#egg brigade

[carlyraejepsans]

Huh, I just noticed something. The majority it seems, at least according to the characters mentioned in the notes and tags of that post, to be headcanoned to be trans (the gender they are in canon) are characters who are guys in canon being headcanoned as transmasc. And now come think of it, I dont remember the last time I saw a character that isn't a guy in canon be headcanoned as a trans guy. Meanwhile trans fem headcanons are a lot of the time appled to characters who are guys in canon (not always! Trans Noelle Holiday comes to mind), so that's a thought. Not sure what it means or if my observations are even correct, but it's something.

i think you made a good observation, it's just a matter of what angle you approach it with: characters with contested trans headcanons (male AND female) tend to be men in the source material because statistically those are the characters that get the most fandom attention

[not-a-workin-boy]

SPGTOBER DAY 6 - SECONDARY ROBOT

this is my son eggs benedictus he has every disease. does he count as a secondary robot.. i dont care he does to me,,

the day i stop Breakfast Brigade posting is the day i die i love them

[cinemaocd]

Gonna bake a flourless chocolate torte with all my Minnesota, under $5 a carton eggs.

[issak]

ok i've been consumed by the MHW void for the last .... IDK 3 1/2 weeks, but it is done iS DONE I AM FREE.

I was afraid I was gonna reach HR 200 before getting all the achievements, but i barely succeeded.

AGHGHGAHGAH huntig for Crowns Is a NIGHTMARE!!!!!! A NIGHTMARE I TELL YOU, and Wilds made it easy, and it was STILL a nightmare.

Now I can do other things with my nights, Like reading fics ... and eating dinner.

Pha'ux is the goodest of boys [my bik.... I mean my "bird"]

And Cipher's voice is actually rather pleasant once you switch the language to Japanese.

[bklynmusicnerd]

Trina will always be that girl's number one trigger because how did Trina rejecting her ridiculous "friendship" offer lead to her memory getting triggered with the ornament?

Not the many times Spencer rejected her by letting her know nothing romantic would ever happen with them? Not regularly seeing Ryan's face on Kevin? Not visiting Heather? Not all the times she fell on her head?

Trina telling her she will never fuck with her is what did it? Her hatred of/obsession with Trina is that intrinsic to her? Yikes. Kinda love the implications of Trina having that much power over an enemy but yikes.

[crow-posting]

RZ-3 is Hestia's favorite blorbo. Unfortunately for Hestia, RZ-3 is everyone's favorite blorbo.

[hojichasunrise]

And actually, fuck Romione too. Even JKR regrets that one.

Toxic Romione Shippers 🤝 Toxic Kataang Shippers

You make an anti canon ship post, and they question criticize why you ship the fanon couple even if the fanon couple was never mentioned in the post.

Their canon ship is perfect and if you ship the fanon couple you are delusional/mentally ill and doomed to abusive relationships.

Accuse you of wanting to self-insert so you can screw someone in the fanon ship. Despite a character in the canon ship being a creator self-insert.

They say their ship is canon to feel morally superior in fandom.

They hijack fanon ship posts to insult fanon shippers.

One person in their canon couple is entitled to the other character despite how badly said character treats the other. Because they have no one else 😭. Aang needs Katara to repopulate the Air Nomads! Hermione can't be with anyone other than Ron because poor Hermione!

They defend their canon ship by criticizing the fanon ship.

The fanon ship is for horny, teenage girls.

People hate their canon ship because they are salty towards the creators for not making the fanon ship canon.

Despite their ship being canon, they whine about the amount of fanon ship content despite bragging their ship is canon 24/7.

[dduane]

After a trip to Scotland this past summer, my husband came home with an array of Scottish foods and such he wanted to try out at home. He had intended to try out “neeps and tatties” alongside his US-safe haggis, only to discover after we purchased parsnips that we should have bought rutabagas instead.

All of that to ask - what’s your favorite way to eat parsnips? They’re sitting around waiting to be used, but I’ve never made them, and found my grandma-in-law’s mashed parsnips less than inspiring. I did eye your parsnip pie recipe on The Mind Palate, but I’m looking for something more savory. I could swear I remembered a Middle Kingdoms recipe that included parsnips among other root vegetables, though I may be misremembering.

Thank you for all of your writing! It’s been a delight to discover the Middle Kingdoms as an adult after the Young Wizards series did so much wiring in my brain as a kid/teen. And I never get tired of reading about your culinary adventures here on Tumblr.

Hey, thanks for the nice words! And I'm glad to help.

@petermorwood would also be one of those who wouldn't have been terribly wild about parsnips, as in his family too they routinely only turned up boiled to death and mashed (with carrots, urgh...). But when I started working with them secondary to the Yes We Have No Potatoes business in the Middle Kingdoms 'verse, he began to change his tune. This recipe in particular was the one that did the trick.

I feel a little sorry for parsnips, sometimes, in that the relentless "boil-'em-mash-'em" brigade have reduced them in popular opinion to a near-tasteless pap dish. Parsnips' natural sweetness and pepperiness get completely lost in such preparations. The approach above, though, highlights both of those qualities... and some judicious addition of herbs and spices makes them even better.

...The thought of improving the article at Food and Cooking of the Middle Kingdoms a little bit impelled me to make these for lunch and re-photograph them. (Oh How I Suffer.) Here they are with sausages...

(And yeah, that's mayo on the right. The Kingdoms have mayo. [Though obviously that's not what they call it, since Mahon is on another Earth entirely...] After all, they've got olive oil, and they've got eggs... so it'd be only a matter of time before someone developed a sauce combining the two.)

Anyway, hope this helps! :)

[navree]

How do you feel about the Nettles situation? 👀

As mentioned, haven't been watching season 2 and only been "keeping up" with it in that I see what the beloved mutuals are posting about it on Tumblr (and the occasional errant tweet from the fucking bad take brigade that is fandom twitter), so from what I know the Nettles situation appears to be that they're cutting her completely and just giving her storyline to Rhaena? Well the way I feel about that is that I think it fucking sucks.

The big thing for me is that the entire rationale for cutting Nettles and just substituting in Rhaena really smacks of racism. They couldn't be assed to do anything for Rhaena, so they just took the only notable Black character they could find and just went "well Nettles is a Black girl, and now we've made Rhaena Black, so it's the same thing" without thinking about the fact that Nettles and Rhaena are two very different characters with very different places in the narrative and aren't just interchangeable, and that it's fucking weird that you immediately got rid of a woman of color because you already had what you deemed to be a sufficient amount. The lack of care shown to Rhaena, specifically the version of Rhaena that the show created, is astounding, and it feels really weird that it's existing for one of the already few Black women in the show (it's something I've already talked about, that the show made changes without then thinking about how things come across in the real world to the viewing public, like Ryan Condal saying that women lie about being victims of gendered violence or making the Velaryons Black but then putting significantly less effort into them than their white counterparts, or not even thinking about how Targaryen-Velaryon intermarriage would make the current Targs visibly mixed).

Giving Rhaena the Nettles plot doesn't make sense for two main reasons, even beyond the BTS decisions that I outlined above: 1) you can give Rhaena an entirely original and interesting plot if you bothered to actually care about her or in giving Black women something to do in your show 2) Nettles has a very specific impact on the story that cannot be removed without drastically changing the history that's been set in stone.

So, point one: an original Rhaena plot. I've said this before, but it's a very critique that book!Rhaena doesn't actually do anything. She just kinda sits around in the Vale having her hair brushed for a year until the war's over. That's a bit boring, I don't mind the show deciding to change up what she does so she actually has shit to, like, do. But let's look at what the show crafted with the Vale plot before they just punted Nettles to Rhaena. On the Vale's side, the show has created a situation where their loyalty to Rhaenyra is extremely flimsy and quite likely to vanish at a moment's notice. Rhaenyra's husband, her major partisan, was infamously shitty to the Vale, he constantly degraded the region in open court, and then murdered one of Jeyne Arryn's vassals in cold blood, his own wife, for no reason. And not only that, he wasn't even remotely punished for it. Daemon's bad reputation in the Vale for what he did to Rhea Royce, and his treatment of her throughout their marriage, and the lack of accountability in that, should absolutely make it so that anyone in the Vale would be leery about allying themselves with him. Then, Jeyne gives Rhaenyra the Vale's allegiance so long as Rhaenyra sends a battle-ready dragon and dragon-rider to protect them in case the Greens decide to invade and force their submission. But after Rhaenyra's envoy promises her that, Rhaenyra backtracks, and instead sends her a teenager and three little kids and a baby dragon and some dragon eggs. That is insulting, that is a violation of the promised agreement that came at the cost of the Vale's allegiance to Rhaenyra, that alliance should absolutely be on the rocks. It makes sense for Jeyne to be as annoyed with the Blacks as she is in the show. And on Rhaena's side, she doesn't have a dragon at all, and she is undervalued in her family as a result. Her father straight up doesn't care about her and neglects her because she doesn't have that symbol of Targaryen supremacy within her, her sister may love her but doesn't value her much as a person (considering Baela is absolutely fine with Rhaena getting sent away to play nursemaid and doesn't even bring up Rhaena being the Lady of Driftmark even tho she has a claim through Laena and Hell, even being Luke's intended), Rhaenyra literally doesn't see her as worthy of keeping around since she just shunts her off not even for her own safety, but so that she can ensure the safety of Rhaenyra's sons. And that's weighing on Rhaena, it's been weighing on her since she was a child, she's only ten when she talks to Laena about how Daemon doesn't love her because she doesn't have a dragon, and those feelings have only grown as she has, and as more indignities have been heaped on her.

So you have Rhaena, who isn't really valued by the people around her or considered necessary for the war effort, in an area where the emotions are ripe for turning against Rhaenyra and maybe even siding with the Greens. So why not have Rhaena change it? Instead of having the Vale stay loyal for no reason in spite of their very legitimate issues, have Rhaena forge a relationship with Jeyne. Have them get a personal connection to get Jeyne more invested in the Blacks' victory. Have Rhaena work essentially in administration, use her connection to the parties on Dragonstone to enact more firm promises for the Vale, in writing. Have Rhaena become essential to Rhaenyra getting to keep a foothold in Westeros, since most of the South (should be) allied to the Greens, the Riverlands are under Daemon's purview yes but he's not trustworthy enough for that to be an assurance, and the North is loyal to Rhaenyra but still taking its sweetass time doing anything. Have Rhaena find her own worth within in her in the way she helps the war effort not with a dragon, not with the way others have told her she could be useful and necessary, but with a way she's found for herself. Have her grow internally in the process, and become more confident and self-assured. There's a plot to give Rhaena in the Vale, but it's not Nettles's, it should be her own, crafted out of a care for her as a character and to give her a story of her own rather than slap someone else's to her because you were being lazy.

And speaking of Nettles, cutting her is ridiculous because she is absolutely essential. It's because of Nettles that, ultimately, things end the way that they do for a lot of characters. And that is because of her very specific connection to Daemon. Nettles joins up with Daemon after the Blacks take King's Landing, and it's soon very clear that these two have a very, very strong connection ('oh because she's his daughter' considering that Daemon seems incapable of loving any of his children, nah, I've always been in the romance camp for these two), especially on Daemon's part. And that strong connection, combined with Rhaenyra's distrust of dragonseeds, leads Rhaenyra to demand that Lord Mooton break guest right and kill Nettles, to stop her from "stealing" Daemon and then betraying Rhaenyra the way Hugh and Ulf did. Daemon finds out about this and, to save Nettles's life, helps her escape, in a goodbye that left Nettles upset and Daemon evidently heartbroken, considering that Caraxes starts screeching like a banshee as they leave. And that is what then spurs Daemon not to return to Rhaenyra's side, but to instead strike out and try to kill Aemond, and thus leads him to his own death in turn. Which leads to a loss of power for Rhaenyra which culminates in her fleeing King's Landing for Dragonstone where she's killed which then leads to Aegon returning to King's Landing only for the Northerners to attack which leads to him dying (I'm a proponent of suicide theory) which leads to Aegon III becoming King and etc etc.

You see how Nettles's existence starts the ball rolling for what becomes the next two hundred years of Targaryen, and by extension Westerosi, history? She's a very specific person, and you can't replace her with anyone else. Daemon has shown absolutely no care or consideration at all for his children by Laena, so there's no reason for him to be anywhere near as invested in Rhaena as he was with Nettles ('oh but Rhaena would have a dragon' well Baela already has a dragon and that didn't stop him from punting her to Driftmark so he could devote his attention only to his pureblood Valyrian sons and still not giving any kind of a shit about her at all, he's a bad father even if his kids have dragons). Rhaenyra's mistrust of Nettles is fueled by her mistrust of dragonseeds, but Rhaena wouldn't be a dragonseed, she's Daemon's trueborn daughter, so that's not an issue. Nor is Rhaenyra necessarily gonna be worried that Daemon is falling in love with his own daughter and thus falling out of love with her, or then try to go "well then the only option is for me to murder Daemon's daughter" as a result. So there'd be no strong connection motivating Daemon to value Rhaena so highly, there'd be no betrayal from Rhaenyra that gets Rhaena sent away and motivates Daemon to pull away from Rhaenyra and instead keep on fighting even if it means his death, and with that, there's no way any of the historical facts can proceed the way that they do. Nettles can't be Rhaena, she needs to be Nettles. She is her own person, with her own specific impact on the narrative and the characters within. And yes, F&B is a narrative, it's formatted like a history book which makes for good thought experiments and injects ambiguity within certain elements, but it's still a fictional story dreamed up by George, who then put characters in that story for a reason.

Not to mention, Nettles and Rhaena are very different characters? Like, they have incredibly different personalities. Rhaena's we haven't seen much of, because the show has suffered in characterizing the younger TB characters as a whole and is also just really bad in characterizing the Velaryons specifically (hm suspicious). But based on what we have, Rhaena seems a bit quiet, a bit subdued, prone to shyness, and generally favoring a more traditional femininity than we see from even Baela. Nettles meanwhile is coarse and rough and loud and unapologetic in that, she's not timid but in fact fearless and bold. Rhaena is a highborn daughter of a prince, stepdaughter to a queen. Nettles is a homeless whore's daughter who grew up poor and on thin means struggling to survive. Which is why Nettles is able to claim Sheepstealer, having to grow up the way she did with the experiences she had gave her an industriousness and a way of problem-solving that allowed her to figure out how to win over Sheepstealer, a wild unclaimed dragon. She used her wits, as she likely so often had to, growing up the way she did, to figure out that Sheepstealer might not like people but he likes a certain kind of food, and thus create an association in his head of Nettles=that food he likes by bringing him sheep until she gained enough of his trust to claim him as a dragon to ride. Rhaena doesn't have that industriousness because Rhaena, like 90% of highborn nobles, has never had to actually fight for anything ever. She's never had to really problem solve in a blunt way for anything, let alone her own survival, that might then inform how she might try to do something as daring as claiming a wild dragon. I mean, Hell, Rhaena gets told out loud "hey if you want a dragon you need to claim a dragon, earn that right" by her own mother who did the exact same thing, and then spent ten years on Dragonstone twiddling her thumbs, I guess, since she never thought "hm let me try that".

Like, these are different people, with different personalities and different upbringings that shaped them in different ways, and thus have different relationships and impact the story in different ways. You can't just smush them together, it doesn't work. It's bad writing that is going to really wreck a lot of the future storytelling in some key ways. It shows a stunning lack of care towards not just a pre-existing Black character, but a Black character the writers themselves created as well, along with a lack of creativity and imagination on their part, and overall laziness that was already a bit present in season 1 but got kicked into overdrive in season 2 and has become endemic to this show overall. It's bad, it's dumb, it's lazy, it's borderline racist, and I don't like it.

(also there's a potent symbolism in rhaena's dragon hatching on its own and that she's called morning, after the dance killed so many dragons and created so much death and doom for house targaryen and the survivors that remain, but fuck the symbolism too i guess)

[austinsastrology8991]

> Mars in Houses < How you fight demons by becoming more demony ANd where others thirsty for yo Red-Bull-shit

Mars in First - Red bull gave you wings. your venom is oozing out yo teeth, but you still grinning at anything that moves. you act out a lot -and we let you - only because we don't wanna be the reason you lashed out - and you will justify your outbursts with any reason possible. because anything and everything makes you jump into a fist fight. and we don't wanna hear it was our fault later when we all know its your fault Mars in Second - Red bull made you sleep. you tired of fighting, but you will never surrender - so like what do you even want. your easily the most annoying person to get in a fight with because you never quit even if you lost the fight. passive in yo jabs but you a genius at pissing me off. and honestly the only reason i put up with it is because you so god damn sensual but your the definition of walking on egg shells Mars in Third - Red bull gave you intrusive thoughts. You are irrationally provocative and you don't even care that you just pissed everyone off with yo shit talking. you are able to have a conversation, but you must get the final word, and this final word, is why we all roll our eyes at you whenever you say yo 'piece.' notice how know one talks shit back to you? talk is cheap Mars in Fourth - Red bull gave you cancer - you hold in a lot, and we know your insides are boiling into a hot soup and thats why everyone so nice to you. we dont want to be the ones you vomit at. and we know its because yo mama made you bite yo tongue as a kid. and well we gotten used to it Mars in Fifth - Red bull gave you energy - get hyper - *dubstep**ksi appears** your dominant simply because your energy is overwhelming to others > you got the loudest laugh > the 'funniest' jokes > the biggest rawr xd > no one gonna step to you because you loud , and to extinguish yo flames we gotta call the fire brigade because you set the whole building on fire Mars in Sixth - Red bull gave you band aids/aids - you the most non combative person but can cut anyone so easily. you know exactly how to put someone down, and thats why you dont look for fights, because it feels like work at dis point. undercover freaks Mars in Seventh - Red bull gave you an erection - RED ROCKET RED ROCKET ummm do you really gotta show yo red rocket to everyone. seriously you working everyone as if you plan on sleeping with everyone. and the people you really wanna sleep with man, never seen a bigger simp, but keep pretending you a pimp, i mean i would too if i was as thirsty as you Mars in Eighth - Red bull gave you demon wings - scary. you can expose anyone by diggging into their psyche/secrets, and after you expose them, you console them, make them feel better about how you made them yo bitch. I mean its impressive how well you keep your secrets to yourself, but man do you exterminate everyone elses and its uncomfortable to be yo target Mars in Ninth - Red bull made you jump off something high - loud ambitions and a whole buncha energy. and well we know you have a grand plan to take over the world, but we done hearing about it we just waiting to see if you got the balls to do it. oh wow you actually jumped off the cliff and nearly died. was it as legendary as you thought it would be > i mean shit, imma talk about it so maybe? Mars in Tenth - Red bull made you put on a suit - Professionally a proffesional. a professional that proffeses they a profesional professionally like professionals who are proffesional. do you feel like i gave you the respect you deserved, or do you feeel im mocking you? they ask themselves this typa shit 24/7 because they dont wanna get spat on, but they so used to it - so they put themselves in only win win situations to avoid anything 'unprofessional'

Mars in Eleventh - Red bull gave you purpose - yall are kinda fearless but we all know its because you so afraid you wont get your way lol. but you masters at getting yo way, but that just means people dont wanna get in yo way... now ask yourself. how beneficial is this really. i mean at least nothing is an obstacle, but also no one helping you, becasue your attitude has convinced everyone you dont need help, and we also don't want to Mars in Twelfth - Red bull made you think he gave you wings - yall into infecting peoples minds; thats yo weapon. you know the exact right things to pull off to get people stuck in a thought loop of guessing what ifs of what is actually nothing at all. and this 'weapon' after a while, is completely useless after yo game is revealed, but yall are intriguing and are always shapeshifting into some new shit

[baddybaddyadardaddy]

HEY BADDYDADDY BRIGADE:

It's been a month since the on-screen death of our dear Adar 😭😭, but as a fandom, WE REMAIN VERY MUCH ALIVE!

So I want y'all to be self-promotional on main!

Hit my inbox with your creations- links to original art, fics, WIPs, headcanons, etc.

And, if you're so inclined, give us a bit of "director's commentary" on it!

What was the inspiration for this piece?

What's your favorite passage or part of the work?

What's one thing you think you absolutely nailed?

Are there any little fun "easter eggs" in your piece??

Give us an inside look at what the process was like for you: What kind of pre-planning did you do, how long did it take, what was something you struggled with, etc?

or, alternatively, what's the ONE BURNING QUESTION you wish someone would ask you about your creation, and answer that!

I'll share these out over the next month or so depending on how many I get!

Help your fellow Adarlings find their next favorite fic or favorite piece of Baddydaddy art!!

🖤🖤🍷🍷🗡️🗡️

[kaija-rayne-author]

Review 8 in series of Dragon Age Veilguard

60 hours in 58 actual gameplay

Something came to my attention. I need to make it crystal clear that I utterly love the diversity in DAV. It's fantastic. I'm also a heavily left leaning, non-binary, queer as fuck reviewer, editor, and author.

I'm on media blackout while I play this, so I'm only getting second-hand info on how awful it is right now in the DA Fandom. Please be safe and take care of yourselves. Arguing with incels and white supremacists is completely pointless. They sea lion worse than an actual sea lion. Your mental health is important.

Though, every single time the anti-queer brigade comes out for a new DA game, I sit there thinking 'have you bozos ever played any DA game, like, ever?' My guess is nope.

Part 7 is here.

Spoilers for Dragon Age Veilguard

Critical review CW strong language.

Well. If I'm right about who the Gloom Howler is, and I'm almost certain after the Cauldron... I really fucking question the reading comprehension of whoever wrote that arc.

She loathed doing what she was ordered to do to the griffins. She saved the last clutch of eggs, left secret clues on where to find the nest kept in stasis, and answered her calling early so no one could get the information out of her. All in the hope that future generations would be worthy of griffins again. And now she's doing the exact opposite? Seriously?

I mean, I'm aware that the supplementary material isn't something everyone is gonna read, but as far as I know the printed materials are considered canon. Which means they've taken a sad, epic story and completely reversed it in a retcon I'm not sure I can forgive them for.

I've marinated myself in the Lore of this world. That's an incredible disservice to her sacrifices to save the last remaining griffins. It's a disservice to the writer of Last Flight, too. That's not even touching on the 'of course when you shove a blade into the bones of a roughly 400 year dead arch demon... it will come out bloody?' Excuse me now? Someone has watched too much jurassic park, because that would be utterly impossible.

Once again, I'm asking myself What. The. Actual. Fuck. were the devs and writers thinking?

Surely they know at least some of us have read the printed stuff?

Did they think we'd have forgotten? Unfortunately for these retconning incompetents, (I am so, so sick of retconning in general, and fed the fuck up with it in this game) autistic and AuDHD folks like me tend to have razor keen memories about our special interests. Whoopsies.

Last Flight wasn't my fav of the books, but it was beautifully written and heartbreaking with a gleaming golden string of hope.

And this is the end of that story? ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?

I can honestly think of only one way they could make that make sense. And my trust in Bioware writers now lives below sewer level, so I'm not hopeful they'll go that way.

It's possible that I'm wrong, but understanding and critiquing media is my actual job when I'm not recovering from a pulmonary embolism. And yes, absolutely, I could've written far, far better material.

How. Can someone please tell me HOW a company that has something as successful as DAI under their belt... makes... this? I swear this game (DAV) is like some of the worst AI written shite I saw in ESO back when I played that years ago.

I guess I should say machine written. Whatever. I've heard ESO was doing that a long while ago. And the blah storylines and boring assed questlines proved it.

This game reminds me of that. Though, I think they were probably written by actual humans... I really have to question where exactly they scraped up the writers for them.

The street? A back alley? A mud pit? Did they give apes access to a keyboard and use whatever claptrap they came up with? (Yes. They did. Humans are apes.)

It's common enough in Hollyweird that writers working on a particular IP (intellectual property... IE Dragon Age or Witcher etc.) often utterly loathe the source material. I fail to understand why or how that would be okay, because we can fucking tell, you know? You can tell when a writer loves their work, and when they don't. And we wonder why so many things in hollyweird fail.

Is that what happened to DAV?

They had a fucking blueprint for fuck's sake! DAI was RIGHT THERE. It won GOTY if I recall correctly. No one wanted a game exactly like DAI but dear fucking gods something... not this... would've been far preferable. If they'd used DAI as a sort of map? A guideline or outline? DAV might’ve been a good game. And the sad part is that it actually could have been. With just a little more care, less streamlining to mediocrity, better editing and writing? This could've been another win for Bioware. As is, if it wins anything I'll be suspicious of bribery.

It's just so... meh. Where it's not outright bad.

And even though I'm under media blackout so I can write a truly unbiased review... it wouldn't surprise me if some fans were going gaga over this travesty of a game. Just because it has Dragon Age in the title.

It sucks when you want desperately to love something. But you just can't because you can see the flaws. And the flaws far, far outweigh the good parts.

And none of those good parts are even unique. They're just lifted from other games.

And I got the load up with no CC glitch again. Lost about an hour of playtime figuring out when it happened and which save to reload. I'd really hoped the damned hour long update would've taken care of that.

What a sad mess this game is.

Though on the positive, I do love the new takedown mechanic. And it's oddly satisfying to clear blight. I like tracking things. IRL too. I grew up in a subsistence hunting family. Though, I always just used a camera. I know how to track stuff, so that's fun. I like the ballista and zip lines. There are good parts of the game... but they aren't the parts that really matter.

I had to turn Taash down for Romance because it happened way too fast. I barely felt like I knew them, and my demi ass needs more than what we got before committing to a relationship.

It's warming up with Lucanis, Emmrich, and Davrin. I'm not decided yet. And this is where a polyam mod would be great. There's no reason polyam shouldn't have been included in the game. It could've been just a few characters okay with it like BG3, but the rep and possibilities would at least be there.

I'm incredibly fed the fuck up with the narrative that turns Solas into an awful person. They're trying so fucking hard to paint him that way. They're hammering it home so hard I really can't recommend (at this point) that Sollavellans play it. It's possible that will change, but... sigh. They've even got my Rook saying negative shit about him. Shouldn't that be a choice that I get to make about my Rook? How they feel about Solas?

And if I could kick the incredibly unintelligent and massively fucking annoying Lace Harding off a cliff, I absolutely would. Hard. And laugh while I did it.

Everyone blames Solas. Why is everyone so far up Mythal's asshole that they're forgetting it was always her requiring her bound servant IE enslaved spirit who never even wanted a body (forgetting that part?) Solas to do what she said. That he tried over and over again to dissuade her?

You know, as a friend said, they could've hired a bunch of Ao3 fic writers and paid them in pizza or waffles and come out with better story lines than this.

Oh, but no, it's all Solas's fault. And the narrative is so fucking heavy handed on that that it's honestly nauseating me a little.

What. The. Actual. Fuck.

Section 9 here.

[biromantic-barbie]

Did you know?

There were a boatload of easter eggs compressed into that closing segment during the season finale of "Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man", but I'd thought to highlight a particularly interesting one.

The startup company Harry Osborn creates is Worldwide Engineering Brigade or W.E.B. for short. Sound familiar yet? As you can see in my edit above, that's the same company housing the Spider-Man attraction at the Avengers Campus (Disney's California Adventure and Walt Disney Studios Park).

It's obviously not the same timeline, since automatically this isn't Tom Holland's Peter Parker, and the Avengers Campus kind of runs outside 616's canon to correspond the theme park element. But as a Disney Parks fan, I would love to see more tie-ins with WEB in season 2 of "YFNSM"!

Bonus: Harry sent emails to former Oscorp colleagues to invite them to join W.E.B. One who'd accepted is a Wakandan girl named Asha. Well, in the WEB Slingers: A Spider-Man Adventure ride, the "slinger" vehicles have been crafted with vibranium. If the series honors any of the attraction's blueprints, we could see Asha engineering this project soon.

[emperordinozenmon]

Battle Brigade

For Dio’s first line story in this page I gave him 3 guidelines First Person perspective, Ultraman/Kaiju no 8 inspired and lastly Jihyo needed to be the love interest because I like how he writes her. Now hopefully this encourages more tokusatsu inspired stories

Jihyo slipped into my room like a cat in search of warmth and mischief. The moment the door clicked shut, she beelined for my bed, her smaller frame effortlessly weaving into the sheets before I could even register what was happening. Her arms wrapped around me, snug and insistent, her body molding against mine like she belonged there.

A deep, husky voice broke through my haze of sleep.

“Hey, babe. You feeling alright?”

I groaned, half-conscious, trying to shake off the weight of drowsiness. My limbs felt trapped, tangled in Jihyo's stubborn embrace.

Disoriented, I croaked, “What time is it?”

“2:30 a.m.,” she answered, far too innocently for someone committing a blatant act of sleep theft.

I cracked an eye open to scowl at her. “Jihyo, I am exhausted.”

She merely grinned, entirely unrepentant. “Come on,” she cooed. “Just let me steal some of your warmth, and we’ll be fine.”

I tried to hold onto my irritation, but it was a losing battle. Jihyo batted her lashes, her big, doe eyes glimmering with mischief before she pressed a quick kiss to my nose. A sigh of surrender escaped me as she burrowed even closer, victorious.

A quiet, triumphant “yay,” left her lips as she nuzzled into me, her warmth spreading like a lullaby.

And just like that, I let her stay.

My relationship with Jihyo was… weird.

It started as a purely physical and economic partnership—born from circumstance rather than choice. After I saved her from a Stardust Squadron attack, she latched onto me like a scarred puppy, and even after she reunited with her friends, that attachment never wavered.

She texted me daily—long, heartfelt messages about how much she missed me, how she couldn’t wait to see me again, how boring life was without me in it. If I didn’t respond quickly enough, she’d follow up with a dramatic “Are you DEAD?” or an exaggerated string of emojis that made it clear she was spiraling.

In a word, she was clingy. But that was probably obvious by now.

So, when I casually mentioned needing a new place to live, it wasn’t shocking that Jihyo immediately suggested we move in together and split the rent. At first, I hesitated—see: aforementioned clinginess—but she made a compelling case. “You don’t have to be lonely,” she reasoned, arms crossed as she leaned over my couch. “You get someone to cook for you sometimes. I won’t even charge you for kisses.”

“I don’t want kisses,” I had deadpanned.

She had smirked, completely unfazed. “Liar.”

I never really stood a chance. Eventually, I gave in, and we moved in together that February, right after both our birthdays. It’s been a year and nine months now, and honestly? I’ve lost count of all the ways my life has changed because of her.

For one, I have received:

• 818 kisses

• 564 “babes”

• 300 hand-holds

• 105 sneaky cuddles

• 2 full-on marriage proposals—jokingly, of course… at least, I hope.

I fell into a routine of taking care of things while Jihyo was at work. She was out for hours, busy with schedules, rehearsals, and whatever else an idol’s life required. That left me with the task of keeping our shared space functional.

Grocery shopping was my usual errand. I’d push the cart through the aisles, absentmindedly grabbing the basics—eggs, rice, vegetables—before stopping at the snack section, where Jihyo’s preferences dictated half the haul. She had an almost concerning addiction to spicy ramen and peach-flavored anything. If I forgot her yogurt drinks, she’d pout at me like I’d personally betrayed her.

Laundry was another chore I handled. Jihyo swore she would help, but that mostly consisted of her sitting on the couch, watching me fold clothes, and tossing in the occasional “You’re doing great, babe.” If I called her out, she’d just bat her lashes and say, “Moral support is important!” before going back to scrolling on her phone.

Cleaning, at least, was a solo mission. I moved through the apartment with practiced ease, wiping down counters, sweeping floors, and straightening up the inevitable mess Jihyo left in her wake. Makeup brushes scattered across the bathroom sink, half-empty coffee cups on the table, a hoodie draped over the back of a chair—signs of her existence woven into every inch of the space.

Sometimes, when I finished, I’d sit on the couch and scroll through my phone, only to find a message from her.

Jihyo: “Miss you.”

Me: “You’ve been gone for three hours.”

Jihyo: “Too long. What are you doing?”

Me: “Cleaning up after you, obviously.”

Jihyo: “Ugh, I should’ve kissed you more before I left.”

Me: “You literally did that.”

Jihyo: “Not enough!!”

She was ridiculous.

But as much as I teased her, I had grown used to this. To the constancy of her presence, even when she wasn’t here.

To the way she made herself a part of my life, whether I asked for it or not.

To the fact that, no matter how weird things got, I never really wanted it to change.

We woke up tangled together in my bed, as usual. Jihyo had a way of clinging in her sleep—arms wrapped tight, legs hooked around mine, face buried against my neck like I was her personal body pillow. It took some effort to extract myself from her grasp without waking her up, but the second I slid out from under the covers, she stirred.

“Mmm… where you going?” she mumbled sleepily, reaching for me with one hand, eyes barely open.

“Work,” I said, running a hand through my hair. “Same as you.”

She groaned dramatically and rolled onto her stomach, peeking at me with half-lidded eyes. “Five more minutes?”

I chuckled, shaking my head. “You say that, and next thing you know, you’re late.”

Jihyo pouted but let me go, stretching like a cat before finally rolling out of bed. I went about my morning routine, shaving and getting dressed in my suit and jewelry—just enough to look the part of a (somewhat) professional bodyguard. Jihyo, meanwhile, got ready for another day of comeback preparations, moving around the apartment with her usual energy.

But no matter what she was doing—putting on makeup, fixing her hair, throwing together an outfit—she kept gravitating toward me.

While I buttoned my cuffs, she brushed past me, running a hand down my back before grabbing her hairbrush. When I put on my watch, she leaned in and fixed my tie, even though it didn’t need adjusting. By the time I packed our lunches, she had bumped into me at least three times under the guise of “grabbing something.”

I knew exactly what she was doing.

When I handed her lunch over, she beamed and kissed my cheek. “Thanks, babe. I really appreciate it.”

I smirked, shaking my head. “Go get ’em, tiger.”

Jihyo froze mid-step, eyes snapping to mine before a slow, mischievous grin spread across her face. “Ooh, I like that pet name.”

I didn’t even get the chance to respond before she snatched my phone straight from my pocket. With a sly look, she held it just out of reach and started typing at lightning speed. Before I could take it back, she turned the camera on herself, tilted her head cutely, and snapped a selfie.

When she finally handed the phone back, I looked at the screen. Her contact name had been changed to “Tiger Hyo”, and her adorable selfie was now her profile picture.

I laughed, shaking my head. “I like it.”

Jihyo grinned, clearly pleased with herself. “Good. Now I gotta go, or I’ll be late.”

I pulled her into a hug, feeling the way she melted against me like she was trying to absorb as much warmth as possible before leaving. She let out a satisfied hum, squeezing me a little tighter before reluctantly pulling away.

But even then, she lingered.

She took a step toward the door, then hesitated. She turned back, eyes scanning me like she was committing me to memory. Her fingers twitched at her sides as if physically resisting the urge to reach for me again.

Then, with a determined nod, she declared, “Okay, now I need to find something for you.”

I raised a brow. “Something for me?”

“Mhm. You gave me a nickname, so I have to give you one too.” She nodded like it was an official decree before finally, finally heading out the door.

I watched her go, shaking my head as I waved her off. Some people needed coffee to start their day. Jihyo, apparently, needed to give and receive an excessive amount of affection or she’d combust.

With a smirk, I pocketed my phone and headed out, making my way to Theo’s place.

Here’s a refined and expanded version of your scene to improve flow, natural dialogue, and character interaction:

⸻

When I arrived at Theo’s place, he was already waiting for me at the gate, arms crossed, wearing his usual smirk.

“Yo, long time no see, Dios,” he greeted.

“Hey, boss,” I said, nodding.

Theo stepped aside to let me in. “How’s life treating you?”

“It’s fine,” I replied, keeping it vague.

Theo shot me a knowing look. “You still seeing that crazy girl?”

I frowned, glancing at him. “Which one?”

“The clingy singer,” he clarified with a grin.

“Oh,” I said, realization clicking. “Yeah, we moved in together.”

Theo stopped mid-step. “Wait, really?”

I nodded.

He studied me for a moment, then asked, “How’s that working out?”

I hesitated, rubbing the back of my neck. “It’s… odd,” I admitted. “I love her, but I don’t really know how she wants to be loved. So I just kinda… exist in this weird teasing dynamic where I know we’re close, but I can’t tell if it’s platonic or romantic.”

Theo raised an eyebrow. “Well, what do you actually do for her?”

My expression softened as I listed it out. “I cook for her, clean the apartment, take care of her pets, go to her concerts… any performance I can make it to, really.”

Theo let out a short chuckle. “Oh, wow. What a supportive husband you are.”

I snorted, shaking my head.

“All that,” Theo continued, “and you still have time to save the world. I guess being an alien has its perks.”

I rolled my eyes. “You do know I was born on this planet, right? Like, literally in Bellflower. I have a birth certificate and everything.”

Theo smirked. “I know. I just like giving you a hard time.”

I sighed, but I couldn’t help but smirk back as we headed to his car. As I drove I thought about what Jihyo would be doing. I honestly found myself doing that a lot recently but I couldn’t help it. She made me feel alive, and I hoped what we had was forever.

Here’s a refined version of the scene that better reflects Dios’s conversation with Theo, reinforcing both his confusion and Jihyo’s confidence in their relationship. I adjusted the flow, made the dialogue more natural, and made sure it lined up with Dios’s uncertainty from the previous scene.

⸻

As Jihyo powered through her packed schedule, her thoughts drifted—What was Dios up to right now? Probably running errands, making sure the apartment didn’t fall into chaos while she was stuck here. She smiled at the thought, knowing full well he’d have their lunches packed neatly like always.

She barely had time to take a bite before Sana leaned in with that unmistakable smirk—the one that meant trouble.

“So,” Sana started, twirling her chopsticks between her fingers, “when are you finally going to lock Dios down?”

Jihyo paused mid-chew, blinking. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me,” Sana said, grinning. “You’re basically glued to his side, you steal his clothes all the time, and you two have lived together for almost two years—”

“One year, nine months, and twenty-seven days,” Jihyo corrected automatically.

Sana gave her a pointed look. “Uh-huh. And you’re still gonna tell me he’s just your roommate?”

Jihyo swallowed, then shrugged. “He’s mine.”

Sana snorted. “You say that so confidently, but where’s the official confirmation?”

Jihyo smirked, resting her chin in her hand. “I don’t need one.”

Sana narrowed her eyes. “Oh?”

“I have him,” Jihyo said simply. “He just… doesn’t know how to express himself like normal people.”

Sana leaned back, laughing. “So you’re saying he’s, what—emotionally constipated?”

“Kinda,” Jihyo mused. “I’d say he acts more like an alien.” She tapped her chopsticks against her plate. “Like, I know he loves me—he just doesn’t know how to translate it. So instead, he compensates. He lets me do what I want, handles all the little things—like this lunch he made for me that you’re eyeing.”

Sana shrugged, unbothered. “Hey, if he made extra…”

Jihyo laughed, then added, “It’s kind of cute.”

Sana raised a brow. “Cute? Sounds frustrating to me.”

Jihyo just shrugged again. “It can be, sometimes. But I know he cares about me. He just shows it in his own way.”

Sana pursed her lips, considering. Then, with a dramatic sigh, she shook her head. “You have the patience of a saint.”

Jihyo grinned. “More like the stubbornness of a tiger.”

Sana rolled her eyes but didn’t argue. Instead, she pointed her chopsticks at Jihyo. “Just don’t wait too long, okay? Some guys need a little push to get their feelings in order.”

Jihyo smirked, unfazed. “Oh, I know. But I don’t have to.”

Sana tilted her head, intrigued. “Wait, what do you mean?”

Jihyo simply took another bite of her lunch, looking far too pleased with herself.

As Theo and I arrived at the Human Defense Force base, something immediately felt off. The usual cold, impersonal atmosphere was gone, replaced by an almost celebratory energy. Laughter echoed through the halls, voices livelier than usual. My jaw tightened. I knew exactly what this meant.

Theo caught my reaction. “Yo, what’s wrong?”

I shrugged. “Nothing.”

Theo wasn’t buying it. He grabbed my arm and steered me toward the garage, weaving through personnel who barely gave me a second glance. They were too caught up in the moment, celebrating something I had no part in. Good.

Inside the garage, the familiar scent of oil and metal filled the air. Theo led me to a nondescript workbench, leaning against it while I idly turned a wrench over in my hands.

“So,” he started, voice casual but knowing, “how’s the whole ‘part-alien’ thing treating you?”

I scoffed. “You say that like I woke up with antennae one morning.”

Theo smirked. “I mean, kinda. You were one of the first of the battle brigade, and almost got yourself killed during the penultimate fight, only for some guy from the Stardust Squadron to turncoat because his leader didn’t fight with honor. Then you get a god-killing superweapon fused to your cells. And you’re telling me it’s just business as usual?”

I rolled my eyes. “What do you want me to say? That I wake up every morning with existential dread?”

Theo pointed at me. “See, that would be an honest answer.”

I sighed and tossed the wrench onto the bench. “But it’s not the truth. Look, it’s… weird. Some days, I feel normal. On other days, I react to things before they happen. Or I’ll lift something that should be way heavier than it is. Then there’s The Hyperion.” I tapped my chest. “It’s quiet most of the time, but I know it’s there. Like a second heartbeat.”

Theo frowned, watching me closely. “And does it ever… I don’t know, talk to you?”

I shook my head. “Not in words. It’s more like… I see and feel more in some ways and less in others. It’s instincts, almost. It pushes me toward action. Toward fights. Like it’s hungry for battle.”

Theo exhaled, rubbing his jaw. “And you’re handling that okay?”

I shrugged. “What else am I supposed to do?”

Theo gave me a flat look. “I don’t know, deal with it instead of pretending it’s not a problem?”

I opened my mouth to argue but shut it again. He wasn’t wrong.

Theo leaned forward. “Dios, I’ve known you for years. You do this thing where you pretend everything’s fine until it’s crashing down around you. You don’t talk about what’s bothering you. You just push forward like that’ll make it go away.”

I scoffed. “You sound like Jihyo.”

“Oh, you mean the woman who somehow tolerates your emotionally stunted ass?” Theo shot back. “Yeah, maybe listen to her.”

I sighed, running a hand through my hair. “I’m not ignoring it, Theo. I just… don’t know what to do about it.”

Theo studied me for a moment before shaking his head. “You’re afraid.”

I tensed. “I’m not—”

“You are. You’re afraid of what The Hyperion means for you. Just like you’re afraid of what Jihyo means to you.”

I scowled. “Those are two completely different things.”

Theo gave me a pointed look. “Are they? Both are a part of your life now. Both are something you can’t seem to define. And both scare the hell out of you.”

I looked away, jaw tightening.

Theo sighed, his expression softening just a little. “Look, man. I get it. It’s a lot. You found out you’re not who you thought you were, and now you’ve got this whole other part of you that you don’t fully understand. But ignoring it won’t make it easier. And pushing people away won’t either.”

I exhaled slowly. “I’m not pushing Jihyo away.”

“Aren’t you?” Theo raised an eyebrow. “You say you love her, but you won’t tell her. You take care of her, but you won’t let yourself have her. And now you’re telling me you don’t even know how she wants to be loved? Dios, my guy, ask her.”

I let out a humorless chuckle. “You make it sound so simple.”

Theo shrugged. “Maybe it is. Or maybe you’re just making it harder than it needs to be.”

I stared at him, then shook my head with a small laugh. “You know, for a guy who spends half his time fixing cars, you sure love psychoanalyzing me.”

Theo grinned. “It’s a gift.”

I exhaled, picking up the wrench again just to have something to hold. Maybe Theo was right. Maybe I was making it harder than it needed to be.

But there were still too many things I couldn’t just ignore. The HDF hounding me to come back. The fact that I had a world-destroying engine fused to my very being. I didn’t want to be in the limelight anymore, while Jihyo was a massively public figure.

I wasn’t afraid.

I was just… overwhelmed.

The Return of the Battle Brigade

And right now, the only thing I could do was take it one day at a time.

Here’s a refined version with the addition of the Battle Brigade members asking Dios about his life, and his revelation about living with Jihyo for the past year:

⸻

After we left the garage, Theo led me to the HDF’s main hall, where the very thing I had dreaded came crashing into reality.

In big, bright letters, several banners hung from the rafters, practically screaming—

“BATTLE BRIGADE HAS RETURNED!”

I groaned in open sorrow, dragging a hand down my face. The memories hit me like a truck.

I remembered what it felt like to be that young, idealistic recruit—before the weight of war had settled into my bones before we had been forced to grow up too fast. We had been heroes, sure, but not just to the world. To each other.

And yet, the battles had left their mark. Some of us had come out stronger. Others… not so much.

I wasn’t sure how to parse the emotions surging in my chest. Anger? Grief? Maybe both.

Theo gave me a knowing look. “You could just turn around right now.”

I scoffed. “And you know that’s not an option.”

Before he could reply, a voice rang out from across the hall.

“NO. FREAKING. WAY.”

I barely had time to brace myself before I was tackled into a tight, crushing hug. A head of shock-white hair buried itself against my chest, followed by a laugh I hadn’t heard in years.

“Dios, you slippery bastard! I thought you were dead!”

I blinked down at the woman currently squeezing the air out of my lungs. “Hello to you too, Liora.”

She pulled back, her amber eyes gleaming as she gave me a once-over. “Damn, you got buffer since we last saw you and taller. What, you hit the gym between saving the world?”

“Something like that,” I muttered, rubbing the back of my neck.

Liora grinned, about to say something else when another familiar voice cut in.

“Well, well. Look who decided to show his face.”

I turned to find Kaisa leaning against a pillar, arms crossed, her usual smirk playing at her lips. Unlike Liora, she didn’t rush to greet me—no, Kaisa never rushed anything. But the spark of amusement in her sharp green eyes told me she was very entertained by my suffering.

“You look good, Dios,” Kaisa admitted, pushing off the pillar and strolling closer. “A little more broody than I remember, but hey, suits you.”

I rolled my eyes. “Great to see you too, Kaisa.”

And then—

“GREENIE!”

I barely had time to react before a massive arm wrapped around my neck and yanked me into an aggressively affectionate headlock.

“Oh, for—Gael, let go of me!” I grunted, struggling as the largest member and leader of our old team all but dragged me around like a ragdoll.

Gael let out a booming laugh. “Come on, man, you know you missed us!”

Theo, standing off to the side, looked incredibly amused. “You were the Green Brigader?”

“Don’t say it out loud,” I muttered, still trapped in Gael’s iron grip.

“Dude, you totally were,” Liora teased. “All jokes and bad puns until the villains got scary, then bam! You turned into a tragic, brooding hero.”

Gael released me just enough for me to breathe, clapping me on the back so hard I nearly face-planted. “Nah, he was always a softie. Just took him a while to figure it out.”

Kaisa smirked. “And now he’s back. Tell me, Dios—how’s life outside the spandex?”

I groaned, shoving Gael off and straightening my jacket. “I knew I should’ve just turned around.”

Liora snickered. “Too late, Greenie. You’re stuck with us now.”

And just like that—despite the weight in my chest, despite everything that had changed—I couldn’t help but smile.

After the usual round of teasing and laughter, the mood shifted, and Liora’s smile softened as she studied me. “So, seriously, what happened to you? You look so different. I remember the last battle… when you took on D-Reaper alone while we were out of commission. You almost died when Chaos Breaker showed up.”

I sighed, rubbing my temple. “Yeah. Chaos Breaker interrupted the duel and blasted me with his total annihilation beam. But D-Reaper saved me by fusing me with his Star-Vader Engine.”

Gael frowned, his brow furrowed in concern. “We didn’t know.”

I shrugged. “It’s okay. I was able to fight in the final battle using the Star-Vader Engine to create Hyperion.”

Kaisa’s eyes lit up as she smiled. “Yeah, you practically faced him down alone. We were able to help with the Brigade Cannon, but it wasn’t the same without you.”

I paused, feeling a lump in my throat. I had always assumed they’d be fine without me, but here they were, telling me they missed me in that final battle. The thought hit harder than I expected, and I found myself sitting down, suddenly overwhelmed by the weight of it all.

Liora, Gael, and Kaisa took their seats around me. They had been with me since I was a teenager. We had been through so much together, fought side by side, and it felt like so much had changed in that year.

I took a deep breath.

“I missed you guys so much,” I said, my voice cracking slightly. “After the final battle, I felt so alone. I was… broken. We won, but I couldn’t move on.”

Theo watched from the corner with a raised eyebrow but said nothing, letting me have my moment.

“I was the happy-go-lucky, silly youngest member, but now…” I trailed off, feeling the weight of it. I wasn’t the same anymore. I had to grow up too fast.

My friends exchanged looks, surprised by the vulnerability I was showing, by the shift in me. The same kid who had always been the comic relief and the one who took the jokes was now someone they couldn’t quite recognize—taller, stronger, and weighed down by the past.

Gael, Kaisa, and Liora pulled me into a tight group hug, their arms strong and steady. “We won’t leave you, Dragon. Not again.”

I squeezed my eyes shut and let the tears fall. The dam had broken, and all the emotions I had buried came flooding to the surface.

Finally, after a long moment, Liora pulled back slightly and gave me a knowing look. “So… do you still have that crush on the singer, Jihyo?”

I blinked, feeling the familiar flush creeping up my neck. “What—? That’s—”

Gael smirked. “Come on, man. You’re gonna tell us or what? You’ve been tiptoeing around it since day one.”

I sighed, rubbing the back of my neck awkwardly. “Fine, yeah. I… I have. And, uh, we’ve actually been living together for the last year.”

Kaisa raised an eyebrow. “Wait, what? You’re living with Jihyo?”

I nodded. “Yeah. We, uh, we kinda—well, it just… happened.”

The others exchanged surprised glances before Liora broke the silence with a grin. “Well, damn, Dios. You’ve been holding out on us. I didn’t know you had it in you.”

I groaned, but a smile tugged at my lips. “I wasn’t exactly advertising it.”

Gael let out a deep laugh. “I’ll be damned. The kid’s all grown up.”

Absolutely! Here’s a sidebar scene where Jihyo and her TWICE teammates watch the press conference, recognizing Dios:

The practice room was a mix of exhaustion and laughter as TWICE wrapped up their final rehearsal for the day. The lights above buzzed lightly, and the girls were all stretching, catching their breath after the intense routine.

“Good job today, everyone!” Jihyo called out, her voice warm as she wiped the sweat off her forehead. She glanced around the room, taking in the satisfied expressions of her members, but her thoughts kept drifting back to Dios. It had been a few hours since they’d spent time together. Between her schedule and his work calling him in today, they had barely seen each other.

“Jihyo ah, you okay? You’ve been a little spaced out lately,” Nayeon asked, her playful tone catching Jihyo’s attention.

Jihyo smiled sheepishly. “I’m fine. Just… a lot going on, you know?”

Before Nayeon could press further, Mina, who had been scrolling through her phone, spoke up. “Hey, the HDF’s holding a press conference. Looks like they’re announcing something about the Battle Brigade.”

Jihyo’s heart skipped a beat at the mention of the Battle Brigade. She knew Dios winced when they were mentioned but he never said anything else about it.

“Let’s watch it,” Jihyo suggested, her voice quieter now.

The girls gathered around Mina’s phone as the press conference began. The HDF spokesperson stepped up to the podium, beaming with excitement.

“Today, we’re proud to announce the return of the original Battle Brigade, who will now be training the next generation of defenders,” the spokesperson said, his voice booming through the speakers. “They have stood on the frontlines, saving the world countless times, and now, they will pass on their knowledge to the new recruits. The heroes of yesterday are here to lead the heroes of tomorrow.”

Jihyo felt her heart race as the footage switched to the familiar faces of the Battle Brigade. Liora, Gael, Kaisa… and then the camera panned to Dios.

Her breath caught in her throat. No way…

There he was—her Dios. Battle Brigader Green, standing tall, looking different but unmistakably him. His expression was serious, a far cry from the house husband she boasted about and knew, but the familiar glint in his eyes remained. The green jacket, the posture—it was all there. He was with his teammates, standing proud, and yet, there was an unspoken tension in his demeanor, a weight that spoke to everything he had been through.

The moment the camera lingered on Dios, Jihyo’s thoughts scattered. Her teammates were murmuring around her, but she could only focus on him. Battle Brigader Green… Her heart thudded in her chest.

“Dios?” Dahyun spoke up, her voice filled with surprise. “That’s the you not boyfriend boyfriend, right?”

Jihyo nodded slowly, her throat tight. “Yeah… that’s him. Dios. I—” She stopped herself. She had so many questions, so many things to say, but at this moment, all she could do was watch.

Momo leaned forward, her eyes narrowing. “Wait… that’s him? I knew he was special, but he’s a legend. No wonder you’ve been so distracted lately, Jihyo-ah.”

“Jihyo, you didn’t tell us he was a hero!” Nayeon teased, a mischievous grin spreading across her face. “This is like a drama waiting to happen!”

Jihyo could barely bring herself to smile. She was still caught in the wave of emotions from seeing Dios on the screen. It was overwhelming—both the pride she felt for him and the confusion that still lingered between them. She had no idea how to process this new layer of his life, especially when she had only known him as the guy she lived with.

Jeongyeon gave Jihyo a knowing look, her expression softening. “You should talk to him about this. It looks like he’s really going through something.”

Jihyo nodded absently, her gaze still glued to the screen. The press conference continued, but her mind was elsewhere. Dios… Battle Brigader Green… The realization hit her like a wave. She had no idea just how far his past reached, how much weight he was carrying on his shoulders.

“Jihyo?” Sana’s voice broke through her thoughts. “Are you okay? You’ve been quiet.”

She blinked, then forced a small smile. “Yeah… I’m just… I didn’t expect to see him like this.”

“Didn’t expect to see him like this?” Nayeon raised an eyebrow. “I think we need a full debrief on this guy.”

Jihyo looked at her teammates, a small laugh escaping her lips, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “I’ll tell you later. Right now, I think I need to process this.”

With a final glance at the screen, where Dios was now shaking hands with some of the HDF officials, Jihyo couldn’t shake the overwhelming feeling that things between them were about to change. She knew the Battle Brigade had returned to train the new generation, but for her… the news had made her realize just how little she truly knew about Dios.

And now… I need to figure out how to be there for him. Really there.

Deluge

Later that night, after leaving the HDF, I found myself back at the apartment, sitting on the couch in the dim light of the living room. The city outside hummed faintly, the glow of neon signs seeping through the blinds, but my focus was elsewhere. My mind had been restless ever since Theo had opened his mouth.

“You say you love her, but you won’t tell her.”

It wasn’t that simple. It never was.

Jihyo was in the next room, probably getting ready for bed, moving around with the same quiet ease she always did when she knew I was deep in my thoughts. She had a way of understanding when to push and when to give me space. And maybe that was part of the problem—she understood me too well.

I leaned forward, elbows on my knees, exhaling slowly as I tried to unpack the mess in my head. I wasn’t good at this—at feelings, at relationships, at trying to name things that didn’t fit neatly into words. But Jihyo… she unraveled something in me that I didn’t know how to put back together.

When I thought of her, it wasn’t just a single feeling. It was everything at once.

A deluge.

Her laughter, was unguarded and bright, like sunlight breaking through clouds. The way her voice could settle something deep in my chest, or send my heart racing when she said my name in that certain way. The sheer gravity of her presence, how she could fill a room effortlessly, how she could make me feel like I was the only one in it.

It was the small things, too. The way she’d steal my hoodies even though she had a closet full of designer clothes. How she’d curl up on the couch with my laptop and act like she wasn’t watching my ridiculous sci-fi shows when she absolutely was. The way she’d lean into me absentmindedly, touch casual but grounding like she didn’t even have to think about it.

I wanted her. Not just in a romantic way—though, yeah, that too—but in a way that felt fundamental. Like I didn’t know how to exist without her anymore.

And that scared the hell out of me.

I rubbed my face with both hands, trying to sort through the chaos, but it was useless. I was drowning in it.

“You’re thinking too loud.”

I looked up. Jihyo was standing in the doorway, wearing one of my old t-shirts, hair damp from the shower. She gave me a soft, knowing smile as she walked over, plopping onto the couch beside me, close enough that our knees brushed.

She didn’t ask what was wrong. She just waited.

I hesitated, then exhaled. “It’s overwhelming, sometimes.”

Jihyo tilted her head. “What is?”

I gestured vaguely between us. “This. You.”

Something flickered in her gaze—curiosity, amusement, maybe something softer. “Overwhelming good or overwhelming bad?”

I let out a dry laugh. “Yes.”

Jihyo huffed, nudging me with her shoulder. “Idiot.”

I didn’t deny it.

For a long moment, we sat in silence, the weight of my unspoken words settling between us. Jihyo didn’t press. She never did.

But maybe Theo was right. Maybe I was making this harder than it needed to be.

So, without thinking too hard about it, I turned to her and said, “You’re the most important person in my life.”

She blinked, surprised by the sudden confession. “Well… yeah,” she said like it was obvious. “Same.”

I swallowed. “No, I mean… really.”

Jihyo’s expression shifted, the teasing edge falling away. She studied me for a moment, then reached out, threading her fingers through mine. Warm. Steady.

“You don’t have to figure everything out right now, you know,” she murmured.

I breathed in, then out.

Maybe she was right. Maybe I didn’t have to have the words just yet. Maybe this—her hand in mine, the quiet understanding between us—was enough.

For now.

Her fingers curled around mine, warm and steady, grounding me in the middle of the storm inside my head.

Jihyo had always been patient with me—understanding in a way I didn’t know how to deserve. She let me sit in my own silence without demanding I speak, let me process things at my own pace, never once making me feel like I was wrong for not knowing how to say what she probably already knew.

But maybe that was the problem.

She knew. She always knew.

And still—she was waiting.

I stared at our hands, at the way her thumb brushed over my knuckles absentmindedly as if she wasn’t even thinking about it. Like touching me was second nature. And suddenly, that deluge I had been drowning in—the weight of everything I felt for her—crashed through me all at once, too much, too strong.

I couldn’t hold it back anymore.

I turned toward her before I could second-guess myself before the fear of getting it wrong could stop me.

“Jihyo.” My voice was rough, unsteady.

She looked up at me, and the moment our eyes met, I knew.

She had been waiting for this.

I exhaled sharply, my free hand lifting on instinct, fingertips ghosting over her cheek before I had the chance to think better of it. She leaned into my touch without hesitation, like she had been waiting for me to close the space between us.

And I did.

The moment my lips met hers, the dam inside me broke.

It wasn’t tentative. It wasn’t careful. It was everything I had been holding back, everything I had been too afraid to give a name to, pouring out of me like a flood.

Jihyo met me just as fiercely, fingers tightening around mine, the other hand curling into the front of my shirt as if she was pulling me closer, keeping me there. Like she needed this as much as I did.

I had kissed people before. This wasn’t my first. But this—this was different.

This was a confession.

This was every emotion I couldn’t put into words.

I pulled her closer, drinking her in, letting her warmth seep into me, letting myself feel every bit of her against me. And for the first time in a long, long time, I wasn’t afraid of it.

Jihyo was the one to break the kiss first, but she didn’t go far. She lingered close, her forehead resting against mine, her breath mingling with mine in the space between us.

“You really suck at talking about your feelings,” she murmured, voice breathless but teasing.

I huffed a laugh, eyes still closed. “Yeah. I know.”

She squeezed my hand. “But I get it now.”

I finally opened my eyes to find her already looking at me, soft and knowing in the way she always was.

“You have me, too,” she whispered. “Just in case you didn’t know.”

Something in my chest tightened—then unraveled.

I let out a shaky breath and nodded.

“Yeah,” I murmured, thumb brushing over her cheek. “I know.”

And then I kissed her again. When I broke the kiss her big brown eyes stared at me expectantly she smiled and then pouted.

She looked at me expectantly before asking, “Why didn’t you tell me you were Battle Brigader Green,” Jihyo asked.

Dios sighed and said, “Do you want the honest answer or the short answer?”

[aceduchessdragoness]

Mona Abu Hamada / monaa__e98 Update

$23,093 / 35,000 as of April 1, 2025

GFM LINK

[Update Part 1]

Final Part (wip)

Previous Update I posted about

March 8, 2025

Hello everyone , my second family. How are you all? Thank God I am fine, we are still trying to recover from what we have been through, today is the eighth day of Ramadan. Here is a quick update on our current situation, specifically for my family. 1_ Unfortunately, aid has been banned from entering, and thus we are back to crazy price hikes and merchants monopolizing the goods * a kilo of cooking gas is 100 shekels ($27) *A kilo of firewood is 4 shekels (more than a dollar) *There is no longer any chicken, meat or eggs available. *The price of a lighter is 20 shekels (5.4$) *The price of a kilo of chicken is 80 shekels if you find it (22$) *The price of a gallon of fresh water is 3 shekels (1$) *The price of a liter of diesel is 50 shekels (13.5$) *The price of vegetables is from 15 shekels to 30 and above (4$ to 7$) *Today's liquidity withdrawal is 22% The merchant brigade returns to control again.We still live in labyrinths. 3_ The bad news is that once the price of gas increases and becomes scarcely available, most of the takiyas (which distribute free food) will stop. 4_ Most of G@za's kitchens announce a halt to work due to the continued closure of the crossing. 5_ How long will this suffering continue in order to obtain the necessities of life? As a reminder, we have not seen electricity since 7.10.2023 6_Let's say you have $1000 and you want to spend it in a month here First, you go to withdraw them in cash with a commission of 20% That means you will get $800 Prices are many times higher, let's say the price is 3 times higher, even though it is 10 times higher. $266 = 3/800 meaning So now you can only spend $266 at the normal rate!! instead of $1000 The question is not easy, the question is who has $1000 to spend monthly. 7_ thank you for supporting my personal campaign, my friend who runs the campaign is constantly sending money Rest assured, the money will reach us, but as I told you, there will be commissions. 8_ In conclusion, I still need more of your support. Donations have become very weak lately, although I am constantly posting. Every action makes a difference. You can share the link widely. Do not hesitate to contribute, no matter the amount, even if it is $1. For contact with me Instagram @monaa__e98 WhatsApp +972597069495 My whatsApp group link https://chat.whatsapp.com/LjVby5immnI1gvOOvbYbGG

Thank you so much for being with me , keep support us Mona abu Hamda and her family 8/3/2025

[nancypullen]

Hump Day

We're just 71 days into 2025, and so far I'm not a fan. The world is a dumpster fire and our "leaders" are tossing gasoline on it. Staying uninformed is not an option, but a steady diet of doom and gloom is not healthy. I'm forever trying to strike a balance. Finding ways to distract myself usually involves making something, growing something, eating something, or my favorite - buying something. Unfortunately I'm boycotting both Target and Amazon, which is about as much fun as a bad rash. I get so many of my craft supplies through Amazon (less expensive and free shipping) and because of our location, loads of other things. I'd rather click "add to cart" on Amazon than drive the 30 minutes to a store in Easton. I also use Amazon to avoid extra purchases. For example, I love Mrs. Meyers Multi-Surface Cleaner (peony is my favorite).

I can order a couple bottles from Amazon and save about a buck. If I go into a store to buy it, I'll roam around and toss a few other things into my basket, maybe wander over to the toy section to see what's new for the grandgirl. So instead of spending $8 for two bottles I'd spend $58 on miscellaneous goods - some we need and some we don't. Right now I'm down to my last few squirts of my cleanser and my options are slim. Go to Target (won't), order from Amazon (won't), order from Walmart online (yuck), or subscribe to Grove and have to order stuff every month (won't). *sigh* I may have to give up my favorite, fragrant cleanser. Rats. I know, I know, first world problem. Not even worth writing about. Since I'm not buying anything, I'm focusing on the other three pillars of staying sane. Making stuff - Still cranking out everything from cards to birdhouses. Might be time to learn how to whittle or make soap. Growing stuff - I'm trying, good grief, am I trying. I have such plans for this spring and summer. I've got seed trays planted, a little greenhouse full of hopefuls, and the mister is putting together a raised bed for me. We have a dirt delivery tomorrow and I couldn't be more excited.

I've always loved gardening. I love watching the first green shoots pop up, I even love the weeding. I've done some of my best thinking on my knees in the dirt. The rewards are splendid, from picking sun-ripened tomatoes to filling the house with bouquets. I don't even mind sharing the bounty with local wildlife as long as they're not greedy. Am I jumping the gun? Probably. All I can tell you is that focusing on seeds and plants is keeping me out of handcuffs.

Moving on, last but certainly not least - eating stuff. I tend to fill my plate with high protein, high fiber choices, mostly lean meats, eggs, and veggies. My morning scramble is usually a couple of eggs and a 1/4 cup of cottage cheese whisked together with plenty of pepper. I start red onion and kale in a skillet...

and once the kale wilts and the onion is tender I pour in the egg mixture. YUM. Once it's in my bowl a good sprinkle of nutritional yeast gives it a cheesy flavor and another wallop of protein.

Yes, I do eat from my Halloween bowl every morning. It makes me happy, mind yo' business.

Today I had a taco salad for lunch - just greens, veggies, and avocado with some seasoned ground turkey on top. Tonight we're having salads topped with grilled chicken for dinner. That's why I don't feel one bit guilty for grabbing a mixing bowl and whipping up some lemon poppyseed muffins. Not going to lie, it was only because I've been dying to make something that worthy of a sprinkle of dried flowers. I recently watched every episode of With love, Meghan and her liberal use of dried flowers on everything from salted sea bass to homemade donuts inspired me. While I don't believe a donut has ever passed her lips, I'm a huge fan of making things pretty. Sign me up for the flower brigade! I baked the muffins, made a quick glaze, dunked the muffins in the glaze, and gave them a very light sprinkle of edible flowers.

Not princess-worthy, but it made me happy. That was the goal.

I failed to include what is probably my favorite distraction from the madness. Reading! Books are the most wonderful escape of all, and I've had my nose in books since I first made friends with the alphabet. I read fiction, non-fiction, memoirs, how-to, pretty much anything. Today I picked up a book I'd requested from my library and I'm already finding it fascinating.

Here's the blurb:

Eliot Stein has traveled the globe in search of remarkable people who are preserving some of our most extraordinary cultural rites. In Custodians of Wonder: Ancient Customs, Profound Traditions, and the Last People Keeping Them Alive, Stein introduces readers to a man saving the secret ingredient in Japan's 700-year-old original soy sauce recipe. In Italy, he learns how to make the world's rarest pasta from one of the only women alive who knows how to make it. And in India, he discovers a family rumored to make a mysterious metal mirror believed to reveal your truest self. From shadowing Scandinavia's last night watchman to meeting a 27th-generation West African griot to tracking down Cuba's last official cigar factory “readers” more than a century after they spearheaded the fight for Cuban independence, Stein uncovers an almost lost world. Climbing through Peru’s southern highlands, he encounters the last Inca bridge master who rebuilds a grass-woven bridge every year from the fabled Inca Road System. He befriends a British beekeeper who maintains a touching custom of "telling the bees" important news of the day. And he crunches through a German forest to find the official mailman of the only tree in the world with its own address – to which countless people from across the world have written in hopes of finding love. These are just some of the last custodians preserving age-old rites on the brink of disappearance against all odds. Let Eliot Stein introduce you to all of them. What an interesting read! Three other holds came in and I downloaded those as well, so I'm going to happily plow through them.

That last title could be considered a how-to book, I'll get back to you on that. I'd better read it before it's banned. There you have it, the ways I'm keeping my spirits afloat while the headlines give me every reason to dissolve into despair. I'm well aware that this is boring fodder, no one gives a flip about my scrambled eggs. I made a promise to myself to get back to writing, and this blog is a good place to blow the dust off my brain and practice. It's unfortunate that I have so little to write about, maybe the arrival of spring will provide topics. I'm being 100% honest when I say that tomorrow's dirt delivery is the most exciting thing on the calendar for March. You can expect a full report. Until then, chin up, my darling! Yes, so much is awful right now, but we must be joyful warriors. Feed your souls and make them strong.

Read a good book, eat a muffin, laugh with friends, grow flowers. That happiness is armor. Go out and spread love, they can't stop us. Sending loads of hugs. Stay safe, stay well, be kind to yourself. XOXO, Nancy