#in my fanfic world he has a bit of a crisis about it but thats besides the point

[alastair-1205]

Morro should get to have complicated feelings about the fact that Wu is, for all intents and purposes, dead now. Or, better yet, Morro and ghost Wu should interact. I think it'd be great >:)

[butchtwelfthdoctor]

something i've noticed about the difference between good omens and doctor who fandoms rn is that the good omens people are either making funny art or coming up with increasingly unfeasible theories about supposed 'hidden messages' in the show and generally being weird about it going out of their way to say they LOVE EVERYTHING about the show, and the doctor who people are like. damn this sucks.. unfortunately it's also really compelling. oh well <3

like idk the good omens people (generalising here of course) seem incredibly strung up on what Could Be Meaningful and making wayyyyy to much of a big deal out of minor details. and like the show is clever! there are secondary levels of meaning! but not everything is or should be. not everything is a metaphor. continuity errors exist. and the doctor who people (even new fans) are still yknow eating drywall over it but are also like HAHAHAHthat bit was awful. anyways its also incredibly thematically relevant to these other episodes so it's very important you watch it lol.

and i think the difference is that good omens is twelve episodes. just twelve. there's the book of course, which is a different angle than the show, there's the radio version etc. but there's only so much story. and a lot of the version are the plot of the book in different formats. whereas doctor who goes on forever and ever and ever and there will always be more content. so the good omens people are overanalysing the same few moments over and over again because thats all there is, they probably know their content better than the doctor who people, but b/c you only see them in so many Situations, its also easier to begin to warp your perception of them. you only see them deal with a crisis a couple times under very specific circumstances. there are only so many character moments, so things can be blown out of proportion b/c you cant compare it to another similar moment.

but doctor who is infamously long and infamously has a Very large eu so you have a lot more time with the characters to pull together your perception of the characters, even when regenerations and new companions come and go. you simply have more to work with to build your understanding.

like if you compare the 'i just lost my best friend' scene from good omens to any of the 'doctor thinks companion is dead' scenes--crowley reacts like that only once. he is distraught, obviously, doesnt quite know what to do about it at first, doesnt know what's happened to aziraphale--but its a specific moment. bookshop burned down. world is ending. aziraphale Gone. whereas doctor who there's a range of scenarios with a range of reactions--guilt and also hope when bill gets shot and then taken away. anger and denial over clara willingly dying knowing that she must (actually resolved her character arc quite well i thought, though so did hell bent). there are more but i forget. uhm end of s1 second to last episode rose gets vaporised but it's actually a teleport, the way nine responds to that. there's just more to work with!! which i think is why the good omens fandom is so deeply embroiled in arguing over minutiae of character and background detail b/c they dont have anything more to read about them except fanfics (which are obvious a feedback loop in any fandom) and because they only see aziraphale and crowley for such a short time. they cant compare their reactions during times of The Literal End of the World and The Disruption Of Their Quite Nice Life Together And Also Possibly the End of the World to them just chilling.

[jslmasaysmoneyisbest]

it could alos go the opposite way

Damian could be reborn as Satan

so thats another reason why he is the avatar of wrath because he just lost everyone

(in reality-his death turned back time and everyone was alive they searched for him but ultimetly decided he ran away because in this au they are uncommunicated jerks-like that one fanfic I read where Damian family was really--neglectful?-I don't want to call it that because its a bit blury in my mind but thats the best explanation)

So in the second game of Obey me you can see how they try to at least help Satan and include him because he is their brother you know?

Damian has no idea what to feel about this but then when someone t attacks him they all immediatly goes and finds this man and just destroy him.

Damtan(Damian/Satan) is so very confused and just tilts his head and asks why why would you guys do that? Like they were right to attack him

because he was

They is obviously something wrong with him

So its only fair to be attacked

the brothers break down crying

because did they do something wrong?

Why did there baby brother think this

He was only just created a couple years ago

and then they shower him with love and demonic things only demons can do

because Satan is a cat

and the other demon bros have animal features and they bond and shit

and BAM he is sent on a mission to help the human world

Barbatos brings him to DCU world with a knowing smile

and his body changes accordingly

so he looks like a older Damian with a mix of Satan

he helps figure out the problem

(demons running rampet and Constatine trying to make deals with them but they are not the type of demons and shit(idk I do not know much about Constatine) he usually deals with. So him being on top of the hiarchy and still in the database to most heroes bases

goes to the Justice league base(my mind is blanking on it)

and just then while everyone is there thinking about how to deal with this crisis

"Robin Entering" (again idk but I feel like it should be announced maybe the identities are all revealed so its instead "Robin-Damian Wayne entering")

and they explode when they see him

Idk what to add after so yeah(:

Question:What about your mind You hate the most about

Heres mine

when I suddenly get a crossover idea for the most random impossible shit ever

Just now I had an idea about

Satan from Obey ME

and

Damian from DCU/Batman

being the same person

also an idea about him being Dick and him being Jason which(i think makes more sense but what cha gonna do against your brain)

Satan is my favorite and has so much room for angst

Damian is also my favorite he is the one I know most about and well angst

but

while Damian can get a close relationship with his brothers in my head

For Satan I can never imagine a good one

a fine relationship sure

but there is always a hurtle I can never get over to make it great

So my brain though why not combine them

but make Satan a child running away and shit

idk Im not my brain and I personally do not know why it makes such nonsensical ideas

Please send help

[actualbird]

Oh god!

I really love the poly headcanons they are so sweet.... (or don't but that's part of it and i think the tot boys+MC deserve all the love the world has to give).

But, liking it or not, our 4 beloved boys are kinda complicated (that's what makes them perfect). Plus I never thought about how people get in poly relationships. So i was thinking, how do you think they all get into a polyrelationship together?

(I really have no idea of how that would happen)

hi, two anons!! im glad you guys liked my nxx team polycule stuff!! i'll answer these in one go, my "headcanon" (in quotes because i think this kinda turned into a character analysis/minific of sorts HAHA) being what first anon asked, How They Get Together.

heads up, wc of this is 1.9k words long so buckle up for a bit of a read jfsjdfkjbf

because first anon, youre right!!! the boys are stupendously complicated which i love so so much but canon has also shown us clearly that each of the boys' quirks and habits and tendencies causes a lot of (mostly played for laughs) friction. the bickering, the backhanded insults, the "im the best one here" preening contests. theyre all SOOOO RIDICULOUS and it is hilarious but yep! the boys r complex!! and that means this beautiful ship, imo, has a lot of phases to get to the actual romantic relationship bit.

how they get together, in my opinion, starts because of mc.

not in the sense that she matchmakes them all, but like.

phase 1 of the nxx team polycule is this:

through being in love with her (which we all know the boys 100% are), each of the boys come to terms with their own flaws and weaknesses. it's very apparent to me in all the story thus far that these boys are flawed as hell, it's very compelling but even more compelling to me is how all of them also do intense mental gymnastics to Not Confront Those Flaws. like, marius is a dickbag always teasing and toeing the line of insincerity, vyn is a controlling mf who always tries to sway situations to his benefit, artem is so repressed to the point that he has genuine trouble with emotions, luke is a self sacrificial bastard and also a huge hypocrite about how no, actually, hes the only one that should be hiding his pain and being dishonest, no dishonesty from other people!! in the beginning of the story, all the boys have their flaws and seem to have just kinda...not addressed how those flaws are harming them and the people around them.

and then mc rolls around and they all fall in love with her. and she sees those flaws and she doesnt let them slide. she challenges the boys in her own ways to see another side of the situation, to acknowledge what theyre doing. she doesnt want to get rid of flaws, thats impossible and also not cool. she just has this beautiful hope for like, all of humanity, that goodness can prevail with the right work. so when she sees her beloved nxx boys, she believes that for them as well.

which leads to phase 2 of the nxx team polycule:

the boys, more aware of themselves, become more aware of each other.

they werent Unaware of the others of course. it's just that they didnt like...truly connect on a personal level just yet. they saw the other teammembers with their emotional armor and flaws and saw a wall that wasnt worth looking past.

but after mc makes them realize that hey, flaws arent the end of the world actually, it's alright and the person behind them may just be worth it, the boys like. end up understanding the others. A LOT OF THIS BIT IS UNINTENTIONAL, ON THEIR PARTS KJDSBFS. like they stumble into understanding each other by accident, they didnt plan it, but over the course of nxx investigations, it's inevitable that they end up seeing the depths of the others. i delve into this a little bit in my fanfic "filler eps of the lost gold" where the boys are just going thru their actions and then trip over another boy's fears or desires and through that, gain a deeper understanding mutually.

and with understanding, sometimes, comes trust.

phase 3 of the nxx team polycule goes like this:

everybody in this team, whether they like it or not, whether they know it or not, has a heart that wants to give love so desperately.

marius lives in a world full of snakes so he cant have his heart on his sleeve for his own protection. vyn wants to be seen as perfect and the heart is inherently messy so he holds it back. artem for a very very long time was focused on work and success and achievement that he neglected his heart. and luke has been giving love all his life in a sense but in a way thats hidden.

all these tendencies that are brought upon their life circumstances results in this: they want to love honestly but they havent been able to do this

until mc. and all of them want to push back whatever fears or patterns their life has instilled in them because they see her and see somebody so unwaveringly good that all their hearts begin giving love to her to make her happy and to make themselves happy as well.

but heres the thing. the boys dont just see mc. by this point, they have connected and understood and come to trust each other as well, and the consequence of that is that They Can See Each Other Now Too, Truly.

and heres the thing. all of the boys are unwaveringly good as well.

one by one, each of the boys realize that what they feel for the other boys in the team starts to...change. yeah theyre all friends, they pick on each other a lot of the time, but the bedrock of the relationship is solid and strong now. but when marius is with luke, marius sees a light inside of luke so bright that he seems unaware that he gives off. when artem is with vyn, artem sees a goodness inside of vyn that hesitates to make itself obvious and known because vyn is scared of getting hurt thanks to it. all of them see the other and their goodness and, unbidden, their hearts want to give love to each other as well.

and because theyre all a bit stupid in their own way theyre like, huh, weird! wonder why this feeling is so familiar! and yet i cant seem to name it...and then they all independently compare these feeling with the feelings they have for mc, a feeling they do know the name of, and theyre like.

WAIT.

THESE FEELINGS ARE...VERY BASICALLY EXACTLY WHAT I FEEL FOR MC.

which only means one thing: theyve fallen in love with everybody else

marius: //goes to his studio to Think and sees that a bunch of his recent art actually had little crumbs of these feelings already, etched into the brushstrokes and scenes. has an emotional crisis about it

vyn: //records a 1 hour long entry in his audio diary to examine and gain control of his feelings but by the end of the hour all he knows is that he wants to hold these people and be held by them

artem: //quite literally just bluescreens, artem.exe has stopped working, sits at his study and slowly, slowly, thunks his head down onto his desk, valiantly trying to ignore the fast pulse of his heart

luke: //manically vents about it to peanut who, by virtue of being a bird, doesnt get it. just keeps talking at peanut to get a grasp of it all and then lies down on the floor, overwhelmed

mc, sitting in her apartment watching some netflix: ...why do i inexplicably feel as if something very, very important has just happened?

phase 4 of the nxx team polycule is basically:

pining: extreme difficulty level

because pining is already hard when ur pining for one person. what more for an additional 3 more people. and those additional 3 more people are pining back.

and all these boys are SOOOO OBVIOUS with their romantic feelings, in their own special way. the way they show their affection to mc starts to bleed into their interactions with the others and everybody can CLEARLY SEE WHAT IS GOING ON, LOL, but also all the boys are too chickenshit to confront it, because if they confront it, what will even happen??? being in love with each other, all of them, thats going to be such a complicated fucking relationship, holy shit. it's 2030, yeah, being a polyamorous group relationship isnt completely unheard of, but sue them, theyre scared.

but mc (who i forgot to mention already knows of the boys' romantic feelings for her, shes just hasnt made a move yet on any of them because SHES IN LOVE WITH ALL OF THEM AS WELL and shes been trying to figure out how the hell to make that work, she cant bear to choose just one of them, she'd be heartbroken over leaving the rest of them behind) sees that the nxx investigation team is now all pining for each other FULLY and she kinda wants to laugh when she realizes whats going on because like, what are the chances? that this would happen? that they all found each other and their feelings fell into just the right place for nobody to be left behind?

theyre all scared, she can tell. and she is as well, she wont lie.

but shes always had a belief that goodness can prevail with the right work.

and love is one of the greatest goods out there.

phase 5 of the nxx team polycule:

It's Time For Communication, Baby!!!!!

the exact scenes of how this happens is a bit vague to me. it could go two ways: mc going to each of the boys independently to talk about feelings, hers about everybodys and his about everybodys as well. OR they have a fucking meeting about it all together and artem literally schedules it in his google calendar, or something.

either way, they like, actually talk about this. starts casual, maybe over a chill date, maybe over dinner at a nice restaurant, maybe over a walk in the park as the sun is starting to set. but where ever it happens, the end result is the same: a heart is laid out bare and it is taken in gentle, grateful hands.

marius: OKAY, NOW THAT THE FEELINGS ARE OUT OF THE WAY, CAN I PLEASE KISS ONE OR ALL OF YOU, PLEASE, IVE BEEN WANTING TO KISS U GUYS FOR FOREVER

vyn, laughing fondly: has anybody ever told you patience is a virtue? we quite literally just talked it all out.

marius: //needy whining noises

artem, embarrassed: ive...never kissed anybody before

luke, embarrassed but trying to play it Cool: ....same here

mc: kissing is great, you two will love it!

marius: awesome, awesome, so is ANYBODY going to give me a go ahead or WHAT????

phase 6 of the nxx team polycule:

i dont want to say it's happily ever after, once they all get together. thats not really realistic.

they all have their quirks and tendencies and habits. and those will inevitable clash against each other. theyll have their arguments, theyll get upset, theyll sulk and be angry, sometimes. but also...

theyll see each other smile and feel like their love shining so brightly. theyll reach out for another's hand and be held in such a way that makes them think that their heart is in a safe place. theyll love each other and theyll put in the work to continue loving each other. because goodness will prevail.

and they all see each other as the most good people in the world.

so whatever happens, theyll get through it together.

[dana-chan-the-control-brain]

Top five fanfics?

Oh fuck (gets shot)

Well, I shot myself in the foot with that one.

Keep in mind, these are in no particular order, and I'm a bit of a pleb when it comes to reading fanfic. I just tend to like what's popular or stuff written by my friends.

I need to give Height Treason by @wholesomeklei a huge shout-out.

I'm not sure if this fic will ever be continued or not. Last I heard of Klei, they had a cancer scare (it wasn't) updated a chapter about Sizz-lorr and then vanished from the internet entirely. I hope they're taking a much needed break from online stuff and nothing bad happened to them.

But anyways, I can not thank Height Treason enough for existing. It gells with the humor of canon so seemlessly it feels like I'm watching an "Invader Zim after dark" show. Yes, even despite the not safe for work canon.

I love the lore they weave and I'm always a fan of "zim finds out the truth of his mission and schmoops and gets revenge on the Irken empire" stories. Also Pining Zim has my whole heart.

And it even paints side characters with much love.

Membrane tries his best and sucks at parenting and it inspired me greatly for how I write and came to understand Membrane as a character.

Miss Bitters is a delight. Sargent Slabrankle gets a cameo. Tak's ship has an existential crisis. Gosshloog gets an entire chapter about a spicy love afair with his boss. Zim's Computer is his usual sassy self and has ackward conversations with a frustrated teenage Dib.

Like the love for the side characters is amazing.

Height Treason was the fanfic that inspired me to write an entire fanfiction based on Computer Brain lore.

The lore is amazing, it's in character and this fic inspired me SO MUCH and is the reason that Tech Support (and the Brainbrane fic by extension) even exists.

I've probably reread this fic over twenty times.

However, I can't link the fic here, since it's VERY nsfw. As in, explicit sex scenes later. (The chapter where zim learns sex education is great)

So I can't link it, but it's easily searchable on A03.

If you're of age, and don't mind nsfw I highly recommend it.

Honesty Hour by @patchworkpoltergeist is one of those new fandom classics.

Like I don't even know how describe this fic.

Honesty Hour chills me to the core and has me looking at my ceiling for hours on end questioning my own existence.

Like it's Zim gets therapy, but in a psychological horror way.

Patch is a master wordsmith and just has a way of describing things. Everything is in the details.

I just love how Zim thinks and that half the time I don't know what's going on as much as Zim does. Which is honestly more scary then I think.

There's lots of details that I miss and usually after talking about the chapter with Patch or the Moo-ping10 gang, I realize "oh fuck that's what happened?! The hell"

Anyways. I fear and look forward to every update.

But I honestly have to run a mental health check before I even attempt to read the chapters.

Emotions, Cryptids and the possible end of the world series by @bamsara

I feel Bamsara does onto theirself and I don't need to sing her fics praises but I will.

I am a bit behind on my reading, cause I haven't read the latest chapter of Galaxy Days yet.

But I love the casual yet feral friendship Dib and Zim have built throughout this series.

There's just a constant yearning throughout the whole thing, and the two boys are at the center of it all. Like the feeling of a real long road trip with no destination in mind. That's often what these series of fics feel like. There's an underlying tenderness and longing but also something dark and sinister. A lot of moments stay in my head for days after the fact. Not just the cryptids of the fic, but the smaller moments. Zim and Dib having breakfast in France as the sun rises, Dib crying his eyes out in a dingy motel room near the beach, Zim breaking into Dib's hospital room in the dark, Dib attacking Zim in a fit of insomnia hallucinations....

The list goes on.

There's plenty of good moments, and I've even drawn Zim giving Dib space (cause that's the fucking gayest romantic thing and I still lie in bed thinking about it)

Also Dib constantly running into Death's arms and Zim often doing fisticuffs with her and both getting stupid trauma over stupid decisions is very good.

I feel a lot of Sara's soul in these fics and it shows. Especially with how Dib is written and I can tell this is an extremely personal project with passion behind it and I can't help but admire that.

Every star another sun series by @dionysuscrysis

I really love this series. The end.

Okay, unfair.

But Dion's series really needs more views and appreciation.

I like how it just skips over the "zim and dib become friends somehow....realizes mission is fake..yadda yadda" part of the story and just jumps right into the thick of it.

Space Adventures! Wooooo!!!!

A giant sandworm, a Battle Zoo!!! An alien spa, badass good guy Skoodge, and mad max style sci-fi racing.

And I'm glad that Dib is already in his early twenties here. And Dib is just so smart with machines and not a complete lost duck in space. He's sharp as a tack and dumb as an ox this boy and I love him very much.

Lol I'm old. I'm sick of seeing teenage drama sometimes.

And I can also feel a lot of Dion's soul in their fics.

Lots of hurt comfort in here....

It's actually kinda like the Bamsara effect in reverse...

Instead of Dib throwing himself head first into danger...

Zim is the one doing it.

And Dib thinks an appropriate way to fix this is throw himself at the same danger.

Idiots.

Help them.

Parade of Indignities by @rissynicole

Finished recently and since then my heart has never known peace.

It's one of those fandom classics that I ended up reading due to Bamsara's fic recommendation list like roughly two years ago.

Rissy has a way with words and their strengths lend themselves to action scenes extremely well.

Zim finds himself critically ill and it's up to Dib to travel back to irken space to save him.

Thats the basic premise but there is so much more.

A conspiracy, involving the other Invaders, Zim's massive wall of denial, and how everything Zadf happens from Dib's perspective.

I remember reading all the available chapters (like 15 of them) all in one night until 5am the first time I read it.

It's a master suspense and thriller story and I enjoyed it very much.

I still have to leave a huge comment.

Also honorable recommendations:

@melodyofthevoid 's Royalty AU.

....just. it good. Save these kids.

And ofc me and @paketdimensioncomic 's collab fics:

"Jerking around the House" and "Membrane's guide to be a better parent, lose your fucking arms"

You're a delight to work with and I love how your writing style compliments my insane ramblings so they're less wordy.

Also gotta give a shout-out to my Baby Tech Support.

Is it vain to plug your own fics? Maybe.

Do I care.

Nah.

I love my stuff. And I'm glad others do too.

[duhragonball]

I'd like to suggest Majin Buu for the character asks. He's a strange dude who stuck around longer then expected, so I'd imagine you have some mixed feelings on the character. I'd say any version of Buu applies, but thats up to you.

Give me a character and I will answer:

Why I like them: Those who know me, know that I am all about that post-Frieza era of DBZ.  That’s why I want Hit to kill him again, because it did wonders for Z, and maybe it could improve Super II or whatever they end up calling it.   I’ve already discussed why I love Cell, but for me, the Buu Saga was not much of a step down.   I came out of the Cell Games wanting more, really craving an epilogue to show how everyone was getting along after Cell’s defeat.   And the Buu Saga gave me exactly that.   

The common criticism leveled against Buu is that he isn’t much on personality.  He doesn’t have the charisma of a Frieza or Buu, but I think that works in his favor, since it gives the good guys more time to work out all their issues.   A big part of the arc was about Goku and Vegeta getting on the same page, and it’s tough to make that happen when the bad guy has his own monologue.   I think that’s why you don’t see much of them together on Namek, or during the Androids crisis.   

I’ve seen Team Four Star compare Super Buu’s absorption forms to sort of a carbon copy of Perfect Cell.    I’m not sure I agree, but 1) I’m not sure that’s a bad thing, even if it’s true, and 2) If you don’t like Buuhan, don’t worry, because he doesn’t stay that way for very long.    Majin Buu has lots of variety, is my point.    No one’s going to love all of his different forms and appearances, but you’re probably going to find a few that appeal to you.    I had trouble picking a header image for this, because it feels like it does a disservice to the character.    He’s so many different things.   He can be cute and cuddly, or vicious and terrifying, or sassy and rude.  

I also like what he represents to the series as a whole.   When he was first introduced, Buu was presented as this instant “game over” for the universe.   If Babidi reawakens him, that’s it, we all lose.   No one can stop him.    But then he breaks out anyway, and the good guys still manage to rally.    He proves too powerful to defeat, but Goku comes up with a plan, and the Supreme Kai comes up with a plan, and the Old Kai comes up with a plan, and finally Vegeta comes up with a plan, and all of them are premised on the idea that maybe we’re not so doomed after all.    Maybe the Z-Fighters are strong enough to pull this off.   And they do pull it off, and somehow turn Buu good in the process.   There’s a very hopeful message in that.   

Why I don’t: Not gonna lie, I find it somewhat uncomfy that Fat Buu survives the conflict and just... stays that way.    I’m not talking about his appearance, mind you, I mean he still seems like the same guy who gouged out Dabura’s eyes, who creeped on that one lady, and seemed unable to stop eating.   

Let me put it like this: When I first watched the episodes where Mr. Satan befriends Buu, I wasn’t entirely surprised, but what worried me was that he cooked food for Buu, and then he’d immediately demand another meal.  The implication, for me anyway, was that maybe Buu couldn’t be reformed, and he would be compelled by an endless hunger to destroy everything in his sight, regardless of how he might have felt about it.  

In hindsight, I think the “can’t-stop-eating” bit was just intended to set up the emergence of Evil Buu.   Once he got that out of his system, he was fine, but it still bugged me, and even Vegeta was concerned about Buu making another Kid Buu someday.   Because no one really understood what Buu was or how he worked, so who’s to say that he could truly shake off the ways of evil?    Also, Fat Buu owes his existence to absorbing two of the ancient Supreme Kais, so it bothered me that they got everyone else de-absorbed but not them.  

But, I can’t say that bothers me too much, since the final episodes of DBZ show that he lived peacefully with Mr. Satan for at least a decade.  Even so, I wasn’t surprised to see Dragon Ball GT merge him with Uub.   I think the urge to write him out of the story was pretty strong.    Notice how Dragon Ball Super has Majin Buu, but they hardly ever use him.   It makes you wonder.

Favorite episode (scene if movie): You know, I think I might go with the one where the Supreme Kai explains Buu’s backstory to the Old Kai.   Pretty sure that one ends with Kid Buu blowing up the world, so it’s got a lot going for it. 

Favorite season/movie: The Fusion Saga is kind of my go-to answer for the best of Buu, but after I rewatched everything last year, I think the Kid Buu Saga make be the better arc.   It’s tough to decide.

Favorite line: When Goku and Vegeta power up on the Supreme Kai Planet to draw Buu’s attention, he senses their ki and grins, saying “Dum-dums!” like he’s so excited that they’re gonna try and fight him again.   That’s in the dub, anyway, but I always liked that this was Kid Buu’s pet name for those two idiots.

Favorite outfit: I don’t think I have a preference, but it might have been nice to see more of this version:

OTP: I guess that female Buu he made so he could have children?   Honestly, the less I have to think about Buu being romantic the better I like it.  

Brotp: Gotta be Mr. Satan.

Head Canon: The Xenoverse games and Dragon Ball Online introduced this whole notion of Buu starting his own race of Majins on Earth.    I’ve been trying to figure out how to work with that in my fanfic, and the main thing that sticks out in my mind is that Buu is the progenitor of that entire population, and I’m pretty sure he’d still be alive at any given time, so it intrigues me that a Majin OC I might come up with could just stroll on over to Buu’s house and say hello.  But I’m not really sure what they’d talk about.  

Unpopular opinion: Killing him off was one of the few smart moves GT made, and providing a means for the absorbed Supreme Kai’s to escape was one of the few smart moves Toyotaro made.  

A wish: If they do another Tournament of Power, Buu should actually be in it.   He can absorb Frieza and that way they can get around the cap on team members. 

An oh-god-please-dont-ever-happen: If they do another big fight, for the love of crap, don’t just have him nap through it.   I just realized he probably slept through the Broly movie too.   Lazy bastard.

5 words to best describe them: That’s the tubby custard machine.

My nickname for them: “You r--” whoa ho-hoooo.   Just kidding.  

[writsgrimmyblog]

Rec List #1 Theme: 2018 Favourites

One of my fandom resolutions is to rec more in 2019. I’m going to post rec lists for some of my favourite Nick fics divided up by theme/content/ship or whatever I fancy throughout the year. It seems fitting that my first rec post of 2019 should be my favourite Nick Fics of 2018. If you’re interested in my Harry Potter themed recs, you can find them over on my other blog @writcraft under the tag #writ recs where I’m undertaking the same initiative.

This is by no means an exhaustive list - I’m limiting myself to ten recs per list and it is very difficult, I could have recced many more. I’ve read and enjoyed a whole raft of terrific stories and this rec list is simply based on my personal tastes which may not be everybody else’s cuppa. Please heed the content warnings the author has flagged on AO3 in each case, none of my recs include the content tags.

#1. Ten Track Sophomore Album by @junkshop-disco​ 

Nick Grimshaw/Harry Styles | 4,228

Nick has always lived in noise, been the cause of a lot of it, but one day a boy writes him into a pop song and the whole world dissolves into static.

It doesn’t happen like that, not that easy, not that linear, but that’s the heart of it, the soul, if these things have such a thing.

My Rec: The Nick fic of 2018 is undoubtedly the final installment of junkshop-disco’s incredible Doodle of a Surface Life but that has quite rightly garnered so many recs by now if any Gryles reader hasn’t yet indulged, run, quick, what are you waiting for? I love DOASL with all of my heart, but I’m also a sucker for angst and I wanted to highlight this equally terrific fic in my rec list. The structure of this story, in which Nick loses his ability to hear music, is so cleverly done. It’s a very skilled writer that can create an entire fic around sound and make it come alive, and junkshop-disco manages it brilliantly. The fic reads like music, even as it describes the absence of it and it’s a stunning piece of writing. If you like your Gryles contemplative and angsty with confident, lyrical prose, this is the one for you. Junkshop-disco has such a terrific way with words I highly recommend reading all the works by this author. Every single one. But when you do make sure you take a moment to stop by this beautiful story and leave it all the love it deserves.

#2. Tell Me It’s The Strongest Shape by @louandhazaf

Nick Grimshaw/Elgar Johnson/Louis Tomlinson | 73,224

Nick and Elgar have it all. They’re famous, successful, and engaged to be married—and sometimes they play with others.

When uni student Louis gets street cast by Elgar for a GQ photoshoot, he's drawn into Nick and Elgar’s complicated relationship.

They've always invited mates into their bed. It doesn’t ever mean anything. Until… it does.

My Rec: This is such a great exploration of polyamory and the complexities of open relationships, and the author took a great deal of time developing the relationships between the characters and really working on highlighting some of those difficulties. I tend to gravitate towards fanfic where I care deeply about the characters, and although Elgar seems terrific I don’t have the same fannish relationship to him as I do to Nick and Louis so I was curious to know how I would respond to this fic. Basically, the author killed it. I felt such a deep investment in Elgar, Nick and Louis throughout and everything just flew by as I was reading. It’s also really fucking hot. Like, REALLY. Brilliantly done. I loved it. 

#3. Let The Boys All Sing And The Boys All Shout For Tomorrow by @lunarrua​

Nick Grimshaw/Harry Styles | 18,429

It's February 1988. Thatcher is in power. There's a new drug sweeping through the clubbing scene. In Manchester, it's the eve of a major protest and a new musical movement. And when Nick finds Harry looking lost outside his favourite chip shop, it's the start of a weekend that will leave an indelible mark on both their lives.

My Rec: I saw the summary for this fic and actually yelled at my screen when it popped into my inbox. Gryles, set in Manchester in the 80s? Hell yes. The fic itself certainly didn’t disappoint, it’s absolutely beautiful. The author writes a well-researched, confident piece and the result is stunning. The atmosphere of the whole story is captivating and you can feel yourself transported to the heady days before the Manchester music scene shifted, the anxieties of the AIDS crisis and the fragility of the relationships formed during that period. The Harry of this fic has a transient quality which evokes the nostalgic reflection on a different time in our not so distant past. A real triumph. I loved this story with my whole heart. 

#4. Séjour by @silveredsound

Nick Grimshaw/Louis Tomlinson | 6,288

It is so quiet, which should be conducive to concentration, but Nick is bored and listless and lonely. He’s been there for two days and wants to know where the helpful lady is who’ll deliver him a gamine but takes-no-shit housekeeper who he can fall in love with without words. Words are not his friend.

“Where is my Love Actually moment?” he asks the ceramic kitchen sink as he pokes holes in the cover of one of the M&S ready meals he brought over with him.

«≠»

Nick’s got writer's block. Louis is a master of distraction.

My Rec: I’ve loved a number of stories by Silv this year and I was swinging back and forth between this and others, but there’s something about this little fic that has wormed its way into my heart and has taken hold so this is the one I’m choosing. As I said in my earlier reblog rec, this has such lush, evocative prose it perfectly captures the sense of a fleeting summer. There’s a seductive quietness to it, and a lovely unfolding of the story through snippets of tasting notes left by Louis on bottles of wine and Nick feeling a little bit lost and searching for words as he struggles with writer’s block. Two boys find one another in the warmth of a sleepy French town and it’s beautiful. Really wonderfully done.

#5. Fists & Flowers ‘Verse by @jiksax

Nick Grimshaw/Harry Styles | 1,613 (Make It Worse) and 2,322 (I’ll Do What You Like (If You Stay The Night)

He’s looking at Nick with that soft, terrible look in his eyes, the look that tells Nick the two of them are probably something.

My Rec: If anyone other than Jiksa had told me they were planning an angsty fisting fic series I would have been like umm really? But of course, it’s Jiksa, so naturally I found myself sobbing at the raw, devastating intensity of the story. Jiksa deftly weaves the intensity of the physical act itself into the emotional tumult of Harry and Nick’s relationship in a way that’s incredibly beautiful. A bold, brave, superb piece of hot, confident writing, rich with emotional complexity. Gorgeous.

#6. Constantly on the Cusp by @shiftylinguini

Nick Grimshaw/Louis Tomlinson | 6169

It’s 5 in the morning, and Nick’s got an alarm going off, an unexpected bed full of pop star, and a nation to wake up.

It’s far too fucking early for this.

My Rec: UNFFFFF. I love Shifty’s writing. Like, an obsessive amount. I was so thrilled when Shifty started writing Tomlinshaw I didn’t know quite what to do with myself. It’s actually hard to believe this was Shifty’s first Tomlinshaw, because everything about the fic felt like they have been writing them for years. Louis is sleepy, horny and pissed off, Nick is awake, horny and wondering what it all means, and together they have this scorching hot, sexy moment. Nick’s internal monologue  gives us so much insight into their relationship and the fic offers a lovely, warm, hopeful moment at the end. Fantastically written and a sexy delight from start to finish. Loved it!

#7. this cookie’s baking by @disgruntledkittenface 

Nick Grimshaw/Harry Styles (Genderswap Femslash) | 8,148

Harry’s eyes flicker between Nick’s eyes and lips. “I just want to be your–”

“Baby,” Nick says softly, cupping Harry’s jaw, “you already are.”

Nick and Harry have a long-overdue conversation.

My Rec: This was the first genderswap Gryles fic I have read and I absolutely loved it. The relationship between Nick and Harry feels so perfectly them and there’s a lovely warmth to the whole story. It’s light and funny but also contains moments of real emotional depth and those first time explorations and the hesitancy of admitting to being something more than friends is handled in such a terrific way. It’s a gorgeous story with wonderful writing and I loved every minute of reading it.

#8. let’s make some new rules by @camiii 

Nick Grimshaw/Louis Tomlinson | 12,743

A coffee shop, a Christmas party & a fake date to make sure no one gets laid at the end of the night.

My Rec: This was such an enjoyable read. I love camiii’s Tomlinshaw, and seeing this pop up was a wonderful surprise. Barista Louis agrees to be Nick’s fake boyfriend as he pines over an ex that definitely isn’t worth his time, and they become closer in the process. The pace of the story is wonderful, the flirting is brilliant and despite some misunderstandings and Nick’s no good ex trying to fuck things up, the ending is warm and hopeful. A lovely story, full of festive cheer. Thoroughly enjoyable.

#9. I’ll be seeing you by @daretomarvel​ / renlyne

Nick Grimshaw/Harry Styles | 11,481

It’s 2028, and Nick’s bought a house.

My Rec: I love Ren’s writing and this Notebook inspired Gryles is a beautiful treat of a story, in which Nick starts buying little bits for his dream house. It’s hard to believe this story is just over 11,000 words because the world the author creates is so rich, detailed, layered and complex. The relationship between Nick and Harry has all of these gorgeous details and nuggets of history as it grows and develops, seedling-like, into something that might just be everything they’ve both been searching for. It’s a warm, hopeful, beautiful story but as it’s Ren, it manages to still tug at the heartstrings in the best kind of way. I read this again as I was putting my rec list together and did so with a lump in my throat, full of feels for the Nick and Harry of Ren’s universe. Gorgeous writing with bags of emotional intensity. I loved it.

#10. All I’ve ever had are love songs by @candybarrnerd / icarusinflight

Nick Grimshaw/Louis Tomlinson | 21,688

Things are finally coming together for Nick.

Nick is the DJ of his uni's radio stations, and he passively aggressively dedicates a song to Louis.

My Rec: Icarusinflight is another author who was already on my periphery from Harry Potter fandom who wrote their first Tomlinshaw fic this year and I was so thrilled to see them writing in this fandom and I’m very excited about their upcoming 2019 projects which also includes fics featuring the 1D boys in various ship combos. I love uni AUs and I hadn't read one for a while, so this was such a treat. I loved how Louis is sharp, sassy and confident but with niggling insecurities. Harry was so affectionately humorous in this story and Nick’s voice is wonderful. This is a really well-paced, enjoyable story with a hot af first kiss that deserves a mention all of its own. The music references, the tea and the cameos from various 1D members are all terrific and the writing is brilliant. Can’t wait for more from this author this year.

Bonus Rec: I was meant to limit this to just 10 recs but I also wanted to give a quick shout out to @nightwideopen. I’ve said this in previous rec lists before, but I am constantly impressed by the quality of @nightwideopen‘s writing and the way they explore things such as asexuality and gender dysphoria which can be harder to find in a relatively small fandom. I’d particularly rec so far (it’s alright) and i’ve been thinking lots about your mouth from this year, both Tomlinshaw.

[tumblunni]

hey guess what I played Don’t Starve again and predictably continued to use only Webber and get fifty bazillion feels about Webber and hey u guys wanna hear me constantly talk about Webber

seriously its SO UNFAIR that this guy just exists as a character skin in some random survival procgen world game and NOBODY GETS ANY DAMN STORY yet they give us really tantalizing one line story summaries and the REALLY ENDEARING thing of each character having different dialogue for item descriptions. Which is also their ONLY GODDAMN DIALOGUE! why why why WHY did you make such a good story charrie concept thinger if you were never gonna use it GAHHHHH

okay so anyway THIS IS HE

WHAT A CUTIE PATOOT AMIRITE YO??

and he has SUCH AN INRIGUING AND SAD AND COOL PREMISE he’s the absolute champion of creepycute, cos he’s not only a spoopy spider monster with the innocence of a child but also literally he was a regular human child once who got the most tragic life ever his super short tantalizingly vague summary is ‘webber the indigestable’, and like.. all we know is that He Very Much Died, and Now He Is Spide he was killed by some spider monsters and came back as this spooky AF form

tho srsly man HOW DOES THAT EVEN WORK YO like i’ve seen people drawing super grimdark fanart of him being like springtrap from five nights at freddies, i.e like he opens his mouth and he has a whole dessicated skull inside. like he’s quite literally walking around in the skin of the monster that ate him, however the fuck that’s supposed to work... I really don’t like that version, so WHATEVER lets have A BUNCH OF OTHER BUNNI THEORIES!

* It’s more like the spider absorbed the memories of the kid? Like, his bones are out there somewhere and its just that his conciousness was transferred into the thing that killed him/its got a case of mistaken identity and thinks that its him. * He’s sorta like a ghost that possessed it? Was trying so hard to survive that his soul lingered around, and it just works different to the other ghost character in the roster since he’s possessing a non-human creature. he gets majority control instead of floating around as a support * He’s more like a zombie or demon or general corrupted creature? like, he just rose from the grave and took on this particular shape cos of how he died, rather than this being an actual fusion of him and the spider that killed him. * Its like a werewolf thing??? He wasn’t really killed but just got bit and turned into a thing?? I dunno. * His backstory isn’t meant to be something that happened prior to the start of the game, but you literally see it happening right there. I mean you unlock webber by finding his skull while playing as another character, and if you bury it then it turns into him. So its like he woke up as a zombie cos you gave him a kind burial, but because his remains were intermingled with those of the thing that killed him they got all mixed up and revived as a single creature. And I guess that spider just went off and died offscreen shortly after eating him? or maybe it choked on him, cos seriously an entire human skull sounds hard to swallow XD

anyway HOWEVER THAT WEIRD PREMISE IS SUPPOSED TO WORK, its really intriguing and seems to imply a lot of Deep Traumatic Sads and it sucks that we don’t get a full plot exploring this and I’m just left feeling weird for having tearjerker fanfic ideas for a goddamn minimal dialogue simulation game >_> cos I mean MAN its just so interesting thinking about it from his perspective!! cos webber is just so nice and innocent still!! he barely seems to understand what happened to him, and he’s stuck in a big scary world and like.. the scariest part somehow became the only comfort to him, like DEAR GOD he has so much great characterization from these tiny snippets of dialogue! he just loves the spiders so damn much, he’s like ‘don’t worry i forgive u’ and he’s so happy to make friends with this big ol spoopy forest of monster things that literally killed him. and then all his unique gameplay powers revolve around that, all the spider enemies refuse to attack him ever again and he has supportive abilities to generate new hives and upgrade existing ones and just generally Sweet Doom Boy He Lovv He Friendes and i’m SO EMOTIONALLLL

and its also intriguing how the game handles his status as a fusion creature? he’s got a unique syntax thing of referring to himself as both ‘we’ and ‘me’ at the same time. I just found it quite cool when i figured out that there actually was a consitant set of rules about this! He’s generally ‘we’ but then says ‘me’ whenever something only applies to one half of his memories. Like you’d assume ‘me’ is the boy and ‘him’ is the spider, but webber casually swaps it around all the time and its like its always both of them talking even in this situation. He isn’t really two personalities but just one fused one that can remember being two people, i guess? Its a little confusing to hear him being like ‘i don’t hold a grudge against me for killing me’ but a very unique speaking pattern is an endearing trait for a character!

oh and MAN I WISH THEY FOLLOWED UP ON ANY OF THESE BACKSTORY HINTS!!! cos some of his dialogue references him living on a goat farm with a dad and a grandpa back when he was human? and we have NO IDEA how this completely ordinary adorable kid got teleported to Fuckin Hell World, or whether he’ll ever see his family again T_T Closest thing we get to an idea is him saying ‘we don’t like him, he tricked us’ at a statue of the game’s main villain, even though none of the alternate characters have any story dialogue and we only know that mr default man wilson had a history with the villain. So do all the alternate characters also have a personal grudge with him and we’ve just never been told what happened? Also there’s the fan theory that mr default man is actually webber’s father, and I dunno if thats true but I love seeing fanart of them as adoptive family even if they didnt know each other before they got trapped here.

but also just AAAAA webber’s plot WEBBER’S PLOT seriously its so fucking dark and has so much Potential and just THINK about this poor kid’s perspective on this dark souls shit that happened to him its depressingly realistic that the game adds a kid hero to the mix and then his plot is ‘yeah no a kid would die instantly in this kind of situation, and he did’ I mean there’s one other child character but she had ghost superpowers before the game even started, and her personality is all grim and practical and such. webber acts super young and innocent and was probably the lil teacher’s pet shy cutie type when he was alive. HE HAD ABSOLUTELY NO CHANCE T_T

SO JUST IMAGINE JUST IMAGINE THIS TRAGIC SHIT

you’re tiny tiny baby friend and you fall thru some random portal some day and instead of a magical adventure in a fairytale world you get Grim As Fuck Nintendo Hard Survival Game imagine how terrified he must have been, all huddled up cold and starving under a big leaf like totoro crying for his grandpa to save him and then he gets eaten alive by some other starving creature in this hell world and then he wakes up like ‘wow what a weird dream’ and he has to claw his way out of a grave first ray of sunlight hits his freaky gnarled monster hands and his tiny child brain must be terribly unequipped to handle that kind of revelation... let alone the identity crisis of Yes I Am Part Of The Spider Horde and possibly Wow I Remember Eating My Own Brain

and its just... really oddly sweet and heartwarming that he’s friends with the spiders now?? like that makes me wonder how that played out when he first woke up. Imagine the poor kid seeing a whole bunch of the same thing that killed him and he flinches thinking they’re gonna attack, but then they scuttle up and hug him. And he sees his reflection in a puddle and realizes he’s one of them too, and now he’s not so alone anymore. I mean its not the same as getting his family back, but he has someone protecting him now. Scary things aren’t so scary when you’re scary too! And like.. there’s all different tiers of the spider enemy, and what if the big queen boss one became a mother figure to him? And what if he acts as a translator to them and helps them make friends with humans? And tells them stories about his family and they try and mimic human family things in their own lil spidery way, to make him feel welcome? *wearing tiny ties and hats* ‘We love our strangely shaped child and respect his differences’ I just wanna see slice of life adventures of the spide swarm!!

also AAAA i just thought about what if the game ever got a proper conclusion and webber manages to escape back home it probably wouldn’t be an easy happy ending :( farm grandpa finds some terrifying spider thing haunting his farm, might even freak out and shoot his own grandson T_T or even if he recognised him, the kid’s probably not gonna be able to go back to a normal life. his family would have to try and keep him secret, lest the pitchfork-wielding mobs attack... and even if somehow it was possible for webber to be cured, that’d be sad too cos he’d have to leave all his spider friends forever. and he could never be cured of the mental scars T_T

also yo HAHAHA you wanna know the absolute saddest random item description dialogue I got while playing as him? he asks skeletons ‘are you okay’ and ‘i think he’s sleeping’ because yknow he just woke up the next day, when he died T_________________T

webberrrrrrrrr :(

god i am trapped in a glass case of emotion

[trashrightsactivist]

recent private chat highlights, megasilverfist and ‘Ruby’ (trashrightsactivist)

(Note: This is for peoples' OOC reading pleasure, and cannot actually be seen by your character unless you are hacking tumblr to view peoples' private messages.)

Convo 1

megasilverfist

Hey, you might be making a post on this anyway, but any ideas on how I can keep people from lynching the local reds?

Preferably without making them even more angry with Voa, or totally trashing my career.  Though given the life or death nature I'm willing to stick my neck out a little, and we're probably going to war anyway.

trashrightsactivist

I don't even know. I'm still like idek about this whole thing. I hope you have enough food you are psychologically able to eat.

gotta wonder if this wasn't somehow a scheme to get us all killed

megasilverfist

I'm good, Nadles is probably regretting the unlimited noodles clause in my contract.

I don't see how that adds but then again

its not paranoia when the world really is out to get you.

trashrightsactivist

yeah i know it wasn't really it just feels that way

gotta go out of the district and to work soon, dreading it

honstly the best thing i can think of might be to remind people it's a voa blue not their reds at fault, he's a country away and has bodyguards so they're less likely to be able to hurt him

and the war is probably inevitable already

megasilverfist

sigh yeah

trashrightsactivist

anyway I'm going to work.

megasilverfist

cool, try not to die

trashrightsactivist

that's the plan ;)

megasilverfist

and remember if multiple people are coming at you don't let them surround you.

I'd meant to hook you up with some videos on basic street defense but its a bit late now.

trashrightsactivist

thanks. I guess if anything goes down at work... idk, I will try to get behind a corpse and hope they're too squeamish to touch it, idk

we've swapped shifts around so as much as we can people who are pregnant or have kids are staying home

anyway can't risk being late. hopefully ttyl

Convo 2

megasilverfist

You probably already figured this out, but maybe don't trust the food people are throwing out.

https://purpleparenting.tumblr.com/post/163275109612/people-are-reluctant-to-leave-out-their-food-for

trashrightsactivist

[no response]

megasilverfist

[after signficant waiting]

I'm just going to assume you're busy.  Right?

Yeah, thats it.  I should probably go train anyway.

3

megasilverfist

Glad you aren't dead. Let me know if I can help.

Also, like this probably is to much to ask, and might seem a bit creepy, but can you walk me through what happened?  I have a really strong interest in how street fights with untrained combatants play out.

trashrightsactivist

gonna go through what happened on blog but that won't have like. physical details of fight bit. i will go through those with you after post if you want but like. my memory of what occurred might not be 100%. concussion.

 megasilverfist

Yeah, that happens, I'd give you some tips but you've (hopefully?) got some actual medical attention.

 trashrightsactivist

yes. that I really don't remember, getting from fight to hospital.

nurse knows who brought me here but not how so I'mma try to track him down and ask

 megasilverfist

right

Red hospital or normal one?

 trashrightsactivist

red. we can't be patients in the other kind

but honestly being surrounded by only other reds rn is reassuring

 megasilverfist

Thought so, but was hoping otherwise because there are some very new drugs for brain injury that I don't think yours have access to.

Try to get some Alkysine if you can.

 trashrightsactivist

I'll ask. I know like, blunt force trauma is something this particular doc deals with a lot, so probly knows what he's doing

 megasilverfist

Not doubting his skill just access to supplies that are a bit limited among cleans.

 trashrightsactivist

fair. he said my brains not beat up too bad. no bleeding, minimal swelling.

 megasilverfist

That is very good.

 trashrightsactivist

few cracked ribs. coulda been a lot worse

 megasilverfist

Yeah, will you be able to get someone to cover you work for you?

 trashrightsactivist

yeah if they have to they'll share with the pathology techs at the hospital

(clean hospital. the guys who normally do 'why did you die of sick' exams will do 'why did you die of murder' exams)

but idek if they'll want me back at work, thats where the argument started

 megasilverfist

Oh shit.  Can you get another job?

 trashrightsactivist

yeah there is always just pick up to fall back on and can probably learn how to do the medical rather than crime version of the thing i do

 megasilverfist

Well thats good.

 trashrightsactivist

but yeah like.. i will report what i see not what my boss wants to be there

 megasilverfist

Is that (physically) safe?

 trashrightsactivist

well no, as we found out.

 megasilverfist

Oh sorry I thought you meant in your exit interview or whatever it is that you do when you leave an employer.

I'm not clear how that works.

I do stuff for money so I've got a job, but the way competitions work means I'm not technically an employee of anyone.

 trashrightsactivist

so I'm employed by a company, not the police, they just have a contract with the company. so shouldn't have to do exit interview? but. if they have a grudge they can find me.

maybe when it's less crisis-y there won't be a grudge

they would never usually ask that sort of thing, they're good cops usually

 megasilverfist

I think I see.

 trashrightsactivist

but you want me to put on the report those injuries are not from a police-issue beating stick when they are... I reckon whichever cop it was must have just panicked, the guy did look a bit red in the right light

 megasilverfist

Oh yeah, cleansticks are nasty.  I really respect you for doing that.

 trashrightsactivist

but it was stupid of me. I don't file the actual report, I just tell the guy who does what I see, he can cheerfully shred anything I say that he doesn't like

it was a futile gesture

 megasilverfist

Oh maybe a little less respect, but you tried.

 trashrightsactivist

i mean normally he wouldn't, you know

idk

everybody is not themselves now

 megasilverfist

Right.  Its relatively sane in my little bubble, because my gym is getting free nadles and I had enough money to help out my cousins (helps the grama buys instant stuff in bulk anyway).  So we've just been heads down focusing on the fights.  But everytime I get on this site its fucked.

 trashrightsactivist

yeah I don't feel like I have the energy for any of it any more

its all just words

 megasilverfist

I keep trying to help, but there just isn't much I can do.  I'm not a big celebrity yet, and I'm now broke again even though I was planning on streching out my prize money so I can't donate.  I'm tempted to go and try to punch anyone causing problems, but still have some common sense.

 trashrightsactivist

yeah I don't have any suggestions any more

shitty as it was all i want is for things to go back to normal

 megasilverfist

Wow, things really are bad if you think normal would be ok.

 trashrightsactivist

yeah well

talk to me when it doesn't hurt to breathe, maybe I'll get my sass back

 megasilverfist

Right.  I'll let you heal then.  Here's some of my fanfic if you need something to read http://archiveofourown.org/works/2809283/chapters/6304610 ((not by me ooc))

 trashrightsactivist

thanks dude

 megasilverfist

np

4

trashrightsactivist

[ruby will send you as good an account of how the fight went down as she can. It was her and a dude who works for the same company, but mostly at the hospital (who also helped her with this account of the fight), and they were jumped returning to their body transport vehicle. Two cops with extendable sticks. The other red was mostly able to keep out of it since they weren't really going for him, he was trying to get into his work bag for the closest thing he had to a weapon (a scalpel) but by the time he got it out it was over. The cops clearly didn't intend to kill her, just send a message - but at the same time, they can't have been overly concerned with *not* killing her, because they easily could have just by a blow landing a bit differently in a way they couldn't precisely control.

Ruby's only notable action was to try to crawl under the hearse in the hopes that they wouldn't be able to get to her, but since they were willing to lay hands on her they just dragged her out.]

 megasilverfist

Thanks, that was helpful for me, hopefully you won't be attacked again especially by the police but he are some possibly helpful thoughts. The hearse move was a good idea, even if it didn't work.  Playing dead might have been a good idea.  Also using your hands to protect your head while exposing tempting but less fatal targets as sacrifices.  Getting caned in the butt or similar hurts but you know enough anatomy to know you'd prefer it to your current state.  Lastly, its probably best for your coworker that he was forced to stay out of it, but if he had gotten involved using the bag as a shield and /or to entangle the cleansticks (thats the actual name I didn't come up with it) would probably have been a good strategy.  I'm not a cleanstick specialist, but knives are a bad match against them even when pre drawn, but they are *relatively* easy to screw up with tangle weapons and makeshift shields since they don't have a cutting edge or the weight of traditional staffs.

Almost forgot, I was assuming that the bag was heavy enough to hurt when swung but light enough that you can swing it pretty fast like 5-15 pounds.

 trashrightsactivist

Thanks for the advice

I'd be concerned that any sort of fighting back might only make them angrier? Like they were risking a kill but probably not going for one, if we'd fought back..

 megasilverfist

Yeah, thats what I meant by it being best that your coworker stayed out of it.          I included my advice based on the best way to deal with actually fighting but really, like ok if I had been swapped with your coworker by magic AND been able to draw the scapble to dual wield AND you're not in Biyan then I probably could have won the fight.  But thats some rather big ifs and doesn't get into what would happen afterwards.

 trashrightsactivist

yeah I mean ultimately him staying out of it probably saved my life cause it meant he could drive me to the hospital

but I don't doubt it woulda gone differently with a martial arts expert instead of a nerdy autopsy tech

why would being in Biyan make a difference, do cops have different weapons there or something?

 megasilverfist

Yeah, still effectively 2 v 1 with inferior weapons is not a great place.

 trashrightsactivist

yeah I'm in no hurry to leave the district again in the current climate

 megasilverfist

Biyan is just behind us here in Tapa when it comes to overall cleanstick fighting, and thats going by the performance of athletes and police department champions (as in representatives) in tournaments.  I didn't realize this until recently, but my research suggests that they spend a lot more time training their normal non-specialist cops in it than almost anyone else.

 trashrightsactivist

huh. Wonder if they anticipate more fights, or if they're trying to reduce the amount they resort to guns?

 megasilverfist

Well I don't know much about them, but going off what I do know and the  scenarios in this manual I found http://wiktenauer.com/wiki/Paradoxes_of_Defence_(George_Silver) I think they just really hate reds.

 trashrightsactivist

oh, the depressing reason

your fanfic was good btw

 megasilverfist

Yup:( Like obviously part of why cleansticks are used instead of other staffs is that they can be used on you guys, but their supposed to be general purpose weapons. And thats not what I'm seeing here as a highly trained martial artist with color vision.

Thanks.

So I mean obviously you can tell how many of those figures have red hair, but as a highly trained martial artist TM I can tell you the convention is normally to depict every combatant as a grey.

 trashrightsactivist

well that would make sense given cultural norms and all

wonder what you lot would make of the bareknuckle one-on-ones that go down here sometimes

 megasilverfist

I would be super super curious, and would love it if there was a way to get video without the obvious problems with that.

But like what rules (if any) are there.

And (how) do people train?

And what techniques do they use?

 trashrightsactivist

they serve a vaguely similar purpose to duels in being part of the internal dispute resolution system? Similar to what I read about Erithani duels there's a lot of like, chances to back down and apologise worked into the system and their function seems to be more preventative

 megasilverfist

That seems sensible, greys kinda do that, but less that we probably should.

 trashrightsactivist

rules are simple, fists and a bit of grappling though grandads love to debate whether that was allowed int heir day, no kicking or gouging or whatever, and it's over when someone falls down or gives up

kids *practice* in the sense of, they scrap for fun, idk to what extent it constitutes training

it's not very formal and really the point is to be willing to fight to prove your point rather than neccessarily being good?

so it probably looks exceedingly sloppy to someone like you

 megasilverfist

Probably, but there really is something to be said for raw courage.

No gouging and no kicks is a really good idea from a safety perspective, but having more grappling and less punching would probably be a smart move from that perspective.

Not that I expect ya'll to change your culture based on my advice.

 trashrightsactivist

yeah I mean it's mostly a way to contain disputes among like 3.5-6 year olds so there's a socially accepted endpoint and no risk of harming the community fabric or attracting attention from outside the district

 megasilverfist

And they are you from a showing your serious veiwpoint.

 trashrightsactivist

yeah I don't think they'd accept alterations based on safety, cause it's about having the balls, as you said

but given that I have that Red Island separatist fantasy it does make me wonder how the justice system would turn out

'you may either fight the defendant, or have the judge explain this entire mess to your grandmother, how do you plead?'

 megasilverfist

Lololol

My grama would say the mess is fine but why wouldn't you fight em?

 trashrightsactivist

maybe you like your face :P

 megasilverfist

Well I am dashingly handsome.

 trashrightsactivist

I saw your promo pics online, can't disagree there

 megasilverfist

Thanks, though the photographer did a lot.

Legally we can't photoshop them too much, but lighting, picking the best one ect can do a ton, and we can shop a little.

 trashrightsactivist

if I were the type to do selfies, I would not be doing selfies for a good few weeks

 megasilverfist

Yeah, I get that, though we're encouraged to to the occasional beat up shot as long as its framed properly.

 trashrightsactivist

oh of course. but gotta be like, sexy injured not 'mishandled reject tomato' injured

 megasilverfist

Yup, a mix of that and sometimes having to look bad to make the other guy look good for the good of the sport.

 trashrightsactivist

you aren't suggesting any of it is staged are you?

 megasilverfist

Just the photo shoots yes. The matches very no.  In my main promotion that is.  I keep meaning to right a post about this, but there are promotions that are explicitly registered as stunt based entertainment which are fixed to varying degrees.

One of them even has a "red" as one of the "heels".

 trashrightsactivist

what.

liiink

actual *actors* tryna play reds is always tragihilarious, I can't imagine what that would be like

is his special move whacking you over the head with a garbage can

IS HIS CATCHPHRASE 'TIME TO TAKE OUT THE TRASH'

 megasilverfist

Actually he's an undertaker, and makes horrible horrible death puns.

And fights with a piece of "sewage pipe" granted to him by his district elder.

But the overall thing is as corny as you're picturing it.

And frankly I like your idea better.

Not that I really approve, of making him the heel, but I guess you have to take what you can get.

 trashrightsactivist

oh sure, well he was never gonna be anything else

 megasilverfist

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6CD7TUIS7c

 trashrightsactivist

that shit is hilarious

 megasilverfist

Ok, I should go soon, but three things first.

 trashrightsactivist

ok

 megasilverfist

first if you need to get a hold of me outside tumblr in a fairly secure way use ((contact info)) unless you have a better suggestion you seem to know security.

The next two are two good thing to come from this mess.  Well good from your prospective I guess.

 trashrightsactivist

thanks. I don't think I have anything better rn but I'll check and let you know, otherwise that looks good.

 megasilverfist

First, I am sick of this shit.  I still believe in pollution, and I can't do much now, but stars like actual national champs get one controversial position.  I was going to go after the fitness scams that basically everyone but blues fall for but...

yeah.

And lastly oh wait you already rebloged it so much for my climax, but still

[link to 3cool5u’s Allocator Savo fanfic]

 trashrightsactivist

:)

the second one though. What are you planning?

 megasilverfist

I'll need to think of some details after I win, but ways to improve red lives without denying pollution exists.

 trashrightsactivist

I'm grateful that you want to do something. I'll look round see if I got some suggestions for specific points. Most importantly, though - if it made sense to keep a lid on things for now before it probably still does

for now