#pretty decent progress i’d say

[saetoru]

we are halfway to pre farming for shenhe 🫡

[ddarker-dreams]

play wrestling — blade.

Embarrassment doesn’t find you easily.

To experience embarrassment implies a degree of self-awareness. While you possess some, it’s decreased significantly compared to your earlier years. Such is the natural progression of life. This is why you felt free to act on a little impulse, initially uncaring of how it’d reflect on you.

However, faced with two eyes as crimson as freshly spilled blood, you can’t help but do some reassessing.

“… What are you doing?” Blade asks, dryly. You feel the low rumble of his baritone voice against your palms, which you’ve splayed against his chest. His neutral countenance doesn’t give much away. According to your peer-reviewed scientific analysis, he alternates between three expressions — apathy, irritation, and wrath. There is an additional secret one for when it’s just the two of you and he doesn’t think you’re looking.

From what you can tell, you’ve landed yourself on the apathetic side of the spectrum. You can work with that. You’ll commit to the bit.

“Besting an intergalactic criminal in combat, obviously,” you scoff, faking a bravado you don’t have.

“Hm.”

“…”

“…”

Is he not going to do anything to free himself from this position?!

Blade had silently slid himself next to where you sat on the floor, playing with your phone. This unique opportunity activated a primal part of your brain that probably should’ve stayed in the vault. You wrangled him down. Now, he’s lying flat on his back, with you sitting victorious atop his lower abdomen. Long strands of his black hair fall along his side, painting a pretty picture. You suppress the urge to run your hands through his silky locks. That can come later, you have an objective to achieve.

“Are you finished?”

“Wh— well, no,” you frown. And here you thought he might indulge you. “You have to, y’know, fight back…?”

He raises an eyebrow and you want to groan.

“But I’d win.”

The declaration is made like it’s a foregone conclusion. Which, if you’re being honest, isn’t wrong. Still, he should give you some credit. You can hold your own in a fight! Maybe you’re not waving-around-a-three-thousand-pound-ancient-sword good, but you’re decent enough. He’s no fun. Kafka would’ve played around with you.

“How can you be so sure— eek!”

He grabs you by the shoulders and flips you around, reversing your position. Despite the immense speed he used, your head doesn’t hit the ground hard like it should’ve. He cushioned the impact by essentially cradling the back of your head with his hand. This is why you never believe him when he denies being a ‘secret softie.’ You know the truth.

“This is how,” he says.

You pout. “Did I at least put up a good fight?”

His silence speaks volumes.

After getting his fill of how nice you look beneath him, he climbs off you. The second you’re no longer restrained, you begin your counterattack. You lunge at him, intending to pin him down, only to feel the cool leather of his gloves against your wrists. You struggle valiantly to regain your freedom. All this does is amuse him further.

“We’re pretty evenly matched, right?” You ask, beginning to grow breathless from the energy you’re exerting.

The corners of his lips twitch upward.

“Mhm. Right.”

[persevereforahappyending]

A Legacies Secret |9|

Pairing: Tara Carpenter x Reader

Summary: You just wanted a happy life with your girlfriend but then Ghostface attacks, revealing long thought to be buried family secrets.

Warnings: Canon Typical Violence, Stabbing, Blood, Fighting

Word Count: 2.5K+

Main Masterlist | Series Masterlist

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15

You stormed out of the house, slamming the door behind you. You couldn’t believe them, you weren’t surprised by Amber, that was actually completely expected, but the others, that hurt. You weren’t the biggest fan of them, they weren’t the biggest fan of you, you didn’t ever think they’d actually think you’d hurt Tara, that you were capable of something like that. 

Mindy was the movie expert, that was her thing, but she didn’t hesitate to back Amber up. The second Amber accused you, Mindy was right there, giving her accusation logic, even if it was all bullshit. Then the others just sat there silently, letting them accuse you, not a single one of them stood up for you, none of them even tried to argue in your defense.

You got to your car, slamming the door closed and aggressively turning the key. You pulled out your phone, quickly calling Tara before peeling out of the driveway. You sped down the street, not bothering to pay attention to how fast you were driving. 

“That was quick,” Tara said, answering after only two rings. 

“I never should have come,” you said, coming to a hard stop at a stop sign. “This was pointless and a mistake,” you hit the gas, speeding down the street again. 

“What?” Tara asked, concern clearly in her voice. “What happened?” 

“They think I’m the fucking killer!” 

“What?” Tara whispered in disbelief. 

“Fucking Amber!” you smacked the steering wheel. You were sure Tara wanted to say something, but she stayed quiet. “No one disagreed! Actually, Mindy, gave them all a fucking reason!” 

“Are you okay?” Tara asked, still as calm as ever. 

“No one defended me,” you whispered. “Not a single one of them. They all just listened to Amber and Mindy. They actually think I’m the fucking killer,” you let out a humorless chuckle. “Even fucking Dewey!” 

“Dewey?” Tara questioned. Tara didn’t know Dewey personally, but you had told her about him. It took some time to open up, but you didn’t have secrets, she knew all about the shit you got up to when you were younger. You told her all about your run ins with Dewey. 

“Guess Sam brought him in for advice,” you shrugged. 

You unclenched your jaw. It wasn’t a bad idea, Dewey used to be the sheriff, he had been involved in all the previous attacks. It made complete and perfect sense that he’d be the best person to bring in. You couldn’t believe he actually questioned you though. After all the years, you figured he’d know you well enough by now. He knew all the shit you got up to, he was the one that always brought you in, he never arrested you though. He was too much of a good guy, you always got a slap on the wrist and a warning. 

You were pretty sure he pitied you. He thought you were some broken, abandoned kid, someone who needed saving. You guessed eventually something stuck because your junior year is when you started to turn everything around. You hadn’t talked to him since the last time, the summer before junior year, you only saw him some nights at the bar, and he’d just give you a little nod, then usually a decent tip when he left. You assumed he saw the progress you made, that you were trying, that you were doing better. Out of everyone, you didn’t think he’d look at you like that, he wouldn’t hesitate to question you. You guessed you really couldn’t trust anyone though, that when it came to Ghostface everyone was the enemy. 

“Every last one of them,” you said, shaking her head. “They all think I’d actually hurt you.” 

“Well, if it’s any consolation,” Tara whispered. “I know you’re not the killer and that you’d never hurt me.” 

You gave a small smile, that’s all that mattered to you. It didn’t matter if her friends, her sister, the police, or the entire fucking world, none of it mattered if they were against you, as long as Tara still believed in you. “Thanks,” you whispered, much calmer than before. “I’m going to stop home, shower,” you looked down, wrinkling your nose, “and change. Then I’ll be right back by your side.” 

“Okay.” You could practically hear Tara smiling through the phone. “See you soon. Love you.” 

“Love you too.” 

Almost as soon as you hung up with Tara you were arriving at your apartment. As soon as you parked you ran into the apartment. Your apartment was small, it was cheap, but you could afford it. The only real downside to the place was that it was across town, meaning you had to shower quick so you could get back to Tara sooner. 

Despite just getting off the phone with her you shot Tara a quick text, telling her you arrived at your place. You unlocked your door, mindlessly tossing your keys onto the coffee table like you always did and kicking the door closed behind you. 

You made your way to the kitchen, tossing your phone on the small kitchen island, and opening the fridge to see it practically empty. You sighed then grabbed a bottle of water. You always told Tara to eat properly, you used to make sure she always had dinner and didn’t rely on snacks, and yet you couldn’t even keep your own fridge stocked. You let the fridge door swing closed, then brought the water bottle to your lips. 

You quickly took the bottle away from your mouth when you heard your phone begin to vibrate, figuring it was probably Tara. You furrowed your brow when you saw it wasn’t Tara but a number you didn’t recognize, with a different area code. Your finger rested over the screen, you knew Ghostface’s thing was calling people, but it wasn’t an unknown number, and it wasn’t Amber, or anyone else you knew, like it had been with both Tara and Sam. You shook your head then quickly tapped the red ignore button. 

You finished off the water and tossed it in the trash. You froze when you heard a slight creak, then you slowly turned around, your eyes scanning across the small room, your keys were still on the coffee table, but your front door was slightly ajar. You grabbed your phone and slowly began inching your way towards the door. You stopped when you passed the small hallway that led to the bathroom and your bedroom, narrowing your eyes but nothing looked out of place, your bedroom door was open, like always. 

You gripped your phone tight as you got closer to the front door. You strained your ears, listening for anything or anyone who might be on the other side. You held your breath as you reached for the door, then you whipped it open, being met with an empty hallway. You peeked your head out, looking left and right, seeing the same dimly lit empty hallway as always. You let out a shaky breath, shaking your head as you closed the door, making sure to lock it this time. You were clearly getting too paranoid. 

 You turned to walk back to the kitchen, but your eyes widened as Ghostface stepped out of the hall, tilting his head as he looked at you. You didn’t even have time to process the fact that Ghostface got into your apartment and hid down the hall while you were just in the kitchen, you heard the door creak yet didn’t hear someone moving through your apartment. 

You backed up, instantly hitting the door. Your hands fumbled, feeling around for the lock but Ghostface was on you before you could unlock the door. You dove out of the way just as Ghostface brought their knife down, impaling it in the door. 

You nearly tripped over the coffee table as you made your way back to the kitchen. There wasn’t much space, so you turned around, putting your back to the sink and cabinets, facing Ghostface head on. Ghostface ripped their knife out of the door, quickly closing the space between the door and the kitchen. You knew your apartment was small, but Ghostface was standing before you in seconds. 

Ghostface swung his knife, which you instantly dodged. You reached across the stove, grabbing a pan, it wasn’t ideal, but you needed something to defend yourself with. Just as quickly as you grabbed the pan, you dropped it when Ghostface brought his knife down, slashing down your arm. 

You lifted your arm up, hissing as you watched the blood pour out of the wound. You put your other hand over the cut, trying to stop the bleeding a bit, if you survived you were sure you would need stitches. You couldn’t focus on your injury too long though because next thing you knew you were ducking, just as Ghostface’s knife swooshed over your head. 

You jumped back as Ghostface swung their knife at your stomach. 

They swiped at you again and again, each time you just barely dodged the knife. 

Ghostface raised their knife high but as they brought the knife down you instinctively raised your hands, catching their arm as they tried to stab you. 

You held their arm back, using all your strength to keep the knife as far away from you as possible. Ghostface used your distraction at trying not to be stabbed to push you back until your back hit the sink. 

Despite being pinned against the sink you continued to fight back. With the two of you pushing back against each other you eventually both fell to the floor. Ghostface ended up on top of you and began pushing the knife further towards your chest. 

You gritted your teeth, ignoring the burning in your arms and the way blood continued to drip from your cut as you kept the knife up with your hands. You began kicking with your feet, hoping to get lucky, you needed just one good kick to get the upper hand. 

You couldn’t get enough force to kick Ghostface hard enough, but you ended up getting your legs tangled up with theirs, allowing you to flip them over. During the sudden change of position Ghostface lost their grip on the knife, allowing you to rip it out of their hand. 

With all your strength you took their knife and began pushing it towards their chest, exactly as they had done to you. You were much more aware of them now that they were underneath you, they were much smaller than you imagined. 

In all the stories, in the interviews, in the movies, in literally anything you had ever seen or heard, Ghostface was always talked up as this large dark figure that loomed over you. You couldn’t help but wonder if Ghostface was always tall or if the terror and their mere presence made them seem larger. Ghostface always seemed to tower over people, no matter who it was, the victim always seemed small against Ghostface. 

You narrowed your eyes as you stared down at the white mask, you could just barely make out eyes behind the mask. You couldn’t tell who it was, you couldn’t even make out an eye color, but there was a familiarity, you knew the person behind the mask. 

You gritted your teeth, using both hands you shoved the knife down harder. Ghostface was holding you back, both of their hands wrapped around your arms, the one thing preventing you from shoving the knife into their heart. Ghostface suddenly let go with one of their hands, allowing you to push the knife closer to their chest. Out of the corner of your eye you saw them slapping their hand around like they were reaching for something, but you couldn’t pull your focus away from the knife in your hands. You were so close, just a little more and the knife would be in their chest. 

The knife had just touched their cloak, you could feel the blade catching on the fabric. Before the blade could go further and pierce their chest something hard hit you on the side of the head. Your vision suddenly went blurry, you shook your head trying to clear the haziness, then you felt something under you move, Ghostface had wiggled free just enough, allowing them to use all their strength to shoved you, slamming you into the cabinets. 

You blinked a few times, shaking your head slightly, trying to stop the ringing in your ears. Your vision slowly started to clear up, you looked to the side, seeing the frying pan you had been trying to grab when Ghostface first appeared, you figured that must have been what Ghostface smacked you on the head with. 

You were on your hands and knees, trying to recover. The first thing you saw when your vision finally started to clear was black boots. You lifted your head, blinking a few times, when you finally saw clearly you saw Ghostface was already standing tall, waiting to attack again. 

You pushed your hands off the floor and sat there, kneeling in front of Ghostface. They just tilted their head, watching as you tried to stand, your knees wobbling in the process, as if they were about to buckle from under you. Your legs did actually give out, taking you down to one knee, you reached to the side, blindly searching for the counter to grab onto. Ghostface tilted their head to the other side, then without warning they brought their knee up, nailing you in the face, sending you back to the floor and sliding you into the cabinets, again. 

Ghostface began slowly walking towards you, keeping his arm low as he comfortably twisted the knife in his hand. Ghostface stopped in his tracks, his head snapping to the front door. You furrowed your brow, you didn’t hear anything, but your ears were still ringing and everything was blurry once again. 

You blinked a few times, trying to get rid of the blurriness. You could just barely make out Ghostface standing over you, twisting their knife in their hands, tilting their head as they looked down at you. They crouched down, staring at you through the empty black eyes of the mask, holding their knife up so you could see it clearly, see your blood from where he had sliced you the first time dripping from the blade. 

“Did you think Samantha was the only one with a family secret?” Ghostface asked, tilting their head, as they gently ran the blade of the knife down the side of your face without cutting you. Despite the voice changer and the mask, you could practically hear the taunting in their voice, you could picture the sadistic smile on their face. 

You scrunched your eyebrows, watching as Ghostface abruptly took the knife away from your face and stood up, looking down at you. You didn’t have time to process what any of that could mean before Ghostface kneed you in the face again. Your head snapped back, hitting the cabinets again, then everything went black. 

[unpopularly-opinionated]

Beyond Barbie, I’ve watched a fair amount of movies since I last updated y’all against your wills. So many in fact that I’m not going to do a whole ass write up of each because that’s just a complete waste of time. Plus I write reviews on my Letterboxd page, but they’re not entirely fit for public consumption. But I’ll give like a one-sentence review/my thoughts of each, so here we go:

So for context, the last film I posted about in my last list was The First Omen.

Since then I’ve seen:

- The Omen: Keep that woman away from ledges, god dammit.

- Damien: Omen II: I don’t know if this movie came before or after the movie about the crows, but either way this movie did it better.

- Joker: I’d already seen this, but lately I’ve been tossing in some rewatches so I can keep a thorough log/review of them on Letterboxd. P.S. this one is still good.

- The Final Conflict: Omen III: A decent enough ending for its time, to a decent enough franchise for its time.

- Challengers: The single hottest, gayest soft core porno I’ve ever seen, fucking incredible.

- Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood: Went in with zero context, thought it was mid. Read up on the context. Now think it’s pretty OK.

- Idiocracy: Terry Crews as President of the United States, please and thank you.

- Saw I - VII: Progressively got better over time, ashamed to admit one brutal murder scene did kind of turn me on. I need help.

- The entire Pirates of the Caribbean franchise: Obviously a rewatch. First three are literally perfect. Fourth is when we start to see cracks, but it’s OK. Fifth is unwatchable.

- Ready or Not: Went in thinking it was meant to be horror, not a comedy. I was wrong. Pretty funny movie though. Neat premise. Adam Brody is hot.

- Signs: Shamalyan’s God sends aliens to kill hundreds of thousands of people because one man lost faith in him. Shit story. Liked Joaquin Phoenix and a young Kieran Culkin though.

- The Happening: Shamalyan’s God decides to make hundreds of thousands of people kill themselves because the worst romantic pairing in the universe won’t fuck.

- The Sixth Sense: Shamalyan continues to prove that he is a one hit wonder, and this is his hit. That being said, I haven’t cried that hard in a while upon rewatching this.

- Skinamarink: As someone plagued with waking nightmares, this movie spoke to me. It didn’t say much of anything at all, but it certainly spoke to me. Do not recommend.

- Slotherhouse: A dumb bad movie that knows it’s dumb and bad, and is really really good at being both, but in a good way, you know?

- Barbie: An alright cutesie movie so long as you’re willing to accept that it’s not based in reality.

Overall, I’ve been watching a fair amount of movies since my last post, and I plan to watch a whole lot more. Also a lot of rewatches as well I think.

[razorblade180]

Captain Catch Up

Aether:It’s been a while since we got together like this. What’s the occasion?

Keqing:It’s important to touch base every so often. I’m sure a few of us have things worth mentioning? For example, How’s Lyney?

Amber:I passed his training awhile ago. He’s pretty tenacious, although he still has a few things to iron out. Him and Dehya seem to get along pretty well though.

Kokomi:I’ve actually appreciated her progress a lot when it comes to supporting Miko. Nahida has given her high marks as well.

Klee:She’s very nice to me! I don’t get hurt as much.

Aether:Well Chongyun, it sounds like you’ve trained another talent.

Hu Tao:Oh brother, don’t praise him too much. He will go from blue to red in no time. Also, what’s one or two good eggs under his wing.

Chongyun:One or two? There’s three at this table! You’re one of them!

Ayaka:You do good work.

Ganyu:Thank you for your efforts. How’s Freminet coming along?

Chongyun:He’s really hardworking. Truthfully,there’s not too much to really show him aside from team building.

Yanfei:Let’s address the elephant in the room shall we? Do we think anyone should be promoted to Captain? We’ve gained so many new friends and they’ve all got talent. I’m sure a certain someone in here would like to stop being the newest member.

Wanderer: Don’t really care either way. I’m sitting here right now because it’s mandatory.

Aether:I thought you’d be happier. This is technically your first meeting. You’ve escaped it for a decent time.

Wanderer: I don’t see the point in this. It’s not like we aren’t constantly crossing paths one way or another. My work speaks for itself. As well as my thoughts on who I see as…useful.

Yoimiya:Aw, is that your way of saying Faruzan is great? You gave her a crown! You two might as well be a dynamic duo. A trio if we include Diona.

Wanderer:No comment.

Amber:Lyney isn’t ready yet, but I’ll keep an eye out.

Yoimiya:He needs a few more laps around the block for sure.

Ganyu:It kinda sounds like you two are just gatekeeping pyro archery…

Keqing:I nominate Nilou.

Everyone:Ooooo

Keqing:It only makes sense. I constantly have to coordinate with her on who got to call on which dendro user during events or abyss. Not to mention the blatant fact she has pushed beyond simply performing her niche.

Ayaka:She is constantly going back in forth with my brother. And now that Furina and Yelan are here…

Yanfei:She’s always on a roll. It really wasn’t a lie whenever she said “Every hydro and dendro has a home and forwards her ideas.”

Kokomi:I nominate her as well.

Aether:Well if there’s no objections?

Everyone raises their hands and claps three times.

Keqing:Good. I’ll tell her the news. Now speaking of Furina…

Aether:I can’t let her have the satisfaction of progressing this fast.

Hu Tao:Ha! You’re so petty.

Yoimiya:I haven’t spent the most time with her but I’ve seen Noelle recently and noticed the healers in our group really giving it their all. I think she’s earned the ego boost.

Yanfei:She’s kinda crazy Aether. I was putting up numbers.

Klee:Same!!! It’s been sooo long! I’d always call for her if she wasn’t so busy.

Ganyu:She is certainly popular. Honestly it might be better for her to stay on calm instead of being a Captain. It’s why Nahida is where she is; happily on call.

Aether:I can’t argue with that.

Chongyun:It’s not like you aren’t going to give her crown. Why act calm now?

Aether:It’s complicated. Also I think it would be criminal not to mention both Charlotte and Lynette have found comfortable footing.

Wanderer:Boasting about your own teaching?

Aether:No one’s humble all the time. Anyways, I’m sure Furina will come is wondering herself about her progress. It pretty apparent how much she’s shaken things up. I’ll talk to her.

Keqing:If nobody else has anything to mention, we can call it? I don’t want to keep you all too long.

Chongyun:Who’s Navia training under?

Hu Tao:More importantly, what if she’s good enough for Captain? Poor little Noelle might feel some type of way.

Amber:Noelle has two crowns. Although you do have a point? Maybe have Navia shadow under her for the time being? She’ll learn the ropes and it’s a new leadership role for Noelle. I bet those two will get along.

Ayaka:Isn’t that a little risky to put two people so alike together in that situation.

Amber:I trained Lyney

Chongyun:I trained you.

Hu Tao:One of you was clearly a little agitated and the other try turning in their resignation and thought they were being replaced.

Chongyun and Amber: That’s neither here nor there.

[slightlyunconventional]

more snzcanons!! but this time not for characters i was requested lmfao. in this post you will find b/oothill and a/rgenti ❤️ my beloveds

b/oothill (no grey for text? boring)

i like cowboys and i like robots. isnt that nice

also i have no idea about the logistics of Cyborg Snz. is it even possible?!? this is snzblr so im making it possible.

i can see him covering/shielding his face with his hat on occasion when he snzs

↳ and it’s probably pretty soft-sounding? not overly quiet but softer than you’d expect from someone like him

↳ “hAH’tCHSHh’uh!” <- like so, first and last syllables are decently vocal but the snz itself is not does this make sense

↳ listening really closely and you can hear some kind of static/electric sounding buzz when he sneezes. robot things man idk

he doesnt like sneezing. like he just doesn’t. like the whole being completely inhibited by it till its over, the way it feels ….. Hate

not Allergic to anything per se, but with him being metal from the neck down i’d guess he has some kind of fan system for respiratory instead of lungs??

↳ so if any irritant (mainly dust i would say? seems the only logical one) infiltrated his fans then that’d make him snz

a cold for him would probably manifest as like. malware or a malfunction

↳ so not the kind of thing that just goes away on its own. he’d have to manually fix it or get it repaired otherwise he’d be stuck not functioning properly with a side of sneezing and chills

absolutely TERRIFIES people by sneezing while shooting. but his aim never wavers, even if the snz really catches him off guard right as he pulls the trigger - it’s pretty impressive !

↳ honestly something just so beautiful about the mental image of him hiding behind his hat as a snz explodes from him at the very moment a bullet explodes from his gun ….. weow

a/rgenti

knight of beauty a/rgenti hes my wife

his snz is. desperate, kind of unrestrained (not of his own will though), and doesn’t really match his put-togetherness and elegance. often has drawn-out, stuttery buildups that he just cant help and he’s kind of a little embarrassed about it

↳ also sneezes in doubles, 100% of the time. an allergic fit will consist of several spaced out pairs of harsh sneezed

↳ “hh’haah! hheh—heH’IISHH! oh, oh— hHISHHShhiew!”

apologises/excuses himself afterwards too very polite !

covers w steepled hands; it’s kind of the only practical way since the crook of an armoured elbow isnt exactly comfortable

definitely the kind of guy to absolutely love cats but also be allergic .. lmao

↳ him praising the beauty of things as he does but in between allergic sneezes ……. hhhhh

↳ he tries so hard to appreciate these things but they’re really affecting him!!

sensitive to very strong scents especially incense

whenever he falls ill, he’s very diligent when it comes to taking care of himself - he will be getting ample rest and taking time off if he isn’t fit to travel

anyway!!!! that is all for those two i hope u liked it :) remember my asks are still open for g/enshin and h/sr snzcanons !! i really enjoy doing these and i have a few more in progress too

[anxiouslyfred]

Illogical Logic

Summary: Logan's schedule is too much for most of the sides and Remus takes a stand against it.

Author's note: I tried. This was the only way I could think to fit the idea I'd written down that seemed to fit the series as well.

My idea for this fic: Remus needs to insult/ call out Logan or maybe Patton for acting/assuming illogically to his views by saying he could take an ice bath in magma near them.

/\

The rota started it.

Remus was absolutely against Logan’s form of scheduling Thomas’s day and unlike Roman refused to listen to how warped Thomas’s logic had grown over getting his life on track. Aside from the fact that it’s trains not people that run on tracks and Remus had already been banned from trying to change that in the imagination, it simply wasn’t feasible or taking into consideration any other part of Thomas.

There were ‘allowances’ small periods of time given to claim that everyone was being considered but were never more than that; an allowance as small as possible.

Janus wasn’t upset by the rota, had long since perfected arguing in ways the logical side could understand but if lawyers are made of deceptions and convincing people to their views, then of course Deceit would be able to.

For the last week however, Roman had been over-running his allotted time, Virgil had been overworked and Patton, well he’d been trying to drag out the times scheduled for friends, and cooking as long as he could without Logan getting annoyed. They were all pushing the schedule but trying to appease the logic behind it and Remus was doing the rest.

He was stopping Thomas at any other point of the day, unsettling him and slowing any possible progress. Any time Logan turned around, there was Remus causing chaos and delays again, setting the entire schedule off.

“Enough! Everyone here.” Logan called, arms pulling up, trying to summon all the other sides at once.

“Uh No.” Remus replied, lowering them again. “I don’t think they need yelling at Loginator.”

The hands were yanked from his grasp, Logan’s eyes narrowing at him. “Fine then! You’ve been the biggest issue regardless. Your behaviour this week has been atrocious and left Thomas far behind many tasks we needed to get done.”

Remus imitated an incorrect buzzer, “The schedule is a suitcase bursting open in the airport to reveal a hundred dildos in that state that made it illegal to own more than one. Then the owner gets arrested, strip searched, sent to prison without delay for perversion and their whole life imploded. Especially their hole.”

“It’s intricately calculated and balanced by logic to-”

“If that’s logic then I could take an ice bath in lava. Let’s try!” He cheered, easily shifting the mindspace to start lava seeping into the room.

Logan blinked, straightening his glasses. “Why would you declare it illogical?” There was a tick in his head as if he was trying to withhold from screaming.

“Uh I’m here. I know illogic better than anyone. It’s my thing and you are thief!” Remus beamed at him, “So I’m thinking jail time, torture, drowning, sacrifice and test subject. Do you have any thoughts?”

“I think I’d like to hear from the others now. Perhaps ask someone else what’s wrong with the schedule.” Logan offered.

Remus tilted his head for a moment, bringing the schedule up, and the pie chart Logan had once made to explain it. “I don’t know. Their slices are pretty small. You really can’t get a decent mouthful of any of them. Your own ass would be a better bite.”

Pinching his nose, Logan nodded, snatching the pages back. “I’ll revise it, but never call me illogical again.”

“Maybe think about that debate you had with Virgil way back.” Remus agreed, “I’m thinking next week I’ll tie you in as many knots physically as you seem to have gone through to think that’s still logical.”

[hom3landr]

Hi! I hope it’s not too late for the OC asks, but 10, 17, and 25 for Baker?

Hi it is absolutely NOT too late omg!

10: What's their self esteem like?

I think Baker has a decent level of self-esteem. She’s shy and introverted but she’s comfortable with who she is. She doesn’t really feel the need to change herself. We mainly see her from Homelander’s perspective where she comes across as nervous and meek but she’s actually pretty secure in herself for the most part. It just presents differently from what people stereotypically think of when they picture someone confident. With how insecure and mercurial Homelander is, I feel like his partner would need a certain degree of self-esteem in order to offset that. She does have things she’s insecure about and as her and Homelander begin to be more physically intimate with each other that will come into play but I’d say in general she has a pretty healthy sense of self-esteem.

17: What phrase would a loved one have to say to immediately crush them?

Oooo this is a good one and is actually something that will come into play in a later chapter so I’m going to answer this question in a roundabout way to avoid giving spoilers. I think doubt would really crush her. Baker is very all in and when she’s formed a relationship with someone (whether it’s friendship or romantic) she’s pretty ride or die. So having her intentions be called into question would wound her deeply. Insults would hurt her feelings for sure but it wouldn’t be the same kind of emotional heartache.

25: Have they ever acted on their intrusive thoughts before? What was the outcome?

I’d argue that her giving Homelander the candy in the first place was an example of intrusive thoughts winning. The complete outcome is still a work in progress 😂

[8bitsupervillain]

Higurashi When They Cry Hou Ch. 8 Matsuribayshi pt. 14

I won’t lie to you, this particular section got me very excited for the rest of the story. It made me pop off in a pretty big way.

Admittedly, this pop off mention really belongs with the last part, since that’s where this conversation between Hanyuu and Takano started. It was very surprising to me, that the two were able to see each other and actually hold a conversation. It filled me with a certain energy, because this signified that if nothing else, this was it, the final showdown between these two. I was also filled with a certain enthusiasm at the significance of this scene, because this implied to me that somehow Takano was right. That because of her actions in Minagoroshi, the other chapters, and however many unseen fragments where she succeeded in pulling off Operation Doomsday that perhaps she did achieve some measure of godliness. Or so it seems to me, after all, what other explanation could there be? Unless Takano also has Hinamizawa Syndrome, and a pretty advance case of it at that, how could she see Hanyuu?

So I rubbed my greedy little hands together, relishing where the plot was going to go. I let my imagine run amok for a small amount of time, just trying to picture in my minds eye what this fight between these two could look like. I wasn’t trying to delude myself that this was going to be a mind game of the caliber similar to the ones in Umineko (I’ve been fairly consciously forcing myself to quit thinking about Umineko while reading this series).

What follows after this is seven screens with these fifty scenes you get to choose from. I admit that I was initially feeling a little paranoid about this change in gameplay. That I was going to have to go through these fifty scenes and play them all in the correct order to advance the plot with no way of knowing if I’d done the correct order until having all fifty play out. While that is technically true, the visual novel is decent enough to let you know in advance if you can actually advance the plot by clicking on a particular scene. Or if you need to have gone through one or more others until you can see a given scene. The visual novel is generous enough to let you know by hovering over a fragment what other fragments you’ll need to have gone through first. It’ll offer you hints about what’s needed to progress. While it says there are fifty fragments to choose from this is sort of a lie, because before you go through them all, there will in actuality be fifty-one fragments. Technically fifty-two, but that’s only because it makes you repeat one fragment before it lets you reach the end.

This is a bit of a spoiler for this section, but what I like about it is its relative free form nature. It doesn’t exactly force you to go through any one narrative line at a time. So if there’s a section that’s about Satoko, but you don’t want to deal with that particular plot at the moment you can instead go do a different Takano fragment, or Rika, and so on. You’ll have to go through them all eventually, but if you’re tired of dealing with the ostracization of the Houjou siblings, you can absolutely go onto a different fragment. For a while anyway, eventually, as you progress through the fragments it will start becoming more and more linear as it approaches the ending.

I was surprised, and genuinely pleased when I learned that there’s really no wrong way to go about the fragments. The visual novel doesn’t punish you for trying to jump ahead, it just informs you that the fragment can’t be connected to the ones you’ve completed so far. It also marks them off on the screen so you’re never left wondering if you’ve done any one in particular, so you’re not floundering to figure out the order. For the most part, I admit I got confused once and had to consult a chart.

A local explanatory meeting

There are several of these fragments that have this text of “This Fragment is required first.” It made sense to me to start with this one since it seemed like the more significant to the narrative.

There was a line of text when it was setting up the whole connecting fragments screens where it said that you get to experience these from Hanyuu’s point of view. I don’t know why it says this, because honestly this one fragment is the only one that you really get to see from her perspective. It hasn’t come up yet, but for the most part each fragment, with the exception of this one, and the ones toward the very end all have narration from different characters.

Something I find fascinating from these brief glimpses into the distant past of Hinamizawa is the fact that there’s no mention of the parasites in any shape. Hanyuu describes these issues of anger from the villagers of Hinamizawa as similar to the demons from back when it was called Onigafuchi. Which, again, just really brings into question whether or not the Hinamizawa parasite is an actual thing.

I guess it’s kind of irrelevant at this point, but thinking about it, this is the only real time you get to see anything about Satoko and Satoshi’s parents. I suppose it makes sense, since during the vast majority of the series they’d been dead for several years, but still, up until this point there’d been nothing about their parents other than they butted heads with the Sonozaki family and the majority of the other villagers, and then they died. I don’t think it would have improved the narrative had they been shown more, but it’s just a thing I noticed. The other thing I remember is that Satoko had called the child consultation center on this adoptive father of hers.

[thechattygoose]

Growing Up, Taking Responsibility, and Living with Intention

Growing Up, Taking Responsibility, and Living with Intention

Today, I want to talk about something that’s been weighing on my mind lately—growing up, taking responsibility, and what it means to really start living with intention. The year is 2024, and I’m 28 years old. I’ve got a solid job, great benefits, and a pretty decent life, but there’s something about getting older that forces you to start looking at the things you’ve been avoiding. For me, one of those things is drinking.

Anyone who knows me knows I’ve always been the party guy. The one my friends would call when they wanted to hit the bar or go out drinking. I’ve always had a pretty good relationship with alcohol. I don’t do anything embarrassing, and most times, I’m able to keep my cool. But recently, I had one of those nights that made me stop and think: What the hell am I doing?

A few weeks ago, I blacked out at a wedding. Thankfully, nothing crazy happened. I didn’t make a fool of myself or do anything I regretted. But when I woke up the next day, I had that familiar sense of dread. Not just from the hangover, but from the thought of what could’ve happened. It made me realize this isn’t just about one night. This is about a pattern I’ve been stuck in.

I’m not one of those people who thinks alcohol is inherently bad, but at 28, it’s becoming clear: getting blackout drunk several times a year isn’t normal. And it’s not something I want to keep doing. Now, I’m not saying I’m never going to drink again, but I’m definitely changing my approach. I’m growing up, and for the first time, I’m starting to be really honest with myself about it.

A Family History That Hits Close to Home

Here’s the thing: my grandfather, who passed away long before I was born, had a pretty rough relationship with alcohol. He wasn’t a great guy—he’d go on long benders, leaving his wife and kids behind, only to crawl back when it was all over. Eventually, it caught up with him. He died young, and that’s something I’ve always been aware of, even if I didn’t fully grasp the impact until recently.

I don’t have that addictive personality trait that he did, but I’ve seen the effects of alcohol and bad habits in my family. And that’s something I want to avoid. I’m 28 now. I’m an adult. And it’s time to take responsibility for my actions.

Leveling Up for 2025

2025 is going to be the year I get serious. Not just about drinking less, but about leveling up in every area of my life. I want to be more responsible with my finances, more productive in my daily life, and stop wasting so much time on things that hold me back, like playing video games and procrastinating on responsibilities. These are the things that get in the way of real progress, and I’m done using them as distractions.

Part of growing up is realizing where you’re falling short and taking steps to fix those flaws. Right now, I’m sitting between two worlds—half my friends are getting married, having kids, and settling down. The other half? They still want to go out every weekend, drink until they can’t remember their names, and party like it’s high school again. And honestly? I’m caught in the middle. I’ve got goals I set for myself back in high school—things I wanted to achieve by this age—and I’m not where I thought I’d be.

High School Me Would Expect Better

If high school me could see me now, I know he’d be proud of some things, but there’d also be a lot of disappointment. And I don’t want to keep disappointing myself. The clock is ticking. I’ve got less than two years before my 10-year high school reunion, and I’m not trying to show up as the same guy who’s still getting blacked out drunk and living like it’s 2014.

Now, I know some people say you shouldn’t care about what others think, and yeah, that’s true to an extent. But I’m also human, and I don’t want to be remembered as the guy who never grew up. You want to make an impact; you want to leave a legacy that people remember for the right reasons.

Your 10% Better

So, if you’re reading this and you’re in a similar place, maybe you drink a little too much, maybe you’re not where you thought you’d be, or maybe you just need that push to make a change—let this be your sign. You don’t have to make drastic changes overnight, but just do 10% better next year. Focus on one small habit at a time. Whether it’s drinking less, hitting the gym more, being more productive, or even just cutting out one time-wasting habit, that 10% improvement will make a world of difference.

Growing up isn’t easy, but it’s necessary. Here’s to being intentional, taking responsibility, and becoming the best versions of ourselves in 2025. it is time to grow up!

[tariah23]

Still unfortunate that Fabricant 100 was axed. I’d just found it not too long ago (like two weeks ago or so) and ended up binging it because I found it decent enough to do so. It was never really all that boring to me either like, it kept me interested despite its problems and I still wanted to see more of it. But it’s over now. Well… I can say that there is no shame in having your manga axed after only 30+ chapters (shit happens) and it doesn’t mean that you’ve failed or have never had the chops to keep your manga running in a popular ass weekly magazine like JUMP, either.

I can point out quite a few positives from the manga at least. For one, the art for F100 remained very fairly consistent throughout it’s short run and it was aesthetically pleasing enough for me to linger on many pages that left me saying stuff like “Ohhhhh, sexyyyyy-“ and “so cool, I need more of this!!!” Like, the mangaka’s art style was very appealing to me right off the bat and I really loved the way that they drew faces and eyes especially. I’ve mentioned this before but I can definitely tell that they’re a fan of JJK because of their style. It’s always nice to see other mangaka be influenced by their fellow peers and friends. This is just my personal observation though but you can really see it in their style (just more polished vs JJK’s more rough look.) not to compare the two but yeah.

The story was pleasant enough for me to keep on pushing without feeling like it was a drag. It’s unfortunately axed to the shadow realms, never to see the light of day again, but I’d still recommend it if you’re just looking for something that is extremely easy to digest in a short period of time. There’s a decent amount of violence (typical for what you’d find in most shounen), some heart stings being pulled ever so slightly, again, great art, and a new fav character who you’ll say deserved so much better than what she’d gotten *cough* 100 *cough* 🚬.

On to my grievances with the story itself. Well… after finishing it (I just read the final chapter a couple of hours ago), I can… sadly understand why it had gotten axed.

For one, I feel as though the plot had been a little too fast paced for the kind of story that it was for it to work? The plot could be easily followed but the story didn’t linger on the world or the characters and their lives enough to fill in the blanks, causing readers to probably not care too much for what was even going on outside of admiring the art and looking at how cool 100 was. Tbh…… Would’ve helped with developing the characters a whole lot better if the mangaka had given themselves more time (it’s JUMP so who knows how much stress they had been most likely under while working on this series.) Fast paced stories CAN work! But I feel like you’d have to be an extremely disciplined, and probably seasoned writer, to pull off such a feat: i.e Fujimoto. Not comparing him to others (it’s unfair, sorry) but he’s pretty much on an entirely separate level when it comes to how he progresses his stories and how he chooses to transition them vs his peers. CSM is handled extremely well in that regard. Sometimes, you just need to slow done your plot, the world, and characters that exist within it in order to better understand where you’d like to take it next. ☠️ Because of this, majority of the characters did fall a bit flat because we got to meet them but we never had the chance to know them as characters outside the one or two chapters they might’ve appeared in just to add a bit of action and raise the stakes of the story. The thing is, the few characters that we did meet were actually pretty alright? They weren’t boring at all to me, they just lacked a lot of importance to the story and felt like place holder for the plot’s transition from point A to point B, to point C, onto D, etc like… they all felt like they were just there to advance a scene pretty much. It would’ve been great to learn more about some of them (the siblings and Luka especially. Felt completely wasted tbh.)

The MC, Ashibi Yao, wasn’t the worst shounen MC at all, either. I felt like he’d been limited as a character though. Like, his family were known to have unnaturally long lifespans for them to just be literal humans, and could all heal themselves from most injuries despite being a completely normal family. The reason for his family’s abilities were later explained in the last couple of chapters of the manga but I felt like there could’ve been more to this? Idk, I guess it wasn’t too bad when I really think about it. But I didn’t find him using his “spark,” (enhanced abilities that the body already holds deep inside or whatever. Since his body is not normal, his healing abilities had been greatly enhanced due to him receiving a spark,) all that interesting if I’m being completely honest. Like, him just jumping around and spilling his blood in any old flashy way like that…? Eh. Would I still like to see him doing this once it hits chapter 100? No way, man. His personality wasn’t too bad though. He had some kind of bite to him and didn’t fall to much into the “uwu, soft boy MC,” category like Tanjirou for example (very boring character archetype, especially if that is all that there is to them personally wise like give me something. Deku had fit this category as well for a short while but I remember enjoying his character regardless because of how quirky he was. I just wanted to root for him ^^. I still care about a couple of BNHA characters even tho I don’t care about the series anymore. Making a character too honest can be a turnoff. You have to give them some kind of personality to go along with their pure heart as well because then otherwise, they’d just end up as your run of the mill, shounen MC who doesn’t stick out at all.) Ashibi was honest and had a good heart but he was out for revenge. And never faltered and instead, put his trust into his will to keep going and 100’s power by his side. Idk, his journey had been short but I was happy for him in the end. He got to live and start his life over at the age of 18. He was a decent MC. The mangaka just needed to give him MORE of the things that he’d already possessed is all. And cooler powers!!!

Tbh, the Fabricants weren’t all that interesting at all… except for 100 (and that one Fabricant who had started to regret what he’d done at the end of his life… would’ve been nice to run into all sorts of different Fabricants who’d probably felt differently about their origin? Maybe they didn’t want to become the “ideal human,” (forgot to mention that this was the main conflict of the manga. All of the Fabricants (false human shaped individuals who’d all been created from the corpses of dead people who’d been bombed 🗿…) had been created by a Doctor who built those very bombs (he felt bad afterwards, blah blah blah, and wanted to make amends for his actions by bringing people with the purest hearts back or whatever. But none of his creations had ever proven successful. Upon bringing a Fabricant to life, he’d immediately reject them, causing each and every Fabricant to immediately feel insecure about their right to be alive if they’re weren’t perfect or what the doctor had wanted. They were all born with the mindset of wanting to become the ideal human being. Each Fabricants strength is based off of the order in which they’d been born. The largest number meaning the strongest. The MC just so happens to travel the world with the Strongest of them all. 100. Who had been the final Fabricant created by the Doctor. She’s kind of everything actually. I think her character was just too big for the story and that she would’ve thrived if the circumstances would have been different. She was pretty much the most interesting character out of the whole story and if the manga wouldn’t have gotten axed, if the story would’ve improved enough for it to continue, I could’ve easily seen her becoming a really popular character across social media. It’s too bad. 😔❤️.

I’m done talking tbh. Would like to say more but it’s over, man. I’d still be interested in reading more of what this mangaka has to offer whenever they do decided to work on something new and hopefully, their next work will become pretty successful. Their art is so nice, it would be a shame to see such a promising mangaka disappear after F100’s axing. I believe in them!

[bvannn]

Weekly update July 26, 2024

I’m still sick. Pretty sure it’s a normal cold, not much to be worried about. It’s lasted a while but google says I don’t need to see a doctor about it for another week yet, so if it doesn’t clear up by next week then I’ll start to get worried. I’ve been a bit slower on stuff in general this week but still got a fair amount done.

Artfight is still kicking, I have a few more sketches on backlog to get done but the event was extended a couple days so I’m not too concerned about it. I’ll try to get at least one done tomorrow, because I’m trying to take it easy tonight. I want to mess with more of that watercolor strategy I tried on the one but I’m going to maybe watch a tutorial on how to use actual watercolors first. I think I’m maybe not doing the lines the way I should, and I want to use the style for a music video.

Music: I’ve been listening to my own songs the past few days and have a few that I like that either are finished or almost finished. There’s a gabber/breakcore one I want to add some samples to but I’ve had the unfinished track on loop today and yesterday, which is great. Made some progress on the SOS medley but it needs to be mixed, sound balanced, EQed, and the last chorus is still missing. RR and BATB are basically done until vocals get done, and RR has an in-progress VPR that I plan to continue on tonight. There’s also an ambient instrumental that’s done-done, but I’m waiting for next month to have time to put together some visuals for it. Got a nice comment on my last ambient piece on Newgrounds the other day so hoping this one goes over well too.

OEB has hit a point where it’s probably not getting any better than it already is, so next month I’ll get to finishing up the storyboards and puppet rig. The storyboards need to get imported into Adobe and then split up into shots, but it’s going pretty quick so hopefully shouldn’t be too bad.

Writing going decent too, got unstuck on an outline for O’Malley yesterday. I also have been outlining a first chapter for Backstage as well, seeing as Josh has been a surprisingly popular character on here and on Artfight (which is great because he is the lead), but I’m at a writing hangup there too. I think I need to watch more media for inspiration, so I’ll try to do that at work next week (don’t worry boss knows and it’s allowed). I’ve been jittery because I’ve been sick but once that subsides I’ll get Epithet TTRPG statblocks done too, hopefully. I did get a bit of comic paneling done this week too, but not as much as I’d like. Again, that’s mostly going to be an issue for next month.

Next month is going to be a bit of a challenge to balance all the stuff I want to do, but I’ll try to get a schedule done over the weekend so I can be as optimal with my time as possible. The first week after Artfight ends I’m going to go easy on myself, so I’ll write up a list of less physically intensive tasks to dedicate my breaks and evening to that week, then the following week I’ll go back to animation and comic paneling.

[roguemonsterfucker]

Uh

People will just throw out big name games to get attention for their articles, huh?

As someone who has played all the above mentioned games, I have to say… Ranch Simulator isn’t really like any of them much at all.

It’s a decent game, and if you like farming and maybe hunting, I’d say go check it out. It’s super cheap right now and has multiplayer features so you can hop on a ranch with friends.

I haven’t played in over a year and there have been a few big updates since then. Namely you can breed horses now, a feature that was promised back when horses were first added about two years ago or more.

The animals are kinda fun to raise. It has some features that I’ve always wanted in a game, like autonomous breeding. You can throw a male and a female in a pen and eventually have babies.

It gets pretty boring after a while because there’s a system of progression but then it just stops. There’s no more progress to be reasonably made.

It’s definitely fun to a degree so I do suggest checking it out and seeing if you would like it, especially at this price point.

[episodicnostalgia]

Reading Break - Worms & Spiders

Featured Art: MotaArt: (above) Rick Leonardi & Al Williamson:  Spider-man 2099 #1 Mark Bagley & Art Thibert: Ultimate Spider-man #11 Patrick Olliffe: Amazing Spider-man Family #3

Welp!

It’s been longer since I last posted here than I'd hoped it would be.  Unfortunately, I’ve had to prioritize work for the time being, and it’ll probably be a little while longer before I have the opportunity to post my next episode review [TNG ep. 123 will be next in line, when I do finally get to it].  In lieu of writing, I’ve been trying to be at least bit more mindful with my downtime, avoiding the various social media timewasters, and taking more time to read.

For my "serious" reading, I’ve been slowly picking away at ‘God Emperor of Dune’, which is pretty fucking trippy.  Seriously, If you thought the first book was weird, then I’m here to tell you that whatever "spice" Frank Herbert was using, he upped the dose exponentially for each subsequent entry.  I’ve read a lot of disparaging reviews and comments online about ‘God Emperor’ that led me to believe it might be pompous and dull, but I’ve honestly found it to be thoroughly engaging, though admittedly subject-at-times to some ignorant world views.

For my "fun" reading, my recent reviews of ‘Spider-man: TAS’ have inspired me to peruse through my old Spidey comics, which have been a real trip down memory lane (and very on-brand for this blog). The two series I’ve been bouncing between are the original ‘Ultimate Spider-man’ from the early 00’s, and ‘Spider-man 2099’ (early 90’s).  I remember when each respective series was first being released, and how cutting edge each of them seemed.  Overall, I’d say they hold up decently well, although clearly products of their time.

‘Spider-man 2099’ is unsurprisingly the more noticeably dated of the two, and a lot of that comes down to the now-unmistakeable 90’s aesthetic, along with the somewhat clunky ‘future slang’, which seems to predominantly consist of substituting profanity with vaguely techno-sounding-words.  If you don’t know what the Shock I’m talking about you can go look it up for yourself. But It’s Rick Leonardi’s artwork where the book really stands out to me, though.  I always thought he was an underappreciated artist, and deserved a proper run on ASM, but 2099 probably gave him a better opportunity to flex his talents.

I feel like a lot of people forget today (as I suppose they inevitably tend to) that Ultimate Spider-man was once THE hottest Spider book on the market, and while reboots-featuring-a-teenage-peter-parker may be a dime a dozen today, it was a breath of fresh air in the year 2000.  It’s easy to see why too, Bendis and Bagley work great together, and it didn’t hurt that Marvel spared no expense on the physical presentation of the book.  Simply put, each issue looks sharp, from the digitally painted cardstock covers, to the glossy pages; this was a book with high production values, featuring top tier talent. No expense was spared in making sure the artists were featured in the best possible light.

One thing I’ve can’t help but notice is the differences in attitudes and ideals between the two books. I know a lot of people like to pretend that comics were less political ‘back in the day’ but that’s never been true.  I do think that politics have sometimes been easier to ignore during times of less civil unrest, but clearly the writers have always had opinions and ideals that were being expressed whether they knew it or not.  For instance, Peter David’s work on 2099 seems to lean more politically left, and is notably quite critical of nationalist, corporate, and capitalist interests, depicting a world that feels (in some ways) more relevant now than it was back when the series was being released.

Comparatively, Bendis’ writing seems to play it a bit safer.  He appears largely progressive in his social views, but also less willing to criticize institutions like the military or government beyond anything on a surface level.  I can’t say it’s too surprising, since ‘Ultimate Spider-man’ only began it’s run shortly before the 9/11 attacks, and I can imagine that even if he were inclined to do so, Bendis would have likely received pushback from anything deemed too politically controversial. But some of his writing leads me to suspect he falls towards a more politically centrist stance, resulting in a book that, while being LOADS of fun, has perhaps less to say on certain social issues. Some people might argue it’s for the best, but I kinda like it when writers are willing to get a bit messy, as I think it makes for more interesting discourse.  But then again, maybe I’ll find myself eating these words as I continue my read through.

I think that’s enough musing from me.  The fact remains that each of the artists I’ve discussed in this post are far more accomplished than I will likely ever be.   At any rate these criticisms are really more just meandering observations, about which I could easily change my mind later on.  Hopefully I’ll have more time to focus on my proper episode reviews in the coming months.

But if you’ve made it this far, thanks for hanging out.

[razorblade180]

Mind at work

[teapot]

Aether:*stares at Abyss Domain list*…

Kokomi:Trying to figure out a strategy? We did manage to reach the bottom, though I’ll admit are performance was somewhat lacking.

Aether:It’s no one’s fault. You did exactly what you were supposed to. It’s just weird. Our group is pretty big and aren’t exactly slackers. I feel like I’m overlooking something.

Kokomi:For the most part, foes want to get personal so grouping isn’t a problem. I do feel as if something is amiss. *stares at second half* Is there really no team naturally fitted for this.

Aether and Kokomi:Hmmm….!?

Kokomi:Aether?

Aether:Yeah I see it.

xxxxx

Bennett:It’s been awhile since the for of us hung out. I missed you guys!

Xingqui:The feeling is mutual. Though I wish it was for calmer circumstances.

Xiangling:I’m just glad it’s finally over. Never thought I’d be this rusty. *slouches* how many did we get?

Chongyun:*sitting on boss* if I counted correctly, thirty two. That’s progress.

Bennett:Free cheers for a good run. Hip hip-

CXXB:Hooray!

xxxxxx

Aether:I can live in peace now.

Kokomi:I can’t. We’re one star short of another bonus.

Aether:Let it go~ *lays down* this is already better than I hoped.

Kokomi:*looking at list* Technically speaking…do we really need to send a crowd controller when the majority of the foes want to run at people? What if for the first half we asked someone who’s just really strong and willing to face immense danger the majority of the run.

Aether:(I should really help Itto’s development more often. Only other person who might fit that description is-) *sits up* I can call some people. It won’t matter though if second half is too slow. Too bad electro teams aren’t that good on that half.

Kokomi:*scratches head* What a weird group of enemies. Me helping Miko would’ve been perfect along side Nahida and Dehya. We could ask Yoimiya again?

Aether:Do you think she’ll survive?

Kokomi:*sighs* I’m good but I’m not good. The group falls apart with consistent power, but lots of our heavy hitters bruise easily or aren’t suited well enough for a full manageable run. We need balance.

Aether:Who doesn’t care at all about the Thunder Manifestation besides Yoi-….*zips down the hall*

Kokomi:I guess he found the answer.

Aether:*opens door* Hey, wanna go to floor 12?

Yanfei:Where’s Yoimiya!?

Aether:You have a shield and are all pyro attacks.

Yanfei:…Is Kokomi coming?

Kokomi:*yells* Yes!

Yanfei:I’ll do my best.

xxxxx

Consecrated beasts: *unconscious*

Scara:*sitting on one*….

Zhongli:What’s he doing?

Diona:Judging if this went well or not. It’s kinda his way criticizing.

Faruzan:Hmph, the lad is just incapable of actually giving a decent compliment; even after doing so much for him! At best he’ll say “well it looks like you actually can do something.” Ugh, it drives me mad.

Scara:*turns around* ….. *thumbs up*

Zhongli:Looks like he’s satisfied.

FD: (Genuine praise!? What’s gotten into him!?)

Scara, secretly stressed: (That’s it, just play it cool and act like I didn’t almost get mauled to death.)

Meanwhile on the other half…

Baptist: *full nelson* LET ME GO!

Dehya:Don’t feel like. Yanfei!

Yanfei:You sure? *holds fireball*

Kokomi:It’ll be fine. *makes fish*

Nahida:She can take it. *closes one eye* Ready…aim….

Baptist:Nooooooooo!

xxxxx

34 stars

Kokomi:…Y’know-

Everyone:We can’t!

Kokomi:Alright, hit the showers.

[sshbpodcast]

Star Trek Parents Just Don’t Understand (Part 1)

By Ames

Who’s got the bigger daddy issues: kids from Disney movies or kids from Star Trek? Many writers’ cheat code to give a main character depth of any kind starts with killing off one or two parents, or perhaps giving them terrible parents that will scar them for life. The futuristic world of Trek is no different, featuring guff with one’s parental unit in so many characters that it makes being raised by the Borg seem like a luxury!

That’s not to say we don’t get some good ones, or ones that, at bare minimum, try a little bit. Break out the greeting cards and flowers this week as A Star to Steer Her By spends some quality time with the folks of many characters across the franchise up through all the classic series. Check out all the family trees below and listen to us rattle off a bunch of honorable mentions on this week’s podcast episode (discussion at 54:08). Some of these apples fall pretty far from their terrible trees.

[images © CBS/Paramount]

He’s my number one dad!

I’ll just go category by category and start out with the best of the best. The positive influences in our characters’ lives often made them more well rounded people, and frankly it’s always good to see moms and dads putting their kids’ interests over their own. There are some great examples in Beverly Crusher who’s just a straight-up solid mom to Wesley throughout TNG, supporting him even when he’s messing things up, and in Worf’s adoptive parents Sergey and Helena Rozhenko who took in not one, but two Klingon children, and raised them in what turned out to be a very balanced way. And I can’t praise Ishka enough for bringing up two relatively progressive Ferengi boys in a society that doesn’t put much value in their females.

Let’s hear it for these single dads who gave their kids the choice to do what they wanted with their lives and threw themselves behind them 100%: Rom whose development throughout DS9 grew in tandem with that of his son Nog, and Data who let his daughter Lal choose her own body to express herself just as she wanted. And don’t forget Joe Sisko, a classic sort of father role who is caring and comforting, and even willing to trek across a desert in his old age for his kid.

But the easy pic for best parent in Trek is obvious, so I’ll not spare you the suspense. Benjamin Sisko, yet another single father (and a single Black father, at that) because writers LOVE killing spouses, has the tenderest, sweetest, most loving relationship with Jake that it’s almost nauseating but you adore every minute of it. And when Kasidy and he are going to have a baby and the Prophets come calling, the very reason why it is such a debilitating sacrifice for him to abide by their plan is because of how much he loves his family, but we’ll touch on that again in a bit…

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Technically good: the best kind of good

Moving on to a group of parents who we may not understand: we see a lot of aliens with different cultural norms but who are great for their kids in their own ways, literally. Who comes to mind specifically for this category is Endar from the TNG episode “Suddenly Human,” a Talarian who is raising a human child orphaned from the war. In his own culture, this is perfectly normal even though to us it might seem barbaric, but it’s clear he really loves Jono, so who are we to judge? Q, for that matter, is the first parent in all of the Continuum, so it’s hard to judge his parenting style save to say that he’s going about it in that specifically Q way of his, usually involving some kind of elaborate test. Similarly, I think of some Cardassian dads like Gul Madred and Tekeny Ghemor who might seem like hard asses in a fascist regime to us, but who are decent and doting fathers to their daughters in that lizardy way of theirs.

Speaking of lizards! While we’re here, let’s throw in some love for the seriously unhumanlike parents we meet who do exactly what they need to do because it’s their biological nature. I’d toss Mother Horta on this kind of list, along with Spot and her kittens, George and Gracie and their whale calf, and even Janeway and Paris when they’re in salamander form. I hope their lizard babies are okay.

But the more I think of it, the more I actually think the Borg might be some of the best parents on the list, but only if you consider this argument from the perspective of their own culture. Think about it: all their kids get just the right time in the maturation chamber as they need, they have the whole hive mind to support them, they’re never lonely because everyone’s voices are in their heads. Sure, if you’re not already in the Collective, getting assimilated is not pleasant (wait for our final category for more of this!), but when you’re assimilated, you’re family.

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Everyone makes huge, huge mistakes

Most parents, however, make mistakes. Lots of ‘em. Some are bigger and harder to forgive than others, but these are the kinds of things that are understandable because their hearts are in the right place, right? Like, how easy is it to forgive Miles and Keiko O’Brien for literally sending their feral daughter to live in the woods? They meant well and it worked out, after all. Or to forgive Amsha and Richard Bashir for genetically augmenting their struggling son when they knew that the illegality of their actions was teeming? Or to forgive Kira Meru for bedding with the enemy to ensure subsistence for her family? Okay, that one she really had no ability to consent in, but it still messed Nerys up for quite a while.

Other parents in this clump just don’t gel with their progenies because their personalities clash. Odo’s parental figure Mora Pol is a proponent of using the stick over the carrot, especially if it’s a stick with some kind of shocking device built in. Tom’s got a big chip on his shoulder from his treatment growing up under Admiral Owen Paris, who is made out to be the kind of dad who just expects so much of his son that there’s no way anyone could possibly live up to it. And speaking of great expectations, Noonian Soong literally made his kids to be better than the sum of their parts and seemed way too hyperfixated on his own legacy to care about their individual needs. It doesn’t help matters that he built them to look just like him.

But let’s dig into our feature character in this category, Lwaxana Troi. She might be a fashion and feminist icon, but her relationship with Deanna is strained at best and insufferable at worst. For most of The Next Generation, she’s portrayed as just a busybody mom who butts into her daughter’s life all the time, constantly meddling and focused only on how it reflects on HER that her daughter not only left Betazed for Starfleet, but is still unmarried. Deanna chose her own life and Lwaxana just doesn’t get it. Luckily, we later get episodes like our Tops pick “Half a Life” and “Dark Page” that shine new light on their relationship and bring them closer together, but there are still many fans out there who detest the character because of these first impressions she made as a parent.

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Where can I stow all this baggage?

So many of the main crew members have parents or ARE parents in this lowly category that it was probably the toughest one to make the cull for. These parents are the reasons so many characters are left with a foundation of mommy and/or daddy baggage that follows them around wherever they go. Look at Kyle Riker, a single father who Will has nothing but apprehension for, especially for cheating him at anbo-jyutsu all his life. Then there’s Miral Torres for whom her daughter B’Elanna was never Klingon enough, giving her a sense of racial dysphoria that formed the base of her character; and on the other hand John Torres for whom B’Elanna was TOO Klingon and he freakin’ left, giving her abandonment issues on top of that! Ezri’s mom Yanas Tigan falls into this category as well for how little she supported her daughter during her transition to joined Trill and also, ya know, for all the general crimes and shit. And let’s round this out with Chakotay’s dad Kolopak, who just didn’t listen to his son’s desire to not follow in his footsteps, and died never having made up – though I guess they also talk after death now sometimes, so who the hell knows with them?

The characters with the biggest chips on their shoulders can also have just plain absent parents, who messed up their upbringing by just never being there. I can give James Kirk a little bit of a pass since Carol Marcus asked him to not be in their son’s David’s life (which is a little iffy on its own, Carol), but how much anger David harbors for him just proves this was a bad move. A super tenuous relationship is also on full display across several series between Spock and Sarek because daddy Vulcan judges Spock for being half-human when he’s the one who bred with a human in the first place! We’ll see more of Sarek next week when we see how good he does in nu Trek too.

Of course, the poster boy for shittiest parent in Trek tends to be Worf, and though that’s partly a joke among fans, there’re also some sound reasons. K’Ehleyr was rocking it as a single badass mom when certain Duras things happened and put Worf into the role of deadbeat who pawns his offspring off on his own parents (already mentioned above!) when he can’t handle it. Which is understandable; he didn’t sign on for this, but every interaction between father and son is begrudging, Worf does nothing but try to jam Alexander into a Klingon mold that he so clearly doesn’t fit, and he never listens to what the kid wants or needs. It’s no wonder Alex is so bitter towards him when he returns in Deep Space Nine!

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Creatures who eat their babies

Terrible, terrible parents in Trek are easier to spot because they’re ones who really just don’t care if their kid gets harmed, killed, assimilated by Borg, etc. Or even try to do it themselves! A pretty big example of this is Gul Dukat who fully intended to murder his bastard daughter Ziyal to cover his lizard ass. And then he does it again in “Covenant” when he has another half-Bajoran kid! How many more of these Dukat babies are there? More bad Cardassian parenting comes from Enabran Tain who nearly gets Garak killed so many times it’s no wonder the poor guy has so much trauma. And who can forget Eleen from the TOS episode “Friday’s Child” who was straight up going to kill her newborn once she got it out of her belly until McCoy talked/slapped her out of it?

Not much better were parents who are just cool with sacrificing their children for whatever reason. We see this in the TOS episode “The Mark of Gideon” when Hodin volunteers his daughter Odona to contract Kirk’s Vegan choriomeningitis to thin the herd of her people, or on the podcast this week where we featured “Child’s Play,” in which we learn Icheb’s parents Leucon and Yifay whelped him specifically to get him assimilated and infect the Borg with a virus. In that same vein, Magnus and Erin Hansen were negligent and downright careless enough to bring their tiny daughter with them on a Borg observation survey, getting all their asses assimilated.

But you know what? I’m gonna give the worst of the worst to the Prophets, specifically that absolute weirdo who possessed Sarah Sisko just to get impregnated and create our boy Space Jesus, I mean Benjamin, knowing full well it would be torturous to him throughout his life until he ultimately threw himself into the fire caves for whatever weird wormhole alien, nonlinear shenanigans they were pulling. Was it all just Sarah knowing it was fate? Screw that. You’re the worst, Prophets, and you should be ashamed of yourselves in whatever nonlinear way works best.

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Come back for seconds next week when we see if parents in newer Trek movies and series are any better than their predecessors. Also, come back for more Voyager in our full series rewatch over on SoundCloud or wherever you get your podcasts. You can also give us your alien parenting tips over on Facebook and Twitter. And parents, heed this lesson: keep your children away from the Borg. You know, unless it’s futile.