#exclusively do so... ykwim...but still ...

[skunkes]

I can appreciate young Silco for what he is, a glimpse into who he was at one point, but fUUUCK- Showing him has, seemingly, buried so much good older Silco art it feels,,, TT-TT You're always putting good Silco content on my TL though, teehee :3

GENUINELY this is what i complain abt...i like the glimpse we got bc we can see the Before that led to the handsome beautiful After but also tell me why i saw someone making merch/keychain designs of the characters and they specifically drew only young silco (and young vander) 😭 like I Know Why. U all are not real wrinkle wranglers. U hate old man yaoi? Grow up.

[crippleddetective]

who has ever said that in the history of ever. what is cruel about wanting our own fucking exclusive space without able-bodied people in it. for someone with blah blah i drink abled tears or whatever the fuck on your profile, you sure do a lot of abled bootlicking.

[hyperfixated-homo]

Do you have any Boombox (junkrat x lucio) headcanons? That would be really nice to read!

Annnd maybe some platonic Hammond and Ramattra hcs..?

Ooh, fun! Yeah, I can try :D

I'm doing an Overwatch ask game! Send me a ship (platonic, romantic or otherwise) and I'll return some funky hcs!

Headcanons under the cut.

Romantic Boombox Hcs

Lucio is an unapologetic enabler of Junkrat's insane inventions. "You wanna make a new type of bomb? I'll find you a place to test it out. You wanna mess with my tech? Have at it! I can remake it if anything goes wrong"

Junkrat listens to Lucio's music all the time. Not only is it genuinely good for his creative spirit (he doesn't need the extra energy but by god will he take it), but he likes knowing that his boyfriend made it. He could probably make a perfect replica, with how well he's memorised it

Junkrat makes various gadgets and trinkets for Lucio. He keeps each of them safe wherever he can store them, and takes the sturdier stuff with him on his travels as a good luck charm

Lucio hasn't made any sort of official announcement of their relationship, so he and Junkrat tend to sneak around for dates. As much as the two of them can sneak around, anyways. It's sort of like a game to them, and they have a lot of fun with it

This also allows for a lot of funky shenanigans as they try to keep their relationship a secret

Lucio uses cheesy pick up lines all the time. Usually they fly over Junkrat's head, but when they don't, he always gives a flustered little manic giggle

Junkrat is very dramatic about giving or asking for attention from Lucio, and he plays along every time

They stay up on late nights and talk about nothing for hours. If they're in Junkertown or New Junk City, usually they stay inside somewhere by a fire. If they're anywhere with access to an unfiltered sky, they'll go stargazing

Neither of them can stand still for very long. This means that they usually agree on more active dates- going rollerblading is a popular choice, though Junkrat isn't all that great at it (it just means Lucio can hold his hand while they're skating)

Junkrat has accidents and gets hurt very often. He doesn't care much about it, but Lucio always makes sure to take care of any of Junkrat's injuries if he learns about it

They both tend to climb on each other. Not for any particular reason, it's just something they do. Sitting on each other's shoulders is a common experience.

They can never kiss properly. It always ends in giggles or laughter. Neither of them really mind it though

Platonic Hammattra Hcs

(Is that a ship name? Idk. Ykwim)

Hammond is Ramattra's go to repair man (hamster?) whenever he gets injured. He trusts a select few to deal with his armor and internal circuitry, but Hammond is unmatched in his knowledge of machinery, and he fixes Ramattra up better than before

Ramattra can understand what Hammond is saying, even without the use of the mech translating. He learnt the hamster's language a while back and remembers it as well as any other language. He can even speak small amounts of it, using high pitched whining instead of the characteristic chitters

Ramattra lets Hammond sit on his shoulders sometimes. Or atop his staff. Anybody who dares to question it gets quite the glare, from both of them

Initially, Ramattra was highly sceptical of Hammond's abilities. That changed when he saw him in the arena for the first time. Now, having seen him fight many times, Ramattra would daresay Hammond is one of the best warriors he's ever met

They frequently bitch about how annoying humans are together. Usually in the aforementioned hamster speak

Hammond frequently bullies people Ramattra finds annoying. For example, the existing in game voice line "Deflect that, loser" that Hammond says when killing Genji is exclusively because of Ramattra's complaints about him

Ramattra feels zero shame in complimenting the hamster for his abilities and Hammond enjoys the ego boost

Hammond has a dedicated area of Ramattra's main null sector base. A sort of hamster equivalent to a bedroom. He also has a dedicated area for rolling around in his wrecking ball, if he so wishes

Hammond messes with Ramattra sometimes by slightly altering his things. Ramattra usually indulges, finding the changes to be good for reminding him what sort of things to check and double check when out on the field

Ramattra has sent more than one speech to Hammond for feedback. Usually, he gets back thrilling tips, such as "you sound like a loser" or "this part is boring", written in scratchy handwriting

Hammond sleeps very comfortably in Ramattra's arms. Ramattra does not know how to deal with this. He does not usually hold things like hamsters, much less Giant Hamsters. He usually makes it work though

They don't tend to say it out loud, but both know that the other considers them a genuine friend. Even though it's very unconventional, they have a deep respect for each other, and neither care what anybody else thinks of it

Hope you enjoyed! Gotta say, the Hammond and Ramattra friendship grew on me. I think Ramattra would have an easier time getting along with the hamster than the human race tbh... they strike me as an odd pair that could absolutely crush you to dust.

Thank you for the request :D

[noirandchocolate]

I haven't been following for long so I know jack shit about your Kohga but! I'll gladly ask things because I love comparing headcanons and getting to know people's visions on characters (especially kohga I love him)

Biggest things first that I'm always curious about - his age! Is he immortal for some reason, if not what's his relationship with his family? Is he the same guy in botw and aoc??? (I know they're two different timelines but like. ykwim)

Who taught him his magic?

Does he know about the monks in the shrines?

Why even worship Ganon? Does he believe that he'll be left alive when the world is destroyed, or is he so consumed by revenge/indoctrination he wants to see it destroyed, no matter if it's him along with it?

Does he have free time for hobbies? If so, what does he like to do?

Does he have a favourite animal/creature? Why?

How did he survive the fall into the Depths? Did he survive the rocket, too?

Did he dye his hair?

You mentioned embarrassing childhood/teenager stories. PLEASE give those I'm so invested in this guy's humanity (lowkey feel like it's almost required for every single yiga member to cartoonishly slip on a banana peel at least once)

Did he have any childhood friends? Who are the people he holds closest nowadays? (Excluding Sooga)

Speaking of Sooga though, what's his most treasured memory about him? What's been the most memorable gift given, the most impactful moment shared?

How does Kohga celebrate his own birthday? Separate from the clan? Or is the clan's adoration enough?

Why does he live in the desert actually like why is the yiga clan there

Has he ever been on the brink of death outside of any canon events? What happened?

Any interesting scar stories?

What's a memory he'd rather forget?

What's a memory he'd rather forget not because it was traumatic but because he just feels embarrassed about it?

And the opposite - what's a memory he would permanently engrave in his brain if he could?

Anything he's personally done that is genuinely very fucked up and morally wrong? I imagine he's killed on more than several occasions but is there anything worse?

Weirdest/most interesting rule he's made in the yiga clan? And what's the story behind it?

Has he ever modified existing rules? If so, why?

How much does he leave the hideout? What makes him go outside?

If he was anything other than a cult leader, if he just lived in some random village as a regular guy, what would he want his job to be?

I want to ask so much more but my brain is erroring, might come back to your askbox if I manage to untangle my thoughts (and if I don't forget due to adhd)

Wowww awesome you sent me a whole banana bunch's worth! I think I'll break up my answers across multiple posts and save some for another time if you don't mind because a lot of these are REALLY good and I want to do them justice! <3 (Seriously thank you for your curiosity! I want to write a lot!)

My particular Master Kohga is AoC-timeline exclusively. He's just turned 52 years old today and is not currently immortal! I do think that in the BotW timeline, Master Kohga was alive at the time of the Calamity and I think it's still the same dude wanting to kill Link 100 years later. My personal headcanon is that BotW Kohga was a regular-aged, non-immortal dude at the time of the Calamity and then figured out de-aging or age-freezing within that intervening 100 years. MY Kohga, in AoC timeline, who only just lived through the Calamity, hasn't done that (yet?). He's in his prime! His Foxy Fifties! He's doin' just fiiiiine!

Kohga learned a lot of his most powerful magical techniques from his Nana, while he was a child! And he got basic stuff that all Yiga learn (teleportation, seeing through a wooden mask, illusions/disguise) in part from her, in part from his father, and in part from the Clan's teachers. He's also come up with a bunch of stuff himself!

Oh Kohga and the Clan know plenty about the Sheikah monks. They probably have more ancient records than the Kakariko Sheikah do, since they're descended from those among the Ancient Sheikah who didn't abandon their tech, weapons, and lots of their heritage. Actually, I may eventually be writing fanfic about Kohga getting to speak with a monk, to whom he has a particular connection he wasn't aware of... But for now, I'll say the Yiga know that their original Master Kohga, 10,000 years ago, was the grandson of Monk Mogg Latan on Satori Mountain!

On the subject of worshipping Ganon, this is a very ymmv topic and I don't mind other people's headcanons, but my headcanon is that the Yiga don't worship Ganon or the Calamity! It's not a religion, and there's no indoctrination per se. The Yiga grow up learning their history and the Clan's goals, sure, but there's no like. Brainwashing involved, in my hcs. (Any more so than one would say the Kakariko Sheikah and Hylians are 'brainwashed' to fear and dislike the Yiga.) Personally I think their hatred is only fair, given the persecution of their ancestors. Anyway, it's not worship, for Kohga, it's respect. Why respect the Calamity? Because it's akin to a force of nature, capable of sweeping clean the unjust slate. The Yiga have wanted the justice of revenge for their fallen kin and the betrayal of their ancestors' loyalty for 10,000 years. Kohga, the latest in a line of Masters Kohga before him, had no reason to question that an entity embodying hatred for the Royal Family would be able to achieve that revenge. And yes. He thought the Clan would be special. That he would be special. That after all that time, he was going to be the Master who actually assisted the Calamity. He thought they'd be spared. He was wrong. He has to live with that. It's...hard. He struggles sometimes. But...he has to live with it.

Hobbies include!! Playing and composing for the shamisen! Renku-style poetry circles at parties! Messing around with ancient tech! Disguising himself to go to Gerudo Town and be a cute menace! And of course. Napping. <3

Kohga doesn't really have a favorite animal and if you asked him this question he'd say 'boar' without thinking too hard and then be like 'Oh. You don't mean to eat.' He likes various animals--he thinks bright little birds are fun to watch, he's getting along well with the Clan's new dogs, he has a Yiga's common penchant for frogs, and foxes make him think of his mama--but there's no critter that he points to and thinks 'that's my best guy' about.

Hair dye, huh? You see my Yiga are very strict about who can see their real appearance (I'll just link to a post explaining instead of doing it again). But! One small thing. That I will tell you. Because Kohga isn't really secretive about this. Is that his hair isn't dyed. It is beautiful inky black coils naturally~~ <3 <3 <3 He takes incredibly good care of it.

Gonna skip a few here 'cause I want to do longer answers for them when I have more time.

BIRTHDAY TIME!! A Master's birthday is a Clan-wide celebration! It's not as formal of a thing as Ascension Day, of course, but everybody who's home at the Karusa Complex on the day is treated to a BIG meal and the Clan's usual-style party out by the chasm (season permitting). Kohga loves his birthdaaaay because unlike with Ascension Day where the celebration is just as much about the office of Master as it is about him as an individual, his BIRTHDAY is HIS day ALONE. He gets tons of presents (many of them bananas and art projects from children). Everybody pays even more attention to him than usual (which is saying something)! He gets all his favorite food at dinner! And he just loves a good party no matter what it's for. This year is his first birthday as a married man, too, so he's having extraspecial fun with Sooga, too. Many kisses and such, ehehe.

The Clan's in the desert because Karusa Valley is naturally protected and was the best place the fleeing, persecuted Sheikah who would become the Yiga could find to shelter themselves from pursuing Hylians. With punishing, trackless desert to the south and the brutal, sheer cliffs of the Highlands to the north, it was a perfect hideaway 10,000 years ago, especially after gates with magical/tech wards were built to hide the Valley's southern entrance. (Kakariko Village wasn't the only 'hidden settlement of the Sheikah' following the genocide.) Finding an even more ancient Gerudo site to start with was pure serendipity, but the Clan has in the millennia since excavated more and more of the Highlands' insides to link up caves and build their own, creating a Complex that's highly defensible and quite cozy if one doesn't mind a complete lack of windows in one's home...

Kohga's never been actually injured so badly that he almost died, but one accidental near-death experience he had as a young man was something he now laughs about with hindsight. When Kohga was about...I want to say 21, 22? He and another Footsoldier were assigned by Daddy Kohga to go scout out a group of Hylians on Koukot Plateau, above Gerudo Canyon. Reports had been made that this group seemed to be amassing lumber there, and Kohga's father wanted to know what they were doing. So Kohga and his buddy, disguised as burly Hylian dudes to fit in, stole a pack donkey from some Gerudo merchant and wandered into these guys' camp. They found out what was going on, that the group was going to build a temporary camp there while doing some stone-quarrying, but would be leaving after a couple seasons. But that's not what's important. What's important is that while getting this info, as well as personal info on and descriptions of everyone present like a good little spy should do, Kohga also got actually drunk with them instead of just pretending to be, and uh... One thing led to another with a bunch of escalating macho tests of strength and physical dares, and Kohga literally fell into the Canyon. And was drunk enough that. He momentarily forgot he can float and teleport. And he broke his leg pretty bad hitting an outcropping on the way down before realizing. And letting himself land softer on the ground. This scared the CRAP out of the Hylian stonemasons--because Kohga literally should have been dead and somehow wasn't--AND Kohga's partner--because oh sweet stars and ancestors above that was the Heir, the Heir just FELL OFF A CLIFF. Luckily the dudes were also drunk enough that Kohga's buddy convinced them they should just like, forget about it, don't tell anybody or they might get in trouble, and he'd just, go down via this nice scaffolding here and get his friend onto the donkey and uhhh, they'd go home... And Kohga was a huge baby about recovering with his stupid broken leg after his goofy shenanigans, and now he tells this story like it's the funniest damn thing ever.

With that I have run out of time to answer things for today but! Thank you sooooo so much for asking so many and I will answer more of them another time, promise!!

[ratatoast]

CAN WE talk about MGG for a quick moment?

Because literally HOW is this man real omg

His effects on the human race (especially women, but not exclusively) should be studied, because literally everyone loves him. Every time i see a post/tiktok/edit/whtv about him, i have to put on safety goggles before opening the comment section, because people are going FERAL over him

And tbf he is insanely good looking!! like i get it yall, really, i do

He looked scrumptious when he was younger, then he aged fantastically, and now he looks so incredibly handsome like grrrrr ykwim

And he’s also literally so sweet??? He genuinely looks so happy to be meeting people, and it’s so adorable

And i could go on about this for forever, but at the end of the day, it still leaves me baffled, because HOW is he so universally beloved (and thirsted after)

[verycoolsnails]

i hope u dont mind me jumping into ur inbox my good mutual snail but UR OCS SOUND VERY COOL PLEASE TELL ME MORE ABOUT THEM!!! i am staring with the widest eyes at them... hattie sounds wonderful ouhh...

No I cannot tell u abt Hattie.. he evades my mind every time I try to think anout her .....

Ok but seriously every time I try to write abt Hattie I end up either drastically changing their character or deleting any drafts I have of them bc they always end up feeling dry/boring (perhaps expodumping before every Hattie draft was not a good idea.) I wanna say it's been a year(?) since I've even attempted to talk abt her at length. So! I'll talk about her now ig. Let's hope I can keep his character somewhat consistent once I post this🫡

Hattie is, essentially, a god/goddess. This does not mean he is immortal (yet.) I can't into the lore too much much yet ok? ok.

I always feel like I'm horrible at describing personality but I think she comes off as arrogant + aloof + snobbish? As in he WILL talk very strangely and if you can't understand her perfectly then you're not worth it's time. The key to getting anywhere close to him is just to be persistently annoying lmao. Once you do get past that first barrier you realize he's just horrible at talking to other people. Loves showing off his accomplishments (aka wants praise RLY badly.) Becomes pretty clingy when she does eventually get attached to someone. I'd say she's hardworking but he's literally working towards nothing. So.

Appearance is kinda subject to change at any moment cuz im still deciding what would work best. But I'll tell u what I got for now. She tends to use a human-like form but with six arms instead of 2 (kind of like the humble s.pider..) Haven't quitee decided what his face would look like but maybe something in the uncanny valley? Like technically she looks fine but something about her is very very off .. (would probably be a constant smile that just doesnt look. right. ykwim?) Alternatively she could just have a bunch of eyes. Or he could switch between the two...?

Anyways. Exclusively wears the TACKIEST suits known to mankind. You will catch this guy dead before he ever willingly wears a plain t-shirt. Also has a tiny top hat hovering above her head at all times. By tiny I mean it's maybe the size of a fist.

The tiny hat is what Hattie names herself after! (He's not the best at naming things, including himself lol)

he built an entire city by himself! And by built I mean she designed it all and then it just kinda magically came to life (said city is in like. ohh how do I explain this. I guess you could call it a separate dimension from The Universe? It's just like. rly rly far away ig ... if u want me to go more in-depth into the worldbuilding I will. I need 2 be writing it down anyways lmao)

Anyways. Lives in the top floor of a BIGGGGG tower in the center of city-from-last-bullet-point-that-I-haven't-named-yet. Almost never comes out of the tower he loves it soooo much ..

OH AND BEFORE I FORGET. any pronouns and aroace! Figures that I projected my gender and sexuality on one of my oldest ocs (though I do tend to lean towards she/he/they/it cuz thats what the other characters use for her. and its mainly what I use for myself but we're going to ignore that lol)

LOVESSSS paperwork. Would spend the rest of their life pouring over paperwork but unfortunately it has these things called "friends that care about his wellbeing" or whatever...

For his motivations.. he'll tell u that he wants to become immortal (part of what previously mentioned Paperwork is about) but want he rly wants is a family. Said family could be literally anyone who he thinks even slightly cares abt her shes Very desperate at this point. (She doesn't consider her current two friends to be family since she thinks one of them hates him Rly Rly Bad. And the other one is just hard to get in touch with. So Hattie also thinks he doesn't enjoy being around her.)

Has MANYY hobbies .. even Hattie sometimes gets bored of paperwork. Ranges from archery (quit early bc she hated being out of her suits) to bartending (CRAZY good at bartending. Quite proud of it too) to lockpicking (Learned it partly bc they thought it would be a useful skill. Turns out she doesn't really have a reason to break into anything) Some of his favorite hobbies are learning different languages (makes him feel smarter + enjoys the challenge of it) and making dioramas! (first hobby he ever picked up besides making an entire city.[but she considers that more as a job] still has a soft spot for dioramas.)

Has perfect memory. Literally! Unable to forget anything he's ever seen/heard/etc. Has a hard time being alone w their own thoughts bc of this.

Speaking of sleep, Hattie feels things like hunger, thirst, and tiredness, things that a god normally wouldn't be able to feel. And she has absolutely no idea why!

(Uh oh! Turns out never being able to forget anything has it's downsides!)

Backstory is essentially mommy issues x2. What if all you ever wanted was to be loved but the people who were supposed to do that either died or left w/o any explanation. smh.

Turns out I don't know how to end this. uhhh Hattie is very silly. to me...

[calumhoodgoss]

re: post about calum and fans.

genuine question on a purely ideological level do you think a kind of fandom who WOULD exploit someone for content is ethical? bc i go back and forth between being like 'if u don't respect someone as a basic human being that's the only criteria for not being a real fan'

like imo that's probably less of a fan and more starting to veer into like. predator territory? maybe that's a bit extreme. either that or the way I do fandom is basically like unreciprocated friendship idk. but there's always aspects of fandom, here and there, where i struggle to reconcile that these people would actually respect basic things like consent if it's their fave as much as they would with irl people

maybe we have different definitions for 'exploit' in this context tho?

ooo great question, i think the answer is very grey tbh.

no i dont think an exploitative fandom is ethical at all; what do we consider exploitation though? everyones got different definitions and boundaries extrapolating out to what each individual celebrity and individual fan alike deems appropriate. there's definitely a societal norm/general agreement of whats ok to some degree, but again, this changes drastically from fandom to fandom and even further from generation to generation (a la tabloit and paparazzi culture that was completely normal to the majority in the 2000s that we all agree is egregious in hind sight). so like no exploiting someone for content is not good but also what does it even mean to do that ykwim haha

for instance people have accused me and this blog for exploiting the boys and brandy for content. i dont personally think thats whats occuring here as i (and most of the anons) dont go fishing in their personal lives for any information. we strictly discuss public knowledge here so i dont think thats exploitation since the celebrity them selves has chosen to distribute that content. but others think analysis and theorising on said content is taking it too far. so 🫠🫠

im not sure if i would call all exploitation predatory as i know much of that kind of boundary crossing is done by younger people with underdeveloped judgement. does that make their actions any less hurtful or impactful? absolutely not. but i think predation implies motive and i dont think many of those fans are consciously trying to impact these people. i think they just have a lot of cognitive dissonance between them and the people theyre affecting whilst also having insane positive reinforcement from their peers suffering the same immature lack of judgement. for example, how 1D fans hacked into that airport footage way back when. was that exploitative and inappropriate and also illegal? - obviously. were they intending to harm the boys? probably not. they were just immature and got wrapped up in a group mentality. dont get me wrong STILL VERY SCARY AND BAD BEHAVIOUR but i think the motive is far more innocent.

tbh i honestly think a lot of these issues are to blame on celebrities marketing and pr teams. with boy bands for instance, the industry literally INTENTIONALLY markets them in a way that makes fans feel they have a unique connection to the celebrities and also a CHANCE with them. this is literally sold to us. they know that if you feel you have a chance with that person you are far more likely to stay invested and consuming. add on all the content centred around their personal lives, their dating lives, products marketed to give you exclusive information or insights into - not their music - but THEM. and then sell all that to adolescent girls. its bred a culture of fans feeling they have a right to knowledge about this person. to feeling like there isnt really a boundary there - because thats what the execs WANT you to think so you keep. on. consuming. think back to any exclusive 5sos, 1D, backstreet boys, etc etc. interview or book which weve all bought at one point or another excited for a new look into our faves lives only to find that its full of the same 10 garbage facts that any fan whos even vaguely familiar with the band already knows - did you know theyre actually AuSTraliAn?? did you know they met in highschool!! and that luke had a YouTube channel??!!!! like yes. yes i knew that actually. so that culture for thirst of information on the individuals is literally designed, constructed, packaged and sold to us intentionally to make us keep digging and its fucked up!!!

obviously, each fan needs to come to a point where they decide what is ok and not ok behaviour. even if something is sold to you, youre still a sentient intentional being with free will so the responsibility of your actions falls on you alone. but, thats the same for any life judgement/choice literally ever and unfortunately... a LOT of people are fucking dumb and have not a single ounce of intro or retrospective capabilities. so they'll just keep doing the actions and patterns sold to them by companies who just saw them as consumer cash cows and never stop to actually think about how their actions are affecting other people.

ok sorry for literally writing an essay out of nowhere HAHAH i just think this topic is interesting

***i dont think this is the case for all exploitative fans though- this is a boy band specific opinion. there is a lot of overlap with other celebs but there are certainly other nuances for different gendered/types of celebs that i havent discussed here as for this theyre irrelevant

[dexalyys]

curly.... ive got u... multiple different questions to ask... none of which are about lore persay...(kinda- a few of em arent) SOOOO-

realistically... How long is willows hair when he doesnt have it in a braid???🤔 Cuz i be drawing her shit like Rapunzel so im lowkey curious-

2. Does nathan genuinely want willow dead and gone or is he just spouting nonsense and somewhat doesnt actually want him to power herself off🤨⁉️⁉️⁉️

Adding onto 2 ; i also noticed that in nathans link with willow he has like only 1 star marked and since with willow and Cassidy or with Sharkie and Cassidy, those two duos got like zero stars marked in their links, does that mean nate still like.... Somewhat still cares about Will??? In a sense?? Or is that like smth else?🤔

3. ik like selfshipping is allowed and whatnot but what about like.. Shipping within the canon characters???🤨 like for example... Willow x Ashton or like.. Nathan x Theo??(THESE ARE RANDOM I DONT SHIP ANY OF THESE I SWEAR-) like is shipping within the characters okay or is it like only selfshipping thats allowed on the table😭😭😭

4. (this is where my questions get more random.. Me thinks...🥲) between willow and sharkie ; who is more likely to be the more sacrificing of the two?? And plus, in a literal sense, who would be the most likely to sacrifice themselves for the others survival and whatnot???🤔🤔🤔

adding onto that... Who usually comforts the other the most?? Cuz ik pre-reboot, Willow was often shown comforting Sharkie a lot ykwim???😔

5. and finnalllyyyyy- whats ya opinion on like,,, very unlikely duos?? As in like- Willow and Cassidy, Sharkie and Cassidy, Theo and Ashton, or like Vivian and Sharkie???🤔 random question ik but im gen curious bro😭😭😭

genuinely jumped with joy seeing such a long ask

1. when not braided, it reaches to just above her hips! he also has to brush and rebraid it basically every week because his hair is naturally very fluffy and wild (blame liam’s genes) and it does Not stay contained easily.

2. you kinda answered your own question with the addendum! nate is Extremely pissed off that willow didn’t come with him, but he’s only mad about this years later because he still cares about her and because she’s important to him. he is bitter and childish about grudges but his weird obsession with her doesn’t come from nowhere. think jinx and vi but like, reversed ages (<- said by a girl who watched 2 episodes of arcane when season one came out and then never touched it again)

3. yes and yes!! selfshipping is 100% okay, and canon ships are welcome as well so long as they’re legal and respect the characters’ existing identities*! i will note that some relationships have already been developed (have i talked about minnie here yet? no? well she’s sort of implied to be theo’s love interest) but that shouldn’t stop you from having fun!!!

*in which i should remind people that the treacher sisters are both lesbians + sharkie is exclusively gay 🫶

4. sharkie without a doubt, no questions asked. they don’t feel like their life has much value outside of will, so sacrificing themself for him would be a no-brainer. willow is also the one comforting them more, but frankly it’s kinda shallow on her part. sharkie comforts her when she’s freaking out as well but is awkward about it and doesn’t know what to do so in their mind they suck at it and they’re the worst and they’re only making it worse and yadda yadda yadda. bpd thingz

5. ohhh wait i love this question ok hold on .. i’ll be exploring dynamics between the main 4 in the actual comic (so things like cassie & willow/sharkie will get expanded on) but duos like theo & ash or sharkie & viv are curious …… postcanon theo does get to hang out with ashton more but i haven’t actually considered the extent of their interactions much. sharkie would realistically never hold a conversation with viv given the circumstances but i think she’d have an energy that star would vibe with

anyway that’s now what you asked lol tldr i Love unlikely duos!!! i like exploring all sorts of character dynamics and sticking to Just canon on the basis of ‘anything else just wouldn’t happen’ is boring and lame

[moon7jay]

Hey, 🚩 anon here , following up on my previous question

I mean more in the sense, accidentally lead someone else on or seem to entertain the advances of other women to make OC jealous or not really put an end to philandering (because his friends still are that way, and something as simple as a wrong drink at a party can spiral out of hand)

So he doesn't actively hurt OC, but by proxy or unintended ways I guess?

That was my query.

Would Heeseung try to rebuild trust, or would he go - I never promised to be exclusive, I just promised to take care of you...?

🤔

Oooh okay to be honest, y/n is a really insecure person and she'll probably just push him away. Let me remind you, she doesn't fully trust him, so she is gonna keep him at an arm's distance because that's what trust issues do to you, yk? You might like someone, you might want someone in your life, but deep inside you will accept the fact that they will leave you one day, they won't stay, so you keep yourself partially detached, so that it doesn't hurt when they leave. that's what y/n will do. It's a coping mechanism, also a way to keep her heart safe. So yeah, the moment heeseung does anything like that, y/n won't hesitate to cut him off, she will detach herself completely. Mind you, it's really difficult for her to let people in after being alone for so long, so she's not going to put up with more stress than she already has in her life.

As for heeseung, he will definitely try to rebuild trust and get on his knees if he has to, cuz he knows how fast y/n will pull back. If you remember, it was heeseung who wanted y/n to keep him, so he KNOWS that he's in no position to make statements like "I just promised to take care of you" because she will push him back out so fast. No returns. Deep down he's aware that she needs loving, but heeseung also has a hard time expressing such feelings, that's the reason he said " Is protecting and taking care of you not enough?" and y/n saw right through that. She saw how vulnerable he was. So the hidden understanding is there, they're more connected to each other through trauma and sickness than they are through love. So yeah, heeseung will cut all his friends off before he puts y/n in a position of pain like that. And if he somehow ends up hurting her, he'll spend the rest of his life repenting cuz when it comes to y/n, she isn't in a place to give second chances, if ykwim. There's no rebuilding trust, it will be the END.

[handweavers]

Hi, I sent this a while ago but I can't remember if you answered it or not so I'm gonna send it again, I hope that's okay. My class was having a discussion on ethnoreligions, and one side was arguing that Sikhi isn't an ethnoreligion because anyone is allowed to convert to the religion freely, while the other was saying it is because in the way that it grew as a religion it stayed in the Punjabi community. I thought I'd ask a Sikh person for their thoughts because I really want to learn more!

I think it comes down to what someone's definition of ethnoreligion is/how strict they define one, like is it a religion that is exclusive to an ethnic group and no one else can join (druze, vodoun, other closed religions) or is it a religion that is innately tied with an ethnic group and that people's culture and history, to the extent that you can't really separate people from religion but others can participate and convert and some people born into the religion may not observe the religious practices but they are still considered Of That Religion because it can't be separated from their ethnicity.

I prefer the latter, because the former definition is essentially a synonym for closed religion which is already a term/concept and ethnoreligions as like, a Concept, has been defined largely by judaism and jewish people, which is a religion that also accepts converts. so if conversion is something that makes a religion not an ethnoreligion then the term is functionally useless in its own original context ykwim.

I would categorize sikhi as an ethnoreligion, although some other sikhs might not. I think the situation is more complicated than it is with judaism, re: this topic, but i also find a lot of discourse on the subject between jewish scholars is applicable to sikhs, or at least i relate to it. sikhi is deeply wrapped up in punjabi identity (although i would like to note that most punjabis are muslim, not sikh, but regardless "punjabi" and "sikh" are often used interchangeably by many which is interesting) which didn't really exist as its own distinct ethnic group that self-identifies as Punjabi™ until the formation of the khalsa and sikh misls in the 1700s. the vast majority of sikhs are punjabi, the religious language of sikhi is punjabi, but not all punjabis are sikh, and not all sikhs are punjabi. there isn't really a formal conversion process, although there are khalsa initiation rituals people can participate in to symbolize their conversion.

but I do think, speaking for myself, identifying as sikh is not just a religious statement (especially because i disagreements with aspects of the religion, don't observe all of the articles of faith, etc. so more pious orthodox sikhs would not consider me sikh in the way they are) but it tells a specific story about my family's history, I can trace my family line back to the time of the gurus, my ancestors fought alongside them, I can read the history of the sikhs and I know my family is in there somewhere existing just beyond the content of the pages, I know they were present in the shaping of this new identity and had a role to play in that. this is especially relevant I think because sikhi is comparatively very new, it emerged within the last 1000 years, and not as an 'organized' religion really until the 1700s with the formation of the khalsa, and even things like the anand karaj, our marriage ceremony, didn't fully "cement" themselves until the late 1800s/early 20th century alongside a slew of reformations. its something that my family only two, three, four generations back was actively helping to shape and define, it's recent family history.

most importantly, when I disagree with aspects of the religion I dont feel as though I'm arguing with an institution but with my ancestors, that I'm in dialogue with my grandparents and their parents and their parents, that sikhi is something that is Mine in a way that i can't articulate and that can't be taken from me or separated from me even if i don't observe it exactly the way guru gobind singh ji wanted a few hundred years ago. i don't view sikh identity as something better or more enlightened or anything like that, just that some part of it is mine, inherited like blood, and my relationship with it is something that I must grapple with and can't opt out of because it's a part of me. for those reasons i think sikhi is an ethnoreligion but other sikhs can disagree, and that's ok too.

[castielsparkle]

yes your episode rec is list really helpful because 99% of the time i struggle what to watch and then i end up just rewatching lazarus rising but while i love the ep it just doesn't have enough cas in it

tbh too few episodes do, i honestly need cas beamed raw into my brain so complications are a good idea!!

SO SO REAL,,!!! also im so glad my rec list helped hehe!!!<3 i also often get stuck on welll how about i watch the same episode 100 times over aksjndsa!!! which is ok but!!! variety good for the brain ykwim!! im watching s2 right now and. house of the holy made me feel insane i like it very much... !!! so theres another one hehe!!<3 AND YESS i love the compilations!!! i can go retrieve my favs one second

cas interrogates a cat (scene)

cas being an icon for 12 years (compilation)

castiel's funniest moments (compilation)

destiel being boyfriends for 20 minutes (compilation)

castiel goes shopping (scene)

castiel's struggle with phones (compilation)

the ghostfacers meet castiel (scene - i think it was a web exclusive thing or something iirc)

same as above but in full so not exclusively cas focused

castiel being done with everyone's shit for 6 minutes (compilation)

castiel being well...castiel (compilation)

honey cas (season 7 castiel compilation)

hopefully those links posted correctly ahh :"D some of them r just scenes as well ehe but!!!<3 some of my fav cas-focused ones :"] i hope u enjoyy!!! i havent watched them in a bit but i believe they still hold up ehhe

[css1992]

Guilty Pleasure

Summary:  Peter and Beck used to be a power couple in the porn industry, but after Beck dumps him, Peter is forced to start over. With no money, no family and nowhere to go, he doesn’t have much choice other than to keep doing porn, so he joins Just4Fans to get back on his feet and then one day he gets a very generous tip from someone under the username of YKWIM. All the warnings listed on Part I apply. 

Read on AO3

Part I / Part II / Part III / Part IV / Part V /  Part VI /  Part VII /  Part VIII / Part IX / Part X /  Part XI / Epilogue

-x-

Living with Ned and MJ was both a dream come true and a bit of a nightmare.

A dream, because when they were kids, they always talked about how they would all go the same college and live together one day, and Peter would finally have a real home – and a real family, he used to think to himself,  in secret.

A nightmare, because he couldn’t help but feel a little jealous of his friends, and that was the worst kind of feeling to have for the people who opened their arms and their home for him when he needed the most. Still, he couldn’t avoid it and he felt awful for that. They were both attending NYU; Ned was majoring in Computer Science and MJ in Journalism. All according to the plans they made in high school.

When Peter was younger, he made plans, too. He wanted to study Biochemistry, his teachers used to say he could probably get a scholarship to a good college, he was smart enough. Mr. Harrington, his science teacher, even offered to write letters of recommendation for him. Instead, Peter’s life choices led him to his current predicament: a 20 year-old porn actor, selling dirty pictures for a living, crashing on his friends’ couch, not a single dollar in his wallet.

He was definitely not getting any awards for good decision making, that was for sure.

He had been staying with Ned and MJ for a week when he was finally able to set up his Just4Fans account. He knew that had to be a temporary thing, it couldn’t last, even if he wanted it to. He wouldn’t be young forever, let alone a “pretty twink”, as his subscribers loved to call him. He had maybe three or four years left of that hype, at most, then he would be too old for that, and/or people would start getting bored of him. So he had to be smart, the plan was to save up as much as he could while he thought about what he was going to do once the fountain of youth dried up, and the clock was ticking fast.

But for the time being, porn.

Good thing he had his own Instagram account with a few thousand followers. All the other social media accounts were under Beck’s name, and those had hundreds of thousands of followers, but Peter no longer had access to them – he checked. He also checked and noticed that Beck hadn’t announced that they had split up yet, his last post dated from five days earlier, when he released their last video together – two days after kicking him out of the house, the asshole.

So Peter posted a few Instagram stories explaining to his followers that he and Beck weren’t a thing anymore – he didn’t give many details, he didn’t want any drama, specially not with Beck – and that he had set up a Just4Fans account for the time being. In minutes, his Instagram blew up. Apparently, people were either heartbroken over their breakup; relieved he “got rid of that perv!”; or devastated they wouldn’t get to see them doing porn together anymore.

He got a hundred subscribers in just a few hours, which was incredible. The subscription fee was ten dollars a month, so even after the website’s cut plus tax deduction, it still was a good start. He wondered what kind of money Beck made with their videos, because they had thousands of subscribers on their channel.

Once he got the hang of the site, he tried to post at least two sets of pictures a day – which was challenging at that moment, because the apartment was tiny and he didn’t have any outfits or toys with him, they were all at Beck’s. He made plans that as soon as he got the subscription money in around fifteen days, he would try to buy a few things and take tons of pictures to last a few weeks.  

He also made sure to answer people’s messages every single day, which often earned him a little more money in tips. It was shocking how many people were willing to tip him just because he answered them. Some other people asked for extra content, like specific pictures, videos or even voice notes, which he sent via “pay-per-view messages”.

In the end, he felt like he was prostituting himself. Again.

He would never judge a person for earning their living in any way necessary, as long as it didn’t hurt anyone, he just never thought that would be him. Never ever. As a kid, he thought he’d be an astronaut. Growing up, he wanted to be a physicist. As a teen, he made plans to study Biochemistry. And somehow he ended up selling his body online, one way or another.

He didn’t dwell on that for long, he focused on the fact that it was temporary. If he managed to retain at least some of the people that had subscribed to his account for two or three years, then he would be able to start a small business of some kind in the future. Maybe he could go back to school. Twenty-three wasn’t too old for college, right?

Right.

It was two weeks later when he got a weird message. Not a weird message, actually, a weird tip. Someone under the username of YKWIM had sent him ten thousand dollars for no reason, there was no prior conversation, nor did the person ask for anything in return. Peter was sure there must have been a mistake, maybe they had typed in some extra zeros or maybe they had sent it to the wrong person, so he decided to reach out.

“Hey. I think there must’ve been some sort of mistake with your last tip. Lol.”

He left his phone on the counter and got started on dinner. He was a terrible cook, but to be fair, they all were, so it was fine. Ned and MJ were both at work, but they would be home soon and they were having a quiet night in. Those few weeks at their place had been good for Peter, it felt nice not to be alone after what happened, but at the same time, he was starting to feel like he really needed his own space. He was already looking for an apartment to move into as soon as he got the money. He was hoping to get one in the same building or at least close by, so that they could still see each other often.

His cell phone beeped as he sliced some onions and he stopped to check.

“Hey, gorgeous. There’s been no mistake, it’s correct.” Peter was taken aback by the answer, so he checked again to see how much the person had tipped him, and sure enough, there it was. Ten thousand dollars. Ten thousand. American dollars.

“Oh. Wow, that was very, very generous of you. Is there any particular content that you’d like to see from me as a thank you? I could send you exclusive pics and videos, whatever you want.” Inwardly, he was thinking that no amount of pictures or videos from him would ever be worth ten thousand dollars. Ten thousand dollars, holy fuck.

“That would be excellent.”

“Great. What would you like to see?”

Please don’t be weird, please don’t be weird, please don’t be weird… Usually, Peter’s subscribers liked to see him in cute outfits or with cute toys, but some people liked very messed up stuff. He usually said no, but that person had just sent him ten thousand dollars. Fuck, that was so much money, it would cover rent for at least a few months.

“I’ve enjoyed everything you’ve put out so far, baby, so surprise me. I’m sure I’m gonna like whatever you send.”

God, generous and reasonable? Had Peter died and gone to porn heaven?

“You flatter me.” He typed in quickly, leaving the sauce unattended for a few seconds. “Give me a few hours to work on it, I don’t want to disappoint you.”

“Take your time, but I don’t think you could disappoint me if you tried.”

Peter felt so stupid when he blushed and giggled to himself, because that was exactly how Beck lured him in when he was seventeen, with charming, easy words. He was an adult now, for Christ’s sake, and he didn’t even know who he was talking to. To be fair, it was probably a woman. For some weird reason, according to his Just4Fans statistics, a surprisingly large percentage of his subscribers were middle-aged, cisgender, heterosexual women. Peter supposed those were the ones who used to follow his “love story” with Beck – most of them hadn’t got over them yet, apparently they were “the perfect couple! So cute!”.

He couldn’t blame them, they sold them the perfect love story. And for a time, it was true. Peter really thought Beck was it for him, the love of his life, his soulmate. He didn’t know at which point it all became an act to Beck – or if maybe it had always been an act.

He sighed, shaking his head, he couldn’t afford to waste time thinking about him, so he focused on what he should send YKWIM.

As he finished making dinner, he tried to come up with ideas. They said they loved everything Peter had posted so far – he had posted thirty pictures and five short clips over the past two weeks. The pictures were all in MJ’s bedroom – she offered –, most of them in her bed. There were only a few pictures in which he was completely naked, in the others he had some sort of underwear on –  lingerie or tight briefs.

So, he decided he should do something similar, but different enough that YKWIM would feel somewhat special. He had a few good ideas, but they would have to wait for the next morning, he would need good lighting and privacy.

“Hey, nerd, what’s up,” He almost burned his fingers when he heard MJ’s voice, and realized he had spaced out for a minute there. He shook his head quickly and smiled at her.

“Nothing, how was you day?”

The next morning, once Ned went to visit his family and MJ left for work, Peter started working on the pictures. For some reason, he didn’t want to tell his friends about YKWIM, just like he didn’t want to tell them about Beck when they first met, three years earlier. And if he really was as smart as his teachers used to say, he would have seen the pattern. But as it was, he just focused on the fact that YKWIM was probably a woman living on the other side of the world, who just liked to get off to pictures of pretty boys in lingerie.

But.

For the sake of getting in the mood for the pictures, he imagined YKWIM was a guy. Not too tall, but taller than him. He imagined he had a beard, but not a full one, like Beck’s, no, perfectly trimmed, scratchy, in a good way. He’d have dark, warm eyes, not blue and cold. He’d be older, older than Beck, more mature than him. A real man. Maybe he’d have a few streaks of gray amidst his otherwise dark hair.  

He’d be gentle, despite Peter’s past. He’d treat him like he was the first one to ever touch him, even if he knew that was far from the truth. He would be careful, mindful of his pleasure. He’d start off slowly, kissing along his collarbones, fingers brushing the sensitive skin on the inside of his thighs, just shy of where Peter wanted him to touch, as his mouth traveled down his chest; hot, moist breath leaving a trail of kisses down his stomach.

He sighed. Yeah, that would do to put him in the mood.

He put on a white t-shirt that was just long enough to graze the tops of his thighs, and a simple, plain black thong. He decided to take the pictures in the shower – the classic wet, white t-shirt, he couldn’t really go wrong with that. He positioned the camera on top of the bathroom sink, set the timer, and started posing.

First, he rested his back against the wall, one hand pulling the t-shirt down to cover the front his underwear, eyes staring directly at the camera lens as water ran down his face, neck and chest, making his nipples stiffen, becoming visible under the wet shirt.  

Next, he pressed his chest to the wall, looking at the camera from over his shoulder, lips parted, just a peek of his exposed ass cheeks showing where the t-shirt ended, but by then it was so wet it was mostly see-through.

Then he turned so his side was facing the camera and stuck his head directly under the stream of water, running his hands through his hair, back arched obscenely, eyes closed. He let his hands travel all the way down his neck, chest, and stomach, hearing the familiar “click” as the camera took several pictures.

He turned around again, placed his hands on the wall and lifted his t-shirt just over his lower back, sticking his ass out, showing off his provocative underwear.

He got out of the shower and turned the camera into filming mode, then got back under the water and also shot a short clip of he sensually and slowly taking the thong off, but in a way that the viewer couldn’t really see the skin that was revealed. He pulled the wet t-shirt down so it covered everything, but by then it was so see-through that it left nothing to the imagination. Peter twirled a little, then threw an innocent, shy smile at the camera.

That should do it.

He finished his shower, put the wet clothes in the washer, then went to edit the pictures. He didn’t do much, just adjusted the light and contrast, then cut them into squares, because he though it looked classier or whatever. He chuckled to himself at the absurdity of that thought, as he attached the photos and the video to a direct message to YKWIM.

“Hey, gorgeous! Hopefully these won’t disappoint. Let me know if you’d like something different.”

He cringed re-reading the message, he thought he sounded desperate and insecure about himself and he supposed that wasn’t very attractive, so he decided to change it just a little.

“Hey, gorgeous! Hopefully these won’t disappoint.” And he finished off with a hot face emoji, because why not.

He sent the message and went on with his day. Ned and MJ were both back for lunch and since none of them felt like cooking – and they all sucked at it anyway –, they ordered something to eat in front of the TV, as they binge-watched the first seasons of The Office.

“Oh, hey, Pete, I almost forgot, I talked to our landlord earlier and he said there’s an apartment on the fifth floor that should be vacated by the end of the month, if you’re interested,” Ned told him around a mouthful of pizza and Peter’s head snapped up.

“I’m definitely interested!”

“Cool, I’ll talk to him for you, I’m sure I can get you a good deal on rent.” He winked, and Peter smiled, feeling hopeful.

Things were getting better. Slowly, yes, but they were. He was spending time with his friends – who he had neglected for the past two years–; he had a good amount of money to withdraw in the next few days, that could get him going for a while; he was still doing porn, yes, but at least he was in control of the whole thing, including his own body, which was nice; and he only cried for Beck every other night instead of every single night, so he had that going for him.

All in all, things were looking up.

Ned and MJ convinced him to go out for a bit in the afternoon, they said he had been cooped up in the apartment for three weeks and should breathe in some fresh air, and since it was the first somewhat warm day of March, they decided to go jog at Central Park in the afternoon. They didn’t really jog, but they walked around some and Peter must admit that it felt good to stretch his legs and feel the sun on his skin for a change.

They were lying on the grass, resting for a bit, when they saw a blur of red and gold fly overhead. People started cheering and clapping and Peter smiled when MJ groaned, because he knew exactly what she was going to say.

“How can people cheer for that guy, he’s an egocentric, misogynistic, elitist, disgusting asshole.”  He laughed to himself, because he knew what came next.

“He’s a genius, he changed the world multiple times and he even saved it at least twice. I think he’s pretty cool,” Ned argued without any heat and Peter could hear MJ rolling her eyes.

Peter didn’t love or hate Tony Stark or Iron Man, like most people, he just – didn’t pay him any mind. Sure, when he was a kid, he was obsessed with him, he was New York’s first superhero after  Captain America, who was still in the ice when Stark announced he was Iron Man. But as he grew older, he had other concerns in mind other than who was the coolest Avenger, so he kind of forgot they existed, except for when there was some crazy alien threat looming over New York City – which was, like, a biannual thing since they found out aliens existed back in 2012.

The fact that Iron Man was flying over Central Park on a Saturday afternoon was a little alarming though. From what Peter knew, Stark was mostly retired since around 2016, he only ever “avenged” when there was a big threat, like the near-end-of-the-world they had back in 2018.

“Do you think we’re under attack?” Peter asked and Ned shook his head calmly.

“Nah, I think he must be late for something. I read an interview recently and he said he uses the suit sometimes when he needs to get some place fast.”

Seemed like overkill, but who was Peter to judge, he would probably do the same if had a suit like that.

They spent the rest of the afternoon in the park and then headed home for the night. MJ turned in early, she said she was beat from a busy week, and Peter and Ned stayed up until a little later, re-watching Star Wars movies. It was close to 2AM when Ned said his goodnight and Peter went to check his Just4Fans, because he hadn’t answered any messages all day long.

There were quite a few, but he did notice there was one missing. YKWIM hadn’t answered him yet and Peter immediately felt like a failure. They probably hated the pictures, they must have thought “ugh, ten thousand dollars for that?”. Peter should have photoshopped them. He could have made himself look at least a little bit better, if only–

Before he could hate on himself too much, YKWIM messaged him, like they could read minds. Peter quickly opened their chat, still a little worried about their reaction to the pictures.

“Damn, baby! You have no fucking idea what those did to me. Fuck! Can I show you? Please?”

Peter was oddly relieved to read that, and was endeared by the fact that they actually asked before sending a dick pic. Or a clit pic? Was that a thing?

“Of course, gorgeous, I’d love to see it.”

Within seconds, they sent a video in the chat. Peter was a little surprised by that, but pressed play anyway, and almost fell off the couch when he did.

It was a thirteen seconds video. He could see the man’s midriff, all the way down to the tops of his thighs. His belly was toned and spattered with dark hair that led down to perfectly trimmed pubes that framed the most beautiful cock Peter had ever seen. There was no other way to put it.

It was long and thick, but not so much so that it would hurt – Peter knew better –, it stood proudly between his thighs, attached to a heavy set of balls that made his mouth water. He was jacking it mercilessly, Peter could only hear him grunting quietly before his balls recoiled and he came, covering his stomach in thick, pearly white come. Peter whimpered, pressing down on his hard-on, and almost cried when the video was over.

“Fuck, daddy, that was so fucking hot.” It was probably the first time ever that he actually meant that answering a DM from a subscriber.

“That was the third time today, baby, I have been thinking about those pics from the minute you sent them. Spent the whole day with blue balls, even after coming twice.”

Fuck.

“Wish I could have helped you with that.”

“Who knows, honey, maybe someday.”

Yeah, Peter thought, biting his pillow on the couch so he wouldn’t be heard when he came embarrassingly hard in his pajamas pants, face burning with shame. Maybe someday.

[bloodbenderz]

Can I ask what your season 1 Lok reboot looks like?

this is about 3k words i checked lmfao dont say i didnt warn u

a key part of the whole thing is that korra gets way more perspectives and more experiences representative of like, normal people in republic city bc i think something that really defined what a good avatar aang was was how many people he met and got to know and how he didnt exclusively or even mostly associate w cops and bureaucrats and leaders. so mako and bolin. well first of all their backstories are a little more fleshed out and we get a less black and white view of the “triads” (lol) and mako and bolin’s experiences w them. cuz the show very much does the whole thing of like Criminals Bad but dont worry even tho mako and bolin did commit crimes theyre not Criminals!! so just a little more nuance on the alleged gang problem and the poverty in the city

korra does start out very naive w very black and white ideas (ex. “you guys are CRIMINALS?”) i think a really good way of developing her away from her sheltered naive worldview is putting her in whats clearly an incredibly complicated city w an absolute cesspool of political conflicts, ethnic tensions, the lasting effects of colonization, etc and having her try and understand the needs of “the people” in a more complicated way than “i have to save the good guys from the bad guys” ykwim? and i think the absolute WORST way to do that is what they did. bc we get mako and bolin who could contribute genuinely compelling thematic elements to the story: one parent who was indigenous and one who was from a colonizer background in the decades directly following the end of the war, kids who grew up in poverty apparently without any familial support, and who now are trying to be “respectable” members of society (especially mako). and then most of that is pretty much tossed aside bc asami swoops in w her capitalist dad and her piles of money and the class issue is just never talked about again.

so the way i’d fix all that is like. introducing more, like, normal people. some nonbenders, more workers, more immigrants, etc, to show what daily life is actually like for people. because. we dont know! we dont have any context about whether the nonbender oppression thing is actually an issue bc we dont KNOW any nonbenders with normal lives! and spoiler: the nonbender oppression thing is not an issue. bc it doesnt make historical sense. lok is set 7 decades after the end of the war. that is not by ANY stretch of the imagination long enough to heal from the scars of imperialism, ESPECIALLY not when lok is also set in a settler colonial state. like that fact should have featured PROMINENTLY in the political and social setting! realistically, nonbenders arent an oppressed class, earth and water nation people are, regardless of bending status! as in all settler colonial states, the colonizers and their descendants (in this case fire nation people) retain most of the financial and political capital, leaving the colonized and racialized immigrants (in this case earth kingdom and water tribe people respectively) generally impoverished and politically suppressed. like aside from the fact that theres no way toph would have become a cop, it’s so ridiculous to think that an established privileged class of fire nation colonizers would EVER accept being policed by earthbenders!

imagine how much more nuanced and interesting it would be to set republic city as a remnant of a colonial past still fraught w the violence and tension that colonialism and the associated ideology imposed?? instead of some vague ideas of criminal who wear 1920s outfits and harass shopkeepers think about why extralegal and violent groups like that might form! earth kingdom people trying to push for the reclamation of their land? ethnic groups protecting themselves against corrupt cops? ESPECIALLY w the history that the fire nation has of SPECIFICALLY jailing and killing earthbenders and waterbenders BECAUSE of the potential they have to resist against fire nation imperialism like it just makes no sense at all that earthbenders would be privileged on land that, 70 years ago, they would have been imprisoned on! like these various paramilitary groups falling along these different ideological or ethnic lines, fire nation or earth kingdom or water tribe, pro colonization or anti colonization, pro cop or anti cop, pro immigrant or anti immigrant, and then you juxtapose that w depictions of a govt thats failing to keep this all under control w tenzin trying desperately to keep it together despite the fact that it’s becoming increasingly obvious that the state has no interest in taking the conflicts seriously and would rather just point vague fingers at criminals and gangs? and THEN you bring in korra, who has no idea about any of this and thinks that all its gonna take is kicking some ass every couple days, meeting normal people who offer all kinds of different opinions abt the efficacy of the state and the different violent or nonviolent groups and ideologies clashing in the city and the way all this shit is affecting people’s lives and livelihoods and relationships w other citizens??

theres so much good shit there so many incredible things u could do w that like Where do we go after colonial atrocities? is it possible for a settler colonial state to take revolutionary or indigenous ideas seriously? is liberal reform enough in a state like this? and then all the growth that korra could do going from a simple black and white life about mastering the elements to this messy complicated sociopolitical knot of a city? and all the different kinds of characters u could introduce in this city? like why would u EVER think that the most interesting characters that this story has to offer is a police chief a congressman and a billionaire????

but anyways. that’s what the Setting of my idealized version of lok is. as for the actual plot, it is as follows

it starts out similarly as the show. republic city is MUCH more fraught w political tension and violence and korra knows this but assumes that it’s just a matter of throwing a few gang leaders and corrupt officials in jail. tenzin manages to come see them in the south pole and intends give korra real lessons while he’s there but they receive news of a terrorist attack in republic city only a few days after he gets there so his family has to pack up and leave again.

korra stows away to republic city (katara catches her leaving and gives her blessing im a SUCKER for that moment). she does have a hard time adjusting but she doesn’t do what she did in the show lol the first person she meets in the city is this older woman who works on the docks, directs her to a place where she can eat and gives her a roof to sleep under for the first night. so korra’s first exposure to republic city is just about forming connections w ordinary people like ship workers and a family owned restaurant and people practicing their bending in the park. and by the time she reaches air temple island a day or so later her head is spinning w all this new information and the way that nothing is really what she expected it to be. tenzin gives her his own perspective on everything and pema gives her her own perspective on everything and even those two seem wildly different from all the people she’s already met. and so korra starts to get a kind of outline of the conflicts plaguing the city as extremely complex and a lot more influenced by older ideas of fire nation imperialism and earth kingdom land reclamation than she had any idea about.

mako and bolin are still pro benders but not like. super famous like they are in the show. korra’s picked up a couple friends by now and one of them takes her to a gym where a lot of amateur pro bending (is that an oxymoron? lol) matches happen and thats how she meets mako and bolin and joins their pro bending team. Unfortunately for korra, this gym is run by lin beifong, and also has the distinction of being one of the most notoriously anti settler state organizations in the country. lin beifong is NOT a cop but she runs this gym (and the pro bending league) as a way to offer support to local earth kingdom/water tribe youth, teach self defense skills, a center of community organizing, and sometimes to act as a front to hide revolutionary/combat organizing against the pro fire nation paramilitaries/police force. tenzin is DISTRAUGHT that korra does this and this is where the friction btwn them comes from bc (from tenzin’s perspective) she does things like this without thinking or even fully understanding the context behind them and tenzin will have to deal w the political fallout of the avatar openly aligning herself w a very divisive figure in the community and (from korra’s perspective) tenzin is too unwilling to take sides in a conflict that’s claiming lives and when the state is clearly not taking sufficient steps to protect people well then why the hell shouldnt she align herself w lin beifong, who IS taking steps to protect and support people?

as korra more fully integrates herself into the city and learns more abt how different people think abt everything going on this is where the real exposition abt the equalists begins. they’re a paramilitary group w an ideology thats gaining increasing support among middle/upper class fire nation people, esp nonbenders. on the face theyre abt putting checks on “bender oppression” but really it’s an excuse to persecute and surveil earthbenders waterbenders and airbenders, bc fire nation people have all this leftover fear about benders who arent fire nation Rising Up Against them and these people who r using their Savage Excuse for Bending to terrorize good innocent (fire nation) people. theres all too frequent terrorist attacks that the equalists claim credit for mostly against monuments to earth/water/air nation people and earth/water nation community centers (one like it was the event that forced tenzin back to republic city) but also like the govt doesnt take a lot of these seriously or if they do only a couple people are charged without doing damage to the entire organization

this is also around the time that they meet asami and she becomes part of their friend group. asami likes pro bending but her dad HATES it so she sneaks out to watch matches at lin beifong’s gym (korra says ironically like don’t u know how ~divisive~ that is and asami answers that the only reason its Not divisive is that gyms like beifongs are the only place where nobody recognizes her). and asami alongside korra is also kind of developing a more nuanced perspective on the city that she lives in cuz obviously the only worldview she’s ever been exposed to is her father’s right? and she keeps pushing it off making excuses not to bring mako and bolin and korra around to her house or even not to be seen w them in certain neighborhoods until they call her on it and she’s like Well honestly my dad might do something awful to u! and i dont wanna risk it!

and as time goes on we see more abt asami’s home life like her father’s hyper conservative politics and asami keeps these secrets abt her hobbies and her friends from him but she’s still clearly under his influence and mako bolin and korra r getting increasingly worried abt it cuz like...asami seems to tend to make excuses for him so that she wont have to be drawn into conflict and originally they think its just her being privileged and thats def part of it but the more they find out abt it the more they realize what a tight fucking grip he has on her and the way that like. asami sneaking out once or twice a week is the Only thing she does for herself. and it really starts freaking them out how influential this billionaire is and all the information theyre getting from asami abt what a piece of shit he clearly is. and so that whole plot thing comes about and shows us how deeply embedded these “equalist” ideas are in conservative republic city politics and how much influence theyre actually having in policy making and law enforcement.

asami suffers in the aftermath of this like being forced to truly confront the harm her father is doing both to the city and to herself. and she ends up leaving home when this discovery really breaks. but bc of the deep corruption in govt and police sato isn’t really....dealt with? like this big story breaks and everyones like Oh, My God! Hiroshi Sato Is Funding An Illegal Paramilitary Group! and theres all kinds of inane political discourse about it and he’s arrested but he bails himself out immediately and his finances are examined but he maintains control over them and after a few weeks the gang (bc they Have become close among all this w much less interpersonal drama lol) has to admit that this news story hasnt done what they thought it was going to it hasn’t dealt the equalists a real hit its just given them a very high profile ally

and this is when things really start to ramp up in terms of action like up until now korra’s daily activities are mostly like hanging around in the city w her friends  (which in part entails doing little avatar stuff that people dont feel comfortable going to police with, like Can you help me my ex husband wont pay child support or Please help i got robbed and i really needed that money for rent next month or Help my son keeps skipping school can you talk to him cuz im worried abt him being safe and doing well in school) and pro bending and airbending lessons (which i know ive neglected this part of the story in terms of her whole spiritual/physical conflict but it’s more of a subtle thing like it’s one of tenzin and korra’s more frequent arguments like tenzin says she needs to focus on spirituality and korra asks why she even needs to bc republic city is a sociopolitical problem not a spiritual one) but now the equalist threat seems to really be looming on every level of society like the storyline of equalists preventing pro bending matches happens here and everyones just at a total loss of what to do next. plus increasing and scary rhetoric about tenzin and his family that destroying the last airbenders is necessary to preserving the integrity of the united republic

and so theres the equalist takeover of the city. the people who are mostly resisting this are lin and ragtag group of people who have been resisting colonial rule for a long time (including suyin, who is part of a communist anti colonial community outside the city, because i said so and i think it would be fun), people who have been visiting her gym for years, members of her amateur pro bending league, plus asami and korra and tenzin. korra and tenzin have a sweet moment (bc they do genuinely care abt each other a lot even if their relationship has been marked w a lot of tension and arguing) where tenzin says like you know i think that ive lost focus on the kind of spirituality that might actually help you. korra says what do you mean? and tenzin kind of gestures to where theyre sitting with people buzzing around organizing to take care of innocents and civilians and to fight the equalists and he says this is a kind of spiritual too, isnt it?

and something something plot plot blah blah i havent decided on the details of the plot climax yet but that’s the climax of korra’s character development and what helps her connect w her spiritual side in order to protect the city: the realization that community is its own kind of spirituality. and it kind of represents the real development that i want her to have going from somebody who thinks that the world is divided into criminals and victims and she has to save the victims Into the kind of avatar who understands the people that she’s bound to serve. she becomes an avatar of the people!

and then happy ending lol korra and asami get together lin and tenzin reconcile after years of being at odds the show ends on a hopeful note that the inhabitants of republic city and the united republic as a whole Can move on from the scars of colonialism by reckoning w the remnants of fire nation colonial ideology and reparations to the earth kingdom people whose land this is and destruction of colonial systems that have maintained and enforced colonial violence all these years

[tolerateit]

Re: Solar Power

I did like it! But I did what you said you should have done: listened to it a lot.

IICHLIWP stopped me from obsessing over it so when my complete love for IICHLIWP cooled down (not completely, but I’m now at a point where I can play something else) I played “Solar Power” and came to like it.

I’m still totally a “Melodrama” kind of girl, but I truly think Lorde’s soothing tone and how obvious it is that she’s finally happy kind of warms me up? Finding out that “Secrets from a girl who’s seen it all” is herself singing to her depressed teenager self who wrote “Ribs” made me sob. I was 15, bullied and “Pure Heroine” was kind of like the title for me - pure heroine - and listening to her singing “everybody wants the best for you, but you gotta want it for yourself” and then ending the song with “you’ll be fine” hits me harder than any therapy session I’ve ever had in my life tbh.

I think I like “Solar Power” for the possibility it represents. You can grow out of your depressed persona and find genuine happiness (“I love this life that I have”) and I feel like those of us who have mental illness - and have been diagnosed from an early age - feel like there will always be something wrong with us and listening to Lorde going “I just wanna know will it be alright?” after admitting that all of her oceans have riptides and she can’t seem to find what’s wrong really encapsulates how I feel. If I could do to myself what she’s attempted doing in “Secrets from a girl who’s seen it all” and talk to my future self, that’s the sole thing I’d ask: will it be alright? Do you know that tweet (I believe it was a tweet) that states how, once they recovered, a depressed person commented they missed the familiarity of being sad and that just hits the nail in the head. I’m so familiar with being sad that I don’t know how to be alright.

So, I grew to love “Solar Power” for not only what it means to Ella but for what it could also mean to me. I do not love this life that I currently have and I still obsess over the heartache and the treason and the fantasies of leaving, however I long for the day where I can truly sing “I love this life that I have”. Does that make sense?

Lorde has always had a way to kind of validate the loneliness that I felt was exclusive to me and so seeing she’s in a better place just gives me hope. I feel like she’s a kindred spirit.

Okay, I made myself cry and I wrote you my “ATW 10 minutes version” defending “Solar Power”.

Wrote you my 10 min atw defending solar power DLDJSKAKSK it's okay anon I agree with you!! I know I'd come to love it if I sat with the album a little longer, it most certainly is an album that would resonate with people and it's great that it talks about healing and overcoming your past issues!

The thing with iichliwp for me was that there was a LOT OF HYPE before the album came out, similar to solar power, and maybe because they both came out in a similar time frame I began comparing them sort of?? So like album cover, boom I like halsey's more, track titles, lilith sounds like a banger, plus we had singles from solar power before so we were already judging it ykwim? Iichliwp was a complete mystery and the producers and a film, there was just a lot going on at that moment (hah)!

Also I judge every song based on the first listen lmao and solar power didn't stick with me, I did bop around to it after the music video was overplayed on tv but at a first listen I was 🧍🏻‍♀️ you feel me? Whereas I am not a woman i'm a god had me 🤯🤯🤯 from the first five seconds itself, it's also why I don't vibe w evermore.mp3 haha it's the opening that determines if I like a song/album for me!

[blockgamepirate]

So what are your thoughts on the Syndicate? I'm personally psyched for Techno to do some anarchist things other than "blow shit up," though his goals still seem very destruction-based. I'm also nervous about the potential for Dream to somehow use this to his advantage. ( - quicksandblock)

I’m sure the plot will SOMEHOW end up ruining things no matter what. :p They need their conflict, after all. For the audience retention. Hopefully it’ll be an interesting kind of conflict, though. I feel like the betrayal thing is kind of overplayed at this point but there’s plenty of other stuff that could happen. Possibly with Dream, like you said. And this also allows Techno’s character to be more proactive rather than reactive.

But yeah I’m genuinely excited, this is actually starting to sound a lot more like the kind of anarchism that I’d recognise. I liked the retirement arc fine because it was nice and chill, but honestly this is much better because they’re actively doing shit. And not gonna lie, I wasn’t a huge fan of the pacifism thing, it was just jumping right to the other extreme from all-violence to... not even just non-violence but in fact not doing anything at all really? Like all he did was talk to Lannan and Vik for a bit and hang out with Phil. It really was just retirement. Fair enough for his character, even if it was a bit sudden, I mean everybody has burnouts and needs to take breaks or even to retire from the movement entirely and that’s 100% valid, but it’s not really any better for achieving liberation, you know.

I mean I liked that he was putting more thought into the ideology and demonstrating some of it by just chilling out with the villagers and whatnot, but that’s not the anarchist content I signed up for :p (I don’t even really mean violence necessarily but some action of some sort. My favourite bits were him sneaking into L’Manberg.)

And then he kinda jumped right back to all-violence with the revenge arc. Not entirely, I mean there were the posters, there were attempts to recruit Tommy which involved some actually reasonable arguments in my opinion, there was some effort put into maintaining the anarchist thing at least nominally, but overall the goal was just to destroy L’Manberg and cause massive amounts of destruction. Which is honestly just not the best tactic for overthrowing the government, it’s really not. I mean it WORKED but I still think it was mostly incidental, since the country was already falling apart from the inside. Obviously it helped that the whole thing blew up, but without the internal conflicts, it would have just been rebuilt again and all he would have accomplished would have been revenge and cementing his own reputation as a violent monster. I realise that the revenge part was intentional and probably wouldn’t have been as satisfying if it didn’t involve all that destruction, but ideologically and tactically? Not great. Which Techno’s character himself seems to be conscious of to be fair!

I’m hoping the Syndicate is going to be more of a reasonable midpoint? It sounds like it so far. It’s a revolutionary secret society so clearly they’re committed to getting results and it’s very likely that there will be some violence or at least hostility involved, because usually governments don’t just go away by asking nicely, it’s just not a goal that you should expect to achieve through peaceful means. But at the same time there seems to be more of a focus on the ideals and recruitment, actually convincing people. And just the fact that they’re creating an actual anarchist group is just very nice. I like it, it’s actual anarchist organising! And honestly, the underground resistance thing is one of my favourite tropes, that’s what really sold me on Dream SMP in the first place; the Pogtopia arc. It wasn’t perfect but I was hooked anyway. And Phil and Techno’s friendship just makes it so much better already, as does the fact that the Syndicate is actually open and clear about its own goals and aiming to recruit people who agree with those goals. And the fact that it’s actually anarchist makes it automatically better, obviously.

Also, as much as I’m amused by Techno’s awkward attempt at recruiting Niki, that’s just so relatable. These things never really go smoothly. And I’ve been there, trying to get something started with very little personal experience and massive social anxiety issues lol. (I mean I haven’t tried starting an actual revolutionary society, overthrowing an actual government is a bit too stressful for me and it’s not really an opportune moment for it right now where I live, but I may or may not have been involved in some direct action kind of stuff. Definitely nothing illegal, of course...) But like, the thing you really need to have a handle on is proper security culture so you don’t get everybody in trouble, other than that it’s okay to fuck up some things or just be awkward. And I’d say Techno is probably paranoid enough for the security culture bit, I think we can check that one off.

And I mean the talk with Niki didn’t even go that badly, probably. I still need to go check her side, I was watching her up until Techno went live but I didn’t get her reaction afterwards.

I feel like Techno is still a bit hazy on the theory but he has the spirit? I guess? And I mean to me that counts more than being super well read but only using it to whine about other people doing anarchism wrong. Not that there aren’t some warranted criticisms re: Techno’s character... Mostly I’m hoping he’ll chill with the torture and kidnapping and stabbing random bystanders? Might be too much to ask, he really seems to like buillying people, but I’m hoping. He could bully Eret, they’re a king after all. Eret’s schedule is just kind of unfortunate I guess. Doesn’t line up well with Techno’s streams. Or if Techno figures out that Sam is the prison warden, that’s also a valid target. Prison guards are definitely enemies of freedom, it’s literally in their job description. Plus Sam stole his horses and tried to kill him that one time.

Then again landlords are definitely enemies of anarchists too and apparently Techno is a landlord to Ranboo now so hmmmmm...

TL;DR: I really like the direction Techno’s new arc is going, I think aside from the random encounters with gods and mystical portals it’s a much more realistic representation of anarchists and anarchism (not that anarchism is mutually exclusive with mystical portals or anything but... ykwim), and it’s a promising start for a new storyline plotwise too.

[mrfutureboy]

alright bestie you reblogged two almost identical ask game posts so I'll throw random numbers at you and you decide which post to pick em from: 3, 11, 28, 45 and whichever question you really wanna answer

hehehe im gonna do them from both :)

from the ultimate music ask game:

3. Do you listen to more oldies or more current stuff?

more current, id say. like, im not really listening to olivia rodrigo or most of whats trending on tiktok and whats on contemporary radio, but im not exclusively listening to like 70s music. and we better not be calling the early 2000s oldies yet i stg.

11. Favorite songwriter?

hmm i feel like i have to say kate bush. and not just cuz im listening to her right now.

28. Have you ever made/got a mixtape as a gift to/from a friend?

ohoho as it so happens im working on one for a friend rn!! his birthday was last week but I havent gotten a chance to see him yet so i still have time to refine it and then burn a cd. dont think ive ever received one tho.

45. A non-musical movie or show with a soundtrack you love

shang-chi and black panther. fucking incredible soundtracks. guardians of the galaxy who?

+ 49. Is there a cover you like more than the original song?

LITERALLY EVERY SINGLE BEATLES COVER THAT BIG TIME RUSH DID. But specifically I will pick Hard Day’s Night. I also want to mention michael jackson’s cover of come together bc i heard it a couple times at work recently and it made me think “the beatles who???” just like the btr covers. not that i can fairly compare mj and btr but ykwim

from the other song asks:

3. A song recently rediscovered?

a year and a half is considered recent, right? cuz then crystal ball by keane and that was fucking significant cuz now i listen to keanes whole discography daily. otherwise last week maybe i listened to one time by justin bieber and added it to my spotify cuz i forgot that song was so good

11. A song in your native language?

well this isnt very interesting cuz my native and only language is english but i have to pick dynamite by taio cruz

28. An a capella song (original or cover)?

i can literally only think of pentatonix but also huey lewis and the news…i dont listen to pentatonix and im not super into huey’s a capella songs…i cant even think of the names of those songs…i cant fairly answer this. not a fan.

(No 45 :( )

+ 20. A song with a lyric or verse that you want to scream out?

honestly the entirety of “the way i feel” by keane but im gonna narrow it down to just the first verse bc its way too relatable :/