#tldr? “you're not my type” my ass

[blanze]

I agree 💜 Btw you're right @starielluvsgeekmythos , it's just like shadow work. In fact this entire thing was inspired by an oracle deck, the Oracle of Pluto... which would be a perfect excuse to draw a witchy Nico with the neon purple-pink deck and a dead serious face huh.

Also @percicosoftcore "Shadows being meant to be understood, not feared" is itself a metaphor, for Nico himself (Phoe if you're reading this, you're spot on lmao). In HOO Nico himself has experienced being feared, mocked, othered, because of what other people think he's capable of. He himself was a walking Shadow everyone else avoided or ran away from, and way back when, he learned to accept that darker side, never fear it, even if others did.

Add to it that this is supposed to happen sometime after HoH and maybe during/before BoO, and this Nico still goes out into Percy's cabin and actively tries to comfort him, while trying to guide Percy through the motions, trying to speak his language, being cryptic af with his feelings but really damn obvious at the same time, and even with all that heartbreak and pain and anger and fear he has been carrying so far, he still hugs Percy while silently saying "please, please accept me too. Embrace me, too".

Nico knew exactly what Percy went through in HoH, how Tartarus pushes you to be your absolute worst just to survive, and just how badly it would affect him. After all, Percy is one stubborn kid that would absolutely beat himself up over what he did to that goddess, having no compassion towards himself. And you cannot possibly convince me that if things had gone just a little bit differently, Nico wouldn't have had the opportunity and compassion of stopping the nonesense, and Percy would have actually listened, for once.

It was supposed to be done for day 2 of @percico-nicercy-events : Powerful Percy and Nico.

Forgot to say: The Shadow is actually a Jungian concept, and I though that out of everyone in PJO, Nico would easily be the one most in touch with that side of himself!

[eyesofshan-if]

Kind of a long ramble spoiler for the last chapter but I have to talk about it to someone and give you your accolades

So when I start a new IF, I always make up OCs with different personalities because I don't like being personally involved in the IFs I read and also for more diverse choices but this one hits different.

First of all. The objectification of the clear eyes , the fact that an RO fucking ATE the gijeok, the micro (and macro) aggressions (especially the fucking guy at the pleasure house who made me paranoid during the whole chapter because I thought he was going to ambush us on the way back with Wooyoung being hurt if you see this you're on the list buddy)

You think it doesn't hit until The Empress asks the question and man.

The way I was lowkey ashamed of myself for saying I didn't know. And then I felt frustrated because how do you expect me to pick a side author ?? 😭😭😭

And when I tried to be The loyal commander as usual I had every little aggression, every little insult, every little objectification coming back like flashback especially the scene at the start with all the eyes and oathbounds gathered 💀💀

Now, don't get me wrong, I love The Empress, the Samjogo (Hansol my twin, my ride or die, my brother from another mother 🥹🥹), Wooyoung, Ahn, EVEN THAT BASTARD KWOK (raon you weird for that but you get a pass just this time 👁️👁️) but I just hate Hae because of what it represents, I just don't see how I can go to war for my oppressors against my people. It's kinda weird you know ??And I also don't want my people to die being gaslighted into war by some modern (not really) Jesus ykwim ???

Because war with Hae or not it won't bring back grandpa who was transformed into a gas station dick pill or little cousin who became a Vicks balm for some old lady with one foot who's already in the grave you see ????

And no matter how much I hate that shithead Jeong Taehoon (whatever his name is) HE WAS OCCASIONALLY COOKING SOMETHING 🗣️🗣️🗣️ 🔥🔥🔥

"Are you the commander because you're the strongest or are you the commander because it's convenient for the Empress' inner circle ?" type stuff (I will actually die if he turns out to be some kinda right and Hansol was in the know and didn't say anything 😭😭😭)

Having your strong ass (and easily disposable) slave that owes you life as your commander is a Battleship type move (and you realize that the RO presentation wasn't sugarcoating it💀 At this point I rather not entirely trust her to defend my interests 💀). I love the "no choice is right" stuff.

So yeah you cooked some major stuff author 🫵. Congratulations 👏👏👏. Impatient to see the next chapter 😚🫴❤️

TLDR : Good shit 🔥🔥🔥👌👌👌

reading this whole ask felt like a fever dream and an acid trip but thank you for taking the time out to just write so much LMAO

You think it doesn't hit until The Empress asks the question and man. The way I was lowkey ashamed of myself for saying I didn't know. And then I felt frustrated because how do you expect me to pick a side author ?? 😭😭😭

i'm glad that you felt that conflict!! this is only the beginning of a tumultous war and power struggle - and for the commander it'll be a matter of torn loyalties... you can't support either side without breaking some relationships, losing some people and hurting those you love!!

I just don't see how I can go to war for my oppressors against my people.

oh ho ho... are the shan really so innocent too? we'll find out more in the future :D

And I also don't want my people to die being gaslighted into war by some modern (not really) Jesus ykwim ???

is this referring to the high leader because i just died laughing

And no matter how much I hate that shithead Jeong Taehoon (whatever his name is) HE WAS OCCASIONALLY COOKING SOMETHING 🗣️🗣️🗣️ 🔥🔥🔥

jeong taewoo might be a little bitch but he is cooking a little... you'll find out more in the next chapter

"Are you the commander because you're the strongest or are you the commander because it's convenient for the Empress' inner circle ?" type stuff (I will actually die if he turns out to be some kinda right and Hansol was in the know and didn't say anything 😭😭😭)

oh... you'll have a lot to find out nonny!! both yongsun and hansol have their own agendas... and you'll either find out what these are or stay in blissful ignorance forever <3

[sugarywishes]

What is the exact relationship between the spirits of the children in your interpretation? As well as between them and the Afton Kids spirits in turn? Would be nice to learn a bit more about their interactions.

Sorry for the long-ish response, but this is a very lore filled answer, so if you wanna find out about my FNAF remaining lore, just click to see more!

To answer your question, none of the kids actually knew each other (with the exception of the Afton Kids and Charlie, and the Bennet Twins with Jonathan) during their lifetime. So when they all started popping up as ghosts in the pizzeria, it was pretty awkward to have your first meeting with someone be when you're both dead.

Regardless, though, they all eventually warmed up to each other! Being trapped as a ghost for an indefinite amount of time can be made a little less worse when you aren't alone in this. (It's especially kinda sad when some of the kids experience friendship for the first time as ghosts 😭😭)

The kids all have their own 'best friend(s)' and least favorite people or whatever, eventually I'll make a little relationship chart to further explain things!

Some do have their little squabbles with each other from time to time, considering they are still children, but they don't actively hate each other, they sure do hate the Afton kids however!

They especially hate Evan and Mike. They don't really know Elizabeth since she's in Circus Baby's. So they're just hating her cause of association (these are some hating ass kids 💀)

For a while, they didn't really mind Evan since they didn't know who his dad was or who he even was (and it finally seemed like he was making friends that *weren't* toys!)

That changed once they did find out, cause yk they're full of vengeance and angry and stuff. So he was casted out AGAIN and was put in a 'dormant' state by Cassidy so that she could fully control Golden Freddy. They fully blame him and Mike for making William kill them. As I said before, Charlie does NOT blame the Afton kids at all (because at the end of the day William might've killed her by accident, but he decided to kill other children of his own free will)

So, TLDR, the MCI and KCI/DCI kids get along as much as they can, and they hate the Aftons with a burning passion cause 'Sins of The Father' type shit

[lexicals]

I have finished ming dynasty twink columbo time for thoughts. Some spoilers below. My main takeaway is that I think more people should read ming dynasty twink columbo despite the nitpicks I do have with it.

My tldr review is: fun mystery stories, very interesting political drama, cute romance that I wish had more explicit (not like that, but not not like that) resolution, well worth the read overall.

If you too would like to read this very long book you can find the translation I read here, it's very thorough in linking explanations and footnoting things where additional context might be needed which I really appreciated. Mind the warnings and usual genre expectations.

For the most part, thoroughly enjoyed it. The cases are generally very interesting and the political drama is very engaging. I did feel like I was getting tricked into a political history lesson a lot of the time but in a fun way, and there were only a couple of instances where I felt tempted to start skimming the dry parts.

First of all, wow that was so long. Jesus. Like I enjoyed it and how chunky it is but also SO LONG.

Second of all, really funny that it's called the fourteenth year of chenghua when most of the story takes place in the subsequent 10 years, not the 14th year lol.

The white lotus society plotlines always ended up being my favourites just for the danger factor of them. I think if I had to pick one out of all of them it would be the song tomb/river luo case even though that one probably has the least actual deductive reasoning involved lol, I just really enjoyed the spooky tension that one had.

This goes without saying but ah. The women. It's to be expected from the genre/time period but it always makes me sigh to see so much "well of course, she's only a weak and feeble woman" type of sentiment. There were still some good female characters though, xiao wu and tang yu stand out to me, even ah-dong as well though she kind of fades into the background after a bit. I would have liked to see more of du gui'r too.

I just think that sui zhou should be allowed to crossdress as much as he wants without it being a joke. He seems to have fun with applying feminine language and gender expectations to himself and I love that for him. Let that man do proper drag, he'd kick literal and figurative ass.

I suppose it's not the focus of the stories but I was kinda mad that the resolution to the romance seemed to just kind of happen offscreen...... Like it went from an indirect confession to a tentative reunion to "yeah they're for sure fucking now" without getting to see those middle bits, which I found disappointing. But the relationship is still a fun one despite the genre-typical "big strong top bullies the poor shy bottom" dynamic that always makes me roll my eyes, that's only one aspect of the whole so idm it too much.

I also really appreciate the scale of the story following tang fan all the way from a minor official's post as a young man to being literally the most important official in the country at what, 45? It's a really engaging path to follow along, with all the back and forth adding extra intrigue, especially the points where you're like, "wow, how's he gonna come back from this one!!" And the answer is usually that he's a nice person who's made solid friends who can help him back on his feet moreso than that he's just smart, which is cool.

[robertfettuccine]

My Post-May the Fourth Bad Batch Thoughts

there's lots of 'em

[spoilers]

To start off, I was So excited for the finale I stayed up to watch it when it came out (1am in my time zone) and idk it didn’t feel worth it to do that during finals week after watching the ep

Maybe I had too high expectations but I figured that to wrap up the entire show we’d at least get an hour? Maybe more? I was hoping for something like the s1 premiere but no 51 minutes and you suffer.

Ok I've decided to put my thoughts into 15 minute increments for Organization Purposes

Part One thoughts:

Ok so right away I feel the "wrecker is gonna die" vibes. "Can you make it?" "Try and stop me." It feels very final it feels like he won't. I def thought my first time around that he wasn't gonna make it

The way Hemlock holds that gloved hand... I thought surely that had to be important somehow. I've been wondering about it since he was introduced.

Echo looks like handsome squidward sorry

The way Omega rewires the droid.. Tech. But the way she starts giving orders to the rest of the kids is so Hunter. She really is her fathers' (plural) daughter.

Sidenote the way her theme combines with a light, string-heavy version of the Bad Batch theme while she and the kids are getting ready to leave the vault... mmmm me when music

Ok back to the Batch and ough.. Wrecker is seriously hurt this had me so nervous they're out of med patches I thought for Sure he was gone

Imagine you're in the military and you get sent to some super secret boring base and your whole job is to stand around and guard a submerged lizard (?) and you're already confused and over it and then you find a bunch of kids in your walls???

WOw this is really minor but the cut from the kids and the Zillo to Echo and Emerie at 9:46 felt Really awkward. That's all.

the HAND thing again what is With that Hemlock??

Wrecker again with the Dying

REX MENTION!!!!! WTF IS A BAD HELMET PAINT JOB

"Clone Force 99 died with Tech" what a great line. If only it carried emotional weight within the rest of the story. If only the character's actions made that make sense. Hmm.

"If we all go in, we're not all making it out" see this is why I thought I was getting rogue one'd

"Omega needs you both" is sweet and cool, but she doesn't. She's proved this whole season that she's competent on her own. Idk.

Plan 99 namedrop? Also crosshair's self hatred and guilt is so devastating he's constantly trying to atone and it's so.....

Tech namedrop????? And for WHAT??????????

nOO that stormtrooper.. they done squished his ass

Jax is afraid of heights! Just like Wrecker!! Good character moment for everybody.

Part 1 TLDR: The first third of this episode was full of contrast, which was super interesting to watch. Omega and the kids are doing great, the lighting on them is generally softer and.. idk, lighter. They get hopeful music and they succeed. The Batch on the other hand..... everything is so ominous. It feels like somebody's gonna die (and it feels like it's Wrecker). My main gripes: some of the jump cuts feel like the episode was hastily stitched together and they don't make sense, I don't really know what to do with that knowledge. The Plan 99 conversation didn't make any sense within the context of this season (I'll elaborate later). Positives: Omega is really winning this ep, you can see all of her brothers in her and it's beautiful. What they've done with her theme in the music I Love. That moment with Omega and Jax when he says he's afraid of heights is really sweet.

Part Two Thoughts:

Ok starting off strong, Scorch questioning his orders for a bit? He's going to lose brothers? The door closes before we can hear what he says over the comm? I really thought maybe Scorch redemption.

Ok Hemlock is activating the CXs. There's four of them.

They all have different armor.. and different body types.. very similar to the batch....... hmmmmmmm

CX-2!! *clown noises*

Ok close up on the same CXs from before. One of them uses blades. One has.. sci-fi brass knuckles? CX-2 is there. This feels like Evil Bad Batch.

THE CLOSE UP ON CX-2 SPECIFICALLY WHY IS HE IMPORTANT

wrecker dying again uhnnnnnnhnhhhhhhhhhh

The brass knuckles CX just grabbed a panel of Something and used it as a shield. That's Plan 82. That's Wrecker's job.

WHY IS THERE ONE WITH GOGGLES JUST LIKE TECH'S? WHY

Goggles clone duel wields sword-vibroblades. ?

The one with the staff.. Hunter?

Ok Vibro-Sword CX, why toss the Sword to CX-2 so he can cut off Crosshair's hand? Why not just do it yourself? Those things have enough reach that he could have sliced it off himself.

The way CX-2 talks is Just like Crosshair. The inflections are exactly the same.

Ok I get Hemlock's a sadist but why keep the Batch alive at all? Seems like that's more dangerous than experimenting on them is productive

Echo and Omega's reunion is lovely. "Hey kid. And... other kids." he's doing amazing

Using the Chief Scientist's datapad just like last time Omega escaped... nice.

Hemlock's hand again.

Ok so crosshair just gets a hand stump and we move on?? This whole scene felt weird and out of place to me but Especially that.

Yeah!! Clone rebellion. Echo is Fives if he won (and had no melanin)

Maybe Electrostaff CX is Wrecker? He seems taller and has a wider build.

But nvm Brass Knuckles CX plays wrecker's part in the batch and Electrostaff doesn't

GOGGLES AGAIN WITH THE SWORDS?? WhY isn't CX-2 fighting with the rest why is he with Hemlock why does he stand out so much WHY

"My work will always be Kaminoan" yeah Nala Se isn't redeemed for me she's still a supremacist and a eugenicist and she and Rampart both deserved what they got. Satisfying ending for them both though.

Part 2 TLDR: This part had a ton of potential. There were a lot of suspenseful and mysterious shots. The story started getting more intense, even though the kids escaped successfully. There was weight there, and as an audience we could tell how much was on the line. I loved watching this part. My main gripes: Honestly none with this part alone. All of it felt pretty in-character, it had depth, it had weight, and it had meaning in the story. It makes less sense when we get to Part 3 though. Positives: I absolutely loved watching this part of the ep. It had me on the edge of my seat trying to figure out just what was going on with the CXs and who wasn't going to make it out. Giving Echo the chance to continue his brother's mission and free the clones was great. Nala Se and Rampart both got a fitting end, I was very satisfied with that as well.

Part Three Thoughts:

Wrecker is fighting Staff Guy (possibly Evil Wrecker) oh that would've been so cool

And they just STABBED HIM?? JUST LIKE THAT?? What was with the focus on CX-2 throughout the ENTIRE SEASON when he literally Didn't Matter At All???

We're not even gonna talk about the hand then huh. Ok.

Closeup of the Goggles Helmet?? What was the purpose. What was it.

And then they have SOmeone pick up the sword and helmet all ominously and then it's just some guy. We see his face. It kinda looks too small for his body. Like bad photoshop

Ok so echo doesn't have lungs? or like..

There is Such a focus on the Goggles. Like we were never supposed to see his face. Like it was maybe supposed to be suspenseful.

Ok why so ominous if Wrecker is just gonna shove his face into a wall instantly? Why all the suspense and cool shots?

When CX-2's ship blew up I thought for sure it was from Rex or Phee's ship. But no. (can regular DC-15s even Do that?)

HNNNNNHG wet hair Hunter

SCORCH?? Ok so he could have been some random guy and it wouldn't have made a difference. What was the purpose. Why did he have a name? Why bring in a Legends character just to get rid of him in the most anticlimactic way possible?

Hemlock threatening Omega literally doesn't make any sense? It carries Zero weight. Omega even brings it up and Hemlock doesn't respond. Because it doesn't make sense for his character. Why.

Nice little callback with Crosshair's shoulder rest

Crosshair shooting Omega's binders off should be a tense moment but it's not. There's nothing at stake here. We know he won't shoot Omega. What am I supposed to be feeling?

Ok seeing Hemlock just get absolutely Pelted was nice

She hugged Crosshair first. Maybe we can start resolving some of his guilt. If we actually took time to show characters processing their emotions.

We're Still not talking about the hand? That feels notable, is that just me???

Ok and everyone just.. leaves. We just leave. It's done? Where was the climax supposed to be genuine question

Ok so we're namedropping now. Project Stardust with a nice subtle imperial march in the background. Okay?

We are back on Pabu now. The clone kids are there. The clones are there. The kids are there. Emerie is there. Everybody's happy.

Where is Phee?

Echo's ending is actually fine. I went into this ep the first time thinking for Sure he was going to die. Instead he's doing what Fives died trying to do. He's the last Domino but he doesn't have to fall and I think that's ok. But why isn't he with Rex in Rebels?

"With Hemlock gone, and his data destroyed, they're finally safe" - M. Night Shyamalan in the ATLA movie because we must Tell our audience Everything. Seriously why are we telling the audience something they can see? Why does Omega say that out loud? Nobody would say that. It's obvious. That line was just SO out of place

No real goodbyes for Echo though? No sweet character moments? No reactions from anyone?

Nice clones theme though. Fives would be proud.

All the dialogue between Omega and Hunter in this final scene just feels so.. off. Lazy. Show us what's going on, don't tell.

Why do Crosshair and Wrecker feel like such an afterthought here? Why is it so Awkward? Why were they over saying goodbye to Echo and Omega and Hunter weren't? It feels like they weren't supposed to make it out. It feels weird. It feels forced.

Part 3 TLDR: This was the part of the ep that just fell flat for me. It had some cool moments, but it felt really rushed and poorly thought out. It feels very out of place with the previous 30mins. It almost feels to me like it was rewritten, although I may just be delusional. My main gripes: This part of the ep should have had the big emotional moments and also wrapped up all the loose ends introduced in the rest of the season. It did none of that for me. Why cut off Crosshair's hand to have none of the characters really acknowledge his sacrifice? That isn't a resolution to his arc. None of the Things that happened to the Batch this season were processed at all, and everyone except Hunter and Omega was pretty much sidelined towards the end. CX-2, who was built up all season, died in a super unsatisfying way. The dialogue and staging of that final scene felt super off. The cavalry never arrived. Positives: As always, the Kiners killed it. The music was great. I love a happy ending, that rarely happens in Star Wars and I would've absolutely eaten it up under the right circumstances. Watching Hemlock finally get it was super satisfying. Echo's ending as a continuation of the Domino Squad's quest for clone individuality was really fitting actually. That One shot of Tantiss... glorious.

Epilogue Thoughts:

The way the city is set up on Pabu makes it look just like Tantiss in the overhead shot.

Aww the red bandana in Omega's hair

Hunter aged much better than Rex.

"We want to keep you safe" "You're our kid Omega" OK WHERE IS THE WE? WHERE IS THE OUR????

Ha she's taller than him short king Hunter wins

"Keep an eye on Wrecker and Crosshair" you're not gonna say bye? They aren't gonna see you off?? No way Wrecker would be ok with that

The GOGGLES :((((

Omega's lil salute like Tech in S2E4 Faster my heart

Where are Crosshair and Wrecker in the epilogue. It feels like a weird choice to leave them out. They're just as much her dads as Hunter is.

Epilogue TLDR: Honestly I liked that this was their ending. Finally, some Star Wars characters can have peace. With that said, My main gripes: significant lack of Crosshair and Wrecker, who absolutely wouldn't have let omega leave without saying goodbye. Similarly, lack of Phee, who seemed to be becoming a mother figure to Omega. I can't imagine she wouldn't have seen her daughter off. Positives: old Hunter. We don't get to see that many clones age, and Rebels animation, as much as I love it, just didn't quite do it justice. It was great to see some characters get to actually live out full (ish) lives at peace. Also older Omega's character design was peak.

Oooookay so this ended up being a Lot longer than I intended it to be when I started writing it but I just had a lot of thoughts on the finale and needed to put them somewhere. I loved the experience of being a part of the Bad Batch fandom from start to finish, and I made some great memories for sure. While the finale wasn't necessarily what I was hoping for from this show, I loved being delusional with everybody. Plus, this isn't the end. (we know they won't give up the clone wars animation style it makes them too much money)

[pinkinsect]

can you elaborate on what you mean when you mention the "blue lock sociolect." because the linguistic/social situation that must be developing in this stanford prison ass training center fascinates me endlessly

hello this is going to be a lot. tldr at the end.

for anyone unaware, i use blue lock "sociolect" in this case specifically meaning the dialect that develops in the blue lock facility. i'd classify it more as a sociolect than a dialect, because while they now have a geographic location in common, i would say the speech features show up more in certain characters who've leaned into the blue lock egoist mentality more. the way hiori speaks changes as his view of himself and soccer change. (i also think that bltv enjoyers start talking like this. horrifically)

the blue lock sociolect is a phenomenon i invented in my mind palace to cope with the way i feel when i read blue lock and see phrases like "you're an eyesore, you pink-haired philistine" and "rotten orange." i brought it up in this post on my other blog some time ago, but in short, i've decided that the rather. unique way the blue lockers speak to one another is a result of putting 300 [and lowering] boys age 15-18 from all over japan in a hypercompetitive environment with very little adult supervision.

it's all about the individual, hence many of the insults taking the target's most striking physical trait and combining it with something the speaker decides is negative about the target. with japanese being a language with pretty structured assignments of appropriate politeness based on age, experience, and status, i could see it eroding given the general lack of older adult presence (ego appearing on a screen for like 15 minutes doesn't count, especially since he's rude as hell), and the mentality the players are encouraged to accept. rin isn't the best example given his dedication to hating across languages, cultures, and age ranges, but isagi pretty much comments on how he's rude as hell by social norms once, then clearly gets used to it.

i think the blue lock sociolect starts to diversify a bit once we enter the nel. the blue lock boys are shown studying english, but the nel introduces an environment where a lot of their teammates will most likely be speaking a language other than english or japanese within their teams (except for manshine but that's british english which isn't usually what's taught in japan so even then their contributions to the sociolect will be a bit different).

we don't know exactly how accurate the translation software is, or how it handles the cultural differences in honorific language, but based on some of the things we've seen (ness calling kunigami "kunigami-san" that one time, also ness being shown saying "ja" through the translation, "beinschuss" from kaiser, whatever's going on with charles, etc.) they're not always consistent.

(i haven't checked out the raws for these yet though, so im actually not entirely sure what's coming through in japanese.these could just be translation choices.)

this multi-language environment and the non-translation of certain speech could also have an impact on our blue lock players' vocabulary and introduce other languages' terms and speech patterns. japanese already has a pretty huge collection of loan words that eventually create "foreign" phrases that don't exist outside of japanese, so this facility could make this phenomenon occur more rapidly.

we see otoya say "golazo" during the fc barcha match, and while darai says the same thing during their bowling match, it wouldn't be too far off to assume that otoya picked it up from his spanish speaking teammates.

i could add more but this is getting too long so tl;dr: putting 300 15-18 year old boys in a prison with barely any adult supervision would make neat language shifts.

some features of the blue lock sociolect i think exist:

the particular type of insult we see so much of in blue lock

general lack of/comparatively less importance given to honorific language and polite conjugations of words

shounen protag accent (you'd know it when you hear it.)

increased usage of german, english, spanish, italian, and/or french terms

FAR less subject omission than average japanese, especially when the subject is "i" [thanks aryu.]

[i-am-a-reunion-soldier]

I think i got a crush on that rhodes island cat with the chainsaw after she kicked our ass. She said she wanted to drink with us, should i shoot my shot when that time comes? Im nervous (∴°-°)

wait for real? her? the one that called us a bunch of "normies?"

eh maybe that's just a me thing, don't let the fact that she's not my type stop you

you already seem kinda set on doing it, as long as you keep me out of it if commander crownslayer starts asking questions I say just go for it, worst she can do is say no

and if she does? you're still winning cause let's be real she'd make a WILD drinking buddy

tldr do it. get 'em tiger

[musubiki]

most recent story development in my brain: ive decided to actually seperate taffy and coco during the timeskip

initially i had it that taffy sticks with coco because he has nowhere to go and they eventually get together over the timeskip. the new version is that he runs away and disappears right before mochi leaves

in my head i see him as the type to run away after what mochi and coco do for him-- after coco put in so much effort and time advocating for him because she saw that there were traces of a good person under his antagonistic nature, and after mochi beat his ass for the final time and finally cleared his curse, he doesnt know what to do with himself.

the rest of the guild at that point (mochi included) has an attitude of "We know why you were the way you were. Now that there's no reason for you to hate us, you're free to go where you want. You can even stay with us." and this sentiment eats him alive. the guilt he feels is insane. the fact that he spent months (years?) trying to ruin mochi, brewing in bitterness and rage and all of a sudden all of that is gone and replaced with forgiveness and warmth is unbearable and he cant stand it, so he leaves.

this is all coupled with his feelings for coco and the attitude on his end of "I don't deserve this. I don't deserve her. All I can do is bring them down. All I can do is bring her down. I have no right to stay here. I have no right to want to stay here."

so theres a pivotal scene in my head where he has all these thoughts, standing right outside the side door to mochis house hearing them all chattering inside, and has a long moment of hesitation before going inside. in the OLD version coco opens the door before he can make up his mind and forces him inside with the rest of them, but in the NEW version i think its much more taffy-like if hes gone by the time she notices and gets to the door

(tldr timeline: mochi removes his curse -> he disappears -> he only appears for the last amanita fight because really thats HIS fight as much as it is mochis -> he leaves again RIGHT after. i imagine coco tried to stop him or say goodbye but this man is notoriously good at escaping quickly)

and so timeskip-wise coco attends university on her own. she keeps in touch with oscar and lime (more oscar than lime) and while she never directly set out to look for taffy, there was always that desire to look for him in a crowd or something, maybe hoping to run into him at random or that he would show up out of nowhere like he did the first time.

I'm not totally sure what he does during the timeskip then. something far away from coco and the guild, but somewhere close to the ocean because he could never find it in him to stray too far from it for too long. maybe lost his touch with water magic a bit because he was too afraid and guilt-ridden to use it. never really stopped thinking about coco but couldnt muster up the courage to go find her again. for YEARS hes convinced that she doesnt want to see him and he wouldnt do anything to make her life better. hes done too much to all of them for them to ever accept him, he thinks.

until one day coco just. shows up. after tracking him down (with mochi and sulluvans help). sitting on a barrel at the docks he works at in some city somewhere, eating some cotton candy she bought at the docks like "Heyo! Mochi needs another guild member, and you kinda owe us one, soooo..."

[atinycelery]

Listen. *pinches nose bridge

I hate a lot of cliche conflicts, I do, as a person who's read a lot of stuff, one of my hated written conflicts is the ✨ 'noble sacrifice' ✨

About to die in a couple months, has six months to live, = leaves the person they love and pretend they don't care about them, or something somewhat related to that

Listen, if you leave me and you have 5 months to live, I won't like what you've done. In fact i think you're selfish for putting what you thought is my happiness above my real happiness of being with the person i love, you

And

If there's a random ass person with an expiry date tells me that they could date the person i have a crush on because well, they're dying and yknow, PITY, i would probably just be like, what are you talking about?? You're dying and this person who's never shown an interest in you has to date you?

And God forbid I would be stupid enough to tell the person to date the dying person.

Because that would actually just be pushing my idea of happiness onto someone else without considering the person's feelings; and that's considering all the three sides

Another stupid kind of sacrifice but 'totally' needed in fiction? Staying away from the person you love because of your differences in species/whatever other people seems to think should be regarded as important and Not the feelings of the people involved

Because hey once again, you're putting what you think is your idea of happiness on the other person without asking them first

Tldr; noble sacrifice imo is a type of selfishness. Thank you for coming to my tedtalk

[pineywitch]

idk not like anyone's getting these confused except MAYBE newbies and a few select people, but the mere insinuation makes me so pissed i decided to write about it,

obv not on my sideblog (if u know what it is, u know what it is) because 1) no one is actually doing this, kind of?, and 2) this is waaaaay unhinged for no reason other than the desire for it to be and my pure fury

anyway. cosmic, eldritch, and void are extremely interlinked, but the suggestion that eldritch is cosmic is void automatically/by virtue of it being space-based is so ass-backwards it makes me, a person who literally never gets angry, so upset my face gets hot

to clarify, i am not saying that "x (void/celestial/umbra/etc.) can be eldritch" is inaccurate, i would concur 100%, but rather the insinuation that "eldritch is void/cosmic/umbra inherently" is where i start to have major fucking issues

in case you're wondering, the only dissenting opinion i'd be willing to even consider is that of another eldritch person, i'm really sorry. as a researcher who is eldritch, versus a person who is not eldritch and just does research? there's a stark difference between the two, which is that as an eldritch person you're probably going to have to do a fuckton of research (and experimentation to get anywhere with this shit.

if you're just researching it and are not eldritch, you have no skin in the game, and unless you've met a God or intimately interacted with eldritch and had it inside of you, you have no space in my cranium.

anyway, to me there's a fundamental different between "x can be eldritch" and "eldritch is x", because yes, there is a fuckton of overlap. as we very well know, eldritch can interface and "merge" with nearly anything incredibly well, because of its origins and because it had to has to and has to be adaptive.

it's like saying fae, wind spirits, and humans are all the same because they require air. it's like saying the stream, its dirt, and the trees are all the same just because they contain water.

tldr; upon any kind of scrutiny it makes no fucking sense. just because eldritch is *mixed with, even very well with, something else, doesn't make said thing eldritch, it just is "bonded" to it. imo, it doesn't make the thing inherently something else.*

if you say "eldritch is x", i feel that is distilling it down to something that it's not, and this is disingenuous to eldritch and somewhat to other energy types, considering eldritch is something very distinctly different from what it can be mixed with.

eldritch in its purest form is nearly nothing like void, and certainly not like cosmic. they literally are all branch-offs of it. hell, from what i've heard, and from eldritch's generative qualities + what we know about Azathoth, technically the eldritch is the "parent" of everything else.

for example, earth can be rock, but rock is technically not earth, it's like a branch off of it. the earth (as an element) kind of bred everything else

a godshard is not a God without Ascension/Apotheosis, but they are pieces and parts and the child of a deity. i feel the above two examples honestly make more sense.

tldr;

imo, saying eldritch is anything but eldritch distills it into what it is not, and basically adds a label of "spicy cosmic/void/umbra" to it, which it is not.

anyway TedxTalk over, Azathoth and Cthulhu bless if you actually read all of this tirade.

[deconstructivesurgery]

this is my first attempt at a poll because I'm genuinely curious and I've been thinking about my Borderlands rewriting plans and shit and I can't decide which of these alternate-to-canon scenarios I want to go with for katagawa jr

Context: I am insane about the funny Maliwan guy. Lord knows I have a habit of latching onto characters with like 5 minutes of screen time and getting so fixated on their potential that I go mad over it, and he's no exception to that rule.

I also have a huge Borderlands AU in the works that overhauls pretty much everything I didn't personally like in the series and integrates all of these one-off headcanons into one timeline. If I ever finish writing the goddamn document with all the information about this on it, I'll post it 😭

With that said, which one of these four potential arcs for him I could execute do you think would be most fun? Important to note, I'm not necessarily picking the most popular. I'm just curious :3

ALSO, regardless of his penultimate fate I plan on doing a lot more with him and the general Promethea arc in BL3 in terms of insight into Maliwan, his family, and the way it works. That's inevitable. This is just what happens to him after all that.

explanations for the last 2 since they're pretty vague

(***) This one is less realistic, but I don't always care much for realism and him and Rhys' dynamic is never not hilarious to me. Long story made short as possible: this one takes place in a world where getting Maliwan's ass off of Promethea wasn't just as simple as kicking Katagawa in the shins. Even in his absence (presumed death initially), Maliwan's heads (and the disgruntled parents of 13 corporate children) continued to attack the planet in order to recoup losses by taking control of Atlas, a profitable company. (You know, the reason they wanted it in the first place.) Jr. himself plays into this because he survived the VH attack, retreated to Maliwan safe quarters, and then was promptly nearly executed by a family deeply unhappy with his performance. Packing his shit and escaping in another war vessel sent down to Promethea, he decided to use his excellent backstabbing skills to take not only his technical capabilities (I like to assume he made and designed the mock-up Zer0 suit himself, but that's a rant for another day) to his insider knowledge of the company and their weaknesses to Atlas' front fucking door.

TLDR: This isn't some "I'm nice now immediately" type shit, it's more of a "bedraggled feral asshole in a suit begs you to let him work with you on equal footing this time because he wants to kick his family's ass and you can't really afford to say no because you're kinda losing a major corporate war right now" leading into fucking Wacky Coworker Shenanigans(TM).

the last one: Honestly similar to the tangent I went on above, except years of being raised a corporate cult patsy only to encounter failure and nearly be destroyed because of it leads to Kat seeing the rest of his family as "in the way" as his siblings were, leading to him waging internal warfare on the company after his scrape with Vault-Hunter induced death behind the scenes as the battle with Atlas continues. Could also segway into a funny unintentional "the enemy of my enemy is slightly less of my enemy than before" thing with the Atlas crew.

[jackals-ships]

tumblr just Does Not Like This Post,,,anyways messed up my sleep cycle Worse than usual so waking up like. girlm. where am I. type moment

only to immediately have beef w momthers work like hey. hey come here. i just wanna Talk <3

[under a cut bc Rambling kinda]

so the tldr is her work is continuing to try Fuck Shit and every day i get closer to Biting

the longer version is;

one of her leads tried to tell her no to her checking her sugars and when momther basically went "okay. well. die mad" she was on her ass all day

HR briefly got involved and was like "...so. you're stupid?" and it seemed to be sorted

BUT HER OTHER LEAD!! suggested "oh. just eat earlier so you don't have to check at work" (on the surface. not a bad suggestion. EXCEPT)

momther eats the time she does Specifically bc of when she gets her break to ensure her blood sugar doesn't go ✌️if she eats earlier her sugars dip before her break

hers is especially "hm. oh fuck-" bc like. her stuff was Way too high for Too Long and now when her body course corrects it does it way too hard ? or that's my understanding of it

like you can get glucose pills (i used to use them b4 when I thot my issue was that and not POTS) and she does use them. but she also needs food bc it gets That Fuckin Low

an ofc she's not allowed food (makes sense at the lab, less when she's screening imo)

so im just out here taking his hand like. you're so gd stupid bc which would you rather have; less than 5mins of her stabbing herself OR 20-40 mins where she checks, eats, checks again, maybe eats again if it's still bad

im riled up mostly bc this lead likes to take "suggestions" and turn them into You Have To Do This even when it's illegal (which this one momther checked and it is in fact Very Illegal)

[glacialswordsman]

happy new year's eve! i hope everyone had happy holidays and had time to spend with your loved ones, or at least had the chance to have time for yourselves. i sincerely hope the new year brings a moment of respite and peace for everyone.

now, with that being said, i'm going to talk about some things i've been seeing lately, and get started on pruning some of my followers/moots because what i'm about to say is probably going to piss people off!

more under cut

in regards to those who have brought up their own concerns about someone and others calling it as "petty-ass drama", or that it's "slander", i need y'all to get off your "holier than thou" asses and think for yourselves for a moment. when people in the RPC, or anywhere for that matter, bring up their own experiences regarding the same person, with their own screenshots/evidence attached, and your only reaction is to harrumph and pretend you're better than everyone else for not "following the witch hunt" or whatever, you're a fool.

a lot of us are adults, yes, and we all have our adult lives to worry more about. but as adults, it is still our responsibility to let others be aware of any negative experiences one may have had with someone else. RP is a hobby, and it's meant to be a fun one, so how the hell can people still enjoy their hobby if they come across someone who may ruin that for them? are they supposed to just stay quiet and slowly disappear into the background? are they supposed to stew in their silence and wonder if it's them who's at fault and that they're just overreacting? or would they be able to actually bring this up as a valid concern without being judged or maybe even ousted from an entire community?

certainly, this can be done privately, and in fact i encourage it to be--but when it gets to the point that there are MULTIPLE PEOPLE with the VERY SAME EXPERIENCE, then it's clearly an actual problem and CANNOT be contained to the privacy of DMs. not to mention, there is a DISTINCT difference between "petty drama" that normally grade-schoolers get up to, and genuine concerns and hurtful experiences being brought to light.

instead of kissing the ass of someone who has affected more than one person, or even just vague-posting about how we should all be "adults" and claiming that people are "lying", be more empathetic towards the people they've harmed.

and thus it brings me to this question: to those who have a "no drama" rule on their blog, what is the boundary? where is the line? what constitutes as drama vs valid concerns/a valid callout? or does someone getting isolated and love-bombed but then neglected and abused the next minute constitute as senseless, petty drama to you?

tldr; get your head out of your ass and reevaluate the types of people you're defending, and yourself.

hope you have a happy new year! :)

[theashemarie]

Hi Ashe, love your stuff. You mentioned finding a typing layout that won't lead to long term strain? I'm primed to face similar wrist-related injuries in my future, and I was curious if you'd be willing to share? (No pressure if not!)

Okay, this got really long so I'm gonna append it under a read more for everyone's sake.

tldr; arm and hand angle while typing are very important. also stretching!! additionally, paying very close attention to how you use your wrists in all aspects of your life, not just while typing.

It's been a while since I rehashed this, but just for the sake of everyone who wasn't here in 2020: one major reason I stopped writing and posting Pearlina fanfic was because I had repetitive strain injuries in both of my wrists and had to basically stop writing for a year.

My writing speed is high; I'm not saying this to brag, just to illustrate. My WPM is 90 and I can do 2k words in an hour on a good day. Because I was so inspired, I was writing a lot and I was writing quickly, and, as a result, I basically injured myself badly enough to get my ass benched for a full calendar year.

Of course, you can do this to yourself if you have a slower writing speed. Listen to your body! If you wrist hurts, stop.

This time around, I've been troubleshooting. I have three keyboards: a mechanical, a split mechanical (a keyboard that's basically two big pieces, cut right down the middle), and one of my most behated Apple butterfly switch monstrosities. I've slowly rotated between the three as my wrist pain has gotten worse.

Wrist alignment matters. I write at work when I'm not busy, and I realized that I don't end up in pain there. Why? The keyboard is angled down and the travel distance between the keys is very low.

Unfortunately, I've discovered that my ideal typing setup to avoid strain is to use the awful Apple keyboard with very little travel distance between the keys. Because of the butterfly switches, I don't have to press down hard on the keys either. I miss my thonky click clack keyboards every day, but since switching, I've had more days without pain than I have in a while. I also got a new desk that sits lower so my arms are at a natural resting position.

I still have to take whole days where I can't use a keyboard. It's a struggle, but it's getting better. I've also realized that my left wrist, which is the one most prone to strain, is the one that I use to prop myself up with the most, like when I brush my teeth or get up off the couch. It's def worth paying attention to when you're not sitting at your desk.

Of course, stretch, stretch, stretch! Also, it can't hurt to get a 2 pound weight and do some strengthening exercises. This is not medical advice, but my doctor told me to grip the weight and lift it using just my wrist. This will strengthen the tendon that runs through the wrist and make it less prone to strain.

Hope this helps! Let me know if you have any other questions!

[baahsu]

hi hello baahsu its me the person who wrote two (give or take) whole ass vscest smut fics in your inbox now returned after a sudden month long disappearance to (hopefully lol) continue yelling happily about this ship with you!! :]

tldr i got back into op again and noticed how incredibly dry tumblrs vinsmokecest tag is and realized itd prolly be best to add to it lol, but alas i don't rlly know what to talk about rn :,)

uh. how about this!! what do you think would be the siblings' favorite outfits to fuck in, iydm me asking??

kinda generic but i think 124ji would lose it (/pos) if they got the chance to fuck sanji in his raid suit, mumbling and raving in his ear about he should just keep it on all the time as they take turns destroying him. reiju, although not as crazy abt it bc shes a *liiitle* more sane lol, would probably find it decently hot as well. sanjis no better tho- he sees his siblings, (especially yonji and reiju cause. tits :o]) all hot from battle in those skin tight suits and his nose is GUSHING

and heads kinda empty rn so cant think of much BUT i do have two ideas that im curious abt ur opinion on (and these are purely self indulgent lmao):

i srsly think ichiji has a feminization kink, though he doesnt really realize it 'less he gets emotions. it mostly crosses his mind whenever he sees sanji or niji in more effeminate clothing, like blouses, dresses, and ESPECIALLY skirts and is abruptly hit with the Vinsmoke Horny Gene™. he probably wouldn't piece it together unless reiju (ever the attentive vouyer) just straight up told him lmao

and SPEAKING of reiju, whether its her or one of her brothers wearing them, i feel like she has a thing for stockings. especially fishnets 🤲. especially TIGHT fishnets 🤲🤲. obviously all of them have good bodies that could rock stockings, but if we're going for a lower/bottom heavy build clearly sanjis the way to go. idk i just think that if reiju were to ever see sanji in any type of stockings (ESPECIALLY nice, snug fishnets) she'd just destroy him. like suck the soul outta him lol

YEAH thats all I got rn hqdyaduqfuqf good to be back yelling in your inbox about My Thoughts again have a good day/night :,]]

Welcome back anon!! I missed you 💜💜

I've said this before but I don't even bother looking at the vinsmokecest tag here bc I know there's never any new content in it (tho I'm surprised there's no hate either, guess this ship is unpopular from all sides lmao)

I actually never thought about any of these outfits options and my mind just went 🤯 at sanji's raid suit. Like, I can totally imagine the brothers praising sanji so much while wearing it?? "You're so pretty in it, it fits you so well, look at your thighs, it was made for you, you should just come back to us so you can always wear it, your ass looks so delicious in it too" they'd do it so much even reiju would have to say something, maybe just a subtle "they're right, you know" that would instantly disarm sanji

A more obvious outfit is lingerie, with how they are just the sight of a lacy bra strap or the peak of a garter belt or thigh strap would get them going. They'd be walking around the castle and catch a glimpse of it through the collar of a shirt, see the lines under one of their pants, and they'd pull the other into the closest room, sometimes not even that, the hallway is good enough and the staff passing by doing their jobs be damned (I can't decide if they'd enjoy putting on a show or if they'd get ridiculously jealous and rip their heads off tho)

[augment-techs]

Hope this isn’t being rude but you don’t like Tomberly? Or rather the fans of the ship? Is it okay to ask why? Genuinely asking.

....Well, I'm gonna get eaten alive for answering this, but I'm so bored right now I also do not care. How to put this.... It's not necessarily that I find Tomberly to be an inherently bad pairing, or find that the people who have this for their OTP to be especially unpleasant in every facet of their being. No, it's more like...a very specific type of Tomberly shipper that can--and HAS--ruined my day because they cannot FATHOM these two characters, SPECIFICALLY, being in a relationship outside of each other and making it the entire rest of the fandom's problem. Like, in the 90s, I could understand it. I was in kindergarten, but it was literally one of the first ever kid show pairings that delivered a kiss and felt like they were perfect. Fine, great, awesome. But it is 2023. They are now the ONLY Rangers LIVE that have kissed, and a lot (and I do mean A LOT) of these shippers feels like that's destiny, it is written in the stars: They were Meant to Be. They Are The Best. There Will Never Be Another True Pairing. They are the LOUDEST and MOST ANNOYING about this when literally anything in media shows the characters in another, different romantic relationship (Tommy) or perfectly happy and fulfilled being on their own (Kim). And I am stuck with that one scene from the Birds of Prey/Harley Quinn movie just BLASTING in my brain every time one of these fans crosses my dash with a snide remark about Tommy/Kat in ANY narrative, or making heart eyes at Kim just standing next to Drakkon in the comics in any dimension ever:

And this is not even bringing up how they are generally dismissive of other characters outside of these two, because where one goes, the other follows. (Examples: Trini, Zack, Jason, Kat, Tanya, J.J., Hayley, Bulk and Skull--not getting into it with these two, but it is a PROBLEM--and on and on and on.) Not to mention they have a tendency to dismiss any flaws (Kim being selfish, a little manipulative, dismissive of other people's feelings, too into her looks, sometimes being too one-track minded vs Tommy's lack of any personality outside of being a Ranger, being secretive and dramatic in the early days, constantly picking fights, making everything a big deal, being a doormat, being too submissive, being jealous) as just bad writing/bad acting, instead of just... Understanding that maybe there is a POINT to this? These are the inconvenient shippers mind you. These exist in every fandom, it's just a little harder to avoid them when you're in a SMALL fandom. And I have my own biases; as a consummate multishipper I see characters are beneficial only if they can branch out into BETTER characters, with better options and plots ahead of them than just Good Girl Meets Rugged Guy, They Kick Ass, They Fall in Love, They Live Happily Ever After blah blah blah blah. Also, and I cannot stress this enough: I am almost exclusively a fan of the PR COMICS. And the comics are doing their best to make all their characters multidimensional and slightly different from what we had in the 90s. Which means I can look back at the live action MMPR series and say, "Both Kim and Tommy Were a Dumpster Fire, I Don't Think I Like Them Very Much," and happily skitter back to their current comic selves and say, "You're a dumpster fire, too. But that's okay~ You're teenagers who make mistakes and are still growing into yourselves and can make new choices. Nothing is set in stone and the multiverse exists. What are you going to do about it?" * * * tldr; I don't HATE Tomberly. I don't HATE their fans. I am a multishipper who believes in options and not dunking on any other possible relationships they might have outside of each other. I like Kat Hillard, I like Matt Cook, I like Tommy, I like Kim. These are not mutually exclusive and I am okay with anyone as long as they're not needlessly cruel to other fans and what they like. I might find Tomberly boring, but so what; I also thought every relationship in FRIENDS (outside of the basic Chandler/Monica), Beverly Hills 90210, the Superman Animated Series, and the ENTIRETY of GLEE (that wasn't roasting Rachel Berry) was boring. I don't like it, I skip it and move on. If I happen to be a little snide myself in posts about them...