#i think the one piece children are how you really know they're a second generation weeb bc i don't think they air that on cartoon channels

[hua-fei-hua]

was working the clicker counter for our halloween trick or treat event last night, and the amount of harry potter costumes was like. frankly baffling, and the only reason i didn't go home depressed abt it was seeing all the young weebs coming through in their cosplays, sometimes with their parents also in cosplay... i love you second generation weebs...

[cipheramnesia]

This is the process my brain goes through every time I see anything about Netflix Avatar The Last Airbender.

My first reaction is always: Why? The original, although not without flaws, doesn't leave a lot of room to improve. A good remake or adaptation usually involves an updated context or change in perspective that adds to the original work and gives it new meaning. It's a risky undertaking because it usually involves wanting to take on something established as iconic and make it your own. But Netflix is a corporation and seems very risk averse for the most part. Its only investment is in the name recognition of AtLA. It's hard to visualize Netflix deliberately taking a big risk on an expensive show.

My second reaction is: How? The original series is about 1400 minutes over 61 episodes, and it still had to rush the ending. We're looking at 8 episodes of roughly 45-60 minutes per episode for season 1, which would require Netflix to let it run more than 3 seasons, if the series has similar pacing. Historically however Netflix shows have glacial pacing, and rarely make three seasons. Not really sure how they plan to tell the story if the series is anything like the average Netflix series, meaning it either needs to undercut the story or let the series breathe for at least five seasons. But nothing Netflix has done makes me want to watch anything they make as an ongoing series? Why bother, they cancel everything I enjoy. So I wonder how. What's the hook to say "this will be able to provide something new and interesting compared to the original, and will be allowed to tell the complete story."

Which leads me to think, but you can't judge if something is good without seeing it. Except none of this is about whether it's good, I just find myself wondering what are the odds it's worth the effort? They're low, and it has nothing to do with whether or not it's even any good on its own merits.

Following this, I ask myself, what would a good version of this be. Imagine you are making a live action series with eight hour long episodes per season based on a children's cartoon with 20 thirty minute episodes per season. You are trying to encompass a story which was presented over three seasons as a cartoon, and you do not know if you will have more than those eight episodes. It's made for Netflix which, in terms of a company which will protect the hard earned fruits of your artistic labor, is the fox guarding the henhouse. What do you do?

If you are looking to make something good, that respects your audience investment and your own work, you make radical changes to the story. You change the pacing, the character arcs, the plot arcs. You make sure you deliver a complete story in those episodes with as much respect for the original work and as many new ideas as you can.

Except, at that point, what is even the point of a remake. The only way to work with it is either to trust Netflix allowing you to finish the story (which you'd need to be incredibly naive to do), or tell a story so different it may as well be wholly original. And that's where I always end up. Like, it'll probably be fine, but what's the point of it all? Another vanishing digital property to get canceled because of some undefinable failure to return on investment.

I think about it a lot because the two ends of the spectrum seem to be "dunk on every new piece of information" or "wait and see" but the only conclusion I can ever reach is "why even care?" That's been the lesson to take home from digital streaming in general when it comes to series, but Netflix in particular, and honestly for movie series too. If it can't be self contained, the companies who produce and release these kinds of series just cannot be trusted with it, and there are too many good original stories being put out to care anymore about big budget promises that one day they will definitely for sure deliver a finished story, this time for real.

I care enough to think about why I don't feel anything at all about Netflix Avatar. It'll be fine, whatever else. Just fine.

[twentyfivemiceinatrenchcoat]

ari i’m curious do u have kenny hcs

RIKO U HAVE NO IDEA THE MONSTER UVE UNLEASHED.....

i do have some kenny hcs <333 take a seat here's a snack we’re gonna be here for a while 🧁🧃 (THANK YOU FOR INDULGING ME <3 this man genuinely makes me feel ill im sooo delusional abt him)

okok so first of all; general hcs !!

he likes art!! loves art!! this one is canon to me i just think he is so interested in any and all of humanity’s creative outlets and ofc art is the most prominent one. he loves all different forms of art — from sculptures to paintings to writing to video games (HEAVY on the latter btw i think he's so entranced by new technology) and so on.

and on that note!! i think he paints and writes himself :3 hes been alive for so long, learned so many languages, there's no way he didn't have time to pick up a paint brush. i think he paints to release stress!! and his styles vary but there's something mildly macabre abt all of his pieces. tends to gravitate towards expressionism above all else, especially the abstract kind.

i also feel like he sincerely enjoys ”bad” art like low budget movies and modern romance fiction and goofy video games…… he just thinks they're fun. def gets a good laugh out of them (this man canonically had a whole comedy phase he just wants to have fun!!)

and and and!! this is self indulgent as hell but i also think he cooks. there's just so much to learn when it comes to different cultures and their cuisine and i think they all interest him. but i hesitate to say that he's a good cook bc i feel like he’d make really weird fucked up food combinations just for the hell of it…. he's a freak. 100% the type to mix orange juice w black coffee just to see how it tastes.

i also hc that he has a soft spot for children, seeing as he literally carried and birthed one of his own LMAO... i just think he admires the innocence of childhood !! that childish and simple hope that adults tend to lose. he's very good w them too!! gentle and patient. and in geto’s body he has the softest nicest voice so i feel like kids gravitate towards him (i'm just thinking abt that One scene where he blows bubbles at a playground and all the kids chase them… they love him i just know he's a regular at that park)

OH AND……. idk if i’d call this a hc exactly but i just wanna see kenny in more feminine clothing. he literally has All the genders i don't think for a second that he cares abt gender norms. one moment he's in that tacky middle aged divorced father core hawaiian tshirt (he's so Me), the next he's wearing a purple floral dress or a puffy turtleneck <33 i just think he could pull anything off.

NOW FOR THE GOOD STUFF……. relationship hcs <33333 hes a whole red flag but hes also my silly pookie bear just trust me on this

FIRST OF ALL he's huge on quality time. if he's in a relationship w u then that means he sincerely enjoys ur company and therefore has a tendency to just bring u with him wherever he goes. otherwise he gets bored and starts whining abt it (silly silly man) hes a lonely guy ok </3 i feel like he gets very sudden urges to explore new places / do new things and he’ll make sure you’re right there w him !! you’ll wake up in his arms only to find you're in a snowy forest or some shit and he just WILL not tell u where he's taken u bc its ”a surprise ^_^” LMAOO

he also takes on a teaching role in the relationship and i think that's where hes happiest !! gets a kick out of it but it's also kind of special to him. especially if you haven't seen much of the world, or if you're just a naturally curious person — preferably both. he just enjoys teaching you new things, leading you towards new sights, drinking in your expressions and reactions. it's precious to him. something to cherish.

ON THAT NOTE i think he has this unquenchable curiosity that gets temporarily sated when he tries to like . Dissect you. see inside your mind. it's like hes solving a puzzle that never runs out of pieces. hear me out riko but i see him as somewhat similar to makima, he's detached and has trouble connecting w people and handles you almost like a math equation….. but since he unlike makima is a human being, i think he still has the capacity to grow to care for you and treat you like an equal (or something close to an equal). he genuinely does love you, but he's rusty. kenjaku just wants to know all there is to know about you — every single thing. he’d dig into your brain if he could, but he’ll settle on just brewing you tea, listening to you speak about your fears, hoping it’ll give him the same insight.

he's a little possessive . kind of a Lot. idk i just think he feels a pang of jealousy when he sees u laugh and have fun w someone else (he's like a preschooler getting pouty bc his bestie is playing w someone else LOL) and that makes him Uncomfortable so he just waltzes in and steals u away w a smooth smile and a hand on ur waist. pretends like it doesn't bother him in the slightest but if u tease him too much he drops the smile and gives u a Look (it's scary as hell so u immediately shut up LMAOO) and god forbid someone else is like… teaching u something… a subject they're knowledgeable abt while u sit there listening happily to their rambling……..... ohhh he gets so jealous it's funny. researches that particular subject in frightening detail JUST so he can correct your little friend and teach u abt it himself <33 weirdo. freak.

also (this is extremely important to understanding kenny's character) he's both mother coded and father coded but in the worst possible ways.

he's mother coded in the sense that he's a smidge controlling, good at coaxing you into doing things outside your comfort zone, an expert at making you feel guilty by acting especially sweet and gentle, has the ability to make you cry w one disappointed look etc etc

and he's father coded in the sense that he's easily offended but pretends not to be, wants to see you succeed so bad that it's almost more for him than you, forces you to have really deep onesided philosophical talks at 2am when you just want to sleep, sucks at voicing his love for you out loud so he just buys a bag of your favorite fruit, cuts them into slices and calls it a day. etc etc. he's awful actually. i need him

but !!! as for more soft hcs i think he's honestly an affectionate guy deep down… like deep deep down but it's there. he just likes having u close. preferably touching him. not constantly bc that’ll annoy him but he wants you to stay near so he can pull u into his lap whenever. loves reading to u while u rest ur head on his thigh, playing w ur hair and lulling u softly to sleep <3333 (it's the geto kinnie in him) AND idk why this came into my mind but i think he likes nose kisses. just bc ur face scrunches up and he thinks it's cute. he can be sweet !! probably.

OHHH AND he loves playing board games w u <33 everything from chess to monopoly. he thinks it's fun + a good bonding activity but it's only fun in the beginning. he's condescending if u lose and petty if u win but he’ll still ask u to stay up w him all night just so u can finish the game (he's insufferable actually) if u decline he’ll huff and play by himself while shooting u petty glares until u feel bad and join him. then he's back to being all suave and calm and mature ohhhh i hate him

he wants to be the mature stoic indulgent person in the relationship sooooo fucking bad but he’s plagued by silly impulses day and night. he’s just good at hiding it. but deep down he is and always will be a silly nerd <33

and finally; i think that in a no curses au he's significantly less of a freak but still weird and obsessive and a lil mean. bullies u just a tinyyy bit and acts condescendingly sweet but he cares for u a whole bunch. probably struggles w showing it in a way that isn't too overbearing or mildly alarming… maybe through writing. poems and paintings of u… sculptures…. just wants to portray the beauty he sees in u (can u tell artist!kenny makes me go a little crazy)

overall hes a weirdo hes a freak (def wants u to kiss his brain just to see how it feels) and he may or may not be a bundle of red flags but i love him dearly <333 hes a silly goose. i want to study him in a lab

[mixelation]

In your last ask about Tori being reborn into Naruto, one of the tags mentions the akatsuki being reborn? Do you mind going into that? As in the akatsuki being reborn into different villages after they die?

no, the premise is more like a time travel fic where the time travelers end up in their younger bodies. so the akatsuki are still themselves but now they have.... Future Knowledge(tm). i've been going back and forth a lot on how this would change their decision making processes because obviously some of them could have huge effects on the canon plot. kakuzu, for example, is old enough he could probably prevent any ninja village from being founded in he played his cards right.

some ideas:

i am intrigued by the idea of kakuzu killing hashirama and preventing konoha from ever happening, but also this isn't the story to explore that. instead he decides to fuck off and be a missing-nin earlier, because he doesn't want to fuck with his village any more than he has to

hidan makes zero changes to his life. good job, hidan

sasori still makes himself a puppet, but maybe does it when he's older? like i feel like when i was 16 i was like "yeah, being a teenager forever is a good idea" but as an adult i'm like "but sasori would be so hot if he actually looked 35?" also he might get taller. so i think with the wisdom of age he might wait a bit. i also feel like he might have the motivation/ability to interfere in how the war that killed his parents went (i think it was the second one?) but that's another moving piece i'm still rotating

i haven't decided how this is going to play out in plasticity, but for this AU let's say konan and pein understand zetsu/obito's roles in ruining the world. they preemptively murder obito, oops. depending on how they do this (and how aware minato is of how obito died), it means ame's relationship with konoha could look REAL different. also not 100% sure what i want to do with yahiko/ame in general. still rotating this part

konan and pein's intervention does mean minato & kushina are still alive and kicking. itachi is confused but he's going with this. danzo's still a slimeball but the massacre isn't really on the table anymore. i'm also leaning towards a scenario where itachi is really, really bad at pretending to be A Normal Child and ends up in ANBU even earlier and is confused about why he's unhappy with this

without obito around to brainwash the mizukage, kiri is more stable and kisame is just chugging along there (although he's firmer about turning down some missions--- and good enough no one can really argue with him)

Deidara's origin story in Plasticity is that his family is just some farmers with proto-mouth hands and Iwa is paying them to churn out a bunch of children to see if they can make a new bloodline limit. Some of the gamete donors are likely ninja, but Deidara was born on a farm and not slorped up into the Iwa system never to see his family again until he was Academy age. Post time travel, Deidara remembers family never paid much attention to him, and he has no reason to want to go back to Iwa, so he just runs away at like age 5

The crux of all this is that none of them actually knows the entire akatsuki has time traveled. Like Nagato and Konan obviously know the other one time traveled and everyone is aware this timeline is Different, but it hasn't occurred to anyone to seek out other members and they don't bump into each other organically because they're all in very different parts of the world. Since she's the main character, obviously Tori gets to the catalyst for people running into each and pointing like the spiderman meme

Since Tori doesn't HAVE a family in Ninjaland to be reborn into, she's brought up as an orphan in a ninja clan that unaffiliated with any village. I just like the idea that there's still some of these kicking around. Since she's not a real part of the family, she gets treated like shit and doesn't really get formal ninja training. B U T the family heads are entering Cahoots with Orochimaru and he's like: what's this? Spare orphans???

Orochimaru obviously eventually completely fucks over the family (maybe they have some interesting kekkai genkai/jutsu he just runs off with while their home burns), but Tori knows exactly what to say and how to act to get into his good graces. But ALSO she's acutely aware she's playing a very dangerous game and abandons ship a few years later, preferably in a very dramatic way where she screws over Orochimaru as much as she can.

(Revenge? She's not worried about that. This is only endearing herself to him.)

I'm going back and forth on what her ~abilities~ are, but I want to keep that she has no elemental affinity. I also can't see her as someone whose gut reaction to a situation would be "I can fight my way out of this" even if she's technically been trained to be competent at it. What she DOES have is a new and creative ways to push the field of fuinjutsu forward. Also toyed around with the idea of misappropriating medical jutsu to fuck shit up? she is not a taijutsu specialist but you should not fight her hand-to-hand, oops

(also, yes, she can throw knives now)

Tori is right between Deidara and Itachi in age so I was thinking while she's wandering around as a 12 year old feral ninja or whatever she is, she somehow runs into Deidara? And then something goes EXTREMELY WEIRD and they both end up in Konoha. This Deidara is technically affiliated with Iwa, but he was never one of them and he's obviously a genius, so I think most of Konha leadership would be like :EYES EMOJI: at him? Tori was affiliated with Konoha's scariest missing-nin, so.... that's suspicious, but also something something she's deidara one friend and that kid needs someone else's braincell.

so, my EXTREMELY convoluted and cracktastic take was then: Minato needs to do something super sneaky at a Chunin Exam for some reason. He wants to send in a fake genin team as entrants, but he'd prefer to use younger shinobi so there's less suspicion. Kushina has been bugging him for a genin team for years. He gives her the extra super special DISASTER team of Itachi, Deidara and Tori*

*tbh i don't super like kushina but i like the idea of her as tori's mentor. their personalities are VERY different but i think kushina would ave a lot of sympathy for a young girl trying to settle into a foreign village, oh and also do you want to do something wild with yogurt

[beevean]

you know, I actually think there's a lot of juicy merit to the idea of the belmonts not being the righteous heroes we always thought they were. maybe after many generations of triumphing over evil, they let it get to their heads that they were unfallible, that their judgements were always correct, etc. the concept of genuinely making them morally grey has so much potential from a storytelling angle, it's just too damn bad the only media that ever attempts this is fucking netflixvania. outside of like, less than 5 throwaway lines about baby vamp skulls and dark magic sealed doors, IT'S NEVER BROUGHT UP AGAIN. you had an idea and it sounded cool in your head, but no genuine clue how to actually WRITE it so some editor just overlooked the few lines you shoved into the script on a whim. as it stands now it feels like one the shows many attempts to shit talk the source material for the thousandth time. and aside from trevor, everyone is dead! how are we meant to criticize the dubious heroes when we can't even see how they behaved/what their practices were?? why should we even CARE???

The vampire kids is just proof of how shoddy the lorebuilding is. Once you get past the initial shock of "OMG the Belmonts killed babies??????", you think for one second "wait, the vampires can't reproduce, so... where are these children coming from?". And no matter the answer, you eventually realize that they deserve to be mercy killed 💀 (unless they're dhampirs, but that would be an even worse piece of information to relegate to shock value for 5 seconds)

There's also Julia, mind you. Who was apparently racist against vampires lmao, and killed Olrox' poor bf who was so nice and wanted equality and revolution, really! I don't even know how bad we're supposed to feel lol, because unless I'm mistaken, in that scene Olrox also reveals he turned his bf against his will...

Anyway. I get your point but... I don't trust like that anymore 😅 once again, I'd rather extrapolate on what the games left us. Trevor, as pointed out here, is an absolute savage in CoD, like he sounds so bloodthirsty for no reason! And he's the first Belmont who has killed Dracula, he's not even burdened by his own legacy, he's one of the founders of said legacy! And Richter's flaws are infamous, the way he enjoys the thrill of the fight just too much, the way his identity is wrapped around his destiny, the way he falters under Dracula's manipulation... Even Juste, you can see him as being a hothead and too willing to forget about recent events in HoD, indicating either denial or a sense of overprotectiveness.

Basically, giving personal flaws to the Belmonts is more than welcome. You can use these flaws to paint them as not completely pure, even, although personally I'm tired of the stereotype of the arrogant superhero. But NFCV just... doesn't like the Belmonts, at all, and that "oh they kill innocent vampires" tidbit that Alucard so despises, while I'm sure it's meant as a way to flesh out the "heroes", comes off to me as the show siding too often with the antagonists, and downplaying the Belmont's genuine desire to do good. Or turning Trevor and Juste into cynical washouts because we just like that archetype I guess :\

[tobiasdrake]

Deeper into Mesa Island, we go.

Uhhh.... Can we help you?

Should we be stopping this? I feel like we should be stopping this.

And they're gone.

Great. They expect me to do all the work of springing the deadly trap on myself. Typical.

This is the Elder Mist all over again. Fucking lazy-ass ambushers.

Fine, I did your yardwork and raised your lunar sigil. Let's go, up and at 'em. Come bite my face off. I don't have all night.

There we go, that's more like it. Consider this hedge pruned! See, the problem with making me set up my own ambush is that it gives me time to prepare for it.

In any case, that happened. Remind me next time we see Dickface Minstrel that I owe them a flute shoved down their throat.

And I pay my debts. Just ask the Numerology Cult.

Oh, I guess it's flashback time. Sure, why not. It's a bit of a hike to Peach's Castle, so now's as good a time as any to reminisce.

Oh, shit. Is this....

It is. This is the Strife cleansing. This is when Momo died. Along with many of her colleagues.

Oh, that confidence. >.< Oh, Moraine. Time will not be kind to you.

Another reminder that Erlina is stronger than Brugaves. She took to the magic more naturally than he did.

No, you don't. Not this battle, you don't.

People keep mentioning the twins. I don't think they're anyone we know. Probably died in the Strife battle.

They have to be important, though. The way they keep coming up implies that the plot wants us to be aware of them.

The sole survivor. I think this is where everything fell apart for our timeline. If Solstice Warriors are Resh'an's pieces and Dwellers are Aeophorul's pieces, then the near-total annihilation of all Solstice Warriors in exchange for a single Dweller, no matter how strong, was a cataclysmic loss for our team.

All that was left of the entire order was one traumatized Lunar warrior and two kids who didn't even really want to be here. This was where the ball began to roll downhill.

The friction was there from the beginning. Erlina never liked Moraine. I can't blame her. I hated his guts too. Sole survivor with PTSD Moraine is not well-suited to teaching the new generations, but he's literally the only option there is.

We didn't survive the Strife battle. We only thought we did. But the Dweller had mortally wounded the order. A wound whose lethality would only become clear twenty years later.

Shades of our own childhood plan to go sail the world with Garl instead. Every kid can feel how suffocating Mooncradle truly is.

I said before that Moraine is not very good at indoctrinating children into the order's belief system. Erlina and Bugraves turned full-on traitor, while Zale and I were out of Moraine's sight for five seconds before we recruited our non-Solstice bro that he explicitly forbid us from recruiting. Nobody cares about what Moraine thinks.

I stand by that remark now, but it's accented with a heavy dose of tragedy. He was never qualified to be a teacher. But who else was there?

Unfortunately, Evermist Island is a fucking prison colony of a place, so it's not exactly easy to escape from. These two had to become Solstice Warriors because there were no other options available. In Mooncradle, you're either born to become a Solstice Warrior or born to serve Solstice Warriors.

That's it. Solstice kids and non-Solstice kids alike, your path is set in stone from birth. Because this isn't a village; It's a factory for mass-producing Resh'an's chess pieces as efficiently as possible.

...oh, the vials that created Mooncradle were TIA's potions. I just got that. Yeah, he probably is the Great Eagle. Or controls it. Or something.

Aww, it's me! I'm so precious. I am the cutest baby that's ever been dropped off by the Great Eagle, and I will bite the shins of anyone who disagrees.

Confirmation that I am, in fact, the older sibling. Chew on that, little brother.

[kawarikisaki]

Funny thing given how knights work and your theory that Kid is a queen in chess the knights are the Detective Boys so despite his name Hakuba isn’t a chess knight. (Works even better because when Kid wanted to have them unwittingly help him acquire a big jewel he put all but Conan in a corner. (Given that knights in a corner are tricky at best.) Then he put him in a metaphorical corner by tasing him. Which I think which convinced Agasa, Conan and Ai to not allow the kids involved in Kid heists anymore because they don’t want that to happen to literal children. Because at that time Kid didn’t know Conan is actually about his own age.)

Alrighty, so you said a lot of stuff there but my brain is only really latching on to one part of it. So you're getting another round of me kinda debating myself. And the topic this time is: We don't actually know whether or not Kid knew Conan's identity at that point. We do know that he knows now, after all in Fairy's Lip heist Kaito's internal monologue acknowledges that he's up against two high school detective's. But that was fairly recent (2019) in the grand scheme of Detective Conan. So when did he find out? He found out in Movie 3, so it could be argued that he's known since then (which is generally what I go with since there's never anything that contradicts that), however the movies are second degree canon (I could probably do a whole ramble post about what I think about the movies and their canonicity), so it's not really solid that he learned at that point.

That said, if that movie isn't when Kid officially found out Conan's identity then we don't actually know when he did, because we're not shown it. But Arguments can and will be made: 1. He's known since the black star pearl heist. After meeting on the roof Kid looked into Conan and those he was staying with as part of the process that led to him disguising as Ran on the ship- with how intelligent Kaito is it's not unreasonable to consider that he may have learned that had a childhood friend that went missing around the same time that Conan showed up, and Kaito knows magic is real so it's not too much of a logic jump for him to put two and two together. 2. He needed to see him in action a few more times before he made the connection, but knew before the gathering of great detectives (just because if he didn't know at that point it's super weird that Kid included Conan in the phrasing of 'they're like lovers that you don't want to meet'. No Kaito, don't compare someone you think is a child to a lover, not good.) 3. The hint that Conan gave durring the Ryoma heist/case about his mom gave Kid the pieces he needed to make the leap in logic. (Already after the heist with the detective boys at this point) 4. Somehow he didn't know but then seeing how Heiji and Conan interact in the aforementioned Fairy lips heist Kaito just kinda went 'oh, they're bros- wait did he just call the little meitantei 'Kudo'???' And while the idea of option 4 amuses me to no end. And the same with if considering the possibility that Kaito could have tazed Conan thinking he was a real 6 year old. .... I already mentioned that I'm on team 'he figured it out in the movie'.

[chimericchaos]

Minor rant, yes I did just come from the Big Tugg video on how english is stupid and I entirely agree with him on that

What I do not at all agree with is the opening of the video entirely dedicated to hating children - he just goes out of his way to say "oh yeah before I start this video, I fucking hate kids" and then gives a list of things kids don't know, (because, they're kids) and dunk on them for not knowing stuff

And I find it kinda ironic the person who says that kids should not feel proud of learning- sorry, memorizing- the alphabet, also mispronounces the word Celtic not ten seconds later. Perhaps we all could learn a thing or two by expanding our general knowledge and studying cultures and languages outside our own?

Speaking of languages, side-tangent-within-a-side-tangent, removing s or k and compounding them both into c is a shit take that I'm seeing way too much, when the obvious answer is to get rid of c, it only functions as a replacement for s or k and in either function it creates unnecessary problems (it's really unnecessary for "unnecessary" to be spelt like that but different topic) and that's why a Bunch of fucking languages around the world do Not include a c, such as the language I was forced to learn since birth and Still cannot speak: Afrikaans. There is not a single c in that language and I have never had a spelling mistake from s or k ever. Other mistakes sure but not concerning those.

And you may be wondering "well why can't we just contract the sounds into less letters to save space in the alphabet?" Because while that would not necessarily be so bad, that shit gets real out of hand real fast the more you do it, and all I'm saying is don't come knocking when you can't spell doodle when your a's are also e's and your u's are also i's

Anyway back to the topic of hating kids

This may seem like a wildly specific rant about one youtuber mentioning it offhand once, but I assure you this is not the first time today I've heard this. I hear this multiple times a week. From different people

For some damn reason it's kinda always been a popular take to hate kids and openly talk about how much one would like to see them suffer, and I don't fucking understand it at all???

Like, ok, you find their constant questions and mumbles and movements and other weird sounds very annoying, cool, I find the several cats outside my window doing many unsavoury things to each other each and every night annoying but I still don't talk about it like it's ok to hurt them

And maybe we can take a moment to rationalize the fact that kids tend to ask a lot of dumb things and say a lot of dumb things, because they're dumb?? they have far less experience on this earth than anyone who knows the definition of "economy", and do not yet know how to do basic living shit like how to cook a whole ass chicken, and they don't need to just yet, that's the point

People who don't know shit are going to do and say things as a consequence of not knowing shit

And this is very much a long-winded vent about something that doesn't really effect me at all, but I do in fact see it as a personal problem because not too long ago I too was a kid that didn't know shit, and I was a piece of shit because of it, sure, but something I very much remember is having to deal with people who hated me simply for existing, and I no longer have to deal with people hating my existange as a child, yes, but I still have various other unchangable things about myself that people hate me for, so through that experience I don't think it's a good thing to hate kids just because they're kids, regardless of how annoying the youtube comments are, and at the very least if you're going to think the spawn of your fellow humans are actually the spawn of satan, please do not talk about like it's a normal ass thing

And hey, maybe there's also a part of my brain that has yet to even fucking register that I'm in my roaring 20's now, so that may be why when I come across people hating kids I feel personally attacked

So with that knowledge, if you say to me that you hate kids, for whatever reason, rest assured I already hate you

[serenanymph]

writeblr positivity tag

tagged by the lovely @macabremoons! gently tagging @lyssa-ink, @reneesbooks, @scroll-of-aves, @space-writes, and anyone else who wants to hop in! this is gonna be a long one so I'm gonna leave it under the cut.

1. What motivates you to write?

All the lovely comments I get!! I honestly just love seeing how people react to my writing. Also just thinking about my characters in general. They're just a bunch of silly little guys <3 (they are unbelievably traumatized). And thinking about those specific few scenes I'll get to write later in the book too!!!

2. A line/short snippet of your writing that you are most proud/happy of. If not maybe share a line of someone else's work you love (just please credit them)

Uhh honestly I have mostly forgotten and all the good lines really only make sense with context, but I guess I am?? Mildly proud of this bit??

The air smells of sweet perfume. It’s a sharp, potent scent, thick and cloying, overly concentrated and enough for Beatriz to choke on. That’s the first thing she notices. The second things she notices is everything buried beneath it – dust, the faint, lingering tang of chemicals stinging her nose. Decay and rot. The air smells like death.

3. Which OC makes you smile every time you think/talk about them and what are they like?

Wait is this your own OC or someone else's. Okay I can't really pick between my children BUT I do really love @reneesbooks Birdie!! Smol chaotic magic child, absolutely adorable. I want to give her all the pastries she could ever desire

4. What process of writing do you enjoy the most?

On one hand, creating the first draft from scratch is really fun, but on the other, working on later drafts with the knowledge you're refining something and making it better is also so satisfying. Hrm. I'd say first draft wins but only by a small margin (because nothing in the latter stages will exist without it).

5. What part of writing do you think you are the best at? (Yes stroke your own ego it's okay)

Uh. I have no idea but apparently a lot of people have said I'm really good at descriptions?? So. Descriptions. I guess

6. What is something in the writeblr community is most enjoyable?

Honestly I think everyone's answers are gonna be about the same but, y'know. It's the community. Everyone here is genuinely so friendly and talented, and all the games are really fun!!

7. A writing tool/device you use that helps you with writing? (It could be speech to text, a writing program etc)

I use microsoft word which is like. About all I use. Really boring ik but I'm used to it and for whatever reason I think it came with the laptop?? So yeah

8. A piece of worldbuilding that you like in your own story? (It could be the magic system, a particular place in the story, a law etc)

I really like exploring the magic system!! Magic for Beasts is largely emotion-based, and can be affected by a variety of factors (everything from target to affinity to environmental conditions) so it's been really fun figuring it out, but still making sure it doesn't become overpowered or a deus ex machina. There's also magic for mages which is a lot more precise and restrained. You can kind of think of it as Beasts having powers while mages have spells.

9. What piece of advice would you say to encourage others to write if they are having a rough patch?

Honestly most people would probably say something along these lines as well - even though I don't know what's causing your rough patch exactly, the only way to solve this not-writing problem in the end is to write. If you write, you can make it better. If you write, someone out there is bound to find it and love it. So, y'know. Just write. It can only go up from here.

10. Tag some people whose works you love/have been your biggest supporters

Okay so first off, @allianaavelinjackson (though she isn't really part of writeblr), for always putting up with my insane ramblings about the little people in my head, losing it when reading about the little people in my head, and just being a really great cheerleader. Love ya. Also @lyssa-ink for being one of my first mutuals and having really interesting story ideas!! And @reneesbooks for her continued support and just being a super talented writer (seriously, lacuna lives rent free in my head). Plus @squarebracket-trick, @e-klair and @space-writes for all the STS questions giving me a chance to yell about Beast at someone, and lastly tagging back @macabremoons for all her support!! I could really go on and on and on but then this post would never end but to all my mutuals!!! Know that I love and appreciate every single one of you and y'all are awesome people!!

BLANK QUESTIONS

1. What motivates you to write?

2. A line/short snippet of your writing that you are most proud/happy of. If not maybe share a line of someone else's work you love (just please credit them)

3. Which OC makes you smile every time you think/talk about them and what are they like?

4. What process of writing do you enjoy the most?

5. What part of writing do you think you are the best at? (Yes stroke your own ego it's okay)

6. What is something in the writeblr community is most enjoyable?

7. A writing tool/device you use that helps you with writing? (It could be speech to text, a writing program etc)

8. A piece of worldbuilding that you like in your own story? (It could be the magic system, a particular place in the story, a law etc)

9. What piece of advice would you say to encourage others to write if they are having a rough patch?

10. Tag some people whose works you love/have been your biggest supporters

[caffeineandsociety]

Speaking of how people use accusations of pedophilia as a thought-terminating cliche, we need to have a conversation about how blatantly fucking racist the internet's current lolicon panic is.

Like - and I DESPISE that I have to include this preface - I don't like that it's a staple of harem and harem-adjacent games and anime to have the token edgelord little sister and looks-like-a-prepubescent-child romance options either. In my personal opinion it's uncomfortable at best and ruins the entire damned piece with its out-of-place bad-kind-of-weirdness at worst, and I think it's at least mildly irresponsible to sell taboo fetishism in the mainstream, as a side element in pieces that are decidedly not about the taboo fetish, to lonely people without caring if some of them are inclined to forget that some taboos exist for DAMNED GOOD REASONS, because "eh, not my problem, they have disposable income."

You know. Just like how it's irresponsible at best for adult-ish, dark-ish high fantasy to insist on having gratuitous sexual assault scenes out the wazoo for "historical accuracy" in a universe with dragons and absolutely no racial diversity despite ample evidence of trade networks that expand beyond these homogeneously white bubbles we focus on.

Yet way too much of the internet is out here, subtly or not, subconsciously or not, acting like this one shitty trope means Japan is just some den of degenerate men and gleefully submissive women, this perverted land that will sexualize anything and everything and in fact takes it as a challenge to cross every line and thinks child molestation is fun for the whole family because their age of consent is 14-

Which is. You know. Hm.

First of all, it can be argued that the age of consent in Japan is 14 in the same sense that the age of consent in the US is 12 or even nonexistent - that is to say, that's the youngest any prefecture is allowed to permit, and the only time it's actually used is in the case of close-in-age cases ("Romeo and Juliet laws") - i.e., the kind of legal codes that make it harder for homophobic parents to have their 15-year old children's same-age same-sex partners arrested and labeled as sex offenders. For no-strings-attached age of consent it's 16-18 depending on prefecture, exactly like it is in the US. The fact that even people who really try not to be racist or xenophobic will end up parroting this myth is...alarming.

Second, again, it's not like anime and Japanese games are the only things that have really uncomfortably sexualized genre staples, or that treat extremely young girls like sex-objects-in-training. It's not an anime-only thing that if we want a female character to have a ~dark~ backstory, it almost always involves sexual violence, as if women can't have any other kind of fear or traumatic experience (or as if men can't have sexual trauma except as an excuse to pay it forward, for that matter). Child actresses are often expected to wear fashionable, form-fitting clothes from damned near the moment they start walking, whereas young boys on screen generally get to just dress like kids. Western kids' media, especially that aimed at girls, is often glutted with obvious creator fetishes meant to fly over the kids' heads - and, okay, some of the breakdowns of this pattern are unfair and themselves the ones doing the sexualizing, the overlap between "things adults semi-often have fetishes for" and "things kids giggle at and/or may enjoy as sensory play" is...A Lot, but it is often framed in a weirdly sexual way, never mind that foot guy at Nickelodeon who got caught fetish mining from his audience of children.

Yet, for some reason, we only care about those cases when they're in the headlines, but when it's anime, we have to be on the lookout for it 24/7 and call it out EVERY time it shows up in ANYTHING we see and complain LOUDLY about it ALL the time or else we're child abuse enablers?

It's. It's xenophobia and racism. Full stop. And I'm sick to death of seeing it.

[staringdownabarrel]

You know, thinking back on the Riftwar cycle, one of the surprising things is how few children most people have. This is a slightly niche thing that most people who see this probably won't be super interested in, so the rest is under the cut.

Much like in the modern day, it seems like most people in Midkemia are perfectly fine with stopping after two or three kids. This is true of the nobility like most of the characters, but it's also true of the rank and file citizens of the Kingdom.

In the Serpentwar Saga specifically, Roo was an only child, and Erik effectively was despite having noble half-brothers. Later on in the Conclave of Shadows trilogy, I believe Talon had been an only child as well, and I forget if he ever had more than one child. None of these examples are ever commented on as being particularly remarkable.

This is quite a contrast to how things work in real life. I mean, in real life, the fertility rate has generally been decreasing over time. Here in Australia, the fertility rate in 1800 was something like 6.5, but now it's below replacement levels, and this is hardly a rarity in the developed world. In a world like Midkemia which is very loosely based on medieval Europe, you would expect smaller families with 1-3 children to be the rarity rather than the exception.

The other surprising thing is that this seems to be true across the board. It's true in fairly peaceful parts of the Kingdom, and it's also true in more dangerous areas where family members could potentially be conscripted or die in a cross-border raid. While this is never explicitly stated, it's certainly implied by the fact that when main characters from other parts of the Kingdom are heading through the Vale of Dreams where this sort of thing really is common, they aren't struck by how much larger families in this part of the world are.

From this, we can draw three conclusions. The first is that infant mortality is likely to be very low, to the point where it'd probably be comparable to what it is today in the real world, only without the benefits of our modern medicines.

The second is that industrial accidents must also be extremely rare. This generally tracks with how there generally aren't characters who are introduced with disfigurements they got from working the fields or anything like that. Usually, if someone's disfigured, it's a combat related injury. Nobody's ever mentioned to have lost a parent to an industrial accident, either.

This contrasts sharply with what happened in the real world. If you were a European peasant in the fourteenth or fifteenth centuries and you survived early childhood, the next most likely reasons you'd die are either giving birth (if you were a woman/were female presenting), from a work accident in the fields, or drowning.

So while the average Midkemian doesn't seem to have access to anything resembling modern medicine and rarely has access to a wizard who can fill the gap, they're still less likely to die young anyway. This probably means that either safety precautions in manual labour are more common, that the average piece of farm equipment is safer to use, or some combination of the two.

The third is that major wars really are a rarity. That's explicitly the case anyway, given how delicate the balance of power is and how everyone goes out of their way to avoid upsetting it too much, and given how major wars are talked about when they do happen. Even in the Chaoswar trilogy when Kesh actually did try to do that, it was only under duress, and the common reaction to what was actually a fairly well thought out invasion route was, "They wouldn't actually do that, would they?"

Besides the fact that major wars seem to only ever be started by otherworldly powers, it also seems like the low-level conflicts really are low level conflicts. Beyond the disputed border between the Kingdom of the Isles and the Empire of Kesh, there's also the regular/semi-regular goblin raids against the fortifications along the Teeth of the World, and before the start of Magician, the threat of the Dark Brotherhood in the Green Heart. All of these are probably low level to the point that combined, it'd be a particularly deadly year if their combined deaths hit the triple digits.

The fourth conclusion I'd draw from this is that famine is rarer, too. There's only one famine known to have occurred on Midkemia (in the Far Coast province during the Serpentwar saga), and it was a big enough event that the powers that be were trying to keep it quiet. The stated reason was that they didn't want to cause panic.

Given that this is the same approach they took to the ongoing war preparations for an upcoming major invasion and that wars on that kind of scale are a rarity, then it could be taken to mean that famines are a rarity, too.

I think this is on shakier grounds, though. This is something I want to get into separately in a different post, but I think there might be some other mitigating factors as to why famine seems to be such a rare thing in these books. The very short reason is that I think the urbanised population of Midkemia is probably a smaller percentage than what the urbanised population in Europe in the Middle Ages was, so chances are there was more of a chance to stockpile grain. Maybe famine was more common but the effects were more easily mitigated.

When I read A Kingdom Besieged, one of the things that sorta got me going from a world building perspective was that Crydee's population was mentioned to have only risen around 10% from the time of the Riftwar. This struck me as odd because the thing is that given the only major disasters that directly impacted Crydee in that 100 or 120 year period seem to have been the Riftwar itself and the famine fifty-ish years later.

However, now I think a lot of it can be explained by two things. One is a particularly high death rate from the war and the famine, and the other is a fairly slow birth rate. I think it needed to be both, and there is some tenuous canonical evidence to suggest the average family size probably was quite low throughout the series.

The one big trouble with all of this is that it also seems like the population of the Western Realm can jump back fairly easily despite a low birth rate and the occasional major war that lowers the population. I think the mitigating factor here is that three of the major wars detailed over the course of the saga were followed by fairly large migration waves: thousands of Tsurani settled around Yabon after the Riftwar, a large chunk of the Emerald Queen's army likely settled around Krondor after the Serpentwar, and a large number of Keshians around Crydee after the Chaoswar.

I think over the long term, the population effects of these migration patterns probably did spread out. The general pattern of migration in the Kingdom seems to be people heading out further west, so chances are there probably were other people who got sick of living in the Eastern Realm for whatever reason who decided to fuck off out west.

So while it would seem like the Kingdom's overall population should be on a decline, those migration waves were probably enough to at least keep at an overall static level. This is oddly true to life, because migration really is the thing keeping the population of most developed countries rising.

The thing with that is that if you take a broader view of that, it probably would require that the Eastern Realm to have a higher birth rate. It is known that the East traditionally does have a higher population than the Western Realm. There isn't really enough canonical evidence to say whether or not this is still true in the period the Riftwar cycle takes place in, but it probably was true in the period just before it.

Beyond just raw imperial ambition, this actually could have been a factor in why the Kingdom expanded westward to begin with. There could have been a view that the extra population would eventually need somewhere else to live, even though the East was still extremely empty. Having to massively increase the size of the country seems like an excessive move for that, but it could be explained by being a cultural hangover of a country that was initially limited to one island.

My gut feeling is that while there probably was a point in time when the population of the Eastern Realm was rapidly increasing, that probably wasn't as much the case once the Riftwar cycle started. Some of that was probably just because a huge chunk of the population had already moved westward, but I think it would have been changed cultural concerns, too. While in the period before the expansion westward, the implicit cultural concern would have been making sure there was enough people to defend the country if the Keshians invaded, afterwards that didn't matter because the vast size of the Kingdom and the ongoing issues in the Keshian Confederacy was the defense.

Still, the core thing that started this--how few children people on Midkemia seem to have--is something I wonder if Feist ever actively thought about when he was writing the books. I get the impression he was mostly trying to write about a country that was, on the whole, the nicest possible country you could live in in this sort of setting, and the way he did that was to carry a lot of modern/then-modern American cultural and legal norms over to the Kingdom--they have the fantasy versions of the First and Thirteenth amendments at the very least, for example.

The thing with this though is that this sorta requires the Kingdom to have gone through a very different cultural evolution. Because the birth rate resembles a modern industrialised country's (or at least attempts to), it means there was very little disease, very little war outside of the occasional blowout, and less religious pressure to go forth and multiply. Because there were elements of what we'd recognise to be democratic freedoms but apparently no real civil rights movement outside of that for even further reforms, there probably was an almost unnaturally complacent population Kingdom-wide.

Stuff like this really does make me wonder how much of this Feist planned outside of the overall main plot of the cycle and how much of it really did just work out that way. I'd like to think most of it was planned to be picked up on at least in passing, however I suspect that once you get out of the broad strokes of the story arc, it probably is mostly just how things turned out with the series.

[i-am-literally-deranged]

Okay so I have two things to say about this, and both of them boil down to remembering that the world of Hatoful Boyfriend is markedly different from our own. It is a genuinely well thought out piece of xenofiction, and pieces of the plot hinge on this otherness.

1. Hatoful Boyfriend takes place in a young society that lacks a lot of the organization, documentation, and infrastructure that we're used to. We're used to a very bureaucratic world where everything is recorded, measured, and organized. We've had a long long time to build this world and a lot of trial and error along the way. The society we see in Hatoful Boyfriend is brand new. They have the examples left behind by the human societies before them, but they've only had a handful of generations to try to build a new government from scratch and adapt these older inspirations to work for a completely different species. As a totally different species, they have totally different needs, so things that worked in human society won't necessarily work for bird society. A consequence of this is that things are a lot less strictly governed. It's a new government. I'm not even sure if these guys have birth certificates. Some people live in nests outside. Some people live in leftover human houses that they've just become acclimated to living in despite it not being suited to their needs. Some people live in modern homes built for birds. Hiyoko is allowed to just live in a cave. People fall through the cracks. The mesh of society here is much much looser than our own. Shuu has gone completely unpunished despite.... Everything. Children just go missing sometimes and nothing at all is done about it. Child labor laws straight up do not exist. The government here is smaller than small, and they seem to have a lot of difficulties with specifically keeping track of people, and with law enforcement. Basically, I think the justice system in Hatoful Boyfriend's Japan kind of sucks major ass. We've seen potentially hundreds of children go missing in this one school, and nothing was ever done about it, and there seems to be minimal suspicion about it. Miru and Kaku were never caught by the police either. Yuuya just straight up went missing as a child and it seems that no one ever questioned that either. Murder is shockingly, SHOCKINGLY easy to get away with.

My second point

2. They're quail. Phasianids are established to be a minority in the world of Hatoful Boyfriend. We can sort of use Sakuya's bigotry as a metric to measure this. We know that doves are the majority in this society. I mean, our main cast is two thirds dove so there is definitely a statistical argument to be made as well. This is likely because of the evolutionary difference. Doves were the first birds to gain sapience with the virus. Hitori says so himself in his history lecture that Phasianids like himself evolved advanced intelligence comparatively recently. And we repeatedly see Sakuya being bigoted towards him.

So a common theme with bigotry in our world is the idea that the majority class will see members of a minority group as interchangeable. The classic "All ____ look the same" thing. That is exactly what I think happened here. How well could you tell two quail apart?? They're pretty indistinct. And probably just as indistinct to the dove majority. Columbidae and Phasianidae are two wildly different families. It makes sense that there would be ways that they don't match up. Things that would be distinguishing traits between two doves would not be the same as things that would be distinguishing traits between two quail. And I don't think that whoever was investigating ""Hitori"'s death was prepared to compensate for that difference. I don't think they really knew what to look for, or how to effectively tell quails apart. They just went "Yup that's a quail." And like, looked in his wallet and saw Hitori's ID card, and called it a day. I think it's more than just Hitori having a forgettable face. I think that most people within the world of Hatoful Boyfriend would actually describe all quail as having kinda forgettable faces.

So I think that Hitori exploited the fact that most people can't tell quail apart very effectively, and the fact that their society is not especially regulated and has a lot of cracks to slip through.

I TOTALLY FORGOT ABOUT THAT NOYEAH but that does raise 2 things that like

a. i like that one of hitoris only defining features is a fucking scarf because hes so....O_O Default Mii Guy

b. so does he just Swap their clothes or did he DRag the body back to his place to like...dye his hair and everything as well for kaz to Look like him Cause WOW O.O

my greatest contribution to this fandom is the introduction of default mii hitori and im not sure if i will ever top that

it is convenient for him though, isn't it? the fact that to literally anyone else he's so completely forgettable. it means that it will take very very little to make kazuaki look vaguely like him. it means shuu probably forgets the majority of his appearance because shuu says he only remembers important things and nothing about hitori stands out except for that dorky lil scarf.

anyway ive thought about this many times. how does hitori do it. kazuaki makes it seem like hitori takes just a few things and then leaves but, as i've brought up many times before but never had the energy to elaborate upon, kazuaki is an unreliable narrator. the story sounds crueler if hitori just gets up and takes a few things and leaves him in front of his own eyes. im sure hitori sits with him much longer. watches him die fully so that he can be more thorough in his cleanup job. what confuses me most is, like you said, the hair thing. and even more, in bird form, the feather thing. even if he gives kazuaki an impromptu cut and whatnot, doesn't hair dye like. smell?? does he also bathe the poor boy's corpse??? i have to remind myself that they're birds because it makes it easier to think less into the switch but like. hmm.

i do think that the hawk party was pretty sucky with their "let's make sure subject 00's family member is dead" job. i guess appearance is pretty much it for knowing a corpse is a particular guy, especially if he hasn't rotted very much, but like.... in a world where hitori is so Generic i feel like they should've done SOMETHING to make certain it Was Him. so maybe that is how hitori was so easily able to get away with it. the hawk party members responsible for the crime scene got too tired and decided to just say "yeah that's him i guess let's call it a day." nobody else really looked into the death. although kazuaki makes it seem like it happens at his own apartment, he also says hitori takes the keys to his dorm so i guess?? he died wherever hitori was staying??? cuz hitori really can't just leave a dead body in his own home. how would that look on kazuaki? how would the people that he wants to think he's dead find him? or maybe hitori dragged his fuckin corpse somewhere else???? so i don't even know dude. i guess it would be easy for nobody but the hawk party to look into it if it were in a place they were already surveiling. really, in general, the switch between hitori to kazuaki is so confusing. i guess hitori gets plastic surgery? but i have no clue where we got that information, it's just in the wiki. what do we do about height differences? the hatoking website says kazuaki is petite and considering hitori is supposed to be "strong and handsome" i've always assumed he's taller than average (although height headcanons vary, but it seems even people who think hitori is short ALSO think that kazuaki is tall. so.) what about any possible physical feature they could not share.

i think it can all just be dumbed down to this: kazuaki and hitori are generally unimportant and forgettable members of society with very few connections to other people. kazuaki claims to be bullied by the people that he goes to school with and hitori is. Alone. they both have pretty forgettable appearances and the hawk party is pretty lax about their investigation into hitori's death. honestly, im completely willing to bet that anyone part of the organization who interacted with hitori hardly interacted with him in-person. i would guess they'd want to keep their distance for various reasons, but this means even less of a chance for them to remember any particular details of his appearance. i can't tell if it would be easier for hitori to make bird kazuaki or human kazuaki look more like him considering bird hitori has more patterns in his feathers but human hitori has a different haircut and the clothes change would be frustrating and there are differences in their faces to take into account but however! maybe i don't need to think about it too much?

[redwinterroses]

I'm gonna ramble a bit under the cut -- mainly just to get my own brain emptied out so I can go to bed. :) Have a good night, all.

I have really... messy, complicated emotions going on right now. Like, on the one hand: I've only in the last couple of weeks even regularly started watching Techno's vids/vods. Obviously I've been aware of him longer than that, and I've watched some old stuff, but I never watched a stream live, and most of my knowledge comes second or third hand. My biggest "ah yes, I like Techno" feelings come from fics. So like, not even the real guy. Just a fictional version of him.

So I feel... ya know, I feel as though I don't really have the right to grieve? Like... I almost feel guilty over it. Like walking into a room and going "Oh, I am not supposed to be here." And before anyone messages or replies: I know that's silly. I'm aware. Emotions are never logical. Knowing that it's a ridiculous guilt to have doesn't make it go away.

But on the other hand... Man. He's the same age as my baby sister. I can't... I can't imagine losing someone that young. Actually, no, that's a lie. I have a very good imagination. I can imagine it. And even just the imagining is nearly unbearable. What his family has to be going through, what his friends have to be going through... my heart hurts for them.

My heart hurts for his fans -- not me, but his real fans, the ones who are just reeling right now. So many of his fans are literally children, and this may be their first brush with death. There are so many hurting kids tonight, and I just want to bundle them all up in a blanket, hand them a tissue and wrap my arm around their shoulder and tell them, "It gets better. I swear. It feels like there's a hole in your gut right now, and maybe you're angry, or maybe you're crying, or maybe you're numb because your emotions don't know what to do so they're protecting you by doing nothing. Any and all of that is okay. But I promise that it won't hurt like this forever, and someday -- probably a lot sooner than you think -- memories and stories will give you more nostalgic joy than grief. It's okay to hurt, and it's okay to know that as big as this feels in the moment, you'll grow to contain it."

Grief never really gets smaller. But you grow around it. People that I've lost -- Mr Tony, who gave me peppermints from his pocket every Sunday, or Mr Hank, who had a beautiful singing voice and called me Sister, or Ms Becky, who had such a joy of teaching and introduced me to fried green beans... Them being gone still... I wouldn't say hurts. It itches, somewhere deep down. But I smiled just now when I was typing about them, because thinking of those memories is a happy thing.

I don't know how to process Techno's passing. I'll be honest. There's a big piece of me that just wants to despair about it. Cancer and the death of young people and death in general are such rotting and corrupted parts of our world. It sucks. It sucks that he was so young. It sucks that cancer exists. It sucks that thousands of kids are hurting and feeling lost tonight. It sucks that I don't know how to process my own emotions about this. It sucks that I'm probably not going to be able to sleep well tonight. It sucks that Techno's family and friends are going to be dealing with this hole in their lives for a long time. Just generally... it sucks.

And I'm a Christian. It's not something I talk about very often, but I don't make a secret about it either -- I believe there is hope and life after death. I believe that the world will one day be restored to a state that doesn't have cancer, that doesn't have death, that doesn't have people losing their sons and their friends. But even though I truly believe that with all my heart... that doesn't make the sadness or the bewildering emotions any easier to deal with in the moment.

I dunno, man. This whole thing hit me like a punch in the gut, and on some level I don't know how to process it. It's like I'm... intruding on something that's not mine to feel. I admire Techno. I think he was a kind guy with a wicked sense of humor and a fantastic voice. I think his fans have created some of the best mcyt fan-content I've seen. I think that if any of those fans need an inbox to talk to or a digital shoulder to cry on, I can try to be that for them. I think I'm going to have to go back and watch a bunch of old videos because I want to get to know Techno's legacy better.

And... I think that for tonight, that's going to have to be enough.

[clown-moss]

It is 6 AM and I can't sleep therefore I'm going to ramble about whatever stuff crosses my mind.

I don't understand childish games like "Inny Minny Moe" or stuff along that variation, you can easily manipulate the odds and boot out the person you don't like with a simple change of a number, in no shape or form is it fair so why use it as a way to be decisive? I suppose it is a children's game but it still does not make a blink of sense to me decisive and mathematical wise, there's nothing random about it! It's a pattern!

Same with Rock Paper Scissors, how do paper beat rock? A rock could tear up a piece of paper without strain, scissors beats paper makes sense and rock beating scissors makes only a small bit of sense in different forms. Example, if the scissors are strong like kitchen scissor for example a rock wouldn't be able to put a dent in it, if the scissors were weak like hair scissors it was be easy for a rock to break it. The same goes for rock, if the rock was big and study it'd ruin both types of scissors, if the rock was small and fragile it wouldn't break any kind of scissors. Clearly it makes little sense with some thinking, also a friend of mine said that he understands why everybody thinks I'm Autistic after bringing up this argument.

Speaking of which, as a child I'd always walk on either my heels or my toes and I've just been informed recently that this is a sign of autism? How? Is it a common thing children with autism at a young age do? I'm genuinely curious about that and I'd love to know more! Also clothes. Just clothes. Some clothes feel so gross and weird and I do not understand why some humans would ever wear it! If it looks nice I'll wear it even if it has that gross feeling to it but I'll despise every second of it.

I am very particular about how I dress and such, it's very important to me to at least look somewhat presentable while also casual, it's more of a personal flaw thing but I don't mind it. While we're talking about my clothing why do you people hate my shoes so much? They're very comfortable and I don't have to tie shoelaces! Not that I don't know how to tie them I just hate tying them in general, they make me feel as if I'm walking on a cloud and despite knowing the materials of why it feels like this I still enjoy it none the less.

Also horror movies or just movies in general, I understand some people love watching stuff like that with all the moving, colours and whatnots but I just do not care for it, I'd rather read a book and besides, I can't sit still a watch a movie fully anyways. While we're on books an acquaintance of mine lended me their copy of "warrior cats" and I enjoyed it thoroughly. Back on the topic of movies, I do not understand the infatuation with celebaries. To me none of them look romantically or sexually appealing, it might just be my inner demisexual speaking but I just don't understand it nor could I care for it.

Also with sexually appealing, apparently some of you humans find Pokemon sexually appealing? If so please go die in a ditch, I will not be kind with it, if you SA a fellow friend of mine expect me to be at your door with a dented metal bat. Why is it dented? Nobody knows. On the topic of Pokemon, who thought of Pokemon battles!? Who just decided one day while waking up "I'm going to make creatures fight to the death for money and fame"!? It's just illogical! But that's all for another post I suppose.

Also with planets and such, beautiful things but I'm talking about horoscopes and such. How does the day of birth and the way the stars align change and sculpt your entire life? Are humans really that predictable that were able to predict their behaviours in such a way that it's covered by a guise of insane Tumblr girls? It's fascinating!

I am now tired and I will sleep now, farewell and may we meet again through another one of my posts!

-Mod N

[mythicalninjas]

Bloody Season

Donnie and Mikey X fem!Reader.

This is a serie of three chapters about Donnie explaining to his brothers about menstruation. His such knowledge was given by reader through a doubt he had during her period, and from deep researches.

Warning: SFW, blood mention.

Cramps, loss of appetite, lack of good humor, a heat bag being held against your lower abdomen to assuage the anguish, feeling that affliction hot liquid between your legs, "weak stomach", menstrual diarrhea; and also the pre syntoms: sore breasts, desire of sweets; should I continue?

It's frightering of how both body and mind change during the bloody days.

"I don't-".

"You need..." Donnie said softly while hold a sandwish to you.

"Donnie, I... I'm not hungry".

"You haven't eaten yet, Y/N".

"But-" You sighed "Okay..." You whispered, groaning while make effort to sit. You are curently in the Lair on a sofa of the main space. With shaky hands, you pick the delicious looking sandwish and spend a few seconds staring at it, forcing your stomach groan by hungry—which never has come. Being vulnerable and painful throughout those days of the week is something we could only get used a while after; it seems we never get used of it, like it is the first time every month we go through.

All your stomach does is protest to not receive the food, but you have to. Or you would get weaker than before. You bite, chew and swallow; again. Bite, chew and swallow; slow moves.

"Enough" you murmmured, handing the half-eaten sandwish towards the purple clad humanoid mutant turtle, who was only watching you all the time "I don't want it anymore". Donatello could see the discomfort in your eyes "It's okay. At least you have eaten something and this is what the matter" he assured, taking the sandwish and placing his massive hand on your shoulder and pushing you down carefully, making you laying down again. "Rest. If you need something, call me".

You share a weak smile as he walks away. Donatello is the only one besides April who understand perfectly your mensal unconfortable situation; the others know as well but not as much as their smart brother.

"Hey, Don. How's Y/N?" Mikey asked as soon Donnie enters the kitchen area.

"She is okay. Just tired" he explains "Not hungry as normal".

Mikey hummed in confirmation, nodding. Even being difficult to get exactly what is happening to you, Mikey has a deep respect for you; giving you space, silence, sharing support. Because he knew what is going on, but he doesn't know the why of it.

He wants to ask, but a feeling of shame prevents him to do it.

"Don bro..." he called.

"Hum?" Donnie answered while take a simp of coffee with milk and holding a piece of bread with Nutella generously spread over it.

"I know that Y/N suffers by... uh... menstrual season or whatever. But can you explain me why does she has it every month?".

Donnie almost choke with his coffee, wide eyes right at his younger curious brother. Menstruation is kind of thing that just women have, and it might be a delicated subject to be debated about, mainly among men.

"Well, I will explain. But I'll say what Y/N has told me, okay? I'm not an expert on it".

Mikey nodded, taking a seat as prepares himself for the "class". Donnie did as well, picking another free chair and sitting on the other side of the table, right in front of Mikey and signing with his finger for his young brother to lean closer.

"Okay, imagine..." Donnie starts, whispering near to his brother's face "Imagine you have an organ within you, lower in your abdomen". Mikey looked down at his plastron with a question expression "This organ is called uterus, and it was made to create, carry, and support a child" Mikey looked up at Donnie, with many facial expressions traveling over his cute face "Okay so, period is a woman body's way of releasing tissue that it no longer needs. Every month, the feminine body prepares for pregnancy. The lining of the uterus gets thicker as preparation for nurturing a fertilized egg. An egg is released and is ready to be fertilized and settle in the lining of your uterus. When the fertilization does not happen, the uterus eliminates all its stuff it had done. This is why women bleeds in this season" he finished, taking a bite of the bread with Nutella.

Mikey did not say a word, just stared at his brother's eyes.

Donnie tilted his head, waiting for Mikey comment.

"I didn't get it yet" Mikey said quietly.

Donnie groaned "What did you not understand?".

"How a woman can create a child alone?"

"Mikey!"

"Sorry! I know women don't make children alone. There are a fucking rush of questions running in my head now".

Donnie shook his head, biting another piece of his food. He doesn't blame Mikey at all, he knew that he's new into this kind of conversation.

"Okay, well..." the genius continued, calmly "Women are the only one who contain this organ-".

"This is what I was already aware." Mikey said.

"Good. So, the period is kind of "punishment" for women for not get pregnant" the nerdy summed up.

"Really?".

"Yeah".

"That's awful".

"Indeed''.

''But... Why they feel pain? Like, not just cramps, but others stuff".

"What they feel is similar—or same—to pregnancy symptoms. Actually it depends from each woman. For example, Y/N" he points at you "She feels weak, she has loss of appetite, cramps, etc. There are days that she feels okay during her period, but during others days, it looks like she couldn't even leave bed''.

Mikey glanced at you with sad eyes "Poor Y/N. And thinking that she has to go through it every month. I guess I wouldn't handle with it tho".

Donnie shrugged in agreement.

The both turtles spent a few minutes observing you sleeping, their minds—Mikey mostly—lost in a sea of imagines and questions. They want to ask you more about period, but they are deel timid for it. It is weird when men ask women about menstrual cycle, but it could be important to know what happens to women body during this time.

"So, when Y/N will get pregnant to not feel those stuff?"

"Excuse m-!"

They jumped as you aproach to the kitchen area, a tired face and messy hair difining your current mood "Hey, guys..." You greeted, walking towards the fridge.

"Hey, Y/N" Donnie smiled "W-Why did you get up? You had to have called me to reach you something".

"No problem, Donnie" you said with a hoarse voice "I have to make my body move a bit. I was too motionless. I'm okay" You take a simp of water, walking back to the coach.

"Hey, Y/N. Can I ask you something?" Mikey's question makes Donnie feel shivers running down his spine. The genius immediately grabs Mikey's arm to pull him closer and threatened quietly "Don't you dare ask that!".

"Sure. What ya wanna ask?" Noticing their sudden change of behavior, you quirked a brow edge "Is everything okay?".

"Yes!" Mikey responded quickly, and Donnie shares a dork smile.

You shruged, heading back to the couch. You knew they're hidding something, but you're not expecting what is coming soon with Mikey's curiosity.

[liptonsbabe]

Chains of a family [B.W]

Bill Weasley x Grant! Reader

Chapter 1, Chapter 2

Summary: Molly knows about the reader’s relatives and she’s not so sure to put her trust in a girl that had just betrayed her own family

Word count: 1.9K

Warnings: Swearing

A/N: Hi! i’m so happy that you guys liked this thing! thank you so much for your support and, again, if you want to keep reading this let me know. Same note as ever, english not my mother language, so tell me if something’s is wrong.

Chapter 2: Not your family

The next morning turned out to be quieter than you imagined.

You slowly got out of bed and looked at everything around you noticing how quaint Bill's old room was. The ceiling was lined with grainy wallpaper with stacks of photographs of Quidditch players hanging from the reeds that moved from side to side, simulating the playing field; the right side of the room had a huge hole behind the small stool that tried to hide it, and from that hole a small garden gnome was sleeping peacefully with a small piece of cloth on top of his head. You stood up, walking towards the huge window that gave you a beautiful view of the Weasley's garden that at that moment was covered by a thin layer of drizzle that had fallen during the night.

Molly's fruit trees gleamed under the faint rays of the sun and you saw how a doxy from between the leaves poisoned Mrs. Weasley's apples, causing them to fall from the tree branches in a thick black mass with a foul smell coming out of it. You shook your head, excited to witness a very different way to wake up.

Even though several minutes have passed since you woke up, the house continued to remain in a strange silence that made you think that the family had decided to leave the burrow with the intention of buying more supplies or something like that. You knew that Bill wasn’t at home precisely for his obligations within the Order, so you didn’t worry about looking for him around the room, so you decided that a better option was going down to the dining room and know what was happening.

As you went down the spiral staircase, you cursed in a whisper when you forgot to put on your slippers before leaving the bedroom cause the floor was so cold that you slipped a couple of times. Back in the days, when you were still welcome in your parents' house, you had many servants who did all the things for you - putting on your shoes as soon as you woke up was one of those things - but now that your life had changed so much, you assumed that you would have to adapt and start taking care of your own needs.

Your curious eyes roamed the walls covered in family photos that caused a big warmth in your chest. In each of those photographs, all of Molly's children appeared along with their father, smiling for the camera and sending effusive greetings. A pic was hanging at the fireplace were Molly and Arthur were carrying a small white bundle crying his lungs out. You assumed it was Bill as his parents seemed too young back then and even as a small baby, you could recognize those tantrum features anywhere.

A giggle escaped your lips when you noticed a funny sequence from that same photo in which, even with Bill crying in his mother's arms, his father tried to carry him for a moment to calm him down, however the baby's cries didn’t stop. The baby was so annoyed that he ended throwing up  the milk ration that he must have had before the photo session on his father's neat shirt.

You laughed because you knew that William's impertinence was something he had carried with him for several years now.

"Bill hates those photos." You jumped in your place scared to see Molly standing behind you. Your cheeks turned red “He says that it’s embarassing but i think that’s nonsense. He was an adorable baby”

"he was," you answered, looking anywhere but into Molly's shrewd eyes. "but I guess displaying them in the fireplace isn’t the right thing to do."

“Is it not?

"No, they should be at the front door where everyone can see them”

Molly giggled as you watched the sequence of photos over and over again. A silence settled between you, but surprisingly it was not an awkward silence, but one that was allowing you to create a bond that neither of you expected. Mrs. Weaslsey brought up a rag, wiping it around the corners of the photo from the dust.

"Arthur and I had to save up for months to take those pictures," she mentioned wistfully, "we just had Bill and it seemed like a good idea to welcome him into our family with a gesture like that. Arthur was new in the ministry and wasn't earning too much, but we had that quirk and decided we could afford to skip certain things to pay for the pictures. It cost us ten galleons and it still took us four months to gather them”

“Oh” You didn't know what to say, but you just kept looking at the photograph feeling a bit uncomfortable. You never had those problems at home because your family was insanelly rich thanks to the inheritance in life that your grandfather Tim had left to his son and later to his grandchildren. Even the descendants of your grandfather's servants came to work in your house, reason enough for you and your siblings to grow up with no sense of responsibility other than your own wishes. Molly sighed remembering those times when life seemed to be easier.

"So when Bill asked me to remove it from the fireplace, I refused. He doesn't know how hard it was to raise that money, but I think he has nothing to be ashamed of, he was too adorable!

"I don't doubt it for a second, Mrs. Weasley."

"You can call me Molly," she said, walking back to the kitchen where you continued watching the way the pans moved back and forth preparing breakfast. You were not very good at cooking - in fact, you had never cooked before- however, that didn’t stop you from offering your help. So you took a pan, placed it on the stove, and decided that you would find a way to make a good mountain of strawberry-filled pancakes just like your dear nanny did. Molly observed you carefully. "I think that now that you are living with us it is appropriate to have a more cordial treatment.My son told me a lot about you”

“Just the good things, i hope”

“Kind of” You stopped mixing ingredients to look at her carefully” He told us a bunch of marvelous things about you and how you two met. Actually, what worries me the most is what he didn’t tell us”

And there was the recrimination you were waiting for. You were aware that it had to arrive sooner or later, however, you would have been grateful that it did it when Bill were by your side to give you the opportunity to defend yourself properly. You cleared your throat uncomfortably, knowing that what Molly needed to hear from your own lips was which family you came from. You continued your task with the pancakes, turning out as bad as you expected.

"I'm sorry it turned out this way, Mrs. Weasley."

"Molly," he corrected.

"Molly" you smiled slowly "But believe me when I tell you that it was me who asked William not to mention anything about my last name or where I come from. I know that in this case, with the war above our heads, it is necessary to be certain of the people who enter your family and I apologize for that, it's just ... Bill is very important to me” Molly's eyes narrowed “Since we met ... I have found a home in him and well, all that feels when someone is in love. "Mrs. Weasley shook her head, understanding the feeling." I have experienced the rejection before. When people know that Tom Riddle is my family ... they run away in fear, curse my family and even walk away from us, as if sharing a blood bond makes us as evil as he is.

“And it’s not like that?” Molly asked with a hand on her neck. She didn’t want to be like the others and judge you without knowing the full story, just as she had promised Bill the night before that she would, but it was so difficult not to remember the death of his brothers by Voldemort’s hands and to pretend nothing had happened in the past. You sighed because the eggs you cracked on the bowl got mixed with their own shell “ I've heard of the Grants before, they're all Death Eaters, including your siblings!”

“It is difficult to have to choose a side  when you don’t have your own convictions”

"And you have it?"

You looked at Molly in pain. Of course you expected those reactions from Bill's mother, she was within her right to be upset that her oldest son never told her that he was in a relationship with a girl who seemed to have the most fucking powerful and evil wizard in the world as a great-uncle. No, Molly wasn't mad, she was deadly angry, she felt like she was bursting!

Her hands became fists and without knowing how, you found yourself between the wall and Molly's big arms from one second to the other. The pancake batter was forgotten, as was the woman's promise to treat her son's girlfriend in a good way.

"How is it possible ..." Molly questioned in an agitated voice, pressing your arms against the wall, "... that a single deer leaves the nature of its own herd?" How can you ensure that one rotten apple even in a gold container doesn’t rot the others?”Your breath caught at the questions of the woman in front of you. Once again, you were aware that your presence wouldn’t be good news to them, but at least you hoped they understood your motives before judging you “Explain to me, (Y/ N) Grant, when have you seen a pig away from his equals?”

Your words caught in your throat at Molly's fierce question. Bill had talked a lot about the temper of his mother. Even if she could be really grumpy at times, she was in general a very sweet, pleasant and maternal woman with everyone; however, you didn’t fit into that generality because it seemed that the woman was determined to kill you with her own hands.

"If my presence bothers you so much, then you shouldn't have let Bill and I to stay here."

“He's my son! All I want for him is to be happy, and that's why I don't understand what he managed to see in you”

"Maybe the same thing you saw in your husband." Molly's lips twitched in anger, but you didn't stop. You hoped that she would at least understand what your words meant, because that would make it easier for both of you to try at least get along better, even if Molly seemed not to want to do it under any circumstances. How is it that this haughty little girl dared to compare herself with her dear and wonderful husband? "I'm sorry, but I don't think this conversation is going to take us anywhere."

"If someone betrays his own family ..." Molly stopped you before you walked out the front door. The others got down the stairs, seeing the scandal formed in the kitchen “The rest of us can't expect too much, can we?

Your eyes blured.