#it wasn't a great event overall honestly

[wild-at-mind]

Had a really weird weekend and now I am ill which always makes me depressed so if any depressed posts happen later I apologise in advance.

[ventique18]

Can we all appreciate how well this event did Trey? He was so damn cool the entire time. Like, seriously seriously. 101% amazing. He really had Vil and Azul, two housewardens, participating in his playbook and entrusting the decision-making to him. He managed to get NRC, the school whose students would rather die than cooperate, fight together like a well-oiled machine.

If the dorms weren't so weird as to strictly embody the seven's spirit in everything they do, I'd dare say Trey is overall more fitting to be their dorm's leader. I know he doesn't want to and would rather stay as low-key as he could possibly be, but damn does he have the natural talent for it. Even as a vicewarden, in a way he's some sort of shadow leader because Riddle listens and unconsciously follows whatever he says.

Honestly, I think it would be great if Riddle could earnestly learn from Trey. While Riddle's form of leadership is hitting his followers until they're bleeding, Trey lets them fuck up and learn from their mistakes, like what he did in his Dorm Uniform vignette. While it's true that the spirit of Heartslabyul is strictly following a rule to the letter and there's no one who embodies that more than Riddle, their dorm would function so much better if the warden wasn't so feared by his own men.

Anyway Trey doesn't want to be a leader and would rather quietly support from the background, while Riddle likes to charge headfirst and get things over with, so I guess it works for them?

At the end of the day though, all that matters is both Riddle and Trey got a seal of approval from the king himself. 😌💅

[kimbap-r0ll]

Could I request Jamil, Malleus and Leona seeing their girlfriend dressed in a gown for a ball?

This is kinda cute, thank you for the ask!

Jamil, Malleus, Leona seeing their gf in a gown for a ball

Jamil

He didn't like fancy occasions that much as he enjoyed more casual dancing, but he knew you wanted to go with him so he decided to go. He knew you were going to be wearing something fancy but he didn't think he would almost drop his drink after seeing you haha

You were absolutely glowing! He almost didn't recognize you if it wasn't for the warm smile you gave him when you saw him amongst the crowd. He was definitely blushing, but he was also surprised. It might take you a bit to get him to snap out of the little daze he had

"Y-you look, um, you look great, amazing actually," he stuttered when you asked him how you looked. He can barely hold eye contact, he's just a bit shy and honestly doesn't know what to do. Sure, he's had moments where he's been flustered, but now it seems like it's five times worse than when you asked him to help you with a dance routine.

He eventually calms down (a bit, he's still shaky when you to dance haha) and has a good time. He tells you he doesn't like how form-fitting the clothes are on him, but says that you look great. He's usually a bit strict but this time it seems like he's less put together than usual because he's so nervous

Overall, I think he would say yes if you were to invite him to a ball next time. He loves seeing you in the dress, but he also really likes you wearing anything you're comfortable with. He'll be thinking about you two waltzing for weeks haha

Malleus

Unlike Jamil, he's more of a silent surprised. He doesn't almost drop his drink but he definitely stands there quietly with his mouth open slightly. He was the one that invited you to a ball hosted by his grandmother

He's able to be suave when you ask him about the dress and he has no issues talking to you. Though you're sure his cheeks are slightly dusted with pink, you won't hear much of a waver in his voice. He's just so happy to be with you, and with the way he's smiling through the entire event I'm sure everyone at the ball noticed he really likes you

"The dress is wonderful, but you're even more beautiful," he takes your hand and leads you to the center of the ballroom. Soon enough, you two would be the ones leading the event. If you ever feel nervous about the whole occasion though, he'll do his best to calm your nerves. He's super soothing, honestly I feel like dancing with him would be a way you calm down (unless you're flustered then I'm with you on that haha)

When you're chatting with other people, I feel like he'll always be next to you (he just likes being around you all the time). He never seems to take his eyes off of you either, it's something Lilia will tease him lightly for.

Similar to Jamil, Malleus would want you to go with him to another fancy occasion if it were to happen. He really loved the way you looked that night, though he always thought you were pretty. He probably talks nonstop about you to other Diasomnia students if they bring the ball up, which is honestly adorable but for some students it can seem tiring haha

Leona

He hates fancy occasions, he honestly wanted you to say no when he asked if you wanted to go over to his kingdom for a ball he had to attend. Then you said yes, and here he is with form-fitting clothes and honestly a heart that's beating pretty quickly. He doesn't get nervous about dancing, but for some reason he's worried that you won't like the way he looks or he's just too curious to see you in a ballgown

Then you came into view, everyone seemed to look in your direction. He probably didn't recognize you at first but when his brother called out to you and welcomed you into the event, Leona was like "wait, that's her?" He knew you would look good in a fancy dress but omg he wasn't expecting to be blown away haha

When you ask him how you look, expect him to be silent for a few seconds. He's just staring at you, wide eyed and you can tell he likes how the dress is on you but he has no idea how to put it into words. He's just so nervous now, and so he just stutters a quick "Y-yeah you look good."

He's able to keep a good posture and an air of regality when you two dance or go to different guests to chat with, but overall you two might get tired of the ballroom and leave for the gardens. That's probably where he tells you he really thinks you're beautiful, and that he's lucky to have you with him. He never really talks in a sappy or emotional way, but from time to time it happens, honestly it's a little cute

He doesn't know if he wants to invite you to another ball just because he hates them, but if it means seeing you in a dress like that he might bring it up. Whenever he thinks about you in general though, you might catch a small smile on his lips. If he notices he might ask in a grumpy voice why you're staring (he's just a tsundere)

[missycolorful]

I'm on the fence about a lot of the "glass child" discussion because where I agree with some points that are made and enjoy the in depth analysis, I've come to severely disagree with others. Mostly because the internet is the internet, and the nuanced discussion has lost that nuance.

The reason this whole thing blew up (though it's been a concern for a while, certainly) was when Phil explained why he felt he needed to save Tallulah first before Chayanne. And you could tell Philza was trending cautious waters with his wording - he never wanted to say "oh, Chayanne's a chad, he'll get over it." With his wording, he recognized that neither were necessarily fine, but he still felt it necessary to prioritize one over the other because of one of his kid's big issues: Tallulah has abandonment issues. Maybe they're not as bad now since the "official adoption," but it certainly shouldn't be disregarded. But Phil remembers how much Tallulah hates being left alone, and wanted to make sure she wasn't in that situation long. Phil knew at the of the day, that Chayanne had no severe abandonment issues (that we are aware of), hence him saying he'd be okay "a bit longer." The prioritization is still there, and the Death family still has much to talk about, but the fandom's reactions felt a bit too... harsh, a bit too severe. They'd make it sound like Phil didn't consider Chayanne's feelings at all or that he thought Chayanne was totally going to be 100% okay with being alone forever and ever. When there's more to it than that, and ultimately, Phil was stuck making a decision in a lose-lose situation, and he knew that.

But a lot of people seem to focus solely on this moment, and let it epitomize the entirety of the Death Family's relationship and struggles. When, if anything, there's additional moments from yesterday's stream alone that I think show some slow growth in Philza's parenting when it comes to him being overprotective of Tallulah and him expecting a protector/warrior out of Chayanne.

Because if Phil really thought Chayanne was a ruthless warrior who can handle anything and be fine and get over it, he'd have let Chayanne immediately join them in their journey of saving Richarlyson. Like "If we've got Chayanne with us, nothing can hold us back" or something. But he didn't. He wanted both of his children to stay back, to stay safe. But his kids insisted on joining, even if just for emotional support. And if Phil really was completely stuck in his old ways, he'd say the old "Chayanne protect your sister" when the mobs starting showing up, or hell, even before that. But that never once happens. Both of his kids fight, and he trusted that they could both handle themselves since they insisted on coming along, though you can see him check on both of his kids once or twice during the fight. If this becomes a persistent thing, it shows great growth in Phil's character when it comes to being overprotective of his daughter and having his son prioritize her safety above all else. It's become more of "keep an eye on each other," which is definitely the preferrable kind of thinking!

And again, I emphasize that singular moments should not be the sole focus of these discussion. Rather, the overall actions throughout should be talked about. And honestly, Phil made sure that a lot of his focus was divided between both of his children throughout yesterday. When Chayanne decided to stay behind while the others went to the beach event to keep an eye on an AFK Tubbo, Phil decided to "hang about with you, kid, it's alright," even when Tallulah was long gone. Like, he wasn't going to let his kid sit alone like that waiting! Or when he got the llama plushie during the treasure hunt, I'd honestly have expected him to immediately give it to Tallulah because animals=Tallulah, I guess. But he asked them both which of them would have liked it more, a genuine attempt to make sure neither felt left out in receiving the gift. Yes, these, too, are small moments, but if we wanna have a discussion about these relationships, all these moments should at least be considered, not just the negatives.

And to me, the kind of consensus to make in these scenarios is that the situation at hand is... complicated. Like, Phil's parenting is flawed, I'd be a fool to say otherwise. All parenting is inherently flawed, that's basic psychology or... just how humans work. However, through his faults, he tries everything he is able to to do best by these kids. So, with all these moments and more, it never sat right with me to say Phil neglects Chayanne. I can almost see the case for "emotional neglect" a bit more, but even then, I find some fault in that thinking. Yes, qPhil is neurodivergent af, so he doesn't get emotional context clues and needs these discussion to be upfront in his face (which I already went into depth here regarding the relationship these two have). Put simply, any "emotional neglect" Chayanne feels isn't necessarily from Phil prioritizing Tallulah, but more so where Tallulah is more open with her feelings which makes it easier for Phil to talk to her about them, Chayanne has rarely ever been someone who opens up about feelings, and when you couple that with Phil's lack of emotional intelligence, these issues clash. However, it's important to note that a while ago, Chayanne had an open dialogue with Philza about Tubbo's death and how it affected him, and Phil was responsive to it. It'd be one thing if he told Chay to get over it, but no, he was very honest and kind to Chayanne during their talk. And afterward, Phil suggested for Chayanne that, if he ever needs to talk, to have them sit at the pier outside of their house. He extended an offering to Chayanne for emotional discussions. It was a great way for both of these people who are terrible at talking about their emotions to come together and talk. It highlights how Phil is very much okay with talking to Chayanne on an emotional level, and he has, and he will continue to be. They're just... both bad at it, sadly.

Finally, I think it's important to clarify what a glass child actually is, and if it fits the current narrative. A glass child is a child who is overlooked when their sibling is facing some sort of disability that makes the parent give the sibling their full attention, and often has the glass child help out a lot. Initially, Tallulah very much needed extra care due to her "asthma" and the fact she wasn't a great fighter who could protect herself. Hence why Phil and Chayanne were so overprotective of her and put a lot of focus on her. And for the longest time, Chayanne was okay with it, because she needed that help to survive on this hellish island. It's just that over time, things changed. These characters changed.

So it's not really like that for Tallulah now, is it? Her asthma is no longer as bad (it still happens, though!), and she's gained a lot of fighting experience over time. She can hold her own in a fight. And Phil no longer keeps that much of a paranoid eye on her; i.e. again, yesterday's stream where, even when they were fighting end monsters, he never shouted for her to get away or for Chayanne to protect her. In the early days, if Tallulah was even allowed to join, he'd have her stand back and ask Chayanne to keep an eye on her. But that doesn't happen here.

So nowadays? No, I don't think Chayanne could be considered a glass child. Because those disabilities aren't as much of a hindrance for Tallulah as they used to, and Phil isn't as paranoid about them as before. I think the effects are still there, in a way, but it doesn't fit where the characters currently stand. Ultimately, I think there are several reasons as to why things are as they are even if Chayanne may not be a glass child in the present. The big one being that Phil's not entirely adapted to the changes his children have gone through.

Especially after Purgatory, his children have gone through a lot and changed in the process; Tallulah became more independent, and Chayanne kind of being tired of being a warrior and needing more emotional support. And since he wasn't there to witness that change and only saw the aftermath, I think it's a struggle for him to come to terms with them. However, that doesn't mean he's entirely set in old ways. He's trained Tallulah on PVP, and again, he's allowed her to participate in fights without being super worried. And as I mentioned, he has extended a branch for Chayanne to be more open with his feelings. These are just starts, certainly, but it means that Phil is open to adapting and helping both of his kids in any way they need. He just has to figure out what they need.

And let me be clear: I'm not disregarding the flaws in q!Phil's parenting. They exist, and Chayanne really needs to have an open discussion about how his emotional needs haven't quite been met as of recent, and Phil needs to be more open to have emotional discussions with Chayanne, even if to them, that's like pulling teeth. There's changes and improvements that need to be made. However, in talking about the negatives, it just seems like people think that's all there is. No, these flaws in Phil's parenting doesn't make him a bad parent. Because there are plenty of positives, plenty of decent growth here. There's love and respect and everything in this family. q!Phil is genuinely doing his best in a very difficult scenario: living on an island that is set on killing the eggs, and being a parent of two while basically being a single parent all while struggling with your own traumas. that's going to come with obstacles, it's inevitable, but what's also inevitable is how this family will work through them, and come out of this better than before.

[fyeaheddiemunson]

My opinions on Gladiator 2 that no one asked for under the cut. Heavy spoilers.

But first, and most important take away from the film:

ALL HAIL DONDUS

Firstly, I thought it was an overall good movie. Fun and entertaining. I haven't watched the first one in years and years, really isn't my cup of tea.

The CGI is absolutely horrific. It isn't Scorpion King bad, but it's truly awful. I am a huge baby when it comes to animals being hurt in tv/films...even though I know it isn't real, I still close my eyes and cover my ears. But the CGI monkeys were so bad I didn't care.

The shark scene was fun, but in all reality kind if stupid. Like...how? Why? The naval battle, ok...but who transported the sharks? Again, why?

Paul Mescal was great, as expected. A little dull, but the hero archetype is also not my cup of tea. Dude got in great shape, it was obvious how strenuous the fight scenes were.

Denzel, amazing as always. Except a lot of his mannerisms seemed very modern. Like he transported back in time. I did enjoy his little schemes.

I love Pedro Pascal. I love him. But his character was an absolute snooze fest. He just seemed bland. I didn't even care about his end, he was just meh. I was surprised by his lack of screen time.

The editing was strange and rushed. I heard the original full cut is 4+ hours. I feel like the movie could have extended in length to add to the story because it felt choppy and empty at times.

Connie Neilson is a great actress. But again she was bland and boring. I couldn't care for her character at all. She, Denzel and Paul took up about 95% of the entire film.

Now the emperors. Loved them. But honestly, the teasers showed most of their screen time. Literally. I was expecting a lot more diabolical events to happen. But aside from Caracella being a violence fiend, Geta seemed rather "normal" for the times.

Caracella seemed more of a charismatic drunk, like Aegon from House of the Dragon. Then you find out later, much later, he has syphilis or something of the sort.

They mentioned the evil emperors and the downfall of Rome almost nonstop but you see nothing. There isn't even a full conversation between Caracella and Geta.

Geta's death was pretty cool, expected since Joseph likes to die on screen. But that severed hear. Bruh. You tell me they had this massive budget, and they used what looks like a latex mask bought from Spirit Halloween? It didn't remotely have Geta's features... at all. And THEY KEPT SHOWING IT. I know there's a ton of amazing special effects artists out there...they were robbed because someone else deserved to make that head. It was absurd. I am mad.

Now as much as I love Joseph, as much as I would love to see him win an Oscar for best supporting actor...this isn't the role that will get him that. He just wasn't in the movie enough to REALLY show what he can do. Tyr scenes he's in, he killed it. But I think it was like 12 minutes TOPS that he was in it.

Overall it was okay. I'll see it again, maybe it'll grow on me. But...meh

[notyoureve]

Well, what can I say about my feelings after LiS:DE...

First of all... I still believe in the Chaseprice supremacy, yay!!! Even tho I didn't get the same impression of flirting in their conversation in the comments as the others😅 But at least they talked! My faves since 1st game! What a blessing to a shipper!

2) Thanks for the Caulscott content — not in the ways we as the MxN shippers could ever expect, but still🤣🤝 I just knew one of the D9 crew is one of us since that little background scene in BTS — what can I say, hinting twice (if not thrice) is almost canon to me🤪😁🤭

3) Vinh, freaking, Lang... The moment I saw Vinh in the sneak-peak before the release I predicted him to be the male love interest😜 I'm so grateful I was right — their progressing relationship was so beautiful... Even though their kiss was shorter than the kiss with Amanda, but damn... butterflies in my stomach were enough to say it was one of the most romantic scenes in the whole franchise. And the way he didn't want her to leave? Oh, my man, she has a way with leaving her almost boyfriends after kisses😭 And how happy he is after the game events when he finally sees her? And their hug? I'll never recover... I also believe in the DE Langfield supremacy, their interactions were absolutely one of the best parts of the game for me!!!

4) The pretty barista I didn't expect to love❤ I liked Amanda somehow, but I don't see her with Max at all... I'll say a very controversial thing, but the girl deserves so much better than Max😃 I would rather ship Ms Thomas with Ms Chen, and yet — they have some very nice scenes together. But even as a die-hard Caulscott shipper I'll say that Pricefield>>>Caulmas, especially after the way D9 just pushed the romance with her from the very first scene... The pushing was so cringy that I literally thought I would never like Amanda🤔 But here we are! She is fun and I love her, so she's my girlfriend, not Max's, okay?

5) Safi and Moses!!! Ooh, I loved them so much💔 Didn't like what they did to Safi by the end of the game, but she's a very great character besides all the other shit. And Moses is simply one of the best characters in the franchise, beat me. And his friendship with Safi is sooo dear to me🥺 Tbh, I expected much more from his role in the game and I believed at some point that he was helplessly in love with Safi. Not sure if this is for the best it turned out absolutely differently... And IMO Max x Safi/Max x Moses still have a better chemistry (even as a friends) than she and Amanda romantically😅 But there were definitely some sparks with Safield, yeaaah (it's very funny btw that it's the only sounding acceptable name of their ship, lmao)

6) The plot... What plot? Was it there? I missed it? Ah, it was so little and hasty it didn't deserve to become a BIG game... And yet! The game was much better in some ways I didn't expect, and so much worse at the same time((( There were some great ideas I truly liked, because they resonate with some of mine, but all the same they were ruined by some plotholes and inconsistencies — ooh, disappointment is strong here. But overall I liked the game! The music — one of the best parts of the finished product indeed🔥 The narrative was very lazy in the start and too rushed in the end, and it was the main reason what ruined the full experience to me😟 As for the characters... Well, most of them were cool, but there are so few of them comparing to the previous games. I honestly expected more of them, or at least more interactions with them... But let's end here!) Even if the plot wasn't perfect, there were plenty of moments I truly enjoyed.

7) The whole Chloe thing. I didn't expect much from the start (and I mean announcement), but was quite surprised we didn't saw her in the game besides photos. Breakup wasn't unexpected for me, but I suppose I can understand the feelings of the die-hard MxC fans. I won't say that I'm fully on their side, but still I understand what it's like🙏 And btw I had no problem with revoicing her by Rhianna since announcement, but... um... Something went strongly wrong — I absolutely fell in love with her work in BtS, and was absolutely shocked with what I've heard in DE🤯 She doesn't even sounds like herself((( What they did with her..? And why did she sound so emotionless? It was the only disappointing thing with Chloe for me. But perhaps there was some reason, if some theories will turn out to be true, who knows... But her haunting the narrative in the start and in the end was delightful in some ways, I won't lie.

8) The whole NOTMYMAX thing. Well, I can agree with some statments, but I do not see anything contradictory in her actions or her design. Even if it's Max-fkn-Caulfield, it doesn't make her less human and does not forbid her to grow and change, and especially doesn't forbid to become more serious and pathetic at the same time😃😆 Aaaand... Jesus Christ, Hannah Telle gave a simply outstanding performance — I missed her so much💔💔💔 Her returning to Max is also one of the best parts of the game and it's so heart-warming that her voice hasn't change at all🥺 And in the end: the bisexual queen returned — Max still is so Max it made me involuntarily smile throughout the game)))

I can endlessly speak of everything I think about the game, but there's so much to say I won't say no more at all😆😆 But all cringe and weak plotlines aside, some sides of DE were really great to explore! And since I'm more of an optimist, I will not rate the game just to not upset myself🤣

[moominmanoneandonly]

Soo some time ago i started writing my first ever fanfic. It's an Transformers au, basically the retelling of how Orion and Megatron meet focused on gladiator lifestyle + all that class diffrence and Cybertron drama with some Megasound love. Haven't touched it in a while but I believe it's not a lost couse yet.

That said english is not my first language and I have Dyslexia so forgive me for all mistakes that I know are there and any type of opinion about the work would be both a great help and big motivation to continue it.

Ships: Megop, Megasound, KOBD, BulkJack, Dratchet, Megastar(but not really)

Warnings: sugestive topics, mentions of prostitution, very bad fights descriptions,

Title in works

Celling lights were flickering once again. Technically they should've been fixed by staff some time ago but no one really cared about better quality of living or honestly anything concerning gladiators in the Pits that didn't involved fighting.

Megatronus wasn't exactly bothered by a such small think like flickering lights, however he did belive that one day they're gonna give him a seizure.. not today trought.

With a loud clank bigger mech get up from his berth trying to mentally prepere for the upcoming cycle. From what he remembered he only had one big fight today, some meanigless browl with a "Kalis Champion" that was supose to "finally break his wining streak."

Megatron seen recordings of the bot fighting before so he could tell that it was just another marketing attempt and not an actual challenge, he will be able to deal with that scrap easily.. of course making sure that the audience is entertained.

The thing that actually bothered him was what's gonna happend right after the fight. The arena workers were going crazy for last few chords, non stop beeping about upcoming gala that was going to happen on this day. He heard them talking about some big names showing up, even something about "Prince of Vos" if gladiator's memory was right.

Technically those events were supose to be good, they gave a chance to taste some better quality energon and assured a free day right after, since all superiors would be to out of it to care about organizing fights.

But then comes the bad part. The "quality time with sponsors" as his superiors liked to call it. Megatron was honestly quite lucky since his frame was pretty big and his overall build not that arousing to the most of cybertonian sociaty, he rarely get more that one client at those types of events. Soundwave for example had it far worse, with his smaller frame and considerably attractive features. Which was exactly why Megatron made sure to send his dear friend to emergency room just last cycle.

It sounds brutal for an outsider but considering that basically none of his matches tended to stay alive it was obliviously a staged gesture. That said it still did quite some damage to his companians body for those he promised himself to get as much high value emergon as he can today to give his poor friend, maybe also steal some spare parts for cassetes if he's lucky.

For some reason Soundwave seemed to get more and more iritated lately anytime Megatron went to those events without him. He even witnessed him sulking at some point which gladiator didn't even know the cassete player was capable off.

Yeah he really needs to repay Soundwave for all that time in recovery room.

- - -

Walking trought the many corridors of Keons arena he tried to plan his cycle accordingly, he still need to train in the morning otherwise Tarn will get his ass and that mech did not had ANY prefrences in terms of size or build, so yeah he is not letting his "not yet violated by Tarn" achivement disapear today. Otherwise till the fight he still had some free time, maybe he could write down some of the poems or get to finish that data-pad that he stole the last time there was a gala.

After the fight he would have to go to Knockout to make sure he "look his best for the party". Those visits really were something. Mainly tiresome but sometimes it was genuinly funny to see the red mech lose his mind over all those ways he tried to make Megatron apealing, he would said stuff like "I swear to Primus if you wear those black heels again I'm going to cut off your pedes!" and stuff like that.

It was quite exhousting lot of the time but i was also suprisingly educating the rest.

Somehow Knockout with his limited medical knowledge and beautifying talent was able to offer a better information sources than even Soundwave himself. The amount of gossip coming out of the race car could fill in an entire archive on it's one. Sure only 10% of it was usefull but with that amount of given informations it was still a lot.

"Maybe he will know something about the politics this time," Megatron trought.

The last few visits at the salon he spend listening to Knockout ranting about some poor blue mech that he chose to be his future conjux altrought the bot is suposely in some comitted relationship.

Talking to the red race car about morality of his action was like trying to teach an insecticon how to read, those Megatron had to sit still for arks while medic was gushing over his moraly questionable crush.

Now he kinda prayed that the bots ended up together becouse otherwise he's probably going to shot himself today and his dream political carrer will end even before it properly started.

" Attention everybody todays main fights will start in 7 arcs, be prepered for the ring at least an arc beforehand!"

A loud screeching voice came out from the old speakers hanging from a nearby wall. "Perfect" trought Megatron "that's enought time for him to finish his workout read the old datapad and perhaps even mentaly preper for the night. Who knows maybe he will be lucky enough to not fit to any of the guest tastes." With a new hope for this cycle Megatron fully concentrated on his training, quietly counting tics until his next break.

....

Did Orion ever mentioned that he doesn't like gladiators fights? Becouse he really doesn't. They are messy, unnecessarly cruel and honestly world would be better without them in clarks modest opinion. That said Orion never actually seen one nor was ever intrested enought to learn about them.. until now.

For once in his life he really regretted his ignorance

Just last chord he find out that his favorite author was no one else but one of the gladiators from the Pit itself. What even more shocking, he didn't just write those amazing works that Orion had laying on his bearth and any free desk in his romm, but he publicaly talked about them in the middle of his fights.

"Megatronus" A name he first assumed was an peculiar aposthrope to the great Prime turned out to be a much more fitting stage name for a fighter. While the reason why the materials were so limited wasn't becouse of high demand but simple couse the works weren't oficially published.

"How could I not realise it earlier? I work in archives for Primus sake!"

Coming back to the present moment.

-NO, I'm not taking you to that gala!- Ratchet answered him once again while trying to read some important medical research.

-But Ratchet, You need to! This is a chance one in a million! - Orion tried to stand his ground while before mentioned research flew stright at his face.

-NO, I said it already! First Wheeljack and now you. I never espected any decency from that maniac, but from you Orion?! What in Primus name made you want to get involved with such a place. Those parties are a complete debouchery! In fact the only reason why I'm attending such a ridiculous event is becouse it was a demand from work. You shouldn't want to participate in such a thing.-Young doctor didn't at all hide his disgust when he was speaking about the gala.

-Ratchet, I'm telling you this is not about that, I do not care about the event i just.. want to see the person that wrote all those amazing poems and articles. You read them too right? These are works of a genius!!

- And how exactly are you even suppose to recognize them? You don't know how they look like. And most importantantly they're a gladiator!! There's little to no chance for them to even be there and if they will I don't think they be allowed to just talk politics with some random guest!- larger mech exclaimed.

Ratchet looked exhousted. He hasn't slept in a while thanks to one lovely bomber, the gala somehow was supose to waight 1/3 of his final grade and his conjunx was out on some unspecified expediction for Primus knows how long.

- You know what? Let it be, I allow you to go with me, on one condition! For the next 3 chords you leave me alone. No questions about reproduction of insectocons. No covering for your crazy ideas. And absolutely no mentions about this evening to anyone! Got it?!

-Thank you Ratchet!! I promise I won't bother you anymore. You're trully amazing.- Orion was ready to hug his friend if it wasn't for his clear discomfort.

-Why do I feel like this conditon won't keep for long- Ratched mumbled feeling defeated while the archivist celebrated his small victory.

-See you at 8. Do NOT be late! My job depends on it.

...

The stadium was full, there wasn't a single sit that wasn't taken by some fancy mech.

It wasn't completely unusual however Megatron had to admit that it never stoped impressing him in all those years he spend fighting. The idea that so many bots gathered to watch him felt sureal, kinda wished they gathered to hear his speches rather that watch him rip someone spark out but well you can't be picky in those type of situations.

"Dear Femms and Mechs we gathered here today to watch an exhilarating battle between two of Cybertron greatest Champions , Megatronus of Kaon and Victory of Kalis. Who of those two will earn the glory and fame and who will end up in pieces? Only time can tell! Remember it's the last chance to make your bets.~"

The crowd was going wild. Megatron in a meatime looked at the stadium trying to pinpoint any important faces to worry about in the near future.

One that for sure stud out was a red and black mech sitting in it's own loge(/lodge) . They had a small frame, cunning eyes that looked down on him in every possible meaning of the word and probably the most punchable face he has ever seen. They looked pathetic on their own but the amount of guards made them unable to ignore. Luckily this type of mechs rarely were a problem in terms of "sponsoring", always wanting to boost their ego by making sure they the strongest in the room they would always leave him alone, maybe talk some scrap about the greatness of slavery but that was it. That said just in case his flying friend, and to that regard anyone else in the audience might get any wrong ideas Megatron decided to give them his most gruesome and repulsive act. After all this is what they came to Keon for.

Finally after few kliks he was able to face his oponent plate to plate on the big arena of the pits.

As expected based on Megatron research his oponent wasn't anything impressive. His body was covered in all kinds of luxurious gadgets and accesories. Clearly a higher cast. Fighting for fame not survival, winning only becouse of better equipment not skills. That type of mech was what Megatron hated the most.

The moment the match started he made sure to immobilize one of his oponent servos by ripping it off with extreme precision. This type of attack was only possible when the opponent had his guard down does gladiator know he won't be able to redo it no matter how much he tried.

Obliviously the act made the shinier mech furious, rampaging stright at Megatron, almost crushing him in the process if it wasn't for his fast reflexes. Before he had a chance to prepere himself for a next move he was shot with a cannon between his servos.

It was good to know his opponent had at least a bit of combat knowledge, knowing where to shot to entertain the crowd.

Megatron quickly moved from his position avoiding another blow and louding his own cannon. With few moves he was once again helm to helm with the other gladiator, throwing a punch right into his face. ...

_____________________

The fight took quite some time. Mainly to satisfy the audience but also couse Megatron really wanted to ensure nobody in the crowd gets any stupid ideas. He made sure to make himself as unapealing as he can, getting his whole body dirty with energon and diffrent oils spilling out of the other mech while also showing of his big frame to remaind people he was a miner not some classy thing.

The rest of ch 1 doesn't exist

Ch. 2 aka Megasound crumbs

Their lodging was small a and cluttered, diffrent spare parts, garbage finds and data pads scaterred all around leaving little to no space to move. From actually functioning furniture there was a big berth, a boxing bag and a barely working fridge. It was really a lucky find.

-Yo Big M is back! We seen you on the bilboard! It was so cool!!-Rumble and Frienzy as always were runing around and cousing mayhem, destroying anything that they touch.

One of them tried to climb on the gladiator while the other were shaking Ravage awake so she can share their excitment.

-Calm down you two! I got you something- he handed them two cubes of energon.

-Just make sure to absorb all that energy somewhere alse, otherwise this room might not survive.- Two bots stopped listening to him the moment they seen the food but luckily they still know what to do, they greedily took the cubes and sprinted outside with the speed that would made profesional racers jealous.

Without twins the room felt much more spacious, walking trought it he also gave a cube each to Ravage and Laserbeak, petting them lightly as he passed them by.

In the berth laid the owner of the room himself, as always calm looking Soundwave. His wounds seemed to repair pretty well trought he clearly still couldn't move an arm. His smaller frame was curled while the blue mech hold one of the datapads.

He was mad. Megatron know the moment he came into the room. Soundwave might not be expressive but they know each other for so long that it didn't matter. When he was mad he would speak only when it's expected of him and his power field would radiate disatisfaction.

-Listen, I understand you're mad. Fair enough, I would be to if I got beaten like that, I know you wanted to go together this time but this is to much of a risk! - Soundwave was a trully special mech. Where Megatron was nothing more than a miner capable of withstanding bad sytuations, Soundwave was a "Carrier", a bot designed specifically to make and take care of sparklings.

Those type of mechs knew nothing about fighting, they shouldn't have to. Yet here they were. Some stupid high rank wanted a Carrier for his unrealistic sparklings expectations, didn't like the results those threw all of them out. Megatron wasn't really sure how Soundwave was able to survive before coming to Kaon, he don't think he wants to. That said the moment he showed up on the arena was something revolutionary.

Soundwave wasn't just a good fighter, he was a strategic genius! When they first meet the gladiator was starstruck. The carrier was the proof that Megatron needed, that the mechs can be more than what they were made for.

They get along well, trought it took some time to earn Soundwave trust. Only after that Megatron could meet the cassetes, one by one and he enjoyed spending time with all of them. It was something surreal. In a place such brutal and cold as Pits, to have a genuine good relations with other mechs.

The ability to actually have deep political conversation without the other mech looking at you with contempt or pity. Soundwave never judged him, but always had an intresting opinion that let him to improve his thesis. He would always inform him on any mistakes and inaccuracies he made and prized him for any small success. The Carrier especially loved his poetry, something Megatron never expected to be able to share. The blue mech would listen to him for hours and look at him as if the words he spoke were some kind of gospel and not some simple poems.

The only problem Soundwave had was that he was a little bit to.. carefull. He would never let Megatron work on his own acount, always making sure he knows everything that's going on. It was never really suffocating in fact Megatron feel some comfort in knowing someone got his back but for some reason it always got worse when it came to Galas.

The carrier would flip out even at the mention of those events. Gladiator fully understood his disgust especially considering his upbringing however what he did't understand was the fact that the blue mech didn't aply his worries to himself. The only worry he showed in those moments was towards Megatron. Illogical considering that the gray mech was handling it just fine, with little amount of customers and a sturdy build compared to the always cornered Carrier. ..

-We were supose to go together.- The monotone voice of his friend somehow still expressed more emotion than the loudest scream. - Megatron was supose to stay out of trouble. Megatron shouldn't have to dirty himself like that. - the gray mech could see his reflection in the visors of the other.

-I'm sorry.-gladiator wondered for a moment. -I know how stupid it was. You're the only person in here capable enought to stand next to me

That's all i got for now. If it doesnt make sense that's couse none of the scenes are in proper order. Please give opinions it means a lot to me.

[goron-king-darunia]

I wonder if you have a favorite Eg, Egg, and Eggy Eggtoberpost

Honestly, a style study of "Ed, Edd, n Eddy" for Eggtober would be interesting. (I did get your previous ask and am hanging onto it for ideas.) That said, if we're talking Eggtober from this year (2024) exclusively, I'd say anything by user @alkaline-noodles hit it out of the park. Their dedication and extremely photogenic egg dishes were really inspiring this year. There are still several beautifully photographed egg dishes that I want to immortalize in my own style. If it can be any year, user @cubicsoup did this amazing drawing of a raw egg in Eggtober 2022, and I still admire every bit of it! If we're talking overall, then anything by @quezify. As the Egg King and host of the event, Ruben just doesn't miss! Top of all time for me would be the Heart-Shaped Egg for World Egg Day. I just really enjoy how softly it's rendered. For this year only, it would probably be these fried eggs on green. Very classic and you can see that shift in style really exaggerating some of the choices that really make Ruben's style unique: that solid ring around the yolk, the rough pencil texture, and the organic shapes along with a common yellow and lavender contrast in the shading. The collection of some of their best eggs for this year's World Egg Day post are stellar though, and I love them a lot, but I'd never be able to pick just one of the bunch. The few egg on burger ones have been great too.

Some Honorable mentions from this year are users @arithetonberry and their squiggly eggs, @fivevotesdown and this gorgeous soft-boiled egg, @doradeluna's beautifully rendered, smeared over easy fried eggs, @kaehunterart's amazing rainbow-y fried egg in a very shiny pan, @quezify's redraw section from this year, @tiredyeehaw's crocheted egg throw blanket, and all of @nekko-took-egg-photos work this year, but especially this fried egg on noodles. We had lots of amazing participants this year. I wasn't able to finish all the art I wanted to in time this year, but I plan on finishing 31 egg arts this year. I just have a lot going on in real life and the world has been an ass this year. But I am trying to slot in art time when I can! As for favorites of my own, for this year it would have to be the bloody egg. Getting the hang of Krita has been a challenge, but it's nice to know I'm not tied to Clip Studio Paint to render art the way I want to. I think the bloody egg is the first freehand study I did this year on Krita where I've liked the end result and thought the process and result were a good analogue to working with the gouache brush on CSP as I had been doing in previous years. Favorite of all time is still probably Eggtober 11th of 2022. I started Eggtober in 2022 as a low-pressure way to get back into art after years of not being able to find time for it. I figured eggs were simple enough and I liked drawing them, so I might as well give it a go since I was trying to polish up my skills again for personal projects. The ramen piece for Eggtober 11, 2022 was the first piece where I really felt like I hit my stride and was able to put my ideas on paper more or less exactly how I wanted them. All art is a process of experimentation and discovery, but the way the noodles and mushrooms and egg and pork all came together in that piece just... really made me take a step back like "I'm not 100% where I want to be, and have a long way to go, but I finally remember what making art is supposed to feel like. I like this again." And I think my favorite for 2023 has to be the Pavlova. Another time where the process and product all felt smooth, like they came out how I wanted with minimal fuss, maximum learning, maximum flow state. I hope to keep seeing improvement in years to come. Eggtober has just been really great for keeping my artistic self-esteem up. Because even when I can't quite get the result I'm looking for, the community is supportive, and even when I struggle, at the end of the day, there is always egg. And Egg is pretty dang good, I think. 10/10 would recommend the chillest Drawtober challenge. 3 years strong! may this event persist for another 330 years at least!

[nian-7]

hey! i see ur reqs are open, may i req pjsk boys (separate) taking fem reader to prom? like obvs established relationship, but like them reacting to her dress, the actual experience itself, and all that fun stuff. if you have to, you can make it gn reader! have a good day :)

sure, this sounds super cute! enjoy!

Akito, Tsukasa, Toya, Rui x fem!reader

✧taking their gf (you!) to prom

✧fluff

-Honestly, he's only going because you asked him. He wasn't really all that interested in it and wasn't planning on asking you to go until you showed an interest in it.

-He tries his best to be gentlemanly and formal but you just end up laughing a little at his attempts. He kisses your hand when he picks you up at your house and would rather get there when you finish rather than waiting for you to finish getting ready.

-Akito holds your hand for 90% of the night. The only times he lets go is when you decide to go dance with your friends or are eating. He doesn't really want to leave your side just because he's not particularly a fan of this whole thing. He wants you to enjoy yourself though!

-Terrible slow dancer honestly. Even though it's at such a slower pace than what he normally does, he can't help but mess up. He's a bit nervous and so he's almost stepped on your foot more than once.

-The most you'll get out of him for a compliment is "Nice dress." or "I like your makeup/hair". He's trying to save himself from the embarrassment of having thought how pretty you are and how much it's made him feel all fuzzy inside.

-It's such a blast with Tsukasa. You both have so much fun. Whenever a popular song comes on, he'll take you to dance with him to it. Genuinely you both have the best time and it's an overall super fun experience.

-He talks to your parents while you finish getting ready and you're honestly not sure if you should feel embarrassed or happy that they get along but you can't help but over hear your parents saying something embarrassing about you..

-Both him and Saki went with you to pick out your dress and his suit for the night. Even though you can't say that they were much help because each one you tried on, you got lots of compliments and encouragement from the two. It ended up being a hard decision since Tsukasa agreed on liking nearly every single one.

-Matches his tie with whatever color dress you've picked. He takes so many pictures of the two of you as well. A lot of them are just silly ones but there's a few actual ones sprinkled in.

-He would like to take you out to dinner before the actual dance starts. It's a bit more special when it's just the two of you together at a restaurant rather than sitting with a bunch of other people at prom to eat dinner.

-He's such a gentleman. He meets you at your house before you both go and sits patiently while you finish getting ready. He is in no hurry at all and honestly, he'd be lying if he said he wasn't nervous about the whole experience.

-100% matched his suit with your dress. He would like the dress itself to be a surprise but he also wanted to match with you so you both had to decide on a color to go with. Toya is truly okay with whatever colors you pick but, he'd likely go for a blue and black color scheme.

-At a loss for words when you come out of your room when you've finished. All he can do is clear his throat once he feels like he's stared too long and made it awkward. He's never been to such a formal event before so it's a first for him seeing you in such a formal outfit.

-Toya will slow dance with you when the right song comes on. He's surprisingly good at it and it makes you think he practiced before that night (he probably did..). A bit hesitant with his hands but he'll ease up and rest them on your lower back.

-He's the perfect date for prom in all. He makes it such a great experience for you without even trying. Toya just has a great time because you're there, he doesn't particularly care about the music or the food or anything as much as he does for you that night.

-Again, Rui wouldn't really be all that big on prom or very interested in it unless you showed an interest. He'll ask you to prom only if you show that you are interested in it.

-He took a picture of the two of you at prom and then you noticed later in the night that he actually had made it his lockscreen. He thought it was a good picture so he just decided to make it his lockscreen for his phone!

-Super chill about the whole thing. Yes, he's having fun with you, he just doesn't particularly have an interest in most of the activities. He'll follow you around, dancing with you if you ask him to or participate in any of the activities they have.

-He sure as hell flustered you quite a few times during the night. Whether it be with a kiss or his words, he truly did it unintentionally the first few times!

-Rui doesn't mind if you want to go hang out with your friends for a bit during prom, he'll wander till he finds Nene or Tsukasa (if they're even there) and chat with them till you come and find him again.

please do not repost any of my work without my permission, thank you for reading.

[ilovetheriddler]

Hey 😄,

I saw your little Halloween request post and saw that you have Nick Valentine on the table.

If it's not chosen, yet, Nick with the decoration prompt? His agency could need some decorations.

Yay! A Nick request! I hope that you enjoy it!

Halloween Fic Event.

Decorating Disaster.

(Nick Valentine x F!Reader.)

Contents: Decorating, Fluff, Kisses.

"Nick, come on... just let me hang a few of these up! It would brighten up your agency so much!"

He glanced up from his case files and chuckled at your insistence. He always found how stubborn you could be to be very endearing.

"I'm honestly kind of curious about how you even found anything like that in the wasteland. You'd think it would have decomposed by now.."

"I know, right? They're such a neat find!"

You stood up on his desk, earning a slight huff of minor frustration from your beloved synth detective. You carefully hung up the few strands of ghost covered garlands that you managed to find, and once you were done, you felt like it looked quite nice!

"I'll admit Doll. It does add a festive touch."

"See? I told you it would look great!"

He looks around for a moment before getting an idea, standing up and searching through some old boxes in the corner, finding several old candles.

"Think these would work as well?"

"Oh, Nick! Those are perfect!"

You lightly kissed his metallic lips before eagerly taking the candles from him, placing them about the agency to add a bit more to the overall decor. He watched you as you decorated to your hearts content with whatever you could find. It was sweet how much you wanted to brighten up the place and even sweeter how much you clearly cared about him. He sometimes couldn't understand why you wanted to be with an old synth like him out of everyone in Diamond city.... but he was glad that you were.

Once you were done, you walked over and sat down on his lap, throwing your arms around him and snuggling up against his tattered trench coat. You were always extremely affectionate towards him, and he loved it. He loved feeling wanted and appreciated so much.

You playfully kissed his lips again, lingering for just a bit longer, however when you tried to pull away he placed his hand on the back of your head and gently pushed you back in to reconnect with his lips, holding you there and doing this several times before he felt satisfied. He let out an amused chuckle as he watched you catch your breath, your face incredibly flustered. He ran the back of his hand against your cheek lightly.

"You know... i don't know what I'd do without you, Doll... you really do mean a lot to me, you know that, right?"

"Hehe... of course I do, you tell me every day!"

"... Well, i don't think that's enough to make sure you never forget, I should do it more often."

"Nick! Gosh... you're being too sweet and sappy tonight!"

He pulled you in close once again, but this time, to simply rest against his chest so that he could enjoy the feeling of having you close as he finished looking over these files he had. He was content with the life he currently had. He was able to help people, and he had you... there wasn't anything else he could really ask for.

[hananoami]

DATING SYLUS

Upon unlocking Sylus as a companion in [Long Awaited Revelry] 1-8 you'll soon be able to enjoy interactive dates with him via Playtime (Kitty Cards/Claw Machine) and Photo Studio (twinkle/glint photobooth and AR snapshot for the brave). I am going to assume there will be new achievements / moments / history moods to unlock and more ways to earn diamonds. I'll compile a list of those and share them with you all once I am able to confirm them for myself at a later time. Please look forward to it~

BY YOUR SIDE

There will also be new audio stories you can listen to at your leisure via By Your Side through Secret Times (which are unlocked through affinity levels) and Tender Moments (which are unlock by obtaining his 4-Star memories).

2 Tender Moment stories that are FREE to obtain in game through login rewards will be [Continuous Symphony] and [Wild Gaze]. If you purchase the battle pass Secret Promise or Heartfelt Vow you'll also obtained [No Way Out] after reaching a certain level -- afaik, and please correct me if I'm wrong, but historically this is the only way to obtain BP memories, as they will not be added into the Galaxy Explorer wish pool.

FALLING FOR YOU

You'll unlock new bonds and myth moments when you obtain any of his 5-Star memories! These are particularly special because these kindled memories provide you with a visual insight on his lore while also allowing you to interact with him in that time line. And thanks to our overlords at InFold the devs are giving us a FREE 5-star memory [Immobilized] during the Investigation Event.

Based on the other guys, Sylus should have five 5-star memories in the permanent banner, Xspace Echo. One we will be getting for free [Immobilized] through the event. Two are his solar myth pair [Captivating Lesson] and [Captivating Flavor]. The other two aren't known yet, but they will most likely be available for purchase on rotation through the Exchange shop for 180 stardust per memory.

Considering it is the middle of the month I'm not sure if they will add a memory into the rotation for July (I could be wrong but who knows). If not, they will 100% have a non myth 5-star memory available for purchase in August -- much like how the other guys 5-star memories are on a rotation cycle each month.

If that wasn't enough lore for you so far then I have great news! Anecdotes exist! If Sylus gets the same treatment as the other love interests then he should also have three anecdotes that are deeply tied to his lore. Reading those stories will reward you with diamonds after finishing everything so don't miss out on those!

Honestly, Sylus's character overall just checks all the marks for the aesthetics I love in a Dark Fantasy Villain CEO. I'm sure there is a lot more to him than meets the (red) eye.. ahaha see what I did there? Eye because of the red eye wanderer? we saw in an early chapter of the main story?! Anyway, all of his teaser clips for his moments were on point, so I have high expectations that I'm sure he will meet and then some more~!

[bouncybrain]

About Honkai: Star Rail versions 2.4 to 2.7

I haven't sat down to write about the gameplay experience for the last several versions, so I'm going to stuff it all in here. Likely will make zero sense unless you actually played through all Trailblaze Missions. Events will be ignored because I have enough opinions about the story and this is already going to be very long.

Disclaimer: Don't you say a single thing about so-and-such lore being expanded on in such-and-so video because if they wanted us to know that lore so badly, they should put it in their fucking game. I don't care that they do lore in videos, and I don't watch them, because I play the game to learn that, and they shouldn't rely on extraneous materials to explain their lore.

Disclaimer 2: I have passionate thoughts about this but I also have the memory of an 80s computer. I forget a lot, but I'm willing to expand if you want my opinion on something if you remind me of it!

2.4 & 2.5: Finest Duel Under the Pristine Blue & Flying Aureus Shot to Lupine Rue (The Xianzhou 3)

The Wardance was a great idea. I enjoyed that there was a little government intrigue in the middle of all this. And then Yunli and March became a focus and I lost all care for the story, because I despise March 7th on a fundamental level and Yunli is the absolute worst type of character to introduce while pairing her off with March. Yunli's story and character is unbelievably uninteresting and bland for all that she could have been a very interesting person, having come from a different Xianzhou compared to everyone we know, already.

"But Yunli is still young!" and I do not care. She irritated me every single moment she tried to one-up Yanqing for????????? Reasons, apparently! Even the fact that she was there purely to be a rival for Yanqing felt unnecessary and forced. There was no reason for her to be there beyond selling jade packs. Her design is clearly bait for terrible people who are willing to whale for any female character with her toes out. In fact, I hate that her design doesn't wear shoes, because she's supposed to be a fucking warrior. What kind of warrior goes off to fight and step on swords and dance around completely fucking barefoot?

Anyway. Her and March were the greatest deterrents to my enjoyment. Other than that is the fact that Hoyo can't trust their audience to put hints together unless they state it outright six thousand times before the reveal. This does not make it better than the out-of-nowhere reveals. In fact, I think I hate this more. There is no fun in hearing everyone go "ohhhhh she's sick, she's ill, she needs a cure" like three times in five minutes. What's the point in avoiding Feixiao's name if she's just going to pop up and completely ruin the mystery as soon as it's been established?

Feixiao's story was fine, honestly. It was okay. I wasn't blown away by it, or the implications, the lore was just passing. Everyone already said a lot about the war between Foxians and borisin (I completely forgot what they were called and had to look it up). Hell, Jiaoqiu's story, as a healer in the middle of the fight, getting captured and being among the borisin during the escape, was more in-depth over what the borisin are like as a people and society! There just wasn't enough time spent properly building up the history between Foxians and borisin, and Feixiao and borisin, and Jiaoqiu and Feixiao, and Jiaoqiu and borisin, and whatever the hell is going on with Moze.

The largest problem with the overall story update was that they took so long to get to the point that they forgot they needed to spend that time building up to the point.

They completely skip the Player and Dan Heng getting out of the Shackling Prison. They give use two lines of dialogue about Dan Heng's time in the prison. Dan Heng says like two things about it. That's it? Really? This guy spent a significant amount of time in the Shackling Prison, enough to clearly have emotions over going back to it, and we skip all of that just to get to...?

If they spent more time on building up the story and characters, then I wouldn't have as much of a problem with this. Instead they wanted to shove as much as possible into one update while hoping the pacing worked well enough. It didn't. We missed out on so many character moments because they wanted to get things moving too quickly with too many different ideas and storylines stuffed together.

I liked Jiaoqiu's sections, actually. They were a good exploration of his character, demonstrated who he is as a person well, and he isn't fundamentally annoying as hell. Then they went "oh yeah he's blind now lol" and my expectations crumbled, because Hoyo is not known for doing representation well (throwback to the kid who's had autism since he was little). I have no expectations for him if he ever returns in the future.

Why the fuck Moze here??????? Why he look like that??????? That is all, thank you.

"You didn't say anything about the main antagonist of this arc" well that's because he's kind of flat and typical. The only real novelty he brings to the table is his abilities and being a new boss. The borisin are all incredibly tropey, including the one we see speaking the most often (I called him Greasy). In fact, Greasy looked so much like a bad guy I almost started laughing out loud as soon as I saw him. He sounded evil, looked evil, and, surprise! He was evil. That's it. The borisin are little more than tropey bad guys. I liked the designs of the borisin, I did! But honestly that was it. As I said earlier, I totally forgot what they were called.

At the end of the day, this third Xianzhou story arc was actually boring and disappointing for all the great possibilities they gave to us. They dropped the ball on making an important return to the Xianzhou, which is actually very significant because this is the third time we've been to the Xianzhou for a story update. You want to make a story good enough people forget they've been back to this particular location for the nth time.

2.6 & 2.7: Annals of Pinecany's Mappou Age & A New Venture on the Eighth Dawn

I would have liked Paperfold better if Rappa wasn't a thing, honestly. They shoved her in like a circle block in a square hole; she was a bridge across the story happening in Paperfold, but she wasn't the best fit for a bridge for this type of story. I think part of my problem with Rappa's whole "I'm so totally this ninja and everyone else is going to follow along because I won't listen if you don't want to" shtick didn't sit well coming immediately after Yunli's "I'm so much better than you and I'm going to make you think so, too, so shut up because I'm the best and I'll prove it easily" shtick.

If Hoyo so desperately wanted to introduce another Galaxy Ranger with a proper motive for being involved and dragging Boothill back into the story, they could have done this a million different ways without resorting to the exact same forceful personality type they seem to be leaning a little too hard on, these days.

As it is, Rappa's complete disregard for everything and everyone while being forced to go along with her at every turn and being forced into a friendly relationship with her felt awful. They need to stop forcing the players into being friends with literally everyone. It's okay for players to not like all the characters they can pull for. It's okay for players to not want to be friends with everyone. If a player picks a "no" type option, let the player pick no. Unbelievable how often we're railroaded into saying yes even when we say no.

"But Rappa's whole worldview was warped under the experiments she went through!" so a noble ninja is justified in ignoring others' wishes to continue on their mission of... *checks notepad* chasing a guy that isn't even there?

There are too many forceful characters being introduced on top of March, who also bulldozes everyone for the sake of what she (the writing team) wants to do, and who we get stuck with constantly.

I think having more Galaxy Ranger and Boothill lore was nice, and I liked seeing the potential of a prestigious university in the Dreamscape, but... the monkeys are people thing was a little much.

This story quest had me literally sitting back and sighing and rolling my eyes up to the ceiling in supplication more than any other, so far. Rappa, her rapping, her ninja thing, and the painfully obvious cultlike spread of Slumbernana Monkey were ridiculously overdone. Repetition can be successful, but it can also completely ruin the pacing or flow of a story, particularly if it's a video game and you have to sit through 10-15 minute cutscenes or consecutive dialogue cutscenes.

We get to be alone with Dan Heng for a little while, this time, at least! Dan Heng finally gets to info dump on us without March asking if she's missing something! He even tells us about new species and a new enemy and--

Anyway!

Mr. Reca is, like, fine. He has potential and he wasn't really present for much of the story, so I think he'll be back around later and I really hope they do him better the next time around. There's a lot of ways Mr. Reca could go, or they can destroy all of that. Also I saw the edits on TikTok but it did not prepare me for Mr. Reca just suddenly appearing on his knees unprompted???

Dreamflux Reef was... okay? It wasn't the worst part of this, just really boring, honestly. We barely got any information about anyone that wasn't Boothill, so it was lacking.

The antagonist was boring. I didn't care, honestly. Negative care! Soylent Green thoughts aside, there wasn't all that much interesting about the evil plan after it's revealed Doctor Primitive has an MO and isn't even the big bad of the current story, because Doctor Primitive isn't even doing anything.

The Slumbernana Monkeys. The song got stuck in my head, of course, and I could have done without having it playing in the background of a cutscene considering we're supposed to be paying attention to something while it's happening. Being turned into a monkey wasn't what I expected, but we are literally in a dream, and it's not that odd in the grand scheme of things. Seeing so many of them is... also fine. The designs for the monkeys aren't terrible, so I didn't mind it much. Hearing all the "bana bana" shit was awful, though. No need to for that. Please.

I also timed my second and final session playing the Paperfold story. I played about 2 hours to reach the end of the story missions, and I spent 1 hour 40 minutes of that sitting there listening to people talk.

Hate that. Hate that so much. I'm playing a game, not watching a movie. "But it's a story--" don't care. Spending 20 minutes of a 2 hour play session is an abysmal distribution of time. This isn't a visual novel! There should be some gameplay!

Paperfold is a nice environment, though, I enjoyed it. Hoyo has a tendency to have One Large School in their games, though....

Which brings me to the newest update, so there will be spoilers for v2.7.

Because we are hanging out with Sunday and Tingyun/Fugue in this section. And that's it. Literally. The "crisis" we deal with here, the climax of this all, is Sunday confronting himself. Tingyun/Fugue's confrontation is the damage done to her by the Destruction, which I think is fascinating, but wasn't elaborated on enough for me to be satisfied.

An interesting idea brought up is that a "try not to laugh" challenge which requires the ingesting of a substance can split a mind into fractured personalities. This idea is then instantly dismissed and made insignificant and will never be used again, just like Sunday's tuning vision or whatever.

The splitting of one's self could have been used in even better ways, I think, considering Tingyun/Fugue was split up into so many different versions of herself. They dropped the ball having Sunday dealing with only one of them, as they apparently didn't think about tuning a person until stumbling on the Express crew and Tingyun/Fugue.

Conflict in this very short update was underwhelming, and we literally just fight Sunday again for the final boss fight of this section. There was no change in the boss fight from the original, outside of the dialogue spoken at the start.

This was clearly supposed to be one of the more emotionally-charged story missions, what with Sunday's "saying goodbyes" or whatever, because he goes through all that trouble... fucking off-screen.

NOTHING HAPPENED!!!!!!

Out of all the story chunks we get in little bits and pieces this is the worst so far! Why? Sunday's all going off on a final circuit of the Dreamscape and we see basically none of it. They cut out so much story and information when previously they've been practically giddy to shove us into different character POVs to explain the empty lore bits to us instead of letting us experience it as the Player Character. I would have loved to see him going around and making his peace with leaving before he gets shoved on us no matter what we say about it at the end, at least, because then we could have more about him. Instead we get basically nothing and a whole lot of dancing around saying goodbye and sorry to his sister when everyone except him knows she knows who he is, because his disguise is literal trash considering someone almost sees through it as soon as we're introduced to his storyline.

And Tingyun/Fugue has so much NOTHING in her storyline that I completely abandoned paying attention and left it to autoplay all the dialogue and cutscenes while I did anything else. Sure, yeah, we see Yukong again, and we get to see a tiny child Tingyun, but that doesn't make up for the absolute nothing-burger we're given in the story. Oh, look, Ruan Mei! Aaaaand we get almost nothing, still. Cool. Fine. Sure.

The fucking room event was more interesting than the entirety of this Penacony finale, and that's pathetic.

I'm also going to say not having to spend six hours playing is fine! I didn't mind that! But it's also too short for what they wanted to do, considering they stuffed Sunday and Tingyun/Fugue together, because ????? They hardly barely matter to each other, and there's no real reason to have the two of them coincide at all, actually, beyond the fact that if it was just Sunday I don't doubt we'd end up with just an hour of content at most.

The missing voicelines (I play story missions with English voices in order to allow me to do literally anything else when I get bored of watching cutscenes) was jarring and annoying, but they made it worse by not even bothering to move the characters' mouths. It's just the details that make things worse. (Yes I know there's a reason, yes I know they're allowed to strike, good on them, but they could... I don't know... animate the fucking characters' mouths?)

Thoughts on the Future

The quality of the story and its characters has been decreasing more and more as time goes on. Not the character designs, though I'd like it if we could have less fucking 1-inch inseam shorts on characters. Considering the next designs released, though, I'm in despair. At this rate, I'll be dropping HSR entirely at some point next year, because I can only take so much.

Even with a new location, path, and character set to become available, I don't have high hopes for the story, character moments, or any new mechanics they might be implementing for the location.

I never really talk about the puzzles and extraneous modes available in HSR, but that's because you can get through the game perfectly fine without them, if you want to. I barely ever do things like Simulated Universe because I just don't want to play the game any longer than I absolutely have to, anymore, and that's part of the problem. At this point, people are more interested in updates to these extraneous modes and events instead of story missions and character moments within them. Obviously there's a problem when your players would rather do literally anything other than the story you've been crafting for *checks calendar* three months? Weeks? Days? Fuck if I know, it's just not nearly enough time.

I stopped playing Genshin Impact because there was too much to catch up with--so much they literally give you the option to skip two regions--and too much grinding needed to keep up. With HSR, I'm pretty much settled into being able to at least mostly keep up since I've been playing for a while, but I just can't bring myself to sit through the story missions long enough to care.

It's boring.

I would be unsurprised if HSR implemented a similar skipping option eventually, too, because if you're implementing a massive skip to your apparently story-heavy game, you've done something terribly wrong.

[adobe-outdesign]

Could you review the Eyrie? They're one of my favorite Neopets.

(Note: I don't have any Pokemon review requests right now, so I'm doing one extra Neopet review to backlog through those a bit.)

I always thought Eyries were really nice-looking pets. They're basically griffins, but with these really distinct owl-like feathery "ears" on their head that have edge markings dividing the front from the side. It gives them a really nice head shape when combined with the beak, and the overall anatomy is surprisingly realistic (wings are a bit off technically speaking, but that's okay). Like out of all the Neopets, Eyrie are one of a few that you could picture IRL without many changes.

In addition to the head markings, they also sport several lighter areas on their wings and tail, along with a thick fluffy mane that's usually darker but not always (even the base colors don't have this consistent). These break up the body in classic Neopets style and make it easy to read. Their beaks are traditionally orange, which is accented by their eyes so the color is carried through.

Eyries are one of a few species that benefited from customization. Their old art wasn't bad, but the wings were all wrong (they were going backwards against the body lengthwise for some reason, and were halfway down the torso instead of coming out of the mane) and elements like the mane shape and tail position look a lot better. Otherwise, the changes were minimal.

Favorite Colours:

Chocolate: The chocolate Eyrie does everything you want it to do. Whipped cream for the areas with long fur, wafer wings, chocolate swirl ears, white chocolate accents, and some fancy decorative filigree markings. It is completely over-the-top and looks delicious. My only nitpick is that the waver texture is flat, when it should go back in space at an angle and have more of a bend to it.

Darigan: The Darigan Eyrie honestly doesn't event look that different than the regular Eyrie, but it does emphasize how well griffons work as vaguely demonic high-fantasy creatures. While subtle, changes include a different beak shape, more fur, extra-thick wings, a fluffier mane that goes behind the head, and giant claws.

Both the converted and UC/styled versions are fine, though they have their pros and cons. The converted version looks a bit too much like a normal Eyrie due to the change in pose, and the lose of the spearhead tail-tip and subtle feather wing textures is criminal. However, it is much better shaded than the UC version, and it fixes some of the janky anatomy like the weird fold in the wings and the screwed up haunch and foreleg.

Maraquan: A lot of Maraquan pets nowadays tend to be based off of specific aquatic animals, and while that's fine, I really like it when they just take the base Neopet and adapt it to living underwater in a more abstract way. Such is the case of the Maraquan Eyrie, which has pretty fin-like wings, fins on the head instead of feathers, a swisy, extra furry tail, and a beautiful orange and blue color scheme. Little details, like the speckles and the lighter orange on the underbelly and paws, dd a lot to the design, and the whole thing flows beautifully.

It has a UC/styled version, though the differences are fairly negligible. The UC version has a slightly better pose, high-contrast thick and thin lineart, a wavier mane, and a better head shape. However, the converted version is still pretty spot-on, and it fixes the wing anatomy by putting them on the shoulders where they belong (Neopets artists learn to draw wings challenge) (impossible). In other words, both are great.

[mcytblr-archive]

Early MCYTblr Interviews: conarcoin

today's interviewee is conarcoin, runner in the 2020 MCYTblr elections, founder of gay castle, mod on the mcytblr-confessions blog, and MCYTblr veteran! below is a transcript of the questions and answers.

Q: You’ve been in MCYTblr for a long time, and participated in a lot of MCYTblr events, so let’s work our way through them. Can you tell me a bit about what 2020-2021 MCYTblr was like for you, or anything that immediately comes to mind when you think of it?

A: 2020-2021 MCYTblr was a shithole, but it was a shithole I made some really good friends in and I don't regret that period at all. I regret some stupid posts I made, sure, but overall? Nah. 2020 MCYTblr was always filled with drama as it was a transitional period - it was primarily made up of what we now call "truthers" and the scattered remnants of SMPblr, and that sort of caused a culture clash. I'm immediately reminded of the time I got into a huge drama for having the url "transtubbo" in 2020, which one ex-SMPblr user was not fond of. Also a lot of posts made by straight up weirdos like that one infamous "sex god whore" post.

(the url "transtubbo" was not a truthing thing, but a DSMP thing, but this was a time when truthers were still everywhere in MCYTblr and the divide between RP and real life wasn't as clear, which is how I ended up in hot water)

Q: I understand that you started and ran the “gay castle” discord server. Why was it created? What was your experience running it?

A: Gay Castle's still alive and well after 3 years. Me and a friend made the server in September 2020 due to being tired of the drama in another server we were in called Sleepyheads. It's a personal friend server, so we just invited people we thought were chill to hang out and have some laughs. I honestly would call Gay Castle my internet family, they're a wild bunch and we've had so many great times over the past 3 years.

Q: What was it like running the mcytblr-confessions blog? Do any confessions stand out to you from memory?

A: mcytblr-confessions is the child of me and like 10 or so other members of Gay Castle. The experience is mostly mundane, just queueing and deleting asks. We do get a lot of asks that get deleted due to breaking the rules and such, but it hasn't been particularly drama-filled or anything. There's way too many confessions that stand out to me, but personal favorites of mine will always include the Foolish peas anon, the Highcraft church anon, and the one about AustinShow calling anon Greg instead of their actual name.

Q: If my memory serves, you ran in the October 2020 MCYTblr elections. Who did you run as? What was your experience being a part of it?

A: I did, alongside a friend at the time who went by Fakenoblade. I don't remember too many details from that period of time. We ran as "Potato2020" and didn't get very far but we had fun. Cecilia (bless her heart, we're still mutuals even though we don't talk often) can do a really good Technoblade impression, so in call we had her say some funny lines that we edited into a promotional campaign video. Fun stuff.

Q: Are there any other events that stand out to you?

A: The day a bunch of content creators joined in 2021, mostly smaller ones. That was around the same time I became friends with Erin (@itselectralive), who is still one of my closest friends to this day and an absolute sweetheart. She got me onto a SMP she helped run called Balls SMP, which crashed and burned, but I had fun and met some cool people.

Q: Do you remember any of the main discourses/dramas that went through the community?

A: Apologist discourse, obviously. I didn't engage with it - I honestly didn't care for either c!Tommy or c!Dream - but it's hard to avoid it. Shipping discourse and boundary discourse. Honestly, I can't remember anything more specific besides the more general dramas.

Q: What do you remember most fondly from that time?

A: Honestly? Just early Gay Castle and also liveblogging the L'Manberg Election. That night was so much fun, one of the most vivid memories of that time period I have.

Q: Is there anything else you’d like to add?

A: You guys should watch SMPLive. Not really, it's aged like piss and several creators ended up being freaks but it's still got a lot of funny jokes and interesting lore (believe it or not). From what I have seen, its fandom is the root of a lot of MCYT fandom's most obnoxious behaviors, but the people who are left and still care about it are really cool. It turned 5 this month!

[ohblackdiamond]

If you have a chance, I would love to hear your character interpretation of Eric Singer.

I know you have a special fondness for the OG, but I also appreciate the detailed insights you provide about the side characters. For instance, I still remember how the detailed descriptions of the other team members at the beginning of 'black and gold' brought me joy and made me feel more immersed in the story. Speaking of non-OG, I also love your depiction of BK in 'careening'.

(It doesn't have to be very detailed! It is nice to hear someone who is not particularly fond of that person talk about them, just as much as hearing from someone who is their biggest fan. And I’d just be interested to hear what you have to say!)

I’m sorry for writing so much, thank you for taking the time. I hope you have a great day <3

Never be sorry and I'm so glad to hear from you! I love answering questions like this, ask away! I'm glad you enjoyed those parts of black and gold and careening-- careening is one of my favorite of my fics, though it didn't get as much attention as some of my other stories. Bruce's position in the band was interesting as was his genuine good guy nature as opposed to Paul's worn-down, fading rockstar aspects. I like Eric and don't have anything against him but I just honestly haven't spent nearly as much time thinking about him as I have the OG!

Eric Singer-- I have met everyone that was ever in the band except for Vinnie and Eric Carr. I have spoken to Eric twice, once when he handed me the mic at a Kiss Kruise, and once when he was... Candleboy. I like Eric a lot. One of the things I noticed about him was that he was very quick-- on Kruise, he would usually do a surprise last song with whatever band was coming on prior to one of Paul's events, and then would scurry off after that through the regular entrance/exit rather than backstage or anything (of course, given this was a ship there probably wasn't a great, hidden exit...). Anyway, when Eric would leave, there was a lady who would sit next to me outside the entrance. He would always press a guitar pick in her hand and leave, so quickly you wouldn't believe. The pick was for her son, who was autistic and couldn't always go on Kruise. He remembered her and him as they (along with her husband) would come every year. He was super kind to them.

When I spoke to him on Kruise it was pretty brief, I had my hand up for a question and was on the end of the row, but I really didn't think I'd get picked, my hand was only like halfheartedly up, but Eric saw me and suddenly pushed the mic into my hand and tapped the back of my shoulder and told me to stand up and walk closer up. I was like "are you sure you want me to have this (the mic)" and he didn't say anything, just urged me to get up closer. I asked my (goofy) question of Gene and he responded, and Eric said he also used to watch the show I'd asked about.

The second time, he gave me and @elrohare the most bizarre lesson on candle safety I've ever gotten in my life, but I'll let her tell that story.

Overall impressions of Eric are that he's very watchful and aware. He knows where his place is, he's got a journeyman sensibility. I feel like in some ways KISS was a constraint to him and his abilities and that in that sense he ended up creatively frustrated. I think that KISS was very much a job for him, but a job with serious perks. I think as his tenure progressed with the band he was more willing to pop off (up to a point) and I enjoy his relationship with Gene especially; I like that he seemed to help Gene loosen up. And he's the kind of guy that really isn't a jerk to fans and so on-- that's worth a lot, too.

[hangeslefteye]

Aot girls doing your makeup HC'S

There's nothing else like platonic friendship <3 I'm high on that so HC's for MİKASA,PİECK,YMİR and HANGE doing your makeup :3

MİKASA:

I'm all about modern au goth Mikasa so I feel like she would wear a very grungy e girl makeup with thick eyeliner,lashes and bitten lips look.

So when you ask her to do your makeup she's both very excited and a little afraid you won't like it,her hands might shake a little </3.Overall incredibly gentle and always asks you if you prefer this or that.Finished look is something like:

Stars/hearts under the eyeliner is only for you,she doesn't do it to herself ^^

Just imagine 90s chill rock music playing at the background and smoking the same cigarette while she does your makeup.Ofc she's the type to offer you one of her band tshirts claiming it's more aesthetic this way :D But she only likes seeing you in her clothings

PİECK:

For modern day au I can see her going crazy about colorful Euphoria makeup with rhinestones,glitter etc.

But she's the type to ask you first :D Especially right before a party/event so everybody can see her signature look on your face.This is her way of showing a short of possession.Also it's a plus if you have men around you that dislike makeup xD

She's also very gentle but won't allow you to interfere so just let her do her own thing because she's really good at this.Also she knows about the color theory so depending on your outfit's color it might be something like this:

Only thing you can be sure of is by the end of it you will SHİNE, she'll doll you up like a goddess :3

YMİR:

Ok,I don't think she wears any makeup at all in her daily life but maybe in VERY special occasions.So even though she's thrilled that you asked her to do your makeup I really doubt she'll just jump in,you must insist a little.

I hate to write this but she's the type to clean mascara dirt with spit D: Also we don't talk about eyeliner because she too knows she's terrible with that one xD

However I can imagine her being able to do a really great red lipstick look with rest of the face natural.But when applicating the lipstick she'll say she's pulling off a Joker rn xD

Overall teases you A LOT when doing your makeup and won't let you look without finishing xD At this point you might wonder wtf this girl is doing but she doesn't knows it herself too :D İf it was a good day it will turn out something like:

İf this is what you have ended up with you got lucky, just don't push it to ask her for fake freckles xD

HANGE:

You really sure you want Hange to do your makeup?Like really??Last decision???

Honestly,she's been waiting for this day D: I don't think she wears a lot on daily basis,just covers up under eyes and good to go but that doesn't mean she wasn't experimenting nor uninterested.

She says she'll go for an thin,natural eyeliner but that turns into a smokey eye very fast because she's in for the no eyeliner gang.She just doesn't knows that yet D:

Also she owns a lot of brushes,sponges,palettes etc but proceeds to apply foundation with her hands xD Ah, also smudges the 'eyeliner'with her fingertips so she may or may not finger your eye xD

Overall apologizes and laughs nervously a lot so you might wonder what's going but it's better if you don't look until she's finished. İf you clean up a little after her it can look like:

A little panda but worths to see Hange enjoying themselves xD

For boys edition