#the ONE person who's been really cool and easy aside from giving me their work a day late is the only person to asked about it bless them

[togrowoldinv]

Memory

Natasha Romanoff x Female Reader

You feel like you’ve met her before, but you just can’t remember when or how. It turns out there’s a lot you don’t remember

Note: Hey y’all. I have been swamped these last couple of weeks studying for and taking a part of the cpa exam, but I finally had a free moment to have some fun. I went and saw Argylle, so this is loosely inspired by that. Enjoy it!

Natasha Masterlist 1, Natasha Masterlist 2, Natasha Masterlist 3, Main Masterlist

The room is silent aside from the clicks of a keyboard as Natasha tries to break through a firewall. She’s smart, but the person who created it is slightly smarter than her.

The redhead smirks when she is one step from breaking through, but her cheekiness doesn’t last. An alarm sounds and she’s met with at least ten agents swarming all around her.

“Oh hey, guess you guys found the party,” she says in her usual cool under pressure tone.

She uses the agents’ hesitation to begin attacking them to deal the first blows. She takes them down two at a time until there’s only one left. She knows who he is.

“Are we going to do this the easy way or the hard way?” Natasha asks.

“You know what I want,” he says.

“And you know what I want,” Nat replies.

The two of them keep their guns in ready position. Nat alerted for backup, but she knows most likely she’ll have to handle this on her own.

“Where is the woman?” The man asks. He shakes his gun at Nat. She sees a weakness in the way he’s holding it. He won’t last.

“If you give me the intel, I’ll give you her location,” Nat says.

“You’re lying!”

“Maybe. Or maybe I’m telling you the truth. They’re never really that different, right?”

“Drop your weapon,” he tries another tactic.

Natasha just smirks. She moves her left arm down and the man mistakenly thinks she’s giving in. The moment he shifts his aim Nat takes a shot at him. It’s an easy shot for her.

He goes down and Nat finishes gathering her data from the computer before she quickly gets out of the building. That backup she was waiting for finally arrives as she’s making her way outside.

“Thanks for the help,” she says sarcastically as Steve opens the door for her.

“Sorry,” he says. “We can’t be everywhere all the time. What were you even doing here?”

“Gathering intel,” Nat says simply. She shows him the flash drive and he just shakes his head. “The more I can find out the better I can help her, Steve. It’s an easy choice to make.”

“Nat, she’s so far gone,” he tries. “It might be worth stopping.”

“I’ll never give up on her. She’ll be herself again. I know it,” Natasha says. “Now, will you help me get this to Stark to decode?”

“Of course I’ll help you, Romanoff.”

She nods in thanks. For the rest of the drive, Natasha thinks about what her next step should be. There’s no easy fix to this situation. She needs to go where her mind works best.

Meanwhile, you are working on cleaning tables when the most beautiful woman walks in. You’ve seen her in here several times since you started working here.

She always sits at the table in the corner and orders coffee and a piece of chocolate pie. It’s always the same thing. You’ve never waited on her before, but somehow the stars align today and you’re covering that section.

You walk to her table and take a deep breath. She’s even more beautiful from this close up.

“Hey, how are you today?” You ask her.

“I’m okay,” she replies. “How are you?”

“Can’t complain,” you say. It’s your typical response when a customer asks you that question. “What can I get for you, ma’am?”

She orders her usual. You feel her eyes linger on you as you pour the coffee and bring her slice of pie to the table.

Something feels familiar about the way she smiles at you in thanks.

“Do I know you?” You ask her. She doesn’t reply, but you notice she looks away from you. “Sorry, it’s just that I had some memory loss so I’m just not quite sure who I know at this point.”

“Oh, I’m very sorry,” she says. “I don’t think we know each other though, no.”

“You seem familiar,” you tell her.

“Well, I am an Avenger so maybe that’s it,” she says. “I’m Natasha.”

“Right. The superheroes. It’s nice to meet you, Natasha,” you say. “I’m y/n.”

You hold out your hand for her to shake. When she does, you swear there’s still a lingering feeling that you know her. Maybe you’ve just seen her on television.

“I better get back to work,” you say.

“Nice to meet you, y/n,” Natasha says.

She stands from her chair and drops cash on the table. Walking towards the door, she stops short and turns back to look at you. You offer her a smile that she returns.

With that, she disappears into the city. The rest of the day goes by seemingly without any other excitement. You can’t stop thinking about your interaction with the woman, which is why you thought you were dreaming when she shows up at your door.

You blink hard to try and wake up, but the reality is that she’s truly here.

“Natasha?” You ask confusedly.

“I don’t have time to explain,” she says. “Can I come in?”

“I- what? Okay?”

She takes that as a yes. She walks inside and goes straight to the corner of the room where she picks up a piece of the floor to reveal a secret storage area.

Natasha fills her bag with the weapons that were stored under the floor.

“What is happening?” You ask her.

“Just trust me,” Nat says.

“I just met you today and you somehow know about this secret area of my house I didn’t even know about. And I’m supposed to trust you?”

“Yes,” Natasha replies. “Come on. Get some shoes on. We have two minutes.”

“Two minutes before what?”

She doesn’t get the chance to answer before a loud bang comes from outside. A series of car doors close simultaneously.

“Look, I know you don’t know me but you have to trust me. These guys are after you and if we don’t bail in the next thirty seconds we’re dead. Got it?” Natasha says.

“What?” You ask. It seems to be the only word in your vocabulary right now.

She grabs your hand and pulls you through your house. Once you’re outside, you go through the fence to the neighbors yard.

“Here,” Nat says, pulling you to a motorcycle that’s waiting there.

“I am not riding on that,” you say.

“Then you’ll be dead within minutes. Come on, y/n,” Nat says. She puts the helmet on your head involuntarily.

You have no choice but to listen to her. Hopping onto the bike, you hold on tight to her middle as she drives through the streets. At some point, a van is tailing the two of you. Natasha turns down every alleyway and street she can to get you away from the tail.

“When I say jump, you’ve got to jump!” Nat says over the roar of the engine.

“What?”

You’re quickly approaching a road that you can see has no end. She drives full speed ahead before letting go of the handlebars.

“Jump!” Nat shouts.

You cling onto her as you both jump. You have no idea how far the drop is but somehow you land in water. Natasha pulls you to the surface quickly.

You get to shore and try to gather yourself some. You’re so confused about all of this.

“Are you okay?” She asks.

“Am I okay?” You ask her. “Seriously, you’re asking me that? I don’t know who you are or what’s happening. We just got chased by a van through town and jumped off a motorcycle into a fucking lake. Do you think I’m okay?”

The woman has the audacity to smile at your words.

“I’m sorry, do you think this is funny?” You ask her, feeling fury seethe inside you.

“No,” Natasha says too quickly. “No, it’s just- nevermind. We have to get to the Avenger’s compound.”

“I’m not going anywhere with you,” you tell her matter of factly.

“Y/n-“

“Don’t!” You interrupt her. “Just leave me alone.”

Nat raises her hands in surrender and watches as you walk away. She lets you get ten steps ahead before she follows after you.

“I told you to let me be.”

“You’re up there all alone. I just happen to be walking in the same direction,” Natasha reasons. “Although, the compound is the other way.”

Despite the fact that you were just doing insanely dangerous tasks with her, you feel a certain safety in her presence.

“Why should I go with you?” You pose a question.

You notice her hesitation in answering. Like she wants to tell you something but she just can’t.

“If you just come with me, I’ll explain everything there. Okay? Please give me a chance,” Nat says. “I won’t be responsible for them finding you and finishing the job.”

“What job? I’m just a waitress. Who could I possibly have wronged?”

“I promise I’ll explain later,” Nat says. “Please follow me.”

You relent and follow her. There’s no reason for you to trust her but somehow you do. It doesn’t take long to get to the compound once Nat hot wires a car.

“Y/n?” A girl asks when you are inside. You look at her despondently and she frowns. Natasha gives he’s her a look.

You follow Natasha to what seems to be a laboratory. There’s a large screen on the wall.

“Ah welcome,” a man says. You recognize him as Iron Man. “You’re just in time.”

“For?” You ask.

“The truth,” another man answers. You’re pretty sure he’s Captain America.

Before you can speak again, photos of you litter the screen. There are some of just you and some of you and the other Avengers.

“What the hell?” You wonder aloud.

“Y/n, we wanted you to remember on your own but it’s taking too long,” Tony Stark explains. “Natasha tried to jog your memory just by being in your presence, but that didn’t work.”

“So I do know you?” You ask the woman.

“You know all of us, y/n. You’re an Avenger.”

“But I’m- no. I’m a waitress,” you say. Your head feels like it’s spinning.

“That’s what they made you think, but you’re not. You’re a special agent,” Steve says. “And one of the best.”

“I don’t believe you. This is all a joke, right?”

“It’s not a joke, y/n. Why do you think we knew those people were after you? Or that I knew about the floor in your house?” Natasha asks.

“That’s easy. You’ve been spying on me.”

“No,” she says simply.

“Then how?” No response. “This is just insane. I’m leaving.”

You start to walk away. You hear Natasha’s footsteps behind you.

“Natasha,” a warning voice comes from Tony. “Don’t.”

“You know what, you go ahead. Take a car of ours, y/n,” she says.

She holds up a pair of keys. You reach for them, but instead of giving them to you she throws a punch your way.

You surprisingly dodge it with ease. Natasha smirks at the way you look at your arms in confusion.

“How did I do that?”

“Come on, throw one,” she taunts you.

You do your best to punch her, but of course she dodges it. You spar back and forth until you’ve both had enough.

“Great, now that that’s over. Do you believe us?” Tony asks.

“I’m not sure,” you say. “How could I not know I’m an agent?”

“Brainwashing,” Natasha answers. “Very effective brainwashing.”

“But why?”

“Because you were going to uncover a huge invasion of Hydra in the government,” Steve explains. “We still can’t find the data that you had before they took it from you and erased all of your memories.”

“So the memory loss, that was a real feeling I was having?”

“It was,” Nat says. “The reason why wasn’t a car accident as they told you though. They captured you and essentially knocked you senseless.”

You rub your hands over your face as you try to take all of this in. Just a few hours ago you thought you knew who you were, but they’re telling you something completely different.

“We wanted you to remember on your own, so it might not be so overwhelming,” Nat says.

“So, we’re all what? Coworkers? Friends? I don’t remember any of you, or anything you’re describing,” you say.

“We’re friends,” Steve says. “You’re friends with all of us and with Nat-“

“Steve,” Nat interrupts. “She doesn’t need to hear that right now.”

“I don’t need to hear what?”

There are shouts down the hallway that interrupt your conversation. Tony suits up and Steve grabs his shield.

“Get her to safety,” he tells Nat.

She grabs your hand and takes you down the hallway to a door and down a ton of stairs. Nat locks a door behind her once you’ve reached the lowest level.

“They’ll handle them,” Nat says. “But the further you are from the fight the better.”

“What was Steve going to say?”

“Hm?”

“About you and me,” you prompt her.

Natasha tears her eyes from yours much the same way she did when you questioned if you knew her earlier.

“Natasha, please just tell me. Clearly, everything I thought I knew was a lie. What’s one more thing?”

“Okay,” she agrees. “We were- you and I were together.”

“Together?”

She nods.

“Define together. Like dating?”

“Kind of yeah,” she says. You look at her for more details. The silence prompts her to continue. “We were married. We are technically married.”

“Oh,” you say.

“Yeah. I didn’t think you were ready to learn that,” Nat says.

“So that’s why you knew your way around my place?”

“Our place,” she says. “But they moved all of my stuff out before you went back there.”

“Natasha, I don’t- I can’t remember anything,” you say.

“I know,” Nat says sadly. “We kept our distance once we realized what they did to you, but we’ve never stopped making sure you were safe.”

You hear the sound of the fight getting closer. Natasha reaches for your hand. She places a loaded gun in your palm.

“I want to remember.”

“You will,” Nat says. “But right now, you’ve got to fight.”

To be continued…

[tetrakys]

Hey Tetra, so how is the beta? What do you think of the game so far?

Sorry anon, I know I've been silent here, every time I think I want to make a post I never have enough time to make it as detailed as I used to, but never mind I'm going to give my quick opinion and then write something more in depth later.

So, first of all, I agree with everyone that the way the AP system is at the moment is too expensive. We pay 2AP for line of dialogue and many APs for choices. We get more free APs than in the past with the daily login, so that's a plus, but the choices are way too costly, especially the very basic ones (here called neutral choices), I shouldn't have to spend 40 APs to say I want a cup of tea! All that being said, I'm not too worried about it because I know that Chino has already reported this issue to management, and while these decisions are not up to her I know she sees the player's perspective and will do everything she can to make our voices heard.

Now, AP system aside, there are some things I really love!

Firstly, the website looks amazing, in the end it was worth the wait. It works super smoothly, and it's very pretty to look at.

And the closet/shop part is really easy to navigate, it's pretty much like the Sims so I'm used to it.

Also, the millennial in me who can't afford to buy her own home is really into the room decoration feature

I also enjoy the minigames. One is just like the explorations in Eldarya, but with no pet to feed, so it's a win to me. The other is outfit contests, we receive a theme and we can dress up our Candy and enrol in it. I am TERRIBLE at it, but even if you don't make it top3 you still win some APs and diamonds just for participating. You can also win stuff just by voting in the contest.

Now, to the story. The first episode was mostly an introduction so nothing much really happens, we just meet 4 of the LIs. It was cute, the mechanic is a bit tricky because we can't see immediately if the LoM increases or not, we find out at the end of the episode, but it's not nearly as bad as in ML, so I can deal with it. It's also possible to understand if the LI liked the interaction from their reactions. I think I'm starting to understand their personalities so I hope I'll get the hang of it when the game releases. I'm going to make a separate post about my impressions on the LIs, but I'm quite happy so far.

Something else I want to mention before ending this is a final pro and cons.

Cons, I don't like the "fairy". It's MC's godfather which is a cool character, apparently he is Agatha's cousin, that's nice. But he only brings gifts to Taki which I really don't care about, my duck will remain naked as nature intended. Or, anyway, I won't spend APs on it. I'm gonna try hard to avoid this guy, also because we have a choice to make with him and we can't skip it once we run into him.

The pro is instead the VIP system. From what I've seen, it looks very convenient. We get extra APs and diamonds every day, especially the diamonds it's a really good amount, which we can then exchange for more APs or cumulate to buy extra scenes (which are longer scenes with the LI). We also get some extra perks like an outfit, skip button for the replays, and extra jokers, which are little useful features that can be used in game. We don't know yet how much the VIP subscription costs, but if they stuck to the same prices as other game companies, it shouldn't be more than 10-15$.

And you anon, did you play the beta? Let me guys know what you think. People seem to be happy about most things except the AP system.

[hwashua-luv]

Harmonies of the Heart

In the heart of Seoul, which never slept—a city whose neon lights blinked without ceasing, painting the cityscape in all imaginable colours—the streets' beat hummed much like a pulse that had never stopped through every cranny and corner. The music industry was seated within this dynamic, lively setting, beset by chaos peculiarly its own, yet pulsating with life. Among these countless artists and producers struggling for fame and stardom, two glittering stars resonated in extraordinary harmony and synergy: Hongjoong, a producer of high order and a national idol himself, and you, an immensively promising star in the most exhilarating world of K-pop. You worked diligently and devotedly, putting money aside for the highly anticipated first album; the pressure attending to this work was nothing less than overwhelming. There, along with all of their might and eagerness, stood your fans, waiting to finally meet them on the musical horizon, brimming with excitement.

There were the expectations that your agency wanted to be fulfilled through you, heavy on your shoulders and adding to the pressure, and of course, deep inside, with all this, something that shook you hard: it wasn't the fans or the agency; not anything at all, but one of the most central figures in the industry, Hongjoong himself, became a producer for your album.

You had idolized him from afar, impressed by his incredible talent, his undeniable charisma, and the remarkable way in which he could effortlessly command a stage with a presence that drew everyone's attention. Now, by this exciting turn of events, you were going to have the incredible opportunity to work with him upfront, engaging him on a personal level. It was one of those really cold winter mornings with that freshness to the air that seemed to leave one energized as one pushed open the door and let oneself into the studio, waiting for Hongjoong. The room in itself was fairly large, filled with loads of equipment that told of the serious nature of the work conducted here, tastefully decorated with soundproofing foam designed to create an acoustically perfect environment for making music.

Hongjoong sat behind the mixing desk, all hunched over in his work of adjusting sound levels. He was so focused that it was etched in the furrow of his brows and spelled out commitment to hitting that perfect sound. However, the moment he looked up and his eyes met yours, the deeply concentrating expression transformed into one of pleasant surprise, showing one's real delight at your presence.

"Ah, glad you guys made it," he said, smooth and inquiring, reassuring. "Let me introduce myself; my name is Hongjoong. It's so great to finally meet you guys in person."

You smiled, feeling a flutter of nerves. "Hi, Hongjoong. I'm Y/N. It's an honor to work with you."

He motioned to the plush leather couch set directly opposite his mixing desk. "Please, have a seat. Today, we really are going to narrow down your title track. I have been hearing so many fantastic things about you, and I must say I'm pretty excited myself to see some of the cool sounds and ideas that we can bring to life together with this collaboration."

He plopped down on the sofa, enviably effortless in his grace, so casual. His manner struck a balance: undeniably professional but not stifling in any way, and unmistakably easy—an presence which immediately enveloped one with comfort, putting one instantly at ease.Now, the first couple of hours of the session were focused on one very interesting speech about your vision of an album.

Hongjoong remained very attentive, asking many really deep questions with regard to where your inspiration was derived from, how you showed off your own style, and what kind of messages you wanted to give out into the world through your music. Then, for a person who was genuinely interested in your work, he did get excited. It indeed was going to make your debut something truly unforgettable.

You could feel the palpable shift in intensity that enveloped the room when it came time to start recording. Hongjoong was so great; he flowed well and guided you through much finesse on every take individually. His notes weren't just precise and well-considered but encouraging one in a steady manner throughout. After a couple of tries at the take, Hongjoong relaxed back in his chair and began to get into the sound of the playback. He looked up, deep and introspective, and exclaimed, "That was really great. You guys have a really unique sound, and I really feel like we're very close to getting our final product."

You felt overwhelmed with relief mixed with exhilaration. "Thank you so much! I really appreciate everything that you've done to guide and support me in everything so far."

Hongjoong's eyes softened as he smiled. "It's my pleasure. You've got a lot of talent. It's just about finding the right way to showcase it." 

As the hours ticked by, the initial nerves that surged in you at some time or another started peeling off to the background. The studio, once silent, now babbled easily with great laughter and light-flowing conversation between the two of you, sharing stories and experiences of respective careers that each of you had been in.

It became all the more evident that Hongjoong was not only a producer who was so talented with awesome skills but an ultimately sweet and kind-hearted person to have a very warm and approachable nature.

The evening drew to a close and the session came to an end with everybody satisfied. Hongjoong cleaned up his notes and got himself ready to leave the studio.

"Before we hit the streets," he said, turning to you with a deep-thinking expression on his face, "I wanted to take just a minute to ask if you'd be interested in perhaps going out and grabbing a bite to eat together. It has been a rather long day of activities—many and varied. I am more than convinced that both of us really need just a little bit of a breather for some time to be able to sit back and enjoy something good."

Your eyes widened in surprise. "I'd love that."

You both agreed upon a small restaurant nearby that Hongjoong often went to for comfort food, generally for relaxation. Now, sitting opposite each other with plates of steaming hot ramen and perfectly grilled meats set before you, the conversation flowed effortlessly and naturally.

Hongjoong had been quite charming all the way through, quick-witted. So with his characteristics, when you parted ways, you realized that you actually enjoyed his company so much more than you had expected, and it did please you. The night had become much longer, and the restaurant began to thin out, with Hongjoong now showing thoughtfulness as he took initiatives to pay the bills and walked you to your car. A crispness in the air refreshing a bit to the senses, with different city lights everywhere around, soft light from those lights beckoned to one onto the streets. "I just want to take a second and thank you for tonight," you said, turning your body toward him to face him square on. "I really had such an amazingly great time."

Hongjoong smiled warmly back. "Me too. It's nice to be able to know the person behind the music." 

In that particular moment, there was a profound and palpable silence that enveloped both of you, creating an atmosphere thick with the weight of unspoken words that lingered in the air like an electric charge. Hongjoong, sensing the intensity of the moment, took a deliberate and small step closer toward you, his gaze locking onto yours with a tender softness that sent your heart racing in response to the undeniable connection between you. 

"I know this might be a bit presumptuous, in-your-face, maybe," he began, his voice very low and barely above a murmur. "But I just had to say that—I really enjoyed working with you and spending time with you. It would really be great if we could keep on exploring the possibility of learning more about each other." A blush began working its way up your cheeks; you nodded almost imperceptibly, betraying your excitement. It was that exciting mix of adrenaline and just a tiny little bit of nerves. "I would, too," you said.

For what felt like a fraction of a second, Hongjoong's hand barely grazed yours, but it had the effect of electric shock waves throughout your entire body. He leaned closer, and his lips found yours in a soft, pressed-in kiss in that very intimate space between the two of you. It seemed to be a pause of the fleeting world cocooned around the two of you at that moment, having it feel completely like it was you alone, wholly lost in that common moment of bonding and understanding. As he finally drew back, his eyes slid into yours again, almost as if he was searching for yet another sign or wince of discomfort that might have lingered. But all you could find him reflecting in return was regard for mutual relief tinged with rejoicing, now full in that moment of time. 

"I've had the desire to do that for quite some time now," Hongjoong admitted, his voice remaining gentle and soft. "I really hope that it was okay." You smiled, and it seemed like a flush ran through you. "It was much better than okay." 

With all those goodbyes in your heart reflected in your eyes, everything that had happened that night started replaying in front of you on your way home. Though as much as the kiss had been a surprise, it really had seemed so right. It all combined to remind that amongst the mad rush and tornado often called the music business, real people and pure moments still endured and flourished. You stepped back into the safety of your apartment and just paused for a moment, catching a glimpse of yourself in the mirror. A small smile touched your lips. Undoubtedly, in front of you, the road had been peppered with countless challenges, but now you are caught by a really deep feeling of peace, and it sang through every note of your music and at the very depth of your heart.

︵‿︵‿୨♡୧‿︵‿︵︵‿︵‿୨♡୧‿︵‿︵︵‿︵‿୨♡୧‿︵‿

Word count: 1690

Author's note: This is my first time publishing my work so please let me know if I have spelling or grammar mistakes. The same book has been posted on Quotev and Wattpad (hwashua-luv) and each oneshot will be posted on Instagram (hwashua._.luv1708). Requests are also open <3

All rights reserved. © 2024 hwashua-luv

All works written by me do not copy, translate or repost my works without my given consent.

[lunarspiral1127]

What If....? season 2, episode 4. Due to the holidays kicking my butt to exhaustion, this is gonna be one post. *SPOILERS*

So, Tony really did end up in Sakaar after he went through the wormhole in the Avengers movie. I'm surprised the Grandmaster became a fan of him when it's been days. I guess it's because it was one human who took down the Chitauri.

Instead of gladiator fights, it's racing. The whole race scenes were cool, and it reminded me of a mix of Speed Racer and Mad Max in space dialed up a few notches.

Was not expecting a dynamic with Tony and Korg, but it works. Plus, them teaming up with Valkyrie was cool too. Speaking of which, I'm glad she's not capturing people to give to the Grandmaster in this universe. They still have her be king of Sakaar, which I guess it makes sense cause she unintentionally melted the Grandmaster and Tony needs to get back home. These three work great as a team and I'm glad they got along in this episode.

Another thing I appreciate about this episode, is that it didn't do Tony dirty. He wasn't humiliated or disrespected, he showed what he was capable of and he was really cool. I mean a big Iron Man suit that can turn into a car and can be boosted with his arc reactor? That's pretty sick. Plus, he stands up against Gamora while convincing her to be her own person, and when he's being framed as being a bad guy, he proves it wrong to the Grandmaster and beats him. This version of Tony Stark is awesome.

And, after all that, Tony still helps Gamora take down Thanos, which I was surprised it was that easy. Just catch him off guard and hit him with the melting stick. The look on his face, though. Like he was like "seriously?" 😆

Speaking of Thanos, this guy's getting killed a lot. Twice in Endgame, killed in the Illuminati universe in Multiverse of Madness, wiped out in Strange Supreme's universe, turned into a zombie, sliced in half by Ultron-Vision, killed by Ronan offscreen, and now melting stick. This guy has now died more times than Tony (6 deaths) and Vision (5 deaths)!

However, this was supposed to show how this Gamora came to be and is the same Gamora that was chosen by Uatu to be the Guardians of the Multiverse. And, she was fine in this, I haven't seen much of why she was picked in the first place. Yeah, she killed Thanos, but Tony accomplished so much in that universe and was the one who helped her even when she was trying to kill him. He was the main character, she was a supporting character, maybe even a side supporting character. So why wasn't he picked by Uatu instead?! He would've been a great help to the team too. That's just the one thing that's been bugging me about this episode. Aside from that, it was good to me.

So, tomorrow will be the continuation of Captain Carter universe. Why? Well, season one finale left a cliffhanger ending of her and Natasha finding the Hydra Stomper which is setting up that universe's version of The Winter Soldier. So, we kinda gotta follow up on that. That and the MCU loves to show more of Captain Carter, cause I heard that she's gonna be more of a main character in this series like last time. I could be wrong though.

[iraprince]

Heyo! Any advice on struggling to get your art seen in the world? I feel like no matter how much I post, or what I post, people never see it or seem to like it. I love art and am pursuing it as a career (hence why Im getting a degree in it currently lmao) but its kind of disheartening to work really hard on something, post it, and no one sees it.

oh, man. i'm afraid for this one i don't feel like i have a lot of solid advice. having a large-ish following online feels like something that kind of just, like, Happened to me, mostly on accident/in ways outside of my control, and even if i had some ideas on how to potentially replicate those gains i don't think they'd work consistently. (also, a lot of my large jumps in follower count came from mental health related work going viral bc it's #relatable; this is something i have complicated feelings about and it's absolutely not a viable, like, "strategy" or something that i would recommend, in the way that ppl can say like, "fanart gets attention!" or stuff like that.)

so, i don't have advice for how to actually GET those eyes on your art; i can maybe help with making ppl more likely to STAY once they do find you, and how to build a following that will actually help you maintain a living from your work -- bc i have TONS of peers w a following a fraction of the size of mine who get more jobs than me, are doing cooler/more "professional" stuff than me, etc! (heads up that most of my experience is on twitter; i know less than nothing about places like instagram + tiktok, and while tumblr functions very differently from twitter i feel like i handle things mostly the same here, aside from doing less personal posting/being less talkative and not 'networking' or following many people).

SCROLLING BACK UP TO ADD A SPOILER ALERT: AS ALWAYS I HAVE SAID "HAHA IDK I DON'T REALLY HAVE ANY ADVICE" AND THEN PROCEEDED TO TYPE A FULL ESSAY. IF YOU ARE ON DESKTOP YOU CAN HIT THE 'J' KEY TO SKIP THIS POST. IF YOU'RE ON MOBILE, I'M SORRY

a very important thing, especially professionally: it HAS to be easy to see what you do. (this is easier here on tumblr, where u can have a designated art tag etc, than on twitter, which is an awful website that sucks. <- guy who makes all his money on twitter) this means, like -- if i see something from you and get curious and click your profile, it should only take one more click to quickly see at least SOME of your art. on a professional account, it's probably best for your icon to be your own work, something snappy and memorable and eye-catching that reads well at a small size; people shouldn't have to dig for 20 minutes before they can start browsing your art. on twitter, this means TRY not to gunk up your media tab with a ton of reaction images/screencaps of your gacha pulls/etc; on here, it means make your art tag easy to find; on any website, a portfolio link, prominently displayed, is the best bet. (i am still working on that one myself lmao and i've been working professionally full time for a few years now so like, there are outliers and wiggle room on all of this).

next! it's great when your audience finds you, but you have to find them, too. find artists who do similar stuff to you and get into their stuff -- sincerely, not just as "networking." (like only do this with ppl whose stuff you actually think is cool, not just trying to get in mutuals with everyone you see in hopes of a bump, obviously.) get interested in other indie artists, find the people who are working/publishing in the spaces that are exciting and aspirational for you, and support them! i don't want it to sound cynical when i say there's a kind of give-and-take built into this; the point is not "well, if i reblog/retweet a bunch of YOUR stuff, maybe you'll feel obligated to boost mine in return," but that when you find other artists/creatives who are on the same wavelength as you, you will naturally stumble into pools of people who want to support art like yours, and you and your newfound peers will help each other when you hype each other's stuff up and direct followers to each other! (again re: things going differently on dif websites: this is twitter-specific for me, bc i use my tumblr as a gallery/portfolio. that doesn't mean it doesn't happen here tho! it can and does happen everywhere!)

it is really not a competition. i know that SOMETIMES it is in like, a really nitty-gritty numbers sense; people only have so much money to spare, they will make choices about whose patreon they can afford/what comic to buy/etc, that's true. but to me that's not competition. people who are sincerely into your stuff will hang on until they can afford it; maybe that means someone follows you for two whole years before the planets align and they have the budget/opportunity to commission you. by hanging out in similar circles you are not taking potential business or opportunities away from anyone else, nor are you risking leading your own audience to Someone They'll Like Better; you're just offering more options, and the internet is VAST and endless, and EVENTUALLY people will show up who are into YOUR STUFF, SPECIFICALLY. helping each other is never going to stifle or delay that!!

and my final chunk of advice is the one i give constantly that everyone is probably super sick of hearing but i just seriously seriously believe in it, even tho i know it's slow to pay off and hard to follow: keep doing exactly what you want to. keep doing it!!! you have to!!! yes, i mean the stuff that's getting like, 2 likes and 0 reblogs! the stuff that 'nobody likes!'

earlier i mentioned i have gotten big follower bumps from like adhd comics and stuff like that going viral. the thing is that, from a professional standpoint: my follower count has like, more than quintupled from where it was at a few years ago; my patreon income has absolutely NOT quintupled lmfao. it has less than doubled, over that same period of like... i wanna say over 4 years. that's still good, i'm grateful for it, and i owe a lot of it to the sheer numbers game (the more ppl see ur work, the more likely it is you'll reach someone who decides to support you), but there is absolutely not an actual direct correlation between numbers and career success/stability.

where there IS a direct correlation is between "people who give a shit about the art i really truly love making" and "people who like my art enough to support me professionally." HUGE chunks of the followers i get any time something goes viral slough off over time; there's nothing wrong with that, they just follow me bc something was funny/interesting and end up realizing my work's not actually their thing. but the ppl who follow me bc they're into all the stuff i post most consistently, the stuff i care about and am passionate about, stick around. and i would not have found them if i wasn't posting the shit i care about!

out there there are people who will be 100% crazy about the stuff that is 100% what you want to make. it's like actually statistically impossible for there not to be. the more niche your thing is, the longer it will take to find them, but they absolutely exist. but if you give up before you find them -- if you start saying, "well, i'll put in 50% of this idea that i love, but the other 50% is too weird and nobody's gonna like it and it'll flop" -- well, in that case, you can only ever find the ppl who are 50% into what you do. don't fuck yourself like that!! you cannot deny yourself the possibility (the INEVITABILITY!!! IMO!!!!!) of finding the people who will 100% get what you're doing.

so: on a pragmatic level, i'm sure there will be ppl who disagree with me on this, and who think it's absolutely mandatory to do fanart as a crowd draw or learn about algorithms and posting times and get on tiktok and do the visibility grind and everything and that it's stupid and irresponsible to tell people not to. i'm sure it's also easy to point out that i'm speaking from a place where i now have more eyes on my stuff than i know what to fucking do with so maybe i'm just totally out of touch and being naive or something. but for me the most important part of doing art now, ESPECIALLY as a career, is to keep loving it and to believe in what i'm doing and to build an audience that cares about the same things i do. and i think it is really really vital to make that your top priority. bc if you don't, then even if you DO crack the code to suddenly getting tons of notes on everything etc -- will you even keep wanting to do it?

this job is hard. it's lonely, in my experience; i spend so much time sitting in front of my computer alone. it's unstable, which is stressful and can be frightening. it's emotionally taxing, for me, because art is so important to me that it's hard to set boundaries and separate my identity from it and actually treat it like a job. it has taken me a long time to find success doing this; maybe i could have gotten there faster if i had tried to find ways to draw an audience specifically, but i think if i had somehow managed to get a big patreon following/tons of commissioners/etc by doing something formulaic or doing stuff that specifically gets tons of attention, but isn't what's natural for me -- i don't think i would have lasted very long that way. this is already hard and complicated enough; i don't think it's sustainable to give up any unnecessary ground on doing exactly what you're passionate about, bc at least in my case, that's mandatory for this even being a livable career for me. i would burn out and decide to do something else very quickly if the only way to succeed was to chase numbers/engagement.

doing it this way is very slow. if i hadn't been able to lean on family/my wife while starting up, i would have had to have a day job for much longer (like, years, probably) while saving up and preparing to go full time; for as long as you struggle to get traction, it may mean going full time has to be on the backburner. but the thing is that there's nothing wrong with that, it's the reality for the vast majority of us (from what i've seen) -- and you'll eventually build a career that can last way longer, i think.

okay oh my god i'm done. sorry about that. like i said this job is pretty lonely and i sit here all day and think about this stuff and then generally do not talk about it with anyone until somebody asks me about it and then i repeat myself at length again. like i did here. anyway have a good night sincerely and i hope some part of this was helpful!!!

[no-white-dress]

Alright everyone, gather around for

RIMINI COMICS INTERVIEW WITH IGINIO STRAFFI

Translated by me word by word because I do not have the patience to correct fake news spreading from half-baked translations again

HOST: As we already said, the Winx are turning 20. An incredible journey between 8 series [seasons], movies, spin-offs, and even a reboot, which I know you're preparing at this moment. In which moment – is there a particular moment when you noticed that this project was becoming something crazy? Was there a moment that made you understand this?

STRAFFI: Well, yes. It all happened fast. In 2004, when it aired first in Italy, then in France, then in the United States, then in Germany, in all the main countries and we got ratings that were double the normal for the various channels that aired Winx, and we got the data from Mattel and other licensees that sold products – dolls and whatnot – as if they were bread so we realized that these characters had, in fact, let's say, broken through everywhere. The recipe, the contents of the Winx were truly global and universal.

HOST: They worked. Cool, cool. I imagine it must have been an incredible emotion to find out that they were becoming an event...

STRAFFI: For me it was even earlier, when we started the animation tests, to see from the static drawing these characters who moved, flew, who talked etcetera, I already realized they had something really special. We studied the eye, a bit all that was the look of the Winx, it was all really, really powerful and us boys asked "please come out of the screen".

HOST (laughing): True, true. Raise your hand if you ever fell in love with a Winx! ...Pretty much everyone. What do you mean only Musa? [to the audience] And going back to the beginning of it all, were there creative difficulties during the creation of the show, maybe in regards to the construction of the Winx's world, the story, or their very personality?

STRAFFI: No. For the story I took almost a year, 9-10 months, like a real gestation, to pinpoint everything, so much so that I had already written the first 3 seasons, hoping for the first to do well. But there was already the fil rouge, the revelations that had to happen proceeding with the story. Instead, the graphical part was indeed a little more complex, because after having already realized one episode, and even presenting it to TVs, I realized that they weren't as strong, as original as we wanted, as made in Italy, as innovative, so we restarted everything. I told my closest collaborators, "I realized they aren't strong enough, we must start over with the graphic research". There have been scenes of people who wanted to jump out of the window, it wasn’t easy, and I added to the team a real fashion stylist, going back to the discourse about the arts, of how important specialization is. This girl, she was from Ancona but worked in Milan for the Prada group, Miu Miu, realized for us a series of looks, haircuts, very fresh and innovative, and from there, translated into models for animation, were born the Winx as you have known them on TV, because of the pilot which was called Magic Bloom, nothing aired.

HOST: I imagine in a creative process, to be ready to take the idea and set it aside to restart...

STRAFFI: You never do that in a cartoon, because it has frightening costs, so when you've already arrived to animation and color, you don't throw anything away, you go on anyway. However, this project was so important, Rainbow had some extra money from Tommy&Oscar, from previous projects, and since I'm passionate about my profession I said "who cares, let's throw everything away and make something even stronger".

HOST: It worked, it worked great! So I would give him an applause. Now, I'd have some questions that come directly from the community. A lot of questions were selected, we took the most requested, and we bring them here so maybe the community can satiate some curiosity. They ask: "if you could change something in the plot of Winx, what would you change?"

STRAFFI: I must say nothing, because it worked so well I wouldn't change anything. Maybe I'd be more careful from season 4 onwards, since we, let's say, followed the requests of broadcasters etcetera; instead, like we're doing in the reboot, I'd be more careful with that, meaning, with maintaining the story really, really in syntony with what is Winx's DNA, which is to always be one step ahead, with content different from the usual, ideas that maybe are new to the public, and I think this is the only element we always need to keep in mind.

HOST: Absolutely, absolutely yes. They also ask if it would be possible, although we just talked about it earlier, to know more about the origins of the Winx Club as Magic Bloom.

STRAFFI: Well, what I said before, I mean, the series was called [that as] working title because we never thought of calling it Magic Bloom, it's a too childish title, but, let's say, it was really different especially in regards to graphic; the story was pretty similar but the graphic was very different. From there, this huge work I mentioned to remake everything to make something new.

HOST: Then we have, instead, a curiosity about your personal taste: who is your favorite villain of the animated series?

STRAFFI: Which one? [to the crowd]

CROWD: Valtor

STRAFFI: Valtor is the favorite villain, but come on guys, the Trix are too cool. I'd even make a spin-off on the Winx, maybe live action, I'm thinking about it. [pretty sure he mixed up and meant Trix here] Because we know little of the Trix.

HOST: Exactly. Instead, your favorite transformation?

STRAFFI: Heh... Enchantix.

HOST: Enchantix. Dr Straffi gave something away about transformations. Then the community asks: "have you ever wanted to add a fairy with a different power, and in that case, which power?"

STRAFFI: I thought about it sometimes, but then... they're already so many, because 6 characters are a lot, plus Roxy, who is this seventh Winx who arrives every now and then, let's say I would've liked to have a telepathic fairy, who could read others' minds a bit, but let's say Musa is a bit like that, so we don't need another one, we have them all.

HOST: Instead, in the case of a brand-new character to add as a member of Winx Club, can you give us a famous person you'd be inspired by to create a new character?

STRAFFI: Well, now in the reboot we will have big news. A very, very important character will make his entrance in this new series [NOTE: he uses male pronouns because "character" is a male noun in Italian, we don't know the gender for sure yet!], and for the visual part we haven't got an inspiration yet, but...

HOST: There's a few ideas.

STRAFFI: There's a few ideas.

HOST: You have already answered the last question, in fact they asked if new characters would be introduced in the reboot, apparently there will be a few surprises.

STRAFFI: There will be big surprises in the reboot, something really, really new, so I invite you all to... now one more year, about one year and a half of production, but, but I think the new fans but especially those of yesterday will find it an interesting and engaging show, from all points of view, from the content to the graphic part of it.

HOST: I am really curious. Hands up if you're curious! But we can't do any spoiler, of any kind, can't help it. So I ask you one more big applause for Dr. Iginio Straffi, thank you again for being with us...

STRAFFI: Thank you.

[thewertsearch]

Asks Compilation 11/12

I never considered that Aradia could be feeling sincere gratitude towards Equius - that's a good point, and might partially explain her flushed feelings for him. Similarly, I never thought about how difficult and impractical a relationship would be for Equius, given he has this kind of strength paired with this kind of dexterity.

Anyway, I half-agree with your thesis. I can imagine a hypothetical kismesissitude between an older, more mature Equius and Aradia, and I think that relationship could potentially be healthy, for the reasons you describe.

But the one we're getting is doomed from the start - Equius's mind-control shenanigans have pretty much torpedoed the whole thing. I don't think he can have a healthy relationship until he figures out why that was wrong.

I'll give you a freebie right now - most of the Jojo villains would fit right in with the Felt!

Yeah, it's not like romantic rivalry is a new idea. Really, the more I think about it, the more I think Hussie's riffing on real relationship tropes with all the quadrants.

Hell, I could probably list some fictional characters that work pretty well as Moirails - and I'm not just talking about The Locked Tomb!

[ sent when you posted your troll ranking! - C ]

She's the best, she's the worst, and she's destined for great terrible things.

Sorry Eridan - someone had to nab last place!

He does have a great design. The cape and scarf work well together - I can see how he'd be easy and fun to cosplay.

We have two opposing views here, and they both make good arguments. Aristocrats do tend to be egotistical by nature - but Alternia would expect him to act that way, even if it wasn't his natural tendency.

I personally don't think Eridan ever intended to exterminate the land-dwellers, but I'm not sure he ever realized that himself.

Don't forget Insane Clown Hussie, which is when your webcomic author keeps putting more harlequins in their story.

Toby, what are you doing back in my ask box? Get outta here, you scamp!

Ayy!

It's funny, I never considered that many people are reading through the liveblog/chrono/ tag. I'm almost never on my blog's page; I see it through the dashboard!

Happy belated birthdays, Jade, Dave, and, Rose!

Odd. It really looks like John's birthday should be December 2nd. Maybe something went wrong with his meteor.

The Newtonverse is a corruption of Homestuck, but Homestuck is already a parody of a million other things. It's one layer too deep, and feels 'wrong' as a result.

Unless Cool and New Webcomic is a similar style of parody, in which case, who knows? Maybe the Newtonverse is simply real, and trying to break into our reality.

Yeah, that makes sense. She certainly looks like a classic eldritch monster.

I can't see the commentary - I assume because some of it contains spoilers. For comments that don't spoil anything, feel free to send them along.

It's always very tempting to check out other livebloggers so I can compare and contrast. I won't, though - quite aside from any worries about spoilers, I just don't want to influence my own opinions!

This has always been a blind spot with me, and it always will be. Try as I might, I will never recognize the difference between Rouge and Rouge.

I knew the comic had about 8000 pages, but it's good to know it clocks in at 8128.

It annoys me more than it should that it's not 2^13, or 8192. It would have been a nice round number to finish on!

Thank you, and welcome!

Eridan's beliefs don't really make sense - but it makes sense that they don't. It's bigotry, after all.

He knows trolls like Kanaya, and can clearly see that there's nothing inferior about her - but he can't let go of what he's been taught, so he just doesn't address it, and continues on as normal.

This comic is damn long, so it's a fun reference to make.

I'd probably pick one. No special reason - I just sort of vibe with the number, and it's the closest to something kooky like zero, or a negative number.

I would have picked the cueball, but I don't think I want Scratch as a rival...

Ok, that's fair, actually.

I love how she's trying to 'cull' them.

It's a good bit. I wonder if this means Hussie's trollsona is a green-blood, like Kanaya?

Read it!

It's not intended to! The others all link to the post where the work was recommended to me, but Con Air wasn't recommended - it's just a movie slightly relevant to Homestuck. I have it up there for completeness, and it's underlined for consistency.

[hamable]

Thoughts while watching the new miraculous movie cuz I’m three minutes in and can already TELL I’m gonna be losing my mind:

Spoilers under cut obv

Daddy no :( you can’t take me to school tomorrow with fresh baked goods for my whole class :( that’s so embarrassing :( what would they THINK ?!?!

Marinette: I want a better life (beautiful, picturesque Paris, apartment above your parents bakery, heading to a fancy school) cause I’m so clumsy???

Me: GIRLY ILL SWAP WITH YOU???

God I saw stuff about the singing voice and it’s so tonally and stylistically different from Christina Vee’s VAing that I can’t take it seriously. The singer isn’t necessarily bad, but it’s so clearly a different person.

Aside from the im loving the animation so far. It’s so cool seeing these character I’ve known since like 2017 in a new, more polished style.

Goddamnit we’re still making popular girl no carbs jokes???

DAMN ALYA THATS COLD (oh sorry, do I need to take a number behind the line of friends coming to your rescue?) LIKE YOUVE HAD ONE LINE SO FAR.

Chloe going about this bully/rival thing reeaallll fruity

Emo Adrien just trying to listen to MCR and tune out the normies that just don’t get it 😡😭

NINO BEST BRO

EW WHAT HAIR IS THAT GABRIEL

Nooroo called them the ladybug and chat noir miraculouses, but shouldn’t it be the ladybug and black cat miraculous? I thought they chose their names for themselves, ladybug sticking with ladybug, chat noir coming up with his own?

TIKKI IS SO CUTE OMG

This chat noir so silly and goofy

NOT CARELESS WHISPER ARE YOU KIDDING ME. YALL COULDA DONE A BEAUTIFUL ORCHESTRAL SWELL AND YOU PICK C A R E L E S S W H I S P E R?!?!?!?!

Btw why did Marinette prove her worth while adrien was just like. Doing hw. It’s easy to prove you can use the ladybug for good. Show me why he was chosen to use destruction for good. That’d be so interesting.

PUSS IN BOOTS

Plagg take an antacid plz

SHE THREW IT OUT THE WINDOW

Pop off hawk moth villain song honestly, best one so far

OK HAWKMOTH SING

Nino Dr. Love omg my favorite guy

Golden rule: always stay cool… (voice immediately shoots up an octave when Alya speaks to him)

That’s NOT HOW ROLLERCOASTERS WORK

That’s gotta be at least a few casualties

ASHDJFJF Catches Chloe from a deadly fall only to redirect and chuck her HARDER into a dumpster

Chloe you gotta stop giving off repressed fruity vibes

This movie has not established enough of a connection between marinette and adrien to justify ladybug rejecting chat noir (on the basis of loving someone else, I mean, not that she can’t reject him at all)

Plagg? Not the time.

WTF HAPPENED TO YOU GABRIEL?!?! DID YOU GO ON A BENDER?!?!

The movie has not established enough, if any, disconnect between adrien and gabriel. I love seeing adrien stand up for himself, but it feels kinda weird

LMAO HES LIKE BOUNCING IN PLACE WITH ANGER DONT MAKE ME LAUGH

Adrien with headphones is so fucking funny to me. Head down shoulders hunched, listen to welcome to Nightvale cause no one else gets it

Chloe. Every. God. Every word out of your mouth is so fruity. “There is someone else. And she’s right in front of you.” Someone else for who, Chloe?? For marinette?? I better you’re hoping she thinks you mean u and her huh?

Crush likes someone else. Life not worthy living. Dreams not worth pursuing.

All these songs run together. Except hawkmoths. His kicked ass.

Jesus Christ it’s Armageddon

STOP WITH THE FUCKING CARELESS WHISPER

HAS HE BEEN LISTENING TO CARELESS WHISPER THE WHOLE TIME?!?! THIS FUCKING LOSER OH MY GOD

Ladybug out here in YOUR FATHERS APOCALYPSE and you’re MOPING IN YOUR FANCY HOUSE

It’s the end of the world are you really gonna be salty rn?!?!

Ew why it’s the cataclysm like. An oil slick?!

Oh shit he dead

Oh he super dead

From the top of the Eiffel Tower? Into water?? You’re dead.

WHERE IS THE LAVA COMING FROM?!

SINCE WHEN DO YOU HAVE THE FORCE HAWKMOTH?!

Damn show hawkmoth could never.

Jesus fucking razor winged butterflies

Movie says fuck sentimonster adrien here’s Emilie pregnant

Anyways uh you killed and displaced likely hundreds of citizens so get ready for a lifetime in prison, hawky

OH I FORGOT ABOUT MIRACULOUS LADYBUG LMAO WERE GOOD ACTUALLY

Ok you placed the rubble back together but a bunch of people are still probably dead right

Ya Chloe make a quick exit bc of that gay crisis you’re having. Next year? Back to bullying. What was this year Chloe? Hm?

Overall: cool animation and effects, nostalgic for early lady noir dynamic, writer brain is itching for what could’ve been, but otherwise it is what it is, prob won’t watch it again.

EDIT: SHE DISNT DO MIRACULOUS LADYBUG UNTIL THE END RIGHT???? LIKE AFTER A FEW MONTHS OF HEROING??? SO ALL THE SHIT AT THE FAIR. JUST HAPPENED. YOU CANT TELL ME THERE ARENT LIKE. DEAD BODIES. I DONT THINK SHE KNEW SHE COULD FIX IT RIGHT??? PEOPLE DIED. YOU DESTROYED A CHUNK OF A CITY GABRIEL.

[emeritus-fuckers]

Hello! I'm sorry this is so late, but I wanted to submit a matchup, if that's still going? My name is Kat; I'm a genderqueer person (all pronouns) who is bisexual, polyamorous, and greyromantic. This means that while I find most people attractive, I tend not to fall in romantic love unless I know them really well, but I have no problem having physical relationships that are platonic (at least to start). I'd love any matchup, but I would really hope for one of the Ghouls or Papas! I'm fairly tall for being AFAB (5'8") and I'm pretty curvy too. I've always been a larger girl, which made me pretty insecure growing up. I have long brown hair and brown eyes. My style of dress is fairly inconsistent; in the warm months I like to wear short skirts and frilly tops, I jokingly call it fairy-punk. When it gets cold I default to slacks/long skirts and sweaters, think librarian. I also have a fondness for combat boots, they're basically the only shoes I wear. I tend to be pretty shy around new people, but once I'm comfortable I am very bubbly. Most people describe me as sweet, kind, intelligent, and polite. I'm very much a mom friend, and I love taking care of the people I love. That said, I can often get into my own head a bit and panic, especially when it comes to asking for things I want. I try really hard to always make sure the people around me feel safe, happy and loved. My hobbies include video games, listening to music, writing and reading (mostly fanfic), going camping with my friends, and baking. I bake a lot, and will almost always make something if I'm going to a party or event. I also memorize the dietary needs and favorite treats of the people closest to me so that I can always make them something they'll love. My music taste is a bit all over the place; I listen to everything from alt rock to Broadway to bubble pop to folk/shanty. I like anything that I can sing along to, and I do have a rather nice singing voice.

I hope this is enough, and congratulations on 1000 followers! 💙

This post is part of the 1000 followers match up event. Entries for the event are now closed.

Your match is...Papa Emeritus IV

He was shy at first too. But with his Papa paints on he gained confidence and went over to speak to you. He’s so easy to talk to, because he understands being shy, so you get along with him really well from the start.

“Would you like to play video games with me? It would be nice sì?” That’s how you got to know each other properly. You both love video games and hang out a lot together.

He loves that you want to take care of him, and he needs that sometimes. He often pushes himself too hard for his work. But Copia is always keeping an eye on you and he makes sure you are also cared for. He knows you might struggle to ask, so when he sees you getting stressed or tired he puts the day aside to pamper you.

Copia loves baking! He’ll happily help out whenever you want him to (Primo taught him) or he'll just keep you company. He enjoys making treats for his rats which you often help him with.

He’ll cuddle you midway through baking and kiss you on the cheek. Also watch out for him stealing treats when they are just cool enough to eat.

He loves signing along to music and his taste is very varied too. He adores your voice so he'll happily sit and listen. Also he loves joining in. He brought you a karaoke set for your birthday. A really high quality one with proper microphones and everything.

He’ll happily go camping with you, although he has never been camping much before. Copia is used to tour busses so he is really good at packing well and living in a smallish space. He really enjoys camping but at night when you hear strange noises he makes a few little rat noises. Just give him a cuddle and all will be well. If anything truely scary were to happen he would spring into action, Ghouls appearing from seemingly nowhere to protect you. Copia would put a protective arm around you and go full on Papa mode to deal with the situation. He will always keep you safe.

~

Written by Nyx

[monsterkissed]

BI VAMPIRE NONSENSE I AM BEGGING YOU

i am shocked, alarmed, surprised, and otherwise completely caught off-guard by this request! let me see what i have under this cut...

“Ah, I didn’t ask you whether or not you drink.” The words drew Doppio’s gaze to the mouth speaking them. Flashes of porcelain white behind lips that moved with that same uncanny sinuousness. “Would you prefer something softer?”

His face was beautiful like the sky after a particularly awful storm. Doppio tended to find very attractive people a little intimidating, the haughty perfection of their features inherently making him feel as though he were intruding, but this face made him take a few steps closer before he had realised it. It almost didn’t feel like he was looking at a person, more a statue carved impossibly perfect, until the marble appeared to be moving under your very eyes. They were the sort of features, strong and yet delicate, that he had sometimes imagined the Boss might have-

Doppio stopped short, swallowing and looking aside as he realised he had not responded. “No, um, wine is fine! Sorry.” The apology mumbled out before he could think; he was not sure what he was apologising for or, for that matter, who he was apologising to. 

“Please tell me what you think of it. It’s quite difficult to find alcohol here, nevermind a quality beverage, and sometimes I worry I have let my standards slip.” The man handed him the glass and Doppio took it, the liquid pitching slightly as their hands brushed. His skin was very cool to the touch. It struck Doppio then that it was also very pale. Doppio was tanned and dusted liberally with freckles and the other people he had met here had come in varying degrees of sunkissed if not sunravaged, but this man had skin like cream. 

“I’m not really a connoisseur,” he mumbled, giving the glass a halfhearted sniff. 

“But you have that continental palette. That’s what I’ve really been missing here. The people have their charms, but a man far from home finds himself yearning for familiar comforts.” He smiled again, motioning for Doppio to sit in another dark, plush chair that felt like it was swallowing him up. He sat back in the one opposite, resting his feet up on the table in an incongruously low-class gesture.

“Oh, are you, um, from Italy as well?” 

“Not quite. I apologise for my atrocious accent; it’s been many years since I took classes in university.”

“No, no, you speak it really well! You sound classier than me!” The man smiled and the thought that his own words might have caused that perfect expression made warm things wriggle through Doppio’s chest. He hadn’t been exaggerating in the least, he had an almost uncannily crisp diction, the clear and sophisticated accent like something out of a film. Doppio’s own Italian was embarrassingly provincial, an issue that the Boss had gently raised with him a few times before. He’d been working on beating the kinks out of it, trying to mirror the Boss’s own precise and neutral pronunciation and to quell the little dips and snags of bucolic unsophistication that flared up when he wasn’t paying attention. He had been comforting himself that it wasn’t easy; even the Boss, when he was anxious or hurried or frustrated, tended to slip out of his refined intonation. 

“You flatter me. I’ve always thought that it would be wonderful to visit- Ah.” He smiled again, tipping his glass slightly. “I’ve gotten ahead of myself. I invited you all the way over here and started chattering away and I haven’t even formally introduced myself. You see, I really am quite uncouth.” 

“It’s, it’s alright.” Doppio found himself smiling back. 

“My manners are so out of practice.” He leaned back in his chair, swirling his glass. “You may call me DIO.” 

“Dio,” Doppio mumbled, realising that he was staring and glancing aside. “Nice to meet you. I’m, uh…”

“Giuseppe Bucatini.” He could still hear the smile in the words.

“Yes. That’s right.” Doppio was glad he wasn’t making eye contact. It was always so embarrassing to forget his fake names. 

“It doesn’t suit you.” He risked another look. The man was considering his wine. “Forgive me, but I feel a name should match the soul behind it. Giuseppe… that’s the Italian equivalent of Joseph, isn’t it?” His smile, to Doppio’s eyes, looked a little sharper and a lot colder. “No, that doesn’t suit you at all.” 

“Oh. Um, I’m sorry?” Doppio tried to laugh, taking a sip of wine.

“It is not your fault. Perhaps we can think of something better. Friends do give each other nicknames, don’t they?”

“Friends?”

“Yes.” Dio’s eyes, dark but with a kind of gemstone internal brightness, caught Doppio and held him. “I think we should be friends, don’t you? Two people far from their homes in a strange land, it would be far too lonely to be without a friend.”

“A… friend?”

“Yes. Wouldn’t you like a friend?”

[horse-girl-anthy]

Do you mind if I ask your top 10 favorite characters (can be male or female) from all of the media that you loved (can be anime/manga, books, movies or tv series)? And why do you love them? Sorry if you've answered this question before.....Thanks..

tbh this is extremely hard to answer because I have many interests. I’m sure I’ll feel bad when I remember the hundred other characters that should have made the list. I’m not putting any Ikuhara characters because it’d been too hard to pick and honestly I’d have to go through each work individually. 

1. Tenma from Naoki Urasawa’s Monster. I don’t claim to be a complicated person, alright. I just think he’s nice. every time I read Monster I get more attached to him like a little baby duck, which is what all the other characters in that story do as well so I’m valid. trying to put it into words is hard--he’s just an alluring combo of pathetic, ridiculous, cool, strong, and kind. plus he kinda becomes a religious figure by the end and I’m a sucker for that shit.

2. Xie Lian from TGCF/Heaven Official’s Blessing. I read the novels this summer after watching the donghua. I was just expecting a decent BL, but what I got was epic historical supernatural fiction (and BL). Xie Lian is such an impressively written character. his story helped me deal with my own fall from grace, as it were, and was overall cathartic and engaging. plus he’s my type. step aside Hua Cheng, I’d die for him first. 

3. Orel from Moral Orel. I love this show a lot because of its focus on the cruelty and hypocrisy of WASP America, and Orel is relatable for struggling to understand the bulltshit answers he gets to all his questions. he’s a lot more innocent than I was as a kid, but I think his kind of purity plays well against the satirical, dark edge of the show. 

4. Reki from Haibane Renmei. most of the reasons I love her aren’t revealed until the very end of the show. I’ll say that I love her because she’s the ultimate manifestation of the story’s themes of guilt and redemption.

5. Ishida from Koe no Katachi. I just finished rereading this manga recently. if you want a character who does wrong, suffers, tries to change himself, but finds it isn’t that easy, Ishida is your man. he’s such a funny, well-written teen boy, but also someone I think anyone from any background can see themselves in--the good and the bad. 

6. Naruto from... you know. Naruto was the first anime I became really obsessed with, when I was in middle school, and Naruto himself is the first character I can remember becoming attached to in an intense, lasting way. I loved him so much and I still have that attachment to him. he’s so, so cute, and so, so lovable. when I’m done with my first round of Ikuhara vids, I’m going to download Naruto so I can make my friend a Sasuke fancam and I’m also gonna make a Naruto edit just for me :)

7. Miyuki from Naoki Urasawa’s Happy! I’ve read everything by Urasawa except for Yawara, and I’m one of the only people who seems to have read Happy! I gotta say, would I pick it as one of his best works? no. I love everything he’s done, but something like 20th Century Boys or Billy Bat is clearly a more serious, meaningful story than Happy!, which comes out of his transition phase between writing romantic comedy sports manga and his later thrillers. however... Happy! is one of those works which makes me lose my mind regardless of quality. and Miyuki, the main character, is just so damn adorable. I find her a very appealing, sweet character. beyond that, kind of like Monster, the entire story is about people trying to break her down, but she refuses to ever give up and I love that sort of thing when played right. 

8. Ged from Ursula K. Le Guin’s Earthsea series. I am still digging into Le Guin’s body of work but I’ve read most of her novels and short story collections. I could absolutely make a top ten list with just characters from her books. however, I managed to narrow it down to just three from this list, all from the Earthsea books. Ged is the only character who appears in all six books, and the reader gets to experience close the entire course of his life. he starts as an arrogant, careless boy and grows into a wise man. Le Guin decided not to leave him after he does his final great act, and his story continues after he loses his power. Tehanu, the fourth book in the series, is probably my favorite book I’ve ever read, I’ve thought about writing an analysis comparing it with RGU, and one of its main themes is life after loss and trauma. his story interwines with the next two characters on this list.

9. Tenar from Earthsea. like Ged, we get to see most of her life throughout the books. book 2 contains her coming of age story, while Tehanu features her as a widow, struggling between the life of an ordinary woman and her status in the mythology of Earthsea. she brings so much fire, mirth, and strength to the series. she’s someone I wish I had in my life, and if you really pressed me, she’s my favorite character Le Guin ever wrote. 

10. Tehanu from Earthsea. this character is a strange one to try to write about. I’ve seen people criticize her writing by saying there’s nothing to her, she’s just a vessel for the story. but I can’t agree. as someone who’s known people who went through severe childhood trauma, I think that Tehanu is written with thought and care. I love how unnerving and unknowable she is, but also how she is written like she’s any other child. the ending of her story in the final book made me sob and sob and sob. 

sources for the last three images because they’re fanart: 1, 2, 3

[thewolfruns]

get to know the author!

name : lucia

pronouns :  she/her

preference of communication : i like a tumblr im at first, but then it's discord once we know one another/are mutuals. i'm super adhd/working/a mom, so it's easy for me to lose track thinking i've responded to messages that really i just read and then replied in my head to. so don't be afraid to double message me.

most active muse :  hmmm, i'm not sure who is most active? maybe blanca, since she's a newer one and i'm trying to figure her out.

experience / how many years : oh, gosh. well, i've sort of rped earlier than tumblr, but it was a long time ago. i'd say i started on tumblr in maybe 2013? 2012? i ran a game of thrones fashion blog lmao and an rp hit me up for a promo. i was like, this seems cool and joined. then i joined hellstate in 2015, which was a zombie rp and where i met velouria! we've been writing together ever since both in groups and indie.

best experience : i miss group rp a lot sometimes, because of the shared universe and like community there. i think hellstate was my best experience and like 2015 hellstate was peak. there's so much like shared lore and it's really fun when a group works. velouria has had quite a few amazing brainchildren we've built together, so maybe another fave would be southboundhq, which deserved so much more time! now we work on verses and that's p great. aside from that, i've really been enjoying this account since i started fresh. i've got quite a few people to write with who seem both interested in worldbuilding/their own muses and in mine as well. so thank you all!

rp pet peeves : oh, gosh. weird vocabulary fads? like eyes being called hues. there's nothing really wrong with it, but it makes me laugh at how things like that really catch on in the rpc. when folks don't have much to add in plotting conversations and it feels sort of like you're the only one keeping the conversation going. i feel too awkward! i can't do it!

fluff, angst, or smut : oh, gosh, angst. i don't write smut and i'm not really super into fluff either? unless it's like a little meme answer or drabble, which can be a nice refresher. but i'm here for the horror and drama okay.

plots or memes : i like a loose plot, but i'm very go with the flow. it's more exciting though to have an idea where we're going with something. i think that's why my open starters are so long lmao because i need to paint a clear picture of where it's going.

long or short replies : i like a short reply for when i'm trying to break out of a writer's block or, like right now, dusting off my writing cap. they almost always turn into much longer replies though. i can't stop myself. i want like 87 paragraphs and i have no chill.

time to write : has to be nighttime, babies. i have a pretty great couple hours like 8 nights a month where i can really get to writing. it's always after my kiddo goes to sleep and my spouse is working (unless we're like parallel playing and he's gaming or cooking or something, then i get a little more time).

are you like your muses : oh, there's definitely aspects of myself in most of my muses. or people i know. or i write muses to work through certain things (i.e. neve has a lot of job similarities/family history for working through some trauma, nadja has some old punk rock memories and sort of an amalgamation of old friends and my mom, miguel has sort of similar personality to my partner, etc.) i sort of just steal elements from myself or people i know and mold them together into someone new. but i don't think i share like an overall personality with any of them.

tagged by: @missmvrder

tagging: @someotherdog , @wynterlanding , @mutatedangels , @peachyuus , @mctionsick , @aliasmultimuse , and anybody else! tagging folks gives me anxiety lmao. i hate leaving people out.

[tiangouaway]

(Some of) My Thoughts on WuWa

I've been following Wuthering Waves' production ever since April 2024, so I've been really excited for it to come out! And now that it's finally here, and I've played up to Act II (I've just met Scar and unlocked bosses), I wanna share my thoughts on it.

GAMEPLAY

I really enjoy it! The biggest things for me are the echoes and Forte Circuits, as I think both are rather unique. Echoes are incredibly versatile and can make interesting builds, especially when you consider the cost mechanic. I'll admit it I didn't understand how FCs worked until I tried the character tutorials, but now that I know their ins and outs, I know how to manage them better. I really like how they're responsible for Intro Skills, another aspect I find unique. It encourages fast-switch team comps, and to bring out characters you wouldn't use that much in combat (like healers).

Not to mention the dodge mechanic! It definitely a learning curve for me since I struggle with dodging, so I get very proud when I successfully dodge a mob's attacks, hearing the sound and seeing my character in slow motion.

STORY

Honestly... it's been pretty meh so far. Of course I have a lot of questions that I know will be answered, but a lot of stuff I've done feels disconnected, and I don't really know where the story is going because of it. The "person with no memory is brought to the land for an unknown reason and must take a journey to find it" plot loses it's spectacle very quickly for me. I just hope the next story segments I play are fun, concise, and give me a better understanding of the plot.

And slightly related, but I really hope a text log is added in the future, and a story archive system overall.

CHARACTERS

Another meh for me, unfortunately. The main three (Yangyang, Chixia, and Baizhi) aren't that exciting to me, and I'm only mildly interested in the other playable characters I've met through the story. Scar is fun though! Kinda like a Disney villain (yes, I made Lion King jokes when he was on screen) mixed with a cryptic magician. Don't really care for his whole "We're not so different, you and I" bullshit he pulled with Rover in Qichi, but I'm excited to see him and his flower lady coworker.

As for the characters I haven't seen in the story, I'm mostly excited for the kids (Lingyang, Encore, and Verina), Danjin, and Yinlin. I'm already farming Lingyang and Danjin's intimacy points through the training simulations! (Though... why are they called that. "Friendship" is find, Kuro.)

DESIGN

The environment and Tacet Discord designs are by far my favorite things about WuWa so far!! Especially the more "modern" areas with destroyed highways and the abandoned cars. Speaking of cars, my favorite TDs are the car ones with the long legs and act like bugs!! (Yes I forgot their names.) And the Autopuppet Scouts! Honestly, any mechanical TD is bound to win my heart. But that's not to say the natural environment is lackluster - everything is so cool to see and explore!

...wish I could say the same for the character designs. I know I sound pretty negative when it comes to the non-gameplay stuff, but a lot of it isn't clicking for me. Basically all the designs feel overdetailed, and while the mainly black/white + an accent color scheme is easy on the eyes, they all become pretty boring to me as a result. Verina is my favorite design for a reason. But I know it's to reflect the the post apocalyptic and dreary atmosphere, so I won't say much.

Aside from Scar and his coworkers. They're so fucking edgy it hurts. I love you 2013 DeviantArt "Red = Evil" faction but your main boy is ugly as fuck.

ENDING NOTES

Trust me, I still have a LOT I wanna say on this, but this post is getting long enough for my liking. I'll just end this off by saying that I'm excited to see where the game goes, and I'm hoping that the lady who gave Rover their resonator power is single.

[eradicatetehnormal]

I love how Youtube has opened up a new space for journalism.

Anyways, I read through the comments of the video after watching the whole thing, and it made me remember how awful the discourse around sex work and porn is. Those two topics are one of the few that make me feel like I'm socially moderate.

Anytime time we talk about sex work and the effects of porn, it's almost always "Sex work is empowering for women and gives them the autonomy to objectify themselves" or "Sex work is demeaning to women, puts them in danger, and is immoral." It's just like, why those two extremes? I wish these topics could be treated with the moral grayness they deserve. Neither side really understands the other.

The side that's saying sex work is empowering is just kind of ignoring how it's really just a job. Take away all the social stigma and criminalization, women are just kind of doing what they've been able to do for a while now. Working. Can it be empowering? Depending on the person, sure, but it's about as empowering to women as a whole as say, working as a cashier at Walmart. Cool that we can provide for ourselves :) Actually getting into it though, a lot of people making this point do deliberately ignore how dehumanizing it actually is to work for say, the porn industry. A lot of people get boiled down to their categories. Shem*le, ebony, Asian, BBW, things of that nature. This does unfortunately contribute to how these groups get treated in real life. It may not be the main or only source of problems such as trans women and queer people generally having higher rates of experience with sexual violence, but it certainly doesn't help.

With the anti-sex work side, they hyper-focus on human trafficking, when most sex workers get into the industry out of choice. It's not because of glamourization either. Quite frankly, aside from Pretty Woman, which is a debatable example, I don't know what media these people are watching where sex workers and their jobs are seen as ideal. Any time I see a sex worker in a movie or tv show, they're either dumb, drug addicts, dirty, or dead. If you ask the vast majority of women across all ages if sex work, whether it be OnlyFans modeling, escorting, stripping, etc. would be their first choice of work, I guarantee that most of them we'll say no. Because most of us understand. Most of us know, if not the physical danger, the social harm it could cause us to sell our bodies. Places won't hire us, people will refuse to date us, people will assault us, and we will be disowned by family. I'm not gonna lie, thinking of sex work as being an easy job where you spend 15 minutes with a dude at some motel or you take pictures of yourself and get paid thousands, is a dude thing. It's an outlook you can only have if you don't have to deal with social stigma or the threat of pregnancy.

When it comes to the actual video that I linked, the woman herself shows a good dichotomy of these two sides. On one hand, she understands and is empathetic to abused sex workers. She isn't just dog-whistling about survivors of trafficking, she genuinely wants to help them and she sees their value as humans. That's a great thing, especially with her being a Christian, a group of people who put down and scorn sex workers. At the same time though, she does seem to blame things like porn for being the main reason people would call prostitutes and feel entitled to sex. Even though she recognizes the loneliness of those who'd even think about it.

Upon doing further research. The organization has lobbied Congress to decriminalize sex work, but it also has urged people part of its safehouse to not read magazines with progressive-leaning outlooks on sex. The organization she runs, "Hookers for Jesus" is also unsurprisingly anti-LGBTQ, which discriminates against a lot of people who might benefit from an organization like this as homeless queer people are 3-7 times more likely to take up sex work in order to survive.

IDK how to end this. So yeah.

[idle-flower]

Amy Madison is one of those things which, like some of the subplots of DS9, I assumed that I'd missed something the first time around and that there was a lot more to it, and was disappointed on a rewatch to find that... no, not really.

Like, I thought it was super-cool that there was this tiny minor character with stuff going on in the background who would resurface seasons later instead of a "remember the new guy" plot! And obviously Willow cared about this girl and there was a whole story there, right? I wasn't religiously watching the show when it first aired so I'd probably just missed whatever her story was!

So then I did a big rewatch with a friend who'd never seen Buffy before and... ehh.

(Now, I never watched season 7 and have stricken it from my personal canon, so that already limits me.) I want Amy to make more sense and to have more story. In those few appearances there are just enough threads of a story that I can totally build a bunch of ideas, but they rapidly diverge from canon.

Because yeah, there's the "Amy decides to delve into witchcraft". Many good reasons why she might, protection from someone messing with her again being an obvious one, dark fascination and love/hate with her mother being another, but she's never given the chance to tell that story.

There's the "Amy back from the dead" which was HORRIBLY disappointing how glossed-over it was. Amy's real-world situation is more fucked-up than Buffy's was! Was she declared legally dead? How many people had any idea what had happened to her? (What happened to that Michael kid who was also in their witch circle? He knew, right? Did he used to visit Rat-Amy?) When she finally went to find her father how did she explain this to him, or did she panic and mind-whammy him because she *couldn't* explain? There could have been more detailed connections here with both Buffy's problems and Willow's problems, without having to go the ridiculous route of...

"Amy's magic druggie problem" Even leaving aside that this entire plotline is horrible, stupid, and horribly stupid, I don't for a second believe that a girl who's been stuck as a rat for years could instantly find the super-secret floating lair of the local druglord. She clearly didn't have that sort of hookup before and it wouldn't be that easy for her to find it now. She's years out of touch! And she should be struggling with magic now. She was not as powerful as fully-juiced Willow to begin with and the trauma of being ratted ought to be giving her the yips. Even if she knew this guy existed and never told Willow about it in high school for some reason, it ought to be a difficult quest on her part to find a way in.

"Amy wants revenge on Willow" A perfectly good plotline idea if they'd actually worked with it in the show, which would require making her more of a major character for a while. Because yeah, getting mad at Willow for 'ruining' her life is plausible, but we need to see Amy's life falling apart first. Even if it's almost-all offscreen because she's not a Real Scooby, it should take time for her to develop this hate-on for Willow. Because at first she'd be grateful for being saved, and then as she slowly realised how screwed she was, then she becomes resentful. Sort of an inverse of Buffy who wasn't happy about being saved and then comes to terms with it, Amy slowly gives up on trying to have her life back and decides to throw in with the dark side.

Just spitballing here. Willow, desperate to prove that she can do good things with her magic powers, de-rats Amy. Amy is thrilled at first but becomes more and more distressed as she realises that life has left her behind. How's she going to fix things with her dad? And Willow suggests magic. Willow takes her home, makes her dad accept everything with a mind-whammy, zap-zap-zap's Amy's long-turned-into-storage bedroom into something cool and modern and witchy, and leaves Amy there, feeling super proud of herself. See, it's easy! Magic really can fix everything! Cut back to Amy, alone in the dark, twitching in terror at the sounds of cats, trying to cast little spells and having them go wrong...

Reverse Unpopular Opinion: Amy Madison

[Reverse unpopular opinion meme.]

This is an interesting one because I think there’s a solid argument to be made that the character of “Amy Madison” does not, in fact, actually exist on the show Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

By which I mean … look, okay, yes, obviously, there is a character in an early Season 1 episode called Amy Madison, played by Elizabeth Anne Allen.  And there’s a character with the same name in a Season 2 episode, and [in an admittedly weird coincidence] she’s also played by Elizabeth Anne Allen.  And there’s one in Season 3, and a one in a few episodes of Season 6, and one in an episode of Season 7, and all of them are played by the same actor.

But … I mean, come on.  There’s no way these can all be the same character, right?  They don’t have the same basic back story or the same relationship to magic or to Willow; they certainly don’t have anything resembling a definite personality or set of motivations or a consistent character arc.  No, surely what’s going on here is that there are several different “Amy Madisons” in Sunnydale – just like there are several different characters called Anne or Nancy on the show – and in a bizarre in-joke the writers simply decided to cast the same woman to play all of them.

Now, ordinarily, simply being written inconsistently over a handful of episodes and not having anything resembling the same personality from week to week would be no obstacle to having a few die-hard fans.  But – as far as I can tell, anyway? – there’s no “fandom Amy” either.  She never really gets mentioned when people want to talk about how all the Scooby Gang had awful mothers [even though Amy actually did, explicitly and inarguably, have a very, very awful and openly abusive mother!].  There’s very little in the way of Amy/Willow shipping going on here or on AO3 [even though witchcraft is heavily coded as a metaphor for being a lesbian and Amy, one of the first witches we meet on the show, is repeatedly linked to Willow throughout the show’s run].  There are no adorable drawings of Amy as a rat staring out of her cage at Willow and Tara (or if there are, they aren’t getting as many notes as they should be getting).  

No, it looks like most people who are still watching and talking about the show twenty-five years later have about as much interest in poor Amy Madison as the writers did.  She’s a plot device.  A punchline.  A cipher.  A blank slate.  She’s whatever the plot requires her to be to further the stories of the actual characters on the show, and she’ll never ever be anything else.  Which is a little sad, if you think about it.  I think Amy – or, well, most of the different Amys: The Killer In Me’s smirking evil-for-evil’s-sake Amy I’m not so sure about – deserved better.

[As I write this the thought occurs to me, belatedly, that I might be one of Amy Madison’s biggest fans.  Pretty grim news for her if so.]

OK. Enough stalling.  Five positive things about Amy Madison [with, as ever, the usual caveat about the comics, which I’ve still not read anything about and still don’t exist].

Witch, Amy’s debut appearance, is a solid episode!  One of that season’s best, I think (though not, of course, one of its very best).  And I think the duo of Elizabeth Anne Allen's Amy Madison (and Robin Riker as her mom Catherine) is a big part of why that episode works: no, they haven’t got a huge amount to work with, but I think they both do a pretty good job switching between evil witch Catherine and innocent victim Amy.  Catherine’s bodyswap spell foreshadows (albeit unintentionally) the bodyswap artifact that the Mayor gifts Faith in This Year’s Girl / Who Are You? and I’ll always have a soft sport for it because of that.  And I really like that the episode ends with Amy alive and hanging out with Buffy in a way that suggests that they are going to stay friends, even if we don’t see any evidence on screen that that happened.

Sarcasm aside, I’m really glad the writers brought Amy back in the second season.  To me, part of the appeal of the high school years are the recurring minor characters – I talked about Principal Snyder before, but also Jonathan and Devon and Percy and Harmony and … yes, Amy too.  The show obviously doesn’t care about her very much, and you have to do a lot of mental gymnastics to fill in the missing pieces of her story and make her arc make sense (why is she starting to do magic in Season 2?  When does she start hanging out with Willow?), but … well, I do care and I have done those gymnastics.  At least Amy didn’t end up like Marcie Ross or Buffy’s old flame Owen or any of those poor kids who must remember eating Principal Flutie. 

I’ve been reading a few old interviews Elizabeth Anne Allen gave recently (here and here, for example) which I think have some pretty interesting insights into how the character of Amy developed.  Had you ever heard there were persistent rumors at one point that Amy was going to be one of the starting regulars on Angel?  It’s mind-boggling to think about a world where that happened.  Allen seems to have put a huge amount of thought into her character, too, at least for her first few appearances, which … uh, I guess makes me feel a bit shitty about those opening paragraphs. [Not enough to delete them though…]  Also in one of the linked interviews she says that she “hopes she won’t be a rat much longer” – and that’s an interview she gave before the Season 3 finale had even made it to air, which made me pretty sad to read.  Forget appearing on Angel, imagine if Amy had been de-ratted in Season 4.  Imagine if Superstar was about Amy instead of Jonathan.

There is a second or two in Season 6’s Smashed – no more than that – when Buffy and Amy are catching up again (“How have you been?”  “Rat.  You?”  “Dead.”  “Oh.”) and you can, if you’re quick, delude yourself into thinking that the show is going to do something interesting with the obvious parallel it’s just set up. Willow has now not only brought Buffy back into the regular human world [and left her struggling to live and find meaning as a college drop out with a dead mother and an absent father last seen on screen about five years ago], she’s also brought Amy back into the regular human world [and left her struggling to live and find meaning as a de facto high school drop out with a presumed-dead mother and a presumably-now-absent father last mentioned about five years ago].  Surely this must be deliberate?  Well, no: the show doesn’t do anything with this idea ever again, because Marti Noxon had very different [worse] ideas for Amy’s character this season, but if you pretend it might be about do something like that it’s a pretty exciting couple of seconds.

The fact that “Amy Madison” exists as a (technically!) canon character means that I can write (or daydream about writing) fanfiction in which Willow has a friend in high school who is also a practising witch. One with a vague but miserable home life, who is secretly in love with Willow but too afraid to admit it (and so she keeps professing to be interested in men who she can’t possibly ever expect to date, either because they’re unpleasantly vile toward women or openly gay or both). And I can do that while, just about, pretending that I have not created the most embarrasingly psychologically revealing OC you ever heard about in your life.  Thanks Amy!

[buttclench-ryugazaki]

tgaa 1 + 2 final rambling notes

the neutral/negative:

did not like some of the solutions in the cross examination phase because i could easily predict what the prosecution's damning rebuttal would be, meaning the contradiction felt weak even as i presented it. and that will happen in every single aa game without fail, i just felt like it happened too frequently to me, personally. it works for 1-3 where defending an obviously guilty client is supposed to feel shitty and like you're going insane that he isn't being caught, but not so much when you wanna feel smart and triumphant (before immediately getting knocked down again) y'know

dance of deduction phases are stylistically very cool but far, far too easy. i never failed one once because all it is is playing i-spy with 360 degree camera movement and a limited number of possible answers. i enjoy sholmes being insane, but it gets pretty tiresome after a while because there is no challenge whatsoever

cross examining multiple witnesses and pressing ones based on how they react to others: a mechanic that apparently rolled over from PL vs PW. i thought there would be more of a challenge here. the sound cue is VERY OBVIOUS. i assumed their reactions would be more subtle and you would actively have to search for them (case 1-5 with gregson and milverton whispering amongst themselves is what i'd had in mind), but nope. i also think that not every reaction press should have been moment of plot advancement, as 100% of them are. throw in some red herrings for the player to make them think they've found something important at first and burst their bubble. but DON'T penalize because that would be too frustrating, reward them with funny dialogue at least

jury summation phase: i thought i didn't mind doing them until 2-4/5 came around and i found myself relieved that i didn't have to contend with the jury, which is intentionally supposed to be exasperating in how thoughtless its decision-making is (aside from 2-3 with the magician and scientist jurors who actually have some valuable insight). probably the best of the new gameplay phases mechanically, but i don't think i care for the execution. ryunosuke knows, the prosecution knows, you the player know that you're just stalling for time by making the whole trial go on a tangent. i applaud the way reinforces how desperate it feels to flimsily grasp at straws ("we can't trust shamspeare's testimony because he's stealing gas from his cheapskate landlord and thus a liar") but it does annoy me the player to not directly be working towards getting a greater picture of the mystery

examining evidence is required to advance the plot more frequently than in prior games. before, the player would get some flavor text to give them hints about how the evidence should be presented, but it doesn't necessarily trigger anything in the game's code. it doesn't bother me because because i like to poke and prod, thus i examine (mostly) everything. but for others this could be really frustrating if you know why the evidence is contradictory, without examining. a happy medium would be that examining still updates the description but the evidence itself is viable even if you hadn't examined it (for certain pieces, not all) 5a. at the end of 2-5 when you're supposed to present klint's last will and testament, i presented the asogi sword instead because it told me the will was inside. i forgot to examine it and get the note out first. in classic aa, i think my answer would have been the correct one. that's an example of when i think i should have been given some leeway

they give me "gallery" feature in "extra contents" but it does not lead to a menu of CGs and animated cutscenes? why? dual destinies has that feature. it's a must by the standards any modern visual novel game

positives:

the twists, they're good. not all of them are foreshadowed that well or at all, but i enjoy them regardless. things like professor mikotoba turning out to be sholmes' actual partner and kazuma dad being the professor, because we don't even really learn about kazuma's father until the very moment it's revealed. (i predicted that klint was iris's birth father but not because of any informed reasoning; we didn't know he was married until 2-5 and it's not like both her being born and him dying 10 years ago necessitates a relation). these things can still be set up as future plot points without necessarily foreshadowing who is involved

they don't try to catch you off-guard with plot events like, defending van zieks. it's not just a rehash of turnabout goodbyes. you knew it was going to happen eventually; the reaper of the bailey's reputation as a possible murderer constantly comes up, and you know he must be innocent. it's still a decent twist and a good way to conclude the plot line they introduced so early, but the vibe i get is that they didn't try to act like what they were doing was crazy and unprecedented, because a plot line doesn't have to be for it to be good

they really made the world of this game so much bigger, by setting it in two countries, involving international british-japanese relations and politics, the assassination conspiracy and deeper, given the talk of xenophobia, industrialization, classism, crime, life in the city, corruption within the police and the courts, god there's so much. intentionally or unintentionally, ace attorney has always been about the law itself and how it should be utilized to protect the innocent/find the truth, and how it frequently fails to do just that. aa-verse 1900s britain isn't affected by the dystopian, 99% conviction rate and expedited 3-day trials like 2016 japanifornia, but it does have its own legal issues to contend with and i like how they manifested

pacing the hugeness of this plot over the course of two full games was a good call. we know it's possible to do a full arc in 4 to 5 cases but they said, nah. we're going bigger. and not doing THAT THING!!!! aa games are so aggravating for where they don't reference past games directly, only through vague allusion. game 2 does not dare pretend that it's not a sequel; who would be the poor idiot playing Resolve without having played Adventures? (i did comment about how Resolve still gave me a mostly unskippable tutorial, which is just plain silly) but anyway i do understand why japanese fans were so incensed over game 1 ending on a cliffhanger with no official word of a sequel. the game is feels incomplete without Resolve. they shouldn't have reviewbombed it, because it was a good game, but i understand. it's a duology through and through

the characters. i don't think there's a single one i actively dislike, and if i did i've forgotten them. i was very charmed playing as ryunosuke; he's a mess and master of deadpan like his descendant but perhaps... cuter? more deliberately written as naive and ignorant, naturally because he's not actually a law student. and he's afraid of ghosts and aliens. i enjoy that he's more willing to crack jokes to contrast susato playing the straight man, who is the most serious and informed of all the teen girl assistants. she might even be my favorite, now! aa is such a big franchise with too many characters to count, so it's difficult not to view these characters in comparison to their predecessors. but i think they do a good job making the dna of these characters apparent (kazuma and van zieks both having shades of edgeworth, for example) without making me feel like i'm getting the same archetype and the same guy over and over again