#throw it out into the tumblr sphere i guess

[hiddenonigiri]

Can’t a man dream? Don’t you know dreams come true? | Reborn Rich ep 3

+bonus: Jin Dojun - who knows exactly how well Hyungjun’s dreams come true

[lemuel-apologist]

Hey, everybody. I am going to keep this post short. (I'm coming back partway through to say that this was, evidently, a lie.)

I said something about it yesterday; I'll say something more in-depth now.

So, a couple years ago, when a round of r4cs0 troll asks reached the exmo blog-sphere of tumblr, I got frustrated and posted something fairly strongly-worded (an understatement). Over the course of the past three years, I have received asks here and on my main blog (and, I believe, my writing blog?) implicating myself over and over in whatever that guy is being accused of this time. It's one thing when it's in my inbox. I can say something dumb to it or, more often, ignore and delete it.

It's another thing when it's sent to other people, which is something I had not considered. Yesterday, someone reached out to me right before I went to ward choir with my brother (they need altos. I need a musical outlet. Don't judge me) to let me know they had received this ask concerning r4cs0 and myself; and I knew the kind of ask he was talking about, but not the content. We talked about it a bit, over the course of yesterday and tomorrow; and, in the interim, my friend Shine (hi, Shine, love you) notified me that her fiance, Serra (hi, Serra, I don't know you) had received the exact same ask on his blog. And I don't know Serra outside of Shine. I still follow her even though Shine doesn't have a Tumblr anymore, but, to my knowledge, Serra doesn't follow this blog? Unless he sneakily did that? What would be the connection there?

Of course, there probably isn't one, unless I am the connection. Speculating doesn't do much of anything. So let's bump some Paramore and work through it, shall we?

I know now, of course, that the ask says the following, where I'm concerned:

Unfortunately an exmo blogger I follow called lemuel-apologist took the bait. And I'm assuming (and really hoping) that she was just joking around to try to troll r4cs0… But she claims that r4cs0 is "right" because she allegedly did organize a "queer jump humping orgy" when she was at BYU in order to protest the "inherent ecclesiastical absolutism of colonized Mormon institutions!" I'll spare you the more gruesome details that she divulged, but I guess the "punchline" of this story was that in order to have multiple groups of people jump humping at once, they needed access to multiple beds. So they broke into a furniture store and held the orgy there, causing it to become a protest of both Mormonism and capitalism at the same time! As you can imagine, r4cs0 and his hateful followers didn't think this was a gotcha at all and instead have been spreading this story around to whip up even more bigotry. They even said they plan to send it in to Libs of Tik Tok!!

I don't blame anyone for taking that at face value. I don't. Tumblr culture is set up in a certain way, and that results in people taking callout asks at face value. I get it.

But, genuinely, I have never acted like that in my life. Like I said, I can't prove something in the negative. It's impossible to provide proof that you didn't do something of this nature, especially when the claims are so vague-- and especially when it's presented to a court of public opinion. And I know that hashing all of this out does nothing but throw words into the air, spur on more asks and encourage whoever is sending them to keep putting my name in there (because it's oh-so funny), and offer everyone else a chance to come to their own conclusions. I can't make this stop. I can't make anyone believe me. I certainly can't make everyone see this post.

To be clear, I never made a claim about r4cs0 being "right" about anything (not pertaining to sex; not in general). I have never once organized an orgy. I'm...

Okay, to be clear, asexuality doesn't preclude someone's participation in or organization of an orgy, including as an act of protest, but I patently didn't do that? I've studied sex (on a genetic level) and sexuality (both the social construction and act of it), sure. I went out of my way to study both of those topics as a part of my degree. I think human sexuality is fascinating. It's also just... not for me. Just writing about sex in a non-clinical way took me ten years to get to, almost.

And that's not something that can clear me from this, I know, but it's necessary context to why I'm so baffled by this. I sent this to my friend Cody and he was just as baffled. If you know me, you know that's not something I would ever do; and you know I didn't go to BYU; and you know I don't say thinks like "the inherent ecclesiastical absolutism of colonized Mormon institutions." Frankly, I went out of my way to lie to my mother and not apply to BYU so I could go to school in Ogden (and if you're from Utah, now you know where I got my CJ/CSI degree, lol. There's only one queer studies program here, to my knowledge). Frankly, "the inherent ecclesiastical absolutism of colonized Mormon institutions" is a bit of a nonsense clause. I don't write like that. Not in my academic work! I would never argue that a Mormon institution could be colonized (lol). For all the nuance of the past discrimination against Mormons in the United States versus the current persecution complex, that is not the way I construct my arguments. I could provide examples from my papers on queer feminism, Marxist feminism, and so on, but I don't think that would be very conducive to the discussion.

I also just... have never broken into a furniture store. I don't think I've ever been into the furniture store by my house. And, like I said, I didn't go to BYU. I only ever marched there for competitions when I was in high school. The last time I was on that campus was to go to the Bean Museum with my meemaw, and the time before that was either for an astronomy thing years ago or a marching competition (or the paleontology museum. Love that thing). I didn't go to BYU. I actively organized a Rainbow Day on my college's campus.

Like, to be clear, that's the kind of action I've always tended toward. When I didn't accidentally get dragged into protests, I like to make exhibits, run events, and do educational outreach. Our Rainbow Day was about the history of Rainbow Day itself, Utah's queer history, and America's queer history. That was what we did. That was my big protest.

Like, I could keep going. I just patently did not do this. I don't give a shit about the other guy, but I did not do this. I wouldn't do something so reckless. I don't judge if other people want to-- more power to you; someone has to do the big, flashy acts of protest-- but I... don't... operate like that.

Listen, this post got long; I got distracted by what I was writing in the other tab; and I have things I need to work on today (and I have to go put on a sweater, because my meds are making my hair stand on end and I'm SO COLD that I can't concentrate). Just... suffice it to say, that's not true. Whatever that ask says about me, it's not true. These asks go around every so often, infuriatingly, and I'm never sure what they're saying until I look up my name or his. I stopped obsessing over my name getting smeared back in 2021/2022, and it was better for me, but... you know.

Anyway, like I said yesterday: if there's something you see that you're concerned about, please let me know. Ask me. My inbox exists for a reason. I care a lot. Not about my public image (lol), but about whether or not people feel they can trust me, especially in the niche I have carved for myself. When things like this get spread around, it affects my credibility-- as an exmormon, as an ex-JW's daughter, as a CJ-hopeful, as an academic, and so on. I want people to feel safe around me, and to not feel like I'd do something that would endanger them. I wouldn't.

That's where I have to leave it for now. I'm just... really sorry about all of this. I don't know what I did wrong this time. I'm trying not to be anxious about it; and so I'm leaving it here.

[aroaceconfessions]

For so long, most likely more than half of my life, I was made to feel like there was a program everyone else had that I was missing. The whole feelings. . .sex thing was lost on me, and it was what everyone around me wanted to talk about. Being in a relationship, having sex. . .I thought they were important and that not being able to share in that experience made me less of a person. I kept thinking that the older I got, I would finally be able to partake in it. I thought I was a late bloomer. I'm not sure I think that anymore.

Where I'm from, terms like "aromantic" or "asexual" don't fly around. (Most people here don't even know what Tumblr is.) We have a lot of people in the closet here, so discovering them was no easy task, but I don't regret it. I have never felt more understood in my life finding about all the different spheres of the aromantic and asexual spectrums. I just can't help but wish that I had someone to talk to about it. You know when you finally find out that piece of information you've been searching for a really long time for and want desperately to share it with someone? That's how I feel. Except I can't talk about it without someone throwing "You'll soon find the one that will make you forget this" around or something along those lines.

And I have to admit (even when I won't to the people that I do talk to) that I'm genuinely scared. I'm scared that all these things people here tell me when I talk about my experience might actually be true. That it's probably because I wouldn't even have a chance at romance if I was interested. That it's probably because I haven't found the right one for me. That one day, I'll have to be in a relationship, get married, have sex and have children whether it's what I want to or not.

I guess I'm just conflicted. While I'm really happy to have found a space where I'm comfortable and understood and made to feel like it's not a sin to be who I am, I'm also really scared of what this means for me because in my reality, being this. . .being me really is a sin to everyone around.

Submitted March 13, 2023

[rabbitcircle]

I actually think the for you page on this website is relatively healthy. it isn't overtly mining my data and throwing dopamine hits out at me constantly. just a gentle push of my searched tags, some trending stuff among mutuals and the general user base. there's a push and pull to it--i search a little here, and tumblr brings me a little there.

there's a lot of bot content obviously, and if you don't spend time trawling through tags it'll just bring up some random stuff. the main difference to me is the very clear boundaries the algorithm has with my information. it only gives me what I deliberately feed into it. the underbelly of my internet usage--private nonsense typed into search engines, messages ping-ponging between friends--is never part of the equation.

it's such a stark contrast to the endlessly churning drip-feed of content on other apps. I guess the main difference is that this is one of the only remaining websites to inhabit online. like, existed before the app boom. twitter is maybe its only companion, although it's been in a perpetual identity crisis for the past few years.

for a website to become an app, so much of our interaction with online spaces has to become either gamified or spoon-fed. and the eerie part of the app-sphere (instagram and tiktok specifically) is their infusion with the real world. it's in your hand, it's one swipe away, it's easily scrollable and digestible and the onslaught of marketing, pseudoscience, pop psychology and dopamine hits just becomes part of your real life before you even realise what's happening.

tumblr holds no interest for me if I scroll through it mindlessly. it's bizarre and esoteric, and half the time there's some required reading behind a post. it really slows down my consumption of digital content, and that has been really helpful for me in recent times.

all of this is just my perspective, and a very non-exhaustive account of things but honestly... social media post-app (and post-pandemic, but that's a more nuanced conversation) has castrated the joy of internet escapism, and I think it's such a loss for the attention span and the digital psyche. tumblr remains with its flaws and its freakish little ways, but i am glad it's still here.

[honestmagpie]

Hello y'all I just woke up from a nap and I just had the funniest fucking dream.

I dreamed that Tumblr had fixed a glitchy in-post game that had been on the site for so long that everyone had forgotten it had ever existed. It was a card game where you had three factions that would battle I guess, but it never worked so people only used it to shitpost and dunk on tumblr's broken website before it basically disappeared from everyone's consciousness.

Anyway in my dream they FINALLY fixed it after YEARS and now everyone was getting sorted into one of three factions and trying to figure out how to play or whatever.

There was a combat faction that was all pictures of fists, armor, attacks. It was boring and only useful for the game itself so no-one ever picked it, because everyone was just there for the meme reaction images it generated.

There was a magic class where every card was just a really basic big letter on a page, like they'd do in the start of chapters in chapter books, and it was meant to look elaborate but mostly people just used combinations of them to spell out swears or reactions, and there was a third faction. I don't remember what it was but it also had decent functionality in the meme sphere.

Anyway I knew nothing except 'oh yeah tumblr used to have some kinda game attached to it' and somehow accidentally ended up in the combat faction with the shitty boring cards for a game no-one really understood how to play.

Basically any time you played a round (and god only knew who you were playing, tbh, just because they fixed it didn't mean it made any damn sense), you'd get this like, Gigantamax-esque cutscene where you'd go through this elaborate process of turning in old cards and getting like three new ones, they'd get laid out dramatically on the play field, then they'd flip over, and it was all filled with basically the pokemon crowd noises from sun and moon. Not much control over anything at all but it looked really cool.

Anyway the first time I did that, it flipped over three cards and they were three cards PERFECTLY in sequence of a guy getting decked in the face, the fist doing the decking, and then the arm of the dude decking the first guy.

I had zero control, the game just played out like a perfect meme reaction image of punching some rando in the face and I thought it was hilarious.

Anyway some other shit was happening too but that's way less important than the dream imagery of basically three red magic-the-gathering cards in sequence of some poor armored knight getting punched in the face, an elaborately-armored fist, and just an armored arm of some guy throwing a punch because fuck that guy in particular, with artwork all lining up too perfectly to be a coincidence.

[roleplaybook]

Hi!! I hope this is the place to ask!

An issue I've ran into on tumblr now that I've recently moved here is that I can't find roleplayers my age in the circles I am around currently.

I am 17, and from what I see most of the people in my age bracket are in more of the "non-literate" RP sphere (the one with the asterisks for actions is the best i can explain it, I guess) as well as ask blogs, but that sort of RP isn't really it for me personally. I stick to full literate, multiple paragraphs with graphics sort of RP myself! I just moved here from discord RP since I like the style of RP here more, if that adds.

Most of the RP community here is pretty grown in comparison to the discord RP community and I have nothing against it! RP is a great hobby for everyone, but adults want to explore more mature themes which ofcourse are just not for me. This makes it pretty hard to find people around age to write with ("pretty hard" as in I have found no one really yet in my threeish months of being here, only an adult who is comfortable roleplaying with me and two other adults who are sporadically active so I haven't had much opportunity to RP with them).

So, I guess that is sort of my question, how can I find people my age around here more easily?

Hello, and thanks so much for sending in an ask to this fledgling advice blog! ❤

Good on you for being upfront about your age. I remember the struggle of trying to find RPers in my age group back in the Jurassic period - in particular, writers who wanted to write.

The good news is, they're out there!

I know you specified that you like the Tumblr scene, but I am going to provide a couple different platform options on the off-chance another works better for you.

But! For starters, Tumblr:

Are you posting ads?

Throwing an age range somewhere near the beginning of your RP advertisements is common practice. You might also specify what age range you're comfortable with, personally, such as 16-18.

Also bear in mind that Tumblr only searches through the first five tags; the rest are for categorization/organization. So, when you do post advertisements, the first five should be the tags people might search. Fandom and literacy level are good to have toward the beginning of the taglist.

I hope they don't mind the shoutout, but @roleplayfinder is a great resource. This blog helps roleplayers find each other, and they tag age ranges (as well as require the writer to specify age). They have an #under eighteen tag you can search through.

It can also help to search tags like #16+ RP on Tumblr or roleplay seeking blogs. Someone over, say, 25, will likely specify 18+ or 21+, so searching for 16+ or 17+ RPers is likely to help you net writers in your age group.

The more community you build here on Tumblr, the more you'll be able to get your blog out there to relevant roleplayers. Mutuals tend to share one another's advertisements and promos on the site, so once you accumulate a few writing buddies, they'll hopefully help you get your blog out there to more folks in your age and post length demographic.

As for Discord - it's actually my favorite platform for RP! It can be so difficult to find the good stuff, though, and it seems like you run into a lot of reaaaally young writers, rapid-fire and chat style RP, and overall just not what you're looking for. In my experience, sites like Disboard.org aren't the best. While tons of servers advertise "semi-literate" or even "literate" in their tags, you find they're anything but upon joining.

There's a little more curation on RP finding hub servers.

Most I know are 21+ or 25+, but there's one I really like that does accept writers in the 15+ range. It's Roleplay Central, and it used to be an RP "matchmaking" website. It's very well organized and well-run, and I think worth checking out if you still have your Discord account. Here's the join link:

Finally, forum RP tends to err on the novella side. I believe it can be challenging to find forums that aren't 21+ - especially in the Jcink sphere - but there are well-established spaces that cater to SFW RP and permit minors.

One great example is RPNation (https://www.rpnation.com/). They don't allow anyone to solicit sexual RP on the site, meaning you can write comfortably with adults on site if you feel comfortable doing so.

As a caveat, they of course can't monitor what happens off-site. People aren't supposed to solicit sexual RP there at all, period, but of course it still can happen.

I hope any of this was helpful! I know you're looking to find RP buddies here on Tumblr, but I think the other platforms are also worth exploring.

I'll also note that I only scratched the surface pointing you toward the three specific links. There are more like them! So, for example, if you really want to stick to Tumblr, you can find blogs similar to rpfinder that can help you connect with the kind of writing partners you're seeking.

Best of luck to you!

[wellnesscard]

omg my teenager coworker was talking about how theyre gonna make a five night at freddys movie im like ya it already came out i saw it - with nic cage? not in my top 10 its no time bandits but whateva. guess nododis seen that one tho. also why do so many ppl with like d.i.d. Obsessed with that franchise ? or maybe thats just tumblr. even b4 tumblr tho there was this girlie at my highschool who was like mental like insane not in reality at all n it was all she fuckin talked about? what specifically is the pull like creating this demographic . but it weirds me out so i dont actually want 2 engage in real five nights at freds only thru the sweet filter of nic cage am i safe ig. cos that was a knockoff? who made that movie it was so weird and not even in an awesome way like many other b movies. idk the whole concept like. and yk fs theres towns like that in america. but theyre just racist. this post is getting away from me . idk the insaneos just dont talk abt jeff the killer anymore maybe im just old . do any pardonmyfrench normal ppl like five nitez at fred. i mean ig my coworkers pretty normal from what i know. ig im probably just in such different spheres from the enjoyers of that n the only ones being crazy abt it is the crazies so. i feel like this isnt very pc im sorry like my brain dont work good too like its no problem to be mentally ill and have interests im just . it throws me thry a loop. that n like taylor swift continuously getting bigger status thru out what feels like my lifespan. like i remember singing 'our song' in first grade w classmates n its like yeah its gud ig im 5 i dont have a critiquing of music mind yet too much. its catchy. never thought shed still be around let alone with a cult following in the year 2023. was it covid? like i havent heard about nikki minaj in ages but taylor swift is being exponential as hell in like . all this. why is she in so many commercials. ok my neighbors just got home one minute and thirty seconds ago and theyre already using power tools fuck yea girls build a house for her!! or that could be a blender tbh i thought i heard hammering though. hammering and sawing. shit did i just stereotype lesbians. i shouldnt be allowed to have tumblr app when im home alone cos then i just type type type whatever i want and we end up with this. oh sidenote too, i have a thickass nodule on my thyroid im having checked today so like ig ilyk laterz if its really fucked. like i hope i dont get all goited up thatd suck. its so funny bc in my eating disorder in highschool i was like oh what a dream itd be to have hyperthyroidism, sighs wistfully. omg what if gods punishing me and i get hypothyroidism and get f*t. but its probably just a lump and its not the consistency of cancer so we good basically. just waiting for the doc to say that too haha! and im like 3 days off all alcohol even the light beers bc i am getting sick of never having energy and like i wanna make sure my life is good and its hard to take care of everything because ngl im a heavy drinker n once i have any alcohol im just like impatiently waiting for my next drink, so. and its expensive when you drink a 12 pack a day plus other alkie snacks such as shooters pints or beers at the bar. and i need to save for a cruiseeee devon n i have been married for almost three years n still havent went on vacation yet goddamn! we deserve it , and i was the sexiest in my life when i was sober for a year too so jot that down.

[ephrom]

Are Lily Orchard's Stalkers In The Room With Us Right Now?

Lily Orchard has a surprising amount of stalkers. Not only that, but she's really good at determining who is and isn't a stalker on the spot. Here is her declaring two anonymous people on her tumblr stalkers in the last week--because they both called out her constant mention of vague "stalkers" as the reason everything bad happens to her in life.

Now, I'm not going to say that Lily Orchard has never been stalked. However, Lily has such a vague definition of "stalking" that the term is basically meaningless. Back in the day (notice how I am admitting this was years ago), she used to label ForNoGoodReason a stalker--make no mistake, he was a dumbass and a creep, but not a stalker--for the crime of making videos talking about her. However, making videos on somebody--even obsessively and constantly making videos on somebody--is not stalking. Under that definition, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein were stalking Richard Nixon by covering Watergate for The Washington Post. This is a behavior Lily began engaging when I stopped watching her, and has only gotten worse since. Take this video Orchard posted three months (notice how I am very clearly saying when this video came out) at time of writing.

In this video, she lists six people as stalkers--none of whom she says by name, by the way. Yeah, despite this video serving the purpose of "drawing attention to her stalkers," she doesn't actually allow people to know who these people she wants to draw attention to are.

I'm still fairly new to the Lily Orchard drama sphere all things considered, so I'll break this down the best I can by telling you what she names these people and who they really are.

Karen is @britts-galaxy-brain

Carol is both Jess and Zena

Katie is @segasister

Ellie is Lizzy Orchard, her ex-fiancé

Skylar is Patchwork Hearts

Val is Cypher from @whyyoulyinglily

Mark Twain once said that no man has a good enough memory to be a liar, and Lily is such a liar she is unable to remember her own story from paragraph to paragraph. Within the same minute, Segasister I mean Katie I mean Segasister hates Lily both because she said Voice of Reason was wrong regarding My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and because she called out pedophiles in the brony community. Jess and Zena I mean Carol I mean Jess and Zena are grifters trying to content farm her one minute, and the next they're nothing more than aggressive Vaush fans.

Of course, if anybody knows even the basic facts about these situations, we can find that Lily is just lying at various points. For example, the content farming Jess and Zena I mean Carol I mean Jess and Zena were engaging in actually amounted to two videos before this came out.

Meanwhile, Brittiany I mean Karen I mean Brittiany is so transphobic that when they were friends Brittany was actually encouraging Lily to pursue a transgender identity despite fears that actually becoming a woman would be unrealistic. Oh, also, Brittiany began talking about her experiences with Lily between five and six years ago--I'll admit, I can't remember exactly when--not eight years ago, I know, I was there when it happened.

This isn't even getting into the number of claims she makes without the slightest amount of evidence--again, because the nature of the video demands she not use any or else risk shining a light on the people she made this video to shine a light on. For example, she claims out of nowhere that she has a hunch that Patchwork Heart I mean Skylar I mean Patchwork Heart was celebrating her being raped in 2018. If this claim were true, that would make Patchwork Heart I mean Skylar I mean Patchwork Heart a terrible human being--and Lily just throws out this guess without giving it any kind of support. (For reference, I have since talked to Patchwork Heart and she does not seem like the kind of person who would celebrate somebody being raped.)

However, what have these six stalkers done with all their years of harassment? Not much, according to Lily. You see, despite being obsessed with her to the point where they want to show up to her house, Lily has to admit that these people have done nothing to her other than stress her out. She even says she can't sue them for defamation because they haven't done enough damage to her. Remember, it wasn't one of her stalkers who found her address, it was a fan who did that to send her a Nintendo Switch.

Side note: This video is great because Lily spends basically the last seventy five percent complaining about her stupid and obsessive her fanbase is. We all know that if her critics acted like this, she would talk about this constantly. Meanwhile, the people who criticize her are supposed to be the biggest sources of stress in her life?

In fact, can we just talk about how Lily talks about her fanbase in this video more generally? This is a topic for another post, but Lily saying her fans "can't take no for an answer" just shows you what kind of community she fosters. Lets not forget that this is the same woman who said that she told her fans she was fine with NSFW art of her OC because she thought that would mean they'd make less of it.

This should go without saying, but if you have to play reverse psychology regarding sexual boundaries--that's not exactly a good thing. Again, why is it that Lily keeps talking about the damages her critics keep doing--which she admits are basically non-existent--when her fans are doing shit like this?

In another post, she says that her fans are morons who cannot do the most basic forms of critical thinking and expect her to figure things out for them.

It's funny that in that video, she says that online cults cannot form. Even ignoring the fact that this is just wrong, it seems like a good chunk of her fans want a cult leader.

Anyway, I have no idea how to end this post--so here's a funny tweet from Nezziemonster, somebody with a very funny Twitter that you should follow.

[mka1098]

In The Bright Moonlight (You're My Sun) Day 1

Hear this story being read aloud to you at https://www.youtube.com/c/MKa1098/videos

Huge thank you to @shaniartist for allow me usage of their art and to @ladynoirjuly for the prompts !

Art credits: Shaniartist on Tumblr, shani_artist on IG

https://youtube.com/channel/UCqDgJF4q5oUKYvAt4qxCViADay

Day One - Older

“Chat.”

“ladybug.”

Chat Noir smiles at her but then yawns. She doesn’t blame him and ends up catching it. He snickers at that which makes her roll her eyes. God, he’s such a kid. “I’m exhausted.” She sighs. He agrees with his own heave. It’s nothing out of the ordinary though: a near mid-night akuma attack they had to take care of. Normally it would happen on a school night and she’d have to scramble home to sleep and or get work done. By some stroke of luck, today is a Saturday night, uh Sunday night... and she has a bit of time for a quick chat with Chat. However and comedically so, he looks ready to crush right here, right now. She stifled a giggle behind her hand; it didn't get past him. Chat gives her an exasperated groan.

“It’s midnight.” He complains. “Leave me alone.” He lowers his head between his knees. It doesn’t faze her even though he’s seated on the edge of a rooftop; she’s seen this and done this enough time to know that he’d be okay, even if he fell. Ladybug laughs and settles next to him.

“Yes it is.” She jokes, nudging his side. The moon is big and bright in front of them, impossible to miss. Especially during the fight. She even used a refraction of the light to get a head start on the akumatized victim. “I feel like we never get to enjoy the moon when we see it.” She hums. Chat snorts next to her.

“Because we’re fighting for Paris?” He points out cheekily. Ladybug rolls her eyes at him.

“Exactly. Yes.” She says dryly.

Chat laughs. “Oh so you agree?” He continues to joke. She gives him a pointed look. “Okay, okay.” He admits defeat and there is a cocky victorious grin on her face. “You are right though.” He says. “We don’t appreciate the moon much.” He looks out to the big white sphere in the sky and he looks so in awe, it’s almost like he’s looking at a magical act.

“No one does until they are tired and delicious.” Ladybug says.

“So us now.” Chat quips back. Ladybug scoffs and shoves his shoulders playfully. “I’m not wrong~” He says in an annoyingly sing-song voice.

“Perhaps.” She begurgdly admits.

Ladybug looks down at her yo-yo for the time: it’s 12:18. The fight lasted nearly 3 hours in total. It’s definitely not the longest one but it sure was draining. “Would you look at that -- it’s the fourth already.” She says with a little hum. Chat’s head pops up and he looks as if he’s been electrocuted. She raises a question eyebrow at him. “Are you alright?” She asks in a worried tone of voice. He only shrugs her off with a little smile.

“Yeah. I’m okay. It’s just…well, today is my birthday.” He admits, looking sheepish. Ladybug’s eyebrows raised in surprise. It’s his birthday? On September 4th? Wow, it’s the same day as Adriens. She fights to keep a goofy smile off her face from thinking about the blonde boy who stole her heart; Chat Noir would most definitely tease her for looking silly. Or maybe he’d throw a little hissy fit out of jealousy.

“Really?” Ladybug says with a big smile on her face. “Happy birthday then!” She wraps him in a hug and for a brief second he is shocked: in the next, Chat Noir relaxes and hugs her back tightly.

‘Thank you.” He says in nearly a whisper in her ear. It’s soft and initame and Ladybug doesn’t allow herself to wander down the path of wondering why a simple happy birthday meant so much to him. She only smiles and hugs him tighter in response.

“Of course.” She says, pulling away with a gracious laugh. “What kinda partner and friend would I be if I didn’t wish you a happy birthday?” She says jokingly, jabbing him in the side. He pouts at her and covers his torso in reflex.

Chat sighs with a small smile on his face. “You’re actually the first person to wish me a happy birthday.” He says.

“I would guess that.” Ladybug giggles. “Who else is around to beat me to it?” She pretends to look around and squints at the empty rooftops around them. Chat Noir watches her in amusement.

“That’s true.” He hums.

It hit her how they’ve been partners and have known each other for nearly 4 years now. However, it’s only now that she knows his birthday. It kinda makes her feel like a bad friend: she had always made a point to keep track of her friends' birthdays in her everyday life. Then again, it would have sorta been a breach in security; it’s important for them to keep as much of their real lives hidden from the other for as long as possible. Though, technically knowing each other’s birthdays wouldn’t hurt. What difference would it make? So many people are born on the same day, she could never find out who he is based on the day he was born alone.

“So how do you feel?” She grins at him. “Being a year older?” Chat tosses his shoulders back and sighs.

“Honestly, like nothing. It never hits me till months later and I’m like: woah...I’m older.” He admits.

“Oh, I’m that way too.” ladybug says.

“Yeah.” He smiles. “It’s weird. As a kid I thought you’d automatically mature; I was pretty wrong about that.” He throws his head back in laughter.

“Oh for sure.” Ladybug teases him. Chat sticks his tongue out at her which is an action she throws right back at him. “Well...it’s late and I better get home and sleep. You too, birthday boy; I’m sure you have some big party to wake up to.” She teases. Chat gives her another laugh but it sounds more hollow than before. There’s a forlorn look in his eyes that she notices. She wants to ask about it -- she can’t. The best she can do to help him is to smile back gently.

Ladybug pulls herself up and Chat follows. “I’ll see you soon?” He asks as she gets ready to leave. She sends him a look. “Right, right. You’re tired and don’t want another fight anytime soon.” He says. She smiles back at him wildly. It’s crazy how he can basically read her mind. “Goodnight to you and the moon.” He tells her with a two finger salute.

“Good night to you too.” Ladybug says with a playful eye roll at his silly action. “Cheers to being a year older but not any less of a kid.” She says before heading off.

On her way back home, Ladybug chuckles to herself. There are many things she knows about Chat: his favorite jokes, his greatest fear, he’s greatest strength, how far he can throw her through the city. Many things that would be considered weird for other friends. However she never before knew his birthday. It’s like a taste of being true friends with him, to her. It’s like one new piece of information has slipped him from work partner to friend she actually knows. Again she has to laugh at herself. She knows she’s being crazy -- how could a birthday change how a person perceives another?”

[respectable-username]

So, uh, I guess I should do one of those intro pinned post thingies? Well, here it is.

Who am I?

Hi! I'm Respectable Username. You can call me Res for short. I mostly post about Hermitcraft and Hermitcraft-adjacent things, but will also reblog other funnies or interesting things.

What do I do?

IRL, I'm a software engineer. In the fan-o-sphere though, I mostly enjoy writing and character analysing stuff. Writing I've done on Tumblr is tagged with `#res writes`.

Asks open

Ask me about anything really. Or alternatively, give me a prompt and I might just get inspired to throw out a scene/one-shot from it!

Latest bit of writing

The Weirdest Reflection - Etho and Bdubs swap outfits. That's it. Fluffy Last Life one-shot.

It Glows in the Dark - A mysterious item appears in the world. What is it, and why is it there? Multichapter mystery/action/angst?/I don't know how genres work starring 18 Hermits.

Here There Be Monsters - Grian is a completely normal human, living in a completely normal, human world. Or at least, that's what he thought before the creature attacked him. Multichapter, Urban Fantasy AU, MCYT crossover (but mostly Hermitcraft focused).

Streaming

I've started streaming some modded Minecraft over on Twitch. At the time of writing, I mostly play TechnodeFirmaCraft, a survival-based modpack. If you wanna come along and say hi, my channel is respectable_username.

Important Tags

If I'm talking about IRL stuff or about a project I'm working on that's not released, I'll tag as `#res rambles`.

If I'm writing a scene or some character analysis on Tumblr (as opposed to just linking to AO3), I'll use `#res writes`.

If I post/reblog anything shippy (rarely, but it does happen occasionally), I will tag as `#hermitshipping`.

Uh, so do you Hermitship?

Yeah I know I'm complete trash but I try to keep it off the main blog. Look, I can't help which characters my brain decides to lock on to and right now yes it is a pair of Hermits. But only their characters, not the real-life people. And again, if I do feel the need to post, it will be tagged so you can avoid it.

You keep mentioning a big writing project?

This writing project is "It Glows in the Dark" and I'm slowly releasing it now! All posts related to it post-release are tagged with "#IGITD fic". My Word doc is at almost 30,000 words now and I still have a way to go, making this by _far_ the most writing I've done on any singular project for any reason ever. I'm really proud of it please go read it and I'll love you forever.

Other fandoms?

The other big, long-running fandom participations from the past have been Doctor Who and the MCU. I've also fallen through other fandoms over time, including in the last few years She-Ra (2018), Good Omens, and Attack on Titan.

And of course I was historically part of the Sherlock (BBC) and Merlin fandoms back in the day, although never got into Supernatural.

So, what's up with the username?

Uh, well, I'd been trying for a few years to move away from my old username that I used everywhere. I'd come up with that name in 2006, and very little created in 2006 is fit for purpose in 2021! I'd been struggling to come up with something new though, so I mostly just used the old username or my "professional" username.

But then came the time when I wanted to update my username on Twitch so I could try catching some of the Hermits' livestreams and join the chat and I didn't want the embarrassing old username. So I changed it, trying a few different options, none of which were available, and eventually in my frustration just put in respectable_username and saved. I almost immediately regretted it, but Twitch wouldn't let me change back for 60 days, so got stuck with it for the time being.

But then I actually caught a Hermit's stream live (one of Tango's Among Us sessions with the Friday Night Crew) and chatted in the chat and about 3 separate people complimented the username! So I decided to keep it and make it my new username that I used around the place. Still haven't updated most websites yet though.

As I think of more things, I'll add them.

[donnadarling]

So I’ve started following Catholic blogs

Because I wanna connect with Christians outside of my accustomed Protestant sphere, and I like learning about different traditions of the Faith. (Also I low key wanna dedicate my life to arguing for healthy Christian ecumenism but that’s a different post for a different day.)

One thing I’m noticing: I’m far more likely to be interested in Catholicism as a viable life path when my Catholic friends and I are having polite and educational dialogue, then when I see Catholic Tumblr posts throwing shade on Protestants.

Don’t get me wrong: I have plenty of other reasons not to convert; friendly dialogue or shade-throwing notwithstanding. And neither am I setting out to throw shade on Catholics by making this post.

I’m just saying that you guys aren’t exactly helping your case when you do that. I find your faith far more attractive when it’s being offered to me as a gift of love then when I’m being mocked for not sharing it. And what’s more, when I see posts like that it makes me think “wow, I was interesting in your guy’s beliefs, but if embracing them would mean I’d be expected to think like that about folks outside the group, hard pass”.

But guess what.

This post isn’t actually about Catholics.

This post is about everyone.

We’re all guilty of this guys.

Catholics, Protestants, Atheists; Conservatives, Liberals, and Moderates; Pro-Life and Pro-Choice folks; every group really; EVERYONE: how much more likely would we be to care about learning what people outside of our sphere thought if their posts set out to educate rather than disparriage? Now look at your own posts and ask yourself if you’re pushing others away in the same manner.

Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

[ridiculousn3sswrites]

Not Your Sugar

*Hamilton Fic, No Pairing

*Request: @musicgoddessog asked: Can you do a Hamilton fic with a black reader where the reader is Hamilton’s cousin from the Caribbean and she goes with him to a cabinet meeting. Everyone doubt her, but it turns out she’s really smart. I feel like not many people write black x readers for this fandom even though the cast is full of minorities.

*Warnings: Swearing, I think. Let me know if I missed anything.

*A/N: Sorry this request took me so long, for a while it was really hard to come up with anything that would do it justice. I changed the prompt a bit, instead of a cabinet meeting, Reader goes with Hamilton to a meeting with Jefferson and Madison. SO I WENT TO EDIT THE TAGS ON THE APP AND GUESS WHO ACCIDENTALLY DELETED THE ENTIRE POST HAHA THANKS TUMBLR VERY COOL

Outfit

**********

You’d been planning this trip to New York for a while now. It’d been years since you’d been able to see your cousin and his family, and you were excited. Alexander had been constantly talking to you about all the bullshit he’d been going through at work, and you couldn’t wait to give your two-cents to Alexander’s coworkers. Well, as much as you could without getting him fired. You were actually confident that you could get away with a lot considering how much you knew Alexander undoubtedly got away with at work. The second you landed at JFK, you couldn’t help but feel the excitement overtaking you. 

Once you dealt with all the nonsense of going through customs, Alex and Eliza got you from the airport. The last time you’d seen them had been at their wedding, and now you were greeted by their little nine-year-old son. You couldn’t believe how much time had passed, but that didn’t matter now. You were here for about a month and you already had so much that you needed to do. Sure you were going to have fun while you were here, but you were also determined to get something done in the meantime.

You were looking forward to hanging out with Alexander and his family, but you were pleasantly surprised by the group waiting for you at their house. Eliza planned a welcome party for you, inviting Alexander’s close friends and her sisters, all people you hadn’t seen since the wedding nine years ago. You got along well enough with everyone, especially Eliza’s older sister. Both of you worked in the public sphere; Angelica lobbying for interest groups, and you working as a representative in the government. 

The two of you were in a passionate discussion about representation in your respective governments. You were one of the four women in the National Assembly of St. Kitts and Nevis, and even though there were only fifteen members of the Assembly, representation was still a major issue in your book. As you and Angelica were talking, it seemed like one of Alexander’s friends - John, if you remembered correctly - was drawn to your conversation. It wasn’t all that surprising; Alexander and a lot of his friends were very political beings, so a conversation about politics was bound to grab someone’s attention.

John stood nearby, waiting for the conversation to come to a natural lull before addressing you. “So, how do you know so much about politics? Is it a hobby or something?” John asked, the sincerity in his voice slightly taking you off-guard. Sure, you were used to the casually ignorant comments from people who weren’t really well-versed in politics, but it was new coming from someone who had such a politically active group of friends. Angelica in particular didn’t like John’s comment, already shooting him a fatal glare.

“I’m actually a member of the National Assembly,” you explained. John immediately read the room, feeling the slight tension coming from you and the definite tension coming from Angelica.

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t know. Alexander talks about you a lot but he never told us what you do for a living,” John apologized profusely. His apology seemed genuine enough, so you decided to let it go. It wouldn’t do anyone good for you to tear John a new one for something he seemed to genuinely not be aware of. No, you could save that for people that were ignorant, and then assholes about it.

**********

The first week was spent sight-seeing, primarily with Eliza and little Philip since Alex was so busy with work. You absolutely adored the two, but you were eager to go to work with Alex and see how his government worked on the inside. You had a feeling he was waiting for things to calm down a bit at work, because if there was one thing you shared with Alexander, it was your temper.

You’d just come back to the Hamilton household from another day of sightseeing with Philip and Eliza when you heard Alexander practically yelling on his phone. Eliza immediately sent Philip to his room, so you could tell this wasn’t the first time work had followed Alex home. Then again, if you worked in politics, you never really got to leave work at work. You could only imagine how it was for Alexander.

Once Philip was back in his room, you and Eliza made your way to Alexander’s office. Alex looked like he was two seconds away from murdering whoever was on the other end of the phone call. Eliza gave you a look that let you know this definitely wasn’t the first time this had happened. Alexander shot you both a pained look, as if either of you’d be able to stop whatever the person on the other end was saying. He finally hung up with an exaggerated sigh, spinning in his chair to fully face you and Eliza. Eliza went and sat on the arm of his desk chair, wrapping her arms around him. “What happened this time?”

“Madison and Jefferson are trying to block the bill I’m backing,” Alex whined as he rested his head on Eliza’s chest. “Now Washington wants me to have a meeting with them to try and compromise.”

“Were you yelling at Washington?” Eliza asked. Alex nodded, a glum look on his face. “Alexander, you know there’s only so much he’ll tolerate from you. You’re going to have to go to this meeting.”

“It’s not like going to this meeting will end up any different than the cabinet meetings. They’ll just end up ganging up on me and no progress will be made,” Alex complained.

“I can mediate if you need me to,” you offered. “You won’t be outnumbered that way, and as long as it’s public information, you won’t get in trouble, right?”

“That’s actually not a terrible idea. I’ll probably have to clear it with Washington, but I don’t think he’ll have a problem with it,” Alex said, looking at you. “Promise you’ll behave though?”

“I know for a fact you never do, why should I?” You questioned with a raised brow. “We’re Hamiltons, Alex, it’s not like it’s in our nature to behave.” The thing was, you could tell exactly why Alexander was telling you to behave. It was the exact same reason you’d always been told to behave as you were growing up. While your cousin definitely inherited the light skinned genes in your family (definitely from his father), you got the black genes. People always tended to look down on you with your dark skin and curly hair. Throw that in with the fact that you were a woman, and you always had to ‘behave’ if you wanted to be taken seriously. You could easily challenge Alexander on stuff like this, but with other people it was a bit more difficult. You weren’t stupid, you knew how these things worked.

Alexander let out a resigned sigh, knowing his words of caution wouldn’t be able to stop you like he would have preferred. The thing was, you were willing to hold your tongue to keep your cousin out of trouble, but the second someone disrespected or underestimated you, all hell would break loose. “Just please don’t get me fired,” Alex told you after a few more seconds.

“I’ll try my hardest not to get you fired,” you promised, trying to hold in your excitement at finally being able to go with Alexander to work.

**********

It only took a few days for Washington to clear you for the meeting, and before you knew it, you and Alexander were on your way to the White House. After you got your security pass, Alexander led you through the halls of the building. He was going through the ‘rules’ for you, each of which you took with a grain of salt. If anything, you were way better behaved on your worst days than Alexander would ever be, so it wasn’t like he could give you any advice that was actually worthwhile.

“Okay, and most importantly, don’t let me get into a fight with Jefferson. I’ve already hit him once and I feel like Washington won’t let it slide this time,” Alexander explained as you reached the conference room.

“I don’t think I let it slide the last time, Hamilton,” someone said, walking up behind you. Alex immediately straightened his posture, so you were pretty sure you knew who was behind you. That wasn’t even considering the conversation he intervened in.

“Mr. President,” Alexander greeted. You turned, and sure enough, the President was standing right behind you, a few Secret Service agents standing a few feet back. 

“Secretary Hamilton. Representative Hamilton, I presume?” Washington said, holding his hand out to you.

“President Washington, it’s an honor. Thank you for letting me come in to work with Alexander,” you said, shaking his hand.

“Of course. From where this conversation was going, I can see that Hamilton needs supervision for the meeting.” You almost missed Washington’s dry humor, not expecting something like that right from the start. From everything you’d heard about the President, he was a very serious man.

“He’s needed my supervision since we were kids,” you decided to joke back. You heard Alexander’s small noise of protest from beside you, but you were more focused on the slight chuckle Washington gave in response. You felt a small burst of pride, and you could immediately tell why Alexander always wanted to make Washington proud, even if he wouldn’t admit it.

“If you don’t mind, Representative Hamilton, I’d like to have a word with Secretary Hamilton before the meeting.” You nodded, knowing Alex was probably going to get a set of rules similar to the one he was trying to give you.

“Of course. I’ll see you inside, then,” you told Alex, placing a hand on his shoulder. Alex nodded, but you could already feel the tension in him. You took one last look at the two before entering the conference room, shocked to find the other members of the meeting already sitting there. They paused mid-conversation and just stared at you. “Oh, hello.”

“Sorry, sugar, we have this conference room booked for a very important meeting in a few minutes,” one of them addressed you as if he were talking to a child. You recognized him from the news, and the magenta tie he was wearing just gave it away even more. Secretary of State, Thomas Jefferson. You couldn’t help but immediately arch a brow at his use of the pet name.

“I’m not-”

“Unless you’re Hamilton’s secretary, then you're more than welcome to join us until Hamilton arrives. I heard he hired a new one, but I haven’t had the chance to see who it was until now,” the other man - who you could only presume to be James Madison - directed the last part to Jefferson, only momentarily addressing you. Jefferson immediately perked up at the prospect of you being a secretary.

“Oh, are you? I could really use some coffee then, sweetheart.” Again with the pet names. You couldn’t help the slight frown that already threatened your cool façade.

“I’m not Hamilton’s secretary, and the whole coffee thing sounds more like something an assistant would do as opposed to a secretary,” you replied, tone icy. “Though I don’t suppose you’d see the difference, since they’re both traditionally female roles.”

“So, then, who are you?” Madison asked, choosing to ignore your sass. You were glad Madison asked, because if Jefferson threw one more pet name at you, you were sure you’d end up throwing a punch. It wasn’t difficult to see why Alexander didn’t like Jefferson; Jefferson was just so condescending with every word that left his mouth.

“I am Representative Hamilton of the National Assembly of St. Kitts and Nevis.” The formal introduction with your full title was always a power move. You straightened your back, looking both men directly in the face. Madison couldn’t look you in the eyes, eyes darting everywhere to avoid yours, as he took out a handkerchief to cough into. Jefferson, on the other hand, just had an amused little smirk on his face and a glimpse of something you couldn’t quite place in his eyes. It was like he’d roped you into playing his game without even knowing what the game was just yet.

“Okay, sugar-”

“Not your sugar,” you immediately cut Jefferson off. “I’m here to mediate the meeting between the three of you, so it would do you well to behave professionally, Secretary Jefferson.”

“I can definitely see how you’re related to Hamilton,” Madison muttered. You had to stop yourself from rolling your eyes; it probably wouldn’t help Alex if you antagonized the people he was supposed to come to an agreement with. Before anyone could annoy anyone else further, the door to the conference room opened.

“Sorry I’m late, President Washington wanted to talk to me outside,” Alex said, closing the door behind him. He looked at the group in front of him, and immediately sensed that something bad had happened in the whole five minutes he’d been talking to Washington. “(Y/n), what happened?”

“Secretary Jefferson here decided to call me pet names, and then Representative Madison made the assumption that I’m your new secretary,” you explained, going to take a seat across from the two in question. Alexander quickly masked his shock as he took the seat next to you. With the drop of his binder on the table, you knew it was time. “Right then, gentlemen, shall we begin this meeting?”

**********

The meeting was pretty standard as political affairs go, although there were the occasional personal jabs from both sides. There was a lot of back and forth, with no real progress being made either way. Whenever you could tell Alex was getting too heated, you placed a hand on his arm to keep him grounded. During a particularly nasty bout, you couldn’t help but reel in disbelief at Jefferson’s words.

“I don’t understand why you’re pushing so hard for this. You know it’s just going to increase the deficit further. Shouldn’t you actually care about what’s going on in our budget, Secretary of the Treasury?” Jefferson questioned, an obvious jab. Alex was about to say something, but you just held your hand out to stop him.

“No, I’ve got it,” you said. “Secretary Jefferson, I don’t know how to explain to you that you should have compassion for others. This is a bill for healthcare reform, for God’s sake. And I don’t know if you’re aware of this, but both of your state’s constituents would greatly benefit from this bill. To be honest, I’d expect a movie villain of some type to attempt to block a bill that would help those who are the most financially and medically vulnerable, but I’m watching this stereotypical plot unfold right in front of me. It’s sickening.”

 The silence that flooded the room was almost suffocating, no one expecting that outburst. You could feel the heat flooding your face as you found yourself the center of attention, but you didn’t regret it one bit. It was a matter of humanity at this point, and you couldn’t even believe that this topic was up for discussion, let alone debate.

After your outburst, the rest of the meeting proceeded without (too many) further arguments. It seemed like Jefferson and Madison needed that scolding to come to their senses. When the meeting finally ended, there hadn’t been much progress, but there was slight progress in Alexander’s favor. You and Alex left the conference room, already talking about plans for lunch since the meeting took so long.

“Representative Hamilton, wait!” Jefferson called out from behind you. You and Alexander paused, turning to see Jefferson quickly approaching the two of you.

“Secretary Jefferson,” you acknowledged, still irritated with his attitude during the meeting.

“I have to admit, the way you held yourself in that meeting was incredible. I’ve met few people that can hold their own like that. Would you like to grab a drink with me later?” You looked over at Alex, who seemed to barely be keeping it together. You, on the other hand, saw your opening to get back at him for all the little condescending comments he made, the pompous way he held himself, everything that made you dislike him within minutes of meeting him.

“I’d rather be in another hurricane,” you replied with the most sincerity you could manage. You heard Alexander choke on air beside you.

“I beg your pardon?” Jefferson asked.

“Then beg. C’mon, sugar, I thought you’d be smarter than to ask out someone you just spent the past few hours patronizing.” That time Alexander couldn’t hold in his laugh. With a tight-lipped smile, you turned on your heel and proceeded to walk down the hall, Alexander following close behind.

**********

Permanent Tag List: @spidey-pal 

[duhragonball]

Dragon Ball Z Movie 10: Broly -- Second Coming

The tenth DBZ movie premiered on March 12, 1994 at the Toei Anime Fair, after the airdate of Episode 220, and before 221.   So presumably there was some kid in Japan who watched Dabura turn Piccolo and Krillin into stone, and then this movie, and then the episode where the Saiyans enter Babidi’s spaceship.  

The original title was “Dragon Ball Z: Dangerous Rivals” or “Dragon Ball Z: Dangerous Duo!   Super Warriors Never Rest.”   When Funimation dubbed it in 2005, they simply named it “Broly -- Second Coming”, emphasizing that this is a direct sequel to Movie 8.

For my part, I didn’t wait for 2005 to see this movie.   Cartoon Network had finished airing DBZ way back in 2003, and I was getting sick of waiting for Funimation to release the last few movies.    I think Movie 8 and Movie 9 were released a year apart, to give you an idea.    So I downloaded the fansubs of Movies 10-13 and watched those.   I didn’t watch them in order, though, because 12 and 13 were of greater interest to me, and I was curious about 11 because I knew nothing about it.    Turns out Movie 11 was the third part of the Broly trilogy, so I kind of goofed on that, but we’ll get into that later.   If anyone from Funi! is reading this, rest assured that I legally purchased all four movies once they became available.   As a matter of fact, I bought them again on Blu-Ray around 2009, and again in 2019 because your shithead streaming service doesn’t have them, and I can’t take screencaps from the Blu-Ray editions.   So I think we’re more than square.   Support the official release, kids!

So let’s cut to the chase.   This movie is about Broly coming back to get revenge, kind of like how Movie 6 was about Cooler coming back after losing in Movie 5.    The difference is that Movie 6 at least tried to explain how Cooler survived certain death in the previous film.    Movie 10... doesn’t do this.    At all.    When we last saw Broly, Goku punched a big hole in his abdomen, and I’m pretty sure he exploded (!!) and then the planet they were fighting on got hit by a comet.   Movie 10 just stone cold doesn’t care about any of that.    It opens with a Saiyan spacepod drunkenly heading for Earth, and then it crashes on a mountain.

And here’s Broly, still glowing green and muttering about Kakarot.   He’s badly hurt, but he looks a whole lot better than he did at the end of Movie 8.    So I guess he just didn’t explode after all?    How did he heal his wounds?    Dd he heal himself, like Cell?    Where did he get the pod?    We only saw three spaceships on Planet New Vegeta in Movie 8.    Paragus had a pod, as well as a larger ship, and Broly destroyed them both.    Then there was the Capsule Corp. ship Piccolo used to join the battle, and all the good guys rode home on that.  

To be fair, it would make sense for Paragus to have had a few extra spaceships handy, except the whole point of his scheme was to keep Vegeta (the prince) on New Vegeta (the planet) long enough for the comet to hit it and kill him.    This is reflected in Paragus’ final scene in that movie, where he tries to make a run for it and leave Broly to die, and Broly catches him in the act.    Paragus claims that he wanted them to leave together, but Broly knows that there isn’t enough room for them both in the pod, so Paragus’ betrayal is clear.      The tragedy of the movie is that Broly kills Paragus, who he had once saved, and then he dies in the same trap that Paragus had intended for their enemies.   

Only Broly didn’t die, because he’s here in Movie 10.    There was a spare pod on the planet, and Broly somehow crawled into it and escaped before the comet hit.   Then he rode it all the way to Earth, and somehow survived the trip.    To be sure the only part of this that really adds up for me is that Broly wound up on Earth.  Paragus planned to conquer it after killing Goku and Vegeta, so it makes sense that the coordinates would already be laid in.   And Broly would want to go there, because he wants revenge on Goku.

But then the crater around the pod gets filled with water and freezes.   How did Broly not drown?    How did he not freeze to death?

I mean, I get that they were going for this Captain America thing, except they show the crater filling with water, and then they cut to Broly gasping for breath as the water freezes around him.   

And here’s the title screen.    Okay “A Pair in Peril” makes a lot more sense than “Dangerous Duo”.    I never understood who the duo was supposed to be.    Goten and Trunks?    They’re hardly dangerous at all in this movie.    But they are in danger, so maybe this is a big translation mixup.

The story picks up seven years later, with Goten, Trunks, and Videl gathering the Dragon Balls.   Continuity-wise, I assume this movie was intended to be set after the Babidi crisis wrapped up.     It couldn’t be set before the 25th Budokai, because Videl and Trunks hadn’t met yet, and they’re awfully chummy here.    We never find out how Videl learned about the Dragon Balls.    For that matter, how did Trunks and Goten know about them?    I think Toei just assumed that they would find out about them eventually, which is fair. 

The big thing that disqualifies this movie from canon (other than being a sequel to Movie 8, which also wasn’t canon) is that Videl doesn’t know very much about DBZ stuff yet.   She can fly, and she know about ki, but she still doesn’t know about Super Saiyans, etc.   But she gets a crash course in all of that over the next fifty episodes of DBZ, and by the time it’s all over this movie just wouldn’t make sense.   The post-Buu Videl has seen Gohan and the others transform, she’s been on a Dragon Ball hunt and seen Shenron, and she’s died and come back to life.   But no one knew all that would happen when Movie 10 was written, so they made due with what they had.  

As far as wishes go, Videl just wants to see Shenron, while Trunks plans to wish for his own amusement park so he won’t have to wait in line for the rides.   Goten wants to wish for infinite chocolate, and he hasn’t seen that gif on Tumblr yet.

One sidebar on their quest are these naturally forming crystals that Videl finds in the area near the final Dragon Ball.   Trunks and Goten don’t care, and I’m not really sure why it’s supposed to matter.    Videl remarks that the people who live in this place could make money off of the things, but their village looks very poor, so something doesn’t add up.   And there is something afoot in the village but the crystals never seem to have anything to do with it.  

The trio enters the village to check it out and maybe get some food, but they find a ritual human sacrifice taking place instead.   This is sort of the same deal as Oolong’s first appearance waaayyyyy back in the Pilaf Saga, where the townsfolk would hand over a bride to Oolong to save their community.    Only here, the monster is supposed to eat the girl instead of marrying her.  

The sacrifices are organized by this dude, who never gets a name in the story.    The subtitles call him “Prayergiver-sama”, and I think the dub called him a “Shaman”.   The Dragon Ball wiki identifies him as Maloja, but I have no idea where that name came from.   I’ll run with it, though, since I need to call him something.   

Basically, the deal here is that things were pretty cool in this village until about seven years ago (hmm...) and then the climate became harsher, which apparently caused the emergence of some monster from the mountains.    When the local wildlife became depleted, the beast started attacking the villagers, and Maloja convinced them that the only hope for their survival was to appease “the mountain god” with these human sacrifices. 

Videl dismisses the whole thing as superstitious nonsense, which is kind of rich coming from a girl who used ki energy to fly to this place so she could summon a magic dragon.    I mean, she’s right, but for all she knows Maloja’s plan is perfectly sound. 

The kids offer to defeat the best and save the village from having to do any more child sacrifices.   Specifically, Trunks demands Maloja’s ceremonial necklace as payment, which seems kind of random to me.    There’s a big orange sphere on the front, so when I first saw this I assumed it was the Dragon Ball they were looking for, but that shows up later.   Maybe it was originally intended to be a Dragon Ball in one of the early drafts and they ended up changing it but keeping Maloja’s design.    But now you have Trunks asking for the thing for no apparent reason.    Does he really like it, or is he just looking to humiliate Maloja by taking his stuff?

So their big plan is to hide in the buffet the villagers left for the beast, and then whenever it shows up to eat, they’ll jump out and kick its ass.   Videl seemed to think she could handle this alone, but Goten and Trunks wanted to be there to see her get eaten, or so they say.   

But the boys are hungry, and there’s food sitting right outside of this pot they’re in, so Trunks reaches out and swipes an apple.    When Goten tries to do the same thing, Videl smacks him in the face, and then he starts throwing a tantrum.

Eventually, Videl gives up and hands Goten a roll or something to shut him up, because she’s worried that Goten’s cries will give away her trap.     Trunks tells her that Goten was only pretending to be upset, and she fell for it.    I don’t want to give the wrong impression here.   I’m not big on this movie, but Goten and Trunks are pretty awesome.    I love these little shits.  

But Goten’s wailing has unintended consequences.    Somehow Broly heard him from all the way up in the mountain.    Even though he was unconscious.    And submerged in a frozen lake.   Sigh...

Of course, as we all remember from Movie 8, Broly was traumatized as a baby when he heard Baby Goku crying back on Planet Vegeta, and just being near Goku as an adult was enough to drive him into a murderous rampage.    So it does kind of make sense for Goten’s crying to be the one thing that disturbs his hibernation.

Moreover, Goten’s cries also remind Broly of when Goku wrecked his shit in Movie 8, so if anything, Broly’s original trauma was compounded by the events of that movie.  

So Broly busts out and goes on another rampage, right?     Wrong, first we gotta wrap up this “beast” subplot.    Turns out it was just a dinosaur the whole time, and Goten and Trunks kick its ass. 

Then they... eat it?   Savage.   I thought Trunks was only trying to punish the dinosaur and scare it away, but unless the villagers had some other dinosaur already curing in their smokehouse, they must have killed it and brought it back here for the victory feast.   

Ok, this place is called Natade Village.   Good to know.  

And Trunks has Maloja’s necklace.  See, I’m pretty sure this guy didn’t have a name in Movie 10 or 11, because Trunks refers to him by the chant he was doing during the sacrificial ritual.

But by the next morning, Maloja’s at it again, begging for the mountain god’s favor, because there’s some other disturbance in the village, and when Videl goes to check it out, she runs into Broly.   

And they just star throwing down.    Okay, so here’s where the movie really starts to get stupid.    I like both of these characters, but it makes zero sense to have them fight like this.    Broly spends much of this movie in Super Saiyan 1, as opposed to his jacked up “Legendary” mode.    But that’s still strong enough to kill Frieza with one blow.    Videl just learned what ki was a month ago, so how on Earth is she able to survive a hit from Broly?

To be fair, Mr. Satan took a hit from Perfect Cell and survived, but I think it was clear that Cell had no interest in killing him, probably because he wanted to terrorize him later.  But Broly’s a deranged lunatic.    He never showed mercy before, and he’s even more unhinged now.   Even if he wanted to spare Videl here, I don’t know if he’d have the self-control to hold back.   

Then Goten and Trunks show up, and Broly immediately goes after them, because he notices Goten’s resemblance to Goku.  

So you might be wondering, where the hell is Gohan during all of this?   Well, the movie doesn’t know either.   We just cut to him in some far-off location, and he senses Broly’s ki and heads off to investigate.    Did he just not want to join Videl on this Dragon Ball hunt?   That seems a bit weird.   

As for Goten and Trunks, they seem to do okay on their own, at least starting out.   Their attacks have no effect on Broly, but they’re agile enough to stay one step ahead of them, at least while they’re in their Super Saiyan form.  

But then Broly starts using stronger attacks, and the boys quickly find themselves outclassed.   They land in this abandoned mine, which I guess was for those same crystals Videl found earlier?  This is never explained.    Did the villagers operate this?

The thing is, Broly clearly has these boys dead to rights, but he never bothers to finish them off.    This is the same problem I had with him fighting Videl.    If Goten and Trunks are in base form, Broly should be way out of their league while he’s in SSJ1.    And yet he keeps tossing them around like ragdolls, and they never die and he never bothers to try harder.   Is he just screwing around?  

So then he just starts walking menacingly towards them, and the boys notice the seventh Dragon Ball lying nearby, so they devise a hasty plan.   Trunks moons Broly to distract him, while Goten grabs the Dragon Balls and wishes for Shenron to defeat Broly for them.  

So there’s a few problems with that plan, but besides all of that, Goten loses the ball in a pile of spherical crystals in the mine, so it takes him a while to find it again.   During his search, he stops to take a whiz.  

Meanwhile, Trunks does surprisingly okay fighting Broly alone.    I guess the conceit here is that Goten and Trunks can hold their own against SSJ1 Broly, but they lack the stamina to maintain the form the way Broly does.

Eventually he has to take cover in a cavern behind a waterfall, and I guess Broly can’t sense ki or he would have found him a lot more easily than this.   While he waits for Broly to leave, Trunks considers how his father would react to him hiding like this.    So where is Vegeta during all of this, anyway?   I used to think this movie might have been set after his death against Buu, but that hasn’t even come close to happening yet in the anime, and I’m fairly sure the manga hadn’t gotten there either.   Are we supposed to believe that Vegeta just doesn’t know this is going on?    He sensed Trunks was in danger in Movie 9, and he showed up in Movies 6 and 7 without an invitation.

Look, if they just didn’t want Vegeta to be in the movie, that’s fine, but they should have at least explained why he isn’t here.    It doesn’t make any sense for him to sit this one out, and I have a hard time believing he would have no idea that Broly’s running amok on Earth.   

Anyway, Goten finally tries to make the wish, but nothing happens.   I don’t know if he just isn’t summoning Shenron correctly or what.    Goten decides that he needs to move the balls out of the cave so that Shenron will have more room to manifest, and I guess that makes as much sense as anything.

So that leaves Trunks in the same bind he was in before.   Broly starts doing... whatever this is supposed to be.    Seriously, was this the most lethal manuever he could come up with?   Even if he’s trying to hurt Trunks before killing him, there’s got to be better ways to go about it.   Besides, why did he let Goten leave a minute ago?  He’s the one Broly really hates right now.

Also, this screencap gives us a good look at the scar tissue on Broly’s chest.    This is maybe the silliest thing in the movie.   I remember in the Budokai 3 game, there’s a mode with a Red Ribbon Army theme, and Commander Red is there to introduce it, and he has a little bandage on his forehead, covering up the spot where Staff Officer Black shot him.  That was a cute little joke, but this is supposed to be somewhat serious.    Goku ripped Broly open in Movie 8.   The scar tissue runs all the way up to his clavicles for crying out loud, and we’re supposed to believe that it just healed over like a hangnail?

Anyway, Trunks breaks the hold by peeing on Broly, and no, that’s still not as dumb as Broly growing back half of his chest.   

Broly finally gets fed up with the boys and tries to finish them off, and then Gohan finally arrives to save them.    Gohan’s surprised to see they lasted so long against an enemy as terrible as Broly.    No, it’s not that amazing, Gohan, this movie just really sucks.   

He tries to fight Broly... in his base form.     Why?   Why would that be a good idea?    Then Videl shows up and kicks Broly in the head.    Okay, so here’s why this movie is stupid.  

To me, the whole point of bringing Broly back was to show how he’d fare against Gohan as a Super Saiyan 2.    Movie 8 couldn’t deliver on this idea because it was made before SSJ2 was introduced.   Then Gohan dominated Cell as a Super Saiyan 2, and he did the same thing to Bojack in Movie 9.   Broly only lost in Movie 8 because the Z-Fighters donated their power to Goku, which made him strong enough to turn the tide.   

But in this movie, it’s seven years later, and Goku’s dead and Future Trunks is gone, so it’s basically up to Gohan, with a lot less backup.    But that’s okay, because he’s a lot stronger than he was in Movie 8.   Sure, he’s slacked off on his training, but he still knows how to turn into a Super Saiyan 2, so maybe that’s all he needs.   And Broly’s been out of action for a while too, so maybe the playing field is more even than it looks.  Of course, Gohan would have to win against Broly, or the movie couldn’t have a happy ending, but most of the battle would be this suspenseful thing.    Both Broly and Gohan have forms that surpass Vanilla Super Saiyan, but which one is superior?    That’s what this movie should have been about.   

But instead, Toei tried to do the battle from Movie 8 all over again, only it doesn’t work because most of the guys who were in that fight aren’t here for this movie.   Goku, Vegeta, Trunks, and Piccolo have been swapped out for Goten, Trunks, and Videl, and they can’t look credible against a monster villain like Broly.   That’s why they spend most of the fight doing comedy spots with him, and that’s why Gohan has to skip the first leg of the battle, so that he can rescue them here.  In Movie 8, that was Piccolo’s job, but Gohan has to do double-duty because there is no Piccolo this time around.  

The whole fight strains Broly’s credibility.   He has to be at Super Saiyan 1 most of the time just to keep it from looking too ridiculous, and even that’s pushing it too far.   If Videl can kick this guy in the face, why was he ever a problem in the last movie?    You had four Super Saiyans fighting him at the same time and they couldn’t do anything to him.    This movie has Videl survive his attacks and Trunks peeing on him.    What was the point of bringing Broly back if they were just going to make him look like a joke?

So then, finally Gohan turns Super Saiyan 2, prompting Broly to whip out his Legendary form.   I’m pretty sure Toei recyled the animation from Movie 8, since Broly’s clothes aren’t tattered like they are through the rest of this movie.    But whatever, we’ve finally gotten to the part that I wanted to see.

And Gohan still can’t win.   I wouldn’t have a problem with Broly being stronger, but Gohan can’t even get in some decent offense, which is all I wanted out of this stupid movie.   If I wanted to see Broly clobber Gohan, I could have just watched Movie 8 again.   I realize that this is kind of Broly’s deal, but thewhole point of doing a sequel set seven years later is to change things up.  

Is Gohan using Super Saiyan 1 or 2 in this movie?  You never see the lightning arc around him, which is kind of the tell or SSJ2, but the movies seem pretty inconsistent about this.    Personally, I think this looks like SSJ2, but it’s open to interpretation, to say the least.    My thing is, why would Gohan not use his strongest form in this fight?  He knows how dangerous Broly is, and it’s not like he can’t use SSJ2, so why wouldn’t he?   And this should have been clarified in the movie.    This is where another character should have said “He’s gone beyond the Super Saiyan, just like he did against Cell!”   Or if he’s not using that form, then someone should have made that observation instead.  

Likewise, no one knows if Broly is stronger or weaker in this movie than he was in Movie 8.    If he can dominate a Super Saiyan 2 like this, then maybe he’s gotten stronger.    His power was out of control seven years ago, so maybe now that he’s finally recuperated from his injuries, his ki is increasing again like before.    Or maybe he just got a zenkai boost from Goku nearly killing him.   

On the other hand, he might be weaker.    Look how lethargic he was against Goten, Trunks, and Videl.    Movie 8 Broly would have slaughtered them without a thought.   Maybe Movie 10 Broly is still suffering from the beating he took, and that’s why it took so long for him to ramp up to his Legendary form.    And while he is dominating Gohan, it’s still a one-on-one battle.   Broly never had this much trouble against a single opponent before.   

I’ve lurked on message boards where fans tried to argue both sides of this, and I used to have opinions on the matter, but now I realize that it doesn’t matter.    We shouldn’t have to ask these kinds of questions, because it’s the movie’s job to communicate that information.   Nobody had to ask how strong Broly was in Movie 8 because they showed us.   Here, it’s ambiguous, because no one bothered to go into detail.  

I mean, this shouldn’t be so complicated.    Each movie villain is supposed to be stronger than the last, mainly because the heroes get stronger as the story progresses.    Logically, Broly ought to be stronger in Movie 10 than he was in Movie 8, and the selling point should be that Gohan is stronger too, but will it be enough?   And then it is enough, because that’s what the fans want to see.   

The closest we approach to this is when Gohan escapes a hold by kicking Broly in the face.   I think this is one of the few times Broly actually experiences pain from an attack.    From here, Gohan realizes that he can beat Broly by luring him into a river of molten lava, which was brought to the surface by one of Broly’s prior attacks.

So it seems to work, but then Gohan passes out on a patch of land right as it’s about to get swallowed up by lava...

And then Piccolo shows up to rescue him.    Well it’s about time.

Only it’s not Piccolo, it’s Krillin disguised as Piccolo.   Okay, that’s cute and all, but why isn’t the real Piccolo here?    This stupid movie would have me believe that Krillin was sitting at home, sensed Broly’s ki, went upstairs to get out his custom-tailored Piccolo costume, put it on, and flew out here, but Piccolo and Vegeta have no idea what’s going on?       This is bullshit.  

I don’t want to give the wrong impression here.    I’m pleased with Krillin’s cameo here, but it just raises more questions than answers.   Broly’s kind of a big deal, and this movie seems to revel in the notion that less than half the cast would notice if he showed up on Earth.   Where’s Tien?    Yeah, he probably wouldn’t be able to help much, but he’d be one more guy for Broly to knock around.   It’d make more sense than having him fight Videl.

Anyway, Broly survived, because he has the same force field he used to survive Planet Vegeta’s destruction as a baby.    For that matter, Gohan used a similar force field earlier, so maybe this shouldn’t come as much of a surprise to him.

So then Broly catches Gohan in a bearhug.    Why are there restholds in a cartoon?   Seriously, it’s like Broly suffered a career threatening neck injury after Movie 8, and he had to tone down his style so as not to aggravate it.   Only that’s dumb because he’s an anime character who doesn’t exist.     Just punch the kid already.

Then Videl wanders over and tries to help by throwing a crystal shard at Broly.   Well, I can’t fault Videl for being all heart, but that’s not enough to save this turkey.

Broly swats it away, which gives Gohan an opening to escape.   But why?    Wouldn’t Broly just let the thing hit him?   It’s not like it could hurt him anyway.    This guy took a Kamehameha to the face.   

So Gohan decides to end this now with a Kamehameha, and Broly decides to do the same with his.... Gigantic Meteor?    Omega Blazer?   Gleaming Sagitarius?  The video games had all sorts of stupid names for Broly’s moves, even though they all look the same.   This one is, “Toss some more green shit at things.”

So then we get to a halfway decent part of the movie.  Goten runs over to help Gohan, and they do a beam struggle with Broly.    Cool.

But it doesn’t look good, and in desperation, Goten prays to Shenron for help.   

Then Goku shows up.   Is this because Shenron heard Goten’s wish?  That’s the general idea here, but the movie refuses to say for certain.    What I do know is that Shenron never actually manifests to grant wishes.    The Dragon Balls just glow, and then this happens.  

Also, Goku doesn’t have his halo, so I have no idea what this means.  

Meanwhile, Trunks gets up from wherever he’s been laying, and he fires one last ki blast at Broly, for spite’s sake.    This turns out to intercept one of Broly’s attacks, which seems to give the Son family an opening.  It’s basically like how Vegeta attacked Cell right before Gohan finished him.

Actually, now that I write all that out, this all seems pretty derivative.   We saw a Father-Son Kamehameha in the Cell Games, and a lot of this “Goku returns to help” stuff was covered in Movie 9.   Even so, I dig this version a little better, because Goten is here.   I still would have preferred it if Gohan had just beaten Broly on his own, without all this overbooked nonsense.  

So the triple-Kamehhameha manages to break through Broly’s bullshit armor and it sends him flying into the sun, just like how Cooler lost in Movie 5, only all this green crap spews out of Broly as he dies.

Then he explodes, and the blast comes out of the other side of the sun, so maybe that’s enough to finish him this time?  

Then the sun turns green for a second, like it has to burn off the last vestiges of Broly’s Gary Stu ki. 

After the fight, there’s no sign of Goku, although the Dragon Balls have scattered, indicating that a wish was granted.   Then Videl starts questioning how Gohan beat Broly, and she chases after him, demanding a full explanation.  

As the movie closes, the narrator asks how Goku appeared during the battle, but claims that no one can ever know for sure.    That’s horseshit, frankly.    We know how the Dragon Balls work, and we know they couldn’t bring Goku back to life, so none of what happened makes any sense.   Goten didn’t even say the wish out loud.   He just thought it and Shenron heard that?     It’s dumb.   You had the whole movie to explain these things, and you blew it on piss gags.

Oh, and Krillin’s still embedded in the rock where Broly hit him.   

So yeah, this movie isn’t very good.    Team Four Star ranked it near the bottom of the list of movies and specials, and they often talk about how everyone says Movie 11 is the worst, but they actually dislike this one more because it’s more boring.    Personally, I think 11 is worse than 10, but I’d hate to live on the difference.  

I’m pretty sure Movie 10 is the main reason people dislike Broly.   That’s not to say that Movie 8 would be universally loved if Movie 10 weren’t around.     But I think Movie 10 cemented a lot of the worst aspects of Broly’s character.   He comes back, surviving what should be certain death, then he survives several other predicaments, and he just says “Kakarot” over and over again for the entire movie.    The only other line he speaks is when Gohan gets ready to Kamehameha him, and he’s about to fire back.    Otherwise it’s all grunts and “Kakarot!”    

In Movie 8, the guy at least had a personality, even if it was twisted and cruel.   In this movie, it’s like they were trying to imply that he suffered some sort of brain damage.    It’s just so dull watching him fight.   He moves like he’s in slow motion sometimes, and he never seems interested in actually defeating his enemies. 

And this is a complete inversion of how they brought back Cooler in Movie 6.    Remember Cooler?    He came back as a cyborg with unlimited spare bodies, just so he’d be strong enough to cope with fighting Goku and Vegeta at the same time.    Movie 6 is far from perfect, but at least it understood the need to raise the stakes.   Movie 10 brought back Broly and took a bold step backwards.

But at least Broly was actually in this movie, and I think that at least puts it ahead of Movie 11.    I’m not sure that should be the only criteria for rating Broly movies, but I think it should be a major one.   

[tricktster]

this is a weird fish rant incoming

i wrote that post about my newest aquarium with darkmantle the betta fish about 18 times because on the first 17 passes i kept trying to find ways to reassure whoever found it through the tags that the tank was big enough and cycled and my parameters were great...

because, like, in my experience aquatics as a hobby at large (but particularly on tumblr thanks to anon asks) has the potential to be incredibly judgmental! Which... like, honestly i get!

A lot of us love tech and we love learning new techniques and how to care for species with really specific needs, but when it comes down to it... there are really just a few things you have to do to keep everyone in your average freshwater tank thriving, and i’m gonna hazard a guess and say 60-70 percent of people don’t do any of them, at least not at first!

like, fucking it up is almost baked into the hobby. we still give out goldfish at carnivals, we still see products claiming that you don’t need to change water ever if you just buy their additive or throw a plant in it and call it aquaponics, and we still sell tanks specifically marketed for betta fish that wouldn’t be a humane place to keep any living being. and how do you beat that mentality, you know? when there’s a full industry saying “no, these animals actually like! living in unheated, unfiltered plastic cubes,” or “they’re great favors for parties, put them in mason jars as a centerpiece!” there’s always gonna be some percentage of people who don’t ever question that, and it’s upsetting!

worse, the people who are really into the hobby? like i said, bad care is basically where most of us started out! most of us made those same beginner fuckups, and we didn’t provide proper care for our underwater buds because we were kids, or information wasn’t available because we had dial up, or even the information in books was often wrong, or the clerk at the pet store said it was okay, or the fucking instructions on the box did. we learned that we were wrong when our pets died. then like, we got a little knowledge, and now we feel guilty that we caused any living being to suffer in the past because we didn’t know enough or do enough to prevent that suffering.

and this is kind of a wild thing about this hobby i stumbled into, because, unlike many other hobbies, there is a measureable cost to fucking it up. tiny lives are on the line, and if you’re bad at it, they die early and unnatural deaths. for those of us who find joy in figuring out how to help our charges thrive, it sucks to know that for some people who claim to love it too, an aquarium is where you put a fish until it dies a few days/weeks/maaybe months later and you get another fish. there’s some moral weight involved that other hobbies don’t have. like, there’s a lot of bad artists out there. some people genuinely suck at knitting or the harmonica. i cannot in good faith call the thing my body does to music “dancing.” generally, the errors people make if they’re bad at a hobby do not lead to suffering and death. (exception: see, my attempts at dancing, supra.)

also, the people who are really fucking it up in the aquarium sphere don’t have a huge overlap with the people who are enthusiastically showing progress pics or asking questions about the science or art underlying these little closed ecosystems. i think people really dedicated to the hobby don’t get the opportunity to interact very often with the subset of people out there fucking it up hard. like, you know it’s happening, and it’s easy to find pictures of a shitty tank if you go looking, but most people are doing pretty fucking good if they’re already actively engaged in the hobby.

so, this is my theory about judgy, judgy fishblr. i think all that anger at people who don’t care about their animals mixes with our own shame for our early mistakes and emotions run high; then, like anything else people are passionate about, some people become holier-than-thou fundamentalists about the whole fuckin thing. if they call you out, they can stay above reproach. if they can claim that anything different from how they engage with the hobby is wrong, they can’t be accused of ever making a mistake, and maybe they don’t need to grapple with their own guilt about their own fuckups that way either. like, i know this all sounds really overblown but...seriously, my tiny following on this site is because I Am A Person Who Wrote 475000 words of Fanfic About Sans Undertale, Including His Dick, and for that crime against decency, i’m sure i DO deserve some anon hate. yet somehow, in spite of my many public sins, my most unpleasant interactions on this or honestly any social media site have been about aquarium stuff? it’s not even directly mean, it’s concern trolling like “uhh sweetie good try but you really shouldn’t have a betta unless you’ve got the space for it 😏😉” and inside i’m like “BITCH IT’S 6.6 GALLONS, it’s ONE FISH, IT’S A NANO TANK,” and yet my response is always closer to “thanks for the tip 😁😁😁😁. here’s why you’re wrong but i’ll be CHEERFUL AND FRIENDLY about it because deep down i STILL need validation that I’m not hurting my animals, EVEN THOUGH I KNOW I’M DOING GREAT”

(this, i swear to god, happens often enough that it’s a joke on the aquatics subreddits? like someone will post a pic of obscenely enormous empty tank, drained swimming pool etc and be like “any ideas what i should put in this?!” and the comments will be like “maybe big enough for a betta???” “no way. with a tank that small, one amano shrimp tops, and that’s PUSHING it”)

so there my dumb ass was last night, trying to write jokes about my fish while still preemptively demonstrating that i know my shit to stop any doubters from fishsplaining at me? and i just COULDN’T get it, and i was getting really frustrated, because it’s so obnoxious to be lumped in with people who never change their pets’ water and don’t know to cycle their tanks and certainly don’t regularly find themselves hunched over 5 ml beakers waiting for the reagents to assure them their ammonia level is as close to 0 parts pet million as possible...

and then i remembered how i deal with anyone who questions my competency in literally any other field. I don’t smile and emoji my way through being attacked by some asshole on the internet when any other topic is on the line. i certainly don’t scramble for the reciepts to prove they’re wrong. instead, i use every debater’s most feared technique:

I threaten to crawl into their house and put things in their ears while they’re sleeping.

Hmmm, oh, are you implying that I don’t know how to care for my obviously healthy, thriving animals? not anymore, because you can’t question my commitment with your EARS FULL OF GOOGLY EYES, JARED!

...this went so far off the rails. in conclusion, take care of your pets, and don’t be insecure in your abilities.

oh, and saltwater tank elitist snobs can eat my farts. give your balls a tug ya shitheads.

[that-1-ninja-wizard]

Why am I doing this kiddo?

A'ight fine, let's get this over with.

Hi, I'm Kaigun Uchiha. I was born to... That doesn't matter, and I was raised by Inferuneel, the Inferno Dragon.

Being the son of a dragon is pretty cool, especially considering my mom is the sister of Igneel, the Fire Dragon King, so... Yeah.

Anyway, I'm being told by the kid that I gotta move this along, so...abilities? Aight then.

First off, chakra: Having been born as an Uchiha, I obviously am able to use Fire Release Jutsu: Great Fireball, Pheonix Flower, you name it.

I also was born with a proficiency with Wind Release Jutsu. I haven't learned too many, but the Mass Wind-Blades Jutsu and the Wind Bullet Jutsu have come in pretty handy.

I also have access to some Jutsu that aren't affiliated with an element, including a pretty rare Jutsu called the Rasengan. It's a small sphere of pure chakra that I can slam into a target, but I have figured out how to combine it with elemental Chakra for the Hellblaze Rasengan (Fire Release) and the Rasenshuriken (wind release, also this is one I stole learned from the nine-tails kid, so yeah).

Also I can use the Shadow clone Jutsu... Not much else to say here, I can make like... Five at most... I'm not great at it but I don't tend to use it...

Also (because I'm an Uchiha) I have access to the Sharingan, although only in one eye (we'll cover the other eye later). My Sharingan gives me greater perspective abilities as well as splitting off into two 'trees'. The Eye of Insight is linked to the increased perceptive abilities, and also means I'm able to copy Jutsu so long as I'm physically capable of doing so. The perceptive abilities granted by the Eye of Insight are crazy, even letting me predict my opponents moves via their muscle tension. It also let's me see chakra and even gives it colour so that I can distinguish different sources, as well as letting me see irregularities in someone's chakra. The Eye of Hypnotism grants me some pretty decent Genjutsu abilities (although I'm not exactly an expert) like subtle coersion, smaller and larger scale Genjutsu, stuff like that.

The Sharingan can be (and in my case, has been) taken one step further via the Mangekeyo Sharingan, which grants the user a unique ability in each eye. Mine has actually been takes a step further than that into the Eternal Mangekeyo Sharingan... Its basically just the normal Mangekeyo without the consequences, but hey, I'll take what I can get. Obviously, I only have the one, but my Kaiten is pretty powerful as it let's me spin something in my focal point in one of two ways. I can either spin something around its own centre (good for sending quick attacks off course... Or for spinning people), or around an axis (good for dealing with larger attacks or to gain some distance).

Anyway, I promised I'd talk about my other eye, so yeah. Under my father's headand is a pretty crazy Dojutsu called the Tenseigan. My Tenseigan (when active) gives me a slight healing factor, flight, increased physical abilities, and the Mooncutter Jutsu (a large yellow beam that supposedly could cut the moon in half if used by someone with two Tenseigan). It also gives me a glowing blue outline, and makes my hair glow that same light blue, so yeah... I guess that's a thing. It takes masses of chakra though...

Finally, we have my Jinchuriki abilities. Being the Jinchuriki of the Two Tailed Beast, Matatabi, I have access to some of her abilities. For example, in Matatabi Chakra Mode stage two (MCM II) I can use the Bijudama (or Tailed Beast Ball), a massive sphere of Biju chakra that causes massive destruction. I can also summon a Matatabi 'Avatar' that functions similarly to what I've heard about the Susanoo. I'm also able to summon parts fo that avatar instead of the whole thing, in case I need to sheild myself or want an extra angle to attack from.

Alright then, magic now: First up is my Inferno Dragonslayer Magic. It's probably easiest to compare it to Fire Dragonslayer Magic, as that's technically what it is, ish. Essentially, Inferno Dragon Magic is a mutation of Fire Dragon Magic, which creates much hotter flames, but means the user can only consume flames the same colour as their own. In my case, I can only eat Blue fire because my flames are blue, my mom is the same but with Yellow flames, ect, ect. Inferno Dragonslayer Magic grants me all kinds of abilities, ranging from Inferno Dragon's Roar (a massive plume of blue flames from the mouth), to Inferno Dragon's Flare (a short-range explosion of blue fire from the hand), to Inferno Dragon's Iron fist (a punch laced with blue flames) and way more. Although, I've been told my signature move is Inferno Dragon's Flame-Blitz: a move which let's me become a ball of blue flame and fly around as crazy speed... It's honestly pretty fun. I've also got my Sky-Blaze Dragon Mode (a form which massively powers me up as well as augmenting my magic with Sky Dragonslayer magic), and Dragonforce (a straight power-boost at a crazy level, at least 10 times stronger than Sky-Blaze Dragon Mode).

Next up is Requip Magic, a type of magic I learned (well, the basics anyway) from a friend of mine at the Guild (thanks Erza!). Requip Magic let's me store weapons in a pocket dimension and draw them out at will, which I've done with my father's sword Flamebringer, as well as many Kunai, Shuriken, and even some Butane-based paper bombs.

Finally, I started learning Dark God Magic from Remnant's God of Darkness (long story) which has given me access to some pretty mental techniques. Dark God's Counter-Strike is a spell that reflects all magic back at the caster, however, I have to drag my hand along a blade for a set number of seconds (1-4) and then Slash at the spell with the blade. The number of seconds changes the power of the reflected spell (1 second is same strength, 4 seconds is 4 times the strength) and also changes the 'cool-down' period on it (1 second = 1 min cool-down, ect). Dark God's Accent is pretty much teleportation, but it has two variants: the fast, short-range version; and the slower to start, long-range version.

Also, I can use Dark God's Devestation, but I don't feel like killing everything on the planet (including me).

So yeah, lastly, weapons:

Flamebringer: a blackened kusanagi with a long blade, it was made for two handed use, but you can get away with using it one handed...just. The blade is constantly on fire, although the flame doesn't actually burn until you channel chakra into the blade, at which point you can get anything from a better cut to a full on fire-blast depending on how much chakra you use.

Kunai: it's a type of throwing-knife. I have like, 20.

Shuriken: just shuriken, I have quite a few

Butane Paper Bombs: like normal paper bombs, they explode. Unlike normal paper bombs, the flame is blue, so I can throw them into a fire attack and change that attack from an annoyance to a benefit.

So yeah, that's me, Kaigun Uchiha. Y'know, I didn't think I was gonna enjoy this whole 'tumblr' thing, but I just might... I'll have to thank the Kid later...

[cleverbroadwayurl]

She Used to Be Mine (Jeremy Heere x Reader Pt 19)

Song: She Used to Be Mine from Waitress 

Need to Catch Up? tumblr has now officially takes things out of the tags that have lists. The link to every part and my masterlist is in my description for easy access! 

A/N: Oh my god I finally posted! I went on vacation and had so many exams the weeks before, and I had so much other work, so I’m sorry that this is so delayed! I should be back to regularly posting soon after next weekend (I have another event coming up)! 

Taglist: @retrogarden @be-more-heidi-hansen @catatonic-kuragin @scarsonthecuffsofyourjeans @bluhimaweirdo @stargirl-murphy 

Trigger Warnings: Mentions of an abusive boyfriend, mentions of character death, mentions of abuse, mentions of injuries, mentions of math, sad Jeremy, IF I MISSED ANYTHING LET ME KNOW

He watches you walk away, off into the distance before realizing how creepy that probably is. Jeremy grabs his keys from his pocket, phone still situated where it had been before. He walks carefully back to his car, hoping, wishing, that this is the last date you’ll ever be on with your boyfriend.

Jeremy jammed his key into the lock, exhaustion seeping into his regular routine, the typical for Thursday afternoons after an hour and a half math recitation. His brain is a mess of grey matter, he can feel the dullness inside of his eyes, paler than usual skin, even though his day consisted mostly of sitting, he still felt the tiredness through his legs. His backpack weighed down on his shoulders more than it normally did as he opened the door and threw his keys back into his jean pocket. He opened the door to his and Michael’s dorm, his eyes scanning over the posters that had been hung there when the two had moved in, the two carpooling in Michael’s PT Cruiser while their parents drove themselves and the boy’s stuff in their separate cars.

He throws his backpack onto the left side of the room, trash only slightly littering his side—he didn’t have time to clean up before his Calculus I exam that day. Darkness enveloped him as you continued to step through his side of the large dorm room, Michael’s side untouched from this morning. His brain had instead been skimming over the extremely long related rates and optimization problems. As much as they logically made sense, the calculation of them always weighed him down, each answer ending up being some fraction or decimal he didn’t particularly appreciate. His brain went over the process once again, constantly refreshing and double checking his answer, worried that he’d made a minor error and messed the entire thing up. He toes off his shoes, leaving them askew for the moment—he’d clean them up and put them away later. His brain was too tired for any real coherent interaction for a while.

His eyes scan the room, stopping for a second on the TV and switch against the wall that perfectly split the room into 2. Of course, a gaming console was how the two thought it would be best to divide the room. Jeremy had been right at Red Robin all those months ago: the bean bags wouldn’t fit in here. As Jeremy turns to sit onto his bed, eyes scanning the white walls that consume him, his eyes fall onto the postcards, the posters, the notes that had been sent to him. Of course, almost monthly, Christine would send him a friendship letter, an update about how magical college was and all the friends she was making. She’d updated him a few times, telling him that she decided to go to counselling because the stress was too much sometimes, and he had never been prouder of her. His eyes continue circling around the room, taking note of the blue sweater that hung near his bed in case he got cold in the middle of the night or right before getting out of bed.

Jeremy swings his feet around and lays down on the bed, a little bummed that Michael isn’t there so he can vent to him about his answer that was a fraction his professor said it wouldn’t be a fraction but it was. So, laying down and taking in the glow in the dark stars that he’d transported from home and stuck onto his ceiling at school would have to do. Another 15 minutes or so pass, and Jeremy is still going over each pencil mark, each moment of erasing over and over again. It isn’t until he gets the same answer 4 or 5 times in his mind that he gives it a rest, deciding that it would be healthier to focus on something else for a little bit. The exam is over, 2 out of 4 done. With no other classes for the rest of the day, Jeremy also takes a second before deciding that homework could wait until his brain was more coherent that it currently was. That, and the only class he had the next day was calculus yet again. The only logical thing his brain can come up with is to watch something on Netflix while curled up under the covers until Michael gets back from his classes.

As Jeremy gets up and grabs his laptop, his phone vibrates. There’s a text from one of his newer friends on it, asking him how he thought the exam went. He supposed that the text was a good thing. He has friends—he was making friends, too. It wasn’t hard to once he’d kind of broken out of his shell and got more comfortable with himself. And that was of course after Jeremy realized that most of his peers felt the same things he did ever so often. Of course, he left out the part about the weird super computer that tried to take over the school; he assumed that wasn’t a universal experience.

But Jeremy ignored the text for the minute. His brain wasn’t ready to comprehend everything in a healthy way yet. He knew that he was going to obsess over that one problem up until the minute that the grade would be entered into Blackboard, which could be hours, days, even sometimes weeks. He sets his laptop onto his bed before crawling back into it, fingers gliding over the mousepad, searching for the one app and closing a certain web browser. He finds it easily, and the app launches. Two fingers glide over the mousepad once again, scrolling down and eyes skimming for something mindless, something that could easily take his mind off of the events of the day but not too mentally challenging. His eyes hit “Keep Watching” and he stops, looking into the subheading.

Finally, he feels okay enough to reply to the text.

Jeremy: I don’t even know, I got a fraction for the related rates thing. Didn’t she say that we were going to get a nicely worked out problem?

He sends the text before locking his phone and putting it on “Do Not Disturb” so that he couldn’t be distracted by the outside world for a little bit. His eyes go back to the Keep Watching subheading and the content in it when he freezes. Right there, in plain print, easy text, is the piece of media you and Jeremy had watched together all those months ago.

Fuck, he remembers that night instantly, his mind rewinding to you with that bright orange cup, head against his chest, eyes fluttered shut, calmness finally flowing in and out of you. It was the most relaxed he’d ever seen you. He knew that it probably wasn’t a wonderful slumber, given your entire situation that affected your entire life to the point that you couldn’t even keep it together, strong as you were. He can remember the way his stars glowed, the way his sweater draped around you and somewhat onto him. He can remember the way you’d shifted right before he’d fallen asleep, almost snuggling into him more than before, hands calmly gripping his body, reaching out for him like he was the only thing in the world that mattered to you.

With a shake of his head, Jeremy is brought back. It’s 3:43 on a Thursday, months after the event, you’re probably hundreds of miles away. His heart hurts inside of his chest, bad enough that he feels like with to sharp of an exhale, it would come tumbling from his lips. He has no idea what happened with you. He has no idea if you’re okay, no idea if you’d managed to get free, managed to get rid of the stupid, what his British Literature professor called, Separate Sphere ideology, the Angel of the Household falling into freedom. His brain replays the moments in the gazebo, the leaves clapping with gusto as the breeze passes through, the way you smiled at him, moments where he was able to actually help you instead of just guessing and praying that things were okay. The way you told him that you got lost in time when talking to him. The way your lips curled into a smile, the genuine laugh, the looks of desperation almost peering into freedom. They were things he couldn’t forget, things that stuck on his mind for hours at a time.

At least this was only a basic remembering, no sensory details completely throwing him for a loop, causing his stomach to work in tandem with his mind. Seeing you in social media posts made the memories worse, they stung with each second they passed through his mind as his limbs would tingle, hands shaking and gripping, waiting for the memories to pass. As much as he wanted to admit that he was okay with not knowing about you, letting you go, he wasn’t. Deep down, it was apparent to everyone. He would lie awake, toss and turn, dream about the good, the bad, and what he assumed happened to you. Of course, it was always the worst in his nightmares, something he didn’t wish to dwell on while the sun was up, and the best in his daydreams. You hadn’t posted about your boyfriend recently, but you didn’t really before either, especially after you’d started even talking to him, even less since the incident—which is what he called that one night in passing with others. The only people who really knew the details about the incident were his dad, Michael’s moms, and Michael himself. Everything was under lock and key—both you and the issues you had—he was really the only one who knew exactly how you were feeling, the things you had been, or maybe still were, going through. He can remember Michael’s surprise when he first told him about you, about your situation, about your strength, about your new life, how much you’d changed. From happy to struggling to understand what was reality and what was something that was gaslit and given to you on a counterfeit silver platter.

And you’d gone silent lately. You were almost completely off the grid, to him at least. It was painful, every breath sitting inside of him, heavier than any gravitational pull in the universe. His heart, his mind, couldn’t help but fill in the blanks. Had you died? Had you done something too rebellious and ended up worse than the last time he saw you? Did you need help to live? Did you need help to even survive?

He can remember the way your hand brushed against his, the way your breath evened in hugs, that very first night, the way his hands glided across your back and helped you clean up. He can remember how your hand felt in his, your head against him, soft calmness seeping from you and into him. He can remember you leaning against him and his entire body lit aflame as he helped you up and down the stairs of the gazebo, the way your smile felt against his lips—clumsy kisses that had managed to turn into something absolutely beautiful and worth craving nearly daily. He can remember that smile that was etched into your shining face as the sunlight created an aura around you, leaves fluttering in the background. Jeremy remembers your hand slipping from his, a final farewell, or something similar leaving your lips. He remembers watching you walk away—why didn’t he watch longer?

Jeremy reaches his hand out, shaking as he tries to move the cursor away from the piece of media. He stops. Sharply, quickly, he shuts his laptop and casts it aside. Rolling over, the tears that had been forming in his eyes now spill down his cheeks. He can feel his legs contracting, toes curling so hard that his muscles begin to hurt, hands gripping the blanket. You were okay. You had to be okay.

Right?