#it largely seems like projection to me my dudes

[messiahzzz]

funny how i’ve never seen anyone involved in this situation pretend to be a “spokesperson” or Lay Claim™ on any character. i feel like this #1 gale fan thing is a tiktok phenomenon entirely and even then appears to be all in good humor(?)

[seonghw4ffles]

princess fluffy-cupcake-sparkles

i'll be the laziest superman, so follow me !

playing happy fools, poppin love ..

yeosang x fem!reader

au: a school project at a flower garden

genre: grumpy!yeosang x sunshine!reader, fluff, tsundere, a piece of dialogue, a jealous-but-dont-wanna-admit-it yeosang

wc: 1.0k

summary: if yeosang hated animals but only tolerated them for you

tw: yeosang jelly of wooyoung

note: inspired by that one scene in ouabh and dude i was like ooo yeosang HELP ong i js pulled this out of my notes app tbh there is no reason for anything TT i love nonchalant yeosang so much idk why....

yeosang stood far from the venue, his back to a large stone. a mysterious creature, which he soon figures is a cat, approaches him and starts to sniff his shoes. he struggles, unfamiliar with dealing with animals.

the cat was white coated, with large patches of orange and black laid all over itself. a calico cat, but yeosang does not know that. he is not familiar with whatever sort of cat breeds there are or its names, nor does he care.

he tried to kick it away, but it does not leave.

"interesting..." he mutters.

yeosang notices that you have already arrived from the payment stall, though he does not react.

you are at the botanical garden with yeosang, required to take pictures for a school travel project of visiting significant places around town.

when you find a cat meandering around his feet, you giggle. "it must like you!!"

"perhaps it does." he looks down at the cat and stares at it.

previously, you insisted to pay for the entry fee, but yeosang blackmailed you to not do so, to use his card instead.

he sighs and then speaks to it. "leave me alone, mutt."

as he says so, his eyes subtly widen with agitation at the fact it does not want to leave.

"you should name it. spill some ideas," you smile as you look down to the cat.

yeosang looks up at you in confusion and disbelief, as if it was a foolish act to name a random animal from the woods.

"what?"

"why should i? it's not my pet, it's just a stray." he replies, dismissing your suggestion.

but he keeps his gaze on the little animal, which doesn't seem to leave him alone.

"hmm." he starts to speak to it. "stay if you wish... but do not expect any attention from me."

you chuckle at his decision to talk to the cat, becoming more and more amused. it is visible that you already grew fond of the stray cat.

"you should name it....." you hum, lost in thought for ideas, "oh!! i know!! you should name it princess fluffy-cupcake-sparkles!!"

"that name is completely ridiculous," he says, his expression becoming a form of disgust when he looks back down at the cat. "how does a creature like this deserve such a name? if i had a pet, which i never will, the name would make sense."

you look up from the cat to yeosang, your expression dissipating to a blank, empty stare of disappointment. you almost choose to abandon this whole project despite its relevance to your grading, solely to leave yeosang to do it all alone.

"next time i choose a partner to do this project with, it'll be with someone who has a sense of humour. maybe someone like wooyoung."

yeosang's gaze ever so slowly travels from your toes to your eyes, his face turning to indifference. he ignores the cat and its intentions, looking directly at you.

a moment of silence ensues as he attempts to figure out what to say.

"yes, go ahead and partner with wooyoung. i would like to see the result of your foolish decision."

you get surprised by the sudden tone. the answer is also astonishing, as you expected a response of apathy. "oh come on, it was even more of a foolish decision to partner with you," you reply.

"you chose to do this with me simply because you did not have friends. it was foolish on your part to believe things would be of joy for you," he says, maintaining his usual tone.

you tried not to take offence.

he looks down at the cat and finally, with a heavy sigh, he decides to entertain the idea of naming it.

"fine, i will name it. but not with that stupid name."

you're taken back. you're surprised by how easily he is induced, knowing how dense of an individual he is. he seemed to be affected by the mere mention of your choice of a partner being wooyoung, to the major extent that he had to agree to do such a thing.

"if i didn't know you better, i would say you're jealous of him," you say.

he stays silent for a moment, glaring back up at you again. "jealousy is not something i am used to feeling," he pauses, his voice vastly unwelcoming."i did not agree to talk or joke about wooyoung."

a moment of silence ensues between the two of you. the cat continues sniffing around and starts to walk towards him again. it circles around his feet, rubbing itself to his leather boots.

"princess fluffy-cupcake-sprinkles already claims you as his owner," you smile.

"do not associate me with the cat." yeosang says, and you can sense that his patience with your jokes are starting to dwindle. the cat steps a short distance away from him after a few moments and simply stares at him from afar, growing bored of him.

you chuckle at the reaction of yeosang. "i dont know why you dislike such adorable creatures."

he shakes his head and groans.

"its a mere animal. why am i expected to pay any attention to it?" he sighs.

he attempts find relish in the cat for you're very sake, but he knows very well that the cat is annoying him more and more by its mere presence alone.

with one last glance, the cat finally leaves and moves on elsewhere.

he relaxes a bit, but his expression remains unchanged. he clears his throat. "now that that's taken care of, let's go."

"wait," you say. yeosang turns right after he starts walking to the venue, watching you carefully sneak over towards the cat again. he is in major disappointment to your stupid, futile decisions.

you manage to pick up the cat, and it does not run. "yeosang!!" you hold up the obedient feline and smile widely.

he instantly softens. 

"well, what do you intend with that thing?" he asks.

"take the pictures with it!!" you reply. you carry the cat over your shoulder, and you run over to yeosang. 

"do you believe the garden allows it?" he says with a genuine intent of reminding you that you are stepping into a neat garden of flowers.

"how could they refuse it? look!" you hold up the damn cat, smiling illuminantly. "princess fluffy-cupcake-sparkles!!"

he refuses to admit what you're smile does to him.

"princess.." he struggles, ashamed of the lengths he goes for you. "princess fluffy-cupcake-sparkles."

[communist-hatsunemiku]

Hey, as a person who has only recently started to get into the dauntingly large field of vocaloid stuff, would you be able to list like, 5 to 10 miku songs that I should check out?

So yeah there's a fuckin lot out there! It's hard to know where to begin. Personally I started out looking for Miku music that was in genres I already liked, like electronic/trance/house music type stuff. So you could go that route. Unfortunately it's not quite as simple as searching 'Hatsune Miku' on spotify, because often She isn't actually credited like a human vocalist would be! You kinda learn how to spot album art with Her on it, and I can recognize 初音ミクinstantly.

But more straightforward would be checking out some of the more famous vocaloid producers(protip: a lot of producers put a 'P' at the end of their name, that's a good way to know they make vocaloid music). So I'll list off some of the most famous producers imho:

Mitchie M - this guy produces one of the most immaculately tuned Mikus out there, my actual first Miku song ever(and what kicked off my obsession tbh) was News 39

2. PinnochioP - This dude is amazing and has a really unique Miku, and overall sound tbh. Immeditely distinguished by the little chibi Miku with red eyes you'll see in his videos.

3. DECO*27 - A prolific producer who seems like he's constantly putting out new stuff, and dabbles in a wide variety of genres and influences! I never know what to expect when there's a new song.

4. r-906 - This producer isn't quite as huge as the first three I listed, but he is easily one of my absolute favorites. Incredibly unique and high quality production with just as incredible art and visuals. His Miku is so sexy to me.

5. Wowaka - I'd be a fool not to mention Wowaka, to me he is one of the most famous, if not THE most famous producer. For reasons that are tragic unfortunately. This dude had Miku singing like no one else ever has, his music was incredibly layered and rich, his lyrics tear your heart out, and people bawl when they play his songs live. Then, he went and died on us back in 2019, he was only 32. Heart defect apparently. I start to tear up thinking about it, this dude had so much beautiful music to give the world. Infact my pinned post is a Miku live performance of one of his songs, not only did She play the song, she emulated a previous live performance that Wowaka did, copying his movements. It's easily my favorite live Miku performance ever.

I could list a bunch more producers, but this is a good starting point. If you want more, check out Miku's official youtube channel or comb through the Project Diva tracklist

[things-about-cars-in-posts]

got any fun tidbits about the porsche 944? :3

I've got a fun bit of one of those Porsches: the right indicator!

And that's a fun story, so I'll go with that.

Porsche, early to rise as always, spent all morning perfecting its latest project, a fancy little sportscar requested by none other than its day-one friend Volkswagen. After a morning spent, just like the days and nights before, working on the project with the trademark Porschefectionism, right on midday's strike the pencil was finally awarded its rightful rest. Attention turned to the phone - its dial was spun in that old, familiar pattern and, a concerning number of tones later, the line transmitted the clattering of a handset being fumbled up.

"whoizziiit?" "Guten Tag, Volkswagen! It's your friend Porsche!" "christus, tone down that vooooooice", Volkswagen yawned out. "Don't tell me I woke you up!", Porsche exclaimed flabbergasted. "i said tone it down, i've still got a splitting headache from friday. -a brief pause protested the incompleteness- and i guess from yesterday after seeing the bills. i'm really messed up. what do you want" "Oh, you will feel better now - I'm finally done!" After waiting a couple seconds, Volkswagen realized that wasn't going to be clarified. "with what" "The sportscar!" The brow furrowing could be heard from the other end of the line. "the what??" "The sportscar project, the one you commissioned me to design!" "what are you talking about?" Porsche adopted a conciliatory, clarifying tone, trying to empathize with the clearly hazy friend. "You called me Friday at 23:47, and asked me to design you a sportscar. You went on about loving me very much and wanting one of my "sick sportscar things" for a while, and then you hung up before I could ask for details. You seemed to be in a very busy room, so I didn't call back and just went to work."

A small silence filled the line.

"are you joking" "About what?" that was a no.

A small silence filled the line.

"fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck" "What's the problem?" "what did you design" "Oh, you'll love it! It's a transaxle-equipped, low-slung beauty using a 2.0l to-" "yeah bro, i'm sorry for what i... apparently told you, but like, that's all waaay too hardcore for me" "B-but... you asked me to design a sportscar..." "i was off my sheiβen that night bro. i don't remember anything past the sixth large can of dunkelbier." "Six cans of dunkelbier? But you drink those everyday!" "no, i mean those large cans, uhhh, what do you call them..." "...barrels?" "yeah." "But you do need a sportscar in your lineup... right?" "ugh, if i do i'll just flatten the golf or something. that project sucked all my money, dude." "B-but... I did all this work... and it came out so well... does it all have to go to waste then?", Porsche asked with a trembling voice that betrayed the full extent of the emotional hit - at last, waking up VW for good. "Oh, nonono! Don't worry! Uhh... you can make it yourself if you want to!" "But... but I've designed it to be built with your parts..." "Oh I can sell you the parts, it's no prob" That seemed to restore Porsche's spirits. "Really? That would be fantastic! Oh, I have a wonderful name for it already!" "Oh? What is it?" "924!" "...sure. Alright, we'll figure that out. Sieg heil bro" "Er, we don't say that anymore." "Fuck, you're right. Sorry, still a bit cloudy. Uhhh... what do people say now?" "Auf wiedersehn seems to be a popular option." "Auf wiedersehn then." "Auf wiedersehn"

Thus, Volkswagen went on to launch a lightly stepped on Golf it called Scirocco...

...and the project at the heart of our story would end up being made and sold by Porsche,

and as such, getting incrementally refined year over year over year, evolving into the 924 S, which then evolved into the more muscular 944...

...which itself, after three revisions and countless special versions, evolved into the 968.

Which itself, after a couple of special versions, almost thirty years from the 924's launch... ended production for good in 1995. And frankly, I have no idea what finally compelled Porsche engineers to let the damn thing be. Wait actually, hold on a second...

I have one idea.

Okay, to be fair, the exchange rate situation from the Kadett story had only gotten worse making a now dated platform too expensive to make sense and to low a seller to justify remaking. But worry not, they did still have the 911 to keep messing with. Combine that with Pokémon and they were still plenty enriched.

And indeed like the 911, this platform's development is essentially a long, drawn out cleansing of the VW components it started off heavily based on. While the 356 was simply based on a VW platform, though, the 924 was a hodgepodge of bits from all over - engine from the LT van, brakes from the K70, front suspension from a mix of Golf and Beetle...

(I can feel your pulse thumping at the mere idea of a mix of these)

...and of course, this extended to one of the most recycled part of all: the side indicators. And that's important. Because my old Volksvagen had a broken indicator, and I happened to know of an abandoned 924 'round here. C:

Although it did take some work (while the lens was the same, the base was different, so it had to be transplanted from my broken unit - there were probably a couple variants of this part for reasons), I now officially participate in the popular trend of putting Porsche bits on your Golf.

Not in a way that actually makes any difference, but hey.

Links in blue are posts of mine about the topic in question: if you liked this post, you might like those - or the blog’s Discord server, linked in the pinned post!

[vivalgi]

This post is primarily meant for all the doubters, naysayers and people in denial who ganged up against me when I first declared my suspicions that wannabe Malfoy revealed on @candlelightgames' Instagram post might be AI generated.

I will point out some of the most obvious signs of AI usage after the break but first I want to quote Owen Wilson: "Wow!" Usually half the AI image detectors fail to do their job, but never before have I seen such a unanimous decision - all 7 out of 7 online tools that I managed to find are saying that the Project Spellstruck's first character art is most likely AI:

Now, onto the analysis. People are still expecting clearly visible errors from generated images, such as irregular amount of fingers or something going through another object, but AI has come a long way and it's becoming harder to point out obvious signs without focusing hard. It's even able to create a vague resemblance of symmetry and repeating elements. AI generated art isn't often published "straight out of the oven" either. Artists-prompters make the AI do a lot of inpainting and add their own little touch-ups until the images are more or less presentable. A character has 16 fingers? Just mark the problematic area you want to be regenerated, maybe even make a rough sketch over it and then have the program do its job again. Even Bardick's design evolution, CL has demonstrated, looks very similar to the typical AI-assisted workflow I just described:

It's hard to put into words what makes art feel and look AI, but don't worry, doubters, I can also point out some strange elements that strongly hint at this character art being largely made by AI.

Below is the highest quality image I could get, so you can come back to it and zoom in if you want to see the clean version without my scribbles:

The coat's lapels

In the corner of the left lapel there's this triangular piece:

Whatever it's meant to be, it's a single solid object and not nearly as incoherent as what's happening on the opposite side:

The triangular shape seems to be made up of 3 disconnected sticks and the ends of the golden protruding lines that flow into that corner, become intrusions, although they don't line up very well either. Try to explain what the artist was attempting to do here. It's a very clear example of AI making up some fuzzy incoherent details. No need to find any further evidence really, but let's move on.

Occasional double vision effect around the edge of the golden hem, creating parallel running lines (a typical thing I've noticed image generators tend to do):

The pants and belt

That wobbly dotted line is the edge of his pants:

I've also traced the lines of the belt buckle, so you can see exactly how much it makes sense upon closer look. Not a lot, right? Also, the prong melts into the buckle, doesn't even go through the belt's hole and there's more fuzzy scribble around it.

Shadows

The shirt's collar creates shadows to both sides of it:

The lighting source seems to be behind the guy as the corner of the collar is further from the viewer than the shadow it casts:

Some other shadows are suspicious as well but not so obviously bad to confidently demonstrate them.

This is not an attempt to turn anyone against AI, but merely an analysis to show the most obvious signs that this dude was probably more or less generated by AI. If you like this kind of artificial art and are fine with Candlelight or any other studio/artist using it, then I won't stop you from enjoying it. If you have a hard time recognizing AI art then I truly envy you, ignorance is bliss as the saying goes. However, please don't come to proudly demonstrate your ignorance and argue with me or even worse, try to make fun of me because you think I'm wrong in saying that this character art was generated with AI. As I've now proven, it most likely is. It's too early to turn into an overprotective fangirl over a project we still know barely anything about.

[offical-ouroboros]

dude your unknown x readers are SO. HOUGHHHHH /POS,,, there is so little content for it anywhere but yours is utterly DELECTIBLE, if u do post the singularity thing you wrote i would be more than happy to read it bc i also love that freaky lil chewed gum looking son of a bitch 🩵🩵🩵 - a-monsters-chew-toy

yesyyeysyeysyeysyeysyyeysyeysysys I love finding other people who enjoy monsters like me (*´꒳`*)

Please note this entire thing was written with me in mind and I didn't actually expect anyone to be interested... And it's a bit of a three parter! If you like this one, I'll post the second piece as well :3

Feel free to request anything specific you'd like for future posts!!!

~☆

Should or Shouldn't - 1

CW: yandere stuff idk, hux kidnaps you lol, heavy projecting on reader character because this was from my docs fanfics, not proof read cos these are my late night rambles, slight nsfw implications through speech??? man idk I'm crazy for hux, male pronouns for reader lol

~♡

Thunk.

You dropped the pallet down, stunning the creature.

“You should not do such things.” Its glitchy, monotone voice uttered.

You paused.

You didn't even really have time to run before it spoke.

And for some reason…

“S… Sorry.”

It paused.

Then its sleek, metal leg crushed the wooden planks under it.

And you didn't move.

And it didn't hurt you.

“Is this the part where I run?” You speak up, half jokingly.

“No.” It says plainly.

“Calibrating... Your refusal is futile.”

“I- Sorry…?” You say again.

“You are not fit for this experiment. I will be taking you now.”

“W-What?!” You cry out, trying to take a step back.

It quickly grabs you, clutching the back of your shirt with its claw.

“You should thank me for this.”

You tense.

“T-Thank you…?”

You're so confused.

“Good worm.”

Things just continued from there.

You stayed in its grasp as it brutalized the others in the trial, mangling their legs so they'd just bleed out.

And then, when the realm was about to collapse…

You just went unconscious.

+

Waking back up was a nightmare.

At least, you wished it was.

You were somewhere in its realm still- The Entity’s hand picked wreckage of whatever planet the Singularity had come from.

You were on the floor. It was cold. But on the bright side, there seemed to be… Some kind of fabric near you. Large enough to cover most of your body, if you curled up.

You start to stir more, pushing up before falling flat back down as your limbs buckle under you.

Yelping in pain, you can't help it but cry.

Your pain is only worsened when you feel… Something… Coiling around your ankle.

It's like the fleshy plants of this planet. Like the nasty growths of skin covering the Singularity’s robotic form.

You whimper and tug on it, panic setting in.

There's a few odd clunks- Getting closer.

But you're too terrified to process them.

“Stop struggling.” Its voice suddenly speaks up, shocking you out of your efforts. You scramble back, still laying on the ground.

“Refusal is futile. You are safe now.”

In what world was this safety?

"What are you talking about?"

“Your inferior mind was no match for future experiments.”

“Lemme go-” Your voice cracks and you break down into a sob. “Lemme- Lemme go!” You cry out louder, quivering as you do so.

“You are emotional. It is amusing.”

You shake as your fists ball up. Leaning back against the ruined barrels and such behind you, you simply break down sobbing.

It stares at you, motionless.

“You should not be crying.” There's… It almost sounds genuine. Like it can't understand why you'd be upset with it.

You don't respond. Just cry.

Shuffling closer, its scythe arm brushes against you.

Of course, you flinch away, whimpering. But…

Its head tilts slightly.

“Stop it.” It utters. “Your whines are irritating.”

You keep crying, curling up slightly.

“ . . . Analyzing situation.”

“Calibrating.”

“What is the problem?”

You scowl, glancing up at it.

“You took me.” You hiss.

“Incorrect. I have saved you.”

“You kidnapped me!"

“You were going to get yourself killed. I have saved you. You thanked me.”

You tense.

“Why are you acting up now?”

You tilt your head down, feeling just barely calmer.

“You scare me.” You mumble.

“A logical response.”

“So you'll-”

“You are never leaving.”

Shudder.

“Fuck you! I hate you!” You scream.

“Your emotional blabbering has lost its charm. I advise you to stop. Or I will make you.”

A harsh huff leaves you. “What? You'll kill me? Good. I don't want to be-”

You're slammed against the barrels behind you. A quick breath is forced out.

“It will be slow. Painful. You will not die.”

You're back to sobbing, completely hysterical.

“There. There. Be a good worm.” It's pressed closer to you… Oddly intimately. Its right arm is behind you, forcing you to lean into it or risk being cut.

“I hate you.” You whimper.

“Your emotional outburst…. Is valid. You will not be punished for them. If you stay put.”

You swallow, lower lip quivering. And… Hesitantly lean into him, nuzzling softly.

“There. Good…”

It seemed to stop itself from saying something.

“P… Please get- Get my leg out.. Out of th… Please?” You struggle to find the words. “I'll- I'll stay right here. I just… Don't like being tied up when I don't wanna be…”

“Beg for it.”

“ . . . I'm- I'm not gonna-” Your ears move in embarrassment.

“Then it stays.”

“ . . . Mh-” A weak sound escapes you. “Okay.” Your voice is so quiet.

“Little worm is deceptive. He stays until his superior can trust him.”

A little whine escapes you, and you nod.

It's not like you could do much else.

Maybe it would kill you. Maybe, like it said, it would just torture you. The Entity had already allowed it to take you. To remove you from Her trials. Maybe forever. Maybe just until it got bored of you. And by then, She'd likely be bored too. And you'd finally, truly die.

But no.

The Singularity would keep you.

Forever.

You were human.

Bound to have some reaction to anything it did.

The slightest change could spark a massive, brand new reaction.

And it would love to…

Study you.

That's all this was.

Right?

[everestgale]

jumping onto the opinion bandwagon. (that phrase alone might probably render my anonymity pointless but oh well.)

fucking amazing. in general.

no but you have such a distinct artstyle??? and your designs are so iconic and ESPECIALLY THE UPDATED VERSIONS??? DUDE there is so plainly so much thought put into those little sillies like that's clear enough, especially with those rambles you sent like they're so fun to read. in general, you have a pretty dang prominent presence among the community and are just all-around quite admirable.

it's nice to see someone actually having fun doing what they like. even if the rest of that someone's life is something we don't really know much about, at least it's amazing when they're actually passionate about the work they show us and are completely genuine about it. yeah you seem like that someone

i can't say anything without just regurgitating what the other anons have said so far lmao. but yeah, major shoutout to how chill you've been so far. and another major shoutout to the drawing everyone's voice designs thing, because that must have made a lot of peoples' days. we all love when you draw our voice designs. and our voice designs probably appreciate the kindness shown when others draw them, because their own artists aren't exactly treating them the best half the time lolol.

another major shoutout because you're cool

yeah that's it idk what to say

Thank you so much!!! For everything, for all your kind words and compliments, and for writing out such a nice message!! ❤️

I don't know if I would say I have a prominent presence in the community though (I'm too new myself for that to be the case), but it is nice to know that there's someone who thinks so, I'm having a lot of fun making art and hanging out in this community!! It's easy to be passionate and share my passion around here, and I hope to make it easy for other people, too <3

I genuinely love and adore this game, genuinely love and adore this community, and I hope to keep making more art and other projects for this community! And in fact, I'll share a little secret, I do have a quite large project in the works regarding that... the plan was to have it done just in time for New Years but, uh, that might be ambitious. We will see though, at the latest, it should be done sometime in January :]

Anyways! Thank you for all the shoutouts and all the kind words <3

(Also it's funny that you added that note at the beginning, because it's pretty much everything else but that phrase that (at least I think) made me recognize you lol)

Hope you have a great rest of your day though, and thanks again ❤️

[3wwo-guys]

𝐆𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝 (Ninjago x Male elemental master reader)(Lloyd Garmadon x Male elemental master reader)(Elemental master of The Supernatural)

★ Word count: 1k

★ Summary: After the merge, Atlas still doesn't make contact with his ninja team. However, at the Tournament of Sources, the team find their two missing ninja on the wrong side. (Ninjago x Male elemental master reader)(Lloyd Garmadon x Male elemental master reader)(more of an OC)

★ Warning: Fighting.

A/N: Anyone listen to the Supergrass song with the same title. I kept singing it while writing this.

𝐌𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭 :)

Roby spins on his levitating board as he announces the next round. I stand, leaning against one of the nearby temples. The ninjas—my past teammates—are gathered at one end. I spot three new ninjas: one wearing orange, one with cat ears, and another… oh god, it’s another Kai. Speaking of which, there’s a missing Kai. Also present is Lloyd. I notice he has finally taken up his role as master. I would congratulate him if I weren’t trying to gain Ras’ trust.

Roby snaps me out of my daze as he loudly (and annoyingly) hypes up the crowd. “Are you ready? I think you are. Yeah!” His large head is projected onto the massive TVs on the top display. “When they talk about the Tournament of the Sources, they often say ‘Legendary’ and ‘Mythic.’ But now they’ll also say ‘Mega-tight’ and ‘Stang-zoot’—” He continues, overly exaggerating his movements. I snarl, quite annoyed by Roby; he’s just not my type of person. I prefer calm—mostly—collected individuals, someone who can take charge. Be a reliable leader. Like Lloyd…. “—A new word I just made up, let the games continue!” However, I have to admit, that his flare and playfulness are most welcoming. Furthermore, it's quite comforting to see the ninja after such a long time. "Get your umbrella hats on causes it's about to rain elemental powers!" God this guy talks a lot. Nearly as much as Jay. Dude yapps. "First up today, she's smoking hot and likes to fight a lot. It's Wyldfyre, Elemental Master of Heat!" One of the new ninjas, I have very high hopes for this one. She was trained by Lloyd so how could I doubt that much. Since the merge, I have noticed a spike in the elemental masters, and a lot of new elemental powers appearing. I watch as the ninja hype up Wyldfyre, cheering for her. "Versus a spooky man, with a somehow more soulless gaze. Atlas! Elemental Master of, BOO, Supernatural."

There are loud gasps as I walk to the front of Ras' group, most of my team smirking widely at the ninja. Lloyd looks at me, his gaze soft and sad, with just a hint of sharp betrayal. Maybe, that gaze is enough to break my facade, that is, if I was fighting him head-on. However, fortunately, I am spared from having to fight my best friend - and maybe lover? I walk towards the middle of the entry of the arena, Wyldfyre doing the same, with Lloyd stalking just behind. I look away from Lloyd, pulling up my face mast to conceal just half of my face. I suppose it helps to cover the soft smile that temps itself to dance onto my lips. Or, the smirk that fights to plaster itself on my face. Though, Lloyd - oh the confident one - decides to ignore my obvious caution to stay away, by grabbing one of my hands. With a matching one of his and using the other to grip my neck scarf - one that he bought for me himself - this brings are faces inches closer. "Lloyd..." I whisper cautiously. My eyes widen in shock, he's never been this angry or forward. At least, not at me. "Where have you been?!" He shouted, causing me to - attempt - to step back. I shove him back, dusting myself off. Fixing my quickly cracking facade.        "-First to get it out of the circle wins!" I only catch the last part as I reposition myself next to my opponent. "Wyldfyre, I know you're itching for a good fight. But please, just go for the flag and win the game." Lloyd commanded. However, Wyldfyre seemed to totally disregard this information, instead deciding to ignore him entirely. "You know, I would listen to him if I were you. With his advice, maybe there's a chance I won't absolutely eat you alive." I empathise it by using a finger to hook around my mask, dragging it down. I smirk, opening my mouth, and showing them my lower and upper fangs. Sticking out my long, black tongue. I grin and lick my lips, putting the mask back in its original place. "Let's go spooky stuff!" Cheers Cinder from the sidelines. Lloyd looks at me with a mix of shock and anger, I watch as he shivers at my sinister tone.

Then the bell rings, and we both sprint forward, though I'm at an advantage and easily overtake her. Before I can get to the flag though, she shoots fire in front of me, I easily use the small fragment of Realm crystal in my ring to teleport behind her. Using spinjitzu to hit her into the air, I teleport over her in the air. I clasp my hands together and use all my force to hit her back, sending her flying towards the floor. Before I can use my spinjitzu again, Lloyd shouts from the sidelines. "Master Wu taught you that, you know longer have the honour to use it!" I look at him, stopping my movements. Instead of using spinjitzu, I pull out a wolf mask - which was previously strapped to my back. "Fine." I put the mask on, Ras hits the gong and I go into a shatter spin. Hitting Wyldfyre head-on, she flies out of the stadium, slamming against a wall. I walk towards the flag, grasping it and tossing it somewhere over my shoulder.

"We have a winner! Wooo." Roby announces. I turn facing my ex-team, Nya and Zane look away, as if too ashamed to look at me. However, Cole speaks up. "Atlas...Really? With them? Did we mean nothing to you? Me? I thought we were close, you were like a little brother. Zane? Nya? Jay? what about Kai? He was your mentor, a big brother, even closer than us. And.. Lloyd? How could you throw that away to side with them?" I look away, ashamed. I should be ashamed, to betray them. To betray Lloyd. But, I'm not really betraying them if I'm being a double agent. Right? However, once again, I'm broken from my thoughts by Roby. "The elemental transfer." He says though he doesn't look very happy with the outcome of the match. I spread my arms, bowing dramatically, accepting the gift of Heat. I throw a fireball into the air, causing little specks to rain down. "Flashy." says an unknown voice from behind me. Probably owned by Roby or Cinder.

And that concludes the matches for tonight.

[zabala0z]

Welcome to “New Fan consistently listens to TMA S2 while playing Minecraft and dying by a skeleton” I’m your host: the new fan. Or I dunno if I’m considered a new fan since I’m listening to s2 but I guess the podcast was made in 2016 and I finally got to it circa 2024. Anyways! Gotta get to it! Post too long already!

MAG 57: Personal Space

Eughhh this one is like top 5 TMA EPS of creeping me out. Lot of stuff here so I’m gonna talk a while. For example, Conrad Lukas was in charge of the project and the Lukas family was shown in Alone and Boatswain Call. Speaking of the latter, Nathaniel Lukas gave an investment to the project. He was the captain of that ship in MAG 33. Pinnacle Aerospsce is majority owned by the Fairchild family WHO CANNOT STAY OUT OF PEOPLES BUSINESS 💀

Carter, the guy who did the project, also had that feeling of being utterly alone in this damn void. He said the line between reality and dreaming was blurred, finding himself in space, a graveyard or an empty ocean. The latter two I think are a reference to Alone and High Pressure respectively which all have the theme of “loneliness, stranded, etc” in common.

The whole “being alone in a large empty space” has been a pattern. The Fairchild family features in that theme and even the Lukas family in Alone. Optic Solutions Limited is based in Norway but the only connection I can figure out is that Jurgen Leitner was from Norway but maybe there was something I missed. Anyways that’s it. God 😭

Nothing much on MAG 58: Rations. Another kind of emphasis on meat. I felt so bad for the unknown lady :( (EDIT 9/2: Benjamin Carlisle shares the same last name as Toby Carlisle and both have very prominent meat themes. God.)

MAG 59: Recluse

Oh boy Raymond Fielding. From what I heard before, I thought he was a good guy since like y’know he took in troubled kids but noooo. He seems to be like the same thing as that woman from Children of the Night. Creepy spider thing. Also; that damn table. Now we finally know what happened to the middle of the table, like the square. Also the apple; Same apple Evo found in burned out. Even described the same. Agnes also, in my theory, a good person because she kissed Ronald’s cheek before he left and then was persuaded to go down to the study where his cheek started burning and snapped him out of it. I think she’s good. I dunno what her deal is but still.

Also, again, the table. It’s definitely the same table. How did Graham find it? He said he bought it in a second hand shop in MAG 3. Did Ray donate it after the events? Did the house burn down but the table still survived? Like god. How did the middle part of the table end up under the tree? With the apple? I have so many questions.

MAG 60: The Observer Effect

Another eye theme. Not many connections but I’m assuming she wanted to blow up the Magnus institute with those barrels of petrol. Maybe she found out something her brother was involved in which she blamed the institute for. I think he didn’t die of a stroke because no one ever dies of natural causes, I mean come on.

Also. Jon getting an intervention is the funniest thing ever. Like he was like before “they’re avoiding me and giving me fruitful glances, they’re up to something” like my dude, they are worried about you 💀

“Yeah sorry if I’ve been distant”

“You literally watch my house”

“You rummaged through my desk”

“You said I was lying about a murder”

I’m literally cackling. They’re not even wrong, Jon is going a little cray cray from all this. He needs an emotional support cat I think.

[reddblight]

New chapter of Cat & the Canary out!

Missed a couple weeks bc i got real sick and then real busy lol (wish me luck finding job that isnt a fuckin pyramid scheme). But we back with the boys. Enjoy some fluff and filler :3

Harumasa was having a bad day today. Was that new? No. Did that help? Also no.

Ya see, Seth had scheduled their apartment tour for today. It’d been a week and a day since their after work coffee meeting. He had tried to set up a few more meetings since then in the name of ‘getting to know each other better’ but Harumasa really hadn’t been in the mood. He’d been busy at work, Yanagi had him doing a bunch of stupid paperwork that had been due yesterday (Friday grind, what's to love), not to mention packing his apartment up after work. His landlord was being a dick about certain appliances that Harumasa had bought, claiming they were his and he was fuckin sick of it all.

Speaking of being sick, the busy week had him dealing with pain flare ups, which is why Yanagi had him on desk duty to begin with. It was just one big ball of ‘fuck you Harumasa’ this week. And now he had to tour apartments on a Saturday at 11am.

Seth, of course, seemed energetic. He’d practically been vibrating with nerves as they met outside the door that would lead into the apartment complex. He’d never done this before and his tail was flicking and curling with anxiety as his ears stood straight up. The thiren looked like he was about to sweat through the button up he was wearing as he rolled up the sleeves and undid the top button.

Harumasa had done this enough not to care about the impression of clothes, plus a tight shirt on his chest right now sounded like hell. He was in a hoodie about 2 sizes too big and a pair of joggers.

“I just- you know what to ask right? Because I studied what to talk about but I don’t really know what a lot of it means and-“ Seth basically cut himself off with a little yelp as his foot hit a small step in front of the entrance and he nearly tripped over. He balanced himself by immediately shooting his arms out perpendicular to his body and flailing for a minute. If it wouldn’t hurt him to do so, Harumasa would’ve laughed at his expense.

He settled for a small sigh and put a hand on Seth’s shoulder, meeting anxious lilac eyes with his own tired golden ones. “Yeah dude, I know what to ask. Not my first rodeo. Also there aren’t any wrong questions. I can see the gears in your head turning, so stop stressing. If you don’t know what it means just ask for clarification.” God knows Harumasa was in no mood to explain shit today, so it’d have to be the landlord’s problem.

At that Harumasa buzzed into the small lobby, just barely holding the glass door for Seth behind him. It was a small room with a tiled floor and a large area rug in the middle of the room. There were a few potted plants in the corners of the room and a front desk with a young woman sitting behind it. The walls were wood paneled, only interrupted by the elevator door, the stairwell, and a door behind the small desk.

“How can I help you?” Asked the woman behind the desk. She seemed short, hard to tell sitting down. She has mousey brown hair and glasses. Looked nice enough at a glance.

Harumasa directly leaned onto the desk with his elbows and met her eyes, which now seemed a bit surprised at his comfortability. Dang, guess full leaning onto the desk would maybe be a weird move. Whatever, too tired to care. “We’ve got an appointment with the landlord to tour two apartments today.”

Seth, seemingly aghast at Harumasa’s overly-casual approach sputtered, waving to get the woman’s attention before she was completely appalled by Harumasa. “My name is Seth Lowell, I set up the appointment. Please forgive my friend, he slept poorly last night.”

Seth didn’t know that what he’d said was true, but it seemed to assuage the woman all the same. She turned to her computer and began typing. Seth was sort of pulling on Harumasa’s hoodie, trying to stand him upright again. He was beginning to succeed honestly. Harumasa felt like a scruffed kitten.

The woman turned back to them with a smile, “I do see your appointment! I’ll go grab Mister Yoshi for you.” She gets up and walks into the back room, closing the door behind her.

Seth whips around on Harumasa now, wearing a frustrated scowl but with a concerned tilt to his eyebrows. “Dude?? The heck? Are you actually that tired today? Are you feeling under the weather? We could’ve rescheduled if you are.”

Harumasa scowls back at Seth, “I’m fine, I’m fine. Just slept poorly last night, like you said. I’m not gonna like, throw away our chances of moving in here or whatever. Just wanted to lean on something.” He pouted as Seth gave him a sympathetic look.

They waited about 4 minutes, an awkward silence sitting between the two of them as Seth let Harumasa lean on him. Harumasa begrudgingly thought to himself that the muscular shoulder was actually not the worst head rest he’d ever had, though he could maybe do without Seth’s tail flicking at his ankle before seemingly remembering he was there and moving away over and over again.

Were they close enough friends for this? Is now the right time to be thinking about that? Does Harumasa want to let himself literally lean on this dude? Wasn’t the point of this not letting Seth know he was sickly? ‘Fuckin hell, Harumasa you are a loser and a failure.’

After their wait the short woman and an older man hunched over a cane made their way out of the back room. If the two of them happened to see Harumasa quickly lean off of a blushing Seth, well that was none of their business.

“Ah, you must be Seth, thank you for coming.” The older man started with a fond smile. “My name is Yoshiki, but most people just call me Mr. Yoshi.” He was short with age, wearing a presentable sweater over a button down and some well loved slacks.

Seth walked to the man, a hand extended and met in a handshake between the two. “Hello Mr. Yoshi, it’s a pleasure to meet you. Thank you for this opportunity.” He gestured to Harumasa after breaking the handshake, “And this is Asaba Harumasa, he’s going to be my roommate if or when we move in here.”

Harumasa spared the old man a polite wave and a tired smile. He was like, one of those old people you look at walking down the street sometimes and think to yourself ‘aw, a cute grandpa’. Contrasted of course with the ‘why aren’t you dead instead of legislating my life’ genre of old person. He looked nice. That's what Harumasa was trying to explain to himself in a weirdly drawn out way. Tired brain.

“How do ya do?” He asked the little old landlord. Having lost Seth as his support beam he was kind of awkwardly leaning into his own hip and crossing his feet.

“Oh, I’m well. Thank you for asking, young man.” Mr. Yoshi said with a smile in response. “Now why don’t we get this shindig started! Follow me boys, I’m sure you’re more than capable of using the stairs, but these old knees can’t quite cut it anymore so we’ll be taking the elevator.” Harumasa internally sighed in relief. Honestly he had a feeling that Seth was more of a ‘take the stairs’ kinda guy and he really didn’t feel like putting himself through potentially 5 flights of that shit today.

The boys followed Yoshi into the elevator after a moment of waiting for the door. It wasn’t much to write home about, standard elevator. Little small, 5 people might’ve been cramped, but 3 was a good number. “Now boys,” Mr. Yoshi started, “We’ll start on the 5th floor apartment and work our way back down to the 2nd floor apartment.” The older gentleman pushed the 5 button and the elevator doors shut. “What made you think about 6th street for your new living arrangements if you don’t mind me asking?”

“Oh, no mind at all!” Seth seemed content to chat with the landlord on both of their behalfs which was nice. “We both need a new space, though I guess that part’s obvious.” The thiren trailed off with a slightly nervous chuckle before picking back up. “And we also happen to have some friends in the neighborhood, so we’re familiar with the area. It's a lovely neighborhood.”

Yoshi looked up at Seth, his eyebrows raising in what could’ve been excitement or curiosity. “Oh I’m glad you like the area. I’ve been here for quite a while and it’s always wonderful to see the younger people being invested in the community. We have had an influx of younger people in the past few years as well, it’s been nice. Do you mind if I ask who in the area you know?”

“We’re both good friends of the managers of Random Play just across the way.” Seth was listening contentedly to the older man, nodding when appropriate and smiling when needed. Had it been anyone else Harumasa might’ve assumed they were just entertaining the man, but he was pretty sure Seth was actually enjoying the small talk. At least the old guy seemed friendly. Probably too soon to really tell, but Harumasa didn’t wanna deal with another stuck up prick for a landlord, just too much fuckin effort arguing over the little shit.

“Oh! Belle and Wise, good ones those two.” Mr. Yoshi’s smile widened at the mention of the two part time proxies. “They always help me find the right film for an occasion, and they uploaded some of my old home CDs into files. Now I always have a copy of my daughter’s growing up videos with me. You two must be trustworthy if those two like you.” The old man waggled a finger at them conspiratorially, like they were in on a joke. Hearing about the proxies helping around the community was nice though. Good to know they really do just help anyone they can.

“Oh that reminds me, what do you folks do for work?” Pretty standard question for this kinda thing. He probably just wants to double check that they’re able to pay the rent, and if they’ll fit into the community nicely.

“I work for H.A.N.D.” Harumasa would put him at ease by bringing up that he worked for a government agency. Landlords loved that shit. Steady income, and a connection to law enforcement could be useful to have around. That's why his last landlord moved him in anyway. “I’m actually a part of H.S.O.’s Section 6 team.”

“And I’m a Public Security officer.” Seth added. Smiling down at the old man. Right about then they readed the 5th floor and started moving out of the elevator and towards the apartment.

“Oh well that is very good! It would be very nice to have two strong reputable young men move in. I can see why you chose this building too, we’re right near the Metro station. Strong and smart.” Yoshi chuckled to himself as they came to the door of apartment 5E and he looked through a small key ring on his belt.

After a moment the three of them entered a rather nice looking apartment. The door led into a moderately sized living/dining area. The floor was wood tiling and the furniture mostly neutral toned greys and browns, but it looked nice. There was a couch, tv, and coffee table set up on the far end of the room in front of them, and a dining set. It had a vaguely modernist feel to it, which wasn’t really Harumasa’s vibe, but whatever. Directly to their right was a kitchen area with all the amenities and a floating island with a sink & dishwasher.

As they walked further in, Harumasa could hear Seth and Yoshi chatting a bit as the older gentleman gave his sales pitch. Harumasa was more interested in seeing the space for himself. He wandered a bit, taking a look at the furniture, the corners of the room, checking the inside of the oven, fridge, & dishwasher in case mold was hiding somewhere. Seemed pretty spotless.

“-and here to the left of the door is the wash closet, it has the washing machine and drier. Further in here are the bedrooms and bathrooms.” Harumasa rejoined the little tour now, noting that Seth was taking notes in that pocket journal of his, tail flicking in concentration, ears perked up. “On the right side here, in this small hallway is the smaller bedroom and bathroom-“

Yoshi continued on about the space as Harumasa took it in. To his left was a bedroom, the bed in the middle took up most of the space. Looked like a full size mattress. There was a closet space and a bedside table, but not much other than that. The floor of the bedroom was carpeted. The bathroom on his right looked pretty standard if a touch cramped. Again he walked into the bathroom, just checking for any mold or discrepancies. Seemed all clear to him.

Yoshi took them across to the other side of the apartment where they saw the master bedroom, which had an ensuite bathroom, and finally to see the small balcony at the back of the apartment near the couch. He stepped outside to answer a phone call from his wife and let the boys look over the space more. Harumasa didn’t really see any issues with the place. He knew from his previous discussions with Seth that this was the more expensive of the two they were looking at. It was within their estimated budget, but pushing a bit close to the top. The space was nice though.

Harumasa was leaning on the floating counter in the kitchen looking over some paperwork that Yoshi had in his pocket about the apartment when Seth walked up and leaned next to him. “So what do you think?” Harumasa looked up to meet Seth’s eyes, he still seemed a bit nervous, but it looked like talking with Mr. Yoshi had helped assuage his anxiety a good bit. It was clear that he cared about what Harumasa thought though.

“The space is nice,” Harumasa started, resting his chin on one hand. “No mold or anything, very well kept. Based on the level of cleanliness I'd assume the other apartment will be kept to a similar standard. He hasn’t given us the run-around about anything, and he’s been clear about the amenities and expectations thus far.” Harumasa offered a bit of a shrug.

“Why shrug… you don’t seem convinced. Is something wrong?” Seth leaned in a bit, before stepping back and reeling in. He’s so excitable, it’s kinda funny.

“No no, there's just a lot of space in this apartment. I also don’t love that one bedroom is so much bigger than the other and has an ensuite bathroom. Feels kinda power imbalance-y. Also do we really need a balcony? I definitely like this complex, and Mr. Yoshi seems like a good landlord, I’m just interested to see the other space before making any decisions. This apartment is nice, but it's also close to our budget limit. Might be better to see if the lower one is as nice if a little smaller, could end up saving money. Plus if we get this apartment I have to figure out what I’m gonna do with some of my old furniture. Let's just not jump the gun on making a decision.” Harumasa gave a small chuckle before looking back at the paperwork.

“That makes sense.” Harumasa looked up to see Seth smiling with a nod, his tail wagging just slightly. He seemed happy he’d found a good opportunity for the two of them. He met Harumasa’s eyes and blushed a bit before turning to look at the counter space. Probably just embarrassed he was getting stared at. Harumasa internally shrugged with a smirk making its way across his lips.

A few minutes later they were whisked back to the elevator and headed down to floor 2 to see apartment 2B. Seth and Mr. Yoshi continued their small talk, while Harumasa occasionally chimed in. He’d get to know the man better if/when they ended up moving in. He felt a little bad not chatting so much now, but he could give himself a break since he was having a rough pain day. Or he could try anyway, sometimes it still felt like he was just using it as an excuse. It wasn’t, but the dichotomy of the human brain was bullshit and guilt was a bitch.

As they entered 2B Harumasa could immediately tell that this apartment, while smaller, was as he had expected, just as clean as 5E. The overall square footage of this apartment was smaller and it didn’t have all the features that the other apartment had. For one, the living area was pretty much bare. The space immediately in and to the right was the living/dining area. There was a small dining set with two seats, but otherwise there wasn’t much. A tv stand with no tv, and open floor.

Further in was the kitchenette. There was less counter space, but it still had the big amenities, including a smaller dishwasher. Past that was a moderately sized bathroom with tile flooring and a small washing closet at the back of it.

The bedrooms were much more comparable in size in this apartment, one was still slightly smaller, but only slightly. Otherwise the aesthetics were mostly the same between the two apartments. The walls were an eggshell color, the flooring a beige wood tile, and the window drapes were a neutral grey. It was bare bones, but that wasn’t bad. The space definitely had potential.

They’d have to buy a couch, but Harumasa had a TV and coffee table from his old place. He had the extra kitchen amenities, cutlery and plates, etc. other than that bedroom and bathroom stuff was mostly personal purchases anyway.

Seth asked a few questions about the space, neighbors, and pretty much anything else he could think of as they toured the smaller apartment. Harumasa may be biased but he seemed a bit more at ease now. They both seemed more comfortable with this space.

Eventually they both found themselves sitting in the empty space where a couch would probably go had there been one. Harumasa was cleaning back on his extended arms, legs splayed in front of him. He was looking up at the ceiling, making out nonexistent shapes in the smooth paint.

Seth was sat criss-cross opposite from him, leaning forward looking at the documents for this room. Obviously they could’ve sat at the dining table, but queers gonna queer.

Was Seth Queer? Harumasa looked Seth over again. Hmmm… Yeah probably, he could see it. Got that whole twunk thing goin on, not exactly bad looking. Honestly he wasn’t that invested in actually finding out or caring, he was just a little bored and trying to keep himself distracted from his lung pain. God he wished he didn’t feel his lungs, nobody should, it sucked.

“Seeeeth~.” Harumasa broke the silence with a sing-song voice, aiming for nonchalant and not constipated. “I like this apartment. It’s clean, more in our budget, and we already decided we liked the location.”

“I think it could be the place too!” Seth looked up from the paperwork and gave Harumasa a bright grin. He had nice teeth, was that a weird thing to notice? “I can already see it! I didn’t know just seeing the place would be this exciting.”

“I don’t know if I’d go as far as exciting, but it's cool.” Harumasa let himself slide into a laying down position on the floor. “We should probably tell Yoshi we want to make an offer on this one.” The wood tile was cool on the back of his neck, the stiffness of the floor a momentary distraction from the thrumming chest pain.

“Let's do it then!” Harumasa could hear the Thiren’s excitement in his voice before the telltale scramble of Seth getting up. Suddenly Harumasa was being offered a hand. “Come on!”

“Ufffff nooooooo, the floor is so nice though.” Harumasa flopped onto his side, removing the offending hand from his frame of vision.

“Dude if you rent the place you can lay on the floor whenever you want, but we gotta put an offer down first.” Harumasa heard Seth chuckling as he explained what Harumasa already knew. The floor really was comfortable for him right now though. Plus he’s being hilarious obviously.

Then he felt a hand on his ankle and screeched as Seth dragged him through the partially furnished room towards the door, his palms dragging futilely against the floor creating a squeaking sound. Once there Seth crouched down and fully lifted Harumasa to his feet, which woah, talk about manhandling. Though it was nice not to have to get up himself. Perks. Harumasa lightly laughed at his own antics along with Seth, careful not to laugh too hard. Their eyes met and Harumasa had to wonder why he’d written Seth off so quickly in the first place. Well he knew why, but you get it. After a few seconds of eye contact Seth turned red and quickly turned away.

“Come on! Let’s find him!” Seth declared before running down the hallway. Harumasa would not be chasing his sorry ass, but followed nonetheless. What a loser. He couldn’t help but chuckle, even if it hurt.

•••••

After they finished the apartment tour, Seth had to head back to his family’s place for some kind of event or something. Harumasa kinda zoned it out, sue him. Seth was the only Lowell he really tolerated so who cares what the rest were up to.

They had made an official offer to Mr. Yoshi about the apartment and were going to discuss it further soon, but for now Harumasa had the rest of the day free. So he decided to go bother the closest people in the vicinity.

Harumasa strolled his way across the street and into Random Play. The video store had a few perusers, but wasn’t too full yet since school was still in. Heddy and Bangboo 18 were manning the checkout and seemed to be playing tic tac toe. He gave them both a little nod and salute before sauntering to the back room door and hitting it with his signature single knock.

He heard some banter from the other end of the door before stomping footsteps moved closer to the door. He watched smugly as the door swung open, Belle huffing at him. “I swear Harumasa, you are the only bastard I know who’s lazy enough to only knock once.” Her nostrils flared in faux agitation. The look in her eyes gave away that she wasn’t actually frustrated, just playing with him a bit.

Harumasa just smirked and raised his hands in surrender. “What can I say? I’ve got a way of doin things.” He lightly chuckled and slipped past Belle. Looking around the back room he saw a paused thriller flick on the tv and Wise jacked into the HDD with headphones on. Harumasa made himself right at home, laying on the entirety of the couch and getting comfy.

Belle scoffed and closed the door behind him. “You’re ridiculous.” She rolled her eyes and blew an errant strand of dark hair out of her eye. She lifted Harumasa’s legs out of her way and plopped back down on the couch before resuming the movie. “Why are you here again?” She asked, not even looking at him.

“Just finished apartment tours with Seth across the street. Didn’t have other plans, chest hurts, wanted somewhere to lay down. Do you need any more reasons? I could make some up if you do.” Harumasa droned teasingly, watching the movie with Belle now. There were some guys hiking through the woods and they kept hearing something following them. “What’re we watching by the way?” He laid his legs back across Belle’s lap.

“The Port Peak, it’s based on a true event. Bunch of college kids went into the mountains and got butchered by a robotic monster called ‘The Lumberjack’” Belle picked up a smoothie from a side table and took a loud sip before continuing. “How’d the tours go?” She didn’t pry about his chest, the managers were good like that.

“Pretty good actually. Seth was nervous at first, but got into the swing of it. The complex was nice. We made an offer on an apartment.” The guys in the movie were being chased up the mountain now by a strange figure that was darting from tree to tree, never quite getting a good look at it. “Mr. Yoshi might call you asking about us by the way. What’s Wise up to?”

“Oh dope, we’ll let Mr. Yoshi know you’re good people. Wise and Fairy are working a commission with the Cunning Hares. He was too much of a baby about my movie so he put the headphones on. He’ll probably be done soon.” She chortled at her brother’s tendency to dislike anything he thought was scary. Belle offered Harumasa some popcorn from the large bowl she was eating out of, he took one and popped it in his mouth. It was a bit buttery for his taste, but whatever. Too tired to complain and ask Belle to get salt.

“Thaaaaanks” Harumasa dragged out as the first guy in the movie got run through with a chainsaw. He and Belle made simultaneous ‘oo’ sounds. For the next hour the two of them just lounged, watching the movie and waiting for Wise to finish working. They shared some idle chit chat about the movie and apartment stuff, Belle volunteered both her and Wise to help move boxes n’ all that.

Eventually, after they started a second movie, Wise finished his commission and joined them on the couch. Harumasa had to sit up to make room for him, which sucked, but whatever. They’d started something Wise found more palatable, Oh~ Sweetie. It was a romance or something, they were mostly chatting with the movie on in the background.

“So,” Wise started, “I think we’ve been a little out of the loop lately with you. When did you and Seth get all buddy buddy?” He was turned on the couch sitting crisscrossed so he was facing Harumasa, who was slouching low, feet splayed on the coffee table. Wise had an inquisitive look in his eye that Harumasa didn’t love. Oh boy, here we go.

“God, don’t start with the teasing on this one dude. Seth texted me a couple weeks ago because he heard I was looking for a new place and he was too. We met up last week to chat about it and I apologized for being a dick. Since then we’ve just been chatting about apartment stuff and whatever else he rarely texts me about.” Harumasa sighed and looked at Belle, who was giving him a mischievous smile.

“I mean, Seth’s a pretty good looking guy though. Isn't he?” Belle retorted, looking to her brother to tee her up for something undoubtedly horrible.

“He is indeed, sister of mine.” Wise nodded along, hand on his chin smugly. “He’s athletic, pretty fit, and great at looking out for people. Just the kind of guy our poor sickly little gay friend needs.” Uuuuggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh harumasa wanted to barf at this obviously pre planned razzing.

“Please stoooop.” Harumasa whined, pressing his hands to his eyes as the siblings laughed. And lightly poked at him.

“Why? We know he’s your type! Besides, you deserve someone as great as Seth.” Belle egged on. She was smiling and patting at Harumasa’s left shoulder.

“Dude he’s gonna be my roommate! I don’t wanna fuck that up and lose another place to live. Plus you know I don’t date.” Harumasa rolled on his side towards Wise, who was giving him a sympathetic look.

“I still think that's silly. You deserve to be happy, we know you want to date.” Wise leaned over Harumasa, giving him a weird sort of hug.

“You just think that because you’re a huge simp for your boyfriend.” Wise squaked and Belle fell into a deep chortle at her brother’s expense. Wise and Lycaon had been together a while now and the boy was absolutely whipped. “Besides, it wouldn’t be fair for me to date. We’ve been over this.”

At that the room got a bit quieter. Harumasa felt the siblings' hands on his shoulders, but refused to look up at the sad faces he knew they’d be making. It wouldn’t be fair to put someone through that, to make them deal with him…

“Harumasa,” Wise’s low voice took a more serious tone now, clearly a bit upset. “That’s not fair. We don’t know for sure that there's no solution for you. The medicine your master made that saved you, the hospital still has the toxicology report, they might be able to recreate it.” There was an edge of hope there. Harumasa hated it.

“Plus, even if they can’t, you deserve love!” Belle refused to let Harumasa give up on himself even if he knew better. “You can’t just slam the doors on every opportunity when there might be someone who wants to share these years with you regardless!” He heard her slap her own legs in dramatic punctuation.

“We’ve discussed this before. No matter what anyone says, I would be a burden. Can we just drop this please?” He didn’t wanna talk about all this again. He was already so tired. He didn’t come here to argue about stupid bullshit with his friends.

Wise and Belle looked guilty now. They met each other's eyes and came to an understanding. “We’re sorry Harumasa, we didn’t mean to upset you. We just want you to be happy. We won’t bring it up again, but at least think about what we’re saying please?” Belle nodded in agreement with her younger brother.

Harumasa had to sigh, he dragged a hand over his face before responding, “Fiiiine. Fine, I will think about considering it.”

“That’s all we ask.” Belle added. Leaning back into her seat before her stomach grumbled loudly. The girl blushed as the other two boys found themselves distracted from the previous topic of conversation, laughing. Harumasa, laughing only lightly, careful to keep from hurting himself.

“Let’s go to General Chop’s for some dinner.” Wise said after he finished laughing. The trio got up and made their way out of Random play to get some food and sate their stomachs & nerves.

Harumasa didn’t know how he felt about the managers feeling so strongly about his love life, but it was nice that they cared, even if they were annoying bastards. Maybe he’d think about it. Maybe.

[min-9things]

4 MINUTES EP 3 THOUGHTS + THEORIES

Will contain spoilers

This was a wild one guys. My mood went on a real rollercoaster on this ep and I have SO many questions. There were so many moments that was so LOLZ to me I have to include them in this post when I usually focus on the more serious shit.

First off, the 11:00s in this ep. The first time we see the 11:01 in this ep is when Great is alone, the first on his phone, then the digital clock, then the large projection, like in increasing size and possibly danger and awareness that there is something up. If I remember correctly in ep1 Great is also like "It's already 11pm?" but when he checks Korn's watch he's like huh, and then when Korn is with him his phone shows 07:13. So maybe this seeing of 11:00s is not new. I saw many theories on how what we are seeing is Great's past and the time that moves from 11:00 onwards is the actual time that future Great is living. Initially I didn't believe in this but it is starting to be really potentially possible cuz if not why would it be only seen when Great is alone.

For the first time since ep1, analogue clock is seen with 11:01. It does give us the visuals that we are getting closer and closer to that time of death as compared to just numbers changing on the digital clock. This whole scene of Great staring at the clock, unmoving and people moving around him is so tense for me. The ticking of the seconds hand, footsteps plus the music change to that frog sounding thing at the moment he is alone, then increasing in volume while zooming in on that clock really heightens the suspense and tension. Then the music immediately stopping once he isn't alone. Like damn.

The "Can you forgive me Great?" scared the shit out of me. Is that Great seeing what Tyme may write in the future potentially? It seems like Tyme is the only person that will do something wrong to Great, especially with Great finding out his brother's attacker is Tyme (I will get into that oh my goodness).

WAIT A DAMN MINUTE I JUST REALISED SOMETHING. Mod (the girl that passes Great the thai tea) is the same person that Inspector Win tries to talk to. And then Tyme says he asked a friend of Great's if Great likes thai tea. I'm assuming Tyme knows Mod and if Mod is linked to Tonkla's brother, does that mean Tyme has something to do with Tonkla's brother?

I don't think it is a coincidence that both of these are written in blue pen and are shown in the same ep. I may be tripping but I'm guessing Tyme wrote both of these, which means that Tyme has something to do with not only the people trying to take down the mafia but also the death of Tonkla's brother. May be a stretch but we see where this goes.

In this shot, as Great approaches Tyme it is actually slowed down. It sort of feels like Great is reaching a safe place with Tyme, when just a awhile ago he was stressed with all the clock ticking, time seemingly jumping around for him, and when he meets Tyme he is, well, stable.

My favourite part of this ep is actually the GreatTyme moments. It was nice and sweet, first date vibes. I screamed when they held hands actually like OHMYGOD SO CUTE. Also Bible holding a stuffed toy and making it talk is fucking adorable i swooned. The fact that Great isn't that averse to seeing him and Tyme in his visions is actually nice when initially dude looked terrified (pic from hospital scene in ep 2 when bro looked so weirded out I laughed).

The music in this scene is beautiful and the use of guitar and piano is so amazingly fitting. Gentle vibes all across. Up until the end it actually becomes a bit more melancholy with mainly only piano used, possibly foreshadowing that this happiness won't last, considering how much Tyme is hiding from Great, even when Great is quite openly honest with him.

The piano is also used as a nice transition into the next scene where the mood becomes more tense, instead of just dropping it and moving into fast rhythm music. The shot where the woman turns and suddenly the man isn't lying on the couch anymore puts in just the right amount of suspense with the timing although we know he's right there and then he pops out behind her and whacks her.

After some realisations there's more to unpack from this shot now. Firstly, inspector Win standing on the grey side of the building rather than the white side, possibly showing his change from a morally "I'll do what is right" person to possibly becoming less so as he uncovers that the justice system isn't always right, and that he is becoming more involved with Tonkla, who did kill someone, whether for the right reason or not. Next, Mod does not ever cross this line that separates them, maybe showing that she is indeed part of the group that is trying to take down (?) the mafia but also that her and the group are not on the side of the law.

The separation of Great from the "real" world with the glass windows, with all the clocks around him at 11:01. This could possibly be a nod to how disjointed he is from the real world, and is he really in the real world? So confusing. And then we have Great being Greatlock Holmes.

Camera here tilts to the right to fix itself.

Once Korn leaves the camera tilts towards the right again. Clockwise and more. Possibly showing time is passing and getting closer to death and also the distortion that Great feels whenever he is alone.

LAST SCENE: Tyme voluntarily taking off the mask so that he does not fight with Great? Did Tyme intentionally approach Great because he knew of Great's family's ties to the mafia but over time realised Great just doesn't know much? Sounds familiar, doesn't it? (cough kim)

thanks for reading this has been a long one.

[leporellian]

How do you currently reconcile being a Onestar super fan with being a ‘women who deserve better in warrior cats’ super fan with the ‘new’ stuff written into Onestar’ Confession? This is absolutely not an attack I’m just interested in your opinions. And your opinions on Smoke in Onestar’s Confession. As the only Smoke (specifically from Onestar’s Confession) super fan in the world, I need to hear your opinions. I don’t hate Onestar as a character at all, he’s super fun, I just like discussing warrior cats.

this is a really good question!

thinking about it it also made me realize that nearly all of my favorite fictional characters have moments where they throw other classes of people under the bus in a moment of weakness usually spurred on by living in a Horrible System. and it's an interesting combination of, on one hand, 'hm maybe don't deal with your problems like that!' and 'i absolutely get 100% why this character is acting like this and feel bad for them'. for example, because i've been getting back into the figaro operas hard recently, both of my two favorites- marcellina and figaro- do this. marcellina pins a lot of her problems on susanna and doesn't seem particularly concerned about her being in an unsafe situation with count almaviva, but then after a while we realize this is largely probably because marcellina's projecting hard and she is a much nicer person towards susanna once she sorts her own self-loathing out a bit. when figaro has his Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria moment he channels it into an aria about how women are always out to deceive men, but it's easy to read between the lines, realize that he's more inclining towards people in general being Out To Deceive Others with the kind of brutal treatment ultra-classist society has dealt him (combined with a culture where turning on others to fit a social norm is the norm) and it's like... yeah you're being a wee jackass for a minute here but i get why you're like this dude.

so in warrior cats i think this is the case too. especially pre-power of three, windclan is seemingly considered the lowest social rank of the four clans. they are often joked about for being weak and cowards, and suffer at the hands of all 3 other clans (whether it's being driven out, or having gorsepaw killed, or being attacked Right After coming back, or having the war criminal that nearly killed them all be held in prison by a supposed 'ally').

so what makes a lot of windclan characters FUN to me is that they take these sort of common rages placed on them and instead of realizing 'wait a minute, its almost like this whole clan system just encourages violence and paranoia and suffering and we just end up being the most common interclan victims of that' they go 'actually clearly this has to be Someone Else Causing The Problem and i Have to Take it Out on Them'.

this is also why i really love mudclaw and consider him such a tragic figure- his grandmother and father were killed by the endless wheel of violence, only causing him to fall into it further, wriggle himself deeper into it as worse and worse things happen to the clan he loves, and then that obsessive paranoia of everyone else becomes applied to his own clan and his people he was meant to protect in the end. he's so shakespearean and i love him for that

so anyway onestar basically also has all this- he takes all the stress that exists as being the least high-up cog in the system, and then is like 'omg what if i project it on someone else and use her and have an affair! this won't end well' and i think that's really fun. is he a jerk for that? yeah but i also think that it's understandable and just like... woaw living in a system based on fear and paranoia makes people do horrible things to each other, that's crazy.

onestar's confession is very obviously an extremely fast-written book even by warrior cats standards (imo it was obvious it was thrown into the schedule bc the erins didn't expect the super edition vote to go the way it did and were caught unawares), and also tbh i do not have as much stamina as i used to have reading these books LMAO. i think it really simplifies both onestar and mudclaw in ways that i really don't vibe with. HOWEVER i do think some of its concepts (ie brushpaw and the whole thing with the kittypets) are fun.

i think however it'd be more fitting if instead of worrying so much about his Horrible Bastard Son Coming To Light onestar just kind of... forgot about smoke. he's the most neurotic man given he was already sososcared and then mudclaw kind of passed the paranoid personality disorder buck to him with the rebellion. he's gonna be like 'hm that's not a problem rn' until it Is and i think that would be a much more interesting way to deal with his character.

TLDR i am a cycle of violence enjoyer i guessss

[itsslivernotsilver]

Ok dude I've been going nuts thinking about this show /pos

Since she's your fav, tell me about your favorite MIST moments PLEASE

ok hi sorry this took so long to answer i was overthinking everything and then i got distracted but this is literally the best question i’ve ever been asked omfg

honestly the main reason mist caught my eye is because i’ve always liked characters who are misunderstood by others. maybe it’s just projection but there’s something so compelling about character who can be surrounded by people who love and care for them, yet still feel isolated. when s2 finally released, i went on reddit (ew) to see how people reacted to her and it was split between “she’s cute i like her” and “oh my god she’s so annoying and terrible.” after that i loved her even more cause i got defensive lmao but all in all i just really like the premise of her character and i think she’s adorable and fun and she spices up the cast because sometimes they get a little monotone idk

so i don’t really feel like screen recording a bunch of videos and stuff so here’s some silly moments that i really liked in no particular order and then i’ll talk about other stuff

isn’t she adorable :)))

ok so one part that i really like is her convo with maddie about nostalgia in yair. something about this scene just hits really hard because she’s trying!!!! she’s really trying to connect with maddie in the only way she knows how. and it’s just never going to happen. there’s such a large gap between them that makes it almost impossible to fully understand one another. like. ok so maddie had been willing to empathize with her dad because while his upload was drastic, it was still her dad. she still has those bonds from before his upload and she can understand that he was once a person. but mist doesn’t have anyyy of that. she’s completely different and maddie can’t reconcile her digital-ness with her humanity because there’s not much to begin with. there’s a constant disconnect between the two and oh my GOD is it compelling your honor i love them so much

another thing that has always stood out was her fight with holstrom during apokalypsis and the aftermath. she immediately approaches holstrom with such fervor and she argues from a logical perspective, aka “you’re planning genocide, here’s the definition of genocide, my name is mist kim you killed my father prepare to die” type shit. but what ultimately gets her to rethink her views on him is that he frames his plan as saving a doomed society rather than committing genocide. the argument boils down to the main message of the show, “are UIs (and CIs) actually human and not just glorified corpses?” holstrom weaponizes her disconnect with nostalgia against her by calling it humanity’s fault rather than a Normal Human Emotion (also it’s super interesting how much he uses “us” when talking to her idk). and mist really struggles to reconcile the 2 perspectives she’s heard when it comes to nostalgia. she needs someone to inform her on things like social cues and human experiences because she’s never felt them. she tries to connect with maddie once again by saying “we talked about nostalgia, just like you and i” but maddie is obviously upset because she’s annoyed that mist simply can’t understand a lot of nuances regarding the importance of the physical world. i think maddie’s biases really shine here because of how quickly she shuts down mist rather than caspian who’s just like. sitting there the whole time lmao. she’s so set on labeling holstrom as genocidal because the two options he’s giving humanity are death or uploading, both of which are underneath living normally to her. mist, being a CI herself, gets that uploading isn’t necessarily the end all be all of life, and is “more open” to holstrom’s ideas of nostalgia being the true genocidal factor. i think this line from the short stories also adds a little flavor here, specifically “the way the shapes of her decision algorithms seemed adapted for the methods of warfare.”

obviously there’s a lot more expansion in the show but i feel like it’d be cool to mention this. she charges at holstrom harshly, but upon learning more information, she heads back to maddie and caspian to rethink the plan of attack, which is pretty warfare-y to me but idk i just thought it was a fun little connection.

finally i wanted to mention her plot line with the CIs real quick because it felt like a culmination of her whole character yk???? she’s fighting for a world where she can be with the UIs and humans she cares about, but she can also be with those who can fully understand her. it’s such a defining cause for her character and it’s just so well done. anyways i think that’s it for now but i just think mist is really neat and so is her sibling dynamic with maddie :)))

[littlelesbinonny]

interesting how you do not seem to support any other artist or blog other content other than your own but are you shocked your story isn’t that good or popular. Maybe if you followed others back who follow you or promoted other artists people might be willing to do the same.

cute! my first anon hate! 💜

tbh I wasn't even going to respond to this bc I find anon!hate dreadfully boring and exhausting, and I don't need to explain or defend myself to literally anyone, especially online (plus giving you the desperate need of attention you seek is So Tedious) - BUT since exhaustion is at the forefront of my entire existence recently, I figured what the hell, let the audhd verbal vomit fly! and I do actually wanna address some things 🙃😘

Firstly - I have spoken to 3, count em 3, other authors in this fandom (y'all know who you are and I adore each one of you so much) and only like 2 fans. Never, not once, have I Ever made a comment about being shocked my story isn't good or popular???? ?? ??????????? so with that said, Please, indulge me further with things about me that I didn't know - I'm fascinated! I've been an artist my whole life. I give Zero fucks if people do or don't like my art, whatever it may be. I don't expect or require Anyone to reblog or interact with my shit - ever! It is here If You Want It. your online experience is Your Own.

Secondly - this is a side blog. I cannot follow people back from this blog. this account was initially created for one thing and one thing only upon request of a few fans from AO3 and that was for backup. that's it. BUT! you do make a valid point! now that I've gotten to know and interact and see more authors and such here - I Should create a second and real account so I can follow and support their work outside of AO3! it has crossed my mind plenty. And when I have time and the bandwidth, you bet your ass I will be doing so!

Which leads me to point Three - you don't know a goddamn motherfucking thing about me. and if you do, meaning we have spoken and interacted, and this is how you choose to approach this subject? Mm. bummer. this anon!hate screams your projection of your own bullshit loud and clear. to which I really could not care less. I'm 34 fucking years old my guy my dude. I have a full-time and a side job. I have a family, a very large one. I am exceptionally busy. I'm not online constantly.

Lastly - to everyone who does follow me and show me support here, know that I love you all. I appreciate you all. And yes, all you talented AF writers and Alcina artists, I see you 💜 I know it appears I may be silent in my support for you, but give me time to repay the full love and favors.

[formulatrash]

What's your take on the hockey booktok thing? Since you mentioned it on twt

my initial take would be that all these people scare me so much I don't want to get into it but also people keep messaging me to be like did you know people ship carlando" off the back of it and yes. I did know that.

my understanding of what's happened on booktok, which I absorb any information about only twice a year during whatever version of this is blowing up at the time, is pretty limited. partly because I'm not on tiktok and partly because I can't read. but the crux of it seems to have come down to people writing disgustingly thirsty comments on a hockey player and his wife's posts, regardless of what they were about, somehow feeling empowered to be horny not just on main but in someone's face because of booktok.

that's, clearly, not remotely acceptable. if there are communities of people out there that thirst about me I don't know about them (although the cold tendrils of horror about the Wikifeet page have just gripped me and no, oh god, that isn't the phrase I should've used at all get me out of here) but there are loads of people who fucking hate my guts. that's like, fine, it's their own business; if they keep it on discord or whatever and away from me it doesn't do me any harm. lord knows, I have committed the act of hating and indeed being horny, sometimes simultaneously, when I was at a safe enough distance for none of the subjects to ever know.

this is a thing about fandom. if you post "Max Verstappen looks breedable" on here then he's extraordinarily unlikely to ever see it or probably know what it means. if you comment that on Kelly's instagram posts, even if you don't like her and even if that's for valid reasons, that's very different.

as I gather it, the booktok thing has exploded into RPF in general. which, I gotta say, RPF and sexually harassing a dude and his family are in fact very different things. one has a rich history, both as actual ways of telling history (Anthony and Cleopatra: RPF, Chernobyl: RPF, the god damn Gran Turismo movie is RPF about an uncomfortably large number of people I know IRL and to be fair it looks like it slaps I'm gonna see it) and as a longstanding artform. RPF's history of horny is even extremely longstanding, with obscene RPF being used by both the French and Russian revolutionaries to undermine the concept of royal divinity.

RPF is political because it involves an interpretation of real events and people. and the perspective from which that's written will always be political. RPF can, certainly, be feminist; there's quite a lot of retellings of classical stories that fit this. RPF can, also, be fucking weird horny shit. or terrible man takes. or incredible, tender, queer retellings; Kaz Rowe's graphic novel about real-life surrealist Claude Cahun is an obvious example of the latter. Pride, the film about the miners' strikes and the AIDS crisis, is another.

so yeah, it is a legitimate and recognised form of literature and art and also uhhhh. well. I mean the omegaverse is definitely recognised, legally, in court because of that one case but I don't know that even its fiercest enthusiasts would really be all that keen on describing it. not as like, literature or anything just I think most people would rather literally never have an IRL conversation about that. ever.

I'm not 1000% clear on how carlando got into this but clearly that's broken containment a long time ago anyway. when you had Sky doing love heart interviews 15 races into them being teammates or whatever, there was an obvious amount of gay chicken being played by the producers that frankly, as a queer person in motorsport, I'm a lot more comfortable with the fan version of.

no, obviously, I do not think they are dating - or want to think that tbh - but frequently-queer fans projecting the wish fulfilment of seeing a kinder and more representative world for their desires, in places hidden from the subjects, is a lot less weird than leering, laughed-at dating questions and milk baths. in an ideal world it wouldn't have to be a secret, yearned-for alternative because things would be safe and open enough for there to be real queer stories everywhere but that, unfortunately, is not the one we currently live in.

wish fulfilment and telling stories are not the same things, necessarily. sometimes you tell the stories to remind yourself it's ok to have wishes or to work out what those even are. I don't think there's anything necessarily harmful about what names the characters have in those, provided the line between reality and any real people's privacy is kept.

clearly, with the booktok thing, that's where things went extremely wrong. generally tiktok as a whole seems to have a very odd perception about other people's agency, whether it's pranking videos or like the girl who filmed people peeing at Spa. if you regard everyday people as content opportunities (spoiler: the law does not think this and particularly in the EU you cannot film people without their consent) then I guess it's easy to slide over to seeing an athlete as a target for what I suspect very few of the people doing it recognised as very unpleasant and invasive harassment.

there's nothing wrong with fancying athletes. there's nothing even wrong with sexualising them, provided you respect some boundaries and provided it's not part of the conditions of their working contracts. there's a lot of difference between there being a discord where, idk, people say Mitch Evans is hot (he is, although somewhat implausibly he genuinely does not know this) and sponsors for female tennis players wanting them to wear revealing outfits and stay skinny or teenage girls being encouraged into provocative photoshoots by people who promise them roles, etc. teenage male athletes being pressured into doing things they don't want to yet or maybe at all to prove they're men, queer athletes being forced to hide who they are or repress it entirely.

would it be a little bit odd to find RPF of yourself? yes. I won't lie, I would judge the characterisation. I already do judge that on the frankly very weird things people write about me. you have never seen RPF as strange as the narratives people will make up about you in the comments of an article about hydrogen and frankly those scare me a lot more than whether someone thinks I'd be assigned beta or whatever.

stumbling across something, rather than having explicit sexual fantasies forced into your face, especially on what's your own social media pages where people you know in real life can see them, is very different though. some people who engage with RPF cross lines, whether that's weird conspiracy stuff about girlfriends being faked or stalking people's friends accounts etc.

RPF doesn't inherently cross lines, even when it's public; there's a very interesting interview here with Jann Mardenborough and the guy who plays him in the Gran Turismo movie about, among other things, portraying a fatal crash he was involved in. clearly, Jann is not only aware of but is the executive producer of what's ultimately fiction about himself and there's an ownership there, of course. but some parts of the movie are made up, for sure.

obviously I'm like, the not-very-secret infiltrator here because clearly I am On Tumblr and know what AO3 is. I follow a bunch of people who write fanfic because they also make nice gifs of my favourite blorbos and I like to think we can all make peace with our own boundaries about that kinda thing. also I read every single Shane/Ryan fic in like 5 weeks and honestly, not going to apologise except to myself for persisting with a few that didn't pay off.

but like: you do not have to make RPF or any fandom activity unethical. the way you conduct yourself does that and some people step way out of line.

[davekat-sucks]

Alright DK-sucks, strap in tight because I’m about to start backing up a trash truck of opinions on your blog. I owe you an apology, and possibly a dollar or two for this, but here goes.

People who’ve got a weird obsession with having some sort of moral high-ground for EXCLUSIVELY shipping queer ships (to the point where they have to butcher the source material so they can have a typically het ship be.. not het) are really odd to me.

Why does it matter? Can you not just appreciate them as they are? I get headcannons and everything, but if it’s to the point where you HAVE to headcanon (I.e,) the guy as non-binary so that he can date the girl without it being ‘a bland boring heterosexual relationship’ so you can feel secure and not invalidated on your OWN sexuality .. eughhhh that’s real icky!! Maybe that’s to do with you?

Apply this to Arasol, for instance, a ship that I really like!! Honestly in any variation to be perfectly honest, but I see so much.. SO MUCH Tfem Sollux/Aradia and I just.. where did you pull that from? Sollux seems pretty Male/typically masculine to me, but I just don’t get why people see that.

Unless

A lot of you are projecting. BAD.

So. For this morals in fiction blab i raise you June Egbert. There’s no basis in canon for her. She’s a Toblerone wish, sure! Great! She’s not a canon basis? She’s secondary to John? You know, THE MAIN CHARACTER?

People acting like June is the Only Correct Interpretation of John as if she’s not only unplanned, a huge story shift, maybe an 8th canon, and NOT the intent behind the MC. If the only reason for her to be canon is so the large mass of trans people in the HS fandom feel validated, then we’ve really gone to shit. Invalidating the VERY CANON MC because you want rep? Jeez man. I’ve been in the fandom for about 2 months and while I do love June, I really really hate having to act like she is the canon MC. I love John I really do. What did they do to you my dude <\3

Anyway, moral of the story, if you have to shift an character’s canon gender/sexuality and force it onto others to feel safe in your own skin, maybe that’s got a fair bit more to do with you than you think!

This essay was a mess, but god I hope some of y’all get the point. Thank you and goodnight . ⭐️

Very well said, Anon. I love it.