I was planning on playing again to see it for myself. I can confirm that exists, and I'll get back around to that in a little bit.

Having played through the game a few times, I've been slowly getting accustomed to the sound of Mollie's voice and I've been trying to make out the words she says. So imagine my surprise when I heard her in the section before where I thought she first appeared in the queue to Rambley's Railroad! You can hear her very faintly in the background repeating the words "set up" after Rambley directs you to the gift shop for your Critter Cuff. (Can be heard here. I've linked to Rambley's last line so you can hear how she mimics it.)

To me, this sorta brings into question how long Mollie was watching Ed. I mean, before it seemed like she happened to be in the railroad's area and was sneakily watching you after you stumbled into the area she was occupying, but now? Now we know she was outside in that starting area. Granted, she sounds kind of distant unlike when we hear her "Closed for repairs" after Rambley and Finley's interaction, but that doesn't mean too much because the little "Hey buddy" she lets out in Lloyd's Mane Stage when she leans around the door to storage. (As demonstrated in the video I linked, you can turn on your way to storage and see her right away once you hear her.)

Now that I've written all those mimicry bits down, it feels a little weird that she mimics only Rambley, especially given she's not directly repeating him when she appears at the end of the hallway in the Mane Stage. Rambley does say it in that area, but it's not in that same call and response manner like the other two. Something to think about.

With all this in mind, I think it's plausible that Mollie could have seen Ed before the first encounter in Rambley's Railroad.

How soon does Mollie know Ed's there?

This is more speculation on my part, as the earliest I can definitively say is the Critter Cuff mimicry being around when she likely notices him. That being said, we do have a gear that falls at a suspicious timing.

That being said, if you've seen David Baron's video on his beta test footage, you'll notice the gear was already there from the start. He makes the suggestion that the gear be out of the way and fall from somewhere above when it's needed so it doesn't confuse the player. It could be argued that that's all that is, but I'd like to point out the whole suggestion was for the gear to fall when Rambley tried and failed to open the door, thus causing the building to shake due to failing equipment just enough for the gear to fall. The timing we see in the final game does not match that. (Whole video can be found here.)

I think it's not out of the realm of possibility that Mollie could have known about Ed's presence the whole time, and could be the reason the gear falls in the first place. It's suspicious enough timing, and I'm not sure what Rambley himself could do to make it fall unless you want to argue something about having a mechanism up there, but this is a pretty specific situation he'd have machinery to deal with considering there's not supposed to be a hole in the ceiling there to begin with.

What Mollie's motivation for helping would be... I'm less sure about that. Especially as it related to my next point.

Did Mollie sabotage the mechanisms we needed to fix?

This is in reference to the Indigo Violet Generator from getting in the front gate, and the machine backstage that we needed to fix in lieu of getting an introduction to Salem. Before realizing Mollie was in the beginning area, only one of them was anywhere near her, so pulling any lines to correlate her and them just didn't make sense. With her being heard in that first area now though...

I think it's possible that she could've been the cause of the gears being out of place. She's present in and around where both are and we don't see any others like it in the chapter.

It's especially interesting because one is in the backstage area for Rambley's Railroad, where we see her pop in and out of while we're on the ride. One could even argue that she could have sabotaged that area while we were already on the ride, though that's between hard and impossible to prove at this point in time.

What makes Mollie aggressive?

While not exactly tying into my previous points perfectly well, I do think the fact that she's so passive and just follows you around until the very end is strange. When she shows up in Lloyd's part of the train ride, Mollie is quite literally within grabbing range of you. If she wished you ill will, surely she could have done something then?

If you want to argue that Rambley was right there at that point, might I raise her appearance in the Mane Stage. As far as we're aware, Rambley might not have been able to see her there, so there's no reason for her to hold back. Lloyd was fended off with a high pitched noise from the Critter Cuff, but it's long stopped doing that by the time you potentially see her after you leave, and that's only if you see her after you leave.

Mollie doesn't get aggressive until you're far into her area, and about to head further in. It's only then that she properly gets in your way with the intent to rip Ed's throat out. So is there something in there?

(It can be argued that Lloyd is similar. Even when it'd potentially be easier for him to attack, he moves away. That's a post for another day though.)

Beyond any narrative design decisions for how to get the player to Oceanic Odyssey after getting spooked by a lurking threat; I have to wonder if there's an in-universe reason for why Mollie stalks along so passively before turning into a threat in that spot.

Is there something beyond the door she came through that is important to her? Is she trying to protect something? Is that just an area she considered private/safe/hers so this is something territorial? Is there something she wants to protect? Is there someone?

The last one is unlikely, but it's interesting to think about, if nothing else.

Final Thoughts 💜

While this isn't an exhaustive list of everything about Mollie, I feel this is a solid base for discussion or to at least think about. I mean, I barely touched on her mimicry as a whole. There's a whole box of interesting lines with all sorts of interesting implications! Unfortunately, I don't really know how to dig through game files to find them all and listen to them on loop until I understand them, so I'm stuck trying to understand them over the loud - but absolutely a banger - chase music.

All in all, I hope I gave you all something to think about!

Bye for now, buddies!~

[saladmix]

can we discuss totmnt? we get a bit more insight into them as characters which is great! i like that donnie & mikey got a bunch more moments to shine! also! leo saying hes nothing without his brothers, raph's insecurities being touched on with the whole "your bros are in danger because *you* couldn't protect them and aren't strong enough" DUDE its the best. i like how this show added some aspects of their rise versions in that way & i enjoy it bc i liked how they were represented there. leo being anxious & insecure as his role of leader, raph's tough/aggressive veneer bc he feels like its his job to be the protector. + those little chunks of info we got from their character descriptions where they say raph is sensitive and "wants someone to talk to." more realistic & less one note for them!

ugh YES! we sure can it's all I want to talk about anyway I sit at my little corporate job answering my little corporate emails but inside I am like DO YOU PEOPLE KNOW ABOUT TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES.

Anyway, that's embarrassing! Thoughts below the cut so I don't clog up a dash with spoilers and rambles <3

I'm going to address these in (as Jenny Nicholson says) an internet-friendly numbered list! And also adding that these are just my opinions, as I am but a nobody on a rock floating through space.

Also these thoughts are SO HALF BAKED this is like stream of consciousness if you ask me what I said here I may not remember I'm just living a turtle life.

Leo saying he's nothing without his brothers ugh you are so right that was such good content! This strikes me as such a core Leo trait, maybe not shared across iterations in 100% the same way but I really do see that sentiment under the surface frequently. I found it so charming that in Leo's little re-telling of what happened with Bishop and the ambush, he basically made all of his brother's seem like these useless side fools, bolstering up his own role (even lying and saying he was the one to check out the hologram), but then we quickly see that he doesn't at all feel that way. In fact he feels the opposite, and it just felt like such a young growing teen thing to do, try to make yourself the hero. It's also my personal interpretation of why specifically this version of Leo wants to be a leader so badly! He's not the muscle, he's not the brains, he's not the charm. So what is he? He has to find a way to make himself feel important when he feels like maybe he has no other stand out qualities to contribute. But I also happen to think it's the right role for him! He shows his bravery again and again, and his ability to put together a plan, when other people are in need. He can't seem to muster that same courage for himself yet, that's part of his growth, but for the people he loves he comes out in front. I think TotTMNT did a great job with that aspect. <3

Raph! Raphael! What a lad! I really latched onto Raph in this iteration more than I have in previous ones, I really enjoy how he's written. I've always found Raph's anger across iterations to actually really make sense. Of course he's angry, he's a mutant turtle living in the sewers with no real sense of place in this world and no way to interact directly with it! And Rise Raph, while not displaying that direct explosive rage that Raph is known for, kind of showcases it in the stress and responsibility he feels for his family. Anyway, all this is to say we get both of those aspects here in this version along with the flavoring of what appears to me as some real teenage excitement for a little bit of chaos. And that scene was extremely telling I super agree with you!! I mean Raph sees all of his brothers as little shaking chihuahuas, particularly Leo which was VERY charming to me. He definitely sees himself as the protector, but even more, honestly, I think they do to. I mean Leo basically assumes Raph can handle four mechazoids on his own, he's got a lot of faith in his brother's ability to be that brick wall for them. And even though Leo is still the oldest, I do feel like they brought some Rise Raph energy to his character with how responsible he feels. Typically we see Leo as the character who is two seconds away from blowing his top off with all he takes on, but I see that a lot in Raph here too.

Donnie's interpretation of the ambush actually made me so so sad. Like it was basically how he thinks his family views him, as the one who has to save the day but gets no respect of it and doesn't have the tools to do it. He thinks they view him as this megamind that should be able to handle it because what else is he good for? All the others had flashback sequences that kind of center them as a hero, and while Donnie's did have him the last one standing, it didn't have that same kind of vibe. And in all the brother's flashbacks, we see that while they do see him as this dorky nerd, it's never said with any anger or annoyance. I'd call it more of a silly little fondness. But I think this insecurity is an important aspect of Donnie's character that we see in a lot of iterations. The big change here is that Donnie really does feel like just a kid. He's not out here ready to build high tech weaponry or distill medication. He's just a kid who is into coding! He's still learning! And I really enjoyed that. And in that second arc, we get another taste of how level-headed Donnie can be in a crisis situation, which for me tied back to how in the Mutant Mayhem movie, Leo kept looking to Donnie for help and answers. Leo is a frazzled lil man, and Donnie seems to be his source of stability. So it really did break my heart that this poor sassy and sweet boy thinks his family doesn't value him. It's a different flavor from Raph's and Leo's, both of whom have insecurities but they're mostly internal reflections. Donnie seems to feel that coming from the outside, and has twisted that into his own self-image.

Mikey is such a fun character like what a scene-stealer he's so funny in every part of this show, his VA is K I L L I N G it I find his voice acting so charming as Mikey and it brings such life to the character. But I really love how this version of Mikey is so dynamic. Mikey has always, always been a really dynamic character but I think it was a little more hidden, if you know what I mean. Rise Mikey flipped a big script and I like how this version really feels like a true combo from the rise version of Mikey to the traditional core Mikey energy, if that makes sense. I LOVE....this Mikey. He might be my favorite Mikey ever and I am a huge Mikey fan I am probably the only 2007 Mikey Super Fan out here in the world. Anyway, I love how his episodes had him forcibly shaken out of his comfort zone as lil bro. In the first arc he's suddenly in charge of a whole new mutant and Useless Man of the Year Rod. In the second arc he's got to save a whole store of people and a cat! It's A LOT of responsibility for this lil child! And he does a great job! All while expressing the whole time that he doesn't really know what he's doing, and he's afraid he's going to mess it up. It reminds me a lot of how other version of Mikey were often thought of as the weak spots by their respective families (intentionally or not). It was always Mikey the goof. TotTMNT Mikey is a HUGE goof but he's also got this energy to him that PROVES how I always felt about Mikey: I CHOOSE to be a goof, but I can and will step up if I need to! And it makes sense that he looks up to his big brother, that Leo is the one he tries to emulate in times of stress. When the going gets tough, Mikey has to get going, and Leo is his framework for how to do that.

boy was this a ramble and a half. I just had a lot of thoughts. Was any of this coherent? Jury is still out. Thank you so much for sending this in!! And listening to me ramble. I really agree that this show did a good job of bringing in a lot of different traits from different iterations it's so much fun and leads to really dynamic versions!

[eggcats]

I'm still (always) thinking about my Housewife Vox AU, so here are my sexuality/history/etc headcanons for Alastor and Vox in it

(I kind of have more for Alastor here, bc almost all of my Hazbin ships involve him so he's the one I've thought about more - I kind of keep similar headcanons no matter what ship I'm thinking of, tbh).

I'm also going to write Alastor being in a rut in this AU, because those fics are always fun, and he will be having sex but it'll be more in a "my mate is aroused and I must please them" kind of way, if that makes sense? I kind of see him as sex-neutral/positive asexual, even in a rut, but the rut makes him a little (lot) more feral and in less control of his instincts. (This is why, before he got into a relationship with Vox, he's never really been affected by the sexual aspects of a rut, because he's only interested in sex as far as his mate is).

(I know my fic kind of tiptoes around any possible consent issues, but I think having Alastor react like this kind of solves it in a way, because he's only interested in making his mate feel good so if Vox didn't want something or began to not like it, Alastor would immediately stop to comfort his mate. However, since he's never before had ANY of his deer/demonic instincts really show before, none of them are sure how he'll react this time, hence the concern).

(I don't mean this in a way to insult any other Alastor-rut fics, trust me I love them, this is just how I'm writing mine here).

I put a readmore here bc I realized how many words I was writing and didn't want to clog your dash, lol.

Alastor:

Asexual - is generally so uninterested he has never masturbated or even considered doing so; knows and understands sex (in a baseline level) but doesn't know anything further as he never wanted to engage or see it; still is only interested in it in a way to experience/watch Vox enjoy himself, wouldn't engage on his own otherwise

Possibly aromantic - the line between "romantic love" and "this person belongs to me" is essentially the same to him, could not tell you the difference (side note: neither can I)

Doesn't know either of those things

Just thinks "I'm the only normal motherfucker alive/in hell when it comes to relationships" and has not had a single question in regards to himself since

Doesn't really understand the difference between being friends/roommates and being in a relationship (hence when he found out that Vox liked him, he was like ah, okay. I don't need to change anything here, since he thinks we're in a relationship, this must be what people DO in a relationship. No need to mention any of this to Vox, surely)

When eventually I do make him have sex, he doesn't really have a preference in position. Generally, I'll include him as the more dominant partner (especially with Vox), but that's more because that's what VOX wants, and Alastor is being intimate for Vox. He has no real preference on who tops and who bottoms, as long as Vox is enjoying himself (and Alastor gets enjoyment out of the act when Vox is)

The same applies to dancing - Alastor teaches Vox how to swing dance, but once Vox learns and becomes more comfortable, a lot of their dancing has them constantly switching the lead and following position, based on whatever they feel like doing at the time

Despite living in the 20s/30s is fairly open minded about a lot of things relating to gender and sexuality, because he lived in the vice district in New Orleans and was exposed to a lot of that (either growing up, or living there as a serial killer, or both).

Some parts of me think that after he murdered his father when he was only around 13-15 (another headcanon of mine), his mother needed a way to make money and so they moved to the vice district, and so Alastor knew and grew up with sex workers and cross-dressers and saw how they were treated by police/society, and so has no issues with them.

Living there when he was a serial killer was also useful, because no one bothers anyone to avoid the risk of setting the police on you.

He doesn't know a lot of more modern terms for things, but Vox wanting to wear a dress doesn't concern him, nor does being in a relationship with a man, since those were things he not only had experienced/seen when he was alive, he's also been in hell for 20 years which is, as a whole, a lot more open minded about things. (I did try to keep him ignorant of more modern things, tho, like he doesn't know anything about things he would have only seen/experienced in hell because he doesn't care about people or relationships, really).

Probably some form of autistic (same, bestie) and takes a lot of cues about how their relationship should be from Vox (which is why he originally didn't feel the need to change his behavior even when he found out Vox was interested in him, because it didn't occur to him at all, and only discovered Vox was sexually interested when it was shoved in his face - however, now that he knows, he's taken a much more active/possessive role in their relationship, including a sexual aspect)

--

Vox:

(Previously) closeted bisexual

Grew up/lived/married/died in middle Americana, white picket fence, 2.5 children, all the houses looking identical, 1950s desperate housewives edition, the whole shebang

DID have a cult, but I'm thinking less Manson, and more "televangelist who extorts his flock for money/power" - this is why he has his hypnosis powers (he doesn't really have them/have discovered them yet, but that's because he's never really had a chance to explore his powers in any real capacity - he basically showed up in hell and then was kidnapped and wifed up immediately)

Did have a wife and children, but wasn't interested in either of them - had them more so because he "had" to and it would look bad for his image, not out of any attraction or love to his wife

All of this contributes to him doing everything he can to try to hide his attraction to Alastor, because he had to do so in life

He's Really Bad At Hiding It tho, because living with Alastor (who, even before he learned Vox was interested in him, has very little boundaries to physical space and just grabs and touches him all the time) is different than being a little attracted to your neighbor

Also, no one in hell calls him out on it, so he never quite realizes how obvious he comes across

Does eventually start his side of the media business, with the help of Alastor, to combine both radio and television to take over the airwaves entirely - becomes the Television/Video Demon, to complete the Radio Demon

Stops Alastor from murdering any and all other media demons/demons who have similar powers over the airwaves, and instead makes deals for their souls to work for him - this is where a lot of his initial power/dealmaking comes from as he rises to also be an Overlord; even when Alastor is the one who finds a media demon he basically just kidnaps them and drops them at Vox's feet like a cat presenting a half-dead mouse to it's owner

--

(Note: I'm aware that Alastor is canonically asexual and he's still in my AU, and I've heard back and forth about him being canonically aromantic and I'm unsure if you'd classify him as aro here too. I'm ace, and I think (maybe?) I might be on the aro spectrum, but regardless I kind of write Alastor like how I'd see relationships/would develop into one in a similar way. I'm not interested in sex or anything, and I've been interested in people/relationships very rarely (and those I am, once I become close friends I'm usually like, oh cool, yay), so I'm kind of using myself as a baseline to figure out how Al feels about things here.

That being said, I don't agree with people harassing other creators who DON'T make Alastor ace or aro in their fics or art, bc it's fan content and so it doesn't matter. Changing a sexuality in a fanfic isn't the same as Actual Erasure and it's wild that people claim that, because I've been reading fanfic since I was 13 and I PROMISE you none of those characters were as queer as I was reading them, lmao. Despite all evidence to the contrary, when they grew up Naruto and Sasuke did NOT fuck nasty in the Hokage office, no matter how much they should have.

Sorry rant, over.)

[godsofhumanity]

We all know what happen with Cronus and Rhea relationship, how do you think Cronus brothers treat their wives and family?

whenever i received a hc-request related to the titans, i do a little weird dance and scream inside my head because im so excited to talk about them hee hee

ok. i'm just gonna start with Kronos x Rhea to begin with, because it's been a while since i talked the Couple of the Year, and it's just easier for me to get my thoughts going. the rest of the titans follow the [read more] break... i didn't want to clog people's dashes :)

KRONOS x RHEA:

BEFORE everything went bad, BEFORE Kronos was even born (remembering that he is the youngest of the Titans, and was born last), i love the idea that Rhea herself was always a mischief maker and she naturally got along with Iapetus who was the Family Prankster (much to Oceanus' despair T-T).

so when Kronos was born, and it turned out he was even more wily and cunning than Iapetus, i think Rhea and Kronos just had a natural thing going from the start.

Rhea, to me, is super intelligent and witty. so is Kronos. so i like the idea that, in their youth, they were quite the prankster duo. Kronos would play pranks on Rhea, and Rhea would one-up him, and then Oceanus would get mad at them both.

i don't see Kronos and Rhea as being "overly romantic". Kronos doesn't call Rhea by any gushy nicknames or anything; i think they both would hate that. they'd much rather poke fun at each other and tease each other.

i think Rhea has a quick temper, and i love the idea of Kronos intentionally getting on her nerves because he thinks its cute when she gets annoyed lmfao

as a husband, i think it's far more bittersweet to imagine that Kronos was a great husband pre-insanity. he was the saviour of the Titans; the only one gutsy enough to commit patricide and save his siblings from an eternity of terror and fear, never knowing when Ouranos would one day snap and decide to shove them ALL in Tartarus.

but he wasn't only a warrior. he loved Rhea. her death is what i have previously hc'd to be the awakening point of Kronos' powers; his need to save her allows him to travel back in time and fix his mistakes. so yeah he certainly treated her well.

faultwise, i think Kronos' worst trait is that he always has this super strong, fearless exterior. so when Ouranos tells Kronos that his children will rise up and overthrow him and enslave all his siblings, Kronos DOESN'T TELL Rhea this. he doesn't want to look weak in front of her. and i think he still has this idea that he needs to protect her.

i think it's important to remember that at this time, there were NO OTHER GODS. Nyx's children were alive, but not involved in the affairs of the titans. this was the first time in history a "takeover" had occurred. no one really knew what to do. Kronos didn't know what to do. all he knew was that he was the leader, and he had to protect his siblings at all costs.

i hc that Kronos and Rhea have always wanted children; i mean, the Earth was sort of just made up of 12 Titans, 3 Hecatoncheires, 3 Cyclops, 4 absent primordials, and 1 psycho pseudo-primordial with anger management problems. so i think there was definitely a need for the Titans to have their own families to populate the place.

but when Kronos and Rhea settle down as King and Queen, and Rhea starts talking about families, Kronos just indulges her without ever acknowledging his own fears. perhaps this is partly because he doesn't want to burden her, but i also think Kronos was just naturally paranoid and feared that if he spoke his worst fears aloud, they'd come true. so he'd keep them buried until it was too late and oops, he's swallowed his kids.

i think it's a real testament to Rhea that she forgives him after losing Hestia. well, maybe not forgives him, but she moves past it. i think it shows how much trust and love she had for him.. to stick around after all of that. she truly adored him. of course, we all know how that story ends with them.. so i'll stop there. but yeah, i think pre-insanity, Kronos was a good husband and Rhea was an excellent wife. and their downfall was Kronos' inability to express every part of himself to his wife, fears included.

OCEANUS x TETHYS:

THE most unproblematic couple of all time.

Oceanus treats Tethys like,, well, a goddess.

Oceanus is the firstborn Titan. he was the guy who raised all his 11 little brothers and sisters. he fed them, clothed them, taught them, played with him, disciplined them. he was the guy who was there for the first time they cried, the first time they laughed, the first time they fought, the first time they lost. needless to say, that kinda makes a guy.... patient, kind, respectful, thoughtful.

i'm a younger sibling myself, and i know that many older siblings work their butts off to take care of their little siblings... and that can be a pain. but i love the idea that Oceanus enjoyed every second of it. it was the most IMPORTANT duty Gaia ever gave him; to look after them.

11 siblings is a lot. so i think that Oceanus never really ever had any time for himself... but when Tethys comes along, i love the idea that she is sort of the only one of her siblings who actually realises fully how much work Oceanus does for them. and she does everything she can to make his burden lighter.

Oceanus normally has a hard exterior, but i hc that with Tethys, he fully relaxes. the full range of his emotions, he shows to Tethys, who is his confidant, his other half.

i think their communication skills are soo good. that's why they last for eternity without any real fights.

obviously, after having 11 siblings, that Oceanus would have his own children, no one could doubt. he was so good at it. and of course, he does... he has like 1000s of kids hee hee.

Oceanus knows every single one of his children's names, he could recognise them by their laugh alone... i think these are the things that make him the complete opposite of Ouranos and that's SO important for his character.

fault-wise, i think maybe Oceanus' only weakness is that he's a bit over-protective. for Hera, for example, i've always liked the idea that Oceanus hates Zeus; this all makes sense, of course, when you consider Zeus' history, and also that Zeus killed Oceanus' daughter Metis. so i get it. but i also think he's like that for all of his kids... heavily scrutinising their partners etc. (see Iapetus x Asia below!) but yeah. even this "weakness" is up for debate. but i personally think Oceanus may be justified in this.

COEUS x PHOEBE:

i always hc'd Coeus as very shy and timid. he is the most intelligent of all the Titans,,, but he cannot hold a conversation to save his life.

i think Coeus was usually the victim of Iapetus and Kronos' jokes in their youth, even though he's the 2nd oldest, because he just naturally is a very passive and soft god with an aversion to fighting.

Phoebe is a lot like him, i suppose, because she's also a bit shy. but i do like the idea that Phoebe has a little more gutsiness than him when she is really pushed. she can fight, when provoked.

because of this, i truly think Phoebe is the pillar in their relationship. any doubts that Coeus has, i think he would bring it to Phoebe.

i think he would tell her almost anything... and he is inspired by her strength during the Titanomachy to also take up arms against Kronos when he goes mad.

Coeus' kids are Asteria, Leto, and Lelantos. Asteria and Leto are both quite headstrong goddesses... i think Leto, especially, is quite boisterous, which is fascinating considering Phoebe and Coeus' mild natures. but i think their children are reflections of their hidden strengths.

Coeus is a good father, i think. Phoebe is a good mother. i think all of this is attested by the kind and elegant nature of Asteria, Leto's righteousness, and Lelantos' innocence.

also, a bit unrelated i guess, but Phoebe is the kinda gal to call her husband by gooey petnames HAHA and Coeus is too shy to ever say he likes it when she does that, but he does. and she knows it. it came to her in a prophecy ;)

CRIUS x EURYBIA:

winners of the Most Enigmatic and Mysterious Couple of the Year.

Crius and Eurybia are a lot of fun to make up stuff about because there's literally no lore for either one.

Crius, to me, is quiet. but it's not because he's shy. he's just reserved. he doesn't like talking if there's no reason to talk.

yes. he hates small talk.

Eurybia, however, is the opposite! i think she talks LOADS. she loves talking. or singing. she loves asking all sorts of useless and dumb questions, especially to Crius because she knows it irritates him... she loves messing with him.

for example, Crius, as the god of the stars and constellations, is always star gazing and recording the movement of the planets, etc. and even though Eurybia knows exactly how it works (Crius has explained it to her many times, it's one of the few things he actually likes actively talking about), she'll still point at the constellation of the Ram and say, "that's the donkey one, right?" and Crius will try not to scream.

i can't remember if i wrote about how they met, but basically, i think Kronos divided the land into North, East, South and West: Coeus in the North, Iapetus in the East, Crius in the South, and Hyperion in the West. and while wandering about across his land in the South, Crius randomly came across Eurybia while she was by one of the rivers that flow through his land, and she was just so fascinating to him, and he was just so interesting to her, they just naturally clicked.

because Crius is such a reserved guy, i honestly think, Crius isn't all that forthcoming about everything. this is because Crius only says things that he deems "need to be said".

so, as Kronos' 2nd right-hand man (after Iapetus, obvs), i think Crius is privileged with a lot of information. and he doesn't share a lot of it with Eurybia, only the things that are relevant to her.

for example, Crius wouldn't tell Eurybia that Kronos locked up the Hecatoncheires (a pivotal event marking the growing paranoia of Kronos) because it doesn't have anything to do with Eurybia, but Crius does tell her of his suspicions that there is a resistance growing against Kronos, and that he feels their son Pallas is part of it (which is true) because Pallas is their son and this involves Eurybia.

for Eurybia's part, i think she has never cared much for "titan business". Eurybia, being the daughter of Gaia and Pontus, is NOT a titan. so i hc that she isn't really concerned at all about Crius' secrecy. she is aware of it, but she is 100% confident in his love for her (which is true, he does love her) and trusts him implicitly. and if she had reason to suspect that Crius was not being true to himself, only then would she confront him.

now to the children: Pallas, Astraeus, and Perses. Pallas and Perses are a lot like Crius, and Astraeus is a lot like Eurybia. Crius and Eurybia love all their children... BUT. Crius is very... stoic. i don't think he has ever actually told his children (or Eurybia for that matter) that he loves them, they all simply know it by way of his actions.

as a father, i think Crius pushes his children all the time to be the best they can be. for him, Ouranos' terror was not all that long ago. he doesn't want them to be weak and defenseless. he needs to know that they can save themselves. he also expects that they will follow Kronos as he does, because Kronos saved them all, and Crius is loyal to him.

so i think, when the war finally comes about, and Crius is fighting against Pallas and Astraeus, and not alongside them, it's a terrible betrayal for Crius. and i think he rejects them as his sons then. so not the greatest father of all time.

now Perses does fight with Crius, and he is loyal to Kronos. and i think Crius is forever wondering how things could have gone so wrong when clearly one of his sons is still loyal.

when Kronos is freed from Tartarus and becomes King of Elysium under Zeus' orders, his siblings go with him. and though things will never be the same, and Crius will never see his children again. i like the idea that in his heart, he feels pride for Pallas and Astraeus fighting for what they believed, and he forgives them.

for Eurybia, i think she has always loved and adored her husband and her children. and lets them know that every step of the way. i love the idea of her fighting alongside Crius, less because she cares about Kronos and more because she supports her husband (and also, i needed at least 1 goddess being punished in Tartarus.. there were too many men T-T). BUT. even though she has to fight her own sons, it's not a betrayal to her. she is SO proud that they stuck to their guns. that they wouldn't sacrifice their morals and beliefs just to avoid confrontation with their parents.

Eurybia fights against Pallas and Astraeus with a smile on her face, and she throws everything she has at them because, when they face her in battle, they are gods in their own right, and they are her equals. she's equally proud of Perses for staying true to what he believes in; to her, this is the most important thing in the world, to be true to yourself.

post-war, Pallas' daughter is named Bia, and i love the idea that he named her for his mother, so he definitely admired his mum and her strength. curiously, Bia ends up being a very loyal supporter of Zeus during a time that the 2nd gen. titans fall OUT with Zeus due to Prometheus being punished, so Crius' family is full of gods who put their family ties on the line to do what they think is right. which i kinda like! ((Pallas and Prometheus are the best of friends. practically brothers.))

so yeah, i think Eurybia's a different sort of mum, but i personally think she's one of the best :)

HYPERION x THEIA:

hmmm.. what to say about these two. honestly i think they're a pretty normal couple.

Theia's a goddess who loves jewels and sparkly things and i can see Hyperion always showering her with gifts. that's their love language.

they don't really have too much trouble. Hyperion isn't one of Kronos' most loyal supporters... i think if Hyperion was privy to what he had done to Rhea, Hyperion would have immediately been on Team Zeus.

in their regular life, i think both Hyperion and Theia are very good to each other. they're open with each other, and they have a lot of trust.

their children are Selene, Eos, and Helios. i think that, from all the 2nd gen. titans, these three are the most "spoiled". i truly think Hyperion is an adoring and doting father.

side-track for one sec: if you're familiar with the myth where Medea kills her own children to get revenge on Jason for marrying Creusa behind her back, you know how taboo filicide is, and YET, Helios saves his babygirl granddaughter and gives her a chariot ride away from the scene. truly Helios loved all his children and lineage. i think he HAS to get this from Hyperion, who in turn had to get it from the only father he knows: Oceanus.

also, with the way Eos casually takes the mortal prince Tithonus and others against their wills because she's in love with them.. there is a myth where she only does this because Aphrodite cursed her because of some other disagreement to have insatiable sexual desire, but even in light of this, she's definitely a girl who's used to getting what she wants.

BUT IN SAYING ALL OF THAT, i think Hyperion and Theia are good, kind people. if Hyperion and Theia learned to be good parents from Oceanus, then they had to learn his kindness too. and i do think that Selene, Eos, and Helios share this trait with them too.

in Medea's myth, i think Helios KNOWS that Medea was pushed into that horrible tragedy; she was cursed with a love spell that made her commit both patricide and fratricide for Jason, whom she never would have helped without it. and after all that, he still ditched her. so yes, i think Helios having sympathy for his granddaughter was justified.

FURTHERMORE, in Persephone's abduction myth, Hekate takes Demeter to Helios to learn where Persephone is and he tells her.. similarly, Helios tells Hephaestus about Aphrodite's affair with Ares... these are things that Helios doesn't truly have to do, but i picture him doing it with such kindness and gentleness.. i think he's a caring guy.

with Eos, i think after she gives Tithonus immortality, even though he starts to age, she still STAYS with him, and takes care of him even after her fascination with him has died... i think that is a lot more than most other gods do after playing around with their favourite mortal.

Selene is relatively problem-free (? dont quote me on that pls idk what exactly is going on with Endymion's myth HAHA) which i feel can only serve to support the idea that Hyperion's kids are PRETTY good.

so yeah. all in all. pretty good family. Hyperion (and Theia)'s biggest weakness, i think, is that they were so caught up in their own bliss, they didn't see any of the signs that could've suggested the impending doom of Kronos lurking on the horizon.

IAPETUS x ASIA:

winners of the Most Unexpected Couple of the Year.

ok so. Asia is an Oceanid. and as i already wrote before, Oceanus is fiercely protective of his children. and Iapetus... well, Iapetus is Iapetus.

i think Iapetus was a bit of a late-bloomer when it came to love. i think he was the last one of the elder Titans to marry because for the most part, he was just interested in joking around and having fun.

but after everyone starts to get married and have families, and Kronos becomes King so he doesn't have any time for trivial pranks, i think it starts to settle in with Iapetus that he needs to get along with his life.

i have a hc that Oceanus would, pre-Kronos-insanity-era, regularly hold these dinners for his siblings so that everyone would still come together with their newly established families to share meals together like they used to. and of course, that meant that all of Oceanus' children would be there too.

and i like the idea that Iapetus, ever eager for an audience to entertain, would always come up with some trick or the other to make Oceanus' children laugh. and now that Oceanus didn't really have to keep an eye over Iapetus anymore, he could afford to smile at his tricks too :)

now. i have said a few times that the gods don't age the way humans do. it's not linear. gods mature according to the needs of the time. so even though Iapetus is, technically, a lot older than Oceanus' children, he doesn't appear like it because.. as i said.. Iapetus himself wasn't really ready to settle into life and be an adult.

anyhow. Asia is one of Oceanus' sweetest daughters. her humour threshold is so LOW. she will laugh at even the worst of jokes... and Iapetus is a GOLDMINE for bad jokes. so i think, Iapetus was always guaranteed a smile and enthusiasm when he saw her.

i think Oceanus was very annoyed by this... he didn't really want one of his daughters to be hanging around with a god whom he personally knew was a bit of a no-gooder. so i think Oceanus really put Iapetus through the ringer to show that, if he was serious about Asia, he could be a good husband and treat her properly.

and through that process, i think Iapetus did mature out, and show that behind the jokes, he truly was kind and loyal, and as the Ruler of the East, he could provide a good home for Asia. and so it was!

now Iapetus definitely loved Asia. all the titans loved their wives to begin with. BUT, Iapetus' problem was Kronos.

being the right-hand man of a psycho tends to rub off on you.

i think that Kronos' paranoia seeped into Iapetus' mind too. and as Kronos began to put distance between himself and Rhea, so did Iapetus with Asia. suddenly, Iapetus didn't feel like he needed to tell his wife everything... keeping Kronos' secrets was more important to Iapetus than being truthful to his wife.

to be honest, i don't imagine Asia being particularly smart, or fierce or courageous. not every god needs to be a superhero. that's not to say she was dumb or anything, but no one was calling Asia to weigh in on war councils or anything like that. and i think, as time goes on, this becomes very apparent to Iapetus. and he thinks that makes her weak. and as her husband, it's his responsibility to shield her from the things that he think could break her.

now in this regard, i do think Asia would have been absolutely heart-broken to know the kinds of gods Iapetus and Kronos had become, and post-war, Asia still is never fully aware of the extent of Iapetus' crimes because Prometheus and Anchiale make sure their mother will only remember her husband for the good things... leading up to and during the war, Iapetus is a MASTER of illusion and deceit.. and by Gaia he can play the role of a good husband amazingly well. so Asia i think, was totally blind to the truth.

Asia and Iapetus' children are: Prometheus, Atlas, Anchiale, Menoetius, and Epimetheus. Iapetus would never SAY he had favourites, but i do think Prometheus was his golden child. he was smart, witty, cunning, mischievous, and with a natural talent for illusions and magic, the same as Iapetus. so i think he had a lot of pride for Prometheus, and so many huge expectations that Prometheus would be some sort of powerful commander in Kronos' army.

when it became apparent that Kronos and Rhea were not having much luck in producing heirs (though the exact reasons were yet unknown), i think Iapetus might've considered that Prometheus could be the heir that Kronos needed... he would have been a perfect candidate. and Kronos himself had a super great relationship with Prometheus as a child. Prometheus didn't call Kronos "King" or "my Lord" like most of his cousins did, he called him "Uncle" because that's what he was.

AND YET. Prometheus also had all of Asia's kindness. mixed with Iapetus' bravery... he could never be the god that Iapetus wanted him to be.

in the Titanomachy, i think Prometheus is the one to fight Iapetus and it is... like the world falls apart. i think Iapetus is so furious that his son could betray him, i think he disowns him in his heart for sure. but Prometheus doesn't. he loves his father like he loves his uncle, and he knows that their current corrupted state is not a reflection of the gods they truly are.

as for the other kids: Atlas is Iapetus' 2nd most cunning child, and i think he's almost like Prometheus EXCEPT that Atlas is cowardly. even as a child. and i think Iapetus always tries to push Atlas to overcome this: it's important because if any one of the elder Titans had shown cowardice, they would have failed in their fight against Ouranos. so Iapetus truly despises cowardly people. Atlas ends up giving himself up and helping Zeus at the 11th hour to save his hide, and i think that's another disappointment for Iapetus.

Menoetius is headstrong, but he's not too witty, so i think he could've been closer to Asia than Iapetus... nevertheless, he supports his father to the end because all of Iapetus' children are aware of how much he values loyalty. and though Menoetius couldn't do the tricks Prometheus and Atlas could, he showed Iapetus his worth by standing with Kronos till the end. he's actually the only one of Iapetus' 5 children to show such undying loyalty, the same as Iapetus has for Kronos. so Iapetus appreciates that.

Anchiale and Epimetheus are more soft in nature. Anchiale is smart but she doesn't care too much for trickery, and i think she doesn't like confrontation and violence, the same as her mother. i give her this attribute to explain why the Lore doesn't give Anchiale much of a role. but where Iapetus doesn't share much with his wife Asia because he thinks her weak, Prometheus does share with his sister Anchiale all his thoughts and his desire to fight against Kronos, and though she's unwilling to pick up a sword herself, she stays with her mother and little brother Epimetheus and protects them from home, and she covers for Prometheus: which i think is an alternative form of bravery, but bravery nonetheless. and if Iapetus wasn't such an idiot, he would've been proud of that.

Epimetheus i think was a child when Iapetus went to Tartarus. his only memories of Iapetus is being a good dad; a dad who tells him jokes, and scary stories, and who could make a coin appear from his ear. i don't think Prometheus and Anchiale ever try to spoil these memories for him. it's good for Epimetheus to remember Iapetus for who he was and not who he ended up as.

anyhow. all in all, Iapetus was probably the 2nd worst husband after Kronos... this is to be expected given their proximity.... but uh yeah.

i hope this all made sense lol feel free to send an ask if u want a clarification on anything ^-^ i have terminal brainrot about the titans and can speak forever and ever about them.

[templeofvengeance]

☽ Welcome to the Temple of Vengeance! Greatest of the Great Gods, Khonshu, presiding. ☾

☽ Inbox: Open ☾

[Indie RP/Ask blog for Khonshu from the MCU's Moon Knight. Set after the show ends by default, but also open to other verses. Open for questions or threads! More info on the blog, or under the cut for mobile users.]

Updated: 11/03/24

Laws of the Temple

☽ BASICS ☾

- MUN STUFF: My name's Kew! She/they, well over 21. No triggers. I don't have DID, any attempt to portray it is based on the show/comics. I only speak English fluently and any other language will be google translate. Please forgive any mistakes!

- MINORS BE WARNED: I'm not going to be super strict about weeding out minors since I don't expect things to get NSFW around here, but the show Khonshu is from does explore some darker themes for a TV-14 show. I dunno. You've been warned.

- GENERAL RP ETIQUETTE APPLIES: Don't make actions for my character without asking, don't assume past relationships/deep history without asking, don't read my character's mind (unless your character is a telepath, and even then I don't know if that works on gods), etc. - GENERAL CONTENT WARNING FOR: Descriptions of violence, religious stuff, swearing, emotional manipulation, a.bleism (especially surrounding mental health stuff.) I’ll try to tag other things as they come up. - FEEL FREE TO REBLOG MEMES FROM ME. It actually helps me remember to send stuff out. You can also reblog art/headcanons, pretty much anything except RP threads if you're not the other party!

- NOT PRIVATE, BUT SELECTIVE: I sometimes don't follow big multimuses back since I have pretty strict tastes in fandoms, and I don't want to clog my dash with characters I don't know. That doesn't mean I don't want to roleplay with you though! As for selectivity, I reserve the right to say no if things just don't click writing-wise.

- SPOILERS FOR MOON KNIGHT EVERYWHERE. There will be untagged spoilers for both the comics and especially the show. I highly recommend watching the Moon Knight TV show if you haven’t seen it! It got me into comic books and made me interested in the MCU. - That said, I haven’t seen all of the content in the MCU, not even a third of it, so I’m sorry if I get any lore details wrong.

- KHONSHU IS AN ASSHOLE. Nothing he says reflects my real views about anything. If he’s mean to you, it doesn’t mean I don’t like you or you’ve done something wrong.

- FOR OTHER MARC/STEVEN/JAKE MUSES: By default, I'll play Khonshu like he's connected to your Marc/Steven/Jake. If you want it to be dimension-hopping shenanigans (which I'm super down to do, especially for ones more heavily based on the comics) you'll have to let me know! All these interactions will be on different verses, and I don't plan to have Khonshu be 'mains' with any muses.

- FIGHTS: With extremely rare exceptions, I'm just gonna say no to fight threads with Khonshu. Partly because he's incorporeal and really can't be hurt or hurt anyone else directly. Mostly because fighting other muses has always stressed me out. If it's something you really want to do, we can talk about it. (This doesn't mean your character can't attack Khonshu ever, it just means it probably won't work.)

☽ MUSE INFO ☾

NAME: Khonshu OTHER NAMES: Chons, Bloody pigeon, Silly old bird (He accepts none of those) PRONOUNS: He/him HEIGHT: Varies, usually around 8-10 feet tall. WEIGHT: N/A (Incorporeal, like a ghost) AGE: Has existed since the dawn of time, so who knows.

- KHONSHU is the Egyptian god of the moon, vengeance, healing and time, among other smaller things. While he is enormously powerful in theory, he’s mostly unable to affect the physical world without use of a mortal AVATAR, dubbed his MOON KNIGHT. Those who agree to be his Avatar are granted superpowers and near-invulnerability, in exchange for agreeing to carry out his mission: Bringing vengeance against those who harm his travelers of the night.

- Khonshu is also somehow a billions-year-old grumpy baby who flips over trash cans when he doesn’t get his way.

- By default, Khonshu's current Avatar is JAKE LOCKLEY, and only Jake Lockley. But, he can also be played before the events of the show, when he (technically) has the triple threat of Jake Lockley, MARC SPECTOR, and STEVEN GRANT.

- Jake will make occasional cameos on this blog, but I wouldn't call this a dual muse. (You can request him in asks if you want.)

- Normally, only his Avatar (or Avatars of other gods) are capable of seeing/hearing Khonshu, but let’s say this blog is a holy space where he can answer your prayers questions. (In threads, we can always BS a reason your character can see Khonshu.)

- This Khonshu is HEAVILY BASED ON THE TV SHOW, which means he lacks a lot of the harsher history his comic book counterpart has. That said, as a god, he is aware of the multiverse and has at least a rough idea of what his counterparts are up to. You can ask about comic stuff, he just might have a different opinion.

- Some comic lore has been added/built upon, namely his fraught history with his father, AMON-RA. (This probably won’t come up much, but it does inform a lot of how I play the character.)

[crazyw3irdo]

Hey, I just took your Romeo & Juliet Quiz (I got Friar Lawrence, not important) could you post the other answers from the quiz? I wanna know what they are but I don’t wanna take the quiz a bunch.

Thanks for making it! It gave me the willies in a good sorta way, you also made me think about what I liked about Romeo + Juliet (the flowery language) which was a nice reminder.

Thanks! ◡̈

of course! answers below so i’m not clogging up everyone’s dash lol

romeo: you were doomed from the start. you would have lived a life of friendship and fun, perhaps a bit of flirting if that's something that interests you. you could have published poetry. but your emotions controlled you. you were punished by the universe for a fleeting bit of passion to serve as a lesson for the cynical. hopefully you left an impression. your passion is explosive. your loyalty a boon. if only the world were fair.

juliet: you were doomed from the start. you were robbed of a chance to become anything. controlled by everyone in your life, even the ones that genuinely cared, and the one good thing you had led to your destruction because the hands of fate deemed it so. your trust in others is admirable. your optimism is enviable. your hope burns. if only you were living a different life.

mercutio: you were too loyal. not even for your own cause. you had no stake in this affair, and yet when your friend was threatened you leapt to his defense. you were doomed, but was it even for anything? does anyone mourn? no matter how much you proclaim you don't care, your caring is too great. you bare your heart to the world and it ended up getting scratched. if only the world were kind.

benvolio: it may be different from the others, but you were still doomed from the start. the horror of being the most reasonable one in the group is that means everyone else makes mistakes. everyone else must face the consequences. everyone else gets hurt while you stand there unharmed. no matter the warnings you give, they still are punished. you can't help someone who the universe decided must be destroyed. i admire that you still try. if only the game hadn't been rigged from the start.

tybalt: your passion doomed you. you thought you knew what was right. you thought you deserved it. you thought if you fought for it you could get it. communication is hard, so you tried something else, you wanted to defend, to attack, to prove something to someone. but you couldn't. you never could. you tried to meddle with fate and ended up at its mercy. if only the world listened.

friar laurence: you thought you could help. and you did, you really did. you were there for the happiness. but that also meant you were there when there was nothing left. a guiding hand is only so helpful. you plan and plan and plan and mistakes still happen. and when you don't consider those mistakes, everything can go wrong. fate will find the smallest flaw and wrench everything from you. if only you realized that sooner.

nurse: you cared for them. you loved them. you were always there. but there was nothing you could have done. it's not your story. you perpetually stand in the sidelines, watching people suffer for something you have no involvement in and yet you care. you care for them. but no matter how much you love them that doesn't change that they'll end up in a tomb someday. if only it weren't so soon.

[homoeroticgrappling]

With both Danhausen and Ethan Page recently announcing they're openly booking indie shows because they want the opportunity to wrestle, can we please have a conversation about how few people on AEW's roster get to actually do things and what a crying shame it is for everyone involved??

More under the cut so I don't clog the dash

At least when they used to run Dark/Dark Elevation and upload them to youtube it meant fans could see their favourites wrestle even if they weren't getting Dynamite time, some people were Dark staples and it gave wrestlers a great space to develop and show their skill as well as being a way for fans to form attachments to people on the roster not getting as much TV screentime

It's so disheartening talking to non-AEW wrestling fans who are curious about the company and telling them about your favourite wrestlers, then having to give match recommendations from the indies to check out because most of the talent on the roster is lucky if they get more than 5 matches a year on AEW (especially if you're after more than squashes and huge multi-person matches where they're spacefillers for the people who are the Actual Focus)

Not everyone can be the top talent, I get that. AEW just seems to use mostly the same people regardless of if they're the A-list or bottom of the card, which means the rare opportunities we get to see other people means those wrestlers have to try and win over the audience every time because they get forgotten and have no opportunity to build momentum or fan support, let alone tell any kind of story. It's sad watching someone from the roster finally get some TV time again only for most fans to go "who are they" about someone who's been with the company for ages

It also means that when injuries happen and multiple fan favourites who were getting more screentime aren't able to wrestle, there's less people who can step up and fill that void because fans aren't able to easily form a connection with the majority of the roster because you have to actively make an effort to seek them out. I watch everything AEW put out, and still there's people on the roster I barely know. For people who watch everything televised they're still missing out because of online only clips that never get shown to the majority of the AEW audience, there's so many great promos that make me really excited about a particular wrestler that most people never get to see in action. Anyone who is only tuning in to one show a week has no hope of connecting with the wider roster

When I got into AEW, I decided to start watching the live stuff as it aired and simultaneously rewatch everything AEW put out from the beginning until I'd caught up, but realistically most people don't have the time to do that. Unfortunately, doing this is the only way I've seen most of the roster do anything! It sucks as a fan to wait for a card announcement knowing your favourites aren't gonna be on it because they never are, and it sucks just as much for the wrestlers. Becoming All Elite should be an incredible opportunity to reach a wider audience, to show people what you can do and it's a shame for the fans and the roster that for most people that isn't happening. It's damaging the company and it sucks the enthusiasm out of your fanbase and your wrestlers

I miss Dark/Dark Elevation. I want to see everyone get an opportunity to make me love them, make me hate them, impress me with what makes them unique. AEW right now is at a point where if you dislike certain people/factions and aren't interested in watching those specific matches/promos, if they're some of the people getting major screentime you might as well not bother with half the shows because they're going to be there constantly. I say this as someone who has very few things in AEW that for me personally have go away heat, but look at the reaction to when we have to endure yet another 10 minute Callis promo... All I see is "free X wrestler from this storyline" or "this could've been a women's match." I'm sure there must be people out there who love it, but I don't personally know anyone who actually enjoys it, which is one of the major downsides of giving a huge platform to specific people with slots on Dynamite and Collision, while making everyone else fight for scraps. Seeing people you love constantly getting passed over in favour of the same people every time makes people bitter, and not just the audience at home. Fans deserve better and so do the wrestlers

I will say as an aside, thank you RJ City for doing SO much heavy lifting with Hey! EW to allow wrestlers a chance to showcase their personality and give fans a chance to connect with people who maybe aren't getting the opportunity to reach an audience on AEW programming. Every single episode of that show makes me have a more positive opinion of the wrestler featured than I had going in and someone I didn't care about has won me over on more than one occasion, I sincerely hope it continues so we can eventually see the entire roster on there

[nikibogwater]

Niki Blethers: Echoes of Wisdom gameplay (spoiler free)

I've only been posting about EoW's story/characters/aesthetic so far. I think it's time to gush about the gameplay itself for a while. Honestly, I would've done this sooner, but I've had the hardest time finding the words to describe just how GOOD this game feels when you're playing it. Like the title says, there's no spoilers in here, just discussion of raw gameplay, but I've gone ahead and put most of it under the cut to avoid clogging everyone's dashes.

First thing I noticed right off the bat is the movement and controls. I don't know what voodoo witchcraft the devs used to make this, but just moving around in the world feels so silky smooth. Which is excellent, because it turns out a surprising chunk of the gameplay involves rudimentary platforming.

You can jump in this game. Just, right off the bat, no items required, that's a thing you can do. And it's not like Link's little hops in Breath of the Wild either. These are proper jumps.

Outside of combat (which I'll get to in a minute), you mainly use the Echoes to explore. Building bridges, getting up on high ledges--stuff like that. There's no weird collision or confusing perspective that makes placing Echoes difficult. When you move, you move in the way you actually WANT to, and when you interact with an object, it goes the way you'd expect. I know this shouldn't surprise me--this is Nintendo after all--but janky platforming is one of my pet peeves when it comes to gaming, so I deeply appreciate how polished EoW's is.

EoW draws a lot of inspiration from Breath of the Wild when it comes to puzzle-solving. Once again, there are multiple different solutions to any given challenge, and progress isn't locked behind acquiring specific pieces of equipment. But unlike BotW, EoW doesn't give you all the puzzle-solving mechanics you will ever need at the start of the game. Instead, it merely provides you with the means to acquire those abilities for yourself.

Once you've made it through the tutorial section, you will only have a handful of basic object Echoes, plus a couple of weak monsters to help you fight. At this point, the world opens up for you, and you can go just about anywhere you want (though the story can only be progressed by completing Main Quest objectives, which are a bit more linear than they were in BotW). There's a real incentive to explore Hyrule here, because discovering new objects and creatures is the only way to expand your arsenal of Echoes.

Case in point, I've mostly just been focusing on the main quest storyline, and haven't spent as much time exploring all the different areas. As a result, I ended up finding myself encountering a puzzle in the main quest that I wasn't able to solve with my current collection of Echoes. I had to leave and go find new ones. If that sounds like a tedious backtracking nightmare to you, don't worry. This game is very generous with Waypoints that you can warp to at any time and from anywhere. Getting back to where I was after I'd found the Echo I needed took roughly 30 seconds.

Now, while I love the Echoes as a gameplay mechanic, they are also the source of my one and only complaint with this game: namely, the inventory system. Throughout the game, you will inevitably collect dozens, if not more than a hundred individual Echoes to choose from, and finding the specific one you want quickly becomes a chore after a few hours of gameplay. I've said this in another post, but Nintendo really needs to figure out a way to give us a customizable quick-select function--some way to equip just a handful of Echoes to a scroll wheel so that you don't have to bring up the pause menu to avoid cycling through your entire collection of Echoes. Coincidentally, this was also my biggest complaint for Tears of the Kingdom. I guess someone over at Nintendo just really enjoys scrolling through long lists of items. Anyways, it's not a huge issue, it's just one of those annoying things that feels like it should've been ironed out at some point during beta testing.

While EoW feels very comfortably Zelda-ish in all other aspects, the combat is radically different from what series fans are used to. I think that more than anything is going to be what makes or breaks this game for people.

Outside of Swordfighter Mode (which I will also get to in a minute), Zelda cannot do any direct damage to enemies by herself. If a monster gets close enough to hit you, you don't have any immediate defense or counter-attacks. This means that every encounter with an enemy has to be approached from a small distance. You have to think about how you're going to defeat enemies before you actually fight them, otherwise you will get overwhelmed.

While you are given plenty of objects to hurl at your foes, a lot of the combat will be fought by your own monster Echoes. There's a large variety of creatures to collect Echoes of, and they all have different abilities and fighting styles, which means certain monsters will fare better against one kind than another. But the game doesn't tell you about any of those advantageous monster match-ups. You have to figure those out for yourself.

Creature Echoes can be directed to attack anything you're currently Z-targeting, or they can be let loose to attack according to the whims of their AI. Echoes can also be directly moved around with the Bind ability, which is handy for repositioning any monsters who might've gotten stuck on some terrain or what have you.

You have a limited amount of energy to spend on Echoes, which means you can only have so many out at once. That energy is immediately replenished once an Echo is defeated or recalled, which allows for some pretty hectic swapping strategies that are a lot of fun to pull off. Individual Echoes have their own energy costs, based on how strong they are. So you can't just sic 3 copies of the same mini-boss on every Moblin who is unfortunate enough to cross you.

The best way I can sum it up is that the combat is like a turn-based strategy game set in real time. And as someone who has played an ungodly number of hours of Fire Emblem, I really enjoy it. I downright revel in strategically summoning minions to fight for me (my favorite attack is spawning in a bunch of crows like a malevolent little witch). However, if you're someone who prefers the more direct style of fighting from past Zelda games, this might end up being a deal-breaker for you.

Swordfighter Form is your other major weapon in combat. For a limited amount of time, Zelda can assume Link's abilities and weapons, allowing her to attack enemies directly and do a lot of damage in a short amount of time. But since this ability has limited duration, and the energy guage has to be manually refilled by collecting a specific item, it cannot be your go-to default way of handling every fight. Swordfighter Form can be upgraded as you progress through the game, allowing you to extend its duration and increase its moveset and damage output. But it's always going to be something that you use sparingly, mostly just to get yourself out of overwhelming combat scenarios.

So yeah, I think that just about covers the major gameplay mechanics. In conclusion, Echoes of Wisdom is not only its super cute aesthetic, banger soundtrack, and engaging story. Ignoring all of the more superficial stuff, at its core, this is a really good game, that feels really good to experience. If you've enjoyed any of the past 2D Zelda titles, or even just want to see what all the fuss is about, I genuinely cannot recommend this game enough. Regardless of its differences in presentation, Echoes of Wisdom was made with the same level of care and craftsmanship as any of the other entries in the Zelda series, and I've adored every moment of it so far.

[mrsbsmooth]

Ok I've been in the fandom for about three years now, but I still sometimes feel like I'm on the outside - how do you make close friendships? because I've spoken to many people in this fandom, including you, and I call you guys friends in my head, but I'm too anxious to just talk to people in their inbox just because I like them and I don't wanna be annoying or overstep if you get what I mean

HOLA!

You'd be surprised how often I get asked stuff like this.

Honest answer?

#3: Engaging on tumblr Reblogs, comments, etc. Nothing better than screaming at each other in the comments of a post. I think I'm weird in that I prefer comments to reblogs because it doesn't clog up everyone else's dash. #2: Engaging on Ao3. If you're looking to snag a writer friend, read their fics and comment on them. Then have the same URL on tumblr and send them an ask about it. We are simple beings and easily tricked into friendship if you tell us you like the thing we spent 45 hours writing.

#1: Discord.

I've made so many wonderful friends through tumblr. It's one thing to reblog something or comment (I think comments are better than just a blank reblog, personally), but my friendships within this fandom only kicked off really once I started talking to them on discord.

Of course we've got the Writer's room which is just me, Emma, Bia, Elle and Tammy, and there's a private server for dedicated fanfic writers (although you have to be a writer and also have somewhat of a highly visible presence to be invited to that one. They've had HUGE issues with semi-anonymous people wanting to join and then being trolls or starting drama and wrecking the wonderful friendly vibe.) But there is also an amazing fan server which I believe is still run by @caitkaminski @oliverslove and @rebelrayne. It's an absolutely wonderful place and there's almost always discussion going on in there, especially on episode release day. It's WILD. I highly recommend it. Check their blogs, I think the link is in their bios.

Also, I don't even know who you are (anon obviously) but you're my friend in my head too dw xxx

[ahappydnp]

inarticulate waffle about dan and boundaries below the cut as to not clog up the dash

dan's attempts at gently setting and reminding his audience of his boundaries is so fascinating. he really did try to have a mutual understanding/respect with people who watched his videos and also followed him on social media of like...letting dinof not be too personal and have some kind of separation betwee dan and dinof (good example: "there are several things in my life that are none of the internet's business" vyou)

this video in particular is interesting because he goes on to talk about being back on dailybooth (which was really personal and intimate) how people should check his out, but it's like he assumes there's the understanding that he's not going to talk about the things on his db on youtube?

like he was way more kind about it than the lawless internet culture warranted and i hate that sometimes there's this picture painted of him that he's always been angry and defensive at his subscribers. i also think it's easy for people who joined the fandom after 2013ish to think he's always had that bubbling resentment but he really did try to be nice about keeping his personal life private (and not just his sexuality but even things like the whole adrian ordeal or people literally commenting/harassing his ex gfs social media)

idk it's easy to assume the angry dinof persona is the genuine dan, especially when you don't see him in other mediums like liveshows or videos of him interacting with fans or even the gaming channel where he doesn't have such a guard up and unmasks a bit. but god he just really is gentle and kind and has spent his career trying to stay that way with the people who support him, despite the reception and consistent disrespect back at him.

this doesn't really have a point other than i don't think he gets enough credit for staying as kind as he is (and i mean real dan, not dystopia daily dan) and still being willing to have the kind of unique bond with his audience that he's always been infamous for (which also is astounding how they've both managed to walk that line so well considering other creators being either too close or too blocked off from their fanbase).

idk it's just interesting how he's trying to say a lot without saying a lot and how this 18 year old kid really hoped for the best in people despite everything. dan has stayed a genuinely a lovely person when most people at this point would have become far more jaded and that's beyond impressive.