#just imagine the whole story but in the context of highschoolers

[violaextract]

fated highschool au, this is an au that was made by a group of us when the official discord server was still up and running, i redrew them in their teenage get up because i was reminded it existed

what kind of high school shenanigans are they gonna get up to??

some more doodles of the au for fun vvvv

[toomanybs]

Chaeya is the funniest ship in a RagBros context and I think we should have an entire make-Diluc-mad (-for-good-reason) week

Imagine you disappeared for two whole years just to fight the organization that killed your father, and a year after you get back the brother whose thin ice is mostly supported by innocent guilt tripping starts FLIRTING with one of the top 11 members

How would you even feel. It would be like one of those my sister is dating my highschool bully stories, but more like my sister is dating a guy from the drug ring our dad got his deadly steroids from.

She says she's just gathering information, till you catch them with their pants down and suddenly it's:

"it's not like HE was the one to sell the steroids :/. Grow up a little :/"

When that guy is an enforcer who kills people and literally tried to destroy the city next door

What would you even do? What would Diluc even do?

[ruckis--rookie]

Ruckis, can you help me out by talking about OOTS real quick? 🥺👉👈

Okay so the thing is... I have a bunch of OCs lying around, and I'd love to write a nice story for them! The only problem is, that I never wrote a story from scratch before 🤨

Soooo... How did OOTS come into existence? How did you get the idea for the main plot and themes? How did you manage to tie the characters into the story? How did you make the rules for the world as a whole?

Please tell me I'm desperate and really like OOTS rip

Oooh that IS a really... complicated thing to answer, but an interesting ask nonetheless. One that I'm going to enjoy answering >:3c

You see, the reason it's difficult to explain is because I simultaneously have no idea what I'm doing and at the same time I have exactly every idea of what I'm doing, if that makes sense. I partially blame/thank my unmedicated severe adhd for my hyperactive imagination, I can pull a lot of stuff out of my ass on a whim just by sitting and thinking for 5 minutes. At the same time I used to love reading as a kid, I loved writing all throughout Jr. High and Highschool, and even now I love dissecting the plots of cartoons, movies, and games, guessing things before they happen. If I had to describe a fantasy story, furthermore making one, it's like.... building a structure, but that structure is made up of absolute bs.

It's easy if you start out with asking yourself a few questions. What do you want this story to be about? Who are the characters and their drives, goals, and aspirations? How do *they* play into the themes of the story? What *are* the themes of your story? Do you want to convey a lesson? Once you have those little details you can start branching out. A looot of it is world building and connecting the dots. Don't be afraid to take inspiration from other things as well! Whether that be from real life or fiction... I'll use OotS as an example.

Order of the Stars started as a theoretical question. I was going through a hard time in my life. I still am, but I'm working hard to get to a point where things can get better but that's besides the point. I mention this because I wanted to make something special. Something of my own that I could use as an escape. So I presented myself with a question... what if someone in the same position as me took an absolute nosedive for the worst? What would they do in response?

That's why in first chapter of the missing chapters version of OotS you can get easily drawn to the main characters presented currently. Her struggles are inspired from real life. They're taken from mine, albeit with some drastic liberties. Side note, That's actually why that, despite being a what if version of me I can't connect with her. She will never be a Sona, because she's someone I don't want to (and strive not to) become.

Anyways I presented more world building questions that would give me more opportunities to make the story more interesting. What if in this world magic and dieties, while obscure, did exist? All these questions combined were my starting point. From there I built out. Both backwards to explain more and solidify more of the story and the why's, and forward. Spoilers, it eventually lead to nuclear warfare that caused the near destruction of humans and the hastened evolution in animals. That may seem like it makes NO sense without context, but you just have to wait to read a little deeper. Everything is connected.

I gave myself a setting, several story themes, both overarching and some that you have to read deeper into. Order of the Stars literally reflects one of those themes. It has a double meaning. One of the themes is hammering down on the abusal of power from people higher up on the authority chain. Basically building this hierarchy, an "Order" if you will, that poses as one of the overarching antagonistic threats. It's also a nice little hint towards the involvement of dieties made from celestial and astral bodies. Kitsuneoctua is a god made out of a constellation, and what is a constellation but the order in which stars align?

Another theme touches on racist/xenophobic behaviors. I've never gotten how people can be like that. We're all people, it's honestly upsetting to see how people will fight each other just because of something like skin color and ethnicity. So I made not just an entire culture to reflect that, but the main characters from the heroic version of OotS reflect that too. You have Aleron, a human who grew up around an entire city of people who are xenophobic and racist towards what are called "Modern Animals" (the anthro animals that can walk and talk). Despite that he adores them. He sees them as equal. He's kind hearted and almost sickeningly sweet, if not a little inexperienced. And then you have the other hero, Roxie, who acts as a character foil. She grew up being taught that humans can't be trusted, only to have a human try and nurse her back to health and risk his life for her. The two vow to work together and embark on a journey, leaving everything they knew behind. They have to learn how to work through their differences and get along, all the while striving to make the world a better place. Hopefully the take away that people get from that is we can all get along and fight for better despite our differences. There's no need to fight each other.

Overall a lot of my story writing is cause and effect. Thinking about how people or objects will react a certain way. A butterfly effect, almost. And how I can connect the lines. It's like a tree. You plant a seed and when you supply it with things to grow it starts sprouting branches, and blossoming, all the while growing hardened roots underneath. It sprawls every which way until finally, you've made something beautiful.

As for rules... the rules are what you make them, really. It's your world. You're practically God, if you said that for whatever reason platypus have duck wings and can fly than goshdarnit they have wings and they can fly. I personally just like to provide explanations that seem like they would make sense to wrap it up in a nice little bow :> outside of that, the only other tip I can offer is simply a nitpick of mine in terms of story writing. Refrain from retconning too much. For me consistency is the best policy. I hope this provides some good insight, I tried 😅

[doverstar]

It's such a fun story about how I got into Doctor Who. I was in highschool (around 2007-2008). I'm not sure of the exact date since back then there was a huge delay when the episodes aired in the UK and in Canada. My math teacher kept talking about this sci-fi show and he kept talking about it and it piqued my interest a little. Eventually I was flipping channels (or actually I think this was when you still went to that channel that scrolled through all the stations and showed what was on) and saw Doctor Who was about to be on so I thought 'oh hey. I should check this out!' and put it on. So... that very first episode I saw was 4x12: Stolen Earth... yeah. To say I was confused is an understatement, but 16-year-old me was so intrigued by the characters and setting. The tall, dark-haired man in a suit that said funny things, the creepy robotic voices coming from the transmission, planets in the sky!?, and I could feel there was lots of context I was missing out on. Therefore, after watching Journey's End the following week, I borrowed series 1-4 from the library and was completely caught up by the time The Next Doctor aired. I actually think I started with series 2 not understanding the regeneration thing, but I got there in the end.

I remember when Matt Smith was announced as the next Doctor. (17-year-old me was smitten (and I still am)). I was in grade 12 when Eleventh Hour came out, and I immediately liked his Doctor. I loved the new opening titles, and as soon as he said 'basically run' I was sold to him being the Doctor. By the Pandorica speech in the season finale he became my favourite Doctor. I remember seeing the series 6 premiere with my family and we were all freaking out. I also saw the 50th anniversary special at the movie theatre in 3D!

Fast forward 3 years to Time of the Doctor, I was not ready for him to go. I cried. To this day I still can't watch the behind the scenes stuff for that special.

I couldn't connect to Capaldi in series 8 and I stopped watching the show before the end of that series. Over the years I heard bits of information about what happened over the years.... I remember not being sure about a girl being the Doctor at the time since I also was uneasy about Missy... and then last summer I saw a clip with David Tennant returning and I went '...what!?'. And that re-sparked my interest because WHY is he back!? So I've been rewatching the show from series 1 to current since July 2023 and getting myself all caught up. I saw the 60th specials and Church on Ruby Road, but I'm still working through the Flux season currently, and I regret not watching the show over the years. Capaldi became my second favourite Doctor by the end of his run (I cried just as much as when Matt regenerated), and Jodie is a lot of fun so far There's still a few surprises in her run that I've managed to avoid spoilers about, so I'm looking forward to this last stretch.

That's the end of my story.... but fun tidbit, I got the rest of my family into the show. Their first episode was Silence in the Library.

I especially like that your teacher got you interested in it! I can't imagine Stolen Earth/Journey's End being your introduction to the show; that would have been so weird and so confusing for me. I'm super impressed you decided to catch up and watch the show! It's no surprise you were/are smitten with Matt Smith's Doctor. I'm the same way, especially the older I get. How can you not love him? He was absolutely magical. I got my whole family into the show, too! They loved Silence in the Library, but I remember I actually got my parents interested first with Blink, but I realized my siblings liked it when I saw them watching Fear Her with enthusiasm. This show is so much fun. Thank you for sharing! Loved this.

[geffenrecords]

I still would like to see your stuff about diary of a wimpy kid. hand it over 🫴🏽

oh boy um. okay. so i hauvent posted abt them in a long time but i imagine if youve followed me for long enuf you remember....and boy theres a lot to sayhere

so the context is that like when i was like 14..me & my at the time best friend became just like. obsessed with the diary of a wimpy kid movies. and im dead serious we were obsessed with them. we watched them all the time and talked about them for hours. like im straight up we loved these movies. my only possible defense for what was up with me is that i was really anorexic haha so i was really weird in the head. but anyways, obviously mostly people only talk about those movies because they like rodrick and well looks around yeah. but also ☝️ we were retired glee kids. my friend had previously been the biggest fan of the warblers from glee (who altogether have maybe 8 minutes of screentime) and we were retired newsies fans. we were really cringey fandom kids still & we were really really good at loving total nothing background characters. so !

if you pay attention. in the first movie rodricks band consists of 1 redhead kid on guitar, some emo kid, and some other random guy. in rodrick rules/dog days, his band is two guys named ben and chris (plus bill in rodrick rules and some random kid they found for dog days). chris doesnt have any lines i dont think but he is there a lot in rodrick rules. i dont have any evidence but im like 79% sure he was definitely high during the filming. and if he wasnt hes really good at acting it. ben does have lines though :-) in rodrick rules he and rodrick drive rowley and greg home and discuss what song theyre going to perform at the talent show and he says "dude we'll get to go backstage" at the party scene.

um. anyways yeah. we made them into what was pretty much our own characters and gave them a whole story which is so long and. in all honesty i just forgot so much of i make shit up all the time for it when i do stuff with it now. but its silly and long and to sum it up -> ben works at office max in a mall (i dont think they have office max in malls) and rodrick keeps coming in to print/copy band posters. one night he breaks the machine so he and ben talk and rodrick asks him to join his band. he says yes, so ben and chris join the band which is rodrick and matt (emo kid from the first movie, who guess what doesnt say a single thing. he just stands there and claps at the sorry women scene) also the big joke with matt was that he works at chuck e cheese and hes the guy who wears the mouse costume and ben rodrick and chris all keep going there and pissing him off and eventually he gets mad and yells at them and thats how they all meet. i think thats what we created him for basically. ben is rhythm guitar/vocals, chris is bass, rodrick is drums, and matt is lead guitar. they break up at the end of highschool and reunite after dropping out of college and get world famous haha. just think like really annoying music kids in like 2007 who actually have a successful band...(their song is rodrick rules is good...i promise go look it up).

but ya. its unfortunately such a personal story to me atp that i cant let it go even though im not even friends with that person anymore. and also i dont really care. its funny & i draw them so much now and also. rodrick rules is such a good fucking movie. i dont care its definitely in my top ten favorites im deadass. whatevs.

other noteable things from this is kitty. whos my oc completely but shes chris' girlfriend and we made her up because the whole joke was she pegged him to paramore. hides my face this is just who we were at the time. but i draw her more with my own ocs than i do with chris her boyfriend who is the only reason she exists. i think thats all. im sorry this is so long but ive never actually explained the whole thing. theres so much more but i literally wont stop if i start. go thru the doawk tag on my blog 4 further explanation or ask me...i love talking about them please please.... bonus drawing of them i just did for this👍

[polar-stars]

MarYu: Tongue Tied

A ship-centric playlist in relation to the fanfiction “Shokugeki no Kimiko”: 

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0xXGY5wLeAXyRl4wlDhn1o?si=b6e8fdd8ce5f4e8d

🧡🖤🧡🖤

THIS- has been out for a whole month now but I completely forgot to post it here? (I am dummy)

Anyways, yes, of course I’d have a playlist for my BABIES- MY PRECIOUSSS, who do you think I am?

For a bit of SnKimiko-context: I like to think that Zenji has harbored feelings for Yuki for pretty much the majority of high school. Feelings that Yuki has always been a tad bit oblivious to, seeing that Zenji never quite brought up the confidence to really act on them (and I can imagine Yuki mostly consuming media where the men tend to be a lot more assertive?). 

He is ultimately the guy at Polar Star, who she does find herself spent the most time with overall & always seems to gravitate towards him more than to any of the other guys. 

I always liked to make MarYu’s story in SnKimiko-Verse about missed opportunities so to speak, as in just can’t bring himself to confess throughout highschool. He initially planned to do so at the graduation party but...chickens out at the very end still. 

And for a while, as both begin to navigate adulthood and try to figure their careers out..they temporarily loose sight of one another - only to be reunited through Shun and Ryoko later down the line. 

They start spending time again together and...spoilers, but this time Zenji doesn’t let the 2nd chance fate has granted him with slip through his fingers again *wink*

[blitheglint]

I saw a post about how using a song as an alarm to wake up is the best way to hate a song and it made me think of the song I used to hype myself up to get up when I was in highschool!

As a little context, long story short I had a hard time while I was in highschool (which here is 5 years long, from around 12 to 17 years old) ; my two best friends at the time tried to kill themselves and spent a long time in the hospital. I was stressed, tired and anxious and didn't really cope well (mostly I just tried to avoid thinking about it!) and by trying to meet new friends I ended up in a few unhealthy friendships to add to the lot, you know, the classic highschool experience. And for 3-4 of those 5 years, my little teen brain thought this was the most miserable you could feel in life.

So to hype myself to get up, I would listen to "On Top of the World" by Imagine Dragons and at the end of the song I would get up when they said "and I know it's hard when you're falling down and it's a long way up when you hit the ground- get up now!"

Thinking back on it I think it's really sweet that I managed to get up all those mornings thanks to a song, but now, when I hear it, I just feel a little sad and dissociate a bit/a lot, cause I do associate it with waking up and facing anxiety and uncertainty. I also feel sad for that little teen who thought that time was the worst life would have to offer.

I still like the song though and I sing the whole thing when I hear it

[this-nightmare-doesnt-exist-yet]

Once again drawn in by the idea of writing a workplace sitcom centered around fictional characters working in web entertainment and show production.

It has been taking up brain space since highschool. I've written stuff in a similar vein as short sketches but those were more fanfic than what I'm thinking about.

I've got a solid idea of the character dynamics and situations to put them in and how, but I already have too many projects at the moment.

it persists as a concept because weird drama happens and combines with how people talk about it in unusual ways. it's like a heavily stylised painted collage of witnessed dumpster fires.

The combination of both diving deep into fandom content while simultainiously existing with and around various artsy types, has left me with a particular view of things.

I have relatives that are known in certain circles of the internet for their creative works, a few even do similar work to what I would be writing about. That and I've been making more friends over the years that have a shared appreciation for the arts. Hell, I've been wanting to make movies pretty much since I could talk.

It's not a wholly unfamiliar subject, it's just on a lower level of the ladder than what I would be writing about.

not that I would be going for accuracy. I just like giving characters solid psychological reasons to be the ways that they are for the context they are in. that mixed with some altered retellings of the wild things that I have seen and experienced over the years.

lots to work with but little matterials or energy to make.

for better understanding, it's like some of the silly spurr of the moment scripts and concepts that I've coughed up regarding streamer group dynamics and unrealistic hypotheticals. Such as the rescue ranch's growing list of dead interns, Dream breaking his arms while attempting to do highspeed street parkour without practice for a man hunt irl video, or Crankgameplays having to survive several months of being trapped in Markiplier's unfinished basement without food or water.

It is the same sort of stuff just with original fictional characters and intentional plot lines going across episodes.

Before typing this post, I was imagining one of the characters being a potential serial killer that somehow gained popularity having beef with the resident himbo at the shared mixed company studio. the killer guy going on a bitter monologue from an unlit broom closet, unaware that there was a couple of other co-workers already in there trying to sneakily make-out without others discovering the questionable relationship. So those two are put into the position of either staying quiet and potentially allowing a crime to happen, or inadvertently exposing their activities allong with Killer's concerning behavior with little backing to the claims.

This of course being referenced back to in a much later incident involving Killer helping cover up accidental manslaughter that the Frat boy of the group caused durring a convention. Killer has nothing to do with the death but takes this as an opprotunity to have a potential accomplace in future but putting Frat Boy into social dept with him. So it's a whole thing of the two trying to find a way of ditching the body without it leading back to them or any of the convention goers and staff catching on.

A different character from those ones goes through troubles after the small candy company they purchased produced products that gave people violent food poisoning.

One of the characters has completely moved into doing porn acting for work and is arround mainly due to all of their close friends still doing the more family friendly stuff.

These little story lines and parts have been building up for years, much like a few of the other story worlds that I have mentioned in past.

I am too scatter-brained to be constantly trying to make things like this.

[youghvaudough]

Here’s a list of random things that tickle my funny bone for no reason in the Kyoshi novels

(as a Mandarin speaker)

am working through the novels currently so light spoilers?

will continue to update as I go 

click 4 sum fun rambles

Horse stance. THIS BITCH DESERVES THE TOP SPOT SO HERE GOES. I somehow did not make this connection until like I’m almost all the way through the book, but 扎马步 (zhā mǎ bù) or if you take the literal meaning of characters “poke horse step” is literally so well known it’s insane. I’m talking one of the first training/fighting stance that comes to a Chinese person’s mind when u mention kung fu/combat training in general well known so I rly dunno how it slipped my mind for an entire book

this particular stance is always a lil funny to me bc of the way it’s phrased in Chinese; with the 扎 “poke”, the intention is to convey a planting & sinking, steadying of the stance that’s just also funny af to me

so imagine sth u find a lil silly & funny fully becoming a flirtatious & romantic code specific to the main characters of the story? hilarity ensued; rip my friend who had to listen to my scream-laughing

Jianzhu, the architect, his name is literally pinyin for building (建筑 jiàn zhù); imagine naming ur kid Building Smith. No wonder he’s such an uptight type A

the name of Jesa’s (Kyoshi’s mom) sky bison, Longyan / 龙眼 (lóng yǎn), while directly translates to “dragon eye”, also happens to be the Chinese word for Longan fruit (which like Lychee, has cloudy, white/clear-ish flesh surrounding a dark, round pit)

Rangi’s name in the Chinese translation of the book is 燃姬 (rán jī), which itself is a basic sound translation, but these characters mean “lady on fire” or “burning lady” this is kinda cute as heck 4 me for some reason????? lil furnace lady Rangi makes me soft

…that brings us to Rangi’s mom Hei-Ran, someone who we know can be cold and calloused in getting sh*t done with some shady days in the academy, & her name may reflect that. her name could be these two characters 黑燃 (hēi rán), which translates to “black burn” or “dark burn”. talk abt obvious characteristic here; nothing more obvious than ur name amirite???

…then again it could also be 黑兰 (hēi lán, “Black Orchid”) which tbh I kinda like better bc it’s more likely to be used as a name; AGAIN, no one wants to name their kid “black burn” it really doesn’t sound as cool as you’d think

SO! After clues from the comments (thank u @taare-writes!) and help I outsourced from TikTok — Hei-Ran’s name actually could be 혜란 in Korean !! also when I put this in the translator I used, the corresponding Mandarin it gave me was 蕙兰 (hùi lán), which is a specific type of orchid (boat orchid I believe?) and SUCH A PRETTY NAME oh my

the term used for the outlaws daofei, is literally just 盗匪 (dào fěi) “thieves/bandits”; this especially tickles my friend (who’s also reading these novels) so I gotta include it for her ;))))

the daofei’s secret gathering spot next to a lake in the mountains, Hujiang, could be 湖江 (hú jiāng) “lake river” or 湖将 (hú jiāng) which if u squint at it could mean “just by the lake”. this is fun bc it’s possible the author just flipped the saying 江湖 (jiāng hú), which while directly translates to “river lake”, has a much broader & meaningful use often in 武侠 (wǔ xiá, if u know u know, but if u don’t you can think of it as samurai or traveling knight but CHINESE) lore: it is used to refer to the world of action, thrills, and adventure walked by these warriors. It’s p cool to me lmao

oh and the Lei Tai the daofei’s fight on? Just 擂台 (lèi tái) “fighting stage”, same thing as the ring in boxing but doesn’t only reference one specific type of fight

Yun’s name is p simple & straight forward, probably just 云 (yún, “cloud”); it’s also an actual last name and I know someone from Highschool with this last name :)))

While Kyoshi obviously has Japanese origins, the kanji corresponding to きょし is 虚子. Japanese kanji have their origins in Chinese characters, and in this case these two kanji can mean “child of the void” (虚 x�� “the void / the lack of something” 子 zǐ “child / kid”); pretty fucking metal name if u ask me

Lao Ge, the human alias of the bloodthirsty spirit in Kyoshi’s gang, could just be 老哥 (lǎo gē) “old brother” which is equivalent of just bro

… it’s real name, Tieguai, could be 铁怪 (tiě guài) “iron monster” or 铁拐 (tiě guǎi) “iron crutch”, which both kinda make sense??? given its monstrous tendencies and ancient origins

the green emerald burial sword Tagaka carried with her, jian, literally is just 剑 (jiàn) “sword”. Yes they really went you know what? we gon call it a sword sword

speaking of weapons, the dao broadsword? same thing. 刀 (dāo) literally means “broadsword”. broadsword broadsword hehe

what I find interesting abt this whole weapons naming is that technically when u picture a broadsword, it falls under the umbrella classification of sword (can someone who’s first culture ain’t Chinese confirm this??? thanks); though for Chinese ppl, 剑 (jiàn, “sword”) and 刀 (dāo, “broadsword”) are completely different beasts

basically dao & jian to us r like tigers and wolves when broadswords & swords r like tigers and lions (both in the felidae family)

where this info kinda becomes relevant is bc knives are also translated as 刀 (yeah the one for “broadsword”), and the way ppl know which type of sharp instrument you mean depends on the context. if ur carrying ur dao on ur back (like in the novels) it’s broadsword; if ur looking for a dao to prep dinner with it’s probably a knife unless u really have the urge to chop spinach with a broadsword

the Yellow Scarf’s imprisoned (later freed then dropped) leader, Xu Ping An, has a weirdly ironic name; his name is likely 许平安 (xǔ píng ān), “wish for peace”. 许 (xǔ) can mean “making a wish” & is an actual Chinese last name; 平安 (píng ān) “peace” on the other hand can be & have been used as a name

slight tangent: there’s this Chinese tradition of including undesired characteristics in ur child’s name so they could avoid those things in life I know it’s probably not the tradition mom&dad Xu had in mind when they named him but it did kinda take effect

the design of Govener Te’s mansion complex, the traditional earth kingdom siheyuan design that Rangi mentioned? It’s an actual traditional courtyard’d household design. I’m not the expert on this but if ur interested u can just search siheyuan and read more abt it ! v fascinating

四合院 (sì hé yuàn) roughly translates to “four enclosing yard”, referring to how the structure of this type of housing consists of four sections of single floor housing (each a specific functional space) enclosing an exposed courtyard in the middle. You can still find some of these in Beijing; also these houses go for SO MUCH MONEY on the housing market bc 1. it’s p much a suburb home but in the city 2. CITY LAND 3. homes r just insanely expensive in a city like Beijing. so there’s a running joke that you’d say someone’s well-off by saying their family has a siheyuan

(alright that’s the end of the Rise of Kyoshi!!! Will prolly make another one for the Shadow of Kyoshi; see y’all then)

[hyper-cryptic]

Oh yes, an ask ! What's the opinion/relation of Kate on the others companions ? Do they have a bestie ? Does she hate/dislike one of them ?

Hell yeah!! I am glad you ask about her, I absolutely adore talking about Kate! By the way, really funny fact, I have actually romanced most of the companions (Danse, I am coming for that ass), but canonicaly, their partners are Hancock and Nick! :D

Cait:

She admires her! Like, a lot! They think she is a super strong person, in both meanings! She loves how brave, how sassy she is! She’s just really fun to be with overall in Kate’s opinion!

About her drug addiction, Kate never really minded, but they were really concerned about her health. When Cait told her that she wanted to be cured, they didn’t hesitate to help her. 

Kate knows Cait can be a better person, especially under her influence! She constantly makes subtle comments that might make Cait change her opinion on things. Every once in a while they sit down to talk about her insecurities if she’s ok with it!

Funny extra: Since their names sound literally the same, Kate asks to be called Kat! Or to call Cait, “Irish Kate” tho expect a very angry irish person coming down your way.

Curie:

Absolutely LOVES her!! They love her curiosity and optimistic personality! Thinks she’s adorable.

They were very supportive of her wanting to be a synth, she thought it was very interesting! Though, was also very worried about how they would get to it...She was relieved that she didn’t have to take anybody's life!

Kate loves to make Curie flustered. It’s honestly adorable to her how she gets mad about getting compliments because she gets distracted, or confused. She lets her know why, tho! Hahah.

Codsworth:

He is family. He had been since before the war. It was the only person she could actually be herself.

When the bombs dropped she couldn’t stop thinking about him, if he was fine, if he had survived. When they got out of the vault, she was so happy to see Codsworth alive and well.

Kate wasn’t able to leave Codsworth’s side during 1 whole months, if it wasn’t for him and Preston, she would’ve given up on everything, on the ‘whealth, on shaun, on herself.

She adores his dumb sense of humor and his ridiculous british accent.

Danse:

She...likes him? She certainly enjoys his company and thinks he is kind and great but his bigotry and loyalty to the BOS makes her really uncomfortable.

Kate could connect to him on an emotional level, but never actually be interested in him, no matter how much they tried. BOS was just a major shit that made her uneasy. She only joined because they could be helpful to get rid of the Institute, and she was going to until…

They straight up refused and told off Maxson, but he didn’t give her the choice. When Haylen begged them to hear out Danse, they told her that she didn’t need to worry at all and would do everything in her power to keep Danse safe. They tried to change Maxson’s mind about Danse, about synths, but as she expected, he didn’t. After this whole incident, she quit the BOS and decided to destroy the Institute with the Minutemen.

She offered him to stay with her, on the lighthouse, but after a BOS attack to a settlement she left him in, Danse insisted to let him live alone, that it wasn’t safe to have him living there so close to Shaun. Kate sadly had to agree, she couldn’t risk to lose Shaun or any of her companions. She still goes and visits him every once in a while! Even got him to meet Shaun! They got along and share a love for cowboys.

Deacon:

LITERALLY BESTIES. Imagine those girls in highschool that are always together, wear matching clothes and call each other “slut”, “whore” and “bitch” affectionately? That’s them.

They literally wear matching clothes when they travel together. (I make ‘em wear matching clothes…)

Kate always introduces them as “ The Death Bunnies”.

She catched up immediately with his compulsive lying. She doesn’t mind it, in fact she might even go along with it, depending on the context and what type of lie it is. She tries to help him with it, along with his impostor syndrome (...which comes...literally sometimes?) and he tries to help her too. Hoes got each other’s back.

If they aren’t with their partners, they are with Deacon. Hell, even when they are with Nick and Hancock she brings him, of course if it’s not private. Deacon gets along with Nick so it isn’t much of a trouble...but they literally have no idea why Hancock dislikes him, tried to ask him but he said “some things are best left unknown”, which left Kate even more curious but respected his...privacy...I suppose? She asked Deacon, he said that it was no biggie, but to get Hancock to hold a long grudge like that is really weird so she can’t believe him. What did he do? She might never know...

They adore him overall, and loves his dumb comments, which she tries to always reply without bursting in laughter.

Dogmeat:

Light. Of. Her. Days. Well! Of course after her partners!! *gulps* 

They can’t go on with her days if she doesn’t pet Dogmeat at least...twice. She gives him kisses, pats and plays with him at the end of the day. 

When they first met Dogmeat, they almost couldn’t believe it. It was like a light in the dark, he definitely made her days easier as she was trying to stay stable during those 2 dark months.

She almost never goes out with Dogmeat because she is really worried the radiation might affect him, or even die out there. She usually has this fear with most of her companions, but specially him, as he is a literal animal and will probably not know if something is really dangerous or not just looking at it.

She usually falls asleep with him on the couch.

Hancock: 

Do I really even have to say anything? He is her everything along with Nick.

Kate’s first impression of him was: “Oh. FUCK. HOT?!”

Okay but really, she found him attractive and interesting after that first interaction. They had their doubts about him..you know him being a politician and all, but they quickly disappeared the more they interacted with him. Damn, the more she knew about him, the more she was interested in him. 

About Bobbi, she was totally into robbing McDonough, she did question Bobbi a lot though, as she instantly noticed how shady she was. She actually realized they were going for Hancock instead mid-way but waited to get there to confront her, make sure she was right. She didn’t do it for Hancock, instead because she wasn’t going to rob somebody who didn’t deserve being robbed. Tried to tell her to get out, nobody needed to be hurt but Bobbi refused to, so she had to pull the trigger. She knows it was the right thing to do, but can’t help but think if it could’ve ended differently.

She loves Hancock so much, they can’t stop thinking about him. “What would Hancock think about this?”, “Hancock would love this”, “I wish Hancock could see this”, “I miss Hancock”, literally being so clingy.

Overall, she thinks he’s such an amazing person: he’s kind, he’s brave, he’s funny, he’s understanding, he’s adorable, he’s caring, he’s determined, he’s (very) handsome...I really could go on.

She tries so hard to get him to understand that he is an amazing person. He appreciates the efforts.

“watch you sleep” by girl in red is totally their song.

MacCready:

LITERALLY A LITTLE BROTHER. They adore him! They love how funny and sassy he is.

Kate had to constantly tell him that she doesn’t care about caps and that he can keep ‘em if he wanted, that it looked like he needed it more than her, and she’d be right!

When Mac told her about Duncan she was upset at first, how could he just leave his child like that? Never acted on it, since she knew it would make it worse, but she could quickly understand where he came from and why he did what he did. Didn’t hesitate to help him find the cure for Duncan. 

They share a love for snipers and long ranged weapons so...that’s a topic they talk about a lot!

They both geek out about Silver Shroud every once in a while! Listen to the plays together and stuff like that!

Nick:

HERE WE GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

They didn’t like him when they first met. They liked Nick’s humor, but couldn’t stop thinking about how much he acted like a cop, and let’s say Kate had their share of bad situations with cops because of race, and shit like that. Kate didn’t know a lot about synths at the time, so she just guessed somebody programmed a fucking cop persona into him. And she wasn’t going to deal with a cop bot that probably had a stick up his ass.

Eventually, when she got so oversaturated with work, and stressed out with the whole Institute shit, she decided to go and do some of the cases with Nick, she couldn’t wait to show this “cop” that even a “civilian” could do his work. As she worked through the cases, she began to notice that Nick was...actually ok? She had more knowledge about synths at this point, but still didn’t understand how Nick worked exactly. He did tell her that he was a prototype, between Gen 1 and Gen 3, so she quickly realized that he was no ordinary bot. She eventually warmed up to him, and could see the appeal.

It was like a bomb dropped inside her head when Nick asked if she was doing fine. Kate had never actually opened up with anybody, not even with Hancock. She mostly worked over her depression and anxiety by keeping herself busy and unhealthy thoughts like “they need me to be strong, I am a role model right now.” with the whole being a General thing, and the fact that so many people relied on her. Kate tried to be dismissive of it, but Nick could see right through her, and insisted that it was ok to open up. She had to get really drunk to do any of that shit! So they told him that they should both go to a “more private place”, as an excuse to get her hands on some alcohol. Didn’t end up drinking any alcohol, and just spilled most of it. Found comfort on his “origin story” with Diamond City. 

He was a huge part in her full recovery, along with Hancock and Deacon. But honestly? If it wasn’t for him, it would’ve taken her snapping at anybody and being confronted about it to actually open up to anybody. 

She didn’t realize she had any feelings for him until a month after that event. That they were storming into Eddie’s shelter that she realized that they loved him. All of this they were doing for him, the cute comments, the praising and trust they had in him...it became so clear why while he was talking to her after killing Winter, she couldn’t help herself but to dump on him why he was not just “a shell” how he was so much more than that. She didn’t actually confess her feelings to him there, but they were pretty close to doing it. If it wasn’t for her thoughts stopping her from doing it, what would happen with Hancock now? She still loved him deeply...

Eventually, two weeks after, they took a break at the end of the day from missions with Nick, at the empty bar that she had built inside the Castle. It was midnight and mostly everyone had gone to sleep, so they could talk about whatever they wanted and get as drunk as she wanted. They were having so much fun until Nick brought up something she had said that day they ended Winter’s life. Fuck. God, they wished they hadn’t been so busy to actually sit down with Hancock and ask him what he thinks of polyamorous relationships because she was way too drunk this time to stop herself from doing anything stupid. And she didn’t, Nick did, he corresponded but said that he couldn’t let her do this to John. Hah! Little did they know Hancock was super into the both of them. (I actually want to make a lil’ fic about this!!)

They just love him so much and connect with him on a whole new level. He and John make them so happy, she literally couldn’t ask for anyone or anything better than what they have going on.

I know it isn’t exactly a love song, but “Agnes” by Glass Animals reminds me of them.

Piper:

WHAT A LADY, AM I RIGHT? They adore her!! 

She is literally her kind of lousy! Always speaking her mind, always speaking the truth. She admires what she does.

I really don’t have much to say about her, just that they really like her and that she thinks she’s a good friend and overall good person!

Was totally in to beat up McDonough’s ass.

Preston:

They think he is amazing!! He is so kind and caring, they like him a lot!

Let’s say that he liked him so much at some point they got together during those two months. It wasn’t a stable relationship and they both acknowledged that they just didn’t work. Besides, he was there when she met Hancock, and had this look in her eyes that he had never seen. Not to worry tho! He has been testing the waters with Sturges lately! ;)

They function better as friends! Besides, it was quite awkward for Kate their General/Soldier dynamic they had going on, so that was another thing!

She thinks he is so cool and amazing, and they let him know this!

Kate teases him about when they were a couple and they laugh it off.

Honestly, he was a big help for Kate during those months and she is really grateful for all his help. They were both really important for each other.

X6-88:

They didn’t get to know him as much as they wanted.

It all was happening so fast, they couldn’t do anything to convince him to get out of the Institute before it was too late. 

And it was. They had to kill him along with the other coursers. 

In their time as companions, they thought he was enjoyable to be with. He looked like he could be saved, but...yeah.

They made him a grave in the Institute’s remains.

Aaaaaaaaand, that’s all!! Gosh, that was loooong!! Can you see I was really eager to talk about Nick and Kate’s relationship? Yeah, that shit is long.

(I literally finished this yesterday...at 2 am or something)

[dutchdread]

What is Love? Baby don't hurt me.

This article sets out to define different types of love in a meaningful way, and argue why the specifics surrounding Aerith and Cloud makes it so that the commonly accepted romantic version of the emotion can't apply. __________________________________________________

Whenever you talk to anyone, it's important to be on the same page, and one of the most important parts about that is making sure that you're speaking the same language. I am sure we've all had moments where we were arguing with someone only to discover that you both believed the exact same thing, but that you simply used a different word to describe said thing.

"That's what I've been saying" "No, that's what I've been saying!" "Well what are we even arguing about then?!"

When that happens, you're not arguing about the topic itself, you're arguing about semantics, about language.

An argument about whether or not what Cloud, Tifa, and Aerith felt for each other would fall under "love" is a debate about language, not FFVII, and I am not here to have a conversation about language. Unfortunately, before I can actually have a conversation about FFVII, a conversation about language is apparently needed.

Love is an incredibly broad term, used to express what we feel about our family, our pets, our friends, our "lovers", and even our favorite songs, weather, and food. So why the hell do we ask "who did Cloud love" as if love is some singular binary system?

I can never prove that what a character feels isn't love, I can only assert that I personally wouldn't use the word "love" to describe said feeling, and explain why I wouldn't. When we ask "does Cloud love Tifa or Aerith", we are presupposing a concept of "love", and asking who it applies to.

"I pity you, you just don't get it at all, there is nothing I don't cherish"

But it applies to both, and it applies to Barret, and Marlene, and Denzel, and everyone. Because love is far too broad a term to start with, it's a catch-all. Instead of starting with a preconception of what love is, and seeing who has it, we should describe what people actually have, and see what their individuals shapes of love look like.

Even so, I will do my best to describe what I mean by romantic love, as opposed to a crush, or infatuation, or attraction, so that when I say "Cloud and Aerith don't (and can't) romantically love each other", that it's clear what that assertion means to me.

I'm going to tell you a story, a story that, admittedly, doesn't make me look good, but which will hopefully provide context for what I think love is and why.

When I was younger I wasn't the most popular kid, back then I assumed I was unattractive, as an adult I realize its because I was socially awkward as fuck (I was actually cute as heck if I do say so myself). However, by the time I got to highschool I had made a best friend and had managed to figure out and fake social conventions enough that I could at the very least solve my issues through humor instead of violence. The change from typical village kids to a wider pool of potential friends also enabled me to finally find people who were more like me. Even so, the whole social outcast part was still ingrained deeply enough in me that I was mostly putting on an act in front of people, saying whatever I needed to say in order to get a certain reaction, in order to be liked, rather than just being myself. I had had crushes before, when you're alone it's easy to really fall for someone, and hell, I was always a sucker when it came to love stories, but my childhood had basically left me too nervous that I'd say the wrong thing to ever actually say the right thing when I really liked a girl. However, generally being the life of the party left me with a string of girlfriends I didn't care too much about. Even so, I eventually met a girl that I was instantly smitten with, the most attractive girl I knew and somehow I managed to start dating her, and hell, I even thought I loved her. I dated said girl for several years, but without going into spoilers I'll just say that I left that relationship pretty jaded and and disillusioned with the concept of love. I felt like I had done everything I could and love in general was bullshit and was honestly pretty done with women in general. Ironically my new pessimistic attitude made me much more successful with women than I had ever been before, by that time I was known as someone who was fun to party with, and unlike the majority of people my age I was in incredible shape and still had all my hair. However, while I enjoyed my newfound popularity there was a part of me that really resented it because I realized that what women seemed to react positively to wasn't what I imagined love to be like and I hated that. I hated that when I used to be kind and filled with notions of "true love" no one was interested, but now that I was disinterested and clearly manipulative women seemed to throw themselves at me. During that time I basically stopped looking for a meaningful relationship and just decided to have fun until my life would, inevitably, fall apart.

Eventually though I got a girlfriend who I didn't deserve and was much too good for me. However, when I did I was no longer interested in building a relationship and I was pretty certain that it would eventually fall apart anyway like everything else. As a result I mainly cared about what I could get from her, I didn't act like a proper partner and I when I thought about "fixing the relationship" I was thinking mostly about what she could do to be a better girlfriend, honestly, part of me actually resented her for not being my ex. When talking about our issues the general terms were "I'll do this, but only if you fix that". Without going into details, the general gist is that we had a horrible start to our relationship and that affected everything that came after it.

Eventually though this girl who I once mainly saw as just another temporary part of my life became something more to me, she became a more complete person. I mellowed out, and started appreciating her more, I decided to get us to work on the relationship but the damage was basically already done. She'd given up on me ever wanting to settle down and had started distancing herself from me emotionally and eventually I became sick of fighting for the relationship by myself and we broke up. Afterwards, free of pressure, I sat back and l evaluated what I wanted in life, I thought about myself, and her, REALLY thought about her. The good parts, and the bad. And I realized that all the things I was annoyed about were honestly absurd. I decided I was going to fight for her, not just "try to fix the relationship" by figuring out what worked and what didn't, but I just decided I was going to properly appreciate her, be the best boyfriend I could be, and not ask for anything in return. And let me tell you, that change in mindset changed EVERYTHING for me. Within months I became absolutely smitten with her, when I first started the relationship I was honestly annoyed if we met up and didn't have sex, now just sitting on the couch under a blanket with her became the highlight of days, even the things I once saw as negatives became a precious part of the puzzle that made her her. My biggest regret in life is still that I couldn't be the person she made me back when I first met her. (and concerning looks, she is honestly so much more gorgeous than the ex it's not even funny, how did I not see that?). The point of all this is that love isn't automatic, it's not something that happens without your consent, it's the result of actions, of decisions. When you choose to take the time to look at your significant other, and soak up and appreciate who they are and what they do, when you put in the effort, that's when love grows. I've gone from being sick and tired of someone I had been with for years, to being absolutely infatuated with them, simply by making a decision. I could not have made that decision had I not been myself, that decision would have been false. Looking back, all those earlier girls I've been infatuated with, that wasn't love, I didn't even know who they were, I barely knew who I was. No matter how much passion I felt in the moment, no matter how much fun I had in the times we spent together, now I don't even remember their names.

Love isn't your heart beating faster, it's not that instinctive nervousness that comes with talking to a cute girl you just met. It's a complete and deep appreciation of a person, un understanding of who you are, who they are, and what that means to you. Love is what I feel for my brother, who is as much a part of me as my own arm, without whom I would not be me. Someone who isn't just another person in your life, but is a part of what you consider to be your life, without them your life could not be the same, because they're an absolutely crucial part of it. That doesn't happen in a week, because you can't really learn who someone is in a week, even if you could see all of it, you couldn't internalize it. You can always imagine living without them, because you were, just last week. There are people who meet their soulmates sure, and say they knew within a week, but had they never seen that soulmate again, they would not still be pretending they were "the one" years later, and if they were, their friends wouldn't be saying "that's love", they'd be saying "that's an unhealthy obsession". Cloud and Aerith barely knew each other, both when it comes to time, as well as to how much they actually knew about each other. Cloud had no idea of who he was or what was important to him in life, he was unable to be honest with others or even himself, so how would he ever be able to meaningfully make an informed decision to make the kind of emotional commitment that's the cornerstone of love? He didn't know himself, nor did he know Aerith, to whose feelings he was canonically oblivious and whose entire life was a mystery to Cloud. How can we say that Soldier Cloud is capable of knowing who he loves when he's not even aware of the the gigantic Tifa shaped area of his identity. Can Soldier Cloud determine what he values and why without the knowledge of what he's gone through in his life? Sure, but can Soldier Cloud make that determination for the real one? No. Soldier Cloud, and his emotions, have no relation to that of the real Cloud. The real Cloud must determine what people mean to him all by himself. And when it comes to real Cloud, it is pretty obvious who is the biggest part of his life, the person who defined it from the time he fell for her as kid, right through when he became a soldier to impress her, and up to and past the moment he started raising children with her. For Cloud it's pretty obvious who he has the deep personal understanding with, the girl who filled his sub-conscious, and was literally in his head with him, the girl who is stated to understand him best, and who has a shared story with him, having experienced both the good, and the bad, alongside him. Who was there with him when he was a child, who was there with him in Nibleheim, who found him when he lost his identity and gave him a new one, who was with him when Aerith died, who was with him when he broke, who was with him when he was catatonic, who was with him and helped him find himself again, who was with him during the last night underneath the highwind, who was with him at the end in the north cave, who he started living with afterwards, who waited patiently while he went to find himself, and welcomed him back with a smile. I am sure Cloud liked Aerith....but he LOVES Tifa.

[culmaer]

What does ur tag 'the four ' mean :o

I’m kinda excited to answer this ask, so I might go into a lot of detail, but TLDR ; The Four are the primordial beings in the mythology/religion of my conlang’s fictional speakers. and so my ‘the four’ tag (here and on my sideblog) includes interesting pictures and art references, as well as linguistic and historical references which may help in developing and writing the culture.

here’s a draft of something I was working on in 2018 introducing The Four. the poem theoretically continues and recounts the creation of humans too, which is fun.

I should mention this whole project has been on hold for the last two years pending revision. I started the conlang for fun in highschool before I had any real linguistic knowledge, and over the years, I’ve just tried to patch over the naïve design issues, but it’s gotten to a point where I really need to start over, if I wish to create something coherent and with even a semblance of naturalism.

the culture started out just as a vague, superficial context for the language to exist in. but as I’ve become more invested and interested in fleshing it out, although it is entirely fictional, it’s become necessary to be more sensitive to the surrounding real-world history in my writing. so, again, a lot will have to be rewritten pending research.

basically, I imagine this being a small pre-Axumite culture. why pre-Axumite specifically ? well, because I like the idea of lostlangs (a genre of conlang set in the real-world, but the idea is that it died out (usually in ancient times) leaving minimal trace and that’s why noöne has heard of it) and wanted to set it in Africa. but for us to “re-discover” the language in our time, the culture needs to have developed writing. given the time-frame, this limits me to somewhere in the proximity of Egypt whence it can inherit writing. the emergent hegemony of Da3amot and then Axum also provide a convenient reason for why this culture and language disappeared. lastly, the region was a nexus of trade between the African interior, Egypt, Kerma/Nubia and even over into southern Arabia which makes it rich for story telling and exploring ideas of mixed heritage, which as a Capetownian, I think about a lot. just need to be careful not to play into the Sabaean colonisation trope.

[pocket-void]

Hi Mock!

I wish you a good morning! (It's currently 8:30 am here and I hope you are asleep wherever you are because healthy sleep schedules and all that!) 🌻

I just found out that you write, too, and I've read "A cup of coffee" and honestly, is there something you can't do? Because that was really great! I enjoyed reading it so much!! And I love your Logan in it!

And can I ask: where so you get the motivation to do all this great stuff? Drawing, writing, school? Like, I have like 5 different writing projects screaming at me because I don't work on them and yesterday I outlined yet another fic that I'll probably never write because I just don't have the motivation and - how do you do it? Because I want to write. It's the best thing in the world to me. But I just can't get myself to do it, and when I do, everything I make feels kinda... not good. Ugly, if you will.

So I guess I just want to know what I can do to get myself away from that? Because I really need to write, I'll go insane otherwise O_o

Anyway, have a wonderful day and eat a cookie!! 🌼

Y’all who can format stuff in asks will never cease to bamboozle me. O///o

But hello!! I believe it’s the afternoon where you are now! ^\\\^ (Not to worry, if there’s one thing I try to get enough of it’s sleep!)

Heidhwkfns Yes I write too but it’s incredibly on and off since I’m not as confident with it and it takes much longer than art! >\\\< I 100% want to write more often tho, but my need to accomplish stuff just finds art less time consuming. I’m really glad you like “A Cup of Coffee” because I’m quite happy with how that one turned out! ^\\\^ (And also just genuinely surprised at how many people enjoyed it) So thank you!! ;///;✨💖

So, here’s the thing. I’m just a normal person, just like anybody else! There are days where I have 0 motivation to do anything, and days where I’m way too motivated but still do absolutely nothing anyways lmao- I can’t say that my experience will work for everybody of course, but I can try to explain how I feel or how I work things out when I don’t feel like doing things. u///u

The first step is to forgive myself, because it’s going to be ok. There’s nothing wrong with having an off day, and nothing wrong with not accomplishing anything for now. There should be no guilt involved in not touching something for ages, god knows I’ve got so much in the “maybe later” idea box that I will never get to. But that’s ok! My creations will never blame me for not working on them, so in turn I promised to never blame myself for it either. And if I ever go back to complete one of them, great! But if not, that still doesn’t mean that it was a waste. Everything you make has value, finished or not.

The second is to remember that I love them. I love them a lot. I love creating, I love art, I love writing, and I love the process behind them! What you write and create will never complain if they are “not the best” or “ugly”. Their value comes from how you feel about them. Nobody else’s imput matters. So what if it’s not great? So what if it’s a mess? My terrible crayon drawing from when I was 4? Love it. Still has my whole heart. They’re on my bedroom wall to this day! (Neatly framed and hung, courtesy of my dad) I ask myself why I sat down to do something in the first place, and the answer is always going to be because I love doing it! Everything I make means something to me, no matter how bad or how small. Because at the end of the day, I made something. And it’s all the reason I need to love it.

It doesn’t matter if this doodle looks bad or this draft makes literally no sense because even if it’s not good, I did it. Even if I feel like I’m going nowhere, I know that each creation is a small step in my long long journey of improvement. It might not seem like that sometimes, like everything we do doesn’t really seem like it’s getting better any time soon, but we can never tell unless we keep doing it right? Instead of being upset that I’m not very good now, I decided to try and look forward to how good I eventually will be. I find that prospect exciting! We never know how much we grow until we get there, it’s like a happy surprise! ^\\\^✨And in the meantime, I am allowed to be perfectly happy with what I already can do. How far I’ve already come. Even if other people tell me otherwise, even if it’s true that it’s not very great, who’s to say that I will always be? Not me, that’s for sure.

I am willing to be patient for the sake of what I do, because I am willing to do it for an eternity.

There is no race in doing what I love, because I am the only one on this path. I can see other people on their own paths too! And sometimes they’re faster and have way better stamina than me, but their final destination is ultimately going to be much much different than mine, even if we’re going in a similar direction. So there is no point in trying to match them; I decide to walk at my own pace. It’s much easier for me this way. Take breaks! Drink some water. We’ve all got our places to go. ^\\\^

Third thing about getting things done is, well, getting it done! Do you know how I wrote “A Cup of Coffee”? I pain stakingly stared at it all day with frequent breaks in between, read it a ridiculous amount of times until it didn’t sound like english, and had text to speech read it back to me a couple more times just so I could make sure, because I really really really wanted to finish it. And it probably was kind of messy, hahaha. >\\\<

I’m not suggesting you do what I did btw, because it’s not even how I always write things! My other story “Table for Two” was written under a much different context. For that one, I wrote parts of it on different days. I took walks thinking about how I’d word things, how I’d imagine the scene going, and how I should pace sentences. I actually deleted the entire first paragraph and started over a few times because it didn’t sound right. Then one afternoon I decided that I wanted this story done. So I sat down and did what I could, edited a few things afterwards, and tentatively showed it to a friend. I didn’t edit it much after that, but it was done!

If I learned anything from highschool, it’s that doing something imperfectly is better than not doing it at all. I’m still a pretty picky perfectionist and a terrible procrastinator, and it’s not easy! But I would much prefer something I make to be “messy but complete”, rather than “pretty good so far but not finished”. Personally for me, getting started is the hardest part of doing anything. I have yet to find an easier way to do it, but I know that sometimes I just need to sit down and do what I can to start writing. If a sentence sounds weird, I keep going, because I can come back to it later! But if a sentence doesn’t exist, I can’t fix that without, well, writing it. o///o So I consider that a start!

I definitely understand you when you say that you can’t get yourself to write because I currently kind of can’t either. >\\\< I have outlines that I won’t ever write, I have ideas that I’m not gonna get to, and I’ve got fics that I worry won’t be as good when I write them. But maybe today I’ll sit myself down and just write one sentence. Give it a title, make a document, and stare for a lil bit. Give it a beginning. Because for me, sometimes drawing the starting line somewhere helps. Maybe it can show me what direction I need to go in just a little bit clearer. u///u

At the end of the day, the thing I say all the time is enjoy what you do. It’s just genuinely the most important part of doing anything to me. Yes it can be hard and sometimes we worry about how it’s gonna be, but we still do it don’t we? We come back and try again because we love it. Because we really can’t live without it. So what’s wrong with just...doing it?

That’s how it is to be a creator for me, I suppose. And from one to another, I genuinely wish you the best of luck on your journey!!

After all, there will be no other quite like it. u///u💖✨

[nissakii]

Manga or Anime, which one is better?

How many of you did ask themselves or maybe discussed with others which one was better: the anime or manga?

And often there is a distinctive winner and at other times you just simply cannot decide.

Why is that?

Why can we sometimes not decide what is the better option?

While everyone has their preferences there are a section of three people: the ones who only watch the anime and therefore reject reading the manga (whatever the reason is), the ones reading the manga and prefer it over all costs, and last but not least the good middle who may prefer one side but also favor the other at times.

In this blogpost we will discuss the big question: Which one is better, Anime or Manga? as we delve into the topic of what makes both amazing in their own ways but also their shortcomings, seeing which one is better in the end, also considering the three types of people.

Anime

Probably most of you started their journey into the world of Anime and Manga through the former rather than the latter.

Usually it’s even the case that some people watch only anime while others who may have liked the anime so much would consider reading the Manga afterwards.

Yet what makes anime so distinctive and wonderful?

What aspects catch our eyes and would let you choose it over manga?

There are many things that you can only enjoy when you watch the visualization of a series you enjoy, whether you have been a Manga reader who waited for an animation of the so-desired series or a newcomer who never had something to do with the series yet get caught up in it.

In comparison to the Manga who may have visual aspects as well when speaking about panels, Anime gives us the ease of not having to put up together movements such as fights, escapes or other scenes by ourselves but we get to see them right in front of use without using much of our brain.

While in Manga one attack can stretch over several panels and even pages, we get to see that in one smooth movement on the screen and not only that is an aspect that stands out on top of that the same scene we can read silently is now connected to auditory feedback as well.

Characters having a voice, sound effects being represented with actual sound rather than writing a word to make the readers imagine the sound themselves and even background music known as OSTs do give the scene a whole atmosphere for itself.

Despite watching something absent-minded or subconsciously our brain intakes all the information we get on the screen and proceeds with voices especially the character becomes more real as he/she becomes more distinctive through voice and movement that most of the people use to distinguish between others next to facial features and appearance.

But there are always the negative aspects that come along, especially if you fall into the category of being a Manga reader that waited for the anime’s airing, usually our brain automatically fills in holes of information which means voices that didn’t exist for a reader may have been chosen differently than expected, which distorts the image of the character that was built up through reading and filling the hole.

In some cases the anime even derives from the original plot and doesn’t go along with the manga storyline anymore, for the better and in sadly most series for the worse. Also since the episode count is already determined many scenes get left out due to the lack of time that the episode has in store or some of the most relative scenes get shortened to an extent that if not for the Manga some watchers would be utterly confused about what is happening on the screen context-wise. One good example would be the latter seasons of Tokyo Ghoul.

But what if you are not necessarily someone who doesn’t know a thing about the manga and the series is completely new to you?

There are stories which take a while to unfold their full potential and become therefore much more interesting towards the middle, yet if you don’t know what motivates you to watch until that point?

If it wouldn’t be for recommendation or people who are a bit familiar with the plotline some might even drop some anime due to the frustration of a slow plot development which might be worth the wait, yet could stay unknown therefore being a Manga reader or at least knowing people who did could give you that safety net of not wasting your time on a bad plot under the condition the Anime sticks to the manga for the better.

Manga

Next to games, light novels and webtoons usually Mangas get adapted a lot, therefore they are valuable source which make it possible to derive amazing anime from it as we see that anime with no adaption source usually don’t get as much recognition or don’t have a thought-through plotline (or at least it seems like that).

Usually the Manga covers much more scenarios than the anime and is in some cases even completed while the anime is still airing or almost finished airing. Other ones are still on-going because they are much more extensive than the anime.

Now what are the perks of reading the manga?

Since the series from a reader’s perspective

starts much earlier prior the anime release it feels like you are bonding with the manga much more before the release comes out, it gives you the feeling of being early and already much familiar with the series.

Do you know the feeling of reading a manga for years and then suddenly seeing the anime adapting that very gem you are reading? The excitement and anxiety of how the studio will implement all of the details or what they might leave out?

It creates a kind of longing but also the feeling of nostalgia as you remember “ah yes that very scene, I have read it in the manga it was so good.”

With some manga even updating weekly or others with more pages but monthly, as a manga reader you have much more content you can look forward to over a certain period of time, not only that but you get a lot of details along with it.

Scenes which usually take a lot of time to understand and rewinding it many times on the screen can seem much more comprehensive in the manga when seeing the things step by step, usually we also get insight of other people’s thoughts through thought bubbles which were left out in the anime or even little details far in the background of the panel that are something like an easter egg provided by the author.

On top of that you get to see little extra comics of some of your favourite characters or a little talk from the author who might from time to time drop some old concepts or original plot ideas that were discarded for the later chapter releases.

Since the manga basically is only visuals with no voices or sounds, for people who might lack a bit of imagination it might be quite tiresome to fill the holes of not having that provided or is bland, yet for other people it gives them the advantage of imagining the characters having the voices how they want them to sound.

Unlike the anime the manga also needs a bit more attention and therefore usually we tend to be a bit more aware or focussed on other things in the manga then in the anime, of course only generally speaking since there are other anime where you are supposed to constantly think along such as Danganronpa or Steins Gate.

There also characters which are manga-only meaning that the character is either not introduced at all as if they never existed or they come in so late that many people won’t even know about them who only watched the anime, in Ouran Highschool Host Club for example we have another Love interest for one of the host boys who was never introduced in the anime but plays a role in the manga, since we are also talking about Ouran, the ending of the anime heavily derives from the manga plot as there was no such scene which means a major change occurred to get a got final episode.

On top of that many backstories and secrets let’s take the former example, we have Tamaki’s, Kyoya’s and even the twins’ story revealed. Yes, you might say, wait, the Hitachin story was revealed in the anime? but many details and a lot of scenes that are relevant as to why they have become what they are, are left out.

Usually story-wise the plot gets deeper and much more complicated, to a point that the reader just cannot stop reading but sadly the anime only covers the inception of a much bigger problem that awaits the characters, but watchers only would never know about that another two examples would be Toiletbound Hanako and Gakuen Alice.

As Gakuen Alice might even come off as a children series if you start watching the anime the manga surely refutes that impression, the anime with 25 Episodes is something like a character introduction compared to the manga where the major events happen and you later on might ask yourself if not for the title and characters: is this the same series I watched on screen? That’s crazy.

So which one is better?

Now the question we have been waiting for after establishing pros and cons on both sides: Okay, I got it but which one is better?

Plottwist:

There is no universal answer to it.

You might take it as a joke or not, but it’s a preference thing yet I encountered many people who actually favoured the Manga due to the reasons stated.

Usually when the anime ends many fans, regular readers or first timers, tend to read the manga at some point because when does the sequel come?

Or will there be a sequel?

Maybe there was a scene that seemed lacking and you heard the manga outdid it.

Whatever the reason is most people tend to have at least a look or two into the manga.

Fans of Attack on Titan, Haikyuu or Jujutsu Kaisen for example just simply couldn’t wait for a sequel and went straight to the manga even though they hate reading in general, since the tension built up just wouldn’t fade away and sometimes that results in people suddenly liking manga more and becoming a regular reader.

Yet there are people who would rather wait for the next episodes and refuse to read from the adapted source, even in the case where the anime obviously is badly adapted or even altered to a point where the story is becoming confusing due to the plot holes that come from the many changes.

It all depends which type of person you are: Watch anime only, Manga over everything or the good mix of both?

Because in the end if you hate reading then the manga surely wouldn’t give you the same experience when you are also a fanatic of amazing soundtracks, animations and so on.

Which one is your preferable source: Manga or Anime?

Which type of people did you already meet?

Meanwhile as I await your comments let me see what the tea brings.

-Makii

[omishu]

3, 5, 10, 13, 28, 29, 40, 47, 61, 87, 95, 98!

AAH! 🤩 Thank you so much for your inquiries!! 😆 This is my first ever Tumblr ask challenge to receive, so I'm honored 😖 but it's a lot! 😱 I'll try to answer everything thoroughly. 😅 Here it goes! 😁

3. If you could have one superpower, what would it be?

I love the idea of shapeshifting., Not just the kind of transfiguration that Tonks or McGonagall do, but more like adopting the abilities of different animals suited for different scenarios. Like, if I could grow bat wings to fly and then switch to develop lungs like a seal to swim for long periods or the eyes of a tarsier to see in the dark, etc., that'd be dope.

But my superhero alterego actually has the ability to manipulate luck, so she can basically be a blessing or curse to others. It's based on her own storage of luck though. So if she's had a lot of bad luck lately, she can deal it out; alternatively she can give out good luck when she gets lucky. It's kind of a game of balance, but she has meters for both that get distributed and replenished.

5. Tell us some funny drunk story.

I've really only ever been drunk once. It was a time when I was house-sitting for some friends, watching their two dogs while they went on vacation (the usual). I invited a different friend over, my bestie from middle school. Typically, I have a code for myself to not invite guests into clients' homes, and doing so this time set the dominos a-topplin'. We decided to have a Toy Story marathon, like normal grown ups. To make it really adult, we thought we'd make it more interesting by playing drinking games throughout all the movies. There are four movies. Normally, I don't drink much, just a glass of wine or a beer every once in a while, so ... we got big cans of Mike's extra hard lemonade in different fruity flavors (because ... adults watching kids' movies). Anyway, we had our snacks (French macarons and Wegman's pizza, q classic combination, but not really), the dogs had been fed and set up for bed, and we had our jammies on. All was well for the first two movies: we're reliving our childhoods and the early days of cgi animation, laughing and having a grand old time. By the third movie, what's left of the large pizza is cold. So we stumble down two flights of stairs, carrying a mostly empty pizza box, while dogs jumped all over us, trying to get to the oven in the kitchen on the main floor, like this was some kind of epic high fantasy novel quest. I put the pizza on a cookie sheet. The oven's preheated. Pizza goes in. When pizza is all melty again, I grab a potholder, because I'm responsible. BUT it's not covering the end of the metal handle poking out, and I get BURNED, literally, right on the wrist. Which is the hand I usually pose with for selfies. I've had to totally rearrange how I take pictures of myself now because I have an obvious scar there. Anyway, I stick my hand under cold water and get some ice on it right away, so it doesn't actually hurt as much as it probably should have; granted I have a lot of experience with burn damage, so I may be somewhat desensitized to it. Moral of the story, kids, don't heat up food while you're drunk. I don't even remember what happened in the third movie tbh. I passed out after finishing my third large can of alcoholic beverage, and we went to see TS4 at the theater the next morning, hungover like fools.

10. Who was the last person to disappoint you?

The answer is me. I constantly disappoint myself, because I have impossibly high standards. I tend to be very ambitious and driven, so when I don't live up to my own expectations for myself, I'm disappointed. But failure is a chance to learn. Keep moving forward!

13. If the whole world listened to you right now, what would you say?

GOD IS REAL; HIS NAME IS JESUS CHRIST, AND HE LOVES YOU UNCONDITIONALLY MORE THAN YOU CAN IMAGINE.

28. What was your last lie?

"I'll check it out" when someone recommended a phone app to me today. 😬

29. Dumbest lie you ever told?

🤔 I don't really remember most of my lies because they're small, meaningless, and/or usually get cleared up right away. Plus, I don't normally like to lie, so most of them are accidents from misunderstandings or possible future truths or super obvious for joking purposes, like hyperbole or sarcasm.

40. What was the last gift you gave?

When my sister and I rode the bus to NYC from DC to go see Frozen on Broadway together, I gave her a keychain. I got us matching Funko Pop Frozen 2 keychains to commemorate the event. We both Disneybounded as the queens, so we got the characters we matched; she got Anna, and I got Elsa.

47. When was your first kiss?

It depends on what kind of kiss you mean. When I was in 1st grade, I kissed a boy's forehead on a dare. Then in like maybe 3rd grade, I kissed my best friend on her lips out of excitement for something that had happened. But if you mean romantically, I've only ever kissed one person in the lips, and that was my first love. He was my boyfriend in the beginning of high school, back when I still had braces, so it was probably freshman year. He used to come to my house after school some times, and we went for an evening stroll along the golf course one night. He kissed me, and I kissed him again, but then I turned away when he tried to kiss me again. My face was hot and red when we got back, and his mom was waiting to take him home; she knew exactly what had happened because she made a joke about it, and I started getting dizzy from embarrassment. He dumped me a couple years later and then almost a decade later, we started hooking up again, but then he decided he just wanted to be friends, which I couldn't handle, so I cut off ties with him. 🤷‍♀️ His loss

61. Something you find romantic?

There was a time when I liked a guy in my Japanese-American cultural exchange group. The whole club went to an obon matsuri at a Buddhist temple one year with crafts, food, kimono fashion show, taiko, etc. We danced together under the stars with my dress swirling at my feet and thousands of fireflies twinkling out of the ground around us. It was so magical. Then we all went for the best sushi I've ever had and my first beer, which I split with a girl who's now one of my besties. He walked me to my car and made sure I got home safely. Turns out he was 17 years older than me (short and baby faced), twice divorced, and had kids. I was barely 21. Yikes.

87. Meaning behind your blog name?

This is a fun question! I've always loved animation and making my own characters. When I was really little, some time in elementary school, I was super into the show Xiaolin Showdown, which has a character named "Omi". I used that as the basis for the name of my first ever OC and then several other OC's after her haha then in middle school, my best friend had the same first name as me, just spelled differently (yes, the same ms bestie from the drunken shenanigans above. We're getting brunch next weekend too). So we started calling each other by our OC's names, Omi and Lala (Omishu and Laphelliae). We even introduced each other under these identities, so the name stuck. Everyone called me Omi in highschool, and it drove my mom crazy! Even the teachers called me that; Mom absolutely hated it. Now it's my online alias for almost every platform I use. If you ever see a username with Omishu, Omishu Kitsuni, or OmishuK, chances are it's me!

95. Share your favourite quote.

Too many!! Short answer, THE ENTIRE BIBLE. Long answer ... Uh, it depends on the context. The whole series of quotes from the Disney wisdom collection, yesss. A couple on speaking/listening that I appreciate are: "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and to remove all doubt." - Abraham Lincoln and "We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak." Epictetus. I live by Mark 12:28-31, though: "... 'Which commandment is the most important of all?' Jesus answered, 'The most important is, '... you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these.'"

98. Have you ever made your mum cry? What happened?

Yes, in college my mentor's husband preached a message about forgiveness. I had to leave in the middle to call my mom. She had verbally abused me and my sisters while I was growing up, which has caused me to develop multiple psychoses in my childhood that I'm still learning to deal with today. My unrealistic expectations are also caused by trying to earn her approval. Anyway, I had to tell her that I don't hold it against her and recognize the stresses of parenting and appreciate how she's tried to do her best for me. We were both crying. She had no idea the affect of her words on me, but our relationship has improved so much since then. We're both careful to speak the truth in love with each other now.

[localobnoxiousbisexual]

I’ve been thinking about reverse harem anime a lot lately

More specifically, why it tends to be such a consistently bad genre, and why I still keep watching it and loving it regardless. Absolutely no one follows me for this content but is that gonna stop me from geeking out about it? No. It will not.

So in case someone decides to read this even though they have no clue what I’m talking about, brief definitions. Harem anime is a genre where some super average guy meets a bunch of hot chicks, and trips on their boobs and gets smacked a bunch of times. That’s my understanding anyway, I don’t really watch those. Reverse harem, then, is a genre where a female character stumbles into some super contrived scenario, like being the key to saving the world as a war breaks out between vampires and demons, while a bunch of hot guys happen to be the only people she needs to interact with to achieve that end. In this context I’m talking about the stuff that’s come out over the last few years (i. e. Diabolik Lovers, Dance With Devils, Amnesia, Brother’s Conflict, UtaPri, you get the idea), the older stuff is formatted slightly differently and Ouran Highschool Host Club is a genuine masterpiece that deserves its own wannabe thinkpiece.

So, hot take, obviously it’s a wish fulfilment genre for young girls who want to experience the fantasy of being pursued by a bunch of hot guys without actually having to deal with hormonal, awkward teenage boys in real life. There’s nothing wrong with that, that’s not what makes it a bad genre quality-wise. In my opinion, the problems with reverse harem anime are more built-in to the production. More specifically, the problem is that they’re by-products, rather than the product itself. They’re made to either sell a dating sim (a game where the player dates each of the guys in turn while the plot plays out), or as an extra for the fans of the game. Nowadays it’s very rare for it to just be a story that some studio wants to tell independently of a game.

So, as a result, it’s bad. The plot is barely communicated in a way that makes sense because it’s assumed the viewer has played the game and knows what’s going on (watch the last few episodes of Diabolik Lovers S1 and tell me I’m wrong), characters and plot points suddenly become the full focus for an episode and are then forgotten about, no individual character gets to develop outside of their respective episode or two. That’s just what happens when you squeeze hours and hours of gameplay into 12 roughly 20-minute long episodes; it’s going to happen by design. And maybe most importantly, the guys are the focus and the point of the whole show (or rather, the game it’s based on), which leaves us with a nothing-protagonist. We’re so busy watching the guys warm up to her and come to terms with their pasts that she barely gets to grow, to change, to learn. There’s just no time for it when we have the clusterfuck of a plot and all these tortured guys and their sub-plots to run through. And girls just want a generic blank slate to project onto anyway, right?

I’ve realized that this is also what makes it so good. Here’s the thing; high quality, well-crafted media is, well, good. It’s pleasant to watch, even inspiring, but there’s not that much you can do with it, not easily anyway. Sure, you can use your imagination to fill in gaps and expand on it, but you don’t need to do that to enjoy it.

Credit where it’s due: reverse harems usually do have creative, outrageous and indulgent premises. Vampire-demon war. A religious girl gets tossed into a house full of vampires. A bunch of forgotten gods need to learn to love. A girl’s father marries a woman with a gazillion sons and they keep sexually harassing her when all she wants is to experience having a loving family after growing up alone (yeah Brother’s Conflict is an interesting one). I was just watching a show where the protagonist’s brother attempts suicide because of a cursed book and she joins an organization that hunts down these books. By episode two she firmly believes the books should be preserved rather than outright destroyed despite of her trauma and the show never explains why and it’s never discussed again. How amazing it that?

What makes me return to these awful shows again and again is that they make me think. They’re basically goldmines of wasted potential. Even when actively watching the show is kind of a chore, it lingers with me in a way that good, well-rounded shows just don’t. I go take a shower to wash the cringe off and I think about it. Like, what if the heroine had a substantial backstory that impacted the plot, her own emotional baggage the guys would help her come to terms with? What if she had a personality that had an impact on how she interacts with different guys, rather than have her blush in embarrassment and confusion when they make their advances, again and again? What if she was allowed to actively do things rather than stumble into every situation, be in control every once in a while? What if she was allowed to figure things out without having the plot spoon-fed to her by other characters and the stuff happening to her? What if she was cunning, self-serving, resentful sometimes? What if the guys appreciated her on a level that goes beyond “omg she’s kind and brave even when I treat her like shit”?

Watching badly constructed, poorly thought-out shows feels like a collaborative, creative effort because it leaves me with stuff to do with it. And isn’t that kind of the point of the whole genre? Fostering escapism for the viewer? Despite of all the contrived plots and half-baked characters, maybe it’s secretly made by geniuses because even when I hate it, the show does exactly what it’s supposed to do and makes me forget about my miserable life for a bit?

(Except for UtaPri, that one’s just a snoozefest all around and several hours of my life I’ll never get back.)

Well, that’s all I had to say about that.