#this hasn't changed much over the 20 years I've been in them

[hussyknee]

AO3 is probably racking up donations rn so won't be long before the AO3 Truthers come out with "OTW faked the DDOS attack to get more money and defend them hosting freak shit." If they even wait for the site to go back up first, I'll be surprised.

Someone did point out that AO3's surge in popularity in the wake of this attack might be used to deflect from and derail the End OTW Racism campaign which... does unfortunately seem likely.

If you wanna know why fans of colour hate both antis and proshippers, this is why. Y'all are two sides of the same derailing silencing coin.

[penultimate-step]

Lately, I've been thinking about the effect of real-world time on perception of media. Or, wait, let me start from the beginning.

When I was 11, I read the book Ender's Game for some school assignment or another. I don't remember ever considering Ender a relatable character, but certainly my understanding of the events was shaped by being of an age to see the protagonist not so much as a young child but as someone of my peer group, someone who could have been slotted amongst my classmates without anybody batting an eye.

Over a decade later, I read the sequel, Speaker for the Dead; it takes place many years later, when Ender is in his thirties, and my feelings about the in-universe time skip were undeniably shaped by the real life time gap between my reading of the novels. Reading the first book back then and then the second book now created a feeling where it's almost like, I'm browsing the facebook page of someone I had known in middle school but lost contact with, checking up on how they're doing today. The real-time factor caused me to perceive it less like a timeskip, and more like a reunion - the feelings were closer to "oh wow, that's my boy! I haven't seen him in years! Wonder what he's up to?" Which in turn gave me a better position to appreciate the parts of the narrative about him struggling to find a place in his adulthood than I would have been had I perceived it more strictly as a quick skip from 11 to 20 to 36.

While musing about this, I considered a VN I played a few years back, which took place over three in-game days - except at the end of one in-game day, the game would lock you out from progressing for 24 hours real time. So that as the in-game investigator protagonist was ruminating on the information that had been discovered that day, the player would be forced to do the same. In this example, by forcing the player to experience the same timeframe as the in-game characters, the sense of it being an in-depth and extensive investigation increases, even though without the forced pauses the game would be short enough to blow through in a handful of hours real-time.

Which brings to mind how time effects things in long-running serial works. It's well known that an audience which watches an episode or reads a chapter week by week has a very different experience than one binging through whole seasons or volumes at a time, but I wonder if the real time relative to the in-universe time makes that effect stand out more? Fight scenes, for instance, have been known to take up several chapters in certain manga or webnovels. What does it do to the reader's perception, if from their point a view a fight takes a whole month, while for the characters they read about it's only been a couple hours? Readers might feel that the situation is more stressful, since the pressure of the fight has been ongoing for a long time for them, while in-universe it was a rough afternoon but no more than that. Contrastingly, when a series skips ahead or otherwise has long periods of time for characters that feel short for readers, it can feel like no time has passed and everything is still the same, unless the author really stresses the differences in world-state that occurred offscreen. Because the reader hasn't changed at all.

No conclusion here exactly, I just think it's interesting how often an audience's response to a work, the emotions felt, are more closely tied to their real-life timescale, something almost completely out of the author's control, as opposed to in-universe time, which can be intentionally shifted or played with for the sake of the narrative.

[lucy90712]

Young parents- Marc Guiu

Finding out you are pregnant at 17 and then giving birth at 18 is not exactly the normal life course and it's definitely not how I expected my life to go but that's exactly what happened. My boyfriend Marc and I were always careful and used protection but we were unlucky and somehow I still got pregnant. We had to have a hard discussion on whether we wanted to keep the baby or not as we are still young but in the end we decided to keep the baby as Marc could still play football and I could do school online. Navigating my pregnancy was difficult as we didn't want to tell too many people as I didn't want the judgement from any more people than necessary. Pretty much everything that could be kept secret we kept hidden, we didn't tell people the gender and we didn't tell anyone my due date so that we had a bit more privacy which is what I wanted the most. 

Our beautiful baby boy Benji was born only 3 weeks ago but already Marc went back to training in fact he only got a few days with me before he had to go back leaving me alone with Benji from very early on. To say it's been difficult is an understatement of course newborns need constant attention so I never get chance to sleep as he keeps me up all night and during the day I have work to get on with. For the first few days I was ok and I found a bit of a routine but the last week has been testing, Benji hasn't been sleeping as well and he's been feeding almost constantly which has been really hard. 

I know it's the hormones but since Marc left us this morning at 7am I've been bawling my eyes out. Benji barely slept all night and now I just can't get him to settle even after feeding him, changing him rocking him he's still crying. I'm going insane listening to the sound I hate hearing him cry I feel like I'm failing as a mother because I can't calm him down. After trying pretty much everything I decided that I just need to get out the house even if it's only for about 20 minutes I need some fresh air to reset and hopefully clear my mind and maybe if I'm lucky it will make Benji stop crying. 

Getting him in the stroller was difficult as he didn't stop crying and wriggling but we eventually got out the door and started our slow walk around town. By some miracle Benji stopped crying and started falling asleep in the stroller which made me feel so much better until I noticed that pretty much everyone on the street was staring at me. There was so many eyes on me that I felt the need to put the cover down over Benji so he didn't have so many eyes in him because a 3 week old baby doesn't need that. When the stares didn't stop it was quite clear that people were looking at me and judging me which I already experienced when pregnant but it feels a lot worse right now. 

All I can imagine is that all these people think I'm way too young to be a mum because I am young but I know I look a few years younger than I am. They probably think I'm incapable of taking care of Benji and honestly part of me is inclined to agree I mean all morning he's been crying and I've been crying as I don't know what I'm doing. The longer I kept walking the more I felt judged I even saw people whispering to each other after looking at me and I've never felt so self conscious than I did in that moment. It got to a point that I was feeling worse outside of the house than I was inside so I decided to make my way back home so I can cry in the comfort of my own space. At a crossing I felt this older woman burning holes into the back of my head until she came and stood next to me and I could feel the judgement before she even managed to express her opinion. 

"Aren't you too young to be a parent kids these days are so irresponsible all having babies before they are ready and they can't even look after them properly there is just no hope for the future if kids like you keep having babies" she ranted at me 

"I imagine your so called boyfriend left you to take care of the baby too god you are all the same" she continued 

That was the last straw for me I wasn't about to fight back because I don't have the energy and I'm simply not that type of person instead I just walked away to find a new way home. I've never walked so fast in my life as I just wanted to get home because as soon as I did the tears were back and I just sat on the floor. Looking at the stroller I couldn't help but think that maybe I'm setting my son up for failure I'm not prepared enough to be the best parent for him and Marc can't be around all the time so maybe he would be better off with someone else looking after him. 

While sitting on the floor the front door opened and Marc came in, with everything that's happened today I lost track of time so I didn't realise Marc would be home so soon. I scrambled to wipe the tears from my face and get Benji out of his stroller so Marc didn't think I was neglecting our child. Before I could do that Marc grabbed Benji and held him in one arm before brining me to his chest with the other. He somehow managed to soothe both of us he helped calm me down and got Benji back to sleep. If I didn't feel like a bad mother before I definitely did after that it's been 3 weeks and my son already hates me. 

Marc put the baby in his little crib that we have for him in the living room before coming to sit on the sofa where he instructed me to sit so he could go back to cuddling me. His hand ran through my hair getting all of the knots out before putting it up with the hairband I keep on my wrist at all times. For a little while I felt we were back to how we were before the baby but then I heard Benji make some of the little sniffling noises he makes when asleep and I was brought back to reality. 

"Whats wrong love what's happened to make you so upset?" Marc asked 

"I've just had a bad day Benji didn't sleep last night as you know and he was crying all morning and I just couldn't get him to settle so I decided to get out for a walk to see if some fresh air would help us both but everyone stared at me and someone berated me at a crossing for being too young and not being able to raise him properly" I rambled 

"Oh cariño you should've text me I could've come home earlier to help out you don't have to do this alone I'm here to help you and for the record that person was wrong we might be young but you are the best mum if you weren't you wouldn't be so upset right now" Marc said 

"I just can't deal with the judgement I want to go outside and not have to deal with everyone looking at me assuming things I already feel like a bad mum I don't need strangers telling me that too" I chocked out 

"It's horrible I know but you need to ignore them which I realise is hard but those people don't know you like I do and they don't see how hard you are trying to be the best mum possible because if they did they wouldn't judge you" he comforted 

"How about you come to my training sessions with me it means you get out the house I can help you out a bit more and no one there will judge you what do you think?" He asked 

"I actually like that idea it will be nice to leave the house and see all the guys" I said 

~~~~~~~~~~

Marc woke me up gently this morning so that I could get up and join him at training he even got Benji out of his crib and got him ready for the day so I could shower alone which is a luxury these days. Having a few minutes to myself was so nice but it really was just a few minutes because once I was dressed and had brushed my hair I went downstairs and had to feed Benji because Marc can't do that. While I sat with Benji Marc made breakfast us both and he made sure I had a balanced breakfast which I definitely haven't had since Benji arrived as I usually just grab whatever I can if I even have breakfast. I even got to take my vitamins which have been neglected recently but if I can actually take them I might feel a little less dead each day. 

So far this new routine is so much better I'm not as stressed and there hasn't been any tears from me or the baby which is a significant improvement. Marc even put the baby in the car and still managed to open the passenger door for me like the gentleman he always is. He drove the back way to the training ground so that we could avoid the streets where fans would be stood wanting signatures or pictures. We decided that we didn't want to show Benji on social media more than just his little hand to announce his birth so avoiding fans who could take pictures of him is what we want. Luckily we completely avoided all that and arrived at the training centre with no issues and even a bit earlier than Marc would usually arrive as he didn't have to stop for ages.

We slowly made our way into the training centre because I'm still recovering so can't walk as quickly as I did before. Walking slower also meant we had more time to talk about what it will be like when the whole team meet Benji, Marc told me that he's talked about Benji non stop and the boys are excited to meet him but they know they have to be careful as he's still small which made me feel a lot better. On our way to the locker room we saw lots of staff who all congratulated us and others asked how we were doing. That's something I love about this club everyone gets along and cares about each other every time I came to training with Marc while pregnant someone checked on me and asked if I needed anything plus all the boys were so lovely. 

Marc left me with the baby as he went into the locker room to make sure everyone was decent before opening the door to allow me inside. It was so quiet when I walked in which is very unusual but it was because they were all so excited to meet Benji but didn't want to wake him up. I put the car seat down and gently took Benji out and gave him to Marc who went straight to Hector because he's the person who Marc has confided in the most throughout everything. Watching how Hector and all the others interacted with Benji nearly made me cry, no one else has met Benji until now and I was worried about how it would go but clearly everyone loves him.  With my permission Marc let the guys hold him and when he did he came back to my side and wrapped an arm around my waist and pressed a kiss on my temple. 

"Isn't this so much better" he said 

"It really is everyone here is so nice and supportive and I get to see something other than the four walls of our house" I said 

"I'm glad you are happier you can come with me everyday if you want or just a few times a week it's up to you but everyone here will be happy to see you and they won't judge at all" he said 

[libraartz]

Come on Y'all 😐

Warning: Minor spoilers I'll try not to spoil too much

I don't usually made posts like this but I need to get this off my chest. This is about MHA Volume 42 ending. Yall... Omg bro... Yall gotta be shitting me man... I tryna say I'm genuinely dissapointed, not in the ending, but in the fucking fandom bro... Like are yall joking right now? In case you don't know MHA's newest volume has some additonal pages and Horikoshi changed up the ending some you know and what do I see. People complaining about the ending AGAIN and breaking down about the ships. Mostly BakuDeku fans. This is no shade to any shippers since I do multiships on my AO3 as well as rare-pairs so no hate to a lot of yall. But I'm honestly dissappointed in yall because ever since those leaks yall have been going ballistic... As in BALLISTIC on twitter and TikTok. I don't have twitter (And never will) But I've been seeing some screenshots on Tiktok and I just let out a huge sigh. Don't worry I know it ain't all of yall cuz some of yall are chill but I'm sill dissapointed.

People are saying IzuOcha (That's suppose to be implied idk but I'll get to the idk part) are going to ruin Ochako's character development, this that and the third. SOME (if it don't apply let it fly) of yall are some of the most agitating, delusional people I've ever seen bro. It's just like 2021-2022 all over again and now I'm seeing some toxic bakudeku d0x and send threats to people and it hasn't even been a full 24-48 hours. Yall do relize that even if it becomes cannon yall can still ship BakuDeku right? Cuz now yall are setting yourselves back and making the fandom look worse than it already is and stuff like this is why I do my thing on my teeny tiny tumblr and Ao3 account to stay away from yall.

And another thing it's about the hero rankings part (Some spoilers!!!) . I'm seeing people, mostly Bakugo fans complain about Bakugo being 15 in the charts and I'm see a whole bunch of hate towards Monoma and Shoji because they're on the top 10... Yall are some of the most illiterate mfs I've ever seen 😐. Like did we even read the same manga and watch the same anime? Shoji is number 9 (and rightfully so my underrated king, as you mf should 😤✊🏽) because he's like the symbol of peace for heteromorphs. He literally stopped THOUSANDS of heteromorphs from storming the hospital and doing something that would of possibly resulted in bloodshed and set them back three decades at like 16 years old. There was a small panel in chapter 430 where Shoji was shaking hands with some dude (I'll find the link) but it was like a huge deal since the guy was a huge goverment deal (idk but yall know what I mean), Shoji was like idk 17-18. Since his debute he's been doing all he could for hetermorph communities and at 24 he was awarded the Imamura Peace Prize. AS HE MF SHOULD! So ntm on him 🙄✋🏽. And for Monoma, who's grown on me... Ngl I actually like his character now, he was bullied for his quirk and he was told he was sidekick material, basically putting him down since quirks like his are not that recognized. So now that he made it to no. 10 maybe he's able to show young kids with quirks like his that they can do it. Same with Shoji, he's a huge impact on the heteromorph community. Plus they've both gotten stronger during those 8 years.

Now for Bakugo's situation. In Chapter 430 Aizawa told Deku that Bakugo was lowered on the rankings AGAIN because he was cussing out the reporters... Yall he's still able to rise again and plus if he's low now, just IMAGINE what he'd rank if his past of bullying came to light. And remember, Hawks is now a leader of the HPSC, that's in charge of the rankings so he also plays a huge part of how the rankings changed. The ranking's aren't' just about power, it's about popularity and how the heros impact the fans in a way. Like yall need to use yall brains and have some sort of media literacy. Now am I dissapointed Ochaco and Tsu wasn't in the top 20 at least? Sorta but they still have the chance to get higher.

Now please go eat something, drink some water, touch some grass, take a deep breath and calm down. Horikoshi changed the ending only for yall not to be satisfied and people saying that this could be ai is honestly dissapointing considering the about of time and work Horikoshi put into this. This is just like when people were misinterpreting chapter 430 and spreading misinformation and it's happening again. Yall are not satisfied with nothing and I'm starting to see why alot of people don't fw a lot of yall. Like yall seriously need to do the fuck better.

PS: Those who read my AO3, look out for updates on my fics I just trying to juggle school with writing but I should be uploading soon :D

[pikatrainer99]

Branch from Trolls has PTSD, paranoia, depression, and anxiety and you can't change my mind! (Part 1: Trolls) (SPOILERS FOR A MOVIE THAT CAME OUT 8 YEARS AGO BUT JUST IN CASE 😅)

(This entire three-part analysis was SUPPOSED to be completed in its entirety by the end of May since it's for mental health awareness month, buuuut...I couldn't finish it in time (had to take a break and take care of myself because my PTSD has relapsed lately...AGAIN... I've been getting triggered really easily by just about anything and I hate it so much 😑), but at least the FIRST part is ready in time...so here we go!

Branch is my favorite character in DreamWorks' Trolls franchise, and for many reasons. One of them being that he is very relatable. As someone with PTSD, paranoia, depression, and anxiety myself, I find it easy to put myself in Branch's tiny Troll feet and feel how he feels. (I also headcanon him as autistic, which I also am, but that's a post for another day). With this series of posts I will be analyzing his character journey and how his mental struggles affect him and his life. I will only be going over the three theatrical films in the franchise in these analysis posts, because, while his mental struggles are ABSOLUTELY present in the TV shows, I haven't seen every episode of the TV shows and I have a lot to discuss with just the three movies because I love Branch and relate to him so much.

So, to start this analysis, let's take a look at the first Trolls film. When Branch is first introduced, he is a grumpy, depressed, pessimistic gray Troll, and the only Troll in the village who doesn't sing, dance, hug, or party.

He instead chooses to spend all his time working on gathering supplies and rations for his, as he says "highly camouflaged, heavily fortified, Bergen-proof survival bunker." He lives in the bunker and has enough provisions to last him ten years…eleven if he's willing to store and drink his own sweat…which he is (gross).

Branch always feels the need to be crazy over-prepared for everything (so do I), no matter how crazy it drives the others (same here). The other Trolls all say that he ruins everything by interrupting their fun and panicking that "The Bergens are coming!" when in reality there's no Bergen in sight and there hasn't been for 20 years by that point and he's just paranoid. To them, he's basically like the boy who cried wolf…or in this case, the Troll who cried Bergen.

When Poppy invites Branch to her party, Branch immediately declines, saying that he "wouldn't be caught dead at her party" before adding that all the others "will be caught and dead" because of how big, loud, and crazy it's going to be. Branch frustratedly declares that Poppy's party is just gonna lead the Bergens right to the Trolls, and they all just brush his warning off because they haven't had to worry about Bergens in 20 years. That night, during the party, Branch is out collecting more provisions and he looks at the party from afar, scoffing at the others and their carefree attitudes before retreating back to his bunker. Before he knows it though, Poppy is banging on his door because a Bergen attacked the party and took all her friends. Branch, in his paranoia and anxiety, drags Poppy inside the bunker with him and sets up all his traps as they sit and wait in silence before Poppy tells him the Bergen is gone.

Branch, still paranoid, doesn't believe her and says that it could still be out there "watching…waiting…listening…" He clearly feels like he can never let his guard down, always on hyper-alert, checking for any danger. This is a common symptom of PTSD - hyper-vigilance (I have this symptom myself), and it can contribute to paranoia, making it even worse (it definitely does for me, and it looks like it's the same for Branch).

When Poppy asks him to go to Bergen Town with her to save everyone, Branch, with no hesitation, says no, that they're not his friends, they're Poppy's friends, and that he's staying in his bunker because his bunker is safe. He takes her down to the lower levels of the bunker, and this is where we see some obvious evidence of his mental state. There is frantic fear writing ALL OVER THE WALLS, and it says things like, "Run", "Danger", "Bergens eat us", "Teeth in the night", among many other things that are hastily scribbled and illegible (though Branch has bad writing in general, so it's already hard to read, but my point stands). He's even got multiple papers with horrifying drawings of the Bergens hung up on that wall as well. I have never really seen anyone else in this fandom talk about the writing all over Branch's walls, so I'm gonna talk about it myself. It makes it look like the poor guy spiraled, lost control, and had a manic episode…or eleven.

(Seriously, just LOOK at all this!!! This man is NOT okay!!!)

He's clearly TERRIFIED of Bergens, and wants to do everything in his power to avoid ever encountering one (which, fair, they do wanna EAT the Trolls, so that's a valid fear). Branch's fear of Bergens though, is not a normal fear, it seems to be a phobia, which would explain the paranoia. Obviously there's something going on inside his head involving Bergens that will definitely be revealed later. (foreshadowing)

Poppy completely disrespects Branch's needs, wishes, and privacy by letting all the other Trolls into the bunker while she goes to save her friends that got taken. This kinda made me upset because Branch clearly didn't give her permission to invade his personal space like that and make his own home suddenly feel unsafe with everyone there going through his stuff all at once. He freaks out when it's "Hug Time" because he doesn't want to be touched, especially not by all these Trolls he doesn't trust, so he packs a backpack and goes after Poppy, saving her from some spiders.

(This is honestly really upsetting to watch, she totally disrespects and ignores his boundaries here and it hurts to see him freak out over Hug Time because I also hate being touched, which means I also dislike hugs as a result of that...I only willingly hug my grandparents, that's it, no one else, not even my own parents.)

The whole way to Bergen Town, Branch is gloomy, brooding, and irritable. He tells Poppy that the world isn't all "cupcakes and rainbows" when she asks what happened to him to make him the way he is.

Poppy and her constant singing get on his nerves, the worst instance of this being when she starts singing at night when he's trying to sleep, making him angry enough to throw her ukulele into the campfire, burning it.

(This scene always gets a laugh out of me, the way it's animated is just perfect comedy XD)

Singing is clearly triggering for him, which we find out why later on when he adamantly refuses to sing with the others when they're trying to help Bridget get a date with King Gristle by giving her a makeover. Poppy asks him why he won't sing and he responds with (probably) the most iconic line in the entire film (and not one that people seem to be able to take seriously…but I take it as seriously as can be): "BECAUSE SINGING KILLED MY GRANDMA, OKAY?!"

(His facial expressions here as he tells the story of what happened to his grandma are just...DreamWorks nailed it, and also the knee hugging pose...he's just like me for real 🥺)

We then see a flashback of a young Branch, happy and colorful, singing his heart out, but the Chef Bergen comes for him and he's so lost in song he doesn't notice, or hear his grandma warning him.

This causes his grandma to push him out of the way, and get taken instead.

Branch is so distraught by his grandma's sacrifice, that he loses all his happiness and becomes depressed, turning gray in the process, and vowing to never sing again.

(This poor child had to witness his grandma meet her untimely demise...and he blames himself for it...that's really depressing in my opinion, I seriously don't understand why people find this scene funny, it triggered my own PTSD really BAD the first time I watched it...I'm used to it now so I don't have my PTSD triggered by it anymore but it still hurts to watch.)

Now the bigger picture is clear. He's got PTSD and paranoia involving the Bergens because of what happened with his grandma as a child. His grandma's sacrifice also started his severe depressive state, as evidenced by him turning gray immediately after she got taken. When the flashback ends, Branch is staring silently and sadly out the window, looking like he's trying not to cry, his depression getting a hold of him once again.

(Again, DreamWorks really nailed the facial expressions here...he looks so broken 🥺)

I understand how he's feeling in that scene, my grandma is my LIFELINE, the person I feel the safest with…seriously I confide in her and tell her more things than I tell my own mom because I trust my grandma more…I even stayed at her house for a while a few years back during my worst mental crisis ever just so I could have the feeling of constant safety and less nightmares…so if something ever happened to her I wouldn't be able to live with myself. Singing is a trigger for him, and so are Bergens in general…which makes me upset at the others, AGAIN, when they sing the song that Branch was singing during that time…my thoughts were like, "Come ON guys, that song is probably the most triggering song for him…" As you can probably tell, I get upset with the others quite a few times whenever I watch this film, because of how they treat Branch. Eventually the entirety of Troll Village is thrown in a pot, ready to be served for Trollstice, and it's here where Branch's character development really becomes apparent. Poppy turns gray, quickly followed by all the other Trolls, and Branch looks around at everyone turning gray, like him, and, desperate to do something about it and help the girl he's now grown to love, he finally breaks his 20-year-long "no singing" vow as he begins to sing "True Colors" in what is probably the most beautiful scene in the entire film (I know it's my personal favorite scene).

(There they all go...turning gray...and Branch is just looking around at everyone, clearly upset by this.)

(His expressions here...you can tell he's thinking, "I've gotta do something!" And he does, and it's beautiful 🥺)

Thanks to Branch, Poppy and the other Trolls are able to regain their colors, and thanks to Poppy, Branch FINALLY regains his colors after 20 years!

(He's getting his colors back! I always feel so happy when I watch the True Colors scene, it's just so beautiful and satisfying 😌👍)

(They're so cute, look at them dance together 🥺! Broppy is best Trolls ship and no one can convince me otherwise, these two are PERFECT for each other 😌)

He thanks Poppy for showing him how to be happy, stating that "happiness is inside of all of us, sometimes you just need someone to help you find it", quoting one of Poppy's lines from earlier in the film. Branch now feels comfortable singing and dancing with Poppy and the other Trolls as they teach the Bergens that same lesson by singing "Can't Stop The Feeling", which helps the Trolls finally make peace with the Bergens after many many years of fearing being eaten by them.

Poppy is crowned queen, Branch finally asks for (and gets) a hug from her even though it's not Hug Time, and the movie ends.

(They are so adorable I can't take it!)

This is not the end of Branch's journey though, there's still two more movies to cover! I'll be covering the second movie hopefully soon, so I hope you look forward to that, and I hope you enjoyed this character analysis on Branch in the first movie! If I missed anything please feel free to let me know in the comments! I sometimes miss things especially with relatable characters because sometimes there are aspects that trigger me so I try to forget about those aspects, and sometimes the character as a whole just hits too close to home and writing analyses on them is too overwhelming because of that (Branch is one of those characters, so it took me ages to write this and gather all the GIFs and images...and also this entire analysis was written ENTIRELY from my memory of the events in the first movie, so there's that part too). Also please excuse the potato quality images and GIFs...I tried my best to find good ones but most of them I found are just REALLY bad quality so...sorry about that 😅

Okay, that's about it for this post! I'll see you guys next time for another Branch analysis, this time for Trolls World Tour! Catch ya later! 👋

[official-wales]

Thanks for the free facts! And also thank you for the help :D The two things that I need help with currently are food and environment. Its a late spring/early fall right now in the story, so what's the weather like over in Wales around then? I've been making it rainy a lot since I feel like that's a good general guess, but other than that like, how warm should people be dressing? Also, I've put a lot of old forests in Fantasy Wales, but I'm not sure what goes in them, both the kinds of trees and the animals someone is likely to see/hear. Any suggestions? The other thing is I've got a Big Important Feast thing coming up and the kingdom hosting it is hasn't been conquered by the invaders and is Very Proudly Fantasy Welsh. What foods are going to be on the feast table? I'm also having trouble naming things but with the Principle Areas of Wales wikipedia article, a Welsh-English dictionary, and gumption on my side I think I can name all the kingdoms and maybe some towns too.

sorry this is so late. I had to question some people and then I got lost on wikipedia. you know how it is

so, you want to write fantasy wales?

weather

late spring and early autumn in wales (varies by region. I'm going with the inland south) is like the lottery. could get anything. cold snaps. rain (always). heatwaves. etc. it's usually quite mild (early to late teens in celsius), and gets really green and flowery in may. there are often heatwaves at this time (early 20°c) broken up with showers. in september, it'll start raining more, and by the time october comes, the days are rapidly short and everything's sticky, wet and windy. godbless maritime climates.

as for clothing, it just depends on the person, I guess? you've got some people wearing shorts all year as a display of Dominance, and some people wearing jeans all year out of spite. T shirts and coats are generally seen all over.

forests

this is gonna depend a lot on where and when. nowadays, most welsh forests or woods have grey squirrels (red squirrels mainly in anglesey. their numbers suffered a lot when greys were brought over :( ), lots of garden birds, fallow deer, birds of prey like osprey and buzzards, maybe adders, grass snakes or slow worms in grassy areas (only three snakes!) etc. red kites are common in some areas of mid and west wales.

back in the early middle ages, you may have seen beavers, bears, wolves, eurasian lynxes, etc.

I have no idea about tree species (greem) but I do know what most welsh woods have in common:

moss. moss everywhere. so much damp moss. you will be moss

mud. mud everywhere. so much damp mud. you will be mud

hills

a creeping sense of unease that follows you around the trees OR immense joy

little waterfalls!! yay!!!

food

the traditional foods in wales now generally have their roots in the 18th and 19th centuries, or at least have been changed a lot over time. I'm not sure what people would have eaten in medieval times in wales specifically, as there were different kingdoms and relations with england and trade stuff that I'm not too sure about.

but probably game, which was common via hunting, fruits, dairy products, vegetables like leeks, other meats, etc. generally, the richer you are = the more meat you can afford (are there any medieval historians out there tonight? I'm just a guy)

but your story is fantasy, so have fun my guy!! go wild!!! let them eat dragon or something, i dunno. the only qualifications I have to answer these questions is that I'm welsh. and that's all you need tbh

[spooksnett]

Lena is so screweddddd

I think Gwen has made a mistake but not in the 'shes stupid' kind of way

Gwen is a bit oblivious sometimes and definitely not prepared for the horrors but she's not stupid. she knows now how bad things would be if it was only her dealing with all this. By giving that flash drive to Trevor she's basically thrown Lena under the bus. Lena could be fired or worse.

Someone is sending Gwen this information. the 'anonymous third party' seems to know a damn lot about Lena. 20 WHOLE YEARS OF PROOF. that's a long time! :D they've been watching her and clearly they want her out of power but cant do it themselves so they are using gwen to do it. but if Lena is just kicked out, the OIAR is SCREWED. Lena is the only one who knows what's she's doing and even she is barely holding the place together. Gwen knows this. I understood at first why Gwen wanted Lena gone but now she knows the true horrors of what the OIAR does and how dangerous it is and Gwen hasn't mentioned wanting Lena's job since she learnt about this. Even if Gwen hates Lena, she knows its better to have someone who knows what they are doing in the midst. getting rid of her to deal with things alone is a dangerous move and Gwen wouldn't do that. Gwen's motives have changed a lot. She originally wanted Lena's job, then she wanted to know more, then she had a period of time she didn't really want anything and she was not content but she was putting up with Lena cause she knew the OIAR needs her. now she wants her out of power again? why.

WELL

I think it's the last email she got. this third party sent her an email last episode and suddenly now Gwen is using her blackmail and giving it to a government official? she could have done that at any time but didn't.

this is only a theory but I'm guessing this third party has basically said if Lena is out of power, things will still be okay. SOMEONE will take over and handle things. They have to be saying getting rid of Lena isn't dangerous cause they have preparations. Gwen KNOWS she can't handle it alone. I CANT STRESS HOW STUPID GETTING RID OF LENA WOULD BE IF THEY DONT HAVE A BACKUP. they have to. I think Gwen's maybe being manipulated here. Clearly this person does not like Lena at all. it just confuses me why they are only doing this now. they aren't related to the archivist Alice and Sam released cause they've been watching for so long. they have to be involved with the cameras watching them instead. the German source code. what Colin is losing his mind over basically. 20 years of proof. 20 years to do something. but they decided now to send this stuff to Gwen and push her in the right direction to give the evidence to Trevor. they are very good at timing things well. giving Gwen the information at the right time.

basically I think this person might be trying to run the OIAR but they need Lena out first and they are just straight up pupetting Gwen.

the only thing I can't figure out is it they are 'good' or 'bad'. what are their intentions after Lena is gone. what have they promised Gwen. who are they that they have convinced Gwen NOT having the only one who actually knows the full truths of the horrors there to help is better than having her

Gwen. I think you've made a huge mistake and Lena is so screwed. it's clear Lena doesn't actually have much power. the government shoves all this on her and just expects her to get it dealt with. they don't actually care and damn Trevor didn't even know what they do at the OIAR but he did have a go at Lena when she did something the government didn't like. she's being put under so much pressure to deal with all this alone and not even the government will help her.

I've said this since day 1 but I will defend Lena Kelley with my entire life. she's trying so damn hard but its physically impossible and she's getting in trouble for things she can't control and now Gwen might have just made it a million times worse

Gwen I love you to death but that was dumb. Lena I'm so sorry but you're so screwed

thank you for listening to my Lena Kelley rambles part 3629838495

[gabessquishytum]

just to flip the age kink thing, i've got a suggestion for how they'd have hob as the younger one. hob's getting to the point where he needs to start his next life and he decides that he wants to keep teaching but wants to change up the subject this time. there's a grad program he's really interested in so he figures he'll do that and then teach the subject, he starts crafting his next identity, and dream's so interested in the process since he hasn't seen hob doing this before. he sees the age hob's going for and offers some help -- he could make everyone perceive hob as younger, so he'd be able to get longer out of this identity.

hob, of course, is thrilled. he starts off as young as he can, of course, but it's been centuries since hob's even tried to pass himself off as 22. he could pull it off when people lived harder, but it just doesn't work anymore. dream makes a couple more suggestions -- hob's used June 7th as his birthday before, it sort of is in a way. now tgat he and dream use it as their anniversary he would have picked a different date but hey, if that's the date dream thinks he should go with, no big deal.

so hob goes off back to school, he's having a great time, he's sort of loving pretending to be in his 20s again. his friends do give him odd looks when they see him with dream, though. that's fine -- dream is, frankly, odd. it's probably nothing. until he starts seeing how dream's presenting himself to others and... yeah, the first time hob sees the dusting of silver hair at dream's temples, he drops to his knees to suck dream's cock in the stacks of the uni library. it's fine. he has very normal feelings about it. it's fine.

he's not totally clear on the specifics of the game dream's playing until the end of his first year, though, when dream mentions, in careful earshot of a few of hob's more gossipy classmates, that he'll plan something nice for hob's birthday. it's their anniversary, after all, and five years is a number worth celebrating. hob doesn't realize until later that dream just made sure all hob's classmates know that he got together with his significantly older and significantly wealthy boyfriend on his 18th birthday. and that dream's been supplying most of hob's wardrobe again. and giving him jewellery. and keeping hob at his side any time they're in public together. and that maybe there's a reason he keeps getting carefully worded questions about his relationship, because dream has very intentionally made him look like a pretty young thing being taken advantage of by an older man. hob needs dream to fuck him about this immediately, actually.

(it also occurs to hob, once dream's fucked him through the mattress while calling him little one and darling boy and pet, that this is. probably how gods and fey and other immortals actually do see a relationship between dream of the endless and a human. and gets turned on about it all over again.)

-🐈‍⬛

This is literally what I look like right now. Oh my fucking gOD

I don't. I don't know how to add to this? Hnnngg. Dream with grey in his hair, treating Hob like his little plaything, making Hob’s friends somewhere between concerned and jealous. It's making my mouth go dry.

I think you might have finally bit the "horny overload" switch in my brain, my darling.

ffffffuck.

I'm just thinking about Dream renting a fancy apartment for Hob to live in while he's studying. He comes home from the dreaming every day, and Hob’s friends skedaddle from what ever study club they've been doing (they're a little intimidated by Dream, although hes nothing but polite). Dream gets to have Hob all to himself for the evening, gets to relearn Hob’s body as it hasn't been for a very long time. Being physically 22 has a lot of advantages when it comes to joint flexibility and sexual stamina, and Dream wants to enjoy them to the fullest. Hob is very much immersed in the fantasy of being Dream’s kept boy, and he likes the attention, he likes it when Dream showers him in gifts. He keeps Dream updated on his grades and soaks up all the praise and sweet talk Dream lavishes on him. They go to the opera together, or to fancy restaurants where Dream publicly shows Hob off to absolutely everyone. And the sex afterwards is just insane. Hob rides Dream’s cock in the limo on the way home, or sucks him off in the dressing rooms of fancy boutiques.

They have literally all the time in the world to be horny and stupid and I, for one, want to see it.

[archivalofsins]

The Futa and Mikoto dynamic in the latest minigram-

MILGRAM EP57 "Caffeine"

[57-1]

Mahiru: Would anyone like some coffee?

Yuno: Do you have any sugar?

Mahiru: Of course!

Yuno: Thank you very much.

Mahiru: Want some sugar?

roar

Futa: Why are you only asking me?!

[57-2]

Mikoto: I don't think she meant anything by it.

Futa: I can't keep my mouth shut when they want to make assumptions and treat me like a little kid.

Futa: It's bitter.

Mikoto: (Maybe it's because you act like this.)

Mikoto: It's a matter of taste.

Mikoto: So, I don't think it relates to being a kid or an adult.

Mikoto: Also, you should apologize later.

Futa: How about you then?

Mikoto: Me?

Mikoto: I've gotten used to drinking coffee.

Mikoto: It's not really a love/hate thing.

OVERTIME

ENDLESS PHONE CALLS

PILES OF WORK

Mikoto: Coffee was more like something like a must have...

Futa: ?

The way Mikoto says taste has nothing to do with being a child or adult. That mindset right there is why I believe Amane let's her guard down around him and allows herself to be childish when he's around.

21/04/16 (Amane’s First Trial)

Amane: …………

Mikoto: Oh, welcome back Amane! ……what’s with the grim face? Ah, right, the guard summoned you! How was it? Did you cry? I bet you were so scared you cried, right!?

Amane: ……alright then. If it’s a fight you want, it’s a fight you’ll get.

Mikoto: Huh? Oooi! Hey, are you listening?? Ooooi!

Along with why, when he became more standoffish in response to her verdict and she saw him being avoided, she began to avoid others. Turning people away when they approached her as she saw them not approaching him. So, she may have gotten the impression that others were only approaching her due to her age, not because they cared about her.

Something that could give further context to Shidou noting Mikoto and his behavior specifically in his second trial written interrogation,

Q.07 Are there any prisoners you get along with?

Shidou: Kayano-kun has become like that, and I can’t spend my time smoking at the moment, so the smoking trio has disbanded, which is a bit lonely.

Despite him and amikoto around this same time being drawn smoking together. Along with Kazui literally encouraging Shidou to take breaks in the timeline as well. Plus, Mikoto's change in attitude having very little to do with him not smoking to his own admission in the same answer. Like he states he just hasn't had the time to do it at the moment but starts with noting Mikoto's attitude isn't helpful. Probably because he thinks Amane is mirroring him and he's not srtying a good example for the kids. Which isn't his fucking responsibility since he's in a high stress situation for one.

Secondly, despite being like this, he's still better with kids than Shidou is. Let that fucking sink in.

Amane let's herself be childish around Mikoto because he's less likely to judge her solely based on being a child. Instead as he would treat her like any other person. He'd treat her as herself and someone he only knows about through their own individual actions.

Not base his judgment of her off of something she has no control over like her age-

20/06/13

Amane: ……what’s wrong, Shidou-san? Your hand has stopped marking. This is mathematics, so there’s no questions about the answers. If I got something wrong, please mark it with an X.

Shidou: I…… I just don’t understand. If everything about MILGRAM is true…… why did a child like you have to become a murderer? Just imagining what sort of circumstances must have led to that, it makes me so sad……

Amane: ……*sigh*. Is that right. I don’t think I’m going to get along with you, Shidou-san. I don’t agree with the fact you refuse to acknowledge that I have my own free will, and that I should be held accountable for my actions, just because I’m a child. I may have only been alive for 12 years, but all the choices I’ve made, even if they weren’t the best ones, were entirely my own. What point is there in you getting sad when I have no regrets myself? ……please give me back my test. It seems you don’t have the concentration levels required to be my teacher. I’m going to get Kotoko-san to teach me instead.

Shidou: Amane…… I don’t think that’s true. However smart you may be…… you’re still just a child.

Mikoto, in contrast, recognizes that Mahiru asking Futa if he wanted sugar had nothing to do with her treating him like a child. Instead, this was Mahiru being considerate and taking note of Futa's taste and behavior. Then giving him the opportunity to adjust his drink to his liking. Something that goes totally unappreciated because he gets upset that she didn't ask Mikoto the same thing.

When in all honesty I wouldn't put it past Mahiru to have taken a glance at Mikoto soulessly drinking his coffee and internally go,

"Nothing will make him like this drink. I don't even think he tastes it. There's hope for Futa though."

That's how neutral he is to it. Hell, he even admits he's neutral to the drink in this same conversation. Referring to it as a must-have or a necessity for his job. He's basically just drinking it because it's there, and it's now a habit for him to drink it when it's available due to the environment he was in prior to this. He just mindlessly with no real thought went hey there's coffee might as well get some then when asked went oh yeah I have no feelings towards this drink.

Leaving Futa there confused downright puzzled like of you don't like or hate it why did you voluntary get some as Mikoto is their having trauma flashbacks like,

"God the work, the hours, the phonecalls...coffee my only reprieve and fuel. The thing I needed but..."

Yet this also shows off something about Mikoto that gets overlooked. The guy is no pushover. Even though he doesn't want to be rude he will be direct and tell others when they mess up. Going ad far to tell Futa,

"You should apologize later."

While talking Futa through the mistake of tying taste to maturity.

Because that's a stupid thing to fucking do. Assuming having preferences when it comes to what one eats or a person has to eat a certain food due to their age alone and no other health reasons is stupid.

20/06/03

Futa: ……huh? What’s your problem? You’re just leaving all your meat? What a weird kid.

Amane: You say that, but you’re not eating all of your food either. ……are you not able to eat your vegetables? Even though you’re an adult.

Futa: Huh, what, so you’re just eating grass? What are you, a rabbit or something? Since you’re just a brat, you should be eating your meat properly. You won’t grow if you don’t.

Amane: ……you make some really funny jokes, don’t you, Futa-san.

Eat what you like regardless of age isn't a hard concept to grasp. Going I can't eat this it's too childish or drinking something a way you don't like to seem more mature is a waste of your own time..if it doesn't taste good don't eat if you don't want it politely decline. If you actually do want it eat it.

Mikoto respects Futa's behavior here but ultimately gets the point that Shidou has been failing to get with Amane. If the problem is the act of consuming certain things has been intrinsically tied to a person's age you should remove that pretense entirely by going,

"I don't think it relates to being a kid or an adult."

Taste is just taste. Instead of continually pushing like you're a child, children like sweets come have some pancakes. Can I tempt you into these childlike pleasures, Amane? Shidou they're fucking pancakes they don't have an age restriction you absolute tool. A lot of adults enjoy them, too. Shidou goes through every possible reason Amane should try these things while missing the point of why she ultimately doesn't taste it. Because he's arbitrarily decided she should like and try these things because she's a child and has consistently chosen to ignore the fact she declined.

Unlike Mahiru, who gets yelled at and just leaves. To the point that even Mikoto says Futa should apologize for that. This is why I find the dynamic between Amane and Mikoto, and Futa and Mikoto so interesting. Because when they get upset he stays leveled for the most part and gives them space to be themselves without outwardly labeling their mindsets as childish and immature. Because on some level he gets it which makes him more likely to talk it out to them like they're people instead pf just blatantly lecturing them about being roo childish or immature.

Instead of going you're acting like a child he'll just bluntly go its a bother having you be angry all the time in a way of seeking attention.

20/06/15

Mikoto: Hey, it’s kinda a bother having you be so angry and tense all the time. You should stop trying get everyone to pay attention to you. You’re a uni student, right? You can’t act like that once you start working properly.

Futa: Huh!? Shut up. Not like I care what you say. Even though we’re in this shitty situation, you’re just chatting away, it’s stupid. Aren’t you the one who’s acting out of place here? ……also the fact you give everyone nicknames is just gross.

Mikoto: *sigh* It’s more stupid to be taking this all so seriously. I mean, it’s definitely just a reality TV program. There’s no way a real prison exists that’s this lax. Also, I don’t give nicknames to everyone. I don’t give them to young kids like Amane, or to the hard-to-approach types like Shidou-san. I mean, I’m not giving you one, right?

Futa: ……oi, which group are you trying to say I am?

Futa "I don't care what you say" Kajiyama. Also how do you feel about coffee, which group do I fall under there. You called out my anger as attention seeking well the way you nickname people is gross.

*sigh*

Is right Mikoto it's absolutely right. Even when reprimanding him and bringing something adjacent to age Mikoto still focuses on social standing. How it won't be beneficial and instead inappropriate for Futa to behave how he is here when he does join the workforce. It's a perspective hard to combat because it's reasonable and straightforward. It's also something Mikoto doesn't have to say at all unless he is genuinely concerned in some way. Futa's behavior can lead to him being ostracized or deemed unapproachable and rude in a work environment who cares it's not his job to correct that. He can just learn the hard way like everyone else has to.

Haruka's social skills are kind of poor and could lead to problems with others.

20/06/05

Haruka: Ah…… ah, u-um, Mikoto-san. The c-communication……? thing, that you were saying was important. I-I thought, I’d give it my best…… Um, so, Mikoto-san, what’s your favourite food……?

Mikoto: Ooh? Nice going, Haru-kun~

Yeah, we still have no idea how long this lifestyle will go on for, so it’s best if we all get along together here.

My favourite food…… I like pasta and horse-meat sashimi. Also bubble tea, and recently I’ve been big on custard puddings. What about you?

Haruka: ……ah, I, I wonder…… H-hamburg steak, and omurice, a-and also…… what else? Ah. Cotton candy……

Mikoto: C-cotton candy!? That’s the first time I’ve met someone who has that in their top three favourites!? ……man, Haru-kun, you really are hilarious.

Who cares it's not his job to tell him how to practice that or make sure everyone is communicating well with others. He is in this weird situation it would ve so much easier to just keep to himself and mind his business. Like Kotoko does at the start but instead he behaves in a way similar to Mahiru.

Yet, instead of just talking with others to include them, Mikoto gives them pointers on how to further include themselves. Whether they're talking with him or not. He goes well- Here are these tools that could make communicating easier and more beneficial to you. This is important to setting the right atmosphere now off you go. Then when it works out he's proud of them.

He states they've grown and changed into good people and he doesn't shove the thing in their face or even take any credit for it.

22/10/06 (Mikoto’s Birthday)

Haruka: Mikoto-san. Um, are you ok……?

Mikoto: Ah, Haru-kun. It’s been a while since we last talked, huh. Yeah, I’m fine. Are you doing ok……?

Haruka: Ah, I’m fine. I’ve been enjoying myself, a lot. Um, I’m sorry, for avoiding you. I was a bit scared. Of you, honestly……

Mikoto: Ahhh, yeah. I’ve been lashing out whenever I go to sleep, right? ……it’s fine. Even I think you’re right to be scared.

You know, I kinda just hate that I don’t even know what’s going on myself…… haha.

Ah, but despite all that you still came and talked to me because it’s my birthday, right? Thank you, you’ve grown into a good man.

Then he just continues living like oh that's good proud of you for coming so far back to the suffering I go now.

Haruka: Wait you said you were fine.

Mikoto:

Even when it comes to welcoming Amane back and seeing that she was upset after her interrogation. Why was Mikoto the one who did that and not Shidou?

Why did Mikoto see Amane being quiet and clock that something was up and not the guy literally attempting to force himself in a parental role over her. Why was it when Amane was actually upset he was the only one to take a second and go hey are you good oh wait yeah the interrogation of course you're upset- my god it must have been terrible for you!

Why was he here in regard to any of these situations? When literally anyone else could have been noted. Because Mikoto, unlike Shidou and possibly to Shidou's annoyance- Is good with those Shidou regards as children. When he talks to Amane, she listens and takes him seriously. She even takes notes when Shidou talks to her he gets pancakes thrown in his face. This is all because Mikoto's way of speaking respects that someone is a person first and doesn't emphasize the things they don't have control over and may be sensitive about.

Outside of blatantly telling them like here, being an adult or a child isn't tied to things like that. Because it's not tied to food preferences it's tied to the choices we make and why. Anyone can be a better and more considerate person if we just work on communicating properly with those around us. That sort of mindset and knowing when not to rub someone's face in something because he doesn't rub in Futa's face that he complains about the drink being bitter after complaining about being asked if he wanted sugar which at that point he clearly needed it. No he keeps that's shit to himself and just thinks pinpoints what caused Futa to respond in such a hostile way and goes I don't think that's how that works. He goes to the root insecurity and goes no what you like to eat is not tied to whether you're a child or an adult. It's just what you like to eat or don't.

Which is really good on so many levels and highlights so well why he does get along with most of the younger prisoners.

[tetsunabouquet]

hi :) ok, just watching shaman king 2021 in 2024 recently so the fandom seems gone LOL and I have doubts thanks to the spin-offs. in shaman king marcos; marco was shy and victim of bullying and luchist saw good in him, adopted him and gave him a happy childhood (luchist doesn't seem an abuser) so how a shy bullied kid became a violent abuser adult? luchist said he was disciplined? does it means marco hit kids for not doing homework?

hao used to be good and became bad later in life, so can't stop thinking marco became bad 'cause of his hate for hao and his wish to get revenge, hate changes people. maybe he started abusing kids in search of the perfect weapon to kill hao and found it in jeanne, plus, living a big lie without nobody to share with, it must have driven mad, he lost it when yoh said he was the leader. so he was well aware of his lie.

hao wasn't a murderer, pain and human idiocy changed him.

and it may explain why luchist abandoned marco? luchist always wanted to join hao, but created x laws for marco, he was supposed to be a great father and left his son suddenly, maybe he couldn't see how bad marco became and couldn't kill him.

ren and chocolove did bad things and changed to good, so good people can change to bad. tamao changed too, she used to be shy and kind, now does she hit hana?

sorry, I'm just late to the party, 3 years late LOL not sure whether to watch shaman king flowers, it seems canceled and don't want to be in cliffhanger and have to wait 20 years more.

thanks for replying to my annoying questions LOL

Hao and Marco's childhoods are incomparable so they don't make for good comparisons. Hating someone with a burning passion doesn't suddenly turns people into (child) abusers. Sure it corrupts people, but corruption only ever shows what was already under someone's surface. With the attitude of the church at this time, it is very likely that Marco already picked up that behavior far before Hao came around. Hao was very much a murderer! He killed people, humans and shamans alike. That's the very definition of a murderer. Pain and trauma which isn't idiocy had twisted him into a murderer. A sobby backstory doesn't excuses away that he as someone who is mentally an adult throughout the entire story, killed plenty of innocents.

Ren, Joco and even the Shaft gang hadn't reached psychological maturity and never knew any better which is why I don't consider them the same as Hao. Adults should know better, and Hao still performed heinous crimes. You do know of Tamao's her arc into becoming a legendary gangster in her teens is one of the things Takei hasn't expanded upon, right? She and Ryu alike are probably more accustomed to tough love then gentle love. Yoh's dad literally slapped children, have you forgotten about that? We do have to take into account that corporal punishment is still much more common in Japan as it is in the West. It's more normalized over there as about 70% of Japanese children still get spanked at home. We do have to take account how certain cultures and time periods in Marco's case, normalize child abuse. It doesn't make it right, but at this point with the numerous examples we have seen, it's very clear that Takei himself is amongst those who believe in abusing children which is one of my issues with the franchise. PS: Whilst the 2021 is superior in terms of following the manga, I've been part of the fandom since the original anime aired. The Shaman King fandom has pretty much always been comatose. Welcome to the club. PPS: Also, Shaman King Flowers the anime was literally released in January in Japan....

[nbofvoid]

We've Made Our Own Dance

Written for the dreamnblade christmas event @alterdnbweek is holding this year.

Day 20 Prompts: Married; Proposal

This one was pretty fun to write. Mainly because I got to play with some interesting tropes I haven't before.

**~~~~~~~**~~~~~~~**~~~~~~~**~~~~~~~**~~~~~~~**~~~~~~~**~~~~~~~**

It starts as a drunken suggestion.

They're the only ones on the balcony, everyone else having already passed out in the main room from the open bar. Dream's only on his sixth in the last six hours with a buzz going strong. He's not sure how many Techno's had, but it can't be many given the grimaces they give with each sip of their current glass.

The topic of their conversation isn't something he'd normally talk about with his closest friends let alone someone he's only known for eight hours, but the drink is enough he doesn't really care. Not when he's pretty sure that Techno has been wanting to talk about this for a while and clearly hasn't had anyone they've felt comfortable talking about it with.

He tilts his glass around, watching the drink swirl as he listens to the issues Techno's having getting the citizenship papers he needs to leave the area. The fact that they're netherborn and didn't come over until they were an adult is complicating things because of the massive differences in tracking time and lack of resources in the nether to even start figuring out the information they need to fill out. The few Techno does have, they can't figure out how to even start with because no one's ever bothered to figure out a way to convert them.

Dream's head rolls over on his neck, staring up at the pretty, wonderfully strong piglin as his thoughts slowly turn over the situation. It sucks all around and not something he's been exposed to before and he wants to help. Wants to figure out something that could help Techno get those papers, but his only reference for a nether hybrid is Sapnap who was mainly raised in the Overworld and the situation is something he's really only heard of in stories.

So maybe it shouldn't be as much of a surprise as it is when he suggests, "Would getting married help?"

Techno huffs, leaning further on the railing as they take a swig from their glass, "It's have to be an overwrolder and who'd be interested in marrying me? Not exactly the type of person someone born here would willingly do that with."

Dream blinks slowly up at them. The back drop of a starry sky as the lights from below caress the contours of their face, gleam in the half-lidded eyes. Maybe he could see people complaining about the scars, but to him, it just makes them look prettier, more gorgeous, and if he could, he-

"I would."

Techno jerks, staring at him, "Why? We just met?"

He swallows, "Because you're nice and talented and smart and I want to help and this is a way I can if you want to."

Techno grins and they talk about a few things for if they were to actually go through with this. Even as they make their way back to their rooms - they're next to each other and Dream offers his room for them to keep talking. It doesn't last for long, though, given he passes out pretty quickly after sitting on his bed.

Techno's also in the bed when he wakes up the next morning, grogy and seriously wondering if he actually suggested getting married to someone he just met, but-

He doesn't regret the suggestion. Not when Techno really is one of the most interesting people he's met in years.

Once Techno wakes up, the first words out of them is asking if Dream is serious about the suggestion to get married and Dream assures that he is.

After that is figuring out what they need to do. How to register for a marriage license, what documents Dream is going to have to get together, looking through the quickly growing requirements they have to provide proof for in order to even start the process. ("Why do we have to show proof we've been dating for at least a year?" "...I've figured out it's generally better to not ask for the reasoning") They change their plans, adjust for what they're going to have to do to get the proof since Techno can't legally leave the city ("Seriously?" "Something about not wanting me to go on a rampage? Or maybe spread illness. I wasn't great with common at the time.").

Dream has to leave, though. His job not feasible to staying in one spot for long especially while avoiding the public noticing anything strange going on.

And, well, Dream quickly realizes that he really likes Techno. The conversations they have last for hours but only feel like minutes have passed until he checks the time. Dream shares things from his own life. How things are going in his own work at random times - his favorite is trading ideas for manhunts - and when his schedule allows for a break long enough to stop back in for them to go on an official 'date'.

Techno shares as well. Pictures of things they find cool in Hypixel, complaints about the legal process, Dream's personal favorite in the war over who's a better potato farmer they got into with their neighbor, and the battles and local events they've gotten involved with.

It's enough to have Dream aching for the chance to fight Techno himself, but the timing never works out. Not when there's various reasons for Dream to avoid getting an unexplained injury or Techno has something going on themself. Stressful days, hyper focus on other things, or an injury from their own battles and events. It's still something they talk about, vague plans for the future when they have more leeway to actually plan something like that.

"You said you had a free week in the fall, right?" Techno asks, shifting something on their side of the call. "Near that big festival?"

Dream hums, "Yeah. Is that one of the options?"

"Yep. There's two. One's the day you'd get in and the second is the last day you'd be able to be here."

He squints, stares at the netherrack above him, "...Might be best to schedule the first one. Part of it's already been filling out how much travel is expected and well..."

"Still like the pictures."

"Ha, I know," he grins to himself, listening as George, Sapnap, and Bad scream in fury from a trap over his other call. "I think that lava arrow trap works great."

"Did they just trigger it?"

He shifts, peeking over the brick wall to watch the three of them diving off the bridge as the arrows keep firing, "Yep. I'm gonna have to go. Call you later?"

"I'll schedule it and text the details. Good luck."

The call ends and Dream grabs the last few blaze rods on the ground around him and bolts for the portal. It's several months away, but he's filled with excitement to the point of bursting. They're so close to finishing the solution for Techno being able to travel. He's going to have to figure out ways to travel with Techno to show him everything.

Everything goes smoothly. Nothing comes up suddenly on either of their ends, all of Dream's paperwork is gathered and submitted, the proof they needed for their relationship as well, Techno's new paperwork put through and being processed and Dream is exhausted as they stumble back into Techno's house. It's barely six in the morning and he's been awake for nearly 32 hours, but they've done it. Techno will be able to leave Hypixel. Will be able to travel with that friend of his to an SMP. Will be able to experience things that don't happen in the city. Can participate in events and tournaments beyond the borders. Can travel with Dream to see the hidden gems through the worlds.

Dream grins up at them as Techno sits on the floor, "Congrats."

Techno smiles back, "Thanks. For all of this. I know it must have stopped other chances for relationships."

He hums, slightly confused, but too tired to try and figure out what it means, "I said it was fine. Would do it again."

Techno opens their mouth, only for Dream's phone to go off and both of them look at where it's laying on the floor. He sits up, fumbling to answer it because it's George and as far as any of them know, he's passed out right now. They wouldn't be calling if it wasn't something important.

"Dream, I need you to not panic," George says as soon as he answers which is not exactly encouraging him to not panic. "I swear we had zero clue they were planning this, but you need to get your stuff and somewhere with a transport to Hypixel."

He looks between Techno who's staring at the ceiling and the very much Hypixel skyline outside the window, "Why?"

"The managers have apparently been setting up this exhibition match," George explains. "It's scheduled for tomorrow with the Beast family heir hosting. It's with this up and comer named Technoblade?"

'Did you know about this?' he mouths at Techno who shakes their head, pulling out their own comm to check their messages.

"But you need to get there before noon," George is still going. "I think they're going to try for a bit of leeway in the time just in case, but they're saying you were told and need to be there or they're cutting.... something. They didn't say what."

He blows out a breathe, "Fine. They'd better pay me back for travel."

"Trust me, I think that would be cheaper than the scandal if we come out that they didn't tell you about this match. We'll see you there. Promise."

His comm falls into his lap and he watches Techno raise an eyebrow before turning their phone to show the just in notice about a match tomorrow. They lock eyes.

"I think my managers just beat my wedding gift," he says.

Techno huffs, eyes shining, "You didn't have to do that."

Dream waves a hand, "I wanted to. It's" he looks at his duffel dumped next to Techno's door "somewhere in my bag. Anyway, who do you think screwed up the details?"

Techno shrugs, "No clue. The coordinators are pretty good about giving at least a week of notice, usually two and for this kind of thing, it would have been a month."

"Huh." He looks at his phone, "Hey, how much do you think I can get them to reimburse me for?"

They spend the next hour looking up various transportation prices to Hypixel that he could feasibly have used. He takes a screenshot of the best one, sends it to their managers, and passes out on Techno's shoulder, dreaming about the chance to fight someone he's wanted to for a long time.

-----_____-----_____-----_____-----_____-----_____-----_____-----

Things don't really change after they're married. They keep messaging each other, talking about their days and experiences, plans for the future and what they'd want to do again in the future. It's especially sweet when Techno spams him in the middle of the night because it's the first time they've seen snow or they found a cool rock or a vein of gold or they managed to create something they've been working planning for a long time. Dream can't help smiling at his phone when that happens, heart swelling and he has to roll around in his bed to keep from messaging something stupid.

Dream's friends have finally noticed he's messaging someone else and are trying to figure out who it is. He's not comfortable sharing details because it's not something they'd talked about before. It hadn't come up and he's not sure how to now.

On the bright side he's getting free entertainment as they're running around trying to figure out who he's texting. They think he doesn't have an in on their theories, but Tubbo is a snitch if you're willing to bribe him appropriately. The best one is that they're arguing about if it could be Techno or not because they only noticed after the exhibition match, but it was about two months later. Tubbo's screenshots he's shared are hilarious.

He mentions his idea to host an SMP to Techno first, describing his idea for it. They have a wonderful amount of suggestions for how to keep things running smoothly and to try and avoid as much hostility between the others as possible. It helps him figure out what exactly he wants to add to the SMP as well. The borders for teams aren't something he's likely to include simply because of how many issues they seem to have. Plus he knows his friends and they would abuse the system even if it wouldn't be in the same way Techno screwed the Earth SMP over. A huge part is to be willing to go with the flow of things and not get too worried about small things.

Which is huge because he knows his SMP is going to be insane before he even launches it. Having Tommy, Tubbo, and the others they bring with just makes it more so. There's no boredom at least even if he does have to change his notifications about happenings to not be spammed.

So he's pretty confused when he and George come across two yelling groups after a day of mining close to drawing weapons, calling for the other side's deaths, and Techno standing between them. Literally the only barrier stopping a blood bath from starting.

-----_____-----_____-----_____-----_____-----_____-----_____-----

Techno is very aware of the perception that they're considered a wildcard. It's not something they mind usually, even if people do tend to not fully understand what it means to be a wildcard.

Tommy and Wilbur are yelling, they other people are yelling. Everyone seems close to drawing weapons to kill each other and only aren't because they're standing in between the two groups. It's kind of funny watching them go at it mainly because they have zero clue what is going on. They're current idea is to message Dream to ask him to come by because this is his server, but that isn't needed as he and George stumble across them.

They catch Dream's eye at the same time someone notices he's there and part of the yelling shifts to having Techno kicked or killed. Tommy's started demanding for them to kill Dream in turn. It's funny, though it does pose a few new options.

They could leave right now, let it play as though Dream did kick them from the SMP for a future prank by showing up again. They could launch into a fight, it's always fun when they manage to make the time to fight and it has been a few months since their last one. Or-

"You know it's illegal to do that to your spouse, right?" he asks over the yelling.

The yelling stops and they watch as Dream slowly starts wheezing out laughter, tilting toward the ground.

**~~~~~~~**~~~~~~~**~~~~~~~**~~~~~~~**~~~~~~~**~~~~~~~**~~~~~~~**

AU Notes:

like the only person who actually knew dream and techno were friends let alone married and that's phil. mainly because techno mentioned their plan when phil was trying to figure out a way to help get techno's paperwork through.

in this one, there's not really a translation for the gender words the piglins use as well as other netherborn and hybrids. dream was already aware of this thanks to sapnap which is why he referred to techno by they/them only (techno never said anything otherwise). techno would be good with he/him as well, but he's used to they/them since that's what dream uses and phil picked it up.

dream wasn't aware of the growing arguments between the groups because he had the notices he got as admin set to 'have they started killing each other and destroying property in a short span of time' level hence why he was confused as to why the argument was happening. wasn't as confused about techno being there because they already knew there wasn't any notice sent to him should techno join the SMP.

I have some long days of travel coming up so the next few posts might be at odd times or delayed. I do still plan on finishing this. I have the next two days nearly done - they just need proofreading - and the last three planned out fully. Have a happy holiday season!

[heyftinally]

https://www.tumblr.com/heyftinally/748388217187958784/i-love-bitching-about-taylor-swift-and-im-glad?source=share

Hi I saw this on my dash and wanted to say I agree with your anon and your reply so much. The thing that annoys me the most isn't that she stays silent about x issues it's that she constantly claims to be a massive ally/activist for x groups/issues but when it's actually time to be an active ally she says NOTHING. It's clear in her doc she only said all that she did about being an ally and how actions speak louder than words to make herself look good bc people were calling her out, not bc she actually cared. What has she done since that doc was made in 2020? She hasn't done many actions and even with just words she's been mostly silent on things.

It's like her constantly claiming she is a massive feminist and cares about women's issues but when many women [along with trans men and NBs] had to deal with abortions being banded/illegal on a federal level in the USA she didn't say anything until after the decision was finalized why bc she's billionaire rich and worldwide famous so it wouldn't effect her. Her fans claim her speaking up before hand wouldn't have done anything and that is the dumbest shit I've heard given her fame and power status. She only cares about feminism or any women's issues when she gets to be at the center of it and she just uses it as a weapon so others can't hate on her.

Let's not even get started how she's the appitmy of "white feminism" [or how I see it caring about feminism only when it benefits herself] bc she screams feminism but I didn't see her saying anything when a poor innocent young woc was getting racist death threats from HER fanbase bc of a tweet SHE made. Wasn't the actresses fault that one line joke was made blame the writers of that netflix show! This situation alone tells me she hasn't "changed/learned" like she claimed in her doc.

She's the exact same as she was back in the day when she was silent on the fact white supremist groups idolized her and claimed her as "one of them". She was silent for years on the matter and only said something when she changed from typical southern country gal to liberal pop girlie and her older pop fanbase was like umm what is this? I honestly don't understand how ANYONE over looks the ws group situation. It's very alarming. She's not a kind of done some questionable things person it's VERY red flag things she has done or in this case not done.

When it comes to the music portion it's just like you said if she wasn't shoved down our throats 24/7 and treated like the greatest artist who ever lived we wouldn't care so much her music is average and her latest album was awful. All the lyrics I've seen on SM are so wtf? Who wrote this? THIS is the "greatest writer of our generation"? Outing her ex as someone with mental health issues and how you just wanted him to "easily get better" so you could love him? Outing yourself as awful [yet again] by saying the things your other ex did was just "bad jokes" and you thougut you could fix him bc racism, misogyny and SAing workers on stage at your concerts are just "bad jokes". Romanticizing 1800s America. Acting like you had a lower class upbringing with many bills to pay when really you had a rich upbringing and your daddy bought your way into the music industry.

Also her putting out 20+ versions of one damn album so she can make as much money as possible and have as many streams as possible is so 😵‍💫. It was such a cash grab when she had the backs of midnight vinyls be a puzzle picture that forced fans to buy 4 vinyl copies of 1 damn album or it just looked like an incomplete shelf piece for fans.

Lastly it's just like you said most of us who dislike her don't dislike her because she's a women it's bc she's an awful person who uses x issues and people to further her own agenda and only really cares about herself and will step on anyone just to make herself look better and more of a victim. The only victim thing she has actually dealt with was her music being bought from under her BUT now she owns her own music and found a way to make it a huge cash grab for herself so she could get that billionaire status. 🤩 She needs to stop using feminism as a means to try and stop people from calling her ass out for being problematic!!!

The post anon is referring to is here, for those wondering

Anon, you are so very, very right, and I personally want to give you a round of applause: 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

One thing I want to elaborate on (because I find it endlessly funny/ironic), is where you said "She was silent for years on the matter and only said something when she changed from typical southern country gal to liberal pop girlie..."

Taylor Swift was *never* a "southern country gal". She's from Pennsylvania. A big white McMansion with a swimming pool in Pennsylvania. All those old songs about summer nights in the country? The cowboy boots? Sweet Tea (referenced in an unreleased song)? Yeah, lies. She painted the image of a good ol' Tennessee princess pretty darn well, didn't she? I'll admit, she fooled me for a while on that, too. But no, she built her career on fraud from day one.

The rest of your ask I'm going to hit point by point, because it's beautiful and made my day and you deserve it.

Performative is her middle name. I about choked when she - a self proclaimed LGBTQ+ ally (side note: you don't get to just decide you're an ally, it's not that easy) - got up on stage in a known LGBTQ+ safe state to make a statement about queer rights, and somehow left queer people out of the statement. It was all "it's so hard for us as friends, family, and allies to see our loved ones face such hatred". As if being an ally is harder than being the queer person actively afraid of getting hate crimed???????? She somehow managed to center herself even when actively talking about an oppressed minority group she has nothing to do with unless she can profit off of us. And she can't even put us at the center of our own oppression. If I hadn't stripped her of her ally status before, that would have done it.

If Taylor Swift can make the impact that she does on economies, the environment, and social trends, she could absolutely speak up about human rights and make a positive change in the world. But she doesn't. Her feral mob loves to brag about how much power they have, but they/their hive mind leader never uses it for anything good. They're just her minions to go bully whoever she's decided deserves her high school mean girl nastiness next. So many artists with ⅛ the reach she does make positive change every day, and she can't be bothered to pay someone to tweet her fake support for oppressed minorities or to stand against a genocide. And it's because she cares about money above all else. Her fans accept the bare minimum of scraps, so she's able to play both sides - before it was the white supremacists and people who weren't raging bigot trash, and now it's homophobes/racists/genocide supporters and people who don't see those things as bad enough to stop supporting someone who happily aligns herself with bigots. It's pure self serving greed.

Is her music shit? Yes. Has it been shit for a while? Yes. But there's alose a lot of music I don't like, for one reason or another. I've never been a fan of "Hey There Delilah" even though it was a MAJORLY popular song. I'm not much of a fan of Maroon 5, or Post Malone, or Yungblood. But unlike those bands, if I turn on the radio at any point, I *will* hear a Taylor Swift song withing twenty minutes. And another one twenty minutes after that. Despite having her blocked/filtered on every social media possible, I see more about her than artists I actively follow the personal accounts of. That's a PROBLEM. Because it's not just that I think both she as a person and her music suck - I'd ignore her as much as I could if that were the case - it's that despite ACTIVELY trying to avoid her, I'm forcibly subjected to her shitty music and shitty actions daily. And her shitty actions aren't just annoying! As a queer person who has queer, black, and disabled friends, her bullshit actively impacts our lives. One of my disabled friends was totally blindsided by this recent "asylum" bullshit, and was so shocked and hurt because, in a different time, they would have been sent to an asylum. They're physically disabled with a degenerative condition. They would have been sent away, drugged up, and forcibly given electroshock and brain surgeries until they died/were murdered. And Taylor Swift is using that aesthetic - disabled people being exploited, abused, tortured, neglected, and murdered - to be "edgy". In turn, she's minimizing just HOW bad that abuse was. That waters down disabled history, and considering disabled people still have to fight SO hard just for basic respect, nevermind access rights and fair treatment, it's an overall thoughtless and disgusting thing for someone with so much money and access to feedback to do.

The multiple releases of albums is nothing short of a scam that her fans keep falling for. I've never in my life heard of an artist doing such a thing. Sometimes you'll get a platinum or deluxe edition if they hit a milestone with that album, which usually has 4-6 new songs and some new art/bonus pictures/a mini poster/etc inside. And that's it, that's the only "duplicate" album we got. Meanwhile, Taylor Swift will release the same album five times in one day, each with one different song and a different cover. She's actively preying on consumerism to line her already fat pockets. At least donate the money to charity! Pick an album = pick a charity? Nope, because she's incapable of not scamming her fans. Case in point: all the Eras merch that requires a masters in chemistry to wash without destroying you $60+ shirt.

She truly has such a huge victim complex that it might ACTUALLY be bigger than her ego. She's no feminist - she'll tear a woman to shreds as soon as it serves her purposes. Hell, she'll tear ANYONE apart just because she's bored. Whether it's siccing her fans on an actress for reading a script she didn't like or basic her ex (AGAIN) for the "crime" of having a mental illness, all she cares about is how other people effect her. She's incapable of compassion, yet weaponizes is and cries big white woman crocodile tears any time her conniving bullshit comes back to bite her in the ass. Then she begs for all the compassion she never shows anyone else. Hell, remember the fan that DIED at her Brazil show? Yeah, that poor girl's family had to CROWD FUND to afford to bring their daughter's *dead body* home for the funeral. Taylor Swift posted a half assed "thoughts and prayers" on her Instagram story - gone forever in 24hrs. But as soon as she gets called out for dating a known racist who gets off to abuse porn? She has every defense in the book as to why "poor little Taylor" doesn't deserve all that mean ol' accountability for her actions. And if she doesn't have the defense? Doesn't matter, her fans can - and have, and will - justify everything up to and including racist harassment, stalking, and death threats!

Genuinely, my dislike of Taylor Swift can be summed up in this: she's a shit person with shit music who uses her disgusting amount of power and money to do nothing but serve herself, regardless of who she hurts in the process. And the rest of us are forced to watch it happen because if you don't worship the chair she farted on people act like you're either stupid, a piece of shit, or both. And then those same people will go on tumblr and post "eat the rich" and "be trans, throw hands" memes as if they didn't just give $300 to a billionaire who couldn't give less of a fuck about any minority to ever exist.

Anyway, thank you again for this, anon. You cleared my skin, watered my crops, and gave me a small amount of faith in humanity back.

[bluehourbucky]

Hey 🥰

No pressure to write this at all, but I was wondering if you could do a drabble or headcannon about reader being Bucky’s younger sister & he finds out she’s dating either Kate, Yelena or Wanda (you can pick ☺️). He goes into full protective big brother mode? 🥰

Letting go

pairing: older brother!bucky x youngersister!reader / yelena belova x reader

warnings: f bomb couple of times but other than that nothing?

a/n: Hope you like it! I had so much fun writing this hehe Sorry I might have done too much 😭😭😭

Bucky is an amazing older brother and you live him dearly but sometimes he can be a bit scary when it comes to your dating.

He's really supportive he's been there for you for every milestone and you've been there for him too.

Bucky always said that you'd be his little sister even when you're 50 with a family of your own he's always going to ruffle your hair and tell you how your hair is a mess.

First ever girlfriend you've bought home Bucky was livid because no one is good enough for his little sister. He was absolutely baffled when he saw you making out because you were his baby sister you can't be kissing people at the young age of 16.

Now in your 20s you wish that changed because you wouldn't have to be hiding your girlfriend of 6 months.

It's not like you don't want him to know you just really like Yelena and Bucky can be terrifying sometimes.

Tonight you invited Yelena to your place for the first time, you never got a chance before since you lived with Bucky. He's been on a mission for the past couple of days and you finally had the opportunity to bring her in without the big scary brother.

You're currently sitting on the couch in Yelenas lap, you'd been making out for a while.

"You know you're really cute."

"I am not cute." Yelena replies to your absurd statement she is not cute absolutely not. You laugh because the face she makes when she doesn't agree with something is the cutest thing ever.

"Sure, you're so scary."

You spend couple of hours making out and eating each other out but eventually you fall asleep.

Bucky is so ready to get home, he's tired and dirty and he hasn't slept in what feels like years.

It's around 4am when he opens the door to his and yours apartment, he tries to be as quiet as possible not wanting to wake you up.

He takes off his boots and hangs his jacket, he goes straight to the kitchen because he also didn't get to eat.

Bucky sees a silhouette of a woman but it's not you so he grabs the knife out of his back pocket.

The intruder opens the fridge and reaches out to take some leftovers.

"Mmff."

Bucky grabs the intruder from behind and slaps a hand over her mouth.

"Fuck." Bucky grabs his balls almost falling down on his knees.

"What the fuck are you doing!?" Yelena grabs a knife from the drawer and holds it up.

"Me? This is my house!" Bucky manages to stand up straight grabbing his own knife.

"What's going on?" you rub your eyes turning on the lights in the kitchen. Sleepiness vanishes in seconds seeing your brother and girlfriend hold the knives at each other.

"Oh my god stop that both of you." You take the knives from both of their hands.

"But-"

"That's my girlfriend dumbass I can't belive you attacked her!" Buckys jaw hangs open, how didn't he know you were dating someone?

"Bucky, Yelena. Yelena, Bucky." You introduce them and hold a hand over your chest they almost gave you a heart attack.

"Nice to meet you. Sorry for kicking you in the nuts." Yelena smiles and reaches out to shake Buckys hand and he shakes it.

"Sorry for almost killing you." Yelena laughs and Bucky lifts a brow.

"You didn't almost kill me I almost killed you! I would've won!"

Bucky is speechless he looks at you and then your girlfriend and then you again.

"I'm pretty sure I would've won."

Now you're the one that's speechless are your brother and girlfriend really debating on who would've killed who?

"Okay... Now that I've introduced you two maybe no more threatening?"

"How was I supposed to know we have a guest? You didn't tell me!" That's true and shame washes over you.

"I was scared that you'd scare her off like all of the others."

Buckys eyes soften; He knows he can be a bit overprotective but he didn't think that he was that bad. But now he realised he was a bit too much.

"Sorry, I was just trying to protect you. I didn't-"

"It's okay I know that and I appreciate that but you can just be a bit scary. Though you've never attacked anyone before like this but I guess I found your match." You smile at your girlfriend who had taken out the mac and cheese left overs from the fridge, she gives you a thumbs up.

"I promise I'll try to not be so scary and I promise to not baby you so much."

"Maybe we can work on the staring problem and find you a girlfriend too so you can take care of someone else too. I know it's cruel to send you off to someone but better you be a pain in the ass to someone else." Bucky rolls his eyes pushes you playfully.

"You love me."

"I do but I'm mad because you woke me up so you'll apologise by making breakfast in the morning! You're the best, good night."

"Hey that's not fair! And leave the door open I don't want any funny business happening in this house!"

You pull Yelena in and before closing the door you treat him with a middle finger.

"Little shit, if I didn't love you oh I would've strangled you." Bucky grumbles looking at the framed picture of you two when you were kids.

Being an older brother is a tedious job but he wouldn't change it for anything.

[The End]

sorry its so cheesey dhdhdhdh

[kedreeva]

hi Ked! hope the snakewatching is going well. I've been meaning to ask, because I know you've been writing fanfiction for quite a while: do you ever feel as though community engagement has trended down over the years? and if so, do you have any advice for fighting the feeling that you're wasting your time/energy for a silent audience that just consumes and moves on?

I think it has, but I think it hasn't. But I think our perspective on it has changed, vastly.

The thing is, fandom back in the day was just plain old smaller and more tightly-knit by necessity. Before the net was so big, spaces we could go were limited, mostly fan-controlled, often difficult to find, sometimes clunky to use if you were learning (waving at IRC, hello, I hate you still), and due to all of this were often just... smaller. You could know MOST of the people in a fandom space. You had some degree of genial relationship with readers because you talked to them. Archives outside of ff.net were common, curated spaces with amounts of fic that were relatively consumable in total, as in you could go to a fan-run archive, read every piece of fiction there, and then have to find a new one, which probably had at least some of the same fic on it. Even ff.net, a lot of the fandoms present in the early days it was just like. you had 20 fics, you had 100 fics, whatever the number was, and because the spaces were small and the population online was smaller than now, there just... weren't enough creators to constantly have access to new fic or art. I remember waiting for archives to update their collections because most of them you couldn't just add your work to yourself. And I remember that the best way to encourage that to happen faster was to go and get the creator worked up/excited about their thing again by talking to them about it.

Now, fandom is easily accessible. Now, there are platforms all over the place. If you don't like the section of fandom you're in, it's easy to find another, even within the same platform. Don't like this part of tumblr? Block some people and follow others. Don't like this discord server? leave and join a different one (or make one). Don't like twitter/instagram/tiktok/tumblr/livejournal/wattpad/pillowfort/whatever the fuck other platform? Try a different one!

I am grateful for this sprawl. I'm grateful for fandom being easy for everyone to access, for it being so much easier to find somewhere you can settle and have others who like things you like. I think everyone should have a home.

But that does mean sometimes fandom spreads thin. It does mean that instead of 100 creators, there could be a thousand. There could be two thousand. And instead of one place to find it all, there's a gabillion.

But... the amount of story and art a single human being is physically capable of finding and interacting with (reading, viewing, commenting on etc) hasn't gone up. I can only read at the pace I read at, same for anyone. The fandom I'm in has created AT LEAST 29,000 works in the last 11 months, on one platform (AO3). That's almost 90 fics a day for 11 months. And I know for a fact that not all of the stuff that's been written gets posted there, that's just the stuff I KNOW for SURE has been written since a specific date because I searched a character tag for a character that didn't exist before a certain date.

I don't know about you, but I'm not Readers Georg. I can't engage with every fic in a fandom anymore. I can't even engage with a tenth of the fic in fandom anymore just to purely read it, and by the time I'm done reading one, there's 7 more to take its place.

So, I don't think engagement has trended downward so much as I think it's spread out as fandom spreads out. I think it's more important now than it was before, to try to actively engage with creators, because of this. And I think it's important for creators to try to engage back, too. But I also know it's impossible to go back to how things were, and impossible to make a large fandom behave the way a small fandom did. I also also know that if you ever go into a small fandom, like a rarepair, you will almost certainly see an echo of the past with regards to engagement. I wrote a couple things for small fandoms more recently, and because they have far, far less fic available, they seemed to comment more on what was there. They engaged in community ways, going back and forth in comments instead of just "good job""thanks" the end. they have more time for it. A small enough fandom may go days or weeks without new fic, leaving them time to do those sorts of things, without the fear they're missing out on one of today's 90+ fics.

I can't offer any kind of quick fix, because I don't think it's necessarily broken. But I can say that you should always try to be the change you want to see. When you read something, leave the kind of comment you'd want to get. There's another fic around the corner, yes, but you can't read 90+ fics a day for 11 months straight. And neither can anyone else, and remembering that might put it into perspective.

If you want community, read the OTHER COMMENTS when you read stuff, and engage with the other readers; if anything, THAT is the major missing factor in this day... readers engaging each other over fan creations, rather than just creator-> consumer or consumer-> creator. The most fun i ever had writing on AO3 was when I was writing Siren's Song and readers started talking to each other in the comments about what would happen. A whole little community sprung up around readers talking to each other about what happened after one of my other fics ended. I think that's a missing element that often goes unspoken, and maybe that could help a lot if you feel like the audience is silent. Maybe they are. Maybe they don't know it's okay to talk to each other, too. Go into the audience and make some noise.

[flutter2deceive]

Bitching about financials and job things under the cut

My company announced like 2 months ago that our jobs are being eliminated, but it's like this nebulous thing because they're outsourcing and we need to transfer all our products, so my end date isn't until 3/31/2026. Like that's so far in the future and I'm gonna get severence (at end date, i will have worked there for 20 years literally over half my life) + a retention bonus, so I'll be ok for a little while after the fact i think i hope

But anyway i decided to immediately start cost-cutting 2 months ago:

•canceled subscriptions (canceled hulu, paramount+ (i have a plex server hookup anyway), canceled ubereats (and also stopped ordering from them altogether), canceled or went down a level on my minimal patreon subs)

•signed up for Shell's rewards system (it's literally free and you save at least 20cents/gallon every single time and sometimes more without having to spend any money you just click a button and boom extra 10cents if you fill up on a specific day.)

•haven't done *any* fun online shopping or regular store shopping for that matter

•severely cut down my fast food spending (i'm sorry taco bell ily), and as my friends are in similar financial woes, we've stopped ordering food every weekend and opted to make cheap dinners where we each bring some small component like 1 brings pasta 1 brings sauce 1 brings garlic bread

•this isn't a recent change, but i never go out anywhere for like drinks or to see local comedy shows like i used to frequently do. I'm a homebody who goes into the office twice a week and goes to my best friend's house on saturdays and just sits at home the rest of the time

Even with all that!! My debit card is at $26, my 1 credit card is $3 away from its limit, the other is $21 from its limit. I *thankfully* get my paycheck at midnight, but like... woof!

Last paycheck i was down to less than $100 the day before as well. It's so mind-boggling to me that it's this bad. Partially because I've had some unfortunately-timed plumbing issues and had to pay a pricey deductible (but glad i have the insurance obv cuz of how much the total cost would've been otherwise.) But also partially cuz i feel like shit is so much more fucking expensive than it's ever been!! And the last gallon of milk i bought and properly refrigerated went sour like a full week before its expiration date.

I have a decent job and make pretty good money (for now at least.) I have made several cost-cutting measures recently. I feel like I don't *do* anything. And it literally doesn't matter!!

My best friend who has an equally comfortable job told me he had about the same amount of $ as me to last him til his next paycheck too.

And on top of the financial stress, i am so fucking stressed at work because no one knows what they're doing and i keep getting roped into things at the last minute with an IM that says "hey got time for a quick call?" And then i end up having to put together a complicated spreadsheet that is needed by end of week. Why didn't you fucking ask sooner than 2pm on a thursday?! Oh cuz someone who will still have a job at the end of this didn't do what they were supposed to? Ok sure I'll get right on that. And I do. I do get right on that and have it back to you within a couple hours. Because i stupidly care about my job.

Ugghhh i hate everything atm... Except i was able to livestream my favorite singer Terri Clark's debut concert at The Ryman tonight. And i have a ton of Fran/CC fanfics queued up to read. And the Ghosts discord is constantly coming up with the cutest scenarios for H$, my current otp. And i am off the entire next week because next Friday is my birthday. And my dog is snoring.

So i guess it hasn't been such a bad day after all, Charlie Brown... or some such sentimental nonsense 🙃🙃🙃

[thequantumranger]

*sigh* I'm kinda sad again...

While I'm getting better, I still feel a hole in my chest. With all my progress this year, I deluded myself into thinking this could be the Summer where I find a romantic partner. I don't know what I expected. This time of year is over romanticized, and my Summers have always been uneventful.

These past few months have been filled with endless heartache and disappointment. However, I don't regret meeting the man I became infatuated with. I don't resent him in any way. He's a good person who's been nothing but understanding and helpful. I want us to remain friendly once I'm rid of these feelings.

I'm someone who values genuine friendship as much as romance and familial love. Since meeting my closest friends, I've realized love exists in all sorts of ways. That type of love was absent in my developing years, and I'm grateful to experience it as an adult.

While 2024 has turned out to be the worst year of my life, I've learned a valuable lesson; I'm not obligated to unconditionally tolerate my family. When we're dealing with trauma as children, we're often told how life will change as an adult. I spent my 20s hoping things would be different. In June, I realized I've wasted my time by offering my family opportunities they did not deserve. Nothing has changed. Mom is reverting back to her old ways. She hasn't recognized my efforts to better myself. She doesn't appreciate what I do to help her. I need guidance and reassurance, even in my 30s.

Then there's the brother I used to be closest with. He's changed for the worst. Some time during April/May, we started going on hour-long walks in the woods. Each time he'd go on these unhinged rants (involving racism/sexism/homophobia etc.). I would endure his behavior because of my extreme loneliness, but I must distance myself for my well being. He knows I'm bisexual and doesn't respect that. I haven't gone on walks with him since he insulted my bestie, and made homophobic remarks during Pride. My brother seems unhappy and insecure with himself, but I won't allow this to continue in order to boost his ego. It is affecting my self worth, and I deserve respect.

Although I've evolved, my life has remained the same, and it's in part of my family holding me back. Their hurtful words and actions feed my doubts and insecurities. It is time for me to break free and be alive. I must remain headstrong while setting boundaries. I haven't answered my brother's texts, and have been avoiding my mom as much as possible. Separating myself from them is the only way I will finally be able to discard my old life and start anew.