#it's just such a mess but it's so funny in that regard- plus you really do get the best charas out of the series from it (mine and rikiya)

[todayisafridaynight]

I know Y3 has it's faults but damn. People really make this game out to be way, WAY worst than it really is. It's sadly one of the oldest games too, and people have neen spoiled with the Kiwami remakes of the even older games. It's sad that they can't remake three as I imagine it'd take way more time and money to give it the same treatment, but I still don't think it's worthy of the sheer hate it gets. I also can't understand people who believe nothing important happened in the story, and not to mention, you won't really form any sort of connection to the orphanage and the kids if you skip this one. Of course people can like or not like whatever they want, but Y3 gets some odd treatment. *pretends I do not see 4*

Y3 really does get such the short end of the stick out of the revived interest in the yakuza series. it already had its rough edges, but after games with such polished gameplay and visuals like YK1 and YK2 (not that the kiwami series is perfect, but in comparison it is VASTLY different at the very least), it does nothing but shine a big bright light on Y3's shortcomings even if they're not as bad as they're made out to be

i would love to see Y3 get a kiwami twist as well, though according to RGG that's not really a possibility they're going to look in to due to the graphics of Y3 still being passable by today's standards (though the problem with Y3 isn't how it looks visually even if majima does look decrepit, its gameplay is it's biggest hindrance).

[pippin-katz]

The Awardist - Nicholas Galitzine & Taylor Zakhar Perez

I have to write down the best bits and record my thoughts while listening to this because I am completely losing my mind over what is our first real interview with the boys that was recorded in real time.

27:55 - right off the bat we got a great inside joke/reference from the host that had me cackle

28:19 - taylor being happy to see their faces and nicholas immediately shutting him down like "well i'm not happy to see taylor's face"

28:40 - taylor joking about putting a post-in note over nick's face lmfao

29:30 - the way they don't want to talk over each other, it's giving alex's bedroom flashbacks

29:40 - nick being like "oh! oh, it's good!" when dipping into the online response when the movie released lmfao 😆

30:33 - the silence following the social media question where they were apparently nodding followed by taylor saying they were texting each other like "mate" "mate" back and forth

31:20 - THEY TALKED ABOUT THE SIGNING WARS

31:44 - nicholas calling taylor "this little fucker" had me dying cause me and @meraki-yao were literally referring to him as that in our conversation on ig yesterday

32:00 - nicholas genuinely asking taylor "what possessed you to do this?"; it's giving storage closet in the children's hospital vibes when henry's like "why do you dislike me?"

33:04 - "take it nick" immediately upon being asked the dense question regarding fans reacting to their portrayals of henry and alex, and the way that nicholas laughs and stutters makes me think that taylor totally did that on purpose to mess with him lmfao

34:00 - taylor stopping to talk to fans regardless of where he is or where he's going and specfically mentioning how meaningful it was that people have said *TW* they were contemplating suicide when they read the book/watched the movie and that it helped them 🥺

35:40 - the host referred to the film as "a coming out story", which i don't really agree with as a label because the coming out portion is an added piece of their relationship as two public figures, but their love is the actual story

36:40 - nicholas referring to the film as "wholesome and funny" made me smile so much because it truly is wholesome

37:18 - not the host making the "top to bottom" joke 😭

37:58 - nicholas and taylor have talked about their friendship with each other and how they instantly clicked; nick knew within a few minutes of rehearsal that taylor was "his buddy" 🥺

38:41 - catch me squaring up with everyone who has made nicholas self conscious and self deprecating about doing so much intimacy work on the screen that he refers to it as "basically his thing" like that's all he's recognized for; i am so ready to punch some motherfuckers 😡

39:10 - "it's so fun now, seeing my mate at all these awards and stuff"; catch me fucking crying

39:24 - not taylor misremembering the "nicholas or joey" question as "who was the better kisser"; he totally combined the "is nicholas a good kisser" question with the "who has your heart tonight" question

40:05 - taylor talking about matthew's background in theatre and how they got to actually rehearse with each other; i will never stop being insanely grateful that matthew is a theatre guy

40:55 - the way i said "oh my god" out loud because i was so excited by the question

41:14 - improvised the "physicality" of the store room; i.e. they just fell on top of each other and clamored around 😂

41:32 - the way i literally gasped so hard that i started coughing when nicholas called taylor "tay", i am not even fucking joking, that was so fucking cute 😭

43:42 - fucking wheezed upon realizing where the question going

44:02 - the knowing way taylor was like "i will take this one" lmfao

45:10 - not me going so red from second hand embarrassment 🫣

45:44 - taylor bringing the jockstrap that nicholas wears in bottoms, and nicholas immediately adding "i won't even go into mary & george" 😂

47:51 - taylor finishing nicholas' sentence about matthew's direction for the cake scene; sharing a braincell lol

48:36 - taylor's dog passed away the night of the first day of filming like wow, that fucking sucks 🥺😭

49:05 - "everyone's looking at me with these sad eyes" made me so sad but then taylor said "do you want some tea?" in a terrible british accent lmfao

49:50 - nicholas complimenting and boosting taylor's performance while having such a hard time emotionally 🥺

50:49 - taylor bringing up running through the museum; i can hear the smile in his voice while talking about it 😭

51:28 - they filmed the kensington palace fight and the red room the week after nicholas got covid

52:40 - oh my god, the way you can hear nick grinning as he throws taylor under the bus for the sequel question 😂

53:30 - taylor wants a second book to base the sequel off of

54:03 - taylor used they/them pronouns for casey!! see? he knows, it was totally nerves

55:20 - it felt like it was over too soon, i desperately need more of them PLEASE 😭

This is the greatest thing that's happened in like, a month for me lmfao I am literally begging for more people to interview the boys about RWRB, I am so fucking desperate for more content of the two of them together. They are everything to me 🥺

Thanks for reading!! If you enjoyed this essay & would like to support me, you can give me a tip on my Ko-Fi! ☺️

[masakuterarr]

HxH Character Analysis : UVOGIN

*cracks my fingers* alright peoples, I've been cooking this for DAYS now and I finally have everything gathered (at least I hope so). So lean back, get something to drink and maybe some paper and pen to take notes :) This will be a long one! (btw if there are missspellings I am really sorry, english is not my native language and it's too much that I wrote and I do not have the energy to look over it again- :') )

Character Analysis of Uvogin, regarding the Sarasa Incident

Numbing and Emotional Detachment

A dumb brute with just muscles and purely driven by the joy to kill. That's probably how a lot of people would describe him. This is actually not really true and I will explain why I think that.

In my perception Uvogin kills because a) it's his 'job' and b) because he wants to drown his own emotions.

There are generally 2 Options we can work with.

Uvogin kills because it's one of the only things that give him a positive feeling, which lasts short term.

Uvogin kills because it's something that numbs his emotions

If we go with option 1, we assume that Uvogin relates positive feelings with killing.

Killing the people who came to kill himself, assumingly gives Uvogin the most pleasure (kinky lol). Assumingly it gives him some kind of kick of adrenaline, knowing he might potentially gives his life. It's probably a same kind of feeling with the russian roulette. (Most people play it because of the death wish, but I don't wanna focus on that too much for Uvogin. This death wish with Uvogin can be a giant topic for itself-)

I simply think, Uvogin got addicted to this kick of adrenaline over time and now simply can't stop.

In the german dub of HxH 2011 it's even put a bit better. There Uvogin says "Because dudes like you appear here and there, I just can't stop killing. It's like an addiction"(I am just obsessed with some of the wording in different languages. Plus I LIVE for german dub Uvogin lol)

NOW, what is ironic about this, is that some moments before Kurapika asked Uvogin what they feel when killing innocent people they don't even know. To which Uvogin answers with "Nothing"

I found this weird so I came to the conclusion that Uvogin has a) to difference between killing innocent people and people who come to revenge or b) he doesn't even know it himself and he is just a confused mess, which makes sense if you consider how his mental health state is after unhealed trauma and unhealthy coping mechanism (but I will go intot his now anyways).

But if we consider Option 2, that killing people is actually numbing his feelings, he might even be the complete opposite of what we thought he is. In this case he might be a emotional mess and killing people is what calms him down.

No matter what tho, Uvogin is heavily addicted to the act of killing and he continues to kill because it's something that distracts him from his emotions. Because judging for how long this has been ago, Uvo is way too deep into this entire hole of killing as coping that he can't bare to face the reality that by now, he is probably even worse than Sarasas murder. So he drowns himself in distraction, pushing the reality down his throat so he does not have to face it. But even if he wanted to, he would probably just break at the actual realization of what he has become.

Extreme Punctuality and The Urge to Control The Uncontrollable

(ah my favorite and the least thing looked at)

At first look it is just a cute funny detail added to Uvogins character to make him a bit more relateable and whole as a character. But looking at it I actually realized a sad thing.

Remember when Sarasa went out alone? The others thought she was just gonna get the tape and come back.

If you look at it and put it simply. Sarasa was late. You know what Uvo hates? Someone being late. Nice when the realization kicks in, is it? :)

To explain it now;

When they found Sarasa in the forest, it was already too late. Uvo realized that if they were to search for her earlier or just arrive earlier, they might have had a chance to make an impact on the outcome. Or even save her life.

With this in mind, Uvogins focus on being punctional now seems less random. His anger towards his comerades being late probably isn't even intentionally. Sarasa's death might have impacted Uvo with a strong sense of responsibility as well.

He wants to gain control over things he can't even control, which is a really common coping response to trauma. He once lost control over something, which led to a tragic consequence and now he fears to lose control once again. So Uvogins 'anger' is not because he is actually mad, but because he fears that the same thing happened to them. He simply just cares and is scared that the ones he cares about are getting hurt and worst case, even die.

Because it happened once. So it's much likely to happen again, right? This is a common anxiety thought process.

Outer Persona and Antisocial Behavior

It is obvious that Uvo has a certain 'tough-guy' persona that he shows to the outside world. It becomes very clear when he fights against Kurapika

When Uvogin begins to realize that Kurapika is stronger than he thought and (from his view) maybe even stronger than himself, you can see how this persona is slowly breaking down.

Outer Personas are a common thing for people with Anxiety and Depression. So I think it is save to assume, this is the case with Uvogin. The reason for that can be really simple; from just wanting to not let the others worry about his mental state or just to seem invincible to other people/enemies.

But it can also be, that Uvogin tries to convince himself that he is invincible and not wants to accept how vulnerable he actually as. And yet again, not being able to accept that he wasn't strong enough when Sarasa needed him to be.

To the 'antisocial' part;

When they found Sarasa in the bag back then, Uvo was about to leave her and the others. This always seemed a bit off to me. Why would he leave if he cared so much about her?

People have various reactions to when they don't know how to handle a situations or emotions. Some people laugh, some cry, some stay silent and some get angry. Uvogin is seemingly someone to cope with aggression or isolation/detachment. He probably just wanted to vanish because he felt weak and helpless, and his body instinctively reacted with aggression and the attempt to cut himself out off the scene.

Even at some point in the fight against Kurapika, you can see how Uvo started to gave up and just emotionlessly repeated himself to Kurapika: "Kill me" .

This also leads to (imo) Uvogin's biggest weakness :

Uvogin and Panic

Uvo is a strong and smart fighter, when it comes to combat. He can probably plan out a lot within just a few moments and has an incredible skill at creative problem solving.

Tho, for me, it tends to panic really easily, leaving him extremely vulnerable. The best example is in his fight against Kurapika but also against the Shadow Beasts. Theres a moment when he got caught off guard and starts to slightly panic, which led him to instinctively cope with aggression;

In the 2011 anime he even calls one of them "bastard" after collabsing onto the ground.

(small addition here cuz Shal wtf, why do you look like someone got you flowers after your comerade just collabsed onto the ground, obviously about to get tortured now??)

anyways-

Uvogins Ego and Self Blame

Ofc this can just be Uvo being Uvo, as he thinks a lot of his own abilities and skills, but since this is an analysis, why not looking into it too?

Maybe Uvogin tends to have an ego problem and high temper because he does not want to get reminded that he can fail too. Because in his opinion, the last time he failed, it led to Sarasa's death.

Logically it is obviously not his fault that Sarasa died. The kids straight up didn’t know what would or could happen. But I am very sure that Uvo always blamed himself for it. The same probably goes for Chrollo and the others as well. And since Uvogin is not in a healthy envirnment, nor got treatment for his trauma ever, he surely blames himself.

(And at this point he surely is not able to stop/change his mind on that anymore. Uvo would straight up rage if he was put into a therapist's office LOL)

A similar thought process might have happened when Uvo got kidnapped by the nostrade family and the others had to save him. After all, it would fit a LOT into his pattern of feeling vulnerable and coping with aggression trying to protect his ego. Cuz if he doesn’t he has to face the reality that he was too weak (again) and the others had to save him, putting them indirectly in potential danger.

His thought process is probably something like: I was too weak → others had to save me → IF they get injured or worst case someone dies bc of it, it is his fault → Cuz they had to save HIM. Because this again is a comon pattern when it comes to Anxiety and Depression.

which leads me to the next point;

Overcompensation with strength and the fear of weakness

My last point. A simple but sad one.

Uvo simply feats of being weak. So he purely focuses on physical strength and mastering his nen as an enhancer.

"If I am too weak, I just need to get stronger, right?"

Because he is an enhancer, he would probably think this simple. And even if we look at it from a depression perspective; A quick way out and taking the first idea to not waste any more time. Especially since Uvo does not seem to be much of an overthinker.

He had emptiness and many questions inside him and his first instinctive answer was strength. As simple as that.

gosh this was a lot- but I warned you before so don't blame me LOL

I hope I was able to explain my thought about him and how I look at him :) I will maybe do a second part, focusing on the "death wish" part I talked about earlier! We will see, no promises.

Feel free to tell me your opinion on this! I would love to hear them 🤍

[thesharktanksdriver]

Hey! So I wanted to ask something about determination! reader, have the characters of the movies meet Reader? Like for example Uta or Tesoro of film gold?

Anyways I lover You work and I hope to see the part of Roger! ✨

Hello!!! Sorry for getting to your ask so late, I’ve been really tired these past few days lol.

But as for your questions kinda?

I have to retcon y/n meeting Uta as a baby cause it doesn’t match up timeline wise. I assumed Shanks found her just before Roger died but I’m pretty sure I’m wrong about that lol.

But I do want to write a lil something for Uta, she’s a personal favourite of mine and she in my opinion doesn’t get enough attention.

I’d like to make something about y/n meeting her and somehow convincing her of how the wake-shroom is dangerous, maybe by eating it and dying lol. I might even make something later on with the straw hats meeting up with her in Elegia for a reunion for her and Luffy….plus a duet between her, Brook and y/n would be killer. I just want good things for her 😭

As for Tesoro if think something interesting could be that they both met while slaves, but I’m unsure if that timeline wise since y/n was a slave when boa and her sisters were for an undetermined amount of time until Boa was forced to kill them.

Really sad idea for that though is that in that time Tesoro tried his best to help and protect them before they were killed. Maybe they had even met because he could hear them quietly singing to try and comfort Boa and her sisters and it reminded him of Stella :[

That idea is really funny tho when it comes to one piece gold cause he has a panic attack realizing their

A) alive after he assumed they died cause he saw the girls they were with uncontrollably sobbing, now he thinks they had somehow escaped

B) with the straw hats he’s actively trying to kill

C) damn, he needs their skincare routine cause they look like they haven’t aged at all!

Even if this route isn’t the case, i cousl kinda see him doing his whole thing In gold of trying to capture and kill the straw hats but then sees they have this random kid with them that reminds a little too much of Stella and assumes the straw hats kidnapped them and is holding them as some sort of hostage.

Which in turns makes him even more pissed and determined (lol) to kill these damn pirates and save this kid.

If this was the case of scenario of their meeting, y/n opening up about their own time as well as a slave would be really interesting. Especially since in many regards he became like the world novels he hated, taking pleasure in others suffering as well as having insane amounts of wealth to live in luxury while also being hypocritical and hating other wealthy people who act exactly like him.

Tesoro wouldn’t get why y/n looks at him with a sad and also horrified look in their eyes.

Why they seem afraid of him when he had “saved” them.

Another potential movie character I can see as an interesting person for y/n to meet is Z.

Because for a much as Z hates pirates I don’t think he’d be willing to hurt a kid, not when his was killed. So he’s left in a weird impasse of wanting to kill the straw hats but also trying to keep y/n not involved even if he knows they’re also a pirate and their actively joining in on the fights.

Doesn’t help that the marines there to stop him reaallly want y/n too, so he kinda has to deal with Borsalino and making sure that the admiral nor y/n’s crew doesn’t get them.

I’d definitely imagine y/n would get in heated arguments with the dude, especially since they’re not letting someone mess with Roger’s legacy and cause they get his pain (somewhat at least).

They’ve been on the receiving end of cruelty from pirates.

But at the same time marines have done arguably much worse yet uphold the status of justice.

What is justice when they murder all infants on an island due to fear of Roger having a blood child.

What is justice when they wipe out an entire race of people and take their land to make Mary geoise.

What is justice when they make living weapons.

What is justice when marines can kill civilians with only so much as a small punishment by HQ.

What justice is there in tracking down escaped slaves and being lapdogs for celestial dragons.

At least pirates though some are equally terrible don’t proclaim themselves under the hypocrisy of “justice”. Don’t claim to be holy saints when they try and kill someone for the sin of their father being a pirate.

[sashkapi]

I really want to know your head canon about Kick and Kendall as a couple? Plus it's it obvious that Kick will end up with Kendall ,they have kissed like 3 times . Jackie is obsessed with kick in an unhealthy way . Scarlet is a teen , ( kick is a kid) she is in one episode. April is kinda forgotten soo !

Plus don't you think Kendall is pretty attractive as per show standards, like tall , smart , elegance,has a awesome side?

Plus I really loved your fanarts 🌸

Part 2 of me being a mess for Kindall :)

Before that, eh, I honestly don't take the cartoon too seriously in a shipping perspective. If people like Kick x Jackie or Kick x Scarlett - good! It's their business, not mine. (In regards of Kick being a kid and Scarlett being a teen - it is kinda icky as their original ages, but most fanfics I red that include Kick x Scarlett are aged up a bit so it's not that bad. And eh, their age difference is like what, 2-3 years? That difference is nothing when you're adult)

(April?! Didn't she liked Kick in a "Whoa! Cool little guy!! Funny small dude!!! :D" type of way? I don't think that she is interested in him in any romantic way, because... their age difference??) (April is me, she is my self insert now /j)

Also - to me Kendall is a cartoon. They all are. Saying one is prettier than the other is kinda odd to me jdklfkgldg.

(Thamks <3)

OK NOW PART 2  FOR REALSIES

Them as a couple :)

1. They still fight. Pretty often. Now, however, their fights are more like play fights and they usually end with both of them giggling under their noses.

2. Kendall used to be quite jealous in the beginning of their relationship, but soon realized that her only "opponent" on that front is adrenaline. She already accepted that "Yep, I can not compete with that, sorry."

3. (I'm gonna put my "Kendall writes novels in secret" hc everywhere, yes) Kendall quite frequently gives Kick really cool stunt ideas and then asks him to tell her everything in detail. She hasn't told him about her hobby and everytime Kick asks why she has such cool stunt ideas and why she needs extremely detailed retelling afterwards, her reply is always "Y'know... Research..."

(She will tell him someday)

4. They are pretty good team when they are working together but don't leave them alone. They'll distract each other by flirting and get no things done.

5. Their dates are rarely normal. Even a simple walk in a park could end up with them in a middle of shark infested lake. Kick's doing usually. But their dates also rarely end in a disaster because Kendall prepares for almost everything.

Most of her clothes are waterproof for example.

6. Kendall sometimes calls Kick overly cute pet names just to mess with him a bit. She knows he doesn't like it but oh, the feminine urge to frustrate a man. Playfully.

7. The actual pet name Kendall has for Kick is "Tiger". She wanted to call him "kitten" but c'mon, it's too cute. She just made "kitten" more awesome.

Tigers are kittens too so yea

8. Kicks pet name for Kendall? "Fireball". Kinda based on her fiery temper and "Kendall" sounds like "Candle" and candles are lit up with fire.

Fir e ba ll

9. "Clarence" and "Kends" are names they don't like to be called. Unless it's each other.

10. Jackie wasn't fond of the news that Kick and Kendall started dating to say the least. However after some time (and stalking)(Jackie is deranged <3) Jackie absolutely stopped getting between Kick and Kendall. Why?

She started obsessing over Kendall too.

11. Kinda ironic but hand holding is their most frequent way of pda. And the most unconscious one too. They just kinda reach for each other from time to time and it's so casual that you won't notice if you're not paying attention.

12. Communication is their biggest problem because

  - Kendall has some social perception issues tm

  - Kick is as naturally good in extreme sports as he is clumsy in a topic of relationships

They have an extremely messy fights sometimes but both are stubborn and sometimes see their relationship as a challenge so "We WILL figure it out >:("

They don't realise but their relationship gives them both character development 👍

13. If you mess with Kendall, Kick will pick a fight with you. 25% is because hey, don't mess with his girlfriend. 75% is because "Listen, she WILL ruin your life. You're better off with me knocking you down a peg or two"

14. This hc contradicts canon a bit but I just think it's cute so screw it - Kick doesn’t blush. Well, not really. He does BUT only his ears turn red. And he wears his helmet 24/7

While his family, Gunther, Wade and Kendall have seen Kick without his helmet, only Kendall knows about this.

15. Kick, even before they started dating, realized that "Kendall is boring" is nonsense. He already knew she can match him in acrobatics when she's following his lead but then why this girl knows how to make an actual sharp knife out of potatoes? Why she can sleep through math test and still get a perfect score? Why does she knows the names and layouts of some undocumented and pretty dangerous places in Mellowbrook? How did she reach that point when she can tell an obvious lie to an adult in power and they will believe her no questions asked? Why does she knows how to operate a submarine? Why does she knows the exact names of parts in a motorcycle? (It's normal for him to know but why does SHE KNOWS?) (She reads a lot :) )

Kendall joked that she "expected the unexpected" when they started dating but never realized that it was the same for Kick.

16. Kick taught Kendall to rollerblade. (Yes, Kendall joked that she wanted to know how to do it so she can beat Kick in roller derby "fair and square") Kendall learned pretty quickly but kept pretending that she didn't so she could spend more time with Kick.

He knew btw.

They're cheeky with each other like that :)

Ok, I'll stop here. Trust me, the reason I was putting away this ask because I was deciding which hcs put here and which I wanted to keep to draw later. My draft had like 30 points to it..

[cephalog0d]

I just found you venom!steph stuff and I absolutely love it! Would you be willing to share a bit about this whole idea?

BOY WOULD I. I’ve got a few things I need to wrap up before I can really dig in properly to this AU but I have SO MANY IDEAS.

The basic concept is that it’s a canon divergence at the end of War Games, where Steph nearly dies (as normal) but instead of the whole faking-her-death-and-going-to-Africa-with-Leslie thing she instead acquires a symbiote that bonds to her and heals her and now she’s super strong/fast/tough/agile and can basically shapeshift and they proceed to make it everyone’s problem.

So you’ve got Steph being angry and traumatized by the whole tortured-almost-to-death thing and also dealing with the fact that Tim is right back out as Robin as if nothing happened to her. (Nobody is a reliable narrator in this story, I should mention right up top.) And then I’m still solidifying exactly what I want to do with it, but my current thinking for the symbiote is that it’s also had its own run in with Batman (probably without Bruce really knowing about it or recognizing what it was) and has its own grudge, so you get that great relationship of the two of them bonding and then proceeding to be just the worst influence on each other, specifically with regard to their Bat Hate. Plus Steph knows who all the Bats are and they all think she’s dead. It’s a great time for everyone!

(I’m definitely playing fast and loose with the Marvel canon half of things and mostly just inserting a symbiote into the DC universe, and not necessarily THE Venom symbiote although that’s easier shorthand. But there are also definitely some parallels there between like. The idea of Steph blaming Batman for everything that’s happened and how that’s maybe not entirely unfair but also she definitely did make her own mistakes that led to things vs. Eddie’s whole thing with blaming Peter for ruining his life even though he did, objectively, mess things up his own self Peter is just how he got caught.)

(Also there’s definitely some parallels between Steph and Eddie in terms of the whole “having a shitty dad and being desperate for approval and willing to do some unwise things in trying to get it” thing. Just saying. I think that’s part of the whole “give her a symbiote” thing for me is that she spent so long trying so hard to be good enough and gain the approval of others and falling short and I think having that immediate connection where she doesn’t need to do anything different or be better by some impossible metric, she’s already exactly what the symbiote needs and wants, would be a big factor in her bonding so closely with it.)

So yeah, Steph with a symbiote who knows who all the Bats are while they think she’s dead becomes a real Problem for them, obviously. They’re pretty anti-Bat, between Steph’s recent history and the symbiote’s own experiences, so that’s a fun thing to play with, but then there’s also lots of other complicated relationships because obviously it’s not JUST Batman out there.

I think Tim especially is a messy one and her feelings about him swing pretty wildly depending on the moment. I imagine she probably spends some time needling him about her own death trying to get a reaction out of him, which he probably is trying to not give her because he doesn’t know yet who she is and thinks she’s just a new villain who knows way too much about them, so I’m sure that goes great. (On the other hand, I can definitely see her doing like a surprise coming-to-the-rescue thing, partly because it is still Tim and she doesn’t actually want him dead or seriously injured and partly because it’ll throw him off his game and be funny to psych him out.)

Cass is probably a little more straightforward because their relationship wasn’t quite as messy before she died but I also think there was probably a bit of resentment Before, where Cass excelled without any apparent effort at so many things that mattered to them while Steph struggled to even slightly keep up, which is probably only heightened by everything else that’s happened. On top of that there’s Cass’s extremely inflexible moral code causing problems. I do think Cass is the one who actually realizes who Steph is, because she’s different now and it’s wrong in a kind of uncanny valley way but still recognizable. (This does not immediately fix anything, because Cass still has very firm ideas of what Steph SHOULD be doing or not doing and Steph, at least at first, does not want to hear it.)

My thought is that there is an eventual shift where Steph reconsiders things and decides she doesn’t want to keep doing what she’s doing. (It’s probably helped by the fact that she misses Cass, and sometimes Tim, but that’s only part of it. I think the other part is her realizing she’s a little too like her own father and not wanting to be that anymore.) Which is obviously a long and messy ordeal to reach any level of reconciliation after everything.

(I confess I haven’t decided how the whole “Jason’s Red Hood Rampage” plot point fits into this AU. XD Eventually I’ll sit down and decide if/how I want any intersection there but. We’ll see. I feel like Steph would have absolutely negative patience for any of Jason’s bullshit given her own experience, honestly.)

The really fun part of this (well, one of them, but the one I’ve already written a couple times because it’s obviously the part my brain really latched onto) is the idea of Steph in this universe after Bruce’s death, because she definitely has some feelings about that, but also her relationship with Dick (such as it is) is not at all the same thing as her relationship to Bruce. But now Dick is Batman and there’s some instinct-level reactions there, especially on the symbiote’s part, so I think that’s fun.

PLUS we get the addition of Damian, and I am always and forever on my Steph and Damian bullshit. And I’m just very fond of the idea of slightly-more-anti-hero-than-villain Venom!Steph finding the mean, stabby child adorable and deciding that if there has to be a Robin (because she can’t really stop them) she’s going to make damn sure there aren’t any more dead ones after her.

(Of course, if you’re following the canon course of events that will go super great eventually, but shhh it’s fine.)

(Dick, obviously, has more than enough going on in his life and isn’t thrilled about this but if it means the quasi-reformed-villainous-alien-goo-monster is looking out for Damian instead of attacking him he’s sort of willing to accept that for the time being.)

This is probably very rambly despite my efforts to organize my thoughts a bit, but I just have so many feelings about the idea of Steph getting superpowers and a symbiote buddy and getting to have a little villain arc and a subsequent redemption(ish) anti-hero-y arc and all the mess of her relationships to the various Bats. I have a ton of little moments and ideas floating around and jotted down and one of these days I’m going to clear my current WIPs enough to really sit down and work on it and I cannot wait.

Thank you so much for the ask!! I’m so glad you like the idea and I’m thrilled to be able to share it with others!

[dispatchvampire]

Accidentally in Love (Chapter 3)

Pairing: Steve Rogers x Bucky Barnes x FemaleOC

Warnings: Potentially lethal levels of fluffiness right now, potential for smut later. A little blood, canon levels of violence potentially. Plus size female OC, body descriptions.

Rating: PG-13 (right now for language, but look for this to change)

WC: 1800-ish.

Summary: 

Echo's living a normal life in NYC, a 911 dispatcher, the most excitement she gets is from the calls she takes. And then love comes crashing in one day when she's riding her bike through Central Park.

Steve and Bucky weren't looking for anything on their daily run around the park besides fresh air and exercise. The streak of purple eye candy on a bike that lapped them pretty regularly was a nice addition but not mandatory, at least until some impromptu roughhousing results in some civilian casualties in the form of the most beautiful woman either of them had seen in a long, long time.

A/N: AU, Post CACW, Bucky’s Chill and we have always lived in the Tower. Just call this a throwback to the found family, everyone lives in Stark Tower fics.

This is supposed to be a super-fluffy love story. Still undecided if I'm gonna keep this one going but posting now for giggles and grins. It's got some CSI:NY characters crossing over because why not.

I'm just messing about and playing in my WIPs folder. Not Beta'd: we die like men! (honestly, I tried but if you catch something I missed, let me know)

Chapter 3

One Week Later

“Is he hot in person?”

“Who?” Echo slipped her lunch into the breakroom fridge and pulled out the two cold bottles of caffeinated water she’d left in there the previous night. Late afternoon as it slipped into evening was always a busy time and she needed the fortification. 

“Spongebob Squarepants,” Kalenda, her work bestie, scoffed as she crossed her arms with an impatient frown. The curvy brunette was Echo’s age, about two inches shorter but making up for it with feistiness. “Who do you think? Bucky freaking Barnes! Christ, it’s like you don’t even know me at all.”

 “Lord…” she rolled her eyes as she held the door to the break room open for her friend to pass in front of her on their way into the main center. “Yes. Yes, he is just as beautiful in person, and he and Captain Rogers together are, in fact, as kind and stupidly hot as advertised.” After the visit at the hospital where they’d returned her replaced or repaired belongings—including her bike—Echo had traded numbers with Steve and Bucky, and the guys had texted her a few times in the intervening days to check on her and chatting a little, but it felt weird reaching out to contact them just because. It wasn’t like they were friends or anything. 

Not that she wouldn’t have minded being their friend, or… well, or. They were gorgeous, sweet, funny so far as she could tell, and of course heroic and selfless as hell. The way they smiled at her made her knees weak and her pussy may never recover. What’s not to like? But who was she kidding, really. They were the objects of desire for over half the planet, she guessed, and she was a dispatcher for the NYPD. In no way were those worlds truly related, outside of the most superficial ways, much less were compatible. 

“The hair and those eyes, I’d get so fucking lost in them you’d never find me again. And all those muscles,” she sighed lustily. “Fuck me, that’s before we even talk about that metal arm,” Kalenda carried on, now in full swoon as they made their way out to their stations. “Gods, the things I would let him do to me…” 

Echo snorted at her friend’s obvious heart-eyes in regards to the Winter Soldier. She didn’t blame her at all, but still, their coworkers didn’t need to be privy to their depraved bestie conversations. That’s what the chat was for. “Annnnnnd that is how we end up back at the supervisor’s office for inappropriate work conversations.”

Kalenda scoffed, waving off her concern with a dismissive hand-wave. “Oh, like you’ve never said anything filthy.” Her wicked grin should have been the warning. “Something something ‘star-spangled cock could split you open any time he wanted’? Something something ‘break him down to the frame’... any of that sound familiar?” 

Her leering green gaze as she slipped on her headset made Echo giggle even as heat rushed to her cheeks. “You could shut up any time now.”  

The laughter was shortlived, though, as they settled into their workday. Having a headset on meant that it was time to serve the citizens of NYC and the officers of NYPD to the best of their abilities. They were one of, if not the, largest comm center in the country and Echo was proud of the work she did, contributing to the safety of her town. 

It was easy to get lost in the work, one call at a time, one radio run at a time. Her focus, scattered as it could be at any other time, easily fell into the rhythm of call and response, action and reaction, hours slipping by unnoticed. 

Voices behind her and down at the end of her row drew her attention, their familiarity abruptly yanking her out of the zone. 

One pair of eyes zeroed in on her immediately. “Well, if it isn’t the crash test dummy.” 

Boisterously loud for the locale, Tony Stark was the walking definition of ‘all eyes on me’. He may have been in a crazy expensive suit and tie, looking all prim and proper and what have you, but the curve of his lips promised the most interesting kinds of mischief. 

Echo swallowed hard as she made herself unavailable for calls, her eyes quickly darting left and right to the unabashed gawking of her coworkers. Oh, they were still busy as hell, but the nosy bastards were never above a good spectacle. “Mr. Stark.” 

“Did the phone meet your standards?” he demanded with a smirk that seemed a little too knowing. He stopped behind her chair, spinning her around to face him. 

She nodded hesitantly. “It did, thank you. I mailed you a thank you note. Did you not get it?” 

Yes, it had been an old school touch, but sending him an email seemed a little impersonal, especially since he’d gone to the trouble of transferring all her stuff over in addition to giving her a top of the line bit of tech. And it wasn’t like she could just show up on his doorstep with a casserole.

He snorted, his billion dollar smile on full display as his eyes crinkled at the edges. “I did, but then, I expected nothing less considering you hang out with the geriatric set.” 

She was about to ask what he meant when another voice cut her off. “Tony, Jesus, man. Quiet down, people are working here—oh, hey Echo.” 

She sincerely hoped the whimpering squeak as she spun quickly to face him she heard was just in her head, though Kalenda’s snort behind her indicated no such luck. “Hi. James. I-I mean Bucky. Um…” her eyes met her bestie’s just behind him for some help, but only found the kind of mocking encouragement born from years of friendship. “Nice to see you. Here. At my job.” 

“Um yeah, about that…” The brunet smoothed his long bangs back out of his face behind his ears and grinned bashfully as he rubbed the back of his neck. Under other circumstances, she and Kalenda would be ogling him for the way the seams of his deep blue henley were barely clinging to life across his shoulders and around his massive arms and the skinny jeans that were all but wrecking her concentration. “Cap and Tony had a meeting at 1PP and Stevie wanted me to tag along.” 

“I’m glad he did.” The way her compliment made his cheeks flush felt like winning an award, even if the normal filter she kept up at work slipped a bit. 

“Me too.” The tiny shy grin that danced at the corners of his lips was killing her slowly, even as the somewhat awkward silence stretched out between them. 

Kalenda’s obvious throat-clearing seemed to startle her back into herself, reminding her acutely of both their location and their audience. 

“Well, it’s always good to see you.” The platitude was automatic, off her tongue and into the space between them before she even thought about it, her nerves robbing her mind of anything but decent manners. Good gods, she was never gonna live this down. 

“You look good.” His eyes widened a moment later as he flushed bright red, clearly that hadn’t been what he’d meant to come out of his mouth. “I mean, that is… you look better than when I saw you last time.” 

“Hard not to,” she conceded, her mind bordering on hysterical the longer this conversation went on. It felt like the whole world was watching this junior-high level farce and she was stumbling through it, quite badly. 

“Well, on the upside, you’re wearing more clothes this time,” Tony interjected oh-so-helpfully, looking like he was avidly watching the best telenovela ever and doing nothing to quell the likely overheating rumor mill that had just kicked into gear around them. “And there’s less blood.” 

“Alright, thank you, Mr. Stark,” Shelly, the floor supervisor’s breathlessly cheerful voice sounded like she’d rather eat broken glass than let that conversation continue as she rushed across the room to join them. “Echo, Mr. Stark, Sergeant Barnes, and Captain Rogers—”

“Hello, Echo.” 

She was almost afraid to look, though Kalenda’s dreamy sigh left her no other choice. Sure enough, the gods of horniness were testing her and pretty much every woman in the five boroughs with these three Avengers out together. In a black t-shirt under a green button-down and jeans that gave her the most impure thoughts possible about his thighs, the blond Avenger with the pink cheeks grinned at her warmly from his spot behind Tony. The fact her panties didn’t burst into flames right there was a miracle of modern physics. 

“Hey Steve.” 

“As I was saying,” her supervisor huffed, bringing all of the attention back to her, “they’re here to tour the center, so we should really be on our way.” 

Sounded reasonable to her, so long as they were there, Echo doubted there’d be much work done anyway. “Alright then.” Echo turned back to her console to take stock of her district. “It was good to see you. Be safe out there.”

“Before we go though…” Buck’s half-grin as he met her eye over her shoulder warmed her to her toes. “You out of here soon?” 

“A few hours. Why?” 

“Wanna meet up for a late dinner?” 

His hopeful expression tugged at her heart. It was the kind of thing that made her want to give him the world, even if she didn’t know him like that. “It’ll be after ten,” she hedged, perched on the fence between really wanting to spend time with them because who wouldn’t, really, and knowing that she’s no one special and didn’t have any business tagging along with them. 

“Then we’ll leave a light on for ya,” Steve replied cheerfully as he and Bucky were led further into the center and away from her desk. “See you tonight.”

“Always a pleasure, Crash,” Tony called, following behind him. 

Echo sat blinking at her console as she watched the group retreat, only spurred to action when she caught Steve’s eye as he winked at her before leaving the room. 

“What just happened?” she asked the Universe at large as she typed in the login code for her phone from muscle memory.

“Looks to me,” Kalenda replied lightly dropping off a new bottle of caffeinated water, “like you have a date after work.” 

“Huh.” The very idea was mindblowing. Quickly, her mind was shaken from its haze by a bank robbery that required both her and Kalenda’s attention for quite a while. 

“And had the nerve not to introduce me.”

[harlowehearse]

Candle Cove Head cannons

I have severe brain rot (also some of these might be from the archive account so apologies if you've seen them before). No rhyme or reason to this it's just a bunch of things that came to mind.

-It's a running gag that no one really knows what exactly Horace is? Whether he's really human or not? Even he doesn't seem to know and makes several conflicting statements about it.

-It's also a gag Horace just has no idea how old Janice is. He assumes she's like 3 or 4 or something and doesn't think she can read or anything.

-All of the puppets are made with 4 fingers aside from the abyssian ones who have all 5.

-Abyssians aren't born, they come from and are made from the sand at the bottom of the sea. They don't live forever, just much longer than a human. If they die of age they turn back into sand.

-Janice and Skin-taker sharing a birthday is partially true. Skin-taker does genuinely consider the date his birthday as well because it was the day Poppy killed him and he became what he is now, birthdays and date of deaths are practically the same thing to him.

-Janice and Skin-taker share quite a few other similarities like being the only left handed characters in the show, curiosity being a key character trait, their favorite color both being purple, and just a lot more sprinkled through out the show.

-Janice can be very blunt, is a terrible liar, and her curiosity can easily get the best of her so she'll just blurt out questions as soon as they come.

-Eye contact makes Janice quite uncomfortable (yet another reason why Skin-taker unnerves her so much cuz the guy just stares daggers into your soul).

-After getting really pissed at Horace Janice once threw a rock at and accidentally killed him. Skin-taker brought him back and he was honestly unphased but Janice is still a little messed up and feels guilt over it.

-Janice can get very frustrated or angry, mostly in cases of other characters being mean towards her or her friends (9/10 it's Horace she's mad at).

-Calvary is deaf in his left ear and the whole crew knows sign language. Nathan helped to teach Janice and in return she helped teach him some math stuff she learned from school.

-If she doesn't want to go somewhere, Ms. Laughingstock will just stop dead in her tracks. While not often she and Poppy do butt heads sometimes.

-Revolvers weren't used as weapons in the show until Milo was introduced in season 2.

-Milo was the one to teach Janice how to wield a cutlass ("begrudgingly," he will tell you). Up until that point she just used a slingshot she had from home and a throwing knife Percy taught her how to use.

-Skin-taker's lair resembles a relatively normal living space set up in the cave, and would actually be quite cozy had it not be all made from human remains.

-Skin-taker doesn't hate Poppy because he killed him, he's actually a bit grateful for that because he enjoys being dead, he hates him because Poppy 1) wasted the skin by just throwing it to sharks and 2) Skin-taker sees him as a hypocrite as he has committed crimes just as heinous as Skin-taker, but now goes around with the title "The Honorable Pirate" while sweeping his past under the rug. Plus the guy just gets on his nerves.

-Despite how aloof and cold he seems to regard him Horace is probably the only one (living) Skin-taker would consider a friend.

-Getting new skin isn't the only reason Skin-taker does things, he'll also just do things because he's curious as to the result or he thinks it'd be funny.

-Skin-taker actually really likes wordplay and funny sounding words. Sometimes he'll just say little rhymes and random words out loud to amuse himself. Of course he's also very cryptic sometimes to be purposefully ominous too.

-Though she never appears in person on the show or is mentioned by name, whenever the Red Mary is eluded to or something makes reference to her the music of the show stops, and if you listen closely, you can hear the crackling of a fire in the mix of the background TV static.

-Even though he can't physically smoke Skin-taker has a collection of wooden pipes.

-Sunny has a little cactus collection on the ship that Hans helped her get. Little reminder of home.

-The rubberfishes crew aren't really fond of Skin-taker (they're just as creeped out by him as The Laughingstock crew) but they're all very loyal to and kind of care about Horace so they stick it out for their captain.

-Lillian had light magic and like Horace was a sorcerer of sorts, Talapio was her familiar.

-The Tarantula crews sails were sewn using string Talapio gave them, and because of that you could see them faintly shimmering at night. Some referred to them as "the crew with stars in their sails" because of this.

-You could point at any color, any hue tone shade what have you, and Skin-taker could immediately tell you it's specific name. It's one of the few things about him that are the same from when he was Thade Soben.

-Lillian was genuinely a very goofy, emotional, and fun loving person but being a captain she tried keeping a very calm confident demeanor all the time which then lead her to also being secretly stressed out 24/7. Seeing Thades joy and curiosity for almost everything in Candle Cove helped bring out her sillier side again though.

-No one other than Poppy knows Percy's past on the Tarantula crew as the infamous Prowler Percy and whenever someone goes "Man that prowler percy was so cool I wonder what happened to him" Percy is just "Yeahh haha crazy- let's change the subject" just because he remembering those times hurts too much now and also the NPHC would pay soooooo much money to see Prowler dead.

-One time Poppy gambled Percy in a bet and lost and the crew then spent the whole episode getting into shenanigans trying to get him back.

-There was one episode where Janice and Horace got separated from their crew on a dangerous island and had to very begrudgingly work together to try and get back to them with Janice managing to snag his monocle and holding it hostage so he didn't try any funny business. Even though he did end up betraying her in the end by leaving her on the island (the Laughingstock crew did get her back still) during the episode they actually worked pretty well together and at one point found some common ground, and ever since Horace just seemed a little less hostile towards her, insulted her less, and even seemed to try and lightly deter Skin-taker from her once or twice.

-Susan Siren is actually a menace and does crash ships and kill sailors with her singing she's just loyal to Janice and The Laughingstock crew because Janice freed her from lullaby rock. Girls killed and will do so again.

-Green Gregory is the only other one is Candle Cove aside from Janice who isn't a puppet (in my version I like to think Susan and Nathan are also puppets). It's suggested but never confirmed whether or not he too was once a child who came to Candle Cove long ago.

-Green Gregory knew Skin-taker when he was Thade back when he was a pirate himself, and every once in a while after the taverns closed Skin-taker shows up to catch up with his old acquaintance. Even though he's clear in his distain for the skeleton's doing Gregory is never unwelcoming to him (listen even if they have no canon interactions you can't give me two characters presumably played by the same actor and expect me to NOT come up with a connection between them).

-Percy's paranoia and Calvary's superstition go hand in hand in literally the most chaotic and worst way. Sea dog is so tired of their shit.

-Milo is the only person to have ever tested Dr. Heartfelt's patience.

-The puppets can bleed. It's not a practical effect.

[pokemonispain]

Do you have any sickfic headcanons for Yanqing or Luocha! I always sort of shipped JingLuo with Yanqing as their son T-T so the family hurt/comfort vibe!!

Sorry this took me so long anon so much life stuff has happened 😭.

So I do not have any for Luocha at the moment although I do adore him and ship JingLuo quite a bit. For Yanqing however oh boy do I have quite a few, I adore him he’s just the cutest little guy, I wanna carry him around 😭

So for regular sickfic

•I feel like Yanqing’s biggest reasons he gets sick are overwork, combined with like recklessness. For example training in bad weather with his swords. While when it comes to over work he is always rushing to prove himself especially in regards to Jing Yuan’s approval .

•He definitely gets quieter when sick. And it’s something incredibly noticeable as well.

•would try to hide it to keep working but Jing Yuan would be able to take one glance at him and it’s all over.

•definitely prone to fainting when his fever is too hot (he’s smol help him) which has given Jing Yuan a pretty bad scare before since the only warning Yanqing gives is a small groan or strained whimper.

•Gets sleepy easily when sick for sure but also prone to nightmares.

•I feel like if they’re in private and he sees Yanqing fighting to stay he would just pick Yanqing up and carry him to bed.

•I feel like if Yanqing is coughing he’d cough like a cat trying to cough up a hair ball which is a funny image to me🤣

•Jing Yuan would either take his temperature by bending down and pressing his forehead to Yanqing’s or just cupping his cheek. It’s just really cute to me❤️

•If this is a fic where like Jing Yuan is dating Luocha or they’re married etc I can definitely see Luocha being the one always prepared for whatever when Yanqing gets sick.

Has like 500 plus different herbal remedies and a bunch more medicinal knowledge on hand.

•Would probably place Yanqing’s hair in a braid so he won’t have to worry about it too much. Would hum to him and stroke his hair while he sleeps.

•I hc that Jing Yuan probably holds Yanqing’s hand when he’s having a nightmare. And is also not above like gathering Yanqing in his arms and just holding him while waiting for the poor boy to calm down.

Now for Emeto hc

•of course I have to start with my fave and that is that Yanqing often has to be held up by the waist when throwing up specifically because his retches are so violent that he will nearly topple when he’s already unsteady due to the fever, nausea and queasiness.

I saw the size differences between him and Luocha but especially between him and jing yuan and have not known peace since then.

•Yanqing is definitely seems like the type to give those like wet hiccups when nauseous. You know the kind👀👁️

•does his best to get to the bathroom because he doesn’t want to make a mess nor anyone really seeing him but it’s a toss up on whether or not he actually manages to get there.

•in terms of noise I feel like Yanqing is somewhere in the middle because he tried his damnedest to muffle it.

•has definitely gotten it in his hair while trying to pull his hair back 😭 poor thing

•the type who likes back rubs without a doubt but nearly refuses to ask for them

[bruggle]

I really wish I could finish something at the moment without a heavy need to share the wip. BUT ALAS, my brain doesn't want to work anymore today, but AAAAAAAAAAAAAA THIS IS CUTE. So here. For @waythroughtheice :3

Geo stared at the gun in his hands.

  “You want me to… what?” he asked, giving Axl and Brook a confused look.

  “Play a game of paintball with us,” Axl grinned. Ah. So he had heard them correctly the first time.

  “You’ve played laser tag before, right?” asked Brook.

  “Yeah,” Geo muttered. Back then. Back before-

  “It’s like that,” Axl assured him. “Only a bit more physical. Think of it as target practice.” Brook turned to Omega. “You gonna join us, handsome?” she queried. The blonde reploid let out a scoff. “No,” he grumbled. “It makes a shit ton of a mess.”

  “Kill joy,” she teased.

  “Okay, but like… why?” Geo spoke up. Axl shrugged. “Like I said,” the prototype started. “It’s good real time target practice. You can actually see where you’ve shot.”

  “Plus, it’s fun,” Brook added. He didn’t deserve fun. Geo still wasn’t too sure about this. “Does it hurt?” he fretted.

  “I mean, yeah,” Brook answered. “But nothing worse than a couple of bruises. It’s good for you. And, makes a fun mess. Watch.” The ruddy haired woman then turned and shot Axl in the back of his leg, causing a splash of green paint to explode on his jeans. He wasn’t wearing any armor. Nobody wore armor unless at HQ. Axl let out a yelp as he turned to glare at Brook. “Why do you always do that?” he hissed.

  “Funny,” Brook grinned, causing Omega to let out a raucous laughter. Axl glared at the crimson clad reploid, shooting him in the chest with his own paint gun; the splash of orange paint clashing horribly with his deep red shirt.

  It definitely shut him up.

  But now he looked royally pissed at the prototype.

  “Whoops, my finger slipped,” Axl said, trying to play innocent. It didn’t pacify Omega in the least.

  “Give me one of those stupid things,” he growled. Brook merely chuckled as she loaded up a fourth paintball gun.

  “Brook! Brook!” a young voice called from the porch, causing Geo to look in that direction. Everyone else was currently sitting outside in the early summer sun; a small get-together X had insisted Geo join. He still wasn’t sure why.

  In any case, Fefnir was currently running towards Brook, an excited expression on his face. “Can I play too?!” he enthusiastically asked. “Can I? Please?!” Brook regarded her younger sibling for a second. “You’ll have to ask Dad on that one, Fef,” she told him.

  “DAD! Please?!” Fefnir begged, causing X to sigh. “Are you going to get upset if you lose?” the blue clad reploid demanded.

  “I won’t” the dark haired guardian promised. “Please? Please can I play?” X gave the three adults a look, why wasn’t he looking at Geo like that? before letting out another sigh. “Fine,” he relented. “Just… please be careful.”

  “YES!” Fefnir cheered. He ran over to Brook, taking a prepared paint gun from her. “Anyone else wanna join?” she called, getting no response from the other party-goers. She shrugged. “Guess we’re doing a free-for-all, then.”

  “Psst, Geo!” Fefnir ‘whispered’. (He was really bad at this.) “Let’s be secret teammates!”

  …Geo wasn’t exactly sure what he meant by that, but he couldn’t help the smile that slowly spread on his face. “Uh… sure,” he said, extending his pinky finger out to the child-sized reploid. Fefnir in turn, gleefully wrapped his own pinky around Geo’s.

  “Alright boys,” Brook called out. “Ground rules. No intentional headshots. Yes, Axl, that goes for you, too.” The ginger reploid gave out an exaggerated groan. “Rule two, no shooting anyone who isn’t playing. Yes, Omega, that goes for you, too.” Geo was beginning to think there was some history with these rules. “Rule three, keep your safety gear on at all times. Yes, Geo, that goes for you, too.” The brunette opened his mouth to protest, he hadn’t even played before! But, Brook continued on. “Rule four, stay on the property. Yes, Fefnir, that goes for you, too. You’re tasked with showing Geo the borders, okay?” The reploid giggled as he nodded. “And rule five, be yourself and have fun. Any questions?”

  “Are you sure we can’t shoot anyone who isn’t playing?” Omega asked, smirking.

  “Sir, I will shoot you myself,” Brook deadpanned. “With a buster. Anyone else?”

  “Uh… how do we pick a winner?” Geo hesitantly asked. Brook gave him a wicked grin. “Whoever has the least amount of paint on them by the time everyone runs out of ammo wins,” she told him. “Alright, y’all got one minute to hide. Good luck!” And with that, the ruddy haired woman ducked into the trees; Omega and Axl quickly running into the small stretch of woods after her.

  Huh.

  Now what?

  “C’mon Geo!” Fefnir called. “I’ll show you the best hiding spot!”

[ladyswillmart]

SWILLY’S PRPFESSIONAL WRITING ADVICE

1.) Do not use boring dialogue tags. “Said” is dead!

2.) Do not use big word dialogue tags you got from a thesaurus either, like “Soughed” or “Excreted” or “Opined”. This is because people never Excrete in real life. Excreting is for platypuses and leaky refrigerators.

3.) If you are assigning dialogue tags to a refrigerator you have gone wrong somewhere. Try to figure out where. Ask a grown-up for help.

3 Also.) Actually try not to use a lot of words in general. Narrative paucity is in. Think about that story Lewis Hermingway wrote in like five words that was like “FOR SALE. BOWLING BALL. NEVER BOWLED. PROBABLY HAUNTED” that some people once voted the Saddest Story Ever I think. In these six or so words, the reader’s mind is allowed to freely explore a litany of possibilities involving this bowling ball that has never been used and is for sale now and probably haunted. For example you can imagine the owner probably bought it for a community college bowling class or something but the section got cancelled because nobody else signed up and now they had to take badminton instead because it was the only thing that fit into their schedule so now they have to offload the cost of this bowling ball so they can buy a badminton racket, and then maybe they said the ball was haunted so they can get away with selling it for more $$$ than what it’s worth on eBay. THE POSSIBILITIES ARE LITERALLY ENDLESS

4.) If you want to get away with selling something for more money than it’s worth on eBay, tell your prospective buyers that the item is haunted and use the concept of narrative paucity to allow them to figure out what that means to them and whether or not that meaning implies that YES actually they SHOULD pay $167 (plus S+H) for a half-filled plastic spray bottle of Jean Naté that is currently being haunted by the ghost of Al Capone (it was his favorite scent).

5.) “Said” is still dead.

6.) Actually don’t use any words at all. If you are using any words in your story you have already messed up somehow. Try to figure out where. Ask a grown-up for help.

7.) You know what writing is for suckers. Screw this. What you should do instead is not that. Put down your pencil and go outside and look at a bird. Maybe like a chickadee or something.

8.) Resist the urge to write at length about the chickadee. Narrative paucity will allow your fecund imagination to fill in any blanks you may have regarding this bird’s social life. What you should do is just listen to the chickadee. All it has to say at the moment is FEE BEE FEE BEE and this drives the lady chickadees absolutely wild apparently. Isn’t that so funny?

9.) Al Capone’s favorite fragrance really was Jean Naté. He had it brought into Alcatraz and everything. The next time you aren’t writing a story about old timey gangsters in prison, try to work that little factoid in there for historical accuracy.

10.) Just don’t use any words. Y’know. If you do decide to write that story.

[infinityactual]

Ngl, being (apparently exactly) half your age is fun because making people about my mom's age feel Old is enrichment for me (love u, have a nice day)

Hey man I love feelin old.

It's funny, growing up undiagnosed autistic and adhd in an abusive, authoritarian household really messed up my perception of what growing up is like. I have since officially cut contact with my abusive family (they didn't even react aside from signing the registered mail receipt lolololol) but even before that, I often thought a lot about what its like being in my thirties.

(Brief mentions of assault and abuse below he cut, nothing detailed just mentions as examples for context. This got a little rambly, I've had a lot on my mind regarding age the last few years.)

And being that old? It's. Not different. The phrase 'the more things change, the more they stay the same' never really made sense to me as a kid, but it hits home nowadays. I'm still me, but between growing and learning as I age and the realization that I'm probably not who I was told I was, it makes sense. I change. But I stay the same. It's like adding extra paint to a canvas. It's still a canvas, but there's more to it now. It will always be a canvas, but it's a canvas that is also different than it was before. It's changed, but it's the same.

My mom is one of those people who (literally at times) beat into me that if you got assaulted or raped or murdered, it was somehow YOUR fault for being too stupid or dressing too provocative or some other bullshit reason, and that I was sooo trusting and sooo stupid that I would probably end up dead before I hit 25.

And being on the spectrum and adhd and...well, a fuckin CHILD, I believed it.

It took three therapists and a psychiatrist, plus pretty much everyone I talk to going "Uh hey [x] isn't normal, that's abuse and you probably have [y] issues" for it to really sink in that my mother was wrong. That happened in 2020, right at the start of lockdown. Almost 5 years later and I still get kicked in the head with past traumas. I'm still sorting everything out. It's gonna take a while.

But I'm 38. Over a decade past the age when I thought I'd be dead. And only this year after deciding not to let the trauma and bad memories surrounding my birthday did I really understand how fucked up it is to fully expect to be dead at a young age without any sort of preexisting issues going on (it's also not a good way to live if you DO have medical issues that could kill you, but that is not what I'm getting into today).

I still feel like I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop. And it's not a 'my death could happen any second' feeling, it's a more insidious 'what if my death comes from my spouse, whom I love and trust implicitly?' thing, with an added feeling of anxiety because on bad brain days I try to look for red flags where there are none.

And the real kicker: that sort of trust was already violated when I was a toddler, possibly younger, and kept being violated till I left home.

It's a lot to think about. Like several boxes of puzzles all dumped on the floor at once. I pick through the pieces, sometimes things click, but mostly it's just a mess.

But I am glad I lived. I'm glad that I am still here to prove that I'm not 'too stupid' to survive. I like being the server dinosaur on Discord. I like being there for younger folks who went through or still are in the shit. Cos I'm proof it gets better. I'm proof that abusers are liars and so are the mental problems abuse instills in a mind. They're liars that tell you horrible things. I argue back. I have gotten into the habit of responding to the thoughts in my mother's voice yelling at me by telling her she can fuck off.

She can fuck off and I'll still be here loving the same shit I did in school. In fact, things I loved have been coming back to me. I'm still me, but I've changed. The only thing adult about me is my age and that I have bills and taxes. I've cultivated patience. Learned that I was never wrong to give kindness and expect it in return. I've grown. And I love being old.

[noahtally-famous]

I haven't made a tier list, like, ever bc I'm highkey worried ppl will come at me for my ships but fuck it we ball

some explanations/highlights below the cut!

emwayne = the best friends of rajbow getting together?? hell yeah (bowie and emma will always be best friends to me). wayne would help emma come into her growth while making sure she stays silly, I love them sm

I think the rest of the first-tier ships are pretty self-explanatory?? if you want me to (ramble) talk abt any of them lmk!

I thought of caleb/chase (calase? chaleb?) out of nowhere one bright sunny morning and they've been a concept in my head ever since. I find it funny that I hc the idea of caleb being this kitten lover who also works hard to get where he stands trying not to use his looks as an advantage, while chase is this laidback thrillseeker, pet-store destroyer, who would totally do stuff recklessly unlike caleb's more methodical approaches. it'd aggravate caleb so so much, like what if chase is the only person that he comes close to snapping at lmao I genuinely can talk abt them all day but I digress

ripaxel is actually interesting--I'm an axelle truther through and through but axel can be bi or pan or anything in between, y'know. plus their dynamic is kinda funny, like kickass girl x alpha-male wannabe

I adore rajbow, but bowie x caleb is one of the ships I ironically don't mind seeing on my dash; it's interesting to think abt how things would've gone if they'd gotten together

(speaking of which, raj x caleb was one of the ships on the list but I didn't add it, though it would've been interesting as well to imagine like rajbow would still be endgame but if caleb was raj's gay awakening without raj even realizing)

raynebow, admit it or not, would be an awesome dynamic. emwayne is on top for me, but these three would be pretty cool together, like rajbow already being a thing and then wayne coming into his own sexuality realization lmao for me, wayne is either the classic straight best friend or a bisexual mess, there's no in between

the concept of what's going on between priya and caleb currently is what I like more than the ship itself; I like the idea of priya having a crush (though her character derailment for it is a bit annoying smh) while caleb is just genuinely doing this for an alliance lmao (if caleb does grow feelings for priya in the process--which I don't doubt could happen, it's total drama after all, that'd be even funnier)

bowie & chase are the reluctant exasperated and annoyed sibling & feral sibling dynamic for me. like chase does smth stupid (not a hard thing to do) and bowie's genuinely stunned whenever it actually seems to work (I'm thinking abt ep1 of s2 here lmaoo)

bowie & emma weren't mentioned as one of the pairings, for obvious reasons, but them as besties fr and I really wanted them to rekindle their friendship 😔

mk using caleb to get ahead of the game in tiny details (climbing on his back, etc etc) is so fucking funny, they're on the platonic tier for me simply bc of that. and caleb would be so oblivious lmfaoo

waaay before when s1 hadn't come out and ppl speculated on priya & chase being the Main Couple (and then everything went to shit after), I've switched trains in regards to that; them as a platonic friends duo would be crazy. kickass girl who can do anything (except feelings) & dumbass guy who does stupid impulsive shit for thrills (and cannot do feelings); they'd both fumble at romance shit and rant abt it while making it seem like they have it under control, it'd be wack; she would hate him for doing stupid shit and making them lose challenges, he'd talk shit abt "taking risks" and whatnot, and she'd be like "I'll smash my water bottle over your head, that's a risk I want to take rn!!" fr priya would beat his ass (and maybe save his ass if they ever reach that point of their dynamic lmaoo)

I think that's all I need to say! also I didn't add all of the ships on the list mostly bc idk much abt them or their dynamics

[bunningchaos]

Heya burning how are you doing?

Hihiii! •̀.̫•́✧

Burning, that's new. Autocorrect sure is funni, pahaha!

Anyways, I'm alright! Although alittle stumped on drawings. But I do have various ideas and WIP's... that is far from completion-

Hopefully you and everyone else is doing alright! ☆

Slight rant under the cut

All in all.. in more details,

Motivation wise, it's been a constant up and down. One moment I gain a idea to work on, then the next, when I attempt picking up the stylus. My hand ends up, feeling so heavy.

Of course I'm not gonna give up, drawing is my favourite thing to do plus it's fun.

But other than motivation, there's also worries. Specifically on whether or not my art is even.. quote on quote, 'good'. My friends say it's nice, but I'm mildly doubtful. Not implying they're liars though, it's really just the fact that I can't personally see much of a improvement in my own artwork.

Perhaps I need to give myself more time and confidence?

Alternatively, I could try to focus more on a artstyle or shading style that I might like more? Not that it's been stable, considering I've been constantly changing it (The brush I use and such)

Or maybe a small break to drabble in story writing.. short stories? Or lore-drop text wise, for my current existing characters?- Albeit temporarily to get my mind off the insecurities in regards to drawing

Who knows.

Chances are, I'll still draw once the flow of motivation hits, ahah!

I will still answer Asks though, even silly ones. So feel free to mess around, just, don't take jokes too far

[salvadoerena]

hey! this is chance & here’s this week’s prompt. what websites or resources do you use while you write or develop a character/story? what do you think of them and would you recommend them?

OOOOO GOOD QUESTION!!

Funnily enough, tumblr is one of the main ones. My characters tend to develop from ye olde tumblr oc ask/rp blogs, so I got in the habit of reblogging a lot of funny posts tagging my characters. It still happens even if I'm not tagging them. For example if there's a post like "every friend group has the chihuahua, the yorkie, and the borzoi" or like, a picture of someone holding a giant mouse or something, in my head I go "haha, yeah Andy is tooootally a yorkie. Too much energy and slight diva tendencies" or "oh man giant versions of little things would be rad. is there a way I can worldbuild on that? more oxygen in grounded islands means bigger bugs?"

Sometimes, if I'm looking for inspiration regarding character designs/fashion references, I might go on picrew or pinterest and just look and see different styles people might have or mess around with doll makers. Usually picrew doesn't have what I'm looking for exactly, but it'll be something like "oh there's a fishnet top in this one. i think Mareilli would absolutely wear this" or "oh this is a fun hairstyle. i should give more of my characters long hair so they can do more updo's," you know? So if you're looking for character design/inspo, highly recommend!!

If you wanted my biggest website inspiration though, it's probably youtube. I spend a lot of time on there watching speedpaints/character designs/costume builds/etc and it's a HUUUUGE inspiration. A lot of dichotomies I make between Grounded/Aerin islands comes from listening to people like Bernadette Banner regarding like...okay so like she made a video re: the costuming choices in Game of Thrones and that REALLY sent me on a spiral into looking at what differences in fashion and textiles you would find in islands that...float...and have windstorms haha;;;

This turned out a lot longer than I thought it would so the rest is under the cut! (Please read under the cut there's some writing programs and editing services I recommended under there).

And I know everyone says this but seriously: consume as much media as possible. I cannot even BEGIN to tell you how much television, music, film, books, anime, manga, comics, podcasts, and video games have either driven me to better my writing or have inspired me to make certain creative choices.

A lot of things from Seraetia were heavily inspired by Black Sails, from things like costume design to obfuscating certain characters' motives to me deciding to go whole hog on including polyamory as an end-game relationship status for some characters. Reading The Locked Tomb series and the Percy Jackson and the Olympians (plus literally everything else in that series haha) really pushed me into forcing myself to work on my imagery and prose, while also forcing me to think about pacing and how/if I should write it as a saga or how arcs should work. Nonfiction stories and documentaries also help!! Though, I'm pretty biased as I'm more into animals and psychological research, but I have definitely referred to those things when thinking up like, units of measurement and cuisine and things.

Also do NOT underestimate the power of infodumping and word vomiting with friends. When I write out my acknowledgements, @okiedoki and @miscbeary are going to be front and center "Thank you guys so much for letting me speak nonsense for hours on end and just nodding along." Roleplay with friends!! Even silly little inconsequential things or alternate universes or iterations upon iterations will help you to flesh out your characters! I've come up with so much about James and he's gone through so much development because I would go "Haha what if he was in the modern world he'd probably own an iguana that would be funny. Why an iguana...? You know, it's probably because he likes to be seen as different, but also because he just thinks they're cool. They're dinosaur-like and he enjoys the fact that something so unconventional and kind of scary can love and be loved--OH MY GOD JAMES SEES HIMSELF AS A MONSTER AND USES THE IGUANA TO PROJECT AND TEACH HIMSELF HE'S WORTHY OF LOVE."

*cracks knuckles*

Now in terms of actual programs you can use to write stories!!

Google Docs tends to be my go-to, but ever since I discovered StimuWrite 2, I tend to switch between both. Since I do most of my writing at night, Gdocs is really harsh on my eyes (even with f.lux, blue light glasses, and darkreader), so I like that you can set a gentler background on StimuWrite. Even better, it makes my ADHD brain happy and actually stay on task bc there's so much stimulation in there lol The only downside is that it doesn't really save your work (there's an emergency back-up it creates, but it's only for the last couple of writing sessions I believe), so I'll use it to write out a bulk portion and then transfer it to Gdocs.

If you're planning on writing a serious novel and want something with a little bit more organizational prowess, I would go with Scrivener. It has a lot of bells and whistles that are actually pretty neat, like being able to save reference documents/photos and putting it in the same "container" as the actual writing passage. Honestly? It's a lot. But!! It includes a built-in tutorial that does a REALLY good job of going through everything, so highly highly HIGHLY recommend following it because it explains the features very well and I do quite like them! Unfortunately, it does cost $60, but it's a one-time purchase and genuinely very useful.

If you're more into screenwriting that novels and the like, cannot recommend FadeIn enough. We had to use that in my Creative Screenwriting class and it was SO easy to use and made exporting scripts SUCH a breeze. In fact, Welcome to Irth was entirely developed in FadeIn, haha.

If you're looking for more like, art resources I would go with things like Clip Studio Paint/Paint Tool SAI. I used to use FireAlpaca like a decade ago, and I really enjoyed it! Can't say how well it's held up, though. PureRef is great too!! It helps you keep track of your reference images, and you can set it to "float" on top of other programs.

FINALLY LAST BUT NOT LEAST!!!

If you're looking for an editing service, please please PLEASE look into RoseLark Publishing. I had the privilege of working with them this past summer getting a Manuscript Assessment and I'm so glad I did. They're very professional and are great at communicating their timelines and everything! They might still be accepting editing assessment applications at this time, but you can shoot them an e-mail on their contact page!

Anyways, I am going to stop myself here or I will literally not shut up. Thank you for asking!! I looooooove love talking about my writing and apparently about the writing process as well, lol.

[hyperfixingfr]

Uh oh it's time for the "Kenny rants about how Hoagie actually has really bad mental health with weird evidence to back it up" tumblr rant! Today's episode is me looking far too deep into his upper cranium features

Still a tad surreal to see his bare head considering it only showed up like 3 times on his main design, once in S1, once in S5 and once in s6. His actual eyes have only been shown twice and in this one (S5) they weren't even opened. With how often he keeps his head attire and his eyewear on compared to Abby and Nigel makes me feel like there's a reason for it? I might be looking into it too much but to be fair we've seen Abby without her hat quite a lot and she willingly takes it off half the time, and Nigel occasionally takes off his glasses PLUS he takes his glasses off whenever he goes to sleep. Hoagie didn't willingly take off his hat the first time and most likely didn't take it off the third time (it probably just fell off while he was sleeping, or the fake beard bothered him) and in this screenshot he only took it off to pay respects. It's not like he just wants his head to be covered either, because he wears double hats all the time (sleepwear design, dress design).

It's either one of two things

The more lighthearted version, being that he's autistic and just doesn't really like to take those things off. Unfortunately, that's a little less likely than the "less lighthearted version"

The most likely reason is that he has some sort of self image issues with both his hair and his eyes. Given what we know from canon, he might have these self image issues because he's often thought of as ugly by other kids, or maybe because these are the features he inherited from his father that he doesn't wish to think about. It might also be possible that there's something different with his eyes, like heterochromia, lazy eye, enlarged pupil, etc. He's shown to be really sensitive so he probably wears this stuff so often because he doesn't like his own appearance. He clearly has his hands full trying to keep himself convinced that he's funny and fun to be around whenever he's told otherwise in many episodes (bonus that he was shown to lie to people in an attempt to be liked) so I wouldn't really blame him if he told himself one day, "you know what? I won't have to defend my hair/eyes if I just cover them all the time. Easy!"

I don't think people really pay attention to Hoagie as much as the other four which is really sad considering just how deep his character goes. It's just as deep as the other three (Kuki doesn't count, she's fairly simple). I hope the reasoning for this unusual consistent dawning of head and eye accessories is explained if we ever get GKND. If it is him hating his appearance, we can get a lot of good angst and fluff outta that, plus character development. I feel like Hoagie would have a nervous breakdown at some point around Abby and during it reveal his hatred for his appearance and after taking it off to stop Abby from begging him to, she goes on an angry rant about how stupid it is that kids think he's ugly and say stuff like "well I THINK YOUR EYES ARE COOL!" and he's never had someone truly compliment him like that so he's just. Shocked. And chances are he'd probably realize he has feelings for her when she compliments him

Slightly off from the original topic but regarding the whole, "Hoagie realizes he has feelings for Abby" thing, I think all of his feelings for other characters were false crushes and when he's GENUINELY crushing on someone he isn't flirty and clever like he thought he was, he's a flustered mess who constantly mumbles when talking to his crush and gets embarrassed when he's complimented or touched by his crush. I think that would be funny