#hopefully this hasn't been done by someone else too recently

[braxlrose]

I miss ur writings sm :(

I am so sorry that I've been gone for so long, I haven't posted any fan fiction in so many months and honestly I lost motivation 😭 so many ppl who were in this fandom and I created a community with, were slowly getting over this "phase" and it definitely affected me. But I'm going to try and get back into writing. I hope this will do good for now! Ive had a lot of ppl recently ask for 2005 bill hcs, and I've done that before so if this is repetitive for something else I've written, sorry!

content warnings: none

a/n: I'll be updating my tag list since it hasn't been updated since like August of last year and I don't want to be tagging people who don't care or want to see these posts anymore. So if you wanna be tagged, let me know!

2005!bill kaulitz x f!reader

sfw:

- I'm an alternative person so whenever I write for bill, I always imagine him with an alternative girl 😞 even though from what I've seen he's never really been w/ an alternative one, BUT LETS PRETEND OKAY 🙏🙏

• he absolutely loves doing hair together, I think he enjoys helping you do your hair in the morning and your make up. And he's even more greatful if you do his makeup. Then he can just relax while you help him.

• pookie has crunchy ass hair at the end of the day when he has to wash it out, don't make fun of him 😞

• getting piercings together is something he LOVES doing with you. Mainly early piercings because he only has a tongue and eyebrow piercing on his face.

• if you made music too, he would always go to your concerts and basically scream the entire time. Hopefully, you'd do the same for him.

• if you have longer nails, head scratches are always a must and he will lay in your lap for literal hours while you pamper him.

- I personally think he would love to learn words in your language if you keep something different than German. And despite what anybody thinks, he finds it hilarious to learn the dirty words.

• if you cook him something from your culture, he will literally die. He basically thinks everything about you is so cool, and learning about a culture different from his is so exciting

• but if you two really want to date, you'll have to both try to learn English or each other language because there is going to be a hard language barrier between you two.

- I think one of the reasons he would've fallen in love with you is because you were upfront with him. He's not the type of guy to just go up and kiss someone so if you confess first, that would make things so much easier.

- obviously, you'd have to get along with Tom, Georg and Gustav. So if you don't, there's no way he'll go out with you, especially if you can't get along or hate Tom.

-Dates together consist of stuff you guys bought somewhere, or if you guys went to a fastfood restaurant.

• He doesn't have a lot of money yet so dates wouldn't exactly be high class, hopefully you don't mind 😉

-Since this is around the time Tokio Hotel is getting increasingly famous, there are fangirls around trying to flirt and ask out bill all the time and he has to shoo them off. He reminds you every night about how much he loves you and that those fan girls shouldn't bother you.

-he likes to spoon you a lot, and you two switch back n forth between him being the big spoon and the small spoon.

• I think he also really likes it when you lay on top of him, with your face in his neck and your legs wrapped around him. (This also works sitting upwards).

• cuddling with him is so nice too because he actually smells really good 😱

- I think he still gets very insecure sometimes because of the haters and people who harass the band because they don't like them and you reassure him a lot.

a/n pt 2: sorry this wasn't too long! I'm trying to get back into the groove of writing so if this is terrible I'm sorry 😞

taglist: none right now

[hupla222]

Amethio Rant

This is a post that's been long overdue but I just didn't feel like writing until now, but I've seen a lot of posts about this character recently and I just want my opinions to be known.

Amethio is a trash character. He's the worst character in Horizons and I groan every single time he's on screen. I'd rather be watching literally anyone else on screen. Give me an episode entirely about Hamber any day over seeing this dweeb again.

But why don't I like him, you may ask. Simple. He's boring. He's the most boring, bland, milk-toast version of an overdone character type I've ever seen. I could see where his arc is going from the second he appeared in the trailers and I haven't been wrong so far. As such, I don't give a singular damn about what Amethio does. Boo. Get off screen so someone interesting can do something. He's just adiscount version of Zuko with none of the depth and flavor. Or would you prefer discount Hunter or Silver or Arven or Bede or Avery (Isle of Armor) or Paul (to some extent) or ...

You get the idea. He's just a bland nothing burger of a character that I just will never care for. Doesn't help this trope has been done to death. He doesn't even have like a fun personality to give this trope some life. He literally has nothing. Tell me three character traits with proof. No headcanons.

Now you may complain, aren't you that Sidian superfan? You don't have a leg to stand on. And to that I say, Sidian may not have much going for him now (because he hasn't gotten much screen time to himself) but I have no idea where his story is going. I don't know where his arc is leading up to and what his motivations are. And that's so crucial in getting me to care. I want to know more about him and I have fun thinking about where he could have came from. Not Amethio. I know where his story is going and I know his motivations from the very beginning. I swear, every Amethio fic I read is the exact same. Shows how boring this dude really is.

Oh, and I don't find him hot either. I'm definitely way too old for him. I'm no middle schooler.

But I'm well aware that I'm in the vast minority. Please do enlighten me about what you see in him but I just see nothing. Maybe he'll get better later but I seriously doubt it. Oh well. Amethio is only one small blip in an otherwise amazing series. Been loving this arc so much. Sidian gets to get some development (hopefully) and no Amethio to bore me.

[mosscoveredrat]

I'm going to do my awnser between two of my gods in my worlds (I mainly worldbuild but these two tend to show up and interfere the most so I think it'll be funny) it'll be between the god/goddess of revelry and madness, and the lady death. (Represented as P and D respectively)

---

Whats their best Trait?:

P: "well... they are always punctual and she takes her job very! Seriously! Perhaps a bit too seriously if you know what I mean!"

D: "no one knows what you mean mom, but if I had to awnser I'd say they bring a certain mirth and chaos to the world that no one else I know does"

Whats their worst Trait?:

P: "Oh definitely the inability to let go! She still has an old feather from the first life she had to take!"

D: "alcoholism, you wouldn't think god could get drunk... you'd be wrong"

Are they a good person?:

P: "Ultimately, everything has to come to an end, and I'm proud of her for doing the job that needs to be done. I'd say she is typically considered evil by the mortals, but they only really have half the picture."

D: "define good... then define person, jury is still put if they can meet either of those criteria, they are more of a force of nature than anything"

Do you really know them?:

P: "I'd say I do, I've known her all her life, and she hasn't stopped being predictable since"

D: "absolutely not and I'd prefer it stay that way thank you very much"

What are they to you?:

P: "one of my children, specifically one of my daughters"

D: "My creator... I guess Mother would be appropriate"

What are you to them?:

P: "Hopefully, someone she'll listen to once in awhile, but we all know that asking her to 'spare this mortal because their cute' isn't something she'll oblige"

D: "likely, a tool, something to get a job done and make sure it's done right."

What animal do they remind you of the most?:

P: "Panda! Because they are so black and white! Oh? You want a serious awnser... shame, fine. I'd think of them as a raven, constantly lurking around graveyards, feasting on the dead, and serving out omens"

D: "Oh, that's a tough one, I can honestly give three separate answers for this, shrike immediately comes to mind, but so does hornet and circus tiger"

Are they your type?

P & D: [simultaneous vomiting]

Whats their greatest fear?

P: "ghosts, the souls of those who have slipped from her grasp! Oh how sweet..."

D: "spiders"

Whats your best memory with them?

P: "the day she formed from the shattered fragmented memories of her past self like a Phoenix riseing from the ashes!"

D: "she took me to see the gravestone of my first follower... it was... nice"

Worst?

P: "she did stab me with her quill that one time... it hurt, I'm not used to feeling pain"

D: "That time I stabbed them with my quill. It was nice at first, but it quickly turned into the most terrifying experience I've been through."

How long have you two known each other?:

P: "her entire life! After all I did make her!"

D: "My entire life"

How has your relationship changed recently?:

P: "she's been so engrossed in her work to really pay any attention to the affairs of the other gods, so I guess you could say that we've grown apart"

D: "I've finally gotten some peace and quiet, all that constant drumming and dancing just was grating on my nerves"

Are they a good leader?

P & D: [simultaneously] "no!"

OC Duo Answers Ask Game

So because I'm incapable of doing things the conventional way, here's an idea: for these asks, instead of picking an OC and just saying things (which I like, don't get me wrong), to answer these asks pick two characters, and answer the questions as if each character were talking about the other. These answers don't have to be accurate; they reflect each character's perceptions of the other. They can be friends, family, enemies, anything to each other.

😇- What's their best trait?

👿- What's their worst trait?

⚖️- Are they a good person?

👁️- Do you really know them?

👥- What are they to you?

❤️- What are you to them?

🐺- What animal do they most remind you of?

😘- Are they your type?

😨- What's their greatest fear?

🧠- What's your best memory with them? Worst?

👣- How long have you known each other?

🫂- How has your relationship changed recently?

🫡- Are they a good leader?

If you guys have asks you want to add in the reblogs, go ahead, ik this isn't a lot.

Gonna tag people below the cut to get this started:

@the-ellia-west, @somethingclevermahogony, @thewritingautisticat, @smudged-red-ink, @aesthetic-writer18

@tildeathiwillwrite, @agirlandherquill, @illarian-rambling, @corinneglass, and @diabolical-blue!

[steamishot]

T-22 days

8/18: plans changed -> hung out with just SC at her place

8/19: WFH together with LG at a cafe (my first time ever WFH at a cafe)

8/20: watch didi with matt

8/21: carbone lunch with matt

8/22: rubirosa and comedy cellar with matt

8/25: othership with T

8/26: switzerland

9/6: last dinner with T

9/7: last brunch with S&I

9/8: last hot pot dinner with LG

S & i decided to take a rain check on sunday. the initial plan was to go to A's place to visit her and her baby. however, because the commute is an hour long (includes train, bus, walking), i didn't want to risk being in a storm on the way home. there was 50% chance of rain during the day and the heavy storm was scheduled to start in the evening/night.

instead, we hung out at her apartment. got to use the pool, jacuzzi, sauna and steam room. i'm feeling lighter about the move, so it was really nice to have girl time. i hope we have more opportunities for 1:1 time in the future, instead of only with our SOs.

LG cooked me a fantastic italian dinner on friday. it was probably the most "romantic" gesture someone has ever done for me in the kitchen LOL. she had just returned from italy and made zucchini pasta with freshly grated cheese, and two types of crostinis. i was surprised by the amount of effort she put in, given that we've only really seen each other <10x. however, she seems overall like a high effort type of person. i was impressed by how well she maintained her apartment despite only being in NYC half the time. and at age 40, she started ceramics, signed up for swimming lessons at the YMCA, and just told me she's also doing a local spanish language learning class. i have admiration for her and definitely think "i wanna be like her when i'm 40".

i'm now feeling like a visitor on an extended vacation. i'm grateful to share these special moments with new(-ish) friends. a lot of the times while i was here, i really yearned for the comfort of old friends/family. however, now that i'm leaving, i know i will sort-of miss being uncomfortable LOL. i think i'll definitely incorporate some of my NYC lifestyle into my new LA lifestyle (i.e. putting myself out there more instead of staying in my comfort zone). i'm happy to have made 3 solid friendships (S, T, K) during my time here, and hopefully LG and i continue to keep in touch.

matt's work: he just completed his last day (night) at work last night! he's been in a much happier mood recently. things have been less chaotic and calmer since the job search ended. he'll have the next 1.5 months off before starting his new gig. i don't love that we'll most likely be together 24/7 from now until moving back, like literally <10 ft apart. but it is the last hurrah of surviving in a studio together for 4 years!

my work: work hasn't been overly busy, but has been constant. i may be PMSing but i fear that i've been coming off mean/condescending to A who i am still training. i'm trying my best to not let my frustration spill out in my emails and to continue giving her grace. sometimes i question if i'm expecting too much from someone new. this gave me a taste of what being in management may look like.

ceramics: i considered making more bowls and asking the studio or LG to ship it to me in LA if they aren't fired in time. i tried throwing on saturday and my mojo is gone. i decided i won't make any more things, but can go in and practice (maybe). i plan on buying one ceramics piece made by someone else in the studio as a souvenir.

fridge cleaning: we're keeping the contents in the fridge to a minimum and cleaning out the freezer. yesterday, i made an oxtail beef noodle soup. today, i'm making fish congee with the leftover frozen rice.

grocery stores: i used to always go to TJ, but have recently transitioned away from it. there would always be so many people (3 lines) and the process just became completely over stimulating to me. my fav grocery stores now are mr. beet and whole foods. i really like mr. beet for no frills produce. it's about a 20 min walk so it's an excuse to get steps in. i'm a fan of whole foods now for seafood and certain fruits/cheeses!

[moriphyte]

ALSO, something I just thought of, one of the main things that people use as a reason why Tommy's abuse is unreasonable is that he hasn't done anything to deserve it, a few cases of petty crimes in a server riddled with the worst crimes known to man, aside from the situation with jack, which has nothing to do with dream, Tommy is undeserving of abuse. Framing abuse as something that you can deserve.

Now I dowbt that this is is the intended messenge bit bear with me

Now compare this to hunter, someone who has done bad things, cooperated with a tyrant, been indirectly responsible for the deaths of many palisman and what else his status of the golden guard entails. That on top of the fact he was on many occasions resistant to change even when a hand was extended towards him, favouring the consistency of his livelihood over the betterment of both his and other's lives.

In a lot of stories about those who get a peek at the lives of those who are being abused, and become worse for it, often times decide that that they must abandon the abused to preserve their own safety. I can't say that is an unreasonable response.

But it does make it feel that at one point you become too..

Tainted, for a lack of a better word.

Too toxic, too vindictive, too selfish, that you might as well stay with your abuser. If you're both bad, well, I guess you deserve each other.

Tommy always felt like a good hearted kid, someone who was isolated and had his little flaws exaggerated to make him condemnable

But hunter, despite all the stuff he messed up, still changes, grows, and hopefully he'll be better someday

okay theres a lot to address here but i'll start with tommy. while the two of them are very similar in a lot of ways a major difference between him and hunter is that tommy has never been framed as an antagonist by the narrative, the one possible exception to this being the situation with jack. by contrast hunter has, until recently, held the narrative role of an antagonist, albeit a minor one who is very clearly (to the audience and the other characters) being manipulated. their abuse, while holding many similarities, is also entirely different in nature. c tommy was abused specifically using his "misbehavior" as a justification for c dream to hurt him, and while we as the audience could see that it was more than just punishment for minor crimes, tommy was lead to believe he deserved it and even that dream was doing it for his own good. c dream, while a very...skilled abuser, is still only 21 at the time, he's never done this before, tommy is his first victim. in contrast belos has been alive for almost five centuries and has been doing this for YEARS, he knows exactly what to do to make hunter blindly obedient to him. and this is the part where im gonna have to heavily disagree with you. though i dont think it was your intention, saying that hunters cooperation w belos makes him more "deserving" of the abuse is...uncomfortable to say the least. yes, hunter is complicit in what belos has done, but a VERY important thing to factor in is that he had NO IDEA what his uncle was really doing. hunter was created as property, he was never allowed to be a person outside of what belos wanted. belos created a child and then spun a lie that center himself in hunter's life as the only family he had left, the only person that cared about him, the person that gave him purpose, the person he owed his life to. and that was hunters reality for the first 16 years of his life. he was kept very deliberately isolated, as is common with abuse, and only allowed to know what his uncle told him. and why wouldn't he trust the man he owed everything to? and im sure it wasnt always like that, no matter how abusers may try to make their victim nothing but their puppet, they are still a person with a will of their own. hunter has a good heart, when faced with betraying people that were kind to him (luz, amity, willow, gus) he is visibly hesitant, and at the mention of belos finding out about flapjack he instinctually moves to hide and protect him. and i am very sure that this good heart of his has gotten hunter hurt more than once in the past. those scars didnt come from nowhere, especially the one on his face, and his body language is very much indicative of a child who was physically abused. any attempt for hunter to speak his mind to belos has been very quickly met with some sort of threat or violence, even asking a question almost got him hit in the face if he hadn't flinched out of the way (no doubt by instinct) like...hunter had no way out, no one to go to, no way to even see his situation for what it truly was, he didn't even know the truth of his own identity for fucks sake. so he clung to what he knew, all he had, being abused is better than being replaced right? at least he has a purpose. but then he meets people his own age who show him true kindness even after he fucks up, and when belos finally reveals the truth to him hunter doesn't hesitate to take luz's hand and run. and now hes faced with the truth, that his entire life was a lie. he said it himself that he spent his whole life thinking he was doing something good for someone good, he had no way to safely find out the truth and the second he did his uncle tried to kill him. like hes made mistakes the same as tommy but i would not call hunter responsible for belos' actions let alone think that he was beyond saving for having done what he needed to to survive.

[robo-cryptid]

💖 🤗

Hi anon! I've been waiting until I had the brainpower to answer this, so sorry for the wait! And hopefully you'll see it!

💖 What made you start writing?

In general, I have no idea. I've been doing it on and off since I was a kid. Like I didn't realize other people didn't write down the silly things they imagined in their heads. Then I discovered fanfic at the tender age of... 13? 14? Somewhere around there?

More specifically and more recently, I'd been writing a metric fuckton in grad school but it was all very dry and boring (well, not to me, but stylistically boring), so I wanted to write something more fun and with lower stakes, so I got back into fanfic ~2018.

🤗 What advice would you give to new fanfic writers that are just getting started?

Gosh, there's so MUCH advice out there that I'm not sure I'm better qualified than anyone else giving it. But here's some I've gotten that work for me that I think would also work if you're just starting with fanfic. (Caveat: no writing advice is one-size-fits-all, so if one thing doesn't work for you, that's ok! Try others!)

Just write it. The first draft will probably suck and that's ok. Sucking is part of the process of not-sucking. This is what editing is for.

Speaking of editing, if you're worried about your own editing skills and can find a good beta, I highly recommend it! My qualifications for a good beta are not necessarily "good with grammar" (though yes, that should be part of it), but also someone who knows how to communicate to you about whether or not you're successfully executing what you're trying to execute. They aren't there to "fix" your story in some objective sense and certainly not to tear you down. They're there to help make your story the best version that it can be.

Write down all your ideas, no matter how stupid or how convinced you are that you'll remember it later. "If an idea isn't written down, it functionally doesn't exist" is writing advice I got 1000 times in school, and infuriatingly, it is correct.

If you want to write more than just a short one-off, make writing a habit. Lots of people say "write daily," and that's a worthy goal if it fits your schedule and how your brain works, but maybe that's too high-pressure or untenable for you. But making it a habit, where you sit down regularly and do it (once a week, three times a week, once a day - doesn't matter), will definitely help build up the muscle so that when you need the words to be there, they are more likely to appear.

Read critically. What do you like about the writers/works you like? What don't you like about the writers/works you don't like? What's working? What isn't working? Why is/isn't it working?

Outlining is super helpful, especially for longer stories, but you should also know that there's about a million ways to do outlines and that your outline is not set in stone. You're allowed to change it! At any time! It's as flexible as you need it to be.

Read your own writing out loud, especially your dialogue. If you get tripped up on a sentence or turn of phrase or something sounding weird when you say it aloud, it's probably weird to read too.

Since most of my anons come from Overwatch and in particular YeeHan fandom: whatever urges you have to write in a character's dialect, dial them back by at least 50%. If you're doing your job, readers will hear in the character's voice even without, for example, dropping every G and spelling things as "yer" instead of "your," etc. Sincerely, a Southerner who's read a lot of WILDASS Cassidy dialogue.

At some point, you will probably look back on your writing and go, "God, that sucks." This is very normal. I don't know any writer who hasn't cringed over something older that they wrote. It means now you're better, because you've got the distance and the critical eye to see what you could have done differently. Don't let it get you down. One day you will hopefully also be able to see the parts of your writing that were good right from the start.

Finally, my favorite piece of writing advice of all time: stop telling yourself you can't write. If you can use social media, send text messages, chat on Discord, write down a recipe, whatever, you can write. It isn't some sacred ritual. It's just writing. You do it every day.

[armorabs]

Hey, Random Anon here. I heard what you said about Neptune and Poseidon, I think they would might replace Mindy with a Cheaper version if they try or doubt it (I'd suggest maybe Benthesikyme (Poseidon's Daughter) from the Myths to be in Mindy's place). Like, I know someone who knows a lot about Greco-Roman Mythology in the SpongeBob fandom, so maybe an idea of Poseidon having a Daughter and a Son would feel like Mindy and Triton having Roman Counterparts (At least, that's probably what someone else would think).

i feel you either misread what i was saying, or misinterpreted me. this will be lengthier but hopefully more concise, or at least elaborates my thought process more so that the point i was actually trying to make is understood.

considering the fact that mindy has already reappeared recently in both seasons 12 and 13, i don't think they have any plans on replacing mindy as a character if she is already shown to exist in the show's canon at a point in which she is no longer pop culturally relevant as the movie's release was almost a decade ago. they might recast her voice actress as they have done for other characters, such as mr. krabs' mom, if they were to give her a more central role but they're not going to replace her as a character. meanwhile, movie neptune has not made any such appearance, because his entire existence is redundant when show neptune has seen regular use after the movie's release.

so show neptune and movie neptune are written very differently and designed very differently, with the birthday blowout poster celebrating the anniversary of the franchise depicting both existing - no poseidon, though, i'm assuming because his design hadn't been finalized yet. but a poster isn't necessarily indicative of what is or isn't canon to a universe, though they may show previews of things yet to be released. but mindy is definitely for sure canon to spongebob the show, but movie neptune hasn't been shown to be. and there has not yet been any word about mindy being the daughter of the neptune we see in the show, and there has not yet been any word about whether the movie neptune actually exists separately outside of that poster. thus, my speculating on mindy's familial relationships given this precarious situation.

sponge on the run, kamp koral, and the patrick star show are definitely canon to each other and in a loose sense of the word canon to the original series. so poseidon may be, or he may not be, but it's still too early to tell because production is a weird and complicated business and sometimes a lot of content is held back for an unreasonable amount of time.

but by this point not only is the firewall no longer a hindrance in using content from the movies in the show and vice versa, and instead of sponge on the run using EITHER depictions of neptune they created poseidon; and poseidon narratively replaced the movie's king neptune by being written similarly and taking similar narrative roles (which was already different from the role of the show's king neptune) ... and even his design at the end of the movie shares design cues with movie neptune. but movie's king neptune's design seemed to have been influenced by the physical appearance of his voice actor... who has had sexual harassment allegations in 2017. so even if he wasn't narratively redundant as a result of both show neptune and poseidon existing now, they'd likely not want to risk bringing back movie neptune because of this association.

so i was musing about the idea that given this precarious situation - where mindy continues to exist, but doesn't seem to have a connection to the show's neptune thus far, and poseidon has replaced movie neptune, who is not likely to return - of poseidon being her father, because of their similarities.

like... this isn't about replacing a character who is shown to continue existing without being replaced, this is about their relation to a character who has already been replaced. and there isn't really a point in trying to replace her with a mythological figure, considering the fact spongebob squarepants isn't accurate to the pantheon or myths these characters are inspired by nor does it even try to be. i don't really want it to try being accurate either or really expand on it beyond the sea-related figures anyways. spongebob has it's own unique mythology that uses familiar figures, and its funnier this way.

[beautifulterriblequeen]

The Thief and the Tinker, Part 4: Circles and Cycles

part 3

Part 4

Viren: *smirks and plinks Runaan's coin to Ethari*

Ethari, furious: You throw another Moonshadow at me and I'm gonna lose it.

Circles and Cycles

Angst rating: 8/10

Back to Ethari, because we're not done with him yet. Ethari is soft, but he isn't weak. He won't be a willing pawn for Viren. He loves Runaan to the point of invention, and his devotion is more constant than the moon itself. He'll agree to do what Viren says, and he'll be Very Sad. But his spirit is in no way broken. Viren bribing him with the coins containing his family will only have the opposite effect. It'll give Ethari something to fight for.

We could get Focused Chaos Ethari. We could get Angery Trickster Ethari. We could get Rules, What Rules? Ethari. Let him try to steal the coins, try to break them, try to kill Viren, and be stymied at every turn, until he settles and seems cowed. And then all he does is craft his way out of the problem.

What if we are gifted with Iron Man Elf Ethari, who pretends to build a fake Key for Viren, but meanwhile he's really building a coinbuster with whatever he can get his hands on - primal stones, magically imbued gemstones, stolen artifacts, his own arcanum, his own reputation as the Master Craftsman of the Silvergrove. He'll use almost - almost - anything, to stop Viren and free his family.

Ethari may have to choose between those two things, though. And he's a hero, deep down, just like his family, just like his daughter. If he has to choose, he'll choose to stop Viren and save Xadia. He'll pay the same price as his family has if he must.

He'd let Viren think he was motivated purely by wanting his family back, but Ethari is far too steeped in the illusion and sacrifice for that to be all there is to his motives. It's a so-close-and-yet-so-far thing, how he and Viren almost embody the same ideals. Almost. Ethari would take one look at Viren, who just burnt down his whole Forest, he'd see the biggest threat in Xadia, and he'd say anything to get a chance to stop this juggernaut of destruction from getting his hands on whatever that ultimate power really is, locked behind that missing key. If he has to abandon his people and bawl his eyes out to convince Viren he's in, then he will.

And Viren wouldn't make it easy for him. He knows clever when he sees it. He went through all this trouble to persuade Ethari to work with him. He would need to keep Ethari as off-balance as possible to ensure that he keeps working as he should.

Angsty jewelry, anyone?

Viren giving Ethari his husband in pendant form to remind him what he's working for, when Viren and Ethari both know full well that only dark magic can open the hellcoins. Ethari wearing another pendant of his love, except it's not a metaphor this time. It's literally his love, in a coin around his neck.

Viren would love making Ethari stay close to him of his own free will if he ever hoped to free Runaan. Making people bind themselves to you is a big power flex. Remember that TDP stream future-season teaser note about Bait being in a creepy restraint in a future season?

This card is written on in all-caps, so that really could be "Bait" or "bait," or--knowing this show--both. Viren's been using Runaan as bait for Ethari all along. Putting his coin in a dark magic pendant casing for Ethari to wear would be a great parallel for that. Oh god. Oh man.

Maybe he'll stab the coin's scary casing right through that circle on Ethari's chest, right over his heart, make that Iron Man reference really obvious. Ethari also losing his shirt at some point, for angsty Viren-related reasons? It's more likely than you think. I mean... Ethari is literally involved in both forms of forging at this point. Shirt's gotta come off for uhhhh work reasons. And because he's hot. Because of all the forging. Mmhmm. I mean how else are we finally going to discover what his markings look like this is research I swear

I mentioned that I liked god-tier villains, right? Yeah, this is amazing. I haven't wanted to die and ascend over an idea for quite a while, but Ethari vs Viren in a drawn-out battle of wills would kill me in the best way. Especially since, while it looks like they're essentially fighting for who gets Runaan, they're truly fighting a much larger battle with much higher stakes. They're fighting for the future itself. It's an epic struggle between the Narrative of Strength and the Narrative of Love. And we've seen what happens, over and over, when the Narrative of Strength gets to call the shots.

On a meta note: If Ruthari's story arc isn't a love letter from one trauma survivor to another, and on a broader scope to all survivors who see it, I don't know what is. Sometimes life just chews us up and spits us out and we can't stop it and it breaks us. But sometimes we can reach out and grasp the chance to help each other, even after that, even when it hurts a lot, because we know what it means to be loved, and to love, and to want a safer future for each other and for people we'll never meet. The future is worth standing together for, helping each other back up for, fighting side by side for, even if you can't see how it'll end, or even how to begin. We are stronger together, and sometimes we need to fight for our "together" before we can fight for anything else. And that's worth it, every time.

This is glorious, it's beautiful, it's tragic, it's amazing, it makes me want to dance, it makes me want to scream into the void, it makes me want to slap someone with a semi truck. No, someone specific, don't worry, and he super deserves it.

Because Ethari is going to win. He was always going to win. He's soft, and he's clever, and he hasn't forgotten what love means. It's what he's fighting for. Not power, not control. Love. He doesn't want to dictate Runaan's future or anyone else's. He just wants his husband--and everyone else--to have one at all.

So he's going to win.

What thwarting Viren looks like, I couldn't possibly guess. TDP is no stranger to angst, so there will probably be a high cost involved in outwitting the dark mage. Maybe not everyone can be rescued from the coins. Maybe Ethari will lose his life, or his soul, or his vision, or something else really angsty. Viren could even kill him and resurrect him as a smoky craftsman, or a zombie craftsman, or something equally biddable but horrible. The only thing I'm sure of is that Ethari would never willingly make a working Key of Aaravos Ethari as long as there's a chance Viren could possess it. But I do believe that if he gets the right opportunity while he's busy saving the world from Viren's dark intentions, he'll break his husband's hellcoin open somehow and set him free, even if he has to smile at the devil to do it.

Ethari understands the difference between "you can" and "therefore you should." He might sacrifice his own world to save his husband, but he'd never sacrifice someone else's world. That's one of the Moonshadow cultural limits I've noticed: they accept boundaries when it comes to other people's autonomous rights, especially regarding life and death.

These limits could get pushed. Ethari will be under great duress and emotional strain if he goes through this kind of interaction with Viren. And maybe he will choose some dark things. Everyone else has. But I'm placing all my eggs in the basket labeled "Saved By Love." Either I'm right, or I'll get the best angst omelets in the universe. And I do love omelets. A villain invented them, you know. ;)

Another support for Ethari not making the key for Viren: the real Key exists!

Callum has it right now. The plot doesn't need Ethari's key (yet? ever?), but it does need Ethari to learn what he's made of, to stand up for something, or against something, or both at once. And once he learns what he will and won't do and the universe has rewarded his discovery with the return of his beloved husband then Ethari will be ready to take on whatever else the plot has in mind for him.

Depending on the plan, all of these events could happen in S4, as a setup for even bigger things to follow. Viren's wishes can be thwarted here and the show's overall tension will only continue to rise. It would let Ethari flex yes pls his skills so we know who he is, it would show how driven Viren can be for a long-term goal, it would let Claudia saunter further downwards, it would reveal some human/Moonshadow history, and it would resolve the seasons-long tension regarding Runaan's fate, allowing for the cycle of speculation, feels, angst, and Ruthari fanart to begin again. ;) Viren would need to find another way to pursue his long-term goal. And Callum's Key will get a little more clarity on just how important it is to the fate of the world - which will make everything he does, and everyone he talks to, and anyone who knows what he's carrying, intensely important.

Nyx is gonna steal it isn't she, omg chaos birb

To Viren, Ethari was a main course, meant to be devoured and consumed in his lifelong quest for something that will finally satisfy. But to Ethari, Viren was just empty calories to be passed over in favor of ordering his perennial favorite dish, one more time.

Once Ethari escapes Viren's clutches with as much of his family as he can rescue, Viren may turn back to looking for the real Key, especially if someone's seen it recently. Hunting a kid probably seems easier than hunting a full-grown Moonshadow craftsman who just outsmarted him. okay so maybe Nyx stealing it would be a good thing and save Callum's life

Ethari could go on to help repair the Sunforge, or rebuild the Moonhenge, or work on constructing Moonshadow villages in Katolis if he hasn't been ghosted for abandoning everyone after the forest fire. He might build magical devices for any number of reasons, to help all kinds of characters. Hopefully, wherever he goes, he'll have Runaan with him, in some way, for at least a little while. Cycles be like, and I feel like Runaan will not want to remain still for long, for whatever reason. Does he need revenge, atonement, justice, a new body, to find Rayla, to find Ezran? He'll be back in action as soon as he can, I think.

Okay, but, I'm so soft at the thought of a scene where Runaan and Ethari come before King Ezran. The husbands tried to save their people Runaan's way, the old way, and it only continued to endanger them. Following the cycle, as Moonshadows do, was the wrong move. But the son of the last human Runaan killed reached out with mercy and broke a thousand years of suffering and sorrow and hatred. Ezran did what Runaan couldn't: he saved the Moonshadow elves from total destruction. And that, more than anything else in the world, could soften one very broody assassin's heart toward humans again.

What would Runaan do, if his heart truly changed toward humans? What would he say to Ezran? I could see him struggling for a long moment before dropping to one knee to pledge his heart as he once had to do before the Dragon Throne. He doesn't know any other way but to serve. Ezran, reading the whole room and everyone's feelings before he tells Runaan that No, we don't do that here. That he's free, and free means free. No chains, no oaths. Just trust and friendship. He should get to make his own decisions for a change, even though that can be hard and scary sometimes. Runaan being genuinely scared, because that's too much freedom. But he's not alone. He has Ethari, and Ezran, and Rayla, and Callum, and their people, and their allies. And no matter what else happens, the people of Katolis - elven and human - will find a way forward. Together.

part 5

[tardytothepardy]

Fruits Basket - Vol 17

I am,,, confused. Thoroughly. Did I read this too fast? Am I misunderstanding? This book felt like a series of "What? Huh? What? Huh? What? Whuhh?? Huhhhhh?????" and I am kinda bewildered.

So let's talk about it,,, somehow.

It starts with Shigure and Hatori talking about Akito's meltdown at New Year's, and how apparently Shigure tried to comfort Akito, but Akito was having none of it. The topic of Kureno came up, and how he just seems off, disconnected, in a sense, and also how Akito seems to have chosen Kureno above all the other Juunishi.

Panning over to Kureno, in the previous book Momiji gave him the CD of the play, "Sorta Cinderella". He seemed pretty affected by the things that Uotani said, but they also reminded him of moments with Akito, when he was younger. He calls Shigure later, asking for Tohru, which Shigure finds odd. What business would the two of them have? But it turns out that later, Tohru does run into Kureno, on her way to the store. She was squatting next to a bunch of birds, and when he showed up, they flew away. This is important at all, because that isn't what usually happens to the animals that the Juunishi share a spirit with (agh how to phrase things), in fact it's the opposite. Tohru asks Kureno about this, and then he solidifies any questions by hugging her and,,,, nothing happens. Somehow, he isn't affected by the curse. It has no hold on him, he won't turn into a bird (I suppose a rooster, specifically, which is kinda sad bc I was looking forward to that, in a little way. It'd be funny, if nothing else) if he gets really weak or sick, or if he hugs someone of the opposite sex.

Tohru asks him how this happened, and when, but Kureno doesn't really know. It happened randomly one day, a while back, but he has no idea was triggered it. It's just that, one day, he was vibin, doing his thing, and it just happened. No one else in the family knows, he's just been pretending that he's still a Juunishi. Kureno also said that he can't be with Uotani, that the CD was a wasted attempt, because he's promised to be with and take care of another person, that person being Akito. Kureno makes it clear, though, that he still does care for Uotani, but he just can't be with her. This whole time, it's been switching between the current interaction between Kureno and Tohru, and flashing back to when Kureno first realized that the curse broke for him, and Akito was just fucking losing his mind, screaming and shit. He begged for Kureno to stay, regardless of the curse (btw, at this point, Kureno's a teenager, and Akito's still a little kid, so it was a little while ago), and Kureno said that he would promise to stay with Akito, stay by his side, pretend that he's still a Juunishi, etc.

And then, at the end of the chapter, something is revealed: apparently Akito's a girl. To be honest, I'm not really sure what to do with this information. As far as I can remember, it doesn't really have much to do with anything. Why has he (she? fuck. I have no idea.) been presenting as a boy this whole time? Because his mom forced him, since he was born. Why did she do that? I don't know, it didn't say in this book. Hopefully it fucking clarifies later on, because I'm just getting vibes from that one Insidious movie, with that ghost/demon person. Wasn't that their deal? Something like that. Reversed, but something like that. Idk, I was too busy being scared shitless to think about the intricacies of the plot.

Anyway, so Akito's apparently a girl, but has been raised as a boy. Four of the Juunishi know this: Shigure, Hatori, Ayame, and Kureno, because they were all kids when Akito was born. Apparently, when Akito's mom (her name is Ren) was pregnant with Akito, they all came to her and were crying and shit, acting super weird. Like, they all just knew that Akito would be the God.

As a fun side note, Ren and Akito fucking hate each other. Just,, so much. Is there a person in the Sohma family that doesn't have familial issues, because it just seems like there are a lot of people who do. I think maybe Kagura doesn't? I haven't seen anything saying she has issues. Nothing much has been said about Shigure's, Hatori's, or Kureno's families, so maybe they're okay? I dunno, but one of the things that specifically shows up between Ren and Akito, is that Ren does not believe in the "bond" that Akito and the rest of the Juunishi have, saying that it's a fake love, that, if given the choice, the Juunishi would not behave or treat Akito the way they do, which is kinda true. From what I read about when Yuki first met Akito, there were a lot of conflicting feelings, ranging from "I hate you but also I never want to be away from you" to "This is hell on earth just being near this person but also to be away from this person is agony", and like, whoa. That's a lot. I doubt it's like that at all anymore, but there has been some mentions that Akito does have some higher hold on the Juunishi than other people do.

All this said and done, I still want to know more. I am heavily curious. I'd like to know more about Akito's whole situation. I'm glad he's not just a one-dimensional "bad guy", but dang, some of this stuff, it just feels like it's coming out of left field. (Is that a baseball thing? That sounds like a baseball thing. Idioms are weird.)

By the time that Kureno leaves, Tohru's a wreck. She's crying, and confused, and just,,, yikes. (I kinda was too, but just the confused part.) And so who comes to the rescue than Hanajima, and also Hanajima, but the small one. (I realized recently that most of these people are referred to by their first names, except for like, Uotani and Hanajima, which makes sense. A massive swath of these characters would all be "Sohma". It'd be confusing as fuck. But still. Idk) Hanajima felt Tohru's sheer confusion and despair, and Megumi tagged along because why not, y'know?

Hanajima decided that Tohru would stay with her for the night, so that she and Tohru and Uotani could all talk stuff out about what Tohru was upset about. Unfortunately for Shigure, Yuki and possibly Kyo? I don't think he was home at the time but maybe??, that meant that Tohru wasn't making dinner. So Yuki potentially gave Shigure and himself food poisoning, but hey, it's better than takeout, right? (Seriously, Tohru's back must be tired from cooking, cleaning, doing the laundry, and dealing with everyone's emotional baggage, she's doing so much. And she still has her own personal shit that she does, like,,, how hasn't she lost her shit yet??)

Tohru says that Kureno was kind, in that he was looking out for other people's feelings and wellfare before his own, and Hanajima says that she (Tohru) does the same thing (which is what Uotani first saw in Kureno, and why she thought that he was like Tohru), but Hanajima worries that the more that Tohru does that, the more that she carries the worries and troubles of other people, it could end up hurting her. (We love a caring friend that cares) In the end, Uotani tells Tohru that it's okay, that she cares more about the relationships she has now than whatever she might have had with Kureno, which was nice.

Moving onwards, the school is making preparations for graduation! I don't think Tohru and Co. are graduating quite yet (maybe they are idk), but there are these paper flowers that they're making, and for some reason, shenanigans ensue. Like, a group of girls just nabbing a bunch of flowers that Kyo made?? Why? That's really weird of you to do. Stop that. (They were tracked down and forced to make up for all the flowers they stole, because for some reason they wouldn't give back the flowers they stole.) It's kinda weird, I forgot that Kyo is also kinda popular with girls, because usually we only hear from the girls that fawn over Yuki. But yeah, that's a thing for Kyo, as well. Weird, either way.

Now we are at the last chunk of the book, hooray! This isn't as long as the previous one ����. So, Shigure and Akito got something weird going on. I'm not really sure what to think of it, honestly. Apparently Shigure slept with Ren, and Akito kicked him out of the main house as a punishment, which Shigure did not fight back at all. (wow that was not a large section at all i totally didn't just lose steam and stop right there at all nope not me i don't do that not at all)

I'll admit that part of me is still kinda,, squeamish? I guess? about people in the Sohma household being in relationships, it's just that they all have "Sohma", that is probably messing me up. Idk. It's definitely not a healthy relationship. All kinds of weird tensions and miscommunication abound. It's not a good time.

[pictureamoebae]

hi hello sorry if you've already answered this before (even though i checked through your faq tag and i thiiink my question hasn't been asked yet??) but for some reason mxao & dof stopped working for me?? it worked before but then for some reason now it doesn't show up?? i checked and even with the box checked nothing shows up. i'm not sure if i did something wrong or what but i don't think i've changed anything from when i first started using reshade so idk what happened

Hi anon, I’m sorry you’re having problems.

First thing to do is check whether Edge Smoothing has accidentally been re-enabled in the game’s graphics options. I don’t think this can happen automatically via a patch, but it’s not outside the realm of possibility. It will also be reset if you ever change the overall graphics quality (the main drop-down above the individual graphics options). It’s easy done, without realising, and if Edge Smoothing is on it will stop any depth effects in ReShade (like dof, mxao, adaptive fog etc) from working.

The next thing to check are your preprocessor definitions. Depending on your version of ReShade you’ll either find them in the Settings tab (for v. 3.x) or via a button at the top of the bottom pane in the main Home tab (v. 4.x). Check that the entries for depth being ‘reversed’, ‘upside-down’, and ‘logarithmic’ are all set to 0. If any of them are set to 1, change them to 0 and press Reload at the bottom.

If all of that is in order, the next thing you can check is a little more advanced, but easy to do. 

Depth effects like mxao and dof require ReShade to hook itself into the game’s own depth buffer at the right time. There are lots of different things all happening at roughly the same time when the game uses its own post-processing and rendering, and it will order them so each happens at the correct time, one after another, so they work together properly. Think of it like a series of layers in Photoshop, where the finished image will look different depending on how you order those layers. The developers have arranged all those ‘layers’ so that they all work together optimally, both for performance and for aesthetics.

ReShade has to inject itself into the game at the correct time for it to look right. Usually this is at the end, so it layers its effects over the top of the game’s own effects. For depth effects, however, in order to get access to the depth buffer it has to inject itself in earlier, at just the right time. It doesn’t always get this right, because it’s fighting against the game. You can manually override this though, which can help solve some issues.

In the ReShade menu at the top the very last tab will say dx9 (or dx11 if you’re playing a dx11 game – this is the same process for all games). Click on that tab and you’ll see a few boxes with long strings of numbers and weird incomprehensible stuff, and some of them may have numbers that are rapidly calculating and changing. These are the depth buffers. While you’ve got one of your depth effects enabled, tick one of these boxes in the dx9 tab, and see what happens. If nothing happens, move down to the next one, and so on. Eventually, hopefully, you’ll find the correct one that hooks into the depth buffer properly. You may have to go into this tab and do it every time you load the game or if you use SRWE for hotsampling after every time you render a new resolution. Sometimes the box you need to tick may change depending on the map you’re loaded into, so be prepared for some trial and error.

This is what I’m having to do in The Outer Worlds. It forgets the depth buffer and keeps rendering it in the wrong part of the rendering pipeline, meaning in this case it blurs the whole image rather than using the depth. So I have to go into the dx11 tab and click one of the boxes to get it to work again. And because I hotsample, I have to bring up the menu while I’m hotsampled and do it there too, which is really painful because I use big resolutions that knock me down to 1fps. But it gets the job done.

If none of these things are working, I’d go and check all the usual sorts of things like turning off Origin In-Game, running the game (and Origin) as administrator, making sure you don’t have any other programs running (even as background processes) that use any kind of overlay, make sure you are up-to-date with your graphics drivers and Windows updates, etc. And then, when all else fails, uninstall ReShade and reinstall it from scratch (make a backup of your current installation so you can paste it back in if you need to). And if that doesn’t work, try a different version of ReShade.

Hopefully, somewhere in all of that, is a solution for you. I tested the game a week or so ago, having not picked it up since before Moschino came out, because someone else was noticing weird behaviour with mxao. I got that same weird behaviour, so I think a recent patch to the game has altered the behaviour of the game’s depth buffer in some way. It’s entirely possible this is causing other problems (our problem was mxao fading or disappearing when you move the camera up). There is, unfortunately, only so much we can do our end if Maxis have changed something to how they render the game. ReShade is a nifty little tool that tries to take into consideration all the weird ways developers set up their games, but they can’t account for everything. But hopefully this isn’t the case here and it is something we can fix for you. Please let me know if any of the steps above helped.

[yourdaintyvixen2]

I'm really tired

So basically here's a recap of my recent life:

I've got chronic joint pain that varies in intensity and sorta moves around, though it's mostly in my hips, neck, back, and hands. My doctor insists it's because I'm fat and out of shape and hasn't listened to a thing I've said.

I've been trying to find some sort of romantic interest so I'm making the same mistake I made last summer and meeting up with a boy I met on Tinder who's not American and will be leaving at the end of the summer (this one's a brit). Also we were supposed to have already met up last week but he basically pushed me off by 2.5 hours and I bailed because I was incredibly bored and I've been pushed off before and it's tiring. I'm young and dumb and have decided to give him a second chance. He's insisted I start watching Peaky Blinders, and honestly 3 episodes in it seems pretty good.

Just a reminder I'm dumb and acknowledging that, this will likely end poorly.

I've got a therapist, sort of, shes having me go to see her at a different office because she doesn't have access to a psychiatrist at the first one, and she has decided I have a pressing need for pills in my life. I'm not saying she's wrong, but I am saying it's concerning when a therapist wants to get you on meds ASAP and makes you program the local crisis line into your phone. I get that she doesn't really know me after 3 sessions but youd think that she'd trust that I know my own limits by now. I mean I haven't done anything dramatic yet, why start now? She's also said that my support network is too small on several occasions, and she's right because I haven't got one, but she doesn't have to say it. It's rude to point that out to someone who is pointedly ignoring their self imposed isolation. I honestly don't think she'll last, not because she's bad at her job or pointing out things I don't particularly want to listen to, but because she's overly concerned without giving any actual feedback besides "you're so strong " and "that was abuse" which are both things I've already figured out, thank you. I need a level 2 therapist, not any of this level 1 bullshit. Just because I didn't take AP therapy doesn't mean I should get stuck with someone who's stuck on the basics. It's aggravating to have to re-do all the things I've already done by myself under supervision, talk through the thought patterns and everything, just to be told that I'm going to have to do it all again because apparently it only works when someone else guides it, because there is no trust in therapy.

I've been sleeping too much. Not on purpose but I turn off my alarm and go to get up and wake up at 1pm barely remembering turning off my alarm at 9. I think it's related to the pain bit.

I'm just generally a mess.

I need a hug, or some other physical affection. Hopefully I can get it from Charlie, the seemingly sweet brit. He seems nice enough to hug me, and knowing young men he's probably horny enough to make out with me at least. It's been nice to talk with him the last several days, I get the feeling it's all just enough to get some action though, which kinda sucks, but I'm certainly not the only girl in the area and I'm sure he could find better if he wanted to. I'm also sure he can figure out how to get whatever he's looking for if he tries hard enough. I'm probably depressed enough to let him.