#missing many big ones I've been wanting to see sadly!!!!

[semisweetshadow]

Top 12 of 2023:

Asteroid City, Dir. Wes Anderson They Cloned Tyrone, Dir. Juel Taylor Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Dir. Joaquim Dos Santos, Justin K. Thompson, & Kemp Powers Nimona, Dir. Troy Quane & Nick Bruno The Creator, Dir. Gareth Edwards Priscilla, Dir. Sofia Coppola The Killer, Dir. David Fincher May December, Dir. Todd Haynes Rebel Moon, Dir. Zack Snyder Guardians of the Galaxy, Dir. James Gunn Saltburn, Dir. Emerald Fennell Oppenheimer, Dir. Zack Snyder Honorable Mentions: Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret, Barbie, Evil Dead Rise, Relax I'm From the Future Stats: Watched 116 movies total, 41 new releases (only 9 in theaters sadly)

[dreameryfics]

JJ MAYBANK x READER

Summary: Your parents met JJ and they disapprove of you dating a Pogue, especially the Maybank boy

Today was finally the day that JJ was going to meet my parents. I'd told them all about him and how he made me feel. They didn't like that he was a Pogue, but I mean, what Kook parents would be okay with their only daughter dating a Pogue? That's just not how it works on the island sadly. Both my parents were raised as Kooks, and they wouldn't have it any other way for me or my brother. He's as much of a Kook as they came, he took full advantage of the privileged life.

I can't lie and say I don't enjoy being one, but I've also not allowed myself to ignore the disadvantages that Pogues have had on the island. That's how I met JJ. I was helping Big John a few years back bring some diving gear back to his house from my parent's shop and JJ happened to be there with John B. I started hanging out with them a few weeks later when I happened to run into John B at The Wreck. He was there getting some end-of-the-night food from Kie for him, JJ, and Pope. We've been kind of inseparable since. We've of course had our moments, especially when Big John went missing at sea.

JJ and I have been together since then; it was pretty crappy timing, but we also realized that life was just too damn short. We had a conversation the same week he went missing and realized the feelings were mutual. The group knew about two weeks later, JJ's dad knew too but he didn't have much to say. He was just proud of his son for 'landing a Kook' and telling JJ to make sure to take advantage of the 'rich kid living.' I haven't been around there since.

We've been putting off him meeting my parents, but today was the day. JJ was nervous, the most nervous he'd been since the Pogues found out about us. He was so worried they'd use the no-macking rule and break us up, I knew better though.

I'd picked JJ up from the Chateau and was headed to my house. "JJ, you OD over there?" I asked looking over to him as he was picking at his fingernails. He looked up at me, nervously biting his lip. He just shook his head and looked back out the window, the houses slowly getting nicer the longer the drive. "J, it's going to be okay." I place my hand over his, hoping to calm him down as I pull into our driveway.

I put the car in park and look over at JJ, he looked extremely nervous. I give him a quick kiss on the cheek before getting out of the car. I go over and open the door for him, realizing he hasn't moved. He slowly gets out of the car, placing his hat on his head. I take hold of his hand and lead him to the front door. "We're here!" I yell when I open the door. They walk around the corner and I can immediately see the judgment in their eyes; I know JJ could too. "Mom, Dad, this is JJ," I tell them trying to break the awkward silence. I look over at him and take the hat off his head, placing it on the counter beside us. They quickly walk over and shake JJ's hand. "Nice to meet you JJ," they both said.

"Nice to meet you too, sir, ma'am," he told them, trying to be as polite as he could, not wanting to say the wrong thing. We all stood there for a second before walking into the dining room where there was an array of food placed on the table. Mom and Dad sat on one side whereas JJ and I sat on the other side. We made awkward conversation about the weather and school while we ate. Dad was the first to hit JJ with the questions they really wanted to know. "So, JJ, tell me what are your plans for the next five years?" I look at my dad, wanting to tell him to stop, knowing this was only the first of many questions.

"Well, Sir, I'm hoping to graduate high school and get a job fixing up cars and boats at the Yard. I would like to save up enough money to buy a house and maybe a nice boat, if I'm lucky," he responded honestly. I chuckled at the last part, knowing full well he'd buy a boat before a house any day of the week. My dad just kept looking at him, "The Yard? Why not try to go to college?"

"Well, I figure I don't have the money to pay for college, so I need to take a different path in life," he responded taking a sip of his water, "plus, I'm not sure I would want to go to college." I know my dad isn't going to like that answer. He claims all of his success came from him going to college, but in all reality, it all came from him and Ward Cameron's business schemes. Our family having money has nothing to do with my dad's college degree, but he'd never admit that. "College is important to be successful, I might say, it's most important. I can't imagine the Yard being very successful as they haven't been able to expand to anywhere besides the cut."

"Dad, please stop," I tell him, "JJ is a-" I try and say before I'm interrupted by my dad.

"Now honey, I just want to know how JJ plans to provide for you," he tells me, looking over to JJ, "So, how will you provide for our daughter?"

"Uhm, w-," JJ stumbled, not even being able to get a word in before my mom started in on him. "JJ, who is your dad?"

"Luke Maybank, ma'am," he told her. I could see him getting more and more nervous by the second. I quickly took his hand and held it under the table, knowing my dad would have a fit.

"Luke Maybank? It all makes sense now," my dad chuckled under his breath, "you don't have to explain anything else." I could see the anger and sadness on JJ's face, making me yell at my dad. "What the hell Dad! You don't ev-"

"You watch your damn tone with me," he yelled at me standing up and pointing his finger at me. "We leave you alone and you decide to fall in love with a fucking Pogue, let alone Maybank's boy! I will not allow this," he sat back down before turning to JJ, "JJ, it was not a pleasure to meet you. Now if you would please show yourself the door?" I looked over at JJ and I could see the tears forming in his eyes. He quickly pushed his chair back, causing it to scrape across the wooden floor. He looked down at me, letting go of my hand before pushing the chair back and walking out of the kitchen. I had tears slowly falling down my face now, disgusted with JJ's treatment from my parents. "Now, I don't EVER want you to see him again," my dad sternly told me.

I could tell JJ was still in the house as the door never opened or closed. I wasn't going to let him think I didn't care for him. "Dad, Mom," I say standing from the chair, "you know what, fuck this family. JJ is better than anybody in this family but you're too damn stuck up to realize that or even admit it."

My dad swiftly stood up and raised his hand at me before I told him with venom in my voice, "Do it, you'll never see me again and I know you care too much about our family image to kick me out. I'll go to the police and let them know all about your 'successful' businesses. I'll ruin your fucking life," I say the last part with pure anger. I get closer to him, hoping he'll hit me so I have a reason to go to the police and tell them everything. He sits back down and picks up his drink to take a sip before looking up at me. He doesn't say a word before he throws his cup to the ground, it breaking into a million pieces causing me to flinch, and proceeds to walk out the room. I look down at my mom, rolling my eyes at her knowing she's too scared of my dad to disagree with him.

I storm out of the room to see JJ with his back against the counter, holding his hat in his hands before placing it on his head. I go over to him and grab his hand, pulling him out of the house and over to my car. We get in and I start driving, not sure where to go as everybody was at the Chateau. "Your dad's right," I hear JJ mumble. I look over at him and he won't make eye contact with me. I pull over on the side of the road, looking at him. "JJ, my dad may be a lot of things, but he's not right."

"He is though," he looked up at me with tears forming in his eyes, "you know my dad. I'm just like him, you deserve someone who can give you more."

"JJ, you are nothing like your father," I tell him grabbing his hand in mine, "You are the greatest and best person to ever walk into my life. I can't imagine it without you, not only that, but you are pretty damn attractive too." He lets out a small chuckle at the last part, "J, can you please look at me?" I ask him. He looks over at me as I wipe a tear falling down his cheek, "I love every part of you, especially the ones you hate. You are my whole world and all the stars. When I look at you, I feel like I'm finally home. I feel nothing bad can happen when I'm in your arms. You are my person, my only person, and I hope you know that nothing will change that, not even my asshole parents. I would give them up a million times over before I ever think about saying goodbye to you. I love you."

JJ squeezes my hand tighter, letting a small sob out. "Hey, are you okay? Please talk to me," I tell him placing my hand on the back of his neck. He looks over at me before placing a small kiss on my forehead. "I've uhm, never had anybody tell me how much I matter to them. Dad has always blamed me for Mom leaving and has always told me how much he hated me, I guess I kind of thought there wasn't another way for someone to feel when it came to me. I got so used to how he treated me I thought that's what I deserved, it was all I was good for," he told me. I felt a few tears fall down my face, realizing how much what my parents said hurt him. "I love you too, I'm just sorry if I won't be able to give you everything you deserve."

"JJ," I tell him, waiting for him to look at me, "as long as I have you, that's all I need. I need you to know that."

"You really are whipped," he lets out a small chuckle to break up the emotions in the small car. I playfully smack his arm, "J, be for real right now. You're hearing what I'm telling you right?"

"Yes, I hear you. I love you too. Thanks for showing me what it means to be loved," he tells me, reaching over to place a kiss on my forehead before moving away and placing his lips to mine. "Now, can we go get some pizza 'cause I didn't eat." I look at him and laugh. "Nerves babe, they got to me and I'm starving now." I laugh and look over at him before putting the car in drive, whispering 'I love you' to him and he responds by grabbing my hand and placing small kisses on them. We head to the nearest restaurant and eat, getting extra so we can take it to the Chateau.

Once we got there, we were asked what felt like hundreds of questions on how it went. We gave them the tiniest of summaries, just telling them that my parents are dick and that we left. They didn't need to know anything else, there was enough going on in the group since Sarah started coming around. I'm a big fan of her, but the results are still out for Kie. No matter what though, JJ and I had each other, till the end of the days. As long as I was breathing, he was my love and I was his.

[curiouspupsicle]

Good Omens Fan Fiction Friday (12/6/24) - Illustrated Stories

Whoever decided that adult books didn't need artwork? I enjoy reading 19th century stories with line art from when they had been serialized (Dickens, Doyle, etc.) And who doesn't love Howard Pyle's beautiful illustrations for Robin Hood and King Arthur? So today I'm pleased to share a few of my favorite fan fics (but not all; some I've shared previously) accompanied by illustrations or in comic form. Like many illustrated fics, Butterflies in a Bell Jar (T) came about when a Big Bang united a writer and an artist. Writer Still_Not_King and artist @wyvernquill tell the story of co-workers Crowley and Aziraphale who team up at karaoke night and feel a spark. But it turns out, the company's no-fraternization policy is specifically directed at them and no one else. A surprising story that flies under the radar despite being truly unique and quirky. Rain in Avalon (M) by @snowfilly1 is set in Wessex after the death of King Arthur. Heaven wants peace. Hell wants war. Aziraphale and Crowley make a plan to keep both happy and themselves out of trouble. Start of The Arrangement. Sadly, I can't make out the name of the artist of the beautiful kiss illustration at the end. But worth stopping by to check it out. The latest from @klikandtuna, Naked and Afraid: Jingle Hell (T), is a Human AU in which Crowley and Aziraphale are competitors on reality show Naked and Afraid. This one-shot has great banter. I laughed out loud. And the writer also created the illustrations. Bonus is that it's set over Christmas for those looking for new holiday reads. Fan favorite @mrghostrat, wrote and illustrated Big Name Feelings (E) in which Crowley is a big name fan fiction writer who invites artist Aziraphale to pretend to be his boyfriend at a fan convention. Love the story and the style of the illustrations. Stalwart sun, wily moon (M) is a long, twisty tale in which Crowley is an art thief at the top of his game and Aziraphale is the former art conservator swept up into his world. Can't give much away without spoiling this tense and engaging story. But the writer/artist @dustandhalos decided that both our heroes are serious clothes horses. And provided stunning illustrations of their amazing outfits in the form of magazine cover art. Loved it!

I adore the style of @dreamdust who has been releasing two illustrated stories on tumblr. The first is Six Thousand Years in Love (NR) in which we see the developing relationship of our favorite pair starting in Eden. Each story comprises about 6 parts before going to a new setting. If you liked the cold open of episode 3 of the first season of Good Omens, don't miss out on what it inspired in dreamdust. And the second is Charmed (and Witch) (NR). A beautiful femme depiction in which Crowley is a witch and Aziraphale is the maiden caught in her enchanted grove. It is a WIP updated regularly. Purrchance to Dream (M) is a lovely collaboration between writer Calico and artist @vavoom-sorted-art. It's a WIP on hiatus but absolutely worth reading and subscribing in hopes they're able to get back to it. Crowley is suffering since Aziraphale returned to heaven. But he finds himself being stalked by a fluffy white cat who won't leave him alone. The comic form of One Night in Bangor (and the World's Your Oyster) is by @anotherwellkeptsecret based on the original fic by Atalan (found here - rated E). Heaven and Hell hold their annual joint meeting. But this time, the demons have made a bet about which hellish employee will be first to bed an angel. Both versions are hilarious. Do you have any favorite illustrated fics? Bonus points if the writer is also the illustrator. Please leave them in the comments. I'll be back next Friday with more great Good Omens fan fics on a new theme. In the meantime, check out my other favorite fics on this pinned post of weekly Good Omens fan fiction recommendations.

[noxiatoxia]

do you have any favorite or standout things in the japanese version of dr2 that doesn't get translated properly/at all into the english version? anything from jokes to speech quirks or differences in characterization. anything at all! i'm just super curious about the differences so i want to give you an opportunity to ramble.

Thank you, anon! I'm sorry this too so long. I've been busy and I had many different things I wanted to share.

I'm sure there's gonna be a lot of stuff I'll miss...I'll just tell you what's on my mind.

Well, firstly, I'd say what I lament most always is how everyone's speech patterns got largely phased out. You see it here and there still with Souda and Owari - occasionally they try to keep the urban accent. Komaeda's filler words got removed, as already discussed. Really, everyone had something unique to them that got removed, and that makes me so sad! Granted, I understand some of it can be quite tricky.

For example, Mioda is a big one. Remember in the NISA translation, she always refers to herself in third person? This is a somewhat clunky translation. Mioda does call herself "Ibuki", but in Japanese, this isn't as weird, and is seen as a sort of cutesy thing. You can pull it off if you're a young/cute woman.

Mioda also calls everyone first name-chan, making her appear childish/quirky.

She also ends her sentences with っす ssu, which is a version of です desu. This makes Mioda, technically, one of the few Danganronpa characters to use keigo speech, although it's so quirky/casual I wonder if it counts...

Souda also uses keigo, but only when talking to Sonia. He calls her Sonia-san, which got translated as "Miss Sonia" (great translation choice btw!) and is the only character he uses honorifics for - well, typically. There is a part in chapter 5 where Souda calls Hinata "Hinata-chan" to tease him, and it's so cute to me xD

By the way, I don't talk about V3 much, but I know there's contention with how they translate Gonta. From what I've seen of V3, the thing that sticks out about Gonta is he, too, uses his first name as his pronoun. I believe the ENG version went with a Tarzan-esque choice of translation, but the joke in the JP version, I believe, was - as said - first person self-pronoun is reserved for young, cute girls...Gonta neither looking like either.

Most of all I lament Hinata's speech...he sounds so similar to Naegi in English, which is a shame, as he was meant to be Naegi's opposite. In Japanese they're night and day, and Hinata really loses that bite he had in the NISA version. It's what makes me sad most :(

On the game itself, there's a joke I think about a lot, that (understandably) loses it's meaning in English. It's in Tanaka's freetime event.

I have no issue with the translation itself. It's sadly just a joke that's lost in English as things are.

It's in the word kotodama. Kotodama refers to the idea that words hold spiritual power. Like a spell, or something. The joke here is Hinata...actually is a kotodama user. Literally.

In JP Danganronpa, truth bullets are called...kotodama. It's a cute little meta joke.

On the flip side, here is a translation I do take issue with:

I understand how they made this error, but it's still a little shocking to me.

First, let's look at context. Context is important in any language, but in Japanese especially. The context is this: Komaeda has a dramatic buildup, talking about how it's time he's gotten a little good luck, that now he can finally say it, and then dramatically pauses after saying Hinata's name...

Let's not be naive. This reads like the buildup to a love confession.

And then, Komaeda just asks, "Can you be my friend?"

It's a wonderful scene. Perfectly captures Komaeda's life in that asking just to be friends requires this much forethought, and it's wonderfully hilarious at the same time. Very Danganronpa, isn't it? Makes you think about the character, gives you some emotion, but also makes you laugh.

I digress. Now that we have context, let's examine Hinata's response.

First he goes, "What?" or え？in Japanese.

Then he says: ああ...なんだ。

"Ah...oh, that's it?" is a fine way to put it here. Literally speaking, the line basically reads: Oh...what? but なんだ is used as a sort of emotional signifier. The words are failing me right now but here are some examples of how なんだ could be translated when used like this:

"What the hell. Okay."

"Jeez, really?"

"That's crazy!" (in response to a story or suchlike)

Does this make sense? It expresses disbelief, shock, surprise, irritation...stuff like that.

So "Oh...that's it?" is good in this context. Clearly, Hinata also expected Komaeda to say something more heavy.

It's the last line that bugs me.

"So that was all just for fun..." is not how I would put it at all. I see how they got that, but I don't know why they didn't realize it sounds super odd. I will break it down.

...そんなことで、よかったのか... ...sonna koto de, yokatta noka...

そんな means "that" or "those", as in "that person" or "those books", etc.

こと means thing, but usually is abstract for an idea. It's a bit hard to explain, but think of it like the English word "it". You say stuff like "it's cool" when someone screws up. "it" represents an abstract idea: referring to the accident a person just made. Instead of repeating that all, you condense the idea down into the word "it". Very similar.

で is a particle that marks "direction" here. All you need to know is that here it's saying "everything that comes before me is what the words after me are referring to".

よかった, literally speaking, is the past form of "good". This is a very flexible word, and we will come back to it.

のか is some sentence ending particles. Again, we will come back to this.

Strictly and literally speaking, the sentence goes:

In response to those words you just said, it was good...

The issue that occurred here is how they read よかったのか. They took よかった to literally be the past tense of good (fun), and のか to be questioning in tone. These are both correct ways to read these individual words, but not in this context I think. It's how we got:

So that was all just for fun...

But I think it's obvious よかった is supposed to be read as it most commonly is in this past-form: an expression of relief/happiness, while のか is supposed to be more monologue-ish.

I emphatically think the line should be read as:

Oh, thank God that was it...

I think it's pretty obvious Hinata is rejoicing that Komaeda, in fact, was not going to suddenly dump something like a love confession on him out of the blue.

Sorry that was a longer one. I don't know how many of you care to hear the in-depth technical talk of how it got mistranslated. Usually I just provide my translation, but I know some people out there probably like the explanations. (I also get a little embarrassed because I often run in circles worrying I'm getting stuff wrong myself....and the fact I'm aware I suck at words. I'm just writing how I read it, and putting it in a way that makes sense to me. I'm always open to discussion if you are a beginner speaker or a native and anything between.)

OK, moving on...I want to talk about Owari's island mode ending. Not because it was translated badly per se, but because it hinges on an element that's impossible to translate. To be fair, the team did their absolute best with it.

Owari never talks about wanting to talk more "girly" outright in the Japanese version. Rather, this is what the line (plus the last as it is part of the sentence) reads literally:

OWARI: So, would it be weird if...I started using a-atashi for myself?

Through the whole game, Owari talks in a very rough manner. She uses オレ(ore) to refer to herself, which is a very masculine pronoun. The Katakana script makes it even more rough. I believe in SDR2, only Souda and Kuzuryuu also use this pronoun/script combo (I can never remember if Monokuma uses オレ or ボク).

However in the Island Mode ending, Owari wonders if it'd be weird if someone like her uses あたし(atashi) for herself. By contrast, "atashi" is at the complete opposite end of the spectrum. It is a very feminine pronoun, and would be a complete 180 from ore.

It is also written in Hiragana, further lending it to be "feminine" and "soft".

So the translation change to her saying she wishes to speak more girly is pretty apt. I dunno if there would be a better way to do this. It's very difficult.

Speaking of Owari and pronouns, her pronoun changes again when she catches the despair disease.

When she has the coward's disease, Owari no longer uses オレ(ore), but instead 私(watashi). This is considered a rather basic/default casual pronoun for women, but it is exceedingly more polite/feminine than what Owari normally uses. Coming from her also, Kanji is a very odd script choice, almost opposite to Katakana.

She also never uses honorifics for people, but while sick, she calls Nidai "Nidai-kun" 弐大君. It's sad this detail, unlike in Island Mode, did not get translated whatsoever.

If I'm on the topic, I might as well talk about some other script changes that weren't translated into English well (or at all).

Remember fake Naegi in Ch.6? Well, I always thought this part was strange:

To me, nothing Naegi is saying warrants Sonia to respond in such a manner. Bryce Papenbrook's delivery of the line doesn't make Naegi yell or anything, either.

But this line makes a whole lot more sense in Japanese.

Fun fact, I'm getting these screenshots from a (mostly silent) let's play by a Japanese channel. The let's player almost never talks, but during the first screenshot, he let's out a questioning "Hm?" and then the second, he chuckles and says, "What's with this sudden sharp turn, man?"

That's because in this scene, Naegi completely changes the way he talks. I've talked about it before, but to reiterate: Naegi talks in a very mild way. He's casual, but he never uses any masculine particles, or employs the imperative form.

However, in the first screenshot, Naegi ends his sentence in ぞ, which is a masculine sentence ender (Hinata uses it). Then in the second one, he uses やろう, which is a very rough/derogatory way to say "you guy(s)".

Anybody who's played DR1 would instantly know something is wrong, since Naegi never speaks like this.

To be honest, it could've easily been translated as making Naegi swear at them, since Naegi doesn't swear a lot - certainly if you had him use "fuck", it would have achieved the same effect.

Next, Twogami's final free time event is full of quirky things that get translated a little poorly.

Firstly, there's this line from Hinata:

While not a mistranslation on a technical level, I feel like it sort of misses a joke here.

Twogami asks Hinata if he likes him (好き). In Japanese, 好き is often used to declare your (romantic) love to someone, or ask someone if they love you. I think then Hinata's answer being "I don't hate you" is him skirting around saying "I like (love) you" to not sound like he's confessing his love, or something.

Then, there's this:

Much like we've seen before, this line makes more sense in the context of Japanese.

Since Twogami is impersonating Togami, he speaks like him, too. And when Togami refers to others (the "you" pronoun, as there are multiple in Japanese), he uses お前(omae). This is very masculine and pretty rude.

However, in this scene, Twogami suddenly calls Hinata キミ(kimi), which is much softer and warmer. Hinata picks up on that, but in English, it comes across a little weird, because what exactly is Hinata picking up on in the English version, then?

HINATA: But you've got to stop using "kimi", it's making me sheepish. And besides...the you I know has always called me by "omae".

Here's a literal translation for you, to illustrate this scene better. I don't know why they cut out the part where Hinata directly tells Twogami to stop calling him キミ because it makes him flustered (very cute by the way), but I feel there was probably a better way to go about this anyhow...

I understand it's a very tricky thing to translate since both キミ and お前 mean "you" in English, but surely there was some better way to word it...

I'd have Twogami talk to Hinata more friendly-like, and have Hinata say "The Togami I know has always been a bit mean to me" - or suchlike.

Moving away from scripts but sticking to Freetime events, here's a mistranslation from one of Saionji's:

There's one big issue in both of these that changes the meaning of the scene entirely. Firstly, 人好し means more than "kind-hearted" - it comes with the impression that the person is easily exploitable for their kindness.

Likewise, 勝手に言って is more than "I don't care" - I think they got that because it literally translates as "say what you want", but it's used as a sort of angry statement. See, it literally translates as "speak as you'd like", but 勝手に is usually used to show that someone will do something in spite of anyone else's wishes. So, really, the phrase means "say whatever you want jerk, I know I can't stop you".

I'd write this scene as:

SAIONJI: You're a really big pushover, mister. Well...I guess that's good for me. HINATA: No one fucking asked.

(I would assume Hinata is doing the equivalent of swearing, as he is using an already antagonistic phrase + imperative form + よ).

Also, if you're wondering...while "say what you want" is a valid English phrase, I feel it doesn't really work here...? Though that's how 勝手に言って translates, the phrase focuses more on the disrespectful aspect of speaking out of turn. I feel "nobody asked" is then more accurate.

This line is also interesting. It's not a mistranslation, but I'm just interested in the Japanese text, because I don't think Hinata's ever replaced ない (nai) with ねー (nee) before? It's a sort of urban accent - Owari, Kuzuryuu, and Souda all have it. It makes you sound rougher.

Like instead of "Jyanai yo" ("that's not it") you say, "jyanee yo" ("Tha's not it") <- I'm unsure how to convey an Urban accent...

"Hell no", then, is actually quite appropriate since it is rougher-sounding (meaner). But it interests me since Hinata's never (?) used this accent before. I guess he was so pissed off he didn't even think about it.

Actually, because of the nature of Saionji's talent and fixation on her home country, her Island mode and FTE is full of references to Japanese culture that doesn't get translated well. It's a tough spot to be in - do you not translate it for the sake of staying accurate to the Japanese culture, and let the Western players stay confused, or do you change it to something more understandable, but lose that nuance? I think it depends case-by-case on what's decided.

I sadly don't have a screen cap of the JP text, but I do have it from the game's files, so I'll write it down here:

SAIONJI: あー、馬鹿とナントカは高いところが好きって言うもんね。 HINATA: そっちを伏せるのかよ…

This is a Japanese saying, the full saying being 馬鹿と煙は高いところが好き - "Idiots and smoke like high places". It refers to people who foolishly advance "higher and higher" without thoughts of the consequences (when they come crashing down).

This saying though gets often changed to "idiots and so-and-so like high places".

I don't really agree with the English translation because "you-know-what" sounds...sexual? To me, at least. While there is nothing sexual about the original phrase whatsoever. The reason it gets "censored" to ナントカ (nantoka, literally the quotation marker とか with the word "what/something", making it "that 'something'") is unknown to me, but the phrase with ナントカ instead of 煙 is pretty popular especially in spoken Japanese. I think it literally just has to do with the fact that "baka to nantoka" flows out the mouth easier than "baka to kemuri", and isn't because of actual censorship.

Hinata's response then may be to Saionji specifically or in general. Either he's A) asking why Saionji bothers to censor the second part (implying he's never heard the abbreviated version before) or B) he's wondering to himself why people bother to censor the second part in general (implying he is well aware of the abbreviated version).

So, the convo may actually look something like:

SAIONJI: Oh well, as they say: "Idiots and so-and-so like high places!" HINATA: I wonder why that's the part that gets skipped over...

I think this is more plausible. It really has nothing to do with Saionji in particular.

Actually, if you'll recall from earlier in this post with the Komaeda Island Mode ending, we touched on のか, and Hinata is using it again here. Funnily, if we go with my translation, then they ran into the same issue with Komaeda. They read のか in the same erroneous way.

I could be wrong of course...but given the surround culture of the phrase + common sense (I find it hard to believe Hinata would have never heard 馬鹿とナントカ before), this makes more sense I think.

An English version is hard to think of, since this is related to the option "Climb the Statue", so Saionji whipping out that metaphor is a joke in the fact she's calling Hinata an idiot for literally wanting to climb a tall statue.

The closest I can find is a quote form the bible, "Folly is appointed to great heights, but the rich sit in lowly positions". This seems to be somewhat known, but I didn't know of this quote before researching for an English version, so replacing it would make little difference, then...the whole point is the phrase is a common one, but I don't know any common English phrases about idiots in high spots.

...I think this is a good stopping point. There is surely so much more to talk about - more I am forgetting and more that I'll find in the future (and other small things that could not make this post due to image constraints) - but this is what I have right now! I do have more SDR2 translation post I'm working on, but that's it's own beast so it's not something I can really go into here.

Hope any of this was interesting! Thank you!

[thelittlewarrior98]

Hello!

So I know that this is an absolute long shot, but I wanted to share this here anyway in the hopes that someone in the Phandom could maybe help me coz I literally just don't know what else to do at this point 🥺🙏

My name is Holly-Jayne but most people call me Daisy, I'm 26 years old and I've been a part of the Phandom for over a decade now like D+P have pretty much always been my most favourite YouTubers and humans in the whole entire universe 💜

I've unfortunately never been able to see them live during any of their tours though as I've just sadly never been able to afford it!

It's always been one of my biggest ever dreams to finally go to one of their shows and maybe even meet them so I can finally thank them personally for everything they've ever done for me 💜

But then late last year I suddenly got very very sick to the point where I became bed bound and wheelchair bound and could no longer eat or drink anything without throwing up and I ended up losing way too much weight to the point where I genuinely looked like a living corpse and I was soooo so tired and in so much pain all the time and I even started struggling to breathe, but then after going through all of this for about 4 months as well as countless doctor appointments, miss-diagnosis including being told it's just anxiety and is all just in my head and also have to stay in hospital got about a week or so, I was very sadly diagnosed with Stage 4 (Terminal) Serous Carcinoma Ovarian Cancer that has spread to multiple areas of my body and I have now also completely lost my fertility because of it 😔💔

I also apparently had over 2 litres worth of fluid on my lungs which is why I was struggling to breathe and could barely even walk up the stairs without my legs just completely giving way.

So I've had to endure 6 very difficult and grueling rounds of Chemo which I actually finished around 2 months ago and I'm now on a targeted treatment that I have to have every 3 weeks for about a year and I also have to take blood thinners every single day for up to 2 years due to a rather big blood clot that they also found on my lung during my 1st round of Chemo!

I also almost died again during my 2md round of Chemo as I had a very bad reaction to it and stopped breathing for a couple of minutes......

We've had quite a few scares which I guess is just my new normal now, but i now as back to normal as I can be with Cancer and I'm very slowly but surely getting my life back together and just trying to live my life as much as I can for as long as I can as even though I'm terminal, I'd like to believe that I'll still be around for many many years to come and D+P have especially helped with his as watching their videos through all of the dark and scary times have always just completely cheered me up and put a smile on my face and they still give me the motivation and determination to fight and stay as strong and healthy as I possibly can be 💜

So yeah, it's probably been the most hardest and most painful year of my life, plus my grandad very sadly and suddenly passed away last October just before all of this happened and then we also very sadly lost my aunt in May of this year after a 16 year long battle with Cancer and my nan was also unfortunately diagnosed with Leukemia around the same time as my own diagnosis, so 2024 just hasn't been kind to us at all!

Soooo so much grief, pain and trauma that we're all still trying to deal with 😔💔

So yeah, when D+P announced the TIT I was absolutely BEYOND happy and excited like yessssss another chance for me to finally go and see them and potentionally meet them if I can get an M&G ticket and finally just something for me to look forward to after this very crappy year!!

But alas, time and luck once again just weren't on our sides as when the tickets were released for both dates we just so happened to be at the hospital for appointments and treatment and they all sold out before I even had a chance to try and buy them 😭💔

So I tried to use one of my wishes to see and meet them instead, but we've unfortunately just found out that the company no longer have any money and can't fulfill people's wishes anymore!!

But the thing is, we submitted the wish absolutely months ago like back when the tickets had just sold out and we never heard back from them at all until now when our macmillan nurse got in touch with them a few days ago, so they never even bothered to tell us which is really annoying and inconvenient because we could have maybe sorted something else out by now, but now we've only got a couple of weeks left and we're just at a complete loss as to what to do as this could literally be my last ever chance!!

Really starting to lose hope over ever getting to see or meet them now and I'm absolutely devastated as we just don't know when or if they'll ever go on tour again and even if they do, who knows if I'll still be here by then or how my health will be!!

I mean I'm always staying as optimistic and hopeful as possible, but we still just never really know......

So yeah, I just wanted to share this in the hopes that someone in the Phandom could maybe help in any way at all??

Idk how or what could be done or anything, but I thought it was worth a shot anyway as I've pretty much got nothing to lose at this point!

I was hoping for Manchester on the 29th btw as that's the only date that I'm able to do.

Thankyou soooo so much for reading all of this if you've actually made it this far, I appreciate it more than you'll ever know!

I'm in this Phandom business for life haha 🤣💜 @danielhowell @amazingphil @danandphilupdates @danandphilhq @danandphilnews @danandphilsaltsquad

[palettepainter]

Hi! First, I want to say that I love the sibling dynamic between Bobby and Doey, and love seeing your posts on my dash. your art in general is amazing as well <3

Now, my own question would be-- have Doey and Bobby ever had an 'overprotective sibling argument' before? Where both of them care to the point that they argue instead of one trying to placate the other? For example, Doey not resting after getting hurt or sick and Bobby putting her foot down-- with Doey refusing in general because he's in charge of the Safe Haven? Or Bobby wanting to help pitch in and go scouting, but Doey stops her and they argue over the idea. I hope what I'm asking makes sense? Or that I haven't missed something and it's already been answered? Either way thinking about a 900 lb ball of dough being lectured by a tiny stuffed bear-- and sometimes losing-- is also very funny to me.

OOOOOO Thank you for the lengthy ask!! I LOVE waking up to asks like this!!

I'm so happy you like the DB found siblings!! I am such a fan for found family dynamics and with my Doey brainrot atm I HAD to combine the two!! (also we all need to cope somehow with Chapter 4's cannon ending-)

As for your question yes, the two have DEFINITLY had those cliche protective sibling arguments! With Bobby acting more like a little kid than Doey, and with the stress of essentially running Safe Haven by himself after Poppy leaves, the two have clashed heads. They don't have them so much anymore, but it happened a lot more shortly after Poppy left.

I'm still figuring out the timeline but Bobby joined Safe Haven not too long after the HOJ. Toys weren't eating each other at this time, but tensions were still high and many were still in fight or flight. When Doey brought her back to Safe Haven Bobby clung to him, and Doey didn't mind so much as he had Poppy and the help of some other Bigger Bodies (like Hoppy and Dogday) to help. Bobby and Doey had started to form a big brother/little sister bond right before Poppy left, this is probably where they had their first sibling argument: Doey trying to push down his fear after Poppy's sudden leaving and his new position as the leader, only to snap at Bobby when she kept asking him if he was okay and that he should rest. Thankfully, the two made up very quickly and Doey especially felt VERY guilty

They have more spats the longer Doey is in position as "leader", but most of the time Doey is able to catch himself before he gets too angry

Doey, as well as the other critters, try to keep the smaller toys sheltered from the dangers in the factory and Bobby is no different. Bobby knows it's dangerous outside and their situation is severe, but she doesn't really have a grasp on just HOW dangerous and severe. I don't want to give away too many spoilers as this is a big project I've got in the works, so I don't want to hype it up too much cuz it'll likely be a while before I can work on it, but their biggest sibling argument happened a little while after Kickin Chicken's death

With Doey as the official leader of safe haven, aiding Hoppy in scouting outside of Safe Haven for supplies, leaving Dogday to manage the toys while they're gone, and with rations depleting, tensions were high. Something or someone was bound to snap, and sadly, Bobby's attempts to "help" were the cause

[cyanocophrenic]

"Do you... enjoy this?"

Shit.

I need to deflect, but when I open my mouth, all that comes out is a low moan. I feel so... massive. I can barely think.

"The first time, I was just worried about you. The second time... I just thought it was a weird coincidence. But now," she gestures at all of me with both hands. It's a big gesture. "Three times feels like more than coincidence."

She's not wrong. I've got to say something.

"I've known other people who've gotten blown up, you know? And after they get... you know, fixed, they've- they've all developed phobias, or left town, or gone through really intense therapy. But you," she says, placing a palm on my exposed belly, "have been completely unfazed. You just keep coming back for more."

My skin feels electric where she touches me. Everything is so full and tight, every little brush of breeze against my exposed skin is searing pleasure. I moan again, and she whips her hand away like she'd laid it on a hot stove.

"Sorry! I know I shouldn't be so casual about this. I should really call someone to come help you." She starts patting her pockets looking for her phone. "Sorry," she says again, then she stops. She looks back up at me.

"Should I even call for help? I should, right?"

Is that even a question?

"But what if you just do this again?"

Ouch. I've been lax, I guess, but I haven't been doing this on purpose! I mean... I have thought about it, but... it hasn't been intentional.

I think.

"It just takes up my time. The medical crew's time. Company resources." She looks conflicted. "Maybe I should just leave you like this."

Oh.

I try to plead my case, deny it, but all that comes out is a halfhearted "Nnnnnnnnnn-" before she cuts me off again. I'm just too full to speak.

"I could have you transferred to taste-testing," she muses. "Putting up with weird shit is, like, their whole job description." She starts dialing on her phone. Someone answers promptly.

"Hey, you'll never guess what happened again. Yeah, again again. Third time. Yup, big enough to roll, for sure."

She absentmindedly pats my belly with her free hand, like I'm some sort of bad boy you could fit so many things in. It's thrilling, that small touch. I nearly lose it, right then and there. Thankfully though, she remembers I'm a person just in time to give me an apologetic look before clearing her throat and returning to her call.

"Can you see if R&D has any openings for a QA Consultant? I know, right? All my ideas are good ideas. She's clearly more interested in being a giant balloon full of wasted product than an accountant."

I guess she's not wrong.

"No, no need for a trip to the squeezer. Put a note in her file that she's only to be reduced if she asks for it explicitly. Maybe have them bring a safe-suit, too. Hm?"

She looks me up and down. It's a long, curious look.

"No idea what size. Big. Really, really big. Yeah. One of the ones with the belt. Mhm. Yeah, she's not exactly naked, but... yeah, let's not give HR anything to complain about. Right. Yes, I'll follow up with her landlord and emergency contacts as needed. Yup. Thanks. See ya."

She turns back to me. She takes another long look, and then sighs.

"Congratulations on your promotion," she says, with a weird mixture of sincerity and irony. "We'll obviously miss you in Finance, but we're happy that you'll be rolling onward to bigger opportunities."

Oh good, she's got jokes.

"Sorry, sorry, I shouldn't make fun. Company policy is to treat this as a medical emergency, so I'll be staying with you until help arrives."

She checks her phone again.

"If you want, I can come visit you once you get settled in? I know I've always been happy to see friendly faces amidst all the strangeness of a new job."

She looks up at me again, sadly this time.

"I was looking forward to getting to know you better, you know? I noticed how you started dressing differently after your first... incident. HR would probably have something to say about how much I was... noticing. I thought maybe you were trying to get away from the trauma by being more poised and put-together."

She kicks her heels off and slides down the wall until she's sitting, obscured by the curve of my body.

"Oh well. Probably better for everyone that I didn't start hitting on a coworker."

Wait.

"Especially not one who keeps finding excuses to swell up until she's spherical," she adds, wearily.

Fair.

"I really should have seen this coming, shouldn't I? I mean, you've been touring the factory floor on your lunch break weekly. That's on me, I guess."

She hops back to her feet. "I think I hear the Medical folks." She brushes her skirt out, and looks me in the eyes one last time. "Hey, listen... I'll see you a-round."

She smiles and rolls her eyes at her own terrible pun, and walks away.

[zingaplanet]

hi, i adore your blog so much. <3. what are your thoughts on the state of fedal in 2024, especially as we approach (cries) rafa's retirement at davis cup?

Ergh I missed this one sorry! Although this might be prime timing considering what just happened during the retirement. I've been wanting to be as candid on this as possible for a long time and voice what all of their fans are thinking but I'm afraid I might cause quite some pain. So forgive me lovely tennisblr, here are just my two cents:

If you ask me what their relationship is like now, I've got to say I have no idea and I think that's a v telling answer. Fed retired end of 2022 and has been busy doing insane sponsor stuff for the whole year. He still showed up at tennis stuff (e.g., for Andy at Wimbledon, etc) but we can never tell how much engagement he actually has with the players anymore. Hence, even though he mentions Rafa a lot more often than others, I think we need to take it with a grain of salt here because the media sharks are simply pouncing on every opportunity to get a story from this too.

One thing I am quite sad about tho, is how everything after the mega publicised retirement ceremony seems to be a bit too PR-stunty. I get it, the rivalry was a big thing in the tennis world but with that photo going viral and winning all sorts of awards, being used in motivational sports speeches etc - it kinda transcends tennis now. Federer and Nadal have both always been bigger than tennis, but perhaps now that they are getting the attention together, it's getting a bit much.

When they mentioned each other throughout interview snippets all year, only sometimes do we get to see what's going on behind the scenes. Other times, from my perspective, it feels sadly like they have been media briefed after the whole whirlwind about how to make this as positive a press for them as possible without revealing too much. On this, I have to say, Federer is still a maestro - I have never seen an athlete with as much PR talent as him. I work a lot in comms and he is a simple branding wet dream, he says all the right words you want to hear, the same message in many different versions of sentences, but never actually reveals what's going on. Rafa used to be much more of a trainwreck early in his career but he has improved so much with age. He still sometimes, fascinatingly, slipped up tho, and seemingly only during Spanish interviews, when he's a lot more honest. In several of the Spanish tv and radio interviews he did this year, he seemed to hint that on the one hand, Federer is the only one he still speaks to regularly in tennis, but on the other hand, he gives a strange indication that they're not as close as they used to be?

I think it's quite predictable though. After Federer retired, they were now freer to build on the friendship without any of the rivalry hurdles - but at the same time, I think they didn't realise how much the intensity of the rivalry played such a central part in what made "them" special. It's such a push-pull enemies-friends delicate line they've been mastering how to tread all these years. It could be difficult to find footing now that tennis no longer binds them, and their initial obvious differences (you know, the "calm Swiss maestro - passionate Spanish fighter" kinda narrative) begin to show again. I don't necessarily think this means they can't connect without tennis ever again, it's just a bit like your school friends. When you graduate, you no longer have that connection of going to class together or hanging out during recess - but the truest bonds always survived, and after a few rough years, your good friends are still there.

If I'm honest, I think they are at the point where they're a bit unsure what to do with one another but might be forced to play a bit of a part as the media has lumped them "the eternal rivals turned friends fairytale". I honestly feel like the media and public interests might have made it a bit awkward between them. You can see a little bit in their PR stuff - Rafa namedropping Fed a little and sometimes a bit tired when he constantly got asked about Federer in his post-match pressers recently, and Roger doing stuff like the letter. The letter is v generous, heartwarming, and such a loving tribute - and I have no doubt he wrote it himself but it's a v public thing that would've and could've landed better just being delivered in person directly? Or perhaps in a speech for him. But the whole social media stuff seems a bit fishy.

Of course we all don't know what he did or didn't do privately, the same goes to whether this is all really true or they are both just v busy dealing with a big change in their lives (Fed newly retired doing a gazillion sponsor stuff and travelling the world, Rafa dealing with a career ending injury and retirement) - they might simply not have the headspace --or even want-- the other to be such a significant part of their lives at the moment, as these two new things they are experiencing are something uniquely theirs.

The retirement ceremony is a whole other story I could write lots of paragraphs about (don't encourage me!). But I think if we learn something this year, I think it's that athletes unequivocally deserve personal space, and we should never meddle with their personal lives too much.

For the first time in their lives, they will now be fully retired, out of the limelight, able to enjoy all the things we take for granted (like travelling anonymously! or trying out restaurants in new cities)! It's what they deserved after giving us 20+ years of blood, sweat, emotion, and passion on the court and in the limelight. They both owe us nothing. I think if they both disappeared from the spotlight next year (albeit unlikely) or decided to just grow their friendship in private and never appear publicly together again - that is completely their right. We can only show them support and thank them for all the amazing things they did to make our childhood and our lives so wonderful.

[tigersharktheautisticseawing]

first murdle post ever, but man do I have to yap about vol 1 or else I'll explode (spoilers below cut)

So I got vol 1 back in November when my sister (whom I love with all my heart (remember this I'll yap more about it later)) saw it in an empik and was like "Yeah my autistic gay sisbling thing would love this book" and got it for me. Also fun fact, I saw the book in Empik like a week or so earlier but I decided to pass up on it in favor of books that I was sure I wanted (rookie mistake, fortunately I've got big sis to correct it <3).

Then I got to what I think was about riddle 25-30 before putting it down for like 2-3 months (Epic the musical entered my life with a bang about that time and is only now slowly letting me go from its clutches).

Now, about a week ago, if not less, I saw this book again in my travel backpack and was like "You know what? I really do want a good puzzle." and began solving it at home and bringing it to school with me.

Then puzzle 50 happened.

Up until that point I genuinely thought this book was just some loreless riddles and I didnt discover the lore for a while (before the hiatus but a good week at least from when I got it innitially), so imagine my fucking suprise when the answer to riddle 50 cointained some of the least veiled gay angst I've ever seen in a physical book. Actually scratch that, the least veiled gay angst I've ever seen in a physical book.

So I was like "holy shit I gotta go on ao3 right fucking meow" and found many a fic with the lovely oxymorons ship (well, as many as our sadly ridiculously tiny fandom can produce) and began a-reading.

About that point I started seeing stuff like "spoilers for riddles 75/95/100/etc" and I was like "man tf is happenning in riddle 95 dawg"

(side tangent, I solved the irratino+mr.shadow plot twist in like riddle 61 or whichever was the one where shadow was the culprit with the "fammiliar laugh". Fun enough, just before that in the very same fucking riddle I noticed that we are given different information on mr.shadow at different times and stockpiled the info I found, which left me missing only his height, and upon seeing the phrase "fammiliar laugh" my neurons fucking fired and I frantically skimmed the book to find that one case around 36 with Irratino as a suspect to find his case file and sure e-fucking-nough all the info matched except for the missing height, which couldn't match due to being missing, and I was this close to screaming out loud (which I couldn't cuz I was in some class at the time))

So I work my way through chapter 4 like a champ, the autism helping for once, feeling proud of myself for basically never needing hints.

Then case 91 rolls around and I get hopelessly stuck.

It was last weekend when I was at my dad's house (split custody) and I genuinely could not figure out the suspect statements, even after using the hint, and was so close to just checking the answer that I decided to just take a break.

Then, on what I presume to be Monday, I got it.

It was late but my night owl mind was sharp and I was kinda embarassed for not figuring it out earlier, but hey, autism was cooperating for a suspiciously long amount of time, so my defeat shouldn't've been a suprise at all.

Then, between 11 PM and 1 AM I solved cases until case 97 (it was late at then and I was fucking tired (pretty sure I had to go to school at 8 am as well)) and had fun

And when case 95 rolled around I was really excited to see my boys hanging out finally and bonding further, but the detective code made me really curious.

So, somewhere between the witching hour and 1 in the morning, I painstakingly flipping what seemed to be the entire fucking book back and forth for every letter I needed to decode. I was extremely excited to find the answer, and giddy because I love a good mental challenge.

I got the gist of the message about halfway in, but refused to believe it until I got the whole thing decoded.

"[on zaczął] się w nim zakochiwać"

"[he started] to fall in love with him"

I was so close to screaming, because I genuinely expected the oxymorons to be this thinly-veiled thing that isn't ever stated outright but is also never denied, and yet here I was, staring at the words that seemed to burn into my retinas with their simplicity and message.

And, as the dust settled in my brain, one thing hit me.

Holy shit it's canon

I finished the book in its whole glory on a PE lesson on Wednesday, and immediately knew I needed to get the second book right fucking now.

Yet, poland continues to be poland, and as I input the book into my Empik app to find which store has vol 2, I am met with the answer of Westfield Mokotów, which is about an hour away by public transport. Coincidentally, that same trip by car happens to be only about half that time, leading me to devise my epic plan

Ask Mom if she'll drive me there

If yes, let Mom drop me off and get the book (success!)

If no, go there by public transport and get the book myself (longer, but still success!)

Well, after my mom came home literally as I was writing the texts to her, I presented the plan, which got interrupted by Mom giving me three pieces of information:

That mall is close to my mom's workplace

She cant get me the book today, but she could the next time she'll be working stationally (she works from home most of the time to take care of me and lil' sis and the dog better + it's more convienient)

My big sister's workplace just so happens to be not far from the same mall as well

So, plan now revised, I go to my chat with sis and ask her.

I did not even start typing the actual logistics before she agreed to buy it for me. Not to drop me off there, not to take the money from me so it's like I'm buying it anyway, but to actually buy it for me.

So, after writing something along the lines of "OMG TYSM ILYSM!!!!!! <3 <3 <3" and her writing back that she'll get it on Thursday when she goes to work stationally again, I walk away on could nine and go scrolling this very tag for content of my precious idiots.

Thursday (today) rolls around, and my day is okay. Math test first period, but I'm math autistic so I came in late and finished first, instead of english the six of us in our split class group go listen to a lady present a powerpoint about forest day to some year 0's (zerówka) and then chill (I'm mostly filling in the spots in vol 1 where I haven't written out the murdlers by word yet).

Then, two lessons from the end, we have commonroom period (godzina wychowawcza, with your assigned class teacher yapping on about something). We didn't talk about anything since there was a poem contest due Friday and our Polish teacher guilted homeroom teach into letting us make the poems (I wasnt making one, but like at least two people did and there was a grand total of like 12 of us so yk), and towards the end of my lesson I started feeling weird. I went to the bathroom and felt cold, so I grabbed my coat from my locker, and yet I still felt cold. And not oh-no-too-cold cold, but I-am-having-a-fever-so-everything-else-seems-cold-by-comparison cold.

(Forgot to mention, but just before commonroom my sis texts me that she got the goods and that I can just drop by and pick it up anytime. This is important for later.)

Then, just before WOS (wiedza o społeczeństwie, it's like politics jr and stuff), I ask my teacher to let me go to the nurse. Long story short, waited 15 min for her to tell me I'm fever-free, so I got back to class, still feeling queasy, and do the lesson stuffs (fortunately it was just a question sheet that our teacher was just actively telling us how to fill in and giving us good grades for that + 2 quizzes on knock-off kahoot, so it was chill)

Back at home I'm feeling queasier than ever (plus dog almost gets run pver by a bike on the fucking sidewalk right in front of the gate to our house), so I take my temperature, and, wouldn't you know it, 37.8C (deep in fever territory for the americans).

So I text my sis a pic I took of the thermometer with the caption "Me sick".

AND THAT ANGELIC CREATURE FUCKING DECIDED TO DROP IT OFF TOO!?!?!?!?

Like, our next texts were just me saying variations of "TYSM ILYSM <3 <3 <3 <3" cause she was doing me so much favors this week oh gods

And now as I sit here, unstarted yet vol 2 under my arm...

I CANNOT FUCKING WAIT TO START!!!!!

Happy to be her with y'all <3

[bluescluesposting]

Even though this blog is mainly Blue's Clues and Blue's Clues accessories, I want to give a special happy 30th anniversary shout out to two other Nick Jr. shows, I love- Gullah Gullah Island and Allegra's Window!

Both shows were part of a big revitalization for the Nick Jr. block in 1994, with mascot Face introduced about a month before. Blue's Clues also started development around this time, and can easily be considered the start of Nick Jr.'s "golden age".

Gullah Gullah Island was a really important show for so many kids. It was one of the first preschool shows to have a black family front-and-center, and put a strong emphasis on their culture. A big step in representation- and as a white kid growing up in a small town that's more diverse now, but SUPER white in the mid-90s, it was so important for me to see media featuring kids and families of different backgrounds. It was important then and still important today- I REALLY wish the Nick Jr. channel could still show reruns of it (and by that I mean, reruns at times when kids would actually be awake to watch it, not 3 AM), but at least it's on Paramount+ (knock on wood...if they took Allegra off who knows what classics are next). I bought all the DVDs of it a few years ago before they were discontinued and I'm proud to own the soundtrack album. The songs in this show are great, by the way- I think my favorites are "Friends and Family", "P-L-A-Y", and "Move Your Body". And the theme song might be the biggest ear worm theme in Nickelodeon history (rivaling only CatDog). You can find the entire series on the Internet Archive for free!

Allegra's Window might not have been as influential or important as Gullah Gullah Island- there were a LOT of puppet-based musical shows on in the 90s- but it was still a great show. It emphasized getting used to new situations (such as starting daycare), which can be hard for very young kids, and put a heavy emphasis on music in general- which actually was pretty important as this was right around the time a lot of elementary schools were starting to cut music programs as a cost-cutting maneuver. This show had SUCH a fun aesthetic and I loved the puppet and costume designs (I've cosplayed as Lindi before and I'm pretty sure Encora was an influence on my own personal fashion style). Every Jumbo Pictures show has always had such a fun but calming feel to it. Not just Allegra, but Doug, PB&J Otter, and 101 Dalmatians: The Series as well. The songs are also really good and feature a lot of Broadway-based talent writing them (as well as the human actors performing some of them!). Sadly this one slipped into obscurity; it wasn't reran as often as Gullah Gullah Island and ended abruptly during production on S3 thanks to Jumbo Pictures getting bought by Disney. Paramount+ also took it down last year for unknown reasons (among all the Nick content taken off, it was the only one over 15-20 years old- most of the removals were from the late 2000s to now), but the entire show is on the Internet Archive.

So happy 30 years to two great shows! And once again, I miss Nickelodeon Studios a lot. The shows from the Florida studio just had such a specific feel to them no matter the show or target audience (I get the same feel I get from AW and GGI that I do from Clarissa Explains It All or Legends of the Hidden Temple). I'm so glad to have grown up with this era of Nick.

[dearheart42regenerated]

MOTORCITY SEASON 2 MASTERPOST

once upon a time, over 10 years ago, just a few months after the announcement that Motorcity was officially canceled...the creators of the show took pity on their heartbroken fandom and gave us several glimpses of what season 2 might have been like. they saw how much we loved Motorcity and gave us every scrap of info they could at the time, so that we could use those scraps to imagine our own personal "Season 2" - whether it continue on in our fics, our fanart, or simply our own heads.

I'm making this masterpost so that none of this material will be lost or forgotten, and so any fanartists/fic writers still hanging around today can use it for inspiration. if there's any related material I've missed, PLEASE feel free to add it in a reblog or let me know in my inbox! I want this list to be as complete as we can make it! :)

--

The Season 2 That Never Was: A Comprehensive List

Motorcity Season 2 Rough Intro "Scratch audio by our very own Chris P." (x)

-> backup download

--

Season 2 Writer's Wall posted (and later deleted) by @chrisprynoski on twitter, and shared on tumblr by @peopleofmotorcity, these pictures of the writer's wall showed us a "rough sketch" of what could have been, and gave our imaginations SO many fun theories and possibilities to play with. every blurry sticky note was a treasure to us. :')

-> original tumblr posts: x x x x x x x x x x x x -> image masterpost -> google drive folder

--

Chris Prynoski's Fan Interview + Tumblr Q&A's this whole interview on youtube is a delight to listen to, and Part 2 in particular has some interesting bits about season 2. (skip to 17:10 for some good stuff about Texas and Chuck's backgrounds!)

-> Part 1 -> Part 2

Chris P also answered several juicy season 2 questions on tumblr. sadly his blog is deactivated now, but you can still read through all of them at the links below!

-> image masterpost -> google drive folder

--

Capri Chilton - Mike Chilton's long lost big sister! I can't remember where or when it was first revealed that they were considering giving Mike a secret older sister, and I haven't been able to track down the origin. that being said, when it was revealed, the fandom loved the idea so much that they begged the creators to make it canon. Chris P busted out the "magical canon stick", gave us this delightful concept sketch, and "Capri Chilton" was born!

--

The Motorcity Series Bible "To help you all understand what it is you are reading, this is the material that Titmouse used to help pitch Motorcity, and it was also a tool for writers to use when coming up with episodes to help understand who the characters were before there was any other reference. That being said, this was one of the very first documents about Motorcity, so many things have changed or evolved from these early concepts." (x)

-> original tumblr posts: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 -> image backups -> PDF download

EDIT: the COMPLETE series bible has now been leaked by Lost Media Busters on X (Twitter) and helpfully shared by @waksworldrebooted!!

--> here is a google drive download for the full PDF file!

--

Motorcity Series Bible - Redacted Version (Pages 1, 2, 17, 19, 20) funfact: @peopleofmotorcity was the official? unofficial? tumblr blog for Motorcity, and it was run by a guy named Mac - an animator for the show who loved to tease and joke around with the fandom. before revealing the actual first 13 pages of the series bible, he posted this censored version as a prank - a mix of truth and trolling! it's up to the fandom to decide which is which. ;)

-> original tumblr posts: 1 2 17 19 20 -> image backups -> PDF download

--

MTV Era Motorcity Masterpost a fantastic collection of glimpses into the original pilot/pitch trailer that would evolve into the show we know and love today, found and compiled by @waksworldrebooted. "In 2000, Chris Prynoski pitched a cartoon called Motorcity. He made a card and a website promoting the show, which wouldn't see the light of day until the Walt Disney Company got their hands on it."

--> tumblr masterpost (including wayback links to the old website) --> twitter sources from Chris P himself :)

--

Motorcity Unaired Pilot - 2009 Disney Version Originally aired during Comic Con 2012, the pilot was recorded and then posted on YouTube by Allison Simmons in July of 2012, later being privatized in 2022. The video was re uploaded onto VKVideo 22 days after its original posting to YouTube and is still currently available to watch online. (x)

--> backup download --> also viewable here!

--

if I find more material, I will add it here! :)

[blehblarghblah]

Update:

Hey, it's been awhile since I updated y'all!

There was one ask I got a blue moon ago about Magic Between the Moon & Sky, and I will sadly report that I do not see myself updating that series for the foreseeable future. I didn't want to be one of those authors who make a 100 oneshot series then stop, but I am just not a fan of TDP at the moment so it's hard to really find the passion to write for a fandom I'm not in anymore.

I also know a good many of you are wondering about Loyalty & Light but I can confidently say that there is nothing solid yet. Another batch of twenty chapters is a lot for me and it will take a long while for it to get up and kicking. But I am still working at it. Don't be afraid to keep asking about it or to send asks! The comments I've been getting are a great inspiration!

Meanwhile, for The Most Undoing Thing, the final two chaps are coming! Regardless of season 2, this does not change the development of the fic at all. TMUT was always set in a post-season 1 only AU formula. I hoped to finish it before season 2, but alas, I did not. That said, I am immensely appreciative of the surge of love and attention toward TMUT. I guess a lot of people are aching for some Mama Jinx after Isha, huh? ( >ヮ<).

So when's TMUT coming out? Well here's a rundown:

Arcane/Legends of Runeterra, Mama Jinx AU, multi-chapter story (Title: "The Most Undoing Thing"). Chapter 19 sometime January.

The Owl House, Lealtad Noceda big sister/beta sister AU, multi-chapter story (Title: "Loyalty & Light"). Season 2, chap 21-41 in development!

The Owl House & The Ghost and Molly McGee crossover, crossover AU, multi-chapter story (Title: "The Light and Molly McGee"). Still in development!

Halloween fics: yeah I got delayed, so I'm gonna aim for 2025 Halloween now hopefully...

Once again, all is subject to change of course. Between uni, my newfound interest with D&D, and personal matters, it's hard to find time to write. But I still wanna write! I love writing fics and I miss posting 'em. Fall sem is done and I am hyped to write. As always, if you're interested in these fics, I have a few asks or posts about them that you can find via tags!

In other news, I will officially state that I am now ceasing use of FFN or Fanfiction.Net. This doesn't mean I'll delete my account and all stories up there, but for the future, I will not crosspost anymore fanfics on FFN. With all the issues it's had over the years, and a new wave of scam mail, I'm just tired of it. I'm sad too, because I'm aware of the recent traction I've been getting on there as well, but I'm afraid I'm just too tired of it.

So, I'm only using Ao3 from here on out. Sorry to all you FFN users, but I hope you can find the leniency to at least follow my stories on Ao3!

By the way, tags with “bleh update” keep track of all incoming fic posts! And check out my Fandom Masterlist to see what I’m into! Also Here’s all my Fanfics!

That’s all for now. Stay safe and take care all!

Until next post,

- Bleh

[lucy90712]

hey can u write angst with fermin?

I moved to Barcelona a few months ago but I've been so busy that I've barely explored the city my days have consisted of going to classes then going to my internship with a big law firm and then on the weekends I'm also at my internship as I truly want to learn as much as possible about what it's like to be a lawyer. Today however I actually have a day off so I'm going to explore all the tourist attractions in Barcelona and take in the city I now live in. My friends and coworkers have given me recommendations so my schedule is packed today but that's how I like things to be I love being busy. 

The first places I was told to visit was camp nou and the Barcelona training ground so that's where I went. I'm not hugely into football because my ex from a few years ago used to play and we broke up because he wanted to focus on his playing career so I’ve avoided football as not to be reminded of that time. As much as he has put me off football I feel like being here is as good a reason as any to get back into it seeing as the football team is so important to the city. My plan was to just look around as much as I was allowed to but when I arrived at the stadium they were doing tours so I took the opportunity to have a guided tour. The whole place was so cool and they had so many trophies and pictures from history and they had pictures of all the players now most of which I didn't recognise but there was a few that my friends had mentioned to me. 

After the tour I was really hungry as the tour took longer than expected so I found a little cafe nearby to stop at. Luckily it wasn't too busy there was only a few people in there and then one guy came in after me. Once I ordered I looked at the guy who walked in behind me and if I had my drink I would've spit it out because I recognised him straight away as one of the Barcelona players on the wall. I couldn't remember which one he was so I frantically searched Instagram then found out his name was Gavi which is one of the players my friends have mentioned as they think he's hot. I can't lie he's definitely attractive but he's a famous footballer so I'll just admire him from a distance. I was minding my own business until Gavi moved closer to me and started talking to me. 

"Hi I'm Pablo sorry to disturb you it's just you're so beautiful but I don't recognise you have you recently moved here?" He asked 

"Hey I'm y/n I moved here a few months ago but this is my first free day to explore" I said trying not to freak out 

"Well I'm glad you chose to come here can I get your number or your Instagram or something and maybe I can show you around at some point" he said 

I gave him my number and my Instagram and then we both went on our way. 

Fermin's POV 

Gavi came into the locker room with the coffee he always gets us both before training but this time he had a big smile on his face bigger than usual. Something had definitely happened before he got here and if I had to guess I think he met a girl that he likes because he has the same smile as the one other time this happened but sadly things didn't work out with his ex. 

"What happened at the coffee shop did you meet a girl" I teased him 

"I did her name is y/n and god she's the most beautiful girl I've ever seen" he said 

That name brought back memories as my ex was named y/n. We dated a few years ago now and I broke up with her because I wanted to focus on football but I can't lie I have missed her a lot over the last few years. One of my biggest regrets is breaking things off with her as she was a lovely girl, smart and beautiful but I imagine she has probably almost forgotten about my existence in the three years we've been broke up. 

"Here's her Instagram isn't she just so beautiful I want to ask her on a date I just need to figure out what she would like" he said showing me his phone 

Instantly I recognised the girl as my y/n. From her posts it's clear that she's moved here for law school and has been working with the biggest law firm in the city which doesn't surprise me at all because she's the smartest person I know. She's also had a major glow up she was gorgeous before but now she might be perfect. I wanted to tell Gavi to back off because she was my ex and I still love her but I can't do that to him or her I can't stop them being happy just because I made a stupid decision. Still I think he should know that we used to date so that I'm not hiding things from him especially if she tells him at some point. 

"Oh I know her from back home we dated for a few months but I broke up with her to focus on football" I admitted 

"Oh I didn't know you had an ex from back home" he said 

"Yeah but it was three years ago so don't worry about it she will have had other boyfriends in the mean time don't let me stop you if you like her" I said trying to sound genuine but it hurt to say 

"Thanks man I'm just hoping she doesn't have a boyfriend right now" he joked 

~~~~~~~~~

3 weeks later 

I've been sat in my car for the last few minutes waiting for Gavi as we are spending the afternoon at my place playing fifa. I saw him approach the car and he had a big smile on his face which he often does but his smile seemed bigger than usual. He sat in the passenger seat still grinning ear to ear which means that something has happened that he's excited about. 

"What's going on with you you never smile that much" I said 

"I went on my first date with y/n last night and it was amazing and she just text me asking if I'm free tomorrow to go on another date" he said 

"That's great man I'm happy for you" I lied 

Secretly I was hoping things wouldn't work out between them and they wouldn't get past the talking stage but that was foolish of me. Y/n is a great girl and impossible not to love and Gavi is a good guy too deep down I knew that they would get along really well but part of me hoped it wouldn't be the case. I want to see Gavi happy but it hurts that it's with the girl I'm still in love with. Don't get me wrong I knew y/n would move on but I thought it would be with someone back home not my teammate and best friend but that's probably what I deserve for breaking up with her for purely selfish reasons knowing it would hurt her. 

For the rest of the day Gavi didn't stop talking about y/n and how well they get on. He showed me pictures from their date and told me all about the messages they sent to each other. All I was listening to was the stories she told him about her life since I last spoke to her. Just like I thought she would she's turned out to be incredibly successful she always wanted to be a lawyer and now she's here studying law with a full scholarship and an internship with the best law firm in the city who have already got a contract ready for her once she passes the exam to be able to practice law. When we were together she was always focused on studying and being the best she could be and she always wanted to do the things she's doing now and I promised I'd be right there with her when she did but instead I'm hearing about it from my best friend instead. 

~~~~~~~~~~

1 year later 

It has been a long season but a successful one ending with winning the league which feels amazing. To celebrate we are all having a team party at Robert's house all the team and their partners are invited as they've been through the stress of the season with us all. The party started an hour ago which is when everyone was supposed to arrive by but Gavi is yet to turn up. A few of us have text him but got no answer so naturally we started to worry but just as Pedri was about to call someone to see if they knew where he was he arrived with y/n. They have been together officially for 10 months now but she never comes to team events as she's often too busy and Gavi says she doesn't like being around loads of new people which I knew already so it doesn't surprise me. She was clearly nervous as she was hiding behind Gavi and I could tell he was squeezing her hand even from a distance. 

"I'm so sorry we're late guys y/n had her graduation this morning and I insisted we go out to lunch with her family to celebrate so it's my fault" gavi explained 

"Congrats y/n" Robert said 

"I thought you had another year left" Pedri said 

"I did but I managed to graduate early as I've done all of my required classes" she explained 

"Thats amazing well done" Pedri said 

The two of them joined the party not leaving each other's side for a while until y/n came to sit down in the only empty seat which happened to be next to me. We've seen each other a few times in the time she's been dating Gavi but not exchanged anything other than a few words. She never seems bothered by me being around its clear that she doesn't have any feelings towards me anymore like I do for her. I wish I could get over her the way she got over me but I can't because I know it's all my fault. 

"Hey congrats on your graduation I always knew you'd be super successful" I said talking to her for the for time since we broke up

"Thank you it's been hard work but completely worth it" she said

"How have you been by the way?" She asked 

"I've been good things have been good with the team I'm enjoying playing at Barcelona" I said avoiding the topic of my love life 

"How about you?" I asked 

"I've been great life has been treating me well I've got a good job lined up and Pablo has been helping me through everything thank you for not being weird about us being together I know you guys are friends and I promise it wasn't my intention to date one of your friends because I'd hate to get between you two" she said 

"It's ok I wouldn't want to get between anything if you guys like each other it's not my place to get in the way of that it's been long enough since we were together it doesn't matter anymore" I said 

"Still I appreciate how cool you've been with it all" she said getting back up to go and find Gavi

I thought talking to her would make me feel better and I could move on and let her and Gavi be happy while I find someone else but that didn't happen. It just made me wish I could be the one to celebrate all of these things with her I would've loved to have been there at her graduation or be one of the people she called about getting the job she wanted but I'm not that person to her anymore. She used call me first when she got grades back on any exam she took and now I don’t even make the list of people to tell at all and that hurts even if it is because of my actions. 

~~~~~~~~~~

A few years later 

The venue was filled with amazing decorations and people there to celebrate the special day the day that should be a happy one for everyone attending but not for me. Today is the day y/n and Gavi get married this date has been planned for months and I've been trying to ignore it hoping it would go away but here we are. Over the last few years their relationship has blossomed I secretly hoped that they wouldn't last but deep down I knew they were meant for each other. They've done everything together and if I wasn't still in love with y/n I'd admire their relationship and how perfect it is but I can't get over my feelings. 

I still remember the day Gavi announced that they were engaged, over our summer break they went away together and he proposed to her on a private beach during the sunrise with a beautiful ring and a bouquet of her favourite flowers. Everyone else was so happy for them but I just sat in the corner of the locker room thinking about how that could've been me and how I let her go. The wedding quickly became the talk of the locker room especially once a date was decided and invites were sent out it was supposed to be a perfect day and so far it has been. 

Soon enough everyone was seated and music began to play as everyone entered the venue at the end of the train y/n walked down the aisle with her dad. She looked like an angel her dress was pretty much moulded to her body and her makeup was just perfect. You could've told me she was a model and I would've beloved you she looked that amazing. She had a big smile on her face as she saw Gavi at the other end of the aisle with tears in his eyes which reminded me that I'm just here as a guest and she's not smiling at me. As the ceremony went on their smiles only got bigger and then it got to the part where they say their vows and there I wasn't a dry eye in the room. Most were crying because of how beautiful the words were but I was crying because I was thinking about what I would've said to her or what she would've said to me if it were us in this situation. 

Once the ceremony was over I had to find somewhere else to go to get myself together I thought I'd be ok and I would be over my feelings by now but I guess I'm not. If only I'd been brave enough to stay with her when I wanted to focus on football this could've been us. She could've moved to Barcelona with me and then she wouldn't have met Gavi that day in the cafe and who knows where we would've been. It doesn't matter what could've been because it's not going to happen it's time to accept that she will never be mine again and be happy for her and Gavi as they start a life together. 

[the-fictive-haven]

So here we are with yet another all-call for fictives, introjects, kins and the like from the Sonic the Hedgehog universe! Because guess what? I've been gaining my canon memories back!! Mainly searching for my canonmates but any sourcemates are so welcome to interact :)

I'll leave a description of myself/my memories and my story below the break! If you happen to remember me or anything sounds familiar, please please please shoot us a message! Especially Sage or Ivo please I miss you guys ;-;

Hi! In this life I go by Yami. I don't remember my original name, sadly. I am the twin or younger sister of the late Maria Robotnik. I share many of her physical features - blue eyes, blonde hair, fair skin, and so on, - and was blessed enough to be born perfectly healthy and never contract the same illness as my sister. I stayed on the ARK voluntarily to be by her side and wanted to help our grandpa (Dr. Gerald) search for a cure for her.

He experimented on me. I don't recall many details of this, but it undeniably happened. As a naive kid I had no idea what was truly going on, I trusted him blindly. I would turn out to be the precursor - and catalyst - of Project Shadow, after breakthroughs in working with alien DNA brought about new opportunities for research. I was given a prototype of what would become known as inhibitor rings and told never to take them off or the consequences would be dire.

I would aid Dr. Gerald in his work on Project Shadow, quickly becoming attached to the new lifeform and beginning to doubt the morality of what we were doing. But I was a kid. I couldn't do anything about it. All I could do was reach out to Shadow once he finally gained consciousness and offer support, which I did. All of my time was spent with him or looking after Maria.

Of course all good things must come to an end. Long story short, ARK raid, G.U.N. bad, lost my sister and Shadow and I were separated. Gerald had a plan to preserve the three of us but the execution was very botched, and I was the only one successfully secured and placed in stasis while my best friend was carted off to prison island. Fast forward somewhere between 45 and 50 years, a certain blue hedgehog stumbles across me and wakes me up. He was cool and all, but the moment I met Ivo I knew who I'd end up siding with. Don't get me wrong, I'm not "evil", but hey.. another Robotnik, another curious and ambitious scientist who might be just a little crazy. We clicked, what can I say?

From then on I'd live with Ivo in his lair, helping out like I did for gramps. I was sort of a neutral force here. I didn't hurt anyone or let anyone be hurt. I sided with Ivo but ultimately became friends with Team Sonic as well. And then, we discovered Shadow was in fact alive, and busted in in what was essentially a giant middle finger to the people who'd taken so much from us, taking my best friend back.

(something something Sonic Forces, don't remember that part of the timeline and I'm not sure it actually happened)

Then the time comes for Ivo and I to make a trip to the Starfall Islands to do some investigating around the ancient ruins there, and some cyberspace shenanigans ensue. I may or may not have gotten a little distracted by the Koco (they're adorable, okay?) before running into Sage, who'd already encountered Sonic doing Sonic things and activated the Titan Giganto.

God I miss Sage. Naturally we were on the same team, trying to save Ivo from cyberspace (and prevent the world ending big bad from doing world ending big bad things). She was the smartest, sweetest, most curious AI, and while she followed her directive strictly we got along fine.

Then we get to Sonic trying to take down the Titan. Spoiler alert, it's stronger than it was in the game. He almost fucking dies. But seeing him get hurt flipped some kind of switch in me. Remember the inhibitors I mentioned earlier? For the first time in years, I cast them aside, recklessly following the voice of instinct inside that told me I needed to do something. And holy hell, I'm powerful. It was really exhausting though, I could only really maintain control long enough to stop Sonic from becoming a hedgehog pancake on the ground and retreat before passing out. Sage found my rings and I had them back on as soon as possible. See, they work differently than Shadow's; they suppress whatever abilities I have completely rather than regulating it. And yes that was an intentional move by the doctor. He didn't want anyone finding out he'd shoved black arms DNA into his human grandkid for obvious reasons. But I digress.

The last thing I remember chronologically there is gradually exploring my powers there on Kronos Island. I was terrified, not gonna lie. But Sonic has a way of putting people at ease. god I miss him too. In what felt like no time I was learning to control and use my new abilities. I could move pretty damn fast! Not as fast as him of course, but it was fun to try. That's such a beautifully fond memory of mine, it makes me so happy to think about.

And there you have it, basically everything I remember about my past life. Sourcemates, canonmates, please I am begging you our messages are open and we will give you our discord! Just ask! Thank you <3

[cringefailvox]

15, 17, 19 for the meme! Dealer’s choice! You can do the same fic for all three or you can do different ones, whichever is the most interesting. (Aka I can’t pick… you have so many tasty fics.)

15. talk about the characters' struggles & how you decided on those.

sometimes you scrape and sink so low

this fic let me dig my teeth into husk for the first (and hopefully not the last) time!! a missing scene post-ep5 because i've been thinking about the hallway scene ever since i watched it and feeling CRAZY. i earnestly believe that husk and alastor consider each other friends of a sort, even despite the soul ownership, and so this fic delves into husk struggling with the aftermath of alastor betraying him like that -- he thought he'd known the rules, known how to play the game, and here alastor goes overturning the board on him in a way he never had before. it was a profound breach in the status quo between them that leaves husk rattled and hurt. but alastor doesn't want that either; he wants husk to respect him, but he doesn't want husk to genuinely fear him, at least not in any personal sense -- being afraid of the radio demon mythos is one thing, but he truly doesn't want husk to take the hallway incident as their new normal.

i'm so endlessly fascinated by their dynamic mostly because of how ooc that scene feels. as in, neither of them are at their best: alastor is stressed and irritated out of his mind already from lucifer's presence + husk does what he does best and instantly zeroes in on someone's sorest spot to drive his point home = alastor violently lashing out at him in a way we've never seen him do before. it sucks! husk was just trying to look out for him! but we knew that conversation was never going to go well. this fic was definitely a lot of wish-fulfillment for me skjfghjkfd i really wish we'd gotten some kind of resolution with them in canon.

17. talk about the fic's ending. why did you end it where you did?

The Diving Bell

after a sweet and sappy closing scene, vaggie ends with a note of defeatism -- she'll tell charlie the truth about what she is someday, if charlie ever asks, but until then, she'll savor what she has until it's inevitably taken away from her. it's a bummer sentiment but it felt true to vaggie's character; she hates herself so deeply and so strongly that she's convinced charlie would hate her too if she knew the Truth -- the big, ugly truth at the core of her that makes her unworthy of anything but being useful to charlie. she knows it's inevitable that the truth will get out someday, but she isn't optimistic about how it'll go. so i wanted to end this fic on that feeling of mixed happiness/dread, where vaggie thinks she knows how this story will end, but intends to cherish what she has while she's allowed to keep it. girl let's get you so much therapy.

19. while editing, did you kill any darlings? what were they?

dragging its tail in the sea

i had to rewrite one section of this like three times to make it flow well and sadly had to cut this hilarious line:

it was just a touch too bitchy for the melancholy tone and i couldn't get it to connect to the rest of the scene, but man it still makes me giggle. and who knows, someday you all might get to see it given a new home in static shock since i gave bird custody

[ask-the-splitmind-au]

The Talk

Unfortunately, with the switch in drawing equipment and the chaos of my life lately, the end to the sliver arc was done in writing instead of art.

I want to wrap this up so I can start answering asks again, and so I can eventually bring in my next plot idea, but until then, enjoy the read.

(A tl;dr of the lore impact will be beneath the writing!)

There they stood.

The two lovers, now in different bodies, face-to-face at last.

Suns approached carefully. Why were they so scared to do this? Sliver loved them. She wouldn't hurt them . . . right?

They'd been out of touch with each other for so many cycles. It had felt like an eternity since they'd last heard her voice. They had been desperate to see her again.

"Sliver," they breathed. None of this felt real. It was all one big dream and they'd suddenly wake up, and she'd be as unreachable as she was before.

"Suns."

Hearing her voice made them want to cry. To run into those fluffy arms and never be let go. Screw everything else, how everyone wanted them to make Sliver go away, they wanted to be with her.

They had been dreading this moment from the start. They had been given a goal by the ones they wanted to call friends. The slugcats and iterators that their specimen had befriended. The goal was simple enough in theory.

Force Sliver into hiding and make sure she can never come out again.

Suns was the only one they thought she might listen to.

Sadly, they knew that the others were right about it.

"Why have you damned yourself to this place, my love?"

They froze.

There was no answer to her question. No thoughts in their brain. Everything had been removed just from hearing those words again.

"My love," they echoed, speechless.

She took a step forward. Her paws made no sound, cushioned by the soft fur that grew all across her slugcat's body. Her new form was considerably weaker, but everyone had seen it's power now.

"I had a plan for us," Sliver whispered, getting even closer now. "We would have been together at last. We would have left this world together."

She turned her head as her eyes closed. Suns saw the bright glimmer of a tear across her cheek. "Now look at us. We're still just as far apart as when we started, and now I'm trapped here forever."

"No, no, I'm here." Suns lightly placed their paw on one of hers. It was soft, warm, and absolutely perfect. "I'm here with you forever. We're in this together."

Sliver's breathing started to shake. "Oh, Suns, I love you too much to let you go like this. It wasn't supposed to go like this! Nobody was supposed to get hurt!"

"Nobody is hurt, Sliver. Especially not me." They wished they had a mouth to smile with. To comfort her and love her and give her the kisses they never could before.

But I can't now, and I never will be able to.

"But someone is hurt. Someone of value." Sliver hiccuped as she tried to formulate her words. "All of our friends- Omen and Epoch, and those long-distance ones you had- I want them to be my friends again! I left so suddenly, with no chance to explain any of it, that surely they all hate me now."

"I don't hate you, Sliver. Nobody hates you."

That was a lie.

They could tell Sliver knew it too.

"Please. Nobody's exactly been throwing any parties for me."

"Except Wind. She was pretty happy to hear about you."

Sliver rolled her eyes. "Ancient tongues, I still don't understand what you tried to explain about the whole mess I caused. Hearing people call themselves 'Sliverists' sounds like there was a cult about me."

"To be fair, it pretty much was, my Sliver of sunshine."

Her eyes widened. "My Sun peeking through the clouds. You remember our special nicknames!"

"Of course!" They said, a little frantic. "I never forgot you! Nothing about you!"

"Oh, oh, that means so much to me!"

In an instant, Sliver suddenly wrapped them in a hug. Her fur was so soft, like silk and wool together, but warm and perfect. It wrapped around them like a blanket.

They loved it.

"Suns, I've missed you so much," Sliver said, crying. "I was so worried about you every second of every moment. You never left my thoughts. You've always been the most important thing in this world."

Their heart melted. This was the love they'd missed for countless cycles. The last pearl they'd exchanged had been so long ago.

Suns' tail tensed. The others had the plan neatly laid out. It was either talk her down, or . . . well, the host body always got control after a death.

. . . I can't do this.

"Sliver, I have to tell you why I'm here. Right now, talking to you." They took her paw and pulled it close to their chest, almost right to where their scar was.

"Any-" Sliver gasped. "Your chest! Oh, what happened to your vessel?"

"It's my specimen. Or even, my offspring, if you would like to refer to it as such." Suns sighed. "I'll explain everything later, okay? But, right now . . . "

Silence.

Suns trailed off. What could they say to her? Was there anything to say at all?

"Right now . . . what?"

They felt their eyes watering. They should've removed their creation's tear ducts in the early planning stages, but it didn't work out.

"Sliver, you have to run. Run away from the others."

She looked heartbroken. "I can't leave you, Suns. Not again!"

"I can't leave you, either, but-!" Suns burst into tears. They didn't know how to explain this. Words fumbled in their head aimlessly, stringing together sentences that hardly made sense. "These are my friends! My friends want me to kill you! They want me to kill my one and only girlfriend! Do you see why this is so hard for me?!"

She was silent.

They were silent, breathing hard through flared nostrils.

"Please. I can't choose. I can't decide between you and my friends."

"I won't make you."

Sliver stepped forward and brushed her paw against their cheek. It was chilly, but soft, and they reached out to hold it there.

"I love you, Suns."

"I love you too, Sliver."

She smiled, and closed her eyes.

Suns waited and watched, pulling her into a hug.

"What's happening? Who did she hurt?!" Saint shouted, panicked and shoving themselves away from Suns. "Suns? Are you okay?!"

They nodded slowly. "Fine. I just . . . Want a moment to myself. Spears can entertain you."

And they left, back to a dreamless sleep, thinking of their love.

Hoping she'd return someday.

------‐---

Tl;Dr: Sliver peacefully gave control to Saint, Suns and Sliver are back on now that they know they're both alive, and I can finally answer asks again.