#saying the wrong things or phrasing it incorrectly or anything like that

[bunnihearted]

i cant fully control my emotions during a breakdown and then i come out of it and im like oh fuck........ ._.

[cripplecharacters]

oh yeah another question abt intellectual disability: what do people with moderate id speak like? i assume they wouldnt be perfectly articulate but i know making them talk like cavemen would be bad too. i do want it to be clear that they have language difficulties, but im not sure how to do that realistically. so what kinds of grammar errors are actually common? would it make sense to have them mix up words with similar pronunciation, or have difficulty discerning the differences in implications between words with similar meanings (like "pretty" vs "attractive")? do people with id ever 'imagine context' the way people(well, me) do when half-asleep where the brain mishears a statement as something completely unrelated? would spatial and situational awareness be impaired? also this is kind of a different question but if you can give advice on what to do with game mechanics for an id character in an rpg, that would be nice! i already have the stats figured out for every character and theres no stat that i think would be strongly affected by id but in terms of depicted fighting style and other mechanics maybe thered be some stuff informed by it (i cant do anything too complex though, im using rpg maker vx ace). idk! im spitballing here. main thing i need to know is how to write dialogue for a character with id ^_^

Hi! We have a post somewhat about this that you might find useful, I'll try to go over the other questions below!

Keep in mind my ID is mild (and on the milder side of that) so my answer will be all second-hand knowledge from talking to people with moderate ID in my SPED years.

A lot of it will depend on what condition causes they have. People with Williams syndrome have very “normal” verbal skills majority of the time and you can't really tell in my experience. On the other hand if they're autistic you can potentially guess from the tone of the voice e.g. they speak in a very loud and monotone way. People with Down syndrome are very likely to have a speech disorder, someone with cerebral palsy might slur their words, etc.

A lot of people with ID might be less talkative than your average person (there's definitely exceptions). So your character could use shorter sentences, simple sentences (in the grammar sense), prefer to use other forms of communication for things that don't require speech (e.g., nodding instead of saying “Yes, I agree”, or doing a thumbs up, etc.), or have to be prompted to actually answer/take part in the conversation.

I personally don't recall ever hearing the “mixing words with similar pronunciation” in someone's actual speech, maybe unless they learned the language from reading rather than hearing it? If that's the case, then ID could affect their speech more than if they didn't have it, otherwise I'd assume that the character might have brain damage or is maybe hard of hearing and simply mixes them up because they can't recognize/hear the difference between them.

Mixing words based on specific meaning makes much more sense in my opinion (probably because I do that myself lol). Synonyms or words that might make sense in one context but not the other are the worst. Your example here is great! When someone has ID they might take away the wrong meaning out of a word and use it incorrectly because of that. E.g., their parents used to take them camping to a forest with lots of bugs, they don't like bugs, they can later call something “foresty” to mean “with lots of bugs” even if it doesn't have much to do with an actual forest. This might make more sense for a character with more severe ID (or if they're just young) but using “attractive” when you'd normally say “pretty” makes sense for someone with moderate ID in my opinion.

Something that can also affect speech of someone with ID is word repetition. Not really in the echolalia sense (though it can be that too) but just using stock phrases that get repetitive over time. I try to edit it out from my posts but you can still kinda see it. For some people it will be ending most sentences with the same word, for someone else it will be starting two paragraphs with the same three words without realizing even though they're right next to each other or overusing “maybe” and “if” to start sentences.

As for the “imagining context” while mishearing something, I'm not sure if I know what you mean by it so I'm going to go out on a limb and say that I don't do it lol

Situational awareness is definitely impacted for all people with ID but to different degrees. I don't know if it's part of the diagnostic criteria but it might as well be. When the person's ID is mild it might look like someone who's just kinda unaware of what goes around them, maybe don't recognize that they're doing something that could end up badly. The more severe the intellectual disability the more obvious it is, the person might elope (wander off) and not be able to find their way back, not be able to use cooking utensils safely because they don't recognize the risks in real time (not really in the “not realizing that the knife is sharp” way if they have moderate ID, more like “not realizing that you need to be careful when putting things on hot oil or you can get burned”), assuming that people are automatically safe to be around, things like that.

Spatial awareness doesn't affect everyone, but one of the biggest comorbidities of ID is dyspraxia, which does affect it a lot. There are people with mild ID with severe dyspraxia, and severely ID people with no dyspraxia. It varies.

Unfortunately I have never played any RPGS and I'm not really familiar with the mechanics. Here's an old ask about intellectually disabled characters engaged in combat, hopefully it's useful?

If you want some real-life resources for hearing how intellectually disabled people talk, I really recommend this playlist. It's a bunch of interviews with people with Down syndrome and you can see that they're all very different from each other despite having the same disability.

I hope this helps! mod Sasza

[pixiecaps]

Pix im so sorry ur like my go to person for asking what happens cause ur always watching 😭 but if u can can u please tell whats been happening in lore these past couple of streams 😭 /nf btw!

i’ll go as fast and short as i can

DISCLAIMER i have bad memory my chronological order of these past few days is not the best some things may be incorrectly placed so just keep that in mind. some events may be not 100% perfect chronological order 👍

eggs wake up completely dirty one day. all of them. nobody knows why. the eggs don’t remember why or how. but for some reason they were covered in dirt and their cracks looked worse.

around this same time. theres a voting poll going on for a new rule. and basically someone went around stealing all the furniture from everyones bases. leaving only a tiled magma block. they also left black and white couches arranged in numbers and codes. when they deciphered it it resulted in to phrases “I see you” & “Tomorrow”

next day. they all disappear. they are not in their beds when the first person (fit) goes to check for their egg. all thats left on their bed is their little accessories so for instance chayannes bed only had his floatie, pomme only had her berret, and so forth. everyone begins panicking because they were most likely kidnapped and taken again. and some of them from their highly protected bunkers. theres only no note or anything so there is no hints as to where they went. when people ask cucurucho all he would say he classified.

also on this same day all the popular waystones get stolen like ones that’d go to spawn etc etc. they get placed on a platform above the presidents base with a warning not to break them or hell would break loose and also a bunch of binary that translated to viva la revolución. to clarify the eggs disappearing and all these puzzles seem to be separate occurrences.

at some point cucurucho tells qcellbit to investigate some shit and he begins solving enigmas again.

people at this point were pretty fucking fed up including the president who was ready to blow everything up from his anger. until he woke up the next day wearing a white suit and had a wide smile on his face. he keep saying how happy he was and how he couldn’t wait to see richas. there was also a clock that would tick louder and louder when the drugs began to fade. he would become hostile and violent. and then he’d take another dose and become happy again. people began logging in and talking to him particularly antoine was the first to speak with him and later spoke with bbh cellbit. they all agreed something was very wrong and began investigating. they found a secret room in forevers base and that led to a small house in that room with blue walls to represent the sky and fake png flowers and when they went inside they found what appeared at first to be richarlyson. until they walked closer and saw in the place where richas would be was instead a big gray boulder and stones. so they clocked quickly that the “richas” qforever kept talking about was likely given to him by cucurucho and him hallucinating his son on that bed due to the effects of the drugs. they began scheming a plan to get him off the drugs and save their friend. qpac also witnessed qforevers behavior and had an idea himself. he was going to willingly let them inject him and feed him those drugs so that he could find a way to create an antidote before the effects became too strong. while investigating qcellbit overheard a conversation qforever was having with the fake version of richas and he interrupted and tried to snap qforever out of it. however he this only caused a big argument as qforever would not budge so qcellbit did the one thing he thought would work and he broke the fake richas bed. instead of a lucid moment qforever only sat in the corner of the room facing a wall and said that he’d get cucurucho to fix cellbit too.

phil also arrives this day ^ and earlier after learning about all the eggs disappearance and all the shitshow thats been going on he decides with the help of two others masked individuals (tubbo & fit) to lava cast the entire federation building. the one that was creates during the election. and they did they completely covered it in lava then placed water over it and it was lava cast. phil then left a note at the top that read “we want answers. we want our children back. we know you know what happened to them. stop the games. you have until the end of this week.”

also that same day foolish found the missing capybara mr mustard and became king of the capybaras officially.

meanwhile all that was happening (honestly i may be mixing up what events happen on the same day so please excuse my chronology here) tubbo noticed two fed workers appeared at spawn who he swiftly dubbed fred and jed after speaking to them a bit. he became relatively closer to fred and taught him what a friend was however fred said he was new to the federation and didn’t know anything he was talking about when he asked about the eggs.

so the next day comes around and qpac is under the effects of the drugs. same thing white clothes big smile. fit and tubbo are the first ones to log on and see their friend in this state to they help and talk to him as much as they can. and sorta realize that when qpac is slowly losing the effects of the drugs he becomes depressed rather than angry like qforever did. he also has more lucid moments than qforever and sometimes broke out of the effects shortly before going back under. later cellbit logs on finds his friend in this state and decides he will not be leaving today until they are better. cellbit speaks with bbh and phil and they begin setting up a trap to secure a way to take the drugs off qforever. cellbit meanwhile starts investigating for some answers. in his base he finds a note left from qpac detailing his plan to take the drugs to find a cure and that it was in qcellbits hands now. so he goes to chume labs and reads a bunch of books and diaries that eventually led him to chume labs island. on this island he found another diary from qpac that wrote about the antidote and needing to use fermented spider eye on the drugs. and coincidentally two of the pill bottles in that same chest with the book. so cellbit immediately rushes back to phil and bad telling them about the cure and they begin brewing. and to their success it worked the cure was called reality dose which description was “A mixture capable of bringing back those lost in dreams to what is real.” so then they devised a way to get them to use the cure. and i won’t go into it in detail cause i was like half watching and i’m not the most informed in what happened next but i think qpac after some talk with the others and being reminded of his purpose in taking the drugs willingly took the cure. then qforever was harder i know him and qcellbit were screaming at each other and i think after they made qforever take the cure he began hallucinating that qcellbit was cucurucho

small edit here: ive been informed both qpac qforever took the antidote willingly and that qforever took it first.

and said that cucurucho told him that the eggs RAN AWAY because there is something on the island that is far worse than the codes or the federation. so the eggs were so scared they fled without saying anything. qforever then fell unconscious and is resting in the orders hospital.

outside of his enigma solving for cucurucho. qcellbit goes back into the abandoned adoption center room in hopes for some clues as to where the eggs went and he finds a map for what appears to be a maze. with code at the bottom translating to A1 and also he found more code somewhere else i cannot remember that said “the answer is not in the center.”

so then this same day tubbo gets visited by FRED the federation worker which gives him a book with a code and leaves. the code translated to “tomorrow 1pm pst” and so we wait for tomorrow to arrive

AND IT DOES tubbo is freaking the fuck out cause he thinks hes getting kidnapped. he tells pac and fit something is gonna happen to him at that time. fit has an encounter with the code entity and it drops a clock in front of him and leaves.

and so 1pm pst arrives and tubbo noticed at his base theres weird black concrete placed around and a black chest in the middle with a book saying not to tell anyone, go to spawn, and an x coordinate. around this time roier and slimecicle log on and also show up at spawn with their own books. after some time they figure out they need to put their coords together and go to that place so they do! its near the wall and they find fred standing there with a gun. he signals to them to go into the cave behind him and they follow. he tells them to keep quiet and once they reached the end of the cave he tells them he cannot go on further with. they see and it seems to be the entrance to a labyrinth. they go through making their way occasionally spotting fred who then they’d chase. until they reached a room which appeared to have two observations decks in the walls above. one with a black couch and the other with a white. there was also a room with a locked door. also what appeared to be a hidden underground section with iron bars and through the iron bars tubbo and slime spot. a cucurucho. however instead of white it was fully black and instead of the usual black pixel face the face was red. when they spot it it immediately runs away deeper into the underground section it was in. the three decide to go in and they reveal a round room with a roulette wheel in the center with all the accessories of the eggs around the wheel.

there was barrier blocks around the roulette wheel. tubbo saw that and glitched himself through with an enderpearl. realizing after he only had one and had successfully trapped himself in there. he also realized he put himself in the predicament where he had to spin the wheel without knowing what it’d do. tubbo began panicking because he didn’t want to be the reason any of the eggs died. all roier and slime could do is watch. after more panicking tubbo spins the wheel and it landed on 5! the room immediately begins flooding with lava with him in it trapped. the. egg accessories begin to cover with lava. tubbo begins pleading to the others to find a way to get him out of there but there is none. the room outside the barrier blocks also begins to flood with lava and mobs begin spawning so roier and slime begin panicking. at one point slime goes down and roier does a sick clutch save‼️ tubbo realizing once he uses a totem he gets fire res and is able to warp out. slime is able to warp out and roier stays a little behind to see if he could open the locked door. he isnt able to. he leaves but once theyre all safely out they decide to go back in to figure out how to open that door. more lava begins flooding the maze more mobs begin to spawn and mines begin to blow up and coincidentally one of the mines blows up the entrance to that locked door. and they go inside and reveal it is a simple federation office with a desk and computer. with nothing else really. they once again leave successfully and around this time cellbit logs on. they tell him everything and they decide to go back and show him the maze because turns out he had that map for it from the puzzles however they once they reach where the room was inside it is completely blocked off. but what they do find is a bunch of federation posters placed inside talking about order and happiness? and also a timer that had 24 hours on it ticking.

later this day we see a streamer tweet out an image of the roulette wheel from today and a went live twitch link. we see streamer bagi in minecraft. her character in an unknown rather empty building with a tree in the center. she walks further into the building and finds a chest with a book inside and a roulette wheel. the book says “let the wheel decide. you will have to follow the light.” she spins the wheel and it lands on two. the floor disappears and she is immediately is dropped below into the overworld. shes in the ocean its raining when she reaches land its snowing. she follows the light which appears to have chests with books that detail how cold it is and if shes getting closer. she follows the trail and we notice more and more black concrete surrounding the biome shes in. interestingly enough first watching i thought they were spruce trees until i realized it was all black concrete. similarly scattered to where tubbo roier and slime found their books. so then she reaches the end of the trail with the final book stating “they should be here any time soon :)” and next to the chest a quartz table with a ticket laying on top of it with her name on it.

and so shes kicked and thats her introduction for that day. quackity tweets out this

and so WELCOME TO THE QSMP BAGI🫶

there you have it you are now fully caught up to speed! that is almost a full week of daily lore recapped:) i hope i did good. sorry for any typos i literally woke up at 10:30 am saw this ask and did not stop typing until i finished. it is now 11:51 am LOL

oh and two upcoming events. today mexican independence and whatever that timer leads to and whatever “huge event” means.

[taylorswiftstylequestions]

Hi Sarah! Sorry for the rant but I am personally struggling with Tortured Poets because nowhere on the songs themselves do I get any suggestion at all that Taylor herself once believed this relationship was the so-called moment of insanity she describes in the prologue. She sounds as adamantly and wholeheartedly sincere in her feelings on these songs as she sounds on the songs when she talks about her obsession and love for Joe after first meeting him (Gorgeous, KOMH, Cruel Summer, Delicate, Cornelia Street etc). Even if The Smallest Man is the last thing she wrote about the situation (which I don't think it is, based on her grief playlists I would point to CoSoSoM as likely being amongst the last), she literally says she would have died for his sins. Basically saying, everything was fine and it was all going according to plan then the only thing that went wrong was him abruptly leaving her with no explanation that she could make sense of and so she spiraled trying to find an explanation for herself and all she could come up with was 'insanity',,,,BUT I don't hear that on the music itself. It's not Dear John where you can clearly hear a young girl admonishing an older man for taking advantage of her. Even prologue included, the entire album is her listing off all the strong, sincere feelings she felt for this person (he said something to Lucy, well she said it to Jack too!), the grand gestures she made (swirling him into her poems, making plans together) and how much it made her feel and then just raging over him leaving her afterwards,,,,which he is allowed to do if something happened or if his feelings changed or he felt unsettled. And it bothers me that the ONE flaw she seems to point to during the relationship itself is him 'sinking to stoned oblivion'. Like, yes, someone with an addict personality will do that. Idk, the...'teenage petulance' of it all makes it hard to digest for me.

Hi! You’re totally permitted for this album to be hard to digest for you. I also think that’s by design.

My only suggestion is to let the prologue explain the songs and not the other way around. Because the songs are sincere in that she really did believe all those things truly deeply when she was in them. And it’s only in hindsight is she able to see her choices no longer in the heady moment she was in but on the other side.

I could be reading your note incorrectly, so please let me know if not but I’m inferring from your phrasing that you don’t believe that she went off the rails and crazy trying to make sense of what happened and the retconning of 'insanity' is a stretchy explanation. I think for me having seen friends go through similar situations of loving and being left by toxic people that it’s an experience that makes you question literally everything about your life so I believe it.

And if that still doesn’t change anything for you, that’s okay! You’re not obligated to enjoy everything she makes and if this doesn’t do it for you, that is so okay.

[schuylerpeck]

objective truth? thoughts?

I'm going to be honest, my dude, I do have a lot to say about this, but very recently, any self-debate or conversation that involves it feels dizzying, heady, and disintegrating, so I'm not sure anything I might add will feel suffice or eloquent.

I don't like that truth has become so messy to talk about, or maybe it always has been, but the issue definitely feels inflamed with phrases like "I'm just speaking my truth" and misinformation (a term I think has purpose, but too often is used instead of calling things a flat out lie). there are things I believe to be objectively true, but then again, maybe that'll fall more under a discussion of opinion. I think nuance is an important thing to consider, but I'm frustrated with the way it's weaponized, or at least incorrectly applied, in the sense of, yeah, elon musk is a piece of shit, but understand where he's coming from—no. I believe in compassion and sympathy, but withhold it from being taken advantage of or used in bad faith.

I have always, and will always, oppose war. there is no reason to hurt another person, and where so many societies in this world boast abundance, no reason anyone should be going hungry, homeless, or unable to obtain medical care. science is real. any billionaire, racist, trans/homophobe, misogynist, abuser, rapist, and bigot, I'd file under objectively purposeless and worse for the world.

I guess, where I thought these could be argued as opinion, some do speak to what we base so many facets of morality on. idk. there are big wrongs and big rights and there's an in between I think we spend a lot of time getting lost in instead of working to improve things for an objective good.

[eclipsedcrystalstar]

Was thinking of drawing some of these but lost energy while trying to figure out how to draw them

Decided to throw HSM into an incorrect quotes generator, here's some of my favorites.

Mind: I scare people a lot because I walk very softly and they don't hear me enter rooms. So when they turn around, I'm just kind of there and their fear fuels me.

Soul: You can’t have a gun! Heart: WRONG AGAIN ! I can have a gun, and I must have a gun, that’s the rule of Chekhov’s Gun: have a gun. And now that it’s been seen, I will have to shoot someone before the end of the play. Mind! Where are you?

Soul: Last night I found out Mind is a sleep talker. Heart: Oh, really? Soul: "The mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell." Right. In. My. Ear. At 3am.

Soul: What are you two arguing about this time? Mind: They’re always using common phrases incorrectly! Heart: Cry me a table, Mind.

Heart about to provoke Mind: God has let me live another day and I'm going to make it everyone's problem.

Soul: I just had a long talk with Mind and Heart about hitting and now they are yelling “it’s my turn to perpetuate the cycle of violence” before hitting each other.

Soul: Would you slap Heart- Mind: Yes. Soul: I didn't even finish! Mind: Sorry, continue. Soul: Would you slap Heart for 10 dollars? Mind: I would do it for free. Heart: Rude…

Mind: Soul, get that hideous thing out of our brain, would you? Soul: Heart, Mind wants you to get out of the body.

Heart: If I had a face like yours, I'd put it on a wall and throw a brick at it. Mind: If I had a face like YOURS, I'd put it on a brick and throw a wall at it.

Heart: Can you pass the salt? Mind: Can you pass away? Heart: Too much salt.

Heart: We’re playing Scrabble. It’s a nightmare. Soul: Scrabble? Scrabble’s great. Heart: Not when you’re playing with Mind, it’s not. They put words like “ephemeral” and I put “dog.”

Heart: *holding a salt packet* It’s just a little sodium chloride. Mind: Actually Heart, it’s salt. Heart: That’s what I said, sodium chloride. Mind: Uh Heart, that would be salt. Mind: *takes salt packer from Heart* This is iodized table salt, which in addition to sodium chloride contains anti-caking agents and potassium iodate, which is added to prevent iodine deficiency. So not only are you being overly pretentious by insisting on using scientific terminology for everyday items, you are factually wrong. Your arrogance is your downfall, you annoying little shit.

Soul: Mind won’t come out of their room! Heart: Just tell them I said something. Soul: Like what? Heart: Anything factually incorrect. Soul, shrugging: If you say so. Mind, arriving moments later: Did you just say the sun is a PLANET?

[madame-mortician]

Klaatu barada nikto in the Evil Dead franchise

Okay, so for context, Ash has to recite a mysterious phrase in Army of Darkness to acquire the Necronomicon safely. It's not Latin and it's not gibberish like the majority of the mysterious passages from Evil Dead. It references the film "The Day the Earth Stood Still." Now the film itself doesn't have many connections to the Evil Dead at all, it's a 1950s sci-fi flick about an alien who comes to Earth to peacefully warn humanity to not bring their violence and corruption to the regions of space, or they will wipe them out instantly. Not very relevant to Evil Dead as it's not a sci-fi film about aliens. The phrase itself is something the alien character (named Klaatu) tells the main humans, explaining that if anything happens to him they must tell the phrase to his robot partner. They do end up saying the words as the Government kills Klaatu and the robot (Gort) revives him, however again, the words are essentially gibberish in their own film.

The main assumption with the phrase is that it's a simple fail-safe the aliens have for diplomatic missions such as this, and the words translation does not matter because its only purpose is to revive or heal the alien. In a 1978 article titled "The Language of Klaatu" it's speculated that the words roughly translate to "I die, repair me, don't retaliate." Out of all interpretations, this one I think suits the best. It's short and it works for the characters, as it is Klaatu telling Gort to have mercy, which considering the ending of the story is Klaatu reveals that humanity should not bother messing with aliens less they want the world to end. Klaatu is a peaceful character, so is his species it can be assumed, so the line being this would make the most sense, considering again that the robots like Gort, are the ones who would be destroying Earth if humans tried to be violent with them.

Now back to Evil Dead. The thing with the line Klaatu barada nikto, is that it's usually only referenced in sci-fi things, with aliens and robots. It's referenced in Star Wars, Sonic and The Twilight Zone. Now it could be argued that Army of Darkness is a sci-fi film if you really want to stretch it. Yes, there's time travel and mind control and other genre staples, but I wouldn't really call it sci-fi. Moving on.

In the context of Evil Dead, it was said by Ash (wrong), to safely grab the Necronomicon. Without saying the words, or saying them incorrectly, his taking the book would cause the demons and deadites to be released again, which dooms the kingdom. Of course, Ash being Ash, he says the phrase wrong and this exact thing happens. Of course, if he'd said it right, he would've easily been able to take the book, as even when he said it wrong the book itself didn't do anything to him, but what does the phrase mean in this context?

Well looking back at The Day the Earth Stood Still and its many interpretations, what do they all have in common? Well, peace basically. Almost all of the original translations and interpretations could be applied to Ash's situation seamlessly, but how? Well, the original idea, that it's a failsafe phrase works since it would act as a failsafe here too. Ash can't just grab the Book of the Dead, he needs to say the failsafe so that it... well... fails safe. The translation of "I die, repair me, don't retaliate" doesn't work that well admittedly, since Ash isn't dead, and isn't robotic and thus doesn't need fixing. At a stretch, it could be interpreted as simply "repair me, don't retaliate" since at this point, Ash is stuck in the wrong period and the "repair" he needs is to go back to the future. The "don't retaliate" would be him telling the book not to attack him or fight back when he grabs it, which does work but again, you need to do a lot of cherrypicking to interpret it this way. Another interpretation of the quote is that it simply means "Save Earth" which again, doesn't work quite as well here but can still be applied, since the Necronomicon, in the right hands (the Wise Man's) would help save Earth from deadites. It would also be saving Ash, who is the Chosen One, which also saves Earth in a way.

Basically, every interpretation of the quote is something about saving Earth or a failsafe, which obviously doesn't apply very well to Evil Dead as it was made specifically for this sci-fi film and not an 80s slasher series, so it only makes sense a lot of stretching and cherrypicking would be needed to make an actual interpretation work, but still.

[bluseum]

flow of consciousness, i.e. Emily Berry

never just die, because you move through the air better than anyone, and i still can't figure out what i need from you, if anything. i feel like i ruined your peace - clumsy and large and overencumbered and thrashing without care in the space you surround yourself with. i thrash because i feel trapped - my head is pulled and pushed into warm water - nothing here is as simple as push and pull, and i feel like a cliché, marring your pure simplicity with unnecessary speech, ever jarred by the silence that it’s difficult to find comfortable. trapped because you knowingly or unknowingly detest what i love to say - detest the noises in my mind i’d like to put into text - it makes me sick and i hate you - nobody does - if you only knew who didn’t. i think dashes are overimplimented. it works as a crime - you are disgusted by the action and yet i beg the intention is different. i swear the feelings are purer and far more complex - now, we descend into YA novels, and Creep by Radiohead. let the constant mind music resonate - you were never watching, but may have been listening - as your cohort of atoms lay lavishly spread, shining, and if better things come i can hope whatever comes of me can intertwine with them - relaxed, complacent, drifting with no push or pull. i try my hardest not to admire you. i don’t know if you believe it. i have spread myself far away from you, to many a person or some alienated subject that disgusts or offends you - i’m left wondering if this is what the intense emotion of an artist feels like - this is, after all, tragic. we have our moments, however, it has to be said. you would hate this. who knows if you dislike the effort - a whole life feels heavy, aches the mind, that’s certainly how it feels. this water must be full of chlorine. i never believe a word you say, or write, nor do i believe my own ego. i have made myself a fiction, a stage presence, a character that cuts a cage between me and my logical thoughts. never have i been met with such a numbing, jarring, stalling problem - the mind crashes - i relent to say ‘emotion’ - emotion is used to explain everything - but alas, the humanities student within me calls for it. i don’t, after all, fully believe in anything more. i have never fully believed in anything - my conviction has always been weak - unhelpful, as i fear i catch your disdainful glances when i agree with you on occasion. i don’t know what you know (don’t take that phrase at face value) and how you choose to put it across. there is always someone to do something more. i rush, between everything, i always occupy myself, with people, drama, ruining things to avoid you, thanks to my own guilt at everything i speak. i have come out wrong - that much is clear. i especially regret this heaviness - the text with which i pile on you, but the moment i feel bad for you, i instinctively stop myself - too much sympathy is belittling - and i’ve spent the longest time gradually changing things but nothing seems to change. maybe it went too wrong too early - the great human tragedy. this, in itself, is too much. but it might not be - although, in full honesty, it probably is. (although i’m still unsure - my conviction wavers). not one person will read every word - not even i have read this back to myself, and i never will, neither will you, and we will go on unaffected in our undoubtable splendour. people are thinking about both of us (not at the same time, let’s not be creepy) and that provides me with a sense of guilt, oddly. i once wrote an essay on control of the consciousness - i feel like the patriarch i describe - i scorn my own rancid ‘identity’ - i have sold myself incorrectly and that is difficult to rectify. workers that lie on their CVs only prove their lies to be lies by working poorly, ruining a system that they are then removed from. yet, sometimes analogies are irrelevant (see the twitter community note - ‘that’s a dog’). i have missed out key words from this that prove points. i’d go on, but i’m about to hit the paragraph limit. like i said, heavy. no dash to lessen the impact.

[justwierzba]

Long owed apology

Hi everyone I had this saved for a while now and it's time I post it and give you some explaination. I wanted to apologise for what I did, as it's already late enough and I shouldn't avoid the topic for so long. I want to close this chapter already. To clear stuff out, here's what exactly I'm talking about.

In past (various events, various times, most recent being like 2-3 years ago iirc) I did some bad stuff I back then considered jokes. Now I know I shouldn't joke about that stuff and there is no excuse to doing such stuff. Stuff like a mod for Team Fortress 2 that changed a book into Mein Kampf, or a MSpaint edit of Sims 2 loading screen that turned sims' arms into a swastika. I also had Hitler's moustache in my game (I got it in some facial hair pack, but still, should've deleted it). I really regret that by now, as these topics shouldn't be joked about and quite a lot of people pointed that out to me. I'm not proud of these and should've apologised long ago.

I'm really sorry for all I did. These things shouldn't be made. I could say I was young and dumb but that's just another excuse. I could say my classmates had that sense of humour but it doesn't give me right to joke about such topics. It was just wrong. I want to get all that off my chest and assure you I won't do anything like that in the future.

You don't have to believe me, you don't have to forgive me. I don't expect anything, I just felt like that apology was needed and long overdue. I also want to add I already deleted the TF2 mod from the site and the facial hair from my game. That's the least I could do about these. I just wanna throw it here at the end. English isnt my first language, so if some phrase is used incorrectly its probably cuz of that.

[theweirdhybrid]

Quick question, do you have any visual guides to your future Donnie from „Just this once, everybody lives“ aside from the description in chapter 3?

Cause I love the story and I want to draw him

I unfortunately haven't gotten the chance to make a ref sheet for F!Donnie yet! But @somerandomdudelmao (sorry for the ping) has made some absolutely wonderful art of him you can find here, here, and here!

Thank you anon! I'm honestly blown away by how well my silly little fic has been received, I genuinely didn't expect that this many people would like it haha

As for writing tips, the first thing I want to say is to try and avoid reusing words or phrases in the same sentence or paragraph. Adding variety to how you describe a scene, a setting, or a thought process can help captivate your reader and keep them interested in what you have to say. Avoiding run-on sentences is a must too, unless you're trying to amplify or highlight a character's distress. When humans are reading something in their head, they tend to take "breaths" while reading, and placing a comma or period gives them the break they need to catch their breath again. Let me give you an example:

Run on sentences like this can be used to exaggerate or highlight when a character is having a moment of distress or they're experiencing adrenaline and or having one long thought in a moment of panic or they're having some kind of mental break due to stress or some other outside factor because your brain will read this without taking a moment to stop because you the writer have not provided a comma or period or some kind of sentence break for the brain to slow down and stop. See what I mean? Your mental voice may not need to breathe, but it still acts like it does. This can be used to a writer's advantage, but it can also be their downfall if used incorrectly.

Doing a lot of reading will also help you tremendously. I was one of those kids who always had a book in class, and I remember my teacher confiscating one of my books only for me to pull another out of my desk. It helps you expand your vocabulary and see real world examples of how a book can be formatted. But, and this is important, be careful not to use POVs wrong. A POV (or Point of View) can make or break a book or fanfiction. Remember, when you're writing a fanfiction, you're narrating what the characters are doing, you are NOT the character.

First Person ("I went down the road to the bookstore."), for example, is best suited for original works, essays, or a retelling of something. It doesn't tend to work well for fanfictions because it's too intimate - for lack of a better word - for most people. People who read fanfiction are looking to read about the characters, not to be them. It also makes describing things a LOT harder, because you won't be able to point out things the person you're writing from the POV of has missed. HOWEVER, you CAN succeed in using First Person in a fanfiction if done correctly, but it's a tricky thing to do.

Similarly, Second Person ("You went down the road to the bookstore.") also isn't suited for fanfictions. Second Person is predominantly exclusive to quizzes, questionnaires, or choose-your-own-adventure stories. (And sometimes original works, if executed correctly.) Again, people read fanfictions to read ABOUT the characters, not be them.

Third person ("Charlie went down the road to the bookstore.") is your best friend when writing a fanfiction. It lets you describe what's happening from either one character's perspective and multiple at the same time, AND you can "pan the camera" away to show something else that the characters haven't witnessed but is important for the readers to know about to build suspense and or give answers.

I WILL say that I am by no means a professional writer, so take my advice with a grain of salt, but I do have many years of writing experience under my belt and I've learned a thing or two. Don't be afraid to experiment with different POVs when writing anything, you may find that you can use multiple POVs in the same work (original or fan) and doing so enhances the readers experience to a degree simply sticking with one POV would never have been able to do. Writing is all about experimenting and learning as you go!

If you have any specific writing questions just let me know and I'll do my best to answer them!

[the25thviolence]

Little mentally deranged right now because I forced myself to play a game 6 hours straight and gained nothing from it besides prestige levels in a battle pass.  

I knew heading into this weekend I was going to be super depressed so my mental state isn’t shocking to me.  Whenever I get extra lonely I get pissed off that I have to live life this way.  Part of me gets a little angry that I never told them to stay away from my friends but I knew it was wrong than and I know its still wrong now.  Its wrong to tell people who there allowed to talk to.  

In the middle of my 6 hours of pain I got super angry and cut my palm and bled over my video game controller thing. 

I have this sad feeling in my gut this weekend.  A sad little bit of knowing.  That the happiest I ever was is when we were all friends.  In the end it made me delusional thinking I could be even happier but still.  It was all so.....  uncommunicated.  So many things left assumed incorrectly.  Just because I knew what was going to happen the whole time didn’t mean I was any more ready for it to happen than I was.  Just because I told you once a week she secretly loved you.  Didn’t mean it hurt any less when it all happened.  I don’t know why you thought I would just drop it all like it never mattered.  Feelings are heavy and suddenly mine were in the trash and I needed to come to terms that they weren’t valued.  You even got upset that it upset me to see you with that happiness.  Like why my own feelings even matter.  God it hurt so fucking much every time you got angry with me for just fucking hanging out with her when you weren’t around.  Cool cool I left you fucking alone.  And you would fucking drag me back like why the fuck wouldn’t I be sad?  My friends decided they loved each other and didn’t want me around and were too fucking scared to say it.  You can blame me all you want but to think I would just blink my eyes and go “lol jk not even attracted anymore it was a prank anyways bro.”.   I saw it coming.  I wanted to leave.   You made me stay just so you could hurt me more.  I said word for word this is what would happen.  I told you.  But you so desperately wanted every bit of happiness you could get your hands on.  When I stopped making you happy you let go.  Suddenly I wasn’t worth anything to you.  

Now I sit here alone for days.  I wish it would of went smoother.  I wish I would of left on my terms.  It was never going to end any differently.  I’m not sure the wording or phrasing here.  Or even the concept.  But the raw stupidity that you felt anger towards another human because they had emotions that didn’t line up with yours.  That they dared exist in your life.  A deep deep soul crushing pain that yourself will always be more important than the ones around you.  

I’m not sure what these words are supposed to accomplish tonight.  Sometimes, a lot of the time, I feel like I need to acknowledge the words inside me before they eat at my existence and it kills me.  

I feel like too many people involved in this situation need therapy now.  

Fuck if I had to say all the rancid crazy things in my head about this. 

I feel like you were touch starved.  

I feel like he felt like he did something wrong with dating you after you dated his friends.  

The longer I know people the more I seem to understand them and everything seemed so obvious all along.  I wish it mattered that I knew all along. 

I wish I didn’t think I was worth it.  

I wish I was like Jon and thought I was an empty bit of nothing that only existed in theory.  

I really wish I didn’t think I was worth it.  Than I would of never tried to be happy.  If I never tried to be happy my friend would still love me.  Like someone likes a cool lamp or that sweet poster on there wall.  Would of been an amazing lava lamp in the background of his life.  Never infringing on the things he owned.  Just another colorful part of the background in his life.  

I know its true.  I know the world lies when it speaks and tells the truth when it acts.  The world will never love me as I am.  And will love me much more when I’m gone.  I’m mean to be read on an overcast day and forgotten by tomorrow.  

I’m meant to be weightless.  

I’m meant to be empty.  

I’m meant to be left alone till needed.  

Not like a break glass in case of fire situation. 

More like when your mop or broom breaks and you remember you have an old spare in the garage from 10 years ago.  

I survived when I shouldn’t and it left a gnarled bit of self inside my chest.  Weeds seem to survive in places they shouldn’t.  Sadly I don’t have flowers inside my chest.  More like dandelions.  

All in all I still find it kind of funny.  That when you get sad it pisses me off.  You took all that happiness for yourself.  But you still get sad.  Buried me so deep I can’t see the sun anymore.  But even I still find time to smile.  

I don’t think I’m better than you. 

I know I’m worse. 

I just think its a sick joke that you can’t keep it together when you have the whole world in the palm of your hand.  

Like all you have to do is show up with some flowers and suddenly your the worlds greatest most beloved person.  

All you have to do is be happy.  

I bet you are.  

Maybe its some remnants of your humanity that feel a little disheartened when you think about all the dumb shit you’ve done to others to make yourself happy. 

Meanwhile I’m going to go lay down in the dark till I forget I exist in a weak attempt to forget I’m extremely lonely, sad, and want to die on a daily basis. 

Should you feel bad? 

It would be nice if I said “no” wouldn’t it. 

[compassgreys]

Should i sleep on my left or right side

In conclusion, the side of the bed you choose can make a difference to how you feel in the morning - but only because we’re creatures of habit. In fact, over 75% of people believe they wouldn't be able to sleep comfortably on the opposite side of the bed. Unfamiliarity is the enemy of sleep, whereas routine and certainty help us nod off. Even if you both initially want the same side, once we’re used to our position, we like to stick to it. The good news is that choosing a side of the bed tends to be more about habit than anything else. After all, you could both be righties - and this would explain why the person waking up on the left is grumpier. Being closer to a radiator, further away from outside noise, having a better view of a television, being closer to children or further from a window are all reasons why people choose their side of the bed.Īs many as 10% of couples actually argue about their side of the bed, which can lead to one party being unhappy about the outcome. Some sleepers claim the reasons for their choices relate more to practicality than personality. On the other hand, those who feel more secure when they’re in enclosed spaces may avoid sleeping next to a window or door. If you have claustrophobic tendencies, you’ll be less likely to sleep next to a wall, and it’s harder to get out in the morning, and it can make you feel more closed in. Of course, the side of the bed you choose may have more to do with the position of your bed than anything else. In fact, it’s been suggested that people who sleep on the right side of the bed tend to earn more money.Īnd if right-side sleepers have a less positive outlook, they’re also more likely to be grounded and be prepared for worst-case scenarios, making left- and right-siders a match made in heaven. It’s not all bad news for right-side sleepers though. In Feng Shui, the ancient Chinese practise of arranging environments to bring harmony, the left side of the bed is the best one to get out of, as it’s linked with wealth, power, and even good health. Left-side sleepers may have something else going for them, too. It’s also reported that left side sleepers are believed to have a greater level of job satisfaction than right-siders. Those who sleep on the left believe they are calmer than their partner in a crisis and are more confident in general. And of course, sleeping badly is a surefire way to make us feel grumpy.Īccording to research, people who sleep on the left are likely to be more cheerful than their right side counterparts.Ī positive outlook allows lefties to be more capable at dealing with a heavy workload, which means they’re not easily phased by a stressful day. That’s because if we sleep on a side that’s different to usual, we might not sleep as well (after all, we are creatures of habit). In any case, it turns out that you really can get out of the wrong side of the bed. If that’s the case, the famous phrase might have evolved because we incorrectly thought the opposite of right was wrong, instead of left. Lots of old superstitions claim the left side of everything is unluckier than the right in Ancient Rome, it was even frowned upon to get out of the left side of bed, as it might ruin the rest of your day. However, nobody’s entirely sure where the phrase came from. Most of us have been told it at some point in our lives, and we know exactly what it means. Put simply, ‘waking up on the wrong side of the bed’ means that you’re grumpier than usual. What does ‘the wrong side of the bed’ mean? So what’s the deal, and why do we always choose sides? In fact, research suggests that your mood, attitude to work and even income could be predicted by which side of the bed you choose to sleep on. The side of the bed you choose to sleep on might also say things about your personality. Did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed this morning? You may be surprised to learn this is actually a thing - and it can have far more of an impact on your day than you may think.

[baptaincarnacles]

Octonauts Headcanons (Barnacles)

This is for a human AU, by the way!

Cw: Uncensored swearing

Captain Barnacles:

Cis (he/him)

Gay/ace

Autistic

He goes to Inkling whenever he is close to breaking down. The professor never asks him to share anything, and will simply hold his hand and talk to him until he calms down (no matter how long it takes).

He is the father figure to most of the Octonauts (and Octo-Agents), Dashi and Peso being the main two.

Mr. “Hurt? No, I’m fine. Just doing my job!”

 Possibly the highest pain tolerance out of the crew and agents, Ranger Marsh coming in as a close second.

Hides most of his stimming.

Professor Natquik has been the only person to see Barnacles fully lose it (whether it had been his temper or simply slipping into a breakdown).

Not the kind of person to share his backstory, he doesn't want anyone to know exactly what kind of life he came from, therefore only sharing some of his more fond memories of the "Polar Scouts” (which is possibly the only fond memories he has of his younger years).

At one point he was highly into theater; continues to practice in his room (performing old Shakespearean plays).

Understands most modern lingo, but loves using it incorrectly to fuck with the rest of the crew. He adores the way they fume when he uses those phrases wrong.

Probably avoids direct eye contact or he just stares. Man does not know what to do with his eyes when talking to somebody (became self-conscious over it after Shellington accidentally pointed it out).

He might have been a pirate (maybe a merchant)- or an outlaw- before becoming the Captain of the Octonauts.

Definitely has a tattoo of a Polar Bear across his back (and probably a couple others).

Literally has no heat tolerence whatsoever (where he grew up in colder regions).

He would probably wear a tank-top in Canadian winters if you gave him the chance (Kwazzi calls him crazy).

Competes in ice swimming competitions (and has won many times, but keeps the trophies in a chest in his room).

Accordion is a comfort item (as well as his compass and Admiral Sweaty Sock)

"Sound the Octo-alert!" is one of, if not his favorite phrase to say- and he grows rather upset if things go out of his control or out of order, and he grows rather lost and has to regain his thoughts (this is like half-canon).

Always zoning out and bumping into things.

He has probably gotten the gups mixed up more than once. 

Claustrophobia (fear of tight spaces) and Autophobia (extreme fear of being alone) is some of his worst fears. Though, he probably also has:  1. Temporary Acrophobia (fear of heights). 2. Slight Agoraphobia (fear of open/crowded places). 3. Phasmophobia (fear of ghosts/paranormal). 4. Necrophobia (fear of death).

Was an oddball of his family, having more interest in the world than himself (Bianca was similar but was less reckless).

This is literally so long, so photo break!

Back to your regularly scheduled program:

He will step back and let someone else lead the way, but will always be there to help them if they need it.

Listens to sea-shanties with Kwazzi (and on occasion, Calico Jack).

Book smart, but also has "street" smarts and tricks (due to his days before being Captain of the Octonauts).

Is severely injured a couple of times a year, typically due to selflessness.

Cuddling is his love language, but he hates when people randomly walk up and touch him without asking him first (especially people who like to mess with his hair).

Most definitely broke a couple of bones when he was a kid (his older sister called him reckless, but he didn't mind. He was more dangerous than Kwazzi when he (Barnacles) was younger).

Keeps a picture of the crew on him at all times- even if it's on his compass.

Bianca (his sister) and her children (Ursa and Orson) mean the world to him, and he often finds himself calling her to make sure she's alright with her two little ones running around.

Knows Norse and Greek mythology incredibly well, and adores sitting down with the lights off and reading a book about them underneath the light of a lantern.

Will often recite various sentences of random stories he’s read, especially when he feels it’s appropriate. 

Writes in fine cursive, though when ordered to write in print, it's sloppy and hard to read.

When in need, he'll talk to Kwazzi because he thinks the world of his lieutenant and hates to see them concerned for his well-being.

Grows concerned super fast, especially if a member of the crew seems out of character (he picks up the smallest changes in behavior and will often talk with the person [awkwardly]- especially with Shellington and Kwazzi).

Cried because Shellington remembered his birthday.

Internalized homophobia (for a while), but is outwardly supporting to everyone else.

Probably takes online quizzes when he's bored (proudly admits he's Feta Cheese).

Owns various fidget toys, mainly infini-cubes and fidget-spinners.

Doesn't have any form of social media, but finds memes that he knows each member of the crew likes and sends them to the group chat they all have.

Jokingly said “me-me” once (in a super serious tone) and earned the wrath of the crew (except Inkling who didn’t see the problem). 

Started an argument about the actual pronunciation and quickly escaped before it became too loud.

Always super serious when duty calls, but when he's not busy, he's occupying himself with casual tasks to keep himself from crying.

Random vocal stims

Sometimes copies humor/accents to talk easier with people (has done a horrible Siberian accent at least once and Natquik threw a snowball at him).

Has no idea how to relate to people/communicate unless he copies whoever he’s talking to.

Has a scar over his eye (which he is blind in) from an encounter with a walrus.

He suffers from intense nightmares and exploding head syndrome.

Hidden scars no one has ever seen (but Peso).

Literally can't do spices and starts sweating the moment Shellington even opens hot sauce.

Tried jalapeños once and he literally couldn’t stop sweating for the next hour.

So, there is a lot here... I’mma just:

Father figure :)

[differentcowboypanda]

Obi-wan: And here we see Anakin and Ahsoka in their natural habitat. Texting eachother variations of the word "garlic bread" to try to make eachother laugh. Anakin: Gaelic bread. Ahsoka: Grueling brad. Anakin: Ha ha, glamorous beans.

Ahsoka: I really like Eminem. Anakin: I prefer skittles. Obi-wan: They are talking about the rapper. Anakin: Why would they eat the wrapper?

Anakin: Adulting is hard. Anakin: How do I quit? Obi-wan: Time travel. Ahsoka: Die.

Anakin: I’m not a doctor I’m a medic. Ahsoka: What’s the difference then? Anakin: Well doctors actually save lives, medics just make you feel more comfortable as you die. Obi-wan: Note to self; never get shot.

Obi-wan: So what’s the plan? Ahsoka: I don’t know. You’re smart, *points at Anakin* they’re mean, come up with something.

Obi-wan: How did you even get in here? Ahsoka: Anakin's window! Or, as I like to call it, "Ahsoka's door"! Anakin: I’m closing the window.

Obi-wan: Why were you up yesterday until 3am? Anakin: How did you know I was up until 3am? Ahsoka: We could hear you clapping to the FRIENDS intro every 25 minutes.

Ahsoka: What are you two arguing about this time? Obi-wan: They’re always using common phrases incorrectly! Anakin: Cry me a table, Obi-wan.

Obi-wan: Ahsoka, gather the others. We need to have another Anakin-is-doing-something-stupid-again-and-we-have-to-stop-them-before-they-hurt-someone convention.

Ahsoka: Obi-wan won’t come out of their room! Anakin: Just tell them I said something. Ahsoka: Like what? Anakin: Anything factually incorrect. Ahsoka, shrugging: If you say so. Obi-wan, arriving moments later: Did you just say the sun is a PLANET?

Obi-wan: I'm not doing to well. Ahsoka: What's wrong? Obi-wan: I have this headache that comes and goes. *Anakin enters the room* Obi-wan: There it is again.

Ahsoka: Hey, did you know as a kid I accidentally ate paper? Obi-wan: I feel like we've all done that at least once. Anakin: I ate it too- Obi-wan: See? Anakin:: -On purpose... Ahsoka & Obi-wan: ...What?

Obi-wan: I have a bad feeling about this... Anakin: What do you mean? Obi-wan: Don't you ever get that little voice in your head that tells you if you're going to get into trouble? Anakin: No? Ahsoka: That actually explains so much.

Obi-wan: You have to apologize to Anakin! Ahsoka: Fine! Ahsoka: Unf*** you, or whatever!

Ahsoka: Anakin has no survival skills, their need to win has replaced them. Obi-wan: That can't be true! Ahsoka: Watch this. Ahsoka: Hey Anakin, race you to the bottom of the stairs! Anakin: *Throws themself out a window*

Obi-wan, to Ahsoka: If you see Anakin, give them this message *makes a neutral face* Obi-wan: They'll know what it means. *later* Ahsoka: oh, and Obi-wan said to give you a message. Ahsoka: *makes a neutral face* Anakin: Oh no. The neutral face of disappointment.

Obi-wan: Yesterday, I overheard Ahsoka saying “Are you sure this is a good idea?” and Anakin replying “Trust me,” and I have never moved from one room to another so quickly in my life.

Obi-wan: Remember! Curiosity killed the cat! Anakin: Yes, but you forget that satisfaction brought it back. So yes, Ahsoka, go find out if that thing can catch fire! Obi-wan: You're a bad influence. Anakin: And you don't know your sayings.

Obi-wan to Ahsoka: First rule of battle, little one... don’t ever let them know where you are. Anakin, shooting out of frame: WHOO-HOO! I’M RIGHT HERE! I’M RIGHT HERE! YOU WANT SOME O’ ME?! YEAH YOU DO! COME ON! COME ON! AAAAAH! Whoo-hoo! Obi-wan: Of course, there’re other schools of thought.

Obi-wan: I’m telling you, my team is competent. Ahsoka, rushing in: Obi-wan! Anakin tried to make pasta in the coffee pot and now it's broken!

Obi-wan: Five little monkeys jumping on the bed. One fell off and… Ahsoka: Was diagnosed with mesothelioma. Obi-wan: Mamma called the doctor and the doctor said… Anakin: You might be entitled to financial compensation if he or a loved one dies.

Anakin: I hate Obi-wan. Ahsoka: "Hate' is a strong word. Anakin: I have strong opinions.

Anakin: Uh, I think I got your lunch. *Holds up a note that reads: ‘I am very proud of you. Love, Obi-wan’* Ahsoka: Oh yeah. I didn’t think this was for me. *Holds up a note that reads: ‘Be good. For the love of God, Please be good.’*

Obi-wan: Where's Ahsoka? Anakin: Up on the roof. Obi-wan: THE ROOF?! Anakin: Relax. They have sunscreen on.

Ahsoka: Obi-wan, I’m afraid. Obi-wan: Just stay close to Anakin. Ahsoka: That's why I’m afraid.

Ahsoka: Obi-wan, I know you love Anakin. I mean, we all do, they’re a very nice person and I respect them immensely. Ahsoka: But I think they might be a f***ing idiot.

Ahsoka: So what, now I’m just supposed to do everything that Obi-wan does? What if they jump off a cliff? Anakin: If Obi-wan were to jump off a cliff, they would have done their due diligence regarding the height of the cliff, the depth of the water, and the angle of entry. So yes, if you see Obi-wan jump off a cliff, by all means, jump off a cliff. Ahsoka: You jump off a cliff. Anakin: Gladly, provided Obi-wan did first.

Ahsoka: Are they stupid? Obi-wan: Yes, but they prefer to be called Anakin.

Ahsoka: Bet you can’t eat 15 crayons! Anakin: Bet you I can! Obi-wan: *sips coffee, checks to make sure 911 is still on speed dial, and goes back to reading the paper*

Ahsoka: We've got to find a way to cut down our expenses. What can we live without? Obi-wan: Anakin, probably.

Obi-wan: What do you have? Ahsoka: A KNIFE! Obi-wan: NO!

Anakin: 1. Grow up and have children. Anakin: 2. Hide babies all around the house. Anakin: 3. When my kid asks "Where do babies come from?" Respond with "Where DON'T babies come from?" and pull one out of a cabinet. Obi-wan: Example number 24876 of why Anakin shouldn't have children.

Obi-wan: Can you please not Anakin this into a situation worse than it already is? Anakin: Hold up. Did you just use my name as a verb?

Anakin: You have got to love knitting needles! I can make a scarf, I can make a hat, I can stab someone's eyes out, I can make mittens! Ahsoka: Excuse me, what was that middle part? Anakin: I can make a hat.

Anakin: Go big or go home! Obi-wan: Please, for once in your life just go home. I'm begging you. Go. Home. Anakin: I'm going big!

[firelxdykatara]

Katara x Aang :3c

are you trying to get me in trouble

-cough-

no but in all honesty, my genuine feelings about kataang boil down to three major points: 1. it's boring, and does not jive thematically with either of their character arcs, to the point of, 2. actively hampering character development on both sides, and 3. katara deserved better.

points expanded under the cut. (please, if you're a kataang shipper and you see this, just keep scrolling. i've tagged it appropriately and put the bulk under a cut and at this point that's literally all i can do lmfao.)

send me a ship and get my (brutally) honest opinion!

1. It's Boring: This is the most subjective point on the list (I mean, in fairness, it's all subjective, but I have evidence from the show and post-canonical materials to support my other points; this one is just preference), but there's just... nothing to kataang. It's cute (when it's not actively aggravating), and... that's about it. It's not even that I dislike friends-to-lovers as a shipping trope (though it's not my overall preference), because there are a lot of friends-to-lovers couples that I do ship (kanej comes to mind, also will/elizabeth from potc, karolsen from supergirl, romione and hinny from hp, among others), but one thing that I think all of those couples have that kataang doesn't is that both sides of the pairing are teens or adults when they get together, with teen/adult dynamics and issues and stories to deal with, rather than one half being a teenager and the other being literally prepubescent.

And don't get me wrong, I have no problem with age gap ships in general. And as far as atla goes, Katara, at 14, has the same age difference from Zuko (16) as Aang has from her, and it's never stopped me--because both Katara and Zuko are well into puberty when they meet and I have no problem picturing them being into one another and growing together as they enter adulthood. Aang, on the other hand, is a child. And he acts like it. Which wouldn't be a problem, if the show weren't expecting me to believe he is a) ready for a romantic relationship, and b) ready for one specifically with Katara, who is not only older and far more mature but is specifically cast as his caretaker in a very maternal role for the entire show's run.

This show asks me to believe that a teenage girl well into adolescence is going to be attracted to and develop romantic feelings for a pre-adolescent child--and it asks me to believe this while showing us otherwise that Katara's type is actually older boys with fabulous hair and angsty pasts in all of her other potential romantic dalliances--and then enter into a relationship with him, all while ignoring the elephant in the room that is the fact that she was basically acting like his mother for the entire series to that point. (Something that is heavily lampshaded earlier in the very same season.) That just stretches the bounds of credulity way too far for me, especially when there's no evidence that Katara herself would get anything out of their romantic relationship.

There's nothing there for me to sink my teeth into. No delicious development, no parallels where they help each other grow, no internal conflicts that they have to work through together, nothing. Certainly no reason for me to actually believe Katara feels (or would grow to feel) anything for him other than the platonic affection of a caretaker. I can easily believe she loves him dearly, as a friend and quasi-little-brother, but I just can't see that developing naturally into romantic love--not the way it's presented in the show.

And even if they did manage to at least make the development of Katara's feelings believable, unless they changed something fundamental about the nature of their relationship, it'd still be boring, so.

2. It Actively Hampers Their Character Development--On Both Sides: I've written before (extensively lol im so sorry) about how kataang is actively detrimental to Katara and to Aang. In short (because ye gods this post is already getting long enough), Katara is narratively harmed by being shoved into a relationship that completely ignores her stated feelings--a relationship that had been presented as a one-sided puppylove crush for the vast majority of the series--and it inhibits her growth as a character in ways that become far more obvious in the comics and lok, where the very same creative forces that lead to her beginning a relationship with Aang in the first place reduce her to 'the Avatar's girl' and very little else, all the way through to the end of LoK (where she is a Healer and the Avatar's wife and, again, very little else).

As for Aang:

As to how this relationship is detrimental to Aang (other than the comics and LoK nonsense)? Just take a look at book 2, when he’s trying to learn Earthbending from Toph. Katara constantly coddles him. Much of the time, she’s afraid to be anything other than gentle and understanding with Aang--partly because of her fear that if she pushes him too far, he’ll run away. (Which he does, several times.) But sometimes, what Aang needs to grow is a sharp kick in the slats, which Toph was more than willing to provide--and which worked. Katara was great for teaching Aang to waterbend, but he needed more than that to grow as a person. And he can’t get that while he’s in a relationship with someone who will apologize for getting upset when he was very explicitly neglecting her.

In addition, it is pointed out by Guru Pathik at the end of Book 2 that one of Aang's chakras is blocked by his attachment to Katara. Aang takes this to mean (incorrectly) that he has to stop loving her in order to become fully realized as an Avatar, but this is actually part of the problem--because the issue isn't that he is in love with Katara, it's that he's possessively attached to her. He believes himself entitled to her love in return, rather than selflessly loving someone regardless of whether or not they return that affection. (This is obvious come the EIP episode, where Aang demands to know why he and Katara aren't in a relationship already--because he kissed her without asking [or even checking to see if she'd be ok with kissing him], which he phrases as mutual even though it very much was not, and he gets angry and violates her boundaries when she says that she is confused and doesn't want to think about it right then.)

It is his attachment to Katara--the need for her to return his love, the belief that she will and it is only a matter of time before he gets what he wants--that he was supposed to let go of, not his feelings for her in general. Unfortunately, while he pays lipservice to doing this (far too late for it to be useful--if he'd stayed with the Guru for five more minutes and unlocked his chakra there, that battle would've gone very differently), he almost immediately backtracks on that development come book 3, and there isn't another single whisper of Aang maybe growing up and moving past his one-sided and possessive crush and realizing that even if Katara doesn't feel the same way, it doesn't mean she loves him less or that their friendship is less important.

What really needed to happen, for Aang to grow as a person and become fully realized as an Avatar, was for him to grow up. To realize that his feelings were not of paramount importance, and that even if he was in love with Katara, he was not entitled to her love in return. He should have been able to move past his need for her to love him back, in order to get past that stumbling block, unlock his chakras, and regain the Avatar State in time to face the Firelord. But he didn't. As a result, they had to find some other way to just give him the Avatar State (a well-placed rock) and the means to defeat Ozai without killing him (the deus ex lionturtle) and his entire character arc just fell apart in the third act rather than reaching a satisfying conclusion.

3. Katara Deserved Better: This really ties into how her romantic relationship with Aang hampered her own development, but I'm still bitter enough about it that it gets its own bullet-point. And the biggest single reason I could never ship kataang--the thing that would've turned me off even if there were substance and a halfway decent storyline for them--is the fact that Aang kisses her without her consent (for the second time) in Ember Island Players, Katara gets angry at him and storms off, and then..... she walks out onto the balcony to make out with him.

With nothing to bridge that gap.

It's bad enough that a show aimed at children had a scene where the child protagonist kissed the object of his affections without her consent when she didn't want him to (made explicit by her angry reaction)--and this is absolutely an issue when the show is aimed at children and it may well be the first experience they've had with consent issues portrayed in media--but this moment is never addressed again. Katara just decides--completely off-screen--that she does love him Really and walks out to make out with him in the epilogue. There's no conversation, no apology for violating her boundaries, no discussion of why that was wrong or any indication that Aang understands what he did and why it upset her. They don't have a single one-on-one interaction between that kiss and the epilogue, and the only other time they are on screen together, Aang yells at her and storms off.

So, even leaving the comics and lok aside, Katara deserved much better from her own romantic plotline. In fact, she deserved to have one, rather than simply being the oblivious object of Aang's affections, given a couple moments where she blushes but otherwise remains completely ignorant of his feelings (she looks shocked and upset when he kisses her prior to the invasion, and then she completely forgets that even happened because she's confused as to what Aang is even talking about during EIP until he brings it up; that's not the behavior of a fourteen-year-old girl who was kissed by someone she was developing romantic feelings for), before the epilogue where it becomes clear that she figured all of that out off-screen and had feelings for him after all.

She's a main character, not a side-character written in solely to give one of the mains a love interest. She deserved a romantic plotline of her own. (She could have had one with someone else, with very few changes made to what was actually on-screen prior to the epilogue, but that's another conversation entirely.) She deserved to have her feelings considered at all important by the person she was going to be paired with in the end, rather than having him just assume she felt the same way and then get mad at her for never giving any indication of it when he'd never asked about her feelings to begin with. She deseserved agency in her own romantic narrative, and she just didn't get that with Aang.

So yeah, at the end of the day, my biggest issue with kataang is that it involved doing Katara dirty, and she's my favorite character and she deserved so much better damnit.

[fandoms-galore-yall]

MatachaBlossom as Gods Au pt 2

Greetings! This fic is based off the wonderful art of @shaky-mayhemm (Check it out here!)

This is pt 2, pt 1 is here

________

The plan, while requiring a lot of preparation, was fairly simple. Kojiro would pretend to be drunk and distract Ainosuke and Tadashi. Carla, in her invisible form, would gently guide Miya to a secluded area and Kaoru would talk to the boy. 

Since discovering Ainosuke’s intentions, Karou had been sending Carla to the boy’s town to get an idea of why he had caught the God of Destruction’s attention and how to help him get away. 

Karou hated to admit it, but he had felt uneasy every time she left his immediate area. Like a part of him was being cleaved. He had gotten used to always having Carla, if no one else, by his side.

While he didn’t say anything to Kojiro, the God of Earth hadn’t made any trips to Earth during the last few months before the festival and had spent every night that Carla was gone, with him, holding him and comforting him. 

It had been the only way Karou could sleep without Carla’s singing. 

He would be glad when this would be over, for many reasons. 

Though he supposed that having Kojiro’s voice lure him to slumber hadn’t been the worst thing. 

Still, he was worried about the plan. The thought of Ainosuke or Tadashi catching Carla in the act and then harming her terrified him. 

Furthermore, while he knew that Kojiro could take care of himself, he didn’t want him to get hurt ethier. Ainosuke couldn’t do anything to him physically during the festival but words can still cut even a God down. 

And perhaps, his biggest fear, was that he would fail in his role.

Ironically, despite being the God of Life, Karou was not the most comforting of Gods. 

Oh, he could play the part for a crowd of humans- a pretty shiny beautiful thing for them to admire from afar, never really seeing the truth behind the gentle smiles he wore as a mask.

But when faced with genuine feelings? 

Helping people with their emotional state? 

Well, his best was leading the person in distress to Kojiro and having the other God fix the problem. 

His worst was patting their shoulder, from a short distance away, and trying to make comforting sounds whenever Kojiro wasn’t available. 

Karou is big enough to admit that dealing with feelings isn’t his strong suit. 

Which is why he thinks it ludicrous that Kojiro had insisted it be him to talk to the young boy, Miya. 

Karou assumes it has more to do with Kojiro’s determination to keep his lover as far away from Ainosuke as possible than it is his faith in Karous's ability to handle the situation if Miya were to start crying. 

Karou sighed as Carla faded from his side, seemingly disappearing into the air around her. Karou could still sense her presence but no one else would be able to unless she meant for them to. 

As she got into position near Miya, Kojiro began to ‘drink’ heavily. 

Karou made his way to the gardens on the lower level of the grand palace made for the Gods when they weren’t in the Heavens. 

Carla began to gently pull at Miya’s sleeve to subtly lead him there as well. 

During Carla’s trips to Miya’s home town, she had learned that the boy loved animals which is why the God had borrowed one of the minor Gods Oka’s pet fox Sketchy for this conversion. 

He hoped that it would help distract the boy from any awkwardness that might come from having this conversation. 

Karou heard the boy enter and took a deep breath to calm his nerves. 

Miya took one look at who stood before him and breathed out, perhaps with relief? With wide eyes the boy stepped forward without fear.

“I thought you were going to be Lord Ainosuke”.

“Ah, so then he’s spoken to you about his intentions directly?”

“He has, Lord Karou.”

Karou wrinkled his nose. He normally didn’t react when humans used honorifics but for some reason, it bothered him, when this boy said it with no emotion whatsoever, face now blank. 

Karou hummed at his admission and then gestured for the boy to follow him. He did. 

Karou sat on a patch of grass, near a fountain, and placed Sketchy down on the grass for Miya to see. Previously hidden, bundled in a cloth, the boy lit up at seeing the fox before seeming to remember himself and schooling his features. 

“You may sit and pet him, if you are gentle with him.” Karou told him and Miya quickly walked over, sat, and began petting the fox. 

“You’re an intelligent boy,” Karou began, “I’m sure you know how most of Ainosuke’s disciples do not find their story to have a pleasant end?”

Miya’s shoulders were hunched in and his face hidden when he answered, “I do.”

“And you’re still interested in being his disciple?” 

“He said he’d grant me my wish.”

Karou hummed again, lost in thought. 

One of the reasons Ainosuke continued to get disciples, despite his reputation, was that he would grant wishes that no one else would.

Of course, it was rarely worth a year stuck under his thumb, but often greed or desperation blinded them to the warning signs. 

“I might be wrong, but I’m assuming your wish involves the boys who your parents think you’re with when you're not studying or practicing your future craft that you actually seem to avoid as much as possible?

Miya’s head shot up and he couldn’t mask the look of surprise on his face, “How...?”

“I’m no God of Knowledge or Wisdom but I am a Higher God. There is not much that mortals can hide from me.”

Miya narrowed his eyes, perhaps in suspicion but then caught himself and smoothed out his expression once more.

“Yes, that is correct.”

“How so?” 

Miya sighed. “I thought you already knew everything.”

“Not everything,” The God said as gently as he knew how. “I need you to fill in the final pieces.”

“They… We… They were my friends and then my parents started pushing me to be ‘perfect’ and so I was and they hated it and then they hated me… I just want my friends back…. I just don’t want to be alone anymore.”

Miya seemed surprised by his own honesty and his eyes started to tear up.

Karou silently cursed Kojiro and turned away to get control of himself. 

“Ainosuke won’t make the loneliness go away, not really.” Karou said in his softest tone. “He’ll spend the year breaking you down, then he’ll grant your wish, but he’ll do so in a way that is as twisted as him…”

Karou was silent for a moment as he thought about how Ainosuke would “solve” Miya’s problem and noticed how Miya refused to look his way when he turned to fully face the young boy. 

“He’ll probably make it so that your old friends are like puppets, they’ll act like they love you but there will be no life behind their eyes. Which isn’t really what you want, is it?”

“No,” Miya whispered, trying to hold back tears. Karou hoped he was being kind by not pointing it out. 

Miya buried his face in his hands and mumbled into them.

Karou raised an eyebrow with a gentle chide, “I’m not sure if I was supposed to understand that?”

Miya snuffed, raised his face just enough for his words to come out clear, “What do I do now?” 

“Well, to not offer yourself as a disciple at all would be one option.”

“My parents want me to.”

“Even if it were with The God of Destruction?”

“No risk, no reward.”

Karou hummed again, “Another option would be to join my or Kojiro’s service instead.” 

“The God of Earth?”

“Yes, he’s currently acting as a distraction so that we may have this conversation”  Karou explained.

Miya nodded, “And yours? You haven't taken a disciple in over three decades?”

“That’s true, but I would be willing to make an exception for you”.

Miya seemed angry with his response. “I don’t need your pity.”

The God sighed, “I apologize. I phrased that incorrectly. It would not be pity. I don’t need any disciples but I’ve seen you as you work on your craft. You are a talented young man, I’d be glad to have you in my service...

“Though, perhaps you would prefer Kojiro’s service instead? He tends to be better with” Karou waved his hand around, “people.” 

Miya giggled but tried to pretend he hadn’t when Karou glanced over. The God of Life gave him a small smile to let him know it was alright. 

“But most of all, whoever’s service you enter, our main concern is your safety. Even if you decide to serve Ainosuke you may come to us at any point, for help”.

Miya nodded, listening but clearly getting lost in his own thoughts. 

Karou stood, “The ceremony will begin soon.” Miya stood as well, and handed Sketchy over. 

Karou plucked a flower, from a nearby tree, and placed it in Miya’s hair.

The flower glowed for a moment, becoming a blessing from a God, “For safety and for luck.” Karou told Miya. 

Miya stood shocked for a moment before bowing to the God and exiting the Garden, once again led by Carla. 

Karou thought about the ceremony as he made his way to his throne. Each God had their own, where offerings were left and where any chosen disciples would go to after being taken into their God’s service. 

There were a couple ways one could offer themselves as a disciple. 

The first would be to offer themselves to any God. Any God interested would light a flame next to their throne, then if only one God had shown interest, the human would enter their service. If multiple had, either the human would choose which God to follow or sometime the other Gods would back down.

No God had ever fought over a disciple with Ainosuke before. If Miya opened himself up to any God’s service, he and Kijiro would be the first.

The second way was for the potential disciple to specifically offer their service to a select God or select few Gods. Then as before, if multiple of those Gods were interested the human would choose, unless any Gods backed down. 

Karou assumed that Miya would use the first method, he just hoped that the boy would choose Kojiro’s or less likely, his own service. 

He sat on his throne. Kojiro’s was right next to it.

The God of Earth looked over and Karou nodded, letting him know that the conversation had happened and that he thought it went well. 

Kojiro gave him a smile, the one that said he was proud of Karou. Karou scoffed and looked away. 

Kojiro’s response was to try and play footsie with him. Karou rolled his eyes, kicked at the other’s ankle, and ignored the other God’s pout. 

 Now really wasn’t the time. 

Karou allowed himself to be distracted, knowing Carla would let him know when the boy was up. 

Carla’s hand landed on his shoulder and he schooled his mind back into focus. 

Miya was walking up and a Minor God was listing off his accomplishments.

After that, the Minor God was supposed to immediately explain if any God could express their interest or if they were only hoping to serve a specific God or Gods. 

However, the Minor God frowned at the paper before him and Karou felt his heart sink.

Perhaps the conversation hadn’t gone well after all?

Kojiro took his hand and Karou held on tightly, allowing the other God to ground him.

“Miya Chinen offers his service to only one God…”

Karou stopped breathing and thought he might have heard Kojiro grunt from how hard he was holding onto the other’s hand but too much of his attention was on the Minor God speaking to truly notice.

“Karou, The God of Life”.

Karou let himself breathe again. 

The God of Life shifted so that his hair covered his face so that no one could see his amused grin. 

The boy was testing him, seeing if the God of Life was really in his corner. 

Normally, that would annoy him but...

Karou waved his hand, igniting the flame next to him, to let everyone know he had accepted the boy’s service. 

No risk, no reward indeed. 

From his peripheral vision he saw Kojiro shake his hand and stretch his finger now that they were no longer in Karou’s death grip. 

Miya, from the stage below them, bowed to him. 

I’m having a lot of fun with this story, so I’ll be adding more! 

Whatever Miya’s craft is I think will be the stand in for Skateboarding in this story.. which means I just have to figure out what his craft should be lol! 

Hope you all enjoyed! :D