#little bit of a tangent but like yeah it’s not the end of the world

[sweetest-honeybee]

Don't beat yourself up! Honestly, it's fine if a commission takes a little long, the last thing I'd want is the person I commission to stress themselves over a piece and getting frustrated. In my opinion I rather wait as long as possible for something that had time and effort put into it then receive a product the artist didn't have a good time working on!

I really appreciate it! It’s not for everyone to wait and that’s alright but genuinely, a lot of my best work comes out of patience and enjoyment. I put in a LOT of effort and fun details and take my sweet time cleaning up the piece when I know I’m gonna enjoy taking all that time to do it

Like hell, how I did the entire second version of that piece of the one oc and Frank? I had so much fun doing it and adding details that were harder to notice and taking the time to throw on some more layers to make a creepy one and I hardly minded taking that extra time to do it because I was in the zone and having fun 😌

[misc-obeyme]

Lesson 36 spoilers below, including the locked lesson & hard lesson...

Sorry it's a little screenshot heavy but there was a lot happening in this lesson and I was having a lot of feelings. I think I screenshotted my way through the whole thing lol.

SO. MUCH. LORE.

We got so much lore!??!?!

Things I'm freaking out about:

Mephisto's whole lecture about the underworld and its rings

the fact that trains were seen as commoner's transportation 'cause they were used by demons who couldn't fly

SOLOMON (as if he wasn't hot enough) walking through all the rings of the underworld

Solomon just kinda laughing about it and then agreeing that it's really just a tourist attraction now???? THAT'S THE UNDERWORLD YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT.

He talks about the city of Dis which is straight up from the Divine Comedy. Does this mean Dante has been their resource all along?! That could explain Diavolo's Italian name...

Because he also talks about Minos who also made an appearance in the Divine Comedy... I'm just sayin!!

They said they're taking Lucifer to Cocytus?!? (Which is also in... you guessed it, the Divine Comedy. Where it's stated to be the home of traitors.)

Isn't that the same thing as the River of Lamentation?!?!

What're they gonna do, drown him???

Okay okay my list should have ended several bullet points ago.

(Though on that last one, if they're going full Dante, then they'll bury him in ice instead.)

ANYWAY.

Mephisto buying all those sweets for his little brother was the cutest thing ever. He needs to stop being precious. I was resisting so well and then he had to go and be a good brother and also be concerned about MC and ask if they were all right and yeah he's annoying but it's kind of endearing too....????

This whole part where he was just asking MC questions & worrying about them being hurt. STOP THAT. This is exactly the kind of thing I live for, you're doing on purpose, aren't you??

You are not supposed to care!

I warned you before to stop making me like you...

THAT'S IT. HE'S A KEEPER.

Also do you think that when they say commoners are demons that can't fly... are they saying that demons with wings are the only ones that can be nobles? Or are they saying demons with enough power to fly whether that's with wings or not? Because isn't Barbatos actually like a duke or something? Are you really gonna tell me that guy is a commoner? Even if he does work as a butler... maybe it doesn't count 'cause he can portal himself around?

But also! We know Mephisto is a noble so does this mean his demon form has wings? I thought for sure they were going to go with a tail.

BUT ALSO ALSO do the bros not count? They should all be nobles, but they clearly aren't, but they also aren't commoners? Maybe they're neither 'cause they're fallen angels? And we know three of them have tails, so...? I'M CONFUSED ABOUT HOW THIS WORKS.

Okay, sorry I'm getting off on a bit of a tangent here. There's just so much info that we suddenly got in this lesson about the world! And while I've been wanting more such stuff, I was hoping it would clarify some things not make things more confusing.

So anyway, there's a whole lot of underworld which they've mentioned before but only briefly, so it was cool to get more info on that!

Don't worry, Luci. MC has to travel through time as well as space and I don't think a trip through the underworld is going to cut it. I like it when you compliment Solomon, though.

I don't know how to tell you guys that the idea of Solomon walking through the underworld and laughing about it later makes me insane. So I'm just telling you straight out. I'm insane about it.

Are we still talking about the underworld? Because when I hear "tourist attraction" I tend to think of things like the world's largest ball of twine, not playing chess with Minos, Judge of the Damned.

That whole phone conversation with him was just so good. I know I recently wrote a whole post about him being sus and he still is because it's him, but do not misunderstand me because I love that man. I love his cute little laugh that he always does.

Then again, he's clearly terrible at lying. Good at just not saying stuff maybe, but lying directly? I'm not so sure...

So anyway, Lucifer's gonna be executed, huh? I like how both he and Mephi were like nope Diavolo is gonna fix this. They have such unwavering faith in him, it's precious.

Also, I LOVED THIS ENTIRE PART.

Lucifer saying he knows? He knows, but this is home now for him and his brothers? And then MEPHISTO coming right back with then you should understand why MC wants to go home??

I was not expecting Mephistopheles to understand and be concerned about MC wanting to go home like that. It wasn't something like yeah you should go home you're a human and don't belong here. He didn't say anything like that at all. It was just immediately like you must miss your family. Mephisto confirmed family man!

HARD LESSON: Solomon was being a complete menace. He locked Lucifer's brothers in a room??? What's he gonna make them do!? Eat his cooking?? No, he gives his cooking to people because he loves them and wants to make them happy. So it can't be that. My mind... it goes to dangerous places... why did they have to cut off the lesson without telling us what Solomon's intentions were??

...

I wouldn't mind being locked in that room with them all, though.

Please take this selection of screenshots of him being insufferable with that cute lil smile on his face.

To be fair, he's not wrong... it was pretty funny.

I CAN'T.

Also in the LOCKED LESSON: Barbatos my true love. This whole interaction was amazing. Simeon and Luke are so cute. Diavolo clearly doesn't know Lucifer super well yet and it's so adorable watching him figure it out. And now he's all like Barbatos how can I fix this? And Barb is just like sorry it's too late. LOL he's so strict.

Dadbatos mode activated.

Luke my sweet baby angel, never change!

Diavolo's sad face is so cute, I don't know how Barb ever manages to resist it. I'd just give in to everything he ever wanted all the time. I also love how he is straight up calling Barb mean lol.

They both look so serious. Cut him some slack, Barb!

And lastly, I only wish to leave you with this:

Everybody knows nobody can make tea as good as Barbatos does. Not even Lucifer.

Don't be angry, Luci. You're no Barbatos, but I'm sure your tea is delicious.

[wilsonphiggs]

I fucking hate mcsm btw (lying)

hey guys so I thought a bit too hard and I was thinking about how I would rewrite the story. one of my gripes specifically being with how they handled lukas and axel’s relationship. I went on a really long tangent on how I would’ve fixed it and I’ll paste it under the cut. (WARNING: IT’S A REALLY LONG RANT.)

so, I didn’t really like how they treated their dynamic. axel was so concerned for petra—and that’s understandable, considering she’s a friend—but they never gave a reason as to why axel SPECIFICALLY was worried so much, which caused him to lash out more. therefore, resulting in him mad at lukas for getting scared, along with the fact that he was the leader of the ocelots, yatta yatta etc. etc.

but my main point is: their mutual disdain for each other not only felt forced, but artificial. it felt so unreasonable, with axel shoving lukas around for seemingly no reason at times. not only that, but axel was just generally an asshole of a character. I get having someone joke around a little rudely if it’s all jokes and you know that—my friend group and I are like that all the time. but there’s a fine line between crude humor and outright bullying your “friends” or allies. not to mention he was just a frustrating character. “but… finders keepers!” when EVERYONE is in danger and he just refuses to give up the thing that would stop the witherstorm? a dick move.

and apologies, but lukas felt a little TOO nice at times in the first one or two episodes. yes, he’s generally a nice guy. and yes, he’s had some moments of getting frustrated or prickly. but considering that he was rivals with this group for so long, admitted that he didn’t really think highly of them for a while, AND petra herself called him arrogant? you can’t blame me for thinking that he was a bit too kind, even if he was trying to stay on good terms with everyone while the world was seemingly ending. yeah, he was awkward. and no, I don’t think he should’ve been outwardly hostile. but I don’t think he should’ve been quite as friendly as he was.

they should both have little quirks and flaws, but they should also both be lovable characters in their OWN ways. this is honestly how I would’ve written it:

it would’ve been better to make axel really stand off-ish because he doesn’t know how to really act around someone who was once “bad” in his eyes, but is now suddenly “good.” especially when the change is so sudden. distrusting, awkward, unpleasant interactions would feel much more natural rather than downright antagonizing lukas at every turn.

axel is really awkward and is a little distrustful of him because of so many factors, but maybe lukas interprets that as aloofness and detachment. lukas tries not to really disrupt conversations because he feels as though he’s intruding, but axel perhaps interprets that as arrogance and conceit. miscommunication, misinterpretation—these are much more natural ways of having animosity grow between two parties.

and hey, even better! this could allow you to have a choice ACTUALLY make a difference TELLTALE GAMES. (the company infamous for having choices in games that don’t Actually matter!)

maybe if you have axel stay behind with lukas to fortify the temple while also getting magnus, MAYBE you can see them actually visibly get along better! even if axel went off on his own to get magnus—which was him straying from the plan—maybe they agreed and decided it was for the better to get the order together again rather than just a few members. maybe you can see them having similar ideas, talking more, etc. etc.

and on the other hand, if you go with axel for magnus and choose olivia to stay, maybe axel feels a little more bitter towards lukas since olivia went off to get ellagaard. he feels bitter since he just let her go instead of convincing her to just STAY and wait for petra like the original plan was (even though he knows he would’ve broken that himself to go out for magnus, but moral highgrounds and such.)

yeah, sure. it’ll end in you getting both members of the order anyway. that won’t change. BUT, it still affects the characters! it fleshes out the characters more. makes them both have perks AND flaws! it HUMANIZES them, makes them more realistic.

and MAYBE, JUST MAYBE, if the conflict between them builds up enough, you might have to choose one side or the other at some point in the story! there could be several decisions that alter their relationship and how they function! one of your lifelong best friends who has ADMITTED that you’re one of his only friends, and you can tell he cares about everyone there (even if not entirely obvious,) or a friend that, while you once bickered a ton with in the past, is now genuinely making an effort to change and care and seems generally more agreeable now? they both love you and your friends, undoubtedly, but they’re too bitter to be around one another. there isn’t enough room for the both of them. one has to go, jesse. so, who’ll it be?

in fact, maybe there’s a scene where lukas and axel are in danger. in the ellagaard route (followed by more good decision making,) one actually saves the other from said situation and everyone lives. in the magnus route (followed by more bad decision making,) they both intentionally sabotage each other and you have to choose to save ONE. either that, or it’s as originally said, where there’s a story-changing fight and you have to choose one or the other.

this is a minor thing but I could not stop thinking about it. but oh well them’s the breaks pal /ref

[gold-rhine]

(can answer privately if u want)

how did you manage to write enjou stirring shit up. i need to know for Reasons

(Reasons being: i wanna write him doing that as well so i need to know how you figured that specific brand of Manipulation out)

oh, i love talking about Enjou, he's so fun to write.

Okay, Enjou's main rule is that he doesn't *technically* lie. If you've ever written fae with no-lie rules it should be similar. Everything he says should be true, even if he's seemingly joking - like when he tells traveler you never know what can happen in magic rituals, I could turn into a flame-throwing monster haha! He only lies by omission or by using leading questions. He often answers direct questions with his own questions, which lets him evade, or by what he makes look like a joke.

Like in Enka when traveler arrived and asked him who he is, he asked question in return, like Didn't they tell you there's gonna be a priest who will guide you? Traveler went yeah, they did. Enjou was like Great! You can't be expected to learn new language haha! i'm here to help translate.

He didn't say "I'm the priest who Kokomi said will help you," he asked a leading question to make traveler think about the priest with connection traveler trusted, then he didn't directly confirm he IS the priest and instead re-directed to his function "I'll help to translate", which is true!

Enjou's second rule is that he's a little shit and also a corny nerd. Like there's often a boring stereotype of manipulators being cool and sleek and charismatic, but Enjou is not that. He's a jokerified librarian. He consciously acts lame and corny to make the other person underestimate him and roll their eyes. He loves repeating how he's just a weak bookworm. He will go on info-dumping tangents to bury the lead of manipulation.

He also loves playing with his food, burying little inside jokes which only make sense in hindsight, like "I could turn into a flame-throwing monster". He likes doing the weak nerd routine, he enjoys watching the other person feel superior to him, while knowing he's in control of a situation, and he says corny shit on purpose to make it more pronounced. He should sound corny and just a bit unhinged. He says shit like "Exactomundo". I had to physically restrain myself, bc Enjou absolutely would say Exactomundo while watching a man's world crumbling before him, but I didn't want to ruin the tone for the reader.

So, to write Enjou's brand of manipulation you need to first formulate his end-goal, like what is the purpose of this manipulation? I assume you read my fic since you reference me writing enjou stirring shit up, so i'll use it as example of my thought process. One of the examples in my fic, he wants to convince rizzley that Neuvi gave him the title to buy his loyalty. What are the true facts here? Neuvi did fight hard to give rizzley the title, he says it in his own voice lines. What do we need to add? Malicious intent.

Enjou can't say "Your title was a bribe", bc that's a lie. Instead, he starts with "you know what I would do if *I* was the Hydro Sovereign with an ability to take human form? <...>I’d make sure I have people loyal to me in some key positions. Such as Royal Duelist… and the Warden of the Fortress.” It's not a lie, bc if Enjou was a sovereign, he'd probably really do that. On paper, he's talking about himself, but in context of overall conversation it will be obviously extrapolated to Neuvi. This is a form of switching the goal posts from Enjou to Neuvi without outright saying so.

Then, he says true facts:

“He didn’t make me the Warden,” Wriothesley gritted out. 

“No, but he did make you the Duke, didn’t he?” Enjou smirked with a wink. “Our sources say the Court was not thrilled to give the highest noble title to you. And if the Iudex did not throw his own weight behind it, it would have never come to pass. How generous of him.”

It's true, it was actually generous, he doesn't lie. But in context of previous implied accusation, it will be read as sarcastic, as saying it was done with selfish reasons.

And then he reinforces with “Ah, you’re starting to get it, don’t you?”, which is a leading question that again, doesn't say anything false outright.

he should also offer the person hes manipulating to beat him up repeatedly, bc hes a freak.

[askuemki]

So I have no idea if I’ll keep this post up, but…

A little rant abt re8?? (And cod.. kinda) maybe venting (just a mess :,)

Disclaimer, take my opinions with a grain of salt I just wanna ramble lmao

Also spoilers, maybe (update, definitely)

So I’ve been having fun dipping my toes into Donna Beneviento (god her last name is hard to spell) content. After watching the gameplays and to at least have a basic understanding for the game, I find myself really drawn to her, maybe more than Alcina tbh

By no means i’m a diehard fan or anything, recently it’s been hard to find a new fandom to get attached towards. As much as I adore cod, there isnt really much to get attached too… like sure, task 141 is a fun group and the there is some GREAT art about the ships- but I only got attached because of Valeria, I won’t deny it at all. I’m a diehard lesbian, but there isn’t really much cannon content of her?? It’s really damn disappointing sometimes, man… same with Laswell. I appreciate all of the fanartists out there though, I adore all of the content here, fanfics or fan art. With Farah, she’s a diffrent story.. personally I never really got attached to her, but as a character she’s pretty neat. Her story sort of brings to light the horrors happening today which is a bit of a benefit…?? But ever since I found out things about both Valeria’s and Farah’s actors I’ve been a little off about things here and there. I don’t think I’ll stop posting Valeria content at all, it just might be a little less offen to indulge in different things.

Some personal things have been happening to make me feel really disconnected from like.. fucking everything for some reason?? Like I’m drifting away from fandoms, I’m drifting away from people and I’m like alone again.. I’m lost in a damn dumpster fire. AI art doesn’t help with this at all.. like why do I draw?? I’ve been drawing since I was in kindergarten like I never really thought of the specifics of perusing art, more or so just that I want to. Like hey, I wanna make a game or movie series, and something in me doesn’t realize I need to put in the effort to learn shit with just ends up in me doing nothing but self pitting on something I can change and ugh.. wish I can slap myself to get out of it.

So I think I’ve been kind of finding myself relating to Donna. Not in her extreme way, more or so just her aspect of being isolated, and just being known primarily for one thing. Like.. our side of art? Damn. Shit. I think I’m worth nothing.. and with Donna we don’t really know much about her besides her being a cursed Dollmaker, and the bare bones of her past. And we both barely fucking speak man… both hide our faces too !! maybe I kin this woman or something I don’t know

But as I was looking through her tumblr tag, I saw a rant about how headcannons and stuff has been stripping away the interesting stuff about the re8 villains… and with the things I’ve seen so far?? I can kinda agree, honestly.

Don’t get me wrong, if it’s not too.. insane? (I know those boundaries are hard to define at times, but maybe REALLY immoral shit for our “normal” world) and people aren’t forcing these headcannons into other people? I don’t mind headcannons. You do you, boo!

But the fan content I’ve seen, people reduce Donna and Alcina (I’m surprised it was pronounced as AlCHIna and not AlSIna, but side tangent over) from the potential they really have. Yeah it’s definitely nice to see Donna more, especially in those intimate moments.. but sometimes I feel like people just depict her as some shy, easily gullible, girl, and not really the mentally deprived woman she is. Like I’d love to see ideas of the different dolls Donna could create, or unique imagery of her mental state outside of having porcelain skin. What about the kinds of plants she takes care of? Or the dolls she makes? I’d love to see more of it, whether she has favorites, or if it’s a situation where she has doll replicas of her deceased family. Man, I really wanna see Donna do more creepy shit, basically.

With Alcina however? She’s kind of reduced to that (I’m going to cringe at these words so terribly, god help me) “hot vampire mommy”.. I’ll take fault for not looking into her content as much, I’m sure there’s great content out there !! (I’m not sure if anyone would do this but.. feel free to send me any fic recommendations or art) With what I want to see for her? I’ve heard from the rant post as a man-hating woman she had primarily female statues in her castle, it would be fun to see what else she has cause of this worldview, as well as more whitty remarks from her; I really enjoy her throwback with Heisenberg. Just in general.. her being a comical villain.

Okay so, the reason why I made this post in the first place before all of this shit threw up from my brain. Belladonna. At first, this ship really interested me, I like the character dynamics, the art was neat. But then something came up in my mind.. (as well as another rant post on the ship..) isn’t the Dimitrescu bloodline related with Donna? Both are failed experiments from Mother Miranda, and technically adopted by her. Though from what I know, Donna is the only one officially adopted. So would that be family..? I’ve seen a few places where Alcina called Donna her sister, and it makes me feel really off.

And I’ve seen in a few fanarts, Donna technically older than the Dimitrescu sisters posed next to them like another sibling??

I would like to endorse the ship, but just the morality of everything is off centered for me. I rather not support weird incest…

So please if people could maybe clarify for me whether it would technically be okay for support this ship.. I’d appreciate it. If it isn’t okay, I have plans on making a fan character anyways, or I can take current characters and make a resident evil au or something, and ship them when Donna. (I have a character that honestly looks like a mix of Alcina and Bela, but by no means she’s relates to the franchise, lmao)

By no means I’m experienced in resident evil lore or the fandom, this is just coming from a newer fan of the series, and what I’ve seen so far.

If you read all of this.. thank you?? I apologize if I sound ridiculous here, this is like the only place I can rant abt things without being brushed off for other shit

Good night now!!! I need to stop pushing my sleep boundaries ugh

[king-candybug-backup]

Going to gush a little about a couple Kill Switch scenes that I appreciate because I think you're being too hard on yourself about whatever pacing issues you think you have :)

Every night, after the arcade had closed and the random roster race was concluded, Vanellope would sneak a heal kit out of Hero’s Duty, gather up some food, and then come to see him for a few hours. 

Whatever true reasons she must’ve had, she’d always hide them under the guise of ‘keeping him company’. Perhaps it was her sneaky way of torturing him, forcing him to listen to her ear-gratingly-annoying voice every night. If this little brat weren’t his only ticket out of here, he’d have tried to kill her a hundred times over by now.

This part I particularly love because it does a really good job at communicating how King Candy thinks in such a small, casual paragraph! He's only ever used kindness as a manipulation tactic, so it makes total sense that he'd see Vanellope's kindness as the same thing; not true kindness, but some sort of means to an end, something she must be doing to get one over on him somehow. He's completely and totally wrong of course but this small thought process fits his character really well! There's so much I could say about just this part if I were better at wording things, but ye, I just love this!

His head arose at the sound, blinking a few times to squint at her, as though he couldn’t tell if he’d actually woken up yet. “... You’re back?” 

“Well, yeah, obviously.” She replied, hoisting her haul against the bars of the cage. “If it took threats of violence to get ridda me, I’d’ve just left ya trapped in Diet Cola Mountain.”

Completely baffled, he just stared at her, slack-jawed. She really was a lot stupider than he initially thought.

This part I really like because I think it's another short but effective way to show how his thought process is going to develop about the situation. He keeps seeing her nice gestures as her being foolish and dumb, which I think will let his guard down more as time goes on and he sees this more and more as "oh she'll be EASY to manipulate" even though Vanellope is actually smart and knows full well to be wary of him, and he just can't process how her kindness does not equal stupidity, so his flawed world view there is pretty much setting himself up for failure if he misleads himself into thinking she's a lot dumber than she actually is (That is, if I'm reading into that part correctly. Mayby I'm overthinking a little bit there. xD Bad at wording things)

She shot a snarky look his way. “Also, you literally tried to kill me in Rainbow Lane, I don’t think you have much room to judge, there.”

He looked as though he were about to object, took a second to think about it, then shrugged in a surprisingly nonchalant manner. “True.”

Vanellope rolled her eyes before continuing on her original tangent. “So, what, d’you think every single other racer on the track suddenly doesn’t matter if they don’t win every single time?” When she saw King Candy open his mouth to respond, she quickly held up her hand, remembering who it was she’d been speaking to. “Actually, don’t answer that.” 

And this part I don't have much to say about I just like because it's funny xD

Brb, gotta go have a cry real quick 😭

But seriously, thank you, that's so sweet! :') I'm honestly blown away by how much people seem to be liking the fic so far, it makes me really happy that you're enjoying it! 💗 Your ask honestly just made my day, like, THIS FANDOM IS SO NICE, WHAT IS HAPPENING

It also makes me very very happy to know that people are picking up on the vibes I am putting down, thank you very muchly

And what I mean by the whole "pacing issues" thing is really just, like, there were a couple of parts that simply didn't transition between scenes very smoothly, and it comes off as a little jarring (in my opinion). I didn't have the chance to finish the edits yesterday as originally planned, but basically all I'm going to do is add a scene with Candy and Vanellope talking a little bit more before the Sinistar attack, because I feel like that part happened too quickly before they had a chance to build up a bit more of a consistent dynamic, and I'm also going to add a scene before Candy tries to attack her to show his anger growing a bit more naturally, as I feel like that part was glossed over a little too much. Like, he went from "I'm going to bide my time and wait for an opportune moment" to "Actually f#@% everything I'm going to stab this child right now" without exploring his worsening emotional state enough, lol. Those were really the only two issues that were bothering me about it. Like I know it's not the HUGEST deal, but I feel like I can make it better, so I wanna try, lmao

[hana-bobo-finch]

FINAL PDBC POST OF 2024 WOOOOOO!! Yea so I loved a random background wasp I drew for a bug fables wip so much that I changed some stuff around and plopped her in pdbc as a bug person. meet my darling wasp child Gin

the culmination of my sudden wasp obsession and my undying PDBC obsession. This is just a rough sketch, ya gotta understand that she has only been in existence for literally one day lmao thusly there is hardly anything to her but HERE YA GO

HER NAME IS GINEVA!! I actually came up with it on the spot (more specifically her nickname, Gin) but it ended up fitting pretty well so let me ramble about that real quick:

It’s pronounced like Geneva. Like the Geneva Convention. Which she DEFINITELY violates on a daily basis but we’ll get to that. Her name is one R away from being the name Ginevra. Side tangent!! there is no R in the standard alphabet used on Fincg island, there’s a unique symbol that makes the R sound but don’t ask me about any of that special alphabet lore because that little tidbit is less developed than Gin herself. Point is, her name could very well be Ginevra, which is the name of King Arthur’s wife in some versions of the legends (according to Wikipedia at least!!! Yeah I know very reliable source but there’s no direct link to the source so I’m kinda just trusting Wikipedia on this lmao). That matters because if you don’t remember, pumpkin daddy is TERRIFIED of King Arthur. To an unhealthy degree. So I dunno I just thought it was a neat coincidence, not the most interesting thing in the world but I love adding small details in names like that so the fact that the name I chose on a whim is related to an already established piece of lore makes my brain happy. But MOVING ON her nickname, Gin, is also a reference to the fact that wasps are extremely sensitive to alcohol and can get drunk off fermented fruit which is the cutest thing in the world to me (I know drunk wasps realistically are just angry but I’m just imagining a lil wasp calling an uber for her and her lil wasp friends and awwwwww). So yeah she likes alcohol. a lot. she might have a bit of a problem but it’s FIIIIINE anyway I’ve yapped WAY too much about her name moving on—

She’s a queen Yellowjacket!! ALAS there are no other fully evolved wasp-people, so she is the queen of nothing. heartbreaking. She will still be a queen in all of our hearts. Though she miiiight be trying to speed up the evolution process a lil by messing around with the naturally occurring elements that are believed to have sped up the bugs’ evolutions but cough cough painfully underdeveloped lore cough coughI SERIOUSLY NEED TO THINK ABOUT THAT I CAN’T JUST HAVE THE EXPLANATION BE (IT JUST BE LIKE THAT SOMETIMES NOOOOO.

Being a queen she’s a bit taller and bulkier than the other bug people—most average around 3 and a half feet but she’s around four feet—though that was hard to portray in her design because…I don’t know how to draw buff wasps. but she is. she’s a buff wasp. She’s bulky compared to the other bug people I guess, they could probably be blown away by a stiff wind

She wears armor on her upper body as you can see, as bug people are quite fragile and are prone to injuries due to their rather rushed evolutions. And also it’s because she started off as a wasp soldier who had armor and I wanted to keep that but shhhhh be quiet I’m talking about my flawed bug biology lore. Despite a lot of people being scared of them, the bug people aren’t often outright attacked, but they do get injured a lot due to the standard societal standards of Fincg island. Aka people get punched. A lot. I don’t know if I’ve ever mentioned it but fighting is a pretty big cultural tradition there, and it’s the norm to slap people over minor inconveniences. No hard feelings, it’s just the way it is (though it’s agreed upon that hurting relatives, especially your children is unacceptable, but for everyone else? fair game, go punch that old woman). But it results in the bug people getting hurt a lot, and healthcare for the bug people is understandably underdeveloped, so Gin wears armor as to not. Yknow. die. Probably a smart move. I tried to give part of her armor a sort of plated look, to give her the look of having abs without her actually having them because shredded wasps would look strange, but eh. Whether or not I succeeded is up in the air

the obvious question is why is she juggling bombs. The answer is because she wants to. Despite being over-dramatically fragile she has no qualms with attacking people just for goofs. Which I know I just said was the cultural norm but she does it with bio weapons so maybe take her little bombs away. Yes she’ll throw biological weapons at you but she’ll put on a little show before she does it! It’s like those Turkish ice cream vendors that play around with your ice cream before they give it to you if anyone has any idea what the hell I’m talking about. She could use her knowledge for good (helping speed up evolution for the other bugs) or she could use it for bio warfare. She chooses both, what a queen 🥰🥰 literally 🥰please someone get her a hive to rule over so she doesn’t spend her time throwing bombs at people. Also worth mentioning—although she’s a juggler, she is NOT a clown. Do not even imply she is. I won’t get into the whole lore here but clowns were exiled from the island, a corny joke about juggling being allegedly one of the leading causes, so any clownish behavior has to be done carefully as to not get exiled with the rest of the clowns.

Anyway that’s all I have for her at the moment. Will she ever get more development, probably not, chances are she’ll be a barely relevant character if ever relevant at all. Do I love her anyway? Absolutely

[rwby-encrusted-blog]

You know, I feel like if Fallout 4's Automatron DLC was allowed to be larger, it could've been really fascinating!

This isn't just going to be a "Nuka-World was dissappointing" Type post, just a speculative advancement of Automatron's base ideas.

I LOVE Ada!

Her, Preston and Codsworth are my favorite Fo4 companions.

Ada, unlike all companions except Dogmeat, does not have Affinity. She has no Loves, Likes, Dislikes, or Hates.

This seems a bit lackluster, because the other DLC companions do have affinity, and throughout Automatron we can convince Ada that she's alive and important, that her ability to 'simulate' emotions is vital to her as a person and the memories of her previous group.

And then I realized that Far Harbor and Nuka-World both have factions you can join; The Harbormen, The Children of Atom, and Acadia for FH, and the Raiders and the Traders of NW.

Given that in base Fo4 we have a Companion for every faction and then some; it would makes some sense to have that in the DLC's so that we don't just lose a big part of those stories with no gain.

the tangent in mind, you might be asking "Yeah, so? The Automatron DLC ends in one way."

Which isn't true - yes, you take over the facility no matter what, but you can do it Peacefully by talking down Isabela, or by killing her.

And it's a VERY powerful place, with a lot of resources. You have control of it.

It would makes sense for an evil character to use it for themselves, to take control of it, and not shut it off.

If you were able to do this, perhaps Ada, who has been working with you to SHUT DOWN the operations to turn on you, and Isabela to do the same if you settle things with her peacefully.

AS stated; losing a DLC companion would suck, and Ada is different than every companion except dogmeat.

Which why I propose that Jezebel could have been the Evil Automatron companion.

Think about it - a single, verbally expressive, feminine robot needs your assistance to get out of their situation and modify them. They have information useful to you, and will offer it if you help them.

Ada accepts your assistance immediately; giving you the Robot Workbench schematics at your word.

Jezebel only helps you when you give her a body.

Ada is the Good Companion, she wants people to be safe, to survive and not suffer as her caravan did. She's thoughtful and kind and understanding when you pick up scrap for resource; outright giving it to you.

Jezebel would then be the Bad Comapnion; she wants to "Save" people, she's bitchy and self centered; she insults you (In admittedly Funny ways.)

It would makes sense, in my mind, if there was just a little bit more in Automatron. It bugs me that Ada doesn't have a Companion Perk when everyone else does (except Dogmeat.)

Yes I understand that a part of it is that Ada is the Questgiver and Besthesda wanted you to not waster resources on a companion you could lose; but fuck that. I want to Romance the Robot.

I want to romance ALL THE ROBOTS, THAT'S RIGHT! THIS HAS BEEN ROBOTFUCKER PROPA-

I'm joking.

I just wanted to speculate about a different kind of Automatron we could have gotten.

I like to imagine that Jezebel would give you Ammo to help "Save" People.

[chibimui]

The Apothecary Diaries LN3 Thoughts - Ch9-11

LN 3: Prologue-ch2 - ch3-5 - ch6-8

We are about to get to one of my most favourite moments in this novel for Consort Lihua and I am just going to say - it does make me really sad that we basically never see her again after this. I hope she's living her best life.

(Warning: These thoughts may contain spoilers from later light novels all the way up until LN15.)

Chapter 9 - The Clinic

I think it's so funny how much free time Maomao has in the rear palace. She's so bored. Someone help her.

Once again, one of the reasons I really like LN3 is how we get more details on the power checks and balances within the palace and how much of that is influenced by the occupants in the rear palace. Such as this moment here, where the standing of each consort and their families is very clearly spelled out.

Skipping ahead, this little interaction with Jinshi stood out to me.

Just another one of those moments where we see the misalignment between how Jinshi wants their relationship to be and how Maomao still sees things. Maomao bumps into him and automatically assumes he wants something from her, whereas JInshi just sees it as a happy coincidence.

More world building! We learn that women cannot be doctors in the Imperial Court. At first I thought it was interesting Maomao doesn't know this, but I realize that outside of the palace there probably aren't "licensed physicians" and the only reason women can't be doctors is because of stigma rather than actual codified law.

This is also the first time Jinshi mentions the need to fill out medical staff and our wonder boy will make this happen very shortly. I genuinely love how stuff like this always gets brought back in future light novels.

Also, Maomao, could you care a bit more about Palace rules and regulations? You know, considering you work in said palace and are actually directly affected by these rules and regulations. Just a teeny bit? So we the readers can understand more? No? Is that too much to ask? Maomao please T-T (her knowing about the regulations might also help her realize just how much Jinshi is basically bending over backwards for her sometimes, lol).

This moment is hilarious. Maomao praying for the loss of Jinshi's member and then the slow pan-up as she looks up to his face. This is one of those moments I wish we could read into Jinshi's mind - I would love to now what flashed through his mind in this moment.

And the chapter ends with Maomao discovering a new brief fixation - can she develop a medicine to grow Jinshi's little froggy back?

She says it's for the money, but the fact that Jinshi is the inspiration for this speaks volumes considering a) her father, Luomen is a eunuch and b) she hangs out with The Quack all the time c) Gaoshun is standing right there and also assumed to be a eunuch at this moment. Did those folks inspire her to considering growing their missing members back? No. It was Jinshi. Just Jinshi.

Chapter 10 - Third Time's the Charm (Part One)

I just want to do a brief translation appreciation moment again.

The Japanese title for these chapters is 「みたび - 水晶宮」. みたび (三度/mitabi) means "Third time" or "Three times" and 水晶宮 (suishoukyuu) is Crystal Pavilion. A more direct translation would be "Third Time (at) the Crystal Pavilion" but the sentiment being conveyed is absolutely the idea of "third time's the charm" and I love how the English translation directly zeros in on that part and just fully leaves out the Crystal Pavilion part.

If you left in the "Crystal Pavilion" tidbit it would've made the chapter title way too wordy, and I like how the English translation leaves things a bit of a surprise as well as makes it a fun "connect the dots" moments when you actually read the chapter and realize "oooh, yeah okay, third time's the charm!" So yeah. Just. Fun translation appreciation moment :)

Onto the chapter itself now!

This whole side tangent of Maomao wanting to live in a shed is so hilarious to me. One of the tiny character building moments that adds nothing to the plot, but absolutely helps to make Maomao such an endearing main character to follow.

Maomao truly cannot leave a problem ignored - especially if someone is suffering. Even if it means raiding another person's palace.

Also notice how she immediately realizes she will need Jinshi's help and thinks it so matter of factly - no disgust, no "ugh", no "asking him is out of place" - just, I will need Jinshi to help me or I won't be able to do it.

Chapter 11 - Third Time's the Charm (Part Two)

You have to love how much hub-bub Maomao's presence int he Crystal Pavillion causes. Oh the horrors. Lady Lihau's Ladies-in-Waiting probably have an entire slide in their "employee orientation" dedicated to Maomao and what to do if she is ~within the vicinity~ aptly dubbed the "Cat protocol".

On a more serious note - I find it interesting how this chapter opens from Shin's POV.

This highlighted line, right from the get-go, already reveals so much about Shin's motivation and character. It's very "blink and you'll miss it" but definitely one of those lines you remember once the conclusion to this particular mystery is solved.

Not going to lie though, one of the reasons I really enjoy Shin's POV is we get these delightful descriptions of Maomao from another person and it's so funny.

The sheer disdain dripping of this description.

And then how terrifying Maomao can be.

Shin's observations of Maomao from the events of LN1 to LN3 are actually very telling in regards to Maomao's changing demeanor in the rear palace. Yes, Maomao was scary in LN1, but she had a lot of reasons to be in that moment and Jinshi had been there to witness and vouch for the extremity of her behaviour at the time.

In comparison, the Maomao of LN1 would never have stormed Lady Lihua's palace the way she did in LN3, and it's kind of hilarious that after these events she's like "Oh wait, I do need Jinshi to help me." Yes Maomao, please realize how much Jinshi is subtly saving your ass whenever you go off the top, please.

Maomao dropping bars. Yes, Maomao knows The Quack is incompetent, but I feel like this line shows some sort of justice towards him. He's a bit useless, but Shin taking advantage of his incompetence to cause harm is a big no no.

I feel like I cannot stress enough why I love LN3 so much and the return to the Crystal Pavilion definitely ranks as one of the reasons why. In LN1, what occurred to Lady Lihua could be written off as incompetence, but I love how we get a return back to Lady Lihua and we learn that the maliciousness occurring around her is not due to incompetence at all. It's purposeful and planned. It connects to and once again highlights one of the prevailing themes of LN3--the rot that exists within the rear palace and how deep it runs truly runs.

We already knew from Lady Lishu that not everyone's Ladies-in-Waiting are as supportive as the ones employed by Lady Gyokuyou, but we really see it a step further now with Shin and Lady Lihua. Shin isn't just someone who doesn't like the lady she is serving, she is actively trying to supplant her. It really is disheartening, and ultimately probably another reason why Lady Lihua was not elevated to Empress. It's not necessarily Lady Lihua's fault that she's surrounded by vipers, and the ability to remain steadfast despite her misfortune is admirable, but it's not enough to choose her as a partner given the instability of the current court environment.

Much like Jinshi, Lady Lihua would be a great choice in a time of peace.

Gotta love how Maomoa will forever be a boob girl, and it takes her a moment to re-orient back to reality. Don't get distracted by the boobs Maomao!

So much happening here. Maomao once again dropping bars. Lihua taking a stand and not only slapping Shin, but then doubling down and preparing to punch her.

It truly saddens me that after this Lady Lihua is barely present in the series. Ah-Duo reappears, Lady Lishu reappears, and Lady Gyokuyou's presence is felt due to her relation with Gyoku-ou and everything that happens in the Western Province.

It kind of makes me wonder... given that Lady Lihua is from the maternal side of the family--which would be Anshi's family, and given that the web novel seems to be focusing a bit more on that side of the family..... could we finally have a short return of Lady Lihua's presence? Am I perhaps wishing too much? Maybe, but come on! I feel like out of all the four consorts we get introduced to, Lady Lihua is the one that got shafted the most and she has arguably had one of the most epic moments. :(

Anyway, that's that for this mystery! Let's end on another cute JinMao moment shall we?

Yeah Jinshi, learn to read a room would ya?

Onto the next few chapters which are also super fun and interesting. :D

[ch12-13]

[electricbluebutterflies]

“did you ever stop and think that maybe just maybe the person you’re looking for is me?” + eddie/chrissy

PG-ish and also on ao3. I haven't written these little bbys in a hot minute and I missed them.

Chrissy floats, after.

It makes an amount of sense. Something happened – she’s still not totally sure what happened – and she spent the end of senior year in the hospital, and now-

She’s not sure who she is anymore, but nothing will ever be the same.

No one from her old life wants to talk to her that summer, she knows that much. The circumstances of the incident are too damning, and she can’t say she blames them, but also screw them all, and-

At least she has the boy who was there when it happened. The boy who most of the nurses thought was her boyfriend, apparently, and she’s pieced together bits of what happened when her consciousness wasn’t reliable and it’s all so sweet and-

Boys like that don’t actually fall in love with girls like her. Chrissy knows how the world works better than that. She’s a little uncertain of herself right now but she can’t imagine she’ll stray too far from what she’s been, whereas he’s…

If she admits to herself that she’s had a secret crush for a couple years, that makes it worse, but she’s ignoring the issue there.

Regardless, there’s also the thing where Eddie is one of the few people in her life who doesn’t treat her weird now, and if anything he’s just… decided to stay present, probably out of some weird sense of obligation but whatever. Chrissy is a little too desperate to question this, and it’s nice to have someone go out of their way for her, ask her to meet him in safe neutral places and they just talk and-

He’s midway through one of his big daydream tangents, mid-afternoon at the overgrown park that’s becoming their spot, and she could listen to him for hours and she has so often and-

Summer is almost over. She’s almost stable enough to start trying to have a normal life again, and she thinks she’d be a decent receptionist since there’s no way she’s going away for college now that she’s fragile, and she doesn’t know what he’s doing and it doesn’t seem like he knows what he’s doing either, and she feels like they’re running out of time, and-

“Did you ever stop and think that maybe, just maybe, the person you’re looking for is me?”

She broke him. That’s her first thought. Eddie Munson, infamous for having no idea when to shut up (among other things), is currently looking at her like some wire got snipped in his brain and-

“Is that… an option?”

She’d kiss him if she thought that’d get her anywhere, and she thinks she’d like kissing him, he wouldn’t be weird about it like other boys, but it would be too soon and sudden and Chrissy has spent most of her life being told not to be that way and-

“Do you want it to be?”

“Weird enough you even hang out with me, so…”

Chrissy laughs, and she knows he thinks she’s extra-cute when she does that and it’s not the point and it’s entirely the point, and-

“You saved my life. Isn’t that already the most fairytale thing you’ve ever heard?”

“You don’t owe me-“

“I know. But it got me thinking about what I want, and… you’re sweet to me, you’re a good person…”

“You really-“

Okay, now she needs to kiss him. She does, most of her body leaning across the picnic table, and it’s awkward in the way that first kisses are always awkward but also fluttery like she’s never really had before and-

“I want that,” she says like it’s the most real thing in the world. “And we can figure out everything else later, and-“

“Okay if I move over there so we can hold hands?”

“Yeah. Please.”

[theresa-of-liechtenstein]

it’s the final countdown (last rehearsal before concert)

retrieved my violin and folder from the arts basement because i was not about to haul my laptop and thermodynamics notebook across campus to get to the theater (which, funnily, is nowhere near the arts building) and found myself in conversation with the principal trombone of wind ensemble (whom i’ve interacted with not infrequently) as we mutually briefed each other on the general mood in our respective camps given the circumstances (joint concert)

summary: orchestra thinks they’re cooked, but are probably not; wind ensemble thinks they’re cooked, and probably are

the interaction taught me that people actually find tita conductor scary, which like. okay, yeah, i’ve been frightened by her before, but that was because of the trauma, not because of her. sure she can be firm enough that her ratemyprofessor rating is a 3.3 and she gets reviews claiming she doesn’t extend basic respect even up to last month, but tita conductor is at her core a deeply sentimental, kind, and whimsical woman and it’s very hard to be scared of someone like that—her tendency to stare at you with her big brown eyes aside. if anything my fear lies in disappointing her

okay sidenote because i looked her up on ratemyprofessor for that single bit. what the fuck are these people on. i may be biased because of the whole post-trauma thing or the whole i know stuff about her past because she told me thing or the whole accidentally becoming one of her special little helpers thing but like i’ve literally never seen her be anything but patient and kind to anyone even when it was totally undeserved (and i count in this too btw)? like idk if it’s just because my music director trauma was that bad that everything is frolicking through the daisies in comparison but hello? if someone is firm about getting the sound they want without taking fucking pot shots at you in the process i don’t think it makes them a cunt at all. might leave a review just to balance it out because wtf is going on here. anyways you didn’t choose to read the rehearsalpost for this. tangent over

got to the theater with my co-principal in tow (also was in the locker room), unpacked, and got settled on stage. we are so back in business baby

the professor who normally helps hold down the back stands emailed me on sunday night informing me he wouldn’t be able to play in the fall concert because he was just too stressed. i assumed he had also informed tita conductor so i didn’t tell her and just emailed back wishing him well.

while taking attendance tita conductor looked at my section, squinted at the back stands to figure out why there were empty seats there, and said, her tone a little lost, “who—who’s—um,” and looked a little desperately around before asking, “em?” and looking at me, to which i said in my gentlest tone, “dr. [surname] won’t be joining us for the fall concert” thinking i was just reminding her, to which she physically startled and said “well i didn’t know about that”

we are taking the two dvořák movements we’re playing out of order so we end our set on the first movement. which is so funny but tita conductor wanted the photo finish and the third movement does end kind of anticlimactically. this program is so goofy honestly

it was my co-principal’s first time playing anything in the theater and the first time we got cut off she made a face and said “it’s so dry in here” welcome to our world lmao

the brass misheard what rehearsal marker tita conductor was starting on (supposed to be G) and tita conductor waved us all to stop and called louder to the back “G! G as in gosh almighty! G!”

holy fuck the britten was actually good? unfortunately we have the goofy ass keyboard which i feel betrayed about because i thought we were getting a celesta. damn it. but other than that the movements actually sounded pretty good??? which i was shocked by

the goofy midcentury christmas opera suite has an opening that sounded hellish the first time we read it this quarter but actually sounds pretty melodic now

tita conductor turned to the firsts and asked them, “can you sing this melody by heart?” to which littlebrothercore concertmaster looked cherubically up at her and began singing his part. tita conductor hastily cut him off, saying, “i mean, i’m just asking if you can. if you do it in the shower or whatnot. i’d really suggest that you do” 😭😭😭😭😭😭

viola friend, ate dean, my co-principal, and i all lost it

however, tita conductor wasn’t quite done there; she turned to us and asked the outside stands to move with her so as not to obscure an interesting harmony by saying “let’s have eye contact there”. girl i already know at least you and i are having enough eye contact. more times than necessary i might add

amazingly enough tita conductor actually ended rehearsal five minutes early, saying “um, i think i’m gonna do something unprecedented in the history of my tenure at [university], which is: i think we’re done” girl help 😭

coming up: first concert of graduate school tomorrow. let’s fucking get it lads

[fantastical-euphoria]

i know grief is a topic that gets brought up a lot, and as i’ve learned ESPECIALLY over the past couple of months, everybody has their own way of grieving. everyone’s brain is unique in the way they process. we all do so just a little bit differently from one another. and i find this strangely fascinating.

i can sound off on this all i want, and of course everyone who stumbled across this has full liberty to as well. but i think a lot of factors come into play. closeness and resonance are key players. i know the popular opinion is grieving a celebrity that resonated with you at some point or other is like grieving a relative, or grieving a friend. others will say oh, you’ve never met them, how can that level of grief be the same. i find it interesting that so many people have differing, yet completely valid viewpoints on grief, how that’s supposed to be, how that should feel, but it’s all in how they’ve experienced it.

as someone who’s never known how to properly process any death, even if a relative, even of a friend (thankfully that’s yet to happen), i think bottom line, i just feel numb. there’s these glimmers of realizations that set in, much like with liam’s passing, and how i had to process that while i was on vacation. it was hard. i felt emotionally unavailable much of the time. when people would wonder if i was okay, when i was asking myself that same question, i couldn’t explain it. how could someone bring themselves to explain how they were feeling if compartmentalization of said feelings was completely out of the question.

they’re like little snaps that come when i really sit down and take that moment of time to truly think, oh yeah, this… is actually a reality. this actually happened, and the only thing left to do is to move on. but how can you just *move on* from someone leaving the earth, knowing you’ll never in your lifetime be able to interact with them or cherish their presence like you once did. all that time with them, now null and void, completely lost, save for recollection both subtle and deep. how are you expected to feel afterwards. you really don’t know, in the end.

i think about the news a lot, how they post a celebrity death and then anywhere from a day to a week later, they move on. because to them, it’s just another story. they interview the friends and family, just to get a profile, a recount of the type of person they were, the type of spirit they held, the type of legacy they left. and literally, that’s it. it’s simply fodder for people to hear about, or see as they sip their morning coffee. and i would know firsthand, i used to work for a newspaper. they didn’t care about the subject matter one bit. all they wanted was attention, for the grabbing hands to pick it up and “read all about it,” just for it to get thrown out. waste of paper, and waste of a story, really.

that was a tangent, apologies. i guess what my point is, i wish more care and heart, and altogether attention was placed on grief, and mental health struggles relating to grief processing. not enough time is devoted or dedicated to this, because in all honestly, it takes more than a day, week, month, year, let alone news story or series of news stories to properly process the loss of a loved one. or the loss of anybody. i wish death was treated not like a story, but a life story, one that could be respected and celebrated in time, with rightful dignity, grace, and pride.

i wish more space was allowed for grief. this makes me think of what one direction posted in the wake of liam’s passing. “in time, and when everyone is ready…” they know the newly grief-stricken community wouldn’t be able to register the news straight away. it was much too sudden for anybody, especially them, at the time. i think with a lasting legacy and the mark that they left in the world, i think the grieving process should last just as long if not longer. we should find the time to remember through the grief. memorialize. through tears and happiness. allow ourselves the opportunity to collect ourselves, then dump it all back out. that’s essentially what grieving is to a lot of people. it’s emotionally rugged and unpretty. it feels like waves of emotions crash onto the shore, coinciding with waves of time. and it’s never-ending. it will never get easier. but times will get more optimistic, the more happiness we allow ourselves to carry with the memory of that person.

i’m sorry i went off the handle with this, but this is a find and passionate subject for me, and i might as well invest my time into the outpouring of my deep thoughts, in case any of this ramble resonated with any of you. maybe it does, maybe it doesn’t. maybe it makes no sense whatsoever. and that’s okay. i just hope that my words find you well, and just sensitive enough to where you can concentrate long and hard whilst reading, but also allow yourself to reflect on your own personal experience. inward thinking is what’s in these days, right?

anyway, thank you always for your time.

[miserablekingsteve]

A romcom au that no one asked for that will be multiple parts, the hook line being; Was Eddie Munson ready to be Steve Harrington’s wing man? Hell no. Had he somehow promised this to Steve? Absolutely. With Steve being who he was, somehow he was going to help Eddie find a date too. Unbeknownst to the former king, the person Eddie wanted was right there.

Look, if someone told Eddie he would be turned away from every job he applied for 6 months ago—sure he would’ve laughed. But because he was a third year senior with loads of petty crimes logged in the Hawkins police bank. Not because he was a ‘once believed satanic murderer turned messiah’. It was ever more frustrating than the petty theft shit and all that. The pitying looks and the—

“Alright, Munson. I let you drink here for free the first couple of times but I’m running a tab now,” Jen, the lovely lovely bar maid cut him off mid tangent. Guilt overrid his gut and he sighed, she was right, after all of it, she wasn’t paid to listen to his pity party.

“Well, that was your first mistake, Jen,” Eddie swirled the dead foam in his beer, “never let a man drink for free. Ever.”

“Lest a naive little girl like me never make that mistake again,” Jen rolled her eyes while she dried a glass. He grinned at her, sucking back the last bits of free beer.

“You’re anything but, Jen. But I think you already knew that,” Eddie blindly searched for his jacket under the bar so he could take on the walk to his new government enstated hole.

“Don’t worry, next rounds on me,” A very familiar voice said from Eddie’s right.

“The worlds not ending anymore. I don’t need you swooping in to save me like a knight in shining armour, Harrington.”

There the former King was leaning against the bar with a soft smirk painted on his lips. He was decked out in a nice grey blouse which was tucked into his usual tight Levi’s, the dim bar light hitting the streaks of blond which had formed from the summer sun.

“Yeah, well, just this once?” Steve formed it almost as a question, eyes big and yearning. Eddie let out a long winded sigh and dropped his coat back on the hook.

“You got me,” Damn, this wasn’t the first time Steve came and found him in a place of vulnerability. It was annoying and very persistent. Eddie only allowed himself to say no 3 times, and he still hadn’t cashed in on any of those.

“And, just like that ladies and gentlemen. The paper man crumbles. You’re all theatrics, Eddie,” Steve whistled, a jovial grin plastered on his dumb pretty face, “Don’t let these hardened workers see that, they’ll ravage you alive.

There was a pause before he barked out a laugh as Steve pointedly looked between both of their torsos. Jen curiously eyed them up, before dropping their new beers on fresh coasters and promptly left them alone.

“So, what brings you to the Hideout of all places, Steve?” Eddie grasped the pint with a clammy hand, an excuse to do something with his nervous limbs.

“Oh, you know. I heard a really good band plays here sometimes,” Steve grinned, before his wall faltered and he looked wistfully at his own beer, “I, actually was supposed to meet a date here. Got stood up, I guess.”

“Damn, that rut is ever present, eh?”

Eddie’s stool rattled from where Steve kicked the legs. He flipped Steve off around his glass, taking a large gulp hiding the smirk that fought its way onto his lips.

The younger man sighed and leaned back, “Yeah, it’s so weird, man. In high school I never had this much trouble, like I’d at least get one date under my belt, yknow.”

Eddie raised an eyebrow, “Actually, no. I don’t know.”

Steve turned and looked at him in confusion, a hot blush spread over Eddie’s cheeks after he realized the hole he dug himself into.

“You mean to tell me, that Eddie Munson, Jean vest, ripped jeans and suave cool guy. Has never been on a date?”

Against Eddie’s will, the flush on his cheeks flared, fighting for nonchalance he chuckled into his hand, deciding what to lay bare for Steve, “Ahem, yeah. Not many people I’ve-uh-been interested in. Well, not here anyway.”

A look of disbelief crossed Steve’s face, but he shrugged in understanding, “I guess… I get it?”

Eddie erupted into laughter, shaking out his curls, “Hey, thanks for trying at least.”

Comfortable silence fell over the two men as they sat, nursing their respective beers. Eddie tried to keep a hold on the erratic laughter that threatened to pool out into the bar. What? Was he just supposed to outwardly just tell Steve he appreciated the company of men. With the musk, sweat, and usually disgusting habits the same sex tended to participate in. Not the soft, flush skin of a woman. Yeah, he was able to see the beauty of a woman. But there was something about the coarse hair of a treasure trail that made Eddie’s collar tighten.

“Sooo, what’s your type, Munson?”

Aw fuck was Steve for real. Eddie thought, eyes widening, the grip on his beer almost painful.

“Oh, yknow, brunettes with a bit of a bitch underneath.”

Steve laughed at that, nodding his head in agreement. No recognition of the fact T hat steve fit the bill almost too perfectly.

“I get it, I’d say I’m in the same boat,” Steve threw back, a grin spreading secretly over his lips.

Now, Eddie had since given up on his little crush on Steve long ago, but even with his high school days far behind him, he was still appreciative of the man. He let his eyes trail down the side of Steve’s face and focused on the two moles that were tucked secretly under his jaw.

“Well, I don’t know what idiot you got stood up by but she doesn’t deserve you,” Eddie stated. A snort came from Steve and he shook his head, “Nah, stop doing that man. You’re under selling yourself. Come on, try whatever you did with her on me. I’ll give you some tips!”

Careful where you put your foot, Munson.

Thankfully, Steve seemed interested in his idea, straightening out his back and turning to face Eddie head on. Okay, strong start. It was good.

“Hey, you’ve got pretty good taste in movies—,”

Eddie cut Steve off before he continued, “Ah, ah, ah. See that’s your problem, don’t pick up chicks at work, it’s Family Video, for fucks sake!”

Steve floundered but Eddie held up his hand to stave off the earful he knew the man wanted to give him, “No, here. You may meet them at work, but don’t ask them out there! You can’t gauge anything from the interaction, especially at Family Video.”

“Oh, yeah sure. You know where to pick up chicks, Mr. I’ve never been on a date.”

“Touché,” Eddie nodded, “I may not have a bunch of chicks in my phone book. But at least I have common sense.”

“Hey!”

“Dude, it’s true! Not only do you have Robin breathing over your shoulder, %100 scaring away your ‘conquests’. But on the off chance she’s not there, you’ve got Creepy Keith. Start going out and doing things.”

Steve almost interrupted him but then shut his mouth quickly at the mention of Keith, “Yeah you’ve got a point. But where do I go, where it’s not like overbearing and verging on creep behaviour.”

“Now, I actually can help you there,” Eddie smirked and lifted his beer to take a long swig, “I still have my side business, and with the start of summer, I’ve got loads of jobs lined up. You should come?”

Eddie’s stomach did a backflip at the way Steve’s face lit up like a god damn candle.

“Dude are you serious? That would be amazing,” Eddie laughed at his enthusiasm.

“Now, I gotta figure out some way to help you,” Steve’s brow furrowed, deep in thought. Shit, Eddie wasn’t prepared for that response.

“Ehh, don’t sweat it man, that’s what friends do.”

“Exactly! And I wanna help you. Get you one date, at least!” Steve proclaimed, eyes filled with excitement.

Eddie crumpled under the look. Because he’d actually love to go on a date, have someone take him out to a show or something, “Pfft, fine. Twist my arm, Harrington.”

“Okay. I come out to parties with you to find dates—instead of family video—and I help you, uh, find out how and who you want to take out. Deal?”

Eddie eyed Steve’s outstretched hand nervously, before smiling and smacking his own palm into the bond, “Deal!”

They grinned at each other, throwing back the last drags of their beers, Jen called out last call and Steve dropped a couple of bills on the bar.

“Alright, I’ll stop by to give you details on the whereabouts of my illegal handlings,” Eddie shoved an arm through the worn leather sleeve of his jacket.

“See ya then, Munson,” Steve grinned, hands shoved into those stupid blue jeans, “I look forward to it.”

Shit.

Steve sauntered out of the bar, a little bit more pep in his step than when he’d hunched in next to Eddie. What the fuck was he doing?

“You alright, kid?” Jen asked, many questions left on her tongue.

Eddie rubbed a hand over his face abrasively, “Yeah, yeah. Definitely.”

Stay tuned for the next part 😉

[goldmanguyperson]

if people would learn the difference between “there are certain biological attributes that are most often found in certain groups of people we call ‘races’” from “race is biological” i think things would be much better

if race was strictly biological there wouldnt be people who are considered one race but have conditions often associated with another. sickle cell disease is most common among people of african descent, but it is not locked away from everyone else for that reason, and that doesnt at all mean that only black people get it.

from results of paper “Racial and ethnic differences in sickle cell disease within the United States: From demographics to outcomes”: Of the 74,817 hospitalized for sickle cell disease, 69,889 (93.4%) were Blacks, 3603 (4.8%) were Hispanics, and 1325 (1.8%) were Whites. Compared to Whites, Blacks were more likely to have significantly higher odds of sickle cell crisis (odds ratio [OR]: 3.32; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 2.66-4.14) and blood transfusion (OR: 1.66; 95% CI: 1.37-2.02). There was no difference in mortality between Blacks and Whites. Compared to Hispanics, Blacks had significantly higher odds of sickle cell crisis (OR: 1.35; 95% CI: 1.19-1.53) and blindness (OR: 2.94; 95% CI: 1.22-7.11), lower odds of asplenia (OR: 0.57; 95% CI: 0.45-0.71) and gallstones (OR: 0.75; 95% CI: 0.58-0.95). However, Blacks had statistically significantly lower odds of mortality of 0.60 (95% CI: 0.38-0.93) than Hispanics.

Important to note that race is not one to one with ancestry, or at least not considered so anymore. To really drive things home with a real world example of the belief that race is biological: back in “one-drop rule” USA, people had slaves who we’d likely call white due to their appearance, but many people back then called black due to their ancestry. Most often they had grandmothers of varying great who were black, and were raped by the white slaveowners, often literally in part to get more workers. i hope it is clear that this speaks to the danger of viewing race as biological than it speaks to it actually being true. Not because they were using “white” slaves specifically, slavery is wrong no matter who it happens to. Rather, because of the way and reasons these “white” slaves came to be, which very directly harmed many people and perpetuated the American system of slavery.

people did in fact use these kids to try and prove to the people of the day that slavery was wrong cuz it happened to people who look white. called “white slave propaganda”. which doesnt mean they weren’t slaves, just that they were used as propaganda. long winded tangent about how propaganda isnt inherently all lies and believing so is dangerous

And don’t think “well it’s ok actually because the problem is only that they see being black as bad, nothing to do with biology”. If you let them have the “race is biological” thing, they will inundate you with fucking IQ shit, violence statistics, homelessness rates, whatever. And they will tell you it is because that’s just how they are, they will tell you it is programmed into their brains. And yeah, low IQ doesn’t mean someone is bad (IQ is big bullshit anyways), homelessness certainly doesn’t mean someone is bad, not even being inherently somewhat violent is automatically bad. But that’s not the point. The point is that you are submitting to their view of the world. The point is that you are giving them ground they do not deserve. The point is that you cannot seem to extract your mind even a little bit from status quos presented to you. The point is that you are harming the people around you by not even trying to see through insane lies like that.

Race aint biological, end of story, go home

[lewis-winters]

i do feel like we’re giving band of brothers a bit too much credit here. there is still a very deep undercurrent of “america is the best country on earth and yeah the war was bad but in the end we were a big ol’ Band of Brothers.” there’s a reason a lot of actual vets of recent American imperial wars thing TP is better

I mean... yeah? that's what I meant by "WW2 Nostalgia Propaganda of the Bush Regime (that the US government used to fuel the war on terror) and that's why I said The Pacific is a critique of that specifically.

my posts' point wasn't "which show is better than the other (i.e. BoB vs GenKill vs TP)" in terms of "what show has less america-first propaganda"? my posts' point is: the writing of BoB, GenKill, and TP are far superior to MotA simply by having a point/something to say about war that goes beyond "this shit sucks" and "💫cinema💫"

and if this is in reply to my "oh i hate hbo war it makes me want to examine the american public's relationship to war and how it's depicted in their war media" uuuuhhhh. i IMPLORE you to read that post again. properly this time?

............ sorry, that was snippy. just. reading comprehension's your friend, buddy.

anyway, if you wanna have that convo by all means we can have it. Though anything I can say about it has already been said better by Christopher Hayes and his essay The Good War on Terror (that you can find an EXCELLENT zine on, over here) and the journal article Operation Enduring Analogy: World War II, the War on Terror, and the Uses of Historical Memory by David Hoogland Noon, which is also very good. I sound like a broken record recommending them so much, BUT THEY JUST GET IT OK.

If you want a more contemporary essay try this one by the Washington Post The Danger of American Nostalgia for World War II by Robert G. Kaiser. This has a whole section ripping into BoB the show and Ambrose's work. Alas. It is behind a paywall. But there are ways around that *wink wink.*

edit: ok, sorry I'm being a little mean and a lot snippy HAHAHAHA but I really do feel like you're shouting this argument from the other side of the room-- meaning, it has its place as a conversation, but maybe not in the conversation that was already happening (i.e. why MotA's writing sucks). next time, I think we'd both benefit if you yelled 'SIDE-BAR' or 'WAIT, CHANGE SUBJECT' first before launching into a new tangent. kisses to you anon, I'm not mad, I promise. I have tone problems.

[princess-of-the-corner]

I am so sorry for this ask, I promise:

But I'm curious how the whole Rekindling scenario might be different in olor.

Like, a big part of the omegaverse is that kinks are kinda more acceptable and seen as normal since you all have a period of time where your sex drive can turn you lowkey insane.

I get the sense that while the kids may have a similar reaction on the "WAIT YOU TWO ARE FUCKING AGAIN?" front, I'm really not sure how they'd react to the exact nature of the fucking in olor.

Although. Bonus points for all of them being able to SMELL that Rei and Enji have "rekindled" and Shoto, oblivious bean that he is, still has no idea what that smell MEANS. And nobody wants to explain it to him.

Cue many an awkward moment where upperclassmen were getting teased after smelling weird being recontextualized, and now Shoto REALLY needs some brain bleach.

Oh so there's multiple things with this and I'm gonna go on tangents so!

So while some aspects of the Omegaverse are ofc horny on main, discovering kinks isn't necessarily something that would happen on its own.

Like. How does one discover kinks if you're not the type to actively look at kink content that may introduce you? Mostly by accident.

Taking Enji and Rei as an example. They have very little knowledge of kind outside of a basic 'it exists' and maybe a few baseline things like bondage. But while one may learn about handcuffs and realize they like that, unless they look into it they're not going to really think 'hey get some ropes and tie me up like a Christmas ham'(shibari) on their own.

On the other hand, they'll run into other kinks by nature. For example: both have a temperature play kink. It came free with their Quirk. But at the same time neither really /knows/ that temperature play is a common kink that people can be into .

Of course there's another category that I don't quite think applies to these two but is a real-world thing of 'hey why does this episode of Totally Spies turn me on?' so ya know.

Multiple ways to figure out kinks but the baseline 'really horny' isn't one of them.

Anyway onto the scent stuff:

I debate on whether there's a specific scent to sex stuff past like. Heat/rut blasting pheromones to entice a partner. Which is kinda different.

But it's more like. The fact that while they've been co-habitating for a while and while living together does get their scents on each other, it's faint and you'd have to be actively looking for it. But then suddenly their scents are so strongly all over the other. Add in being bad at hiding bite marks and... yeah. Figured it out.

Re: Shoto being able to connect the dots or not: In both mainline CC and olor, they wouldn't be at the 'rekindling point until probably at least Shoto's third year of high school. And at that point between living in the UA dorms and his own experiences he's not exactly clueless to the 'oh y'all are hooking up' signs.

that said!

One of my favorite shifts in dynamics that olor brings to the table is actually in the /before/ part of the relationship, not the afterward Rekindling part.

Like

This is a plot bit I kinda did in Road to Hell, it's just elongated and different in olor. But also I don't think it got across in full in Road to Hell because it's Enji's pov and he didn't notice.

But it takes a bit for Rei to really actually trust Enji at all. Even with the things he says, she's suspicious. She's not used to people who would treat her like a person. She expected to end up with a husband who would expect her to be at his beck and call. And who wouldn't take 'no' for an answer if she refused.

So when she ends up living with Enji, though he did some things different, she still expects the same treatment. So she plays into it at first. This leads to their talk in the kitchen in Road to Hell where he does his best to assure her that he wants to help her above anything else.

And while this intrigues her and she wants to trust that he's a decent man who didn't know what he was getting into with her and all...... that hasn't been her experience so she's skeptical until he proves himself.

In Road to Hell this happens quicker, as we have the 'engagment party' bit where Kaito took Enji out for a drink. Rei's too filled with anxiety because while the man can play whatever role he wants sober, who knows what he'll do when drunk.

And she anxieties herself into it. Unable to sleep. Waiting up. Preparing herself for something awful....... Only to have him ramble about liking her and try to ask her on a date.

It clicks in her head that 'oh. He actually means this. He's not going to hurt me like that.'. Ofc it doesn't get rid of /all/ of Rei's issues. Even if she logically knows what kind of man he is now, it doesn't stop years of conditionng and expectations and fear that one slip will change things

Anyway:

In olor, this goes on a bit longer. Because one aspect of the Omegaverse is 'using heats/ruts to justify sexual assault'. So it's not a 'how does he act when drunk' question for her, it's a 'how does he act when heats/ruts are in play?'.

And Rei avoids this for a bit. First heat when they're living together, she avoids him altogether. Makes an excuse of not feeling well.

That doesn't last of course. Anyone with basic sex ed knows heats are a monthly thing so if she's 'sick' every month.... yeah he'll eventually connect the dots.

Which yeah eventually it does get to a point of noticing and being in proximity and.... nothing happens. Oh sure, he definitely notices. Reacts with interest. But he doesn't make any moves.

Even so, Rei's still on edge until the roles are flipped. When dealing with his rut instead. She tries to avoid him but he's not making an effort to avoid her. And it's the same thing as before: clear interest. This time a bit more forward, as his thoughts are hazed. But the second Rei pulls back, so does he.

It's only now that it clicks. She's safe here.