#i might add more to this if i think of any... and other people are welcome to add some too if they have any good ones :)

[bogleech]

These replies meant well but they miss the point, we are absolutely dealing with a fanatical hive minded cult here. Zombie and Sheep are completely appropriate euphemisms for people who willingly chose not to think for themselves, and if Trump says the sky is green then his whole barking, flopping gaggle of drunken seals will not only immediately believe the sky is green, they will also believe you're a baby-eating commie satanist if you think it's ever been blue.

I'm just going to copy/paste what I already added before:

-

"The number of people who seriously didn't know anything other than "he said he'd fix the economy" can't be that common. And if you ever heard him speak, you heard him define "fixing the economy" as "shutting down the border," because his single biggest campaign tool has been the complete and utter lie that "illegals" are a significant drain on the economy or that they're on the rise. Both are false. The vast, vast majority of his supporters, I'd say well over 99%, maybe more like several hundred to one, hold at least one, normally several of the following beliefs:

That there are bloodthirsty foreign devils deliberately invading at all times from the Southern border, and they can be blamed for the financial struggles of the "legal" citizens.

Anyone outside the traditional gender norms is an insatiable pervert and wants to corrupt innocent children.

Those who get abortions or in some cases even use birth control are murderers and filthy whores.

People in poverty are just lazy druggies who didn't care or try hard enough and brought all of their suffering on themselves.

The Disabled and in fact anyone unable to just work, work, work and work for at least some retail shit are a burden to be scorned.

Everyone bombed and killed by the U.S. military or any of its allied countries is always either a terrorist or an acceptable sacrifice in the fight against terrorists.

Police brutality is overstated and most people hurt or killed by cops did something to deserve it, but most especially minorities, who may or may not be genetically predisposed to crime.

An idea that Jewish people secretly control the world through a vast interconnected conspiracy that may also involve demon worship and child trafficking.

Doctors and scientists are liars who drain money from the economy and are wrong about everything that might inconvenience a rich man.

Non-Christians of any kind are degenerate and dangerous.

Trump's entire platform, and that of all other GOP candidates these days, is a deliberately fuzzy promise to act on any or all of these hysterical prejudices. He's most consistent about the first one and made it pretty much the central pillar of his whole campaign, because the paranoia over an imaginary "border crisis" is by far the most popular culture war uniting the right. Which is pretty fucking sad considering just how utterly fabricated it is, and how effortless it is to find that out in only seconds. However, not all conservatives subscribe to all of the same moral panics at the same time, so right wing influencers spend a lot of time weeping and gnashing over "liberalism" or "socialism" or this word that rhymes with "yoke" so that every one of their stupid, angry grovelers can read into it as a promise to defeat whatever it is those words mean in their mushy fucking brains. The single most important thing to understand of all, though, is that the lies are not what make them hate people. They already wanted to hate those people. The lies are concocted after the fact to justify the deeds they want to commit. They are stupid, scared, gullible and weak but they are also willfully spiteful with a massive punishment fetish, so when you get enough of them together they can actually wreak havoc. The point of my original post was that they're not anything as cool or impressive as evil nefarious villains. They're more comparable to a mindless but inexorable flood of sewage.

-

I will also add: almost all of them categorize other human beings as "illegal aliens," and to them those aren't just words, but an actual demographic label they want to force on anyone who didn't fill out all the right forms, which they want enforced as an unforgivable crime.

Getting upset that I turn around and throw "dehoominizing langwidge" back at them is honestly a little ridiculous and even kind of uncomfortable, like if you saw a guy beating his wife and patted him gently on the back to remind him he matters. No he doesn't! Put a knife in that hand first! Referring to violent xenophobes as zombies or animals or vermin shouldn't bother you any more than calling them shitheads or assholes or even just jerks, because all possible words and language are completely inconsequential compared to their actual efforts at legislative dehumanization.

That's what "dehumanization" actually is. Not calling someone a dog or a ghoul in words, which is merely an expression of how ugly their behavior has become. Dehumanization is the actual treatment, by action, of other people as less worthy of basic rights and that is what they set out to do every single day. Like are some of you seriously that sheltered and naive. Yeesh. If you're personally acquainted with that one-in-a-million kind-hearted well meaning oaf who ignorantly supports the right wing out of innocent childlike ignorance, congrats but it doesn't change a thing and maybe your poor sweet gentle pet maga should have cared enough to know what they were voting for?

Young people have GOT to stop talking about conservatives like they're scary menacing monsters. Yes the policies they back are horrifically destructive but that's entirely because of how individually stupid, fearful, emotionally stunted, weak willed and catastrophically gullible they are. That all is what made them become right wing to begin with. Just the most easily manipulated zombie sheep on earth.

[ckret2]

Hellooo, I have a question about Billford in your au.

how do they get a chance to get together if both Mabel and Stanley are keeping a sharp eye on them, and forbidding them of any romantic relationships?

They are NOT keeping a sharp eye on them.

Mabel has identified Bill as a needy ex, and is determined to get him to move on—but like, he's gonna be dating around town! She's gonna meet a couple of the people he goes out with! (We're using the word "people" really loosely here.) And Bill's attitude toward Ford has evolved from "hey buddy, don't you wanna be buddies again, buddy??" to "if you don't like me then why bother." So getting Bill to move on is totally working, right?

(I DO still need to edit a couple scenes in some early chapters for TBOB compatibility on this front—but that basically only means Mabel's going from "I need to help Bill make new friends and keep him away from Ford so he won't be a jerk toward him" to "I need to help Bill make new friends and keep him away from Ford so he won't be a jerky ex toward him." Either way, she's mostly concerned about Bill being a jerk.)

Stan has realized Ford's weirdly obsessive over Bill... but not THAT kind of obsessive. It's like "interview him about his species while vivisecting him" obsessive. Like so. Ford gets like this about stuff! Stan might not have a damn clue what autism is but he sure as hell has seen his brother's special interests! He tried to kill that triangle for thirty years, this obsession is not coming from a place of love. He's worried about Ford—but he's NOT worried about romance.

As a bonus, the two of them DIDN'T have a past relationship—they're not actually exes, they just spent the 80s being weirdly homoerotic—so there's no grounds to worry that they might "get back together." Bill's current feelings on Ford are more mixed; but at this point in the fic, Ford honestly, genuinely, truly hates Bill with no romantic interest.

Plus, once romance creeps onto the table, Ford thinks "if anything happens between Bill and me, my family would never forgive me (and I'd never forgive myself)" and Bill thinks "if anything happens between Ford and me, the Pines would murder me, and that might not be hyperbole." They'll be motivated to downplay their feelings for each order before feelings even start to happen.

Bill & Ford tend to clam up around each other or only have shallow surface-level conversations when other people are around. When they DO have serious heart-to-heart discussions they trip and stumble into them when no one's listening. (They keep having serious conversations at midnight, usually in the kitchen. It's happened like, what, four times so far?) This is gonna continue in future chapters. Oh, boy is it gonna continue.

So during this time period, as far as anyone else knows, on a scale of 0 = sheer loathing to 10 = passionate love, Ford's feelings for Bill go from 0 to 2 and Bill's feelings for Ford go from 3 to 1.

It doesn't help that their idea of flirting is "spend an entire day arguing about whether or not Minnesota exists and compromise by agreeing the backs of dollar bills are blank. Tell no one how this is a compromise." This is some kind of shrimp romance.

(This is an actual upcoming chapter, and I wrote it like a week before TBOB came out where Bill has a whole paragraph about how Minnesota doesn't exist. Originally the chapter was about Wyoming. I still think Wyoming works better than Minnesota but I'm tickled "Bill claims a state doesn't exist" is canon.)

Add that all up? And by the time anyone realizes something's going on—IF anyone realizes something's going on—they've been licking each other's eyeballs and roleplaying erotic deicide for weeks.

(This is a slight exaggeration. Only Bill's into eyeball licking.)

[d0rothydraws]

Supportive sugar daddy sylus.

You were exhausted.

You picked up a new position at work. Figuring it would be just a little different you weren't worried. But little did you know, it was basically a whole new job. New people, new tasks, new schedule. Everything was different. And you were drained.

Sylus was supportive as always. He made his chef cook you meals so you could come home to a hot fresh meal every night. Everything to your clothes laid out on the freshly changed bed so you could change after you showered together.

Which he insisted on.

With the new schedule you seen him less, had less time to text. It honestly broke your heart. And though you knew that it was a better position, better pay, one thing rang in your mind, a conversation you had months prior to now.

"Sweetie, you know you can quit, right?" His voice rang in your head as if he was saying it right in front of you. As fresh as the day he said it. "You would have all the time for any hobby you'd want to pursue. Why not learn to make those plushies you like so much?"

His words rang in your ears. Your body stopped moving as you felt a surge of hope. But what would that mean for how people see you? For your reputation. Your mind started to swim with thoughts of urgency and self doubt.

Not noticing Sylus' moving closer he cupped your face in his large hands, his voice dropping to a whisper.

"I will take care of you, sweetie. Don't waste your time thinking of what others think. And if you end up wanting to go back to work, then that's fine too." He said kissing your forehead. "But just say the word and I will take care of anything you need."

You didn't want to jump into a rash decision but eventually you did agree. With all the extra time on your hands you were able to take up hobbies that you could never even dream of doing before. You never had to worry about the price of the materials either. Sylus would take you to the store and as you dumped the things you needed into the cart, he would add even more saying

"It might come in handy."

You had a whole room in his house dedicated to your supplies. You needed it with how much he bought. And if you lost interest and wanted to move on he didn't say anything. The supplies donated to a charity or someone who needs them.

[olderthannetfic]

Quote from a post: "the things created within fandom aren’t real - an individual fic can’t cause actual, material harm to a reader, even if it contains tropes that would be harmful or distressing if they happened in that reader’s real life; an author’s use of certain tropes or interest in certain characters is not indicative of their actual morals and values in real life; thought crimes are not real crimes - but fanfiction is produced by human beings who are themselves products of the societies and communities in which we all live, and these societies and communities all have flaws and failings.

which is to say, those of us who prefer to read male friendships as romantic do need to be aware that, no matter how enlightened on gender and its foibles we think ourselves to be, we are nonetheless influenced as modern humans by a modern tendency to discourage platonic physical and emotional closeness between men - especially straight men - on the grounds that two men having this sort of relationship is inherently queer and, in being queer, implicitly sexual [an understanding of queerness which is another powerful societal influence on our thought, even if we know we don’t agree with it.]"

Okay this is from a big post from a big fandom account here please don't speculate who it is this is not about them specifically and has nothing to do with them i genuinely respect this poster and they are nothing but a supportive space and don't have any anti-nonsense. But I wanna talk about this point that they are making "the society is queering straight friendships" which is something also the anti-fujoshi crowd is saying and honestly I can't agree with that point.

I don't think its us the people who make fandom are queering the relationships between two straight men but the patriarchal system we live under and straight men themselves are doing it to themselves. They can't show love and affection to each other lest other dudes will call them gay not because there are secret fujoshis around that sexualize them. They can be vulnerable period lest everyone calls them whiney like women. I feel like (and most of the things I say here are vibes, not facts) men having close friendships with other men are green flags, and most women are excited to see men who have exact the strong relationship that are portrayed in media.

I'm confused by this talking point to be honest. I also understand that by saying everything I said above I sort of said the same thing as the original poster. In a sense that society is the problem here and we live in a society as we know, but... idk I feel like what they say is "we live in a society where everyone by default is sexualizing male friendships" which sounds like the standard anti-fujoshi talking point to me.

And regarding the point of romantic relationships being prioritized over platonic— I feel like is a complete bullshit to be honest.

Romantic relationships are prioritized over platonic ones across the board. Straight couples leave their straight friends behind when they get further into relationship too! I don't understand this impulse to constantly talk about romantic vs platonic thing when its about queer ships, and maybe there is somewhere straight ship discourse about romantic vs plantonic but its not as big as with mlm or wlw ships.

And honestly even with this take I feel like romantic relationships are also not prioritized but rather are more encouraged. And there is difference between encouraging and actually prioritizing I think.

(I want to add here that I'm not aroace so maybe its a blindspot and from that identitys point of view the dynamics might be different)

In reality I think both are equally hard to obtain and maintain. I always felt like the fandom being so shipping focused was not about people being hellbent on romance but just the fact that good love stories are few and far between both in fiction and IRL and we can't help but try to make something at least remotely good, or interesting or satisfying.

Again, my main problems is: 1) I don't agree that romantic relationships are prioritized to that high degree over the friendships like everyone claims. 2) I don't think that every single person is actually a secret fujoshi waiting to make any straight male friendship gay. 3) Fandoms are romantic ship centric because people just want more narratively satisfying romantic stories that are underrepresented in media (or they don't get to experience it IRL) rather than they are vehemently against platonic ships.

I don't know this hopefully came out coherent.

--

The person who wrote that sounds like a pretentious twatwaffle, and I am so sick of seeing otherwise reasonable people spout that crap. That's been true since the 90s and probably before.

The reality is that Western culture enshrines male friendship as the highest form of affection possible. This goes back to the Classical world. And, yes, they were probably fucking too back then, but the thing that all of the media is about is friendship.

The entire backbone of Western culture is built on the idea that men are spiritually, biologically, inherently more capable than women of this highest form of relationship. Romance is the big thing for women because we're not eligible for The Pure And Holy Friendship Between Two Men.

The epidemic of male loneliness is real, but we haven't gotten any less "Bros before hos". Fandom and m/m shipping behavior are irrelevant to this.

--

Furthermore, fandom has plenty of people who don't focus on shipping.

AO3 was built by slashers, so ship type is a top-level category, and the site obviously signals that it's about shipping and particularly non heterosexual shipping since you can filter out het.

Past sites often had more metadata that wasn't around ships (e.g. FFN's genres that work like bookstore genres) and almost never let you get rid of het. You might have been able to filter in The Gay, but straight stuff was literally unmarked.

~We do need to be aware of~

Bite me.

This naggy phrase is everywhere, and nothing good comes of it.

The only thing we need to be aware of is that Blorbo is great and s/he should be mashed together with Other Blorbo. If that's in gen adventures, you do you.

[fandomsandfeminism]

If you haven't read this book (oh gods, please do) or any Discworld (please. Please it will change your brain chemistry), I feel the need to add- often these books capture so perfectly the crushing disappointment and frustration of people being people in the worst ways.

But, importantly, Sam (and Granny and Tiffany too) still fight for them. Still go out into the dark and the rain to protect people from the worst they might do to each other. Even frightened and stupid and small minded, Discworlds protagonists will do the thankless work of being the Shepard in the field and the light in the dark, because someone has to.

The key part of that first quote, I think, is the "when you saw people as things to be measured" because-

"There's no grays, only white that's got grubby. I'm surprised you don't know that. And sin, young man, is when you treat people like things. Including yourself. That's what sin is." "It's a lot more complicated than that--" "No. It ain't. When people say things are a lot more complicated than that, they means they're getting worried that they won't like the truth. People as things, that's where it starts." "Oh, I'm sure there are worse crimes--" "But they starts with thinking about people as things..."

--from Carpe Jugulum, by Terry Pratchett.

"People on the side of The People always ended up disappointed, in any case. They found that The People tended not to be grateful or appreciative or forward-thinking or obedient. The People tended to be small-minded and conservative and not very clever and were even distrustful of cleverness. And so, the children of the revolution were faced with the age-old problem: it wasn’t that you had the wrong kind of government, which was obvious, but that you had the wrong kind of people. As soon as you saw people as things to be measured, they didn’t measure up."

[loulovingho]

may i also add: people looove the lovey dovey honeymoon phase and getting to know each other arc if ships. which i cannot recall any of the other main couples truly ever had. madney a lil bit, but i don't think it was that much of a romcom thing. bucktommy however... the getting together alone is. so movie-like? the real focus on their first kiss, the prelude to it all. the thing with the hospital. the other couples feel much more established and endgamey, less like a new love blossoming. look at how little romcom content they have bathena before they married! and this is what most people are looking for in romance content. it is about the crush, the getting together, the first kiss, and the hurdles at the beginning. i think they truly underestimated how this popular and widely used formula would also affect how bucktommy is received AND perceived. tim minear was right, it IS like a romcom. and that is where the issues begin because the standard formular of a romcom has only one (1) type of ending. it automatically sets expectations. subverting expectations might be nice in other genres, but romcom? not really. and even if he wanted to pull it off, you need to have some solid storytelling for that to work without making people feel disappointed. let's be real, the show has not had solid writing in years, much less for actually impactful storylines that all had lackluster or downright offensive/disappointing endings.

.

[lj-lephemstar]

Progress Checkup! (Nov. 2024) | Scratchin' Melodii Devlog

​​Hey again guys! Sorry if it's been a bit since the last devlog. With how much I've been up to, it sure feels like it!

Let's get right into it. For starters, the 3rd rival battle of Act 2 is complete! I'll likely be showing a gameplay preview of it sometime soon. This is the first song to use the new framework that I'll be using for all the other stages going forward, which also means I've had to spend the past couple weeks getting the previous songs working with this new system too... Did you know that in the demo builds, if I wanted to change something about the gameplay, I'd have to manually go back and change it for EACH individual song one by one? Well now, imagine all the songs had like a peace treaty to just share one good, clean, and organized system that I can easily tweak and add to as I please. So development is gonna be smoother than ever from here! This is how most games are SUPPOSED to work, but I was a liiittle too stupid to figure out how to do this until recently!

While I was moving Cream Cheese Icing over to this new system, I took the opportunity to make the chart a bit more beginner-friendly! For example, the first line went from this...

To just this!

As you can see, it has less notes, therefore it is less scary for new players. Believe it or not, I actually never intended for Cream Cheese Icing to be so difficult for new players in the first place! Naturally, being too good at my own game can make gauging the difficulty curve a bit tricky at times, but I think I'm figuring it out!​

You may have also noticed that the characters have new UI icons too! I felt like the old ones were too flat and boring, so I did a new take on them, aiming for more dynamic shapes and angles, not to mention how my art style's just kinda grown a bit in general since I last drew the icons. I also ended up leaving out the circles behind them. I was a little worried I was gonna run out of unique colors for all of them at some point, plus SOME of these guys can have really big hair and/or hats that pretty much just cover up the whole circle anyway. (hi rensa)

Speaking of artwork, here's a little look at some of the updated animation I've done for Stir & Mix! (Try to imagine it in not highly-compressed-gif-form. I promise it looks better in-game!)

When working on Stir & Mix related stuff, I can't help but feel a bit of a sense of dread knowing how people may react to it... Honestly, sometimes I kinda wish it never got as popular as it did in 2022. But hey, doing my own thing regardless of what's expected of me is the most Scratchin' Melodii thing I could do!

Speaking of which, Mia learned a ton of new stuff while doing the VOCALOID tuning for the last rival battle we worked on, so we might revisit Stir & Mix's vocals again at some point before release to give it even more style! (By the way, Mia and 2cada are the same person! Sorry if I refer to both names interchangeably! She's been the one doing all the VOCALOID tuning and vocal mixing for the game since 2023.)

Well, I think that's all for now! Here's another friendly reminder that there will NOT be anymore demos of the game. Any new content will be saved for the full game's release. I know I've said it before, but I probably won't stop saying it until people stop getting confused about it LOL. Thanks for reading!! I appreciate you. - LJ

[goldtheorys]

Jeff the killer general + relationship headcanons

_I did Jeff headcanons before but they were ass, so here’s my second attempt.

══════════════════ -`♡´-

General 🩶

Veeeeery reclusive

He’s thin and agile, even if he’s literally just standing in a room staring at the wall, lost in thought, he’ll hide or slip out of the room when he hears someone coming in easily

He doesn’t even really mean to, but it’s just some instinct that kicks in he doesn’t bother to fight

Doesn’t like people all that much anyways, so he’ll do what he can to avoid everyone

Loneliness isn’t the loveliest feeling though

Occasionally he’ll go find one of the other creeps, awkwardly ask them a simple question

I see a lot of stuff where he’s really loud and obnoxious, also a total jerk, and although I agree, his whole life went to shit pretty early on

So he lacks social skills, he barely knows how to take care of himself, and doesn’t have good emotional control

Of course he has outbursts, he doesn’t know how to make friends, he thinks because he’s so damn amazing everyone who “acts” like they hate him just wants to be him

But it begins to get to him after awhile, never having someone

He is sort of friends with Ben, but it flip flops from fun and easygoing to strained and frustrating

Survives on randomly selected energy drinks, beer and junk food alone

Cannot cook, cannot remember what a warm meal tastes like

Has a lot of energy, so when he can’t find anyone to bother, he goes on walks

Mostly during night to help hide his face, but because of that it’s pretty enjoyable

Wears a mask too so he can grab some food before finding whatever abandoned park he can, sitting on the swing set while he eats

Prefers the colder months

I’m not sure I wanna add he has smile dog as a pet on my version of him… but he is a big dog person. Runs into a stray every now and again and spends maybe a solid hour just petting and talking to it

He kills when he feels overwhelmed, but regrets it from all the guilt after

Sleeps a lot to try and forget about everything

Relationship

══════════════════ 🤍

You two probably met in a rather absurd way

Maybe it was the classic you both just murdered someone and found eachother, dripping with a stranger’s blood

Or he walked into your home at random, surprised and intrigued by your lack of fear

(you were just too tired to give a fuck)

He’s real rude at first, calling you names, making fun of basically the way you breathe or walk, trying to poke and prod for a weak point

If you tough it out and keep being kind or neutral towards him, eventually he’ll stop and slide into a weird mood of observing you

It’s like his eyes never leave you for a second, and it gets real creepy

He studies your movements, your face, your words, your mannerisms

You’re still here despite his lack of…maturity at the beginning

Even if it’s a little begrudgingly, you’ve let him stay

It’s weird and he can’t help but question if it’s some scheme to hurt or kill him

But he’ll be damned if he misses the chance to have the first genuine human connection he’s had in years

Kind of follows you like a cat when he can

Like to watch you from his own spot in the room, occasionally piping up to say whatever comes to his mind

And, it would take a bit longer, but eventually he warms up to being more affectionate, rather than the previous friendly coexisting

Doesn’t show it, might even scowl at you for being quote unquote cringe, but adores when you compliment him. About his beauty, his talents, his intelligence, he wants it all

But what he really adores is your touch

Late nights in, watching some show while he lies on top of you

Your nails running up and down his back, occasionally tangling into his hair to twist and brush it makes his heart beat faster than any night when he’s drenched in sweat and blood

He’ll still refuse to show that kind of weakness in front of anyone else, but when it’s just him and you, he’s pathetic for your attention and affection

Likes to hold you from behind, tracing every curve, every scar, every inch of your skin he can reach

Dangerously possessive

You’re the first good thing that’s happened to him in a long while, he cannot stand even the thought of you being ripped away from him

And as I said before, he doesn’t have the greatest control of his feelings

Instead of voicing his fears or concerns, he lashes out at you, especially if he knows you’ve been spending time with someone else

Tries to force you to stay by his side, threatens to harm you if you dare to leave

But once he calms down, he leaves, and your left scratching your head wondering why he had done all of that

He’ll come back when you’re asleep, watching you as he traces shapes onto your arm

He’s so fucking scared you’re gonna realize how truly shitty of a person he is

Wakes you up, wrapping you into a hug as soon as your blearily blink your eyes open

He won’t apologize, he’s still a bit of a narcissist, but you can feel it in the way he clings to you in the darkness of the room

You’ll cuddle him to sleep, and wake up in the morning to him acting like nothing has happened

══════════════════ -`♡´-

_ughhh still don’t rlly like this it is SO messy, but also idc lol. Hope my version of him is enjoyable… might work on nsfw headcanons next, but I’m kind of just going with whatever right now. requests open, and sorry for my previous inactivity (⇀‸↼‶)

[itstheval]

Memory of Visitation

A @livesworthlivingau Side Story

"Oh Stars, I remember this town! This place sucked!"

Siffrin said it with a laugh as they entered Wolworth, but everyone else simply glanced strangely at him. The realization hit them at the same time it did Mira, from the look on their faces. "Time travel s-" "NO SPOILERS!"

Mira half-pulled her rapier, but the look on her face was one of jest that kept a smile on Siffrin's face, even as they raised their hands up defensively. "Okay, okay! I just…There were a lot of memories wrapped up in this town. So, uh…" His eyes flickered around to the others, looking for help, and getting only amusement at his plight.

"Hmf. I believe, I will go take a walk. To explore. Bonnie, would you come with me? You have the shopping list." "Aw, Crab, I wanted to hear!" Mirabelle harumphed her way away, frills spinning as she twirled on a heel and walked into town, leaving Siffrin staring helplessly as Bonnie rushed to catch up with her, hat bouncing with every rushed step. Vale's laugh broke the tension, and Siffrin turned back to look at them. "Oh well DONE, Stardust! We can really see the skills it took you thirty years to hone!"

The flush darkening their cheeks was matched only by their urge to snap back, and they managed to find their voice. "Don't laugh too hard, Vale, not until you find out WHAT happened here. Besides, I might make sure it happens to you…"

"We got here…I want to say a few months, after the King? We'd met you, Nille, but there was a lot you didn't know. I hadn't even opened up to everyone yet…I'd say I'm sorry, but you know. Wrong people to apologize to. But you, Odile! You're always too clever, and you'd noticed, by now."

"I'll take that as a compliment." Odile managed, smiling wryly. She recognized an Old Man Ramble by now, but Siffrin's stories were always worth the listen.

"Noticed what, precisely?" Vale's question was colder, but from the look on their face, the queasiness in their expression, they already knew.

"Well…Back then. Before I knew any better. And I want to make it real clear, I know better now! But back then, I would…Punish myself. With my dagger. For things that…hadn't happened, to any of you? And I'd hide it with my Craft, which…I learned way more about the limits of Healing Craft than I should have."

Siffrin didn't bother looking at everyone's faces. He knew what they looked like. He'd seen them before, and they broke his heart the first time, when it was Odile revealing this. Even so much later, thinking about those expressions hurt.

What he wasn't expecting was the sudden enfolding of arms around him. Isabeau's warm body against his, enfolding him, and a moment later Odile's hand on his head, patting it gently. Even Nille joined in on the hug, and a glance up showed Vale nearby, looking in. This was…different? This was nice. Until, on some unspoken signal, everyone stepped away.

"I'm sorry Sif, just…the look on your face. I don't think anybody could see that and NOT want to give you a hug! We know it's alright, but the way you looked…"

"Like a crab just pinched your puppy." Nille confirmed.

"Yeah, or like…I dunno, like someone ate your favorite treat you were saving for later!"

In that moment, he was loved. In all moments, he was loved, but it was nice to see it so clearly, and the smile Siffrin let onto his face was genuine. "Thanks…I don't like thinking about this stuff. But, no bottling myself up, not to my family! That's what I promised."

"Promised who, precisely?" Odile's voice was wry, in the way that came when she was trying to not show affection.

"Well I was getting to that! Before everyone decided it was group hug time! Anyway! Odile noticed, and she…told everyone, when we were here. I'm not ashamed to say, I ran off. I was stupid…I thought none of you would care about me if you knew how much I hated myself."

"You're absolutely right, Stardust." Vale finally decided to add their two cents, and everyone's heads snapped towards them, making them glad that looks couldn't kill - they'd be dead four times over, at least! It was Odile who found her voice first.

"Explain?"

"He WAS stupid!"

Vale's laugh cut the tension that their statement made, and Siffrin was the first to join into it, before everyone else allowed themselves to be part of it.

"Right! Right, where was I…Running away. Right. Well, Odile was too smart again." A glance to her showed a smirk that showed she agreed. "I ran and hid in the House…and her letter had gotten there first. And when people showed up expecting me, and bringing me to an appointment? I wasn't going to tell them they had the wrong person. Whoever's appointment it was, I could hide there until you all forgot! And that's how I met my therapist."

The sharp bark of laughter from Odile showed just what she thought of that, but Isabeau was quick to follow, as Nille shook her head in exasperation. "That actually worked?" She said, around a smile, and Vale nodded with mock seriousness. "It would have worked on me. Smart."

Siffrin decided then to start walking and talking, as he explained the rest of it. "Doctor Jinn was…strange. Even for Vaugarde. It/its pronouns, with lightless hair with darkless spots in it, like the stars. I'd have almost thought it was from home, except that everyone I've seen from there had darkless hair…and Doctor Jinn was a housemaiden. Or…I mean, it was working in the house, and it wore a change symbol on a necklace? And one of them for a bonding earring? Anyway, it had its own office set up, and was ready for me and everything. It wasn't until it addressed me by my name that I realized what happened. But Odile, why did you tell it my name was 'Siffrin Nomiddlename Nolastname'?"

"I couldn't begin to imagine." Odile allowed, walking the crowded streets, Isabeau pushing ahead and the others walking in the wake of the broad man like wakesurfers…Siffrin briefly wondered where he'd heard that term, then remembered they were telling a story.

"Well, that's what it called me. Like that, like 'Nomiddlename' and 'Nolastname' were names themselves. It was a great listener, I'll tell you that…It seemed to accept the Wish Craft stuff pretty easily, and didn't blame me for…" a light cough. "Any of it." Siffrin glanced to the side, and when the others followed their glance, they saw Bonnie at a stall, haggling with a zit-faced teen about the price of tomatoes.

"The interesting thing was…Well, when we got there, we were sort of wandering wherever we felt like, just seeing the world? And it turned out that Jinn was traveling anyway, so we wound up joining it…or it joined us, but we just wound up going where it led. It was convenient, and it meant I couldn't get away from it, either. So…we wound up talking a lot. Almost the whole time we were in Wolworth, and even on the roads." Sif took a turn, but kept up his memories. "About the Loops, about what I could and couldn't remember, about…well, everything, really. How I felt about Isa, how I felt about touch, home, why the Universe granted wishes like it did - it really didn't have much to say there, but it was great to just get it out of my system."

Vale was starting to look uneasy as they walked along, and Siffrin knew it was now or never, time to strike and hope everyone else was on board. "It was so useful, in fact, that I felt like visiting again. I sent a letter ahead myself this time, since…well, you didn't have a reason to, Madame. And don't worry, Vale, I told them all about you!"

Siffrin's grin was shameless, and watching the look on Vale's face was worth the entire time, as they realized how close they were to the opened doors of the House. And how Isabeau was blocking them off to the side…Vale couldn't escape that way, maybe…no, Nille was over there. Maybe through the Madame? With that look on her face, no way. That was the Path of Pain.

Vale's shoulders slumped, as Siffrin stepped aside and gave a sweeping bow. "After you, my friend!" Vale muttered oaths under their breath as they marched to the doors, only to find a Housemaiden waiting for them.

"Siffrin and Vale Nomiddlename Nolastname? I'm Housemaiden David…I got your letter, but I'm afraid no one here's ever heard of a 'Doctor Jinn'. Would you like to come in anyway?"

[thatsveryvortex]

Writing Tools for Planning Your Story

I've tried tons of writing apps and sites, so you don't have to. Here's a list of free sites to plot out your novel, with my review and some images of how I use it.

Milanote

Milanote is like having a giant pinboard with folders. You can upload anything onto it [yes even your main doc] and then draw over it or connect things with lines and arrows

Milanote lets you add up to a hundred things for free, not including drawing. This is one of the downsides of the site as I've found myself reaching that limit recently.

For me, the best part is being able to draw over stuff, and the color swatches.

Milanote is a lot less structured than other sites I've used, and personally, I don't think their templates are worth using.

8/10 overall, Milanote is what I mainly use. Here are some pics of how I use it:

Miro

Miro is a flowchart website mainly used for corporate jobs, however, it can be a great plotting tool for that reason

Miro has a lot of great starter templates if you are looking for a more structured freeform experience. It also comes with a blank page as well.

Unfortunately, I'd argue that it's a bit of a hard tool for beginners to use without a template, I've learned copy-paste is my best friend with Miro the hard way.

It's much better than most platforms at making timelines though.

It has a limit of three boards which is a bit disappointing but overall, I think it's worth the try.

5/10 Miro is very middle of the road for me due to the limited ability to customize things and the free limit. Here are some pics:

[I wrote that part weeks ago, I am now fully using Miro and believe it's the best for making timelines and charts, I just wish it let me make more boards 8/10]

Hiveword

This might be someone's jam, I can't really say it's mine though.

First off, the unpaid version is really just a few boxes saying "Write a summary here." which makes it just not worth it in my opinion

There really isn't any way to customise things which is my favorite part of most of these softwares

I've barely used this, so maybe there's something I'm missing but

1/10, Just use Google Docs at this point, here's a couple pics

World Anvil

People like this software, it's mainly used for tabletop, which is just a different way of writing adventure, and I've seen it recommended by authors.

Unfortunately, I'm going to disagree with a lot of people and say it's hard to use and isn't even really good at plotting.

I may be biased on this one as every time I've tried to use it in the past I've struggled. However, it seems like another just write it in a document and create a folder.

I'd say it's closer to an organizing tool, but even then just use something else.

3/10, I have nothing to say about it but maybe you'll enjoy it, all here are two photos

Campfire

This is the one I think I've heard the most about, but have never actually tried.

right off the bat, I'm going to say this is 100% worth it, you'll see at the end with the photos but this is like if Miro and World Anvil had an organization baby.

It's extremely easy to understand, and it makes timelines, it's more for writing your whole book but idk about that yet.

7/10, its themes are really pretty but it limits how much you can do to 20 I believe. Here are the photos

That's all for now, honestly, I think you should use Miro if you are looking to plot things out, and Milanote if you want to collect and organize your thoughts for writing, as that's what I do. Obviously what I like won't be for everyone, but hopefully, this helped you see some options

[druckkugelschreiber]

More about slow burn Lucanis! I have not finished his Romance yet but seen some videos (and hence complains and people saying it was perfect anyhow).

Slight SPOILERS INCOMING FOR HIS PERSONAL QUEST

There are a couple of reasons Lucanis is slow on the uptake with the romance. That sort of play into each other.

First of all Spite is intense. We have all seen it. Spite is intense about Rook and there is a huge stigma around possession and being an abomination. Lucanis as a mage killer will know exactly how bad abominations can be. He worries as much as the others about his sanity. And being a genuinely caring guy (see the fav drink and cooking thing) he would rather kill himself than hurt Rook (or any of the companions) because he lost control of Spite. Especially when Spite is that interested in Rook.

To add to that comes the conversation with Davrin who asks how Lucanis survived the Ossuary and he says he shut everything down. He didn’t feel anything except what he needed to survive (hello dissociation). Like he was Down there for a year. Getting tortured, having a demon put inside him thinking no one would come to rescue him and then he‘s out and his grandma is dead and his cousin might be in on it, his city is under occupation. He has a lot to deal with and mixing romantic feelings into it has to be adding to the general overwhelm. Like his PTSD has to be as tall as the lighthouse.

Personally I’m looking forward to writing about it and showing more of his struggles (also finishing the romance and I want more romance scenes too (for everyone)).

So yeah, Lucanis has plenty of reasons to be as he is and I want to chew on him

[clueless-romantics]

BAXTER

so, about the fish man that I love. I wanted to do a short analysis of him before we get him in the full series.

this will be full of season two predictions, shipping, headcanons, and backstory ideas.

DEATH

first, we'll start with his death. ironic, right?

anyways, we know that Baxter was supposed to have died on the Titanic, but since Viv didn't want to be Insensitive, she changed it to a vague ship that sunk in the 1910s. since he is an anglerfish, which lives on the sea floor, we can infer that he probably didn't make it out of the ship, and sunk to the bottom of the sea with it. thats all we know right now, and I will give ideas to expand on that and give him some character.

he might have a fear of not having enough air, or a fear of sinking or being pulled down.

he absolutely hates the movie "Titanic," and complains about how inaccurate it is to everyone (fun hc)

LIFE

we know nothing about his life, other than he was some sort of scientist. I like to imagine that he was a heartless scientist who disregarded everyone else's lives, and experimented on people.

A reason why he could be so short is that he believed his life to be more important, or 'higher' than everyone else. that is why he is short, as hell usually makes you look like things you hate, therefore he would hate being viewed as lesser, or smaller than others, and now quite literally.

we do not know how old he is, but I would assume based on looks that he is 25-30, somewhere around that range.

RELATIONSHIPS

we dont know much about Baxter at all in any of these, as I have stated, but in the sneak peak we know he had a negative past with sir pentious. since we know sir pentious is an inventor, not a scientist, therefore he cannot create biological life. one of my theories is that sir pentious made the egg bois with Baxter's help and betrayed baxter, while taking the egg bois with them. I also personally headcanon they dated, but that might not be true, and isn't really backed up by anything.

now, onto who I think owns his soul. I believe vox would be his owner, as vox has a proven history of working with sea creatures, and it is a very popular theory. I think he has two reasons to be at the hotel. one, obvious one, for studying redemption. he is a scientist, why wouldn't he want to do that? the second, being he was spying for vox. my reasoning? there are two reasons I think could be true.

vox hired Baxter because sea creature AND the fact vox knew sir pentious and Baxter had a rivalry, so vox would take advantage of that and give Baxter the chance to upstage his enemy.

two, baxter knew sir pentious failed at being a spy so that's why he accepted the job, so more intent on Baxter s side for this.

MISC.

baxter is still a scientist in hell, obviously. so I'd imagine in his 100+ years of being in hell, he probably has his own lab. we don't know a lot about him, still, which leaves a lot for the imagination. which, brings me to my next part, headcanons!!

HEADCANONS!

Baxter is trans (only female anglerfish have the esca)

Baxter wears glasses but only for protection during science experiments, because anglerfish have excellent vision, so he wouldn't be low vision.

EXCELLENT vocabulary

he avoids alcohol and smoking like the plague, as he is very health conscious and doesn't like husk at first because of it

the only person in the hotel he can actually bear talking to (besides niffty) is cherri. they both have a past with sir pentious, and he would probably think she is the most self actualized out of all the guests, (he doesn't think Vaggie is the most because he dislikes how violent and protective she is)

THAT CONCLUDES MY POINTS ABOUT HIM!

FEEL FREE TO ADD YOUR OWN IN THE COMMENTS AND REPOSTS

[ask-aph-hws-iceland]

[OOC: hello again! Paiko here! So, there's been a bunch more ask blog drama these past few days, so I thought I'd give a very friendly reminder of some other unspoken (that at this point should be spoken) rules of having an ask blog.

Alright, uhm, can we all agree as a community to avoid having very heavy historical topics play a part in our blogs? I know a lot of us are huge history nerds which is absolutely fantastic, but let's keep in mind that hetalia is very silly and unserious, so it might not be in very good taste to portray a serious topic in a very goofy medium. It just doesn't sit quite well. Now, a lot of people may wonder if what they're doing can be considered insensitive, well, a good way to know is listening to your followers. Respecting the people who read your blog is a very important part of having a good ask blog. If something isn't sitting well with a lot of people, maybe let's avoid it.

On that topic, having unique headcanons for your ask blog character (I've seen people call them muses too) is absolutely amazing and one hundred percent your right, however, you have to consider that hetalia, unlike countryballs or countryhumans, is not so versatile. People come into it with a specific expectation. Having our own unique headcanons is great, but there's a point where it strays so far that it's better to just make an original character or an 'OC'. I love seeing people's headcanons as it adds a lot of depth to the characters, but just because a pool is shallow that doesn't mean your shoes won't get wet if you step in it. All the hetalia characters could use more development which is what a lot of us do with our headcanons, but we have to accept that some people just won't like them.

Try to refrain from making headcanons about certain subjects if you're not entirely confident in your ability to portray them in a sensitive and respectful way. A lot of us suffer from things like weak vision, allergies, etcetera and it's very fun to get to put little parts of ourselves into our characters, but what gets tricky is portraying medical conditions we personally do not have. Things can get super insensitive very quickly, so it's really important to try and be mindful about these things. I've said before on my main blog that I really do not like bringing up topics of chronic illnesses because I personally do not suffer from one and I know that I'm not nearly educated enough to talk about someone else's experience. This doesn't only apply to physiological conditions. I know we all love our angst, but let's not trivialize mental health problems. It can be very upsetting to people who do suffer from these conditions. They have to see something that they know much more about than anyone should ever have to know. They are the ones who will have to see that, so again, let's try to be mindful.

If you get into trouble with any other blog or even another group of blogs, there are good ways to go about addressing these issues rather than just straight up fighting. I think I speak for a lot of blogs when I say that we'd like to keep this community relatively drama free. I'll let you in on a little secret, no matter how right you are about something, there will always be someone who just refuses to see things any other way. We have to start considering each other's thoughts when it comes to disagreements especially when it comes to fandom discourse. I'd hate for someone to be driven away from the fandom over a disagreement gone wrong. Remember, you're dealing with strangers here, let's try to keep things peaceful.

And that's about it for now, if any of these things apply to you, no worries, we're all working on bettering ourselves and it'll take time, patience and guidance, but it's worth an effort.

Alrighty! Bye!]

[lightsiided]

     a beam of sunlight crosses his handsome face. rey glances up to watch the clouds part, silent appreciation for thor's gesture nestling into her bones. a knot within her seems to unwind and, after a moment, a gentle, content sigh leaves her lips. instantly, rey starts to feel her energy increase. the sun warms her skin and the planet around them. in turn, it feeds its life to her. she is acutely aware of every blade of grass beneath their feet, every flower and tree nearby. rey leans back against thor's chest and soaks the sun in like one of them.

it is quite PEACEFUL, even more so when she feels his head lean into hers. rey lets her eyes slide shut, appreciating the quiet. thor is so close she can feel the beat of his heart, the way his chest rises and falls with each breath. rey turns in to tuck herself closer to him, as if they are in bed and she is reluctant to slip from the sheets and greet the day. the war is won, after all.

unfortunately, that doesn't mean their work is over. as she is lifted to her feet, rey opens her eyes, stretching her arms above her head. it is quite a loaded question; neither conversation will be EASY. both come with their own challenges, complexities she has been enjoying not considering for these last few moments.

there is an apology that must be made to finn. more discussion that must happen about their future, about all she'd said and had allowed to be left unsaid. when thought about THAT WAY, the tactical conversation with poe seems much simpler. "poe," rey murmurs, then. she clears her throat. "let's get his reports and start to think of a plan for the next few days so we can start sending people off. i'm sure there are at least a few squadrons already starting to get restless."

she squeezes his hand, following behind thor with a smile. it is sweet, how he tugs her along. how he keeps her close, how he refuses to relinquish his grip. "the conversation with finn will be longer. i want to give it the attention it deserves -- without distraction. talking to poe will take some things off my mind." the noise of the OTHERS grows louder, the closer they come. the peace of the jungle is replaced by the snippets of chatter she overhears as their team members wave and call out to her.

but she stops before they reenter the room, concern making her still. immediately, rey feels GUILTY -- he is right; she had hidden things from him. she hadn't called when she needed his help, hadn't wanted to ruin his travels. she hadn't wanted to ask. even now, part of her believes she has burdened him with some unnamed heaviness, something he can't possibly want to deal with or care about. yet here he is, asking her for more. it is a phenomenon she's not sure she'll ever understand.

rey hesitates, looking down at her toes. "you were dealing with a lot," she reminds, trying not to be too defensive. is it so wrong to not want to add to that load? he must know she never intended for any of this to happen. "it's not that i... don't want to tell you." alongside what he has already guessed, she was also AFRAID. afraid of his reaction, or that thor might not understand. that he would be afraid of what she might do, like she knows her friends were. she bites at the inside of her cheek. "i promise i will try to be more forthcoming in the future. i just ask that you're patient with me. it's somewhat of a... new concept."

“you helped.”

reverently does thor stare up at her, from beneath his lashes.  their faces are so close that he can see clearly all the details of hers.  the scar on her cheek, each individual freckle.  the subtle beginnings of lines at the corners of her eyes.  love, content, appreciation in her eyes — everything he feels mirrored back at him.

“please, know that.  it may not feel like it — that fault is only my own — but you did.  more than anyone could have.  if not for you, i… don’t believe i could have survived these last five years.  i don’t believe i would have wanted to.”

it is an uncomfortable truth.  everything between them had become so distant, so strained.  thor’s emotions clouded everything good — even her.  all her attempts, lifelines that they were, were shot down.  so much arguing followed by tense silence, and still…  rey was the only thing that remained for him to look forward to.  to brighten his days, even if it was barely visible through the storm clouds.  where would he have been without that?  that fight surely would have been his last.  who could possibly endure such nothingness?

silence falls over him — content and comfortable.  thor simply basks in her touch and her closeness.  he says nothing as he grants her request; above them, the clouds begin to dissipate and the shine of the sun breaks through.  grey skies give way to clear blue.  at the same time, he pulls her further into his lap, his arm holding her protectively against him.  first his chin meets her shoulder, then he tilts his head against hers.

for many moments, he simply appreciates the serenity.  the golden rays of the sun peaking through the jungle trees, the sounds of animals scurrying about now that the ground warms.  he doesn’t know exactly how much time has passed when he at last lifts his head, presses a kiss to the base of her neck, and turns his eyes up toward her again.

“who would you like to see first: poe, or finn?”  hands on her hips, he is careful in lifting rey off of him and settling her on her feet.  he rises behind her without relinquishing his hold.  each step he takes is slow; tenderly, he guides her along with him.  “i had mentioned earlier, there are things i think you and finn have to discuss.  possibly… privately.”  regardless, the direction he takes them in will lead them back inside.

more members pass them by, and thor’s small smile is more genuine, now, as he nods to them in greeting.  but upon approaching the threshold of the medcenter, thor’s head dips, and his voice lowers.

“similarly…  you have withheld a lot recently.  i believe it stems from fear of not wanting to burden anyone.  you believe everyone’s personal problems are enough to bear, correct?  and you don’t wish to add to it.  i don’t want you to do that anymore — not ever again, not with me.”  there is a firmness in his voice that hadn’t previously been there, but there is only concern in thor’s eyes as he watches her.  “if there is something that must be said, you say it.  you tell me what troubles you.  i promise to do the same.  hiding from one another…  it only hurts us both, in the end.”

[citruslullabies]

Why don't you like Jimmy or Jimmy simps??

Hey darling!

So I don't like Jimmy for.. obvious reasons, but I have nothing against Jimmy simps!!

Let your freak flag fly, I do not care. I just personally don't write for Jimmy as it is a personal thing, but I can always help direct people to writers who do!!

Like for example, and these two are on the top of my head because 1. I love their work and 2. They actually have commented on one of my posts earlier so they're first writers that come to mind

@/jambalaya-enthusiast and @/curly-my-beloved are good ones!! I don't write for Jimmy, but last I checked these two do!! They're amazing writers and you guys should check them out

[silusvesuius]

n*loth not being able to bag anyone over the (human term) age of 25-30 at most is the only logical and real conclusion to me because it can be just explained away as him wanting to prove and control everything and anyone (Cus he's a man!) but being stuck in that demographic because his unbearable and vile personality is a force that nobody can look past once they've outgrown the possible fear and idolization period of anyone but also n*loth in particular.