#this isn’t necessarily a ship post i just think they’re neat

[beebeeswee]

thinking about that scene in season 1 ep 7 when Dazai and Kunikida are both loosing their fights, give each other a ‘look’ and then dramatically switch enemies to better match their skill set. oh yeah. good soup.

[captain-astors]

Tokyo ghoul for the Shipp asks

My OTP: 

Ehgn. I have a couple that I think about more than others but I don’t necessarily consider them OTPs. If I had to pick a relatively popular one, Utaren is neat!

My NOTP:

Garden Child x Garden Child when it’s encouraged. I don’t really mind when it’s a narrative examining those unhealthy one-sided relationships without endorsing them, because Ihei’s fascination with Arima and Furuta’s with Rize are large portions of their canon characterization. But they’re still all half-siblings and I don’t think I could see them working in an actual requited ship anyways, especially considering it's not really a "romantic" attachment for either of them, so much as a deeply desperate one.

MY OT3:

Seiakimon, Itorizeto.

A currently canon ship I’m okay with but don’t prefer: 

Touken, I know I’ve ranted about how much it confuses me but I don’t actively hate the ship, it simply is. It feels a little odd and unrealistic, but so are a lot of my own pairings.

I don’t throw (large) stones from this glass house. You won’t see me making art for it by choice but it’s not hurting anyone so, do what you need to do. 

A ship that would only work in an AU but would be awesome: 

I think I’ve talked about how in canon Arima feels too bitchless to be shipped with anyone in adulthood, but AU AriEto is hilarious. Also I saw Hajime x Yusa about 6 years post-canon in an AU where the prior survived once, and that was interesting. 

A ship I’d like to see explored but not stick around:

Furutui, I don't know why I like it. Leave my brain alone.

A ship that may as well be canon: 

Sometimes I forget that Ayato x Hinami isn’t canon, it kind of is right? They’re sweet, I like it sometimes but I feel like both of them are a little overrated, and that extends to my feelings about the ship.

The ships I’d give my OTP pair if the other died: 

I don’t want to inflict Furuta on anyone. It feels mean. Anyone would rightfully hate feeling attracted to this guy, and he hates feeling. I want them to die together. 

Koori can kiss Ihei in heaven (?) while the other one rots in what I’d say would be hell, but I don’t think the devil wants this bastard around either. 

A crossover ship I’d dig: 

Platonic Juuzou and Zazie the Beast. Living embodiments of that one meme “THEY/THEM OUT CAUSING MAY/HEM”

A ship that would work great in a Coffee Shop AU: 

Canon is the coffee shop AU. I don’t know? I could make a coffee shop AU work for just about anyone but if I had to pick characters that have no relation to Anteiku… Mutsurie and MutsKanae could work excellently either way. 

A ship that would work great in a sitcom AU: 

Suzuhan, (They’re pretty much a comedy duo already) Shuunaki, (But just about anything with Shuu in it could work well) and whatever the ship name for Saiko x Hsiao is.

[justalittlebluetiefling]

We’ve all got things that we want to talk about after that episode, but the biggest moment for me that I want to dig into is:

Jester fucking hesitated.

Why can’t I ever just get to the point? This got long. 

Jester’s playlist came out two months ago and it sent me into a weird spiral about Jester’s place in the Mighty Nein. If you were following me then, maybe you remember lol. Her two songs for Artagan were very conflicting: Formidable by Amy Lilley vs Anywhere U Go by Tove Lo. Like she said. Her relationship with the Traveler had become... complicated. I made more than one post talking about how worried I was about Jester feeling a lack of connection to the Nein and how it felt like she might leave because of it. Leave with the Traveler because of it. I didn’t think she wanted to leave the Nein, but if it came down to a choice, the choice felt obvious. It has never felt like a stretch to me. It’s seemed very possible. Because Artagan saved her from loneliness.

And so I want to talk about Connect by Elohim real quick before I move on. When she set off on her own, she was “desperate to find someone to connect with. Someone who would understand her and be what she always read about in storybooks.” (Again, as a few people have said, that is clearly a split paragraph from the next, Summer’s Gone, but I digress.) This song was the reason I started thinking about the way she connects to the Nein and I started paying attention to how invested she seemed in the group dynamic.

So... here’s the deal. I really do believe that Jester has been struggling to feel the connection with the Nein. It’s not that she doesn’t love them or consider them friends, but she has one of the strongest sets of external ties in the group. And part of her external ties travels with her, in a sense. He’s her patron. God. Funky little archfey buddy. Whatever he is. 

And because of this, because I think she’s been struggling with connection, I think that Fjord’s conversations with her were truly beneficial. Fjord went out of his way (in a way that he hasn’t before) to make sure that she knows that she is valued and she is wanted. Jester’s got a high wisdom. I don’t necessarily think she reads what he’s been saying to her as romantic love, but it is very clearly love of some kind. 

It was just... incredibly poetic, the way the whole scene played out. Of course Jester would cling onto Artagan and of course Fjord would do what he could to get up to her. This is... weird. I don’t know how to word it. Really, I’d put money on Artagan being grateful that Fjord was up there trying to get Jester to let go, because he also wanted Jester to let go.

Okay I’ve gotten super off track. This is about Jester’s hesitation and what that means for her and how she’s evolved. 

When she started traveling, as I mentioned above, she was desperate to find someone to connect with. She already had Artagan at this point. And even she knew that it wasn’t enough. She wanted more. And then she met Fjord. Who she was immediately infatuated with. And that relationship/friendship has grown and deepened to something very different over the almost year that they’ve known each other. They’ve been there for each other without hesitation the entire way. Jester followed Fjord across the ocean, underneath it, into danger repeatedly for his personal journey. And now Fjord has done the same. He’s never hesitated to follow her into danger, diving off the side of a tree, teleporting out into the shadows as a distraction when she fell off the roof. He’s made sure that her mother was safe from Algar, run out into the night after Jester because she accidentally left her mom at a party, that she got a chance to see The Gentleman. 

She loves these two people very much. In very similar ways. She’s idealized them both at various times and has been coming to terms with what she really feels as she’s traveled through the world and met new people. Whether or not she loves them the way she thought she did. Whether it’s different than she thought. 

And that’s what it comes down to. The planar being asks her: “Do you love him this much?”

And Jester hesitates.

“I look at Artagan.” [long pause] “I look back at Fjord.”

The way this felt to me was Jester evaluating. Does she love Artagan enough to go into imprisonment with him? Yes. But does she love Fjord enough to stay behind?

Even last Wednesday, I would have told you that she would never hesitate in a situation like this. I seriously expected her to say, “I’m sorry, Fjord.” or something along those lines. But she looked at Artagan, restrained. And then she looks back at Fjord, who is showing no signs of letting go either. He’s followed her into danger once again. Would he have held on if she did? Could she condemn him to that? Make him pay for Artagan and Jester’s mistakes here? Can she leave him behind? Can she leave her friends? Her home, she says later.

Now, I’m going to make some speculative leaps here. But when they’re back down with the group later, Jester all but admits that she would have gone if Fjord hadn’t been there (and Artagan kicked her off, but that’s not what Jester was talking about). Jester thanked Fjord for going after her. She said she was glad that he was hanging onto her. She implies that if he wasn’t there, she would have gone. People are talking about this scene a lot and I’m surprised that more of it isn’t about the fact that we very well could have lost Jester in this episode if it weren’t for Fjord. She is absolutely able to make her own decisions, but she was panicking and clinging to her friend, trying to save him, and letting go of him wouldn’t have occurred to her as a possibility if Fjord hadn’t been there. 

For some reason, I’ve got to bring it back to discourse, but not in like a hateful way I swear. It is genuinely strange to me that people are so offended over Fjord’s treatment of Jester when Artagan and Fjord literally want the same things for her. Neither of them wanted her to make that sacrifice. And the thing is... maybe it’s because it was such a shippy moment, on Fjord’s end, and people don’t like the ship. But it was truly a selfish act on Fjord’s part. I’m sure there was some urge to protect as well, but Fjord didn’t want to lose Jester, so he went and he begged for her to stay. Neither Fjord nor Artagan wanted Jester to pay for Artagan’s mistakes, no matter how culpable Jester is. It was pretty cool to see how far Fjord would go to “save” her. To keep her around.

Putting it that way, I kind of wonder if that hit Jester, too, in that moment. Because she’s been struggling to feel the connection with the Nein, maybe she thought that they wouldn’t fight if she tried to leave. But Fjord proved to her that they would. And I think that’s neat.

And I mean, to end this, I’ll say it again. Jester hesitated. This is the first time it’s felt like there was a chance she wouldn’t have left. That she might not choose him over the Mighty Nein. Of course, thankfully, it sounds like for now, she won’t be put into that position again. Neither the Nein nor Artagan appear to want or need her to choose. But Jester did just have to face whether or not she’d leave her oldest friend behind for her new friends (who she later called her home). And I think we’ll be seeing the ramifications of this dilemma play out over the next few episodes.

[superleeleehipster]

Theories on Season 11

Hey! So, as I’m sure you all are very aware, Find Me is out, and I can honestly say that I’m somewhat relieved it did. I was tired of all the theories and anxieties I was feeling about it. At least now we know what we’re working with officially.

I don’t want to make a review, as most blogs have already done their own. For this post, I’m going to jot down some theories on what Leah’s role will be in Season 11. Some of these theories I’ve thought of and others I’ve seen from other bloggers, but I just wanted to get my thoughts down. 

Of course, it’s just my opinion, and if you don’t agree, that’s perfectly fine.

Spoilers and theories under the cut... 

So is everyone ok after 10x18? Yes? No? No worries on whatever your answer is; your emotions are valid.

Anyways, even though the episode was a bit painful to watch as Caryl shippers, I really don’t think it sunk the Caryl ship. If anything, the subtle (not really) parallels between Caryl and Daryl and Leah just showed that Caryl could very possibly happen despite all the naysayers saying they could never sleep together. 

Also, can I say that the whole fish scene was freaking hilarious.

But I digress... I have a few predictions on how Leah’s going to fit into the storyline for season 11. I might hit the nail on the head, or I might be so off that I break my thumb instead, but that’s ok. It’s what makes it fun.

1) I’ve made this first part into a group of theories instead of just one. These are theories that I’ve heard about or read, but I really don’t think are going to happen. They’re just interesting enough for me to list them, but they’re unlikely in my opinion:

- Leah is in Season 11 but in flashbacks - I don’t think they would go this route, because it would be even lazier writing than what we’ve gotten, and it would be more interesting to have her in person instead of being in flashbacks. If they went that way, it would be incredibly obvious that she is a plotpoint for Daryl and that’s it, and that’s pretty crappy writing even for TWD.

- Leah is in Season 11 but she isn’t real - Now this one is an interesting concept admittedly. What if Daryl was in such a crappy mood in the woods, and is thirsting for companionship, so he makes someone up in his head that is pretty similar to Carol, but doesn’t look like her b/c he wouldn’t want to be that kind of creepy friend. Then in Season 11, the viewer realizes one way or another that she was made up, that he made her up in his head to help with his woes, but now that he’s better and with Carol he doesn’t need her anymore. Really neat theory from a mentality standpoint, but I highly doubt that’s where the writers would go.

- Leah is in Season 11, but she dies - I know some folks have said this before, and I get it. Some of us are so done with the drama, we’re just thinking the worst case scenario at this point. What if Leah comes back and Daryl’s all happy and thinks that he’ll spend the rest of his life with her but then Leah dies somehow and he decides to go on a roadtrip with Carol to help with his man pain. I know some peeps feel like that would happen, but in my opinion, I really don’t think so. Angela Kang does have a lot of respect for Daryl and Carol (I know we don’t feel that way right now b/c of 10x18 but bear with me), as she’s said that this is about their story and their journey I really don’t think she would have the story go as low and as misogynistic as that. I honestly don’t.

Now these next two theories are the ones that I believe have a much higher chance of happening in season 11:

2). Leah is in Season 11, and is a part of the new antagonist group (Reapers) - So it wouldn’t be a season of the walking dead without some sort of antagonist being around. The Reapers have already made their presence known with the first extra episode, and I’m sure is going to cause issues throughout the season. An interesting theory that I’m a fan of that people have thought up already is that Leah is part of the Reapers. Whether she’s the leader or one of the followers, it doesn’t really matter, for she’s still a plot device for Daryl. 

The current fantasy I’m having is that Leah comes back and tries to get close to Daryl, which Daryl isn’t necessarily against but is still wary. But then Carol notices things about Leah and catches her doing stuff and she’s like “wtf?” and she tells Daryl her concerns but he brushes her off because he doesn’t trust her judgment very much right now. Most ASZ peeps think Leah is a good person but Carol’s like “mehhh something’s off”. Then the reveal happens where Leah is a double agent of sorts and betrays them all by having the Reapers infiltrating Alexandria or some crazy shit like that. Then it looks like she kills Carol in some way and Daryl’s absolutely gut wrenched because his Carol just died at the hands of his crazy ex girlfriend that he believed more than his best friend and what the fuck is wrong with him?? But then Carol comes back and butchers the Reapers cause she’s a goddamn queen and Daryl looks at her like she could fart fairy dust and gives the biggest smile we’ve ever seen him give on the show. Then he hugs her fiercely and starts sobbing, telling her how sorry he was and how relieved he was at her being alive and... same old story that’s happened on MULTIPLE occasions with other shows and books.

Now considering how Leah is made out to be in 10x18, I would say this theory is ‘less likely’ than what I thought it would be originally, but there’s still a decent chance. I don’t think Leah’s a cold blooded/narcissist, but it’s possible she could get roped up with the Reapers... and lets face it, Daryl isn’t the same person from who he was in the woods, so there’s a good chance she won’t be either when she comes back.

3). Leah is in Season 11, and pushes for a relationship with Daryl - Admittedly, this one would hurt to watch, but I think it’s a fair possibility we can’t rule out. Daryl is arguably at a better headspace now than he was way back when in the woods, and he knows he belongs with his family. But then Leah shows up and wants to start things over with him, and it could go multiple ways. He could realize right away that he doesn’t want that, and maybe he and Leah both get closer together. Or maybe he will give it a try for old times sake, but then he realizes that she’s not the person she was, or whom he thought she was, and they’re not actually a good pairing, and then he realizes “you know who I really want? That grey haired queen”... it would probably more emotional than that though.

I mean, we’ve all been there. We break up from a long term partner and it hurts like hell but we heal and we’re stronger for it. But then the ex comes back and is wanting to be with you again, and you’re at the very least tempted to give it a go b/c you were happy with them at one point. But then you’re with them and you realize that maybe this wasn’t a good idea, and maybe you should’ve listened to your goddamn gut all along b/c it was warning you that there’s a reason why it didn’t work out the first time.

Arguably, this theory would be more satisfying than the last one, because it would be Daryl who would choose who he would want to be with in the end. Think about it. We were initially bummed that Ezekiel wasn’t going to get his comic death in season 9 (and of course we were pissed about Henry), but then it turned out for the better because Carol willingly chose to leave him instead of being forced out of the relationship via death. So for Daryl to choose Carol over Leah in the end would be incredibly satisfying, albeit looooong overdue...

I still very much think Caryl is endgame despite the tough road we’re facing. I know folks are taking this last hurdle really hard because it’s been ingrained in our heads that Daryl is a “one woman kind of guy”, but... maybe that’s still the case. Maybe his heart is a “one woman kind of organ”, but Daryl’s been able to move past his traumas enough to be physical with more than one person. At least that’s how I’m seeing things at the moment. Obviously, it’s not good taste to go completely backwards on what is “known” about a character and assume that the audience would catch on as to why it would happen (like how Daryl reading the “children of abuse” book was never addressed in the show, but we’re having to assume he did b/c Norman said he did). Hoping the audience assumes the things that the writers are thinking of has always been an ongoing issue with TWD, so this whole shindig wasn’t necessarily surprising to me.

Anyways, that’s my two cents on things. I still think they’ll happen, and I still trust Kang. I’m just thinking of this as just the angsty part of a fanfic that I love and adore, and I just have to grit my teeth and wait for the author to finish writing the next chapter before hauling ass to my computer to see the update and breaking my desktop in the process. We’ll get to the healing part, I promise.

And if the spin is anything like the playful banter between them in this episode (albeit more mutual and fun), then sign me the fuck up and let me be a voyeur in their passionate travels.

Cheers my loves! 

[galaxy-of-me]

heroes rising, more like bakudeku rising

okay, so, this is similar to my post for two heroes where i listed all the ship moments :0 if it wasn’t super obvious THIS POST IS ENTIRELY SPOILERS.

bakudeku

AAAAAAAAAAAA

there were many “KACCHAN”s in varying degrees of pain

deku holds bakugou back when he tries to murder a bunch of kids

rowdy boys roughhousing each other because haHAAHAH BANTER

bakugou’s popsicle dies while he’s distracted watching midoriya give an inspirational speech to katsuma (little boy)

they fight against nine together like 3 times and hold hands 2/3 times

uh midoriya almost dies bc on nine but then bakugou flies in and blasts him right in time. soulmates. (actually mahoro (little girl) makes a giant illusion of deku but bakugou only took like 30 more seconds to get there meaning he was already heading towards there—)

flashbacks to their childhood and all might telling them that they should help each other be stronger

rivals that stay together get beat up to a pulp together on multiple occasions

MIDORIYA PASSES DOWN OFA TO BAKUGOU WHAT THE FUCK?? (i’m still confused how it worked?? like did he eat his blood?? his sweat?? his dried up skin???????)

edit: i’m dumb

but anyway, they do this really tender thing where they’re grasping for each other’s hands and they can only reach the other’s fingertips but then they hold hands and ofa gets transferred yeah

y’all know the iconic “save to win, win to save” from the trailer right

the first thing deku asks when he wakes up is “is kacchan okay?” that’s soft

bakugou forgets about getting ofa, goddammit

they have matching broken arms by the end :))) HHAHAHAH help these children

deku stands next to bakugou on the ferry back to the mainland and bakugou doesn’t shout at him for once wow

this movie was created for bkdk stans, have fun

kiribaku

kirishima and bakugou are shown hanging out near each other at the agency

kirishima offers to help on one of the missions and bakugou says “you really think your quirk will help for something like that” and kirishima is like “hmm 🤔 you’re right...”

kirishima looks like the cutest fucking thing when his head is on the table and he says something about the island i forgot because he was so fucking adorable and this is kiribaku because he’s looking at bakugou while he’s talking

please explain what kaminari meant by kacchan and the bakugous (this isn’t necessarily krbk of course but 🤔🤔🤔)

remember that thing bakugou does in the anime where he pushes kirishima to the side and saves him from being turned into a meatball by shishikura?

he does that again but with the mummy guy

kirishima saying “bakUGOU” after bakugou says they need to kill the villains lmao

tokomina

i did not expect this

they fight against a villain with a quirk that can harden her hair

tokoyami says he can handle it by himself but mina still stays there

when mina gets stabbed in the leg by the villains hair projectile things tokoyami gets all edgy and goes Full Emo Mode

mina is covered by tokoyami’s cloak but idk if he threw it on her or what?

izuocha

“you really are deku!” “what does that mean?” “it means you’re a hero!!!” 😭😭😭😭😭

deku carries uraraka when she’s injured and she’s like “thanks :)”

todoiida

they’re with each other most of the time during the movie

when todoroki gets frustrated and tries to go after the monster villain, iida stops him

todoroki says he has a plan and iida is just like “:)”

when they have to run away, iida just picks up todoroki and zooms lol

todobakudeku

“did we do what we need to? midoriya... bakugou...”

there’s no heterosexual explaination

kirikami

they gang up on bakugou a lot haha

fight against the mummy villain together when bakugou is trapped (and fail but you know what)

todokiri

kirishima goes along with todoroki’s plan and todoroki holds on to him while he uses his ice to move them and kirishima uses unbreakable and?? fellas is it gay????

aomina

they clear out some rocks that fell from a landslide, it’s pretty neat

ashido helps aoyama up after he overused his naval laser

kamibaku

“kacchan”,,,, kaminari the mad lad

basically tells bakugou “you haven’t been doing shit for the agency lmao” because he really hasn’t

bakugou: *praises kaminari while calling him idiot*

kamisero

THE FISTBUMP!! THE FISTBUMP!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (class 1a is helped by pro heroes after the big battle and when kami and sero are next to each other they smile and then fistbump. adorable.)

momojirou

yaomomo over uses her quirk and she has to lie down. when she’s trying to lift herself to get up, jirou motions her to lay back down.

seroroki

they fight the monster-creature-thing villain with t e a m w o r k

ojirojirou (jiro squared?)

they fight together against nine (and fail but you know what)

kamimomojirou

kaminari and yaomomo overuse their quirks and jirou is very worried

bakusero

sero gets WREAKED by nine while trying to help deku and bakugou (his helmet was already broken and then it got completely knocked off with him on the ground haha this is fine) and bakugou shouts “SERO”

toorujirou

they hug once at the beginning idk lesbians

edit: more pairs that i forgot about >:0

aomomo

they tire themselves out after working together on the first attack on nine (and fail but you know what)

serochako

they set up this trap thing to stop the monster villain (and fail but you know what)

ojitoko

they fight against the monster villain when the villains first come to the island (and fail but you know what)

[twixtandshout]

Tagged by @pidgeonpostal! And not tagging anyone else because I have SOILED the original template (soiled it!!) in deference to my [brushes off skirt] mostly clean public-facing appearance.

...I’ve been making a lot of Spongebob memes lately for someone who has not seen Spongebob.

How many works do you have on AO3?

71!

What’s your total AO3 wordcount?

...306,834. Jesus.

How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

Uh. Many! I do a lot of one-offs (and/or start long things I never finish) in many different places. My top three fandoms by fics written are RWBY (29), Undertale (25), Gravity Falls/Transcendence AU (4).

Bet you can’t tell where my hyperfixations have fallen. 

I’ve also got some Pokémon and Sonic the Hedgehog fics back on my ff.net account, or I think I still do, anyway, but let’s never go back there pls

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

1. Sweeter Than Honey (Undertale): Taking a Completely unsurprising first place, with over 600 more kudos than the runner-up, the haphazard Underswap fic featuring a post-college self-insert I wrote just after high school! I shake my head some at how overblown and ridiculous the gap between this and all my other stuff is (c’mon, guys, I’ve written way better fics), but this is also the fic which prompted me (and at least one other person!) to start using they/them pronouns. I’ve gotten a lot of really sweet comments about how seen and appreciated it’s made people feel, so I can’t get down too far about it.

2. To Be A Hero (BNHA): I don’t count myself as part of the BNHA fandom, for a number of reasons, but for something that’s arguably the main motivation for the entire plot, Midoriya’s quirklessness is something I’ve never thought has been handled well. This fic marked the first time I (somewhat tentatively) claimed the disability label (thanks again to Sweeter Than for prompting that realization) to hold that lens over canon. It also really shot up my chart, dang! It’s the only thing here I’d consider “recent.”

3. Three-Sentence Shipping (Undertale): Self-explanatory.

4. Brothers Beyond Bonedaries (Undertale): Ah, the way-overcomplicated AU³ I got nowhere close to finishing. One of the things I really like about Undertale is the interface screw, how Toby Fox uses the medium of the video game to pull off crazy things and enhance his game, but most of the fic written for the fandom seems dedicated to explaining it away, grounding it, rather than taking it to the next step and messing with the medium of fanfiction when you keep the story going. I tried to do something cool like that here, playing with questions like narrator and authorship and breaking the fourth wall, even taking the “final boss” fight to a “totally separate” fic reached through the first by link �� but, well, then I never finished it, which probably didn’t make anything less confusing for the poor folks who missed the intent.

5. Spirit and Such (Gravity Falls: Transcendence AU): A whole fic written to line out a particular image I had, which, naturally, never made it to the page. I consider it a bit of a cautionary tale for myself when it comes to writing (near-)original content; there’s a lot I look back on and cringe. I still love the characters, though – well, the important ones – and I think just stepping away from the tried-and-true Mizar formula nets it a star sticker here.

Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

>w>; I try, but a lot of the time I just don’t have anything to say? Like, oh, you liked it? Neat. There’s not much to respond to in comments like that, and then I’m weighing falling down on an ~obligation~ to respond to every message in my inbox vs annoying people with copy-paste fluff responses all down the page. Plus I know I make more of an effort to comment on things that didn’t get the attention I feel they deserve, so if I’m driving up my own comment count with nonsense, am I preventing myself from being in a position to receive more comments later? And then if I do comment, am I being too effusive or running people’s ears off explaining things they don’t actually need to know? Sometimes people just want to express interest or admiration and don’t necessarily want a whole peek and guided tour behind the curtain.

Can you tell I have anxiety? x3;

Anyway, I do respond when I can. And I keep most of the comments I’ve gotten to go back and reread. 

What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

Hm, hmm. Lots of stuff in the TQ Nonsense series would probably qualify! I’m thinking of Unfixable, Wolfsong, and Ethanol. And there’s Bursting Through A Blood-Red Sky (I Can Live, I Can Breathe), of course, but that was always intended to have a fix-it epilogue. It’s just that I wrote it in a couple of hours day-of, stared at it, and decided I didn’t wanna just then. But now that’s As Long As You’re Still Burning Bright (I’m Still Awake), and that’s probably the best romance I’ve written, so that one worked out.

Do you write crossovers? If so what is the craziest one you’ve ever written?

Now and then! When the urge strikes. Uhhh, I’ve got a series of Doctor Who x Undertale crossovers I actually made a whole dang verse for that never made it to print. Get a couple great comments on that every few months or so. I think the World Trigger x Undertale crossover is probably weirder, though, by virtue of WT being a very small fandom. My enthusiasm kinda sputtered out on that one.

Mostly I just daydream crossovers with whatever happens to catch my eye at any given moment. I have a lot!!!! Though odds are out on whether I manage to remember any of them once the initial thought’s passed, lol.

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Gotten a couple eyebrow-raising comments, but I think mostly I’m just too small a writer to draw that kind of attention.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I don’t? think so? Think my tastes are a little niche for most people to bother ^^;

Have you ever had a fic translated?

I had someone apologize once for any language mistakes in their comment cause they had to run it through a translator! That’s not what you asked (the answer is no), but it’s very flattering to think that someone liked my fic enough to read and comment despite the language barrier.

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes! :D @pidgeonpostal was gracious enough to agree to co-write Five Nights at Denny’s with me off an idea about shoes. This has fulfilled a long-held dream of mine (collabing with someone, not the shoes) and also introduced me to some lovely people.

What’s your all time favorite ship?

Who has time for just one? ;3c Honestly, I care more about the characters and how the relationship – any relationship – between them changes them than I do about ~A Ship~ as a solid, bounded noun-object. I’ve got characters I like more and less and feelings about who does and doesn’t have chemistry in which directions with whom, but finding anything that agrees with those preferences is hard, harder when you take alloromanticism into account. I’ll play in any sandbox with cool toys, especially if other folks have already built sick sandcastles there.

What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

[kicks every single unfinished fic further under the bed] What nooo no WIPs here, everything on my account is either finished or does not exist

I’ve got a couple extra chapters of Sweeter Than floating around unposted, but 1. that fic’s a mess 2. high school Twixt and post-college Twixt are different people and trying to contort myself into three other me-shapes just cause people Like this fic is not something I’m super interested in 3. it’s headed for an emotional dip and I’d rather leave it where it is than post two chapters, stall out again, and leave folks with a bad end.

As for other fics... it’s looking more and more likely that v7 of my Yellow Brick Road AU will never actually make it out. >w>; I’ve got some really great ideas, but not enough to make me feel like I know what I’m doing, and that’s a big roadblock. Plus trying to engage with RT’s Atlas-Mantle worldbuilding in any serious capacity is... a headache. I can’t recommend the Happy Huntress Cinematic Universe enough, but it leaves some pretty big shoes to follow! And I’ve got small feet. <w<;

What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue’s fun, probably as an extension of characterization. I love tearing into what makes people tick, especially against the backdrop of their environment, the story they’re in, and the people they’re up against. Voice is a double-edged sword; I’ve been told my writing is really recognizable and individual, but on the other hand, I’ve been growing frustrated with with the limits of my narrative ability. There’s a strong rhythm I keep when I write (you might notice it here, even) but that leaves me feeling predictable and stale. I’m not sure I’m great at setting as a matter of course, but I’m pretty good at describing setpieces where the need comes up; that comes from my background in poetry, as does the fun I have with sublimating and abstracting complex imagery. And I think I bring some needed nuance to the universal. For good or ill, I don’t do what “everyone else” is doing.

What are your writing weaknesses?

Well, writing, for one thing. If I don’t know how something’s going to go and don’t have the urge to write it, it isn’t getting done, which means there’s a billion things that will never see the page and a few hundred more that are never getting finished. I lose momentum easily and have a hard time getting started, and I put way too much standing on finding a foothold with other people; as critical as I am of my work, I have high expectations for the stuff that passes muster, and it never seems to measure up. I’m also really uncreative. Yeah, I can mix up elements and extrapolate events, but coming up with things wholesale is really hard, which is why I avoid it wherever possible and steal/reskin stuff from other places instead.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

Something along the lines of “Hoo boy, I am Not qualified for this but hopefully it’s decent anyway.” Maria’s Spanish lines haven’t been a big deal – I’ve used it sparingly and, as a Latin language, it should be easy for English-speaking audiences to pick up on the gist – but I’ve had a harder time with Tai’s Chinese, both because I have Even Less background there and because it is, of course, an entirely different language system. If I write it out in English or Romanized italics, am I colonizing it or changing the meaning? If I write it out in the presumed-original characters (presumed because it’s Google Translate and who knows if I’m even barking in the right forest), am I confusing or alienating my presumed-majority-English-speaking audience? Where should I put the translations? Should I put the translations? And for Frisk’s sign language, thinking back, are the brackets I used instead of quotes alienating/infantilizing? I like that different characters give the text between a different feel, but I’m not an ASL speaker – and I’m pretty sure the word is “speaker,” which would only reinforce that that demographic would rather I didn’t do that. It’s important for all these characters, I think, that they use non-English language where it makes sense; it’s part of who they are. But as a white monolingual English-speaker, I don’t think I can really weigh in.

What was the first fandom you ever wrote for?

Thaaaat’d be Pokémon, followed closely with Sonic the Hedgehog. Whether those fics are still on my ff.net account or not (pretty sure I’ve purged them, but you never know) I’ve still got a couple saved to a folder on my current laptop, ostensibly so I can look back and see how far I’ve come and more practically to allow for the possibility of furthering group cohesion through public shaming.

What���s your favorite fic you’ve written?

I still like the idea behind The Man Who Is Atlas, and Burning Bright (Still Awake) gets props for being my current fic, though it’s currently in that spot where I’m excited to get new chapters posted but also quietly marking everything up in red pen. I think Harbinger gets the crown here, at least for now.

[sybright]

My Favorite Cats Ships

Okie dokie, @whitmerule wanted to know my main ships/pairings and I knew I’d have to make a post dedicated to this at some point so here it is lol (also sorry this is so long). My “main” universe, which is what all of my main pairings are in, is based on the ‘98 film for the most part (although really all of my universes are based on the ‘98 film, just with alterations here and there). 

Edit: My preferences have changed somewhat, so I’ve edited this list to reflect my current feelings towards certain pairings. This means that I’ve deleted some pairings that I don’t like much anymore, and have added some new ones :). All of these ships are in no particular order btw.

Main Pairings:

Tuggoffelees 

-I know it’s super popular and there’s loads of content on them, but I still stan. I don’t love them AS much as I used to, but they were my first ship in this fandom, and therefore are still very important to me. 

Demebombastrap 

-In terms of individual pairings, I really like Demelurina and Bombastrap on their own, but I like them best all together. I used to be quite fond of Demestrap by itself, but I’ve gotten pretty tired of that ship over time personally (obviously nothing against people who like this pairing a lot, kudos to y’all who love Demestrap ^^), so I’m not that big a fan of them on their own anymore. In order of the individual pairings I like best: Demelurina first, Bombastrap second, and Demestrap not so much.

Skimblegus (Skimbleshanks/Asparagus Jr., NOT Gus the theatre cat, I see the two of them as separate characters in most productions).

Jellydots (Sweet lesbian grandmas <3).

Tumblejem 

-This is my self-projection asexual pairing, leave me alone lol. They give me bestie vibes and I love that for them <3.  

Platoriateazer 

-This is a bit of a rarepair, but it is one of my main ships, I see Teazer and Plato as platonic partners and Tori as their mutual gf. Alternatively, I like Victeazer and Platoria on their own as well, although I like Victeazer a bit more than Platoria, but I prefer them all together.

And that’s about it for my “main” pairings, here’s a list of my alternate pairings/rarepairs that I love too much for my own good.

Alternate Pairings/Rarepairs:

Demandra 

-No longer my main blog’s url, but they have their own blog now and therefore are still ridiculously important to me XD. This is my fave rarepair, and might also be even MORE of a self-projection asexual pairing for me than they were before. I’ll say it once, this is my ultimate comfort pairing. 

Plonzostrap (Plato/Alonzo/Munkustrap, alternatively, I like Alonzostrap and Plonzo on their own as well, although I haven’t put that much thought into Munklato on its own).

Platoricopat (Cats Zurich got me obsessed with this concept, and @whitmerule’s gifs are are just *chef’s kiss*).

George/Etcetera/Electra 

-I don’t really have a ship name for this, and also this particular pairing is very complicated and I’ll try to explain it as best I can. George and Etcetera are romantic partners, Etcetera and Electra are queer-platonic partners (I see Electra as aromantic), and George and Electra are platonic partners. This is technically a main pairing for me, but it’s sort of rare and complicated in its dynamics so I put it down here. Also, I adopted the hc that George is a Pollicle btw.

Oh and just as an aside, I also really like Elecctera and Etceorge on their own, but I probably slightly prefer Elecctera, I just love the queer-platonic besties vibes of them <3. 

Mungocavity (This is in a scenario where Macavity is less evil and more of a dumbass, but I really like this pairing. It would be one of my main pairings if my main universe Macavity wasn’t complete shit).  

Jemtoria

-One of my newer ships, I usually see Tori and Jem as being somewhat far apart in age, so this is in a scenario where Jem’s a bit aged up and Tori’s a bit aged down. I love everything about this pairing. Considering how much Jem and Tori interact with each other in the show, this ship has so much potential to me. They’re just so soft and they make me really happy <3. 

Tuggoffeleteazer

-Once upon time I didn’t think I’d ever ship Tugger or Misto with really anyone but each other, but times change. Initially, I got very interested in the idea of Rumpletugger (which I still quite like on it’s own), but then later became intrigued by the idea of Mistoteazer (and all the shenanigans they’d get up to, both being mischievous and chaotic), so of course this led to me just putting all three of them together XD. I love this trio so much, they just give “bestie vibes ONLY” type of energy, and feel like a super chaotic friend group, and that makes me really happy. 

Bombbella

-I’m not even sure how to explain what led me to becoming so attached to this ship XD. I had seen people mention it being a neat concept in passing, but I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who actually truly ships them. I basically got into this ship through my “Jellicle leader Griz” au thing, which is an au where Griz is the oldest of Deuteronomy’s children and was expected to become the next Jellicle leader. She’s much younger in this au than how I typically see her, so the newer Griz design fits well in this scenario. I just got really into the idea of Griz and Bomba being tragic ex-lovers. 

They dated for a long time in their teens, broke up for a few years, and then got back together again when they had matured, and then Griz went and abandoned the tribe (as well as Bomba) to see the world and pursue her dream of being a star. Griz returned eventually, but the damage had been done, and Bomba was far from ready to forgive her. In the end though, she does forgive Griz, as does everyone else, but then Griz goes on to be reborn, and they miss their chance at happily being together. It’s just all in all a really fun concept for me to play around with, and has so much angst potential. 

Jellycass

-Not a new ship, quite the opposite actually. This is a ship that I usually don’t think much about (hence why it wasn’t here when I first made this list), but whenever I do, I always feel at peace inside lol. I can’t for the life of me find the post that got me into this ship (trust me, I have searched ALL over tumblr for it, I looked through both Jellylorum’s and Cassandra’s ENTIRE tags and still couldn’t find it), but I saw a post when I was first getting into the Cats fandom that talked about how Jelly and Cass would be this sort of “odd couple” that the tribe didn’t really understand, but clicked super well with each other for some reason. 

Even though I only ever saw that one post on them for a long time, I grew really attached to the ideas it presented for Jellycass. I like the age gap concept in particular, with my personal idea of it being Cass in her late twenties to early thirties, and Jelly being in her late thirties to early forties. It really heightens the “odd couple” energy of them, and I can see Cass getting along really well with someone older. Troika provides me all the rights for this ship <3. 

Some Extra Stuff:

Even though I like Platoria as an individual ship, and ship them to a degree, I’m not super interested in them. They’re a bit bland for me if I’m being honest. I like seeing them on my dash, but I won’t actively seek out content of them, so please don’t tag me in stuff surrounding them if you don’t mind (obviously this doesn’t apply to their poly equivalent). I used to include Demestrap in this section, but now I’m really not all that fond of them, I really only like them together in a poly scenario, like Demebombastrap or even Demelonzostrap. 

There’s a bunch of ships that I categorize as “I like it, but I don’t ship it,” and that’s where ships like Munkujerrie and Alonzoffelees fall. They’re ships that I enjoy as concepts, and that I would probably read fanfic about if given the opportunity (and like fanart of), but I don’t necessarily ship them. So you don’t need to tag me for them. 

The only ships that I just straight up don’t like, although I have nothing against people who like them, are Tuggerlurina, Mistoria, Skimbledots, and Jellygus, Tuggerlurina being the one I dislike the most. I just scroll past content of them if I see it on my dash, I thought I should probably list them here cause idk, might be useful to @whitmerule to know which ships I really don’t like. 

Note: I don’t see any of the characters I listed here as being biologically related, some people hc Deme and Bomba as sisters, or Etcetera and Electra as being twins, I don’t see this personally (In fact I have a whole bunch of family hcs that I’ll probably save for another post, if anyone even wants to read that lol). 

And now for my favorite 2019 movie pairings (which I also don’t see any of them as being biologically related), because they’re sort of relevant since I’m listing pairings and stuff so I feel like putting them here too:

2019 Movie Main Pairings

Mistoriastraps 

-This is the ONLY scenario where I like Misto and Tori together. I only like it when it’s in the 2019 movie, and only if it’s with Munk, those are my two requirements lol. I think Munktoria and Munkoffelees are really cute too, but I don’t care for them that much, I like them best all together.

Demandra (I see their relationship very differently in the movie, and I prefer their stage-show relationship, but as always, I love them). 

Tantojerrie 

-I know they don’t really interact in the movie, but I saw people talking about them as a ship on here, and I just think they’d be really cute. Technically Tanto is implied to be kitten age in the movie, but I imagine this as a post-movie, next Jellicle Ball type scenario. I see Tanto as being on the cusp of adulthood, where she’ll probably be an adult at the next Jellicle Ball, and I see Jerrie as being a very young adult, so they’re not far apart in my mind (plus I see Jellicles, being cats and all, aging differently than humans, so this isn’t as odd to me as it might be to other people).

2019 Movie Alternate Pairings:

These are just my alternate pairings for Misto, Tori, and Munk if Mistoriastraps doesn’t happen lol:

Tuggoffelees

-I’ve adopted the hc that they’re ex-boyfriends in the 2019 movie, and I like to imagine that they’ve sorted things out post-movie and got back together.

Victeazer

Skimblestrap

That’s about it for my ships. Thank you for reading if you got this far lol. 

[chuuguins]

💘 - kyori x yuki

sugary sweetness ahead. proceed with caution!!

where they first met and how

they first met when their groups were promoting around the same time and they kept seeing one another backstage at music shows. kyori is a huge fan of kaleidoscope and has done a few dance covers of their songs and danced to them on variety shows so she was super excited to introduce herself!

how long their ‘flirting’ phase was before feelings got involved

i’d say pretty early. they grew attached to each other very quickly, especially because kyori came into yuki’s life when she was really needed.

who fell for who first ( if applicable )

i have a feeling that yuki fell hardest first. kyori definitely fell fast but i think yuki was still first.

where their first date was and what it was like

after they had been talking non stop for a couple of weeks, kyori showed up at the apex building with flowers and told yuki she was taking her out. they had a picnic behind the building with lots of food that kyori had made. very cute, very pure.

who asks who out and how ( with a sign? spelled out on a cake? just a simple ‘will you go out with me’? )

i guess you could say that kyori asked yuki out but really she didnt ask at all. she just surprised her by showing up with the date plan. yuki probably asked if it was a date like twelve times. 

who proposes first

obviously this is a long way off but once again i think it would be kyori. she’s one for romantic gestures and she would want to make yuki feel special and loved so she would be determined to propose first.

if they keep / kept their relationship secret or let everyone know right away

as kpop idols, it’s a secret because it has to be. especially as two female kpop idols dating. however, all of their members know and other artists in their companies as well. they’re not the best at being subtle.

where the proposal happens and how ( kiss cam at a baseball game? on a hillside surrounded by ducks? at a disney park? )

i doubt they would get married until their groups have both disbanded so like i said, it’s a ways away. flowers and picnics are two of kyori’s favourite things and something she’s integrated a lot into their relationship. she would have made a scavenger hunt around all of their favourite places and things that remind her of yuki which would end in a picnic in a garden surrounded by flowers where she would ask yuki to marry her.

if they adopt any pets together

oh i bet they do! let’s say two cats and a super cute fluffy dog!

who’s more dominant

i’m thinking yuki. even though it seems like kyori takes the lead in a lot of aspects of their relationship but i don’t think she’s necessarily dominant. just stupidly cute and overexcited.

where their first kiss was and what it was like

their first kiss was on their first date. kyori was reaching over to grab something out of the picnic basket and yuki surprise kissed her. then they kept kissing throughout the date bc they’re stupidly cute.

if they have any matching couples stuff ( mugs? sweaters? pillowcases? )

oh they definitely have so much matching stuff! especially things that the public can’t see and catch onto. so while they do have matching braclets, most of their matching items are things like matching mugs, matching socks, matching notebooks. all sorts of things like that. also it isn’t matching, but kyori bought a sunflower necklace for yuki because yuki calls her ‘sunflower’ so.

how into pda they are

their brand of pda is very soft and sweet. obviously they can’t do it super publically but when they’re around their members they will cuddle and do sweet little cheek kisses and be obviously couple-y but not in an awfully obnoxious way?

who holds the umbrella when it rains

yuki. she’s taller.

where their usual ‘date spot’ is ( if applicable )

their usual dates are sneaking into one anothers dorms with the help of members because it’s just the easiest way to do it. when they can they love to go for picnics in places that are quite private and they talk on the phone every night as well.

who’s more protective

i’m gonna say yuki!

how long it is before they sleep together ( can be as in ‘had sex’ or as in ‘shared a bed’ )

probably a few months. mostly because finding an opportunity isn’t that easy but also partily because they wanted to take their time. i don’t know about yuki, but kyori had never gone that far with a partner so it was a big deal to her.

if they argue about anything

their arguments are usually very stupid and last about five minutes. just silly bickering about random things. big arguments are few and far between. 

who leaves more marks ( lipstick, hickeys, scratchmarks etc. )

yuki yuki yuki! kyori honestly likes it a lot. they are careful not to make them too obvious but whenever kyori sees marks yuki has left she gets all blushy and happy!!

who steals whose clothes and how often

why have a girlfriend if you don’t steal one anothers clothes? they both do this frequently. so much so that their wardrobes are basically mixed.

how they cuddle ( spooning? facing each other? )

it depends but they often find themselves cuddling facing each other with kyori tucking her head into yuki’s shoulder. very cute.

what their favourite nonsexual activity is

would saying picnics be repetitive? really they just love spending the day together and doing whatever they feel like. sometimes they’ll bake together, sometimes they’ll nap together. they’ll go on public dates together at times because they just appear to be friends. 

how long they stay mad at each other

a few hours at most. honestly, kyori can’t stay mad at anyone so staying mad at yuki is near impossible.

what their usual coffee / tea orders are

kyori loves peach tea or any kind of fruit tea + really sugary coffees (esp frappes) and yuki likes chai tea and salted caramel coffee! they also both love to get bubble tea!

if they ever have any children together

they would definitely want to!!! so i’m going to say they do. i’m thinking two kids, either one girl one boy or both girls?

if they have any special pet names for each other

i said already but yuki calls kyori “sunflower” or “sunshine” and kyori calls yuki “snapdragon” because reasons.

if they ever split up and / or get back together

hm, i’m not sure. if they ever do split up i can imagine them getting back together. perhaps just going on an amicable break for some reason. i just don’t doubt that it wouldn’t be long before they found themselves together again.

what their shared living space is like ( messy? clean? what kind of decor? )

once they move in together their living space is quite neat. it just looks nice and lived in, you know? kyori has flowers everywhere and i’m sure they spent a long time shopping and picking things out because they were just so excited to live together. i’m sure they mixed their unique aesthetics together in such a cute way.

what their first christmas / hanukkah / etc as a couple was like

kyori is very close to her family so she invited yuki to spend christmas with them after the girls started dating. it was all very cute and cozy. kyori’s family absolutely love the holidays and go all out with decorations and food and presents. her parents bought gifts for yuki and yuki helped them decorate and they kissed under mistletoe. kyori told yuki it was the best christmas she had ever had.

what their names are in each other’s phones

“sunflower” & “snapdragon”

if they have any ‘couple traditions’ ( buying a new mug for their collection every year? baking every friday evening? )

how many times can i mention fucking picnics in this post? they go on at least one per month and kyori makes an entire spread of food and deserts. they buy each other a stuffed animal every birthday. honestly, they probably have a lot actually.

who falls asleep first and who wakes up first

kyori falls asleep first and wakes up first.

who’s the big spoon / little spoon

they switch. kyori is basically a backpack when she’s big spoon so it’s super cute but she loves being little spoon and curling up against yuki.

who hogs the bathroom

they both do! they love getting ready together. 

who kills the spiders / takes them outside

yuki takes spiders outside. kyori refuses to let anyone kill bugs but is also too scared to deal with them herself. 

send me a ship and i’ll answer some questions !!

[a-stitch-in-time-and-space]

QCard (Q and Picard) for the ship thing!!!

1. Who’s in your ship and is it monogamous, poly, open, etc?

Q and Picard – I don’t necessarily think they’re monogamous, in the sense that there’s the same concept as today of “exclusivity as the norm,” but they don’t have any wish to look beyond what they have. One time Q asked Picard why he wasn’t drowning in other lovers and Picard laughed on and off for fifteen minutes, before telling him those days were definitely and firmly behind him.

An alt. version is that Picard also occasionally kisses Beverly, whom he has a great relationship with, and even more occasionally Vash, with whom he has a… strange relationship.

2. Is the ship romantic in nature?

I’d say yeahhhh. But also Q is Q and so is like: “what is it with these linear beings and their need to establish everything under neat little labels?! Isn’t it enough that I like your company and are going to be together forever and we have sex?” This is the way Q announces that this was more than just an affair (Picard chokes because it came out of nowhere and was probably said one time Q just beamed in to the bridge).

3. How often do/can they see each other (due to living on different planets, having stressful jobs, etc)

Honestly, I think once Picard and Q decide that this thing really works, Q is just like, neat, wherever you go, I go!

4. What are their things to do together?

Argue over morality and sentience (how is that so many of my favourite ships in this fandom?)

Also going on big adventures!

Also Picard teaches Q to play the piano.

5. How do they say “I love you” without directly saying “I love you”?

While Q still has the powers of Q, it’s by transporting Picard to some far-off planet with something interesting going on on it and being like “Look!” (sometimes this also comes with a side of Danger). Q post-powers-of-Q becomes fascinated by traditional romantic gestures - Frequently gets into danger so Picard can come to the rescue until Picard understands what the heck is going on and asks for flowers instead, then drowns Picard’s office in flowers – it takes a fair few years for Q to learn that more isn’t always better and Q never loses that flair (Picard kind of loves that too)

Picard says I love you by going along with whatever plot Q’s come up with now. Also he plays pieces of music on the flute, which Q-post-powers realises has nothing to do with “skill” and all to do with simply wanting Q to hear him. Maybe he gets real tears in his eyes over that revelation.

6. Who unironically likes old earth movies and who suffers along?

Now you might think it’d be Q, because Q loves sampling from ye olden times, BUT actually Q is like “why would you watch these when you have a holodeck and I have godly powers????”

Picard is like “but it’s historically fascinating to see how we documented things in the ancient past – here’s some even older hieroglyphs by the way!!!!”

7. Are any of them spiritual and any of them decidedly not?

I don’t think either of them are, really, because it’s more like… we know beings with godly powers exist, and we’re kinda annoyed by them to be quite honest. Sometimes Q waxes lyrical about the fates wanting them to get together. Picard jokes that Q is fate.

8. Who’s more open about their affection and who’s more taciturn, but shows affection through unconventional means?

Q is definitely more open, while Picard is a grumpy middle-aged guy, but Q knows how to read Jean-Luc by now and can see which frown is actually a smile (and which frown means Q’s done something really bad by accident… usually Q can influence those frowns into the former kind)

9. Who likes space and who prefers a good ol’ planet?

I think they both love space the most to be honest. Travel, adventure, excitement. But Picard does have a soft spot for his family vineyard.

10. Finally, what are their favourite things about one another?

If you asked Picard he’d say he couldn’t pinpoint what it is. Q became a part of his life as surely as the Enterprise once was, or his vineyard, or his past. It wasn’t a question of whether or not he was in love with Q, it was a question of when he realised.

Q:  *whilst shrugging* “I love a bald man. And his ass.”

[thevagueambition]

Atla, Zukka and Sokka :)

ATLA

Favorite character: Zuko, 100%. He’s a character I relate to a lot, eg the whole “hard work vs natural talent” thing... I even have a costume, although I didn’t get a chance to use it when I meant to so I haven’t really done so yet OTL

Least Favorite character: Hmm, god, I don’t know.... Bumi, maybe? As a comedic character he feels a bit too “haha crazy” and he doesn’t really (imo) work well as a dramatic one... 

5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon):

Zukka

Hakoda/Bato

Roku/Sozin

Tyzula

Jetko

Character I find most attractive: Zuko. Particularly s3 ofc lol

putting the rest under a cut for length

Character I would marry: idk. not big on marriage really

Character I would be best friends with: Sokka

a random thought: The true hero of ATLA is Iroh and I feel ashamed of not having mentioned his name yet in this

An unpopular opinion: The age difference between Kataang is 2 years which is the exact same age difference between Zutara and neither are particularly weird regardless of the fact that I don’t care about either ship

My Canon OTP: Don’t have one. Sokka/Suki is cute I guess is the closest I come to having strong feelings on a canon ship

My Non-canon OTP: Zukka

Most Badass Character: Toph but also low key Sokka bc he’s a non-bender

Most Epic Villain: That old blood bending woman who gave us all nightmares

Pairing I am not a fan of: Zutara, but that’as as much about fandom behavior back in the day as anything else

Character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another): Korra, all of LoK 

They gave Toph too little to do in s3 and she SHOULD have had her Zuko outing like all the others >:( Actually Zuko and Toph have a lot in common in certain ways and that was never fully explored

Also obviously SOOOO many characters in this series who were written as straight when they shouldn’t be lol. We get it, it was a kid’s cartoon in the 00s, but they didn’t have to agressively pair off everyone in neat m/f couples by the end of the series

Favourite Friendship: Aang & Zuko

Character I most identify with: Zuko, as mentioned above. He’s also the same MBTI type as me haha (INFP). Also, Sokka mix of being simoultaneously really clever and extremely stupid is a gigantic mood.

Character I wish I could be: Idk... Iroh, in some ways, certainly. Honestly, by the end of the series all the main kids are pretty admirable people. Who wouldn’t want Aang’s kindness, Katara’s righteousness, Zuko’s determination, Sokka’s cleverness, Toph’s independence, Suki’s leadership, etc? Hell, Mai’s bravery and Ty Lee’s loyalty? I love all the main kids.

Zukka

When I started shipping them: Only a year or two ago, actually! I think last time I rewatched The Boiling Rock I was like 👀

Originally when I was an ATLA fan I was still in the “we must adheer to canon” phase of my existence in fandom and then for a good while I was still affected by my... hesitance to look like a, idk, stereotypical slash fan, in the sense that back in the day people were REALLY hostile to slash ships that seemed, idk, contrived. Zukka also just wasn’t a big ship back in the day I don’t think, Jetko has always been more popular. 

My thoughts: The cammaraderie that developes between them over their stay at The Boiling Rock is incredibly compelling to me and I think that... the ways in which Sokka holds Zuko accountable through “jokes” but still allows him the space to prove himself is really interesting and probably... something that is actually better for Zuko than either Katara’s rage or Aang’s kindness? Idk. 

Also they both have pretty complicated relationships to masculinity and what it means to be a man in their respective cultures and their sort of struggles with that and how those struggles look different due to circumstances like their parental situations and different cultural expectations... Zuko’s is less directly about masculinity per se because the Fire Nation has less strict gender roles, or at least ones that don’t code certain activities as purely masculine endeavours (eg warfare) but certainly there are shades of Ozai’s treatment of Zuko and Azula that are gendered as well as about birth order and it’s interesting how Zuko and Sokka both impose restrictions on themselves about how they should behave and what they should live up to culturally.

What makes me happy about them: I think they complement each other really well. They have a lot in common but are pretty different about their approach to things... I also just really like battle couples lol 

What makes me sad about them: Their respective trauma is part of what makes them compelling but it’s certainly also sad, so in that sense...

Things done in fanfic that annoys me: So much of it is modern AU and i don’t care for it lol. Completely ignoring any sense that the Avatar world must have some elements of homophobia bothers me to exist in the ways it does, but as does completely overplaying it, idk. It’s a balance not everyone strikes well. Also obviously when people demonise Suki or Mai to account for them not being in the picture that’s bad.

Things I look for in fanfic: Honestly, more than anything? Good characterisation. This is a ship that lives and dies by good characterisation. I also really like when they’re set during the time at the Western Air Temple.  

My wishlist:

Swordfighting duels!! Practicing swordfighting together!! Bonding over swords like the dumb teenage boys they are!! Yes I know about the innuendo that only makes it better!! 

Hakoda not just being cool with it but realising about Zuko’s abuse and being like Actually I Am Your Dad Now

I always want fic where the gaang find out about how Zuko got his scar and that with Zukka is even more *chef’s kiss*

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: Hmm ending up with, huh? I like Jetko for the drama but not necessarily as endgame. Sukka is pretty cute so I’m down for that but Maiko is.... look, it made sense for the time that Zuko was back in the Fire Nation because but I 100% don’t think it’s something either of them benefits from afterwards. They’re better off as friends imo also Zuko’s gay

My happily ever after for them: I want them to travel the world together tbh? I never quite know how to account for Zuko becoming Fire Lord in my thoughts about him post-canon because... well obviously I hate monarchy and I don’t actually think Zuko would be particularly comfortable being the leader of a nation, so... I don’t know. Maybe after some years, maybe a decade, of guiding the nation back towards stability Zuko starts reforming the country towards something more democratic and becomes less personally involved in the affairs of running the country? I don’t see them as people who would or really could be tied down by each other because they each have responsibilities to their respective communities and I don’t necessarily find “and then they lived in the Fire Nation palace together for the rest of their lives” compelling... 

Sokka

How I feel about this character: I love him so much. His character developement is so compelling and as one of the very few prominent non-bending characters he is also compelling in the ways that situate him within the world and forces him to look for other things to contribute with. Again, the ways in which he is undeniably very clever but simoultaneously kind of dumb is also just... Very Good and Relatable lol. He was someone I overlooked a bit for a while but I think Sokka’s Master really awakened me to how great he is and on rewatches he became one of my faves. Also, you just gotta love any character that uses sarcasm as a shield lol. 

Any/all the people I ship romantically with this character: Zuko, primarily, as discussed above. I’m fine with both Yue and Suki as canon ships but I’m not really invested in it. When I was younger I liked Sokka/Toph somewhat but actually Toph is a lesbian so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ You could always do Suki/Toph, kill two birds with one stone you know

My favorite non-romantic relationship for this character: Gotta love a good father-son relationship <3

My unpopular opinion about this character: I don’t know what the popular opinions about him are tbh. I’ll use this to say I think ADHD!Sokka makes sense though

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: Hmm, idk... the episodes he had that were focused on him were very good and did a good job of exploring his inner life in the face of how often he’s a comedic character, so it would have to be more in terms of his relationships with other characters. More interactions with Zuko would have been good ofc ! :3c

Favorite friendship for this character: Hm, probably Aang. Protective Older Brother Mode for a character that isn’t even technically his sibling is Very Good.

My crossover ship: I don’t really have crossover ships

[mrmallardsmobileposts]

My Star Wars Shipping Hot Takes

THERE WILL BE UNMARKED SPOILERS FOR THE ENTIRE SEQUEL TRILOGY IN THIS POST

TAG "#TRoS Spoilers" IF YOU WANT TO WIPE THIS POST FROM YOUR DASH COMPLETELY

THIS HAS BEEN MY SPOILER WARNING, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED ABOUT STAR WARS SPOILERS

Finn/Rey should have been endgame, or at least brought up by Finn instead of the BS non-committal "I've got something to tell you" line they play with for the rest of the movie. Bring it into text and acknowledge it fully instead of using it for a few cheap gags and leaving it hanging.

They had great chemistry in TFA. They bonded really easily and got along really well, it seemed like Finn was chatting her up a little at times and by the end of the movie they're incredibly close. Finn puts his life on the line and gets fucked up by a lightsaber to defend her. John Boyega and Daisy Ridley played off each other really well, they had really good chemistry. I really ship it.

The only hitch, imo, is the total lack of screentime they have together in TLJ. Finn's plot just kinda went nowhere and he got a rehash of his "running away" arc in TFA, and I think the Rose Tico kiss was really lame and forced. While I can appreciate their eventual reunion, and within the scope of the movie it's not unreasonable for them to not meet again until the end, I really don't dig how much time they spend apart in TLJ from a shipping perspective and I don't think the Finn/Rose pairing is very good.

To address the elephant in the room, I'm not the most positive person about Rose Tico, but I'm chill with her and I think her character would have been fine with better material than she had in TLJ. Not trying to chud things up, here. The most extreme thing I have to say about Rose Tico, within the scope of this post I'm making, is that I didn't think the actors had that much chemistry to justify a romance, the kiss was goofy with the laser going off behind them, and while I don't disagree that Kelly Marie Tran got screwed over in TRoS, I'm ultimately glad that her and Finn are good buddies in that movie instead of partners. I'm not saying her reduced role is fine, just saying I'm glad that this pairing doesn't seem to be canon. I'm glad they're still close, though. Finn is definitely the heart of the group, pulling everyone together.

The thing about Finn/Rey in TRoS is that while the chemistry isn't there on the same level as TFA - partially due to the hatchet-job editing of the first half where people are barely able to vocalise a single coherent thought before the plot ushers them along to the next point - I felt like it still existed for a while. They teased it with the "I've got something I need to tell you" line from Finn, and then they never bring it up again. Like what the fuck, wrap up the plot point instead of dragging it out for the most painful humor of the movie and failing to resolve it.

This brings me into the Reylo portion of my post.

While I don't ship it, I refuse to hate Reylo. I've got a great write-up of my Reylo opinion on my main blog which explains why, if you search for "reylo". Basic point is that a lot of the initial backlash was predicated on assumptions that people were adamant would be proven true in the next movies, and those assumptions turned out to not be the case 4 years later in 2019, so I refuse to treat it like the pariah it was in 2015 for those reasons.

I'll admit that I really enjoyed the ending with Ben Solo. Adam Driver sells the difference between Ben Solo and Kylo Ren so well, and while I understand that he did a lot of bad shit and wiped out planets and committed space genocide and stuff - Darth Vader also committed space genocide and killed hundreds of people, and his body count continues to rise in supplemental materials. And yet he was redeemed by Luke, and was able to return as a force ghost despite the genocides and mass murders he committed as Darth Vader. There is a precedent for people redeeming themselves just before they die in the Star Wars universe, even when they do some really heinous shit. As such, I am not against this happening for Kylo Ren. Star Wars is just that kind of series, for better or worse.

My opinion of Reylo is that it's kind of like fanfic mode a lot of the time. It got really wacky in TLJ, and it got way more pronounced in TRoS. That's not necessarily a detriment, but it was what it was. I don't buy Kylo Ren and Rey as romantic interests necessarily, especially when I think their relationship is really, really odd and reminiscent of fanfiction cliches, but there's enough subtext for people to read into it and I don't really care if people like it or not.

If Reylo is the endgame ship, then that's fine. I don't necessarily like it, even as I acknowledge that problematic ships will always have their audience. A ship can be used as a force for good, as long as it isn't being used to actively promote abusive tendencies or like really gross shit.

Some ships are off limits, straight up. Reylo is dicey, but I don't think it's worse than a lot of villain shipping is - there's been room for edgy villain shipping before, and I think Reylo occupies that space now and has every right to. As long as people aren't encouraging people to engage in abusive practices through their storywriting, or pushing alt-right talking points and fucked up things like that through their writing, Reylo has enough wiggle room to be a perfectly ordinary pairing in the fanfiction community.

Saying that, though - here's why I prefer Finn/Rey.

He's a close, friendly and positive force in Rey's life, they shared the start of their journeys and they helped each other grow into the heroes they became. Poe spent most of TFA missing in action, and he only meets Rey at the end of the movie. Rey and Finn spend the bulk of their character moments together, and it's the character development from these interactions - spurred along by Han and Chewie, of course - that fuels their ascent into hero figures at the end of the movie.

Why don't I like Reylo more? Because the Kylo Ren stuff seemed like essential backstory stuff, whereas Finn and Rey's characters naturally got along like a house on fire. Kylo Ren also spends most of the time getting rain on his gloves through inter-force touching in a bunch of weird, forced, fanfic-tier scenes, whereas Finn and Rey hug and celebrate and bond through conversation, not trite, rigid backstory.

I can buy Rey kissing Ben Solo at the end of TRoS. I can buy her feeling love for Ben Solo, and finding it frustrating that she can't break through Kylo Ren to get to him. Fuck, in that ending scene where Kylo is explicitly Ben Solo again, Rey and Ben have actual, honest to god chemistry, and it's cute as fuck. But that moment took a lot of catching up to get to, and before her and Kylo showed any hint of affection together, Finn was her comrade in arms, someone who shared her victories and helped to further her growth, and vice versa.

Reylo has a pretty solid conclusion, I will certainly give it that. But I feel like the Reylo conclusion is steeped in that classic "I can redeem the bad guy through love" trope like the original Star Wars, except with a romantic angle this time. Ben's redemption didn't have to be with a kiss - it could still happen without the romance angle, but the romance is added in to distinguish it from the other Star Wars examples.

Ultimately, I think having Ben's redemption spurred by romantic love is broke, whereas Rey finding a buddy in Finn, having their ups and downs together, shielding each other from harm and becoming close through mutual shared experiences and proximity is woke.

What about Finn/Poe? Ship it if you want, it's all good. I understand why this ship was initially so popular, and while I don't ship it, I'm not the shipping police and I get the premise behind it. Poe/CrimeGirl? This was shoehorned tf in, but if you think it's neato, it's neato. Poe/Rey? I think they would make a terrible couple, but whatever. Poe/Finn/Rey? Everyone wins. Add Kylo Ren anywhere into the mix and you can have yourself a party, depending on your stance on the character. Make any of the characters gay, bi, pan, ace - literally whatever, outside of a few significant parameters just about every ship is valid. I'm not a hard-ass, shipping is fun and outside of some really bad shit I'm generally down for people having a good time. I just like Finn/Rey the most.

Also, Maz Kanata is really neat and I hope she gets more screen time. If her lifespan makes it squicky to ship her with the younger characters, that's your business and I understand and respect that, but frankly I would write a romance story about Maz Kanata falling in love in a heartbeat - I just don't know who. I've written Doctor Who fanfic where a 2000 year old alien woman dates a 21 year old policewoman from Sheffield, so as long as the right boundaries are respected, I think a Maz Kanata story could be pretty fun and non-problematic like with a Doctor Who story.

Anyway that's my Hot Takes post

byeeeeee

[beneathtreemomo]

Hmm-Atsuya, Nosaka and Haizaki! OwO

The others are under the cut! (Disclaimer: I still haven’t watched much of Ares or Orion so my knowledge of Nosaka and Haizaki is…. very limited)Fubuki Atsuya     How I feel about him: Ooooohhhhhh look at the big bad wolf and his fangy fangs he’s so cute and even though he can kill a fully grown bear I love him and will protect this gay (or bi, depending on universe)disaster until my last breath. He is so protective it’s adorable and the fact he falls a bit flat in his incarnations is so disappointing, but then again all of Orion feels pretty flat so it doesn’t really surprise me. STILL it would be nice to see more than loud impulsive crazy boy.     Romantic ships w/ him: *cough*yoru*cough**cough* seriously with canon characters though? probably Someoka if it’s OG and Nae if it’s Ares/Orion. He and Someoka/Nae bounce of each other in a similar way to Gouenji and Shirou, and it makes for cute relationships that either have Atsuya being kept in check but supported, or leave him so floundered and confused and in love that it’s adorable!!     Non-romantic ships w/ him: Atsuya & Shirou, Atsuya & Hakuren, Atsuya & Nae, Atsuya & Someoka, Atsuya & Life, Atsuya & Hiroto, Atsuya & Mitsuru, Atsuya & Hyouga, Atsuya & Gouenji     Unpopular Opinion of character: You know I’m sure there’s something more in depth to his character yet still slightly silly but I honestly can’t think of anything right now xD Right now all my brain can think of is that he can actually be super serious when needed and he’s just being wild/crazy because… well, idk he’s hotheaded and maybe that’s what used to be expected of him by their peers as a way to differentiate from Shirou.      One thing from canon: I would have loved to see more of him in OG! More specifically, the Atsuya that wasn’t trying to take over. See him slip out in small rings of gold around Shirou’s eyes when he did something particularly “atsuya”, see them try to figure out the whole… together thing. I get why they simplified it to spirits and “oh hey they’re together now no more struggle yay!” but. still. would’ve been nice. And idk much about Ares/Orion but I would have loved to see him being casual with Hakuren. Do they get along outside of matches? Or do the others try to stay away from Atsuya as often as possible because he’s just infuriating to them? These are things I would have loved to see!

Nosaka Yuuma     How I feel about him: An absolute dork. An emperor? More like an adorably awkward prince still trying to have fun after being trained to be something older than he is. I barely know him but I know I love what he brings to the table and he seems like an awesome yet slightly infuriating character.     Romantic ships: I ship him with Ichihoshi. Hands down, that’s the only romantic pairing I have for him. Whether it’s Hikaru and/or Mitsuru in canon format is still up for debate, but it’s mostly Hikaru right now because that’s what we’ve seen. To me, Nosaka and Ichihoshi have the potential to be Ares/Orion’s GouFubu. They just… have that chemistry there, even if it’s hard to see due to Orion’s stale writing.      Non-romantic ships: Nosaka & Nishikage, Nosaka & Anna. See, I can see Nishikage having a crush on Nosaka, but I just… idk I can’t see them together romantically? Nosaka has never seemed to see Nishikage like that and Nishikage’s crush seems to have taken turns into the “too far” lane and I just don’t think it’d be good/ healthy for them to be together romantically. But best friends? Heck yeah! They’d rule in that department. Nosaka and Anna are in a  similar boat, but more on the fact that them being pushed towards romance just felt kinda forced and like neither character really wanted it. So I love them way more as friends!     Unpopular Opinion: From what I’ve seen, everyone pictures Nosaka as this cold, kinda hard but slightly dorky, emperor persona. But to me? He’s not ready to be an emperor. Instead he’s been forced into the role and has to act like it, and that can lead to many wrong decisions in his attempts to be what people expect of him. He just feels… sad, to me. I just see him as more of a prince or something, instead of an emperor. IDK if this is necessarily an unpopular opinion or not, but those are my thoughts.     One thing in canon: If they’ve already done this my bad but I’d love to see Nosaka with his walls down. Maybe late at night, unable to sleep? Just… Nosaka off the field. Without having to be an emperor. That’d be lovely.Haizaki Ryouhei     How I feel: uhhhhhhh misunderstood “bad boy” with a soft heart but was hurt in the past so now he has walls higher than the football stadiums they play in. I looked at some of his wiki page and in the few episodes I saw him in I thought he was quiet the interesting character but it feels a lot like the other “bad boy” characters they show in the series. Full feelings are still TBD but right now I think he’s neat and I like him.     Romantic ships: N/A, I haven’t actually watched enough of the show (or paid enough attention to him) to determine how I feel about him and any specific characters.     Non-romantic ships: Haizaki & Inakuni Raimon, Haizaki & Inazuma Japan, Haizaki & Hiroto (Hiroto dropping him still makes me die of laughter, the essence of their relationship in one interaction right there)     Unpopular opinion: idk why but the limited posts i’ve seen with him have always given me this vibe of Haizaki being a bit of a villain. So I guess in that regard my unpopular opinion is that he’s not bad, he’s just… sad. and scared of his friends getting hurt in a similar way to Akane. So he acts out, tries to do things himself to avoid getting close, and… idk. I feel like once his walls got knocked down he should have been eased off the bad boy vibe. Sure, he’s a bit of a shark boy, but even sharks aren’t meaning to be bad– they were just given a bad representation.     One thing in canon: I have no clue xD again, haven’t seen enough to give a better/ more accurate answer. I guess give him a little more presence? I think I genuinely forgot he appeared in some of the episodes I watched, and, well, isn’t he supposed to be a main character?

[kotofvi]

Mobile Rules

Important Notes

My mini-muse navigation on the main bagel has links to individual bios! I did this so you can get a preview on my fucks and see if you're interested, if so then you can check out their full bio! Please note the trigger warning tags before the bios. Though not all of them will have them and some will have more than others, I make it a point to put these warnings above whatever bio needs them so you have ample warning before reading them. The links in the mobile version of the bagel are for mobile bound users! I try to make my bagels as accessible as possible!

Please specify what muse you want. If you're not sure or are indecisive, that's alright! Just please tell me "Random" and I will give you a random muse! However, if you don't tell me what muse you want or tell me to give you a random one, I get anxious because I'm not sure which one of my fucks you'd like to write with and worry if I'm writing up something for the wrong muse. So please, please, specify a muse or "Random" so we can avoid all that mess.

Since I've had this problem several times before across all my other bagels: If I've written you multiple starters and you haven't responded to a single one of them, I will not write you anymore. That is just.. Unreasonable. I will legitimately write you a starter for every single muse and you can pick and choose which ones you want to reply to, so to reply to none and then ask for another one? It just really gets under my skin and makes me question whether or not its my writing or if you just have no interest. I will rewrite a starter for you if you didn't like the one you got, no problem! So please, instead of leaving me on read, tell me if you want a different muse or a new starter. I really don't mind at all. But do not just ghost me and not tell me anything then expect me to write you more. That's just rude af, mate.

Tagging system: N.SFW = Kettledrums // (I tag everything with ___ //) If you need anything specific tagged and I don't tag it, please let me know and I'll mark it down to tag in the future!

Non-Mutuals

Since I’ve had some troubles in the past about non-mutual starlings still liking starter calls or the like, I feel its necessary to address this issue first.

My lovely starlings, I will always adore you and I will come into your inbox all the time. I will send you Nonnies and HC questions. I appreciate and adore you very much! However, if I didn’t follow you back its likely because of very few reasons: 

★ I want to keep my dash neat and organized and I can’t follow you (in good conscious because I will likely unfollow you soon after) if the content spread of your bagel is a bunch of varying things that I personally wouldn’t want on my dash or have no use for. 

★  Your character is wonderful but I don’t think they could really interact well with my muse in a sense of actually interacting and not in a sense of different fandoms or the like. No, our muses don’t have to get along for us to interact but if your muse isn’t my cup of tea– Well I can’t see us interacting. 

★ Our writing won’t work well together. I read a handful of threads when I go to check out your bagel and if I feel our writing won’t work well together, I can’t follow you because I don’t want to be the asshole who follows you then never interacts with you.

★  If I have no interest in writing with your muse I won’t follow you because, again, I really don’t want to be that asshole who follows but never interacts.  

None of this is personal, okay? I love all you beautiful starlings and I really do appreciate you so much! You’re not too OOC (may I direct you to my constant bagel situation? Look at all that endless OOC.) You’re not a bad writer. You’re not anything bad at all! These are just my preferences! 

This doesn’t mean we can never talk or interact, though! But here’s the rule of thumb:

★  Please do not send me asks or the like with Memes that aren’t relative to drabbles or HCs. Please do not send me asks or the like with inquiry to thread! I don’t want to have to tell you no, I’m really really bad at saying no, okay? And when I don’t say no, but I want to say no, I end up dropping threads and then no one feels good. Which is really not okay because I don’t want either of us not havin’ a good time!

Following

I take great measures to check your bagel out! I’ll read your writing, check all your pages and I’ll basically stalk your bagel for a bit before I decide on following you or not. 

Please note though: Sometimes I can take a while to get to checking you out! This is because tumblr doesn’t notify me, I’m too busy working or I didn’t see the number change concerning my followers! Typically I’ll post when I’m checking new starlings out though! 

If you’re going to follow me, please note that I do tag everything as extensively as possible. If you need something tagged with a custom tag, please let me know! I’ll take care of it! 

Tagging in general: I always tag all forms of NSFW (Nudity, Violence, etc) as “Kettledrums //“  and I always tag Water, Blades, Eye contact, Scars and other things as “water //” etc.

Unfollowing

If I unfollow you, don’t come at me asking why. Don’t come at me interrogating me for reasons as to why I unfollowed you. If we’re close friends or if we’ve always been following each other and suddenly I’m not following you, then yes, please IM me because I’m p sure that tumblr fucked up somewhere there.

But if not? Don’t come at me with that please. I am a very anxious person and I really don’t want to have to deal with that. 

The same goes for you unfollowing me though! I won’t come at you for it! Its your decision who you follow, not mine! I understand completely and you do you sugar! 

Threads

My threads vary in length but generally they tend to get long all on their own. Even if it starts off with just a sentence or something, it usually evolves into paragraphs within a few replies. 

I don’t mind length matching. You don’t have to match my length and you definitely don’t have to try to make it longer just to keep up. I want you to have fun writing and if you can only give me two paras on a three or four para reply, that’s fine. However, if I’ve given you six paragraphs and you only give me one, I’m likely to lose interest in the thread unless I’m told that you’re having writer’s block or something.

The reason for that is because when the reply length drops that dramatically, it makes me feel as though you have no interest in it. If I think you don’t have any interest in it, I’m not going to make you continue it. If you want to drop a thread with me, let me know! We can always have a thousand threads and only ever really do two of them. I mean, it happens a lot pfft. 

The point is: Relax. Threads are meant to be fun after all! 

Muse

PLEASE DO NOT EQUATE ME TO MY MUSE. However, whatever similarities may arise between us: I AM NOT MY MUSE. Anything they may do or say is not necessarily supported by me. 

Shipping

I am multi-ship but I ship on chemistry. We can talk about shipping our muses all day long though! If you wanna ship with me, let me know! Just kick my inbox door down and say “HEY FUCKFACE LETS SHIP” and I will be down for discussing it! 

Shipping is not just Romantics here either. Platonic ships such as Familial, Best friends, etc. Hateful ships too. There’s various ways to ship, romanticism isn’t the only way. 

If you drop your ship with me, that is perfectly alright and I understand completely. Sometimes things change somewhere along the line and the ship doesn’t work anymore! 

Please note: ANY UNDERAGE MUSE / MUN WILL NOT BE INCLUDED IN ANY NSFW / SMUT WRITING. I will not write it with my underage muses and I definitely will not with underage muns, I do not wanna go to jail, thank you.

Personal

Don’t come here with any Anti bullshit. If you follow me and you’re an Anti, I’ve probably already blocked you. I don’t allow unneeded drama and bullshit here and I will protect anyone who follows me from it by keeping that shit off my bagel.

If you send me anon hate or anti ask bullshit, I will report and block you. NO ANTIS ALLOWED HERE. I’m not down with that life and this is a NO DRAMA ZONE. You bring it here, you’re INSTANTLY BLOCKED. I won’t answer you, I won’t respond nor react– I’ll just delete it, block you, report you and move on. Ain’t no one got time for that.  Beyond that: I welcome you with open arms!

The general Do(s)

★  Message me if you are interested in my muse! 

★  Send me memes when I reblogged them! 

★  Tag / Mention me in anything! 

★  Ship with me! If there’s chemistry, I am down! Even if it’s unrequited or anything of that sort! I mean, dang, ship in platonics! Do the thing my friend!

★ Ask me anything your little heart desires, even if it’s just some help or advice you need! 

★ Like/Reblog my roleplays if you are involved in it!

★  Send headcanons or drabble prompts! I’d love to hear them and hell, will probably accept them! 

★  Interact with me even if you’re from another fandom! 

★  Interact with me even if you’re an OC! 

★  Interact with me even if you’re a multiblog!

★  Interact with me! Just do it friend! I do not bite!!

The general Don’t(s)

★ Attempt to write smut with me if you are underaged. Mun is above 18 and would really rather not go to jail!

★  Expect me to follow you back once you followed me! Truly, I usually do follow back, but I also take the time to read every page on someone’s blog to see if I’m interested! It wouldn’t be fair to anyone if I just followed them back and never interacted with them due to lack of interest! Not to say that your muse(s) aren’t great, they’re just not my cup of tea!

★  Expect me to be my muse.

★  Expect me to solve every problem on my own. If we’re interacting with each other and run into a problem, I want to be able to communicate with you and solve it together! While I am an agile problem solver, I can’t do it on my own because it risks upsetting you by accident if I do something wrong! 

★  Assume I’ll ship with you just because I’m Multiship. I am multiship, but I ship upon chemistry! 

★  Guilt trip me into replies! I do them as quickly as I can and I try my very best! Please do poke at me if you feel I’ve missed it, but don’t give me hell for it, okay?

★  Message me and corner me into doing something I’m uncomfortable with. While I’m pretty laid back and am up for just about anything, if I express that I’m uncomfortable, please respect that! 

★  Bring me unneeded drama! I’m here to have fun, not bitch at people over the net, y'know?

★ Bring your “Anti” bullshit here. I’m not about that life.

Credits

Main images on this bagel by by Len-Yan.

THANK YOU FOR READING!! ❤

[game-meak]

A Proper Postmortem

Maybe?!  Heck if I know how to actually format a good post but let’s try.  As game development went on for almost four years, this is probably gonna be long... and also give away basically the whole game oops!  Read on with caution.

Sometime around July 2014, a month after the initial release of my first game, my room was being remodeled and I was stuck with nothing for free time but a garbage laptop I could do anything on, an old flip phone, my sketchbook, and my 3DS.  So beyond playing an obscene amount of Animal Crossing and Tomodachi Life, I at some point went “hey, what if I made a second game starring the kids.”  So I started trying to plan it out!  And it went

absolutely nowhere that I intended it to go!!!

For instance, this is the very first page of sketches.  This squirrel was supposed to be really important.  It’s not.  I don’t even KNOW what’s up with that duck.

A thing I like to think about before I set off making any of the story, assets, or scripts for my games tend to be themes and motifs.  And I kept circling back to a very important, very personal “theme.”  Without using the internet at large as my therapy couch, I was emotionally abused and taken advantage of multiple times in my life and it greatly impacts how I interact with people to this very day, as you’d expect events of such a degree would.  Particularly, I kept thinking that the RPG Maker fan crowd tends to skew young and be in the teenage range and at ages 14-16, I could’ve used something to help.

Of course, my entire thought process isn’t necessarily one of charity and selflessness.  It was also a way of me expressing what I’d dealt with in ways I’ve only ever communicated with my friends who were also victims of the same circumstances, the closest I would let myself come to personal stories and retellings with a cover of plastic children and wild adventures.  It was also in some ways a way of me verifying to myself that something ongoing was, in fact, bananas and should not have been happening, but that might be another story for another time.

As you can probably guess, Haze and Seal came into the picture since I needed to make two characters who would have this struggle.  A lot of decisions came about because of my personal experience.  They’re 15/16 because I was at the time of the incidents that primarily inspired me to make this game.  They’re both nonbinary because I am.  They love anime because I did (and do...?!)  One of their friends is even directly modeled off how one of my friends looked in high school.  To that degree, I guess someone, somewhere can call them self inserts.  But they’re also not, since I didn’t want to just do a personal retelling with fictional characters.  I’d just write a memoir or something at that point.

Haze’s design came first, and then Seal’s was sort of made as a foil to them.  Haze’s “colors” are pink, black, grey, and red.  Seal’s are teal and light purple... and also black.  Haze had a rabbit motif (which got toned down as I went on), Seal had an owl motif (which is now just a single mention in their list of likes...), etc.

Though in the beginning, the story was entirely different.  Initially, everything took place in the neon-ish areas with black sky and reflective, celestial water (that I, very eloquently, call “spacewater”).  The idea was that Haze and Seal were beings from another dimension and that their “fighting” was causing a rip in the universe that the kids stumbled into and therefore got wrapped up in this mess.  I had an entire script written and started making assets and when I went to sum up the game’s plot in a neat paragraph, I realized... I hated it!!!

So I chucked all I had done by that point writing-wise and started again.

In fact, I rewrote a lot.  After the first it was mostly small tweaks and adjustments, but the biggest ones (and the ones that still present a challenge to me!) usually involved trying to make Seal feel like a believable character.  I had shown an early draft to someone who said that Seal felt too much like trying to get back at someone, so I scrapped a ton of their lines and tried again.  I still worry whether or not they come across too Strawman-y, but I’ve done the best I can and whatever criticism people have can apply to my next writing attempts.  It’s very hard to separate yourself from subject matter you feel really personally attached to.  I don’t want to write them in a way that you immediately hate them, or hate me for writing such a blatant “villain” character, but in a way that you can formulate your own thoughts.  That said, though, I am violently allergic to people who call Seal a “tsundere,” even in jest.  So I guess I want people to have their own thoughts as long as it’s not that specific one...! (;;;;)

You may be thinking “heck, this is a lot of paragraphs in and you haven’t even brought up gameplay thoughts” and yes... that’s very true.  Shamefully, for a game where I thought “I should definitely, absolutely focus more on making it a Fun Game than a walking visual novel” I might’ve actually dropped the ball in that area.  I’d like to think I was more adventurous than I had been with my first game.  Some parts do kind of fall into the “walk to the next cutscene, find a key to unlock the next cutscene” pit, but I did put effort into figuring out what I could do with RMXP.  My obligatory “please don’t use this engine here, people thinking of using RPG Maker” statements here.  In the final product, though they’re very simple, I’m most proud of the chalkboard puzzle and the paint sorting puzzle.

Even if, y’know... I somehow neglected to include the letter “k”

Speaking of, I’m not sure if this is a general RPG Maker thing, a “man I hate RMXP” thing, or a “meaka cannot gamemake” thing, but I had several event/puzzles just up and quit on me a few times.  Like they would work fine for months and months, but one day I’d go to them and just nope, suddenly they’re not working, sorry.  Copy+pasting the event to a new map wouldn’t work, so I’d have to manually redo the event.  One of them was the chalkboard puzzle.  The other was the sliding puzzle when Tony is by herself.  Which I’m also aware slows the game down a ton, but I have legitimately no idea how to fix that... I tried and I could never get to to not lag like crazy.

Like I said, I started in July 2014.  I’d shipped the game off to my beta testers in March 2018.  A vast majority of that time was spent creating the visual assets since everything you see in the game is custom.  All the sprites, all the tilesets, every little pixel of it.  All me!  Needless to say... it was very exhausting and very time consuming. I grossly underestimated how much time I thought it’d take.  I never accounted for the very real possibility of burnout, which is incredibly silly considering I was making something entirely by myself that was also an occasionally difficult subject matter...!  There were quite a few weeks where I touched nothing because I couldn’t bring myself to and even a few times where I just considered deleting everything and cancelling the project.  I knew I’d be mad at myself if I quit, especially as I got later into production, so I just tried my best to make sure I didn’t turn it into a huge chore.  Obviously, there were parts that were more tedious than others, but this game really is a very large labor of love that I put a lot of my heart into.

Part of that time is also a little bit of indecision.  Did you know I went through 3 possible title screens?  I sure did!  I’ve also publicly posted about redoing both Haze and Seal’s bust sprites before.  I almost redid all of the kids’, too, but I didn’t wanna get caught in the loop of remaking everything, so I opted to just leave them as they are.  Most of them don’t bug me as much.  M...most of them!

I’m hopping back on the Story train since obviously that was my main focus, but the decision to have Seal sort of “reveal” their true nature (or at least have a jealousy-related anger burst) to Octavio as an animated cutscene was one I’d decided pretty early.  Which is also why, unsurprisingly, I was debating getting voice actors for a hot minute.  But I wouldn’t have used it anywhere else in the game, so I opted not to.  I also wanted to keep the file size low, but that wound up not happening so much, h-haha...   For someone who uses the only engine without native support for videos, I sure do like making animated cutscenes, huh.

Anyway.  This scene originally bridged Octavio’s section of the game to Pablo’s, which would’ve been (for some reason) in an abandoned hospital.  But that didn’t pan out because it didn’t fit what I wanted the game to be and also by switching the order of the two, it builds up more tension(?) on the kind of character you expect Seal to be.  I hope their very first “fuck off, maybe” took someone out there by surprise!

This also was the point when I decided I wanted to commission an original soundtrack, since nothing quite got across what I wanted at the time.  Which is when I put out my silly ad post and somehow managed to get the amazing ProjectTrinity to compose for me...!  I’m still amazed by the sheer quality of music he made for my little RPGMaker game.

Having the teen characters curse was also something I waffled on for a bit.  Clearly, I dwell on the important things as a writer.  I wanted it to contrast the cutesy, kidlike way the siblings talk and also the sort of squeaky-clean image the witches (particularly Seal) present to the kids by contrasting how they talk to each other, most importantly how Seal talks to Haze and their other friends.  I did have the same issue with the Mother in my first game, but I opted to not have her curse at all either since she’s childish in her own way, too.  But that’s not for THIS game’s postmortem, get otta here!!!

I also very much was set on a “battle” with words being the final event of the game.  Though I had a hard time imagining what that would be initially, but eventually arrived at a sort of fake battle system that was introduced in the mine.  The setting for this battle changed with time (everywhere from the park to the academy and in between) was considered...!  The dirty secret is that while I did like the decision to make it take place in the voids between worlds, I also sort of did not want to draw the staircase in the witch academy.  Originally, the kids would’ve also helped Haze “reach” Seal (who was putting actual obstacles in the way), but I guess in my own way, I wanted to give Haze the ability to confront Seal on their own, one-on-one.  Or something like that...!  I also didn’t want to add too much needless backtracking.

I’m... unsure what other point I really want to make, so I guess I’ll end this here unless anyone has anything in particular that interests them they’d want me to answer!

All in all, this game means a lot to me and took a chunk of my life to make and I really hope it’s able to reach at least one person who might need it, even if it’s only a little. 

To all of you who gave it a try, thank you, truly, from the bottom of my heart.

A shameless link to the game:  [itch.io] & [RMN]

[els-writes]

Some unrequested, unoriginal, and possibly unpopular Kingdom Hearts 3 thoughts - putting them here because I need to vent, sorry if this isn’t the content you’re looking for from me! XD

After sitting on this game for nearly two months now, I think I’ve finally sorted my feelings into intelligible thoughts. So here we go.

Sorry again this is so long and not my usual post, but I needed to vent, and I’m kinda interested to see what other people think! I know the DLC is hinted to expand on the endgame, but that feels like a cheap way of fixing the criticism.

I love Kingdom Hearts. Like love it. I’ve been playing these games for years - I got a PSP purely so I could play Birth By Sleep. I gave UnionX a shot back when it was Unchained, and I even forced myself to watch through all of DDD, even though that game ignites a kind of hatred I didn’t even know I was capable of feeling.

Kingdom Hearts 3 was great. I enjoyed playing it. It was so much fun, and I’ve never wanted to complete a game more. But it wasn’t the game I hoped for. Perhaps I expected too much, or perhaps the game devs built too many plots and overestimated how easily they could put into a single game and tie it all together with a neat bow, but it wasn’t the game I waited years for.

To clear up my thoughts before I get to my main point: 

Gameplay: great. 

Combat: great, if a little easy, but it was fun as hell. 

Pixar levels: holy shit amazing. 

Graphics: so beautiful no game plays the same. 

Music: still got the OST on repeat.

Gummi ships: burn in hell. 

Tangled world: kind dull but pretty. 

Frozen world: why the fuck are they singing. 

Pirates world: I have no idea what’s happening, if I wanted to play Assassins Creed black flag I would have.

But even the negative aspects weren’t bad enough to make me dislike the game (even if I cried in anger at one point during Pirates and I had to leave the room during the songs...)

There were two key problems that kind of ruined the game for me, in a way. 

The pacing, and the treatment of the characters. 

And that’s not a new opinion on the internet from what I’ve seen, but if the pacing had been fixed, if they hadn’t tried to summarise ALL the tiny plots together, if they hadn’t tried to rush through bringing everyone back at once, I think it would have been everything I wanted. Hell, I would rather they had split it into more games! Yeah, I said it! Give me more, fleshed out, singular plot driven spectacular games like BBS and we would’ve been great. They didn’t need to set up the black box plot here. Maybe teased at it, but not had it so thrown in everywhere, only to go no where. Waste of time, and waste of our old villains. Most of the bad guys didn’t really serve a purpose in the Disney worlds - honestly, most of the Disney worlds felt like they only served to level grinding to me - they had no real impact on the overall plot. Disney worlds are always a little thrown in, granted, but no game has had them serve no real purpose whatsoever to the main plot. 

Hard core KH fans have followed these characters through a ridiculous number of titles for this series. These characters are amazing and loved and so incredible. All I wanted was for there to be some decent emotional pay off for them. And honestly? I think they did most of them a massive disservice. 

To start with: I didn’t necessarily want everyone to come back. Some characters (like Roxas, Xion, and Namine) had returned to their ‘whole selves’, and as much as I loved them, I could understand. I was happy that Sora’s story was focused on bringing Roxas back, it felt sweet, like a very in-character thing to do, and I was looking forward to seeing how they would do it. But most of the time, they didn’t have Sora do anything to move towards that goal? He just ran around Disney worlds, and sometimes mentioned Roxas in the cutscenes inbetween? 

The plot barely moved for 30+ hours of my gameplay through the Disney worlds as I tried to complete each one before moving on. As we reached the Keyblade Graveyard, I was excited that things were starting to move forward, thinking it was mid-game. Nope. It was the start of a 2 hour mad dash to the finish line. It was messy, it was rushed, it left me feeling completely unsatisfied and unable to savour the return of most of my favourite characters. 

The scene with Lea/Axel commenting on how confusing everything was was funny, but it felt like the devs making an excuse to not spend time making the most of Ventus and Aqua’s return. I could kind of forgive them for that, since they were in a rush to save the others, and they did try to give the pair a little bit of time. But Terra? Roxas? Xion? NAMINE? They appeared last minute - some of them, Xion and Roxas especially, not even making sense when you think about plot holes. When they did appear, we didn’t get the emotional payoff and reunion of our trios and old friends that I was waiting for, we got quick comments and ‘ironing out plot points’ off screen? Even Roxas and Ventus meeting was completely anticlimactic (yes, I know they were in the middle of a fight, and they probably didn’t have time, but they’re literally twins, a bit more than just a confused glance and then forgetting it was surely needed). 

So overall: 

Roxas: my favourite, appeared without real explanation, barely got time with Axel. And then we still played Sora to fight? When really, Roxas deserved that fight.

Xion: how did she come back? She was in Sora again? Like... explain?

Terra: had to rewatch a few times before I understood what it was all about, but his return was half decent once I understood it. Also Lingering Will? Hello? 

Namine: she doesn’t even speak (aside from in star form) and is just introduced in the ending? I might forgive this, as she wasn’t really needed, if they hadn’t rushed the reintroduction of EVERYONE. 

Seasalt Trio: a momentary hug, the only thing that made me cry in the game, that was cut short and then dealt with off screen. 

Wayfinder Trio: No where near enough emotional payoff. None. 

Kairi: Wow. Nomura must really hate her? 

So, yeah. That’s all I have for now. The more I type it, the more it annoys me to think about. I’m disappointed in how it all played out in the end. It was rushed, hurried through, gave no payoff, and didn’t make sense a lot of the time. 

The game was incredible. Truly. Wonderful game. But the story? As an end to the massive series that I’ve invested so much time into? It wasn’t enough. 

Also no to the ending. Just no. 

[douxreviews]

Star Trek: Discovery - ‘Point of Light’ Review

Burnham: "Show me a teenage girl who's never cried. You can't. I should know, I'm a xenoanthropologist."

By nature I love brevity: After last week's primarily standalone 'New Eden,' 'Point of Light' jumps right back into the season's arcs, developing some stories and beginning others. Most of it works, but a few slight issues remain. All in all, a strong episode.

The Klingons last season were very divisive. Though some appreciated the differences because they helped the Klingons feel alien again, others hated the very different general look of a race that has been a Star Trek staple since TOS. Specifically, a few things bothered fans. The Klingons' lack of hair was one; likewise the differently designed ships (especially one that was called the D7 but looked nothing like the TOS design) were hard to get over. The sequences that took place entirely in Klingon with subtitles got very tedious after a little while, as well; it's much easier to follow when you're able to understand what they're saying.

The Klingon portions of 'Point of Light' felt like an extremely overt attempt at correcting these issues. From the very beginning with the D7 to the deliberate switch from Klingon to English in the final scene, the whole thing appeared to be designed for the purpose of showing fans that the show would be doing something different. And each change, such as the hair on the Klingons' heads, was pointed out deliberately to the audience through lines like 'So the Klingons are growing their hair again post-war?' While I appreciate the modifications, and the explanations mostly make sense, it was at times a little too on-the-nose. I like that they're going out of their way to fix the problems of Season One, but every time they point to their solutions and say, 'See? We know you didn't like it and it's all better now!' it somehow feels both cheap and heavy-handed at the same time.

As far as the other half of the episode goes, three of this season's primary storylines progressed, some of them substantially. The first story that got some progress here is that of the red bursts and the Red Angel. The only thing that we really learned here is that Spock really has been seeing the Red Angel since childhood, and that it helped him save Michael. At first glance, this seems like more of the same, but when you think about it it's actually quite revealing. The fact that Spock saw visions of the Angel that were clear enough for him to get a message is interesting enough, but the fact that that message resulted in Burnham's life being saved is remarkable. This means two things. First, it reinforces that the Angel is not some vague presence, but that it actually intervenes actively in people's lives. Secondly, and I think more importantly, this is the second time that an appearance of the Angel has coincided with the rescue of Michael Burnham. The first was in the pilot, when Pike saved her, and here it was Spock saving her. It says to me that the Angel has a specific interest in Burnham and her life, which may be very interesting to watch considering Burnham's reservations about believing in a sort of higher power.

The appearance of Amanda also led to revelations about the Spock storyline. We learned that his condition has developed to the extent that Starfleet is keeping it classified at the highest level. It's telling that Pike tries to follow the rules, but is all too happy to break them when the need arises. This simply further cements him as a classic starship Captain, perhaps even too classic. One thing you could never say about Lorca is that we've seen Captains like him before. He was new and different; Pike is not. While this may not necessarily be a bad thing for the show at this point, I hope Pike is given distinguishing traits that will give his character more depth. The other tidbit of information we learned was that Burnham hurt Spock intentionally and for his safety. One can very easily see a young Spock, curious about humanity and unsatisfied by the intentionally reserved side of his mother, following Burnham around and wanting to be involved in her life. It would be appropriately devastating to have a childhood idol such as that hurt you deeply and intentionally. I only hope the final reveal of what Burnham did to him measure up to what they've built. The other thing is that the Federation believes Spock murdered three of his doctors. Burnham and Amanda aren't certain, which is pretty scary.

The last storyline that gets developed, and this one much more than the others combined, is Tilly's Seeing Dead People plot. Over the course of this single episode, we learn that May's appearance is connected to the green spore that landed on Tilly's shoulder at the end of last season, discover that May is a parasite who needs Tilly for something and calls Stamets the Captain, and pull the parasite off of Tilly in a bit of a cliffhanger ending. While it does feel a tiny bit rushed, I'm glad they aren't dragging this out. There are a limited number of episodes this season, and if they have to drag out a storyline to fill some time, they definitely don't have enough story to write for it. The other thing is that the way it would be dragged out would be more scenes where Tilly looks crazy to everyone around her when she talks to someone they can't see. Scenes like this are very hard to watch, and they get progressively more annoying the more of them there are. Moving on right to fighting the parasite means that we have less of these scenes to sit through. I have to applaud Bahia Watson for her great performance here; after playing 'unsettling, but not aggressively so' last episode, Watson suddenly turns the creep factor up to eleven in a way that both shocks me with its suddenness and at the same time feels like a natural and not-at-all rushed progression of the character. It will be interesting to see what I can only assume to be the finale of this storyline next episode.

All in all, I liked this episode a great deal. Several of the reveals surprised me (L'Rell and TyVoq's baby; the new information about the Red Angel), and I liked the way that Mirror Georgiou is being used to bring TyVoq back into the story. Though some of the Klingon bits made me roll my eyes at their blatant 'we're fixing what you didn't like' tone, on the whole this was a good episode. It's a bit hard to judge the developments of the ongoing stories until they come to full fruition, but 'Point of Light' seems like a good arc progression.

Strange New Worlds: Q'o'nos doesn't count as a new planet, so we didn't go anywhere new this time.

New Life and New Civilizations: We learned this week that May is a new type of life form that we haven't seen before.

Pensees:

-I really liked Burnham and Tilly's relationship in this one. It really felt like a strong, healthy friendship, and the way Burnham solved the problem made sense.

-One of my friends is really turned off by the invasions of Spock's privacy this season. First Burnham entered his quarters, and now they're breaking into his medical files.

-Another director's credit for Olatunde Osunsamni. She did a fine job with this one.

-They're calling Lt. Owosekun 'Owo' now. Was that an intentional cultural reference? I bet it was.

-The reveal of Amanda worked well. If I hadn't known she'd be in the episode, I would have been surprised.

-I like the idea of using the D7 as a way to unite the Klingon houses. If we go with the Season One idea that the houses have been split and in disarray, which explains the vastly different ships we saw that season, the one standardized design works well.

-Kolsha, Kol's father, was played by Kenneth Mitchell. He played his own character's father, which works, I guess.

-Spock's been taking EQ tests. It's good to see EQ being used as an accepted practice in the future, even if it is a fictional future.

-I liked the use of the split-screen effect when Burnham and Tyler were talking. It helped sell their emotional distance.

-It appears Tilly is prone to both giving up and making rash decisions when she's stressed or embarrassed. That's a good trait to give a character.

-Why the heck does Georgiou need the holographic face disguiser AND the Black Manta mask?

-Severed heads, especially severed baby heads, even if they are fake, is darker than Star Trek's been before.

-The new Section 31 starship looks kinda neat. I like the multi-level bridge.

-Tyler sent the baby to Boreth, which is the only connection to this episode's title. The legend believed by the monks of Boreth relates Kahless' promise that he will return 'on one of those points of light,' referring to the stars.

-So, uh... I know why Tyler isn't shocked by Georgiou, but wasn't she, well, dinner last time L'Rell saw her? Just sayin'.

-I don't think Javid Iqbal Shazad Latif quite got the memo about the less stilted, more natural dialogue this season.

Quotes:

Burnham: "You didn't betray your friend, Captain. You followed protocol." Pike: "That's easier to say than to believe."

L'Rell, to TyVoq: "You should not care what everyone sees when they look at you."

Georgiou: "The freaks are more fun."

4.5 out of 6 unnecessary Black Manta masks.

CoramDeo is climbing a mountain. Why is he climbing a mountain?