#like this is a basic concept this is common sense please just think for two seconds

[rottenpumpkin13]

I kinda want to see the trilogy get completed now. We've heard from Sephiroth and Genesis, but what are some unhinged things that Angeal has said?

(Also, happy holidays :))

Angeal's brand of unhinged quotes is just him slowly losing his battle with sanity, composure and kindness towards his peers.

• "Genesis, I swear to the goddess who is sick of your shit, if you set ONE more thing ablaze for your 'artistic vision,' I'm going to make a fire extinguisher well acquainted with your ass, you dramatic matchstick."

• "Hey Sephiroth, here's a wild concept: That 7-foot sword isn't a can opener. I know basic tools are beneath your godlike intellect, but if you keep stabbing soda cans and then calling the resulting explosion a 'miscalculation,' I'm going to flip you upside down and use your head as A MOP."

• "You don't need 'organic, cruelty-free, ethically sourced' quinoa, Zack. You're going to drown it in hot sauce and eat it standing over the sink like usual anyway."

• *When asked why he has two mugs on his desk* "One says 'World's Best Mentor,' and the other says 'Please Kill Me.' Which one I use depends on the day."

• "To whoever dried their socks in the microwave: Congratulations! You've discovered how to make maintenance cry AND prove evolution can go backwards."

• "Sometimes I think about putting in a transfer request to literally anywhere else, but then I remember they'd probably still find a way to forward Zack to me."

Angeal: WHAT IS THIS? Zack: My secret snack stash! Angeal: WHY IS THERE CHALK IN HERE?

• "DO NOT. TOUCH. MY AIR-FRYER."

• "To whoever stuffed a whole turkey in the microwave, congratulations on finding yet another way to prove SOLDIER enhancement doesn't affect common sense."

• "Guys, I just mopped these floors. Now there's muddy boot prints all over it! Is basic hygiene too advanced for your enhanced brains, or do you just enjoy making my life hell?"

• "I saw a 20 gil candle today labeled 'smells like the ocean.' For that price, I better hear seagulls, taste saltwater, and feel sand in my ass."

• "Sephiroth, for someone who can sense danger, you sure don't sense when you're making the cadets cry by standing silently behind them in the elevator."

• *To Sephiroth and Genesis* "How do you two destroy a Wutai stronghold in thirty minutes, but take three hours to fold a basket of laundry? Is that like a skill of some kind?"

• "These mission reports read like a teenager's diary. 'And then I heroically swooped in'. Genesis, no the fuck you did not. I was there. You tripped over your own coat."

[thir10th]

I literally love the way you write emily! could you please do something like Morgan or anyone on the team points out how clingy you are around her so you get insecure, but Emily makes it better? thank you💕

hi anon 👋 ofc i can!! i love this concept ❤️

summary: Morgan says something that upsets you, thankfully Emily knows exactly what to do (basically the ask lol) tw: smut, shower sex, oral sex, idk i'm tired i think that's all a/n: i'm trying to do your requests, like you guys already know i can't promise i will make them all, but you're still very welcome to try! Like & reblog as always <3

You had spent a whole week on LA on this last case, more than 3 women had been murdered before you caught the unsub, which means you desperately needed a long night sleep, preferably wrapped in your girlfriend's arms.

You're sitting on the window seat, keeping the one next to it free for her, she smiles when her eyes meet yours, and sits next to you, you surround her with your arm, kissing her cheek, she moves to peck your lips as well

"hey baby" you whisper, your mouth close to hers

"hey" she answers with the sweetest voice, you can sense she also wants to get home as soon as possible.

Your other hand wraps around her leg, squeezing it

"I'm gonna go for a tea, ok? you want one?" she asks getting up, wrapping herself off of you "yeah that'd be nice" you answer, the silliest smile on your face.

"ugh, you two get a room" Morgan's voice makes you lift your head, the smile instantly erased form your face.

"What do you mean?" you ask, he has never pointed you two out before, so it surprises you

"c'mon, can't you spend 2 seconds without touching her? we were just at the airport and you were all over each other, i could not handle someone being so clingy" you're too baffled to say anything. Clingy? you had never thought about it, you loved your girlfriend so much it came natural to you hugging her and touching her, the possibility that she didn't like it had never crossed your mind.

Morgan couldn't be bothered about it, he put his headphones back on as soon as he dropped the unfriendly comment.

"there you go baby" Emily said, handing you your cup, you take it, a small smile to thank her, and you lay back to the window.

As much as you're trying you can't seem to get Morgan's comment out of your head, you never wanted to suffocate Emily, you just wanted her to feel loved, maybe she was just ashamed to tell you how uncomfortable it made her.

You sip your tea, looking out the window, "hey" Emily grabs your cup when you're finished and opens her arm offering you to lay on it

"I think I'm gonna try to sleep now, ok?" you tell her, and turn around to lay your head on the window.

You can tell se knows there's something going on, she frowns, you can feel her stare, but finally let's it go, and gets back to her book.

☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°

When you finally get back to your apartment, Emily throws her bag away, and you do the same, moving to sit on the couch to take your shoes off more comfortably.

"Well, I desperately need a shower, you coming?" she asks as she takes her shirt off

"Yeah, you go" you don't even look at her to answer, trying to focus on untying your shoes, you keep your head down.

Emily stands on the middle of the hallway, she looks at you, raising an eyebrow, now she knows there's definitely something going on.

"You're not gonna shower, love?" she asks, a concerned tone on her voice "Yeah, sure, you can go first tho"

Your girlfriend was too stunned to speak. It wasn't like you to turn down the offer of showering together, you couldn't remember a time when you had said no to a shower with Emily, specially after a case.

She would always lather your back soothingly, you didn't even always have sex (although it was quite common), sometimes you would simply enjoy the warm water stream, you would take care of each other, wrap yourselves into a warm embrace that could last minutes, and she would always lend you her clothes afterwards, there was no other feeling better than going to sleep clean and fresh into your girlfriend's clothes, wrapped around each other. What do you mean you don't want to shower with her?

"So, you will wait for me to shower, and you will go after me? first on the plane, now this? Baby, is something wrong? Did i do something to upset you?" you lift your head to look at her after getting rid of your shoes, her big brown eyes reflect the worry on her voice, she looks to you carefully to see what is going on.

"no, it's nothing, i just... i just don't want to be too clingy, you know?" you finally reveal. Her mouth tenses up, and she bites her lip. You know your girlfriend way too well to know that's one of her classic faces, it's the one that says -ok now i see-. She walks up to you, sitting right next to you on the couch, places her hand on your thigh soothingly.

"Baby, who told you that?" you don't wanna say, you don't want her to get upset too, but the way she runs her palm over your leg to soothe your worries makes you want to tell her everything she asked for.

"Well, Morgan, he suggested i could be suffocating you" when you say it aloud it sounds ridiculous, since when do you care about what Morgan says? About what any man has to say about your relationship? His words had just sunk into you way more than you could've expected.

"what did he say?" she licks her lips out of impotence "Because after a whole career on the fbi i'm considering murder just now" you laugh it off, blinking to avert the tears pickering your eyes.

"he said if i was his girlfriend, he would feel suffocated by how clingy i am, and how i can't keep my hands off of you" her eyes scan your face, runs her hand up and down your thigh "ok, i'm sure gonna kill Morgan tomorrow" you both chuckle "well he is kind of right, i mean we can barely spend an hour off of each other" you say trying to make sense out of the situation

"ok, so you are clingy, so what?" her voice raises a bit towards the end, a couple of notes higher, you can't help but to smile, you think it's too cute.

"I love touching you" the hand that was resting on your thigh now gets higher to rest on your waist, her other hands moves up to your neck, her thumb caressing your face "I love it when you touch me" her face gets closer, the tip of her nose brushing against your cheek, you close your eyes relaying on the touch

"I love feeling you close" she moves to sit closer to you on the couch (if that is even possible at this point) her hand keeps moving up and down your back, she kisses your cheek, "and i don't care about what anyone has to say about that, i don't want you to care about it ether" her words sink into you, everything is basically forgotten.

"I want you to touch me, to feel me" she moves your hand, previously resting on your side, she places it on her waist, and you take it upon yourself to grab her face with your other hand.

Closing the small space between you, your lips collapse in a deep kiss, Emily holds you. The kiss is quite sensual. Emily takes her time and eases your mouth open, slowly pushing in her skilled tongue into your mouth, but to your displeasure, the kiss breaks.

"C'mon, baby, come shower with me" she says standing up, holding your hand, you get up too, grabbing on to her for support "lead the way" you say, a grin on her face.

Emily opens the water stream, letting the warm fog fill the bathroom, you try to catch Emily's lips to kiss her again, she offers a very fast for your liking peck that you try to prolong, but she's faster to grab the neck of your shirt, unbuttoning the buttons one by one, and taking it off.

Her eyes never leaving yours, she kisses your collarbone as she unclasps your bra, you reciprocate the action, doing the same with hers, Emily sighing in relief as her own restricting bra was undone.

The soft trail of small kisses on your collarbone soon moving southern to your sternum, she reacher your left boob, her soft lips feel warm on your smooth skin, never getting exactly anywhere, she removes your pants along with your underwear, and you do the same with hers.

You just want to jump in the shower with your girlfriend as fast as possible and forget the day.

She slowly pulled you into the shower behind the hot water, instantly calming your tingling body. Emily instantly pulled you into a hug as the warm water engulfs you two, running her hands through your back.

She lets you lean on her shoulder while she takes whatever sweet scented body wash she could reach faster and scrubs your back, washing the day off of you.

You do the same, grabbing the bottle and squeezing some on your hands to lather your girlfriend's slightly muscular arms, up and dow, then you move to get her shoulder, her back, you cover her in bubbles.

"I love your hands" She says. Her words take you by surprise, too focused on your task of getting your girlfriend clean that you hadn't even realized she was following your every move, her expression full of love. You chuckle first, but she interrupts before you open your mouth "I'm serious, baby. Please, please don't stop touching me" she kisses you again, depositing all her love and care on the kiss.

When you break the kiss you keep your ministrations, this time you lower your hands, her breath hitches when you cup her breasts, the same massage you were delivering to her arms, now you give them a gentle squeeze.

"mh- please, honey, touch me" you love hearing your girlfriend beg, asking for it, it's not the most common thing for her to do, but whenever a plead falls form Emily's lips, your completely at her mercy, ready to comply anything she asks you to.

She let out a breathy gasp as you played with her breasts, giving your girlfriend's mighty breasts another hearty squeeze before ultimately releasing her boobs. She grabs your hips pulling you close to her, she then leaned in, giving you a quick kiss, as you swiped her tongue against her bottom lip, she grabs your ass ginig it a gentle squeeze.

Grabbing her by the hips, you push her body gently against the shower wall, you move the kisses to her neck, sucking and biting her sensitive spots as Emily throws her head back to give you better access. You slowly kissed down her valley, dropping to your knees and stopping at her belly button.

"I will touch you as much as you want baby, whatever you need" You say as you look up at her. Emily only moans in response to your reassuring words. The sound sending her into a frenzy as you slowly lick up Emily's pussy with your broad tongue, stoping at her clit as you slowly suck it, swirling your tongue with intent. 

"oh god- yes sweetheart just like that" you moan at the nickname, the sound sending vibrations over the swollen bud. You alternated between gentle licks and firm sucks, using your fingers to tease and explore every inch of her sensitive flesh.

Emily could already feel herself beginning to fall apart, with her knees threatening to buckle out at any moment while pressure swelled within her loins, she places a hand on the back of your head for support, slowly pushing it to encourage you to keep going, and breathed out, "y/n… More! F-fuck, this feels great baby…" said as you dive back into her pussy with your tongue.

Your own arousal surged at the taste and sound of Emily's ecstasy, with each flick of your tongue, each gentle caress of your fingers, you bring Emily closer and closer to the peak of pleasure.

Really, you could keep your head in your girlfriend's pussy all day just eating her out, especially from hearing Emily's sweet moans.

Honestly, she could have stood to keep you buried between her legs forever. It won't take too long for her to be able to keep holding out against the growing pressure between her thighs, which makes her legs feel weaker and weaker with every lap of your tongue.

"I'm so close, baby, please" she moans, you pick up the speed, flicking your tongue against her clit as you curl your fingers against her g spot over and over again. Emily screams as her orgasm takes over. Crying out your name, she allows her body to do as it pleases as she comes hard onto your face.

As she comes down from the height, Emily holds you tight as you slid back to you feet, standing up, the warm water still running, warming your muscles, as your bodies grind against each other, she holds you close in an embrace, surrounding your waist with her arms, you both stay there letting the water rinse your bodies.

Emily is the first to break the silence "you have no idea how lucky i feel when you touch me" she says, caressing your lower back in soft circular motions.

"I'm the lucky one, Em" you say looking at her, she grabs your face, all wet from the shower "but i'm starting to get cold, we should get out now" she chuckles, pressing your lips together in a much sweeter, gentler kiss.

☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°

Next day you arrive to work together, Emily has her arm fully wrapped around yours, you don't pull apart until you get to your deks.

Emily sees Morgan on the kitchen, he's making himself a coffee, excusing herself to go talk to him

"Hey Prentiss, how you doin'?" he asks, in his face the usual cocky grin, Emily doesn't even respond

"If you ever tell my girlfriend anything about the way she is with me again, you will suffer the consequences, all right?" she says, a big, ironic smile on her face, she pats him on the shoulder, warning him.

She never leaves your side for the whole day.

☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°

Ok yes this one is longer than i thought it would be, but this was such a cute concept, I love overprotective Emily (should i write something with that? idk) Also no hate to Morgan at all!!!! I love him and he was just being playful, ok? I won't tolerate any Morgan hate on this blog!!!!

Hope you enjoy!! <3

[mochinomnoms]

Ooo here’s an interesting thought for you. So you know how, in the interspecies romance, you mentioned how Jade and Floyd would still kinda ‘bully’ a potential partner? Can you imagine if that person were an overthinking type? Like the ‘mean’ interactions make them think that either of the tweels just do NOT like them.

Basically misunderstandings abound.

Floyd gifts them a tooth; are they next?? Jade gives a poisonous (but pretty/rare) mushroom; is this a threat??

Could also just be a person who has a difficult time interpreting social cues, or flirting.

But either way, the poor object of their interest starts avoiding them and is so confused by the mixed signals. So they go up to Azul or something and ask if they’ve made the respective tweel angry or something. Because they thought they were getting along???

Just a poor confused bean.

Anyway sorry that was long but I just thought it was an interesting concept. 😂

As someone whose autism severely impacted their understanding of social norms, I feel this on a deeply spiritual level. In the partner's defense, the twins are just generally intimidating and take delight in scaring their peers. They say the most out of pocket shit and it's hard to tell when they're being serious or joking (they also have a tad bit of the tism). Poor Azul would be so tired of having to deal with a potential eel mate asking him to call off his right/left-hand men, they don't have a contract with him anymore, so why are they threatening them with loose teeth and poisonous mushrooms?? Azul!! Make them stop!!!

(He briefly considers staying out of it. It would do them some good to suffer through their pining until they have the common sense to look up human dating and woo methods. But they are his friends that he actually cares quite deeply for his employees whose moods are affecting productivity, so he'll explain it to you, and then go give them a good wack in the head for being stupid.)

Floyd is the more likely of the two to not look up human courting and dating methods. He's more of the kind of guy that's hoping you will get what he means by vibe alone. Like that manifesting stuff Cater goes on about. You'll have to be particularly perceptive to notice that he squeezes you a bit softer, looks at you with hearts in his eyes a bit longer than more, and notice that he slips up and calls you by your name instead of Shrimpy; he's surprisingly subtle with his growing affections. Jade would have definitely research ahead of time, plus he's very perceptive of others and their emotions around him. He'll probably be able to tell that you're not getting his advances, but on the other hand, it would be so funny to see how long it takes for you to catch on. He'll make fun of you in the future on how you “strung along a poor eel's heart, waaahhhh!” while he pined after you with foraged and handmade gifts, classic merfolk courting! That, or you accidentally start dating/a friends-with-benefits situation, both of you misunderstanding the other's intentions. It would take some incredible denseness and misunderstanding on both your parts for that to happen, which is a lot easier than you think when it comes to Jade “Keep them Guessing” Leech. Truly, a man can be too confident with regard to love, please tell him this or else you'll spend at least four months in a relationship before realizing it.

[puffyducks]

DCRC Week #16

Wiggity what's up my fellow book clubbers, today we're taking a look at the ethics of treating artificially made intelligent lifeforms as second class citizens and what the qualifying factors are to determine a being as truly "sentient" and deserving of basic social rights. And by that I mean we're reading PKNA #12: Second Draft which is a comic where nothing bad happens!

This post is LOOONG btw.

okay we're just gonna start off our comic as normal and-

WOAH who's this handsome young devil in his little fancy suit??? What's that? Head of Ducklair Industries?..... yeah sure that makes sense I think.

Everett Ducklair 🤢🤢🤢 get a job stay away from him. Also this is a really nice way of saying you had to stop him from being overtaken by insane homicidal tendencies and putting guns in all his inventions btw

Haha woah what was that. Did the fabric of reality just tear for a second there or did my ADHD meds just kick in. Probably just me.

MASTER Donald???..... I don't even think I can write out the jokes I wanna make here they're too inappropriate for this blog sorry. But also what the fuck.

Uno stop mothering maybe I WANT to get frostbite and lose all my fingers

Not to take a sudden side tangent here but is this supposed to be like, a good thing? Don't the other seasons exist for a reason? I always thought fall and winter were meant to be like a cleansing period, they bring balance to the two other hotter seasons. If it's eternally spring, do some plants just never die? Are animals ALWAYS in the breeding season? Today we're going to overanalyze this one concept in an essay where-

OH MY GOD IT'S ODIN wait nevermind hiii Odin hiiiii. what's lookin good cookin. I mean- shit. fuck. shit.

I'm kind of obsessed with the way Odin is drawn in this comic. His whole body is all wiggly like a bendy straw. His stances go crazy.

gayass

Guys ever since I made that post about Odin's outfits and noticed that he's barefoot here it's been haunting me. Like it might just be a coloring error in this panel but also... why'd he take his shoes off. Also sorry for immediately revealing that it's Odin but um uhh I totally don't know who the OTHER cloaked figure is.

girlll you're giving away the game SHUT YOUR MOUTH

TWO Lylas?!?!?!

I'm loving Donald's shock lmao bro is fucking flabberghasted

This picture is so fucking silly bro. Nooo you can't put Odin in jail, he has such a nice suit on :(

Donald getting offended on Uno's behalf, not knowing that Uno is literally sitting right behind him. SURELY he'll figure it out eventually right.

Omg guys it's Geena!!! Remember Geena? From Portrait of the Young Hero? Anyways she has a gun now

Way to go Donald, you showed her basic empathy for like 2 panels and it gave her an actual sense of self value and NOW she thinks she deserves rights 🙄 she's gonna Detroit Become Human up in this bitch

beaming you with my evil lasers. what if he just fucking fried her brains here I think it would've been funny

Oh that's. probably bad.

ohhhh noooo.....

OOOOHHHH NOOOOOOOOOOOO

Ok so bad news, Geena fucking exploded and her droid rebellion is presumably over. The GOOD news though is that droids are destined to get their rights anyways, just in a less violent manor than in the timeline Geena had started. So... I guess that's a win?

Disappears in a cloud of beautiful sunset smoke... Goodbye Odin 👋

Donald. Please. DONALD.

Okay so there's a LOT to say about this comic (so much that I kept hitting the image limit and having to make edits to my post to make it more concise) but if I could summarize it into one word: damn. Like I'm just kinda sad now.

The whole concept of "do robots deserve to be treated like human beings" is a common argument to explore, we've seen it in all kinds of media before. The ethics that get touched on in this comic are nothing new, but I can't help but find this comic incredibly interesting to read in the year 2024. Maybe in 1997 the idea of robots integrating into our society seemed like a far-off concept, but in present day the ever-growing integration of AI technology really makes this chapter feel a little more close to home.

I mean, it's easy to be like "yeah, well of course the droids deserve to be treated like people." I mean, Lyla and Odin are droids, and we like Lyla and Odin! Odin is literally so lifelike that people don't even KNOW he's a droid. But I can't help but think about how this all ties back to the current ongoing debates surrounding the usage of AI, and specifically AI-made content. Obviously the AI we currently have is nowhere near the level of the characters in this series (chatGPT fucking WISHES it was Uno) but there's really interesting debates to be made here.

What qualifying factors determine whether or not a living being is deserving of the same rights we humans give to ourselves? Is it being biological? I mean, there are literally millions of types of animals on our planet, but we don't even treat them with the same level of respect we give to ourselves. So, is it intelligence? If we were to create a computer with the intelligence level of a living, breathing human person, would they be entitled to basic "human" rights? HELL IF I KNOW.

I love the way this comic handles exploring this topic. Geena isn't WRONG for wanting more, she's wrong in the way she went about it. Going as far as to literally alter the course of spacetime only further complicated things, for her AND for the other droids. Had Geena instead devoted her energy into droid advocacy in the modern day, things may have gone differently. This story isn't the end of droids getting rights, but it is unfortunately the end of Geena.

We ended on a happy note, but overall this story is a pretty melancholic one. Especially that whole "only machines can be rebuilt" like DAMN.

Anyways that's enough media analysis for today, time to take off my smart thinking hat and go back to being generally kinda stupid. I'm not gonna add anything about Angus Tales here at the end because I already hit the image limit lol. Umm shoutout to Angus Fangus for having like 110 parking tickets. Idiot.

[new-tella-us]

Seduce Me Situations

Cause I'm bored!

But not tired apparently.

Okay this one needs a little context. Have you all heard of a concept called the "Call to the Void"? That's basically the urges you get to do life threatening things like jump off a high building even though you aren't suicidal.

So, what if Mika had that call one night? And maaaaaybe she's standing on the wrong side of the railing on her balcony, staring at the ground beneath her. She's not gunna jump but it's still fairly dangerous.

What would the boys do about that if they witnessed it?

James would carefully, but firmly have a grip on Mika's shoulders. He doesn't want to ruin her fun but he also doesn't want her to go splat, yknow? He'd probably also ask some questions to figure out why she's doing this as he's learnt that sometimes she's just a reckless dumbass and other times, there's a legit reason.

Erik would convince Mika to come back to the safe side of the railing. He'd probably use the classic "Just... do it for me, please" line because seeing your girl one hand slip away from sudden death is scary. They can enjoy the night sky without the risk of falling off the balcony.

Sam is just dragging Mika's ass away from the ledge. He literally picks her up to get her away from the edge and then scolds her for being so reckless. Like some "What were you thinking?! You could have died you doofus!" type shit. He'll also just casually ignore Mika when she brings up his hypocrisy since he's frequently found on the roof because he thinks that's "different".

Matthew doesn't want to lecture her or spoil her fun so he seems cool with it, even striking up a conversation but he has a noticeably tight grip on the back of her shirt just in case. A part of him is scared that he wouldn't be strong enough to catch her if she fell so he tries to steer the conversation to the idea of going inside.

Damien, blunt as ever, just says that it's dangerous. What if she gets hurt or worse? He knows that she doesn't seem to have any suicidal ideations and it's more curiosity and the thrill that drive her but still, he's concerned that those two things overrode her common sense. He already knows she has some issues and this stunt might be what triggers a conversation the next morning.

[castlebyersafterdark]

some StevexWill headcannons please? 🥺

I'm not sure that I have many firm HCs but I'll riff now and brainstorm a little on the duo!! I love that one fic I rec'd the other day and it hit all the marks for me. And the two wips I have ft. Steve and Will are more SteveWillMike but I'll just detail a few things here that are more SteveWill solo. Hmmmmm:

Will having a little crush on Steve. Plays into the whole repressed, shy gay boy having a crush on an older guy who he thinks would never ever look his way. How if they do get together and fool around - it's Will reeling over the King of Hawkins high there with him, wanting him, when every girl in town wants to get with Steve. But Steve chose Will.

Steve feeling a little curious and Will just came out to those in the "inner circle" and Steve's totally supportive - but he's confused. It was one thing with Robin, that's chicks with chicks, right? Makes sense. He likes chicks. Of course some gals are gonna be into women as well, women are great. But gay guys? He's made jokes like the rest but he's never allowed himself to consider the reality of it being a real thing. And now he knows this about Will and can't stop thinking about it. Steve's slept around. A lot. But he's never even considered a guy. Maybe once or twice. Felt weird to think about. He's not gay. But... Will Byers. Will Byers has a pretty nice body. He's cute - for a guy. Right? Totally neutral statement. But Steve can't shake the thoughts from his brain.

Will being so nervous around him because he hasn't really gotten much alone time with Steve and he knows how guys like that view guys like him. But he finds when Steve's a staple in the group now, that Steve's super curious about him. Maybe lacks tact at times and they have so little in common, but it just clicks and they talk a lot and Steve seems... weirdly extra curious. Steve asking Will questions about gay guys and Will's exhausted and frustrated and doesn't have the answers and is a horny teenager and basically tells Steve if he wants to find out for himself, Will would basically let him do anything he wanted to him. For real. And well... how is Steve gonna pass up the offer?

A scenario where Steve teaches Will how to kiss because Will lets slip he's never kissed someone before and he's insecure about it. Steve considers himself the master of makeouts, the king of kissing - and they sneak away for Will to practice. Steve discovering he has a bit of a kink for inexperience. Starts fantasizing. If Will's never kissed before, he thinks of all the other things Will hasn't done before. He wants to be the one to experience his discoveries, take them for himself...

Maybe a concept where the characters all split and go separate ways. Couple years down the road, Will and Steve run into each other living in the same city. They weren't close before but a little older, it's a flashback, a relief at a friendly face in a still new location. They get coffee, which turns into getting drinks, which turns into learning about each other's lives. Steve now knows that Will's gay and Will mentions meeting people at one of his regular spots and Steve kinda invites himself along. Will's like "Steve... it's a gay bar." And Steve's fine with it, he just wants to tag along. Why not! "I'm not exactly raking in the cash, Will. Guys can hit on me if they want as long as they're giving me free drinks. Win-win, bud." And well. It's a little more than that. Free drinks lead to tipsy Steve, leads to him flirting back with these guys, leads to jealous Will, leads to Will being brave and dragging Steve to the dancefloor, leads to shy little Will Byers being this bold new creature in the big city, leads to a heated kiss outside waiting for a taxi, leads to Will going home with Steve, leads to them drunkenly hooking up at Steve's place, leads to them waking up together, having a crisis, leads to avoiding each other, leads to Steve caving and finding Will and asking him out for real.

Another idea. Steve noticing that Will has been down and he gets him out of wherever the Byers fam is all cooped up, in living situation limbo. Give the boy a break from sitting sadly with his headphones on. Lets Will play whatever he wants on the radio. Total opposite music taste, so Will has a little fun joking about music and movies with Steve, who turns out to be great company, opening up to this older guy who never really paid him any mind before. They take their little drives, one day Will blurts out his secret. Steve takes it in stride, parks them somewhere, comforts the boy. The next time they drive together it's kind of tense. They park again to talk but Will kind of snaps - he's sixteen and pent up and frustrated about everything - and he swings over onto Steve's lap and kisses him. He doesn't even have feelings for Steve but he can't take life anymore. There's danger on the horizon and he wants to experience things in case the worst should happen. They hook up in the backseat of the car, trading really heated kisses and handjobs. This starts to be their thing. Long drives that end up with them parked somewhere, getting off because the world might be ending and nothing else in their life makes sense. And neither does their bizarre relationship that's not a relationship, but it's all they have to hold onto.

That's what I got for now. I'm sure my brain will spark more. They're such different characters and I think they'd be really interesting and hot together. Byler endgame. Imagination and fic diversions, however. 😘😘😘

[lilli-the-bear]

i’m getting back into anime again after a break due to dying of time.

i’ve also been rlly obsessed with BNHA again, never liked the toxic fandom BUT HEAR ME OUT

ITS OC TIME

basically had an oc for forever ever since i got into the show so YEARS ago and changed her design 100000000x… i had her quirk, her backstory and everything sorted with her lore figured out with her relationships and everything, but now im doubting its uniqueness and actual capabilities and idk if its actually enjoyable for anyone but me and my silly daydreams. so my goobers please help me.

i love her and wanna make her cool as hell

🎶 either i stick with her original quick of Acoustokinesis - basically manipulating sound and having sonic screams, i use to think she would sing and scream it at people but a lil impractical- the only problem is i want to give her some capabilities outside of just haha silly scream

i know i want her quirk to be linked to her emotions for ✨LORE✨ reasons (i can expand if ppl wanna hear) maybe with misophonia having emotional triggers to sound as she is a very apathetic character at the beginning due to this factor

it would also make some sense lore wise since it is a like President Mic (can expand later on) although lacks that uniqueness in that sense unlike other ocs

OR

🩸some sort of blood quirk where she can formulate plasma into weapons (key problem with the original is i wanna give her pretty weapons BUT could just have Mei make them…since they’re gay for eachother 👩‍❤️‍💋‍👩) but she’d be like tugging on ‘heart strings’ stopping people’s blood flow causing crushing pains and when hitting opponents using their blood in attacks like water benders.

this would also make some sense as in my au toga is her childhood best friend and ends up at UA with them. so something in common?? but it just feels overdone

but i need her quirk to be useful having good capabilities she also doesn’t use it to begin with being underestimated by her fellow classmates as well as a fear of hurting fellow classmates with her volatile emotions which works well with unexpected screams of raw emotion

LIL BIT OF LORE

so they’re name is Aspen Yumiyai, she had a really fucked up childhood until the age of 7, (but shes my bbg) her father being on the run ever since, yet she continues to wake up in the night the fluorescent white lights and white tiled walls flashing in her vision as she was pushed on a stretcher down the corridor REDACTED. she has two metal robotic legs with a sarcastic demeanour and a bit of a hater and judged but hey who isn’t. she’s your favourite queer persons favourite queer person. she was sent to a hero training school due to her mothers worries about her quirk where she met Himiko Toga, the two becoming very close friends very quickly. Aspen has extremely strong physical fighting style using her legs to take an offensive stance but limits herself sometimes by not using her quirk only using her physical body and upper body strength to take on opponents yet struggles against offensive and long range quirks otherwise. furthermore, they were recommended to UA by REDACTED the pro hero being highly commendable within her fighting style and overall ability as a hero especially when she uses her quirk having a full scholarship. but oh the weight it places on her, the weight of being a hero, the weight of the unknown

so please let this blow up id explode, sorry for being a little secretive about the lore but gotta keep you guessing. but id love the input so please share like and comment any ideas for her quirk or to make her any cooler <3

[hypersomniagame]

HYPERSOMNIA JULY DEV LOG : “LIKE MOTHER LIKE SON”

Yeah baby, none of that "If you're new here" stuff anymore! This is dev log #6! If you're new here read anyways, because if you're reading this you probably know what HYPERSOMNIA is. If not though, then welcome! Let me show you what I've been working on this month!

BUT BEFORE THAT!

If you didn't know, the MOTHER DIRECT is TOMORROW! (Which is why I'm writing this on Friday instead of Saturday)

HYPERSOMNIA will be there! We released a trailer teaser that you can watch right now, and the full trailer will be a part of the direct premiering at 6PM ET!

If you are a content creator, I ask as an indie developer to please talk about the indies and don't just skip over them. I'm not asking this because I want you to talk about my game, but just please talk about the indies because they deserve your attention. Just because you're not familiar with these games doesn't mean they're not worth looking into. If theres an indie game in this direct or in general that catches your attention please talk about it, because it's incredibly valuable to people trying to find an audience.

TALK ABOUT INDIES!

Now, back to your regularly scheduled indie games:

So, what have you been up to Ferris? I'll show ya!

First off, I've been working on designing enemies for the demo! Now I've realized over the last month that I am really really weak at designing common enemies. Trying to avoid RPG tropes and weak/overused ideas and jokes is tough because it means I can't really bullshit like 50 enemies and call it a day, each enemy takes a long time and needs a strong idea, sometimes it'll take me multiple days to come up with good ideas!

I came up with these two recently, and I think they're good examples of my thought process for designing enemies.

HYPERSOMNIA's enemies revolve around a paranormal theme. It's an aspect of the first MOTHER that I missed in MOTHER 2 and 3, which inspired HYPERSOMNIA to lean into it so much.

I try to also keep some sense of comedy in my designs, HYPERSOMNIA has paranormal aspects and it has serious moments, but I try not to mix the two with common enemies because I just don't think it'd make a very interesting enemy roster. Could you imagine an EarthBound inspired game with enemies like actual demons from hell or serial killers? It's something I would've written in 7th grade, like the most basic bait-and-switch you could ever see from any media.

I also put together a flowchart while talking with my partner about enemy designs, they weren't exactly on the same page as me while thinking of ideas so I made this to illustrate my thought process for an idea.

It really helps me narrow ideas that I think would work for the game. It isn't exact, so don't look at it like some sort of design bible, but it's more a general guideline.

I also got around to spriting that cow enemy. My friend suggested the name Moo-F-O which I liked better than the names I was thinking of.

I'll probably get around to spriting that TV enemy after I finish writing.

As the next "Thing I Did This Month", you may have noticed that Katz's coat is a different color!

I made this change while redoing her sprites. I was dissatisfied with how her black coat blends into the game's brown outlines so I decided on giving her a brown coat instead. It also helps her stand out a bit against Iggy, who also has a black coat.

I've also recently been working on some concept art, I've talked before about how I don't like Ross' special attack sprite, so I've been trying to come up with a better pose

I tried hard to make that pose he has in the original work because I think it looks cool but I just found that the pose on the right was easier for me to draw.

I've also been thinking of giving Debra a new starter weapon, initially she had a pan but I figured I should find something else for her, I don't like how similar it is to Ana and Paula from MOTHER. I'm still on the fence about it, so if I don't write about her having a new weapon next month then I'm still thinking about it.

And other then that, that's all I've really done this month! It's not much but I feel its more interesting then the last few months. I've had a lot going on in my life, and early in august I'll be moving out. Hopefully I'll be able to settle quick, because for August I'll probably mostly be taking a break.

I usually do take a break after a trailer comes out, so you'll definitely hear from me next month but we'll see if I have things to talk about. Until next time! And don't forget to watch the MOTHER DIRECT, live at 6pm ET!

If this is your first log you’re reading, or even your first time seeing ANYTHING relating to HYPERSOMNIA, I got a whole bunch of links for you to check out if you wanna know more about me and my stupid little game.

TWITTER

YOUTUBE

STEAM

UNIQUE INDIE RPG’S [SHOW US YOUR GAME!]

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[triquery]

Stealing a Reddit Thread on

What is the difference between Hegel and Fichte's conception of Dialectic?

u/Archie_The_Sage: I always thought the idea of dialectic could be defined as the process of human development guided by reason and following a basic structure of "thesis => antithesis => synthesis" originating with Hegel. Recently i heard this is a common misconception, it was actually Fichte who made this contribution, and that Hegel never formulated his dialectic that way personally, but probably wouldnt disagree with it.

So how does Hegel differ or agree with Fichte on dialectic? How would each of them define/approach it?

u/xgettes: I'm not super familiar with Fichte, so someone else please feel free to fill in the gaps! There are a few points here, which I'm going to simplify for the sake of time:

First, their respective conceptions of the dialectic come first from their understandings of subjectivity and idealism. Fichte, as far as I'm aware, stayed more faithful to Kant's transcendental idealism than Hegel ever did. Fichte maintained that reality was representational (like Kant) but rejected the Kantian "thing-in-itself."

Hegel is different. For Hegel, all reality results from the ONLY thing-in-itself, Absolute Spirit. So, Hegel goes beyond Kant and Fichte by saying that there is indeed some thing-in-itself, and we can know what it is by watching it unfold through history.

So, how does this inform their perspective on the dialectic?

This is where I know very little of Fichte, but I can definitely speak about Hegel. I think that Hegel would outright reject the thesis-antithesis-synthesis description of dialectics. (I'm curious as to where you heard he would agree with it.)

For Hegel, there is a contradiction, not a conflict. What's the difference? A conflict is two opposing forces clashing together to form a new thing—thesis vs antithesis. A contradiction, however, is a self-contained negation. The thesis is its own opposite—there is no antithesis. Because Hegel is committed to Absolute Idealism (in which there is only one Absolute Spirit), all contradictions (movements in the dialectic) must be self-negating, Aufheben.

I hope this makes sense. If not, let me know and I can try to clarify.

u/Archie_The_Sage: Thank you for that explanation! I think i'm starting to understand better. I have an interest in Hegel's take on History as a History major, particularly the notions of progress and the dialectic and an end to history where the subject realizes itself as the Absolute Spirit (something like that). I did just have a few follow up questions to clarify:

Fichte maintained that reality was representational (like Kant) but rejected the Kantian "thing-in-itself."

Ok so, I know Fichte isnt your wheelhouse, but how could he hold the position that reality is representational, but reject the distinction between Noumena and Phenomena, thing-in-itself? What would our perceptiom of reality be representing if not the thing-in-itself?

(I'm curious as to where you heard he would agree with it.)

It was a "The Great Courses" lecture by Dr. Daniel Robinson at Oxford on the History of Philosophy. He was primarily a Psychologist, so maybe not the best source, and I think there was some conflating done on my part thinking that everyone defined dialectic the same way as Thesis-Antithesis-Synthesis.

A conflict is two opposing forces clashing together to form a new thing—thesis vs antithesis. A contradiction, however, is a self-contained negation. The thesis is its own opposite—there is no antithesis. Because Hegel is committed to Absolute Idealism (in which there is only one Absolute Spirit), all contradictions (movements in the dialectic) must be self-negating

This is undoubtedly what I am needing to hear. Off hand, It seems like the process of transformation is similar, but Hegel's dialectic is self-contained within the Absolute Spirit, which is the sole driving force of History. So how does the dialectical process work for Hegel? Absolute Spirit discovers contradiction within itself, negates itself, and resolves the contradiction leading to higher and higher planes of being? Maybe I just need that spelled out a little more to get it.

Thank you again, please forgive my lack of knowledge and probable misuse of terminology.

u/xgettes:

What would our perception of reality be representing if not the thing-in-itself?

I truthfully do not know enough about Fichte to give a good answer to this one. I'd recommend checking out the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

With regards to the Dr. Daniel Robinson lecture: Yeah, thesis-antithesis-synthesis is attributed to Hegel a lot, but I'm definitely skeptical of saying he'd support it. I'm not a a Hegel scholar by any stretch of the imagination, but those who I have spoken to say that T-A-S is not just an oversimplification, but a misunderstanding.

Absolute Spirit discovers contradiction within itself, negates itself.

I think this is spot on. For Hegel, knowledge is only produced (and is only possible) by way of contradiction.

resolves the contradiction leading to higher and higher planes of being?

This is a little more complicated. For Hegel, the contradiction is never resolved. The development of history, and Absolute Spirit's movement towards self-consciousness is the recognition that reality is contradiction all the way down. This is different from someone like Marx. Marx adapted the Hegelian dialectic to say that there is a resolution to the contradiction (by way of communism). But for Hegel, the knowledge is in the contradiction itself, not in a resolution to the contradiction.

I'd highly recommend checking out the podcast "Why Theory" with Ryan Engley and Todd McGowan. The two hosts are Hegel Scholars, and they did an entire episode on Hegel's Preface to the Phenomenology of Spirit.

u/eliminating_coasts:

Ok so, I know Fichte isnt your wheelhouse, but how could he hold the position that reality is representational, but reject the distinction between Noumena and Phenomena, thing-in-itself? What would our perception of reality be representing if not the thing-in-itself?

I'm also not that familiar with Fichte, but my understanding is that Fichte believes that we should study thought and knowledge from the perspective of a being and what is necessary for that being; in other words, what we think of as truth is "that which it is impossible to think any other way".

Of course, we do end up thinking other ways about things all the time, but we come into situations where we are forced to change our perception.

He argues that the reason we are forced to change our perception is that consciousness is simultaneously an action, the action of asserting ourselves as a living conscious being, and though (when we start off completely ignorant on the constraints on our existence) we might think that we have infinite undetermined freedom, over time we meet restrictions in our capacity to act that cause us to reflect on what is occurring and define laws/concepts etc.

He argues that we don't need any knowledge of physics to expect this; even just beginning with an analysis of freedom, "will" etc. we will find that to be able to distinguish will from action, there must be some limitation on the capacity of action, such that people don't just immediately complete their ends.

And this feedback loop of the will encountering restrictions and creating concepts to manage those restrictions, which occurs both practically (in terms of feeling pain when you try to move your foot in a certain way, and so having to look down and recognise a rock that you keep kicking, where the object of the rock appears as a perceptual action by that individual) as well as conceptually, (where finding contradictions and feeling confusion when you apply ideas, and being forced to develop a new idea to explain this contradiction), makes the following creations of ideas and perceptions necessary to the individual in question.

You consistently can't stop hurting yourself on rocks without recognising that there are rocks, you can't solve the contradiction without creating the concept. The need for the concept or perception justifies the concept or perception.

And the continuing action of the ego causes them to create more edge cases where misconceptions must be tidied up, if the ego doesn't want to just remain in a domain of feelings and uncertainty and frustrated action, but actually be able to act as it wills.

Exactly how and when this disruption occurs, why there are rocks, where the rocks are, why there is a given structure of concepts etc. Fichte doesn't believe is the subject of his core philosophy, and keeps calling anyone who tries to come up with a general theory of necessity "dogmatic", (and that for some reason, suggesting that an entity creates restrictions for itself as the outcome of its "unconscious freedom" is a more minimal hypothesis, because it doesn't determine from the philosophy itself the nature of what that external reality turns out to be). He only wants to argue that if we begin with a thinking being, it will in fact both find that it makes mistakes, and then find certain thoughts necessary to fix those mistakes, and those necessary thoughts constitute knowledge for that being, so that it is able to say "as certainly as I live, this is also true".

Unlike Hegel though, he also thinks that this is a never-ending process, where knowledge is constantly surpassed by knowledge, as new conceptions that were previously unnecessary become necessary, and "tighten up" previous forms of knowledge, with old certainties being absorbed into new and larger ones.

This is how people can have knowledge without having to be sure that their knowledge correspond exactly to what is there "in reality"; you instead have access to a history of experiments, investigations etc. that have convinced you that something must be thought about in a given way, and that your life as an acting being continuing to make yourself exist cannot "work" without doing so. And once you have been so convinced, the only falsification of that confidence that is legitimate is actual demonstration of the failures of your conceptual systems or practical actions to actually work.

This makes his system, like Kant's, an answer to empiricist scepticism; in his case that just telling someone that the world could be otherwise than they construct it is not enough, you have to present them with a practical obstruction to their practical actions that forces them to look again in a new way, or a conceptual problem that disrupts their reflective actions, breaks the unity of their thought and makes it necessary for them to reconsider their concepts. And in a sense, empiricism was such a challenge, because of the way it rendered unstable and unfamiliar the concept of knowledge for people who read that work, with him trying to provide a form of reflection that others can do that re-grounds and re-steadies their concept of knowledge, such that they can once again know how they know.

These concepts and perceptions are speculative when they are tried, and become knowledge when they "work", when they unblock thought or action, and show themselves to be necessary.

And in terms of the content of that knowledge, the irreducible core will be the necessities of knowledge production itself, what is necessary given that it is an individual, self-asserting being at all, but a lot of other stuff will be personal and particular to that ego, what they choose to do, where they live etc.

[ ]

The whole theory of the "science of knowledge", if I understand it correctly, basically involves him repeating in different ways the same principle of the feedback loop between the unity of experience, experience of limitation and instability that forces analysis and separation of things or concepts into separate objects - including coming into awareness of yourself - and a return to unification and what we might in the modern sense call "flow", by the practical action of finding a way to continue to live, unifying the various perceptions into the single act of being alive in the world.

[ankimodaisukiq]

Dress Code, Diversity, Humanity, and Music

free/without ankimo magazine

Yeah umm don't shout rude stuff in the crowd 😭😭😭 common sense don't be like A-san

original link:

This is Shiren.

I'm writing this note urgently right now.

It's about something that's been a bit of a topic on Twitter—during the Nagoya live show, there was a guest (let's call them "A") who loudly stated, "We don't need the acoustic set." I thought I'd address this from my perspective and decided to write about it.

Along with this, I want to share my thoughts on broader topics like "What is a person?" and "What is music?" (Yeah, huge themes).

Please keep in mind that what I'm writing here is just my opinion. It's about what I, from my own position and values, see and feel. I'd be happy if you could read it calmly, considering it more as a debate rather than swallowing it whole or rejecting it all because some parts might not match your own views.

I'll write in detail because cutting corners might lead to misunderstandings.

First of all, "Please don't shout unnecessary comments during live shows" is something that basically everyone already understands and follows without being told. So I might end up repeating obvious things here.

(And this intro is already getting long!! Sweat is dripping from my forehead lol)

This is still just an introduction, but keep in mind that this is a matter of "dress code" and "profit and loss." I'm not trying to talk about "justice," "what's right as a person," "morality," or "common sense."

Those concepts—"justice," "what's right," "morality," and "common sense"—are ambiguous definitions that change depending on the times, environment, culture, and individual circumstances.

Even during the pandemic, there was a lot of debate around those topics, like the so-called "self-restraint police" criticizing restaurants for staying open during uncertain times when no one knew how compensation would work. People would easily say, "How could you open your store at a time like this!?" I get what they were saying, but it costs money to keep a business alive, and for some, closing down once could mean never recovering. Everyone has their own desperate sense of "justice."

But that's not the kind of shaky concept I'm talking about here. I'm talking about "dress code" and "profit and loss," something that applies equally to everyone.

Now, about the issue with A-san.

Apparently, A-san was talking loudly enough for others to hear, but I personally didn't hear anything. If I had heard it, I would've started the mission to get them out of the venue as quickly as possible so we could restart the show.

In my own calculation of profit and loss:

1. I could leave A-san alone, letting them stay, and ask others to endure the discomfort (for those who could hear them, it might have been hard to enjoy the show).

2. I could have A-san removed, making them lose out significantly but allowing everyone else to continue as usual. It might take some time, though.

Given those two options, I would've chosen the second—if I'd heard them, I would have asked them to leave.

As for opinions on the setlist, of course, everyone is free to have their own. If a young, hot-blooded person says, "No acoustic set! Let us go wild with every song!" I’d just think, "Oh, you're full of energy! 🤘" and leave it at that.

For example, after the live show, if someone shares on Twitter or a blog, or with friends, "I didn’t need the acoustic set, I wanted to go wild the whole time!"—well, that's their freedom. (Though I’d appreciate it if they also mentioned what they did like about the show.)

My favorite bands, like X JAPAN and JAM Project, always have an acoustic set as part of their live shows, and I enjoy it. If I were to compare it to a meal, it's like the pickles that come with a set meal. I personally love when the pickles in my meal are tasty.

A live show is something everyone in the room participates in. It’s not just the band performing that makes it; the behavior of the audience is part of creating a shared space.

In some restaurants, there’s a dress code. You have to wear a jacket, or you can’t enter without a collared shirt—things like that.

Likewise, "Please don’t shout unnecessary comments during the live show" is like an unspoken dress code. They don’t need to explicitly state, "Don’t expose yourself and headbang in circles 🌪," though that would also involve legal issues. (At home, you can listen however you want!)

If someone can’t cooperate in creating that shared space, they can’t stay in the venue.

Especially now, there are rules asking the audience not to shout during shows. To blatantly go against that and complain just doesn’t match up in terms of risk versus reward! If you break the dress code twice, immediate removal without a refund seems pretty justified. Still, how you balance risk and reward is up to each individual, as long as you can accept the consequences.

Anyway, that’s the end of the background. It was just a bunch of facts.

Now we’ll get into more complex territory, along with my thoughts.

A-san lacks basic social skills. Whether they struggle in daily life or people think, "Oh, this person is hopeless," I’m not sure.

Music is one form of entertainment that people of all statuses, personalities, races, and education levels can enjoy equally. When music moves your heart or body, it’s a pleasure that reaches a very primal part of being human.

Many other forms of entertainment are influenced by money or environment. From that perspective, music has a very low barrier to enjoyment (though attending a live show can cost money). But as far as music itself goes, it’s accessible.

It’s a blessing that even someone socially disadvantaged like A-san can still enjoy music, an equal form of entertainment.

Just like music itself, I also want to keep the barrier to my own music as low as possible. I want everyone to enjoy it. I’m just one person, so within the limits of what benefits me, of course.

That’s why I hope A-san can learn to internalize the concept of a "dress code." It’s for their own good. Whether it's at Unlucky Morpheus' shows or other bands' shows, I hope they never mess around like that again! 🌪

[unhinged-summer-fun]

IM BACK AND I READ IT. These wo idiots hitting on each others like: PLEASE JUST FUCK ALREADY. No seriously like it’s so obvious from both sides y’all take one for the team one of you. Stretching while make full eye contact isn’t subtle 🤭. Don’t even get me started on the boxing bit like imagine if someone was coming up the stairs like what would they think is happening. All you hear is grunts (cuz she’s boxing) and Q yelling “C’mon. That’s it. Good girl.” and “Fuck yes. Don’t stop, show me.” THE KISS (to her knuckles ok ok). Osha’s do-something-stupid impulse is the best impulse she should indulge in it more often. Another kiss to the handdddd. Does he know you can kiss people other places? She’s gonna call him Qimir now ❤️‍🩹 also the manic energy of the spar was extremely well done, it really felt like you were in it. Ok it got serious again. Indara ratting on Sol feels so good. He can’t be trusted ever. Also I think it’s interesting that Vernestra was Qimir’s parent and exploited him to the point of injury and abandoned him because Sol did basically the same thing. Indara knows how similar Osha and Qimir are. Osha grew up in this place and was similarly exploited, injured, and tossed aside because she wasn’t useful anymore. Them teaming up is V’s worst nightmare and also thinking thoughts about canon Sol’s ending and this AU. Random but is this set in nyc? I’m thinking about the mayoral investigation going on rn. Ok ok now she has to go see him fight and try not to spill the beans. Why am I scared? Something feels ominous 😭

THANK YOU FOR THE EARLY POST. I was actually so happy to see it, it gave me sm motivation to finish up with work. I LOVE YOU TOO ❤️ thank you for writing I hope your jeans fits you perfectly and your pillow is cold on both sides 🫡

(this is from ch13 common grounds and now that 14/15 are up i am finally answering ty for ur patience ily aaaaa)

the two of them are seriously the hugest idiots everrrr like on his side, the only thing keeping him back is his sense of self-loathing, that he'll "dirty" her by making that first step toward her - bc until now he's been leading her to him and letting her choose to make those steps. on HER end, she's got a hundred thousand different reasons not to do this being screamed at her from anyone she talks to, so Osha is too inundated with things like Logic to make any horny decisions!! a tragedy.

i love your train of thought commentary it makes me so happy, it's my favorite kind of comment, like i'm going on an adventure with ur consciousness <3 your theories are also making me want to mobilize the sniper unit omfg like i love teasing yall with pieces of the truth and seeing everyone put the pieces together i'm LIVING FOR IT

as for ur question about the setting, i kind of get into the geographical setting some more in later chapters, but no this isn't an "on-earth" au. it's not necessarily in the GFFA, either. i am imagining it's the kind of story that could happen in "any" city so that's why i haven't given it a name. however, the "FDO" stands for the Federal District Orphanage, the Federal District being a district on the city-planet (ecumenopolis) of Coruscant (and where the Jedi Temple is!). outright calling the city "coruscant" is kind of a turn-off to me, though, so i'm just calling it "the city" and using generic names for streets, etc.

that said, starbucks and looney tunes and emoji and the black keys and walt whitman and brazilian jiu-jitsu and two-shot americanos and the concept of OSHA and calling one's calcaneal tendon "achilles" and teddy swims and .HEIC image files are also in this fic so it's not not an earth fic. LOL

thank u for my jeans blessings i am very very appreciative 😔🙏✨

and thank you for your ask and your lovely comment on 13!!

[linagram]

[meet the guard!] guard 003: kuroki hinode

(this was supposed to be posted yesterday but.. i forgor...)

HE'S FINALLY HERE!!! THE THIRD GUARD!!! AND ALSO RIKU'S BIG BROTHER!! LET'S GO!!!

he gets not one but two drawings bc he's a very special little boy (and also bc i feel bad for him since he got introduced late for obvious story purposes but like.. i really need to make more content for him..)

(also fun fact: the first drawing actually was done in july and the second one just a few days ago.. i can actually see some differences in my art style hehe..)

another note is that when i started to work on hinode's character, my first thought was that i kinda wanted to create another physically disabled guard character (since i think eiji can count as the first one because kei's treatment of him had not the best impact on his body), it just sounded like a neat concept! but i also didn't want to make him.. how do i explain.. too sympathetic, maybe? too squishy? what really annoys me as someone who is physically disabled is that characters like that are often used to make people feel bad for them and don't really have any personality OR they turn out to be the bad guys who only pretended to be disabled for pity points. so instead i've tried to make hinode's problems realistic and a lot of it comes from my own experiences, but i still wanted to make him morally gray and kinda.. you know.. kinda suspicious. (you're more than allowed to joke about punching him or putting him in a blender and all that)

General info.

Name: Kuroki Hinode (黒木日出) (his last name means "black" and "tree" and his first name means "sun, day" and "exit, leave". yes, hinode's name has kanji for "day" and riku's name has kanji for "evening".. the parallels <3...)

Age: 22 y/o

Gender: Male

Status: Guard 003

Birthday: January 28 (Aquarius)

Blood type: AB

Height: 179 cm

Occupation: Unemployed

Personality: Hinode isn't as outgoing as his brother, but he still enjoys talking to others, learning more about them and just spending time with other people. However, he's used to being alone, so he won't complain if it's not possible for him to talk to anyone at the moment. It actually might be better for him, since he gets tired quite easily because of his poor health and can't be active for too long. He feels sleepy most of the time, so please don't judge him for suddenly dozing off in the middle of the conversation, even if it's very important. He's not as passionate about justice as the other guards and mostly just wants to do his own thing, not caring about morals too much, but still having enough common sense to punish those who deserve it (in his opinion). He dislikes the physical kind of punishments because he believes that they're too "basic", since pain can easily scare anyone and there's nothing special about it. It's also possible that he doesn't like them because of his own experience with chronic pain, but to be honest, Hinode is lying when he says that he doesn't like to see people in pain. Yes, he believes that pain is the worst thing that could happen to anyone, even worse than death. But also, as someone who has no choice but to spend most of his days in pain.. Maybe he does want to see the prisoners feel the same way as he does. Maybe just a little bit. He still prefers the psychological punishments, finding them more "effective" and "suitable".. mostly because he's too weak to punish anyone physically.

MV info.

His Milgram cover: Him and T1 Naomi are twinning and he'd cover Weakness! The lyrics remind me a lot of him and I think with an instrumental like that it'd be appropriate for Riku's brother to cover it.

His DECO*27 cover: Harinezumi. The lyrics remind me a lot of him in general, him trying to keep up with everyone even though his condition doesn't allow him and him feeling like a burden to others, especially his family, but also being jealous of Riku for being so popular, talented and living his best life (at least it seems so on the outside) ("I can still keep going! Jealousy, what a trifling thing", "Don't you sometimes feel a little dizzy? I'm sighing because I'm tired of my heart pounding", "People know their true forms after being broken and crushed") and also the song describes his dysfunctional relationship with Riku really well as two brothers who are both jealous of each other and who both want something the other has (Riku has friends, popularity, the time and energy to make music, meanwhile Hinode has the family's attention, others helping him and people not judging him for spending the whole day in bed) but who also still love each other and genuinely wish their life could go differently ("I'll embrace you, we won't be parted", "Don't be prickly with me, each time we touch, I throb. If I prick you, you might hate me, well, there's no way that will happen!.. At least, I think", "I'm an attention seeker! I want to be spoiled! I want to melt even more for you!") And also considering that one of them is extremely suicidal and the other one is afraid that his life won't be that long.. ("In the blink of an eye, which of us will die?")

His Non-DECO*27 cover: Waltz by Nashimoto-P. I imagine Hinode having this very soft and quiet voice that almost sounds like a whisper and I feel like it would fit the way Miku is tuned very well! Also the lyrics sound so much like him trying to cope with his condition, his relationship with Riku, other problems and slowly going insane in the process. ("Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, I ask what day is it today, regrettably thinking today will be a good time", "I don't know what's fun, but as I run out of things to do, I will accompany you", "My EKG is a straight line, I wonder how many decades ago") Some lyrics, especially the chorus remind me of the way he acts as a guard too. ("Stop trying to give up, the world is connected. Dance, smile, while you're being controlled. In the beginning, in the end, the details are non-existent. Don't resist, accept it, everything is connected") Also, Riku's T3 song is supposed to be by Nashimoto-P too, so :} They're matching!

His T3 Voice Trailer Voicelines:

"Ah, greetings, prisoners. Um, I apologize for such a late introduction, haha.. My name is Kuroki Hinode and I am the third guard of this prison. Nice to meet you. Starting from today, I'll be replacing Sanada Eiji-san as he's recovering. I hope we all get along. I'm really not the best person for this job, so I apologize if I end up falling asleep in the middle of the interrogation, haha.."

".. What was I supposed to do? I can't even get out of bed right now. If he wants to be saved, then I'm not the one who he should ask for help."

Trivia:

His eyes may not look like it because of the lighting on the first picture, but his eye color is supposed to be gray, meanwhile Riku's eye color is more of a mix of light green and gray.

Hinode's natural hair color is light brown, but a few days before Riku committed his crime, Riku suggested that he dyes Hinode's hair, hoping to make him feel at least a little better. They went with the brightest colors Riku had just for fun and it really did make Hinode smile and he was happy to spend time with his brother like that. In season 2, Riku dyed his hair the same way and noticed the colors only when it was too late, so it's possible that he missed his brother and did that subconsciously. It should be noted, however, that Riku's T2 hair is light green on the left and red on the right, meanwhile Hinode's hair is light green on the right and his hair is more pink rather than red on the left. Hinode also has a double ahoge just like his little brother and same goes for their little sisters. It's something they all share :)

He started putting his hair in a bun since he arrived because he found working with his hair down uncomfortable. Miki helps him with it now.

Hinode's illnesses aren't deadly, but a lot of them are chronic and dealing with them made Hinode a little bit paranoid and he has a lot of health-related anxiety. His condition is supposed to be mostly up to interpretation, but I can say for sure that he has anemia, narcolepsy and fibromyalgia.

He's the tallest out of all the guards (and that also makes Eiji the shortest). He's also the oldest one.

It's hard for him to walk because of how tired he feels most of the time, so he asked Miki if it's okay to hold her hand when they walk together. After a lot of internal screaming because of Hinode being so cute, Miki agreed. 

His room has everything he needs and he can see the whole prison on multiple screens, watch the interrogation recordings, adjust the brightness of the screens and the room temperature and whoever kidnapped him also somehow learned about all the medications he has to take. He was creeped out by first, but then went "Oh, it's kinda nice actually :)"

Speaking of him arriving to Milgram, he was kidnapped while he was asleep. So before Jackalope brought him his guard uniform, Hinode spent all his time wearing pajamas. He still thinks they're more comfortable than his uniform. (another fun fact is that the first "concept art" of him had him in his pajamas sjskkssl)

He's probably the best character to ask for medical help at the moment, since he does know a lot about things like that, but whether he's able to actually help someone depends on how he's feeling at the moment and what his relationship with that person is like. 

Hinode actually used to play the guitar before his health started to get worse and after he realized he doesn't have the energy to play anymore, he gave it to Riku. Riku still uses his brother's guitar and not counting the ones he got in Milgram, he refuses to get a new one. It also has a bunch of silly drawings on it made by Riku himself, Hinode and their little sisters. 

[screambirdscreaming]

#I would add if you don't feel able to shift the actual feelings pretneding is better than nothing#like we're not doing thought crimes#you're not seeing the true person but whatever it's your business in your own head

^see, I would actually disagree. About that being better than nothing. I mean to each their own preference, but for me, someone pretending they're not misgendering me in their head is not a social courtesy, it's just exhausting. And I don't mean that they're doing "thought crimes" or whatever, I don't really feel like that framework has anything to do with it? It just means I'm going to find them stressful and unpleasant to interact with. Like anyone who is misgendering me. And either they are doing well enough at pretending that i would feel fucked up and betrayed if i learned how they actually thought of me, or - infinitely more common! - they're doing juuuust well enough at pretending to respect my gender that I don't have an overt foothold to call them out on the ways they're constantly, persistently misgendering me in tone or implications.

Again, I know that my stance here is not a popular stance. But I really feel like the way pronouns have become a fighting ground of gender acceptance has actually dragged the whole conversation about presentation and perception way off track.

I get how it happened. Pronouns make sense as a point of interface, something you can declare about yourself in an outward-facing way without getting into all the details and intricacies of your gender. "Just call me this please." But it gets into this weird dynamic - assuming the pronouns you've asked for don't match the way the person talking to you is percieving you. The options are basically:

1 ) They refuse to use your pronouns and are overtly a jerk about it. Sucks but also they suck, disregard their opinion.

2 ) They take into consideration that your pronouns indicate that the way they were perceiving you is not right, and put in effort to change their view of you. Which doesn't mean perfect or instant results! There's often a lot of steps forward and back, or those sort of awkward-but-sweet attempts to affirm your gender in ways that don't really match your personality. But like, they're trying. To me the really significant factor is when you can tell that someone is genuinely making an effort to change their perspective, on you or on how gender works at all.

3 ) They change the pronouns they use but not the way they conceptualize you. I think a core piece of the issue is that people act like this is on a continuum with option two. But in my experience it is not. It's a seperate type of effort that people make - ok, to indulge you, to be polite, I'll take this extra pause and change up the words I say. People do this instead of changing how they conceptualize you. And there is some genuine confusion here! Like the breakthrough that OP's mom had was literally realizing that they'd misunderstood the assignment, that they'd focused on the wrong thing. And part of what propagates that confusion is the way people get up in arms about pronoun use as a bottom line, like you have to do at least this much!! And then people make a big production of how hard it is and how you have to appreciate how much effort they're putting into correcting themselves every single time they use your pronouns, because they're sooo committed to indulging you in your weird little gender delusions.

Again, I get that a lot of people experience a lot of distress every time they're misgendered, and getting people to just Stop Saying The Wrong Word is a pressing quality of life issue. But for me, the one thing that I actually care about is for people to stop putting me in a conceptual gender box and treating me accordingly. And what this tends to mean, is that for every single person i meet who is not already deep in queer spheres, I have to go about cracking their tidy little gender concept like a walnut. Did you know there's more options?? Did you know you don't just have to take your gender and suck it up?? Did you know you can stop pulling people down in the gender crab bucket with you?? And in my experience, it is actually a hurdle to my process of getting this point across, if they've already absorbed a narrative that "some silly girls want to be called 'they' so just humor that." Which doesn't do shit for me!

Actually, getting back to the point about thought crime, because I think that's actually relevant to unpick here.

We're not talking about crime in any sense, we're talking about being rude and shitty to people in ways that are unpleasant to interact with. Like many areas of discourse, misgendering has been flattened into incomprehensibility by making the framework one of moral ills and harm, completely cutting out the concept of "rude and unpleasant" which in fact accounts for most of human social friction.

Of course, thinking about someone in a way they wouldn't like doesn't hurt them, and of course it isn't a moral issue! It can still be rude, though, especially if it's someone you know. If you talk to them or treat them in ways that reflect those thoughts, they're justified in finding that really unpleasant, and in not wanting to interact with you. That's not a moral issue either!

Misgendering is an issue with a lot of emotional charge, especially since we're often using it to gauge whether someone means us ill in a more serious transphobic way. And even when it's relatively harmless, it still sucks. That said, I get that it can be genuinely difficult to change how you perceive someone, and that people put a lot of self-doubt and even self-hate on themselves if they're not able to keep up with doing that work. And then, having said that, other people will get frustrated if you offer too much grace on that concept, because they're sick of hearing about how hard it is from people like their parents who they really feel should be putting in that effort towards such a significant relationship in their lives. It's messy!

I don't think it does anyone any good to pretend there's a consistent, universal baseline of "acceptable behavior" where if you meet it, you're clear, and if you don't you're an asshole. Not only does that fail to account for the complexity of social interactions and people's perspectives and needs, it also creates a built-in loophole for any asshole who wants to toe the line of "acceptable" behavior.

It frustrates me to see how much this has happened with pronouns.

[laurafaritos]

HDMS028. Paid, Owned & Earned Media: What Every Comedian Needs to Know About Getting Booked And Building an Audience

Look, I get it. Marketing yourself can feel like standing on a street corner yelling, “HEY HO HEY NOTICE ME PLEASE!!!” It’s awkward, it’s cringe, and you’d rather just let your work “speak for itself.” The problem? No one can hear it if you’re not actively making noise.

If you’ve ever felt like:

Your content is great, but it’s not getting traction.

You’re tired of posting show flyers that get zero engagement.

You want to build a following, but you don’t want to seem desperate…

Then this post is for you.

Before we get into the details of how to market yourself without feeling gross, let’s talk about what’s been going on with me:

As of writing this, I’ve officially completed my Harvard Digital Marketing Strategy course!!! 🎉 I don’t have my certificate in hand just yet (they take 30 days to evaluate my final answers), but I will soon be a Harvard-certified marketing girlie. And let me tell you—this course has rewired my entire brain.

For the first time in my life, I studied fully aware of my AuDHD brain, took the time to accommodate my learning process, and now? I finally feel like I’m onto something. Not just for myself, but for comedians and creatives who—like me—want to be self-employed without burning out.

And because I’m completely unhinged, I also signed up for ANOTHER Harvard certificate: Entrepreneurial Marketing. It starts on March 26, which is both TWO WEEKS AWAY (!!!) and also TWO DAYS AWAY from my upcoming show, Foreigner Diaries Live #001.

So before then, I must finish all my HDMS blog posts:

To process everything I’ve learned.

To prove (to myself and others) that I can teach these concepts in a way that makes sense for comedians.

To go into my next course with a clear mind, a clean slate, and ready to take over the world.

So, welcome back. I’m caffeinated. I’m dangerous. And I’m about to tell you why no one knows who you are yet—and how to fix it.

I. The Marketing Funnel & Why Nobody Knows You Exist (Yet)

If you’ve been following along with my Harvard Digital Marketing journey (or if you just have common sense), you probably already know this: getting people to notice you is hard.

Most comedians think all they need to do is be funny. But here’s the brutal truth: talent alone isn’t enough. If it were, every hilarious open-mic regular would be famous by now. But they’re not. Why? Because nobody knows they exist.

And before you scream, “BUT THAT’S NOT FAIR!!!” let me ask you something:

How many comedians do YOU follow that you’ve never actually seen perform???

How often do YOU buy tickets to a show just because someone posted a flyer???

How many talented people have you never heard of because they don’t market themselves???

Exactly. Hard pill to swallow, I know. But here's the good news: the problem isn’t your comedy!!! It was never about talent!!! The problem is that you’re treating marketing like an afterthought instead of what it actually is: the only way people will ever find you.

Enter: The Marketing Funnel!!!

If you don’t know what a marketing funnel is, don’t worry—I didn’t know ANY OF THIS SHIT EITHER until I took this course!!! But that's why I'm so invested in these posts. it’s also why some comedians blow up and others stay stuck grinding the same shows for years!!

The marketing funnel is basically the journey a potential fan takes before they ever give you money. It has three main stages:

Awareness – They find out you exist.

Consideration – They decide if you’re worth following.

Conversion – They buy a ticket, watch your special, or become a fan for life.

Most comedians skip the first two stages and go straight for conversion. They post a flyer and expect strangers to show up. They drop a link to their special and expect people to click. But if nobody knows who you are, why would they care?

If you don’t build awareness and consideration first, you’re basically yelling into the void. No audience, no engagement, no ticket sales.

Here’s SOME MORE good news: you don’t have to be a marketing genius to make this work. But you do need to stop treating your content like a desperate attempt to sell tickets and start treating it like what it is—a way to build a relationship with your audience.

II. Marketing Yourself As A Comedian Without Feeling Cringey

Let’s be real—self-promotion feels weird... because it IS weird!!!

Every comedian I know (myself included) has, at some point, thought:

“Ugh, I don’t want to seem desperate.”

“I just want my work to speak for itself.”

“Why does posting about my show feel like selling Herbalife?”

And listen, I get it. No one wants to be that person!!! I didn't want to!! I hated the idea of being the one who’s constantly screaming, “BUY MY THING! LOOK AT ME!” while everyone else just scrolls past.

But here’s the HARD, TOUGH reality: if you don’t market yourself, NOOOBODY ELSE WILL!!!!!!!!! Take that in!!!! If you don't market yourself, NOBODY ELSE WILL!!! And the comedians who “just let their work speak for itself” are usually the ones stuck wondering why they’re not booking better gigs.

The reason self-promotion feels cringe is because most people approach it like selling a product. But you’re not a product—you’re a person. And people don’t follow comedians because they were “sold” on them. They follow because they feel connected to them.

Think about your favorite comedians. You probably don’t just love their jokes—you love them. Their personality, their perspective, the way they talk about life.

That’s what you’re offering. Not just jokes, but an experience!!! A relationship!!! A reason to care!!!

So instead of thinking, “I need to promote myself”—try thinking, “I need to invite people into my world". Here's how you can do that:

Document, Don’t Sell – Instead of just posting “Come to my show!”, try sharing why this show matters to you. Are you working on a new bit??? Is this your first time headlining??? Did something wild happen at your last show??? Bring people along for the ride!!

Make It About Them – Your audience doesn’t care about your show just because you do. But they will care if you connect it to something they relate to. Example: Instead of just saying, “I have a new YouTube clip up,” say, “If you’ve ever had a weird first date, this joke is for you.” Now it feels personal.

Show More Than Just Stand-Up – People don’t just follow comedians for their sets; they follow them for their personality. If all you post is show flyers and joke clips, you’re missing a huge opportunity. Try adding behind-the-scenes moments, reactions, hot takes, or even just dumb thoughts you’d share with a friend. The more they feel like they know you, the more they root for you.

Bottom Line: You don’t have to be “salesy” to grow an audience. You just have to make people care. And that starts with showing up, being yourself, and letting people into your world!!!!!!

III. The 3 Types of Digital Marketing & Why Comedians Should Care

When most people hear “digital marketing,” they immediately think of paid ads—but that’s just one piece of the puzzle. In reality, marketing falls into three main categories:

Paid Media – Ads you pay for (social media ads, Google ads, promoted posts, etc.)

Owned Media – Platforms you control (your website, email list, YouTube channel, etc.)

Earned Media – Exposure you earn (word-of-mouth, press features, social shares, etc.)

Let’s break these down and why they matter for comedians.

A. Paid Media: Speeding Up the Process

Paid ads are like putting a microphone on your content. They amplify what you’re already doing and help you reach more people, faster.

If you have a show to sell, running ads can help fill seats.

If you have a killer clip, a small ad budget can reach new fans.

If you're growing on YouTube, YouTube ads can help push your channel further.

But here’s the catch........ If your content sucks, ads won’t save you!!!! Paid media only works if your organic content is already strong. So before spending money, make sure your clips, branding, and messaging are on point!!!!!!

B. Owned Media: The Only Thing You Actually Control

Your Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter? You don’t own them. If they disappeared tomorrow, you’d have no way to reach your audience.

That’s why owned media is crucial. This includes:

Your website – Where people can find your tour dates, press mentions, and work.

Your email list – One of the most underrated tools for comedians. Unlike social media, email gives you direct access to your audience without fighting an algorithm.

Your YouTube channel – If you’re serious about building a long-term audience, owning your video content is key.

So what does that mean for you, as a comedian???

You never have to worry about an algorithm killing your reach.

You can market directly to your biggest supporters.

You control your own audience instead of relying on platforms that could disappear.

If you’re building a comedy career, you've got to understand how investing in owned media is a long-term insurance policy.

C. Earned Media: The Power of Word-of-Mouth

Earned media is when other people talk about you—whether that’s a press feature, a viral tweet, or a comedian shouting you out. It’s the hardest to control, but also the most powerful.

And why does that matter for comedians??? Because:

A single viral joke can put you on the map.

A press feature in Vulture or The New York Times can boost your credibility.

If a bigger comedian reposts your clip, you can gain thousands of new followers overnight.

So the best way to earn media is to BE SHAREABLE!!! Create content that makes people want to tag their friends, repost, or quote you. Give them a reason to spread the word.

But How Can Comedians Use Paid, Owned & Earned Media Together???

Well. There is no "one-size-fits-all" strategy for comedians. BUT the strongest comedians DO use a mix of all three types of media:

Paid to boost content and promote shows.

Owned to build a reliable audience that doesn’t depend on algorithms.

Earned to grow through word-of-mouth and social proof.

What this means is that most comedians only rely on earned media (“I hope this joke goes viral”). But the ones who grow faster are the ones who strategically mix all three!!!

IV. Paid vs. Organic Growth—Which One Actually Builds a Career?

Every comedian wants a bigger audience. But the biggest debate in growing a comedy career online is this:

Should you pay for growth? (Ads, promoted posts, boosting clips)

Or should you grow organically? (Relying on viral moments, word-of-mouth, and engagement)

The truth??? Neither one works alone!!! You need a balance of both. Let’s break it down.

A. Organic Growth: The Slow But Strong Foundation

Organic growth is free—but it takes time. It happens when people naturally discover your content and share it because they genuinely like it.

Pros of Organic Growth:

Builds a loyal audience who actually cares about your work.

Costs nothing. No ad budget needed.

Creates a strong foundation for long-term success.

Cons of Organic Growth:

Unpredictable. You can’t guarantee a post will go viral.

Takes longer to build momentum.

Can be frustrating when the algorithm decides not to show your content.

For comedians, organic growth comes from:

Posting clips that make people want to tag their friends.

Engaging with fans in comments, DMs, and community spaces.

Building relationships with other comedians for collaborations and shoutouts.

If you’re patient, organic growth is the most sustainable way to build a career. But what if you want to speed it up??????????

B. Paid Growth: The Fast Lane (If You Know What You’re Doing)

Paid growth is using money to put your content in front of more people. This includes:

Running TikTok, Instagram, or Facebook ads to promote a comedy clip.

Boosting a post that’s already performing well.

Paying for sponsored placements (e.g., featuring a clip on a big meme page).

Pros of Paid Growth:

Gets your content seen by WAY more people, faster.

Helps push already-viral content to the next level.

Useful for selling tickets when you need fast results.

Cons of Paid Growth:

Costs money (obviously).

If your content isn’t great, no ad can save it.

Can feel inauthentic if done incorrectly.

For comedians, paid growth is best used when:

You have a clip that’s already doing well organically (ads help it explode).

You need to sell tickets for a show.

You want to grow faster but still create quality content.

The key? Paid media should be a tool, not a crutch. If your content isn’t strong, throwing money at it won’t fix the problem.

C. The Sweet Spot: Combining Both for Growth

The smartest comedians don’t pick one—they use both strategically.

💡 Example strategy for a comedian (note that this is just an example so you can see how these principles could apply to you, but once again, there is no one-size-fits-all. Try it out and adjust it!)

Post a clip organically to see how it performs.

If it gains good engagement, put a little ad budget behind it to boost reach.

Drive those new viewers to your owned media (email list, website, YouTube).

Repeat the process and scale over time.

This way, you’re not just paying for empty views. You’re using ads to boost content that already works, while still letting organic growth do its thing.

If you’re only relying on organic growth, you might be stuck waiting for luck to kick in.

If you’re only using paid growth, you might build a shallow audience that doesn’t stick around.

The real move? Use both.

Organic growth = Builds trust and long-term fans.

Paid growth = Speeds up what’s already working.

The comedians who figure this out ARE THE ONESSSS who grow faster, make more money, and actually get booked!!!!!!!

V. The #1 Mistake Comedians Make With Social Media (And How to Fix It)

Let’s be real—most comedians are terrible at social media. Not because they aren’t funny, but because they don’t understand how the internet actually works.

They either:

Post clips randomly and hope for the best. (”I don’t get why this didn’t go viral!”)

Ignore social media altogether. (”I just want to focus on stand-up.”)

Try too hard to be an ‘influencer.’ (”What’s up guys, don’t forget to like and subscribe!!”)

The result? They’re invisible!!!!!!!!! No one outside their comedy circle knows they exist!!!!!!!!

So what’s the biggest mistake??? Posting without a strategy!!!!

A lot of comedians think, “I’ll just post my funniest clips and let the algorithm do its thing.” But the algorithm doesn’t care if you’re funny. It only cares if people engage!! You could have the best joke in the world, but if it’s formatted wrong, posted at the wrong time, or lacks a hook, no one will see it!!!!

Comedians who grow fast online aren’t just funny—they’re strategic. They treat their social media like a business, not a hobby. They know:

WHAT to post. (Clips, crowd work, jokes, memes, personal stories.)

WHEN to post. (When their audience is active.)

WHERE to post. (Some clips do better on TikTok, some on Insta, some on YouTube.)

HOW to optimize. (Good captions, subtitles, hooks, and CTA.)

Soooo if you want to actually grow your audience, you need a repeatable system!!!! REPEATABLE!!! Not just random posting!!!!!!

Here’s an easy 3-step framework that shows how you, as a comedian, can make your social media actually work:

Step 1: Identify Your ‘Content Buckets’

Think of 3-5 types of content you can rotate between. This keeps your page fresh.

For comedians, content buckets could be:

Stand-up clips (your best jokes, moments on stage)

Crowd work clips (interactions with audience)

Personal stories (things that make you unique)

Funny takes on trends (commentary on current events, pop culture)

Behind-the-scenes & life updates (the journey of being a comedian)

This keeps you from feeling stuck like, "What do I even post?"

Step 2: Create a Weekly Posting Schedule

Instead of posting whenever you feel like it, set a schedule. Why? Because consistency wins. The algorithm prioritizes creators who post regularly. So here's an example weekly posting schedule: 📅 Monday – Stand-up clip 📅 Wednesday – Personal story 📅 Friday – Funny take on a trend 📅 Sunday – Crowd work clip

Pro tip: If a clip doesn’t do well on one platform, repurpose it for another! What flops on TikTok might kill on YouTube Shorts.

Step 3: Optimize for Engagement (Not Just Views)

A lot of comedians only focus on views. But views don’t matter if they don’t turn into followers and ticket sales.

Ask questions in your captions to start conversations.

Reply to comments to keep engagement going.

Use call-to-actions (CTAs) like "Tag a friend" or "Follow for more stand-up clips!"

Make it easy for people to find more of you (Link your website, Patreon, YouTube, etc.).

You want people to stick around, not just scroll past. Posting. Without. A. Plan. Is. Wasting. Your. Fucking. Time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So if you’re putting time into making clips, I beeeegggg yooouuu to pleaseeee not let them go to waste!!!! For the love of God!!!!!!

Random posting = Slow growth, no control over your career.

Strategic posting = Steady audience growth, more bookings, bigger career.

And here’s the real kicker: Comedians who grow online get more opportunities. They get booked faster, paid more, and reach way beyond their local scene.

So the question is—are you gonna keep posting and praying????

Or are you gonna post with purpose?????

TL;DR: How To Market Yourself Like a Comedian, Not an Influencer

Let’s be honest—comedians don’t want to be influencers.

We don’t want to make cringey sales pitches or spend hours pretending to be a lifestyle brand.

We just want to be funny, get booked, and make a living doing what we love.

But here’s the problem: If no one knows you exist, how are you supposed to sell tickets, grow an audience, or get booked?

This is why marketing matters!!!!!!!! Not because you need to “sell out,” but because THE INDUSTRY HAS CHANGED!!!! And lots of established comedy schools and comedy teachers don't get it!!!!!! The comedians who understand digital marketing are the ones who are thriving in modern days, with a stable income from their art!!!

What We’ve Learned in This Post

You need a strategy. Posting clips randomly won’t get you anywhere.

Your content needs to match the funnel. Some posts build awareness, some build connection, and some sell tickets.

Consistency matters more than virality. You don’t need one viral moment—you need a system that builds momentum.

Engagement > Views. A smaller, loyal audience will support you more than a million passive scrollers.

What to Do Next (If You Actually Want to Grow)

✅ Step 1: Pick 3-5 ‘content buckets.’ (Stand-up clips, crowd work, personal stories, etc.) ✅ Step 2: Set a weekly posting schedule. (Post with a plan, not just vibes.) ✅ Step 3: Engage with your audience. (Reply to comments, ask questions, create a real fanbase.) ✅ Step 4: Track what works. (Pay attention to what your audience responds to and more of that.) ✅ Step 5: Repeat. (Consistency beats luck every time.)

You don’t need to be everywhere. You just need to show up consistently in the right places and make it easy for people to find you and follow you.

Now that you know all this, what’s the first thing you’re going to change about your marketing strategy? Drop a comment, DM me, or just start implementing—because the sooner you take this seriously, the sooner you start seeing real results.

You already know how to be funny, baby!!!!!! Now it’s time to make sure the right people see it!!!! Go get that moneyyyyyy!!!!!

And don't forget to follow me and stay tuned for the next post within the HDMS series. See you in the next one!!! Tchau tchau <33

[the-casbah-way]

i really think if you can’t wrap your head around the concept of anachronism then you should just stay away from ancient history

[baeddel]

Please. Please can you tell me what a baeddel is and why people (terfs?) used it in a derogatory manner on this website for a hot minute but now no one ever uses it at all

you asked for it, fucker

[2k words; philology and drama]

baeddel is an Old English word. i have no idea where it actually occurs in the Old English written corpus, but it occurs in a few placenames. its diminuitive form, baedling, is much better documented. it appears in the (untranslated) Canons of Theodore, a penitential handbook, a sort of guidebook for priests offering advice on what penances should be recommended for which sins. in a passage devoted to sexual transgressions it gives the penances suggested for a man who sleeps with a woman, a man who sleeps with another man, and then a man who sleeps with a baedling. so you have this construction of a baedling as something other than a man or a woman. and then it gives the penance for a baedling who sleeps with another baedling (a ludicrous one-year fast). then, by way of an explaination, Theodore delivers us one of the most enigmatic phrases in the Old English corpus: "for she is soft, like an adulturess."

the -ling suffix in baedling is masculine. but Theodore uses feminine pronouns and suffixes to describe baedlings. as we said, it's also used separately from male and female. but it's also used separately from their words for intersex and it never appears in this context. all of this means that you have this word that denotes a subject who is, as Christopher Monk put it, "of problematic gender." interested historians have typically interpreted it as referring to some category of homosexual male, such as Wayne R. Dines in his two-volume Encyclopedia of Homosexuality who discusses it in the context of an Old English glossary which works a bit like an Old English-Latin dictionary, giving Old English words and their Latin counterparts. the Latin words the Anglo-Saxon lexicographer chose to correspond with baedling were effeminatus and mollis, and Lang concludes that it refers to an "effeminate homosexual" (pg 60, Anglo Saxon). this same glossary gives as an Old English synonym the word waepenwifstere which literally means "woman with a penis," and which Dines gives the approximate translation (hold on tight) male wife.

R. D. Fulk, a philologist and medievalist, made a separate analysis of the term in his study on the Canons of Theodore 'Male Homoeroticism in the Old English Canons of Theodore', collected in Sex and Sexuality in Medieval England, 2004. he analysed it as a 'sexual category' (sexual as in sexuality), owing to the context of sexual transgressions in the Canons. he decides that it refers to a man who bottoms in sexual relationships with another man. i don't have the article on hand so i'm not sure what his reasoning was, but this seems obviously inadequate given what we know from the glossary described by Dines. Latin has a word for bottom, pathica, and the lexicographer did not use this in their translation, preferring words that emphasized the baedling's femininity like effeminatus, and doesn't address the sexual context at all. Dines, however, only reading this glossary, seems to decide that it refers to a type of male homosexual too hastily, considering the Canons explicitly treat them separately. both Dines and Fulk immediately reduce the baedling to a subcategory of homosexual when neither of the sources to hand actually do so themselves.

by now it should be obvious why, seven or so years ago, we interpreted it as an equivalent to trans woman. I mean come on - a woman with a penis! these days I tend to add a bit of a caution to this understanding, which is that trans woman is the translation of baedling which seems most adequate to us, just as baedling was the translation of effeminatus that seemed most adequate to our lexicographer. but the term cannot translate perfectly; its sense was derived from some minimal context; a legal context, a doctrinal context, and so forth... the way Anglo-Saxons understood sex/gender is complicated but it has been argued that they had a 'one sex model' and didn't regard men and women as biologically separate types, which is obviously quite different from the sexual model accepted today; in any case they didn't have access to the karyotype and so on. the basic categories they used to understand gender and sexuality were different from ours. in particular, Hirschfield et al. should be understood as a particularly revolutionary moment in the genealogy of transsexuality; the Institut für Sexualwissenschaft essentially invented the concept of the 'sex change', the 'transition', conceived as a biological passage from one sex to the other. even in other contexts where (forgive me) #girlslikeus changed their bodies in some way, like the castration of the priestesses of Cybele, or those belonging to the various historical societies which we believe used premarin for feminization [disputed; see this post], there is no record that they were ever considered men at any stage or had some kind of male biology that preceded their 'gender identity.' the concept of the trans woman requires the minimal context of the coercive assignment at birth and its subsequent (civil and bio-technological) rejection. i have never encountered evidence that this has ever been true in any previous society. nonetheless, these societies still had gendered relations, and essentially wherever we find these gendered relations we also find some subject which is omitted or for whom it has been necessary to note exceptions. what is of chief interest to us is not so much that there was such a subject here or there in history (and whatever propagandistic uses this fact might have), but understanding why these regularities exist.

a very parsimonious explanation is that gender is a biological reality, and there is some particular biological subject which a whole host of words have been conjured to denote. if this were the case then we would expect that, no matter what gender/sexual system we encounter in a given society, it will inevitably find some linguistic expression. if, like me, you find this idea revolting, then you should busy yourself trying to come up with an alternative explanation which is not just plausible, but more plausible. my best guesses are outside the scope of this answer...

anyway, all of this must be very interesting to the five or six people invested in the confluence of philology and gender studies. but why on earth did it become so widely used, in so many strange and unusual contexts, in the 2010s? we're very sorry, but yes, it's our fault. you see apart from all of this, there is also a little piece of information which goes along with the word baeddel, which is that it's the root of the Modern English word bad. by way of, no less, the word baedan, 'to defile'. how this defiled historical subject came to bear responsibility for everything bad to English-speakers doesn't seem to be known from linguistic evidence. however, it makes for a very pithy little remark on transmisogyny. my dear friend [REDACTED] made a playful little post making this point and, good Lord, had we only known...

it went like this. its such a funny little idea that we all start changing our urls to include the word baeddel. in those days it was common to make puns with your url (we always did halloween and christmas ones); i was baeddelaire, a play on the French poet Baudelaire. while we all still had these urls a series of events which everyone would like to forget happened, and we became Enemies of Everyone in the Whole World. because of the url thing people started to call us "the baeddels." then there was "a cult" called "the baeddels" and so forth. this cult had various infamies attatched to it and a constellation of indefensible political positions. ultimately we faced a metric fucking shit ton of harassment, including, for some of my friends, really serious and bad irl harassment that had long-term bad awful consequences relating to stable housing and physical safety and i basically never want to talk about that part of my life ever again. and i never have to, because i've come to realize that for most people, when they use the word baeddel, they don't know about that stuff. it doesn't mean that anymore.

so what does it mean? you'll see it in a few contexts. TERFs do use it, as you guessed. i am not quite sure what they really mean by it and how it differs from other TERF barbs. i think being a baeddel invovles being politically active or at least having a political consciousness, but in a way thats distinct from just any 'TRA' or trans activist. so perhaps 'militant' trans women, but perhaps also just any trans woman with any opinions at all. how this was transmitted from tumblr/west coast tranny drama to TERF vocabulary i have no idea. but you will also find - or, could have found a few years ago - i would say 'copycat' groups who didn't know us or what we believed but heard the rumours, and established their own (generously) organizations (usually facebook groups) dedicated to putting those principles into practice. they considered themselves trans lesbian separatists and did things like doxx and harass trans women who dated cafabs. if you don't know about this, yes, there really were such groups. they mostly collapsed and disappeared because they were evildoers who based their ideology on a caricature. i knew a black trans woman who was treated very badly by one of these groups, for predictable reasons. so long-time readers: if you see people talking about their bad experiences with 'baeddels', you can't necessarily relate it to the 2014 context and assume they're carrying around old baggage. there are other dreams in the nightmare.

the most common way you'll see it today, in my experience, is in this form: people will say that it was a "slur" for trans women. they might bring up that it's the root of the word bad, and they might even think that you shouldn't use the word bad because of it, or that you shouldn't use the word baeddel because it's a slur. all of this is a silly game of internet telephone and not worth addressing. except to say that it's by no means clear that baeddel, or baedling, were slurs, or even insulting at all. while Theodore doesn't provide us with a description of how we can have sex with a baedling without sinning, and it may be the case that any sexual relations with a baedling was considered sinful, sexuality-based transgressions were not taken all that seriously in those days. there was a period where homosexuality within the Church was almost sanctioned, and it wasn't until much later that homosexuality became so harshly proscribed, to the extent that it was thought to represent a threat to society, etc. and as i mentioned, there are places in England named after baedlings. there is a little parish near Kent which is called Badlesmere, Baeddel's Lake, which was recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Domesday Book (as having a lord, a handful of villagers and a few slaves; perhaps only one or two households). it's not unheard of, but i just don't know very many places called Faggot Town or some such. it's possible that baedlings had some role in Anglo-Saxon society which we are not aware of; it could even have been a prestigious one, as it was in other societies. there is just no evidence other than a couple of passing references in the literature and we'll probably never have a complete picture.