#like it sounded cool! I was genuinely interested! I did in fact want to read it

[smallishzine]

hey guys thank you for the lovely responses to the interest form, I appreciate everyone calling me handsome and amazing and tall, and also to everyone calling me an idiot you’re in fact correct but guess what you’re the one filling out the form and I’m the one who made it so shut up shut up hahahaha. Sorry. I don’t mean that, please don’t shut up I’ll be very sad if everyone shuts up and I’ll have no one to talk to. This post is to address some of the things that you pointed out as us having forgotten, and we preemptively apologize for burying important info in this mess. It’s like a scavenger hunt! Or bureaucracy. Take your pick.

how humble we are (true, true. So humble. The humblest.)

smallishbeans (I’m fairly certain we remembered this one)

an ego check (yup, still there)

Eefo (you’re so right it’s a crime that we’ve forgotten him we will rectify this mistake immediately)

many variations of “timeline?” which we answered in this post

that you, the form fillers, are tall and handsome as well (indeed)

that one of you was watching shrek 2 as they filled out the form (good job. We approve. Not that you should care what random people on the internet think of your taste in movies, but 👍)

more smallishbeans (it’s like they knew)

how much one of you loves ldshadowlady, sparkle heart emoji (true and real. Only correct take. We also love ldshadowlady)

chicken murder (we decided to put the chicken murder before the form rather than in it, so as not to distract from your form filling experience. We apologize if this isn’t what you wanted, we will be sure to include more chicken murder in future forms.)

A spot for obvious professionals in form filling to rate the form, so they had to do it in the what did we forget box. we received the following ratings: 5/10, 10/10 (< a genuine thank you to whoever submitted this one), 0/10 (:(), 7.3/15, 6/20, and several more

multiple variations of “age limit?” Which we answered in this post

Jeremys blessing (which we actually didn’t forget you stupid idiot haha I’m sorry I don’t know what came over me I promise you are not a stupid idiot even if you don’t finish reading forms before submitting)

that one of you likes shrek but is cooler than us so really the form is egregiously incorrect (egregious is a bit harsh. More, stupendously incorrect! Or, fantastically incorrect! Also, if you’re so cool, why don’t you prove it by participating in the zine huh? Huh? Thought so. 😎)

That I am cool, and I haven’t forgotten but you wanted to remind me (I am mod Dinn and I approve this message)

our epic arson related plan of action for when the ship burns (I’m afraid I have some bad news for you…)

“Can I join??” (yes)

hey it’s you dailyboatboys let you in let you in let you in (absolutely)

other words of affirmation that we greatly appreciate. Everyone who called me cool, handsome, amazing, and other good things or who complimented the form or who expressed excitement and interest in the zine hold a special place in my heart. I read through every response so far and to every person who said that I was really cool, or that they were super excited for the zine, or that the interest form was really good, or that they were so down participate, thank you. Now enough with being sappy back to answering questions, lightly worded hate mail, and people who are also obsessed with Joel smallishbeans!

you’re all idiots (due to limited funds we cannot afford to purchase our own suggestion box, so we are currently borrowing the permit office’s. Did you hear that sound that sounds exactly like sizzling lava consuming a piece of paper with your eloquently worded submission on it? That’s the sound of our complaints department hard at work to remedy this issue. Thank you for filling out the form!)

can you write ships? (This is a really complicated question which we have a lot to say on so we’ll make a separate post explaining more in depth, but the gist is: yes, but that yes has an asterisk attached with a footnote a mile long)

a spot for ideas about what pieces you may contribute, which is actually a good point we’ll probably poll about what things people most want to see/art pieceify (writing is art too) at some point. As for your admission of obsession, gender-neutral-dude, what do you think we are?

these are just some of the responses we received, thank you to everyone who has filled the form out so far, and you haven’t, what are you doing here go fill out that form!!

-mod Dinn

[storm-and-starlight]

I'm reblogging with @vesikasidesi's tags from the notes

because yeah! I did use indirect communication in the ask, and I am ND, and I didn't even notice it! (so thank you so much for pointing this out, because it's making me think about my own communication style! /gen) Which leads into another way that indirect communication is used (that I've also noticed), which is that it's used to express politeness.

English doesn't have a "polite" tense, like how in French you use vous instead of tu, or Japanese's entire layered system of increasing formality, and you can't just use longer words or more obscure words, 'cause that just makes you sound strange, so instead you go the route of "not placing obligation on people", which in practice, means you go indirect.

"Make me a sandwich." vs. "Could you make me a sandwich?" vs "I would appreciate a sandwich." are ways of requesting a sandwich that all increase (to my perception, anyways) in politeness, from a blunt and rather rude request, to a direct question that wouldn't be appropriate in some situations, to a polite request that still places no obligation on the listener to actually make a sandwich.

I don't know Gallus very well , so I didn't feel comfortable just making a direct request to write an entire post. So instead, I expressed interest while trying not to place any requirement on them to make the post: "hey, if you did make the post, I would be really interested in it, but you don't have to if you don't want to!" which sounds a lot more polite to me.

...anyways, I don't know where I'm going with this, but communication is funky and this was a really really good breakdown of direct vs. indirect communication, thank you!

Hello this is just to say that I am very interested in that post you mentioned maybe making about indirect communication!

So to define Direct and Indirect communication with a pair of examples real fast:

Direct communication: "Hey, can you do the dishes?" Indirect communication: "There's dishes in the sink." (Please wash them.)

Indirect communication tends to trip a lot of ND, but especially Autistic people up because the implied request in the parentheses... doesn't always come through. So you don't do the dishes, and the Indirect communicator gets frustrated because they thought they had made that request perfectly clearly.

Which, in their defense, they did! ...in their micro-cultural language.

See, the actual purpose of Indirect Communication is to provide some extra verbal personal space and non-aggression measures in micro-cultures where people's personal autonomy has been compromised but there is also a high degree of understood social context.

Hm. That's a weird sentence. Let's try some more examples.

Indirect communication is most common in places or situations where people's ability to stay in their own lane is compromised, but everyone also shares the same base knowledge of what's going on. One example is in large cities, where people are PHYSICALLY up in each other's personal space because they're physically crowded. So cities have etiquette like "Don't make eye contact on public transit unless you actually need to address someone", so that, if people can't stop violating your personal space, they can at least signal non-aggression and give you some privacy. People raised in large cities, or who have lived there for a while all learn these unspoken rules by trial and error, some of us with more errors and trials than others.

Thus, in physically compact situations, "There's dishes in the sink" means "There's dishes in the sink." (I trust that you are already familiar with the social rules that dictate that dishes need to be done, and assume the reason you haven't done them is because you haven't seen the sink yet. I won't insult your intelligence by elaborating on the Do The Dishes Rule, because I know you are smart <3)

Speaking of Privacy, the other place indirect communication is common is in situations where people have Limited Privacy and thus everyone knows what's going on with them, and they know what's going on with everyone else, whether they want to or not. Close-knit families and religious communities often have this shared no-privacy pool, but it can also happen with you and two roommates in a 100sq ft apartment, or on a research vessel in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Since y'all are up in each other's business, indirect communication is there to prevent hostility in close quarters.

This, in a low-privacy situation, "There's dishes in the sink." means "There's dishes in the sink." (I know you are a good and responsible roommate who is maybe a little forgetful, and I trust you to have enough context from living in the live feed of everyone's life to know that I need them done. I won't insult you by suggesting your motivation was malicious in any way, and i trust you to do them <3)

So, to an indirect communicator, that was a perfectly clear request to do the dishes because OF COURSE you'd know what they meant- literally everyone else they deal with is in on this shared knowledge of social rules and daily updates. And not elaborating on that request is an affectionate sign of trust in your competence.

Except, you know. You're not.

So, you try to explain to your indie friend that "There's dishes in the sink." only sounds like an observation, and your brain will not auto-fill in the request like theirs does, so if you want me to do the dishes, just ask with words, okay?

And your indie friend understands this! but then instead of going "Hey, can you do the dishes?" they instead don't say ANYTHING until they're really frustrated with the state of the kitchen, and communicate VERY directly at you, and with great anger.

What happened?

So remember how indirect communication exists to prevent hostility and violence? That's because the threat of hostility and violence is VERY, VERY REAL.

Like you, your indirect communication friend made some mistakes while learning The Unsaid Rules and How To Use The Shared Information Pool, and the social hammer came down on them HARD. Ostracization, ridicule, maybe even actual, psychical harm. So they grew very, very afraid of violating those secret rules, and doubly so with people they like, so your indirect communication friend is facing this HUGE EMOTIONAL BLOCK when it comes to directly communicating with you, because to someone who grew up with their boundaries compromised and the threat of hostility if they violate the communication rules, communicating directly with someone they love feels really, really, really mean and they don't want to hurt or lose you.

For real, "Hey, please do the dishes" sounds like "Hey, please do the dishes." (You fucking moron who doesn't give a shit about our home and probably hates me) to them, and they don't want to talk like that to you. It's like how we never like picking the mean dialogue option in video games.

So instead they... just don't say anything at all, rather than risk a potential confrontation, and then the dishes don't get done and it turns into a REAL confrontation.

What a headache.

So what are we gonna do?

Well, you can't control your friend's actions, emotional reactions or interpersonal skills, but you can manage yours, and you're gonna have to meet them halfway, and it's gonna feel like training a skittish cat that coming out from under the couch is safe. Several-pronged approach:

DO NOT PUNISH BEHAVIOR YOU WANT TO SEE. When your friend does manage to say "Hey, please do the dishes?" don't go "UUUUGH IN A MINUTE." even if you are in the middle of something else and their timing sucks, which is probably does. Stick to either neutral responses ("Cool, let me finish this paragraph and I'll get on that") to positive responses ("Oh, sure! Thanks for letting me know!")

REWARD THE BEHAVIOR YOU WANT TO SEE. -and then actually go do the dishes to demonstrate that this approach not only is safe, it's effective. Also, praise your friend when they do a good job communicating with you. "Hey, thanks for actually asking me to do the dishes, that was really helpful." or "You're doing a great job navigating and giving me directions, this is much less stressful than the GPS" or "Thanks for being honest about how I was annoying you and bringing it up before it became a huge issue." This will kind of feel like you're an actor on sesame street teaching big bird how to say please and thank you, but honestly? that was the age most of us learned our communication skills, and we return to that teaching method because BY GOD IT WORKS.

MODEL THE BEHAVIORS YOU WANT TO SEE. Humans learn by copying, so lead by example with the kind of communication that helps you, and explain why it helps. "Hey friend, a question so I can schedule some stuff- Do you have any plans this weekend I should know about, or am I clear to paint the bathroom?"

This is the one that sucks but YOU GOTTA MEET THEM HALFWAY AND LEARN ABOUT THE CONTEXT POOL. Can't make everyone learn, and Indirect communication has it's uses (especially in modern jobs and social media), so you gotta learn their style too. I literally have a discord server that's just me where I keep notes on the life events and conditions of my friends, coworkers, neighbors and loved ones because I know I won't remember that shit, but they will kind of expect me to, and it's been a lifesaver in both not blundering into social faux pas, and actually getting around my crap memory to know them better. You can also model hybrid communication and practice your indirect skills by using an indirect request opener, but then saying the rest of the implied context aloud: "Hey, there's dishes in the sink. I know you'll do that ASAP because you're cool, I just wanted to make sure you knew they were there and needed to be washed, thanks <3"

Accept that some people aren't gonna change for reasons that are beyond their control and probably have nothing to do with you, and decide what you're willing to invest in learning to deal with them. I still have to play 5D words chess with my mother-in-law, who was raised in a close-physical-space-AND-no-privacy culture and is an excruciatingly anxious indirect communicator as a result. I can't make her go to therapy for the anxiety, and until she does, her ability to communicate effectively probably won't improve. It's got nothing to do with me, even if I'm the person she's most frequently at odds with. As a result, I have extremely limited contact with her. I don't see her for more than a few hours at a time, when we have an activity to do together, and only a handful of times a year. More than that, and I get brainworms by proxy, so for my sanity, I've limited what I am willing to do with her. Maybe your indirect communicator is someone worth effectively learning a second language for, like a lover. Maybe they're someone you can cut out of your life entirely without issue, like a manger at a retail job you can quit. You'll have to decide.

Anyway, that's my raised-bilingual ADHD/Autism Direct/indirect communicator ramble, hope it helps.

[loverofpiggies]

Oh, you watched Fiona and Cake, great!

I am curious, what were your thoughts about like Winter King or first opening? Or like about overall more mature stuff than in og adventure time

So now that I'm doing a huge rewatch of the OG Adventure Time, I will say I adore both in their own ways.

It was really cool seeing the more mature stuff in Fionna and Cake, sort of like the show 'grew up' with the audience, you know? And do NOT get me started on how much my heart was destroyed by Simons entire plight through.

See I never managed to finish the first show, mostly just got distracted, but on my rewatch I can tell I at least got through six seasons. I like how spaced out the original show is, and it makes the really sad shit with like the Ice King hit like a ton of bricks when it happens. It really feels like you're watching all these wacky people live their lives, and occasionally the horror of the Mushroom War reminds you of its effect, through Marceline, and the Ice King, and every character who was forced to live through it. I don't know, it's really nice!

Okay I'm gonna ramble so I'm putting a read more!

I was wondering if on a rewatch I'd get frustrated the way later seasons of Steven Universe made me get frustrated, but it never felt like that at all. It's just been... fun. It's just Finn and Jake on adventures, occasionally having to set down their fun and recognize the horror of things around them, and it's just. DAMN it's just done so well.

I just got to the episode where Finn meets Prismo and makes the wish, and accidentally ends up wielding the power of the crown, and all it did was break my heart. Like I was sitting there, and for a split second I was like 'wow that crown corrupted him really fast!' and then I remembered.... he was like 13 when he got the crown. He was still a child, and when Simon got the crown, he was what, in his 40s? He was just a kid, and couldn't possibly be able to handle or combat the crowns power. It just punched me in the gut.

So I very much enjoy how spaced out and silly the original Adventure Time is, because its such a unique world I love seeing more of it, and I feel like it makes the heavy scenes hit so much harder. With Fionna and Cake, I love how tight the story is and how structured things are. They're both SUCH good shows, with different ways of writing and different vibes and I adore them equally at this point.

ALSO THE WINTER KING, holy shit don't get me started, but I will rant about this mofo

(These are keychain designs but I decided to put them together on a little canvas)

Firstly, I fucking LOVE the Winter King, and I'm really sad we didn't get more of him. I do wonder if the fact that Fionna's universe wasn't 'canon' during all the universe hopping, that if somehow the multiverse will reverse some things and 'repair' the damage. I'm not even saying that because I want to see the Winter King again, it just absolutely sounds like something that could happen in Adventure Time. Hell, look how they made Fionna and Cake just-- real! Thanks Prismo you're a cool guy.

But in terms of the Winter King as a character, and in terms of his universe? I want SO much more detail. Where is Finn, where is Jake? Marceline either left the Winter King or got killed, so I'm curious there too. The juxtaposition of genuine confidence and whimsy, and the mans incapacity to feel remorse or even real deep sadness (him saying 'Oh! The dead one?' when Simon asked about Betty was... holy shit) he was just an EXTREMELY interesting character, and I so badly want to see more of him.

Also dude was just funny. The fact he straight up admitted he thought about kissing his alternative universe self was so fucking funny, and plays heavily into his narcissistic behavior and tendencies.

On TOP of that, the idea of how he ended up cursing Bubblegum specifically would be so interesting. I read online people assuming when the Ice King did his spell, it was more like "I want Princess Bubblegum to love me, so I'll do a spell so she can understand what I'm feeling and then she'll marry me!" but then the 'understand what I'm feeling' is actually just... "Hey, I feel absolute madness, here, take it off my hands!' and might have just been a huge accident. We certainly can't trust Winter King's words about it.

I don't know. He was so fascinating, and the way he put feelers out to see if Simon would feel the way he does (Specifically talking about making an Ice Betty, then realizing Simon was disturbed so he shrugged it off with a laugh, being like 'no thats immoral obviously haha') and the fact that he was so cautious and smart about avoiding telling Simon how he conquered the crown? Like he would be glad to help and teach Simon how to keep his sanity AND his power... but obviously would have never spoken his secret the more he realized Simon would morally object to it.

I dunno. This character was in the show for 20 minutes and he was so fucking interesting I almost feel robbed. I hope maybe we can get some Adventure Time comics about the guy at the VERY least!

[dailyrothko]

Hi! I was wondering if you had any opinions on the play Red by John Logan? Really admire the Rothko work you do!

First of all, thank you.

Secondly, I think I maybe in a weird position to critique this. I have read almost everything written about Rothko that I know exists. All the books, all the articles I could find and all the interviews I can put my hands on where people who knew him talk. I actually have you guys to thank for this because until this blog got popular, I didn't know much about his life other than the basics. But, feeling some responsibility to my "Audience" and chosen subject, I tired to educate myself in this niche.

Because of this, one naturally forms a picture of the person in your head based on these collected impressions. I think most people don't really know much about him, at least until recently.

I am thankful that the play was an entrée into the art for a lot of people. Like the Rothko episode of Mad Men, many people are brought to awareness of the Rothko through these other mediums and I think that's really cool.

The thing though is that John Logan wrote the movie Gladiator, and you can tell. I see nothing bad about that kind of drama, it just doesn't jibe with my impression of Rothko, While Rothko was sensitive, upset at times, neurotic and opinionated, careful and studious, but he was not this bellowing pontificator that I feel is represented in the play. Again there's nothing wrong with making a drama of it, it's just something that I divorce from Rothko's actual character. I used to have a job reading movie scripts for an actor and you find a lot of common devices people use to make the drama effective, and I feel Red uses a lot of those to good effect. Every play or movie I have ever seen about an artist takes the task of making a largely internal process, external enough for the audience to become engrossed in.

Rothko was sensitive, well-spoken intellectual man. Many of his friends speak of his great tenderness and generosity towards them. The play seeks to pit him and his assistant as two poles of the art world, the new encroaching on the old. Again, fine as a dramatic device but Rothko painted alone, and he talked about painting to no one, ever. Anyone who knew Rothko says he never discussed his art. So any conversations in the play are entirely fantasy.

So, basically I think the play is entertaining and hopefully gets people interested in the art, but I wouldn't take it like a biography of Rothko! And that's really my main point, not to knock the play but to point out the differences between fact and fiction.

Here's some context:

"When I've seen my father portrayed, I've sort of winced, because it doesn't sound like him or come across like him. He was a very warm, humorous person, I remember him telling me silly stories as a child. - Kate Rothko

"As I see him, he was a very loving, essentially feeling man. He was loving and lovable. He liked to put on a rough show. I mean he liked to talk tough. He presented to me a softness. And I was full of my Oriental, religious view of things. I never attempted to talk to him about it because he didn't respond to it. I took it that it was his concern with the world which was from boyhood because of his parentage and finding the same ugliness and stupidity in the art world as in the world that made him so convinced that life wasn't worth living." -Wallace Putnam

Mark is often presented as off-putting; however, he really was quite warm, nurturing and could be very funny." - Regina Bogat

"(Rothko had) a genuine charitable impulse. It grew out of real sympathy. I don't think it was a put-on in any way, nor for self-aggrandizement...there are numbers of cases in which while he was alive he helped persons and always anonymously. He never wanted it known, nor did he ever talk about it." - Stanley Kunitz

*forgive typos, my brain does not see them until weeks after the fact

[spacecasehobbit]

Especially with how Emerald Fennell has talked about Felix Catton, and the fact that she's called him "fickle" in particular, I genuinely think the intended reading of Felix's little surprise day trip on Oliver's birthday is that Felix was getting bored of Oliver and planning to ditch him already, even before he learns about any of the lying.

When Felix first learns about Oliver's supposedly tragic backstory, the poor lonely boy with the neglectful drug addict parents, his response is to raise his glass in a toast, say (of Oliver's parents), "Fuck 'em," and call Oliver an inspiration.

By the time Oliver's birthday rolls around, however, Felix's interest in Oliver has been cooling off for a while; Felix likely knows Farleigh has been invited to come back to Saltburn that evening, he has expressed sympathy for Farleigh's situation, and he knows that Oliver's presence at Saltburn had been a source of insecurity for Farleigh; he knew Pamela had died not long after being kicked out of Saltburn, but he didn't mention anything to Oliver until Elspeth brought up the topic of Pamela's funeral; and he knows that, according to Oliver's own words, Oliver has no external support structures of his own besides Felix.

Thus, if Felix has gotten bored of Oliver and wants to ditch him without feeling like a shitty friend who just abandons Oliver to potentially die alone with nowhere else to go, he needs to get Oliver a non Felix-adjacent support structure, stat.

What perfect timing, then, to pick up a phone call from Oliver's mother, who sounds like she's doing really well and would love to see her kid on his birthday!

And it really is perfect, for Felix. Reconnecting Oliver with his estranged mum makes him a good person and great friend by common societal standards, while simultaneously relieving him of the burden of actually continuing to be Oliver's friend by ensuring that Oliver won't be completely alone and possibly die like Pamela did when he leaves Saltburn. Even better, it gives Felix the perfect excuse to encourage Oliver out the door that lets him put the impetus for leaving on Oliver's shoulders and doesn't require Felix to outright say that he wants Oliver gone - e.g. "Wow Oliver, your mum seemed like she was doing so well, and you two really connected on your birthday. It's been so great having you here, but I promise I won't be offended if you want to go spend the rest of the summer with her, instead of finishing it out here at Saltburn!"

Only instead of any of that, Felix discovers that Oliver has been lying, wildly, about his entire backstory, the whole time they've known each other, and now he actually does have a very good reason to kick Oliver out of Saltburn after his birthday party... without ever having to own up that he was already planning to kick Oliver out after his birthday party, anyway.

The most tragic part of this, for Oliver, is that I think it's equally likely that Oliver never realized any of the above. That for all the reasons Oliver came up with for hating Felix as much as he'd loved him, none of them included the things that Oliver should have hated Felix for.

[satansapostle6]

fire and ice | james cook

Cook’s interest is piqued when an old childhood friend moves in across the street.

Warning: Mature themes/language. Drug use. Sexual content.

part seven.

part eight. tiff and jj.

That particular Tuesday, Tiffany Wheeler had walked into class high. More so than was typical. Most of the time when Tiff was high, it wasn’t necessarily noticeable to anyone except those who really knew her. She would just act normal while seeming a bit more subdued, with red, bloodshot eyes at the most, and that would be the end of it. But not today.

Tiff had walked into class late with Effy, and the two of them were, to put it simply, on one. They had split mushrooms and some spliff, and were on another planet entirely. It was the first thing Cook noticed when they walked into the room. The classroom had been dead silent, with everyone silently working on whatever they were working on, whether it was their actual class work, or doodling, or lightly snoring. In Cook’s case, it was staring at the doorway off and on waiting for Tiffany to appear.

And when she finally did more than twenty minutes into class, everyone in their respective group knew that it was going to be an interesting class. For starters, Tiff and Effy both walked into the room stumbling and giggling, something that wasn’t necessarily typical of either of them. The two girls were laughing so hysterically at something when they came in that even the teacher had noticed that they were under the influence of something. But of course, no one actually cared.

Tiff and Effy had taken far too long to sit down, too sloppy and distracted to function in that moment. Their behavior had gotten many different reactions. Katie and Naomi both rolled their eyes. Panda was excited by the prospect of drugs. JJ was somewhat confused, meanwhile Freddie just stared at Effy. But Cook was too focused on Tiff. He couldn’t take his eyes off her; she rarely lost control when drunk or high. Or in general. Her laughter and smiles were something he knew to take advantage of when he got the chance.

James Cook sat in his seat, watching in amusement as Tiff sat half slumped over in her seat in front of him next to JJ, deciding to take out a notebook so as to blend in with the rest of the class, but she just stared at it, not writing or reading or anything. She wasn’t able to at all.

“Psst,” Cook whispered, trying to get her attention. “Psst!”

Tiff was still too busy staring at her empty notebook to notice.

“Psst! Oi! Tiff!” he hissed frustratedly.

Tiffany slowly looked up at him, eyes rimmed with smudged black eyeliner.

“What?” she whispered back.

“Did you and Eff seriously blaze up without me?” he pouted.

“It was girls only,” she remarked.

“Well that’s rude,” he frowned.

But Tiff was already onto the next thing. JJ was next to her, absentmindedly drawing something to entertain his train of thought. Tiff of course noticed it as her eyes wandered.

“What’s that?” she whispered, leaning in.

JJ looked up at her, surprised that she was talking to him. Tiff often hung out with him, Cook, and Freddie, but rarely did she and JJ ever speak to one another separate from the others.

“It’s a frog,” JJ responded quietly. “Or, at least an attempt at one.”

“Do you draw frogs a lot?” Tiff wondered.

JJ had to think about it for a moment. “No. I don’t really draw… I just randomly thought of frogs. I wanted to see if I could do it.”

He stopped for a moment to wonder if he’d been talking too much. He was somewhat comforted by the fact that Tiff didn’t seem to care.

“That’s cool,” Tiff stared. “I think frogs are interesting creatures.”

“Yeah, I suppose they are,” he agreed, genuinely engaged in the conversation. “I think it’s interesting the sounds they can make.”

“I think the poison ones are interesting,” Tiff shared, “Like the colorful ones. The poison dart frogs. I wonder why they call them that. Do they actually shoot poison darts?”

“Can’t say I know,” Jonah Jones thought curiously.

Cook was fascinated watching the two of them interact, wondering if that was how he sounded to people at times.

*****

After school let out, Tiff and Effy went with Cook, Freddie, and JJ back to Freddie’s shed where the boys usually hung out together. Effy was sitting with Freddie, and Cook was sitting on his own, drinking more than anyone else as he watched Tiff and JJ, still talking.

Cook was surprised that they were still having one long conversation about a variety of different topics. He knew Tiff and JJ were both very unique people who were often quiet in large group settings, but he just couldn’t seem to understand how they were still talking.

“I don’t really go out much,” Tiff thought, “It’s easier to just drink at home.”

“Yeah, that’s understandable,” JJ sympathized. “I just wish there was a way I could meet girls… Not that it’d matter anyway, even if I met one there’s no way I’d be able to get anywhere beyond friends, if that,” he admitted with a sad disappointment to his tone.

“Oh, I’m sure that’s not true,” Tiff insisted, taking his hand in a friendly manner.

Cook watched with surprise as JJ just got bashful in response, practically blushing when she touched him, even if it was just to give his hand a squeeze.

“Besides,” she offered, trying to find genuine and truthful ways to help, “Some of my best shags have been friends,” she shared.

Immediately, JJ turned red as Cook looked at her in curiosity, definitely invested. Everyone could physically see the JJ swallowing the hard lump in his throat.

“It’s okay,” Tiff smiled, taking JJ’s hand.

His eyes widened at the comforting gesture. Not only was JJ unsure of how to receive such a kind act of physical affection, he was also extremely confused by it coming from Tiffany Wheeler.

“You’re safe with me, JJ,” she said softly.

“Th-Thank you, Tiff,” he managed, clearing his throat frantically.

“Do you want to kiss me?” she said finally.

JJ nearly had an aneurysm, along with Freddie and Cook, who couldn’t take their eyes off of this fascinating new development. Cook was becoming increasingly jealous, while Freddie seemed to find the situation strange. Effy, on the other hand, watched eagerly. Effy wanted nothing more than to watch Tiff kiss JJ.

“Sorry, what?” JJ blurted out, laughing so as to offset his growing fear.

“I said, do you want to kiss me?” Tiff asked softly, not missing a beat.

“Uh, well, yes!” JJ stammered, “But, is that an offer, or…?”

“Of course it is,” Tiff nodded, slowly moving towards him as she sat on her knees beside him on the couch. “Would you like me to kiss you?”

JJ’s blue eyes were now locked on Tiff’s, completely frozen. He had no idea what to do or say, and frankly, he was afraid one wrong move would wake him from this splendid dream.

“Y-Yes,” JJ concluded, accepting the fact that his first kiss would be with Tiffany Wheeler, in front of his friends, “Yes.”

“Ask nicely,” Tiff smiled.

“Please,” JJ whined, surprising even himself. “Please, please kiss me, Tiff,” he pleaded with her, as Effy grinned, sitting forward in her seat.

“As you wish,” Tiff said softly.

JJ prepared himself, unsure of what to expect. He had expected a very innocent, almost platonic sort of kiss, with the two of them hardly touching; a sweet peck on the lips for the sake of allowing him a first kiss. But what JJ got shocked him. Instead of going the simple route, Tiff swung her leg over JJ’s body, sinking down in his lap as Freddie nearly jumped up out of his seat.

Cook’s eyes widened hungrily as he watched Tiff straddling his friend, hand subconsciously sliding down his lap. He couldn’t believe his eyes. For a moment, the spliff made him question whether any of this was even happening at all. But it most certainly and unmistakably was. Freddie gave in and applauded JJ as he looked up at Tiff on his lap, too stunned to move. Effy was more than entertained.

“Don’t be afraid,” Tiff offered, slowly pressing JJ’s hands, which had been hovering, onto her waist.

He grinned ear to ear with excitement, looking nothing if not grateful.

“Do you want to touch my ass?” Tiff whispered in his ear.

JJ pulled away, nodding quickly. “Please.”

Smirking proudly, Tiff slid his hands down to where he gripped her behind, slowly finding his confidence as his friends laughed and cheered. Tiff leaned in again, equally enjoying the shared moment of pleasure.

“Are you hard?” she asked huskily.

JJ looked petrified.

“Yes,” he confessed.

Tiff nodded, grabbing him by his hair as he felt another warm, tingly sensation, signaling to him that he was enjoying himself.

“Good,” she whispered to him.

He looked right into her dark eyes, his own eyes heavy as he began to pant softly. JJ was beginning to feel overstimulated as she sat on top of him, but in the best way. She could feel him squeezing her ass as he allowed her to sink down on top of him, the both of them feeling each other even through clothing.

“Please, Tiff,” he begged. “Kiss me.”

Before JJ had to say anything else, Tiff pulled him in by the collar of his shirt, pressing a harsh kiss to his lips. JJ was initially stiff, unsure of how to reciprocate, but eventually, he felt his instincts kick in. The kiss was equally rough and loving. Tiff didn’t like to kiss with tongue, but she made sure the kiss was still fully engaging as they shared a series of breathy kisses.

Just as JJ began to feel himself getting carried away, his hands moving up to grope her breasts, Tiff pulled away. At first, JJ was startled and was convinced he’d done something wrong before she spoke.

“Open your mouth,” Tiff instructed.

JJ gulped. He had no idea what was about to happen, but strangely, he relished that feeling. JJ politely opened his mouth, staring up at her obediently. Tiff grinned as she grabbed his jaw and spit in his mouth. Freddie nearly gasped aloud. Effy just smiled, pleasantly surprised as Cook leaned forward, tempted to palm himself over his pants.

“Swallow,” Tiff said calmly.

Nodding quickly, JJ obliged and swallowed, eyes still completely trained on her.

“Thank you,” JJ breathed, as Tiff just leaned forward and pressed another kiss to his lips, a sweet peck on the lips.

“Good boy,” she said, before swinging around on his lap so that she was facing everyone else once again.

As if nothing had even happened, everyone continued with their conversation from earlier before eventually deciding to head out to a pub after Effy, Tiff, and Cook all took more mushrooms. Tiff headed out before Cook and JJ, as Cook stopped her in front of the shed behind Freddie and Effy.

“Tiff,” Cook called after her.

Tiff turned, as Cook pulled her aside.

“Tiffy,” Cook huffed with desperation, “I need a shag. Right now,” he said, about to undo his belt.

“Cook,” Tiff scoffed, looking around in Freddie’s yard, “No.”

“Tiffy,” he protested in a needy manner.

“Cook!” she scoffed, rolling her eyes. “Fuck off.”

Cook pouted as he ran off after Freddie, leaving Tiff at the shed with JJ.

“Tiff,” he said nervously.

“JJ,” she smiled, her high creating beautiful visuals within the sunlight around him.

“Sorry about Cook,” JJ apologized, seeming genuinely troubled. “He’s… horny,” he offered sheepishly, unable to come up with a better word.

“It’s nothing,” she assured him, “I’m used to it.”

JJ looked at her sadly. “You deserve better,” he offered honestly.

Tiff frowned sympathetically. “I don’t want better,” she admitted.

“But… why?” he wondered, genuinely confused.

“Better’s boring,” she told him, as they walked together. “Besides. I’m not as good as I seem, JJ.”

He tried to find a way to dispute her claim, but as he kept searching for reasons, he began to realize that he didn’t really understand people at all. Especially her.

“Sometimes I don’t understand what makes someone good, and what makes them bad,” JJ said, sounding troubled.

“Sometimes, it just depends on what you want to see,” Tiff offered, before taking his hand. “Come on. Let’s go get drunk.”

JJ knew that when it came to Tiff, he just had to accept this. JJ squeezed her hand as they walked off together.

-

part nine.

[lovemyromance]

Can people stop saying Elriels are changing Elain & Azriel's personalities to make their ship work?

First of all, SJM wrote a bonus chapter and 3 books of buildup in the background for Elriel already. We didn't just make up the fact that they're very into each other - SJM literally wrote that in the books.

We don't have to change anything about them. They are already attracted to each other and interested in each other in the text at this point.

Could we sit here and argue that Azriel sitting in the garden with Elain, Azriel sensing she's missing and in danger when the Cauldron kidnaps her, Elain looking to Azriel for comfort, Elain getting him solstice gifts, Azriel wanting to beg on his knees for a taste of her, Azriel giving her truth teller, Elain kicking the hounds off him, Azriel making everyone wait for her to eat dinner - We can sit here and argue and say those things are "strictly platonic" or "he's an incel who only lusts after her" (not sure how both can be true but okay). We can do that - but it won't change the fact that it is ON THE PAGE. THEIR MUTUAL ATTRACTION is IN THE TEXT.

Cool? Cool.

Next Point: Nobody is changing shit about Elain or Azriel.

It's like the antis saw one post about "oh Elain could be a cool warrior" all the way back in like 2015 and have held onto that like that one grainy af Elucien Facebook comment that one account keeps posting as responses to elriel posts (y'all know who im talking about right 😂).

Allow me to give you a refresher: It is currently 2024. Nobody is trying to make Elain be a warrior. I think most Elriels are of the opinion that we do NOT want ACOSF 2.0.

What we do want to see, is Elain potentially as a spy. AGAIN - not a warrior. This is not changing her personality. She is already a Seer - it is not a stretch to want to see her delve into her powers in the next book to use them to SEE and gather information. Elain is ready to help, she literally says "Find me when you wish to begin."

If people are complaining about fan arts where she's holding a dagger - I'm like 99% positive that dagger is truthteller and you cannot be complaining about an actual canon scene where she has been the only other person to touch that knife in 500 years, apart from Azriel. Not even Mor, his one time love, has touched that knife.

And Elain holding truthteller is in the official ACOTAR coloring book - BTW. So if you have an issue with Elain being depicted with a dagger - take it up with SJM's team.

Let's talk Azriel:

Genuinely not sure what people are saying we are changing about Azriel to better fit Elain?

People bring up the "oh he's too dark for Elain she will shy away from him" um. No. It's literally in the text how Elain calls his scars beautiful and does not balk from him.

Also .. what darkness? I did an entire post on what the hell is Azriel's darkness even and still, nobody had an answer for me because ??

We can't be reducing this man down to a job he took very very reluctantly and clearly hates. He doesn't like torturing people for answers, guys!! Y'all make it sound like his love interest can only work if she's his literal torture assistant or something 😭😭

"Hi azriel, you have a 11 o'clock coming in for the usual water boarding treatment." <tucks hair behind ear and nods earnestly> "and then afterwards, I will wash the blood off your knife and accept your darkness?"

Is that what y'all want 🤨🤨 don't be weird smh

Azriel says it feels wrong to touch Elain because HE FEELS UNDESERVING OF HER?? Have you never read a romance novel? The tortured hero being so reluctant to even touch his love because he's afraid his sins will taint her goodness??

Please people. Listen to like... a Hozier song before you try to understand this man because maybe then you might get a crash course on him. This man is so Hozier coded, it's insane to me that people think of him as some fuckboi incel.

Nobody is changing anything about Azriel and Elain. They are drawn to each other and understand each other without having to say a single word. Their love story is already starting out to be the healthiest: friends to lovers. They have been given a title: death & his lovely fawn.

Their very names mean Azriel "God is my help" or "Angel of Death" and Elain means "Light" or "Fawn" or "God has answered my prayers"

It's already on the pages and if you can't see the writing on the walls, perhaps it's time for a reread my friend.

[unabashednightmarepizza]

After reading every blurb, one shot etc. from @radiant-reid, I can't help but imagine Spencer and a bubbly and friendly s/o.

Like, maybe she and Hotchner knew each other from before, like they started off as partners in crime together( he probably surprise adopted her at ine point with Haley) and are best friends and one day he just comes like "We have new people coming. Come with me and greet them." like a very demanding father whose child is insisting to not talk to her. relatives when they visit.

But s/o is so glad she did because wow, all these gorgeous people will work with us?🤔🙃And I'm finally blessed with beauty, elegance in all forms? 🥰💞🤩

S/o just takes a hold of Aaron's shoulder dramatically, bending slightly which makes the others worry but he already knows what's coming.

"How did you find all these gorgeous people? Pretty... So pretty and handsome- oh look! She is wearing the pink tone I love and a parrot necklace!" *aggressively shows Penelope with heart eyes, makes the woman suddenly shy and bashful because she never got complimented*

"Stop flirting with people, Y/N."

"When I see someone pretty, I need to appreciate God's work, Aaron."

*Aaron being done with y/n but still watches with a soft smile as she hugs everyone and welcomes them warmly.*

*The team being surprised since they didn't expect it but soakes it all up since Y/N is being a cutie*

*Y/N almost crying, having a slight meltdown when she hugged JJ and Emily because "Wow, I'm hugging two pretty women... 😭"*

Y/N almost hugging Penelope so thight that she was about to combust because all she felt was warmth and softness

Derek hugging her and ruffling her hair because damn, she is like a sister to him already with her bubbly and kind self.

"I'm so glad there are other people Aaron can finally annoy apart from me! He and his wife is always nagging me-"

"It's because you don't eat, kid. And We don't 'nag' you."

"Says the man who almost made me run extra laps because I didn't eat what his wife-"

*Y/N seeing Reid who was looking around shyly, quite unsure but turning to her when he felt a stare on his face* Uhm... Hi... I'm Spencer Reid...

*Y/N looks at him with a dazed look, sweet smile and glistening eyes that Aaron knew too well* "Y/N, no..."

"Y/N, yes... I found my new bestie! Look at him! So cute! And finally someone close to my age!" *later hugging him thightly and him feeling both emotional and awkward because he never felt this and he is all like 🥺🥺*

*Everyone being confused because he is a lil nerd and you are loving every second of it, even more when Hotchner lets out a sigh* "There she goes, adopting a new one... Just watch her do her magic now. You will not let her get away ever again."

*the team being confused even more but laighs as you excitedly show their desks and insist Spencer sits next to you because unlike others, you think he is so cool since he knows so much and his little facts are always so interesting*

Spencer just flushing and blushing madly since you don't sound fake and are genuinely so kind and welcoming, accepting of him that the boi literally falls in love in less than an hour and being teased by others for it.

But then, all of them falls in love with you when you came in with heavy boxes and shopping bags a few weeks later. Obviously late for the meeting and they expected Hotch to be angry but... he was just smirking knowingly, watching as you bounced up and down excitedly and was about to steal their hearts.

"So, before any of you says how late I am, I'd like to say that I had to do my usual welcoming party but I wasn't expecting any of you that day so... Firstly, here is all of your favourite drinks, snacks and meals for later... And Derek, your choice is so picky that I had to drive to the other part of the city, which is the reason why I'm late!" *Everyone widens their eyes as they see the mouth-watering meals they love while you bring the bags inside and clear your throat*

"Okay, okay... Derek, you said you wanted go to that one boxing match but was unable to do so since all the tickets were sold. Coincidentally, I know someone that works there and I was able to get you one, oh! And here is your new holster for your gun!" *proceeds to give it to him with a tiny dragonfly for luck.*

"JJ, I saw that you love scrabble a lot and also wristlets too, so I made a little charm for you alongside with an one year worth coupon for a Chinese take-out restaurant at the corner since you always gush about how amazing they do it!"

"Emily, I seriously didn't know what to get you at first, because you seemed like you don't enjoy jewelries that much but then I saw you looking at charms and playing scrabbles all the time too so I also made one charm with your initials into a keychain for you to use and got you the Lord of The Rings triology you have been wanting to have!"

"Oh, oh Garcia! I heard you were complaining how all the women's clothing were so dull and not like your style at all, wanting to have your dream dress at one point in your life... And remember I asked you to draw it? Welp, here it is! There may be some mistakes since I hadn't honed my skills in sewing and my friend helped me but I hope you like it and remember me whenever you wear them! I also got you matching jewelries too, and they are all bright colors, just as you like it!"

*Tries to catch her breath after talking for 10 minutes straight without breathing*

*Hotchner looks up and down at them as the first wobble of their lips could be seen, smirks as Garcia and JJ are the first ones to jump on you with tears because damn, no one ever loved them too much to notice all these details about them yet alone buying and making them*

"Oh wow, look at the little profiler here~" *Derek ruffling your hair to hide his own emotional eyes as you giggle, parting from them* "I've been working for like 4 years now but yeah-"

"Hey, kid. Are you not gonna show what you got for Spencer too?" *Aaron points out as you flush, your eyes beaming happily while getting out towards your car as Spencer looks confused and a lil bit hurt*

"I don't think Agent Y/N got me anythi-"

"I'M SO GLAD YOU ASKED HOTCH BECAUSE-" *slams a huge box on her desk while other let out an audible wow* "I LOVE ALL THE THINGS I GOT HIM! I might as well go to a shopping now..."

*mumbles cutely as Reid's heart starts to beat harder and faster since... the box is huge and is that double chocolate and honey muffins he smells?*

"Firstly, here is your favourite coffee with lots of sweets just as you like it! And what coffee is good without some muffins next to it! I made two of your favourites, at least I think so since you always eat them, and just a heads up... I ate one because damn, did I do them so good!" *pushes them to his desk as he looks down at them with teary eyes because you spent your time doing something for him and up at you as you go on talking*

" Also here is one of the books you once mentioned reading, I think the historical one! That one was so hard to get and I had to follow you into the library you always go but I got distracted with how amazing it was... OH OH, AND I MADE YOU SOME CARDIGANS TOO! I noticed how you like wearing them and made them in your favourite colors! There are bow ties too! I had to hug you a lot of times to understand your body measures tho, I hope it was okay..."

"Then you mentioned you love pens of all kinds and I also bought some of the best ones I found and a notebook too... And the last is the best one!" *jumping in excitement*

"Hey Aaron, remember our hunt back in the national museum? And how the owner was so glad that he gave us free entrance for a year? NOW IT'S SPENCER'S, ISN'T THAT AMAZING! I expect you to bring me too since Aaron here or his wife doesn't enjoy me drowning them with sacred knowledge about the Ancient civilizations."

"Someone has a favourite, I see~" -Derek Morgan who is smiling like an idiot

"Oh please, since I kinda claimed him as my new best friend I had to do so. Besides, you are all my new friends too! Do you know how long I watched you..."

*Spencer slowly taking all of the items one by one as he looks at them, the cardigans being soft and comfy, his favourite muffins are still steaming and the pens... the pens were amazing!*

*Spencer looking at you as you wait for his approval with a smile, tilted head at him cutely and he does something he never did before: hugged you.*

"Thank you, Agent Y/L/N... You didn't have to..."

"Nonsense! You are my friend now, and you will feel it! And please call me Y/N!*gasps dramatically while turning to look at Hotch while still hugging Spencer who had a lovesick smile* "Can he sit next to me? Pleeeease!"

"Okay, okay he can...But you are not gonna sabotage his work- Who am I kidding?" *exasperated dad sighs as you pull him towards his new desk right next to you, excitedly telling him something*

"I bet my ass they are gonna get together in less than two weeks..."

Baby-girl 1: So... Mom basically called dibs on dad?

Baby-girl 2: And he wore cardigans? I KNEW THAT LOVE CAME FROM HIM!

Baby-girl 3: I want to be like mom so much...

Baby-girl 1: You did almost the same with your boyfriend in highschool 🤔🤔

Baby-girl 3: Yeah, I know...

Baby-girl 4: *baby noises*

*all the girls giggling as they continue to look at the photo Auntie Penny took at the first day where their parents are already looking at each other with love*

P.S: God knows all of them need a soft moment and someone loving them unconditionally.

P.S: How cute it would be if they sticked together for 16 seasons tho-

P.S: Am I too invested? Yes. Am I gonna write this? Yes.

*slowly writes it down on the wip*

[daresplaining]

opinions on the red fist saga? :0

Resoundingly negative, unfortunately. I actually only just read it, because I was having a rough time with it while the issues were coming out and so decided to put it off until I was in a better headspace for it (or until I saw a preview for an issue that excited me and gave me the motivation to catch up, which is what happened with next week's anthology issue).

As I said, I disliked this story very much, so if you aren't interested in hearing me rant (perfectly fine! I wouldn't blame you!), read no further. I really hope you liked it. I really don't want to get you down if you did. This whole run was just the epitome of Not For Me.

Ahem.

The "Red Fist Saga" is, in my opinion, a flimsy "Shadowland" knock-off, centered around the abrasive, moralizing religious zealot who has been inhabiting Matt Murdock's body for the past few years. Elektra Natchios, an incredibly complex character whom I love dearly, had her backstory savaged to remove its autonomy and complexity (that's a rant for another post...) and exists in this story as an accessory to this Matt look-alike and as a handy target of his moralizing (at one point he comes to the revelation that this recent journey she has been on has been worthwhile because it was all about God saving her from her wicked ways!!, at which point I may have blacked out from rage for a few seconds). Matt and Elektra GET MARRIED, and the implications of this massive shift in their relationship are not explored at all. And phew...the less said about Sam Chung's single scene, the better. As was true throughout Zdarsky's entire run, Matt speaks and thinks in this story like he is reading a prepared speech at all times, making grand-yet-hollow pronouncements about the nature of good and evil. He doesn't sound like a real person, but rather like a robot that has been fed a steady diet of religious texts, along with a few surface-level social/systemic reform concepts. His personality consists of being alternately sad, angry, and making lofty proclamations about "fighting evil in the service of God's plan", and I just have no emotional investment in that. I'm not Catholic (and neither, until recently, was Matt Murdock, making this whole thing profoundly weird).

There were some cool elements to this story. I'm a huge Stick fan and I'm thrilled that he is finally back from the dead after all these years. I love Stilt-Man. I love Speed Demon (for some real Speed Demon goodness, go read Superior Foes of Spider-Man, one of my favorite comics of all time). Foggy had a few good panels. I got to read Milla's name; always a treat. Kirsten didn't actually die. Mike was...mentioned (I've already griped about his death; I won't do it again here). The twist that Foggy and Stick were actually already dead was effective and very cool and I didn't see it coming at all, so I will give full credit for that. And I'm someone who genuinely does enjoy Hand shenanigans. I love that stuff when it's done well. But the degree to which I could not stand this new Matt and did not care what happened to him or what he was doing, plus the fact that I had seen all of these plot points executed already, and better, by previous Daredevil teams, meant that this story was just a protracted slog through painful writing, past scene after scene that could have been so much better in the hands of a different creative team or centered around a version of Matt Murdock who was actually a compelling protagonist.

[humanmorph]

PAL46 posting

Intro Talk

At the beginning of a Media Club+ episode Keith said something about sounding like an idiot because he'd go "these episodes were amazing" every single time & that is how I feel about PALISADE intros. But this one's. It's really good. I love when Friends at the Table is so good it makes me grimace. I've said it often now but the intros this season are just next level… They started SO incredibly strong with the podcast framing in the Road to PALISADE & then while going back (for the most part!) to a familiar structure did not let up on quality even a little.

The character intros + hooks reaaaally got to me what a smart way to point back at the history that these characters have and are bringing with them now to the finale! It's just so well done. + what a last line. "Do you miss home?" like damn!!!! okay!!!!!!!! I haven't went around to read posts yet so I'm curious if people have a guess at the speaker, if there even is an in-universe one? But I thought of it as adressed to Perennial.

The og Phrygian description is still so good btw. I remember being extremely delighted when I first heard it in PZN

"Wires and cables ripple and snap, sympathetically vibrating with the noises around them, contained within a buttoned white shirt and a tailored velvet jacket. The dancing components make an altogether convincing face."

Also I think "Eclectic. And easily." is just a cool thing to say. I think I was laughing about it at the time. But it really was cool I love the tryhard cool but also actually cool weird robot detective guy I'm truly so fond of him. I'm glad he's the one to follow up Phrygian who I DO still miss… but I would be a lot more upset about their end/the character switch if I didn't genuinely enjoy Eclectic.

The fact that all (most? does he speak at the beginning before Future talks? "You stole my power. I stole your voice." is adressed to Gur, but is it in response to something? Truly can't make out most of what's being said there.) of what we get from/about Gur here is the moment of their death that they've seen over and over and over again is honestly just. Oh it hurts. He's not a PC obv so it's not the same but it being played next to the character introductions & their hooks as most important convictions it's really like… this defines them in a way they can't escape (especially not now). As an aside I'm curious if Austin did another read on those lines or if this is from the old file? You can't make them out as clearly in the intro they're from (they're more heavily layered). Loooooove the desperation & sudden force on the "Don't!" still. I'm happy that R2PAL intro got this shoutout - with the narration from Layer Luxurious finally not being warped & completed too! I've heard that intro SO many damn times there was a real feeling of... not comfort necessarily but strong familiarity? To me it looms maybe as large over PALISADE (season) as the actual episode 01 intro (Nothing is stationary. Not even corpses are stationary! But we gotta start moving now. 1500 days since etc. etc.). Oh!!!!! Gur Sevraq!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hearing this I also immediately thought of the most recent clapcast where Austin talks about having notes for intro narrations like yeah damn I bet those were really needed with this one. And these overlapping ones must be really wild to edit/produce too - because the effect of a cacophony of sorts is obviously intended ("But is too loud on Palisade.") but you do want the listener to pick out what's actually being said. And then what overlayers of course has to match too. It's just good shit!!! I honestly always want more producer chat from Ali it's so interesting to me. It's sad she can't interview herself though she of course shares stuff when talking to the others on Gathering Information, it's not quite the same... She just asks good questions & does a great job as a host, but she can't really do that for herself.

General Thoughts…

It's fun to have everyone there : ) I enjoy it generally and also to have Art & Jack playing characters again.

listening to the recent Gathering Information Jack doesn't say who they play but it was on my mind until I listened to the episode & I was hoping they'd pick August over General Morning (who I STILL mentally mix up with Mourningbride. Like not actually the characters but I keep picturing her as a Hypha even when I know she's not) or just go with something entirely different. This is good though

for some reason I was so sure Austin would also play a character (maybe Elle?) but it makes sense he doesn't (is facilitating) (7 people are already more than the game intends to be played with).

Questlandia sounds cool so far. I like the preferred weaknesses (& the weaknesses as a move you can make in general!) and the controlled facets a lot. Curious how the relationships play into everything. This has me exited because I didn't particulary care one way or another about the PZN finale game & I do think it impacted my enjoyment somewhat… It is actual play after all so it's always more fun when I can get excited about mechanics and not just the story, and to see how both interlock.

ALI: And then I can play Broun as- Broun can be as doubtful as they need to be now, hehe. AUSTIN: Wait a second, who? ALI: (panicked) Who?! (laughing) I gotta go. I'm sorry, I can't do this tonight. I gotta- (laughing)

^This was sooo funny. I extremely didn't notice until Austin said it either. Also. The hehe : J… I'm so excited for finale Brnine. Absolutely no clue if they're gonna make it through this.

Happy about both Delegates and Afflictions being facets : )

also pretty happy with the relationships (everyone going we NEED Brnine/Thisbe here was so real. There's so much history & their bonds have, ever since PZN, been bangers and so important to both characters… Very fun that it starts out exhausted on both ends too). I think Eclectic & August could have worked out a relationship on account of them both being Delegates - one who lead their revolution and one who left Palisade behind at the first possible opportunity - but I digress. I'm glad for the Brnine-Eclectic connection instead. The Cori & Clem ones are really good too.

They're having fun this episode. They're being so funny and I don't want to keep writing out bits I laughed at but "He's a teapot" in the tone of well OBVIOUSLY Eclectic is cool was. very good. So true : )

ALI: Uhm yeah, I've written three [goals] to be annoying, (AUSTIN: You gotta pick one.) but I'm - I'm now considering the first one Valences and the second one is Phrygians, so I'm allowed to have all of them. AUSTIN: (cross) No. You do not. SYLVI: Oh my god. KEITH: Wow. ALI: And I've written - (laughing) I've written: "Make life better", "Bloody their noses" - I can still read it! - and then "Connect to the wider network of Millenium Break". (SYLVI laughs) And I will be taking six obstacles, please. AUSTIN: No, you will not. There we go. Connect to the wider network - SYLVI: (cross) Brnine is addicted to the trenches, like… (ALI & AUSTIN laugh) ALI: (very genuine) Come on…!

^OBSESSED with this so I DID have to type it out. I know it's like not feasible mechanics wise but ooohh i wish it was real... I wish she could've kept them... it's both so funny and extremely good. Ali rules. And I love BRNINE Also Austin's very resolute 'you can't do that.' tone really makes me laugh

Overall very enjoyable episode. Relaxing even, I love getting rules explained to me. I love when Friends at the Table character creation/set-up takes over 2 hours. I hope the finale is over 6 episodes long (maybe finally beating out the Second Spring?) & I hope at least two of them are over 3 hours long. None under 2 hours. This kind of feels like I'm putting a curse on them honestly but I do want it

& lastly if you read all the way through here's some haters (unrelated) (i just think of them often)

[isa-ghost]

✨️ A (Witchy) AMFMN Update ✨️

Also I finally admit I'm famous at the end, war is over and yall won, come read my confession /hj

Spoke to Apollo about AMFMN struggles just now. I say struggles but that sounds scarier than it is, really I just mean grappling with motivation and the energy to write for long periods of time.

It boiled down to the fact that I won the battle against my grief with QSMP ending and no more ongoing Death Family content, but it cost me my motivation to write. That's not to say that the fic is dying or anything, basically I just need to find a new source of motivation, even if that motivation is myself.

But as long as I stay in-tune with myself and keep at writing because I WANT to rather than relying on something fueling me to keep going, I'll be good. Which is what I Have been doing, it's just not been easy. But that's to be expected.

He ended things off saying don't feel discouraged just because the process has gotten a little harder and slower. If I'm ever struggling with motivation or something else to do with the writing process, I can always come to him for guidance and encouragement.

Tbh I really needed to hear the last part even though I already kinda knew it. I'm not entirely sure how me being cheered on by him and him being SO INVESTED in Phil and AMFMN has looked from an outside pov, but Apollo genuinely has been such a devoted fanboy and a great mentor through baby's first huge creative endeavor in a fandom. I've always stuck to OC and original stuff, so fanfic has been a really interesting and different experience.

Also for shits n giggles I asked him if I'm actually "famous" like everyone's been insisting because I love enabling him to be silly with messages. A while back he actually told me AMFMN was gonna pop off and get popular and stuff like that but I never really felt like it had? And some of my other circle members had echoed this to me too, but I still never felt that moment of like "okay yeah, it's popular."

Surprisingly, the first of two tarot cards he just gave me about "being famous" is actually a legit answer. He was saying don't be afraid to indulge the ego sometimes, it's okay to do that if you're not being a dick about it. I did something cool and I deserve to enjoy the pride I have in the success of the fic. And my refusal/denial to do so is kind of rooted in my broader issue with self confidence and whatnot. So lowkey he's bonking me on the head for Indeed Being Just Like Phil, Who Can't Actually Take A Fucking Compliment Or Praise.

The second card he pulled about it was sillier, since that WAS the intention of me jokingly asking him if he did think I was "a famous author." And of all fucking cards to pull he pulled DEATH. Which is SO FUNNY because *gestures to Phil's ties with death* but ALSO THAT CARD IS GENERALLY SO ALARMING TO PULL?? The gist of what he was saying with it is that if I stop letting self image related bs cloud how I look at "my popularity" so to speak, it'd actually hugely boost my confidence and lead to even more success with the fic. And while he can't confirm it'd get me "noticed" by Phil (as some people have for Some Reason said it should, it's not my goal), however that would go down, that IS a possibility. He just kinda said "take the fucking compliments, idiot. If you stay humble without downplaying things, you COULD pop off to the degree some people are already saying you should.

Which tbh,, I DID have a Phil pegs member recently put in perspective that most fics don't pass 1k hits on AO3. I don't know how true that is bc I Didn't Go Here (fic writing) until I got the idea for the AMFMN, but the fact that it has over 8k hits is apparently a huge deal?? And I guess my newness and inexperience with the fanfic scene just has kept me unaware of that?? So statistically speaking, AMFMN *is* famous? Which I just still cannot fathom LOL.

Idk, it's weird to think about. I legit do feel like just some guy who's simply passionately vocal about This Cool Thing I'm Doing. But I will admit, even if I don't Feel "famous" and can't take praise to save my life, it's been genuinely really sweet to have people drowning me in compliments and stuff??

And if I'm being honest, it really does motivate me to keep going, because it's nice to know that people really really like the thing I'm doing. People theorizing and being invested in the story has been the #1 thing making AMFMN so fun. I LOVE watching people try to work out what's gonna happen, when I'm foreshadowing, and yelling at me when I nuke them with angst.

I guess that's a long-winded and self-reflective way of saying thank you to everyone who's been so ride or die about AMFMN so far. Like seriously. It's hard to actually Process all the love but it means the world to still receive it??

But yeah, uh. God says I'm famous guys. Guess I have to admit it now. /silly

Anyway, AMFMN may be slower to update (for now) but I do absolutely mean it when I say it's not gonna die. I am legit too excited about shit I have planned to let it happen.

I wanted to finish Chapter 7 by yesterday but Shit Happened and so I'm gonna try to aim for this weekend instead. If I remember correctly I don't have any plans Saturday so,,, PauseChamp

Also as a quick note, I was gonna say this in the tags but it should actually probably be seen by people: #AMFMN things is the tag I use to save my own posts related to the fic on my blog, BUT if anyone wants to, or is already making theories, art, shitposts, memes, or just generally posting about the fic, I DO check that tag sometimes to see if there's anything not from me. So uh. If you haven't used it already, definitely feel free to use that tag for your own stuff related to the fic too, I will be looking. I 1000% want to see anything and everything people might be saying or posting. It's by far the most rewarding part of writing the fic. :)

[velvetvexations]

That sounds a lot like my interpretation of Boys Will Be Bugs~!

I bent over backwards and crafted an elaborate theory as to why Eminem's Abracadabra isn't too terribly transphobic, I can't judge anyone for making excuses for the media that's important to them.

I don't think characters just being heroic and sympathetic necessarily covers getting something like this badly wrong, but a lot of other Velveteers also chimed in, including this anon:

(Just realized this is pretty silly, feel free to ignore me/not answer this, I just saw One Piece mentioned and the hyperfixation jumped out.) But just to go to bat for One Piece a smidge as someone who is trans and read all of it, while yeah Okama(Queen Ivan) leaned very transmisognistc(which was made worse in the anime for some reason??) the intention for him, his subjects, and the other gender fluid character, Bon Clay, was meant to be good. It fell HELLA short, but there was an attempt at least. However!! I did want to add, the comic has been going on for a long time, and by one of the more recent arcs with two new, very clearly openly trans characters, things are MUCH better! The transfem one, Kiku, says outright when asked that she's a woman at heart which is accepted by everyone, and her story was really sweet and made me tear up(her anger is never treated as predatory or masculine, she's allowed to just be a woman who is also a samurai), and the other transmasc one, Yamato, is referred to as a boy by everyone despite him not changing his presentation at all, which is pretty rad imo given how hostile people can be to transmasc people with breasts, and both characters are allowed to bathe in the baths that match their genders at the end of the arc. They were still a little messy in the "yeah this wasn't written by a trans person" way, and certain misogynistic/transphobic parts of of the fandom on reddit get a little weird about Yamato, but I didn't see anything glaringly wrong with the way either of them was written like with Okama or Bon Clay. The vibe I got from the comic was that early on Oda meant well and included some characters who were intended to be positive rep but were messy and fell very short, but as time passed he figured it out and the more recent ones are genuinely phenomenal rep. Ofc that doesn't mean you need to read/watch OP(especially since again the transmisogny is worse in the anime?? still don't understand what happened there but Oda had no control over it) like god I would never tell anyone to do that lol, but I did want to just chime in and offer a perspective from someone who read it and felt like the more recent rep was really good and worth mentioning. Oda has his issues for sure, and has a lot to make up for, but based on what I've read he IS making up for it.

And, honestly, that makes me really happy! Oda always seemed like a cool guy and it's great to know he is in fact a real cool guy. According to @changelingfangs in the replies, he's friends with people in the subculture he based a lot of those characters on.

They're now just openly accusing me of not being a trans woman because trans women don't identify as AMAB and I'm apparently hostile to every trans woman that talks about transmisogyny.

...no?

It's a good theory and I think that plays a part in it for sure, but I think mostly it's just thinking it's the worse thing because it's their group's oppression. It again kinna goes back to that Lennon/Ono song with the n-word in the title, that's just how radical feminism works, trans/misogyny is the only thing that really matters.

Still, interesting thread to have spotted here and I think it's in that soup somewhere.

imagine thinking using a meme format is asserting a cultural claim to it

like seriously, has any Black person ever said that there was something wrong with "deracializing" either or even both characters in the Dis _ Look So Mad meme by substituting them with white characters?

[beartitled]

Bear i genuinely need to know if you are on 15 coffees. How did you do that so detailed and nice????? How did you nake it so cool???? How do you have the talent and motivation???? How long did you draw to achieve this godly skill???

💕💞❤️💖💕Awwwww thank you 💕❤️💖💕💞❤️

Fun fact I actually don’t drink coffee (😨*shocked audience sounds*😨) or at least drink it very rarely, I dunno it just makes me more sleepy? for some reason? which is hilarious in this context

Hehe man I need to concentrate, but I can’t stop smiling

I’m very happy that people actually liked my picture book, it legit sends me away because it’s a personal project which took a ton of effort

Like fan arts, megadrawings, fan comics those are also mean a lot and made with love, but this project feels like showing a part of your soul

And when you see people actually enjoying it- just- ❤️💕💖💞💕❤️*ecstatic bear noises*💕❤️💖💕💞💕 *happy tiny jumps*💖💕❤️💕💖💞💖

(oki lemme put all my thoughts under read more, bc I didn’t expect to write that much 💥)

Answering the questions

I just love detailed stuff✨ Plus when you work on something for a long time, you can kinda think of something or subconsciously add even more visual details

Motivation comes from just a wish to finish something most of the time

When I work on big projects (that take months for example) I tend to go into 💪grind💪 state, where you just dedicate your entire time to making something

It a very interesting thing, because your life literally becomes this project for a few months, you wake up with a goal and make your day as productive as possible (after I finish something I can have a mini crisis, like wait this thing is over, wait I can do something different.. no I NEED A PURPOSE 💥💥💥 *aggressively starts yet another comic*)

Also I feel like uni played a major role in my productivity rate, bc you can have multiple projects in one semester and plus to that an assignment that just adds on every week

Imagine like inktober, but you decided to take 5 more prompt lists and every drawing you make is criticised by professor (so you need to make edits or redo your entire work)

This type of constant pressure just kinda makes you a different person in a way, at least it was my experience with it

And how much time (hehe don’t make me blush it’s not godly 👉👈), well entire life basically + almost 4 years of uni

Also wanted to say for people who are starting or just feel overwhelmed by other artists skills:

🫵Everyone starts with crappy pony drawings 🫵 (at least I did) (man if I ever find my first drawings I will show them)

The funniest thing is, I started drawing not because I wanted it to be good or to impress people

I just wanted a pony picture 💥 in a funky dress 💥💥 and my mum said “I’m tired of drawing horses for you, go do it yourself” 💥💥💥 and I did 💥‼️💥‼️💥💥

A lot of people chuckled at me bc the drawings were crappy, but I didn’t care 💥📣🗣️I’m the one holding a paper horse in a dress, not you 💥📣🗣️

So like, don’t sweat it, no art is bad – you put effort, you made it, it’s already worth attention and love

The idea of “good” is flawed and very vague anyway

The feeling of doubt is also normal, everyone has it time to time, without it we wouldn’t be able to improve

Just don’t let those thoughts consume you: appreciate your work and yourself 🫵❤️

Anyway thank you for this ask, it’s very sweet of you ❤️

Makes me incredibly happy that someone likes my stuff 🥺❤️💕💖🥺❤️💞

[mapizb99]

SPOILERS!

Thoughts on the awakening movie

Ok so I have thoughts, not very organized thoughts but thoughts nonetheless

1) why was Marinette’s voice actress when she was singing SO DIFFERENT from her speaking one??? It took me out of the movie every single time.

2) there were too many songs and the fact that none of them were Ce mur qui nous separe is heartbreaking. At the third Marinette song I was rolling my eyes. Plus they all felt pretty same-y and I didn’t think any of the, were particularly good.

3) the scenes felt SO disjointed! Like they had some cool storyboards but weren’t quite sure how to join them together.

4) the whole story felt kinda like that to me, like they couldn’t quite explore all the elements they wanted to include and relies a lot on the fact that we already know (and love) the characters, like if it was my first approach to the universe I’d feel like the movie was rushed and shallow.

5) on a more positive note the animation was incredibly beautiful, a few characters felt a little too baby faced but the lighting and textures really made this very pretty to look at.

6) what was Gabriel’s villain song? It’s like they had an interesting idea but they just couldn’t deliver (which unfortunately rings true for most of the movie)

7) related to Marinette and her many many songs was her character arc, it felt kinda all over the place, like her whole “gotta face my fears” lesson was learned like three different times and not once in a fulfilling way.

8) Alya was kinda mean at the beginning? Did anyone else feel that way?

9) Tikki’s rap was SO CRINGE and the bit in Hawkmoth’s song where he gets a hat and poses un a rap-y way was so weird as well. Like come to think of it they were probably referencing “friends in the other side” but it only makes this song seem way worse by comparison.

10) the movie had serious issues with its rhythm and pacing, with the whole story but also in every scene.

11) kinda related to that but their mouths sometimes would not move with the dialogue? At first I assumed it was because it was made for French first but I could very clearly read their lips in English just not in sync with the sound.

12) the kwamis (genies in this movie apparently, ugh) were characterized in such a weird way, it was like trying to be Tikki but not quite getting there. I did enjoy when she got all wide eyed and musterious, it kinda goes with her being super old and powerful.

13) Plagg??? Being mostly just a fart joke??? 0/10

14) that and Chat feeling so unimportant.

15) Chat also fell in love way to fast, and like it didn’t feel genuine? Like they barely knew each other and Marinette wasn’t like particularly impressive yet for him to be fawning over her.

16) after the little montage tho? I loved their dynamic and relationship, and I really liked their little fight on the roof

17) the movie was sprinkled with little scenes and moments that were enjoyable and well crafted, but even if they were emotional moments they just didn’t feel earned and were kinda buried under a bunch of mid scenes.

18) I did like that Hawkmoth was dealt with in the spam of one movie, 11/10 much more realistic for his abilities than 5 seasons.

19) most of the jokes didn’t land because the timing of them was so weird, like long pauses or they were delivered too fast.

In general there were some bits that I enjoyed and the animation was obviously gorgeous (even if the pacing brought it back a bit) but maybe I had too much hype but I was disappointed. Still I’m certainly inspired to try some fan art and will save stills from the movie cause they were so beautiful.

I probably didn’t make a lot of sense but I needed to get everything out there!

P.S. HOW COULD THEY CUT JUST BEFORE THE KISS?!! UGHHH!!!

[comparativelysuperlative]

What was the book? With the Definitely Real Banishment

Spoilers (obviously) but it's the Lightbringer series. That villain was pretty good! The word-by-word writing is fine! The plot is, for several books' worth, aimed at being Very Generic Fantasy (for reasons that will make sense later). Incoming long post about its philosophy, with even more spoilers.

It's not often that I read a book and immediately go "I can tell you what kind of middle school this author went to." In this case, it was drawing on the author's experience of exactly the theology I grew up with, which was almost eerie.

(I read book one years and years ago, and didn't retain much other than "cool magic system." Probably everything in this post is true about book one as well, but I wouldn't know.)

Google will tell you that the series gets gradually very Christian, to the point where the climax of the last book contains a sermon. But it's more specific than that. These books scream "Protestant, American, classically educated, does not travel internationally very often, male, straight, probably white, the kind of person who would vote straight-ticket Republican until that meant Trump at which point all bets are off." I did not bother confirming most of those. They're just obvious.

The loudest part--to me at least--was the "classically educated." (If you're not familiar, it's this thing.) The series would mention quotes from fantasy medieval Catholics or fantasy ancient Greeks or whatever, and I'd recognize the quotes or the names because they'd be real people I ran across in school. Sure enough, author went to Hillsdale.

Lightbringer is interesting for having an actual vision of a conservative society, not just about hating the right/wrong people. Not being on that team anymore I don't actually like this vision very much, but compared to current conservatives, credit for having one at all.

Differences between people obviously don't affect your value as a person, they just might make it easier or harder or mean you have to specialize differently to accomplish as much For The Group.

(That opinion makes perfect sense for characters in an elite military unit/training for that unit. But that context is mostly specific to book two, and the philosophy really isn't.)

This applies to everything. Physical condition, including strength/weight/gender. Color-blindness. Superpowers. Being straight. (I'm genuinely not sure if that part was intentional. Characters kept getting distracted at terrible times, and the narration outside their head sounded exactly the same as when someone can't run a mile without Trying Very Hard.)

It does not matter whether your mental illness turns out to be literally demons in your head. Either way you've still got to either work through it or specialize around it.

Tradition matters, even when we don't understand the reason behind it.

If you happen to be in a fantasy book and have access to magic, consorting with demons is evil but fancy physics is fine. You can just BET this author got into fights with other Christians about whether Harry Potter was anti-Jesus.

"Irredeemably bad" isn't really a thing. "Not in fact going to be redeemed" is, but it's worth trying to show mercy if you have the chance. If you don't have the chance, kill 'em. Don't enjoy it, though.

Forgiving people for actually-bad things is hard, can't just go "idk, they're good guys now," but it's also important. (I do think this is underrepresented in secular fiction, where it's either depicted as "how could you work with THEM" or "come on, get over it already and team up against the whatever.")

One of the big reveals at the end is "the Christian God is real." The answer to the problem of evil is indeed the popular answer in the denominations I grew up with. Human choices something something mumble free will.

Very incrementalist. You do as much good as you can as fast as you can, but obviously without overthrowing the entire order or anything. Only evil opportunists would want to do that. Yes, even if the existing order is corrupt all the way through.

Speaking of which, you know that organization/political entity claiming to represent God? Corrupt all the way through. God is more personal than that. Protestantism!

Personal morality matters. Your leaders absolutely must be good people, or at least trying to be, or you're screwed.

Personal morality matters. It is safe to assume you'll end up as exactly what your peers expect of you, so pick good peers.

A man should be faithful to one (1) wife. Viewpoint characters speedrun figuring out the philosophy behind this.

(IMO monogamy was a legitimate human rights win by early Christianity, relative to what came before, and I think something similar applies in this setting. But since the real-life alternatives today are so much better than women being property, giving this a lot of screen time sounded like the book is fishing very hard for things historical Christianity did right.)

Also, once you are married you Are Married. It's not that changing that would be unthinkable, just that if you do treat it as an option you're obviously doing it wrong.

Gay people don't exist. Any variety of non-straight, really. Nobody says that it should be that way. It just doesn't come up. Characters are written in enough detail that I can tell you how they'd react if you asked them, and it's mostly the "not my business" + "prefer not to think about it" kind of low-grade homophobia. A few would be explicitly okay with it. But it does not come up. If there were a gay relationship depicted, I'd expect it to be "coincidentally" problematic in some other way.

(I guess there's that one slaver-antagonist whose sexuality is just "sadist." Yeah, one might call that problematic.)

Practically dripping with Great Man Theory of History. There's a scene where the protagonist has a self-affirming/emotional moment about not relying on his family name and meritoriously earning his first kingdom. This is played completely straight.

Don't worry, he uses it for good. At least as much good as he can without overthrowing the existing order etc.

If there are end times prophecies, they might well be true but you can't trust any specific interpretation so it's wiser to just do your best without reference to the prophecy. (This is an interesting take! And not heresy but also not common! I bet the author's reacting against some interesting strains of fundamentalism there.)

A cool idea where angels and demons can be anywhere in any world at any time in history, but are very reluctant to actually do that because they can't pick the same time twice. You can just tell it's the author's Christianity headcanon.

You win by doing your best and having faith in God. The villains are very much a sideshow.

(I think if everyone followed this book's philosophy more it would be a mostly bad thing. Let's not do that.)

(But wow, I wish modern conservatives were only this bad.)

It probably sounds like I didn't like this series. But I did read five doorstoppers' worth. This post is just about the opinions, and the opinions sucked.

Anyway. This has to be on purpose, right, and 10 or 15 years ago I was pretty much the target audience for this. Guess I'm old.

I used to explicitly think "I'm Christian, but atheist fiction is more interesting," and this book is the kind of thing that...tries...to counter that. Fails, because resolving major conflicts with divine intervention is tricky to make interesting. But you'll see why it's going for Every Other Book, But Christian. (Also, the amount of sex in these books is much higher than you might think, given everything. I wish I knew less about what body types the author is attracted to.)

Anyway, I can't really say I would recommend it. But if you're interested in what would happen if Card or Sanderson tried to be Evangelical Lewis for adults, Lightbringer isn't bad.

[honeymilkbubbletea]

Okok but hear me out on why i think Hobie has Poseidon kid energy(ifydm!!And i just wanna give deets,not force you to agree!):So Hobie is implied to be carribean,specifically jamaican(he uses jamaican slang in addition to cockney and Brown is one of the most common jamaican surnames),he can have a shark motif because he gets a bad rep for self-defense but is actually a sweetie and a cutie pie,he wants to 'destroy' the system(Perseo means destroyer)and he's 100% seapunk in interests-He's totally got the vibe that his favorite kind of jamaican food is the sea food,he's a canon Team Dad so 'father Neptune',i think he'd be a surfer and diy seashell/pearl/etc jewelery(as a Gwen gift mayhaps?She's got such mermaid energy)and yk him with that mermaidcore hair dye instead of the whitewashing he got in Arms Race.Also his simps' reaction to him remind me of the 'Hello Sailor' meme /lh

FINALLY! I have time to form a cohesive answer! (SO Sorry it took SO long, I didn't forget I sewer 🙏)

Anyways, back to question~

Overall, everything you said is valid, and the fact that these two are so alike is kinda crazy actually 😳

It's just that I don't want him to fill in the role of Percy? If that makes sense?

I said something similar looong time ago while I was making The Owl House AU for HTTYD, I don't want these characters to fill in the roles of canon characters from that universe, it's more like the concept stays the story is different

I don't know if I'm making any sense, I'm really bad at explaining my thoughts 😅

But that's kinda why I chose Artemis/Nike (still haven't decided) for Gwen

At first, I was like "Oh she totally could be Annabeth" but then I didn't want her to be Annabeth. It's still Gwen just put into ✨️a situation✨️

Also, I think it's so hard with Hobie to settle on a God that "would suit him" (at least for me) cause a lot of gods actually suit him 😅

I guess it's because in that short amount of screen time he got, we saw SO many of his character traits! He's so interesting!

Like, on some other ask (I will respond to soon!) I got asked if Eris would fit, and in my head I was like, yeah, it would 🤷‍♀️

Also to clarify, while I'm thinking about gods I don't think of Percy Jackson depictions of them

Mainly cause I read these books when I was 14, and my memory is a little bit blurry

Okay, it all probably sounded like "um actually my version is better than yours 🤓���️"

if it did, I'M SORRY! It's totally not my intention 😣

I actually genuinely think your analysis and parallels you made are freaking awesome!

Like yeah, you sat down, took your time and wrote this. How cool is that?