#maybe they don't nEED to be continued

[mcflymemes]

use ask meme replies as starters. if starter calls stress you out, encourage your followers to send memes instead! that way you can pick and choose which meme suits you best, searching for the little sentence prompt in your inbox that most inspires you in the moment. at the same time, not every ask meme reply needs to be continued. sometimes they make better one-shots and drabbles, and that's okay! as long as you and your writing partners are having fun creating and telling stories together, that's all that matters!

[serpentface]

This was going to be a panel of a little comic but I got too invested in drawing minute background details so, here.

[musette22]

I just can NOT get over the whole Sebastian wanting to do a play with Chris thing, you guys. I know it's just a hypothetical at this point, but even just the concept is just so incredible? Like, Sebastian wasn't even prompted into bringing up Chris, he just did, like he'd just been waiting for an opportunity to do so. And then he says he wants to do a Broadway play with Chris? Even implies he's talked to him about it, that he brought up the idea with him repeatedly and is just waiting for Chris to agree to do this with him? Like, it might actually happen?

And what I maybe love most is that this means Sebastian has given this a LOT of thought. He's been going about his life, doing his busy important movie star thing, and meanwhile he's been thinking about Chris, and about how much he wants to work with him again, and how he wants to do this specific play with him that he loves, because he thinks they'd be great in it together. But at the same time, he admits that he'd basically do any play with Chris, as long as they get to work together again. He could've said he wanted to work with anybody, any of his former co-stars, all those people we know he's still friendly with because anyone who works with Sebastian falls a little bit platonically in love with him and vice versa, but no, he specifically says Chris Evans. Out of everyone he's worked with, he wants to work with Chris again for this, he's trying to get him, they're doing this, goddammit.

And another amazing implication of all this, imo: even though Sebastian's been very vocal about rejecting the idea that some people have that they get to tell him what to do and influence his life somehow just because he's famous (about which is absolutely right, by the way) -- he just kind kind of seems to forget all about that in the moment he decides to call on people's help to convince Chris to say yes to his idea. As though achieving that particular goal is more important than all of that other stuff lmao.

And listen, I know he's just messing around, and deep down he knows full well that we don't have any means to contact Chris anyway, and Chris is very good at protecting his peace these days so he's not going to be seriously bothered by anyone about this, but still, the fact is that Sebastian literally told us all to bother Chris, text him, DM him, make posters and send them to him, anything to get through to him and make him see the light. Like, Sebastian wants this bad. AND he knows that there are lots of people out there who would love to see him and Chris reuniting, on stage this time, and he's cunningly using that fact to get what he wants. It's kind of incredible. I just can't get over it, guys.

[i-dreamed-i-had-a-son]

I cannot emphasize enough how much everything In-ho did during his time in the games was in service of breaking down Gi-hun. Every glance, every story, every comment was incredibly and deliberately calculated.

His first interaction with Gi-hun immediately places the blame on Gi-hun for the games continuing: "I pressed the O because of you." He also explicitly asks for Gi-hun's help on behalf of the group. This sucks Gi-hun into being a mechanism of the games themselves (not just a player, but one telling others how to play) while robbing him of his agency to do so: whereas he was confident in helping during the first game, because it was his choice, In-ho's request forces him to share about the Dalgona prematurely, and he then has a nightmare about misleading the players. This also leads to many players becoming hostile when the game is not Dalgona, which--who could have guessed?--In-ho jumps in to stop. He orchestrated the situation so that Gi-hun would feel maximum pressure and guilt, before In-ho himself relieves it to build trust between them.

Then there are the introductions. In-ho uses Gi-hun's name before they are introduced, which may have been a genuine slip, but was very likely intentional given his response. In-ho's method throughout the games is to parallel and associate himself with Jung-bae, Gi-hun's only actual friend (he saves him during the merry-go-round games; he eavesdrops on Jung-bae's conversation with Gi-hun and directly uses the "get me a soju" line from that conversation to subconsciously build Gi-hun's trust in him during the firefight). So when he uses Gi-hun's name, he says he does so because he heard Jung-bae doing it, and Gi-hun allows him to continue--this creates the first of the links between them. But then, when they are properly introduced, In-ho laughs that "Seong" just means "last name;" in doing so, he implies to those who don't know him that Gi-hun may not be telling the truth, and in context of their conversation (focused on the significance of their names) highlights how Seong Gi-hun is "no one special." He's just an everyman.

Another reason that "slip" was almost certainly intentional is that In-ho is very deliberate about showing moments of weakness. His breakdown during the Six-Legged Race was designed to both further stress Gi-hun (and if Gi-hun had failed, they were in the very last groups present, so they could have been selectively spared as needed) and to strengthen their bond, as Gi-hun got to "encourage" In-ho; then In-ho helped Gi-hun and the team win by kicking with him the final time. Even cheering along with Gi-hun while the other teams went was in service of cementing their connection; and, any time a team failed, In-ho got to observe Gi-hun's reactions under the guise of empathy. In-ho may have felt some genuine emotions while cheering or comforting Gi-hun, but they aren't to be trusted.

That's particularly true because of his biggest "weak" moment: telling Gi-hun why he is in the games. The show confirms, when Jun-ho finds the winner file, that In-ho actually did join the games years before (from his family we know that it was because of his wife's illness), and that he won them himself. So he isn't lying about the details of his personal story--and he even gets emotional--but it is, once again, all in service of ensnaring Gi-hun and earning his trust. In-ho is not faking all of his emotions, but he is controlling and weaponizing them, which is why none of his apparent fondness for Gi-hun can be trusted. He uses his emotions as a tool, rather than being affected by them.

The ultimate result of this manipulation is that Gi-hun is made to feel that everything that happens is his choice (even the things he didn't choose). From the beginning, In-ho has ascribed his choices to Gi-hun. Throughout the games, there are several moments where In-ho explicitly has Gi-hun choose for him; other times, In-ho suggests an approach and Gi-hun shoots it down, and In-ho always coalesces. Gi-hun gets to have "his way." But "his way" doesn't seem to work, and he, like the rest of the players, is changed by the games. His final plan, as In-ho forces him to face, involves a sacrifice of some for the good of the many. Only after he admits this (through his silence) does In-ho agree to help. Then, during the firefight, when Gi-hun tries to give In-ho the ammunition he risked his life to get, In-ho asks, "Are you sure?" Gi-hun's choice to trust In-ho leads to him running out of ammunition earlier, forcing his surrender; meanwhile, In-ho still "dies," and Jung-bae is shot in front of Gi-hun's eyes. None of Gi-hun's choices made things better--they made it all his fault. He is left with the blame, as the Frontman (who is In-ho! And always has been!) tells him point blank.

But none of Gi-hun's choices have really been choices. They have all been based on lies, within a system that uses the information they have to actively orchestrate events against him. The same is true of the players in the game; their choices are not free, because their circumstances (largely caused by unfairness in the world) have trapped them. The baseness they resort to is not what they would do if they really had the choice, and some are even able to choose virtue within the hellscape, but over and over, the system facilitates the dominance of cruelty. And In-ho, the personification of that system, targets Seong Gi-hun, the "Everyman," to make him submit to it--to make him choose to believe that there is no other way.

[gaminegay]

Genuinely i wonder how common it is to hallucinate / perceive things oddly / have a notably altered perception of things

[just-someone-online]

Lowkey, I think one of my favorite little things about Rescue Bots is how we get to learn a little more about Optimus when he shows up. Like, not war stuff or Orion Pax stuff, but just little things about Optimus.

One of his favorite Earth stories is The Little Engine That Could. Does he read in his spare time and if so, how did he find Little Engine?

He tells Heatwave that he has also been learning from humans. What has he learned? The phrase "Nothing much, double dutch." Who the fuck taught him that? My money's on Miko. Jack would not have the audacity to add that to Prime's vernacular.

He has a motherfuckin' rocket powered car carrier capable of hauling four bots. And since Team Prime had four four-wheelers on the team prior to Darkness Rising, you could reasonably assume that he has used it with Cliff, Bee, Bulk, and Ratch

Optimus knows what a pogo stick is. That isn't anything noteworthy, I just think it's funny.

[mewkwota]

So I was just supposed to find out myself that Volnutt had a (scrapped) casual outfit, so sure, of course I'm gonna try to draw it.

That way he has something more fashionable to wear out of battle.

[bed-buggier]

OMFG MONA'S ALTS ARE AVPUAFOUQFOUAUPBSJPHPANIPAAAAAA

[spotaus]

Soooooo for anyone who isn't aware, @ancientschampionau found one of my random Thinking Out Loud posts and basically is in the development of a fic and keeps tagging me in all the posts and I'm losing my mind (/pos) so I figured I'd return the favor and tag them for once!

I've been rotating the fact that Dust and NM were the first to actually bond, and Dust looking after Night is just peak. So I doodled the sillies! Night's grumpy and Dust is 2 seconds from nap time himself.

All I'm imagining now is that Dust's guilt from killing Paps gets rewired eventually into protecting his Little Boss or smth 🙏 (sorry, I'm a Dust truther frfr...)

[hydrodragons]

wriothesley • character teaser: indispensable protocols

[science-lings]

I have very specific thoughts about Bruce's 'childhood' and how he tried to do things differently with Dick than what happened with him because of how badly it affected him. He knows what it's like to have everything change so fast and to be so angry but too young to actually do anything about it.

I can see him making sure Dick doesn't get too close of a look at his parents because Bruce remembers being stuck with his parent's corpses until the police got there, all alone with no other way to call for help than screaming. I can see him hiding Dick from the flashing cameras and hiding any newspapers about the 'story' so that Dick doesn't have to see how the press spins everything. Bruce has that picture of himself sitting shellshocked from the ambulance on the front page and he knows how violating that felt, how publicized his trauma was, even if he can't completely prevent it for Dick he can do his best to make it hurt less.

Bruce suffered being helpless for years, being so angry at Gotham and the world and not having a good outlet for it, he had no control over anything that was happening with him, so with DIck he knows how important being Robin became because he knows how becoming Batman felt for him. Bruce got into fights because he couldn't hold his anger in and had to turn that anger inward in fear that Alfred would get sick of him and leave too. Robin was a productive outlet, even if it was a dangerous one, but who knows what would've happened to him if he didn't have it? He already got that taste of freedom and feeling like his intervention could actually make a difference that Bruce took years and years of stewing in trauma to find.

The most important thing to Bruce is that Dick doesn't become another Batman.

[uncanny-tranny]

I know other adults like to joke about how much pain they're in, but genuinely, please try to get your pain checked out if you're an adult experiencing it, or at least adapt your life in whatever way lessens your pain.

Your pain deserves to be addressed. Please don't "let" it get worse because you've been told that to grow older is to suffer. No, you aren't being needy or selfish or annoying. Ultimately, you are the one who suffers the most from the state of your health, and it's entirely reasonable to want your health to be up to your standards.

[yardsards]

people love an "i'll take care of you" "it's rotten work" "not to me, not if it's you" character dynamic until the character who needs to be taken care of is disabled. then it's supposedly fucked up and toxic for a person to have to take care of someone else.

[saxandviolins77]

DEEPLY curious about your vision irt devastator and starscream, do you have any extended thoughts on that? (beautiful baseball piece btw! the pose is very dynamic, the colors rich, and i really adore how devious Devy looks in your style)

The general throughline is:

What if the bratty 60-year-old commander and the bratty 17-year-old living weapon had beef with each other?

Additional context undercut

So, I already mentioned this before, but Scrapper and Starscream are "divorced," and while Scrapper simply does not care for SS whole existence and finds him the most tiresome person he ever knew (especially after he enlisted), Starscream, on the other hand, LOATHES him. So much so that he goes out of his way to blow everything Scrapper does out of proportion to make him seem like an awful person (they both are, but Starscream is making shit up at this point).

Why am I talking about Scrapper and Starscream?

Because Starscream does not understand combiners. AT ALL. So he thinks Scrapper and Devastator are the same person and treats him accordingly. He thinks this way and refuses to change his mind because 1. thinking of Scrapper as this guy who gets the smallest bit of power and becomes an infantile attention-seeker loudmouthed jerk works great for the version of Scrapper he made in his mind, and 2. He can't grasp teamwork, so obviously the other Constructicons are lending their free will to that egocentric psycho!

Now, to our big teenager... He just wants a friend... Or just a meaningful relationship.

You see, most people either idolize Devastator or find him scary or disturbing (Decepticons included). So he doesn't have many people to talk to; Soundwave is his manager, but she made it very clear that their relationship is strictly professional, and she makes sure to not give any openings for any sort of "friendship" (he still thinks of her as his best friend).

SO STARSCREAM.

Starscream is the only guy on the Victory that dares to talk smack to Devastator (because in his mind Devy = Scrapper); at first, he's pissed because he has never experienced something like this before, so he treats Starscream as he would any upstart Autobot.

But Starscream keeps bickering with him and keeps treating Devastator as if they're old friends or something... So he starts playing into it and actually having a back-and-forth with him... And it's like... An actual conversation and Starscream treats him like a person!

Devastator very much hates Starscream's attitude and sometimes just smacks him, but he still has that weird urge to not be viewed by him as a dork, so he'll really play up his act to seem "cool". He also gets sick enjoyment when Starscream finds himself in a pickle and goes running to him for help (when not mindwashed, he'll happily use this as an opportunity to be a brat).

So uh... It's a very messy non-relationship where both sides have completely different ideas of what is going on in the other's mind... Except for Soundwave, who's looking from the sidelines and thinking: "Not my circus, not my monkeys... 😑"

SIDE NOTE: Lol, yeah, I think I did pretty well in that piece. Devastator is a pain in the ass to draw, and I insist on always drawing full bodies. Glad it could be read as a baseball pose (it's a windup because he'd be a pitcher... Because he canonically has a good throwing arm... Trust.) Also, suspend your disbelief because he could never pose like that in a real-world scenario, no kidding.

[arsenicflame]

i think the reason izzy can be so blasé about his relationship with ed is not because hes taken to blaming a shark instead, but because hes actually already done a lot of the processing in the previous episode.

hes mourned his leg, hes had his drunk crying rants. hes gone through the five stages of grief. and then? the crew reaches out to him, offers him their support. they make him a new leg, they nominate him their new figurehead. when he stands there on the prow of the ship, leg on, letter in hand, thats his acceptance, thats his moving on.

[byanyan]

okay. okay. it is done.

lmk if you see anything weird or think something should be written better!! also blanket content warning on the bio bc there's a lot of heavy fuckin stuff in there, though it is all marked (i think. hmu if i missed smth). same goes for the timeline but that's all written more matter-of-fact and less detailed so i just slapped a cw at the very top of the page