#now for the tag ramblings that actually go with this post:

[aceofbooks-creative-anthologies]

I still haven't posted anything about ace x senku (because fuck him), but I'm thinking about how that ship handles our dynamic.

Fundamentally, ace x senku and mikace are the same exact ship. INTP x INTP at our very worst. Competitive and methodical and lofty goals and misunderstandings and over analyzing motivations.

But where mikace becomes very codependent very quickly, even just as friends - ace x senku is forced apart right when we would have become codependent, and have to grow as individuals separately from each other. I think Senku is dead for a good while. Senku has to learn how to work through his blocks without me there to bounce ideas off of.

Which is why Ryusui is an important part of ace x senku. I have to learn to heal from Senku's "betrayals" (yes, plural) and Ryusui provides the love and understanding for me to do that. Ryusui grounds me and shows me a different way of viewing the world. I haven't figured out our break-up yet, but I know that it's going to be amicable and as friends. Ryusui is going to realize that the person I need, now that I've grown and healed, isn't him. And he'll be okay with it because he just wants to see me happy.

Mikace doesn't learn how to exist without each other. We break up every other week. We make our friends pick sides. When we're younger (17/18) we get into cat fights. More than once, we've both ended up with black eyes and sprained wrists or ankles because we thought a sparring match would help solve an argument. We do eventually grow as individuals, but all of our growth happens much too late in the relationship and only after a dozen or so interventions, led by Takemichi.

So yeah, mikace and ace x senku are the same ship, fundamentally. They both bring out the worst in me, and I believe I'd bring out the worst in them (this is also why mikace is exclusively final timeskip). But because of a correctly timed Tsukasa, ace x senku is a much healthier ship (when we get there, eventually; it's pretty toxic for a long while after the empire is dissolved).

[maybe-a-gatto-or-a-catto]

Okay like but. the FUCK. Tenna modded a game where you kill everything in your path like the genocide route and the weird route. And he turns it into something palpable. Something fun. He tries to get the fun gang away from the "left over parts" where you find the fucked up stuff. He DISCOURAGED you from exploring further, hoping you don't find the fucked up stuff. He has censored it, even

While Spamton ends up ENCOURAGING to continue going on the weird route. He gave you the thornring, after all. Kill everything in your path, manipulate Noelle to make her "stronger". The man uses that killing streak for his own plans. He doesn't censor shit

I AM THINKING AGAIN. ABOUT . HEY SPAMTENNA WAS WRITTEN UNDER THE HAYS CODE (this is a link to an analysis post, check it out now)!!!! TENNA CENSORED IT. SPAMTON ENCOURAGES IT!

And now I'm thinking about Device Theory. Molly argues that Deltarune is sort of a push and pull between linearity and unlinearity. There are things that try to keep you on the intended path, but there are also things that make you break free from that. Spamton wants to break free from his strings, of course he'd encourage you to go on the weird route, to get off the intended path. Tenna is the opposite of that. He WANTS to fulfill his purpose. It's all he wants to do. He follows the intended path. Spamton? He doesn't wanna be spam email. He doesn't want to be pushed around by things outside his control. He wants to be a real boy! So he tries to find another path. While Tenna planned out one single path you have to follow in his game boards. Ramb comments on that fact, and then he invites Kris to play the original game, the one with freedom. Y'know, The One that has the WEIRD ROUTE. And now I'm thinking about superficial freedom and how that's what Jevil feels and what Spamton gets and THATS WHAT THE WEIRD ROUTE IS YOU TRY TO FIND A DIFFERENT PATH BUT IT'S NOT A REAL FREEDOM AND YEAH!! OKAY!! Molly has once again been proven right!! Device theory is the GOAT!

and also it's ironic that Tenna avoids his death, his "fate". His being alive is what proves the final tragedy can somehow end up better with kindness. Recruiting everyone is the only way he doesn't die. His other fate too, obscurity. He doesn't get thrown away in the end. But that still follows the prophecy. While Spamton has to deal with being a goddamn puppet, stuck with strings, no freedom. Even after trying to change his predestined use as a puppet

And like okay. Tenna and Spamton are opposites in that sense. One endorses the intended path while the other endorses the secret alternate path. One doesn't gets his worst fate while the other does. FUCKED. UP.

And I'm thinking about how in ch4 WEIRD ROUTE Ralsei wonders at the end that a different ending from the prophecy could lead to something even worse.

Spamton. Spamton didn't want to be spam email. He's the one that has the key to the weird route. The thornring. Guys. GUYS. HE GETS A WORSE FATE THAN SOMEONE WHO WANTS TO STAY ON THE INTENDED PATH AND HE INDIRECTLY CAUSES A WORST FATE!!!!!!!!!!

[radioroxx]

i hate you ai generated pet video. i hate you ai slop channels that feed off easy algorithms. i hate you deepfake programs that steal ppls face and voice to promote scams

[oh-no-its-bird]

On top of everything else that's happened in the last month or so

(girlfriend breaking up with me / me running off in the night w the friend I was supposed to be maid of honor with bc her (now ex) fiance came home drunk and scared us, while ofc we also both were in swimsuits and had like NO money or even shoes due to incredibly poor timing / Getting stuck in Dallas for TWO MONTHS longer than I meant to be due to bullshit work transfer systems (and admitedly my own inability to remember that deadlines exist) / that same friend going BACK to her shit boyfriend alone to a city 4 hours away from anyone she may call for help if things go wrong / me now no longer having a place in dallas to stay for these next 2 months bc I was SUPPOSED to stay with that friend but her bastard boyfriend doesn't want me in his house anymore bc he knows I'd tell his girlfriend to dump his ass)

I have now lost my fucking house keys.

Anyways I may or may not be way less active for a bit so this is the formal apology and explanation for that. Sorry guys, we are NOT going back to ur normally scheduled rapid fire ninja content as promised for like. A minute. Possibly. We'll see. Sometimes my own motivation wave surprises me.

Tbh it's my own fault for daring to become a fanfic author tbh. Should have known the "sorry I didn't update, my house burned down teehee <3" curse would come for my ass

[thevalleyoftriumph]

[reupload] copycat

[rowyndodendron]

guys I've cracked the code:

Zagreus: high wisdom, low intelligence

Melinoë: high intelligence, low wisdom

[fourth-dimensional-thinker]

Marty McFly + 5 songs that I associate with him:

"I Can Survive" by Triumph "Never Give Up" by Sammy Hagar "Finally Found A Home" by Huey Lewis & The News "Summer of '69" by Bryan Adams "I Wanna Go Back" by Eddie Money

[shanklin]

Okay okay but thinking about one of the things that finally gets everyone to realize they messed up in that Relativity Falls AU being when Stan points out that for all they say Stan never visited them, they never visited him either. And maybe if they had they would have noticed something was wrong.

Selfish Shellfish AU - Masterpost

YES!!! That's about what I had in mind.

I've been thinking about Ford, Mabel and Dipper going to New Jersey to find Stan and investigate what really happened. 

Stan wouldn't just kill Filbrick and then disappear right? There must be a different explanation.

But as it turns out no one in the neighborhood is actually surprised at that turn of events.

Filbrick pulled Stan out of school and has been working him to the bone, forcing Stan to not only work at the pawn shop but also other part time jobs. No one is sure when Stan actually slept.

And the way Stan was always bruised up and injured even though he quit boxing a long time ago.

At least the bullies stopped bothering with Stan when it became clear that he wouldn't react to anything they did and just take it.

Interviewing the neighbors be like: “Oh that poor sweet boy. He would always help me carry my groceries upstairs. Good riddance that Filbrick died! He had it coming. I’ve tried to call the police on him but they just came out shaking that bastard's hands instead. Pigs, all of them. I hope he made him suffer!”

[psychopomp-namine]

yingdu episode 5 spoilers

ohhh my god this is everything I want from cheng xiaoshi. yes. perfect. sorry, but I'm a cheng xiaoshi whump liker and link click always brings out the best of them in episode 5 of each season.

there's just something cathartic about how when cheng xiaoshi becomes an emotional mess, it's also when he's most disconnected with the people he knows (physically, as he's diving in a photo and his only link to his home timeframe is a disembodied lu guang in his head) but it's also when he's most connected with strangers (when their own personal trauma lines up with his). to me, it's a showcase of empathy and a strange manifestation of his own agency. something about how the disconnect gives him the space to blow up, and the connection heightens it and grants him permission, almost, to express his anger more freely for his own sake and for another person's behalf.

like. listen, okay, I'm gonna ramble now because cheng xiaoshi is my favorite character in this entire show, but listen. sometimes some fans will conflate adjectives to his character that are usually associated with his character archetype, but they aren't necessarily true about him as a character. and I don't mean it in a, "he's not like that because he grows out of those traits" kind of way. I mean it in a, "he was never like that" kind of way.

one of those adjectives, for me, is when people call him immature. he isn't! to me! imo! he's got big emotions, yes, but I personally don't think the presence of big emotions indicates anything about maturity. because you know what? as long as his primary trauma (feelings of abandonment) isn't touched, he is very good at handling interpersonal conflicts, and that's what's interesting to me.

qiao ling hides relevant information from him? he removes himself from the situation to give himself space and sort out his feelings. he tells her he's fine and that he'll be back.

post-earthquake arc? I'll just copy paste what I already said in a previous ask:

what initially got me was when I was first watching S1, I thought the earthquake arc would have devastating effects on [shiguang's] relationship. listen, I didn’t know what I was getting into with link click, but I thought that was expected. it’s ripe for drama! but how do they handle the fight? they put their side business on hold but they still keep being roommates. they still do their day job. they still talk. they’re still upset but they give each other space but not to the point where they can’t stand existing in each other’s spaces. that’s when I realized that oh, they really trust each other. they have a very solid foundation for their relationship that not even the earthquake arc can break. they’re pretty level-headed about this, actually, all things considered? all the doomed yaoi stuff came later, but that’s just the cherry on top. it’s the way they handled conflict and disappointment in S1 that got me.

okay, protect-namine, why go through that whole tangent? BECAUSE! circling back to yingdu episode 5, we finally, finally get to see cheng xiaoshi let out some of his anger. and it's precisely because his primary trauma point was on the table. he can forgive a friend lying, and he can forgive being told not to change the past. because at the end of the day, qiao ling and lu guang stayed. they never left him.

but he cannot handle abandonment. he cannot understand why people leave. he cannot understand why he's been clinging on to false hope this entire time. and more importantly, he cannot understand how someone can be such a hypocrite about it. "a man who'd rather be kind to strangers than face his own son" like fuck man. cheng weimin you fucked up so bad.

it's the disconnect/connect thing again too. thematically, it makes sense. when does cheng xiaoshi blow up? when he's alone, far away from the people that ground him. alone, the feeling he hates the most. he's not even in his own body. he blows up when he's inhabiting a stranger's. he doesn't even get to be angry as cheng xiaoshi.

how fucked up is that. man. I love him so much.

also I'm going crazyyyy over the family themes going on in link click. much to say about the show itself across all seasons (the twins, qiao ling and cheng xiaoshi, even the liu siblings), but for this episode... god. okay this is slight speculation territory now and I'll try to keep this very short, because this is only tangential to the post. but. imagine xia fei getting the good parent figure in cheng weimin that cheng xiaoshi never had. and he doesn't know!! he's bitter inside about his dad and he's having hotpot with xia fei and he doesn't know he was in that school!! fuck that's so good. that's so juicy.

okay, sorry, I have a lot of feelings about cheng xiaoshi. he's my link click blorbo of all time, and I love when he experiences The Horrors™ because it's also when other sides of him gets to shine.

on a brighter note:

VEIN AND CHENG XIAOSHI MEETING AGAIN!!! their greeting was so cute. also omg does xia fei know? that his boss is maybe possibly a cannibal? actually, wait, I don't think I'd be surprised if he does know.

ah and finally. finally:

I've been having many thoughts on how yingdu approaches "friendships" and their transactional nature (mostly with regards to liu xiao) but I mostly thought they're headcanon stuff. but now. I'm so so happy that episode 5 is bringing out more of the quid pro quo theme. liu xiao with the gift giving. wang qing's "friends" (bullies) demanding her to cheat on the exam for them. and now, vein and cheng xiaoshi having a friendly greeting but also exchanging favors. so good. so good. it goes along with how there's so much handshakes and handholding this season (not just with lu guang and cheng xiaoshi, but with cheng xiaoshi and the the antagonist trio too, who have all met him by "helping" him in some way). something something trust and favors. probably something that deserves its own post though, but I wanted to point this out because I am soooo here for that. it's goes hand in hand (ha!) with the whole fraud/lies vs innocence/honesty theme this season, and deals/contracts being an equalizer to the two. very good. very tasty.

edit: ooh they also point to this in the YE6 trailer too. nice, nice. if you knew someone's true colors, would you still be their friend?

man, I love episode 5. it just hits all the stuff I personally wanted to see. the only flaw is that we still haven't seen the older version of wang qing, but yeah I kinda expected that they'll hide her until episode 6. they're giving her the liu xiao treatment from season 2. sigh. really wish she'd keep showing up in S3, we need more female characters in this show 🙏

[uhbasicallyjustmilex]

x

[madbard]

I have so many thoughts about post-canon human Loop, many of which revolve around their acting skills and adjusting to having a face again.

They got so used to fake-smiling during their loops but at this point it’s been… however many months where not only did they not have a mouth, they also weren’t talking to anyone but another version of themself. Not too hard to be mysterious and unreadable in that situation.

But for them to be human again and have access to the full range of expressions that come with that is such a funny idea for me because no way they are being mysterious now.

Imagine they’re traveling with the party and stumble across something triggering. The party asks them if they’re ok and they respond with the classic “I’M FINE (in severe distress)” Siffrin smile and everyone’s faces just drop.

Siffrin: “… does it really look like that?”

Odile: “Essentially, though this is somehow worse.”

Loop, hiding their face in their hands: “WHAT?!”

[fantasykiri5]

Day one messing around in an esmp1 world download trying to put functional interior rooms in the Mezalian Matral Palace: it’s hard and difficult :(

[aworldofendlesswonder]

oh hama bead sg-1 we're really in it now

[faislittlewhiteraven]

Fais fanfic rambles: Introduction to my 'Selkies by Starlight' ISaT AU

Note: Not to be confused with @looped-140-and-counting / Soren_793's wonderful Selkie AU oneshot series 'The Northern Islanders are Selkies' which was hugely inspiring for this if potentially VERY different in vibe (we got very into talking about cloaks! XD)

Basic premise/summary:

In an alternate version of the precanon adventure, the party lead by Mirabelle to stop the King freezing Vaugarde in time, recruit Siffrin as per usual.

Thing is, Siffrin is a Selkie.

A very skittish selkie without a cloak of their own, who openly wears the cloak of another, and due to Reasons is under the impression that the party know all both of those things and the Implications about them, and for whatever reason have decided to welcome him into their group anyway.

Which er, he's completely wrong about as the party know absolutely nothing.

Mira and Isa like most Vaugardian humans think 'shifters' are just fairytales, Odile knows shapeshifters are real but is only really familiar with how foxes like her father work, and Bonnie is actually able to sense some pretty major things but is a preteen dealing with a lot and hasn't even joined the party yet, so this pretty major misunderstanding is sustained for quite a while...

Cue the AUs' main focus being on the resulting party dynamic shifts as more and more canon divergence due to Sif's 'selkie stuff' (both cute and serious) comes into play, the party slowly realising something is up, and all of it hitting an eruption point right around the time of the 4th Orb/the loss of Siffrin's eye...

Some key world building notes: (Note: very summarised from my docs. I have like 20k+ words on this stuff XD)

The Island - Probably the most drastically different thing from canon here, the Island was not forgotten or erased here. Rather it is hidden away and permanently shrouded in Wish Craft generated fog from 'those without cloaks'. Side note: Sif is still unable to return home and continues to have some very plot critical memory problems but those are due to unrelated issues, which means yay I get to have Sif talk 'home culture' with the others in this =D Also idk why the King is freezing Vaugarde still. I've got a few ideas I'm not sure about and he's not in focus enough for it to even matter really, but random suggestions -especially those with possible selkie motivations- would be very much appreciated.

Selkie powers in my setting - Went into something of a deep dive regarding selkie folklore for this and did you know they have an absolute ton of seer/oracle based stuff going on?

From selkie being summoned by their human lovers shedding seven tears into the ocean, to a selkie man telling a former lover that he and their child will die at the hands by her genuinely good and loving future husband, to a selkie woman forseeing her fisherman husband about to die out in a storm just in time for her to swim over there and rescue him, etc.

So... Yeah. This AU has a lot of plot relevant sensory/seer stuff going on as well as the standard seal shapeshifter stuff (Islander selkie traditionally believe it to be the Universe talking with them, in the same way Wish Craft is talking to the Universe), and going off all the stuff I read decided it'd be most fitting if the general rule for how it all works is: - Selkie always passively have a bit of it going on (aka Sif's canon 'you sense someone nearby' stuff) which like most things can be enhanced with Craft use a bit. - Near perfect understanding of all 'connected' bodies of water (aka they know EXACTLY where the tasty fish are/will be and can probably get a general sense of location for most people on a boat) - Potentially get strong 'visions of the future' and/or instincts on what they need to do to avert an outcome when it comes to loved ones being in danger/distress.

They also maybe get to pull very fast, high power Wish Craft 'curses'/miracles' at idk, the cost of something major like their cloak or lives (mostly based off of the The Legend of Kópakonan where the whole island of Kalsoy was cursed with death by a selkie in retaliation for her husband and children being murdered) but not super attached to this idea past it being in 'seal shifter' stories in-setting.

Other non humans in setting and regional differences in shifters - Pretty much only selkie and selkie issues are in focus here, but just as a general thing, all non humans in setting are shapeshifters and originated from human ancestors who went crazy with the the Body Craft and/or used Wish Craft in some way.

Ka Bue in particular has a ton of them since yokai, with their origins being various sects/clans back in the warring eras going so nuts with trying to weaponize Body Craft (super soldiers, enhanced life spans, infiltration, exploiting attraction to furries, etc), that after some particularly high profile incidents (for an idea plz see: Kiyohime, Tamamo no Mae, Kachi-kachi Yama) and 'Body Craft misuse leading to shut down of the brain/vital organs' being the most common cause of death for 10+ years once peace time was established, eventually Ka Bue's authorities set their foot down and banned Body Craft altogether.

Currently the shifter population in Ka Bue is around 30% of the population, shifters are required to have ID regarding their forms (or potential forms if they're merely 'half'), and it's considered distasteful for a shifter to be in non human form outside of private settings/necessity and even ruder to ask a shifter about their non human forms if they haven't brought the topic up yet first (kinda like seeing/asking about someone's underwear or something XD).

In contrast the Vaugarde, Mwudu and Porteria region is extremely shifter sparce, with most of its original shifter population being the result of various Universe worshipping peoples (mostly small groups, like greek mystery cults) deciding to use a big Wish Craft ritual as some sort of religious rite and becoming shifters as a side effect of their primary Wish (usually stuff like 'we wish for us and our descendants to be one with You and the sea/air' or 'may we Change with the phases of the holy moon' etc) which granted them some pretty neat skills but also tended to come with some 'potentially nasty' drawbacks attached (see: selkie and swan maidens with their cloaks, werewolves Changing in both body and mind etc) Which er, lead to some issues born of lack of knowledge about this stuff, later some very nasty anti shifter sentiment in the region, and then around... IDK 200 to 300 years ago or so ended up exploding into violence and other very nasty things, with most shifters able to do so fleeing the region, and those that couldn't either enduring horrible conditions until they could escape/died or went deep into hiding, with the Island's Country being founded by the two later groups who used Wish Craft to hide their new home, erase awareness of their existence from their enemies (a short term, fully intentionally 'forgetting' blast centered specifically around shifters), and developed a LOT of culture and traditions regarding when, who and what can be told to 'outsiders' about themselves, Wish Craft, etc in order to keep their people safe.

There are shifters living in present in Vaugarde of course (anti shifter sentiment died back a LOT after most people stopped thinking they were real, and most modern day Change Believers are more likely to view these 'totally fictional/allegorical' beings as children/messengers of the Change God rather than 'evil demons who stole power by tearing apart the Change God's cloak for themselves and thus have to be hunted down and made to repent' propaganda take that was everywhere back then) but numbers actually living outside the Island as opposed to merely visiting remain low, since either the shifters know their history and stick firmly to their 'stay secret' traditions or quickly pick up on how oddly unknown shifters are around these parts and decide to err on the side of caution... Also 'trust worthy' humans who do learn about them (usually northern coastal folk, gee wonder why) tend to help cover them up so... Yeah =D

---

And... Yeah!

This is hella long as is, so will stop here and ramble about the actual 'how this all affects our beloved Sif and Co plot and culture wise' stuff that is the actual meat of the AU in another post later, but hope this made for an interesting/idea provoking read, know that I have no issue with anyone using any of this for their own works (just please, don't use the 'Selkies under starlight' same story name unless it's actually a fanfic/fanart of my 'hopefully soon has a chapter/one shot up' fic/Ao3 series of the same name so people don't get confused), and I would love to chatter with you about any thoughts/questions you might have so...

Wishing you a good day =D

(sighes in relief finally getting this post finished after literal months. Pheeeeww~)

[awakeandlonely]

was gonna start the marcille part of this but i didnt want to draw kuras and im tired

also tumblr did the thing and wont let me upload the actual file so hopefully if you click on it the res is better cus over here it looks shit >:(

[unlikelyapricot-art]

an old drawing of velvet that never saw the light of day :)