#it's a reference to that Iron man meme btw

[jules-ln]

When people say "the Greek gods should be ethnically Greek in Hades" they mean white.

Like they literally mean that they want all the Greek Gods to be white in the game

No, they don't mean culturally, if they wanted to talk about culture they wouldn't have brought up the word "ethnicity" and equal that to race (ethnicity doesn't mean just race, it can also mean a shared tradition or shared language, so yes, POC can be ethnically Greek if they had lived all their lifes there)

And it's so silly because like, oh, then Chaos isn't "greek" either because they're Grey and there aren't any actual Grey Greeks?

Also they're Gods! They can be anything they want, like sure, Zeus can be a swan and that's fine, but if he was a man with dark skin, that's too much?

They aren't criticizing the cultural hegemony the US has, they're just being racist and then masking their racism with "progressive" language

And then people here go and be like "Oh, poor little white people!! They have a right to demand a game without POC because it's their culture!!!"

Like what?

I'm sorry but you do remember that Greek mythology has been used, and is still being used as far right propaganda?

Like do you remember that the protagonists of the games are white and green eyed (on one eye) and the only POC are on secondary roles!?

(There can be a valid criticism about cultural hegemony in Hades, but this, isn't that)

[onebraincell-itmiebcraft]

Okay time for the liveblogging of real life in order (liveblogging life SMP call that lifeblogging) I have never done this b4 be easy on me

Grian

I've already watched his perspective at like 5 in the morning but heyyyyy nothing wrong with rewatching with added non sleep deprived commentary but also not really memories of what I originally thought watching this too :^))

I remember being so stunned they called it real life and the anatomically correct heart 🫀tickled my funny bone heeheehoo hahaha

Thought when grian said replay 3rd life I thought they'd reenact it 😭

We live in a society taxes man (I could ramble about it)

GRIAN IRL FACE!!!

has anyone fell over btw?

No lie that B can BIG

Reminds me of slimecicle jshitt and traves VR Minecraft where Travis got progressively shorter what a laugh

Does Scott ever see his scream

Is it take the Mick or take the nick love that idiom

RENDOG!

Scar looks like a child doing that thing

Awww hug

ABUSE

scar take the headset off dzuh 🫀🫀🫀

Grian literally me balance issues

Yugioh????

I called it, scar would say he's American 😎

I'm eating dinner while watching this at the same time what fun w

Giran called solidaritygaming jimmy no way + he died first fr this time + loud "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!" Perfectly timed his mic peaking is iconic

Ha haa!

He ear him bread

Really putting the mine in craft for Minecraft

reminds me of secret life EP 4 and scar is sweaty

*scar noises*

How did scar drop his phone???

Check your wrist? More like check your a- (tom cardy référence)

I love the way VR makes you hit stuff goofy

Can you run in game if you irl

(watch him die)

Haha he died

Why Jim is he sabotaging him

Jim Jim Jim gym gym

Doesn't Jim die here oh LMFAO he does

Jimmy you are famous to me

(scout voice) Chicken

How did scar die???

I love how vr makes them expressive Jim pointing to village house is so funny

There's only one bed

Wtf is happening in top right corner in 9min 30 sec

Ayyyyy there's grian the maniac love the casual position of the arms

Last life you can join me moment

Egg

Grian gaslighting

Jimmy you wanna dance quote of the year

PvP is so silly

Skizz is fighting a losing battle Jim killed him icon

I love how grian and Jim's yells overlap there's probably something music theory there idk

Awww scar he's so funny

Go pick him up from daycare haha

Facing away from the camera we live in a society

OHHHHH impulse big smart man Jimmy's arm movements are so smooth it's solly

Jimmy immediately leaving for fish cocomelon brain I agree

Love the arm movements

Lol they actually like down

It's okay grian scuffed is worth celebrating

Has anyone layed on their side

Friend just texted me about my monologue what am I doing man I have an audition tomorrow

Anyway Minecraft vr

The lying down model inventory so goofy

Rewatching the bread scene no wonder tumblr loves it looks like Jim jam actually has a mouth 👄

Impulsesv guess the build sheep flashbacks

Best sleepover

Polyamorous tony (died)

Sleepover reminds me of crazy Christmas w/gem and pearl

Grown men learn how to close doors

Minecraft fatshaming grian smh my head

Man thought it was more than Joel there + o2 max(xing) scar love it (i use maxxing ironically) (it's such a stupid suffix to me linguistically funny) (I hate incels) (don't cancel me tumblr) (I love all genders)

Two steps: die, and die

Jimmy isn't on fire??

Casual "it burns so much!" Love it

Wait right Jim still has a wooden sword

Joel Joel Joel Joel you know that one part in waiting for Godot where they just go back and forth in saying aideu yeah

So silly

Jim saying get in British people man

"noffing" - joel is it a British thing

Love Joel screaming he's so malding

Just remembered how scary heights are in VR because I thought for a second "why don't they jump down? are they stupid?" (Meme Reference) (Didn't actually think that) ("Stupid" is kinda stupid but I digress)

Hole

Boob stroke

Does scar enjoy the swimming

Why *does* swimming cause motion sickness anyway

Why bucket scar (this is a bucket)

Brain eating amoeba

GOON SQUAD!!!

Love Grian's arm movements I really did thonk Jim was gonna win for the funnies

He says come here weirdly

The joy of killing

Is Jim punching

It's okay hiking simulation

Go Jim go what a gamer boy

I remember the triple dog door dugout is like... Gem's? Joel's? Uhhhh I fotgor

Concussion era

Fresh meat

I just love their dynamics

JIM STOP SOUNDING LIKE THAT it's like his eyes are 🥺 and his mouth is boowomp spongebob like he's got tears in eyes scrimblo sounding ass

Ohhh there's my favourite theatre kids

'orrible

Joel saying boys make me happy

Wait that can misinterpreted

Joel saying "boys" sounds pleasant to my ears

I remember watching this part and going GRIAN FIRST OUT HUH???

awww the funnies

Love the way gem says "we're the last Grians. Grians? Greens!" It's like... Spunky

Grian falling reminds me of my scuffed keyboard when it registers a button press as a hold and then I like never stop walking right *sigh*

The downward spiral by nine inch nials

Ascending is TRUE watcher lore

Oh the music is so cute

Bye scar! Bye Joel!

Okay never let me liveblog cook again i kinda listened to the vid instead of watching reading this does not make sense to anyone but me reference hell half formulated thoughts RIP BOZO HAHA

Maybe I'll like do it in 5 mins chunks for JJJJJJoel and the next ones onward I spent like an hour on this wayyyyy too long for incomplete sentences

End

[vvanini]

whats your favorite obscure hc about each of the losers?

Fucking perfect thank you

1- Mike he reads books or articles like “how to understand woman”, “why women like jerks”, not because he wants to woo woman or is a nice guy or anything but just because he thinks it’s interesting

I don’t think he’d date anyone

Gives great dating advice tho

Reads manga Likes Junji Ito

“The manga/book was better” kind of guy

I don’t know why but I feel like he’d be this ENTP-ish dude who likes to gather information about a lot of useless things and likes to debate He likes film and game theories Watches MatPat for sure

Also he likes The Walking Dead and… zombies in general

Also I’m sorry but he likes Quentin Tarantino and Wes Anderson

He likes grindhouse movies and appreciates the gory details but is chill about it Likes cinematography in general

Watches video essays about movies

2- Richie

Unlike Mike, Richie isn’t chill about gory details and whenever someone gags while watching a movie he goes “You think that’s disgusting??? Lmaoooo that’s nothing.”

He’d be the type of guy who brags about being immune to disturbing shit

Google searches include “top ten disturbing movies of all time” “scariest movies ever” “movies worse than a serbian film”

Still likes pink guy and thinks Joji is a genius

Unironically loves the song “I Love Sex” by Pink Guy and listens to it at least once everyday

Uses Discord a lot

Always starts studying on the last day

I think he’d like history

Not like Mike tho, he just likes textbook history and world wars etc

Plays Hearts of Iron and League of Legends

Also :) he likes to code

he is a Linux >>>>>>>>>> Windows kinda guy

Likes breaking bad

And Rick and Morty

Understands politics really well

His music taste is… anime opening songs

Evangelion especially

Likes science fiction books

Pretends to be a flat-earther/conservative/anti-vax for the meme

3- Ben

LIKES BACKSTREET BOYS

and boy bands in general

he is old school and still carries an mp3 around

Doesn’t use spotify, he illegally downloads songs like a champ :D

Likes story rich games

Especially RPG’s. He really likes Planescape Torment and Baldur’s Gate

Kinda lame about women, like he hears Jordan Peterson say something like “the eternal image of the divine feminine” or some shit like that and he goes “wow poetic. agreed”

Doesn’t read “How to woo women” books like Mike but thinks about it a lot that’s for sure

Likes Audrey Hepburn

And Steinbeck

Saves different versions of the same song to his mp3. “The Less I Know The Better but you’re crying in a bathroom” “The Less I Know The Better Slowed & Reverb Listen With Headphones” “The Less I Know The Better Nightcore”

Shares playlists with Eddie

ALWAYS. ALWAYS waits for the person who’s tying their shoes

He notices if someone is walking behind the group alone and walks back to accompany them

If no one laughs at your joke, he does

Bleached his hair once and regretted it immediately Writes poetry in his free time and makes Stan proofread it

Into psychology

Hands always in pockets

Probably owned lots of lego sets as a kid

People go to him for dating advice because he is seen as this “romantic guy”, I mean he is but he gives terrible dating advice

4-Stan

He likes geography

Literally knows all the flags in the world and all the capitals

Blindfold him and give him a country name, he can show you exactly where it is on the map

Also he plays those google earth games where you get a random location and try to find out which country you’re in/ or try to find the nearest airport

Also I feel like he’d like planes a lot

Idk he just likes things that fly lol. Birds, planes etc.

Likes to read classics

LOVES H. P. Lovecraft

carries little poetry books with him everywhere and reads them he’s so cute

Dark academia is his aesthetic

Can play the piano

Likes to read Ben’s poetry :D

Dark humor

His ringtone is Le Festin :)

Has an instagram account but never posts, just watches people’s stories

Very photogenic tho.

He’s a man of culture. He likes visiting aquariums and museums

Hates zoos tho, thinks it’s evil to cage animals

Also I don’t know how to explain it but… He just likes to decorate his place? Like to the clubhouse he’ll bring stuff he likes and just quietly claims a corner as his own and make it as comfortable as he can

Has...beautiful hands

you know how some people cut the cothing labels because it irritates the back of their neck? Stan does that with everything he buys

5- Eddie

Likes Backstreet Boys because of Ben

Replies to texts immediately. Communication and social interaction gives him serotonin

I have no idea why but I feel like he’d have an obsession with Tekken and his favourite character is Ling Xiayou

Big fan of classic playstation games. Loves Spyro, Crash Bandicoot and Ratchet and Clank

He likes wearing long sleeves under t shirts

Listens to emo music, stares out the window and imagines scenarios matching the song he’s listening to

He considers MCR to be emo btw. Loves G note memes

Likes astrology

Can’t watch horror movies, and gets teased by Richie about it

However he likes media that is presented as funky/funny/happy but is actually depressing/disturbing

He likes courtroom dramas

Wears sunglasses indoors for no reason

Probably likes fallout and metro games

Has a collection of finger skateboards

#weirdcore #oddcore #nostalgia #grunge

buys and wears random college sweatshirts

Hates and loves study groups, hates it in the sense that he can’t focus on anything and just wants to hang out and talk, loves it in the sense that he CAN hang out with his friends and talk

Romanticizes everything

6- Bill

Has lots of taurus energy and is sleepy all the time

Has major Leonardo DiCaprio in The Basketball Diaries vibes

Dresses effortlessly

And likes basketball lol.

He just has… boy energy. If that makes sense. Boy next door

Likes to draw his friends

posts his drawings on Instagram

Has lots of OC’s but doesn’t know they’re called OC’s, just refers to them as “this character I created”

He likes being praised a lot ngl

His taste in memes is very similar to Richie’s

You know how they put a random word on top of a random image and it doesn’t make sense at all. He laughs at things like that. Like Richie sends him something like this:

ME WHEN I WHEN

[image of monkey]

BOTTOM TEXT

and he thinks it’s funny and loses his shit im sorry

Like someone sends a picture of Keanu Reeves to the groupchat and texts “g” and he thinks it’s funny???? He sees a picture of a cow in the backrooms and starts choking

He memorized every line in Boneless Pizza and can quote it wihtout stuttering. Like he would be sitting alone talking to himself saying shit like “ya pizza. Watchu want. 2 liter machine broke we got one liter tho. fuck you mean B.”

Never answers calls? Doesn’t like talking on the phone. He just has “Don’t fucking call me when you can text!!” energy

phone is always on silent mode

doesn’t do anything but attracts people anyway

7- Bev

Likes musicals

Theatre kid

Chews gum a lot

And swallows them :(

Likes cottagecore

Buys notebooks with cute covers but can never fill them so she just gives them to bill who turns them into sketchbooks

I think she’d give advice or reaussure people in a way that sounds kinda rude but isn’t really? Like she tells it like it is. Blunt

Likes Avatar The Last Airbender

Sense of humor is:

[Picutre of the fox from Zootopia]

why is he hot help 😭😭😭

wears baggy clothing + long skirts

[pissvortex]

i’m sorry, what fo you mean by “trad tumblr“ ?

if i had to generalize, it's the people with sentence-long urls that have something to do with christianity, monarchy, or just straight up had the word "trad" in them who obsessively comment on tilthat posts, post articles from breitbart about how gay people are destroying western civilization and go into meltdowns about "CLOWN WORLD", talk about how much they hate """"bankers"""", think they're speaking in an undetectable secret language that only other racist people understand when they reference fbi crime statistics or say "Who could be responsible for this" in reference to anti-semitic conspiracy theory posts (big fan of conspiracy theories too, btw). they never explicitly state that they are fascists, but the people they associate themselves with do, and boy do they love to "ironically" claim that they are racist in an attempt to preemptively take the piss out of the accusation when it inevitably comes. really buddy-buddy with terf tumblr, many of them are even in relationships with people from terf tumblr (not kidding, see lobotomygf and lobotomybf for example if thats still their urls) because their hatred of trans people momentarily outweighs the fact that they view women as property. in what i guess is an attempt to convince themselves they are normal, they usually feign ignorance on a lot of social trends and post shitty boomer memes about christianity to convince themselves they made the right decision when they converted to catholicism because their favorite tumblr racist man told them it would save the white race.

if all of this is completely foreign and new to you, congratulations, you're a normal person who has never been burdened with this knowledge and subsequent duty of having to constantly block these shitheads when their dumb ass memes are reblogged by people oblivious to the op's antics.

[toomanyfamdom]

15

15. a saying, joke, or hermetic meme that only people from your country will get?

Well, you got my friends and I talking so have a list. A long list. also most of these aren’t jokes or anything but its stuff you only get if you live here (I live in Northern Ireland btw ppl)

the ‘born in belfast’ song with the pug

its spelt craic not crack (as in banter)

pronouncing it as ‘NORN IRON’

saying ‘oh aye’ all the time

and ‘thats grand’

when you bump into someone OPH - SORRY MATE

FLEAGS

knowing exactly what type of area you’re in cause of the flags

(dont disscuss flags in NI)

(v bad idea)

when you’re ending a phone call, especially with older ppl ‘okay right that’s grand okay right see you later bye bye bye bye’ in one breath

the difference between a high school, grammar school and a private school

having some form of potatoes with most meals

‘pound for a chippy’

PASTIES AKA HEAVEN FROM THE CHIPPY

finally having a government after not having one for like 3 years

 people saying ‘acwk you know your man’ or ‘your woman’ and everyone knowing exactly what your talking about

putting your table number up online (when you’re at Spoons) and everyone ordering you mushy peas

potato bread i repEAT POTATO BREAD

saying how now brown cow properly :)

That buzzfeed quiz that says most ppl don’t know who we are

being referred to as ‘Ireland’

having to explain the entire country’s history or just saying you’re from ireland when on holiday

BELFAST PRIDE (highlight of my year)

CHRISTMAS MARKET (another highlight)

CULTURE NIGHT!! (bros, performing at culture night was such a buzz lemme tell you. it was so special)

Traditional Irish Dancing! Not the wigs, fake tan, big, sparkly dresses, make up and overly bouncy irish dancing (plz dont kill me feis dancers, its impressive) but the natural hair and make up, traditional steps and dances, traditional dresses (bro i danced at Disneyland Paris and we got so many compliments and a feis dancer asked us how tf we did it cause we did a super slow dance w/ loads of leg extentions and slow movements and feis don’t do it)

so yeah, thats it aha. theres probs more but thats all my friends and I came up with

[dontcallmecarrie]

Meme anon here, so I am stuck in being a perfectionist and trying to find the right meme/pic to use (with proper credit where it is due) or to make for myself so i am right now just going to send overall descriptions in 4 different asks if that is okay. Just to get the overall idea/theme of the memes (since they deal with Phase 3 and such. Here goes nothing... (1/5)

(2/5) HAL and Skynet memes. I'm actually working on MAKING them, OMG! It's kinda fun actually.

(3/5) The picture where Tony announces at the Press Conference (tm) that he was Iron Man. Then Text Post/meme. Or various pictures of Tony in the suit. THEN meme. (Sorry if any of these were not what you were/are expecting.)

(4/5) Use stuff inside your TWIFFON au, such as using the S.W.O.R.D. Logo that you have and make memes using that. (Just a thought.) Or pretend/fake images for the Fashion Week Fiasco or the Relay Race (if that was hypothetically photographed in your au.)

(5/5) And for the last meme ideas/descriptions: Pictures of the world/Earth with the initials of SI or the SWORD Logo ghostly photoshopped on top/behind it, with then the meme idea. Or just the planet with the meme (something ominous but funny). I got some HAL memes already made. They're not perfect but they're done. Still working on some of the others (not the SWORD logo, that I'm leaving alone) Please let me know your thoughts. Too far? Not quite what you're looking for? This has been fun!

.

...oh boy. Friend, some of these memes are actually edging into spoiler territory, because of Reasons. 

Under the bolded part for those who don't want spoilers, because the more I think about it the more likely I am to ramble and the memes are actually a very important plot point in TWiFFON, no matter how ridiculous that sounds without context.

Also: in regards the memes you’ve mentioned, I get the feeling some of them would probably be SI-only. For instance, while the Fashion Week Fiasco made headlines, other incidents [cough cough, the Relay Race] are the sort of thing that stays in-house. Kinda like Legal’s jokes about world domination, now that I think about it. 

The spoilery territory comes with the memes that might involve the world, though, for multiple reasons.

See, after the Civil War arc, there’s going to be a few others to go: the fallout of Civil War, the Final Battle, and the Realization.

Specifically, after the Civil War arc, there’s going to be another timeskip as Tony acutely feels the crunch of ‘oh shit the Avengers aren’t an option to protect the planet anymore, it’s literally just me, oh fuck’.

When he feels this crunch, he’s not going to pull his punches intellectually— by which I mean he’s going to delve into morally dubious stuff, and the other side of the Merchant of Death takes center stage as he brainstorms potential defense after defense for Earth. Here’s the thing: when I say ‘morally dubious’, I mean ‘he’s going to wish he could afford to drink something stronger than coffee’ because he’s going to go over SHIELD’s shadier research, notes of the tech found after New York, everything JARVIS found via scouring the dark web, you name it. 

Even more specifically, remember that energy shield that protected the portal device in the first Avengers movie? Remember how it was borderline impossible for anyone to get past it? 

Yeah, Tony’s going to do something like that. But for the entire planet. 

An immense network of satellites and what-have-you, spanning the entire globe. 

[it’s not exactly original since I got the idea from both Star Wars and Doctor Who, but bear with me]

There’s more to it than that, but the energy shield is meant to be one of the last lines of defense. 

Here’s the thing: it’s not subtle. Kinda hard to be, with its size and the breathtaking amounts of energy it requires [good thing SI’s invested so heavily into green energy], and its name is what makes it prime meme fodder.

Because what everyone’s seeing is this bigass energy shield network in the sky, keeping out the vast armies that stretch as far as the eye can see. And Tony’s naming skills are only marginally better than a biologist’s, and the rest of humanity’s isn’t much better.

The energy shield’s official name is the Iron Dome [also because it’s got the same idea as the thing in real life], but the moment it went online, the internet renamed it Skynet, which, awkward. 

It only gets funnier after the Reveal, too.

...on another note, the main role the memes play ties in with Tony’s obliviousness. 

See, after the Civil War arc, Tony’s [understandably] hyperfocused on the whole ‘protecting the Earth’ schtick and doesn’t really have time for much else. He’s tangentially aware of other stuff going on, but he has so much to do he doesn’t really pay attention to it. 

When the first memes about world domination start to float around, he blinks but goes back to work, because again, turns out that when it comes to protecting the planet, if you want something done right you have do it yourself. Normally he’d have fun with the memes, would be over the moon and be laughing at them with everyone else— but he has Things To Do. 

The single meme I have in mind for the matter is Star Trek-based, and also later on serves as the basis for why the rest of the galaxy refers to them as the Terran Empire, btw.

The first meme desensitized him to the idea; by the time Pepper approaches him about it, he thinks she’s joking. When the Sorcerer Supreme shows up shooting him significant looks and talking about being responsible to take care of threats to the Earth, the implied threat flies right over Tony’s head and he just goes “great, welcome to the club! I haven’t accounted for magic yet, is there anything we could tweak in this project to bolster our defenses?”

This is why it takes a honest-to-goodness Destroyer of Worlds to break it to him that no, it’s not a joke, he genuinely did take over the world. Yeah, oops.

.

...long story short, I really like the idea, but again, not sure how much screentime I’d be able to give the memes in the main fic. The sidefic would allow for more screen time, of course, but I’m not sure if that’s something you’d want to see?

edit: I’d put in a read-more, only apparently I can’t? Apologies to anyone who didn’t want spoilers or long posts.

[thewheezingbubbledragon]

Mass Effect Chats ft. Me and My Bro

(For context we both forgot Thane (the Drell aka Grasshopper Man)'s name) Bro: THANE!! That's his name.

Me: YES!

Me:...

Me: Thane-ks for reminding me.

Bro: *deep sigh*

Bro:...

Bro: I should've Thane that comin.

Me: EYYY

Upon finding a powered down Big Boi Mech: *GASP* HIS NAME IS CARL.

Bro, referring to Carl as he helps us in our quest: He walks like a boss.

Me: or a 2 y/o having a tamtrum

Bro: or like a 2 y/o who just took a dump

Me: okay, take it from someone who works with 2 year olds, they are disturbingly good at hiding when they've taken a dump the size of Ireland.

Carl, exploding bc they're a faulty mech and thats why they were abandoned: BZZZTTT

Me: CAAARRRLLL NOOOO!!!!

RIP Carl, 2010-Whenever you reach that side mission.

Me, as Shepard activates a hologram device thing: Oh boi we are in the matrix.

Me: Either that or a honeycomb.

Bro: Imma sneeze. *sneezes*

Me: RIP your sinuses btw.

Miranda(slightly stiff, Aussie, GMO girl, with an attitude and also a gun so dont make her mad bc she will shoot you) during a random side mission: It's an ambush!

Bro, as the distant cries of angry creatures echo through the valley: well duh.

Me: is that a deer?

Me: oh it's a dead varren nevermind.

After my brother and I spent 10 minutes laughing @ didney worl memes we try to have a serious conversation with Mordin: oh I'm so sorry about... Your assistant... Buddy... *snort* IM SORRY OKAY!

Me:...

Me, softly: didney worl...

Me, speaking about Miranda being seemingly unable to stand in a way that isnt a model pose: does she not ever pose like a normal person--oh nice shot of her butt, camera crew, we needed that.

Bro: Garrus... Doesnt want to talk to me... Garrus I'm sorry... :((

Me, sniffling: Don't cry, then Garrus will cry too :(((

Jack: *says the f-word twice in one conversation*

Me in a Vine voice: watch your profanity.

Me: Tali and Liara are best girl. You can't change my mind.

*door closes behind us a/o prompting*

Me: the door closed bc it knew I was right and was trying to prove my point.like a mic drop but less impressive.

Stuffy jerk politician dude to Grunt: You mention great warlords... But you were bred by a syringe.

Me:...

Me: Boi you better catch these hands.

Shepard: There's a krogan on my team, he has some sort of sickness, is there anything you can do for him?

Wrex: he is not sick, he is growing into a full blood krogan.

Me: oh dang I forgot I was right about puberty...

Grunt after being offered a position by stuffy politician guy after successfully wiping the floor with the rite of passage: You disrespect my father, Shepard, and my name and only now you respect me for my power?!

Shepard:

Bro: *gasp* what does a bebby krogan look like??

Me:...probably wrinkly.

Wrex, wearing his upgraded armor: I. AM. KROGAN.

Me, knowing full well his suit looks like Iron man armor: And you're doing amazing sweetie.

Me: we [humans] got comlimented by the Nerd Scientist and I've never been more proud.

Shepard's random fight dialogue after Angry Krogan Leader finiahes ranting: We've been spotted.

Bro, calmly running for cover: Yes. Yes we have.

Grunt: Nothing can hurt me.

Me: I feel like that's not true. You've yet to experience emotional pain.

Mordin, best nerdy boi, a Salarian and therefore in his last Decade of his 40 year lifespan: Went to Omega, opened clinic. Wanted to heal. Help people. Good use of last decade.

Me, crying: I'm so sorry for quizzing you with mean paragon questions I love you so much baby I'm sorry...

Shepard, literally every time she picks up an upgrade: I ' L L T A K E I T

Me: sToP YElLiNg.

Me, actively weeping @ Joker(best human side character ever seriously, talk to him every time you get a chance he's amazing) and Edi's(ship AI with a propensity to egg Joker on bc she thinks its funny and is also adorable fite me) budding friendship throuhout ME2: F R I E N D S H I P *crying intensifies* (I havent played the 3rd game yet dont tell me if theyre an item: there arent enough wholesome friendships in media okay?)

Shepard, stopping Mordin from murdering a disgusting rat who mutilated people in effort to do something stupid and morally complicated: murder is wrong.

Mordin: hm. You right. (Indirect quote)

Me & Bro @ the Scottish and New York engineers: 10/10 amazing side characters. More of them please.

[hellsparadiseessays]

Little details from Chapter 71

[Under the read more for the sake of keeping the post short and not spoil people]

This chapter is, again, focused on fights, so the general action is fairly straight forward and a conclusion to what we’ve been shown in the early chapters, when our criminals arrived on the island with the Asaemon. Still, there are some neat little details worth pointing out in it. 

It looks like UG decided to associate the rose with Chôbe? It’s also interesting that he picked rather a rather practical outfit, compared to the more regal allure of the Tensen - a good reflection of his personality, we already saw him put his sleeves up in a previous chapter as well, it seems Chôbe, while conscious of his appearance, still enjoys practicality/comfort.

Tao Fa wears her silk scarf like a Tenne. An element of the Buddhist divine iconography, used to signify the celestial aspect of the character depicted, it is also found in Shintoism and associated with gods such as the twin gods of Thunder and Wind Raijin and Fujin, or with Bishamonten, the god of War. It is commonly associated with Bosatsu, especially Kan’non, the God/Goddess of Compassion and Mercy. The latter’s iconography is, interestingly, partially applied to the Kishikai form of the Tensen. Fun fact: Bosatsu/Boddhisatva are persons who achieved Nirvana but renounced it to act as guide for the salvation of the soul (breaking the cycle of reincarnation) by reincarnating themselves. It fits the divine and enlightened aspect of the Tensen - though it is pretty ironic in their case, considering they are terribly human themselves and more enclined to kill humans for the sake of their research than help them find salvation. 

It looks like Fuchi is still mad at Tôma for his betrayal. Tôma may have judged him as a creepy weirdo, but Fuchi really is a sensitive soul despite his strange demeanor, isn’t he? Tôma’s hesitation is also very interesting. Could it be the key to Chôbe not murdering everybody, in the long run? They already have a good point for having taken good care of Tôma, after all, and Chôbe showed gratitude for that - albeit in his own way, by letting Fuchi and Tamiya handle Tao Fa. It’s a good match-up for them too, since Tao Fa is Wood, while Fuchi is Metal and Tamiya is Fire: in the Theory of the Five Elements, Metal hinders Wood and Wood generates Fire. 

It’s not really a neat little detail but I was waiting for Chôbe to start shit with Ju Fa ever since Rien took him to Hôrai. It’s hilarious because Ju Fa was probably too haughty to realise he was next to a man really motivated to murder him - even when said man straight up announced it by saying it was himself and his brother Ju Fa had nearly killed and thrown in the Tan Pit. Ju Fa, you’re an idiot blinded by your arrogance. Chôbe being the first one to strike him is gold, really. Concerning their fight, him and Tôma may not have it easy, since Fire (Ju Fa) hinders Metal (Chôbe)... However, we also saw Chôbe able to not only go head-to-head with Gabimaru (also Fire), but capable of taking Ju Fa’s hits without being brutally taken down - him being able to hold his own like that, in such a short amount of time, was even deemed exceptional. Let’s just hope that Chôbae won’t be too reckless in his fight - Tôma may inform him of the danger of too much regeneration, in order to protect him from his own recklessness. 

Snark really is Chôbe’s primary weapon, isn’t it? The fact that he never had any respect for them and it totally flew over their head do show how far up their own pseudo-godly arse the Tensen are. Even when faced with an oddly earnest liar like Chôbe, they failed to consider he may actually try to fuck shit up as soon as the opportunity arises. A good punishement for their hubris. 

This has been a running gag on the Discord server, but Ju Fa really is that Jealous Emo Boyfriend, isn’t he? You’re not the only person who’s pissed off, Chrysantheum Boy.

After the reference to an old Idol duo (if I understand correctly, UG’s version is something along the line of The Stardust Brothers lol), we get the Team Rocket. UG lowkey being a meme lord with the Aza Brothers is something I live for. (Second pic coming from here)

Edit: I told you something was up with Chôbe’s braid btw lol UG even liked my tweet on that matter without replying, he knew I was onto him and his plot haha

[monsterkissed]

to expand on this slightly from my own personal experience and maybe assist readers who are unsure about these:

“dead dove do not eat” is a reference to a meme that you may or may not have seen where a character finds a bag in a fridge with those words on it, looks into it and says “i don’t know what i expected” implying that there was indeed a dead dove in the bag. in fanfic tagging this is usually taken to be read as “there are unpleasant things in this fic, do not be surprised if you open it and find some.” in particular this will usually refer to content that is on the more extreme end of violence (sometimes but not always sexual) or subjects that are extremely taboo. i have also seen it used in fics that have hurt/comfort but with a strong emphasis on the hurt or heavy angst or that discuss trauma in explicit detail, but i would say that i see that a lot less often.

different writers will have different ideas of what counts as “extreme” here but regardless the dead dove tag demonstrates a very specific intent. “creator chose not to use archive warnings” is a bit fuzzier and again i can only draw on my own reading experience.

it helps to know that the warnings not being used are not broad.

if you have never used ao3 for posting, these are the archive warnings. a writer might tag for other things in the body of the tags and a lot of writers do, but these are the ones that have their own boxes and are highlighted by the UI when the fic is posted in the same little box as the rating.

so one reason someone might choose not to warn is obvious right away and that’s spoilers. “major character death” in particular i think would be the most obvious culprit as well as coming with its own particular disincentive: not wanting people to avoid clicking your fic because they see that tag and worry that their fave is going to meet an unfortunate end. but obviously the others could all also spoil things in the work and some people don’t want to do that.

and the fun thing about that is that even if your story doesn’t contain any of those... not tagging them can also then be a spoiler! if i see a summary along the lines of “iron man is trapped on a deadly dalek warship, will he make it out alive??” and see there’s no warning for major character death, well, i’m going in a lot less worried about iron man and that might kill some of the tension the poor author put all their hard work into. choosing not to warn can then be read as “no archive warnings apply, but shhhh”

the other possibility, of course, is that the creator themselves has not actually plotted out all of their fic and does not currently know whether it will eventually qualify for one of the big bad tags.

then there are people using it because they don’t know if their fic actually counts as one of those warnings or not. this can be the ever-debated issue of when something has gone from dubcon to noncon, what exactly qualifies as “graphic” violence, or ambiguities like a major character dying but then being revived in some fashion. what if the tagged content doesn’t happen on-screen and is only referenced or part of a character’s backstory? choosing not to warn then functions as a kind of “soft” warning or, less charitably, as covering one’s ass just in case. (this is also something to bear in mind when there are warnings, btw. graphic violence is probably the most inconsistent i see for tagged fics even meeting the criteria at all, but every one of these can be tagged simply because the author is erring hard on the side of caution)

obviously, none of these reasons are immediately clear just from seeing that a creator chose not to warn, and that is where reader discretion comes in. i would suggest using all the skills you would apply to picking up a book in a library and checking the blurb. what kind of genre and tone does the work seem to be going for in its summary? does the author have other works that could help you get an idea of the kinds of stuff they are likely to make? can you infer some context from the other tags? these are good general literacy skills to learn and to train.

another vital skill is knowing when to step back. fiction can be a very good place to explore upsetting themes safely or to gently challenge yourself and it can also be a very good place to train setting strong boundaries and emotionally grounding yourself. i was reading a pro published book recently and when it got to a part where the main character was subjected to sexual violence i had to put it down for a few days and come back to it when i had processed how i was feeling. i consider that a worthwhile experience, but you don’t owe any obligation to read something if you are worried you might respond poorly to it. you can put the book down for good, you can avoid picking it up in the first place, you can do a whole lot of things that do not apply to real-life experiences and you should make use of that. it’s entirely up to you what you want or don’t want to risk.

Dead Dove Do Not Eat: the equivalent of an ingredients list on packaging. "This is what is contained in this work. You know what's in it, so looking at/reading it is your own choice. Do not complain to me that there's something in it that was clearly stated already."

Creator Chose Not to Use Archive Warnings: the equivalent of buying food from a stall without full ingredient lists. "This may or may not contain something you don't like. It is up to you to decide what you can and can't handle and whether or not you want to take chances on this work."

Both very important tags that serve completely different purposes.