#idk if its the closeness or the brain development

[marsixm]

im not totally getting off all social media im just trying not to be on my phone, like even doing most of these things on my ipad doesnt seem to be as bad of a distraction. what im trying right now to internalize is the fact that the pervasive sadness and feeling insecure wont go away, but hopefully the compulsion to deal with it thru posting and the all consuming nature of it will be easier and easier to deal with until theyre background radiation i can just ignore

[lowpawly]

also like the older and more experienced i get the more put off by the "its okay to bully someone if they deserve it" mentality on here. at best it makes you unpleasant and at worst its an abuse tactic used to hurt and intimidate innocent people

man I've been thinking a lot lately about how online culture on here really turns people into such bitter and judgemental people in a way that really isn't seen in people who don't engage in online fandom. I think that's why regularly interacting with people outside your main demographics is important because you gotta remind yourself that the majority of people in the world don't have aggressive opinions about cartoons and video games and shit. sites like tumblr and twitter will kinda train you to be as judgemental and mean to people as possible even if you think you're being reasonable and its just ridiculously unhealthy. its like people get kinda immortalized as high school mean girls well into their 20s and you don't notice how bad it is until you log off and engage with people irl

[enchantedanimal]

All of the QSMP eggs as dragons!

Now for my design notes/headcanons! (There's a lot lol)

- The color pallettes are (for the most part) based off of their parent/parents. In lore terms, l'd imagine that more time they spent around their parents before they hatched, the more their color developed to mimic them. It would usually be used as a survival strategy with their dragon parents, however sometimes their personality overcomes this and they develop their own color.

- Being dragonets, none of them can fly due to their currently underdeveloped wings.

- Tilin's yellow spots would make Quackity think that Wilbur was supposed to be the other parent.

- Tallulah's colors/features are close to that of a duck. It would likely be a coincidence, but it'd be enough to Quackity to feel like the island was mocking him.

- Tallulah's "hair" is feathers. She's the only one with feathers, and it may either be a cause or effect of her being left in the attic (possibly being mistaken to be an egg from a different species and not a dragon, or the coldness of the attic caused feathers to form).

- Tallulah and Tilin have the same colored eyes since Quackity once said that she reminds him of Tilin.

- Chayanne has fins bc he likes doing mlg water bucket clutches and fishing with Missa.

- Chayanne's tail fin, Leonarda's ear, and Richarlyson's wing are ripped in a spot due to loosing a life. Bobby lost one of his after I designed him but one of his horns would be chipped, and forgot Ramón only had one as well so let's just pretend he's got a scar on his left leg lol.

- Its kinda subtle, but Chayanne has protruding bottom canines, similar to my (and many others') Techno design.

- Fun fact that usually in my style I have the neck spines start from the top of the head. Ramon is purposely "bald".

- Ngl I don't have much to say about Trump bc he died so quick (rip) and I never saw much about him; but his hat is too big for his head.

- Bobby is a wyvern bc it's easier to slap everyone with his wings. He also headbutts and slaps ppl with his tail (those hurt more).

- Bobby's colors are less based after his parents, but the orange/blue complementary colors are kinda more of a nod to Jaiden being an artist (which doesn't make a whole lot of sense now idk my brain just defaulted to that), but feel they match his personality as well. Also his scleras (part of eye that's not the iris/pupil) are black unlike the rest who's are normal.

- Leonarda has a tiny mushroom pin on her hat and their back has mushroom-like spots for the hat she always wears.

- People keep saying that Leo somehow looks like Foolish which is funny bc that wasn't even intentional- in fact was worried that she would be one of the only ones who didn't resemble her parents enough. I did try to make her slightly taller but I'm going to guess that it's the jawline lol

- [Edit bc I just thought of it] Leo's wings are bigger bc they've grown faster due to using them more to glide off of Foolish's/Veg's builds

- Dapper is built to be more bipedal than quadrupedal (their dewclaws on their back feet act more like a normal toe for better traction/ stabilization). This makes it easier to grab (or steal) things for their collection. And hold a taser.

- Richarlyson is based after an iguana! thought it would fit well (it's kinda hard to base him off of 5 different people lol)

- Had to go off of a secondhand info + auto translations (I can understand a decent amount of Spanish but have no idea when it comes to Portuguese so this could be off) but think there was something about Richarlyson having a bad leg both in and out of rp, and think maybe Cellbit said something about him having a prosthetic for it and I thought that was so so cool! It's based semi loosely off of a dog hind leg prosthetic and a human running one; probably wouldn't actually be functional but tried to keep the general shape of the leg.

- Richas and his dads cover it in stickers :)

- Juanaflippa's tail and probably the lower half of her front legs (which aren't visible) are semi transparent from Charlie (yellow comes from Mariana), and it shifts around a bit! It looks more like slime than it feels like it. I've been calling her Bananaflippa endearingly

- Gegg intentionally looks like Juanaflippa a bit (but he's way more slimy)

- Gegg's inventory basically consists of him absorbing random things which are sometimes visible (he is so full of avocado toast). He's like Bob from Monsters vs Aliens or smth idk haven't seen that movie in forever.

There some smaller less exciting details and other headcanons I have for them (such as extra accessories they'd have like Tallulah wearing sweaters) but that's about it! Feel free to ask about anything I like talking about them lol

[prismatiger]

AGREE WITH YOUR PREVIOUS POST. I like mean Loop as a facade only, but we know they still care and love...

Now I have a question, what's your favorite Loop takes/headcanon

Oh my god I'm so sorry I took like two weeks to answer this one I prommy it's not bc I'm exclusively a hater or whatever. I just straight up forgot to answer Oopsie. I'm putting this under cut bc it got long enough that you all would shoot arrows at me for putting it on your dash

Anyways there's a lot of Loop Thangs I like frankly. A big one that I enjoy is when fic authors in postcanon make the transition of Loop into the party structure kind of rocky. Usually bc Loop's neuroses creating a level 12 psychic barrier between them and the party + the inherent awkwardness of meeting somebody who's apparently super close in a way (that you'll never fully understand) to one of your friends. Who let's be real I feel like half the party (coughIsabeauandMirabelle) would catch the aura of "oh they do not like us at all" from Loop. I want Loop to be happy and with their family but you just know this bitch is going to make it as difficult for themself on purpose. The Siffrin Special.

I also just generally like when they keep Loop as a star postcanon. I'm not at all a hater towards Human Loop (in fact I think it can be itself an interesting setup for a Loop fic) but I do like Loop as a star more thematically. Something about having to accept that things have changed and moving on from it regardless. Also bc Loop being dysphoric about their body scratches a very transgender projection itch in my brain Yessss little star you're stuck in a body that draws unwanted attention and which you have no control over how it looks and functions in a way that feels fundamentally wrong to you. (Pointing at canonically transgender character) Yooooo this guy is such a cool trans allegory omg

Hmm what else. This is more of a sloops thing but I always enjoy in fics when they lean into the fact it's selfcest frankly. I've become a selfcest enjoyer bc of this ship I'll never get over that act 5 dialogue abt the cautionary tale where Siffrin says he never understood the moral of the story bc the idea of having somebody just like him who understands him. Oh my gyoooooooooooooooood. I want them to melt into sludge I'm always thinking of that analogy from superflyghtheart on discord comparing Loop and Siffrin to endlings of an endangered species. 💥💥💥It's like. This is less sloopy now but I'm caught between the intersection in my head of "Loop would probably benefit from developing their own identity as a person separate from Siffrin bc they need Something they have control over" and "Loop is of the Siffrin Species and they are significantly too sentimental to let go of the shreds of what they used to have, especially after having lost all of it once already". Both of these things are yummy as fuck when ppl smarter than me explore them and they're kinda the main Story Paths for postcanon Loop anyways so I'm always winning. So like idk tldr I like it both when ppl have Loop diverge a lot as a person and when they have Loop try their best to stay as much of a Siffrin as possible!

I'm limiting myself to four paragraphs so you don't all want to hit me with hammers but I do have Loop Biology Headcanons. I've explained mythoughts on their guts before and don't feel like recounting them but whatever True #codacheetahwarriors remember my deranged rambling. ANYWAYS I kind of mentally run on the assumption of Loop's body as like. The Universe couldn't keep Loop in Siffrin's body, bc they needed Siffrin to be in it (and I guess a system situation introduces too many factors of its own? idk). The Universe operates with the goal of fulfilling wishes with the least intervention possible, so The Universe makes a body out of cheap inorganic material (star-scrap basically). Miniature star for a head fueling the body with Craft energy (I'm not going to get into my conspiracy that all Craft is the same here). Molds the star scrap into a vaguely Siffrin-shaped/sized vessel and plonks Loop's conscious into it and calls it a day. So Loop's body as a poor simulacrum of a human body is like. They're capable of breathing but they only really benefit from doing it on a psychological level. They can't eat or drink and don't have a mouth because it would require a significant level of added effort to make a digestive system, when they can just derive energy from their star. They don't have reproductive organs because they're not made from organic material anymore anyways. They don't need to sleep bc their body never gets tired but they still do it because it's not really a great idea to leave your brain on running for too long anyways.

I fucking lied I'm on paragraph five bc the block of text is annoying me. To continue that's all a preface to say I think it's super fun when Loop has body functions that are weird and unpredictable. Their little frizzles on their body are reactive to their emotions the same way their headstar is, and feel like static if you touch them. Their head has a vague boundary so their eyes have something to be rooted to but the function by which their optic nerves work is unclear to everybody including themself. They glow based on intensity of emotion and the temperature of their star changes via specific mood. Bc I think it would be fun if the battlefield in twohats when from ice cold to boiling hot frankly. Ok these are all just my headcanons (temperature one very loose though I'm not a hard subscriber to it) but they're not uniquely mine it's just examples of what I mean. One I don't have as a personal headcanon but I do enjoy is when Loop feels the same physical sensations as Siffrin bc it's funny and I like inflicting misery on the star.

I'm going to shut up now like actually . Loop for your troubles

[dreamii-krybaby]

Some things regarding my “Sanctimonious Saint” Murder Drones AU (placeholder tittle for now)

-Everyone calls Yeva “Creepy old hag” or “Red eyes witch/hag” or “Witch”. Yeva couldn’t care any less tho.

-Yeva never plans to kill Uzi, in fact, she won’t go after WD’s who are teens. But she does hurt Uzi when she gets too carried away with her revenge obsession

-Yeva has developed a very twisted form of maternal affection towards Uzi. She wants to “protect” her and get her patched but cannot get over the idea of Uzi being friends with the DD’s. Uzi is the only one who matters most to Yeva (and her family ofc) due to many reasons (Uzi has the AS and is Nori’s kid, Yeva sees Doll in her,etc). Yeva is probably willing to kidnap Uzi for her “safety”. Perhaps at some point she accidentally call’s Uzi, “Doll”.

-Instead of missing young girls, Khan and some of his coworkers notice some of their members going missing bc they no longer show up for gin rummy

-Just because I can and am a simp, Yeva will wear a nice lil dress on the prom episode, if she is gonna fuck shit up, she is gonna do it while looking pretty.

-I just realized Uzi could perfectly kick Yeva in the face like with Doll in canon and that’s hilarious.

-In EP3 N saves Uzi from Doll’s attack, but in this AU it’s Uzi who saves N from Yeva’s attack. Which makes it even better as in EP7 N returns the favor by saving Uzi (while being possessed by Cyn) from the pickaxe attack

-Sorry Dizzy fans, Lizzy and Doll are barely close in this AU. And in this AU it’s Lizzy who comes with the idea of inviting V to be prom queen just for fun, no backstabbing from her part. And V just wins bc she is just pretty. Yeva overhears this plan and takes advantage of the situation to enact revenge

-Yeva also deflects some bullets by literally blocking them with a knife she created out of thin air.

-Yeva accidentally chops Uzi’s arm when Uzi to shield N from her attack, callback to Yeva chopping Nori’s arm in EP7. This makes Yeva get stunned for a second, making her vulnerable during the fight.

-Khan is still a bit of a dumbass but after the whole prom thing he becomes super wary of Yeva and of Uzi’s safety. Its not the same dealing with a teenager who can hurt your kid than full grown adult who knows so much more than you being able to hurt your kid

-Khan is somewhat terrified of Yeva but still puts up (at best as he can) a fight against Yeva when she decides to break into his house to get the keybug from Uzi,and it’s the commotion that makes Uzi stop focusing on the whole “matrix memory recovery mission” only to Yeva appear in front of her. Uzi and Yeva also argue and fight for the keybug.

-Yeva despises Khan for his incompetence but she hasn’t killed him yet because she doesn’t want to leave Uzi as an orphan and bc he is lucky that he is Nori’s husband. And Khan is terrified yet pissed at Yeva for literally killing his co-workers and hurting her child and probably traumatizing her even more

-In EP3, Doll legit kills 2 workers for literally standing in her way, but Yeva in this AU simply shoves them away with the AS. Her moral code is much more clear or strict

-idk why but my stupid brain keeps imagining her having a hand crafted Scythe, and Nori having a gothic umbrella that has a hidden dagger and works as a literal gun.

[skrunksthatwunk]

THROWINF MYSELF DOWN A CCHIMENY SO I CAN DIE SLOWLY IN THE CORBWEBS

YEAHH‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️

god im glad you're so Completely Normal about them im going to hold you to that talking about them for hours thing bc every time you add to this i think of like eight other things i've been meaning to talk about or haven't even thought of. horrible beautiful entropic kuwameshi discourse wherein brainrot begets brainrot. we are mad scientists shaking hands and everything is on fire and we're eprobably married or something. ok here goes. first things first: fUCKIGNucjgun. ourhfhh. secondly: the yusuke side of kuwameshi makes me want to rip my teeth out like yusuke thinks no one loves him and then boom the wake happens and i think if he wasn't so [gestures vaguely] emotionally stunted he'd maybe think a little more about what it means that kuwabara kept running back to him again and again even if it meant limping away and what it means to him to be loved for no reason. without anything to gain. he never had anything to offer anyone really he was just a dirty scrappy smart-mouthed kid so no one loved him (or so he felt) and yet here is this fucking guy who just loves the everloving shit out of him and he's kind of great? he's kind of an amazing person?? he's kind of wonderful and strange and a doofus and noble and fun and oh well i guess i have to make sure nothing happens to him because i could kill everybody in the world and then myself and it wouldn't make a dent in the vengeance debt i'd be owed. in a bro way of course.

hes fucking unforgivably ridiculous is my point. god. hhhhhhhhh

minutes away from smashing in all my neighbors' windows with a baseball bat over this but instead i will say YEAH THE KUWABARA MASOCHISM LINE. I THINK ABOUT IT A LOT. and not just because of my penchant for weird homoerotic dudes-fighting media but because yusuke too one look at him thought "oh this guy again" and said "you're one of those intricate rituals guys aren't you" with lethal force. if i was kuwabara and he told me that i think i actually would have died on the spot that would have killed me. he's right of course but still

OH AND THE TETHER TO HUMANITY THING see team urameshi (minus genkai) each fall along this little punnet square im gonna make now hold on save to drafts

ok it's an oversimplification but this creates a sort of gradient where kuwabara is the most human/representative of humanity and hiei is the most demon/representative of demonkind and kurama and yusuke fall into more ambiguous/transitional zones over the course of the story, where what exactly they are is a little more complicated. kurama's obviously human-adjacent and his character's about that ambiguity the whole time that's like. literally how we're introduced to him, but yusuke becomes demon-like/ambiguous much more distinctly (though he is always far more sympathetic towards demons and morally gray ppl/outcasts than anyone else in the square, which skews him more demon-aligned than kuwabara, if we wanna think of it that way (see yusuke befriending previous opponents/enemies of both demon and human varieties while kuwabara tends to only skew human, with kurama being an exception and hiei being a much more difficult/begrudging exception (just like how yusuke is an exception to hiei and kuwabara is a begrudging exception to him. hiei and kuwabara's foilship on this front is insane to me but i digress)).

and once yusuke wakes up and says it's mazokuing time and atavisms all over the place kuwabara's the last one that's purely objectively distinctly human and that isolates him and makes him feel like he can't follow. they're all going back to demonland to do demon shit and even if he could keep up with them he knows he wouldn't belong, wouldn't match with what they were or what they'd become. and he doesn't want to feel out of place in team urameshi any more than he already does (hiei's actually in a similar boat, reflected in his hesitancy to engage with humans, humanity, the team, and friendship kinda broadly. it's an insecurity they both share, though much of the source of that also comes from being rejected for being seen as a bloodthirsty monster, something he shares with yusuke and that is addressed. again, yusuke's more gray position on things makes it easier for him to get hiei, whereas kuwabara (as much as he's looked down upon as a bloodthirsty punk by some) clings to his honor code as a way of distinguishing himself and proving them wrong, and thus isn't really able to reach hiei. but hiei has his own honor code and shows surprise and dismissal at the idea of humans having honor codes. again, this is something they have in common, that anti-the-other-side bias despite having a good bit in common. oh my god. anyway), see his reaction to finding out genkai died and no one told him, etc. he is yusuke's primary tether to humanity and his old self as focused on by the story (as well as keiko, though with different emphases) and they both let yusuke go. yusuke leaves and kuwabara, for once, does not follow him. he needs to move on. (it's a lot like how keiko is portrayed. yusuke's shit wears on them both so so much ough)

so when kuwabara finally chooses not to follow, to stop chasing after yusuke, in effect trying to reform his identity around himself rather than yusuke and living his own life and accepting that as much as he loves him it's not meant to be, it means that the healthiest thing for him is to stay at home. to be away from yusuke because he means so much to him, because he's nothing without him, so maybe he can love him in a way that hurts less. and it sucks. it's brutal. and kuwabara pushes on anyway.

and after all that, after taking some time to figure himself out (and in turn giving kuwabara some space to figure himself out), yusuke decides to come back. he chooses to chase after kuwabara, to rejoin his loved ones, to return and love and be loved again. to accept the world that treated him like shit and never thanked him for risking him and his friends' lives to save it and that he resented and that he ran from. he comes back home to kuwabara. he gives up fighting (for the most part) like he did. he settles down. he comes home, because humanity and love are worth it. because kuwabara and all he represents and all he is is worth it.

and ain't that fuckin peachy that kuwabara's love is finally returned (both in that he comes home and yusuke's care from him is actually expressed outside of life-or-death situations)? (head in my hands screaming bawling my eyes out)

i don't mean to say "humans nice demons bad therefore it's good yusuke returned home" btw because like. frankly i have watched the show and am capable of basic reading comprehension. that's the whole damn point of the demon human thing is that it's not that simple. etc. what i like about yusuke returning home and returning to kuwabara and humanity is more that it shows him coming to love and accept the broken fucked up world he came from.

yusuke comes home to live with the people who love him in spite of every reason he has not to. because the people are worth loving even when they spit on him and the world is worth saving even when he's never thanked for it. yusuke's not really an honorable guy (not in an honor-code sense), but he gives people chances. he gives people chances over and over because he knows what it's like to be dismissed and mistrusted and he gives the world a chance over and over and over and he is rewarded for it as much as he is punished for it and goddamn. he keeps trying so much he comes back from the dead twice. sheesh. and yusuke coming home is him giving demonhood and the demon world a chance and trying to listen to himself and figure out if that's the place he belongs and deciding "no, because most of the people i love are in the human realm. so i'm going back." like he has from the beginning, yusuke chooses his loved ones. he has people he cares for in the demon realm and that demonness is a part of him, and i think he accepts that. but these are the people he wants to be around the most, the people he loves the most, the place where he wants his roots to stay.

he goes back to the human realm because the things he loves the most, more than endless fights or adventure or strange new landscapes, novelty and impermanence and relative anonymity, is here. being known and loved. loving and knowing and staying long enough to watch things change and grow and die.

he goes back because those things that are so precious to him can't follow. or, in the case of kuwabara, they weren't willing to follow.

point is the show ends at a perfect-as-it-could-be place for kuwameshi actually becoming something more healthy and balanced for the both of them. love that can express itself in ways besides sacrificing yourself for them and listening to them mourning you in the most excruciating way possible and then not talking about it afterwards. head in my hands AGAIN they're esufkucingsdl;jfasdfd. hell on earth. phew

thinking about how when hiei kurama and kuwabara were trying to bust out of itsuki's interdimensional monster guy and kurama was like ok. itsuki we're going to torture you until you let us out. so we can fight sensui 4-v-1 kuwabara was so desperate to save yusuke that he was fine with both of these plans that he otherwise would have found so dishonorable he woulda died to avoid them. but not if it's for yusuke. and when sensui kills him anyway kuwabara's also fine with 3-v-1 if it means he gets to avenge yusuke, even if it means humanity basically gets wiped out because of it. kurama and hiei are the same, but it's kuwabara who most consistently risks his life by clinging to his honor code, and here is probably the one time he breaks it. bc he can't lose yusuke again. if he doesn't even know who he is without yusuke then how is he supposed to be the same guy with the stupid honor code? like that matters now. he can't be the bigger man if he's barely even a person without him. jeeeezzzzz

[superm4ks]

I think this a good time as any to share what I think H0rners big brain been cooking for some time, especially after the Spa fiasco wid Danny ric and allegedly big sponsors having to step in to save Checos seat ((Im skeptical of those reports but they not really the point, Checo bringing Liberty, and rbr, a lot of money from very intense LATAM pockets never been a secret, and it does matter in the cost cap era, its just how things are. Plus replacing Checo not something that keeps Horner up at night believe it or not, and that's where my word vomit comes in)).

I been sitting wid this 1 for some time, but mind u its all speculation on my part and mostly incoherent because my brain is completely fried these days. But stay wid me 😭😭. Adrian Newey leaving-- not just because of how it was announced, the way it was dealt wid internally, the shit he's been saying to press now ((he's tired and needs a break but been shopping around for teams like he's bored on hinge)) -- was , imo, more of a statement of distrust. In the rbr project, but mainly in Horner. He no longer believes Horners ability to succeed, he prolly already knew the rb20 as an evolution of the rb19 had its set of obvious limitations when it came to suspension once the field closed up, he knew they were headed down a difficult type of season, he took a step back, he saw the cracks begin to delve deeper and deeper into nastiness between the Verstappen camp and Horner, he saw Horner refuse to take accountability while Max very pointedly and UNLIKE all the other red bull drivers refused to express his unconditional support for Horner. Quite the opposite, Verstappen began making threats. Centering the importance of the car ((!!!)) and a stable environment, not Horners innocence or lack thereof. He doesn't care about that, as long as hes got the people and the car to work wid. Keep that in mind.

But back to the Newey divorce . Adrians one of the most important figures in motorsport period, he knew he had better options, perhaps some financial motivations, why not, he said thank you, I don't trust you anymore, goodbye. So here falls a core, original pillar of Milton Keynes, arguably one of the most successful aerodynamicists of all time. 1 of Red Bulls bishop, gone. Still, they rallied behind Wache, they said Adrian hadn't been part of development for some time, their factory remains strong, they can fill in the gaps, rbr is STABLE, sure sure sure.

Imola, Canada, Spain. We all hold hands wid Max and play pretend for a lil bit. Verstappen factor and all that bullshit. But for some reason, Max delivers the same conclusion every post race presser. This car is falling behind. We are starting to struggle. The sim data and the on track data don't correlate. This car is not gonna win constructors. Idk how the fuck its even the WDC. CHECO of course appears to be driving for my cousin's bumper cars themed birthday party so we can all point and laugh and marvel at how a driver known for his experience and who's won races and gotten poles to suddenly drop to fucking p6 in the standings. Surely this is the worst driver of all time. Surely.

Austria. Rbr pit stops, already looking kinda iffy since the beginning of the season, hit a new low. Lando, wid a single good overtake, wins the race, effectively beating Max on track. Max didn't let him. And he came out of it with a points advantage too, because he made a choice regarding his driving and how he wud defend his position. In a better car, that's never a choice he has to make. But the car isn't on par wid Mclaren. Rbr factory development has, quite clearly, stalled. Upgrade packages go backwards.

Hungary. Yeah. Everything is stable and the car was good and Max was beyond delighted of course.

So, that's stable environment gone, competitive car gone, and now off goes Wheatley to fulfill his tp destiny. Somebody , who, once upon a time, was rightly identified as the guy who wud replace Christian Horner due to the severity of the allegations made against him. Yeah, remember when Horner shud have fucking been fired? But Horner stayed, Newey left, and Wheatley left. To disconnect these events is, imo, a lil bit insane. Wid Wheatley gone, that's red bulls bishop n2 fallen. I think its fairly reasonable to assume somebody wid 2 cats in Monaco is straight up not having a good time anymore.

So, where do Checo and Danny ric and that fucking seat come in. They're all part of this dance, but I think in a way that's been fairly misinterpreted. See for a long time now, prolly since he signed Danny ric to do tiktoks, even before Vcarb became a thing, Horner has not been looking for a replacement for Checo. He's been looking for a replacement for Max. Ik, again, this is me letting the voices take over. Lemme say some unhinged shit before u call the cops. Max is an impossible teammate. U cant match Max on pace over an entire season, u cant prioritize a driver over Max when it comes to development, u cant tailor a car to somebody like Checo ((which , because Im so fucking money on this, is what Horner has just claimed he's gonna start doing post Spa)) and not Max, because, simply put, the car will be slower. Max can drive faster cars, he can deliver the poles, he can give rbr a fighting chance, he's been doing that shit, wid more or less success, all season, most of his fucking career actually. Now, who do y'all know who also qualifies very well, likes a pointy car wid a shit ton of oversteer and recently been caught discussing rb20 failings wid Verstappen himself. Danny ric. And Danny ric, like Checo, is very much in the Horner camp side of things. Danny ric, rn, comes wid bonuses of loyalty and trust and maybe a lil chip on his shoulder that Verstappen quite simply does not have, or cares to have because that brother is trying to get his fourth championship, not survive f1. Danny ric comes as a success story for red Bull amidst very trying times for the brand, the silver son who bent the knee and came home to warm hugs and big smiles after nearly getting fucking taken out back in a farm by Zak brown. U put that brother next to Checo or Lawson or whoever u also have the bonus of not having one of the best drivers of all time absolutely refuse to finish behind them, which can be a lil bit annoying if the car is shit too.

Horner is a stingy, extremely egocentric asshole, who prolly shudve been fired a long time ago, and he's not the team principal I thought he was. Horner's strength as a tp came from standing on business for his WDC once the going gets hard. He's doing none of that this season, at least not for Max. He's just a man, and at the end of the day, he's got the pride and insecurity of one, too. If he thought Newey was expendable, well sure u already have a bald man in the team who gives a fuck ((????)), if he thinks Wheatley is expendable, that's pointing towards a more personal type of dutch centric trend, because if he thinks MAX is expendable ... if this 2023 Merc stinking ass fucking season is headed the way I think its headed baby. I wish him good luck .

[transmascanakin]

For the varmitech bro au

1. Does Martin remember Chris? Does he know how he could've/should've looked like?

2. How brainwashed is Chris? How much does he actually believe?

3. Do the Kratt parents take any role in the au?

4. Can we get more Tortuga crew??? How does Martin deal with missions alone, how do the others react to him?

Ty for the ask anon ! Honestly some of these questions are things i originally wanted to include in the explanation post but ended up deleting because i didnt want to make it too lengthy so Im glad to talk about them now!

1. Martin doesnt remember Chris clearly, he has some blurry memories and flashes but its mostly the feelings he remembers if that makes sense. Like how he was close with Chris and loved him a lot, the feeling of fear everyone felt when Chris went missing and the despair when no one could give them closure, how lonely he felt after.

He doesnt really know what Chris could look like, maybe he likes to imagine, but you cant really get accurate answers like that. Also with cases like his you often see detectives constructing images of what the missing kids could look like now years later and I thought about Chris getting one of these done but he probably would only do that if he sorted through everything else because while Martin thinks his brother is alive, Chris firmly believes that he died a long time ago. He doesnt really think the image would be useful

2. Hes half brainwashed and half doesnt remember a lot of things naturally because of a traumatic reaction. What he has been told was that they have been through a traumatic accident (like a car crash) of some kind that damaged his brain temporarily and thats why he barely remembers anything from his early childhood and has some memories that never actually happened (the memories of the Kratt family) and he believes thats true because frankly, he has no reason not to. Maybe he questioned it when he was younger, but as an adult your childhood memories get really blurry (especially if youve been through something traumatic) so he kind of just accepted the car crash excuse to be true. He suspects there's something hes not being told but he doesn't even think of him being kidnapped as a possibility

3. A little, yes ! The reason Martin wanted his brothers case to be investigated again was actually because of how bad it affected his parents even after 20 years, which is just the sad reality of missing child cases. This part is unfortunately not that well developped yet, but maybe the Kratt brothers father fell really ill and Martin was worried hed have to pass away without knowing what happened to Chris, or maybe they got divorced after not being able to move on from the incident evem after all that time, ill have to think about it but whatever happened motivated Marin to contact detective Chris.

Either way I do have 2 scenes in my head that include atleast one of them ! The first one is where Chris and Martin go back to Martins childhood home to search the area again, and they briefly talk to mama Kratt who still lives here, and she takes one look at Chris with a mothers eye and thinks "wow he looks exactly like Chris" and although she doesnt believe its actually him she does think its some sign from the universe or idk something sentimental !! I just rhink itd be sweet of her. I also think itd be interesting from the pov of Chris because this is a maternal figure who treats him really nice and he just cant help but notice how different his mom is from Martins yk sad feelings...

Also Chris gets to reunite with his parents after everything goes down :)

4. Hell Yeah!!

Martins missions here are a bit more professional as he doesnt really have anyone to goof around with but he still has fun because he gets to gush about animals to the team.!! (He definitely wishes he had someone with him out in the field) Also i guess the villains are also interesting here because dealing with them alone causes confrontations to drag out, and they also become harder and more serious, especially with Zach as he got a big advantage with 'the crawler'. Aviva does jump in to help a lot but shes a bit limited because at this point she hasnt finished making her own cps yet (this might become relevant later i havent decided yet.)

In the last part I assume you were asking about how they feel about Chris, and they do meet a lot while Martin and Chris are working on the investigation, and Koki actually helps them a lot with her computer skills. The crew also grows pretty close to Chris, i mean he kinda just clicks with them, and he latches onto them a lot as he hasnt really had proper friends before. Like ever. Basically theyre just found family i love them. !!!

Sorry for making this so long haha I just love talking about this au... I hope these answers satisfied!

[loquarocoeur]

Genuinely not trying to distract you from your studies it your note about taking things “out of the bedroom” made me SUPER curious about what non-sexual submission/dominance would look like for Charles and Max and how it would kinda bleed into their everyday (if private) life

I just think that non-sexual BDSM has SO much area for character development and exploration which makes it super intriguing to me too

Babe. I really don't need help getting distracted from my studies, I'm getting distracted all by myself, the adhd is adhding at its finest today, hyperfocus on all the wrong things (and the worst part is i even took my meds :( )

Okay so I've always had this insane love for those one or two fics in every fandom, that are so rare, but you always find them, where it's not even sex its just kneeling

Idk there's just smth about it, how sometimes Max doesn't want sex he just wants his brain off.

I mean of course it's still totally tied into and intertwined with the sex things, but it's also a thing on its own?

Idk the kneeling just also has something to do with Max coming and asking for it as well, and I just also think there'd be something more difficult about letting go for Max when it isn't in the context of sex so there's just a whole bunch of fun stuff and psychology going on there to potentially play with

And I feel like Charles would be so confused about it, but after a minute he'd like get it, bcs you know Charles kind of also goes into a headspace in a way, and it's nice to just kind of sit there and look at Max being pretty with his eyes closed and his head resting on Charles' thigh or something, and it's not as energy intensive as sex yknow, but you still get the headspace? idk, I haven't fleshed this out yet

And it's also of course Max putting himself in Charles' hands and trusting him with this even when it's hard, like you know you have to earn that trust and submission in a way, it's something valuable, like Charles would probably never ask for this himself so it would always be a thing Max asks for, so its a thing Max is just offering up and giving him idk

Idk I haven't thought about this enough yet, it's still a baby concept, which is why it's probably not making total sense, even to me. It might turn out a lot different than I'm thinking now (if I do finish it, I never want to promise anything of course I have soo many wips) and I have to do like proper research about it as a real life non-fictional concept as well still bcs I like to do that to understand the psychology sometimes and not like make shit up, but yeah idk

It's one of those things between all the other things I want to still do though idk. When I tell you I have too many fledgeling wips and ideas for yours verse you can't even imagine and every time I get one done it's replaced by 2 or 3 more ideas, it's such a problem

[beautifulpersonpeach]

I was a bit surprised to see that mhj specifically said that newjeans had approved the statement saying that belift had copied newjeans' concept with illit. I'm not the type of person that thinks that you're a bitch for asserting position or your value, so this isn't where I'm coming from, but, especially in an industry where it's so rare to see groups say anything negative about other groups, particular junior groups I would think, it was quite the strong, swift position to take. Do you foresee newjeans continuing to engage publicly with this scandal, and how would you think taking an active part in this would affect their brand?

*

Ask 2:

bp in your opinion is there any chance that in this Hybe/MHJ situation there's a buried kind of double-blind motivation?

Like the kind i've seen attributed to E|on Musk, where he creates a big scandal to provide cover when he's doing something much shadier (and then maybe it gets out of hand, like the TwiX thing lol)

You've said you're pretty familar with the corporate side machinations - could Hybe be purposefully airing all this, sure to stick it to MHJ, but also to temporarily drive down stock prices for idk easy shares-repurchasing? Or even allowing a mess they can blame for having to report lower numbers to shareholders for whatever reason: boycott actually impacting profit, hedging against lower-than-predicted bts returning numbers, etc.

Or is this too convoluted of conspiracy thinking and BPD/HYBE/MHJ, and by extension from your recent posts basically 'corporate kpop' entire, are really just that transparent and petty?

*

Ask 3:

Might be a stupid question because I honestly don't have any clue about corporate businesses and how they work. But in the light of this scandal and how BigHit/Hybe developed over the last years: would you say this is what you get when you become too greedy instead of concentrating on what you were good at?

*

Ask 4:

in your opinion, is mhj truly an indispensable part of newjeans creative output? Also, do you see any way that hybe would let newjeans leave with its name and discography if they try to break their contract to go with mhj like some people are saying?

*

Ask 5:

I’m seeing a lot of discussion about whether newjeans will try to leave with mhj and break their contract with hybe, but I don’t see this as a realistic scenario, and I especially don’t see hybe letting them leave with their name and discography. You mentioned that there are a limited set of options now, but is this even one of them? In my mind, newjeans as a concept either stays at hybe, with or without mhj in whatever capacity, or can’t really exist legally

*

Ask 6:

Also this has given everyone (kpop stans, ARMYs, journalists) the go ahead to drag Newjeans in order to "defend" Illit, BTS, Riize, etc by throwing (again) dozens of plagiarism accusations and trying to discredit everything the group has done and achieved. And it was started by Hybe themselves... I have no words, bpp

***

I think these six asks capture most of the talking points in the asks I've received since yesterday, so I'll use these to answer your questions.

The sheer amount of spin happening in the media right now is ridiculous lmaoo. With the mention of BTS in the "escape files", ARMYs have predictably moved from shady bystanders to actively joining in the negative spin, spreading rumor articles and many are now attacking the girls themselves. But honestly, this is nothing less than what I expected. NewJeans is the most popular group in Korea, the 2nd most valuable IP only behind BTS, and Min Heejin is the brains behind the operation - an achievement she's insisted on taking full credit for since inception. Leaving the only option for whoever is masterminding this from within and outside HYBE, to destroy her reputation as an executive completely to diminish her value to outside investors, and weaken the fan support for NewJeans given how closely they are already associated with MHJ. And that's what is happening. It impacts every group at HYBE and nearly obliterates the viability of NewJeans.

For HYBE, it's a tolerable loss given there's only one year left before BTS returns and closes that earnings gap in mere months. Whoever took this action sees it simply as resulting in a numerical loss that can be soon corrected, but personally, I disagree, for the same reasons I objected to HYBE's acquisition of SM even though on paper it made numerical sense.

Anon in ask 1: I can understand your surprise but sad as it is to say, I expected that response from MHJ. She's a creative, not a PR exec or an MBA-credentialled suit. I'm not sure how familiar you are with ADOR's press releases in general, but anybody who reads them can tell there's almost no corporate doublespeak, no vague allusions, nothing that shows it's written by a typical media-trained PR person. Which is why most people, including you, take that statement to mean NewJeans agrees with MHJ that Illit copied them (it's a possibility), when in reality the language shows it could refer to them agreeing with MHJ's assertion that HYBE hasn't duly responded to her requests about inter-label discrimination, or other related matters. That's the kind of detail a trained PR person would be sure to include, to minimize the fallout to NJ, but just as with the press release on Cookie, the one on Minji's rival sasaeng, the response to Hyein's veneer rumours, and practically every press release ADOR has put out, the language is unsophisticated.

"Do you foresee newjeans continuing to engage publicly with this scandal, and how would you think taking an active part in this would affect their brand?"

NewJeans has so far not engaged publicly with this scandal. MHJ has mentioned them to signal any separation between them will likely be contested. It's leverage. If they do take an active part in this scandal, it will completely destroy their brand. Like, it's already on life support. Anything more and we might as well say their last rites.

*

Anon in ask 2: I'd say that's not a conspiracy exactly but it is kinda pushing it. Anytime there's a stock dip it's a buying opportunity, and HYBE is always guaranteed to be a Buy so long as BTS is slated to return within 12 months of the stock event. But we simply don't have any clear indications that's the case now given the timing doesn't quite line up. If anything, that is more like the 4th order side-effect.

And yeah, people on the corporate side, not just in k-pop, are many times just that petty. But it's also true this case has been sensationalized in particular ways to appeal to k-pop stans specifically.

*

Anons in ask 4 & 5: The options available are:

MHJ leaves HYBE and NewJeans stays in HYBE

MHJ leaves HYBE and NewJeans leaves with her

MHJ stays in HYBE but is demoted from her exec role and NewJeans stays in HYBE

MHJ stays in HYBE and keeps her exec role and NewJeans stays in HYBE

None of these options are good, but the worst of these evils is option 2. If the members attempt to leave with her, there's no pretty way to say this, but they'll be done. I'm not even going to waste time writing all the ways HYBE and k-pop stans as a whole will rip them to shreds, all I'll say is that whoever is attached to these girls should consider taking a 6 months sabbatical away from k-pop entirely once that news breaks. The law is not on their side and public opinion, especially after all the 'leaks' and spin from HYBE in the last 72 hours, certainly isn't on their side either. It would be career suicide.

"in your opinion, is mhj truly an indispensable part of newjeans creative output?"

Personally, I think yes. Every label at HYBE had similar initial monetary investment as NewJeans and ADOR had, and other groups from the Big 3 have had even bigger investments and resources at their disposal. There isn't a single group, both within HYBE and outside HYBE, that has yielded the same results as NewJeans in the same period of time. Illit comes close, but even with their achievements they haven't reached the same (positive) notoriety as NewJeans did at debut. All HYBE groups have access to HYBE's youtube channel, connections and resources, and yet the achievements of BOYNEXTDOOR, LE SSERAFIM, ENHYPEN, and even ILLIT, are nowhere near comparable to that of NewJeans. And I agree with MHJ that she's the primary reason why. Having access to resources is only one part of the equation. How you allocate those resources and what you do with it is far more important, and this is where MHJ and ADOR excels relative to other sub-labels.

NewJeans without MHJ will not be nearly as threatening to everyone else in k-pop, and I suspect this is one reason there have been calls for her to be removed from managing the group since their debut.

*

Anons in ask 3 & 6: Yeah there's a fair bit of greed on show here. Generally, for a lot of people in this industry, greed is good... unless the greedy person is a woman. Because the only thing more central to nasty corporate tussles like this, more than greed, is ego.

I'm not trying to play the gender card, but sometimes I do wonder why there are no articles like this about people like Jaden Jeong and Simon Jakob given the reputation those men have in corporate circles, where top officials (in this case, within HYBE) are saying they cannot possibly work with MHJ because she is "overly and excessively opinionated". I'm highlighting this article because despite the initial paragraphs of spin, that bit is the only thing consistent with MHJ's claim that this attack from HYBE started because she'd filed a whistleblowing report on toxic inter-label competition and followed up an email that said quote:

"..is this deliberate obtuseness and unapologetic behaviour consistent with HYBE's founding philosophy of rebelling against unfair practices in the entertainment industry?"

I mean... in corporate Korea, I can see how they were sick of her shit and it was only a matter of time before she got the boot.

The insidious thing about spin is that it mixes the truth with lies, making it easy for people to accept it wholly. It's entirely possible that MHJ wants more compensation, more autonomy and independence, feels that Belift and other companies borrowed her ideas without full credit, and that she was unsupported by HYBE HQ. It's entirely possible that she took actions such as monitoring fan feedback of the group(s) she suspects and filing a whistleblowing report to build a case - according to both MHJ and others at HYBE, these are complaints she's apparently had since last year, but none of those things would justify HYBE's response nor is it enough to turn people against her.

What I find particularly interesting about this case, is that everything that decisively incriminates her of the more sensational and sinister allegations, comes from the person of VP L or CEO A - a person who only joined ADOR in January 2024, shortly after which HYBE received their first tip-off that MHJ was planning to escape. It's VP L who titles documents with the equivalent of "TOP SECRET DO NOT TOUCH" on company computers... the same guy that's supposedly a double agent working in favour of MHJ and ADOR but is situated within ADOR, not HYBE, where simple logic shows he'd be most useful. Unless he's situated right where he's supposed to be.

Anyway...

HYBE has requested for a shareholder meeting on April 30th where they'll likely table the motion for MHJ to resign regardless of what's found in the audit. Far as I know, she's completed the audit questionnaire but not surrendered her laptop as HYBE has requested. Given the play is for HYBE to kick her out while continuing to manage NJ, I can see how she'd rather die than surrender her laptop and hand over her ideas (and potentially incriminating info) to HYBE on a silver platter for them to use in her wake.

Every way this shakes out is bad news for HYBE groups IMO. So long as NewJeans keeps quiet and sides with HYBE, they'll be somewhat okay. But regardless of the fallout from HYBE cannibalizing itself, all HYBE groups have no choice but to take it on the chin and bide their time until BTS comes back to capture the attention back to them.

I hope I answered all your questions. IMO there's really no point talking more about this until there's a firm conclusion.

[yourloveaton]

Just scroll through everything I have missed. The fuck you mean Trickster doesn't sleep ?!?? What. Did I get it wrong? Am I not understanding something?

Plus, about my last ask about Undyne. Or if to be more concreting about the Asgore's "maybe ask Trickster to train Undyne a bit" part of the answer. I personally really can't see him doing this. Because Trickster is kinda...not..really... in the guard??? Like you get it? Yes, Sans started doing this while he was part of the guards, WE knew that. And yes, he might be associated with them in the eyes of other monsters. But realistically, how can someone who's identity you don't know be officially a part of the government structure? So that means you can't really say this person what to do. You can ask nicely and hope that this will work, but ehh idk about that

Of course, there is another explanation for this possibility. Trickster simply was given a job offer as part of a guards at some point from Asgore. And now he gets paid twice. As Sans and as Trickster. LMAO, just think about it XDD Which actually made me think, does Sans get paid at his job at the laboratory??? Or Gaster just taked him as an unpaid intern. Ahahahah, that would be cruel

OKAY I’m slowly getting back to the inbox IM SO SORRY FOR THE LONG WAIT AGAIN 😭🙏🙏 It’s been so busy I couldn’t have the time to seriously sit down and write earnestly…

HAHAHA WHERE DID U GET TRICKSTER’S SLEEP HABITS FROM He does get sleep, but I guess it’s so little enough that nobody has seen him sleep or anything related to it rlly !!! Who knows 🤷

Yeahhh I get your reasoning !!! Let me try to brainstorm and explain what I’ve thought for Trickster’s position in royal guards and anything related to it

Asgore and Sans know each other, through Gaster since in this au Gaster and Asgore were friends that worked together, Gaster introduced the skelebros to Asgore long time ago

I in all honesty haven’t thought throughly about the Trickster’s royal guard role and its details yet cuz I’ve been working on his other parts of his lore, which took more priority as of now AHAHA

But as I was saying, Trickster’s existing connection with Asgore and how his silly reputation with the underground would have reached to Asgore’s ears eventually and and and UGHH MY BRAIN IS NOT WORKING SORRY Gaster could’ve told Asgore too actually AHAHHAAHA many possibilities happening here

but what I wanted to say is that, Asgore would know Trickster eventually and THAT IS WHY he could’ve asked Trickster to do little training session for Undyne since Asgore would’ve wanted her to learn and experience new things from someone different than himself, also it’s his close friend’s son like he’s sure he got some tricks up to his sleeve that could help undyne’s growth or WHATEVER I THINK THATS WHAT I THOUGHT AT THE TIME?? I genuinely don’t remember anymore….

Yeah sorry… I lowkey forgot most of it let me think again… The royal position he’s gotten could either be a sentry or u know, replacing someone’s role for a time because of reasons? Cuz one of the ideas I had was that Gaster heard Asgore’s talk about maybe royalty guards and role replacement or whatever was talked about so Gaster might’ve put Trickster to handle it??? IDEK IF I EXPLAINED IT PROPERLY IM SO SORRY I’m in brainstorm mode rn I’m not good with writing 😭😭😭

But errr errr yeahh something along the way, could be worked more on it later on..

Trickster was an unpaid intern for a while actually AHAHAHA but he did eventually start getting paid for it, not that it matters much cuz… yeah… they’re lowkey rich…. Trickster is a nepo baby 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

anyway, thank you so much for your asks again, I appreciate them SO SO MUCH you’ve got no idea !!! Makes me enjoy developing Trickster’s lore even more too ehehehee 💖💖💖 Let me know if u didn’t get any of these or just have another question heh

[a-libra-writes]

fluff thoughts about Viktor x GN!reader (they are mutually pining)

it's canon that he doesn't like noises because of the war and he rather break radios to stay in silence. imagine if reader worked on Lackadaisy as a singer (before Atlas died and less and less people went there) and they often sang in a loud and cheerful way but after developing feelings for Viktor they notice how much he likes silence so they start choosing calmer songs to sing (for an example the song All or nothing at all from Annie Trousseau). I like to think that Viktor would notice the changes they make when they're around him, how they lower their voice and talk in a softer tone with him, how they always choose to sit on the stool of the bar he's tending (idk if l'm saying this right, feel free to correct me, English is not my first language) and often ask about him or how his day have been, or they just stay in a comfortable silence. since I'm a huge fan of slow burn, I like to think that he probably already had developed feeling for them but only showed with anger/jealousy at the people who would ask the reader to dance or flirt with them after they finish the performance, he would definitely glare and growl at them when the reader would look away only after a few months/years(after Atlas died and they still work there just to stay close to Viktor) Viktor would start showing how he feels, he would act a bit more awkwardly around them or be visibly bashful if they complimented him.

(that's all for now🫰💕)

tbf id smash a radio too i cant deal with the commercials sJDFDS aNYWAY

i really like thissss 🥺🥺🥺 its canon in my brain now. thank you.

[kyberblade]

Bring You Back (Din x Reader) - Back To You Halloween AU

A/N: You all can blame @fordo-kixed-rex for this. She asked me, “What would happen if there was an AU where the reader in BTY went Darkside?” And I said how dare you here’s what would happen and it went from there. I’ve been sitting on this for months. It’s been torture. The name is based off of a song that just clicked for it, Bring You Back by Gold Brother, LIIV and if you want extra emotional damage, put it on repeat while you read. I am not advising this for health and safety reasons. I’m not to be held responsible for any turmoil this may cause. You do so at your own peril.

I do not own Star Wars or it’s characters. Sadly. But I carry them in my heart. Does that count for something? My soul says yes.

Summary: The Darkside is always a temptation, even at the best of times…. What would happen if you ended up slipping further and further down a dark path? ….A path they couldn’t follow?

Warnings: Angst. Fluff. I know. I’m confusing. Welcome to my brain. Part of the Back To You Universe, so you’ll be kinda confused if you read it on its own, bc spoilers, but it can be read as a stand alone if you want. (Idk where exactly it takes place, but I know it’s after Part 19, sometime before or during TBoBF timeline that will be coming up in the sequel Close To Home.) Mando’a. Arguing. Mentions of saga typical violence. (See how frustratingly vague I was there?) It ends on a brighter note, don’t worry. It’s not all gloom and doom. I couldn’t do that to them. ……or could I? 😈

Word count: 2,326 (I know. What even is this drivel?)

Thank you to @fordo-kixed-rex for the idea and seeing this through from start to finish. And @littlemisspascal and @what-the-heckin-heck for flailing on this with me as it developed. I really appreciate you guys. You make me smile a lot. 😁

Also, stay tuned at the end for some kick ass art by @fordo-kixed-rex. 👀 (You’re not prepared. I’m telling you now. Buckle up, children.)

Xxx

Din POV

It had been little things, at first. Just small things he’d normally not think twice about, but they started to make him take a closer look. 

The way you’d look at an enemy.

At him.

His son.

It was icy, glazed over, and distant, yet fiery and ruthless all at the same time. It painted those under its gaze in shades of fear. 

Of disdain.

With something close to death.

Din hated that last thought, but he’d been around enough of that in his life to know what it looked like. He knew death intimately. It was a close acquaintance. He’d brushed up against it time and time again, and each time it would kiss his cheek with a promised, soon, as he whispered back, not today.

He wouldn’t pretend to know the workings of the Force. It was still a mystery to him. But he knew you.

And this wasn’t it.

This was something else.

You were shadows. Shadows of what you were. Of yourself. A shell. Something wasn’t right. But like always, Din felt like he was looking at a sun when he’d stare at you for too long, so he could never look long enough to tell exactly what was off. He’d only get lingering impressions, spotted vision that left him open and vulnerable.

A rattled crate here. A broken box there.

A common thief just after a few credits left clutching their throat as the life was choked out of them by an unseen hand; their wide eyes peering over your shoulder, pleading with him through his visor for just an ounce of mercy, an ounce of forgiveness from this…. Hell they had found themselves in.

But what could he do?

It had been made clear time and time again you didn’t listen when he told you what to do. In fact, you came to resent it. I am not a tooka, you would say, he remembered fondly, smiling down at the painting in his hands.

He’d bought it for you once upon a time. A token. A promise. Though unspoken, it was his vow at the time to always make it back to you. Then it had been used as a threat against him, against you, that had propelled this whole adventure into motion. Until….

Now….

Now he looked at the painting that once symbolized home, a dream, and he saw…. A void. Nothing.

He sighed.

If this was the path you truly chose, then he had to choose his own. For the good of the child. Himself. And for you.

He’d confront you somewhere private. Some backwater planet. You’d always wanted to see somewhere green…. He just wished he’d gotten around to it sooner. Maybe then…. Maybe then you’d be happy about this visit, instead of what he expected, which was anger at him.

But he couldn’t keep waiting.

Couldn’t keep putting it off.

Din turned toward the ramp with another sigh. He knew this would break your heart.

He knew because his was already breaking.

Xxx

Normal POV

You looked around at the towering trees, smiling. Off in the distance between mighty boughs, a flicker of light…. Then another…. And another…. “Fireflies!” Despite your voice going up several octaves in excitement, you kept it hushed, hoping to not scare off the insects. But it turned out you didn’t need to worry about your voice, because as soon as you started toward them, they scattered, despite being a whole ships distance away from you.

Cocking your head, you tried to move towards another batch, but they too suddenly disappeared, scattering like the sparks of a dying fire.

Your brows narrowed in confusion as you came to a stop. They’d always swarmed to you, swirling around you in a cloud of light and energy, never had they run from you.

“That’s weird.”

“Maybe they sense it, too.”

You whirled around at Din’s low modulated voice. Once again he’d been able to sneak up on you, not a single bootfall down the ramp giving him away.

Smiling bemusedly at him, you settled your weight easily, head tipping back in question. “What do you mean?” You asked after a moment, turning to give him your full attention.

“Your powers, mesh’la. They’ve changed you.” His voice was low, pained. He stayed near the bottom of the ramp, his weight shifting slightly before he planted his feet and stood resolute, a sigh shrugging his shoulders gently before he went on. “At first I thought that was just the Jedi way, what do I know?” You chuckled softly. “But things have gotten worse. You’re…. You’re different.”

You scoffed, arms coming across your chest as your hip cocked out to the side, head tilting slightly with a sarcastic smirk. “You’re right. What do you know?” The words practically sneered from your lips, and you regretted them the moment they spilled, but you didn’t make a move to take them back.

It was like something had taken over your body, your motions…. Nothing felt entirely like your own, but it also felt so right down to your very bones. It made you shudder slightly at the contradiction warring inside your mind. 

Ignoring your slight, Din went on, his weight shifted to one leg. “Fine. Explain it to me.”

Arms going wide, you began to gesture as you spoke, voice raising with each word. “I’m doing this to protect the two of you, Din! I was useless before! Now I’m-“

“Now you’re what?”

“Strong.” Your brow furrowed as you stared up at his visor bravely. Holding his gaze, you never once wavered under its unforgiving stare. “Now I can help.”

“Really?” Din nearly chuckled, gesturing vaguely back toward the ship. “Because Grogu is so scared of you,” he dropped his arm, leaning in closer to you, his voice lowered, “he won’t leave the ship.”

“That’s not-“ you turned around in a circle and realized the kid wasn’t there. “Where is he, Din? You’re hiding him aren’t you? To prove a point.” Looking around once again, you let out an emotionless chuckle. “You stashed him in the bunk, didn’t you?” You started up the ramp. “I told you not to-“

“Don’t.”

You stopped in your tracks, staring blankly ahead toward the opening of the Crest, not really seeing anything in front of you but the white hot anger that began to brew just under your skin. “Excuse me?” If your words were any quieter, you’d not have heard them yourself. Turning to him, you arched a brow.

He stared at you in silence for only a moment before he spoke in a soft, but firm, voice. “Until you sort this out, don’t go back on the ship.”

With a scoff in disbelief, you shifted your weight to your other hip, one hand coming to rest there, and rolled your eyes. “It’s my home, Din.” You chuckled again, your tone still dry and mirthless. “What are you talking about?”

He walked past you up the ramp, turning once he was at the top and hesitantly lifting his hand onto the lever. “Until you sort this out, until you get back to…. You…. It’s not.” His visor fixed squarely on you, Din’s fingers rolled in a procession of indecision along the spine of the metal gripped tightly in his hand, his gloves creaking with the effort in the silence. You stared right back. Met him ounce for ounce. Until…. He pulled down and closed the ramp.

Stumbling backwards as the ship lifted a few feet off the ground, the ramp beginning to close, you fell to the ground with a thump , landing flat on your back. The wind knocked out of you as you stared up at the shrinking form of the Crest, an anger you’d never felt before consumed you, and you reached out one hand, crying out in anguish as you held the ship firmly in place. 

Whether it was a cry of pain, emotional or physical, fear, maybe even frustration, you didn’t know. All you knew was you couldn’t let them leave, and whatever it was boiled up and out of your throat as you watched the ship struggle against your hold. The metal moaned and groaned against your pull, the trees surrounding it bowing and bending in the wind from the engines. Limbs began to catch fire from the flames as Din hit the accelerators to try and break free from the phantom grip, but it was no use. 

Somehow you made it to your feet, one hand extended to keep the ship held still, tree limbs doused in flames falling to the forest floor with loud thuds all around you. With your other hand, you reached for your saber, not really sure why, but suddenly it was in your hand and ignited as you made your way toward the viewport of the ship.

Stalking around the corner, you stopped short when you saw your reflection in the transparisteel - your eyes had gone yellow and your saber - it had started to bleed. Red streaks were oozing down from the tip, tainting the once brilliant purple glow of balance with the bright red of hate. 

Blinking rapidly and shaking your head as you released the ship, you disengaged the blade and threw it to the ground, staring at it as if it had bit you while Din brought the ship back down with a thunk. 

The blaze of the fallen branches painted the reflective hull of the Crest in an eerie glow, shadows dancing all around as you curled in on yourself, staring at your saber where it had landed on the forest floor.

Din lowered the ramp and stomped down to you, getting in your face, but didn’t touch you. A deep enough breath would be all it would take to close the distance. You had to crane your neck back to hold the gaze of his visor, your face about to crumble under its weight this time. It’s the first time he’s seen you flinch in a long while. Looking at your reflection in his visor, you see your eyes are back to normal, but that settled next to nothing in your gut. “Let us go, mesh’la.”

“No. I won’t.” Then quieter. “I can’t.”

Din sighed, and you almost smiled at the borderline normal response from the Mandalorian. “Why not?”

Eyes fluttering shut, you willed yourself not to cry. “Because without the two of you, I’ll completely break. And when that happens….. when that happens, you’ll never get me back.” Making your way the few steps to the bottom of the ramp, you sat on it, still looking up at your warped reflection in his visor. It was fitting. Your eyes may be back to normal, but your face…. Your face looked twisted and broken. Exactly how you felt. “I’ll never get back to you.”

Xxx

Shooting up in the small confines of the bunk space of the Crest, you took a sharp breath. Eyes darting all over, familiar blinking lights winking at you in greeting, the thunk under the cargo hold saying hello, and the soft snores of Grogu sawing steadily away in the background….

You jumped as strong, warm arms wound around your waist, the comforting press of a familiar chest leaning into your spine, the prickle of facial hair tickled your shoulder where it softly came to rest as gentle breaths puffed against your cheek….

“Mesh’la….?” A deep voice hummed in question.

A voice you’d know anywhere.

Vocoder or not.

“Sorry,” you breathed. “Bad dream.” Huffing out a laugh, you shook your head gently. “Bad dream.”

“Wanna talk about it?” He sounded like he was already halfway back asleep.

Turning your head to look at his profile in the low light of the bunk, you smiled softly as your eyes flicked over his face. “No, cyare.” Reaching a hand up to cup his cheek, you pulled him into you for a soft kiss. “Thank you. I’ll be fine. Nuhoy.” (“Beloved.”) (“Sleep.”)

As he pulled you back down toward the bedroll with him, your face melted into something a bit more contemplative.

It hadn’t been just a dream.

It had been a warning.

Slipping from the bunk once Din’s breaths had evened out, you walked over to where your belt hung by the fresher. Taking the saber from the belt, you glanced over to the open bunk, your expression tight, and closed the door with a wave of your hand.

Dismantling it down to the kyber inside, you breathed a sigh of relief when the crystal winked at you in the low light, unblemished. It’s purple hue completely unmarred from the ugly red it’d had in your dream.

After you reassembled the hilt, you ignited the blade and relaxed your shoulders further when the cargo hold was illuminated in the soft purple glow.

You stared at the blade for a moment, getting lost in the sea of silence hyperspace surrounded you with.

Careful.

Careful. 

Careful.

Be mindful, little one.

I sense much fear in you….

“Not right now, kyber blade,” you mumbled to yourself as you addressed the saber. “Now it’s time for sleep. Not time for voices.” Disengaging the blade, you clipped it back to your belt before making your way back into the bunk. “I couldn’t get a blue crystal. Or green. No. I had to get a wise ass purple one. The universe is testing me. Literally.”

Luke had told you to be careful, as well.

Maybe you needed to listen.

But this was a problem for the morning.

For now, you needed to do nothing but settle into the arms of your Mandalorian and rest.

But come morning…. Come morning, things were going to happen.

And you knew you would do whatever you needed to do to protect your family, your aliit.

Your clan of three.

Whatever it took, no matter how far you had to go….

You would always find a way to bring them back to you.

Xxx

(Click here for just the art in its own post.)

Xxx

Tags To Come!

[steelycunt]

hi ridi! I hope you've been having a fantastic time in Dublin and that the rest of the year treats you lovingly. <3

i want to tell u officially how much I adore your writing! the way you string bundles of words into something so so so precious, and the way they flow so seamlessly into something that just clicks right in my brain-- I am actually so jealous of your writing! they are just sooooo lovely to be read... <3 anyway I've been curious about your writing journey! i am assuming you are younger than me since you are doing your last year of your degree (gooooood luck for your dissertation! I'm doing my master degree diss atm so watching ur journey has been such a dear companion to me) but your brilliant writing is just so inspiring to me... if you have the time would you be able to share a few tips on writing? xx

ahh hi this is so lovely of you thank you!! youre too sweet and it always makes me beyond happy to hear people enjoy my writing : ^ )) as for tips i do feel a bit unqualified to give out advice on writing as someone who only does this for fun + hasnt received any teaching/criticisms from actual writers + also has no intention of writing creatively in any capacity beyond this but there are a few things i find help me to write stuff that i myself enjoy...firstly i can link an ask i answered a while ago about writing dialogue or at least how i approach writing dialogue and also an ask about my personal writing style and whats important to me when im writing and this one about editing/writing a second draft..and this one about general writing tips which i answered a few years ago...in general though now i think the most important things to my writing are as follows : ^ )

really generic but so real just reading is the biggest thing for developing writing to me second only maybe to the act of writing itself and even then id say its pretty close...other people and especially published authors will word things and use phrases and employ descriptions in ways i would never ever have thought of and reading other peoples writing can introduce you to ways and styles of using language which wouldnt have occured to you otherwise!! its wonderful!! and reading something you really love can just remind you of what you can do with writing and i find that really helpful even just as motivation : ^ )

this is a personal style choice i suppose but i hateeee white room syndrome i HATE to read something where the settings and physical details arent fleshed out...or conversely i loveee that element of writing so its a really important bit for me!! fleshing out the environment like what does the room look like can you hear the bin men on the street outside are there magnets on the fridge is there washing up in the sink what mug are they drinking from do they own a novelty t shirt from a holiday two years ago. there is so much fun but also so much character building and atmosphere creation and period setting 2 be had in little details like that!! idk i just love to read it so i think everyone should do it and its just so much FUN like yes design their old-fashioned galley kitchen and fill it full of clutter!! so much more immersive than a scene which ends up taking place in a blank white room in my head because the setting is underdescribed.

in terms of editing my method is really laborious and probably inefficient but i do it for creative writing + uni essays and i cant imagine doing it any other way now..when i finish a draft i open a blank doc and put them beside each other and rewrite the scene in the blank doc...a lot of sentences youll write out exactly as they are but i find it comes much easier to make changes and think of ways to restructure sentences when youre typing them out from scratch rather than staring at an already written passage trying to improve it. its painful but it works!!

avoid moral purification and tumblr discourse speak and therapy speak at all costs!! moral purification and tumblr discourse speak and therapy speak are the Writing killers i instantly have to stop reading things when every character talks like theyre completely up to date on the latest online discourse and unproblematic and have all been through years of therapy. ESPECIALLY in a piece meant to be set in like. the 1970s. its so boring when people cant let characters behave poorly without finding some way to absolve them of responsibility or have them be able to perfectly explain exactly which childhood traumas have driven certain responses or behaviours. they are going to have to be bad people who can have the right values but might express them in a way different to what the piccrew tumblr pfp on your dash is saying in 2024. it also just means they all sound the same the characters have no individual voices or outlooks its just really boring!! i dont know if its a product of people being scared of receiving flak for writing anything else but consider this me giving everyone writing this sort of stuff flak right now. booo. boring.

chronic overuser of similes and metaphors here but nearly everything is like something else even only in a vague wayand for me and what i enjoy the more unlikely the comparison the better. and for the stuff that isnt like something else well thats the crux of it also...links back 2 the point about details a bit but using all the senses and the physiology of the human body (it does soo many things and experiences so many sensations and feelings in so many different places in so many different situations there is so much to be mined!!) and literally anything at all especially in a big moment or when ur trying to describe big emotions some writers are talented enough to tackle them head on but i personally am often not and so i find it easiest to concentrate on the smallest details of big emotions...almost like a cheat but i like how it works!!

this is all really generic stuff and things i have probably said before but hopefully something here is of use and if i think of anything else ill add to it!! but i think just writing badly and reading good stuff does make you get better at it there arent any rules except perhaps not using phrases or metaphors which are commonly used...yah!! thats the gist of it i think!! : ^ )

[skaruresonic]

My memory on the topic is foggy. How was Shadow supposed to cure Maria?

I'm not fully understanding the relation between Shadow being the ultimate lifeform and Gerald finding a cure for Maria's illness

Okay so Shadow is the perfect being. What does that have to do with Maria's sickness?

Idk. She's dying from anime mom disease. That's all the series needs you to know.

I don't particularly remember the games specifying how Shadow would cure her. Ironic, because now that the third film is coming out, people are trying to shock normies by portraying NIDS as "space AIDS," which is just tasteless, and probably a big part of the reason why SoJ quietly shied away from labeling Maria's disease in subsequent years.

"The fictional disease is described in the guide as fatal and which renders its victims physically weak, a symptom that worsens until eventual death." First of all, Maria must have been the other weapon of mass destruction being developed aboard the ARK if this is her nerfed version. Girl is terminally ill and can not only keep up with Shadow with only a little shortness of breath to show for it, but can also destroy robots through the patented 'botnik family bitch-slap.

Second... a disease that weakens people? You mean like cancer? You mean like chronic anemia? You mean like pretty much any disease ever, because fighting disease consumes large amounts of energy? Wow, this is so reminiscent of AIDS. Truly, my third eye has been blown wide open.

Maria essentially has, for lack of a better term, Mary Shepherd-Sunderland Syndrome. You're not supposed to delve too closely into the details because that's not the point.

No lie, the last time I took a hiatus from listening to Castlesuperbeast was because a fan wrote to Pat and Woolie about the third film, describing NIDS as "space AIDS" and Shadow as "canonically immune to HIV."

The two of them proceeded to make homophobic Sonadow jokes.

Love those guys, but every now and again I receive a harsh reminder that they're normies. As with all normies who are irony-poisoned, their Sonic takes are so rancid. It's like a switch gets flipped in their brains and suddenly they have to slag off the series.

You might argue that both NIDS and WMDs are too topical for a Sonic game, but the reason I get heated about mocking the former and not the latter is because we haven't all perished in nuclear war yet. The mass hysteria over WMD development ultimately amounted to George W. Bush blowing hot air.

However, entire generations of queer people were systematically killed through the government's negligent response to the AIDS crisis. It is beyond disrespectful to describe Maria's condition as "space AIDS" just to shock normies into thinking SA2 is Deep and Dark(tm), precisely because fuckwads are going to make jokes like this on the basis that lol funny blue cartoon hedgehogs shouldn't tackle serious topics. Shame on them.

...Anyway.

---

I'm not fully understanding the relation between Shadow being the ultimate lifeform and Gerald finding a cure for Maria's illness

Since the morpheme "neuro-" features in NIDS, it's probably safe to say the condition is genetic in nature. And because Shadow's new Parasite Eve schtick is being explored in SxS Gens, the cure likely has something to do with gene manipulation.

While I wouldn't like it to be explicitly named in the games - nor call it canon because there's zero evidence - if you forced me to come up with an explanation, I would also call stem cells a candidate. Savior siblings of children with cancer are often conceived with the intent to harvest the stem cells of the umbilical cord.

[caffeinated-croissant]

Jercy AU in which Jason looks like Kronos, a Percy - Rhea.

So this is a really interesting idea here and i love it!!

(Unrelated, but at first glance, i miss read this and thought of an old favorite fic called Confused By Time by Dragonswoe on AO3 (its percy x kronos))

For this au my brain immediately goes to heavy animosity between Jason and Percy

But first there are a few changes that legally must be set up

1) kronos does not use Luke as a host to rise, Luke is more like a pet or a general for the demigod portion of the army.

Something like that just as long as they are physically separate entities.

2) during the titan war, chb and cj have to meet and work together before tlo (this'll be for the war effort or something)

3) i feel like the titan war would be way expanded in the long run with older characters.

4) Jason is respected, feared, and generally disliked. But the people at Camp Jupiter generally trust him and follow his command.

5) Rhea would likely be on the titan's side for the extra punch i want

But anyway

Percy meets Jason the same time Annabeth and Reyna meet

Each camp sent their big powerhouse (percy & jason) + the person they trust most to lead them (annabeth & reyna)

It goes about how you'd expect.

No one likes each other.

Jason and Reyna are fine since they've built that trust, Annabeth and Percy are the same way, but any other combination is just bad.

Objectively, they all know they have to get along for the sake of everyone's survival. But dont count on them being civil in private

Essentially they are all forced to fake friendship up until its literally just the 4 of them

Annabeth and reyna realize they've actually become friends over time first.

Percy and Jason are both distraught at this news.

They still high key hate each other

Circumstances force these two into close proximity. They fight. They calm down. They still can't leave. Someone breaks the exhausted silence.

Idk how they get out, but that is the start of them realizing the other person isnt horrible.

Bla bla bla, something something

percy and jason get closer. Romantic feelings develop

Percy realizes his feeling at the curse of Achilles but he 100% thinks he's gonna die by the end of the war.

Debating if Jason knows about the prophecy.

He probably does.

I legally need a scene where it looks like Percy is about to die. (Im thinking crushed by rubble and trapped (he should also pass out around here))

Jason hopes Percy is still alive and literally tries to dig him out. Annabeth stops him because the structure itself is unstable, and if Percy is still alive they could kill him if further collapse hits his Achilles spot.

Jason leaves to go feral on the battlefield. (This stresses out Annabeth and Reyna further by default)

Reyna takes on leading the battlefield as Annabeth creates a team to get Percy (or his body).

The war ends somewhere after that (im thinking that's like the big final battle grounds)

Not sure if Luke dies by backbitter or if Jason will die by backbitter. (Hero's soul cursed blade shall reap.) It 100% depends on if Luke has a change of heart and uses the last battle for sabotage and as his own personal grave.

Then the war ends kronos is defeated (dont ask me how cause idk), everyone has the party up on olympus

Annabeth and reyna share a kiss like its new years and the ball just dropped (this is not their first kiss but perhaps the first public kiss)

I want jason and Percy to share a kiss, but thats really difficult when theres a chance Jason is dead.

Side note, if jason had died, percy was 100% by his side. Or another outcome would be they both died, and saved their happy ending for elysium.

The named character death count stands between 1 and 3: luke is always gonna die, while jason and percy both have a chance but its slim

Also im thinking about what would happen if jercy got zombified afterwards because of the one big wish. But this is a scenario where only 1 half of Jercy died/survived.

Most of the end id dependant on who lives, who dies, and the surrounding circumstances

I feel like i kinda went off on a tangent and forgot the original ask. My bad