#may or may not be a mess idk</3

[shellsy]

Interview Denrae!

It's time to ask the botanist some questions.

“Have time for an interview?”

“Huh? Oh, sorry, I’m a little busy right now.”

“I’ll make it quick, promise.”

“Then sure! What’ve you got?”

“Who are you?”

“Denrae Bubblebop! Botanist, bioengineer, sorta pathologist? I guess?”

“Why come to Snaktooth Island?”

“Have you even seen a snak? Those little beasts are the key to my next breakthrough!”

“How would you know if you’d never been here?”

“The basics were all I needed. Living things mimicking meat, fruits, whole meals, right down to the taste, all packed into a single creature? It doesn’t take a genius to realize how incredible that is.”

“Thoughts on Bugsnax?”

“Like I just said, they’re fascinating little things, crawling straight out of the ground like they do. Wambus has this idea they may be some sorta type of plant, and if he’s right, that’s even better for me!”

“Yeah, yeah, I get that part. What about their taste?”

“They’re..hmm…Tasty? I guess? Dunno. I used to experiment on the majority of the ones Liz would give me, hehe. Jellene’s always nagging me about not eating enough though.”

“Why did you leave town?”

“When everyone started fighting over food and resources and whatever, my work got caught in the crossfire! Dozens of precious specimens destroyed! Really hoping nothing was set loose, but it's hard to tell. Regardless, it was better to start anew.”

“What would’ve been set loose?”

“Oh y’know, viruses, bacteria, parasites, whole 9 yards. Try not to worry about it too much, you’ll be fine. Should be fine.”

"Why do you have those things just lying around?"

"Well what else do you want me to do with them? You think I can just tell how diseases affect snax without testing it?"

“Any info on Lizbert?”

“Both her and Eggabell are big sweethearts, always helping everyone with everything, both of them. But…”

“But?”

“Everyone here relied on Lizbert. I can’t imagine the kind of stress Liz was under, having an entire town look to her for food, leadership, everything.”

“What happened to Lizbert?”

“Probably just got tired of it. Tired of everyone leaning on her. She’s probably holed up somewhere with Eggabell, waiting on everyone here to learn to take care of themselves. Sorry- That’s a little rude. But I do mean it.”

“Thanks, Denrae. I’ll let you get back to your work now.”

“Oh! Yeah! Before you go, there's something I need to give you. Found this out in the sands a while back, seemed like a cool-looking piece of trash at the time, but maybe you can find some use for it.”

Denrae gave you a map fragment! Check your journals for details.

[gherkinlizard]

oh how indeed ezra... how indeed

[hanzajesthanza]

i got witcher 3 next gen to run on my gaming laptop which is also coincidentally from 2015

[freckledsokka]

wip wednesday

a wee snippet of the self-indulgent tense-fuckery zukka fic i'm working on that no one asked for! most of this fic is sokka (ghost sokka? spirit sokka? who knows) waxing poetic about zuko grieving him, but i wrote this scene with korra for a touch of levity (while still being a little angsty).

note: this is NOT a reader fic. do not let the use of "you" fool you. this is fully from sokka's pov as if he's narrating this to zuko.

"You remind me of him," you tell the Avatar, something wistful tugging at the corner of your mouth, reaching to the creases of your eyes. Korra looks almost bashful, or maybe just flattered. "I get that a lot," she says quietly, as if it's a sore subject but she doesn't want to offend you by mentioning it. You smile at her, warm and reassuring. "I don't mean Aang." "Oh." She sounds surprised, which quickly gives way to embarrassed when you offer her an encouraging smirk to help the thought along. "Oh," she says again, nearly in a different octave. "Oh, I'm so sorry, I should have realized that's — of course, that's who you meant." She laughs nervously, waving her hand vaguely at herself. "Southern Water Tribe, duh." "It's not just that," you tell her, and her nervous energy seems to settle a little at the calm, smooth tone of your voice. "You have the same tenacity, the same spirit. He would be proud to see the Avatar you've become."

Korra is quiet for a moment, either out of respect or simply a loss for words. Then she smiles, a little sheepishly but no less grateful to be honored in such a way. "Tenzin told me he — the Chief? — was with you and my father the night the Red Lotus tried to kidnap me." She looks away, guilt seeping into the set of her shoulders, the way she wraps her arms across her chest. "I'm sorry, I — Did he —?" She glances back, eyes bright, pleading for some kind of forgiveness she doesn't need to be given. "Was it my fault?"

"Korra," you say slowly, frowning, placing a gentle hand on her arm. "What did Tenzin tell you? The Red Lotus had nothing to do with Sokka's passing."

Her eyes go wide. "Really? But he made it sound like — I mean, my dad became Head Chieftain not long after that, I thought —"

You can't help the chuckle low in the back of your throat, a rumble of distant thunder, warm as a summer storm. "No, Korra. Sokka never was particularly suited to be Chief. He felt it was time to pass it on, is all. That, and he felt he could do more good behind the scenes, or through his work in Republic City. But, more often than not, he was with me. Those years were some of our best." 

Korra lets out a trill of nerves, huffing in relief. "Thank the Spirits." A beat, the haunted look of someone who is technically thousands of years old yielding to the vulnerability of someone barely out of her teens carrying the weight of the Spirit and human worlds on her shoulders, knowing she is the reason your — our — friend is gone. This is the cycle we were all prepared for, and yet — "Is that why I barely remember him? Didn't he ever visit Katara at the compound? Why didn't he ever say hello?"

"I wish I could tell you, Korra, but he never gave me his reasons." A wry smile. "I'm sorry if I kept him from you."

Korra twists her mouth, setting her jaw defiantly. "Lord Zuko, if I may —" She isn't really asking permission and you know this, but you nod anyway. "That's bullshit, and you know it. He was your husband. Don't tell me you didn't know just because he didn't tell you."

Your mouth twitches knowingly, even as your expression remains impressively neutral. "I had my suspicions, of course."

"Which were?" Korra presses.

If she weren't the Avatar, I suspect you would've said something along the lines of None of your damn business or Nothing to concern yourself about. Being the Avatar still has its perks in dragging honesty out of you, it seems. Still, you manage to make it a whole production, sighing like it physically pains you to admit it. 

"He wanted to wait until you'd mastered all four elements before he would teach you" — an exaggerated eyeroll, fingers pinching the bridge of your nose — "the 'fifth element.'"

Korra's brow furrows. She blinks like she's waiting for a punchline. "The — what? There is no fifth element, unless you count energy, but —"

"I know," you agree, exhausted. "I know."

"Then what?" Korra demands, sounding as flabbergasted as she looks.

You take a deep breath, wearily replying, "Swordbending."

Korra is frozen for a moment, maybe in shock, maybe in disbelief. Then she bursts out laughing, bright and cool as snow crunching underfoot, until it dawns on her that maybe you weren't actually joking. "Wait, really?" she asks incredulously. "He actually wanted to — to teach me? Why didn't he just team up with Katara? Spirits, it would've been so much fun to have a swordmaster around."

"You told me you have to learn the elements in order, Zuko," you say in a poor imitation of my voice. It's been so long, you've almost forgotten it. "He didn't want to influence your bending, or distract you from your role as Avatar, or so I assume."

Korra huffs. "Sounds an awful lot like he did tell you things, then," she mutters indignantly.

You shrug. "Not in so many words. He said a lot without ever saying it." That wistful slant of your mouth softens into something closer to melancholy. "When you're with someone as long as I was with Sokka, you learn to read between the lines. We had our own language, in a way."

"But if you suspected, why didn't you say anything? Why not encourage him?"

There's a sadness in your smile, an ache in your eyes. "Because, young Avatar," you say gently, "you always think you'll have more time."

[tricksterlatte]

I've always been fascinated by fandom history, and I know I'm not the only one. It's interesting to see how fans of pop culture can create a culture of their own, and in the modern age of social media and the internet in general, that culture is as widespread as ever. Unfortunately, that also means downsides are becoming bigger as this culture becomes widespread, and it's saddening to watch, maybe even concerning.

I don't discuss these things to be preachy, especially considering how I've fallen into several of these pitfalls before, and have perpetuated some of this behavior in the past. To say otherwise would make me a hypocrite and a liar, and I firmly believe this goes for most people in any fandom. I was just thinking about this recently, and how a lot of the biggest stressors in what should be our stress relief really can be pinned mostly into a few central talking points, which I would love to discuss to know if I'm not just going crazy here

The concept of Big Name Fan has evolved into a position of authority on fandom, which does not fall to anyone regarding subjectivity. No one in a fandom is an authority except the creators themselves, who have every right to stay away from the fandoms they have birthed.

Popularity in general being conflated to intellectual authority as well, especially on websites with public stats, particularly following counts. The algorithm is no benevolent god, but people will sometimes see someone with 30k followers and think they are correct on a minor non-issue that has spiraled into discourse, especially when compared to someone with 30 followers. This also is just...a bummer when fanon evolves into perceived canon, and newcomers to the fandom can't post even innocuous meta or headcanons without it being perceived as morally/intellectually incorrect.

Monetization of fanworks, but especially zines, have led to a hypercompetitive atmosphere that only escalates the bitterness and resentment. This is not a universal problem, but many zines across all fandoms habitually accept the same artists and writers, or diminish the value of fanfic due to the limitations of physical printing. The application process has devolved into such a disheartening debacle for a majority of people I see, and the way it is often framed as "your work just wasn't good enough" when it's really about what the mods deem mass marketable will destroy just about anyone's self-esteem after repetitive rejections, and will give some frequent zine runners a false sense of final say over the community (not usually, but it can happen).

The level of distrust for anyone new attempting to start a fan project is just so depressing nowadays (and this one we sadly can blame on a few people by name, but the ones who have sent this issue spiraling still don't care and that just sucks. I feel horrible for everyone who has been tricked).

Somehow comment and anonymous asks have gone backwards from "don't feed the trolls" to "suck it up, at least you're getting comments." I have seen some of these comments people have been told to suck up. It's not okay in general. It's particularly gross when it's an anonymous hate message unrelated to the fanworks themselves, perhaps born out of resentment or bearing an ulterior motive. And some will even attack and defame character due to identity. It's not subtle. It's not okay. People should absolutely be dunked on for this, and I gotta say I'm sick of unsolicited concrit being enforced as positive either. If they didn't ask, don't give it. There's a reason a lot of fic writers some people adore suddenly go ghost, and they can't even talk about it.

Don't like, don't read has been discarded in favor of don't like, tell others don't read and also don't write. Transformative works don't have to fit into a canon or even in character mold. That's why they're transformative! It's a different type of artistic expression. If you don't like it, chances are good it simply wasn't meant for you. It's not bad. Don't shame others, god especially not for non-issues such as a t/b preference or a different gender hc, preferred haircuts, types of animal you imagine them as in another lifetime, I could list literally anything here and I bet there has been a fandom fight over it.

Exclusive yet publicly advertised community Discords that will bar you from invite if you're not one of the cool kids. I have unfortunately fallen into this trap before, and refuse to ever enable or endorse that behavior ever again. This isn't about friend groups either, it's about fandom-dedicated servers that flaunt themselves as a VIP club instead of what they are: a friend group. I also don't even know how to broach the subject of private accounts that turn into fandom tea accounts with dozens if not hundreds of followers, only for people to be angry if someone isn't exactly okay with horrific stuff being said in general, let alone about their mutuals or friends.

I know none of this will likely ever change, and tbh i'm so tired of it all, but...does anyone else know what I mean? I'm stressed out whenever I try to enjoy myself, because popularity and a strange business mindset is steadily taking over fandom spaces. I'm not saying people should stop trying to make stuff that sells, or that people universally do any of this, but fandom is evolving into a thing I'm not sure is good. idk anymore

[deus-ex-mona]

just a v e r y rough tl of lxl honeymoon 2: collab boogaloo

be sure to check out the anime (which hails from the ultimate box of the album) if you're able to!!! and support the official release!!!

all screenshots in here are from the trailer btw

Aizo: Hi Julieta! I’m Aizo!

Yujiro: Hello Julieta, I’m Yujiro.

Aizo: Today, the two of us, LIPxLIP, are on a trip.

Yujiro: We’ve come to Izumo as a reward for completing our album.

Aizo: We’ll be sharing a little glimpse of today’s trip with you guys, so enjoy!

Yujiro: We’ve been here since yesterday, but let’s start off with our wake up call!

Aizo: You’re showing them that?!

Yujiro: Good morning, everyone. It’s 6am. It’s still too early to have breakfast, but I’m going to show you Aizo’s sleeping face.

Yujiro: He sure is asleep, hm?

Yujiro: He’s drooling.

Yujiro: Aizo, you’ll be late. You’ll be late, you know?

Aizo: Eh? What?

Yujiro: It’s already 9 o’clock, hurry! Get up!

Aizo: Ah? It’s 9?

Yujiro: You’ll be late for work!

Aizo: Why’re you filming me?! You’re lying for sure! Stop it!

Yujiro: [laughs] And that, Julieta, was Aizo’s sleeping face!

Aizo: And here we are at the breakfast table. We’re about to have our breakfast.

Yujiro: Aizo has woken up too.

Aizo: Wow, Yujiro, you’re having Japanese food as expected, huh? Ooh, isn’t that Izumo Soba?

Yujiro: And you, Aizo, are having Western food as expected… Wait, what the heck? You’re having pasta first thing in the morning?

Aizo: I just felt like having it today. Even you feel like having Western food in the morning sometimes, don’t you?

Yujiro: I guess so. I wouldn’t eat pasta in the morning, though.

Aizo: I’m sure the Julieta watching this will be like “I just knew Yujiro’d be eating Japanese food and Aizo’d be having Western food”, huh?

Yujiro: Maybe they will. We do give off those impressions, don’t we? Just like how we’d have either coffee or cocoa respectively.

Aizo: I got it. Wanna change the impressions we give off by trading our breakfast meals?

Yujiro: I don’t wanna. I want to eat my soba.

Aizo: Yeah, yeah.

Yujiro: Julieta, which do you prefer? Western food? Japanese food? Tell us, okay?

Aizo: Yum!

Aizo: We don’t usually shoot vids all by ourselves, huh?

Yujiro: Though you say “usually”, this is the first time we’ve done it, right? The staff always tag along with us.

Aizo: They plan all kinds of programmes for us too, right? Yeah. So, where do we go now?

Yujiro: Ehh, I don’t know. You decide, Aizo.

Aizo: Me? You decide, Yujiro. I dunno where to go either.

Yujiro: You decide, Aizo.

Aizo: Eh?! You’re kidding! Hmm… I can’t think of anything.

Yujiro: Planning ahead sure is important, isn’t it?

Aizo: Yeah. Let’s just walk around for now.

Yujiro: And so, we’re now at the footbaths!

Aizo: Phew, it’s hot in here!

Yujiro: We came here too last time, didn’t we?

Aizo: Yeah, back during our live tour, right?

Yujiro: Oh right, Aizo, how do you feel about the release of our second album?

Aizo: Of course I’m happy ‘bout it. I mean, releasing even just one album’s already pretty amazing.

Yujiro: Yup. The fact that we’re able to release a second album is all thanks to our Julieta, right?

Aizo: Yeah. We’ve gotta try even harder to meet their expectations, huh? How do you feel about the album, Yujiro?

Yujiro: I guess I feel differently about it than I did about our first album.

Aizo: Eh? How so?

Yujiro: I feel as though I wouldn’t have been able to do it alone. It’s all thanks to the support and expectations of our Julieta that we’re able to stand on stage. And, as that stage grows bigger and bigger, I get the feeling that I wouldn’t have been able to respond to the size of the stage all by myself.

Aizo: Yeah, I feel the same way. I’ve had thoughts like “Why are there 2 guys in LIPxLIP? I could do it by myself.” before. But this has made me realise once again that going at it alone would just mean halving our power.

Yujiro: We’re able to develop better together as a pair than we would have on our own. I'd say that we’re indispensable to each other for sure.

Aizo: Yeah, we are. Plus, things would sure get boring without a rival around, huh?

Yujiro: Yup. Aizo, the friendly rivalry between you and me… Wait a sec! This is going to be a bonus video! Isn’t this conversation getting embarrassing?!

Aizo: Yeah, it is. But isn’t it fine for us to talk about our true feelings when the two of us are on a trip together?

Yujiro: I guess so. We’re alone on this trip together, after all.

Aizo: Yeah. Aight then, let’s end this off with a word of thanks to our Julieta.

Yujiro: Thank you for getting our second album, Julieta.

Aizo: Thanks, Julieta.

Yujiro: This album is packed with our thoughts and feelings. It'll make us happy if you listen to it many times over.

Aizo: You’ll listen to it, won’t ya? We’re going to keep growing from here on out, so follow our progress, yeah?

Yujiro: Follow us, okay?

Aizo: Till we meet again, Julieta!

Yujiro: Bye bye Julieta. See you around.

Aizo: See ya!

[motherforthefamicom]

ahhhh gay ppl jumpscare 💥💥💥

[e77y]

The visceral and hungering loneliness is back. You know what that means! Bedtime

[triglycercule]

dust has definitely killed killer before fighting over papyrus's scarf. killer and dust both have opposing views on papyrus's scarf. killer doesnt like seeing others wear it and (SHUT UP I KNOW ITS NOT CANON!!!!) dust wears it in papyrus's honor and probably for self comfort. killer even ripping a thread on the scarf warrants dust to break his hand (because killer has his silly little backstory where he did the genos and everything hes wayyy more violent towards him than horror bc horror didn't kill everyone (HYPOCRITE!!! HYPOCRITE!!!!)) anyways when killer touches dust's scarf is one of probably the few times he can't win a fight against him

perchance i think dust should get to tear apart killer's soul right infront of his eyes while he screams in pain and dust gives him the coldest look ever to exist (and horror was watching with popcorn :3)

[ingoodjesst]

i get this feeling that like, reading the apothecary diaries as mainly a romance series is going to mess with your expectations of the story because (1) i think trying to map certain romance archetypes/plotlines onto it will be misleading, and (2) it really is the slowest burn i have personally ever read...

this is in large part because even though the story pivots around maomao and jinshi, so much of the story including past the manga into the light novels is about maomao's emotional growth and jinshi's imperial court politics - which is to say, not only or even primarily their romance. if anything, it's more about the journey of two people to eventually become the right partners for each other with crumbs of growing chemistry along the way. but it's not about them getting together, because so much of the story is maomao getting herself entangled in mysteries and situations that test (and overwhelm) her desire to remain emotionally distant, that teach her more about the nuances of humanity and her own heart. the mystery and political intrigue elements are still the primary driving force behind the narrative, so i feel like framing the story as a romance will make you expect romantic genre conventions that don't really map properly onto the actual series.

don't get me wrong, the slow burn romance is ABSOLUTELY a massive part of why i burned through the published english light novel volumes in 3 weeks, but i think being able to stop and appreciate how gratifying it is to see maomao grow beyond her grumpy "i don't want to get involved or get attached to anyone" disposition thanks to all the friends she makes and people she meets....... it's so lovely. and it does make her more able to respond to jinshi at that. anyway yeah. i do have qualms about stuff here and there, but i love this series damn

[persephone-spore-druid]

do I know how or why she stands like this? no, no I don't.

[scare-ard--sleigh]

my husband and i got exceedingly hammered last night and he proceeded to explain the history of catholicism & christianity to me so i could write more accurate porn fjbmgfbkj #blessed

[qazastra]

okay so instinct part 2 being 'sexuality' makes total sense. i haven't fully articulated what i think of the album as a whole before, but it seems a clear resolution to the newness and urgency and questioning of instinct part 1? likeeee ok ultimate bliss? that's an actual sex song whatever man. instinct part 1 correlating with the magic/art turquoise color is less obvious to me but i think it fits. i looked up the color meanings on my way to work a few days ago and it was so cool i was like THIS ALL MAKES SENSE!!! but now im trying to remember why lol and i cant immediately get all of them, but begin and because really make sense to me:

begin // sunlight..... like, ok, hope? warmth? cant think of a better way to describe the song honestly even if there's barely any sunlight in the mv, the warmth comes from yoojung's hope and all that. u get it  because // healing. self explanatory: if you see the mv as a breakup, processing and healing from that. if you think they’re together in the end, it's two guys healing their relationship from a conflict

[nymphrasis]

Haven't started the Kuruna blog yet because I have been focus on other stuff really ;;w;;

One of the two comms are in the lineart phase ( Yesterday I did receive the thumbs up on the sketch, after making a few minor changes nwn ). Since they are more detailed, I would rather finish those before I start the Kuruna blog ( Because once those are done, that means I'll have more time to create art of her. These two comms are more ok the complex side, imo. Which usually takes more time from me ;;w;; ).

The less art I have on queue ( 2 comms and 2 art trade. I can take my time on the art trade at least qwq/. Comms are paid, so they usually have my highest priority ), the more time I have to do my own fun art n3n.

Also because I am both excited and wasn't able to start the blog on last week, even tho I said I wanna try, I will show at least the beginning panel ( 1/4 ) n3n. Keep in mind that sometimes there will be color and other times the color design will default to this! Kuruna blog is moreso giving me more artistic freedom to do whatever style I wish :D! Since for that one, being half-story serious and half-silly, I feel that I will have more freedom with this one!

Plus, while the blog is more Kuruna focus, I will introduce other characters as well ouo. One of them is the Absol I have shown ouo. There are two others who already have completed designs as well. One is a very, VERY old character. Like her design is 2010 ( Or was it 2009 🤔 ? ) years old. Only a few people still remember her ewe. The other is just a shit chaos incarnate xd

Anyways here is the art mention xd. Will tag it as "keep reading" for those who would rather be surprised!

Also I do debate doing a pin post on her blog that links to everything or not 🤔. I have seen a few blogs doing this and I do wonder if it would be smart for me to do that to. I assume it is for mobile users? I don't often use the app and, when I am on Tumblr mobile, I do computer view because it is more pleasant to see Tumblr that way pwp. So I am not 100% sure.

Am still really hype to bring Kuruna to the community. Even equally hype for when a 2009/2010 OC is being brought to the community ( I have never brought her into the Pokeask community. She mostly existed on Flipnotes with old cringe rps and such xD )

[imjustavenuxwithaboomerang]

absolutely bonkers how the b-plot of the new girl, is basically just milton going 'if you lie, you're a monster and to teach you that, we will beat you senseless' and then later going 'if you tell the truth, you're a monster and to teach you that, we will make you think the world is going to shit and that i'm dead' to jerry

and i, the viewer, am just supposed to support that, maybe even applaud it...make it make sense

[hollowfairybabybat]

oh hey no started crying but at a flashback instead