#to be clear wanting a traditional relationship isnt bad

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for sending a vaguely passive aggressive card?

i (25M) bought a card that says "i will always value our friendship" and inside i handwrote "you dont get to take this decision back, it is unfair to me too. i wish you the best." and gave it to my ex (27F) the day after she cut me off.

we met 2 years ago when we started working at the same job. we instantly hit it off and became close friends, and pretty soon after mutually crushing on each other.

however i had JUST left a super toxic relationship literally the month before and was in no way ready for a new relationship, and i made this clear to her. despite this she still asked to start dating almost every month for the better half of a year. i finally gave in and said yes, but she has to be super ptient as i still dont really feel ready for a relationship and am not over my ex, and havent even gone back to therapy yet to process the trauma of said previous relationship. she said she doesnt mind and even wants to help me process it herself. (key note: she is in college to become a trauma-specialized therapist.) i initially refused but upon her repetitive insistance gave in and let her give me "therapy talks" and whatnot. i dont exactly think i needed traditional talk therapy bc it hasnt benefitted me in the past and instead mostly benefit from EMDR and hypnosis. thats neither here nor there i guess lol.

fast forward a couple months and her car breaks down. she doesnt have any local friends or family so i ended up being her main ride to and from our job even though it was super inconvenient for me. we live in opposite directions on our job, each of us ~30 min drive away from work. so i would have to drive 45 min to her apartment to pick her up, then drive 30 min to work. after work i drive the 30 min back to her apartment, then the 45 min home. for unrelated reasons i end up leaving our mutual job and get a different job, closer to her apartment. ...but i am still her only ride. so now i am driving 45 min to her place, 30 min to HER job, 30 min BACK to her town where i work. now i drive 30 min to pick her up from work, 30 min to drop her off, and 45 min home. (that over three and a half hours of driving a day. she does not contribute to gas money.)

i am admittedly probably the asshole for this but i grow a little resentful of her lack of contribution and her expectation of me to be her ride despite the fact that she does not save money to fix her car or get a new one (she has a shopping addiction and spends a lot of money on knick knacks at antique/thrift stores). so we hardly spend time as a couple since i am always exhausted from work and driving her around. i tell her i dont Want to driver her everywhere and its putting a lot of tension and strain on the relationship bc of it and she is kind of like "well what am i supposed to do, lose my job and get evicted?" and so out of guilt i continue to be her ride.

she decided that me not spending enough time with her outside of driving is unfair and she wants to end the relationship. i agree this is for the best but because we used to be such good friends before, i want to try to be friends still. she agrees. i lay down a hard boundary now though: i will no longer be her ride. she does in fact lose her job and gets evicted from her apartment. by this point she has become friends with one of our old coworkers and ends up moving in to their house with their family, i end up helping her move.

we try to be friends, but she never texts first or asks to hang out or invites me anywhere, and on the rare occassion she agrees to my hangouts, shes extremely snappy and passive aggressive with me and is quick to remind me of what an "absent" boyfriend i was. i get fed up with this after a couple months and tell her i cant be friends with her is shes going to be so mean to me all the time, even if i WAS a bad boyfriend the relationship is over now and it isnt fair to keep holding it over my head. she agrees to try and be nicer to me. we slowly start becoming really good friends again and eventually start regularly hanging out again for a couple months.

my dad fucking dies. i take a month off work and have weekly grief counselling appointments. i kind of ghost everybody i know, not just including my ex/friend, but also my best friend, my cousin, and even my step sister. after a couple months back to work (sleep, go to work, come home, sleep. i didnt do Anything. i barely ate.) i finally start to get out of my depressive funk. i start reaching out to people again. most are super understanding and some are kinda weird about it. when i reach out to my ex and say i finally am starting to feel like a person again and we should hang out, she tells me that i broke her heart again by ignoring her and that i dont get a third chance, and shes cutting me off. she requests i drop off anything i still have of hers (she had some clothes and other stuff at my house) and so i decide to, kind of half genuinely and kind of half sarcastically, buy a "friendship" card.

...so, am i the asshole for buying a card that says "i will always value our friendship" and writing "you dont get to take this decision back, it is unfair to me too. i wish you the best." on the inside, and giving it to my ex the day after she cut me off?

[comradeboyhalo]

Okay—you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to..! But I’m actually SO curious on your essay thoughts of q!Bad in 4halo fics. Because (I think) it’s kind of rare that q!Bad is depicted accurately in.. most qsmp ship fics. And I feel like q!Bad always becomes.. obsessed with romance with q!Forever in many 4halo fics?? Or super open + emotionally stable?? I don’t know how to explain it, but that’s why I’m curious of your thoughts (because I’ve read your fics and 100% trust your characterizations, especially of BBH cubitos <3)

hihi always down to ramble. and i agree, a lot of bad's flaws are smoothed over in 4halo fics, which makes him incredibly ooc. also, i dont think that these mischaracterizations are necessarily bad, i understand that in fluff fics (or angst fics, which im guilty of) sometimes theres no room in tone to fully capture all of q!bad's complexities. but that doesn't mean i cant have some gripes!

i dont think this is exclusive to 4halo, but 4halo is also bad's current biggest ship, so a lot of it just happens to fall on it. but i really hate how fanon!bad gets stripped down to a mere love interest who is just...very perfect in how he interacts with romance. he wants to go on cute dates, he confesses in a very sweet way. he is kind and nice and a little insecure, and is just so boring. its very much reminiscent of old skephalo fics, where bad is seen as "innocent" and then any other interesting trait of his gets stripped away. i also end up feeling im reading about a highschooler, when q!bad is 11k+ and cc!bad (obviously influential of his character) is in his late 20s.

again, i understand why people write 4halo on cute dates and first kisses. thats what fanfic is for! but i cant help but see the entirety of the ao3 page full of these very...allo-typical romance plots and think "...he would not fucking say that." q!bad is messy as fuck! if you don't interpret him as arospec, then hes at the very least repressed, and not in a cute YA romance way. a 1k fic of pining that ends in a nice love confession just doesnt convince me im sorry!

and then there's the blue diamond obstacle that gets in the way of 4halo monogamy....skeppy. again, i get why most 4halo shippers arent going to mention him, cause theyre just not into anything skephalo. i cant blame them for that. but im a master nitpicker, so ill still nitpick cause this is my blog. bad brushing over skeppy is ooc. bad acting as if skeppy is in the past is ooc. bad pursuing any form of relationship without including skeppy is ooc. bad choosing any other person but skeppy to be his #1 is ooc. and yeah it sucks for shipping if you dislike q!skephalo, but thats how it is and its not changing. and also any fics that push bad to "move on" from skeppy is just ??? not only is that his soulmate across lifetimes, but skeppy isnt dead? hes just not on the island? help??? bad has two hands, but one hand will always hold skeppy's and he's made that abundantly clear many times.

anyways im also not immune to q!bad butchering in 4halo fics! ill admit that, in writing the hanahaki au, i couldn't really find time to fit a lot of q!bad's humor into it, and he ended up more openly angsty and sad and vulnerable then he really is, or would ever be. so i totally get it, and im fine if other qbad viewers despise how he's written in it. however i will stand by the fact that q4halo would never pursue a traditional relationship together, and i chose the ending to be ambiguous because thats how i believe their relationship (and feelings) are: ambiguous. that's why, to me, 4halo is so good. i don't want to read about them confessing their feelings. i want to read about how their relationship is an undefined, confusing mess that will never be defined, and im just so surprised that there aren't more fics like that out there.

[cerealmonster15]

I have to ask WHY on earth did they turn Flannery into a goldfish??? What did he do to them to make them want to Literally Curse Him??

man. thats a good question. let's see if i have an answer JFKLDSKFLJDS

i'll be real a lot of it was me kinda winging it improv style - i should probs clarify [im not sure how clear i am on artfight lol] that moooost of my non twst characters are like, from a roleplay thing my friend and i do in google docs together kfdsjfl so thats where flannerys from. and then sometimes, plotlines and characters stem from an idea on a whim - like originally i had an idea for flannery to be a lost prince that was turned into a fish by like, enemy hitmen or sometihing.

and tbh that makes more sense than family betrayal LOL but i thiiiiiiiiiink i swapped it to son of a politician and also an influencer [cries lol] because it fit the 'modern au' better. modern fantasy. whatever. also we do have a separate au googledoc universe that IS royalty themed so maybe one day he will be a missing prince there teehee

ok anyway sorry i havent answered your actual question i got distracted lol. so aside from half of it being me coming up with shit on the fly and being kind of bad at storytelling klsjfkdshf the IN UNIVERSE ANSWER is like, flannery kinda just doesnt have a good relationship with his family - his parents suck and flannerys not a "useful asset" and is also the product of infidelity. so it's like, he's not going to be a powerful politician or business guy, he's not good on camera, and also theres this unspoken secret of him being someone else's son <- i think my idea here was like, the father is Aware his wife was having an affair and that flannery isnt his kid but neither of them have Spoken Of It because blah blah keeping up appearances a divorce would be a scandal whatever. you know how it is with traditional family values 😒

and i think i have also just watched a lot of youtube videos covering family vlogger scandals/ also just regular vlogger scandals, and sometimes that shits just wild LOL so i was like ok. politician dad doesnt like or care about this kid, vlogger mom sees his disappearance as months worth of content to milk lol. so they hired someone to Get Rid Of Him - i cant remember if they... planned the fish part. maybe. i guess so? the plan tho was just have him turned into a fish that would probably get eaten and act like he got kidnapped or ran away and then announce hes dead later.

flannery's got an older brother that shows up at his school and is like, a clone of their mom, in that hes like "omg theres this GUY HERE who is PRETENDING to be my DEAD BROTHER i need to live stream this." and then something something their relation was proved and he pivoted immediately to "oh wowwww my poor sweet brother i cant BELIEVE our parents tried to cover you up like this wow i missed u so much let's be besties [lie]"

so anyway. there kind of isnt that a good reason besides drama + theyre in a magical setting and i thought it was fun LOL. flannery's one of my much newer characters so i havent had a lot of time to fully flesh out his character yet. he's a lil one note right now and i need to figure him out a bit more to make him,,,, actually interesting,,, but. 🫡

[lunanheartache]

eh. lambgar thoughts and dynamics. if ur a pc in his campaign dont read probably

sometimes i want to call them an odd pair but that isn't really fair i think. they're pretty complimentary. they just run into issues with how they deal with things

early lambgar is easy. they're casual acquaintances who run into each other every so often and usually end up sleeping together when they do. jgar likes that lamb doesn't have expectations for him, and lamb likes that jgar is so straightforward and honest. they dont really argue or anything because there isnt really anything Too argue about - they're not together long and lamb doesn't share enough that anything would come up. main source of "conflict" is that jgar trusts people and lamb is like. you are putting yourself in danger. and jgar is like but if i dont trust em someone else might be in danger?? But for the most part: almost like high school / college friends. theyre friendly, flirty, but dont delve into anything hard on purpose

lambgar once theyre Actually More Serious is more a result of jgar than lamb. jgar winds up getting very disillusioned and homesick and reaches out to lamb in a way he hasn't before (and in a way that lamb isn't used to either). it ends up deepening their relationship from surface level to something more solid but fragile-new. jgar is willing to share himself because that's what he does, and lamb does but in fractions and much less. she shares a little about her family, mostly that they dont talk anymore and that she couldnt do anything right in their eyes, but most of what he leans on jgar for is current things, things theyre experiencing together. jgar, for his part, can tell that lamb has come from a different world than he has and he wants to show them what he thinks the world is really like (good and honest). lamb does absorb some of it, mostly in dealing with jgar - they know he isnt lying when he talks, and do slowly build up a sense of trust that they can tell him (some) things without it being an issue. the problem lamb runs into is that he has grown up being told that no matter he's fucking up and he's got the high school era depression mindset. he shares with jgar but doesn't think he can share Hard feelings or when he (lamb) has messed up because that will Ruin Things. this causes the occasional fight, but not drastic as at this point, things are still growing

pivotal point - jgar decides to stop adventuring because of a really bad job. he winds up just so disheartened he needs a break, needs some time back in his world where things are clear and genuine. lamb, who wants that too, goes with him, and they start a farm and get married. the two of them are pretty good at reading each other. jgar knows how to pry things out of lamb, and lamb knows how to tell jgar he's being a dick and when to shut up and other things. jgar likes that lamb is so different from him and he really admires their experience and enjoys learning new things from them that he wouldn't have otherwise. lamb likes that jgar is sweet and actively interested and doesnt seem to think they fuck up a lot, also likes how involved in community & local tradition he gets and tries to engage herself. they're very much a learn from each other couple. some communication issues, but they work through them

big thing comes up when lamb is attacked. the first month after, lamb realizes they've been werewolfed, and immediately panics. this is bad. this is so bad. they can't find the words to tell jgar because it feels like admitting they fucked up, this is their fault, they just became Literally wrong and difficult and dangerous and oh god oh fuck. she tries to work up the courage a few times, but bails consistently. he doesn't want to admit that now he actually cant Help but ruin things - he mightve been getting better before but now? then every month that passes it just compounds: i cant tell him because he'll realize i've been lying to him for months. he's going to hate me for lying. he hates lying. its like The Thing he hates. i need to tell him. but i cant. ahhhh

then lamb kills him

whoops

wolfing out after one of their worst arguments was not great. they reacted on terrified, frazzled instinct. they have been lying for two years now, and jgar is mad at them for something and it's just a sign that he's going to figure this out and it will be Worse and lamb is a coward who always runs away and fuck. oh fuck where's jgar. oh god oh god i killed him. hes dead. like dead dead i cant bring him back. oh fuck. this is bad. this is the worst thing i could possibly fuck up. im gonna bury him and pretend like nothing happened. its fine. im fine. this is fine. but then the town is asking about jgar because he's so community oriented, and lamb has to lie and say oh hes sick, he just cant make it, oh hes busy, he'll be around one day haha! and she's falling apart from the guilt and the stress and the lies and the grief but can't do anything about it because that's Admitting it. he decides he can clean up his mess and get jgar back and make it right and good again, so he gets some help and magics him back to life

except. jgar doesn't come back great. he comes back really weak and in a lot of pain and intensely confused. he doesnt remember anything. so lamb concocts a story where yes, jgar got hurt after they argued but she fixed everything and now he's back and things will be okay again. except jgar keeps getting frustrated and upset because he's recovering from 5 months in the dirt, and lamb is trying to make everything good without admitting to any wrong. by the time jgar recovers some function, he's sensed a rift between them and he interprets this as hes weak now, hes worse on the eyes, hes just a bad memory for lamb, not realizing that lamb is holding himself at a distance out of fear. jgar feels like he has to prove himself so he goes adventuring again. lamb doesn't know how to feel about it

important parts - they communicate well, until lamb gets stressed as their response to stress is mainly flight. lamb generally doesn't go for appeasement or anything to end a confrontation, he will just straight up run away if it's bad enough. normally, he is just kind of teary with confrontation but manages because jgar is easy to talk to and a good emotional example. they like each others quirks and find them endearing (jgar likes lamb's expensive tastes, lamb thinks jgar's tusk shyness is very cute). jgar generally assumes lamb is wholly honest with him, even having caught them in other smaller lies; he just moves forward after the argument thinking they will be honest next time for sure

[sparrowmoss]

god that post got me thinkin. its 2:30 am and even on the top of my game i am bad at making connections and really understanding the Why, Exactly, of things i think, but. there are a bunch of things that i dont like the canon treatment of and/or the fandom treatment of. very few that are both. but the top of that list is emma

i think that in canon dean was not messed up enough about that. there was absolutely a consent issue there and they Almost touched on that in canon but didnt quite get there. i forgot emma’s mother’s name but that woman had sex with dean and dean implied they used a condom or other form of protection but that woman then would have had to sabotage whatever contraception was used because she was in it with the express purpose of getting pregnant and having a kid, which dean did not know about or consent to. and then his basically adult daughter shows up three days later and tries to psychologically manipulate him into caring about her so that she can kill him. and then when sam threatens her she again tries to manipulate dean into feeling protective of her. how could that not fuck him up!!!

but. since coming back to tumblr fandom. i have seen multiple people really like… Really into the idea that dean would try to bring emma back to life and fans. Wanting that. Wanting dean to bring emma back and feel all familial and fatherly and loving toward her. and i find that so fucking bizarre and i truly hate it

this is a kid born of, honestly, sexual assault, who manipulated him and tried to kill him and manipulated him again. he was a sperm donor. an unwitting and unconsenting sperm donor. he literally said to CROWLEY that family doesnt end in blood but it doesnt start there either. i dont understand why anyone would think dean would do anything to try to bring her back??? or want to raise her as his, like, traditional family relationship daughter??? its so bizarre to me that there are fans who not only want this but think its in character for him

and this isnt really related but i also hate it when fandom wants claire to be cas’s daughter and wants jack and claire to be siblings. yes cas cares about claire and claire cares about him, but he is Using Her Father’s Corpse as a hand puppet. like. What?????? in reality i dont think she thinks it’s that bad, and neither do i, but like. she had a dad. she had a father. and cas’s relationship to her can be caring but i do not for a moment think he could or should replace her father just because he is in the guy’s used car of a body. i can see her seeing cas as like, her dad’s sort-of-long-lost-twin, her sort-of-uncle, and jack her sort-of-cousin, but never ever her father???

its just… one of the things that i love about supernatural is the emphasis on found family, and i know that between varying writers and producers and directors that message sometimes fluctuates and gets lost and blood relations get prioritized, but overall there is a pretty clear emphasis on non-traditional family structures, found family, loving people who are There For You rather than just because they contributed biological material to you, and again, Non Traditional Family Structures, so its kind of frustrating to see a lot of fans like… toss that all out and base everything on blood relations and try to sort everyone into neatly categorized traditional family roles. like. cas and claire can care about each other without seeing each other as father and daughter. dean can be kinda fucked up about emma’s entire existence without wanting her back and without wanting to have her as his daughter. its much more complex and honestly more beautiful when its messy and weird and maybe unfamiliar. it doesnt have to be a very common and easily recognizable dynamic to be valuable and full of love and caring

[angstylittlecatboy]

if tradwife image macros were posted on femsub kink accounts theyd fit right in and become better because theyd have a pretense of having a sex fantasy instead of being a nazi

[kaissauce]

please tell me more about this tired skellyman and his chaotic 4-armed...buddy(???)

OK SO

Bloo and Hearts are both coworkers at a gay bar called "Vitamin D". Bloo's the bartender and Hearts is a pole dancer.

Though Hearts is good at pole dancing he's somehow bad at being erotic (the biggest problem is that he's a skeleton which isnt that attractive in the first place) hence why he's just called a pole dancer and not a stripper. Only reason he hasn't been fired is because his dancing is impressive and entertains people. Sometimes he ditches the pole entirely and just breakdances. Many times he's been asked why he doesn't just become a professional dancer and his answer is that he likes being coworkers with Bloo. One time one of the customers dared Hearts to spin as fast as possible as he could on the pole and he ended up breaking a window.

Bloo, despite literally working at a gay bar, claims he isn't gay. He actually owns the bar and inherited it from his dads. He keeps it a secret because it would be ironic if a straight person owned a gay bar. The reason he's so defensive about not being gay is because his dads bet on him being gay and he's trying to prove them wrong out of spite. Bloo enjoys being a bartender and likes coming up with his own drinks. He's "close friends" with Hearts. One time Hearts looked at his search history and found nothing but "am i gay?" tests and on one of the results it said %16 bisexual.

Bloo and Hearts become roommates due to Hearts's parents kicking him out claiming he's old enough to live by himself but there's no available houses that he can afford and that are near Vitamin D. Since there's only one bedroom Hearts either sleeps on the couch or on the floor of Bloo's room.

Hearts's relationship with his parents aren't that good. In his family it's tradition to become a hitman which Hearts finds dumb but becomes a hitman anyways so that he isn't disowned by his family. He hates his family but still wants to impress them.

random plot shit:

One day Hearts is assigned to kill a coworker of his at Vitamin D and does so but has to clear his tracks. This obviously gets Bloo's attention who's shaken by the death of one of his workers. He temporarily closes Vitamin D until the killer is found. Hearts "helps" Bloo with his investigation but in reality just steers Bloo completely off track. Sometimes Bloo does his investigations alone when Hearts is busy and gets close to finding out Hearts is a hitman.

This is all i have so far but i'll post more rambles when i think of more stuff

[goofatron]

OC Personality Sheet

Tagged by: @skullharvester​ and @coraptedata​  Tagging: Anyone really lol

Trelane Powers

Alias: Trey, Lanny, Powergirl,

Gender: Female

Race: Black-White Biracial

Nationality: American

Age: 19 (in AU); 46 (in 2021)

DOB: May 12th 1975

Species: Human

Zodiac: Taurus; Rabbit (Chinese)

Abilities/Talents: Speaks like a million languages, can jerry rig even the most hopeless machines into working again, in tune with nature (speaks for the trees and all that), excellent marksmanship with her rifle (gift from her late father)

Alignment: lawful / neutral / chaotic / good / neutral / evil / true

Religion: A free spirit (doesn't actually follow any religious code)

Sins: envy / greed / gluttony / lust / pride / sloth / wrath

Virtues: charity / chastity / diligence / humility/ justice / kindness / patience

Languages: English, Spanish (mainly Mexican variant), French, Japanese, German, Chinese Mandarin, Italian, and Korean.

Family: Robert (Bob, Bobby) Powers (father; deceased); Olivia Jones (mother; left at birth); Louie and Joyce Mitchell (foster family after father was murdered)

Friends: Erick Rothstein; Donovan Ross

Sexual Orientation: heterosexual / bisexual / pansexual / homosexual / demisexual / asexual / unsure / other

Relationship Status: single / dating / married / widowed / open relationship / divorced / not ready for dating / it’s complicated

Libido: sex god / very high / high / average / low / very low / non-existent

Build: twig / bony / slender / average / athletic / curvy / chubby / obese / stocky

Hair: white / blonde / brunette / red / black / other

Eyes: brown / blue-gray / green / black / other (cursed with heterochromia)

Skin: pale / fair (but tanned) / olive / light brown / brown / very brown / other

Height: 5'5" / ~167cm

Weight: 120lbs. / ~54kg

Scars: One giant scar going down her back from left shoulder blade to right hip - a single swipe from a large grizzly bear she and her dad ran into on their property in Alaska. She still has the paw from the bear who nearly killed her and loves to brag about it.

Facial Features: Oval face, freckles all over, soft-Nubian nose, average-thick brows, big lips = big smiles :)

Tattoos: none (though Erick keeps pestering her about it)

Dogs or Cats? Dogs for all eternity. She has 2: a golden retriever named, Emily; a german shepard named, Vengeance. They’re the same age but she rescued them at different times.  

Birds or Nugs? birds cus she doesnt know wtf a nug even is???

Snakes or Spiders? snakes though she doesnt mind spiders as long as they stay in their spaces.

Coffee or Tea? bean water 

Ice Cream or Cake? ice cream. she likes to bite through it to freak out her friends.

Fruits or Vegetables? vegetables, as she grew up learning how to farm. Fruits can be too sugary for her if they’re from a Super Market. 

Sandwich or Soup? Soups, as they’re hearty and good for the soul <3

Magic or Melee? Why is ranged not a choice?? >:I

Sword or Bow? oh there it is! Bow if she had to choose, but if it ever were an option: Gun. Always Gun. Gunbow perhaps?

Summer or Winter? Evolved with the capabilities to survive Alaskan winters in shorts and a tank top in a cabin with no internal heating system.

Spring or Autumn? Spring brings out new life and that means new meat to hunt!

The Past or The Future? Preferably the future. She doesn't like to look back because for her, it’s more bad memories than good. 

Erick Rothstein 

Alias: just Erick. don't call him ‘Rick’. 

Gender: Male

Race: White

Nationality:  German-American immigrant

Age: 18 in AU; 45 in 2021

DOB: September 11th 1975

Species: Human

Zodiac: Virgo; Rabbit (Chinese)

Abilities/Talents: Beautiful singing voice; voice actor; bendable; double-jointed

Alignment: lawful / neutral / chaotic / good / neutral / evil / true

Religion: Agnostic if anything

Sins: envy / greed / gluttony / lust / pride / sloth / wrath

Virtues: charity / chastity / diligence / humility/ justice / kindness / patience

Languages: English, German, Spanish (as far as high school Spanish goes)

Family: Conrad Rothstein (Father; Incarcerated); Fernanda Brandt (Mother; Incarcerated); Alvaro/Louie Rothstein Mitchell(Paternal Uncle; Disowned runaway); Joyce Mitchell (Aunt by marriage); Kimberly Mitchell (Cousin); Chad Mitchell (Cousin)

Friends: Trelane Powers; Donovan Ross

Sexual Orientation: heterosexual / bisexual / pansexual / homosexual / demisexual / asexual / unsure / other

Relationship Status: single / dating / married / widowed / open relationship / divorced / not ready for dating / it’s complicated

Libido: sex god / very high / high / average / low / very low / non-existent

Build: twig / bony / slender / average / athletic / curvy / chubby / obese / stocky

Hair: white / blonde / brunette / red / black / other (ginger)

Eyes: brown / blue-gray / green / black / other

Skin: pale / fair / olive / light brown / brown / very brown / other

Height: 5'10" / ~155cm

Weight: 155lbs. / ~70kg

Scars: Do mental scars count? He does have scars on his back and legs all from a leather strap used by his parents. A few scars where his left kidney used to be when he got stabbed in the 90s after exiting a gay bar.

Facial Features: Oval and firm face, still got baby fat in some areas even in his 30s (lol), traditional Germanic pointed nose™

Tattoos: none (but he does want to get matching ones w/ Trey)

Dogs or Cats? Cats 100% as he is deathly afraid of dogs as they were used to torment him as a child. He does make an exception for both of Trey’s dogs, Emily and Vengeance however. 

Birds or Nugs? tf is a nug?? Birds, he guesses.

Snakes or Spiders? Neither (same reason as dogs)

Coffee or Tea? coffee 80% of the time. He’ll save tea for when he’s sick and on really chilly nights.

Ice Cream or Cake? Cake. His teeth are far too sensitive for ice cream unless it’s in the form of ice cream bars.

Fruits or Vegetables? he’ll consume fruit for days. hates green vegetables, only likes the colorful ones.

Sandwich or Soup? both. likes small sandwiches to dip into hot soup. gooood shit.

Magic or Melee? if he can use magic to fashion himself a guitar out of existance, he’s sure to win the battle through sonnets.

Sword or Bow? Why the violence? :c Why cant we all sing together? (he’s a bard at heart if it wasn't clear enough)

Summer or Winter? Summer is nice and warm; winter is numb and cold :c

Spring or Autumn? Spring! Though he does love the color changes that Autumn brings. Not so much the beginning of chilled air though.

The Past or The Future? Past? what past? there is not passst hahaha only the future with friends and new family :’) 

Donovan Ross

Alias: Donny, Don, D-man, Ross (school faculty)

Gender: Male

Race: Black

Nationality:  American

Age: 21 in AU; 47 in 2021

DOB: August 1st 1973

Species: Human

Zodiac: Leo; Ox (Chinese)

Abilities/Talents: 

Alignment: lawful / neutral / chaotic / good / neutral / evil / true

Religion: Christianity 

Sins: envy / greed / gluttony / lust / pride / sloth / wrath

Virtues: charity / chastity / diligence / humility/ justice / kindness / patience

Languages: English

Family: James Ross (Father); Roberta Wilson (Mother); Trixie Ross (Sister)

Friends: Trelane Powers; Donovan Ross; Elaina Heckathorne (Girlfriend)

Sexual Orientation: heterosexual / bisexual / pansexual / homosexual / demisexual / asexual / unsure / other

Relationship Status: single / dating / married / widowed / open relationship / divorced / not ready for dating / it’s complicated

Libido: sex god / very high / high / average / low / very low / non-existent

Build: twig / bony / slender / average / athletic / curvy / chubby / obese / stocky

Hair: white / blonde / brunette / red / black / other 

Eyes: brown / blue-gray / green / black / other

Skin: pale / fair (but tanned) / olive / light brown / brown / very brown / other

Height: 6'2" / ~188cm

Weight: 164lbs. / ~74kg

Scars:

Facial Features: baby fat all through childhood, then chiseled features with a square jaw in adult hood. Wide and slightly bulbous nose.

Tattoos: None

Dogs or Cats? Dogs, but only small or medium sized.

Birds or Nugs? uh, birds? the heck are nugs?

Snakes or Spiders? Neither!

Coffee or Tea? gotta be decafe, but either works

Ice Cream or Cake? why isnt pie an option? :c

Fruits or Vegetables? Veggies. He has to be careful w/ fruits cus he’s allergic to most citrus fruits and bananas.

Sandwich or Soup? A nice, big, fat sandwich to fill ‘er up B)

Magic or Melee? Magic. As big and athletic he seems, he’s more into using his brains than brawn.

Sword or Bow? Short sword if nothing else, maybe even a dagger as he can just pull it out quickly for some fast jabbing action.

Summer or Winter? despite being born in the dead of summer, he’s a wintery boy

Spring or Autumn? Autumn for the same reason as a lot of people. Loves the changes in both color and the air.

The Past or The Future? He always looks forward to a brighter future, but is fond of looking back on his past. He’s made some really good memories with the people he’s met. :) 

[the-face-in-the-mirror]

Stranger Things 4 Theory/Prediction: The Clocks Symbolize Memories

Well shit, here we go again.

So obviously everybody has been going off about the recently released Season 4 announcement, with that crazy heckin’ video with the Upside Down, and the clock, and the light in the distance, and all that good stuff. And naturally, people have been making theories, so I decided to make one of my own, using evidence and clues from the announcement trailer, and evidence from previous theories (about the current three seasons) made by other theorists in the fandom.

So, obviously, the most prominent theory in the Fandom at this point (concerning Season 4) is that there’s going to be a time travel element. And I can see how some people would think that, especially with the clock in the trailer, the Twitter account posting the tweet with the clock, Back To The Future in Season 3, and Hopper’s speech mentioning that he wishes he could “turn back the clock.” However, I myself don’t see how this could make any sense, and time travel would inevitably serve to only make the show more unnecessarily complicated and filled with holes, as time travel is not an easy thing to get right and can be portrayed poorly without very careful planning.

My theory, on the other hand, is that Season 4, and all the clues about clocks and turning back the clock, has nothing to do with time travel, but rather Will’s plotline and his relationship with Mike.

Hear me out:

First, let’s examine this still from the announcement trailer.

Obviously this isn’t the best quality, but there are a few key things that we can single out: the clock, the Welcome To Hawkins sign, Will’s bike (in the iconic position that everyone has known since Season 1), and what appears to be a newspaper strewn across it. There’s also the light in the distance which could either be Hopper’s cabin, or Hopper himself, but I’ll refrain from talking about that since that’s not what this theory is about.

So the clock is obvious, and it’s been hinted that we are directly supposed to focus on the clock and that clocks and time have something significant to do with this season, primarily due to this tweet:

Now let’s talk about this tweet.

Again, there’s the clock - this clock coupled with the other clock shows that they’re important somehow, which is obvious by this point. But there’s one thing from this tweet that I never see anyone talking about, and that’s what is placed right next to the clock: an upside-down smiley face.

The announcement trailer takes place in the Upside Down, where we already know time to be somewhat skewed. Mr. Clarke even said himself in Season 1 that the Gate can affect magnetic fields (the magnets and compasses), the environment (the dying crops), gravity, and even time itself. This is very subtly touched on in Season 2 when Will sees the Mind Flayer at his house for the first time, where the clock on the wall is shown to be ticking rapidly - much faster than it should be.

This could possibly be in relation to what has been happening with Hopper and his time in the Upside Down, but again, that’s not what this theory is about.

Now, this is all well in good, but I think it means something else aside from that. And sure, Time Travel theory is slightly plausible, but, personally, I don’t think that’s what these clues are hinting towards at all - or at least not in the traditional sense. So here’s my theory: the clock and all the hints of turning it back have nothing to do with literal time travel, but rather a way of “turning back the clock” that is far more intimate and relevant to Stranger Things itself - memory.

Ever since Season 2, and even in elements of Season 1, memory has played a big part in fighting against the Mind Flayer. While he was in the Upside Down, Will sung Should I Stay Or Should I Go to himself for comfort, clinging to the memory of listening to it with Jonathan to keep himself sane. When Will was possessed by the Mind Flayer it was the memories of his childhood from Joyce, Jonathan, and Mike that allowed him to continue fighting the Mind Flayer as much as he did. The same method is applicable to Billy, who is able to break free of the Mind Flayer’s control when he is reminded of his happiest memory with his mother. Not to mention that El is able to actively look into peoples’ memories, as she does with both Billy and her own mother.

Memory plays an important part in this show, and it especially plays a key role with Will and his relationship with Mike, and how it’s going to develop in Season 4.

Let’s start with my first point: memories being important to Will’s storyline.

Warning: Mentions of abuse and sexual assault ahead.

For the purpose of this theory, I’m going off of @kaypeace21​‘s theory that the Mind Flayer represents Will's dad, and that a grand majority of the events on the show represent the past sexual abuse that Will can’t remember due to dissociative amnesia. You can read more about that here and here. Kaypeace does an amazing job on it and goes super in-depth into details I wouldn’t have noticed otherwise, so I would definitely suggest reading it if you haven’t.

Throughout season 2 Will constantly references what he says are “like old memories, in the back of [his] head,” and that his Now Memories from the Mind Flayer are “like when you have a dream” and “you can’t remember it unless you think really hard.” This is quite common with survivors of sexual assault, especially if the abuse occurred when they were children. I don’t think I even need to point out the r*pe parallels of Will getting possessed at this stage, so we’ll move on. The point is that Will’s memories of his abuse are there, he just can’t remember them properly - he’s “forgotten” them, in a sense; stored them so deep in the back of his psyche that he can’t bring them back up - and they’re represented with the Mind Flayer who abstractly plays out scenarios that parallel abuse; abuse that Will has gone through in the past.

So in terms of memory, here’s what I theorize is going to happen:

El - likely with her powers returned - is going to end up looking into Will’s memories, just as she did with Terry and Billy, and he’s going to end up remembering everything he repressed.

This definitely isn’t a pleasant idea, not in the slightest, especially with how that will affect Will in the long run; however, recovering repressed memories through clinical hypnotism is an actual method used by therapists for treating people with dissociative disorders. It definitely isn’t the best method of therapy, and is even known to be controversial due to the possibility of creating false memories, but, at times, it still helps people with dissociative disorders to come to terms with what happened in their past and begin to heal from it. Hypnotism is even slightly related to the show with the concept of MKUltra, even if we never directly see it. You can read more about Dissociative Amnesia and treatments for it here.

And why do I think this will happen? Because of another thing I haven’t yet seen people talking about in their posts concerning the announcement teaser: Will’s bike.

Will crashing his bike in Season 1 marks a moment where everything changes - where he’s dragged into the Upside Down, representing his own trauma as a whole along with El’s. And when his bike is found, that changes everything for both his family and his friends - to realize that something happened to him, that he didn’t just skip school or run away. The (what seems to be) newspaper strewn across it is representative of Will’s life changing as well; suddenly everyone in Hawkins knows who he is. He’s the boy who died in the quarry, and then the boy who came back to life, and people are paying attention to him (both good and bad) whether he likes it or not. He’s the most interesting thing that has ever happened in Hawkins, a mystery, a spectacle, and it’s clear that he hates it. Hawkins has never been welcoming to him, and with the Upside Down and everyone looking at him like he’s even “more of a freak” due to his disappearance, Hawkins is the last place he wants to be welcomed back to.

Will’s bike being in the Upside Down in the trailer shows us that, as hard as he is trying to recover and move on, he’s still stuck in that moment. He’s still between the View-Master slides, both in the Upside Down and not, and as much as he’s trying to move on he can’t, not until he’s finally able to face his abuser (the Mind Flayer/his dad).

This leads to my second point:

How memories are important in Mike and Will’s relationship.

Of everyone that shares memories in the shed in Season 2, Mike’s memory of when he first met Will is the one that really gets through to him, allowing him to break free of the Mind Flayer’s control just enough to send a message. From the camera angles, the lighting, and the acting of it alone, it’s obvious that it’s a very intimate moment between the two of them,

where Mike is at his most vulnerable

to bring Will back -

he’s sharing the most personal memory he has, the one that means the most to him.

And that is significant.

That scene gives us insight into how long Mike and Will have been friends, an indication of

how deep their story goes

, how close they were with each other. It’s not a memory that includes Dustin, or Lucas, or even any of their family members - it’s just them. The scene itself reflects that. They’re close, and they always have been.

And it isnt just that scene either; there are many instances, from Mike going through Will’s drawings after they pull the fake body out of the quarry to a photo - a tangible memory - of the Party (with emphasis on Mike and Will) being what makes Mike realize that El could be the key to finding Will.

Their memories are important to them - their past and their story are important to them; and, therefore, they’re important to the show. Crucial to the show.

Now fast-forward to Season 3, where Mike has done almost a complete 180 and focuses all of his time on El due to his perception that that’s what he has to do - he has a girlfriend now, he’s grown up (in his own eyes), and that’s all that matters. Mike’s main theme in the season is “we’re not kids anymore,” which he says to Will in the carport - Will, who wants to go back to their younger days; Will, who wants to relive a little bit of what he lost due to his trauma; Will, who wants to turn back that clock, who misses playing board games every night, who doesn’t want things to change.

Hopper, in his speech, wishes he could go back to a simpler time where he and El were closer than they are in Season 3 - when they spent more time together, weren’t distant from each other, talked to each other. And that’s what Will wants, too, throughout the entirety of the third season. He wants to go back to a simpler time where he wasn’t distant from everyone, and didn’t have to worry about the Upside Down or the Mind Flayer, or his friends - Mike - leaving him because they’re getting girlfriends and growing up and he’s stuck by himself - the lonely little gay kid in love with his best friend.

And it’s Mike’s words, and Will looking at the picture - the memory - of them from Halloween when Mike promised that he and Will would “go crazy together,” that finally send Will past his breaking point, causing him to rip the picture directly in half, symbolizing the rift between him and Mike.

With all this damage done, Mike and Will are a tattered reflection of what they used to be - what we were told about in Season 1 and what we saw in Season 2 - and Season 3 never truly takes the time to amend it. The end of the season shows that they’re clearly on good terms again (what with Will’s flirting and Mike’s fond smile towards him), but that’s not good enough. Not after that catastrophic fight that led to the destruction of Castle Byers and a clear rift in their friendship - that’s not something you can resolve offscreen.

Therefore, I believe that Season 4 will see the proper reparation of Mike and Will’s relationship.

Finally, they’ll talk. They’ll talk about everything - growing distant from each other, barely talking to each other, and the feelings that both of them, Mike especially, have been trying to ignore for years. They can fix the picture, fix the tear between them; the picture will never be exactly the same, but it’ll still be there, and Mike will retell the memory of when he first met Will, paralleling the scene in the shed, but without the Mind Flayer, and without the impending doom. And through this, they can turn back the clock, go back, in a way, to how things once were. They can recreate a time when they were closer, when it was just the two them sitting on the swings, and they can bring back what was so special about their relationship to begin with.

And with the two of them back together and stronger than ever before, Will can finally fully accept himself as he is, for his past and his present, and face the Mind Flayer (his father) once and for all.

This was a really long theory, and one that took me a bit to fully put together myself, but after a lot of research and rereading of multiple theories from Kaypeace, I think I’ve got something pretty solid here. It’s a lot, especially considering that I’m going off of a singular tweet and a 30-second announcement trailer, and there are a couple things that might be a reach, but I think it still has some weight to it. 

Obviously it’s way too early to tell if any of this could be true, so we’ll have to wait for more content, but after all of the theories I’ve read from some of you guys I have no doubt that it’s entirely plausible for some of this theory to be true. Now let’s just hope the Duffers don’t screw us over (which they might, but I will choose to believe they still have half a braincell between them), and pray that we’re on to something. Which, inevitably, we are.

[ghostmaggie]

hey so in your MKAT post (which you’re 100% correct about) you also mention you’ve had some issues with RT in the past. i’m fairly new in the fandom and also watch his other show iZombie, but i wanted to ask what issues they were?? i like to be informed about the media i consume lmao

Oof okay so I'm on mobile and therefore this will probably be more rant-y and opinion-based than you might be looking for, so I invite anyone with opinions or sources or thoughts or contradictions to reply or shoot me asks and I'll share them (plus I'm curious of other thoughts) but,,

Idk if this was clear in my original post, but my issues are mainly contained within the actual show as opposed to things about him irl, because idk that much outside of secondhand info, so take it with a grain of salt I guess, lol

Also, I feel like I need to say that this is really negative about vmars--which, to be clear, is a show I love dearly--and I know sometimes I like to avoid negative commentary on things I enjoy because it gets stuck in my head and ruins my enjoyment. So if that's you, feel free to skip this! I wont be offended and you shouldn't feel bad about it! It's also just one person's opinion, and I'm most definitely not always right :)

So mostly setting aside the brand new season because I have no clue how to talk around spoilers effectively, in short (with spoilers up through the movie and maybe some spoilers for the books and new season, I cant really tell at this point):

(Editor's note post finishing writing: it's not even all my thoughts, but it's not short. Sorry.)

RT shares in the grand tradition of showrunners I do not care for along with Steven Moffat and Jason Rothenberg, for many parallel reasons. Moffat thinks hes cleverer than he really is, jroth is a douche about romance and character motivation, and both are smug jerks who drove me away from shows I used to love, so.

So number one I guess would just be the sense that he really fucking does not care about the fans. It's especially egregious, as I've seen others point out, when he literally would never have gotten his show back (after driving it to the ground) without the LITERAL MONEY donated by devoted fans. I'm not saying you have to do things just because fans want them, but to go out of your way to do things you know fans will hate just to be contrary is,, yeah.

He thinks he's so very smart, and yet his plots are riddled with holes and inconsistencies (hello, Moffat). It speaks, to me, of a lack of respect for everyone involved--fans, writers, actors, crew, critics, just everyone. Write down a timeline. Something. Try.

One of my bigger issues, though, is that the misogyny in vmars is just...beyond appalling. Not just narratively--i understand representing the flaws in society, I guess, but veronica is honestly one of the most misogynistic parts of the show, and she is never ever ever held accountable for it. Ever. The show never sends the message that she's wrong for the atrocious way she treats, to name a few, Madison, Kendall, Gia, and even Carrie during the s1 plot with Adam Scott. The carrie thing is especially fucked up bc iirc the narrative only condemns her for guessing the victim wrong. (As another note, her treatment of other marginalized groups or basically anyone she ever treats badly--logan, Keith, Wallace, weevil, the list goes on--is rarely or never narratively critiqued. Veronica mars can do no wrong, apparently, even when she's obviously wrong.)

She's far from the only example of misyogny, of course--duncan's s2 dream about madonna/whore meg/veronica comes to mind in screaming color, yet donut is somehow treated like a prince forever and ever and v's lost true love even though he's basically the scum of the earth (pardon, my true feelings are coming out a little here).

Somewhat connected is, of course, the show's treatment of rape in general (hi, season 3), but especially Duncan's rape of veronica. I'm still not over the way they walked it back to "not a rape" and took back holding him accountable. I live for all the fanfiction that addresses it, because at least there people remember that, whether he "thought she could consent" or not, he literally thought she was his sister and didnt know. That's uninformed consent at best, babe!

And if that wasn't bad enough, to "resolve" that plotline and then come back at the end of season 2 to be all, "jk! You WERE raped, by SOMEONE ELSE [too]! Enjoy that reenabled trauma, and some chlamidya to boot!"

Speaking of retconned instances of sex, how about that piz/veronica tape that suddenly became full on sex in the movie? Fun times.

My favorite bout of misogynistic writing, you ask? That would have to be "narratively-enforced nicest girl in school who stands by her friends and is sweet and loyal becomes a raging hell bitch yet also the representation of misogynistic virginal innocence because she was knocked up and abandoned by Mr. Narratively-Claimed-to-be-Perfect-but-Actually-the-Worst and completely undergoes a 180 personality change then dies for plot reasons" because holy fucking shit.

Okay sorry I got way more into that than I meant to. I'll try to wrap up.

RT does a very jroth job of treating fans like shit for giving a shit about a romantic relationship he created. He acts like fans are a bunch of stupid girls for caring about romance, but then pushed it at every level of promo to reel us back in. Make up your mind, asshole. It's desperately unfair to bait fans with romantic promo (even in the form of an inane and ooc love triangle) and then snap back with "oooh it's noir, shut up about the romance!"

If that's how you feel, stop making every other plot point and promo about the fucking romance.

RT seems to want to be making a show that he isnt. He wants to be grimdark and angsty and awful, I guess, and while there have been elements of effective darkness throughout vmars, they have been tempered by the show as a whole. That made it (mostly palatable) for people like me. To flip the script now does a disservice to long term fans and does nothing to attract new viewers. If you want to make a different show, make a different show. Don't drive beloved characters into the ground because you're bitter about how your work is perceived post-death of the author.

To wrap up--he hates character growth. He must really hate it. This is dipping a little into the new season, but he just. Won't let anyone develop. Well. Maybe some people. A very few. But not veronica. Never veronica. Because heaven forbid your main character, the person we've followed for 15 years, be anything other than she was at 16. Her personality, her approach to the world, none of it has changed. Which begs the question: what has been the fucking point?

Sorry this is so long. I'm not sure I even answered your question, so feel free to ask me to try again 😂

[eighthmnth-blog]

          -------------- and he shall be levon       ( and he shall be a good man )    and he shall be levon       ( in tradition with the family plan )

and i oop

none of this is going to make sense. im really really tired. ive been in a hot car all day sldjskld baking. crispy. now im going to sleep before work,,, but wrow hi im r, im way too excited to be here. this intro is ?? too long but after all these years ive never learned how to stfu. i COULD have done this sooner but i also turned my brain off last night and watched baby driver for the first time and wow 10/10 would recommend sdksjdlkas i dont have discord because im living in the stone age  but im available via tumblr ims if anyone wants to plot --- ill prop make a proper connection page 2mmrow,, just fuck him up. honestly. ruin him. take out the trash.

basics    

[ luke hemmings. twenty-three. cismale. he/him. | muse 4b. ] levon by elton john just came on the radio and it made me think of august ferland. they’ve been in sundance for their whole life and they’re currently an administrative assistant. if you’re looking for them, try by the sheriff’s office, locals say they’re there a lot. [ r. she/them. 20. est. ]

SUBPLOT       if someone asked who sundance’s bad seed is, most people would say muse 4a. always getting in trouble for one reason or another, muse 4a has just never been one to follow rules. maybe that’s why muse 4b, the sheriffs child, is so drawn to them. muse 4a and muse 4b have been hooking up pretty casually, but muse 4b’s soft nature is causing them to fall for sundance’s baddest seed while muse 4a is only interested in hooking up. will muse 4a break muse 4b's heart? what would the sheriff say if they found out?

nonsensical ramblings    

the world is black and white as a child. a young august planted in front of one static plagued television, soaking up the world of cops and robbers. a mop of blond hair and a missing front tooth, beaming proudly “ MY FATHER’S THE SHERIFF “ , a hero in the boy’s mind. black & white. good versus bad.

then comes middle school, high school, and everything thereafter. it’s living under a microscope. small-town living & dealing out the law don’t tend to equate to a private life. sometimes august knows people’s business before they do —- other times the positions are reversed. it wasn’t the easiest of days, far from the romanticized lifestyle often portrayed on screen. the chill of cold shoulders never fades over the years. children told to steer clear of the ferland boy lest they find themselves under sundance’s watchful eye. the SHERIFF’S SON, an undesired spotlight.  as the years come and go, he wonders how he once wore that title with pride.

they made an angel of him. almost golden. of course, the teenage years are a rocky patch for anyone. the spark of rebellion, even he wasn’t immune. eighteen and sneaking out with his father’s pistol, shooting cans and bottles --- until he puts one single bullet through a neighbor’s window. that summer spent wasting away under a scorching sun, completing mundane tasks to earn enough to pay for the replacements. it’s out of character for him, but they write it off as a minor scare --- a teenager. no one was hurt, so all’s well that ends well. right ?

he tires of daily life. the yearning for something more never dies, it just lays dormant. only rarely given a breath of life. he grows exhausted of the endless pestering and gossip tucked in church pews. of the polite smiles and polished image. ‘ when will you settle down ? find a nice girl ? are you going to take over the station ? look at how much you’ve grown. ‘twenty-three years too long in sundance.

he knew the names before he saw them in ink at the station. his father’s endless rants, the population that put grey in his hair. miscreants, that august was explicitly told never to associate with. words that fell on deaf ears and then he goes the extra mile. he can’t help but feel a hint of shame, but never enough for him to put a stop to the sneaking. the town’s bad seed --- the sheriff’s greatest adversary and the cause of most, if not all, of his migraines. then there was august, like a moth to an open flame. it must have been some ultimate form of karma when he realizes something’s changed. the rules of the game aren’t so simple anymore, there’s more at stake. just like that, he’s damned them all. the heart wants what it wants, and now he’s cast as the fool. play with fire, get burned.

1% more brainpower used here       ( background broken down simply )

his aesthetic is that feeling you get when all your extended family ask about your dating life at the family barbecue. vague ??? maybe so, but it triggers something in me.

he’s dumb, and a tad naive lbh, but this is august.. the sheriff’s son if that hasn’t become,,, really obvious. in the brief readings i did beforehand, it seems like small-town sheriffs can sometimes have a bit of a spotlight on themselves and their family so i kind of envisioned him as being borderline lonely in his youth due to the fact people don’t want to find themselves under the microscope by being friends with the sheriff/’s family.  i think the whole sheriff thing has been a big,,, oof in his life. there are probably places he can’t go because his dad arrested the cook in the back or things along those lines.

he’s bored. he has a wifi connection. if his family didn’t think he wasn’t going to get glimpses of the outside world and want to get the fuck out of dodge then idk my dude.

he works as an administrative assistant at the station,, so he’s mainly handling the paperwork and stuff, but id imagine he's a bit of a jack of all trades in the field. takes calls, but also probably gets sent out for the really shitty jobs like the old lady who calls ten times a day for nothing, or that she’s getting calls from scammers :))) but he ain’t going out arresting anyone or doing anything serious. just the “my cat’s in a tree” bs and getting coffee.

in the public eye, he’s probably a real golden child. volunteering, going to church, helping out wherever he can. does he have a genuine interest in any of that ? absolutely not. but it reflects well on his family and on himself. he has a reputation to upkeep. he only went up to high school education-wise, and in a town that probably isn’t too fast crime wise, he has enough free time to be active in the community.

i dont know what suffers more his brain or his heart

n sync vc: bi bi bi

before my dumbass forgets, he does have a good relationship with his parents,,, when he’s not being a fucking moron. follow your heart?? not good advice for him. his mom is currently abroad. aug probably gets his desire to run from her, she’s currently teaching english abroad. he’s v proud of her tyvm. his dad?? yeah. i mean obvs aug isnt very honest about EVERYTHING. he’s gotten good at telling white lies, but he still loves his dad.  he’s also an only child so all eyes on him rIP.

i have a shitty pinterest board for him HERE there's barely anything there but yknow

he’s currently being sized for his clown shoes

thats all folks

[shsldepressedlesbian]

Few questions to help both us n you get to know the passengers on this cruise to hell better! 1,upon first glance what something someone would immediately notice abt your ocs appearance? 2,does your ocs Like their talent? This says a lot about them as people and feel free to go into detail why or why not they do. 3,do any of the cast have any character quirks? Be it in speech or otherwise

hey this looks fun :0

1:

Yuuki: i think its safe to say the many assortments of flowers she wears in her hair. while she isnt a gardener or anything, one of her siblings is, and they often send flowers to her. yuuki, in turn, usually mends them all into a flower crown, or even plain just puts a single flower into her hair.

Emica: when it comes to it, i suppose her traditional japanese arm band, symbolising her stance on the student council. her many different necklaces is a close competitor.

Arata: he dresses like he just walked out of a time loop from england 1930s. i think thats pretty noticeable-

Mitsuo: the unhealthily dark bags under his eyes, and the very pale skin which does not go well with his very bright, red hair.

Asuka: her very rich, haughty aura. and even though anyone would hate to admit it, shes borderline very attractive.

Manabu: he looks like he came from a very formal ball, not to mention it would be hard to miss the variety of shiny crystals he wears as bracelets.

Seiichi: at first glance, people might say he looks like he just had a ruffle with someone- but if you pay attention, he actually really is neat and tidy- aside from his tie.

Tamotsu: at first glance, people would probably compare him to indiana jones when it comes to his outfit choice. he doesnt deny these comparsions.

Kamiko: her sunhat, for sure. theyre usually wide brimmed, though fashionable. the second thing is probably the many ‘luck charms’ she wears as accesories.

Kenta: how he looks much stronger than he actually is. also his sneakers. everyone notices the sneakers. even if you arent a fan of footwear, you WILL notice his sneakers.

Chieko: chieko is very… ordinary looking. in fact, her normalness compared to any other ultimate is probably the first thing youll ever notice. it actually makes her stand out.

Masa: the first youll notice about masa is her sheer size of accesories. bracelets, rings, hair pins, and necklaces galore. if you pay enough attention, youll actually notice she and tamotsu have matching necklaces.

Fumiko: a notable thing about fumikos appearance is how… scandalous her outfit is. fumiko isnt shameful at all about how much skin shes exposing; though it never gets too crazy. usually. hopefully.

Kohaku: there is nothing really abnormal about kohaku, other then their very bright mint color scheme. the reading glasses hanging from a small chain on the front of their suit is also something noteworthy.

Aika: the first thing youll notice about aika is the fact that her coat is almost completely made out of buttons- each one she sewed onto it herself. for someone who youd expect look to have come out of the 1990s, she has a reasonable modern feel to her clothes.

Satoru: at first glance, you could see satoru as, to be frank, a vsco boy. his casual outfit, sunglasses, and jacket with many pins relating to saving the ocean can give off that feel. however, he resents the stereotypes of ‘vsco’. also, its hard to tell if his murky hair is either white or grey.

Usagi: the first thing youll notice about usagi is the fact she always looks like shes prepared for a hike. her backpack, casual but warm outfit wear, and always pulled up hair can give that impression.

2:

Yuuki: yuuki has a soft spot for her talent, considering how it dates back to her grandmother, and its always been something shes been experienced with. its fair to say yuuki likes her talent.

Emica: emica really doesnt consider herself worthy of her talent. the only reason she got it, afterall, is because of her dad, not to mention this fact has caused her a fair amount of nasty envy with her fellow classmates. still, she tries to honor her responsibility of being student council president. emica doesnt particularly like her talent.

Arata: if theres one thing arata is proud of, its his talent. hes been into history since he was a small child- and to have his research celebrated is his dream come true. he can, however, be a little cocky about it. he really does consider himself the best historian in history. arata likes, and is very proud of, his talent.

Mitsuo: he wont even tell anyone what his talent is. i wonder why…

Asuka: whether or not asuka enjoys her talent is left to debate. it is, however, for sure something she uses to her advantage. shes part of the main student council! of course everyone has to respect her, right? she also considers being the treasurer ‘finally’ a way to use her social skills and knowledge with mathematics to use. asuka likes her talent.

Manabu: manabu was always expected to be helpful in the study of outer space. his whole family line consisted of astronomers, astronauts, astrophysicists, and more. manabu had to choose his career at a young age, and he decided on astrogeology. this didnt mean manabu was stuck in the career. or, at least, he was, until an opportunity arrived. yet even when he got it, he decided not to take it. manabu always had a soft spot for astrogeology, though perhaps if he didnt have his current family line, he would have become the ultimate of a different talent. manabu likes his talent, though that may only be because of his history.

Seiichi: seiichis history of slam poetry goes all the way back to elementary. its his form of venting, if you will, as even though he comes across as nervous, his head is filled with anger at the world. but also hope, of making a new one. a better one. he considers being invited to attend sailing integrity was just a plus to his journey. seiichi likes his talent.

Tamotsu: tamotsu has been interested in tombs and the history of egypt for a long time. the closest thing he could find to fulfilling his interests was becoming a tour guide to show people around said tombs, and he found himself having fun, rehearsing facts and making the otherwise gloomy places bright. making tourists days a little more fun was good enough for him. tamotsu quite likes his talent.

Kamiko: kamikos talent was always something that she did as a fun hobby. sewing tapestries that told fascinating tales was always something she was invested in. and the many tales she sewed was really the only things that kept her company while she kept herself locked in her room. however, even if she likes her talent, she was not a fan of being recognized for it, and being coaxed by her parents to attend the academy. kamiko likes her talent, but isnt a fan of being the ‘ultimate’ of it.

Kenta: if we were being real here, kenta is very… neutral on his talent, which is weird for him. the way he learnt it is connected with bad memories, but doing it has always been refreshing to him. a way to run around, blow off steam. he supposes being called deemed the ‘ultimate’ of it isnt that bad. kenta likes his talent, for the majority.

Chieko: being the ultimate chemist wasnt chiekos first choice, but she takes it with dignity. chieko is neutral on her talent.

Masa: masas talent was born out of curiosity, and it grew from it. masas history of interpreting dreams is affiliated with many different emotions and memories. but for the most part, its been positive. she is very into the persona of it, and considers it a chance for her to act all mythical and wise. but, shes just really happy that she got to be a ultimate along with tamotsu. masa likes her talent, especially the attention she gets from it.

Fumiko: fumiko, probably, resents her talent the most out of the cast. its a very constant, confusing, love-hate relationship. she dislikes the title of ultimate lucky student, as she finds it cheesy, which is the whole reason why she calls herself a blackjack player. after talking to her for a bit, it becomes clear she doesnt want her talent to define her, and that she honestly couldnt care less about ultimates and the academies. her whole reason for applying to the lottery seems to stem from family reasons. while she dislikes the academy, she also takes any chance she can to pump her ego around her talent. its confusing, honestly. fumiko is not a fan of her talent.

Kohaku: kohakus murder mystery career started out as a coping method. however, they get very attached to every story and characters they make, putting love into every book, which is the whole reason they got recognized as the ultimate murder mystery novelist. kohaku has pride in becoming the ultimate murder mystery novelist, though they dont consider it a big deal. whether or not they became an ultimate wouldnt have any effect on the future of their career. theyll always write murder mysteries. kohaku likes their talent.

Aika: aika considers her becoming an ultimate a complete ‘accident’. aika isnt especially invested in vintage collecting- she just had a lot of old stuff she posted online, not even realising how old and valuable they really were, and the next thing she knew, the email and letter came. actually, the invitation to sailing integrity is what really made her consider making collecting old items a hobby. secretly, aika is a little insecure of her talent, finding it boring compared to others talents. aika likes her talent, but only to a certain point.

Satoru: satorus want to study the oceans animals has been active for a long time, especially since he was always close to water, considering his parents were fishermen. he finds the thought of the ocean being 95% explored to be highly interesting, and his goal is to crack down another 5% before he dies. becoming the ultimate of what he loved to do was very much a welcomed moment, especially with the promise that the academy would supply him with items that would help reinforce his talent. satoru has always been especially passionate about marine biology. satoru likes his talent.

Usagi: usagi is also very neutral when considering her talent. in fact, her talent is always at the back of her mind when introducing herself. usagi, truthfully, isnt a fan of most of the school referring to her as the ‘ultimate runaway’, considering how many of them paint it as a form of rebelling and thus delinquency. shes just a girl who likes taking sharing nature with the world whilst traveling, and wants others to see that as well. usagi is iffy on her talent.

3:

(hmmm im not sure what your definition of ‘quirks’ are, but here, have this:)

Yuuki: taps her foot an awful lot.

Emica: none visible.

Arate: can you consider writing almost everything down a quirk?

Mitsuo: taps surfaces whenever hes thinking.

Asuka: none visible.

Manabu: none visible.

Seiichi: as noted before, he tugs on his tie when hes nervous. also has a habit of rising his voice when he doesnt mean to.

Tamotsu: has more of an american dialect.

Kamiko: has the iconic danganronpa stutter, hides her face behind her hat.

Kenta: none visible.

Chieko: also has an american dialect, though hers is less apparent then tamotsus.

Masa: has a very cryptic way of speaking, except when she lets normal sentences slip through.

Fumiko: has a bit of a drawl to her voice.

Kohaku: none visible, surprisingly.

Aika: almost always moving, cannot stand completely still.

Satoru: rarely uses h’s if they are at the front of the word.

Usagi: has an unidentifiable accent.

[kosmicdream]

Your Comic Baby

You know that comic or story that you made when you were a teenager (or sometimes even younger) that propelled you to really WANT to create it. FOR REAL. You put all your energy towards it, for years, determined that it was going to be the one you HAD to make. But then something doesnt go right because, comics are hard-- so you start over and over and over and each reboot gets a bit more discouraging because you have SO MUCH planned out for this thing and you’re just stuck in the loop of redoing the first 5 pages every couple of years. But something about that story, you just cant let go of. You still want to make it happen because you’ve invested and dedicated so much into it. I know that feeling. I call those stories.. your Comic Baby.

You might have a lot of babies. I know I do. But there’s always this one certain comic baby that i struggle with more than the others. Its a difficult baby because I first made this baby when I was 13. And over the course of my highschool years, I was very outspoken about how i was going to really make this a real book for everyone to read. I was constantly working on it, even taking sketchbooks and clipboards to draw it or the characters in class. People were waiting to read this story because they could see how passionate about it I was. But comics were a lot harder than I thought they would be in my mind. I mean, i knew they would be difficult but it was like my art wasn’t as good as I knew it could be when i drew comics. I didn’t get it. And I’d learn so much and so fast that once i got one chapter finished and ready to read, i didn’t like it anymore.

This process went on until i graduated highschool. This dream of making a comic. Specifically THIS comic. I had a lot of stories i was planning on doing, but there was this one comic i really REALLY invested just. My maximum comic energy into. It was different from the other comics and stories. Not that the other ones werent good, they just didnt have the same bond with me that I had with this story. This comic baby was gonna be the thing i was going to be known for and be the first comic i would presented into the world. And in the end.. it actually wasn’t.

I mean, it was, in a way. Eggshells is a prequel to that baby comic. Set in the same universe. Part of the same story, more like a mini test version reboot of the One True Baby Comic. I decided to give the comics thing another try and started to work on eggshells in August 2011, then to ink in Febuary 2012 and finally started to post it in 2013.. sometime.

I took a really long break from comics between finishing highschool and starting eggshells. I would try here and there, but not getting this baby comic out when i was still IN highschool somehow made me feel like a failure of an artist. I was very hard on myself. I didn’t really know if i was even capable of BEING a comic artist because my comics weren’t coming out how i wanted and I couldn’t finish anything. Besides that, I didn’t even know if I could even make them as a career. (I still don’t know if I can but I know I’m going to continue to try.)

When I decided to start Eggshells, i decided that it would be another attempt at my favorite baby comic because I knew that if any of my stories had the emotional legs to motivate me to get through to the final page-- it would be that one. That special baby comic. I poured so much work into planning and preparing everything in a very tradition sense. Scripts, thumbnails, drawing layouts and props and character turn arounds.. ect ect.

Then the fire happened and I lost my ‘comic bible’ of sorts. The rough draft sketches of the entire thing. It was very sad.

But even before then, actually inking pages was not very fun. Because the process i made for it was .. not very fun. I was running into the same walls that I always had when rendering comic panels. It just was too slow and I couldn’t get a consistent look that i wanted. I wasn’t sure where to put detail (or balance the detail) so I would over render constantly. I would zoom in too much. I didn’t know how much to shade and word bubbles annoyed me. I wasn’t very satisfied and I would spend way too much time on each page.

I felt pretty exhausted after trying to ink it for one year and not even getting through the first chapter. Doubt and old dread of not being capable of a comic artist weighed on my shoulders. Of course then, when the fire happened, i just decided to put all that aside again. My life kinda was.. thrown in a loop.

Similarly, my life has been thrown in another one of those loops. A different kind but still, the same sort of disoriented “where the fuck should i live” kind of things. Some of these feelings have come back, the anxieties and unsureness but.. mostly just remembering about them rather than feeling the SAME things. I have acquired a sense of accomplishment in my art .. just with a totally different comic that came out of no-where. (the worm one, you know.)

My relationship with my art has changed so much at this point and I’m so.. not.. what i had predicted for myself?? Not in a negative way. its just odd. FFAK is such a different comic than i thought I would make too. I would describe the experience of working on FFAK as like, im in a shitty junkyard car and ive decided to slam on the gas as hard as i can and see how far it’ll go. Then it just didn’t stop. It took me on a fucking journey but at 90 miles per hour. No careful consideration, so much explicit violence and sex, aggressive confrontations and social commentary. Sex hat jokes. I really got to see a side of myself that this story continues to bring out. And as I worked on ffak more and more, I would sometimes look over at the passenger seat at the Comic Baby. Crossing their arms judgmentally at me and giving me a look like “Having fun? What about ME? Wasn’t I the important one to you?? Am I not special anymore???”

So sometimes i’d feel bad. And try to work on that one again.. but it didn’t make me feel good. I felt like i had to ride the FFAK wave because that was what was happening in the present and I was discovering too much about myself to go back to this older thing that i had a frustrating history with. It wasn’t that I didn’t LOVE the other story, it just didn’t feel right to work on then. So i just let myself focus on where my energy was wanting to go: The Worm Fucks. And the worm fuck comic is the one people read first. Its the first comic of my own i really got to.. read and experience more than just the first chapter. Its been amazing but its so weird. I feel like its a different kind of artist that makes it sometimes.

I don’t regret the worm fuck comic being the one I’m known for but its still funny to me how easily it might have never happened. If the fire hadn’t taken away so much of my work, I probably would be still slowly pushing out pages for eggshells. Or maybe I would have given up and moved on to do something else with my art career? I don’t know. All i know is what I ended up doing was this weird worm comic that is still going on for .. thousands of pages! and has no end in sight! I didnt even expect eggshells to last 1,000 pages but now I can tell my page-pacing is different than how i expected. I still haven’t even finished a comic yet. Its weird? Am I able to finish comics? I guess I don’t know yet because I haven’t. i might “know” endings to my stories but its very different when actually getting it done. I understand that life is more complicated than that and things like fires can change the circumstances in 10 minutes.

So I’m feeling a fear about this uncertain future I’m facing, I’m seeing that I have to make a lot of huge life changes for where I am going to live and what I have to do to make money to support myself. I’m scared that my routine ive established with FFAK will have to change. I wonder if I’ll never be able to replicate the same exact “throw it all into the wind” energy of working like I was able to.. at least I know I can’t right now, because I need to be careful and calculated again. My surroundings arent stable enough for me to dive headfirst into my projects.

With that I’ve noticed I’m drawing eggshells a little bit and enjoying it like I haven’t before. Is it what I need right now? It feels weirdly comforting to know that, no matter what the history i have with this comic, I’ll come back to it and continue to pick at it a little. it makes me feel like, no matter where I’m going to be in this world physically-- my comics will come along with me and they dont have to leave. they arent a product of circumstance. I can get right back on the horse. Its just part of my life that doesn’t have to go away or be taken away from me. Its a nice secure feeling that there’s this art thing isnt something I have to start over. I’d rather build on what I’ve got and it might take me a long time but I enjoy the journey. That feels good to me.

Anyway, even if I’m scared about where i’ll go from here I know i’ll have my car of screaming comic babies at all different ages that are demanding my attention. and some are more patient than others, i’ve totally ditched some babies along the way that i might pick back up later or merge with other babies through some horrific experiment. I’ll even make some new ones because life inspires me constantly and I have so many problems to sort out and what better way than to project on some cool anime characters. but i love all my comic babies!!!!!! and they love me. i have unique and interesting histories with all of them.

comic baby is such a creepy word but it really feels like they are your strange brain children that are also you. i don’t ever want children of my own, but i can see that i pour.. small small aspects of that i think that energy might be into my comics. (im not pretending its actually the same thing to be perfectly clear.) They take up all your time + energy and make you constantly lose sleep..and they grow distinct personalities that you dont expect and have to deal with.. people will judge you for them and how you “raise” them (make them), you’re endlessly proud of these babies and protective and shed tears for them and want them to SUCCEED and live on forever. you want other people to love them TOO and see the best parts of them, for all their flaws. You want em all to grow up as you hoped or planned but they wont at all. They’ll be totally different but also better than you could have imagined.

Comics & Art are such a special thing to get to experience. While i hope that i can make my dreams a reality with my art, I know that they’ll always be an integral part of my life + how i experience and see life and i’m so thankful ive decided to really let room for it there. Its amazing to me that i almost thought it wouldn’t. and i wasnt going to be allowed to be happy with my art because it wasn’t good enough and i wasn’t enough. but i am. and it is good.

Thank you for reading. -Kosmic

[tumblunni]

Also yeah while im on the subject

I really hate fantasy settings where magic is limited by biological sex. Because usually its used to enforce some sort of stupid gender stereotype that the writer believes is "biologically innate" rather than predjudice, by making up a world where it actually is biologically innate. Or its like "oh but women cant do those jobs" but again, a made up excuse for it to be LITERALLY TRUE. And usually they either dont even touch on the subject of trans and gay people (since it often conflates heterosexuality with gender...) or else it actually does bring it up and just creates a cavalcade of even more everything-ism...

Like i mean i love the game Jade Coccoon and considering it came out in the early 2000s i can understand it being more sexist, and its supossed to be a dark game anyway and a lot of the societal structures in Syrus Village are meant to be wrong and evil even if the characters act like its the way the world should be. The villain of the game is basically the toxic atmosphere of your shitty town and their paranoia of things they don't understand. Tho that means the player kinda has no motivation to finish it cos the main conflict is also saving those same villagers from dying and theyre all fucks. Anyway i'm going offtopic! What i mena is that i dont think it was a particularly sexist example of the inexplicable gender segregated magic trope. But just cos its a fave game of mine im gonna pick it to talk about anyway. Hope i dont sound too negative on it, cos seriously i love it loads!

Ok so to use Jade Cocoon as an example, here its a thing that only men can be cocoon masters and only women can be nagi. Tho it also gets a bit complicated because nagi is also an ethnicity as well? Its kinda like being romani, they're a race of displaced people who travel the world giving their magical services to other countries while searching for their lost homeland, which you end up finding at the end of the game. So yeah its extra weird cos male children of the nagi race are born with no powers whatsoever and cant even become cocoon masters, yet they get the ruling position in this homeland place? Like thats a better metaphor for how christian societies work, honestly!

Anyway im going offtopic again!

Basically, cocoon master = adventurer dude who catches monsters, nagi = magician who purifies those monsters so you can use them in battle. So when you catch stuff it becomes an inventory item rather than being able to use it on your team right away. And also nagi women can fuse monsters together to make super badass new ones and basically the gameplay system works really well to make you believe your wife is absolutely necessary to your quest and you would die without her, even if she cant fight. And honestly its actually kinda romantic! I just wish it wasnt presented as this weird sacred heterosexuality arranged marriage nonsense where all women are physically unable to go to a dungeon and all men are physically unable to not fight every day. Or at least thats how the powers work and if you try and step out of that role you fuckin die. Like it would be romantic to have a couple of a battle partner and a supporter magician if they actually chose it, yknow?

And whats annoying is that they actually do bring up the subject of people defying gender roles and canonically state that you not omly die but bring a curse upon everyone and are hated forever. They dont mention trans or gay people, instead the excuse is that a man loved his wife so much that he tried to learn nagi magic to lift the burden from her. Cos oh yeaj women get 'punished' by god for doing this magic?? Cursed tattoos all over their body the more they use it, and everyone hates them and eventually they turn into a fairy and forget they were ever human. And in the japanese version you can actually fight other nagi women who met this fate, theyre just another monster that you can fight and capture. They were censored in english cos they looked like really racist stereotypes of black women! Ugh! So yeah anyway nice straight husband is punished by the magic straightness enforcing rules of the universe for loving his straight wife too much. So what is the even point? If a man tries to use nagi magic it creates the "black cocoon" of cursed doomness and blah. Literal punishment for not conforming to gender. Damned if you do, damned if you don't!

Anyway this setting always made me wonder about all the stuff it just glosses over with this implication that every one of these relationships worked out fine. Like even before we rub lgbtq topics all over a retro videogame, there's a lot of logical holes! Like seriously how many of these arranged marriages ended up loveless or abusive? How many women just didnt want to stay confined to one room forever and not even have anyone look at them because their magic markings are shameful yet its also shameful not to want to do it?? How many men were terrified of going out on this advebture fighting literal demigods sent by heaven to punish humans? How many of them just had no ability to fight and died immediately because of shitty traditions, while perfectly qualified women had to sit there and watch it happen? What if there werent enough straight men and women of the same age and people were forced into gross pedophilic shit or other horror scenarios just cos there has to be this one magical straight couple or the village dies? Whenever theres this stupid gender magic its ALWAYS portrayed as idyllic and never failing ever, unless *gasp* people dont follow the gendrules...

And then SERIOUSLY do no queer people exist in this universe?? Man i'd be so interested in their stories! I actually had an oc idea of a self insert version of me as a travelling merchant. Because maybe what if nonbinary people could do both sides of the magic at once and thus adventure alone without being tied to a village's straight marriage system? So i'd just go around purifying monsters and then be a place you could buy new and rare mons from other villages without having to catch them. Maybe an easier way to get the super rare drop fusion materials for tiger pattern and stuff? And like seriously itd be good to have a character to talk to who agrees that your village is made of assholes. I cant say its bad writing cos it was clearly intentional, but they shoulda at least put a bit more incentive to keep playing even if you didnt care about these people. Also it would help plug the plothole of how a village even survives if it doesnt have the required people to form this magical straight marriage. Have some mysterious enby avengers who travel all across the world and save everyone regardless of country! All we ask is you buy some of our lovely souveniers! Maybe a pet patalchu for your family? Seripusly why dont they ever show anyone using the purified monsters for anything other than fighting the unpurified ones? You'd think they'd be really useful in repairing the village and guarding the walls and like..regular industrial jobs. Help the place actually advance and not have to live day to day on scraps,bickering amoungst themselves as the monsters grow ever closer to breaking through. Hell, you could even have them help spin the cocoons for other monsters! If this magic only depends on having a dick or not, then cant we just dress up some animals in the magic straight marriage outfits? XD

And like aaaa man im getting so emotional just imagining a trans woman who's constabtly told she will literally bring about the apocolypse if she tries to fill the female role in this ritual. And then one day she tries to spin the magic silk and she thinks she's committing the ultimate sin and they were all right. But the magic responds to her touch, and she makes a spell more beautiful than any other woman in the village! It would probably be harder for a trans man cos the magic doesnt have so much of an immediate proof like that. Just going out and winning a fight with a monster can be called "dumb luck", and knowing these assholes they'd probably keep calling it dumb luck even after the thousandth time you save their life!

And man, i wonder how gay relationships would work in such an annoyingly strict system of enforced heterosexuality? Would it be like the magic isnt REALLY gender locked at all, and it can just be any couple with either partner taking either role? Or would it be that it is one magic per gender but the bigoted villagers were wrong about it being impossible to do things without both? Like maybe when you're going into battle alone as a single cocoon master you cant fight without catching other monsters. But when two cocoon masters love each other their magic is amplified and they become able to like.. I dunno.. Imbue each other with elemental strength so they can fight the monsters hand to hand? Cos really the elemental system is the only reason you cant do a no monsters run of the game as it is. Maybe since they cant purify monsters but they can still catch them, they equip the monsters as sort of a power rangers transformation? Or socket them like materia on their weapons? Or just if the world was less segregated into tiny sexist racist villages they could simply buy the purification coccoons from another local nagi, and villages without a coccoon master could buy the services of travelling ones. Oh, and maybe two nagi lesbians could be even more badass! Cos if they can only purify and not fight, maybe their double purification is so strong that they can just straight up walk into the forest and monsters don't attack them. They dont even need to do the full spell, they can calm a beastie's rage just by holding out their hand and patting it on the head. So they coukd be infinately more effective and not have to just tenporarily clear single travelling routes of a few monsters, but actually work towards slowly purifying the entire forest and creating a peaceful land again. Tho i mean the game did have a unique atmosphere with the whole 'no hope of ever beating them' aspect. It was unique to see a society formed around the idea of never going into forests or you Die. But magical lesbians and their family of a million pet dragons is honestly better!

And uhhhh ive gone all offtopic now and i camt stop thinking about how much i love magical lesbians with a million pet dragons

The End

[cooperroose]

♥: a valentine’s day headcanon: being a catcher means coop’s gotta be down there earlier than everyone else for spring training, so he’s in full phillies mode. during the season he’s so focused on baseball that it’s hard for him to pull together a romantic plan for the two of them. he pulled it off last year, but it was the first time in a long time they got to do something together. and it was also the last time before their break up they truly felt like themselves, at least in ginnys mind. she’s taking their relationship more seriously now, they’re engaged after all, and she’s not going to expect him to worry about putting something together. he probably apologizes a million times and thanks her for being so understanding, and he says he’ll have a break a few days after the holiday so he’ll try and make it up to her then. gin’s gonna surprise him instead though, fly down to see him practicing and doing his thing, then take him back to the hotel and just cook something for him, because she knows he’d want that over a night out. sappy sappy. ♣: an april fool’s day headcanon: they don’t pull huge pranks on each other, it’s always little fun things that aren’t too big of a deal. ginny probably tries so hard to come up with stuff to try and get him with, but he always knows and she haaates it. it’s because she’s a bad liar and she gets too giggly and even if she’s trying so hard to hide it anyone else would fall for it, he knows that smile and can tell something’s coming. it takes a couple years, but after awhile he’s gonna let her think she pulled one over on him just because she’s adorable when she thinks she has. ✞: an easter headcanon: they’re very cute for easter, church clothes and pastels and family family family. they’ll treat easter just like the other big holidays and trade off, one in iowa, one in tennesse until they have the kids and want to start traditions of their own. once they do have the opportunity for that, i think they’ll stay in their home in philly. they still go to back home with the twins for thanksgiving and christmas, but they decided to make this holiday all their own. ava loooves easter, she like the easter bunny even more than she likes santa (because bunnies are cute), and all the pretty colors that come with it. kepler likes hunting down the eggs and finding more than ava does, especially if they’re ones with money. (it’s like a dollar in each one, and there’s not even that many of those, but for kids it’s exciting.) once noah’s old enough to join in on the fun too, he’s all about the candy. it probably takes him weeks to get through his stash, because he can’t stand to part with his chocolate bunnies yet. a bite a day, that’s it. ✿: a mother’s/father’s day headcanon: ginny’s first mothers day after caroline passes is extra brutal. it’s probably been a good amount of time, but not long enough for her not to be crushed. caroline hung on for christmas, even when the doctors didn’t think she would, but didn’t make it to the new year. by the time may comes along, she’s had time to grieve and get back to normal, and then it hits her again like a ton of bricks. she’s probably pregnant too, which makes matters that much worse. she’ll tear up in the bedroom with coop, holding his hand, and tell him that caroline knew she’d have another boy, she could feel it. and now that’s she’s pregnant again and they just found out the sex, she hates that she can’t call her up and tell her she was right. the kids will pick up on it, they’re ready to run in the room and surprise her with gifts, but when they do they see gin wiping her eyes and trying to clear her throat. She’ll tell them how much she loves them, and that she’s just missing her mom today, and she wishes she could run in her room and hug her too. They decide to have Caroline’s favorites that day, breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Big meals, lots of sides, just the way she would’ve liked it to be. ★: a fourth of july headcanon: one year they make a MISTAKE and decide they should have a big blowout at their house in iowa. gin flies her friends in, steven and britt and their kids, andrea, freddie, and theirs and it’s nuuuuts. there’s a lot of kids running around. from britt’s oldest to baby noah and it’s insanity. dylan and ian come too, of course. and addison knows what’s good for her so she avoids it. dylans gonna be out in the backyard, showing all the kids the fireworks he scored, and that’s when the regret sets in. before this the twins were happy just playing with their sparklers, but now he’s got them interested in all this other shit and gin is NERVOUS. britt and andrea are calm, as usual, because their kids are older and they used to get into bottle rockets and stuff like that when they were young too. there are a lot of adults around. the kids will be fine. they say this before dylan hands all the little ones those little popper ones you can throw at the ground, and all the little boys do it at their feet and have them hopping around. coops grilling hot dogs and hamburgers, he’s got some ribs going on there too it’s a good time. until elijah, who’s like eleven, makes the mistake of going to check out why the firework he set didn’t go off. he does that stupid thing they tell you not to do and tries to pick one up, and that’s when it decides to go off. it’s a small one, so it didn’t blow his hand off or anything. but it was big enough to burn the shit out of it and land them all in the local hospital for the rest of the holiday. ☠: a halloween headcanon: kepler gets himself into trouuuuble one year. you know how teenagers like to get into shit during halloween and the day before, kepler plays himself. he’s probably like 13, so noah is still young enough to be into trick or treating, he’s nine or so, and ready to run around as chef boyardee. but the twins want to go out with their friends cause all the other kids get to, they’re not into trick or treating anymore~ coop and gin are fine with that, it was only a matter of time. so gin goes out with noah, and coop takes the twins to their friends houses. ava just wants to have a slumber party with hers, watch scary movies in someones basement and stay up late. she’s being good. but kepler’s started to hanging out with some rowdy boys, that don’t do enough to get into trouble usually, but gin is still keeping a watchful eye. they put their feet on the furniture when theyre over and they try to call coop by his first name, so they’re not fans. kepler insists he wants to ride his bike, and there’s nothing to worry about, he’s just going down the street and that’s all. dad doesn’t have to drive. coop lets him, and regrets it later. because of course teenage boys want to ride around and egg peoples houses. kepler tries to tell them they should use pumpkin guts instead, to keep with the halloween theme, bc he’s ginny’s son. and they’re like...so here’s the eggs. they get caught bc kids are dumb, probably at like the first house too. they’re loud and laughing and PEOPLE ARE TRICK OR TREATING, so them trying to ride off and pick a house with ‘jerks who dont give out free candy’ is a bad idea when someone can walk by at any minute. the cops get called, and ten minutes later there’s one knocking on coops door with kepler in front of him. needless to say it wasn’t a good holiday season for kepler that year. ✈: a thanksgiving headcanon: ginny’s really pumped because she wants to host thanksgiving this year, her first year. in her home with her husband, and their adorable pair of toddlers, and she’s just ready for life. they’re supposed to go to the riley’s this year, so ginny makes sure to talk to mama riley about wanting to host and making sure that’s okay with her, and of course she’s happy to let gin take the reigns, as long as they’re invited of course. ginny’s like !!!! on the top of the world. but everything starts to go wrong the closer it gets to the date. caroline’s feeling really sick lately, so her and wiley decide it’s best if they just stay in tn and don’t try to make the trip out. ginny’s sad, but she understands. coop’s dad is stuck having to work. so she’s like, o...kay, 1 out of 4 parents, that’s okay. she’s taking it in stride it’s fine. kepler chose now to take one of her pans and a pot to try and mold play doh in or some destructive kid shit and she’s like ???? seriously SERIOUSLY. it’s okay. we can buy more pans, coopey bear go get more pans. so he does. peyton will call and tell coop she’s decided to have a holiday in paree~ with her fuckass bf named francois or something annoying and coop wants to kick his ass in general so he definitely wants to now. and it wouldn’t have been so much of a loss, if it wasn’t the year addison trevor and zach were going to celebrate at trev’s family’s house. gins like highkey losing her mind, everyone’s cancelling it’s because it’s her dinner this would never happen to his mom and she’s just not having life. and coop’s like that’s kinda true, but duh he keeps that to himself. gin’s gonna cry if her first thanksgiving is just mama riley goop the twins and bb mel so he’s like gotta call in some back up guests lmao trash. he doesnt call down to tn bc they have their own fam shit, so he’ll call johnny and his girl he’s been dating for like 9 years and still isnt married to. lexi?? i think maybe i didn’t name her but that’s whats on my list so. and asks them what they’re doing for thanksgiving, they were just gonna eat chinese food like they usually do but he’s like yeah no come to iowa. gin and lexi are probs good friends by now, watching their boys play and going to all the wife stuff together. then he calls greggemiah and gregg answers singing kokomo bc theyre set to go on a cruise~ and coops like yeah thats not for a couple days after thanksgiving right. and they’re like yes but we’re packing and we have to do this and this and he’ll cut them off and be like you’re coming to iowa, they’re like ...ew, but ok. coops his charming convincing self and gregg still has his little crush so he can’t say no. jeremiah is like, i’d kill you if he wasn’t so dreamy. i’d say yes too. super long story short, coop gets ian and his preg wife to come too. and they have a cute half family/half friends holiday and ginny is satisfied and proud of herself for pulling it off. but she also dropped a pie during the day BUT THEY SURVIVED. ❅: a christmas headcanon: i’ll say this is christmas after that hell of a thanksgiving, caroline still isn’t doing so hot and even though it was supposed to be their turn for christmas wiley tells ginny her, coop, and the kids should stay up in iowa again. caroline’s not ready for people to see her, she’s probably losing her hair and stuff it’s not a good time for her. gin’s like :( give her my love all that cute stuff. she wants to be there, but she knows if she were in that position she wouldn’t want a lot of people seeing her either. they still send gifts down and wiley tells her to bring the kids down next month and they’ll have their own little holiday. mama riley is ECSTATIC cause she was lowkey sad about not getting to host her thanksgiving, but gin let her help a lot so she was content. she’s also happy to have all the kids in their matching jammies. peytons bitchass thought she was gonna have some dumbass french holiday for christmas too but that got shut down real quick, all her kids are gonna be there. trevor and gin included. francois is on the family shit list, papa riley and coop glare at him the whole time he’s there. and he says weird french shit and kisses all the girls on their cheeks and they’re too ALL AMERICAN JOHN MELLENCAMP for this shit. bby mel shows up with her “best friend” and “roommate” natalie, because mama riley was so cool with greggemiah she thought this would be a good time for the fam to meet her “best friend” and “roommate” natalie. guess what. it’s not. parents are oblivious so they won’t think anything of it, but it’ll be like christmas eve festivities when they’re all like omg and they’ll have a sibling meeting. they’ll all be on their annoying caroling escapade when the four of them will go off, and they’ll drag trevor and gin with them. addison will be like, francois can’t be apart of this, you’re not married. and coop will be like, plus we hate that guy. peytons like ugh, but she’ll be like. at least i’m not the one with the worst significant other anymore. mel’s gonna give dad a heart attack. gins like omg, trevs like omg, coops like dont listen to her dad isn’t gonna have a heart attack. addison will go, yeah i think it’ll be mom. and mel has like horror in her eyes lmao. addison will be like, it’s a joke i’m kidding. they’ll be fine, it’s not like it’s a shock. trev and gin are shoked, peytons shocked, mostly its just coop and addison that aren’t. coop’s like i found out like seven years ago so, i just didnt say anything. addisons like and it wasn’t like you were hiding it well mel. mel is dying inside, she was like abort mission the second she invited her gal pal but she was in too deep by that time. she’s like. i messed up, this was a mistake, they’re gonna hate me omg, i’m surprised YOU GUYS DONT HATE ME. like she flips out. and addison and coop try to chill her out but shes like YOU GUYS CANT TALK WITH YOUR STUPID COOKIE CUTTER SPOUSES and gin and trev are both like aw but also hey! mel will say something about how dad doesnt even like francois bc hes FRENCH. and coops like, at least nat’s from here. isn’t she from north dakota. and addison will be like, i didnt even think they let you be gay in north dakota. and coops like, that’s probably why she moved to chicago. and mels like OH MY GOD SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UUUUUPPP. fix it, do something. distract them, ginny tell them you’re pregnant again. PEY TELL THEM YOU’RE ENGAGED. someone do something i’m gonna die. it’s probably snowing, they left the two significant others least in the fam with their parents and the kids singing at some strangers house. classic family hijinks. i talked too much about this ☄:  a new years eve/day headcanon: by the time goop has all three kids, they’re lucky if they can make it to midnight on new years eve, honestly. when they’re babies theres not a chance, goop passes out at ten and the kids wake them up 3 hours later. that’s when they get to celebrate. but when the twins are like 7 and noahs 3 they’ve got this. they all get together on the couch and they’ll watch movies and play board games, and ring in the new year the way they intend to spend the rest of it. they’ve got old dog cubby with them, curled in a ball on his bed, noahs playing with some blocks and stuff, like the big block legos, and the twins and gin and coop are playing their game together. gin has noah right next to her, and he goes mommy looook, every so often. but that’s not gonna help anyone beat her in clue. kepler claims mommy cheats because she always wins so they want to play TROUBLE and SORRY so they can get her back. they’re so excited to stay up late, but they’re still too little to make it to see the ball drop. no matter how many sugary foods gin and coop let them have this ooone time. so they’ll knock out on the couch, and noah’s probs in gins lap by now, knocked out too. coop and gin will get emotional and sappy about how perfect their life is, and how it’s just like they always dreamed. if they could go back in time they wouldn’t change a thing. theyre both sitting on the floor with like their backs against the couch, gin has her head resting on coops shoulder “resting her eyes” because shes a little sleepy herself. she’ll doze off because its gin and shes even worse about falling asleep once shes running around as a full time mom. coop will stay up, smiling at his perfect family, and pet cubbys head. the ONLY ONE to be up with him. gin will be out for like 25 minutes or so, not too long, and he’ll nudge her awake so they can wake up the kids because the balls gonna drop and they want them to get to see it. they have the little party horns you blow into, and noisemakers, and theyre def all wearing those cheesy fake plastic top hats and glasses with the year number on it. and once it strikes twelve the kids are gonna be jumping up and down throwing streamers in the air celebrating as if they werent knocked out five minutes before. then it’s real bed time, gin will carry up noah and coop will carry up the twins and they’ll all be sleepy again the second theyre down in the bed. cutie babies.

[computerguideworld-blog]

Dirty Computer: Janelle Monaes Electrifying Coming Out Party

New Post has been published on https://computerguideto.com/must-see/dirty-computer-janelle-monaes-electrifying-coming-out-party-2/

Dirty Computer: Janelle Monaes Electrifying Coming Out Party

Janelle Mones new album Dirty Computer features the acclaimed singer-songwriter at her most revealing and freewheeling.

The 32-year-old star is one of the most respected in music, and shes won raves and challenged listeners with an ambitious blend of funk, pop, rock, soul, and hip-hop that has often made her hard to define. But being pinned down has never been Mones styleand on Dirty Computer she lets her freak flag fly.

Mone has admitted that her early android persona and conceptual The Metropolis and ArchAndroid projects were sometimes driven by the need to protect herself from judgment. As Mone has evolved as an artist, shes come into her own creatively and as a womanand now seems fully in command of her art and emboldened by living in her truth. Like virtually every full-length release in her genre-bending discography, Mones Dirty Computer is a conceptual affair: In the accompanying short film, shes Jane 57821, a nonconformist in the near future who needs to be cleaned by the powers-that-be. Shes a rebel in love with her community and in love with Zen (Tessa Thompson)and shes fighting to be herself.

Arriving a whopping five years after 2013s The Electric Lady, the new album finds Mone simultaneously at her most musically accessible and her most forthcoming lyrically. It feels like shes the most free on record that shes ever been. Not that Mone has ever seemed constrained, exactlybut her work has always seemed to put the concept ahead of emotional nakedness. On Dirty Computer, the concept is driven by her introspection, not the other way around. This is the strongest set of pop songs that Mone has released, as she dances between sunshine synth-pop, dance-driven funk jams, and lush soul. Working alongside longtime collaborators like Deep Cotton and Roman GianArthur, Mone isnt in altogether unfamiliar territory musically, but she is breaking bold new ground in terms of themes, and shes putting them across in more engaging ways than she has before.

It sounds like an anthem for youthful brazenness and epic summer nights; it also sounds like a spiritual manifesto.

The album opens with the Brian Wilson-assisted title track, with Wilsons trademark only-but-him harmonies providing a warm bed on which Mones warm lead vocal coos, I love you in space and time, with sparsely skittering production. With its twinkling chords and cascading drums, Crazy Classic Life channels 80s synth sounds a la Depeche Mode as Mone outlines her version of freedom: I am not Americas nightmareI am the American cool. She wants a crazy classic life, and shes perfectly OK with however it ends as long as shes done it all. It sounds like an anthem for youthful brazenness and epic summer nights; it also sounds like a spiritual manifesto. The synth vibes remain on Take A Byte, and its a pure party: The thumping groove and handclaps are dance-floor-perfect, as Mone sings, Dress me upI like it better when we both pretend, in one of the most effectively sensual and slinky moments on Dirty Computer.

Princes influence looms large on Dirty Computer, an album that owes a lot to his most personally affirming dance anthems like Uptown and Erotic City. The guitar-driven Screwed even opens with a rhythm-guitar lick thats a clear nod to his 1986 classic Kiss, but presented in a completely different musical context. Sex, bodywere gonna crash your party, sounds like the best kind of warning, as Mone provides yet another song that sounds like it was made for the best weekend youve ever had.

This is a fucking fun album.

Django Jane debuted online back in February, with Mone trying on trap and showing that her creativity sits comfortably at virtually any stylistic table. Sassy, classyKool-Aid with the kale, Janelle raps confidentlyand with more panache than most others who regularly trade in the format. Remember when they said I looked to mannish? she pointedly recalls, reminding everyone that during her ArchAndroid days she wasnt always the beloved pop culture icon she is today. She deftly addresses gender, race, and her own still-growing legacy as an artistperfectly seguing into Pynk, the other previously released single that had fans salivating in early April.

The double entendre of the title/hookand the cheekily clever music videois sort of a second affirmation of Django Jane. The color pink serves as a metaphor for both the universality of human existence and the specificity of womanhood. When the surging guitar and Some like that! hook kick in, its clear that Mone knew she had another anthem here.

Prince collaborated with Mone directly and Make Me Feel is an appropriate tribute, homage, and confirmation that no mainstream artist embodies His Royal Badness most provocative, singularly focused creativity as much as Janelle Mone. That groove burns itself into your brain within seconds, when that all-too-distinctive rhythm guitar begins punching holes in the pace, as Janelle ad-libs a joyful screechit sounds like an old friend making a welcome appearance at this Mone-led party. Prince lives. Pharrell shows up for I Got the Juice, as Mone flaunts and taunts a bitover African rhythms and a percolating beat.

I Like That is the most atmospheric moment on Dirty Computer, a gorgeous melody carried on a wave of synth strings, as Mone sings, A little crazy, little sexy, little cool / Little rough around the edges but I keep it smooth / Im always left of center and thats right where I belong / Im the random minor note you hear in major songs. She drops a brief rhyme about a childhood crush who rated me a 6 after she cut her perm, but makes it clear that she always knew I was the shit. And she goes for 90s neo-soul vibes on Dont Judge Me, a song that addresses personal insecurity and the fear that comes from wanting to open and be your real self around the person who makes you feel the most loved but also the most scared: Even though you tell me you love meIm afraid that you just love my disguise.

That element of fear is revisited on So Afraid, a somber, guitar-driven tune that somewhat recalls the 60s vibes of the title track. Theres so much to be gained by running toward love, but Janelle Mone expresses the doubt and apprehension of emotional connections beautifully here. And she parodies the jingoism and paranoia that defines so much of the good ol US of A on the rollicking album closer Americana. Once again playfully tapping into her Prince-ish tendencies, Mone offers a nod to the foot-stomping raucousness of Lets Go Crazy, while taking aim at everything from traditional gender roles to xenophobia to generic Americana. Its an upbeat end to an album full of joy and freedom, and it offers its best line: I wonder if you were blind, would it help you make a better decision.

Janelle Mone has been one of the most era-defining artists of the past 10 years, and shes done it without the kind of all-world hit singles that seem to define pop culture status. Shes managed to carve a niche in contemporary music that is uniquely her own, and here shes created the kind of album that gives voice to the creative, proudly outside-the-box individuals that have fueled so much of the cultural and social change of the times. The android Cindi Mayweather gave Mone a persona on which to explore her boldest ideas, but in putting who she is front-and-center, Mone has delivered her most relatable work to date. And it couldnt come at a better time. Black women have been leading a cultural charge, and Mone sits alongside so many of the boldest women of her generation. With Dirty Computer, shes given us a stellar pro-woman, pro-LGBTQ, party like its 1999, middle-finger-to-the-status-quo dance record.

There has beenand will continue to bea lot written about Mones coming out in the latest issue of Rolling Stone and how this album is reflective of her desire to be her. She said in the interview: Being a queer black woman in America someone who has been in relationships with both men and womenI consider myself to be a free-ass motherfucker. Mone has long been an inspiration to anyone who dared to be themselves, and her latest art documents an important moment in her journey as a creator and as an individual. Its exciting to witness her come into her own.

And it sounds like shes having a blast.

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