#like their shit was waaaay to basic

[bubblybloob]

I can't help now but imagine that when Cold finally falls prey to the hibernation scheme (as they all will, eventually 👁👁) Hunted will take the opportunity to put him in the washing machine until the mange crust is all gone.

First of all, who’s to say they fall to the hibernation? 👁️👁️

Secondly, NO DON’T WASHING MACHINE MY BOY I’VE BEEN THERE IT IS HELL HE WON’T SURVIVE-

[thewhizzyhead]

okay um so how utterly shocked and/or disappointed would you guys be if I told you that the one thing that has finally convinced me to actually check out Starkid's The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals,,,was a video of the musical's closing number filled with literally all of the musical's spoilers + a plot twist and a breakdown that is clearly meant to be experienced um chronologically for it to have the most impact especially considering that it HEAVILY involves the show's two main characters and that said twist HEAVILY relies upon ummmm yea actually having watched the fucking musical properly first-

[floral-hex]

uuuuugggghhhhh tumblr fucked up the mobile app again. The new update replaces your profile tab with one for tumblrmart 😑, so if you haven’t updated the app yet, maybe hold off until they (hopefully) correct this. In the meanwhile, I can’t easily flip between my drafts and my profile so I can’t really do my whole color-coordinated bullshit, so… I dunno. I’m sure I’ll still post a little bit, but this all just makes it a biiit too much work for what’s supposed to be a dumb little way to pass the time. What a hassle blegh blegh blegh

[andhumanslovedstories]

chapter eleven of what feels like the most soap opera ass fic I've ever written and then just a bunch of thoughts about writing it, which contains vague spoilers for my plans:

The inception of the fic basically went like this:

haha lol i'd be fun if sqq got real mad at the state of education

what would need to happen in this fic that doesn't happen in canon to motivate him to do something about it

oh shit he didn't unlock OOC so he has to figure out how to be his coddling indulgent self (which he's in denial about) while also being shen jiu

But the thing that really made the story get so much bigger in scope was when I was reading a fic with yqy coming clean to sj, and sj being like, "GASP. I forgive you." And I was "I simply do not believe that this is how it would happen." And I would have moved on with my life, but then I thought, "but like how would it happen." And more importantly, how could this conversation happen within the canon timeline but still involve Shen Jiu, the person this information affects.

The OOC idea and the need for Shen Jiu to be present in this fight scene came together to be like "what if sqq got sj's memories so he could rules-lawyer his characterization more accurately, and ends up being furious on sj's behalf?"

(This, btw, is why I knew I had to get much fonder of YQY and get a much better understanding of his character. When a pillar of your fic idea is a character getting ripped into for his choices, it is sooooooo easy to for it to come off as the author yelling their personal opinions or for it to be completely flat character bashing. Neither are interesting to read or write! Hence the crash-course in YQY appreciation, so now he gets his own emotional arc too. Everyone gets a goddamn plotline.)

Meanwhile I was also thinking about the implications of downloading another person's life into your head. If you have their memories and their body, are you them? What makes you not them? I didn't know! I sort of just kept writing and posting with the assumption that I'd figure something out, which I've finally nailed down btw. That's a relief! Also kinda the fun of WIPs where you're building the railroad track as you're on the train. I end up fanficing my own fanfic. Once stuff is posted, that's the canon, and I look at it and think, "if this was a book I was reading, what is the way I would extrapolate what's there to make a new but coherent story?"

That's why my outline becomes pretty useless after a while. The big picture doesn't change too much--I know roughly where all the major characters are going to be emotionally by the end of the story--but I discover the path I'm going to take there. Which usually means adding stuff. Liu Qingge wasn't going to get a POV, and now every chapter I'm like "fuck am I building a throuple". Ming Fan will have waaaay more a story line than I originally conceived. Early on, I was like "eh I'm not going to go too far into the brothel stuff," and can you guess what is going to be coming up prominently in the next few chapters? God help me.

Actually, there's only one major part of the outline that I cut: Shang Qinghua. He was originally very prominent early on, but turns out having the literal Word of God in a story about slowly discovering backstory is difficult to reconcile. So sadly, he doesn't get a real role. If you're curious, the original plan for him was that SQQ would realize he's a transmigrator much earlier in the canon, but the System would be like [shen jiu would not tell shang qinghua he is a transmigrator. ooc] which would lead to this series of SQQ trying to figure out how he can communicate around this. SQQ at a peak meeting being like, "do you think these DEMONS are PROUD of having made their WAY to us IMMORTALS?" while SQH is like, "AM I HAVING A STROKE?"

What's some other stuff about this fic? I've got a lot of thoughts bottled up, in part because I'm kinda snobby tbh in how I post. I'm like "*pushes glasses up my nose* the author's takes on the story should not be unavoidably present when reading the text" so I don't like to use ao3's author's notes. It's ridiculous and not a standard I hold anyone else too, but whenever I find myself wanting to address something in the notes, I know I must feel insecure about that part of the story. So either fix it or don't draw attention to it. But this is fine, you have to come here for this. This is DVD commentary.

My favorite part of writing this fic has been balancing Shen Jiu's character. As I'm fleshing out his sad backstory, I've been wary of essentially woobifying him. Reducing him to just someone who greatly suffered is so boring and flat. He NEEDS to suck. Or more accurately, he needs to be a very imperfect victim. Exasperating at his mildest, despicable at his worst. (Truthfully, I do think I can and should make him worse. Luckily this story is nothing but flashbacks to him at his worst so there's plenty of opportunities.)

This whole mental breakdown section has been an interesting balancing act because it's explicitly about how bad Shen Jiu's life was and now how bad Shen Qingqiu's is. It's the point at which I had to decide how torturous his time at the Qiu manor had been (me and Shen Qingqiu really discovered that together). On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the absolute worst saddest brutalist ideas I had for this era in his life, I'd say I settled on about a 7. Most of it is backstage in my head, but once I locked that down, I could start figuring out how much was bleeding through.

Anyway, it's been fun writing the angstfest of the last few chapters, but oh my god am I ready for a tone shift. There's usually jokes in my works, even the saddest bits, but jokes relieve tension which is the opposite of what I was going for. I didn't want any humor in the YQY conversation, then you have to keep not joking for a while to get the point across. There's still a lot of planned emotional shit, but I'm happy to not be wallowing for a while.

AND GOD AS MY WITNESS THIS STORY WILL NOT BE LONGER THAN 20 CHAPTERS. MAYBE IT'LL EVEN BE LESS!! IT IS DEFINITELY NOT GOING TO BE A WHOLE CANON REWRITE. PROBABLY!! IF TIANLANG JUN HAS ANY SIGNIFICANT SCREEN TIME, PLEASE KNOW THAT I HAVE FAILED.

[ew01z]

weird i feel like some force is compelling me to ask,,, what are your thoughts on krisnix and langworth during the 7 year gap with endgame narumitsu ?? the masses need to know

something crazy is happening ...... apologising in advance cause i think about this sooo much but have never articulated any of my thoughts on it but THANK YOU FOR ASKING this lives in my mind rent free

BASICALLY between the original aa trilogy and phoenix being disbarred, we know miles goes travelling, canonically he is a prosecutor in several jurisdictions but because i'm self indulgent i think he also took up lecturing at universities (unrelated, this concept just itches my brain)

at this point in time he knows he's in love with phoenix and has been for a considerable amount of time HOWEVER. because he catastrophises everything, he absolutely would have convinced himself that either phoenix is straight (looks left looks right) or he doesn't deserve phoenix or both. in the midst of this hardcore yearning, he meets lang Often. lang, who is actively trying to get into miles' pants quite brazenly (although i imagine miles doesn't notice at first)

they end up having this weird fwb situation wherein they sleep together, probably go on dates that aren't dates (sometimes case related, sometimes not) and imo end up like way more soft and intimate than the original fwb arrangement. but because miles is still yearning like a motherfucker, he's extremely emotionally unavailable. which would be fine except lang has definitely at this point caught some feelings

i'm imagining angsty shit like lang trying to hold miles' hand while they walk somewhere and miles just Not having it. or like wanting to cuddle/spoon after sleeping together and miles is like Nope. but because miles has developed some degree of care for lang, he feels super guilty about it so now he's brooding Even More. that being said, they still keep hooking up as the rules of toxic yaoi would dictate

on the OTHER hand we have krisnix which i saw someone describe as psychosexual warfare and honestly i can't think of a better way to describe it. phoenix definitely knew something was up with kristoph almost immediately. the issue w this is that unfortunately kristoph is also sexy so this posed a problem.

phoenix, who was undoubtedly extremely in love with miles, who didn't know if he possibly could or would ever confess this (especially now that miles is prosecuting abroad), originally got involved with kristoph both like professionally and in a sexy way because he was extremely intrigued with kristoph's terrifying vibes.

phoenix gets disbarred, adopts trucy etc etc, but as we know phoenix keeps kristoph close in order to try stop him from Literally Killing People and because he knew kristoph had a hand in the forged evidence that got him disbarred. however this Also ends up slightly more intimate than anticipated. phoenix hates kristoph's guts and yet .. they have toothbrushes at each other's apartments?? know how each other like their eggs in the morning?? i imagine even though trucy is young and extremely perceptive, she was also somewhat won over by kristoph too. in short, waaaay too in each other's orbits for either of their likings.

while all this toxic yaoi is going on, miles and phoenix have kept in touch sporadically. miles offering to fly home in a heartbeat because he knows phoenix is innocent and phoenix having his weird complex about accepting help. not wanting to tell miles too much because he knows kristoph knows Everything.

however, miles flies phoenix (and trucy too sometimes) out to wherever he's based to try covertly prove phoenix's innocence by looking at the evidence again, other case documents etc. during this time, i think they realistically both realise they're in love with each other but ultimately can't act on it due to distance and the kristoph situation. it would be at this point that miles halts the fwb situation with lang (angst likely ensues, although i imagine lang saw it coming to some extent and knew miles was truly in love with phoenix). however it's more complicated for phoenix, who has to keep up the appearance of normality so kristoph doesn't suspect anything. the more emotional aspects of his relationship with kristoph like the toothbrushes in each others apartments etc etc stops and the fwb situation dies down, although its less eloquent and more messy than the langworth situation (which i imagine was more of an actual cut and dry breakup)

but eventually miles does come back to japanifornia and the events of aa4 take place. phoenix gets his badge back, gay kisses miles and realises that if shi long lang has no haters then he's dead. miles and phoenix are definitely both aware of the relationships the other had before they were together, however phoenix wright is jealous and a bitch so now he hates lang's guts despite having never met him.

the end!!!!! i'll honestly be really surprised if anyone reads this all as this was Very self indulgent. this is just how my head filled the blanks in canon in the messiest, gayest way possible and i'm so glad i had an excuse to post about it

[helluvapurf]

*deep breathes* Sooo, those last couple mins from the latest "Full Moon" ep... lets talk about that🍵🍵

Welp, here it is folks... the ep that finally gave us that hyped up "Asmodeon crystal" exchange teased at in the S2 Pt. 2 trailer. And... hooooo boi, I have formed so. many. thoughts. upon rewatching that scene a few times. Some that are... kiiiinda on the rant-y spectrum the more I lingered on 'em, so how bout I share them here lmao

Fair warning in advance, this maaaaay not be particularly "nice" to Stolas in these rambling thoughts, so if anyone out there's a big Stolas(+itz) fan... yall might wanna skip reading ahead- lol .w.;;

*claps*

Okay, so to start things off on a (semi?) positive note, the animation & lighting here is quite beautiful to look at. The glittery curtains, the shine in Blitz's eyes throughout his shifting emotions, even the shots of that one broken chandelier (which I thiiink might've been the same one him & Stolas played under as kids?) was a neat bit of symbolism ngl.

Props to Brandon Rogers as well for his voice-performance on Blitz here cause... gawd did it hit me in the heart how much hurt you feel from his yelling ;-;💔

Curious to see more of the use of Blitz's new Asmodeon crystal in future adventures (esp from that one shot in the trailer w/ him using the portal effects against the DHORK crew), it looks cool~ ✨👍

....ummmm, ok I think that about covers my positives atm. Onto the problems I have with this exchange:

Stolas... okay, you were this close to actually doing a good job ending the Full Moon deal. Admitting to how "wrong" the transaction part of their dynamic was, allowing Blitz more "freedom" via-the crystal (that could also help avoid any legal issues that the Grimoire gave), even wishing him good luck with his I.M.P. business as the night drew to a close... ...buuuuut then Stolas just had to muddle everything up by his whole "even tho you don't have to be with me, I want you with me if you want it~🥺" ...which honestly came off selfish to me than anything else?? Like, dude... if you really ARE regretful of how long you let this deal go for, and truly DO want to let Blitz go... you CAN'T throw in such sappy, lovey-dovey words on top of that?? Otherwise, how can one blame Blitz for getting as confused & flustered as he was throughout that convo... you've basically just sent even more mixed-messages in the grand scheme of things, my dude-🤦‍♀️

"I have wanted you for SO long, the fact that you couldn't believe that I might have these feelings about you, that your first instinct is that its always about sex..." ...Ummmmm Stolas... did you seriously forget HOW this whole deal of yall's started?? 🤨 Waaaay back in the initial-series pilot, to the first official ep, and pretty much the majority of Season 1:

As far as I checked, Blitz wasn't the one who kept making everything about sex... that. was all. YOU. 😒Heck, literally one of the first things you told Blitz upon reuniting as adults in "The Circus", was that you expected he wanted to "ravish" you-

-so like, get outta here with the whole pushing-the-perv-responsibility-bs onto Blitz... you ain't helping your case >>

Finally... like, it was already getting bad enough by the point of Blitz begging & pleading out of fear he'd lose his livelihood without the book, AND not being allowed space to breathe after getting further pushed away (and thus, more pissed off-)... but THEN on top of all this, Stolas just haaaaad to throw in this lil gem: "Blitz... I think so very highly of you. I didn't realize you think so low of me..." ...Stolas, with all due respect... stfu with that lousy, last-minute uwu-ing self-pity party crap😑Just because you TRIED to show more attentive care & concern post-"Ozzie's", outside of the typical bedroom stuff... that ain't gonna prove shit if you're not gonna be consistent with it. Where was that "high opinion" of Blitz during the two of you getting stuck in the sitcom set during "Seeing Stars", when Blitz was having that panic attack performing live, where all you ended up doing was... just hitting on him/praising his bedroom skills again?? 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

Like... couldn't you have just, I dunno... TRY to actually cheer him up/comfort him like an actual friend, would? Encourage him on his jokes, "just be yourself", promising another way out of there on his own merit... literally, anything could've worked fine and it wouldn't have come off so skeezy imho >>;;

...*sighs* so, yeah... thats basically what I had to get off my chest regarding the ending of "Full Moon". Honestly, had the writers actually committed to Stolas cutting off Blitz (even if harsh), giving the crystal with no strings, then going about their separate ways afterwards, I would've been totally fine with the scene tbh. But all this... odd lowkey-blaming of Blitz thrown in, the sappy words, and Stolas not once actually-apologizing during all this (Like, literally I checked and the only utterance of "sorry" seemed to come from Blitz's end before he got kicked out... for what, I dunno- 🤷‍♀️). Sorry for the length btw, but hopefully that about covers my thoughts on the matter-

[cannibaldollcasscass]

I wish I had the time to draw and doodle more to feed all of you 💔 but umumum I noticed that there just isn’t enough Cobra Commander content so here’s my personal interpretation of him. May be my own version ig but basically I combined lore from both the 1987 movie and the two comics in a way? Kept him being human thing but also the idea of him being in deep shit with an ancient alien race is funny to me. Also bonus a whiteboard doodle from like waaaay way back in December and I am not ashamed of putting him in that pose >:)c I wonder if I should give him back the mustache

[radiance1]

Back on my bullshit with the Eastern Dragon Danny and Phoenix Vlad au:

So basically, Vlad decided to go to sleep for a while, inside a modified coffin built to withstand him and all that. So, he tells Danny a specific time to wake him so that he could resume his duties as Duke.

Why did Vlad decide to take a really long nap? Because he was extremely tired of ghost zone politics and decided to just go fuck it, I need a nap.

The deadline he needed Danny to wake him up at is relatively short in ghost terms really, just about a period of 40 years, he's currently 20, so at the end of this he should just be an even 60. Which would give him plenty of time to finish forty years of work before his rebirth cycle kicked in again.

He gave Danny the key to said coffin, with its specific magical signature and everything. So he expected and trusted that Danny would awaken him within a span of forty years, perhaps a bit earlier if push came to shove.

Then he just went to sleep.

Danny doesn't like his decision to just, up and go sleep for forty years, only because he would have to be the one doing the paperwork but its like, whatever he guessed. Do Danny was now actually handling the paperwork and navigating ghostly politics once more!

Joy...

He was buried in work for a fair amount of time, sometimes literally, and had to kick it back for a bit before going back to work. He felt like he was forgetting something, though...

A key appeared under a stack of papers that he just worked through, a veeeeeeery familiar key that he was sure had some kind of importance based on that itchy feeling in the back of his skull.

Eh, it's probably not important.

Welp, back to work!

Danny worked in silence for a bit, before getting up and slamming his hands on his desk.

OH FUCK, VLAD!

It's been waaaay more than 40 years last he checked, enough time that Vlad must've rebirthed inside his coffin already by like, a lot of times by now.

Considering that 5 millenniums have passed.

Well, shit.

So he hid the key in his hair, shifted, and flew off to Vlad's domain to wake him up. But when he got there, weeeeell, let's just say that Vlad's coffin was. Well.

It was gone.

Now, you see Observants. He had a totally reasonable explanation for this, you know. It was uh, well, you know, he just, ya'know?

He just, kinda, forgot...

He'll get him back! He swears! He just, need to, ya'know, find the guy!

Couldn't be that hard!

Another five millenniums later, he felt like punching his past self for fucking jinxing future him! The Observants were literally breathing down his neck to find the guy, and he didn't want to go back to doing paperwork either!

His salvation came in the form of a summoning, one he answered and finally, finally found the location of Vlad's coffin. He honestly got extremely, he didn't want to face paperwork again, so he asked these group of heroes to help him find this specific coffin in exchange for whatever they wanted him to do.

And he's Ancient damn thankful he did cause oh boy, cause like 2 days later he was presented the coffin that was just sitting collecting dust in some magician guy's house that was apparently passed down throughout generations that the Justice League managed to get their hands on.

So he opened it, and literally had to catch Vlad, who fell out of his coffin and looked like a literal 10-year-old. Did Vlad's temporary retirement plan include his deadline of 40 years being stretched by 9,960 years? No, no it did not, and unlike the previous ghost king, he was not unaffected by the length of his sleep.

So forgive him if he had to relearn how to do basic body functions, his memory foggy, and his powers were a bit outta wack.

[o-sachi]

─── A Letter for @marushato ✦

If you have received this, it means you signed up for Sachi's Selfship Event !

TWINNNN. We only recently became moots but I alr love you. Thank you for hyping me up and feeding our delusions together. You seriously make my brain melt. I hope to see you annotate my future works as well meehehhheheh.

✉️ Attachment: ABCs with Narumi Gen

[A] Affection He likes to play it cool and pretend to be the nonchalant boyfriend in front of everyone. But who is he fooling? Absolutely no one. Everyone in the first division knows how clingy he is. Yes, that's pretty much 90% of his show of affection—just Narumi wanting to be around you 24/7. He also likes to share his stuff with you (he never shares ANYTHING, so you know you're special). Whether it's food, a game, or something he bought off of Yamazon—best believe that if you asked for it, he'd probably let you have it.

He's a sore loser too. But he'd gladly let you win when you play games together because he likes seeing you smile so widely.

[C] Comfort Narumi's a bit awkward when it comes to comforting you, especially since you're quite good at concealing your feelings. Like he knows you're not okay, but he's not sure what to do (like the vibes are off). At first, he might try to comfort you with his words. But he soon realizes he's not that good at it. So he tries to do things for you instead—like getting you your favorite food or giving you a massage. He gives you absolute princess treatment basically (he'd want to be treated like that if he were sad, so yeah!)

He also suddenly becomes nicer? LIKE who are you and what did you do to Narumi?

[D] Dates Most of your dates are spent indoors, either at your places or in your rooms at the base. You love playing games with each other. Even if all you do is play while talking to each other—y'all are pretty happy with that. But on the rare occasion that you both have a day off that coincides with each other's, you drag him out of his cave. You get breakfast/brunch/lunch together (dinners are too much of a hassle, y'all would rather be in bed by then). But there have been many instances wherein he practically begged you to join him at a convention. You guys buy figures together sometimes!

[J] Jealousy Like I said, he tries to act nonchalant about your relationship, but he's the biggest fake idgafer ever. He gets annoyed for two reasons: 1.) he's a naturally possessive guy, what's his is his; and 2.) the audacity of that person to actually try and take something from THE Narumi Gen? His ego could never. But he'll whine and moan about it before confronting that person. He'll ask you shit like, "Do you really love me or what?" You know it's bothering him when he transforms into the biggest drama queen. However... you don't really have to worry much about him. He naturally repels other "potential suitors" and he's waaaay too loyal to you.

[K] Kisses He almost fell to his knees the first time you kissed. You both remember it well because you two were arguing about something silly at the time before the major event happened. Narumi always gets butterflies in his tummy no matter what kind of kiss you give him. You'll also notice that he likes just about any kiss on the face—cheeks, lips, forehead, nose. Sometimes you still catch him blushing, but he'll start calling you crazy and gaslighting you for imagining things lol. (He was a terrible kisser at first, but you taught him well).

[O] Other People Everyone's a bit confused how the two opposites that used to butt heads all the time are suddenly together now. But through time, people are just glad that there's someone that can handle Narumi. Due to your relationship, he has become a bit more responsible. He attends meetings more than he usually would. Hasegawa is personally thankful that you do his work now (babysitting Narumi lol). But beyond that, they find you two to be the cutest couple ever. Both of you try to be the nonchalant one in the relationship, but you both know that y'all crazy for each other.

[X] XOXO His little act of love is that whenever he orders something from Yamazon (which is pretty much all the fucking time), he always makes sure to get a little something for you. He's confident he makes enough money to splurge on the both of you. Plus, he loves the bright smile on your face as you unbox his packages together. He ordered you matching figurines once (figurines from the same series/game) and he was sooooo proud of himself.

Thank you for participating. I hope you like it :3

Want to participate? Give this a read.

o-sachi © 2024 pls do not translate/copy/reupload my work on other platforms.

[sufferu]

I don’t think they would have reacted to rbd as seriously as they did in your fic nor would Subaru regress so much

I don’t think they would try to forbid him from going into life and death fights so much for they would already know how Subaru has risked his life so much (also Ricardo wouldn’t see an issue with Subaru befriending people who tried to kill him in the past since he was a mercenary they get into fights all the time and then turn around an pal with them

They wouldn’t be so overprotective

I mean…we’re talking about DEATH here. Not injury, or dishonor, or even maiming. It’s one thing for Ricardo to be lenient with violence or battles or whatever where everyone fought hard and did damage but now they’re cool, but like — someone DIED here. We’re talking about the kind of fate that everyone only ever expects to have to face once. And they JUST found out that this — this KID, who had zero formal training, life experience, basic support network, and who straight up attempted to pet the Great Rabbit because it looked cute and fluffy (and who’s around the same age as, even younger than Ricardo’s own adopted daughter) — just faced down that fate SEVENTEEN TIMES. To be frank, I think most react fics really downplay the sheer HORROR of a realization like that.

And knighthood? I mean, think about that from an in-universe perspective. Subaru took a look at what he was capable of — or more accurately, what other people were capable of doing to him due to his condition — and went “I’m going to put myself through this as many times as necessary in order to help the people around me :)”. Yeah, sure, Arc 4 would have dissuaded some of those fears, but — he became a KNIGHT. He took a knight’s vow that would involve him dying for his liege. That has WAAAAY different connotations once you learn that he’s already died for her SEVENTEEN TIMES.

(And as for him regressing…I mean, he just got re-exposed to the most traumatic shit that has ever happened to him all over again in front of a crowd of people while he could do absolutely nothing about it. If anything would cause someone to regress, it would be that.)

[summonademon]

Lukercy fic idea:

After TLO Luke is allowed into Elysium with the following conditions:

He won't be reincarnated for a while (the Gods want things to "calm down" in the mortal world before reintroducing a potential troublemaker)

He won't be reincarnated as a half-blood. Like, ever. They really don't want to have to deal with him ever again.

When Percy finds out about Luke's reincarnation sentence, he asks the Gods for the same thing.

Because, yk, "I never asked to be a half-blood."

And now he's asking to not be a half-blood.

Ever.

And what if Luke was there with him. He hears Percy's wish and his eyes go wide because Luke and Percy are soulmates, their fates are intertwined, Percy saw the moment his fate string was cut. If the Gods grant Percy's wish... they'll definitely meet again in their next life...hopefully minus the war and betrayal and all that bullshit the Gods put them through.

Percy basically did the soulmate equivalent of asking Luke to marry him...and in front of their parents! Holy shit. Their eyes meet and Percy looks waaaay too happy about this, gods, Luke is so flustered rn

The rest of the fic is a 4+1 or 5+1 of them being reincarnated and shenanigans

[bonefall]

Is there anything you wish that you could add into BB but can’t? Whether it’s just that it doesn’t work the BB’s themes or plot or that it deviates too far from canon?

Lots, honestly. If I ever did "sand off the serial numbers" I would do a ton of things.

Hollyleaf's Century would have waaaay bigger and more devastating consequences for the entire island. Not just the lake society. All of Albion would have been badly affected.

I've always been really fond of the idea that you first come into this world, assume it's pretty straightforward "oh! Cats in the woods! Simple enough!" And then slowly the lore reveals itself to be like "ARCHIMEDES' CAT SUCCESSFULLY INVENTED LAZER BEAMS ERGO THE ROMANS NEVER STARTED A CONQUEST OF NORTHERN EUROPE"

Im just incredibly fond of lore that looks basic when you're first introduced to it, slowly drops wilder and wilder shit, and refuses to ever engage with it lmaooo

Lots more name changes, more honor titles, etc

I would start tossing in OCs. I like the limitation I work with right now, it's a fun challenge, but I would be padding out allegiances significantly

Populations would get bigger, with more emphasis on Family rather than Individual. I would begin to give major bloodlines their own insignias.

Identifying with these insignias would be something cats grapple with. Everyone in Tigerstar's family, for example, would consider if they want to jump into their mate's families and modify their insignias or wear them with pride

A lot more would go into "aesthetic" production. Flax, leather, the fashion styles between the different Clans.

I'd mess around with more altars and hidden places where various cats go to worship.

For example I would LOVE to have a "dark library" which contains a lot of Ripplestar's strategies and battle plans, buried in the bog, that Runningnose uncovers through his channeling and Brokenstar goes to learn from

More magic stuff in general, a lot of it going back to Hollyleaf's Century. More types of curses and monsters, some of them just kinda showing up at times.

The ecology of Albion would be a bit wilder. Feral cattle, wild dogs, and horses, nothing too drastic.

Researchers would remain I love those guys. Might make some special "field guides" which are humorous journal entries and such. Occasionally they drop hints at the iceberg lore like, "this reminds me of the Great Egg Scramble of '24."

They'd mention some of the magic stuff and explain that humans have had a hard time researching it scientifically. Like Quantum Physics it doesn't like to work the same way when you observe it directly.

One of their specialists has a PHD in Alchemy or something like that

SkyClan would do a LOT more in the suburbs. Like, I would explicitly start working suburban foraging into their culture instead of just the occasional stealing they do.

Been thinking a lot about the boundaries between natural and urban spaces and how maybe it works best to challenge that "boundary" completely. SkyClan seeing itself in the dandelions that sprout between cracks in the pavement. Do you understand

I'd start adding in more spaces for people to break off from "canon." Like saying that sometimes the researchers capture "breakaway" groups to introduce them to other areas, sometimes they hop on trains and spread around Albion. Fanwork Gaps.

[solar-sunnyside-up]

Hey, I’m sorry to dump this on ya but your blog gives me a lotta hope and I just wondered if you had anything to say to my current ails- I am but a very anxious teen and I am so scared. I see so many people talking of how the world “Will end in 2040” or how “damn the past was so much better because it was simpler” and I am lowkey starting to believe that. I’ve got a problem with romanticizing a past I wasn’t even a part of and I really don’t want to live in some awful dystopian future and I fear I’ve missed out on so much because of when I was born :( and how come no one can afford basic shit anymore? I don’t wanna have no money at all! I really would like to be happy in the future but with all the bullshit caused by social media and the lack of money it seems bleak. I’m sorry that this is such a negative ask but I am not doing so hot and was hoping you’d have an insight ? Don’t respond if you don’t wanna

Hey ya there sprout 🌱 it can be really tough out there!

Your feelings are valid, so valid in fact that those exact feelings are why Solarpunk as it currently exists is around! We've all been there!

Between the wages of the top 10% of ppl vs everyone else being greater then during the French revolution, the average citizen globally being worse off then when the great depression was happening, climate crisis after crisis, all while consuming endless bits of info both horrifying (ex Politics) and hopeful (ex Social Media activism) it's waaaay too much for anyone to bare alone! Much less constantly! That burden shouldn't be on any of us!! But since it is, I'm here to help at least lighten the load even if temporary.

The best thing to do when we feel like this is to stop. Find 5 minutes to be still. We are fight/flight/fawn creatures and we will only loop in our solutions without actual clear choices if we don't Chill Out. We're mammals our natural state is Chilling Out and Play.

Next, think about how cool the planet is and particularly how cool humans are?

How there's finger flutes on ceilings thousands of years old, smaller then average indicating that parents held their children up to draw on the ceilings.

Think about the invention of looms and spinning fibers! What other creature could do that? Think about the kids that could build Snowmans without aching fingers because of lovingly knit mittens.

We sing like whales do, like birds do, like wolves do, and we do it to share stories and ideas over food! It is the first things babies mimic! We have songs so old we no longer know their origin just that they came from love! We even have songs to herd cattle meaning music transcends just us but bleeds into our relationships with the planet!

That we have play behavior! Just like wolves and foxes and whales and octopus it is so built into our DNA to play its generally how we learn things! This ranges from agriculture (children tossing seeds around, blowing on dandelions!) To chores (parachute games > folding laundry, playing pretend > usually chores/job based) to hunting (tag! Hide and seek!)

Think about our interconnectiveness with the planet too, how we are guided by Honey guides to find abandoned hives to share in the spoils of bread and honey. How Sweetgrass needs us to flourish, how berries and nuts need us to spread across the land, how we fix other animals broken bones and beaks and help them return home when otherwise they wouldn't ever get home.

Now that you can remember we deserve to be here, that you deserve to be here. We can look at the current situation and bare it.

And we do that by doing small things. Jam out and listen to music while picking up litter on your block, go to a library and just hang out or research something you love, make seed Bombs and toss them I to abandoned lots, make silly cartoons. Whatever it is, it will be enough.

The weight of the world isn't ment for the individual no matter how much Capitalism and Elites will try and guilt you over their failures. That weight is ment for collective groups, but your job as a Person is to be happy where you can and to be kind so others can be happy. The last thing that I always keep in my heart is a quote from my fave author Ursula Le Guin:

Hang in there, a brighter tomorrow is gunna happen. I promise 🌻

[magiefish]

Something I've kind of noticed about a lot of the academic scholarship I've read about Frankenstein / Dracula / Jekyll & Hyde is that everyone just seems to completely dismiss/ignore the characters as actual characters most of the time unless they're the Main Guys. Like, they'll go really in depth about Victor or the Creature's motivations and backstory and spend ages talking about Jekyll's relationship to Hyde and stuff, but the second it comes to characters like Enfield and Elizabeth or Lanyon and Clerval or frankly the Entire Rest of the Cast of Dracula, they just immediately seem uninterested. They'll just sort of vaguely gesture in their direction and go 'Oh yeah X and X thing happens to this character and here's a one sentence summary of their personality which doesn't really matter because this entire cast is interchangeable, anyway, onto the next theme' and half the time their One Sentence is just textually incorrect (looking at the New Woman/Traditional Woman descriptions of Lucy and Mina). And the reason I find this so baffling is because with other analysis I've read (e.g. Great Gatsby stuff) people seem to actually slow down and consider the characterisation and motivations of the cast as a whole with like. Nuance. Like they sit down and treat the characters as multifaceted and complex and having actual relationships with one another, and then you get to these books specifically and no one seems to care? Like they'll go really in depth with various interpretations and historical context for the Big Guys, and then never apply the same sort of examination to anyone else, and if they do, very rarely and probably only for one other character e.g. (Utterson or Mina).

If I had to posit an explanation, I would say its a combination of the archetypal nature of the title characters and the admittedly patchy writing of these books (which arguably lends to their archetypal status). I think academics kind of assume that the primary draw of these books are The Big Guys and the expansive themes and ideas they cover and that everyone else is just a pawn there to enable the narrative around the Big Guys, and the propensity for film adaptations to scrap or rewrite characters probably compounded this impression. And while I think this is at least partly true, the thing is, these characters were not always archetypal Big Guys. They originated in stories alongside *these* other characters *specifically* and it is worth asking what it is about the rest of the cast that makes the story interesting as well. Because, let's be real, if there was approximately no interest in the fucking *narrators* of Dracula, the best friends of Henry Jekyll, or the victims of the Creature, the original readers would have been completely bored out of their minds for most of these novels and public interest in them would not have been as great as it was. All of these novels were stories before they were myths, and academics should not be letting pop culture eclipse them unless they're specifically talking about the relationship between the two.

Overall, I just feel like academics are not only shooting themselves in the foot, but also doing a disservice to these stories by not bothering to investigate the other characters because frankly. It's lazy. It's lazy to dismiss an entire cast and basically skim read any sections involving them just because it's easy to focus on The One Guy. If you people really cared about themes, you'd understand that characters are inextricable from them. Like shit dude I see more care given to characters in essays about Greek tragedies, you guys are waaaay fucking behind

[sunsetsandsunshine]

If me and my mutual’s were the Spider-gang…

❤️EMERY AS MILES MORALES🖤 @sunsetsandsunshine

Y’ALL ALREADY KNOOOOWWWW 💘💞💖💕💗💓

Artist of the group

My Dad is a police officer AND detective sooooooo…

He has done the “You gotta say I love you back” thing to me multiple times…

Fucking loves having friends and talking to people

COMIC BOOKS ARE LIFE‼️ COMIC BOOKS ARE LOVE‼️

Keeping the collectibles I N S I D E of the box!!! IT STAYS NICE AND FRESH THAT WAY— LIKE PRODUCE YK???!!!

Tries to be quote on quote “cooler” in front of others…

Newsflash? It never works

💝 Family lover all the way 💝

Music is LIFE 🎶🎤🎵🎼…idfk what we’d do without it…

A collector of many random things— rocks, toys, bracelets you NAME it

Hyperactive as HELL

Has a hard time accepting loss

“NAH” “🫠” “UHM…” “AAAAAAAAHHHHH”

A sketchbook for literally every season

When it comes to friendships, I will try everything in my power to maintain it and try to keep it going but once I’m done? I’m done 🫶🏾

A singer 😩🤚🏾

Physical affection 🫣💕💓

Apologies WAAAAAAY too fucking much

H A P P Y. S T I M S.

Suppressed anger issues

Knows way too many people both online and irl

Becomes a whole different person when angry 🥸👍🏾

Beatboxes and raps horribly

Basically Miles is me and I’m Miles ❤️🖤

🤍JOJO AS GWEN STACY🩵 @shut-up-jo

Cool af legit why the hell are you friends with me man—

Musician of the group 🪗🎷🎻🎺🎹🥁🎸

Shows up to your house without warning like you owe her money

In a band (most def)

Says the most DIABOLICAL and out of pocket shit known to MAN

🔥 Would burn down the kitchen if she ever cooked 🔥

Listens to Billy Joel 😌

POPULAR AF

Short af too 🤪🫶🏼

BAD PICK-UP LINES…

Would be cancelled if any of her texts got leaked

“DIE” “KYS” “CHOKE” “STFU”

Had the WORST 2020 phase (I’m sorry ilysm please don’t kill me 🙏🏼)

AOT lover (as you fucking should )

Honesty is the best policy 💋

Changes her voice depending on who she’s talking to

Has the most fucking unhinged and cursed FYP page

Doesn’t matter what social media app…it’s just straight up CURSED

Gives the best advice like oml

Could host a TED-talk but would there’s a 99.9% she would get cancelled

Needs to take a flipping BREAK 💕

Could make a TV show with her life (with like a million specials and crossovers)

Licks the powder off the Doritos and/or Taki’s and puts them back in the bag 😶…

Has burned Barbie’s before

Unironically sings 'Dance Monkey' just because

Your so so silly I love you so much 🤍🩵

💛SANA AS PAVITIR🩷 @itzsana-kiddingmenow

If sunshine were a person 🌞

Has a really toxic fanbase…

✨Anxiety✨

The best cook out of all 4 of us probably

“🥺” “GRRRRRRR” “🙈” “NAUUUR”

Calls people adorable, cute etc but can’t handle when people say that to her 🥹💓

Your adorable btw ☺️

When she’s mad she doesn’t cuss that much but most def just says big words

#TOXICFRIENDSGANG

Takes selfies like every single second 📱

Has Snapchat probably

Has listened to JoJo Siwa’s Karma WAAAAY too many times…

Would fold like a lawn chair if poked in the side 💕

FANGIRL

✨ Bilingual queen ✨

Sobbed for DAYS when MatPat dropped his departure video…

Is way too fucking smart 😉

Has the Ultimate Alpha Sigma Gyatt Rizz but doesn’t know it quite yet 👁️🫦👁️

A tea lover ☕️🍵

Would go to antique stores with people to just look at things and then end up buying the whole ass store

Does cartwheels for funsies

Overthinker ☹️

Could solo Bakugou and win

Is going to be a menace one she learns how to drive

Needs more sleep frfr

My lil sugar cream puff over here you guys 💛🩷

💙ZEEZIE AS HOBIE BROWN❤️ @ziipzeepzop-eez

101% effort in E V E R Y T H I N G

Side-eyes 🤨

Has more rizz than the whole Earth population combined

“FW” “THAT’S RACIST” “TWWINNNN” “YUUURR”

EMOJIS EMOJIS EMOJIS EMOJIS EMOJIS EMOJIS

Did I say emojis?

Comes up with the most cutest freaking nicknames for people 🥹💕🩷☹️💓✨

TAKE A BREAK 😡😡😡

Can most definitely win a dance battle against anyone but acts like she can’t

Dad jokes 🫶🏽

Uses finger guns unironically (through text and in person) 👉🏽👉🏽

Could make a diss-track about so many people 🫢…

Would have a million cats if she could

Probably had a Gacha Life phase

Would go to a movie theater just to watch cat videos on the big screen

Popular af 💕

Friends with legit everyone 🙏🏽

Would actually murder a man if they hurt one of her friends

Has watched Coraline and The Nightmare Before Christmas soooooo many damn times

Guillmero Del Toro’s Pinocchio made her ugly cry (Same here 🫠)

Could solo everyone here on Tumblr easily 👁️👄👁️

Hates Twitter/X but only has it for the ✨drama✨

FAIRY LIIIGHTS

Is most def someone’s opp ☺️

Can multi-task like crazy

So cool and dazzling and aahhhfhfhds 💙❤️

(If any of this makes any of you guys uncomfy just DM me and I can erase it 🫶🏾)

[jimpagne]

hello! in the past you have written and translated about some moments from Are You Sure? (which i thoroughly enjoyed, thank you) and i wanted to ask if you could make a post about how you started learning korean? as a native english speaker it is a bit intimidating to me but seeing how you were able to succeed in the language, it gives me a bit of courage. i know that is not your usual content but i wanted to send an ask anyway. hope you are having a lovely day! and thank you for your response.

Oh, I would love to talk about this topic! Thank you so much for sending in the ask ;p

Also fair warning... this will be a REALLY long post.

In the Beginning...

I began "learning" Korean waaaay back in 2017 (holy shit, that was EIGHT years ago??), back when I was still a high schooler and setting alarms to wake myself up for Mystic Messenger chatrooms. I grew up in a very diverse area with a considerable Korean population, and I had a lot of Korean friends who decided to share their language with me. First, they spelled out my name in Hangul, and in my free time, I decided to learn the rest of the alphabet.

The rest is history, really.

Of course, throughout this time, I felt really intimidated. I mean, where do you even start? There were so many Korean resources online, and it felt like I was entirely lost and overwhelmed by the huge responsibility of taking on a language like Korean, one that is drastically different from the ones I know.

So despite starting my journey in 2017, I really didn't start making a breakthrough in my learning until 2021, where I enrolled into a formal Korean class at my local university. I researched a few things here and there, knew some pretty basic grammar and vocabulary, but again, I was entirely scrambled in the directions in which I was acquiring the language. So finding a professor to steer me into the right direction was incredibly helpful.

But, what do you if you can't afford or have the time for private lessons or university classes?

Even though I have had the immense privilege of going to university, I still found that the burden of learning Korean mainly fell on myself. Language classes are one thing, but you need to have the drive outside of the class to learn as well. If you only become familiar with your textbook, you'll never learn. So, outside of an academic environment, I've learned many things when it comes to teaching myself the language.

Obsessions, Interests, and... Autism?

One of the main things that really propelled my Korean learning journey was integrating the language into almost every relevant facet in my life. I have autism, so I hyperfixate on things to the point of annoying my relatives and close friends. I don't really think they care about the linguistic harmony of Korean characters as much as I do, but I can't help but fall in love with the language every single day.

I made it a goal to learn as much as I could about Korean culture, and through this I picked up a lot of vocabulary. In my personal opinion, I think what really stumps a lot of learners is that they get stuck on the "pop" culture part of Korea. It's nice and all to like K-pop and K-dramas, but if your heart is not in it beyond that, you might find yourself struggling to stay motivated. If you're going to learn Korean, you're going to need to delve into the culture, history, and every day life itself, because a lot of the language will start to make more sense.

You don't need to become an expert in those things, but you'll find that Korean people appreciate this a wholeeee lot more. I speak Korean at my workplace with Korean customers, and they'll usually ask if I learned because of K-pop. However, when I tell them otherwise, I watch just how much brighter they become.

I also enjoy writing (fics and other personal projects), and a lot of my research could not be found on western websites, so I had to start googling IN KOREAN to find what I wanted. Through this, I also mastered the Korean keyboard and I don't need to look at it to type anymore.

I started documenting Instagram captions and comments from my favorite idols, made song diaries, read children's short stories, and watched Korean YouTube channels. In my opinion, I think having physical books or physical notebooks are better than virtual ones when it comes to learning a topic.

I also made plenty of personal flashcards, and if I was using a virtual set, I would make the quiz option entirely in writing. The more you practice spelling a word, the more likely you are to remember it. I would do these quizzes over and over and over again until I could spell and remember every single one of the words in the set.

Now, if you give me a set of 50+ new Korean words, I can have it memorized in less than 10 minutes.

Resources I Personally Like

Spoiler alert: It's not Duolingo. Duolingo is probably one of the worst resources that you could use. I hate that green bird.

I would also like to preface that I use an adblocker, so I'm not sure if any of the websites have ads or how invasive their ads are. So, if there's like ten billion ads on one of these websites, I didn't know! I would marry my adblocker if I could.

The reason why I put emphasis on the word personally is because at the end of the day, how people learn language is entirely a customizable process. What works for me might not work for you. People just have to find what works.

How dependent you'll be on these resources that I'll list also depends on your current Korean level. A lot of what I will provide will be more beginner friendly, but eventually you'll find yourself doing your own research or making your own resources.

Also, it is incredibly important to note that language learning is not one skill. As someone who also studies language acquisition, imagine Korean Fluency itself to be an empty box with different shaped cut outs. There's a star cut out, a circle cut out, a square cut out... etc. You need to fill the box, but in order to do that, you need to fill it with different shaped pieces.

Speaking is a separate skill. Reading is a separate skill. Listening is a separate skill. Writing is a separate skill. Your mastery in Reading won't always bleed over into your mastery of Speaking. These are muscles that must be exercised separately. Of course, they can help each other, but you need to know that just focusing on one facet, or one cut out shape of the language will not be enough to fill that box.

How To Study Korean 한국어를 공부하는 방법

First of all... this person is incredible... The person who made this website is a foreigner who learned Korean, and I think that's an incredibly valuable perspective to take on when you're also a foreigner learning Korean. Their explanations are very precise (they've saved me during so many of my Korean exams), and they also grouped many grammar concepts into digestible levels, so you can start from level 0 and progress onward in a way that makes sense.

I honestly almost feel offended that all of this is free. Thankful, but offended. It's seriously such an incredible resource. If you're looking for a clear roadmap, this is your website.

GO! Billy Korean

Again, if you're looking for a foreigner to explain it in a way that makes sense to your English brain, this guy has some pretty good videos. If you go to his playlist section, he has clips from his livestreams where he teaches Korean grammar and concepts in depth. Some people might not learn that well from just reading, so a video format is perfect for those craving a more personal touch from a teacher.

Talk To Me In Korean

You probably saw this coming. There's a reason why these guys are the best! I know a lot of their options have recently become paywalled, but they still have a lot of valuable lessons on YouTube and they also offer free podcasts on Spotify if you'd like to take a listen. You can also take a level test on their website to determine which course might be best for you. I have a couple of their physical books, some of my favorite being....

Easy Korean Reading For Beginners: this book really introduces you to easy concepts and basic vocabulary, but it also showcases Korean sentence grammar in a very clear way.

My First 500 Korean Words: This book is exactly what the title is. However, in addition to the 500 words, they give related vocabulary, crossword puzzles, reading exercises, and they also break up the words into a weekly manner, so you don't feel overwhelmed to learn everything in one go. Vocabulary is so, so, so important. And anyone learning Korean will tell you that usually its not the grammar that's the issue, its the sheer amount of WORDS that you have to learn...

KoreAnt

Incredibly underrated but very good, especially for beginners trying to expand their listening practice! KoreAnt has cute little visuals where they showcase real Korean scenarios, and they also explain the grammar and vocabulary used in their videos.

Integrated Korean (3rd Edition)

This is a traditional university textbook for English speakers, so you can buy it from multiple different platforms other than the one I linked. It's produced out of one the best university's in the United States for Korean language learning. The entire Integrated Korean series is very well put together and the main meat of the course is separated into four textbooks, Beginning 1 & 2, and Intermediate 1 & 2. Like I said, it's a university textbooks that many of my American friends use (and they all like it), so it might be on the more expensive side. Also, this textbook has sound files on SoundCloud where you listen to workbook or textbook conversations and narrations.

Since it is a textbook, it also has a workbook to pair with it, so if you want to quiz yourself or do additional exercises, you can consider looking into that as well.

그냥 한국어 Just Korean

Now this isn't super beginner friendly, as it is a YouTube channel that teaches Korean concepts... in Korean. It's a great listening resource, however, and she does provide English captions that you can turn on. So you can learn Korean grammar at the same time as listening to it be taught to you in Korean. I think that's pretty cool.

Korean Wiki Project

This is a big hub of archived information and they have a lot of fun wiki pages that you can go through. They also have some pretty solid yet concise explanations on the Korean language, and they also delve into some more colloquial topics (like common slang/texting forms). A little bit of a warning on this one, not everything is super detailed, so if you're looking for a full on lesson other than a quick overview, this is probably not the source for you.

Technical Resources

These are the resources that I recommend for like... typing, general help, or dictionary usage. Things like that.

Naver Korean-English Dictionary

I just really like this dictionary. There's something about it... Something that soothes my soul. They have conjugation settings in there and also you can add stuff to a personal list on this dictionary and quiz yourself over it. 10/10 gets me through school.

Papago

I like to use Papago for quick translations when I'm on the go and don't understand something immediately. It's far more accurate than Google Translate, however it does have its pitfalls. After all, you shouldn't be using Papago as a means to speak/learn Korean, it's just a quick resource -- and since it's artificial intelligence, it can definitely mess up and it will mess up. But if you need to translate something quickly for whatever reason, this is a better resource.

Hancom Taja

I discovered this after I mastered Korean typing! It's a typing website that a lot of Koreans actually use to practice English typing, but they also have Korean options for Korean learners. You can play fun games and select the length of the words/sentences. Fair warning, it sometimes hates working for whatever reason, but when I do get it up and running, I find the overall experience to be a lot of fun.

Language Reactor

This is a Google extension that allows you to have both the Korean and English subtitles running together at the same time over your favorite K-dramas. You can hover over words for instant dictionary translations, get full excerpts of television shows, and you can save/add words to your personal dictionary. I'm not a big TV fan, but I find this resource to be incredibly helpful whenever I am studying Korean off of a drama.

Korean Reddit

I know that the word Reddit might send chills down the spines of many, but in all honesty, you can find some pretty good help on this subreddit. Have a question? Just type up something and get some pretty good feedback.

How I Take Notes in Korean

Do you feel like you're back in school again? I remember I always hated sitting through those "useless" lectures about how to take notes... but in actuality, how you take notes can easily help you understand a topic much better.

I know you already got a taste of my note taking style from my 이게 맞아?! post, but I thought I might explain it a bit better here. Korean, in my opinion, has a lot of solid foundations, and once you work yourself up from those, learning other parts of the language become almost like second nature.

Let's do a quick example:

You might come across a 100 Common Phrases in Korean post, which great! We all love posts like that. However, when you're taking down the notes for what you've learned, you might not be getting the most of what you can get from the content.

Ex) 좋아해요 - I like you.

This is pretty standard, right? Well, how can we expand on this very simple phrase?

좋아해요: I like you

좋아하다 (verb: to like) conjugated in the polite present tense form (~어/아요). Both the "I" and "You" can be inferred due to the high context nature of the Korean language (aka, as long as the speaker and the listener both know what it's about, you can omit pronouns).

You don't need to take it exactly like that, but we've now classified the root verb, how it's being conjugated, and how the cultural behavior/structure of the language impacts its usage. These small changes can really make a difference when you're taking notes.

Also, like I did in the post I mentioned above, I went outside of the material and connected it to other forms that I might've known about. So if you were looking at 좋아하다, you might think of 좋다 (adjective; to be good), or 사랑하다 (verb; to love). Maybe you'd think of Korean pet names and you might want to do more research on Korean couple practices and vocabulary. Make connections. Build your web. It's very important to keep practicing concepts you might already know.

When you are taking notes in Korean, I think it's VITAL that you classify something as a verb or an adjective. Multiple Korean forms change based on this factor, so it's important to label it accordingly. Actually, I'll tell you a quick hack as to how you can master every single Korean grammar point (even if you don't know it yet). I'm not kidding.

To master Korean grammar, all you have to do is ask yourself these four questions.

Is it an adjective, verb, or noun? for particle usage & forms that might use ideas of continuity (adj. do not have continuous states)

Does it end with a vowel or a batchim (final consonant)? for forms that might connect with ~(으) or ~아/어 conjugations, general connectors like ~(이)라...etc

Does it end with a bright or dark vowel? for forms that might connect with ~아/어 or have irregular forms like 으 & 르 verbs.

(if writing) What tense is it going to be in? for general forms that follow the basic ~았/었 & ~(ㄴ/는/ㄹ) rules

If you know the answer to all four of these questions and you know the behavior of these forms, boom, you've mastered the general science behind several Korean grammar points!

Most Importantly...

Don't be afraid to make mistakes.

I know this is a common phrase you've probably heard a million times, but it is incredibly true. Actually, the reason why adults struggle so much in learning foreign languages in comparison to children is because of this concept of shame. Children (other than having advantages in cognitive freshness and free time) often lack this idea of having to be perfect. They make spelling errors, they jumble up their words. But they still communicate. They still try.

Adults often have this feeling that they need to be perfect, so they often shy away from the idea of potentially messing up. You are learning something new, you are meant to mess up.

And that's okay.

(Most) Koreans don't really care how GOOD you are at their language (unless you're trying to work at some formal company in Korea... sorry guys, the concept of Emily in Paris is just not realistic...), they mostly care about the effort that you're putting into learning it.

So don't be afraid to ask a lot of questions. I mean A LOT of questions. After my class time, I would go up to my Korean professor with a whole new list of words/cultural contexts/grammar points that I wanted to ask her about. She never saw it as a burden, and she was more than delighted to educate me about her home country and tongue.

But before I go, I just wanted to say that I was thinking about doing more Korean posts, but I'm not exactly sure what to focus on. I was thinking about doing a fun Linguistic-centered post about Korean, but that might not be super beginner friendly. If you have any topics you might be interested in or you might want me to cover, I'll look into it and see if I can make a proper post about it.

That's all I have for now... if you have more questions, just shoot me an ask!