#that wasn’t my original intention but I’m on board now

[artiststarme]

Will really thought Steve liked Jonathan in a “I’m going to pull on your pigtails” playground sort of way. It was the only thing that made sense to him. He heard about Steve messing with him when he and Nancy were “dating” (she could’ve been his beard for all Will knew) and then suddenly, Jonathan was dating Nancy and Steve was leaving him alone. In Will’s mind, Steve stopped trying to get Jonathan’s attention once he was taken.

He liked having someone in Hawkins to commiserate with, even though Steve didn’t know he knew. It made Will feel a little bit less alone in a lonely world. However, he felt a little sad for Steve. He must’ve felt so isolated being the only queer kid around.

He did try to comfort him one day. Will pulled Steve aside after their second experience with the Upside Down and told him he understood what it was like to like someone and not have them like you back. All he got were blank eyes and a dumbfounded face in return. Will departed with an awkward pat on the shoulder and didn’t look back. Steve would know he was there when he was ready to talk.

A few years later when he saw Steve poking at Eddie Munson while he attempted to DM for the premiere of a new campaign, Will knew he was spot-on in his assumptions. Steve was picking on Eddie just like he’d picked on Jonathan. And unlike that entire shipwreck, Eddie was receptive and throwing shade back. Will knew that unlike Steve and his brother, those two would get together and wreck havoc on all they crossed.

And he was right.

[dotthings]

Congrats to the fans of the wee woo show. I don’t go here but it makes me happy to witness how this arc for Evan Buckley got to bloom and I’m happy because I hope this reflects another shift in the TV industry.

For some media commentary context for you: ABC network is owned by Disney. Fox network was owned by Rupert Murdoch. So I can see how the network change for 911 can easily be a factor on how this got greenlit, after years of creator Tim Minear’s intention to work in hints, on the off chance he could take it there. (I don’t go here, but I did my reading). Oliver Stark who plays Buck also revealed he's been for it and couldn't say anything, until he was sure they could do it, until it aired and was out there. (*steeples fingers*)

For further context, Bob Iger—with George Lucas’ vocal support—just fended off a right wing coup on the Disney board from the kinds of people (like Peltz) who complain “why do we need so many female leads” “why do we need movies with all Black leads.” While it doesn’t mean Disney is no longer an evil megacorp, I’m pointing out that its CEO defended inclusive Disney brand content to the shareholders and the board, as well as dismantling the idea that it can’t be entertainment while being diverse.

The ripple of this goes outside of the wee woo show fandom. I’m seeing the joy on my dash from people who don’t watch the show or don’t watch it regularly, as well as from people who have been watching a long time and noticed things and realized there was a progression and it was there all along, and I know how much this must mean to a lot of people. With the world being how it is, with what people are facing inside the US from the far right, in their real lives.

It’s very hopeful in general for inclusion levels on a major network TV show, owned by a big evil megacorp. Representation matters.

Also I'm aware the wee woo show already had a queer couple, plus it's already an intersectional inclusive series, that’s great.

There shouldn't be limits placed on inclusion though. “But you already have X” shouldn't be weaponized to tell people to shut up. There is no “enough” or “too much” when it comes to inclusion. While I'm not for undermining the inclusion that's there, I've seen that weaponization used with a series that hasn't been great on inclusion, and I've seen that weaponization used for 911, which is. It's a sus argument.

Indirect and unintentional as it is, also bi Buck shut down every concern troll, every gaslight, every denial, every rationale I've ever seen people deploy against bi Dean. Everything from people who don’t understand what bi actual means—“but he likes girls so he can’t be bi”—to “but he wasn’t declared bi from the start of the show so he can’t”—yes he can and the wee woo show just did. On one of the original big three networks. Or people who say it would "ruin the character." Really? “But he’s an action hero”—so what? Evan Buckley is a hero, Dean is a hero, both badass action heroes. “People who see this as canon are delusional”—Evan Buckley went O RLY? Not so delusional now, is it.

Evan Buckley avenged bi Dean.

It’s self-evident. It’s right there. Different show, different network, but the concepts are familiar, the situation has a certain familiarity. This turn of events on an ABC show didn't just make bi Dean fans valid. bi Dean fans were always valid, the bi Dean reading was always valid. But I appreciate how much what happened on the wee woo show bonked people with a truth stick, about self discovery, character arcing, queer readings, queer coding, and the validity of merely noticing things.

[demi-shoggoth]

2024 Reading Log, pt 2

006. Gardening Can Be Murder by Marta McDowell. I honestly thought that this book was going to be about something else. With the subtitle “how poisonous plants, sinister shovels and grim gardens have inspired mystery writers”, I thought it was going to be about, you know, that. True crime themed to gardens, discussions of poisonous plants, that sort of thing. The book is actually about the mystery books that have gardening as a theme. And while the author’s dedication to not spoiling anything (seriously, anything, even 150 year old stories like The Moonstone or “Rappacini’s Daughter”) is admirable in its own way, this leaves the book feeling like endless buildup without any payoff. Big fans of murder mysteries might enjoy this—especially the last chapter, which interviews writers about their gardens—but I found it more boring than anything else, and finished it only because it was very short.

007. Antimony, Gold and Jupiter’s Wolf by Peter Wothers. This book is about how the elements got their names, and most of it deals with the early modern period, as alchemy transitioned to chemistry and then into the 19th century, when chemistry was a real science, but things like atomic theory were not yet understood. The book goes into fascinating detail, and has a lot of quotes from primary sources, as scientists then were just like scientists now, that is, opinionated and bickering with each other over their preferred explanations. And names! Many of the splits between elements and their symbols (like Na for sodium) are due to compromise attempts to appease two different factions with their preferred names. A book covering arcane minutia of history always has the risk of feeling like a slog, but this is a fast and fun read.

008. Doctor Dhrolin’s Dictionary of Dinosaurs by Nathan T Barling and Michael O’Sullivan, illustrations by Mark P Witton. This book is an odd concept, but one that I was immediately on board with—a D&D book written by paleontologists with the intention of bringing accurate and interesting stats for prehistoric reptiles to the game. The fact that it’s mostly illustrated by Mark Witton definitely clinched my backing that Kickstarter. And this book is a lot of fun. So much so, that I read it all in a single sitting. I don’t know how accurate the stats are (like, a Hatzegopteryx has a higher CR than titanosaurs or T. rexes), but they seem like they’d be fun in play, and the writing does a good job of combining fantasy fun with actual education. Even for someone not running a 5e game, the stuff on how to run animals as not killing machines, and the mutation tables, could be useful. There are multiple types of playable dinosaurs, all of which seem like they’d work well at the table and avoid typical stereotypes, and a lot of in-jokes and pop culture references (like the cursed staff of unspared expense, which looks like Hammond’s cane in the Jurassic Park movie).

009. Romaine Wasn’t Built in a Day by Judith Tschann. I’m a sucker for books about etymology. And this one, on food etymology, is a pretty breezy read. I had fun with it, and it even busted some misconceptions that I had, etymologically speaking. Like, there’s no evidence that “bloody” as an explicative originated from “God’s blood”? Wild. Etymology books tend to be written in a sort of stream-of-consciousness style, where talking about one word may lead down a garden path to the next one. The book also has a couple of little matching quizzes, which is something I haven’t seen in a book since like the 90s.

010. The Lives of Octopuses and their Relatives by Danna Staaf. I was previously a little disappointed in The Lives of Beetles, another book in this series, but I knew I liked Staaf, who wrote the excellent book Squid Empire about cephalopod evolution and paleontology. I’m pleased to report that this book is also excellent. Staaf takes the “lives” part seriously, and the book is arranged by ecology, looking at different marine habitats, the challenges that they pose to living things, and the cephalopods that live there. Cuttlefish get slightly short shrift in this book compared to squids and octopuses, but that’s about the biggest complaint I had. I like how the species profiles cover more obscure taxa, and information about the best studied (like Pacific giant octopus and Humboldt squid) is kept to the chapters.

[venerex]

success

pairing: woozi x f!reader

word count: 470

contains: intercourse (assume protected)

a/n: this idea was not originally meant for woozi, but i'm in a woozi mood these days

“i — i don’t think i’m doing this right”

the words leave your mouth in a hoarse whisper, as your fingertips dig into jihoon shoulders, your hips moving of their own accord while jihoon’s strong hands clutch your waist.

your boyfriend and you have a good (great) thing going in bed. the two of you are really into making out, and when you do have sex — it’s always in simple missionary. neither of you think it’s a problem, but maybe trying out another position is a good idea after half a year of dating.

riding seemed like the most obvious choice — still pretty conventional and simple, and the visual was enough to get you both on board. even then, both of you read plenty of tips on the internet on how to execute it safely and properly.

which brings you to the present — clinging on to jihoon’s frame while his cock throbs inside you, light whimpers leaving your lips as you try to remember some of the many tips you had read on sex blogs earlier. his cock hit a specific sensitive spot while you were trying to ride him, and now you’re just sitting fucked out in your boyfriend’s lap, grinding shallowly and seeking friction in that spot.

he doesn’t seem to mind.

“it’s okay”, he murmurs, his thumb running circles on your skin, “does it feel good, mm?”

his reassuring tone does something to you, and you moan in response.

one of jihoon’s hands smooths over your thigh, and you barely register it before his finger seeks out your clit, lightly touching.

“you didn’t answer, baby”, the circles on your clit quicken, and you hear the hitch in his breath as you clench around his cock, “do you like sitting on my cock?”

“jihoon”, you moan, and he hums questioningly, “yes, yes”.

he doesn’t say anything then, choosing to bury his face in your neck, leaving wet kisses down the column as you approach your high, spasming around his cock. distantly, you can hear his groans against your skin, and feel his hands hold on to you tighter as you let go, your hands wounding in his hair, keeping him close.

it’s a couple of minutes before you open your eyes. you pull back a little from jihoon’s frame and he hums in protest, his eyes fluttering open in response, the ends of his mussed up hair almost covering the sated orbs. then it hits you —

“wait”, you clear your throat, and jihoon looks at you attentively, “did you come?”

“uh, yeah”, you can see the slight blush on his skin despite the dim lights in the room, and you’re sure he would scratch his head if he wasn’t so intent on holding you close, “felt great”.

“yeah?”, your fingers brush back his hair, “guess it was a success, then”.

[rose-tinting]

the amount of misinformation that has been circling outside of neopets circles I swear

I see a new rumor every time

“They’re free from nft bros” Nope. Owned by one!

“The original team rebought them” God fucking no and you should not want them to, Adam Powells little meltdown over neopets users criticizing his new crypto venture is reason enough lol.

“The company was sold to Neopets Internal Teams” They sold it to the guy who used to head the former NFT project and are promising this means TNT has more freedom “under new leadership“ with “no current plans for crypto/NFTs” (This is not a promise not to make them)

One of the “brand ambassadors” who is supposed to help TNT with the knowing and understanding the userbase is some celebrity who’s wife is also a celebrity who I’ve seen people CLAIM used to be a Neopets mod. Does that sound like a neopets user who can tell the neopets team what the average user wants? No call for users who aren’t celebrities to become brand ambassadors has been made afaik.

Current Neopets mods are silencing trans people for mentioning HRT as well as top surgery and ignoring cis people talking about pregnancy, death, and surgery. (Have seen these boards go on for several hours and never get deleted even after a heated debate on one one about abortion) 

There’s items and backstory on the site that are racist. Neopets users have asked these be addressed. Do you think this “brand ambassador” will address any of that? Why does the ambassador need to be a celebrity? Unless the actual intent is to have “ambassadors” who sell neopets as a brand to the potential new userbase and isn’t about “listening to the users” at all.

god can one person with a huge following please for once just reblog and acknowledge the TRUTH. (doesn’t have to be from me I’d just like the actual info to be spread!) Awareness will help us keep the worst from happening! Pretending everything is fine until it isn’t is NOT the way!

If you want the actual info on the site Neopets has a fansite dedicated to reporting Neopets news including everything TNT tries to sweep under the rug

https://www.jellyneo.net/?comments=14391

A direct quote from their article on this

“ New CEO of Neopets is Dominic Law, who previously headed the Neopets Metaverse and brokered a "management buyout deal" “

Please if you’re reading this

stop spreading misinformation

spread the real information

make your own post even

this could go either way right now

this is not a “neopets renaissance”

this is a crossroads and we don’t know where we’re going yet. It could be great, or it could be the end of the site.

(Editing my reblog in so it can hopefully get seen too, I was provided with more accurate info on the brand ambassador.)

@pirakeet Thanks! Was actually hoping someone COULD correct this :3 Cause I was REALLY HOPING it wasn’t what it seemed since all I could find was a twitter post with an attached video where he accepts it (I immediately fled twitter may be why)

[Image Text ID]  Posted by tumblr user pirakeet: I’m not correcting anything, but just letting you know the “brand  ambassador” program has been made available - just presumably not in  the ‘john legend’ sense:  https://portal.neopets.com/brand-ambassador-program  and for clarity, i’ve been popping off about the difference, this isn’t a  “gotcha moment”.   There’s more info when you click “apply” and it takes you to a google  doc [End Id]

As I said I’m more interested in the truth being spread so I hope this can be seen!

[starlight-eclipsed]

WOOOOO WE FINISHED THE MAIN STORY OF LU DOPPELGÄNGER AU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I kinda figured we would get a timeline reveal instead of a Legato is Legend reveal mainly because even he recognizes that would be a very distressing revelation to the group.

Love the Doppel lore!! I understand why Legato did it and I also understand why Ravio was upset about it. Yeah, learning about the Doppels was fascinating but I gotta agree with Ravio on the deeply suspicious soul splitting magic and decommissioned Doppel body given by the sorcerer. Very suspicious circumstances.

I’m deeply curious about what was going on in everyone’s head while Legato spilled some of his secrets. Like I don’t think anyone was expecting alternate timeline successor of Legend or that he wasn’t supposed to be on this adventure reveals going into this.

I think I’m mainly curious about Legend, Time, and Four’s reactions though I’d love to know what everyone was going through individually. Legend because he was reeling from seeing a statue of himself in Legato’s timeline and then gets confronted with an alternate successor because of a timeline split. Time because Legato notices that he already came to his own conclusions while Legato was trying to figure out how to start the conversation. Four because that’s Legato’s closest friend in the group and would be able to read Legato’s body language the best and he’s got a decent chunk of knowledge of Legato’s issues.

Also Legato still being crafty by not revealing that he’s Legend but also not telling anyone that the “statue” is a Doppel. We know that but the group hasn’t figured that out just yet because Legato managed to distract them with a bunch of different reveals.

AND THE LETTER TO THE ORIGINAL CHAIN!!!!! Imagining them opening their letters and just being hit with Legend being shrunk and then their own faces staring back at them? Absolutely hilarious! He also finally paid Warriors back for all the grief he gave him on their first adventure lol.

What made you pick what color goes for each hero by the way?

Also I cannot imagine a version of this story in which Legato is actually a reliable narrator. He’s our favorite unreliable narrator! The guy who misses nearly all the implications!

Wonderful chapter and I’ve loved reading and commenting about this series these last few months!

We made it to the finish line!! ^-^

Hey, I did say that there would be a reveal. Not that Legato would do a full reveal of his past :b But yeah, to me it felt like him being honest about why he was there was more fitting than him explaining who he used to be. For all intents and purposes, he is Legato now (at least among the newer Chain).

The Doppels were fun. I did all sorts of in-game research before writing this to solidify my concept of them, from asking various npcs about the Doppels to messing around in the lobby--the guard at the door won't let you leave the room in a Doppel body, which was what got me thinking of this plotline in the first place. I was a bit stuck on how Legato was going to obtain a Doppel if he couldn't just walk out as one, but the discarded one in Hytopia offered the perfect chance :D

As for their reactions, a brief summary:

Time: Thought that this was just going to be a successor reveal, and from his own experience with Twilight (and later Wind) he wanted to grant the two of them some privacy to discuss it.

Four: Could tell that Legato was panicking and was trying to figure out what was going on so that he could help. You can picture a conspiracy board in his head with lots of string that only got more complicated with Legato's explanation :b

Legend: Struggling with the reveal that now he has two successors that are the sweetest little shits with low self-esteem. Alternate timeline or not, Legato is his successor now. No take backs. (Legato does not know how to feel about this development)

XD I love how many people at the end of the chapter commented something along the lines of "Legato really just deflected his way out of telling the truth, huh". Old habits die hard, and the reward from that kind of reveal wasn't worth it to him. He's been lying throughout the whole series, I wasn't gonna force him out of character for something like that when there were other truths he could share ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Oh, the letter is extra funny considering that he only sent one. Because of the translation thing, the easiest approach was to just write one copy for everyone that Ravio could read out loud. Which meant that the old Chain had the experience of listening to all this bs without pause, and then Ravio would hand them the photo to look at. And point out which one was their Legend.

...Legato will be receiving a lot of responses soon.

Okay, so their colors were picked for a variety of reasons:

The ratio had to be 4:3:3 in favor of green, since there are 10 of them and the colors cycle through in order of activation.

Spacing. I tried to avoid having characters have the same color if they were near each other.

Contrast. For heroes like Sky, Warriors, Time, Wild, and Twilight, I went with hair colors that weren't very present in their outfits. Especially considering what colors would be closest to their faces (I did try giving Wild blue hair though).

For everyone else, I just tried all the different combinations until I got something that felt right. I definitely didn't want Legato to have the same color as Legend, but otherwise it was fair game.

Hyrule got green because I didn't want his hair to blend into Warriors or Sky's clothes. Legend was almost going to get blue, but the red suits him better and stands out well against his hat.

Each of the hair colors make a fun triangle (or diamond) pattern if you play connect the dots with them.

Legato is my favorite little unreliable narrator and I am very glad that I ended up writing him that way ^-^

Thank you!! I've loved reading and replying to your comments throughout this <333

[sariastrategos]

"You'll never win, you know."

"I'm not trying to win anymore."

Another name I see in my notes! @jaynesilver hello, thanks for humouring me!

Kylo stared intently at the board thinking about his next move. Just like he’d stared and thought about all of his previous moves. And just like all his previous moves the moment he made it Hux countered it effortlessly and he lost yet another piece.

“I thought you’d played this before?” Hux drawled, taking a sip of his whisky.

“Shut up, I’m thinking.” Kylo growled.

Who’s idea was this anyway? Which one of them decided playing Sabacc was a good way to spend their down time? How was this supposed to improve their working relationship?

They’d been trying to get along better lately, to keep peace on the ship and stop their arguments from hindering their efficiency. So they’d made a deal that once a standard week they’d have a drink or two together.

Kylo didn’t drink but it was the principle of the matter. Hux would have a glass or two of whisky, Kylo tea and they’d attempt to get along with conversation and to get to know one another.

This had devolved into weekly encounters that often led to no talking at all and getting to know each carnally rather than in a simple, friendly manner. Kylo now knew all the little sounds Hux made when he was so close Kylo just a little more that’s it right there -AH! YES!

And Hux now knew what he looked like down on his knees for him at long last. And that Kylo could feel the thrill it gave him pulsing through the air around him.

And to be fair, they had been getting along better on shift. So really it wasn’t a bad thing, it just wasn’t the original goal.

And just like that, Kylo knew what he needed to do.

He was terrible at Sabacc but he knew something he was good at.

Abandoning all hope at strategy he kicked off his boots under the table.

“Oh stars Kylo tell me your feet aren’t going to choke me out?” Hux sneered.

Kylo smirked up at him “Not with my feet but I can do that for you if you’re interested.”

He was rewarded with rolled eyes and a huff when he blindly made a move. Hux countered it with barely a pause. “You’ll never win you know.” He commented, taking another sip.

Kylo trailed his foot up the inside of Hux’s ankle and snickered when he coughed up his drink. “I’m not trying to win anymore.” He replied, rubbing up and down his calf. “Not Sabacc at least.”

Hux glowered at him, setting his drink down. “Don’t think I can’t still beat you while you’re trying to distract me. I’m trained to make decisions under duress.”

“I know you’ll still beat me” he replied, nudging up his inner thigh “and I know what a phenomenal general you are.” The tips of his ear’s were going pink “I’ve seen you in battle, watched you direct the troops while under fire, unshakable in your confidence, flawless in your planning.” His foot finally found the outline of the general’s cock in his jodhpurs “I never stood a chance at beating you in a game of strategy”

He watched a myriad of emotions cross his face, pride, suspicion, lust and knew he had him when his cheeks started to go splotchy.

“You’re shameless.” He clambered out of his chair, already undoing his belt. “A cheap play.” The jacket was tossed carelessly on the floor “You should be ashamed of yourself.”

Kylo laughed as Hux climbed into his lap and buried his hands in his hair, dragging him into an angry kiss. “You just said I’m shameless!”

“Shut up and put your mouth to better use.”

Thanks again!!

[vincentsleftear]

Get To Know Your Moots

Thanks for the tag @randomfoggytiger

What the origin of your blog title? I was going through a bit of an art history phase when I first came up with it. 1) I was reallyyy into Van Gogh at the time. 2) I also knew I wanted something a bit funny/off beat. Thus, “vincentsleftear”. It’s been a while since then and I’ve moved on from the url on other platforms but I’ve kept it here. Idk, it just feels special :)

OTP(s) + ship names: ugh, where to start!! Right now Siuan and Moiraine (siuarane aka fishwives) have me in an absolute CHOKEHOLD. Of course, there’s Alicent and Rhaenyra (rhaenicent). I’ll be a Gerri and Karolina (Gerrolina) truther till I die and I don’t think I’ll ever be able to think about Agatha and Rio (agathario) and NOT go crazy. If I’m remembering correctly, my first real introduction into the world of shipping was Narcissa and Lucius (Lucissa), though I don’t really interact with the source material anymore for obvious reasons. Of course, I’ll always return to the two who INVENTED the game, Mulder and Scully (MSR).

Favorite color: Love blue but if we’re looking at the evidence it’d probably be green lol. I’m surrounded by it! My phone, my computer, my headphones, my bedspread, my decor! All green! On the other hand, my friends and family are always clowning me because apparently I almost exclusively wear white. I mean, they aren’t WRONG but istg it isn’t intentional! Idk, I must be subconsciously drawn to clothes in that color lol. I’ve heard everything from “it’s like you’re a cartoon character with a signature color palette” to “…did you join a cult and not tell us?”

Favorite Game: Will yall kill me if I say Minecraft. Cause it’s Minecraft.

Song Stuck in Your Head: Sara by Fleetwood Mac!! I cannot tell you how many times I’ve listened to that song today alone lol

Weirdest habit/trait: chronic nail biter. Not exactly “weird” but it’s a bad one. Definitely should have grown out of that one a while ago smh.

Hobbies: I think I’m deep enough into the playlist making game for it to be considered a hobby at this point lol. You can pretty much track my hyoerfixations through my Spotify account bc the first thing I do when I’m enjoying a peice of media is run and make a playlist inspired by it. Right now I have 140 in total…😅. The NEXT thing I do is make a Pinterest board inspired by it lol.

If you work, what’s your profession? Full time student, part time at a library :)

If you could have any job you wish, what would it be? Get me in the US House of Representatives!!

Something you're good at: public speaking! Not to toot my own horn but it’s definitely a strong suit and is something I actually enjoy!

Something you’re bad at: math. lying.

Something you love: Coffee!! Gay tv shows!! My siblings!! Sleep!!

Something you could talk about for hours off the cuff: Honestly, anything lol. I’m a certified yapper. I would gladly ramble on about the plots of my favorite books/shows for agesss.

Something you hate: Sweet Potatoes! Slow walkers! Miscommunication!!

Something you collect: playlists LMAO

Something you forget: my head if it wasn’t attached to my body

What’s your love language: acts of service and quality time

Favorite movie/show: The Prince of Egypt (1998) is a cinematic masterpiece and my all time favorite. MINARI (2020) is one that I regularly recommend. If I try to list my fav shows we’ll be here all week lmao.

Favorite food: PASTA!!! Spaghetti specifically! But really any and all forms of pasta if we’re being honest here

Favorite animal: I’ve had a fascination with Orca whales ever since I was little. They are sooo interesting and incredibly intelligent and DEEPLY terrifying. The Blackfish (2013) documentary definitely left an imprint on my psyche.

What were you like as a child? Super chatty, incredibly hyper with a complete inability to sit still, and loud. I wasn’t a bad kid but it was things like this that got me into trouble at school *quite* often. In the beginning, I tried really hard to be a teacher’s pet but I found out quickly that it just wasn’t in the cards for me. So I became the class clown lol.

Favorite subject at school? I really enjoyed English and Literature but my favorites were definitely my social studies classes. History, human geography, government, politics!! Those were my thing!

Least favorite subject? MATH. Geometry was (and still is) my mortal enemy.

What’s your best character trait? always authentically myself

What’s your worst character trait? Chronic procrastinator. I tend to withdraw or getting a bit mean when I’m stressed/overwhelmed but that’s something I’m working on!

If you could change any detail of your day right now what would it be? The weather has been soo bleak recently. No sun, just rain and cold. Also! Over the past few days my government has been repealing protections (some of which have been in place since the 60s) that prevent discrimination on the basis of race, sexuality, and gender. Consequently, as a Black gay woman, I’ve been living in a constant state of intense anxiety and panic. So. That. I’d change that.

If you could travel in time who would you like to meet? An aunt that passed before I was born

Recommend one of your favourite fanfics (spread the love!): Little Pitchers by dionaeamuscipula on AO3!

lowwww presssure tags 💌: @bakedbakermom @thursdayinspace @calimanc @picklejarred @ragnarockz

[legendryhero]

ok  after  going  straight  to  ganondorf  with  no  temples  or  anything  like  an  insane  person   &   beating  this  game  the  wrong  way  via  boss  rush   &   somehow  succeeding ...     i  HAVE  now  actually  gone   &   played  the  game  like  you’re  supposed  to   &   collected  all  the  dragon  tear  memories.    here’s  a  lot  of  my  thoughts  on  the  matter  of  this  game  within  the  timeline   &   how  i  will  be  choosing  to  weave  it  into  things.    everything  under  read  more  will  contain  major  storyline  spoilers  for  tot/k.

i  will  note  i  do  not  have  any  temples  still.    my  adventure  log  still  has  some  missing  memories  that  i  assume  i’ll  gather  about  as  i  continue  with  the  main  storyline  with  all  that  but  i  have,  at  least,  gotten  all  the  ones  from  like  the  base  dragon  tear  quest  that  you  begin  with  impa.    so,  we’ll  be  focusing  on  those.    fair  warning  this  is  going  to  be  so  very  long  but  i’ll  put  a  tl;dr  at  the  end.

to  start  off,  i  do  not  believe  these  games  take  place  in  the  DOWNFALL  TIMELINE.    so  that  one  i’m  simply  wiping  off  the  board  i’m   ngl.    i’m   not  saying  it’s  impossible   ...    but   the  other  timelines  seem  more  probable  in  my  opinion.

i’ve  seen   &   discussed  with  some  people  how  botw/totk  could  both  take  place  in  the  ADULT  TIMELINE  as  an  extremely  distant  future   &   that  sonia   &   rauru   are  the  first  king   &   queen  of  NEW  hyrule   making  sonia  a  descendant  of  tetra.    however!    while  it’s  far  from  impossible,  &   i  could  go  with  this,  i  have  more  or  less  settled  on  the  idea  that  link   &   tetra  founded  new  hyrule  themselves   &   that  tetra  was  the  founding  queen  of  that.   for  sure,  it  was  a  slow  build  but  i  do  imagine  that,  despite  the  fact  that  new  hyrule  wouldn’t  be  an  established  land  at  first,  they  found  it  with  the  intent  of  establishing  a  kingdom.    even  if  it  was  it’s  very  beginnings   &   start,   new  hyrule  was  founded  as  a  kingdom   &   tetra  it’s  founding  queen.     mostly  the  backing  i’ve  seen  folk  put  on  this  one  is  the  existence  of  the  rito,  even  in  the  “ancient”  time  shown  in   the  game.    but,  to  be  fair,  the  zora   &   their  monarchy  also  exist  there  because  they  really  didn’t  fact  check  a  single  thing  in  the  timeline  before  making  these  games.     you  could  say  that,  possibly,  there  was  a  zora  tribe  that  did  not  evolve  into  rito  post  the  great  flood   &   that  they  simply  were  established  elsewhere   &   were  found  in  the  search  for  new  hyrule.   the  ocean  is  big,  who’s  to  say.    all  in  all,  THIS  THEORY  IS  VERY  PLAUSABLE!    so  we’ll  bookmark  it  but  it  wasn’t  my  first  instinct  on  where  to  place  everything.

personally,  when  i  was  playing  i  chose  to  see  botw  as  taking  place  distantly  in  the  future  of  the  CHILD  TIMELINE   &   then  the  ancient  times  seen  in  totk  to  be  the  original  founding  era  of  the  hyrule  monarchy.    this  is  what  i’m  going  to  go  for  as  my  default  as  where  to  set  these  verses   &   for  many  reasons  which  i’ll  go  into  detail  about.

while sksw  link   &   zelda  did  settle  on  the  surface   &   more  or  less  begin  to  found  hyrule,   i  can’t  say  the  plan  for  a  kingdom  was  what  they  were  aiming  for.   the  folk  of  skyloft  did  not  have  a  monarchy   &   likely  had  little  solid  concept  of  how  it  functioned.    i’m  sure  they  knew  what  a  kingdom  was  from  old  legends   &   stories  that  may  have  been  passed  down  overtime  but  that’s  about  it.    after  all  they  fought  demise  who  was  a  demon  KING  so  they,  at  least,  know  what  a  king  is.   as  well  as  LORD  ghirahim.    but  they  themselves  do  not   &   have  never  operated  as  a  monarchy  nor  do  i  think  they’d  know  how  to  start  one.    or  that  they’d  want  to.   when  link   &   zelda  settle  on  the  surface  post  sksw  that’s  all  they’re  doing.   settling.   it  is  the  beginning  of  the  world  healing  from  it’s  initial  reign  of  monsters   &   the  start  of  hylians  inhabiting  the  land  once  more.    as  this  settlement  grows  with  time,  however,  as  does  the  need  for  some  sort  of  organization  of  society  thus,  somewhere  down  the  line,  the  kingdom  of  hyrule  begins  its  establishment.

sonia  predates  the  tradition  of  the  hyrule  royal  family  passing  on  the  name  zelda  to  their  princesses  but  i  do  believe  she  is  techincally  the  next  incarnation  down  the  line   &   the  first  incarnation  post  sksw  zelda.    she’s  undoubtably  a  descendant  of  sksw  zelda.    her  connection  to  the  bloodline  of  the  goddess  made  her  revered  in  many  ways,  granted  her  some  abilities  such  as  her  control  over  time,   &   had  her  as  a  clear  choice  for  the  first  queen  of  this  new  kingdom.   however  i  do  wonder  if  she  already  had  a  child  somewhere  that  we  never  see  or  even  a  sibling  to  survive  her?    only  because  it’s  clearly  stated  that  botw  zelda  is  a  descendant  of  her’s  ....   however  she  is  also  murdered  in  front  of  our  eyes  so  like.   there  has  to  be  some  other  form  of  her  bloodline  somewhere.   but  anyway.   moving  on.

the  zonai  were  a  race  that  kept  very  secluded.   it’s  possible  they  were  known  to  skyloftians  even  prior  to  return  to  the  surface   &   that  they  also  existed  within  the  sky  but  were  rarely  seen  &   viewed  as  divine  beings  even  then  or  that  they  were  found  among  the  surviving  surface  races  after  skyloftian  settled  on  the  surface   &   as  time  went  on  took  establishment  on  the  islands  left  behind  by  the  hylians  in  the  sky.    either  way,  they  were  recognized  for  their  secretive  ways   &   their  singular  power.    hylians  did  eventually  view  them  as  some  sort  of  divine  race.    

i  like  the  idea  that  the  zonai  have  some  sort  of  connection  to  the  creation  of  the  twilight  realm  /  the  twili.   one  thought  being  that  zonai  were  a  large  part  of  the  dark  interlopers  that  were  banished  to  the  twilight  realm  prior  to  the  founding  of  hyrule  kingdom  which  could  be  why  rauru   &   mineru  are  noted  to  be  one  of  the  only  few  remaining  of  their  race  OR  ...  since  it’s  stated,  at  least  on  the  wiki  about  them,  that  the  dark  interlopers  were  hylians  then  perhaps  the  zonai  were  hunted  down  by  the  dark  interlopers  who  craved  their  power   &   secret  stones.   the  stones  are  what  gave  the  interlopers  their  initial  power  that  they  tried  to  seek  the  triforce  with   &,   after  their  banishment,   these  secret  stones  they  had  stolen  were  what  became  things  such  as  the  fused  shadows  in  the  twilight  realm.

i  think,  if  the  dark  interlopers  were  hylians  that  did  this,  it  left  the  zonai  very  damaged   &   untrusting  of  the  hylians.   rauru   &   mineru  were  two  of  the  very  few  that  openly  interacted  with  hylians  still  while  most  others  were  only  driven  further  into  secrecy   &   hiding  until  the  race  died  out  entirely.    i  imagine  sonia   &   rauru’s  time  to  be  at  least  a  few  hundred  years  after  the  whole  twilight  realm  banishment  thing,  too.    so  the  zonai  are  all  but  extinct  by  their  time.

if  you’re  going  to  point  out  that  the  fact  that  the  rito  exist  in  these  ancient  times  i  KNOW  that  messes  so  much  up  and  i  want  to  attack  and  bite  nintendo  for  how  little  sense  it  makes  to  things.    but  you  know  what,  who  knows.   maybe  the  rito  did  exist  way  back  when  and  then  like.  sort  of  disappeared / died  out  for  sometime   &   then  returned.   it’s  possible  the  zora   &   rito  were  a  related  race  still  as  well  at  their  start   &   both  had  the  same  originating  race  that  split  off.   rito  took  off  to  seas   &   abandoned  the  main  land  of  hyrule  for  many  years  only  to  return  sometime  between  the  events  of  twilight  princess   &   breath  of  the  wild  as  that  does  expand  THOUSANDS  of  years.    in  the  adult  timeline  the  zora  began  to  evolve  towards  their  feathered  cousins  due  to  the  flood  as  that  type  of  environment  will  cause  that.     &   that’s  just  what  i  have  to  imagine  to  make  things  fall  into  place.

the  ganondorf  we  see  in  totk  is  what  i  imagine  to  be  the  first  reincarnation  of  demise’s  hatred.   he  is  the  first  to  threaten  the  land  so  severely  since  demise.   his  connection  to  demise  is  why  taking  sonia’s  secret  stone  grants  him  such  immense  power.   once  he  is  held  under  the  kingdom   his  body  is  considered  dormant   &   unusable   &   years  down  the  line  demise’s  hatred  attempts   to  break  forth  in  the  form  of  a  calamity  which  is  stated  to  be  a  form  of  his  that  has  “given  up  on  reincarnation”   but  is  stopped  by  next  princess  zelda   &   incarnation  of  the  hero.   after  being  sealed  the  calimity  attempts  to  return  via  reincarnation   ( resulting  in  like.   oot  ganondorf   &   vaati )   ignoring  the  body  trapped  under  hyrule  since  rauru’s  power  still  held  it.    the  fact  that  demise’s  incarnation  ignored  that  body  for  so  long  is  what  allowed  it  to  fall  into  decay  but  the  power  of  the  secret  stone  he  stole  is  what  also  kept  it  somewhat  alive  in  that  time.    after  oot  ganondorf  is  finally  killed  in  tp,  the  hatred  of  demise�� once  again  begins  to  give  up  on  reincarnation   &   instead  revives  again  as  a  calamity.    when  that  calamity  is  sealed  a  second  time  it  lines  with  a  time  where  rauru’s  power  holding  his  first  reincarnation’s  body  is  finally  withering.   when  zelda   &   link  discover  the  body   &   disturb  it’s  place,  it  allows   that  power  to  resurge   &   that  incarnation  is  reconnected  with  that  form  once  more.

ALSO  i’d  like  to  add  that  the  fact  that  there  IS  an  incarnation  of  demise   within  this  ancient  time  we  see   &   possibly  an  incarnation  of  hylia/zelda  with  sonia   then,  theoretically,  there  should  also  be  an  incarnation  of  the  hero’s  spirit/link.    however,  we  do  not  see  this  incarnation  and  i  believe  this  is  because  this  incarnation  of  the  hero  failed.   he  died.   if  zelda  did  not  travel  back  in  time  then  the  fight  against  ganondorf  would  be  a  lost  cause.   in  wake  of  the  failure  of  this  hero,  zelda  displaced  in  time  became  the  hero  in  his  place  for  sonia   &   rauru’s  time.

now  this  has  all  mainly  focused  on  why  i  believe  the  ancient  times  we  see  in  the  game  is  where  it  is  however  there  are  reasons  i  think  botw  takes  place  specifically  in  the  child  timeline  as  well.    big  reasons  are  the  fact  that  zelda  directly  references  the  realm  of  twilight  within  a  speech  she  makes  in  botw   (”whether  skyward  bound,  adrift  in  time,  or  steeped  in  the  glowing  embers  of  twillight...”)    &   yes  i’m  also  pretty  sure  she  makes  mention  of  “the  great  sea”  in  the  same  speech  but  i  feel  like  it’s  possible  for  that  to  be  somewhat  more  vaguely  read  then  the  twilight  bit?   she  also  mentions  oot  though   &   the  child  timeline  is  famously  known  for  the  fact  that  oot  link’s  actions  are  relatively  unknown  to  the  world  causing  him  to  die  unrecognized   &   feeling  as  though  he  had  no  way  to  pass  along  his  legacy.    but  he  did  pass  this  legacy  on  to  tp  link.    maybe,  long  after  his  death,  legends  resurfaced  from  tp  link  about  legends  of  the  hero  before  him  who  was  lost  in  time.    at  any  rate,   botw  is  clearly  far  more  in  touch  with  a  lot  of  history  in  it’s  time.   big  shout  out  to  that  time’s  archeology  department.

another  reason  is  a  silly  one  but  i  love  the  fact  that  developers  had  the  wolf  link  amiibo  summon  wolf  link  himself  rather  than  just  give  you  little  objects.   i  love  the  implications.    i’m  sure  they  meant  almost  nothing  by  it  but  i  like  the  idea  of  tp  link  finding  a  way  to  help  his  successor  just  as  he  knows  oot  link  helped  him.    it’s  comforting  to  me.    

other  small  reasons   are   that  i  like  the  fact  that  you  can  find  the  sunken  ruins  of  the  arbiter's grounds  in  botw.   plus  a  strange  monument  on  the  coast  near  lurelin  village   that  looks  suspiciously  like  a  monument  to  the  mirror  of  twilight.   these  are  little  things   &   it  can  be  pointed  out  that  there’s  also  places  named  after  notable  people/places   in  the  adult  timeline  but  these  two  things  resonated  with  me  a  lot  personally.

maybe  i’m  just  a  child  timeline  enthusiast  at  heart,  after  all  twilight  princess  holds  a  very  special  place  in  my  heart   &   is  my  favorite  game,   but  i  like  the  idea  of  the  timeline  following  this  flow  the  best.    this  will  be  what  i  imagine  for  my  main  botw/totk  verses  but  might  have  AUs  of   the  games  existing  in  the  adult  timeline  as  well  since  there’s  no  canon  placement  of  them  anyway.

TL;DR:       for  how  i  portray  totk/botw,  the  ancient  times  we  see  in  totk  take  place  some  odd  thousands  of  years  post  sksw   &   pre  minish  cap,  during  the  initial  founding  of  the  first  kingdom  of  hyrule.    i  believe  sonia  to  be  a  descendant  of  sksw  zelda   &   possibly  technically  the  first  reincarnation  of  hylia/zelda  since  sksw.   i  believe  the  zonai  to  have  some  sort  of  connection  to  the  dark  interlopers  that  were  banished  to  the  twilight  realm,  most  likely  that  they  were  hunted  by  these  greedy  hylians  for  their  power   &   afterwards  went  into  hiding   out  of  fear  despite  the  banishment  of  these  hylians   &   that  this  eventually  led  to  their  extinction.   i  believe  that  botw   &   the  present  day  presented  in  totk  then  takes  place  within  the  child  timeline   &   that  botw  link  is  the  successor  of  the  hero  we  see  in  twilight  princess.

i  also  have  seen  many  good  cases  for  botw/totk  to,  both  ancient  times   &   present  day,  be  an  extremely  distant  future  of  new  hyrule  in  the  adult  timeline   &   may  include  an  au  verse  where  this  is  the  case  but  it  will  not  be  my  main  verse.

[sakarrie-creates]

2024 Fic Round-Up/Reflection

Hello y’all! I think this may be a record for me of how late I’m posting this lol. It’s been a rather lackluster year for myself creatively-speaking and a rough one health-wise, so many questions are likely going to be cut or abridged to make sure they’re relevant. Even though I didn’t write much this year, I did do a little and I think it’s good for future me to see there’s up and down years. Besides, I love reflecting and stat keeping, so I can’t miss a year just cause the numbers are low haha. Anyway, as always, my rambles are under the cut. Happy 2024 people!

2024 Stats:

Fics Started: 8 Fics Fully Written/Finished in 2024: 4 Fics Posted: 3 New WIPs: 5 Total WIPs: 25 (ish?) Words Written: 14,935 (16,927 if including non-direct fic writing such as outlines and animatic plans) Words Posted: 12,041 Fandoms Written For: 6 Events: 3 (+3)

Posted Fics

Supernatural (Gen): 1

Business As Usual (1,290): Sam and Dean deal with the aftermath of their latest hunt. Between the blood, bodies, and potential trouble from the cops, it’s turning out to be their typical Thursday night.

Merlin (Gen): 1

Through White and Drifted Snow (2,963): Merlin wakes up in a ravine, frozen and injured... He's not quite sure how he'll be getting out of this one on his own.

Irondad, aka Spiderman and Iron Man (Gen): 1

Breaking the Cycle (7,788): Shortly after the events of homecoming, Tony finds Peter in his medbay, freaked out and injured. Oh, and stuck to the ceiling. Tony has no idea why he thought he was cut out for this.

Specifics:

Events Participated In:

SPN Summergen (Fic), Irondad Discord Server Fic Exchange, Merlin Yuletide Gift Exchange, Mirage and Mischief Zine (Fic, Started 2023), Fandom Trumps Hate (Art/Fic offered), round robin writing for Constant’s b-day, and maybe a zine app here or there.

General questions:

Looking back, did you write more fics than you thought you would this year, less than you thought, or about what you predicted?

I don’t think I was expecting to write much this year, but I’m guessing I wrote less haha. I hardly did anything so it’s hard to imagine I had predicted lower. What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted last year?

Actually a few of them!! Irondad came completely out of nowhere during the summer. I’ve always respected Tom Holland’s acting, but then I stumbled across the clip of him dying in Tony’s arms... Suffice to say, as soon as I realized just how much fic was out there, I was gone. I also had a brief time of Sym-Biotic Titan brainrot this year and while I only briefly started writing a fic for it, it certainly is not a fandom I would have predicted I’d be writing for. Infinity Train isn’t surprising per say since I had a suspicion I would enjoy it a lot once I got around to writing it, but the sheer force of my love for Book 2 was a bit unexpected, even if the fic I wrote for it was just in outline form.

What’s your favorite story this year? Not the most popular, but the one that makes you the happiest.

Hmmm, not going to lie, I’m not a huge fan of most of my stories this year. They all felt forced or rushed in some way, which isn’t the best way to make me feel good about a story. I think Breaking the Cycle would be my favorite though. The irondad community so far has been so welcoming and accepting, even though the story wasn’t what I originally hoped to write. Plus I love the characters and even if I didn’t get to everything, it was a fun story to explore. 

Okay, NOW your most popular story.

Same as the last two years! Last year I thought Fragmentation’s views had started to slow down, but that doesn’t seem to be the case after all as it’s 23.9k now (3k higher that last year)! Still absolutely wild to me that so many people are still reading it. Next is still The Problem With Good Intentions at 14.3k (2k more than last year), and from the fics I posted this year, Breaking the Cycle is sweeping the board at 2.7k despite being posted only a couple months ago! The amount of kudos I get coming in on that thing daily is insane to me. It’s so fun being part of a giant and active fandom again!

Story most underappreciated by the universe?

Business As Usual has fallen pretty flat at only a couple hundred views in the last 7ish months. I wasn’t super attached to the story, so not too upset, but it’s pretty clear that the number of people reading new SPN fics has shrunk a lot.

Hardest story to write?

Hmmm well none of my fics were particularly easy to write this year for sure. I think my CS WIPs were probably the hardest. I was not in a writing place that night, so it was hard to work on demand. If I had to pick between the three I posted... I’d go with Business As Usual. Most of them I was alright once I started writing though!

Most overdue story?

It’s Only Natural is my forever WIP that I really should label as indefinite hiatus if I haven’t already. Other than that, my only posted WIP is A Long Ways Home, which I think about often. Comments have continued to be very kind and patient, which I’ve seriously appreciated! It brings me a lot of comfort knowing it’s all technically written in outline form, so there’s no danger of inspiration failing me. I just need to catch myself with writing inspiration and CS mood at the same time.

Did you take any writing risks this year? What did you learn from them?

I wrote for three new fandoms this year, so in a way all of those were risks! I think my biggest though is actually that I wrote for Irondad before watching any of the Iron Man movies. I was absolutely terrified that my characterization was going to be bad, especially since it was for a Christmas exchange. Thankfully everyone has been very friendly and my giftee enjoyed it!

How’d this year compare to your goals of last year?

Here’s my favorite part! I doubt I exceeded any goals or met any stretch goals, but I was in a creative slump both last year and the previous one, so hopefully I was reasonable. I had started to feel like interest was returning at the end of last year, but unfortunately my mental health tank of January and long covid starting in February completely ruined that. We’ll see how I did though. 

Here’s what last year’s goals were: -Have a solid zine portfolio-Make pinned update post -Post at least 4 stories -Embrace/follow the inspiration -Finish first draft A Long Ways Home -Gencest Bang -Summergen Exchange-Code:Swap -Player Appreciation Week -Apply to more zines

Easy Goal Word Count Goal: 20k (at least 10k posted) Stretch Goal (aka, if I don’t die from school agAIN): 60k (at least 30k posted) Ultimate 2021 Word Count Goal: 38k

...

Ouch.

Okay, so I didn’t meet any word count goals other than 10k being posted lol, and also didn’t meet many of the specific goals either. Geez, that’s the roughest I’ve had since doing these. Even the “following inspiration” one is a stretch since I always exclusively wrote for events and had very little inspiration in general. To be fair... it was definitively a rather bad year in many ways so I’m not upset at myself at all. Still a bit of a bummer though.

What are your fic writing goals for next year?

Welp, since I so terribly crashed last year's goals, I think I’m gonna try to go really gentle on myself this next year haha. I am hopeful things might be a bit easier though! I’ve gotten used to my long covid stuff for the most part and my mental health is at least better than half of last year’s... low standard but still improvement lol. 

Specifical goals: -Keep zine portfolio updated -Make pinned update tumblr post -Post at least 3 stories -Embrace/follow the inspiration -Work on A Long Ways Home -Summergen Exchange -Code:Swap -Irondad Exchange (if there is one) -Post a fic for one of my niche fandoms -Apply to more zines

As for word count goals...

Easy Goal Word Count Goal: 10k (at least 5k posted)

Stretch Goal (unexpected, but hopeful): 45k (at least 30k posted)

Ultimate 2025 Word Count Goal: 22k

[portmantaur]

Veilguard spoilers, general critical/negativity about BioWare, u kno how it is

I know some ppl are upset about the Major Story Beats and I am too for various reasons, but I don’t agree that this wasn’t where the story was headed — particularly, I see people complaining about the mythal/solas dynamic and im like?? Did y’all never drink of that fuckin pool of knowledge as the inquisitor? The way solas opines, “you are mythal’s creature, now” — baby that was foreshadowing that wasn’t even subtle!!! I don’t LIKE where the story has gone necessarily, especially given how the elves/dalish have been framed throughout the games, but this is DEFINITELY the story outline that was laid out by the time inquisition was over. The writing and pacing are just really bad, so these beats feel even LESS fulfilling than they otherwise would have.

Its interesting bc I’m having fun being back in the dragon age setting, but the writing/structure/pacing is such a distinct falloff, even from DAI — which I still liked, a lot even, with my main Dalish-based caveats still withstanding.

But Gaider and Weekes were ALWAYS like this re: marginalization/oppression. They ALWAYS have been. And I see some ppl being like “this wouldn’t have gone this way if daddy Gaider was here” and I’m like??? Y’all remember the Dalish origin from DAO? Remember how that ENTIRE origin revolves around the blighted eluvian that kills your best friend with the actual literal blight??? This was the plan from jump!! The writing teams were still invested and not unskilled or untalented, so it was a little less opaquely shitty, but not by much. It was ALWAYS going to be a story by white people trying to make analogous statements about real-world oppression, particularly racial oppression, that was ALWAYS going to hit with the twist of “but what if they deserved it/come from Bad People” — because, again, Weekes and Gaider are cut from the same cloth. And they’ve been very transparent about that with their behavior towards fans.

like sorry but this was always going to be the “endgame” so to speak, and my gut feeling/reading of the situation is that mostly what we got with Veilguard is a game that was originally intended to be a live-service game, and the story structure and writing and pacing were never revamped from that intention even after supposedly “rebuilding” the game from the ground up after that decision was nixed (like twice or something, no?). I mean that’s also obviously why the stylistic redesign choice is so obviously Fortnite-y — there were clear clashes with higher ups/execs on what the game was materially supposed to be (fully fledged franchise installment vs eternal cash cow), and BW has been hemorrhaging employees for a while now likely at least in part as a result of that.

Veilguard was always going to be this re: major story beats, but because of the particular development hell it went through, we’ve got a much more obvious case of enshittification across the board. as a live service game, the story structure got incredibly flattened, and no one bothered to make the decision to redo -that- aspect of the game, so we’re getting a peek behind the curtain that hasn’t been as accessible before. But I mean look at it even in comparison to Andromeda — BW has come out and said, afaik, that there are no plans for DLC or expansions at all. They’ve fully thrown in the towel on the franchise, and it would have gone this way regardless of who was in charge of writing, because the story outline, IMO, has very obviously NOT changed that much in many years. The biggest changes came at the executive level of decision making, and someone up top seems to have come to the conclusion that DA isn’t a money-making franchise anymore. Which, yeah, that’s stupid for sure, but that decision is borne of the same frame of mind that thought structuring Veilguard as a live service game in the first place was a good idea.

anyway, I do believe we’re at a crossroads where we are either witnessing BW’s uncomfortable swan song, OR there is going to be a changing of the (executive) guard again in an attempt to revitalize the company. But to revitalize DA as a franchise — while I see it as perfectly doable, even after this mess — would require such dedication and humility on the part of BW that I just don’t see it as likely.

I think the next ME is going to be what really allows us to call it, but I’m putting my bet in now that it’s the nail in the coffin. RIP BioWare, you were a beautiful and awful mess while you lasted.

[sanekibeko]

Soft-reboot (LATE) update post

Sorry lots of text but the TLDR is I'm back posting twice a week/focusing mainly on OCs/Hellverse. Anyway... Hey everyone. Sorry for the constant pop-ins and outs. I really needed more time for myself, and been in a bit of a slump. In the last update post, I said I wanted to soft-reboot all my socials. So I’m addressing that before doing anything else. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “Saneki, it’s been 3 months! Where you been? What you been doing?” Well, I’ve been all over the place trying to figure out my next steps since I graduated. I realize I have a talent for capturing the heart in storytelling and in a year-long storyboarding mentorship, hoping it can lead me to greater opportunities. I’ve been working on areas I can improve, like rough and clean-up hand-drawn animation, drawing from life, illustration skill sets, and After Effects. I’m also on the path of getting fit for my physical and mental health. One step at a time, and I’ll get there. ^^ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ My artwork will focus on Hellaverse, Viv’s Timber concept, and my original non-fandom OCs and their worlds. I’ll still do other nerd content like Pokemon, indie shows, Zoophobia, heck I’m looking at more humanoid stuff, however, it won’t be as often but things can always change! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I’ll post at least two draws by the end of every week. They’ll be WIPs, doodle boards, stills, rendered scenes, animation bits, etc. That way, I can stay active no matter what I have to share. I really need to break my perfectionist habit of not getting anything done and months going by. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I’ll support as many platforms as possible, but I only do so much for each, and I’m experimenting with Glazing too. The main ones I’ll be more active on are BlueSky, Instagram, and Newgrounds. Others are Threads, DeviantART(yeah I know), Tumblr, and Cara, but I may be less active on them. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Well, that’s all I have to say. I have stuff in the background I’ve been working on. It’ll be a slow start but a fresh one as well! I really appreciate everyone supporting me through and through. Now, it’s time for me to step up and stay in the saddle. Thx 4 readin! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oh yeah, Merry Spookmas! This wasn’t intentional, I just forgot what day it was. :P

[1-800-dreamgirl]

She never came out and publicly said she had bleached her skin but I think it’s fairly obvious (along with the other plastic surgery she gotten) when you compare pictures to her by in 2018 to now. I completely understand your point that that is her experience and that’s how she feels. As a WOC, I just simply cannot get on board with someone who puts all black women into the same category, based on personal experience, then goes onto saying how much she herself champions WOC within the industry in the same sentence. She just gives off very pick me, fake vibes but completely understand and respect you do not agree

Oh I see, that makes sense, I understand your stance! I hope I didn’t hurt or offended you or the original anon, I wasn’t trying to play devil’s advocate or defend her words, but I’m not a woc I just didn’t want to invalidate any side, but I would never say to someone, especially a poc like “oh well she was hurt get over it” because the generalization was very stupid of her to say, so I hope it didn’t come across that way. I was simply trying to understand where that came from (her words) but it’s totally comprehensible for people not to like her for what she said, and again even if she ever apologized is up to each one to decide to accept or not. I can only hope she changed her perspective on things, especially because how can she call black girls “the mean girls” and yet what about the white girls she then grew up with? If they made her feel like she didn’t belong, they are part of the problem.

The thing is: I feel like a lot of white fans of Harry use that argument to simply absolutely hate on her and be racist (at least that’s what I’ve been seeing a lot on twitter lately) and that’s not ok. But once again if while reading my response in any moment made your feel like I wasn’t acknowledging the feelings of hurt her words must have caused on people (same goes to the original anon), that was not my intention, I don’t know if the original anon was a poc, so all I was trying was to kind of be the mediator and see both sides because I don’t think it would be fair of me to point fingers and disregard anyone, you know? But I absolutely understand you!! And I wouldn’t and won’t try to tell you to change your mind.

[casualartisanninja]

Another thing I want to take responsibility for is the Yuzu incident. In mid 2022, I had an idea: I wanted to create a new persona, one that wasn't tied to me at all, with the express intention of simply being positive and sharing joy with the rest of the Chipspeech community- just sharing random Chipspeech songs.

The rest of my friend group thought this was a great idea, and began sharing songs for me to post there.

Please note that despite the fact that Nure and Seb have since gone on to make callout posts about me for making the Yuzu account and this persona, they both encouraged this plan and said to do it. (I had the original screenshots at one time but I lost them, so here's the version I put in the Google Docs draft of this response.)

If they thought it was manipulative and wrong, then they should have spoken up and told me not to do it- just as they had in the past with other ideas I had that would come off as cruel or otherwise fanned the flames we were all trying so desperately to put out. I wouldn't have done it if they had just said “I really don't think this is a good idea, that's lying and being manipulative. You’re omitting important information and playing with people’s feelings by forming a fraudulent bond with them. Would you really like it if it turned out one of us was secretly Chiploider and Lepus, posing as a new person only to show all of their friends what you were saying in confidence, and that our friendship hadn’t been genuine?” But hindsight is 20/20, and I really, really wish someone had stopped me and just told me that paragraph, and encouraged me to think more about what it’d be like on the receiving end. That no, the ends don’t justify the means, and there’s better ways to sow peace.

I would like to mention, I'm not upset at my friends for not telling me that this plan wasn't a good idea. I understand, this is one of those things that seemed like a good idea at the time to all of us. Furthermore it was disrespectful of me to pose as someone who wasn’t a native English speaker in an attempt to disguise my syntax, and I recognize that this was extremely insulting to those who actually did have to work to learn English. I’m very sorry for that, and again, I didn’t really think about the implications there. Going forward I won’t ever pose as a different person again - and especially won’t pose as a non-native speaker. I promise that if I own an account from now on, I’ll be honest and say “This is Mavis.” 

But for Nure and Seb to call me out on this and act like they were never on board with this is just deliberately misleading. Again, I run these things by my friends for this reason. I trust them to pick up on things and have foresight that I wouldn't, and be able to basically tell me if I'm being an asshole. Seb and Nure both said “do it”.

I also forgot to attach this part to the section about the asks Blu got. I apologize for this being messed up and out of order.

I had a similar phenomenon happen in Chipspeech actually - one of my friends made an alt account on Tumblr and they explained they’d use it to stand up for me, but they actually used it to bully one of the most prominent members in Chipspeech, who led most of the efforts in callouts against me. But yet, I got blamed for these tweets. I told this friend off in DMs and a voice chat, as I explained on my Youtube channel addressing this. Please watch this video for a debunking of the Glitchkrieg incident with screenshots. It also touches on some of the other Chipspeech accusations. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPxgEGCFDu0

This was a long time coming.

So, first of all I’m sorry that this took me so long to make, but there was a lot of information to sift through. I’m not planning on coming back to Tumblr in any capacity beyond this but the truth needs to be out there. (And if you're curious about the profile picture/description/etc, I had to dress this blog up a bit so it didn't look like a bot and trigger any algorithms.)

Content warnings for this post: 

Heavily discusses kinks and has screenshots of fetish art

References grooming/pedophilia accusations

References transphobia/harassment accusations

This is going to be an EXTREMELY long post with lots of screenshots, so the rest is under a cut.

The incident in Hobqueer’s server

I think a good place to start would be the spark that set off this whole chain reaction. 

I’m not sure how long I’d been in that server for when the NSFW in general incident happened. But one thing’s for sure - I didn’t start the conversation about NSFW topics. Like I mentioned on the Reddit post where someone had found me and started accusing me under my comment on the Janitor.AI post, I saw the people there discussing mpreg and oviposition. I looked at it and thought “wow the rules are a lot more lax than I initially thought!”. Yes, I know, looking back, that should’ve been a huge red flag. I also know that, looking back, I should never talk about NSFW in the general chat- even if everyone else is doing it. “If so-and-so jumped off a cliff” and all. I’m really sorry that I did that, and it was definitely a lesson for me.  But I really wasn’t thinking about that at the time. It wasn’t my intention to hurt anyone, and I especially wouldn’t have done it if I knew minors would be there. I know it wasn’t an 18+ server, and it was just a frankly idiotic move on my part. I just saw “Sniper pregnant” and pictures of the mercs with big bellies, and let my better judgment and reasoning get clouded.  However, the way that they’re portraying this incident is extremely intellectually dishonest. Gabriel failed to mention in his callout post that those minors were looking at and sharing fetish art of the mercs, leaving out most of the context for those. Thankfully one of my friends from Chipspeech (who I’ll leave anonymous) joined the server to check and see if the fetish art was still there. It was. Hobqueer and the moderators never deleted any of the discussion, and worst of all they left the fetish pictures up in full view of everybody. One person, who later admitted to being a minor in a dm, even gave a pretty graphic description of a tentacle hentai/mpreg comic. Be warned, this contains NSFW content. I blurred the names of anybody who isn't mentioned in this post.

I've run out of room for images, so I have to add the rest in another reblog. This will be a very long thread with a lot of images, so please bear with me.

[pricechecktranslations]

In a previous post you mentioned the "official" translation for the Daughter of Evil novel is garbage. Could you give me some examples of what the translators got wrong?

There is no official English translation of the Daughter of Evil novel, in scarequotes or otherwise. The translation I was referring to was a fan translation made in 2014 by a handful of individuals, only some of whom knew Japanese (and even then, not at a level that I would consider necessary for translating a full novel). At least one person who contributed to the translation admitted to copying and pasting a Chinese translation into Google Translate for the sections they worked on.

To give an overview, the translation has very poor quality control. There are large chunks of the novel that are roughly accurate (though they often read very awkwardly or nonsensically, especially as they kept a lot of the Japanese syntax), but there are also many instances where it deformed the meaning of a line beyond recognition, or outright wrote the exact opposite thing the line was saying. There is more than one scene where they just straight up left a line untranslated in Japanese. Don't get me wrong--the work was passable as an information resource so people could know what was in the novel, but it was never treated like just an information resource. It was treated and advertised to people as a standard translation of the novel, conveying the tone and intent of the text--and in that regard, it failed. Maybe I'm a snob when it comes to creative writing, but I can't even stand reading it for long. Mothy's writing was merely amateurish--this translation was atrocious.

My examples are under the read-more. The entire translation is riddled with errors, so I hope you'll forgive me if the list is a bit long. It is by no means comprehensive.

Line on the left in bold quoting from the old translation. Line on the right is quoting mine (not that mine is perfect but I guarantee you I at least could read Japanese when making it). In the interest of fairness, I'll admit that without a copy of the original Cloture, I can't be 100% certain what differences are a result of revisions on mothy's end or not. But I'm fairly confident that these ones I've selected are mistranslations.

"I’m beginning to worry about narrow-minded Asan, who seems to be looking at his past right now." -- "Beginning to worry for the timid man, I glanced his way."

"I heard strange rumors circulating among the chefs that the ingredients they got from the recent barn were unnatural." -- "I heard the cooks passing around a strange rumor. That apparently the food from our stores has been unusually light lately."

"What I’m proud of is the fact that one of the “Three Heroes”, Leonhart Avadonia, and some aristocrats who only know how to line their own pockets, are the outstanding personalities of the citizens in the first place." -- "I was very proud of my father. Leonhart Avadonia of “The Three Heroes” was different from the other, selfish nobles. He was a magnificent person, who thought of the people first and foremost."

"I really don’t understand what part of struggling with these kinds of liquids is good." -- "It is simply incomprehensible what you would find good about such a bitter juice."

"Oh, this isn’t how Riliane practices it."-- "Heh heh, that was just like something Riliane would say, wasn’t it?"

"She also said that it’s her first time to meet Germaine." -- "Germaine said that to me too, the first time we met"

"There is no plan, ah!" -- "That’s far too reckless!"

"Take advantage of the ones not yet killed before I escape" -- "I’m going to quickly escape while you’re unable to kill me"

"Since the day father was killed, I finally got the chance to taste wonderful tasting wine." -- "Since the day that Dad was killed, I hadn’t been able to enjoy the taste of wine."

"The child, can I really?" -- "Is she really on board with this?"

"Though the revolution was soon suppressed as Minis expected." -- "I had thought that the revolt would be immediately suppressed, but it seems that things didn’t go according to Minis’ expectations."

"Overconcentrated, make a ring around Chivality’s camp." -- "By gathering together into one single line, we would be able to make an opening in the knights’ group."

"And also, everything seems to have settled down, so you have to worry" -- "Don’t be so cautious. I have no intention of taking over Lucifenia."

(as a side note, this same group also did a translation of Wiegenlied, as well as (AFAIK) several of the evillious-sidestories translations).

[fallenqueen2]

@shikanaruevent​ SFW Bingo Square: Mythical

-Based off of the fact that in the show and in the movie ‘The Will of Fire’, Shikamaru could see Asuma’s ghost.

Ao3

“You know when I saw Asuma the first time? I thought it was my mind playing tricks on me, trying to give me some sort of closure.” Shikamaru mused aloud, staring at the other side of the Shogi board.

“I could explain that away, but this? You?” Shikamaru rubbed the side of his head while sighing.

“I had hoped after so many generations that this particular bloodline trait had gone dormant,” Shikaku said apologetically, transparent finger touching a piece for Shikamaru to move for him.

“I can see why you didn’t tell me, after all. Who would want to hear that they are descended from one of the original Reapers? What child would want to know that at some point they will be able to see the ghost of someone they loved.” Shikamaru moved the piece for his dead father and wasn’t that the weirdest thing Shikamaru had ever done?

“I’m afraid that now that you are older and stronger, you won’t just be able to see the spirits of those you love, but others as well. I would avoid the Uchiha district.” Shikaku advised as Shikamaru made his move, arms crossing over his bloodstained fur vest. Shikamaru shuddered at the idea of seeing a district full of slaughtered Uchihas.

“What could you do?” Shikamaru asked, his father was one of the strongest Nara’s before he died.

“I could see and interact with every ghost in Konoha. I could even help ease the recently deceased into the light like our ancestors before. I was strong, but you have the potential to be even stronger,” Shikaku leaned forward, arms slipping through the Shogi board as he stared his son down intently.

“What if I don’t want to?” Shikamaru asked quietly, he was so sick of death after the war. He was grateful he could still see and interact with his dead father and sensei, but a whole village full of dead people?

“I’m afraid you won’t have a choice son, you have started giving off vibrations that will draw spirits towards you. I will do my best to teach you, but you will have to be strong and learn the ways of our ancestors.” Shikaku said apologetically.

“Fantastic,” Shikamaru dropped his head down onto the Shogi board with a huge sigh that made his father laugh and a cool sensation shot through Shikamaru’s head as his father patted his head with his transparent hand.

~~//~~

Shikamaru trudged through the village, hands shoved in his pockets as he kept his head down. He could see a lot more transparent figures along the streets than he had a month ago, his father was a strict drill master when it came to training this new bloodline power that Shikamaru had unlocked.

“Shikamaru!” A familiar, bubbly voice rang out and Shikamaru couldn’t help but smile as he turned on his heel, hand raising to greet Naruto. Shikamaru faltered when he noticed 3 ghosts following close behind Naruto. Shikamaru swallowed and did his best not to make eye contact with the ghosts of Jiraiya, Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki.

“Hey Naruto, you just get back from a mission?” Shikamaru asked casually, noting the black under-suit that came from the ANBU uniform with his old dark orange and black jacket zipped up over the top half.

Kakashi had told Shikamaru that Naruto had joined ANBU, the blond had wanted to understand every aspect of the village before he became Hokage and that included ANBU. Kakashi had promised Shikamaru that the blond would be partnered with Ro and Soku, which made Shikamaru relax knowing the two ANBU he had worked with before would make sure Naruto would survive ANBU.

“Yup! I was looking for you everywhere!” Naruto beamed as he bounced on his feet next to Shikamaru.

“Oh yeah?” Shikamaru raised an eyebrow, determinedly ignoring the way Kushina was fussing over Naruto as she tried to tame the blond’s growing spiky hair in a way that reminded him of his mother.

“It’s been ages since we hung out! Are you busy? We can get ramen or we can train or just hang out?” Naruto trailed off quietly, fiddling with the hem of his jacket as his blue eyes darted around, suddenly seeming embarrassed. Shikamaru felt his love and fondness for the blond bubble up in his chest.

“Ramen sounds good,” Shikamaru selected Naruto’s favourite thing and was rewarded with a smile that could outshine the sun. Shikamaru laughed softly when Naruto grabbed his hand and began to drag him toward Ichiraku.

Shikamaru could almost forget about the three hovering ghostly parents that surrounded them as the two dug into their ramen bowls at the bar of Ichiraku. Naruto cheerfully slurped down his ramen and Shikamaru watched amused and fond, he didn’t think he could ever get tired watching the way Naruto could inhale ramen the way he did.

“Aww Minato, this reminds me of our first date! The little Nara even has the same smitten look you did!” Kushina grinned making Shikamaru choke on his next bite.

“Shikamaru!” Naruto cried out, rubbing the other man’s back with a worried look on his face.

“I’m fine, I’m fine. Just went down wrong is all, thanks Naruto.” Shikamaru rasped out, smiling when Naruto thrust a glass of water into his hands.

“Speaking of smitten, our son has the same in-love look you have when I choked on my ramen during our first date. ” Minato shot back smugly and Shikamaru did his best not to choke on the water at those words, his eyes darting to Naruto. The blond did have a soft, adoring if not worried look on his face as he watched Shikamaru making sure he was okay.

“Something is up with this kid,” Jiraiya rumbled as he shifted through the bar to stand directly in front of Shikamaru. Shikamaru did his best not to stare back as he reassured Naruto he was fine.

“Hmmm,” Jiraiya hummed loudly before he swiped his hand through Shikamaru’s face. Shikamaru startled, almost falling off of his stool as goosebumps erupted over his body at the cool touch that he came from a ghost interacting with him.

“Whoa! Shikamaru! Are you sure you’re okay?” Naruto leapt from his stool, arm sliding behind Shikamaru’s back with worry bright in his blue eyes.

“I’m okay, really Naruto. I’m okay,” Shikamaru promised while Jiraiya’s mouth dropped open and he pointed dramatically at him.

“Of course! You’re a Nara! Your bloodline! Holy shit! Minato, Kushina, the little Nara can see us!!” Jiraiya shouted, startling the other two who instantly crowded closer to their son and Shikamaru.  

“For fucks sake,” Shikamaru muttered under his breath before gripping Naruto’s hand.

“I need to tell you something, can we go back to your place after?” Shikamaru asked Naruto. The blond blinked in confusion before nodding seriously, he recognized the look Shikamaru was sporting.

“Of course, let me just pay okay?” Naruto squeezed Shikamaru’s shoulder before slowly releasing the Nara.

“You startled the little Nara!” Kushina patted Shikamaru’s head, sending a shiver down his spine.

“I’m sorry about my sensei Shikamaru,” Minato rubbed the back of his neck as he smiled at Shikamaru who inclined his head in silent understanding.

Minato’s eyes widened before he grinned, the smile was just as bright as his son’s and Shikamaru wasn’t sure how he was supposed to handle all this sunlight. He was a shadow and his bloodline made him even darker than any of his Shadow Jutsu could, but the shadows that had crept ever closer since Shikamaru started training his Reaper side, were being forced back by the Uzumaki-Namikaze’s.

“You’re worrying me Shikamaru, you keep spacing out.” Naruto nudged Shikamaru when he finished paying, but the Nara simply just kept staring off into space.

“Let’s go and I’ll explain everything.” Shikamaru sighed, his father had told him that this was his secret to keep or share. Naruto was one of the most important people in his life and was his Hokage, so it was only logical that Shikamaru shares his Reaper bloodline with him. Besides, he deserved to know that his parents and sensei were still watching out for him. Shikamaru decided against letting Sasuke know how many Uchiha’s were stalking his every step, now of which included his older brother.

Chouji and Ino of course knew, their clans were intertwined and the first person outside of his father and sensei Shikamaru could see was Ino’s father. How could he not tell them and relay messages between father and daughter?

Shikamaru had spaced out again, he was brought back to the present by Naruto tugging his hand, their fingers interlaced which brought a blush to Shikamaru’s pale cheeks.

“My place sound okay?” Naruto asked softly, concern shining bright in his eyes and Shikamaru could just feel his blush increasing.

“Sounds good, thanks,” Shikamaru murmured and let Naruto lead him down the streets, blocking out the chatter from both the living and the dead. His father had said he would need a grounding point and the warm, calloused hand of Naruto was what Shikamaru could focus on now.

The walk to Naruto’s apartment was quiet, but comfortable Kushina berated Jiraiya for startling Shikamaru while Minato followed them with worry in his eyes, mirroring the worry in Naruto’s matching blue eyes.

They settled inside Naruto’s apartment and Shikamaru let out a soft breath, feeling much more relaxed with Naruto at his side and only 3 ghosts nearby. Being able to see both the living and dead was overwhelming at times and it was even more exhausting than doing work as the Hokage’s aid at times.

“I don’t know how to tell you this without you thinking I’m crazy,” Shikamaru said as he rubbed the back of his neck.

“We fought the Goddess of Chakra and I have a Buji sealed inside of me, not to mention we fought next to re-animated dead Hokages. I highly doubt anything you have to tell me will make me think you’re crazy.” Naruto pointed out, lips tilting up in amusement when Shikamaru sent him a deadpanned look.

“Just be blunt!” Kushina advised from where she was sitting next to her son.

“I can see ghosts.” Shikamaru blurted out.

“Maybe not that blunt.” Minato winced slightly as Naruto’s eyes widened and his mouth dropped.

“That’s so COOL!” Naruto cheered, bouncing in place before slapping his hands on the table to lean forward. Shikamaru blinked in surprise at the outright cheer Naruto was displaying.

“Is it a Nara thing? Is that why you guys work with Shadows?” Naruto asked rapidly before falling silent when Shikamaru held his hand up, unable to stop himself from smiling.

“That’s part of it, apparently the first Nara was one of the Shinigami’s first Reapers. That power grew diluted as time went on, but my dad says it's strong in me.” Shikamaru admitted and Naruto nodded in understanding, as if talking about Shikamaru’s dead father was normal.

“Why are you telling me? This sounds like a clan secret…” Naruto sat back, biting his bottom lip.

“I trust you,” Shikamaru said simply, ignoring the way Kushina cooed at the way both young men blushed at the words Shikamaru just spoke.

“When… When did you discover you could see ghosts?” Naruto asked softly.

“I saw Asuma when I was taking out Hidan. I thought it was my mind playing tricks on me, but I saw him again during that mission to save Kakashi…Then after the war, my dad popped across from me in his usual spot to play Shogi with me. That was about a month ago, he’s been training me ever since.” Shikamaru explained quietly, Naruto absorbed the information.

“I’m sorry, as cool as being part Reaper sounds… It must be horrible to see both living and dead.” Naruto said reverently and Shikamaru felt his cheeks burn, Naruto just so simply understood the issue Shikamaru was currently dealing with.

“Exactly and I don’t want this getting out or I’ll have to deal with both the living and the dead a lot more.” Shikamaru shuddered at the idea of people hunting him down both living and dead to help settle some sort of debt or just asking him to find someone for them.

“There is another reason I wanted to tell you… I thought it was only fair for you to know that both your parents and Jiraiya are still with you.” Shikamaru took Naruto’s hand when the blond’s head snapped up, mouth dropping again.

“ Ero-Sennin and my parents?” Naruto whispered in awe.

“They are always by your side,” Shikamaru confirmed while Kushina wrapped her arms around Naruto as Minato nodded his thanks to Shikamaru while Jiraiya messed up Naruto’s hair. Naruto shivered and then jerked in realization.

“The cold spots and when I randomly get cold, is that them?” Naruto asked, eyes getting glassy as tears started to well up.

“That’s them, you were never alone Naruto.” Shikamaru took Naruto’s trembling hands and wasn’t surprised when Naruto burst into silent tears, looking at their interlaced hands like Shikamaru was his salvation.

“Thank you Shikamaru, thank you.” Naruto sniffed before he gave Shikamaru a genuine, soft smile.

“Oh,” Shikamaru realized as he returned the soft smile with one of his own.