#livestream links aren’t up yet

[sunskate]

This weekend Maddie Schizas ⬆️ debuting her Farrucas SP by Madi, Adrian and Scott

Also Lia and Trennt’s debut this season-curious to find out what this ⬇️ was about

No IAMO teams in this comp - Nadiia/Peter and Lanaghan/Razgulajevs are the only senior dancers entered

[czenzo]

Jonathan Stroud & Raka Livestream Info!

For anyone who missed the stream, or if you just want a summary of it without having to watch the recording. I may have missed small bits of info but tried to keep up as best as I could! Thanks once again to @jonathanstroud​ and @doodlingraka​ for doing the livestream, it was lovely!

First, some info about their fundraiser and raffle: over on Stroud and Raka’s Instragrams are links to donate to their Ukraine fundraiser. Not only do you get the chance to support such an important cause, but everyone who donates any amount to their fundraiser will be entered into a raffle for the chance of winning an original digital artwork by Raka, signed L&Co books, and original Jonathan Stroud doodles! [link to Stroud’s IG] (update 19/03/22: the raffle winners have been drawn, and although the links on Stroud and Raka’s profiles are gone, you can still donate to UNICEF to support Ukraine here!)

Okay, now onto everything that happened in the livestream:

Stroud only found out the cast announcement was going to happen the day before

he avoided talking about the skull’s actor and followed up with saying the skull will appear ‘later in the series’, perhaps meaning the skull won’t be present unless the show gets a second season?

Stroud didn’t have a hand in the casting process, but he’s completely happy with the cast and is excited to see them all on screen

he recently finished the second draft of the Scarlett and Browne sequel

he doesn’t know when the L&Co show will drop, there’s no release date yet, but he hopes it will be later this year (they’re officially in post-production now after 9 months of filming)

his favourite dinosaurs are the mamenchisaurus and utahraptor (he seems oddly knowledgeable about dinosaurs)

Stroud’s Bartimaeus drawing:

followed by a L&Co skull:

the skull originally wasn’t going to have such a key role in the series, Stroud intended for it to not appear again after the interview scene but brought it back when he realised he needed a ghostly guide/intervention

he likes to imagine the skull floats in its jar despite knowing it’s meant to be attached to the base

on how he’d draw a Scarlett and Browne logo: “I’d probably just do a skull again because everyone gets killed”

he’d never heard of Legwood before, and was intrigued and very concerned upon Raka informing him of it

he then proceeded to try and draw Legwood…

“it’s difficult to draw someone who’s meant to be good looking”

“so he just turns into a pair of legs?”

“I hope there aren’t any children watching” - Jonathan Stroud, award-winning children’s author, whilst drawing Legwood

the masterpiece itself:

he treated himself to a biscuit after experiencing the trauma of drawing Legwood

even his publicist has now been informed of Legwood:

Stroud forgot Lucy’s left handed, whoops

he agrees that diplodocuses are great (dinosaurs seemed to be a recurring theme in this stream)

though Stroud doesn’t have a sole favourite scene from L&Co, his top parts of the books are Lucy’s interview scene (it was one of the first scenes he wrote, it allowed him to see how the main trio interact with one another), the Red Room, and when Lockwood and Lucy visit the Other Side in TCS

he found it difficult to keep having to create and write unique ghosts throughout the books, but his favourite and the most fun to write was the Ealing Cannibal

all of his main characters have aspects of him in them, but the character he’s closest to is Lucy (he seems very fond of her it’s so sweet)

he added that he’d like to be like Lockwood with all the charm but it’s a shame about all the repression he’s got going on

his favourite international L&Co book covers are the Ukraine ones by Ivan Sulima

they resumed sketch requests, to which Stroud then said: “I’ve done Legwood, so what could be worse than that?”

enter “Pork Lockwood”

Stroud: “I like a challenge, I’ll try and draw it”

(god bless Raka for explaining all of these crazy fandom inside jokes to him)

Stroud: “I don’t think this Pork Lockwood is quite as thin as the original Lockwood. He’s been eating too many doughnuts … I don’t think Lucy will be too impressed by this guy, really.”

he then goes on to clarify that “it looks like he’s holding sausages but it’s meant to be iron chains”

I cannot believe this drawing is a reality

the Q&A continues, and Stroud explains that the key to having such a large cast in the L&Co series was to slowly add them throughout the books. he liked that L&Co as a company went from being small to growing into a wider family, including Holly, Flo, Kipps, Barnes, etc.

Barnes gets called the “friendly, grumpy uncle” of the family

he’s doing the same sort of thing with Scarlett and Browne, slowly introducing a wider cast of characters

Stroud gets asked if he’d ever write any more Lockwood-related things, and he says that he’d like to write more Lockwood, perhaps a series of short stories about the different ghosts from George’s casebook (but unfortunately he’s too busy drawing Pork Lockwood to get on that at the moment)

another drawing request, a Hornbeak from Scarlett and Browne

a quick reminder that if you want a chance of winning original digital art by Raka, signed copies of L&Co, or doodles by Stroud, donate to their fundraiser for Ukraine in Stroud’s Instagram bio! (link to Stroud’s IG at the top of this post)

more Q&A: would L&Co ever play Dungeons and Dragons? No—they’re too busy living that kind of scary quest narrative in their day to day life, they’d rather spend their free time eating and sleeping

at this point Raka finishes her Lucy and Lockwood piece and moves onto sketch requests, including Legwood, George doing yoga, Danny DeVito as Lockwood, Bartimaeus, Skull, and Scarlett. she’ll be posting a sketch dump at some point (along with the incredible Lockwood and Lucy piece), so I won’t post them here. (update: here’s the post!)

god bless Georgia Lawe

Stroud’s go-to biscuits are Choco Leibniz and chocolate digestives

on what Stroud likes most about writing: you sit down and you haven’t got anything in front of you. it’s an empty piece of paper, and you get to create something new that wasn’t there before—it’s thrilling to make something new and bring it to the world (he then takes a long moment to observe the creation of Raka’s Legwood)

in the L&Co Netflix show the main characters still young, but slightly older than they are in the books (he confirms that book Lucy is around 14 in TSS, while Lockwood and George are 15, and they age 2 to 3 years throughout the series).

he talks about how part of the fun of an adaptation is that it’s an interpretation; it will be slightly different but that’s the whole point, and that everyone involved in the making of the show loves the characters and their stories, and the show has been created with great love and care (he restates here that the show is likely to come out later this year)

on why Lockwood and Lucy don’t kiss in the final book: some things are so special and intimate that it’s better to have to imagine it rather than have it laid out in front of you. he wanted to keep it as something implied, to leave the readers to connect the dots and fill in the blanks rather than shove it in our faces (he admits he was also nervous about ending the series with a big kiss, and feels that it would have been a letdown)

Stroud acknowledges Ali’s lack of trousers in that BTS trio on the bed in Portland Row picture, he was very pleased to see Ali doing such a George thing

on how involved he’s been with the Netflix show: he’s been a consultant from the beginning, and though he’s not been involved on a daily basis, he’s frequently spoken with everyone, seen the scripts, and discussed problems and questions with the show-runners. he’s been close to the production, but has let them get on with it because at the end of the day, they’re the experts on all of this, not him

on how he came up with the concept for the Bartimaeus series: he wanted to turn a convention on its head; it was meant to be the opposite of Harry Potter in regards to the fact the child magician is the ‘bad guy’ and the genie was the hero. that was the starting point, and the books evolved from there

Stroud’s favourite recent reads: The Sisters Brothers - Patrick deWitt, and True Grit - Charles Portis. both are famous westerns that served as inspiration for Scarlett and Browne

Stroud’s great advice for creating stories: “add a few giant otters into it and it’ll make it more exciting”

will we ever find out what happened in Mrs Barrett’s tomb: No, unless he decides to write it into the casebook short stories that he mentioned earlier

how long did it take to write the first Lockwood book? roughly 1.5 to 2 years since he had to build the world before writing the story, and then every book after that took a year each to write

on whether the show is going to stick to the books: he can’t talk about the show in too much detail, but confirms that the guys are trying to stick close to the books and that they know them really well. he’s not against them adding extra cases and the like if they feel the need, but the show-runners are already having to strip unnecessary things from the books to make it fit into a tv show format, so he doesn’t know if they will ever choose to do that

he says it would be interesting to see what would happen if Scarlett met Lockwood and Lucy… perhaps he’ll have to have weird fusion of them one day

he says Raka’s artwork inspires him 🥺

the stream then came to a close, but both Stroud and Raka would like to do it again some time! fingers crossed they do :)

[balletroyale]

Asked and Answered: An assortment of long overdue answers

dance-like-matty asked: that mayerling livestream😬……..

To be honest I haven’t watched it yet. It’s not a favourite ballet, and to sit through it in-person with my favourite cast was hard enough...

do you know anything about how nikisha fogo is doing in sf?

She was out for almost a year with an injury. SFO aren’t as public with their recordings and castings so it’s hard to know how well she’s doing. 

have you seen skylar brandts rose adagio? her balance is insane

link for it

https://www.instagram.com/tv/CLyIah8HPMK/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

what are your thoughts on her? i personally saw her kitri and i had no complaints. great technique and character, her principal title is well deserved IMO, heard her giselle was out of this world too. i don’t understand why people say she isn’t deserving of her principal title just because her parents have money and are donors to ABT. The talent is definitely there and she made her way through the ranks for over 10 years.

Yes I think she’s a great dancer and I think she should be at a better company. 

Nepotism can lead to very underserving people getting promoted ahead of themselves, which is why so many are quick to dismiss anyone who benefits in that way. Luckily in Brandt’s case, she does have the talent to back it up. 

why is diana vishneva still listed as a principal if she doesn’t dance with the company anymore (as far as i can tell) ? 

She does still occasionally. 

There’s a lot of politics behind stuff like that in Russia. It isn’t a title she’s just going to give up, and the clout of having her listed is good for them as well. The Mariinsky also frequently leaves people listed as principals for years after they stop dancing. 

hey so what do you think of manon as a ballet? are you. fan? not a fan? choreography, structure? i saw it for the first time recently and idk how i’m feeling about it just yet. just curious! your blog is awesome :)

Manon for me has the best PDD of any ballet I’ve seen. They match the story and emotions perfectly. Many people adore Macmillan’s PDD but find the rest of his ballet’s boring. I understand this criticism. I feel that way about Mayerling. But for me, I can overlook it in Manon. I find the corps scenes well put together, and find Lescaut to provide enough entertainment in other scenes as well. 

what does it mean when something says a vaganova graduate graduated in the 'class of _____'? for instance 'renata shakirova graduated in 2015, class of tatiana udalenkova'.

.... it’s what it says on the tin, I don’t really know how else to explain it? That’s the year she graduated from the Academy. 

What is your favorite cast of Manon? Thinking about buying a DVD of it, but cannot decide between the DuPont/Bolle version or Sarah/Vandream version.

Lamb/Muntagirov all the way. I don’t really rate Bolle. 

[akwardlyuncool]

Class Favorites: Albums!

The main takeaway here is that you can tell I needed a lot of comforting this year. Didn’t we all?!

Note: Only “In Defense Of My Own Happiness” came out in 2021, OOPS!

_______________________________________________________________________

In Defense Of My Own Happiness - Joy Oladokun

When this album was released, there was no CD option, which for me is always a bummer, so I had no choice but to break my rules and listen to the full album for the first time on Spotify. (Apparently there are some CDs floating around the internet now, so I’ll be looking into getting a physical copy soon.) I took a shot that I knew would go in and she did not disappoint. This album has such a good flow to it and each song does what it’s supposed to do. From my perspective there’s not a bad song on this album, even the ones that took a minute to get into, by the chorus I was hooked. Joy has given us trauma and love and such a heartbreaking, yet beautiful story. Like I said it’s just so good and I think everyone should at least check it out.

Note: This is not really a trigger warning, however Joy Oladokun does speak a bit about her, what sounds like traumatic, experience with religious homophobia, so I wanted to point that out in case that subject was hard for someone to consume, even though she couples a lot of that with different forms of love, especially to herself and the supportive people around her.

Top 4 Tracks (That aren’t Sunday, cause I feel like I’m always hyping that song up.)

Jordan (Track 14)

Bonus live version, cause y’all need power that too.

If You Got A Problem (Track 8)

Bigger Man ft Maren Morris (Track 7)

Taking The Heat (Track 13)

Sunnyland - Mayday Parade

So this album was released in June of 2018, during Akward Class Favorites 2019 I said it was a secondary album that I needed more time with, and now here we are in 2021 where I’ve officially given it my full attention. Mayday Parade was putting on a  livestream concert for this entire album and since I thought that be cool check out, I figured I needed to get prepared. I did my homework, but was still a little rusty, however that show in particular had good a good replay on it and I replayed it until I couldn’t anymore. That all lead me turning to Spotify to fill the Sunnyland void in my chest and ears. Mayday Parade was what I needed this year. I’m sorry I spent so much time in the “past” when they have a brand new 2021 album out, but you can’t blame me with how good this one is and hey maybe in 4 years lol I’ll be back here telling y’all how great ‘What It Means To Fall Apart’ is, you just gotta give me time.

Top 4 Tracks:

Stay The Same (Track 6)

Always Leaving (Track 12)

Sunnyland (Track 13)

Where You Are (Track 8)

Bank On The Funeral and Bank On The Funeral Stripped - Matt Maeson

This is a double point shot. A lot of my mornings before work were spent listening to whatever version of this album I needed that day. Basically depending on the kind of comfort I needed told me which one that was. If I needed weight, but a chill rough weight, I went with the Stripped version. If I needed something a little heavier/more alive or just to go back to what I was first introduced to, I went with the original. If you show me the stripped or acoustic version of anything I already love, be prepared for me to fall further in love. Not saying I like the stripped more, just that it got a lot of play this year, once I found out that it was a thing that existed. Matt Maeson just gives so much and I’m not sure I’ll love his next album as much I love “this album” but I think I could try.

Top 4 Tracks From Each Version, Cause Y’all Needed To Know The Range (Plus my favorite tracks really are different.):

Original Version:

Hallucinogenics (Track 6) 

Go Easy (Track 3)

Beggars Song (Track 8)

Legacy (Track 5)

The link is to a live version, but the Spotify link will be to the regular version.

Stripped Version:

Cringe (Track 2)

Tread On Me (Track 4)

Tribulation (Track 9)

Dancing After Death (Track 10)

Woman On The Internet - Orla Gartland

Orla Gartland released her first full length album this year, so I forwent my normal digital download of her releases, charged those shipping prices to the game and bought physical album. I didn’t really listen to any of the singles beforehand, so when that wonderful signed CD came in the mail I laid in my bed to give it a proper first listen with fresh ears. That day I fell in love. The flow of this album is perfection. I played it while me and my friend were driving around one night and we both just talked about how good the flow was. Every song whether they were more chill or more upbeat fit into the mix so well. When the album would end and start over, sometimes we wouldn’t even realize cause we were just so caught up in it. Perfect after dark driving album. Now I’ll admit I do need to spend a little more time with this album cause I can tell where my weak spots with it are, however the amount of time that the cd has spent in or top of my CD player, on standby, meant that I needed to fully recognize it’s significance in my year. Not gonna lie, I almost made it an honorable mention, but in the end it had to correct me. I’m hella proud of this body of work and all the moments in between that it took her to get here. Snaps for Orla Gartland, the red head with the uke who used to put her cute little songs and covers on YouTube, when the waters there were a little more easy on us all.

Top 4 Tracks:

More Like You (Track 3)

Things That I’ve Learned (Track 1)

Madison (Track 6)

This was the first song that caught my full, full, attention so this is probably my actual favorite song, but I listen to the others more.

Pretending (Track 9)

[hatchetfieldtheories]

Return to Hatchetfield-Town – The Guy Who Didn’t Like Musicals Part 1

Alright settle down kiddos. Get comfy, find a warm blanket and hug your favourite fwendy-wend as we start our Return to Hatchetfield-Town series.

I’ll be rewatching all the Hatchetfield scripted content (i.e. not livestreams or interviews) and jotting down what happens, explaining some concepts and delving into some of the key theories in the series (and using the word “implications” that often it will cease to have meaning).

Even though I’ll be doing the rewatch by show in order they came out, there will be spoilers for all Hatchetfield content that is available as of the rewatch.  

I’ve also linked to a number of other blog’s theories here because they are amazing, but if you aren’t happy with your theory being included I will be more than happy to remove it!  Just let me know.

[Part 2]

The Guy Who Really Hated Brigadoon

TGWDLM starts off with the greatest song ever to feature dancing zombies… at least I can’t think of any other notable ones.

In the title song, the cast of singing and dancing zombies explain to us that all great stories have to have a hero, someone who knows right and wrong and that the best way to do this is through singing and dancing in musicals.  This with the later line of “they evoke the philosophical” make me think that Pokey took a class in Campbell’s Hero Myth in College and became that guy.

Hatchetfield Challenge: try not to shrug your shoulders along with the music at the chorus. Its impossible. No wonder the Hive spread so quickly.  Literally killer dance moves.

So then they introduce us to an awful Grinch named Paul and we hit the first point in the show where I laugh out loud every single time I watch.

I know TGWDLM was not originally intended to be the first Hatchetfield show but starting this series with a song which sets up the story so well is truly spectacular.   And is there anything more Starkid than introducing your main character by having other characters sing about how awful they are?

One thing I have noticed while writing, reading and collating Hatchetfield theories is that while most Black Friday and Nightmare Time theories are usually about the overall Hatchetfield lore, most TGWDLM theories are usually quite self-contained and focused on this one show.  TGWDLM – while so fully within the Hatchetfield extended universe, is definitely the show that can best stand-alone without the others.

It’s the end of the world, Paul

If you don’t sing

This is the bridge, Paul

Where we globalize everything

And the words will come to you

We swear we will teach you

What it means to love

What it means to obey, Paul!

On a first watch this is very funny.  On your 10th watch this is terrifying.

CCRP Technical: No-one here knows how to use their printer

Following the absolute bop of a title song we find ourselves in CCRP Technical and all feels very… normal. It’s very weird following all the revelations in subsequent Hatchetfield media, to be watching a show where there was genuinely nothing obviously fishy about CCRP.  We’ll obviously discuss CCRP more when we get to Nightmare Time, but for now all we know is that Paul works in the technical department of CCRP – an unknown corporation, with some key characters, Charlotte, Bill and Ted.

We also find out more about Grinch Paul’s personality and honestly, Paul is me pre-pandemic just outright avoiding social interactions and suddenly going for coffee in the middle of the work day. (I have become a changed woman in lockdown – someone please invite me somewhere… anywhere!)

For all the dark humour and death in the Hatchetfield series, Starkid do know how to bring the joy – I love how excited the town of Hatchetfield are for a touring production of Mamma Mia.  

Fake Fact: TGWDLM is actually an allegory for Europe in the 1970s, when we all became mind-controlled by Abba’s Waterloo.  (Find me a better explanation for Eurovision, I dare you!  The sequins were just too shiny!)

“The idea of sitting there… trapped in a musical.  That is my own personal hell.”

Two words: Emma Perkins – need I explain any more?  

Ah Hot Chocolate Boy.  I really look forward to finding out more about him.  Where does he come from?  He just appears out of the ether. What’s his story?  How old is he? How many hot chocolates does he have per day? I know we have since had some confirmation on who he is, but they raise more questions than answers. For now I will just point you to a gorgeous Mood Board by @hatchetfieldmoodboards which features a bit of a spoiler. 

For real though – is it just me who would love a full version of “I’ve been brewing up your coffee”?

Hatchetfield Challenge: Try not to sing “Shut the f*ck up” along with Emma.

“Watching people sing and dance makes me very uncomfortable”- oh boy Paul… you’re not going to enjoy the next hour and 40 minutes.  Also, Paul, you’re making me uncomfortable watching you throw your brand new coffee around as if you’ve just been given an empty cup.  There’s imaginary coffee everywhere.  Hopefully, HCB won’t slip on it before it’s cleaned up… he’s already having a bad day.

“Thunder and Lightning… very very frightening.  But a big rock hurtling through the clouds is no biggie.” – all the residents of Hatchetfield apparently.

The next sequence happens so fast and we get introduced to a lot of characters.  Notably Greenpeace Girl, Alice and Deb, Sam, and Hidgens (though we don’t find out his name until much later). This scene impresses me because they do such a great job of very quickly bringing out so many characters who nonetheless are memorable when they return later in the show.

Peanuts the Hatchetfield Pocket Squirrel is an Eldritch Being. I won’t go into Peanuts theories here as that could be a whole post in itself – and many a person more brilliant than I have written some fantastic theories on this. You can learn all about how a Squirrel took over the fandom in the following posts:

@dahlialupine : x

@frombothofmyhearts​: x

@abiimaryy​: x

And finally mine which is definitely a serious theory: x

It’s… A… Musical!

Now to remember we are actually watching a musical.  La Dee Da Da Day is such a happy joyful song performed spectacularly by a throng of the undead.

The song is about the Hive singing about how much of a great time they are having now they are tap-dancing zombies, and trying to find ways to convince Paul he should join them too. So the grins on all their faces are not at all terrifying.

 It’s worth noting also that according to the laws of the TGWDLM world, only those infected by the Hive can hear the music in the background.  This becomes important later when it becomes clear some characters have started being infected before they are fully turned into zombies, but for now it just paints quite a funny picture of what Paul must be witnessing. I definitely think for him, this whole scene just sounds like this clip of Greased Lightning without the music: x

The important thing here however, besides Mariah’s singing, is that the Hive leave Paul alone.  They don’t actually attempt to turn him at this point.  I have a theory on the implications of this, but note this has big spoilers for the end of the show and Black Friday.  It was written before we knew that the Hive (Pokey) was related to Wiggly but the content still stands: x

Charlotte, Honey, you don’t need that much sugar – you’re sweet enough

For reference:

@melchron​  noted that the lyrics for La Dee Dah sound very similar to the incantation for soul transferal read out in Jane’s a Car, which leads me to two possible implications.

The Freaky Furbies have a language other than English that they use for their incantations so this is why they sound similar.

There is soul transference happening to the souls of the bodies the Hive take over.

Or it’s just Starkid using similar sounding words for their content…. Three! There are three possible implications…

Paul – just print off another copy of the report

From this point on the musical numbers really do come thick and fast.  We move on to the first instance of Jeff Blim encouraging Paul to talk about his feelings, which I am sure is not important and isn’t worth discussing.  Paul goes through a musical rendition of a promotion interview, which is actually the Hive attempting to find out if he will be the “hero” of their story.  They picked out Paul for the role from the start. That he was chosen was inevitable.

What do you see for this company? I'm looking for someone with strong ambition Someone to sell their specific vision Someone to share with precise precision their thoughts 'Cause I want you to want…To want

So it turns out these will be looooong, so I will end here and see you in part 2!  I’m not sure yet what the upload frequency will be.  It takes quite a while to go through the show like this but it is a lot of fun!

Hatchetfield High Homework:

Where do you stand on the Peanuts the Hatchetfield Pocket Squirrel debate?

Why do you think that the Soul Transference Spell and La Dee Dah sound so similar?

Go follow all the lovely people mentioned in this post!

Bonus points if you know the reference in the post title.

[Part 2]

[bisexualrapline]

Ok. So this is my first offline concert situation as an ARMY (and yet I’ve been here for almost two years. Hate that for them). ANYWAYS, do you know of accounts or anything that posts about livestreams? Like people that will do Instagram lives during the concert? I just am very heartbroken that I can’t be there and I want to see it. (I did buy the livestream for the 2nd, but I want to see their first concert back in front of ARMY so damn bad). I don’t know what to expect for these concerts regarding social media and I’m just getting a bit of anxiety 😅 thank you in advance! And if you don’t know, that’s ok! Thank you anyways!

hey friend! generally if you go on twitter before the concert, armys will definitely be spreading links of people live-streaming. it’s not a guarantee though, since the first three shows aren’t being “officially” streamed in some capacity, it’s likely streams from those days will be irregular and unreliable at best. there will definitely be great footage from the concert showing up during and after, my only advice is to follow as many army twitter accounts as you can and pray!

[rainbowsky]

Ask Policy

In the interest of ensuring I can answer as many asks as possible without making too many people wait too long, I’ve decided to give some guidelines for submitting asks. Some of this is just me setting healthy boundaries because I find a lot of asks I get are outside of the scope of what I feel comfortable with, but some of it is just meant to help simplify things for those wanting to submit an ask.

I am always happy to get asks from people so don't let this policy hold you back from asking a question. It's meant as guidance to help people frame their questions to increase the likelihood they'll be answered - and as an explanation for why I don't always answer every ask. Please don't feel intimidated or deterred by the policy.

This policy is subject to change and updates so feel free to check back if there's anything you are unsure about.

I do not answer every ask

I want to start by making it clear that unlike some other bloggers, I do not answer every single ask I get. It would be impossible for me to do that. I don’t have the time or the spoons, and I get a large volume of asks daily. However, I read every single one of them and I do my best to take what I read into consideration when deciding on what to post about, etc. so even if I don’t get to your ask, it will be taken into consideration.

There are also some asks I just won’t answer, some topics I won’t discuss. I will try to outline the primary ones below, to make expectations clear.

Timing of answers

Also, I do not always answer asks in the order they are received. That would not be practical. Some asks require research and thought. Some inspire ideas that take longer for me to articulate than others. Some are time-sensitive. All of these impact the timing of a response.

Someone asking me, “What makes you believe BJYXSZD?” is going to take me a long time (months, apparently) while someone asking me, “What time is the XYZ livestream happening tonight?” takes only a moment to answer. Sometimes I get fixated on tangents about DD’s hair and fashion and will answer several asks in a row about it, even though there are older asks in the inbox.

All I can say is, I try to strike the right balance between giving people what they’re asking for while ensuring that I enjoy being on Tumblr and don’t end up feeling like it’s a job I’m not getting paid for. Sometimes I will set aside my needs for the needs of the readers, and other times I will set aside the needs of the readers for my own. This is the best way I’ve found to keep that balance right.

Guidelines for submitting an ask

Please check my index post before sending an ask. Many common questions will be answered in those posts.

Please try to keep the total word count under 300 words.

If you are asking a question, please make sure it's stated clearly.

If you want me to comment on something you saw online, please include a link so that I can see what you’re referring to.

If you have submitted the same question to multiple bloggers, please be open and honest about that.

If you aren’t anon and want me to respond privately please make that clear.

Things I'm unlikely to respond to

Hateful, harassing asks are deleted without hesitation.

Asks that go beyond the word count will likely not be answered. I have frequently gotten asks in the 600-1,200 word count range, and it’s just too much. If you have a lot to say, I recommend starting a blog of your own. Now, if you have that much to say to me and you don’t care about it being replied to then feel free to send it in, but please understand that I will likely not post your ask.

Asks that speak negatively of GG and/or DD, or that frame GG or DD as rivals or in opposition to each other, will be deleted. Such messages tend to be anti messages, and I won’t let my blog be a platform for that. If you have a good-faith question relating to that topic please be careful how you frame it, and understand I might not be willing to post a response.

Asks that are obviously copy pasted to multiple bloggers I will not answer unless there's a clear reason why they want multiple perspectives, and only if that has been stated openly in the ask. Spammed asks will be deleted.

Asks that just repeat or affirm what's already been said are less likely to be posted than ones that add something new to the conversation.

Complaints about what other people are doing online are generally referred to my post about fan wars. That’s not because I don’t care how you feel. I do, and I know how frustrating the fandom can be. I tend not to respond to those asks because I don’t want to fuel those thoughts and feelings in others, or to be a platform for spreading negativity and anger about others (and that includes solos). If you really want to talk about something relating to fan wars, try to find a way to frame it that won’t violate those principles.

While I am always happy to get fic recommendations, I have a policy of not posting fic recs to my blog. I cannot be a platform for promoting anything I haven’t yet read. I have gotten some recs that fall outside the type of fic I’m comfortable with. However, if I like the fic you recommend, it might end up on my rec list.

Asks regarding other ships, other fandoms or other artists besides GGDD are outside of my purview. My focus is on GGDD and things immediately relating to them.

Asks about time-sensitive things that have passed. For example, asks that people sent me about a live event as it was happening, which referenced things that would have made sense if read at the time but make no sense now or feel out of place after the fact, are unlikely to be responded to now.

Topics I am working on at the moment

Here’s a list of some of the ask-related posts I am currently working on, in case you are wondering whether to ask about a certain topic. If your ask hasn’t been answered you might want to check back here to see if it’s on the list.

What makes you believe BJYXSZD?

An update to my timeline post.

The BTS is fake/fan service.

Oversexualization of GGDD, especially on Twitter.

Why do solos dismiss GGDD’s relationship?

Will GG and DD ever come out?

If your ask hasn’t been answered

If your ask hasn’t been answered and

It’s been longer than a few weeks

It’s a topic I haven’t already covered (refer to my index post)

It isn’t on the list of topics I am currently working on (above)

It isn’t on the list of topics I won’t respond to (also above)

then there’s a chance it’s been lost or that I just haven’t had time. If it’s a question that really matters to you then feel free to resubmit as long as your ask meets all four of the criteria above.

If you do resubmit, consider rephrasing or reframing your ask to make it clearer and easier to answer.

I can’t guarantee I will get to it any sooner, but I will do my best.

If you don’t have time to answer all asks, why not close your inbox?

Some bloggers close their inbox when they are getting a volume of asks beyond what they have time to answer. I suspect they do that because it works for them and for how they go about things. That approach would not work for me or for how I like to engage with the fandom.

To me there is a huge value in being able to respond to asks about issues and events as they arise. It’s important to me to be able to discuss things that are currently happening, with input from readers as it is contributed. Closing my inbox would prevent that.

A lot of asks can be answered quickly. Yes, I could close my inbox and limit my answers to the longer, more time consuming asks that are lurking there. If I did so, I would ironically be answering significantly fewer asks than by leaving it open.

I also try to think about it from the ‘do unto others’ perspective, and in terms of what I expect from other bloggers when I submit an ask to them. I regularly submit asks to other blogs and when I do so, I never expect a response. I might hope for a response, of course, but I don’t expect it. I understand that people respond if/when they are able, and there might be countless reasons they wouldn’t get to my particular ask. I hope that readers can feel the same way when submitting an ask to me.

Can I message you privately?

Yes you can, but if you are messaging me to ask me a question or tell me something that might be of interest to other readers, please consider sending it as an ask so that it can be shared with everyone.

[technobladetimestamps]

Nov 15 Stream Timestamps

Timestamps from Technoblade’s “THE EVE OF REVOLUTION (dream SMP)”

Link to my youtube comment with all of the timestamps x

Timestamps with hyperlinks below

01:46  tagging everyone in the channel member discord / level 231 03:43  agenda book / revolution tomorrow / slept through stream time / sleeps twice a day for 4 hours 05:21  “I did not write 100 pages. Or did I. Maybe I have a traitor manifesto on the other 99 pages” / no steering wheel / coronablade jokes are very funny / went to the doctor and figured out his cough / “Stomach acid is useful for at least one thing” 08:47  can’t believe no one told him these things about post 1.8 / splash potions, regen, thorns / thorns aren’t intuitive and no one told him / youtube ads 12:50  “At least I didn’t insult the Ethans, the Ethans are everywhere” 16:02  “I was gonna talk about something on the way but I forgot. And now it’s gone forever” / “They found your base” “Well I have livestreamed it” 17:04 wants to buy a gong to be the ultimate sellout timer / “I would get kicked out of my parents house so quickly, but for the day it takes them to do that I would get so many subscribers” 20:31  thorns stacking 25:21  “There’s actually some pretty affordable gongs out there” 27:32  vc with BBH and Tommy / confusing Tommy and Tubbo / “Don’t you hate it when people just consider streamers an extension of their famous friends Tommy” / “I’m just the child from Technoblade’s videos 29:08  “Let's be allies. Can I have your helmet and boots?” / saying he’s rude for hijacking the call but forgetting to leave call / double sellout 33:55  “Me and Techno the leaders of Pogtopia” / “That is a fair assumption” / “I can’t believe Badboyhalo hates his fans” 34:57  BBH offering Tommy a bow / “Tommy you are so broke” / “Average sized man” / no one believes Tommy is 6’3” / Techno is taller in game 36:34  just wearing a face mask / “I do not support any of the views being espoused by this particular individual” / Tommy trying to imply covid but BBH asks if he’s talking about bigfoot 37:39  Techno hunting down BBH / Midair stabbing / “I’M SO GOOD AT MINECRAFT” / Tommy desperately trying to be included 40:41  “Oh Badboy halo~” / “It just doesn’t work when your name is 4 syllables” / detective work to find BBH 42:52  “So you want Tommy to be successful?” / “I wouldn’t go that far. I want my enemies to be unsuccessful” 43:58  battle ender chest plan / “I’m going to deafen. I don’t know why I’m explaining to you my pvp tactics” 46:15  “I would be absolutely furious if Tommy stole my 4th fastest horse. Tommy and I go way back” / being excited to see Tommy / Tommy could have sworn at BBH as an attack 47:34  “I guess I could spare a little bit of iron” / “I think that was a sarcastic joke that I didn’t understand” / Techno picked youtube over girls many years ago / Subpoena pet war 50:37  recruiting Techno to fight Sapnap / place where Tommy ran over Dream 55:22  vc with Tommy and Sapnap 56:51  “Sapnap I hate men so much. If I see a man in the street I grab a knife and plunge it into his neck” / “Wow surprise attack” / thought it’d be a real fight 59:09  needs Sapnap to come geared / “audience retention” / “I saw Sapnap fighting Punz earlier and they had potions and full netherite an it was fun” Tommy tries to suggest Techno sit the fight out / “You asked for me to be here” / “Tommy I’m stabbing someone with armour and it might just be you” 1:00:29  arranging a fight with BBH / “Not now sellout timer I haven’t earned it” / 161k / “New phone who this” (to Tommy) / 2v1 with BBH and Antfrost 1:04:38  hasn’t done a lot of fully geared 1.16 fights / trying not to make fun of Antfrost’s fire prot helmet 1:06:30  Sapnap and Tommy have worked out their differences and don’t need Techno 1:07:34  “I love my fans, I forgot to plug my cha nnel and they’re all reminding me” / “Only 1v2” “I could only find 2 guys” 1:09:25  “I’m so unbelievably lost” / “I have to have seen a location to add it to my human gps” / Techno hates the ugly pranks that take forever to fix 1:11:28  server losing connection / guy who Techno told not to drop out is going back to school 1:13:20  “That’s the thing about senior yearbook quotes, its right at the end of the year...the amount of time to beat you up is shockingly low” 1:16:24  offering Tommy assistance / the Dream Team has logged on / “I have to be quiet...My parents are threatening to turn off the wifi” / “You’re getting owned in every world” / Techno taking his sweet time 1:19:11  “We want to kill Sapnap” “agreed” / “Dream alliance pog” / “unless he meant to add a comma” / vc with Dream and George / Techno talking over Tommy 1:21:28  “I feel like Thunder is a werewolf” / Tommy questioning Dream and George / “I have my swag and no one has that” “Well they’d have that if they killed you and picked up your swag” 1:32:22  “You guys all work for me” / everyone killing Tommy / “anti Sapnap expedition” / “ask George ask George” “ask Dream” 1:23:54  stream crashes / and also his whole pc / asking for viewers to come back from Tommy 1:26:39  joining vc / Dream recap / cutting back on calling Tommy lame 1:28:01  photoshoot / “So much clout in this one picture” / Sapnap begging Tommy to kill his pets / “What if [the pets] belong to some god tier pvper” / S-L-A-V 1:30:12  “L-A-M-E” / “Shoutout to the slavs” / giving the fox a grapple 1:31:20  Dream taking off his leggings / fox eating the gapple / “Dream you are a highly unusual individual” / back to 125k 1:34:05  “People can’t yelling me for not roleplaying when Dream is mooning us in the background” / “You can disrespect my family, you can disrespect my religion, but you can’t disrespect minecraft” / “I hate this man” “NO” 1:35:40  Tommy challenging Sapnap a fight / Tommy trying to make Techno kill pets for him / Karl thirsting for the animatic 1:39:34  “If you make it out alive, give this to Sapnap’s cat for me” “If I make it out alive all his pets actually die” / Techno shooting the start arrow / “I’ll do the countdown...because I am an impartial mediator” / “You know how between those fight they have those sexy girl?” (Dream takes off his armor) / very engaging fight 1:42:31 post fight / “My chat’s spa.mming lame. It’s not my fault chat, Tommy doesn’t know how to crit” / “You might as well be naked” “Please don’t say that Dream” 1:44:28  “I wouldn’t say you’re that far from S-Tier” / “What tier am I in Technoblade?” “Who are you?” / “That was not an insult, I don’t know people’s voices” / “This entire server is just people that have killed Tommyinnit” 1:45:40  SMP Earth / “What country did you have” “I owned the world” / “A single country? (Dream) / trying to thorns kill Thunder / “Maybe if you die again the armor will come back” 1:47:12  Techno letting Karl trap him / Quackity tempting fate / snitch Dream / framing George 1:49:44  Dream complaining about trident flight / Techno bailing bc of boredom 1:57:19  Awesamdude leaving a potato trail / vc with Quackity and Sam / lying for content / complaining about getting free stuff 1:59:58  still lying to Quackity / “Quackity my entire chat is spa.mming lame, you’re going to need to pick up the pace” / heading to the jungle base 2:02:18  saturation stew is useful / “especially for content” / “If Carl dies I’d be okay with that, but not Andrew” 2:03:49  “Is Carl the orphan you said you were going to adopt” “Let’s go with that” / “If Carl dies I stop donating 2:04:31  Awesamdude snitching on Quackity / “I would be furious if I came back and Carl wasn’t in the exact block I left him” / lots of threats    2:06:41  “I’m not an orphan” “Not yet” 2:11:03  “It’s not an experiment, I’m just putting my hypothesis through multiple controlled trials where I adjust variables and record the results” / “I care about about the armor much more than the horse” 2:13:01  “Are you betraying anyone?” “No. I would never betray my personal ideals” / “What if the people you’re fighting alongside have different ideals?” “We’ll burn that bridge when we get to it” 2:17:28  Quackity’s failed forgery in chat

[simonsnowcoloringbook]

Coloring Book Information

With the coloring book’s release being days away, we wanted to take some time to answer some frequently asked questions about it and try to clear up some confusion. Here are some answers to your guy’s questions :)

Is the coloring book free? 

Yes! We wanted to make this something that anyone could access, so the coloring book will be free to download so you don’t have to worry about money!

When will the coloring book be released?

June 6th!! We’re so close to the release date guys!! The coloring book is just about ready to go and we’re so excited for everyone to see it!

How do I download the coloring book? 

We will be posting two separate links all our social media accounts where you can download the coloring book. The first link will lead to a Dropbox folder where you can download the PDF version of the file and the second link will to be a google doc where you can view the coloring book :)

I keep seeing mentions about a raffle of some sorts with prizes?? How do I enter? 

Easy!! We wanted to try and raise some money for the coloring book but we didn’t want to have to make people pay for it to do so. We will be accepting donations to two organizations through gofundme fundraisers. Everyone who donates, regardless of the amount, will be entered in a drawing for a chance to win one of the prizes created by our artists. A few of them have posted teasers of these prizes on their social media, but we will try to post a complete list of artists and prizes sometime soon! 

What organizations are you raising money for?

We wanted to focus on relief during the COVID-19 pandemic, so we will be raising money for the organizations Direct Relief and CERF+. Direct Relief is an organization that provides medical equipment to medical professionals during this time when those supplies are scarce. CERF+ is an organization that gives grants to struggling artists during times of disaster, which is vital during this time. We will provide a more thorough description of these organizations in the coloring book, but for now, if you want to learn more about them you can visit their websites! Here is the link to CERF+, and here is the link for Direct Relief.

When will the raffle be? 

June 22nd!! We are hoping to do a livestream on instagram to draw the names, but we’re still working out the logistics of that but we’ll let you know if we end up doing something like that!

Can I color the coloring pages digitally? 

Yes!! There is a way to color them digitally, despite them not having transparent backgrounds. We will post a tutorial once the coloring book is release, but if you take a screenshot of the page you want to color, and set the photo’s blend mode to multiply on your respective art program, it should work! 

Can I post the coloring pages? 

Yes! In fact, we highly recommend it! While you aren’t allowed to post blank coloring pages unless you are the artist of that specific page, you are allowed to post colored pages! We’d love to see what you guys color, and it will definitely help support the artists involved! All we ask is that you tag the artist and use the hashtag #simonsnowcoloringbook 

How long is the coloring book? 

We don’t have an exact amount yet, as we are still waiting on a couple coloring pages from a couple different artists, however we estimate that there are about 75 pages for you to color!!

Where should I post the coloring pages? 

That’s up to you! We have an account on Instagram, Tumblr, and Twitter where we will be sharing colored pages under the hashtag. However, many of our artists are based on instagram, so it would be great to have posts on there!

And that’s everything! If you have any more questions, please feel free to message us or send an ask over tumblr! We’re happy to clear up any confusion surrounding this coloring book and we can’t wait for everyone to see it on June 6th!! 

[thejustmaiden]

I’m honestly hoping with the current movement of #saveourchildren and the lgbtq community calling out pedos will give the sequel backlash if Rin is the mother. Also I hope none of those shippers are a part of the movement because than it’s just hypocrisy at it’s finest. I’m honored praying sunrise gets the backlash if they decide to do that, especially since it’s 2020, NORMAL and SANE people will be shocked. I’m pretty sure everyone’s sick of the “it’s normal in Japan.” People want change.

Hey, nonnie! I'm not sure if you're the same person who sent me the previous anon ask about what Jaken's VA sent during the livestream or not. I'm assuming that because I received them almost back-to-back, but maybe I wrong. Whatever it may be, happy to have you. 😊

It would be hypocritical in many ways, yes, but at the same time many Sessrin shippers say they would never condone acts like child grooming and the such in real life. I really believe them for the most part, too.

So where does that leave us? Well, what it all really comes down to is at what point do we start acknowledging the spaces both fiction and real life occupy and the (in)direct impact they're capable of having on each other.

In my opinion, Sessrin shippers refuse to accept their correlation- whether that be due to denial, lack of awareness, or a bit of both. Regardless, it's safe to say they simply don't take how linked these two are as seriously as antis do.

As has become a habit of mine in recent blogs/asks lol, I'd like to refer you to a great write-up by boycottyashahime. Read their thoughts on this very subject here. They always put it better than me anyway. Here's a preview excerpt:

"Predators have and continue to use fictional relationships to convince their victims that the abuse they experience is perfectly fine. I think that it would behoove the SessRin community to make sure that those in their midst who are young and vulnerable know the warning signs, understand when an older person may be trying to take advantage of them, and encourage drawing a clear line between the fictional ship and real relationships."

Sessrin shippers would respond to this by saying that shipping a fictional pairing- yes, even if it has harmful implications- isn't actually bad since it's not real and therefore can't be viewed in a negative light. A common misconception of theirs is that antis can't separate real life from fiction. Let me break down why these two reasonings lack support and are basically justifications:

1) Inuyasha is aimed at a young audience, and at no point in this series should a teenager watching be subjected to controversial dynamics closely reminiscent of pedophilia or child grooming. Period.

2) Most of us who have a problem with it CAN in fact differentiate between real life and fiction so please stop missing the point, be it intentionally or not.

The main issue we have is why are we exposing young minds to a heavy topic they are not mature enough to handle yet. Whether you agree or not, it's common knowledge that Sessrin raises a lot of red flags. Antis aren't overreacting because of dumb shipping wars or anything trivial like that. What we're reacting to is the typical Sessrin shipper's response to this pairing. Ship it if you want, but please don't tell us how we should frame our opinions according to your "historically accurate" portrayal, especially if it morphs the truth into something unrecognizable in order to fit your narrative.

Here's an example to give you a better idea of what I mean:

Let's say my favorite animal is the koala bear and yours is the kangaroo. Both are marsupials, right? Both lovable, but one is friendly and the other can be quite dangerous. Now imagine you trying to suggest a kangaroo is as friendly as a koala- so essentially something it's not. Shouldn't I correct you? Sure, you can love the kangaroo (Sessrin in this case) all you want, but shouldn't we stick to the facts presented to us? Accurate identification is the key to appropriate representation! (Say it with me! I like alliteration and rhyming, what can I say? lol) This way there isn't any confusion and we can help prevent our young ones from misinterpreting potentially threatening situations. By attempting to pass the kangaroo off in a category among docile species like the koala (aka healthy ships), you risk putting others in harm's way. Who's to say a child won't take your word for it and just run up to a kangaroo someday and get gravely injured (aka they've now exposed themselves to a real life predator). All this could've been avoided from the get-go if a certain group of people didn't refuse to admit that the kangaroo is indeed dangerous no matter how much they wish it wasn't. Trying to convince us that a kangaroo can be like a koala or something it's not is never going to happen. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that either so there's no need to get defensive. The kangaroo can still survive and thrive and so can your ship, but just in a different environment/genre.

(Did that analogy work? xD)

And nobody as far as I've witnessed (with the exception of maybe one or two occasions) has straight-up called Sessrin shippers pedophiles. Pedo apologists, perhaps, but those two aren't one in the same. Petty and ugly name-calling on the other hand? Well, that's taking place on both sides so you can't really use that against antis.

People do want change! Not only am I tired of Sessrin fans speaking on behalf of an entire country regarding the popularity of a ship despite a strong presence of antis there, nonnie, I'm sick of those same fans telling us we don't have a right to be critical of the content we consume. "If you don't like it, then stop watching."

Since when did it become wrong to demand we do better and improve in areas? It's only normal we care and expect our entertainment to be aligned with our real life morals, because how else do you think fans relate to characters? Of course fiction can push the boundaries as is its nature, but like with everything else in life there are limits. After all, the stories we make up are but reflections of the human experience and we're taught that there are some lines you must never cross.

I'd like to end this off by saying that I hope you're right, nonnie, and that Sunrise and everyone else involved in this sequel receive all the backlash they deserve if they decide to go through with Sessrin. It's possible that movements like Save Our Children can help people who are struggling to understand why making this ship canon is problematic. On top of that, it can help them re-evaluate their values and put them in better perspective in regard to this pairing's close connection to serious acts of abuse like child grooming.

Maybe this whole time we've just been underestimating Sunrise and Rumiko's ability for profound and consistent storytelling. *knocks on wood* All along maybe we had nothing to worry about, who knows? Don't break my heart, readers, and just let me be the half-glass full kinda gal I've always been. It ain't over till it's over. 🤗

Edit: I recently discovered that a right-wing conspiracy pro-Trump group by the name of QAnon is trying to hijack the Save Our Children movement as their own. As much as I support anything that brings more light to children's issues, I do not support Trump, this terrorist organization, and their conspiracy theories.

[ckret2]

So I've been deeply pulled into the Radiosnake pairing bc of your fantastic writing! Problem is, now I have fic ideas but no knowledge of the Hazbin background. Can you tellI me where I can get more Hazbin info? I've only watched the pilot and read your stuff. I heard there were comics??

That is an excellent question anon, because right now it is really hard to get Hazbin background easily.

Okay, so, the canon info on Hazbin Hotel can be sort of sorted into four tiers, from most to least canon.

Tier 1: The Definitely Canon

There is, of course, the pilot. And then there is an Angel Dust prequel comic, only seven pages of which have been released so far. We’ve been told it’s gonna be finished and we’ve had glimpses of in-progress prequel comics for a couple other characters—most prominently Alastor’s and Charlie’s—but so far that unfinished Angel Dust comic is the only one that’s been officially released.

Finding the in-progress comic pages is... a challenge. Nobody, as far as I can tell, has been specifically collecting all of the pages we’ve seen so far. I was able to scrounge up:

Couple more Angel pages

some Alastor pages

another Alastor page

a random Alastor panel

another random Alastor panel—I’ve seen the full page of this before, Alastor goes “Hello ladies!” and they go “HELLO ALASTOR~<3″ but I can’t find the full page now

There’s a smattering more canon panels on the artist faustisse’s twitter, but I haven’t dug them all out, and some of the posts I’m gonna link in a lil bit have a glimpse of another panel.

If you haven’t already heard of Helluva Boss, I recommend looking into it as well. It’s a second series being created by the same folks, different cast of characters but set in the same version of Hell, so any canon details we learn in Helluva also apply to Hazbin.

Helluva’s pilot is here. Plus a cute music video here.

Earlier this month, during a BLM charity stream hosted by show artist Ashley Nichols—she runs regular streams under the title “HuniCast”—they released a few sneak peaks of future Helluva scenes, all compiled here.

And that’s it for canon. Two pilots, a music video, a smattering of future scenes, part of one comic, a few WIP pages/panels from other comics.

Tier 2: Pseudo-Canon

Everything else we currently know about Hazbin (and Helluva) are things that the creators have told us. Consequently, they’re all pseudo-canon—and likely subject to change in the future as the shows and comics are further developed and released. Some details that were released/described in the past have been contradicted at other times, or else radically changed by the time the pilot came out.

(For example, when Alastor was first created years and years ago as an OC with no plans for Hazbin, he was a demon deer who could shapeshift into a human shape—now he’s a demonized human with a few deer traits. And Charlie and Cherri Bomb used to look very different.)

So until and unless they make it into canon, all these pseudo-canon details are subject to change and should be taken with a grain of salt—but, they also comprise most of what we know about the characters’ backstory and the as-yet-unaired characters.

Pseudo-canon info on Hazbin is scattered mainly between two sources: the creators’ twitter accounts, and livestreams where they take questions and talk about the making of the show. If you and livestreams do not get along (my ADHD and livestreams do not get along), or if you don’t want to wade years and years back into twitter accounts to dig up every scrap of info on the characters the creators have ever mentioned, collating all the pseudo-canon info is gonna be hard. (It’s gonna be hard even if you do want to sit through the streams and dig through all their tweets.) Lots of fans, me included, depend on the absolutely heroic work of various fans who are willing and able to watch hours-long streams and collate a list of canon factoids released during the streams. I’ve reblogged as many of these posts as I’ve been able to find:

Alastor’s sound design (on twitter)

Alastor's Sound Design (post I made with screenshots of weird—but very interesting—subtitles slipped into the aforementioned video)

Sir Pentious and Cherri Bomb’s sound design

Niffty and Husk’s sound design

Charlie, Katie, and Tom’s sound design

Intro song’s sound design

Happy Hotel’s sound design

details from Faustisse (including a pic of a couple costume designs. Most of these posts come from zatyrlucy, who’s been doing a fantastic job of going stream-by-stream to get lists of details from the regular streams by Ashley Nichols and by comic artist Faustisse.)

more details from Faustisse (including a pic of the Von Eldritch family dining room)

Faustisse 3 (better look at that table)

Dollymoon’s Hazbin Hotel Facts - PART ONE (Shoutout again to dollymoon for compiling these, we’ve never spoken but I am eternally grateful for this service. Dollymoon’s posts are THE single most reliable compilation of Hazbin Hotel’s nebulous pseudo-canon facts that I have found to date, including both links to the sources and timestamps where applicable. Dollymoon’s URL has changed since making this post so the “read more” link doesn’t work but the “source” or “reblogged from” links direct correctly to the new blog. Incidentally, the risk of other blog creators deleting their blogs/posts or changing their URLs is why in info posts like these, I always link to my own reblogs rather than their original posts—their original posts might vanish without warning, but I know I ain’t gonna delete my posts, so these links will still work in the future.)

Hazbin Hotel Facts - PART TWO

Hazbin Hotel Facts - PART THREE

Faustisse 4

HuniCast - Australian Wildlife Relief charity stream

I think this was a faustisse stream (the original source deleted these posts, so the comic pages that were originally behind that read more cut are now gone.)

Faustisse stream 6?

And those are all the masterposts of factoids I’ve managed to collect. If anyone has more masterposts, chuck ‘em at me.

Even this isn’t all the knowledge that’s been released about the show. The posts that dig the farthest back are Dollymoon’s, and even they don’t comprehensively cover all of Hazbin’s production. A couple of these characters, Vivziepop created as a teenager, so there’s some truly ancient concept art floating around out there that will have details that probably aren’t canon anymore... but might still be until something happens to actively contradict them.

Tier 3: The Wiki

The wiki is kind of an absolute mess. It’s a chaotic blend of things actually seen in the pilots/comic, things mentioned at some point in some stream somewhere, and wild fan speculation based on what they headcanon as plausible based on the above, all mixed together with very little indication for which is canon, pseudo-canon, fanon, or speculation. Most of the statements on the wiki don’t have citations.

(And, on top of that, half the main characters’ info gets split up into separate tabs instead of just having a normal-ass wiki page, AND their image galleries are on COMPLETELY SEPARATE pages that are linked to in one of the tabs, and the most important characters all have TWO SEPARATE GALLERIES. Which doesn’t have anything to do with the quality of the facts hidden underneath those tabs, but nevertheless drives me up the wall.)

Some things on the wiki were added according to info released so long ago it’s probably changed by now. Some are possibilities that got reported as facts. Other things on the wiki have unambiguously changed, or else are just flat-out incorrect. (For instance, at this moment Alastor’s page still lists him as an overlord, even though it's been confirmed that Alastor is not an overlord despite his power level because he isn’t interested in and didn’t pursue that position, per this stream. For a little bit, somebody’s fanart of their headcanon human Alastor got added to the wiki as concept art.)

tl;dr: the wiki should never be trusted as a primary source. The wiki’s better than it used to be. Even so, at this time, it’s only trustworthy to fill in the gaps of what you already know is true from other, better sources.

The thing it’s good at is it more or less compiles all the known info all in one place. Trying to figure out who the hell this Vox guy is is really hard if you’re reading for mentions of him in compilations of a dozen different streams, much less if you’re trying to comb through those dozen streams yourself, plus a dozen more, plus three different artists’ twitters. In comparison, it’s really easy to, say, just go look at Vox’s wiki page, where all the trivia is compiled. (And Vox’s page is actually one of the better cited on the wiki. Look at all those numbers!)

So, if you need to find out who this character is you’ve never heard of before, if you want to see a full list of the thus far named characters, if you don’t remember whether Alastor likes coffee or tea, if you want to know what Angel’s twin sister looks like, if you need a reminder of Sir Pentious’s death year... check the wiki. It’s an okay starting point.

But, if you see a “fact” on the wiki that you yourself don’t remember from straight out of the pilot, and it doesn’t have a citation that links to a tweet or a stream... regard it suspiciously. And do not trust it unquestioningly as fact until and unless you have seen the source.

Tier 4: Noncanon Creator Shitposting

I’ve mentioned Ashley’s HuniCast streams a couple times. The biggest draw of them is that she usually gets several of the voice actors in the streams, where they’ll happily say nonsense in their character voices. For the most part, they’re not sharing any actual canon info they’ve been given on their characters, just goofing around pretending to be their characters. Nevertheless, a lot of the things that happen in streams get accepted as broad fandom headcanons, like Alastor being into dad jokes. (My favorite, for obvious reasons, is this one.)

It’s easy to find the source audio for all this wonderful nonsense by searching youtube for “HuniCast highlights,” and then rummaging around for animatics people make out of the audio. The only one noncanon video of this sort I can think of that didn’t originally come from HuniCast is a lone one from Alastor’s singing voice (who’s a different voice actor than his speaking voice).

So, obviously, none of these are canon. But they do come from some of the people actually involved in the creation of the show, and they are in the characters’ canon voices, so a whole lot of people treat them as semi-canon anyway. (Even the wiki lists “dad jokes” among Alastor’s likes, which to my knowledge hasn’t come up anywhere except for HuniCast streams.) Since they’re so broadly-known, they’re worth knowing about as important sources of fanon, even if you don’t want to adopt them into your own headcanons. They’re basically the same level of canon as blooper reels.

[lonelypond]

AU Yeah August: Café Quarantine, Part III

NicoMaki, Love Live, 3.2K, 3/4

Summary: The quarantine continues. Nico and Maki get closer, but...

Café Quarantine, Part III

Maki’s phone went off. Nico.

N: There’s muffins in the oven ( ˘▽˘)っ♨ WAKE UP before the timer goes off.

M: NO.

N: Your pad will burn down. Your parents might notice.

Pad? Oh, the slang kick. Nico was in a good mood. Maki grinned.

M: They’d have to be home.

N: You’re in a mood.

M: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

N: Go get the muffins.

M: Maybe.

N: No fever, no coughing “:♡.•♬✧⁽⁽ଘ( ˊᵕˋ )ଓ⁾⁾*+:•*∴

Maki glanced at the time. 9:30 a.m. And Nico had already baked? Maki groaned.

N: Up and at ‘em, barn burner.

M: Musicians are night people. Why aren’t you?

N: Nico is magic. And you’re too much, sugar band.

M: Please forget you ever found that jazz slang link.

N: (｡•̀ᴗ-)✧

M: if I get up and deal with whatever you put in my oven, will you never refer to me as a hepkitten or barnburner again?

N: Your oven ✧(σ๑˃̶̀ꇴ˂̶́)σ and sure, square.

M: <(｀^´)>

N: 5 minutes.

M: Fine.

Maki pulled on a t-shirt and found her slippers. Muffins? Might be worth waking up for.

###

A duet, Nico jumping in to the livestream from the library. “I Get No Kick.”

Maki at the piano, her voice a sad and sober invitation,

My story is much too sad to be told But practically everything Leaves me totally cold The only exception I know is the case When I'm out on a quiet spree Fighting vainly the old ennui And I suddenly turn and see Your fabulous face

Then Nico for chorus.

I get no kick from Champagne Mere alcohol doesn't thrill me at all So tell me why should it be true That I get a kick out of you

Some get a kick from cocaine I'm sure that if I took even one sniff That would bore me terrif- Ically too Yet I get a kick out of you

And Maki alone: I get a kick every time I see you standing there before me

And Nico alone: I get a kick though it's clear to see That you obviously do not adore me

Maki after an instrumental riff: I get no kick kick in a plane, oh yeah Flying too high with some girl in the sky Is my idea of nothing to do, And both for the big finish: you know what, babe I get a kick, you give me a thrill, I get a kick out of you

Maki’s phone double pinged. Hanayo. And Rin.

H; Oh my god, Maki that was like a scene from a movie. You and Nico were both so poised, so pretty, so wistful...almost like you were looking out the windows at each other from so far away.

R: TELL NICO YOU LIKE HER. Don’t just sing things.

H: But keep singing. I have so many ideas. You have such great chemistry. (●♡∀♡))ヾ☆*。

R: Kayo-chin’s typing so fast there’s sparks.

And Rin sent a video of Hanayo at her laptop, hunched over, glasses sliding down her nose, fingers moving at a faster tempo than Maki had ever played.

Then a Nico text.

N: So what’d the PR department think?

M: ((●♡∀♡))ヾ☆*。

N: Just like Nico’s plan.

M :◑.◑

N: Nico’s hungry. Did you order pizza?

M: Isn’t that your fifth meal today?

N: Nico burned off fever calories.

M: Yeah. And you don’t have any to spare.

N: Nico is muscle -(๑☆‿ ☆#)ᕗ

M: Tiny muscle.

N: Tiny muscle that can out arm wrestle you.

M: Try me.

N: Oh, Nico will.

M: I’ll order something. Do you actually want pizza?

N: No. But they get it here fast. And NICO NEEDS FOOD.

Maki had an image of Kaiju sized Nico raging through Chicago in search of snacks. It was God Tier humor. Maki played a quick series of notes, chords chasing and crashing into each other, giggling as they sped up to a sudden silence.

N: That sounded silly.

M: Are you outside the door?

N: Yes. Order my pizza.

M: Fine. And it was only as silly as you.

N: ԅ(◉෴◉ԅ)

###

Maki was now having dreams in Korean. The portal to Seoul had moved to the media room as she sped watched through Tomorrow’s Cantabile. Campus envy for start. Such a beautiful location to play. Crazy professor dude was a bit overdramatic but the music...Maki would stop watching when she couldn’t take any more not playing. And the dorms, with the piano right there....Maki would just stay put…

“Ooh, the violinist subplot is so cute.”

“No spoilers” Maki ordered, not looking behind her, where Nico was presumably lounging in the doorway.

“How come you didn’t go to a music school?”

“They call them conservatories. And because I was going to be a doctor.”

“Was.”

Maki paused the stream from her laptop to the TV screen and turned. Nico was leaning, eyes sparkling enough that Maki could imagine the “Nico won this round” smile under her extra sparkly pink mask.

“Northwestern has an excellent music program.”

“You said was.” Nico smirked.

Maki started the program up again.

###

Maki was getting frustrated. Between her parents and their “what’s your premed major choice?” hints and Nico’s dissection of her verb tenses, there was too much attention on her. And Nico was feeling better, less coughing, so they were nearly running into each other in the hall more often. After Nico’s invasion of Maki’s Tomorrow’s Cantabile viewing experience, Maki fled outside, grabbing her soccer ball and working on a few tricks. Rin hadn’t stopped by in a couple of days and Maki was starting to feel too isolated. Just dribble the ball, do some squat thrusts, roll over in the grass for a few yards, then lay on her back, staring at the sky and tossing the ball up and catching it. No sounds but birds and ball.

Maki knew she couldn’t just punt. But the more college classes took her away from music, the less she wanted to spend time in a classroom. And then Nico, with a surprise dream involving jazz, one of Maki’s favorite things. And Maki’s random Café Quarantine idea became the very real pleasure of music with Nico. Maki wanted more of that. Music with Nico, time with Nico, every night with Nico, seeing exactly how much attention Nico would pay to what Maki chose, both clothes and music, what Nico would suggest, where they would agree...Maki hummed a little, she and Hanayo had been tossing themes back and forth. Learning more about DeeDee Bridgewater after Nico’s name drop had “Lady Be Good” looping in Maki’s head and she really wanted to perform it for Nico. Hanayo had suggested “Dames” be the theme, throwing “Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend” into the mix and Maki added “Satin Doll.” She hadn’t talked about this with Nico yet, but tonight’s show was getting closer and Maki was surprised Nico wasn’t out here, haranguing her to practice.

Why wasn’t Nico out here? Maki jumped up, ball tucked under her arm, and quick walked through downstairs, before heading up to the bedrooms.

She paused outside Nico’s door, no coughing, then knocked. “Nico?”

No reply. Maki opened the door a crack. There was a pile of blankets in the center of the bed, with Nico presumably underneath it. Maki glanced at her phone. Two hours ‘til showtime. No Nico tonight.

Maki closed the door quietly, and went into her room. Shower off the grass, then pick an outfit. But first, Maki dropped back onto her bed, hugging a pillow, and willing more energy to Nico.

###

Nightmare. No breath. Buried under cases of coffee, Maki gone for the weekend, the hospital coffeeshop closed, and no one going to be back for days. Or was that Maki coughing, somewhere, fading, when Nico couldn’t move, couldn’t reach her.

Nico sat up, throwing blankets off her, breaths too fast, too shallow, panic...where was she. Dark. Maki’s house, sweat, fever? Where was Maki? Grabbing a mask, an action now so automatic that even on this half awake edge of rooms too big, too empty, too dark panic, Nico knew she needed to reach out for the one on the nightstand. Loop over the ears, trip over the blanket bunched up next to the bed, hit the ground with her knee, curse, stumble toward the door and nearly into Maki, who was heading for Nico’s room, wearing what must be her pajamas, a gray and light blue flannel shirt, partly unbuttoned and what looked like gray boy shorts with a blue stripe down the hip. Nico forced her eyes away from Maki’s very long legs while the surprised redhead skipped back and squeaked.

“Nico? Are you all right?”

Nico leaned against the wall, inhaling through her nose, “Nico’s fine.”

“I heard you…”

“Nightmare.” Nico frowned, “Were you coughing?”

Maki shook her head, crossing her arms over her chest, suddenly seemingly aware of how much skin she was showing, compared to Nico’s pajama pants and frilly camisole combo.

Breathing almost back to even, Nico stood, “Sorry Nico woke you up.”

Maki shook her head, biting her lip, “Wasn’t really sleeping. Would really rather have been talking to you, but I didn’t want to…”

“Thanks for letting me sleep. Had a lot of energy this morning, but it just suddenly disappeared after lunch.”

“Recovery is slow. You have to give yourself a break.” Maki hadn’t thought to grab a mask so Nico could see her soft, concerned expression.

Nico decided she had enough energy for flirting “Nico’s doctors usually wear more.”

Nico watched Maki flush with embarrassment and backed toward her room, “ummmm…”

Nico reached out a hand for Maki’s arm, her touch gentle, “It’s okay, Nico won’t tease you.”

Maki pulled away, fingers now splayed and covering the top of her thighs, where the shirt ended. She wouldn’t look at Nico.

Right Nico, Nico scolded herself, flowers, dinner, candy...or at least a blu-ray and popcorn night first. “I’ll start tea. Maybe we can watch something funny. Nico needs a break from bad dreams.”

###

While Maki decided what to wear, Nico let the tea steep and watched tonight’s Cafe Quarantine. Floor length violet gown with embroidered chrysanthemums, and a textured crepe, artfully falling off the shoulder neckline. Nico whistled. Maki’s closet was deep and delicious. Had she actually worn them places? And which places? And with who? Nico found a sudden discomfort nudging at her, the thought of Maki in a hotel ballroom, someone’s arms around the fitted waist of her gown...Nico refocused on actual Maki at the piano, fingers sprightly as “The Girl From Ipanema” danced, Maki swaying breezes and skirts with her left hand, drifting clouds into sunshine with her right. Nico giggled, Maki was doing her own secret theme with the instrumentals, songs about “Brazil.” They’d be out of songs before Nico could suggest a Flying Down to Rio week.

“Hey.” Maki said breathily from the doorway of the kitchen.

“Nico was about to watch your second song.”

“I’ll go pick a movie.”

And Maki was gone, with a flash of pajama pant clad leg. Except that on Nico’s phone, Maki’s voice was swinging into a bluesy opening of “Lady Be Good” that turned laughing and flirty. Nico smiled, she could tell Maki was forcing herself not to wink as she sang

“I am so awfully misunderstood So lady, be good to me Oh, please have some pity I'm all-alone in this big city I tell you I'm just a lonesome babe in the wood So lady be good to me”

And then with a wink, and a brashness that surprised Nico, Maki started scatting, a huge grin between nonsense syllables, her voice dropping lower and lower, and then suddenly a sprint back to staccato, and then another wink and the final verse, daring someone to save her.

“Oh, please have some pity I'm all alone in this big city I tell you I'm just a lonesome babe in the wood So lady be good to me Oh lady be good to me”

Nico took her mug of tea and a cookie to the media room, still thinking about Maki’s performance. As stellar as Maki was on the piano, she was also starting to show real flair as a vocalist. Nico found herself imagining the duets they could do when her 10 days of isolation were up.

But Nico stuck to practical as a conversation opener. “I left water in the kettle if you want tea.”

“Thanks.” Maki got up, she’d already opened the windows and left Nico the seat closest to them, “I’ll probably just stick with milk and cookies.”

“Oh good, bring the rest of the cookies.:” Nico settled into her seat, “Hey Maki, where’d you get the idea to scat? Ella?”

“The Muppets.” And Maki was out the door. And Nico was once again intrigued by how little she could guess about Nishikino Maki’s thoughts.

###

Another Café Quarantine performed and posted. Nico was buzzing. Even in separate rooms, her duets with Maki were fire. And now Eli was on a video chat.

“You beans have so much chemistry. Nozomi can’t wait until you bring Maki over for dinner.” Eli laughed as she curved a silver bangle bracelet, “How’d you two start dating? All the ‘you were roommates” tropes. Or was it at work? Ooh, a coffeeshop AU! When’d you kiss? Where’d you kiss? Behind the counter at work, while you expertly sprayed whipped cream on a mocha? Taking a break from inventory and sharing a chocolate chip cookie? In the kitchen, wiping chocolate off her cheek.”

“Enough with your fantasies. And Nico is contagious, we are not dating. I thought Nozomi was the nosy wife.”

Eli leaned back and stretched, blonde hair in a tight ponytail. “I’m bored. Nozomi’s gotta keep working but I’m stuck at home. I need vicarious romance.”

“No. You need to put together a dance routine for a night of Café Quarantine.” Nico had decided to drag Eli back into performing. In the two years, Nico had spent at college, she’d had enough dance classes with Eli to be impressed at the ballerina’s abilities. Then Maki could play a more classical piece.

Eli leaned forward, chin in the hand propped on her knee, and sighed. “I’m out of shape.”

“For you.”

Eli shrugged in low key agreement, “I’ll think about it. Are you really not dating?”

“No.” Nico sunk back into pillows.

“Not even a not yet?”

“Maki’s a hard read.”

Eli shook her head, tapping her forehead. “You’re nuts. Do you listen to her singing?”

“That’s just music.” Nico had been telling herself this almost nightly.

“Nico.” Eli’s tone was serious, “no one sings like that if it’s just music.”

Nico sat up, her tone matching Eli’s. “Maki might, she’s a genius.”

“Plus,” Eli was very good at ignoring Nico when necessary, “she invited you to quarantine at her house and didn’t kick you out when you got sick.”

“Her dad wanted to, I think.”

Eli leaned forward, her face contorting comically, “Well, duh, Nico, another point for DATE THE HEIRESS.” Eli’s eyes brightened, “You’re in a Korean drama. Does her mother hate you? Is there an ex? Spill.”

“Don’t call her ‘the heiress.” Nico didn’t want any more attention paid to that aspect of things than she already had to. How was she supposed to compete? Would it be like dating the poolboy or the maid in Maki’s parents’ eyes.

“Maki.” Eli said simply.

“Maki.” Nico liked holding the syllables in her mouth.

“Why aren’t you dating Maki yet?”

Nico flumped back into her pillows, “Nico wants to be well.”

“Say, hey, let’s date. Then it’s settled. There’ll be time for kissing later.” Eli went back to bending silver.

“Things have to be the right temperature. Or they break.”

“Don’t throw jeweler references at me, Nico.”

“But it’s true...how about cooking references? If you take a cake out too early or too late, even by a minute, it’s not as good. And the more complicated the cake, the more a miss messes it up.” Nico groaned, almost throwing a pillow at her phone, “Plus, Nico’s exhausted. And hungry all the time.”

“Still coughing.”

“Yeah.”

“Be careful. We miss you.” Eli’s sincerity was always soothing.

“I miss you.”

“I get the exhausted thing. It’s hard to think about romance when you can’t keep your eyes open. Nozomi’s working double shifts to cover our bills.” Eli held up the bracelet to show it off.

“That’s pretty. When Nico gets cleared, I’ll cook you a special dinner.”

“Thanks.” Eli chuckled, “As long as you bring your girlfriend Maki over.”

Nico chucked a pillow at her phone.

###

R: Did you tell Nico you like her yet.

M: Pick another topic.

R: Where are we going on a double date?

M: Rin.

R: What’s wrong?

M: I’m just thinking about a lot of things.

R: Don’t think. Just do. You overthink (҂⌣̀_⌣́)

Rin was right, Maki did overthink, but right now, she legitimately had at least three major issues she was juggling, including the fact that finding herself sitting and staring into space, remembering Nico’s voice and mimicking her gestures was interfering with Maki’s ability to plan anything.

M: I’m just ready for a change,

R: ( ¬_¬)

M ˚▱˚

R: Is this about your parents?

M: It’s about me. I’m going to be 21.

R: Your trust fund?

M: Not really exactly that. I just feel like I should make an I’m an adult statement.

R: Date Nico.

M: Before that.

R: Oh.

M: Yeah, oh.

R: (σ≧∀≦)σ

M: Thanks.

R: Donuts and coffee in the backyard tomorrow?

M: Not before noon.

R: (≧ω≦)ゞ

###

M; How are you feeling?

N: Tired. What are you doing?

Maki looked at her exchange with Rin.

M: Nothing.

N: Nico too.

M: Good night.

N: Great show tonight.

M (~_^)ｂ

N: See you tomorrow.

M: Donuts for breakfast.

N: Not healthy.

M: Dr. Nico needs to change her opinion, one of them will have blueberries. And toasted coconut is wonder food while coffee leads to longevity. All science-y stuff I read somewhere.

N: Σ(T□T) Dr. Nico?

M: I got the rockin pneumonia and the boogie woogie flu.

N: Will donuts fix you?

M: Yes.

N: Nico will find a recipe.

M: ♥

M: Nico…

N: ?

Maki considered typing something like, what if I quit the coffeeshop? When are you leaving? Can we have a kiss theme week?

M: Get some sleep.

N: c⌒っ╹v╹ )っ

Maki dropped her phone on the bed, staring at the ceiling. Where to start so many conversations?

A/N: And this monster of an @auyeahaugust fic continues. Take care!

[fangirlauthor]

A Rip in Time Chapter Three

Here’s chapter three! I got tired of writing (future) Matt every time he did something so pre-kerberos Matt is not included in this chapter. Link to post with link to the work on ao3 is in my pinned post/master post. 

Matt Holt knew they didn’t believe him. Not all of them, not on everything. Honestly, he couldn’t blame them - it’s all a little crazy, even to him. He wouldn’t have believed himself if he had been himself before he’d been kidnapped and eventually traveled back in time. All of which brings him to the other problem - his head is killing him. He’s not sure if there’s some sort of time-sickness occurring, or if it’s all this thinking about himself in several different time periods, or what, but he’s in dire need of an ibuprofen, and it doesn’t seem like anyone has one to spare. 

Preparations began properly… yesterday? He’s pretty sure it was yesterday. Like he said, his head is having trouble, what with the...time difference and all. Anyway, preparations began recently, but things are going slowly. The people who don’t believe him, even though they’re keeping quiet, are causing trouble - if people aren’t willing to help, they’re not going to, and they’ll certainly try to get others to not help either. 

“So far, we’ve put everyone on high alert, armed them with knives and the knowledge that guns won’t save them, set up patrols, and had the pilots be ready to fly, also with the knowledge that the onboard weapons won’t save them, sir.”

“All right,” said Iverson, turning away from the lower-ranking officer reporting to him to look at Matt. “What else can we do?”

Matt shook his head. “Not much. We don’t have the time - or the resources - to build weapons capable of breaching Galra defenses. Basically, just get everyone ready to fight.”

Iverson’s eyes narrowed, his face scrunching as he scrutinized Matt. “We’ve already done that. What can we do that we haven’t already done?”

“Nothing I can think of.” Matt turned around, body facing the fence they were standing by, and looked up at the clear sky. “Actually,” he said as Iverson was preparing to walk away angrily. “We can hope and pray that Voltron shows up in time. Otherwise, we won’t last long.”

Iverson sighed. Two days ago was supposed to have been the launch marking the pinnacle of human achievement - having a future version of one of the crew members show up and inform them that they weren’t as ahead as they thought they were was disarming, to say the least. 

Matt turned back to the sky and said, “Commander?”

“Yes, Holt?”

Matt grinned like an imp. “Shiro found it dis-arming as well.”

“Wait, you said that like it was a  pun. Why did you say that like it was a pun?” Matt turned around to see Shiro, with a full head of dark hair and no scar walking up, Adam walking next to him. This didn’t quite fit the events Matt remembered - he was certain Adam had broken up with Shiro. Huh. Maybe the extra time given to them after he appeared was helping them heal their relationship - helping them understand each other and each other’s reasons for doing certain things better. 

Matt glanced at the three people staring at him expectantly and nearly peed a little. This was not going to be fun to explain. 

Fortunately for him, he didn’t have to. Unfortunately for him and literally everyone else, it was because the Galra had arrived. 

----

“Sir, your orders?” Shiro and Adam had headed off to who knows where the minute the ships appeared in the sky and had been replaced by a random lady in a gray uniform. 

Iverson was too busy gaping at the fleet of Galra - he assumed they were Galra, anyway; he’d never seen any before - cruisers that had just appeared out of nowhere to respond, so Matt said, “Tell the pilots to get ready, and make sure everyone can see what’s going on.”

The lady blinked. “You want me to livestream an alien invasion?”

Matt nodded excessively. “Yes, that. And make sure not to fire on them, that won’t do anything besides make them angry.”

The lady glanced at Commander Iverson, nodded, turned on her heel, and headed inside the building - presumably to set up a live stream. 

Iverson was still staring at the cruisers when he waved to unseen people. Matt started to walk up next to him when two pairs of hands grabbed him from behind. “What-” Matt paused, then started again, “I’m sorry, watt is going on?

“Look, kid.” Iverson finally turned around. “It’s nothing personal, but you’re under arrest for hindering government activities and interfering illegally on private property. You’ve convinced the entire Galaxy Garrison that there’s some mechanical hope for them to survive this, and you haven’t given them any way to defend themselves.”

“But- there isn’t one! There was only the time and the resources to do what we already have, and like I said, if you fire on them, you’re going to provoke them.”

Iverson shook his head. “We’ve got this from here.” He jerked his head at one of the people holding him back. “Take him to a cell. And make sure to put a screen displaying the livestream in his line of sight. Wouldn’t want anyone to be clued out.”

Matt let the guards drag him several feet towards the building before he decided to remind everyone that he’s not as weak as he was when he left for Kerberos. He jabbed his elbow into one guard’s solar plexus and kneed the other in the crotch, instinctively wincing in sympathy. 

“Wha-” The next guard didn’t even have time to get a single word out before Matt knocked him down too. 

“Oh, man,” Matt panted. “This is a lot harder in Earth gravity.” Unfolding from his crouched position, Matt sprinted over to the main building of the Garrison Complex where a crowd of people had gathered; his original plan had been to talk to Iverson and get him to see reason, but he was nowhere to be found - besides, something about the last time Matt had seen Iverson was bugging him, but he wasn’t sure what. Not yet, anyway. 

“Everyone, get down!” he yelled, still heading for the crowd as a small Galra fighter plane opened fire. Not many people listened to him, but there were approximately two good reasons for that. 

1. People were too busy running from the Galra fighter plane (wings not included, apparently) that was heading straight for the crowd. 

2. Apparently a crashing jet makes a lot of noise on the way down. 

It didn’t matter anyway; most people didn’t need to be told to get out of the way. Unfortunately, some did - Commander Iverson included. For whatever reason, he was standing directly in the falling ship’s path as dozens of other people ran away. 

On the other hand, Matt Holt wasn’t exactly running away either. Iverson - annoying as he was - wasn’t about to die if there was something he could do about it. So he gave a final burst of concentrated effort, tripped, fell onto Iverson, knocked him down, and proceeded to roll away - dragging Iverson with him - like a five year-old on a grass hill in the summer. 

They didn’t get very far. Rolling on flat concrete when one person is dead weight - for whatever reason - isn’t easy. And the plane is still coming, falling faster as gravity continues to pull. 

It’s close enough to read the identification number on the side, now, and Iverson still isn’t moving. There’s nowhere for Matt to go - he wouldn’t be able to outrun the ship at this point - and Matt isn’t leaving Iverson behind. 

He closes his eyes, unable to watch the ship continue to fall - not much farther now - and he lies there, on cold cement with an unmoving but still breathing Iverson next to him. 

He’s still lying there when the sound of scraping metal and a small explosion sound. 

And he’s still lying there two minutes later, when people have started to gather nearby to gawk. 

And he’s still there three minutes after that, when he realized he isn’t dead. 

And when he opened his eyes, he smiled; he knows what all the people are gawking at. 

Landed on a large open space on Garrison property, the remains of a Galra fighter in its paws, was a giant green lion. 

And inside was his sister.

[marinetteplztakeabreak]

Pet!Kwami AU

(temporary title, I still might rename it)

In this AU, kwami powers work slightly differently

1. The kwamis (kwama? kwami? kwamies? What’s even the plural?) can’t talk. They can still communicate with their owners through body language or squeaks or whatever and they also have an empathetic link with their owners so they can communicate emotions, but they can’t say words out loud or write them down. This leads to some challenges in figuring out the kwami’s name and transformation/ power up words, as you’d imagine. They have to get creative a lot.

2. Instead of eating cheese/cookies/etc. to power up, the kwamis (still don’t know the plural) literally run on the power of love. The more time the owners spend cuddling/talking to/playing with/etc. their kwami, the more charged the kwami will get. At first the kwamis aren’t very connected with their owners,  so they can’t get very charged (Ladybug isn’t even able to use the Miracle Cure every akuma battle at first, and she and Chat can only stay transformed for 10-15 minutes before their kwamis give out, even if they don’t use any powers) but as time passes they get closer and start building endurance, so they can spend more time transformed and eventually can recharge mid-battle with a quick cuddle.

3. The kwamis still can use their powers themselves but with less control than their owners (just like canon), they’re still immortal, and they still can’t be captured or photographed. However, instead of looking like little floating magical creatures, they look exactly like the animal they represent, and also act much the same. Plagg looks just like a normal black cat and purrs/meows/eats cat food, and Tikki looks just like a normal ladybug and so on. It’s easier for Marinette, who can still just keep Tikki in her bagm but it causes a lot of trouble for Adrien, who has to hide the fact that he has an entire cat living in his room, and who has to sneak that cat with him anytime he goes anywhere (school, photoshoots, etc.) if he wants to still be able to transform.

How Origins Part 1 plays out in this AU:

Hawkmoth, being the same Gabriel Agreste as canon, obviously hasn’t treated Nuruu very well, so they don’t have as strong of a connection as Gabriel would like.   However, he’s been with Nuruu for a very long time, and slowly worked to earn Nuruu’s trust to the point where he can actually transform and make akumas.   (Gabriel’s still an horrible abusive excuse for a person in this AU but also he has some ability to do subtlety just like in canon, so Nuruu’s kind of got a similar set of issues to Adrien in this AU, where he blames himself for upsetting Gabriel and just wants to make him happy at this point). On the other hand, all of the other Miraculouses (except Dusuu) haven’t had any human contact in over 100 years, which means they’re all very weak.   So Hawkmoth and Mayura are, at this point, way stronger than any other superhero could be for a while. It usually takes years of bonding with a kwami before a new superhero is allowed to actually transform, but when Hawkmoth starts becoming active and attacking the town, master Fu decides to just hand out the Cat and Ladybug Miraculouses and hope for the best (all the other kwamis are in a kind of hybernation because they haven’t had owners for so long, but as long as Tikki and Plagg are together their magical “batteries” stay just a little but charged because power of love and all that).

The initial boxes are delivered much the same way as in origins, to Adrien and Marinette who’s stories have been the same as in canon up to this point.    However, when Adrien and Marinette open their boxes, their kwamis are obviously unable to talk to them and explain how to transform.   So it takes a lot of effort on Tikki and Plagg’s parts (Plagg screeches a lot, Tikki buzzes in Marinette’s ear and right by her eyes until she pays attention, and there’s a lot of gesturing at books and other objects lying around), but eventually Marinette makes herself a makeshift mask out of an old tshirt and Adrien puts on an oversized hoodie and sunglasses and the two of them sneak out while following their kwamis, and the two end up meeting in an alleyway. They come up with their super hero names just like canon, although of course they haven’t transformed yet.  

Then they go to try and figure out how to fight the akuma.   Marinette doesn’t have Ladybug vision to help, and it takes much longer than in canon, and also they both get pretty injured and frustrated, but eventually they figure out that Stoneheart is really overprotective of something in his hand and that whatever it was would probably be the key to defeating him. Tikki figures she might as well just use her powers herself and hope for the best, because their was no way she was going to be able to communicate exactly what to do to Marinette, and also she wasn’t even sure if she had the power to do a Lucky Charm, let alone transforming Marinette. So Tikki uses her Lucky Charm, which makes a scuba suit just like canon, and then promply passes out.   Marinette hands Tikki to the nearby Alya to keep her safe, and she’s too busy worrying about the battle to care that Alya’s livestreaming this all from her phone (of course later she’ll see that for some reason her ladybug and the other hero’s cat don’t appear in any of the footage). Then, they use a combination of Chat Noir running around and the suit and a hose flying through the air (no superpowers so Ladybug can’t literally throw Chat this time) as a distraction. Stoneheart drops the akumitized object, Marinette crushes it and frees the butterfly, obviously unaware that she has to deevilize it and unable to do anything anyways because Tikki’s knocked out, Alya records the whole thing and creates the Ladyblog, and the two superheroes call it a day and head home, coming up with a time and place to meet up the next day and promising to give each other actual contact information once they figured out how to do that without sacrificing their secret identities.

Let me know if you’re interested or want to hear more! I’m still working on figuring out some parts of the plot but I have a pretty good idea of where I want this to go!

[shenlongshao]

GG Strive: Highlights pt.1

Hi hi!^_^ This post will be about my thoughts and reactions to the info from the GG Strive livestream and from the website. I decided to split this into parts because I’ll be going into detail. I’ll start with the general news. The first is the release date of Guilty Gear Strive for PS4, PS5, and Steam(PC) is officially announced! Yay! Details about the versions can be seen from this link.

https://www.guiltygear.com/ggst/en/wordpress/wp-content/themes/ggst/img/buynow/ggst_sku_rev.pdf With what’s known and shown about the GG Strive so far, the standard version will include. -  5 Battle stages(not including the 2 areas within each one from wall breaks. If including those, then it adds up to 15 stages) - The usually expected content like Story Mode, Training Mode, Online Matches, etc.(and possibly whatever new modes) -  The amount of playable characters at launch will be 15. And...

Here we go, lol. XD  This is a huge no-no for me because it’s heavily inspired by the monetization practice from many mobile App games and/or MMOs(Massive Multiplayer Online). Things like

- Continuously release content whether it’s story-related, cosmetics, etc. that players pay for.

- Purposefully implement an in-game problem so the player gets impatient or feels compelled to buy the solution. (An example is limited storage space in an MMO, so he/she has to buy more space) - Have premium type service that provides a list of benefits for a while until you have to renew the service or buy a new one; each varying in price.

- Purposefully lock certain features behind a paywall, advertise the locked content to the player via pop-ups in the game, etc.  For mobile and MMO games, it makes sense because there’s so many of them that are free to play. For example, players don’t have to pay for episodes of an MMO’s story or stages, etc. They just pay for extra things like pets, costumes, etc. that may benefit the gameplay. Since there’s so much competition in these genres, some will give a better value and pricing than others. Games like MMOs are designed to go on forever like the Energizer Bunny, XD. However, it’s an issue when fighting games do it because  - They’re not free to play - The environments of fighting games aren’t expansive, open worlds that players can pick up various items and have Raids(large groups fighting a boss for equipment).

- Main stories in fighting games aren’t constantly updated. It has predetermined scenarios with only a selected few deemed important while other characters are treated as an afterthought. There’s no sidequests that give special focus to a character, etc; just a quick Arcade Mode and a brief ending.

- Too many fighting games have the bad habit of making mainstay characters since their debut into paid DLC. Despite how heavily monetized MMOs are, one thing they don’t do is suddenly making you pay for something that was previously free in a new update or version of the game.

- Season Passes in fighting games is basically a premium service like you would see in MMOs. For example, here’s a link of the premium pack from Phantasy Star Online 2, a very popular MMORPG. http://www.bumped.org/psublog/pso2-jp-premium-set-perks/ Both Season Passes and Premium Packs have a similar concept. But premium packs/services in MMOs at least have some extra benefits etc. to the game along with the extended storage space, etc. Some of them actually do give a good deal.  Whenever a company announces a Season Pass 1 way before the game comes out, what they’re really saying is “this is a list of content we’re blocking you from until you pay”. So the character roster in GG Strive isn’t the real base one, 15 is what you’re “allowed” to play along with the other things on the list. It’s the same with other games like Granblue Fantasy Versus., 11 was the amount of characters you were allowed to play while the real base roster, which was 16, was blocked behind a paywall. Season Passes aren’t really giving benefits. -The last part is there’s not really compelling goodies yet to justify the pricing from the different editions of GG Strive. For example, you get a “special colors” of Sol and Ky if you pre-order the game.

I really like it,  but to me it isn’t worth preordering the game. A better preorder bonus would be have Sol and Ky in their original GGX costume with some new moves. I think there’s a better way to do it  instead of just “gimme your money!” XD - Season Passes should really not exist anymore in fighting games. But if it must exist, I would prefer it being a one-time buy where you don’t need to keep buying upcoming DLC characters, but you still need to buy individual colors separately. - Other 3D fighting games like Mortal Kombat 11 have done this, but GG Strive should put actual costumes as payable DLC and not just different colors. Costumes like the characters’ original look, holiday and seasonal themed outfits, etc. The pricing should be $3. - Characters that haven’t consistently appeared or were only NPCs should be DLC. An example would be Raymond/Judgment from GG Judgment since he only appeared once in a game or Gabriel since he’s NPC, but story relevant to the series. Mainstay characters like Baiken, Johnny, Dizzy, etc. shouldn’t be paid DLC unless there’s a special version of them like an EX or Gold version, etc. - Give some of the stages weather and night/day cycle effects. For example, make the ruins area have random occurrences of rain and at night. Make some stages from previous GG games paid DLC with the breakable wall mechanic. For example, like the cemetery stage from GG Isuka. - If extra parts of the story are now going be a paid feature(I hope it isn’t, though), then bring back the aspect of alternate endings. Have the extra stories be truly focused on the character a player picked and have it be interactive with multiple choice, able to choose what battle to participate in, etc. Not just a generic, 10 minute Arcade Mode with 2 cutscenes XD - For other editions like Ultimate, etc., it would be nice to have extra goodies like the hard-to-find GG source material in the past to be available and bundled with the game. Things like high quality statue figurines, accessories like coats replica of the characters’, etc. would be worth getting the Deluxe or Ultimate edition. - People who get the Standard edition should also have access to the Open Beta and also PC players too.  But how it is now and how it may go doesn’t look good....this doesn’t mean, “boycott this game! HATE AND DELETE!” XD I just don’t like it when game franchises I like fall into the trap of bad business practices to make more money, especially when it doesn’t need to be. It’s why I included some examples of what I think would be better options that would be more reasonable.  The “Smell of the Game” is a little stinky! XD Please stay tuned for part 2 of my highlights!

[purplesurveys]

1034

survey by tater-tots What is a fruit that you might eat in the morning? Hahahaha. That’s a pass for me; I can’t imagine regularly eating fruit at any set time of the day.

Do you enjoy any food combinations that others might consider to be weird? I like to eat fish with mayonnaise, which was always normal in our household but I realized was weird when I first saw the horrified expressions on my friends’ faces when they saw me use the combination. I like mayonnaise with a lot of other foods as well, which a lot of people generally find weird.

What is a green vegetable that you enjoy eating? Broccoli and asparagus.

Name something you might find in a salad. In my salad, you’ll always find tuna sashimi in it heh.

What is your favorite type of sandwich? Anything that’s like an Eggs Benedict or Monte Cristo. 

Which condiment do you use the most often? Mayo, for sure. Banana ketchup too. I also like sriracha sauce but my dad hasn’t been buying a new bottle of it for a while. 

Name a chocolate bar that you enjoy eating. It’s called Whittaker’s - just not sure what country it hails from; maybe Australia? - and I like their peanut butter variant. Google also told me it’s a New Zealander brand.

What is a meat that you do not eat - ever. Dog or cat.

Are you lactose intolerant, or have any other sort of food allergies? I’m mildly lactose intolerant but I ignore it because a lot of my favorite foods use dairy. Other than that, no food allergies.

What was the last food that you burnt your mouth on? Just plain rice, haha. I had been extremely hungry and I just wanted to dig in; but I ended up spitting it back out.

Which brand of soup do you eat? I don’t regularly have soup, much less buy canned brands of it. 

What are some flavors of ice cream that your enjoy? Cookies and cream, mint chocolate, coffee, chocolate chip cookie dough, queso real.

What is the best type of cookie, in your opinion? I like keeping things classic when it comes to cookies, and I’ve always been perfectly happy with chocolate chip cookies :)

Would you rather have popcorn, pretzels, or chips as your salty snack? Chips. I dislike the other two as I only like the softer, doughy version of pretzels.

Have you thought about going on a diet & actually went through with it? No.

--

survey by pinkchocolate

When you woke up today, was there anything on your mind? Kinda. I felt sad and I was aware of it instantly, compared to most days where the sadness will take a while to build.

Who was the last person you interacted with for the first time? Literally speaking, maybe the barista at Starbucks who took my temperature at the entrance before I was let in the store. I interacted with her yesterday.

What colour was the wrapper of the last snack you ate? White. It’s more of a tiny bag than a wrapper, though.

Do you have a favourite mug to drink from? What does it look like? Yeah, I’ve since claimed my mom’s mug for myself. It’s a copper mug with the Starbucks label on it. It looks super minimalist which I appreciate.

What was the last thing you used, that came in a spray can? It was a Lysol spray.

What colour is your favourite bra? Don’t really have one.

Who was the last person you went to for advice about something? I think it was Andi. I’ve been going to them a lot for help, advice, extra sanity, etc. lately. If it hasn’t been for them I probably would’ve left a few months back.

Have you had a deep conversation with anyone lately? Yes. I finally met up with Gab yesterday to discuss a lot things, iron some stuff out, figure out where to go from here.

What was the last compliment you recall receiving from someone? I’m not sure, I haven’t been receiving any.

And the last compliment you gave to someone else? It was most likely a compliment for Andi on how helpful they’ve been to me.

What kind of bread did you eat most recently? Flatbread.

What was the last sound you heard, that you found pleasant? We were watching a mass livestream earlier and I was delighted when they played the closing song.

How many books do you think there are in your house? Take a rough guess. I would guess around 60, the overwhelming bulk of them mine.

Of all the books you own, which do you think has the most pages in it? It would definitely either be Gone with the Wind or Les Miserables, but I’m not sure which one is thicker.

^ And how many pages is that? I checked both of my copies and they’re soooo close – GWTW has 1,440 pages while Les Mis has 1,463.

What was the last film you saw at the cinema? What did you think of it? Knives Out. I went to the mall yesterday and the cinemas were still closed, so it’s not like I’d be able to watch new movies at theatres anyway. Anyway, I’ve been vocal about the movie enough times on my surveys but I didn’t enjoy it. Whodunnits were never my cup of tea, but Gab had wanted to see it and I didn’t want to make her watch the film alone.

In the last book you read, what was the main character's name? Haven’t been reading.

What was the last song you heard, that meant something to you? Lose by Niki.

How many people do you know whose name begins with Z? I can only recall one such person at the moment; it’s one of my mom’s aunts who also doubled as a principal sponsor for my mom and dad’s wedding.

What do you expect to be doing at this time tomorrow? Maybe doing my embroidery (my package finally arrived!!) or surveys or watching Start-Up, because tomorrow will be a holiday :)

--

survey by luckforlemmy

Did you start listening to more Michael Jackson after his death? I can remember that there was definitely a brief period after his death that I caught up with his discography and listened to MJ nearly everyday; I read up on him and his life as well. 11 year old me figured he must’ve been an interesting figure because of the big reception around his death, so I wanted to know the reasons behind it.

When was the last time that you played hide and seek? I can vividly remember the day when Nina and I played hide and seek when the house was newly-built and still devoid of furniture, back in maybe ‘07 or ‘08. I’m fairly certain that was the last time I played hide and seek.

Who was your first celebrity crush, if you can remember? It was a tie between Ashley Tisdale and Zac Efron, though the older I get the more I’ve been convinced that I ‘crushed’ on Zac only because I was surrounded by girls who went crazy over him in school. I’m pretty sure my first real celebrity crush was Ashley, hahaha.

Do you worry about money? Yeah, especially now. I can’t even enjoy my first paycheck because most of it’s gonna go to Christmas presents, but oh well; at least I can finally buy gifts for my loved ones who’ve always gotten me presents.

Have you ever had to beg for a second chance? Kind of, when I was trying to convince Gab to let our relationship have another shot four years ago. Beg is a strong word for what I actually did, though. It was more of me pitching the idea, not begging.

When was the last time that you sent an actual letter through the mail? I don’t think I even ever did that, not even when I was younger and snail mail was still kind of a thing.

Are you excited to return to school? There’s nothing to return to anymore. Unless I decided to take up a post-grad course in the future, I’m done with school.

Do you hate Internet abbreviations? It can just feel a bit jarring when they’re used excessively in a single sentence, but I honestly don’t mind it for the most part. It’s understandable especially now that most, if not all, of my interactions whether personal or for work happen online.

What was the last insult you gave out? I was never really the roasting type of person, not even towards my friends.

What'd you last look up on YouTube? Hahaha I looked up ‘skynwallz.’ I was looking for the episode of Rhett and Link’s vlogs where they painted the rooms of their offices in the color of their entire person – hair, eyes, and skin. They were joking about starting a new business for it called Skynwallz, so that’s what I looked up.

Are you texting someone really awesome right now? No, I prefer to be alone today.

Do you know when to be serious and when you shouldn't be? Er sure, it’s not that hard.

Do you think that you're funny? I like my sense of humor, yeah, but I know it’s not always going to translate to everybody’s tastes. For example, I’m still figuring out the dynamic in the team I was put in at work, so I can’t make the same jokes that I would normally say with my co-interns with whom I have a more comfortable relationship.

Have you ever sent a secret to Post Secret? I don’t know what this is, so no.

What movie do you really want to see in theatres right now? They aren’t showing anything at the moment. A movie I want to see badly, though, is Ammonite.

Have either of your parents shown affection for you today? My mom made breakfast for us, if it counts. She also gives each of her kids a kiss during the peace-giving portion at mass, so there’s that as well.

What's the last thing that you sang out loud? I watched Start Up before this survey and was humming to the song that was being played at the end of the episode. I couldn’t sing along to it because it was in Korean, but I knew the melody so I hummed.

Is there a word that you always misspell? Rhythm is one of my worst enemies for sure. I also have a love-hate relationship with accommodate.

What was the last thing that you bought that someone else benefited from? I met up with Gabie yesterday and bought her her favorite meal from Yabu to break the ice – menchi katsu with brown rice. I originally got mozzarella sticks for myself but when we got to talking, she mentioned her sisters at one point; I remembered how much I miss them, so I gave up my food and told her to just give my food to her sisters since I hadn’t touched it yet anyway.

Has someone ever made you a really great mix CD? Andi gave me one before she made the flight to New Zealand 10 years ago to permanently live there. I believe I still have it, but I’m just not sure where it currently is.

Have you ever been on Omegle.com? Yes, when I was a teenager and it was new.

Did you talk to someone cool there? Not really; most seem to exit our chat after we did the whole asl thing. I also avoided the webcam option because my anxiety for video calls has always been present.

What song reminds you of your best friend? Any song by The Maine.

Who was the last person to hit on you? Some creep on Facebook.

What's on the paper nearest you? It’s the guide for my embroidery kit. It tells me what stitches to do and the colors of thread to use for the different parts of the template I was provided with.

Do you have a set of lyrics that you really love? From Paramore’s Pool: “As if the first cut wasn’t deep enough, I dove in again ‘cause I’m not into giving up Could’ve gotten the same rush from any lover’s touch, But why get used to something new When no one breaks my heart like you” I scream those lyrics every time they come on. I know I often showed the good, shiny side of my relationship on these surveys; but it was very much toxic at a lot of points and those lyrics - and that song - served as a nest for me, something that told me someone understands how I sometimes felt about my own relationship.

Did you get an A in your last English class? I got a 1.25 instead of a perfect 1.00, but I think that’s still equivalent to an A so yes.

What did you last use scissors for? Cutting thread.

Did you ever secretly hate a friend of yours that thought you liked them? That makes me sound shitty lol, but yeah I’ve acted nicely to people I don’t particularly like.

What do you think of when I say "boat"? That episode of Friends where Joey bought himself a boat at an auction; and Canadian accents.

Would you ever get a tattoo sleeve? Nope. I planned on getting one as a teenager, but I grew out of that phase.

Do you know any really fake people? Yep. I think everyone’s got to be at some point.

What does the last blanket you used look like? It’s pink and has multi-colored polka dots on it.

Do you have appreciation for graffiti? Sure, especially if it’s for political purposes (that I agree with).

Why don't you drive? I do. I just have done it a lot less because I have had little need for driving and traveling to places throughout the pandemic.

Does it annoy you when your printer runs out of ink? I think we have the kind of printer that never runs out of ink, but I’m not exactly sure about the terminologies or how the technology works. I let my sister do the printing hahaha.

Have you ever drank anything from a thermos? Yes, mostly water and coffee.

When was the last time you played in the snow? Never.

Do you know any ignorant people? Sure, mostly Gen X-ers and Boomers.

What is the coolest name you've ever heard? Thylane.

What did you last argue with someone about? Relationship stuff. It wasn’t a full-blown argument, but when Gab and I talked yesterday it was natural for us to disagree on a few points.

Is there anyone that you dislike for no real reason? Hmm, I don’t think so. If I feel that strongly about someone, I usually have a reason otherwise it wouldn’t be fair to them.

Have you had a good day? It was okay; it was nice. I got to do my embroidery hoop art thing, got to watch a couple episodes of Start Up, played with Cooper, and now I’m doing these surveys and am planning to continue my embroidery later. It’s nice to feel productive about non-work things :)

Are you going to have a good night? I hope.