#its so easy to read these people actually know how to write articles that are digestible

[staryarn]

NIH MY FRIEND NIH

[cosmicaces]

i've never been good at writing intros to posts and that isn't gonna change today, esp since only a handful of people are probably gonna read this. i am making this post for me, because this is something i noticed and i wanna talk about it. leave it to me to make a detailed post about a character from a movie from three years ago.

rody has pstd! let's talk about it

[ID: A screenshot from MHA: World Heroes' Mission. Rody is pointing at Deku, winking. Deku looks annoyed. End ID.]

to preface this:

i am not a professional 👍 i have ptsd 👍

analyzing characters is fun for me! this is how i am interpreting rody with what i know about him from the little media he's been in + some additional speculation. feel free to incorporate this into your belief system. or not! all that i ask is that you bear with me.

now, before i get into it (preface...2!):

everyone knows about fight or flight, right? well, did you know that there are actually 5 trauma responses? fight, flight, freeze, fawn, and flop. (there may be more, but these are the ones that have the most information on them.)

fight and flight are the body's primary responses to a bad situation. freeze, fawn, and flop are more complex responses that happen when the first two aren't available. little self-explanatory, but for the sake of infodumping:

freeze: the body is in a state of hyperarousal. the muscles are tight and ready for action but is ultimately paralyzed. think of a deer in headlights.

fawn/befriend/submit: this response involves complying/befriending the aggressor; people-pleasing in an effort to remain safe. this is more common in cases of abuse.

flop/shutdown/collapse: the body is in a state of hypoarousal, aka its shutting down; muscles go slack, brain stops receiving sensory info. this can often result in fainting. you know how some people faint when they see blood? or when they're on a rollercoaster? yeah, it's this.

it's important to have this context. as a matter of fact, you probably already know where i'm going with this:

rody faints when deku is climbing up the bridge. of course, right? he had reached such a heightened level of fear that, when his brain realized it couldn't trigger one of the other four responses, he just... flopped. why bring this up? well, and i think this is easy to miss, but rody didn't pass out once. he actually passed out twice.

when they first reached the train, it appears that, in their brief moment of safety, rody had collapsed.

[ID: Deku picks up Rody to shield him from Beros's oncoming arrow attack. End ID.]

[ID: Deku is carrying Rody, swinging under the bridge in an effort to evade Beros's attacks. At the end, Rody appears as though he is coming to. End ID.]

up until this point, rody had been freaking out during their escape from the police. for him to have no initial response to being physically moved by deku... hell, he looks like he's just coming to. if we're going based off of the dub, he even yells "what's happening?!" simply put: he shut down and, more specifically, he shut down in what had been perceived as a moment of respite.

the reason i point this out is because, while we don't choose our trauma responses, there are events that can impact what they can be.

so... what is the purpose of the flop response?

quoting from an article here, but it's thought to help people in three different ways: to reduce the mental impact of the circumstances, to cause a physical disconnect (thus experiencing the trauma less directly), and to prevent additional assault.

the point i'm trying to make here is, well...

[ID: A flashback showing Rody protecting his siblings. A villain strikes him with a pipe. End ID.]

rody's been assaulted! and this is only one instance that we know of. we don't fully know what he's had to go through when providing for his siblings, but there is no doubt that there have been negative repercussions on his mentality.

did you notice how he startles easily?

[ID: Rody puts his hand on Deku's shoulder, scaring him. His response startles Rody, causing him to flinch backwards. End ID.]

[ID: Bakugou suddenly appears behind Rody, causing him to jump. He flinches back, turning to face him. Pino is also startled, flying to sit over on his other shoulder. End ID.]

with ptsd, some people can develop an exaggerated startle response. this happens when your nervous system gets stuck in survival mode. your brain is hypervigilant; any sudden sound or movement that you don't expect can make you feel like you're in danger and your body has to be ready to react in a given moment.

look at the difference between how deku and rody flinch. deku has a standard flinch, but rody violently flinches, almost as though he's been struck. do you see how he moves his head? his arms? how, after both instances, he's starting to sweat? yeah 👍

continuing along this line of thinking, let's talk about rody's attempted betrayal.

[ID: Rody being approached by the oni villain. He braces himself for the attack, clutching at his head. End ID.]

i feel like most people, when cornered and under the imminent threat of being attacked, try to block it or defend from it in some way. rody... didn't do that. as a matter of fact, it looks like he's trying to hide.

[ID: Deku runs towards Rody, shielding him from an arrow. Rody panics and turns away. End ID.]

additionally, in this scene, rody is apologizing. in this moment, he sincerely believed that deku was going to hurt him for his betrayal. instead of trying to run, he just... froze. braced himself again. i know he was very scared, but, despite deku having just saved him, seeing his fear at being approached... psychologically, there's something else going on here.

i think rody had been re-traumatized.

again, we only have that one flashback regarding a violent encounter with villains, but i genuinely have reason to believe that it wasn't a one-off scenario. the only reason rody tried to fight was to defend his siblings. they are his reason for continuing forward. but... what if there were times when they weren't there? and he had to face the villains by himself?

... yeah. i think that's why he responded the specific way that he did. his life was actively in danger, yes, but how many times had he been in that position? pleading, trying to garner sympathy about his siblings, wanting to be let go? i think the severity of his psychological distress in that instant is what caused him to try and hide rather than attempt to minimize any incoming damage.

as for feeling threatened by deku, that can be easily explained, too. rody talked quite a bit about betrayal, it seemed like a very natural thing to talk about. he's probably had to betray some villains and gotten hurt for it. honestly, you could probably argue that this contributed to his confusion regarding deku protecting him instead.

similarly with starting posts, i am also very bad at ending them 👍

tldr; rody soul has ptsd as a result of his encounters with villains after his father's disappearance. this has given him an exaggerated startle response as well as both a freeze/collapse response in times where his life is threatened. who knows what other symptoms he may have! what we can say for sure is that this kid needs therapy.

if you read all this, thanks! i hope you enjoyed me dissecting him like a bug.

[edgyedgelord]

hey im planning to switch over to linux and need advice from the smart people of tumblr, please and thank you. my messages are open so if you need any info to help me out hmu.

General Questions:

im seeing everyone saying ubuntu, mint, and ziron are "the #1 go to versions for beginners" but like... which is it?

i also hear about security being the best with linux but nothing about it coming with antiviruses. does it come with one like how windows comes with defender or do you install that yourself, or is it something different entirely?

all the sources i look at talk about downloading and installing linux but i want to know what to expect when first getting a prebuilt pc with the OS, like the system 76 pcs. do you have to set it up like when you install it or is it as easy as getting any new computer?

i know nothing about coding and im planning to get a computer from system 76 since it seems like the best, and its by far the only source that only comes with linux, and since my current one was pretty much ruined by someone i thought could fix it after a faulty outlet fried its insides, he didnt and made it worse.

so yeah, which linux version do you suggest for a computer moron, any suggestions for computers would be nice (max price is $1,300), i'll put the specs and my uses under the read more.

Preferences:

It ONLY comes with Linux. I despise what Windows has become and don't want to even bother dual booting cause I feel with the switchovers happening they're gonna get salty and make something that'll turn your computer into a bomb if you use Linux with it.

Kinda beefy but not a supercomputer. I don't use AI stuff, I'm not a programmer, but I do frequently play modded Minecraft with my friends and run smps for my Discord servers. I recently switched to Modrinth cause ATLauncher had been giving me trouble. Curseforge is out of the question.

At the most, I'll be playing VRChat with friends while having Spotify or Youtube in the background for music and Discord open in case someone needs my help in one of my servers, similar goes for running one of my SMPs just minus the VR.

Gaming Questions:

I also play VR games often, especially BeatSaber (modded ofc im not insane), and I have Half Life Alyx that I haven't been able to finish cause my already dead and gutted PC struggles to run it anymore even with the lowest settings. My current headset is a two feet in the grave, barely hanging in there, held by tape Oculus Rift S thats as old as my current PC whos also dead. I plan to get a new headset soon and had the Quest 2 recommended to me by friends. If theres better alternatives that isn't Meta please let me know.

I'm a DBD addict. Does it really run DBD or was that just the one guy from the one video I saw.

My friends also often drag me onto Roblox so I need to know if that'll be an option for Linux too.

I know I could probably look up all this myself but every source is outdated from years ago or they all say different things and it just confuses me.

Art Questions:

My current tablet is a Wacom, I got it before knowing how greedy the company actually is, and I plan to switch to a Huion after this tablet dies on me. If compatibility is an issue with it please let me know what to do about that.

I usually use Medibang but I don't think it runs on Linux from what I've seen, if I'm wrong lemme know. Am I going to have to switch all the files over to something else before getting a Linux or are there programs I can use that'll load them?

I also write and need to know if I need to switch all my files to something else before porting it all over to the Linux PC. I just used the default notepad and document programs on Windows.

But yeah, that's all my questions for now. If I think of any more I'll just edit this post. Sorry if I sound super dumb for all this, I tried finding information sources myself but like I said all of them weren't too moron friendly or had relevant information. Most sources I found were articles or reddit forums from years ago so I thought "Hey, why don't I just go ask the computer nerds directly?" so here I am.

[pensat-i-fet]

Not a crush (Pedri x Reader)

**I got this request and thought it could be cute and fun. It’s true that the Spanish press has been talking about this arms situation a lot, so it’s a good blend of fiction and reality. But then it turned into one of those writing projects that changed 7 times before its final form. For a second I even thought about turning this into a series. My brain! Anyways, enjoy reading! ❤️**

ETA: I ended up writing a series based on this imagine that you can read here!

Word count: 2685

Masterlist

Wattpad

“All those years in uni to end up doing this”, you muttered. “I’m never going to be taken seriously”.

“What are you talking about?”

“This article I have to do”.

Your colleague Jordi moved his chair closer to yours to peek at your computer screen.

“You know that we can’t use the computers for personal stuff, right?”

You put your head on the table. Really, no one was going to take you seriously.

“Huh?”

“Why are you looking at photos of shirtless Pedri? Got a crush?”

“Shut up! I have to do an article about the evolution of his body in the last couple of years”.

“That’s cool”.

“It’s stupid!”

“I’ve done worse when I was an intern. Don’t be so negative”.

You guessed he was right. It could be a lot worse. And you didn’t have a crush but…there were worse ways to spend a Tuesday afternoon than looking at photos of a cute player. And being given an excuse to stare at his body, which had definitely changed in the last couple of years. You didn’t visit the gym much but liked it when others did. Especially if that was the result of their gym sessions.

Writing the article actually took a good chunk of your day. Between getting the right photos and videos for it and asking for permission to use them, the actual writing and your colleagues' stupid comments about it, it wasn't as easy as you thought it would be at first. But it was a good article. And once the editor saw it and was happy with it, it was posted on the newspaper's website.

The following day you posted a link to it on your social media accounts and a little later you started to go through the comments. So many of them talked about how you were only picked to do that article because it was about a man's body and you were a woman. Right…nothing new on Twitter.

“Stop replying to hate comments”.

“It’s therapeutical”.

"It's pointless".

Just one more…

                                      **

It wasn't just the press or people on social media talking about Pedri's muscles. His teammates loved to tease him joking about that too.

"Here comes the Spanish Lewandowski", laughed Eric.

"So funny".

"Please don't be mad at me. I'm afraid you'll use those big strong muscles to punish me".

Pedri did use his muscles to push his friend and get him out of the way. He knew it was just banter but it all got boring after a few days.

"There needs to be a big signing or something so your arms stop being the topic of the week", told him Ferrán, who was looking at his phone.

“Yeah, I saw Barça posting about it on social media too. People are so overdramatic”.

“Totally, but I didn't mean that. I meant the new article”.

"What new article?"

Ferrán showed him your article and Pedri sat down to read it properly. It was a great article. You took the time to analyze the way his game could be influenced by this body change and picked different photos than the ones used by everyone else. He guessed there were still proper journalists out there. What a plot twist.

"It's a good article", he said, giving the phone back to his friend.

"The internet seems to disagree".

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I don't know if they disagree but the girl who wrote it was getting a lot of shit on social media".

"Why?", Pedri couldn't hide his frown.

"I didn't look much into it but I saw people saying nasty things to her and then they found some old tweets and …seems like she used to have a crush on you and now she writes about your muscles or whatever and people on Twitter are the way they always are".

"Right", he murmured. He had listened to everything his friend said but also got stuck on how you used to have a crush on him. And he didn't even know who you were but footballers…they just loved being loved.

                                     **

"No point in deleting them now", said Jordi.

"I wasn't going to…".

People had too much time on their hands. That was the conclusion of the day. Somehow, just because of your article, someone decided to check your entire Twitter history to see if there was anything they could accuse you of. They probably were mad to find no offensive tweets but they found two where you retweeted a Barça fan page and wrote about liking Pedri.

The funniest thing was you barely remembered those tweets. You saw him, thought he was cute and posted that. Then you moved on. There were many players you found cute but had no time for crushes. Pedri got a mention purely for the fact that he signed for your team.

But now this was being used against you. So childish.

"Are you busy next week?"

You looked up to see your boss talking to you. He never talked to you.

"I guess. I mean, I'll be here working. So…".

"Do you have a passport?"

"Yes".

"Your English was good, right?"

"Pretty good, yeah".

He only had to look at your CV to see all the qualifications you had, including all the diplomas that proved your English was more than good but…no one cared that much about an intern.

"You're going on the US tour", he said and left. How could he drop that bomb and leave?

Your jaw was on the floor and Jordi was staring at you with a similar expression.

"Wait!", you said, finally able to get up and follow your boss. "What do you mean I'm going on the US tour? There is a group of people chosen for that already. It was decided months ago".

"I know", he said casually. "But one of them can't go and you'll take his spot".

"But I'm just an intern".

"Do you not want to go?"

"I do! Of course I do!", you said quickly. "But it doesn't make sense".

"Look. You're doing really well here. And you've gotten people to visit our website more than ever with just one article so…you earned it".

You had heard about all the visits to the website after the Pedri article was posted. But the way your boss was avoiding holding eye contact told you everything you needed to know.

"Am I just going because people think I have a crush on one of the players that'll be there?"

"If you weren't a good journalist, that wouldn't be enough for me to send you with that team. But it doesn't hurt".

"Ok, I'll start packing".

This was a great opportunity and you weren't going to reject it just because of some of the reasons surrounding it. But the excitement you felt when you first heard about the trip completely vanished.

And when you checked your Instagram and saw a certain player was looking at your stories…it was even worse.

No one took you seriously but you'd prove them wrong.

                                     **

The pre-season was both loved and hated by players. Pedri didn't really have strong feelings about it. It was just part of the job and they got to visit some different places so there were positives to take from these couple of weeks.

Another positive was having you around. After finding out about your article and your past crush on him, he checked your social media accounts. There wasn't much on any of them, since they were professional accounts. But there were a couple of photos of you and your dog.

Stories were something you also used to mostly promote your work and it was while checking those he found out you were going to the US too. He was hoping you'd meet at some point but didn't expect you'd be the one to interview him.

"Hi, nice to meet you", you said, extending your hand for him to shake. So professional.

"Nice meeting you too. I really liked your article about me".

Something changed in your expression and he couldn't understand what it was but you quickly got back to professional mode.

"Thank you. Let's get this done quickly. I was told we only have 15 minutes".

The interview was pretty uneventful. You asked good questions and Pedri gave you good answers in return. But you were so serious. He didn't know you personally, so maybe that was how you always were. But Pedri had a feeling there was more to it.

"Was that good?"

"The interview? Yes, thank you for your answers. They were really good".

"Easy when the questions are good too".

You nodded, quickly looking away.

"Are you ok?"

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"Because it seems like you would want to be anywhere but here".

You closed your eyes and sighed.

"Is it because of what people said about you?"

His words made you open your eyes and you finally looked at him. Instead of answering, you simply nodded.

"Don't pay attention to them".

"Easier said than done. Especially when they are the reason I'm here".

"The reason…".

"I'm not here because I'm good at my job. But because people thinking I have a crush on you got us a lot of attention. And now this interview will get more attention. So I'm basically just a pawn and I guess so are you".

"I'm sorry".

"It's not your fault".

Picking up your things, you got ready to leave but Pedri stopped you.

"I don't read what people write about me but my parents do. They like to keep the articles and print the photos and all that. Things parents do, I guess", he shrugged. "I read your article because Ferrán showed it to me and thought it was great. And then my parents told me about it, praising your writing multiple times. Your newspaper might be using you but you're good. You showed it to me in this interview too so don't feel sad".

"I don't have a crush on you".

"What?", but then he realised what you meant. "I didn't praise you because of that. God, you really need to get out of that mindset".

When Pedri started to laugh, you were more confused than ever.

"It's not you against the world. And people will praise you just because they genuinely want to…but now I'll be the one who's sad".

"Why?"

"I liked thinking you had a crush on me".

Now you were laughing too. Finally, he got to see the smile he had seen in those photos.

"Thank you for your words. I needed them. And you must go to train. I'll see you around".

"Yes".

The interview was posted just a couple of hours later. And even if Pedri's words helped, the comments you got still hurt.

Got what she wanted. To meet him.

"Yes, that's all I wanted in life. I can retire now".

"Why are you looking at your phone like it offended you?", asked one of your colleagues.

"It's the people inside it that offend me".

"Are there people living inside your phone?"

You half laughed at his bad joke.

"I know what you need to cheer up".

"Really?"

"Yes. Thoughts on karaoke?"

That made you laugh. You were such a terrible singer. "I like it. People don't like hearing me sing, though".

"I want to hear you sing so you're coming with us tonight".

                                   **

One of the easiest ways to get in trouble during pre-season was to go out and wake up to paparazzi photos of the party. But when it was the coach that took you out…then it was fine?

Pedri wasn't really into parties anyways but he thought karaoke night could be fun. He wasn't planning on signing but knew which teammates would. His phone was going to record all of it to tease them in the future.

"It started already", said Xavi, who was the first one to get inside the bar.

And he was right. There was someone leaving the stage while they found their tables. And someone else took the previous person's place immediately. Pedri wasn't interested in the random people who were going to sign but still looked up to see who was talking to the guy that controlled the machine.

And it was you who was on the stage.

"Well, that's a surprise", he said, almost to himself.

"What is?", Ferrán was now looking at the stage too. "Who is she? She's hot".

"The journalist who wrote about my muscles".

"The one that doesn't have a crush on you?", he laughed. "That's funnier now that I know she's pretty".

Pedri rolled his eyes and continued staring at you. He could see you were giggling and it was such a change from the super serious woman he met for the interview.

You picked a Franz Ferdinand song. They were one of your favourite bands when you were a teen and after seeing them live at the FIB, you were back to listening to all their songs on repeat.

Oh, when I woke up tonight, I said I’m

Going to make somebody love me

I’m going to make somebody love me

And now I know, now I know, now I know

I know that it’s you

You’re lucky, lucky, you’re so lucky

Your voice wasn’t great but who cared about that on karaoke night? Pedri didn’t. He just stared at you. You looked so relaxed. Just having fun instead of the worried version of you he got for his interview.

“Whoever she chooses would be lucky. She isn’t lying”.

Ferrán’s words took Pedri out of his daydreams. “What do you mean?”

“The song”.

“I’m not really paying attention to the lyrics. What do they mean?”

His teammate explained the meaning of the lyrics quickly and Pedri had to agree. Whoever you chose would be very lucky.

“I wouldn’t mind being the chosen one but you saw her first. Shame she doesn’t have a crush on you anymore, Pedrito”.

Yeah, it was a shame.

When you finished your song, you felt so much better. This had been the right plan to improve your mood. None of your colleagues wanted a drink, so you went to the bar to get one. It was needed after all that singing.

“I didn’t know you were a singer too?”

You turned to face Pedri and snorted. “Yes, it was my plan b if journalism didn’t work out”.

“There is always autotune to help”.

Pedri was pleased to see you laughing at his words. It was the second time in just one day he had achieved that.

“Do you want a drink too?”, you asked him when the bartender was taking your order.

“Just water, please”.

Once you got your drinks, none of you moved from the bar to go back to your friends. You just kept chatting.

“I mean, who knew writing about someone’s arms could lead to so much drama”.

Pedri followed your eyes which were now staring at his biceps. “Want to touch them?”

Yes. “No”.

“After reading the article I wondered if you knew more about my body than I do, you know? So it’s ok, you can touch”.

You bit your lip, trying not to blush. "I know you hear every day about how good you are at everything and that makes you overly confident but you aren’t as great at flirting as you might think".

"I heard about how great I am from you too. So you're at fault".

"I've barely written about you apart from that article".

"Yeah, but the old tweets…".

"I told you I don’t have a crush on you”.

“And the way you’re blushing says something different”.

When he leaned closer, you noticed how your knees were touching beneath the bar. They had been touching for a couple of minutes and you hadn’t even noticed. Nor did you feel the need to move.

“Not here”, you said.

“What?”

“Not where people can see us”.

“I thought you didn’t…”.

“I just want to test a theory”.

“What theory?”, he asked, smirking at you.

“If the crush I had on you two years ago is still there”.

[all-pacas]

i read all your house fics over the past few days and i love your style of writing. the dialogue fits the characters and show so well, idk what it is about it but it just clicks in my head and i can hear their voices while i read it. and all of their internal monologues are just perfect. i love the grasp you have on the ducklings' backstories and motivations its seriously inspired :))

now im trying to work on the oneshot idea ive been stewing over for an entire year, about chase being house's only fellow pre-canon, which seems like a weird and absurd situation to me. the idea is that something must have happened for him to basically be secured as house's fellow, but he also has to realize himself that he passed house's mysterious criteria. any specific tips for writing him? especially younger him?

Oh wow that’s so flattering! And SUCH a good idea for a fanfic, I’m also lowkey obsessed with the mysterious year (!) Chase spent with House pre-series lmao. Like I think we all agree, there’s no way House would have kept him just because his dad called, right? I actually can’t think of a way to get someone fired faster than telling House he has to employ this kid.

I have no idea for tips, because I feel like I still kind of am like ??? when it comes to Chase. But I’m also always happy to yell about god’s least favorite princess:

Chase is kinda passive-aggressive! He will do his best to avoid and freeze out his problems. When everyone is trying to talk to him about his dad, he ignores, refuses to engage, literally walks away. When House confronts him about the nun in S1, Chase doesn’t actually confirm that he’s Catholic, even: he just changes the subject to “I bet the nun’s boss knows about her.” By implication, he confirms House is right, but he never says shit. He’s private as hell. Likewise, he gets touchy when people “pry.” We also see it in his relationship with Cameron, to an extent: it bothers him for a long while that she never makes him feel welcome at her apartment, but he doesn’t say anything, just lowkey makes sure they’re always at his. 

He also tends to be conflict avoidant. When Cameron and Foreman are fighting over the “stolen” article, they both try to get him on their side, and he tells them both what they want to hear. He doesn’t defend himself against House’s bullying, Foreman tells him to his face a couple of times that he doesn’t like him and Chase says nothing. However, this doesn’t mean he’s that easy going. We see with his dad he will hold a fucking grudge forever — even in S5 he’s talking about how much he hated him, and in S8 and how he talks about his mother, we see he hasn’t stopped hating her, either. Also he calls out Foreman a couple of times, either by just being a little bitch (telling a patient “Foreman doesn’t like me either” while Foreman is right there) or by just laying things out for him (S7′s “oh, you think you’re better than me?” stairway rant). It also doesn’t mean Chase is totally spineless and has no boundaries. With Cameron, he actually dumps her when she tries to avoid him over the engagement, and has no problem calling off the wedding over sperm-gate. When things matter to him, he’ll stand up for himself; he just prefers to freeze out or avoid conflict. He also has no problem in confronting House when he feels like it. He’s not very scared of House, House just doesn’t bother him.

He also gains more… let’s call it confidence… as time goes on. Chase always seems to be pretty secure in his self-worth and idea of himself (and NEVER willingly opens up to other people), but over time he definitely becomes a little punchier. In S1-3 he’s willing to just sort of roll his eyes and take it when things happen, but by S4-5 he’s happy to call House or Foreman out and argue instead of just letting things go (passive-aggressively). He never gets any better at emotional honesty (his “punch House instead of talking about his divorce” thing is straight out of his S1 daddy issues playbook), but he does grow something of a spine. I imagine before the show started, he was even less prone to fighting back beyond snarky comments.

He genuinely finds House funny. He almost always laughs at House’s stupidest jokes, and as much as he’s accused of being an asskisser, he. Really just does think House is funny. Foreman and Cameron hardly ever react to House’s little comments, Chase is always grinning along. This is important. Chase’s sense of humor sucks! He is an idiot! He likes House. In S1 he says he likes how direct House is, there’s the way he always laughs at House’s jokes, he is absolutely a huge suck up also but he also likes House. I think pre-canon this was absolutely still the case. House comes in all prepared to make this little nepo-baby cry and instead Chase not just imprints on him but thinks he’s so funny and admires how mean he is and how smart he is. Chase really likes his job. He says it a lot, but I don’t know if it gets focused on all that much. He ratted to Vogler because he wanted to keep his job, he makes comments many times about how he won’t risk his job. He likes working for House, he wants to keep doing it, he will ass-kiss and work hard and throw people under the bus to keep it: with the Vogler situation, he was pretty willing to fight Cameron for it, and he and Cameron usually get along!

He’s very observant when he wants to be. He gets House; from his little monologue to Wilson in Private Lives we see he basically can analyze “House is looking at a book” and figure out it’s a fake book and that House is really invested in it. In S3, he’s able to pick apart House and Foreman’s resignation drama over like. Two sentences. In ‘Nobody’s Fault’ in S8, Chase is pissed with House (for really the first time ever), but also sees through his excuses to do differentials in the OR as excuses for House to check in, he knows House is worried: in S5, Chase realizes House is broken up about his father’s death without even seeing him. This is also something House appreciates about Chase, a lot. He says in S3 it’s why he hired him; House also tends to “reward” Chase by being pretty honest with him. When Chase asks him something, House usually answers him honestly. (with Foreman’s resignation, as soon as Chase calls him out, House admits it and they have an honest conversation on what House should do next; in S5, House wants a surgery done for personal reasons and admits it and why when Chase asks.) 

I think part of this is because Chase actually very rarely does ask House anything, and he never makes demands on House or his feelings. He accepts at face value that House is “fine” during Detox, he doesn’t try and fix or change him, in “Half Wit” when the others are scheming to get House tested or make amends with him, Chase tries (and fails) to act normal, and then just wants a hug. Compare like. Cameron, who keeps trying to change or push House into acting how she wants him to act (blackmailing him into a date, for example). I’m not saying House doesn’t care about her, just. House is more open with Chase than he is with a lot of people who aren’t Wilson. Also, Chase does not return the favor. He literally ran up the stairs rather than tell House about his daddy issues, lmao. It’s kind of crazy that House is arguably more open and honest with Chase than vice-versa.

Finally, despite all his secret seething passive-aggression and daddy issues, and the fact that honestly Chase could really benefit from therapy and anti-depressants? He is not a sad uwu baby. This is sort of a general rant, but. You see it all the tiiime in fanfic. And yes, he’s super fucked up. But he’s cheerful most of the time! He likes doing crazy things, he is often pretty sarcastic and makes bad jokes! He’s a flirt, even before his S7 manwhore days — in early seasons we see him check out girls in the hallways, flirt at parties, with residents and nurses. He has hobbies (he’s fairly sporty, if Cameron’s “your apartment was decorated by a drunk rugby player” comment is anything to go on), he likes to read and do crossword puzzles and surfs and skis. He tells bad jokes. He tends to be fairly self confident — he doesn’t just take it when he’s accused of making mistakes, he has no problems with social situations or interactions, he hilariously thinks women are attracted to his personality and not his looks, like, he thinks he has a winning personality, that’s incredibly funny. He’s not arrogant in that he doesn’t really have much of a need to prove himself (he’s pretty fucking unambitious, actually), but he definitely has the Good Looking Rich Kid mentality where he thinks he belongs in any given situation and that people like him. He also has the social skills to back it up. Because he represses and avoids and seethes instead of expressing emotions, he comes off as generally cheerful and laid back, you know? Why be sad when you can just repress everything and flirt with nurses instead!

Finally finally: he's a huge fucking crybaby. Have you seen how red his eyes get. He might try to be stoic and repress but he tears up at the drop of a hat. First time House bullied him he probably started to cry.

[stylesispunk]

My fave 2024 things (my work)

(yes, i love you, jo march)

thank you to the lovely @greenwitchfromthewoods for giving me the strength to do this

Okay. Where do I start? I've always been so insecure when it comes to the things I do for passion, love or hobby. I've always felt i'm not good enough or that I will never reach the levels of greatness I would love to taste.

Since I was a little kid I was in love with art in all its expressions. My first love in life was theater. I spent my whole childhood acting on plays and stuff that made me happy (actually my favorite memory of life has to do with a particular one) I remember my teacher and I loved how she made me love expressing things through art and I learnt drawing and painting, I was so good at that and I still do it but not with the same frequency and what can I say about stories? Writing was my refuge every time i didn't know what to say. I always tried to write plays and poems, but then came the first enemy, puberty hit and I became insecure about everything because I wasn't good in maths and people say that i wouldn't be anyone in the world because of that.

Still I kept finding ways to express myself through essays and articles and I always felt proud of myself because I got perfect grades doing that stuff. I loved how passionate I became about politics and history and about learning english. I wanted to be a journalist so bad but for some reason I couldn't persuade that dream (but i'm trying).

And narrating stories is still a foreign field for me because It's not the type of writing I tend to do but i've been trying my best to improve and practice and i feel a bit proud for taking my time in this. Writing is actually my weakest skill in English ( I got 6.5 on that skill when i took the ielts test) but those are things you shouldn't know

Well now. Thank you to all who have taken their time to read my stories and for being so nice and attentive to it. For every feedback and word that reminds me of how beautiful it is to connect with people. Sometimes i don't even know how to handle it. ♥️💌 ps, sorry if my english looks like ai for you 😶‍🌫️.

-> my favorite jobs from this year 💌

✨ Joel miller

You're the loss of my life: This one? My biggest baby. I love how I was able to put the feelings on here. The idea came from me listening to loml by taylor swift (my personal friend) on loop. I just felt like it was so easy to involve myself in this story and write two characters that lose themselves in a world they weren't ready to face and how we tend to keep loving people that hurt us because memories made us think of them as good.

Did the love affair maim you too?: same thing, love is so weird sometimes. I'm a person who took her time to open up to someone because i've been hurt in the past by this one made me feel things while writing it.

Never leave, never mind: I know it's not the same but losing my granpa was the most painful thing for me and this one helped me a lot to accept that he won't come back but I have 24 years of my life with him and that's beautiful. ( I lost the link this one 💀)

✨ Marcus Acacius:

Hands in the hair of someone's name marcus: I feel really proud of this one because I feel the writing felt so genuine for me while I was working on it, no doubt, only inspo and a lot of help from the internet to have some facts right. Besides my love for the Roman empire came back.

i don't know who to tag here because i'm shy but I am always trying to show support to writers on here. Your stories are amazing and worth each minute a person can spend reading them.

I hope to see a lot of you on here and keep writing because you're talented people who deserve all the love and respect ♥️♥️

YOU ARE AMAZING I HOPE TO SEE YOU ALL ON MY TL DURING 2025 ✨

[cialovesklopp]

𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐃 𝐎𝐅 𝐀 𝐌𝐀𝐍 ➺ k.mbappé

𝒔𝒖𝒎𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒚 — realizing that one is actually in love is a process being done with your best friends

𝒑𝒂𝒊𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 — kylian mbappé x amara imani (oc)

𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒅 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒕 — 6.2k

𝒂𝒖𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒓'𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒆 — actually don't know why this chapter was so difficult to write so i hope it turned out fine. it's kind of a filler chapter but only preparing you for what's about to come also wanna thank my bestie @cl16version for helping me write this chapter, don't think i would have finished without her

mon amour — masterlist

every relationship is built on love and trust. both so different and yet, deep down, are based on the same fundament. 

the history of love and its different types went back decades; maybe even centuries. in definition, english literature has found it to be a simple feeling of deep affection and intimacy. but it was also the same english literary, that had given the word « love » a much important, higher meaning.

shakespeare’s romeo and juliet had opened the world to different types of love, erasing the standard of the typical love scenarios known to the world and making place for the difficult and painful ones. but whether it was the most powerful one, had never been known to humans. 

were feelings of hatred and disdain turned into passionate feelings stronger than the love, built up on years of friendship? the affection that grew after years of true care for each other? the true kind of love could not find its veritable definition. the connection based on the free will of two people somehow defied physics when it was analyzed deeply. 

but trust was not any easier. in fact it turned out to be even harder because how could one person be able to trust another person blindly? when one doesn’t even trust himself, how would one be able to trust another human, with the same flaws as itself?

for amara, love had always been somewhat suspicious to her. the idea of sharing herself to another person, letting that person into the deepest parts of her did not seem very appealing to her. she could never truly let go of her. if you wanted to love her, you had to satisfy yourself with the 90% she allowed you to have. and yet, even with her carefulness and high-alert to it, she had trusted and given 95% of herself. 

she couldn’t trust anymore — how could she? not when the additional five percent she had allowed evan to have, had been used against her. he had humiliated her before breaking her heart. the stepping and trashing of it did not help her very much. but the trust she had given away and it had been misused, she would always cry after it. 

evan and her had lived in completely different worlds and yet a whisper of media and suddenly they found themselves on the same platform. maybe if she never had gone to that beauty event, he wouldn’t have talked to her. and her so-called friends could have never pushed her to seek after him if they hadn’t been captured by the press. the moment she would have tasted the poison of him — the moment she should read the articles of him and her instead of crushing on him — she would’ve spit him out and left his radar at the first chance she would have got. 

she had been naive back then. a child thrown into the celebrity world with no one to guide her, fresh meat for the hungry wolves, just waiting for a weak lamb to stumble upon them. it was clear that he had used her — the young rising star, being thrown into the industry without any knowledge — it was easy to use her. to amara, evan represented the false friend, the crisis of her faith when she had not been sure whether to even accept his invitation. 

amara had seen the red flags and deliberately chosen to ignore them — her first mistake. she knew she should have left him when he had started downgrading her but she stayed — her second mistake. another door had opened when she had met his parents and they had undermined her, racist side marks the entire evening and she had taken them all and yet she had stayed. another mistake. there had been so many signs that she had chosen to ignore — simply, because he had made her feel loved, desired. and the bullet had hit her when her safety bubble had burst. 

it had never been clear to her what had been her motive. why she couldn’t have just gone on her way instead of blushing and attire his attention. evan had never made it worth staying, amara realized as she looked back even though deep down she knew the reason. why she had never left. 

evan had always given her enough to make her stay, ignore the bright red flags and issues he had. she had been young, a fresh adult with no experiences on love. he had realized quickly, he had enough good to make her stay through the bad. to never even question a leave. she endured cheating scandals because he knew how to win her back, he knew how to make the bad outweigh the good for a moment before all began again. 

in the end, she celebrated his love and he tolerated it. 

she regretted a lot of thing but mostly, the loss of her innocent adult years. where memories used to be things that made her smile and not emotions that could be used as weapon. every touch he had left on her had turned out to be a scar, ugly and dark, carving her for life. she had not planned on trusting again.

and then life introduced her to kylian.

he somehow made the idea of love less disgusting. showed her the kind type of love that also existed. that next to painful and unstable it could also be reassuring and calming. still it wasn’t sufficient for an “us”. and kylian was left, picking up the pieces. 

the longer she stayed in her relationship, the smaller the pieces got, her heart breaking so many times, some pieces would never be found again. but kylian had found a solution — he would fill the gaps with love. and somehow it was working and she found herself falling again, the easy part of love.

their relationship was blooming like the first flower fighting her way through after decades of ice growing over its ground. he broke the high walls that had built around her, had formed a security wall. a new bond had been created between them, building and strengthening over their deepness and the easiness of being vulnerable in front of each other. 

that they knew where they were standing with each other, made it even easier for amara. she could be open with kylian, there were no overthinkings with him, no contemplating.  her relationship with kylian allowed her to be her own true self. 

and the changes of it were quickly recognisable, with smiles becoming more and more frequent. gloomy eyes were replaced with bright grins and her eyes were slowly starting to regain their twinkle back, the origin of her success and career. 

with kylian waiting for amara to get her trust and confidence back, the singer started to open up more, go back to her old sunshine-self as she had been known as. the balance in her life was restoring, equalizing her career and private life again. and amara could go back to living in bliss, actually experiencing the innocent feeling of amore, she had not been allowed to feel during her time with evan. 

she was falling hard like a plane flying straight-down to the ground. the overwhelming rush of emotions flooding her heart, becoming more and more each second she passed with the french striker. the realization had struck her at night, as she had worked on her song, hitting her with the speed of lighting: she was undeniably in love with him. 

she was swimming in a sea of emotions, with no shore or land in sight. her eyes viewed kylian in a different light now — he wasn’t the charming footballer anymore, with easygoing and playful character. instead he had upgraded to the man, who had giving her inspiration again. her muse and for amara, this held higher significance than anything else. 

how she had ever lived without him, she didn’t know. how could she have made all these days in Paris without the air in her apartment spreading the scent of love and comfort, the certain safety that looked everywhere whenever he was there. she cherished every second spent in his presence, treasuring each moment as if it were a precious gem.

Amara had given kylian everything. she was willing to repeat her mistake, let him have a part of her she had never given away before. all the times she stood in front of the mirror and since the entry of his life, all of sudden she saw herself different. as if she had never seen herself before. 

and kylian knew she was scared. he was aware she was hoping to be spared of all this, the process of falling in love again, afraid of all those dark feelings returning from her previous failed relationship. but she wasn’t alone in her feelings. deep down, he was scared too, angst sometimes lurking in his mind as he thought about her and their growing relationship. but just as quickly as those feelings came, they were gone again and it all started to make sense to him again — he would take the leap of faith anytime again. 

they would never admit to each other just how much the other meant to them — both afraid to overstep boundaries. 

it was the reason why kylian would never know how much it meant to her when he would hold her, press tiny kisses on her temple when they sat down to watch a movie. how it was able to change the way she saw herself when he complimented her. she was willing to give herself to him if he accepted the part of her, she had never let loose before. 

and amara would never know, she was the reason, he was being himself again. she would never hold the knowledge that the night they had met, had been for him to grow out of his misery after his own failed relationship. how her messages transferred smiles onto his faces that even his teammates started to grow suspicious. 

a certain vulnerability loomed over them, their hearts exposed to the other. and that same vulnerability was covered with soft smiles, silent confessions of love, glimpses into the depths of each others’ souls. love had the power to transform, to shape and create. it was able to bury insecurities, flaws, hatred… love had the power to give new beginnings to old things. 

especially in her case, love had given her something so important, it had given her inspiration, a new muse for her music. kylian fitted her in every way possible. even more because he loved her just because she — in his eyes. in his eyes she wasn’t amara imani, and he had fallen in love with her plain self, with her just being amara. 

she didn’t need to be more to make his world lighten up, her laugh was enough. and she didn’t need to wear makeup to be the most beautiful girl in the room — she could wear a potato bag and still win miss universe in his opinion.

sometimes even the simplest of loves were the most beautiful ones. the one, where one could see how trust and love were built around moments spent with each other, finding your soulmate, best friend in your loved one. world’s could never describe how this was an entire different feeling from just falling in love. and loving every part, every flaw and still seeing beauty was another different thing. 

even to herself, amara couldn’t explain why kylian’s laugh attracted her so much. it could have been his body, after all he was built very well, his face, his status — but no, for amara the most attractive thing on kylian was his smile. 

she started to drown out, not even listening anymore but just memorizing his smile to the finest detail. the way, kylian couldn’t help but to laugh before even recounting what had happened that made him burst into laughter like this. she gazed at him with so much love in her eyes, adoration, fondness. his giggles filled the air, tearing all of amara’s attention to them as he recounted with animated gestures. the last thing she remembered was that something funny at training session had happened today but what exactly it was, she didn’t know. by then she had already completely spaced out, staring at kylian instead and his smile.

the time passed with amara and kylian are still lost in each other’s company. they both enjoyed the moments where they did not have to wear a mask, could be completely themselves. they were only amara and kylian with each. two normal persons, trying to navigate their way through life. but of course, they couldn’t escape it forever, time and responsibilities always caught up. 

glancing at the clock, she gasped when she saw how late it already was. truthfully, for their standards, it wasn’t really late but she knew kylian had an away match tomorrow and couldn’t afford to be tired there. 

“kylian,” she began softly, nudging the french forwards’ shoulder, “it’s late. you need to go.”

“are you trying to get rid of me?” he retorted jokingly, grinning at her. 

she rolled her eyes, amusement clear on her face, “never. but you have an away match and i kind of don’t fancy you being benched.”

he gasped, putting a hand on his heart dramatically. “omg, you actually care for me.” he exclaimed, his grin spreading wider when she lightly slapped him neck this time. “but are you actually going to watch my match this weekend?”

“you’re acting as if i haven’t watched your last two matches.” she replied sarcastically. 

kylian waved dismissively, “yeah but we lost those. and i’m really sure we’re going to win this one. and, i don’t mean to brag, but i kind of am a big deal so it should be really entertaining.”

amara bursted out laughing, placing a hand in front of her mouth to stop her but it was useless. “sure…,” she trailed off, a mocking tone distinguishable in her voice. “it’s not like i have anything better to do this weekend, no of course not. i can already feel how excited i am to watch you run after a ball for one and a half hours.”

“glad to know this is how you feel about me,” kylian replied, his face scrunching up which made amara laugh even more. 

“you should start selling tickets just for people to watch you, not the team but just you.” amara suggested, “it’ll be called the donatello experience, after all you do kind of look like him. but the wish version.” she added, squirming when kylian suddenly started to tickle her. 

her laughter rang through the entire apartment, her begs going down in laughs as kylian tickled her all over. it was perfect. this moment was everything her and even were not and for the first time in a long time. amara was not thinking about her worries, the only thing on her mind was kylian - her kylian. she knew that god was a woman, but her favorite angel was definitely kylian.

“you think it’s an insult, i take it as a compliment,” he stated proudly and amara raised her eyebrows, an incredulous expression on her face at his words. “but you know, you’re kind of right. i should definitely start the mbappé experience. i mean after all, who wouldn’t want to see this beauty,” he let a hand run down his face, posing extravagantly which started another small laugh flash of amara. 

“people would start reclaiming their money if they spent it to watch you fall every twenty minutes. but what’s money when you can watch the imperialistic, majestic, phenomenal kylian mbappé try to score goals, right?”

 “ha ha,” he replied dryly, glaring at the singer in front of him. “aren’t you funny?”

amara smirked, mischievous glint in her eyes, “i know i am. you don’t have to remind me.”

“and people say, i have a big ego,” kylian muttered under his breath, but still loud enough for amara to hear, “they clearly haven’t met you.”

“your ego is bigger than france itself,” amara retorted, “i’m just trying to match your energy.”

“glad we’re on the same page.”

“of course we are. if it wasn’t for me, who would remind you of your frequent moments of mediocrity and knock you off your high horse?” amara explained as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “i’ll be here, sitting on my couch, cheering you on as i watch you miss a penalty by a mile.”

instead of answering with another sarcastic comment, the french striker stood up and pulled off  the blue psg-hoodie he was wearing. amara’s eyes widened as she spotted his abs, clearly visible through the tight white shirt he was wearing beneath. he threw it into amara’s lap without another word, the smell of his cologne immediately picked up by her nose. 

“you’re giving me your hoodie? what for? i can easily order myself a psg jersey,” she questioned, looking at him confused.

he shrugged dismissively again, “faut que je encourage mon plus grand supporter, tu ne trouve pas? without whose words, i probably wouldn’t have scored my incoming hattrick.” — don’t you think?

she pulled the sweatshirt closer to her chest and put it on, laughing as she saw how big it was on her body. “aww, thank you. you thought of me. to how many girls have you already given this?”

“none,” kylian replied deadpan, nodding in affirmation when amara raised her eyebrows. “you’re the first.”

“i feel honored, thank you so much. maybe, i’ll sell it on ebay.” she said cheerfully and threw a last glance at the time on her phone. “kylian, you really need to go now if you don’t plan on warming the bench tomorrow.”

he held his hands up in surrender. “d’accord, je m’en vais déjà.” — okay, i’m already leaving

kylian lifted himself up from the sofa, reaching for his belongings. amara quickly put on some slippers and accompanied him to the door, in a way it felt like this was a death march. as if amara would never see him again, which was quite the opposite in reality. they had spent the whole day together, yet it felt like it wasn’t enough. to the two of them not even forever could fill their need for one another, and with kylian going away for a match. their need to be close to each other had never been stronger.

they stood at the door, looking at each other, their regards completely enamored. his hand brushed gently against hers, surroundings entirely drowning out. for some reason, this goodbye felt different. the usual warmth was discernible in his eyes, the smell of his cologne filled the air, intensified this time because of his hoodie that was gracing her body, a comfortable atmosphere laid around them. and yet, neither moved. they were caught in their moment. 

it reminded amara of their first meeting, the morning after. when they had been at his apartment and she was in kylian’s position. they would have stayed there too for hours if her phone hadn’t rang. but this time, there were no distractions. it was just the two of them, waiting for the other to make a move and yet neither of the two wanted to disrupt the moment. 

he contemplated in his head, mind running high — was this the moment he had longed for? when she would finally make a step forward instead of her three steps back each time something like this happened? all he wanted to do at the moment was to take her head into his palms and press his lips on hers. but he also knew that it wouldn’t be fair towards her. 

she needed the time to heal and move forward from her insecurities, her doubts about love. and he had sworn to himself several times to give it to her. he could wait for years, it would be okay. she was the only woman in his thoughts at the moment. they didn’t need to rush. for him, it was the most obvious thing that he liked her in every kind of way. they could be in a room full of diamonds and yet she would still shine the brightest. 

he leaned down, close enough to hear amara’s heart beat pound quickly, his lips brushing her skin swiftly as he pressed a soft kiss on her cheek. for a second everything stood still, the earth stopped in its tracks. and it was just them, as the innocent gesture made them both freeze. was it the wrong decision? maybe. was it too soon? maybe. but all kylian could say was he did not regret it.

the kiss did not leave them unbothered. the sensation of his touch, his skin on hers sent shivers down her spine, the spot where he had kissed her burning with heat. and yet she felt a bit of disappointment. a part of her had thought it would have been more, longed for more. 

and kylian somehow sensed it. he could feel her bit of disappointment that was going through her. he placed her hands in his, smiling at her fondly, so much love in his gesture, “i know you’re disappointed. but i did not want our first kiss to be a goodbye kiss. i promised myself, i would make our first kiss unforgettable and wait till you’re ready for us.”

as he spoke, how could she be mad at him? when he was that considerate of her feelings; when he was able to read her like an open book? she looked up at him, eyes reflecting every of her emotions that she currently felt and a smile broke out on her lips. 

“will you wait forever?”

“if you want me too, i will.”

“you’re too good for me, ky,” amara muttered, still playing with the footballer’s hands. 

he shook his head, her smile mirroring on his face, “not too good. just perfect.” he leaned his back towards the wall, watching their reflection in the mirror. “he didn’t deserve you. he never did.”

as they slowly, with lots of reluctance let go of each other’s hands, another atmosphere built up. they didn’t have to say anything, they knew what they thought. next to the warmth and love filling the air, there was also a sense of safety. they felt safe with each other. she wasn’t just amara anymore, the person he fell in love with and wanted to show her his love. she had changed into amara, the person he felt safe with that he loved. 

the first time they had been in this situation, the roles were reversed and he had to hold on to the hope of it all, that they would meet again. that she wouldn’t push him back, and she hadn’t. so even though she had never been his, he had lived for her. given things up for her because his sense of amore had been so innocent, so hopeful that their faiths would intertwine. 

“so… i can count on you cheering me on from your couch?”

she nodded firmly, “no place i would rather be at that time,” she replied in the same cheerful tone, her soft smile still decorating her face. “by the way, it wouldn’t have been a goodbye kiss,” she added as kylian stepped through the door, her words making the french forward stop and turn around.

“well, this isn’t a goodbye, cherié,” he responded, “just a, see you soon.”

both were grinning widely when amara closed the door behind her. a cocktail of emotions rushed through her, her mind replaying the past few minutes in her head over and over. her hand reached for her cheek, the touch of his lips on her cheek still recent. even as she sat down on the couch, her mind still thought back to the moment they had shared at the door, their step forward. 

even kylian couldn’t wipe the smile of his face as he made his way home. he ignored the questionable look from his chauffeur, his mind still thinking back to the moment that had just happened. the soft and gentle kiss he had left on her cheek held much more significance. it was a symbol for their step forward. 

𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒𝐒𝐀𝐆𝐄:

AMARA: i kind of miss you guys scratch that, i actually miss you so much

LIYAH: this bitch drunk again?

r u drunk again?  you’re only emotional when you’re drunk

AMARA: can’t a girl miss her besties

GRACE: nah, she’s definitely drunk we literally talk to each other over the phone every day in case you forgot, i’m your pr-manager

AMARA: choke i’m not drunk i just miss seeing you, it’s been weeks

GRACE: aww, we miss seeing your beautiful face too

GRACE: but she’s kind of right, it’s actually been kind of long since we all saw each other

AMARA: paris is lonely without y’all next girls night out is on me

LIYAH: we’re sorry not everybody can go into hiding immediately

AMARA: acting as if i did this on purpose anyway i’m bored by the way, did you see the article about e*an and his girlfriend at the MTV awards?

LIYAH. i thought we agreed not to talk about this asshole anymore BUT LIKE SAME  AND THE WAY THEY’RE SAYING, YOUR THE ONE LEFT BEHIND

GRACE: we can always sue them if you want this was more than just talking about henderson and his new trophy girlfriend they woke up and chose violence

AMARA: it’s the part where they say ‘i pale in comparison to her’ like, i’m sorry my job is not to just sit still and look pretty

LIYAH: that nepo baby has probably never worked even lifted a finger to work for something

GRACE: don’t worry i’ll take care of it and e*an will definitely eat his words “not truly working between us” THAT BITCH

AMARA: his text messages say different but who cares?

GRACE: do me the favour though and don’t go on social media rn, it’s shitty there

LIYAH: gracey’s kind of right, it does look bad at the moment AMARA: dw wasn’t planning to anyway, i’m over it already so liyah, how was fashion week?

LIYAH: great lots of free alcohol and great clothes

AMARA: where was it again?

LIYAH: in the south of france monaco = lots of casinos and alcohol

GRACE: speaking of monaco…

LIYAH: yesssss

AMARA: liyahhhhhhhh

LIYAH: amaraaaaaaaa

AMARA: WHAT’S THIS GRACE JUST SEND ME PRIVATELY? YOU HAVE A NEW MAN? YOU BAGGED CHARLES LECLERC!!!!

GRACE: AND SHE PROBABLY WOULDN’T HAVE TOLD US IF WE DIDN'T ASK AFTER FASHION WEEK

LIYAH: guys….

AMARA:

THIS YOU?

LIYAH: i didn’t know it spread this quick but let me add, his ferrari collection>>>>> and he feeds me pasta everyday

GRACE:

SPILL BITCH

AMARA: yess, we wanna know the deeds how did this shit happen

LIYAH: well, i was supposed to go on blind date but asshole never showed up charles ordered me a bottle of wine and joined me later than, apparently he saw me being sad

GRACE: omgggg

one night stand??

LIYAH: nahhh we went on a few days before he popped the question and he’s literally amazing skilled everywhere

AMARA: damn, girl not even james made you swoon like that

GRACE: she deep in

LIYAH: james could have never let’s not disrespect charles like that james would have never let me drive his pista

AMARA:

PISTA? A FERRARI PISTA

LIYAH: he has a customized one

AMARA:

JEALOUSSSS (don’t you dare quote my song now)

GRACE: but like, how’s it going?

LIYAH: he’s so charming and cute and perfect.  i feel like every adjective i try to use does not fit, it’s too good.  and his smile — his smile is adorable.  especially with his dimples. impossible not to fall for him.”

AMARA:

WE NEED TO MEET HIM ASAP

GRACE: he got our girl down bad

AMARA: she’s actually in love

LIYAH: but like jokes aside, i really like him like him and me are

there are no situationships, no toxic exes it’s perfection — well, more like he’s perfection and brings out the best in me

AMARA: she’s in love let’s hope he doesn’t screw it up like james did.

GRACE: if he does, ferrari red won’t be the only one he’s seeing

AMARA: but we can’t wait to meet him in person

LIYAH: how about we stop talking about my man and focus on the reason, amara’s hyped again

GRACE: YES CAUSE WHY IS THIS BITCH CALLING ME AT TWO O’CLOCK IN THE MORNING

LIYAH: AND DON’T EVEN TRY TO DENY IT WE’VE KNOWN YOU FOR YEARS

GRACE: SPILL THE BEANS

AMARA: don’t know what you’re talking about there’s no one

LIYAH: at least try to sound convincing

we’re your best friends your soul sisters

GRACE: by definition it’s our job to pry into your life

LIYAH: TELL US, WHO GOT YOU DOWN

AMARA: fine so there’s this guy, kylian and we met here

LIYAH: SHE ACTUALLY HAS A MAN

GRACE:

AMARA: not gonna lie my heart is going crazy for him like he is kind of perfect

GRACE: OMGGG WHAT HAS THIS BITCH BEEN KEEPING FROM US

LIYAH: SPILL what’s he like?

AMARA: he’s incredibly talented firstly and his smile could literally light up a room

LIYAH: IT’S GETTING GOOD

AMARA: idk how to describe but like we just click, we don’t have to say anything but immediately understand each other and he’s actually making me laugh and keeps up with my sarcasm

GRACE:

LIYAH: SHE IS DOWN BAD

GRACE: does he know you feel bout him that way?

AMARA: he knows like, we both know that we have feelings but i told him, i’m not ready and he understands that said, he was willing to wait for me

GRACE: KEEP HIM

LIYAH: HE’S PERFECT

GRACE: what does he even look like?

AMARA:

LIYAH: WHO IS THAT? WAIT I THINK I KNOW HIM

GRACE: DAMN AMARA WHAT THE HELL BITCH HOW COULD YOU KEEP HIM FROM US

LIYAH: HE’S THAT PLAYER FROM PSG RIGHT? THE FRENCH STRIKER SCORED THREE GOALS IN THE WC FINAL??

GRACE: A FOOTBALL PLAYER? AMARA??? INCOMING FACETIME CALL:

giggling, amara accepted the call quickly, her smile widening as she stared at her two best friends. her laugh intensified, looking at liyah’s serious face.

“usually, i am the first to veto football players but if he’s anything like what you told us,” liyah trailed off excitingly, “if you don’t go for him, i will personally smack the shit out of you.” liyah threatened jokingly, “that man literally has you smiling like the cheshire cat and—”

“is that his hoodie?” grace cut her off, pointing at the navy blue sweatshirt on amara’s body. their eyes immediately spotted the small number seven, engraved at the top corner of the shirt.

she looked away shyly, nodding and instantly laughing at the shocked faces of her friends. “he gave it to me, sort of support. said that, if i can’t come to his matches, then at least i’ll be supporting him through my phone.”she explained, smiling brightly.

“WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?” grace questioned her incredulously, while liyah was still looking for words to describe the behavior of their friend. “HE IS DOWN FOR YOU.”

“girls, it’s not that easy. i like him, i truly do but things are not the same for me as they were for you and charles.” amara muttered, her smile shining less. “i can’t just go for him.”

their expressions were soft, a certain fondness for their best friend recognizable as they looked at her. liyah spoke first, “if this is because of evan, i can promise you, it’s not going to be like that the next time. this time, we’re here and not those fake, backstabbing snakes. and the moment we see a red flag in kylian, we’ll make sure he never ever plays football again.”

she sighed heavily, hands running frustratingly over her face. “i am a mess at the moment. i can’t even step outside because of this stupid scandal. and he’s kylian, france’s golden boy. he doesn’t deserve to be dragged down because of me.” she confessed, a heavy weight falling off her shoulders. 

“amara, the last thing you need to do is think of yourself as a burden.” grace told her in a scolding tone, “kylian is old enough to choose whom he wants to associate himself with. and if chose you, that’s because he likes you. you literally said that he was willing to wait till you were ready to move forward.”

“men like them only come once in a lifetime,” liyah added to support grace’s statement. “and sometimes you just have to trust. don’t take this as me pushing you to get into a relationship but we want you to figure it out. you’re the only one who knows when you’re ready or not and neither your reputation nor your career are going to change that. it’s just you.”

“is it even a good idea for two celebrities to date? i don’t need a repeat of what happened with evan. this thing escalates again and i’m done,” she explained worriedly. “i am trying to rise from the ashes. i can do it once but if this fails, i can’t do it twice. and the risk of it is too high for me.”

amara jumped when suddenly a pillow was thrown towards the camera, rolling her eyes lightly at liyah’s antics. she was known for her way of always overdramatizing everything. 

this time was no different. 

“mar, honestly i don’t really know if kylian is the right guy. the only thing I know though is that he cares. and maybe he’s not the right person. but at least you’ll have tried.” grace assured her, smiling softly at her while liyah held her thumbs up. “sometimes you have to kiss several frogs to find your prince.”

“you’ve got no idea how thankful i am for this,” she replied thankfully, accepting grace’s advice. “truly do not know where i would be without you two.”

standing up from the sofa, she rummaged through her notebooks till she found the one she had opened recently and wrote her newest song down. she brought it back to her place, sitting down again and listening to her two best friends talk as she edited her lyrics. she must have spaced out very quickly since suddenly, a high pitched scream was heard through her phone. 

“OMG, SHE’S WRITING!” liyah exclaimed, making amara look up in shock. she was met with a gleeful expression on liyah’s face, looking at the camera and a similar looking one on grace. “NEW MUSIC IS COMING!”

grace shook her head at liyah even though they were used to it by now. “is that the project you told me about? the one from two o’clock in the morning?”

amara gave a nod and smiled at the excitement in her friends’ faces. “songwriting is on again, i guess.”

“you said, you were taking a pause.”

“no, i was just in a slump because of my mediocre second album,” amara objected quickly, “but now i’m high on motivation again and i’m keen on beating those critics and haters, who called me forgettable.”

“is the song already finished?” grace asked her curiously. “do you want me to arrange something for recording or?”

amara closed the small notebook, placing it on the table in front of her. “no, i want to write several ones before i even think of going to the studio. like i said, this time i need to exceed. not just reach my expectation but exceed them. and i’m going to do that.”

“damn, where’s the inspiration coming from?” liyah exclaimed. 

amara smirked, mischievous glint apparent in her eyes. “he gave it to me.”

𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒𝐒𝐀𝐆𝐄:

AMARA: kylian? u awake?

KYLIAN: always

AMARA: i actually wrote a song today

KYLIAN: it’s mine right?

AMARA: score a goal for me and we’ll see

KYLIAN: this is torture

AMARA: writing a song is not for everyone takes time and patience not that you’d know

KYLIAN: can i at least know what it’s about?

AMARA: about a certain football player who thinks he’s the best in world and needs to be humbled with a disstrack

KYLIAN:

a disstrack? when have i ever offended you

AMARA: i rate constantly stealing my food as a crime by the way, shouldn’t you be asleep right now you have a match tomorrow

KYLIAN: one we’ll easily win

AMARA: boy, you’re not man city get off your high horse

KYLIAN: your ego is just as bad as mine i never even asked you what’s your favorite team?

AMARA: olympique marseille a shame, they’re always losing in classicos

KYLIAN: fr now

AMARA: liverpool fc ynwa always cheers me up and now go to sleep before i block you i expect a hat-trick tomorrow

KYLIAN: i’ll even score four if that makes you happier

AMARA: don’t tempt me mbappé

KYLIAN: don’t block me pls

AMARA: then go to bed

KYLIAN: fine maman

AMARA:

[matte-green]

Beginner Witch? Start Here

Hey!

Don't worry, we've all been where you are. Excited to start, overwhelmed with information, no idea what to do or where to begin. It can be very discouraging, so let me assist! These are some tips that have helped me IMMENSELY, plus some places to get started.

1. Use a Binder for your Grimoire or BOS

If you're like me and want everything organized and sectioned out, a binder will help immensely. I currently use a A5 6 ring notebook for my grimoire and it makes it VERY easy to move things around where I want them. This is the one i currently use and i bought this along with it for pages and tabs!

2. Learn about closed practices early

There are a lot of people who will see a video of some white woman online waving burning sage around her house and think "oh, she's a witch cleansing her home of evil spirits" (ugh) but this is actually called Cultural Appropriation. I found a really good post on here by @man-i-just-really-like-plants giving a brief breakdown of which practices are closed and what it means. I feel this is essential to know ahead of starting your practice.

Research! Learn!

You've probably already heard this, but its true. Here are some things I recommend you research

The History of Witchcraft (i recommend Triumph of the Moon by Ronald Hutton)

Clairsenses (This page gives a good rundown!)

Herbs that grow locally, and how to harvest them sustainably

things that you are drawn too (crystals, waters and their uses, kitchen witchcraft, ect.)

Just try not to overwhelm yourself! you have plenty of time!

Take all resources with a grain of salt

Anyone can write a book, an article, a blog post, or make a youtube video. So read, watch and practice as much as you can and use what works for you. It is YOUR practice, what works for someone else might not work for you.

Oh, and one more thing

You do not have to be Wiccan to practice Witchcraft!

I see this a lot in newbies, and they stress themselves out over the rules of practice within Wicca because they think wicca = witchcraft. If you aren't looking to be wiccan, don't be! There are Norse Witches, Christian Witches, Secular Witches, ect.

You don't have to be a part of any particular religion to practice! The energy surrounding all of us in this universe, and your intent, is all you need!

If you have any questions just ask! And if there is anything anyone wants to add, go right ahead!

~matte

[night-dark-woods]

I want to start adding text descriptions to stuff i reblog, do you have any advice? is there a guide or something you use, the style of your IDs is very nice.

hey! thats great that you want to start writing IDs. I've reblogged guides before and ill tag this post with the tag they're in (image descriptions) so its easy to browse!

in addition to those other resources, here's some guidelines i personally keep in mind, & what i structure different IDs like.

for text transcripts: source & type of image, author, date if possible. here are some pretend/template IDs:

ID. a twitter screenshot from user @.[username] dated [date] that reads: "[tweet]." End ID.

i put the period after the @ symbol so it doesnt try to tag a nonexistent (or unrelated) user on this site, and a screenreader will just pause there briefly.

ID. a photo of a page from the book [name] by [author]. text reads: [transcript]. End ID.

if the OP cited the author/book/source, you can just do "Transcript: [text]. End transcript."

for actual images:

type of image is really important!

photograph, edited photograph, reaction image, edited reaction image, painting, digital painting, digital drawing, etc. you should always put what kind of image it is.

keep in mind the purpose of the image!

if its an art piece or a photo of one, its good to describe the medium, style, colors, and subject.

if it's a reaction image or other meme, you don't have to describe the surroundings in loving detail. the "point" of the image is enough.

if its a photograph, it might also be an art piece, or from the news, or someone sharing their pet. the amount and kind of detail again depends on the point of the image.

don't make judgements or assumptions!

dont describe things as badly drawn or badly photographed- and on the flip side, dont describe things as cute or beautiful. describe whats in the image, not how it makes you feel. if you love a certain part of how a photograph is framed, or how the light is painted in a piece of art, say that specifically. "beautiful" means nothing! do you mean realistic? vibrantly colored? "cute" means nothing! do you mean in a cartoony style? or that the subject matter is a cat, which many people find cute? be specific!

dont make statements about the gender or race of the people in the photo or art piece, especially if it's real people (like a news photo) unless you know those things as a fact (celebrities, fictional characters, people you know personally, people where it is mentioned in the article the photo is from). you can just describe things like hair length, skin tone, etc. exceptions to this rule imo are stock photos- eg if im captioning my favorite stock photo of all time, cyber woman with corn, i am going to describe it as "a stock photo of a white woman in a futuristic silver and black wraparound visor, wearing a silver bodysuit and cradling an ear of corn near her face and smiling slightly."

here are some example descriptions, all from images i have on my phone.

ID. a photo of two cats laying head to head on someones outstretched legs, which are under a blanket. one cat is an orange tabby, and the other is a gray and white splotched tabby. End ID.

the point of this image is my cats- im not going to spend time describing the blanket, the couch, the stuff you can see in the background, bc it's not relevant to the image, and adds nothing.

ID. a photo taken through a rainy window at twilight, with the camera focused on the raindrops on the glass, so the lights in the houses across the street are out of focus. the lights reflect on the wet pavement in a warm yellow glow. End ID.

i took this the other night bc i thought it looked cool how blurry it was- id consider this more of an "art" photo, so im describing the aspects of the framing etc that make it that- i wasnt just trying to show how rainy it was, but to take a photo in an interesting way, so those traits are "worth" describing.

ID. a photo of an acrylic painting done on a cardboard packing envelope of a city street at sunset, all the building windows reflecting gold. there are purple fluffy clouds in the sky, lit from below with peach and gold. the USPS tracking number barcode is still visible in the gap between houses at the end of the street. the brush strokes are very visible, the perspective is wonky, and the orange underpainting is visible at the edges. End ID.

this is a new ID for something i painted and already posted and i dont feel like getting the old ID. medium, style, and specific details i think are important are included. the perspective being wonky is a bit of a value judgement i wouldn't make about Other people's art, but it's my own and i think its an important detail so!

ID. an edited catcrumb comic, showing a simple mspaint illustration of a cat happily sorting things into piles with the caption, "sort sort. i love to arbitrarily sort." the cat has been colored in gray and its ears have been colored like homestuck troll horns, and the sorting piles replaced with some classpect symbols. End ID.

this is a good example of a edited image- its important to give (to some degree) a sense of what the original image was, say that its edited, and describe the changes. i dont need to list the classpect symbols i put on there, bc its not relevant to the message of the image- it would do nothing but make the ID longer.

oh- and to cap off the post- here is cyber woman with corn:

ID. a stock photo of a white woman in a futuristic silver and black wraparound visor, wearing a silver bodysuit and cradling an ear of corn near her face and smiling slightly. End ID.

[b1asho]

So sorry for the spam!! I saw your post about the Rosettians and went a bit silly scrolling through your page 😭😭 I love your work!!

Two questions: is there a place I can read more about your story, and do you allow people to make characters of your species?

Also, where do you get inspiration / info for your work if you don’t mind me asking? I’ve been wanting to make my own xenofiction/alien story and I’d love to hear any tips you have!!

Thank you and have a lovely morning/evening/night!

Alas, other than deviantart, I don't have anywhere else I post art or anything (everything there is a mess, but i do have a lot more posts and usually writing on those posts if you want to know more before i get around to bringing it over here) (https://www.deviantart.com/blasho)

I love when people do characters and stuff from my world! (Just make sure you say it's mine, etc etc ) Tag me in anything you make, I really like seeing it

I get information and inspiration from here on earth, of course!!

It wasnt on purpsoe, but i got my start watching just a Lot of nature documentaries, it's an easy way to absorb a lot of the basics and get to see how actual organisms move and learn all the weird stuff they do, all the weird stuff that they evolved to survive in their habitat, and in general get stuff in the back of your mind you can use to make your own stuff and add design or behavior characteristics to your guys. For anything in depth....research articles and papers on google? That's what I use

I try and smooth mine over a little and add other stuff to them so they aren't cut and dry Exactly like one animal or another, but its inevitable and also part of the fun that they do look and act a little like animals we're familiar with (or even looklike humans)

I'd also say start reading/watching/etc other scifi, fantasy, etc, even bad ones, it helps get an understanding of what's already out there and can give you some ideas on what you want to have in your own world/how to approach some things in your world (like cultures or how their society works) nonfiction can even help with this in the same way nature documentaries helped me

The rest really depends on what story you want to tell/what aliens you want to have (more realistic would mean a lot more research and puts more limits on what you can do, but working with and around that can be fun XD )

I'd say if you want to turn a mindscape idea into a story, definitely work towards locking down the basics at some point (like how many aliens are you going to have? Whats the tone of the story? Is it a hard scifi or soft scifi? What's each of their general vibe/how can you fit that with their design or culture? Where do they live that gives them that design/where are they living now? That stuff) and build from there

Its easier to start small and just start designing little guys and then refining them along the way (though if you already have specific stuff in mind and are working towards that purpose then this streamlines a bit.)

Thanks for asking!! Hopefully this isn't too long

[cubur]

Hi Cubur♡♡, I would like to be able to give you a hug and be able to be your friend so I can listen to everything you have to say, please don't stay silent, if you need to say something, don't hold back. I'm one of the anons who long ago told you "you are the first Naruto artist I have ever met" and the truth is that I think you are an incredible person, your art always makes me happy and I love how you manage to capture all the emotions of the ship and the characters. You also sometimes remind me of Sasuke, such a magnificent and good character to whom many bad things happened, but although he often wanted to do things alone, he still had Naruto who was never going to leave him. I hope one day you find your Naruto. I want you to know that there are many people who love you, many people who you make happy, maybe not all of us know you but I know that if I did I wouldn't be disappointed because you are a good person, with deep thoughts, you seem like someone who likes to look out the window and think about life, that is, you are someone super interesting. And I also wanted to tell you that many times I have felt sad, I have even come to think that without me the world would not change or that maybe they would miss me but that after a while they would forget about me, but then I found my Naruto or rather my Guy since I'm more like Kakashi, but thanks to that person and other things that I later realized, I decided to study Psychology, this way I can help others like they helped me. If I had the appropriate knowledge I would also help you but the truth is that I speak Spanish and my English is not very good, and I would also be afraid to tell you something that is not since I'm still studying. So as an anonymous friend I wanted to tell you that you also helped me in sad moments, and without you realizing it, that's why I feel that many times help comes from anywhere and that even the smallest things can save our lives.

Sorry for writing so much, I hope I haven't bothered you, thank you for all your effort, te quiero♡ and please don't let your light go out

Hi there！ Well, I just don't know what to say right now… Since I'm usually the one who writes such long articles, it seems a bit strange to receive a message like this now ^^;！

(sorry this will be a bit long)

First of all, I sincerely appreciate that you're thinking so positively about me. I'm not sure if you'd still think that way if you knew me in real life though… I mean i'm actually quite a regular person contrary to what you guys think. Hmm (probably not everyone thinks about committing suicide or deleting everything every day) so yea, maybe not so regular…… But sure that I'm not as great as you guys think. Look I can't even solve my personal/emotional problems by keeping my mouth shut. Why is it so hard to keep going when it's so easy to leave everything? Idk… But still, it feels good now to hear that even someone like me made someone happy！I know very well what this feeling is like *since i'm still someone's fan* So I'm glad i can still make someone feel this way！I mentioned earlier that i feel closer to Sasuke's character. But I can never imagine i have a personality like Sasuke, not that strong pls x) …or maybe we can be the same in terms of psychological. I mean i could probably lose my mind too if i lost my loved ones. Yes, I often get messages like this, "you can write me if you need someone, I can listen you, don't be silent, tell me, trust me" etc. And I would like to talk to you guys but…… my problem is I have a really difficult time trusting people, and when I do, i don't even want to share them with others. This goes for everyone I love …even my pets. I know how selfish that sounds. But I accidentally read a turkish quote about this today. "Uçarken görüp uçmasına aşık olduğunu, sevdin diye kafese koyma". So if I can translate it right, it says "Don't put it in a cage just because you saw it flying and fell in love with its flight". I have no right to do this i know, that's why i'm trying to change myself though it's hard. Maybe if I take some healthier steps about communicating, my psychological state will start to improve, even if it is a little bit, who knows. Gotta start somewhere…

Oh but everyone wants a Naruto in their life, right?? Well, no one knows what the future will bring to us. Yes we are all hope for something about our future, but those things may not be the right path for us (even if we don't know it), so over time obstacles will come our way that we cannot prevent even if we wanted to, and eventually we will realize sooner or later that we are in a dead end, and need to change our path …in the most painful way. About me, I still don't know if i'm in the decision stage yet… But at least now I know that when things start to get clearer, I'll accept them without questioning why.

Just, you don't know how much I appreciate your willingness to help me. So thank you for all your kind thoughts here and taking the time to write me all this！I'm grateful！！🙏

And ok, this is not a promise but, I'll keep running as much as i can to avoid losing that little light at the end of the tunnel…

[craftygobelin]

This article is so ridiculous that I don't know If it's a joke or a real article 🤣 :

I mean, I'm queer so don't interpret my rumbling for what it's not. I'm Aro Ace so maybe I'm over bored by hyper sexualisation/hyper romantisation in the entertainment for this reason too.

But as a queer myself, I'm double pissed at how our community wants to see queer romantic relationships everywhere. It's not just queer community, though, it's the same whatever orientation. Every kind of relationship is labelled as romantic (in the actual interpretation of the word). I'm all for representation but I don't understand this need to see queer romance in everything.

Yes Sam says he loves Frodo. No, loving someone and saying it that way doesn't always include sexual/romantic attraction.

I think, it's actually what's pissing me off the most. The romantisation of every relationship in adaptation and cinema. And in books too. I'm sick of people sexualizing LOTR (and a lot of other universes), devaluing its emphasis on friendship, comradery, and fraternal love by suggesting it must all have some sexual undertone.

The fact that the work of Tolkien isn't sexualised and or focus on romance of any kind at all is one of the things I like the most. Why do people need to change this to make the story fit their biased definition of norms and love (and yes it is including queer community as I think this community is not as tolerant, unbiased and open-minded as queer people wish to show to the world).

As an avid reader, I think that everybody can interpret their reading as they wish. And we all do. That's how it's working. But the freedom of the reader is not the same as the intention of the author.

When Tolkien was accused of writing LOTR as an allegory he responded, "I think that many confuse applicability with allegory, but the one resides in the freedom of the reader, and the other in the purposed domination of the author." I believe that painting rainbows on Sam and Frodo or Gimli and Legolas is squarely within the realm of the freedom of reader, and not the intent of the author.

There's all kinds of male-on-male devotion in LOTR and some of it is indeed "romantic," but it's more Arthurian, not slash.

People tend to romantise everything now and in my opinion, it's, more often than not, focusing too much on romance dynamics and not enough on what's essential in a good story (character development, plot, intrigue, world building, consistency...). That's how you find so many badly written shows/books/movies now with plot holes, incoherences and flat character development.

So yes, characters are touchy, close, and easy to speak about feeling with strong words. But it's not sexualised and not romanced in the books.

What's "funny" is that we first started to hear about those romantic ships in LoTr after the release of the movies only 👀 yes you can interpret what I just pointed at me saying that fandoms born from adaptation (show/movie) are not the same as fandoms born from book material only. It definitely was my intention.

But coming back to the books, I'd say, It's one of the most beautiful demonstrations I have ever seen, of how platonic relationships, kinship and friendship can be strong. Going beyond the hate or fear there is between races and beyond past and politics. To place loyalty, respect, friendship and kinship above everything. United in difficult moments, trials and loss.

If you take a look at how romantised is TROP for example, it's illustrating exactly what I mean. This show is the most expansive fanfiction I've ever seen. I like it don't misinterpret my words. But only because I take it as a fanfiction and not as something coming from Tolkien pen directly. and it's pure typical nowadays production and interpretation as we see everywhere now. Romantising what's not. Sexualising what's not. People ask, they produce. Whatever what the initial work was.

So please, write fanfiction as much as you want, draw ships that are not here in the original material, I love the fact that people find solace in fandom to be creative.

But don't romance/sexualise everything, every time. It's everywhere. And as people ask for it, that's the narrative we are given systematically in entertainment and adaptation even if it means taking too much liberty. And I'm not speaking just about this article unfortunately.

"Those who cannot conceive Friendship as a substantive love but only as a disguise or elaboration of Eros betray the fact that they have never had a Friend."- C.S. Lewis

[ad-hawkeye]

You can tag this under 50 Shades, but after I read this post from Hoyolab, hoyolab (.) com/#/article/19978642/, if this is true, I am very disappointed about this direction, though it is one I've seen coming. That being said, you've given your thoughts on the writing. In your ideal world, where would the cards post 2nd anniversary have gone, if you had to keep the general situation/environment, but could change up everything else about it?

holy fuck, the way i actually agree with everything in this post. here is the link for those curious, it's a fantastic read tbh.

a few of us in our tot discord have discussed this as well. here are a few brief snippets below.

sorry for the incoherent mess of thoughts below, words are Not coming easy HAHA.

but yeah... like the post said, barbie is a very good way of putting it.

i used to have the same issue with luke. i'm not a huge fan of characters being good at Too Many Things, especially when there's no flaws to balance it out. it really pulls me out of the story. so like. the more you try to impress me with a character, the less impressed i'll be. which. is why i haaaate artem's newer cards.

see, the thing is, the whole reason why i liked artem in the first place is because of how he felt like the down to earth option. he wasn't the childhood friend/undercover agent/detective/stem genius, he wasn't a ceo and son of the richest family in stellis, and he wasn't literal royalty. he was just a lawyer who worked with rosa. he was bad at talking to people. he was a bit of a homebody. he was LAME. completely inexperienced in romance. he was good at his job, but it was obvious he put all of his skill points into being a lawyer and no where else. his abilities with shooting and cooking were both important aspects to his character, but the skills hoyoverse added beyond that just baffle me.

he wasn't cool, but he was kind and genuine.

ever since second anniversary, there has been absolutely no consistency to artem's character whatsoever.

neil gets mentioned less and less even though he was a major part of artem's life AND character. neil was his father figure, since his parents were rarely, if ever, around. and yet, in recent cards, tot constantly goes out of its way to try and convince us artem's parents did nothing wrong. to add to that, we're lucky if neil is even mentioned.

in earlier cards, it was very clear artem was grieving neil's disappearance (see: entwined fate). it was also clear artem's childhood circumstances were extremely lonely and caused him to try and brush off the neglect because he didn't want to stress out his already busy parents (see: loving memories and his dreams of childhood sr)! earlier cards also hinted at traumatic events and a fear of firearms due to how dangerous neil's job as a lawyer was (see: focus fire).

but for god knows what reason, newer cards said well! fuck all of this! artem no longer gives one single shit about neil! also? honestly? the writers seem confused and disoriented by artem downplaying his childhood issues and just made it so he truly Had no issues with his childhood. which. ok. i guess.

in recent months, we have not had one single card where rosa and artem sit down to talk about how artem feels about neil's disappearance. one single card where artem even openly addresses any traumatic experiences. or emotional neglect in childhood.

remember when focus fire mentioned that a disgruntled mafia member held him and neil at gunpoint because he was pissed neil put everyone else in the gang behind bars?? no?? yeah, me neither! because it's never mentioned again! old tot content implies it was incidents like these, the general emotional neglect from his parents, and neil's disappearance that contributed to artem's closed off personality. but man, fuck that! for some reason!

this doesn't even touch upon artem's romantic and sexual inexperience, which has also been entirely undone. he's a sex god now, i guess.

and let us not forget how artem has learned and forgot the same lessons like, several times. artem did we not learn why jealousy and possessiveness are bullshit in atmospherics, por una cabeza, etc...??? are we really back at this again? and it's not even being addressed as a character flaw anymore? okay! okay. fine! whatever.

but okay. i'm getting off track. you asked me an entirely different question! where would i have liked to have seen the cards go? i think the cards following second anniversary are so... well, nothing that you could probably swap out the plots and avoid losing anything of importance.

honestly, i think artem's cards would have shined the best if they stuck to his original character. so when considering the confines we have now:

artem is extremely emotionally repressed. it'd take time for him to come out of his shell. and his early dating cards do begin like this! it's very endearing! several cards could focus on this progression as he becomes more comfortable and relaxed with rosa. progression into being engaged. living with someone for the first time. please.

rosa and artem's dynamic has like, vanished in recent cards. which is a goddamn shame, because their more comfortable dynamics in his railroad, revisiting youth, and snowfallen secrets cards are so charming! they joke around! artem's sense of humor pokes out! they act like real PEOPLE! they're silly! they're nerds! they're equals! i'd keep this dynamic instead of it just being artem flipping back and forth between sex god and "yes i will do whatever you want [insert player name here]"

neil. please, can we focus on neil. what being a lawyer means to artem. how neil influenced that. how artem feels about neil being gone, how artem feels about neil's possible betrayal of the nxx?? he could always have an arc of going through the stages of grief, or learning to look at things through a new lens. being sad neil won't be around for milestones. etc.

the incidents implied in focus fire. okay, being held at gunpoint is pretty uhhh fucking traumatic. did any other events happen bc of neil's status? his parents' statuses? is this why he is so emotionally repressed? is this why he takes the law so seriously?

his parents. can we stop acting like his parents did nothing wrong. please. his parents used to be portrayed under the "well meaning but ultimately very flawed" light, which i adored. it was grey. it was human. maybe artem could learn that it wasnt right of his parents to be so nonexistent in his life. his parents can still love him and make mistakes. maybe he could rebuild his relationship w his parents? maybe once he realizes what he went through wasn't normal, he can be angry, and work through it. idk! anything! please!

more focus on rosa. her studies. her exams. anything. her family. her past. her hobbies. her teaching artem something. rosa talking about her issues. pelase. Please.

it truly feels like his original writers got swapped out, and the new ones have no idea what artem's charm was in the first place. they have no idea how his character even works, so they're just desperately trying to attach Cool Hobbies to him bc they think he's more boring than the other boys when like. that's the fucking point, that IS his charm.

gosh this was so long and i'm sorry if it's like. UNREADABLE or if i totally missed the point but this was like. Freeing to type out. thank you for reaching out anon, it turns out i had more thoughts than i expected!! hope you're having a lovely day! : )

[spacexseven]

I’m sorry, but I am not over this whole part while I'm re-reading: “it wasn't the next time, but after a few more dead bodies and many more warnings about your work are played on the news, you meet nikolai again. nikolai gogol is no easy prey, but you're not one to be bested twice. this time, you don't let him run. you're finally on top of him, blood pooling out of where your knife was stuck in his thigh, his coat ripped off him and abandoned somewhere else. it would be so easy to kill him now, so easy to watch him bleed out and claim his ability as yours, but for the first time, you hesitated on delivering the killing blow.” I Am So, So, Normal about this. It’s a description that’s so vivid and consumes all my thoughts. The dynamic between SK Reader and Nikolai is still making me reel. Idk, but something about him just watching SK Reader hunt and kill ability users, regardless of their affiliation or history, is so eerie. The news reporting on SK Murders [something that's haunting me, and I’m sorry about the other rambling questions I sent you earlier]. I couldn’t help but imagine Nikolai or SK Reader walking by an electronic store or maybe near a TV, and just watching, In their “everyday” life, and simply knowing about every single life they took. It’s sentences like these from your writing that send me images and flooding ideas from simple things. I love it. SK Reader hesitating is both a great and awful thing, they love someone, and not something. Niokolai’s ability is great, but it’s Nikolai that’s captured SK Reader’s attention and want. The Last Sentence is like a death toll? Like the sinking realization that SK Reader can no longer turn back like their life used to be because now they know that “this time, it's not the ability you're after, is it?” [I Really can’t express how much I love that last line.] Thank you again for sharing this wonderful Work, and have a fantastic Day Tuna! - 🦄

oh man i am wiping away my tears. not one but Two very lovely asks from you this must be my lucky day! quickly before i address your other words

nikolai goes out of his way to find newspaper articles about sk reader and drops it somewhere in their place so they can wake up and see pages and pages and photos of all their victims and the crime scenes and the ridiculous theories some people have

the time he watched them steal oguri's ability, he insisted on walking w them back to the train station because "haven't you heard? there's a serial killer targeting ability users right now. you shouldn't be walking around alone."

also pls dont apologize about the questions i was so excited to see them that i was. literally vibrating in my seat and jumping off the walls ^-^ wanted to elaborate on everything tho so its still in the drafts right now ^^ im actually very very excited about this au too so im sooo happy to see al your questions i have thought so much about sk reader that its probably? a bit concerning? and ive even planned out how id like to go about a collection of writing for this au...

also. giggling and rolling around omg im so flustered to see lines from my own writing hherhrrhfjffj thank you for all your very sweet comments i will cry over this all day and night

[wastrelwoods]

Can we circle up for a second. What are you all precisely getting at when you talk about the possibility of your fanfiction getting Stolen By AI? I really don’t think the very things some fanfiction writers are speculating about seem to be in line with my baseline understanding of how ChatGPT works. I think the cited fear of ‘all your creative work might be stolen and fed into the AI’ is sort of pointless in that as far as I’m aware it’s maybe happened already? locking accounts and taking stuff down can’t undo the work of the model being trained on a big block of the contents of the internet that may or may not include public posts on fanfiction archives (I think we don’t really know for sure either way?) I guess if it hasn’t happened yet I would prefer that it didn’t. I guess I understand this concern I think stuff being free online oughtn’t make it automatically data to train on.

The more specific example of someone telling a large language model to algorithmically generate a new chapter of your work by feeding it what you already wrote is dumbass annoying and weird behavior but obviously like. They for sure aren’t gonna get a next chapter that bears any resemblance to what you would write because you, the original author, are a person. We’ve all seen how weird and bad they are at roleplaying as specific fictional characters with any consistency. Personally I don’t know how hard done by I would feel if someone did this to me. I would be like. OK weirdo. I don’t write like that.

Again I would love if this didn’t happen to me but I don’t think it would specifically harm me as a writer? fanfiction is already difficult to profit off of so its not like they’re likely to benefit financially from your work. Maybe this thief would create huge volumes of entirely robotic prose and get a lot of hits and traffic with their weird bad fanfiction by just staying at the top of a tag but there ARE spam filters and moderators out there that can adapt to catch this stuff. As far as I know writing that is generated in this way is REALLY easy to spot especially when its used long-form. It’s not gonna cohere in any kind of meaningful way because it wasn’t produced by something that thinks or has an ability to tell a story. It was produced by a contextless spam machine.

IDK maybe I’m missing critical information about whatever it is people are getting at re: Fear Of AI Generated Fanfiction I just think the correct tech hype cycle response is not to start feeding into the hype more by assuming this technology can do anything more precise or creative than it actually can. Would LOVE to know if you are reading articles about this that have more information

[magpiefngrl]

do you think writer's block is an actual concrete thing? / what is writer's block to you?

Hey anon! When I wrote the post seeking asks, I'd added writer's block to the end of the things I'd like to chat about, and then deleted it because it is included in woes. But you read my mind!

This is going to be looooong. I'm putting it under a cut x

I've had debilitating writer's block in the past. Debilitating. I used to write and post fic regularly back in 2017-18--and then I stopped. For a time, I'd write but would hate everything. I'd feel empty of ideas and robbed of the ability to convey thoughts on page. I'd cross half my sentences out and doubt every word.

And then: I couldn't look at the page. I would think about opening a doc and I'd immediately distract myself with something else. The dishes, the cat, a new tab. It was like even the idea of writing touched some wound inside me and I'd flinch, I'd get that visceral reaction of "ouch, avoid avoid".

So, for me at least, writer's block is a real thing. It happens, it affects people, and it is so prevalent that thousand of articles have been written about it.

I've come to realise, though, that writer's block doesn't exist on its own. It doesn't just come at someone randomly like an unwelcome lottery ticket. It's an indication of something else.

(a pause here to say that writer's block isn't the time when a creative brain needs to rest. The fallow periods. That's normal, esp if you've overextended yourself. Pushing yourself to write at that time might make the brain rebel, and you might think you've got writer's block when all you need to do is take some time off and fill the creative well with fun activities.)

So what might the writer's block indicate? Anything from fear of failure, to insecurity, to perfectionism, to depression. When I'm depressed, I don't write. I have to treat the depression to get rid of the block. That's easy, in the sense that I know what depression feels like and I know how to deal with it. Or at least I know that it passes.

But fear of failure? Perfectionism? These aren't as easy to pinpoint, not for me, anyway. Also, those of us who have posted fics in fandom have the added stress of disappointing readers/followers. You've no idea how terrified I was about finishing my WIP, 9 1/2 days. I was sure that readers would be like "it's been years in the making so the story must be extraordinary" and then they'd read my normal, totally ordinary story and feel let down. At other times, I'd mentioned/promised birthday gift fics to people and I felt the pressure of time passing and me having nothing to show for it. So much stress.

We say that fandom is a fun place and we're here for the joy of being a fan, but this excessive positivity often doesn't allow for the negative feelings of having a story you're proud of go unnoticed. It happens. To all of us. It hurts like fuck. It hurts to see rec list after rec list and not see your name on it. And you feel like a dickhead for feeling resentment and anger about it, because you're not here for the stats, you're really not, but fucking hell--you thought that was a pretty good story and if no one really agreed, then you're not a good writer, right?

Why does writer's block come after you've posted ten fics and not before the first one, when you're a lot more inexperienced and new at this? I guess, higher stakes. Also, times of vulnerability come and go. Once, during my writer block years, when I was trying to get over it and go back to writing, I received a piece of feedback that devastated me. It hurt me so incredibly much that I couldn't (and didn't) think about a certain story for over six months. It was like this person, unwittingly, reached inside me, found where I was hurting, the soft, wounded part of me, and stabbed me right in the middle of it. It was a good lesson in learning to protect myself when I feel vulnerable emotionally.

Imagine trying to write, worrying that you'll let your readers down, certain that your best story is in the past and you've peaked already, anxious about making little progress and falling behind, upset that no one recs or talks about your latest fic--in other words it was a massive failure--(all of these were things I experienced at multiple times) and that's on top of the author's normal worries about trying to figure out the plot and the characters and whether this POV works for the story. Who wouldn't get blocked?

I'd better stop around here, this is something that I could discuss forever. My leaving thought would be that to treat writer's block one should:

first, see if it is writer's block and not burnout or fallow period, in which case: REST

second, try and reflect on what the block is hiding, and then deal with that.

third, care a lot less. I think, at the end of the day, writer's block comes because we care so much about writing a good story that it becomes an impediment. It helps to care less. I've been posting stories unbetaed in the last couple of years. It's a deliberate decision to take back the sensation of being an amateur writing for the fun of it.

send me an ask!