#idk why i put the t in there when it's not in the abbreviation but it's just what feels natural

[randum-famdoms]

Finally caving and no longer using Google docs (mostly, probably will still copy and paste the first drafts of chapters in there for my beta reader to go over since that’s what she has)

Gonna start writing via ellipsus now (@ellipsus-writes is their tumblr account, if you wanna check it out). The following is gonna basically just me squeeing and how amazing this thing is, as well as a few cons I’ve noticed, and it’s long. So I’m adding a cut for people who don’t care.

I’m so fucking excited to no longer have to manually add in all the html in the ao3 text editor, you have no fucking idea. That step alone takes hours, double that if something glitches. And I can still write on my phone!!!!!

First downside I’ve noticed so far is that it doesn’t include my preferred font for writing (trebuchet ms if anyone is curious). It DOES have a comic sans sibling tho, which I can use for now. If it annoys me over time then I guess I’ll put up with Inter, even tho I hate most mono fonts. And serif fonts. I’m really picky. Serif fonts me flashbacks to grade school 5 paragraph essays in mla style. And mono fonts just… idk they look weird. Not creative at all. Very corporate.

Another bonus I’ve noticed: it includes open dyslexic as a font!!! I don’t personally need it, but having that accessibility is amazing. HUGE props to the creators.

Also love the interface. Very nice, user friendly, intuitive, looks good, 10/10.

There’s a light and dark mode choice on install, and I chose dark of course.

The editor settings are cool, allowing you to turn on and off different features like seeing other editiors’ cursors when typing, avatars when they’re viewing the document (tho it says draft there, maybe it doesn’t work in the main doc and only in drafts? If so, that’s odd), certain formatting things like dashes combining into an emdash, Ellipses (idk what that’s supposed to mean since there’s no elaboration), quotes (again no elaboration), markdown shortcuts (idk what those are, maybe it’s about coding?), viewing the word count automatically in the top bar, the desktop formatting bar, and the theme (light vs dark).

AND STRIKETRHOUGH IS RIGHT THERE! Right next to bold italic and underline. I always forgot the key shortcut to it in Google docs (why is it three keys???? WHY???? It’s so inconvenient!) and you gotta navigate through like three drop downs to reach it in the menu bar. This is so SO much simpler. I use strike through all the time to denote thoughts the pov character is repressing, and considering Akechi is a pov character that’s pretty damn often.

Omg and having an easy button so see all the keyboard shortcuts???? I love the creators so much????? There’s so many I would never have known otherwise, and they’re all so useful!!!! Aaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!

I love the drafts feature, it’s so nice having my notes and outlines and such all right there.

I do wish the spell check feature was better about recognising foreign names, but since I can just turn it on and off I don’t have to deal with constant red lines like with Google! I do wish there was a way to add words to the program’s dictionary, so that it doesn’t flag names, abbreviations, and slang. (For example, it doesn’t like fic, fanfic, lol, dashes like -- or - for some reason, or really any of the character names. the list goes on.) and I can’t just add in Japanese to the accepted languages, because I’d have to choose either that or English and then every single other word would be wrong. It does give options for which regional English variant you want, so I can choose British English! Which is nice. Google does it too, but you never know with beta versions of programs.

You can choose whether text is normal, a header (which subsets if headers), a caption, a quote, etc. I like that, since it’s directly tied to the outline and the different headers show up in there tree-style, but you can’t just have some text within a category be different. For example, say you want some of your paragraph text to be one font and then a different section of paragraph text to be another. You can’t do that.

I also haven’t been able to find a way to change text colour, or to highlight text. Which is annoying. I use highlighting text a lot when editing, so loosing that is a problem. Not the end of the world, but definitely one of my biggest gripes with Ellipsus so far.

There is a commenting system, but it ONLY works in drafts. I do not like that. In fact, I kinda hate it. A lot. And I definitely prefer the way comments work in Google docs, at least its desktop version, where they show up right next to the text instead of you having to click on the text with a comment to see that comment. At the very least, you can see all the comments in order of where the text is in the draft, with any replies, all in one place in the comments tab. However, you can’t just click away from the text to leave that tab. You gotta manually navigate back to where you were in the menu.

So yeah the comment feature kinda sucks.

There is also a chat feature? Idk how to properly review it, since rn I don’t have anyone else to chat with in ellipsus. You can use it in non-drafts, but I don’t think you can use it to point out specific text.

You can see word count!!!! And an estimate for how long it would take to read the whole thing! That’s so useful! And cool! You can also highlight (with a cursor, not actual highlight) sections of text and it will show that section’s word count, but NOT its reading time.

The version history feature is a bit slow, but it functions well. Not too worried about it. You can restore old versions as a new draft, though, which is pretty neat.

You can also download the document as a pdf, markdown, share it, and copy it as html, markdown, and rich text, but best of all, oooooo best of all, you can export DIRECTLY to ao3! And it includes all the html in the document!!!! I never have to manually code in html again!!!!! There are no words to encapsulate just how fucking excited about that I am. None. I am vibrating. I’m ahdnfbshsbdbfbcbhcbcnnsdbdbxnxbdmsnddbbdndbdbdbAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

best. Feature. Ever. More than makes up for all the things I don’t like. Amazing. Wonderful. 10/10. Would die for that.

As of right now, I think that’s everything. Overall, I’d rate ellipsus an 8.5/10, compared to Google docs’s 7/10. I really love what they’ve done so far, but there’s some things they could really improve on.

Overall cons:

I really wish you could comment in the main document, it’s a big deal to me. I wish you could see comments by the text at all times, instead of just in the comments tab. I wish there were more font choices, the current pickings are slim at best. I wish you could change the font of specific sections instead of everything under that text category. I wish you could highlight things (even better if you could have multiple highlight colours). I wish you could change font colour. I wish you could add words to a dictionary so they aren’t flagged by spell check.

However, the vast majority of things ellipsus is doing are great. There are a ton of pros to this program, and it’s still in beta. There’s room for improvement, but that’s the whole point of a beta release. Everything I don’t like are things I can live with and work around, too. That’s better than a lot of completely finished games and programs I’ve come across. And it’s free!!! I’m really excited to see how Ellipsus develops, and definitely recommend it to any writers out there - especially anyone who writes for ao3. Seriously, the export to ao3 feature practically sells this thing by itself.

[anshiel]

TELL ME ABOUT YOUR OCS PLS

there r so many and i am going 2 explode now, you have opened pandoras box

i am, i am going 2 start with ones i amn thinking about, which are ocs from an original story about destiny, because

The three main characters for the story which wip name rn might just be split destiny(abbreviation: two of a kind) it's about two kid's who accidentally get chosen under the same destiny despite it only being meant for one person and their mentor, Süsi who was kinda trying to get that.(not sure about the names because i thought mason and peggy at first but now kinda just wanna use the estonian ones i thought for them, Tiivi and Madis)

The three main characters for the story, images of them:) (timeskip versions of Tiivi and Madis in the top right one, tiivi digital sketches from me trying to figure out her colors)

ohk, details nd characters, Tiivi's a high energy person in general and positive for the most part, has had the ability to speak to animals forever. She's someone who's always wanted adventure and felt special so she was pretty thrilled to have something greater than life happen to her, summons a sword or spear thanks to the chosen one biz. She finds out her mother(who she hasn't seen in years and barely remembers) is very much active in the magic world and has a whole phoenix and rebirth theme going on(also doing some shady stuff), Also finding out she has an older brother she never met apparently, he's got plant powers (seems to be working for some sort of magical authority?).

Madis is very much more of a wallflower and has a tendency to draw in on himself and also ignore anything strange happening around him including his luck powers which is why he is at all not happy with what happened and would like to live a normal life, summons a scythe or shield. He lives with his aunt and has a cat, didn't know his parents, does seem to have some talent when it comes to this magic stuff and has eyes on him.

oooohg, let's get to tha mentor, Süsi, they do not know what they are doing teaching these children. He's been doing this awhile and has a whole detective thing going on (because i am like this and like making detective characters), seem to work place to place, generally seems mysterious, she's got a whole fire and dragon theme going on and also may have escaped death one too many times.

post timeskip a lotta changes happen and developments, Süsi goes into hiding, Tiivi keeps learning magic and also doing odd jobs with her brother and Madis goes to do normal teenager things back at home.

They try to keep in touch, in this period might also find more out about how their powers are connected and a mental link.

This story idea mostly came about out of kid me's anger at the lack of male female friendships and deciding i have to do this myself(Madis and Tiivi aren't even the first time i decided "actually this boy and girl character's would die for eachother and are not at all romantically invoved, fuck you" you can see a lotta YA. novels and cartoons pissed me off with that)also apparently i just wrote a snippet of a depressed boy and cheerful girl in like 2009? idk i was like 10 and had an assignment for writing and that also led to this.

(oh god there's so many miscellaneous sketches here of the cast for this shit)

There's also a shady school in this, mostly pre-timeskip and some immortal fuckos(to be fair one of them's trying to stop the other one, there's implications of them being connected in this cycle due to similar reasons that Tiivi and Madis are connected to eachother), also everyone aspec, süsi has an ex gf(Linda) in this that works for said school and seems blind to any wrongdoings by her workplace. Also a selkie girl at same school who's her prodigy gets a crush on Tiivi because i like to put lesbianism in my stories.

here's more recent sketches on my tablet from their postimeskip looks and also messy rough comics of scenes i have in my head during late night because thinking about them and need to get these thoughts out or else i will not sleep

anyways THANK YOU 4 the ask so i can ramble about my cringe ass nae-nae ocs(despite this i still have hundreds of other ocs and stories i have not mentioned here because this post is long enough, most likely have posted sketches of em but this does remind me i should try posting about them more again)

(follow up)

[loverontheleft]

Long anon has thoughts and I’m here to reply but also I’m fucking wasted

Okay, different anon, but I love giving unsolicited advice (joking, joking... kind of), so I had to chime in. Plus I think I’ve read RtL like 2 or 3 times in full now (way more if you count all the times I’ve read a chapter because of the sex scene and then just kept reading after that), so I’m very invested. God you’re better than me. I didn’t mind chapter 30. It wasn’t my personal favorite scene (that’s just really not my jam, if I wanna revel in the angst, I prefer the later chapters), but with some tweaks I do think it was a good addition. Like, it did give the relationship a little more, I’m not sure if this is the right word, respectability? Realism? Weight? It showed that they’re not just clouded by lust or the honeymoon phase. Which is where I get into the conflict of fanfic imagine writing vs fiction writing. Most fanfic readers seem like they don’t want the plot and the character growth and the realism. The point is fantasy. I can do that short-term, but in a long-haul series like this…angst is necessary. Tension is necessary. Their relationship doesn’t exist in this perfect little bubble, it’s “perfect” because they’re really compatible, and that’s even more important than love in a longterm relationship. It showcased how much Brendon is devoted to his work, which is one of the reasons the reader loves him, but it has the real possibility of causing real issues that they need to address and work through. Now, again, it needs a little work. I don’t love that B basically accused the reader of being intentionally malicious, and I also don’t love that she was more of the victim rather than it being a two-way conflict. I think it could’ve had more of a build-up (I know you said you sort of wrote this without a plan so it makes sense that the build-up wasn’t as much as I think it needed to be, but, hey, that’s the beauty of rewriting it.) and oh rewriting it will be a thing eventually. Like she doesn’t love that he’s overworking and she brings it up a few times throughout like 3 to 5 chapters before nationals, and it sort of gradually goes from the reader going, “hey I think your hyperfocus on your job is starting to affect both your quality of life and our relationship” (obviously in a way that’s more writer-y and less information dump-y lol) to “I’m starting to feel like a toy you play with when you’re interested and completely ignore when you have homework.” And then Brendon’s responses starting at, “oh I’m sorry, babe, I’ll manage my time a bit better,” all the way to, “why don’t can’t you respect my career?” Then in chapter 30, it all comes to a head and they full on fight instead of the previous semi-passive-aggressive communication they had before. I like you; you understand what my brain is trying to do with this rewrite.

ALL OF THAT BEING SAID, as much I think fighting and arguing can be healthy and necessary, I HATED the fight in chapter 19 (at least I think it’s 19. The one where he’s like, “just talk to him, you’re being crazy”). No it’s totally bullshit I hate it too; even writing it I was like ughhhh. I love your work and I don’t want to be rude, but this is just how I feel about one chapter in an otherwise beloved series. It’s not rude; that was jammed in there for the plot and god I hated it then and I hate it now it’s just bad writing. It’s that I just think it was so out of character, for both of them to some extent, but especially Brendon it was. Maybe it’s just the reader projecting her ex onto Brendon when she’s feeling distressed, so that’s why he seems SO different from the way he was in previous chapters (hell, even earlier in that chapter no it took a sharp left turn it’s a bad chapter) and than every other chapter afterward which okay can we agree Chapters 18-26 are whaaaat is happening and 27-31 are ?? and 32 is steamy forgiveness and then 33-36 are smut but so little plot and…oh god I have so much to rewrite I’m gonna cry but he’s so fiercely passionate and protective over, not just the reader, but sort of everything that he cares enough to invest time into (teaching, music, the reader, lovemaking 😏😂, etc.) that don’t think he would’ve proposed talking to the ex at all, much less become all cold and calculating and downright rude when talking to her. I almost think it would be more realistic if she said, offhandedly, “maybe I’ll just talk to him, try to get rid of him, give him some money, I just want this over with,” and Brendon AT THAT POINT would be like, “no absolutely not, you’re being crazy/irrational .” And then it would turn into a big fight because the reader not only feels condescended and invalidated, she’s starting to feel controlled and smothered, which in conjunction with all the feelings that have been brought up with the ex in town, makes her feel like she just needs to get away from B. I guess that wouldn’t have the same effect later on at the end with the lockdown drill which I really want to cut, good lord Cece it was so extra wtf (full disclosure: at the time of writing, the school where I was a teacher had an active shooter in the area but not on campus, so I was probably processing that?? See my note below about writing as therapy), but it would still kind of work. Instead of B realizing that the reader was right about the ex, it would be the reader realizing that B really just cares for her wants what’s best for her, and ofc B would have to apologize for saying that the reader’s crazy because that’s sooo shitty. Actually, now that I think about it, that might be more effective. Other than that one argument, there wasn’t a big question of whether or not B respected the reader and her judgment, but with the ex showing up, the reader was getting scared about being in another serious relationship and being so dependent on someone else oh definitely. Doesn’t help I was using writing as my therapy since I was very out of a mentally abusive six-year relationship. I just peppered in my own trauma left and right (drunk Cece put left and write at first lmao) and left the characters to figure it out and that’s not fair to y’all so it would be much better narratively to confirm to the reader that she can trust Brendon and that he cares for her even if he messes up rather than to just have an argument that gets resolved. Which would work too if it weren’t for the fact that the characters and dialogue were so off, just maybe not quite as well. Lots of changes to be made; you’re not wrong.

Okay, I’m sorry for talking your figurative ears off omg no I love it this is a craft revision and I’m so here for it. Feel free to say I’m way overstepping because, well, I am, but I’m a fan okay!!! Idk if you’re overstepping I’m too drunk but I don’t deserve fans I’m crying yall are so wonderful And I overthink EVERYTHING, so there’s that too haha same though. These are just things to consider and jumping off points, so don’t let it change whatever you have planned. I’m sure it’ll be great, and frankly, I mostly read for the smut anyway so I don’t know why I’m so invested in the plot LMAO this is why I’m worried about Dulce being a slow burn y’all just want the smuuuut and @beautiful-tragic-fallout can tell you there’s a huge difference between my fanfic writing and my fiction writing though you’d think they’d be similar. Maybe I’ll just write it as a novel, never post it here, hope it sells, and one day y’all can be like “this book plot sounds familiar… I remember this slut who wrote a bunch on tumbl—wait, is this author actually Cece?!?” Because, reminder, Cece is an abbreviation of my second middle name and very few people actually know it at all and my published fiction writing isn’t under Cece (I’m mostly joking, but really, as long as the porn’s good, you could write anything well, thank you.) I’m sure this whole ask is riddled with typos and forgotten words and bad grammar (brevity has never been my strength), so I’d also like to apologize for all that. Listen I’m so drunk right now…I didn’t even notice. And my responses probably are too.

[troofless]

Just finished watching a walkthrough of Tales of Zestiria, and I must say it is as HYPE as its opening.

My favourite parts:

Sorey and Mikleo bickering — actually, every sormik scene

I swear 99.9% of Mikleo revolves around Sorey, the other 0.1% is him getting teased by everyone (this could be his biggest writing strength and flaw depending on who you ask)

The opening song. A BANGERRRRRR

The different branching routes you can take in Ladylake. Sell the knife? The pipe? Don’t sell both? Sell the pipe later on to get a cool hat as well? How do you enter the Sacred Blade ceremony? YOU CAN CHOOSE

Mikleo leaving Sorey, in the game: Oh don’t worry, Mikleo will be fine, I trust Mikleo to take care of himself :) :)

In the anime: dkjasfnlD MIKLEO DID WHAT??! LAILAH WE MUST GO AFTER MIKLEO RIGHT AWAY

Tbh the argument ‘arc’ he has with Sorey? One of the best parts of the game.

'Does a frog think of getting rid of snakes?’ ‘OH SO AM I A FROG NOW?’ ‘Your LIABILITY will be waiting in the inn’

When in the manga this slow burn (JUST GET CONTRACTED WITH MIKLEO ALREADY) gets extended to after Sorey contracts with Edna

When Mikleo calls Sorey out on his blindness in a skit THEY NOTICE EVERYTHING ABOUT EACH OTHER OKAY

Yeah also, just thinking about how Sorey’s known Mikleo’s true name for a long time now HNNNRNNHSDGGGGGHHHH

Mikleo using his rod not as a conduit for magic but as a whacking tool. He has a mystic arte Crystal Rod where he throws his rod at the enemy saying NOPE (best...) and a mystic arte Final Player where he uses it like a hammer saying “I’ll crush you! Again! Again and again!!” smacking the enemy into the ground LOLLLL

That One Mystic Arte where Edna rides on her umbrella like it’s a flying broomstick and shoots out earth rocks with a finger gun

Zaveid coming out of nowhere at random times, busting out his persona shooting himself in the head and demanding that they fight him

Rose shaking her hands with Sorey at supersonic speed when Sorey gets her to hear the seraphim and she thinks she’s hearing ghosts

The whole ‘we’re married’ scene when they get to Rolance, and the whole joke of Sergei continuing to think Rose and Sorey are married

Dezel laughing at Lailah’s lame animal jokes in the background

Dezel not being able to see, but that’s okay… because he can read the wind!

Dezel being the walking encyclopaedia for all animals and plants bc he’s been everywhere

Rose wants to catch a butterfly and sell it for money, but Dezel interjects and tells her it’s a ‘shae monyurose’ moth, so Rose gives up on catching it, saying people don’t pay a lot for moths

Another skit where Sorey and Rose want to catch these rabbits to eat, (they’re cute... AND delicious.) Dezel is horrified and chases them away by shouting really loudly (HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT??!!)

Everyone who plays Zestiria complaining about how Alisha isn’t a permanent team member, then having mixed debates about whether the anime saved or broke the story with Alisha-Armatization

ZAVEID RUNNING DOWN A WALL

“My way is to put the hellions back in hell” Zaveid says while doing the Dio pose

WRYYYYYYY

I love how he just appears out of nowhere and gets him to fight you, multiple times, in both Zestiria AND Berseria

Dezel suggesting they could just fly all the way to the top but Sorey and Mikleo go “But we WANT to see the ruins...!”

In the bad ending Heldalf is just like ‘nothin doing… just standing here…’ when the team goes in and slays him

Heldalf: You want to defeat me, right? But if you do, you can’t get the TRUE ending… bitch

Sorey:

I love how Rose and Alisha are uncommon heroines, using lances and twin blades instead of magic (Mikleo takes that one, hah). 

It’s like the writers of Zestiria were like Hmm. How do we explore the dark elements in this game by showing how people in Age of Chaos possess immense malevolence in their hearts and align it to the main story, and then went, Got it. Assassins. (Story of how Shepherd Sorey went gallivanting around with a princess *cough cough redactedbecauseshedoesn’texistinthegame* and an assassin~~)

Mikleo: Zaveid, there is literally NO REASON for us to fight. At all.

Zaveid: You gotta beat this ass first

And I think that is very sexy of him

Apparently if you take Dezel out of your team during the third fight with Zaveid, he will yell at you

Zaveid, T-posing on the ground: oh don’t mind me, just setting death flags for the only other wind seraph in this game so I can fill the XXX-shaped hole in your team later on in the game. Also here, take my glock

Dezel 🤝Eizen

    being the same person

GIVE ME THE HIDDEN DEZEL AND ZAVEID LORE (but Dezel doesn’t appear in Berseria…)

Rose “I just noticed, whenever Mikleo gets angry, it always has something to do with Sorey” after merchants look at Sorey and think he’s a con artist Shepherd, then in a later skit comments that No, that’s not true Mikleo does get angry even when it doesn’t involve Sorey, then Sorey says, Nah, he’s not angry, just overreacting.

When the plot says Sorey and Mikleo were destined to be the Shepherd and Sub Lord all along :o :v :O

THEY ARE FRIGGIN MARRIED OKAY

BOTH OF THEM. FROM THE SAME VILLAGE. BABIES. RED STRING OF FATE AAAAAA

Sorey and Mikleo in a skit talking about how they’re not really affected by their past bc their real family now is Elysia. It’s a really quiet and sweet moment.

Zaveid in a skit doing flower fortune readings bc he’s worried that the group hates him bc he was all FIGHT ME! before, but Lailah cheers him up with her own flower fortune telling (‘Uh, your origami flower only has... one petal Lailah’) saying Zaveid is their friend AWWWW

GIVE ME THE HIDDEN LAILAH AND ZAVEID LOREEEEEE

gdi I know we see more Pacifist!Zaveid in Berseria but I want a sequel nowwwwww

Sorey and Mikleo having a final conversation under the stars

SOREY FILLS IN MIKLEO ON HIS PLAN breaking the trope of not telling his team that he’s going to save the world by disappearing

One of the main messages Zestiria delivers is how one person shouldn’t take all the burden on themselves and how Sorey learns to rely on other people

Like Lailah staying silent bc of her oath and how that pains her

Like Mikleo... forming a pact with Sorey.....

God I love Zestiria for breaking tropes everywhere

Did I mention how Alisha and Rose have such good platonic relationships with Sorey? Yeah and you can take out the romantic hinting and it is still a good relationship? Without any shoehorning of ‘forced het couple’?

Sorey calling back to the time he had to close his senses to get Alisha to hear Lailah, tying it back into the main plot!!!! :o GALAXY BRAIN

SOREY PUTTING DEZEL’S HAT ON IN THE STARRY SKY CUTSCENE AND ROSE AND ZAVEID TRYING TO TAKE IT BACK

How the hell is Muse alive and not, like, a hag

Love how the final part is Sorey going “I’ll defeat you with the power of friendship!! And this gun I found”

*flashback to AFOvsAll Might* Sorey: You thought it was over with that punch? I have TWO HANDS!!!!

Ok no lie the final fight was epic

THIS... IS MY EVERYTHING!!!!!!

fsdljfnsdkflsfs;fsf look all the seraphim went into the battle not expecting to live and Sorey went in fully expecting to kill his seraphim friends and prepared to KILL

Compared to the start when Sorey was full-out 'don’t kill hellions Zaveid how could you!!!!’, you can see how the darker themes shine here

What I wouldn’t give for a corrupted!Sorey though, I was expecting it bc of clips I saw on Youtube BUT IT NEVER HAPPENED!!! Lowkey sad tho. Would love an arc where Sorey gets overcome by malevolence and becomes, like a jerk, but as like a morally grey character not fully blown evil (like Jerk Rose ig)

The epilogue with everyone!!! The Lord of the Lands (yeah Uno is very pretty)!!! Lucas!!!! Sergei and Alisha!!! The little drawings in the credits detailing Sorey’s journey!!!! Awwww

Overall a happy ending for Sorey and friends which is GREAT

SMOL SOREY AND MIKLEO EXPLORING RUIN TRAPS AT THE END

oh god I swear they are lowkey married they just don’t mention it to anyone look if you go back and play the whole thing with that in mind NOTHING ABOUT THE PLOT CHANGES

Mikleo my friend you have too many cape thingys on your back PLEASE

The callback to Sorey catching Mikleo though is so cute. In the anime we get the callback to “So this is the world!” htgdgmfgmmmmgfg idk the anime is one hole I don’t want to explore rn

sfaljdfsdlf but yeah though the epilogue was nice and clean and up to reader’s imagination, I wished they expanded more on the epilogue (LET US SEE SOREY..... *fighting back tears*), at least THANKS TO THE ANIME we get to see post-Heldalf Alisha and Rose tho hnggggrrgh

*chanting* D-L-C, didn’t know they had a D-L-C

DLC

ROSALI VIBES jkahdfjksdfs give it all to meeeee

Rose and Alisha catfighting sjdnflsjdfadfhgnfghth THIS IS THE ICONIC ROSALI VIBE I SWEAR

Because of this, this DLC is now elevated to god standards

Edna and Lailah casually talking while Rose and Alisha roll in the background LMAOOOO

Rose must be the most unconventional Shepherd ever and that is GREAT

Bruh is Alisha wearing an abbreviated costume of Mikleo’s

Anyway she’s so cute in her DLC outfit!!!

Alisha ditching keigo is so. Very. Cute.

Alisha and Sorey: :) :D :)))

Alisha and Rose: Bitch. }:(  >:V

Love the girl’s party vibe, and how we get cameos of Zaveid and Mikleo (LET US SEE MORE DEVASTATED MIKLEO PLEASE....) along the way

Sadly no more DLC episodes :( wonder why that got axed, bc fans didn’t like it?

Overall I must say the Zestiria cast is awesome, I really like all the characters and how they are fleshed out very neatly with their own quirks and goals. Edna being god tier with her monotone sarcasm (she is QUEEN....), Zaveid being that dumbass that looks like a stripper (HIM.... baby...), Mikleo being ultimate waifu and how his comedic moments shine with Edna and everyone else when he’s being teased, Sorey being so pure and cute when he geeks out with Mikleo and how his character arc is just such a refreshing take on the hero archetype, Dezel with his stoicness Imma Get Revenge but also his cast knowledge and love for animals, Rose for exploring the side of reality in the malevolence in people’s hearts and her :3 smile and her determination to get things done and how she’s so different from Sorey which only brings out her charm, Lailah with her awful puns and eccentricity and quiet compassion. And uh, Alisha for being the bait-and-switch heroine but a decent character with her own personal goals that are separate from the main character. Sergei and Lucas are also very lovable.

As for the setting, Rolance and Hyland as two kingdoms seem a little small scale compared to lets say if they added one more kingdom, but seeing as this is a 2015 game I think the exploration map is pretty good (then I compare to Xenoblade Chronicles which came out in 2010 and just change the subject). Love the outside game mechanics Giant’s Fist, Wind Stepping and Water Shield (when Mikleo protects Sorey with that!!! And Sorey calls him out by saying he’s been practicing it for a long time... And you recall every time Mikleo asks Dezel and the other older seraphim to teach him stuff so he can get stronger to help Sorey and how 99.9% of his character revolves around Sorey). ‘That spinny mist thing sure gets the job done’ haha. 

Anyway, great game and plot, please go check out if you have time, esp rn since animes and other games coming out will be stalled it is a great time to check out older games aaaaaaa

[senzacaponecoda]

One thing I forgot to mention: before numbers symbols like 1,2,3 were invented in India, what ancient people used to do was just use letters. While the Romans eventually invented a convoluted system of IXVCDM most near-eastern cultures just used their alphabet in its order to represent numbers. A was one, B was two, and so on. At the tenth letter, however, instead of giving weird numbers like 17 their own whole letter, they started counting by 10s, and at the 19th letter (because the tenth letter was the first tens letter, so the eleventh would be the second and so on), by hundreds, since people were more likely to go “about 20″ than “exactly 17″ or whatever. This made the alphabet order important, however, since mixing it up between two places would get different numbers of items. A:

A depicted an ox head, ‘alep in Phoenician. The Egyptian word was k3w, pronounced something like “karru”. But the phoenician word began with a sound called a “glottal stop”. In English it’s found in the middle of “uh-oh”, and wasn’t merely a break in these languages, but a full fledged consonant. But because of its weakness, this was the letter used most often as a “mother of reading” as I explained in the last post. Since the “ee” sound was associated with the /j/-sound, and since the “oo” sound was associated with the /w/-sound, ‘alep came to be associated with the “ah” sound by default. And so while ‘aleph in Hebrew or ‘alif in Arabic are still “mothers of reading”, when the Greeks borrowed the letter for themselves and their very different from Semitic language, they used it for the /a/ sound. The Egyptians used a vulture for this sound in their own language. Aleph came to be pronounced Alpha by the Greeks. Most A’s have the value 1. B: B originally comes from the floor plan of a house - beyt’. You would have an opening for a door as well, and through cursive writing eventually came to have a sort of P shape (or Pluto shape), before the bottom tail curved closed too, giving B. Beyt became Beta. Most B’s have the value 2. Egyptian used a symbol of a foot and leg for /b/. C, G: C was originally a throwing stick, gaml. A throwing stick being basically what a boomerang is - you’d throw it at an animal you want to stun. Later on, after Mesopotamian traders introduced the Camel from East Asia to the Middle East, people began interpreting the word as giml, or camel. Whence Greek Gamma. The Greek alphabet wasn’t passed directly from the Greeks to the ancient Romans. First the Greeks had colonies in Italy, and traded with the Etruscans, who spoke a language quite unlike both Greek and Latin and unlike Arabic or Egyptian. And the Etruscan language seemed to lack voiced stops, like B D G, a profile kind of like Mandarin today, where B D G are really p t k, and P T K are very harsh, aspirated p’, t’, k’. The Etruscans ended up using C, K, and Q almost interchangably and for both the /g/ and /k/ sounds; just for aesthetic reasons, C came before E and I, K before A, and Q before O and V (more on that in a bit). But Latin needed both /g/ and /k/ letters, and later on a teacher invented G, with a little Greek Gamma (not as curved) on it, whence G. But the old practice was retained in some abbreviations: GAIVS was C. As for G’s placement, at this time, because Latin didn’t really have a /z/ sound of its own, Z wasn’t being used except as a number. So the Romans had this gap of sorts in Z’s original place, and put G there instead. When they reintroduced Z, they added it at the end. This is why G has the value of 3 in most languages, instead of 7 or something. Egyptian used a jar with food inside as their symbol for /g/.

D:

D was probably originally a kind of fish, being something like digg, and was drawn kind of like a Jesus fish. Later on, the shape kind of simplified, and people started calling it dalet, because it looked to them like a door. This became delta in Greek; Latin’s D is Greek’s delta but round, like C is gamma but round. Most D’s have a value of 4. Egyptian might not have had an actual /d/ in their language, but the closest equivalent sound was written with a hand.

E:

E was a complicated sign in Egyptian used to mark words of jubilation or celebration, and was a depiction of a man with his arms over his head. Jubilation was something like hili in Phoenician, and by then the symbol was already abstract and a bunch of lines connected to other lines. So it was reinterpreted as he, and made the simple /h/ sound like in English hey. At one point, Greek didn’t have /h/-sounds at all. So, like Aleph, it was repurposed, this time for the vowel beside it, e. Later, the “ah”-”ee” sound, /ai/, like English I or eye, became an “eh” sound, like in the French words maison or lait. And this was the same as the sound E made, so the Greeks started calling E “simple E” or E-psilon to distinguish it from AI. Most E’s have the value 5. The Egyptian /h/ sound was written with an angular spiral, a stand in related to the floor plan of beyt’, maybe meaning courtyard or reed shelter.

F, U, V, W, Y:

Y was originally a drawing a hook, called waw in Phoenician, and made the /w/ sound. As a semivowel, Y was relatively unstable, and sometimes there were situations where the consonant /w/, without any vowels beside it, would become the “oo” sound between other consonants. This is the first “split”: Greek took the F-shaped varient for its /w/ sound, and the Y-shaped variant for its /u/ sound.

The /w/ sound eventually disappeared in Greek, but not before they started trading with the Etruscans, who had kind of weird language. At the time, Greek’s phi was still more of a p-sound than an f-sound as well. Since Etruscan didn’t really have phonetic voicing, the /v/ and /f/ sounds were interchangible. And /w/ likes to become v, which is why languages like German and Polish use it as such. So Etruscan made a huge leap, using F for /f/ instead of /w/. And passed it on to the Romans. Most W’s have a value of 6 because of this convolution.

Y had been written in the shape of V in Etruscan, although they weren’t thought of as separate letters any more than we think of the a that looks like an o and the a that looks like a 2 as separate letters. This form was passed into Latin. And in Classical Latin, V always made the /u/ or /w/ sounds.

Greek’s OY then did a similar thing as its AI, fusing together into a different sound. So Y was called Y-psilon to show it as a simpler, shorter, and different from OY. At the same time, Greek’s Y came to be pronounced like French’s u, or German’s ü, (or Finnish’s y) basically an “ee” sound while making a kissy face. Because of this, even though they were just variants of the same letter, Latin reborrowed Y to contrast with V, which made them separate letters. And dropping the kissy face on “ee” means y was just pronounced “ee”, the same as I, which is why Y and I work pretty much the same way in English.

Now, in Latin, where /u/ sounds were /u/ sounds and where /w/ sounds were /w/ sounds was pretty predictable. Since they were similar, there was no reason to use anything but V for both of them. Even when Latin’s /w/ became /v/ in most daughter languages, where that was was still predictable, and so there was no need for a separate /u/ and /w/. But around the time of the reformation, German started getting written a lot more. And German’s (then) /w/ and /u/ sounds weren’t always predictable. So they had this convention of writing /w/ later /v/ as VV and /u/ as V. And this convention spread to Polish.

But in England, with all their French words dragging in /v/, they had /w/, /v/, and /u/, and all in unpredictable places compared to Latin; they weren’t complementary. There was already a convention to write V like v at the beginning of words and like u in the middle, so the English ended up splitting V and U into different letters. This post-dates the US, believe it or not: the Declaration of Independence still used u/v as variants of each other. Because of how late this was, not all languages using the Latin alphabet even recognized W or U as separate letters going into the 20th century.

So through a really convoluted mess, we got F, V, U, W, and Y all from the same letter, waw.

The Egyptian equivalents were a quail chick for /w/, which could be a mother of reading as well, a horned viper for /f/, and either didn’t have or didn’t need symbols for /u/, /v/, and /y/. That said, using Y as /j/-sound like yeah/jah, Egyptians did a complicated thing I’ll get to when I talk about I and J.

(continued, idk, in the future)

[itsadrizzit]

Writer's meme POV

POV — something that’s already happened, retold from another character’s perspective

So…this took me FOREVER, but I’m so glad you asked this.

It was hard enough with this WIP trying to choose which scene to flip the POV on and then selecting whose POV to write in. Everything comes from Vincent’s perspective in this one, because I think the story’s more impactful if I *don’t* let Christian explain his side of things and everything is filtered from how Vincent is viewing the situation. Christian’s being beyond stroppy and all Vincent wants to do is welcome him back from the World Cup and spend a few days (maybe weeks) in domestic bliss before he’s off again to wherever he’s going to land this time (hopefully back to Istanbul). He knows he’ll be leaving, and he’s prepared for it this time. He wants to get in as much time with Christian as he can before he’s off again and then Christian is being sulky and avoidant and beyond difficult. Christian has his reasons, of course, but the fic has more impact if I let Vincent get good and frustrated before it all comes to light.

So. I thought about taking one of the scenes (the one where Christian first arrives home and is startled to find everyone in his living room) and putting it from Christian’s POV to let him explain why he reacts the way he does. But! I didn’t. Instead, I thought I’d give a go at (1) exploring a character who occasionally gets to be in things as a side character, but it took me a while to get a handle on, (2) I have A LOT of headcanons about that may or may not ever come to light, and (3) doesn’t get any POV chapters, but might do in the future.

Anyway, point is, this turned out to be a great exercise. Not only did it make me realise that some of the things/actions that happen and the sequence in which they happen in the way I originally wrote the scene don’t actually make sense from the POV of the character taking the action (so I now have notes on what to fix), but it also ended up making me realise I really want to write a fic or at least some parts of a fic from this POV sometime. Honestly, I picked this particular scene to flip the POV on because it was the shortest of all the possible candidates at 1700 words. Then, it turned into essentially an introspective backstory and abbreviated history of my headcanon, shifted some of the themes/rationale for actions in THE ENTIRE FIC, and is now 3500 words on its own.

Maybe I’ll publish it as its own thing some day. It lacks some context for what’s going on and it definitely doesn’t END definitively, because it’s meant to be a scene in a larger fic, so idk. I mean, I’m definitely not ready to write it into its own full-length feature just yet, but it did make me think that maybe, in the unlikely event that I EVER run out of fic ideas to write, I can tell the Vincent and Christian getting together story from the POV of the pining, third-party observer that is Benjamin Thomas Davies.

For now… enjoy this bit. Or don’t. IDK I didn’t edit it and I basically just dumped a bunch of headcanon in the middle of what was otherwise a perfectly functional scene. But laaten we gaan, I guess.

A wall of heat slammed into Ben full force as he stepped out of his SUV.

“Ugh,” he groaned. “It’s proper boiling out here.”

From the other side of the vehicle,Coco threw his arms out wide and turned his face to the sun, a wide grin spread across his face. “It is a beautiful day, Benjamin.You should enjoy it. You Englishmen. You spend the whole year crying because of the cold and the rain and then when finally it is summer now it is too hot.

Ben fixed him with a glare. “First,I’m not an Englishman, thank you very much. Second, being that you seem to be completely oblivious to the fact that it continues to be scorching out here,your opinion is invalid.”

He stalked away towards the front door, leaving Coco behind him to laugh and shake his head.

Thankfully, Vincent pulled open the door a few seconds after Ben rang the bell, ushering them both into Christian’s house and out of the sun’s harsh glare. Ben gladly took him up on the invitation.

“Have you eaten yet?” he asked before he was even through the door, not bothering to stop for pleasantries.

He and Coco had been on their way to dinner when Vincent had phoned out of the blue and asked him if he’d mind stopping by Christian’s house, of all places, for a visit. That had been at least half an hour ago now. He was fairly sure that if he didn’t get some food in it soon his stomach was going to start digesting itself.

“Coco and I were headed to dinner,but since you called we thought we’d stop and see if you wanted to join us.There’s a new place not far from here that I’ve been meaning to try. I had thought to wait until Christian was back, but now’s as good a time as any. This way we can give him the full report and save him from wasting his time if it’s terrible.”

“What?” Vincent blinked at him fora few moments, his lips pressed together, and his head tipped to the side. That was one thing about Vincent. You only had to look at him to figure out everything he was feeling at any given moment. “Dinner?”

“Yes,” Ben said, stepping past Vincent to make room for Coco to slip through the door behind him. “I suppose we could order in if you’d prefer. Lord knows I’d rather not go back outside if I don’t have to. We just figured we’d stop in and say hello since you called and we’ve not seen you for ages.”

He took a few more steps into the house, not bothering to stop and kick off his shoes. If Christian were here,he’d make a big show out of pointedly clearing his throat and staring down at Ben’s trainer-clad feet, but Ben was still holding out hope that despite his offers of ordering in they’d be on their way out again in a minute.

Behind him, Coco and Vincent exchanged greetings, something Ben really ought to have done himself. His nain would have been appalled at his behavior—marching into someone else’s house without even stopping for a hello.

“You look well,” Coco said. A simple statement, but Ben couldn’t help but agree.

He spun around and leaned against the wall beside the door to the kitchen, trying to look nonchalant and not at all like he was checking Vincent out. Not that that’s what he was doing.Vincent was a teammate—although, it wasn’t like he’d let something like that stop him before. But more than that, he was apparently bunking up with one of Ben’s best mates.

Still, that didn’t mean he couldn’t take a moment to appreciate.

During Vincent’s time at Spurs, his weight, such as it was—they were footballers after all, even Vincent’s tendency to hold a bit more bulk around the middle had hardly classified him as overweight—had been a sort of running joke throughout the locker room, with the Belgian trio even taking to calling him “our curvy striker.” Vincent was sensitive about the issue, Ben knew, but it had only made him a lot more fun to wind up about it.

Now, though, Vincent was fitter than Ben had ever seen him. Even clad in a loose white T-shirt and chinos, it was evident that he was thinner, his muscles more defined. Apparently a year away from London had done him a world of good.

Honestly, he ought to offer Christian some sort of congratulations, really.

“You do look fit,” he said. “And tan. I take it hols treated you well. What have you been up to? I hardly saw a thing from you on social media all summer.”

He didn’t miss the brief flash of panic that flickered across Vincent’s face, his eyes wide, and his body going rigid as he sucked in a sharp breath.

It had been an innocent question,really. Nothing out of the ordinary, and Ben certainly hadn’t anticipated it provoking that reaction.

Instead, Vincent almost regaining control of his face as he waved a hand dismissively and stuttered out, “Oh, you know, friends. Catching up with family. Time at the beach. The usual. Anyway,come in and sit down.”

Ben flicked Coco a questioning look at Vincent’s expert deflection of such a common question, but Coco only shrugged and trailed behind him as he led the way farther into the house. Ben stopped long enough to wriggle his feet out of his trainers, and then headed off after them.

Vincent led them towards the conservatory at the back of the house. The heat was still far too oppressive to spend any more time than necessary outdoors, but the conservatory, with its wide windows and bright spaces, afforded them a pleasant view of the back garden while sheltering them somewhat from the harsh sun.

Once there, Vincent started rearranging things, dragging the oversized wicker chairs lining the periphery into a circle around the glass-topped table Christian used whenever it was his turn to host board game nights or dinners with friends. Ben and Coco pitched in, the three of them working together to lift some of the heavier pieces into place until they’d managed a functional yet still cozy set-up in a shady spot near the centre of the room.

Furniture situated and everyone seated, Vincent flicked a glance back towards the kitchen.

“Now that I have rearranged,” he said, “I wonder if we should not go somewhere. I have only just arrived myself and Christian’s been away so there is not much to eat. I don’t even think I can offer you anything to drink unless you want orange juice or one of Christian’s fitness waters, He has an entire garage full of those, but nothing else.”

“Water’s fine for me,” Ben said.“The regular kind, not Christian’s lot. That stuff is vile. If you’d like, I can drive over to pick up some beers or the like. Properly enjoy our last few days before training starts up, yeah?”

“Hm,” Coco said. “But Christian must have something else to drink, no?”

Vincent shrugged. “I honestly do not know. It’s not as if I dug through the cupboards. You are welcome to do so,but don’t blame me if he gets angry about it.”

“Christian?” Coco said with a laugh. “Never.”

He slid out of his chair and disappeared around the corner into the kitchen. Ben could hear doors opening and closing, followed by a muffled exclamation in Spanish and then, a few moments later, what sounded like ice hitting glassware.

It sounded like whatever he was doing, he’d be at it for a while, so Ben decided he might as well see if he could get Vincent to spill whatever it was he was trying to cover up about how he’d spent his summer.

He leaned towards Vincent, resting one elbow on the arm of his chair. “So. You never said. Did you find yourself anywhere interesting on your hols? No exciting adventures for me this year.Popped down to Sardinia for a time, but I’d planned to be at the World Cup,so…you know.”

Once again, panic flashed across Vincent’s face. This time, it lingered longer, his eyes wide and a bit wild,his face flushing pink as he opened his mouth and then closed it again several times before actually speaking.

“It’s … as I said. I travelled a bit, although I did not go far from Istanbul. A friend wanted to visit the Black Sea coast. That is where we stayed, mostly.”

He dug into his pocket for his phone and scanned through his photos from the summer, angling the screen away from Ben’s line of sight as he flipped frantically through the images until he finally let out a sigh and held the phone out towards Ben.

“This is my friend, Roman,” he said, his face quirking into a soft smile as he scrolled through photo after photo of him and another man lounging shirtless on the beach or swimming in the ocean or leaning together with arms thrown about shoulders as they grinned behind tables piled with plates of food. “We are teammates together at Fenerbahce. Since neither of us were playing in the World Cup, we took time to meet up over the summer.”

Eventually, he came to a series taken of them playing beach volleyball with a group of people Ben didn’t recognise. From the looks of things, Vincent and this teammate of his—Roman—hadn’t fared too well in the match. Most of the photos seemed to be of Roman in various stages of falling over, ending with a whole sequence showing him sliding face down through the sand and finishing with him flashing Vincent a rude gesture.

The two looked … close. Very close. Ben wondered if he should be concerned.

It wasn’t his place, he knew.Whatever was going on between Vincent and Roman, or Vincent and Christian, for that matter, Ben didn’t need to get involved.

Still, Vincent was here in Christian’s house, living here while Christian was away, which implied there was still … something between them.

Then again, Ben had never officially confirmed that there was, in fact, anything between them in the first place. He was reasonably certain, of course. Their relationship was a bit of an open secret around the locker room, although Christian seemed as oblivious to that as he was to everything else in his life.

But Ben knew the signs. He knew what to look for. Especially when it came to Christian.

There was a time when Ben had felt a flush of jealous anger run through him whenever he saw Vincent and Christian together.From his first day at the club, Vincent had slotted into Christian’s life—Christian giving more and more of his time to Vincent, to the point that Ben had rarely seen him outside of training.

Ben had long since given up on anything happening between him and Christian, but that didn’t mean he was ready to sit back and watch as Christian fell well and truly in love.

And he had, that much was clear.Clearer to Ben than it had been to Christian or Vincent, from the looks of things. Ben knew all too well how oblivious Christian could be when it came to things like feelings or flirtations, so it wasn’t overly surprising that it took him a while to figure things out.

After a while, Ben had almost felt sorry for Vincent. He was clearly suffering.

“Can’t score on the pitch or off it, poor sod,” Eric had whispered under his breath one day in the Enfield players’ lounge. Vincent wasn’t even bothering to act casual as he slid one hand down Christian’s arm to rest on his elbow. Christian, predictably, just peered up at him with his customary look of wide-eyed confusion, then shrugged and jogged over to where Victor and Moussa were setting up for another round of Uno.

Vincent had watched him go, then thrown his head back and glared up at the ceiling with the same look of pure,unbridled anguish they’d all gotten used to seeing whenever one of his attempts at goal sailed wide of the mark. It had been all Ben could do not to pull him aside and toss him a bit of encouragement—“Don’t give up, mate. He’ll come around eventually.” Although, from what Ben had observed over the better part of two years, that might not actually be true.

And then one day, something had shifted.

Vincent’s flirtatious grins and longing gazes had turned into shy smiles and meaningful glances. Christian actually returning them now, the two of them flashing each other looks across the training pitch for hours on end. Christian always a little bit closer to Vincent at meal time, his eyes lingering the slightest bit longer whenever Vincent walked by. Then, finally, the two of them turning up everywhere together, flushed and slightly breathless and often looking like they’d just pulled an all-nighter.

He’d never mentioned it. It wasn’t his business, for one thing. For another, he’d known Christian for years and he could count the number of conversations they’d had about Christian’s romantic interests on one hand and still have fingers to spare. If Christian was happy—and,honestly, Ben had never seen him as clearly over the moon as he was with Vincent—then that was all that mattered.

And then … Vincent left.

Christian had always been one to remain calm and even-tempered—some might even say emotionless—in the face of whatever life happened to throw at him, so when he’d sprinted off down the hallway without bothering to shower or even change out of his training gear, Ben had started bracing for the worst.

Christian had been a mess since he’d arrived at the training centre that morning, without Vincent for once. If Ben was being honest, Christian had been off his game for a while now, the timing coinciding nicely with the swirls of rumours that Vincent would be leaving the club at the first opportunity. Still, Christian was a professional, and they all had a job to do. He’d turned up every day and done his work, bending his head in apology whenever a cross strayed too far afield or he mistimed a ball through the middle and left his teammates scrambling, but always the first to step back into position and try again.

That day, however, he may as well have been a ghost, his foot seeming to go through or over or around every ball,his usual intelligent gaze dull and his sharp crosses trickling weakly to the feet of the defenders—if he even managed to get a pass off in the first place without someone sliding in and taking the ball off his feet. Whenever someone called out to him, he’d drag his head up, distracted, as though he’d only just realised where he was and what might be going on.

“Vincent’s leaving,” Harry had said by way of explanation, sidling up beside Ben as they jogged off the pitch for lunch.

“What?”

“Vincent. He’s leaving tomorrow. Loan deal with Fenerbahçe in Istanbul. From what I heard, anyway.”

“Oh,” Ben had said, then, as the news sank in, swung his head until his gaze landed on Christian.

Head down, shoulders slumped, his whole body small and tight as he stared at his feet, not speaking, not even bothering to look at the crowd of people surrounding him. Jan and Mousa flanking him, arms flung over his shoulders. Toby a step behind, hand stretched out as though he were ready to catch Christian should he happen to fall.

Then, swinging back around to look over at Harry, who only nodded his agreement. “Yeah. Oh.”

It hadn’t gotten better from there.

Slowly, though, Christian had comeback to himself, spiraling down and down and down to the point where Ben wondered if he shouldn’t step in—intervene and ask Christian what he could do, how he could make it better. Christian always a step slower than usual, absent, distant, moving through life as though he were in a constant fog.

In the end, Ben had decided to leave well enough alone. If Christian wanted him to know the reason for his detachment, he’d say. Until then, Ben would gladly go back to being the friend who always showed up with a smile—and usually some drinks or a paper sack of food—whenever Christian called.

Eventually, they’d fallen back into their old rhythms, Ben slotting back into place in Christian’s life, and Christian as oblivious to Ben’s flirtations as ever. He never asked where Christian and Vincent stood; it didn’t matter. What mattered was that everything was back its proper place. Normality restored, as it were.

Now …  Vincent here, living in Christian’s house. Inviting friends over to plan a surprise gathering to welcome Christian back to London.

He wondered if Vincent knew. If Christian had shown any signs of how miserable he’d been with Vincent gone. If he knew how hard everyone around Christian had worked to pick up the pieces and put him back together again.

They were adults, and Ben had to assume both Christian and Vincent knew what they were about, but he had to admit he wasn’t at all looking forward to watching Christian go through it all again. Especially not if Vincent was about to make things even more complicated.

“This is your…teammate, you said?” Ben asked, his words coming out clipped and hesitant. “You two look…close.”

All Vincent said in response was,“Yes.”

Ben opened his mouth, ready to ask any number of follow up questions, not the least of which was ‘Does Christian know you’re involved with someone else?’, but but before he got the chance Coco reappeared, holding two glasses of an orangeish-brown liquid.

“For you, amigos. I knew Christian would still have the Campari I left with him a while ago. Perfect to chase away the heat of the day.” He handed a glass to each of them, ice cubes clinking against the sides, then ducked back around the corner for his own.

Ben bit the words off his tongue as he accepted the glass. It was mercifully cold in his hand, beads of condensation already pooling on his thumb and forefinger.

Vincent was staring down at his drink like he thought it might jump out of the glass and bite him. True, Coco tended to mix things strong, but everything he served up tended to go down smoothly.

“Drink, drink,” Coco said, flitting his hand around palm up in the universal gesture for ‘drink up’.

Ben shrugged and took a sip. He’d not had dinner yet, so the drink was bound to go straight to his head, but it was his last few free days before training again, so he figured he may as well have some fun.

“Not bad. You’re right. Reminds me of a beach somewhere, salt in the air from the ocean, not a cloud in sight. A fitting way to see out our last days of summer.”

“Absolutely, yes,” Coco replied.

Vincent narrowed his eyes at the glass. “This will not end up like the last time I let you make me a drink, will it?”

Coco let out a full-throated laugh, his head tipped back towards the ceiling, free hand pressed to his chest. “Who can know the future? Although, I think it will not be quite the same, no. For one thing, Christian is not here. So.”

Ben set his drink on the table and leaned closer. “This sounds like a story I need to hear.”

“It definitely is not,” Vincent said, cutting Coco off before he could fill Ben in. “I made the mistake of letting Coco test out a new drink recipe on me and ended up very much regretting it. That is all we will say.”

Ah, and that had to be about this past Christmas.

Vincent turning up in London and Christian secreting him away upstairs. Feigning an illness and practically shoving Ben out the door of his house. The two of them sharing what all observers had described as an absolutely filthy kiss in the midst of Jan and Sophie’s Christmas gathering. Christian, when asked about it, had flushed nearly crimson and tried to pass it off as nothing, mumbling something about mistletoe and Coco and Vincent always getting overly familiar when he was drunk, but Ben knew better.

Ben laughed and put a hand on Vincent’s shoulder. “Oh, mate. We’ve all been there. Trust me.”

Coco grinned and tipped his head to the side in acknowledgement before raising his glass, causing Vincent and Ben to break into laughter.

After they’d regained themselves, Ben raised his own glass towards Coco, the others leaning forward to clink their glasses against his in a silent ‘cheers’.

“Enough about the past,” Vincent said. “About Christian’s welcome.”

[hellyeahagender]

how do u respond to someone who says your gender is a made up word??? i know it's bullshit but idk how to reply to it!

Hello anon, thanks for the question.

You may want to remind them that literally every single word in every single language is made up (including the word 'jackass' which was first 'made up' in 1727 but is still apparently relevant even now in 2017) and that the only difference between one word and another is that some are older and more widely used than others. Examples of words that are ALSO made up:

that - Generally more specific or emphatic than the, but in some cases they are interchangeable. From c. 1200 opposed to this as indicating something farther off. In adverbial use ("I'm that old"), in reference to something implied or previously said, c. 1200, an abbreviation of the notion of "to that extent," "to that degree."

is - "third person singular present indicative of be, Old English is, from Germanic stem *es- (source also of Old High German, German, Gothic ist, Old Norse es, er), from PIE *es-ti- (source also of Sanskrit asti, Greek esti, Latin est, Lithuanian esti, Old Church Slavonic jesti), from PIE root *es- "to be." Old English lost the final -t-."

a - indefinite article, form of an used before consonants, mid-12c., a weakened form of Old English an "one" (see an). The disappearance of the -n- before consonants was mostly complete by mid-14c. After c. 1600 the -n- also began to vanish before words beginning with a sounded -h-; it still is retained by many writers before unaccented syllables in h- or (e)u- but is now no longer normally spoken as such. The -n- also lingered (especially in southern England dialect) before -w- and -y- through 15c.

made up - late 14c., from Middle English maked, from Old English macod "made," past participle of macian "to make" (see make). Made up "invented" is from 1789; of minds, "settled, decided," from 1873. To be a made man is in Marlowe's "Faust" (1590). To have it made (1955) is American English colloquial. Grose's dictionary of slang and cant (1785) has for this word what might be the shortest and most cynical definition ever penned: "MADE. Stolen. Cant."

word - Old English word "speech, talk, utterance, sentence, statement, news, report, word," from Proto-Germanic *wurdan (source also of Old Saxon, Old Frisian word, Dutch woord, Old High German, German wort, Old Norse orð, Gothic waurd), from PIE *were- (3) "speak, say"

All words, anon. Every single one of them is made up. There's a reason Miriam Webster adds new terms to the dictionary every year and it's not because language is a static, never changing force--language has NEVER been that, and the validity of a word is not determined by how new it is or where it originated or how many people use it. If a word has a purpose, if it puts a label to something that exists in the world, it is a real word because language does not dictate reality, rather our reality dictates our language. 

So, really simple, not only is some jerk (a "tedious and ineffectual person", first used in 1935) scowling over "made up words" giving you a very weak argument for why it’s cool for them to invalidate your gender identity, unless they express it to you via cave painting it's also a hypocritical one. 

(All definitons from http://www.etymonline.com/ - etymology, just fyi, being an entire area of study dedicated to just when certain words were 'made up' and how they've evolved throughout history)

[abundantfrog]

Spotify, SoundCloud, or Pandora? : Pandora

is your room messy or clean?: Messy

what color are your Eyes?: Brown

do you like your name? why?: I’m content with my name. I like what it means and it has a real short abbreviation for nicknames

what is your relationship status?: Single

describe your personality in 3 words or less: Stubborn, Talkative, 

what color hair do you have?: Brown

what kind of car do you drive? color?: I do not own a car

where do you shop?: Wherever I can get a ride to. Walmart, Target, Pennies, Marshal’s, 

how would you describe your style?: Lazy

favorite social media account: I guess tumblr but I really just enjoy social media to kill time or talk extra when my friends are busy

what size bed do you have?: Twin extra long

any siblings?: 3 and a half

if you can live anywhere in the world where would it be? why?: I don’t really know.  Probably around where I am now.  I like the temperature range and the nearness to my family.  

favorite snapchat filter?: Idk man. I think the faceswaps are my fav. 

favorite makeup Brand(s): I don’t use makeup so I don’t have a real opinion

how many times a week do you shower?: anywhere between 5 and 10. Some days I shower before/after work so it can get to more than 7. Kind of depends on how I’m doing.  More showers for worse moods. 

favorite tv show?: Season 1 of Supergirl. 

shoe size?: 10? something like that. Wide. 

how tall are you?: 5′11? 

sandals or sneakers?: Sneakers. 

do you go to the gym?: No but I realllly should because of my back. 

describe your dream date: I have no idea.  I like the idea of doing something that involves dressing up fancy but also hiking is a great time.  I think I want like hiking somewhere fun/new to me/person I’m with followed by just hanging out/relaxing and food of some sort. I’m not too picky. 

how much money do you have in your wallet at the moment?: Wallet? Idk like 10 dollars maybe? I’m not big on keeping cash. 

what color socks are you wearing?: I’m not. But generally if I have socks they range from grey to black. 

how many pillows do you Sleep with?: Like 1-3 depending on the night

do you have a job? what do you do?: I manage a kitchen

how many friends do you have?: Wow that’s a large question. Like how are we describing friends? People who I’m actually close with the number is like maybe or less than 5. People who I like and enjoy hanging out with it’s a higher number to like 15. 

whats the worst thing you have ever done?: Oh gosh. I don’t know. like. There’s a lot of ways to interpret worst. worst to myself is like. the amount that I procrastinate. could be this very moment.  Most physically harmful was probably cutting that area between pointer and thumb on my brother’s hand with a scissors when very small, most like emotionally rude/assholeish was probably something with how my relationship with Lauren ended up ending.  I could think of a lot more things but let’s move on. 

whats your favorite candle scent?: Vanilla probably but I haven’t really explored candle scents enough to know

3 favorite boy names: I do not have an answer for this question.  I tend to like David. I’ll have David as an answer but that’s all I got. 

3 favorite girl names: I have no idea. 

favorite actor?: John Barrowman? 

favorite actress?: Melissa Benoist

who is your celebrity Crush?: Katie McGrath

favorite movie?: Captain America, Winter Soldier.  OR Lion King

do you read a lot? whats your favorite book?: I used to read a lot, I’m very partial to the Pendragon or heralds of Valdemar series. both had like a large influence on my life. 

money or brains?: What does this mean? Brains are necessary to be alive and money is necessary to continue to purchase goods like food.  Talking about what I find attractive I’m going to say brains but it’s less being a smarty-pants and more personality-wise that gets along with me because like, as I said above stubborn and talkative I’m not /always/ easy to get along with for extended periods of time. 

do you have a nickname? what is it?: Not one that gets used really anymore.  Dippy is the one I used to have but I never liked it. 

how many times have you been to the hospital?: Idk. 3 or 4. Never for emergency purposes 

top 10 favorite songs: That’s a lot. Bohemian Rhapsody, Little Lion Man, The Phoenix, 1985, Mr. Brightside, Step in Time, Seize the Day, Bad Day, Move Along, Lord of the Dance.  These aren’t in a particular order and they’re mostly associated with like particularly good memories or specific people and make me happy for that.  

do you Take any medications daily?: Nah. I have some vitamins and pain killers I take intermittently. 

what is your skin type? (oily, dry, etc): Idk man. Probably oily because the previously mentioned working in a Kitchen 

what is your biggest Fear?: Being a burden to my family because I run out of motivation and fail to become financially independent. 

how many kids do you want?: I don’t know. I’m not confident I want kids. 

whats your go to hair style?: Wherever it falls at whatever length it is at the moment is fine. 

what type of house do you live in? (big, small, etc): Something that corresponds to the amount of people living there.  So like if it’s just me pretty small. if I have a significant other/family with me on the medium-large size. I’m personally content with like. A bathroom, a medium sized bedroom, and a kitchen if I’m alone.  

who is your role model?: I don’t know.  I love my older sister Steff.  But I try not to have a specific role model.  it’s weird. 

what was the last compliment you received?: I have no idea.  Brice probably said something last night that could be considered a compliment.  The last thing that really stuck with me was like a week ago when Brice told me he considers me like a reasonable enough person that I’m honest with myself about my limitations/skills as a magic player and he trusts my judgement of how I fair as a player compared to people around me.  

what was the last text you sent?: I told my friend tha tI’ll be free Saturday night as my only free time this weekend to see a movie 

how old were you when you found out santa wasn’t real?: Officially? 5th grade but there was no surprise at this revelation.  When I like low key accepted but didn’t acknowledge the fakeness of it? no idea. 

what is your dream car?: Something with wheels and good gas mileage that’s reliable. 

opinion on smoking?: Yucky. I’m an asthmatic. 

do you go to college?: Yeah I’m a double major religion/psychology at rutgers. 

what is your dream job?: Solid questions I don’t know I don’t have aspirations in life anymore I’m kind of dead inside. 

would you rather live in rural areas or the suburbs?: I guess rural but like. Woodsie. I want something with trees. 

do you take shampoo and conditioner bottles from hotels?: I tend to as souvenirs. I never use them. 

do you have freckles?: Nah I just have a pile of acne. 

do you smile for pictures?: I try to but I’m bad at it so I force a laugh and hold my face like that because it’s the only way I can smile. 

how many pictures do you have on your phone?: A fuck ton. 

have you ever peed in the woods?: Yeah man

do you still watch cartoons?: Yeah I do. 

do you prefer chicken nuggets from Wendy’s or McDonalds?: Wendy’s. 

Favorite dipping sauce?: Barbeque or Honey Mustard. 

what do you wear to bed?: What I wore that day, nothing, or gym shorts/big ole T-shirt

have you ever won a spelling bee?: I’ve never participated in one

what are your hobbies?: Magic the Gathering

can you draw?: Hell yeah I can. Not well. But I am capable of putting a pencil onto a piece of paper and making images. 

do you play an instrument?: I used to be a mediocre cello player and a mediocre percussion player for auxilliary percussion but I haven’t touched eithe rin years. 

what was the last concert you saw?: Panic At the Disco/Weezer.

tea or coffee?: Tea if I’m drinking black. Coffee if I have like a selection of stuff form Dunkin to put into it. 

Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts?: Only ever been to Dunkin

do you want to get married?: Idk. It would be nice to have the consistent support from someone in life but like. Previously stated lack of aspirations/ambitions for my life right now. 

what is your Crush’s first and last initial?: YM is an option

are you going to change your last name when you get married?: If I get married I’ll do whatever my significant other would like with names I’m not attached to traditional “girl must take guy’s name” things. 

what color looks best on you?: I really like purple and Jess says it looks great but it’s both of our favorite color.  I also like like sky blues. I don’t know specifically for what looks good for me. 

do you miss anyone right now?: Hell yeah I could probably list at least as many people that I miss as I could list people that I’m still friends with without overlap. 

do you Sleep with your door open or closed?: Closed (except that one time I accidentally left it open or if I’m really drunk and forget)

do you believe in ghosts?: I don’t have a firm belief in either direction

what is your biggest pet peeve?: I don’t know that it counts for pet peeve but I really don’t like when things I say get misinterpreted or like people read into things that I say I’m a pretty direct person. 

last person you called?: Nayirrah. She was late to work

favorite ice cream flavor?: Graham Central Station. It reminds me of Mrs. Foco. 

regular oreos or golden oreos?: Regular I’m not a fucking animal

chocolate or rainbow sprinkles?: Rainbow

what shirt are you wearing?: Plain white T

what is your phone background?: The view from the tree I love climbing in the middle of the woods at the top of my home town area I hike in.  Or the view of the ocean at sunset by my grandparents, depending on which background. 

are you outgoing or shy?: I’m weird and it depends on the situation I’m in. 

do you like it when people play with your hair?: Idk man. I’m pretty neutral about it. 

do you like your neighbors?: I don’t know them. 

do you wash your face? at Night? in the morning?: I wash my face when I shower

have you ever been high?: Nope

have you ever been drunk?: Yeah I have

last thing you ate?: A family sized bag of Lays cheddar potato chips

favorite lyrics right now: Idk man I can only think of quotes form books right now so either “And so we go” or “There is no one true way” as quotes from books. 

summer or winter?: Summer much better for hiking

Day or Night?: Depends on the activity. 

dark, milk, or white chocolate?: Milk

favorite month?: Probably May it’s my birthday and semesters end and I get to see my school friends at the start and my home friends at the end. 

what is your zodiac sign: Taurus

who was the last person you cried in front of?: Idk man. I do’nt really cry in front of people. Maybe jess? Maybe Margaret. Crying is weird and I can’t do it so it doesn’t really happen. And I tend to pretend to be fine in front of people.  Maybe Anna? Could be Anna. or Peter. I have no memory of what it was but those are the options.  

[asriherself]

This is my INTP analysis

So, recently i found out my MBTI personality type and it’s INTP. 

at first, i spit on it because of the stereotypical INTP as “logician analyst” boooooo how boring. And i don’t feel like i’m dat genius lol. but as i read through the the traits, strength, weakness, and functions i got really mentally deprived lol. next time i do, is that i spend 3 fucking days browsing and studying and make a research out of it lol.

i would like to scientifically explaining the theory and all... but i don’t want to. Instead, i want to explaining it from my point of view . because it’s easier this way and less boring.

so here’s:

INTP is an abbreviation used  in the publications of the Myers–Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) as one of 16 personality types. Each alphabet stands for

I : Introversion. means a reserved personality.

N: Intuition. means abstract thinking and an ability to make future possibilities.

T: Thinking. means when making decision they value logic and reasoning.

P: Perceptions. means they value other perceptions aka open minded.

but that’s only on a surface.

as functions INTP has:

Dominant: (Ti) Introverted Thinking

the ability to logically analyst a subject that comes from inside the mind to mind itself. aka self-philosophize aka self-debating aka what i’m doing right now. this usually lead up with common “absent mind” which is when the INTPs are so caught up with whatever is on their mind, they forget about their physical world and their mind is at- God knows where their mind is... 

in extreme case of absent mind, INTP can overly-analyzing that thing without sleeping, eating, drinking in hours, without feeling tiring, in fact it’s actually refreshing at some point (that’s exactly what happened to me for the past few hours while analyzing this). in moderate case of absent mind, they usually staring into distance. when this happen, idk if it’s only me but people tend to thought that i looked lost/dozed when i absent minded. they said to me in bahasa indonesia “jangan bengong”. it’s true at some point, i think i couldn’t even bother to realize whether i was thinking or not. 

random theories out of nowhere are natural for INTP. but if you think INTPs are analyzing something amazingly genius you’re dead wrong. they’re often take even the stupidest and less functional idea. nah, it’s not just about tv series and stuff. most of the INTPs are not even realize when they’re absent minded. and if you ask them what they’re thinking, there’s 80% changes they would say forget about it.

(Ne) Extroverted Intuition

the ability to “abstract thinking” and make future possibility of the subject outside the mind (environment). this is why INTPs won’t just fed up with what’s already been there. instead they analyzed the shit out of it and make the logical reasoning of “what if” and “why would”. thus leads them to despise the norm and social order. also because of their abstract thinking, INTPs are also very open minded and sometimes can be very enthusiastic. 

their emotions are connected with a thirst of knowledge. that’s why some INTP can be childish and weird when they’re gushing about something they interested. “triggered” could be a great word for this. when my enthusiasm triggered, it’s like there’s a cotton candy explosion in my brain and the next thing in my mind... is pure emotions and enthusiasm. INTP can go from boring faced dude to kid on sugar rush when something triggered them... and then they back to boring faced dude again. 

but sometimes INTP can be fooled with white lies because of their open mindness and overly enthusiastic. i’ll have you know, they hate it. because INTP treasure knowledge more than any other personality. not because they love, nor because exciting, nor because to achieve a goal. they just simply worship knowledge. and if you fucks with knowledge you basically asking INTP to put you on the list ‘i will dissed this person off after all this over’

also INTPs are very straightforward and honest. INTP often accidentally slip on their juicy opinion into a touchy subject and make the people around him super pissed. they didn’t mean it tho, perhaps they might be trying help you. this is because of their lack of understanding in human feelings and their straightforward personality that makes the INTP sometimes looks like a “machine without a heart”. which isn’t true tho, i can guarantee you.

(Si) Introverted Sensing

the ability to recall memories and emotions. they use it to gather the data and then comparing them with the present to judged/support the theory.     i don’t know if any INTPs has a same traits as me but i always have a tendency to use metaphor as a pillar of my theory. 

if you don’t know metaphor, it is a technique to judged and compare problems by simply imagining problems as another objects. the objects could be anything like box, mugs, cats, even book character from your recalling memories. i used this technique to understand why INTJ self-eccentrically feeling has more understanding of human feelings rather than INTP by imagining balls, i used balls as a metaphor for that theory. further talks will be on the next post after this.

Inferior: (Fe) Extroverted Feeling

now this is rather interesting. i had spent 5 hours analyzing INTP theory, and at the dawn of the day, i still don’t understand about this Fe function. since it’s the lowest out of four INTP functions, and since i honestly do not understand about human feelings. 

i know that i’m not a cold machine like *ehm* particular personality. i want to interact with people. eventhough some poeple are jerks... but i believe that somehow they’re good in their own way, because god made us different on a purpose. in my motto, “if you can’t get em and they can’t get you, then don’t. because it’s only hurt you or them in the process.” furthermore, this Fe theory is still under development. that’s why i need to put this theory on the alpha-mode experiment. 

what i’m trying to say is: i’m gonna try to make a social connection on the first day of class and see what happens. see you next.