#wish we'd seen more of them :')

[calicorobin]

beanbag chair psychology

[tokyo-daaaamn-ji-gang]

Future Kakucho looking fine as always

[pamshindouu]

More stuff from last year. These two I made as sticker designs first and then decided to do illustration versions with some simple backgrounds. Rewatching Xros Wars reminded me of how sweet Dorulumon and Cutemon are, and also what an insanely adorable design Spadamon has.

[ace-and-ranty]

My love for El's pack of freshman is infinite.

We know that Galadriel's insane magic power triggers people instinctive fear around her; and then her piss-poor social skills aren't enough to salvage the relationship anymore. But we also know all it's needed is a good shove past that initial fear reaction. Once people have to talk to her because of Orion, she makes friends pretty quickly, actually. Aad's family, Liu's family, the mortals that are friends with Aad's parents, because they all have reasons to like her when they meet her, are all able to quickly get past that initial gut jump.

And then the freshman. Once they get past the initial jump, even El's aggressive attempts at being a bitch are not enough to fool them. She can't actually be mean enough to a bunch of pre-teens to convince them she's not cool. Her heroicness is just too strong. She was sobbing because she was so alone last book, and now she can't get the freshman to fucking get off!!

[kailoraurelius]

Dr Mitchell and Sheila are invited to the family dinner in AIAOY while in SG it took Beca a longer time until Chloe forced her to see him and is still a bit awkward between them. Beca did say her dad left when she's 11 but she wasn't all that sad, I'm just curious does having a huge loving group of relatives and friends lead to the earlier reconciliation? I would like to hear more about your psychological thoughts you put in your stories

Okay, I been excited all day to get off work so I could dive into this ask lol! First off, thank you so much for it, cause I love to nerd out about this stuff. Second, absolutely yes, the huge support system changed how I wrote them in this one! Strap in, I'm about to go off and write a fuckin' essay.

In the movie, it's canon (as far as I know) that Beca is an only child who favors her mother over her father, because she sees him as someone that abandoned them. This is a fundamental characteristic of her character. It's why she's so rude to him in the beginning and, even though she claims she just wants to get to LA and make music, it's very obviously a contributing factor to why she's so against college. Seeing as she later proceeds to stay in school and have an amazing time that she is very proud of, it's easy to assume college was never the actual issue. Sure, she didn't think it was the future she wanted, but she KNEW it was the future her dad wanted for her and she hated that.

It became a core tenet of her character: "You don't walk away from family." She says this to the Bellas in PP3 while she's explaining that she's turning down the very thing she's always said she's wanted: to make music. Why? Because it wouldn't be with them. Because making music is NOT her truest, deepest want. She wants a family. People she loves and trusts to have her back. The thing her father was supposed to be to her. (And I think he is, this is not a reflection of my thoughts on his character, because I love him, but we'll get into that in a bit. This is just what I think Beca feels.)

That's why it's so interesting that she does walk away from the Bellas in the first movie. She does EXACTLY what she hated that her father did. She tried to make it work, it didn't go well, and she dipped. And this, obviously, is why she goes to her father to talk it out. Yes, she's sorta pushed away Jesse at this point and she doesn't have anyone else around to talk to, but I think some part of her also knows her dad will understand. If you watch the deleted/extended scene of that conversation at her dad's house, he tells her, "Look, Bec, the day I left you was the saddest day of my life. I should have... I'm still trying to make it up to you." And THAT is where I took inspo from for AIAOY.

In Stained Glass, their dynamic is incredibly different from the movie. Beca's mother has passed and there's this whole thing about how strained the relationship was with her father. "For her, family time was quiet dinners with her mother in a hospital room and even quieter dinners with her father at home. And when they were together, it was like sitting around a time bomb with the timer covered." So when I wrote Dr. Mitchell and Beca in that piece, I did it with the constant knowledge that they both blame him. She blames him for not emotionally being there for her when she needed him and he blames himself for being too heartbroken to be able to take care of her or her mother the way he wanted to. They both just shut down.

And that anger and guilt and silent hope that the other person would fix things created this huge rift between them, to the point where they both sorta iced each other out because that was easier, less terrifying, than trying to jump the gap. Beca moved away, pushed all of her old life into the back of her mind, even the good parts like Jesse. And her dad eventually moved on, started a new family. In my head, that guilt from before ate at him all the time and made him a better father and husband that time around, because he was desperate to not have a repeat performance.

That's why Beca is so much more prickly in SG. In fact, (slight spoilers for Teach Me Something) when you see more of her back when Stacie first meets her, she's kind of a total bitch lol. She isn't interested in letting people in, she takes care of herself and that's that.

But then Stacie worms her way in by being persistent. And that softens her enough that Chloe is able to get in too. Then Emily. Then the rest of them lol. And, eventually, that softens Beca enough that she lets her dad back in too.

When Beca's getting ready for her wedding and thinking about how she's glad Chloe kinda forced her and Dr. Mitchell back together, there's a moment where she realizes, "She forgot he was kinda funny." They've been so distant from each other for so long and they've purposely shut out all the good things because it hurt too much. So, at that point, they're sort of relearning each other. The new people they've become, the old people they still were. While also trying to reconcile that they both made mistakes in the past. So yeah, it's awkward. But it's just the start for them in that story. A new start.

In AIAOY, (I'll try to be careful of big spoilers lol) it's already past that point. When Chloe first meets Beca in college, it's probably the closest it would have been to their dynamic in SG.

In this one, Beca's mother is alive and she has this huge support system of Stacie's family, her cousins, her other friends later on. So when I was writing them here, I thought a lot about that. In SG (and in the movie, maybe) I feel like Beca didn't believe in permanence. Her mother died, her father faded away, she shoved everything else away and, more importantly, it went. (Jesse was a good friend to her and he respected that she didn't want him around, but that wasn't probably best for her in the long run.)

But in AIAOY, Beca is surrounded by permanence. Yes, her dad left and she was righteously angry at him, but then was able to realize it was his loss. Her mother was still there and still just as wild and loving. The rest of her family was still all around her, unchanged. Stacie and Amy were at her side always.

So, of course, when Chloe came along and was like, "I'm staying in your life forever, thanks", Beca believes her. And lets her in much easier than she did in SG or the movie. Because she's spent her whole life surrounded by people that have softened all those hard edges we see in canon. So this Beca is softer, more prone to silliness and sincerity.

Which is why it made sense to me that she would be on good terms with her father by the time of the story. In my head, there was no fault in the marriage. They just didn't love each other anymore and he didn't really know what he wanted, so they split. Beca blamed him and hated him, of course. She says, "For a long time, I would get so mad if someone said I was anything like him. Even if they just said I looked like him. I didn’t want to be compared to him at all. Because I wanted it to be clear to everyone that I was nothing like him. I’d never leave my kid. You don’t walk away from family, you know?” Different from SG or the movie, Beca doesn't have the option of shutting everything out and growing resentful. She's surrounded by too much that she loves and she's just angry her dad left that behind. Left her behind. Like the great life they had just wasn't enough for him.

So yeah, it's difficult for a long time. And she barely goes to Barden because of it all. But other circumstances--the house, Stacie and Amy going there, the nice studio in town--swayed her. So she kinda had to deal with seeing him more. And, in that time, she started to see he was different. Happier with Sheila. And she was, eventually, able to realize it wasn't that their family wasn't enough for him, it just wasn't right for him. So she forgives him and even gets close to Sheila. And she's emotionally able to do so because she knows her family and friends have her back. The thing her character so dearly needs.

As for Dr. Mitchell (hey, we made it back to him, told you!), he's probably the most canon character in the story lol. He's made mistakes and didn't handle his divorce or keeping in touch with his kid as well as he wanted to, but he loves her very much and wants to do better. And Beca realizing that both in the movie and AIAOY AND SG is what eventually lets them be good again. Closer than they even were before the divorce, because now they understand each other better.

Next chapter, tiny spoiler, you'll get to see that for them. How it isn't awkward like in SG or borderline hostile like the movie. Those things have already been worked through by this point in AIAOY. And I hope it will be enjoyable to read them together in this new way!

Sorry for the literal essay lmfao. I was joking, but then I wasn't xD

[whenfatecollides]

Xena Warrior Princess 3x07 The Debt (2)

You mean that I should serve someone who hates me. More than that, you need to serve someone you hate. I'd rather die. You've been a dead woman for a long time now Xena, I'm offering you the chance to live.

[babyjapril]

Grey’s Anatomy 7.10

Adrift and at Peace

[sflow-er]

Master post: how my thoughts on Stedrika have evolved since S3

Discussion on the minor side characters' nuances and some fans' dislike of them, in which I mostly talked about Henry but also about Stella, and after which I reassessed my views on the "mean girls" (Aug 2024)

Discussion on the Hillerska kids' futures, in which I again talked about Henry but also touched on the others, including Stedrika (Sep 2024)

Response to an anon who thought Stedrika's happy ending in S3 felt forced, in which I expressed my disappointment in their story being cut short and agreed that the backlash after S2 probably played a part (Sep 2024)

Response to another anon, in which I talked more about the backlash and listed other factors that may have discouraged shipping Stedrika after s2 + went on a tangent based on a reblog (that described Lisa's authorial intent as a critique of surface-level progressiveness)

Final response agreeing to disagree with the anon

Answer to the secondary character ask game, in which I declared again that I'd warmed up to Stella (Nov 2024)

Response to a post about how Stedrika were handled in S3, in which I discussed Lisa's authorial intent and Stedrika's abrupt happy ending based on what she said in her interview (Jan 2025)

[sirtaliesin]

Batman: Curse of the White Knight - #6

[invisiblegarters]

In other, less dramatic news, can I just say that I love Yo and Sand just hanging out at the beginning of the ep? I wish we'd seen more stuff like this tbh.

[glorious-blackout]

You went to the show last night?? How was it? Did you have a good time? 💕

Honestly, I didn't enjoy it as much as I wanted to but that's entirely a Me Problem; the band themselves were terrific and my sister and best friend had an amazing time. I've just been constantly busy since Thursday and have barely recovered from Friday's Muse gig as it is, so by the time the gig started I really was mentally flagging and not feeling great. It was like I could feel my brain actively refusing to make serotonin whenever a song I loved came on 😅

We were in a bad spot during the first half as well where the sound wasn't great and the crowd was fairly packed in and rowdy so I couldn't really hear or see anything properly. We started heading further back after Fluorescent Adolescent which was the best decision we made because the sound was so much better and we could finally see the stage and the screens clearly. Thankfully that meant I got to hear all of the songs from The Car properly and they all sounded gorgeous, Body Paint and Sculptures especially (Alex was such an adorable goof during the outro to Body Paint, I love him so much) 💖

I did leave the gig wanting to see them again, but preferably in a smaller venue and definitely not after I've been on-the-go with very little sleep for four days straight... I was beating myself up last night for not feeling the gig as much as I wanted to but I feel a bit better about it this morning. Honestly the fact that they played Sculptures of Anything Goes made up for everything else - they could have come onstage, played Sculptures and then immediately left and I'd still have been happy 😁

[illmamnim]

I hadn't talked about dsmp in MONTHS but I found an old ficlet in my notes, so here you go:

(Summery: Ranboo has been busy getting used to the server. He and Fundy have a chat.)

Ranboo helped Tubbo collect wood for most of the afternoon when he finally took a break and set by the path. Tubbo was still on the clock, said he wasn't tired.

"Hi there!" Fundy startled Ranboo's train of thought. He greeted him back.

"Seeing something you like?" Fundy set down by him.

"What? Um, I'm just taking a break a bit. Not used to chopping trees that much, I guess."

"What are you building?"

"Tubbo wants to collect bees, so I'm helping him build a dome for them. Why are you here?"

"Just on my way to collect snow." He gestured to the shovel he's holding.

"Why?"

Fundy looked at him. "A shop."

"You're building a snow shop?"

"The ice cream shop!"

Ranboo shot up his gaze. "Oh! I completely forgot! I'm so sorry."

Fundy waved his hand. "Meh, it's fine. You seem to be busy lately."

"Tubbo has a lot of ideas."

Fundy rised his brow. "You've just been hanging a lot."

"Yeah, I guess. He keeps inviting me on his projects." Ranboo smiled.

"He seem to take an interest in you."

"Does he?"

Fundy thought for a second. "I don't remember him letting people in on his builds. He was always an “I can manage.„ type. But maybe it's the presidency that got him used the a crowd."

Hasted footsteps walked along the path. Quackity stood above them looking around. He spotted Tubbo and quickly walked to him, stack of papers in his hand.

"I think he does take interest in me." Ranboo said after thinking it through.

Fundy swinged his tail curiously. "You think he likes you?"

"What?! No. I mean-" Ranboo struggled. "I think I'm comforting for him. Maybe it's because I'm someone who doesn't know what he's been through?"

"How do you know he's been through something?"

"You don't get scars from nothing."

"Right." Fundy's ear fell flat. "Almost forgot about those."

They looked at Tubbo again, talking to Quackity about something important, pointing at different papers and fidgeting with his tie.

"But he makes me feel comfortable too."

"How so?"

"It feels like he understands. I mean, you and Niki care and you're good friends! But when he sees I'm in distress, even if he doesn't know what to do, there's a kind of sympathy, like he knows how I feel. And he wants to help, to make sure I'm feeling better."

Quackity nodded at Tubbo and started to walk off with the papers. Tubbo stretched his back and got back to wood chopping, somewhat forcefully now.

"He just really cares, you know?"

"Not really." Fundy said grimly.

Ranboo looked at him. His eyes were dazed, focused on nothing in the distance. "Do you not have someone who cares?"

He meant that innocently but Fundy shot him a look. He quickly averted his eyes.

Fundy got up and back to the path. "Anyway RanBOOB-" Ranboo groaned. "I'll get back to my snow. See ya' around."

[crehador]

MOMOKI MY GUY GO TO THE HOSPITAL RIGHT NOW

[scaryladyofzaun]

Was that a question or an invitation? —🌶️

Depends on how brave you are, hon'.

[werehounded]

this is a personal thing but i'm SO glad i grew out of asht/on being a comfort character bc whoo-ee his fans are like. nearly as cunty as he is and i don't use thsat word with a positive association lol

[skippitydippity]

Omgomgomg I have enough for a CAR!!!!!!! There's a blue 2015 Mazda3 i SV literally One Thousand Miles Away From Me but I'll be in that area for a few days next week........................................ It's like 1.5k over budget so I shouldn't even be thinking about it but like. FUCK