#there's so much more i wanted to say initially when i decided to log in again

[tagidearte]

"Pongo, the Imp Clown. Some say he used to be a Star, others say that's just his delusional ramblings." -Original Character for a (so far) unnamed Original Story.

I'm still in the early stages of designing him and his "friend" Pinga. However, I decided to share these initial drafts regardless! This way someone other than me can join in on the character design journey! Let's see how much he changes until the final design! Thoughts below.

Concept Log #1 - Pongo

Aka I want to ramble and my friends don't care robot clowns. Really big rambly rant below.

Also no, this is not a d/ca oc. Trust me, making a robot clown/jester is like walking into a laser trap when you've been obsessing over those two for the past three years. The only d/ca inspiration here was making Pongo warm coloured and Pinga cool coloured. If anything, this was more inspired by the Funtimes.

For now, I hate all the outfits. They don't fit his vibe, his personality, his whole persona. He's an imp clown, but he has... Delusions of grandeur. I need to make him more princely, perhaps? I'll attempt that next time. I already have the chibi base, so it'll be relatively quick.

I also want to make his casing... Different. Either paler with pink shadows, or a darker, more solid pink. He's meant to have only warm colours, contrasting with Pinga (you'll see him some other time) who only has cold ones, so no blues or greens... But I must say. Darker pink will probably win. When I painted his face white it looked too much like a Slay Button En/nard. In fact, I added all that eye and lip makeup to make him look less like En/nard.

The coil torso is the most important part. On a final drawing I'll make it have more loops, which should give the impression the thing is stronger and capable of more powerful bounces (which can hurt you if he decides to launch) - but for these concepts I merely half assed it. The star shaped hat with the back cone coming out is my favourite part!

Hope you enjoy his star shaped nipple coverings as much as I did coming up with them! Originally (not pictured here) he was going to have a big star on his chest, to mimic what I see in a lot of jack in a box's boxes. But the nipple coverings were so raunchy and funny, yet still appropriate for younger audiences (in world), that I left them in. Him being a reformed villain (in the media he's built after, inside the world) allows for messing around with the makeup and eccentricity, but we can't go to far - he needs to look PG while being predominantly adult/teen entertainment as an amusement park bot.

For context... Ever since I got into FN4F I've wanted to do something similar - with a location and mascots -, but instead of an USA animal band, I wanted it to be based on a cartoon set in a magical forest (like Noddy from my childhood - with a city of living toys and two imps that lived in the eViL wOoDs-, but funny for all ages rather than so 5 year old centric). Overtime, the thought of sentient robots forced to work - objects that were given a soul, trapped in a synthetic shell that is their body, dependent on humanity and property to it despite technically being alive, easy to manipulate via some changes in code - wormed itself in.

But I never really had the proper setting or characters for it. That, and I have another original story that has plagued my dreams ever since I was 12/13.

Until now.

I won't go into setting details yet. Let me just say Pinga and Pongo are a ping pong pun, because they both bob up and down with coils - Pongo on his torso, which makes him kind of like a jack in a box; and Pinga on his legs, which allows him to jump really high. They are based on cartoon characters that exist in world, from a movies series that ended up with a cartoon too, sort of like disney stuff but... Not disney. The entire mythos of that company's content takes place in one single world/franchise, it just explores different parts of it with each new series/movie/game.

Pongo is an egomaniac, programmed the be flirty to adults, who struggles on the line between property and self. He used to give a lot of trouble to the park, because his AI allowed him to learn new tricks rather quickly... and most weren't really all that safe or appropriate. So, time and time again, he got sent back to fix it. Having his "brain" messed with has made him deeply afraid of not behaving like a machine, which clashes with how self pleasing he is - you just don't realize it at first, because he's programmed to be a flirty little demon with an attitude. It's just that his real attitude is much more... intense.

Let's see if posting this online makes me not put the project aside too quickly lmao.

[anucalor]

Mutuals pt.2 (Onyankopon x Black! Reader)

haii! im so sorry for taking literally forever to post this. i was so ready to get back into writing, but i started taking my classes full time (which i passed（＾∇＾）) but now i am getting ready for state and with three jobs... its a lot lol. but im ready to try to get back into it!

i also have Kofi if you ever wanted to support in other ways!

anywho, here ya go!

y/n is a little shy. when she moves back home, her friend mika tries to get her out the house. what better way than to meet mutuals?

(w.c. 2.6k)

warnings: none, language (if any)

__________

It’s Thursday. 

Today shouldn’t hold so much weight, but it did. Besides being the beautiful day before a weekend, it’s the day before Ony and I go on our first date.  

I can’t help but think about it every now and then. Receiving his texts throughout the day doesn’t help either. I've realized he’s much more of a subtle flirt than I would have thought, constantly catching me off guard. I smile and shake my head before looking away from my Apple watch to continue charting. 

I check the time and see it’s a little after seven o’clock. After filling in a few people on my floor and making sure everything is logged in, I go to my locker and grab my belongings. I make my way to the elevator and ride down to the first floor. As soon as I step off of the elevator, I get a phone call. 

Ony. 

I bite my lip to prevent myself from smiling too much before answering. 

“Hello?” 

“Hey, pretty girl,” I smile a little wider, “how was work?” 

“It was good. Walking to my car, now.” 

We make casual talk as I continue towards my car. Once I’m inside with my doors locked, I start my engine and begin making my way home. After a few minutes, Ony finally brings up the day I’ve been too nervous to ask about. 

“Mmm... you ready for tomorrow, mama?” 

My heart skips. 

“I, uhh, I am.” I try to sound as relaxed as possible. I can only hope he doesn’t hear how hesitant I sound. 

“What’s wrong? You don’t sound so sure.” 

Of course, he heard... 

“I’m sure... I just have a lot on my mind,” I explain softly. 

“You wanna talk about it?” Ony offers. 

I smile, "Just excited for tomorrow, ‘s all.” I can almost hear his smile in his ‘mhm.’ 

I assume that’s a fine enough answer because Ony doesn’t push the topic, opting to change the subject.  

After about a 10-minute drive, I finally made it back home. I grab all of my belongings and make my way towards the door, making sure to lock my car. I unlock the door to my apartment and walk in, making sure to lock it, as well. 

“You inside yet, mama?” I hear Ony’s voice mumble through my phone. 

“Yeah, I’m inside.” I walk to the island in the kitchen and put my bag on the counter before looking over at my buzzing phone.  

Ony is FaceTiming me.  

I answer the call and gently lean my phone against a nearby object on my counter so that he can see me. The call finally connects and I see Ony leaning back in his chair, fingers moving around on his controller as he plays the game. The corners of my lips slightly raise at the sight of him before I look away for a moment to place one hand on the counter and use the other to remove my shoes. 

“You look pretty, (N/N),” I hear him say over the speaker. 

  I couldn’t help but chuckle as I pick up my phone, shoes, and purse and walk to my bedroom. 

“You say that every time we're on the phone,” I mention with a tired yet teasing tone, “but thank you.” 

He ignores my initial statement and smiles, eyes returning to his TV screen, “You’re welcome.” 

~ 

The night goes on as it normally would; I change and sit on the phone with Yanni for a little over an hour before deciding it is time for me to take a shower and go to bed. 

When I wake up the next morning, it takes me a moment to become fully oriented. When I do, I can’t help but think about how the night could go. Ony and I can realize that being friends is what’s best; we could not like one another, or we could continue in pursuit of a relationship. Of course, I’m hoping for the latter, but only time will tell.  

After talking to God about my worries, I feel a little better and finally decide to get up and get ready, leaving my phone on its charger. After brushing my teeth and washing my face, I walk into my room and look through my wardrobe for a dress that’s fancy enough for a dinner date but not overly obnoxious. Wanting to remain on the safe side, I decide on a long black, long-sleeved dress with some heels. Feeling content with my decision, I decide to pick up my phone to check any notifications. 

The very first one is from Ony. 

Ony: Good morning pretty girl. Ima be a little busier today so I won’t be able to talk much. Make sure you’re ready by 6. I’ll see you soon 

I smile before responding to his text, feeling slight butterflies in my tummy. I make sure to let him know I appreciate him telling me he’d be busy and that I’ll see him tonight. Checking the time, I decide to go ahead and grab some breakfast, opting for some fruit, feeling too nervous to eat too much. 

I try to talk myself down, trying not to get worked up over some guy.  

‘It’s just another date with another guy... it’s just another date with another guy... but it’s not.’ 

There's something about Onyan that makes me hope that what we have goes further than ‘just another date.’ Although we’ve only really been able to speak over the phone since we met, he seems to be more genuine than any other person who has tried to pursue me. Mikasa’s words continue to play in my mind as well. Knowing from a reliable source that he doesn’t mess around for fun also puts me a little at ease.  

I just need to relax and trust that no matter what happens, everything’s gonna be okay. 

~  

I sit in front of my vanity, applying any finishing touches I think I need. I stand and take in my appearance. A smile makes its way onto my lips as I reach to grab some perfume. I spray to my heart’s content before grabbing my purse and phone and walking to the living room. Again, I look in the large mirror at my reflection, feeling happy with how I look. Minutes pass before I hear a knock on my door. 

My heart drops to my stomach. I take a deep breath before walking to the door, unlocking and opening it. Once it’s open, I see Ony with a bouquet of light pink roses with white lilies. I give an endearing smile before hugging him. 

“Ony, these are beautiful. Thank you.” 

He carefully wraps his arms around me, a smile on his face as he responds, “You’re welcome, (N/N). I’m glad you like them.” 

I lean away before gently taking the bouquet from his grasp, my hand lightly brushing against his. I lead him inside for a moment while I carefully replace my older flowers with the newer ones. Once that’s done, I grab my purse. 

“You ready?” Ony glances up from his phone once he sees that I have my purse. 

I nod and watch as he smiles, taking in my outfit for the night.  

“You look beautiful, (Y/N).” He stands from the barstool he sat in while he waited and makes his way to me with his hand out.  

  I take my lower lip into my mouth to try to prevent me from smiling like an idiot, and it just barely works. My hand interlocks with his as I respond. “Thank you, and you look very handsome.”  

Which is true. Ony has on a solid black shirt with some loose black pants and white forces. He, of course, has his chain and studs on and a black and white bomber jacket. He bites his lip as he looks down at me for a moment.  

“Thank you, mama.”  I smile before looking at the ground. Ony let out a breathy chuckle at the way I couldn’t hold eye contact before leading us to his car. He leads me to the passenger’s side and opens the door for me. I give a soft thank you before sitting down and bringing my legs inside. When I get situated, he closes the door and makes his way to the driver's side before driving off.  

~ 

After 25 minutes, we make it to our restaurant. I know I haven’t been here before, so I don’t know what to expect. Ony parks and makes his way to my side to help me out. I place my hand in his while he leads us inside the restaurant. The host leads us to a secluded booth towards the back of the restaurant. We walk hand in hand until we reach the area, separating only to sit across from one another. Our host hands us our menus and tells us our waitress will be with us soon. 

I gently look through the menu, eyes slowly gazing over what all the restaurant has to offer. Ony, sitting across from me, can’t help but allow his eyes to gaze over me, only giving his menu half the attention since he already knows what he wants. He swiftly thinks of something to talk about and opens his mouth to speak. 

“Don’t hesitate to get anything you want, by the way. ” My eyes flicker up to his at the sound of his voice. I smile softly before briefly returning my eyes back to the menu. 

“I’ll keep that in mind, thank you.” 

Ony gently licks his lips before closing his menu completely and giving me his undivided attention. 

After that, conversation was nothing short of wonderful - Ony smoothly leading the us from one topic to another. I could feel my attraction for him grow the more he spoke to me in that soft, deep tone that I’ve grown used to. Due to me not being the best conversationalist, I was hesitant for this date, but it comes so naturally with him. As if he knows exactly what to say and when to say it. 

From childhood memories to stories about work to ranting about the group that we’ve grown to love so dearly. It felt as though we had known each other for years.

After ordering, it took us bit before our food was brought out to us. Even then we joke about how it got quiet when we started eating, knowing that the restaurant he picked was a good choice. We each took our time, slowly realizing that we didn’t want the night to end just yet. Even after Ony paid for our meal, we still stayed to talk for about another 30 minutes.  

After laughing at a joke he said, I turned my phone over on the table to check the time and sigh. 

“Ony, we should probably head out. It’s getting late.” 

He picks up his phone and gives a soft smile. 

“Yeah, you right... Alright, let’s go, pretty girl,” he directs softly before standing. 

 I scoot just a little before turning my legs to the outside of the booth where Ony was waiting with his hand outstretched. I gently place my hand in his and stand. 

“You got everything?” I turn to make sure I didn't drop anything before nodding.  

“Mhm, yeah. I’m good.” 

And with that, he leads us towards the exit. Once we get to his car, he opens the door for me before going to his side. I watch as he walks to his side, trying to hide the goofy grin that’s trying to make itself known.  

He finally sits down in the car before turning to look at me, narrowing his eyes slightly. 

“What?” he asks with a small grin. I shake my head before picking up my phone. 

“Nothing.” By the way I bit my lip to keep from smiling, I’m sure he knew it wasn’t ‘nothing,’ but he chose not to push. Opting for “whatever you say, (N/N.)” 

The drive to my house was mostly done so in peaceful silence. Other than the speakers and the occasional quip, we just enjoyed each other’s presence.  

After some time, Ony pulled into my apartment. He turned off his car and made his way to me. 

“Aww, such chivalry. Walking me to my door?” I quip once my hand is in his. 

He immediately smacks his lips before closing the door. “Mmcht, man gon’ on somewhere.” He couldn’t even finish the sentence without smiling, causing me to giggle. 

We make it to my door, and I turn to him with a sigh. 

“Thank you for agreeing to go out with me, (Y/N),” his voice low and clear.  

I lean my shoulder against the door and sleepily look him in his eyes. “Thank you for taking me out. I really had fun.” 

“Enough fun to want to do it again?” he asks, taking a step towards me. 

I look off to the side, hide my smile behind my hand before dropping it. “Yeah, Ony. Enough to want to do it again.” 

He looks down, a smile plastered on his face. 

Only a few moments passed before he looks back at me and takes another step forward. I tilt my head a little to the side before feeling him take my hand in his, standing directly in front of me. 

“I’m gonna be very honest, (Y/N) - I would really like to kiss you right now.” 

For some reason me being a little tired made me a little bold and I ask, “So why haven’t you?”  

A moment after those words left my mouth, Ony’s hand rests on my neck, his thumb, pointer, and ring finger gently grabbing my jaw to tilt my head upwards. He leans down and presses his soft lips onto mine. I don’t hesitate for a moment before meeting him halfway. Ony slides his other hand around my waist, pulling me in to completely close the space between us. My left hand slides to his wrist as he deepens the kiss.  

It felt too soon when he pulled away. I opened my eyes to see him looking intensely at me. I quickly shy away, opting to look at the ground, my hand gently rubbing the remnants of Ony from my lips as I try not to smile too hard. 

“Thank you again, Ony,” I mumble trying to keep my rapid heartbeat under control. 

Ony looked at me with an adorned look in his eyes.  

“You’re welcome, mama. Go get some rest, okay?”  

“You, too... Goodnight, Ony.”  

“Goodnight, (N/N).” 

---

It’s been three months since Ony and I have been dating, and it’s been amazing. He’s been amazing. He continues to show me just how caring and protective he is - genuine and fun. The way he never fails to make me smile (whether it be after a tough day at work, or I’m just feeling a little down) is something I didn’t realize I needed. 

‘I’m so glad I listened to Mika,’ is something I constantly think to myself. 

She was right when she told me that he would show me the type of person he is. 

And I couldn’t be happier. 

Ony and I are a little more comfortable with visiting each other's houses, opting to just stay in and relax most of the time. Each time we do, we learn so much about one another. From likes to dislikes to family and more. The more we spend time together, the more I can’t help but think about what it would be like to actually be in a committed relationship with him.  

I’d be lying if I said I didn’t try to shoo the thought away, but it’s so hard when Ony is... himself. Going above and beyond is not foreign to him. His emotional intelligence is evident through his desire for clear communication and his (surprising) amount of empathy.  

Gosh, he’s so wonderful. 

My thoughts are cut short by a soft *ping!*  I glance at my phone to see Ony’s name pop up. I bite back a smile before opening his message.

Yanni <3 : Be ready by 8. I got a surprise for you 

---

ah, please be nice. im still getting into the swing of things. i really hope you guys enjoyed this. please excuse any mistake!

i love you but Jesus loves you more. <3

@kxllanxtdoor

@prettypink-princesss

@sevikasblackgf

pt.1

[caligvlasaqvarivm]

I know you've touched on it in your Gamzee Essay/general alternative timeline post but may I hear some more about your ideas regarding GamTav (or only Tavros)? You get these two in a way the broader fandom doesn't (which is fine, I'll still reblog even the most vanilla ooc art of them) so I'd really love hearing more of your thoughts:3

Ok, I think this is going to be someeewhat controversial, but I think they're destined for pale together, despite Gamzee's initial flushed flirting. I did in fact reread ALL of Tavros's logs for this.

I think the first thing we need to establish is that Tavros actually feels really shitty about himself. It's obvious that his problem is "self-esteem," since he's constantly prattling on about it, but there's a bit he says as Tavrossprite that's pretty enlightening as to where his actions stem from:

TAVROSPRITE: i SYMPATHIZE ENTIRELY WITH YOUR SOCIAL IMPASSE, cAUSING NOT GOOD REFLECTIONS ABOUT YOURSELF, tHAT MAYBE ALSO DOUBLE AS LIBERATING STUFF ABOUT YOU THAT YOU RANDOMLY DECIDE IS FINE SUDDENLY, TAVROSPRITE: oLD ACQUAINTANCES, aND GUYS YOU ONCE CALLED FRIENDS, TAVROSPRITE: tHOSE ARE VERY HARD, TAVROSPRITE: bECAUSE OVER TIME THEY GET EXPOSED TOO MUCH, tO ALL MY FLAWS AND INSECURITIES, TAVROSPRITE: aND THEY START LIKING ME LESS BECAUSE OF THAT, TAVROSPRITE: aT LEAST, tHAT'S HOW THE TRUTH FEELS, iN MY BRAIN, TAVROSPRITE: sO i START THINKING, mAYBE THEY CAN'T BE THAT IMPORTANT TO ME, aFTER ALL, iF i'M GOING TO WANT TO FEEL NOT SAD ABOUT MYSELF ALL THE TIME,

He has a mixture of self-loathing and social anxiety, the latter of which exacerbates the former, as his mind tells him that his friends secretly hate him. However, his real problem is what he then does with those feelings - he avoids them and the situations that cause them. This causes two major knock-on effects: the first is that he actively ends up distancing himself from people who ARE nice to him and DO care about him, only adventuring with Vriska because he's a pushover and she's very pushy (he adventures completely alone up until that point, and winds up sleeping almost all the time afterwards); the second being that, because he refuses to actually sit with and address his negative feelings about himself (or anything else), he's never able to fix them, or remove himself from shitty situations.

Something consistent with Tavros is that every time he tries to make a decision before his death and Vriska-prototyping, it's by trying to rely on something external - whether that's his imaginary friend, his robot legs, or the story of Pupa Pan... or relying on advice from Kanaya, or seeking approval and forgiveness from Vriska, or earning flushed interest from Jade. He believes himself to be deeply flawed and untrustworthy, so he allows other people to make his decisions, and when relationships do get intimate enough that someone might get him vulnerable, he peaces out. Even his ill-fated attempt to kill Vriska is heavily encouraged by Vriska herself:

AT: aND THAT BEING THE CASE, AT: eVEN THOUGH i'M TERRIFIED OF YOU, AT: aND nOT AS STRONG, AT: oR REAL CONFIDENT, AT: oNLY MOSTLY FAKE CONFIDENT, AG: Yeeeeeeees? AG: Go on. AT: i THINK, AT: i AM GOING TO HAVE TO STOP YOU, AG: Yeah! That's the spirit. AG: Pretty weakslime threat there, 8ut it's a start. AG: Tell you what. AG: If you can find me in this la8, you can have at me. AG: I'll even give you a free shot! No funny 8usiness or anything. AT: oK, AT: tHEN, AT: hERE i COME, AG: I'll 8e w8ing. <3

As we see with Jade, whom he's attempting to flirt with flushed, he's actively trying to impress her using "self-esteems" explicitly gained from "fake" things he's acknowledging as fake - that is, refusing to be genuine and vulnerable with her, because he doesn't believe anyone would like him the way he actually is.

AT: bUT WHAT ABOUT, AT: mY ATTRACTIVE BRAVADO, AT: aND IGNORING MY INSTINCTUAL COWARDICE HARD ENOUGH TO SAY THAT i LIKE YOU, AT: iSN'T THAT, AT: sUPPOSED TO BE VERY ATTRACTIVE, aND ENCOURAGE THE MAJOR HAVING OF FLUSHED FEELINGS IN OTHERS, AT: i GUESS WHAT i MEAN IS, wHAT ABOUT ALL MY CONFIDENCE, AT: wHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THAT,

His "dating" Vriska in the dream bubbles is also dubious and one-sided at best, as John calls him out for faking it and Tavros isn't willing to bring up wanting the Ring of Life because he was planning to propose to Vriska. Thus, once more, he's attempting to use something disingenuous (in this case, a human proposal) to win another person's affection, which he believes would be a symbol of actualizing his "self-esteem".

We also literally see him do the "deciding someone wasn't actually important to you after all, so it hurts less when you cut them off before they can hurt you emotionally by noticing your flaws" thing with Nepeta - he actually quite likes Nepeta, and would certainly have enjoyed having her play the game with him, but he assures her that it's not a big deal basically immediately, and insists he'll just find someone else:

AC: :33 < tavros im sorry i cant be on your team :(( AC: :33 < im not allowed AT: oH, AT: tHAT'S OKAY, AT: tHEN i GUESS HE SAID NO, tHEN, ... AC: :33 < hmm purrhaps AC: :33 < but i still f33l bad AT: i'LL FIND ANOTHER PLAYER, iT'S NOT A BIG DEAL, AT: gOOD LUCK, bEING, AT: oN THE BLUE TEAM, AC: :33 < ok thanks :((

But, perhaps most strikingly, is the way he leaves his good friend Gamzee on read after Gamzee suggests... gasp... intimacy.

TC: WhEn wE Up aNd sTaRt tO KiCk aT ThIs rEd TeAm NoIsE, TC: YoU ShOuLd mAkE YoUr wAy tO GeT YoUr hAnG On aT My hIvE. AT: oH, yES, tOTALLY, TC: We cOuLd sPlIt a tIn oF ThE PiMpEsT SnEeZe i gOt oN HaNd, BaKeD Up aLl sPeCiAl fOr yOu. TC: AnD ThEn mAyBe mAkE OuT A LiTtLe. AT: uH, TC: ;o) AT: , AT: ,,

It freaks him out, and he's never seen hanging with Gamzee again. And this is a huge shame, because not only is Tavros one of the only people who is nice to Gamzee and appreciates his religious beliefs, but Gamzee is one of the only people who hears out Tavros's genuine insecurities and desires without making fun of him:

AT: tHE ONLY THING MORE FLY THAN THE RHYMES, AT: i'M SAYING TO EXPRESS ALL MY MALICES, AT: iS THE ABILITY HE HAD i WISH WAS MINE, AT: iNSTEAD OF i GUESS, THIS EXCESSIVE PARALYSIS, TC: (lOoK OuT FoR ThE HoOk bRo!!!) TC: GeT OfFa tHoSe wHeElS, gEt oFfA ThOsE WhEeLs. TC: If mIrAcLeS ArEn't fAkE He'lL GeT OfFa tHoSe wHeElS! AT: bUT HIGH, iN THIS CASE, hAS DOUBLE THE MEANING, AT: iT MEANS HE CAN FLY, pLUS DOES HIGH SELF ESTEEMING, AT: tHAT'S TWO THINGS HE HAS, tHAT i'D RATHER WERE MINE, AT: hIS TWO FLAPPY WINGS, aND hIS BIG HEALTHY SPINE, AT: oOPS, AT: tHAT'S THREE THINGS,,, TC: GeT OfFa tHoSe wHeElS, gEt oFfA ThOsE WhEeLs. TC: If mIrAcLeS ArEn't fAkE He'lL GeT OfFa tHoSe wHeElS!

(Compare:)

PAT: i'M SORT OF, lYING ON vRISKA'S FLOOR RIGHT NOW, PAT: lIKE, iN HER BLOCK, PAT: lYING DOWN, PAT: uHH, yOU KNOW, bECAUSE i CAN'T WALK, CCG: OH NO SHIT REALLY??? CCG: YOU CAN'T BE SERIOUS, WHEN DID THIS HAPPEN.

He isn't able to do a REAL self-confidence at least until he gives Vriska the bird and flies away, for the first time asserting that he thinks she's an asshole and doesn't actually want or need her validation or approval. After that, he's able to convince a ghost army to follow him using friendship and asking and niceness. Breath powers! Also Page powers! Also actual self-esteems! Although I don't personally hold anything after Game Over as anything more than soft canon, I think we can still see a fairly straightforward character arc reach a natural conclusion there.

But as to why I specifically think him and Gamzee are destined for pale, despite what appears to be flushed leanings from Gamzee's end, and despite the fact that I usually believe what the comic tells me, is because what brief few interactions we see between them are very much pale in nature, and it would be kind of narratively bizarre if Gamzee were set up to have a failed moirallegiance - the quadrant described as "soul mates" - without managing to find his real soul mate after. And who's it going to be? Equius? Or the guy that Gamzee literally says he feels "at chill with" talking to?

Gamzee kissing Tavros's corpse is often used as evidence for his desire for flushed, but I disagree - however Gamzee feels about Tavros romantically, kissing a dead player is how you revive them, so it reads to me - especially given how sad Gamzee is about Tavros dying - more like a desperate act to bring him back. Lest we forget, Terezi also gives it a try, and Karkat kisses Kanaya for the same reason - the reality that their extra lives are gone hasn't sunk in yet for these 13 year old kids, so they must try revival even if they know it won't work.

Moreover, Gamzee indirectly describes Tavros as his "best friend," after having called Karkat that through most of the game, and having an implied pale crush on Karkat during that time.

TC: YOU MOTHER FUCKING KNOW, BROTHER. TC: its the fuckin puppet. TC: THE ONE THAT'S ALL GOT TO BE MY BEST FUCKING FRIEND I GOT NOW. TC: now that my other buddy managed to be having his head chopped off. :oC

Moreover moreover, what Karkat cites as being the cause of their moirallegiance's failure is Gamzee's religious beliefs:

KARKAT: HE STARTED GETTING SO UNBELIEVABLY SELF SATISFIED AND PIOUS, LIKE WAY MORE THAN HE EVER WAS BEFORE. KARKAT: LIKE HE'S JUST SO COMPLETELY CONVINCED HE'S FOUND HIS CALLING, THAT THIS SESSION IS THE GATEWAY TO THE PROMISED LAND WHERE HE'LL FULFILL HIS DESTINY. KARKAT: HE'S SO CAUGHT UP IN HIS IDIOTIC SCHEMES HE COULDN'T GIVE A FUCK ABOUT ME ANYMORE.

Which are explicitly what Tavros invites Gamzee to speak on, and appreciates:

AT: yEAHHH, yOU CAN TALK ABOUT THE CLOWN THINGS, wHICH, AT: i DON'T REALLY UNDERSTAND EVER, bUT THAT'S OKAY, AT: bECAUSE IT'S KIND OF FUNNY, AT: wHEREAS, i'LL ADDRESS SOME TOPICS PERTAINING TO MY INTERESTS, AT: aND i GUESS, pERSONAL MOTIFS, TC: YeAh! FuCk YeAh, ThAt Be HoW sHiT's AlL uSuAlLy Up AnD fUcKiN lOcKeD bRo. ... AT: dO YOU HAVE TIME FOR, mY MIRACLES, rELIGIOUS FRIEND, }:) TC: Do yOu gEt yOuR NoTiCe oN Of tHe mIrAcLeS AT: sO MANY, uH, gRATUITOUS EXPLETIVE, mIRACLES, tHE MAGIC MOTHER, aLSO eXPLETIVE, mIRACLES, TC: FuCk yEs, HeReS WhErE ThE SlAm tUrNs tO NoThIn bUt hOnKs... TC: HoNk hOnK HoNk hOnK HoNk hOnK HoNk TC: HoNk hOnK HoNk hOnK HoNk hOnK HoNk AT: HONK, TC: FuUuUuUuUuUuUuUuUuCk! AT: iT'S LESS APPROPRIATE FOR ME TO DO THE HONKS, tHAN YOU, bUT THAT WAS STILL GREAT, TC: YeAh, BrO. yEaH!!! AT: tHE SLAMS WERE TRULY PRIME, aND, AT: yOUR RELIGIOUS VIEWS, tHOUGH i DON'T SHARE THEM, aRE, AT: rEASONABLY INSPIRATIONAL, AT: i THINK i'M IN THE PROCESS OF RELEASING AT LEAST ONE TEAR,

But also in Tavros's single conversation with Gamzee, we see Tavros stand up to a highblood:

TC: :o) HoNkHoNkHoNkHoNkHoNk AT: }:o), hEH, TC: hAhAh FuUuUuCk, YoU sToLe My FuCkIn NoSe BrO! TC: WhAt GoT yOu EvEn Up ThE gUmPtIoN tO aLl FuCkIn Do ThE sHiT lIkE tHaT? AT: eRR, i DON'T KNOW, iT'S JUST, AT: kIND OF THE OBVIOUS THING TO DO, AT: sTICK THE CIRCLE IN FRONT OF THE DOTS, aND, bEHIND THE BENDY ONE, AT: pLUS, oH YEAH, mY HORNS, TC: hAhAhAhA. AT: mAYBE WE CAN SLAM ABOUT IT, ... TC: fUuUuCk, So FuCkIn FrEsH. TC: YoU nEeD tO bE sLaPpEd FuCkIn SiLlY wItH a MoUtH lIkE tHaT! hAhA. AT: aND, iF YOU GOT A PROBLEM WITH IT, AT: tHEN i SUGGEST YOU GO AND RAP IT DUDE,

He feels safe with Gamzee, enough to take a bit of an attitude with him, enough to open up about his insecurities about his disability and how much he wishes he was like Pupa Pan, and Gamzee explicitly states he feels calm when he talks to Tavros, which is the stated function of a moirallegiance.

TC: Me tOo, BrO, yOu mOtHeR FuCkIn kNoW ThErE Be sOmE Of mY EyE's RoYaL JeLlY To gO WiTh yOuR EmOtIoNaL pEaNuT BuTtEr. AT: wHOA, aHA, hA, TC: ThIs iS BeAuTiFuL, dUdE, i fEeL So aT ChIlL WiTh yOu. AT: yEAH, fRIENDLINESS WITH YOU IS, pRETTY MUCH ALWAYS NICE, aND FUN TO HAVE,

And the thing is, trolls are constantly getting into moirallegiances when they want to be flushed (Eridan, Kanaya), having palecrushes when they want to be friends (Gamzee), and winding up flushed with their moirail (pale solfef is forshadowed in the same breath as pale erikar, and they don't seem to confirm a matespritship until after Sollux's actual flushed crush, Aradia, explodes). Especially for Gamzee, who was neglected by his lusus and struggles with social interaction to the point where he feels like he has to hide his real self (casteist beliefs, constant talk of religion and murder, which, by the way, come out when he talks to Tavros), it'd be easy for him to mistake the "instinctive attraction" of moirallegiance for the passions of matespritship.

These thoughts are all pretty disorganized - I'm really sorry, it's super late/early for me and I'm exhausted for other reasons - but I hope that that . was what you wanted? hahah

[reasonsforhope]

hey i get what youre trying to say with the taylor swift post but as of a few days ago shes trying to sue a college student who posts her (publicly available) flight logs. she very much does not give a shit about her carbon emissions and she shouldn’t be celebrated for her mediocre attempts to seem climate-conscious

I get what you're saying, definitely. I also did actually know about the thing with the college student when I posted that, so I wanted to give some context about why I made that post:

First, I personally didn't view it as celebrating her so much as celebrating progress. I think that if we never acknowledge wins, we'll end up dispirited very quickly

Second, recognizing when people decide to be less shitty is, at least I think, an important carrot in the carrot-and-stick dynamic of using public opinion to influence public figures

Lastly - and this may well be an unpopular opinion - but I don't actually hold her actions re: the college student against her

Why?

Well, for one, it was a cease and desist letter, not an attempted lawsuit. A cease and desist letter isn't legally binding, nor is it the start of a lawsuit - it's more like she's Putting Him On Notice. A cease and desist order can be followed by a lawsuit, if it's ignored, but it doesn't initiate one. Likely Taylor Swift will try several other steps of resolution before actually telling her lawyers to sue this guy, if only because the headlines would Not look good (x, x)

But more than that, I don't hold it against her because when Taylor Swift says that it's a matter of life and death for her, I believe that's very true.

Like, don't get me wrong, I'm not mad about her flight data being up either. And I'm not particularly a fan of Taylor Swift

But I also think that if I had to read through the rape and death threats she gets on an almost-certainly-daily basis, I'd want to vomit.

And I think that was true before Trump and his minions got obsessed with the idea that she's the keystone in the next Biden-election-stealing Pentagon psyops plot. Now - especially in the days right before the Superbowl, when this alleged conspiracy is supposed to happen - I don't even want to think about the brutality of the threats she's receiving

(For anyone going "Uh, wtf?" about the MAGA Superbowl Taylor Swift conspiracy thing, yes, I hate to inform you that it's A Whole Thing. More info here: x, x, x, x, x, x)

Taylor Swift does have stalkers, and now she has a bunch of MAGA paramilitary conspiracy theorists absolutely furious with her. If I were her, I'd want to do every single thing I could to keep information on my movements and in-the-moment location off the internet, too

tl;dr: I don't necessarily think she cares about the environment, but I'm not mad at her for sending a cease and desist letter because I think without her extensive security, she would be in real danger now, including possibly danger of being killed by armed MAGA conspiracy theorists

You're allowed to be mad at her and dislike her (obviously!), you're allowed to totally disagree with my attitude toward the cease and desist. I just wanted to share my rationale for including the post (and it is something I went back and forth on tbh)

[thousand-winters]

I like to think Hunter and Eber had a pretty okay relationship when Hunter was younger and before Belos put the indoctrination in overdrive. Like young Hunter loved to hold Eber and touch his fur because he’s soft and the texture was nice, Eber also liked to show off beast keeping tricks to him but then Eber noticed how uncomfortable Hunter made Darius and decided even though Hunter was an alright kid, he cares more about his best friend than some toddler he doesn’t really know. So he started ignoring Hunter and eventually growling at him which as you can imagine confuses and hurts Hunter and unfortunately as Eber later sadly concludes when everything is over with, pushes Hunter deeper into Belos’s arms

Ow.

I usually figure that Belos kept Hunter pretty isolated and it didn't matter much when Hunter was a kid because he was being trained as a scout along with everyone else, so there are chances people didn't even know he was Belos' nephew, even if it was quite unusual for a powerless kid to be in there.

The possibility that he did interact with them is painful tho... I could imagine Eber being good with kids because they know how to be patient and they're also used to beasts here and there being somewhat rowdy so a little kid? Is nothing compared to that. All the other Coven Heads were NOT interested in entertaining a little kid or they were probably kinda creepy and Hunter didn't want to get close to them (looking at you, Terra), so he probably would have started approaching Eber more than anybody else, and unfortunately for him, that means Darius as well.

I can't imagine Darius did anything different than what he did later on, aka, simply ignore him and not give him the time of day, which he could excuse very well because he's a Coven Head, he has his responsibilities and he can't just spend his time entertaining a kid that isn't even his, least of all the Emperor's nephew who presumably should be well taken care of. Technically he's royalty.

But of course, Eber of all people wouldn't buy the "oh, I'm just not paid to be a babysitter" and would notice something else is up with Darius' reactions and as bubbly as the kid is, it's not like he knows him personally so between his friend/sibling and a random kid... well. Eber keeps his loyalties.

I'm thinking he might not have even intended to be that hostile initially but say, maybe when Hunter officially became the Golden Guard, Darius was particularly tense for obvious reasons and Hunter approached which made Eber react out of instinct and... well. It worked, Hunter backed off and Darius looked a little calmer and Eber kinda didn't think about it further than that.

I know the technical reason why Hunter points out Darius and Eber in his palismen logs and none of the others probably has to do with them being the only Coven Heads that had been properly introduced at that point, plus the rebels, but it's sad to think too he always noticed them in particular even then because they were the nicest anyway even if they were avoiding him like the plague. He knows they don't want him around, but they're still the closest thing he had to a friendly presence around, which is just depressing but what about his life isn't anyway...

[angelfevr]

akane kurashiki is (not) allocishet: an analysis

[pt: akane kurashiki is (not) allocishet: an analysis. end pt].

okay so we’ve been meaning to write this for a while but havent bc we’ve been focusing on other projects. slight disclaimer if u dont agree w this hc thats fine, just dont be a dick just bc it interferes w ur own interpretation . we all have our own ways of reading the text so. Yeah!! lets get started

so i just wanna say akane is a character i resonate with in a lot of ways, and a lot of what im going to say comes from my and others’ experiences. ur identities and experiences r def gonna affect how u view a piece of work right? 

so when i played through the series in 2023, i initially viewed akane as everyone else did: she’s in love with junpei, and even hced her as bi like most of the fandom. but the more i studied the source material, the more i felt thats not rlly the case?? esp after ztd, like im sorry but i cannot buy the idea that both junpei or akane wanna marry each other. junpei is for another day but in terms of akane i wanna talk abt the idea that she may be aromantic. 

immersing myself in the fandom, a lot of ppl’s first impressions of akane’s june persona is that she was initially gonna be this ditzy girl next door who only serves as a love interest for junpei. ofc that ended up not being the case, but i see ppl say that they only rlly cared for akane after finding out she’s zero. which imo is such a missed opportunity for analysis.

as june, akane interacts with the world through tropes. the first thing she does when we’re introduced to her is fall on junpei. and overall is seen as this nervous girl who wouldn’t harm anyone. she flirts w junpei throughout the game, yadda yadda yadda. when it comes to her identity as zero, she desperately wants a perfect ending where she can be with junpei. its guesswork as to which aspects are true of akane, but i personally see these traits as smth she thinks “kanny” would do. 

[id: screenshot from 999’s script, black text on a white background that reads:

“Junpei: Well, I dunno. Anything. I mean, you're hiding it. How would I know?

June: You mean, like...the number of men I've dated?

Junpei's heart stumbled over itself.

June: Do you want to know?

He had to admit, he was a little curious.

June: Don't worry.

She smiled at him.

June: Only 18...

!?

June: ...Times 0.

June: Yeah... I guess I just haven't met Mr. Right yet…”

“Number of men” is highlighted in green. End id].

of course, bc of her tumultuous childhood and how she didn’t have many friends, she never rlly had experience w dating. but not much suggests she would beyond her own words.

[id: screenshot from 999’s script, black text on a white background that reads:

“Kanny: You...meant a lot to me...when we were kids...

Kanny: I've liked you...for a long time, Junpei... A really...long...time..”

“Liked” is highlighted in green. End id]. 

.

[id: screenshot from 999’s script, black text on a white background that reads:

“"Okay..."

My voice shook as I answered.

It was hot in the room. It felt like my heart was on fire.

6 minutes or not, my heart burned with my feelings for him.

…”

“burned” is highlighted in green. End id]. 

but actions speak louder than words, and she doesn’t go far beyond flirting and declarations of love. in ztd, she doesn’t even make these advances even when she’s trying to lighten the mood or make things right with junpei. the only time being when she speaks with carlos in the pantry. 

[id: a log of dialogue from zero time dilemma which reads: 

akane: if it was because of me somehow… then this time i need to rush to his aid. that’s what i’ve decided anyway.

carlos: you really like junpei, don’t you?

akane: wh-what in the world are you saying, carlos?! 

carlos: i’m out of my depth when it comes to romance.

end id].

[id: a log of dialogue from zero time dilemma which reads: 

carlos: did you bake heart-shaped cookies full of love for your darling junpei?

akane: oh carlos… would you please stop teasing me… 

june is meant to be seen as the ideal japanese woman, and since performance/identity is a huge part of her character, it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that she’s performing heterosexuality/amatonormativity, by extension femininity (but that’s an analysis for another day). 

akane is also slotted into the role of a mother figure for kyle just as sigma with the role of father. i can’t help but think of the scene in little shop of horrors (1986), audrey sings abt a stable and “ideal” middle class life. i remember watching it thinking it was odd, given that im aro and am not interested in settling down or emulating cishet middle class values. but my friend, who is poor just like audrey and akane, told me that it’s a common occurrence for poor ppl to think this way. to want a sense of stability even if it’s stereotypical. i feel like this applies to akane as well. i also hc her with bpd, and instability is a common symptom for us, so it makes sense for her to see junpei as a beacon of such, of normalcy. he’s rlly the only normal part of her childhood. she wants him to fix her lol . 

[id: screenshot from virtue’s last reward which reads: 

“i pleaded with her to leave, but she quietly shook her head. there was someone very special to her, she told me. he had saved her life once, and she felt her death would help to repay that favor.” end id].

and while we do see oldkane/vlrkane reminisce abt her life w junpei thru kyle, the passcode being jumpydolls, i feel like thats less abt love and more abt the fact that shes lonely, which a lot of ppl mistake that like. love can fix that.. when it rlly cant. not to mention what i said earlier

akane and junpei rarely make physical contact beyond junpei holding her in his arms and hugging. you can of course be a couple and not be that physically affectionate, but junpei is the only one initiating this. also like?? not even an “i love you” when you haven’t seen each other in nine years???????

[id: cg from nine hours nine persons nine doors. junpei holds akane’s shoulder with a worried expression. Akane has her eyes closed. End id].

[id: screenshot of zero time dilemma. junpei hugs akane near the basketball court in the lounge. akane wears a wedding ring on her right hand. end id].

[id: screenshot from zero time dilemma. junpei holds a ring in his right hand. white text on the bottom reads, “well, remember back in elementary school your dream was to wear a ring?” end id].

this is actually a common experience for aros who dont realize aromanticism is even an option. i remember when i was a kid, i’d have daydreams of getting married and dating ppl but when the opportunity actually came, i was uncomfortable and rejected it. 

i feel like junpei’s proposal and akane’s acceptance were reckless of both of them, and probably not even signs of true feelings. junpei’s arc is abt regaining agency, and akane’s is abt control (hashtag cinematic parallels), so it makes sense this would happen. both wish they could return to their childhoods, hence their emotionally immature attitudes + tendency to reminisce abt the past (junpei is counterphobic to this though and eventually gets over it in vlr’s timeline, though akane continues to act this way going forward). poor decision making is a sign of trauma after all. 

i mentioned how akane (and junpei but again. Another story for another day) subverts gendered expectations w her personality. aro ppl (as well as lesbians if u wanna go for a lesbian akane reading) tend to feel disconnected from their agab bc yk we arent straight and like a cishet woman liking a man is a sign of womanhood according to Society............ so like what if ur a girl who likes girls? or doesnt like anyone??? what does that make u??? (again, this could either be a trans reading or a lesbian reading)

anyway my point is. i think its more interesting to read akane’s interest in junpei as her wanting stability and a normal life, esp given that she is traumatized and was once poor. i feel like fluffy junepei fanworks make their dynamic very one-note and lack what makes their dynamic intriguing. but hey!! thats just my opinion as an aro person and how i prefer to interpret it 

[lykaiosthinks]

new series, journal entries from V's pov pre-roadtrip arc and post-broadcast arc

Day 1:

4:32 - Radio broadcast finished

4:51 - Started prioritizing materials

5:05 - Consolidating stuff

Well, Cleo asked what I was doing, then pointed out that it wouldn’t be much help to whoever read this if it was just a time log, so I guess it’s a journal now.

I guess I should probably explain what happened. That broadcast was the first thing we ever heard from anyone outside of the city after the fallout. Coincidentally, it was also the last thing we heard from anyone while we were inside the city. Reason being that the broadcast was basically our 30 day timer to get out. They were dropping a bomb on the city in an attempt to clear out the infection. I guess that probably means our city was a hotspot, which means that if you’re reading this you’re far enough into the future when this city is finally hospitable again. Or you’re just some insane adrenaline junkie who decided to journey far and long enough to somehow find this. (If that’s the case, please leave this for someone who needs it. You clearly don’t.)

Anyway, I guess this is just a record of what we’re doing, but we haven’t done much yet. Cleo and Jo were quite taken aback at the news, which is understandable. I suppose I’m just numb to everything around me at this point. It took a while for them to calm down and rationalize that we had plenty of time to figure things out. The first thing we did was figure out what we were gonna need to leave this place. Food and water was a must, but the problem was how much? I wasn't sure how soon it would be before we could find another sustainable source of food. I decided that we would bring as much as we could, and dump some if we needed something else. I guess I don’t really need food as much, but honestly what I need is probably more scarce.

I guess I should also introduce myself. I’ve been going by V, for fear of not wanting to reveal my full name. I guess it doesn’t matter so much now that I know Cleo and Jo better, but I see no reason to change anything. Cleo is the youngest of us, and she lost her sister soon after the fallout happened. She’s been looking for her ever since, and the news of the bomb hit the hardest for her. She still believes her sister is okay, but there’s been no evidence of her life or her death, so it’s hard to say. Jo is a little older than Cleo, and they get along very well. A little too well at times, honestly. They can cause more trouble than the infection itself, if given enough time. I think I’m older than Jo, but my memory’s really been going since the initial breakout. I suppose I should mention that Jo and I are both technically infected, but I managed to throw some sort of antidote together. It doesn’t really fix the problem entirely but it keeps it from getting worse, which is what matters. I didn’t really care too much about my wellbeing before Jo and Cleo came around, so I’m basically surviving entirely off of pills and such. That’s my theory as to why my memory is going; whatever is keeping me alive and functioning certainly isn’t normal.

Anyway, the rest of the day was spent packing things up and deciding what would be good to take and leave. I insisted that any personal belongings should be kept to a minimum, but Cleo and Jo claimed there were things that had to be taken with them. I figured it was fine as long as I wouldn’t be carrying anything, which they said wouldn’t be a problem. I suppose this is all we’re going to be doing for the next month, so I should probably get used to it.

I need sleep. Any rest I can get will be crucial to our plans. I should have been asleep a while ago, but I forgot about this journal thing. No wonder, but maybe writing this stuff down would help me remember. Maybe this will all be useless. I’ll forget about it again, maybe. Leave it somewhere no one will find it. I’m not really sure what’s worth my time anymore.

This isn’t good, is it?

[remimibanana]

Thank you, Pomu!

By the time I post this, Pomu has graduated (╥﹏╥)

I want to take this time to thank her. THANK YOU POMU FOR EVERYTHING!!! YOU ARE AMAZING!!! I ALWAYS HAD FUN WATCHING YOU!!! (*´▽`*)

I tried writing this twice elsewhere but it didn’t save both times much to my dismay so I’m doing it here because it’ll save and I can add pictures.

All my sappy rambling below the cut!

I didn’t watch Pomu as much, in all honesty. Just like I don’t watch many of the vtubers I like since I don’t have time to watch streams in general. Woes of being a uni student.

But from the ones I did catch, and the clips I’ve watched, Pomu never failed to make me laugh or smile. Not once.

My favourite clip is where Pomu is reacting to a Nintendo Direct with Elira and they laugh their butts off at the casting for the Mario Movie. I’ll never forget Pomu going “CHRIS PRATT?????” and then subsequently laughing insanely alongside Elira.

I’ll also never forget when she said that the Mario Movie will be good upon seeing Jack Black lol

Another one of my favourites is where Selen is totally drunk and is playing Minecraft. Pomu is in the server and when Selen tells her that she’s stuck in Seffyna’s wool shearing farm thing machine, she just straight up leaves LMAO

When Selen says she'll have to kill the sheep she's stuck with, Pomu comes back going all NO NO. Pomu gets stuck in an attempt to help Selen, Selen kills the sheep anyway and then they break the farm in an attempt to get out and then they try to fix it.

They fix it and then Seffyna comes in and Selen snitches when Pomu ditched LOL

I love drunk Selen and I love how Pomu was practically a babysitter lmao

I love this clip so much.

I was watching Pomu’s Totsumachi, and at the end of it she mentioned that she wanted to wipe ass at Pokémon Black since she was doing a challenge where she would beat the game with six Chandelure.

I wrote YESSSSSSSSSSS into the chat, and pretty much after I did, Pomu said “YESSSSSSSSSSSSS”! It happened twice! It felt so cool, you know?

I’m not sure if it was my comment exactly but I’m going to pretend it was. Delulu is the Solulu, my friends.

Speaking of the Totsumachi, I was there for when Pomu talked to Vivi! I honestly didn't know too much about Vivi, I saw a few clips here and there but I really like her now after this!

They talked about Gaia Online at the very end, and Pomu mentioned how she wanted to try and log back into her old account. I heard of Gaia Online but I never played it. I played Moshi Monsters, Poptropica and Secret Builders as a kid. I'm old, I know lol

My interest was piqued and I made myself a Gaia Online account. It’s so early 2000’s, I love it. Reminds me of the old internet, it was much more happier and fun.

Feel free to friend me if you have an account.

I actually watched the entirety of the stream where she played Pokémon Black, and I’m so glad I was able to be there to see her complete the challenge! She beat the Elite 4, N and Ghetsis with six Chandelure! It was so entertaining and honestly nerve wracking to watch!

The RNG at one point was so bad, Stone Edge never missed and Flame Body never hit lol

It was a lot of fun.

As you can see, I sent Pomu a super chat! I have this tradition where I send one to those who are graduating as a final goodbye and to show my support for one last time.

I did it with Pikamee, Mysta, Mika and now…Pomu. The list keeps growing...

Why does every person I like leave ;;

I also became a member! I wasn’t going to initially, but I wanted to show my support and use emotes for the first and last time. I joined the lowest tier at first, but decided I wanted the Member Wallpapers, so I upgraded.

I managed to get them all, which I’m really happy I did! Pomu’s membership got paused after her graduation so there’s no way to access any of the perks anymore.

For Pomu's graduation stream, I caught all of the Crab Game with Niji EN and the final part. One of the reasons I sent the super chat in the Pokemon Black stream was because I wasn't sure if I would be able to catch the graduation stream at all.

It started at 3:30am for me and I had no idea how long it would go for. I'm a bit surprised it went for 10 hours, but I'm glad it did because I was able to watch a bit of it at the very end!

I think it's better I sent the super chat in the Pokémon Black stream, since I love Pokémon and Pomu! It feels more special to me.

I think graduations only prove how fast time flies and how one day, the people I like to watch will go too. I know its bound to happen and it is a part of life but still...it hurts to see those who you like to watch go.

I remember waking up one morning and seeing the notice of Pomu graduating, I went "WHATTTTTT??? POMU???? NOOOOOOOOO". I really didn't think she would graduate, but it was right there. People were sad, and I didn't know how to feel.

I felt like I didn't watch Pomu enough or support her enough as I could have. I still feel the same way. I did show my support at the very end, but it shouldn't take a graduation. I should have showed my support from the start, or watched her more. You never know what you'll miss until its gone, I suppose.

But I can't change the past. I'm happy I was able to watch her at the very end, and that's what matters! I'm glad I could say goodbye, watch a full stream from her and have fun until the very end!

Once again, thank you Pomu! I wish you all the best in life! We're all Pomu at the very end, aren't we?

I'm going to take the PP Energy Pomu gave us and be more confident this year! I won't let you down, Pomu! I'm going to work hard to be the best person I can be.

If I could be anything like Pomu at the end, then I think I would be happy. Someone who is so kind and is like a beacon of light people go to.

Pomu was a pioneer, and I hope she knows just how much she was loved by all. We will never forget you!

OtsuPP!

[blackjackkent]

All right, well, this has been an intense day and I feel utterly fucking fried, which means it's a perfect time to put Hector through The Horrors some more.

Possibly. Alternatively my brain might just decide writing is Not Happening tonight. :P We'll see. But for right now let's keep exploring the Lower City!

The quest log is starting to look extremely sparse indeed; our remaining known objectives prior to the endgame are:

Take the Orphic Hammer into the Prism

Help Nine-Fingers against the impending betrayal by the Zhentarim

Find the rest of the Dribbles Bits

Rescue Shadowheart's parents from the House of Grief

Take Wyll to fulfill his destiny in the Wyrmway

Current plan: we're going to continue clearing out the rest of the Lower City map first (which I imagine will take care of #4 and maybe #3), then go to the sewers for #2, then to the Prism for #1, then the Wyrmway for #5.

And then the endgame. :O Eep. (Feel free to holler at me in comments if there's anything specific I'm missing. :) )

------

Stopping for a long rest after the adventures with Oskar, and Shadowheart, of all people, has something to say in camp.

"That graffiti from before - I never thought I'd see it again."

The what now? [frantic googling]

OK, this is a reference to some graffiti scrawled on the back of Jaheira's house. Looking at YouTube, if you have Shadowheart in your party when you go past it, she comments on it: "That graffiti - it almost looks like it was done in my hand. Did I do this?"

(The odd thing, actually, is that I feel like I remember hearing her say this at some point, but I also haven't had her in the party since we picked up Minsc and certainly not any time we've been in the northwest of the city. So this is a bit puzzling. But anyway - we'll assume she and Hector wandered around at some point and she saw it. :P )

"Why did it stand out?"

"Well... I think I was the one who did it. I can recognize my own handwriting."

(I'll be honest - I'm not sure I would recognize my handwriting on a wall as compared to what it would be on paper, but fair play enough I suppose. XD)

"How long ago was this? Years? All the time I spent training, hidden away from the world. I think... I think I must have wanted to leave my mark somewhere, just to prove I existed. Even to myself..."

Aw. <3

As mentioned, gameplay-wise we haven't seen much of Shadowheart since getting Minsc, but I think she and Hector have definitely done a lot of talking in camp over the weeks since the business in the Shadowfell.

Sometimes she asks him questions about Selune or about his training. Sometimes she talks about flashes of memory that have come back to her. Once she tries to ask him about his parents, after talking about her hunt for hers for a time; she's a bit surprised to learn that growing up cloistered without a family is another thing they share.

It's gratifying to both of them, I think, to be moving past the things that initially divided them and finding common ground.

[pretty-idol-hell]

Oooh!

Hooray.... grey........

Huuaaah.

Okay, so. Since I noticed myself slipping into the 90s during the day, when I got home from work I decided to just focus on getting in another rank-up before my bonus is gone and forced myself to NOT look at or stress over the ranking until I finished. Currently, I am....

....65th!?

I guess it's safe to say I made it. I'm in the top 100.

Wow.

WOW!

Goddamn.

It seemed so impossible after the March event, but I did learn a lot from that experience. So, now that the event is almost over (actually it will be over when by the time this is posted) I'll share about my strategy. (And other thoughts.)

In the March promise event, I thought that as long as I had a lot of promise tickets I would be fine and tried to grind them down using instant promises towards the end of the event. (At this time, I was used to one good day of grinding being enough on SIF events.) But, I could never catch up to where I wanted to be and quickly realized it was too little too late.

So, I knew this time I had to start early and play consistently. I also decided to do mostly normal promises instead of instant, so I could get the most iine possible out of my tickets. In the meantime, I joined other people's promises while waiting for my own to fill so I could get some free iine on the side.

And this did work noticeably better. But I still wasn't able to crack the top 100.

And that was when I finally caved and did the thing. I put on the classic, the Laala Welcome SCR, and warmed up my fingers for some OPEN DREAM LAND.

So, up until this point I had actually been thinking that promises in the Welcome SCR wouldn't fill because everyone else would be sick of it by now too. But I was wrong.

SO WRONG.

Sometimes my promises filled so quickly that by the time the promise menu screen loaded, it was literally ALREADY FULL. So, as long as I was using the Welcome SCR it was basically the same as doing instant except for full points.

So, at this time I stopped joining other people's promises for the most part, and was largely doing my own regular promises in the Welcome SCR. And this was when I really started getting somewhere.

Unfortunately, this was also when I also started buying promise tickets. For the record, I do think it would have been possible to hit top 100 just using the promise tickets you have and joining other people's promises when you get more. But, only for those who don't have a full-time job and can play full-time Idol Land PriPara. I do have a full-time job, from which I gain money, which can be used to exchange for promise tickets haha ha....

Also I had a 65% bonus from the gatcha. A-Anyway....

During the last few days when I was cruising through the ranking, I was briefly lured into the false sense of... we did it. Maybe we really did it. We saved Idol Land!? How could the game be dying when my promises are filling SO FAST!?

Until of course, I logged into Lucky's account and played one promise to find out that... there are... less than 10,000 active players..... that's half... the number there was... two months ago.............

I was pretty crushed.

I mean, I should have known better but... yeah.

It's been something I've been thinking about all day. About how the game still feels so active despite this?

And I realized hey, wait. What if Idol Land was designed to run better with a smaller player base? I mean, less promises on the board means promises are more visible, which means promises fill faster? Could be.

After all, a lot of the problems we had during Idol Land's launch resulted from them not properly gauging how high initial demand was.

The game is running much better now, and the fans that are left are pretty ride or die at this point I think.

But is that enough.

...............................pro...bab....ly not............

Well, we'll see. If not tomorrow or next week, we'll find out something about the longevity of the game when the Season Select tab updates.

Ah well, no regrets. Idol Land has meant a lot to me, and I really wanted to show them through this event. Even if it was technically all for nothing, I don't feel like it was, strangely.

Well... There's more to say, but I'll pick up on this train of thought when EOS is actually announced officially.

Goodnight all! See you on the other side of the maintenance.

[sith-shenanigans]

npc ask game; The Master (from the Revanite quest on Dromun Kass)?

Hi! Sorry! I originally couldn’t answer this, because Alderaan and the Revanite b-plot were both a disaster and I had to resolve them. (These things are related because when I originally played through, I thought that when I closed Act 1 by confronting Zash, I might lose access to Act 1 quests. So Ahene went running around cleaning up every old quest in the quest log, and so she did the Revanite quest right before the finale of Act 1. And then it… turned out to be extremely important for character growth. Despite happening at the wrong time. Oops.)

So instead of being the Dromund Kaas planet quest, the initial Revanite plot turned into the main sideplot of Act 1. If you don’t want spoilers about specific plot twists in Liminality—which you probably do because you sent me an ask, but everyone else—now is the time to look away.

All looked away? Good, great, fantastic.

So the way the plotline starts is that Aleeleti, the friend who introduces Ahene to the Broken Chain, is of course a Revanite. And then the questgiver shows up to blackmail Ahene into spying on the Revanites, saying that if she doesn’t, he’ll just report that the whole Broken Chain is involved, and that won’t be hard to sell at all. So Ahene has to deal with the fact that a) her least complicated friend is actually putting everyone at risk, and b) now she needs to betray said friend, which she is really not on board with doing.

So this means that the bit on Nar Shaddaa with the vault is a Bonding Activity (because Ahene manages to get herself recruited after Balmorra), and also kind of a Revanite Trial, and she is coming to the conclusion that she honestly does not really care about Revan but these people are somehow the most reasonable Sith in the galaxy despite being a cult dedicated to a long-dead historical figure who didn’t live in the Empire anyway.

A bunch more stuff happens on Alderaan. The mask of Revan is involved. Those two Revanites who both want it? They go to Alderaan. As per the plot, they both try to get Ahene to give it to them. Not as per the plot, she says no. You both want to be the one to decide what to do with it, she says, but that’s not either of your calls. It’s your boss’s call, actually. The only person she will give this mask to is your boss.

She’s still not sure whether to betray them or to confess. She doesn’t want to betray them, but she’s… not really sure they’ll let her live if she confesses.

Cue the arrival of Tari Darkspanner, who kind of knew the whole time, and who decides to give Ahene a chance anyway.

This is a gesture of trust that Ahene really, really wouldn’t have expected. It’s barely in her worldview as A Thing People Might Do at all, much less a thing a Sith might do. Much less a thing a Sith with everything to lose might do—and Ahene keeps thinking that so much of the selfishness, so much of the cruelty, comes from having everything to lose.

We learn something about Ahene, here: the fastest way to earn her loyalty is to give her actual trust.

This isn’t something Ahene knew about Ahene until just then.

She goes back and convinces the blackmailing questgiver that he should just bury the whole thing, because if he tries to go after his master no one will believe him, especially with a piece of evidence that means nothing out of context. So he can’t turn in Aleeleti, either. (Possibly she’s keeping the amulet, so that she can threaten to go to her own master with evidence that would be much harder for her to get than for Darth—Charnus’s?—own apprentice to get, and turn the whole thing into nonsense and politics and the Inquisition all over everything, and of course Charnus will throw his apprentice under the bus.) Very much a “if I go down, you go down with me” kind of situation.

Ahene and Tari probably don’t speak again. Unless they do, briefly, when Tari tells her to go her own path afterwards. But Ahene considers herself a Revanite until it becomes clear that the Revanites don’t.

(Tari would have liked to think otherwise. But someone who was trustworthy as an apprentice is not necessarily trustworthy anymore, now that she has so much power. Or if she is, she is perhaps trustworthy to someone else. Darth Marr does not make political alliances—but it has been rumored, recently, that he has. And Tari knows that if Darth Occlus is anything like the strange, desperate little apprentice she met… Ahene would never betray that trust.)

[npc opinions]

[rosainta]

[Outdated! No longer applicable]

RQDL Announcement + Wednesday Art Dump!

Started December 13th, 2023 at 8:00AM, Home

Finished December 13th, 2023 at 10:45PM, Home

Announcement #1

Hello there, wonderful viewer!

(“Meet the Demoman” Art by me— more on that later!)

Firstly, the bad news.

I’d like to apologize for not posting these past couple of days. I realize that the whole point of these logs is that they are supposed to be daily… hence the name Rosain Quivan’s Daily Logs, LOL, and me breaking that purpose so soon after starting is a bit disappointing.

However, as I was attempting to continue King of Hearts (Part Three) over those two days, I came to realize that, unfortunately, I actually don’t have enough time to write as I initially thought I would. At least, during the weekdays. This is mostly in part due to classes, extracurriculars and just general life stuff, and as much as I want to urge myself to write and just wing the rest, that’s sadly not possible. And I don’t think that the only 3 hours I have free before sleeping is enough time to write anything substantial, much less of good quality that both of us could enjoy.

I’m sorry if you were looking forward to anything recently, like KoH3, only for it not to be there. I know I promised you that it would be the next log, but I believe I may have to push that farther out to this weekend, or worst case scenario next week.

I know it’s probably not such a big deal for you as I’m putting it here, since I am probably just another random TF2 person on the Internet for you (who, mind you, has only really been active for about 4 days), but it means a lot to me.

I made this vow of continuity and quality to both myself (to improve my writing skills and commitment) and you (to give back to the community whose inspiration never ceases to amaze me), and it pains me to know that I have already failed to follow through with it.

However, as much as this sucks, this does not give me the right to sulk over it, because sulking is for MAGGOTS!!! (Just kidding- sulk as much as you want, we still love you!)

Which is why in order to fix this, I propose….

A SOLUTION!!

(Now, the good news!)

(“Meet the Engineer” Also art by me— explanation coming in a bit, just a little more patience!)

Now, what I’m about to propose is a bit complicated, and I’m not entirely sure if this is going to work… but hey, at least it’s only after the 4th log right? Beginnings offer a lot of room for experimentation. And if it doesn’t work out, we’ll fix it when we get there.

So, because of real-life scheduling conflict, the best way for me to balance this out with writing (as well as all the other things I’d like to include here), I have decided to make a schedule for when and what these logs will look like and contain. Most of what will be on it will likely be considerably shorter works in comparison to say, King of Hearts, because of obvious time constraints, but they include a lot of different things to look forward to aside from the same old writing scheme, like say, artwork!

This way, it provides a bit more variety (so you’re not just stuck reading TF2 essays everyday LOL), and also the possibility for you to provide input, ask questions and make requests!

The first goals I had in mind when making these logs was for this to be fun and enjoyable for both of us, as well as sustainable. So, by having this schedule, hopefully that can fulfill both those goals. Now, enough of my babbling; here it is!

RQDL SCHEDULE

Weekdays (Mondays-Thursdays, possibly Fridays)

Posting time: around 10:30PM, Atlantic Time

Monday : short writings (poems, vignettes, opinions, other stuff like that.)

Tuesday : same as Monday

Wednesday : artwork &/ musical composition (such as shown above!)

Thursday : same as Wednesday

(Friday, possibly) : art requests, anything you’d like!!! (Within reason, of course. I have never attempted NSFW, so let’s maybe steer clear of that… for now)

Weekends (possibly Fridays, Saturdays & Sundays)

Posting time: earlier or later than 11:00PM, Atlantic Time

(Friday, possibly): writing requests, anything you’d like!!! (Again, within reason, of course. still steering clear of NSFW for the time being)

Saturday: long projects (multi-part stories, opinion essays, major art or music projects, publishing, etc.)

Sunday: same as Friday / Saturday

So, yeah, that’s the schedule for the logs! I hope you find it has more variety, and I’m really looking forward to being able to follow through with it, especially the requests part because it allows me to be able to interact with you all more and be able to hear your thoughts!

Again, I’d like to stress that the purpose of these logs is for them to be sustainable but most of all enjoyable for the both of us, so please let me know what I can improve over the course of these logs so those purposes can be realized! Your input is as important to me as booze is to Demo’s survival, so feel free to let me know what you’d like to see next.

Anyhow, that’s it for this announcement! I’m sure you’ve had enough of my rambling as much as my fingers are getting tired of typing, so I’ll just end this off with a final Spy art.

Have a great day, pally!

(“Meet the Spy” Art by me!)

(P.S. All of this artwork dates from around January from an old Daily Art challenge I made for myself, so it is quite old, but I thought it might be nice to share them anyway instead of them just sitting in my camera roll for the rest of its lifetime, LOL. I might post the rest tomorrow!)

Credits: Team Fortress 2 by Valve

Image source: Rosain Quivan

Written by Rosain Quivan Cross posted on Amino ( Rosain Quivan )

[kay-oc-rambles]

Okay it's been a hot minute since I thought about the first of my Stardew Valley OCs, Cas (even though I made a whole ass sideblog for her that I ended up never using)

But more importantly, I am thinking of an AU. Where some magic shit goes bad & she gets stuck in a time loop (me? Thinking about time loops? What a surprise)

So for context, when I first played SDV it was on my laptop. I think in my very first file I was dating Sebastian, then lost interest in the game. Later I came back & made a new file. After a little while I ended up adding mods (mostly quality of life like faster walking speed, infinite health/stamina, not passing out at 2am, but I think the thing that ultimately screwed me was no crows. For some reason that mod did not play well with other mods). I married Leah in spring of year 2, as soon as I could. And then like 3 days later, the game crashed & the file is corrupted. I was upset of course, deleted a bunch of mods (I had so many mods y'all, though some of them were for hair/clothes bc I'm a sucker for dress up shit). Also at some point before the crash I made my OC Cas & changed the file data to be her.

I started a new save file & this time I went for Harvey (still playing as Cas). Once again, over that first winter I finally got enough hearts so as soon as that first spring of year 2 rain hit, I bought a mermaid pendant.

And then 3 days after marrying Harvey, the game crashed. File corrupted.

At this point I had logged roughly 80 hours across those files & I was so pissed off at losing ANOTHER save file. I gave up.

Flash forward to later I decide to buy the game on my phone. I don't think I got through year 1 before losing interest.

Then I get it for the switch one summer. I play as Cadmus. I play for a while but can't decide who to marry. Eventually put down the game. Then sometime later I find out my brother has sdv on the switch so we start a co-op together, thus my making another OC, Bea.

Recently my brother was like "hey we should start playing stardew again" so we picked up that co-op file, I decide that I'm gonna marry Leah. I also decided after he had enough for the day that I wanted to keep playing so I opened up the Cadmus save file.

Initially I was thinking that for this file, I wanted to marry someone other than Leah or Harvey. My brother suggests Sebastian, & I go with it (in part because back when I first played I was considering him, & also he looks like he could be Anubis's emo brother so why not put Cadmus with the purple haired emo bangs guy?).

But now I'm almost a year in marriage with Sebastian & I miss Harvey. Very much. Like, I'm heavily considering saving up to divorce Sebastian (and then saving up more to erase his memory that we were ever married bc I don't want him to be mad 😔). SO ANYWAY NOW WE GET TO THE POINT

Cas gets a time loop AU. Idk maybe the wizard's ex-wife decides to curse her for sneaking into her house to steal back the magic ink. 3 days after marrying Harvey, Cas gets sent back to her first day moving into Pelican Town. The first reset, she's just like "wtf is happening". She goes to the wizard about it but he thinks she's just crazy. She wonders if maybe it was all a dream so she goes on like normal. She marries Harvey again. 3 days later she gets reset. Now she KNOWS something magical is going on. She insists to Rasmodius that she has lived here for a couple years now. He's like "okay if both times it happened 3 days after marrying the doctor, which happened on a specific day, marry him on a different day?". So she speedruns it & manages to marry him fall year 1 (idk offhand if this is possible but I don't see why not). 3 days later, another reset. First person she goes to is Rasmodius. She has no proof of what's happening but he is getting a weird magical vibe off of her. They on trying to figure this shit out & in the meantime, Cas CANNOT give Harvey a mermaid pendant.

But one day Harvey decides to propose, and Cas can't bear to say no to him.

She & Rasmodius are scrambling to figure out SOMETHING, even if it's just a way to gather proof that will stay despite the reset.

3 days after marrying Harvey, Cas wakes up once again in her old apartment, ready to make the drive down to the valley. She cries. She actually puts off leaving for a couple days, until she gets a letter from Rasmodius. She finally goes, & Rasmodius actually visits her at the farm. He explains that something felt off when she didn't arrive as scheduled, he checked out the farm & there was residue of time magic or something. Hella cursed vibes stuck to Cas herself. She explains everything. They decide that maybe, until they can figure out what to do, Cas shouldn't even date Harvey (or anyone for that matter, just in case). She's a social person, she loves & misses all her friends in town, she especially misses Harvey, but she needs to stay distant.

It's not till year 3 of this loop, year 3 of just being friends, of keeping everyone at arms length while still helping them out (she finally gets the chance to finish the Community Center at least) that Rasmodius realizes it's his ex-wife that put this curse on Cas. He didn't even think she was capable of such a feat! But now that he knows the source, he can work to undo the curse.

Together they're able to figure out how to undo it, but Rasmodius asks if Cas wants to start over one more time, since in this loop she's spent 3 years keeping everyone at a distance. He could make it so that he remembers everything from this loop, so that once it resets, he can immediately break the curse & Cas can live normally. She briefly considers it but ultimately decides that she's tired of starting over. She's worked so hard & doesn't want to lose it all again. Besides, it's not like the town hates her, she's just earned a reputation as a loner who helps everyone out.

I'm honestly tempted to have something terrible happen that would *make* her wanna reset one more time. Or not even terrible but "Harvey marries someone else" or "Harvey has to close up the clinic & move to Zuzu City". But I also wanna give them a happy ending.

Maybe Rasmodius's ex decides to come after Cas right after they break the curse, she gets seriously injured & is taken to the clinic.

What if, once the curse is broken, Harvey remembers all the loops? The rest of the town has no clue, but since the curse centered on Cas marrying Harvey (technically Cas marrying anyone, but she only ever married Harvey), for whatever reason he regains his memories of those past loops.

So when Cas ends up in the clinic, he freaks out & patches her up but there's this whole heartfelt thing where he's like "I suddenly felt like I had spent the last few years falling in love with you", Cas explains it. They decide right there, no mermaid pendants, that they're gonna get married. The whole town is surprised because as far as they knew, Cas and Harvey were barely even friends, now they're suddenly getting married?????

(Cas is of course super anxious during the wedding & immediately after, but 3 days pass. 4. 5. A week. She's still here. Everything is fine. They live happily ever after.)

[theliterarywolf]

Submission from an Anon

So this covers only the initial introduction, the character blurb, and the talk with Sidon. 

I have exactly 2 main issues with her (Yona), gonna start with the less controversial one. Repeat: I’ve only been introduced to her, I’m not going beyond her introduction, aka the beginning of the Zora-arc.

1) She feels a bit too much like a fanfic OC, after reading her blurb. “From a different (unknown) domain.” Sidon’s childhood friend. Her kind-heartedness is a perfect match for Sidon’s compassion.“ It reads a bit too much like fanfics where the summary is focusing about their OC being a perfect match to the character, but you don’t really feel like they’re their own character separate from that relationship purpose. Especially with the focus on how nice, kind and selfless she is, all as an accessory to Sidon. (Read the way it’s written, it feels less like a info, and more like matchmaker report compared to some other blurbs.)

2) My controversial opinion: It really gives sister-con vibes, aka it feels like they paired up Sidon with a Mipha clone. When I first met Yona I was only half focusing on what she was saying, because I was listening to a podcast on the side, so I missed out on the "His fiance” part. So I went through her introduction getting really strong Mipha vibes, it felt like someone wanted to explore Mipha but since she’s dead, they decided to make another healer character for the Zora to show how they work. So after her intro, I checked the log to reread what I skipped, and then saw the fiance part, and it just gave me the the instant sister-con vibe.She just feels like Mipha 2.0, but created to affiance Sidon. She’s Green-Mipha, who doesn’t really seem to go beyond that personality either, of being a  “perfect match” and also having the mystical Zora healing powers. 

Maybe it changes later, but her introduction really felt very weak and kinda lacklustre.I don’t hate her, I actually like her as an idea, especially if explored as a Mipha stand-in, OR as a fiance. But the combination is just a bit weird to me. I’d almost have preferred Idk, Dunma or Gaddison, Torfeau, since we know them, and they do actually have a their own personality that isn’t related to another character. It would have worked well to expand on them, to say it like that. And they don’t seem to be the more common “sweet and cute” type.I’d also add that Sidon’s response when you ask about her, his response feels a bit… weird? It just sounds a bit weird “My childhood friend I couldn’t meet… I’m so awkward around her, because I can’t meet her.” leading into “My fiance. My intended. My bride-to-be” I’m sorry, but was this a mistranslation, or is that how it was also worded in the Japanese original? Because it sounds a bit awkwardly as in “Yep, totally, we’re totally, as they say, to be married, like two people who like each other are expected to do.”

Honestly, it has a bit of that Kronk meme vibe: “The poison for Kuzco. Kuzco’s poison. The poison which we’ll use to poison Kuzco.” but just with marriage and Yona. “Yona, my fiance. My intended, who is Yona. My bride to be Yona, whom I’ll be married to.” Lol, is she like his beard to avoid the Sidon fanclub from tearing him to shreds? And just to make this clear, I don’t have issues with people having kinks in that direction, ie sister-con, I just think it feels weird because that seems to be her main purpose/only purpose is to be paired up, and a copy of a previous character who was the sister to the one they’re paired up with. + minor stylistic nitpick: I’m not sure if her attendants are new original Zora, or from Botw, but if they’re new, I wish they’d have given them a different design to reflect that Zora in a different domain have a different look. Could even have mentioned that Muzu came from that domain as some extra background lore.But either way, that poor girl is gonna be cucked so hard in fanfics. 

Or she’ll become the silent but very much enthusiastic fujoshi (lol) character, who secretly wants to see Link and Sidon together. Maybe give her an arc in fanfics where it turns out she just wanted to leave her domain because she was too sheltered and everyone viewed her as weak, and Sidon offered to arrange this engagement so she can finally actively help the people, instead of just being the pretty Zora princess. This is why he’s a bit more awkward around her, because he’s not sure how to behave/treat her, because on one hand, it’s all just for show and he has to fulfil that role, on the other, he also doesn’t want to make it awkward between the two of them. Yona is just vibing, but also unsure, and just kinda makes sure to always mention “Yep, sure, he’s my fiance. Totally because we’re into each other, not because I just wanted to leave my overbearing domain.”

The young Zora princess who wants to go out adventuring, and suddenly the child who always clung to his sister offers her an out that might benefit them both. Her aid, and the strengthening of an alliance between their domains, and she receives her freedom to do as she wishes.

Personally: Yona and Sidon become presidents of the Link fanclub. Yona starts seeing Sidon and Link interact more, boom, “Oh my they’d be cute together.”.We’ll see how it longs once I’m done with this quest-line, and maybe I’m completely wrong. Who knows, but for now that is kinda my “first impression” and I’m just a bit miffed or should I say “Miphad?” lol.

[0813pm]

x day

It's been 667 days since I last posted.

16008 hours since I decided to log off this blog.

960480 minutes spent wondering if I would ever come back to write for a little bit.

Oh, I guess introductions are due again.

I'm someone that often has issues identifying myself for most parts, given that I've associated myself with a bunch of aliases over the many years.

However this time, I think it's simple enough that I stay as Rizu for the many years to come, so nice to meet you!

There was an intention in the blurriness

I initially made this blog many years ago to document the interesting aspects of the life I live to combat writer's block.

Though in recent times, it looks bleak from my depression, so I wanted to try and give it a little of a clean-up.

I was encouraged by a friend late night previously to continue writing, so I appreciate that thought.

This may be a lengthy post, so buckle up.

Previously I was just a student learning coding and scraping by life.

However now, I realized that I wanted to do more, so I did.

So while I continued to learn my guitar and photography, I also did more things outside.

There's been a lot of things that I genuinely enjoyed doing, from interacting with new faces, going out to live shows to learning about self-care.

For a small country, there's a lot of big things to do that I did not even know about.

Though I can say, it has been a fulfilling experience.

Experiencing snow for the first time in South Korea

For a while, I've had half a mind in regards to what I wanted to write.

It's been 2 years, so there must be a lot to talk about, right?

I'll spare you the details because there's a lot to go through; A lot has changed in my way of thinking.

Initially, I didn't think that my life was as important as others, and I often put others before myself.

Nowadays, it's about the same, but I sense some value in living, at the very least, I try to take care of myself as much as possible.

I wouldn't say that I have been very successful in coming out to others regarding my struggles.

There were conflicts and harsh lessons that I had to learn.

I tried to not let it get past me, and I'm really glad I didn't.

At the end of the day, the time continues to tick, and the sun will eventually rest at the end of the day.

A conflict is just one page in the chapter of life, and what matters most is how you move on from your struggles.

The glimmering rays project a shine of hope

Aside from that, I don't exactly know what else I should talk about (lol).

I'm really happy that I've been able to converse with people about random topics.

I was always worried that I'd be talking about the same thing each time when I meet new faces, but as I ventured out into the unknown, the experiences I pick up eventually turns into something I could share about.

As always, stepping out of your comfort zone as an introvert is the scariest feeling ever, but it's worth it once you've reached the end goal.

"Oh! It's finally done, I did it!" is the end goal I always wished for myself to see.

Of course, disappointments are expected to happen, but I would often say it should never stop you from trying again.

Maybe that's why I still enjoy trying to learn music.

It's been with me everywhere I go.

Rarely would you ever see me walking around town without wearing my headphones.

Till this day, I still want to improve at my guitar and songwriting skills.

There's a time in the future where I would like to share with everyone the emotions I feel.

Music as a medium is my most comfortable spot.

So I don't intend on giving it up so soon.

Subsonic Eye post-live

Meeting with my hero Celine Autumn from local band 'sobs'

As always, most of my post titles are based off song titles.

I'm a naturally lazy person, but it works out because I get to have an idea of what I wish to write based off the song's name.

It's x day from indigo la End, a band that I am never ever going to shut my mouth over.

I figured since it's been a very long time since I wrote something, it is appropriate enough that I gave potential new readers and anyone who has ever read my posts at all to understand a little more about me.

Maybe information is lacking still, but I've decided from writing the end of this post, the next one includes a portion about how I finally decided on the alias that I am sticking in this current moment.

Deciding is a long process, maybe short for some.

I took a very long time and I wish to be confident that this is what I want to do.

So as February rolls in, with 11 months left to go...

With 332 days remaining, I'll do all that I can to make 2025 the most memorable year of my life.

And I'll continue to do so for the years ahead.

「今日は特別なだよね？」

I hope you'll stick with me for the trip.

For once, I am excited to write up the next post, and I hope you are looking forward to it.

Until then, always be kind to yourself and the people around you.

mitsui rizumu 「蜜いリズム」

[starseedfxofficial]

Dollar's Range Dance: What's Driving Forex Today? Are You Riding the Wave or Just Getting Splashed? The Secret Behind the Dollar's Movements In the turbulent world of Forex, you either ride the wave or get caught in the undertow. Today, we’re diving into the elusive movements of the dollar (DXY) and all the drama unfolding behind the scenes. If you're a trader who loves to stay ahead of the game, grab your virtual surfboard—we’re going on a ride. Let's break down what's happening, and, more importantly, how you can navigate these murky waters like a pro. The Drama Behind DXY: When Geopolitics and Sentiment Go Head-to-Head First off, let's talk about the DXY, the dollar index. Yesterday was a classic example of how world events can throw the market into a rollercoaster-like spin. With tensions rising between Ukraine and Russia, traders initially went into a "risk-off" mode. Imagine getting an invitation to a surprise party, but you suspect it might be a trap—that's basically what happened. Everyone ran to the dollar for safety, but once they realized the party wasn’t as dangerous as expected, they loosened up and returned to riskier assets. The dollar gained some ground but inched forward in a way that looked more like a hesitant sidestep than a confident march. As if the dollar was testing the waters—much like that moment you step into a too-cold swimming pool, dip a toe, and then decide, "Eh, maybe not." This indecisiveness wasn't helped by the comments from Fed's Schmid, who, like an awkward motivational speaker, said a lot but didn’t move the crowd. He acknowledged that interest rates would need to keep their chill, as inflation seems to be cozying back down to that sweet 2% mark. In other words, he didn't bring fireworks to the party—just sparklers. EUR/USD: Stuck in the 1.0600 Clubhouse Meanwhile, the euro tried to crash the 1.0600 party but just couldn't stick the landing. It’s like watching someone attempt a high jump, clear the bar—and then land on their face. The market was waiting for some words of wisdom from ECB powerhouses like Lagarde and de Guindos, but until then, it was just kind of... loitering. Imagine Lagarde as the DJ, and everyone is just waiting for her to drop that track—until then, they're lingering around the snack table, not making any bold moves. GBP/USD: Creeping Towards 1.2700 Like a Cat on a Hot Tin Roof The British pound was tiptoeing its way toward the 1.2700 level. It’s kind of like when you're sneaking into the kitchen for a midnight snack, and the floorboards are creaking—you don't want to make too much noise in case someone (the BoE in this case) catches you. The Bank of England (BoE) had made some recent noise of its own, but it barely moved the needle, with traders still digesting UK inflation data. Inflation numbers will either give the pound a turbo boost or have it crawling back to bed in shame. Yen, Meet Resistance: USD/JPY Breaches 155.00 Over in Japan, the USD/JPY pair punched through the 155.00 resistance level, as if to say, "Rules? I don’t need rules." Despite the release of better-than-expected Japanese trade data, the yen was still outmuscled. It’s almost like Japan threw its best punches—but the dollar shrugged and said, "Is that all you've got?" Antipodeans: On Thin Ice but Keeping Cool Our friends in Australia and New Zealand—the so-called Antipodeans—managed to hang on to their gains, but it was a tenuous grip at best. Think of them as balancing on a log in the middle of a river: they’re staying afloat, but any shift in risk appetite could have them splashing into the water below. Risk sentiment was as flimsy as a paper umbrella in a rainstorm, and without any major catalysts, the Aussie and Kiwi were just holding steady, like seasoned surfers waiting for that next big wave. China: The Yuan's Got Moves—But They're Calculated The People's Bank of China (PBoC) set the USD/CNY midpoint at 7.1935 versus the market’s expectation of 7.2386, giving traders a bit of a head scratcher. It's like when your friend tells you they've got a "surprise" but it turns out to be just a new plant for the living room—unexpected, but not earth-shattering. China is trying to keep the yuan stable without sending any mixed messages. In a market this sensitive, every little adjustment counts, and the PBoC clearly doesn’t want the market running wild without their say-so. Hidden Opportunities Amid the Noise So, what’s the takeaway here? With all this geopolitical drama, central bank hand-wringing, and market indecision, there's an opportunity for savvy traders like you to find those hidden gems. The key is to recognize when the market is acting out of emotion rather than rationality. Remember, fear and excitement drive prices in a way that fundamentals sometimes don't—and that’s exactly where the opportunities lie. When everyone else is running towards or away from the dollar, take a step back and ask, "What do they know that I don’t?" Sometimes, they’re just running because everyone else is—and those moments are when you can make your move, with a calculated approach, of course. Elite Insights: How to Anticipate the Market Like a Pro If you're wondering how to translate all this drama into actionable strategies, here’s a step-by-step guide to catching the next big wave without getting dunked: - Wait for Retests: When a currency pair breaks a significant level—like USD/JPY breaking 155.00—don't chase the move. Wait for a pullback to retest that level. If it holds, that's your confirmation to jump in. - Central Bank Watch: Keep your eyes peeled on key speeches—like those from ECB's Lagarde or BoE officials. The big players drop hints, and sometimes those hints are like golden breadcrumbs leading to profit. - Fade the Noise: In times of high volatility due to news (like Ukraine-Russia tensions), markets can overreact. Look for opportunities to fade these overreactions once the dust settles and sentiment improves. - Use Sentiment Indicators: Tools like the Commitment of Traders (COT) report can give you insights into how positioning is shaping up. When everyone is leaning too heavily in one direction, it might be time to go the other way. Takeaways for the Hidden-Gem Hunter The market's like an endless cycle of emotional swings—geopolitics one day, inflation the next. Your job is to spot when everyone else is overreacting, and exploit that. Take today's currency moves as a reminder: nothing moves in a straight line, and hesitation (by central banks or traders) is just as important to note as conviction. And, of course, if you want to stay informed and sharpen your game, be sure to check out our latest resources on Forex education and trading tools—because the more prepared you are, the less likely you are to end up as just another trader caught in the wave instead of riding it. Let’s make sure you stay ahead of the pack. Read the full article