#idk man this might be the first time i’ve encountered this specific kind of thing and i truly feel sick. fucking tedlasso of all things.

[dashiellqvverty]

didn’t think i’d find a “i’m truly horrified by the fact that someone is okay with not just writing but publicly posting this” fic in the fucking. r/oyjam/ie tedlasso tag of all things but here we are. i genuinely feel a little fucking sick over it.

[eldritchdraaks]

Here is a more comprehensive explanation of this whole anime pilot dream I had, but without the frantic writings of a man who just woke up from said dream.

(If you didn’t see the last post, I had a very vivid dream about a short anime pilot and I’ve been hyper-fixated since.)

The world is close to your average modern setting seen in most down to earth anime, but with a BNA, Beastars, Amazing World of Gumball kind of spin to it. Plenty of humans, plenty of other creatures that share ancestry with flora and fauna of earth, and even some robots, but nothing is of the supernatural. things are about as peaceful as regular earth, so yeah there is racism, but it's not the theme being explored here. Other similar settings have done the racism theme better. This is more in line with a happier District 9. A more specific city setting would be like a gentrified urban downtown.

The main character whom I've dubbed Bug Guy since my dream didn't come with any names, starts out as human. You never get a good look at what Bug Guy looks like before his transformation. It's always back of the head or neck down shots of him, but you know he's human, there's no doubt about it. He has no family, no friends, and hardly any social life. His only drive is pursuing his career in music. His talent is EDM, because why not. He has a laptop with all his tech on it. Despite being a loner, he knows he must branch out and collaborate to get his name out there and start making profits. There's a local studio he wants to hit up where a Music Group of a few young twenty somethings often hangout and record, as well as take lessons and give them. It's whatever floats down there. 

The leader of this group is a tall blonde girl, white or white passing. She wears a red visor and her hair in a ponytail from the top of her head, and it sticks up like a paint brush. She wears a white button up polo, plaid-patched black jeans, and has a guitar case over her shoulder, since she plays guitar.

His encounter with the Mafia-type group is a wrong place, wrong time scenario. After a good first impression down at the studio and introducing himself to the Music Group, Bug Guy takes a train to a darker part of the city to visit his favorite café. It's not much but he likes how quiet and empty it usually is during certain hours. However he doesn't make it to the café. Mafia is doing a heist and they derail the train in order to crash it into a building as it’s passing. Might be a bank or lab or government facility, that's undecided, but the people are the train who survive the crash need to be disposed of, since they were witnesses.

Now, the Mafia group (dubbed Bug Mafia by one of my friends) is just a group of shady people, like the evil teams from Pokémon. They're doing some shady shit and they can't have any witnesses or otherwise getting in the way. I'm not entirely sure why or how, but the best way to achieve this goal is to transform Bug Guy into a strange bug thing not based on a specific insect. Alternatively, it's a made up rare species. 

The reason he can be transformed is because all non-human people are humanoid, and thus have DNA relating to humans. So, a human's DNA can be altered to become a creature. Yep, that's my reasoning; Deal with it. 

Mafia don't really care how they get rid of the witnesses, and changing Bug Guy into a bug was probably just incidental, something related to their work or the heist and they think it worked out in their favor. Probably think they killed a human and there was an unrelated bug person looking 'dead' on the ground. Whatever the case, Bug Guy remembers nothing about the crash or what came after.

Bug Guy wakes up in the morgue because bug people are notoriously difficult to declare alive or dead, maybe. IDK anything about insects. His realization/freak-out doesn't come ‘til he gets home, because nothing about his situation sets in until he can see himself in the mirror. However he doesn't believe he's doomed or his life is over. He gets over it fairly quickly and chooses to resign himself to this fate. His partial amnesia isn't helping either, because at times he's not sure if he ever was a human. Are his memories lying to him? Looking at old pictures helps, but they always include his family and friends, and it just makes him hurt. He's pretty sure he was human, but he always needs to be reminded, grounded to reality.

So from there on he tries to live his life as normally as he did, dressing the same, acting the same, etc. of course after a few days he'd figure out his anatomy is all different, he needs different hygiene routines, and a new nutritional diet. He's been getting sick from eating the same old food he always used to. 

Bug Guy goes to the studio, gets some strange looks, and meets with the Music Group. They don't recognize him, and there's a back and forth of misunderstandings before Bug Guy uses his one braincell to tell them that he is the guy from before. The group, notably the leader, are stunned. From there the Music Group pledge to help him get through his current crisis, even though he doesn't want any help. But nah, they want to help and that's how they make him their friend. Bug Guy learns to open up again and appreciate having people in his life again. They help him find out what happened to him and go up against Mafia and that's kind of all I have. 

By the end, Bug Guy is DEFINITLY stuck as a bug, but it would be built up enough that you'd think he'd get his human form back, only for hope to be ripped away at the end. Coming to terms that he would be a bug for the rest of his life is a good way for him to close the chapter on the old him, the loner that cut himself off from everyone when his family died. He's a new person now. 

And he vapes sugar water!

[justalitlecreacher]

I’m here to prove that Andrew Garfield’s portrayal of Spider-man/peter parker in The Amazing Spider-Man is objectively the best love action adaptation of the character. In this essay I will....(yes this is really happening)

Edit: 10/20/20- i want to indulge myself in spiderman content but finding non mcu spiderman content is exhausting so imma update this instead

TL;DR

Andrew Garfield is my favorite of the 3 Spider-Man actors. TAS’s Peter is more fun and dynamic than the cookie cutter “shy introverted nerd that has a crush on a girl who’s way out of his league” Peter in Tobey Maguire’s movies. I enjoy Tom Holland’s portrayal of the character, but hate the way Disney has written the movies.  I enjoy the characters, plot, and humor of The Amazing Spider-Man far more than the other 2, and i deeply wish we had gotten the third movie with the canon BIder-Man of Andrew’s (and my) dreams.

[DISCLAIMER: I HAVE NOT SEEN THE AMAZING SPIDERMAN 2 OR ANY MCU SPIDERMAN MOVIES OUTSIDE OF CLIPS AND REVIEWS ITS ALSO BEEN A VERY HOT MINUTE SINCE IVE SEEN A TOBEY MAGUIRE MOVIE]

Characterization

  Most arguments against Andrew Garfield’s Spidey( AG’s from now on) begin and ends with “he was a good Spider-Man but a bad Peter Parker”. This references an outdated post comparing all three Spidey actors.(Id attach the image here but i dont want the post to be too long(thats a lie this is so long what am i doing with my life)) The post also claims that Tobey played a good Peter and a poor Spidey; and that Tom is good at both “roles”.(Honestly I think it seems silly that this seems obey the “third time’s the charm” rule but thats just me).  Most people using this seem to be Tobey stans who have forgotten or ignored the rest of the post funnily enough, but the ones that go further into the WHY AG is a poor Peter are also incorrect. This argument also ignores the idea that there can be more than one version of Peter Parker which is blatantly incorrect.  Just look at Into the Spiderverse or the PS4 game; these provide 4(5 if you count the pig) versions of Peter themselves, and that doesnt even include the comics. 

 Arguments that go further in depth claim that the AS Peter is too cool or well liked by his peer to be a “true” Peter Parker. The evidence for this seems to be that Peter has a skateboard.(which what? didnt realize that having a skateboard would instantly make you cool brb guys). Adding to that i dont really see where people get the idea that Peter is popular or well liked. While looking for complaints i found this qutoe from reddit(theyve since deleted it looks like but i’ll add a link in the notes) “He's angsty, pretty socially awkward, has an aptitude for science, and is kind of an outsider. He gets bullied by Flash and he gets his ass kicked after trying to stand up to Flash. He isn't a "cool" person in any way (until the ending, in which he's best buds with Flash, so I'll give you that). While Maguire is more accurate to the 60s comics where Peter in high school is just a fucking loser with basically no friends, in the ultimate comics, Peter is more of the kid who has a small amount of friends, but isn't popular.”. Honesty i fully agree with this because once again, other versions of a character are allowed to exist. You can dislike one version, but its silly to dislike something for not being exactly like another thing.

Ive also heard that Peter isnt “nerdy enough” in this movie which really doesnt make any sense considering the entire plot happens because Peter was looking into some of his parents’ research. If he wasn't interested in looking further into his father’s work what reason would he have to go to Oscorp where he’s bitten by the spider? Why would he have become Dr. Conner’s assistant? If he wasn’t intelligent how did he develop the web shooters?(something that Tobey!Peter doesn't have to do out of plot convenience might i add).  

 Another complaint i see is that the quips he uses in the movie(the first one specifically it seems) makes him seem like an asshole. Honestly thats a fair complaint, but i think its a good bit of characterization; espcially if he does get better about it in the second movie like the internet suggests.The Peter in this movie is a rightfully angsty teen; of course he acts a bit of an ass to criminals(also i feel like its important to mention that he’s like that to criminals? its not like hes being a dick for no reason).

  Compare this with the Tobey Maguire(TM) movies. Like i said i haven’t seen these in awhile but as far as i’m aware TM’s Peter doesn't really do anything particularly nerdy in the film? I may have forgotten something( ok in the scene before he gets bitten he knows a cool spider fact) but he doesn’t have to invent the web-shooters because they came with his powers and he’s only at Oscorp in the first place because it’s a school field trip that he appears to be taking photos for. This Peter does fit the definition of outcast(friendless and bullied for it), but honestly i just dont like him. He’s weird and something about the character makes me feel like i should be a little grossed out every time he looks at MJ at the beginning of the movie.  

   I honestly don’t have any complaints for Tom Holland’s(TH’s)Spidey. Tom is a great actor and from what ive seen i enjoy his portrayal of the character.( He made me cry when i character i actively dislike died).  

Story

  I cant really say much for TAS story. It’s interesting but nothing special really. However, there is one scene that i don’t think i’ve seen anything like since( the closest would probably be the train scene in the original trilogy). 

 The crane scene. Early in the film Peter saves a boy from a car that has fallen off of a bridge, and at the end of the movie this becomes relevant again when it is uncertain that Peter will be able to get to the lizard to stop him in time.(as Peter is already injured and pretty far from the lizard’s location). The boy’s father is then revealed to be a construction worker who recognizes that Spider-man is going to need help to get to the lizard; he remembers how Spider-Man saved his son and organizes the rest of the construction workers to build a path out of crane arms for SM to swing from. All of them are putting themselves in danger by not evacuating, but SM’s actions in the first act of the film motivate them to do what’s right. 

  I love this scene primarily because it highlights something that i think is a really important part of Spider-Man’s character; his connection to the people he saves. SM is often shown interacting with and chatting with the people he has saved after the fact. One comic shows Peter accidentally scaring some bullies and then taking the time to ride the bus to school with them to continue their conversation and educate the students on bullying.( There’s definitely more but this is off the top of my head).

  Another scene in TAS that i love is shortly before the crane scene when Peter is originally attempting to make his way across the city to stop the lizard, and he is shot down by the police. They manage to unmask him before Peter comes to his senses( he had just been shot and fallen pretty far out of the sky in his defense). From there Peter is able to deal with the police while keeping any of them from getting a good look at his face. The one cop he cant take out happens to be Gwen Stacey’s father who had previously had an argument with Peter about Spider-Man(Peter obviously on SM’s side and Mr. Stacey against SM). Peter turns and allows Captain(?) Stacey to see his face. I believe that this is an example of an unwilling identity reveal done right. i really enjoyed this moment because Peter had just shown that he likely could have gotten out of this encounter with his identity in tact as he had just taken down however many men. This implies that it was an active choice on Peter’s end to trust that Captain Stacey would ultimately do the right thing and allow Peter to go fight the Lizard, rather than a final desperate attempt to get away unscathed. Whether or not this interpretation of the scene is correct or not it still gives the character a bit more agency than some versions have done with their identity reveals.

  In Spider-Man 2 Peter starts to lose his powers because he’s having internal conflict about wether or not he should be Spider-Man. Honestly thats kinda neat and i might want to give that a rewatch. As for the one i have seen i don’t have any complaints. I do however prefer the way that Peter was bitten in TAS because it was a result of him poking around where he shouldn’t’ve been rather than him just happening to be standing in the right place for a spider to land on him. 

  Onto TH’s movies; the way Disney has treated Spidey in the MCU is why TH’s is my least favorite version of the character. I feel like too much of the story revolves around Iron Man; Iron Man made Peter’s suit and equipment, Iron Man introduces Peter to the MCU(via blackmail but thats another rant for another annoyingly long post), its Iron Man that “makes” Spidey in this universe rather than Spidey being self-made. In Homecoming(which remember i havent seen outside of clips so bear with me) most of the conflict is cause directly or indirectly by Tony’s refusal or inabilty to communicate with the teenager he’s meant to be mentoring

 For one the entire incident with the ferry could have very easily been avoided had Tony bothered to communicate with Peter enough to tell him that the situation was being taken care of. On top of that at the moive’s climax Peter is shown trying to get in contact with Happy(from what ive picked up isnt he a chauffeur? like idk his deal i just know he’s someone Peter got pawned off onto after Civil War). Peter even goes as far as to somehow hack into Happy’s phone(i think thats what happened it was a weird tech thing that shouldve been a red flag that the call was important though) but instead of listening; Peter is ignored. If this was a different kind of movie Peter literally could have died and itd be the fault of Happy and Tony like..... A large portion of conflict comes from characters being incompetent and not communicating and thats just poor storytelling.

Before this turns too much into an anti mcu rant id also like to say that the way they did Civil War was really dumb considering that Peter defects to Cap’s side in the comics, but whatever.

 Also i loathe the way they handled the identity reveal at the end of Far From Home. With MCU movies most people know to expect an end credits scene by now, but typically that scene is not important to understand what’s happening in the films; they just aren’t important. Putting an identity reveal here makes it seem significantly less important than it is. On top of that i dislike their use of J Jonah Jameson for this scene.

  JJJ is a character who has been repeatedly shown to have a genuinely good heart. All of his anger comes from a place of love for his city(he even says this hemself in the ps4 game when May writes in to tell him that he needs help). He hates Spider-Man because SM reminds him of the masked man who killed his wife; JJJ has never been able to get past that( and Peter’s antagonism of him definitely doesnt help) However, JJJ has been shown to care for people; he has a son who he often brags about, and one comic shows that JJJ is paying Peter for “amateur” quality photos because he knows that Peter is having a hard time and “just need some help”. JJJ has even learned Peter’s identity before and kept his secret for him(seriously though i cant remember the name of the comic but its defiantly worth the read), and in the original trilogy when Goblin threatens JJJ he claims that he doesn’t know who sends in the photos of Spidey because he does it via email( this is a lie). The MCU will have a very difficult time convincing me that JJJ would ever out a teenager’s identity and put him in danger like that. It goes too far against his character.(this could be hypocritical of me to say considering how i just insisted that multiple versions of a character can exist but whatever ¯\_(ツ)_/¯) 

This is accidentally turning into an MCU rant but id also like to say that i hate the lack of a TH!Spidey origin movie because it gives you no motivaion for Peter becoming SM or explanation of his powers; most people will know these things but if youre unfamiliar with the character its bound to be confusing(and im a sucker for origin movies)

[surveys-at-your-service]

Survey #358

“i know the pieces fit, ‘cuz i watched them fall away”

Would you ever own a Great Dane as a pet? Oh Lord, my mom wants one so bad. She looooves big dogs. I wouldn't, though. I don't want another dog, period. What was or is your favorite quality about your recent ex? Her resilience, strength, creativity, loyalty, etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. lol. Have you ever witnessed a human being giving birth in real life? No, and I NEVER fucking will. What about an animal? Yeah, cats. What kind of things do you enjoy reading about on sites like Wikipedia? I sometimes do that for straightening out game plots after watching a let's play if I have remaining questions. Wikipedia tends to do well with compressing it. Which country’s cuisine that you haven’t tried, would you be interested in sampling? (e.g. Moroccan, Thai etc.) I wouldn't know because I'm not educated enough on foreign cuisines. What’s the last movie you watched on your own? The Shining, I think, forever ago. Fried, poached, boiled or scrambled eggs? Scrambled. Have you ever got into a club, whilst being underage? I've never tried. Are you happy with your relationship with God, or do you want more from it? I don't have one. Do you struggle with boredom? Very, very severely. I have absolutely awful anhedonia; I'm pretty much constantly bored. Literally. I just... find things to pass the time, even if I'm not really enjoying myself. What famous person do you wish you could be friends with? I'm going to assume here you don't mean a significant other, because uh... y'all been known lmaooo. I would really love to be friends with Gab Smolders (I know that's not her real name, just using her YT name), because we have very similar interests. As well, Suzie Hanson is a fucking SWEETHEART. I miss her channel. :( At some point I want to purchase some stuff from her store to support the darling. Man, thinking of this question, there's really a lot. What would you do if you were famous? Hate it, haha. Do you wish you hair were shorter or longer? It's at a fine length right now. What photo editing website or software do you use? Lightroom and Photoshop. What hair color looks best on you and what’s your natural color? I think my hair looked best black. It's naturally brown. What is your favorite show to watch? Meerkat Manor. It is so, so comforting to me. Are your maternal/parental instincts strong? Not with kids, oddly enough. I've only ever really encountered strong protective instincts with significant others like when they're sick or something like that. In school, do you/did you work better by yourself or in a group? I absolutely worked better alone. I hated group work. Do you know anyone who has a collection of old records? My mom did, once upon a time. I feel like I know someone who does now... but idk. Do you go on any forums often? Just RP ones. Would you ever agree to an open relationship with someone? Nnnnope. Do people always say you’re too thin? Uh, I have the opposite problem. Could you design a whole web page yourself? Not from scratch, no. I've only done so on free sites that give you the bare bones and easy editing. Have you ever cooked an entire dinner for your family? Definitely not. Do you prefer piano music or violin music? Ohhhh, both are beautiful, but I have to say violin. Who do you tend to get in fights with the most? My mom, I guess, not that we fight a lot. Are you attracted to spooky and macabre things naturally? YEP. Have you ever bobbed for apples? Were you successful? No. It's disgusting if you're going after others, and besides, I HATE water up my nose and have never quite figured out how to block it out without plugging it. Hypothetically speaking, if you had a child [too young to make their own decisions], what would you dress him/her up as for Halloween? It would depend on what their interests were. Do you intend to take your children trick-or-treating, if ever you have any? I'm not having kids, but if I did, I definitely would if they wanted to go. What is the coolest jack-o-lantern you have ever seen? Now THAT'S hard, I really don't know. What was your favorite candy to get from trick-or-treating? What about your least favorite? Reese's was my favorite, and I never liked Tootsie Rolls. Did you ever receive anything that wasn’t candy? Maybe? I feel like I have... Have you ever carved a really extensive pumpkin, or were they always simple carvings? Yes; I once carved a pumpkin with a raven design with "and quoth the raven, 'nevermore'" written into the back. The raven wasn't just a flat cut-out, but rather carved in layers so the light came through differently at certain depths. Are you more interested in cute, funny, “sexy”, or scary costumes? For myself, absolutely the scary ones. In general though, I'm not gonna BS ya, I love me some sexy costumes, haha, but also still scary and particularly gory ones. Have you ever intimidated or made another person feel legitimately threatened? If not, do you think that you could ever be seen as scary? I seriously hate admitting this, but Mom has confessed that my yelling has scared her before when scolding our former dog that I fucking hated. In what ways do you or would you need to be validated by a partner? (For example, liking your posts/talking about you on social media, or perhaps by doting on your with gifts.) I absolutely need words of affirmation. I just need to hear a lot that you do still like/love me. Also, if you're unwilling to actually act like we're a couple in front of ANYONE, like you're ashamed of me or something, byyyyeeee. Do you tend to succeed by weaning yourself off of something or by quitting cold turkey? It depends, I guess. Is there a specific type of pet breed/size/etc. that you don’t want? Why not? Any that have underlying medical issues, like pugs, spider ball pythons, Persian cats, etc. etc... It's just a moral thing; I don't want to support the deliberate continuation of poor genes in animals for human monetary gain. It's just wrong to me. Away from breeds, I also don't really want free-roaming animals after my cat passes, because I don't want to endanger the reptiles and invertebrates I want as pets in the future. Have you ever lived in a notoriously dangerous area? If not, would it bother you to do so? I grew up in one, yes. I never want to again. Has a friend’s significant other ever interfered with or damaged your friendship? What about a significant other of yours damaging a friendship? No. What, if anything, is something that you put pressure on yourself about? What do you imagine would happen if you did not live up to this expectation? Getting a job nowadays. I do NOT want to imagine what my life will be like if I never find employment. If you have been in a serious relationship, have you and your partner ever discussed lifetime plans that clashed? Did you reconcile them or did you break up? If you have not been in a relationship, what are some issues that would be deal-breakers? This hasn't happened, no. If you were offered to smoke some weed right now would you accept? Honestly, I want to try weed to see if it would help my anxiety, BUT I'm unwilling to ever smoke something, so no. Have you ever changed clothes in a vehicle? Yeah. Do you listen to country music? No. Have you ever had a boyfriend your parents didn’t like? No. Were you ever a trouble maker? Not really, no. Do you shave your legs? Hell, that's debatable by this point. I haven't since this past October, but I *would* if for whatever reason someone might see my legs. I am not overexaggerating when I say I naturally have men's legs as far as hair goes, oof. Do you have any person in your family with an addiction to beer? That's what my dad always drank when he was an alcoholic. He doesn't touch alcohol now. Have you ever gotten sloppy drunk at a party? No. Have you ever slept naked? Accidentally. Could you ever be friends with the person who hurt you most in life? I really don't think I could be. Do you actually like going to school? I never did. Have you ever really been in a “complicated relationship”? How did that work out? In your opinion, what makes a relationship “complicated”? No. I don't care enough to go into what a complicated relationship means, I think it's pretty obvious. Who was the first person you’ve ever fallen in love with? Is this a person you’re still in contact with? How do you know you’re in love with someone? Jason, and no. And you just... know. It's a wordless feeling . Have you ever successfully broken a bad habit? How about conquered a fear of something? Uhhhh I don't know, really. Well, I used to be AWFUL at picking my eyebrows, particularly when anxious, but I have gotten better at that. I still kinda do it, though. Onto the next question, I don't believe I've "conquered" a fear, but rather they just faded with time on their own. Have you ever read a whole series of books? Yeah. Are you going to walk at your graduation or just pick your diploma up? I walked. Do you own a pair of brass knuckles? No. Have you ever tried to break a Guinness World Record? No. Can you sing your ABC’s backwards? I can't. Do you like Skittles? I love Skittles. Do you know how to read music? I used to. Who would you say has made the biggest impact on your life? Really, Jason. He ultimately led to me getting proper treatment for my depression, which changed my life. I'm in no way giving him credit for it, but you get what I mean. You can only listen to THREE CDs for the rest of your life. What are they? Black Rain and Ozzmosis by Ozzy Osbourne, and uhhh... perhaps The Black Album by Metallica. Do you own any shirts that have a year on it? Yeah, but it's way too small for me now. It's from Back To The Future, when we actually reached the date in the movie. Have you ever done another person’s make-up? Ha, I gave Jason a makeover once. Honestly, do you double dip? Not if I'm sharing the dip with other people. Who were you last on an elevator with? My mom. Do you know anyone that has a black belt in karate? Not to my knowledge. How often do you wear hats? Never. Who is the youngest gay person you know? *shrug* Have you ever watched an animal being eaten by another animal? I've seen cats eat mice and stuff as a kid. What is the strangest, most “out there” thing you believe? Some people I'm sure would consider the fact I believe the government was involved in 9/11 as "out there," but when you look into it, it's far from "out there." Do you get along with people who are especially religious? Why/why not? It depends on how they act about it, not what they keep in their head. Now if they have just purely hateful beliefs that demonize another's existence, then no, we can't get along. Have you ever drawn or painted a self-portrait? Painted, yes, for an art class. Do you have any interesting pillow cases? No. Are you more afraid of spiders or bees? Bees, generally. Especially if we're talking things like wasps, who are just demon spawns. Would you rather donate time, blood, or money? That's a really hard question, but I guess time? Like I'm thinking volunteer work and stuff, or listening to and comforting someone. Can grills be sexy on a guy? They're sexy on absolutely no one. Last strong smell you can remember smelling? Ugh, gasoline. This one car in front of my mom and me smelled awful. Last healthy thing you ate? Apples. Do you know anybody who was abused? Emotionally, yes. Do your parents volunteer anywhere? No. Do you have a steering wheel cover? Mom's car doesn't. What do you think of when you see sharp knives? This is really morbid, but I will immediately envision what it would be like to be stabbed. I'm very afraid of knives. The highway and back roads take you to the same place; choose your route. The back roads, of course. And let me bring my camera.

[writing-in-mermish]

The Romances of Journey to the West

I have not read Journey to the West.

I know the basics of the story and from what I am aware it isn’t really romantic. At all. Sure it’s got some side plots where romance might be an element, but not in the main plot.

So why are there so many stories based off of it that one of the main focuses is Romance???

I do not know the answer to that question, and wont be trying to answer it (sorry????). Instead, I’m going to talk about the media I’ve consumed based of off Journey to the West and their romances. Enjoy!

I thought it might be fun to do them all in order of when I consumed them (especially because I plan to add to this when I realize something new is also a JttW remix), but I don’t actually remember what order I started them in so we’re just going with obviousness. Starting with the most “Well, yeah.” and ending with the most “wait what?”.

first...

The New Legends of Monkey

I actually never finished this one (how many times can I say that in this post, ha ha ha....), and it’s probably the one I’m least likely to finish (but I’ve got a compilationist in me so we’ll see).

It’s basically a straight forward retelling from what I watched, the main difference that I could see being Tripitaka’s characterization and gender. They made him a girl which felt like an excuse to add a romance between the monk and the Monkey King, though it only ever hinted at things as far as I got, so maybe it never happened (the tags on this gif suggest otherwise though). Tell me in the comments if you watched it I guess.

The acting wasn’t great and I dropped it pretty soon in, so I don’t have much else to say. They also made Sandy a girl, so maybe they were just trying to make it more diverse or something. IDK.

The Epic crush of Genie Lo

This book was freaking amazing and I totally recommend it (and the sequel, it’s a dualogy so both books are out, no need to wait!). It’s the only one I’ve finished at the time of making this post.

It’s kinda the outlier because instead of a romance between Tripitaka and the Monkey King it’s a romance between the Monkey King and Genie Lo (who I won’t explain her character because of spoilers). It’s super fun and interesting.

It’s set in modern day after all the events of JttW took place, which also makes it different from all the rest, and definitely not a retelling. It uses all the same characters instead of just the character dynamics and plot.

They could have nixed the romance because it’s not the main thing but it’s really enjoyable so I ain’t mad (but it’s kinda more important in book 2). Also a different take than all the others so, props to the Author.

A Korean Odyssey

This is the only K-Drama in the mix and I had to watch a few episodes to realize what it was. I’m nearly done with this one (started it in October and was zooming through but have slowed down due to NaNo). Another one I’d recommend (in fact, all the rest of them I probably recommend, tNLoM is the outlier here).

Out of the ones that are more obvious and use the same names, this one is the most different since it’s Korean instead of Chinese. Instead of Tripitaka they just use Samjang, and they use the Monkey’s title, The Great Sage Equal to Heaven, a lot more.

This one is also modern, but with the lore that they’ve dropped, is not set after the JttW but is the JttW, without all the traveling though. Also, instead of moving scrolls from point A to point B for The Merciful Goddess Guanyin (who hasn’t seemed to show up at all), they’ve been shoved together by The Devil King (who wasn’t as big of a player in JttW from what I know, but is one of the main characters in this). It’s very funny and emotional, like most K-dramas I’ve watched.

the romance is integral to the plot because instead of being trapped with a circlet that gives him headaches, The Monkey has a bracelet that makes him fall for Samjang and hurts his heart when she’s in danger. This causes much shenanigans which range from annoying to funny to heartbreaking. Good stuff.

Inuyasha

Into the Shojo! You may have heard that this one is Journey to the West-esque (If you run in those kinds of circles) and it’s definitely the most obvious of the ones I’ve encountered. I’ve only watched the anime (still working on it), so if the manga’s different, I didn’t know.

It’s got the five man band, the non magical Trip. character who sets free the Monkey character and the circlet analogue (aka “sit boy!”). Also, we’ve got an actual journey and a magical item that they need to protect and get to a specific place.

It’s both modern and set in the past (portal fantasy!) which is fun. Especially since her family gets to know, and she goes back for school every once in a while.

The romances in this are also semi integral to the plot (it’s shojo, what did you expect), and it’s quite enjoyable. It’s got comedy, action, drama, and cute romance. (Also, it’s randomly getting a squeal after a decade I think.)

Kamisama Kiss

I didn’t realize that this was JttW until after starting the manga, which I picked up after I finished the anime because it ended on a cliff hanger (I have some thoughts about that phenomenon too, but that’s for different and much shorter post). I really liked the anime and am making my sibling read the manga with me now. (they just corrected me and said I offered and they said yes, but saying I made them is funnier so whatever.)

Instead of being a cool monk or having the reincarnated soul of someone special, our Trip. for this one is just a nice girl, down on her luck who is given the divinity of a deadbeat kami who she saved from a tree. And instead of a magical item to bond her with the Monkey character (who is a fox spirit) they are sealed with just a kiss. (Hence the title)

The romance is semi integral, but oddly enough, I’d say less than in Inuyasha. Sure it weighs on their minds a lot, but the main plot is about Nanami trying to be a good kami and take care of her shrine, not her perspective love interests.

Fun show (and manga). Very goofy, cool world building, compelling characters, and good drama when it showed up.

and finally...

Yona of the Dawn

this one might be more believable than the last one, but I realized it later and feel it’s got slightly less similarities with the original source material. Another one that I watched all the anime and now have started reading the manga with my sibling due to the cliff hanger. (I’ve noticed more differences between anime and manga in YotD than KSK, not important, but interesting to me).

The monk is a princess in this one, and her and five man band are mostly reincarnations of dragons, which is why they join her party, to protect her like their counterparts did. They’re all compelled by ancient blood. Strangely, the character I’d ascribe to Monkey king is not a dragon and is only compelled by loyalty (and love).

It’s got the epicness, historical-ish setting, and the journey, but instead of getting a MacGuffin to it’s destination, they’re escaping death and trying to restore a kingdom.

Romance is very complicated in this one. Very compelling and I’d say on the more integral side. Affection and it’s many forms are explored along the journey. There are many dynamics and they all have their own complications. It’s good.

(also, I hope to cosplay Yona some day)

So... yeah. That’s it. If you got all the way through this, thanks.

[skvaderarts]

Hiraeth Chapter 15: Acquaintance

Masterlist can be found Here!

Chapter fifteen: Acquaintance

Notes: I don’t normally do anything for Valentine’s Day, but I might write something for it this year. IDK since I have no ideas. It’s not my kind of day. But I thought it might be a fun challenge, so here we are. Anyway, I hope you like this chapter. It was a new kind of challenge for me. More on that later in the endnotes!

-~-

In truth, there had been no specific set of expectations placed upon the situation that they now found themselves in. none of them were entirely sure what they’d expected to find when they exited the house and walked along the path that led through the front lawn to the front gate that inclosed the small front yard, but it sure as hell hadn’t been what they found. In such trying times, that was one thing that was for certain.

Flames rained down from the sky as the intrepid group of devil hunters forged a path forwards up the street, remnants of a distant encounter of some sort that seemed to be a few blocks away. From this distance, all they could see was smoke and charred trees, all they could smell was the distinct sulfurous scent of the underworld; all they could feel was the burning heat that only fire left in its wake. looks of perplexion and mild amusement adorning their faces as they strode forward. Yes, something cataclysmic had certainly occurred during their time inside of Matier’s cozy abode. They hadn’t noticed any of this whatsoever. Whatever this was, it was eventful, and it might be the perfect distraction from the matter at hand.

But what had caused this incredible set of circumstances to occur in the first place? This entire situation was entirely irregular, to say the least. Even from the distance that they currently were from it, they could feel the change in the atmosphere. A great deal of power was being discharged in whatever battle was waging ahead of them, and they couldn’t pinpoint its origin. But perhaps the most incredible thing was that there didn’t seem to be any notable property damage. No, the encounter, whatever it was, seemed to be contained in some way. The entire little village that they found themselves in would have burned down by then if that wasn’t the case.

“So Vergil, you spent, what, literally forever in the underworld, right? You ever seen something like whatever this is?” Nico asked as she attempted to keep pace with the rest of the group. She was out of breath, and running wasn’t something that she did if she could avoid it, especially in a hot, humid climate like the one that they were in. That being said, she didn’t want to miss a second of the action if she could help it.

The devil slayer in blue glanced over at her, more or less neutral to the inquiry. Yes, he had indeed spent “literally forever” down there. There was no need to remind him. But he could only assume that the young woman had meant her comment in a non-malicious way. She had no reason to pick a fight with someone who could easily end her life. Perhaps it was just her misguided way of breaking the ice.

“Now that you mention it… no, I don’t believe that I have.” The reality of that realization suddenly dawned on Vergil as they forged a path forward. The Darkslayer drew his weapon and readied himself for a fight, unwilling to simply walk into what could possibly be a trap. Nico wouldn’t willingly walk them into one, but the situation could still be beyond her scope of expertise. And besides, having Yamato at the ready was probably be the best decision he could make when going up against an unfamiliar and more than likely deadly force. He wasn’t going to make it too easy on his opponent.

Dante shrugged, pulling his blade from his back in preparation for the battle that they were probably walking into. “Beats me! I’ve never seen anything quite like this, either. It’s kinda familiar, but not really, and I still can’t place what could be causing it.”

Much to their surprise, Nico snickered slightly at the statement. “Oh, believe me, your gonna see what’s causing. That’s why I came and got ya in the first place! I needed ya to see this for yourself. It’s pretty wild!”

“So am I the only one who wasn’t to know why the sky is on fire? Because I feel like that might be pretty important.” Nero said as he readied Blue Rose. It was the bare minimum of presumptive action that he could take against a possible sneak attack, and the last thing he wanted to do was get torn in half by some random demon. Not only would it be a lame way to die, but it would also keep him from finding out what the hell was going on.

“Yes, your quite right, Nero. The sky isn’t normally on fire. A rather astute observation, if I do say so myself. And it certainly doesn’t help me breathe any easier.” A familiar voice said as they passed him from behind, leaving nothing more than a blur or dark energy as they passed. Nero gave V an unamused look as he hovered past him, the shorter-haired man clearly not pleased that he had to run while V could simply float along the ground effortlessly. That wasn’t to say that he blamed him, though. If he has such an ability, Nero was certain that he too would abuse it in every possible way. Riding Punchline was by far one of the highlights of his day whenever he was afforded the opportunity.

As the group neared the trees, they caught sight of something that waylaid them slightly. Standing just to the side of their destination was a familiar face that Dante was positive that he hadn’t seen in far too long. A small dagger flew past Dante’s head and into the tree behind him as stepped forward, catching sight of the group of demons that had gathered around in a hopeless attempt at actually standing much of a chance against their opponent. But that wouldn’t do them any good. While she might not be quite as powerful as he was, Lucia was far from a pushover, and a few worthless Puia, Demonochorus, and Msira didn’t stand a chance against her. As if to prove his point, she threw a volley of blades at the last remaining wave of them, knocking them dead to the floor as she withdrew her curved blades from the remains of a Savage Golem that had made the fatal mistake of thinking it could take her on in close quarters combat.

Vergil raised an eyebrow as she approached them, noting the finer points of what little of her fighting style he’d be able to see. While he himself used smaller blades as a primary element of his fighting style, actually throwing them was another matter entirely. It took great skill to be able to hit your target so consistently, and to do so with such speed? She was rather impressive, wasn’t she? He wondered for a moment what he had expected her to do when he’d finally met her, but it seemed that whatever expectations he’d previously possessed had been subverted, even if he didn’t really know what those expectations were. It wasn’t every day that something like that happened.

The instant that the demon was dead and she had holstered her twin blades, Lucia jogged over to them, using her left hand to toss her long red braid over her shoulder as she came to a stop in front of Dante. Despite the fact that she’d just finished a battle, a pleasant, if not shy smile spread across her face. “Dante… Matier told me you’d come back around. What are you…”

She trailed off for a second as she caught sight of the rest of the group, noticing for the first time how many new people she’d never seen before were there, especially the ones with white hair. Her eyes drifted over to Vergil as he approached, V and Nero coming from behind their father and around to meet her. Was this the guardian that Dante had told them so much about? If so, they were somewhat surprised. For whatever reason, both Nero and V had collectively figured that she was an older woman like Matier. She didn’t’ seem significantly older than they were. Probably around Lady and Trish’s age, possibly even slightly younger. It was hard to say by just looking at her. What they could say, however, was that so far, she seemed far too nice to be one of Dante’s friends. After all, she hadn’t shot or stabbed him yet. What a welcome change of pace!

After a moment of staring in quiet confusion at Vergil, Lucia turned back towards Dante. She looked at the devil hunter in red for a second, her brow furrowing slightly as though she didn’t understand something. She tilted her head to one side, clearly considering something. A moment later she looked at Vergil again, this time stepping back to get a better look at both of them. And just like that, something clicked. 

“Oh… I see. That makes sense. Very interesting.” She turned her gaze towards Dante, folding her arms and she glared at him playfully. If she’s been closer, she might have even nudged him, but that was a longshot. “Why didn’t you tell me you were identical twins, Dante?! That’s incredible! You told me about your brother but…”

Lucia slowly stopped talking as she noticed that Vergil was folding his arms and turning to give his twin a dirty look, the younger of the two giving her a look as if to plead with her to stop talking. While the lovely redhead wasn’t privy to what was going on, she was smart enough to be able to tell that it was probably a complicated matter between her longtime friend and his twin brother, and that she didn’t want to get involved. If the tension alone was anything to go by, it might not end very well for her. Best to revisit that topic later when it was just her and Dante and the two of them were not in the same location. After all, she’d heard from down the grapevine that they didn’t always get along.

V peered around his father’s back, wrangling Shadow as he ended his use of the demonic feline. She was an invaluable asset, especially in regards to travel, but there was no reason to use her when they were standing still. Best to let her rest just in case things took a turn. Though going off of his experience with the young woman that they had just ran into, he couldn’t imagine that it would. From what he could tell, she seemed kind.

“Sorry about that. It’s not my business, is it? Forgive me.” Lucia blushed slightly, clearly embarrassed. She’d only been talking to him for a minute or two, and she’d already managed to find a way to get herself tongue-tied and into a situation that she didn’t particularly wish to be in. How did this always happen? “My name is Lucia. I’m one of the guardians of Vei Du Marlin. I hope you’ve enjoyed your stay so far. Sorry for the wait.”

As if to protest against her polite statement, another loud explosion ricochet across the space behind them, this time the vibration it caused was enough to stagger them, nearly causing V to stumble and fall over due to the sheer force of it. Nero reached for his brother in an attempt to steady him, but the older of the two politely waved him off. There was no need. Thankfully he hadn’t actually fallen down. The problem was that V’s center of balance left much to be desired. Lucia noticed his unsteady state and gave him a concerned look, drawing attention from the rest of the group as she did so. V sighed quietly under his breath, cursing his entire equilibrium for being so easily swayed.

“I’m fine. Truly. It’s just that whatever that was threw me off.” V glanced back towards the source of the explosion before turning back to her, intreuged.” Normally I tend to notice strange things such as that a moment or so before they occur because I do have eyes and I can see them, but we have no visibility from where we currently are. As such, I can’t really brace myself for impact. And whatever small amount of foresight I tend to possess has seemingly abandoned me. It’s unfortunate, but I’ll manage.”

Lucia nodded, seeming to understand his plight. “Oh, I understand. That makes sense. My mother needs assistance when she walks these days as well. She’s elderly, you see. Your balance being a little off is absolutely understandable if you walk with a cane.”

V considered elaborating for a moment, but he couldn’t will himself to do so. For whatever reason, he found himself tongue-tied in a manner that was unfamiliar to him. It was rare that he couldn’t think of a single thing to say, yet here he was, at a total loss for words. He wanted to say that it was simply because of the fact that he didn’t know what to say to such a polite, understanding, and accommodating response, but there was a part of him that subconsciously registered that there was more to it than that. He just didn’t know how to put it into words. And that was exceedingly strange to him. Maybe he was just worn out from his long conversation with Nero, Dante, and Vergil?

“Nice meeting you, Lucia. I’m Nero. Dante’s nephew. The frigid jerk in the blue coat is my dad, Vergil. He’s not so bad once you get used to him.” Nero said politely, trying his best to break the strange tension that had formed between V and the young guardian. He’d never seen V look so dumbfounded and lost before in his life, and it was as amusing as it was deeply confusing and strange. But regardless, they needed to figure out what was going on here. “This one’s my brother. I swear, he normally talks more. Not a lot more, but still. It’s something.”

V seemed to catch onto the fact that he was, in fact, acting deeply strange. He cleared his throat, looking down at the ground for a moment as if doing so would clear his head somehow. Suddenly he felt incredibly embarrassed, and he couldn’t even find a place to start as to why. What the hell was wrong with him? “You can call me V. it’s a pleasure to meet you, Lucia. What seems to be the trouble?”

She smiled slightly, a pleasant look that was reflected in her eyes in a way that told him it was genuine and not artificial friendliness to help break the ice between them. She pointed towards the woods, shrugging slightly as an exasperated look crossed her face. Despite the fact that she’d seen what had happened, that didn’t mean that it made any more sense to her than it did to anyone else. “Your companion came to assist me. A strange, large demon attacked while I was dispatching the lesser ones, and he lured it over there. I’ve been too busy dealing with these ones to go and see what became of him, but the fire doesn’t seem good, does it?”

Nero glanced over in the direction of the woods. He had to agree with her. “No, it doesn’t seem very good, does it? We should probably go and check it out. Ya know, see if he need any help. How big was this demon?”

The red-haired guardian gestured with both of her hands before withdrawing her blades, something catching her eye behind them. She took a defensive stance, motioning with her head towards the woods on the other side of the street. “Massive. But I think we might have company on the way. It seems that all this commotion had attracted unwanted attention.” 

She gestured in the direction of the large precession of demons that were now charging them, their heads lowered and their horns positioned to strike. It was a group that consisted of several varieties of goat and Finis demons and, from what he could tell, there were about two dozen of them. Each variety was present and accounted for, and they seemed eager and willing to attack. That didn’t surprise the devil hunter in red in the slightest. They always had been in his experience, especially the damn goat demons. But that didn’t change anything. He’d faced them before, and he would face them again.

Dante chuckled slightly, remembering the first time that he’d faced a member of the goat clan. They were always a fun time, but he didn’t really have the opportunity at the moment to give them the time that he would have liked to. Right now wasn’t the best time to pick a fight with a giant overgrown flaming goat, but they were going to have to take them down nonetheless. And then they needed to figure out where Sirrus was and fast before things got out of hand. If nothing else, flaming debris falling from the sky might catch something on fire. And the last thing they needed was to be even partially responsible for yet another destroyed town. Enough was enough for one lifetime. Or at least one year… 

“Alright then, let’s take care of these posers and go see what’s got the big guy so riled up. Think we can do that before the entire neighborhood burns down?” Dante said playfully as they readied themselves to meet their opponents head-on. Each of his companions gave him an affirming nod, even Nico who had no intention of getting into this fight. She didn’t even have a weapon, but she was going to hang back and see what she could do to help. Maybe going to check on what was going on in the woods was a good idea? Regardless, they were ready to meet their opponents head-on, and as the foolish creatures charged them head-on, they decided to meet them in the middle.

The entire company of devil hunters surged forward, ready to take down these pathetic excuses for demons and get to the real challenge. The poor creatures wouldn’t live to regret the day that they stumbled across the entirety of their family. After all, descendants of Sparda didn’t suffer demons to live, and there were a lot of demons here asking for a good murdering. Not a single one was going to make it out of here alive if any of them had anything to say about it. Especially with the mood that Vergil was in today. That had been their first and last mistake.

-~-

Wow. I did all of this week’s writing in one night. What the hell is wrong with me? Anyway, Lucia is hard for me to write, so I hope I did okay! I’ve never written anything with her in it before, despite how much I love her! Head to the comments and recommend me some fics with her in it to read! I need to learn her mannerisms, although I think I might have gotten a few of them at least half right. Thanks for all the support, and I’ll see you all next week. Well, except for the little valentines day short that I might write for Saudade sometime soon, but you know what I mean XD

See you in the comments!

[purplesurveys]

883

1. What kind of textures do you enjoy most in your food? Crunchy, crispy, soft, hard, grainy, slimy, etc? I love chewing on any meal that involves rice. Born and raised with it, can’t feel full without it. I’ll give a special mention to slimy too, because I love seafood.

2. Do you keep up any seasonal decorations outside of their season? No. My mom removes our Christmas decor by late January, which is when Christmas season ends here. We don’t decorate for other holidays.

3. Can you remember the most awkward situation you've ever been in? What happened? Ugh god. Any time I’m left alone with Gab’s dad is bound to be awkward because he’s very quiet and stoic and I tend to be a vibrant, cheery people-pleaser and nothing I do will muster more than two words out of him...but our most awkward moment has to be when I was at their place and he had to leave to run some errands. I stood up and walked over to give him a hug, but for some reason the floor was slippery and I started to do the world’s clumsiest and longest stumble. As an instinct, I held on to his arm and shirt so that I wouldn’t fall flat on my face. It was terrible and nothing I could’ve done or said would’ve saved that situation. EUGH I’m wincing right now lmao

4. Can you remember the most scary situation you've ever been in? What happened? [trigger warning] Would have to be the time when my grandfather got too drunk off his ass that he physically assaulted one of my cousins, then a toddler. My aunt (cousin’s mom) is a little on the delicate and petite side and couldn’t do anything to confront my grandpa, who went on his rage for like 10, 15 minutes. Certainly felt like forever. Nothing has traumatized me more and that’s saying a lot, considering it’s been 13 years and I’ve been through tons of shitty situations.

5. Do you do anything unusual to help you concentrate? It’s not very weird but I did install an extension on my browser that would let me list certain sites (usually social media) I’d want blocked whenever I have work. I suppose not everyone has that kind of program so it kinda counts as unusual.

6. Do you ever wonder what your parents were like as children/teenagers? With my dad, yes. My mom tells me enough stories. I know her family hit a rough patch when she was a teenager and they had to sell a bunch of their stuff, including a grand piano. She went from living a comfortable life to having to skip meals in college because she only had enough money for her daily commute.

7. Do you think suicide is ever "okay?" Groan, this is so triggering. I’m not elaborating on this, soz.

8. Would you rather a close family member/close friend/significant other die of suicide or murder? Why is this? “>> I think having to deal with a murder investigation would be terribly messy and intrusive, and would add more trauma on top of what I’m already dealing with.” < All of this. You don’t always get closure with murders, too. And I would hate that.

9. In your opinion, what is the worst thing someone could ever do? Raping an infant is definitely up there for me.

10. In your opinion, what is the best thing someone could ever do? Be a positive change or impact in someone’s life. Idk, I’m easy to please.

11. Do you think about any fellow xangans outside of xanga? I’ll change the context of this question to Tumblr so I can answer it. And yes I do, sometimes. Not in a creepy way or anything; it usually happens when I encounter something in real life that I know another survey-taker likes.

12. What military installation is the closest to you? Fort Bonifacio.

13. Do you still open your windows during winter? We don’t get winter but yeah, December is the best time to leave the windows open throughout the night. It’s also a great time to be able to save on electricity haha

14. How cold is too cold? How hot is too hot? I’ve lived in a tropical country all my life so I’m a big-ass wimp when it comes to the cold, even though I love it more. I start shivering at around 23ºC. Too hot is anything reaching the 40s.

15. Would you rather lose both legs or both arms? Why? Legs. I use my hands a lot more, so it would be slightly more difficult if I suddenly had to move about without them.

16. If you committed a crime that landed you in prison for the rest of your life, but were given the option to receive the death sentence instead, which would you choose? Why? Death. I get to have the infamous ~last meal~. Lol in all seriousness though, I’d pick it because it would be a quick release for me, I guess. It’s a big reason why I’m not a fan of death penalty...it’s too easy an escape for criminals who deserve a lot worse.

17. Is there any specific album you can listen to in its entirety and enjoy every single song? After Laughter - Paramore

18. Would you rather be a famous movie star, television star, or musician? I don’t have talents that would make me succeed in any of these fields...I guess it’d be fun to be a movie star though.

19. If you are not religious, have you ever eaten dinner with a group of people that were and said grace before eating? How was this for you? If you are religious and say grace before dinner, have you ever eaten dinner with a group of people that weren't and didn't say grace before eating? How was this for you? Yes. I’m from a Catholic family, so we pray before every meal. I do a sign of the cross but barely, just so my mom sees I move my hands when we start the prayer; but I haven’t recited grace since I told myself I was going to be atheist.

20. Do you think an evil Santa or an evil Easter Bunny would make a better villain in a horror movie? I’d go with Evil Santa mostly because I have no attachment to the Easter Bunny whatsoever, and because it’d be hilarious to see a man with reindeer be mean.

21. Did you ever think any fictional story-book character was creepy as a child? Do you still think any of them are creepy? Yes. That girl who wears a ribbon around her neck still gives me the fucking creeps.

22. Would you rather wear nothing but white or nothing but black? Is there any color you'd actually want to wear head-to-toe? Black. I’ve done that many times, so it wouldn’t feel weird.

23. What physical/mental health problems run in your family? Do you have any of the same problems? I’m almost certain there are underlying issues on my mom’s side but seeing as none of us have ever gotten ourselves checked (and most of them don’t believe in mental health problems anyway) I doubt I’ll ever find out what exactly’s wrong.

24. What is your mental and physical health like right now? They are both doing surprisingly well considering how long I’ve had to stay home and how much everything has turned upside down. I’ve only had two bad breakdown in four months and I’ve since recovered from that nasty fever I got, so I can’t complain.

25. If you found a suitcase (with no information about the owner) with a million dollars inside of it , would you turn it into the police or keep it? Be honest. ;] “>> See, a million dollars is an exorbitant sum. There is no way I could just casually make off with a missing million and not suffer repercussions. It's just too much goddamn money, and in this particular scenario, it's highly likely that it's a trap of some sort (whether set for me, or set for someone else and my dumb ass just happened to stumble across it). I'm not dumb enough to try it.

Neither would I necessarily want to turn it in, because that might cause me to get involved in something I didn't want or need to be involved in. The most logical course of action for me would be to leave it the fuck alone.” < Yeup.

26. Would you rather gaze at the stars or clouds? Stars. The fact that they’re so much farther away makes them more fascinating to me.

27. Are they any foods you used to enjoy but no longer like? Are there any foods you used to dislike but now enjoy? There’s a certain brand of frozen sisig that I used to looooove and would have multiple servings of every time I had it. But I had it one too many times and now I can’t even stand the smell of it. On the other hand, I hated chicken curry as a kid, but I can’t get enough of it now.

28. Do you feel much older or younger than you are? Why? Neither. I just feel 22.

29. Did you get along with kids that were older or younger than you? I mostly got along with kids of the same age. I found younger kids too rowdy and being around older kids always felt intimidating.

30. Do you know any magic tricks? Nopes.

31. How much would life suck for you if you had a wheat allergy? A lot.

32. Are you able to watch gory scenes in movies? Why or why not? For sure. I always want to see how far FX artists can go; and if used correctly, gory scenes can be super integral to the movie. Midsommar is a really good example.

33. Do you constantly check the time? Does time seem to move quickly or slowly for you? Not anymore. I used to check it a lot while I was still in school. Sigh, I miss that life so much. Anyway, time definitely felt slower during the first few weeks of the lockdown, but now that I’m used to it days just fly by. I can hardly believe we’re nearly in the middle of July. So much of this year has been wasted. It’s miserable.

34. Would you rather live in a nice house in a bad location, or a less-than-nice house in a great location? I’m taking the great location. I don’t know if I can last living in a shady area, no matter how beautiful my house is.

35. Have you ever been a witness to a horrible crime? What happened? Domestic violence is the worst thing I can think of. I enumerated one of them in one of the earlier questions, but I witnessed several other cases as a kid.

[makeste]

Oh right, I forgot to ask now that you finished the Yakuza/Overhaul arc but on a scale from Endeavor to All For One, where does Overhaul fit on the bad dad scale?

somehow this very simple ask which could have been answered in like three sentences turned into my definitive ranking of the top ten Known Dads in BnHA. I’m not sure how either. but here we go

(spoilers in this post up to chapter 165!)

10. Overhaul

dad score - [unknown] [the scale broke when we tried to measure him]

is asked to care for his boss’s granddaughter; proceeds to torture her for profit

constantly tells her that she’s cursed and all the bad things that he does are somehow her fault

doesn’t even bother to give this kid some fucking shoes

keeps killing her babysitters

I know I already said it, but it really can’t be stressed enough, this guy routinely disassembled her limbs on a molecular level, causing her excruciating pain and trauma, for the sake of trying to make himself the new drug-dealing kingpin of the underworld. he is sooo bad you guys

9. All for One

dad score - 11/100

is super creepy and manipulative and purposely brainwashed Tomura into hating All Might through a series of meticulously calculated encounters

decided the best way to help Tomura reach his full potential would be to step out of his life and get himself arrested

hasn’t even seen his other son, Izuku, since he was a baby! what a fucking deadbeat smdh

but on the other hand, he does seem supportive and indulgent towards Tomura and gives him lots of praise and encouragement

8. Endeavor

dad score - 39/100

abused his kid

abused his kid’s mom, in front of his kid

you wouldn’t even know it, but he actually has other kids, whom he never seems to acknowledge or pay even the slightest attention to whatsoever!

only had kids in the first place so he could raise his kids to beat All Might. has no problem telling this to said kids and even to All Might’s own face

having said that, the only reason his score isn’t in the negatives is because as of chapter 165, it seems like maybe? possibly? he just might be trying for the first time ever. or like. trying to try. if you can count showing up to Shouto’s supplemental course to shout “SHOOOOOOOOOOUUUUTOOOOOOOOO” at him from the stands as trying. but like, I feel like he is attempting to be encouraging. it doesn’t mean he’s not still a piece of shit, but if the guy is trying to be better then, like, it’s better than him not trying, you know?

but he’s still terrible

7. Kurogiri

dad score - 60/100

Tomura’s Actual Dad

is calm, rational, polite, and a respected doctor of medicine (probably) (idk you guys I just still get that vibe)

took Tomura and all the other kids on a character-building trip to Villain Island in an omake from chapter 149 which I consider to be canon

there’s nothing more dadlike than taking your kids camping and trying to teach them how to survive in the wilderness

taught Tomura how to get along with others

always seems to have his back, which is real important you guys

6. Gran Torino

dad score - 70/100

not the best score but a C is still respectable. mostly it’s just cuz he was out of the picture for so long. although we’ve since found out that Toshinori by his own admission had a habit of pushing away people who cared about him, so that may have had something to do with it

cares a lot about Toshinori even though he’s shit at showing it

made him into a man by beating the shit out of him until he got super strong

was right there in the thick of things with Toshinori during both of his fights against All for One. he straight up risked his life to back him up against the strongest villain alive

took it in stride when he found out he had a grandson that he’d never met, and took him under his wing as well and raised him for like three whole days and taught him how to use a microwave

5. Ochako’s Dad

dad score - 80/100

I probably should have given him a higher score, honestly. he seems really sweet. he’s probably a better dad than Bakugou’s Dad tbh, but Bakudad gets the edge just for the much steeper difficulty level. because let’s be honest, there’s a biiiig difference between raising a sweet baby angel like young Ochako, and raising a sentient roman candle with a potty mouth

but he works so hard to make ends meet, and somehow he and his wife managed to scrimp and save enough to send Ochako to U.A. because they wanted her to follow her dreams and they want the best for her

and they’ve always been so supportive of her on like the three occasions we’ve seen them in flashbacks or talking to her over the phone or visiting her after the sports festival

look at this thumbs up though

tell me that’s not the most dad thing you’ve ever seen in your fucking life

4. Bakugou’s Dad

dad score - 82/100

has like two lines in the entire series, but

as previously mentioned, raised Bakugou Katsuki and somehow survived to tell the tale. so honestly he probably deserves some kind of medal

also, since we know virtually nothing about him other than what was in the omake profile from volume 11, I’ve been imagining him as being kind of like Calvin’s Dad from Calvin and Hobbes

so he gets bonus points for that positive association

really there’s no reason for him to be this high up tbh except that I firmly believe he’s a great dad and I’m just waiting for canon to prove me right. I’ll be right here waiting, manga

3. RockLockRock

dad score - 90/100

he’s awesome

also, look. being a hero is inherently dangerous. you never know where you’re going to get called to next, and any mission could end up being your last. injuries and trauma go hand-in-hand with the job. most of the hero characters we’ve seen don’t have families, and I have to assume that’s not a coincidence. so to me, all of this means that if a hero character actually does go through with starting a family, it means they wanted that family more than anything, and you can bet they freaking love the shit out of said family. I have no doubt that RLR is and will continue to be an amazing dad

plus his kid is just too damn cute

2. Aizawa

dad score - 95/100

first of all, if this was a ranking of Hottest BnHA Dads, you better believe he’d be at the very top and it would be no contest

he has 20 kids and somehow he’s able to handle each and every one of them

risked his life to save the kids barely two weeks into the school year with no hesitation, even though he nearly died

did the same thing again barely two months later. this time thankfully without the nearly dying

has the total respect and trust of each and every kid in his class. and considering the personalities of some of them, that’s no small feat

specifically, it says a lot that even Bakugou doesn’t give him any lip and always listens to him without complaint and is even polite

speaking of Bakugou, he defended him to that Jerk Reporter during the Hideout Raid arc and proved that he understands his students better than anyone

isn’t afraid to deal out strict discipline when the situation calls for it, but it’s always for the students’ own good

isn’t above trolling the shit out of his kids on occasion when he feels like it

is good with kids of all ages and not just teenagers, as evidenced by how good he also was with Kouta during the forest invasion arc

lastly, as we saw in chapter 136, he has an untold repertoire of secret dad moves just waiting to be unleashed, such as (a) crouching down to a seated Deku’s eye level, and (b) gently punching him in the chest while affectionately calling him by a nickname. who knows what other moves this man has in reserve. I for one can’t wait to see more

1. All Might

dad score - 96/100

indisputable best dad. A+. although even he didn’t get a perfect score, because nobody is perfect and there’s always room for improvement

always knows exactly what to say. despite constantly seeming to stress about it. probably he only stresses because he cares so much and he’s worried about doing things exactly right

loving father to the two most difficult children in the whole series, Midoriya “which bones did you break this time” Izuku, and Bakugou “like I said, anyone who even attempts to parent this child automatically deserves a medal” Katsuki

this man literally got down on his hands and knees and begged Deku’s mom to let him try to be the Best Dad Ever to her child. he loves him so fucking much

gives THE best dad hugs

I need more All Might hugs

honorable mentions: 

Nighteye (I forgot about him until after I had already made the list and was too lazy to go back and insert him in his rightful place at number 3. 92/100. loses points for FUCKING DYING AND MAKING ME CRY)

Fat Gum (same deal as Nighteye in that I forgot about him. 75/100. he’s loving and jolly and gives out free candy, but he let Kirishima get all beat up. BE MORE CAREFUL NEXT TIME)

Vlad King (haven’t seen his dad skills in action much, but according to his profile he’s nicer to his kids than Aizawa is. okay but DID HE NEARLY MAKE THE ULTIMATE SACRIFICE FOR THEM though. because Aizawa did. 85/100)

Present Mic (not a dad. is at best a Weird Uncle. 70/100)

Jirou’s Dad (I forgot about him too lol. he’s a wacky dad who likes to rock and roll! he tried to be a Stern Dad to impress All Might and Aizawa but failed miserably. took his wife’s last name!! so secure in his own masculinity. wants his daughter to live her best life and follow her passions. 93/100. he’s fucking great)

[resbang-bookclub]

AMA Transcript: Marked in Constellation

For our final AMA of the season, @sojustifiable stopped in to answer questions about her Resbang, Marked in Constellation! Here’s some of what went down:

Q: What inspired this Resbang?

Amanda: Combination of going to Peru and living in a tent and my own experience camping, and then I think there was a movie that came out a while ago that was about someone doing a solo trip up the PCT [Pacific Crest Trail], which inspired the specific setting.

Q: Were any scenes or events within them directly inspired by your Peru or camping experience?

Amanda: I think mostly the little things about camping like hand washing clothes and having to deal with cleaning drinking water. I got a review saying that it felt well-researched which was definitely validating because of those pieces of personal experience.

Q: What kind of research went into the fic?

Amanda: Ohhh man. A lot of research on the trail specifically, marking off day by how far they could get and using elevation charts for and landmarks for describing what they were actually seeing. I used all real towns for when they would resupply and just basically wanted everything to be as true to the setting as possible.

Q: How much time would you say you spent in the planning/research phase of this versus the writing?

Amanda: I did the research mostly as I was writing, I had a window open that had like four or five tabs open, a couple for docs and outlines, and then a couple with maps and charts for the research so I could be constantly cross referencing as I was writing. I had an outline with basic check points but realized at a certain point I needed to adjust the literal pace to cover the distance needed. I did find a really useful tool actually that you could input different sections of trail and a relative pace and it would give recommendations for how many miles to put in each day.

Q: What were some things you added that you hadn't originally planned to write about?

Amanda: Butt mountain for sure. I think it was sig (@sigsegv) who saw that on the map and suggested it needed a place in the story. I think just the general focus on the little places they stopped and cameos of characters they would come across. Pretty much the only things initially planned were encountering a bear and some skinny dipping.

Q: What was your favorite scene to write? And if applicable, what was your favorite mood to write?

Amanda: I definitely enjoyed writing the ending the most, just getting the point of having emotional release/communication made it a lot more satisfying. There had been a little bit of smut earlier, but it wasn't nearly as fun to write because it still had so much emotional constipation, so it didn't end up being satisfying to write or for the characters, I think. Also writing the ending meant being done and that's always a good Resbang feel. [I liked writing] any emotionally charged bits where there's romantic tension and connection building between the characters.

Q: Did you find it hard or not bad at all to come back to Resbang after a writing break? Did you feel like things got smoother as you went along, or was it more or less fine from the get-go?

Amanda: It was definitely tough starting out getting motivated. I really wanted to get back into writing and write Resbang, but I hadn't really had a lot of writing inspiration the last couple years. It was definitely one of those stories that was 99% perspiration 1% inspiration, but I think once I got into a rhythm it was good to see that I could do good work just by internally motivating myself.

Q: Got any tips for internal motivation?

Amanda: Step 1 was setting pretty reasonable word count goals from early on so that I would never be forced to scramble right at the end. I gave myself designated days off or rewards for getting ahead of schedule. Step 2 was accepting that it didn't need to be perfect, especially not to begin with, and it was better to get words down and edit later. The last time I did Resbang, I ended up writing 10k in like 3 days right at the end and didn't want a repeat of that, so I imposed a schedule on myself early on and used the productivity channel to sprint A Lot. [Last Resbang] was horrible and that's when I was in college still too, so I had to do school stuff also and would go sit in this room with a bunch of taxidermy birds between classes to write as much as I could during the day. I think my usual goals [for this year] were 1k a day 5 days a week, and then if I got more then I could take 500 words off the goal for later on, like if I did 2k in one day then the next two days could be 500 words each. Definitely a slow and steady wins the race situation.

Q: Did you find that your word count estimates changed a lot as you went on, or was it pretty stable the whole time?

Amanda: Oh definitely, I expected I might have underestimated it, but I think I started out thinking it would be about 25k and then I want to say it ended up being like 40k. I really should know better at this point.

Q: Did the process of writing this get you in the mood to plan some hikes or camping trips?

Amanda: It did definitely make me want to go camping again. Not immediately, cuz Resbang season is bad weather season, but it did bring it to mind for sure.

Q: Was there any scene or part of it you struggled more to write?

Amanda: Uhh the first smut scene was definitely a struggle. Writing sex where there's emotion behind it but it isn't being expressed was a different challenge for me and I don't think it ended up being as good because of that. I wanted to project the insecurity and sense of performativity into that, but it was a lot of nuance to put into a smallish scene.

Q: Did you notice that your writing style changed at all after your break?

Amanda: Honestly, I haven't read anything old that I've written in a while so I'm not sure how it reads. It felt pretty similar, I just had to get over the feeling of it being less authentic because there wasn't as much pure inspiration behind it. I think it did give me a better sense of being able to write without needing as much inspiration, though, which would be a good skill to hold onto.

Q: Since you’re also an artist, did you do any sketches or paintings or anything to help you visualize stuff as you wrote?

Amanda: I didn't do any art for it. I've thought about doing some after the fact but I feel like the art that sig did really captured everything well. In general I don't think much about small visual details when I'm writing.

Q: What about music? Did you have a playlist you liked for it, or any songs that remind you of it?

Amanda: No, I actually have some problems with auditory processing so if there's certain kinds of music on I won't be able to focus or write. I pretty much listen to exclusively to some kind of white noise generator. If i listened to music that reminded me of anything while writing... I wouldn't get any writing done. Or I would end up typing out the lyrics or something because if there's music going on, that's all I'm going to pay attention to.

Q: Is there anything you'd do differently, or like... anything you regret not being able to get in?

Amanda: There isn't anything I wasn't able to get in. I think the main habit I would like to try to get out of is the compulsive need to write chronologically. I think it would've made the writing process easier if I had let myself do anything out of order. BUT because of the nature of the journey and research it would've been hard to do out of order, so idk. I think it would've been tough because partly I was keeping track of location in my outline like there was always a bolded Day: # and Location if I needed to reference any details about where they were.

Q: Do you have any other writing projects planned?

Amanda: I've been working a bit on some original stuff, but I have a couple thoughts for Resbang next year. One is a brand new idea I'm definitely excited about, tho I haven't done any planning and also it would be a bigger project so we'll see. I think I'm going to try to do a shorter thing this year, though... shorter is relative and doesn't tend to end up staying short. I think the one I'm thinking of could be around 15k tho, which realistically means 30k in Resbang conversion. … Or I could try doing the new idea, which I would start out estimating at 40k, which realistically means 70k.

---

Thanks to Amanda and to all of our authors for some great AMAs this season! You can see the archived transcripts on the GrigoriWings forum here!

[she-who-the-river-could-not-hold]

Writing Process Tag Game

Tagged by the totally delightful @raven-reyes-of-sunshine thank you dear! 🖤

Answer 10 questions about your writing process, then tag 10 writers whose process you want to know more about. The point of this game is to have fun.

1. How do you get your story ideas? How do you know when something is worth writing and when it’s just a fleeting thought or fantasy? Tell us the origin story of one of your past or current WIPs.

I’m super inspired by movies, especially super genre ones. I actually used to never watch a lot of TV so a lot of my inspiration either comes from books or movies. But I’m also usually inspired by anything as cliche as it sounds!

If it’s worth writing it usually needs to be something I can see in my mind. Again with the movie stuff - I need to feel like I can watch it in my head and write it out. If I can’t see it, I don’t write it. But I usually also have too many ideas so I try to make sure I’m stoked enough to try to finish it.

I have three current WIPs - my Western one was initially inspired by The Magnificent Seven. My X-Files AU for Lumax has been bouncing around my head for a while and I’m finally getting that one written (the inspo is pretty obvious hahaha). And my Bellarke soulmark AU is inspired by all of the other awesome soulmate fics with a bit of inspo of my own relationship sprinkled in asfkdsjfklsdj.

2. What are your writing tools of choice? Are you picky? Do you have specific brands you like? If you have neuroses in this department, we want to hear about them.

I mainly just use Pages on my laptop and then will jot notes down on my phone if they hit me randomly! But I don’t have any particular feelings towards anything in particular. 

3. Where and when do you write? Morning? Dead of night? Your bedroom? The park? Paint us a picture of your usual surroundings when you sit down to write.

I tend to write whenever, but most often in the evenings! I usually sit at my counter in the kitchen and just write away, though if I have a slower day at work I’ll try to sneak in a little bit! Occasionally in my room but I spend most of my time at the counter.

4. Do you ever encounter writer’s block? If so, how do you overcome it? Any tips to pass on to other writers reading this?

Loooolll all of the time. It’s probably why I’ve written so many things, I’ll jump on something else when I feel like one project is just giving me fits. Since I only do this for fun, I let it ride out and either switch to gif making or a different fic! It’s not worth the frustration for me. Idk if that counts as a tip hahaha. Let yourself be stuck but then look for inspiration in other places to inspire you.

5. Do you outline? If no, why not? If yes, what kind of outlines do you make, and at what point in your writing process do you make them?

For multi-chapter fics I’ll outline. Usually some type of bulleted lists of the main plot points and action that need to happen, maybe some quotes I’ve already thought of. I’ve outlined a couple one shots before too but if they’re shorter I’ll let them flow as is. I really enjoy outlining at the start though because it helps me get in the mindset of the story and fully see it as I go. Also since I like to hop around while I write and not in order, it helps me figure out which scenes to work on while not messing up my earlier stuff.

6. When and how do you edit? After the first draft? During? Do you have a method, or is it kind of a free-for-all?

Mmmmmmmmm I don’t edit nearly enough. I’ll usually do one or two read throughs and then post it. I’m not as concerned about editing but I want to get a little better at it. 

7. Is there anything about your writing process that other people might consider to be unique or weird?

I think one time someone told me it was weird I wrote my endings early on in my work? I usually have an exact idea of how I want to end things so it’s something I write early on and struggle with the middle. 

8. Do you ever take breaks from writing? For how long do these breaks feel rejuvenating, or do they stress you out? Give us a sense of what life is like when you’re not writing.

The breaks usually are random and sporadic depending on my mood or if life and work are too much hahaha. I juggle a shit ton of things in my life and sometimes writing goes by the wayside since it’s just something I do for fun!

9. When do you first start writing? Why? What’s changed since then, if anything?

Oh man I don’t even remember. I’ve been writing for as long as I can remember. I would write all sorts of random stories, usually about witches or teenage girls who were spies. It’s probably from being an only child, all I did was make up stories. I co-wrote a book with a friend in seventh grade. And then in high school I took two semesters of creative writing. But once I got to college I stopped so it wasn’t until almost six years later I started writing again and that’s what you see here! 

10. Anything else you want to tell us about your writing process?

I guess for me the ideas are like mini movies or shows that play in my head and it’s my job to transcribe them for you. It’s why I love writing action and describing things, I want it to feel like you’re watching it play out in your head as well!

Tagging: @summer-in-hawkins, @el-and-hop, @formerlyjannafaye, @michael-hearteyes-wheeler, @the-most-beautiful-broom, @elizabthturner, @janes-mike

[lewnatic]

For the D&D asks, 1-20

Oh gosh, okay. This is gonna be long so I’m gonna do it under a cut.

What was your favorite Nat 1 Experience?

I don’t think a lot of my characters have had really funny Nat1 moments, sadly. I will always remember the one when @zhixx​ made a goblin named Spook’em specifically designed to have the least survivability possible. The first time he was downed he rolled a Nat1 on his first death save. The feeling of comedic timing was just beautiful.

Favorite D&D Inside Joke?

“You are a privateer! BUT ON LAHND.”

Favorite Item Your Character received in D&D?

Phailyn was supposed to get a tome to increase his strength, but when his crush said she wanted it, he immediately fucking dropped it so she could have it. So the DM let me sneak off and get a scrying orb we’d passed up earlier. He hasn’t used it yet, but I just like the story behind it.

Ves probably considers Sikrikta to be the best item she’s received has a lot of really expensive shit she’s keeping just because she has bourgie taste. She got a bottle of wine as a gift that would have been 400g if she’d left it unopened. She’s drinking it gradually through the adventure. It’s good, but not quite as good as what she’s used to.

Teeki has a gaudy diamond crown that Bing bought for 300 gold. It does nothing. It is purely cosmetic. She loves it.

Basically I love frivolous shit.

Preferred Animal Companion (if you had any)?

Vesxlit has a familiar, if that counts. He’s a parrot named Brilliant. He talks like a normal human (in a setting where that is definitely not commonplace) and is a member of the Bardic College in the capital city of the nation we’re traveling in.

He’s a posh gentleman who helps Ves sew dresses. They spend 90% of their time arguing because, being a bird, his fashion sense is incredibly bright and garish.

Favorite D&D Battle Encounter?

Every boss fight Skaaren has done is goddamn awesome, tbh. My favorite is the first just because of how scary it was.

Keep in mind, we’re level 1 in Pathfinder, an Oracle (Ves) and a Barbarian (Cato.) We’ve just watched a big hole open up in the ground, and our characters don’t know why, but we’re looking for missing people (including the barbarian’s boyfriend Fabius, he’s important) so we figure hell, this is probably where they’re missing.

We find some of the missing people at the bottom of the hole, but we haven’t found Fabius, so we go deeper in. We find this creepy old woman doing some kinda ritual or something by a pool of water? Barbarian charges in to kill her and save his man, and… kills her very quickly.

Silence. We go to check on Fabius, and we’re not sure if we can safely move him. I’m running out of heals from earlier stuff and I pop my last one on him, and after a while of debating what to do a ton of undead start coming out of the water. Just a goddamn mob. Whatever the hell creepy-lady was doing, we were suddenly way in over our heads. Even if we picked up Fabius and ran, we don’t have a fast way out of this hole. And we start taking damage fast. Including Fabius.

I don’t remember the specifics of the fight. I think that’s a testament to how much we were panicking. I remember feeling the helplessness of being a mage completely out of spell slots frantically trying to hit things with my stupid mace.

And I remember when the fight was over, I stayed down there panicking for several more minutes, trying to determine if Fabius was even alive while the barbarian ran to get the local doctor in a town of which he didn’t even speak the language.

In the end, Fabius was okay, and we both got out of it alive. It was just that sense of dread and fear, that we didn’t know how the DM’s rolls were going or if anything we were trying had any impact. Skaaren has always done a stellar job since of bringing that sense of genuine fear into the game when he wants to, but that first unexpected taste of it was so damn cool.

Favorite D&D NPC Interaction?

Varis Vrynn was my favorite villain. Not because of his fight, or how he fit into the greater lore, but because of how @extravagantshoes​ played him. He was a slimy uppity elf in the city of Galthiel, a city with heavy class divides based on magic ability. Varis was a powerful diviner, and a lot of our party interactions involved everyone in the party trying to piss him off and Varis looking down his nose in disgust at all of us.

Then Cedlanna, our young sorcerer, got a conversation with him alone in his manor, where he wanted to make a deal with her. And she just ripped into him. Cut to the core of his insecurities and how with all of his riches on display, his manor still was incredibly empty–that for all the parties he hosted he was completely alone.

He was doing some really irredeemable things and later tried to kill us all but I still managed to feel kind of sad that we ended up gruesomely killing him.

Dumbest thing You & Your Party Did

Charging through multiple spinning saws comes to mind. Every time I try to sneak around in heavy plate armor also comes to mind.

I feel like I need to make a separate post to discuss just all the impulsive things Cato does. Turning an entire city upside down just for the chance to punch a specific guy in the face was one.

Most Epic thing You & Your Party Did

I might also make a separate post about this, but Cato and Ves convinced a bunch of lizard people that they were their gods.

Basically in this setting, the level 1 baddies generally fought are called Rapia. They’re kobold-esque in design, but they have a faith-based culture and… well, kind of a faith-based biology. Rapia need something to worship, they undergo gradual physiological changes based on the thing they follow. (Say it’s a sea creature, they might get gills.) And if they don’t have something to worship, they literally become sick and presumably die.

We’d fought a few before and looted crap from their caves, including a tiny hammer that we never could have used but the barbarian held onto cuz idk??

We later ran into some others by falling through the roof of their cave, but they didn’t attack us. They started to assume that we were the gods depicted on one of their cave walls. For the sake of brevity, a fight broke out later when we were trying to leave, and Cato gave the hammer to one of the rapia who was helping us escape. It turned out in the DM’s notes, this hammer had significance to the rapia, and was supposed to be given to the religious leader of a tribe. And so the entire tribe turned to our side and protected us. And… they started following us.

It was about this time that the DM broke character to tell us he had no plan of this happening, and I guess we just have a tribe of rapia now. And we’ve had the goddamn campaign balanced around having a tribe of rapia ever since.

What did you like about your Campaign’s World?

I’m gonna try to sum these up quickly cuz these stories have already gotten long.

The Ascension world has elements of what I affectionately like to call Pop Fantasy, there’s some genre-awareness while not being parody, and all the work on the pantheon Spi did has been goddamn amazing. I also cannot figure out the overarching mysteries and that is awesome.

Nejj puts a ton into immersing us into the world. I can always very clearly get a feel for the sort of setting he’s putting us in, and I’ve been having a lot of fun with the political intrigue he’s been setting up.

Skaaren’s got the weirdest goddamn races in his setting and I love every single one of them. He’s also packed the setting full of little cultural details, I swear to god he’s done extensive research into what we’re having for breakfast in the morning based on where we’re staying.

What was the most Interesting Lore you Found?

I seriously can’t pick a favorite here so I’m going to give a silly answer, and that’s that acolytes of Ves’s goddess commune with her by getting super high. 

Summarize Your Campaign(s) in a Single Sentence

One for each campaign:A group of weird rebels and one very ordinary guy dismantle the ruling government.Goblins discover crazy politics and necromancy, what happens next will warm your heart.Tourists getting intimate with the horrifying hidden truths of nature

Describe your whole Party Dynamic in a Sentence

The best bunch of weirdos and one stupid shady paladin.Loner rogue becomes Team Mom by sheer force of how much the other two hate each other.Bug Jesus and The Angriest Boy discover family in the form of lizards.

What Alignment do your characters lean towards?

I have a weird time choosing an alignment for characters cuz motivations change a lot for my nerds. Teeki was True Neutral but has become more Chaotic Good. Ves is Lawful Good I guess?? And Phai is a goddamn mess whose alignment has shifted at least thrice since his conception.

How do you tend to Take Notes (if you do)?

Badly! Next question.

Prefer Story/Plot Driven or No Plot/Character-Driven Campaigns?

I tend to prefer plot-driven, but I honestly think elements of both should be implemented in your narrative–occasionally giving breaks from the overarching plot to give the cast some time to dick around can give a breath of fresh air to roleplay.

Combat or Role Play?

Roleplay, of course. I actually used to think I hated D&D combat. It took a lot of great sessions to make me realize that the RP doesn’t stop for combat, and that’s when I started really getting into learning and enjoying mechanics elements.

Favorite D&D Monster/Creature?

Illithid. I would love to actually play as one someday.

Magic User or Fighter?

Magic is more engaging to me, personally, but I like both.

Preferred Weapon/Spell in D&D?

Tasha’s Hideous Laughter. In large part because of how it’s roleplayed in Critical Role tbh. I also have felt the high of Sneak Attack enough times to really love it now.

What was your Favorite Nat 20 Experience?

One time I rolled a Nat20 perception while we were on the road and it was literally just to find a coin on the ground. That might always be my favorite. 

[pacejennings1-blog]

Getting Insurance to get a license?

I am having a hard time getting my without insurance. I have a permit but I need insurance to take the drivers test, but I don't have anyone to put me on theirs so I can take the test. Is there anything I can do so I can get insurance. Please help me I might suggest that you try this web site where one can compare quotes from the best companies: http://freeautoinsurance.xyz "Without putting it under your parents title ways to get motor insurance at 16? I recently got my g1 and im looking to buy an automobile within days' next couple. I stay with my mom and she doesnt travel or have auto insurance and my father has been outta the picture for a long-time. So just how may I get motor insurance under these cirumstances? What's a great car insurance to get a minimal use vehicle? What's a superb car insurance for a minimal use automobile? Fullsize truck insurance when compared with small size pickup? Could be the price for insurance on a full-size truck greater than it'd for for a small vehicle? Common auto insurance from the 17-year old? Significantly less than a (VW Beetle)? Hi all, Im 17 a VW enthusiast and only handed my driving exam. I am not saying im going to be any different to the research but im not just a speed at-all, not enough expertise is still a concern although Guys preimiems are dual women but i assume its likely to get insurance ive been aware of individuals who have just question that organization? I'm about to turn 16 and I'm wording how much will my car insurance be on a Mercedes and escalade both 2002 after insurance to get a VW Type-1 1300 beetle or even a VW splitscreen camper to get a 17-year old. As anyone who has tried getting an estimate to get a 17-year old boy its going to be 800 for inexpensive 1L car, 900 to get a 1.25L Fiesta or 1,400 for a 1.4L Zetec. and where? The RAC quoted 1,100 and went to ask about it then they declined had several quote to get a 1.6L beetle (because of age and slowness) of 1,400 but want under a 1000" Could my grandma incorporate her automobile insurance policy and my auto together? I've a car that's without insurance, in my own brand. If my grandma might just include my auto to her plan I needed to understand. If any variation is made by that I am a 19 yearold male." Where do i get medical health insurance in colorado. im 18? 18-year old man. Me dropped. Sad day:(. Haha so where would I find cheap health insurance:) Prelude vs Subaru on Insurance? What type is typically cheaper? Between a 97 - 01 Prelude along with a 00' Subaru 2.5rs Iv heard prelude insurance is not cheap. I know wrx insurance is hugely large thinking the 2.5rs must be cheaper since its not turbo'ed. Simply how much must I expect you'll pay for individual medical health insurance? I am making my career to return to faculty. Continuing my current healthplan through COBRA will definitely cost almost $400 regular. I am a healthful moderate social drinking non-smoker plus 25. Can I do better than $400 monthly?" Range rover sport insurance? How much might insurance per year expense me easily wer n is gone out by 2 obtain a range rover sport??? Im 19, held the full, clear driving license for 2 years that are more than! my partner would be the key driver, he is 23. Placed a full, clear driving licence for 5 years! thanx in advance!" Whay is insurance? How come it essential? Varieties of insurance? I would like about insurance. What's confidence?concepts of insurance? "Insurance fee is increased by obtaining a Permit?" Hello. is everyone here from texas? I just want to know if insurance companies in Colorado do improve your insurance pace once they are notified that your child includes a permit. As though living here isnt currently enough, allows prime it off with this shock." Is Aetna Medical Health Insurance any good? I'm healthy, but if anything happens I want to make certain I'm protected. Perhaps you have had any undesirable or good encounter with this particular firm. I actually have Humana, and so they don't want to purchase a office visit, therefore I am changing. Anything you could offer will be good. Thanks." Do you consider my auto insurance could go up? I am 18 years old. Do you consider my motor insurance might increase if my father were to purchase me an Eclipse?" Can it be correct that in the United States you'll find people that get jobs they might hate exclusively for inexpensive health insurance? Basically could get How does buying car insurance on your first car work? for an actual Green card or teachers, I'm considering emigrating to the Usa within the next 3 years. The thing is that folks on this community have been telling me that health insurance comes mostly from your manager in the US, and that when you have a preexisting problem, you might find yourself unable to transform for the career you need while you mightn't have the ability to get coverage or, should you get protected, be billed over your salary. Is this appropriate? Somebody 2-3 weeks ago was authoring how she was angry because she has Crohn's Disease and operates a part-time job with total benefits in-kind (insurance) and her husband teaches five adult-education classes in a community school plus a state university without rewards. She said that they have no kids (no objective of experiencing any), but she was excessively corner along with her partner as he loves teaching and doesn't desire to abandon it to get a full-time office work with advantages though he is putting away $1,500 per month for any possible problems. Is it certainly like this in the States. I enjoy America, appreciate its literature, its people, its ideals and thus many other activities, but this seems like a large deterrent if one doesn't have full job flexibility. Would up a spouse end stopping employment he enjoys performing and taking over something he could nothing like simply because the work that is less interesting provides inexpensive health insurance for somebody with a pre-existing situation." Do you really need to remain having a specific car insurance for a period of time? I'm short on money although I have to get new-car insurance. May I switch to your new one then have one car insurance to get two or a month? Car-insurance? Howmuch would it not cost to get a 16 year old girl, respect scholar & drivers ed to start a plan by her self, or would it not be cheaper to become included with my parents program? The automobile that is aslo would have been a madza 3. THANKS:)" Inexpensive auto insurance? I am searching for auto insurance...i have a dui on im and my file about to get my license back...so I would like some suggestions about some cheap insurance... .i have already tried the general and dairy property... 2 a oui how much and accidents may my insurance be today? i struck a parked vehicle while burning 2 yrs no body was injured my cars rear bumper must be replaced and the different automobiles front fender ago then two weeks before i hit my vehicle on a tree and totaled it and that I got a oui my insurance was $100 monthly before simply how much might it be currently such as a guess? What's the very best insurance provider for a old using a poor driving history? car insurance for nj drivers Bike insurance price - Modern? I merely need insurance on my cycle for such as a week and progressive merely offers me the choice to often spend the total 12-month price ($255) up front now OR 2 obligations annually that is $135 at the start at this time. Im not spending $135 when im merely going to be riding it? Medical Insurance?!?!? I am having to get my own personal medical health insurance for the first time. Can someone help me determine all this out? What should I be searching for? I am young and healthful, therefore I wouldn't want to pay much, but I'd like to feel confidant in my protection. Additionally, dental protection will be needed by me -any data there?? Thanks so much!" Do I need bike insurance to journey a bike in the dealership off? I recommended evidence of insurance while the bike (motorcycle) is compensated in profit the town of Milwaukee, state-of Wisconsin?" Medical care insurance issue? I am 21 and under my guardian insurance, I'd to be always a full time pupil to be able to be back under their insurance. I got my new ID, I'm back on medical care insurance but Iam striving intensively in another of my courses, and I can not find tutoring for this specific school. There's also no book from my lecturer, therefore making me removing as a result. Withdrawing in the school might abandon me with 11 loans. Since I have my ID card, and Iam under medical care insurance and also have my insurance card and everything, can this result may or my eligibility I have medical care insurance under my parents?" Cheapest auto insurance in usa? im 18. my parents now have a plan in Geico. I used to be to register also in an idea but I think Geico is not too cheap. Which car insurance corporation may be the CHEAPEST (All-State, 21st etc.)? If it matters nevertheless the place of living is in Virginia, idk." Atlanta average car insurance commission for suffering and discomfort? If a uninsured person get hit by protected one who hit and ran and there's discomfort and battling with personal injury what's the average payment? Getting Insurance to get a license? I am having a hard time getting my without insurance. I have a permit but I need insurance to take the drivers test, but I don't have anyone to put me on theirs so I can take the test. Is there anything I can do so I can get insurance. Please help me I might suggest that you try this web site where one can compare quotes from the best companies: http://freeautoinsurance.xyz When getting an insurance estimate have you got inform them what your seats have been decreased to or...? Have to know easily can let them know what my tickets were lowered to or if I must tell them what I had been truly pulled over for and I am likely to get an insurance quotation. How much will we be price by health insurance? My sweetheart and I are considering moving their state of Florida, to the United States. We've pre-existing neurological, situations and we're 36 years old. We'd want to discover how much income we shall have to paid monthly for a healthinsurance that addresses costs-such as dental hygiene, exams, medications and medical visits." Does just how many occasions your license suspended influence your insurance charges? Toronto Affordable Health insurance in California? I'm looking to purchase health insurance in California. My money is 000$ a year and since i merely work part-time, 10. i requested Medical couple of months ago through welfare office, but my case worker was really mean he was requesting a great deal of files as a way to agree my application and every time i go to the welfare office they make me watch for 4 hours.so i chose to seek out health insurance through Barak treatment website but I discovered that airplanes that expense 100$ and below doesn't protect perhaps 30% of the medical expenses. Any tips about finding inexpensive health insurance in Florida with protection that is excellent??? Thankyou" Medical Health Insurance question? My man's boss wont present them Health Insurance. Where may I call or so what can if he has to provide them I do to request insurance or not. Please help!!!!!" Insurance Help Please? I obtained a page today indicating that my medical insurance is approximately to be canceled. I have been on my mom's insurance forever. She's impaired and may not function so that it was circumstances funded system. (Tenncare) I'm too old to stay under hers anymore and so I used myself. Listed below are my credentials. I'm 19 plus a full-time college student. I've a component time career and make about 500-600 per month. My overall monthly bills are about 450 (not rising gas and food). I'm having to be determined by my children to also endure right now. I donot understand why I used to be rejected health insurance a month once I essentially create negative money? I am definitely anxious that I may need to have surgery shortly and because I just found out I have PCOS with a significant tumor on my ovary that is right. I'm going to the physician at least one time a month to monitor the advancement of the tumor. I seriously can't afford my very own health insurance. Is there something I can do? Also medical health insurance does not be offered by the area I work. Thanks in advance." "Somebody hit my car, but doesn't have car insurance.?" I went outside to acquire in my vehicle, and found that somebody struck my people side-door. A girl said she found it happen, but could not get any information on the automobile apart from that it belonged into a neighbor's pal and arrived. Well I obtained telephone # and the girls title from your friend, but they did not feel she's auto insurance. Must I also bother should I contact the cops and document run police statement and a hit or calling your ex? I will note that this lady hit my vehicle of a month before. Until I had her info, I needed to wait. Is it too late to call the cops?" How much money might a 16 year-old need to buy annual insurance to get a sports-car? how much money would a 16 yearold need to pay for yearly insurance on a sportscar? For instance a 1999 ford mustang Car Insurance. I have been in an auto accident and need assistance. Please helppp!!!!? I am working our car insurance companies with both, and found myself in a car accident. I had been not at ticketed or fault. What car would cost more to insure? would like advice. They're showing me I must spend my deductable, and get it. Same with all the rentalcar! But I-donot have the cash to-do all of this? Please, supply advice!!!" Having trouble deleting auto insurance with allstate? I named my local Allstate gentleman on Monday the 22nd. I soaked into my Allstate bill online about the 27th, and he stated he'd stop the plan also it nevertheless was not ended. I called their 24-hour customer care and spoke with an individual who stated they'd devote the demand to stop the coverage again. I sign into my lender today and so they WITHDREW my March fee! And so I named them again and so they mentioned the policy was still effective. The lady I talked with tonight claimed they will need to discover evidence that I am with Geico now. Why didn't anybody tell me the first two times? What do I must do to acquire my policy to become postponed? I've been having a few different automobile insurance organizations in my evening and I've NEVER had that much of a concern obtaining the coverage cancelled! That I'm afraid and as of now I am owed by them well over $200 they're going to enjoy with activities with me before I get my cash back. What are selections and my privileges??" 1999 Pontiac Grand Am SE auto insurence? Just how much will it cost for me personally monthly just estimate the price please to possess insurance on that auto thanks and so are ponitacs goood with-there engine and all that it has 172000 miles on it for $2900 should i take it or na just tell me concerning the insurance please cheers Do I've to have auto insurance? I had insurance I now offered the vehicle and push a company car 100% of that time period and use to own a-car. I named my insurance dude and advised him to stop it and he suggests that Illinois features a state-law that claims I've to own insurance on the car since I reside acquainted with my parents and everyone in the home includes a vehicle. I really could probably get in to at least one of there automobiles and be not insured. He was told by me I actually donot cuz I still a-car with company insurance he said I've to really have a coverage with my title about it by law is this accurate? How much does business car insurance charge? Just how much does business car insurance cost? Is California's New Auto Insuranse Law Forced? A loophole has closed in the regulation that permitted people to enroll with good insurance and end a short time afterward or to register their automobiles with artificial insurance. Today once you end your insurance, the insurance business will tell you also auto's and the DMV electronically enrollment will undoubtedly be terminated? What happens afterward? You possess the ticket that is valid looking on your automobile...So Can Be police currently planning to be preventing at this point you just to check for insurance? How do you get your subscription re-instated if revoked under these situations?" "How much wll insurance is paid for by me if im 16?? aint got an easy car or anything-but just how much if my parent gives me on or how much wouldn't it be easily pay(easily can try this at 16) Auto Insurance? What's the top auto insurance for somebody who is 18 a good insurance that dosent cost that much How do I get my motor insurance cheaper? Hi am 31 and got 8 years no clams I am finding it hard to have it cheap and drive a corsa vxr Car Insurance for 17 year old? British? I have tried calling corporations - all of them state 'we can't give you a quote' sites - 'cannot quote' How am i designed to get insurance... I dont mind spending something upto 7000 I've attempted with 3 vehicles that were different... Even a 1.0L and still no quotes. Lamborghini insurance cost? On a 100K 2005 lambo for 20-year old with a clean driving record not looking for a precise solution, this is just a problem me plus a friend wondered about what might the insurance value be" Cheap auto insurance I mean cheap? Observed insurance is significant and just handed my test, I need anything or some kinda voucher to get to guarantee my vehicle. Any tips. UK ONLY" What's a 2Dr car that's insurance charges that are reduced? 000 selection runs well" Term Life Insurance Title? My spouse and I are in 50is and our 40's. We have created A/N trusts and moved our assets in their mind, and have a locations that may benefit from the property tax-saving these trusts afford. We recently both bought $1M 10-year renewable term life-insurance procedures that we expect you'll retain for 10 years. We decided never to use-life insurance trusts as the purpose of the policies will be to exchange the deceased spouse's lost money if among us dies relatively soon, not to raise our closing estate, and also the trusts are significantly costly. Since we want the disposition of possessions specified there to be used for this income we each specified our own trusts since the receivers. The trusts give the money, and theory if needed, to be paid to the partner, and for the remainder to become settled to our kid in the remaining spouses death. The issue of property of the policies is more bounce. Our attorney says that it generally does not make much distinction who possesses them, since the importance (house) taxed is only one-year's premium, not the $1M. Our accountant suggests that the $ 1M is taxed, which the other partner should owns each coverage in order to avoid tax on that amount. A pal stated that there is no means of avoiding or somewhat decrease the tax, thus only keep the possession as is (each partner possesses their own policy). There is while in the ointment another fly the fact that the insurance carrier (Ma SBLI) makes some types of trust control expensive and more challenging. I am confused. What property is the best? What is that choice's benefit? Thanks for the time." Where to find out how much gas i need for a Mercedesbenz c300? Okay so i'm guess to accomplish a vocation project and pick a task and where iam planning to reside,medical insurance etc.For my task i selected a Mercedes Benz c300 for my vehicle.For energy alternative i selected covers and it price 2.909 per gallon.How do i figure out the typical charge for a week and/or month?First resonable solution get best answer.i actually need this so please help me!thankyou! :)" "Easily crash, could my parents motor insurance rise?" If im and i freeze on learners permit, wouldn't it go up? He explained i and because i called my insurance broker dont must be like a driver be covered listen. I reside in colorado btw if that concerns." "When auto insurance refuses to protect a collision, how to proceed?" My boyfriend crashed his pal's car lately. He'd agreement to travel it but happened to find yourself in an accident. His friend has insurance for your car and my partner has his insurance, but neither ones' insurance may protect the automobile. He considers his possibilities are restricted to only overpowering the car payments or going to trial (the buddyis insurance claims it ought to be claimed as stolen if he doesn't spend up). Shouldn't the friend's insurance be expanded to protect my sweetheart? Are not there other options?" Getting Insurance to get a license? I am having a hard time getting my without insurance. I have a permit but I need insurance to take the drivers test, but I don't have anyone to put me on theirs so I can take the test. Is there anything I can do so I can get insurance. Please help me I might suggest that you try this web site where one can compare quotes from the best companies: http://freeautoinsurance.xyz

[rokurookajima]

answering some questions no one asked for because i’m extremely bored

placement asks

sun:  what makes you feel like you?

this is such a hard question, probably just because i feel like i’ve only really started to feel like “me” again in the last few months. sometimes being with my oldest friends (like friends i’ve been friends with for a really really long time) makes me feel more in touch with myself, because they’ve known me through so many phases of myself, sometimes they kind of bring me back to that. when i’m working rly hard on a school project that i really care about (if you didn’t realize i’m an art major so i’m not as boring as that makes me sound). when i’m talking to someone and realize i’ve been sharing a lot of my opinions and real thoughts with them wihtout hesitation. in therapy sessions. 

moon:  do you have problem with trust?

not really. i trust people pretty easily, i’m just a really open person. however i think i’ve lost a lot of trust in the way of like...i think it’ll be really hard for me to trust a potential romantic partner now that i’ve experienced a hard break up. it’s something i work on in therapy lmao

rising:  how/what do people say you come off as?

most people tell me i’m likeable, so i guess just pretty friendly and open. i’m a saggitarius rising, i think that greatly benefits me socially until people get to know me and realize i’m a living spreadsheet 

midheaven:  what do you want to be when you grow up?

content lmao. i want to find a job i love, i’m honestly not sure what it would be. if i could publish my own photobooks i’d be happy with that. i just really wanna live a life that’s fulfilling to me, i have no idea what job i want just as long as i can make enough money to be comfortalbe and i don’t hate it

venus:  do you flirt more knowingly or unknowingly?

probably unknowingly. a lot of guys get crushes on me when we meet, and i just think i’m being friendly to them, but it probably comes across as flirting. if i want to flirt with someone tho, i’m completely aware and i’m sure they are too because my real flirting is not subtle at all

mars:  when was the last time you got mad and why?

i’m not sure. i don’t really get mad very often, when i do it’s usually just at myself. i get mad during/after therapy a lot (i mean not really /mad/ just frustrated) when we talk about my possible future relationships, how i might be holding myself back from meeting someone, certain things about my past relationship. it’s better now, but for a while i was mad every time we talked about the way i viewed myself

mercury:  who's your go-to person when you need to talk?

truly so many people!! which i mean i’m really lucky to have that, but i’m also an oversharer so i’ll tell anyone anything more or less. but usually when something happens or i need help, i’ll go to annabeth, olivia, evie, or gabrielle first

jupiter:  when was the last time you got lucky?

my mind immediately took this to mean sexually so uh. november. but as far as actual luck....idk man i’m still gonna say it was pretty lucky when i got laid in november. i don't really have good luck

saturn:  what are you the weakest and strongest at?

strongest and weakest at introspection. i’m really good at knowing exactly what i’m feeling, why i feel it, and whether or not it’s rational. but i also lose myself in the negative side of introspection and destroy myself over my own perceieved failures 

uranus:  are you rebellious and do you act upon it frequently?

no lmao not at all. i guess to some just my appearance would be considered rebellious, but i really didn’t get tattoos trying to be a rebel

neptune:  what was your best dream and why?

four years ago i had a dream that would give me the idea for a graphic novel i’ve been plotting until this point, and now i’m going to finally write it as my senior thesis project!! 

pluto:  what is your biggest aspiration and why?

also to be happy and content. why not man, who doesn’t want to be content? i feel like being content means being able to be okay with things not being perfect, and like..having faith that whatever is missing will work out eventually. which i struggle with, and i keep myself from being happy half the time i think. of course like my biggest aspiration would be to have all the things i want in place in life, but to be content in the meantime is a good aspiration too. 

lilith:  what's your biggest turn on in someone?

man if i’m into someone, literally everything will turn me on. but just right off the bat, it’s an energy thing. i’ll see  someone i think is aesthetically attractive, then there’ll be a certain vibe i get from them that’ll make me really attracted to them

aries:  what's your favorite sport to play?

what kind of question is this 

taurus:  are you a dog or cat person?

cat person

gemini:  are you introverted or extroverted?

somewhere in between, but i think mostly extroverted. if i go too long without seeing friends, i get so unmotivated and sad. i need to be around people i like more or less every day. but i still do need some time to myself to reconnect and chill

cancer:  when was the last time you cried and why?

sunday afternoon, i’m not really sure why. i’m gonna blame the cancer full moon.i just all the sudden got really sad about life and the future and the past and just everything, and broke down in my car while driving. then i felt marginallly better after getting it all out.

leo:  what makes you the most confident?

honestly i’m rlly confident during sexual encounters. but in a more general day-to-day life kind of way, i feel more confident when i put some effort into my hair/makeup/clothes. if i’m in a good mood, i feel a lot more confident too

virgo:  what's your strongest subject in school?

i’m in college, i feel like this kind of question works better for high school. but digital photography classes are the ones i feel like i do best in most of the time (all my junior year i felt like i was doing bad in them, but i felt like i was doing bad in every class so)

libra:  what's your favorite make up brand?

i’m not rlly loyal to any one brand, i just use specific products exclusively. i like limecrime for the venus palettes, too faced bc i use their better than sex mascara, i’ve used almay liquid eyeliner since the 8th grade

scorpio:  what's your most kept secret?

why would i tell y’all

sagittarius:  do you like to party?

i love to party!! i literally never thought i would be someone who goes to parties, i thought i was way too socially anxious and afraid of the unknown to do it. but in the last year i’ve gotten way more comfortable with going to parties to the point i’ll even show up by myself (i mean i vaguely know pretty much everyone who will be there so there’s still that). but yeah now i always have a really good time and look forward to going to parties 

capricorn:  what's the last book you've read?

this book is full of spiders (seriously dude don’t touch it) by david wong, the sequel to the very beloved john dies at the end. i started it over the summer and finally finished it this winter break i had no time to read during the semester

aquarius:  do you believe in aliens?

honestly i don’t ever give it much thought, but i don’t see a reason not to believe in them

pisces:  how frequently do you remember your dream?

usually i remember rlly vague snippets, not much detail. every now and then i’ll have a really vivid dream with an actual storyline that’s worth remembering and those are my favorites. i wish i had them more often 

[warriorgays]

I'm going to ask the most broad and annoying question so forgive me, but what happened to everyone after Through the Gay Days ended? I have never been more invested in a group of characters in my life and I desperately want them all to be happy, whatever form that takes, in the end. Also! what other sources did you draw from besides Coming Out Under Fire? I was so impressed with how well researched everything was. 💖

OH MAN I didn’t expect to actually get a question, lol!! And that’s one I’m happy to answer, because I did think a lot about it. idk if I’m ever going to actually write a follow up, because my WIP list is soooo long and, tbh, the 50s are SO DEPRESSING in terms of LGBT stuff.

IT TOOK ME AN HOUR TO WRITE THIS UP. I APOLOGIZE. UNDER A CUT BECAUSE HOLY FUCK. I apologize for any typos but I’m just publishing instead of proofreading because what the fuck.

In terms of sources... I really think Coming Out Under Fire was the main “intentional” one. I have a BA in history and I’m getting my MA right now, so I’ve READ a lot of history and probably unconsciously drew on a lot. the other one I can definitely think of is Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers, by Lillian Faderman, which covers lesbian U.S. history from the early 1900s to the 1980s. she draws on COUF for her 40s chapter (which is kind of a bummer because I was hoping for more WWII lesbian-specific content lol), but she’s good at covering some of the broad-strokes history of sexuality and LGBTQ identity. Becoming Visible by Molly McGarry is a really cool illustrated history, too, I’ve read that a few times over the years.

SO, for post-war lives, I’m going to warn you real quick it does get depressing for everybody for a little bit because uhhh the 50s fucking sucked? Faderman talks about this a lot, and actually Stephanie Coontz is a good source too--she has this book titled The Way We Never Were, which basically debunks the idea of “the ~traditional~ family” and looks at the ways our perceptions of society’s values have changed. and one thing she points out is that the 1950s are really the first time when society looks at single men--all single men--and thinks “there must be something WRONG with them.” before that, people were willing to accept that some dudes just didn’t want to get married, for plenty of reasons that had nothing to do with homosexuality, but in the 50s everyone was so gungho about The Family that anyone not into it was looked at with suspicion. add that to the whole “homosexuals are susceptible to Communist blackmail, better fire them all” and things fucking sucked.

I PROMISE HAPPY ENDINGS, THOUGH, because the whole “LGBTQ people lived depressing lives until these Enlightened Times” trope is my least favorite trope ever.

SO, for Gene Roe, my first thought for his post-war life was this Gaslight Anthem lyric that @antiquecompass prompted me for a Snafu/Roe fic foreverrrrrr again: “I’m in love with the way you’re in love with the night.” so I imagine that Snafu comes home, and they try to just settle into things as usual, but Snafu starts really pushing Gene’s buttons. being more snide, being disrespectfully obvious about being nonmonogamous (like it’s one thing to go cruising and another to bring dudes home to the apartment you’re sharing with your boyfriend, COME ON MAN), trying to pick fights. and of course the impetus for all this is Snafu struggling with PTSD and thinking that Gene is too good for him but not being able to end it himself. of course Gene doesn’t put up with this bs, so one day Snafu finally admits he’s doing this because he’s afraid the war turned him into kind of a fucked up asshole, and Gene’s like “you were always a fucked up asshole? what’s your point? I love you?”

so then things kinda simmer down. Gene’s not Officially a doctor anymore, but he and Snafu live in an apartment building in the poorer part of the city with a lot of ~ethnic~ folk nearby some black neighborhoods, so he does some informal community doctoring around those buildings, and that earns him enough goodwill that he and Snafu don’t really have to worry about getting caught out. it’s the kind of neighborhood where a lot of people have to... bend the law a bit to get by, to be happy, whatever, so people trade food and skills as needed and there’s always an alert if the cops are coming by. it’s a good place for them. they’re happy. I’ve only really thought ahead like ~ten years, but I can imagine them eventually moving on when the community moves on, you know, whether to another city or somewhere a little more rural, depending, and that being okay. and I think, with Gene’s influence, and seeing how strong the ties are between the Pansies with Parachutes(TM), Snafu is able to reach out to Sledge and Burgie and the rest more than irl/show canon.

Babe and Spina are the other two that totally make it, soulmates, heartbreakingly cute. but I promised a little heartbreaking, so basically my idea is that they actually move in together a little while after the war, but at some point Babe’s mom realizes what’s up and... does not take it well. gives him an ultimatum, break up with Ralph or she won’t let him near the family, which Babe finds agonizing because he’s really close with his family but Ralph doesn’t have very many relatives, at least not close by (in this verse at least), and even if he could bring himself to break up with Ralph, at this point he doesn’t think his mom will ever treat him the same anyway.

in my head there’s a really sweet scene when Ralph finds out what happens and a lot of hugging and comforting. but yeah. that briefly sucks. what DOESN’T suck is when Babe decides, after a few months, that he has to tell Bill (because Bill has gotten so close to the Heffrons that of course he notices when Babe suddenly isn’t speaking to them), and Bill proves himself to be a total Bro who decides that, well, the typical idea of a homosexual CLEARLY doesn’t fit Babe and Spina so... it’s all good? like c’mon they went through a war together, that’s worth something, right?

I think eventually Babe and Spina move, too. not super far, just maybe to, idk, New York, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, somewhere they can visit everyone but maybe far enough to put some distance between them and bad memories, and also because South Philly is small when your family isn’t speaking to you, you know? possibly they end up in the same city as Luz and Tipper (see next), I’m not 100% sure but I’m vaguely attracted to the idea of everybody ending up on a commune, lol.

so I think I’m probably meanest to Luz, because I imagine him getting arrested at some point. sorry, boo. his reaction is to pay the fine and slink out, and get out of dodge for a while to avoid his family getting any blowback, and he ends up visiting Tipper, who’s really frustrated (which I alluded to a bit at the end of Through the Gay Days) because he just doesn’t click with his old friends as much and he hasn’t had a lot of luck romantically. and again I have this clear scene in my head of Tipper helping Luz dress in drag for the first time, lots of giggling and teasing, but Tipper doesn’t really do drag anymore because he can’t keep his balance in heels, and they end up talking about their frustrations and venting and whatnot. and eventually Luz is like “you know what? fuck it! run away with me!”

and Tipper’s like “fuck it, let’s do it!” so they just kind of live a semi-nomadic life? idk, maybe not really nomadic, but they get jobs that let them move/travel, so they don’t have the pressure of expectations. I’m on the fence about whether they do this as lovers... I would say not, like, REALLY. like possibly a friends with benefits thing (and I’ll point out that Luz is one of the only other named characters who interacts with Tipper, other than Liebgott, because Tipper’s in charge of the map during the Major Horton scene, so that chemistry could totally work). because they’re, like, the two from the fic whose relationships don’t end up going anywhere, and I don’t want them to pine after the Joes forever, and they don’t, but sometimes people just don’t find their soulmates, it happens, and they can at least make each other happy.

this is one of those verses where I’ve decided Liebgott gets to keep his wife-and-kids dream. I do think he’s gay in this verse, and when he gets engaged he writes a letter to Tipper basically seeking closure, admitting he dealt with things in kind of a shitty way and admitting it might be nice to have a Gay Posse, but he also takes his marriage seriously even if it’s not a love match, and doesn’t seek romantic or sexual encounters with men. idk if Joe Toye actually gets married in this verse, but I don’t see him as gay. if we were to retroactively apply the Kinsey scale, I’d say he’d be a 1 or a 2, in which the situational aspect of war kind of pushed him towards interactions that he may have subconsciously desired, but definitely wouldn’t acknowledge in a normal time and place.

as for Chuck! I kind of like the future I give Chuck, partly because he conveniently is from the LA area. so for him, I imagine that at some point Ron Speirs just kind of shows up on his doorstep one day and they become, like, an actual Thing. and it’s good for a couple of years, but Ron seems... restless. and eventually Chuck sits him down and flat-out says “look, I really don’t think you’re cut out for this settled-down long-term-relationship kind of thing. we had a good run, we can part on good terms, but you can travel and have adventures and do all the stuff you want to do.” and then, correctly, points out that one of the reasons Speirs is so reluctant to do that is because he feels guilty for Chuck getting shot, which doesn’t really make any sense. Chuck’s only request is that Ron NOT GO BACK INTO THE ARMY, because fuck Korea, have you heard how many gay soldiers are getting kicked out of the military nowadays? Speirs agrees and they break up amicably.

(is Chuck still in love with him? yes. does it hurt like a motherfucker? yes.)

ANYWAY. the L.A. is where the Mattachine Society, the first official homosexual organization in the country, was founded in 1948... or maybe 49. I forget. the founder started asking around a while before he found people who were actually willing to join up. I figure Chuck eventually joins up and is the first of the Pansies with Parachutes(TM) to really develop a political gay identity. and through that org he eventually meets Beth, a lesbian who’s just broken up with her gf and is kind of panicking because now she might have to leave her apartment and go back to her parents in Nebraska, and they become fast friends and fuck it, why not get married? it’s good cover, and I could have also gotten a chance to talk about the working class lesbian bar scene in the 1950s, which is a cool topic.

if this were a formal fic, I would end it with 1952, when the entire group reunites in honor of the 10-year anniversary of them meeting at Toccoa. since it’s not, suffice to say they do have all-group reunions, and they also visit each other and call and write letters and stay friends 5ever. at some point Babe and Spina have a not-wedding (there’s a picture of a wedding in the 50s with two grooms in flower crowns in Becoming Visible, I love that picture) and they all come and celebrate. OH and at some point between Luz getting arrested and meeting with Tipper, he definitely visits Gene in Louisiana and they make out a bit. because, tbh, I caught a bit of UST in Through the Gay Days--I don’t know if it’s a ship I’d ship in any other verse, lol, but in this verse I feel like they need to make out.

anyway. eventually the 50s end. I want to say that by the time Stonewall happens, either Tipper&Luz or Babe/Spina (both??) are living in NYC and for three days everyone is frantically calling each other going “DID YOU HEAR ABOUT THIS???” and Chuck becomes totally into the California gay scene, and Babe’s nieces and nephews eventually reach out to him, Tipper and Luz either... idk, become real boyfriends or get hot younger boyfriends and become Wise Gay Dads to the younger crowd. Snafu and Gene grow old together, as hard as it is to imagine old Snafu.

EVERYBODY IS HAPPY AND FRIENDS AND GAY, THE END.

[lilietsblog]

sailor moon episode 24 (nephrite gets fucked over: THE FUCKSPLOSION)

SO BACK TO SAILOR MOON SAILOR MOON ...why are you spoiling the entire episode in the preview (maybe I wanted to hope it'll end differently this time ;~;)

its really cool how i can pause on frames of opening and read the hiragana part of the sentences

gomen is written in katakana for emphasis huh

apparently there's a kanji that's pronounced just 'i'

and a kanji that's pronounced just 'a'

omg i just noticed the kanji have small hiragana pronounciations above them!!! bless u subbers let's practice

...this resolution is not good enough for half the spelling symbols >_<

i've managed to catch the frame before the romaji subs appeared this time, but i feel like i'm cheating because i half remember the lyrics )=

welp i dont know how to tell small tsu from big tsu and confused 'te' with 'ta' -_-

okay this mistake doesnt count because i just couldnt make out the symbol and took a random stab at it >_>

tsuki no hikari ni michibikare

i just know this line by heart >_>

(im deleting most of the stuff i transcribed here w/e)

look the mistakes i made because i cant fucking make out the teeny tiny kanji transcription dont count >_>

WELL THIS HAS BEEN AWESOME IF I KEEP THIS UP I MIGHT EVEN LEARN SOME KATAKANA I REMEMBER 'N' ALREADY

oh hey the episode name is transcribed too! neato!

Naru-chan koukyuu Nephraito ai no shi!

(this was not transcribed in romaji so im legit proud of this! lets see how many mistakes I made) (nephrite was in katakana and i cant read that so i just kinda assumed XD)

goddammit goukyuu i did not notice the " mark ;~;

EVERYTHING ELSE IS CORRECT I CAN DO THIS

aw man this is the same playground, isn't it? no wait last time it was a swimming pool i think either way last time they were playing and now Naru just sits there well NOW she knows for a fact how badly in over her head she is doesn't she

and Usagi is just standing there worried queen <3

and still pushing her line about forgetting him heh even after her wish on the stars for him to not do bad things anymore wise child <3

man they are pulling out all stops with Tragic Naru here the voice, the sharp lighting on hair covering her eyes

ah hello fucker long time no see let's see what you are thinking about this now with your head slightly cooled

'Was that the energy of love?' and this smile omg

i bet he's really fucking tired of being the only shitennou without a romantic interest lol

ahaha and her laughing face before his eyes

they are totally trying to sell us on the whole 'he did fall for her' thing whatever actually, i dont even care for the age difference, the everything else difference is too bad

oh hey look at Nephrite being more observant than Naru sorry dude but secret identities dont work that way )= it just means that /Sailor Moon/ knows who Naru is not the other way round

hello Zoicite pissed at Nephrite stealing your job

'could ginzuishou be something inside a human body?' i don't know what circuitous path his logic took to this conclusion given that Naru is NOT the ginzuishou holder

surprisingly, it's possible to render looking into a girl's naked body in a non-pervy way wow who fucking knew

Naru did you know you are supposed to be more freaked out at a scary adult guy being in your room / in your window eh she knows >_>

ah the carefully measured dozes of truth best way of lying

'Thanks to you, I have learned what love is for the first time' (LIAR LIAR PANTS ON FIRE)

'In the evil organization I have been a part of, there is no love' ...actually, if you define 'love' as 'mutual, non-manipulative, non-fucked-up' that might just be close to truth

I bet that for all that Nephrite is lying to her, the part about his grievance with the Dark Kingdom is real he just prioritizes his mission still

'I thought that was normal, but your love opened my eyes' ah here comes the carefully measured bullshit part again

(Naru is obviously buying this wholesale)

'Now I'm thinking I might want to join Sailor Moon to fight against the evil organization' see the bs tingler here is that if it's the lack of love and personal fulfillment that led him away, not any kind of moral reasoning, and Naru isn't a part of Sailor Moon's team, he wouldn't want to go back to the same fight, he'd just want to get away then again he does think Naru is a part of Sailor Moon's team I guess

man I wanna write a fic where he ends up doing just that, what he says here ;u;

'If you know anything about Sailor Moon, please tell me' and here comes the biggest bullshit tingler if he approached this in good faith, he wouldn't have asked Naru to betray Sailor Moon's confidence, he'd just ask her to relay a message, put them in contact, come up with some way to prove his loyalty this is bullshit that's measured specifically for a young girl who's not thinking straight

'Can you not trust me?' THE BIGGEST BULLSHIT TINGLER SHE CANNOT TRUST YOU AND YOU KNOW THAT VERY WELL

and he appears in a reflection neat visual trick, I do wonder where he is physically

ha he didn't even expect her to actually tell him, just to contact Sailor Moon I guess if Naru were /actually/ trusted with the secret, she WOULD be more careful

ahaha and now Zoicite is making the entirely wrong conclusion well okay maybe not entirely? idk it's definitely not the same kind of infatuation Naru has for him she arrested his imagination, sure he's tempted to reciprocate her care and accept her as his own, yes o well Zoicite ends up on top either way

I wonder what time it is, if Usagi's mom actually calls her to the phone and isn't just like 'fuck you it's midnight go to sleep' or is it just because it's Usagi's mom...

and Usagi is listening I wonder how much she can figure out of what's going on

USAGI TRANSFORM man she can run real well I love this girl she is all ready to kick anyone's ass now and like she called the youma to show itself BEFORE transforming badassest rabbit <3

ahaha and she immediately panics when Nephrite throws her off balance

PLEASE! DON'T TELL ANYBODY THAT I'M SAILOR MOON! OKAY?! PLEASE?!

oh my god what a wonderful rabbit <3

NEPHRITE GETS A WTF SWEAT DROP ON HIS GLOVE <333333333333333333

GIRL IM ABOUT TO KILL YOU WHY IS YOUR PRIORITY SECRET IDENTITIES

I DONT WANNA DIE

I love just how... earnestly Usagi engages with him she's ready to assume he's not an enemy she's ready to talk even after he confirms he is

OH HEY IS THIS TUXEDO KAMEN or is this plant youma >_>

aww yip it's Tuxedo <33

hey Tuxedo fought him already before in the tennis episode didn't he

man if Nephrite didn't get killed this ep Usagi would really be in troube

SARAMADA I wonder what exactly this is Japanese

'That idiot! Who cares what happens to that girl?!' says Nephrite after having aborted the fight with Sailor Moon to check on her, about to rush to her rescue XD

thats a smart way of tying Naru up, she really can't move

AND HERE HE IS SHOWING UP EVERYONE IS SURPRISED yeah girls you kind of want to run man why did Nephrite hold back against Sailor Moon so much he would really have killed the senshi if he had really tried >_>

'I may continue to lie to you, even after this' man this is the most honest thing Nephrite has ever said in his life ;~;

NARU WILL TAKE WHATEVER

OMG NEPHRITE'S EXPRESSION IF I HAD NOT PAUSED HERE I WOULD NOT HAVE CAUGHT IT PLEASE ENJOY

so is Nephrite's blood green or is it from the plant minions

NARU SWEETHEART IT'S REALLY REALLY NOT YOUR FAULT HE GOT HURT LIKE IN NO REALITY DO YOU OWE HIM ANYTHING AT ALL FOR BAILING YOU OUT OF A JAM HE GOT YOU HIMSELF

awww and the symbolic Taking Off The Jacket it's somewhere around now that the decision to Prioritize Naru is solidifying in his head

aw Naru your pyjamas )= (my priorities remain excellent as ever)

...okay so maybe Nephrite is kidna handsome >_> more here than last episode

ehehe Naru can tell when he's lying <3

man she's just so comfortable settling there on the grass she's so happy to be sitting there ;~;

'Oh, come to think of it, does the evil organization give you Sundays off, too?' oh this line not only is it hilarious, but it also indicates that Naru figured out he was playing her she knows he's not actually leaving the evil organization for real and takes it for granted that he also understands that he knows too cute ;u;

and obviously the attack is going to come while they are laughing because that was the emotional climax of that scene and it's time to switch over now >_>

yup that's what happens

Nephrite did you know you could push away Naru without putting yourself in the way of the attack o well split-second reactions

NIGERO NARU BAKA NIGERUNJA

nope shes going to stay and be a hero because that's who Naru is AND SHE DESERVED SO MUCH BETTER

AND NEPHRITE IS JUST TRYING TO CONVINCE HER THAT'S ENOUGH IT'S OKAY HE'S SO GOOD AT EMOTIONS

and she does the impossible... to bad that's not enough

...yeah I'm pretty sure at this point that it's Nephrite's blood that's green, as little sense as it makes with his skintone

OKAY ZOICITE GOT THE KUROZUISHOU CAN YOU FUCK OFF AND LET NEPHRITE LIVE NOW JUST A SUGGESTION

goddammit this is stupid why am I rooting for the fucker so hard again >_>

welp this is the most terrifying moment for Naru TIME FOR THE SENSHI TO APPEAR

but before that, again "Run!" "No!" Naru...

USAGI WITH THE TEAM THANK YOU

"YOU ARE REALLY MEAN, TRYING TO INTERFERE WITH TWO PEOPLE IN LOVE!" says Usagi, after several days spent trying to dissuade Naru I love this rabbit "so I contradict myself, what of it: I am large, I contain multitudes" <3

OMG AND THE GIRLS ARE JOINING IN WITH THEIR OWN RIDICULOUS SLOGANS

STAND UNDER A COLD WATERFALL AND REFLECT ON YOUR CONDUCT ONLY YOU CAN MAKE THIS SOUND BADASS AMI

IN THE NAME OF THE MARS I WILL CHASTISE YOU REI THATS LIKE USAGIS LINE ONLY SLIGHTLY LESS COOL YOU BEAUTIFUL DORK YOU

dear plant youma HAVE YOU NOT LEARNED YOUR LESSON YET IF YOU ENCOUNTER THE SENSHI YOU FUCKING RUN

thank you Ami for your beautiful and universal battlefield control capabilities <3

And Rei/Usagi combo attack <3

the three of them really ahve this figured out <3

awww <3

"Sailor Moon?" "Hai?" and she steps forward, too she's very open to this "No, please don't die!" (well Usagi you did ask the stars for him to never do anything bad again...) (this is the time for MOON HEALING POWER im just saying) (too bad you dont know about that yet)

oh Naru )=

man this is a beautiful scene tho

and the only part of him that physically exists is Naru's pyjamas bandage )=

oh hey ending hiragana practice time!

oh god I confused to and ta this time urgh ...and tsu and shi i am Ashamed

and here it's that rule where 'ha' is actually 'wa' that i dont remember >_>

AND NOW IT'S KE AND KU SHAME ON ME

TSU AND SHI THIS IS GETTING RIDICULOUS

ugh confusing o and a i knew this moment would come >_>

WELL OVERALL THIS WAS A SUCCESS ANYWAY

[regular-lord-reckoner]

I am...so happy to be done with the school I’ve been at since last week

It’s not just that it was six classes every day, but like...Idk, man

All it takes is a handful of bad students to sour shit for me 

For the most part the kids were really wonderful, they asked good questions, they participated a lot, they thanked me for coming to teach them, one kid specifically requested that only I come back to teach them, and I made good connections with a lot of them 

But there’s always got to be like...a handful of these kids that think they know everything and that they’re so much better than everyone and everything (which is likely a bluff, I realize, but nevertheless) and it just kinda drives you crazy 

I’m the adult, they’re the children, I keep my cool, but disrespect gets to you after a certain point and I’m glad that today is the last day I’ll have to deal with it from that particular group of kids 

I could go on like a huge rant about the whole thing, but there’s really no point, it’s pretty much dust in the wind by this point and I’m sure this won’t be the last time I encounter this kind of thing 

I know I’m limited in what I can teach because of the law, I get that, it really blows. It just does. If I had it my way I’d be throwing condoms at these kids’ faces and pumping as much sex positivity and information on how to be safe and make good decisions as I possibly could because I think it’s important 

But when the law literally says that I can’t even talk about masturbation because it’s a “gateway behavior” then...y’know, I can really only do so much 

I get that some of these kids are already having sex and that for the most part it seems like their parents know and are okay with it, they’re willing to get their kids on birth control or take them to the health clinic, etc and I think that’s wonderful 

If my messages doesn’t apply to you, then they doesn’t apply to you. But you don’t have to be openly disrespectful and mock me every goddamn day. You don’t have to roll your eyes and turn to your friends and laugh about my lessons because you think they’re stupid 

Honestly, I think some of them are stupid as well, BUT I’m still doing my best and it’s not like I’m up here using fear mongering tactics or telling you lies. 

Logically, yes, abstinence is the only 100% effective way to prevent teen pregnancy and STDs that’s just...how logic fucking works. 

Yes, I talked about the consequences of teen pregnancy and STDs but I even specifically said, “This isn’t a death sentence, this isn’t the end of your goals and dreams, these are just potential consequences and things you would have to deal with that might make it a little bit harder to achieve the things you want to achieve in life” because again...that’s the fucking truth 

I talked a looooot about consent and about saying no and how it’s never your fault if someone does something without your consent, so I was able to at least get one really good piece in there and yet if you’re still going to look me in the eye when I ask, “What did you learn?” and say, “That abstinence is good and sex is bad” in a smart ass tone then frankly fuck off, you’re being willfully ignorant by this point 

And I told this kid like, “I’m sorry if that’s all you got out of me being here, but that was not my message” and I just reiterated basically what I just said and that was pretty much the end of that, but y’know like...seriously???? Super seriously??? 

Whatever. I did the best I could and not to mention this was my first time flying solo, some of these modules it was the very first time I ever taught them (I’ve seen them be done, so I wasn’t completely out of water, but still) so I think I learned a lot about how to present for the next time around (which is actually next week, haha fuck me I’m exhausted) so...whatever. 

Hopefully these kids keep making good choices and good decisions and everything works out for them. 

But honestly, I was there for a reason. I didn’t show up to ruin their day, I was there because the government looked at their bumfuck county, saw their teen pregnancy rate, and went, “Holy shit, someone’s gotta teach these kids something!” And then Tennessee state law slapped some cuffs on my wrists and said, “Okay, you can teach them...but you’ve got to do it with your hands like this.” 

I dunno if you’ve ever tried to run in handcuffs before (it was a demonstration, I’ve never been arrested) but it’s really fucking hard and that’s what this feels like. 

But...again, these are children, I’m the adult, I’m gonna be the bigger person. Even though I did have to throw out there a little “fun fact” about how these kids’ brains aren’t even fully developed yet and that their prefrontal cortex (which is responsible for things like decision-making, impulse control, and personality) is still changing and will continue to until their twenties so...basically say what you want, think what you want, feel however you want about it, but I have more of a brain than you XD