#just had an intro meeting with them and they were all super cool! but they were def nervous and I had to help guide the conversation

[meyeheart]

Just spent an hour and a half being more talkative than I’ve been in the past two months. I need to stare at a wall in silence for 10 hours I think

[majulians-groupie]

✨️Winged MC xM3 hc✨️

Hello guys!!!!I am actually alive,it is just that work and uni are lowkey consuming all of my free time,so I have kind of neglected a few things...along with this blog :((((

BUT here I am to reply to an ask about a winged MC!I actually accidentally posted this mid-making it and had to delete it,so tumblr won't let me use the ask system again, but yeah,my lovely anon, sorry for taking so long to reply!🩷😭

SOO....

TO THE HEADCANNONS:

Intro:

●Vesuvia is not exactly the most open minded society when it came to magic and supernatural stuff in general.Being "conventionally" different was pretty much frowned upon and ought to get you some stares,but actually having wings on your back,was unfortunately something that gave you much unwanted negative attention.That unfortunately, could quickly escalate to dangerous situations,because quite frankly people can be cruel to things they don't understand.Because of this,you would always have to conceal your wings either with your outfit or magic,whenever you were in a place where there would be more people than your entrusted inner circle.●

Julian:

He first caught a glimpse of them when he was healing you from that eel bite,but knew better than to ask indiscreet questions.Magic was not something that he was very comfortable with,but always knew he had to be respectful.As a doctor he has had to patch up way too many people with supernatural abilities that fell victims to attacks,so he knew asking you questions about your wings could be a triggering and way too personal of a subject.

•When you felt ready to have a heart to heart with him about them he was FASCINATED to say the least

•"Wait are they ACTUALLY part of your anatomy?Oh my god can you consciously move them?Do they differ for each winged person?Do they work like muscles,getting strained when overusing them and sore when you don't?Do kids have to be taught to use them or does it just come naturally to them?DO THEY CHANGE COLOR?"(

(Honestly so many questions,prepare yourself for endless yapping that will however warm your heart,as you had been afraid of what his reaction would be)

•"Umm...could I..um...from a CLEARLY medical point of view-if you are OK with it of course-...take a look at them?ONLY if it's okay I mean..."*blushes*

If during this convo you initiate any romantic move towards him,prepare for him to blush even more if possible.

•Again, he would be completely FASCINATED,you would actually manage to lure him into researching about other supernatural beings out of mere curiosity of what's out there.

•He indeed asks you if there is any specialised doctor/healer in case they get injured.

•You will have to reassure him for like a thousand times that your wings will NOT break from his all-encompassing hugs before he iniates them again.

•Torn between amazed and scared to death when he sees you flying

"Oh my god I CAN'T LOOK" *peeks through his hands*

•When he gets used to the concept,he will ask you to take him for a flight around.

Will definetely be the first person to ever create a birds eye pov map of vesuvia

•Just for the dramatics,he loved to throw glitter on yout wings that made you create little sparkly clouds whenever you moved them.He added "fairy" to the endearment terms he uses for you after that.

•Whenever his insomnia or his anxiety hit him hard,you would embrace him and cover him protectively with your wings,something that was able to miraculously help him calm down.

•Flying around with Malak was your new favorite way of unwinding

•Your loudest defender if you somehow ended up being discriminated and always ready to comfort you if anybody manages to get under your skin.

Asra:

●He always knew about the existence of winged people,but actually meeting one,he was super excited to say the least.He honestly wished he had wings as well,flying looked super cool and you could travel whenever you wanted.

"Asra, you know that just like walking,the ARE limits to how much time you can spend flying right?"

"....Welp......still COOL"

•When he first revived you,he spent a lot of time teaching you everything you had ever told him about them,and tried to research as much as possible.His biggest desire was for you to be able find yourself again,and that meant being entirely comfortable in your own skin.

•So proud to see you fly for the first time after your revival.He actually teared up,it was really then that it sinked in that he actually managed to get you back.

•Having to actually tell you for the first time that people may not accept you or discriminate you because of them was one of the most difficult discussions he ever had to have with a person.The timing was close to your revival,so you were still genuinely naive about the world.He could swear he saw something changing in your gaze,as if some of your faith in the world faltered.Teaching you concealment spells was heartbreaking, as he could read your dissapointed expression from a mile away,but had to explain to you that it was for your own safety.

•HEAR ME OUT:Levitation spells that were able to make him fly together with you at small heights for a short amount of time.Honestly your favorite activity to do together,you often to do it when you need a break from reality.

JUST IMAGINE THEM *midair kisses* FJNFISSBD😭😭

•Just like Julian,he would melt under your touch if you covered him with your wings protectively mid-cuddling and would fall asleep instantly when you did. (NOt that he needed much assistance to take a nap but still)

•Cuteness overload when your wings corresponded with your emotions.Could always tell when your were feeling down.

•Would create handmade crochet accessories for them.(You can not convince me Asra does not enjoy knitting)

●As a person who also receives hate for their magical gift,he would know how to be there for you in case anything similar happened to you.

Nadia:

●Honestly,she lowkey fangirled over you,and it was so funny to see the usually serious and held back countess so out of character.She had heard about the existence of people that could fly from fairytales and stories her parents used to tell her when she was a kid,and always wanted to be meet one.

•Can't comprehend why on earth would you conceal your beautiful wings.Because of her marriage with Lucio and her being asleep for 2 years,she has been unfortunately a little bit sheltered from the world.As you open your heart to her,sharing past bad experiences with people,she gets genuinely angry,not believing how uneducated people can be.Apparently vesuvia is more behind the times than prakra than what she originally thought, and that goes far beyond illiteracy

•Looks at you with such wonder that makes you realise how stupid you were for ever fearing that she may abandon you for such a stupid reason. 

•It took a while to convince her to try flying around while carrying her.As opposed to Julian,she was thrilled seeing YOU fly,but was very hesitant to try it herself.

•Eventually you convince her,but she will never admit that she actually was clinging to you for dear life the entire time

•She CAN and she WILL spoil you with gifts that match your wings.Clothes,jewelry,accessories  etc,anything that she sees and reminds her of your beauty

•Nobody at court would ever dare to be discriminative towards you,knowing they would have to deal with the countess' wrath afterwards.It is important to mention that Nadia has made clear that anybody who was  supportive of such beliefs had no place working in the palace.

•The legend of the countess' magical winged-partner quickly spreads through vesuvia after your first public appearance together.You would lowkey endorse both to break stereotypes but also for just wanting to hear the crazy stories and rumors about you:

"Did you know they could unlit  thousands of candles with just a flap of their wings?"

•Your previous bad experience makes her dig deeper in the problems concerning vesuvian community.She works hard as a countess to reset vesuvia's education system and pass laws that protect any group of people that could possibly be targets to violence.

Soo...that was it!I hope you enjoyed reading!Sorry for any grammar mistake,English is not my native language!

Take care vesuvians🩷✨️🪷

Eva♡

[choppersconfirmedkills]

Your intro post says that your transformers dr is a combination with jurassic park/world and that sounds super cool! Idk if you’ve explained it before but can you tell me how that works and what it’s like?

YES YES YES ABSOLUTELY I WOULD LOVE TO! (prepare for the yap fest, I'm sorry but also not sorry).

It all starts with the greatest man to exist: my dad (aka my hero)

Dr. Alan Grant (and his stupid hat)

This background is common in my DRs and that's because of how connected I am to my father that it tends to manifest itself in my DRs.

Most of how I script is through what I call "core memories." I think on Tumblr they are more commonly referred to as "downloads?" If I'm not mistaken. So that is how I know most of this.

There is a long and complicated story as to how my Dad became a single father, but long story short: the surrogate (my mother) is not the best person.

(me and @moonsdrs commonly refer to him as Lord Mother, because he's the best mother to exist)

Growing up with a Paleontologist for a father, I was homeschooled and spent a whole lot of time on site with him, or bothering other personnel (how I learned Spanish).

I was pretty smart and learned things fast which is another reason I was so smart because I just kept learning. Me and Dad lived in a trailer bc of cost and location. And when I was about 9 years old he received an offer to save the dig site, and our family. So he went to Jurassic Park. Childcare, however, is hard to come by, so I came with.

I survived the events of Jurassic Park. Made it out alive but with a nasty scar on my leg and a particularly stubborn undiscovered infection.

My Dad always knew about my powers, but he was so nervous about the idea of me being tested on that he made me keep it secret. I have a vivid memory of being under the crushed car and I'm about to use my powers to lift it off me and Tim. I look to Dad and he shakes his head at me with the most serious look on his face.

One connection to Transformers is my cousin Sam.

Sam's father is my surrogate's (bio mother) brother. He was appalled by what she did and given they had a son my age, which influenced them to create a bond. Sam and I spent so much time together that we became nearly inseparable (we have a habit of holding hands in dangerous situations). It was important to both my Uncle Ron and my father that we have a relationship.

Years later, (a few years after an incredibly traumatic situation), my Dad and I got roped into going to Isla Sorna. Where I got another nasty scar, this time on my chest. Shortly after my father "died" (listen it's a whole complicated ass story that I still don't fully understand).

I moved in with my Uncle Ron and Sam. When I was 20, the first Transformers movie took place.

Here's where Jurassic World comes in (I'm sorry, I am such a yapper). After meeting Will and going on a few dates, he inspired me to follow my true passion in life: following in my father's footsteps. But not exactly like him. I got a degree in Paleontological Animal Behaviors and became a registered Animal Behaviorist. Eventually, I joined a program in the Navy called "LS-9." They were looking to research how sharks could be beneficial for the military. We were successful.

I wind up getting a job offer email about "Jurassic World" (this is about 4 years later, 3 years after the events of TF2). I blow it off thinking it's spam mail, yk? Who in the hell would think it's a good idea to make another park, let alone try and train raptors. That's ridiculous, even though it would be a scientific breakthrough, and I'd be continuing my father's legacy and mine, but no. It's not real.

After a really bad fight with Will, I talked on the phone with my best friend Owen (we met in the Navy) just to get some relief. I mentioned the spam email and he told me he got a similar one, that he did some research, and that he was positive it was real. I was shocked, to say the least. I contacted them just to see and they basically offered me the job (my reputation proceeds me). The downside? I'd have to live on the island for the duration of the contract. Even though Will and I were in a really rough spot, I didn't want to just leave him, but he told me that I needed to do it as it was my dream.

I wound up there, doing the research. About a year later the company InGen hired an outside military contractor to assess the viability of the program in the military forces. It was Will. That's when the events of Jurassic World occurred. We all made it out okay including my nephew, who did not shut up about the scary dinosaur for years.

3 years later Fallen Kingdom happened, and that's where I met my daughter.

I love this girl so much, Will calls her my "mini-me" because she looks, acts, and talks like me. She is a great big sister, and the toughest and smartest girl to ever exist. She's also an animal lover (like her mom) and spends a lot of time at the rescue farm.

[the-audio-archive]

⠀ »(EPISODE 2)«

╭──────────╮

𝚂𝚎𝚝 𝚝𝚊𝚙𝚎 𝚒𝚗𝚜𝚒𝚍𝚎?

╰──────────╯

└——————— - [ 📼 ]. +〘𝚈𝚎𝚜〙 or 𝚗𝚘

⠀⠀✧ 1:20 ─〇───── 15:00

⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⇄   ◃◃   ⅠⅠ   ▹▹   ↻

Okay, listeners! The radio is fixed! My friend received the parts, and we both have the next couple hours free, so let’s see if I can connect with Blu again! It’s about the same time we talked to them last time, anyways! Okay… zeki, would you introduce yourself while I set the radio station?

You hear some fidgeting with the radio while a new voice pipes up, deeper than the previous two that have previously been heard. It sounds a little bit husky underneath the drowsiness.

Hi, I’m Ezekiel. Novah calls me zeki. I work in IT for a big company, and have a passion for technology. Especially radios, as I’m sure you’ve heard. Um… I guess that’s intro enough, they look done.

Wonderful intro, zeki, couldn’t have introduced you better myself! There’s a slight pause before Novah continues speaking. Is Blu there?

Yes she is! I recognize that voice! What happened last time?

Novah immediately responded, sounding thrilled.

Blu! I’m guessing your pronouns are she/her then? Good to know! My radio is super old, and parts are… apparently uncommon. It gave out on me unexpectedly, so I had my friend fix it! Zeki is here now, actually! He’s making sure this time runs smoothly.

Hi, Blu!

Hihi! Good to hear from you again, Novah! And nice to meet you, Zeki! My pronouns are she/he/they actually! Gosh, your radio really gave out on you? That must’ve been so stressful!! How hard was it to fix, since the parts are uncommon?

Oh! Okay! Thank you for sharing your pronouns! Zeki should answer the mechanical stuff. I don’t really know much when it comes to that.

Well, I won’t bore you with the semantics. You just have to know where to look, and be okay with using parts that will work, just aren’t necessarily built for that specific radio or whatever you’re repairing. It’s… kind of like building a new computer in a way- you don’t have to buy all the parts from one manufacturer. You can mix and match as long as the computer can run okay and do what you want it to do in the end because the parts are compatible. The most tedious part was the shopping, the rest was fun since i like working with my hands.

Oh! Okay! It’s so cool that you know how to work with electronics like that! If we ever speak again, I’d love to hear more about electronic repair! How do you even know so much about this kind of stuff?

Blu sounded like he genuinely intended to ask about the topic at a later date, and must think electronics were interesting, much like Zeki.

Picked it up as a hobby, and I have a career in IT. Wasn’t too bad college wise, only took four years to get my computer science degree!

Novah piped up next, sounding ready to move topics.

Blu, last time we spoke, you said you had a lot of extra curricular activities for school? What ones do you have?

You could hear the extra excitement in Blu’s already unusually animated voice as she spoke about her activities. She sounds like she truly cares and is into what she is gushing about!

Yes! Gosh, I have so many things! I’m in a science club; I’m one of the club leaders, so I help find conventions and events for us to attend, plan what happens each meeting, lead the club meetings and discussions, things like that! I’ve also joined a ham radio club, I’m there right now! I’m just one of the attendees though! I definitely don’t know enough about ham radio to run the club! That’s just school activities though, I also volunteer at the library near where I live, and I work on drag looks and post them online, I want to be a content creator for drag specifically some day!

You hear some delighted chuckles from both Novah and Zeki before Zeki pipes up again.

Wow, sounds like you’re incredibly busy! Do you have any time for relaxation, kiddo?

No, well, sort of! I get some here and there, mostly on weekends, but I like my schedule pretty full! I like to always be doing something, I feel happier and more like myself when I’m out doing things and interacting with others! So, I guess I don’t really need downtime!

You hear what you assume is Zeki cluck his tongue, but was just ambiguous enough to be Zeki or Novah, realistically.

Be careful to not burn yourself out or keep a too busy schedule, kiddo! I know we just met, but I truly do want to make sure you’re taking care of yourself.

There was a short pause, and it sounded like Novah started to say something before Blu nervously piped up.

Thanks zeki! Don’t worry, I’m definitely taking care of myself! I’ll keep my schedule in mind, though. Speaking of which, I gotta head home and work on homework. Maybe I’ll catch you both another time!

The radio started to play static, and you hear it get turned off. you hear Novah start to give Zeki an earful.

Did you have to lecture Blu about his schedule, Zeki? I know they’re just a kid, but I’m sure they have themselves figured out!

The recording clicked off.

╭──────────╮

𝙴𝚗𝚍 𝚘𝚏 𝚃𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚜𝚖𝚒𝚜𝚜𝚒𝚘𝚗

╰──────────╯

╭──────────╮

𝙵𝚕𝚒𝚙 𝚝𝚊𝚙𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚜𝚒𝚍𝚎 𝙱?

╰──────────╯

└——————— - [ 📼 ]. + 𝚈𝚎𝚜 or 〘𝚗𝚘〙

[megalo224]

How would you suggest to learn art? I currently am only able to draw heads not very well but I try and I'm very inspired by your art, do you have any suggestions or tips?

look at ur favs and try to draw like them! when i wanted to start taking art more seriously i was copying frames off cuphead and the sonic mania intro by eye and eventually i made some art friends who i wanted to draw JUST like. and i basically tried to adopt the artstyles that inspired me during whatever era of my life at the time but naturally my own swag shined through and after many years and inspo from so many different things, i draw the way i do now, and am still striving to get better! so what im saying is legit to just look at ur favorite artists and try to do what theyre doing, study ppls styles copy art by eye for practice, try to push yourself to try new stuff. pushing yourself sucks a lot because it can be quite a demotivator when you try to do something cool but you dont see what you quite hoped but thats experience!

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wear ur inspirations on ur sleeve! some of my fav artists that have inspired me a lot in the past 2 years are bobobazarra, marcoggers on twitter, vintdoo, dakidavekat, evilsk8r, deppa, mettaflix. and those are only just a few! i could literally go on naming people for hours. dont be afraid to proudly shout abt what or who who inspires ur stuff!

when it comes to hard practice and studies, if youre willing to get into certain techniques u can try looking into ways to break down the body, like boxing out stuff like the torso and pelvis and stuff like that to use as construction. to me when the mood would strike me when i was starting out, doing figure studies and copying poses i found on google was smth id do for like 30 mins to an hour, even if they were terrible it was just fun to draw them and move on to the next. and it was experience! even if it didnt feel like it at the time. like, doing something like copying a buncha hands for fun creates a mental library for ur brain to pick from to help make whatever unique hand youre trying to make for your art. its all experience! so do it when you feel up to it!

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and overall just try to have fun, if you find yourself frustrated enough to feel hopeless about art then just try to take a step back and come back later or draw whatever makes you happy. but when youre able to take on challenge and pushing yourself always try to, and try to have fun and keep in mind that what youre doing is gonna shoot your stuff to the stars and that u just gotta keep going. and get pinterest! that shit helps out a fuckton both with creative inspiration and art studies and practicing and tips.

------------------------------------------ also keep in mind everything ive said here is just my personal experience and whats worked for me. everybody works differently with art. something that changed my perspective a lot was meeting one of my favorite artists last year, and asking for advice because i was going through horrible art block and self worth issues. i was going crazy copying peoples art in my sketchbooks trying to figure out what others understood that it felt i couldnt, trying to figure out what was missing. i was super desperate for improvement and it felt like i was improving so slowly compared to others with the same amount of years spent drawing as

i. so when i asked this artist what they did to study stuff, they told me they barely even did studies on anatomy and whatever. which was crazy to me because it felt like they had such a grasp on that kinda thing and stylized it so well. that didnt make me stop studying though but it made me worry about everything way less, because it made me realize you just gotta do what you feel is right and what you feel is truly pushing you, but most importantly have fun doing it. it made me realize art wasnt this rigid ass process where i was breaking rules or not eating enough art veggies. so with that, i accepted myself and i moved forward continuing to push myself but not worrying as much about improvement right away, just have fun and do studies and shit as i went when i wanted to, and give myself a little push to strive for stuff just a bit crazier than what i felt i was capable of.

everyone is different, theres some artists that start from the feet up or start drawing a body from the shoulder its crazy. but its not because its objectively better to do that, its just how they draw. some artists do full sketch constructions for bodies, some artists do everything from eye. im sure theres some that switched from doing everything from eye to wanting to do construction for bodies and stuff, and vice versa. they did what worked for them, but what makes ppl rly improve is simply that they have fun in the process and strive to push themselves, thats the most important thing, or at least thats my perspective on it at this current point in my life.

so do what you feel is right, have fun, try different techniques out, try different stuff that you feel will help you, keep being inspired.

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best of luck to u, sorry for yapping kinda a lot and thank u a ton for the kind words!

[howlingday]

The Life of the Party

Ruby hated it here. Everybody was getting drunk, being loud, dancing, and talking to each other. She wanted to stay in her room, but Yang lured her out and locked her out of her room. Now, here she was, trapped in the middle of a party, surrounded by her mortal enemy: social interaction.

A lot of- Or maybe all of these people were older kids. People who were out to unwind from their stressful part-time jobs, meet up with old friends, hang with friends of friends, or just straight up make out with each other in the corner somewhere. Everything that made Ruby uncomfortable was here, save for full-on nudity. Although, that one guy with the monkey tail was really close.

She tried to talk with people. Really! She did! But the things she liked were worlds beyond what they understood. She was talking about how she was enjoying an online team raid in her favorite MOBA, and her response was a lackluster JRPG that had the worst dialogue ever. Eventually, she became so awkward that the other person had to excuse herself.

She just wasn't a people person.

Ruby made her way to an empty seat on couch, between a guy who was sweet-talking a girl on the chair next to him, and another guy scrolling on his phone. He must have been as bored as she was. She considered talking to him, but she decided instead to relax her own way.

See, Yang didn't plan for everything with Ruby. She may have locked her out of her room. She may have moved the rickety ladder outside so she couldn't climb back into her window. She may have even hid the keys in her bra. The last one wasn't usually a deterrent, but there were already too many people for her to try embarrassing herself. But there was one thing Yang didn't take.

Ruby reached into her hoodie and pulled out her Inferno Red GameBoy SP, and clicked the power switch. With a BLING! she smiled. Stars glittered across the screen as she pressed the A button. She'd been through the intro enough times already, and she wanted to escape so quickly. Still, the music played in her head as she let the spotlights center on her truest best friend.

'Ba-da-da-da-da-da-da!' She hummed in her head. The anthem to her whole childhood. 'Da-da-da-da! Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da! Boh-boh-boh-bah! Boh-bah-da-da-da...'

With another press, and she was back in her story of Pokémon FireRed. She was Ruby, Pokémon Trainer with her trusty CresRose Charizard and whole team of super-cool Pokémon! She was on the cusp of greatness, ready to take on the Indigo Plateau! Again for the third time... But still!

She skipped through the dialogue again and got back to where she was, right outside the Elite Four. She checked her Bag, which was filled with plenty of Full Restores, Full Heals, and Revives. Exiting, she moved to her team in Pokémon. Cressant was Lvl. 65 and at full health, ready with his assortment of moves, like Dragon Rage, Flamethrower, Strength, and Mega Punch! Then moved to the rest of her team, checking their HP, moves, and levels. She moved them around to ready herself and her team for the Elite Four.

She had Ember, her Flareon, with Dig, Smog, Fire Spin, and Flamethrower, and Sparky, her Raichu with Thunder, Flash, Agility, and Rain Dance. Mimi, her Fearow, was ready with Drill Peck, Mirror Move, Pursuit, and Fly, and so was Queeny, her Nidoqueen with Crunch, Toxic, Surf, and Earthquake. And then there was Sleepy, her Snorlax, with Rest, Rollout, Hyper Beam, and Psychic. She was proud of herself for that last surprise.

Steeling herself, she saved the game, and entered the doors.

Fire up was Lorelei, which meant she used Ice-Types. In her first run, she used Charizard like an idiot. She was a naive girl then, but she was a hardened veteran now. Instead, she sent out Sleepy, crushing Dewgong with Rollout. However, Slowbro was sent next, putting Ruby in a difficult neutral stalemate, since Psychic wouldn't do much, and Rest and Hyper Beam would leave her open. She grit her teeth and dug in, hoping Rollout would pick up enough to knock Slowbro out. Each turn was agonizing, with both sides engaging in the war of attrition. Finally, her persistence won out, but still left her would a Snorlax in the red going against a Cloyster.

It was time to switch tactics, and Pokémon. She swapped Sleepy for Sparky. On the swap, Ruby wasted no time and went straight for a Thunder, getting a critical hit on the first shot! This led to the next issue, Jynx, which meant she was back in her neutral stalemate. Unfortunately, this didn't last long as Jynx Psychic was also a critical. Ruby shook a bit at this, then breathed.

Okay, Sparky was out. Good news, though, was Jynx wasn't a Water-Type. This meant she was easy pickings for Cressant with a Flamethrower! Now it was down to the main event; the best of each team duking it out. She needed a strong move from the get out. Mega Punch and Strength were both good options, but the Flamethrower would be weak against Lapras' Water-Type. She would have to hope for a critical against-

"I wouldn't do that."

Ruby froze. Immersion broken. She looked to her side and saw the phone guy looking at her screen. How long was he watching her?!

"Wh-What?"

"Don't use physical attacks. Charizard is better with Specials."

"But Lapras is a Water-Type."

"And an Ice-Type." He said, pointing his fingers at each other. "They cancel each other out."

"Huh." Ruby blinked, looking to her screen.

"Plus, since Charizard is a Fire-Type, the attack will get bonus damage, too."

"Oh, right." She made her decision.

She imagined the battle was fierce, her mighty Cressant hovering over the terrible Lapras. A torrent of flames spewed into the Lapras, inflicting Burn. Lapras fired back with a Hydro Pump, and it hits! Cressant is down to the red, but it's not over! Flamethrower! Yes! Victory!

"Yes!"

"Nice work." Phone guy smiled.

"Thanks," she replied, "uh... phone guy?"

"That's a new one." He chuckled. "I like it. The name's Jaune."

"Ruby." She smiled. Genuinely smiled. "Nice to meet you."

"YO, ARE YOU PLAYING POKÉMON?!"

---------------------------------------------------

Yang was vibin' on the back porch, hanging out with her friends from school. It's been a while since she said something like that. Friends from school. College may have been different, but not too much in this aspect.

Still, she was a bit worried. Ruby'd become a lot more... recluse since summer started. A lot of her friends left her behind when they graduated. Maybe it was a bit cruel to force her to socialize, but the girl needed it. Next thing you know, she's coming back to her senior year as a pale-faced goblin creature.

"Yang?"

"Huh?" Weiss stared at her, one brow raised. "Sorry, sorry. What were you sayin'?"

"I were sayin'," Weiss mocked, "you've been out of it since the party started. You're usually in everyone's business, meeting people, telling crappy jokes, and maybe even slipping some tongue. But all you've done for the past hour is sit there, drinking soda, and having that same sad look on your face."

"Yeah, sorry." She scratched her head. "Just a lot on my mind."

"What, because of Pyrrha?"

"Nah, she's got her own issues." Yang waved off, not at all concerned about her rival maybe, possibly having a crush on her. "What I'm worried about is Ruby."

"Ruby?" Weiss reeled a bit. "Your sister? Isn't she a senior now?"

"Yeah, she's growin' up real fast." Yang chuckled. "Too fast and not enough. For the past week, she's been holed up in her room, playing video games in the dark. It's not healthy."

"Agreed." Weiss nodded. "My older sister was telling me something similar. A lot of her new recruits have been spending more time in their barracks at their computers than out on the field doing PT."

"Well, Ruby ain't gonna join the military." Yang said, looking around for wood to knock. She did, then continued. "Still, I wish she had a way to get out there and make some new friends."

"Yo! Yang!" Pyrrha stepped out, face red from drinking. "There you are!"

"Oh, hey, P-Money!" Yang looked to her. "What's up?"

"You never told me you had a GameCube!"

"Uh, it's my sister's," Yang clarified, "why?"

"Because some kid is totally kicking ass at Pokémon on it!"

"Some kid?" Yang stood up. "What does she look like?"

"Xiao Long!" Yang watched as Pyrrha was squeezed around by Emerald. "Some kid is playing Pokémon, and I can't get my boyfriend to look at me for more than five seconds because of her!"

"What?!"

---------------------------------------------------

Ruby was loving this! She hated all the attention, the eyes either on the back of her head or on where her fingers flicked on the GameCube controller, but she was loving the cheers and excitement from her fans!

Her fans! She had fans! Drunken, older kids, but still fans!

But she had to stay focused. This was it. After almost an hour of playing, going toe-to-to with the best of the best in the Pokémon League. Her rival, Ass, stood across from her, ready to prove once and for all, who was the very best, like no one ever was!

Ass sent out Pidgeot, and Ruby sent out Mimi. Would Sparky be better? Sure, but Ruby had an audience, and an audience demanded a show. So she was going to give them one.

Pidgeot used Agility, while Mimi used Pursuit. Pidgeot used Quick Attack, hitting Mimi. This continued until Pidgeot fainted, marking the first trial completed in Ruby's long road to victory. The crowd roared!

"Hell yeah!"

"Let's go!"

"King of the Skies!"

"She's a girl."

"Oh... It still works."

Next was Alakazam. Mimi was quick on the pursuit, but was still weakened by the previous match. With one Psychic attack, Mimi was down, earning shouts of disapproval from her fans. She shook it off and continued on.

Sparky was the next to come out, dodging another Psychic before countering with Flash! Accuracy down! Dodge! Agility! The crowd were on the edge of their seats! Thunder! Hit! Psychic! Hit! Thunder! Alakazam goes down! The crowd cheers!

"That was risky." Jaune said. "You got lucky."

"Yeah, but," Ruby looked to everyone behind her, "they don't mind."

"Well, this show isn't over yet." Jaune smiled, then looked to the screen. "Especially with that."

Rhydon. There was no way Sparky was going to win this. But what Ruby could do was set up the match for a quick victory. Raichu let out a final Flash before being snuffed out by an Earthquake. Ruby challenged him with Queeny.

"Ruby..." Jaune warned.

"I got this."

Queeny made short work with Surf, earning quadruple damage to the Rhydon, which equaled to another fast victory. Ruby's heart pounded, curious to who would be next. Unfortunately, her opponent was an Exeggutor. Before she could pull a Toxic, another Psychic knocked Queeny out hard, earning a critical hit for the bad guys.

"Ooh! She cracked!"

"Eggsactly!"

"She's gettin' scrambled!"

"I... don't have an egg pun."

Ruby moved quickly to Cressant and clicked to select her.

"Ruby, wait!" She stopped, looking to Jaune. "Think about it. You played this before, so who's next?"

"Exeggutor, Blastoise..." Ruby knit her brow. "Right. I can't risk Charizard yet." Ruby backed out, choosing her other Fire-Type. "Let's go, Ember!"

"Bro, Flareon has no moves!"

Ruby flicked around and unleashed a Flamethrower on her opponent, quick and easy. This left her in a three-to-two match against Ass, who sent out Blastoise. Everyone gasped, but Ruby had a plan.

Blastoise used Hydro Pump, knocking out Flareon. Okay, it wasn't a good plan, but she had something. Sleepy was sent in response. Special Defense may have been high, but Ruby was going to Psychic as hard as she could as Hydro Pump was expended. The second war of attrition continued until a critical hit Skull Bash final put down Sleepy.

Two to one. Charizard vs Blastoise. Not good. Not good at all. Ruby needed a plan. She just had to think.

"What the hell was that?!"

"Agh, leave it to a dumb kid to screw it up!"

"Ah, crap! I gotta get back! I got work tomorrow."

Everyone was getting angry. They were feeling disappointed. She was letting them down. What would happen if she lost? What names were they gonna call her? She felt her throat close up. She... She was going to cry.

"Ruby, I have an idea." She felt a hand on her shoulder. "We cheat."

Ruby sniffed. "Wh-What?"

"You already played this so many times before, right?" He smiled. "So why don't you just use what you learned to get here?"

"Oh... Oh!" Ruby nodded, going to her bag. It might cost her Cressant, but it would be worth it. Ruby used a revive on Sleepy.

Blastoise used Hydro Pump. Cressant fainted. Ruby sent out Sleepy. Sleepy used Rest and recovered HP. Blastoise attacked. Ruby used Revive. Blastoise attacked. Ruby used Revive. This went on until Sleepy fainted. It was now two against five.

Sparky was sent out. Sparky used Thunder. It missed. Blastoise tucked it's head in. Sparky used Thunder. It missed. Blastoise used Skull Bash! Sparky fainted.

"What the hell?"

"That's cheap."

"Like you never did that before?"

Ruby sent out Mimi. Blastoise used Hydro Pump. It hit, but it didn't take Mimi out. Mimi used Mirror Move. It hit! Blastoise goes down!

Ass sends out his last, Arcanine, who used Fire Blast to make quick work of Mimi.

"Ha! Roasted!"

Ruby was about to send out Cressant, then paused. She flicked up and chose Ember.

"Bro, Flareon has no moves!"

"You mean like you have no jokes?" Ruby snarked back. The crowd jumped and laughed as the failed jokester got burned! Speaking of, the battle heated up in these final moments.

Flareon used Smog, poisoning Arcanine. Arcanine used Take Down, dealing massive damage to Flareon. But Flareon, much like Ruby, wasn't easy to put down. Flareon used dug underground. Arcanine used Take Down, but it missed!

Everyone watched with baited breath. They knew it was coming, but they didn't when. Finally, Flareon emerged, using Dig! It's super effective!

...But not enough for Arcanine, who used Take Down! Flareon fainted! Arcanine was hurt in recoil!

BAH! BAH-DAH-DAH! BAH-DAH-DAH!

The crowd roars in it's excitement! Everyone jumps and cheers. They even began singing the Pokémon show theme!

"I WANNA BE THE VERY BEST LIKE NO ONE EVER WAS!"

Ruby leapt into Jaune, wrapping her arms around his neck and, because she was so excited, she kissed him! On the lips!

"RUBY ROSE!"

The excitement screeched to a halt as Ruby watched her sister approach. She slid away from Jaune, suddenly feeling very small. Her sister glanced between them before grabbing Jaune by his collar and taking a deep whiff. She hummed before letting go, but gave a grunt as she refocused on Ruby. She felt so embarrassed.

"Heh, that was pretty sneaky, little sister." Yang grinned. "Stealing a win and my party out from under me? Nice work~!"

"Oh, uh, thanks, Yang!"

Ruby felt good again. Really good! She hated parties like these, but she really came into her own and pulld off a thrilling performance that had left people wanting more! Nothing could bring her down!

"So, who's your boyfriend~?" Yang teased.

"Oh boy..." Ruby flushed.

[somniumfaults]

omg omg i finally finished reading ep 7 of tkdb and it was SOOOOOO GOOD. yuri and jiro are obviously sweethearts and i would die for them.

spoilers for ep 7

i also SCREAMED at haku calling the mc princess bfdhkqakfsdjhjgkl..... like, i had already seen it online! i knew it was gonna happen!!!!! but still ghdfksjk; he's not even my fave but he's so SWOON worthy.

the scene where it's revealed that jiro is zenji's brother was also so :( i kinda wish we had gotten more but also i'm happy with what we do have. i Do wish i could have experienced it raw but. cest la vie or whatever the french say. ZENJI GETTING SAD JIRO DOESN'T KNOW HE STILL EXISTS MADE ME SO SAD THO. LET THEM MEET!!! LET THEM REUITE!!!!!! HAKU WHAT ARE YOU DOING!! (being responsible probably but still. kicks him!! useless!!!)

i also totally saw dante approving of the gala from like, a mile away. prof nicolas had me scared for a moment but we've seen hyde call dante out wayyyy too many times for being a softie for me to think he wouldn't agree to it. HYDE ON THE OTHER HAND.... i think its reallly interesting to see them start to more obviously lean into the nature of "hyde" being the more nefarious side of jekyll. i have my doubts that they'll ever do anything so blatant as a personality change, but i do suppose i could see them sort of using it as it is already? or well, in the sense that the name reference is less so something to imply a future personality change, as most series would probably do, and more-so just an indication of hyde's two faced nature.

a part of me honestly is starting to wonder if all the ghouls up until now have been red herrings... maybe hyde is the one who is the spy after all. i honestly wouldn't be surprised, and since he's giving out "special missions" i suppose it could also lend itself to the other ghouls feeling guilt over their actions bc they know for a fact they're being shady. also: see sho saying that he's the only man for the job during his introduction could be a reference to the fact that hyde was the one behind everything and as his brother, he's the most fit for the job of taking him on. of course, this is a super flimsy defense for the theory lol bc there are so many other ghouls who kind of phrase their intros as holding responsibility for taking care of whatever disaster is happening during the intro but. still. i think its possible!!!!

OH. AND HOW COULD I FORGET JIN STEPPING IN FOR THE MC WHEN TAIGA WAS BEING A LIL BITCH AT THE AUDITORIUM. he's so tsun and cute hgkjfklsjdlk; "noooo i totally didn't do it for you" ass.... the idea of taiga and jin duking it out is actually sooooo cool and sexy. i went SO WILD during the comic scene where they were staring each other down and debating the amount of money bc it was just so cool....

i'm also super curious about the dynamic btwn romeo and hyde bc i... will not lie it really sounds like romeo is being taken advantage of. i mean, maybe that's just stating the obvious LOL but honestly despite romeo's brattiness (affectionate), i can't help but feel bad for the dude because that whole interaction just screamed "i'm way out of my depth even if i don't realize it". i'm really looking forward to the next chapter and getting to see more of sinostra and their dynamic

[incomingalbatross]

Amphibia Platonic Soulmates AU Pt 1

(Draft)

I wrote a short intro for this AU and want to share it A) for itself and B) as an experiment to see if this makes me more motivated to write the next part. :P So here it is!

(If you read it and are up for commenting, I'd be interested to hear if the soulmate concept here seems intelligible. Hard to judge how much of the stuff in my head I put down on paper, especially from the POV of someone who considers it normal.)

---

At school, they’d been constantly doodling soulmark designs, drafting new variations on napkins and notebook pages, drawing them in marker on the backs of their hands (which wasn’t super realistic but was visible) and on each other’s shoulders (less convenient, but more like the real thing). It was the cool thing for all the girls in school to do with their best friends, but Sasha had come up with it first.

“It so doesn’t matter if we’re, like, fated soulmates,” she’d said one day at the start of middle school, sketching on top of her math notes during lunch. “We can make our own decisions, right? And show everyone else exactly who they’re dealing with.”

“That’s so cool, Sash!” Anne had agreed, leaning forward to look at her images. Marcy had beamed and nodded vigorously, already working away with her own pencil on design ideas.

Since then, they’d gone through dozens of “official” three-person soulmate marks - cheerleading pompoms, tennis rackets, dice, skateboards, musical clefs, names in English and Mandarin and Thai - drawn on their notebook covers, doodled during classes, sketched on their skin like the real thing. They’d do each other’s shoulders at every sleepover, letting the marks linger until the permanent marker wore off.

Every design had to be approved by Sasha before they put it on anywhere visible, of course - she had the best ideas - and usually the specifics were finalized by Marcy (“Your designs are just too…cutesy, Anne, we don’t wanna look like little kids”). But Anne had the steadiest hands in applying the marker.

“And we have to keep working on it,” Sasha would always remind them. “We want something really cool, really us, by the time we’re eighteen, right? Then we can finally get tattoos and they’ll never wear off.”

Anne…had maybe felt a little uneasy about that. Not that she didn’t want to! It sounded super cool! But the one time she’d mentioned it at home, her parents had looked disapproving in an uncomfortable way, and her mom had said gently, “Are you sure that’s something people should do for themselves? Soulmate marks are special, Anne, and if that’s not exactly what you have with your friends, I don’t think it would be right to pretend you do.”

But like…Shasha was right. Soulmates weren’t so super-rare that they had to be treated like some sacred thing! Soulmarks marked out people who were made to be your other halves, your kindred spirits, but not everyone had those. (Or at least they didn’t meet them, but the odds were way against you either way, so basically same diff.) And wasn’t it just as valid to have a mark for the people you’d chosen as your kindred spirits? The people you’d built those close bonds with by yourself, instead of by weird destiny-magic?

Anne thought it checked out, anyway. And Sasha and Marcy definitely did, and they were her best friends, and that was basically just as important as soulmates. To the three of them, anyway.

And then Anne got zapped to Amphibia (Sasha’s fading marker design still clear on the back of her hand), and met a little pink frog boy whose life she had to save, and who saved her life, and called her a hero and got her a place to sleep that wasn’t a cave…

And the day after meeting him, she was changing into her swimsuit, when she saw a funny patch of color on her skin out of the corner of her eye. A patch of bright blue, on her right shoulder…right where soulmarks were supposed to go.

"HUH."

---

Next time: "Did we just become best friends??"

[noddytheornithopod]

some bad batch rambles from the finale cuz despite finding it underwhelming even if it was overall good

So uh why was only Hunter getting any real scenes with Omega at the end? Like, the flash forward is most egregious about this, they didn't even make models for older Crosshair or Wrecker. It's especially a shame because Crosshair probably had the most significant dynamic with Omega this season? But like, even in those final scenes on Pabu, I'm not even sure if they had lines? I actually felt the need to look closely to make sure Wrecker actually survived Tantiss. I guess it kind of feels like Wrecker and Crosshair were just glossed aside even if I feel like they had relevant things to reflect on. Especially Crosshair, like okay, he made the shot in the climax, but nothing on how he feels after that?

Speaking of Pabu... feels kind of weird that they settle there? The Empire knows it exists now, and even more specifically, that rogue clones were hanging out there. IDK, it's just kinda weird and rushed.

Stuff like the Zillo Beast was cool, as well as the new specialised CX troopers. Creepy horror movie intro too, almost like Hemlock was raising the dead or something.

Hemlock is dead I guess lol. It did feel a bit anticlimactic and predictable, especially ending up as yet ANOTHER overconfident Imperial who makes the exact same mistakes you'd expect. He really seemed more competent at first, but as Season 3 went on, he started looking more and more prone to typical Imperial shenanigans.

Emerie turning good is predictable but I did like that she decided to go off with Echo in the end.

We know where the rest of the Batch ends up but now everyone's going to be asking "what happened to Echo?" now that he is still with the Clone Underground, which is still functioning. Wasn't expecting all the answers regarding connective tissue to Rebels, but I do think Echo is a very explicit loose end that I'm sure someone will address eventually. Also, he continues to be the MVP. Like seriously, the Batch were behind but him actually getting stuck on the shuttle meant he was able to infiltrate Tantiss, find Emerie and then find Omega and the clone prisoners. Meanwhile, the Batch were still outside, and the moment they got in, the CX troopers took them down, RIP.

Tarkin swoops in and declares he will redirect Necromancer funding to Stardust aka the Death Star. I guess the main question I have here is... I'm not really sure I'm understanding Palpatine's motivations, since he's still the puppetmaster behind everything? Like okay, being disappointed that Tantiss is compromised of course makes sense, but would he REALLY want Tarkin to divert funding from what is almost certainly the project that will allow him to achieve immortality? IDK what ol Sheev has a hand in or not, like Imperials know Necromancer in The Mandalorian so it's not like Palpatine is making it super secret even from all Imperials and keeping it to his weird Sith followers.

Seeing the Imperial I Star Destroyer was cool NGL, like here it would literally be brand new.

RIP Scorch... though if Clone Commando armour is as good as it is, maybe he'll be okay. I do remember many wondering what the deal with the commandos was, if they ever follow up on the Clone Underground stuff with Echo and Emerie then maybe they can explore why the commandos are the last main group of Imperial clones and if there's any reason for that (ie extra conditioning). Also, maybe Scorch can meet back up with Delta Squad, lol.

Pour one out for the Tech truthers, CX-2 was another Marrok, but his death wasn't even funny, not just a mere puff of smoke in some armour. :(

Okay how much does Emerie actually know about Necromancer? Cuz obvviously she can't know enough that would implicate Palpatine being key to it but yeah.

Figured Necromancer would be fucked up by the assault on Tantiss. Wild that Rampart actually thought he could try and bargain with that research, only for Nala Se to sacrifice herself to keep her research from the Empire. Also Tarkin knows Hemlock was researching, but I doubt he knows WHAT exactly it is besides it involving clones lol.

Omega joins the Rebellion I guess. Also no Ventress teamup like many expected. At least that's a very easy way to tie her into the Mandoverse if they wanna bring her into that.

[cuephrase]

Thank you so much for the comic recs!! I'm just getting started on my Batfam reading journey so this is super helpful, and I'd be really interested to hear your thoughts on your current reads once you're further along. On a related (but opposite) note, anything you'd say to steer well clear of, like run for the hills, hazard sign attached, avoid if at all possible? (for example, I know All-Star Batman & Robin is something I shouldn't read outside of morbid fascination)

yeah ofc! getting into comics, in my experience, was super fun and sort of overwhelming because there's so much content lol, so i hope you're enjoying it and i'm happy to help however i can :)

OMG all-star batman and robin, i still need to read that to satisfy my own curiosity, but perfect example.

so okay, i have three runs + one arcs, but i'm going to preface this by saying, read whatever you want. all three runs and one arc, i read going into it knowing they were absolute messes, but i wanted to experience it for myself. i would say to not read these first, if possible, if you choose to read them because they're just not great intros to the characters and they're not great stories, imo. lose-lose

Red Hood and the Outlaws 2011 (New 52). if you like kory and/or roy, this will be torture. if you don't know who they are, please god do not meet this iteration of them first. but if you're interested in jason, maybe you want to read it because he's there! i get that. but. there's very little, if anything, in rhato 2011 that you'll learn about jason that isn't reiterated in rhato 2016/doesn't get flat out retconned in rebirth. for example, in rhato 2011, his origin story is him stealing from leslie's clinic. that wasn't his preboot origin, and his origin gets retconned back to his preboot origin of stealing the tires off the batmobile. most of rhato 2011 just had me like ???? so bad. just so bad.

Teen Titans 2011 (New 52). full transparency- i did not even finish this run. at some point, i will probably drag myself back to it and force myself through it, but oh god. no one felt like themself. everything was wrong. i like tim's n52 red robin costume, and that's about it. i'm also not sure how much if any of this run is currently relevant in canon so like, even less reason to put yourself through it.

Tim Drake: Robin 2022. i have nothing nice to say. wait. no i do. it got some really cool variant covers. i don't want to bash the art, because i have enjoyed this artist's style in other comics, so i'm just going to be diplomatic and say it was a horrible match/fit. . as far as the writing...no, just no. this is one of 2 pieces of fitzmartin's writing that i've read and so i don't want to speak too harshly, but i really didn't like it. this whole run makes me so sad ngl. dc canonized tim's bisexuality and then supported it with this? bro. c'mon. there's already so many homophobic comic readers, they didn't need to give them "it's bad writing" ammo. genuinely would love to know the though process behind the production of this comic

the infamous Ric Grayson era, Nightwing 2016 #50-74. i just read this. i've legit been putting it off since august. it is so mind-numbingly boring for 85% of the run, first off. this is literally how most of the issues go: "i was shot in the head. i don't remember anything after the night my parents died. they told me i used to a hero. nightwing. i don't remember that. or them. they act like they love me, but it feels fake. i don't want to remember them. i'm happier this way." and then he starts running around, superheroing with a slash of black greasepaint across his face because that is just a+ identity protection and regular clothes because superhero costumes totally only serve visual purposes. and it does all get resolved in the STUPIDEST WAY, but not before the joker takes control of him and has him referring to/responding to “dickie-boy”- reading this i was either bored out of my mind or dying from the cringe. all that’s relevant is a) he lost his memories, b) he gets them back, and c) he had a girlfriend, bea. i knew all of this before i subjected myself to this run. but now i can say i’ve read every nightwing run woooooo. my LCS (local comic store) guy has been trying to get me to read it as a “rite of passage” and he was so entertained when i came in and was like “i read ric” 😐🧍suffice it to say, i do not envy the nightwing fans who had to go through that in real time. i love travis moore’s art but it was not enough to save this arc

as for my thoughts on my current readings, i post those under the tag #cue first read reactions! they’re usually not all that in-depth tbh, just me freaking out haha. if you’re comfortable, my dms are open!

tysm for your ask + i hope you have as much fun reading batfam comics as i do!!

[centralkvetchmonolith]

Further updates on today's occurrences:

I did NOT get my knives sharpened because* I'm a lazy dipshit who can't remember what times of day people function at, yippee!**

*I don't actually feel the following about myself; I'm just venting for funsies

**I'm cool I just have at least one sleep disorder and misremembered "1pm close" as "4pm close" for some reason, which is a normal mistake to make if you're unfamiliar with farmer's markets

Oh well! There is always next week. I DID go to the Jewish event, with @creatureaccess bc I haven't gotten to do much Jewy socializing with them, and we hung out with my friend Khesed and got some nice prints and earrings!!!

In addition to the planned socialization, I ran into 4 sets of people I wasn't expecting:

Kendrick and their roommate Dawn — they Recognized Me from services a couple years ago, but we didn't quite remember each other. I mention these folks mostly so that I remember their names, as I will probably see them in the future and it takes me several meetings to remember faces and names together w/o hints.

MJ! The (lay) cantor who is considering Hebrew College! She was like "oh jeez people keep saying that and I feel like everyone will be so disappointed if I decide not to go" which! oh no! I only mentioned it bc I just broke up w a Hebrew College student who mentioned seeing her at prospy week (which is not what they call it)! I think she feels bad about being put on a pedestal, bc she also remarked that introducing her to Mercury as "the most familiar voice at Shir Tikvah" was nice bc I wasn't doing the usual thing (of intentionally or unintentionally overpraising her, which I'm sure feels like "you're so BRAVE for Singing While Trans" in addition to the regular ol' anxiogenesis of high expectations & benevolent otherization). Anyway she was happy to see me again even though she almost certainly couldn't remember my name, and I was happy to see her cuz she wasn't at the one kabbalat shabbat I've gone to so far and that was one of the several reasons I didn't quite feel Home yet at Shir Tikvah.

Quotes-and-flowers prints lady, Della, complimented me on my constellation umbrella and we commiserated about Hebrew cursive being cool but not a thing people in our circles (myself included) can read. THEN HER MOM POPPED UP, AND IS ONE OF MY TORAH CANTILLATION CLASSMATES??!?!? So Moon is the first person from the 2024 adult b'mitzvah cohort that I got the pleasure of meeting in person :^>. She's a lesbian who bonded w other lesbian parents in 1995 — I asked her if she knew [Jaz's parents], and she didn't which idk is actually cooler cuz that means there were enough partnered lesbians making children in the mid-90s that they DIDN'T all know each other!?! Anyway, Moon is cool, and I'm glad I am soooo so brave to Talk While Trans have a distinctive voice so that she recognized me ^_^.

While talking to Candida, the vendor with the super cool lemon earrings that I got Mercury for their birthday, I DID make direct eye contact with a person who used to call me their wife ("Ohhhhh and I just saw my ex" "Haha isn't that just the experience at queer markets like this"). Mercury and I sidled over, talking abt their mom while waiting for an opening where I could talk to Tova (they are very popular, even as queer Jewish non-profit workers go), and Mercury squeezed my hand and made clear through, like, bestie telekinesis and a couple words that they were there for me. I was a bit awkward on the intro bc I broke up w Tova pretty suddenly in uhhhhh I wanna say Nov 2020? and they ghosted last time I tried to catch up in early 2022, so I was like "hi!!(?) are we on the sort of terms where it's okay if I talk to you?" and they were very like "(why wouldn't it be????) Yeah!! Hello!!" and we chatted for a bit and I DID ask if they had moved which they HAVEN'T so I can STOP forlornly looking at their living room window every time I go grocery shopping and just be chill neighbors who used to try to build a life together. Their Nana said "She's special to you. Hold on to her, even though you're not together anymore." I was there when their sister got married. Their brother-in-law painted me in fake blood while he was shirtless. Their parents welcomed me into the family. I spooned with them under the big flaming tree of their family's cult. We played tabletop roleplaying games together. and figure out how much we want to be in each other's lives.

Anyway yeah so I am reminded yet again that people love me and even people who have a reason to be Rude are probably instead going to be Cordial, which I think is generalizable to people who are not me as well (you, reader). Also Jaz came up in sets 2, 3, AND 4 above, so it's pretty clear that [insert transparently obvious takeaway that nevertheless evades me at the moment].

Being in community is Good, Actually.

[pbandjesse]

Today was a wildly long day. I don't know why I am surprised by this. But man. My legs hurt. It was actually a really awesome day. I feel happy. And very much ready for bed.

I slept pretty well. Waking up was tough but that was mostly because I was cold. James usually brings my phone to the bed since we leave them across the room to charge. But they did not today and I had to get out of bed quickly to turn off the alarm. That is alright. I was not thrilled to be awake but it wasn't to bad.

I felt really cute and good today. I was looking forward to being with the kids today and I was just having a nice morning.

But then I forgot my water bottle inside and felt very dumb. James called me from inside and told me not to leave yet because they were bringing it down to me. I really appreciated that. Love my husband.

I got to camp at 8 spent some time on the art building working on the new yarn wraps rings for our hoop and stick game. I have 12 total rings, 6 small and 6 large. I have a few so e but it is going to take a while to get them all done. But it was nice to sit and have a task.

I would go and have breakfast in the office. Answered some emails. I was surprised when everyone else was already there. Elizabeth had told us 10 but apparently everyone decided 9. Which is fine. Mostly Celia was over at nature and Nick went to get himself and Elizabeth coffee. So it was a much slower way to start the morning.

I would wander over to the lodge to make sure the bedrooms in the saltmines weren't a mess. The plumber had cut holes in the walls so I put the pieces of drywall in the closet and moved a mirror in front of the holes. So it wouldn't look terrible. And went over to the art building to get my walkie. Before heading back to the lodge to meet the group.

I ran into everyone else on the walk over. And when we got there one of the teachers was there already. She said the bus was on its way. And it would get there basically on time at 10:30. I was a little embarrassed when I walked over to help direct and I slipped on some leaves and immediately fell over in front of the bus. I joked that I lost all my street cred with the kids.

But I would get everyone off the bus and started directing everyone up the hill. I have asked Sylvia to wait at the Oregon trail sign and then Sarah went to the top of stairs and Nick would head up to the stockade building. And the kids were great. They were super organized and they got their stuff and they wandered up. I stayed behind to catch any parents who were strugglers. There were two and I made sure they were heading towards Celia. Me and Celia were making dumb jokes on the walkie the whole time. We also like to call each other on the walkie wall in the same room at each other. Being very silly.

They have about 45 minutes to go and set up their cabins and so me and Celia would go up to the art building and I got in my hammock and we just talked and chilled for a while. There was a weird smell in the art building. I think it might be the box that my games were in because it was put away a little damp. But it's fine. We mostly could ignore it.

At 11:20 we went back down to the field to meet with Elizabeth and Nick and Sarah. And the plan was to do an intro and then Nick and Sarah were going to leave a 55 child version of steel the bacon.

Andrew went fine except for the sun was so bright. And it hurt her eyeballs really bad. And no one was prepared with sunglasses. But we got all the rules down and they seemed like pretty cool group.

Still making was kind of a mess. That's just a lot of children and I felt like Nick wasn't clear enough with the rules but they played for a while and only a few of them got so angry that they quit. Overall they seem to enjoy it. Even the few that got overly angry. They were just tired and hungry I think. It was a long morning for them.

We all went back to the office for lunch after we sent them off to the lodge. They got capturing so we would wait for them to be done eating so we could also get sandwiches but all of us had snacks up back in the office. And it was nice saying I'm just chatting. I ended up talking to Alexi about a safety training she just took and telling her how it was kind of an eloper when I was a child. But I slipped up and said when I hide places now and everyone was like we heard that. And I was like I know what now when I hide and run away it's just to the art building and I tell you guys all that so I think they thought I was being silly but it is 100% true. Even at my sweet 16 I hit under a table and I think almost every single birthday party I ever had I would run and hide it somewhere. Not for long but that's just something I've always kind of done. I remember being in high school and going to a fair with Joanna and a bunch of people and immediately just blending into the crowd and leaving them. And this is before I had a cell phone. I used to tell people I didn't want a cell phone because I felt like I would be too easily contacted and then I could not hide and run away as easily. And honestly it's true.

Eventually we were able to go to the lodge and get sandwiches and they were okay. Thank you us a citrus fruit as well which I think was a tangelo but no one agrees with me that that is a real thing. But it is! It's a tangerine and pomelo together. But then Elizabeth said that she didn't wear Pamela was when I was like it's the original citrus and she didn't believe me that it was a real thing. And then the catering staff so that they were cuties but I think they were entirely too big to be cuties. But it's fine. We agreed to disagree that it was just a citrus of some kind. An indistinct citrus.

Then it was time to go break up into our groups. I was nervous. Celia was also very nervous. But we were both heading to the Glen and I had high hopes.

And honestly I was correct. Not only were the group of children I got just lovely. We had so much fun. We walked down to the Glen and one of my children pointed out a turtle on the ground. I have not seen a turtle in the wild and forever and it was so exciting and we picked him up and we all gently pet him and then I took a picture and passed him to Celia so she could show her group. And we were kind of just riding that high. I took them over to the picnic table and we went through the packet and I gave each of them a sheet of paper and sharpie and we got through all of the information and then we debriefed together. And they were really smart kids. And super on board with the learning. And we went through what the habitat was and we found all the different things in the packet that we were looking for and then once we were done debriefing they were able to explore the space. And we would go on a nice little hike up and around the loving trail which is the name of the switchback trail over there. And while we didn't find too many more critters we did find a lot of really interesting mushrooms. And funguses.

I showed them how you can roll logs and look for things and we mostly found pill bugs and worms but we did find a newt and that was exciting. And they were really down to explore and that was awesome. We used Google loans to look at what different things were and we talked about invasive species and I just had a really good time.

We headed back to the table and I explained the predator and prey game. I really don't like playing games. I'm not good at them. I don't enjoy explaining rules. But they were really into it and they let me read the paper at them so it ended up working way better and they really loved it and we were able to spend most of the hour just going through and playing that game a few times and it was really good. They did a really good job actually playing by the rules and not cheating and I just appreciated that. They had to hide up in the bushes while one child pretended to be the predator and had to close their eyes for a minute and they had one minute to hide and then she had one minute to try to find them just from standing in her spot. And then they had 30 seconds to move closer to her while she wasn't looking and then she had 30 seconds to try to find them and then they have 30 more seconds to get closer and she had 30 more seconds to try to find them. And some of the kids did not get found it was really cool. For the last round I was the predator and it was hard to call them out cuz I didn't know their name still but I did find a few of them. And it was just really fun sitting on the ground and counting and then trying to find them.

Once you're done we circle back up at the table and I told them how much I appreciated them being nice to me because the last group that I had this program with was not very nice and they were so mad about it. They were like what You're so nice though why were they not nice to you and I was like I don't know They just work not nice to me and then one of them told me I was really cool and that made me feel. And so I told them that because they were so chill we were going to go and try to pet the horses.

So we took the trail back up the hill and over to the field and there was only one horse right there and they ran at him so he ran away so I had to get them to calm down even though they were so excited to see the horses and five or six of them came over and we were able to feed them hey and pet them and the kids honestly did not want to go and do anything else because they love horses so much. I do not blame them, the horses are great.

But I also wanted to keep us on time so we would say goodbye to the horses and went over to ground elements.

And they did a pretty good job over there. They had 54 seconds on the wheel watcher. And after They stop yelling at each other they were a great team. And be able to get the first two eggs for a kiss finger. I did have to help because a couple of children needed a break but I was really proud of them. We were not able to get the tallest one but I don't know how some of the groups do it so easily because we could not get it that high. We were very close but it was not going to go all the way up. I was was a little exhausted by the end of it.

I think them again for being so sweet and then we say goodbye. And I sent them off to go do archery tag and I waited for the next group.

The next group is coming from Elizabeth who taught them archery and she accidentally told them they were going to low ropes and I was no no this is my group. And I called her and we were able to sort it out and it was all fine. This group was a little rough. They were very mean to each other. They were fine with me but they were screaming at each other a lot and that was tough. At first I thought it was because this one kid was a bully but I think he was being boisterous because the other kids were very much not nice to him. It was kind of a tough situation but we got through it and they were able to get 48 seconds for whale watcher and they were able to do Buddy walkers and then they wanted to play on the team wall but I didn't want to run that as an activity I just let them climb it. And we got through it and I was ready to be done.

I walked them down to the field and went up to the airport building to collect my stuff. I let Elizabeth know that I couldn't stay much later because I was supposed to go meet James at the museum for the opening of the exhibit and after stopping in the office to say goodbye I got my car.

I did give myself a little for anxiety when I had left some stuffed animals outside of the art building because I'm trying to get rid of them and one of the kids that he would like one to use as a pillow but then all of the kids wanted them and I was already leaving and I couldn't go back and I feel so bad that I did not get all of them stuffed animals. But I have a bunch in the art building I want to get rid of so tomorrow I'm going to offer them and we'll see what happens. But then it made me upset because I feel bad that some of the kids were essentially left out but I will try to make it up to them tomorrow. And everything will be okay.

I drove to the museum and it was a pretty solid drive out. I had good music. And at 6 I arrived.

I was excited to see James and I was excited to see the exhibit. I talked to Meril and Kristen for a bit and then went to see the exhibit and it looks so good!! I'm very excited about it. And the event was very well attended. I got to eat pretzels and beer cheese and talk to Debra and Meril for a while and then enjoy the remarks and the music. And then joined James at the desk. I was tired and ready to leave but we had to wait a while.

So in the mean time I enjoyed catching up with Auni and Jessica and it was just really nice to see everyone. We had many more pretzels. Going home couldn't come quick enough.

We would get the all clear to leave. I was able to snag some stickers and a flyer for a square dance party that is happening for Halloween that now I want to go to. And then we headed home.

When we got back I cuddled Sweetp. And while I was standing there I got a surprise in the form of my pet loach, kitty kitty. I thought he was dead!! I haven't seen him for literally months!! But there he was and he looked bigger. But very quickly he was back in the rock structure. I'm glad he's alive. And seemingly doing well.

I got a shower and washed my hair. Which is risky because it looked so good today but also was slightly oily at my crown. But it needed to be done. Annoyingly though we are at the time of year where I have to rush the end of my shower because we lose hot water to fast. But it's fine I am clean and that's all I care about.

And now we are in bed. Being cozy. I might get up to paint my toes but I am mostly interesting in being horizontal.

I am with my group again tomorrow. And I hope it goes well. I'm looking forward to a nice day.

So wish me luck. And be safe. I love you all. Goodnight!

[namuneulbo]

week one hundred and seventy four

first week of school is done! i ended up in level 2 in my language class which ended up being wayyy too easy so i talked to the teacher about it and she was able to move me up a level :D all the teachers so far have been so nice :')

i tried vlogging on monday but it didn't go too well. i think i'll still finish the editing but i don't know if i'll end up posting it. i want to become better at both filming and editing but it's harder than i thought.

in the evening, way out west posted a about yung lean and bladee being on their lineup so i finally caved in. it's the same day as charli xcx. i had to.

tuesday was just an intro day so we only had a one hour meeting. we got a little goodie bag too that was super cute :3 me and a happened to sit in front of another swedish girl so we talked to her for a bit and she was so sweet.

me and a went out after the intro day too. we went to itaewon and she went hunting for a perfume and ended up getting one from lush called grass and DUDE!!! it smells so good. i might get that one once i finish my sakura body mist. the worker was so helpful and the girl at the check-out was HAWTTTTTT. the gayness was basically seeping. she had cunty little bangs and her makeup was so nice and her button-up hugged her body in such a hot way. i love being bi and i've realized the lushes here are not good for me when i'm ovulating.

we then went by olive young for a bit and then went for food. it's the second vegan spot we're trying and it was really good. i had a 'shrimp' fried rice and a had jjajangmyeon and we shared some fried dumplings.

wednesday was our first real day of class. like i mention earlier, i had to move up a level but i was stuck on level 2 for the first two days. it felt like i was just wasting time in there. there was nothing new going on. i'm sad too because on campus they were hosting an event to get people to join uni clubs so while i was in class i heard a band playing. at first i couldn't distinguish the songs apart from the fact that it was heavier than i'd expect on campus??? then i heard debaser and i was like NO WAY!!!!!! I LOVE THAT SONG!!!!!!! right after they played just by radiohead. i don't know what got into me but i was so certain i had to tell this band they were good and were playing good stuff so i just grabbed my class schedule and folded into a small piece of paper and wrote a short note being like "dear whichever band played these songs, i loved the set, i wish i could see u but i'm stuck in class but i can hear u all the way over here. ur really talented! let's be friends!".

i left my instagram at the bottom and RAN during our 10-minute break and watched them for as long as i could before i had to run back. i tried leaving the note on eye level close to where the musicians were playing but i haven't gotten any dms so i guess it didn't work :/

thursday was uneventful and then friday was fun. class was way more interesting now that it's closer to my level. after class i went for lunch and coffee with my ibuddy. it was quite hard interacting since my korean's bad and her english wasn't fluent either. she was wayyyy better at english than i was at korean though. we ended up being more similar than i'd imagine. we started talking about music and i asked her what she likes and she was like "oh, i'm a drummer and i usually play stuff like oasis," which i thought was quite cool. then she asked if i have a favorite band i asked if she knows my chemical romance and she was like "oh yeah, welcome to ... the black parade, right?" and i was like "YEAHHH!!!". i got so excited and then she told me she likes house of wolves as well. SHE KNOWS B-SIDES!!!!!!! then it all added up bc i asked her what her fav band was and she said green day. checks out.

she paid for everything, i felt so bad. i tried paying for the food but then my first card declined so i was about to grab my other one but she was already paying for it instead. i told her i'd pay for the coffee and cakes later but i forgot TT she was so nice though like she asked what coffee i usually get and i told i usually get a latte with oat milk and she was like "OMG i'll call them and ask if they have it" and i was really trying to tell her it was fine and i'll just get something else if they don't but she insisted and called them TT she's the cutest. they did have oat milk! the lemon cake i had was so good too, GAHOOK!

lastly we went to a photobooth. first photobooth experience and it was so fun!!!

on saturday i got a tattoo!! getting there was easy for the most part. the studio was on the same subway line i live on so it was easy getting there. i ended up being super early though so i had to walk around for a bit and ended up proper falling while crossing the road. genuinely wanted to kill myself, it was so embarrassing. it wasn't even icey or anything i just didn't see how big of a step it was between the road and the sidewalk. anyways... then i came to the studio. since giving tattoos is illegal in korea, i assume they can't be super open about where the studio is. she sent me the address the day before the appointment and on naver maps it just shows up as any address and doesn't specifically say there's a tattoo studio there. i was a little confused on where to go but she helped me via dms.

there had been a little understanding so she thought i was just doing a flash. i felt so bad when i had to tell her i had a specific design in mind. i was scared for a second she didn't do customs but she assured me she did and then she told me she could finish the design in an hour so i could go out for a bit and come back so i went for coffee. the tattooing went fine, i don't think it's bad at all which is nice but i also haven't done very difficult places just yet. this time i got a demogorgon on the side of my calf! she did such a good job, i loooove it!!!! she was the coolest ever. i was so sure it would be a man bc medieval/etching style feels very male dominated but i felt such a relief when i found out she was a girl. like... not that i mind a man. my go-to back home is a dude and he's amazing but i just love women and it feels so much easier for some reason :') she was so nice and she looked so cool. she was way too generous with the price i felt bad dude!!! i even tried tipping her when i was buying the cream afterwards because i tried paying in cash and telling her to keep the change but she was dedicated to not taking any more than it cost TT

i came home. i was SO hungry and we were gonna go to mcdonald's but i was so fucking hungry and my stomach hurt i just got food from the convenience store but THEY HAD NO VEGETARIAN OPTIONS LEFT!!!!!!! had to have spicy tteokbokki which isn't the best option when hungry. my stomach paid for it later.

i downloaded tinder earlier in the week too. mostly for shits and giggles. before i came here i told myself i wouldn't date around here and if i did it had to be with girls so i can fucking live my bisexual life to the fullest because i have yet to actually hook up with a girl. i've been on date after date but they never go anywhere. men are easier to hook up with lmao.

anyways, i've matched with quite a few baddies but one of them is indeed a man. he's cool looking. he has a long mullet and a septum ring and he dresses well. he's a little pushy though. or... not necessarily pushy but i don't know what to call it. first night we talked he asked how i was living here and i told him i lived in a dorm with a roommate and i asked him how he lived and he was like "i live alone in a tiny apartment but there's enough space for you~". i was intrigued but i pussied out lmao. he said it was okay and then he's tried a few nights since or like... he's messaged me but i've went to bed before he can ask. I'M A SLEEPY GIRL, OKAY?

anyways... he tried getting me to come over on saturday. i wanted to. like honestly, i did. i'm just so fucking bad att being spontaneous. i told him that too but i wanted to watch swedish eurovision too which would be at 4 am for me lmao. anyways, i was nasty anyways, i desperately needed a shower. like, please... dude... let me know a little earlier than 12 am. i was like "i need to sleep" and he was like "okay... but i'm sooooo bored". i'm not even gonna lie, it was quite cute. i asked him if he's doing something on sunday but he couldn't meet then so... but now i've made it clear at least that i DO want to... just poor timing. whenever he texts me i'm in bed, cuddled up in pyjamas and ready to go eepy time. soz m.

i did wake up at 4 am to watch the swedish eurovision final. i was so fucking nervous because i wanted kaj to win so bad and... THEY DID!!!???!?! WTF?!?!?! my people :') finswes like me, singing in my dialect, having fun :') the right song won. eurovision season will be so fun.

today we were gonna go to the cinema and watch mickey 17 but a and a cancelled LIKE PLEAAAAASE. now i have to wait even more to watch it :( n watched it and texted me right after saying i NEED to watch it and that i'm gonna love it and that got me so thrilled for today but a is feeling sick so we're waiting for them to get better.

sotw: death grips - three bedrooms in a good neighbourhood

[uncl3badtouch]

Sting

I went to Mystery Movie Monday (my favorite part of the week) and today I got to see Sting. I've been hoping for something scary for a while, and my wish finally came true.

It started pretty interesting in how our tiny spidey friend was discovered. It gave me kind of IT vibes (watch it and you'll understand if you've read the book) and I thought that it was just a fun little Easter Egg. It's supposed to be set in a New York apartment in the middle of a terrible snowstorm. I don't know why the snowstorm was so important, it didn't really do anything for the story, at least not in my opinion. Maybe to have a reason to wear the sweater grandma made for the kids? I guess....

Anyway, we meet grandma who is struggling with some kind of memory problems, and she becomes someone that relieves a lot of tension with her jokes that aren't actually jokes but we have to pretend they are. Then we get to meet our hero and her family. She's getting to her teenage years and is struggling with her stepdad and new half brother, kind of the classic blended family thing that comes in handy when tugging at heart strings.

There's a strange group of people that live in the building that is owned by the family, and it's kind of fun to get to know all of them, even if it's only for a short period. And then we have our exterminator friend. Hes funny as hell, and is played really well by the actor!

There were a few holes that I noticed, and on the first watch, that kind of has an effect on the rating I give. (Wow, I feel kind of mean) I don't want to give any of them away because maybe they're just something I noticed and I don't want you to NOT enjoy it!

It was super creepy at times, and there were some really good jump scares, something that I love so much! It had the perfect amount of them, so that kind of helps the score with me. I categorize it with 'intro' movies. Like, the movie isn't super scary and would be a pretty nice intro to the genre. Something I would show my nieces once they hit about 13. It will fit in with the classic spider movies of the past. It's a fresh take on a different kind of Arachnophobia. I hate spiders, but this wasn't too intense to make me feel like they're crawling all over me.

So I'm going to give it a 7/10

It wasn't super scary, but it was super creepy. There were some cool nods to some things in pop culture, but there were also a handful of holes I had to ignore. The ending was cute but pretty standard and easily predicted. Made me roll my eyes a little, then I had to remember that I'm kind of stoney and particular so I had to give it up. It rates average for me, but it's a good average!

Will I see it again? Probably in the future I will. Most likely, actually.

Does it need a sequel? I guess it could have one but I don't think it's that necessary.

Would I recommend it? Heck yes I would. You'd be getting your money worth and it's super fun when its a packed theater.

Let me know what you think when you get a chance to see it!

[realspacelasers]

I was a grad student in physics a decade ago!

The time in grad school is divided into two parts. Typically you'll do your master's degree and PhD in the same program, and up to the master's will be a very different experience from master's to PhD.

As a grad student, you're still on semesters like the undergrads. While I was working on my master's I typically took 2 classes per semester (I think some semesters early on I had 3?), and the classes would meet either two or three days a week during normal class hours. Then I had some kind of teaching assistant responsibilities - I graded for physics 101/102 classes, supervised undergraduate labs, and ran recitation sessions where students in 100-level physics could come ask questions and get help if they were struggling with homework.

(Side note: it was a continual surprise and despair to me how many students I'd get in intro to physics classes who couldn't do basic algebra or even things like adding fractions. How did you get into this course?? How did your high school fail you this badly??? I can't teach you four years of remedial math in this recitation!)

The classes that are specific to your concentration will be small. I was in astrophysics, so I started off with more general classes like graduate Quantum Mechanics and Thermodynamics (which most of the physics grad students were in) and then moved on to more specific classes like General Relativity, Stellar Structure, Cosmology, and Compact Objects. The homework is VERY intense and it is super useful to have a study group.

In your first year there will be some shopping around for an advisor. If you didn't come in with an intent to affiliate with a specific prof, you go to the department research talks and hear what the various labs in the department are working on, talk to the older students and get some idea what the prof is like as an advisor, hopefully talk to them a bit. (It's a good idea to do this even if you did come in intending to affiliate with a specific advisor, because you might find out that they're a complete asshole to work with or that someone else's group is doing really cool work.) I was at a smaller school, so the process was kind of informal, but maybe someone who went to a larger school with big research groups can chime in. Maybe by the end of your first year, certainly by halfway through your second, you'll have signed the paperwork affiliating with an advisor.

This relationship makes or breaks your time in grad school, and if something happens that's bad enough to require you to change advisors after quals, it'll put you possibly YEARS behind in getting your PhD. In the occasional case of a creepy or abusive advisor, this has exactly the bad effects you are thinking.

I wouldn't say there's a "typical" advisor relationship - they vary a lot in how hands-on they are, so you might see yours daily but I'd say weekly is normal, and there are lots of grad student jokes about how you can never find your advisor when you need them. In a big group you might work mostly with a postdoc and not see your advisor very much. In a small group you might see your advisor every couple days and get to know them very well. When you've just affiliated, you'll be doing a ton of reading to get up to speed on what their group is doing and what the state of the field is, and you'll probably also have some grunt work tasks for the research. As you get more knowledgeable, you'll start working on your own projects. Your research group, all the students at all levels from undergrad to postdoc working under the same advisor, will probably meet regularly, every week or every two weeks. You'll also probably get assigned a desk in a crummy shared office at this point. (At my school there was intense competition for the offices with windows and as soon as someone in one of those offices graduated, another PhD student would move into their desk. Like hermit crabs.)

As you're finishing up your coursework between 2 and 3 years in and preparing your master's thesis if your school does one, quals loom ahead of you. There's a qualifying exam to continue in the program after your master's and it will be a major source of stress in your character's life if they aren't past it already. It is typically an oral exam where you stand at a chalkboard and get grilled by 3 professors who can ask you basically anything in your field of study and you get to work it out on the chalkboard in front of them. Your advisor, if they're good, will help you prepare for this.

After you pass quals, your life changes a bit. You're done with coursework and you're a full time researcher now, though you'll still probably have your TA responsibilities. What this looks like is going to vary by group. You'll be doing your research, writing it up, preparing papers for publication, and when your advisor thinks you've done enough work, writing your dissertation. This is typically 3-4 years, 5-6 is not unheard of.

The stress is pretty intense. Most grad students also get extremely into some sort of hobby to try to blow off some steam. This is when I took up running. Also, if you are neurodivergent and were able to get through undergrad on raw intelligence and last minute work without figuring out some kind of organized study habits that work for your particular brain, early grad school is likely when that will no longer be possible.

Let me know if I can answer any questions! I'll also ask my friend who was in applied physics and get her spin.

hey does anyone who went to or is in grad school for physics wanna tell me about how life is structured for a student? preliminary research is getting me a lot of “how to get into grad school! what applying is like!” results and my character is IN grad school so I care more about like, how often does she take classes, how are classes structured, what is a typical relationship with an advisor and how did she get one, how often would classes change over or is that no longer as relevant, stuff like that. just what is she doing and focused on day to day. especially stuff after the first year, because she’s past that.

[astaroth1357]

Demigod MC Series: Nyx

Nyx is a primordial goddess and the Greek personification of Night - the mother of Hypnos, Thanatos, Nemesis, and many more. She's a mysterious figure in their mythos as there's little surviving info about her cult. What is known, however, is that she was portrayed as beautiful, powerful, and feared by Zeus himself.

Demigod MC Series: Intro, Aphrodite, Hermes, Hades, Dionysus, Demeter, Athena, Hades Pt. 2, Poseidon, Ares, Hestia, Nyx

Lucifer 

What happens when you take a being born from the darkness and place them in a realm of eternal night…?

The answer came when the MC first stepped out of the portal. Everyone in the room was wholly expecting a normal-looking, confused human they could get up to speed, however…

The MC's skin suddenly darkened until it was as black as a shadow, their clothes levitated around them as if they were defying gravity, and glimmering speckles dotted their skin like twinkling stars.

Even their eyes turned a pure, glowing white without irises or pupils… Like two crowning stars locked into a body made from the shimmering night sky...

They weren't human. At the time, Lucifer wasn't even sure he could say what they were... Breathtaking, certainly, but there was something else about them that he couldn't place… something… foreboding...

Diavolo must have had the same unease because Barbatos was put in charge of monitoring them. The butler would send reports to them both and the results would range from benign to nerve-racking...

They kept their distance from his brothers and most people, but their power seemed immense... Barbs would report seeing them making small items float or summoning a meteor shower from their fingertips!

Lucifer ended up actually tasting their powers only once. When they stepped in to protect Beel and Luke and he went to attack them…

The whole House began to shake and the candles of the tomb started going out one by one as the air grew intolerably heavy... He could have sworn he saw a vortex of… something... swirling at their feet...

He backed off immediately and Beel and Luke got off with a warning, mostly because he was trying not to look utterly petrified...

He's never met a more beautiful and dangerous creature in his life… Pact mark or no, this is probably the only person the firstborn will admit he never wants to have to fight because he'd lose, big time.

Mammon

He was expecting to find a human when he walked into the Student Council room, not an alien!!

Mammon was seriously scared of the MC when they first met because he legitimately believed they were an extraterrestrial sent to probe him!!... Or whatever else those scary movies say aliens do, lay eggs in his stomach?

He straight up avoided them like the plague until the Goldie incident more or less bound them together. But even then there was a distance between them he just couldn't place…

Naturally, it bothers a demon a bit if their master doesn't seem to like them, so he eventually cornered them one day to force them to tell him why they'd been running off!

As it turned out, the MC actually knew as little about their new form everybody else! They had been perfectly normal in the human world, but for some reason the Devildom supercharged them! They could tell that they were powerful, but had no idea how to control themselves yet and it scared them...

So Mammon became their first unofficial "coach." Not that he knew how to train them or anything, but he was the first person supportive enough to even try to help them learn their new powers.

It led to some… interesting misadventures. Like when the MC unexpectedly burst every water pipe in the House or when they got a little too frustrated and ripped the kitchen apart with an accidental twister, but hey, Mammon was always there for them at least.

Of course, because he's who he is, he's not above asking the MC to help him with his schemes for "training purposes…" Infiltration is more fun if you're weightless, after all!

Speaking of weightless… His favorite way to float is when the MC gets excited and hugs him. They can't help but levitate them both off the ground when they're that happy and it makes the whole hug that much sweeter.

Leviathan 

It's… it's like he's in his very own Magical Girl anime!!! Uh, "I'm a Demon and this is My New Life with a Magic Starchild!!"-or something like that. 🤷‍♀️

He didn't even think their transformation was real when he first saw it! He really thought it was an elaborate body art cosplay but then their "freckles" rearranged themselves when he frightened them, so it had to be real!!

He'll declare that they're probably (literally) the coolest thing on the planet. They have the looks of an epic fantasy character plus insane powers to boot! 

…though uh… they may need a training arc or two to learn how to control them… 😅

Since their powers are apparently tied to their emotions, Levi's seen them do a whole bunch of stuff that's not entirely on purpose... Like, they can make things float when they're happy and push everything down when they're sad. 

So once he showed them one of those "tragic ending" animes for fun, but they cried so hard that they increased gravity and accidentally sent his bathtub crashing into the basement…

The worst of it is when they're mad, though. He made the mistake of making them play a rage game once and they ended up shattering all the glass in his room! His aquarium wall and Henry's fishtank included!!

They were able to make a zero G sphere of water in order to save Henry's life, but the cleanup was brutal… They were super sorry, but Levi took most of the blame himself anyway.

Honestly, he'd have been more mad but their body is clearly not something they can control just yet. Plus, it's so cool that he can put up with a little destruction anyway, you know?

Satan

Well, isn't that an interesting phenomenon?

Meeting a demigod is exciting enough, but one who reacted to the Devildom like that? It was pretty much unheard of!

Though he'd hate to admit it, Satan stalked the MC just as closely as Barbatos for a little while... But only because he was a little unsure of how to approach them…

They kept to themselves and their powers seemed "a little" unpredictable (see Levi's orphaned bathtub). Thankfully, Mammon ended up recommending the MC to him since Satan's one of the smartest guys around.

Satan made a better coach than Mammon, anyway. He was far more knowledgeable and actually able to hypothesize the strength their powers, which came in handy because uh… well…

Look. The whole realm 'ooohs' and 'ahhhs' over their appearance but they're all fools - no morons - for not noticing what potential the MC actually has. Satan was positive that the MC is the most powerful being in the Devildom, without question.

They had a complete control over gravity, atmospheric pressure, and even astronomical bodies… If they wanted to, they could literally pluck a planet out of orbit and send it careening into who knows what!

Want more terrifying? They could create near-matterless vacuums at the palms of their hands with the potential to suffocate, crush, or rip apart basically anything they wanted with implosive force….

Does he even need to spell out why that's utterly horrifying??

At least the MC seemed to be a genuinely nice person who wanted to control their powers better… Their emotions often got in the way but they tried their best.

He likes the MC a lot, but he'd be lying if he said that they didn’t also terrify him… They may have been pretty normal in the human world, but give them endless night and they may as well be a god...

Asmodeus 

Oh… My… Father!!! They're GORGEOUS!!!!

From the moment their transformation completed, Asmo had never seen anything like them! He said that they were like a living droplet of the night sky!

They were magnificent!! They were radiant!!! He was posting pictures of them before they had even said their first sentence!!

So Asmo was pretty much patient zero for any and all rumors and hype about the MC after that... Apparently someone like them only visits the Devildom every one, maybe two, centuries so everybody was bound to get talking.

Thankfully, the MC's habit of ducking out of the House kept them from becoming a full on sideshow. Unfortunately, however, Asmodeus was relentless!

He'd beg them to try modeling or make videos with him because of their unique look! He'd lay on the praises, but it was a little... much. It wasn't until Mammon finally stepped that he backed off a bit.

Asmo sometimes forgets that not everyone puts as much emphasis on looks as he does... Though he meant well, he hadn't realized that the MC maybe wouldn't appreciate him making such a big deal out of their appearance change. Pretty as it was, it was still involuntary to them...

Of course, after they told him this he cooled off and stopped putting them out there so publicly but even still he could hardly keep his eyes off of them... unless he was looking in a mirror, of course. 😘

A fun fact about the MC: when they blush, their skin makes a pink nebula. And thanks to his antics, Asmo has seen their lively pink cheeks many, many times… 🤭

Beelzebub 

Belphie would like them, wouldn't he...?

Beel's first reaction upon seeing the MC was genuine sadness, as seeing the stars with his twin brother still gone often brought him… 

The sadness didn't last too long at least because Beel tried his best to see the MC more like a person than a work of art or an oddity. Sure, they looked different - like really different - but they still laughed, cried, and ate like everybody else so they couldn't be that different.

Though then again, most people don't end up floating in midair when they laugh… Eh, oh well. It's not like those little details bother him. 🤷‍♀️

He always remained certain that Belphie would like the MC so he told them a lot about him. Since his twin loved stargazing, it'd only be natural that he'd like someone who looked like the stars, right?

Aside from the occasional tangent about his brother, Beel would also help the MC with their training by letting them help him with his training!

Controlling gravity can be pretty nifty for strength/resistance exercises, so there would be days where Beel would just pull a Dragon Ball and walk around at 1.5 or 2 times Earth's gravity thanks to having the MC on his back!

Sure, lifting a glass of milk becane so difficult that he literally broke a sweat from trying, but he felt like he can juggle motorcycles afterwards so who's complaining? Not him!

Belphegor 

……

………….

Was it some kind of joke?

The MC was not human. There was no way in heaven or hell that whatever he lured to the attic was supposed to be a human!!

Really, everything about the MC and their situation seemed directly designed to throw a monkey wrench into his plans...

One: They weren't human so how was he supposed to ruin Diavolo's dream? Two: They were clearly some kind of magical being so they could likely defend themselves…

But third ans most embarrassing of all... he honestly, genuinely, has never seen a more amazing person in his life. Blame it on his soft spot for the stars, but the moment the MC step up to his prison bars, he was smitten...

And. He. HATED IT!

Look, as much as he loved the night sky, he wasn't about to let some random non-human derail his anger! He was stronger than that!

He managed to hold onto his bitterness just long enough to make a halfhearted attempt on their life after they got the door open, but uh…

His brothers found Belphie when he fell through a newly-made hole in the ceiling... Said hole was made when his body slammed to the ground hard enough to crash through the attic floor... 😣

If the damage they caused wasn't enough to change his mind (which it was), then their distress when they thought they might have hurt him certainly did. Even their tears looked like stardust...

After far too long, Belphie got over his denial and began to properly love MC. If he liked stargazing before, he adored it now because he never even has to get out of bed! He can just roll over and follow the "stars" on the MC's body!

Unfortunately, that same love means it also takes a lot to ditch him if they get sick of being his personal night's sky… The brothers have found him floated up and sleeping on the ceiling on numerous occasions so the mortal can get some fresh air (clever MC)...