#it's really so dark and realistic...

[willyhoos]

alfred livestreaming his breakdown to the entire us public (as his pr team devolves into chaos)

[yoosung-ah]

So nobody ever saved V...

[goldensunset]

umm what do i caption this. yay yippee #mytorchic

[hopetatic]

what. who the fuck is that. why are you outside my house

[enden-k]

the beauty of this entire scene had me crying uncontrollably (i love everything abt it)

[incandescentflower]

On ep 5 of Dark Blue Kiss and what is striking me most at this point is how their life circumstances are almost completely opposite.

Pete is financially sound, Kao has to worry about money. Pete gets support from his father both with money and with that open support for his relationship. Kao feels the need to support his mom finanically and doesn't feel free to tell her about his relationship with Pete. Kao feels like he has to constantly work to get where he wants to be, Pete has people constantly offering him opportunities.

I find that really interesting.

Pete's reactions test me, but I do appreciate that people around him are calling him on it - Sandee and most of all Kao, that he does tell Pete that he doesn't give him chances to explain and just reacts and Pete does say he'll try even if he seems to think he won't be able to do it.

These two characters talk. They know each other and their tendencies, none of their challenges are surprises, and there is communication happening, but obviously not about everything.

I just wish that Pete could understand why Kao thinks he has no alternative here. He seems pretty disconnected from that even though he is being told directly.

But Kao also doesn't recognize that Pete's insecurity does seem to stem from not being able to be clear about their relationship to others and that hiding things from Pete is going to be a much larger betrayal than simply having the argument about it in the moment.

It's very interesting to see all this conflict happening and they are openly communicating, but it's about their needs being in direct conflict and how difficult that is to manage in a relationship.

[gavfleetout]

I love how in the first episode of Dark Matter the miners are like “the crew of the Raza are inhuman reptiles” “no one survives an encounter with them” and then in almost every subsequent episode the crew runs into multiple people who know them and are like “sup how’s business going?”

[lucabyte]

🐺🐺🐺❓

[kiwi-luminaryofthestars]

04/20/2025 Progress Update:

TLDR: About 1.5K written, we're at 26K drafted for chapter 6. Done with third section, now it's just fleshing out completed drafts of sections 4 and 5.

Sweeeet we got section 3 done. Now it's time to flesh out 4 and 5 and draft will be done. I have no eta on this because this is the last week of finals and I'll be pretty busy, but I'm hoping to get it done asap. YES SO HAPPY!!

Very sorry I didn't do a progress update yesterday. I wrote like a tiny bit (mostly just went over pre-written sections and moved around some things, small edits, that sorta thing) but then I started playing poker and got distracted lmaooo. I would call it fic research if I was not already done with the poker section. Just wanted to unwind and LORD I had so much fun. Won four tournament rounds and got second in two more. It's just Xbox poker so it's not that impressive but I still always love playing it, even in online form.

I fucking love poker. Have I said that enough lol? I don't think I'm the best at it, but I have a Texas Hold'em obsession and I am not ashamed lol. I would play it all the time if I had the option.

Anyway, I'm sleepy and getting the Sunday blues so we're gonna relax the rest of the night and get more writing done tomorrow. Looking forward to this chapter being done, we're getting there!! Sending all the good vibes your way for a lovely sleep and a better Monday.

[hermitdragons]

Mumbo!

As a dragonet, he always loved puzzles and machines and creating things, and finding little opportunity for that in the rainforest, he decided to leave so he could do more of what he loved. Fearing that dragons wouldn’t take him seriously due to being a RainWing, he decided to disguise himself as a SkyWing. His disguise is very easy to see through, but it has worked well enough and he has built a good reputation for himself as a vault designer. He met Grian when they were both commissioned to design a rich dragon’s mansion (as an architect and vault designer respectively) and have been friends ever since!

He has also, unfortunately, been stuck with the name “Mumbo Jumbo” ever since.

[mad-hare]

cows have 3 base coats, wild-type, black, and red. black is the most dominant coat, and red the most recessive.

all the next patterns will be overlaid over one of these base colours.

Charolais is a diluting gene where 1 copy lightens a bit, and 2 copies lightens more

Dun removes redness to turn them brown/beige

One copy of roan will produce a pretty mottled look, 2 copies will produce an almost white cow

White patterns will include belted, piebald, hereford, and pintzgauer

there are lots of colour genes, I don't think I will be able to include them all (remember, I have to do multiple sprites for each colour, potential spotting variant, and there are 7 breedable species planned...)

[someobscurereference]

ive been rereading your ffxv fic "im trying hard to take it back" for literally four years now. please end my suffering and tell me how gladio feels. please. PLEASE. (but only if u want ofc)

(fic) Short answer: Gladio feels insane guilt and spends a lot of his life trying to make this up to Prompto. In the process, they deepen their connection as friends and do begin a relationship probably around the one-year mark of endless darkness. <3

Longer answer: (implications of abuse/violence tw but no worse than in the fic itself; just what others assume to be true even if it's not in the context of this specific fic)

Gladio is a secret romantic at heart who has always envisioned meeting his soulmate, but he's also duty-bound and duty comes first. So even though he reads romance books (amongst other types of books too) and indulges in his head a bit as many people do, he's often put his duty to the crown first and foremost in his mind. He also didn't imagine his soulmate was anyone on this trip and thought perhaps the person he may have been fated to meet died in the assault of Insomnia. Even if they were a refugee, they can't be a priority to him at this moment. His priority has to be Noctis.

Prompto has obviously grown on him over the course of their road trip, but there are aspects of them that don't 100% mesh (as is true with every realistic relationship). That said, Gladio never in a hundred years would want this moment of (understandable but out of line) frustration and anger in the wake of Luna and Altissa to be a permanent mark on Prompto's face. He's genuinely horrified and disgusted with himself for a long time after this and spends most of his life trying to make it up. He feels like a dirtbag about it.

That said, Prompto runs away from him in this moment and they need time to calm down, just as the fic shows. Noctis goes after Prompto, just like in canon. Prompto falls off the train and has his Despair Arc just like in the DLC, now with the added despair of "well, in addition to being a clone, my soulmate hates me. And in addition to the mark of inhumanity on my wrist (barcode), I have a giant hand print of him literally Shoving Me Away on my face. Forever."

Aranea: Well, do you want to die about it. Or do you want to live.

Prompto, eventually like in canon: Live, I guess. But it will be excruciating.

Aranea: That's what living is. We do it anyway. Your friends love you. Get off the floor.

He fights his way through his issues and gets rescued like in canon. Gladio probably tries to talk to him when they all catch up again, trying to apologize, and Prompto tells him to hold off on that for later.

Then, of course, Noctis is eaten by the crystal and "later" becomes much, much later as they evacuate and try to survive in eternal darkness. (Though they also can't Not think about it because it's a giant hand print. On Prompto's face. And every person they meet has Something To Say about it, for better or worse, whether they knew Prompto before or not. Prompto cannot escape it, and when Gladio is not doing Crown Duties he feels he must do in Noct's absence, he's with Prompto, so he also Cannot Escape It either. Even when the person speaking is unaware that Gladio left that mark. It's almost worse when they don't know, but when they see it's Gladio, who is such a big guy who seemingly hit Prompto and left that permanent mark there, some of them get nasty to him and some back off out of fear. Both are horrible. The guilt is eating him alive.)

Eventually, enough time passes as the dust settles that they do Talk About It. Gladio apologizes sincerely, for the 500th time. Prompto's like, "Well. It's not like you could have known that this would be The One Time it happened." And then cracks a joke about their soulmate mark being a Prompto's hand print on Gladio's ass from a butt slap in another life, which does help the tension somewhat. (The more Gladio tries to apologize, the more Prompto grows sick of hearing it, so they just have to move on and keep going, as he's learned to do.)

They grow closer over time, especially because there's not a lot of people who have survived to this point and even less later on. They do get together romantically, both because they do like the idea of soulmates (for different reasons) and also because they're living out of each others pockets for years, so there's an affection and dependency that develops there. Also, teenage Prompto always thought Gladio was really handsome and teen Gladio thought Prompto was cute and sincere for a pipsqueak.

When they are out together on dates in normal settings surrounded by strangers after the light returns, Gladio will receive dirty looks for the rest of his life from strangers who see the hand print on Prompto's face and immediately (correctly) assumes it was out of anger rather than a funny accident or something. (Edit: Some people will assume there is a funny story attached. Gladio will not know what to say to this. Prompto will play along.) He will learn to live with this. Prompto is really grateful Gladio is with him despite everything.

[fortune-maiden]

Having been reminded of Umineko for a bit, it's honestly wild for me to remember just how many insanely messed up things occur in that series (and also its sister series Higurashi, and likely Ryukishi07's later works) and then also remember that that series was very formative for me during my high school years.

Today's kids could never xD

[sepiamestus]

I forgot that andor is like. Actually good

[schizowitchic]

the biggest foreshadowing that i would develop npd is the fact that when i was born my eyes were black. like narcissists eyes go.

[duffmckagans]

very excited for people to see how all of these characters have changed in subtle ways due to either maturity in nuance or dissatisfaction with the original portrayals, but i think i'm most excited for people to read about valerie this time. which, possibly may be because this book is centered around her, but i just feel like she's gained some good depth. all of her traits are still there, for better or worse, but there's definitely an added realism that i'm really proud of ♡ and i hope is better understood this time around.