#i just read like 4 posts about it being “sincere” and “not a joke”?????

[thinking-emoji]

...

[drchucktingle]

sometimes buds ask’ what is it like to be a neurodivergent artist?’ and this is great summary: the charts can look like this, and at same time people will be endlessly posting on how you are ‘not real’ or ‘a bit’. you can hold bestsellers in slot 1 to 4 and still not be 'serious'

i am ultimately ok with this. i love my trot and would not have it any other way, but i think it is worth investigation. when irony poisoning has seeped into everything, how many times does a neurodivergent person have to say ‘actually this is NOT so bad its good. its just good’

when you are autistic, or queer, or both, how much proof do you need to be considered good art? or good business? what do the charts have to look like for me to be a ‘real’ author? or allowed my face mask at a library association conference? or one person not a group of writers?

im coming up on a decade of writing tinglers soon, and people are still talkin about my ‘serious’ works vs my ‘joke books’ and at every turn, as kindly as i can, i shout from the rooftops: THEY ARE ALL SERIOUS BOOKS. THIS IS NOT A BIT.

but its hard when buds have had ‘the correct way to be a writer. the correct way to be an artist. the COOL way to react to a book that is TOO weird’ pounded into their heads by internet culture. 'kill it with fire' they say. 'i need eye bleach' they say without thinking. a line.

heres the thing, the tide IS turning. theres buckaroos jumping in and saying, ‘I want to be a part of this’ and for that they are being rewarded. the publisher who took me seriously is lookin pretty dang good right now with these charts and these sales. i am honored and moved

over time there will be more buds who shed that irony mask. the tide of sincerity is powerful, and the tide of love is inevitable. it is difficult to stand strong in our uniqueness but it also pays off, and I hope to be a shining example. eventually THE TIMELINE BENDS TO YOU

so this is not a thread to complain. i have been trotting long enough that these things do not really bother me. being made fun of and disparaged as ‘not legit art’ while also being objectively successful at the things im made fun of about is kind of the ocean that i swim in.

no. my point of this is to say THANK YOU to those of you who have been trotting by my side over these years. THANK YOU for proving love to me. im so honored by your support, and you should know that YOU have seen beyond the irony poisoned veil that stops many others. YOU get it.

and to those with their own unique perspective on creation: look what you can do. yes there will likely be a lot of resistance to something different, but there is also a LOT of reward. YOU can trot a new path. YOU can prove love is real, not in MY way, but IN YOUR OWN WAY

anyway thank you for reading buckaroos. thank you for your support. LUCKY DAY comes out next summer and it is probably as FAR OUT and existential as the tingleverse has ever gone. you can preorder it here

[twelve-forfend]

Well, I did say this was a multi-fandom blog... Alright, let's do this.

The Qing Jing Peak Lord's Bamboo House

(and the symbolism therein, as recorded in the donghua)

I was snooping through the establishing shots of the Qing Jing Peak Lord's Bamboo House, and had to laugh as I always do at all the gay symbolism that managed to sneak its way inside. But then I looked a little closer, and was floored by just how much passive storytelling was packed into background assets. I talked about it at length over discord, and at the urging of others decided to make a shareable post on social media as well.

First, the shots which first piqued my interest in this topic years ago:

Shen Yuan transmigrates into the stallion-genre webnovel entitled 狂傲仙魔途 (translated as Proud Immortal Demon Way). The author's and his own usernames are dick jokes.

Notice the chrysanthemum vase, the cock vase, and the stallion statuette.

The stallion and cock are obvious nods to these jokes on their own, but for the uninitiated, the chrysanthemum is a symbol of gay sex between men, as the asshole itself is often euphemistically referred to as a chrysanthemum. This should have been Shen Yuan's first clue that not all is as it seems here! These are the personal quarters of Shen Jiu — the original Shen Qingqiu!

But let's move to the main room you first walk into upon entering the bamboo house.

There it is: the writing on the wall.

As the Peak Lord of strategy and the scholarly arts, Shen Qingqiu would naturally have calligraphy and paintings hanging everywhere! So let's break it down.

On the top we have 道㳒自然 ("Dao Follows Nature"), which comes from a Dao teaching by Laozi (founder of Daoism) meaning that life, death, the entire universe, the heavens and earth and everything outside and inbetween, all follow a set of laws referred to as the nature of things. Although unrelated to the Buddhist couplet below, it's certainly relevant!

Originally hanging in right-to-left order, I've arranged them to read left to right here to make things easier to keep track of. The calligraphy reads 西方竹葉千年翠；南海蓮九品香 and is a couplet commonly found in Guanyin temples. My classical chinese is not as strong as I'd like, but this translates roughly to "The bamboo leaves in Paradise are green for a thousand years / The fragrance of lotus flowers in the South China Sea is as thick as 9 sticks of incense."

The character 西 for West is used to denote the destination of enlightenment/purity: the buddhist Paradise (think Journey to the West). The South China Sea is where Guanyin was born. Upon the Lotus flowers is where Guanyin is commonly depicted as sitting. The "9 sticks of incense" though literal can also refer to the 9 tiers/grades of reincarnation lotuses with the 9th tier being the lowest, meant for those who in life committed the most evil of crimes — the 4 parajikas — and who can only manage a sincere Amitabha recitation 10 times and no more than this.

To put this in context with Shen Jiu (the same jiu as in 9/九), the 4 parajikas committed by the 9th Tier Lotuses Reborn (officially entitled the Lowest of the Low) are:

Sexual Intercourse

Stealing

Murder

Claiming attainments of stages of pure mental concentration that have not been achieved (in other words, rushing or lying about your cultivation/enlightenment, or maybe even becoming a Peak Lord without having formed a golden core beforehand).

From what we know in the context of the novel, Shen Jiu is innocent of at least the first of this parajikas, but the overall view of Shen Jiu in the eyes of others in the story is that he is guilty of them all. This calligraphy can be seen as a condemnation or a reminder for the character Shen Jiu, who even as the Peak Lord Shen Qingqiu is widely thought of as a scum villain and the lowest of the low.

Phew! That's a lot to unpack.

But if you turn your gaze to the original screenshot, you'll see to the right that there's a vase painted with a blue bird. This vase appears in several rooms of the bamboo house, and seems to be the image of a qingniao (青鸟; lit: Qing bird, wherein 青 can mean blue/green/clear-but-brackish black).

These qing-coloured birds are messengers and foragers of the Goddess-Mother of Paradise (Xiwang-mu 西王母, the "west/paradise" character from before, lit West-King(unisex)-Mother). They're a highly intelligent species who are exceptional in song (a good representative for Qing Jing's scholarly arts and pursuit of qin!), and the older ones might learn to speak human tongue. As a subspecies of luanniao (鸾鸟 lit: luan bird), they're thought to be related to The Phoenix and indeed thought to be the lifetime/samsara just before being reborn as a Phoenix.

If given to a "master" they don't like, the qingniao may refuse to pass messages or sing until they're set free, but if they do get along with you then they're loyal to the end.

As a point of interest, the Qing generation of Peak Lords uses the character 清, which is 青 ("colour of nature; brackish black, blue, green; young) + the radical for "water," resulting in the meaning of clear (as in water or heart; see-through); distinct; quiet (as in still); just and honest; pure; to settle or clear up; to clean up, expunge, or purge.

And as a bit of trivia, Liu Qingge's sword Cheng Luan 乘鸾 means "to ride the luan, take flight on the back of a luan." (Relevant, because the qingniao is considered a subspecies of luanniao).

With the Lords of both Qing Jing and Bai Zhan referencing this bird, I really wonder about its significance! It's spawning plenty of theories and headcanons for me.

Heading back outside for a moment, you'll find that in the Quiet Pool (清静小池 qingjing xiaochi (yes, the same Qing Jing the peak is named for)), there are lotuses, and on land there are flower shrubs which are either wide-petaled chrysanthemums (gay bottom jokes ahoy), or a type of peony, the king of flowers demarcating wealth and prosperity. Either way, a blossom fitting of our Qing Jing Peak Lord Shen Qingqiu!

My one regret is that I cannot get a clear shot of the fan hanging on the wall to try and translate the calligraphy on it. If anyone can snag one, please tag me! I also couldn't translate the paintings with poems hanging in Shen Qingqiu's bedroom (it's just too small and blurry for my bad eyes to make out). If I make another post attempting these things, I'll append them to this initial post in an edit afterwards.

[cosmerelists]

Five Questions I I Have about the Cosmere that I'm Too Afraid to Ask

Well, except that I suppose I am asking them, right now. These questions haunt me specifically because I think they have answers and that I should know what they are.

1. What Are Highspren the Manifestation Of?

This one I will sincerely accept an answer for, if anybody (or everybody?) knows. Like, rainspren are rain and honorspren are honor and liespren are lies. I get all that. Are highspren, like...the concept of highness? Like being high in the air? Is that something that gets anthropomorphized? I've read the Coppermind page a bunch of times and it feels like it doesn't specifically say.

What are they??

2. How do the bridges work?

You can try to explain this to me if you'd like but I don't think I'll get it because, well, this one is probably down to my difficulty in picturing things like this. But I just don't understand how the manual bridges in Sadeas' army actually worked. Like, they are pushed across the gap, right? So they have to long enough that they don't just tip in halfway across. Are they just like triple the size of every gap? Also, when they get placed side to side so that a line of horses can run across them--wouldn't they have to be like right against each other so there aren't gaps? How do you do that if you have people holding them on both sides? Can you really push them together if they're that long and most of it is on the other side of the gap already? I just have never been able to picture it, even a little.

3. DO we know what caused the Recreance?

In one of my other posts I expressed a hope that we would learn what caused the Recreance, and several people commented that we knew already [SPOILERS]: that it was because the Radiants learned that their powers destroyed their last planet so they all gave up their oaths. But is that really...it? I don't mean to downplay the destruction of a planet but, like, the current Radiants know that too and none of them seemed even slightly tempted to give up their powers. I just feel like there must be more to it than that...right? Some other, more terrible secret? But is this just me missing the point?

4. Where does the joke about Szeth being good at ice skating come from??

This one drives me nuts because I'm sure I should know. I assume it's something from the Battle of Thaylen City when he was with Lift, but the Coppermind article doesn't say a whole lot about his part in that fight. And I just don't remember. And I'm too lazy to look it up. Please somebody save me.

5. Are there...holidays in the Cosmere?

This is one that's been in the back of my mind for a while. Like...I have no idea what the yearly holidays are on Roshar, or Scadrial, or really any of the planets. I'm not clear if people celebrate their birthdays with a party or go out to dinner on their wedding anniversaries or celebrate the new year. I guess maybe because the books are always taking place in crises? So there's no time for Kaladin to go shopping for a midwinter crab-turkey or whatever? Or for Vin to be buying balloons for Elend's big day? But seriously--do you folks know of any holidays that characters are said to celebrate in times of not-crisis?

[riacte]

hope you don't mind me asking, but how do you write/characterise ren?

Hi, thanks for the ask!

For me, Ren has a very distinct character voice, so usually I put in a few words from the Rendog language post and it does like 70% of the work if it's nothing too serious. Hit the dialogue with the Rendogification beam! I know there's a post of people Rendogifying DSMP quotes and it's hilarious. Add a "my dude" before/ after his dialogue and it'll usually work. And maybe pepper in some "get in line"s. Or "outrageous!", "geez", "freakin'".

For HC Ren / Ren in general, I put him as like... a friendly, enthusiastic, charismatic guy who's very supportive of his friends and he's always eager to help. He is kind and sees the best in everyone. He's also very dramatic and unashamed of his dramatic tendencies (singing out loud, posing, twirling). And of course he flirts. He flirts with everything. He's probably flirted with someone's houseplant. He wants everyone to get in line for him. He makes a lot of inappropriate jokes (check my #the rd difference tag) which is greeted with complete silence.

But underneath that, I think he's a guy who tends to look down on himself / self deprecating and he is soooooo self sacrificial. He's gonna be good at something then go "I've never been good at anything 🥺". And he is genuinely so eager to sacrifice himself at all times; he'll probably throw himself in front of his friends to save them. And I think Ren is terrified of being lonely which is why he's clingy. If you leave him to his devices for too long he'll literally burn / blow up his base (Last Life, HC 7). Ren is fantastic with words, he's optimistic and naturally good at bringing people together, but he's also just a doggy who wants company.

Ren is quite talkative and he can ramble about random topics forever. But he also occasionally asks questions to his friends so they can contribute to the conversation. And I think he's fantastic as a storyteller because not only is he a master at "yes, and", he also likes including his friends and subtly inviting them to roleplay with him.

Ren is highly sentimental and remembers a lot of memories. He's not afraid to go sappy and sincere and vulnerable, but then again there's his fear of being a burden. Ren has a tendency to trail after competent, snarky, and mildly intimidating people (insert Ren's greens: Doc, Iskall, Martyn, False, etc) and enjoys being lovingly bullied and lovingly used as a punching bag. He lovesssss being a pathetic lil guy. He loves acting sad and soggy. And he kinda loves being beheaded and beheading his friends.

Ultimately, I think Ren greatly values company and loyalty, and always desires a tightknit group of people to belong to, maybe to even lead (Knights of the Square Table, Dogwarts, etc). And he wants to be useful and not be a burden, leading to his self sacrificial tendencies. He is so eager to serve and offer his services to the rest of the server— in HC, he likes selling / providing food in the early days (HC 4 he made a farm, HC 9 Gigapies) and then proceeds to build infrastructure for everyone to enjoy (HC 6 Hermit Railway Network), or come up with detailed "game" systems (HC 5 Hermitron (?) and HC 9 Hermit Quests). In that way, despite his theatrics, Ren is quite practical and down to earth. Give the man something to manage and he'll be happy.

I don't read a lot of HC fics nowadays but I don't think I've seen like, really severe mischaracterisation of Ren. Probably because Ren RPs a lot so he can RP as a lot of characters which decreases OOC-ness, maybe? Ren's a bit pathetic but he's not a coward, he will literally die for his friends. And while Ren might be a bit of a "derp", he has decent strategies (sometimes) which is mostly him accumulating resources + building a secure fortress (evident in Life series).

For Life series Ren, it's similar but more... guarded and cautious. Still desires a tight knit group of allies (usually his top priority). Still loves gathering his resources and building his defenses. Is kind and forgiving to the point he's taken advantage of (this behaviour decreases in latter series). And he loves his allies with all of his life and would die for them.

Oops, this got long lol. Hope this was helpful! :D

[hiwelcometothemonstersancturary]

Image ID: Two glitter texts, reading as "NIGHTMARE FACTORY – DEVLOG 0". End image ID.

Hi, I'm Garça Visconde Mirigis, and I'm VERY happy to announce that this post you're reading is the first devlog ever for my nightmare game, a 3D platformer parody of mascot horror genre! And yes, nightmare, not dream game, because making my actual dream game is way out of my current abilities at the moment!

Ever thought to yourself how different a horror game would be if our protagonist decided to help the monsters instead of... [reading a list off-screen] killing, imprisioning, sacrificing, exorcizing or even banning them to other dimensions? Because I have, for ungodly amounts of time, and after literally years I decided that the time to actually make this thing has come. Welcome to the NIGHTMARE FACTORY!

OKAY BUT WHAT IS THE SYNOPSIS?

As previously mentioned, NIGHTMARE FACTORY is a parody of mascot horror games, set in an abandoned toy factory that also used to host a theme park. You play as Vera Torres, a 57 year-old mechanic who used to work in there. One day, our dear Vera receives a call from an old coworker: The higher-ups are going to sell the factory and the theme park, but they need a good inspection, and no one is accepting the offer! Feeling a bit nostalgic and wanting to help her friend, Vera decided to help take a look inside...

... Only to discover the place is now filled with strange monsters whose leader has, somehow, decided that she's actually his mother?! But she only had one kid ever in her life...?

Yeah, Vera is CONFUSED, and it's now your duty as the player to help her figure out just what the heck is going on!

... AND WHAT THE HECK IS THE GAME ACTUALLY ABOUT?

The game is a lighthearted and pink look at mascot horror as a whole, featuring little references to other games and lots and lots of silly jokes. It is also a long love letter for the genre, because as much as I like poking fun at FNaF, it did change my life for the better and it will forever have a soft spot in my heart. I love the franchise despite it all, and making a whole game just to poke fun at it and other similar games feels stupid. No one can create a good parody if they don't love the thing they're parodying even a tiny little bit.

NIGHTMARE FACTORY is not an "aha look at how stupid this is" look at mascot horror. I want it to be as sincere as possible, and the end product needs to be honest and not ironic in the slightest in order for it to be a success.

HOWEEEVEEEER. Despite the silliness, NIGHTMARE FACTORY can and will feature grapphic imagery and disturbing content due to its nature as a horror title. Trigger and content warnings have not been currently set, but shall be added as development continues.

WHAT ARE THE ~ INSPIRATIONS ~ ?

HEHEHE. HAHAHHAA. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. MY FAVORITE PART!

The gameplay is inspired by the original Crash Bandicoot trilogy, Pac-Man World 1-2 and Rayman 2! These are my favorite platformers ever and I played them for hours as a kid, and since NIGHTMARE FACTORY is all about toys and childhood I figured it would be the perfect fit!

For themes and story, NIGHTMARE FACTORY is inspired by Five Nights at Freddy's, Bendy and the Ink Machine/Bendy and the Dark Revival, Tattletail, Poppy Playtime, Silent Hill 1-4, Welcome Home, My Friendly Neighborhood and the Lacey series on YouTube! Some of the themes include loss of childhood, the horrors of motherhood and girlhood, corporate corruption, trauma recovery, grief and rage.

For visuals, however? Alice: Madness Returns, Hello Kitty Roller Rescue, Strawberry Shortcake: The Sweet Dreams Game, Disney Princess' Enchanted Journey and old dress-up flash games are my references!

THE SETTING

The game is set in 2020s São Paulo, Brazil, AKA where I live, and it can and will feature elements of brazilian culture. The final version should have both english and brazilian-portuguese translations, with cultural notes being featured to help non-brazilians understand some jokes and themes better.

CURRENT SITUATION

NIGHTMARE FACTORY is currently sitting at "the single gamedev is desperate to start programming but he's busy with uni work" stage of production, but do not worry, the single gamedev is also working on the story, how level progression shall go, how the game should feel to play, and, of course, planning the mechanics, AKA the most important part of a fun game. I'll make an entire devlog detailing every single main mechanic as soon as I'm able to finally start fully working on this!

NIGHTMARE FACTORY is being made with Godot, Blender and Krita, and it will be released first for PC.

NOW A LOOK AT HOW THE SINGLE GAMEDEV IS ALREADY ANXIOUS ABOUT MAKING THE GAME

It wouldn't be a project I made without me losing my mind about it from day 0!

Nightmare Factory is a 3D platformer game, with around ~30 levels planned, divided into 5 acts/chapters/arcs/sessions. You can think as these sets of levels as Crash Bandicoot's Warped level selection, like this!

After answering some asks relating to mascot horror as a genre, I remembered a conversation I had with my amazing partner some weeks ago about how I want to release NIGHTMARE FACTORY. YES, I didn't even start programming it, but this is the type of thing I need to settle on before I build a good chunk of the game. It will be important!

But then. There's the problem: I don't like it when games are "released" but you have to pay more to get all of them. Yeah, each chapter would be super cheap so they would have a full game price when combined, but also. Do I want to do this. Do I genuinely want to do this. Like? Am I sure this is the right way to do it?????

Image ID: Screenshot of Crash Warped for the PS1, with Crash standing in front of a warp room with 5 blue buttons on the floor, each marked with a number from 1 to 5. The 6th button has the face of Tiny Tiger, signaling it to be the entrance to a boss fight level. End image id.

My first plan was to release each act separately so I could both get feedback and also have more fun, because by getting feedback I would be way less worried about messing things up + I could update things like character physics to be less wonky or more stiff in case it was a common complaint, which could change the entire level design. And also because I'm a clown and I want to make a mascot horror parody, and releasing it in chapters aligns perfectly with how I want this to go.

Anyways, this has now lead to me deciding that the game should be a "pay for it once" type of thing. I'll still release it in chapters, but the updates will be for free. Will I regret this decision because liking it or not I need money + I am an indie dev + there's nothing wrong with game devs expecting to be, y'know, PAID for their work? Absolutely so!!!!! But I think that, for now, this will be how I develop this silly game.

Anyways, this is getting long enough, so I'll finish it for now. Character introductions will be made after the gameplay-focused devlog, so see you guys soon enough! Byeeee <3

[skzhua]

Boyfriend tag video with ex-boyfriend

MASTERLIST

pairing: idol!hwang hyunjin x youtuber!reader.

genre: fluff, humor, female reader.

word count: ~0.7k

warnings: none other than cheesy asf.

summary: you ask your ex-boyfriend to do a video with you and it doesn't end as planned.

a/n: i wrote this in 2019 on wattpad so i'm sorry for this cringy ass imagine. (i reworked it but it's still so.. ugh) posting this until i'm no longer sick and can write again. 😗

You made sure everything was all set before getting up and clicking on the record button.

"Hey guys! It's been a while since the last video so to make that up for you, I invited a special guest on my channel. You already know him from old videos, please welcome Hyunjin from Stray Kids!" you announced and clapped your hands as Hyunjin appeared in the frame of the camera.

"Hey everyone!" he waved.

"For those who don't know or recognize him, this is my ex-boyfriend Hyunjin. We broke up about two years ago but we are still in really good terms. So, today, I asked on Twitter to send me suggestions of videos. Surprisingly, the most popular choice was the boyfriend tag." you chuckled.

"I think they thought you were seeing someone." Hyunjin laughed along.

"Probably, but since I always do what you ask, I invited Hyunjin to join me because he's the only one dumb enough to accept such a thing."

"I'm dumb?!" he gasped, acting offended.

"Yes you are! Okay, now let's get to the video. First question: where did we meet?"

"In high school, about two years or so before I got into JYP."

"Right, so around 4 years ago. Wow, we're about to celebrate our 5 years of knowing each other!" you exclaimed.

"5 years of hell." he joked and you slapped his arm.

"Just read the next question"

"Alright.. where was our first date?" he read and paused. "Oh no..."

You laughed at his reaction and he glared at you. "It's a funny story, actually. We were in class and he asked me if I wanted to go to dinner with him after school, to which I gladly accepted. We went to this cute Japanese restaurant and Hyunjin happened to know the waitress and she asked for his number. Hyunjin being Hyunjin, he gave her his number!!" you told the camera.

"Wait, I have my reasons! She was someone I knew from, like, kindergarten so I thought she just wanted to catch up."

"Idiot, you're lucky I didn't leave you then! Question 3: Firsts impressions?" you read out loud.

"Shy and cute girl" Hyunjin answered confidently.

"Thank you! For me, it was the pretty boy who was kind to everyone." you confessed.

"Not false.. Next question: When did we meet our families?"

"I don't remember actually." you chuckled embarrassed.

"I don't either but it was some time after we got together."

"Right. Next question: weird obsessions?" you said and smiled. "Your jewellery!"

"What about them?"

"You have too many and I think I still can find some you left here when we were together."

"I'm not as bad as you and your puppies!' he mentioned your dog obsession.

"They are cute, okay?" you tried to defend yourself.

"Sure~ Okay, next: How long have we been together?"

"Almost two years, you left me two months before our anniversary." you said, the ambiance suddenly.

"I didn't want to." he informed.

"I know."

"And I still regret it." he said sincerely while taking your hand in his.

"Hyunjin." you whispered.

"Please, Y/N. I still want you. I never thought about anyone else in these two last years."

"But your career?"

"They'll understand."

"And the fans?"

"I'm still a rookie idol (REMINDER I WROTE THIS IN 2019!) and they'll get over it. Please" he insisted.

You looked at his features carefully and his pleading eyes were irresistible. You just couldn't say no. "Okay, I'm willing to give it a shot" you smiled.

"Really?" he said, surprised.

"Yeah, why not?"

Hyunjin began to thank you over and over again while hugging you tightlyin his arms. When he let go, he looked at you and tilted his head to ask if he could and you nodded. He then kissed you. God you missed his lips, his touch, him. You pulled away and leaned onto him.

"Well, guys! I guess it's the boyfriend tag for real now!"

"What is the next question, baby?"

Your heart melted at the return of the pet name. You weren't gonna regret it anytime soon.

taglist: @lenilla15 | @muddy-waters | @nanaspalette | @nattisbored | @popcatx0 | @vanblack95 | @aestheticsluut | @thanxxskz | @minhoino

Copyright © 2019 skzhua. All rights reserved.

[serene-sky-kid]

60 OC questions

I really liked the questions so I answered them all. These questions come from the post I shared before.

Really just for fun and because I don't want to draw right now xD Well if you want to read for a while about Serene, the questions are under the cut

I leave this sketch of something I'm doing so that it's not just text

[1] What first impression do they typically make? Are they likeable from the get go, or take time to grow on people?

Serene is quite transparent, I think people who know her tend to like her, I think the worst thought you can have about her is that she seems immature at first

[2] How does their social personality differ from how they act when they’re alone?

Very little or nothing, although I suppose it's easier for her to deal with sadness when she's alone.

[3] What emotion is the hardest for them to deal with?

Sadness and anger, sadness is easier to express and her friends can notice it, but anger is something very bottled up.

[4] How physically and emotionally affectionate they are?

A lot, in both senses, even if she has limitations in communicating, she will tell you that she cares about you and that she appreciates you and everything she expresses, communicates and does shows it.

[5] Are they good at keeping secrets?

She's not a gossip, yes, will she try to hide your secret as much as she can? Yes, would she be good at lying to keep your secret? I doubt it

[6] How direct are they in conversations, do they speak in hints and riddles or bluntly say what they think?

She is quite sincere and direct or as much as she can with her limitations

[7] Are they a good liar, and what would they probably lie about?

No, she would not lie intentionally and if she is forced to do so she would be very bad at it because the guilt of lying is too strong.

[8] How open they are about their true feelings, both positive and negative?

She is very open with good emotions, she shows almost 100% of what she is. You can notice if she is frustrated, worried, scared, insecure or sad. But although you can see her sad, she is very bad at crying and it is very rare to see her really angry.

[9] What is their love language?

I have never honestly thought about it, I don't see Serene in a relationship of any kind so

[10] How quickly do they fall for someone?

She doesn't :D

[11] What are small things that make them happy?

Her father taught her to appreciate the small things in life since she was little, many things make her happy just by having them, from being able to dance, to be able to play music, to be able to see, to be able to live, to be able to travel, to be able to enjoy her favorite food, being able to laugh with friends and the list goes on

[12] How high is their self-esteem?

It's hard to explain, because I'm not sure. I feel like she doesn't see how capable she is of doing things, she usually feels like a burden to others, but generally what makes me think that her self-esteem isn't "that bad" is the fact that she doesn't feel ashamed, she doesn't feel the weight of others judging her, she usually does what she wants So I'll let you judge how good or bad it is.

[13] What kind of sense of humor do they have, if any?

I think she has a good sense of humor

[14] What does it take to make them laugh, and what does their laugh sound like?

oh she laughs at very simple things really, it's very easy to catch her off guard, sometimes even a dad joke can make her laugh (not because I'm sure hearth is someone who would make dad jokes)

[15] How do they act around people they don't like?

It depends on the reason why she doesn't like this person, but it is rare for Serene to not like a person, except if this person is so direct that they becomes intentionally hurtful, these types of personalities make Serene uncomfortable, especially If they shout and cause discussion over nothing and just because they want to be right.

[16] Do they easily rely on others to help them out, or prefer doing everything themselves?

She was overprotected because she depended a little on the calls of other skykids, since she did not have a way to ask for help, they always kept her close. Nowadays she has the thought that she depends on others to survive and it really is not something that makes her feel comfortable, she really does not want to be a burden on others but she also does not believe in her own decisions.

[17] What is their biggest struggle that no one around them is able to understand or believe?

For now I can't think of anything

[18] Do they ever have to hide their identity and for what reason?

No

[19] If they could change one thing about their past, what would they change?

Depending on what point in her story you ask her, at the end of her story she would probably answer Nothing. at the beginning of the story, if she could only change things from HER past, she would probably respond "have protected my father more when he needed me."

[20] When they’re sad or upset, do they need company or some time alone?

She prefers to be alone, I mean having company is fine too, but I think she feels an obligation not to make others feel bad, so it is more difficult to process a bad feeling

[21] When they’re sick, would they want others to visit and take care of them, or they would rather prefer not to be seen at not their best?

Let them come visit her, 100%, they can see her in pajamas if they want, it doesn't matter

[22] Do they have nightmares, and if yes, when did they start and what are they usually about?

she does not have frequent nightmares but when she does they are about memories

[23] What was the worst, the darkest period of their life that they have been through?

Does it depend… on her past? or her entire story From the past, I can't mention anything really serious compared to Orion or Hearth himself, maybe when the flower in Hearth's eye grew she was present, but I don't know if it's something truly dark. In the entire story, she is the most affected character of all, she does not have such a hard past but she does have a difficult future.

[24] How hard it is for them to not allow their emotions to cloud their judgement?

I think she's a little impulsive, but compared to Orion, she's pretty controlled

[25] Do they have fears and phobias, and if they do, do they usually keep it to themselves or talk about it openly?

Everyone knows her fears and yes, everyone knows what she is afraid of. I'm sure she had a bad time in wasteland and not because of the krills

[26] Do they have any physical or mental ilness, how do they handle it and how open they are about it?

If you don't know, she is mute, she doesn't have Call either… although she is not deaf, I think a friend asked me so I feel like I should clarify it. I still have to learn more about the subject but I think that Serene doesn't speak very extensively when she communicates in sign language, most of the skykids don't know it or don't share the same sign language, I think that Serene writes more than she uses sign language. but it is not 100% canon because it makes it a very very slow communication, difficult to draw and write, so the way it is communicated really depends on who is drawing or writing her.

[27] Do they have any scars, how did they get them and how do they feel about them?

She is supposed to have one on her forehead from a stone that she got when she was very little that was thrown by someone towards hearth but it got to her, but I always forget to draw it, so I guess it is left out of her design

[28] What is something that they will never be able to forgive?

More than just one specific thing, I think it would be an accumulation of bad actions, although I suppose that doing bad things, to hurt others, intentionally, is something difficult for her to forgive. It is so generic only due to the fact that she is someone who understands the line of emotions of others, sometimes I think that she justifies lies and mistreatment of others towards her by finding emotional reasons that justify them 🤷‍♀️

[29] How do they deal with loss, stress and anger?

She believes all her life that she is ready for loss, oh my girl, you don't know. She tends to block herself with stress, she is not good at working or acting under pressure. Anger bottles up and goes to the corner, let no one touch it

[30] What are their most healthy and most unhealthy coping mechanisms?

ok this is too complex for me to answer now, but maybe you'll get an idea from the things I've answered

[31] How hard it is for them to own up to their mistakes and wrongdoings?

I think she carries them with guilt but she would never lie about being wrong, anything she can fix or apologize for she will do it with sincerity even if it causes her great guilt or shame.

[32] Is there something they've done in the past that they deeply regret till this day?

Just little things, but most of them have to do with not acting because she was too scared or too unsure of what to do.

[33] What are one of their fondest and most treasured memories?

Everything related to his father is a treasured memory for very obvious reasons, but I think that the time when he could still play the guitar are the best She was very young, but she remembers it very clearly.

[34] Do they have vices they don't want others to know about?

The buns that grandma cooks, ok no, no, she doesn't have any vices

[35] Do they like their own appearance, and what do they do, if anything, to alter it in any way?

She likes her looks, but she likes short hair, so when her hair is long, she will cut it later… her long hair won't last long

[36] Do they own items that have sentimental value?

The journal that belongs to Heart and the bracelet that Orion gave her

[37] How would they spend a lazy day when they have nothing specific to do?

Playing music or sleeping

[38] What do they usually do or where do they go when they need to feel comfortable and safe?

well in my mind the world of sky is very big so it takes a lot more than it takes you to travel in the game from one place to another, so the campfires on the realms, the campfire in hidden forest is her favorite

[39] What is their sleeping habits and favorite sleeping position, either alone and with someone?

It's a very funny question, any position that is comfortable is fine, she doesn't always have a decent place to sleep so her sleep doesn't have any specific habit, luckily she is a heavy sleeper so she doesn't have problems sleeping uncomfortable, but If she has trouble waking up when she sleeps in places that are too comfortable xD

[40] How picky they are with food, do they have specific dietary requirements based on their health or culture?

She's not picky at all, in fact I think she can eat questionable things without complaining too much (like Reah's food), food is food as long as it doesn't make you sick or kill you. It is also something related to her life with hearth Even so, if she can choose between good food and bad-tasting food, she will obviously always prefer the one that tastes better.

[41] What’s their usual morning routine?

ok this is a long one to answer, but I can point out that Serene doesn't comb her hair too much.

[42] What is their idea of a perfect friendly hangout and/or romantic date?

She adapts, but if there is food and laughter it is perfect for her She would never go on a romantic date C:

[43] Do they enjoy flirting or being flirted with?

Just joking, never serious

[44] On a party, where would you find them?

probably dancing or helping introverts (probably Orion) break the ice

[45] For an event, would they dress like they typically do, or go all out?

how she usually dresses, it's already a meme in my head that serene is overdressed for everything Will that dress get wet and dirty in the mud? Yes, totally

[46] Would they rather dress to look attractive or to feel comfortable, and what would they never wear?

To feel pretty but not attractive to others, in the sense of seeing her reflection and liking how she looks I think she wouldn't feel comfortable at first in clothes that show a lot of skin mostly because it's something she wouldn't wear, but… I think she would adapt.

[47] Do they drink alcohol, and if they do, how much and how often?

Only in social settings but not too much, she does not despise alcohol but she does not drink excessively either.

[48] Are they, or were they at some point in their life, a part of any subculture?

uhh no? i think?...

[49] Do they possess any unexpected skill or knowledge that surprises others, and otherwise, what is something anyone would assume they know or can do, but in fact they don’t?

I think most of it is survival stuff, she also knows a little about the language of the ancestors and can translate some things (in her universe they have a different language than the skykids) Because both she and her father are dedicated to filling that journal with information about the ancestors, many think that Serene is very good at drawing, but the drawings there are from Hearth, not hers… she is really bad at drawing.

[50] What are they really good and really bad at?

She is good at music and dancing, she is also good at organizing things. As I already said, she is bad at drawing and also at facing conflicts and resolving arguments.

[51] How good are they with money?

If we said that her universe had money, I think she would be quite conscious of how she spends things, sometimes doubting whether to spend things on herself or if she really deserves it. But when it comes to food she's really weak.

[52] Do they speak any other languages aside from their own?

Technically she can't speak it, but the language of the ancestors she suppose can translate it.

[53] Do they like to sing and how confident they are with their singing?

If she had a voice, she would sing all the time, she would be as confident in her voice as she is with her music and she is not the most talented.

[54] Do they like giving gifts, and how good are they at picking good gifts?

Yes, she gives gifts, I think if she knows you well enough she will always give you a good gift

[55] How long does it take for them to make a new place feel like home, and what do they need for it?

Any place that protects you from the weather and rain is a good temporary home But I guess for a more permanent home you have to at least have a decent place to sleep.

[56] How would they react to hearing a dirty joke?

She will cover her mouth as if you had said something indecent, but she will laugh afterwards. That kind of humor makes her laugh.

[57] What was the most stupid or dangerous thing they have ever done?

throughout history? I think too many things, some of them almost kill her

[58] In the situation where they had to choose, would they rather stay loyal to their morals or to people they love?

It depends on what morality we are breaking If her friend is trying to hurt another for no good reason, she will probably take the side of morality. If her friend is stealing something like medicine or food in order to save himself or someone else, she can ignore morality. It is the gray situations where there is no true "evil" where it is most difficult her to choose

[59] What would they want to be remembered for?

She would consciously respond to you as "someone honest" which is partly true. But I think that deep down in her heart she would like to be remembered as someone strong who can take care of herself and who can overcome the adversities of the world.

[60] If they were to commit a crime, what kind of crime would it most likely be?

steal the buns that grandma gave to another skykid xD

[ad-hawkeye]

Man after reading the previous ask i just wanted to commiserate a bit.

Even though lukerosa is my otp since launch, i’ve always been most charmed by artem, who was so awkward and sincere and sweet. I adore how supportive artem and rosa have been of each other from the very beginning and in any version of events i like to imagine that they grow to become close friends and partners-in-crime-fighting. Their immense mutual respect and admiration is just a great foundation for a relationship.

Now, I have more of an attachment to the pre-1st anniv cards because i’m a sucker for mutual pining, but i’ve enjoyed the post-anniv cards too because it felt like a natural progression of their relationship. To find out that the writing quality for artem’s stories eventually gets worse and worse is very disheartening. When the writing starts out amazing but becomes terrible later on, it is always worse because it feels like a betrayal.

I’m going to keep playing ToT especially since he’s not my only fave, but I really hope the writing gets better again, artem deserves only the best, most tightly-written, and consistent characterisation. And I hope even more that his soon-to-be-announced 3rd anniv card is good — if it can redeem the previous bad cards… well that’s the dream.

Thank you for reading! I hope you’re having fun despite all this :)

so i was going to answer my asks in the morning (it's been a long day for me!) but this ask was literally the sweetest thing i have ever read, i had to respond asap ;_;

as a fellow lukerosa enjoyer (their interactions are always such a treat!!! they're the best genre of childhood friends to lovers due to that eight year time skip and the draaaama that comes with it. i still think about luke's personal story 4 to this day i SWEARRRR), genuinely thank you for the kind words, it really means a lot!! 😭😭

i totally agree with your thoughts on artem's earlier cards, you took the words right out of my mouth :,,) we're also on the exact same wavelength of the pre-1st anniversary cards - they're my absolute most cherished favorites. entwined fate, lost gold, sickness and in health, skadi, railroad, first birthday, aaaa..... some of my absolute favorites.. the original personal stories 1-4 are my favorites across the board too (my favorites definitely being artem's and luke's !!)

gosh yeah i think that's why i'm so upset! i genuinely and truly adore artem as a character, and i adore his older cards. this is to the point where i used all of my saved s-chips on the previous select-an-ssr banner to get his railroad card instead of his second anniversary card!!

to make it even more baffling, i haven't noticed a quality drop like this in the other boys?! if anyone reading is a fan of the other three, feel free to correct me if i'm wrong, but luke, marius, and vyn's cards all stay very consistent personality and plot wise imo. i can't help but wonder if something happened to artem's writing team?? the writing literally feels so different, i can't explain it. it's like. a lack of understanding of his charm. they dont understand why people liked him, or any of the more nuanced aspects to his character and his dynamic with rosa.

i miss them being Best Partners with artem's dry sense of humor and rosa cheering him on over the most mundane of a shit (like posing against a wall HAHA) and them taking their time and artem opening up and becomimg genuine friends who make jokes and tease each other and the strong mutual respect and consent and ;-;;; sniff

and aw thank you for the kind words!!!! i hope you're having fun too!! wishing for an absolutely touching card for lukerosa as well :) <3 year three has fantastic potential for some prime hurt/comfort angst and fluff for those two!!

[i-need-death]

We're Doomed from A.I

So I've asked A.I to give me reasons on why this site is a purgatoryscape, heavenscape, hellscape, and limboscape. Safe to say, we're screwed if A.I can even ESTIMATE how odd tumblr is.

Here are some reasons Tumblr is both wildly bizarre and endlessly captivating:

1. The Lore-Generating Machine

Tumblr can turn anything into an epic saga. Whether it’s a screenshot of someone’s typo or a random observation about frogs, users collectively expand the joke until it’s a sprawling, pseudo-mythological universe. Examples include the Horse Plinko discourse or the inexplicable rise of Goncharov (1973), a completely fictional Scorsese film that now has fanfiction, fan art, and detailed analyses.

2. Inside Jokes That Defy Reality

Tumblr is a place where jokes have no punchline, yet they thrive. Classics like:

“I like your shoelaces.” “Thanks, I got them from the president.”

The ominous phrase “do you love the color of the sky?”

And "Bees???? Bees." These are utterly incomprehensible to outsiders, but to users, they're shorthand for shared chaos.

3. Unapologetically Chaotic Creativity

Tumblr users will take a simple concept and run with it. It’s home to Shakespearean shitposts, cross-fandom debates, and anthropomorphized internet phenomena like the "Tumblr Userbase Hive-Mind," which users half-jokingly treat as a sentient entity.

4. Fanfiction and Shipping Culture

Tumblr revolutionized fandom spaces. It’s where tropes like “tag yourself” or AO3 comment memes originated, and every conceivable (or inconceivable) romantic pairing has a home. It’s also the birthplace of some iconic fanon—just look at the memes surrounding Supernatural, Destiel, or Sherlock.

5. Tags Are Their Own Medium

Tumblr’s tag system isn’t just for organization; it’s for thoughts too wild for the post itself. People write essays, crack jokes, or scream incoherently in the tags. Example:

Post: “I love frogs.” Tags: #FROGS ARE JUST. SO. #have you ever seen one???? #they’re like tiny green philosophers on legs.

6. The Unholy Blend of Wholesome and Cursed

Wholesome: "Look at this cute picture of a cat I saw today!"

Cursed: “What if that cat was God? Anyway, here’s a cursed drawing of him eating a cheesecake.”

7. The Great "Website of Contrasts"

Tumblr oscillates between:

Beautiful, profound art and poetry.

Shitposts that read like they were written at 3 AM after a gallon of coffee. Sometimes these two things are the same post.

8. Everyone’s a Comedian, Philosopher, and Cryptid

Tumblr humor thrives on being purposefully obtuse, self-deprecating, or eerily wise in ways that make you laugh and then question your existence. Examples:

“The mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell. But what powers you?”

"If you're feeling useless today, remember: someone made a ladder for a snake."

9. Absence of Algorithms = Pure Chaos

Without TikTok’s or Instagram’s hyper-targeted algorithms, Tumblr feeds are a free-for-all. You could scroll past a poignant essay on queer identity, a Doctor Who gifset, and a post screaming, “CRABS ARE THE FINAL FORM OF EVOLUTION,” all in the same minute.

10. It Just Doesn’t Care

Tumblr is a place where cringe doesn’t exist, and sincerity can coexist with irony. It's a space where people post their deepest secrets or scream into the void—and others validate them with notes, reblogs, or completely unhinged additions.

11. Everything Is Canon and Nothing Is Real

On Tumblr, you can claim something ridiculous—like, “In the 1600s, people used to eat tulip bulbs like apples”—and people will roll with it. Whether it’s fact or fiction is irrelevant because it’s funny.

In short, Tumblr is a digital chaos void where sincerity, irony, creativity, and humor collide—and somehow, it works.

[msclaritea]

Today’s feminists just to want to strip women of their rights

MICHAEL DEACON

COLUMNIST & ASSISTANT EDITOR

17 January 2024 • 4:34pm

The "Free the nipple" campaign was supported at this 2018 Women's March in New York

"I’m sure no sane woman needs to be told this. They’ll know it all too well from their own experience. But just in case, here’s an essential rule for life.

Never trust a man who tells you he’s a feminist.

All right, so it’s theoretically possible that he’s being sincere. More likely, though, he’s saying it to preen and show off: verbally pinning a medal to his own chest. Or, even more likely, he’s using it as a kind of chat-up line.

“Hey, baby. Aren’t men dreadful? I’ve noticed, because I’m different. More sensitive. Better. Say, why don’t you come back to my place, so we can enjoy some intercourse. By which I, of course, mean sitting down to read the seminal feminist treatise of that title, written in 1987 by Andrea Dworkin.”

Still, there is one place where you’re unlikely to encounter men of this kind. Spain. Spanish men don’t pretend that they’re feminists – because, it seems, they’re openly hostile to feminism. According to a new survey by the national Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas, published this week, almost half the men in Spain say that feminism “has gone too far”. And they aren’t alone. Because almost a third of Spanish women agree.

It’s a striking result. Here in Britain, however, I think the picture is slightly different. It’s not that feminism has gone too far. It’s that it’s lost the plot altogether. And for us men, at any rate, it’s become utterly impossible to understand what it wants.

It didn’t used to be this way. Twenty years ago, when I was starting out in journalism, I worked for a lads’ mag, called Zoo. And, without exception, feminists absolutely loathed it. They endlessly denounced it as a vile, tawdry rag that promoted the sexual objectification of women – and because of this, they wanted it banned. Or, if not banned, sold inside a brown paper bag, so that no one could see the scantily clad women on the cover.

Naturally enough, we at the lads’ mag didn’t support their proposal. But we at least understood where they were coming from. Of course they objected to a magazine full of semi-naked women, rude jokes and tips on “pulling birds”. They were feminists. By definition, they were bound to hate it. We always knew what feminists stood for, whether or not we agreed with them.

These days, though, we haven’t a clue what they’re on about. Because many of today’s young feminists no longer seem to be campaigning for women’s rights. They’re campaigning against them.

They’re opposed to female-only sports. They’re opposed to female-only prisons. They’re opposed to female-only public lavatories and changing rooms. And any woman who dares to disagree, and politely suggests that women should be allowed to retain their right to female-only spaces, is branded a hateful old transphobic bigot. Feminists used to argue that women are discriminated against on the basis of their biological sex. Now, however, they seem to be arguing that biological sex doesn’t matter at all, or even that it doesn’t exist.

Meanwhile, they actively support prostitution, tweeting “Sex work is work”, as if it were a perfectly acceptable or even admirable career choice. On top of that, they run campaigns such as “Free the nipple” – a demand for women to be given the right to post topless photos of themselves on Instagram. It’s extraordinary. For years, old-school feminists fought for Page 3 to be abolished. Next thing you know, today’s young feminists will be fighting to bring it back.

Come to think of it, perhaps this is the real reason why some men like to claim that they’re feminists. They’ve noticed that this new type of feminism suits them very well indeed."

See? I said just the other day that Feminists are Anti-Feminine. So, let's ask the hard questions, shall we? We know that most women who can afford to hang out, being Feminists are from privileged backgrounds, in the first place. And yes, historically, some Feminists were known for being into alternative lifestyles (think Mary Shelley's mother or the Sex Dom women who inspired Wonder Woman) but what has been happening to them, recently?

More Bait & Switch? That is MORE LGB women as Feminists?

A systematic takeover of that area by people loyal to those who WANT to destroy families?

Flat out Bought and Bossed? Ideologues?

I know one thing. The Women's March, a potential source for Good and for championing rights was taken over by the Silicon Valley-backed, Bernie Sanders, who filled it with openly antisemic assholes like Linda Sarsour. Never thing you know, the group was championing EVERYTHING except what was good for women. Bottom line, it feels like yet more infiltration from groups helping to destroy relationships between men and women, not helping.

[sarthako9]

I was bored

Mathematics. Some people hate it, some people adore it—that's the joke, after all. I won't write a tonne of quotes from well-known people endorsing mathematics, nor do I possess a magic wand that will make you fall in love with the subject. I'll simply take a few moment to call the readers' attention to the patterns, things we notice, and the beauty mathematics exhibits when we give it the respect it deserves.

Just as starter dishes to served to a customer prior to the actual food being served, how about even i introduce you to something before unveiling the true beauty of math. The Fibonacci sequence is an odd series that is ingrained in the very fabric of the universe. What would happen if the number of words in the previous paragraph were divided by the total number?the Fibonacci sequence, or the ratio of numbers, is followed by of letters.The golden ratio, which is also a part of the Fibonacci sequence, relates the number of times you consider writing a blog post or tumblr entry to the number of days you have lived. Every ratio in the world can be represented using the Fibonacci sequence, which is incredibly amazing, however even such a wonderful ratio is viewed as pitiful when you start to apply it to other situations.

This was just the top of the iceberg; next, please, is one of the most well-known equations in all of mathematics(drumrolls please):The Quadratic Formulae.

Almost everyone who is reading this has probably used this at least once in their lives. And with this, we can enter any quadratic equation to get its solutions, which is really helpful to us because everything in our world can be written as a quadratic or cubic equation. Now I know what you must be thinking but there are also equations which are cubic in nature which don't have a general solution, now sorry to disappoint you my friend but a general solution to the cubic does exist it just wasn't taught to us.

After reading the bombshell of an equation, I can now understand the reader's predicament, but if you were paying close attention, you might have noticed a root of a negative element and wondered why it was there since there are no numbers that can be squared to  produce a negative number. Imaginary numbers will be the subject of the last and most important section of this post. Yes, you read that correctly. There are numbers that cannot even be graphed on paper; they exist on a three-dimensional plane and are not real in the sense of numbers like (-4) or (-8) that have no intrinsic meaning. Yes, in order to solve a cubic equation, mathematicians essentially constructed a new class of numbers. And this is the wonder of math: we weren't able to solve problems that were previously thought to be intractable until we separated ourselves from the real world and the real numbers. By moving away from material numbers, we opened a new area of mathematics, leading to new answers to problems that are now so complicated that they require their own post.

I sincerely apologies to the reader for my pitiful attempt to illustrate the beauty that mathematics may exhibit. If I was successful, however, I would consider this a job well done; however, if not, there is always the comment section where you can share your thoughts  and a subsequent attempt at improvement from my side as well. Thank you to everyone who took the time to read a strange post, and remember that if you are having trouble with a math problem, simply keep working on it.

[coolbanana44]

Hello I just read The Curse, I loved it, would you be up for doing a part 2 please? Maybe where the rest of the grid find out why Charles retired his car, a time jump her going to the next race and all the fans seeing what happened ect and Charles being a protective boyfriend?

The Curse Pt. 2 - C.L

AN: My first request! I am very happy you guys are liking my writing! I am thinking of maybe writing a Steve Harrington x reader next, so I would be grateful for ideas and what you would like to see! Thank you guys so much for the love!

The formula 1 world was going crazy about why Charles would retire his car and leave the race in a frenzy. Charles didn’t want the world to know yet that his girl was in a car wreck, he wanted to protect you from the world until you were better, knowing that mean and rude comments would happen. But you thought that eventually word would go around and you didn’t want his fans being left in the dark, so you convinced him to post something about what had happened once you were out of the hospital.`

You had been doing great and you can thank Charles for that as he was there everyday motivating you and helping you to get out of the small hospital bed. He would walk with you to the cafeteria to get food and would even help you in the shower since your arm was broken. He was truly the man you adored. When you heard that he had retired the car and rushed straight to you, your heart swelled and you couldn’t believe that he would do that for you, but a small part of you felt guilty and sad that he didn’t finish his home race. He assured you and smothered you in kisses and told you he would do it another 100 times for you, but joked and said he hopes this doesn’t happen again. 

Today was the day you can get out of the hospital and thankfully you were discharged on a Tuesday so you had a day at home in your apartment with Charles before you had to leave for Spain the next day for the race. Once Charles guided you into bed and made sure you took your painkillers, you and Charles decided it was time to tell the fans. So Charles took a picture of you both and posted the picture on Instagram with the caption, Hey guys, I know a lot of you are wondering what happened this past race. Y/N was in an accident on her way to the track and they had to rush her to emergency surgery, but thankfully the doctors did an amazing job and were able to help mon ange. She was discharged today and is doing great! She also convinced me to bring her to Spain, so if you see her there please be gentle! Thank you! You hit him on the arm when you read the last part, laughing at his protectiveness.

“Gotta make sure no one hurts you mon amour.” He was very sincere. 

After the post, you and Charles got a lot of calls from the other drivers, well more like the girlfriends called you and the drivers called Charles. After everyone’s words of love and happiness that you were okay, Charles decided to cook you his famous pasta. You thought this was the perfect time to check how the post was doing. One of your weaknesses was reading every single comment on any post Charles makes with you in it. You would think after you and Charles have been dating for 2 years you would learn not to take what other people would say or think at heart. You started reading the comments, some rude saying why would Charles give up a race for her, or with all the bruises she's even more ugly. But you tried to divert your focus on all the positive comments, Happy you are okay Y/N, Hoping for a speedy recovery. It was nice to know some fans cared and even supported your relationship. 

—---------------------------------

Charles and you decided it would be best if you stayed at the hotel for practice and qualifying to save your strength for race day. And after 4 days of staying in a way too fancy hotel with Lorenzo and Arthur being your only source of entertainment you were so glad to be out of that bed and stepping into the Paddock with Charles hand tightly wrapped around your one good hand. He was nervous having you here, worried that you would injure yourself further with anything and everything. If someone was walking too close on your right, he would ask the person to give you some room. If saw you wince while walking he would slow down and ask you if you wanted a wheelchair. You would tell him you were just a little sore and that you weren’t a baby. You were starting to get a little annoyed with  him being overprotective, but you wouldn’t tell him that as you know you would be the same way if it was the other way around. 

You guys were in the garage getting ready for the race. The engineers were running tests on the car when Charles brought you over to his brothers. 

“Alright I need to be in the car in five minutes, you two are in charge of Y/N. She has her medication in her purse, make sure she takes it in 30 minutes. If she needs anything, get it for her”. His brothers just nodded, but you snapped.

“Charles, I can take care of myself.” You didn’t want it to come out as rude, but you just needed a little break from him babying you. You instantly apologized.

“I’m sorry I-.” He cut you off

“It’s okay mon amour I understand.” He gives you a kiss on your forehead. You smiled and leaned into the kiss.

“Now I need that lucky handshake.” He said as he laughed. You finish the handshake, say you good luck and love you and he was off. 

—-----------------------------------

Charles crossed the finish line in first and you couldn’t help yourself from screaming and jumping up and down, celebrating with everyone in the garage. You rushed with everyone to the gate just wanting to give him a kiss. Everyone was nice enough to give you space at the front of the gate (or just scared that Charles would be angry if you squished), and you all watched as Charles parked at the 1st place spot and jumped out of the car and ran over to you. He immediately gave you a kiss and hugged you over the gate, being careful not to squish you too tight. He whispered in your ear. 

“You are my good luck charm mon ange. This race is for you.” 

[fuckyeahisawthat]

Some OFMD episode 9 and 10 things that really hit but I’d kinda forgotten because they’re not the Big Ones:

- “I’m a strong reader/writer, so both, double threat.” I crack the fuck up every time. Lucius 18th century theater kid 4 lyfe

BUT ALSO

- Lucius reading so proudly and confidently and bravely from Stede’s journal...the journal that’s been a running joke this whole time...the journal they were trying so hard to throw overboard...the journal that damns Stede in one moment and saves him in another. Especially in relation to this post about the role of journals and diaries and personal correspondence in charting queer history...I will never not love that moment.

- Stede’s FACE when they’re all like “like a crew!”

- When they’re in line at the privateering academy and Stede says “so what’s the plan?” Oh my heart hurt. Because on some level Stede still expects The Legendary Blackbeard to be there with a plan for immediate escape. But Ed’s sick of making plans! (“So we make a plan and then we execute the plan and then we make another plan...”) He wants so desperately to stop!! (And yet he jumps right back into doing it again once it involves running away with Stede.)

- Stede reacting to Ed having shaved and folding socks. At this point we’re very used to seeing the narrative through Stede’s POV, but this really should have been a clue that something had gone seriously off the rails with the way Stede was thinking about this situation. Not only because Ed himself seems completely at peace with it, but because the narrative itself would never suggest that there’s something off or bad or wrong with a man presenting himself in a less traditionally masculine way and doing domestic, feminine tasks like folding clothes. Stede himself argues against that logic when they’re sewing the flags! It’s antithetical to everything the show is saying!

- All of this adding up to: Stede still doesn’t quite see how much being Blackbeard was weighing on Ed. We the audience are really the only ones who get the full picture. Would Ed ever have signed the Act of Grace if not for Stede? Probably not, because The Legendary Blackbeard doesn’t just surrender, and certainly not to the British of all people. But we see from the very beginning that Ed is desperately looking for a way to stop being Blackbeard, and the two options he’s come up with before now are (1) literal death and (2) stealing someone’s identity and living under a different mask for the rest of his life. Not bloody optimal! And...this is a way out. No, he probably would never have taken it on his own, but in doing it for Stede, he is able to do it for himself as well. (That’s the thing he likes about Stede, right? That Stede allows him to be a version of himself that he can’t be, that it’s not safe to be, around anyone else.) And when they’re at the privateering academy...he is so so fucking relieved. Not to have to maintain the persona, not to be in command, not to be responsible for a bunch of lives in constant high-stakes situations, to be able to think only about what makes Ed happy right now. He looks more relaxed and at peace and happy in episode 9 than at any other point in the show.

- When Stede arrives back at his house he’s not wearing shoes. Like yes I think he was having misgivings ever since they signed the Act of Grace and that’s why Chauncey’s speech was able to affect him the way it did, and I think he did make a choice not to go meet Ed at the dock...but also yeah he really did walk straight home overnight while in shock.

- How earnestly the talent show bit is played. Yes it looks ridiculous in contrast to how the episode ends but that whole scene is like...it would have been so easy to slide into a mockery or parody of the kind of atmosphere Stede cultivated on the ship but it’s played so sincerely and that’s very important.

- Izzy correcting the crew on Ed’s name and Ed saying “No, Izzy. Actually, I do want to be called Edward from now on.” (Also, asserting that when he’s in a supportive environment with the crew, then backpedaling to “Well, I am still Blackbeard” when he’s alone with Izzy.) I’d completely forgotten this line, but knowing how the episode ends, wow it made me flinch. We’ve talked about Ed putting the Blackbeard persona back on as a sort of symbolic forced detransition/going back in the closet, but what a way to put a fine point on it here. Also fUCK FUCK FUCK HE WAS SO FUCKING CLOSE HE ALMOST MADE IT OUT OKAY!!!!

- Stede’s big realization at the end: I still think he’s only got it figured out halfway. He’s figured out oh I’m in love with him. But I really think he still has no clue how much Ed loves him back, and thus how much he hurt him by leaving. He really thought he was leaving Ed for Ed’s own good, that he’d ruined him. And likewise I think he sees going to find Ed as something he’s doing for his own, Stede’s, happiness. Which it is! But he still has the self-worth of a wet paper towel. He doesn’t value himself at all, and so he can’t imagine being so important to another person that his absence would devastate them like that.

[khaothanawat]

There was a moment during episode 4, pretty much around this exact shot, where I started to wonder whether Jojo is maybe just a bit of a masochist for choosing to write a romantic story about two characters who constantly refuse to say or show what they’re actually feeling. 

It's hard enough pulling a romance off with one closed-off character, but oh my god. He absolutely does make it work though. I guess when your characters spend so much time putting up a mask, or even flat out lying to one another, then all of a sudden the truth can be found in the inconsistencies.

Nueng has a couple of really nice scenes with Chopper in this episode where they talk seemingly pretty openly about their lives. At one point, he directly says to Chopper that he trusts Ben (“Besides you, my cousin, he is another person I can trust”). Only, when Palm later asks Nueng the same question, he answers “I don’t know.” 

That direct contradiction is interesting, and it sort of makes me wonder whether Nueng even really trusts Chopper enough to be completely open with him about his feelings. It’s not even that Nueng is necessarily trying to lie to Chopper - just that maybe he’s putting up something of a front, because that’s just what he does. I don’t even think this contradiction implies that Nueng doesn’t like Ben, or is suspicious of Ben, necessarily. Just that he doesn’t trust him completely. Nueng has had plenty of moments of seeming emotional honesty with Ben, and they could all have been completely sincere, but Palm asks “Can he really be trusted?” and Nueng stares at him, is silent for a long, long moment, and answers with: “I’m not sure.”

So, for Ben, even if Nueng does genuinely hold good feelings towards him, there’s possibly always going to be this little voice of doubt in his head.

After expressing his doubts to Palm, Nueng goes onto talk about being able to trust in someone else’s feelings, which sort of echoes his earlier conversation with Ben where he talks about his feelings of loneliness and how unworthy he feels of loving or being loved. This feels like such a key part of who Nueng is and what drives some of the things he does. That could probably do with its own post though, because hhhh. Moving on.

There’s a moment in this episode where we actively see Nueng decide to put a mask up for Ben (and omg Phuwin’s acting... don’t get me started don’t even look at me-)

At the party, Ben and Nueng catch up once they’ve finished performing. Nueng has spent the entire time so far staring very sullenly at Palm and Maggie, and so when Ben first speaks to him, he sounds pretty cold and withdrawn still. 

It’s only when Ben jokes about carrying Nueng home that Nueng decides to rein it in a little bit. He closes his eyes, and when he opens them again, his entire demeanour has softened. He decides to give Ben what he’s looking for - he flirts, he makes some very vague promises. He... essentially treats Ben the way he’s been treating Palm this entire time, only with a lot less scolding. And a lot less intention, possibly - there’s little moments in that scene where Nueng looks so briefly unsure about how to appease Ben without actually promising too much. That never really happens with Palm. 

Ben leaves, and the second his back is turned, Nueng’s face drops once more, back to being sullen, still mad about Palm and Maggie. 

Nueng’s propensity to be closed off with the people around him extends to... honestly, everyone in Nueng’s life. Including Palm, although I’d argue that Nueng seems to trust Palm at least a more wholly than he does anyone else. Nueng even tells Palm that because they’re friends they shouldn’t lie to one another, and that he’s is easy to read (which... Nueng, oh Nueng, my sweet little summer sparrow, my precious idiot). He seems to trust that Palm, at least, is one of the infinitesimally small number of people in this world who absolutely holds no bad intentions towards him. He implies as much to Palm at the lake (”When I have you watching my back, it kind of feels good.”)

But even so, in that same scene, we see Nueng furiously dance around his jealousy over Palm and Maggie, whilst actively trying to get more information on what is actually going on between them. He acts so cooly detached and unemotional about it (much like Palm also does - AND I’LL GET TO HIM IN ANOTHER POST BC THIS IS TOO LONG I need to be stopped), but we see very clearly in the moments when Nueng is alone that that’s not the case at all.

But maybe that’s less of a trust thing and more of a ‘I think I have feelings for my hot bodyguard who I definitely would not be allowed to date and who might literally be dating someone else anyway’ thing.

(Part Two: Palm)

[v1leblood]

Sincere question: I remember you talking about retcons to Amy's character in Ward at one point. As someone who also basically despises what was done to that character in that story, I'm curious as to which specific retcons you mean? Was it that she was made into a *literal* rapist on top of all the other stuff, or was it a different thing? Apologies if this brings a maelstrom of Ward discourse your way, I'm just interested in your take.

cw: rape

I was going to write a longer and more thorough reply to this, but wanting to do that has kept me from actually Answering It, so i'm going to forego being thorough and not let it sit in my inbox til next week

the long and short of it is that amy as she's depicted in ward has very, very little resemblance to the amy we see at the end of worm -- and the contrast is intense, because the reader spends a cool 4 arcs with post-birdcage amy during the events of gold morning. i don't have specific citations to pull because i'm Not being thorough, but like... open any chapter after arc 25 where amy appears and it should be pretty obvious.

then there's also the fact that the wretch incident (which was unto itself a horrible, traumatizing violation of bodily autonomy) wasn't written to be Literal rape, despite later insistence in wog that this is the case.

...because wildbow of Back Then said he wouldn't be including any form of sexual assault in the text of worm

I mean, maybe he changed his mind within the span of six months (time between this post and the carol interlude), but... that's not great for credibility, either.

and if we run with the assumption that amy Was a (literal, not just figurative or allegorical) rapist throughout the entire run of worm, then it's just... extraordinarily strange that we spend So Much Time with her over the course of the book, including after she goes to the birdcage -- where we get continuous glimpses into how she's coping, growing and otherwise developing -- And in the finale, where she's framed as having changed for the better and being more grounded than our protagonist is

ward is a huge change to the direction her character seemed to have headed and reads as an overcorrection borne of the post-worm fandom being incredibly nasty towards victoria and too charitable and whitewashy about amy. wildbow said that he wasn't taking fandom reactions and junk into consideration when writing ward, but he also made a point of explicitly describing number man's boring trousers after the joke about him having his dick out got big, so... yeah

so the answer is like. when talking about retcons i'm talking about both of the thing? amy changed a lot insofar as Who She Is and What She Does in ward and the rape thing is contradictory, unnecessary, and really just a big mess

other amy posts that touch on similar topics and i broadly agree with here and here (rip brockton-breakers you are missed). there are others out there i think but i'm too lazy to look them up, sorry!