#i probably forgot about so many things but those are the Essentials

[imamuzansimp-oldblog-seoseoya]

types of kisses the uppermoons would prefer from this list

cw: kissing, fluff, morning kisses, forehead, nose, cheek, neck, lip kisses, pda, pinning against wall, jealousy (if u squint), lap, slight suggestive (mostly in muzan and dōma’s part), slight ooc (especially for muzan but it’s my hc muzan in private that we should all be well acquainted with), simpery bc have you met me, manga spoilers for dōma

a/n: this has sat in my apple notes app for wayyyyyyyy too long now

the list (creds to a tumblr i forgot the name of i saved this a long time ago):

Kibitsuji Muzan

5, 1, 4, 7, 10, 13

5 (in secret kiss): this is muzan we’re talking about. no way is he showing you his affection in public. i know i have my whole ‘softie in private™️’ muzan thing (really have to think of a better name), but key word: private. the day he shows affection in public is the day i stop liking kpop (jk i’ll never stop).

1 (good morning kiss): since muzan is a softie in private™️, he will gladly shower you with good morning kisses as soon as he wakes up. if you are asleep it does not matter, he’s waking you up.

4 (kiss on the neck): he’s a demon, who i believe has a side of him that’s very flirty and spicy. if you’re a human and you give consent, he’s kissing, biting, licking your neck and feeding off the blood from there. if you’re a demon, he’s still going to kiss, bite, lick, and suck your neck. he is not picky

7 (against a wall kiss): muzan + secretly very into steamy stuff + very dominant = muzan who loves a place where he can cage you in and watch you get flustered 

10 (jealous kiss): as an extraordinarily possessive person, muzan would get jealous A LOT. which leads to a lot of jealous kisses.

13 (lap kiss): especially when he’s jealous or horny. let’s be honest we all know he’d do this if you were an actual object of his affection.

Kokushibo

3, 5, 7, 8

3 (kiss on the nose): let’s be honest, besides lip kisses, this is the only place on his face that you can kiss. his forehead is almost nonexistent and his cheeks are just eyes, unless you’d like to kiss those.

5 (in secret kiss): i feel like since kokushibo is so loyal to muzan, he wouldn’t want to kiss you in public since he’d either be in front of muzan or in the human world. besides, he’s more introverted and a demon so i don’t think he’s big on kisses in public for your reputation especially

7 (against a wall kiss): i don’t even know why, i just feel like he’d like to flex his height on you if you’re shorter than him (which is likely, he’s 190 cm/6’3”). since he’s so tall, why not flex the height while making it intimate?

8 (top of head kisses): again, on his head there are only so many places to kiss since you miss two facial features. he’d like kissing your head, but since he’s likely so much taller it makes him feel secret butterflies when you manage to kiss his head

Dōma (istg i hate this man yall dōma simps better be glad im writing for him)

i’m tempted to include everything but i’ll just put: 4, 7, 10, 12, 13

4 (kiss on the neck): this guy is the most thirsty demon (second only to karaku obvi) and we all know it. he’d probably get grumpy if he couldn’t kiss ur neck at least 10 times a day (separately. the 20 something neck kisses he gave when you woke up only count as one).

7 (against a wall kiss): dōma is……… well it’s dōma, the same guy who says akaza might get stronger if he eats women, the same guy who wanted to make inosuke’s mother his wife, the same guy who forms a crush on the people he kills. using that logic he will gladly pin you up against the wall and kiss you until you’re essentially a tomato. he will not stop even then, he won’t stop unless a

pressing matter appears (aka nothing).

10 (jealous kiss): he gets jealous easily, so why not kiss you out of jealousy too?

12 (accidentally witnessed kiss): using the same logic as 7, he loves showing you off, unlike the previous two demons. he will “accidentally” leave the door wide open when he pins you on the bed and kisses the breath out of your lungs (a common occurrence) and sucks a lot of the blood right out of your veins (another common occurrence. did you ask/want/let him? i don’t know, but i doubt it. sorry)

13 (lap kiss): do i need to explain more? 

no. 

will i? 

yes.

this man… chances are he’s not keeping it in his pants for that one.

Akaza (ITS THE BASKETBALL! *said with love*)

2, 8, 9, 13

2 (forehead kiss): since he actually has one (looking at you koku), he’s kissing yours and you’re kissing his. that��s how it’s going to work and chances are he’s going to be a blushing mess because he is weak to even a woman’s glance *watches him sip respect women juice*

8 (top of head kisses): idek why i just feel like he’d enjoy them.

9 (shy kiss): he’s shy boi with women. we all know this. when you two are in private and he’s not busy punching dōma’s face off (i love it when he does), he is with you. with you while somehow being shy even though ur dating

13 (lap kiss): he’s a respectful demon, so he’s not going to drink your blood, but he is going to act like it with the way he’s kissing your neck roughly

Sekido

4, 6, 7, 10

4 (kiss on the neck): let’s be honest, his name means accumulated anger and he quite literally has anger written on his tongue, he’s being rough with his kissing and trying (and failing) to let off some steam. absolutely the roughest out of every uppermoon, if you thought muzan and dōma were biting a lot get ready to meet this guy. he will not stop until your neck is quite literally all red. props to you for not passing out, although you probably already did

6 (public kiss): he is angry in public, and he will kiss you to try and calm down (not like it works)

7 (against a wall kiss): probably pushes you a bit too hard since he doesn’t know his own strength.

10 (jealous kiss): i don’t think i need to explain, just look at 6

Karaku

4, 7, 12, 13

4 (kiss on the neck): ……… if it’s not obvious i’m sorry for you. the kanji on his tongue is literally pleasure

7 (against a wall kiss): again, i don’t need to explain

12 (accidentally witnessed kiss): like with dōma, the kiss is only “accidentally” witnessed. he totally didn’t leave the door wide open as he pinned you up against the wall

13 (lap kiss): ………………………….. YES

Aizetsu

5, 8, 9, 12

5 (in secret kiss): shyer than akaza 🥹! (he’s so precious im sry) every single time he kisses you it’s a shy kiss.

8 (top of head kisses): chances are he’s taller, so he kisses your head when he feels lonely. most of the time you’ll also be cuddling in bed

9 (shy kiss): just read 5

12 (accidentally witnessed kiss): unlike dōma and karaku, it is a genuine accident. he didn’t mean to leave the door open when he wanted to cuddle with you and shower you with kisses, he just did

Urogi

1, 6, 7

1 (good morning kiss): loves these. more specifically, loves receiving these. he doesn’t necessarily need sleep, but when he does wind up falling asleep, it’s next to you. you’ll usually wake up before him and wake him up with the good morning kisses he adores so much

6 (public kiss): his name means sky joy and ur telling me he wouldn’t get so happy he starts making out with you in public? he also just likes lowkey showing you off

7 (against a wall kiss): signature move: gets so happy he pins you against a wall and makes out with you

Gyutaro

2, 3, 4, 11

2 (forehead kiss), 3 (kiss on the nose), 4 (kiss on the neck): please give this poor man some love. he grew up only living for his sister and everyone else turning up their nose at him. forehead, nose, cheek, neck, everything kisses are a must

11 (first kiss): your first kiss with him was magical, whether it was also your first kiss is up to you, but it was definitely his and he relished in every moment of it.

[morethansky]

***TBB FINALE SPOILERS***

"The Cavalry Has Arrived" aka MY OTP IS CANON NOW

A truly absurd amount of meta and thoughts and screaming under the cut:

Overall

• I...loved it????? This is the biggest plot twist of all for me. Like I've said incessantly, I've had so many issues with the writing choices for this show, and I'm so grateful the brainrot set in so I could start watching it through a fandom lens and have way more fun with it than through a media critic lens and being a hater. But like...that was actually really satisfying to me within the parameters of where the show had led to in the last four episodes??

• As everyone on the planet probably knows by now, I would've been much happier if this show had led to the Batch choosing to do the right thing and joining the clone resistance, and if we never get another clone series, I will continue to be unbearable and salty about the lost potential of telling that story. But after Echo left and we stopped following his story, I gave that hope up. And ofc nothing about my criticism of this season is invalidated. But given the pieces on the board, I'd pretty wholeheartedly give the finale my stamp of approval!

• I'm ultimately glad that this show ended on a "We don't leave our own behind" note, because that's the clone energy and general Star Wars energy I'm looking for, and they did a great job of applying that theme to every non-villain in this episode, minor and unnamed characters included—but it's still so darkly funny for them to have continued to push this idea even though the first season is literally about them leaving their own behind and moving on. And then Crosshair calls them out on it. And then he just...leaves himself behind. Even in their first appearance in TCW, the Batch's entire vibe is that they keep trying to convince Rex to leave his own behind lmao. I just feel like the show wanted this adage to tie everything together, but then forgot to keep applying it somewhere along the way. But hurrah for this abundant use of it!

• My overall biggest criticism was that even within this one episode we got back on the rescue/captured/rescue/captured treadmill. It's the biggest plot crutch of the show. It's so goofy that Omega and Echo rescued both the children and the imprisoned clones by themselves. The setup made it so that by going to rescue Omega, Hunter, Wrecker, and Crosshair actually put her in more danger. And because they were there, more clones died, wtf!! But I do like the narrative flip—Echo and Omega were both saved by the Batch in their introductions in this era, and here are they are being the ones to save them in return. Omega and Echo also are the characters in the main cast who deserve the rescuer plotline the most, since they have been consistently portrayed as helping those in need no matter what.

• Hilariously, one of the most pivotal roles that the Forest Trio plays in regards to the GFFA at large is that they were essentially Rampart's rideshare drivers, thus enabling him to be there and force Nala Se not to hesitate to destroy Project Necromancer.

Rampart and Nala Se

• Hemlock saying his work makes him indispensable is fantastic dialogue; it just seems like some dickish thing he would say to shit on Rampart, but it ends up giving Rampart the idea to try to leverage his work to become indispensable himself, and in saying that line, Hemlock ushers his own ruin!!! This is the kind of script work I've been begging for.

• Also I was so right about Rampart being like a Kallus foil! That infamous shot of him in his sad, sterile room after Bahryn is mirrored here with Rampart sitting in pretty much the same position, except his path is the opposite from Kallus's.

• They did an EXCELLENT job with Rampart's fate. I was worried they were neutering him these last couple eps, even if the comedy was gold, but this was very well done. Everything that happens leading up to his death makes complete sense for his character, and it accomplishes the very key plot point of destroying Tantiss. At the start of the season I couldn't figure out how and why the Batch was going to end up delaying Project Necromancer for like thirty years, so I feel validated that they pretty much don't. Very typical of this show to not have the protagonists do the heroic work, but fuck it, I like this instance.

• The humanizing of Nala Se in this show has always been a bit of an interesting choice given that this is feels like such a direct successor to TCW and she was so clearly a villain there. But although they don't quite redeem her, her motivations and her fate were also artfully executed here. Her conversation with Omega pretty much takes into account every Nala Se scene in this show, which is a great way to wrap her character up. And I really like the mirror of Nala Se giving Omega her datapad in the season premiere, and Omega giving Nala Se a datapad here. Both times, Nala Se is determined to set Omega free.

• And I'm so glad there was a follow-up to the destruction of Kamino as well! Nala Se getting a bit of revenge against one of the beings responsible for the genocide of her people and destruction of her homeworld is not something I expected at all, and I love it. And the setup of Nala Se picking up the detonator and Rampart picking up the blaster is just fantastic, because you know from just those two shots that Rampart is willing to kill to gain Palpatine's favor for himself, and Nala Se is willing to die to make sure the being she loves will be free.

Echo and Omega supremacy

• Give me an Echo-led rebel show where he convinces all sorts of people in the Empire and the underworld to defect/help them, please!!! He's so good at it, completing Emerie's turn so efficiently! We have to assume Rex is also good at it given his cell and that he has clone spies and even undercover agents, but every time he sees Hunter he has tried and failed to recruit him lmao. Also REX'S NAMEDROP but him not showing up surely means...we'll see a continuation of his story soon after this...right??? Also this means Howzer still lives, oh, thank god.

• "Because it's exactly what I would do." Strategist Echo comeback yessss!! A nice little callback to the Techno Union arc that kicked this story off as well. And HELL YEAH Omega's relationship with Echo is my favorite out of all of her connections, and I'm living for their spotlight together this ep. I'm extremely invested in found family stories not relying on nuclear family narratives, and I love that you see throughout the show that Echo doesn't "raise" Omega like a kid—he trains her like a cadet. Like someone who he intends to be his equal, which is a nice and very appreciated contrast to others treating her like a precious sheltered baby.

• Their goodbye scene in "Truth and Consequences" is one of my favorites in the show, and I just adore that when Omega is upset, Echo doesn't coddle her—he reminds her of her duty to watch over the others, giving her a purpose and a reason to stand tall. When he conveys that he was worried about her and thinking of her while she was captured, he gifts her a weapon he designed and made for her during that time, so that she won't have to be defenseless after being defenseless for so long in captivity. It's so clone trooper, and I love it and the glimpses these details give us about clone culture and how the older clones cared for the shinies and the cadets and showed their love for each other.

• I also liked that Omega couldn't have escaped without Tech's training, since slicing was so vital. And all her stealthy stabbing is of course reminiscent of Hunter. And finally some emotional payoff for the ongoing bit about Wrecker being afraid of heights! I'm weak for inspirational Star Wars quotes, and this show hasn't had many, but "Just stay focused on what's ahead, not what's below," is a lovely one.

Forest conversations, my beloved

• The Kiners scored the fuck out of this episode!!! So many clever, thoughtful reprises. This is the first reappearance of Crosshair's theme that's played on the synths since he began healing! And then it segues into a soft violin tremolo version that makes me cry, and then it intertwines with "The Sacrifice" from Tech's death, ouchhhh. I have a lot of meta I need to write out about the tracks "The Reunion" and "They Always Work It Out" and how they say so much about Hunter and Crosshair, but I can't believe how well my analysis paid off in the cues in this scene! More on that in another post.

• Gosh, Wrecker's injury scared the shit out of me. But I love him so much and I'm glad he got at least a little moment, even if he didn't really have a story arc here. Or you know, in the entire damn show. And I ultimately liked that the purpose of it wasn't just to freak us out but to give them a plausible disadvantage and to give Crosshair someone to fuss over the whole time and act more recklessly because of it, thus reiterating this key character trait of his.

• I love Crosshair being worried about Wrecker and Hunter and them being worried about Crosshair. That's the squad content I crave and have been missing!! Unfortunate that it specifically has been happening when Omega is out of the picture. Writers, I swear to you, you can do both.

• Can't believe it took another half season for someone to say something about Tech's death, and it was Crosshair, who wasn't even there?? Cool line and sentiment, but man, so frustrating. I like this callback to his conversation with Rampart, though. "Depends on who's giving them" and in this first act he keeps trying to give those orders himself. Thinking of Rex on Umbara: "We're not programmed. You have to learn to make your own decisions."

• God the forest conversations in this ep and the previous one fed me so much. Hunter saying, "And so do those clones" had me literally jumping out of my seat and cheering. Baby boy, it took you so goddamn long, but thank you for finally actually giving a shit before the conclusion of your story. And "It's what I deserve," hnghhh that's the good shit, and it hearkens back perfectly to "I belong in here." And Hunter immediately telling Crosshair hell no made me very happy. And then later Hunter saying "Crosshair—" when he's worried Crosshair is still going to sacrifice himself, but Crosshair reassures him that he'll be right behind them... My heart! What a Crosshunt feast we got in this ep!!!

• Can't believe we also got so many Crosswrecker moments from the get-go and they kept coming! And my three precious little Techwrecker crumbs: the way Crosshair specifically chooses Wrecker to say the cutting remark about Tech to; the way Wrecker bows his head because that was right on target; and Wrecker being the one to watch Tech fall and to scream, "Don't do it, Tech!" in "Plan 99" yet the one to say with such conviction here, "We've always known the risks. And so did Tech." That's just so...finally accepting your beloved is gone ;_; Not really deserved by the text, which kept all but a total of like maybe one total minute of mourning off screen for some fucking reason, but.

Clone X, more like Clone Sexy

• There aren't nearly as many Clone X dudes as I expected?? I guess Crosshair's situation wasn't that rare after all? Or do they just run through them super quickly because Rex's team keeps taking them down?? Regardless, god, THEY ARE ALL SO SEXY. The way they animated their movements was so creepy and hot. And them not speaking was so eerie, I loved it. And then the moment that CX-2 did was so effective and terrifying!!! But remembering that those were clones in there is so, so heartbreaking.

• I really like that Echo really felt like both a clone trooper AND the resistance agent he is now this whole episode, and Hunter, Wrecker, and Crosshair actually briefly got to feel like commandos. The slick stealth and silent communication was also very sexy.

• MY GOD, I loved these action scenes. They were lit and choreographed so cool, they were super intense and had real consequences and close brushes with death, and the logic of the fight flow was really good, too. A character being incapacitated because they went to try to help an ally is always a wonderful driving force for action and gives it that crucial character-driven element that raises the stakes, and is great for making sure the main characters aren't too OP, and there was a ton of that here.

• Hunter and Wrecker getting shot by laser cannons and Hunter pushing Wrecker away from the blast made me shriek in terror AND THEN CROSSHAIR SHOOTING THE PILOT DEAD ON NO HESITATION NO ANXIETY NO TREMOR BECAUSE HOW DARE YOU HURT MY HUSBAND I'M FUCKING LIVINGGG. And then Wrecker stumbling over to Hunter and lifting the debris like he does in TCW. Boom, three pivotal character-driven action scenes in a row that divulge a key characteristic of each character! Excellently written and directed.

• Also I am SO SO SO HAPPY that we're getting to see this protective Crosshair come out in full force!!! This is the Crosshair who risked his life to try to save Mayday, who shouted hysterically when Hunter fell into the ice and was so desperate to get him out, who worried over Omega on Teth. I also really like this contrast with how he was about Echo—"Echo's on it." He knows Echo will get the job done and be safe and that's despite his former prejudice against regs. He's worried about Hunter and Wrecker and that's despite previously spending time trying to hunt them down. And when he suffers consequences, it's because of him worrying about them, and that's so delicious.

• Finally got to hear Crosshair screaming! And Hunter was already the screamer in this show, but goddamn does he get to scream in this episode. Thank you, directors, for this whump material! My man Steward Lee never lets me down.

• THE WAY THAT WHEN CROSSHAIR IS TRYING TO SAVE WRECKER HE REACHES FOR A DC-17 OMG!!!! I feel so validated! And just like with Mayday, he's incapacitated afterward...

• God the way CX-2 waits to be tossed the vibrosword and then leans down with it while Crosshair is already incapacitated is SO brutal, like this is not a battle injury. It's straight up what Anakin fucking Skywalker does to Count Dooku just before he becomes a Sith Lord, like holy shit, dude. This scene is so cool and I've watched it 10,000 times over the past 24 hours, but also why did he do that lol, is he just supposed to be particularly cruel?? Obsessed with tormenting Crosshair for some reason?? Also, these vibroswords are exactly how I've pictured Ahsoka's being in A Future for Us :D

• At this point I was like, uhhh, the messaging of Crosshair struggling with this psychomatic hand tremor since the first episode of the season and then the symptom literally being taken out of his........hands sure is a Choice, especially coupled with how they've treated Echo (or you know, not). When they showed him still with the symptoms later, I was very relieved, AND THEN HUNTER LITERALLY CURES CROSSHAIR THROUGH THE POWER OF THE LOVE AND FAITH AND TRUST HE HAS FOR HIM IS THERE ANYTHING MORE BEAUTIFUL IN THE WORLD???? But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Echo is the GOAT

• "You were helping us, Dr. Karr?" / "I am." I love this subtle line and how Emerie acknowledges that she wasn't sure of her loyalties before but is certain now. And I love that she says such a clone trooper thing, "You have my word," and then doing the clone shoulder pat, especially in direct contrast to the natborn kids hugging Omega just before.

• "Hey, kids. ...And other kids." is just so fucking 501st, I can't explain it. I'm just so ecstatic that they did Echo such justice in the end, giving a nod to everything about his character, even his dorkass cadet personality. And it wasn't just so he could die, thank god!!!

• Like Echo even got a DARTH VADER homage??? That's his mass-murdering general (affectionate). More on this here!

• Also is there anything more Big Dick Energy in the world than Echo eviscerating Rampart—who either the clones would recognize as a former vice admiral or at least see his captain rank plaque—with what may not be a theme this show really earned but is ABSOLUTELY a theme that Echo deserves and has shouldered for over two seasons...and then just straight up shoving him out of the way so that he can talk to his brothers???? And with his stormtrooper helmet—which is like Echo refusing to dirty his hands (including his new, long-awaited one) by touching Rampart oh my god??? Sexiest man alive.

• So the answer is no, there isn't. Fives is hollering from the afterlife. Half those clones immediately developed a crush on him in that moment. That one clone later placing a blaster in Echo's arms so gently confirmed this for me (remember the symbolism of Echo making the energy crossbow for Omega? He even gives her his borrowed blaster in this scene), but it's so sad that he died because of it, whyyy.

• Also I love the "Clones don't leave our brothers behind" riff on the "We don't leave our own behind" adage. It's very fitting that Hunter would put it that way because he only means his squad (+/-1), whereas Echo would see it as meaning his people.

• And I love how when Rampart first shoves Echo, the clone in front that Echo's been talking to prickles and makes brief eye contact with him, to be like, "Should we take him? I've got your back." I felt that girls (gender neutral) in the bathroom energy so hard.

• The clones helping each other out of their cells made me so emotional. And it's the same way that Hunter and Crosshair do later...

• Echo asking for volunteers, just like Rex did on Umbara..................

• I think this post is breaking and I'm still only two-thirds of the way through my rewatch, oops. And yesterday I stayed up until 8 a.m. after I put it on again after watching it for the first time... I'm so normal about this show. More tomorrow!

• Part 2!

[jeannereames]

Dr. Reames, a simple question from someone interested in history but who is not part of the academic world: in order to study Alexander the Great and Ancient Greece in general, how much Ancient Greek does one have to learn? Would you need to learn Demotic Greek or the many other dialects, such as the one from Macedonia? As in, you’d need to learn one or more versions of Ancient Greek?

Thank you in advance! I always enjoy your responses!

How Much Greek Do I Need to Read about Alexander?

It depends on how far you want to go…what’s your end-goal?

If you’ve no desire to make it a profession, the good news is you need very little Greek.

Most ancient Greek and Latin texts are available in translation in the major languages of (European) Classical studies: English, French, German, Italian. Now, if you want them in Polish, or Japanese, or Bengali, you’ll have more of an issue. But the Loeb Classical Library (and LOEB ONLINE) has English translations of virtually all extant (still existing) Greek and Latin sources, and if you’ve got access to a (larger) college library, they probably have them, even if you have to ask them to get things out of storage. Latin is red (PA6156); Greek is green (PA3612). Budé is the French version of Loeb, btw.

Loeb texts also have Greek and Latin on the facing page, but I mention them because they’ve got translations of (almost) everything. One can find cheaper versions without the Greek/Latin from Penguin, Oxford, et al. But those don’t have, say, Aelian, or Athenaeus, or the obscure texts of Plutarch’s Moralia. Loeb does. That said, the Alexander histories (Arrian, Curtius, Plutarch, Diodoros, and Justin) are all available in relatively cheap translations. Much earlier, in answer to a different ask, I listed our main sources on Alexander, extant and lost. It’s a longer read, but perhaps of interest.

(See below for more online sources in translation.)

So, no, you don’t need Greek. But, if you’re at least moderately serious about reading beyond pop history, you will want to learn a few Greek words to better “get” Greek sensibilities. Say, timē (τιμή), which means honor/public standing/esteem, but has all these attendant connotations. If you start reading the Serious Stuff (articles and academic books), authors will throw these around so it’s useful to know them, as they tend to carry an entire freight of meaning we don’t want to explain every time we use them. These are words I make my students learn in my intro to Greek History class (2510), so there aren’t many. (Undergrads put up with only so much, ha.) For Alexander, it’s also useful to know the Greek names of some units, such as the Somatophylakes (the royal Bodyguard of 7), or the Hypaspists (the specialist hoplite phalanx, not the same as the Foot Companions), or even the name of the long pike (sarissa). But you can make do quite well with a vocab of maybe 30± Greek terms.

It's only if you want to pursue research at the advanced (graduate) level that you’d need Greek. Even then, it’s mostly Attic Greek. The only time you’d need dialects is for quite specific study and/or epigraphy (inscriptions). Epigraphers are language specialists. Most of us, even the “pros,” don’t work at that level. But yes, if you’re getting into extensive examinations of passages, it’s good to understand the language for yourself, not have to trust a translation. Translations are, by definition, interpretations.

I hope that encourages some folks to embark on reading the original (primary) sources. Of more import for these is to understand HISTORIOGRAPHY. Even those who can read the Greek, but lack historiographic training, tend to take stuff at face-value when they shouldn’t.

Go HERE for a discussion of historiography (with regard to Alexander). Again, it’s part of a specific ask, but I explain why we need to know something about the historians who are writing our texts, in order to understand those texts. It’s another longer read, but essential.

Almost forgot! If you prefer video, I've also talked about the sources on TikTok: Part I: Intro & Lost Alexander Sources and Part II: Extant Alexander Sources

Some Useful Online Sources to Bookmark:

Perseus (at Tufts.edu): clunky as hell because it’s old (in internet years), but indispensable. English/Greek/Latin/other texts in translation and original language, plus all sorts of other tools, including an image bank. Pitfall: these are translations outside copyright, so old and sometimes problematic. Still, it’s free, and so-so much stuff here. Every person dealing with the ancient Med world has this one on speed-dial. (You can find other online sources with various texts, but Perseus has, again, almost everything; it’s the online Loeb.)

Stoa Org Static: a version of the original where you don’t have to sign in. Takes you to various super-helpful pages, including the Online Suda (a Byzantine encyclopedia you can search: look up “Hephaistion” there. *grin*) Bunch of other helpful links.

Wiki Digital Classicist hypertext list of topics ranging from the Beasley Library (of pottery) to the Coptic Gnostic Library and various online journals. Just click around, see what’s there.

Topos Text: clickable map of places which includes all references to them in ancient sources. So if, say, you want to know where X places is, mentioned in Arrian, you can find it on the map.

PHI Searchable Greek Inscriptions: I have used the tar out of this. It’s much easier than Inscriptiones Graecae, and comes with English translations.

More Online Resources: more links. This is just one of various collections out there.

Again, ALL this stuff is free. Even when you may have to pay (like Loeb Online), the amount of material you can now lay hands on even without a uni library is fantastic.

JSTOR: requires a subscription, but, if you’re a college student or can get access via a uni library, you can look up material for free. Problem: JSTOR has different subscription packages, and only the really big Class-A Research schools have large holdings for Classics. I’m regularly foiled in things I need, as my library is smaller. I use ILL (Interlibrary Loan) a lot. If you can’t get what you want via your school JSTOR or ILL, sometimes you can purchase a solo copy of an article via JSTOR Google Scholar. But (hint) always check the journal’s website itself. It might be cheaper there! (The Ancient History Bulletin, for instance, is super-cheap; check their archives. Karanos [Macedonia only] is FREE.) Same thing sometimes with books. Certain publishers have rental options, Open Access, etc.

Also Academia.edu first: Your savior…if the author is a member, and has uploaded the paper you want. We frequently face restrictions on what we’re allowed to upload, and when. Yet we may list an article we can’t yet release publicly. That doesn’t mean we won’t send it to you privately via email if you message us and ask nicely. 😊 Especially if you’re not providing an entire wishlist, or asking for a book for free. It depends on the person, and whether they have a PDF.

[trans-luis-serra-navarro]

I remember there was a headcanon about Luis attending a school that had secret connections with Umbrella. Now I can't help but think if Leon and Luis have a kid, they would do extensive background checks on schools their kid would attend, because they'll want to make sure none of those schools were associated with Umbrella/have ties to corrupt companies/organizations.

Thank you so much for sending in an ask!!!!!!! But yesyesyesyesyes I know the headcannon you’re talking about!!!!!! From memory I think either @geddy-leesbian or @hamartia-grander made some pretty extensive posts going into this idea??? Either way its really fascinating to think about!!!!

For those of you who don’t know, the headcannon/theory basically revolves around the fact that Luis was able to graduate school seemingly pretty quickly/was considered a ‘child prodigy’, and that in-universe theres a few characters who attended schools created specifically by Umbrella to essentially indoctrinate them; one of the most notable being the Umbrella Executive Training School that William and Wesker attended.

Umbrella has a few random facilities like this (like the Rockford Prison) And considering the fact that Europe seemed to be a relatively big hub for Umbrella, it DEFINITELY wouldn’t be much of a stretch to say that they’d have a similar school with the intent of training/indoctrinating ‘child prodigies’ to work for them in the future, and it’d be even less pf a stretch to assume that Luis, who came from a VERY sheltered religious background, would be a very easy subject to pick (cuz! yippee!! capitalist grooming am i right or am i right!!) It’d also absolutely lend a hand to why Luis grabbed as many items as he could and just BOOKED IT immediately after finding out what their plans for Nemesis REALLY were (I could talk about that part of his life/that realisation for HOURS oh my GOD)

EDIT I FORGOT TO ADD: Umbrella on some level does work quite like a cult. I’ll link a post that does a MUCH better job explaining it than I could in the replies of this post, but creating facilities for the sole purpose of indoctrinating already vulnerable young people into being on board with your project and isolating them from friends and family is like. Cult behaviour 101 BFNEHENDJDJ which is VERY painful to think about how Luis got roped into cults THREE times. Valdelobos before Saddler showed up wasn’t EXPLICITLY a cult, but considering it was isolated from modern society and heavily Catholic theres a strong argument to be made- then of course theres Umbrella- then of course he was blackmailed into working with Los Illuminados. I’ll make a post going deeper into that SOMEDAY, but like,,,, just the tragedy of his life being one big cycle he cant break is just. So devastating man are you KIDDING ME

I’m not like. SUUUUUPER knowledgeable on super obscure lore stuff like locations/facilities etc, so if you have a question about that specifically @highball66 would probably be a better person to ask!!!!

But again we know like. NOTHING about the inbetween time between Luis running away from Valdelobos as a child and him popping up as one of Umbrella’s top scientists other than the fact that he was a child prodigy and he excelled in college- hell even the dates/ages get kinda wonky at times BHFNEHENEUDNSIS but also this is Resident Evil where things get wonky a lot of the time so!!! Eh!!!!!!!

I have my own personal theory on what he did during that time inbetween I would be SO MORE THAN HAPPY to ramble about HDNEHENDJDN

BUT TO THE POINT OF YOUR QUESTION!!! YES!!!!!!!! ABSOLUTELY!!!!!!!!!! Plus just in general with Leon having a lot more enemies than friends, doing background checks on teachers or whatever would probably seem like paranoia to an outsider but to them?????? Nah you can NEVER be safe. Plus Leon’s like, a government agent- he obviously doesn’t have a TON of autonomy but I can imagine he at least has SOME power to dig up information on people. AND, the both of them literally went through hell and back to save Ashley, who was kidnapped right under the presidents nose- So like!! Hell yeah they’d be paranoid abt where their kids going man!!!!!!!! Rightfully so I think!!!

[hcfiles]

Why is he struggling financially? I'll give you an example. Well, maybe two (and this isn't meant to make anyone feel stupid, just fyi).

Let's take Witcher season 2, he made 1mil per episode. 8 episodes, 8mil in total. Sounds like a lot until you factor in that he doesn't take home 8mil. 60-80% of that goes to: agents, managers, taxes (A LOT goes to taxes, actually) and staff. While agents can only make 10% managers can claim 30% or more, or even charge a commission scale. His staff from what I've observed can be anywhere from four to six people, at least, who are either being paid the bare minimum for their industries or they're being paid very well. The revenues from streaming are so dogshit they might as well not be counted as much more than coffee money. Then you have to factor in his personal expenses, bills and whatnot. After he pays out the essentials that 8mil gets whittled down to 3.2mil or 1.6mil, and given how richly he likes to live that doesn't go very far. Fans assume he invests and is smart about his money but in truth we really don't know that. Another example was his last cameos for Superman. We know he got paid $500k for both in total. He probably walked away with anywhere from $100k to $200k before his personal expenses. Again, I know it sounds like a lot and for us average folk it would be. But this is the guy who shells out money for things like gifts and pizza for a full filming crew, who stays in luxury rentals that are not always paid for by studios and always flies privately. He like many other celebrities has all the hallmarks of someone who spends it as soon as they make it, and now he's not making as much as he used to. I would wager he's being kept afloat by family money right now, or those investors he met in Jeddah. For his sake, I hope it's not the latter.

And you forgot to include expenses he has supporting the entire family of his brother. There you go. It's explained why he's broke.

[vroombeams]

FIC WRITER INTERVIEW

tagged on main by @boonbeenblade i hope you don't mind if i answer over here where i'm more active 💖

How many works do you have on AO3?

21!

What's your total AO3 word count?

72,196

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

like you do (1,011)

delicate topographies (666) (nice)

hot in it (637)

a place to rest your arms (478)

mile why club (408)

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

i do! as often as i can i try to respond to comments because i really appreciate them all and it really really really keeps me going. but it's been a bit of a contentious thing lately i think in fandom at large, the way that there've been a few people saying that they straight up won't comment if they see the author doesn't respond etc etc. for me personally i have pretty severe chronic fatigue and just a whole cornucopia of bad brain things that make it difficult sometimes to go through and drop what is essentially a copy-pasted thank you note in the replies to each comment. i'm not at all against responding and especially if there's a question or something to engage with it always makes me really happy to do so, but it does push into burnout territory faster. so usually i'll just write more fic and hope that that's enough!

What's the fic you've written with the angstiest ending?

free for all or decathect probably! actually intermediate was pretty bad too in that capacity. forgot about that one. but i mean most of those also are semi-ambiguous i guess, like it's sad and continues to be sad and it may or may not continue to be sad after? but yes those three. if the bloodborne au ever gets finished that will ~snatch the crown~ tho. also i was filling this out before i finished kinktober and probably the cnc fic is pretty up there now

What's the fic you've written with the happiest ending?

like you do? a place to rest your arms? the happy they're-going-to-get-together endings i guess?? for me also i would personally put rear 32 in this category. to me it's like, there's a sweet-warm-good vibe to the end of it and in my head and i guess sometimes on tumblr there is some extremely warm aftercare that follows that makes Me, Personally, very happy

Do you write crossovers?

liiiike. i guess you could qualify a really distinctive au as a crossover if you really wanted to. the crime au could be considered a gta crossover. paleblood is, you know, bloodborne but with landoscar in it. but i guess to me a true crossover would involve characters meeting other characters from that other universe??? and the answer to if i've written those is also yes, but not for f1 (yet)

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

oh yes in the dark days of ffnet there was a great deal of flaming all the time, the etiquette wasn't quite what it is today lmaO. to be fair i deserved a lot of the hate i got. i sucked pretty bad. and then a couple of fandoms ago i got a pretty cruel guest comment on a fic that i ended up deleting, but that's a whole other story lol

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

gestures vaguely at the kinktober archive

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

not that i'm aware of! i don't think i'm big enough to have been stolen from. but one can always hope (jk)

Have you ever had a fic translated?

yes!! someone in a previous video game fandom i was in translated one of my fics to mandarin. very cool!!!

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

yesss a few times! all in previous fandoms. there were a couple of people i used to write with pretty regularly in that way, like popping a bunch of junk in a doc and then letting each other run wild and smoothing out the rough edges at the end. super rewarding and super fun and a really interesting exercise in making different styles flow together

What's your all-time favorite ship?

all-time is a rough one to answer LOL. in f1, currently, probably jondo. as far as ships that i still will actively go back to and enjoy just as much... maybe adam/ronan (raven cycle) or altair/malik (assassin's creed)? zack/cloud from ff7 lives within me also. and will till i die

What's a WIP that you want to finish but don't think you ever will?

the water takes it back for sure. between that one and i guess the long-distance relationship landoscar fic. i like them both a lot conceptually but they're both pretty raw to write, like, achy in ways that feel too personal maybe? i'll probably continue to pick at them but i don't know if i could ever finish/post them just because they are a Lot in a Lot Of Ways. then again i'm also in a bit of space rn so. ask me again in a few weeks

What are your writing strengths?

maybe knowing what i want from a piece? like the goal of a thing or the vibe i want to achieve. but also sometimes i do just be flinging myself into a doc and hoping something happens so it's maybe not that specific lmaO. but yeah, i guess the vision is a strength, when i do have a vision it's usually a pretty strong and solid one!

What are your writing weaknesses?

dialogue the beloathed! i hate it i always feel like it comes out clunky and makes the rest of the piece clunky by extension

also getting caught up in like. a lot of minute details and plot threads? this is obviously not an issue in all of the stuff i've been posting for the last month because. duh. but in larger projects i definitely find myself creating too many threads or not tying off threads correctly or not having enough threads, god forbid. this is of course why there's no multichap posted on this account lol. it's something that i'm specifically working on right now! trying to be better at you know... organization and clarity? by the end of november we will know if i've achieved that lol

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

oh interesting question. i don't think it's like... super necessary? to include? like unless a pov character has some familiarity with a second language that they don't actively speak, i don't think there's a ton of reason to write out like idk a whole bit of dialogue in french or italian or whatever. mainly because if you don't speak a language At All you're likely not going to be catching complete sentences/words anyway, so taking the pov character into consideration is important for this?? as far as a bi-or-morelingual character goes, i think doing a dialogue tag in english and saying 'they said, in (language)' after makes more sense from a reading perspective. if that makes sense. that's just my personal take on it!

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

yugioh lol. way back on ffnet. i think my first ao3 fandom was... mmm. we will just say [redacted] bandom i guess

What's a fandom/ship you haven't written for yet but want to?

ohhh. like is it a cop-out to say indycar because i'd love to mess about with some pato ships in the near future??

What's your favorite fic you've written?

rude question to end on THANKS

i don't know man. as it stands everything i've posted isn't like a favourite?? anymore?? my go-to answer has always been free for all or pouffe. but there are a couple of the kinktober fills that i'm really really fond of now like the oscarmark breeding kink? the oscarmark cnc is like also important to me in a lot of ways. i think i'm also in the post kinktober headspace where i want to tear everything i've ever done to absolute pieces and then maybe set it on fire??? anyway yeah those ones 😭 otherwise probably there's stuff in my docs that i've not posted that i prefer but that's neither here nor there atp

i know this one is fuckin huge so extremely no pressure tagging @glasscushion @freeuselandonorris @monacotrophywife @piastriachios @bright-and-burning to at your leisure if at all 💖

[somewhat-insane]

Idk if you’re doing requests right now (or at all), but could you maybe write a MK x male! siren! Reader? Like, MK just found out that his new friend is a siren? Can be head cannons or one shot, I don’t mind either way.

Not forced ofc, just thought it’d be fun to see! Have a good day/night :3

Sorry this is so late! In general requests are always open since there aren't that many people requesting anyway, but I might take a bit to get to things. I promise it's not that I forgot! I just tend to pick up and drop things at random times. I digress. I decided to do a oneshot because I haven't done as many of those and I want more practice doing them. I also didn't know what version of a siren you wanted soooooo I may or may not have spent time researching various sirens only to kind of do my own interpretation anyway. (I ended up choosing to do the more aquatic siren that would work kind of like the sea monsters in Luca instead of the bird sirens from Greek Mythology. If you want me to do another oneshot with the bird version, I might.) Regardless, I hope you enjoy and have a good day/night too! (P.S. I stole the title of this from a movie-)

~Song of the Sea~

Tags: MK x Male!Siren!Reader, oneshot

Warnings: Mention of sirens eating humans but no details

The sea is a dangerous thing. Essential to life yet destructive in nature. Many have disappeared into the salty depths. But the power held within the waves is not the only thing to fear, that much MK knew. 

Growing up, he heard many stories of monsters that lurked in the watery abyss and would drag their unsuspecting victims deep into the water where the pressure alone was enough to crush your skull. The cautionary tales did their job well.

Too well, perhaps.

These stories, despite being told with good intent, created such a fear in the young boy that he never actually learned how to swim.

Even as he grew out of his fear, he was too busy to take time to learn.

He used to joke that it was just one more thing he had in common with his mentor.

It seemed a lot less funny now, as he sunk deeper.

One moment he was training on his cloud and the next…

Well… The water had rushed around him before he knew it, muffling the sound and filling his mouth with the taste of salt as he sucked in a startled gasp. 

Everything was blurry and green and his eyes stung. Just before he could close them though, he saw a strange glimmer in the water, as though the warped image of the sky tore away into crystal-like scales that swam just out of his peripheral vision. Before he could consider it further, he felt strong arms around him and he was being tugged back up to land. 

His back hit the sand and he sputtered and coughed, turning over to heave the saltwater out of his lungs, grimacing as it stung his throat and coated his taste buds. Once he was able to blink away the sting in his eyes and his vision cleared, he looked up, ready to thank his savior, only to freeze at the familiar—albeit scalier than he remembered—face staring back at him, concern etched in the man’s familiar incredibly handsome eyes.

“You-?” MK wheezed, sitting up to get a better look at the man and confirm what he was seeing wasn’t just some trick of the light.

“Surprise…?”

///

MK was used to having unusual friends.

Even before he knew he was some weird monkey demon, he wasn’t unfamiliar with the various demons that resided in Megapolis.

Which is probably why he didn’t think anything of it when he met someone new on the Flower Fruit Mountain beach a few months ago.

If he had been thinking about it at the time, he probably would’ve realized that most regular humans or demons aren’t able to pass the flaming mountains safely without some kind of magical assistance, though his mentor had mentioned creatures that lived in the water surrounding the mountain.

“Skittish things, they are,” Wukong had grunted in response to MK asking about a scroll he found while sifting through the remaining treasures in the cave. (He had initially been hesitant to touch it, remembering the last scroll incident in that same area.) The scroll depicted half-human-half-bird creatures in the skies and half-human-half-fish creatures in the water, “incredibly intelligent though. Not unlike Huli Jing. Tricksters. Though it’s mostly just so they have easier access to prey, they don’t seem like the type of creatures to screw with people just for fun.”

Wukong had continued on to explain that he let them stay because they pass through an underwater cave under the flaming mountains and lure poachers astray before eating them, which is a load taken off his shoulders. (He grumbled something else about wishing they would clean up the remains so skulls would stop washing up on his beach and nearly give him a panic attack.)

MK wasn’t thinking about any of this though when he had seen a strange man sitting upon a plant covered rock, looking out at the water with a thoughtful—if not entirely forlorn—expression.

To be fair, he was a bit… distracted by the man’s handsomeness; the way the setting sun cast beautiful hues over his distant expression.

And, of course, MK was definitely very elegant in his introduction and he definitely didn’t fall face first into the sand which made the man, who was originally alarmed by MK’s sudden appearance, laugh. The jovial sound made MK smile against the ground.

///

“So… this entire time…?” Mk starts, looking at you with wide eyes while taking a sip from the warm cup of tea you made for him. He wasn’t sure where you got the tea kettle and mug but he supposed it didn’t really matter all that much.

“Mhm,” you hum in confirmation, your scales slowly retreating as the fire dried the water off of you. The sun had fully set a few minutes ago, the stars now glistening above as you sat across from MK, the campfire blazing between you and obstructing your view of each other. You could tell this made MK anxious as he couldn’t read your expression, but you didn’t really want to read his, scared that he would be mad you hid this big part of yourself.

“Cool,” MK responded casually, taking another sip of tea before asking, “and you didn’t tell me because…?”

“Didn’t seem important,” you shrugged, averting your eyes from the fire to watch the way the moon’s reflection rippled on the surface of the ever-shifting water.

MK huffed a soft laugh at that, “I’m pretty sure species is at least one of the top five things you find out about a new friend within like... the first week.”

You rolled your eyes with an amused smirk, hiding it by taking a sip of your own tea despite the flame between you ensuring he wouldn't see it anyway, “says the guy who didn’t even know he was a monkey until he was twenty-something.”

You tensed up when instead of laughter his reaction was to unexpectedly stand up and walk over to your side of the fire. For a moment you feared you had upset him but then you saw the fond glint in his eyes as he settled beside you. You relaxed. Only slightly.

“Fair,” MK said, taking a sip of tea as he stared into the flames with a contemplative expression. After a moment of silence you said, “I… didn’t know how you would react.”

“Hm?” MK raised a brow.

“To learning I was a siren… I’m not sure how sirens that live closer to the mainland act, but I imagine we’re definitely more… traditional than them. Our only interactions with humans have either been us being hunted by them or us killing them,” you were quiet for a moment, leaning back on your hands before adding with a slightly sheepish grin, “I probably would’ve eventually tried to lure you to the others for a feast if you hadn’t spilled your entire life story within seconds of meeting me and told me you were a monkey demon. The Monkey King’s successor, no-less.”

“Eh,” MK chuckled with a shrug, “I’d probably have been able to escape, I’m used to fighting demons.”

“Oh, sure, you definitely wouldn’t be able to be seduced into the water mr. ‘tripped in the sand because distracted by a hot man,’” you tease, earning a scoff and a playful shove.

“Shut upppp. You’re never going to let that go, are you?”

“Nope~”

MK rolled his eyes fondly before resting his head on your shoulder. You tensed for a moment before sighing and wrapping an arm around him.

Sirens; enchanting beings whose beauty and song lure unsuspecting sailors to their doom. These creatures utilized the mortal nature of curiosity and the allure that accompanies danger and the unknown. Whether they offer you knowledge or intimacy, they seem to know exactly how to weave their songs into traps for their unsuspecting prey.

Meetings with such creatures, however, don’t always lead to an untimely and sometimes poetically ironic demise, MK's learned.

Sometimes they lead to something even better than what is promised.

~

Thank you for reading!! I'm sorry if this was boring, I still haven't really figured out how to write anything interesting- I tried though! Constructive criticism is allowed!

[obsidianpen]

Hi, I hope you're doing great! I originally suggested that video, and I'm really sorry I forgot to warn you about its length… While watching it, I drew parallels between its themes and those in No Glory and most stories in general…

It's fair to say that these narratives reflect socially constructed power imbalances that have been passed down through generations… The video's narrator pointed out that most romance stories are actually about becoming more powerful, even though it's not noticeable at first...

Readers get more than just dopamine hits from anticipation; they can sense intense emotions often lacking in our repetitive lives…

Well, for many, it's easier to express hate and dislike than understanding and kindness… I might be projecting here...

Personally, I recognize my obsession with two fictional characters' complex dynamics as an escape or addiction from my emotionally stunted life… Although I'm not a robot, I do express emotions—a lot, actually… Still, novels provide emotional doses that might take months or years to experience in real life…

Sorry for going off on a tangent, and don't mind me; this is what "speaking my mind" means, I suppose, as sentences are patched together in hopes they'll make sense in the end… Again, massive respect for the writers out there and what you do… It's sad that words are now just codes that could be taken as inspiration for others who won't realize or appreciate the actual contribution ever… Reality sucks sometimes...

I just wanted to appreciate your writing in a different way after getting a dose of self-awareness through that video...

So for both protagonists in your stories, Harry and Hermione (this new chapter added something that wasn't there before in her character—she is mysterious which makes B&G a lot more anticipatory, in my opinion) it's probably a quest for power, but there are more emotional subtleties, as your stories amazingly showcase almost all forms of love like,

eros (sexual passion)

philia (deep friendship)

ludus (playful love)

agape (love for everyone)

pragma (long-standing/committed love)

philautia (love of the self)

storge (family love)

and mania (obsessive love)

That's what makes your stories so beautiful. Especially Hauntingly.

(Reference: Cosmopolitan, not GPT… I deleted my chatGPT account recently because I realized I need the friction to learn, even though I'll miss the quick solutions for college work or study help…)

Ending this ramble with a thank you, and I hope I was coherent enough… ❤️

more than coherent enough! 🫂 I’m almost done with the video, and it has been a really enjoyable thing to listen to. I half expected the narrator to mention bell hooks when taking about all the kinds of love! One of my favorite parts, that was the central focus of my art thesis. But yeah I loved it, 10/10, if only everyone who gets so butt hurt when fics don’t include “top” and “bottom” tags would watch and listen to it too!

and thanks so much for all the kind and lovely words. Love is always the point in my fics too; what else could it be? All the kinds of love.

re: chatGPT. Good for you for deleting it. You are infinitely better off without that in your life, particularly as you’re working on your education. The friction is essential. 💕💕💕

[m1ckeyb3rry]

SitH thoughts under the cut for the roughly two people that have read that story:

- why is Y/N so shippable with EVERY character EXCEPT FOR COLT (literally the main love interest)

- like the conversation with reiner on the bridge??? so romantic and for what…wdym you wished you knew each other in a world where you weren’t both terrible people. wdym you’ll meet each other in another life some time. WDYM YOU’LL FIND HER IN THAT NEXT LIFE HUH REINER 🤨🤨🤨🤨

- her and hadrian have a narrative reason to be shipped so ig i can’t complain about that but i still can’t get over the impact that he has had on everyone reading the story. bro was there for 1.5 chapters max and he’s still on everyone’s minds even now. those pseudo-italian genetics are strong i suppose

- i have actually tried to figure out why it is that friedrich seems like more of a love interest than colt at times though (besides me being the BIGGEST victim of second lead syndrome) and i think i’ve finally got it!!

- the story is essentially Y/N’s life story, and while it was inspired out of a love for colt, the story more so focuses on the effects of things like war on a person (in this case Y/N), and how “cool girl boss beating up and killing people and getting no trauma from it” is a trope that just doesn’t make sense. so Y/N was created first and foremost to be a way to depict these impacts and to be a character that does questionable things and is faced with real consequences for them instead of just being hailed as a hero

- meanwhile colt is a character i’ve borrowed from isayama, so i can’t do much about his base characterization (although i’ve certainly pushed the limits on that), but i was the person to make friedrich, and as his writer, i can say that he was quite literally created just to love Y/N. of course he does other things and has other relationships and (hopefully) seems like a character that has more to him than just ‘being in love with Y/N’, but that doesn’t change the fact that at his core, being in love with Y/N is his narrative purpose, just like showing Y/N the other sides of war is hadrian’s. this is especially hard for me to navigate when writing because i have to show that while also trying to make sure that he doesn’t take over the story (which is after all a colt fic).

- i would say that in the beginning, her and colt were closer due to their more compatible personalities, but her during (and post) war personality is much more in line with friedrich’s just because he’s a lot more cynical and blunt. i’m somewhat limited by the canon in terms of how things like athyae affect colt because he does have a generally kind and almost naive?? personality in the small crumbs we get of him in the show, so i have to balance that with also making sure that everything he goes through does have an effect on who he is as a person the way it does on friedrich and Y/N

- this story is going to be so sad in the end. like it’s already probably my least happy work just because of the grim stuff that it covers, but i would like to reemphasize that Y/N’s life…is not that great. i think she’s my most tragic Y/N because everything that happened to her was brought about by a choice she made — to be a warrior candidate, which is not something she was forced to do. the L/Ns were decently well off, her parents loved her, and she was generally happy if not bored with her life pre-candidacy. but then she made that one fatal mistake and now she’s become what she is and she can never really leave and it leads to a general life of pain anguish and suffering (although i will say that my best friend heard my plans for the ending and said that it was relatively happy compared to what i normally write, so take that as you will)

- i forgot how self-aware the characters are at some points. there’s this one scene where friedrich and colt literally make fun of how many guys like Y/N (because at the end of the day she’s still Y/N duh ofc she’s beautiful everyone likes her) and it’s so unserious…even despite how heavy the fic can get there is some levity here and there which i forgot about tbh. but the story will literally go from Y/N having a crisis about something to friedrich and colt saying some bs like “i really admire [him] for not being one of the many men to instantly fall in love with you” “true seems like he really had remarkable self-restraint” “what a commendable fellow”

- i love marek and i am very sorry for what i put him through but would i do it again?? yes. also he and Y/N are rlly cute together

- at this point i’ve gotten so attached to these characters that i could genuinely write fics about them. like fanfics about a literal fanfic. fanfiception.

- atm i think writing one of those otome isekai stories (they are my guilty pleasure) with Y/N from this fic specifically would be so fucking funny and honestly i might do it just for personal enjoyment but idk if i would ever post it because it would be such a derivative work that anyone going into it expecting an aot fic would be angry and disappointed because the only aot character in it would be colt and idek if Y/N would end up with him in such an au

- okay most of these were about Y/N’s relationships with every character BESIDES colt but her and colt honestly are really sweet together

- he cares about her so much and honestly there are many times where i’ll be writing and i’m like “nah colt deserves better” because he is SO patient with her it’s insane

- on a similar note i think it’s crazy how we’re almost at 150k words and there’s been ONE kiss (which barely even counts because it WASN’T WITH COLT)

- but at the same time the lack of romance is kind of on purpose because Y/N is NOT in a mental state to be in a relationship atm and i hate that whole trope of ‘getting a romantic partner and getting over your trauma immediately’ as that’s just not realistic. colt and friedrich are there to love and support Y/N but all three of them know that the way they are currently is not conducive to being with someone long term. there’s a lot of trauma there that needs to be resolved and spoiler alert it will not be for a very very long time

- there’s so many interesting dynamics that Y/N will have with future characters that i’m excited to write but they’re all like 200k-300k words away which is killinggg me

- ship in the harbor will definitely be my longest story and i’ve changed a lot both as a writer and a person since beginning it, so it’s super special to me. thank you so much to everyone who reads it and comes up with theories about it and falls in love with its characters — i know it’s such a niche fic and it’s been rough at times and i’m so spotty with updating it, but i really do love this little version of the warrior candidacy program and what was going on in marley while the scouts were busy doing their own thing. here’s to many more chapters (but hopefully not too many more years) of me stealing what i want from isayama and filling in the rest as i please, so that this entire mess of a story comes together into something that’s somewhat comprehensible and makes at least one person cry

[enchantra35]

Reflections on V4 & V5 of RWBY by a first time watcher

(Lengthy post ahead)

Hi, it's be again, back on my bullshit. First of all, I'd like to say that I didn’t expect my first post to get that much attention LOL. I'd like to clarify (again) two points:

First, I agree with most people's explanations. I didn't mean to sound like I was accusing fans for not thinking that bumbleby would become canon. My intention was to point out to some earlier hints, and I realize now that I could have used some better phrasing. As I explained elsewhere, when rwby aired, I was too young to know anything about the state of queer representation in media at the time. Now of course I know better, although I never got to experience that kind of anxiety - at least, not to that extent. My second point is that I was mostly referring towards homophobes and incels who were trying to persuade shippers that bumbleby wasn't happening, and not to fans who couldn't be certain due to the overall circumstances.

With that said, the aim of this post is mainly to discuss some things I've noticed while watching volumes 4 & 5. There wasn't much I wished to comment on after finishing v4 as I found it very transitional, so I decided to do one unified post for both volumes, especially since someone suggested to watch these volumes as one. Let me now get to the main points I'd like to mention.

-Edit: I forgot one of the most important motifs imo; the moon. I noticed how each volume it looks bit by bit more ruined, showing how the world below is also falling it chaos and society as it is known is destroyed. Also, it's eventual (potential) complete destruction will make the nights darker, symbolizing the triumph of evil. I love subtle details like that.

- Ozpin's and Crow's dynamic really reminds me of Dumbledore and Snape. Ozpin in particular reminds me very much of Dumbledore - and I definitely don't mean that as a good thing. Although he clearly has good intentions and he's a "good guy" per se, sometimes it feels like he's using his students as sacrificial lamps for the greater good. Personally, I'm not exactly font of the idea of pushing the fate of the world onto the shoulders of a bunch of teenagers. Oscar is still a KID and all he's ever known is how to be a farmer and suddenly he's sharing a body with one of the smartest and most powerful people to ever walk the earth and their fates are suddenly intertwined. That's so insane. And on top of everything, Ozpin isn't 100% honest with him. I'm glad that Yang confronts him about keeping secrets. I will give it to him however that he's honest enough to admit his mistakes.

-Raven is probably one of the most fascinating characters. Can't say whether I like her or hate her, but there are so many layers to touch upon. It's interesting how she's constantly trying to prove to others - and essentially to the viewers as well - that she's cruel, smart and calculating (and she definitely is all those things) and that she doesn't care about trifle things, but ultimately she fails, as it is evident by the end of volume 5. She does care about Yang (although she has a very strange way of showing it) and her tribe most of all. She's also smart enough to see Ozpin's shortcomings.

- I liked how they explored Yang's trauma from loosing her arm and how she copes with the loss. "A part of me is lost" is such a powerful statement and it points to how everything has changed, but Yang accepts it.

-At the same time, that girl has no chill with that prosthetic arm. She straight up dismantles it off her shoulder just to win the wrestling against Nora (and later on to elude Mercury. I bet that if anyone asked her to give them a hand, she would just toss it on their feet then laugh her ass out. She's so silly, I love her.

-With that said, I wish they could have explored a little bit more of Jaune's trauma, but still I think we see well enough how Pyrrha's death has affected him. But why the FUCK did they have to give him more trauma in order to unlock his semblance? Another of his friends almost dies before his eyes, give that boy a break, good Lord.

- Ren and Nora 👀. I love me some good childhood bestdriends to potential lovers. Their background is so tragic but there's something about then growing up together that makes me feel things. I love their dynamic and I think it's pretty hilarious (collected, quiet guy and loud, silly, powerful girl). It was nice how they gained some catharsis when they finally killed that monster. And the symbolism when they hid under similar building where Nora tried to calm Ren down? Literal tears.

-"I was struck by a lighting and I lived. What a Wednesday" GIRL WHAT, LMAO

- I really enjoyed Blake's and Sun's dynamic, whether someone sees them romantically or platonically (for me personally it's the latter, but that's besides the point). Sun has always been a great friend, and although he can be really annoying sometimes, he is there for Blake and he's able to make her see things clearly and persuade her that isolating herself isn't a good thing. I feel like without him around, things for the Belladonnas would have been very different. He's a bit of a himbo, but I love him.

-The angsty Bees got me really well this season. Yang's anger is definitely justifiable and she has every right to be upset.

-"What if I wanted her to be here for me?" BITCH-

-Weiss pulling the "what's that supposed to mean?" every time the Bees are being angsty will forever be funny to me. The OG Beekeeper.

-That said, I think that she explains Blake's point of view really well and I liked how she reached out to Yang although "they aren't that close" (her words, not mine) and seeks to comfort her.

-Did I say that I hate Weiss's family? (Except maybe Winter, but the rest can go burn in hell). I'm GLAD Weiss realizes that ream RWBY is her true family. You love to see a good found family trope.

-Genuinely CANNOT stand the Bees this season /j. Blake seeing her team again and the only person she calls out for is Yang? And Yang's puppy eyes when she sees Blake again? WHY ARE YOU GAY?

-One of the funniest lines was when Crow was like "How can six children make so many noise while having dinner?", like BUDDY, you just answered your question. Tired uncle Crow for the win.

[creative-jackalope]

*chanting* Ford Pines ! Ford Pines ! Ford Pines !

(for the headcanon game LOL)

HI THIS WAS SENT TO ME A REALLY LONG TIME AGO AND I FORGOT TO POST THE RESPONSE,,, This has been in my drafts for like a year I think oopsie. Aaaaaaaaaaaanyway--

---

[Send a character’s name to receive four different headcanons!]

OH BOY do I have many a thought about this man. Picking just four is tough and these are going to be so long so I’ll place them under a read-more.

Heads up - significant Gravity Falls spoilers!

Headcanon 1 - Canon-Compliant:

This is a relatively common headcanon already, I think, but Ford is absolutely covered in scars from his time in the Multiverse. He also already had some from his years in Gravity Falls. If you can name an injury, Ford's probably experienced it at some point - bitten, stung, broken bones, shot, stabbed, fallen from a height, poisoned, burned, he's seen it all. (Thankfully he's managed to keep himself away from fatal or debilitating harm, but there's still time! :D His common sense and self-preservation instincts leave something to be desired and his hero complex never quite went away.) He isn't too fussed about others seeing the scars, usually, but he tends to be evasive if asked about them - he prefers not to think about his time in the Multiverse in too much detail.

Headcanon 2 - Hilarious: 

Ford is resolutely convinced that, throughout his time working with Fiddleford, he did an astounding job at hiding Bill and their partnership. He is 100% certain that Fiddleford couldn't ever have known, not in the least! It does, however, turn out that Ford is a terrible liar and has about as much subtlety as a fork in the garbage disposal. That's not even counting the moments (that Ford is unaware of) when Bill would talk directly to Fiddleford, making no pretenses but never telling Fiddleford exactly who he is other than a 'friend' looking after Ford and helping build the portal. At one point Bill even tried to directly tell Ford that Fiddleford knew, hoping they'd get to stop the charade - Ford just laughed and brushed it off, saying, "Don't be ridiculous, he doesn't suspect a thing!" Bill didn't care enough to push the topic.

Headcanon 3 - Painful:

[CW: Substance misuse, life-threatening physical illness, mental illness, paranoia] Being possessed repeatedly by Bill had serious effects on Ford’s body which neither of them expected. Towards the end of their partnership, his body essentially began to treat Bill like a parasite - his immune system began attacking his nervous system. This caused swelling in his brain, accompanied by fever, hallucinations, chronic headaches and light sensitivity, and just in general an awful time all around for him. After the betrayal, it didn’t matter if Cipher was actually tormenting him or not; hallucinations of him were enough to fuel Ford’s paranoia, and depriving himself of sleep to 'protect' himself from these hallucinations did extremely little to help. The one saving grace is that Ford began to self-medicate with steroids in an attempt to keep himself awake and alert for longer periods, which had the (accidental, on his part) side-effect of slowing/reducing the swelling and suppressing his immune system's attack on his body - and likely saved his life by keeping him going until he finally ended up in a hospital. He has long-lasting damage from this, though thankfully things have improved with time, and he has learned to live with and work around the lingering symptoms. He's still not certain how much of the torment in those years was actually Bill, and how much of it was his own paranoia and illness... If he's honest with himself, he'd rather not know.

Headcanon 4 - Canon Is Dead:

Stanford Pines likes poetry and I will die on this hill. I know this directly contradicts Journal 3 (”I never understood poetry, to be honest") but, in my eyes, Ford loves self-expression through written and visual mediums. He is a man who has always struggled with expressing things like emotions verbally, which is part of the reason he ends up using his Journals more as a diary than as a record of research methods and discoveries, and so art as an expression of things you can’t otherwise put words to fascinates him. The written word, in general, is something he loves - whether fiction or non-fiction, poetry or prose. Poetry in particular is something that helps him with recognising his own emotions and understanding them. As such, I explain the Journal 3 comment either as “-plugs ears- he didn’t say that” or “he’s being deliberately snarky because he knows what the Hand Witch is implying and he doesn’t like it or want to admit/acknowledge it”.

...

Now I’m. Stretching the rules a bit lmao.

Here are some in-depth extras that are important ones to me, but don’t particularly fit the above categories.

Bonus Headcanon 5 -  Trauma, coping mechanisms, and the importance of social support after so much isolation:

[CW: Discussion of PTSD symptoms] Basically implied in canon already, he has some pretty serious PTSD as a result of his years spent paranoid and alone in the Multiverse, and suffers from frequent nightmares as well as occasional flashbacks, amongst other things. One of his biggest coping mechanisms for the related anxiety is being armed so he can defend himself at a moment’s notice. At first after returning, Ford never went without his weapon belt, not even at the Shack, and all it took was an errant floorboard creak for his hand to fly to his gun. After a long while, he steadily got used to the idea that he was home, and he was safe, and started to forgo the belt more and more whilst in what he felt were safe places (ie. in the Shack or on the Stan O’ War II). Despite that, he still feels the need to be armed for reassurance whenever he goes out, even if it’s just to the town - and there are days where he will, without explanation, carry a weapon in his safe places too, something that Stan tactfully doesn’t mention. However, later on those same days Stan will usually a spot a new anomaly and insist they need to stay home so he can tell Ford about it, then spend all evening spinning a grand tale of how terrifying and fantastical it was in great detail, until Ford either is listening with complete awe or is terribly unamused and poking holes in the blatantly fabricated story - either way, the gun often ends up on the table, forgotten.

Bonus Headcanon 6 - Probably the most important one to me and plays a massive part in how I characterise Ford as a whole - I apologise for how LONG this one is but I have so so so many thoughts about it:

Ford is autistic and was diagnosed as a child, in the 60s. He grew up masking a lot of the more “obvious” traits, like repressing many of his body stims, because of bullying and family pressure - he was already “weird” and this just made him stand out more, so he tried to hide it. Big traits he had as a child that carried over to adulthood were his bluntness, difficulty in relating to others, sensitivity to sensory input (noise and texture were the main ones), and how he would focus intensely on particular topics that interested him. Behind-the-scenes he also received a lot of support from Stan (who I headcanon as ADHD and autistic, though his traits present very differently to Ford’s and he was never assessed or diagnosed, instead just treated as a ‘problem child’), and as such, began to struggle a lot more than he thought he would once Stan was no longer in his life and couldn’t secretly help him through things. As an adult, since he started living alone and had embraced his polydactly and made it his, Ford steadily started unmasking and just let himself exist in all his “weird” glory; including being more vocal about his own limits and needs, both personal and social. He stims a lot with DD&MD dice (which he is an avid collector of) as well as whatever little desk toys he can find (especially physics-based ones), and also has several hand-based stims like tapping or rubbing his fingers. One of his anxious stims, picked up during the nights where he was trying to keep himself awake, is tapping his thumb against his fingers sequentially and counting along “one, two, three, four, five”. Counting is general is an action he finds very soothing when he’s stressed or anxious. Finally, one thing that has never, ever changed about him is that once he gets focused on something he Will Not Stop - he’ll forgo food, sleep, and anything else because he simply forgets he needs it once he gets into the zone, and he’s terrible at reading the signals from his body informing him he is hungry or tired. Having others around, like Fiddleford and Stanley, to prompt him to look after himself is something he benefits from heavily.

[trashcanwithsprinkles]

Wow, I'm mad at myself for being late to the favorite fic subject coming up /j

Personally, I'm a huge sucker for cya and have itysg as a second(however, if we decide to count your other fics then... itysg would be third while your smile makes me smile would be second). I think it's the amount of world building that makes it so interesting for me along with the fact that it takes place before the archon war. Like, there hardly passes a day where cya doesn't just... scoot right over into my thoughts making it kinda hard to reread cause it know it so well </3.

I am sad to say that I haven't checked out BitA yet. When I first saw it while looking for some other fic of yours to read, I didn't really like apocalypse stories much. I might check it out though cause I'm a lot more open to those kinds of stories now. I also remember starting every good intention, but I don't remember why I stopped... I think I had to get off my phone for a bit and just... forgot to continue? Idk I really should check those two...

You really get me Sprinkles- those murder mystery fics are so good! I remember reading one of genshin that was also mixed with a time loop and I just ate it up-(it was sadly discontinued and then deleted from ao3, but not before I managed to download it for future offline reading-) I'm honestly interested in those wriolette ones you mentionned, may I have a few recs if you don't mind? I need more wriolette in my life.

i do in fact have some wriolette murder mystery / cop mystery recs

A Match Made in France by oooohscar - not a murder mystery per se but it does contain mystery investigations. it's basically furina trying to matchmake neuvillette and wriothesley and she quickly discovers they work well as investigation partners? and so she starts trying to get them to investigate things together, but then shit gets out of hand. it's so fucking good and so fucking funny. like it's pre-reveal furina but i can forgive the mild ooc and- y'know, furina portrayal pre-trauma-reveal (?) just because it's so well written and hilarious (and also she's not portrayed entirely as a brat, i find her more absurdly histrionic than anything). also it's not just furina pov, it switches between all of them. it's incomplete but updating, and absolutely worth a read

The Gambler's Debt by Marsrevale - much more serious than the one above, this one is a murder mystery through and through. the mystery is still only starting, so it probably has a long way to go, but i'm patient so i'll keep up. it's basically neuvillette and clorinde going to investigate a series of murders in the fortress of meropide (this is a sort of modern au so meropide is a gambling house / hotel i think) and wriothesley is the main suspect, but there's also stuff going on between neuvillette and wriothesley bc they knew each other long ago but only wriothesley recognizes him. idk how else to describe it, it's really intriguing so far, i hope the mystery pans out nicely

Hold my hand, never let me go by Jinnmi - also a proper murder mystery, this one is about what is essentially a branch of fontaine's police force for criminal investigation led by wriothesley and the many interconected cases they have to solve. neuvillette is sent as a consultant to keep an eye on them, but ends up basically joining the team as they all try to solve a big case that seems to threaten the country whole and is also somehow connected to wriothesley's past. this one is very good, the murders might be a bit too gruesome for sensitive people? but still, really nice. i love the unsettling vibe of whatever the one behind this all is planning, the suspense is also really good. still updating and i rush to it every time a new chapter comes out, it had me in a chokehold when i first found it.

hope those sound interesting!

[uniquethingtastemaker]

Diasomnia and Mulan Parallels in Chapter 7

We gotta talk about Diasomnia and the subtle Mulan motifs because I haven’t seen many people talking about it in relation to chapter 7 and I’m seeing the signs everywhere.

So obviously Twisted Wonderland has dropped hints and has referenced Mulan multiple times, especially when it comes to Diasomnia. The first time I remember it being extremely prominent was in the Halloween event. The relationship between the two being dragons, which makes sense. However, there’s a lot more connections than just that.

Silver represents and is twisted from a lot of things, much like Lilia, but one of those things is the silver sword used by Prince Philip to kill Maleficent. Now there’s also another movie where a sword and physical fighting is important and you guessed it, it’s Mulan!

Let’s talk about the parallels between Mulan and Diasomnia especially when it comes to chapter 7.

Lilia and Mulan’s dad are in the same position. Both fathers are getting older and have lost their prowess and power they once had.

Silver and Mulan are also in the same position. When the war comes to China and the draft is announced, Mulan steps up for her family and father, who’s too old to go to war, and goes in his stead despite her family’s disapproval and devastation. When Malleus overblots and Lilia is too weak to counter him, Silver steps up to save his family from this sleeping curse despite Malleus’s active disdain and outrage. Both of them choose to do the harder thing. Mulan had the option to stay home and just act as a good wife in order to help her parents and Silver could have decided to stay in his dream with Lilia because that’s what he wanted most of all, but neither of them do that. Mulan goes into the military to protect her father and her family, while Silver opposes Malleus because he wants to respect and honor his father’s last wishes and knows that this isn’t what he wants, and it’s not easy. Mulan desperately struggles to stay in the military and is only barely able to make it (I’ll Make a Man Out of You). Silver has to give up his dream and desire to be together with his father and then fight one of his closest relatives essentially on the matter, which is emotionally taxing.

Mulan is also the underdog, the least likely person to save China, and much like Mulan, Silver is too. Mulan is a woman, who's often considered weaker than men. Similarly, Silver is a human surrounded by fae, who’re known to have more magical prowess and power and long life spans. They’re the unexpected ones who will defeat someone who’s considered an impossible enemy.

Now Silver’s Unique Magic is a foil to Malleus’s Fae of Maleficence. You could consider Silver a mirror to Malleus, a reflection. Which could be connected to Mulan, as she sings Reflection and ends up seeing her reflection in the sword before deciding to cut her hair off and go to the military.

Now, while not 100% confirmed, I’m inclined to believe that Sebek has heavy aspects of Shang incorporated into his character. Much like Shang’s actions of kicking Mulan out of the military when he finds out she’s a female, Sebek parallels this by believing that fae are stronger than humans and discriminating against them. Now, Shang comes around to the idea of Mulan, a female, saving all of China and is pretty cool with it and seems a bit proud of her. Now, I have a distinct feeling that Sebek is going to do the same in terms of coming around to humans. The first year gang is gonna show him that humans are just as powerful as fae. Maybe not in the exact same way, but they do have their strengths. Just like how Shang might have been physically stronger than Mulan, Mulan was more creative with her environment than he was.

Malleus is probably acting as the Hun’s leader whose name I forgot and I also forgot his motive for going to war too so can’t say much about him.

I also have a distinct inclination that the first year gang, or at least ADeuce is gonna play a part in this because of how they inducted Ortho into their group and how they’ve been grouping them together so far. I’m thinking that in terms of story roles, the first year gang is gonna act like Mulan’s besties in the military who dressed up as beautiful women to get inside the palace along with Cricket and Mushu. Defeating the Huns was a team effort in Mulan and I have a feeling it’s going to be the same for defeating Malleus. I mean, defeating Maleficent was a team effort in Sleeping Beauty. The fairies helped Philip escape, gave him weapons, and buffed him in order for him to one shot Maleficent. I can see that happening with Ortho being the striker.

Also if my thought process is correct for Sebek, that means that he’s going to end up bonding with other humans besides Silver and who’re better candidates than the first year gang? Besides, Ace hasn’t gotten his unique magic yet, so it’s probably going to happen in Chapter 7 and if not, chapter 8. I’m not exactly sure how Twisted will end, but that’s not the main concern at the moment. We gotta survive chapter 7 first and I’ve already cried over these characters two times already.

[snobgoblin]

oh my god you guys have no idea I've just been exploding to tell you this one all day

(warning this one's a little dark, think the darkest elements present in both fnaf and Gorillaz)

OK GOD OK SO. fnaf Gorillaz au. BUT. it's a bit more complicated than that, it's not a 1-to-1 theyre the same for like, anything, it's basically "Gorillaz characters and their backstories are essentially the same except theyre in a completely different setting mirroring the events of fnaf"

OK SO. I'll try to make this as short as I can

-Murdoc is William Afton

-Russel is Henry Emily

-Noodle is an amalgamation of those two's children who died in accidents

-2-D is a nightguard

(I thought Russel and Murdoc would be perfect for Henry and William because they're both really into robots)

OK. so. in this, Murdoc and Russel are partners. they adopt this kid, Noodle, together, and realize that like them she really loves technology and music. (it's easier to combine William and Henry's families into one since there aren't many gorillaz characters) they just think the world of Noodle, they love her more than anything, so they build two springlock suits to entertain her. 1 (Spring Bonnie) Cortez the Raven and 2) (Fredbear) Katsu the Cat. Noodle loves these things to death, and one day she decides that she wants to try on the springlock suit, and she died (kind of mirrors both El Mañana and the tragedies that struck in fnaf)

well understandably, this destroyed Murdoc and Russel. so they opened up a pizzeria (known for their off the walls flavors) to maybe, hopefully fill the void of making that kid happy with their animatronics. this time, with a different Cat animatronic with sunglasses, Mike the Monkey, and a new, colorful Cortez the Raven, as well as an unnamed Pig (also I'm not entirely sure if Golden Freddy and Fredbear are one in the same tbh but there would be a fifth)

well Murdoc decided he just couldn't stand it anymore and he wanted to make a deal with Satan. if he sacrificed five children, he could get Noodle back. so he killed these bullies that frequented the pizzeria

those bullies being, the gangreen gang. well Russel just felt awful about this, I mean his friends were killed, he's gonna have strong feelings about these kids being killed. so he tried everything to bring them back, taxidermy, prosthetics, but he found out that stuffing them in suits did the trick, but because their souls then went into the animatronics, the deal did not work

well anyway I forgot a lot of what I was trying to remember today but shit hits the fan in every way imaginable, Murdoc gets springlocked and then Russel has no friends, no family, no partner, and really no reason to live so he burns down the pizzeria with him inside

I also want to do something with Cyborg Noodle- like, in the books, Charlie was a robot the whole time and had no idea the real her died as a child

OH I forgot to mention 2-D becomes a night guard bc he heard some freaky shit went down and he wants to know All The Secrets he's very curious about it. like a real life horror movie. he probably would also be like Phone Dude from fnaf 3 (really excited about the murders to the point of salvaging everything from the fire to make it a horror attraction)

[s10127470]

What If One Piece had an LA-Based Dub? (Part 2)

Hey there guys!

I'm pretty some of you remember a post I made last month: What If One Piece had an LA-based Dub?

It did decently fine, and since I'm kinda bored this week, I figured I'd go ahead and do a part two.

But before we start, I do want to mention a few things.

-I completely forgot to mention Makino! Well in this AU, she would be voiced by Kath Soucie.

-For Luffy, I've decided to make Kari Wahlgren his official voice for this AU.

-As for Usopp, I've settled on Jason Marsden.

-Just wanted to talk about the dub from a meta standpoint real quick. After finishing The Roguetown Arc, the dub would go on hiatus for about three months, officially returning on November 3rd, 2003.

Well now that we got that out of the way, let's get started!

Reverse Mountain (November 3rd-4th, 2003):

Laboon would have his vocals provided by who else?, but Frank Welker.

Crocus would be voiced by Daran Norris, essentially sounding like a more serious version of Jack Smith.

Mr. 9 would be voiced by James Arnold Taylor, using a slight British accent.

Miss Wednesday aka Vivi would be voiced by Mae Whitman.

Whiskey Peak (November 5th-November 10th, 2003):

Karoo would have his vocals performed by Dee Bradley Baker.

Mr. 8 aka Ingram would be voiced by Clancy Brown.

Miss Monday would be voiced by Cree Summer.

Mr. 5 would be voiced by Gary Sturgis, using a similar voice to Ebon.

And Miss Valentine's Day would be voiced by Colleen O'Shaughnessy.

Diary of Coby-Meppo (November 11th, 2003):

Initially, I was gonna have Garp by voiced by Clancy Brown, but I feel like he would've sounded too similar to Zeff (who if you remember from reading the part 1, who be voiced by Clancy).

So instead Garp will be voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson.

Little Garden (November 12th-November 21st, 2003):

Mr. 3 would be voiced by Rob Paulsen, essentially sounding like an evil version of Donatello.

Miss Golden Week would be voiced by Grey Griffin.

And the giants Broggy and Dorry would be voiced by Brad Garrett and Jess Harnell respectively.

Drum Island (November 24th-December 12th, 2003):

Wapol would be voiced by Maurice LaMarche, doing a Russian accent like in the 4Kids Dub.

Dalton would be voiced by Phil LaMarr.

Dr. Kureha would be voiced by Tress MacNeille.

And finally, we come to the sixth member of The Straw Hats, Tony Tony Chopper.

Out of all The Straw Hats, Chopper was probably the hardest one for me to find a voice for.

I definitely wanted him to be voiced by a voice actress.

But one that was able to pull off a cute voice without it coming off as overbearing.

So after many years of thinking, I've decided that the perfect VA for Chopper would be the aforementioned Kath Soucie.

Not only does Kath have experience with voicing young male characters, but also ones with cutesy voices.

And those characters strike that perfect balance of having a cute voice without coming off as annoying.

I think the best way I could describe her performance as Chopper would a slightly older Tuffy from Tom and Jerry.

Hiruluk would be also be voiced by Maurice LaMarche.

Which is just the purest definition of delicious irony.

Like, the person who was Chopper's only friend and his father-figure is being voiced by the same guy who had a firing squad blow him to smithereens.

Chess would be voiced by Jeff Bennett, using a similar voice to Mr. Smee.

And Kuromarimo would be voiced by Tom Kenny.

And to wrap this all up, we've come to the big bad of the next arc and one of his operatives.

Crocodile would be voiced by Mark Hamill, using a similar mob boss voice to the 4Kids Dub.

As for Mr. 2 aka Bon Clay, he would be voiced by Jess Harnell.

Well that's all for now, folks!

Shorter than the last one, but that's because I covered seasons 2 and 3, which age a combined total of 30 episodes.

Which is about half of season 1's 61!

But anyway, I hoped you all enjoyed this second part!

Also, there's something really funny to note about this dub.

Already, this dub has reached the half-year point (6 months), running from June 2nd to December 12th of 2003.

And within the span of those 6 months, the dub has already covered the entirety of The East Blue Saga and nearly all of The Alabasta Saga!

Contrast that to The 4Kids Dub, which at their half-year point, had only reached The Baratie Arc.

But then again, they were airing new episodes every Saturday while this dub is airing new episodes (for now) every weekday.

Also, I'd love to hear some suggestions on who should voice the characters I've yet to cover!

[greetings-inferiors]

Hey, I realize you do like maths. As someone who didnt go through highschool but got a highschool degree with only REALLY BASIC maths knowledge, I wanna ask: - Any advice or recommendations for someone who wants/needs to catch up/go from elementary to highschool maths ASAP many years after dropping the subject?

It seems to be an interesting subject but I had teachers that were so bad at teaching and so good at shaming and traumatizing that it blocked me and made me avoid maths like the plague, I do want to start over with maths and try again while making it a good experience this time, I need advice. Pls help. (anonymous cause embarrassed to admit I can barely get around with the basic 4 operations and begin getting lost when it goes into fractions, decimals, porcentages etc, and as a college student I should know advanced stuff like factoration and complex expressions by now)

I am incredibly blessed with the fact that I love maths, and had great teachers. I don’t really know how to get good at maths because by the time I was actually conscious about liking maths, I was already pretty good at it. I never had that thing of having to be better, because I’ve always just been good at it, and the things that I didn’t know I enjoyed learning so I just learnt them.

The problem with having to relearn something is that you FEEL like you’re better than you are. I stopped learning Japanese for a few months, and when I come back to it, I’ll have to go over basic kanji again, my brain tells me that I know it, but I don’t. I need to go over the basics, but before I learnt the basics with the spark of learning pushing me through. Now I’ve got to essentially revise something I forgot. It sucks.

What I’d recommend, is by jumping into the deep end. There are lots of maths videos on YouTube, and they’re really interesting, but you won’t understand anything. But that’s fine, because the things you don’t understand, you can watch videos about those. And the parts of those you don’t understand you can research into that. It may not be the most efficient way to learn, but eventually you will. Trial by fire and all that, and it might be more fun because you’re looking at stuff that interests you! You’ll find that the simple stuff actually has rather complex and interesting explanations, which I find really cool.

If you want to relearn quickly, then you just have to study. It sucks, but that’s just how it is. I don’t know what elementary school is, I assume it’s 11-14, and high school probably means gcse, which is 15-16.

Some basic tips:

Think of the operators as logically as possible. When you see 5x15, literally think of 15 added together 5 times. Think of 6/20 as 6 lots of 1/20 (which itself is 0.05. Maybe even think of it as 1/2 times 1/10.) basically just think of the operators as simply as possible until you’re able to think of them as their own thing. Then you can start introducing indices, square roots, etc.

Don’t be afraid of using a calculator (learning how to use a calculator effectively will massively boost your mathematical literacy).

write everything down (don’t rely on your mental maths. If you literally have to do every single equation on a piece of paper (assuming calculators aren’t allowed), do it. Never trust your mental maths until you’re certain that you’ve got good mental maths. Seriously, 90% of mistakes come from trying to make a shortcut in your head and messing up. Many people, my self included in the past, see writing down your working out as a sign of weakness, it isn’t.

Try to avoid the divisor symbol as much as possible, it isn’t actually an operator, it’s shorthand for fractions (the dots are placeholders for the things in front and behind). Honestly, you should prioritise getting comfortable with fractions. They’re really useful, especially in algebra.

If you get good at algebra, you’ll be good at almost everything maths can throw at you. Being able to rearrange equations is a skill that you will literally never not use. It also helps you with regular number equations because you can think of the numbers as variables. It sounds weird or as if you’re complicating it, but it can help.

(A/B)*C=(A*C)/B. It’s surprising how useful it is, and how often I’ll forget about it lmao

Look into geometry! Everything you do in maths can and has been described with shapes. And for some people that can help them visualise it! If shapes help you with maths, look into shapes! Geometry!

Factorisation is essentially just the reverse of multiplication. (2*5*7)=70, therefore the prime factors of 70 are 2,5, and 7. The same applies to algebra. Just think of what could be multiplied together to make x^2+3x+2. And hey, there’s a really handy formula for finding out the factors of quadratics that I highly recommend memorising if you think you’ll need it!

And most of all: try and have fun! Basic maths can be very tedious, but think of it like learning a language. Once you get the alphabet (numbers) and grammar (operators) out of the way, you’ll start to see all of the complex words and phrases you can create, and understand. And, best of all, you will NEVER stop learning, so you may as well start now!