#some are new; some are old but in higher def

[b0tster]

now that 'not-bbkart' is no longer just a fan game i feel like the standards are higher. because of this im adding full native thumb stick support into the control scheme and will probably be adding some other features as well down the line.

(and before anyone asks: no, bunlith wont be the new main character she's just thrown in to temporarily replace the old hunter model while we work on the redesign she'll def be a secret special unlock tho so dont worry 🙂)

[glassrowboat]

Childe. Where is Childe. You would do him justice.

Falling In The Snow. Childe.

Okay, I... actually, I don't think I know who you are. Tbh, I don't have that big of an interest in Childe, but given my love for writing banter, I could Def see where you're coming from, Anon.

This is not proofread

Your feet stopped as you heard a voice calling out for you leaving you with one buried in the snow and the other hanging in the air only to be forced to the ground as a sudden weight chambered against your back. It hit you suddenly drawing out a groan from your already chapped lips as you struggled to manage the little monster claiming you as his jungle gym.

“Hi, Teucer.”

You heard him chirp back a hello as his tiny hands settled on your shoulders to grab onto your giant puffer jacket.

“And where's your big brother?”

“Uh, around?”

You heard as your feet stepped into the snow again, forcing it to crunch under you. With each step, a new footprint was left behind, your soles leaving an obvious track you could only hope Childe would get the hint to follow as you headed to your home. Given the cold and the sniffling in your ear, you could already tell some hot chocolate that would be appreciated by all three of you once you were inside those cozy, warm walls.

“So you ran off again.”

He was already denying your words, but with one pointed look his hat covered head was hanging low as he admitted defeat. “Maybe I did.”

It seems both brothers were completely hopeless when it came to sitting still, then.

“Well, if you're going to be naughty, it seems you're going to have to sit in the corner with nothing to do but shiver.” Fixing your hold on him, you shifted Teucer up higher along your back. Mittens, apparently, weren't a help in carrying an overactive child around. “My mom used to make me do the same all the time.”

“That sounds….”

“Horrible? It was. She wouldn't even give me any toys to occupy myself with, either. Can you believe it?” You asked, trying to get a proper amount of horrified shock to your voice even when the cold was turning your tongue into a popsicle.

“Awful.” Teucer agreed.

“And that's the punishment awaiting you when we get back, kiddo.”

You could feel him wrestling against your back the minute his sentence was set, trying to get free of your hold and almost succeeding too as you cursed under your breath when pulling him back to rest against you again. Arms wrapped around your neck. “I don't like that idea very much. Can't we just say I got lost?”

“The same kid who managed to go all the way to Liyue to find his brother got lost in his own hometown? What bullshit.”

Immediately, you recognized your mistake as Teucer gasped. Hands going over his mouth at your curse despite the fact you know his older sisters and brothers have said much worse in front of him; you have too. “You know, mom and dad say you're not allowed to say those words.”

Grumbling to yourself you huffed out an “I know.”

“So…” For a moment you thought you didn't catch what he said over your footsteps, but there he was leaning over your shoulder to ensure you saw his cheeky little smile framed by freckles and a red face. Like this, there was no denying his relation to Childe, not when you saw him in the same twitch of Teucer's lips and wrinkle in his nose. “Say you don't give me a punishment, and I don't tell anyone you said a bad word in front of me. Again.”

And his cheekiness certainly matched a certain ginger.

“You brat.”

“Does that mean I'm in the clear?”

Your foot kicked out a bit more snow with your next step. The flakes flew up in the air only to fall back down to join the piles on the sidewalk your neighbors had shoveled out of their way that morning. “Childe may let you get off easy, but you'll still get something coming to you.”

Your home was in sight by the time you finally settled on a just punishment, the old wooden door already waiting to greet you and welcome you inside as you approached it.

“I won't subject you to the corner, but you're not getting any whipped cream or marshmallows in your hot coco.”

For a moment you were expecting Teucer to try and hassle you even more only for his little hand to reach out and try to shake yours as he declared it to be a “deal” only to realize you couldn't quite shake it when you were giving him a piggyback ride.

With a sigh, you lowered him down, took his hand, and shook on it.

“Now go inside, you scamp.”

Before you even had a chance to chase him inside, following after his fit of giggles to run around the sofa in circles like you've done so many times in the past you saw Teucer's arm raising up and waving through the chilly air. “Ajax! Come on! They agreed to make hot chocolate for us!”

Your head turned to see another head of ginger hair, ever so bright against the white backdrop of Snezhnaya's endless winter it drew your eye with ease. He waved back, easily treading through the snow covered ground like it was a field of grass instead of the very thing you had been trudging through for the last five minutes.

It was only when a flake of snow landed on your nose were you able to pull your attention away from Childe and his casual stride over to you both.

“Go and get inside, kid, or I'll make sure your drink is as cold as ice.”

“Why, so you and my brother can do that gross thing where you kiss and-”

Before he even had a chance to finish that sentence, you were pushing Tuecer. inside your home. He stumbled at first, trying to adjust to the sudden force he was subjected to only to turn back around to try and say what was undoubtedly another comment about you and his brother before you shut the door in his face.

“Kids.” You huffed.

“Kids.” Childe said as he finally made his way over, a cheer to his voice as he smiled down at you.

“Can't live with them, can't live without them.” You stood back up to your full height as you spoke, mitten covered hands trying to brush yourself off to avail as once one layer of snow was gone a new came from the sky to replace it.

“I think he's a joy to be around, even with his adventurous nature. If anything, it's a good reason to get out there to stretch your legs as you try and keep up with him.”

“Of course you'd say that.”

Childe’s hands came to peek out of his jacket, breaking past the layer of black fur you had no doubt was keeping him nice and toasty to reach up and fix your - or his- scarf. The red fabric was brought up to your cheeks, brushing against them. “And I'd say you're a little thief, but we'll call it even if I get a kiss before we head inside.”

“I don't know. That's a big ask.”

The scarf rustled again, but this time, it was accompanied by Childe pulling you closer. His gloved hands held tight onto the fabric, ensuring you couldn't budge an inch when his head ducked down to press a kiss to your snot dripping nose.

A tiny part of you hoped he regretted that, but given the way his eyes where shining, you couldn't help but think he didn't.

“That wasn't even a real kiss.”

“Oh, so now it's not a big ask if it's what you want?” Childe asked, a single brow raising until it hid behind his mess of a haircut. You'd need to trim it for him again.

“Exactly.”

“Well, I suppose if it's what the lady wishes.”

Before you could even try and wipe your nose off on a handkerchief, mainly for his sake, Childe’s hand was resting on your lower back, running over your jacket to pull you in close to him as your lips met. He was warm. It had you stepping in closer to him as he kissed you, and you didn't hesitate to linger even when your lips parted and you were once again greeted with a brilliant smile framed by freckles and red cheeks. The only difference was that this one happened to be your favorite grin in the whole of Teyvat that never failed to have you smiling back.

For a moment, you two stood there, taking in each other's presence as the cold started to seep into your bones from staying still for long until his laugh broke the silence.

“So, hot chocolate?”

“Yeah, hot chocolate.” You repeated as you pulled him through your front door.

There could always be more kisses when you were both under a blanket and curled up on your sofa together with a mug in both your hands.

[natsuslover]

jjk characters in an american high school ⋆.ೃ࿔*:･

notes— american high school stereotyping is fun to do. i did one of them for blue lock and it was enjoyable to write so i’m doing one for jjk as a coping mechanism :)

ft. yuji itadori, megumi fushiguro, nobara kugisaki, maki zenin, yuta okkotsu, toge inumaki

content: headcanons yay!

yuji itadori

definitely that one kid that speaks exclusively in brainrot humor

he’s barely passing all his classes (Cs get degrees mindset)

has a backpack for formalities sake bc the only thing that’s in there is his lunch and maybe a few paper handouts

skips class ALL THE TIME only to hang out with megumi or nobara in their class instead lmao

i feel like he would either be on the baseball or soccer team and he would be extremely good at them too

dodgeball goat, definitely gets internally pissed off if he loses a game

his teachers have a love/hate relationship with him (they hate him bc he doesn’t gaf about their class but they love him bc its yuji cmon)

the coaches tho they LOVE him

not in any ap classes so he makes fun of all his friends as they’re struggling during exam season

that one kid that somehow knows everyone and daps up his friends in the halls during passing period

just at school for the vibes basically

megumi fushiguro

ap god, bros literally in every ap class he could possibly be in

his studying routine is so fine-tuned he can study as minimally as possible and still max all his classes

100% attendance, u can never catch this dude lacking even if he’s sick or smth

he definitely has extra pencils in his bag for borrowing purposes bc he knows yuji never has any

he’s not super organized like color coded folders or anything, but he knows where everything is in his backpack and is always prepared in case the teacher asks for a paper from 2 months ago

he’s studious but like minimally if that makes sense

like he’s def top 6% but gets just as annoyed as the next person when some idiot tells the teacher they haven’t checked the homework yet

his favorite subject would be history idk why and he participates in the history fair fs

usually sits in the back of class and hates group projects

has his black sony wh 1000xm4 headphones on at all times

nobara kugisaki

her school fits go HARD every single day bc she literally thinks of the halls as her runway

has a bunch of cute stationary bc she likes how they look (not that she ever uses them bc what is note taking?)

she’s always on her phone during class, and if she’s not she’s yapping to her friends

“NOBARA STFU” is said by her teachers at least 5 times per class

whenever yuji comes to her class (everyday lol) she tells him all the new tea and gives him updates on the old

skips class sometimes to take mirror selfies in the bathroom

refuses to eat the school lunch bc that shit is disgusting

is fueled purely by celsius/redbull during exam season

is in a few ap classes and doesn’t really study but still manages to do fine on everything

gets to first period late almost everyday bc she takes too long getting ready in the morning

has beef with her english teacher and argues for higher essay grades like it’s her goddamn life’s mission

maki zenin

she’s the girl who defends everyone against bullies even if she doesn’t know them

like if there’s a fight in the hallway u just know she either started it or she’s ending it

teachers love her tho bc she’s incredibly smart and always does well on exams and assignments and everything in general

even tho she’s pretty studious she’s definitely gotten detention a few times for getting into fights

she’s a small top big pants girl for life and sometimes gets dress coded but doesn’t care enough to change

i feel like she also skips class sometimes just to sit in the library and listen to music when she doesn’t feel like doing shit

she’s the designated driver when her, nobara, and the rest of the gang go off campus during lunch

she’s an ap calc bc prodigy fs (got a 5 on the exam and it was light work)

president of like unicef and nhs and all those other clubs that don’t actually do anything but look super good on college apps

has answers to the tests and quizzes but never uses them

definitely on the track team or smth and the coach loves her bc she’s super athletic

yuta okkotsu

a teacher’s pet but not one of the annoying ones bc he doesn’t TRY to be a teacher’s pet ykwim

a lot of girls have crushes on him bc he’s cute and has a cute personality and somewhat mysterious-ish

he hangs out in the library with maki during his free/release periods bc he knows she often skips in there

has one wired earbud in his ear at all times and prob listens to dayglow or smth

bro is an ap lit WARRIOR like he’s so good at writing essays and genuinely enjoys reading the books too

his favorite required read was frankenstein bc the monster reminded him of rika

he’s not a big fan of group work but he enjoys doing partner work bc he finds it easier to talk to and get along with oner person at a time

overall he’s pretty organized when it comes to school work but his note-taking/speed handwriting is just scribbles

he doesn’t think he has a lot of friends but irl all the kids in his classes love him

uses 0.3 lead mechanical pencils instead of the usual 0.5 idk why it just seems fitting

the type of person who would snack on goldfish in the middle of class

toge inumaki

he wore a mask for a year after everyone stopped wearing them until he realized he looked stupid and stopped

doesn’t take any ap classes besides ap bio and he only takes that bc biology is his favorite subject

idk why but he gives president of the environmental club vibes

sits in the back and plays games on his phone all the time during class

but the teachers don’t care enough to say anything bc he always does fine on tests and stuff

doesn’t talk much during class discussions but when he does it’s always meaningful

his biggest nightmare is a socratic seminar bro hates those things more than anything

also has his airpods in 24/7 bc he doesn’t like listening to ppl talk and if someone asks if he heard he can use “music” as an excuse

thinks the school lunch is fine especially on fish sticks day but goes with maki bc she takes them all out anyway

has calc with yuta and both of them struggle together and end up asking maki for help

an AVID tiktok user like ong he’s always mindlessly scrolling through the app

part 2 coming with gojo, geto, shoko, utahime, nanami, and toji soon bc these are so fun to write omg! also u guys should request stuff bc im running low on ideas 💀

[crystallinestars]

FR I feel that if you tossed the Genshin guys into a romance sim, it would actually be pretty legit-looking. Now if only there were some sort of actual Genshin otome game 😭 (if I could romance Kaveh in such a game, I think I would die and go to heaven)

Yeahhh I feel that there is such a pattern among male and female characters. Like for female characters, I guess that the ones who are kind of more… “male-gazey” are less likely to be popular with women? Like in terms of both appearance and personality. Though even this is difficult to define. Ladies like Beidou and Dehya seem to be REALLY popular with girls, at least in the west (if I am wrong tho plz correct me). Even Navia (whose design I suppose shows a lot of skin) seems to be well-liked by guys and girls alike, I follow a girl on here who is absolutely crazy for her (and tbh I am no different 😭). To me I guess that for these three, they’re good role models for girls so that contributes to their appeal to women players? Cos they have strong, confident attitudes and kick hella ass, but they’re also kind + beautiful… so I suppose they’re like, people you could admire on an aesthetic and personal level but also you could aspire to be like them.

To be fair I like Lisa as I remember running around as her a lot when I first started playing (and chatting with her cai bot gets wild sometimes cos she’s always calling me out for like low self esteem, bad mentality, etc 😭😭), in general I like all of the girl characters ahahahah though for Lisa and many others I could def see how they’d have more appeal to guys.

And for guy characters, I’ve seen guy players admire Diluc and Alhaitham ! Like they have a sort of “masculine” appeal, aspirational for guys I think. I’ve even seen some guys on the Alhaitham subreddit start to hit the gym to become buff like him 😮 Sorry for digressing so much with this topic ahahah just that it is very interesting to consider.

My BF has been fueling my Kaveh love AHAHAHA like when I’m using his computer he lets me run around as Kaveh as I haven’t been able to pull for him yet. Now I have much more Kaveh merch than before but I think that I will try to amass even more…

Ooooo that makes sense, yeah cons do get pretty crowded esp in the areas like the artist alley where people are crowding around booths. And maybe it’s for the best that you avoid cons cos (TMI in advance) the con stink is REAL 😭🤢🤮 Though some of them apparently distribute deodorant or soap for attendees, hopefully it alleviates the smell…

Yeahhh Touhou is hella old, like the franchise is older than I am (I was born shortly before the first windows OS game in the series came out 🫡). I know that ZUN is still producing new official games about every 2-3 years, and for merch I see that there are fumo plushies for the newer characters coming out, a pleasant surprise. But I think the barrier of entry is much higher due to the nature of the games so it’s less “mainstream” for young people compared to Genshin, as Genshin you could easily download if you have phone, iPad, non-mac computer, etc. But from what I’ve seen, you could encounter stuff of the most popular characters at cons if you keep your eyes peeled.

On the topic of merch (crazy complaint incoming!!!)… so I posted a pic of my Kaveh haul somewhere and someone made a comment alluding to that ship. This was the first thing I saw this morning, and OMG I was so irritated that I straight up blocked this person 😭 Sadly I can’t remove their comment (this would be more ideal). I guess this is rather extreme reaction as the comment was harmless… though in the description I literally put some unhinged stuff about “oh me and Kaveh are gonna get married” so I was wondering how they did not get the hint that “oh, this person doesn’t care for that ship.” I am bewildered that the shippers are everywhere, feels bad cos in the community I’m in, most of them are so so sweet but majority of them are also shippers of that ship.

Like when I see an arbitrary pic of [any Genshin guy] or Aventurine, I don’t go “ooooh la la Lumine’s gonna get that” or “hehe Stelle or Topaz is gonna enjoy this” respectively… ofc this is first world “problem” but still… they tether Kaveh to feeble scholar so much 😭

Also I was on a small yumejoshi community and I found a girl who is also Kaveh enjoyer, and who also feels uncomfy with the shippy stuff. It was a pleasant surprise that there are other Kaveh likers with a similar POV to us, since from my observation I see that many of them like that one ship along with him.

This got so long and convoluted, I hope it is not difficult to read !!! It does not help that I am currently running on some 3 hours of sleep and a can of green tea (it has no effect on me). If there is anything that needs to be clarified plz let me know !

-🍓

Genshin girls in general are quite good, both on a design and personality level. Many of them are popular with women because, as you said, they look pretty while being badass. It also helps that the writing for female characters has improved significantly over the years, making them more fleshed out and complex.

I didn’t like Lisa’s flirtatious attitude at the start, but I have grown to love her a lot, and got excited whenever she appeared in events. I wish there was more of her, tbh. Navia is also my favorite Fontaine character overall! I saved for her so much.

I adore most of the Genshin ladies, actually. The only ones I dislike are Ei and Yae Miko.

Yeah, I think the cool and stoic type of male characters are more popular with guys. And I remember seeing that one guy on the Alhaitham sub! I wonder if he reached his goal?

I… never even thought about how stuffy and smelly cons would be. Lord, that makes me want to go even less. Ew 😣

I looked up when the first Touhou game came out, and it seems like it released the year I was born. So yeah, the franchise is hella old… But I thinks it’s nice that it still has fans even to this day. Even if it’s become harder to find fan content of it 😔

I’m so sorry you had to wake up to a comment alluding to That One Ship, especially since you simply wanted to share something you enjoy. The way a lot of shippers post obnoxious ship comments under art depicting a solo character is a serious problem. It’s very annoying to constantly be reminded of a ship you dislike, plus ruins the enjoyment you could have derived from the post itself. For whatever reason, I only see it happen for m/m and f/f ships.

It’s not wrong of you to block the person. If they make you uncomfortable, then the best thing to do is quietly block them. The Japanese and Chinese fandom communities often recommend to others to block liberally so they can create a safe space for themselves online and not see things they dislike. It’s all about protecting your mental health and having a comfortable space.

I am also sorry to say that a lot of people don’t check bios, or simply don’t care about your boundaries. Once, I had a few shippers of that ship follow me on Twitter despite my bio saying for fans of that ship to not follow me. Even after I made a tweet saying I’m uncomfortable with such individuals following me, one of them left a like and continued to follow me 😐 They knew but disrespected my boundaries, so I removed them.

It might seem harsh to block or remove people over ship differences, but in our modern era of toxic ship discourse and harassment, I don’t blame anyone for feeling triggered by certain ships or their fans. It’s much better to block a stranger online than subject yourself to psychological torture. The other person will forget about it in time, if they ever even find out you blocked them at all.

lol trust me when I say there are a much bigger number of Kaveh-lovers in the yume community who also don’t like his ship with a certain Scribe! I’m friends with a few of them. In fact, my entire social media circle is of Kaveh fans who like him exclusively with girls.

I feel like the Japanese and Chinese yume communities are better on that front compared to the English yume community. I try to stay away from English communities in general…

Sorry that my response also got so long. I hope you can get more than 3 hours of sleep tonight! The weekend is almost here, so here’s to hoping you can sleep in!

[lastoneout]

So my neurologist actually did something right for once and gave me some ambien to help me sleep while I'm on the steroid pack since I already have insomnia and steroids make it WAY worse, and I was really excited because this is legit what I've been wanting a doctor to do for like over a year now...but it didn't really help me sleep, at least not as well as the weed does.

I could possibly just need a higher dose(I am known to be very resistant to these sorts of meds, it takes like twice the normal dose of propofol to put me under) or maybe the steroid is just so powerful the meds can't make a dent in it(which I'd believe since I'm really sensitive to steroids and the weed ALSO doesn't help me sleep as well when I'm on them), and also it's really hot and humid right now which makes it hard to sleep in general AND I just got my bc implant put in which is making it hard to sleep since I have to be careful with my left arm and I like NEED to be able to switch what side I sleep on cuz my shitty arthritic joints don't like staying in one position for too long...but this is a bit of a let down ngl. I was really excited to be able to sleep and then maybe use this as proof that I can be trusted with sleep medication and I could finally stop having to spend damn near $100 on weed gummies every month and a half just to Sleep At All but like...hnnnn.....

Idk, when I see my primary I'm going to beg her to send me to a sleep specialist again bcs the weed is NOT sustainable it's already expensive and on top of that I am absolutely building up a tolerance which means I have to take more to sleep and thus spend more money and it's so fucking annoying. I've already made a lot of progress in the trauma department too and that hasn't really helped me sleep better which leads me to believe this is def a result of one of my other medical issues, I def think a sleep specialist is the best bet rn.

The plus side tho is she gave me 15 ambien and I only have three days of the steroids left, and my arm should be healed better in the next couple of days, so I should have a chance to test the ambien without the dual whammy of the arm pain and steroids wrecking my system, and if even that fails well that's a 15 day T break for the weed which honestly I really do need so like there's that.

Also since I have a bunch of new followers quick FAQ/rundown before anyone gives advice:

I have bipolar disorder type II and adhd and severe chronic pain from fibromyalgia, arthritis, and hEDS. The adderall for my adhd isn't the problem, I actually sleep WAY worse without it. I don't drink that many caffeinated beverages and I especially don't drink them basically at all when I'm on steroids so that's not it either. At least a little of my insomnia is due to trauma and not having a dog currently, but I can't adopt another one right now for numerous reasons, and EMDR has helped the trauma nightmares/anxiety let up quite a lot but that hasn't helped me sleep. I can't take CBD it makes my brain feel like I'm hooked up to a car battery. I also can't smoke bcs asthma so unfortunately I am stuck buying edibles which are very expensive. Insomnia isn't on the medical marijuana criteria in my state so I can't even make it cheaper that way. Melatonin does nothing. Benadryl also does nothing. Exercising before bed also does nothing. I can't do yoga(hEDS) or meditate(adhd). Cutting down on screen time before bed doesn't help and I already spend as little time in my bedroom as possible during the day so my brain keeps associating being in there with sleeping. Listening to music/a podcast doesn't help. Sleepy teas and nice baths and all that before bed doesn't help. I have a weighted blanket which does help a little, but sucks bcs it traps heat like a motherfucker, but I'd sleep worse without it so yeah. Also I can't make my house any cooler/less humid because I'm renting and it's old and shitty and doesn't have real air conditioning and the little portable ac unit + dehumidifier is trying but like...it's not enough I'm still hot and sweaty all night.

I am on hydroxyzine and nortryptraline and they don't make me even a little tired. I cannot take SSRIs or SNRIs on account of the bipolar and the fact that I'm just really sensitive to stuff that messes with my serotonin, even when I'm on a mood stabilizer, and the only med that I can stand that does serotonin stuff is the nortryptraline and it's also the only thing that helps my pain so switching it to something else isn't an option. I build up a resistance to seroquel really fast which makes my insomnia infinitely worse in the long run so I don't see the point in taking it. I have tried basically everything my psychiatrist can think to give me outside of narcotics, which led to her straight up telling me to my face she just can't help me before clarifying that apparently narcotics are somehow worse for me than not sleeping so she won't prescribe them even if they might help. I don't snore or wake up gasping for air so I know I don't have COPD or sleep apnea.

Literally the only thing that has ever made sleeping easy is weed(and opioids but those don't help my pain and have so many hoops to jump through so I don't wanna take them anymore), specifically indica with CBN, but it has to have THC in it I've tried pure CBN + CBD gummies and they don't make me tired they just make me feel weird 'cuz of the CBD.

So yeah. I am up shit creek without a paddle and I really quite desperately need to see a sleep specialist. I appreciate advice but like believe me, I've tried just about everything I can think of and none of it helps. I just naturally have really bad insomnia. And it sucks.

[krimsonkatt]

Earthbreaker Stefan, also known as Scion Sleipnir. This design is heavily based on Sleipnir's depiction in Final Fantast XII. Even though it doesn't really look like a horse, I actually really like this design. Needs some work though and probaly a higher resolution remake.

Sleipnir can be found in Aetheria Skylands in Chronicles Meteorfall/Meteo Chronicles and in Chronicles Meteorfall is one of the first scions, if not THE first scion you can encounter. However he is very tough for the part of the game he is first made avalible in so be warned if you try to face him early. Defeating him gains you the Sleipnir Animus which can be equipped to Stacy to allow her to summon Sleipnir when using her S-Talent Summon. Sleipnir uses Pegasus Strike when summoned which does severe strike and force damage to one foe that pierces 80% of DEF.

The reason why all the old sprites of the CM/MC scions have two names is because way back when I was going to reuse the old sprites of these bosses as tyrants/unique monsters in the sequel Chronicles II: Zero Gear Saga or in the third game Chronicles III: Ascension, but i gave them all new names to set them apart from the scions in CM/MC. That didn't end up working out and now I'm stuck working on Chronicles Meteorfall perpetually for all of eternity.

[jessmindspace]

Can I post some random junk on ocs? Yes? Okay, here's some Beir stuff:

Ben's dad raised him and his two younger brothers on classic rock, and took them to a few concerts too before the schizophrenia (See: Dimensional Vision) progressed too far. Ben has a lot of his dad's old vinyls and CDs that he'll listen to on occasion. He couldn't touch them for several years after Uri died since it made him depressed listening to them.

Blair is the kind of lady who likes to dress up, and Aaron was very meticulous about his sense of style too. When Blair sees that Ben is totally fine with wearing athletic clothes that were shoved in the back of his drawer out on the town, she decides to do something about it and makes sure that he runs his outfits by her before they go out. He wouldn't resort to wearing Crocs, but he'd def wear white socks with his shoes and make her slowly die on the inside lol

Ben has to be careful about how he uses his powers when traveling long distance. If he shows up across the country and then pops back home in the midwest within two hours, people who notice would be VERY suspicious and might go looking into him. He wasn't too mindful about this at first (he didn't want to spend money on airfare and liked being able to twist reality to speed up travels), until a supervillain caught on and attempted to ambush him.

I'm so very tempted to say that Blair attended Dash Con...because that would have been her crowd back in the day 😅

Blair doesn't tell Ben this (because she knows he'd freak out) but she'll borrow things then return them later on if she really needs them. Mostly this involves cars and motorcycles that she hotwires.

Blair missed out on higher education due to being locked up at Jade's Hall and being one of Bradley Jade's human guinea pigs, so after she and Ben get married, she starts studying to get her GED. She doesn't like people assuming she's just "another dumb blonde" and is adamant about making something of herself now that she's putting her criminal life behind her.

Ben's family is very large, friendly, and in your face--everything that Blair isn't used to. She's overwhelmed by them at first and Ben has to help her navigate meeting them when he introduces his new wife to his mom, brothers, the sister-in-laws, and all the nieces and nephews.

I keep forgetting to incorporate this in a lot of art with him, but Ben LOVES magic tricks. He'll do amateur magic for his nieces and nephews, and eventually Tara. He wanted to be a professional magician when he was a kid but his parents were like "uh, why don't you try something else?" so he settled on being a cop since that was his second favorite option lol

[renisfan]

Some ideas I have with the new toys:

Potent can allow him to have a second attack even if he can't naturally double and enemy has NFU (and additional 40% damage if he can double). It also gives DR that can work with his fixed damage cut. Heavy Blade ensures No Quarter proc even if the enemy has guard or can't counter. Sturdy surge recovers HP with special proc and Alarm gives canto.

Budget winter dimi OHKO build to work with the meta where fast nukes with first hit DR is everywhere. Compared to winter dimi he still need to take hits but he can run NCD 4 to counter sweep/flash users. Hardy bearing also guarantees he won't take more than 2 hits before he can attack, and hopefully No Quarter should kill the enemy to ignore any follow-up attacks. Def/res finish to help with his survivability but better to get more DR support as well. Atk oath echo is just nice-to-have for extra buffs.

This is a more simple upgrade to his current GLR build. With engage effect to get rid of the need for pulsing support, and Inf. NFU 4 so he can have NFU with any team comp. Bulwark would better be atk/spd or spd/def but those doesn't exist yet. Phantom spd for easier GLR proc but can be other seal that gives real spd too

You've heard of TP4 + VA... But what if we make it GLR?

The nice thing about this build is he doesn't need teammate or attack first to charge GLR, but while GLR has higher cut and is unpierceable, compared to VA it'll have less protection against brave hit (I'm still salty Atrocity II doesn't work against brave hit :( ), and you still need to outsource NFU or you lose out on either DC or Finish 4 :(

Good old prime build with self-sufficient NFU supply. Compared to brave unfortunately his refine asks for ally in 2 spaces so it's more guaranteed the effect will be up. Obviously he still need 2 bonuses though but that should be easy. The new Igrene for example is very good with her movement support. And A!Peony to fill in dodge + canto (+ extra stats and healing too)

Finally his galeforce is no longer tied to TP! Dual boots goes brrr

...well he still need to watch out for guard :( Lumera can help but it still has a range. Tempo seal/bonus support when IS :(

Damaging build now with DR piercing (finally)

But from my experience with VA F!Dimi, he probably still won't be proccing it for most of the time 🥲

Vengeful Lance refine with true damage + slaying + tempo + L!Nanna effect please IS 🥺

Not doing the 2 axe bois because 1) summer dimi has no synergy with any of the Marth ring / Potent / skills he can't use :( 2) winter dimi is already strong enough it would only be some minor buff (like 1 cd NQ so he can kill winter billys from 2 spaces too) so I think it's not worth making a whole picture for it

[ajentmm]

Goddess’s Servants Weapon Refine Theorycraft

There was one regular hero banner after the “Three Houses CYL” banner, and we got another three houses banner. I couldn’t complain at the time cuz I love Three Houses cast, but I’m always respectful to the old hats. Coincidentally, we had two 3H banners each year since 3H was released until last year, where we only got one (Rearmed Ingrid). This was because Engage got two banners, as it was released last year. So I expect one 3H banner this year and a second Engage banner, with the royals of Solms. Back to today’s topic. This banner has the theme of all of Rhea’s close companies, the knights of Seiros and the two green hair faculty members. Does Flaynn count as a staff member if she’s locked in the castle by Seteth?  

Catherine: Thunder Knight

Lvl. 40 5 ☆  43/39/41/30/23                      Max Invest: 52/48/50/38/31

Thunderbrand: Grants Spd+3. At start of combat, if foe's HP ≥ 50%, grants Atk/Spd+5 during combat, neutralizes effects that prevent unit's follow-up attacks during combat, and also, if unit initiates combat, unit can make a follow-up attack before foe can counterattack.

Draconic Aura - Swift Sparrow 3 - Lull Spd/Def 3

The pre-promote swordmaster from the Knights of Serios, is here. She introduced the concept of relic weapons in the 3rd chapter, Thunderbrand. While this is a brave sword in 3H, but in FEH, it gives Nfu Desperation. This gives her a unique way to bypass the new “Reduces damage from 1st and 2nd hit if foe has Brave attack”, but it does mean she can’t quad-attack. If we give her an affect that lets her brave attack, that’s 4 attacks in a row, and that sounds to good for a refine. Instead, we can increase the damage she deals with those two attacks. We can also give her more defenses, so she isn’t a sitting duck on enemy phase.

Thunderbrand: Grants Spd+3. At start of combat, if foe's HP ≥ 25%, grants Atk/Spd/Def/Res+5 during combat, neutralizes effects that grant foe a guaranteed follow-up attack or prevent unit's follow-up attacks during combat, and also, if unit initiates combat, unit can make a follow-up attack before foe can counterattack.

Accelerates Special trigger (cooldown count-1). If unit initiates combat or is within 2 tile radius of an ally, grants Atk/Spd/Def/Res+4 during combat, deal damage = X% of unit Atk (if foe is a Dragon, Beast, or Armored, X = 20, otherwise, 10) and reduce damage from foe’s first attack by 40% (*Brave hit exception).

There. She’s going to get AS, full NFU, Dive-Bomb, +9 to all stats, 40% DR, and true damage. The AS and true damage is there imitating the combat art, Foudroyant Strike, which grant +6 Mt, +30 Hit, +30 Crit, and effective against Armored and Dragon foes. I could have used her higher Spd stat, but I figure this emulates the effectiveness bonus.

Flayn: Playing Innocent

Lvl. 40 5 ☆  40/39/27/21/35      Max Invest: 49/48/35/29/44

Caduceus Staff: Calculates damage from staff like other weapons. Reduces damage from foes' attacks during combat to allies within 2 spaces by 30%.

Rescue+ - Deluge Balm+ - Dazzling Staff 3 - Ground Orders 3

Flayn was a unique staff flyer, and a 5 star, meaning she can actually get a refine! Flayn was also unique to provide damage reduction to allies in an area of effect. This was when we learned that DR was multiplicative rather than additive, and we all had to relearn 6th grade math. Some people made Aether raid teams that stacked caduceus effect with Dodge units or Brave Dimitri. Surprisingly, the staff meta has changed drastically, and Flayn got a Fall alt that adds much more to her staff and her kit. With Halloween Flayn providing Special Charage +1 in addition to 30%, this flayn can provide just defensive effects.

Caduceus Staff: Calculates damage from staff like other weapons. Grant allies within 3 spaces the following effect: Grant Def/Res+4 to unit, inflict Special cooldown charge –1 on foe, and reduces damage from foes' attacks by 30% during combat. If unit is within 3 spaces of an ally, grant Atk/Res+6 to unit during combat, inflict Special cooldown charge –1 on foe, and reduce damage from foe’s first attack by 30%.

Accelerates Special trigger (cooldown count-1). At the start of combat, if foe's HP ≥ 25%, grant Atk/Res+6, a guaranteed follow-up attack to unit, and damage +7 to unit during combat.

So the base effect has change to a 3 tile radius, gave Flayn the same effects (with some different stats and a 30% on first hit only), and added Guard and Def/Res+4 to the effect list. Then, the special effect is just Special Acceleration, along with Atk/Res+6, guaranteed follow-up, and a fixed 7 damage.

Seteth: Seiros Adherent

Lvl. 40 5 ☆  44/36/36/32/24      Max Invest: 53/45/45/40/32

Spear of Assal: Grants Spd+3. If unit is within 2 spaces of an ally, grants Atk/Spd+4 to unit during combat and neutralizes foe's bonuses to Atk/Spd (from skills like Fortify, Rally, etc.) during combat. Grants Atk/Spd+4 to allies within 2 spaces during combat.

Swap – Brazen Atk/Spd 3 – Drive Atk 2

WOW! A Lance Flier! That rides a wyvern! And is a man! And he’s NOT a GHB unit, he’s a 3-4 star!? AND he has a perf!? AND it has Lull Atk/Spd built in, which restricted from fliers?! It’s a miricale.

Spear of Assal: Grants Spd+3. If unit is within 3 spaces of an ally, grants Atk/Spd/Def/Res+4 to unit during combat and neutralizes foe's bonuses (from skills like Fortify, Rally, etc.) during combat. Grants Atk/Spd+4 and “neutralizes foe’s bonus” to allies within 3 spaces during combat.

Effective against Cavalry. At the start of combat, if foe's HP ≥ 25%, grants Atk/Spd/Def/Res+4 to unit during combat, grant addition Atk/Spd = penalties active on unit’s Atk/Spd x 2. Calculate stats independently. At the start of combat, if foe's HP ≥ 25%, restore 7 HP to unit after combat.

So, why isn’t this weapon effective against Cavalry? It’s effective in Three Houses. Along with that, Seteth grant “Lull” to all allies, now in 3 tile radius, similarly to Flayn. He’s also getting +8 all stats, Unity Atk/Spd, and healing 7 HP. The restoring HP is a reference the healing at the start of turn that Spear of Assal has in 3H. Why we haven't gotten another weapon with this effect, or even a Renewal 4 is likely because it promotes stalling and makes Reciprocal Aid more useful. 

Shamir: Archer Apart

Lvl. 40 5 ☆  41/40/40/25/24      Max Invest: 50/49/49/33/32

Survivalist Bow: Accelerates Special trigger (cooldown count-1). Effective against flying foes. If unit is not adjacent to an ally, grants Atk/Spd+6 during combat, and also, if foe's HP ≥ 80% at start of combat, foe cannot counterattack.

Moonbow – Atk/Spd Solo 3 - Null Follow-Up 3 - Rouse Atk/Spd 3

Ah, Shamir. A prototype Rita from Pokémon, if you will. We don’t get many colored bows, unless it’s for a tomboy 5 star archest. Her personal skill in 3H is Survivalist, inspiring the name of the bow, and it granted more Str/Spd for one turn after defeating a foe. FEH doesn’t have any “defeat foe” skills, not even Galeforce had that. So FEH was like, “we can give her the solo condition”, and throw in “cannot counterattack”. But Feh already has Elenora’s Mirage Long Bow for “no counterattack”. This bow has the advantage of Accelerates Special trigger, so it can be more powerful, but the HP condition can still be there. I will lower it to 50%.

Survivalist Bow: Accelerates Special trigger (cooldown count-1). Effective against flying foes. If unit is initiate combat or if the number of allies adjacent to unit ≤ 1, grants Atk/Spd+6 during combat, neutralize penalties on unit’s Atk/Spd, and also, if foe's HP ≥ 50% at start of combat, foe cannot counterattack.

At start of turn, if Special cooldown count is at its maximum value, grants Special cooldown count-1. At the start of combat, if foe's HP ≥ 25%, grant Atk/Spd+5, neutralize skills that inflict “Special Cooldown –X" during combat, deals damage = X% of unit's Spd when Special triggers (X = unit's max Special cooldown count value × 10, + 20; excludes area-of-effect Specials), and after combat, if Special cooldown count is at its maximum value, grants Special cooldown count-1.

So if Elenora is going to deal two hits of high damage, Shamir is going to nuke with Moonbow (or Deadeye if you have inherited it). She also gets half – tempo so she can charge Deadeye for the second hit, if you wanted to by pass DR Specials. Then there is Spd based true damage on Specials for more nuking.

Nemesis: King of Liberation

Lvl. 40 5 ☆  43/39/23/37/34      Max Invest: 52/48/31/46/42

Dark Creator S: Grants Def+3. During combat, boosts unit's Atk/Def by number of allies with HP ≥ 90% × 2 (max 6). During unit's first combat in player phase or enemy phase, reduces damage from attacks during combat and from area-of-effect Specials (excluding Røkkr area-of-effect Specials) by percentage = number of allies with HP ≥ 90% × 15 (max 45%).

Dragon Fang – Chill Atk 3 – Savage Blow 3

Why can’t this guy stay dead? Nemesis is back to be the bane in everyone’s . . . what’s that? His weapon sucks? Well, he’s back to be the bane for the first time ever. With a weapon condition that requires his team members to not take any damage to get only Atk/Def +6 and 45% DR. This was novel at the time, but now everyone has at least 40% DR on first hit. If one of his three allies gets hurt, it’s only Atk/Def+4 and 30% DR. This makes him better in Aether Raids where there’s 5-6 allies, but that’s where the Lightning Towers are, making his weapon useless. Oh, and it’s only the first combat encounter that the DR is available, meaning you won’t be tanking the whole team. So, how do we change it.

Dark Creator S: Grants Def+3. During combat, boost unit's Atk/Def by number of allies with HP ≥ 50% × 2 (max 6). At the start of combat, if it’s the unit's first combat in player phase or enemy phase, or if unit's HP ≥ 25%, grant Atk/Def/Res+5 to unit and reduces damage from attacks during combat and from area-of-effect Specials (excluding Røkkr area-of-effect Specials) by percentage = 30 + number of allies with HP ≥ 50% × 10 (max 60%).

For starters, I made the Atk/Def boost it’s own separate thing, from basic stat increases. Instead of being ≥ 90%, I when with allies with HP ≥ 50%, making it like EarthFire Boost, but without the proximity to those allies. I added the unit’s HP ≥ 25% condition, so he can tank more foes on enemy phase. Plus, if he is at 1 HP from an AOE or Lightning Tower, he will still get stat and DR at least once per phase. I gave him the usual +5 to Atk/Def/Res, cuz he will need the Res. Then I just added 30% DR as the minimum amount of DR, making the maximum 60%.  

Foes with Range = 1 cannot move through spaces adjacent to unit, and foes with Range = 2 cannot move through spaces within 2 spaces of unit (does not affect foes with Pass skills). At the start of combat, if foe initiates combat or foe’s HP ≥ 75%, grant Atk/Def/Res+5, a guaranteed follow-up attack, restores 7 HP to unit after combat.

And to make it so you need to use AOE, Lightning Towers, etc., I made his secondary effect Bulwark, so he can be the frontline defender and keep his allies safe, instead of being the final foe. You got to protect your allies, even if they function like your Horcruxes. On top of that, with the enemy phase standard condition, he gets another +5 to all stats and a guaranteed follow-up, which he desperately needs. Best skill to give him now is afore mentioned EarthFire Boost or Atk/Def Finish, and Gambit, for more damage and DR.

[princkleeatscookies]

personal cookie run headcanons!! :0

My drawing tablet's arriving soon so I guess I'll have to share some of my personal headcanons in cookie run as promised (most of them are clotted cream cookie's,,,, ehehe-)

admittedly, it's a pretty "short" list but I will update this once I thought up with new ones :>c without further ado, let's start those headcanons~! ٩(⊙‿⊙)۶

┌─── ∘°❉°∘ ───┐┌─── ∘°❉°∘ ───┐┌─── ∘°❉°∘ ───┐ ➽─────────❥

- Clotted Cream Cookie owns a stuffed teddy bear/jelly bear as a gift from his mom from childhood / v \ He still holds onto it to this day and doesn't want to admit that he still owns that due to embarrassment ahaha.. He hides it in his room (specifically under one of the pillows in his bed) and pulls it out whenever he was having such a hard time

- Clotted Cream Cookie doesn't know modern slang or anything that Cookies around his age do for fun in the casual. He was raised in a much higher-class so he was only taught proper manners and eloquence. If he was exposed to such stuff, he'll be extremely confused or fascinated and wanted to mimic it himself (basically he's a young boomer lmao, but he is learning~!)

- Clotted Cream Cookie is a bit of a book nerd, as he always reads books (ranging from fantasy books to history books) during his leisure time. He also has his own reading area in his room!

- He never shows it to anyone, but Clotted Cream Cookie is surprisingly vocally talented (in other words, HE CAN SING-). Though he never does sing in front of anyone because he's self-conscious ahaha. He usually sings alone whenever he's in his room or during work aaa,, though Financier Cookie did hear a little bit of it (although it was very faint and didn't believe it was Clotted Cream Cookie at first) (uhuhuhu this is just me inserting the "secretly vocally talented but is too afraid to show it in front of anyone" hc ;v;)

- I'd imagine Clotted Cream Cookie to be around in either in his early 20s or just about to turn 20 (19 years old)

- Clotted Cream Cookie does have a biological father... but let's just say he isn't in the picture anymore, although Clotted Cream Cookie is very much traumatized. not gonna elaborate on that due to how dark it is. (well not yet at least)

ok that's enough Clotted Cream Cookie headcanons for this post HHSDSJDFDK let's continue~!

- Espresso Cookie and Affogato Cookie are related as brothers, but they have long been since separated each other. They don't even know if they know of each other's existence as brothers, but Affogato Cookie does recognizes Espresso Cookie a bit and has a soft spot for him, just a little bit. (I'd like to imagine that only some of the coffee cookies are indeed related to each other. not all but some.)

- Financier Cookie being a big sis to, not just the orphan cookies, but to other cookies as well ehehe (Kouign-Amann Cookie and, to a lesser extent, my cookie run oc for example)

- There were a lot of times where Licorice Cookie kinda regrets being in the Cookies of Darkness All he ever wanted is some sort of validation.. He had no other option after all. He wanted to turn to the good side but Licorice Cookie just believes there's no way for him to be good. I mean, Licorice Cookie isn't all that evil- He's just now trapped on his own decision.

- Cream Puff Cookie sometimes visits the shore to play with Peppermint Cookie during her days in the Parfaedia Institute. Though ever since she became an alumna and busied herself with studying her magic further, alongside protecting the city. She never had time to visit the shore, Which made Peppermint Cookie a little sad.

- I'd like to see that Madeleine Cookie and Financier Cookie are a little bit older than Clotted Cream Cookie (maybe 24 or 25 respectively)

➽─────────❥

【☆】 ★ 【☆】 ╰── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──╯ 【☆】 ★ 【☆】 I think that's it for now ahdshasd, I told you this is gonna be a short list, ;v; thank you if you read this far ~! I'll probably think of some stuff but for now, here's the current list this definitely tells that Clotted Cream Cookie is my favorite character lololol

notes:

fun fact, the bit about Clotted Cream Cookie being secretly talented at singing and is reluctant to sing in front of everyone is based on the crk 2nd anniversary stream where his eng va, aaron dismuke (aka miyuki shirogane in kaguya-sama love is war s1-s2 and william james moriarty in moriarty the patriot), was asked to sing in-character but he straight up refuses HAHSHSAHD

the last headcanon was based on the drawing I saw on twitter where young Madeleine Cookie disturbed baby Clotted Cream Cookie. In the drawing, Madeleine Cookie was depicted to be a kid and Clotted Cream Cookie being a baby Which means that Madeleine Cookie is older than Clotted Cream Cookie and I just personally find it both cute and hilarious

The bit where I mentioned my cookie run oc... I might reveal it here on tumblr sometime. But not right now.

once again, thank you guys so much for reading these stupid headcanons of mine ahahsdhsd

[why-its-kai]

autism taking over. filled with need to buy every single home media release of trigun 98 to fully document them instead of relying on trying to find what are usually broken old webpages on wayback machine and squinting at low quality images and running things through google translate hoping to scrounge one iota of information i'm looking for. this is like the least interesting aspect of the series and i really dont need more than 1 release even tho i own 2 different english version releases on dvd and an incomplete set of the original japanese laserdiscs (with no player to watch them on) & 1 original japanese vhs release. and then there's also the japanese rental video series (vhs&dvd) then the victor dvd release which is harder to find much info on in english. and then flyingdog did a new release of the dvds in a set when badlands came out in 2010. not sure they did any more releases after that bc language barrier and i dont keep up with current things any more. and still trying to find concrete info about pioneer english sub tapes bc they stop being mentioned on the archived webpages for pioneer/geneon once the company name changed--only the dub tapes show up. so thats 2 sets of pioneer english tapes. then the pioneer english dvds and then there was a box set release of those. then a rerelease of the dvds as geneon in the signature series. some weird 4 volumes of a combo release with gungrave & hellsing. a single umd volume with eps 1&2. and then the remix dvds which i own. then funimation i believe they've done 2 complete series dvd sets, i've got the og 2010 one but also that one seems to have been scrubbed from existence i cannot find any archived mentions of it on thier official site while i own the set it's hard to find direct source info it drives me nuts. and this is not even looking into the releases in other regions i know of the australian madman ones and the spain spanish set by selecta vision but i know theres def more. and this isnt even getting badlands in the picture. would love to get the limited edition first release dvd bluray whatever it was from japan. and other regions got more bonuses and nice features vs funimations bare minimum bonus feature disc (boooooo). also the first funi dvd that's what i got. would like a blu ray of badlands at least for the better picture quality bc that was theatrical film so actually animated in higher definition would love to see the detail of the world better than the dvd picture bc you all know im a weirdo who loves looking close at insignificant details. but yea there ig o rambling a wall of text about something no one cares about bu tme lol

[flyingcookierambles]

Praying to rngesus in genshin artifact domain ugh. I hate then so much.

In other news I went from a childe/zhongli main to a scaramouche/venti main. In game lol. But seriously I like. Really focused on just. Grinsi g the desert pavilion domain city of gold or whatever its called bc it's easy and fast to do. And I got scara / I named him Yuto as decent a set as I could before my sanity ran out and then leveled them all to 20 and like. I'm looking at it. Like. Oops. I surpassed my childe. Now tbf, I was in the midst of replacing childe and zhongli's sets. Childe bc I learned that the hydro set for nilou is decent for most hydro characters so some of his current stuff is not lvl 20 yet so he's kinda accidentally nerfed. Zhongli bc I am dumb and thought that his kit scaled to defense like other geo characters. It was his hp. Oops. So his old gear had really high def and hp (about 60k?) But I'm going back for him to get better hp stuff. I gave some of his defense items to Noelle.

However I also was replacing Barbara's set from the ransom wanders troupe and maiden beloved to like. The actually good sea dyed foam artifacts that are good for all healers. But accidentally thought her heals scaled with attack like qiqi and Jean combat medics....

It's also her hp...

My Barbara currently has higher raw attack Stat than childe lmao.

I finally learned the websites that ppl use to post character cards on genshin subdeddits for showcases and advice. It's really good actually I like them a lot. I like akasha more bc some characters have a literal chart of stats comparing you to the public leader board lol.

I think it's funny to look at my (underdeveloped) characters and look at the chart and actually built characters and just go. Haha I fucked up. Welp.

Under cut lol.

Also idk but scara / Yuto is like in the 28% high energy recharge group. Also I guess im the only one who uses the dodoco tales?? The only advantage of being sucked into this dumb game since basically 1.0.

Main dps childe and scara and neuvillette. Battery venti and Raiden. Sub dps/burst Xiao and zhongli. Shield bot zhongli (but his hp is so low compared to his off the charts crit and attack oops. Where did I go wrong? Lmao).

Only venti and scara have full level 20 artifact sets here, so everyone else is kinda. Nerfed lol.

This isn't all my characters either, just the mostly leveled up ones. I'm still leveling wrio and kaveh and stuff.

[therehavebeenstranger]

Okay! @stankhead just tagged me in their brand new tag game about our top artistic influences. I really really love this and am honestly very grateful to grem for giving me a little opportunity to be reflective about this right now; for context, i am about two weeks out from graduating with an MFA in creative writing (fiction track) from [redacted prominent midwestern university w decently-renowned 40 yr old mfa which has been attacked in recent years by humanities-hating admin, there you go, now everybody who follows the chronicle of higher ed can probably dox my ass] and so it’s nice, at this transition moment, to take a step back and think about the influences that have shaped my writing on a global level. I think it’s super useful and i’m typing this in a word doc so i can hang onto it for later. Okay enough chit chat. I’m gunna try to limit this to no more than like 4 or 5

Carmen Maria Machado—CMM is one of my biggest, most direct, and most obvious influences. She came to my college campus to lead a workshop and give a reading in the months leading up to the publication of her body and other parties. I was a sophomore (or maybe this was late freshman year?????) and encountering her work totally and completely shifted what i write and how i write. Complete reframe on what speculative fiction was and what it could do. HBaOP went on to have a big impact on me (esp. formally weird stories like Especially Heinous) but at the moment i was obsessed with her stories the husband stitch and my body, herself

Peak Cracked Dot Com—but especially everything DOB touched when he was there! I was a regular cracked reader from the age of 11 to the exact day that all those layoffs happened, and by regular i mean that every day i had access to the internet i read/watched/listened every piece of new content they published, whether or not i gave a shit about the subject matter. Cracked’s influence on me is less easy to tangibly track than CMM, but i literally boiled my forming brain in that site and i think the style permeates me work. Cracked had this strand of pedantry that necessitated dwelling with strange research and subject matter and letting things sort of spiral and cook and letting the obsession change the voice. (also, subject matter—this article inspired an obsession w Dorothy Arnold which became a story that will be published later this year.) It had a huge impact on my sense of humor and the way i approach dialogue, even when i’m not conscious of that. For dialogue i am especially thinking of video content like after hours and agents of cracked (the way the “swaim proving that that guy fu-u-u-cks goats” monologue hits in this ep *changed me forever). In general, i think my approach to narrative voice was really impacted by the fact that i spend my adolescence reading DOB’s old “my brief time as (blank)” articles and shit like “yer gramma was built like a brick shit-house in her day”

*if you click that link fair warning that the video is from like 2010 and def has some stuff that makes me uncomfortable in hindsight, including at least one use of the r word

The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy—man. This is one of the great novels of all time, isn’t it???? i was assigned it in ib english senior year of high school and i’ve tried to read it at least once a year since. Pieces of the language regularly float back to me—“a viable, dieable age” “a sariflapping” “the time was ten to two” “the history woman in the history house.” Roy does things with language that i didn’t know you could do—makes paragraphs which are so thick and lush that they feel humid and green. Sticks words together to make new and better ones. Talks frankly about the story being told by the story. Like, that’s one of the things that’s so brilliant, right? From go, you know that sophie mol and velutha will die. The question is not what will happen in the story but how the story will be told and how it will mean to us. The language bears that out. It has totally suffused in my brain, it’s a lens through which i read everything. Also i think it’s about time for my annual reread of this book, ha.

What the moon brought by Sadie rose weilerstein—see, this is why i love this tag. I would not have pegged this book as an influence before being tasked w this reflexive task, but it looms large in my mind!!! My copy of this book—a collection of stories about sisters Ruth and Debbie as they go through their jewish year in the american suburbs, living their lives and observing jewish holy days—was ancient, falling apart; it had been purchased for my mother and her siblings in the early 60s. i was obsessed with it. it was the first book i read which treated Judaism as a fact of american life, if that made sense? Or the first book where i was conscious of Judaism as a force shaping story, time, etc. i mean it’s literally about what the moon brought; a recognition of the lunar jewish calendar. A different kind of time keeping. It told me that jewish stories were and are interesting, singular, rich, and worth pursuing. including a picture of the cover bc i love the cover :)

The fourth state of matter by jo ann beard—this essay is amazing, not that i am the first to say so. It’s worth reading, though i’ll warn that its content (it’s about a shooting that happened on a college campus) can obviously be tough to deal with. This has a very direct impact in my mind. My first creative writing prof ever used this essay to teach us about psychic distance, and learning about psychic distance was like—not like getting a new tool in my little writer’s toolkit, but like having the key that unlocked the kit in the first place.

There’s more, of course there’s more, but this is a thousand words so i’ll call it here. again, thank u gremlin for coming up with this tag it’s lovely and so useful. i'll tag @pintobordeaux and @januariat but i really genuinely encourage anybody who sees this post to do this kind of accounting. it's really useful and illuminating :)

[cottoncandysecretlair]

I know a lot of people have a distaste for like. Pretty much any of the old TGWTG/Channel Awesome stuff because like... Man there's so much cringe and yelling.

But I've been having a good time going back through all of Todd in the Shadows' pop song reviews, oldest to newest.

He's def not immune to the cringe, but he never embraced the skits and forced BS the way some people did (which I acknowledge was likely due to the pressure, I mean even Lindsay did stupid bits).

And yeah he starts out pretty fucking bitter, but you can see him slowly changing into the more positive reviewer he is now. Also a dated comment here and there but all things considered I don't think saying "That falsetto sounds kinda gay" is pretty tame compared to some of the shit that was normal to say online at the time.

Plus it's just fun going down musical memory lane. His reviews started at precisely the time I became really aware of pop music as a kid, so it's fun to look back at both the good and the terrible, as well as enjoy how much our views have changed on songs like Tik Tok.

And it's not like the format has changed lol. Still a silhouetted guy in front of a piano, just in a higher resolution and better audio. The simplicity and consistency helps it hold up outside the technicals, I think.

Also good FUCK why did Chris Brown keep getting hits on the charts for years after his career should have been fucking dead? I know music permits a lot of shitty people, but that shit was all over the news, even little kids knew. And he certainly wasn't making music that was just so good people excused it, it was bullshit

[notebookmusical]

Hi Cossette! Merry Christmas and I hope you have an amazing 2024 ahead of you 🎅

The past few months was quite eventful, but I'm very excited that I've got tickets to see Laufey at her Bewitched Tour next year & I've also got a few weeks of Christmas holidays to relax!

I felt the frustration of the reading slump: I've been reading more books electronically this year and I have came to the conclusion that it's more challenging to read fantasy ebooks (many fantasy novels come with footnotes / glossary terms). So I'm considering just buying more fantasy hardcopies or read them while I have the chance to go to bookstores!

Speaking of Maisie's discography, this is my current ranking of her music: YSUFT -> It's Your Bed, Babe -> TGW (after deluxe version came out) -> Dressed Too Nice For A Jacket - > Trying

I was initially a bit hesitant with the overall flow of the standard version of The Good Witch, but after listening to the deluxe version I found the storytelling more complete! My favourite deluxe track is def. Yoko! What about you?

As of Olivia Rodrigo, I prefer Guts over Sour: both overall & individual songs! My favourites are love is embarrassing & get him back! And for Laufey's Bewitched, I think that's one of my favourite new albums in 2023: my favourites are Haunted & Letter To My 13 Year Old Self!

Holly Humberstone's Paint My Bedroom Black is highly enjoyable! I need to relisten to it more but I love the title track 💖

P.S. I've got around listening to Del Water Gap's album and have been obsessed with NFU! I think 2023 is one of the most exciting years in terms of music releases 😃

hi jennifer!!! hope you had a wonderful holiday + wishing you all the best for 2024 🤍 i hope you've been having the loveliest time traveling too!

i'm so so jealous you got tickets to see laufey live! i missed her last tour because she was here on my mom's birthday, and then her next seattle stop coincides with when i'm out of town :( i can't wait to hear about your concert! is there anything in particular you'd like to hear her sing live? i really love letter to my 13 year old self too!!

the fantasy ebook dilemma is REAL!! i remember reading an arc of ... i want to say little thieves (which i loved, btw! would recommend if you haven't read it) and got to the end and then realized there was a glossary and was like ... well this would've been helpful! i have a lot of fantasy books that have piled up on my shelves over the last few years that i really need to get to but all i want to do is reread the starless sea (which i think i'll do in january)! i like starting off the year with a reread — i feel like it takes less pressure off deciding a perfect first 2024 read.

i love love love yoko — i was listening to it earlier and was like "wait ... this needs to be on my normal people playlist"! i think yoko is probably my favorite of the deluxe songs, but truth is and the last one are also ones i really love! and i think the song and holy revival are so fun to sing in the car! it's been a hot minute since i've listened to dressed too nice for a jacket, but i think i'd rank trying higher than it + it's your bed...!

i also prefer guts over sour — i got guts tour tickets, and i'm super excited to hear olivia live! i think my favorites are pretty isn't pretty, making the bed and lacy, but i think it's just such a good album! i do really like sour; i think i just listened to it so much when it first came out that i needed a break from it and now i just rarely reach for it for some reason?

i'm glad you like holly and the new del water gap!! i think my favorites from paint my bedroom black are: cocoon, room service and elvis impersonators, and i think my most played on i miss you already + i haven't left yet are all we ever do is talk, and losing you, so i'd wager those two are my favorites!

are there any albums you're looking forward to in 2024? i'm really excited for the new bleachers (and super curious to see how signing with dirty hit affects them, if it does at all)! speaking of dirty hit artists, benjamin francis leftwich is an artist who i really love and he has a new album coming out in february that i'm stoked for. and then i saw rumors about a new sabrina carpenter album in 2024? which i would absolutely love!

[unknownmousezoe]

Well since Twitter is fucking dying (again), I guess Imma post my media watching stuff here now. Imma tag it with Cherry'sMediaWell so like if you do not wanna see it, mute that. Also gonna post what I done so far this year under a read more. Gonna post basically any media I consume that takes more then a hour except for youtube videos.

Jerma & Otto: The Curse of The Late Streamer- ... technically the first real game I sat down and played this year... as a fan game it was fine if not unfunny , as a point and click its reallllly bad 2/5

AI Sommnium Files: Nirvana Initiative- Finally got around to playing Nirvana Initiative, I am a little conflicted as like there was plenty I was not a fan of this time around, some odd plot beats here and there really muddled it. But when it got good it really got good so like ultimately a strong recommend if you like the first one , but understand it is in my opinion not as good. Still worth the time but missing something sadly from being a stand out sequel. Still is a 4/5 tho.

The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog- This was something alright, as a April fools joke game I really could not have lower expectations but it was really solid. The story was fun and lighthearted and did not fall into the 4/1 trap of just being zany for zany sake. Genuine great time 4.5/5

Class Action Park- An "okay" doc, it didn't shed any new light on the subject. The animated segments where unexpected and honestly unneeded. Still a really interesting subject that is fun to hear about. I liked how they went though each rides history 3.5/5

Alien Abduction: Incident in Lake County- A goofy old fake horror doc. As a horror movie its not the best, but it is fun to watch now just to kinda peek into alien mythos. 3/5

One Killer Punch- a really short 45 min ish doc? While the first two cases made me go "huh that's interesting" the last case really made me feel emotions, def worth a watch at the short time length 4/5

Theatrhythm Final Bar Line- Played this one kinda worried at first cus I loved the original on 3ds and thought it couldn't be adapted. Really fun and loads of songs to play with only real complaint is wish more enemy variation. 4.5/5

Mario Warfare (rewatch)- still peak cinema (10/10)

FE Engage: Fell Xenologue- Kinda weird beating and ranking this before the actual game but what can I say I wanted the units. Honestly I feel I am way more positive on this then I was for the Cinder Shadows, I just was way more invested in the story here then in there. the plot actually made me curious where it was going, I liked the twists and turns for the most part, and enjoyed its darker turn. Of course I can not talk about the dlc without talking about the maps, I played on normal which I am thankful for because god I would have raged quit on higher difficulties. 1-3 where pretty normal if not kinda bland maps. 4 was a really neat concept for a map (well neat for engage its been done in other FE games). 5 just SUCKS tho def would not play it on higher difficulty. 5 was fine on normal honestly just kinda eh. I liked the characters and stuff so idk I enjoyed my time with the Fell. Nel is prob one of my fav engage characters... while Nil is one of my least lmao

Fire Emblem Engage- Story wise was not a huge fan, felt like a big downgrade from 3 houses story (not saying 3 houses story was prefect but). The two things that really save this game for me is the later game units and the gameplay. Love almost all the later game units they add a lot of flavor, which I am glad for because early game units for the most part did like nothing for me and I was worried the whole game would have been like that. Map wise one of my favs, loved all the fun gimmicks and spins on maps. ultimately still had super fun (4/5)

Spookware- I went in really wanting to like this one. I love wario ware and funny/spooky games but dang this disappointed. Biggest issue was how damn buggy it was, constantly got bugs that made me loose levels some broke the game entirely. Episode 2 mircogames where all just GOD awful like I almost put it down multiple times. It also felt like they just ran out of clever mircogames and plot with episode 2 its weird cus it was just such a massive down grade. Plot started out interesting and fun but just ran out of steam super fast. Sadly to me (2/5)

Necrobarista- I REALLY liked this one. The constantly changing perspectives could be a real turn off for some but I thought it was fun. Story was really interesting/fun, liked the characters a ton. Only real complaint is I wished it was longer and a little more fleshed out 4.5/5

Jurassic Park Dominion- RE6 did the plot better 2/5

Fostering Apocalypse- Reaaaaaly short vn, that was hella cute with great art. Honestly so short not much to say, was not a huge fan of how mechanics work around endings but still a good time 4/5

The Spirit & the Mouse- This was great, a fairly short but really enjoyable experience. Kinda a walking sim, there is no really challenge or anything but I don't really think there needs to be. The story it tells is unique and makes me smile. 4.5/5

Idol Showdown- idk not really that big into idols but for the low price of free this is a pretty fun 30 mins or so with friends atleast. Again this game is NOT DEEP but like its a free game what do you expect lmao 3/5

Spawn HBO show- Overall really like this show... but it has some problems esp season 3. I think I liked the concept more then the actual story but like still was a fun time. Glad I saw it either way. Twitch and Burke are the best in this. 3/5

Wandersong- Honestly do not think I can put into words how this game made me feel. Back half of story was fantastic, story was well written and fun. Game play was really fresh without feeling tedious. Design and everything made me really happy. Honestly easily a 5/5

The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special- Decided to finally watch this since vol 3 came out... its fine. Animated segments where awful like wow, and the plot was really meh. It was nice to see more of the guardians interactions tho. 3/5

GOTG Vol.3- I may be a little crazy for saying this but this was an amazing send off to the best franchise in the MCU. Story was great, and like the first two movies the characters all played great off each other. The high evolutionary was one of the few great mcu villains 5/5

Please Be Happy- Sadly I did not like this one as much as I did the other two vns I played by the same devs, Idk just seems the weakest of the bunch. That being said still really solid, if this is their low , then the bar is still pretty high. 4/5

Mario Movie- Yeah it was fine, nothing amazing but did not really expect it to be lmao. The references where fun at times. No where as good as Mario Warfare tho. 3.5/5

Evil Dead Rise- A really enjoyable horror movie actually. I honestly do not have much to say it was just a well put together experience. Evil Dead continues to be one of the most solid long standing horror franchises. 4/5

Gunbusters- Like other Hideki Anno works I started off not feeling it, but it got so so fucking good in the second half. I really love the actions scenes and it did make me cry at the really end. Makes me want to get more into mechs cus this is great as fuck. 4.5/5

Diebuster- You can TELL they went on to make Gurren after this, honestly I did like gunbusters more overall but this is a solid af followup. 4/5

Soul Hackers 2- Kinda conflicted here, REALLY liked the characters and concept... but like the pacing is not really up to par. Wished there was more here. Also people where not lying there is some REALLY awful dungeon design here. Still Ringo and gang are great imo. 3.5/5

Transformers- Some fights where okay actually, but god everything else was abysmal writing was laughable bad wow. 2/5

Batman Soul of the Dragon- It is weird cus like, it is clear the makers of this movie really wanted to make a fun campy 70s kung fu movie but it really just fails at it. Movie also just REALLY did not need batman, like if you took him out nothing would change, felt forced 2/5

Spider-Man:Across the Spider-Verse-Going in I actually had mixed expectations. I knew people love it but the trailers really turned me off as it just seemed.. worse then the original. Glad to say that is FAR from the case, a huge improvement on something already amazing. Easy 5/5

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen- I went in remembering this being worse then the first.. but actually it was better. ITS STILL AWFUL but like the bar was low as fuck. I am scared for the next one as this is where I stop watching as a kid 2/5

(part two of recap coming soon)