#this was so rambling I'm sorry if you read through all of this

[nebulations]

[ID copied from alt:

Page 1, Loid is helping Yor patch up a cheek cut, she looks sheepish about it while he looks exhausted. Page text: Yor - He so gentle, he looks tired. I guess he had missions too. Loid - It might burn a bit

Page 2, Yor is spiraling about what his mood means until Loid brings her back Page text: Yor - He probably waited up a while. Oh no, was I being inconsiderate?! He thinks I have awful manners now. With awful manners I can be a good wife! Oh he'll divorce me...And the SSS will be after me! Oh but first, I have to go grocery shopping, and pick up Anya's uniform-. Loid - (in the background calling her name multiple times) YOR!

Page 3, Yor starts freaking out about the small gesture, holding her hand, and apologizes for her behavior. On the other hand Loid expresses he was worried about her. Page text: Yor - S-sorry I spaced out! (a lot of illegible rambling). Loid - I was-I was worried sick about you.

Page 4, Loid seeks comfort from Yor and lays his head on her lap, hugging her close Page 4 text: Yor - Wha-. Loid - I was about to go out looking for you, when I opened the door you were all bloody, and that cut on your cheek I-, I'm not used to seeing you like that still, if anything happened to you... Yor - Nothing could keep me from coming home Loid.

Page 5, Loid expresses frustration at knowing Yor can take care of herself, but not being able to stop his training of running through every scenario. Page 5 text: Loid - I know but I can't help running every possibility, every possibility you don't come back, I have to act like it's protocol, expected, calculated.

Page 6, looks at Yor and Loid's home life, more framed photos have taken place at their apartment and all he wants is knowing his family is safe at home. Page 6 text: Loid - When really, all I'm hoping for is to see my wife home in time for dinner. In a panel with a small memory of all the forgers at dinner their text reads: Loid - Careful Anya-! Bond - Borf. Anya - Starlight Anya!! Yor - Hehe careful!

Page 7, Yor does her best to comfort Loid and gets cheeky by admitting she's got someone to lean on and giving him a kiss on the cheek. Page 7 text: Yor - And I'll come back every time, thought hopefully ON time. Also, I have someone I can rely on now. I'm still glad I married you, Twilight. End ID]

Sometimes all I think about is you

[vaspider]

Recently you reblogged a post about the insufferable "I'm SO realistic!" pretensions of GRRM and how A Song of Ice and Fire is, in fact, highly unrealistic. This got me into A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry, a delightful treasure trove of a site that will no doubt greatly improve my own attempts at writing at least semi-realistic fantasy. (Although unlike GRRM, I will admit upfront that I will likely make many errors, because worldbuilding is hard.)

I am curious, though, after reading through that post and ACOUP, if you have any recommendations for fantasy that is realistic? Not in the sense of "historically accurate to a specific time period", but just in the sense of "the worldbuilding doesn't fall apart if you apply logic, science or too much thought to it" and "people/populations react in ways that make sense/feel realistic to events within the book(s)". You strike me as someone who either knows some good books in that vein or knows people who know. I'm sort of a fantasy newbie in that my only reading in the genre has been some GRRM and all of Lord of the Rings and that's it, so I'm looking for more to read. But I keep getting warned by people that there's a lot of bad fantasy out there, which I'd rather avoid given my limited free time and crowded schedule.

Sorry if this ask is rambly. I'd blame my ADHD for making me go on too long but honestly most of my family is like this. I suspect we were all cursed in some niche way, to start off interesting and then go on too long.

P.S. On a totally unrelated note, because va can be a prefix to titles in Karakalpak and I did a paper on the language once, I have been reading your name as, basically, The Honorable Spider and it only occurred to me as I was typing this that it probably stands for Virginia or something. (But I fully plan on continuing to think 'The Honorable Spider' because that's just funnier and makes me imagine a spider that is also a judge and wears a robe and wig.)

I honestly don't care about realism in fantasy at all. I just hate GRRM's Hobbesian grimdarque wankery.

[boughclan-clangen]

moon 0, page 7

>air thick with dread.

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[protect-namine]

yingdu episode 5 spoilers

ohhh my god this is everything I want from cheng xiaoshi. yes. perfect. sorry, but I'm a cheng xiaoshi whump liker and link click always brings out the best of them in episode 5 of each season.

there's just something cathartic about how when cheng xiaoshi becomes an emotional mess, it's also when he's most disconnected with the people he knows (physically, as he's diving in a photo and his only link to his home timeframe is a disembodied lu guang in his head) but it's also when he's most connected with strangers (when their own personal trauma lines up with his). to me, it's a showcase of empathy and a strange manifestation of his own agency. something about how the disconnect gives him the space to blow up, and the connection heightens it and grants him permission, almost, to express his anger more freely for his own sake and for another person's behalf.

like. listen, okay, I'm gonna ramble now because cheng xiaoshi is my favorite character in this entire show, but listen. sometimes some fans will conflate adjectives to his character that are usually associated with his character archetype, but they aren't necessarily true about him as a character. and I don't mean it in a, "he's not like that because he grows out of those traits" kind of way. I mean it in a, "he was never like that" kind of way.

one of those adjectives, for me, is when people call him immature. he isn't! to me! imo! he's got big emotions, yes, but I personally don't think the presence of big emotions indicates anything about maturity. because you know what? as long as his primary trauma (feelings of abandonment) isn't touched, he is very good at handling interpersonal conflicts, and that's what's interesting to me.

qiao ling hides relevant information from him? he removes himself from the situation to give himself space and sort out his feelings. he tells her he's fine and that he'll be back.

post-earthquake arc? I'll just copy paste what I already said in a previous ask:

what initially got me was when I was first watching S1, I thought the earthquake arc would have devastating effects on [shiguang's] relationship. listen, I didn’t know what I was getting into with link click, but I thought that was expected. it’s ripe for drama! but how do they handle the fight? they put their side business on hold but they still keep being roommates. they still do their day job. they still talk. they’re still upset but they give each other space but not to the point where they can’t stand existing in each other’s spaces. that’s when I realized that oh, they really trust each other. they have a very solid foundation for their relationship that not even the earthquake arc can break. they’re pretty level-headed about this, actually, all things considered? all the doomed yaoi stuff came later, but that’s just the cherry on top. it’s the way they handled conflict and disappointment in S1 that got me.

okay, protect-namine, why go through that whole tangent? BECAUSE! circling back to yingdu episode 5, we finally, finally get to see cheng xiaoshi let out some of his anger. and it's precisely because his primary trauma point was on the table. he can forgive a friend lying, and he can forgive being told not to change the past. because at the end of the day, qiao ling and lu guang stayed. they never left him.

but he cannot handle abandonment. he cannot understand why people leave. he cannot understand why he's been clinging on to false hope this entire time. and more importantly, he cannot understand how someone can be such a hypocrite about it. "a man who'd rather be kind to strangers than face his own son" like fuck man. cheng weimin you fucked up so bad.

it's the disconnect/connect thing again too. thematically, it makes sense. when does cheng xiaoshi blow up? when he's alone, far away from the people that ground him. alone, the feeling he hates the most. he's not even in his own body. he blows up when he's inhabiting a stranger's. he doesn't even get to be angry as cheng xiaoshi.

how fucked up is that. man. I love him so much.

also I'm going crazyyyy over the family themes going on in link click. much to say about the show itself across all seasons (the twins, qiao ling and cheng xiaoshi, even the liu siblings), but for this episode... god. okay this is slight speculation territory now and I'll try to keep this very short, because this is only tangential to the post. but. imagine xia fei getting the good parent figure in cheng weimin that cheng xiaoshi never had. and he doesn't know!! he's bitter inside about his dad and he's having hotpot with xia fei and he doesn't know he was in that school!! fuck that's so good. that's so juicy.

okay, sorry, I have a lot of feelings about cheng xiaoshi. he's my link click blorbo of all time, and I love when he experiences The Horrors™ because it's also when other sides of him gets to shine.

on a brighter note:

VEIN AND CHENG XIAOSHI MEETING AGAIN!!! their greeting was so cute. also omg does xia fei know? that his boss is maybe possibly a cannibal? actually, wait, I don't think I'd be surprised if he does know.

ah and finally. finally:

I've been having many thoughts on how yingdu approaches "friendships" and their transactional nature (mostly with regards to liu xiao) but I mostly thought they're headcanon stuff. but now. I'm so so happy that episode 5 is bringing out more of the quid pro quo theme. liu xiao with the gift giving. wang qing's "friends" (bullies) demanding her to cheat on the exam for them. and now, vein and cheng xiaoshi having a friendly greeting but also exchanging favors. so good. so good. it goes along with how there's so much handshakes and handholding this season (not just with lu guang and cheng xiaoshi, but with cheng xiaoshi and the the antagonist trio too, who have all met him by "helping" him in some way). something something trust and favors. probably something that deserves its own post though, but I wanted to point this out because I am soooo here for that. it's goes hand in hand (ha!) with the whole fraud/lies vs innocence/honesty theme this season, and deals/contracts being an equalizer to the two. very good. very tasty.

edit: ooh they also point to this in the YE6 trailer too. nice, nice. if you knew someone's true colors, would you still be their friend?

man, I love episode 5. it just hits all the stuff I personally wanted to see. the only flaw is that we still haven't seen the older version of wang qing, but yeah I kinda expected that they'll hide her until episode 6. they're giving her the liu xiao treatment from season 2. sigh. really wish she'd keep showing up in S3, we need more female characters in this show 🙏

[lmaster37]

hmmmm "i will" by mitski as a loumand song.... armand both pre- and post-SF trying to convince himself he's doing the right thing, he's doing this for louis, he's doing this for them......

armand who considers himself fundamentally unlovable outside of his utility to a partner...... for whom love and servitude and ownership and debt are all mixed up in ways informed by centuries of abuse

who is applying what little he has received in the way of love (both real and perceived) to his current relationships, but who has never felt loved without being owned, who has never once even considered that Respecting Boundaries is an important part of loving somebody, who is used to his lover being his owner being his maker being his god, and who applies all that to his relationship with louis because it's the first time he is suddenly in the dominant position in a relationship and he is Not equipped to handle that in any way even approaching a healthy relationship

"i will see your body bare and still i will live here" considering that the highest form of devotion because surely only somebody who truly loves him could stomach to see him undone, to see him brought low, even if they were the one to undo him. is it not the most honest expression of his adoration for louis to see him brought low and rebuild him ?

"and all the quiet nights you bear, seal them up with care / no one needs to know they're there, for i will hold them for you" armand who is intimately familiar with the ways that memory can hurt you, who is desperately trying to pretend that forgetting is the same as moving on, who is taking on all the burden of this relationship and still louis is so ungrateful, how dare he accuse armand of doing this for his own benefit when it was all for louis, when armand has stayed awake a thousand days to soothe his nightmares, smooth over the edges of every hurtful recollection, when armand bears louis's traumas for him, how dare he—

"there's no need to be brave / while you sleep, i'll be scared / so by the time you wake, i'll be brave" armand who is building up an increasingly fragile house of cards, who is layering lies and adjustments and changes and more lies over each other, knowing that it's not sustainable, knowing that with every passing day it becomes harder to tell the truth, knowing that this will collapse eventually and the fallout is only growing. and then louis wakes up and everything is fine, darling, don't you even worry about it

(can you tell him that i'm so normal about him)

[theusernameiwantisntavailable]

So I have officially finished watching the first episode of tdp and I am once again asking Netflix to stop releasing seasons that are like 3 episodes long

[sanji-screenshots]

I'm FINALLY through with Dressrosa which means I'll be seeing our main man again soon, but now I'm thinking about how long I'm going to be in Whole Cake Island... like it took me a (relatively) long time to get through Dressrosa and Sanji wasn't even there for most of it! With WCI I'm going to be pausing every 5 minutes to get screenshots! Lord help me, I'm going to be stuck there for the rest of my life...

[everybodyshusband]

it's healthy to go back and reread all the nice comments people have left on your writing i think :3

[quatregats]

Read too much ling anth and now I'm feeling like too much of a hater to lead a discussion in the class I'm TAing

[yuriyuruandyuraart]

Opinions on Dream? :^

SO many feelings about him omgg rant under cut please forgive me

okay so i don't really talk or draw him much cause honestly,,,most of the times i just think he's a bit....boring? or more accurately plain? not in a mean way either but just in a 'fades into the background' type of way like don't get me wrong!! he's a really nice friend to his peers, his feelings about his powers and aura making his relationships harder to navigate and trust along with his whole conflict with nightmare and morality about what's good and bad IS very cool!! and i love it whenever they write him to be complex and not on this black and white mentality or when he's just straight up following along his friends with no free will or with a dubious purpose without ever addressing his issues or feelings! it's just unsatisfying to me :')

or when they're making him the 'naive' and oblivious, (sometimes childish?) character being marked as the obstacle and villain along with the other star sanses from the fic's pov, always talking about doing good things while fighting his brother and not hearing him out about the balance, (and for weak reasons most of the time. like it's been so long and you STILL haven't sat down with him when he's, generally, basically begged you to just have a talk? guys please :'( ) or when they go for the victim sad dream always missing the old nightmare, where corrupted nightmare is the incarnation of evil, with no sympathy or emotion except anger and sadistic glee, killing and hurting everyone and dream's just trying to protect the multiverse and dream's always been in the right. such extremes!!!

LIKE!! i hope i'm not the only one that thinks a 500+ year old should have had enough time to idk. learn things? about people and manipulation and deceit? after knowing what the villagers did to night? about the bad things in the world and how there's a lot of grey areas in life and that he maybe reflected on his past enough to process and ask himself if there should to be a convo to settle his differences with nightmare (and you can make nightmare the stubborn one too! or have them BOTH be petty and imperfect and have some things wrong and some right at the same time like why do i always see the good guy vs bad guy cliché with these two when they're the perfect example of why positivity doesn't have meaning without the negativity!! as long as there's a satisfying evolution or growth that doesn't leave me empty i'm good yknow?)

plus i believe dream really isn't as dumb as people view him. i do get some of you saying he probably can't read or write since that's actually a pretty interesting idea to explore! but in general please let him have emotions other than pure sunshiny happiness or endless sadness like he's gotta have more depth than that! let him make mistakes, have flaws that don't just make him the bad guy that's always in the wrong by default, and be angry or suspicious or jealous or bitter or battling his mental health problems/depression or malicious or smart or witty or mischievous and silly or sarcastic or ANYTHING dude i just want him to be put into different scenarios where he can be serious or lighthearted like it doesn't even have to be long or perfect but make him feel real.

it could definitely be that i don't read or see much art about dream or really look for it hard enough but also i just. i feel bad for even saying this fr and i wanna be honest about why i don't enjoy most stories about him cause he always gets the worst treatment along with ink!!! especially ink omg the poor guy has it the worst i think like wow do they mess him up :'(

always one dimensional in non shippy fics, or too plain or easily replaceable by other, more entertaining people in the significant other's life in most of his ships like man. i have read fics out there that made me genuinely FEEL and root for him and love his character so much it restored all hope for me!!! but i can only name one on top of my head and the others? it's been so long i don't even remember their names i just legit feel terrible cause i love him still and i can't find many headcanons that fit my interpretation of him yknow?

not to say people who write him very happy, mislead or sad are ruining him like that's silly- if i see something i don't like i just. move on bro i wouldn't force people to feel or think the same way i do about him cause anyone can have whatever headcanons they want!!! just talking about what i personally look for in him and why i can't exactly find it since most of the stuff out there just isn't my cup of tea :')

hopefully i didn't set anyone off with this rambling opinionated essay i just pulled hhh xD i know i know he's a popular character and i know a lot of people like dream so *sobs* please please recommend me artists and fics about him that you think is good it's been so looong since i've read or seen anything new that makes me attached to this little guy aughg<33333

[spin-in-time]

Ninjago s1 and s2 i miss you so fucking bad . ;;;;;;;;;;;; i have to rewatch them, My God....

Lloyd and garmadon angst around the s1 finale, I MISS YOU, DO YOU WANT ME TO BAWL MY EYES OUT . ;;;;;

[seaofreverie]

Delivery day!!!!!!!

[4lph4kidz]

idk maybe talking about my writing seems conceited for who hasn't published much of anything and hasn't finished anything as of yet, or maybe all this hand wringing is annoying, but i've written a lot of bits and pieces over the years and it's enough for me to be reasonably comfortable with the basics, you know? but working on something this long is presenting a whole other world of trouble for me and i think i accidentally put a hell of a lot more of myself into it than i meant to. so i'm feeling particularly vulnerable about it being out there and existing. it means a lot to me and that's scary!

[spiriteddreams]

hello friends i bear unfortunate news (it's not that unfortunate i'm just tired and dramatic) :(

i wanted to put this out there just bc there's a lot going on and i do have suggestions for writing ideas in my inbox. i know people are waiting for things to be written and i've expressed excitement to write all sorts of things but i've ultimately decided to take one small step back for the sake of my own wellbeing

while i may have time tomorrow on valentine's day to write and maybe finish some fics, i'd much rather spend it celebrating with my friends instead of writing here. so i apologize if anyone was looking forward to something sweet tomorrow.

i will continue to write (albeit slowly) and ramble and reblog and whatnot here, but actual writing will not be like every few days or however often i would post (i don't even think it was that often but whatever lol)

anyways! i hope that everyone has a very lovely valentine's day. whether it's spent with loved ones, friends, or a fictional character, know you are very loved on this day and i'm wishing you all the best!

more under the cut but you don't have to read it lol

i wanted to, and have been trying, to post something for valentine's day but at the rate that i'm going, i don't think it's going to happen. and going forward, writings are likely going to be a lot slower to come out. i've started another job (now my 3rd) on top of an increasing workload and pumping out my kazuha fic for my studio ghibli event just doesn't seem plausible by tomorrow. while i did set a deadline of he 28th, i was hoping to have it done by the 14th. but after spending so long on al-haitham's bday fic and then my own schoolwork, i'm far too exhausted to do so.

should something be posted tomorrow, it'll likely be a very short fluff drabble for whatever character i'm thinking of at the time. i'm still brainrotting so hard like imagine inumaki toge being my valentine's day date like....... so baby <3

but in general, because of how much time i'm dedicating to school and work, i likely won't have as much time to sit down and seriously write.

i hope that come next quarter i'll be able to get a handle on organizing myself better and creating a proper schedule that works for me. maybe then i'll write even more hehe but for now i do think it's crucial that i don't spend so much time writing fanfics

of course, i'm always open to talk and scream and cry about fictional characters so don't hesitate to reach out :D

[ethereal-evei]

cried on the bus tonight, it was sunset and I was on the bus back from the supermarket and when we turned a corner everyone started gasping and pointing to everyone that the blue super moon was rising - everyone was taking turns looking down the isle and calling people to tell them about it. in that moment we weren't strangers and the moon was huge and it was orange and when I got off at my stop I stood and watched everyone also stopping in their tracks to take a photo or even just look. the same thing had happened earlier with this insane sunset. its the last day of winter and the way there was such beauty in the setting sun in the west and the rising moon in the west I don't know how to word it but it really makes me think there is good out there. like we are all connected through the beauty in thins and want to share that with whoever we can strangers or not. its times like these I just want to keep wrapped up under my bed for the days I don't feel like there's any left. at some point I will reword this to be more poetic but it was just such a moment; I haven't felt this human in so long . I need to make sure there is solid evidence it did happen even if its not the prettiest its here and it was real and I was alive to witness it

[marshmallowgoop]

(Previous DCMK-game anon) That was exactly what I was looking for! Thank you so much, you are was so helpful and so kind to take time out of your day to respond! Hope you've been well :) ❤️

[Game ask]

Aww, Anon 🥺 I'm glad I was able to help! I love talking "niche" DetCo content—there's a lot of fun stuff out there that I like bringing more attention to!—so I love asks wondering about that kind of thing. Gives me an excuse to ramble!

Thank you for such a sweet ask!