#this is probably only interesting to me but WHATEVER

[yourtoradorasextendedwarranty]

Yeah no I'm getting in on this because this is going to actually annoy me.

Interesting thing here. What is the difference between imitation and innovation? Realistically.

If I order a burger that consists of (Meat, Cheese, Mayo, Mustard, Bread) This sandwich is going to taste different at almost every single chain I buy it from. Which is why people are able to make Tier lists of what tastes good. Innovation does not always imply flipping something on its head and drastically changing it. Sometimes it's making a change that makes whatever it is better.

I'll explain: Under the prospect you posit, A chicken sandwich is ALWAYS exactly the same from every place that makes it, no matter what THEY make it from, and no matter how they opt to prepare it.

But if that's the case, explain to me what's different between these two things.

At first glance, not a lot. However under the hood? Vastly different.

One is a performance boosted flagship phone. The other is a budget option with good specs. But you'd have me believe "Imitation"? Sure these are the same company but even if I were to pull a phone from LG or Lenovo, or otherwise each brings something vastly different to the table.

HELL, iPhone are a bunch of fucking lying scumbags realistically because they were using Samsung's screen tech for YEARS prior to making any headway on their own. Mind you even they bring their own things to the table. Even using your "Imitation" argument the idea relies on the idea that "imitation" and "innovation" are mutually exclusive. They are not. Like take these two food chains:

Both of these are burgers. Both have meat and bread yes? One of these tastes DRASTICALLY better and it's the one from Jack in the Box. The MEAT alone that comes from JitB tastes better. Granted, the cooking method that BK uses is better, but the ingredients are just not the same quality. Here you even see they opted to use different buns too. BUT NO, that's ONLY imitation. Hell let's go back to your examples with the Chicken Sandwiches.

On the Left, you have the Popeyes Chicken Sandwich On the Right, you have McDonalds Chicken Sandwich

ONE OF THESE actually looks like it tastes good. The other looks "edible". Is not the point of innovation to improve on things? Popeye's entire SHTICK is chicken. McD's is burgers. Popeyes uses different breading and depending on the local, probably sources their chicken from different places. Capitalism ALLOWS for this type of innovation over time because it gives the freedom to do so.

Other systems do NOT allow for change. You get ONE thing from ONE source, and only of ONE quality, because, what's the phrase, "For each his needs?" You don't need mashed potatoes. One solid one should make you get through the day fine. You also don't need fucking salt. You just need to be alive. Barely alive at that. That's all other systems need.

Capitalism, for all it's faults, including allowing lazy fucks to live off the system when they don't work, keeps most people out of poverty. Even if it's not all. Because no system exists in which ALL people are "not in poverty". Unless you go by the Communist standard of "If everyone is impoverished then no one is". And even then the .01% are still going to be ultra rich which literally everyone else is chained to the bottom with no ability to move up. Lest you have more than comrade Billy Joe and Commissar Jamal finds out.

[wcnderlnds]

lets not fall in love ★ choi seung-hyun (t.o.p)

・❥・ summary: working on the set of the newest bigbang video, you instantly find yourself crushing on seunghyun ・❥・word count: 1.3k ・❥・warnings: none, just fluff. ・❥・ authors note: this was a request that ive been so stoked to write because it's my favourite bigbang song!!

The name Choi Seunghyun wasn't new to you. In fact, you'd first met him when you were kids. You hadn’t spoken to him much back then. There had only been casual hellos, like kids often did. That was pretty much it. He had been a quiet kid, often spending time alone. Then, you'd switched schools and hadn't seen him again until he popped up on your television one day. BigBang were the most popular band in Korea. It felt surreal to see someone you had known be that famous. It was fame you hoped to achieve one day as an aspiring actress. So far, you'd had a few little jobs here and there in advertisements and that was all well and good but you wanted more.

When you landed the job to star in a BigBang music video, you were over the moon. Maybe this would be the break you needed. So many people loved those boys, so eyes would be on you. It made you excited at the possibilities it would bring for your career. And, it would be nice to see Seunghyun after all these years. He probably wouldn't remember you – he met so many people everyday so why would he remember a kid from years ago that he’d barely known?

Shockingly, he did.

When you’d greeted all the boys, introducing yourself to them, it had taken him a moment but when it clicked, he smiled warmly at you. That smile of his made your stomach flip. The dimples on his cheeks, the way his blonde hair fell in his face; it was enough to make anyone weak in the knees. It was safe to say he’d grown into one of the most handsome men you’d ever laid eyes on.

“You’re cool if I hold your hand, right?” Seunghyun asked as you prepared for the first scene. You’d got the lucky part of playing his love interest in the music video. 

“Yeah,” you replied quickly. Way too quickly. “I mean, sure, yeah, that’d be cool.”

Seunghyun laughed, leaning against the metal pole of the fence. “Someone’s eager.”

“Shutup,” you blushed, playfully pushing at his shoulder. “You know what else would be cute? If you hugged me from behind.”

“Oh, yeah, I bet you’d find that really cute.”

“You’re the worst.”

The director signalled that it was time to start filming so you took your position by the picnic table. Once action was shouted, you played your part to perfection, looking away acting like you had no idea Seunghyun was watching you. When he wrapped his arms tightly around you from behind, you leaned back into his embrace. It was all definitely for the cameras and not because you liked the feeling of his arms around you. It was all over for you when he took your hand, raising it above your heads as you walked around the table. The feeling of his hand in yours made you feel warm inside. The way he laced his fingers with yours with ease, it made you weak at the knees. You had to knock some sense into yourself – this was all an act. It wasn’t like any of it meant anything… but somewhere deep inside, you’d already realised you were crushing on this man and you’d only reconnected with him about an hour ago. 

It was so easy to lose yourself in acting like a couple with Seunghyun. He made it so easy, telling you dumb jokes to make you smile, booping you on the nose. At one point, you’d rested your head on his shoulder. It was an instant reaction from him to rest his head on yours, his arm wrapping around your shoulder. Seunghyun had this magnetic charm – it was easy to get enraptured in everything he did. The way he moved, the way he talked, it was mesmerising. No wonder he had so many girls fangirling over him. You could easily understand why. Not only did he have the looks but he had the personality to go with it. He was sweet, kind and always seemed to do whatever he could to put a smile on everyone’s face.

There was a bit of time before your next scenes so you decided to take a bathroom break. As you stared at yourself in the mirror, you tried to calm your pounding heart. You hadn’t come here to get a crush on the person you were acting with. This was supposed to be professional.

‘Get a grip,’ you thought to yourself. You were almost tempted to splash your face with cold water as if that would help but then remembered the makeup you were wearing. The makeup artists had spent a good chunk of their time getting you camera ready, you couldn’t mess up their beautiful work.

Little did you know, Seunghyun was having the same internal dilemma.

“I’m screwed, bro,” he said to Jiyong as he threw himself dramatically down on the couch in their dressing room, his hand covering his eyes for added effect.

Jiyong snickered. “The song is called Let’s Not Fall In Love not Let's Fall In Love With My Old Classmate Turned Co-Star.”

“Yeah, okay, shutup,” Seunghyun peered through his fingers at his best friend. “What do I do?”

“Ask yourself when was the last time you’ve liked someone this quickly before. Then do something about it,” Jiyong shrugged.

Seunghyun thought about it. It really had been a long time since he’d caught feelings for someone so quickly. Actually, he couldn’t even remember the last time he had, that’s how long it had been. The second he’d laid eyes on you, his heart had started racing. Now, he didn’t believe in love at first sight and he definitely wasn’t in love but he had to take it as a sign. If you could get him this out of sorts so quickly then maybe he did need to do something about it.

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

“Bet you can’t catch it in your mouth,” you challenged Seunghyun, a piece of popcorn ready between your fingers.

“Challenge accepted, go for it,” he opened his mouth. You threw the popcorn and he jumped up a little, catching it in his mouth with ease.

“Ugh. Are you just good at everything?”

“Dunno, wanna find out?” He raised a brow at you causing you to flush at the insinuation. You brought your hands up to your cheeks, trying to cover them but of course he noticed instantly. “You’re cute.”

Luckily you were saved by the director yelling for the scene to begin before you could embarrass yourself. In this scene you were watching a movie with Seunghyun, joking around. At one point, as you were staring at the screen, you could feel his eyes on you so you turned to face him. He broke into a cheeky grin, puckering his lips up and leaning in like he was going to kiss you. You were supposed to raise your hand up to stop him but as you did, Seunghyun moved it away, holding it in his.

This wasn’t part of the script.

Instead, he swiftly captured your lips in a sweet, gentle kiss. You were caught completely off guard, freezing for a second before relaxing into it. You brought your hand up to cup his cheek, lips moving slowly against his. ‘Cut’ was yelled from somewhere around you but it seemed like neither of you cared. How long his lips were on yours, you had no idea. Slowly, he pulled away. His eyes never left your face, his lips upturned in the sweetest smile.

“I hope that was okay,” his voice was quiet, almost cautious as if he was second guessing what he’d just done.

“It was more than okay,” you assured him. “I wouldn’t even complain if you did it again.”

“Maybe I’ll have to take you out after we finish shooting then. Really give you the full, genuine Seunghyun romantic experience.”

It was hard to contain a smile, eagerly nodding your head. “I’d love that.”

taglist (ask to be added): @ldydeath @infinetlyforgotten @loveesiren @justsisse @sherrayyyyy @aizshallnotbefound @fleabagspurplewife @gemzyy @bettelaboure @gdinthehouseee @breakmeoff @berfgrimm @babyrvis @flymetothexmoon

[dammit-tazmuir]

That sounds about right lol.

Adding to the Chatur thing, it's further implied with Harrow Nova. She was also still named Harrowhark but only Crux ever used the -hark, because to most it was a reminder that she was not the proper successor to her father. But the fact that she got a different arithmonym as a cavalier, while not a real thing, was rooted in Harrow's real understanding of House culture, after all.

But yeah, you raise probably the most important point: Our view of the Houses IS extremely skewed by only seeing the elite. And even then...

Camilla and Kiana are said to be close, despite Kiana being 10 years older and both kept very busy by very prestigious jobs, as a member of the oversight council and the Master Warden's cavalier. We don't see that directly but Paul's birth was a very intimate moment with a minimal audience, and Camilla did want Kiki there for it. (It also wasn't that she didn't care about her dads being there, but that she was afraid they wouldn't understand, that they'd disapprove. She cared about their opinions.)

Abigail talks about her little brother several times and her nephew is mentioned. She and Magnus wanted kids, and the way they fill the role with Jeannemary and Isaac instead IS transgressive, but it's not a foreign concept. Other people look at them and understand that their behavior is parental. The Houses aren't so removed from past familial dynamics that they don't know what they'd look like.

Protesilaus had a wife and no less than four kids, and had been cavalier to Dulcie's father, and then took Dulcie in and cared for her as a family friend. Pro's kids all sound pretty happy and normal from what little we hear.

Judith talks about her father as an authority figure and aspirational goal first and foremost, and the memories she shares with him all have militant focus, but they do come across as a father pushing his interests onto his kid, not like an instructor training one of many soldiers. It's not Pal and Juno's professional relationship.

Though on that note, it's further interesting that Pal and Juno have one of the most distant but also BEST relationships of any parent and child. He does call her by name and title, but they share mutual deep respect and admiration. Juno does spend his last minutes doing other things but like... he's already dead and they've already talked and you could also view it as just being at peace with it. Juno never treats him like a child, even when he is one, and perhaps there's something lost there, but I suspect while not everyone would, Pal appreciates it. Being taken seriously by Dulcie was such a big part of his adoration, after all.

Juno does show him and Cam some bias, some special treatment, and slips in small moments of basically breaking the kayfabe to show more parental affection and praise. But for the most part she just fully trusts him and encourages him to pursue whatever he thinks is best. It's not warm or the picture of traditional motherhood, but it's healthy and supportive specifically for Pal. It's certainly better than... Judith in her father's shadow, the Third nobles molding their family to fit their artistic vision, the Fourth's "you need spares" culture, Dulcie's family making her inspiration porn and a tragic art piece, the Eighth nobles breeding interchangeable batteries to treat like livestock, or Harrowhark "one of my strongest memories of my parents touching me was gently pressing a rope into my hands" Nonagesimus.

But even looking at the Ninth then, in the wake of all the horrors they endured... Ortus bitterly doubts Mortus even remembered he had a son, but Harrow has a memory of Mortus lifting her up in chapel in a way that's almost fatherly. Gideon is convinced Aiglamene would laugh at the idea of loving her and they are also distant, but Aiglamene clearly cares so deeply. Ortus's mother is clingy and suffocating, but deeply affectionate, still not great but bad in the opposite way. Ortus as a ghost develops something between a paternal and brotherly love for Harrow. And CRUX hears Gideon is God's kid and basically says "FUCK you and fuck GOD, THIS child is MINE and my loyalty is to HER," so like, THERE'S THAT.

Absolutely none of this is arguing against the very real enforced isolation and the ways restructuring encourages loyalty to the empire above all else, to be clear!! I'm saying it's not AS universally extreme as the noble heirs specifically would make it look, and that there's variation within each House, and that even the coldest ones are in fact at least "conversant with the concept of family." They're at minimum acquainted with the idea, even if not everyone practices it and those that do might do it in unusual ways.

One thing I do find especially fascinating in this is looking at the founding Lyctors, not just John.

The House founded by the loyal attack dog and the former cop who struggled to connect with people emphasizes militant obedience. The House founded by the woman accused of only knowing worship without adoration, who is extremely strict about rules and appearances and getting results no matter how many eggs you have to break to get that omelet, and the literal Catholic nun who killed herself twice for noble but misguided conviction, is.... uh... Like That... People have written plenty of analysis on John's two dead kids and the House of child soldier cannon fodder. And then there was Cassy, the lawyer who was deeply good and kind and prioritized safety and fairness but from a very logically grounded place, a woman who was firm and insistent but almost never raised her voice or showed strong outward emotion, and her artist wife who was timid and still worried about their marriage not being legal in the face of apocalypse, and you get the reserved and studious and bureaucratic but uniquely moral driven Sixth.

And then... What was the last House that doesn't have anything but speculation about ways it might be cold? The only one we have no evidence for producing a worse relationship than Pal and Juno above? The one that loves and nurtures their kids even when they're not theirs, the one with a loving personal relationship between its leader and her cavalier, where she's fond of her mothers and brother and nephew and worries about her family being notified after her death. Who was that founder? Oh. Right. The guy who shared an arithmonym with his brother, for which the connotations hadn't become as strong yet, but for all we know may very well be THE precedent setter, the REASON for the developing connotations of a Unit Name. ... Yeah. I suspect the Fifth IS bigger on family bonds than most...

Thinking about how Palamedes tells Pash that they "are conversant with the concept of family in the Houses" in Nona....because, like, are they? Are they really?

Palamedes calls his own mother by her full name or job title more than he calls her 'mother'. Their relationship is COLLEGIAL at best. The Sixth raise their children in some kind of communal academic system, from what we can see in canon. Meanwhile, on the Second, it's all about that sweet sweet military command structure. On the Seventh, your parents literally try to pass super cancer onto you, and probably die of it themselves before you reach puberty. The Eighth is a monastic order where EVERYONE calls each other 'brother' or 'sister', regardless of family relationship. From everything we hear, the Tridentarius' parents are fucked-up in some way. The Ninth is....the Ninth, and on the Fourth, parents just tend to be dead.

So, like, are they really 'conversant with the idea of family'? Everything about the system John has set up discourages real family relationships. There is no socially acceptable way to share a family name with your spouse, parent, or sibling - the arithmonyms encourage you to identify with your HOUSE, not your family, and everytime characters share an arithmonym, that is considered 'weird' (see the Tridentarii). John's system demands allegiance to the EMPIRE, not any individual family units.

This dissolution of family has the side effect of also dissolving (unjust) gendered roles, but it is also VERY effective at creating the kind of existential, deep loneliness that so many of these characters experience and that John's system then uses to fuel their loyalty to him as God. It's this dissolution of family that creates the codependent structures you see in so many cav-necro relationships (Cam and Pal above all else), because WHERE ELSE but in this (fundamentally militaristic) relationship that was originally intended to serve the Empire could you find the closeness family often provides.

And, like, every time characters prioritise their chosen or blood family over the values of the Empire, it's transgressive. Any relationship that emphasises the individual - as a spouse, friend, lover, sibling, child, parent - over the 'imperial role' of cav, necro, soldier, or servant, is transgressive in the world of TLT. Magnus and Abigail are transgressive for that. Gideon and Harrow are. Even the Tridentarii have something going on that seems to go against imperial power structures, even if it's a different kind of fucked-up. Cam and Pal are such a complex case because they DO earnestly love each other outside of their role as necro and cav, but are so fundamentally alienated from healthy relationship dynamics because of their absurd upbringing that they immediately become *like that*, to the point of doing ye olde soul-merger. Still - they fundamentally hold allegiance to each other as family of some sort, whether romantic or platonic.

Which, I think, is why it's so perfect and messed-up and appropriate that Juno Zeta, Palamedes' literal mother, spends the last few minutes of her son's earthly existence as an individual quizzing We Suffer about her family structure. Rather than. Y'know. Talking to her son. Who is about to eradicate himself as an individual within the one relationship that ever transgressed that enforced, non-familial distance.

Camilla, meanwhile, does not let her fathers watch her death/ascension at all.

[artbyblastweave]

This weekend I visited Brattle Books in Boston. The comics section was dominated by what appeared to be the inherited collection of someone who'd been an avid collector of niche and indie comic - lots of Titan Press books, 2000 AD, adaptations of pulp figures like The Shadow and Conan, and compendiums of old serialized newspaper strips. There was a ton of really interesting stuff on display (as always, this isn't the same thing as good) and only the fact that my freelancing gig recently evaporated like a snail in a microwave kept me from doing something really financially gluttonous here. I picked up an older Valiant Comics compendium, and a large-print copy of some of Gruenwald's later Squadron Supreme stuff. But the really interesting find- and the reason I specifically suspect that this came from a specific academic of some kind- was Super Duper Supermen! which was a 1990s reference guide to characters created as part of the homegrown British Superhero comics industry of the 1950s and 1960s.

The guide was written by the late British comics historian, writer and artist Denis Gifford, whose only output I recognized was his work on the Marvelman run that Alan Moore would revive and retool as Miracleman in 1982 (curiously, no mention is made of that project in this volume despite it post-dating Miracleman by a decade.) He firmly contextualizes the characters against their wartime and postwar production circumstances; many of the characters were created under rationing-imposed resource constraints that are extremely visible in the print and paper quality, and many were created because supply chain disruptions made it a giant pain in the ass to ship in the quote-unquote "real deal" in from America. A consequence of this is that more than half the roster consists of transparent knockoffs of Captain Marvel and Superman; unsurprisingly very few of the characters made it more than a couple issues. Even despite these limitations, some of the writeups have enough meat on their bones, conceptually, for a circle-back to be productive. Here are my five favorites:

Robert Lovett: Back from the Dead! One of two characters in the collection created while England was actively under the blitz, and accordingly, one of the most conceptually morbid. The titular Robert Lovett is a zombie who, in a macabre spin on Arthurian logic, emerges from his ancestral tomb to engage in a killing tear against Nazi secret agents and gangsters, all the while shocked and unnerved by the ways in which the world changed in the 113 years that he was dead. One of the few characters in the encyclopedia where I genuinely think that the basic concept needs no adjustment beyond execution on an actual budget. This idea kicks so much ass. I'm stealing this

Krakos: The Egyptian! The other blitz-era character in the encyclopedia, this one a flying Egyptian mummy who fights the Luftwaffe and sets Nazis on fire with his mind. This also kicks ass on the face of it, but there's also probably interesting analysis to be done of the implicit politics of an Egyptian superhuman, recently back from the dead, almost immediately relocating to and assimilating aesthetically into British culture. (The Egyptology of it all!)

Quicksilver: Wonderman of the West! Unique in that this one is a period piece about a fairly traditionally-designed superhero who lives as a hermit in the old west, emerging from his cave only to do battle against those who threaten to despoil nature. Called out within the encyclopedia as one of the first capes with an environmentalism gimmick, notable to me in that attempts to capes in the western idiom usually also attempt to integrate them aesthetically- but that wasn't actually a rule then. You could just do whatever.

Electroman: A pickpocket sentenced to death for a murder he didn't commit gains the Shazam powerset from the electric chair instead of dying, "has the mental sickness that caused his criminality erased by the voltage," and embarks on a career as a superhero. On top of the relatively unique gimmick of needing to electrocute himself to trigger his transformation, there's something politically fascinating going on with his origin; a criminal (but pointedly not that bad of one) getting unjustly put to death (but also having his ambiguous "criminal mentality" cured by that same unjust execution.) The postmodern revisionist spin about what actually happened to this guy, and what the golden age version was an attempted cover up story for, basically writes itself here, doesn't it? The government accidentally giving a guy superpowers while trying to kill him and then shakily trying to invite him back into polite society now that they're aware of the power differentials on display.

Captain Universe, The Super Marvel: Essentially a direct ripoff of Captain Marvel, with the twist being that CU is a UN physicist whose magic word is composed of the initials of famous astronomers, inventors, and mathematicians; every time he says it, he's implicitly petitioning for godly intervention from the laws of physics. This is.... conceptually fascinating, right? This is a post-modern Grant Morrison science-as-magic-and-magic-as-science pitch, forty years early. They absolutely were not putting that much thought into it but there is absolutely that much room for thinking about it.

Anyway, aside from those five (and Marvelman, who Alan Moore already got at) the rest of it is about what you'd expect. Everyone is taking steroids to become "Streamline, the fastest man alive!", or getting blasted by chemicals, or hand-picked by the gods, or experimented on by their fathers to be the champion of tomorrow (J. Michael Straczynski already skewered the ugly implications of that last stock origin in The Twelve.) It drips with -isms; racism, sexism, plagiarism, enthusiasm. It's a stark reminder of the shortcoming of every contemporary comic that's ever tried to do a stylized "golden age" flashback- the art simply doesn't suck badly enough. It's fun.

Anyway if you're in the Boston area the entire comics section at Brattle Bookshop is currently composed of weird little idiosyncratic deep cuts like this. There's always something there, and right now this is what's there.

[mixelation]

i like the idea of you with a trainee. makes me wonder what tori would be capable of with a lab assistant who isn't actively trying to kill her. she'd go mad with power

fdhjfdlsa i've actually had a lot of trainees over the years! it's a really normal way to structure a lab. some of them are people i just trained for a couple days so they could go off and do their own stuff, some of them basically just a second set of hands for my own projects, and some of them were on their own projects that i helped them develop/oversee. i try to be very thorough with training and actively shadow people for a while, because i've seen a lot of poor training result in projects just not working or even being ruined. it's tough work but it's rewarding. also i try really hard to understand what trainees' goals are and work with them so they can do work they find fulfilling but also I don't force them to come in on the weekends or weird times. some people do that with students and i don't like it >:(

for tori i do think she might struggle working with others in a capacity where she's explicitly training them. however in reborn au specifically i have done some rotating about how she handles it ->

i think reborn au (and toxicity/reborn au au, etc) is the only AU where tori works in an actual, functioning research department. and it's also the AU where it's about her healing and sort of becoming a better person so she does actually eventually develop real leadership skills lmao

this will become more obvious when i push through the next plasticity chapter, but tori does actually feel a lot of empathy to people she considers similar to her-- so like civilians and, in reborn au, no-name low ranking ninja. she does want to help other people. she's just insane about it

i don't think i've actually explicitly blogged about this, but one of tori's evolving character traits is recognizing when someone else's skills are useful, especially mundane-seeming non-combat skills that a lot of ninja would dismiss. she's kind of a weirdo and randomly gets mean/dismissive when she feels like she's being disrespected, but tori is also not intimidating and most people like talking about themselves when someone shows interest. she doesn't have a hard time chatting up coworkers about what they're doing and their weird jutsu no one else cares about. also she might come back to you a year later to be like, "hey did you tell me you could do [minor jutsu]? yeah can we repurpose to do [insane thing]?"

this is something i DO think a blog about a million years ago, but i like the idea of ninja having mandatory training hours to stay fighting fit in case of emergency. so like the village keeps logs of how many hours you spend in training facilities and how many missions you take and stuff like that. so if you're an active mission-taking ninja you will barely think about this, but if you're a desk ninja or spend all your time in the lab, you might get to the end of the month and realize you're under par for mandatory training hours. so every few months tori is like "wait why are my hours so low? i went through the misery of training with deidara and everything!" and deidara is like "oh, lol, yeah i basically never actually reserve the training ground so probably those weren't logged." so tori has to go and sign up for training hours with other randos who need a training partner. the point of this aside is that tori does actually meet a lot of chump ninja and gets along with most of them alright

so tori is good at identifying skills that could be used for research that maybe others wouldn't recognize. and also because she does get some of her philosophies from me, she wants people she trains to be trained well enough that she can them leave them to do things independently without worrying they're going to contaminate all the stocks or whatever. she wants people to feel valued because SHE wanted to feel valued when she was just starting.

also, realizing that you now have a minion you can just let do tasks and they'll do them right is an insane feeling. tori is like "OMG kimiko can just do this!!! and i can work on this side project where i keep evaporating mice.......!" and she IS a little bit of a control freak so she might randomly show up to see what kimiko is doing but also now kimiko is an integral part of tori's workflow. if anyone even looks at kimiko wrong, tori will kill them herself. also she will be distraught if kimiko is transferred. like if kimiko makes it clear it's what SHE wants, then tori will let her go with tears in her eyes like dropping your kid off at college, but if a different part of leadership tries to snipe kimiko, tori WILL ruin that person's entire career

meanwhile kimiko is like "my weird boss is so supportive of me and put me on a cool project :) also she yelled at a jounin over trying to force umi-san to do a lot of overtime and now i feel Safe"

so.... i think a lot of higher ups actually don't particularly like tori. she talks back and doesn't necessarily respect hierarchy. she will get defensive about minor abuses towards low ranking nobodies to a degree a lot of people think is kind of weird. and also she will put in insane after hours to ruin you over something as mundane as "transferred a trainee to a lab that needs more hands"

BUT despite her being kind of a whackjob, as she climbs the ladder of R&D, tori ends up with a reputation of being a good boss? tori will put in a lot of effort training you and then will bite the head of anyone in R&D in your defense if necessary. believe it

(this has to happen in order for it to narratively make sense that tori becomes hokage LMAO)

anyway when minato finally demotes her and tori loses her lab for a while, what i think should happen is a bunch of people show up in his office asking when she'll be back. minato is low key baffled because usually when people show up in his office about tori it's because she's causing Problems but now there's a bunch of genin and chunin whose names he has to subtly check against their files who are like "um but experiments worked when she was in charge?" and "tori is the only lab lead that knows all the techniques we use in lab and that made me trust her" and "well i was only really there because she's the only CO i've had who made me feel like my work matters, so if she's not coming back, i'd like to transfer to a different department please"

minato: genuinely what the fuck

[readerattheend]

Cale makes it so that everyone in his 'family' can do whatever they want.

He says it several times, of course: "Do whatever you want" and "Why are you even asking?"

He gives people choices, options, opportunities-- sometimes for the first time.

He uses information: Taylor Sten got the option to walk and live because he learned about the Crown Prince's ancient power.

He uses money, manpower, and other resources: Rosalynn can use her ridiculous magical potential because he gave her the people she needed to cut ties with her royal responsibilities and the magic stones to unlock her fullest power.

He uses threats: The Dragon Half-Blood and Clopeh were practically worshipping Cale the moment he spared their pitiful lives because they finally got to choose something. The Half-Blood's choice was between a long painful death and a short painful death, and Clopeh's choice was a choice of legends.

He uses sheer audacity, sheer bastard insanity: Crown Prince Alberu is free to laugh and feel crazy and do things he could never do behind the stuffy role and the stuffy mask he wore to protect himself and his interests. Alberu can smile, run around as a giant lion tiger monster, go to battle in his pajamas wielding a weapon from another world, and laugh at all of his enemies at home and abroad to their faces because Cale just gets him and gets him out there.

(He probably only got as far as he did with Alberu because he shared his secret side with him and learned Alberu's secret nearly from the start, so for the first time Alberu was accepted by a human being who treated him normally(?) and actually made his life easier unlike pretty much everyone else who he had to wheedle and trick to do the same)

He does it for everyone in his family, and I'm just naming a few of the ones that stuck with me.

[chillinglikeashilling]

Lord forgive me for paying attention to the YT comments section but I really want people who claim Annie was treated as a less 'desired love interest' than Mary to remind me which of them was told she didn't have any business being near them by both Micheal A and Michael B Jordan.

"Oh but Mary is shown to be the focus of desire and Annie isn't"

Are we forgetting that the first thing Stack tells Mary to do is kick rocks? That one of the first things we learned about their past relationship is that he left her in the middle of the night without any communication at all?

Yes Smoke also left Annie but that to me is representative of the fact that both twins always chose each other over either of their respective lovers, or anyone else in their lives. At the very least we know from the fact that he married her that Smoke considered Annie someone in his life, who was not Stack, that he could build a life with. She made him a mojo bag so it's not like Smoke left in the middle of the night.

And it's not like either twin is best friends with the other's lover but Annie clearly gets so much more consideration and respect from Stack than Mary does from Smoke. Smoke would clearly rather Stack and Mary never even have been together in the first place but even from (what was supposed to be) the opening night of the Juke we see Stack and Annie working together to manage Smoke and the business. Annie is being paid to cook there sure, but to me it's clear that she was always supposed to have a huge role in the business.

I'm not saying the movie is perfect or that people can't have their own opinions but even if we're appealing to the respectability argument- Annie is the only person in the main cast apart from Sammie with very little 'sin' on her record. For one thing she's the only woman of the three love interests who isn't cheating on her husband for whatever that's worth to folks in a movie called Sinners.

And even the comparison of the love scenes feels disingenuous to me. I've seen some people say Mary is the one shown to be desired between her and Stack while Smoke is shown to be desired by Annie and I want to remind everyone that again Mary is the person chasing Stack. He saw her that morning and said go back to your white husband. Annie and Smoke are reuniting as a couple that went through a horrible loss that can rip modern couples apart, without the additional stresses of being sharecroppers on top of that.

Additionally I don't think it's a coincidence that the love scene between Smoke and Annie happens before the sun goes down and the one between Stack and Mary - which I remind everyone leads to Stack dying!!- happens after nightfall and after Mary has already been turned by Rennick. Sammie and Stack both talk about that day before the sun went down being one of the best days of their life. Given the connection and parallels between the twins I would assume that the same would probably be true for Smoke.

So one of the best days of his life involved getting to reconnect with his wife. Getting to fold her into a business he and his brother were building not just for their own financial freedom and independence but also as a safe space for their community. A community Annie was a central part of.

One of those love scenes happened between a couple that had a real chance of reconciling if Rennick hadn't shown up and it's not the one featuring Mary.

[another-goblin]

Let's examine some of the less talked about aspects of Dr. Ratio's relationship with the Genius Society as a character.

1. Did he really want to get into the GS?

The answer is, of course, a resounding yes! Or a confident no. Depending on who you ask. But what's the evidence?

The only direct evidence I could think of is this line from his pre-release interview on Hoyolab.

And whether or not it counts depends on whether you consider this kind of stuff canon (some people don't, since it's not in the game).

But at most, for me, it feels like an admission of a normal thing most young scientists would probably say (before he got completely disilusioned in the path of Erudition in particular and the divinity of the Aeons in general).

Like a young person who first gets into a sport might think about winning the Olympics. It doesn't feel like a passionate dream (the anime-esque "I'll dedicate my life to becoming a Genius whatewer it costs me").

What else do we have? His in-game fans' speculations and his former secretary's interpretation of a seemingly insignificant event (strictly speaking, that episode doesn't actually mean anything, let alone prove his wish to become a member of the GS. You can read me ranting about it here )

So the popular idea that his inability to attract Nous' gaze played a big role in his life and psyche seems more like a fan-popular headcanon (that might be the intended interpretation, but still a HC) than a strict reading of the canon. But who can blame us? This man desperately needed a personal inner conflict, and we kind of invented it.

2. What was the narrative point of making him not a member of the GS? What would have changed if he were a Genius?

I'm still not sure.

What distinguishes him from the Geniuses?

Is it the idea that the GS members only do their science for the sake of Nous? And aquire knowledge for the sake of it?

But we have Stephen, who invents things for fun. We have Chadvick, who built that weapon out of hubris. We have Herta, who kind of treats Nous as an equal. We have Dr. Primitive, who just does whatever because he's evil (what's the scientific value of turning people into monkeys?). Or that guy (forgot his name) who seemed to genuinely care about humanity. None of them seem fanatically dedicated to Erudition.

And we have Polka, who seems to be even more of a hater of what GS stands for than Ratio.

Wouldn't it be fun to have a Genius Ratio who saw all the problems with Erudition after he joined, got disillusioned and turned into what he's now, and who's just miserable about it all the time? Because becoming a GS member seems to be a one-way road. How ironic would it be for a genius to preach the idea of how people should not rely on geniuses?

But maybe they didn't make him a Genius to be able to make him join the Intelligentsia Guild?

But the only purpose of that seems to be his connection to Aventurine (the IG being partners with the IPC).

Otherwise, he doesn't represent the IG's values at all. He doesn't see knowledge as a commodity. (He even got angry at Sunday for expecting him to exchange the knowledge of Aventurine's plans for some knowledge on Stellarons). In most cases, all the other characters are very typical representatives of their factions. But in his case I'm not sure why he's in the IG either. Probably just a faction for him to belong to, because we can't have a character who doesn't belong to a world or a faction.

The only potentially interesting thing I can see about the IG is him being a member of the Council of Mundenites. But they did literally nothing with it. Although I still hope that they will (but who am I kidding, with the amount of ongoing plotlines and the new ones they establish left and right, they just won't have time for that)

Btw the IG in general seems like a lot of wasted potential. They had a whole SU update dedicated to it, and they did basically nothing interesting with it. But it's a topic for another discussion.

3. Why didn't he attract the gaze of Nous?

The game doesn't give us any strict criteria of how Nous chooses people, so we can only speculate. I know there are a ton of theories, but they are still theories (I think the one that's supposed to be correct is something about him caring more about helping people help themselves than doing science for the sake of it, but it has been discussed to death already).

But I never saw people talking about my favorite theory, and my main takeaway from Unknowable Domain - the mind-blowing discrepansy between the intellegence of a Genius and that of a very smart normal person. (How Patavia, one of the best IG's scientists, wasn't a match for Herta even with Patavia's intelligence multiplied tens of thousands of times by the scepters).

Which tells me that the intelligence required to become a member of the GS isn't a matter of just being smart or studying hard, but rather a matter of being born a VERY special person. I mean, if you were born an ant, no amount of training would make you as strong as an elephant.

Let's take Stephen Lloyd, a kid who's mostly busy working in his dad's fruit stall and playing video games all day long and sometimes just effortlessly inventing mind-blowing technology in his free time, basically for fun. I don't remember any mentions of his education either. And let's compare him to child Ratio from his professor's recollections. How he worked his ass off from a young age, basically sacrificing his childhood, only to just skip a couple of grades and get into uni early.

And if my interpretation is true, it could play very well into the underlying topic of predeterminism/destiny/fatalism vs. freedom/unknowability the game establishes.

This would turn Ratio's rather simplistic supposed inner conflict of "boo-hoo, senpai Nous didn't notice me and didn't invite me into their cool kids club" into something much more interesting: Dr. Ratio, whose whole life goal seems to be about helping people take the responsibility for their lives into their own hands and stop counting on the higher powers, realizing that the biggest dream of his life could never come true and literally no human or inhuman amount of efforts would get him here. He would never achieve something others can do effortlessly just because he wasn't destined to.

The other interpretation works too: there are mentions of the Geniuses "communing" with Nous after attracting their gaze, so maybe their inhuman intelligence is partly the result of that. Not being able to achieve by hard work and sheer dedication what others just receive from a deity would clash nicely with his "anti-theist" philosophy too. Or maybe explain his current views. I mean, there is a certain sarcastic reverence in how he talks about Geniuses, distinguishing them from humans as a separate category.

What's ironic and kind of sad is that the game proves him wrong over and over again. I mean, who are the most powerful characters, both in-universe and in terms of meta? It's not normal humans who worked hard. Normal humans do nothing but wait to be saved by supernaturally or technologically enhanced beings (mostly us). And sometimes even by Veritas "Normal Person" Ratio himself.

[panelshowsource]

That Robbie Williams post reminded me something I heard a few days ago: I was listening to a podcast, and they discussed who the most famous British people are who are not known to Americans, like the discourse about Robbie Williams when his film came out. I'm British, so I would be interested in your opinion as an American. Who do you think is the most famous British person that very few Americans know?

this is such a fun question!

i feel like my answer 10–15 years ago may be different to now! like, in 2005, it wouldn't have been crazy to say michael barrymore, you know? so i'm going to try and compromise by sticking to my pov as a mid 90s baby and young millennial

i thought long and hard......and......i'm gonna say......ant and dec. that's my final answer. they have been such a constant in the british television industry for 30+ years that every single person of every single age demographic has at some point encountered them, and they're still quite in demand and relevant. i get that these days people may prefer to see claudia winkleman, alison hammond, whatever, this isn't a convo about being beloved but about being FAMOUS—and does anyone in the uk not know ant and dec? because i cannot impress upon you how unknown they are in the states, like absolute and complete nobodies i'm sorry 😭 i genuinely think the only way an american would have come across them is from a viral BGT clip, and even then ant and dec are not the focus of those clips so they just don't register at all. isn't that wild?

my other top contendor was noel edmonds (+ mr blobby), but i felt like he was too much of a throwback since he's pretty irrelevant now. still, if i'm doing my top 5–10, he'd still be in it, and i'd also mention terry wogan, parky, des o'connor, phil and holly (many americans will know the "if my grandmother had wheels she would have been a bike" clip but have no idea where it's from or who the people in it are, so imo it doesn't count as 'knowing' them cuz it's nothing more than a meme), peter kay, lee evans, and a fictional character like phil mitchell, pat butcher, or delboy. i am sorry to agree that take that members like robbie williams and gary barlow certainly qualify as well!

i do understand sports can be a major blindspot for americans — especially football (soccer), snooker, and darts — but there are enough americans who will follow these sports that i don't think the relevant figures win over some of the other people i listed. like, bobby charlton, wayne rooney, ronnie o'sullivan, dennis taylor, eric bristow, i could go on—very unknown in the united states overall, yes, but well known by the select few americans who care about these things. that said, the disparity in the fame a top footballer experiences in the uk vs here is probably the biggest disparity in this whole convo

i didn't really get into politicians (and by extension someone like david dimbleby or moira stuart?), feels like a cheat code to this game

i hope that was fun for any of my british followers to read! hahahaha i genuinely could name so many people because of course british news, entertainment, and sports are a unique culture that does not cross over nearly as much as we assume it does! but these are the people who seem to me to be the most widely recognised in the uk who i guarantee you no americans know

[i-arch-my-backula]

Show me your fangs: Logan Howlett/Autistic reader

This is very self insert-ish. I just wanted an excuse to write about an autistic reader with my favorite characters. Like I said, this is more just servicing my self shipping ass.

Content Includes: Ambiguous relationship (can be platonic or romantic)

You are a part of the X-Men team. You work with students one on one during school hours and help everyone else deal with whatever bullshit Magneto is trying to pull. But you don't exactly act like everyone else. You have a way of taking things literally, not picking up on things you probably should. You have some niche interests you spend hours doing research into, you only eat the same seven meals every time Logan sees you eating. Sure you're a little weird, but this is the X-Men mansion, who isn't a freak?

It's mid afternoon on a Saturday, everyone else is off doing something. The Professor and Storm most likely trying to help some students. But Logan finds himself doing what he usually does, drinking a beer, walking around the mansion. He's been here for a while, and as long as he's been here, he's never really seen many other people's rooms.

Sure they're usually the same kind of thing. Similar furniture and layout, with some personal details added from that person's interests and whatever. But when Logan caught a glance from the corner of his eye at your room, he had to take another look. He didn't mean to be a creep or anything, despite his somewhat assholish nature. Your room had the same basics that everyone did, the same wooden floor, part wooden walls, and that cream color paint.

But yours was different, remarkably different. Over the entire room was decorated with vampire themes and memorabilia. Thousands, if not tens of thousands of dollars worth of posters, books, DVDS, VHS tapes, books, figures, so many things in your room dedicated to vampires.

Right now you've got your headphones on while watching how you're filing your sharp nails. You have some kind of animal mutation right? Logan can't help himself. He has to ask some questions. He clears this throat and steps into your room. You don't seem to notice him so he tries to make it more obvious.

"Hey." You glance at him and take off your headphones, your eyes staying down on your nails.

"Hi." You reply. Are you uninterested? Logan doesn't blame you, you've barely said two words to this man before, no big deal if you're awkward around him.

"You uh...You got a vampire mutation or something?" He asks, taking a sip of his beer. You shake your head and blow some dust off your nails. After a pause something crosses your face and you look up from your nails, then at Logan, then back around the room.

"No I uh...I have this cat kind of mutation thing or whatever. I just really like vampires." You set your file on your nightstand and walk over to the closest shelf. You pick up an action figure and pose it while speaking more. "It started when I was 11. I watched the 1958 Christopher Lee Dracula movie for the first time with my siblings and I just fell in love. I spent every minute I could learning about vampires. I started collecting when I was 15 and I got my first job."

Logan suppresses a smile as you slowly become more and more animated.

"So my collection started with this Universal Dracula collectible knife I got at a garage sale. I haggled for a bit and probably didn't get the best deal, but it's still really cool." You explain, walking over to Logan holding a slightly coffin shaped object. The word "Dracula" written on the top in silver. You flip it open to reveal one side of the knife has bats all over it and the other side has a drawing of Dracula. Then you shut it and expose the knife.

Logan nods his head and sips his beer again. His eyes catching your little fangs when you smile.

"Real interesting stuff." His tone is as flat as yours, but you don't seem to notice. You set down the knife then pick up a VHS tape, pointing to a signature written in black ink.

"I got my copy of 'Fright Night' signed by the guy who plays Charlie in the movie. I don't really like Charlie all that much, I think he should have just minded his own business, but that's just me." You shrug and turn the VHS tape over, showing Logan the back. He didn't expect to get sucked into a lecture about vampires, but for the next half hour, you spoke uninterrupted about vampires. Going through your collection of things one by one. But Logan had only one thing he wanted to see.

"Hey Y/N," He finally says, putting his beer bottle on your dresser. You look over at him for a moment before quickly looking down at the ground. "Show me your fangs." You look at him again, just for a moment before opening your mouth wide enough for him to get a look at your sharp, cat like teeth. He smiles and nods his head. Match made in heaven, he's sure.

[mikkomacko]

I’m not sure where you wrote this but you said sometimes timo is with reader when she’s texting nico naughty thing. Timo made a joke too that he takes the pictures, is that true? Is he helping her write the things also? Can we get a small blurb on this?💛

Timo was just teasing Nico when he said he takes the photos for her haha. Reader would never let someone have a role like that in her intimate life with Nico, even if Timo is the person she tells everything too.

About the texting though, he always knows when she’s sending Nico dirty texts because she’ll curl up in the passenger seat of the car with her back to the door so that he can’t see her phone. And she gets this very specific, like devilish smile.

“Who are you texting?” He asks, trying not to laugh because he already knows. He knew from the moment you took a little too long in the dressing room at the mall that you were either waiting for Nico’s opinion on what you were trying on, or you were trying to get him to come home early. Or probably both.

“Who I’m always texting,” you reply vaguely which isn’t exactly a lie. He’d once witnessed you send Nico a text about how you peed for a solid two minutes and now feel dehydrated and ten pounds lighter. Any and every thought you have when he’s not around gets typed out to him.

“What did he say?” Timo asks, “About the set?”

He should’ve known that going shopping with you for new workout sets was going to turn into this, into something Nico just had to see. He’d have been better off just taking the day and going with you if Timo is being honest. I’d at least save him from whatever words you’re sending his way that have you giggling like that.

“Um,” you hesitate “he was more interested in the set I had on underneath it.”

Timo falters, confused for a moment because everything you tried on was basically just a bra and shorts, skin tight with not much room for anything on underneath.

And well you had turned to him and ran your hands over your thighs, asking if it made your butt look good. From what he recalls, there were no lines to reveal any kind of set underneath.

“You had nothing on underneath.”

Almost bashful, you shrug. “I had underwear on. Just none you could see.”

“Ooooh,” Timo laughs, “yeah alright. So what, did he like the set? Or I guess sets?”

“Yeah he did,” you mumble, tongue poking out of your lips as you text Nico back. Timo is very grateful that he can’t see the reflection of those messages in the window behind you. “He told me to ditch you and help him at work.”

He snorts. “Help with what?”

“Something about needing a new desk,” you say, amused. “Or wanting to need a new desk.”

Timo side eyes you. “Wouldn’t be the first time, would it?”

And you’re giggling that evil little laugh, almost proud as you remanence on who knows how many times Nico’s bent you over the desk at the bar.

“Not exactly,” you reply.

“Hey tell him you’re wearing one of his shirts,” Timo says, glancing over to find you looking at him all giddy. There’s no way you’d wear some of Nico’s clothes shopping like that, in the rich parts of town where even going in without a designer handbag turns everyone’s head. But Nico doesn’t have to know that.

“Yeah?” You ask but you’re already send the message.

“He told some of us once, a bit ago, that the only thing he thinks he misses from not dating is not getting to see girls in his clothes. That’s like his thing.”

Letting out another of those little laughs you take Timo’s advice, eyes lit up with mischief. You usually hang around the house in Nico’s stuff, sleep in his boxers and steal his sweaters, and he knows Nico is into it. But this is different.

If you’re really trying to get him to leave work early, this is the way to do it.

Not even five minutes later you’re cackling. “We have to beat him home so I can change. That way I’m not a liar T.”

“You got it boss.”

[mutipede]

Maybe I'm overthinking but I feel like I should make some kinda public official disclaimer type of thing…

I grew up really absurdly isolated, and then [stuff happened], and that has made me ridiculously skittish. It's not the fault OR the responsibility of anyone who interacts with me. And I am pretty ashamed and embarrassed about it since it doesn't fit with my mental image of myself of being… y'know, not constantly terrified. ("I'm supposed to BE terrifying!" / bugs and survival horror monsters might be more afraid of you than you are of us but goddamn we're not happy about it)

I'm trying to improve that - hell, I originally made this account, in part, for the express purpose to try and improve that - but it is a very slow and backslide-y process. I'm sorry about that.

Here's what I've gathered so far about my own behavior.

If I think you're cool and we have a lot in common there's a VERY good chance that'll make it harder for me to talk to you, not easier. This sucks and I hate it. It's not your fault and I'm sorry.

If we're mutuals I like you and I think you're cool. 100% no qualifiers end of sentence congratulations on your indisputable coolness

If you follow me but I don't follow you, either I like you and think you're cool but you mostly post stuff I'm not personally interested in looking at, OR I haven't looked at your blog yet but will probably get around to that at some point lol

If I don't like someone I'll just block them and leave them alone.

I struggle with one on one conversations, in DMs and asks n'shit, for reasons I don't entirely understand. But it's a pretty universal thing regardless of how the other party behaves, so if you DM me and I act fuckin' awkward and weird and take forever to reply or can't keep a conversation going, please just be assured it has nothing to do with you whatsoever.

I struggle to initiate conversations unless I have something specific to say, although in the past if I've "gotten into the habit" of talking to someone I will happily talk to them about whatever every fuckin' day. I do miss that although I don't know how realistic it is to think it'll ever happen again.

I also struggle with large groups, like large discord servers, because "well everyone else is probably going to say or already has said anything I could contribute, and I can't keep track of everyone and all the conversations, sooo..." mutes server and only lurks or posts once and never again

To be completely honest - discord itself was pretty triggering to me for a while, to the point that I had to uninstall the app from my phone and only recently made a new account and haven't started actually regularly using it again yet. You can have my discord and you CAN invite me to servers, I'll just be even more skittish there than I am here.

I think a small to medium group setting is the closest to comfortable I feel in social situations at the moment. I don't feel entirely comfortable in any social situations but I'm trying to work on that hah

I need to post and reblog dumb shit and cool art for stress relief purposes. If you happen to see me reblogging goofy bullshit while not responding to conversations, it's safe to assume I'm at some heightened level of IRL distress and trying to take my mind off it, not chilling and ignoring you.

I think that's all the major stuff people should probably be aware of before hypothetically attempting to have conversations with me. I am trying really hard to be chill I would love nothing more in the world than to be chill hah. I'm workin' on it.

[deadfish-dol]

How does Fish feel about each of the love interests?

(cracks my knuckles) diving into the Fish's mind 👉🐟👈

Robin-> their Favorite Person, their twin flame, Codependent Bestie etc etc. Deirdre has no real romantic feelings for Robin… but they adore them & want to live with/near them for the rest of their life.

they treasure Robin's positive energy, & though Deirdre doesn't believe themself capable of 'protecting' Robin from the worst of the town, they do believe that Robin out of anyone is worth protecting. 🫂

Whitney-> Deirdre's interactions w/ Whitney have only extended so far as some 'light' (for Whitney) bullying at school, before Whitney realized that Deirdre is Boring As Fuck & won't be giving them the reactions that they're looking for 🧍‍♀️

Whitney's not the one who originated Deirdre's 'Dead Fish' nickname, but they are certainly the one who had the most impact re: spreading the name around.

Deirdre views Whitney as like, a landmark of dolville high. a mascot or something. Deirdre holds no fear or negative feelings toward Whitney; they can't fault someone for trying to have fun! 💃

Kylar-> who? 😶

(Deirdre sits adjacent to Kylar nearly every day in English, & if prompted may vaguely remember them as 'the kid who lent them a pencil once'. regardless of whatever Kylar might think of them, Deirdre doesn't even remember Kylar's name… 😅)

Sydney-> Deirdre likes Sydney! Deirdre also thinks Sydney is a little weird… which is funny, coming from Fish. Sydney tutors Deirdre a few days of the week after school (as encouraged by Sirris, who Deirdre has stronger feelings towards & even has a crush on. huh what?)

Deirdre in general Doesn't Talk A Lot, but due to the nature of tutoring + spending so much time together anyway, Sydney ends up being the person Deirdre speaks w/ the most besides Robin (which is a little sad, since they only sit together for a few hours each week & mostly talk about schoolwork…)

Avery-> Deirdre joined Avery at an event Only Once before Avery decided nope, not worth it, never again.

even after cleaning up, having Deirdre on their arm was like leading a cryptid around the function. excellent at keeping their mouth shut, but can't stop staring bug-eyed at the other guests 👽 also somehow still smelled faintly of gasoline even after freshly showering & using Avery's bath products?? NOT worth the effort.

… Deirdre thought Avery smelled nice!

Eden-> Deirdre has yet to meet Eden in their current incarnation, but in other AUs Deirdre generally thinks of Eden in one of two ways-

if Robin is still at the orphanage, Eden is a seemingly insurmountable obstacle preventing Deirdre from returning to them. it would require the hand of god to allow them to do so (the Ivory Wraith sleepwalking their ass out of there, or me, the player, getting bored & accessing cheats lmao)

if Robin is NOT at the orphanage, having been spirited away at the docks/is dead or whatever the fuck--Deirdre likes Eden so much! they might even love them, maybe! Eden takes care of most things regarding their home & needs, & expects so little of Deirdre in return; it's really all that Deirdre had hoped for concerning a quiet & structured life 🫶

& if Eden breaks one of Deirdre's knees one night when they sleepwalk out & 'try to escape'… well, that was Deirdre's fault 🙁 thank goodness Eden forgave them quickly enough (after having to carry Deirdre into town for medical attention… & Deirdre got to see their favorite doctor again, so more silver linings!)

Black Wolf, Great Hawk, Alex-> whomst? 😶

(Deirdre has met none of them!! they would probably like Alex if they did meet, but as for the other two… no ❤️)

[coralhoneyrose]

i stole this idea from a post you reblogged but, do you have any "deleted scenes" from your fics? stuff you really wanted to include but just couldn't find the right place for?

I do, yes! Or like...sort of?

Basically, I have a "passage graveyard" where individual lines, passages or chunks of scenes that I couldn't find a way to work in all go to rest, but I would say it's fairly rare for an ENTIRE scene to get written out and cut. Usually I realize part way in that it's not gonna work for whatever reason and hop ship there. But probably more often the 'deleted scenes' are scenes that DID wind up in the main fic but took a slightly different direction than I initially planned, or where I had two competing ideas for how to execute something and wrote them both out and then obviously could only use one.

Occasionally I'll go fishing through the graveyard and find a line or two that can be repurposed somewhere else, which is always a nice surprise! But most of them are specific enough to what's going on that they're unlikely to see the light of day.

Not sure if you have interest in reading any of them, but here's a few random scrapped bits from various parts of PtLY. This first one would have been somewhere around chapter 11:

“You’re still wearing your dress from the tea earlier,” Chrom observes. Robin smiles ruefully. “I didn’t have a moment to come back and change until just now. Lord Dorian insisted on best three out of five.” It takes conscious effort for Chrom to keep his expression from slipping into a frown. “He insisted, did he?” Robin shrugs. “I didn’t mind. It was nice to have a new opponent.” “Was it a fun match, then?” “Oh yes, he’s a formidable foe," she answers. "I’d say he plays a bit better than you but not quite as well as Virion.” Now Chrom scowls outright. It’s silly to be so bothered by it; he plays a passable enough game, but it’s not like he’s ever invested much effort into mastering chess. Still, if Lord Dorian plays so much better than him, Robin will have scarce reason to keep up their own games together. Chrom doesn’t want to relinquish even that much to this man.

From early in chapter 12:

It’s alarming realizing the last morning he need duel with such feelings has already passed. He’s going to confess to her the truth of his heart, and if Robin loves him as he does her—and if she loves him enough to want to be with him—then waking with her in his arms will no longer fill him with bittersweet yearning. He’ll be able to hold her as close as he wants and cover every inch of her in kisses. It’s a frightening crossroads to be standing at. One way or another their fake relationship is drawing to a close. It’s only a matter of if a real one will take its place.

From Chapter 6, in Chrom's room after Frederick leaves:

“You’re going to have to get used to it, you know,” Robin continues. She keeps her voice light but her smile doesn’t quite reach her eyes anymore. “This sort of thing comes with the territory of being engaged and sharing a room. No matter what we do, people are going to make assumptions. Are you sure you want me to stay here if it means dealing with that?” Chrom doesn’t hesitate in his answer. “Of course I’m sure. Embarrassed or not, I’d much rather have you stay here. Your safety is far more important to me than any damned notions of propriety.” Confoundingly, Robin flushes more over this admission than anything Frederick said to them.

Last one for now, from...either chapter 2 or 4 I think?:

Loving Robin came effortlessly to him—it was hard to pinpoint when, precisely, it began when it seemed so intrinsically interlaced with knowing her at all. It was a talent he’d accidentally honed through endless practice—every moment at her side a whetstone that sharpened his adoration further. It came so naturally to him that he had no idea how to stop doing it now that it posed a very real risk of unraveling everything.

[crystallizsch]

hmmmmmm twst EVE (from wall-e)?????

pov you encounter this cutie at the flower shop while u and ur squad are in town wyd

OKAY SO ANOTHER VERY ROUGH OC CONCEPT….. (what is the art equivalent of proofreading. whatever the term is i’m not doing it with this doodle—) (the doodle took like 5-10 mins and references took 30ish im NOT spending more time on it)

the design is not fully final final but i AM keeping a version of the goggles, mask, and overalls.

also some brief character thoughts that i’m throwing on the wall and seeing what’ll stick:

i was today years old when i finally looked up what “EVE” means (“it’s Extraterrestrial Vegetation Evaluator”) so then that means i’m making them a plant enthusiast—

but also. they have special interests with space and stars and stuff (probably is into zodiac signs as well) and would infodump when prompted

(^ same goes for plants)

i tend to combine traits from different characters so i want them to have wall-e’s trait of collecting of different trinkets that he finds

their unique magic is to identify any bio life (since they’re still young and the UM is still new, they can only identify plants for now)

Cyborg Legs maybe (that i can’t draw rn) bc of an accident

other than being twst eve i had a post realization that they lowkey also have young ellie vibes from pixar's up

also also as i’m typing this, one thing is leading to another and i’m making this oc tragic by giving them a terminal illness (parallels ellie’s death)

their last wish is probably to personally see space but they know that won’t plausible (and this is where ortho comes in

i like to think that their dynamic with ortho is like: “oh you think you know plants/space better than me?” and then ortho is over here with complete unrestricted access to the internet

ortho tries to impress them so much with knowledge but it just backfires

eventually ortho grows on [twst eve] and they become true friends and [twst eve] opens up to ortho about their illness but ortho already knew from the start

ortho COULD help find a cure, he COULD ask idia for help or something

but something something respect the cycle of life and death—

anyways hard pivot: if they don’t have that terminal illness i’d like to think they’d be a RSA student

i think ortho deserves a cute little partner to fawn over

as a treat.

[thefreshprinceofjunes]

on the lighter side of things, here is some footage of sora and riku doing mission mode together i managed to capture (thanks to melonmix and this tutorial)

i used the left stick on a controller to move riku, and the right to move sora

at the beginning of areas theyd start out going in the same direction, but after a while sora would get lost bc of the way the camera works (i think), and id have to reset it with both of looking the same way to get him back on track LOL

in an attempt to avoid friendly fire, i also mapped attack for riku and jump for sora to the same button— meaning when i attacked as riku, sora jumped, and vice versa

it was... somewhat effective?