#this is just in case i'm watching and actually want to say something myself lol

[bibvck]

we are a month out from s8 and this is the first time i might actually have the time + means to watch episodes as they're airing. i'm someone that doesn't mind spoilers and will in fact go looking for them, so i've always hung out on the dash or in the tags while episodes are airing to see live reactions. if i choose to do any of my own reaction posts, i'll be using #911 spoilers and my #rambling tag !!

[icewindandboringhorror]

I've referenced before how I have a big google document to keep track of every media I've ever seen in my entire life (just for reference because I like to track everything possible lol… I am the Data Collector), but recently as I was updating it, I thought of actually evaluating them to find out random percentages (like for example, out of Total Shows Watched, what percentage did I finish vs. stop watching, what percentage did I like or dislike, etc.)...

Evaluating these things is made easier by the fact that I already place everything on each subsection of the list into 6 broad ranking categories, so I don't have to go back and guess to figure out how I feel about them or anything. The categories are: Ranking 5 - overall best* (despite some criticisms of course because I'm too much of an Analyzer to ever find anything Perfect lol) Ranking 4 - more positive than neutral, but not good enough to be 5 Ranking 3 - either the good + bad negate each other, OR it's just not memorable/interesting in any way enough to be ranked higher or lower (this is the Default category ALL things are placed in if no other rank applies) Ranking 2 - maybe a few redeemable elements but largely more negatives than positives Ranking 1 - So bad that it circles around to being fascinating to observe in some way (not necessarily Funny, or Good, but just interesting somehow) Ranking 0 - Bad in a genuinely frustrating or obnoxious manner

*("best" primarily defined here as most interesting, rather than most good in a technical sense, or some other measure. I tend to value more highly whether there's something novel or thoughtful about the worldbuilding, tone, writing, base premise, etc - than about whether it's actually executed perfectly.)

And here's the amount of shows that have so far been placed into each category -

TV shows ~ Rank 5 (highest) - 20 shows ~ Rank 4 (mid-high) - 28 shows ~ Rank 3 (neutral/default/meh) - 114 shows ~ Rank 2 (mid low) -33 shows ~ Rank 1 (low low but intriguingly so) - 14 shows ~ Rank 0 (iredeemably low) - 2 shows

This would make for a total of 211 TV shows overall. However, there are 57 shows within these list marked as "didn't finish" (typically meaning I quit on the very first or second episode - but log them still to keep a record that I at least had a brief view of them).

So my total of genuinely fully watched shows would be more 154. 211 Total, but a More Accurate Total of 154.

Counting them all and using the Total Number Of The List (211) -- that means roughly 9.5% of all total shows I have ever watched (or at least attempted to watch) have been Mostly Good, 13% have been Moderately Okay, 54% have been either entirely Forgettable or some mix of good + bad that lands them right in the Neutral Middle, 15.6% have been Mostly Bad, 6.6% have been Bad (but in an interesting way), and 0.9% have been Terribly Bad.

Additionally, I didn't even get past the first two episodes of about 27% of the total.

Sooo, discounting ones I didn't finish, my total TV shows ever watched in my life would be about 154 (maybe give or take a few, assuming I might have forgotten some from very long ago).

But instead of entire life, let's just say this is the total for 'About 20 Years' (so, not counting very early childhood when I likely wouldn't remember things I saw/have no detailed recollection of them (like for example, I'm sure at some point when I was like 4yrs old I must have seen an episode of Spongebob or something, but I have zero distinct memories of it, can't quote anything of it, and barely recall the premise - so I don't count it on the list, etc.)).

In that case, 154 divided by 20 would be roughly 7.7 shows a year.

Which is actually surprisingly low considering that I often have stuff on in the background for hours whilst I make sculptures and do costumes and stuff (maybe I should have also marked some distinction between 'things I fully paid attention to' and 'things I kind of half listened to whilst sculpting', but that would further split the categories too much probably lol), but I guess a lot of that is youtube videos or random documentaries, so .. eh.. maybe I get it being lower.

Now, doing the same thing for movies-

Movies ~ Rank 5 (highest) - 4 movies (3.4% of total) ~ Rank 4 (mid-high) - 12 movies (10.3% of total) ~ Rank 3 (neutral/default/meh) - 91 movies (78.4% of total) ~ Rank 2 (mid low) - 8 movies (6.8% of total) ~ Rank 1 (low but interesting) - 1 movie (0.8% of total) ~ Rank 0 (irredeemably low) - none in this category (0%)

That makes 116 for a Total (Actually Remembered) Movies Watched In Lifetime (Or At Least In 20 Years).

116 divided by 20 is roughly 5 or 6 movies a year (I feel this has probably been skewed though by adding everything since like elementary school onwards, as I remember a lot more movies from child/teen years.. Whereas, the past 3 years I feel like I've barely seen maybe even 5 movies?? lol). I also have "Didn't Finish" marked on 18 of them. Which means I quit halfway through about 15% of the total movies.

So, a for broader summary stuff..

I seem to be less forgiving to movies than tv shows, by far. Which makes sense to me, I guess, because I love elaboration and details, so "short form" things that only last an hour or two are often lost on me a bit. My biggest complaint with movies is indeed usually walking away just wishing there had been more exposition, more scenes where characters are doing nothing, more "mindless bantering" conversations, more Quiet Downtime and Lore Elaboration and so on lol, so... of course most 1-2hr films end up feeling a bit Not Enough To Draw My Interest/Nothingy to me.

If you count 5 and 4 as "like" and rankings 2 to 0 as "dislike", then for TV shows I at least somewhat liked 48 of them, and at least somewhat disliked 47 of them.. So it's almost exactly the same lol. I'm just about equally as likely to find something bad as I am to find something redeeming about it. But overall, the largest chance is that I just won't really care much for it at all and it will be tossed into the 'neutral' pile, forgotten forever. Movies have a bit better of a balance, "liking" 16 of them, and "disliking" only 9 of them. So I'm slightly more likely to enjoy a movie than to find it annoying - though still VASTLY more likely to just not find it anything in particular, possibly not even finishing it.

ANYWAY.. this is vague and literally pointless, but like I said, I just really find information fun. Like my document where I've rated every apple flavor I've ever tried (like 40 of them now?), or reviewed every oreo flavor (32?), or ranking data from my entire 10 years of Trying To Make Friends process (out of 100 people, roughly 8% chance of a moderate compatibility, 3% chance of high), or etc. etc.. I love to have random pointless things to analyze I suppose lol.

I doubt anyone tracks things in their life in this same exact way, but I'd be interested in hearing any at least somewhat similar data !!! (like, how many TV shows you watch a year on average, and what percentage of those you like vs. dislike (if you keep track of that sort of thing), etc.)). I guess it might be easier with movies, since I think some people use those websites where you curate a list of movies you've seen and you can rate them or something, so maybe the numbers are already available on those places. :0

[heartshattering]

Feeling like I want to give up again...

[ourceliumnetwork]

i really am just going to have to lean into the fact that i just really like cheese board foods and deal with that, aren't I?

[alexwilltellyouthings]

Ok I have so many thoughts about painland ending up canon or not and I. Just.

Listen I AGREE that their bond goes beyond being romantic or not. It's obvious, it's beautiful, I love it and I love them and their friendship and I truly do think it is important that media has this kind of relationship portrayed.

But.

But.

I would be lying if I said I wouldn't be disappointed if it doesn't turn romantic. It involves a lot of things.

1: I want Edwin to have that. He'll still be happy without it, yes, but god can't he have that? He's been through so much. He had a speedrun through his sexuality issues and confessed in hell. Like wtf. Can't he have that???

2. Bisexual Charles would actually be so important to me. And yeah he can be bi and not in love with Edwin but come on lol. The thing is, there's not many bi men in media. Even less bi men figuring out their bisexuality. Even less bi men figuring out their sexuality when they were raised in the 80s and knowing their best friend is in love. Do you see how many layers exist here? How amazing his story could be? Charles has so much we still don't know about him. And yes, I would like that one of those things could be something I relate to. Besides trauma. Call me selfish. And like he's so bisexual coded it would be offensive for him to be straight I'm sorry.

3. They exist in other universes. Let them be platonic there. Let them be romantic this one time.

4. I know falling in love with a straight person is a very common story and I don't think it's wrong for it to happen in a show, but honestly, it's not what I sign up for when I'm watching queer stuff. Think Our Flag Means Death. It probably changed my brain chemistry because anything less than that gets really hard to swallow. I know, we all have queerbaiting trauma, and I know this wouldn't be the case, and it never claimed to be something as queer as OFMD. But I got so attached that... Well, I wouldn't stop watching if this happens, but it wouldn't sit well with me. It's a bitter feeling, you know?

5. They didn't have anything be explicit, but come on, they did set us up. Charles got jealous at Monty, and only Monty, for that matter. I wouldn't say his thing with the Cat King is necessarily jealousy, more like protectiveness, but that can be disputable. And both George and Jayden said more than once that Charles' response to the confession let things open. So I mean if that door wasn't closed, then please don't close it now! The road until things happen can be long, dramatic, tortuous, whatever, there's many ways to tell a love story. But if I'm sitting for it, then I don't want to get shot in the face later on (unless it's for plot reasons which ok).

6. Have I mentioned that bisexual Charles

Anyway I feel kinda bad for wishing so much they get romantic because I see and agree with the whole platonic discourse. But yeah those are all the reasons why I can't stop myself. Have a good day everyone

[sanguineterrain]

your most recent jason fic has me in a bit of a chokehold and its bc you do so well with the dialogue and the banter!!

HONEYLOVE???#?*×& i need to be physically restrained (i appreciate your fics respectfully)

anyways, the fic has me thinking: imagine it's the same reader, but they know Jason's alive and they're back to being friends again (skipping over the drama of "YOU'RE ALIVE?!?" "yea lmao sorry ily tho") but there's this tension now. and since Jason's not working with a mask anymore (and he's slightly more vulnerable with r), it's him who gets flustered and it's r who does the flirting playful banter. maybe it ends with a kiss (˘ ³˘) ?

i'm such a sucker for a flustered Jason and there's something that tells me he gets really weak in the knees for someone he adores >:) anyways, you can always choose to write this or not but a very big, fat thank you if you do

the reaction pics are SO FUNNY i'm glad you enjoy this au <3

jason todd x gn!nocturne!reader. pt 3 of vigilante reader. this is basically reader just being feral over jason :> they speak for all of us, really. love confessions, tension, somewhat flustered jason, more sparring lols.

pt 1 / pt 2

****

Jason Todd is alive. Jason Todd is sitting two feet away, talking about a case.

You can't quite believe it. You went home two days ago and expected to wake up to the whole thing being a dream or the result of a Poison Ivy hallucinogen.

You can't stop staring at him. It's weird. You're being weird. But you can't help it.

Every time you see Jason, you want to look at him for as long as possible. You don't want to forget his face. This new face. Scarred and hardened, but still good. Still loved.

And, well. It's not like Jason's bad looking. Sure, you thought he was cute when you were teenagers. Resurrection makes the heart grow fonder, et cetera.

But now? Now, Jason makes your heart stupid. You can barely contain your desire. It's been two weeks since he revealed himself, and every time you see him, you have to dig your nails into your palms to keep yourself from showing him what he does to you.

Sometimes you think he sees right through you, but if he does, he never acts on it.

"—listening. Yo. Ground control to Major Tom. Are you with me?"

Jason waves a hand in front of you. You blink.

He's unmasked and in a Fleetwood Mac t-shirt and dark jeans—the most comfortable you've seen him, actually. His hair is still wet from his shower.

"Sorry," you say, suddenly zeroed in on the three droplets of water sliding down his neck. "I'm listening. Just looking at you."

"'Cause I'm so pretty?" Jason asks, batting his lashes.

You reach over without thinking. He freezes when you wipe the water off of his neck. Then you tuck a curl behind his ear.

"You should let me blow-dry your hair," you say, taking your time in dropping your hand. "It'll take ages to dry in this humidity."

Jason's eyes have gone wide. Pink splotches bloom on the apples of his cheeks.

"Uh." He swallows. You watch his throat bob. "Thanks. Maybe... next time."

"I'll steal Dick's. He's got the fancy sixteen setting one."

That makes Jason smile. "Hm. Some things never change."

His eyes crinkle at the corners. Fondness swells swiftly in your chest.

You stay like that for a moment, caught in each other's orbit.

Jason breaks it first, leaning away. "Right. You should probably get back to the Manor. Br–the others'll probably think I kidnapped ya."

You shrug. "I quit."

"What?"

"Bruce was getting on my last nerve. I can't work with someone like that."

Jason snorts. "Join the club. Look, I can't say I'm not thrilled that you're stickin' it to the old man. But if this is 'cause of me... I wouldn't be mad if you kept workin' with him. Honest. If that's what you wanna do, don't let me stop you."

"Jason." You rest your hand atop his. "I joined this life because of you. To honor you. You taught me how to help people, not Bruce. You taught me what it meant to be kind, to be a part of something bigger than myself."

To love, you don't say.

"I..." He shakes his head. "You became Nocturne for me?"

You close your eyes, then open them. You've cried so many times. You don't want to stay in your grief any longer. Not when he's right in front of you.

"When you died, I..." You take a deep breath. "Nocturne was something to ground me. I think Bruce recognized that. I think he knew how much you meant to me. He didn't have to take a chance on me, and I appreciate that he did. But I've realized that he doesn't know everything. Can't see what's right in front of him sometimes."

You squeeze Jason's wrist. He sighs.

"God, I'm sorry," he says.

"What're you sorry for, Jay? You came back. That's all I ever wanted."

Jason chews his cheek for a moment. Then he stands, chair scraping the floor.

"C'mon," he says.

You follow him to the living room. He moves the armchair, the couch, and rolls up the rug. He disappears down the hall and returns with two thick mats. He tosses them onto the floor.

"Uh..." you say. "What're you—"

"'M gonna show you what y'did wrong that night on the roof."

"Wow. Can't believe you're still single. Being reminded of my shitty combat skills gets me so hot."

Jason rolls his eyes. "Alright, smartass. Just 'cause you quit the Bats doesn't mean you won't go out there and keep helping people. I know you. The least I can do is pick up where Dickface left off in your training."

"The least you can do, huh? I think you just wanna pin me against the floor again," you say, smirking.

He clears his throat. "That—no."

"No?" You step closer and look at him through your lashes. You're so close, you're touching his chest. "What happened to tying me up 'cause I was out when I shouldn't have been? Isn't that another educational technique?"

Jason's throat bobs. "That wasn't—I was just saying things."

"Hm. That's too bad."

You skip right past him, onto the mat, and hold out your arms.

"Okay. Put the moves on me, J.P."

It takes Jason a moment to craft his usual poker face. When he does, he groans. "'M not an evil Gilded Age financier. Still don't like 'J.P.'"

"But you like me-ee," you sing-song.

He shrugs. "Sometimes. Until you give me a heart attack and run into a burning building."

"Wish I could've seen your face for that one," you say as you steel your shoulders and secure your feet.

"Better you didn't. I'm sure there was a vein or two popping outta my forehead." Jason cracks his neck. "Ready?"

"Lay it on me, big guy."

"You first. Attack me like you normally would."

So you do. You step forward and throw a punch similar to the one from your rooftop spar. Jason catches it, of course. But this time, he locks you in a hold. One leg is between yours, and your arms are twisted behind your back with one hand. Humiliating.

"Dude!" You wiggle. Jason doesn't yield. "Jay, come on. No petty criminal is gonna know how to do all that."

"I know. The point of this is for you to know how to use someone's size against them."

Jason presses his cheek against yours. You tamp down your shiver. You can hear his heartbeat.

"Take a breath," he murmurs.

You close your eyes and breathe. Jason's grip doesn't hurt, but you're frustrated by how predictable you are. How he knows your body. A part of you is missing in not knowing him the way he knows you.

"Alright," he says. "Think. What part of me is exposed?"

"Not the important parts, I hope."

You can feel his eyeroll.

"You're hilarious. C'mon, focus. What can you attack?"

"Um... your legs. You trapped my arms, but my and your legs are free."

"Good." The praise warms you. Being this close to Jason will never get old. "What else?"

"What else? Do you have a tail I don't know about?"

"Sucha wiseass," he says, mouth close to your ear. "Your head. You're still able to move your head, and you're close to my face."

"Yeah, I'm not headbutting you. Out of the kindness of my heart."

"I appreciate that, sweets. Sweep my leg."

So you do. Jason goes down easier than he normally would for your benefit.

"'Kay," he says, once again underneath you. Now you have his hands pinned. "Good. Remember what went wrong last time?"

"You bucked me off like a Clydesdale."

He smiles. "Yeah, okay. So what'll you do different?"

"I'm not in my suit," you say. "I don't have extra weight in my boots."

"No, but you don't need it if you keep my legs apart."

"So that was your plan all along, huh? Perv."

Jason coughs. "Ah-hum... I—c'mon, lock my legs."

You grin and spread Jason's legs, using your knees to keep him immobile.

And then you just stare. This time, it's not because you're thinking about the miracle of resurrection (though what a miracle it is). No, you're just thinking, once again, about how your best friend got really, stupidly pretty.

And how you really, stupidly wanna kiss him.

Jason still looks young, but his jaw is now defined. He's got a five o'clock shadow coming on. His lips are full and pink. Freckles dot his cheeks and nose. The nose that still has a bump from when he broke it during a fight with Riddler.

You remember how he played it off for weeks. Bruce said that didn't even cry. But when you asked if it hurt, Jason had said yes.

You wonder when the last time Jason cried was. You wonder how much pain he's suffered since.

You wonder if he knows he's got your heart in the palm of his hand.

"Hey," Jason says. His voice is soft. Shy. "I lose ya again?"

You shake your head. "No. Never."

"There somethin' on my face?"

"You're a lot to look at," you say. "Pretty, pretty boy."

That gets an undeniable reaction. Jason Todd has never been able to take a compliment. You've been exploiting that all day.

Perhaps you know him better than you thought.

He exhales sharply, like you've sucker-punched him. His eyes dart to you. Waiting.

"Your eyes are green," you say. "Like, mixed. Blue and green."

Jason nods. "I—yeah. The Pit. Changed 'em. Changed me."

You lean in. His gaze flicks to your mouth. You watch his Adam's apple bob in a hard swallow.

"They're still pretty," you say. "Always had pretty eyes, Jaybird."

"Heh, right. Even with this shit?" He points to the scar that crosses over his right eye, stopping at his lip.

You let go of his wrists—not that you were holding them that tightly anyway. If this were a real fight, you would've lost ten times over already. Considering how much of you is touching Jason, you happen to be winning hard.

You trace the puckered white flesh with your thumb. Jason flinches but doesn't pull away.

"Your face could never turn me away," you say. "Never."

He closes his eyes and shudders. "Y'too nice to me. Always so nice t'me. Even when we were fighting. Why're ya so good?"

Your lips are a hair from his now. "I don't know how to make it more obvious, Jaybird. I'm absolutely insane about you."

Jason's eyes fly open. He sees your mouth and his breathing increases. You smile.

"Yeah, want you bad. No place I wouldn't follow you. Do anything for you."

Jason makes a strangled noise in his throat. You grin.

"C'mon, big guy. I'm right here. Come have me, Jay. I'm yours."

Jason soars up and kisses you. Swallows you, really. His hands hold your waist for dear life. You wrap one leg around his.

You nip his lip. Jason whines softly. Delicious.

You grab his face, fingers tangling in his curls. Jason sits up, slotting you against him. One hand supports you on your back, the other on your side.

"God—" He breaks away, just barely. "You're way too good for me. Had sucha... sucha crush on ya when we were kids. Y'so sweet."

You blindly find his throat and bite, hard enough to leave a mark. Jason makes a guh sound. You lick the bite to soothe it.

"Missed you," you say into his skin. "Missed you so goddamn bad, Jason."

"Yeah. Yeah, yeah," he babbles, clinging to you as you kiss up his neck. "Yeah, missed you too."

"Not letting you go," you say, almost snarling. You're angry with want, angry at the world for keeping this from you for so many years. "It's you and me now, Jay, mkay? Gonna be mine?"

"Always been yours," he says, panting. Jason finds your lips again. The kiss is messy, uncoordinated. Full of love. "No one but you."

You haven't fallen behind. You're starting anew.

"Never been anybody but you."

[silentcryracha]

❍ ‗ Taking care of you during your period x hyung line (skz) ‗ ❍

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

Pairings : Chan x reader, Minho x reader, Changbin x reader, Hyunjin x reader

Genre/warnings : reader has periods, breasts are mentioned, mention of painkillers/mood swings/blood (yk), nothing else just fluff and really sweet boys

Summary : Like the title says, the oldest boys take care of you when you have your period. You are their s/o in this. Half headcanon and half scenarios.

Word count : 1.5 k

A/n : I'm currently on the FLOOR trying to get through this so I just, indulged myself I guess lmao! I hope it'll be an enjoyable read and also if any of y'all is also suffering now, good luck babes we got this <3

ps: There could be grammar errors, my first language isn't english!

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

Chan ‗ ❍

First of all, he wouldn't be weirded out or immature about it at all, he grew up with women in his family so he wouldn't be completely oblivious. Second thing, he seems to be natually very nurturing and attentive, so you know for sure that you'd be well taken care of, more than usual.

Depending on how this time of the month would be for you, he'd act accordingly. For example, if you are usually on time or late, if you tend to suffer more or less. In general he'd probably remember the days/week and always make sure to have a little bit of every essential thing at home beforehand. Sanitary products, painkillers, snacks, comfort food; you name it, he got it. Wether you lived together or not, doesn't matter.

In the best case scenario you'd just be having a shitty day and he would make sure to spend time with you (full day if he's not working, and even then he'd check on you multiple times), taking care of you, cuddling and probably babying you more than you need. And you'd let him of course, even just to show him you appreciated him caring for you. He would be really attentive but... chill at the same time. He just wants you to be comfortable, not further stress you out.

On the other hand, if you were someone who usually hurt a lot or maybe had some issues related to your condition, then he would be more clingy. If hugs and cuddles were an actual solution you'd be CURED.

He hated seeing you in pain regardless, but if the pain in question was out of the norm/more severe he would absolutely be in the worst mood. Again, every supply possible would to be 100% ready at the right times, and you truly wouldn't be allowed to lift a finger.

"Channie, baby, I've been handling this stuff since forever, I'll be fine, okay?" and then he'd frown and pout like "But I want to take care of my baby, that's the least I can do". Of course you wouldn't be able to refuse him even if you wanted to, so you'd just end up accepting the help making sure to thank him all the time to let him know how grateful you were for him. <3

Minho ‗ ❍

Minho just kind of learned along the way how to take care of you at the best of his abilities. Something that seems to be very important to him is health, and you having your period to him it's almost like a seasonal cold. Something that just kind of happens? He would learn which foods or beverages help the pain/body, or the things that would make you feel better, but he'd be kinda random about it? lol.

"You know what? I really feel like eating some good meat for dinner" and he'd pull some shit like "Actually, I was thinking of salmon for tonight. You know, it would be very good for you now", Not gonna lie you would be lowkey impressed that he bothered to search up stuff like that in the first place. He wouldn't be pushy though, he couldn't deny you even if he tried. Want a specific dinner/dessert? It's yours. You want to watch a movie and cuddle? Done. Or do you just want to sleep and hug? Good enough for him. He just really wants you to have a calm and comfortable day.

This being handled as a health matter would also mean that he'd probably be quite precise with keeping track of the days/week. If being irregular wasn't a usual thing for you, one day late and he'd be asking questions lol.

"How are you feeling?" "Do you need anything from the store?" "Need any help?" and so on. Especially if we were talking about a person with more severe pain/issues.

At this point he would be a little more insistent with the whole "take care of yourself right" but only out of worry and you knew it. "I made some ginger tea for you" "But-" and you wouldn't be able to finish the sentence without him raising one eyebrow like 'I dare you'. Two minutes after the cup was EMPTY. You'd also get belly rubs with warm hands afterwards so it's okay :')

Minho would never miss to make you feel loved and taken care of, it's like he needs you to know that you can count on him whenever you need.

Changbin ‗ ❍

Changbin also grew up with a sister but I feel like he was the baby of the family so I think he'd try to replicate that more than anything. His s/o would be treated like royalty regardless, don't get me wrong, but during this time I feel like he'd feel bad for you and the fact that he can't really help, and would try to 'fix it' by indulging you a lot.

He probably wouln't keep track of the days/week, just in general. But, I think that he'd realize it quickly when you start acting a little off or being fatigued, and at that point he'd piece it together quickly and offer his help if he can. And if he can't, then he'll just settle with random gifts that could cheer you up. It could be something cute like a plushie, a treat like your favorite sweets, or something more unique like an expensive gift. You don't want him to spend such money on you, but you lowkey know that's his love language and appreciate it ten times more for it. He would also remind you of it "Shh, you know I love to spoil my princess", that would make you melt and he knows it well.

In a more severe case I think that he would make sure to not let you lift a finger. Dinner? Dishes? Medicines? Cuddles? Tissues for a particularly off moment? The remote being an inch too far? HE'S GOT IT. Changbin would also probably try to be there for you physically during this time and would get annoyed when he can't manage. At that point expect multiple calls and texts throught the day and maybe even a few cute selfies too that would never fail to make you smile and lift your mood.

If you happened to be crying, he would try to handle himself but just wouldn't be able to do it so you'd probably have a nice liberating ugly cry session together and then fall asleep hugged comfortably :(

He would also make sure that you're comfortable wherever you are, and that usually means completely laying on him, the best pillow in the house.

Hyunjin ‗ ❍

Hyunjin is shy and an empath, we know. I feel like at the beginning of your relationship he could be a little uncomfortable handling this situation, mainly because he'd like to help in some way but would be unsure of how to ask. You would also probably try to hide it or not mention it, you know like in early stages of any relationship, but out of shyness more than anything. You know he's a very sweet guy and he would probably feel bad that you feel bad. And he does.

One day during movie night you'd probably unintentionally flinch or hiss at the pain and then he'd decide that he had ENOUGH and would blurt out a "Can I do anything for you?". You'd be kind of taken aback but appreciate it a lot. You would give in "Yes actually" you wouldn't have to say it twice before he's back with what you asked for.

From that moment on I feel like it would be a process for him to learn how to know you and your needs and after a while he would just...do it. Which were your habits or comfort foods, your preferred type of sanitary products to use, what could make you uncomfortable and so on.

I feel like he wouldn't necessarily intentionally keep track of it but would randomly look at the date and go "Mhh, isn't this that time of the month?" and you'd probably show up with a belly ache and an extreme need of hugs so yeah he'd be like "I figured" and kind of laugh at you being cute.

You'd probably have something silly like a "Cursed week" playlist to cry to or a specific list of things to watch that would absolutely wreck you emotionally because why not. And you'd plan it together and go back to them like a routine. You probably have a very sad or angsty tv show/drama that you go back to once a month just to either cry your eyes out or comment together like two bitter old ladies. And you have a blast.

Hyunjin would try to be lowkey about it though. Once he learned how to properly take care of you he would just do things and not be obnoxious about it. Like he would be they type to leave a sticky note for you before leaving for work that said "Good morning my love. Remember to take it easy and take some medicine if you need, I love you <3"

In general I think that he would be the type to try and distract you as much as possible, wether it was with some nice cuddles to warm you up or even tease you to make you laugh. He could be out of pocket sometimes but that's exactly what makes it hilarious.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

This is it for the hyung line! Maknae line link. Hope you enjoyed my silly writing, feel free to leave feebacks if you feel like it :')

[whateverisbeautiful]

So...Jessie? A gif just popped up of when Rick is holding the laundry basket and how eager Jessie was to get in his house. Her whole spiel was so weird looking back - she says she can handle herself and gives so much information about herself. So she's sort of not playing the damsel in distress initially but clearly wants his attention. Was Jessie also a proxy for Rick's guilt with Carol and Sophia? Like he didn't know about Carol being beaten by Ed but knew about it after so was in some way trying to make it up to and for her? Did Andrew Lincoln really not like this storyline either?

Anyway, your thoughts would. be so lovely to read!

Hi! Thanks for wanting to read my thoughts on this 😊. I had to refresh my memory a bit so I rewatched that scene when Jessie arrives on Rick's doorstep and wrote my take below. ⬇️💗

The Jessie scenes always tend to make my skin itch tbh. There's just something uncomfortable about their whole dynamic, especially with how their interactions always emphasize Rick's PTSD and rocky mental state. Every unhealed part of Rick often gets triggered in their scenes.

Watching it back, Jessie's whole angle and energy when introducing herself to Rick was very eager and grasping for a connection imo, all the while trying to appear nonchalant. It's interesting that when she offers to come inside and cut his hair (which a haircut definitely wasn't needed right then and there) Rick is the one more hesitant to let her in and the one more aware that it's a bit too trusting of her to enter the house of a stranger she doesn't know at all.

I agree she tried to avoid playing the damsel in distress but still wanted his attention. While Jessie aims to present the "I can take care of myself" vibe to Rick and the public, I can see her having this underlying want to get some info about Rick and divulge info about herself to gauge if Rick really is someone who can come to the rescue. She likely knows Rick and his group were brought in to better protect ASZ and she probably deep down hoped to find a protector for herself and her kids among them.

Regarding Jessie being a proxy of Rick having guilt over Carol's abuse, I think Jessie is a symbol of many guilts Rick has. I personally don't think Rick feels like he has to make it up to Carol for not saving her and Sophia from Ed's abuse, considering he and Ed were probably only even around each other for a very short time. But I do think that since Rick knew why Carol was so adamant about seeing Pete be stopped, he wanted to handle this situation for Jessie, her kids, Carol, the community, and himself.

It's clear in so many of Rick and Jessie's exchanges that Rick is trying to right many past 'wrongs.' Primarily not being able to save Lori. Like when he is making his case for why Jessie should let him save her and the kids in 5.15, I hear so much vulnerability in his voice when he tells Jessie he doesn’t want her to die and that he can keep her and her boys safe. In that moment, I feel like he can hear Lori's past doubts and Shane's past ridicule ringing in his ear saying 'you can’t protect people,' and so he’s determined to demonstrate that he really can keep this woman safe this time after not being able to do so in the past. 

The Rick and Jessie dynamic remains one of my least favorite, and while I can't say for certain if actors share my stance on their storyline (even if several reactions to the storyline suggest they might agree lol) I'm glad that what has always been clear is what storyline the actors actually loved and championed with a passion and that's the Richonne storyline. 😊

[coldgoldlazarus]

Been really immersing myself in the Shadow lore (with a brief detour through finally watching the Snapcube Fandubs lol) and now watching the Sonic X Shadow Dark Beginnings miniseries. (can't wait for Part III!) And something really interesting that it sorta winds up emphasizing through all these flashbacks in the first episode, is this pervading sense of failure.

Even before all his subsequent trauma, Shadow felt like a failure for not being the miracle cure he was meant to be, that Maria was still sickly and dying.

And then there's the (utterly incredible) fight with that yellow combat robot thing. (This is a bit of Sonic lore I still don't know, unless this is a new inclusion, but in any case damn was that thing badass) Shadow was able to successfully save Gerald, at least, but it's not dwelled upon as the scene shifts away immediately after he won that fight. What does get a lot more attention was the level of destruction the robot wrought upon the Ark, with who knows how many other implied casualties as consequence of that, until he was finally able to catch up to it, and the fear that Maria could so easily wind up as one of them. That entire sequence was incredible, but also deeply stressful.

Then of course the arrival of the GUN fleet, and immediately the prior victory is undone with Gerald's imprisonment and execution. (And I really love how that sequence leaned into the nightmare fuel fever dream vibes) And after that... well, we all know what happened to Maria.

And it's just interesting how like, it was literally Shadow's purpose to save lives, and yet for all his incredible strength and power, he still feels like he failed to where it counted, in the past. Which of course Sonic x Shadow Generations is delving back into.

In the present/more recent past, his arc was about confronting the conflict of purposes laid out for him -to save lives, to take revenge, to be an instrument of destruction, to be a weapon against Black Doom- and ultimately attaining a sort of self-actualization by choosing to find his own purpose outside of others' directives for him, and kicking Black Doom to the curb while he's at it.

But since then, at least as I understand it, he's been left in a sort of limbo, and just more-or-less vibing in the background while Sonic as a franchise has been trying to figure itself out. Present, sometimes even having major roles, but not really a focus, until they're finally getting back to him now.

SxSG is obviously partially a recap/nostalgia trip from a meta standpoint, but also feels in a way like a reopening of Shadow's story. Saying that despite his 'vibing' status in the past several games, it's not that easy to reject and ignore his past, it is still a core part of him.

But what I'm left kinda thinking about is his future. Because while the movie and SxSG are part of a "Year of Shadow", implying this is probably going to be a one-off, I hope it won't be. I hope it's genuinely reopening his story going forward, because it isn't really over yet. In StH, he rejected being a tool for others' agendas alongside his past as a whole, but that doesn't really answer the question of what his own goals are now, or any of the stuff around that.

Which kinda brings me back around to Dark Beginnings and the feeling of failure. This is a nightmare that seems to be at least partially externally-imposed by the Time Eater or Black Doom or some combination thereof, but I think it's still telling of Shadow's own values and priorities through what it focuses on. Not just the obvious trauma, but that connecting theme of failure - failure to save lives. Not because of Gerald's original goals for him, but because of Shadow's own intentions.

The second episode spells it out more clearly through Maria, too. He's not great at expressing himself, he may not always even be aware of his own feelings, but he does care deep down. He cares so goddamn much.

He wants to help save people.

But first he needs to figure that out.

And then, he needs to figure out how to do that going forward.

[littlevices]

Finished Mob Psycho 100

Spoilers below cut, as well as a lot of gushing and a very long post, just in case anyone needed the warning, lol.

My heart is full. So, so full.

I was not expecting to lover this series as much as I did, had no plans to watch it, let alone read it.

Now here I am, finally finished the series, and I feel so full.

Every episode hit so well, said so much, and had something important in all of them, no matter how small a moment.

So much character development, so much great music, amazing action and animation.

Would you believe me if I told you I didn't care about the art style? That I thought it looked over hyped? That when I heard the first opening back when this was new I didn't like it much? That almost nothing about this show interested me?

The only thing that kept me connected to this show at all was the first ending song, it's animation, and the english fan cover of it by Dima Lancaster on youtube. Despite everything else not catching my eye at the time, this song by itself was the one thing that kept this show on my radar at all.

Years later, and I do mean years, I finally bit the bullet after rewatching all the opening and endings and even a few scenes on youtube to decide if this show was something I really wanted to watch. Why? Well, why not?

Obviously, I was spoiled in some things cause of this, but that didn't stop me, lol. I'm not easily deterred by this, but I did want to be transparent about that before going further. I still had no idea about character personalities and things like that, so I still had plenty of surprises in store. Plus, a number of these things hit way harder with context than they did without. For anyone interested, I knew about Reigen's confession, about the Touichiro fight, that Mob was trapped in Mogami's world for six months. However, none of that was enough to make me wanna watch the show 'right here right now' because without context I had no idea how Mogami's world worked, why Reigen's confession was important, nor how it would fit into the show proper, and there was absolutely no context for Touichiro.

Hopefully this doesn't deter you from reading further, but, again, I wanted to be transparent about those things as I now know how important those particular moments are to the series (and yes, the context made them so much better after finally watching it myself).

You still with me? Shall we continue then?

I fell in love with Mob near instantly in Episode 1. Watching him try his hardest at gym while still failing was so adorable and gave me a D'aww moment.

Reigen, however, not so much.

I know you know where I'm going with this. He was clearly a liar, fraud, underpaying Mob, and using him. He wasn't terrible, so to say, but his treatment of Mob in episode one made me wonder if I would be able to tolerate him for the whole season, seeing as I knew he was going to be a staple main character.

However, I too, have fallen into the sweaty rat man's trap and he is now one of my favorite characters in anime along with Mob and a few others.

Actually, I fell in love with nearly the whole damn cast, lol. But more about that later.

The art style grew on me quickly. It also helped that it's simplicity made it easy to make stellar animation and camera shots. Obviously, there are some episodes where Bones went way harder than they needed to. Episode 8 of season 1 (Mob vs Koyama), and episode 5 of season 2 (Mob vs Mogami) are obvious picks along with the finals of both those seasons (1000% Reigen vs Claw and Mob vs Touichiro). However, Mob vs Teru in 1x5 and Serizawa fighting in 3x2 are some of my favorites along with the more obvious choices. Plus, anytime Dimple possesses someone and proceeds to backflip and jump around despite nobody asking him too was always a treat (seriously, how old is he really? Where did he learn that shit?).

Reigen's special attacks were a highlight, especially when he starts showing off his own fighting style as well (I was not expecting this man to be able to fight and, later, parkour, what the hell).

Which brings us back around to the writing and characters doesn't it?

What can I say that hasn't already been said? The writing is great. Humorous and heartfelt. Sure, I felt like every once and a while it was a little too heavy handed when delivering it's message, and I didn't think the narrator was needed in some scenes, but it didn't really take away my enjoyment.

Also, can I just, take a moment to show some interesting details I noticed in the final episodes.

These details were very neat to witness. Small callbacks to earlier in the series it feels like.

However-

"But I guess it's true. . . I'm your brother, Ritsu. Hey, Ristu. Half of that is true, right?"

"So there's no reason to be scared. There's no reason to tremble at the sight of it. Because I'm. . . Your younger brother."

I can't even with this scene between Mob and Ritsu in the second to final episode. It just calls back so well to 1x8 and the alley way confrontation that it makes me tear up. I might make a separate post for this alone, lol.

This is what really made the story for me. The characters and the development they gained. I didn't love nor hate Tome when meeting her, but episodes 3x7 and 3x8 added a grounded element to her, along with that little scene in the marathon episode where the scolded her friends for faking ill when Mob had been working so hard. Serizawa getting over his admiration for Touichiro and working at Spirits and Such was a fun dynamic, even if late in the game so to speak. Ritsu learning to accept and not be scared of Mob's power, Teru going from being a bully to a genuinely a nice (if still somewhat overconfident) guy, and even Onigawara and the Body Improvement Club. I was not expecting to fall in love with a snot bubble, but here I am. So many wonderful characters, such a wonderful cast.

However, I can't mention character development with mentioning my favorite boys, can I?

Mob's growing confidence, learning not to rely on Reigen so much and coming to terms with his powers and himself as a person, what this whole show was about, was wonderful. The way he slowly became more expressive over time (like the screenshot above says), and him going from not wanting to use his powers at all to slowly realizing that sometimes he may have to protect what he cares about (even though Reigen tries so hard to protect him from that).

Reigen won my heart by the end of season 1, so when the seperation arc came I couldn't help but wince and cringe. I came to love his character and his relationship with Mob so much, that seeing this low point gave me so much second hand embarrassment. I felt bad for him, in a way, but this cringe was very much needed. Reigen needed the wake up call and I was so glad to see him take that lesson to heart in the next episode. I had heard his relationship with Mob got healthier, and I had heard whispers of the separation arc, but I was not expecting to be so wonderfully surprised by the way it worked. Reigen didn't fall immediately, he managed to do well for a while. It was only after being tricked, and, frankly, growing overconfident that his words and actions hit.

Which is the context I needed to make his confession in the final episode so important. Him finally coming clean, proving to Mob's other half, the doubts Mob had always harbored about Reigen, that he did indeed care about him. That he would shed even that lie, his biggest one arguably, if it meant helping Mob. That him finally being forced to realize how much Mob meant to him in the separation arc, and seeing, slowly, the feelings Mob had been holding back and how much it affected him, gave Reigen himself the courage to finally shed the final lie between the two of them if it meant Mob could finally heal (at least, that's my feelings anyway, lol.). It says so much about the relationship between these two, and their dynamic has become a favorite of mine (if you couldn't tell ;)).

Also, that opening that I didn't like before? The first one? Yeah, I've grown to love it and the other songs as well. The fact that they were made specifically for this show, and the context of the lyrics and show together, add so much to them. I'm not sure if the endings are in the same boat, but I love them too.

However, I think I've rambled long enough. If you got to the end here, well thank you very much for your time. This show has become a favorite so quickly, that it made even my head spin, lol.

Also, yes, you can bet I'm reading that Reigen spin-off, because more Reigen is always a good thing in my book. Love that shitty conman so much. <3 (I might even read the original manga too)

[lily-alphonse]

So I finally finished watching ATLA (the animated series) all the way through, for the first time. Here's my final reaction post! You can see the others at the first tag listed below (#lily's atla reactions)

I had always known it was a good show from what little I saw of it. Im not a big TV watcher because a lot of it gets too intense for me. I can’t separate reality from fiction and get so stressed I would actually die watching something like Game of Thrones lol. So I’ve started going through series from my childhood and of course I was going to start with this classic.

(Im cutting this in case you are like me and took forever to watch this and dont want spoilers)

I unsurprisingly love this series. My boy Zuko stays on top, I love his emo ass. Uncle Iroh is a close second, I know, based lol. I was very pleasantly surprised by the Earth King, an unexpected little side character fave that I latched onto and WILL be writing for.

Honorable mention also to Appa. I adore Appa. His episode broke me. Absolutely broke my heart to see him lose his trust in people, and then when Suki found him OH MY GOD 😭 I was so relieved. (Which, btw, did not expect her to be such a big part of the series that was nice)

Speaking of animals though, the hardest I cried was for Roku dying with his dragon. When the dragon just jumped back in to the flames to die with his master I fucking lost it bro. It reminded me of how Aang and Appa nearly died together, and how Aang’s instinct with his dying breath was to protect them BOTH in that ball of ice BRO I SOBBED ALOUD.

Oh as far as characters I also have to mention the explodey eye guy. I love action and he was SO menacing I was always on the edge of my seat when he was around.

In general I love the scenery, I love pretty scenery and colors and I was so well fed. I am worried that if I continue on to LOK I won't like it as much, considering the time jump to the industrial era. I'm a renaissance faire girlie lol.

I love the heavy messages they didn't shy away from. I think the show probably helped conceptualize a lot of really heavy subjects for kids, and I'm grateful to it for that. How revenge hurts everyone, how mistakes don't define you, how grief works.

I love the friendship and found family, the Zuko adventures episodes were probably my favorite. I can see where everyone is coming from with their various Zuko ships, I'm hearing all of you. If I had to choose one, though, I might actually be pro Zuko/Aang? Which is kind of wild and unexpected because Aang isn't my favorite, but I honestly felt like their characters complemented each other the best. It's funny because I share Zukka art all the time and the only fic Ive read was a Zukka fic lol. They're hot together what can I say? I do like Sokka and Suki together though! I think the show really did them justice as a couple.

There were a couple of really cool moments in the ending. Toph falling onto the metal door and metalbending herself armor? SO badass. And Sokka's boomerang coming in clutch again. I love clever moments in action like that.

Overall, unfortunately... I did not love the ending. I wish I had more of a reaction for you, but I found myself being too critical in it, and that is not how I want to contribute to the fandom. I recognize it is a kid's show and I am an adult, and probably wouldn't have anything to say that hasn't been hammered into the ground over the years since it aired.

I loved the show, expect to see an Earth King fic from me someday (and maybe other ships? who knows). I might watch Gravity Falls next since I can't handle adult television lol. We shall seeeee

[chamomiletealeaf]

hello! I’m writing for TF141 and I especially want to write for Gaz. However for some reason I keep just lumping him with the same personality as Soap. Tips ;-;??

Hi! I'm so flattered you asked me for advice omg :) Well, from what I've noticed in the game, I personally think Gaz is very intuitive. I think he watches from afar and knows what's gonna happen before it actually does, but doesn't give his opinion unless asked. Part of that I think is one, like I said before, his intuition, but also his training and guidance from Price. I personally think Gaz has had the best character development of all the Task Force since the MW reboot, because he goes from this frustrated recruit not knowing what is too much for him and how to handle it when it is too much, to someone so in control of himself that he's gained phenomenal intuition and self control. He's quiet, calm, an observer like Simon, but he actually is quite snarky (hence his cocky little jokes to Laswell and Price in the MW2 campaign). In the first MW reboot campaign I believe it was, where Gaz had to lead the doctor around the mercs from the security cameras I think showed exceptional intuition and self control since he was so sure she was getting out of there alive and what routes to take. I think that also had to do with just him being a good soldier, but he was very confident (even if it was a playable scene and not a cinematic one, we played as Gaz.) Gaz is always calm when he just knows a situation will turn out alright, and if he visibly panics? You better panic too lol. Soap also led Ghost around mercs in I believe the second campaign? Might have been the third but I believe Soap is just handy with tech due to his demolitions training. Both scenes are very similar, but I feel like Gaz works under pressure more efficiently than Soap mostly because of Soap's temper (Like the scene were Soap almost killed Makarov.)

Anyway, that's just me rambling about my pookie Gaz lol, but I would say the main similarities and differences between Soap and Gaz are:

Differences

Soap is impulsive, hot headed, loud, while Gaz is quiet, a man who thinks before he acts and makes sure everyone's on board with a plan before he jumps into action, intuitive, only gives his two cents when asked, a great advice giver and listener (that last one is just from what vibes I personally get from him rather than from observation throughout the campaigns.) And I think he handles pressure and his temper better.

Similarities

Both Gaz and Soap are both witty and silly. They both are able to find that childlike joy despite the horrors they witness. However, they both know when to be serious even if Soap is a bit more out of pocket than Gaz.

I love both so much, and I'm not saying Gaz is a better soldier than Soap by any means, but that they're different, and handle situations differently.

So when it comes to writing Gaz, I would take all of this into consideration such as: How would a calm approach to this situation be?/ How would observing this situation rather than engaging in it affect the characters?/ What advice could be given to other characters from a well thought out point of view (Gaz's pov)?

I feel like Gaz really thinks before he acts unlike Soap.

And if you wanna get more fun with it, I would ask myself: How would two knuckleheads (Gaz and Soap) observe and react to a funny or shocking situation while staying in character?/ How do clashing personalities bond? In this case, their humor is the same, so writing situations where the two of them are together and giggling at something silently in front of whoever they're laughing at I think is the perfect balance between observing and acting on impulse/lack of self control, thus blending their personalities together.

Sorry if that was a lot, I had a lot to say. I love talking about character personalities and actually evaluated Soap's personality for a college psychology of personality final lol (Got an A).

I hope all of my yapping helps at least a little bit!

[onigiriforears]

After approx. 2-3 months of studying Japanese I started to read free graded readers online and then graduated to a collection of short stories that I purchased off of Amazon. I thought that the reason I was starting to have trouble understanding sentences was because I didn't know enough vocabulary but it was because I neglected grammar completely. It was sorta drilled into my head off of Youtube creators to just study kanji, vocab and simple sentences as much as possible before even touching grammar. I feel absolutely lost, dude. I am at the 5 month mark now. I can "breeze through" kanji for the most part. (as in, I can actually retain it in a decent amount of time) I decided to study grammar about a week ago. It is SO FREAKING HARD. I don't know if there's something wrong with me or what. I don't know if it's supposed to feel like what I thought I knew is being ripped apart at the seams, stapled together, and then torn apart again....but it does.

Do you have any tips for learning grammar? Is this feeling normal? Can you tell me when the pressure in my skull will subside? I am using Bunpro's free trial but I'm unsure if this tool will actually help me. I write tons of notes to flip through but I still fail to give them the nuanced answer they're looking for. I really enjoy the setup of Bunpro and I want to like it since it's similar to WK but I'm not sure if I'm going too fast or there's a better way to learn. I stopped learning 5 new grammar points a day and started doing only 2. (I also have Genki I and watch GameGengo. He explains things in a way that's easy for my brain to understand.) Sorry for the long post but any insight would be appreciated. I'm a bit nervous asking people in the language learning community for help or insight because a lot of them treat it as a way to show how fast they learned/1-up others. Tumblr's langlearn community is a lot different with what I've seen (or maybe I'm just following the right ppl lol)

Hi! Thank you so much for waiting for this response--I'm sorry it took so long. Your message was one of the ones that popped up when they locked my ask box (they actually still haven't answered me on why it was locked so 🤷‍♀️). To make up for that, I'm gonna be longwinded because I think that this is a super valid and important question that others may also want to know the answer to!!

Pls pls PLEASE DM me if none of this is helpful or if you'd like to talk more about what you think you need help with!!

I think that sometimes when we're learning a new language that we know is so overwhelmingly different from our own language, we focus on the things that we think will be the main hinderance and sometimes we forget the key points. You might be thinking "how did I forget grammar?" but I would say don't beat yourself up about it! Many of us focus on the things that we think are our problems(--the last time I studied for the JLPT, I focused on my weak point too much and then was frustrated with myself during the exam bc I neglected the other areas.)

I don't want to lie to you and say that learning grammar will is going to get easier because that's not the case for everyone. Think of learning grammar vs everything else as learning different types of math or science--have you ever had a friend that was absolutely phenomenal at algebra or calculus but couldn't do geometry? Or a friend that was wonderful lab partner in chemistry but struggled in biology? They're struggling in biology because it requires a ton of rote memorization in comparison to practical application and math that's present in chemistry and rote memorization may not necessarily be their strong point. Personally, I think that's also why a lot of us struggle with certain grammar points. There are some that just click with us immediately and then there are others that we have to see over and over and over and over and over--you get the point--just for us to find a single sentence with it that we understand. If you're math oriented, we need to figure out a way to no longer make grammar points rote memorization for you, but to turn it into a formula of some sort. I actually write my notes out in ways that are like that--I use plus signs (+) in my notes not because the textbooks use them but because my brain genuinely reads it as "noun + particle + grammar point = a sentence that makes sense" because, for me, formulas don't fail. Your weak point doesn't have to be your weakness--you can turn the weakness into a strength that works just for you.

I've been going at this for years and every single professor or Japanese friend (or even people from the discord server) I have can tell you that I've struggled with pretty much any grammar point that included ~ように--and it wasn't because I wasn't trying, but because I couldn't find myself using any sentences that with those grammar points because I found the alternatives/similar ones to make more sense. Surprisingly, it wasn't until I was reading 夜カフ�� for our book club that I was actually able to start grasping the meaning (ngl, I still haven't used it myself--I'm notorious for using alternatives); I was finally witnessing it being used in a way that made sense in my brain.

The frustration you're feeling when you encounter a new grammar point or overload yourself with too many things in one go is completely normal and I promise that a ton of us in the Japanese langblr community have definitely experienced it too! It probably feels like everything you know is being ripped apart because your native language may have a SVO (subject-verb-object) format while Japanese has a SOV (subject-object-verb) format--your 1-to-1 translations for your notes may not be helpful in the beginning because you're still trying to wrap your brain around the fact that your words still need to go in another order than you're used to. And then you add the new grammar points and concepts on top of that (like particles and other things) and it can become overwhelming and frustrating. Sometimes, you're going to find some grammar points just downright annoying--especially when you find that there's no equivalency to it in your own language. But don't give up!

I know this is a super cliché thing to say, but practicing them will help. If you can, I would make note of the grammar points that you're struggling with, try to make sentences with them, and ask somebody to check them and explain exactly why (or why not) they're working and then ask them for examples because they may have an even better way of explaining it to you than what you've come up with for yourself!

I can look back at old notes and see when I wrote a sentence as an example just because a textbook/professor used it but I didn't actually understand why it worked at the time and then I can also find notes where the sentences written as examples were added once I finally found something that clicked for me.

You've already done yourself a favor by learning a lot of vocab, kana, and kanji because now you'll be able to try out an array of ways to pick up grammar instead of just a textbook. (I will make a note that if you're looking to take the JLPT, I would recommend having a list of grammar points that you would need to know for the level that you're planning on sitting for because there's no guarantee of what will or won't pop up on the test.)

Another important thing while you're practicing: be comfortable with making mistakes. We all make them, but when you're learning a new language it's important to be ready to make mistakes and to welcome them with open arms because it gives you a chance to experience and learn in real time.

ALSO: for you specifically--because you're interested in reading, you might enjoy learning grammar through tracking the different grammar points through what you're reading and using the sentences as your examples because they're all going to be cohesive. And if reading books or other things totally turn you off right now, maybe games? Animal Crossing and Pokemon are very nice games to play in Japanese for people that are just starting out! You may also enjoy using Lingo Legend--it's an JRPG language learning app that I beta tested and I think that it's a nice way to review (it has some fun incentives). I'm not a big gamer, so I struggle with learning through games, but I've been picking up a lot of grammar through reading because I focus on finding things that I'm interested in, rather than things that are "at my level." When I start a manga, I will scour a ton of websites and forums and bug a ton of people when I come across a grammar point that I can't wrap my brain around because I want to be able to understand what's going on.

We have book clubs and gamers in my discord server, as well as places for people to post what they're practicing or to ask for help. We have people of all varying levels and different skillsets that love to share their wisdom with others.

I haven't used Bunpro, but I know that @sammilearns has, so she may be able to weigh in on that! And @tokidokitokyo @nihongoseito @chouhatsumimi @kanpeki-bekki @burgeoning-ambition probably also have even more tips that me--I'm trying to tag people that I know we all learn in different ways, so their tips and tricks might be just what you need!

Please weigh in, fellow langblr members! How have you been learning grammar? Are you game-ifying it? Have you turned it into math equations? Have you managed to tie it in with your special interest? I can't wait to see what people add to this post!

[fangirl-in-general]

Hey there!! If you're new here, then welcome, I've started the process of writing a Garroth x Reader fic (later featuring Gene x Reader but Garroth is end game) I'm about to start on a master list so I don't have to keep reintroducing the series lol but here is the previous chapter. If you've already read the Prologue and pt1 then welcome back, if not then you should definitly check those out first!!

warnings for this chapter: Fem!Reader, slow burn

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An mcd!Garroth x reader series

Legendary Pt2

"I don't know Garroth, she's just been...renovating"

Garroth's head tilts at your words and you begin to chuckle before continuing. "She's actually pretty sweet. I've enjoyed her compony the past couple days. But yea she's literally just been...fixing stuff, largely unprompted too. She fixed the well, Dale hasn't drunkenly tumbled into it since. There's really nothing weird or suspicious to report. well...except her talking to herself sometimes...but it doesn't really interfere with anything, so I've just decided to ignore it." You give him an awkward smile and shrug, his silence all you need to know that he's looking at you like you grew five feet and sprinted into another dimension.

A smirk crept onto your face. "Should I fill out the report myself while you take time to process our new resident's activities?" Your words seemed to snap him out of it as he stuttered and began writing.

He pauses, glancing up. "What was it you said earlier about the house..." You almost cackle at the thought, this girl had quite the imagination...but at least she had the know-how to back that up and actually get things done, you needed that around here.

"The babe house, is what she called it."

"I see. You said she...brought someone over from the water village to live there?" You nod, and he continues writing. "So, we have a new villager to welcome I suppose."

"Donna! She's real sweet too, a bit of a firecracker, interesting accent though, I haven't heard one like it for...as long as I can remember" Garroth rolls his eyes at the VERY overused joke about your lack of memories from your past, but the slight chuckle is always enough for you to want to make the joke again.

You sit there twiddling your thumbs while he finishes his report, it's not that you need to stay but you know...just in case you think of something else that happens before he's done...and so you can sit with him for a while longer but that's just what friends do. His presence has always been so comforting, familiar when nothing else was, and he always says that it's relaxing to know you're with him, a guard always needs his back covered you suppose, and it's hard to keep watch while you're writing.

He glances up at you, a smile creeps onto your lips, and you turn to look out the widow as you wait. You've been best friends for so long it doesn't surprise you how naturally you welcome each other into your spaces, not to an indecent degree but it is rather...unusual you suppose. Come to think of it, there was never a time you weren't like that, you had been staying with Garroth when you first arrived you even tried to help as a guard before realizing how stir crazy you were with no memories of the world around you...but no matter how far you went, the memories you made, the people you met, your head and heart...your home... had always remained right here, in the hands of a man you'd never truly seen.

"That's done. Thank you for staying" He stands, tucking the book into a drawer before crossing the room to look at you. "It's always easier knowing you're here"

You smile again, he always had a way of making you smile even if you didn't want to. "Of course. There's not much else for me to do while I'm here." You look out the window and spy Aphmau having what seems to be a very interesting conversation with Zenix that mainly appears to be him talking at her while she listens confused.

Garroth chuckles at your remark, following your gaze. "She seems...good. I hope she makes a difference; we need it."

"She will"

Both of you are taken aback by the statement, you weren't quite sure why you said it, it was instinct. Garroth continues. "Well...I know better than to doubt your word." He turns back, you're unable to meet his gaze but under it you can feel your cheeks warming to a shade you pray he can't see through the slit in his helm.

The silence returns, comfortable as always and equally palpable. "Garroth..." A soft, low hum is heard in response. "I've been thinking. With the lord being...gone, and now there's new people coming into town...what if I stay? I can help as a guard, or even just mild security. You know I can fight, and we're going to need more patrols before long. What do you think?"

You hadn't realized that he was staring at you. The once comfortable air around you is gone and you're left overthinking the suggestion. You open your mouth to speak, and he finally responds. "You...you want to stay?" You nod and let out a slight laugh "But you hate being stuck here."

You chuckle again and shove him slightly. "Whatever, can a person not want to see the world? Plus, I could still travel when we need it, just not all the time anymore. Whatever past I have...I'm not gonna find it by aimlessly wandering. Right now, I need to be here, I can feel it." You cast your eyes to your boots in an attempt to alleviate your nerves. "And for the record, I've never been stuck here. It's always been home."

It couldn't have been more than a few seconds before you felt yourself being pulled in Garroth's staunch embrace. The shock was so consuming that you forgot to put your arms around him till he began to pull away, his grip tightened when you did. There are many words you'd use to describe your friend Garroth: strong, kind, loyal, helpful...physically affectionate didn't quite make the list, though you suppose that's two words, either way this was...unexpected.

A shiver tickled your spine as his embrace dropped slightly, his hands tracing ever so gently down your arms, as though releasing the touch completely might bring him some kind of pain...then he pulled away. It was so harsh and sudden he almost flew to the other side of the room. He looked out the window before speaking. "Yes. of course, you're always welcome. Whatever you'd like."

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"It's just so beautiful here, I love it! And I'm so glad I was able to find Donna and bring her. I hope I can help around here; I'd really love to watch this village grow." Aphmau had been giddily ranting about all of her days activities since you ran into her after leaving the guard quarters. It was nice though, to have someone so excited about something other than the latest crop Brendan planted or the massive number of sticks Zenix managed to break around the outskirts of town.

If you were to be honest however...you hadn't truly been listening. Her words, even the food in front of you began to drift from your attention. Your thoughts had been consumed by prior events. Garroth has been affectionate before: a hand on your arm, briefly holding your hand in his own, cupping your cheek to get a point across, even an embrace on a rare occasion, you were friends, that made sense...but...he had never...well, Garroth always took his gloves off when he wrote...he just happened to leave them off this time and...to put it bluntly, you'd never felt his skin before, his real touch...it was...

Irene...you're going insane...

"-and then I came across what Zenix called 'The Old Lord's house', and I found this journal-"

"Wait you what??" you snapped back to reality quicker than you would've liked but something about the words 'Zenix' 'Lord' and 'journal' all being strung together made you heart sink down to your gut. It felt urgent.

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The ruins weren't exactly where you'd expected to spend your evening but after talking for hours, Aph finally decided it was a good time to mention that she'd been knocked out and the journal was stolen so you decided it was worth checking out, after all you weren't technically a guard yet but wasn't it like...your civic duty? Plus, it got your mind off of Garroth.

Garroth...

You wondered if he left his gloves off on purpose...no that's silly. It's not even like anything happened. He just held you, and caressed your arms, and stared at you, and gave you butterflies as you kept remembering all the reasons he would never kiss you, your list coming to 'I haven't even seen his face' and 'he would have by now...right?'

Irene! Get this man out of your head for five minutes please!!

The ruins were bare as far as you could tell. You found the desk Aphmau had mentioned but other than that there was nothing, not even footprints. Just the ominous feeling of being watched.

A twig snaps in the tree line, you draw your sword. You make your way closer to the source of the noise, you haven't ever had formal guard training, you were just skilled with a sword and practiced with Zenix and Garroth from time to time, but your instincts were good for someone with no known combat experience.

You notice a woman with white hair hiding behind a tree about five yards away. You move to approach her, when you hear a noise behind you-

*WACK*

You were out cold.

Above you stood a figure you wouldn't have recognized even if you'd been conscious. The woman emerges from the darkness, her soft voice breaking the silence.

"That felt bit unnecessary." A glare from the figure was the only response given. "I'm just saying...there's no way she'd find anything, plus she's Zenix's 'sister', the one he talks about all the time. Even if she is the point of interest, she won't do anything soon, she doesn't even remember who she is." She begins to walk away.

The shadow turns after hearing the woman's statement, then looks back down at your unconscious form, bending down to grab your face and examine it closer. "Fascinating little thing..."

A quiet groan escapes the mysterious woman, she turns back. "Look, she's not the highest source of power here, if we want to know who or what he's after we have to keep looking...are you even listening?"

The figure stands still focused on you. "Watch it, don't try to give me orders, Sasha. Let's go. I'm going to keep an eye on her myself"

She rolls her eyes as the pair begins walking away. "Ok. Whatever Gene."

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The end!! of this chapter anyway. Thank you for reading!! I hope you enjoyed cause we're just starting to get into the fun stuff I have planned!!! Bye!

[tacoma-narrows]

Twenty (Three!) Years of Humanistic!

Abandoned Pools' first album, Humanistic was released 23 years ago today, on September 25th, 2001! For anyone who doesn't know, Abandoned Pools is my all time favorite band! I found them through Clone High in September of 2020 and immediately connected with a LOT of their songs, and in that time, Humanistic became my all time favorite album! A spot that it still retains to this day hehe.

So when I found out that the following year, almost a year to the day from when I started listening to Abandoned Pools, was Humanistic's 20th anniversary, I knew I wanted to make something big for that occasion! I ended up making a drawing based on each song in the album! This is similar to what I did for Owl City's album Cinematic later on, which I posted last year.

This is also sort of a look at proto Let's Get Back! in a way! I made this when LGB! was still just a duo act with PB and Shep, since Rye and Pumpernickel didn't join the lineup until I was about halfway through the project, and the band wasn't officially named Let's Get Back! until February of 2022 lol. The cover image here is based on the actual album cover for Humanistic, and I edited later to say "Covers by Let's Get Back!" to make it consistent with the rest of my LGB! art :3

Each piece in the series is below the cut along with the song they're connected to and some explanation about each one. Again, these pieces are three years old at this point, so some of the art is a bit wonky looking and some of these piece I'd do differently if I were to do them today, but most of them still hold up pretty well I think! :D

1: The Remedy

I based this one on the line “save your breath, your soul is hollow” and wanted to do something simplistic but still interesting! According to my friend who also likes the song, this is “exactly how that song feels” lol. It was fun working with silhouettes here, which is something I've done here and there in the time since.

2: Mercy Kiss

I decided to not actually draw them kissing bc the song says “I don’t need your mercy kiss” haha. Wanted to capture sort of a defiant attitude for this one. Posing is a little off here, and I've tweaked some minor things abt their design but overall one that I'm still pretty happy with :]

3: Start Over

I was SUPER happy with the posing on this one, I love the sense of motion it has. Basically, I wanted to express being stuck in a cycle and just wanting to go back to the way things were, which was something I was REALLY feeling at the time, but is still sort of applicable today.

4: Monster

Another one I REALLY like, with this one, I wanted to show that I can be a force to be reckoned with when standing up for myself. Or at least that’s how the song makes me feel. It’s a good rampage song too. This is another case where I really like how the pose came out. As you can also see, this is the only piece without PB since I wasn't sure how to incorporate him into this idea, but I’m sure he’s still involved somehow lol. Also this is the best song called Monster, I do not take criticism at this time.

5: Blood

Blood always feels like a sort of gloomy, spiral-y type song, so that’s what I went for. The line “we watch it burn, and we never learn, this can’t be what you’re waiting for” was really the focus for this one. A neat vibe with this one overall I think that I'm pretty happy with.

6: Suburban Muse

Suburban Muse makes me think of like, a fake sitcom town where things look normal, but things aren’t as great as they seem if you look a little closer. It even says “cue the canned applause” at one point. Also, those sort of, weird reality dreamscape neighborhood liminal space images like this where you can see where it's coming from but they just feel, off y'know

7: Sunny Day

This one is kinda weird because Sunny Day is kinda weird (though in like the best possible way, I love it). I couldn’t quite come up with a solid idea for both my OCs here, so I based them on two separate lines: “my head is inside a cloud” for PB, and “get off the bathroom floor” for Shep. In hindsight, I don't think the two separate lines approach really worked here since it feels more disjointed and not really representative of the full song, but I still like it well enough.

8: L.V.B.D.

This one was hard to come up with something for. I’ve never been super crazy abt L.V.B.D. since it feels, Very Hetero™ and I’m not about that. But it’s still sounds great and I’m definitely super glad it’s part of the album. Went for drawing Shep and PB here as little stuffed dolls, which is related to the acronym in the song’s title (which stands for Little Virgin Baby Doll) and I couldn’t think of anything better aha. I should draw plushies more often though

9: Ruin Your Life

Important: Shep and PB are only upset with upset with each other for the sake of this drawing, as I refuse to let anything bad happen between them for real. Anyways, the expressions were really fun in this one, and oh boy does this song feel very relatable over the last year or so.

10: Never

This one is very similar to Ruin Your Life for me, where it’s a sort of comforting during a dark time kind of way. Just crossing the days off hoping that things will get better soon, that’s what I went for here. The calendar is listed as 10/12 since this is the 10th song out of the 12 on the album, and the image is a reference to a previous drawing I had done of PB and Shep together :3

11: Seed

Personally, Seed is my least favorite song from the album as a whole, for similar reasons to L.V.B.D. but in a, more gross kinda way that conflicts with my ace side. The song still sounds great musically for sure. Even tho I’m not super crazy abt the song, I actually really like how this drawing came out, in fact it might be my favorite out of the whole batch, ironically enough lol. The boys are looking down into a hole from the line “there’s no more grace to fall from, there’s nowhere left to go but down” and I'm really happy with how the perspective turned out!

12: Fluorescein

Finally, Fluorescein is my favorite song of the entire album, and my favorite song in general! It’s so aggressive and loud, I love it. I decided to draw PB confronting a giant Shep bc the song makes me feel like I can take on a huge adversary and win >:] Although I do like what I chose to do here, I kinda wish I had come up with something better to represent my all time favorite song lol

So in conclusion, like I said, Humanistic is my all time favorite album and it means so much to me. Really all of AP’s work really means a lot to me, but Humanistic in particular. I found the band through watching Clone High and I am all the better for it. So thank you to Abandoned Pools for making something that I’ve gotten so much out of and I absolutely cannot wait for the sixth album coming at the end of next year!! :D

So I hope you guys liked this little trip down memory lane with me, and if you're also an enjoyer of Abandoned Pools, please let me know what you think of these and what your favorite AP songs are! I'd love to know! And if you don't listen to Abandoned Pools, I highly recommend their music if you can't tell lol. If you enjoy early 2000s alt rock sort of stuff, there's a solid chance you'll enjoy Abandoned Pools :3

[chronicbeans]

Hi! Since I saw the illustrator wally series I've been exited to request this, it was also sad to see how nobody has yet come with this idea or at least I haven't seen anyone else bring this up so here I come!

It will be interesting how It would work a relationship between Human wally and reader who has maladaptive daydreaming along with autism, I thought of how would it be to meet someone who has to experience something familiar with you. ( since maladaptive daydreaming can be described as a variant of schizophrenia with some small differences ) anyways, I'm a desperate for representation-

ET TU, BRUTE? Omg I maladaptive daydream too (if I am reading it right and you mean to say that you do IT-). My therapist says that I am like, addicted to it lol. My family counselor also likened my case more towards depersonalization/dissociation/a variant of DID due to me only daydreaming myself as other people. This is actually the first time I have heard of it being described as a variant of schizophrenia, but it actually makes a lot of sense, now that I think about it! I need more representation too, so let's do this! I'll try to make it as broad as possible, because everyone daydreams about different things!

Illustrator Wally with an Autistic Reader who Maladaptive Daydreams:

TW: Mentions of Hallucinations, Maladaptive Daydreaming

🖍️ He is a bit confused when he sees you pacing around your living room. He is visiting, and decided to try to surprise you by sneaking up behind you and giving you a gift! Now, though, he is a bit enamored by how you are prancing around, muttering little things to yourself as you seem so carefree and happy in your little world. This is the first time he has seen you like this.

🖍️ You finally end up turning around, in his direction, and your face grows a bit pale from shock and embarrassment. "Uh... Hello... I'm so glad you came to visit!" You try to play it off, but he is too intrigued. Maybe you are like him, and hallucinate, too?

🖍️ You explain what you were doing. You daydream... WAY more often than other people! Intense worldbuilding, character arcs, and more all take place in your head the majority of the day. You like to prance or pace, finding it helpful to feel more comfortable. You also tend to stim in other ways if you cannot pace or prance. The odd facial expressions and mutterings were just you getting in character and reacting to what was happening in your daydreams.

🖍️ Wally is intrigued. It is so... similar, but different, from him. Both you and him are autistic, yes. He's known that for a while, since you told him around the second or third meeting between you two. THIS, though, is so amazing to him. He wants to know more about the stories in your head!

🖍️What do they consist of? Are they horror? Romance? Action? Comedy? He wishes to know. Are you in them? Do you play someone else? Is it from a third person perspective, watching over your creations? If it is something child friendly, maybe you can write a book and he can illustrate it!

🖍️ Even if it is something more... dark, disturbing, overall NOT a kid friendly topic... he would still want to draw it! Maybe he can start to expand his illustrations into more adult books. He is shockingly good at drawing horror, you know. Some of his vent art is a really disturbing treat to view.

🖍️ You might get onto the topic of how both of your conditions are similar and different. You have a lot of characters floating around in your head. Different worlds, stories, everything! Wally does have, in a way, characters, too! The little voices in his head count, right? Sometimes the same one will pop up every now and again. Both of your conditions seem, in a way, uncontrolled. Due to Wally preferring to not use medications, he simply lives with the voices and hallucinations, going to therapy to help him cope and learn to live with it. You just go with the flow, in a way. As far as you've heard, the best and only way to help deal with it is therapy. No real medication or anything.

🖍️ You both are finally happy to find someone similar to yourselves. The best part is that it is similar enough to be familiar, but different enough to have such interesting conversations!