#might liveblog a bit for those since they're still new to me

[yoosung-ah]

this you?

[thewertsearch]

@broooer submitted: Hi Sally! Hi Cat! Love the liveblog! Sorry for submission, I wanted to send an ask but that's not long enough for what I wrote up. I've been waiting for a bit because I wanted to give you a perspective I take on Sburb/Sgrub/The Game/Skaia now that you have learned about the Ultimate Reward. It's very much a biologist's perspective (spoilers I'm an ecologist working on getting a PhD in environmental stuff) so it's an interesting complement to your coding perspective, from which I learned a lot!

[More under cut]

It's *evolved*: it's a system that that "exists to propagate" *itself* because the versions of it that are better at doing so are the ones that go on to create and seed new universes with new planets and new life and propagating in general. It doesn't need conscious control or manipulation to go on do so - it has a framework that worked in the past, and it builds on that framework with each iteration, regardless of whether it's the most practical way to go about it. It won't be the most practical, most literal way forward, just the way that evolved first and proved "good enough", not selected for consciously, just working out mechanically. This doesn't explain how Sburb/The Game/Skaia first came about to *be* in the first place, but once the first "seed" or two of it was established, the versions of it that survived are those that were good at doing that. It would explain how it exploits timelines a bit - the main timeline is the one that propagates the game forward, so that the alternate timelines are those that don't survive because they won't produce a viable seed for a new universe. They're "offspringless", they don't have a future, they inevitably die off. Stable loops evolved as another way of ensuring propagation. Timelines like Davesprite's work because they help the Alpha timeline propagate forward, and even then the timeline itself dies off after it's benefit to the Alpha ends. There might be many potential Alphas, but the one that arises first - that is "good enough" to do it's job (A) will be taken on, even if it means it later has to evolve loops and roundabouts and what not to make it effective in another situation. If it had evolved instead in way B, it might be more straightforward than A, might be more efficient/need less timeloops/etc., but since A happened by luck, it's the good enough timeline to be the main timeline. (This doesn't mean there won't be other "alpha" timelines in existence, but that they probably don't interact with other alphas, since they're separated by different situations… and this goes heavy into evolutionary biology so let me explain a bit more). There is something called evolutionary fitness landscape, where you visualize how one trait is more evolutionary beneficial than another.

So you see those peaks? Those are the most beneficial points in the landscape - and sometimes these peaks are separated by dips and troughs which are actually negative to the fitness, or the evolutionary survival of the organism. So organisms that "land" near one peak (have the trait of that peak that gives it a benefit in its evolutionary fitness) will not be able to transition to another peak even if that other peak is even better than the peak they are on, because there is a deep dip between them where they'd lose evolutionary benefits. They're *locked* into these peaks. They can't reach those other peaks. In other words, if Alpha timeline A is peak 1, it's supplementary alternate timelines can't interact with Alpha timeline B, which is peak 2. Of course, this doesn't mean that any peak is the best one or even good for the kids because the kids and trolls are more like… cells. Some cells die but in the process ensure the survival of the organism (the timeline in this case). The organism is still dependent on the cells. Of course, this doesn't mean there aren't, say, parasitic elements to the timelines, or even outright predators, or just beings who are good at exploiting these timelines/Sburb/Sgrub/The Game/Skaia for their own ends. After all, we already heard about a demon that appears when a universe dies and that it works to establish the parameters of it's appearance from the beginning of the universe's timeline since it appears ("The demon is already here"). It might be part of Skaia. It might just be a cancerous cell. It might be an outsider taking advantage of this "organism". There's so many options! Anyways, hope this is interesting and that I did not add any spoilers for what you haven't read yet. If I did, Cat, tell me and I'll rewrite it! Cheers! Rairii

*PS: I'm not an evolutionary biologist so there is more to evolution than just this! It's a complicated subject and I loved my evolution class and teaching it as a Graduate Teaching Assistant, but it is NOT my specialty.

Hell yeah, this is the kind of discourse I'm here for!

This submission suggests that Sburb's behavior - and in particular, the way it exploits timelines - is the result of evolution, which is a fascinating idea.

Like, the implication here is that Sburb is a lifeform, a species of living creature, and subject to biological imperatives. I've kind of touched on the idea before, but didn't dig into it too deeply at the time, since biology isn't my wheelhouse. I think it's time to get the shovel, though.

I'm picturing Paradox Space as a soil, constantly being subsumed and transformed by a menagerie of metatemporal lifeforms. No wonder Homestuck's timelines are so twisted, if they're the medium through which sessions spread, grow, and propagate themselves. Soil is complicated, even when it's made out of time.

I also love the analogy of Paradox Space as a fitness landscape. I've used them before when working with genetic algorithms, and likening Alpha Timelines to local maxima is inspired. I really like the idea that there are other viable timelines out there, separated from the kids by an ocean of offshoots like Davesprite's. This explains Homestuck's arbitrary time loops - they are arbitrary. The narrative is focusing on an arbitrary Alpha Timeline.

This is also an interesting perspective on the kids' session. If their Alpha Timeline has grown, through natural selection, into a timeline where Sburb survives and thrives, why has their session failed so spectacularly?

...well, there's more to survival than reproduction.

Perhaps the kids are being maneuvered into a position where they can protect Sburb, ensuring it survives to create more universes down the line.

This really is an excellent take. Thank you so much for your thoughts - and good luck with the PhD!!

[fountainpenguin]

Recent 'Fic Progress 'n Stuff

I'm in a very busy period of my life right now, so updates may become sporadic, but here's some news I have for now!

Fandoms discussed: MCYT, Total Drama, WordGirl, Fairly OddParents

MCYT - Typically updates Tuesdays

- Aiming to post something for the Pixels Imperfect series on Tuesday, but don't be alarmed if it doesn't happen.

-> I'm in this weird zone where my chapter for Herobrine's Guide to the Between Dimension is complete except for the map I'm almost done with, but I'm having some artist block getting the map where I want it, so... I might hold off a bit until I'm happy with it. It's not bad, but I'm struggling with clean-up and labels.

-> Really good progress on my next Dog's Life chapter. In a weird zone of hesitating over whether I'm going too far with X or Y. Needs more attention, but I'm really happy with what I have so far. Very exciting! I did some doodles that I'll post under the cut :)

-> High likelihood of skipping this next Tuesday of posting, which gives time to let Collector's Fee sink in anyway (Plus I did a double update for Dog's Life at the start of August for its anniversary and that was probably too much for me), but we should be back the week after :)

- Herobrine's Guide will go on hiatus after Chapter 14 (the next chapter to post is Chapter 11) because that's where the buffer runs out. At that point, we've finished all world lore (except the Hels stuff that goes in the Additional Info final chapter). That's where we enter the bestiary, and they're huge chapters I want to ensure are consistent all the way through. So... I need to finish all the bestiary chapters before posting the first one :'D. A lot of work is done, but a lot still left to do!

-> Since I've been posting Herobrine's Guide during Dog's Life's intermission, we just won't have Tuesday updates for a bit. I think I'll switch to finishing The Candles We Light (and Should Regret) & Top 10 Hanahaki Life Hacks (#8 Will Shock You), which I started during Guess the Author.

-> Comparatively, they're shorter projects and it would be nice to finish them instead of leaving them hanging. That should work well, but we may have a period of no Tuesday updates during this adjustment period.

- Dog's Life is still on soft hiatus through to January or February 2025. It's between Sessions 2 and 3 right now and that hasn't changed. At this time, it posts once a month (although as mentioned, there may be a slight delay in the next chapter, but we had a double update on August 1st, so no surprise :))

-> When Dog's Life resumes, it will most likely be once every two weeks instead of every week. I really enjoyed posting weekly, but I have to admit it's A Lot. I was able to do that when hyperfixating on it as the only fandom I was posting consistently for, but I'd like to roll it back for 2025. Considering I post chapters above 10k words, I think it's fair; weekly updates was a lot. Final decision will be made when we actually reach 2025!

- We know Grian's working on Life Series Season 6 and that he said it would be a while. When that drops, I expect to do liveblogs and maybe one-shots depending on inspiration.

Total Drama - Currently updates Wednesdays and Saturdays

Life of a Loser is getting close to its end! Once it's done, we'll switch to posting one TD 'fic a week (probably) until they're all posted. Leaning towards posting on Wednesdays or Thursdays. Subject to change.

You can subscribe to the Riddle's Drama AO3 series if you want those emails. If you are only subscribed to Life of a Loser but you want to continue seeing more of my TD work, now is a good time to subscribe to the series, as basically everything from here is one-shots.

Reminder: I wrote these works between 2013 and 2016. I'm moving them to AO3 for archive purposes. You can leave comments or send me Asks if you want to chat about these works or their worldbuilding, but my knowledge of the show ends after Ridonculous Race; I didn't watch Total Dramarama and I don't know anything that came after it.

My Total Drama works will continue posting for the rest of 2024 and into 2025. I don't anticipate writing more works for this series, although if I had infinite time, I'd be interested in finishing the ones I started and left unfinished (because Leonard, my beloved).

WordGirl - On hiatus

Still on hiatus for now! Was hoping I'd be able to post more for it before the end of 2024, but that was pushed back by a very busy summer, which led to me not getting the Frayed Knots buffer where I wanted, and Frayed Knots has priority.

These works are not discontinued (I've been working on Factor It In since 2018 and I'm not dropping it now, lol). They're just on break, because I'd prefer leaving them on break and returning with a buffer over random updates.

I do have some one-shot drafts I've been sitting on, and I might clean and post those, but my attention's pretty divided between IRL, MCYT 'fics, and FOP right now, so this isn't super likely.

Factor It In has a serious vibe, as it's a realistic exploration of superhero life and biology, and there's also, like... no death or serious injury in it. I'm currently interested in things that are either wackier or angstier, but I look forward to coming back to it when I'm ready to be serious again. I genuinely like these 'fics a lot, including my WIPs, but it's an exciting time for FOP fandom right now and I want to enjoy it :)

If you want updates for my WordGirl 'fics, you can subscribe to Heroes' Journey or 28 Million Degrees. And you can always send me Asks if you want to!

Fairly OddParents - AO3 updates on Fridays, plus I've been posting on the blog any day of the week

- New cover arts for Frayed Knots and Origin of the Pixies are done! Their new announcement posts will go up soon, as I wanted to get all the 130 arc covers done first (for reverse tag scrolling purposes).

I did these two first and I think they're my favorites <3 These will replace their existing covers in their respective 'fics, and these are the posts that will be linked to when discussing these projects (Ex: I need to clean my FOP 'fics page and these will go there).

Reblogs always appreciated for cover / announcement posts, but no pressure! These are messy 'fics and not to everyone's tastes.

- I've committed to the name City Lights AU for my New Wish works. I'm REALLY excited for the "arranged marriage & not in love but we're going along with it anyway because this is what we do as upper class kids" trope I've set myself up with... for reasons...

- The AU guide is complete and will be posted after I finish Hadley's full sideblog profile, as I want her to be linked on it.

- I... emotionally cannot post Hadley's profile until I clean the freakin' blog, because I HATE what the update years ago did to bullet points, so I'll see if I can make some time for the sideblog. I have to go back and change them all to indents with dashes, like I've been doing in my posts over here... and I still have to fix all the broken masterpost links (which broke during the same Tumblr update from years ago). Gonna be a pain, but...... :'D The things we do for love.

- I went through my drafts and it looks like I do have some lore and reference posts that can be cleaned and posted for the sideblog, which would be nice; I have more to work with than I thought.

I can also do things like post the Fairy School Schedule on the sideblog instead of on a Google Doc. Up until now, it was relying on the doc for color coding (for ease of reading), but now we have color-coded posts, so it can go on the blog directly. - Also ?? it turns out I never actually compiled my multiple posts on Fairy aging into a single post, and thus the detailed info never made it on the sideblog. -> I compiled an age chapter for today's "So, You're Studying the Cloudlands..." update (i.e. I'd had the development charts there as placeholders since the start, but I really wanted actual info too) and that will become a sideblog post in the future.

- Somewhere in the depths of my literal 2,400 drafts on main blog is some sideblog stuff that I saved as drafts here instead of there, and one day... I will find it. But we'll talk about that again after my A New Wish liveblog is done.

I'm also going to change the sideblog's mentions of Riddleverse Classic to Cloudlands AU, now that it has a real name. Just... finally coming back and power washing everything before I risk posting anything new that attracts new eyes while the blog is messy, haha.

Technically the term Riddleverse 'fics covers all my AUs, so some mentions will stay (like things that say "contains Riddleverse spoilers"). However, this should make things more clear.

I had a lot of self-censorship internalization and general nerves when I was working on the sideblog back in the day, but I'm a lot more "cringe and free and I'm gonna make it everyone's problem" now than I was a few years ago, so it'll be nice to move on from those memories and learn to enjoy the blog again.

- I also feel happier with my art and writing styles now compared to where I was in recent years. Looking forward to blowing the dust off and polishing stuff nicely! I'm not going to try to keep future profile arts consistent with the old arts, so it'll be what it'll be.

Heavily leaning towards redesigning my adult Chloe, as I was never that attached to her, and I want to slightly tweak my Timmy and Cosmo to better fit my current art style. Debating whether to add Anti-Wanda's scars. Also need to do a scar ref for H.P. since he has a huge one on his cheek I rarely draw because I always seem to draw him facing the other way, sdklj... Someday...

- I had a lot of IRL stuff happen in recent years that was similar to things happening in my FOP 'fics and I wasn't able to truly enjoy them for a while. A New Wish brought back a lot of my excitement for the series and I feel like I'm healing a lot in regards to being able to enjoy FOP :)

I'm excited to share the arc guide and start outlining 'fics.

- As previously mentioned, I've cleaned the 130 Prompts summaries page so it's up to date with 2024 plans. Also, I've finished all the arc guides and made a new cover image for the project!

- I'd like to kick off Arc 3 of the Prompts with a piece about Dale shortly after "Nectar of the Odds" - "#96 - You Deserve It." The piece after that will loop back to the "Am I adopted?" drama Poof went through in Arc 2, and it'll be fun! I'm really excited :)

- Frayed Knots is high priority, but it's also a massive project requiring lots of brain power, so it'll be nice to sprinkle lighter one-shots in between.

- Great progress on Frayed Knots! Things are really coming together. Might post one chapter soon, but the next few need more attention. Still hoping to build a proper buffer, but it's a slow process.

-> I... think I'm going to take the plunge and commit to dropdown chapter warnings for Origin and Knots, the way I do for my MCYT multi-chapters :'D Will this be exhausting and require a lot of rereading? Yeah, but it makes me feel less self-conscious (and it helps me quickly check each chapter to confirm I know what's in it). So... That'll be going on in the background, but expect it to take a while. It will not be fast.

-> Next chapter gets a standalone E-rated version, like we did for "Cageflight" back in the day. As previously stated, Frayed Knots maintains it's T and/or mild M rating despite now being classified as Not Rated; E-rated content will always be posted separately. And this one's pretty intense, so prepare emotionally before reading.

/whispers loudly - It's the big "raised in a culture where sex is done for ceremony" vs. "longing for passion and ready to ask for it" clash we've been waiting for... I finally am happy with my blocks for this scene. Just pulling it all together. It feels SO FUN to finally write the ceremonial bits of their culture as a proper ceremony explored onscreen. It's always been hypothetical... sdfljksdflkj...

This chapter is called "House of Cards." The standalone will be titled the same, and these are the AO3 series that will get the email notification:

Rainbow Train -> Not in the 130 Prompts

Red Train -> Suggestive / explicit

Orange Train -> High fantasy (Deep-dive into Anti-Fairy culture)

Subscribe or ignore at your preference, but there's your heads up. And obligatory reminder that this is a 'fic about a protagonist who has hypersexuality and we explore that more now that he's an adult than in the earlier chapters when he was younger.

Anti-Cosmo being hypersexual, bipolar, pan, AND ace, AND carrying trauma from a past life, and VERY confused about attraction, you will always be famous to me <3

As we know, Origin of the Pixies is all the way up to the war chapters, so it's on hiatus until Knots catches up. From there, we'll alternate between H.P. and Anti-Cosmo POVs through the war! Very exciting.

Knots still has to get Anti-Cosmo through his first meeting with Cosmo (who still has to hit Wanda with his car in line with "Cosmonopoly"), then through godparenting schooling & into a high rank in Anti-Fairy World (in line with his appearance in the truce flashback of "Balance of Flour"), but we're getting close!!

Also as previously stated, I might get around to posting some sensual / sexual stuff for FOP that I wrote as character studies and warm-ups back in the day, but...

I cannot emphasize enough that these delve into really heavy topics like consent violations, setting up a plot about being underage and desperate that will later crash and burn, and sexual trauma, and they're not necessarily sexy or fun to read, so just... [obligatory I Write Trauma & Morally Gray Characters In 'Fics For The Show About Trauma & Morally Gray Characters reminder].

But I do think there's really interesting stuff in here in terms of character studies and I wouldn't mind having them available, if for no other reason than because I've lost them multiple times and would enjoy having a place to find them.

-> Those all go in Red Train and Rainbow Train. Again, subscribe or ignore at your preference. They are not part of the 130 Prompts (which are strictly G and T works).

-> These are certainly not necessary reads in order to "keep up with what's happening" to the characters. Anything you need to know for their plot arcs is in their G and T stories. This is just bonus stuff for people who're interested in... The Horrors.

That's all I have to say for now! Thanks for reading!

Doodles for the upcoming Dog's Life Chapter 41 and/or 42 depending on where I cut it

Mild spoilers depending on how good you are at deciphering these out of context:

[after-nine-at-the-oasis]

Hi Shaun :D!

Hi Lea :))!

Aww :D blueberry pancakes again :))

Aww no I bet that's the size of their baby :))

Yeah :DD <3!

Aww 🥰🥰🥰 yeah everything's good right now :D

Yeah he does work for you true

Well yeah you do have to be careful :))

Hmm based on the promo I'm not so sure xD but I'm sure it'll be okay lol

Hi Asher :DD

Hi Jordan 🥰

OOP Jerome 👀👀

Uhh ohhhh o.o

That is not good xdd 😬

Ope XDD

Hi Kalu!

That ope is for him lol

Dang 700???

Aight then xdd

OOP dang yeah he grumpy o.o

Hi Andrews :)!

Yepp you gotta be careful xd

Oop dang xD but yeah fair you've gotta make sure it's even

OOF ouch 😬

Ahh tics?

Yep :)

OOF but honestly slay girl xDD

OPE that's not good o.o

😬😬

Aww this kid is cute :)))

Also she is beautiful just had to say that xD

Ope!

Oohhh her mother :oo and his legal guardian? That's the tea 😳😳 o.o

Uh ohhh that doesn't seem good 😳👀

Hi Morgan :D!!!

LOL girl let him live XD

He's just chilling lol

XDDD true she's in charge of you now lol

SLFKJDKHGS yeah Morgan he's got you <33 sniping is her love language lol :')) <33 🥰❤️

Her <333

And also lowkey, aww them :))), :D

Ah he messed up o.o

And Shaun's treating him normally! Nice :)) gotta be careful not to be too harsh though

XD Shaun's immediate o.o there lol

OPE

Hi Jerome :D!!

The fact that they're both here XDD

OOP so it's a trust thing 👀

And a lieeees thing o.o

SLFKGJKHDGS POOR PARK

Man's just like o.o

My boysss 😭😭

But also Park XD

Yo it's BACKWARDS?? O.O

Dang o.o!!

Ayy she's good :D

Oop o.o

Trust me I know the negatives of homeschool even if I do enjoy it lol

This girl is an amazing actor :O

Aww the only thing normal :'((

OPE oh no o.o

Maybe her tourrette's was something else all along :o?

Yes you do know some things but you're also new xD chill a bit

Maybe just keep it low for a while lol

Also you were only a second year in the first place and I know you've had experience since then but still xD

Oop yeah see xdd Shaun ain't a fan

Oof and it WAS a mistake xdd ouch

O.O okay yeah don't be TOO harsh Shaun lol

Yeah you have but you still need a lot of this training

I am glad he mentioned Andrews specifically told him though bc it might make Kalu a bit more sympathetic with him for it xdd

But still 😬😬

Ope o.o xdd

Liesss 👀👀 inch resting, but about what

SLFKDJKHGDS NOW LIM TOO

Poor Park and Lim xD

LOL Park is done XD

True, two divorcees XD

No I doubt it's either of those lol

WAIT OOF THAT'S MORGAN JUST REALIZED THAT xdd

I'm a couple minutes behind on my liveblogging and just oof xd

Ooope xdd y'all 😭 my boysss :'(

The AGGRESSION from Asher xd (barely passive aggression my guy lol)

Yes but lies about whatttt

O P E O . O

DANG 😳😳

I mean I don't think it's relationship ending but HIV positive certainly is a big thing xd

But yeah I mean there's not a problem it can cause it's more the secret I think :((

Dang o.o

OOF yeah he's not gonna go talk to him xdd

My babeysss 😭

Lol I think you deserve to say it Jordan xDD

But okay good for you lol take the high road

Yeah you're still a first year even if you do have other (and sometimes useful!) experience

Yeah it's literally your first day my man xD

You do still have a lot to learn too

But I'm sure you'll sort it out :)

[queenhollyberry90]

Double or Nothing 2021 Predictions

Alright, who's ready for Double or Nothing! This'll be my second time liveblogging a ppv so I thought this time I'll put down my predictions to see how right or wrong I am so lets go!

First up is Anthony Ogogo vs Cody Rhodes and if they have any balls Anthony will win this bout. They haven't really been building this up outside of American vs foreigner and I honestly could care less about this match but they keep promoting the fact that Anthony is an Olympian and he's been on a winning streak. Last year they made a mistake is having Cody beat Lance Archer for the TNT title halting his momentum so let's hope they learned from their mistake and do the right thing and let Cody take the l.

Hikaru Shida vs Dr. Britt Baker DMD- They've been building this one up for some time and I honestly can't wait, Britt has shown that she can be an absolute badass while Hikaru has shown that she's been the champ for a reason, although on the flip side of that that only really gets shown when it's not a squash match and she hasn't been used as much as she should. It's been pointed out by both AEW, critics and fans that the women's division was hit hard buy the pandemic with injuries, travel restrictions and a rather green division. With the world getting back to a relative normal it's time for AEW's women's division to enter into a new era and get a new champ. Winner - Britt Baker

The Young Bucks vs Jon Moxley and Eddie Kingston - This one is a bit hard for me to call because on one hand I, as those who've seen my aew posts, knows I have a great dislike of the bucks. They're to spot heavy and while they are more then capable of having great matches and help elevate other teams I just find that they are generally not that balanced with their in ring work (if that makes sense to anyone but me). I have a great love for both Mox and Kingston, the latter more so than the former, and while they're not high flyers or super technical they're both super passionate and are bruisers. Mox and Kingston however haven't been built up enough as an actual team and are more allies then anything, having them working together more would make them going for the titles more believable. Winner - Young Bucks (boo! lol)

The Pinnacle vs The Inner Circle - Just gonna keep this one short because I also care not for this match outside of wanting the end result to be the Inner Circle breaking up. It'll still be entertaining since Aew does good with cinematic matches. Winner - The Pinnacle

Miro vs Lance Archer - I'm looking forward to this one simply because it's monster vs monster and I enjoy both of these guys. They might be big but they're also agile, Lance more so then Miro. Winner- Who cares, it's gonna be fun. It'll probably be Miro though and I'm ok with that

Sting and Darby Allin vs Scorpio Sky and Ethan Page - I completely forgot this match was a thing and almost posted this without this match being included which tells you what I think about this feud. Winner - honestly I don't care

Hangman Adam Page vs The Machine Brian Cage - This is gonna be good story telling. I've been warming to Brian Cage, although my daughter will tell you that she's always liked him from the get go, and she has, but this one is gonna be an easy call. I just hope that Brian moves away from Team Taz, as sad as I am about this cause I love my boys, but he's been showing that he actually has a personality (finally) and needs to lose so he can break away and be able to shine since both Ricky and to an extent Taz's personalities over power everyone elses. Also Adam needs to go on to face Omega and win at the next ppv. Winner - Hangman

Casino Battle Royale - I honestly have no idea about the winner for this because honestly it's gonna come down who the joker is. I would fucking die if it's Bryan Danielson, like in the best way possible. The only thing I think I know for sure is that Sydal and Cage are gonna come out of this continuing their feud. Winner- ?

Pac vs Kenny Omega vs Orange Cassidy - This match is gonna slap and it's gonna slap so fucking hard. It's the one I'm looking forward to the most. I hate Omega in the best way possible (I do however think he doesn't need the Good Brothers and I want them to go away). Winner - Kenny Omega