#he’s like and this makes complete sense because we are pals <3

[livvyofthelake]

i love kit herondale in lord of shadows because he is a) aware of his bisexuality. b) aware that he thinks ty blackthorn is. UNBELIEVABLY hot. and most importantly c) completely convinced that he has a crush on livvy. great work buddy!

[hotasfahrenheit]

well pals, what i suspected was inevitable has come to pass sooner than expected and episode 5 of 1000 Years Old has already delivered us an episode with no new umbrellas.

i thought we had one-

-the yellow and orange Giant Porch Umbrella on the right side of the screen, but while i was looking through my screenshots because of some other stuff i wanna say about this show, i noticed that umbrella was definitely in a shot from episode 3 that was part of that episode's umbrella post.

this was after they'd started working on getting their ducks in a row to open the shop, so i'm gonna count it as one of Pun's umbrellas (since i just assume everything on the roof is his now) but i won't count it as new for this episode. so the show count goes up, but this episode count is sadly 0.

HOWEVER something we did get this episode is a noticable shift in Pun's umbrella behavior, which correlates to this episode's lack of new umbrella usage in general- he was out of the building and away from home multiple times in this episode with no umbrella. he has explained to Yoh that he uses the umbrellas to help himself stay cool, but this man claims the sun is too hot while constantly wearing sweaters, and is seen regularly taking his umbrellas out at night. i feel like it's pretty clear that his umbrella usage is not just to ward off the sun, and that his umbrellas give him a sense of security. they're emotional support umbrellas, necessary for going out into a world that he has lived in for hundreds of years but clearly still doesn't completely understand.

what else did he do multiple times this episode tho?

leave his umbrellas in Yoh's hands, whether Yoh was carrying the umbrella for him, or just using it while Pun was nearby.

we've seen Yoh using the umbrellas before, but idk this episode it felt more important and pointed, as Pun is making his intents with Yoh more clear and Yoh is also figuring out how he feels.

episode 2 had them on the roof using umbrellas together, but Pun had given Yoh a separate umbrella to use, where this episode, Pun was obviously comfortable letting Yoh have the only umbrella in the area.

his trust in Yoh is growing, their relationship is developing, they're the cutest?

umbrellas as a love language, who could have guessed it.

this episode umbrella count: 0 😭

total series umbrella count: 24 🌟✨

(check my pun's umbrella catalogue tag for previous weeks of umbrella posting!)

[vultureboi]

GUYS GALS AND NONBINARY PALS!! I saw a thing that Horikoshi said at a panel of some sort about revealing Izuku’s dad as a spoiler! .0.

And here’s the thing, he said something along the lines of “revealing who his dad is” rather than “introducing his dad” SO DOES THAT MEAN WE ALREADY MET HIS DAD AND WE JUST DONT KNOW????

That led me to think: okay. Well who could be his real dad? My first thought was AFO, but then I thought of All Might.

Here me out on All Might:

Todoroki had put together a whole fucking conspiracy theory of All Might being Izuku’s dad. It would be hilarious if it turned out he was right and at the end he just is like- giving himself a pat on the back like- “I knew it!”

But no, in reality, I’m almost 100% sure it’s AFO. Here are my reasons.

1: AFO when we meet him looks like a wrinkled thumb. He looked like that after All Might beat his ass. All Might also came out looking like shit. But at least he still had a face and hair!

So if you think of it, Izuku doesn’t know what AFO looked like before! But now, I’m the manga, he’s looking younger because of a quirk!!

So my thought is, when he gets to Izuku, will he be so young at that point that Izuku recognizes him as his dad? 0-0

2. We never saw Izuku’s dads face or hair color. AFO and OFA have white hair. And Izuku has green hair because of his mom. But that doesn’t mean his dad doesn’t have white hair! And it’s important to remember if it were really nothing, they wouldn’t have hidden his face!! It was always meant to be a reveal at some point!

3. OFA is quirkless. Or at least, thought he was. It turned out he did have a quirk it just was a stockpiling quirk or whatever.

But what if Izuku is the same? That’s why he was able to get ALL of the OFA’s previous powers! Because he’s blood related to the first user! And if he wasn’t quirkless this whole time like he thought? What if he had a similar quirk to the first user??? They just couldn’t detect it!!

4. The toe joint. Oh my god. It was mentioned ONCE in the series TO Izuku. And never to anyone else! It was never spoken of after that!! And we know the doctor who diagnosed him quirkless worked with AFO. So what if the doctor recognized that he had a similar quirk to OFA and just lied? He told him he was quirkless and made up some science fact that was complete bs? We haven’t seen X-rays of anyone’s feet besides Izuku. How do we know that all their feet aren’t the same?? And Izuku and his mom were lied to?

And if the toe thing IS true? What if they showed some other kids toe?

Another thing that could connect it is if Izuku DID have a quirk and it was stolen by Garaki. Garaki I’m canon had been producing and studying quirks especially with children if I remember correctly. What if he stole Izuku’s quirk? And going back to the X-Ray, they used a quirkless persons previous X-Ray to lie!!

5. In the manga, at one point, AFO and Garaki were talking about Super Regeneration. A quirk that All for One said he should have gotten sooner. When he said this, at first I didn’t think anything of it. But then, they went on to talk about an unnamed “boy” which seems to imply Izuku!

Kids get their quirk when they’re a few years old. And you don’t know what it is until it manifests. AFO saying he should have gotten the quirk sooner may imply that he knew the person would get the quirk but he just missed his chance or he waited too long to get it. If it was Izuku, doesn’t that mean he knew him before the quirk manifested? Like when he was a baby?

If Izuku had Super Regeneration originally, it could make sense why he gets hurt so easily. His body was meant to be able to heal itself. But now his quirk is gone, he doesn’t have the ability to withstand as much as he should have been able to.

All Might said that the quirk would hurt him, but he didn’t expect it to be difficult for him to use. But I feel like that’s because it’s not his quirk and so it feels wrong for his body to use it.

6. Hisashi Midoriya means “long gone” basically. It means a few different things but one of them is long gone. This could mean he left a long time ago, which would match a lot of the story. But it also could mean that the person that was Hisashi Midoriya is long gone and is now someone else.

I believe it also has something to do with “important lineage” or something? I saw somewhere that they were saying how AFO could be his dad because AFO and OFA are kinda important. Their descendants would be important too.

7. Hisashi Midoriya has fire breathing. That’s all we’re really given. But tell me. What if he had more than just fire breathing? If he wanted to hide from All Might, prepare a secret weapon of some kind, he might wanna try to blend in, right? So he reduced himself to one quirk, gave himself a new name, and had a family as coverage. That would make sense, right? Spy X Family has that.

So what if Inko didn’t know that he was AFO? She didn’t know he was a villain? Or maybe she did know and has kept it a secret?

And then when his plan was ready, he says he has to go overseas for business? He leaves the family and they’re none the wiser!

A lot of things that I have noticed throughout the series is that AFO’s identity isn’t really well known. We know the first users name but not AFO. We just know him as All for One. But he must have a real name!

Y’all ever since I heard about that panel, my mind has been going into overdrive! I’ve been thinking up so many theories! I’ve turned into a Todoroki!! Help!!

I’d love to hear what you guys think! Any hints, anything I got wrong, any ideas? I wanna have a discussion on this!!!

[askweisswolf]

Fanfic Writer Questions

Thank you for the tag @foibles-fables!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

19!

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

Currently at 89,257.

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Oh man, uh. I think it would be better to say what fandoms I don’t write for at this stage, it’s still crazy to me to think it’ll be twenty years this year that I started writing fanfic. Currently I’d say Baldur’s Gate 3 has me by the throat, with a little bit of the DCAU (specifically, Justice League/Unlimited) and the occasional dash of Fallen Hero and Dragon Age that I post to Discord servers. I’ve also got a few Mass Effect short pieces floating around. I really need to post to my AO3 more.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

I’m going to mess with this one a bit and go off of my top five finished fics by fandom and stick to the ones I wrote solo, that way it’s a bit of a mix. I apologize in advance since a lot of these are years old at this point, but it definitely goes back to what I said before about writing in multiple fandoms, ha.

Rest for the Weary (Frozen) Flare (SPOP) The Same Big Sky (Fire Emblem: Three Houses) Skin Deep (Dragon Age: Origins) At The Door (Baldur's Gate 3) 5. Do you respond to comments?

I try to! I’m not always the best at it but I genuinely appreciate everyone who takes the time to comment on one of my fics, it means the world to me and I always love hearing everyone’s feedback and thoughts, it makes me so excited for my own writing.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

If we’re going purely by just what’s on AO3… hm. For stuff that’s a bit older, easily The Silence Is Your Answer (Fire Emblem: Three Houses). For something I wrote more recently, Few Finer Torments (Baldur’s Gate 3) because I have a lot of thoughts and feelings about Shadowheart in Act 2 specifically.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

… Most of them. Oh my God I’m mainly a fluff writer, like I knew this about myself but to actually realize it so starkly is something else. Of my most recent stuff I’d probably say A Little Slice (Justice League Unlimited) has possibly the softest ending I’ve written in awhile.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Thankfully not.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Not often but I do sometimes! All of it so far has been for f/f ships, mostly with a lot more focus on like… the thinking and the feeling aspect of it and not so much the physical aspect, if that makes sense? I just like using sex as a way to explore the characters, when I’m in the mood to write it.

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

Oh, man, okay. I have written a few crossovers over the years, but my favorite is still one I co-wrote with a friend of mine for the Beast’s Lair fan forum back in the day that was just a complete off the walls one-shot crack crossover with Fate/Stay Night, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, and I think we had a dash of Highschool of the Dead right at the end. It was insane, we wrote it on a Skype call in a matter of hours.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not as far as I know, thankfully.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

I have not! When I was more active on FIMFiction.net though I did have a few people who did live readings of my fics, those were always neat.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes! I’ve co-written with him a lot before, but Pen Pals (Frozen) was co-written with Moczo. Just a heads up that I think he has it set that you can only read it if you’re logged in, if you want to check it out.

14. What's your all time favorite ship?

… I don’t think I can only pick one, man. I really don’t. If I have to, my brain always comes back to Shayera/John or Raven/Terra.

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I feel like I owe everyone who started reading my The 100 fic or my Black Widow fic an apology at this point.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue, emotional payoff, character study (I guess?). I have one friend who told me I write very good Catholic guilt.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Sex and fight scenes are the absolute bane of my existence, for as much as I enjoy the character potential of the former in particular. I’m also slow as hell, I’ve been working on this one Shayera/John fic now for like a year trying to finish it before I post it and ugh.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

If it fit the context of the fic I would, yes! I’d double check it with someone else who knows the language first, though.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Like, ever? Chip and Dale: Rescue Rangers to my old Fanfiction.net account when I was 13. I had a bunch of old stuff saved to floppy discs that I never posted, though.

20. Favorite fic you've written?

This changes on a nigh daily basis, but currently I’m having an absolute blast with my The Beast Whisperer series focusing on my Tav who romances Shadowheart, so I’ll leave the link for it here.

Going to gently tag @optiwashere, @kittlesandbugs, @antigonick, @miabicicletta if you guys want to participate, no pressure! And of course anyone who sees this is free to respond as well.

[7sage9]

the unwanted guest thoughts

OBSESSED with the format as a stage play... makes so so much sense for ianthe and the third house

funeral part is so cool and sexy and i wonder if thats insight into how funerals actually are on the third

palamedes' mask being shattered and glued together like his skull....

ianthe slaying in all her fits... wait this reminds me of a dream i had a while ago in which ianthe duelled someone and did a ton of costume changes... i literally predicted it

ianthe being the lady and the master of the house... unprecedented levels of gender

significance of 7 coffins?? bc of 7 original lyctors??

the VOICE!!! my first instinct was dulcie but how?? so i thought maybe babs or someone else?? but i was right!!

still unsure of significance of "did your tingue ever toungle" maybe shows ianthe not being in complete control??

not the playing strip poker with harrow...

fascinated by ianthe and pal's differing views of the job of the cavalier... to die for vs protect the necromancer

"because you never stop to check the price tag" FUCK

is palamedes actually shocked by the third house assigning cavaliers as babies or is he pretending to get ianthe to share more?

oh ortus... blown up for being sad

would love to read about one of ianthe and corona's insane birthday parties

should have seen earlier how much the gideon nav description was shaped by babs, it makes so much sense

something about ianthe disqualifying her opponents as a form of winning... she never plays fair

the more we get of her the more i LOVE DULCIE!!!

DYING to know what happened to dulcinea after harrow's river bubble collapsed

"I loved you. I love you still. I would have worked out how to love you better over time." "It would have been very beautiful. Camilla would have had to cook. But I didn't just want beautiful..." "This again? From you and her both? That merely by loving you, I added to your torments?" FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK IT REALLY ALL COMES BACK TO LOVE ALWAYS...... DYING

cant stop thinking about how ntn must have been such a cruel mirror to the domestic life they dreamed of with dulcie

"You two were my best friends, and that was real. I loved real, ugly, unfinished things. Gracelessly uncompleted things. There's freedom, too, in not ever being completed." FUCK DULCIE I LOVE YOU

its a river... there are two shores... still so curious about the river

"Was I cute?" "You're perfect." AAAAAAAAAAAAA <3 <3 <3

"would you have used your sister instead?" YES!!! THAT IS THE QUESTION!!!

"Or... Coronabeth herself is part of your goal. You can't spend her, because you'd invalidate the very thing you were trying to buy." WOAGHHH i am so so curious about ianthe's plan

THE FINAL QUESTION... THE FINAL REVEAL...

the implications of souls bleeding and mingling... first of all for the OG lyctors... how much of what we were seeing was alfred and cristabel and pyrrha (though its probably slightly different for them)?? how much of pyrrha is g1deon??

and this has SO MANY implications for the gideon harrow alecto nona situation... simultaneously makes things clearer and a lot more complicated, if there doesn't have to be an actual transfer of soul bits, but they just do it naturally when together

overall SO GOOD!!! so much analysis potential of course and also just gutwrenchingly, horribly beautiful, like everything she writes

[thebreakfastgenie]

Hawkeye, 2,3,5,9 :3c

2. Favorite canon thing about this character?

I mean really where to begin, I could go with anything, but I'm going to highlight something I think doesn't get enough attention in fandom: I like that he's cool. Hawkeye is the big man on campus. He's popular. Guys like him, Radar looks up to him as a male role model (bad idea but also maybe good idea), women adore him, the man gets laid all the time. He's very good at his job, so he's respected professionally, but he's also well-liked. He's well-liked because he's funny, hot, friendly, and usually nice. He's also kind, but he's nice to people, too, unless he feels they've earned derision (e.g. they support the army). Hawkeye is a chad! He's also very anti-establishment. I've called him a jock before but I think he's more of a greaser. A hero to the students, despised by the principal (beloved by the cool teacher, Henry). This is a really important part of the show. If Hawkeye were an underdog outsider it wouldn't have the same impact that he hates the army so much. MASH uses his strong social position to communicate the morality of the show, which is topsy-turvy by conventional standards. He loves sex, booze, and gambling, he breaks rules and flouts authority, but he's morally right because he knows war is wrong. And through loving Hawkeye, maybe we start to think about whether sex, booze, and gambling are really so bad, whether rules shouldn't be broken sometimes, whether authority shouldn't be questioned. I like that he's the popular kid.

3. Least favorite canon thing about this character?

This one is really hard because even the bad things make him a better character to me... I genuinely don't even mind that he's kind of sexist, like, I'd be surprised if he wasn't. I guess my least favorite thing is some of the attempts at character development... I don't mind Hawkeye being less interested in casual sex (for him as a character, I actually do kind of mind the show going that direction in the conservative 80s because nothing exists in a vacuum) but the way it's handled in Who Knew totally sucks. He says he always made sure the women he slept with knew he'd be gone if they wanted a more serious relationship... that's what you're supposed to do! That's being honest! It's okay to only want casual sex and the way it's framed suggests it's not! But I think if they'd gone the other way, and had Hawkeye actually take advantage of women by implying he was open to something more serious than he really was (as is implied early on, although there's often subtext that the nurses are just in it for fun too which softens it a lot) it would come off too gross and make him too unlikable.

5. What's the first song that comes to mind when you think about them?

Honestly the first song is Saturday in the Park by Chicago because of GFA. July 4th, 1953 was a Saturday! Required viewing courtesy of @movietonight:

Other than that... I just checked my MASH characters as Billy Joel songs post and I gave Hawkeye I Go to Extremes which makes sense. I also associate Teachers by Leonard Cohen and Fourth of July by Sufjan Stevens with him.

9. Could you be roommates with this character?

Yes, but if we had a third roommate that person would kill us both. Our place would be disgusting, but neither one of us would get mad at the other about it because we'd both be equally responsible. We'd be complete disasters but I think we'd have fun.

[lovezbrownies]

to be completely honest I almost forgot I made that req and I was likee ‘wow! That’s such a cool idea!!’ But I was thinking of two different one like a male and female one

male - the actual grumpy and the older sibling of the female med student who wants to help his younger sister. Because she keeps texting him in all hours of the night just to talk about her future spouse who doesn’t even talk to her, who just so happens to look at her direction for 0.1 millisecond anyways he really does love his sister but honestly he doesn’t understand. He doesn’t have time for love or any of this as he’s still trying to get his medical certificate to become a nurse! even if he dislikes hearing his sister become all stupid and googol eyes around the person she loves he does care about her. So he does root for her in the sidelines of his room studying for his next exam

female - the love sick puppy one (who I requested and especially want to see) who always annoys her older brother of a few years to talk on and on about the love of her life. Sure she acknowledges that her brother is studying to become a nurse and that she’s still on her way to become a full fledge doctor but who cares? THIS IS HER LOVER SHES TALKING ABOUT!! She’s already planning out the wedding theme and the invitations, future last name, future pets, house, and the kids names! darling only stared at her for just barely 3 seconds and that was all because darling darling mistook her for a pal of theirs

-🌪️

Ps. get ready I’m currently getting up like literal paragraphs of the female med student and I’m just trying to shorten them up to make them make sense yk?

oomf. YOU OUTDID YOURSELF WITH THE SUBMISSION BTW!! SO FUCKING FIRE YOU COOKED AND YOU BAKED MY GODDD!!! If you're uncomfy with your secret identity being out I will copy paste everything and write it under Anonymous Tornado or smth like that! Or if you're okay with it i will post it as is! with me dying from how good your ideas are in the end ofc

MOVING FORWARD! i wanna genuinely write smth like this soo bad like a yandere poly yk? WOULD BE SOO LOVELYY but i am drowning in requests as we speak so that's for another day!

This is so heat. highkey so heat. ALSO NEVER SHORTEN YOUR WORK BRUH?? DONT MAKE ME SAD LIKE THAT.

I find this idea so bomb like incredibly so. One falls first, constantly babbles about their darling until the other one decides "lets see what all the hype's abt cuz this is crazy" AND THEN ALSO FALLS DEEPLY IN LOVE?! so fire so heat they will squeal and talk about how cute you look concentrated in the privacy of their dorms, would take turns stalking you and shit MY BRAIN OOMF ITS OVERHEATING

But i feel like thats different from this ask so whats cuter than an older supportive brother watching his needy googly eyes sister try to bag you over and over again. He'd be like "No get them a new book bag and flowers, that book bag is on its last breath." and she'd go "YOURE SO SMART!!! i should write a personalized letter about everything i like about them too!!" Knowing his sister's letter would take 60 pages he'd tell her to just stick to the ideas he gives her

Though she'd hate it when you eventually marry her older brother would be with you the entire time while you shop for your wedding attire, and whatever else you need to get ready! Super supportive big brother and is so happy you two are getting married so he wouldn't hear his younger sister go on and on about you!

oomf when i get your brain rot asks my brain rots with you oomf. YOU MAKE MY CREATIVE SPARK IGNITE OOMFIE!!

[void-writing]

I've been reading up on Duke and he's such a great character!!

On CiM, I thought it'd be fun to speculate about some potential character interactions and reactions. To repeat, this is speculation going from by brain cinema! I don't expect you to use these! I just think it's fun and wanted to share them.

Duke and Sam. Duke is smart, he's a riddle dork, he got deeply invested in puzzles as a child when Riddler controlled Gotham. I imagine he saw the recording later after his section in chapter 5 and appreciates how Sam kicked Riddler's ass. They get into a competition who knows more riddles.

Duke could discover a pivotal clue or make a pivotal connection to the DP characters because of the same reason. He's so good at finding at finding all the tiny bits and making sense of them for the bigger picture.

Duke and Spirit Robin, because Duke started / led the We Are Robin movement. He recognized Robin as a symbol of hope - and Spirit Robin I think is glowing because the concept of Robin gives hope - and made it into a rallying symbol for other teenagers to work together and help Gotham. So there could be a special connection. Because Duke is THE Signal.

Duke and Team Phantom. I feel he'd be one of their most vocal and important partners in helping Gotham beyond redirecting the supervillains energy to constructive / safer avenues. He knows Gotham. "So, I've heard you want to help the city? Here's what you need to know, what to do, and how to do it."

From @gothamandamity .

ooooohhh yeah. I have honestly been sleeping on Duke a bit on account of not knowing much about him but I do have plans on Duke and Sam being pals because their vibes feel compatible to me XD

God, now I'm thinking of Duke, Steph, and Sam forming a coalition to give the Riddler the ultimate headache since it's canon (at least to me) that Steph is ALSO a riddle master (and that The Batman would have been over in 30 minutes if she were there XD).

Sometime in the future:

Bruce: "The Riddler is causing trouble again."

Duke: "Oh no. Anyway, I'll get the girls."

Bruce: "Wha--"

Steph and Sam appearing out of the ether with sunglasses and bludgeoning weapons: "Don't worry Mr. Bat. We got this one."

The Riddler *in his lair*: "Why do I hear boss music..?"

I honestly know very little about the We Are Robin (bum ba dum ba bum bum bum) movement but I do really like the idea that Spirit!Robin has a special fondness for those who took up the mantle during that conflict. I don't think they would be a part of Spirit!Robin's manifestation or whatever, but I do think they'd have bolstered him and protected him from a force that wanted to see him snuffed out. So they have the glowing bean's favor :3

(On an unrelated note, I imagine that during the Robin Wars, Spirit!Batman was extra prickly and scary because those owl jerks were messing with his son.)

Duke honestly might be the Bat that I can envision hanging out with Team Phantom the most on account of him (in CiM at least) being their age and also the most normal Bat who is also completely bonkers (like...his bio-dad is some secret evil god or smt? he can glimpse into the future and control the full spectrum of light and also shadow for some reason? my boy is op and I love him. He and Danny are both eldritch in different ways. Danny is like Cthulu-adjacent while Duke leans more biblically-accurrate-"be not afraid"-angel-adjacent and I love that for them).

[kellanved-ammanas]

TF2 Drabbles: Engie/Scout - New Year's Party

Summary: could i request engiescout 🥺 maybe the mercs are having a new years party and scout is bummed out that hes going into new years away from his ma and fam and engie helps to cheer him up :3

[A/N] Happy New Year's! Here's to hoping 2024 treats us well.

~

New Year’s wasn’t a holiday that Scout had ever given much weight to before. So soon after Christmas, one of the biggest holidays, it was had to think of it as important. Thus he hadn’t complained about the order to return to base before it instead of after it as they’d done in previous years. Celebrating it with the team had seemed like a perfectly fine substitute at the time. Now that he was here though, it didn’t feel like a good substitute at all.

Normally New Years was the last day he got to spend with Ma and the rest of his family before heading back to work until he could see them again on Thanksgiving. So instead of drinking, he always went around to make sure he chatted with everyone at least a little bit or pulled a prank here or there when an opportunity presented itself for people to remember him by. Technically he could still do that but he was gonna see these guys basically every day until Thanksgiving instead. Which was great, hanging out and working with these fools were a large part of why he loved his job. But he liked hanging out with his family too. He didn’t get a choice though so he just had to suck it up.

Unfortunately having thought so hard about it that he’d figured out why he felt more down than he usually did during team parties didn’t help him feel any better. If anything it made him feel worse because now he was actively aware of missing his family instead of just vaguely dissatisfied. Ugh, this is why he usually ran from his emotions instead of trying to understand them.

Maybe he should just drink himself stupid until he forgot about it. Demo had spiked the punch with some pretty heavy alcohol so it wouldn’t be hard. He’d miss the stroke of midnight but did it even matter? Yeah, it was the point of the holiday and all but…

“Hey bud.”

He flinched a little, his gaze snapping up. So wrapped up in his thoughts he hadn’t noticed Engie approaching. As always he looked odd without his hardhat and goggles, rare was the days he didn’t wear them. Scout had somehow convinced him into completely taking off working on stuff for the rest of today to attend the team New Year’s party instead so he’d taken them off.

Scout quickly shook off his surprise, hopefully before Engie noticed it. “Hey pal.”

“You doing all right?”

“What? Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Don’t know but you’re sitting over here by yourself and that ain’t like you so I figured maybe something was wrong.”

“So you decided to come over here and make sure I’m okay or something?”

“Yep.”

If it were anyone else Scout would’ve brushed them off. But Engie had always been the least judgmental person on the team. Also the least likely to spread personal stuff. Which wasn’t to say he was judgment free or never spread anything, but when it came to stuff told directly to him in confidence, he was good about keeping to himself and not being outwardly harsh about whatever he thought of it. And so Scout had always liked talking to him, sometimes it even made him feel better.

“I’m just a bit homesick. Which like yeah, yeah, I know we were just allowed to go home for Christmas but normally we don’t gotta come back until tomorrow. So normally I’m at the New Year’s party my Ma hosts with however many of my brothers, their spouses and kids stick around for it. It’s like weird to be here instead, you know?”

“Hmm… can’t say I really know but I understand the sentiment, I think. You didn’t get to spend as much time with your folks as you usually do and didn’t get to give them the kinda goodbye you usually do either. So makes sense your feeling a bit off. Now, I ain’t really sure how to help with that kinda thing but uh… you want company? Maybe we could play some cards or something.”

Before he’d come over Scout wouldn’t have thought company would be enjoyable. Now that he was here though and offering to help even though admitting he wasn’t sure how to, it seemed the exact perfect thing. So… “Yeah, sure, company sounds great. Thanks.”

“Anytime.”

[cinemabuffoon]

rant incoming!

I fully believe that the expendables series is one of the biggest wasted potentials of a movie series in recent cinema history. This series could have (and should have) leaned heavily into the energy of the expendables 2, which is the best one imo so I might be biased, where it leaned into the fact that it was a bunch of action stars from various eras and embraced it instead of constantly trying to hand things over to younger cast members or botching what could have been one of the most entertaining franchises to exist. I mean for goodness sake Jean Claude Van Damme is literally named Vilain and is generic villain™️!!

I personally enjoy these movies because I'm there to watch some of my favorite action stars be cool and shoot up crap and pal around, and thats what it always should have been. Now, it can be as serious or unserious as it wants to be (like I've stated before I lean towards 2 so that's my preference of the ratio) but it should have been focused on this cast of characters. I understand that Stallone had stated with the third movie that he wanted it to open to a wider/younger audience but I really think that was the wrong choice. As far as I've seen from various fan response, we are all here to watch this cast! these guys! Not some younger actors we don't really care about. They should have ham'd it up! Maybe they kill off some mebers every once in a while if they want to keep it interesting. They are the expendables after all! They could bring on so many cool actors too. Imagine if in the expendables 3, instead of being what it is, they brought in some of the female action stars from the 80s / 90s! They could be new additions to the team, a mercenary squad that has a cool, friendly yet competitive rivalship with them, or even as villains! Sigourney Weaver, Linda Hamilton, Uma Thurman, Michelle Yeoh, etc!! So many cool ladies that would have been a fantastic and fun way to keep the movies fresh while staying on brand. Now if they wanted to bring on younger crowds then maybe bring on some more established "modern" action stars then. Ronda Rousey kinda makes sense to me because to my understanding she's fighter in real life. I do think you can bring on newcomers and I'm welcome to it! But I wish they didn't want to hand it over to them. I understand many of these actors are aging and may not want to do this forever and thats completely fine, but i feel that there is a better way then how they went. Also! longer standing villains would be so great! Not necessarily like Thanos but maybe keep them on for more then one movie. Allow establishing time or allow more time to have the battle of good v evil! I.e Vilain was two movies and not one, Stonebanks (who was wasted in 3 smh) given 2 or 3 movies due to his connection with barney or 4 if they had a really good concept/reasoning/writing, etc. There's so much I could probably add and maybe I will later if i think of it but it saddens me to see the state of where this franchise is heading. I hate that Tool hasn't been back once, his arc will never be finished. I hate that so many actors that should be in this arent any more or never will get to be due to its decrease in quality. I hate that the latest movie feels like the lacroix equivalent of a tangerine. I hate that these movies have had more bad than good recently. I know they were never masterpieces, but as someone who loves action films and enjoys many of these actors movies, it was such a fun franchise and one that's potential has been squandered. It's just sad. This is also coming from someone who is relatively new to this series. I didn't grow up with this so I have no nostalgia or anything, I'm not blinded by rose tinted glasses. I'm just a fan who wishes better for this series. I hope we get a movie that absolutely revives and revitalizes this franchise but after 4, I'm not betting anything on it.

feeling like we should have gotten sequels to the A-Team (2010) instead right now

[performing-personhood]

Okay, autistic buckaroos, it's Sharing Time so fins a comfy place and way to sit, grab your favorite stim toy, and let's talk about full-time employment

Your ol' pal here just landed a full-time job as a manufacturing assistant for CBD products. The company is great, the people are friendly, the job is straightforward and simple and meets all my needs. I'm relieved that my spouse is finally relieved that we will finally have extra money, so we can start to pay down debt, replenish savings, and do some necessary extracurriculars that we've not been able to afford. I have worked 3 days so far.

I am so goddamn fried and exhausted.

Maybe it's just because of the sudden dramatic change in my routines - I went from 1 year of continued unemployment to an unexpected full-time job hire in four days, which was not enough time to fully assimilate the idea. I am enjoying the job so far, but I'm struggling to figure out how to fit it around my routines at home.

I spent my first Saturday in an anxious haze of overstimulated overwhelm, at a complete loss as to what i ought to be doing or how to care for myself and also ensure I had clean clothes for the week ahead and was maintaining a caloric intake. By the end of the day, even my spouse's nightly beer-soaked infodumping - usually a tolerable event my attention can wander in and out of until he feels sufficiently validated - was so much like being waterboarded with language that I basically went into semiverbal shutdown. That's pretty unsustainable, fam.

HOW ARE YOU DOING THIS????

What are your secrets to unwinding and recentering at the end of the day?

How do you all at once get enough sleep, make sure you and/or your household have something to eat, take care of your sensory and emotional needs, and feel a sense of personal pastime fulfillment?

[tobiasdrake]

Having completed Sonic Frontiers, I now feel confident saying that this is the best Sonic game I've played in years and it leaves me very hopeful about the future of the franchise.

I've heard it said that Sonic games typically aim for a 7 and consistently manage to hit their mark, while Frontiers aimed for a 10 and landed at an 8. That sounds about right to me.

Spoilers to follow.

First of all, the PLOT is back. Do you remember when Sonic used to have, like, characters? And continuity? After the failure of '06, Sonic Team basically had a panic attack and fired the ENTIRE CAST. Even Tails barely managed to hang on as a minor character.

That always felt like an overreaction. Yeah, the cast was getting really bloated. Like, we didn't need Shadow and Rouge shoehorned into every game. But you don't fire Tails, Knuckles, and Amy. Those characters are the mainstays.

And we picked up Orbot and Cubot. But. Like. Does anyone really care about Orbot and Cubot? They're really more of a recurring joke than characters. I was honestly surprised by their staying power, especially during a time when all the interesting characters were banned from ever appearing again.

Frontiers welcomes back Tails, Knuckles, and Amy with open arms. And that feels right. Other characters should be able to come and go, but Sonic needs some regulars to have his back.

But it wasn't just a return to form. It honestly feels like moving forward. The characters feel like they're maturing. Sonic and Amy are able to have honest, open conversations about their respective needs, wants, and goals. Knuckles is ready to leave his solitude behind and experience the world. Tails wants to take some time to find himself and his identity outside of being Sonic's pal.

It feels like everyone's growing up. And that's. Amazing.

(Yes, I know Tails already did the "I can be more than Sonic's sidekick" thing back in Sonic Adventure. But that's kinda the point. Whether he's Sonic's sidekick or Sonic's equal partner, he's still defining himself by Sonic. He wants to find out who he is without Sonic.)

Despite his age, even Eggman isn't immune to the "Everyone's growing up" thing, coming out of this with a child that he dearly loves and a new sense of responsibility. And can I just say, Sage is awesome and I hope we keep her.

I mean. Shadow got to die tragically at the end of his game and then abruptly resurrect himself and become a series staple, so there's a precedent for it. And the seed's already been planted in the post-credits scene for Sage to do the same. I look forward to seeing her again.

Speaking of things coming back, I'm pleased to see Super Sonic boss fights set to empowering fight music for maximum catharsis finally make their return. And we got four of them to make up for lost time.

That said, there are places where the gameplay needs improvement. The Portal Levels could use more aesthetic variety rather than reusing the same 3 or 4 zones, and I'm pretty sure I caught them just reusing entire pieces of levels from Sonic Generations a few times. The story tries to cover for this by explaining that the levels are pulled from Sonic's memory, but I dunno. Seems lazy.

But the Portal Levels are short and fast-paced enough that I rarely stopped to notice. Aesthetically samey and occasionally copy/pasted as they were, I had fun with them nonetheless.

What I really didn't like was the Starfall mechanic. After a while, I stopped bothering to fight the big scary boss monsters that spawned on the map because what's the point? If they're just going to respawn in a few minutes then there's not really any point in fighting them.

Would have been better to let you permanently kill them, but have the option to respawn them if you wanted to fight them again. That way the sense of progression is preserved while still making them available for rematches.

In Breath of the Wild, the game they shamelessly stole this mechanic from, the entire game was built from the ground up around a theme of entropy. That's why this mechanic was there: Because even your accomplishments are destined to decay with the passage of time. Nothing is eternal. Nothing truly lasts. All things inevitably decay.

Sonic Frontiers feels like they're just doing it because BOTW did. But Frontiers isn't about entropy. It's about... Well, Frontiers. Exploring and discovering your way through this new place, building shortcuts and paving new paths as you go. Resetting your progress with the minibosses every now and then feels antithetical to the flow of the game.

All in all, it feels like there's a lot to build or improve upon. But it nonetheless feels like the Sonic franchise has finally recovered from the trauma of '06 and is moving in the right direction. I'm excited to see where they go from here.

[lambentgrey]

👯‍♀️🔬✍️? :chinhands:

send me some q's abt tlt!

thank u pal!! <3

👯 which twin is worse and why?

look i'm Aware of the almost-naming lore (and like. i'm assuming the names that end with "-beth" went to the same character, but that's a big assumption to make lmao) but from what we've read so far, i feel like ianthe is worse because she's both calculating and able to carry out whatever plans she has. idk if we can say that for certain abt corona (yet--i'm fully prepared to reevaluate how i see corona based on whatever happens in atn). ianthe was doing necromancy for two for 20+ years, is powerful even as what harrow perceives to be a dilettante, and makes decisions that get her closer to power (see: saving jod instead of her mentor at the end of htn). i think she has her own agenda but is willing to go along with jod's so long as it serves her purpose too

🔬 who is your fav lyctor and why?

MERCYMORN MY BELOVED. i want augustine carnally :/ (i think bc i've assigned him like. a polished, older version of james-marsters-as-spike but with leyendecker aesthetics in my head) but mercy <333 i love immortal characters whose immortality makes them terminally fucking weird and she fits that so well. i love that she was one of the few people in htn openly opposing jod, even on seemingly small things, and that she gets so close to pulling off a decades-long plot only to fuck it up because she became too overwhelmed, and that she STILL loves cristabel so much that she forgives john for EVERYTHING because he claims he honestly meant cristabel no harm! also learning about what she was like pre-resurrection versus what she Became was narratively satisfying (put that woman in moral quandries!)

✍️ of the supporting characters, who's pov would you be most interested in reading?

i gave one answer to this question here but! i'd Love to read hot sauce's perspective tbh, particularly her backstory. she's a victim of the empire in a very literal sense that we haven't seen directly; like nona, she has a completely different understanding of the nine houses and necromancy than what we've been privy to so far

[seelestia]

the way hoyo made the only playable character that actively pursues the arts as a career is a depressed and former homeless character that has about as much angst as all other art pursuing person I've ever met

aka this is my way of saying that kaveh is far too relatable frfr (not the homeless part but the depressed, "my art is looked down upon" part)

(can we also talk about how contradictory kaveh's lore relationship with al haitham is with their voicelines? in the lore al haitham and him seem good pals and green zhongli seems like a reliable and understanding guy, but then you hear his voice lines and he's kinda sorta stomping on kaveh's feelings and emotional capanility like it's nothing) - Sincerely yours, 👹✨ Jae <3 (look at me rambling on about my new comfort character) (also- hi liaaaa <33333333~)

hoyoverse has been pulling out all the guns LMAOOO. (/j) but fr tho, i agree with you because i like how realistic kaveh is!! not to mention, especially when he's a character from sumeru, a nation known for valuing wisdom above all — like i can't imagine the constant guilt trip if you're someone who just happens to value arts above academics living in sumeru (or in irl, even)?? like darn, can we just let people decide how they wanna live their lives 😞

oooo, that's a neat thing to point out! i think kaveh and alhaitham's dynamic is smth to analyze because they're polar opposites of each other and it makes you question: are they friends?? enemies?? frenemies sharing a house??? um, do you guys care to put a label on your relationship. (/j)

as you said tho, their relationship seems contradictory when viewed voiceline-wise and lore-wise — but personally, i'd rely more on the lore/narrative than voicelines. since it's an unrefutable law that a character's voicelines are bound to be based on their judgement and unique view of the world, so they wouldn't be completely rid of 'personal opinion' or 'bias' compared to lore-wise perspective (which is why i personally prefer the latter). tbh... idk if this makes sense or not, but yeah!!

(P/S: i don't think alhaitham is trying to be mean to kaveh in any way. i might even go as far as to say that he looks out for kav, actually? but in a 'do you not notice that using your emotions will put you at a disadvantage in this particular situation' way!! vecause there's a voiceline where kaveh got tricked into buying stuff to help sick children he's so nice but the thing is that healthcare in sumeru has always been free— so it's like getting lost in empathy that you forgot to take a step back and think for a bit. alhaitham does that for him LMAOOO)

[paradife-loft]

okay, round up of miscellaneous NtN thoughts now that I've finished it. content warning for the usual TLT shit, and also my generally very mixed opinions about the series, and so on.

the whole cow situation and resulting moral outrage is wildly underwhelming to me. eight thousand eye-rolling emoji at everyone in-universe as we speak. like oh no, someone killed a bunch of (iirc raised-for-meat??) cows for an instrumental purpose of keeping some humans alive... come back when the entire species has stopped eating beef and maybe I won't want to kick you for being pea-brained hypocrites.

I need. some kind of explanation to make sense of Nona continually referring to dead!Gideon as "Kiriona Gaia" and Babs!Ianthe as "he", while also being perfectly spot-on accurate when it comes to Cam, Pal, and Pyrrha? like not in the moral sense but in the sense of, "if the latter is about matching the social cues her family gives her, why does that not apply for the former? if it's about her ability to read people's identities from their motion and general physicality, does the body being dead but still inhabited really make that much of a difference, and if so, then still why does she keep being immune to correcting social cues for those two in particular? why is Coronabeth "Crown" and Aim "the Angel?" etc etc"

speaking of which. Aim. Messenger. A(OL) I(nstant) Messenger. lmao.

so Cristabel seems to be two for two in terms of "died via killing herself in service of some greater goal she wanted for another person she cared about, despite them going "no fuck don't do that", huh?"

John and Blood of Eden really are just equal and opposite varieties of insufferable to me, honestly

(John because *gestures at Everything*, and BoE bc 1. similarly pretentious motherfuckers aren't they; 2. that meme of the lady putting boxes up high out of the child's reach and this particular box says "zombies"; 3. look I don't like Judith Deuteros either but that's no excuse for war crimes (if you want advice on quality war crimes to do while fighting a magic society with deities hanging around, please consult one (1) Turyin Mulaghesh Divine Cities trilogy))

I do think the main thing that's interesting to me about the pre-rez chapters, is the way it contrasts... (even immense quantities of) personal power vs the institutional self-sustaining power of capitalism+the state? but/and also... by the point that you're puppeting the (I assume?) president of the United States, could you not figure out how to. spot-remove the trillionaires and take control of their plans in the same way...? I mean. there just seems to be more effective use of the personal power they had, compared to what they actually did. (I'm inclined to put that down to John's bigger emotional motivations being personal aggrandizement & glory, being the one Known to have saved the day, if that's up against truly getting shit done, ngl. see above re: insufferable.)

CamPal fusion made me cry like a baby. it's so..... like the relief and love on Cam's end just hits like a truck; and then at the same time I completely get Nona's distress at "these two specific people I love no longer exist". but idk, to me it's more of a... grief about change than about straight-up loss, if that makes sense? because of the way various Cam and Pal things aren't just flat gone in the way they'd be if they winked out of existence instead of transforming. esp since Palamedes was already very much on borrowed tenuous time.

("Paul" reallllyyyy doesn't do it for me, though. because of, rather than in spite of, the thematic baggage, personally speaking. esp when they could've picked something nice like "Garnet" instead)

I still don't get the other planets in the solar system having rez beasts if the rationale for "planet has a soul" is anything remotely like the explanation John gave back in HtN. like sure, I buy him eating all the people on say, space stations at each one, fine - but a few space stations isn't an ECOSYSTEM??? I just. either the other planets have all been terraformed to some degree (in which case why do we need to go to Tau Ceti?), or else whence comes this planet soul? I'm sorry to be a nitpicker and a "why? why? why?" bird, but it's fundamentally in my nature #scorpionshrug

Ianthe and Corona still living rent-free etc etc but also oh my gooooddddd get a room you two, I cannot deal with the degrading comments in front of everyone else in the same way I can't read fanfic involving public sex OTL

and finally, Nona Is Valid; I Too Would Not Despairingly Kill A Truck Full Of People Because Someone Reminded Me There Was A Dog In The Back. highly relatable a+ content.

[arkon-z]

I posted 1,751 times in 2022

That's 67 more posts than 2021!

166 posts created (9%)

1,585 posts reblogged (91%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@lastdovahkiin

@ranger-kellyn

@asexual-society

@ghirahimbo

@artisticzaati

I tagged 1,138 of my posts in 2022

Only 35% of my posts had no tags

#hwaoc - 203 posts

#zelda - 159 posts

#impa - 121 posts

#botw - 118 posts

#link - 111 posts

#age of calamity - 105 posts

#purah - 99 posts

#robbie - 86 posts

#what are queue doing? - 78 posts

#fanfic - 59 posts

Longest Tag: 138 characters

#i'm not kidding when i say that version of impa did more good for my self-perception than any post i've ever seen about healthy body image

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

The weak point smash attacks in Age of Calamity are cool enough, but I wish the camera didn't lock the way it does during the animation, because it means we miss seeing details like this:

The Blademasters wave to Kohga after they toss him, which you don't see unless the camera gets stuck at a different angle. Like, that's a fun detail! Why would you hide it where we can't see it?

22 notes - Posted March 5, 2022

#4

Good news! I'm slowly becoming a fan of the Metroid series. This started shortly after I was exposed to the idea that Samus and Pikachu are pals ever since she rescued him in Smash Bros Brawl in the Subspace Emissary story. Which I know isn't part of the Metroid lore, obviously, but it did make me appreciate Samus as a character.

She is an ice-cold, unflinching badass in her games (which I need to finish playing still, so no spoilers) and relies on no one but herself. That said, I love the idea that she has a soft spot for this fuzzy yellow critter with the world's worse case of static. She saw he was in trouble, broke him out with no hesitation because it was the right thing to do and now they're inseparable.

And I know that has nothing to do with Metroid proper, but like I said, it makes me appreciate Samus that much more. That's the power of fanfic, baby.

23 notes - Posted February 18, 2022

#3

Perhaps a spicy take:

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity did more to make Hyrule feel like a populated, living world to me than many of the mainline games.

I'm serious. This version of Hyrule feels like it's full of people, and as you play, you really get a sense that you're helping them out. See, to earn things like health bonuses and attack combos, you have to complete these little text-only quests. On every level where you actually fight enemies, you earn materials, and different quests require specific materials for completion. And all these quests have a little blurb about a task that needs to be done that requires the materials you provide. When you complete the quest, there's another blurb talking about how you helped the people out.

See the full post

26 notes - Posted August 6, 2022

#2

Random BOTW headcanon:

Master Kohga faked his death in his fight with Link so he could go back to his nap.

He's not incompetent by any means and is in fact a skilled and powerful warrior. The fight was a sham to get the Thunder Helm out of the hideout so the Gerudo would stop raiding it. His lackeys stole it because it's treasure, but he obviously couldn't just say, "Take it back, you're making it worse around here." After his 'defeat', the rest of the Yiga played along, accusing Link of murder and making their attacks more personal.

In conclusion, Master Kohga is actually very intelligent and despite being the leader of a cult of personality, he watches out for the clan and acts in their best interest at all times.

48 notes - Posted November 18, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Got cool stickers? Do you get anxious about trying to decide where to stick them? Do they just live on the sticker sheets forever, gathering shameful dust in your drawer?

THERE IS HOPE! I saw this on Reddit.

What you need are magnetic sheets.

Now, take your stickers:

See the full post

1,943 notes - Posted March 12, 2022

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