#wait whats maintagging again

[chairhahaha]

10th sinner, 10th flamechaser, 10th prisoner…….

why do all my favourite characters have smt to do with the number 10

WIAT HELP IS DANTE SINNER 10 OR DID GOOGLE LIE

[lucabyte]

ghost

[frogatz]

wind waker save me

wind waker

save me wind waker

(last page is frommmm march 2023 when my friends first played thw forest haven. the consensus on it has not changed)

[peeledorangesandscurvy]

how do i say "in a universe where chen and cyrus become friends and cyrus Doesnt kill him for the autopsy pics, they would be fuck buddies" without sounding insane

[tunacroutons]

doodlepractices , &a rough draft of a jokepost that might not get finished

[betweenlands]

wait okay. puzzling through this out loud, i'm so sorry for the discourseposting yet again. not maintagged, but you're welcome to weigh in here and check my work; math is not my strong suit and this is likely is far from perfect.

so misadv is using the same LLM-based NPC system as Pirates, right? meaning that, regardless of whether or not the system is installed on a server, the cost of training and fine-tuning that LLM is already sunk -- it got paid when it was being made for the first time. and yes, it sucks ass how much power and electricity was drained there, but the point is. whether or not misadv uses those NPCs, that power still gets used on Pirates. so the only cost we're actually looking at is the cost of sending queries, maybe some fine-tuning but likely not as much as the first time the system was made.

let's estimate this super generously -- here's an article i'm using that goes into LLM power usage. there's precious little on cost total when it comes to only sending requests to an already existing model, this article lists 0.1 MWh per million queries, and that's what i'll be going with for the time being.

so: if the players talk to the NPCs a grand total of one million times, they will use 0.1 MWh of energy, or 100 kWh. that's not nothing! that's a pretty high cost, right?

except, uh. hey, how much in kWh does it cost to run a minecraft server 24/7?

well, this is a bit hard to calculate. a lot of the estimates come from, like. people on forums, or on reddit, or similar people self-hosting. couldn't find any info on professional server hosts. but what i've read estimates that keeping a minecraft server up for a month seems to cost about anywhere from 50 to 75 kWh.

in other words: in order to consume the same amount of energy that just keeping the server running would take, the players on misadv would have to send messages to the NPCs a grand total of 500,000 times a month.

if you're still opposed to misadv using LLM-based NPCs on principle, that's fine! if your issue is with the people behind Pirates having created the LLM systems in the first place, sure, be mad about that too, i certainly don't think it's great! if your issue is generally with the popularization and normalization of overall LLM usage, yeah, i get that, it's a fair argument!

but in this specific case using an existing system where the vast majority of energy costs would have already been used no matter if misadv had these NPCs or not, i don't think it's fair to say that continuing to use the pre-existing NPC system from another server is destroying the environment unless you also want to go after, like. every minecraft server host ever.

[kairithemang0]

I'm not maintagging this bcs i feel like im gonna be hounded with people saying im wrong or either get ignored and then talked about behind my back about how wrong this is

I feel like to some extent, Owen cleaned up after Curt a lot. Curt was the reckless one. They both got themselves into trouble, but Curt's were always a little larger. Before they got together, while they didn't feel like themselves around each other, Curt was a little more careful. He didn't want to make a bad impression because of a growing friendship and growing feelings. He wants Owen to think highly of him and his way of doing that is (subconsciously) being more cautious on missions

Meanwhile, whenever Owen was one to mess up, it felt larger. It was larger. Curt's fuck ups were usually small, fixable. Owen's weren't always like that. Curt sees the version of Owen that he pictures in his head, this godlike spy, it collapses. He's wrong. Owen's human just like him. He fucks up, just like everyone else, which for Curt is a hard pill to swallow.

When they get together any amount of care about their missions is thrown out the window. It doesn't matter anymore because their goal is to get back to their hotel room and be alone because they get a few nights and maybe will never see each other again. They're both risk takers, Owen can be more like "ok, maybe we shouldn't do this right now" but then let Curt do it anyways. And he takes risks of his own, and Curt doesn't care. While neither of them is the safest on missions, not really caring about the outcome in the end as long as they make it back alive, no matter how many pieces they may be in, when there is a bit of care, it's from Owen.

he's the one to say not until we're out of here. he's the one to say question curt putting the banana down. it's not that owen doesn't take risks, is that he's going to say "that's not the best idea" but not care what curt does or not

it's not about the mission for them, it's about living long enough to get to be alone. Curt makes fun of Owen for saying he should wait to drink, before instantly handing him the flask. They've done this before. This is their routine. Curt knows Owen isn't going to care, even if he puts on the face of someone who might. Owen's 'cleaning up after curt' in the way of he's saying he's going to put in the effort to, but nothing comes of it

Cynthia knows this too, she knows Owen's usually a bit of a mediator. Owen "knows what the hell he's doing". Curt's fine to goof off, but Owen's first going to ask "is this a good idea?" before instantly going along with it

[riacte]

What moments from any of your renchanting polls would YOU vote for? Just curious 👀

Thanks for the ask anon! :D

Fun fact: at first I excluded the burning tower and altar scenes on purposes because I knew those would sweep. But honestly the burning tower just seems lowkey normal compared to the stuff nowadays so I could see it making a comeback... so the burning tower is my top non-existent choice.

I think one of the craziest things have to be Martyn acknowledging Treebark and saying "yes I see you hehe" ON THE FIRST DAY OF TREEBARK WEEK 2022. The train of thought goes something like this:

Martyn asks for ships not to be maintagged. This is fine and reasonable.

He's aware of Treebark. Oh, well, makes sense. If he's asking for ships not to be maintagged, he's probably seen ships. Probably because someone was maintagging Treebark-

Martyn says the Treebark lot seem good at not maintagging. Wait. So he's seen Treebark. And he knows we usually keep it away. So he's ventured beyond the main tags. Has he been to #trafficshipping? #treebark? Who knows????????

"People seem to be pretty good at that, particularly the treebark lot (yes I see you hehe)" HELLO??? WAS THE DEVIL'S SACRAMENT FUN. WAS IT FUN MARTYN.

In the same breath, he acknowledges Treebark and how the shippers don't maintag, but he's seen it, so it kind of implies he's gone down a Treebark rabbit hole in order to find the content that is deliberately concealed

By the way this happened on the first day of Treebark Week 2022 (which is coincidentally before my birthday and coincidentally the anniversary comes next week).

He Knows. He's in the trenches with us

Another moment is Martyn finally watching pale white horse / where is your rider because that moment was ELECTRIFYING, I was feeling the emotions of 3L crash over me all over again. But for this poll, I voted for "been there, am there" because the way he delivers that is SO FUNNY. I was torn between that and the Martyn liking clip of Ren on Tumblr and honestly I should've chosen the latter because "been there, am there" is getting a lot of votes lmao.

It's truly unhinged. Renchanting / Treebark people never lose because when we lose, we win 🔥🔥🔥

[doodle17]

(not maintagging this because I already know the Bendy tag has heard enough from me about the ink demons design in dark revival but I was just looking at the archives and have to share my thoughts)

Did they... Did they really try to make the Ink Demons beta model fit in the world of Dark Revival? Did they?

Because listen- they said that his previous designs during development made him stand out. My assumption is because he looked too cartoony but like... Tom, Boris, Alisson and Alice all look like that??? ESPECIALLY Tom and Boris. They haven't changed much (aside from a few scars and general wear n' tear added to Tom) and they both fit perfectly into Dark Revival.

If I'm gonna be honest the Ink Demons new model doesn't fit in dark revival (to ME)

If you didn't already know, you probably wouldn't even tell he's supposed to be Bendy. If you removed the bow tie and glove BOOM. That's not Bendy (again, to me)

Now I have no idea if those leaks of early footage with the Ink Demons beta model are real or not, but I haven't seen anything saying they're fake so I'm going to be assuming they're real.

Anyways, yeah! In the early footage he really does stand out, and he actually doesn't really fit in with the environment of dark revival! I mean, the footage itself is very low quality and hard to see but still, I can see what they mean.

But I feel like if a few small changes were added it would've possibly fixed it.

From the beta footage we can see that the model is very rounded. I feel like adding some edge would greatly improve it. Also, MAKE HIM MUSCULAR. Not jacked obviously, but a good mix between lanky and muscular

Look at this

This is so PERFECT

You're telling me they couldn't achieve something like this? SERIOUSLY COME ONNNNN THIS IS SO COOL

This one ACTUALLY LOOKS like Bendy.

Just- *grabbing my head* I feel so ROBBED of what could have been... I really want to like thr new model and there's definitely some things I like about it (that lanky + muscular build I was talking about, the addition of spikes on his back and shoulders and the horns slightly pointing outward near the top adds some edge)

But... He just doesn't look like the Ink Demon. The Ink Demon is a bastardized failed attempt at a cartoon character being brought to life. Sure Ink Machines version isn't very scary, but it understood the assignment. That's a good "failed attempt" kind of design right there! I know for a fact if they leaned more into the possibilities of an uncanny look for the Ink Demon in dark revival they could have pulled it off. I know they could!

But no... They still stuck with their "Big and tough = scary" mindset, and we got something that looks waaaaaayyy too demonic to be a "failed attempt" of an easily recognizable cartoon character.

Oh wait- the reason he looks like that is because of the experiments Wilson did? Oh. Ok, that actually makes sense! I can understand and see it now! I still don't like the design, but at least they have an in game reason for why he looks like that and they aren't going to retcon his old design!

Is what I would say if THEY DIDNT USE THE FUCKING DARK REVIVAL MODEL IN ALL THE PREQUEL MATERIAL

No thoughts (MANY thoughts) just left to fantasize about what could've been....

[arqdyke]

OH WOW you're still awake hiii!! one more then while i have the chance. also so honored to have an entire tag now. that has to be an accomplishment. and!!! 👀 what niche rarepair pls i will bite at anything 👀👀

i cannot remember what else i was going to say so i'll just follow that too. op is sooooo friendly to multiship and rare ships because all of the characters no matter how minor are so interesting. it's fun to fling two people together as a concept and figure out how they would interact. (even not romantically even!! just two dudes would they be mortal enemies would they be chill? would they be besties for life??)

case in point! i got into op already knowing of a law ship, and after i read dressrosa, that ship solidified in my mind. but!! i caught up to op during zou :) which, in my mind, was the height of sabo/law popularity. so my first ship for sabo was actually with law! crazy how things work out. so much time has passed that i don't hardly even think about them anymore.

ohhh wait i know what i wanted to say now. favorite aus for fic?? any you would love to see in acesabo fic? if i know of any, i'll grab one for you ;)

hi!! i am in fact awake!!! i wanted to write more for my exchange fic bc ive just started recovering from been sick the past few days and havent rlly had the chance. but i ended up putting it off until like 12am LOL. under the cut again i talk . a lot.

its fun you mentioned sabolaw because. the 'pair' in question for the au is actually ichiji/sabo/law. no i dont know why my brain latched onto this. yes im still kind of obsessed with it. the social media aspect of my shipfic is a lot about ichiji & the transition from being a child star (alongside his siblings) to a more casual internet ministardom. theres court drama bullshit. theres fangirl law. all three of them are transfem. its really special to me.

also YEAH EXACTLY!!! to your rarepair thoughts. in every fandom im in im a huge sucker for rarepairs that seem like complete nonsense. throw those characters whove never met into a room and LOCK IT! not always romantically yeah but honestly its a lot easier to like . find content of niche pairs through ship names than just trying to sift through a million posts in their maintags. tumblr wise, at least. i actually have a sideblog thats been since sort of abandoned dedicated to finding as much niche rarepair content for two characters (not always with each other, just those two in general).

a fun thought exercise ive done a few times also is getting a nice randomizer of characters im familiar with for a fandom and using it to pick out a few ships to figure out how theyd interact/if i could make a shipfic out of them. sometimes they click sometimes they dont but its a fun way to explore characters imo

whats ur fav lawship nowadays if you dont mind :3? i like a looot for him ill admit but im not particularly committed to any. as with the multishipper way. and thats fair (on the sabolaw bit)... first ships dont always last super long. they sure are fun to think back too tho ^_^

my favorite aus for fic... oh god thats a tough one. i already mentioned modern aus and this ones sort of a tangent off niche topic focus's BUT. fics that are set in a specific career (especially doctor aus & lawyer aus but genuinely i just rlly like looking at niche little details of someones career.) see also hobby focused aus! like uhh. gymnastics. ice skating. just stuff like that idk. and aus that are focused around like.. movie tropes/genres. crime noir detective aus, slasher horror aus.. especially fun when theres a spin on the original tropes but when you can see how much love someone has for the og concept is when it rlly shines.

none of those are super specific tho. um. i have a soft spot for superhero aus even when theyre really bad. fantasy aus are trickier but when they hit they hit rlly nice. (trying really hard to think ummm) thats about all i can think of rn? but it is pretty late so im for sure forgetting some.

NOW. as for acesabo specifically.. first off if you have any fic ud especially recommend id love to read them regardless of the tropes/ships/whatever. but. acesabo aus.. ohhhgh. i dont know!! ive read a lot of really cute modern aus with them. and im not USUALLY into soulmate aus flat out but i could really love a good acesabo soulmate au. it just suits them. theyre both characters i enjoy seeing as cute girls quite a bit. its kind of unfortunate im not really a fan of either of them as trans guys bc there is SO MUCH transmasc ace stuff out there. sorry my guy you have my name i cant live like that. all respects to people who do like that tho! i like them nonbinary multigendering it up . sometimes transfem sometimes just.. trans. sorry this is not the point.

aus... aus... shakes my head around. OH i would LOVE to see a roleswap with them. ive thought abt that before and its kinda beautiful. i do also love a good polyship with them both! what elseeee. oh i didnt mention it earlier when we were talking tropes but political drama bullshit is soooo fucking good. for acesabo also! but im pickier with them with it bc i feel like it tends to get too whumpy/focused on misery. which isnt rlly my thing personally. gotta be a careful balance. i like aus where theyre both in the same 'group'; being both revolutionaries or both pirates or whatever.

i hope this actually answers your question lol i realize i went on a bit... but yeah. have a nice night if youre headed offline urself ^_^! ill be on for a while longer likely but i take so long to write these asks it might be pointless

[unconscioustrees]

HIIIII for the ask game all you're comfortable with answering :]

HIIIIII

yippeee

14 because i. don't interact with people i don't know/don't follow first/don't maintag anything etc. idm though i like it like this

uhhhh i'm assuming they mean romantic date. no idea tbh. years. even w people i dated i didnt really "go on dates"

963 (964 now)

hm. sneakers, mostly. and hiking boots

white. all four, no decoration anywhere lol

in my bedroom behind my pc

depends? i like drawing faces but i'm not that good at it. i'm pretty good at drawing animals but i never really do.

don't remember

i have this big polar bear plushie i sleep with. but i'm not that attached to it, i just need smth to hold. i could sleep holding a pillow too

thinks so hard. i have this really heavy 100% wool navy blue duffel coat

little village of less than 1k people. oof. farms all around the village.

uh. bol.com probably (dutch online store. it's like. amazon for dutch people)

durable. i'm like a cockroach. by all estimations i should NOT be alive and yet,,,,,.

manga ig? used to collect old books. OH i collect cinnamoroll merch actually

plain melba toast

i do go to therapy, i have two therapists. i like them both equally i think? actually i can't tell them apart. though i've known them both for almost a year. yikes

top surgery. lol

zazz cause i'm answering their ask rn

OKAY SO. story time. here in the netherlands santa claus isn't really a thing. but we have this guy called sinterklaas who is like. dutch santa claus. he comes to deliver presents every year on the 5th of december. and i found out when i was 5yo that he doesn't exist because i was a suspicious little shit and kept pestering my mother about my doubts till she gave up and told me he wasn't real. and then i went on to tell the entire class but no one believed me when i said he didn't exist lmfaooo

i'm blanking rn

not at the moment. but i'm kinda majorly getting into goth music rn soo….

um. caro emerald in kindergarten. then katy perry and adele in elementary school.

neither. mp3 player

complicated nuanced horrible to explain adequately etc etc

idk. probably? just for the drama

idk

yes

sad. i can't listen to happy music when i'm sad i'll get horribly pissed off

grey pajama pants, black longsleeve

yes

i. have no idea what's popular rn tbh

idk i just do it when it piles up? i'm not keeping track

prefer silver but gold looks better on me

OURAN HIGH SCHOOL HOST CLUB. it's horrible and i love it

hm. i like it how it is rn, but i'd love to get it shoulder length again without having to go through an awkward phase

no

medical applications of electricity throughout history

talia.

uhhhh idk.

i'm blanking. OH wait. emf meter lol

museum. not cause i dislike the idea of a concert date though

idk how to define what a regret is tbh. like how do you know you regret something. actually how does anyone know they regret something. seems fake tbh

[sky-of-ideas]

thimking about skylor and morro just being on the run in the amber morro au... about skylor escaping from the island using wind powers and the elements morro had from before he died and got tied to her... unless the elements reset. hm. hm 🤔

or maybe they'd stay if only to learn what chen's plans are... but ehhh that doesn't feel worth it enough... maybe they sneak back on the island every so often to find out if chen's planning anything new lmao.

vigilantes....

[ourlordapollo]

Uh oh girl my Kristoph Gavin musings are calcifying into unshakable headcanons

Have we already talked about his pathological need for validation. Can we. Can we talk about it again.

Obviously this is all speculation and knowing the writers, the Gavins probably have some fucked up supernatural backstory and dead parents, but the writers aren't here right now. *locks the doors*

Anyway, for the sake of minimizing stupid ppl yelling at me (assuming I'm brave enough to maintag this instead of letting it rot in obscurity, unrebloggable), please mentally insert "IN MY OPINION" before every statement I make

This is a classic case of choosing a conclusion and retrofitting evidence to support said conclusion but. I'm allowed to do that. I'm not turning this into Professor Fandom for a special grade in "FAN 485: Feverishly Justifying Your Own Bullshit."

Anyway.

Let's recontextualize Kristoph's actions using the following framework:

Kristoph Gavin is a sad little boy in a man's suit, desperate for the validation of everyone around him to the point that he would do anything to get it.

1. Phoenix

A lot of people (alright, haters. A lot of haters. You made me talk like Donald Trump. Are you happy now). *ahem*

A lot of haters like to paint this move as stupid like it's some kind of "gotcha".

"What move?"

The dual move of voting in Phoenix's favor and choosing to befriend him.

Here's the thing.

Of course it's fucking stupid. We're not looking at the pinnacle of criminal masterminds here

Why did he do that? The psychosexual need to force Phoenix to submit? (Actually wait keep talking I want to hear this—) Paranoia? By this point in the timeline, he's already shown a willingness to commit murder, so why not just kill Phoenix?

Because (say it with me now):

Kristoph Gavin is a sad little boy in a man's suit, desperate for the validation of everyone around him to the point that he would do anything to get it.

He's not some wannabe criminal mastermind.

He wants to be Phoenix's savior. He wants to be the only thing Phoenix has. He needs to be the sole recipient of Phoenix's gratitude and admiration. Because he's better than Phoenix, dammit! Of course he's better than Phoenix. Law is a meritocracy, he's got money, he's got white loafers for fuck's sake, he wins trials by working really goddamn hard because being a lawyer is hard for everyone, you don't just stumble ass-backwards into the courtroom and win every case by stuttering and sweating and stalling so OBVIOUSLY KRISTOPH GAVIN IS BETTER THAN PHOENIX WRIGHT! SAY IT! SAY IT! Look! Look at them together! Look who's still a lawyer and who's an evidence-forging fraud! Look how nice Kristoph looks next to this sad burnout! Look! LOOK AT HOW MUCH BETTER HE IS!

Do you see what I'm getting at here.

Obviously on some level he knows and fears that Phoenix really is better than him, and that matters, so he he really really needs Phoenix's validation

And lbr, he probably does have a deep psychosexual obsession with the idea of forcing Phoenix to submit to him

2. Forging evidence

I'm not gonna speculate on Kristoph's lawyering skills here. Really, I'm not. However I'd be cautious about making the argument that he forged evidence solely because he thought Zak was guilty and he reeeaally wanted to win. We saw that it was an extremely tricky case and that Zak's innocence would have been very difficult to prove. It's entirely possible Kristoph believed in Zak's innocence but didn't think he'd be able to prove it without cheating.

That being said, I don't think it matters.

It matters that the case was complicated, but it doesn't matter whether Zak was innocent or guilty or a secret third thing, because Kristoph would have cheated regardless becaaauuuuse

Say it with meeee...

Kristoph Gavin is a sad little boy in a man's suit, desperate for the validation of everyone around him to the point that he would do anything to get it.

He was up against a fucking rockstar. A famous, hotshot, cocky, little upstart rockstar. A young prodigy. A fucking teenager. It didn't matter one bit that they just so happened to be related. Or did it.

Of course he needed to win.

(If you want to get really headcanony with it, which I do, I think the Gavin parents definitely raised their kids with an extreme superiority complex, setting them apart from their peers by straight-up telling them "you are better than they are. You are not like them."

Klavier goes on to prove them right by becoming internationally famous and beloved and Kristoph. Well, Kristoph is, uh. Well, he's a pretty good lawyer. Got his own little office and everything. And then Klavier comes into his domain as a cocky lil teenager with a HUGE, high-profile case and here is Kristoph's chance to demonstrate to the world what he already knows: that he's special too. That he's special. Dammit. Why can't anyone else see that.)

And then Zak takes that away from him. And gives it to Phoenix.

Unforgivable.

3. Apollo & Vongole

Sorry for putting Apollo in the same category as a literal dog but. That's kind of point here.

I've seen ppl theorizing that, although Kristoph seems like a stereotypical cat person, he got a dog (specifically a golden retriever) out of a sense of paranoia bc!! That's normal! Normal people have dogs!!! Wealthy people have purebred golden retrievers!!! I am so normal and wealthy, look at my very average typical status symbol dog!

I humbly disagree. Even the Wiki seems to point to paranoia as Kristoph's chief, driving factor, but I.

Well.

I humbly disagree. Let's not circle back around to this; I'm not trying to discount anyone else's headcanons.

Anyway.

Why a dog and not a cat?

Because cats have a reputation for independence, for coming and going as they please, for not needing you. "Dog," meanwhile, persists as a synonym for "loyal." To call someone a dog implies ultimate trust, ultimate submission, to someone higher than them. To their master.

Now.

Why hire Apollo, specifically, an orphan with few friends or connections and a fuckload of trauma?

Why mentor Apollo? Why adopt a dog? (Why befriend Phoenix?)

The answer is the same:

He needs people to depend on him. He needs others to view him as a kind, benevolent benefactor. He needs their praise, their admiration. He needs people to tell him he's special and he needs other people to see those people telling him he's special and also believe he's special and then he needs additional people to talk to those people and hear about how special he is, he needs the whole wide fucking world to say that KRISTOPH GAVIN IS SPECIAL!!!!

(Although. Maybe he just likes dogs. Not everything has to have a shady ulterior motive. People don't fit neatly into your preconceived categories of "good" and "bad." Maybe he's a murderer who loves dogs and genuinely thinks of Vongole as his best friend. Maybe he saw promise in Apollo and genuinely likes the guy. Did you ever think about that.

Or maybe. It's both. Two things can be true simultaneously and people, both fictional and real, contain multitudes and contradictions we could never hope to understand.)

4. Murdering a guy with a wine bottle, Psyche Locks

I'm gonna be so so real with you, I don't think even Kristoph knows why he did that. I think he blacked out. I think he was a lil drunk ("grape juice" my ass), I think paranoia and fury, the fear and resentment of 7 long, long years, collided like atoms in his brain and fucking exploded I think the bottle was cool in his hand I think his arm hurt I think he felt the impact all the way up his elbow I think the cards were red I think the cards were blue I think he saw Phoenix Wright's face dripping blood I think he blinked I think he heard Vera Misham calling him "angel" I think he watched himself do it from behind his own back

Do you understand.

To even begin unpacking why he did that, he'd have to address that nagging fear that maybe he's not special, that maybe he's just some guy, that Phoenix Wright is special and Gramarye was right in choosing him over Kristoph that Gramarye was justified in taking away Kristoph's shot at admiration and acclaim and Kristoph killed him out of revenge because he couldn't handle the truth that he's not special he's not special he's not special. Phoenix Wright is special and Klavier Gavin is special and now even Apollo Justice is turning out to be special and Kristoph Gavin is an okay-ish lawyer who sucks at poker and talks way too fucking much. That he committed so many monstrous acts and ruined his own life out of the perverse desire to be loved by others because he doesn't. love. himself.

(I call these "load-bearing neuroses" because if you knock one pillar down, the whole structure goes down with it.)

5. Vera Misham

So I think Kristoph is good with kids because he was, for the most part, old enough to be a Small Person when Klavier was born and because I don't think he gets off on exercising that brutal, domineering kind of power over the powerless. I don't think outward cruelty appeals to him.

Why?

Well...

Kristoph Gavin is a sad little boy in a man's suit, desperate for the validation of everyone around him to the point that he would do anything to get it.

Fear and deference are not validation. People talk badly about you and think badly about you when you're a bully. He charmed Vera instead of threatening her because he needed her to like him. He needed Drew to like him. Good god, he needs everyone to like him so much. Talk about him when he's not in the room and tell him what you said. Write him a letter of recommendation and let him read the contents. Sing his praises at your local bar, then send him a recording.

6. "Keep the riff-raff out!"

Ohhh, buddyyyy :( You said the quiet part out loud

Because law is a meritocracy. Because Kristoph Gavin is kind of a big deal. People know him. He's very important. He has many leather-bound books and his apartment smells of rich mahogany.

Only special people are able to become lawyers. And Kristoph is such a special, special boy. He's so special that he got Phoenix disbarred. He's so special that he helped Klavier attain acclaim as a prosecutor. He's so so so special.

But when a group of select people are special, it means that there's another group. The un-special group. The group that Kristoph is so afraid that he's a part of.

By admitting that they exist, that he believes that other people are beneath him, he's asserting his belief in his own inherent superiority one final, desperate time. He's clinging to it so hard his fingertips are cracking the marble. He's starting to bleed. It's starting to hurt.

Before Phoenix, Klavier, and Apollo fucking spin-kick the pillars propping up his self-identity, toppling them and sending the foundation of Kristoph Gavin collapsing into jagged pieces on the floor of his psyche.

—

Personal note but everyone seems to be in agreement that Kristoph's Psyche Locks fuckin. shattered into little bitty pieces during that scene. Don't you think that hurt? Don't you think that hurt like fucking hell? When you break [REDACTED]'s Black Psyche locks in DD, they cry out in pain several times and imply that their head hurts. And that was Phoenix doing it right that time! So I say again:

Don't you think that hurt?

[balillee]

Hey i saw a post of yours about Niki and i was wondering what's your opinions on the characters in the syndicate

i'm just really interested in different peoples opinions about these things sorry

that's fine, don't worry lol,

(all below is /rp unless stated otherwise)

the syndicate as a whole i think is very ironically oppressive - the four richest individuals on the server, who command power through wealth and fear rather than respect, teaching people that they should live in a system that they believe is free, in which the members of the syndicate would sit at the top of the natural food chain, and the people they're talking to about their ideas of freedom would not thrive (due to a lack of skill, respect, resources etc).

individual members:

techno is very complex, because i'm conflicted as to whether or not i think he's fully aware that he'd sit at the top of the food chain in an anarchist society and knows he'd thrive over others (because of the dog eat dog comment he made to the badlands boys) or if he genuinely believes that anarchy will free everyone. i think overall his perspective as a character is very sheltered, and i don't think he understands the perspectives of others who may want order and believe that institutions, nations and government could be beneficial to their lives. i think he also misses a lot of context, such as how the original l'manberg was a truly special place - not perfect - but it wasn't oppressive (because it wasn't scared of losing it's power), it didn't force anyone to do anything, and it was built on a foundation of trust that only began to fall apart when eret betrayed them (aka when someone intervened.)

phil's another complex one, because his radicalisation is based a lot on grief and past experiences, but again it is still radicalisation, and a lot of it again seems sheltered. once again i think his character could benefit from the context of how l'manberg was before the elections and how beneficial it was for it's members. i also think he'd be the one to benefit the most from knowing how snowchester properly operates and how tubbo is technically it's leader. i think communication between phil and tubbo specifically could really be an eye opener for his character as to how anarchy isn't beneficial for everyone, and how government/nations aren't inherently oppressive. i see phil as a little more empathetic than techno, especially concerning the difference between phil and ranboo's dynamic vs techno and ranboo's dynamic (in which ranboo is still somewhat fearful of techno - still waiting on ranboo's reaction to learning about techno taking tubbo's second life), and so i hope if that conversation ever comes about, phil can be somewhat understanding that tubbo thrives best in nations because people like him and jack are fearful of powerful individuals because all they've done is cause them grief and take from them, and that doomsday taught them not about anarchy, but about how they should fear the powerful.

ranboo as a character, and this might in part be due to how young he is and his memory issues, is extremely naive. his solutions to problems read about as well as 'i think the thing that would help the most is world peace'. he's very well known for his ideas of not picking sides, and cc!ranboo is very open and admits that his character is a hypocrite in the sense that he may not know at some points that he's choosing a side that can hurt his friends. i think he's definitely naive for believing that the syndicate is capable of stopping conflicts, and i want to see if at some point he's thrown between two sides and his ideas of not picking a side and picking the obvious right side (either ideologically, or it's the one that protects his friends/innocent people) conflict. i also would like to see him build trust with other characters, especially with tommy, because i think the two could benefit from helping each other out with their dream trauma specifically, and because i think tommy's the person who best fits the criteria to help ranboo with the fourth book (not exactly the most morally pure but getting better/still somewhat a good person who stands up to bullshit, unaffiliated with any groups, can keep secrets).

niki i've been very openly critical about as a character, mainly because in stories i operate under the idea that if a character can be omitted from a retelling of the overall story, it shouldn't be there, but this is a roleplay series so that fallacy doesn't really work. she doesn't add much to the syndicate other than my annoyance of it to be honest. her views towards new l'manberg are hypocritical and somewhat aggravating, especially since she left it fairly quickly for someone who fought to get it back in pogtopia - she technically left on two occasions when she made her secret city during tubbo's presidency, and when she left with fundy to found drywaters. she had no reason to be mad at l'manberg as she had no affiliations with it. i also don't really like her 'healing arc', because her version of healing is also 'villain niki', which i fucking despise, because it reads as if her version of healing is turning on her friends and dictating how they should live as if she's not entitled and as if she knows better. genuinely, and i know this may sound overly negative, i don't find any redeeming qualities in her character, and cc!niki needs to either decide whether or not her character is angry and vengeful against people who never wronged her, or soft and kind and healing, because to me those two archetypes conflict a lot. she's the one type of traitor that the fandom subconsciously doesn't even recognise as a traitor, and has decided she doesn't need to redeem herself for how she treated tommy and how she treated her friends in l'manberg.

i see the syndicate overall as a villainous group, which, you can argue all day about how 'there are no good or evil people in the dream smp they're all morally grey' all day, but there are, and even the creators acknowledge it. pretty much all cc's acknowledge the alignment charts, people refer to their character's arcs as villain arcs or hero arcs etc. this doesn't mean that i hate the syndicate, it just means that i see them as morally and functionally in the wrong in comparison to groups like snowchester (and honestly, i think rooting for the heroes has become kind of underrated at this point. i'm a sucker for happy worlds that are good; built on compromise and understanding, what can i say?)

sorry if i seem overly critical about them, i don't mean to (so i won't maintag it), but i hope this explains my perspective a little!

[ethereousdelirious]

Yada yada yada I'm on mobile and can't do a read more and I'm not going to butcher this fic by censoring all the names so vanillas please don't be weird or abusive to me on this post. It's not maintagged, so the only reason you're seeing it is because of Tumblr fucking idiotic decision to show posts that haven't been tagged

Anyway. Here's that request for sick!Yasha~ Let's hope the formatting doesn't get all fucked up

For Yasha, waking up in pain was not a novelty or even an unwelcome surprise. Pain was merely the byproduct of work and would fade, as all things did, in time.

Today, however, was unusual. Yesterday had been easy. Like the others, she spent part of the day walking and part of the day riding in the cart. They hadn't fought. They'd even made camp early and she'd spent some time sitting in the grass talking with Caleb.

Why then, did her joints ache like she had spent the day hauling cargo for the circus? Why was her head pounding in time with the drumbeat of her pulse?

"Up and at 'em, Yasha!" Beau gave her arm a light kick.

Yasha sat up slowly. "Morning."

"'Deuces is already done with breakfast. You'd better hurry before Nott eats it all."

"I wouldn't let her," Caduceus said from over by the fire.

Nott glared at him, her eyes shiny. "Like you could stop me."

Yasha laughed lightly and got to her feet. "I didn't mean to sleep in so late." She shuffled over to the fire and sat down beside Fjord. Beau followed her and squeezed in beside Jester.

"You didn't even move when Fjord tried to wake you up," Jester said. "You just kind of--" She threw her head back and opened her mouth, a caricature of Yasha asleep on her back with her mouth open.

"Oh." Yasha looked at what everyone was eating, some sort of oatmeal with berries, and decided she didn't want any. "Was I snoring?"

"Only a little bit," Beau said. "It was kinda cute actually."

"Like purring," Caleb agreed. He snapped a Frumpkin appeared in Yasha's lap.

Yasha buried her fingers in the soft fur, still feeling strangely hungover and overworked. "Caduceus?"

"Hm?"

"Do you have any," she hesitated, still not quite used to just asking for things from this strange new family, "mint tea?"

"Yeah, I'm sure I have something like that." Caduceus sat back and began to pull things from his bag. "Anyone else?"

The group murmured their mixed assents and declinations. Caduceus prepared some water to boil.

"We should probably get a move on sooner rather than later," Fjord spoke up.

"We will," Caduceus said, unconcerned. "This won't take long."

Fjord looked like he wanted to argue, but fell silent.

"Sorry," Yasha said, suddenly hyper aware of how the group might perceive her. "I didn't mean-- I don't want to hold us up."

"It's fine, Fjord is just antsy," Jester reassured her. "You know he can't sit still."

"I have the cure for that," Beau stood up and grabbed Fjord by the collar. "C'mon. Let's go do some push-ups since you're so energetic."

"Save me," Fjord whispered as he was dragged away, and then he was gone.

Yasha chuckled. Sitting like this was nice. Her joints didn't feel quite so sore and her head only hurt when moved too quickly. 

When Caduceus handed her a steaming mug of mint tea, she drank it down quickly so as not to hold anyone up more than she already had.

At first it was pleasant, warming her body against the chill of the morning air.

But the heat didn't fade. By the time they packed the wagon and started down the path, she was sweating. Each step felt like it took twice the effort that it normally would.

She went silent as she walked, trying to figure out what could be wrong. Had she been poisoned? She knew Fjord and Nott were mistrustful of her now, but they wouldn't-- Would they?

No. Yasha shook her head to clear it. They wouldn't. Maybe… It was a slim possibility, but it was the only one that made logical sense. Maybe she was sick.

Yasha was rarely ill, especially not like this. The last time she'd been sick, she had caught a head cold off Molly, and continued to work while he draped himself all over her and complained that he was dying.

She smiled at the memory and let it fade before the pain of his loss could come sneaking in. So she was sick. She could handle it.

Jester stood at the front of the wagon and watched the ground move as she prepared to do something phenomenally stupid. Swallowing her fear, she jumped over the side of the wagon. She managed to land on her feet, but the momentum caused her to stumble and fall.

"Aw, man," she complained loudly, mostly so the others would know she wasn't badly hurt.

"Please don't do that again!" Fjord said from his spot at the front of the wagon. "At least, not without warning me first."

"Sorry!" Jester looked at the dust on her palms. Satisfied that she wasn't bleeding, she wiped them off on her dress.

"Here." Yasha's imposing silhouette blocked out the sun. She extended a hand to Jester and helped her to her feet.

"Thanks, Yasha!" Jester fell into step beside her. "I don't know what I thought was going to happen, but I was hoping it would be cooler than that."

Yasha laughed, but her gaze seemed far away. "Maybe Beau can teach you some tricks."

"Sounds fun!" Beau shouted from the far side of the wagon.

Jester shouted back and soon she and Beau were having a loud conversation about the proper form and practical applications of a forward roll.

She got so wrapped up in it that she didn't even notice when Yasha disappeared from her periphery. It was only when Caleb politely asked them to stop shouting (followed by a less polite request from Nott) that Jester looked around and realized that Yasha had fallen behind.

She was trailing several feet behind the wagon, her feet dragging in the dust and her head lowered.

Jester jogged back to her. "Hey, Yasha! Are you okay?"

Yasha's eyes were hazy, unfocused. She looked at Jester helplessly. "I'll be okay."

"What's wrong?" The wagon was pulling farther away from them but Jester paid it no mind. "Your face is all red. Are you sick?" She stood on her tiptoes and cupped a hand to Yasha's forehead. "Yasha!" she gasped, half-scandalized. "Did you know you have a fever?"

"I do?" Yasha slumped forward suddenly, like the realization had taken her strength away. "I don't get sick."

"Everybody gets sick," Jester said. She smoothed a few errant locks of hair out of Yasha's face. "Oh, poor Yasha."

"I really don't," Yasha said, her brow knit in confusion. "Not like this."

"You've really never had a fever before?"

Yasha shook her head.

"That's okay, I'll look after you!" Jester said. Then her head snapped up. "Oh. Shit." She screwed up her face in concentration. "Hey, Fjord! Stop the wagon for a second! Me and Yasha got behind. We're fine though, don't worry. We'll be right there. How many words was that?"

"I wasn't counting."

"Yeah, me either." Jester shrugged. "Well, they stopped. Can you walk? 'Cause I bet I can totally carry you."

"I can walk."

The others were waiting for them expectantly, varying degrees of concern on their faces.

"We're fine!" Jester said, making shooing gestures. "We're just going to ride in the back for a bit. Okay?" This last word was directed at Caleb and Nott, who had been riding nestled amongst their supplies.

"Ja, that's fine." Caleb shrugged and invited Nott to scurry up onto his shoulders.

"Okay, come on, Yasha." Jester helped her climb into the back. The she popped her head out from behind the cover. "Okay, stop staring already! We're fine. Let's go."

"O-kay?" Fjord started to walk back around to the front. "Beau, want to ride with me for a bit?"

"Sure." Beau kept casting curious looks at Jester, but she went with Fjord. The wagon started to move again and Jester turned back to face Yasha.

"Okay, I'll get you all taken care of, I promise."

"Thanks," Yasha said, looking a touch awkward. "I'm not really sure what to do."

"Well for starters," Jester dug through their supplies and pulled out her bedroll, then Yasha's. "I'm going to make you the comfiest little nest ever." She arranged the blankets and pillows to her liking and motioned for Yasha to lie down. "Umm, let's see. Are you hot? Your face is really red."

"Yes," Yasha said immediately. Her skin felt overheated and irritated. Even the texture of the blankets was almost painful on her bare arms.

"Okay, hang on." Jester started to go through her pockets, eventually producing a small scrap of cloth.

Yasha watched as Jester carefully poured some water over it. "What's that for?"

"It's going to go on your forehead," Jester explained. "Like this." She leaned over and carefully draped the wet cloth over Yasha's brow. "Lie back or it will fall off."

"Oh," Yasha said as immediate, blissful relief washed over her.

"I wish I had another one for the back of your neck," Jester said thoughtfully. "Maybe Caleb has a handkerchief in one of his 600 pockets."

"Jester," Yasha took her hand. "This is. Wonderful. Thank you." No one, not even Molly, not even Zuala, had taken care of her like this. It was almost overwhelming. "Really, thank you."

"It's nothing," Jester said, not looking Yasha in the eye. A deep purple brush was beginning to creep up her neck. "Um, anyway, do you want to sleep now?"

"I don't know." Yasha stretched as much as she could in the confines of the cart. "I'm tired, but not that kind of tired."

"How about I tell you a story? I can tell you all about Princess Fancybottom, the most beautiful, well-endowed princess in the whole world."

Yasha smiled. "That would be nice, Jester. You can-- You can lie down next to me if you want."

"Okay." Jester nodded, satisfied. "Close your eyes so you can really picture the story, okay?"

"That's a good idea, actually. I'm probably way colder than you are." Jester scooted in next to Yasha, settling in so their arms touched. "Ooh, you are warm. Let me know if you start to feel worse, okay?"

"I will."

Yasha closed her eyes. Jester began her tale of Princess Fancybottom as the cart rolled along the simple dirt path.

Yasha knew that the world was full of dangers and discomforts that she would eventually have to face, but in this moment, all she felt was safe.

[allswellthxtends]

Goodnight, Darling.

A kharlotte fan fic. Most of this was an AI. (Besides a few little things.) Have fun. -Birb

Charlotte wasn't sure if it asking. On one end, K and her had been friends for years, and the other. . . Well, Charlotte wasn't sure if she could call it love yet, but it was there. Soft and warm in the space between her lungs.

She leaned against her friends shoulder, quiet, like she'd been for a long while now. Her eyes unfocused as she sighed. How'd they end up here? Pressed shoulder to shoulder, between pages that they didn't read aloud.

It was too quiet for a goodbye.

K hadn't moved. Neither of them had. The lamp flickered softly from Charlotte's room, light slanting through the open door. Another reminder that they had to change that stupid bulb. They'd been meaning to do it for ages. Since the first few weeks of owning the flat.

K was humming. She did that a lot less lately. Charlotte briefly let her mind flicker to the times she'd pluck idly at her guitar while K whistled along to no particular song, knees folded over the stair case.

With K leaving. . . Charlotte knew it was unlikely they'd have that again.

K shifted, and Charlotte jumped, startled by the sudden movement.

K cleared her throat. And didn't meet Charlotte's gaze.

Say you're staying. Charlotte thought. Say it so I don't have to ask you. So I don't feel like I'm going to ruin this.

"I should- I should get to bed." Charlotte said after a bit, lifting herself to her feet despite the heaviness of her heart.

"Goodnight, Darling." K said. A little familiarity in this dazed confusion. Something K had always said, as a mean to get Charlotte flustered. And it was a lurch that tugged at Charlotte's floating rib, and slithered into the space between, right to the fuzzy static in her heart.

Her throat hurt, as if she were trying to swallow gravel. She paused, looking at her friend who'd gone stiff.

"K."

It was a moment before K looked back.

"K, I-" Charlotte began. "I want you to stay."

K looked startled, like she was trying to process what she'd heard, or maybe what she hadn't.

K blinked a few times.

"Char," She whispered, tears beginning to pool. "I can't-" It was a soft whisper, like a lost thing.

Charlotte nodded. "I know." She took a step forward and knelt before her friend, taking her shoulders in her hands. "It's just- I can't bear the thought of goodbye."

K trembled, like she was trying to take in the words. Finally, she found her voice. "I'm sorry, Charlotte."

Charlotte nodded, the tears sliding down her cheeks, the anguish choking.

K reached forward, and then hesitated. "I don't want to. I really don't want to."

"I know you don't." Charlotte said.

"But I'll keep in touch I promise-" K began. Charlotte shook her head.

They were both quiet for a bit.

"Wake me up before you leave, alright?" Charlotte whispered, and K nodded.

"Good night darling." Charlotte said, and couldn't bear to wait for K's reaction.

A door closed once. And a second time.

A flickering light went out.

A few hours later all Charlotte found the letter K had hastily scribbled.

"I'll call you everyday. I won't let you go Char, I promise. I'm never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down, never gonna run around and desert you."

bird you don’t have to hide i know it’s you @lovebird-in-the-dark i am maintagging you because i hate you