#she’s one of my favorite people but she really has no concept of money

[neuro-psyche]

I think Dick and Jason would have multiple “what the actual fuck are you saying right now” with Tim and Damian when it comes to quality of life/monetary differences. Sure, Dick and Jason got used to Bruce’s “is $100 a good enough tip on a $30 bill?” shit, but hearing Tim talking about a new laptop he bought for $5000 literally is like a punch in the gut.

If they ever went on a cruise (which they totally wouldn’t because cruises are floating death traps), Jason and Dick would be in awe of the fancy amenities, where as Damian would be unsatisfied with the quality, since he grew up with every single amenity known to man. Tim would just feel like it’s all normal since the Drake’s were extravagant and travelled all over the planet.

Jason : My bedroom is bigger than my fucking apartment.

Dick : I could do a full gymnastics routine with the space in my room.

Tim :

Dick :

Tim : My room is normal sized…

Jason : You grew up in a mega mansion. I hardly think you’re the benchmark of a normal room-

Damian : I must agree with Drake. This room is frankly underwhelming.

Dick, staring wildly at him : What do you mean underwhelming- Dames there’s an aquarium wall in your room.

Damian : Yes. Underwhelming.

Jason :

Dick :

Jason : Do you want to-

Dick : Jump off the boat? Yes.

[chlix]

juno

bf! minho x fem! reader: you have baby fever. your boyfriend wants to be with you forever. turns out you can kill 2 birds with 1 stone

genre: fluff, crack, suggestive (MDNI, explicit dialogue)

word count: 3.3k

warnings/tags: pregnancy scare, jokes about a breeding kink, marriage proposal, y/n is a little spoiled i gotta admit, this one is all over the place ya'll

a/n: minho's fic in my album series! this one is based on "juno". y/n is a LOT in this one but i found it way more fun and fitting to the song to write her that way rather than actually being down to earth and reasonable lol

You’re out at a mall with your friend Jia, having a lazy day shopping and eating overpriced food from the shops in the central plaza. It's been a while since you had time to bum around with her, and your boyfriend, Minho, had said he'd drive you there and take care of his own errands while he waited. He'd even handed you his second credit card and told you to get whatever you wanted, much to Jia's amusement. You wish you were more put off by him flaunting his money, but unfortunately you passed that point long ago. It's also due to the fact that his money is much appreciated at this point in your life. Currently, you’re a bit of a NEET; after you had to quit your last job, you’ve been doing little except sitting at home, attempting TikTok recipes, doing housework and fantasizing about having things like hobbies and life goals aside from marrying your boyfriend.

“That’s nothing new for you, though,” your friend Jia says. “You inherited the suburban princess aesthetic from your mother.”

“You say that as if we weren't raised on the same street” you say, words thick around the spoon of froyo in your mouth. “We’re both suburban princesses.”

Your eyes roam around the mall, people watching as you often do. Next to the frozen yogurt place you had just visited, there is a mother with her small toddler at the counter. The mother is stylishly dressed, in cute jeans and a red sweater, and her daughter matches perfectly in a tiny little red turtleneck and a corduroy pinafore press. She’s wearing little charms in her hair and has a backpack with a bunch of dangly charms that jingle as she fidgets. She is eyeing the froyo on the counter with big eyes as she waits for her mother to pay for it, ever so patient and polite. The cashier waves at her and the toddler waves back.

“Stopppp, look at them. Isn’t that girl so cute?”

Jia follows your eyeline to the mother and daughter at the froyo counter.

“She is. I love how her and mom are matching.”

“I can’t wait to have a little mini-me that I can wear matching outfits with.”

“You and I wear matching outfits all the time.”

“Yes, but I want to do it with someone cute.”

Jia’s eyes roll so hard that you know it must’ve hurt.

“Since when do you want kids, y/n?”

“Since always. Or I don’t know. Maybe I just was worried that it would be difficult? Or that I’d never find the right guy? But I think Minho would be a good father, so it’s kind of made me think about it again.”

“He seems like he’d be good with kids.”

“When we babysit my nephew, he’s really good with him. And he’s always been so attentive to me in everything, so I just know he would double down during pregnancy. He’d take bullets for me. He’d protect me, he’d bring me all my favorite foods he’d take care of me-”

“He really should be doing that all the time, not just when you’re pregnant. Like, what kind of cavewoman logic is this? Are you in heat or something?”

You take another bite of your froyo and savor it.

You’ve known Jia forever, and at this point her comments to you about your love life just go in one ear and out the other. She’s the one who introduced you to Minho, actually, so you’d thought maybe she’d spare you the lectures, but she seems to think your impulsivity would overrule Minho’s common sense. This isn’t you being impulsive, though. You’ve actually thought about it an embarrassing amount- the concept of Minho fathering your children. It’s not just some passing fancy.

When you’re thoroughly done enjoying your vanilla-passion fruit swirl, you deign to answer her.

“First of all, shut the fuck up. Second of all, no I’m not in heat. Is it so wrong to dream of motherhood? To yearn for something to care for?”

“You have three cats and seven potted plants.”

“I mean something that can love me back.”

“I’m telling Dori you said that.”

You ignore her, already lost in your little domestic fantasy. You could already imagine it. You could have a little girl who looked exactly like you. Or maybe just like you with Minho’s pretty eyes. You’ll develop all the “mom skills”, like sewing and kissing boo-boos and making baking soda volcanoes. And Minho would be there, giving her piggyback rides and pushing her on swing sets. He’d call both of you his “princesses” and you could take cute family photos for Christmas and mail them all your relatives. A perfect domestic life.

“Hello? Earth to y/n?”

You blink. Jia is looking at you with an exasperated expression.

“I’d ask you what you’re thinking about, but I already know.”

“Oh, really.”

“You only get that stupid expression on your face when you think about Minho.” Jia crumples up her trash and reaches behind her to throw it in a trash can. “Does he know you are having delusions of domesticity?”

“It’s not delusional. We’ve been together for like two years. We’ve talked about the future.”

“So he wants kids?”

“He wants whatever I want,” you say, and you can hear the lovesickness in your voice even before Jia lets out a long-suffering sigh.

“Go ask him to get you pregnant right now then. He seems like the type to think that’s really hot.”

“Everything I do is hot. I’m a catch. I’d look extra hot pregnant. Working so hard even when I’m just sitting around all day.”

“Your favorite activity.”

You wink cheekily. “Of course. You should give it a try sometime.”

“Give what a try?”

A familiar voice from behind you makes you perk up. You whip around to see your boyfriend in the flesh, coming up behind you. He’s finally arrived. His presence improves your mood by approximately one thousand percent. You can sit up straighter and breathe deeper. The sun shines brighter on your face. His pace is so leisurely that it’s driving you mad. You want to stand up and drag him closer to you, so that as much of you is touching you as possible. The meter between you feels like a nautical mile.

Christ, maybe you are in heat. You think it’s possible you’ve been permanently ovulating since you met Minho. Just seeing him coming has you contemplating breaking several civil laws.

Jia rats you out immediately. “We’re talking about pregnancy.”

“Oh.” Minho stops where he is, as if blocked by an invisible wall. “Is someone you know expecting?”

“Not yet,” Jia says.

“Jia,” you hiss.

Jia ignores you, revenge for forcing her to listen to you for the past half hour.

“Y/n thinks that pregnancy suits her lifestyle. She thinks she’d look hot pregnant. What’s your opinion on the topic?”

“Don’t answer that,” you tell him. “Jia, come on.”

Jia shrugs. “I don’t think it’s that crazy of a question. Your boyfriend should think you look hot all the time.”

“And I do,” Minho interjects, smiling slyly. “Especially right now, as you’re staring daggers at me.”

Jia leans up and stage whispers to Minho, eyes still trained on you. “She specifically said ‘extra hot’, just so you know.”

“I struggle to think she could get any hotter,” Minho says in answering stage whisper. “She’d look equally pretty frozen solid, or zombified.”

 “You know the saying is ‘until death do us part?’ You don’t have to keep loving her as a zombie.”

You try to be annoyed but you’re too busy cheesing for it to have any effect. “Okay haha fun’s over. Take me home now.”

Jia boos you as Minho grabs your hand to help you off the bench.

“As you wish,” he says, and kisses your hand with a flourish.

“I’ve gotta get going too. See you later, y/n.” She stands up and grabs her bag, then pauses and turns back. “If you’re pregnant the next time I see you, I will kill you.”

“You seriously give me no credit.”

Jia gives you an absolutely withering look and walks off.

“I shouldn’t have even brought it up,” you say mournfully. “She’s gonna start keeping tabs on me.”

“We’ll lock our doors and windows,” Minho says, and presses a kiss to your hair. “Home?”

Later that night, you’re lying on the couch searching up pictures of baby clothes. You have an entire Pinterest board for your future baby, and today’s scene at the park has inspired you to add to the collection. You scroll through little images of kids in duck outfits and Hello Kitty themed socks, of cute little barrettes to put in their wispy bangs. Your kids are going to be so well-dressed. They’ll make the other toddlers at the daycare jealous, and maybe even the moms too.

That’s good, though. It’s important to learn how to deal with adversity from a young age.

Your daughter is gonna be so well socialized and assertive and thick-skinned, just like her parents. She’ll get such good grades and be very polite. And you’ll get to show up to parent teacher conferences as the hottest mom in the entire class, which will be good for your ego, and then you can pass that confidence down to your child. It’ll be perfect. Your life will be perfect. You can see it in such clear and vivid detail.

Minho passes by you on the way back from the bathroom and glances down at your phone.

“Baby clothes?”

You blink up at him. You’re not embarrassed at being caught, but you are a little annoyed that he’s interrupted your daydreaming with one of his gateway questions.

“Yes. Our future child has to be up on fashion trends.”

“The fashion trends will have changed by the time you have a baby to dress up.”

To your own surprise, your heart actually stutters with the reminder that you are currently not, in fact, with child.

“Don’t remind me,” you whine, rolling over to hide your face in the cushions. “Jia already lectured me today.”

“Lectured?”

You partially roll back over to look up at him. “She says that I’m being delusional for wanting a baby so badly.”

“How is wanting to be a mother delusional?”

“Right? And I told her like what are you talking about, we’ve already talked about the future, and we’re gonna have kids, and she just gave me this look.”

“Jia’s just looking out for you. She doesn’t want you to rush into things.”

“Jia is a cynic and a skeptic. She thinks we’re too young to have a baby.”

“Well, aren’t we?”

“Are we?” Your visions of being a MILF dance through your head. “I think having kids young would be cute.”

Now Minho looks skeptical. “Really? Since when.”

“Since I had a paradigm shift. I always knew I wanted them, in a vague sense. But now I know that I want to have them with you, specifically, so it’s been on my mind a lot more.”

“You want to have my kids?”

You bristle. “Well they’d be my kids, too, y’know.”

“I know that-”

“And who else’s kids would they be? Do you envision us breaking up?”

“Absolutely not,” Minho says. “You’re stuck with me forever.”

“Right. So then eventually I’ll be having your kids. I mean, if that’s okay with you.”

Minho sits down next to you on the couch. “That’s really what you want?”

“Yes?” A single pang of doubt flashes across your chest. “Do you not want that?”

“No, I do, baby. I’d love to have a family with you. I just want to be sure we’re on the same page, and we’ve thought it through.”

“Well, like you said, we’re still young.” Jia’s admonishment of not being married flashes through your mind. “But sometimes I see little kids in public, or on TV, and I think, God, I want a baby so bad. Y’know? I want to be pregnant. I want to glow like that, and everything.”

Something complicated passes over his face. A lightbulb goes off in your head. It’s the same expression that he had when Jia had mentioned to him the topic of your conversation.

“Oh my god. You actually do think I’d look hot pregnant.”

“Didn’t I say that at the mall?”

“No, you were teasing me. But now you’re being for real. You want to knock me up.”

Minho says nothing, but the tips of his ears redden. You shoot upright, delighted at the turn of events.

“Oh my god, you actually want to knock me up!”

“Would you rather I didn’t?”

“No! Of course not. I want to be the only girl you want, and I want you to want me in every way.”

“Well you are, and I do,” he says flatly. “Congratulations.”

“Congratulations is right,” you say. You’re giddy with energy. “Have you thought about it a bunch? Is that why you wanted me on the pill? So you could cum in me and indulge your breeding kink?”

“I don’t have a breeding kink.I just love you. There’s a difference.”

“You’ve said at least five times today you think I’d be hot while I’m pregnant,” you remind him. “Seems kind of breeding kink-ish to me.”

“You have spent the entire day fantasizing about having my kids. That’s the definition of a breeding kink.” Minho leans further into your space, and though his words are teasing, his tone is decidedly not. You feel heat start to run through you, and not from embarrassment. You scoot closer to him, pulled by magnetic forces beyond your comprehension.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m just life planning. I’m making vision boards.” The lie is so flimsy your lips trip as you try to say it.

“Uh-huh. Right. Because you normally start breathing heavy when you make vision boards.”

“This is unfair. Of course I’ll get turned on when you start talking like this.”

“Like what?” he says, leaning even closer. You can feel his breath on your face, and a shiver goes down your spine.

“Like you’re going to fucking breed me.”

His smile is absolutely feline. “That can be arranged.”

“Is that what you want?”

“Baby, I want whatever you want.”

You grab onto his shoulders, tight. “Then take me to bed, hot stuff.”

His eyes darken. A hand comes up to your face, and he kisses you gently. He grabs you by the hand…

and of course, he gives you what you want.

Your period is a week late.

It’s actually Minho who notices and points it out, which causes you to freak out and call Jia, who freaks out worse than you and demands that you go to the store immediately and buy a test. You get three different brands, and also an entire chocolate cake which will either be for congratulations or for emotional support.

Minho waits outside the bathroom door, an encouraging presence as you try to calm yourself down enough to read the labels.

“Whatever happens, I’m here,” he tells you. You can’t tell whether he wants it to be positive or negative. You aren’t even sure what you want. Yes, you want a baby, yes, babymaking sex is hot and you want to keep having it whether it gets you knocked up or not, but you’re both still young, and he has a career, and your apartment doesn’t have a third bedroom so there’d be nowhere for the nursery that you’ve already meticulously planned out in your mind-

The timer goes off. You open your eyes and look down.

“Negative,” you say, loud enough for Minho to hear outside the door. “All of them.”

Minho doesn’t say anything. You let out a deep breath, tension falling out of you, and open the door. Minho is on the other side, expression cautious.

“Is it bad that I’m a little disappointed?” he says, and his tone is joking but the words stick in your chest because you agree. The relief you expected to feel is nowhere to be found.

“I hope not, because that makes two of us.”

He draws you into a hug, and you sink into him, processing all the events of the last hour.

“And I was all ready to start building a crib.”

You snort. “Picking up carpentry as a hobby?”

“A real father should work with their hands. I need thick, callused hands to hold my baby with, so they feel smaller and daintier by comparison.”

“Wild thing to say, honestly.”

“It works on you.”

You break free and shove him playfully. “You’re ridiculous. You’d be a good father even with your soft city boy hands.”

“You think so?” he says, his tone heavier than before. You don’t even hesitate.

“Yes. Any child would be lucky to have you as a father.” You sigh dramatically. “Unfortunately it seems my uterus didn’t pull through this time.”

Minho is silent for a moment. “Well. We could…try again.”

You stare at him. “Sorry?”

“I mean, you said I’d be a good father. You said you wished the test was positive. I want that too. Just because it didn’t work this time doesn’t mean that-”

“Wait. Wait wait wait wait. Are you serious?” You’re gob smacked. You can’t believe that your usually cautious boyfriend is proposing you have a baby right now.

“I’m serious,” he confirms. “You’d be such a good mom. And I know how much you want this.”

“And you think I’d look hot pregnant.”

“Obviously,” he says, without a hint of jest.

“But I’m- we’re so young, and I’m unemployed, and-”

“Sorry, were you planning on getting a job any time soon?”

Your cheeks heat up. “Oh shut up.”

“No, it’s perfect. You can be a loving stay-at-home mom. I’ll be the breadwinner.”

“Stop it. Stop talking this way. You’re- do you know how pissed my friends would be? What would I tell Jia? She almost bit my head off over the phone earlier, did you hear her? She was so pissed that I was thinking of motherhood instead of marriage-”

“Then let’s get married.”

“Don’t start.”

“Y/n, I’m not joking.”

You actually think you’re going to faint. Your heart is racing and you’re breaking out in a sweat. Is it hot in here? Did you forget to pay the AC bill this month?”

“Are you proposing to me right now?” You’re trying to joke but you’re breathless. “You’re proposing to me as a gimmick to get me to bear your children?”

Minho cringes. “Saying it like that makes me sound manipulative.”

“It’s kinda manipulative.”

“You’re the one who said you wanted to be married before having kids. And I want to do both of those things with you eventually, so why not now?”

Your vision is blurring. For a moment you worry you actually are fainting, but then you realize that you’re crying instead.

“Stop playing with me, Minho, I’m so serious.”

“I’m not playing with you. I actually already bought a ring, but I didn’t know if the timing was right. Like you said, we’re young, and I didn’t know how you felt about getting married so soon. So I thought I’d ask eventually but-”

You lunge forward and kiss him. If you’d felt stressed earlier while taking the test, that’s nothing compared to the depth of emotion you’re feeling now as you hold each other. It’s like joy is filling you up so much that you don’t know where your body behind and ends.

When you finally separate, Minho asks,

“Is that a yes?”

“You’re not proposing to me in our living room,” you tell him. “You have to ask me again. Later. Don’t even show me the ring. Wait, what color is it? You know I only wear gold.”

“You think I’d forget something like that? I’m going to be your husband. I know what jewelry you wear.”

If he wasn’t holding you up, you think you’d actually collapse to the ground from the way you absolutely swoon.

“Propose to me again and I’ll say yes. Right now, I need you to put a baby in me.”

“You want to walk down the aisle pregnant? Your dream wedding dress has a corset.”

“Oh my god, we’ll do it before I start showing, just fuck me, please!”

Minho doesn’t make you ask a third time.

[dreadfutures]

Blue's DA4 Screenshot Binge Pt. 3

CAMEOS CAMEOS CAMEOS

I just wanna say FUCK YES i was right, we get everyone from Tevinter Nights

Evka Ivo - Tevinter Nights, Short Stories, The Missing

Fighting against Elgar'nan and Ghilan'nain with other Wardens: that there in the center with her buns and her hammer is EVKA. I assume we may have also seen Antoine but I didn't really see an archer anywhere.

They are my favorite and I demand more fics with them.

Irelin - Tevinter Nights, Short Stories, The Missing

Our favorite shape shifting Veil Jumper with DAI's June vallaslin is back:

ANDARATEIA CANTORI/VIAGO DE RIVA - Tevinter Nights, Short Stories, The Missing

God I would have rioted if we didn't get them. I am pretty sure big haired elf crow here is Teia, and mustachio'd crow is Vi.

Mourn Watch - Tevinter Nights

I really wonder if the two we see in Emmrich's shot are Audric and Myrna <3 (pleased I want to hug audric so badly pleeeease)

MOMIGAN

I just want to say I never doubted Morrigan would be in DA4, I figured since she was going to be a smaller role she might have fewer lines and not need to be hired super early like when she was first asked and said she hadn't been asked yet.

Mom cut her hair into a respectable A-line cut, and I think her hair is graying and she has mouth creases ;w; she has never looked more beautiful to me. Rocking her same arm sleeve, wrist feather, necklace... and her mother's helmet.

People were confused at first, thinking it was her sister, Yavana, from Those Who Sleep - who wears a dragon skull as her helmet in a very similar style!

But it's Morrigan <3

I'm going to make a few more guesses:

Zara Renata?

At the end of Wigmaker Job, Magister Zara Renata, a blood mage Venatori Magister who uses her slaves to keep herself perpetually beautiful, implies she's going to lure Lucanis in and destroy him. Maybe she's the one he's fighting against here:

They are in distinctly Tevinter ruins I think, and it looks like maybe Teia? is on the stairs.

Felassan? Please? God? For me? FOR MJ???

In a nest of some kind, with these sacks of white growth that seem to be consuming corpses, there are tentacles wrapped around an elf who is not looking so hot.

Their face is streaked with dark veins like a ghoul. They're wearing some kind of armor - seems like it might have triangles on it, perhaps a Veil Jumper. Their hair is pulled back sharply with a tight buzz on the sides.

Please, god? Please? My husband?

But also: concept art Solas, as much as I hate white guys with dreads:

My money remains on Felassan.

[a-dumb-sarcastic-bisexual]

More Nimona headcanons cause I'm bored

Bal and Ambrosius are absolutely those people who take Valentines Day seriously 

But not in the way you would think

They’re not that couple that acts like Valentine's Day is specific to couples

No they acknowledge that its about all kind of love platonic, familial, self love the whole shebang

So they go out of their way to spend time with their friends and loved ones and take time to take care of themselves 

Some years they even host little get together with their loved ones

Like don't get me wrong they absolutely spoil each other rotten and have stupidly sappy romantic dinners 

But that isn’t the main focus of the day

They kind of expected Nimona to hate Valentine's Day 

I mean it seems like the perfect time for her to rant about how “Valentine's Day is a made up Holiday by greeting card companies”

But they fucking love Valentine's Day 

It’s the one day out of the year that their favorite colors are spread across the city and chocolate is literally everywhere 

They even participate in the boy's little get-togethers and help them set up

So in my personal opinion there is no way that a singular person in the trio had a normal childhood 

In the clip of Bal jumping the fence he looked around 7-9 which is when I assume he started his training and we can assume he was homeless before that

Ambrosius has been training to be a knight since he was a kid

And the only moments we got to see Nimona being a kid were with Gloreth which is really short in the grand scheme of her existence 

So I like to think that they take at least one day out of the month to do something childish

Whether that be going to an amusement park, hanging out in an arcade, going to a movie theater and then getting ice cream afterward

You know things that none of them got to do when they were “kids”

And slowly but surely they start to heal their inner child

They really look forward to those days and it becomes the highlight of their month

I feel like the trio all have different ideas of money

Even though he didn’t have a great childhood money was never something he dreamed of worrying about

And not in like a snobby way either (it’s lowkey cute to watch this grown man try and wrap his head around taxes)

There have been multiple times when Bal has expressed that he wants something and Ambrosius buys it without thinking 

Bal will just look at him and go “Love this was 6,000 dollars” and Ambrosius just tilts his head like a golden retriever and goes “Yeah is that okay”

All the while Bal is trying not to puke because he hasn’t held more than 400 dollars in his hand 

Nimona has no concept of money because whenever he wanted something he’d steal it 

He’s been around longer than money so he finds the concept incredibly amusing 

She’s gotten in multiple arguments with finance bros because she’s said with a straight face “Why can’t we just print more?” 

And she just laughed as their faces got progressively redder because she genuinely doesn’t get it 

Bal is on the complete opposite side of the spectrum 

He’s always been cautious of his spending 

And while this isn’t inherently a bad thing it’s stopped him from doing things he really wants 

Slowly but surely Nimona and Ambrosius have gotten him to break those habits 

Mostly by spending Ambrosius' families money

[ghostinacardboardbox]

@averagecygnet-blog i accidentally deleted your ask about my opinion on the themes in Black Friday 😶 sorry bout that anywhere here’s my thoughts.

So like first of all, like you’ve already said, the critique of consumerism is incredibly heavy handed. You are right. It is not at all subtle. We’ve all heard Made in America. But I really don’t think it was possible to tell this story and have it be subtle; this was always going to be an incredibly overt anti-capitalist message.

Starting with the real life inspirations of the premise, the “Tickle-Me Wiggly” is already a direct reference to “Tickle-Me Elmo,” which was a toy that inspired real life riots ending in at least a handful of injuries and arrests. In the scene right after the Wiggly Jingle, Paul and Emma discuss Cabbage Patch Kids. The Cabbage Patch riots have their own wiki page. The idea of parents literally resorting to violence over toys on Black Friday is something that already happens. So this musical is really just looking at those events, saying, “Wow, capitalism sure makes people behave badly,” and then pushing that concept to its most exaggerated form. The fact that it isn’t subtle is not a bug, it’s a feature.

I also see people bring up this theme almost entirely in relation to the song Made in America rather than connecting it to almost every scene. As if this isn’t a show that doesn’t begin with an advertisement. The opening number is an ad.

(Apparently an effective one, considering how quickly Starkid sells out of the Lord in Black dolls whenever they sell them. People literally watched a whole musical about how the doll represents using the product of capitalism to distract from societal problems and then went and bought the doll. And I would have, too, if I had the money. But I think about the irony.)

I'm not going to go through every scene and the capitalist imagery in it, mostly because I don't actually have anything particularly unique to say about it. Like most of them are fairly self-explanatory and I'm not particularly good at analysis. But do want to specifically bring up the lyrics of "Our Doors Are Open" since they usually get overshadowed by people talking about how much cunt Corey served (it's a lot of cunt. Record amounts of cunt served), because the entire song is both satirical and foreshadowing. Also the bridge of "First of Famine" and the dehumanization of the worker, etc. etc.

I'm also fascinated by the social dynamics in Black Friday. Lex is basically raising her sister due to their mother's neglect; Tom is a single dad; Becky is a domestic abuse survivor; and while Linda's family externally looks very well-put together, she's had multiple affairs, and it's revealed in the Nightmare Time episode "Honey Queen" that she blatantly plays favorites with her kids and has a terrible relationship with her father. Lex is a poor retail worker, Tom and Becky are middle class, and Linda is very wealthy. Black Friday more than any other Starkid show acknowledges the implications of social class, I think. I wonder if part of why a lot of people don't like it is because it's not really escapism the way a lot of other musicals are; it's pretty clear about dealing with real life problems, in a very simplified but obvious way.

I think all the time about the scene where Linda tells Becky, in front of a crowd, that everyone knew her husband was abusive and chose to stay silent. It's such an important moment because it's directly showing the audience just how cruel Linda is. It had been implied before but this was on another level. And it also serves as, again, a pretty basic depiction of how society treats victims. Like, saying that "bystanders will always look away as long as there's plausible deniability to preserve their own comfort" is pretty simple, but that doesn't mean it's a bad point to make, and I think it's made well. The title song also has the lines "I don't want your half-baked sympathy, / When did it save those in need?" which reinforces a similar concept; expressing pity isn't the same as actually taking any kind of action.

And then, of course, there is all the religious imagery. Every time I watch this show I notice more of it, it's everywhere and it's so cool. The show takes place during the holiday season so there are a lot of references to Christmas, specifically. Wiggly keeps saying it will be his birthday, and Linda will "birth" him, so they are tied to Jesus and the Virgin Mary, symbolically (While writing this I had the thought that Wiley possibly counts as the angel Gabriel, then). And I think that using Christmas works because of how commercial Christmas in the US is. If your eldrith god is using capitalist desires as a recruiting tactic, having him bastardize Christmas for his own purposes is a pretty logical step I think. It's also not just that Wiggly is associated with Christmas thematically but also in a sense the iconography of the holiday becomes Wiggly. The garlands on the balcony turning into Wiggly's tentacles is one of the greatest set design pieces I've ever seen. Even apart from the functionality of it as a low-cost set that can go unnoticed until it's needed, it so perfectly evokes the imagery of Wiggly literally corrupting the holiday imagery. The first time I saw that scene I was amazed. I don't feel like checking rn who did the set design for Black Friday but whoever they are, they're fucking incredible. No notes.

And then the music. This is by far my favorite Starkid score overall. I love it so much. Partially because I, known 80's pop-rock enjoyer, am obsessed with a good synthesizer, but also just because of how well the songs suit this particular story. The synths are used most in the songs that show Wiggly's influence (Feast or Famine, Adore Me, Wiggle). Is "non-traditional instruments represent the unknown and otherworldly" the most unique special concept ever? No. But I like it and it sounds cool so like idc.

Jeff Blim is an incredible songwriter who is so talented in so many genres, and I'm always impressed with the songs he writes for Hatchetfield. I think sometimes we don't appreciate enough that all of these songs are by one guy (also Matt Dahan's musical direction for the entire series and the underscoring for both seasons of Nightmare Time that works in the melodies of previously used songs so incredibly). All of the Nightmare Time songs are so different, and all three of the stage shows have a very distinctive sound that really makes sense with the story that's being told. And one of the things Jeff does best in my opinion is the use of repeated melodies and leitmotifs.

Hatchetfield is full of them. There's been a lot of discussion of it in Nerdy Prudes because that show has so many motifs (i.e. the Nightmare Time riff, the "I'm not a loser" melody), and one of them actually comes from Black Friday. In The Summoning, right after Wiggly says "fwendy-wends," the keyboard melody that plays is the same as the part in the song Wiggle that goes "We will build a portal just for [when he comes]" (The last few notes fade directly into the chorus of The Summoning). I'm not the first person to notice this or anything but I thought it was so cool when it happened.

And Wiggle itself is using a different melody: The Carol of the Bells. Again, it ties into the idea of Wiggly completely taking over the idea of the Christmas season. The lyrics of Wiggle also include the lines "He will rise up with joyful noise," and I didn't realize that not everyone would catch that as a religious reference until a friend commented about it but "joyful noise" is a biblical reference (Psalm 100:1). It all ties back to the religious themes.

This last one may not be intentional, but the last song also really makes me think of another Christmas carol? The opening lyrics of What If Tomorrow Comes ("Do you all see what I see, / What I know, / What I see?") really reminds me of the song "Do You All Hear What I Hear?" The melody is different and only vaguely similar so I may be reading too far into it, but I always got the feeling that I'd heard something like that before and wasn't able to place it until last year.

Anyway TLDR Black Friday is heavy handed but I think it actually works better that way, and I like how strong the imagery throughout it is.

[dootznbootz]

Hello. I honestly don't know how to prep this but uh, why do I feel like MM's Circe had so much potential? Like, MM did the lazy thing that is "making Circe's life a living shit show because that's the only way her actions would be justified" which... Is the annoying thing most modern interpretations do.

One good example would actually be EPIC: The musical. But in EPIC it only works because Circe isn't exactly a vocal point. And Circe having a motive plays into a pretty big theme of the show (Specifically in the song "Monster" where Odysseus is basically just... Contemplating everything)

But when you have 400 paged book, focusing around Circe, you have so much potential to focus more on the godly elements of these people. Someone else has said this before but ama say it too. The Greek gods had REASONS for acting the way they did. Zeus misused his power, that's what a king does. Artemis's wrath was unmatched when you wronged her, that's how nature is. Hades took a young girl from her mother, that's what death does.

And I'd like to add some of my own.

Aphrodite is a completely morally gray character, that's how love can be, it can go againts you sometimes. Dionysus was all over the place, sometimes good sometimes terrible, that's what madness is. Hermes is swift and a trickster because that's what people we deem 'messengers' can be like, via rumours.

When you notice these complexities to the characters, you start to realize. Circe misused her magic on innocent people for entertainment, that's what black/evil magic does. But at the same time, she helped Odysseus. Because even evil magic, or the 'worst possibilities' can be useful sometimes.

I think it is SUCH a missed opportunity MM didn't focus more on this aspect. Because that would've made for such an interesting story an unique story. Most of these modern retellings try to push modern ideologies on ancient works, which doesn't work. No retelling tries to tell these stories in a ancient Greek perspective (which is actually fairly easy you just have to do your research)

And with an author as skilled as MM is, I'm sure she could do it. But honestly, I don't think her writing is good in the perspective of Greek mythology. She could probably do a great modern story but let's face it, that wouldn't get as much money.

A story focusing around a goddess, and what it means to be a divine personification of nature and a concept, not to you but to the humans you exist for.You can really focus a lot on that and it could be such an interesting story.

All of these writers to me just seem like they're exploiting Greek mythology, which bugs me. If miller wanted to tell these stories, she would've told THE stories with her own twist. Not completely change them to the point they lose their charm.

If miller couldn't do that, if she wanted to write a complex feminist character she wouldn't have chosen Circe.

Something I really admire in your work is how you characterize these guys. It's obvious you're extremely passionate. I also love how you give Penelope clear flaws. You don't have to mortify everyone else to make her 'stand out' or to be 'more likable'. I really love your fic and I'm wishing you nothing but success in the future! :D

Anyways, enough about MM's book.

What do you think is one of Penelope's favorite little quirks od Odysseus', like something he does she finds really cute? :)

I hope you find pretty flowers today and get a sweet for free, dear anon. This ask made me so happy as it's like, perfect. As you gave a Circe rant that will be fun to dissect but also gave me a silly lil question for me to feast on and for the balance and the silly and I love it. You also sent it at the perfect time as I was getting a wee bit sad about how women from Greek Mythology get treated by retellings and fandoms. This really cheered me up 🩵

And thank you so much for the sweet compliment! It means so much to me that you love my silly lil guys as I love sharing them! And don't worry I am working on stuff! ;~; I know I'm taking a while but I am!

I'll do the cute stuff Penelope loves about Odysseus :P

(I do have them "mirror" each other a lot with "like-minded" so they often have SOME similar traits in some ways that both find endearing about the other. (both love watching the other brainstorm/think/swindle/winning/etc., both love (and are sometimes annoyed by) their stubbornness.) Stuff like that :D Also in general. Thank you, Anon. You've made me realize I've been going a wee bit too crazy with Penelope and kind of forgot about Odysseus.

1.) This is a past post that goes into it more but she just adores his freckles. She has counted them and memorized them. She's going to kiss every single one. He mostly has them on his face and shoulders but they are peppered a lil everywhere (he gets it from his mama). She uses the freckle pattern he has across his nose as "stars" for her tapestries.

Rando: Hey, that's not how the stars are mapped. Penelope: They're my stars, asshole >:(

She has to do a "recount" when he returns as some of his "stars" are covered by scars now :')

2.) She loves his hair and how well-groomed he usually is. He also is a bit like a cat in how he loves being pampered. (lil post about that) She loves scratching at his scalp and at the tiny hairs that are at the back of the neck. She loves the pretty grays he has when he returns as well :') She really loved how he looked without and with a beard. (It doesn't end up growing too long anyway)

3.) He's very warm. She's not really affected by temperature too much (she's used to freezing rivers and she herself is naturally cold. Her average temperature is colder than the average person. She only really has to worry about "drying up".) she loves his warmth. She wraps herself up in blankets while he's gone despite not really needing them sometimes as...she misses her furnace. (also his snoring) He also wraps himself in her blankets while away but sadly wakes up to them tossed about because he gets too hot. He needs his lil iceblock wife.

4.) She just adores his big laugh. The laughing so hard you cry one. Hearing it was kind of a "...Okay, I wanna hear that again." for her.

5.) He tends to bite his lip. Sometimes it's endearing and hot but he also will often rip at them. She tries to help him with this habit by distracting with kisses...Though with her teeth, it doesn't always help. Fun fact: For their first kiss on the lips, they were so stupid excited that he knicked himself on her teeth. She felt awful but he just kissed her again. It was bloody and bad but they were so happy. His bad habit returns when he's away because he's not getting his kisses 😔

6.) He whistles while he whittles often.

7.) So ancient Greece had yo-yos (probably in Odyssey but I'm getting silly with it)...and Odysseus is a nerd who WILL do tricks with them. (they can be made with wood and string so... odypen lol) He has fun trying to show other people how to do it too. It's a nice fidget. (modern day he would have definitely been that guy with that rubix cube lol)

8.) So Penelope is better at getting more for less, (lowering prices) and Odysseus is better at giving less for more. (selling shit for good things) They both can do it but they have their strengths.

9.) He got big eyebrows and with his weird "face shifting" thing he inherited from Autolycus, he can make a lot of silly faces.

10.) He tends to make sandcastles whenever he waits for her at the banks of rivers.

11.) He's a "heavy stepper" when he's not sneaking. It's not because of his scar. He just likes walking like that. :) Not so much "stompy" but she finds it cute that she knows it's him coming based on the footsteps she hears.

Some things that annoy her >:3

She's incredibly ticklish and he's not so much and he keeps doing it. STOP IT >:(

So she's smaller than him in mine and in general, he loves draping himself across her (he's like a cat remember?). Most of the time she loves that weight as she loves him and he's a warm weighted blanket. Though while she's strong, he'll sometimes be a brat and put so much of his weight on her just to mes with her. (mostly when they're young and dumb. not so much after he returns)

(Not this big of a size difference ofc but you know >:) )

Those are some and I have more rattling around in my head but I wanna finish this ask and I gotta do some shit :')

Thank you again, Anon. This made me happy <3

[fareehaandspaniards]

Laurence for the character ask game :>

The Ask meme

Favourite thing about them:

The concept of “the road to hell is paved with good signs” folded into one man. Laurence did so much for the Church and for the people, and still ended up in a personalized little hell without the possibility of even finding his true self

Least favorite thing about them:

stupid lava floor during the boss fight

and his fanon image

Favorite line:

"SKREEEEEEEEEEEE" <3

(I don't want to use his cut content or 1.5 of senteces from the game)

brOTP

Laurence x Gehrman probably

Not really BROtp, but I like to imagine that Gehrman has become a second father to him. Although Laurence had enough influence to keep any kind of company, he preferred to spend his time with the old hunter, asking him for advice and complaining about personal problems. In spite of his cunning and dodgy nature, Laurence was like a child with Gehrman - shy and sweet.

(Also he in childhood was a good friend of Ludwig's wife and Adeline. Him and Adeline is something)

OTP

Laurence x Rom as it was! Two scientists with big ambitions. Only he would like to “live happily ever after”, and she would like to continue her experiments in secret and ascend to higher matter.

Also Laurence x Caryll x Rom is so fucking nice. Caryll is just trapped between two horny demons.

nOTP

Doesn't exist probably. All the pairings with him are good, however, for me the only only beloved one is listed above and all the others are just good

Random headcanon

You won't meet a more stylish and fashionable person in Yharnam than Laurence. His collar is always starched, his brooch sparkles off his jacket, his clothes are ironed and washed, and his hair is combed, but not too much so that it looks more lush. And it's not even about his position or money. Probably even if he was a beggar from the street, he'd still make sure to keep up appearances at all costs. So he feels more confident, more pleasant in his own body, and he can throw his leg over his leg during the dialog, because he knows that he looks stunning. Also, when you talk to him, you can be collected and ready for everything, but still find that you unexpectedly agreed to something uncomfortable for yourself or signed without reading the contract to the end. He has mastered the art of words and can probably talk anyone down, charming you with his sly and attentive gaze at the same time.

This trait is hated with all his heart by Micolash and also disliked by Rom, but only she finds her little kink in it. Ludwig, too, can't stand long conversations with his vicar, nor his sweet, softly flowing voice, and Laurence loves to annoy him. Logarius does not understand all these tricks, and Gehrman only smiles affectionately, for he knows there is a good man hidden underneath it all.

And Caryll promises to carry a shotgun (he doesn't know how to wield a gun) with him so that Laurence won’t even try to start a conversation, but it sounds so unconvincing that Laurence uses this to annoy him once again.

Unpopular opinion

I don't want to get into a fandom debate because of the generally accepted interpretation, I can say a lot of unpleasant and subjective things :/

So about the game: his battle is not a reuse of a Cleric beast - it is individual and difficult circumstances suit the vicar the best. I hate this lava floor myself. But that's the point.

It's just that gamerbros are used to throwing shit at everything in soulslikes, and it really tires me to go into the russian fandom, just to read that the game is shit, Miyazaki is a sucker, everything is overused, complete repetition. Don't play :P Leave my games alone. I love the repetitions that occur in Miyazaki's games. You just can't read :P

Song I associate with them:

Maniac by Carpenter Brut feat. Yann Ligner (but it's more about Rom from Laurence's view so I add another one)

Puttin' on the Ritz by Taco (perfect for a headcanon phphp)

Заходи скорее by Oxxxymiron (a banger)

Favorite picture:

(I don't know who the author is)

[whooiew]

Hi! I'm very curious about what is the basis of the Kafsant ship? Just cause cute?

Hello! I actually have a full script for this one question!

I'll separate them into different bits depending on how interested you are in learning more

They both came from a pretty fucked up past Kafka needing to fight tooth and nail to survive on the Columbian streets Snowsant with POVERTY and RACISM They both also have a fondness for braids Kafka is all street smarts and 0 books smarts While Snowsant is all books smarts (a literaly prodigy engineer) and 0 street smarts (extremely obvious in her operator records) Snowsant is anxious and worries a lot about the future (not anymore since So Long Adele, she has more self confidence now, we love to see it) Kafka is more of a living in the moment kinda girl And most importantly, the part that slam jams this ship together in the first place Snowsant is a place of comfort and reliability that the operators can rely on She's extremely genuine and pure of heart Kafka desperately needs a place of comfort and reliability in her life, and is magnitized to people who she sees as genuine, cause she just, wants someone that she can trust

And from here we'll be going into the DETAILS (1257 words ahead, might get sexual towards the end)

Kafka has absolutely no idea what love is like, in fact she's completely avoiding it most of the time due to her past but due to the nurture and nature dillema of Kafka

She actually greatly yearns for any sort of connection, as shown in her operator records featuring Silence Her Module featuring Silence Her Operator files featuring Rhodes Island treating them extremely well, as shown in Pinecone's Operator Records and Kafka's Files where she takes cares of the children and actively makes gifts for the Mansfield crew Snowsant on the other hand we don't really have any idea how she's like in terms of the concept of love, but if the liberi trend is anything to go by she'll be pretty intimate with it, making Kafka the one outlier whom's actively avoiding it

And I have a concept on how they've met actually

In case you didn't know, Kafka's basically Arknight's version of Robin Hood, she runs around stealing and stabbing people on the streets of Columbia but she still has a heart of gold and really only shanks those that deserves it, if they don't she'll just steal it, and she also looks out for her fellow hobos despite everything

IN Kafka's operator records, towards the end it was shown that Silence has met Kafka before actually

Back when Kafka stole Silence's breakfast and passes it along to a homeless child before running off, she also paid Silence of course, leaving her with a single coin (we'll come back to the coin part in a bit for brain rot) Now how does this tie to Snowsant you may wonder Snowsant's a Lungmen character isn't she? She's from Lungmen, how would she have met a Columbian WELL MY DEAR READER SNOWSANT'S BEEN TO COLUMBIA BEFORE!

Using her painfully saved up money and her winnings at Lungmen's Invention Competition, she moved to Columbia to further her studies to be the most EPIC ENGINEER EVER

But life for our little Snowsant isn't that good in Columbia

Being a Lungman Citizen she got hit with a good dose of RACISM, her social standing doesn't help either, causing her to not be treated that kindly throughout her stay there

If you've read So Long Adele, you should know that Snowsant cried herself to sleep over the prices of writing letters there

She was not well off in Columbia at all Now she actually made something FUCKING AMAZING, ABSOLUTELY REVOLUTIONARY, but due to her ZERO STREET SMARTS, she didn't copyright it, it got stolen, and the thieves made BANK with HER CREATION, ASSHOLES

Least to say poor Snowsant was fucking dying at this point

Now that's when our favorite corvid comes along, KAFKA, OUR ROBIN HOOD, she descends from the heavens to provide food and stuff whenever she can to Snowsant cause Snowsant's her fellow hobo at this point basically And of course eventually Snowsant goes back to Lungmen and stuff yadda yadda BUT EVENTUALLY, Snowsant and Kafka met back up on Rhodes again

Snowsant's of course very thankful and stuff, and from there on they sorta just hang out more cause Kafka's like, omg a fellow street kid YOOOOOO

So Kafka pays more attention in terms of taking care of Snowsant, which causes Snowsant to think Kafka might have feelings for her, after a bit eventually Snowsant drags her on a date and something something, oh hey maybe Kafka likes her too and she'll have to be forced to confront to the idea of it causing her to explode into a mess of feathers

As a result who knows Snowsant might think she did something wrong due to how she is as a a character and now its a MESS OH NO, eventually Kafka will have to get through to her feelings and confront it and YIPPEE YURI Apart from that I just think they'd be really cute with each other, they bounce off each other's flaws really well, like, Kafka's infinite confidence and gusto countering Snowsant's sheer lack of it

And Snowsant just being a general safe zone for Kafka to let her guard down around, because Snowsant's never really hiding anything, she's always genuine

Which is something Kafka really likes. ALSO THEY HAVE THE SAME LIBERI TRAIT OF SIDE HAIR FEATHERS And that's pretty much the basics

So now that we've gone over express details on how Snowsant and Kafka are like as characters I'ma explain a bit more about them Snowsant is a pure of heart girl, your average goodie two shoes, she's a prodigy genius, she has an insane amount of mental endurance, being able to go through failure after failure but despite it all still being able to keep her head up high and continue moving forward

She cares for her family greatly, family is extremely important to her in fact, hell a good amount of her paycheck gets sent back to her family even

But all of that comes with a price, she's still slightly anxious about things, doesn't really take care of herself, and has a nasty habit of, zoning in too much (this will be discussed further later)

Kafka on the other hand, on the surface may seem like an annoying piece of shit, but once you get to know her she actually has a heart of gold, becoming Rhodes Island's invisible guardian angle in a sense, looking out for her fellow operators whenever wherever

She also has a fondness for kids as she visits them often and even makes gifts for them

Speaking of gift making, Kafka is an avid tinkerer and arts and crafts nerd

And of course can't forget, harboring of PLANT AUTISM

But yeah, she cares for people greatly, especially ones that's close to her

Be it anyone from the Mansfield Crew Silence Ifrit (implied) You the Doctor She's the peak of Liberi, with how Liberi characters are usually very caring about their relationships, be it their S/O or their friends and family, they care greatly for them Fitting for Kafka because she's a Jackdaw! Jackdaws immensely loyal to their partners and will pretty much never leave one once they find one all that aside, I just think these 2 would be really sweet and they'd just be happy to have someone that they can lean on especially Kafka

(This is where the sexual parts are: )

There's also the side to Snowsant where she actually surprisingly dominant

Which unironically fits how White Eared Pheasants are like

I've always made Snowsant the more assertive one, and more recent Snowsant content supports that fact

There's some parts to Snowsant, small parts, but pieced together it shows a bigger picture and I'd say Snowsant does have a dominant side to her but she keeps it in check It'll only really come out when she's in the mood and zone for it, specifically when she starts zoning stuff out again Like damn yeah she'd definitely tie Kafka up and whisper sensually into her ears while teasing her

The whole zoning out thing I've explored a bit more when writing a specific short fic but it was shown officially in her operator records where Snowsant completely zoned out everything around her when she got caught thinking about how to pay for her book publishing fee, completely zoning out the fact that Closure was telling her that Doc and Closure already paid for it

Which fits into white eared pheasants being usually pretty reserved when it comes to the act of sex until a switch flips on and they go into a breeding frenzy

Also Snowsant's fucking RICH NOW BABY YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

[mrsnancywheeler]

ommggg i read let me down easy today and i kept re-reading it bc its TOO GOOD AHH !!🦅🦅

it hurt so much but im a whore for angst first, and a human second🫶

just thinking about the reader suffering in silence because she feels guilty for having any negative feelings towards finnick :(( the way she dismisses those feelings bc she thinks that whatever she’s going through is nothing compared to what he’s been through :((

also thinking abt finnick’s slow realization that she’s suffering because of him :(( like the incident at the market is when he began to notice the changes :(( and later when he fully understands how his behavior affected her IT MESSES HIM UP SO BAD

i just know he was remembering his past interactions with reader (where she breaks the glass / when she rejected his money at the pearl necklace stand) AND CRINGING …and it only gets worse when reader spills her guts about what she went through. omg ik he was sick.

another #thougjt i had was how this might mess up the reader for a bit after too #idk (that just might be me tho lmaoo) bc i feel like once you’ve been in that cycle of feeling depressed/insecure for so long it’s hard to snap out of, even with constant reassurance 😔

But maybe that’s just my angsty side talking HAHA

but i loved this fic, 11/10🫶

-🦅

omg yes, literally my favorite thing I've ever written. ik I wrote it, but it's the only thing of mine I reread bc it's like the perfect expression of how I feel, like if I could represent myself in one fic it would be that one if that makes any sense. it's like a concept that always haunts my mind no matter what I'm hyperfixating on maybe because I'm just like melancholy like that 🎀🎀🎀

but thank you so much, I'm literally so glad people are enjoying it because it literally is my own roman empire

yes she wants to be angry, she is angry, but refuses to let herself be because his issues are what she needs to prioritize. how can she be angry when he is constantly suffering? even if it's not so slowly tearing her apart, like a piece of paper sitting in water, she's trying to stay connected for the illusion of it all, to be strong for him.

her being loving isn't new to him, so he isn't thrown off by that, only slightly confused by her waking up earlier then usual. so her gifts have little bearing when he's used to it and he really doesn't want to feel loved right now because he's trying to reject whatever will make him seek comfort. when she starts changing her clothes and makeup, it's different, but he's not responsive because she's always been his pretty girl and always will be, her buying new clothes doesn't make him perceive her any differently or wonder if there's a reason, people try out new things.

when he notices how other peoples interactions with her have changed that's when he really starts to notice, if everyone else perceives her as melancholy then something has to be wrong. even if he's not quick to point the finger back to himself. he tries gifts, maybe she wouldn't buy something because she wanted him to do it, some sort of attention, but it's not big enough part of the issue to have any bearing on the effects it's now had on her. the girl rotting depression era shall we say. eventually through that, what people say to him, self-reflection he gains full consciousness of what he's been doing, how he's been hurting the person he loves so much. and the guilt is incomprehendable.

how could he be so selfish? so closed off as not to process all the clear cries for help? thinking about how he was getting annoyed, feeling like she was being moody when she insisted on doing the dishes until the dish broke. how she ran out into the ocean, in the rain without a care to regain some sense of composure, composure to try and make him happy. then the necklace thing, how could he miss her clearly trying just to be with him, be near him, have the interactions with him that he was giving to the girl at the shop instead? he was so unresponsive to the emotional needs he just assumed it to be a material need that he was willing to give. so when she rejects the money it just doesn't compute, to buy it she needs it, and then she tries to send the message that buying something isn't what she's asking for but he misses it completely. he gets snappy and it snaps her.

so when he's finally talking to her, he needs her to tell him the truth, the nuances because he's been so blind to all of it. he needs to know how he hurt her and it really is like a full wake up call. he can't let his own trauma consume him, allowing it to traumatize her in different ways. like when she mentions her getting to the point of just wanting him to want her body if he wouldn't want her because that's how people perceive him, that's what was hurting him, but he inadvertently made her feel that way. it breaks him to think that he did that to her, that he hurt his girl that way. then the idea that she would have let him cheat on her, she would've picked being with him over her own well-being, well she did, and he doesn't deserve that. he can't fathom how he could be with someone who loves him so blindly as to choose being with a ghost of him over not having him at all, when she deserves so much better. when he has been so callous with such a precious kind of love. or the fact that he even made it seem like he had interest in anyone but her.

there will be a fluffy, smutty requested sequel but readers issues afterwards will be lightly touched upon in it. but yes, she would have to spend so much time mending her relationship with herself afterwards. he's totally on hand and knee trying to make it up to her, to prove how much he loves and needs her, to give the attention she deserves. but she's still paranoid about cheating, insecure, scared, even if she tries to mask it. but he knows. he could, and does, spend hours praising her, telling her how pretty she is, how she's the only one, how sorry he is, how much he adores her, but it doesn't stop the nagging voice in the back of her head. she tries to hide it but she's clingier and he's okay with that, she needs him more.

but yes there's lots of long term effects the incident has on there relationship. and they have to try and navigate that together.

thank you pookie, I love your thoughts sm 💋💋💋💋💋💋

[shinymisty-blog]

Who wants a Sonic Underground Swapped AU

I’ve been a huge fan of Undertale for a pretty long time. And one of my favorite things about it was the concept of “different timelines/universes” that so many fans started to make. I know AUs have been around for a long time, longer than Undertale, but it was because of Undertale that I started thinking of AU ideas. 

Case in point: A Sonic Underground AU where all the characters' roles and personalities are swapped. 

A…Sonic Underswap, if you will. (I am going to hell)

The idea smacked me last night when I thought “...hmm. Wouldn’t it be funny to imagine a Manic who grew up in Sonia’s shoes?” It then formed into wondering “Who would switch with who?” So… I will jot down what I think a Sonic Underground Swap would be like.

And, while I would pull the whole “the triplets are evil” idea…but where’s the fun in that?! (...aside from a lot of fun to begin with). This is playing with the idea that MOST of the characters are still the same when it comes to their placement in the story. 

There is one HUGE exception:

Obviously, Aleena and Robotnik would HAVE to swap places. This would mean Aleena becomes the “tyrant ruining Mobius” while Robotnik is hiding away, hoping to one day take Aleena down. 

So the story would go like this:

Fearful over the thought that her newborn children could overthrow her, Aleena abandons them shortly after birth in hopes of ruling. Even if she is a really bad leader. Brushing off the struggles of her people as she feels they aren’t worth her time. Only those who pay the outrageous tax have her attention, and they never really have any struggles, to begin with.

Robotnik, being an outsider notices just how horrible she is running Mobius and plots to take her down. With the help of Athair’s future visions and elderly wisdom, he realizes that her children are alive and are destined to fix what their mother has caused.

However, Aleena didn’t deal with her children as well as she had expected, and they were raised by three different families.

As mentioned, Manic would be raised in the higher class, with Sir Farrell as his father. Raised to use and abuse the lower class and how much they need to rely on the upper class to stay safe, and he isn’t afraid to admit that. But, hey, at least he has a close friendship with [_____], though even that is stripped away when he was exiled due to Aleena realizing her children were a risk. Now he feels like an outcast when he joins up with Sonia and Sonic, both lower class and slightly spiteful over Manic’s upbringing. 

But he does know how the upper class works, and what makes them tick.

Sonia, meanwhile, takes Sonic’s role. 

After all, if she didn’t fill this tier, Sonic wouldn’t have changed. And, honestly, I feel the idea that Manic being raised high class and Sonia fighting with the Rebels (the Resistance) gives better story ideas over Sonic being raised high class and Sonia being poor.

Anywho, Sonia was raised by Windemere, a high-status member of the Anti-Royal Movement, better known as the Rebels. She was adopted by Windermere after her “original” family was killed during a raid. Since then she has been fighting for what she felt was right. She is heartbroken during a raid when she finds out that Windermere was caught and, later, was found out to have been hiding one of Aleena’s children. 

She is well known by the Rebels. 

Sonic was found by Chuck, who’s been struggling hard since Aleena’s rules made it harder and harder for the lower class to survive. Everything has gotten so expensive (mood), and he wasn’t going to rescue the infant, but he couldn’t abandon a life in need. Sonic grew up knowing that life is harsh and mean. Don’t trust anyone but yourself, ESPECIALLY the higher class. That makes him and Manic not get along really…at all. 

Sonic is still the fastest, and his speed helps with snatching up food and money. But mostly food. 

Aleena is warned by Athiar about her eventual demise, causing her to stress out and hire Dingo and Sleet, famous mercenaries who can easily find and…silence almost any targets. For the right price, of course.  (...I think you are seeing where this is going)

Though he relies more on his brawn than his brain, Dingo is still the leader of the duo, always more focused on his work, and less focused on anything else. However, he has to always remind himself to keep a close eye on his absent-minded partner, Sleet, and he is starting to wonder if the wolf would even notice if he left him mesmerized by something. It doesn’t help that Aleena’s influence is beginning to rub off on him. Why worry about a mobian that causes him more trouble than he’s worth?

Sleet’s mind’s in the right place. He’s smart, and when he’s able to focus on the job, he can be a real threat. Too bad he’s easily distracted and is amazed by everything and anything and will often leave Dingo to do most of the heavy lifting. It doesn’t help that Sleet thinks that Manic is super cool and admires being JUST like him one day. He never realizes that his constant admiring is getting on Dingo’s nerves, though. It’s always work work work with that canine. Can’t he stop and enjoy the moment once in a while?

All his life, Cyrus was raised to believe that everything Queen Aleena said was law and that those below him were just obstacles in his way. But when his long-time friend, Manic, was found to be the Queen’s son and she wanted him gone before he and his siblings could overthrow her, Cyrus finds himself in a pickle. Maybe, if Manic accepts that Aleena is the true Queen and promises to not try and defy her, he’d get his friend back. Why even worry about the others when he had everything he needed if he just behaved? 

Knowing Sonia from the Rebels Group made Bartleby a target for manipulation for Aleena, trying to trick the mink into luring the Rebels out and punishing them for all their wrongdoings, all to protect what remains of his family’s history. But once he realizes that the lives of innocent mobians would be at stake, he quickly breaks away from her control and vows to help the Rebels in any way he can. His love for the arts helps him create things, though they seem to be more dangerous than helpful. It’s the thought that counts, right?

The other prevalent member of the Rebels is Knuckles. Cunning and decently strong to boot, he makes good support for the group. He also knows a bit about nature, so that’s a plus. Early on, he was captured by Aleena, who attempted to learn a thing or two about the growing Rebels, but the triplets quickly saved him when Sonia realized he was in danger, as the two knew each other from childhood. 

Under the watchful eyes of “Delphius” (The Oracle isn’t “the Oracle”, but is replacing Athiar), Trevor is destined to watch over the Chaos Emerald resting within the Floating Islands. Good with the few mechanical items he can find littering the Island, he became quite a handyman, making small weapons and other things to keep the Emerald, and the Island, safe.

If it isn’t obvious, Cyrus and Bartleby swap while Knuckles and Trevor swap. 

It was…hard trying to figure out who would take Knuckles’ place, as he is kind of…REALLY strongly tied to the Emeralds. But, Trevor has as much character as Knuckles does in the show, so it fits. 

I also find it funny that the two characters that have some sort of relationship with Sonia…STILL have relations with Sonia, just differently. (Seeing as Bartleby and Knuckles take Cyrus and Trevor’s place, who were friends of Sonic originally).

The Oracle (or just “Delphius”) and Athiar also switch places. The Oracle was a strong contender for the one switching with Robotnik, but…Athiar makes more sense in the long term. Both are old. Most likely DEAD already. One is cryptic while the other is a bit of a fearful hermit. 

So, yeah. There we go. There are other characters in Underground, and they’d all switch around as well, but I’m gonna leave this here for now with the more important characters.

[beehiveofblorbos]

okay time for my magnus archives x genshin impact crossover au breakdown

in this au, each of the archons are split into two, typically their “human” selves and “demon” selves, for lack of a better word (so like, Barbatos and Venti are different). each of these selves are associated with a unique Entity at the highest level, they’re basically equivalent to the Entity’s Avatars for this au, but extra powerful since there’s only one per entity. these two halves collectively rule over a single element - except in the case of Hydro, which used to have only Focalors, except then Neuvillette was born awhile back and was taken up by an Entity, and then Furina had her Becoming (at the trial during Fontaine Act 5) and Became an Avatar as well so now it’s Focalors Neuvillette and Furina. Also, those from the Archon War… didn’t have a choice about it, let’s say.

vision holders are basically magnets for the Entities that are served by the associated archon, and they must feed their patron to use elemental power. except again each element has two Entities associated with it, so you have to feed the right Entity. You’ll know which by which Entity you fed when you got your Vision. In this au, Visions are commonly kept a secret and/or shunned.

So. I assigned Smirke’s Fourteen, plus the Extinction, to the Seven, their demon selves, and Neuvillette! Let’s have at it, shall we?

To Venti, I assigned the Web: the Spinner of Schemes, the Story Spinner, the Hidden Machination (perhaps for Venti ver, the Spinner of Ballads, the Timeless Machination, That Which Guides). I really couldn’t help myself mostly, the Web is my favorite concept so I had to give it to him. But also, I think it serves Venti’s role as one of the most hidden among the Seven, the purportedly asleep one, one who often sets things up but doesn’t like taking credit for it, the one who makes deals in the back with incredibly powerful players, and the one who puts the most importance in his ability to tell the stories. Also fits with sayings of Mondstadt like “let the wind lead” or “wind guide you” etc etc etc. Very much fits with corrupt Venti theories and theories about how Venti might end up controlled by Celestia. It also is fitting for an Anemo-aligned Entity imo as the wind reaches pretty much everywhere, there are no secrets hidden from the wind.

Some Web-aligned Anemo Vision holders would include the Wanderer, Jean, Lynette, Sucrose, Heizou, and Xianyun. I’ll put Yae Miko here instead of with either of the Electro Entities (and in this au, it means she would be an Anemo user!).

To Barbatos, I assigned the Coming End That Waits For All And Cannot Be Ignored. Of course, my theories of Barbatos as a death god are extremely strong, so I had to give it to him. Just like. Check my top posts to see why Barbatos is easily the god best fit for the End.

Some End-aligned Anemo Vision holders include Xiao (au Xiao’s karma is that the more he saves people from imminent death, the more likely someone he has met will die soon), Faruzan, Kazuha, and Sayu. Also Hu Tao, who fits the End better than either of the Entities assigned to Pyro.

To Zhongli, I assigned the Buried: Choke, Forever Deep Below Creation. Obviously, the Buried is associated with coffins, so I gave it to the guy who works as a consultant for a funeral parlor obviously. Then there’s the Buried’s association with financial debt and poverty, which works great for Zhongli who is just. A black hole of money spent on him by those around him. Also, the Buried’s got dirt and caves, so that’s more Geo associations for it. And then there’s also the idea of being stuck in a bad contract, so Zhongli gets to keep his contract associations.

Buried-aligned Geo Vision holders are: Navia, Itto, Noelle, and Kachina

To Rex Lapis/Morax, oldest among the Seven, I gave the Lonely. “Osmanthus wine is the same as I remember… but where are those who share the memories?” Need I say more? He is the one who remains, who has watched so many others erode and leave and change. Yes, I gave him Forsaken.

Lonely-aligned Geo Vision users include: Albedo, Chiori, Ningguang, and Yun Jin.

Note that I did not assign Xilonen anything as I don’t know her well enough yet

For Electro, I chose to separate Ei+Beelzebul’s era from Makoto/Baal’s. So Ei and Beelzebul have inherited their respective patrons from other gods (not necessarily Makoto+Baal’s) but their reign has been of the two of them, it’s not Ei and Makoto.

Okay, Ei is Flesh and Viscera. I think she has this thing going where she just sees herself im the Archon role as the bodily protector of Inazuma in the main storyline, and that’s why she feels it acceptable to step away mentally. She just thinks the only thing she needs to give is her flesh, and that’s why I assigned it to her.

Flesh-aligned Electro Vision users include Clorinde, Dori, Beidou, Razor… and that is it lol Flesh is hard to assign to. Maybe I don’t know some of the Electros well enough. Gah.

Beelzebul/the Raiden Shogun is the Slaughter. I don’t really know what else to say lol she is a creature that is pretty much exclusively known for going to war for Inazuma’s sake, she existed to be the fighter of the two, and even if we consider her rules, she’s so so ready to fight and show her dominance by drawing blood.

Slaughter-aligned Electro Vision users are Lisa, Shinobu, Cyno… and that’s it lol again even these were pretty much a stretch. I could reassign Shenhe here I guess it would also work for her. Yeah let’s do that, Electro Shenhe instead (I really wanted Lonely Shenhe though… rip).

Note: I have not assigned Sethos because I don’t know enough about him.

Nahida, she who Knows due to her giant database that is connected to her and her status as the Avatar of the world computer, she who Watches from within a million different dreams, is the Eye: the Beholding, the Ceaseless Watcher, It Knows You. Again I don’t really think this needs further explanation it’s very clear.

Eye-aligned Dendro Vision holders include Emilie, Tighnari, Haitham, and Baizhu.

Buer is the Vast. I think this is fitting for a god who can lose herself among various minds, who has never seen the world in all of how large it is for herself, and who also is extremely intimidated in regards to her ability to actually achieve something meaningful for her nation at first. Also fitting for the god of the Vast expanses of Sumeru, which in some cases are thick forest and others are barren desert.

Vast-aligned Dendro users include Kaveh (Ikik he’d be perfect for Choke but I think this works well too in terms of his determination to ig leave a legacy and his inability to believe in his own accomplishments), Yaoyao, Kirara, Collei, and Kinich.

Alright, to Hydro! Like I said earlier, this is a weird one. Let’s settle Neuvillette first, shall we?

To Neuvillette, who relentlessly prepares for a day when he can put all the Archons on trial and who condemns criminals in his spare time, I assigned the Hunt. Imo he would’ve taken up the Hunt about 400-500 years ago, when he came to the Court and first began acting as the Iudex.

Hunt-aligned Hydro Vision holders include Yelan, Kamisato Ayato, Candace, and Tartaglia (the bloodlust for him to be assigned to Slaughter hadnt settled in yet at the time of Vision gaining iirc).

For Focalors, the lone god of Hydro all these 500 years, I assigned the Stranger: I Do Not Know You. Straightforwardly I did this because she’s the only god who tries to pass off someone else as herself, but it fits well. Both have associations with theaters and performances. And Hydro is said to have the ability to take many shapes by Rhodeia, and Focalors herself was originally an Oceanid.

Stranger-aligned Hydro Vision holders include Fischl (!! Yup I didn’t forget about her), Kokomi, Sigewinne, Barbara, and Xingqiu.

To Furina, I assigned the Extinction: the Terrible Change, the Future Without Us. Of course, it’s the most recent Entity to emerge (just like how Furina is the most recent to take up an Entity - and that happened the moment she cries during the trial… meaning that in order for Fontaine to survive, she condemned herself to a terrible fate again, and has never been freed in this au), and it does not yet have any Vision holders for that reason.

All the entries from here on out will be aha… shorter.

Mavuika is the Desolation, the Lightless Flame. Frankly I couldn’t just like assign this to someone else (even though she totally could’ve swapped Furina for the Extinction), especially since the resurrection flame burning with Contending Fire in Natlan almost fails beneath Mavuika’s purview. I think it does fit well as a fear associated with hopelessness and the destruction left behind by senseless and continuous war (that perhaps Mavuika is leading everyone to..? I don’t know lol)

Desolation aligned Pyro Vision holders include: Diluc, Dehya (I think? Lol I know nothing about her), Bennett, Chevreuse, Gaming, and Klee.

The Pyro Archon, whatever their demon name is, is the Spiral: Es Mentiras, It Is Not What It Is. I based this off how the Spiral is associated with stuff similar to how those exposed to the Abyss break down.

Spiral-aligned Pyro Vision holders include Lyney, Yoimiya, Amber, Thoma, Yanfei, and I’ll throw in Xiangling, there’s nothing better for her. I’m also gonna throw in Mika, since he’s a tracker, so getting lost in those awful hallways sounds perfect for him (or maybe even dragging people in without realizing it? He can navigate it perfectly but he feeds the Spiral every time he does so and those who he guides often end up mad at the end).

The Tsaritsa is the Dark, which I based wholly off us not having seen her face yet XD also this I assigned last.

Dark-aligned Cryo Vision holders include Qiqi, Wriothesley, Freminet, Layla, Rosaria, and Charlotte.

The Cryo Archon is the Corruption, which I did because she’s apparently rebelling against Celestia (not that that is corrupt, but she did help out the Abyss to do it), and also due to the Corruption’s associations with unhealthy love (and she’s the Goddess of Love, or was at some point).

Corruption-aligned Cryo Vision users include Ayaka, Eula, Kaeya, Diona, and Chongyun.

Again, haven’t assigned Citlali because I don’t know her well enough

Alright, thanks for reading this far! Hope you enjoyed

[basedkikuenjoyer]

Jojolands: A Charming New Addition

Well that was quick. We start off with some backstory, you know shit gets real when Araki opens with a geography lesson. We did end up recruiting the new guy! As people have pointed out, early villain turned ally with a lost little sibling fueling his backstory is immedately reminiscent of Polnareff which is neat. But here he is, the one and only Charmingman! Which of course its a musical reference...to The Smiths. Eh, I thought they were pretty pretentious even before Morrissey went all racist so not my favorite nod in this part. That's Dragona and you'll have a hard time topping my love for Smooth Operator. Coast to coast, LA to Chicago...

Where was I? Oh yeah. My lack of fondness for The Smiths aside, and I can at least respect that's a solid reference with some lyrics that play nicely into his backstory, Charmingman is a welcome addition to round out the five-man band. I loved the aesthetic of his stand in action and am more than ready to see more. This bit of him and Jodio was so fun too, immediately asking what kind of music he likes instead of other more pertinent questions. I still have high hopes Jojolands will feature my favorite core cast. And his backstory reinforces the sibling dynamics that seem to be a core idea for this part. I'm also not fully up to date on Part 8 but we have a potential rock human? Also gotta note we're keeping up this theme of hostile police which is pertinent to a modern day American setting.

Moving on, I love this dude. Just materializes out of the aether when a cutie is talking about souvenirs. Accurate. And lookit! The fancy schmancy watch made its way back to Dragona just as hypothesized. The lava rock works in mysterious ways. A lot of this chapter was getting us back home and introducing the new guy, but especially with talking about similar concepts in Egghead for One Piece it is intriguing we skipped over the conclusion to the fight and we have this bit of weirdness. But where that really came to a head...

Aww yeah Meryl Mei! It's not just that she's pointing out oddities in their return. There's an ominous edge to this, I don't know how much we should trust this lady so it troubles me that Dragona seems to be the one closest to her individually. How does this one girlboss do so many different jobs? Worth pondering given this series has a huge running theme of bad guys with time powers. Just something to think about. Hope she's not wicked because I do like Meryl but you could have a great twist having her pull the rug out from under the gang.

Still, we're back home and ready to likely embark on something new. I liked the trip to another island, fun picking up a new friend and working Rohan in the way we did. The panels of him tossing money around on the beach to study the lava rock were classic Rohan weirdness. Personally I hope we get a couple of chapters now to play with the characters a bit. Flesh them out more. Usually Jojo's parts spend a little time on that after the first big leg of the story it seems. Something like Jodio & Dragona taking their mom Barbara Ann out and having to deal with a weaker stand battle could be solid or just letting them live their lives as some weird things happen. We have such a good group and setting I'd hate to spring too fast into heavy plot stuff while we're still figuring this part out.

[leightonfucker]

Trans girl sydney thats all 🙏🙏🙏

yes yes yes a thousand times yes. as obsessed with impregnating and/or being impregnated by the accursed cisgender sydney as i can be, i really do think trans* sydney is peak sydney, and trans girl syd is my favorite.

i think of her so often. p!syd doesn't quite understand the concept of a chaser or fetishization, she's flattered people like her but gets dysphoric if they focus too much on her cock. squirms uncomfortably being called a futa or a femboy but is too shy to say anything to the contrary. having said that! if she weren't so sheltered, she'd delve into corruption pretty quick. she'd absolutely be on social media posting pics of herself in chokers and crop tops and miniskirts and striped thigh-highs, extolling the virtues of gock and galls. dom 4 money, likes having a little extra cash for herself; generally a sub-leaning switch irl, though she won't pass up the chance to commit acts of sadism or be on top n breed. the kinks don't go away, anon, not in the slightest.

she strikes me as pretty likely to be t4t, would at least prefer someone who's queer so they could relate to her struggles seeking acceptance in the temple. her parents were very kind and supportive, and jordan was as well, but other initiates weren't always so kind.

when she finally meets you, it's just... it's so refreshing, to have someone who completely and utterly accepts her as she is. she's not like kylar, who doesn't care for acceptance so long as you'll keep your holes open wide for him. sydney wants to be loved, and though she keeps her secrets held close to her chest at first, being able to open up to you about everything... it's like a dam breaking. she's so so so happy she has you.

sex with her isn't quite as complicated as it is with kylar. she has her kinks, sure, but she's perfectly happy to keep it vanilla so long as it's pleasing you, assuming you'd keep her pure. if you corrupt her, though, you're in for a treat. she's gonna try to get you pregnant even if it's not biologically possible. raw dick in whichever hole(s) you have when she feels up to it, toys in them when she doesn't. fond of tying you up and making you stroke her ego. maybe if you call her the most beautiful girl in the world again, she'll let you go? ah, no, she's gonna keep you there longer now, loves the sound and feel of you worshipping her, can't resist the urge make you put that mouth to work other ways too. yes, balls in your mouth, anon. balls in your mouth. cock in your mouth if you're eager enough. the mouthfeel, anon, think of the mouthfeel!

she shaves as best as she can manage before she gets the cage off, and if you keep her pure to her she's likely to keep doing so. she knows cis women have pubic hair too, but it makes her feel dainty and feminine, so she doesn't particularly want to quit doing it. c!syd isn't so picky, but she will make fun of you if you ask her to quit shaving. you into pubes, are you, you little perv? should she let her pit hair grow out as well? should she quit washing? girlsmell for you, anon? sniff it all up, okay?

whew, that was a long one! i'm a little low on writing juice now, so i'll just give some ending notes... i'm the fondest of corrupting sydney post-promise, honestly, so i imagine that whenever i write about c!syd. believe it or not, i've only done rite of defilement once, and it was on a throwaway save. with cheats, even.

that's all for now. fuck, you can really tell i love women. send in more asks, everyone, give me more gock fuel and maybe i'll poast.

[made-nondescript]

Been thinking a lot about Scarland and how, as a spoof of Disneyland it would make sense if the eventual themed areas feature attractions based on animated films but I simply can't imagine Scar running an animation studio. I think my interpretation is that Scar was HotGuy, and then retired and used the money he saved to found Scarland.

Fond of how this paints Scar, as he wouldn't be using the HotGuy branding to get people into the park on the face of it. Although, there's like for sure a HotGuy themed attraction. Of course. He doesn't want to Completely ride of his past success, but like, HotGuy was a big part of his life for a really long time. He's gonna come up with a superhero themed ride at some point, just inevitably. And if you've got resources, use them! Just not to the point of shamelessness, he would add.

Because his attractions aren't built on pre-existing media (for the most part) I imagine he's got this huuuuge notebook/sketchbook that he has a million ride concepts in. He'll note something down quick every time a hermit or a build catch his eye and inspires him. Lots of them are completely impractical. He usually consults Cub to see what is doable, but of course Cub isn't exactly the Roy to his Walt* LOL. It's more like, if anyone knows how to do it Cub will, and less Cub shutting down every idea that seems impossible. They've conceptualized and built some rides that are definitely on the line of what's safe and reasonable for a theme park to maintain.

Also: Scar has drawn a lot of the posters in Scarland himself. Not all of them; he's just one man! But in his free time he likes to do a poster or two for his favorite rides.

He generally likes to be very hands on in a lot of areas of the park, which is of course exhausting and at times impractical. He just can't supervise the construction of every ride or sit in on every meeting, so sometimes he sends Jellie in his stead. This, of course, takes new employees some time to adjust to but she's very serious about her job because she gets rewarded handsomely when it's done well. (As if she isn't already the most spoiled cat in the world!)

Like Walt, Scar absolutely acts as the face of Scarland, and he's good at it. He's got a charisma that carries through the communicator screens and into the hearts of viewers -- and it helps that he usually manages to slip Jellie into every few ads, too. The public love a good animal ad!

*Roy Disney was Walt Disney's brother who was largely tasked with the financial side of any project Disney (company) undertook. He often had to reign in Walt and set limits for him on what was feasible, such as where they could realistically locate Walt Disney World.

[huntunderironskies]

So I have been working on that were-animal game I threatened to do a while back, and I'm...fairly pleased with where I'm at in at least the general concept phase. Lore feels good, I have some solid antagonist ideas, I have a gameplay loop working, all that fun stuff. Now I'm starting to get to the scary parts (having to nail down a system and figure out just how I'm going to put this thing out into the world.)

This got weirdly self-reflective about my history with gaming instead of mostly talking about the actual mechanics so I'm gonna put it under a cut. :U

The tl;dr if you just want to know what I'm (probably) doing:

High-ish power system

Medium crunch (I'm aiming about for the level of Exalted Essence)

(This means a pretty good amount of powers and shapeshifted forms provide bonuses to keep track of)

Trying to avoid specific point-related bookkeeping so there won't be a fuel stat in the way that Chronicles of Darkness or Exalted has it where there are pips that rise and fall

Milestone "leveling" most likely (no actual level traditional leveling system, just skill/attribute pools, powers, and a character rank system similarish to a power stat)

Dice pool

(Yes, I did really like ExEss, don't judge me)

I am...attempting to come up with something more than a binary pass-fail system but I would rather not steal PBTA's iteration on it

Social combat (sorry, I know a lot of people are bearish on it but I like it :c It's the one thing I don't want to toss)

x/y-splats real

I have never tried to work within a system that's 100% of my own making. I think I'm a little gun-shy of it because one of the GMs I used to play with (who I stopped playing with because she's a horrible person in addition to being a horrible GM, incredibly long story, send me booze money to get drunk if you want to hear it because I don't want to be sober when thinking too hard about her) was really insistent on trying to make her own system and her game design sense was...well, not great. Didn't have a good head for dice odds and went for the most simple solutions possible (d6 with small dice pool, 1s are fails, boxcars are crits) without thinking about actual gamefeel, expected players to handle most of creation of character abilities and powers (as in, doing most of the design lifting for her outside of the basic dice systems) but also was incredibly thin-skinned about feedback. She had the desire to be famous and make this big idea but was not willing to do the hard work to make it happen.

And like, I'm somewhat sensitive (I would not call myself the most confident person) so I'm used to feeling a bit hurt by negative feedback, but, you know, you have to listen to players to see how they're reacting to the game especially since you need to get out of your own head when designing mechanics. Critique is how you get better, as much as it hurts. Unfortunately she also hated learning other peoples' systems even if you wrote her cheat sheets so...I never really got to play anything for more than five sessions or so for quite some time.

(Upside: the drive that gave me to search for actual active RP groups led to me meeting some of my favorite people in the world.)

Anyways. I think that's led to me kind of psyching myself out. I've kind of gone from the mentality of "yeah I have a great head for mechanics" to "oh no I'm just a savant with one singular system." I...might have to start with brand-X-ing a system I'm familiar with (ft. minor changes) (guess which one) and then start tweaking from there until it doesn't feel like The Werewolf the Forsaken We Have at Home.

I think it both helps and hurts that a lot of my design philosophy is somewhat similar. I'm trying to do a higher power level, at least in the same way that Chronicles of Darkness has the "if your PCs throw enough resources at something, they will get what they want, it's just a matter of what it will cost them and if it was something they should have wanted in the first place." I also have an extremely strong preference for dice pool systems, I just think the dice odds feel so much better than single-roll systems.

I've also always liked being able to downgrade a failed roll to a dramatic failure since it's led to some really fun situations, but I think the inverse could be fun as well, i.e. if you REALLY feel like you need a roll to succeed you can upgrade it to a single success at a cost that could potentially bite you in the ass later. It's another way to potentially cause drama and give players more meta-options to control how the game can proceed.

On the subject of meta-options I'd really like to give social systems some mechanical weight since I honestly enjoy social combat. I know that's kind of a controversial opinion but I just feel like it gives more tension to negotiations and the like and it gives me a lot more design space to work with when designing what would traditionally fall under "utility powers" as an umbrella.

So that's sorta what I'm working with right now. The scary part is I will need to playtest this at some point and that means recruiting people and that also means starting up what will likely be a community server to keep in touch with people instead of just vomiting out whatever thoughts pop into my head on tumblr. One Fear.

[phantomoftheorpheum]

I don't love the Noa cheating thing, but I guess within the plot it kinda makes sense with her having more in common with Jen than she does with Shawn. Like Jen understands what she's dealing with more than Shawn could (even if he wanted to) simply because she's experienced it with her mom. Definitely wondering if it's going to play into her test somehow. The truth coming out or having to choose between the two in a way

This got kind of lengthy (lol, no one has been surprised less), so I've placed most of it under the cut. Also to help avoid detailed spoilers for people who are trying to do so.

I agree that the plot isn't necessarily a bad one for the story (like I've mentioned a million times that I don't like love triangles or infidelity plots, but they can be executed well, and depending on how this situation turns out, I'm still open to being okay with the plot line in theory), just one that makes me feel highly critical of the characters involved. And personally a bit sad, as Noa was my favorite in season 1 and I can't currently honestly say that in season 2.

I can definitely see why Jen (or even just the situation surrounding Jen) is more exciting & appealing to Noa, particularly at this time. She's a teenager who has been in a fairly steady long term (by teenage standards) relationship with a stable, but possibly slightly boring, guy. Noa formed a connection with Jen when she was at a low point (taking the fall for her mom), and the kind of bond that you can create when you're spending so much time with someone outside of your normal context can be intense. And Jen is a secret (at least we have not seen Noa tell anyone else about their romantic connection), which is thrill seeking and a little "dangerous," without (usually) actually being that dangerous. Jen is mysterious. There's a lot Noa doesn't know about her (illustrated clearly by her having no concept of Jen's father or her relationship with him prior to this episode). And I do agree that some of the closeness Noa feels to Jen has to do with their commonalities and relationships with their moms. Jen gets the stigma of having been to juvie. Jen gets what it's like to live with a mother who is an addict. Jen understands what it means to have to struggle to pay bills and be the "adult" in her household when she shouldn't have to be.

The thing is, I'm not entirely sure Jen is actually being honest about her backstory/home life at all. I certainly have some suspicions about that. It could all be true, or it also could be largely fabricated (or selectively true) in order to bond with Noa. Hard to say at this point. The reason that I doubt Jen's honesty (when I am currently giving the benefit of the doubt to Christian and Johnny) is because we've seen her lie multiple times, casually, on screen. If Christian or Johnny are also doing that, we don't know it yet. Jen's family (or her possible lies about her family) have become plot relevant with Noa borrowing money to bail Jen out for stealing from her father, so that definitely makes me question how Jen and her family (or her lies) might be important in the following episodes.

So, all that being said, while I can understand why Noa is interested in Jen (even though I would have personally much preferred a "Shawn and Noa broke up between seasons and then this girl she knows from juvie shows up at summer school" plot, just due to my own pet peeves and the reinforcement of negative stereotypes around bisexuality) the way in which she's gone about conducting herself is just really pretty shit. It's okay to fall out of love with someone. It's okay to end a relationship, not because things were bad, but because it was no longer fulfilling. It's okay to realize that you feel more attracted to and connected to someone else, and therefore it's time to reevaluate and possibly end your relationship. These things happen all the time. People still get hurt, but it's not because anyone is a villain. The problem is... Noa isn't doing any of that?

The only dissatisfaction we have seen of her relationship with Shawn this season is that he didn't go to Mouse's birthday. She also doesn't like/get along with his mom, but it's not as if Shawn was upset with her over this, he recognized and understood this issue, and even pushed back against his mother when he witnessed it in person. Noa has continued engaging in a physical/sexual relationship with Shawn (generally prompted by her), as well as a romantic one, while lying to him about her past and present relationship with Jen. She has not only shamelessly introduced him to the person she's cheating on him with, but had the audacity to play into Shawn's affection/understanding of how hard things have been with Noa's mom in order to get him to pay for Jen's bail. Two thousand dollars is a lot of money, and the fact that she could sit there, ask for that, play into how Jen is dealing with the same stuff Noa has, lie to him about why Jen was arrested in the first place, fail to mention that it was Noa's plan to steal from Jen's father, and then immediately run off to kiss Jen behind his back is... Well, it's something.

Up until 2x04, I simply felt bad for Shawn, because he (that we currently know of) hasn't done anything to deserve this, but I also thought Noa was at least a little conflicted about this situation. Her behavior in 2x04 showed absolutely no regret/remorse for her actions, which reflects absolutely terribly on her character. I was expecting at least a "I don't know if I can do this," or something after the kiss with Jen, where we see her immediately feel guilty, but nope. Just all giggles while cheating with the girl your boyfriend just spent 2k on helping out. Like forget about Shawn as person/character for a second, this is about Noa and who she is, what kind of integrity she has, and it is revealing a really heartless side to her. I hope the show has plans to try to build her back up in the future.

All that being said, (aside from the whole "bisexuals are cheaters" stereotype that is being reinforced) I think the storyline could be really interesting. Will Noa feel bad about her actions next episode when she's had a little time to reflect, or no? Is Jen being honest? Does Shawn already know? I actually think (if this is genuinely plot relevant and not just side romance drama) this whole situation could be a legitimately good use of the love triangle/infidelity plot (even though those tropes are generally not my favorite). It definitely feels like Noa has a big storm coming, and I can't say she hasn't earned it. I'm very curious to see what her test is, and how the Jen & Shawn situation will play into it. Is she going to have to make some sort of decision, like you said?

Right now, on a personal level, I do not ship any of these three with each other. I'm very pro "go sit in a corner and think about what you've done" for them atm. And if Shawn is innocent, I hope he gets a cathartic moment by the end of the season. So... that's where I'm at with it. I get it, I can see ways in which it may work for the plot, it makes me very upset with Noa as a character.