#which is due to me using a generator. i did try my best to fairly order them best to worst when putting them in tho
Explore tagged Tumblr posts
Text
#polls#tbs#taking back sunday#yeahhhhh we're just getting right into this#the order that songs will be pitted against each other might be questionable sometimes#which is due to me using a generator. i did try my best to fairly order them best to worst when putting them in tho#so idk that might make some sort of difference#tournament poll#Spotify#also yes i typed where my mouth is wrong ik. listen it's been A Day alright#tbs song tournament#tbs round 1
14 notes
·
View notes
Note
Percy's amnesia in SoN gave him the perfect excuse to build his confidence to where it should be and break up with Annabeth, with very few consequences, and I will always stand by that. Annabeth may be easier for the Greeks to back due to her history there, but she has nothing at Camp Jupiter, where he quickly and firmly established himself as a powerful, capable and trustworthy entity, getting promoted to Praetor within a week. I honestly believe that, after his SON quest and the "greeting" Annabeth gave him on their reunion, Percy should've broken up with Annabeth, stayed with Camp Jupiter and thrived there.
Not only would the structure help him long-term in the way it canonically did in the (maybe) three days we saw him spend there, but he has a proper support system without biases in favour of Annabeth. It would also provide a fun narrative contrast to Jason, which RR was trying to push in-story, where they thrive in the other's camp despite the shadow of a figure they kind of feel they have to live up to. Jason does better in the looser structure of CHB due to his having picked up many wolf-ish traits from Lupa, while Percy almost *relaxes* in the strict routine of CJ because it helps with his ADHD symptoms.
And this confidence he very clearly has in SoN, and the way he almost romanticized the possible relationship between him and Annabeth when he didn't have his memories, would lead to a very jarring experience when his memories are settled and he reunites with Annabeth. Because, woah, that was not just a subconscious bias from preferring his new friendships/camp structure, but she actually is like that.
Boom, he now has recontextualised memories and perspective of Annabeth, and a place where she doesn't have a stronger reputation than him, and he can fairly safely break up with Annabeth and escape attempts at retaliation.
He might wait until after the quest the Seven go on, so that he can immediately cut her out of his lfe, but this new perspective changes how he approaches her.
The canon would never, but fortunately for us, there are fic writers. If I get enough time somewhere in this month or next, I might end up writing this, but I will have to see, no promises.
Back to your point; you have covered mostly everything so I don't see what I should be adding to this exact scenario but yes it is one of the few perfect pit stops for a percabeth break up to happen. I am going to go down a slightly different avenue for this one as my thoughts vary a bit from yours, so bear with me. It is going to be long, but I need to recap and clarify a few things for others; I will get to your specific questions near the end. [Everything's numbered, so if you are in a hurry, just scroll to the final four points]
-------------------------------------------------------
The breakup could have been mutual, too, if Rick had written it well. If we follow the proper timeline, Annabeth was still hung up over Luke up until the end of BoTL and had just started to get over him at the start of Last Olympian. Percy had just been informed of the Prophecy and under massive stress between end of BoTL and start of TLO and was obviously arguing with Annabeth over it as she repeatedly got angry at him for reasonably freaking out over his then "assumed death" prophecy. To find some relief from all this, he was dating Rachel, who he really liked, had a kiss with, and overall a good relationship with.
Then the whole plot of the Last Olympian occurs in what can be considered to be a few months at best. Then both Percy and Annabeth get together but to recap the events leading up to this:
Rachel breaks up with Percy despite their good relationship due to understanding the role she needs to play in saving the Oracle.
Luke who had previously visited Annabeth to make her join him and who Annabeth was somewhat hung over still, dies.
The war ended up killing a lot of close friends and companions and was a generally traumatic event for everyone involved.
Percy is very high on mixed emotions, reeling from everything that's happened when he gets together with Annabeth, so neither of them have had any time to process anything that's happened properly enough.
They have their one month anniversary on September 18th[The Staff of Hermes short story], and Percy disappears in October. [Riordan.wiki has years and dates of important events].
So they have barely been together for two months, and Percy's already missing.
![Tumblr media](https://64.media.tumblr.com/e71c724709bebb050519b52db94920c1/7c64e001631d6a0c-e9/s540x810/1169cea4ee46c963b9657a7eb8b00fcc154b6dad.jpg)
This is Annabeth's thought process when they do reunite. It implies she has been doing a bit of thinking about their relationship and might not be as sure about it anymore.
She also seems to heavily dislike Percy's initial idea of settling in New Rome and seems to have no intention of taking a break from quests like Percy does.
She also seems to dismiss Percy's unwillingness to go to NRU after the news of Estelle's birth and the events of CotG.
Those were a few key points of contrast between them both on their future plans. Not small ones either.
Now, back to their reunion and the events following; here are a few things:
She judo flips him in front of the Argo II and almost entirety of Camp Jupiter.
If Annabeth didn't know that Percy had lost the Curse of Achilles then she was judo flipping him on the small of his back where his mortal tether was located ; which she knew about and therefore would have killed him in her anger and hyper emotional state.
If Annabeth did know that he had lost the Curse of Achilles then she was still judo flipping her boyfriend who had been missing for six months after surviving an already very traumatic event where he barely managed to survive and was then put through kidnapping, six months of amnesia, and brainwashing against his will by a goddess and then thrust into an unknown land with enemies on his trail.
Further, she blames Percy for disappearing for all of the things HE suffered through against his will and HAS THE AUDACITY TO MAKE HIM APOLOGIZE FOR IT.
Annabeth says and I quote that she likes keeping Percy on his toes.
She also agrees with Piper that Percy needs to be leashed and controlled.
Then Percy's side gives us a few more concerning tidbits:
Percy repeatedly notes that he is scared of Annabeth or thinks she might hit him
He also says that she often brings up Rachel to make him uncomfortable.
Percy also doesn't feel comfortable confiding in Annabeth about Gabe or past trauma.
He repeatedly feels he isn't good enough for Annabeth, and obviously Annabeth's behavior consciously or subconsciously on her part enables his thought process.
He ends up almost killing himself because Annabeth makes him promise not to use his specific ability despite it being used in self-defense by Percy, which ended up saving them both because she was afraid of Percy's powers.
Yet another thing to point out is that Annabeth's fatal flaw hubris and her abandonment issues feed too much into her behavior, and until that is fixed, nothing can be helped.
Annabeth punched Percy in ttc just because he didn't ask her to dance like she wanted him to. She also gave Percy a very hard time just because he knew another girl (Rachel) and immediately acted controlling and toxically possesive towards Percy over Rachel and Calypso despite her and Percy not being in a relationship at any of those points. In fact, despite her supposed crush on Percy, she defended Luke all the way till Botl, despite his repeated attempts at murdering Percy, and even went as far as to say Percy was unreasonably angry at Luke. She also displayed rude and downright awful behavior when interacting with Rachel; and Rachel, being the better person, handled her with class and grace. This all is not even including her demeaning remarks against Percy's intelligence and condescending behavior.
We can conclude from all this that Percy and Annabeth are not compatible, with different future goals and clashing perspectives and most importantly due to lack of proper communication, terrible misunderstandings, and Annabeth's consistent toxic behavior.
But neither the characters nor the author and not even most of the fandom acknowledge any of these glaring issues, so nothing can be done, but their break up can go several ways:
1.
Percy and Annabeth both break up amicably with Annabeth apologizing and understanding the gravity of her behavior and her mistakes and consistently making up to Percy for all the things she has been doing terribly. This is only possible for pre Tartarus or pre MoA situation.
Annabeth could have had a good arc in overcoming all of her problems while Percy too dealt with his self esteem issues and past trauma and they could have given their relationship a shot again in the future; they are both too young right now.
2.
Percy confronts Annabeth on her behavior and breaks up with her. Things get ugly, and it ends up being horrible for both of them. This is a traumatic situation on both ends, but the reason why this is unlikely is that Annabeth and Percy have a case of trauma bonding, and there's hints of codependency more on Annabeth's end. Which makes Percy mask Annabeth's toxic traits easily and for Annabeth to ignore Percy's devolving mental health and self-esteem issues that she has been enabling unknowingly.
3.
The other likely option is third-party intervention. Sally or Poseidon/Athena or other campers.
I also disagree that the camp half blood would back Annabeth. Percy's their [CHB] unofficial leader and a good friend to all of them plus he is the reason the children of other non-Olympian gods have cabins and get claimed early so he definitely has a higher status than Annabeth does in both camps. Camp Jupiter also does respect Percy more than any other Greek, and he is the only Greek to ever be made Praetor. So in social or reputation terms, Percy's winning.
But I don't think other campers would dare meddle in Percy and Annabeth's business. Maybe the seven would. [Leo and Frank would never. Jason probably doesn't understand the whole situation. Piper’s misguided and would probably feed into Annabeth's behavior, so either Hazel or Reyna? Hazel would definitely help Percy understand, and Percy would totally hear Hazel out. Thalia, hmm, I don't really know what Thalia would do, but I don't think she would blindly back Annabeth. She does seem to care for and respect Percy just as much. Nico isn't touching it with a 20-foot pole, plus I don't think he is over his Percy crush at all, so he's not an unbiased party either. ]
4.
Last option and what probably is the most likely is that things continue as they are and Percy eventually snaps due to endless pressure and his mental health issues and Annabeth can't deal with it and then all their other issues which they have both ignored come spilling out and then it's just a clean break but it's going to be the most excruciating way out and given their luck definitely happening.
#percy jackson#percabeth is not it#percy and annabeth literally have a relationship based on shared trauma#percy and annabeth literally have nothing in common#annabeth chase#peracbeth analysis#anti percabeth#anti annabeth chase#annabeth chase critical#pjo fandom#pjo asks
78 notes
·
View notes
Note
Hi,
So, I have written expression disorder and dysgraphia, which means this might be a bit rambly or unclear but I’ll try my best to stay on as clear and as brief as I can.
I’m currently writing a fanfiction for Wynonna Earp as a way to improve my writing skills without needing to stress about it. Background on the show: It’s a supernatural show based around a descendant of Wyatt Earp who was a legal officer in the wild west and got involved in a massive feud. It also has his friend Doc Holliday becoming immortal and being a love interest for the main character. The primary reason I’m doing this is because I dislike how they portrayed Doc Holliday in the series (often outright the opposite of the reality) and also because they just left out the fact he was disabled completely. Due to a gunshot wound when he was fairly young, probably along with weakness due to having tuberculosis for most of his adult life, which did eventually kill him, he used a cane part time. He also had a cleft lip and palate that was surgically corrected and he got surgery for it as an infant and had speech therapy, which doesn’t really seem to have impacted his adult life much in what I’m writing.
I do have chronic pain due to an injury which was pretty bad when I was younger, so having a character who’s portrayed as dealing with that and continuing to be brave and selfless would have meant the whole world to me at that point in my life and still will. But as I was doing research I ran into a few things I knew very little about.
My own disabilities are invisible, which means that I don’t have much experience with how people respond to seeing mobility aids. It would be interesting to show people’s responses, especially since he pretty famously took offense easily and didn’t leave things alone. There’s a fun scene there but I’m not sure what a common response to set it off would be. The biggest problem I have, that I haven’t been able to find a lot about: according to a medical article I read even when it’s cured people who had tuberculosis typically have some lung damage. I haven’t been able to find a lot on how that would impact someone day to day. He was cured of it magically but the idea of there still being damage makes sense based on the in universe rules and also someone being magically cured is generally considered not good. So how would it impact someone on a daily basis?
There’s some things in the research I did that make me think he was autistic (namely literal thinking to the point where he almost killed someone due to not understanding that a duel was meant to be a joke as a teen). Or maybe I’m just projecting because I am. Any ideas for how somebody who grew up in a time where nuerodivergence just wasn’t known would accommodate himself and be helped by friends? How would they understand it at that time?
How in general do friends respond to disabilities and try to help now?
There’s a few other things but they’re mainly just me being a beginner writer who doesn’t honestly. Thank you so much for reading through this even if you don’t end up responding!
[part 2] clarification: I meant the cleft palate wouldn't come up in what I'm writing because he's an adult and it didn't seem to have huge bearing on his adult life. I'm so sorry I left out part of that sentence in my ask bc I have a learning disability! didn't mean to! I'm so sorry and thank you again!
Hello!
People respond in many ways. In the modern west a lot of it involves random strangers being intrusive as shit ("what happened to you??") but in historical times I think it would be more of avoidance, especially if he has visible symptoms of tuberculosis. People still think that "visibly disabled person coughing = plague". If you're going for historical accuracy, it wouldn't really surprise me if strangers didn't want to sit next to him.
Long tuberculosis (affecting 25% of those who had TB) seems to be very similar to COPD, so the main day-to-day effect would probably be fatigue, being out of breath after physical exertion, etc. COPD is an incredibly common disability so you should be able to find a lot of info about it and how it can be managed.
Friends will also respond in many ways, and it also depends a lot on the disabled person. This guy sounds like the "hyper-independent physically disabled man" type and in my experience most of them don't talk about their needs much, especially not with the boys. In this case the accommodation is often just silently agreed on after spending some time together (e.g., after a few times going out they can see how annoyed he gets when they suddenly change plans so they learn to tell him as soon as they know, if he drops something they pick it up for him without saying anything since they know it's tiring for him to get up, etc.). If they know him well enough to know he takes offense easily they probably wouldn't bring up his inability to do something to not upset him and try to work around it instead.
I don't have enough historical knowledge to answer the second question, so I'll leave it to other mods. But I think it'd make sense if they just thought he was eccentric or weird rather than having a medical condition.
Hope this helps,
mod Sasza
Hello, thank you for your ask! In regards to the second question, it would depend on his symptoms, how well/if he could mask, and how other people view(ed) him.
I'm assuming he's level 1 / low support needs, as you don't mention him having a caretaker or difficulty doing tasks. Some of the examples include specific autistic traits that he may or may not have/used to have, they're mostly there to be examples. These are also assuming you're writing him as an adult only, if you want some info on how it would be like growing up during this time let us know!
Without good knowledge of autism, most people would think he's very strange if he cannot [fully] mask. Flat affect, lack of social understanding and other symptoms would make most allistic people uncomfortable, with responses ranging from thinking he's just weird [and would want to avoid him] to believing he's angry at them specifically [and would either want to avoid him or get aggressive themselves]. Most people will probably just see it as character quirks rather than symptoms of anything, or even think he's choosing to act the way he does. His friends would most likely be other neurodivergent people who either experience the same symptoms or don't have enough of a social understanding to realize he's not acting 'correctly' if he doesn't mask.
Unless his friends/family experience similar symptoms to him, they probably wouldn't understand why he does/reacts the way he does. This isn't to say they wouldn't try to accommodate him still, that moreso depends on the individual, but those who don't understand might try to push him to 'get over it' more than someone who gets it. Like Sasza said, over time his friends would be able to accommodate him by noticing what makes him upset/happy and how to help. 'Doc likes to keep his hands busy so I gave him my butterfly knife to spin' or ' the yelling in the hall was bothering him so I asked if he wanted to go to outside with me' could be ways of accommodating him without realizing, basically seeing his symptoms and trying to find an easy solution to help, wether or not they understand them. They could also give him unhelpful solutions while trying to accommodate, which would probably just further stress Doc if given in a stressful situation. Essentially unless he knows what helps and tells them it would be a guessing game for them [if he does that or his friend[s] respect it depends on them]. Try to think of his symptoms and what might be available at the time to help [like stim toys didn't exist back then but butterfly knives did, and ear defenders weren't a thing but he could walk away if needed].
As to how he'd accommodate himself, he wouldn't know words like 'stim' or 'overstimulated,' but if he doesn't care about/understand social norms he would be more likley to 'move in odd ways' or exit an upsetting area. A more socially conscious person might try to hide it, like using small tactile stims [i.e. rubbing a cloth or tapping his foot] or making excuses to leave an upsetting area. He might also be able to mask and try to just bear it, only unmasking around friends or in private.
Also the wiki said he was born in 1851 but died in 2020, and although autism would be named during his lifetime I'm not sure he would identify with it. The first medical documentation of autism was in 1877, and at the time it was called developmental [r-slur]. I doubt he'd want to identify with that, and even later on autism was only ever studied in children, and of course was not thought of well. It was thought to be caused by cold parenting or a form of psychosis/schizophrenia exclusive to children in the early to mid 1900's. For many, many years the only idea of autism he'd have would essentially be that. Because most studies at the time thought autism could be 'grown out of' [with exception to higher support needs people] he'd have lived most of his life at that point believing it was a child only disease. Even if he hadn't heard about autism until the late 1900's-early 2000's, it was still thought of as a stigmatized childhood disease by the public until recently [even by people today, hence the blog's existence]. If he's the type of character to be less set in his opinions at an old age then maybe later he could read on modern autism and identify with it, but I find older people tend to prefer dismissing disability for the sake of avoiding any change.
I hope this was at all helpful!
Mod Rot
#mod sasza#violethunter0816#mod rot#historical fiction#tuberculosis representation#autism representation#historical setting#disability history#ableism
37 notes
·
View notes
Text
I think I see Apollo's character as very much not subservient to Kristoph Gavin. Even when he was working for him. Someone pointed it out in my fic comments and I'm glad they did because it's part of Apollo's nature to me that he argues and clashes with authority even before Phoenix manipulates him. Apollo was starry-eyed at the beginning but he was still quite suspicious and sassy, which I immediately liked about him. @katrinakaiba understands.
Like for example, after the Judge talks about Kristoph being the "best attorney in town" Apollo thinks to himself "Yeah, Gavin's got skills, but does he have Chords of Steel?". Granted he didn't say that out loud, he does have respect for his mentor. But merely the fact that he thinks this shows that while he looks up to Kristoph, there's a level of snark there in his mind. And Kristoph even tolerates Apollo's snark levels at certain points, especially insofar as it's directed towards Phoenix or Payne. He does pipe up about manners when Apollo makes a comment about the Judge's hearing. This is probably just something he's trying to teach Apollo about how you should act in front of the Judge, though (which is why it's so funny when Kristoph gets lightly reprimanded by the Judge later for sarcastic remarks)
Apollo absolutely describes Kristoph as his "trusted mentor" in the Profiles section, and in the French translation adds "I owe him everything". There's a lot of loyalty there, and the fact that Apollo does feel comfortable being himself in front of Kristoph generally is, to me, a sign that their relationship was quite warm and familiar as opposed to a master who disciplines a student harshly. Kristoph actually seems fairly selective about the guidance that he does provide, encouraging Apollo to try to figure it out by himself first before turning to him for help. He does talk over Apollo a bit, but that's more due to the scenario (even though, I'm sure it happened a lot even outside of court). He seems to be a bit more focused on making sure that Apollo understands (1) how to build a case, (2) how to avoid committing a social faux pas in court, and (3) how to corner a witness, which are all actually really useful.
I really want to explore this characterization more because it says a lot about how Kristoph really was, a kind teacher whom nobody would suspect. It's difficult to believe how someone so pleasant could hide so much, so easily.
#kristoph gavin#apollo justice#aa4#they just become more and more interesting#tbh the closest word that i can think of in terms of kristoph acting towards apollo is like. motherly?#but some of yall aint ready for that take yet
95 notes
·
View notes
Text
“Well, then. Let’s find the Pumpkin King, shall we?”
![Tumblr media](https://64.media.tumblr.com/4f23a5f738caf0884db3dde93bb008cd/c2a5e2182d5a078a-a5/s540x810/4b1a7f25a00553b35515c7dbec71bf6ab5a5d6f0.jpg)
Event by @cheerleaderman! @theolivetree123’s Hopper and @gl00myb3arz’s Sophie mention!!
“I don’t think I’m on the best team, but I can work with the potential.”
Lines:
1: Wh, I’m not cheating?! Oh, the broom. It’s too small to ride on, for your information. I’m lugging it around because it fits the team aesthetic.
2: Ugh, I got dirt in my heels again. Why am I wearing heels for this event? … Being short is quite a struggle. No, nothing. I can handle it, anyway.
3: I deduced the general vicinity the Pumpkin King should be in based on the hints, but my teammates have started looking at me funny after that. Perhaps pretending it was just a guess was too much?
4: Sophie has circled the well three times. I can admire attention to detail, but I’m fairly certain Yuya’s not there.
5: Hopper’s nails are quite pretty. Shame that he went away so quickly. And that the way I saw his nails were because he almost hit me with his bat. That was on me though, I shouldn’t walk backwards.
6: I got assorted into the witch team because I said that I didn’t really care which team I went into, but I’m slightly regretting it now. I always end up getting competitive in events like these.
More under cut!!
Literally didn’t format the lines this time because I did NOT feel like it, but ITS AIGHT!!
more than that, this card was made due to Jan’s line for Kalmia, which I found so funny that i wanted to draw smth for it:
![Tumblr media](https://64.media.tumblr.com/f16f728f67ecac4113aa7cb80afbbde8/c2a5e2182d5a078a-97/s540x810/a4c6c5ab58dd44cbd57b8e0f8521efc5a17f4f9b.jpg)
Kalmia DID actually get that by playing fairly at the event, but it’s so much funnier if ppl think she has a Yuya radar. BC LIKE. she practically does (only for Yuya <3)!! At some point in their one-sided friendship (?), I feel like Kalmia would track them down and appear out of nowhere just to annoy them and not because she was trying to enact a part of her new-home plan.
I used the wheel to decide where to put her in, and I’m glad it was witch!! My days of drawing Wadanohara came in handy. And then I could also add bits of her galaxy obsession stuff in!!! Miss witch of the stars!! Stellar!!!
ANYWAY!
Just the drawing ver:
![Tumblr media](https://64.media.tumblr.com/e937b4e94df68213a5975204bce0d6ec/c2a5e2182d5a078a-90/s540x810/954466f30cb7ecf38fa70184d44bbe1cda7fe2bb.jpg)
Taglist (ask to be added!!): @kathxrat-01 @distant-velleity @scint1llat3 @elenauaurs @boopshoops
@lumdays @venaue @jewelulu @thehollowwriter
#findpumpkinking#skribleedoodlz#skribleeoc#twst stuff#twst fan event#twst kalmia#another one done!!!#she’s tracking yuya down. they better be careful.#She probably did get fooled by a couple of the decoys though#and her shoes be KILLING her so she’s at a disadvantage#she could also give up on her broom but in the moment she wants to be pretty too bad#kalmia von viradin
56 notes
·
View notes
Note
i wana fuck gob
So, the best AND simultaneously worst thing about coming up with headcanons and fics for characters from Fallout 3 is that there's often so little to the characters, canonically. Most of them have pretty scant backstories and characterization. That can be both an opportunity to mold a character to what you'd like them to be and a way to end up with a very contested character no one agrees on anything about.
Don't get me wrong; I like Fallout 3 quite a bit, but in the same way I like Fallout 4, which is "wow this game has some really loveable/memorable/fuckable characters and you can make your own fun, which I don't mind". However, Fallout 4's characters overall have stronger characterization, in my opinion, so it seems like the fan base has a fairly generalized sense of what each character is like. That doesn't seem to be the case with 3, at least sometimes.
***All that to say: if I make any claims about characters you like from Fallout 3 that you disagree with, 1. sorry, and 2. I would love to discuss.
Gob (Fallout 3) NSFW Headcanons
Boundary communication would be HUGE with Gob, but especially for Gob. For decades, he hasn't been allowed to stand up for himself, to even have boundaries, so a long, long chat about consent would be due before the two of you ever did anything. You'll have to make it clear to him that if he doesn't like something, you don't want to do it, so he needs to say something, and that you won't be mad at him for not enjoying something.
This man is SO quiet during sex that it's initially quite unsettling to you. Even when he cums, he's completely silent. He's so used to having to be ridiculously quiet all the time (or else), but especially at a time like this. You may feel the need to take a step or two back in terms of your intimacy until he feels more able to relax, because it would be difficult for you to gauge whether he was enjoying something or not with full confidence. At least, not without constantly having to ask him, which can be a bit of a mood killer if you're not sure the person you're doing things with is enjoying themselves or just going along with it for your sake. No one wants to feel like they're imposing themselves on their partner, and Gob is, as a result of what he's been though, absolutely the type to just lie there and let you have what you want so he doesn't upset you. He insists that he's enjoying himself, that he likes the way you touch him, but you'll have to explain that you need some sort of feedback when you're touching him to ensure you're not hurting him or crossing some boundary. Once he relaxes, he can be quite vocal, but still quiet; mostly hums and sighs.
I think he also struggles to maintain eye contact with literally anyone, and this doesn't improve when he's nervous or being sexually stimulated. He already feels so exposed with you touching him, even if he's still mostly or fully clothed, that eye contact feels like too much a lot of the time. Once you two have been together a while and you've been physical a few times, he may be able to relax enough to look at you when you ask him to (he gets the cutest look on his face when he cums), but his gaze will continue to wander otherwise.
I think you'd be wise to keep things fairly formulaic early on with Gob. Whatever the two of you enjoy, find your rhythm and stay with it for a while; no need to start experimenting or introducing the poor thing to a bunch of new kinks and positions and things he's never experienced while he's over here still trying to relax enough to let you jerk him off without him crying afterwards.
Would agree to try mommy kink stuff with you and then be beyond embarrassed by how much he likes it. Absolutely loves to be babied and treated softly while you take care of him.
Once he's really comfortable with you, and once he's begun to really feel like he has autonomy and safety in his life, he shyly starts to make requests, wants to try things that he's thought about doing with you since the moment he laid eyes on you. Of course, he's nervous, but he's gotten good at communicating his wants and needs at this point. He wants to fuck you on the bar when the place is closed. He wants to cum on your face. He wants you to peg him. He REALLY wants you to peg him.
Lots of early morning sex. He likes to lay in bed and cuddle for a little while before he gets up to open the bar, and, more often than not, that leads to him feeling all warm and appreciative of you, which usually leads to him pulling you on top of him so you can guide his cock inside you, grinding and rolling your hips lazily until you both cum.
Tit man. Not good at hiding the fact that he's oogling your chest from the minute you meet, sort of like a teenage boy, but once he's comfortable with you and it's been established that he's attracted to you, he doesn't really try to hide it.
83 notes
·
View notes
Text
I just got back from a viewing of Kenji Kamiyama's 'The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim'. Hoo boy.
I first have to admit I completely forgot this movie was going to be a thing until today, when I saw the poster on my local theatre and thought 'Fuck it, I got time'.
I must secondly admit I had no real expectations going in. I wasn't expecting to hate it, mind, nothing about it's advertising raised serious red flags like the likes of Rings of Power or Shadow of Mordor did, but neither did I expect to be particularly wowed.
Anyway, thoughts.
![Tumblr media](https://64.media.tumblr.com/a8ea706e517c81b1283a067efe2e74d3/2c0097c70995abb3-c4/s540x810/296912f08ca3c9b11c1b1e413d48fac009009287.webp)
The movie is ultimately... fine. Not unentertaining, but it felt a bit conflicted with itself at times. You definitely feel like there's almost two movies here, one of a grounded localized conflict in Rohan, and a J.R.R. Tolkien™'s The Lord of the Rings™ movie where there's shots of recognizably iconic Middle-Earth™ things for their own sake.
The best characters are ultimately Helm himself, Wulf, and somewhat unexpectedly, a character called 'General Targg'. No really.
Hera, Daughter of Helm, unfortunately feels... stock? Like, forget the cultural warrior whining about 'Strong Female Protagonists', Hera honestly spends a shocking amount of time getting put in positions of distress and very rarely actually wins a straight fight. Unfortunately compared with fearless death-seeking Eowyn, she comes off as a bit more Disney Princess, and doesn't really change all that much as a character. She's not bad, per se, but is just serviceable, and is unfortunately surrounded by characters more interesting than her.
I admit I'm not the biggest into the Rohirrim, Gondor all the way baby, but for the most part as an adaptation of what's essentially a Tolkien sticky note, nothing about it struck me as an egregious case of 'Writer Trying To Make It Their Own'-itis, unlike certain other works I could name. If you're even slightly familiar with the events, there are no big twists or turns, the plot is incredibly straight and narrow with everything be telegraphed from a mile away. Whether this is a good or bad thing, I leave up to your personal discretion.
The biggest alteration I'd say would be the inciting incident, namely the circumstances in which Helm kills Freca. There is actually a lot in the incident that is true to the text, mind, such as Freca insulting Helm's age, who returns with jabs about his weight, but there seems to also be an attempt to justify some of Freca's marital ambitions by him claiming Helm's too influenced by Gondor as he wants to marry Hera, our protagonist, with a Gondorian prince (Sir Not-Appearing-in-this-Film). Freca is... Actually right, Helm absolutely wants to marry his daughter off to Gondor. I actually kind of like this, as right away we have the contrasts between Theoden and Helm. Helm is kind of an imperious, more moral Bobby B type, very used to getting what he wants by his word alone.
And yes, he destroys Freca in a single blow... But I have to deduct points off this, because rather than the premeditated straight-up murder of the text, this is more of a formal brawl where Helm accidentally loses his temper due to Freca's insults, which honestly is kind of funny as Helm clearly expected Freca to get back up after smashing his face in.
Another change I'm not really fond of is that Freca and Wulf actually do seem to have Dunlending blood. While in Tolkien's work it's fairly easy to read as it being an unsubstantiated rumour used to discredit an influential rival, here Wulf straight admits he was discriminated against due to his ancestry, and even uses his heritage to become 'High Lord' of Dunland.
Anyway, Wulf amasses an army, including 'Variag mercenaries' who are clearly just Haradrim, but whatever, and beats Helm. I won't go too much into detail, but the battle itself isn't incredibly impressive, imo, clearly trying very hard to emulate Jackson's Return of the King.
Speaking of Wulf, marketing kind of painted the picture of a kind of badboy former childhood sweetheart of Hera turned evil. He is... not that. Very little of his childhood relationship with Hera is actually explore. Instead, Wulf instead channels more Macbeth or Captain Ahab. An incredibly bloodthirsty and ambitious warlord who is ultimately undone by a combination of hubris, lust for vengeance and a complex over his own inadequacies.
Frankly, the only reason he doesn't fall faster is thanks to, again seriously, 'General Targg', his Dunlending advisor. Not that you would be able to tell he's a Dunlending, being clean shaven and having close-cropped hair... He looks like he's just a Roman strategist plucked out of time, like an Africanus or even Caesar. His main job is to tell Wulf to please stop being dumb and take his Ws, such as when Helm straight up offers to surrender the crown for the life of his last son. Wulf for his part never actually listens, however, cumulating in him spending the last of his gold building a giant 'siege tower' (Think the Warwolf if its only job was to fall over and provide a big bridge for soldiers to march up the undefended walls of Helms Deep) and he promptly stabs Targg once the man gets fed up of Wulf being a complete failure of a king.
Lastly, my biggest criticism of the movies is probably that a lot of the Tolkien elements feel very incidental and solely there for the sake of the intellectual property. The Mumak and the 'Variag mercenaries' show up for one battle and are never mentioned again. The Watcher in the Water appears once and quickly disappears again. There's one scene with Orcs that only exists to foreshadow that Sauron is looking for rings, but it's completely irrelevant to the story proper and mostly exists so Helm can have a Batman moment saving Hera from a troll. Saruman pops up at the end to wink at the camera, and perhaps most egregiously of all, they pull a Battle of the Five Armies, where Hera rides off into the sunset after she says a wizard wishes to talk to her, who 'in the common tongue is Gandalf'. I have no idea where this is going to lead and can only pray Philippa Boyens isn't trying to make Gandalf a kind of fantasy Nick Fury who is gathering heroes from all across the land for another movie...
In terms of rating, from a bottom-barrel The Rings of Power to a lovely The Lord of the Rings Online, I rate it a Fellowship of the Ring (2002). That's a 5-6/10 for you boring people. The animation itself isn't bad, but it's not quite your name or Mononoke Hime level. It's an entertaining enough one-time watch, but I don't foresee being it much of a repeat classic like it's forefathers. Overall a decent but unambitious foray into Tolkien, which given the current competition, may not actually be an insult...
#tolkien#the lord of the rings#middle-earth#the war of the rohirrim#rohan#the lord of the rings the war of the rohirrim#honestly could have been a lot worse#whatever happens I actually wouldn't mind seeing another animated adaptation of another less famous part of the Legendarium#but perhaps something a bit more exciting next time#Lotr#war of the rohirrim
20 notes
·
View notes
Text
Just got back from Astra’s vet appointment. It’s not a tumour or anything internal; it is just a slightly infected wound. Thank fuck. Thank fuuck.
*clears throat*
Now she’s not entirely out of the woods yet, but this is still the best case scenario. (details under the cut as I ramble a bit)
I’ll be giving her antibiotics every 3 days and continuing to clean/disinfect the area, but the relief is there since, to be frank, if it had been a tumour or something internal causing the lump, I would have genuinely have had to consider putting her to sleep, as whilst it wouldn’t be impossible to treat even a tumour, especially as I was at what’s probably the best exotics vet in Scotland; the one attached to Edinburgh university; i.e. all of the latest research is being implemented, however the price for such treatment would have been way above what I could afford and no matter how much it hurt, I know it’d be unethical for me to keep her alive in pain with no prospect of recovery. I guess anxiety-brain was worrying about that and getting me quite stressed, but no, it seems my initial conclusion that it was that old fake plant which had a bit of the metal wire sticking out might have poked her, and it got somewhat infected before I noticed, due to it blending in with her normal colouring etc. I still don’t know exactly when it happened, but that’s less important than what’s happening going forward. I’ll be injecting some fuzzy mice with a dose of antibiotics and feeding them to her. As she’ strike-feeds, hopefully that won’t mean she pops the thing, which remains a distinct possibility. I was considering using larger mice, but since I’ll be feeding her every 3 days (which, for non-snake keepers, is a lot) so it worth keeping them small. The vet did say that a bit of extra fat reserves would be useful for her if she’s fighting off an infection. And baby mammals are fairly high in fat, so that’ll hopefully help. Hopefully also she remembers what a fuzzy mouse even is, it’s been more than a decade since she’s even seen once, but it should be fine. She’s not a particularly fussy eater and it should still smell the same and, after all, that’s her primary sense.
I’ll be giving it until tomorrow before I do this though, so she’ll have some time to relax after the stressful vet’s visit, though that said, it seems the lifetime of desensitisation training and generally giving her as much choice-based handling/interaction as is reasonable/ making her at least think she has a choice even if she really doesn’t meant that she was exceptionally well behaved.
I mean, she wasn’t enjoying being poked and prodded, but she didn’t even flinch when they stuck the needle into the lump to extract some of the contents to test. I guess since every 12 hours for the last week she’d had me take her out and prod the sore spot (apply disinfectant) so she got used to it, but still, I’m proud of her. It was also interesting that both the vet and the students who were there (as I said, it was attached to a university, so there’s usually some vet students there too) were very impressed at how calm she was. I did explain why that was and again a level of surprise that suggested that most snakes they dealt with were hissing and spitting and generally making things as difficult as possible. I mean, sure if they’d just been shunted around different pet shops/animal sanctuaries all their life, they won’t be too used to human contact, but surely a pet would be? Surely a responsible pet owner would….what? No? Oh. Okay. I mean that said; she’s always been the least likely out of all of them to bite in fear, she’d instead try to flee instead, and whilst she was definitely quite stressed, it never got anywhere near that level. My snake daughter was very well behaved and I’m very proud is what I’m saying. But yeah, Astra the corn snake is doing okay, the infection didn’t look too serious and as long as she reacts well to the antibiotics and nothing unexpected happens it should all be good.
7 notes
·
View notes
Note
7 + 18
7. what character did you begin to hate not because of canon but because how how the fandom acts about them?
Hate is vastly overstating it, as my thoughts on her are more conflicted than anything (tl;dr: like her conceptually, not so much in execution more often than not beyond SA1, and not counting games with little dialogue like the Advance trilogy or Superstars), but over the last few years, Amy fans have been annoying me quite a lot with their penchant for heavily downplaying and in some cases outright retconning the feats of other characters - usually Tails or Knuckles - in an insecure bid to prop her up. There's also their insistence on demanding for her inclusion in absolutely everything, even when there might be little thought out placement for her, like the movies. In fairness, I understand not wanting her to be left out of stuff, yet I don't see Rouge fans or Cream fans acting this way, or at least nowhere near as often.
As of the Year of SA2 Wanking, Shadow is in a similar spot, albeit for different reasons. Due to the vicious cycle of his overwhelming fanbase VS the preferential treatment he often receives as a result of it, which once again tends to come at the cost of other characters, not to mention how often his famous backstory is used to frame him as the only character in the games with any depth or characterization, and SEGA themselves caring a lot more intimately about Shadow's portrayal than any other character in the games, including Sonic and Eggman despite them being the main protagonist and antagonist respectively... it's hard to not glare a little bit in his general direction.
On the much more bitter side that veers into legitimate dislike for the actual character in their entirety, you have the Freedom Fighters. I remained fairly neutral on them for a long time, but I began to grow very sour on them upon realising how many dick moments they had over their lifespan. Combine that with fans hyping them up to ridiculous levels as being light years ahead of the entire game cast in terms of writing and legacy, as well as the infamous Rally4Sally push, and various characters being morphed into little more than dispensable Sally clones because the Archie crew can't move on from its cancellation, and well...
As you can see from all these examples, I try my best to never let my thoughts on a character be dictated solely because of their loudest fans' obnoxious behaviour. There's usually something else there that said behaviour merely amplifies. Also note that when I say ___ fans, I don't mean literally all of them.
18. it’s absolutely criminal that the fandom has been sleeping on…
The characters as they actually are, rather than what certain adaptations and indistinguishable big-name fans claim they are.
7 notes
·
View notes
Text
I just finished: My Friendly Neighbourhood!
![Tumblr media](https://64.media.tumblr.com/335dc871c9a7f9e1d19c2468e09e4e2d/c808277c986056bf-ed/s540x810/57cd72641b5d165d9e4db494ffe431db426846ca.jpg)
I think many people groaned when they first saw My Friendly Neighbourhood - another kid horror game, put out for youtube channels to churn out video after video about: yet I try to be hopeful with these games - I even tried Garten of Banban (don't) - and with my love of puppets I was particularly hopeful about MFN, and it delivered on my expectations.
![Tumblr media](https://64.media.tumblr.com/c350a05c2b86a38864648a9b06e059ac/c808277c986056bf-e7/s540x810/0c12c106f08ca7b1dc361d9972a8b372e0b5de8a.jpg)
MFN has a child centric overlay, yes, but it doesn't have much in common with the likes of Five Night's at Freddie's or Bendy and Ink Machine at all. I'm not sure the game appeals to younger children all that much due to the lack of more overt horror elements, it seems too age appropriate: there's no gore, no dark mysteries for theory channels exploit - it wears it's themes on it's sleeve. MFN opts for a subtler creepiness, though even then the game is fairly light throughout. I think the younger audiences for these games are generally drawn to them not because of the elements taken from children's entertainment, but because they seem more adult while still wearing an approachable skin, and MFN neighbourhood wholly rejects that veneer of maturity.
![Tumblr media](https://64.media.tumblr.com/f34f8e489e460c92485a8382fe8a42a7/c808277c986056bf-ea/s540x810/d09355671bc56d35127990556fc2d71a6f00da9d.jpg)
As I said the game is not all that explicit, so don't expect to be going down blood soaked corridors or finding dismembered corpses - but the puppets, they never stop talking. The noise never stops. They are absolutely incessant, never stopping their monologues even when they've been taped up, talking over each other even when they are right next to each other. They only stop when they see you, delightedly greeting you and asking for hugs - which is how they kill you? I won't lie, I was confused when I first died, 'how on earth does that kill me?', but, I suppose I am supposed to being playing as an older man, so being knocked over a few times might be enough - and of course this game won't be showing a grizzly death.
![Tumblr media](https://64.media.tumblr.com/69ac7f1b97520fd6d890d7134395c00d/c808277c986056bf-57/s540x810/f2ec9434b706430e930532f205072c196ccde796.jpg)
The game play is a veritable love letter to Resident Evil and survival horror in general, taking elements from across the franchise: most resembling RE7 with it's first person perspective and the layout of the buildings, as well the fact that looking at your inventory doesn't pause the game when your in it, forcing you to always be vigilant - but the inventory also resembles the popular briefcase system from RE4, and they even have their own version of the Mercenaries thrown in. The puzzles are all very classic resident evil, and taping the puppets up is reminiscent of burning corpses or boarding up windows in the early games.
![Tumblr media](https://64.media.tumblr.com/94654a9b133cad075a3f1953e307db8a/c808277c986056bf-4a/s540x810/2d962a0d753f77509d9049a3f6da34b064b2fd90.jpg)
So: Resident evil with puppets? The only thing missing for me is some good FMV, so of course this was going to be a hit for me no matter what - but even in terms of Resident Evil clones, this is likely the best I've played so far, and probably also the most approachable. All of the elements taken are used effectively, not simply thrown in just because Resident Evil did it, and unlike many similar games including the ones it's aping, it takes every step to avoid the player becoming frustrated. It's map, similar to the those in the more recent Resident Evil entries, highlights which rooms still have things left to do in them, and when the game asks you to backtrack to gather things it actually marks them on the map for you! I had an actual gasp when I saw that, with how out of character it is for this genre as a whole.
![Tumblr media](https://64.media.tumblr.com/a284fe4f0dea2c600cad985613325e13/c808277c986056bf-b8/s540x810/b1e456a45d4e395dd58010d884b056b4eb20aa17.jpg)
Whilst earlier I said My Friendly Neighbourhood wears it's themes on it's sleeve, that's not to say it's shallow, I can certainly find a lot of meaning in it, although many may consider it to be reading a little to deeply. The show is of course focused around a 'sesame street' type show, and focuses a lot on where this kind of art finds it's place - whether it may even be considered art. Whether art can be good and wholly kind, without being vapid and meaningless. This is contrasted in the background by a nonspecific 'war' which seem to be blamed by some of the puppets for why the show got cancelled, with the idea that before this war everyone was kinder and less cynical, and because of it they are no longer receptive to the messages of the show. I think this could be easily read as a some sort of prelapsarian fantasy, but I think that'd be unfair. The game does present the neighbour's wholly kind view in a positive light, largely, though not without pointing out criticisms of that out look. One of the notes in the game - which I will point out I was always worth reading, unlike with certain other games - details the issues with teaching a child to always be selfless, helping others with anything. This easily allows a child to be exploited, and encourages them to not care about themselves at all.
![Tumblr media](https://64.media.tumblr.com/8624629a396cb10996f183973792b886/c808277c986056bf-5f/s540x810/a160d3996ab8c819093bf1ce0128670c8c83d326.jpg)
As well, being 'wholesome' is often a shield hidden behind by people wanting to spread their propaganda without critique. Is it even possible for art, created by a human with flaws and emotions, to be completely 'wholesome'. I would say not - My Friendly Neighbourhood serves to make that point, though putting out a positive front there are always darker things lying in the background, and the lessons of friendship the game imparts would be meaningless without them. Throughout the game you'll have opportunities for your character to console some of the puppet characters, often through sharing similar stories of hardships. Only through misery are these characters brought together, and without it such scenes would feel hollow.
![Tumblr media](https://64.media.tumblr.com/6fd70d1c228a13066e9bcba9bdd75729/c808277c986056bf-0d/s540x810/72d8dc0f2f9af40810724517d245866773830313.jpg)
At the same time, the veneer of darkness is often used to make media seem more adult and serious, similar to many of what might be called it's ilk in the 'kid horror' genre. Sort of parodying this, near the end it's explained that the reason that the puppets are so odd and aggressive is because they exposed themselves to other media, wanting to become more like other TV shows that were more successful than them. The most affected of these puppets reisde in the aptly named 'unfriendly neighbourhood', and look more like what you would expect monsters in your standard kid horror game to look like - all dark and edgy.
I think perhaps I may have said a little too much about a game that is primarily a silly game where you shoot puppets - but at the same time I think it's silly to dismiss a game - or any art - like that just because it parts of it are less serious. And while that is the main message I got from playing My Friendly Neighbourhood - don't let it stop you from playing it if you just want a fun silly time with puppets, that's there for you too.
Significance: 2/3
Grade: A
#game reviews#games#reviews#videogames#horror#horror games#shooter#survival horror#mfn#my friendly neighborhood
15 notes
·
View notes
Text
Take A Sip From My Cup Chapter 2
Chapter 1 Chapter 3
Ao3
Summary: Double Trouble, with some new faces. Or maybe... Quadruple Trouble?
Notes: 3,059 words. yaay more friends are here! more stuff was supposed to happen in this chapter, but then it got long lol. Again, everyone is human in this, but some folks might have small features like ears. For funsies
They were being visited by their boss, which was generally the worst part of any given night it happened on. It was bad enough they had to stick around after closing, but it would be horrible enough any time. While strictly speaking Myotismon was just there to check their books, it didn’t stop him from making his opinion known on other matters.
“I just don’t understand why you let him wear that.”
“Our store is called Cup of Coffin ,” drawled Gatomon. “Customers think he’s just being on theme.”
Other matters usually being Wizardmon’s hat.
“It’s unprofessional! Do you want to make me look like a fool?”
Gatomon looked like she was trying very, very hard to not drag Myotismon’s own much louder outfit through the dirt. For his part Wizardmon was “cleaning” a machine and not getting involved.
“He seems too sad when he doesn’t have it, “ Garomon settled on instead. “The customers complained.”
That wasn’t true.
Wizardmon was fairly certain it wasn’t true.
“If you must,” Myotismon sighed. “Though I don’t see why you insisted on hiring this criminal to begin with.”
Once again Gatomon looked like she was debating the point on refuting, for the umpteenth time, that there were in fact zero charges against him and also this was a mafia front .
“Did you have something you came for?” she asked. “Sir.”
“Watch your tone,” Mytotismon said, disdainful. “But yes, I do have another order of business. I’m transferring Pumpkinmon and Gotsumon back to this location.”
Wizardmon stopped pretending not to listen and joined Gatomon in staring blankly at their employer.
“Did we do something wrong, sir?”
“ Gatomon ,” Wizardmon hissed at her.
“They’ve merely… struggled. In the other locations. Despite your disdain for them this seems the best place for their final chance.”
It was hard to tell how true this was. The teens were very… rambunctious. Wizardmon didn’t particularly have a problem with them personally, but as someone who had to work with them? It was putting it lightly to say they were bad at their jobs. On the other hand, though, it was well-known (due to their loose lips) they were supposed to report right back to Myotismon about what different locations were up to. Keeping everyone in check through blatant surveillance. This could be Myotismon showing he thought he needed to keep an eye on them.
“I don’t want them in my shop,” said Gatomon, bluntly.
“Well that’s unfortunate then, isn’t it?” grinned Myotismon sharply. “Because it isn’t your shop. It’s mine. And if I hear more complaints I will not continue to be so lenient with you, understand?”
Gatomon glared at him. “Understood.”
All smiles again. “Excellent! I must be on my way, but you can expect the other two back tomorrow. I’m sure you won’t disappoint.”
With that he turned, coat flaring dramatically, and left through the back door.
“Ugh,” said Gatomon, watching through a window as he peeled away. “He’s such a creep. Why do you think he’s sending those idiots back to us now ? I thought you were checking the numbers.”
“I have been,” responded Wizardmon, finally creeping into the light to join her. “I suspect he may have actually been telling the truth.”
“Not that I don’t believe those two would run out of their parent’s reputation to spoil… but still. It makes me nervous.”
“I’m sure it’s nothing to be worried about.”
“You’re just saying that because they like you. Euugh, as if this place couldn’t get any worse.”
“Now! I’m sure you’ll come to appreciate the extra help,” Wizardmon assured. “They must’ve learned something by now.”
“They’ve been run out by every other manager possible, Myotismon said it himself.”
“Yes- well. We’re…” less murderous, “nicer than the other places.”
“I’m not nice about anything.”
“You try very hard to believe that.”
Gatomon glared at him blearily. “Don’t try your feelings nonsense on me, Wizardmon. It’s far too late for that.”
He wasn’t trying anything with feelings. It was a fact. But there wasn’t much he could say to that.
“Speaking of late,” he said, sliding away the last of his cleaning supplies away and out of view, “I believe it is time we head out for the night.”
“You can’t avoid work that easily. We still need to take accounts for the night.”
“Rest is important.” It was always good to appeal to her desire to nap. And also true. Wizardmon glanced meaningfully towards the door, “especially after dealing with something like that.”
Gatomon laughed. A nice victory. “I see what you mean. But first-”
She pointed to the brewer he’d been “cleaning”, eyebrow raised with a smirk. Wizardmon sighed. He deserved that.
- - - - -
If there was nothing else about Pumpkinmon and Gotsumon, they were creative.
Wizardmon had arrived at work the next morning to find an already beleaguered Gatomon gesturing towards the young teens and the instruction he was to show them the ropes. Nevermind they had worked there previously and had worked at other locations in all the time since. They would need it. Especially if it kept them away from Gatomon.
He took in their enthusiastic demeanors with a bit of hope that at least they would be a fun kind of chaos. Over their uniform, Pumpkinmon wore a large green scarf clearly meant to double as a cape, as well as a headband meant to look like an axe sticking out their head. Gotsumon initially appeared more understated, with a simple pink dress under their apron, but as you took them in further you began to notice the rocks strung in bracelets, necklaces, and even earrings hanging from their already rocklike little ear nubs. Wizardmon suspected that, despite Gatomon’s insistence it was solely because of him, they liked working at this location in large part because Gatomon had a very loose stance on dress code. Not that she would accept the idea they didn’t approach her with an attitude besides torment.
Luckily enough, their eagerness held as he reviewed the layout of the building with them, as well as an overview of different responsibilities. They were very enthusiastic about the idea of using the oven, which admittedly worried him especially given his stressing to them that it was from the previous owners of the building and they didn’t really use it anymore. While they were the location that tended to stay open the latest, meaning more food served, it was still just the usual Cup of Coffin pre-packaged stuff, and the most they did was warm it.
“Can we use the warmer ?!” Pumpkinmon insisted whilst staring at him intently.
Wizardmon briefly entertained the idea of sticking them on cleaning duty where they were far less likely to set anything on fire, but the distant, semi-blocked out memory of what happened when these two were given a mop bucket was impossible to fully forget.
“You can work the counter,” he finally decided, giving in. “Cashier and pastries, but just place items into the machine,” he instructed, “and remove them after they exit. Adjusting the settings will be unnecessary.”
“What if something gets stuck in there?”
“Tongs. Or come to me for assistance. Now Gotsumon-” was staring very intently at the various hot water machines. Which they were beautifully eager and… creative with. Perhaps a bit much to start with. “You will also be at the counter but more specifically restocking. Do you remember where storage is?”
“Across from Gatomon’s office but don’t talk to her!”
“Excellent. I will be making drinks, so I will be close if I am needed. If we have enough customers this morning to require your assistance I trust you can step in, but I will review more with you later.”
The pair saluted at him. He paused to consider this. He saluted back.
- - - - -
The day was going fairly well all things considered. Their store was smaller than most of the other Cup of Coffin locations (as evidenced by usually managing with just Wizard and Gatomon), and Pumpkinmon and Gotsumon were managing fairly well, if not a bit distracted, aided by having previous experience with their operations. They’d even managed to say most people’s actual names instead of just making fun ones up. Most. After the morning rush Gatomon finally decided to wander back up front as Wizardmon was re-familiarizing Pumpkin and Gotsumon with their particular protocol.
“Gatomon,” Wizardmon hailed, “have you come around?”
“No,” Gatomon responded flatly, surveying their newest additions. “Though I must say you’re doing considerably better than I expected.”
“Thank you boss lady!” called Pumpkinmon.
Gotsumon chimed in with a wink- “we won’t disappoint you! You’re the funnest place to work at!”
“Plus the big boss said we’re fully fired if we mess this one up…”
Gatomon sighed deeply. “Someone needs to teach you two about inspiring confidence in your leaders…”
“They are progressing quite well,” Wizardmon joined in. “I must say their skills have improved in the last few months.”
The teens beamed. “That’s because we have a great best bud Wizardmon!! He’s gonna help all our great ideas!”
“Don’t corrupt my employee,” grimaced Gatomon. “I need him.”
Wizardmon smiled to himself at that. She needed him. For work, but still.
“Employee? That’s a weird way to talk about your best friend!! ”
“He’s not-” Gatomon cut herself off with a groan, clearly not ready to explain again that the reason they always seemed to be together was that the teens only ever saw them at work. There was a ding from the front door signalling someone entering, and she turned towards the noise eagerly as an exit from the conversation.
Her face immediately dropped as she saw who was walking in.
“ Distract them ,” she hissed, pushing Pumpkinmon and Gotsumon towards Wizardmon.
“Gatomon-”
“You’re good with kids! Make balloon animals or something!”
“You can make balloon animals!?”
Wizardmon surveyed the situation, then decided it would be best to just deal with this calmly. He instructed the young pair firmly: “follow me,” then headed to the back.
“Who was that?” asked Gotsumon as they made it past the doors.
“Yeah- she must be scary to make Gatomon act like that!” added Pumpkinmon.
“Just a tricky customer,” said Wizardmon. The pair may not be the best spies, but he still wasn't going to give them too much information to bring back to Myotismon, unexpected as it may be.
“So what? At least that would be interesting,” whined Pumpkinmon. “And you don’t even actually have balloons.”
“Ah but I will!” he responded. “Next weekend when you have shifts again. If…”
“If…?”
“If you can stay back here for five minutes without peeking or breaking anything.”
Pumpkinmon and Gotsumon shared an intense look before turning back to him. “Agreed!”
Good, because he hadn’t made any promises about distracting himself.
Wizardmon carefully tucked himself through the doors to quietly watch what was happening, disappointed to find exactly what he had expected- Gatomon just barely not arguing with her younger cousin, Kari.
“I’m not asking you to consider anything! Just call , we’re family!” Kari was insisting, Gatomon pointedly preparing a drink with her back to her.
“I have nothing to talk about.”
“Aw c’mon we both know that’s not true. It doesn’t have to be work related.”
“Your drink,” said Gatomon, stiffly, practically shoving a hot mocha and receipt into Kari’s hands.
Kari stopped, sighing before setting the drink down, pulling out a pen , and scribbling something on the receipt. Then she picked the drink back up, pushing the piece of paper towards Gatomon as she turned to leave.
“If you change your mind. You don’t have to talk about- about Witchelny. I just want to talk to you.”
With that, she was out the door.
Gatomon walked up to the counter, staring blankly at the receipt. “I know you’re lurking in the shadows, Wizardmon.”
“You’re avoiding her,” he said, stepping out into the room.
“I’m just living, she’s the one chasing me. And I don’t remember asking for your opinion.
He didn’t take that personally. He hadn’t heard most of what they were discussing, but Witchelny? That made her sore.
“That wasn’t an opinion.”
“Was there a reason you came out here? Or was it just eavesdropping?”
Yes. Because he was her friend, and she was distressed, even if she wouldn’t admit it. Not that he could tell her that.
He pointed towards the back door instead. “To see if you were ready for them to come back out.”
Gatomon sighed. “Fine. I can only imagine what will happen if they stay out of our sight for too long.”
The day was pretty calm after that… technically. Gatomon was even more irritated at Pumpkin and Gotsumon than usual, but stayed up front and busy. Not surprising given, well, Kari. And more importantly, Witchelny. That’s what this coffee shop used to be, back when Gatomon’s family owned it. Before Myotismon came through and bought out or pushed out everyone else. Wizardmon had never seen Witchelny. He only even knew about it because Myotismon brought it up as a taunt once.
He wanted to bring it up to her, check in at least, but that was a bit difficult with the teens still running around, not to mention doing their jobs. He settled for keeping an eye out as the afternoon faded, doing his best to be as helpful as he could. Finally they sent Pumpkinmon and Gotsumon off, moving into closing not long after.
It was just the two of them, then. He was deciding on the best way to approach, but was pulled from his thoughts by hiss behind him.
“Stupid machine!”
Wizardmon turned to find Gatomon clutching her hand and glaring at a coffee brewer. He rushed over, and she turned to him.
“It burned me.”
“Let me see.”
She sighed, but held out her hand, “it really isn’t that bad.”
He hummed to himself, before reaching over to turn the tap on, checking the water was lukewarm. Gatomon rolled her eyes, but allowed herself to nudged over with her hand under the running water.
“You should be more careful.”
“I’m always careful Wizardmon, that brewer just got in my way.”
“Maybe you’re feeling distracted then?” he glanced meaningfully at the receipt Kari wrote on, still where she’d left it on the counter.
“I’m sure I have no idea what you mean,” Gatomon huffed, avoiding his eyes.
“She mentioned Witchelny.”
“So what if she did?” Gatomon pulled away from the sink, turning around. “Just shows how weak she still is.”
“Gatomon-” started Wizardmon, before deciding against it. “If you won’t talk, at least keep your hand under the water.”
She groaned, but accepted his dropping the subject as she shoved her hand back in the sink and she made pointed eye contact with him.
“I don’t need all of this attention, you know. It’s just a burn.”
Wizardmon gave her a sharp look- “just a burn until it gets infected.”
“I can handle it fine on my own. You don’t need to make a fuss .”
“It’s my job to make a fuss.”
Gatomon gave him a look that suggested she regretted letting him be the staff safety officer. She’d figured it was an empty title as everyone had to be trained on first aid anyways. She was incorrect.
After more waiting, Gatomon pulled her hand back from under the tap, wiggling her fingers pointedly at Wizardmon without wincing.
“Am I cleared to go now?” she asked, sarcastically.
“We have burn cream in the first aid kit.”
“I don’t need burn cream, Wizardmon.”
“Then yes.”
Gatomon rolled her eyes at him, moving to head back to her office, but pausing for a second at the counter. She snatched Kari’s note, then stuffed it into her pocket before moving on. Wizardmon couldn’t help but sigh to himself as she disappeared past the door. It was obvious she missed Witchelny. She’d done everything she could to keep it alive back in the day, from what he’d learned in old articles when he’d looked the place up. She just didn’t believe it was possible anymore.
Before he was ready and out the door himself, Gatomon reappeared from the back, keys already in hand. He followed her out, but after locking up of she paused outside of her expectantly outside of her car instead of getting right in.
“Let me give you a ride back.”
“You know I’m fine walking.”
“You took on kid-wrangling all day,” she said, flexing her hand. “It’s the least I can do.”
“You don’t have to.”
“Just accept the ride, Wizardmon,” she sighed.
Despite the cold, he felt warm. She really wanted to.
He got in the car.
It was a slightly awkward shuffle to get his walking stick in, but he managed. Gatomon reached between them to turn up the temperature, and warmth flooded into him. It was nice, he had to admit, and Gatomon even had heated seats. Music started on the radio with the car, some random pop station, which Gatomon turned down to speak.
“I can see you enjoying the heat, Wizardmon,” she said with a smirk. “I don’t know how you usually stand walking in the snow in that thin jacket.”
“It’s not that far,” he said, “and I like the wind.”
“Just because it isn’t far doesn’t mean it’s fine . I fear you’ll show up sick one of these days.”
“The cold alone does not cause illness, Gatomon,” he responded. “In fact more danger comes from everyone being indoors to avoid it.”
“Gotsumon and Pumpkinmon really look up to you, you know,” said Gatomon, giving him a look out of the side of her eye, “don’t you want to be a good example?”
“Using kids is cheating .”
Gatomon finally burst with a giggle she’d been holding back. “I don’t fight fair.”
Despite his best efforts, Wizardmon let out a smile as they pulled into his building.
“Goodnight Gatomon,” he said as he exited.
“Goodnight,” she responded. “And at least wear a scarf.”
“I don’t own one.”
Gatomon sighed with fond exasperation before repeating her goodnight and driving away. After watching her fade into the distance, Wizardmon walked up to his apartment, smiling to himself as Tailmon wandered “idly” past as he went in the door. What an interesting day
#my writing#wizardmon#digimon adventure#safety officer wizardmon#wasn't even supposed to be safety officer I just have a problem#I really enjoy the dynamic Wizardmon and Gatomon have in their “evil” era. Wizardmon has his devoted loyalty thing going#but Gatomon doesn't remember any of that. He's just her weird coworker. I think this is soo fun#but it's only in the show for like 5 minutes. More for me to chew on!#Wizardmon coffee shop au
5 notes
·
View notes
Text
Keeping up the flame
It's interesting the many ways in which we can come to learn and understand things, specially when related to our faith, our devotion and our gods.
It hadn't been long since I had decided to become Brig's devotee, when I went through a medical and family situation. I won't give much details, but my grandma had a little accident, and she's had to stay in bed for almost to months by the time I'm writing this. Being only my grandma, my mom and me in the house, this obviously meant an increase of responsabilities for each of us now that we didn't had her help, besides those that came with taking care of her and college left us with a significant less amount of free time and close to no energy by the end of the day. The result of this was, mainly important to this post, a big dealy in my devotional duties. I haven't been able to do many rituals, meditations or my flametending works (that had been requested by Brig when I just started). Besides, due to stress and exhaustion, my creativity significantly suffered as well, and I had to pause both my poems, my creative writing and my recorder practice. All of this left me with a sense of failure and discouragement, feeling unable to properly connect with the gods in general and, specifically with Brig.
A few weeks passed, and not only this feeling lingered, but I also started feeling frustrated because I felt like I was being charged with the mood inside the house. It felt like, whenever I felt down or in a bad mood, everyone home felt the same, and it was exhausting. Besides, taking care of an injured person is not an easy task, specially when added to the usual responsibilities like dishes, house cleaning, and all the chores previously divided between the three of us. For a couple weeks, it felt like I had more than I could handle on my shoulders, and I didn't know what to do at all. However, I did my best to stay positive. Even if I felt it like an unnecessary preassure, I felt like it was something nice I could do to help with the situation, since I wasn't able to help monetarily, so I focused on keeping my spirits up, my mood bright, and try to get that same mood to influence everyone else. Living with a depressive mother and being depressive myself, it was harder than it sounds but I managed to make it work.
It was with all this that I was chatting with a friend a few years ago. We're both part of a little polytheist friendgroup, and we're both fairly new to our own practice. We were talking about our respective devotional work lately, when I realized that, I was wrong, basically. I was telling her about all these things that I've been doing when I realized, aren't all these things related to Brig? Closely, too.
When we think about Brig, we usually think of her more creative aspect. She's the goddess of poetry, the woman who all poets followed. She's the spark of inspiration, the creator or keening, of the whistle, related to poetry, music and ingenuity. But that's just one of her faces. One of her names.
The myths tell us about other two, equally important faces of hers. Brig the blacksmith, and Brig the healer.
Along with her more creative side, Brig is also heavily related to the home, healing, taking care of the ill. It's a known practice for Imbolc to bless pieces of cloth in her wells for her to bless them and make them more effective when used to take care of the ill, reduce fevers or aliviate pain. Alongside this, she's also known to be a keeper of the home. Her crosses, wether celtic or christian in tradition, are often used to guard the home from fires and similar damage. Similarly, she's closely tied with sheep, that used to have symbolic relation with women and their traditional "duties", which are no longer (or shouldn't be) related to gender.
Besides this, we must not forget a really important aspect of hers. Not only she's a guardian, a mother, a blacksmith, a poet and a healer. Primarily, Brig is known as a goddess of fire. Purifying, inspiring and transformative fire. In this particular way, her fire can also be seen as the fire of hope. It's well known she's the one that ends the winter season, taking the earth from Cailleach, and gives the warmth and light back to the world. In this way, we could also see Brig as a goddess of hope. She's the light that shines in the darkness, she's the warmth in the cold. She's loving life and accepting death by doing so.
And it was with all this I realized, I've never been closer to her in my whole life. Yes, maybe I'm not actively seeking her, but I've been kinda forced to shape my behavior in a specific way to endure and go through this hard time, and the way I've done it is completely in line with her. I'm devoted to her and, withouth noticing, that's shaped me in a way where I naturally find her teachings applied in my day to day life, specially dealing with issues. Of course, I sometimes lose focus and don't act like you'd expect, but I blame that on being human.
It was sort of reassuring, realizing how close I actually am to her already. Realizing that, maybe, there IS a reason I feel so drawn to her after all and why she accepted me as a devotee. Since becoming a celtic pagan, I've never felt alone, but I doubt myself a lot, constantly unsure if I'm doing it right. This realization has given me a feeling I hadn't found yet. I feel constantly accompanied by my goddess and, by extension, my faith. We so often focus on our own expectation. What should we look like as devotees and followers of our gods, that we forget to change perspective. Ask ourselves, "yeah, maybe I want to look like this as a devotee of x god/goddess, but what would they want me as a devotee to be like? What does my devotion mean to them?"
I know there's much to go through yet and that this won't be a perpetual change from my doubts, but I love realizing this and feeling this close to a goddess I love so deeply. I hope this blog actually helps someone in a similar situatioin. We are enough. And the gods will be able to appreciate it. Even better than we do ourselves.
I'll try to write a little prayer based on these thoughts and share it with you. I hope you have a blessed path, whenever you may find this. Slán.
#celtic paganism#pagan#paganism#brigid#brig#brigid devotee#celtic gods#celtic pantheon#celtic polytheism#polytheism#polytheist
4 notes
·
View notes
Text
rant about heartstopper for a little
just a word of warning, this isn't going to be extremely positive, but it's not hating on the show
Also all of this is just my opinion, but I'm very open for disagreements, as long as it's respectful
Right off the bat, I have to say, I absolutely hate Nick and Charlie together. I just think they are the most bland boring relationship in the entire show(I also don't think the actors are the best on the show which might have something to do with my dislike of them together) I have to say, my dislike of them together likely also stems from fluff not being my favorite (but I did like them in the books). Just looking at the relationship itself, it kinda feels like the writers weren't sure what to do with them after, like the first three or four episodes. All of the drama and conflict felt extremely forced, just for the sake of needing the main couple to be compelling. In the books, the majority of the plot took place in one or two books;but the show obviously had to stretch out the plot, which didn't work great. I feel like I might've liked the relationship more if they just dealed with all the conflict right off the bat, instead of trying to stretch in out. If they had done this, then all of the disgustingly sweet scenes could've happened without forced conflict, and the conflict(which is basically necessary for entertainment) could've been saved for other characters where it wouldn't have felt forced. Also, all of their scenes together just feel so... loud(?) To me...?(idk if that's just me)
I also have to say I do like the way they handled Nick and his getting comfortable with his sexuality. I also really enjoyed Tara and Darcy(for the most part), as well as Tao and Elle in general. I absolutely loved Isaac and his storyline of realizing hes ace and stuff (although I think it's absolutely ridiculous that hes always reading, and it felt a little bit like the creators were saying that ace people can't even enjoy being around their friends)
I also think that s2 was so much better than s1. Pretty much the only thing I didn't like about s2 was the stupid fricking hickey plotline, it was just completely unnecessary. I feel like the hickey could've just been replaced with, like, a video of Charlie kissing someone or something like that. (Idk?? The plotline was dumb is what I'm saying)Other than that, I really liked how Nick and Charlie took a little step back from being in the constant spotlight, and let the other(imo more compelling) characters/storylines shine. It was good, and the extremely disgustingly cringy akward scenes that made me dislike s1, seemed to leave for the most part(which might be due to the actors just getting better at acting and getting more used to being on screen) only one or two moments made me yell at the screen this season, as opposed to s1 where I was yelling every two seconds at something. Also I just love Imogen.
I just feel like, the show is good, not great or horrible, it's just a good show. I feel like that it really should just be taken for what it is, it's nothing revolutionary(I understand it has a lot of queer characters, but so does DC legends of tomorrow and all of those characters are fleshed out better; whilst I feel as though the heartstopper characters are fairly one dimensional) but it is just a good show. I just think that the show wanted to give the exact same vibe as the book and it just didn't translate well to a TV show. Also I'm gonna admit to being extremely biased here because I absolutely HATE Charlies character and portrayal (not so much in the books though), but that's for another rant.
If you'd like, please feel free to share your opinion! I would love to understand what people see in heartstopper, other than representation.
#heartstopper#Anti charlie spring#kit connor#joe locke#Elle absolutely solos istfg#Imogen solos#tao and elle
16 notes
·
View notes
Note
hi Monica! is it okay to ask for an little more (maybe indepth) explaining on how puentalay and tesstun switch back to the og universes? So tun dreamt of place and the location ended up been in his film site the next day. So did puen dream too or was their respective switch happen due to tun. And we saw that talay say he dreamt of a place as soon as he wake up but it wasn't some place near by or easy to to reach. Does this have some symbolism or meaning and do u think tess also dreamed the same night too. So did the switch happen cuz of talay and tun
hello, dear anon!!!!
of course that’s okay!!!! as a general rule, please feel free to ask me anything, im always up to help if i can or even just to chat a little!!! tho it might take me a while to reply, as you can see ;;;;;;;
before getting into this, however, i think i should point out that the show doesn't really give a full in depth explanation on how the switching back to the original universe works (probably because the novel itself does not give much of an explanation either), and while i do think the show tried to make sense of it by giving us a few more hints to help us connect the dots (which is one of the many reasons why i think the show is far more superior than the novel btw), the truth is that a lot of it is still up to interpretation. so what i can do is give you my own personal view on the matter, which doesn't necessarily mean it's the right one. im aware i tend to read too much into things and that maybe i've come up with an explanation that it's more complicated than it actually is, but im still gonna try to illustrate it as best as i can and let you decide if it works or not!!!!!
SO. right from episode 1, dol and joob introduce us to the two main rules that are known about traveling back to your universe, which are:
"to return to the old universe, you must first find someone who has traveled between universes like us. there will be something of that person that matches you. once you find that person, you will dream.”
“it will be a place. when you dream about a place, you must go there as soon as you wake up. there's a chance for you to return home."
if we go by these, things seem to be fairly straightforward: talay met puen, he eventually dreamed about the secret island, he went there, he switched back; tun met tess, he eventually dreamed about the pool where they were filming a movie in, he went there, he switched back. simple, right?
however, the more you look at it, the more i think it’s natural to come up with a whole lot of questions like if you dream after you find your portkey, why didn't puen and talay dream right away? did they have to reach a certain level of connection to 'unlock' the ability of being each other's portkey? but then what caused talay and tun to finally dream? did puen and tess dream too? and if talay/puen and tess/tun are portkeys, why didn’t they switch together?
as i said before, all these questions remain unanswered in the novel, but the show adds a layer to the universal travelling that i personally think it helps explain a lot. in episode 6, joob says
"i do believe universal traveling happens for a reason. maybe it's a lesson for us to learn something we're missing."
this idea is brought up again by talay at the end of episode 12, when during his voice over he says
"p'joobjang once told us we travel between universes to learn something. for me, i learned about love."
if we look at universal traveling under this point of view, i think a lot of things start to make more sense, and we can also answer a few of the questions we previously had. after you die, you travel between universes because you need to learn a lesson. for puen, it was about accepting himself and the life he was given. for talay, it was about love. only once you've learned your lesson you're gonna switch back. in this scenario, your portkey isn't what 'unlocks' your ability to go home, but rather it's the person that can help you learn said lesson. and if we look at it this way, puen and talay WANTING and CHOOSING to be each other's portkeys gets a whole new meaning too: puen loves talay, talay accepts puen for who he really is, and by wanting and choosing each other they also accept the lesson they were supposed to learn
here's when things get a little bit messy (and i probably read too much into things ;;;;;;). so you have to learn a lesson. but to go back to your original universe we know you also have to dream about a place and go there. so you learn your lesson, and once you do you finally dream about a place, you go there, you switch back. following these rules, it indeed seems like the switch has been due to talay and tun since they're the ones who dreamed, even if you don't know what tun's lesson was. i definitely think this is perfectly reasonable, and we could stop here and call it a day, however to me it's not so simple, mainly for two reasons: 1) the switch between puen and tun literally happens at the peak of puen's character development, once he's fully learned his lesson and shows it by finally being ready to tell talay his name, so it's hard for me to see it as a simple coincidence, and 2) maybe it's gonna sound harsh, but to simply put it, this is not tun's (and tess') story, it's puen's (and talay's), so on a narrative point of view it's just weird to have someone else be responsible for the switch
so here's what i think (hopefully i can explain it in a way that make sense ;;;;;;): usually, when you're taught a lesson, you will also have to take a test to show that you've really learned it. puen's test is to face his worst nightmare: being back in his original universe with no one waiting for him. talay's test is to be willing to give up everything for love: losing time and energy by having to wait day after day for the tide to get lower. and while i do think dreaming and going to a certain place is necessary to switch back after learning your lesson, the reason i think puen didn't dream is because that would have defeated the point of his test (if he had dreamed he would have known he was gonna go back and he could have prepared himself for it), so tun dreamed (and went to the designated place) for him
im aware it's a reach, but it makes sense to me, especially because of the place tun dreamed of: a pool. this is already long as hell so im not gonna into it as much as i could, but let's just say that in vice versa water is a recurring theme that carries a lot of different meanings. one of those is that it represents puen and talay's relationship as a whole (in episode 7, the tide at the secret island is low because they haven't cleared up their feelings for each other yet; in episode 9, the tide is getting higher because they confessed to each other but there are still things left unsaid; in episode 11, the tide is at its highest point because puen and talay fully love each other with no secrets left between them [and talay has to dive in the ocean, in their love, to get to the secret island and be able to go back]). but water also represents talay and puen separately, with natural bodies of water being related to talay and artificial man-made ones (like a swimming pool) to puen
ANYWAY. there are still some holes in this theory and there's so much more that i could say about it, especially about the water symbolism and how i personally think 'the Universe' is a sort of sentient force in vice versa, but we would be here for ages so im just gonna shut up. if you, anon, or anyone else, even got to this point after reading though this mess you honestly deserve a prize ;;;;;; (i can offer cookies and all my love?)
but yeah, i hope this was at least interesting, if not coherent, and i'll let you decide if this is a somewhat reasonable explanation that could actually make sense!!!!!!
#I REALLY SHOULD HAVE REREAD THIS BEFORE POSTING IT AND YET. I DID NOT#hope it still makes sense ;;;;;;#and i do hope you're still around to see this anon!!!!!#even if it is. what it is ;;;;;;#LOOK I KNOW IM READING TOO MUCH INTO THINGS AND COMPLICATING SOMETHING THAT IT'S PROBABLY WAY MORE SIMPLE#OR THAT COULD JUST BE EXPLAINED WITH 'THERE ARE PLOT HOLES IN THE SHOW' BUT IT MAKES SENSE TO ME OKAY#the orderlies coming to get me like sure grandma let's get you to your padded room#anyway sorry this took me so long and i hope you're having a wonderful day anon!!!!! 💜#vice versa#long post#m: txt
4 notes
·
View notes
Text
3.09 - Captains and Vice-Captains
This is a part of my Subjectify Media conversation review that I wanted to share as straight-up meta, because it's something I keep thinking about regarding the banter between Sam and Jamie about the armband. It occurred to me that people might not know how vice-captains work in football teams, so here's me forcing football logic onto a throwaway moment to make it work in a way that means Sam and Jamie don't both feel OOC here.
‘Ted Lasso’ season 3, episode 9 in conversation: Second-best way it could’ve gone
Natalie: I have heaps of thoughts about the Roy and Isaac relationship and captain inheritance and how maybe Roy didn’t particularly think through his choice originally, but is able to help Isaac with shit he knows about himself that he’d love to break the cycle with for Isaac. Isaac picking Sam to take over while he’s banned is a choice with much less liability, and we knew Sam would become captain at some point this season from the trailer. And I think it’s a good choice but unfortunately they saw fit to include a moment about this that I HATED and don’t understand at all, and I think I’m like one of five people that hated it, which is that banter between Sam and Jamie about the captain’s band. I love their friendship and I’d love Sam teasing Jamie in any other moment. I think they’re amazing. But I think this scene did both Sam and Jamie dirty. You initially liked it on your watch, so try and talk me out of this.
Megan: So I think with this, in the moment I enjoyed it because Sam’s reaction, flipping Jamie off, startled a laugh out of me in a tense moment, and also Sam looked So. Freaking. Cute. Then speaking to you afterwards I did agree with what it was saying about Jamie in particular being quite off. It’s a tough one because okay… Going deep into football logistics, the way it works is you don’t just pick a random player to take over as captain. There is a hierarchy and there are usually people who are the named vice captains. Sometimes the manager makes these choices, or, more rarely, the players vote – Man City is a team that votes – but there is generally a “captain group.” For West Ham, for example, Mark Noble was captain for years, and Declan Rice was the main vice captain and often wore the armband because he started more often than Noble did. When Noble retired, Dec became captain and the manager, David Moyes, selected three vice captains to support him in the various duties – Aaron Cresswell, Angelo Ogbonna and Lukasz Fabianski.
So within football realism, it is extremely reasonable that Jamie and Sam are both already Richmond’s selected vice captains, and with that in mind yes, Isaac gives it to Sam, but I don’t think he did that out of like specifically choosing Sam over Jamie, right? I think it was just geography based – Sam was next to him, he would have been the easiest to shove the band at, rather than Jamie.
So my good faith interpretation, that works for their characters in my head is that Sam physically got the band due to proximity, but maybe Jamie, an established vice captain is thinking – and I think, quite fairly – “You know what, we’re a goal down, we’ve lost a player, I might be the best person tactically in this situation to wear the band and captain us through this situation where we are going to have to Total Football the shit out of the rest of this match.” So this was Jamie broaching the topic, and then Sam responding in a light-hearted way to kind of break the tension of the room, but also him thinking “No you know what, I think I’d be a good person in this situation to keep heads calm, and also argue the ref down from any later cards, so we don’t risk losing any other players.”
And I am putting a LOT of thought behind how that very short moment, clearly played for laughs, could be interpreted to make it work for the characters, because the alternative is that Jamie was having a big ego moment and wanting the captain band that he had not been honoured with, and Sam was apparently so unaffected by Isaac’s angst that he’s being a little shit two seconds later. And neither of those sit quite right with me.
Natalie: Yeah but you’re aware that the last sentence, the alternative, is how it played to 99.99% of people who are not logistically thinking about the reality of clubs having an existing captain pool, right? Which, really, maybe we should have seen before, because it isn’t as if Isaac has played every single minute of every single match since Roy gave him the armband. When Isaac gets subbed off, for any reason – fitness, a yellow card meaning they don’t want to risk a red, anything at all – he would have to pass the band to someone on the pitch. This is why they have vice captains and we see this in the season 1 finale with Roy. Isaac starts the match as the substitute captain, Roy gets the band back when he starts the second half, then he passes it back to Isaac when he limps off. This is a thing. There have to be people the band goes to when the captain comes off the pitch before the match ends.
And Sam and Jamie both being vice captains absolutely makes sense logically, but this is not how the joke is played, and as you admit, you’re forcing this idea into your reading, and making your reading more realistic than Ted Lasso actually is, because the alternative is a moment that kind of truly sucks for both Sam and Jamie, but sadly, I think that alternative is absolutely what the show meant. This is their way of saying “Hahahahah! Remember, Jamie is still full of himself and is disrespecting Isaac’s clear choice and Sam’s power as a team leader, and he’s presumptively trying to put himself above Sam. Because he’s a prick, remember?” And also saying “Hahaha! Sam, in this moment, is able to recover so much from Isaac’s clear distress that he’s keen to mock and tease his friend for his ridiculous ego, and in doing so, giving the audience the message that hahahaha, how silly it is to think that Jamie would ever be captain!”
It is, boiled down, banter that says Jamie’s an inflated egomaniac who is inappropriately trying to take something from his friend that was very purposely given to him, and Sam’s response both makes a mockery of the idea that Jamie could be a valid captain choice and shows that he isn’t very affected by Isaac’s big emotional moment, if he’s able to be so playful. It makes each of them look like arseholes in a way I found totally out of character for both of them. There are a million other ways to have had Sam tease Jamie about his ego, so many other moments where we could have seen this energy. But because Ted Lasso has never taken pains to establish the captain system, and because Isaac didn’t throw the band down in the centre for them to fight over, Isaac selecting Sam and then Jamie being like, “No, me actually,” and then Sam being like, “LOL, as if it’s you?” I hated it IMMEDIATELY. And I’m sad about not enjoying it. It’s not like I’m trying to take these things in bad faith, but it genuinely just felt very wrong to me. And this is what I was referring to when I said I didn’t like the way they burst the tension bubble on the Isaac outburst. It is meant to be a “letting the air out” moment, but for me it was really not fun.
Megan: Absolutely. Like I said I didn’t have the immediate hatred, because it broke me out of the tension and because of Toheeb Jimoh’s face. But once you pointed this out, it did sit really bad with me, and that’s why I had to, as you say, force this reading into working for me, to contradict that. So yeah, look, I’m with you on what it means for the characterisation, and I really hope we get a moment of Jamie wearing the armband down the line more organically. He’s earned it.
Natalie: It’s not even that I think he should have had it here instead of Sam, to be clear!
Megan: Oh yeah, I get it, it’s just the way they had the interaction play out.
Natalie: I just don’t think it’s outlandish to think he’s a candidate and this treated him it was. Also his disrespect of Isaac’s obvious choice, because he had intentionally handed it to Sam. It was just a mess for me. And there are so many other ways we could have got Sam teasing Jamie about being bigheaded, but for Sam to be playful and competitive in this moment rather than, you know, serious and worried. So weird to me. And everyone I’ve talked to who saw the episode loved it, LOL.
‘Ted Lasso’ season 3, episode 9 in conversation: Second-best way it could’ve gone
14 notes
·
View notes
Text
A tradition with the French Comp is to interview the winner of every edition. Since I won Best Game, I got to partake in this tradition, and answer a bunch of fun questions about my entry and my creation process.
The interview is now available on the French IF community website:
Since it is in French, here is the translation, under the cut. Spoilers ahead. Note: the French article was over 2k words...
Interview with manonamora, winner of the contest 2023
This year, manonamora won the competition, with her entry, DOL-OS. We spoke with her to learn more about her creative process and her future projects!
Can you introduce yourself in a few words? How did you discover interactive fiction?
My name is Manon, a netizen under the pseudo manonamora for years.
I fell into the "cauldron" of interactive fiction in the spring of 2021, when a close friend had sent me the link to the game A Tale of Crowns. I liked this type of game, and it made me rediscover the pleasure of writing, so I stayed. It’s really nice in this pot, we’re having fun!
People appreciated the different levels of depth of your participation and the care taken at the interface, in particular. How long did it take you to design it?
It was a bit of a sprint… 😅
I think I started scribbling my ideas on pages about a month before the entry deadline.
I wanted to try to incorporate both themes (archives and trahison) into the game, just for fun. So I took the easiest path and went on to create an archive of different documents, all linked by the theme of betrayal. Of my list of documents that I wanted to include, I was only able to include half at the end (the other remained in draft, due to lack of time).
The idea of using a computer as a framework and interface for the game came up fairly quickly and organically, since the archive alone was not enough, to my liking. This led to the possibility of adding puzzles (something I didn’t necessarily do in my other games) that I could also link to the theme (like the hangman’s solution or opening Théophile’s account) and creating animated and pixelated visuals (like a fake virus downloaded). I even made a list of puzzles and minigames to add so that the computer looks like a real computer (that’s why there is a sudoku in the "games" folder, or the keypad to open one of the programs).
From there, I thought I would just do two blocks of archives: one on the guest’s account, where some of the documents would look corrupt, and another on Theophilus' account, where those missing documents would be. But by writing certain documents, such as the note in the trash and the journal entries (which were not separated from the archive initially), I had fun looking for the links between all the different parts and thinking more about the universe in which this old computer was. That’s how the Jupiter-Broker project became an artificial intelligence project, more than a virus.
What are the things that inspired you?
Other than a title I had written down in my drafts, I’m not sure which source inspired me to choose this genre or framework or use of the theme in this way. I’ve been a big fan of science fiction for as long as I can remember (I had swallowed Asimov in middle school/junior high… and now I’m stuck with the anthologies of short stories) and video games in general (especially the history and universe of these games). Everything that has to do with robots, the advancement of technology, futuristic stories, and human dilemmas that have to do with these first points, I’m passionate about it! I wouldn’t be surprised if, somewhere in my brain, I could pick up stuff from Portal or System Shock or Fallout or Asimov’s Robot Cycle, or even WALL-E and Alien, without really realizing it.
In my notes, the only concrete thing I could find was one of the entries of the Intertact-IF 2022 game jam: Logical Choices, especially in terms of its simplicity, and, finally, the newspaper too.
For the visual, I wanted from the start to have something simple, with the look of old computer in black and green, like my grandmother’s minitel. I really tried to search for minitel page images (I even found a page editor!). On the other hand, trying to code everything, it didn’t really go well with Twine, especially the animation of the blocks that appear one after the other. I was quickly tempted to create the game in minitel pages, but well, I only had 2 weeks left… It was a bit short to learn a new system. So I just took pictures of old computer screens.
Are there any secrets the players might have missed?
There are several little secrets in the game.
The first category concerns the names in the game: the title, «DOL-OS», is based on the Greek deity of the same name, Dolos, personifying treachery (and bam, the theme of the contest; and it sounded good as operating system name). The AI is named Janus, the deity with two faces. The program of Theodore’s diary, in which he was summoned by his organization to write his days, is named «Ind.ic», coming from the French word indic, a person who informs the police.
Something a little more fuzzy can be found in the writer’s draft, which is related to one of my other games, Exquisite Cadaver, where the player plays this writer, who has not been able to write for months. This is not the first time I have included a link to this game in my projects, like the "cocktail" Renaud’s Nightmare in The Thick Table Tavern.
Where do you get your ideas, generally speaking?
A bit everywhere. Sometimes, it comes organically enough looking at the theme or the constraints of a game jam (La Petite Mort, Goncharov Escapes!). Sometimes, it’s just the desire to push a kind of puzzle or a type of gameplay into a project (Exquisite Cadaver, well it was also the theme). Sometimes it’s typing “trope [genre]” in Google and taking the first thing that comes out (SPS Iron Hammer). Otherwise I have some ideas that have been inspired by books (P-RIX – SPACE TRUCKER, by Stanisław Lem’s Tales of Pirx the Pilot) or films (Meeting the Parents, inspired by Meet the Parents). Other projects or ideas for future projects are inspired by books on my nightstand, or conversations with loved ones, or even just random thoughts that come and go.
I’m not trying too hard to think. If it doesn’t inspire me or amuse me, I’ll move on. Creating interactive fiction is all about fun. And I already have a super long list of ideas I want to do…
You only use Twine. Is there a particular reason? Do you intend to try other creative systems in the future? Maybe some of the other entries gave you some ideas?
For the moment, yes. Twine remains my favourite, having been the first program I hooked up with when I started creating interactive games. The software was easy to navigate and rather playful to use (Harlowe has extra help to code in the program) and the program is open source. It was really important for me, who didn’t have any code or programming knowledge that went any further than that techno hour to the colleague where a substitute had taught us to create a basic HTML page. With Twine, it stuck from the start.
And then, personally, I love that the customisation aspect can be pushed as much. You can do hypertext or multi-choice games, dungeons, RPGs, etc. I created a cocktail bar for my participation in the IFComp last year, and there I did a puzzle. I have a friend who has recreated Minesweeper and another who has made Snake with his sauce. Almost anything is possible with Twine!
When I get tired of Twine, I think I’ll try other systems, especially those to create parsers (because making one with Twine is a bit of a mess… /did and done that). And then also test programs made in France. Already during the ECTOCOMP and the Feldo streams of the games of the old competitions, Donjon had intrigued me a lot. And also ink, to make stories that extend to infinity (it takes too much tinkering with Twine for it to work...).
But my Twine fling isn’t over yet. I’ve only been playing with the interface since last summer, and I don’t feel like I’ve discovered the bottom of the iceberg yet. There are still a lot of things I haven’t tested yet, whether it’s in different formats or gameplay. I would like to do some kind of escape room or RPG in the future. I still want to push the envelope a little further…
You participated in the IFComp (the largest English-language event) before participating in our contest. Are there any differences that particularly struck you between the two?
By missing the inclusion of a theme (which the IFComp does not), I think the biggest difference between the two contests is the attitude of the participants and the players. The atmosphere of the French competition is really relaxed and I noticed a lot of support in the Discord. Or even have a person stream all the games on Twitch (it’s very convenient for me who is a loser in parsers…). It’s really positive!
On the other side, there is the IFComp which is really considered the event of the year, where the authors exhibit their best creations, without any real constraints, some having been in development secretly for years. The atmosphere is more professional and harsh towards its participants. There is really a lot of expectation from the entire interactive fiction community. It’s supposed to be the crème of the crop in interactive fiction.
After that, even if the atmosphere of the French-language competition is more chill, I found the level of entries much more uniform in terms of quality. While the IFComp will often have very poor or even zero entries (the bottom of the ranking having an average of below 2.5 out of 10), the overall French competition had a very high level (a sentiment shared by one of the critics on intfiction.org). The attention to each game had a lot of merit, especially as regards writing.
Another thing that struck me as well was the diversity between the systems and formats used—it is possible that the competition, having three times fewer bids than the IFComp, may have influenced my perspective on the subject. But between the French programs (Moiki, and Donjon), the more popular ones (Twine, Inform, ink), or even made from scratch (like the participations of AZ and Narkhos), there were many choices and important differences between uses. It was a fascinating experience that really made me want to try something new.
Finally, I had a very different attitude towards the two competitions. After taking a little slap during the IFComp (arriving in the middle of the stack and having received fair but also severe feedback, read more here), the expectation I had with myself with the contest was less trying to get to a certain position in the standings, but no more fun creating something different. It was much easier to look a little more… healthy competition, with all the lessons learned during the IFComp and new knowledge and experiences between the two competitions.
And on top of that, you regularly participate in game jams like ECTOCOMP or Partim 500, you co-organize the SeedComp! , and you’re going to participate in the Spring Thing. Is there a secret to such productivity?
Delusion that all this is doable in the allotted time. Free time. And spite. But especially the first point. 😂
(this was the gif that came into my mind when I wrote my answer, not part of the actual interview)
Frankly, I’m not helping my cause either. As soon as I find a project that is a bit interesting, I can get all in on it quite quickly and put all my energy and free time into it. It’s not recommended, actually. Even if all these participations taught me a lot of things (and especially to learn quickly), it tires a lot in the end... I am often emptied at the end of each new jam/comp.
It’s probably a little psychological, too. The will to create a lot to leave a trace behind me, a trace that will represent everything I could accomplish, everything I could be able to do or try to do. The desire to prove to others and especially to myself that I can create stuff that I as a child could not have imagined; especially since before 2021, I really didn’t have any programming knowledge… Willingness, or perhaps duty, to prove that I can solve a challenge in a short time (for example: in 4 hours for ECTOCOMP, or two quiet afternoons for Partim 500), or with significant constraints (One-Button and Two-Buttons jams), or just because there’s a piece of spaghetti code that taunts me about unravelling it.
Anyway...
Do you have other projects underway or coming soon? Perhaps you plan to participate in the contest next year?
Of what happens soon, hopefully, The Roads not Taken, a parser made with Twine, will be finished in time for the Spring Thing. I really want to talk about it, but at the same time, it’s more fun if it’s still a little secret… [note: it is now out!]
Otherwise… Too many projects in progress. Between the demos not yet completed, the translations of my old games finished, the organization of game jams (SeedComp! will not be the only one this year…), and the hope of participating in the next IF competitions, I have given myself a lot of work (too much) to do.
Ha ha ha…
Thank you for answering these questions! Congratulations again, good luck and don’t forget to take care of yourself!
14 notes
·
View notes