#vaguely in order but not really

[twofoursixohjuan]

@absolutely-existing the Ellemer Jann playlist in its current nascent form:

At The Wind's Will / Poor Man's Poison

Passenger / Powderfinger

Ship In A Bottle / Fin

The Phoenix / Fall Out Boy

Mollymauk / Kimber's Men

Capable Of Anything / Ben Folds

Sometimes / Nick Lutsko

Turkish Song Of The Damned / The Pogues

The Horror And The Wild / The Amazing Devil

Little Lion Man / Mumford & Sons

Black Wings / Tom Waits

[egophiliac]

still absolutely losing my mind over Lilia

[wantonlywindswept]

Definitely True Facts About Commander Vertex #3

He has negative Force bacteria.

[forgotten Fox AU tag]

"Midichlorians," Patches said, for the third time, his head in his hands. "They're called midichlorians."

"Tiny little buggers that live in your body," Jek scoffed. "I might have barely scraped by my biology modules, but that sounds like bacteria to me."

Patches whimpered.

Jek grinned and reached over to pat his babiest of brothers on the head. Their youngest medic really was too easy to rile up. 

Still, at least Patches was capable of taking a break on occasion, even if it was just to sit at Jek's bedside in the medbay while he recovered from a round of Force cleansing. He always felt a little like the mess hall slop after every session, squishy and mostly-liquid, though the effects had been lessening as the treatments went on. 

Turned out that working in close proximity to an evil Sith overlord for an extended period of time could be 'damaging' and 'harmful to the spirit', and as soon as the Jedi got the okay from Marshal Commander Thorn they'd instituted regular healing sessions for the Guard. Some of them weren't overly affected--the ARF division hadn't been allowed in the Senate Dome that often anyway, and the medics rarely left the infirmary, much less Guard HQ--but the majority of them were on rotating schedules to get their minds checked for Sith residue or whatever.

It was even worse for the Force-sensitives.

No one was more surprised to find Force-sensitive clones than the clones themselves, and a frankly unsettling percentage of the Guard tested for above-average midichlorian counts. That was just those who agreed to submit to the assessment, too--a lot of the Guard refused to do even that. It wasn't like they could be Jedi, and with the war over, what did it even matter?

(Except it did matter, a lot, because apparently evil Sith overlords could also drain the life force from sentients around them, and particularly enjoyed ones with the Force. Palpatine got a little tasty burst of power like they were some kind of energy snack, and it wasn't like the Guard weren't already exhausted anyway.

That kind of siphoning left even worse traces of Sith influence; Jek's cleansing sessions made his bones feel like wobbly gelatin, but Glitch's sessions hurt.)

"I bet Defib's m-count is the highest in the Guard," Jek mused absently as he watched their CMO stalk around the medbay between the beds--and the Jedi--with a scowl on his face. 

Patches lifted his head to give Jek a horrified look.

"Don't say that where he can hear you."

Jek, who lacked both bones and a sense of self-preservation, merely shrugged. Defib had refused testing, scoffing that he didn't need the Force to heal, but he wasn't named after a defibrillator for nothing: he'd brought more than one brother back from the brink of death against impossible odds.

Jek had his suspicions about Patches, too. 

Even with Defib hovering suspiciously over their shoulders, the Jedi healers--there were four of them, led by Master Rig Nema--moved around the medbay with an almost unearthly poise. Jek was more familiar with ordered chaos in the infirmary: medics shouting across the room to each other, rushing back and forth to see how far their meager supplies could stretch. The Jedi were quiet, coordinating with each other soundlessly while still seeming to be aware of everything else happening in the room.

The mesmerizing little dance wasn't even interrupted by the main doors opening, which drew Jek's attention to Commander Vertex stepping into the medbay. The commander had his bucket tucked under one arm, and sharp eyes surveyed the room in a quick glance.

Patches waved at Vertex, because he was adorable. 

Vertex waved back, because he was a sap.

Defib immediately veered off his self-appointed task of looming to intercept Vertex before he got too far into the room. They ducked their heads together in a brief conversation with far too much angry gesticulating on Defib's part, and the calm competency Jek had come to expect on Vertex's. Jek watched, fascinated, as Vertex managed to settle the fuming medic with just a few words and a gentle touch to his shoulder. 

Defib made a bitchy face, but he did seem to lose some of his protective bristling; at Vertex's nudge he sidled over to his desk in the corner of the medbay, dropping into his chair to finally take a break and...to angrily chew on a ration bar?

Incredible.

The Jedi, meanwhile, had continued on with their Force nonsense, which lasted up until Vertex tapped one of the healers on the shoulder and their serenity shattered with a resounding squawk.

The poor Rodian who made the noise spun around, flailing wildly, and would have fallen back onto one of the beds if Vertex hadn't grabbed her to keep her upright. The other three Jedi's heads snapped up in eerie synchronicity, startled expressions on their faces, and Master Nema took a jolting step forward before seeming to register what had happened.

In the frozen stillness that followed, Defib's sullen crunching took on a distinctive note of glee.

"Apologies," Vertex said. "I didn't mean to startle you."

"When did you even..." 

"How can we be of assistance, Commander Vertex?" Master Nema asked, stepping away from her patient to take the place of the still-baffled apprentice healer. Both she and Vertex smoothly ignored the disbelief radiating off the other Jedi, who were looking at Vertex like they didn't know how he had appeared. 

Jek wondered that sometimes, too, but it didn't bother him.

"Hey," he said, nudging Patches with his elbow as the two bigwigs conversed, "What do you bet that Commander Vertex has negative Force bacteria?"

Patches stared at Jek like he'd kicked a baby massiff, and then slowly sunk lower in his chair with a low, despairing whine.

So easy.

[marci11e]

the domino effect of getting into dungeon meshi is real and it is consuming. here’s a little playlist.

[linkedin-offficial]

flight rising lorestuffs

[fayevalcntine]

Positioning Louis as the "Edwardian wife who becomes trapped by her husband" in a literal sense does no justice to analyzing his actual place and role as a Black man in his society and in his relationship with Lestat. Any interpretation or analysis you do of him when it comes to their relationship cannot be stripped of the racial aspect because it's constantly there. Texts analyzing Edwardian wives (and particularly ones this fandom loves to bring up) typically were white and the dissection of their place in societal rules are always viewed from the aspect of gender that is within these texts only allowed to white women, but never to Black men or even Black women. And gender and race become inseparable when you discuss the latter, no matter how people may view it.

This is why I can't take this approach to analyzing Louis' story seriously because if you don't consider the racial aspect in his relationship even to himself and his sexuality, what's the point? You're still centering the standards that were more placed upon white male/female couples than you're willing to look into the unique structure of Black families, religion, their view of homosexuality and how that sooner heavily influences Louis than the family's "need" for him to be sold off to an Edwardian husband. Even in Louis' own story, him and Claudia being Black is more centered on than any demeaning "housewife" comment he tries to go against from Claudia's perspective. She makes that comment once, whereas we have at least two episodes from Louis' perspective that have very blatant hints and showings of the racism he still suffers from under the Jim Crow era and how it affects his self-worth as well as his relationship with Lestat who doesn't seem to take into consideration how any of the blatant racial aggressions and objections still affect Louis and what he considers to be important to achieve in his own life.

Then there's also the pointed topic of Louis' position as a Black man who is a pimp to the Black women he has as sex workers, as well as how his position as a Black father affects Claudia, another Black girl. If you insist on Louis being centered as this "Edwardian white wife" who is confined by his implicit gender in his marriage, where does that leave Claudia and the blatant misogyny and disrespect she gets from both him and Lestat? Lestat who is her white father abuses her. Positioning Louis within the strict confines of "being her mother" doesn't do her any favors because he didn't hesitate to choke her when he was deeply emotionally distressed, nor does it make him look any better when he's fine with chopping up her diaries and then delivering them on a silver platter so that Daniel, another white man, can read and dissect. Even if he does this under the sole pretense of "doing right by her", how does it in any way help when he also can't face up to his failures towards her?

[fisheito]

hey. hey you. yeah, yoU!! the one who actually looks at clothing!!! i request help. i need images of wedding dresses that you think would fit the starter trio [yaku, ed, oli]. pls send images........ of any ideas you have🙏

[moeblob]

Demyx (my beloved)

[lord-squiggletits]

What is the Tarnma penpals au? I've seen you mention it a couple times and am super curious about it!

Hiiii

So the Pen Pals AU is an idea that I got a couple of weeks ago. Kind of self-explanatory by the name, but the idea is it's a post-war scenario with a diplomatic ending b/t the Autobots and Decepticons. One of the many efforts to normalize relations is a pen pals program that's set up to pair Autobots with Decepticons under randomized pseudonyms. The goal is to try and create positive relationships based only on these letters and not any preconceived notions based on faction or identity. (Also it's pre-Earth which means it's pre-Delphi for Pharma, so his normal non-traumatized personality features.)

Pharma and Tarn naturally get paired up under this program, and the first part of the AU/fic (yes I'm going to write it eventually) is them basically having their pen pals relationship turn from friendship to heavily implied mutual romantic attachment. Their individual daily lives are also shown bc each of them is dealing with their own identity-related crisis: Tarn struggling with depression and addiction in the aftermath of all the things he did for the DJD and confusion over why Megatron just had them change so suddenly. Pharma with the realization that his whole life has just been defined by his accomplishments and he's lived his life in a way where he's oft-respected and admired, but never loved for who he is as a person rather than what he does.

The whole AU was originally meant to be fluffy and slice-of-life-esque (there was even an arranged marriage component in the very first conception of the idea), but as I fleshed out the setting more, I realized I wanted to actually delve deep into the implications of a post-war setting. So the Pen Pals AU has taken a darker turn recently; not darker as in fluffy romance to dead dove, but it's more like, the fluffy romance develops and then the past/war comes back to haunt Tarn and Pharma's relationship in a way that's very (re)traumatizing, both for them individually and their chances of being able to stay together as a couple.

So the fact that Tarn was in the DJD/oversaw Grindcore and did countless atrocities is very much an element of the story that's explored rather than shied away from. At first he deals with it on his own, and for a while he lives in blissful ignorance knowing that his pen pal is the one relationship he has with a "normal person" (he knows that his pen pal is a doctor, aka not a hardened soldier and criminal). Unfortunately things get complicated when his pen pal asks to meet IRL because he wants them to be more than friends, and Tarn realizes that he can't move forward with this new, blooming relationship without being honest about who he is. On Pharma's end, he has to grapple with the idea of choosing love over reputation, following his heart rather than his fear of social rejection/ostracization. Especially when the consequences of continuing to date Tarn could go from just "people judging him" to.... well, that's what me eventually writing the fic is meant to reveal. :)

TLDR: Tarn and Pharma meet as anonymous pen pals, end up having a lot of shared issues re: loneliness and isolated public personas, help each other solve their personal problems, share a mutual love of music, and fall in love, then realize who the other is. Complications ensue.

[subsequentibis]

i started playing the stanley parable and [spoilers ahoy] got a few of the worst endings i'm assuming you can get fairly quickly, so my reading on the narrator has been that he's a sadistic evil bastard who'll psychologically torture and kill a man over and over for not agreeing to be his puppet, and then i get like, the adventure line segment where he's sort of fumbling and confused and almost cute and i'm like ahhh.... i was maybe.... not supposed to do all that stuff...... just yet...

[doveshovel]

I saw a couple people putting together songs and playlists and stuff for their ocs so. First time attempting a character playlist(?) for Hunter wheeeee

This Cold Night: Drown me in the River

OH!Hello: Haunted House

The Smiths: Back to the Old House

Running away from his old house. Knowing that he would never wish to return, but feeling some conflict. Severing attachments to the few good memories that kept him there. Old love that, even then, existed as a distant memory. Has some wish to return to the same house as it existed in childhood. When the people around him were kind. Knowing it can never be as it was.

"I would love to go back to the old house, but I never will."

This Cold Night: Black Cathedral

Seeing the black silhouette of a church spire against the red light of dawn during the long drive north. He's not religious, but the imagery and timing leave an impression.

Linkin Park: What I've Done

Couldn't help myself. Had to put linkin park here.

Carmen Maki: 時には母のない子のように

Lost at sea

Joe Hisashi: A Town With an Ocean View

Arrival in Cape West

Corb Lund: I Wanna be in the Cavalry (Seth Staton Watkins cover)

Meeting WizardEgg, joining the soulriders. He's too optimistic about it, and almost believes them to be an idealized version of some little cavalry regiment. Doesn't think Garnok is an actual threat yet.

Big Data: Automatic

Aideen and Hunter's relationship, sort of. They're codependent. She needs a channel through which to enact her will, he needs to be kept alive and feel useful.

"I'll be the one to make your heart beat right"

"Here I am because you need me to do it again"

Modest Mouse: Float On

Despite everything, Hunter's an optimist. He tries to see the best in situations and people.

:)

[melien]

𝑰 𝒅𝒊𝒅𝒏'𝒕 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝑾𝒆 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒃𝒐𝒓𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒔𝒖𝒃𝒖𝒓𝒃𝒂𝒏 𝒍𝒆𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒎𝒆, 𝒊𝒕 𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒅𝒔 𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒐𝒈𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒌𝒊𝒔𝒔 𝒎𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒂 𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕'𝒔 𝒈𝒐𝒏𝒏𝒂 𝒔𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒘 𝒎𝒆 𝒖𝒑 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝑰 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝑾𝒆 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒃𝒐𝒓𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝒕𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒆𝒔 𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒎𝒆 𝒘𝒆'𝒅 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒕𝒐𝒈𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒌𝒊𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒎𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒂 𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕'𝒔 𝒈𝒐𝒏𝒏𝒂 𝒔𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒘 𝒎𝒆 𝒖𝒑 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓

🎵

[lovelesswiki]

sometimes i joke about how loveless could be easily ended by just handing soubi a gun and whatever he chooses to do with it would end loveless (yes, morbid sorry), but i do legitimately think that one of the most frustrating parts of where loveless 'ended' is that it's pretty clear from the results of the battle that there is a massive stalemate between the ritsuka-soubi-seimei where everything feels like a powder keg that's an instant or two away from blowing.

i think a lot of that comes from soubi, who actually holds a lot of the power here but none of the ability to utilize it. loveless can't go on without soubi, but it could go on without either ritsuka or seimei (likely not with both of them unless someone could talk soubi down from a very literal ledge). ritsuka has no fighter and cannot do anything on his own other than make the choice to return to goura, which is pretty much the only option in this case other than not doing anything.

seimei's case is even more interesting. i don't recall if his motivations are really gone into (hello i am very slowly rereading ill get there eventually (whenever my job stops killing me)) but my theory has always been that he took soubi back because he didn't think nisei was up to beating moonless alone but knew 1. that soubi could, and 2. not winning would halt everything. and he was right on both counts. nisei lost, soubi won, and seimei was only able to get away because soubi was there at all.

that gives us this weird little triangle of a lingering stalemate threatening to blow up. seimei's plans now hinge on soubi. he might not be utilized for all of it, but seimei seems to be well aware that he needs soubi and nisei won't cut it for what he needs. ritsuka needs soubi to do anything tangible about seimei. he's essentially needed by everyone in this situation. technically, seimei can't do much without him (since nisei seems to be incapacitated post moonless battle) and ritsuka can't do anything without him other than try to talk things through. this isn't stated directly iirc, but i think seimei is also balancing on a very fine point of ritsuka completely giving up on him ever being his brother again, and i think more than anything seimei is aware of that and is instead waiting for ritsuka to make the first move.

i think it's interesting how much of this power rests with soubi and also how much of whatever seimei's plan is relies on soubi being too depressed/out of it or too obedient to realize that he has power in this situation. any move he could make has the potential to actually end loveless, whereas both ritsuka and seimei are relying on him to either stay obedient or make up his mind/do something. if soubi defies and goes with ritsuka, seimei doesn't have the firepower to win and thus, the story wraps up. if he stays with seimei, seimei's plan goes through and seimei wins, story wraps up. if soubi takes himself out of the game in some way, then neither ritsuka or seimei win and the story wraps up because it's now a no-win situation.

loveless ends up with this three way powder keg set up and ready to blow and honestly if i think about this any longer i'm just going to get sad again that we're still resolutionless... endless, even.

[crystallizsch]

i’ve had some finished art ready since the beginning of the month but i haven’t sent them to the aether yet so it just kind of. piled up —

also i just put emojis only bc i don’t want to reveal it entirely ;; just choose what looks the most interesting!! 🙏

[playerkingsley]

I know I didn’t keep up on my ravening war commentary but I did finish it last week and it’s DEFINITELY cemented itself & crown of candy as possibly my favorite d20 seasons. now I’ve started mentopolis and: the relentless puns? the noir tropes? characterization that is hilarious yet perfectly suited to their functions narratively and physically as facets of cognition? I think I’m in love

[cryptiddeer]

I enter the fandom crossover tag. One is a mid-2000s kids cartoon that has slowly been replaced with fanon due to cool ideas but less than great writing, the other is a Comics/Cartoon/TV show/game/movies with over 70 years of history with various writers, and ever-changing canon, making it impossible to know every single little thing.

There is an interesting writing prompt for the crossover with a good amount of notes, indicating that other people liked this prompt and have written for it and/or recommended fics with similar ideas.

I enter the notes.

WHOOPS the first one I see is someone complaining about the prompt because either

1.) they don't like the core idea of the prompt

2.) The core idea for the prompt doesn't exist in canon

3.) One persons addition later in a large reblog chain doesn't align with canon

About half of the notes are some guy on a soapbox yelling about how this prompt is stupid and bad and people replying to tell them off for soapboxing on a writing prompt

Conclusion: I am begging people to learn Tumblr etiquette and scroll pass shit they don't like PLEASE