#we're in charge now

[bil-daddy]

Guys! You'll never believe what just happened... (or maybe you will)

So I was about to propose to @mrazfellco but then he said "hold that thought!" because he had a magic trick he wanted to show me.

At first, I was annoyed because, you know, he interrupted me when I was about to pour my heart out to him--especially when he pulled a turnip out of his top hat. I'm telling you guys, I was about ready to shoot lightning.

But then...do you know what this angel did? This angel turned the turnip into an engagement ring!

He was proposing to me! Hear that everyone? Aziraphale was proposing to me!

best. magic. trick. EVER.

And I said YES! Course I said yes.

Sure, I had a little malfunction first, due to the shock.

But I got over it, quick as anything, and said yes.

Then, @mrazfellco asked me what I originally wanted to talk about, since I did tell him I had something important to ask him--which I'd almost forgotten about in all my surprise and excitement at him proposing to me (still can't believe it, honestly)

Almost. (I could never completely forget about #my proposal to aziraphale. it's all I've been thinking about for the past two thousand years normal human lifespan)

So, I got down on one knee, showed him the rings I've been working so hard on the last few weeks, and asked my question.

And he said:

...then I may have malfunctioned again. And started crying.

But if you saw that, no you didn't.

Anyway, the important this is,:

HE SAID YES. I SAID YES. WE SAID YES.

@mrazfellco and I are now engaged

AND WE'RE GETTING MARRIED!!!

[fellamarsh]

another thing i've been trying to do recently is read more self-published stuff. "but fell," you say, "you're a self-published author. surely you've been reading self-published stuff all along" and then i laugh for so long in response we both become uncomfortable.

see, the fear (which has for a long time been killing my mind) that i'll read other self-published stuff and find out that it's so much better than mine that i might as well stop writing forever kept me from doing that basically ever. i have a hard time not unfavorably comparing my work to others and had convinced myself i was being smart by withholding an avenue of de-motivation (reader: i was not being smart). it also doesn't help that i'm pretty low income and have a hard time spending money on books i haven't already read, and that self-published stuff isn't always available at the library---but really a lot of it was just me being a coward. which i'm working on. i could talk about how this particular cowardice is Very Silly, but i think enough has been said about it on writeblr and in the Writing Space in general that i don't feel the need to (though i will if anyone wants me to).

instead, i wanna talk about the self-published things i have read in the past few months and ask about the self-published things you love!

so: what happened was i got real sick, and while i was real sick i (naturally) read over 200,000 words of ace attorney fan fiction in the span of a few days. eventually i got bored of it (and also maybe annoyed at how people were characterizing some of my guys), but i still wanted to read something gay and romantic and nice, something i knew was gonna end happily, which isn't my typical fare.

now you may be saying (having gotten over all the uncomfortable laughter from earlier) "fell, you write gay romance. what do you mean that's not your typical fare?" listen. until a couple months ago i hadn't read a cut and dry romance novel since before i finished college. for context: i graduated in 2015. i know it doesn't make sense. i'm a guy who doesn't make sense.

but in this case it worked to my advantage. not the not making sense thing, but the not having read Published Romance in 1000 years thing. I didn't know where to start. I was very skeptical of everything the library had Available Now in the Gay Fantasy Romance category. what if it was all bad and also not good?

and then i scrolled past the familiar cover of our very own @ashen-crest's A Rival Most Vial.

now this was comfortable territory! this was a novel by a very nice writeblr person whose posts i enjoy! i already loosely knew the plot, i was familiar with the characters, i knew the names of things like rosemond street and the griffin's claw and that ambrose had blue hair and that at the end of it all there would definitely be Boyfriends. i didn't have to worry that this would be bad! i only had to worry that it would be really good!

but i wasn't worried about that, because i was officially Not Writing at the time, and because why the hell hadn't i read this book yet Ash literally emailed me some very kind words last year when my cat died??

Y'all, I devoured ARMV. If you haven't read it yet---especially if cozy fantasy is more your thing than it is mine---you should check it out Immediately. It was fun! It was heartwarming! It was sweet and earnest and confident! I was delighted to find it was occasionally hot! Ambrose and Eli snuggled up into my sick exhausted heart and found a permanent little place there. (Especially Ambrose. I have such a thing for Stiff Guys who Kind of Suck for Tragic Backstory Reasons and are So So Lonely They Don't Even Realize It. gawd)

(And a very small part of my brain spent the whole time wondering why I had been so afraid to really engage with the work my community is doing. The community that I'm in. The one I'm a part of. Why?! Maybe more on that later.)

But from there the curse was broken! I immediately devoured @stjohnstarling's What Manner of Man in a similar sort of frenzy (and hooooly shit guys am I excited for the expanded, finalized version to come out at the end of next month!) and started digging into @lurinatftbn's The Flower that Bloomed Nowhere (which I can already tell is going to be an All Time Favorite).

And now I want to ask you what your favorite self-published books are so that I can read them, too, but I think I will in another post that doesn't dedicate so much space to talking about my various and sundry Issues and isn't Terminally Long

[frogeyedape]

I am so unbelievably pissed off. FUCK HOAs

Oh, my trash/recycling bin can't be visible except on pickup day? Ok whatever fine I hate you but I can deal with this

Weekly inspections?????? FU FU FU FU FU

SECOND NOTICE ALSO WE'RE CHARGING YOU MONEY TO SEND YOU CERTIFIED MAIL OF THIS TOTALLY LEGIT TOTALLY SECOND NOTICE OF WHAT IS ACTUALLY A VIOLATION cue me: checks notes. Hmm. My recycling bin was. on the curb. on recycling pickup day. You know. The day it has to be out. The day it is motherfucking ALLOWED TO BE FUCKING OUT AND VISIBLE.

so. 1) not a violation

I have sent them the trash AND recycling pickup schedules, which are DIFFERENT, btw

I have disputed the fact of the violation

I have disputed the linking of this "violation" to a previous violation MONTHS AGO--their "first notice" in this case was a "Courtesy Notice" LITERALLY 5 MONTHS AGO and they've done so many inspections since then and my bin CLEARLY WASN'T OUT IN THOSE INTERVENING MONTHS so WTMFH

So I am posting like a crazy person here instead of sending the absolutely deranged email I almost sent (I did send a slightly less deranged version with the disputes, and requesting a hearing)

OMG. It has been. Less than one hour since I learned this fun fun news. My bin was out YESTERDAY, y'all. YESTERDAY. I am going to blow a gasket

[currymanganese]

The use of Last Train Home

Don't know if anyone pointed this out yet, but this "relationship on the rocks" ballad by John Mayer plays over this scene from S01E6 above. Carmy apologizes to Syd over being terse with her in the episode after she has him try her risotto and short ribs dish.

The opening lyrics are:

If you wanna roll me

Then you gotta roll me all night long

And if you wanna use me

Then you gotta use me 'til I'm gone

...then Syd ends up quitting the next episode after Carmy's explosive outbursts. The rest of the lyrics are relevant to their relationship's proverbial moment of truth and Carmy's (business 🥴) proposal in episode seven / eight respectively:

I'm not a fallen angel, I just fell behind

I'm out of luck and I'm out of time

If you don't wanna love me, let me go

I'm runnin' for the last train

I'm runnin' for the last train home

If you wanna know me

Then you gotta know me through and through

And if you're gonna hurt me

Then you gotta hold me next to you

No matter how you work it, things go wrong

I put my heart where it don't belong

So if you're comin' with me, let me know

Maybe you're the last train

Maybe you're the last train home

I'm on the last train runnin'

I'm on the last train runnin'

And I surrender

And I surrender

I'm on the last train runnin'

I'm on the last train runnin'

And I surrender

And I surrender

I'm on the last train runnin'

I'm on the last train runnin'

And I surrender

And I surrender

I'm on the last train runnin'

I'm on the last train runnin'

And I surrender

And I surrender

(Oh, yeah)

(Ooh)

If Syd and Carmy aren't endgame then what's all this then??? They might as well have played this:

-when Carmy was moping in episode 8 after Syd left. 🥴

[akiraal]

he got arrested :/

[mrsoharaa]

if you guys don't hear from me in the next few days, it's because I'm getting ready for this hurricane passing through my state. got my necessities and stuff all ready, currently at my mom's house because she wanted me here lol

[colorfuldream]

Okay so I've seen it a few times now and there are people who genuinely believe the Squid Sisters have the least content out of every group. I mean, I get forgetting Deep Cuts but the Squid Sisters do have as much as Off The Hook. Sure, OTH is starting to look like favorites now but the SS aren't left behind. Here's an itemized list:

They're in every main story mode. They have three whole games about them. The concept of story mode revolves around them. Just because they aren't proactive in them doesn't make it not count. Their quips and banter are what made us care and learn about them. It did flesh them out. They don't have to actively help to be main characters and receive development. The only game you could argue that is Splatoon 3 but it has a writing problem in general. It did close their story, subtle but interesting and well-written (for what Splatoon is), across the three games.

A short story. They're the only ones who have that. That has insane development, providing a lot of details about them. Like, that's a MAJOR thing that's lore-dumping so many things.

They're in almost every concert. They're in all but two concerts. They're canon too. This gives them a lot of presence in the franchise.

Lots of illustrations. Makes sense. Of course they are with how long they've been around. Still an important sign that they're a major part of the franchise (obviously, the main story is about them). It's always nice to see them in different situations anyways. They also get some lore out of them, fleshes them out and whatever. Which brings me to my next point.

Different outfits. It's not only giving us a sense of how they dress, but it's telling a story. Said it before but, for example, we know Marie likes dressing up for Story Mode and be a mentor of some sort. If you pull that string, you can get that she's someone who puts on a façade depending on the occasion and likes teaching/guiding people, her idea of mature and cool is a traditional outfit from her hometown.

Special Fest variants. Yes, they all do. However, the thing that differentiates them is that this is outside their game and, even though they were mostly reskins, they did get fully new outfits and hairstyles which neither other groups did.

Technically, they got a DLC. Even if it's the old hub and basically promo for Side Order.

They're in Smash Bros. That's not nothing. They're not spirits, they're full-on assist trophies. They better be in it honestly, but it's still something they have over the other two groups. It solidifies their status in the franchise.

Many songs, including remixes. Obviously, but they're also on the Splatfest list which never happened before outside of special events. They started it in Splatoon 2's Final Fest and started it in Splatoon 3's regular Fests. They're trend setters! Which leads me to...

Boss Fight. Final Boss, even. Callie started it. Literally. She fought us. The fact that she was The Final Boss™ puts her above the others. They wish they were her.

Solos. They did it first. They've also got not one but two mash-ups of their solos so it gotta count. I would argue that theirs are special too as they're meant to be solo pieces while the Anarchy Poisons are always put together be it on the soundtrack or the concerts. They were made to, and it's lovely, as Deep Cut's continuing the trend OTH's set: a united group that values each other and their work over fame. Their music is made to be together. Anarchy Rainbow and its Poisons is just that, something that's all of them, always. They were also fused in every live version, and the in-game live version, unlike Tide Goes Out and Bomb Rush Blush. These were forcefully mashed up as each sang over the other, desperately trying to drown out their will and win this fight. It's only now, years later, that they get an unexpected mash-up, joyful and harmonious —which in a way is a part of their story, them reclaiming this song as they bring their solos together. The Squid Sisters are working for themselves, they now do whatever they want with their careers and what they sing, how they sing, when they sing is up to them and only them.

They're the end credits of every game. Special mention to Splatoon 3 that just sacrifices its own idol group for them. Unlike Splatoon 2, Deep Cut was involved in Story Mode and for all the 10 minutes they spent in it, the end credits should have been theirs as they sure as hell didn't get a DLC. Their equivalent was a last minute addition at that, unceremoniously added later on without much spotlight. Jeez, they could have had a second collab song instead or something!

They've got the final battle song for every game. Makes sense because it's their story and their games, it's the culmination of their work every single time. Unlike the credits, they at least shared the spotlight with Deep Cut... Hey, if Marie's their boss, doesn't that make her a part of their group or vice-versa? She better be, she's the one handling their paperwork after all (poor woman, it's a mess too and they're not spending wisely. Shouldn't have been talking about becoming a manager, Marie, you're getting roped up in too much silliness and Callie won't help).

Participation in 2 Final Fests. By that, I mean actually having a team and representing it. Otherwise, they're involved in every Final Fest.

Merch. I mean why wouldn't they have some?? But it had to be added. Special note for the concert CD and special edition. I guess I'd put there the interview bit Marie conducted in Splatoon 3's soundtrack bonuses. That's another bit of trivia/insight on her work. The Nintendo Magazine interviews also count as they're relevant to their characters.

Their song is a major part of their world and franchise. Calamari Inkantation has a special place in the lore and the franchise. It's THE song but also THEIR song.

4 amiibos. They might not give their outfits (which I kinda like because I'm not fond of how they did it for the others) but they give out gear related to their story, the game, and that we should have gotten. At least they're fixing that flaw I guess.

Storyline during the Splatfests. Not sure if it should be added but it did culminate into long lasting conflict between the two of them and started their storyline. Since it's missing in Splatoon 3, I think it should be noted. It fleshes them out and makes them feel a bit more alive, like they're affected by the results.

Most of these could apply to Off The Hook too. My point is that the Squid Sisters haven't been neglected, not from Nintendo's point of view. They're more than included, arguably the stars of Splatoon 1 and 3. The thing is that Off The Hook is the fan favorite right now so most of our attention is on them, not the others. The Squid Sisters have also been so ingrained in the franchise that we're used to it. We readily accepted they would be the stars of Splatoon 3 because they took over most of Splatoon 2 until Octo Expansion. We assumed the other two groups would get DLCs, or that Deep Cut would be involved in OTH's like in the Main Story, only to realize that Nintendo didn't give a damn and gave the spotlight to OTH alone in an attempt to replicate what Splatoon 2 did. Obviously, once we got over Side Order, we kinda realized this was unfair and that there was favoritism. It didn't help that OTH was featured in regular battles and that Splatoon 2 and 3 handled Splatfests differently, with special events and work done to the idols. We've come a long way since the first game, which itself had changed plenty during its time, so it feels unfair that the Squid Sisters didn't benefit from what the others got or for as long. That doesn't mean they didn't get a lot and weren't the favorites for a long time.

Now, I'm gonna address the thing that made me write this in the first place:

They do have a story and development. Just because it wasn't in your face doesn't mean it didn't happen.

Up until Splatoon 3, the story wasn't as obvious as it could be when it came to the idols. Marina's background is clear-cut, because you cannot be too subtle about it, but apart from some big lines, it wasn't directly stated, nor was her development in Octo Expansion (it's heavily linked to Agent 8 and the Octavian but the fact that she comes to be comfortable in what species she is and overcomes her fear of being found out and rejected should count as a story). She's fascinating and it's important to the world.

But that doesn't leave the Squid Sisters flat and boring. They had an arc! Them slowly resenting each other because of their time as Splatcast anchors, because they were always pit against each other, because of the way being an idol works, is a story in itself. It was bad enough to get Callie to free Octavio, who's a terrible, dangerous person as far as she knew then, and go to the Octarians, poor, underground enemies. The Hypno-Shades are more like heavily suggesting you to obey, we know that Callie had some sort of free will to put glitter, of all things, into their ink. She also was fully conscious of her actions when freeing Octavio, and we know this guy isn't a mastermind and world class manipulator. Marie wasn't doing much better, working a lot and being stressed. Fame drove them apart and broke Callie down to the point of going to people who wanted hers dead. She freed a war criminal. Once Marie saved her, mostly from her own despair, they decided to do their own thing. They didn't need fame or their careers. Family was more important. Tidal Rush was their solos crashing against each other, not listening and trying to sing over the opponent, until Marie blasted on a song that meant the world to them. The hymn of sea kind. The song that they won that fateful contest with when they were young, the reason why their dream came true. The song that they sang when safinf their dear grandpa, powerful enough to make Octolings give up everything and try to join the surface. A beautiful memory. Something that was theirs. And so they sang. Together. "I remember everything!" The innocent days they practiced for the contest, the terrifying ride to Inkopolis, the nervousness of their first Splatcast. But they were together. She wasn't alone. Marie had always been on her side. Neither of them wanted this. If it had been up to them, nobody would have compared them to each other. They wouldn't have been choices for their last Splatfest. It's a certain kind of cruel to ask which of the two teenage girls was the better one. Callie wasn't angry at Marie, she was angry at the system. She felt awkward, self-conscious, worthless because of her status as a celebrity, because she as a person didn't matter. Her comfort? Who cares. Take the photos, sing the songs, be careful to be perfect. She was overworked, isolated, and the only person she could count on was put in the same position and told she was a competitor.

Fresh Start is the two of them reconnecting away from show business. Going back to their roots. They stop being idols afterwards, they don't sing much anymore. They get their own careers. Callie slowly finds the strength to be in the spotlight after so long and goes back to acting, unlike Marie this seems to be more of her thing. Marie keeps on with her podcast, now using it to hype Callie up. Splatoon 3 even shows us that Callie is some sort of spokesperson, announcing that an Inkopolis stage will undergo reconstruction. She's rebuilding her career on her own and making it her own. The Squid Sisters, while some of the most people in the world, weren't recognized in the Splatlands. Sure, Shiver and Frye probably didn't give a damn about Inkopolis musicians but Big Man is a fan, he's even showed them their music, and he still didn't recognize them. They're known for their music, their names possibly for themselves. Splatoon 3 is the only game not to give them a story, even its details don't imply much. But the previous two games did.

It's a story of two girls who got famous too soon, too suddenly, and got eaten by showbusiness. It's two young women taking their power back and breaking free from the idol life. It's a family that managed to heal from the damage fame caused over the years.

I dunno but I think it's beautiful and I'm a sucker for stories that criticize being an idol and family coming together. The Squid Sisters' entire thing was being idols, that's their entire concept, especially identical ones which is dehumanizing enough. It's fitting and not something you'd expect out of Splatoon of all places but it's the kind of franchise that gets surprisingly deep and dark in its smallest details.

No, they're not neglected or underdeveloped. Their story is there, just not as flashy as you'd expect. Their presence is something we're so used to that we don't clock it anymore, moreso when the other group gets attention too. Splatoon 3 didn't handle the writing well, as fun and silly as it gets, and it shows in a lot of ways. It's easy to go "so what was the point of the Squid Sisters being there?" when the story didn't bother doing anything with them for once but they weren't the only one neglected nor did they not get content in other ways!

[equalseleventhirds]

it is so late and i am so tired and i haven't even been online much lately, but i've been ruminating abt ttrpgs (as i have endless rumination time at work and on the train, which is 80% of my time anyway)

and abt the like, unreasonable mindset ppl get into abt dnd 5e due to Marketing and also Actual Plays. u kno, that it can Do Anything, that u don't gotta know the rules, that the dm should plan a conventional narrative and u gotta stick to it, that it's for cute queer found families, roleplaying rollplaying bullshit, etc.

and sometimes there's posts from ppl who are outside of that mindset like, wow try another game, but also pls don't bring that mindset to other games we love. u kno.

and maybe i simply spend a lot of time in podcast & streaming circles and also circles of ppl who learned ttrpgs from podcasts & streaming, but, crucially, i don't play d&d

so i meet a lot of ppl who have moved past d&d, right. but. still have that mindset abt their new favorite game(s).

like, 'oh unlike d&d this is actually a queer found family narrative' they say abt a heavily pvp game where u can be queer but it's not about queerness.

'oh unlike d&d you can create a real story' they say, as the gm ignores the handy Make Situations sheet the game comes with and plans a 5-act narrative years in advance.

'oh unlike d&d this game is about ROLEplaying not ROLLplaying' they say, ignoring the social mechanics of the game in order to draw out talky scenes. for character work. for realism. for the story.

'oh unlike d&d this one is so easy to learn' they say, not reading huge and relevant sections of the book until halfway through the session.

i could go on. once i played a kinda weird and poetic indie game with folks whose primary game was motw, and the amount of 'hey this weird and poetic mechanic doesn't make literal sense to me as a character action' haunts me.

and it is immensely frustrating, bcos like.... on the one hand, god i'm glad you're playing something that's not d&d!! that's so important!! on the other hand, you likely learned about this game through an actual play where they (hopefully) used the basic mechanics for stuff, but mostly ran the story like a 5e actual play.

like, i love the adventure zone, but my god you're gonna come out of amnesty or steeplechase with a WILD misunderstanding of the themes and story even a lot of the mechanics of motw or bitd. (both games i like very much. but don't play them like the mcelroys.) or like, god i'm glad the d20 folks are having such fun with kob-adjacent games. but do NOT learn kob from them.

and listening to famous ppl do that to a game i like is one thing. a frustrating thing, to be sure. but participating in a game like this, or even hearing my friends & acquaintances play like this? hateful. makes me grit my teeth and cry. makes me make weirder and weirder game mechanics, which hopefully i'll make into coherent games someday.

anyway, this is all to say, before you start your found family motw game where u will team up with the monsters to save everything and maybe also bigfoot is there, a. stop listening to taz amnesty, b. read, really REALLY read apocalypse world and get a handle on THAT, c. go reread motw and think hard abt it, and d. watch buffy and supernatural a bit. yeah i know they suck. think rly hard abt that scene in buffy where xander chooses not to tell buffy that angel will get his soul back so buffy has to kill her and then no one ever finds out abt that and i HATE that scene but also it's the kind of thing motw was built for, you see.

also play weirder games and adjust ur expectations but whatever.

[hychlorions]

me who doesn't want to be in college for five years: we gotta lock in dude we gotta get it over with and finish this film

the evil voice in my head that's also in charge of the part of my brain that likes handicrafts: 20CM EMA SKYE PLUSHIE

[bil-daddy]

Azirafeast 2500 BC

In case anyone's wondering how @mrazfellco and I celebrated Azirafeast this year (definitely not platonic)

[hewasmadeofthegalaxy2]

Absolutely no amount of careful budgeting will protect you from Corporate Error™️

[savage-rhi]

Having a B3 overdose be like

[penisbilt]

the bittersweet but absolute flood of relief that comes from admitting defeat at living independently, to have to move back in with parents. we tried! we gave it our best shot for almost 3 years! but living like this (being on our own) is just not possible for us at this time of our lives. we've finally proved it to ourselves that we can't do it. it'll be okay to let ourselves rest now

[currentlyonstandbi]

genuinely shaking with adrenaline, just soloed simon manus's 2nd phase fight

[izzy-b-hands]

Just got an AP news alert and I'm

No. Not Doug. I'm losin' it; of all the fucking ppl bc to be perfectly honest. I sort of figured Trmp didn't know who tf Doug Burgum even was. Like, he got told 'hey this dude from ND is running for the Republican nom too, just fyi' and immediately none of that information went into his brain bc it wasn't abt him so why should he care (I assume that's how his brain works for everything quite frankly.)

Doug fuckin' Burgum for Dept of the Interior. This seals it; ND will never be in the news for anything good fkdjafldsjafdklaj*

*as someone who spent all but 3 and 1/2 years or so of my life in ND, I'm allowed to rag on it forever and ever and even moreso now. I want to write his office to ask if he's as surprised as everyone else abt this lmaooooooo. I will not bc he doesn't actually deserve that much of my attention, but still funny.

[shutanictemple]

I have donated my services but I would also like to donate a few of these

Welcome back, @mrazfellco. @bil-daddy thoroughly enjoyed your services and your body last night. It's impressive that you are up and walking around already. Bildaddy is still a bit sore (positive) and hasn't been able to get out of bed yet.

Thank you for this additional generous donation of three goats. Here are you address label stickers, whether you want them or not.

Also, please hold this goat for us, as it needs to be in the arms of an angel (Aziraphale).