#used my old discord number for this one

[icewindandboringhorror]

I occasionally wish to reach out to old friends/acquaintances I haven't spoken to since high school/some other even earlier time in my life, but I have SOOO little social energy even for required tasks (like making dr phone calls or etc), I never have any leftover for extra ones, and it would be very odd to message someone I haven't spoken to in like 5 years out of the blue but then take 4 entire months to respond back lol.. My natural curiosity with nostalgia/collecting details of the past/etc. (literally if I were born a little earlier I would definitely do scrapbooking or something lol) is very strong, but, alas, not strong enough to beat out the Social Issues Demons apparently

[pankomako]

sometimes i think about interactions boat and i have had and things he's said to/about me over the years and it makes me feel as though i must occupy some little space in his heart. like i live in his mind rent-free the way he does for me, although not nearly to the same extent lmao.

speak of the goddamn devil i just got a steam notification he's playing tf2

anyway i never thought i'd have that kind of effect on a person, much less my favorite content creator. but it sure appears to be that way, and idk. it makes me feel special. warms my heart n all that :)

[dcxdpdabbles]

Based on this post here https://www.tumblr.com/ourrechte-blog/740959709140484096

Danny and the latest incarnation of the Demons ends up in Star City. They're doing ninja stuff as a way to get resources and find a way home. Green Arrow overhears mentions of "Great One" and "Demon's Head" and maybe Dani is there and gets called dahlia and it's misheard as Talia

Ollie: Batman, come over here and get your de-aged villains

Bruce: What makes you so sure they're mine?

Ollie: They're ninjas and their leader, who kicked my ass, is referred to as "Great One" so yes, I'm sure these are the League of Assassins under an alias. Or clones

Ra's finds this entire thing hilarious. Damian, not so much

Oliver is not having a good time. He noticed some shady activity going down in his city's underbelly and decided to investigate. Star City wasn't as crime-infested as Gotham, but it wasn't sunshine and rainbows either.

It was far better hidden, but corruption ran amok in his home, so he had to run around to get things fair. He noticed the ninjas only after a while of them being in town. At first, they seemed focused on gaining territory.

They moved from the poorest neighborhoods to the richest, slowly beating out the top dogs. It seemed the leader had the same mentality of prison- beat the toughest person on his first day and become the new number one. Usually, that wouldn't work with such solid and old operations, but somehow, the ninjas were doing it.

They cut off resources. It causes discord in the lackey's ranks. Pulled funding from who knows where. And Blackmailed the rest into submission.

It was a hostile takeover. A plague on the control of the criminal empires station in Star City.

And there was nothing Oliver could do to stop them. He felt like a fumbling medic during a pandemic. Too many areas were affected before he could arrive, and too many loose ends were tied before he could gather enough information to know what they were trying to accomplish.

He contacted the Justice League when it became clear that it was too much for his team to handle. They sent over Dinah Lace and Gregory Sanders (Much to the joy of his bi-heart), who helped him trace the pathway the ninjas were taking, but ultimately, they were unable to catch up.

"It's like chasing ghosts," Gregory complains, his red bandana moving with his mouth. His eyes are scanning the towering buildings, fiddling with his guns. "I see them for only a second, and they are much faster than any of my bullets."

"It doesn't help that one of them is a meta with a similar power to mine," Dinah agrees. She was the closest to the taller figure, attempting to use her Canary Cry to capture him. Imagine her surprise when the figure turned and returned a cry of its own, easily overpowering Dinah's and flinging her away. "We might need a Speedster"

"And a Bat," Olver sighs. "They're far too slippery. A Bat should be able to devise a plan that might work for them. My tactical strategies are falling short."

"How painful was that for you to admit?" Dinah asks with a smirk.

"I'm choking on my blood," He deadpans, causing her to laugh. At once, Olover's heart launches in his chest. She has the loveliest laugh. He throws her a smile that he knows is disgustingly gooey, and her eyes crinkle with the gentleness she reserves for him.

"I overheard them speaking for a bit before one of them heard my guns click," Gregory says, eyeing the two of them like he knows they are flirting but won't point it out. He's a spoilsport. "One of them identified the other. Does the name Talia mean anything to ya'll?"

Crude. Whatever good mood Olvier was in for making Dinah smile is crushed with sudden dread.

"Yeah, it does. Especially if it was anywhere near the words "Demon Head" or "Great One," He wearily. At Gregory's nod, he covers his eyes with one hand, feeling a headache build behind his right eye. It's a familiar headache. It usually pops up whenever Bruce Wayne's love life is mentioned.

"I'll call the Big Bad Bat. He'll get her to stop or kiss her. Whatever works. " Oliver sighs, even heavier than before.

"Why?" Gregory asks mystified

"That's Bat's ex."

There is a very long pause before Gregory's guns click again. A rigid set to his shoulders and rage appear in his eyes. "The young girl is Batman's ex? Good to know."

"Young girl? No, Talia is about my age." Dinah cuts in. "Are you sure she answered to Talia?"

The safety is switched back on as Gregory relaxes."Yes. She appeared to be twelve years old or so, with white hair and green eyes. Does that match Batman's honey?"

"Not even close. I mean, the green eyes, sure, but the rest is wrong." Oliver hums. "So we aren't dealing with Bat's girl, which is good for us. The League of Assassins is a pain. Also very dangerous."

Vigilante's eyes widen at the mention of the ninja group's name. "I heard of the organization but was unaware of the members. Is this Talia important in it?"

"She's the big boss's daughter," Dinah confirms. "Also, one of the bloodthirsty and cruelest members."

"That's not very nice," a young voice cuts in, startling the heroes. They leap away from the roof edge, watching a boy with glowing white hair flout over it, crossed-armed. "My daughter is a goddam delight."

"Ra's," Olver shutters. Yes, he looks younger and glowing, but Oliver would never forget that monster's face. He appeared often in his nightmares about the island.

The boy tilted his head. "You know me."

Oliver pulled the string of his bow, training the arrow on the figure; beside him, Gregory had his guns up and ready while Dinah had planted her feet in her preferred combat position. "I never forget a face."

"There is a version of me here," the boy hums, implying so many things that make the three heroes uneasy. "Maybe I wasted time gathering resources when I should have gone looking for the other Fentons."

"What do you mean by that?" Dinah demands, but the boy is already looking away and snapping his fingers.

"Guys! There are other Fentons here!"

Five figures fly up from over a building. Two are glowing, and three are wearing bulky power suits. Oliver's breath catches in his throat. Younger versions of the Demons. The same assisans whose abilities build Ra's empire and are the only ones to control them- the reason he is known as the Demon Head.

"That's great, Danny!" A girl with orange hair cries. She's inside the power suit, and Oliver knows her by her codename. Claw.

"Maybe we can have your dad make us some fudge." A dark-skinned boy licks his lips. He also appropriates a power suit but seems far more decked out for support. Makes sense, seeing as he obviously Scales.

"Let's go. The faster we get home, the faster I can make Vlad by me an island." A glowing teen rolls his eyes. His flaming hair does nothing to take away the fact he is Fang.

"Which way?" the little girl, Talia, asks, making a small circle in the air.

"I saw we find destruction and follow that. It's bound to lead us to them. We can cause chaos on the way." The last girl offers. She points the hand of her supersuit to the west with a nasty grin. It's Shadow. "Can't be worse than the Black Plague incident."

"How was I supposed to know the rats were dangerous!" Ra scoffs, face red in embarrassment. Which would have been amusing if he didn't just admit he caused thousands of lives to end. Oliver really does not like the implications one bit.

"Everyone. Don't you read any history books?"

"I don't need no books to tell me. I was there!"

Oliver thinks they are distracted enough to risk taking a shot. His bowstring snaps into place as his arrow flies towards the closest one. Claw's reaction time is as fast as he remembers because she had already shot the arrow out of the sky before it could go anywhere near Talia. The foam meant to hold her in place burst, covering the six from view.

Gegory's bullets hit it seconds after, burying deep within the hardened foam. The sharpshooter springs to the right, looking for a better target, but it's in vain.

When the foam falls, everyone behind it is gone, and Oliver is reminded that they face ninjas. Gregory lowers his weapon with a frustrated click of his tongue.

What in the world was going on! They were all de-age and somehow powered up. None of this was good.

"We need to call Batman," Dinah says in the silence. "This may be out of our league even with them turned into children."

[befuddledcinnamonroll]

We Are and the evolution of Thai BL tropes

The QL discord started a rewatch of My Engineer a few weeks ago, and damn, has it been an interesting experience. At the time I originally watched My Engineer, there was little that stuck out to me, because so much of what happened felt so incredibly common in a lot of the (admittedly rather limited) number of BLs being produced. It felt like pretty standard fare.

But going back and watching it in juxtaposition with We Are airing has been so fascinating. This genre has been evolving, y'all.

As much as we all joke about always getting more university BLs, there is something to be said for a format that can be used as something of a metric for the genre. And though there's only four years between My Engineer and We Are, seeing them both at once gives me such an incredible appreciation for the direction the genre is going in, the impact of having more queer voices involved in the creation of QLs, and how there's a lot of good we can find in seemingly simple spaces.

Obligatory disclaimer: This is just my perspective and subjective interpretation of what I have seen as a BL viewer of some time; also I don't have time to go in and do a university deep dive, so this isn't a real analysis, but more of a brief writeup of observations.

Trends are not black and white, of course, there is a spectrum. I'm sure we'll suffer through more Dinosaur Loves. At the same time, having such predominant production companies as GMMTV putting effort into hiring queer creatives and subverting old cliche tropes is an encouraging thing. (Especially as they were the creators of the original university trendsetting BL with Sotus).

Note: For newer QL viewers, I highly recommend @absolutebl for brushing up on trope history. For university BLs in particular, this post and this post are great starting primers.

Let's talk tropes!

Ok, one more note - some tropes are being what I would consider subverted, some more adapted to a newer framework, and some just played with - I'm going to talk about how they appear to me, but I'm not going to be super pedantic over it, because this is just for fun.

Trope: Bullying/hazing behavior

This did not age well in My Engineer, and I would guess hasn't aged well in a number of BLs (and other media, because the whole "he's mean to you because he likes you" bullshit has been around forever). Not just because the behavior was shitty, but because it was played off in the script as cute, and implied that it was completely justified for the seme to do whatever he wanted in his pursuit of his uke.

(There was also quite a strong tone of internalized homophobia, with the lead feeling more comfortable in expressing his interest through harassment than honest emotion, but the show never actually engaged with that in any meaningful way.)

We Are sets up a very traditional enemies to lovers/bullying start to the story, with Phum taking advantage of Peem's economic situation to make him his "slave".

And yet... there's some important elements here that make this more than the standard use of the trope.

Phum keeps it pretty light in his bullying behavior, and clearly is using it more to keep Peem around as company, versus the kind of bullying in My Engineer, where Duen is literally hit by a car, and yet still expected to keep jumping to Bohn's whims.

As soon as Phum realizes he really upset Peem by leaving him waiting at the mall, he genuinely feels awful about it. It's clear that his intent is not to cause harm, and that he has a conscience. He wrestles with his feelings on it quite a bit, and it ends up being the thing that gets Phum to finally express an honest emotion with Peem.

And most importantly, the script does not let him off the hook. His behavior is bad, and is identified as such by the writing. Peem pushes back and is shown to be right to do so, Beer openly says he disapproves.

So instead of a cliche story beat that's used just to start the action, or a seme who's allowed to do whatever he wants because "passion" (blech), we're seeing it used for characterization, giving us important beats about who both Phum and Peem are in how they engage with each other through the use of the trope.

Trope: Obsessive/jealous behavior

Oh, this one was painful in My Engineer. Duen couldn't even talk to another human being without Bohn getting jealous and angry and dragging him away.

Phum gets jealous, particularly around Kluen, but what makes it feel so subversive here are two key things.

Phum's jealousy has a purpose here, it's not just for drama's sake. It's not the cliche seme doing whatever he wants and being treated as justified. It's deliberately being used to explore his insecurities, and give him a challenge to overcome. Phum doesn't stomp over and drag Peem away, he retreats, he hides. When his jealousy causes him to lash out at Peem, he is immediately aware he fucked up.

And again, the script is making it clear that this behavior is not ok. Peem chides Phum when he acts unkind to Kluen, and Beer makes it clear that the solution is not petty behavior, but actually figuring out a way to communicate his feelings with Peem before he misses his chance. This is portrayed as a barrier for Phum to overcome in order to be with Peem, not an expected part of a romantic relationship.

Trope: Friendship group

There are not enough words to express how much I love the friendship group in We Are. To be fair, this is one of the better historical tropes. We've gotten a lot of amazing friend groups, even in mediocre BLs.

But it's still different in We Are, for one simple reason. In most university BLs, the friend group is a supporting structure. But here?

The story lines may be about the romance, but the point of We Are is the friendship.

I will die on this hill, y'all.

I don't have enough time to go into it fully here, but this show is a love letter to friends. It's a tribute to finding the people who see the real you and have your back unconditionally. Who cheer your successes and commiserate over your defeats, who pick you up when the world knocks you down, who call you out when you make mistakes, and push you to be better.

And romance is lovely, but all of these budding relationships are about being friends first, and then lovers, because that friendship is just as important as everything else, if not more.

Trope: Pink milk

Lol, ok, kinda kidding, kinda not. I know we all got mad over the drink wastage, but also check out these visuals - it's about diversity baby!!

TanFang speed round

My two little trope-busting bebes. These two are already so beautifully non-traditional in their composition, but I love how frequently they are used to make fun of and play with tropes just on their own.

Introduced as pining crush/friend's older brother pair, but actually secret enemies to lovers.

Grumpy/sunshine pairing, where the sunshine used to be a fighter, and grumpy smiles when he thinks no one is watching.

Wound-tending where they keep poking each other instead of acting soft.

Openly mocking the jealous boyfriend trope.

Setting up the possessive trope when Tan doesn't pick up Fang's calls, only to immediately have Fang question if he's being unreasonable.

Setting up their own cute eating scene for kicks.

"First time" sex scene making it clear this is anything but their first time.

Tan holding Fang down in the cliche possessive pose, only for Fang to take the agency of kissing Tan. (And overall saying eff off at the cliche top/bottom roles old BLs were such a fan of).

In Summary

I'm sure there are more tropes that will come to me, and we do still have 5 episodes left of We Are, so there are some potential trope uses that I am keeping an eye on. This is by no means an all-inclusive list.

But I wanted to write this, because I was genuinely shocked to realize how different my My Engineer watching experience was this time compared to my first time. How over the last few years I'd come to expect more thoughtfulness in my QL media, even in the ones that seem shallow on the surface.

Considering how fast and furious the QLs are coming these days, it's easy to forget how recent it was that we were much more starved of content. And I think sometimes we forget to take in the big picture, of how far we've come in just a few years.

Critique is always going to be important, of course, it's part of what helps us make progress. At the same time, it doesn't hurt to take a moment to look around and see some good in where we are.

@sailorbryant thanks for the push to get this written! Feel free to add thoughts!

[l3v1s-g4m3r]

lmao I might make like a series but it’s just different aus where you know the brothers prior to being kidnapped/sent to the devildom

it’s mammon this time !!

so you open your email to a free iphone scam. you delete it and go on with your day. the next day you get another one. you delete it and go on with your day. this happens for a week straight before you eventually add the number on the scam email to tell this idiot off. you say, as I quote;

“bitch stop fucking sending me scam emails 😐”

he replies and somehow HES the mad one now. you two argue for like 10 minutes straight because, gosh, he just can’t accept that he’s wrong??

the argument dies down and you both go back to your day. that is until you get another scam ad the next day.

“ok you rat bastard what’s your address I’m finna pull up rn one of us dying today and it ain’t gonna be me”

he.. actually sends you coordinates??? there’s no way this mf will just give away his address, so you put the coordinates in google.

it shows your house.

“WHAT THE FUCK HOW DO YOU KNOW MY ADDRESS 😭”

he doesn’t say how or even WHY he has your address on hand, but he decides to fucking blackmail you to help him make money.

you agree because you don’t want some random sixty year old man to come to your house because you didn’t help him make money.

he tells you his name is mammon, and yeah serves him right because he IS a demon for blackmailing you.

you try to do the iphone scam like him, doesn’t work. you try the “you have a virus” scam, it doesn’t work.

so you have to take great lengths.

you become a discord e-kitten. and it surprisingly works really well, all you have to do is claim you’re a minor and send pics of your feet. then send the money to mammon.

and you’re not scamming people while doing it so all is good!

as much as it is a surprise, you and mammon become pretty good friends. I mean, you are basically the ONLY source of money he has, and a pretty good one at that. you even call him boss!

when you’ve made him about $1000 (or 50,000 grim if you transfer it), you both decide to show each other your faces and he’s actually a cutie bro?? like what?? you expected a sixty year old man blackmailing you but he’s a hot guy in his 20s??

one day while you were preparing to get on discord to continue e-kittening, you get sucked into a random portal. and fall straight on your face. right infront of a bunch of hot men. just great.

when the cute redhead explains your situation, you’re not too worried. might aswell get used to being here, since it’s gonna be your home when you’re dead!

the raven haired fellow gives you you’re “phone” for when you’re down here and tell you to call mammon.

wait, mammon?! boss?!

you look at the profile picture and surely that’s him, I guess you saying he was a demon for blackmailing you was the weird truth. why else would he be here?

you click the call button.

“oi, what’s the big idea-“

“HI BOSS!”

“wha- WIMP?! WHY ARE YA CALLIN’ ME ON A RANDOM NUMBER?!”

“so um, long story short, I’m in hell and this black haired guy told me to call you. I think his name was lucifer??”

“no way… YOURE THE EXCHANGE STUDENT?! THIS IS A PRETTY NICE DAY AFTER ALL! COMIN’ THERE NOW!”

everybody else in the room is confused why you called mammon “boss” and why he was so buddy-buddy with you, considering he doesn’t do that with strangers, especially HUMANS.

mammon would’ve been annoyed he had to babysit some human, but he has no problem with it because he’s making money and he’s with his wimp 💕💕.

[gatheredfates]

Hi! My name is Sea, and I like to collect things. 🌿

Specifically, as of February this year, I have made it my mission to collect as many resources for the Final Fantasy community as I can; including, but not limited to: Communities, Events, Free Companies, How-To Guides, Lore, Tools and more! I have compiled them into Sea's Community Compendium for FFXIV Creatives, a venture I hope will service as a directory for new and old FFXIV players alike to find places and things they might not otherwise know about, and I'm proud to say that the Compendium has over a hundred individual entries!

...But I want more.

Specifically, as much as this is a call to introduce new people to the Compendium, it is a call for anyone who might know of specific resources/communities that not in the document to take a moment's time out of their day to let me know about them. You can submit specific resources via:

My tumblr dm's.

This handy google form.

Or SEAFLOOR, my support and social community for the Compendium and adjacent projects.

You do not need to be a resource/server owner to submit; there just needs to be a publicly accessible link. ✨

Projects like mine equally cannot survive without the support of the community. If you like what I do, please reblog this post or share it with your friends; post it in your community servers or link it on your social media(s). The more visibility I get, the larger the Compendium becomes and the more likely you are to find a resource or community to suit your needs.

Okay, but really, Is my space suitable for the Compendium? Most of the time, yes! Below the read more is some more information/stipulations. This is all publicly available on the document.

Below are the following things I do not accept on the Compendium:

Personal/Single-Character LFC ads. (Though these get posted to the SEAFLOOR Tumblr Community when I find them!)

Content intended for or can be used for bullying, harassment and OOC gossip. E.g. ‘Secrets’ blogs, receipts, callout posts, etc. This does not include IC tabloid blogs or other ventures used to generate roleplay.

Communities that do not have an RP/writing element (large-scale exempt).

Anything I find personally distasteful or goes against the spirit of this project.

Common-sense rule applies.

I want to put my community on the Compendium but we have an application process. Is this okay?

Yes! Just note somewhere in your application that's a requirement. The only thing that is mandatory for the Compendium is that you must be open to new members or have a public-facing/accessible facet. There's no point advertising a community if no one can join it in some way!

I want to put my Community on the compendium but I only have x number of members —

Also totally okay! People don't start with large communities. Activity is a must but, whether your server has two or two thousand members, if you're looking for new people to join, I'd love to help you find people.

I want to put my community/resource on the Compendium but I worry its too niche?

Okay, and? If your Eorzean Fishing Alliance has four members but you roleplay every second weekend, I still want to know about it. The same goes for resources; if it's relevant to the game, it'll be useful to someone.

How active does a community need to be?

If you find a community has not been active in about two/three months, send me a message and I'll take a look at it. Communities have ebbs and flows, especially event spaces that may take hiatuses depending on member interest/life events. I'm not strict in my implementation provided a space isn't dead. If a link or anything is broken, contact me asap!

I have [insert a question not stated here]?

No drama! Send me an ask or use the #Compendium channel in my Discord!

[howtofightwrite]

I’m gonna be honest, I’m not very good at numbers and visualizing how much power is needed to do something, so I felt it would be good to ask you.

How much force/how strong would a character need to be in order to cut off a hand as quickly as possible? For context, my character in a scene is being infected with a sort of symbiote, and quickly tries to hack it off before infection reaches the brain. It’s also not in an apocalyptic environment, they have access to medical equipment. (that bill is gonna make their pockets cry tho)

This is one of those times when it's about having the right tool, not about the effort. A fire axe should take off their hand pretty efficiently with one quick blow. Now, I'm not sure how well they could do this on their own, or if they'd really need an ally to lop off their hand. I'm pretty sure you could get it done with a machete, though probably not as easily. I'd also wonder about an old-school paper cutter. There's a lot of industrial equipment that will happily lop off an unwanted limb, though, keeping it intact after removal is a different topic entirely.

Surgically reattaching the hand could be a bit of work. Assuming no magical medical technology, replacing the hand isn't a simple process. The original hand needs to be in good condition (and I'm assuming, symbiote free.) You can't fully repair the nerve connections in the severed appendage, so, while there's going to be some use of the hand, it's never going to be back at 100% (again, assuming there's no magical way to regenerate the nerve endings), age is a factor here, children have a better chance of regaining more functionality, but for an adult, it's going to be imperfect at best.

I've never interacted with someone who's undergone replantation, but, from experiences in the past with friends who had suffered nerve damage in their limbs, I'd expect numbness in some parts of the hand (or the entire hand, potentially), and limited manual dexterity. (It's possible some fingers or joints simply wouldn't work anymore.)

Additional surgical procedures may be needed, particularly for nerve grafting and adjusting tendons. In some cases the reattached limb needs to be removed and replaced with a prosthetic due to chronic pain.

Replantation technology will probably improve over into the future. But, at least presently, your character would still have a permanent injury, that impaired the use of that hand from that point forward. It's not a situation where you can glue your hand back on.

-Starke

This blog is supported through Patreon. Patrons get access to new posts three days early, and direct access to us through Discord. If you’re already a Patron, thank you. If you’d like to support us, please consider becoming a Patron.

[aeithalian]

Hermes: the ultimate middle child

And now for the other promised meta!

There was a great discussion on the TOA discord earlier that I got the chance to read once it was over that was basically exactly what I wanted to talk about - Hermes as a character and how he is very subtly contrasted with Apollo in multiple ways.

First, for a curiosity I've had ever since I finished TON. We learn several very interesting things about Hermes in the scene when Apollo returns to the Council:

He initiated the bets on Apollo's success (and then has the nerve to say he was worried about Apollo)

He bet against Apollo (and it was enough money to make him look visibly upset by the loss)

He was not among the gods who looked happy at Zeus' proclamation of Apollo's success (Artemis makes sense for being happy, Dionysus makes sense for not, but Hermes is supposedly a close brother figure in the myths, so what gives?)

He immediately suggested that Apollo cause outright harm to some mortals with his renewed power, despite displaying no such malice in his previous appearances

There is an interesting play of contrast here when you look at Hermes' other notable scene in the Riordanverse - his conversation with Percy at the end of TLO.

Hermes is generally portrayed as much more serious right here. He's grieving Luke's death at this point, but Hermes knew that was coming, and this demeanor is consistent with his other appearances up until this point: put-together, down-to-business, pragmatic, and so on.

This doesn't seem like the same person we see at the end of TON: making jokes, placing bets, and the like. And THEN you go back to the myths and the Hermes there seems much more similar to the one we meet in TON.

My point being, there is a very obvious disconnect here between who Hermes used to be, who he is now, and who he is pretending to be.

And it has a lot to do with Zeus, and as a result, Apollo.

I think there's a twofold reason for this dichotomy: one, Hermes and Apollo have fundamentally contradictory views on both fate and change which have larger implications for Hermes' overall morality; and two, Hermes resents Apollo for being Zeus' favorite when Apollo probably doesn't deserve it (or Hermes believes he deserves it more).

Part I: Fate and Change

I'd like to go back to that conversation between Percy and Hermes at the end of The Last Olympian. The entire conversation is so strange to me: here's a sixteen-year-old who has never had a positive father figure in his life (save Paul, who is still a recent addition to his family at this point) trying to comfort a 4,000-year-old god that he's not a bad father:

"I thought you were a bad father," I admitted. "I thought you abandoned Luke because you knew his future and didn't do anything to stop it."

The main point of that conversation comes from Hermes' response to Percy's statement. To paraphrase, Hermes says 'I couldn't have saved Luke, it's against the laws and I can't defy the fates. I loved him, yes, but I couldn't save him. Those laws aren't going to change anytime soon, and neither are the gods.'

What we get from this conversation is this: Hermes was resigned to being unable to help Luke because he views the future as inevitable and the Fates as all-powerful (as does Zeus). He also doesn't believe that gods can change in the ways Percy wants them to; he scoffs at the idea that Percy's proposed changes will be permanent:

"No one can tamper with fate, Percy. Not even a god."

and then:

He laughed. "After three thousand years, you think gods can change their nature?"

To Hermes? Fate is inevitable and the gods can't change.

On the other hand, to Apollo? The future is behind any number of unlocked doors, and the only thing stopping the gods from changing are themselves:

[Regarding Frank burning his stick in TTT] "Frank went into that tunnel knowing he might die. He willingly sacrificed himself for a noble cause. In doing so, he broke free of his own fate. By burning his own tinder, he kind of... I don't know, started a new fire with it. He's in charge of his own destiny now."

Frank broke free of his fate, and the way Apollo talks about it indicates that he believes that such things are certainly possible.

And this:

[After regaining his godhood in TON] I could only try to be different from [Zeus]. Better. More... human.

Apollo intends to change the way he acts now that he is returned to Olympus, and has the support of everyone else who noted that he has already grown as a person: Jason, Sally, Will, Reyna, and so many more.

I feel like Hermes has always felt that he has the excuse of being a god when Percy asks him to do better for the sake of Luke's memory: "We gods have never been very good at keeping oaths." and "Eventually we'll become forgetful. We always do." and generally lots of other sentiments that give the impression that he believes that failure to do right by mortals is inevitable for gods. He's been so used to thinking that Luke was resigned to his fate from the very beginning, and that Hermes was never capable of changing it. Hermes didn't fail because he didn't try to succeed.

But Apollo ruins that for him when he returns - Apollo has not and will not let that same excuse stop him, and now Hermes is losing the only reason he had for not helping Luke. If Hermes is right, that gods can never help their mortal children and Luke was born to die at Kronos' hand, it was excusable for Hermes to turn his back on his own son. But if Apollo is right that gods can change and you can shape your own destiny, then it was Hermes and his inaction that killed Luke, not Kronos.

And we know that Apollo is right. Apollo did defy his fate. Apollo did change. And Hermes saw it all from the safety of his throne on Olympus.

Which means that Hermes was always wrong, and he knows it now. Hermes says that not helping Luke was the hardest thing he's ever done, because it would have amounted to nothing. Hermes thought he was completely incapable of helping Luke, but Apollo is living proof that he could have.

So now, Apollo is a daily reminder that Hermes failed Luke. Every day.

That would be enough to drive a wedge between any two people, much less two gods. And I don't think Apollo would ever truly realize that this is the case, so one day, Hermes is going to break, and Apollo will be left blindsided.

It only makes sense that Hermes might have some very heavy clown makeup on when we see him at the end of TON. I can't speak for him when we talk about the gambling, but I bet it's because Hermes, like he did with Luke, thought that Apollo would be resigned to his death the very moment Delphi-Python said that "Apollo will fall". And the fact that Apollo survived against all the odds (and seemingly against the Fates themselves) is just another smack to the face. I believe his behavior and comments in this scene are him lashing out in anger and frustration at the solid fact of the matter; that Hermes failed his own family, which is something he values to no end.

That's got to suck.

But now I think we have to closely examine why Hermes believes those things. Hermes has been brainwashed in a sense to believe that he can't defy fate and can't change. By who, then?

Do I really need to answer that? You have a brain. It's obvious, isn't it?

Part II: The fight to be the golden child

Let's rewind a bit, shall we?

The entire discussion had over on discord was started with talking about the potentials of Apollo's relationships with Ares and the rest of his siblings, then someone (I believe it was @fearlessinger, along with some very valid points made by uke) said this:

...but Ares, who was always the least favored of Zeus's children, the family's scapegoat, and who gave up on trying to get on Zeus's good side basically as soon as he was born and deemed a failure… he of all ppl would actually have no reason to resent Apollo for his success, nor for throwing away that success

To which I replied:

so i wonder then who has the reason to resent Apollo the most?... it’s probably a son, because they’re the ones who have to fight the most for Zeus’ approval ... maybe Hermes? because he’s never really done anything wrong and still doesn’t receive the title he deserves ...

To summarize: Apollo was the golden child, and used to be Zeus' favorite. We are certain he faces a lot of resentment for this fact (he admits to it himself), and Hermes definitely fits the bill.

Think about it.

Besides Luke, what has Hermes ever done that would put him out of the running for golden child? He's useful, talented, powerful enough to be on the Council, and despite being a god of liars and thieves, is work-driven enough that his father still trusts him. Even in the myths, he's clever in a very Zeus-y way.

Apollo, on the other hand, acts like a complete and utter fool pre-trials. He's vain, self-centered, and shallow. He's a chronic attention-seeker, and, in the myths tried to overthrow Zeus, and had angered him to the point of turning him mortal, not once, but twice. So what gives? Why is Apollo the favorite son, and not Hermes?

Honestly, I couldn't say, besides vague suggestions that it's because Zeus likes the idea of having the powerful and popular son as a favorite, rather than the less noticeable behind-the-scenes son. But who knows how Zeus and his favoritism work. Apollo doesn't, and I don't think Hermes does either.

I rather think Hermes is, as I said in the title, the ultimate middle child. Overlooked by his father in favor of his siblings, whether they be rebellious (Apollo), perfect in every way (Athena or Artemis) or just plain failures (Ares or Dionysus). In comparison, Hermes is invisible, having never done anything to make him stand out in the eyes of his father, nor having done anything that deserves a strict punishment. Nothing worthy of attention.

I've seen people wonder why Hermes never suffered the same consequences for Luke's actions in the way Apollo did for Octavian. But that's because Hermes never broke Zeus' fundamental law: do not interact with your mortal children.

The problems Octavian caused were supposedly because Apollo defied Zeus and created a forbidden connection with his legacy.

On the other hand, the problems Luke caused were because Hermes obeyed Zeus to the letter.

Why would Zeus punish Hermes for being obedient? And why wouldn't Zeus punish Apollo for breaking the 'ancient laws'?

Arguably, Hermes is Zeus' best behaved child (which is ironic, considering a few notable domains of his). Hermes is one of a trend that we see a lot with toxic parents who don't give attention and approval freely - Hermes and Apollo are on opposite sides of this spectrum. Apollo in the past has acted out in order to gain attention, whereas Hermes has glued himself to Zeus' side in an attempt to be perfect.

And this perfection includes indoctrinating into Zeus' belief systems and fears. Zeus fears the inevitability of fate. So does Hermes. Zeus refuses to let the gods change. So Hermes believes change impossible. Zeus says that you may not have contact with your mortal children. And although to Hermes this is the hardest of all, he turns his back on Luke.

And yet, 'golden child' is still not his title to claim. That rests with Apollo, still, who has not met Zeus' standards, openly rejects Zeus' belief systems, and yet continues to rise above the rest.

That is the formula for a deteriorating relationship between brothers: Apollo's mere existence being an everyday reminder to Hermes that he is a failure both to his son and to his father.

Everyone say hello to our old friend resentment.

Now, I'm not necessarily saying that Hermes and Apollo's relationship is inherently negative. But there's a lot of reason for there to be some contention coming from Hermes (and I didn't even touch on May Castellan - basically, I think Apollo refused to oversee her attempt to become the next Oracle because he knew it wouldn't work, which is why he wasn't present for May's attempt, but was for Rachel's; later on, Hermes could start seeing Apollo's domain and subsequent absence as the thing that drove her mad).

We don't have a lot of hints for whether or not he plans to act on those feelings of resentment. But they're there. And in a new, post-trials Olympus, they're going to come to light sooner or later.

Because Percy was right.

"I thought you were a bad father," I admitted. "I thought you abandoned Luke because you knew his future and didn't do anything to stop it."

That's exactly what happened. And because of Apollo, Hermes now knows it.

(a list of my other metas if you'd like to read)

And a very special shoutout to @firealder2005 for writing this absolutely gut-wrenching and angsty but super cool fic based around this very idea that i am absolutely in love with and everyone should go read it ❤️

[hotcheetohatredwastaken]

Celebration: 88,978 Words in One Day!

Just yesterday, a few other LU writers and I, Hot Cheeto Hatred, hosted our first ever monthly (hopefully) Write-a-thon! This event ran on June 4 from 12 am EST to 12 am EST, with one goal in mind---write as many productive words within that day as humanly possible. Words included in the final marathon count ranged from storyboarding, fic writing, editing, answering comments, journalling and homework---basically, any words that furthered yourself, the writing community at large, or your stories. We utilized either the Discord Sprint bot or self-reporting to collect the numbers at the end. Everyone involved gave it their all, with most of them being present for most if not all of the run time as they were able, and I'm so proud of their dedication towards their craft. Anyways, here's the final breakdown of the numbers below, as well as the awards and titles earned by each participant, as decided by the discord server (and myself at random).

Now onto the awards:

I am pleased to report that @not-freyja (Freyja above) won the "Writer of All Time" Award, pulling ahead with 20,565 of our total words. What an accomplishment! Freyja participated from dawn to well, dawn, and they absolutely deserve all praise and awe.

I'm giving myself, @hotcheetohatred (Cheeto), the award "Writer of Some Time," as I fell behind our lovely Freyja by a mere few hundred words fifteen minutes before the clock struck midnight. Next time, Freyja, next time...

The "Actually A Writer" award goes to @marcusdoodlesalot (Marcus), who, despite the name, DOES actually write, not just draw! Who would have thought. Not Freyja, that's for sure.

The "Early Bird" award goes to @lerikwrites (Lerik), who solely sprinted in the wee hours of the morning (my time, at least). Terrible. Good job.

"Star Commentor" goes to @elle-rosewater (Eliot), because I stole most of her words for the count from my own comment section in the BDOR Prologues. We love you, Eliot :3 Can't wait to see you next month.

"Cheerleader" goes to @la-sera, who gave us much encouragement throughout the day. I stole your 19 words from you saying you were excited to read Estelian's work. Hope that's okay, because I really wanted to include you---you provided a lot, even if you didn't write with us this time <3.

@whumpitywhumpitywhumpity (Dowsemaxxer) earns "Spirit-ed Storyboarder" for all of his lovely, informative talk on Spirit and just what makes him so great as a rather underappreciated LU boy.

Two awards next! "Chief Editor" and "Most Student" both go to @unexpectedstormy (Stormy) for faer work on getting. stuff. done. Fae did a steady amount of work, so proud.

"Editor (of Word Count) in Chief" goes to @tashacee (Tash), who, at reporting time, was scrounging up 100 and 200 word bits like spare change while I desperately tried to do math. I love you, never change.

The title of "Specter" goes to @somer-writes (Somer), who logged in very few sprints, but participated with the rest of us and pulled up at the end with a whole 7.5K words and a bunch of fics to post at the end, with a lot of it being Ghost AU! He's amazing.

The award "Better Late than Never" goes to our resident artist and recently turned fic-writer @estelian-01 (Este), who joined only in the last half of the marathon but managed to pull a whole 4K! Pictures might be worth a thousand words, but Este wrote a couple more anyway.

@across-violet-skies (Riv) gets the title "Mover and Shaker (of Blorbos)" for managing to participate and get quite the hefty wordcount only a DAY after moving. They're a trooper, that's for sure.

@anime-obsessed (Vio/Nene) earns the award "Most Old School" for writing with pen and paper for most of the day. Please go rest your wrist after all of that.

The award "Head in the Clouds" goes to my bestie and beloved beta reader @needfantasticstories (Skip), who spent the day listening to music and writing Skyloft drabbles. I am nervous/excited to see if those drabbles turned out fluffy as a Loftwing, or perhaps into something more angsty.

@noorahqar (Qar), my lovely fragile Victorian wife, earns the title "Chatty." You know why. But you were there nearly all of the run time, and so engaging and encouraging throughout---a blessing to us all. And even then, you managed to pull so many words. I'm impressed.

And finally, @rosehipandroots / @rosetintedtears (Rose) receives the titles "ndskanefnre" (self chosen) and "Birthday Santa." The first was borne of panic of being asked to choose a title---the second of her relentless effort to get her birthday fics done. Great job.

I'd like to thank everyone that I tagged for participating in the write-a-thon, and thank all of you for helping me draft this post as well. If I messed up any word counts or details or pronouns, you want to request a title/award change, or I missed someone, please DM and let me know! The next Write-a-thon will be held on July 1 from 12am to 12am GMT, and we'll be trying to beat our record. Can't wait to see all of you then!

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for lying about my age to make some new friends?

I (17nb) recently joined a new fandom. I did the usual procedure of finding popular artists and writers, following them, and consuming their content while falling down the famous rabbit-hole. Then I saw one of the artists I liked had a discord server. I joined it bc I saw it as a way to make new fandom friends, get fic recs etc etc

i joined the server and the carl-bot(?) message popped up and a few people waved to it, so it was all on a high-note. Then I checked the rules and saw that it was 18+ members only and anyone found to be below 18 would be kicked. This is where I worry i may be the asshole.

People were already greeting the small flux of new members in the chat (I had joined in a small wave of other new members) and they were all incredibly friendly. I suddenly felt very self-concious about the idea of immediately leaving so soon after joining so, when writing my introduction, I said I was 18.

At the time, it felt like a bit of a white lie - after all, I'm 17 and am oftentimes mistaken for being ~20 online. I don't have my age in any of my socials for internet safety and I've always behaved quite maturely for my age. 18 was the lowest number I could go, and many of my friends are 18, so I know i can at least be friends with other 18 yr-olds.

The issue comes with the fact there is an nsfw channel in the server. Now, I'm on the internet and heavily versed in fandom - i use ao3. I'm not going to cry over a discord server which has an nsfw channel, that's just stupid. The issue is, I am very aware that quite a lot of the members might be uncomfortable with the idea they've been making nsfw jokes or posting nsfw art where a minor can see, no matter how close to an adult that minor is.

I've been doing my best to 'minimalize' the damage - I rarely talk in the nsfw chat and keep quite strictly to the sfw channels instead. It gives me some sense of, idk, decency for what I'm doing.

I've been in the server for several months now and it's a really safe and fun environment - it's discourse-free and everyone is just really great to talk to. I really enjoy being a member. However, I am also aware I'm violating the rules and lying about my age. I fear leaving now, abruptly, might bring attention to me or upset some of the people who I often talk to on the server.

But it also feels like a very tiny offense - I'm not going around, 'disturbing the peace', and kicking up drama. I'm avoiding what I know they wouldn't be comfortable with me seeing and I stay friendly and mature within conversation

So, aita? Should I leave the server or would that just be a dramatic reaction for one white lie?

What are these acronyms?

[lost-in-fandoms]

I have no idea where this came from and where it's going. Probably nowhere. No thoughts, just vibes.

cw: implied past character death (i'll put something more specific in the tags)

The street looks the same as when Daniel had left. Same cracked pavement, same uneven sidewalk, only on the left. Even the washed out weeds, insisting on growing where they shouldn't have, look the same.

The fence on the right is maybe a little less red, a little more broken, but the hedge on the left is still cut in the same strictly rectangular shape, so dense you can't see the garden on the other side. His feet seem to remember just how many steps it takes to go from the intersection to the end of the cul-de-sac, stopping exactly where the old bus stop was.

The gate is different. It's jarring, in the sameness of it all, to see something so starkly changed. It used to be white, with rusted and mossy spots all over, a number of bars Daniel had never bothered to count. Nothing like the tall, solid black gate he's looking at now.

He just wanted to look at the garden, at the path, at the front door. He wanted to see if the hydrangeas had survived all these years, if the grass was overgrown, if the multi-colored window on the side of the door was still intact. If the rosemary, without someone carefully keeping it contained, had escaped its flowerbed and invaded the nearby hibiscus.

He had wanted to see if there was any part of him still clinging to the living room windows, to the sun-warmed bricks.

Now, all he can see are the second store windows, all curtains drawn, and the new solar panels on the garage roof.

He shouldn't have come.

There is an ache eating away at his chest, bacteria freed from a petri dish and given his whole insides to feast on, lid broken and thrown away by the first step he had taken out of the car.

Suddenly, as if yanked from the past he's both begging for and resisting, a child's laughter rings through the hot summer air, followed by a gleeful high pitched scream.

He shouldn't have come.

And yet, his feet are stuck on the pavement, and his mind is stuck in the nowhere place that is half in the present and half in a past that no longer exists.

There's another voice in the garden, too low to make out the words, but clearly belonging to a man. Daniel can hear a sliding door open and then close, the sound discordant against his sliding-door-free memories.

He should go.

The tide is already threatening to fill his lungs. The air smells the same, but somehow turns to rot when it reaches the back of his throat.

There's a high beeping sound, then a click, then the smaller gate to the side, the one they always needed to unstuck in the winter, now replaced too, opens.

Before he can stop himself, Daniel gasps, heart jumping in his throat, hope building like a cursed bubble. He's not quick enough to pop it himself, and it explodes right in front of his face, soapy water stinging his eyes, when the man who steps through it is a complete stranger.

The air is shimmering with heat, cicadas' screams swelling, and for a second Daniel thinks: it's not real.

Then the stranger fully exits the gate, square jaw set and eyebrows furrowed, and closes it behind him with a clank.

"Can I ask you who you are and what you are doing in front of my house?" No hellos.

There's an accent there, a rasp cutting through some words, a lisp making itself known into others. A frosty threat thickly slathered on top, icing on an uncut cake, knife into Daniel's hand to slice the tension in the air with.

His brain, still clawing its way back to the present, offers his tongue no words, half open mouth empty. The man raises his eyebrows, crosses his arms. Daniel knows with crystal clear certainty he's going to have the cops called on him very soon, or he's going to be punched. He thinks of the kid laughing and can't find any blame in either option.

"Sorry," he finally manages, stiff vocal cords striding together. The man doesn't look impressed.

Daniel forcefully pulls his brain together, connecting neurons like he's jump starting a car, stuffing memory boxes closed.

"I used to live here, years ago." He tears his eyes away, wishing once again he could see the hydrangeas. His mom had loved the hydrangeas, even when she cursed them every year for being needy fuckers. "When I was a kid."

When he looks back, the man doesn't look quite as tense, something absurdly like recognition in his blue eyes.

"I was in the area, and thought I would check it out," he offers lamely. Just sort of a lie, but he doesn't owe his bleeding soul to this stranger.

"I bought it four months ago," the man says, and Daniel feels weirdly chastised, as if he should have come by sooner.

"I know. I signed the deal." And then spent one whole day in bed, cradling ghosts in his arms underneath the blankets.

The man tilts his head appraisingly, lips slightly pursed. Daniel doesn't know what he's being considered for, but tries his best not too look to lost, or too insane, or too dangerous. He doesn't even know why. Maybe just to avoid the cops.

"There was a picture, in the living room," the man slowly says. Daniel immediately wishes he would stop talking, but his brain is gone again, unable to give words, too busy looking in his memories for the framed photograph he knows the man is talking about. There were four people in the picture, and Daniel had mourned it for years, forgotten on the shelf of the emptied dish cupboard.

Suddenly, fierce protectiveness surges inside him, hands twitching with the need to go back, to hide it from stranger's eyes, to cradle it to his chest so hard he can carve a space for it between his ribs.

"I know you are saying the truth, because you are in it. Smaller." The stranger's lips curve up a bit at his own little joke, but Daniel's don't.

Yeah, of course he had been in it, smiling his still-crooked smile, flash glinting on his braces, curls squished under a baseball cap. His dad's hand on his shoulder.

His insides, all eaten by the fugitive bacteria, are burning, poison seeping from his bloodstream.

"Yeah." He refuses to elaborate. He shouldn't have come. "I'll be going."

He doesn't want to go. He shouldn't have come, but now that he has, he doesn't want to go. Walking away once again feels like something that could kill him.

"You could come back, tomorrow morning, when my daughter isn't here."

Daniel doesn't know what his face is doing, too many feelings slamming into him all at once. He hopes the only one the other man can see is surprise.

"Why?" He shouldn't ask. He should just say okay. He should just say no. He should turn around and walk away, and keep walking and walking until his legs hurt as much as the traitorous hope biting at him again.

"For the picture. And to see the house, if you want." The man says it as if this whole conversation is a test, and Daniel is on the verge of failing. As always, he doesn't know the correct answer. And yet, he knows there's only one he can give.

"Okay." He nods, feeling like he's jumping off the boat without checking for sharks first. Then belatedly, "thank you."

"10 am. If you are a serial killer, I know how to box." The man smiles, as if it was a joke. Daniel doesn't need his full brain capacities to know he's one hundred percent serious.

"I'm not." He almost adds which is exactly what a serial killer would say, but now that the stranger has offered, he does want to come back, doesn't want to ruin his chance with a dumb joke.

"Good."

The man doesn't say goodbye before turning around and pulling a bunch of keys out of his shorts pocket, opening the small gate and walking through, closing it behind himself without a second glance towards Daniel.

As if broken out of a spell, his feet can move again, and he finds himself walking away before he can even make the conscious decision to, his body wanting to hurry along the hours, to shorten the time between now and tomorrow, 10 am.

He barely looks at the road, at the cracked pavement and uneven sidewalk. Impressed on his retinas, the flutter of a curtain on the second floor, and the new name on the doorbell.

Max Verstappen.

[ivykim]

ENHYPEN PLAYS: LETHAL COMPANY

MISSION START ▶️

the five members bow slightly to the camera, “hello ENGENEs! today, we are playing another game.” jungwon starts off.

“since everyone enjoyed us playing the backrooms and there were a lot of positive reactions. we decided to bring in a new game!” jake continues.

“since noona is joining us today, would you like to introduce the game?”

she claps once, “everyone! today we are playing a game called ‘Letal Company’. ooooo, is everyone excited?”

“I’ve never heard of this game before.” sunghoon says. ivy gasps.

“you’ve never heard of the game? it took the whole world by storm. maybe not Korea? I don’t know but I watched a bunch of people play this on YouTube!”

“foreigners?” heeseung tilts his head. ivy hums.

“yup! anyways, usually the game only allows 4 players at a time but! I added a few mods into the game to make it more fun. just teensy tiny ones.”

“oh, I don’t think engenes know this. we’re playing at the dorms instead because noona said that PC cafes don’t have this game. she paid for each game on our own computers.” jake explains.

[IVY proving how rich she is. FLEX💪🏻]

ivy rolls her eyes playfully, “I just want you guys to enjoy the game without any troubles.”

“and we are thankful for that noona.” jungwon smiles. ivy pats the younger male.

“my favourite.”

jake gasps, “you have favourites in enhypen?”

“now, jaeyun-”

[please note that IVY has no favourite in ENHYPEN she loves them all equally]

“okay! everyone in on their computers now?” ivy turns to look at each of the boys on the discord call.

“yup, but how do we join the game?”

“i’ll send you guys invites just click on it.”

“okay.”

the 4 boys wait for ivy patiently. that is until jake storms into ivy’s room and starts to mess with her.

“yah! sim jaeyun, back to your room! just wait.” he starts poking ivy. “wait!”

“jake hyung!” jungwon yells from his room.

“ouh? it’s working, it’s working!” heeseung says as he loads into the game.

jake runs back into his room to attempt to join the game. once everyone loads into the game, ivy clicks the number 1 on her keyboard. her character starts dancing.

“what? how do you do that?” sunghoon says.

“why is the astronaut a better dancer than us??” jungwon adds.

“noona!! teach us.”

“hit 1 on the keyboard.” ivy says and so the 4 boys listened. they all yelled in excitement.

“YOIIIIII.” jungwon yells.

“can we make it do fever?” heeseung asks.

“no, now. the premise of the game since i’ve watched multiple gameplays.” ivy breathes in. “number 1, our main objective is to go on planets and collect scrap. number 2, we have a quota to reach.” her character points to the quota. “we have 3 days to collect enough scrap and then by the 3rd day, we need to sell it to the company.”

“who is the company?” jake asks.

“mmm, let’s say it’s BELIFT. we are selling our resources to BELIFT. then they will give us money and then we can either buy stuff to improve ourselves or challenge and go to bigger places that are harder than the simple ones.”

“ooo great analogy.” heeseung compliments.

“thank you.”

“what if we don’t reach the quota?”

“we get booted off like we’re on I-LAND.” ivy explains brutally. the boys gasp.

“not I-LAND.”

“exactly so we have to meet our quota, boys. you ready?”

“umm, yes?”

“great.” ivy pulls the lever. it loads them into the game. the spaceship flies down onto the planet and they land. the aircraft door opens.

“welcome to the land so far it’s normal so you don’t have to worry about anything yet. however, if the planet is eclipsed, it’s best if you stay quiet or the dogs will be out to murder you.” ivy explains further. none of the boys moved just yet. “come on, follow me. click right click to scan where the entrance of the place is by the way.”

the boys followed her.

“oh, there is a bridge, will it break-” just as jungwon says so, the bridge breaks and falls.

“am i too heavy?” jake says. ivy laughs.

“nah, if there are too many people walking on the bridge then it breaks. it’s old. don’t worry, jake. you’re not heavy. you can try to go by the emergency exit if you’d like.”

“but noona, i’m scared.” jake says.

“okay, then climb up here. you can walk over there and then come over. me, sunghoon and heeseung will wait at the entrance.”

“what about me, noona?” jungwon yells.

“there is a stable bridge to your left! you can walk over there and then come over to us!” ivy yells back. she turns to the other two. “you two, if you’re brave enough you can go in. we don’t have much time since the time is going by now. if you see the clock above us, we have to be back on the ship by midnight.”

“can we leave early?”

“yup, just as long as we get back on the ship by midnight with scrap.”

“this game is complicated.”

“for your first time, yes but if you play it a bunch of times. nah. you two can go in together, i’ll wait for jake and jungwon.”

and so, heeseung and sunghoon head inside first. not even a second later, they came back out just as jungwon and jake finally made it to the entrance.

“hey, umm vivi you didn’t explain to the both of us that it was scary in there.” heeseung says.

“this game is baby compared to the backrooms. you two don’t have to be so scared. come on.” ivy enters the building and the boys followed in. their voices were slightly altered when they entered the building. like they were in an abandoned building (which they were).

“okay, so you guys wanna split up or stay together.”

“won’t we get murdered quicker if we don’t stick together?” jake says.

“not exactly. you get killed either ways.” ivy says. “how about this. jungwon, heeseung and jake can stick together. me and hoon can look around. we’ll meet at the entrance.”

“but noona, you know the game than us.” jake pouts.

“oh don’t worry, jungwon would probably find a way. which by the way, if you find a stop sign or any sign you can use it as a weapon to kill the monsters.” ivy smiles. “good luck! hoon, let’s go.” both ivy and sunghoon went to the right side of the building.

“WHAT? MONSTERS???”

[ENHYPEN’s journey starts now]

ivy and sunghoon went down the stairs.

“i probably should’ve told them that we can’t hear them and they can’t hear us since we are far from each other.” ivy says. sunghoon’s character turns to ivy, he looks at the camera and deadpans.

“are you serious?”

“yeah, unless we have a walkie talkie but we need to buy that.”

they opened the door and spot a rubber ducky on the ground. “hoon, grab that. that’s scrap. how much is it? scan it.”

“the value is 40.”

“woah, that’s an expensive duck.”

“inflation.” sunghoon says simply. ivy snorts.

they heard a yippie from somewhere and sunghoon starts panicking.

“what? what’s that?”

“you met your first monster. it’s a hoarder bug. it normally doesn’t make that sound. i just put that mod to make it less scary.” ivy explains.

“so i can’t take their things?”

“nope. they’ll murder you so it’s best we ignore it and move on. unless you want to risk your life.”

“oh, no thank you.” sunghoon eyes the bug and starts dancing in front of it. “will they trade if i dance for them?”

“you can try.”

“do you speak KoHReAN.” sunghoon says in english while his character continues dancing. ivy laughs.

“i don’t think they do.” the bug continues to say ‘yippie!’. “oh, hoon. i see something huge that could give us big money!”

“what?” ivy points to the item in game.

“that. it’s an engine.”

“engene? we have to get it then. save our engene!”

“yes, save our engene.”

while ivy and hoon are saving engene. let’s see how jake, jungwon and heeseung are handling their experience.

[JAKE moves forward while covering his eyes shut]

“jake hyung, it’s not that scary. don’t worry.” jungwon says.

“mmm! it’s better than the backrooms.”

“okay…you better not be tricking me.” jake uncovers his eyes. just as he does so, they heard stomping.

“i think i might start cursing.” jake says.

heeseung notices something. scrap!

“yah yah, look. there is scrap over there! let’s grab it and then look for more.”

however none of them moved. both jake and heeseung looked over at jungwon expecting him to do it. “okay, fine. i’ll go there.” jungwon walks over and grabs the scrap. “guys, there is more over here! my inventory is full though. i need help.”

heeseung and jake went over to help. they collected the items.

“is that all?” they inspected the rooms and then they spot a monster, thumping and getting closer to them.

“what the hell is that.” jake says.

the monster turns to them and so their eyes widened. they quickly left and ran away. all three of them yelled out loud.

“NOONA!!!” jake yells.

back to ivy and sunghoon, their trip was decently peaceful. their inventories were almost full. then they hear a couple of footsteps. ivy knew which monster it was.

“hoon, let’s get out of here and meet up with the rest.”

“why? what’s wrong, noona?”

they came across a spider web. “that is what’s wrong.”

“spider-man?”

“no! it’s a spider and we don’t have any weapons! let’s go!!” ivy says. the pitter patter gets closer and so both ivy and sunghoon left quickly. they went back to the main entrance. jungwon, jake and heeseung made it to the entrance. their hearts raced quickly. just as they caught their breaths. a shadow dude comes into the space. jake yells and leaves the building. however, heeseung gets his neck snapped. jungwon’s jaw drops.

“HEESEUNG HYUNG!!” he was about to chase after the monster but ivy and sunghoon arrived.

“do not chase after that monster. he’ll kill you too!” ivy says. “grab heeseung’s stuff, we have to leave. where is jake?”

“outside.” they grabbed heeseung’s scrap and left the building. it was decently dark out, the sun was setting.

“we have to get back to the ship now.” ivy says. they made their way back to the ship.

[this felt like a thriller/horror movie]

they heard large stomping sounds.

“get in quickly.” ivy whispers. she enters the ship and drops her items. “everyone in?”

“yeah.” just as sunghoon says so, there was a growl.

“close the door.” ivy instructs. “the dogs are out.”

“DOGS??” jake says. there was a terrifying growl. ivy takes off the ship quickly. just as the dog was about to come in, jungwon shuts the door. “those were not dogs.”

“they are blind dogs so they react to sound. like i said before if we go on an eclipsed planet, the percentage will increase for monsters. that means those ‘dogs’ will have a higher percent to spawn on those planets.” ivy says.

“what was the loud stomping though?” sunghoon asks.

“giants. they’re just mainly blind but they can hear.”

“what about the thumping in the building…” jake nervously say.

“that monster spawned too??” ivy’s jaw drops. “okay, let’s debrief first. heeseung should come back since we’re safe and in the air now.”

[HEESEUNG spawns in]

“okay, tell me how your trip went and what happened to heeseung?”

“so basically, we heard some thumping but still went forward to grab some scrap. once we collected it, we saw what was making the noise.”

“the monster didn’t have any body. just a head and arms for legs. he also looks like a fish.” jake says.

“then we got scared and ran to the main entrance. once we arrived, we heard a weird scary sound like a growl and then a shadow man came up, jake hyung ran out but heeseung hyung got his neck snapped and the guy dragged his body.” jungwon explains.

“that’s the bracken by the way. he actually lurks behind you before attacking you. i think the editors can put up a video of it for ENGENEs while i show it to you guys.”

[IVY showed the video to the boys]

jake cowers in fear, “i don’t want to play anymore!”

“same!”

“wait guys, drop your things. let’s see how much we made. then maybe we can just land and get a little more than leave quickly. I can show you the company where we sell everything.” ivy says.

“how do we drop things?”

“press G.”

the boys dropped their things. “okay, right click to scan and we should see the total up amount.”

“is 340 enough?”

“more than enough. our first time is only 130. we crushed it.”

“ooo that means we can just play around on the second day.”

“yup!”

which is what the five of them did. ivy types into the computer. “let me see the moons.”

> 41 EXPERIMENTATION - Eclipsed

ivy’s jaw drops. she looks at the camera. “editors can you bleep this when i curse?”

“why? why? what’s wrong?” heeseung asks.

“guys, we are absolutely f-”

[ARTIST PROTECTION]

“oh? why?” jungwon tilts his head.

“it’s eclipsed.” the aircraft lands and they instantly hear growling. the door opens and ivy crouches in game. she shuts the door.

“everyone keep quiet or whisper. i can tell you there is no way we are going to get out of this ship. we are screwed.” the boys too had crouched in game. jungwon looks over to the lever and just holds ‘e’. he pulls the lever and of they went.

“i think it was best.”

“definitely a good choice.” sunghoon says.

“so the company?” jake says.

“okay, one second.” ivy goes on the computer and types ‘71-Gordion’ (the company).

“what do you do in the computer anyways?”

“you can watch people on the monitor and see where we are. disable turrets, know where the monsters are, open and close doors, buy stuff and also see which moon is eclipsed or not or has bad weather.”

“woah, so this computer is like the main thing huh.” jake says.

“yup. anyways, who wants to pull the lever? i already set us to the company.” sunghoon pulls the lever.

they arrived at the company, it was dark and mysterious. ominous too. it sent shivers down jake’s spine.

“i got goosebumps. i don’t like this.”

“well, we are here. grab our stuff. maybe we can save some stuff. just enough for our quota.”

“can we keep the duck?” sunghoon asks.

“sure. just leave it inside the storage closet.” ivy opens the closet and sunghoon places the duck inside. “okay, for this part. everyone please silently walk up to the mysterious door and place the things on the counter.”

“what happens if you make noise?” heeseung asks.

“a monster will snatch you and kill you.”

“so let’s keep quiet.”

each of them placed their items onto the counter. “who wants to press the bell?”

“jake hyung.” jungwon points to jake.

jake sighs and presses the bell. he quickly runs away. the door opens and a hook snatches their items away.

“ewww what was that! why was there a hook taking our things away??” jake says.

“that’s the company.”

the money pops up and it shows that they reached their quota.

“we now have money and a new quota just dropped!” ivy says. she points to the new number.

“301?? oh god.”

“mmm, i think we played this game for at least 3 hours now.”

“yeah, it’s quite fun right? time flies by really fast in this game.” ivy says.

“maybe we can ask sunoo, jay and ni-ki to join us since noona added the mod for more people.” jungwon says.

“i don’t think jay would like this game very much. it’s too scary for him. he didn’t even want to play the backrooms with us.” jake says.

“well, did you enjoy ‘Lethal Company’?” ivy asks.

“we did, it’s quite fun.”

ivy turns to the camera. “well, ENGENEs i hope you enjoyed me, jungwon, jake, sunghoon and heeseung playing the game! be sure to also check out when these four played the backrooms! really fun to watch them play it. i wanna play it too but they only allow 4 players.”

“noona, me, sunghoon and heeseung hyung can play together.” jake smirks.

“oh? it’s a deal then!” ivy smirks. “anyways, ENGENEs thank you for watching this video! oh and comment down below if i should convince jay, sunoo and ni-ki to play along with us. maybe i’ll find a way to convince them.”

all of them waved to the camera and the video ends.

[letslearneverythingpod]

Update: I have a discord now and I sent it to Ella

I need one of them to do a misc topic about crows so I can reblog crow posts on here

[powdermelonkeg]

Something websites (*cough* Tumblr *cough*) need to learn is that what retains an audience isn't an abundance of new bells and whistles to play with, it's a coherent experience overall.

When someone joins a website, you don't need to grab their attention and hold it. They're already testing the waters. They've agreed to sign up. You've won on that front, and they're there for something specific you already have that they're hoping works well.

What drives them away is frustration.

Frustration, frustration, frustration.

Learning curves are going to be a part of any new website experience; they're something the user comes to terms with, in their own time. But broken or bad features are going to make them jump sites.

On top of that, constantly adding new features makes them feel like all the hard work they've put in to learning what you have isn't worth it; your website looks unstable and your staff looks incompetent, because it gives the impression that you don't know what you're doing.

You are floundering. It makes your new users nervous. It makes your old users hesitate to bring anyone else on board. And why should they? Why should they put effort into it if you're going to throw that effort away next Tuesday? Why get used to a UI that you're not going to bother to keep? Why customize anything if you're going to whittle that customization away?

Between that and the broken, unattended features of this site—the tag organization failing, the inability to look up posts word-for-word, the video player either refusing to play or yanking you to the top of the dashboard, images taking forever to load, advertisements blaring at full volume when you scroll past, you have your problem.

You have the reason why your numbers are failing.

It's not that you're not interesting enough.

It's not that you're too difficult to understand.

It's that you aren't improving what you have, yet you keep adding more half-broken things and unwanted copycat features to the pile.

It's that you're losing your identity in pursuit of a hypothetical perfect customer.

It's that you are actively telling your user base that you prefer those hypothetical customers over them. And your user base, your real people who make you happen, are smart enough to know where your priorities lie.

The bulk of this post talks about Tumblr, but other sites have gone the same way. Twitter is dead and its corpse is decaying in the street. Reddit has sabotaged any trust its users had in its management. If you'd like a really old example—I used to use Fanfiction Net. It's not the most intuitive website in the world, but it was the first one I called home.

I used it to host my works. The adware now on it makes it a hassle to navigate. The bots make comment sections and private messages a dread rather than a joy. So I moved on.

I also used to use it to collaborate on stories with my now-roommate. The message limit was 300 a day. When you're writing dialogue between characters, that's nothing.

So I moved on. We started messaging on Facebook. It was better, it didn't have a limit. But then I learned Discord existed, and I could edit messages, make dedicated channels, etc. So I moved on from Facebook to Discord. And Discord had a steep learning curve, especially if you're trying to make your own server rather than contribute to one. But, most importantly, the payoff was worth it.

If Discord changed its layout every other month while I was learning it, and broke how its reactions worked, and kept shifting what it meant to create a channel? If it opted me into servers I didn't sign up for, in hopes of engagement? If its text never formatted correctly, or its search function only went back a day or two?

I would have gone right back to Facebook. Even if it's a more basic experience, basic is always preferable to unstable.

Figure out what you want, websites.

Slow growth, or a gamble?

You're paying for your magic slot machine in users.

[theresthesnitch]

It's about community, y'all.

I’ve found myself recently in a fandom interaction that has left me feeling very uncomfortable, and I want to talk about it. 

I will not be sharing usernames or fic names, so please do not publicly mention who they are if you figure out who this is. 

About a month ago, I was messaged by an account that doesn’t follow me, asking me to read their friend’s fic. The initial message was very flattering–their friend was a big fan of my work, and it would be so nice for them to get a comment from me on it. Honestly, it was such a sweet message, and I said I was busy right then, but I’d make time to read it.

When I opened the fic, it was a username that I didn’t recognize. Which is not terribly surprising, but I do recognize and notice regular commenters and people who regularly interact with me on Tumblr. (Which, by the way, is a good thing. These people all have a special place in my heart, and I love seeing their interactions.) This person also had no other fics published to AO3, and no bookmarks on their account. 

 I am an email hoarder, which means that every comment, kudo, and tumblr follow I get an email notification for is still stored in my email. I searched my inbox for the writer’s username, and nothing came up. I don’t mean nothing significant, I mean not one single comment, kudos, or follow from the account. I searched the account who messaged me, and got the same result. No one single comment, kudo, or follow. 

The thing that may not be immediately obvious from the outside is that many writers connect with each other as well. We share fic recs, snippets, and plot bunnies. We also talk about comments that we love, fans that we enjoy seeing in our notes, and significant interactions. 

Which is to say that the first thing I did was drop this fic with an explanation of what happened into the “fic recs” channel of our discord. Immediately, I find out that this is not a unique situation. Many of the writers in that discord were also approached, either by the actual writer or a friend, and asked to read it. 

I messaged the account again and asked if their friend was operating under a new username because I didn’t recognize them. Which is valid and I know people change their usernames sometimes. The friend responded that they did, but that the friend wouldn’t like them sharing it. I looked into the tumblr that messaged me then, and the account had been set up one singular day before they messaged me, with nothing more than a few art reblogs on their blog. 

At this point, I’m getting a really weird feeling from this, and I decide to just not respond anymore. I’m not going to call them out, but I’m also not going to engage. 

Yesterday, the “friend’s” account sent me another message, asking if I’d read it and telling me again that they can give their friend’s old account name if I really want it. They also mention that their friend read through and commented on a bunch of my older fics–which they did. Between May 24 and June 1, they left 17 comments on some of the very first fics I ever wrote and published. However, the way she tells me this feels very much like a quid pro quo - I commented, now where’s yours? 

I jumped back into the discords of some of my mutuals, and asked about this again. It turns out that all of us have gotten a weird vibe from them, and that this all feels like such a manipulative, creepy way to ask for exposure on your fic. 

And, because I’m me and needed more information, I went back to their fic and looked through the comments and bookmarks. 

There’s an ongoing discussion in many writer’s circles about interactions being lower, particularly comments, which you’ve probably seen crop up around Tumblr as well. While I don’t want to rehash this discussion here, the basic consensus is that most established writers are seeing fewer comments than ever, even when there’s a significant number of kudos. 

This fic has a not insignificant number of kudos, but a surprisingly large amount of comments and bookmarks, comparatively. Enough that just seeing the stats shocked me. I looked through the comments and saw lots of well known fandom writers, as well as some otherwise blank accounts. It strikes me as very odd–especially from a new, blank account and for a one shot without chapters to build up an audience. 

I jumped back in the discord and asked my mutuals about this again. Several people described really weird interactions with this individual. I heard stories about this person being really flattering when they initially reached out, vaguely complimenting the writer, then completely ghosting after the writer comments on their fics. 

I’ve debated for a bit about whether to post on this or not. The entire interaction has left such a bad taste in my mouth. I’ve no doubt that the writer and their friend are the same person, and I suspect some of their comments are fabricated as well. It’s elaborate, to a weird degree, and I feel so uncomfortable by it. 

The thing is, I love talking to people who have read my work. I love getting sent a fic rec. I read so little at this point just due to life and limited time that basically everything I read is something a mutual wrote or something recommended to me. I also really love the “it would mean so much to me if you read this” message, but only if it’s genuine. I have read first fics of new writers who sent me their own work, with their name attached, and asked me to. 

Fandom writing is a community, and that works best when we have a little give and take. But when you’re out there manipulating interactions, building up fake flattery to only not follow through, that breaks down our community. It’s unfortunate, manipulative, and honestly, a bit creepy. 

I don’t know if they just thought we (the writing community) wouldn’t notice, but we did. I’ve talked to other writers about this, and if any of my mutuals had a similar experience, I’d love to hear about it. 

To my “friend” who wrote this fic, I know you’re proud of your fic, but you’re not doing yourself any favors with this behavior. I will not be reading it. I also will not be responding to you or “your friend” any further. I wish you luck, and I hope you find what you’re looking for. 

[neverniko101]

Follower count: 944 why are there so many of you

Blog Rules & Info!

- HELLO I am Niko, tho I also go by Never and Cheesecake!!! He/they pronouns!!!!! I love UTMV/Undertale/Deltarune and that will mostly be what I post about and reblog, though I’m also into Slay the Princess, The Stanley Parable, Percy Jackson, The Owl House, Amphibia, Gravity Falls, The Amazing Digital Circus, Welcome Home, Warrior Cats, Wings of Fire, Pokémon, Pressure, FNAF, Just Shapes & Beats, and a whole bunch of other things :333

- I LOVE ASKS!! SEND ME ASKS! Either for an ask blog or just to me, but make sure to specify. I do my best to figure out who asks are sent to, but it’s easier if you say in the post^^

Also there are currently an ungodly number of asks in my inbox right now so it’ll take me a while to answer new ones. Do not pressure me to do art you will be drop kicked

- YouTube channel!

- ARTFIGHT!

- Discord Server!! Come say hi, we love new people!!

- No racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, LGBTQ+ hate, or general unkindness

- I’m personally not comfortable with dreammare, fontcest, frans, incest, and age gaps so there won’t be any on this blog. (This means please don’t tag/mention me in any of this content, use any of my characters in this content, or generally involve me in it.)

- Absolutely no NSFW, and I get to decide my boundaries with that kind of thing

- Have fun!!!!! It is required /silly

- Persist<3

Undertale AUs:

Fractal!Ink

Slay the Princess x Utmv (Stp x Utmv)

Guide (Spoilers up to current comic) (also includes refs for all Princes)

Beginning (Playthrough 1)

Mirror 1

Playthrough 2

Mirror 2

Playthrough 3

Mirror 3

Playthrough 4

Comic Dub playlist

Cross (Curd) ref

Who’s who

The birds (Voices) Ship kids' designs (Tart, Meringue, Poutine)

PFPs (Free to use!)

Silly Character Quiz

C.AIs (By Snowy)- Lime, Lemon, Curd

C.AIs (By Vanta)- Lime, Lemon, Siren, Angel

Empty Sun AU (Collab with @vantalemons/@vantagrapes!!!)

First comic

Second comic

NM (Corrupted) Ref

Color Ref

Swap/Blue Ref

Cross Ref

Dream Ref

Error Ref

Dust Ref

Killer Ref

Gravity Falls x UTMV

Main

Possessed NM

Lost in the Deep

Beginning!

Geno & Dream Refs (Old)

New designs-

The Crew

🍂Horror!Dreamtale (Main comic finished)

Old masterpost

Refs

The Twins

The Famine

The Wild

The Eclipse

The Light

Krakentale: (old):

Masterpost