#sorry saw you liked this post and had to add what they were discussing in there

[oshygoshy]

6:37 pm

word count - 907 words

warnings - kuroo is a loser also shitty writing, not proof read much

a/n - happy bday kuroo this is ass lowkey but i'm sorry i'm trying my best. i hate university i'm so busy and stressed but at least my suitemate got a kitty and she's so soft and warm and cute slay

anyways yeah kuroos a loser with no rizz...sorry. he's kicking his feet and giggling over 1 (one) interaction

there was a man. in your spot. at the library.

it was (unfortunately) finals week, meaning you were one more quiz away from a certified crash out, and one more discussion post away from taking a swan dive off the closest bridge. your left eye was twitching, you were running on less than the healthy 8 hours of sleep, and you were drinking your second energy drink of the day.

you were supposed to go to the library on campus to Your Spot, the one you have reigned supreme over for the past few months. it was quiet, on the 4th floor, away from everybody working on group projects below. it was secluded, off in the corner. it had a nice charging block with multiple outlets available, and it had a pretty view of some trees that sunlight could warm you as day faded into night.

it was perfect. it was beautiful.

and it was currently being taken by some guy.

your eye twitched again. you debated shoving him out of your chair, or pouring your drink over his computer, or maybe just glaring at him and biting his shoulder like a rabid animal (the aforementioned crash out from above), but you recognize that starting and escalating an altercation is not productive, and also that a homicide charge won't add anything to your gpa.

so you sighed, resigned, before making your way to the empty table a few feet from Your Spot. but you decided to do some investigative research (read: spying) to figure out what could possibly be so important for this man to study that he needed to take Your Spot. you quickly peek over his shoulder, scanning for his notes and computer.

“net profit…statistical probability…essay for…”

your eye twitches again. statistical probability? net profit? no fucking way Your Spot was taken by a business major?? a finance bro? an absolute buffoon?? did they even have finals, other than a coloring page? 

fuck you, mysterious business guy. fuck you. 

you were just about to leave when your eyes left his desk-

-and locked eyes with him. 

he...he caught you staring!!

wait. no. you caught him stealing your spot, and then you decided to snoop a bit, rightfully so! he's in the wrong here!!

"um, do you need something?" he asked, an easy smile on his lips. 

his eyes were hazel with golden depths, and though his hair was messy and his eyes tired, you could still see the gleam of a piercing (and honestly, kind of hot) look to them. 

"...no," you say. 

"you can have this table, if you want," he said, beginning to pack up. "i'm almost done here anyway." 

"oh no, you don't have to-"

"but don't you sit here everyday to study?" he whispered, standing up. you realized just then how tall he was. 

you catch his words after a second (you were not distracted by the height difference!), and stare at him hard. "what are you, a stalker? how do you know where i sit?"

he shrugged, zipping up his bag and hoisting it onto his shoulder. "well you sit in the same spot on the same floor like clockwork every night, so it's kind of hard not to not notice."

you rack your brain, trying to remember if you ever saw a guy like him sitting nearby you in the library. it would be hard to forget someone who looked like him (respectfully, and because he is tall and for no other reason!!!), but for some reason, you couldn't remember seeing him at all. maybe he really was a stalker?? "well why did you decide to take my spot then anyway, stalker?" you huff, annoyed. 

he had started leaving by now, and brushed your shoulder on the way out. he looked over his shoulder with a smile full of charm. 

"because i wanted an excuse to talk to someone pretty like you, of course," he said with a grin. "see you next week."

he left his crush standing jaw open as he nonchalantly scurried away. jesus christ, he never realized just how hard his heart would beat when he spoke to you.

he liked how focused you looked when you worked on your assignments, or how your finger tapped restlessly against your pencil when you came across something difficult. it was just a little school crush, really, and he shouldn't be looking too much into it. but when he got to the library today and saw someone had stolen his spot a few tables away, meaning that he could sit in yours and get an excuse to talk to you...well, he was just a little bit giddy.

he opened the old groupchat from his high school days. a lot of his friends from nekoma were busy with their own lives, but they still kept in touch to this day.

kuroo: guess who go to talk to their crush todayyyy yaku: you finally gained the guts? wow, how impressive. i'm sure they're head over heels for you now. kai: congratulations on saying hi!! kenma: stalker kuroo: i hate all of you.

he couldn't contain his little giggle. maybe next time, he would have the confidence to ask to sit next to you.

[spamtoon]

anyway guess who was disappointed to find out candy goth was a brand and not like. a general style because i definitely DIDNT want to picture sweet tooth in a fun fit that was 'goth but candy' nope nosiree

sometiems you just need to go into your private discord server and roleplay your faves interacting with you. sometimes you need to pretend the characters are talking in the background while you read the textbook. some times you need to discuss things with them. somestimes you need to talk about them doing stupid things together. you need to let them chill in your brain and you need to pull up a chair next to them in their ideal space.

[ancient-and-gauntly]

Corridor Waltz

Sebastian x F! Reader Warnings: Just some post argument fluff and light discussion, nothing big, female reader clear Summary: After Sebastian is too stubborn to ask you to the Yule Ball and finds out who you went with instead and argue, the two of you find yourselves at a crossroad in the corridors.

“I didn’t mean to make you upset.” You break the silence,smoothing out the skirt of your dress carefully. “You just didn’t ask me, and I didn’t want to go alone so-”

“So you ask Leander-Fucking-Prewitt? The top idiot himself?” Sebastian repeats himself harshly. “I wanted to ask you but with everything going on I-I forgot and,” He trails off, sighing in defeat. “I'm sorry, Y/N. Its all my fault. Yet another big thing ruined by my stupid pride. Sebastian paced anxiously in the dimly lit corridor of Hogwarts, the shadows flickering as the torches cast dancing silhouettes on the cold stone walls. The air was thick with tension, as your argument slowly dissipates and begins to make room for regrets

You stood a few feet away, back turned to him and posture tense. The echoes of your heated words still reverberated in the quiet corridor. He had been too proud to ask you to the Yule Ball, convinced that you would reject him, and you had been equally stubborn in not extending an invitation yourself. The weight of unspoken feelings hung heavily in the air, a palpable force that pushed you two apart even as your hearts pulled you together.

Unable to bear the silence any longer, Sebastian took a deep breath and approached you slowly. He reached out, his fingers gently grazing your arm. You tensed slightly at his touch, but he persisted, turning you to face him. Your eyes were stormy, a mixture of hurt and confusion. Sebastian couldn't stand to see you like this.

"Hey," he said softly, his voice breaking the silence. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said those things. I just... I didn't know how to ask you."

Your eyes searched his, looking for sincerity. Slowly, you nodded, acknowledging the apology. “I forgive you, Seb.” You respond, wiping another small tear from your cheek. “But we can’t keep doing this to each other. We-we have to finally draw that line in the sand as to what this- what we are.”

Sebastian took a step closer, cupping you face in his hands. He tilted your chin up, forcing you to meet his gaze. There, in the flickering light of the torches, he saw vulnerability in your eyes, a reflection of his own thoughts and feelings swirling in them. Leaning in he pressed a soft, apologetic kiss to your lips. It was a gentle touch, a silent plea for understanding. The tension gives way to a bittersweet mixture of longing and forgiveness.

Sebastian pulled away, his eyes locked with yours. "Can I have this next dance right here?" he asked, his voice low and earnest. “Well, what I am assuming is another dance.” He adds, half chuckling.”’S’hard to tell, with the way this orchestra plays.”

You looked at him in shock and confusion. “Right here? In the corridor?”

“Of course.” he replied softly, tucking a strand of hand behind your ear. He sighs as you slowly return his smile and nods. Sebastian took your hand in his, his touch warm and reassuring. With his other hand on your waist, he guided you into a simple dance. “Wait I-” you attempt to not trip. “I’m not a very good dancer.” You try to explain shyly, but he just chuckles.

“Then here,”Sebastian smiled and gently pulled you feet to stand on top of his.”Now you don’t have to worry about it, and I don’t have to bend so far down to do this.” He pecks your lips softly once again

The two of you swayed together in the corridor, the torchlight casting a warm glow on your faces. Sebastian held you close, foreheads pressed together. The world outside the corridor ceased to exist, and for a moment, it was just the two of you, caught in the quiet magic of the dance.

“Sebastian,” You whisper, breaking the uncertain silence. “Why did you wait so long to ask?” 

"I didn't want to ruin our friendship," Sebastian admitted, his voice barely a whisper. "I was scared, Y/N. Scared that if I asked you to the ball or to even hogsmeade for a drink alone, it would change everything."

“But not asking me changed everything too," You replied, your voice a mixture of sadness and understanding. "We've been avoiding this for too long, Seb."

He nodded, his grip on your waist tightening softly. "I know. I just... I didn't want to risk losing you."

You sighed, resting your head against his shoulder. "You won't lose me, Sebastian. After everything we have been through, you think asking me to a dance would ruin it? I care about you too much for that."

Sebastian smiled, relief washing over him. "I care about you too, Y/N. More than I've been willing to admit."

As the two of you continued to dance, the tension between you slowly dissipated. Your hand found its way to Sebastian's shoulder, and you continued to softly sway together. "So, what happens next?" you finally asked, your voice a gentle curiosity.

Sebastian's eyes sparkled with mischief as he looked down at you. "Well," he began, his tone teasing, "first, we'll pack our bags, run away together, and have grand adventures across the world. Then, we'll get married in a magical ceremony under the stars, surrounded by unicorns and enchanted flowers."

You rolled your eyes playfully, a small smile tugging at your lips. "Oh, really? Unicorns and enchanted flowers?"

Sebastian chuckled, pulling you even closer. "Absolutely. And we'll spend our days exploring hidden corners of the world, having thrilling escapades, and, of course, dancing in torchlit corridors."

“Oh really?,” You couldn't help but laugh at the whimsical picture he painted. "You have quite the imagination, Sebastian Sallow."

He grinned, his eyes filled with warmth. "Well, I figure if we're going to dream, we might as well dream big. But if that's too much, I guess we can start with the basics, like you being my girlfriend."

You smiled."Now that sounds more realistic."

"For now... Future Mrs. Sebastian Sallow." He teases, pecking your lips once more.

“What have I allowed to happen?” You giggle, pressing your forehead to his once again.

He laughed, the sound echoing in the corridor and causing your heart to skip a beat. "Just planting the seed for the future, darling. You know, for when you can't resist my charm any longer."

You shook your head, a playful glint in her eyes. "We'll see about that, Mr. Sallow."

“I can’t wait.”

[woofs-silly-ships]

Oh boy, it’s that time again

(Haven’t done it much here but when a big piece of media comes out, you usually get a hyperfixated ramble post right after I finish it and a deep dive a day later. This is the deep dive lol)

Warnings: discussion of abuse and neglect, solitary confinement, and ptsd/childhood trauma. And ofc spoilers for WOTFI 2024 and just smg4 in general

Oh yeah and since I’m tagging this as selfship, the selfship stuff is at the bottom of yall want to just skip to that lol

I think I need to preface this by saying I still loved literally all of the WOTFI besides the ending. The song was freaking awesome (I’ll get into that later), the challenges were perfect, the clown designs for the main cast were amazing, etc. I’m just trying to get the negativity out first lol

But yeah ok, gotta get the elephant in the room out of the way first: what the trio chose to do with Puzzles was absolutely awful.

I was mostly shocked that Meggy seemed just totally ok with it considering SHE JUST SAW FIRSTHAND HOW ABUSED PUZZLES WAS??? She literally met his child self and saw how weary he was, how he flinched away from her touch like those are clear signs of abuse and it seems like Meggy should’ve known that

So why the frick didn’t she object? Mario is always doing stupid crap so that makes sense, but you would think Meggy or even SMG4 would do something???

But why is it abuse, you ask? Well, Puzzles has one major issue, and that’s that he has no friends. And then Meggy became friends with his child self, therefore logically setting him on the path to redemption. But obviously Puzzles has done some awful crap and should’ve been punished in some way, maybe something like having to stay exclusively in the showgrounds for a while until he shows improvement, with the gang there to support him (just came up with that off the top of my head lol). But you know what they decided was the best possible punishment for this man? Solitary freaking confinement. The punishment notorious for literally causing prisoners to go insane due to lack of interaction. And you just had to give that specific punishment to a man WHO LOST HIS FREAKING MIND AS A CHILD DUE TO LACK OF INTERACTION?? DO YALL SEE THE PROBLEM WITH THIS???

I’m not even mad that they did that, obviously it’s wrong but these are fictional characters making that decision, and characters can be misguided. You can have characters that literally violate everything on a basic dni list or something, characters can be evil. My issue is when it is glorified or romanticized. And that’s pretty much exactly what they’re doing here

Another line that came out of Meggy’s mouth that really hurt me was when she said that maybe he’d get better in there, stop being so obsessed with ratings…. is she stupid? The whole reason why this all started is because Puzzles was an abused child with no friends who basically hyperfixated on wanting to fulfill his dream of running a park (and later tv production as well) but was shut down by his father and isolated himself with a tv all day. Meggy had just managed to heal his inner child and see the good in him. And then they act like finally giving him what he needs to heal and then VIOLENTLY RIPPING IT AWAY FROM HIM AND LOCKING HIM IN A ROOM (MIGHT I ADD, LIKE HE DID AS A CHILD DUE TO TRUAMA, THERE IS NO WAY THIS ISNT BRINGING UP SOME GENUINE PTSD FROM HIM) IS GOING TO JUST MAGICALLY FIX HIM??? NO! AND THERE IS ZERO INDICATION IN THE MOVIE, NOT EVEN A HINT, THAT THE TRIO MIGHT BE IN THE WRONG.

I’m sorry, but this is abuse and also extreme neglect of what Puzzles needed to change.

And also, Puzzles being a villain doesn’t make any of this ok. Didn’t we already learn that with SMG3?? Villains that have clear issues like this can be reformed over time, it just takes work. But no, apparently they’re not gonna do that

Genuinely speaking: if they wanted betrayal via Mario, they should’ve had him just straight up kill Puzzles or something right then and there. Or keep the original story but have the others seem horrified of what Mario did.

Also that scene really should’ve been given more time to breathe, I know this is the haha funny Mario spaghetti show but that doesn’t excuse going from villain being likely reformed to villain being arrested and the park exploding in a matter of 5 god dang seconds. Sure that would’ve been funny if this was some random side character or minor reoccurring villain, but this was literally the man behind 3-4 arcs and the star of 2 more, and a clear fan favorite character. Even if he wasn’t gonna die, they should’ve treated it like Axol or One Shot Wren, where both the audience and characters are given time to mourn and see what was happening, see character reactions, all of that. Even a stupid line from a couple of the police officers would’ve worked perfectly. Just time to process what the frick just happened.

My only other issue besides, well, all that lmao, is that the actual movie was just nothing like the trailer, like there were scenes exclusively in the trailer and that felt really weird to me

Ok, negativity out of the way now :D

The song!!! I was kinda hoping for a rap but yeah this fit way better lol, haven’t seen anybody talk about it but the puzzles design with just the head and hands is freaking epic omgggg

Also I loved how the parts sung by the trio are kinda more akin to children’s movie songs (describing exactly what’s happening on screen, the sad “I know there’s good in you” part, etc) and then Puzzle’s parts are just hahaha I’m gonna freaking turn your corpses into gushing mounds of blood-

Also GGRRRR I WANT TO DRAW THE CLOWN DESIGNS SO BADDDD!!! THEYRE SO DANG COOL!!!

And also UGHHH THE MERCHHH I WANT IT SO BAD BUT IM B R O K E 😭

The challenges were also really fitting, didn’t see any users I recognized but those that got in were perfect

And no SMG34 fuel sadly :(, eh can’t always get the gay old men lol, maybe next time

And yeah this is my selfship blog so gotta let a few of the demons out:

THE FREAKING FACE HE MADE BEFORE ALL HELL BROKE LOOSE!! IGNORING WHAT HAPPEN AFTER HE WAS SO GOD DANG CUTE AND I JUST WANTED TO HUG HIM AND CUDDLE HIM GRGGRGRGR HES SO DANG SILLY-

Anddd that’s about it! This post will probably get like, 2 notes but who tf cares!! I just needed to ramble a lot lol

[chillicoded]

Lando Norris is NOT an underdog.

This is NOT Lando hate. I don't endorse or tolerate hate towards ANY driver. This is just an opinion.

I had a conversation with somebody on Bumble about the Norris/Verstappen championship battle this season. I was for Verstappen, he was for Norris - no problem whatsoever in itself. After Max's absolute dominance last season, I really can't blame anyone for being bored of Max winning and wanting to see a new driver succeeding. But what Got My Goat is that he said the reason he wants Lando to win the WDC is because "he's an underdog". I sent a (pretty lengthy) message back on why I really don't think Lando qualifies as an underdog, and he never got back to me to defend his position. Maybe I scared him off, or maybe he just wasn't on Bumble to debate the nuances of what it means to be an underdog. Either way, I figured the topic would make a good first opinion post because I'm more likely to get a discussion out of it here, plus I have extra thoughts to add.

To me, an underdog is somebody who is disadvantaged because of the external resources available to them, in comparison to those they are competing against. For an F1 driver, that's the car, the team, the strategy, the experience they have in F1, the track (not just condition, but whether or not it suits their car) and momentary bursts of luck, among countless other variables. A good "underdog coming out on top" narrative comes from a person or character (in this case a driver) performing well or succeeding despite lacking the ideal resources to do so.

It's important to note that I don't think skill counts as an external resource. I also think skill is hard to measure. I personally would measure it in terms of results, consistency and versatility, but even within that, I feel like you need to take all of the external factors into account. For example, DNFing or dropping way back because of a collision, bad luck with the car or a botched pit stop would make a dent in a driver's consistency and results, but it doesn't mean they're less skilled.

Underdog narratives do exist in F1. The Alpine double podium in Brazil was a great underdog narrative. The Alpine car is hardly competitive most of the time. At the start of the season it was an absolute tractor. I don't know enough about the team, strategies, pit stops, etc. to comment on those, but regardless, I don't think anyone was expecting a double podium from them this season because Alpine just hasn't been competing at the front of the field. Yet, despite all that, both drivers finished on the podium and scored mad points in easily the most unpredictable race of the season.

Franco Colapinto performing well and scoring points, despite being dumped into Williams mid-season with a firmly midfield car and no experience, is also an underdog narrative. He's far outperformed Logan Sargeant already and has been battling with some of the most experienced drivers on the grid, and coming out on top. I don't think anyone was expecting all this from him when he was first brought into F1. Personally I saw a lot of people saying that they were booting out one underprepared F2 driver, and replacing him with another underprepared F2 driver. I was part of that crowd too. Sorry Franco. I was not familiar with your game.

Even Carlos Sainz's win at Singapore last year could be considered an underdog narrative. Sure, he started on pole and he's an experienced driver, but everyone was an underdog compared to Red Bull (mainly Max) last year, and Ferrari didn't have a great car or great strategies. He did have the luck of Max being practically out of sight, having been outqualified by Liam Lawson in an AlphaTauri (another great underdog moment, by the way), but it still takes skill to keep the lead, and his strategic use of Lando goes to show that even further than just the win itself.

These are just a few recent examples. Think about them. Seriously deep them. Revel in how they make you feel.

Now think about Lando's performance this season.

His first win in Miami was great. At the time, I was still a hardcore Lando supporter and I was absolutely thrilled. A few laps before the end of the race, when it became apparent that he was almost definitely going to win, I was already celebrating for him. It had been a long time coming and it was amazing to see him realising the potential I knew he and McLaren had. He's won twice more this season so far, and both times he was ahead by a country mile at the chequered flag. Aside from that first ever win, though, his other impressive performances this year haven't quite evoked the same emotion as my previous examples. That sense that he's overcoming disadvantages and delivering even when the odds are stacked against him just isn't there for me. Why is that?

There's no denying that he's a skilled driver. Three wins in a season with 7 different race winners (6 of whom have won multiple races) isn't too bad at all. He's also been relatively consistent throughout the year, never finishing a race outside the points. He's even been able to adapt to a range of tracks and weather conditions. For example, he finished P6 after the rain and chaos of Brazil, which threw off even some of the other skilled drivers mentioned above like Sainz and Colapinto.

But we're not here to discuss whether or not he's skilled. We're here to discuss whether or not he's an underdog.

Honestly, did you even read the title?

Anyway. Skill doesn't make someone an underdog. I established that earlier. If skill makes someone an underdog, Max Verstappen is probably the underest dog on the current grid, and that's obviously not the case. We need to look into those external factors I mentioned above: things like car, strategy, luck and experience, in comparison to what other drivers have had to work with this year. The less he has, the more of an underdog it makes him.

First and foremost, McLaren's strategies this year have been pretty abysmal. The terrible calls made in instances like the Hungarian Grand Prix and the lack of calls made in instances like Monza lap one have been enough to make me stop supporting McLaren as a team altogether. They insisted that they weren't prioritising the drivers' championship, but with the constructors' practically secured, I honestly find that hard to believe. If it is true, they've been doing a disservice to both drivers: to Lando by not giving proper attention to his very real championship chances, and to Oscar by ordering him to give up positions for Lando and act as a second driver at certain points, apparently for no real reason. Overall, McLaren's strategies have been in Lando's favour at times, but they've rarely been good. It's hard for me to compare McLaren's strategy calls to other teams, though, simply because I don't know enough about other teams' strategy calls. Maybe all the teams have been equally rubbish with strategy this year, so it technically hasn't been putting Lando at a disadvantage. I wouldn't know. If you have any insight on this, let me know and I might make a second, more definitive post about this.

As for luck, Lando has had bouts of both good luck and bad luck so far this year. He had some good luck in Miami, ultimately facilitating his first win, and he had some hard luck in Austria with his collision with Verstappen and Baku with qualifying. I'm not at all suggesting that Lando didn't deserve his first win (honestly, I don't believe that "deserving" matters in this sport at all), but I don't think he would've won that first race without the luck of the safety car, and I'm not sure he would've performed as well as he has without the confidence boost from that first win. With the car he's had this season (and I'll talk about that next), it would've come eventually, but I really do think that momentary burst of luck has been a really important factor in shaping this season for Lando. It has definitely had more of an effect than his moments of poor luck. I think few other lucky instances have had as much of an effect for a team or driver, except maybe Alpine's performance in Brazil.

His car has been a seriously influential factor, too. Of course, no driver's success is all because of the car; the driver and the car always go hand in hand. A less skilled driver can't properly handle a good car (see Pérez) and even a good driver can rarely drag performance that isn't there out of a tractor (see Bottas at Sauber). But, like his luck, the MCL38 has massively facilitated Lando's ability to perform this year. It's a car that has been capable of winning races by over twenty seconds, creating final laps that are reminiscent of Max's dominance last season. That alone begs the question, why has Lando not been performing consistently at that level? Where exactly does the balance of success lie between Lando and his car?

It's definitely worth taking into consideration that top teams this year have certainly given Lando a lot of competition to deal with this year. Even with a dominant car, with around six other drivers able to put up a fight against Lando, he's not in as dominant a position as Max was last year. But there is a difference in skill in certain areas, and it shows in moments like Lando's first lap bottles from pole compared to Max's perfect starts last year, for example. Lando is just not as polished a driver as some of his competitors, and that is something that naturally comes with more experience.

It's hard to say Lando lacks experience, though. 2024 is his fifth season in F1. He's not always had a great car, but now that he does have one, it's clear to see that he knows how to handle it decently well. Compared to Oscar Piastri, though, it doesn't look like his experience is giving him the competitive edge you'd expect. With four years of experience over his teammate, you'd think Lando would be performing at a much higher level, but that just isn't the case. As a quick example, Oscar's average finishing position this season is 4.9. Lando's is only 0.8 higher at 4.1. With that difference in experience, you'd expect a much higher gap in performance... or at least I would. Maybe I'm wrong for that. Let me know.

Overall, I really don't think Lando is at any kind of serious disadvantage that would make it fair to call him an underdog. He has issues thanks to McLaren's strategic blunders, sure, but the rest of his problems are pretty much skill issues. Call me back with the notion of an "underdog narrative" when Ollie Bearman is in the championship fight in a Haas next year.

[copperbadge]

Coworker and I were discussing good & bad cat names at lunch the other day. Coworker said her cat was named Oscar because she prefers human names for pets. Her sister's family had cats named Oreo & Gumdrop, but she wasn't fond of food names for cats. I mentioned that I knew someone online who had cats named Dearborn & Polk, and I thought you should know that Very Judgmental About Pets' Names Coworker thought they were adorable names.

Also I had to go back 4 pages on your blog before I saw a picture of the Cryptids, which I think you'll agree is a travesty, so I hope my ask will inspire you to post another one.

Aw, tell coworker my belated thanks! I'm trying to think of whether we usually had people names for our cats when I was a kid...there were Muffy and Chester, both people names although I've never met a Muffy in real life, and then Caesar, who was famously a person, and then Raindrop and Tiger (guess which cats were the first that us kids got to name).

I had a couple of names I was considering -- I've always liked Buster as a name for a cat -- but once I hit upon Dearborn and Polk I knew that was what they would be called.

I'm trying to add more pets into the Shivadhverse, so Simon has two cats who are named Desolee and Erreur, which is French for "sorry" and "mistake". :D

And to satisfy part two of the ask:

[ID: A close-up photograph of Polk the tabby, just her head and shoulders; she is lying mostly asleep on the duvet, with her front paws tucked up underneath my discarded pajamas. Her little beans do get cold.]

[emotionallyattachednerd]

Atoms Love ❙ TP Ratchet x f!robot reader ❙ NSFW 18+

Word count: 3000+ 😅

Warnings: Smut ( Touching, teasing and spike in valve ). NSFW 18+.

Notes: Been wanting to do one of Ratchet for a while now and was so thrilled to get this finished. I did change the title from the previews I had posted, I just felt this was more suited. Thanks anon for sending in this beauty, I had lots of fun with it. Sorry for the wait.

I'd like to add that when reader use to be Rachet's student she was of age, not underage. Just a simple rule that teachers shouldn't be involed with their students like in our world with collage/university. That's all. Hope you're all enjoy the sexy medic. 🥰

Your arrival on earth is greeted with a warm welcome from team prime. For so long you've been travelling planet to planet, searching for friends and perhaps a place to call home. While you didn't mind the ongoing travel at first, you were eager to settle for good. Earth was your next stop and you felt pretty lucky to find Optimus Prime and his team, but what got you even more excited was that Ratchet was there, your former teacher back on Cybertron way before the war started.

Through the coms of your ship you can hear the ecstasy from Ratchet, and you can't hold back your beaming smile hearing your favourite medic again after so long. Earth is to be your home now, that's what you decided. Sure, decepticons might've been hanging around but you could handle it. Your skills as a medic and through tinkering science will prove to be useful, all thanks to Ratchet who has taught everything he knew.

It's good to have Arcee around, you thought, so you weren't the only femme around, and she admitted that it's good to have another femme to join team prime. She is pretty cool, you thought, and such a skilled warrior. You two were going to get along.

The others were great as well, you even met these interesting humans they had around. Optimus expressed his appreciation to have you join them, and also added that Ratchet hadn't stopped talking about you since the comlink transmission. At first you were flattered, but hearing Ratchet fluster so quickly, struggling to explain himself did make your cheek plating heat up a little trying to hide your smile.

The moment was over, but Ratchet and you did spend a lot of time together, mostly talking about science and even doing small experiments of your own just for fun. The others saw all this but they didn't dare to say anything or interfere. Apparently Ratchet was pretty quick with his wrench if someone was to disturb him.

It's been a few weeks now since your arrival and it was going well. You feel settled and are surrounded by others who are almost like a family. You find yourself with Ratchet again, of course, you do spend a lot of time with him. Later that evening, you are both currently doing some tinkering and small experiments to pass the time together, measuring the right formulas and discussing the old times back on Cybertron.

"Oh but I'm serious. Out of all my students, you were one of the best. Someone with your intelligence deserved to be in the higher ranked classes, and I argued with those lug nuts in the higher grounds, but they didn't see what I saw." Ratchet goes on to say as you listen in.

"Well, it's a good thing that didn't happen, because I would've missed my favourite teacher. I only learned from the best, and it's because of you that I ended up here."

"Me? No, I'm sure there are other reasons." He tries to brush himself off but you shake your helm.

"There was much I believed from you, and I admired you, I still do, and I'm grateful I had a good teacher like you to help guide me through my younger learning time."

Meeting his gaze you saw him staring at you fondly as you return the same stare before he forces himself to break that small trance you thought you felt happening. It was quiet before you heard him vent out heavily and place his tinkering on the bench.

"May I make a confession to you, y/n?" His tone is deep, as if he's still wondering if he should keep talking to you about whatever is going on in his processor. "Just promise not to laugh."

"Of course you can. I've never made fun of you before, and I don't plan on it." You'll listen to him and hear what he has to say.

"Well, when you were my student, I did say a number of times how much I admired you and praised your skills, but what I never told you was that I admired you...affectionately."

This makes you stop what you're doing. He now had your full attention. "Putting it simple, you had a crush on me?"

Ratchet lets out a light hearty laugh but it's not because of what you said, but because of what he was confessing to you after all this time. "Yeah, that's putting it simple." Another vent leaves him, optics cast against the bench as he fiddles with the tinkers to try and avoid your own optics. You wonder if he is ashamed or embarrassed, but you want him to know that he doesn't need to be.

"How come you didn't say anything before?" You already knew the answer to that.

"Because I was your teacher and you were my student, it wouldn't have been right. You would've been kicked out and I would've been demoted from my position. So, I locked away those affections, and continued to be your teacher."

"That sounds sad. Doesn't sound like you wanted to do that, and you are making yourself sound like you haven't been happy for a long time."

"Oh I've been...content." He didn't sound very convincing to you. "Don't you worry, y/n. I might be older but that doesn't mean I haven't been happy. Regrets, yes, but that's only natural for anyone. I'm just pleased that you're here now, that's all that matters."

If only you knew, perhaps things might've been different.

To move on from it he tries to focus on his tinkering as you look down at your own a little, pondering your thoughts. Well, he did it first, you are only going to add more to this with no way out.

"I have a confession." He hears this from you as he locks his optics with your own. "When I was your student, I was...enamoured by you." You decide to use the fancy words like he does and look at the gadget in your servos a little, turning it for a better look and giving Ratchet the moment he needed to let this progress in him.

"You? I-I mean...you?" His confusion makes you feel a little amused. "How come you said nothing?"

"I was your student and you were my teacher, it would not have been right." You answer the same as his own. "Also, I did express my feelings, just not verbally."

"Well, you're going to have to explain that one to me, because I don't recall anything that gave me any signals that you felt like this towards me." He sounded a little miffed but not in a bad way, mostly with himself you think for not noticing.

"Those blue energon roses. One was left at your work station every week. They're hard to grow and need the right formulas for them to flourish which I did every week and presented to you. I never said they were from me but I watched from afar. You admired them."

"You?" He lays everything on the bench and leans himself against it as if his knees were growing weak. "Those were from you?"

"I learned from the best." You give a dainty smile. "You taught me how to grow them, and I wanted to express my gratitude and...affections, without either of us getting in trouble."

Perhaps if you both confessed your feelings for one another during those times, things might've been different. Sure, you might've been kicked out and he would've lost his position, but at least you would've had each other, right? That's the childish dream you had while being his student but you got over it, at least that's what you kept telling yourself.

"So, you felt the same way about me?" Ratchet wants to clarify once more from you. "Do those feelings still persist?"

"I did." You confirm. "And they do."

Its then you notice you're both holding a deep rooted stare. Blue optic illuminating together in a stronghold, one and the other silently screaming for the other to do or say something, quickly, before it escapes. Ratchet catches it just in time.

"What's stopping us now?"

"Nothing."

It all happens abruptly, one moment you and Ratchet were tinkering away with experiments and the next, you find yourself in his private quarters. There's a growing fever as you run your servos across his chassis, up over his shoulder pads as you feel his own servos smooth over your waist. His warm lips are across your own in a deep, slow passion, his glossa coils with your own while you welcome his touches and kisses through pure ecstasy and eagerness.

Ratchet calmly leads you towards his berth where he sits himself and you straddle his lap as you keep the kiss hot and lasting between you both. It's him that eventually breaks the kiss, touching your helms together as your heated vents hit against each other.

"Would you like to try out a new experiment?"

"I thought we already were." You can't help but giggle faintly, regarding the humid moment you are both currently sharing.

"Think of it as an add on to our current one."

"Why not? Tinkering with experiments is kind of our thing."

Ratchet lets out a light chuckle that you grew to love so rapidly.

"Turn around, and settle in my lap again."

Following his gentle command you do that, sitting back down and pressing your back against his chassis as you feel his servos calmly move across your waist, cascading down over your hips and across your thighs, letting them linger there while he feels you under his touch. You let out a placid vent, feeling relaxed and a small boiling of desire creeping its way through your frame. He then touches his wrist and you catch onto a device being activated in front of your both.

"A hologram mirror?" You smile warmly in amusement. "Is there a reason that it's set up right in front of your berth?"

"Perhaps I like to admire myself." There's a hint of playfulness in his voice making you giggle faintly in return.

"Well, you're quite the sight."

"You're a better looking sight."

Ratchet turns your helm a little so he can kiss you gently before resuming his actions, servos ghostly running on top of your tights and inwards, close to your warm panel. His chin rests against your shoulder as he looks at the mirror, as you lock your optics on it as well, watching what he is doing to you. To see everything is very arousing for you both.

You spread your legs to give him more access, hanging over each of his as you settle comfortably in his lap and rest yourself back against him, letting out silent heated vents that slowly boil more within you. Your waist wiggles, rubbing softly against Ratchet's panel causing him to let out a silky moan.

"Let's have a look at you. Retract your panel, please."

Without any pause you do this, revealing your already soaked valve for you both to see through the mirror. You can feel Ratchet quiver against your back as he stares, servos moving even closer to your valve.

"Stunning." He whispers into your audio. It's your turn to moan when he touches a digit against your moist lips and delicate node, exploring and teasing you for his own pleasure.

You watch as he uses a second digit to open your lips to explore you more, and uses another with his other servo to gently push into your valve. Instantly you clench around to invading digit, a feathered moan lingering from your vocals. You can't help but rock your hips gently, both of you watching as he plays with you. "Ratchet." His name sighs from you while your servos rest against both his thighs.

"You're a rare beauty, y/n. You were always my favourite student." His charming words causes you to smile shyly.

"As you were my favourite teacher." Next, you got cocky. "Is this what you always wanted to do to me?"

Ratchet is quiet, optics staring at what he's doing while playing with your valve, digit pumping into you slowly. His response is by adding a second digit to join the first, and his other servo circles around your node, causing you to gasp and back arch, feeling the new buzz suddenly electrocute through your frame.

"This, and much more."

You weep softly through the burning lust that drifts across your entire frame, hips swaying in sync with his servos and digits against your valve before moving your servo up to touch the side of Ratchet's face as a way to hold on and keep him close as possible. Your optics never leave the mirror, fascinated by the sight of yourself and Ratchet's skillful servos on you, knowing very well that he'll more than likely want to try out other things in the future. After all, nothing is holding either of you back anymore.

You hear a faint click and you see his throbbing spike emerge from it's housing between your legs. His girth size was rather impressive, thick and throbbing, canvas up perfectly as small drops of trans fluid leaks from his tip and runs down his length.

He catches you from the mirror staring at his spike making him chuckle lightly. "I'm not that impressive."

"Liar." You comment back before gently wrapping you servo around his spike, hearing him letting out a hitched vent at your warm touch as his optics shuttered a little. "You're beyond impressive. You're phenomenal." It's your turn to moan again as he rewards you with a third digit in your soaking valve.

"You're too kind to this old timer."

"You're my old timer." You notice his expression change a little, as if he is touched by your words before giving you a soft beam against your shoulder.

Your servo slowly starts to pump at his spike, feeling every ridge along the base and every twitch given from him, digit rubbing at his tip and back down to moist him all over. You kind of feel like you're going to need it. His servos are kept on your valve, digits pumping into your stretched depths while rubbing still slow at your node. He doesn't want you overloading just yet. With all this happening both your moans and heated vents surround you both, growing more hotter and eager for more.

"Ratchet, please, I need you inside me."

"Stand up." It seems you both have the same thoughts. Once his digits are gone from you, you stand up on weak legs just a little. Slowly, you lower yourself back down, watching the mirror as Ratchet holds himself in position before finding your mark.

Your mouth hangs open a little while watching yourself sink down onto his spike, taking his thick girth inch at a time while tossing your helm back against Ratchet's shoulder. You can hear his tense grunts as you clamp around him tightly, and let yourself sink fully into his lap again.

"Y/n..." He says your name, almost sounding desperate, like he was begging for something from you.

"Ratchet." You return the same as you give yourself a moment to adjust. "You feel so good."

Carefully, you start to move yourself, watching from the mirror as you see yourself moving along his spike entering your valve over again. His servo wraps around your front and comes to your node again, rubbing at you as he has a firm hold at your hip as you ride him. You're obsessed with the sight, and you know already you're going to want to use the hologram mirror again for yourselves.

Letting out heavy moans you grind down against Ratchet causing him to let out a surprised moan himself, holding a tighter hold as he presses his lips into your neck, glancing at the mirror whenever possible. You hold onto him as you ride his spike, letting out more blissful sounds that slowly grow more.

"Oh frag!" You curse out much louder, unable to hold it in.

"Such language doesn't suit you." Ratchet can't help himself, causing you to give a giggle through your moans.

"Then what suits me?"

"This."

He grabs hold of you tightly and thrusts his hips up against your movements at a rapid pace, causing you to let out a mewl. Looking at the mirror you are obsessed with the sight of you sitting against him, riding his spike, as he thrusts into you, causing the berth to start creaking under your harsh movements.

"Touch yourself."

You do that, using a free servo to bring down to yourself as you rub your node, digits skipping across the base of his moist spike as he enters you over again. Your thighs are spread wide, hanging across his own legs as you hump against his movements and moving in sync together. At this rate, you know you won't last too much longer.

Ratchet seems to read your mind. "Go on darling. Overload with me. Let yourself go."

That is all you needed to hear. Letting out a loud lingering mewl you fall apart and overload hard, watching yourself as your juices pool around the spike and under the both of you against the berth.

His heated vents against your shoulder turn into grunts before he lets out a harsher gnarl and you feel his warm trans fluids soak your depths. hips stilling, keeping inside you as you both sag against one another and the berth. With your optics still cascading at the mirror you are enjoying the sight while letting yourself vent and cool off as he did the same.

"That experiment was fun." You say through a giddy smile.

"Fun indeed. I have more ideas and experiments for us to try out for the future." The very thought makes you hum in delight.

"I look forward to all of them." You gently remove yourself from his spike and turn around, straddling him again and giving him a tender and loving kiss.

He kisses you back just as tenderly before your helms rest together.

"You think you can handle this old grumpy fool?"

"Absolutely." You answer while caressing his cheek plating.

"Fantastic."

There is nothing stopping either of you now.

Also, just to share because I can, this is the position that they had going. Let that invade your mind and consume your thoughts. 😍

[serasarascreams]

Might as well add more thoughts into the mix. I was going to do it in the tags of the last post but it felt long enough. The last set of tags was a perspective I don't think I've seen yet, but then again I haven't been here too long. I think they're right in idea that the theme of responsibility doesn't just extend to Curly and Jimmy and that the game itself is a showcase of how all the little things add up and create the bigger issues alongside the certain major steps that were taken. They (aka @son-of-crows-and-rats) put it in much better terms than I did.

I was so focused on the main plot of the game a lot of other things went over my head, and while some things hit me later I'm sure there are more things like the person (and multiple others) pointed out that I'll catch here or again have it hit me later. Fuck Jimmy is the initial reaction I had at the end of the game, screaming disappointment in Curly came next, and the bleakness and awfulness of the events continue to seep through whenever I think about it.

I'm also very much on board with the statement that Curly did not deserve what happened to him and it's kinda messed up to say. Him getting deep fried, for lack of a better term, is another major consequence of him and Jimmy's actions (or inaction in Curly's case) while Anya is another. It's just a consequence that effects him directly now and I think that's a parallel to the way Anya was directly affected by Curly and Jimmy's actions. Neither Anya or Curly deserved the pain inflicted upon them, deserved to be forced to continue to live with it and all the suffering that followed, or deserved to have their autonomy ripped away from them.

Curly is not a trash human being, but I don't think I can call him a good man either. Good natured maybe, but not the best guy. The painful irony of his situation hits harder after the final conversation with Anya. His eye is always open, it's too painful to move, he can't speak. He can only watch and listen. There's no way for him to take responsibility anymore even if he desperately wants to. I think what's worse for him is that he got to live after seeing the monster beneath the skin of his friend destroy everyone and everything around him. I saw someone else say that when he froze the day of the crash it was a moment of "you were everything I feared you were" and I think that just adds an extra layer of awful to it. Curly could have been better, and if he gets rescued and lives, I like to think he will be. But I wonder if in the back of his mind it'll always eat at him that it wasn't when it mattered.

Sorry, that this partially ended up turning into a Curly post. It's just that he seems to be talked about the most. That's fair. He, Anya, and Jimmy are the ones who push the initial topic of discussion to the surface because it's there front an center.

I'll probably have more to say the more realizations dawn and the more I scroll through the tag. This is the first game in a long time that made me cry and the only horror game to really mess me up. Funny enough, it's because Curly scares me more than Jimmy.

I love this game and all the infuriating and saddening elements within and around it. I love and hate how human all these characters are. If Wrong Organ ever makes another game in the future, I'll be running to check it out.

[is-the-owl-video-cute]

Saw your Neil Gaiman post and as someone that found comfort in Good Omens (and got hyperfixated on it), I'm finally glad that some people are finally talking about how he isn't that great.

Even as a Fan, GOmens fandom is so...weird. See, in other fandoms people won't give much of a flying f/ck about the authors besides some mild respect or praise, but GOmens praise Neil SO HARD, despite giving off some iffy vibes (that now I understand why, after that big post) Never liked how almost every single POC character in GO has such a minimal role, same with women characters, the fact he's been caught (and that can be easily checked) lying about his ideas surrounding GOmens, the way he went from "Is not a romance, but it can be if you want to" -> "i always wrote it as a love story" also how he went from "There won't be another season because of Terry and because the ideas for the next book were incorporated in the show" -> "It was in 2019 when I finished writing S2 with the ideas I discussed with Terry before he died" and like seriously no one never noticed how much of a clown he his lying and backpedalling all over again again? Then there's how bad rep for fat people Sandman was and instead of accepting criticism he just keeps giving some "vague intelligent answer" and sits and waits for his legion of fans with a parasocial relationship to defend him. But somehow he's treated as a world treasure and a genius with a big brain. And this is less problematic and more petty but I'll be honest. He isn't that much of a good writer anyway? The prose is okay is good, but the worldbuilding and lore and characters is mostly edgy and lacks deepness. His fans seriously want to make a sea out of muddle puddles,,, and that's fair! Is such a big part of fan culture to dig into the smallests of things and make an universe out of a cardbox background character, but please, don't give Neil the credit that he doesn't deserve. And what proves more to me that he isn't that good of a writer, is just...take a look at that mess of a S2 of Good Omens, it was so bad that some people had to THEORIZE that it was bad on purpose. I have such a beef with S2, characters like Muriel, Saraqael and Michael and Maggie and Nina were so heavily promoted and of course everyone was hyped, finally more POC, more disabled characters, and yay, women! And they're lesbians! And and...and hold on, how it is that Muriel didn't do that much at all? How it is that Saraqael after being so hyped BARELY had almost nothing to do, is really that all the disabled rep we got? How is it that Michael and Uriel barely had anything to do and were just background characters again? It just angers me with how with so many fem-presenting characters, and POC and disabled persons cast, they literally add nothing to the series, AND NO ONE EVER TALKS ABOUT IT. Is just this endless praise for Neil and his oh big brain. All praise Neil Gaiman, our lord and saviour of queer people. HOW IT IS, THAT THE TWO LESBIANS HYPED ROMANCE WAS ALL RELATED TO AZIRAPHALE MEDDLING WITH THEM TRYING TO SHIP THEM? And it also was bad, very badly done, is really this the women representation we got, seriously??? Talking about misleading advertising.

S2 was such such a mess, it just shows how much Good Omens needed Terry to be, well, Good Omens. I really suspect Neil stole ideas from the fandom because S2 was just a trainwreck of all the fanfic tropes you could find in GO fandom and is almost disrespectful to Terry's work in Good Omens, and I don't care for how much Neil makes his friendship with Terry as a pity party and as a "it gives me so much joy, Terry would be so happy", because seriously it's almost manipulative. Talking about Manipulative. His meddling with fandom is starting to feel unprofessional, but this ask is already long... Sorry lmao, something on me snapped after getting finally the solid evidence that Neil .Is. Not. Great

Oh he’s always been completely unprofessional but since he types in a mixture of corporate-speak and “cool dad” talk his fanbase doesn’t notice.

Here’s the thing about Neil, he’s both petty and extremely insincere. People criticized lolicon sin his presence and he was so offended on the behalf of weirdos who pleasure themselves to Hentai depicting child molestation that he wrote a several paragraph long response dismissing simulated child pornography as simply being “icky speech” that should be protected by the sacred American constitution despite, you know, the fact he’s not even American so his weird obsession with the first amendment and only ever really bringing it up to defend simulated child porn is and always has been suspicious.

As for his backpedalling, the man sees $$$$ and just goes for anything he can find to make more. People love to say “oh but he donates tens of thousands to charity!” yeah, usually to HIS charity for bailing out pedophiles. With funds typically out of the wallets of his fans due to fundraising it rather than coming out of his own checkbook so it’s not exactly a charitable action as much as it’s an empty gesture. And frankly he almost certainly just does it for tax benefits if we’re going to be honest here. He continued good omens because it would make money and generate more attention towards him and he’d be the brave hero who brought back show that did well. That’s it.

He’s just discount, off-brand Elon. Rich white man who thinks he’s gods gift to man despite bumbling through even the most basic concepts because his fans would walk into traffic blindfolded to defend him from even the mildest of criticism.

People on here just like him because they’re starstruck that a creator of a popular IP is active on this site and because he produces media that’s adapted with white middle aged twinks who are dubiously romantically affiliated.

[anulithots]

Link click yapper here sorry but Im dying to know how many lasts/first did CXS forget/never got to experience again. Like I think that CXS did off himself in the flashback LG has when he got shot so I wonder what changed in that timeline for the ending to change (although the results were the same)

TW for discussions of CXS’s suicide

Oohhh so like what differences there was in this timeline from the last? The things CXS experienced the last time around that he won’t be able to experience in the current timeline for the sake of keeping him alive?

(I am in pain. Also note that plot theories are slightly out of my area of expertise - character and theme analysis - but I’ll try my best!)

Okay so this is partially inspired by @snowpoet123’s amazing fic - three time’s the charm - so I think that CXS doesn’t get to experience becoming close with Lu Guang in this timeline, and there MUST be some things he missed there. Not to say that Lu Guang and CXS aren’t as close in the current timeline because they are close in literally every timeline and every medium they are so queer for each other afjaskdfjasd. (I have a whole essay on the trust between them /exaggeration but not by much). So I imagine that CXS would miss a lot of those ‘firsts’ with Lu Guang like… idk what do normal freinds do… okay nevermind what would these two nuerodivergent sillies do… I imagine they would play a lot of basketball and just hang out before and after a lot before they did the whole ‘moving in together and being business partners thing’ (apologies for my pandering the headache is headaching today).

Like in the current timeline he ‘miraculously appeared in their lives’. So I imagine there would be lots of little misadventures - similar to the chibi shorts - before they trusted each other to such a degree. Paticularly in college and such… and I’ll have to see the yingdu arc to be sure but… hmm I imainge tihngs would be different there as well. And I don’t think it’s needs to be dramatic at all, like it would be wonderous if their first tiem around they are just.. there for each other.

I saw this one headcannon where CXS would speak for Lu Guang if Lu Guang didn’t know what to say (in social situations). And I think it would go both ways tbh. With Lu GUang doing things for CXS if CXS is upset (similar to post-ep 5)

… I feel like I’m not answering this right. mmm i’ll come back to this and add more thoughts… after I nap.

OKay what changed for the timeline to change -

If one goes with the ‘Lu Guang didn’t have powers in the first timeline and CXS passed them to Lu Guang when he died in Lu Guang’s arms (very queer of him)’ theory, then they wouldn’t have had their time travel business in the first timeline. Perhaps CXS went on his own through photos, and one can theorize whether he went back in time for the same purpose of getting information from the photos… because a part of me is like: ‘what if he tried to find his parents?’

But considering that CXS brought up the idea of the time travel business to Lu Guang, one can assume he came up with the idea first… and after sleeping my brain still isn’t working sooo I might come back to this.

But perhaps the time travel business originally was CXS diving into photos on his own, Qiao Ling getting clients, and CXS is still becoming friends with Lu Guang.

Without Lu Guang’s guidance, I do imagine CXS might mess around in time, and wouldn’t know the parameters of what can and can’t happen. ANd perhaps because he went back into time on his own, could not tell anyone and didn’t have much support for how emotionally draining the photos are…. perhaps then he dethatched from the world (See CXS post s1ep5) and did off himself because of that.

Lu Guang is horrified because at this point they’ve gotten very close, and he goes back in time to save him. Ta da ta da!

Thank you for the ask!

(My apologies if this is incoherent, I might write some more on this later!)

[ganondoodle]

Oh man I saw your totk issues post and I agree 100%!! Those are all things that have really bothered me about playing totk, and things that made playing it not nearly as fun (the dungeons, the shrines, the building, etc).

Especially the map!! When I tell you I was so disappointed by the maps on totk, I was hoping for something new! It really just feels like a modded botw, not an official sequel.

I was wondering what your thoughts are on the concept of “what if they had sent link to the past instead”? So the surface map would feature huge differences in the land forms and buildings that exist, and we’d get to see more ganon whenever he visits Hyrule, or go out to the desert to see Gerudo town, etc.

If they really wanted no sheika tech, they could also just have it being newly built? And you could introduce the new characters and such, etc etc.

(I also think the past champions are such a missed opportunity? If botw is about grief and loneliness, and finding hope in the hopeless, and Totk is about coming together despite that, it could have been really interesting if Link had gone to the past! They could have used the past setting as an eerie reminder to what Link and Zelda had lost when the Calamity struck!)

THAT BEING SAID: I’m not as familiar with the legend of Zelda lore, and haven’t played totk very much! I wanted to know your thoughts on this because you seem to have a lot of story and game mechanic knowledge that could explain why this could be a bad/good idea!

(Plus, your discussions are always super interesting to read, as is your custom totk lore, so I’d love to know what you think🩷)

I’m sorry if you’ve already answered an ask like this! If that’s the case, feel free to point that out and I’ll go through your ask tag if you have one:) I hope you have a great day!⭐️

Hi!

im glad you enjoy my rants, i often feel like im being overly mean but tbh were else could i just rant as much as my heart desires without getting spammed by annoying people (certainly not on twitter lol)

i have talked alot, and i mean ALOT, about totk and my issues with it, both lore and gameplay wise, i dont claim to be an expert on any, though i am an old zelda fan and aspiring gamedev, i really only talk about what i feel about it, what i think about it, and by all means im biased as hell xD

if you dont know yet, the "ganondoodles rants" tag is where all my rants go, so if you are interested in reading more on my totk thoughts thats the way to search (given tumblrs search in blog works ..)

and to answers your question, i have touched on it briefly, sending link back in time before the shiekah tech existed would have been an easy way to excuse how they jsut got .. rid of it, bc they didnt, it literally didnt exist yet- and for reusing the map- though that argument falls a little flat bc ... they coud have already done that in present totk, like i brought up in one of said rants, things like flooding gerudo desert, collapsing death mountain, drying out zoras domain etc, and changing the location of the main populations would have already done alot without having to redo the map in its entirety;

the little changes to map itself really wouldnt that big of a deal if they didnt also send you to the EXACT same locations AND repeat the SAME LOCATIONS AGAIN but in the underground, like thats a fact i have talked about multiple times bc its so illogical in every way, anywhere theres a settlement on the surface theres a bigger mine below, its so stupid, the shrines conenct to a lightroot, the same, again, you dont need to explore bc theres nothing TO explore (its also extra weird bc theres one below taburasa (tarrey town) which .... link literally build with dumsda (hudson) a few years ago .. unless that got retconned too idk wth do i know anymore honestly- AND it makes the sonau extra weird bc why the hell do they have a bigass mine under every settlement ESPECIALLY UNDER GERUDO TOWN like, that just adds to my suspicions towards them)

anyway, link to the past was the point and yes, it could have solved a few issues (mainly shiekah tech and the whole "story" taking place AGAIN in the past completely disconnected from you the player) i personally am not so much a fan of it, but that mostly comes down to me just not liking time travel, i dont like going back in time, i want to play and do things in the here and now, i want to repair the damages of the calamity, find out its origins, maybe fix that too, i love to learn about past stuff too, but that more in text, no literal flashback (unless done well), i want to connect to the past but it also holds alot of mystery that maybe shouldnt be touched upon, some mysteries and unkowns are much more interesting when left as such, i want to THINK about things and come to conclusions that are logical and makes sense in hindsight even if it wasnt clear at the start, i dont want information and what to think about it told to my face over and over like im stupid

after botw i really didnt care much about the past, maybe about the acient hero who alot of people specualted to be of gerudo origin due to its red hair- which also got a monkeys paw curled bc in totk they do sth with but its so stupid and insulting that i do not accept it as canon, say what they want, there are no dog people anywhere in the past nor present botw/totk wtf is that i hate it- and its not even .. why is that the reward for that, it has literally NOTHING TO DO WITH TOTK ITSELF I COULD YELLLL AAAARGH

main point is that really, i wanted to explore the past .. in the present, i hoped to find broken old shiekah structures, old labs and maybe some left over damage and records from when the old king persecuted the shiekah for their tech, i wanted to know where the ancient energy the shiekah used was coming from, what the boss arena in the middle of hyrule castle really was- so many things just discarded and acted like they never happened or mattered; i dont want to travel into the past, i want to discover whats left of it, piece it together, discover dark secrets you can ask no one about bc all that knew about it are long gone- thats what intrigued me about botw, it felt like there was so much left to discover only for totk to throw it all away and just do its own thing .. but not commit to that hard enough either so its neither its own thing nor a sequel-

.. that wasnt really what you wanted to know was it? xD sorry i tend to ramble on if someone seems to give me permission to

to sum it up, i think it COULD work, sending link to the past instead, if done well, but so could canon totk have been, it could have been done well but wasnt for reasons i dont know and tbh even fear bc i worry its sets a dark future ahead of zelda; i personalyl am just not a fan of time travel so i dont have that much to say to it :O

[policemanofprincesspark]

"I don't think he ever specified who the chicken parma ham was for, did he? If there's a clip out there of him trying to insinuate that it was for Eleanor, then that will truly have been a slip-up."

(this response got really long, sorry...)

I sent in the original anon about the chicken story and just wanted to say that I'd wager most non/anti-Larries assume Louis made the meal for Eleanor because those fans either don't know about or don't remember Harry's post about Louis' first meal and have no real reason to keep track of stuff like that as closely as Larries, so they probably don't even know there's a wonky timeline there - at least in terms of assuming it was for Eleanor. That's the reason I say, at least to a non-Larrie maybe researching Larry for the first time (which I was at the time), that story is one of the only genuine slip-ups in my opinion - maybe that's the wrong term for it. A lot of people also either don't know about or don't remember Hannah either.

Speaking of, I'd just like to point out that I got something wrong. Eleanor was first pictured with Louis in Sept 2011, him and Hannah apparently broke up around July 2011. So, unless you believe Hannah was some sort of early stunt - which has never really made sense to me to be honest but feel free to add your two cents on that - you could argue the chicken dish was for Hannah.

Actually, can I talk about Hannah for a hot minute? I know I just said her being a stunt doesn't make sense to me but she does have her own weird timeline discrepancy, at least in my opinion. According to the CosmicLeeds 2011 video - assuming most of their info is correct (and I believe there were screenshots of this shown) - Hannah once responded to a fan on Twitter saying that Louis and hers anniversary was March 18th but in January of 2011, she said they'd been together for 17 months which… okay, am I insane or does 17 months not add up no matter the timeline? If they got together in March 2010 as she seemed to imply, 17 months would've been August 2011. January 2011 would have been closer to 10 months, that's not even a year. Even if the dates are wrong and we assume they got together in March 2009, 17 months would still be in August 2010 and January 2011 would be about 22 months, closer to two years. I even got really weird about it and subtracted 17 months from January 2011 and that would've been August 2009, so unless she got confused and got the dates wrong or claimed the day they met or something else entirely was their anniversary, 17 months by January 2011 genuinely doesn't make sense to me. Maybe they first met March 2009 and their first date wasn't until August 2009?? Or perhaps their first date was March 2009 but they didn't make it exclusive until August 2009?? I'm just trying to be reasonable here, sorry. I suppose it doesn't matter much and maybe I'm just reading too much into it but it made my brain hurt for a good couple of hours one night. Oh hell, maybe she's just really bad at dates and math lol.

Sorry if that was confusing and weird, I'm gonna go hide in a corner now.

(it is nice to find a Larrie blog that seems open to discuss stuff like this though so thank you)

It's possible she was referring to when they'd first met or something. I don't think too much about Hannah. I don't think it matters whether she was a stunt. If she was, why did they get rid of her and give Louis a long-term beard? Why not just stick with Hannah? Sounds more like a situation where Louis broke up with her because he came to the conclusion that he was gay, and, after the G.A.Y. club incident, Simon saw it and that's when they brought in ol' Max Clifford to hook Louis up with Eleanor. On that subject, yes, Simon was upset that Louis had gotten too drunk, but... what did he specifically do that showed he was too drunk? Because watching those videos back, it doesn't look too worrying. Oh, wait:

Okay, so it's always been my theory that this picture did it. Simon saw that and flipped. It should be obvious why, but I never see anybody talk about it.

It looks like a scene out of a gay porno. Again, for obvious reasons that I shouldn't have to point out, lol.

This was about to be horrible for 1D's marketing. It was only 2011, and WMYB had just come out. Simon was not about to let Louis think it was okay to be gay openly, grabbing the hands of men in the crowd and posing with them shirtless like he was doing. Again, this was the very homophobic early 2010s, and as well 1D was marketed toward girls around 9-18 total, with the sweet spot being more around 12-16. They were just breaking into the US market. This. Was. Bad.

[flowervolcano]

Oh man… I just read Deadpool (2024) #6 and I GOT MUCH TO SAY. But I’m gonna keep this Taskpool centric, I might do an overall review on the full series later but there’s a few talking points specifically about Taskpool I’ve gotta say before I forget ‘em.

spoilers beyond the cut so DO NOT READ IF YA DON’T WANNA GET SPOILED!!!

At least I hope this works. It’s been a while since I’ve done this, I don’t usually even do review type thingys but I’m really hyped ^^

Let’s begin….

Really loved the way Tasky looked here. But also find this pretty funny considering back in Despicable Deadpool he threw a guy/his wheelchair at Taskmaster.

Interestingly enough, Wade called him Taskmaster more times in this comic than the previous ones. But he’s on business mode rn so he’s definitely keeping it professional!

Because not too much later he then calls him Task-Daddy— WHY DID HE DO THAT???? Tasky, you aren’t getting out of this anymore, I’m sorry… I had to full stop and process this. We kept making jokes… we did it for months now and Wade finally said what we all been saying 😭💀

This just interested me a lot. Both of them are talking about new territory, but it’s not the same kind. I think it’s really important for Tasky because he’s never actually been a father-like figure to anyone (not even his own daughter…) but maybe I was reading too much into this—

I know this is very much in character for Tony to wanna brand more since he’s broke, likes good business, etc, but I can’t help but feel like this equals him being a dad to Ellie, why? he’s never had to brand anybody before, but he obviously saw promise in her and even if Wade may have thrusted this mentorship onto them both, he didn’t HAVE to do it like this, that he is explaining the reasoning just felt like an excuse/deflection, it was like he WANTED to have a piece of himself in her outfit but he’s just gotta act cool about it.

I won’t lie when I say this “No Killing Rule” has piqued my interest the most, because to me, rules are made to be broken. And I am intrigued to see where this leads in the future and what will unfold. It is sort of a big deal for Wade to put onto Taskmaster, and I can think about how he may react if Ellie crosses that line— I mean it is his responsibility… I’m wondering if I’m thinking too much on this!

At first I just wanted to add this in and say isn’t he just gorgeous here? But then I realized the dialogue is something to poke at. He’s somewhat pulling her leg here, but I also think it could be interpreted in a few different ways; he’s never gonna admit that he’s protective of her, but he is. It’s not just hit reputation that he’s concerned about okay?

I also think it may be how he’s worked with Wade for a very long time, but with her, it’s a whole new world. It could go a lot of ways, but I’d like to think there’s a part of Taskmaster that is going to miss working alongside Wade and he doesn’t wanna confess. But being around Ellie is just gonna be a reminder.

Being around Ellie might remind him of his own daughter that he knows nothing about. And maybe he feels regretful about this. Idk maybe he doesn’t even remember her at all… depends on the writer.

—————

Loving the dynamic he’s got with her so far. They’re goofy and silly and I love to see him being the funny guy in the situation while Ellie is more serious. Nice change from Wade & Tasky. Really appreciate Ellie is her own person and not just a Deadpool 2.0, I think Tony likes that about her too.

Finally. Love seeing these two interact. A lot. This is something I will REALLY miss now that… well you know… now that stuff happened…. And at this very moment NEITHER TASKY OR ELLIE KNOW THAT WADE IS DEAD OH I AM SICK!!! (Also why did Wade look extra cute here… there was zero reason for it. Thank you Artist!!!)

Uh yeah and these were my little thoughts and such. I might of jumped over things and I’ve never really done posts like these. But this issue really itched my brain and so I wanted to discuss stuff a little haha. Hope y’all enjoy and ofc enjoyed the new issue!!!

[compacflt]

hey! i was just going through your blog, and i saw a post about ice&carole and mav&goose. i looked a bit more but i couldn't find a post about your take on mav and goose's relationship, so i wanted to ask what it was. if you have answered this, i'm sorry about asking you again. imo i think what they had was wayy deeper than friendship but complex and probably not romantic, but again, i just wanted to know your thoughts on it.

thank you! and this blog has probably been one of the best finds i have ever come across on tumblr, i'll be sad to see you go.

yeah, i was really trying to be suave and subtle and mysterious about it with this parallel

like, you should be able to figure it out for yourself.

but luckily for you i looooove beating dead horses. to a problematic degree.

the full story of my vision of mavgoose (moose?) is in the completed draft of the extras that are coming out on Saturday. about halfway through. But i want to bring it back to the internal craft-of-writing debate i brought up yesterday—my inability to summarize, or to cut superfluous sections that don’t really matter.

I’ll stick it under the cut for spoiler reasons, but i wanna show the simple first draft of this scene versus the complicated, heavier final draft. And I want to ask any of you, if you’re interested—as a reader, which is more impactful? which should i end up publishing?

the simple first draft:

then i kept turning it in my head thinking of different ways to edit it to say something slightly different, to get a little more specific, coming up with things to add, and ended up adding like five extra paragraphs. which is this:

about 1/4 of the final draft (by which i mean, this is about 1/4 of the whole final discussion scene, but the goosemav-specific content only goes on for about another graf [omitted bc spoilers]):

(so to answer your ask explicitly, i actually don’t think they were anything deeper than good friends. imo there’s no evidence that they were anything deeper than good friends, especially with maverick blowing goose/goose’s wishes off soooo many times [‘she’s lost that lovin feelin;’ volleyball; refusing to do the responsible thing at least twice even after goose tells him it puts his & his family’s livelihoods at risk…bro all he does is blow off goose]. see me bitching in the tags for more on this)

obviously in my head the complicated in-depth version ⬆️ is the True version, the version of events that really Happened. i think the writing is in some spots much more compelling. But it just doesn’t make for a particularly good reading experience when it’s surrounded by like 3/4 pages of other discussion of history! sometimes too much of (what i think is) a good thing turns that good thing bad! & this is a major keystone dynamic of my whole series so i just want to get it right, for my own peace of mind. I guess im asking you to be the harsh editor i wish i had sometimes, if ur interested in doing so—this is genuinely a major major problem i have with my writing, i can’t ever just leave well enough alone 😭 please let me know if simpler is better/less is more in this case! do i publish the short vague “the reader fills in the blanks” version or the long boring “here’s EXACTLY how i see it” version?

[luna-rainbow]

hi, different anon. i wanted to add to the thoughts but i'm shy. i assumed bucky's rules were set up because his moral compass was skewed by his time with hydra (not necessarily in a way that makes him a bad person, just in ways that alters his perspective on what situations need force and who maybr deserves rough treatment). we saw clearly in the series that bucky doesn't mind breaking the law or hurting people he considers bad, he is also impulsive and self-destructive. i always assumed the rules were given as actually needed guidance to help him face former-hydra associates.

Hello Shy Anon:

There was no indication, up until TFATWS, that Bucky was ever impulsive, or “doesn’t mind breaking the law”. He stayed under cover for 2 whole years while Steve, Hydra, and everyone else who wanted the Winter Soldier (and there were plenty, judging by Zemo’s auction) were hunting for him. The only story that characterises him as that is TFATWS which is the very series that treats him like he had agency as the Winter Soldier.

The “doesn’t mind hurting people who he thinks is bad” is kinda the defining trait of every MCU superhero so I’m not sure why Bucky specifically needed rules to stop him from doing that — except, of course, the narrative didn’t believe he was a hero until he had the magic boat-fixing scene that fixed his trauma and apparently his wonky moral compass too.

Also, the only action that comes across as impulsive is him breaking Zemo out of jail, which already makes no logical sense for Bucky to do and I’ve already talked about it at length 20 times before so I’m not going to again. Him hacking the car then calling the police to arrest the Hydra senator was highly premeditated and not an example of impulsiveness.

Sorry if I am sounding cranky, anon, but a lot of these have been discussed ad nauseum in the 12 months after the series’ release and I’m not keen to retread the issues and attract fresh disk horse. If you read the post I linked in that ask, I talked about the narrative intent in rewriting Bucky to be aggressive and volatile. The story didn’t know how to handle him except “Winter Soldier bad, he needs a (Black) found family to fix him” while ignoring the fact that he already had the same friggin arc in Civil War to Black Panther.

Also why was he being sent to face former Hydra associates on his own as part of his amends when Raynor called him a civilian?

[lostcauses-noregrets]

Hi, Lost. I recently saw a discussion about Ackermans and how Levi never mentioned to Mikasa the possibility of them being distantly relative. And it suggests that Levi doesn't actually reveal that he's an Ackerman to the others, at least, not to a lot of people. I always assumed Levi and Mikasa at least discussed this off-scene but anyway, we all know Levi definitely talked to Erwin about it. Knowing Erwin's curiosity and personality, there is no way he wasn't obsessed with the idea of a clan of, basically, titan slayers. He loves a good mystery and they would be too important for Survey Corps and Paradis in general. It's weird that this Ackerman thing was never explored other than "yeah Levi and Mikasa are OP don't question it" because I don't know about you but I would be so interested in freaking super soldiers living amongst us and I believe so was Erwin. We were robbed of that conversation, it'd give us so much Eruri material I believe :(

Hi Anon, sorry it’s taken me so long to answer your ask. You're definitely not the only one to be frustrated with the lack of information and resolution about the Ackermans. People waited years for Levi and Mikasa to have “the Ackertalk”, but when it finally came in chapter 63 it left everyone pretty disappointed. It did happen though, and Levi does suggest to Mikasa that they may be related.

There was a glimmer of hope that more would be revealed when the Ackermans were referred to as a “subproduct of Titan science” in chapter 93.  That really set the cat amongst the pigeons, but again, we got no further explanation about what that actually meant, either in the manga or in any of the supplementary materials. The only subsequent information we got about the Ackermans were Eren’s lies to Mikasa in chapter 112, where he claimed that Ackermans were slaves to their host, and Zeke revealing in chapter 130 that there’s nothing magical about the so-called Ackerbond, it’s just love. 

A lot of the additional information we have about the Ackermans comes from interviews with Isayama in the supplementary guidebooks, and it’s confusing at best and contradictory at worst.  For example, in chapter 65 Grandpa Ackerman tells Kenny that the king’s power to alter memories does not work on the Ackermans, and that this is one of the reasons they were feared and persecuted by the crown. However, later in the manga Eren was clearly able to alter Mikasa's memories, so that doesn’t add up. It's almost like Isayama was just making it up as he went along!

The lack of resolution around the Ackermans is just one of a number of threads that Isayama never tied up, which includes HIstoria’s arc and Mikasa’s relationship to the Azumabito clan.  It’s frustrating, because the Ackerman lore had so much potential, but none of it was ever developed, and at the end of the day they were a bit of a McGuffin. (Levi McGuffin doesn’t quite have the same ring to it though 😂)  Having said that, I can understand why Isayama shelved the Ackerman backstory, because it wasn’t really central to the plot. Also Levi, Mikasa and Kenny didn’t need any additional lore to make them really compelling and popular characters.  

If you're interested, I've got a post collating all the canon information about the Ackermans from the manga and the guidebooks: Ackermans Master Post.

With regards to how much Erwin knew about the Ackermans, there’s nothing in the manga, but I agree that once he discovered the connection between Levi and Kenny he would definitely have made it his business to find out more.  I wrote a tiny ficlet once about Erwin learning Levi’s name, it’s called Everything and Nothing

The words have been rattling around inside Erwin’s skull for days. Clattering against each other, discordant, disconcerting.

When they finally pass his lips one is familiar on his tongue, familiar as his own breath, the other foreign, sharp and bitter in his mouth.

“Levi.”

Levi’s head turns towards him on the pillow.

“What?”

“Ackerman.”

“Don’t.”

He turns away again.

“I always wondered…”

“I didn’t know.”

Erwin runs one finger lightly over Levi’s shoulder.

“I know, but it makes sense somehow.”

“Don’t.”

Levi is silent for a moment.

“It doesn’t change who I am. It doesn’t change anything.”

Erwin looks down at the black hair feathering over the pillow beside him. The pulse flickering in his neck; blue blood below porcelain white skin.

Ackerman.

Erwin leans down and presses his lips to Levi’s throat, to the pulse.

“Levi,” he says again.

It changes everything. And nothing.