#like i write out lists of things in order of priority. but my brain does not seem to be able to internalize the list

[clockworksheep2]

also i've been thinking i've been feeling guilty for not taking advantage of family being away and using it for livestreaming but actually i do not think it's guilt fdsjkl i think it's more just anxiety over not using my time to its full potential or whatever. streaming is just for fun and not smth i ever want to feel pressured to keep doing if i ever start to not enjoy it or simply don't have time to do, so i've been annoyed w myself for being stressed over not streaming rn but i thought it was guilt i was feeling fdsjkl. it is not guilt i don't think! i'm pretty sure it's just "u should be doing this thing bc it is the perfect time to do more of it since family is away and family won't be away forever so u are missing chances to use the time well with every minute that goes by" anxiety WAUGH

[fivveweeks]

twitter holds me back from writing essays but here are my list of Dante HCs and their reasonings:

1) I vaguely portray Dante with top/bottom surgery scars alongside their neck scars. Not because they're trans (trans Dante hcs are great btw) but it's more so to imply that either Limbus Company or their past self deliberately did the surgery to their body in order to keep their post-clock identity a secret. A second layer to the dehumanisation and loneliness Dante feels with regards to their current self. I'm keeping it vague on who made the decision for them because it adds to the mystery:

If Limbus Company management did this to them, it adds to the horror of capitalism and loss of bodily autonomy.

If pre-clock Dante chose to do this to themselves, it's intriguing as it implies that their past self does not care about such minor things such as gender as they pursue their goals. The end ultimately justifies the means.

I feel Dante is comfortable in their current skin however! The scars itches sometimes but it doesn't bother them much, though they do wonder where they come from.

2) Dante with androgynous, black skin as a side effect of the Golden Bough, or even the head replacement surgery. It is to also add to the dehumanisation and separation they feel after taking the bough into themselves. It doesn't hugely bothers them, but they sometimes subconsciously compare their appearance to the sinner's regular human appearances

3) Relating to the above, Dante prefers covering themselves up tightly with almost zero to no skin showing. I also like to think clothes are one of the ways they use to feel a sense of control over their identity, since they can style and experiment however they like.

4) Has severe chronic pain and incredible pain tolerance, due to the rewinds. They're pretty much used to it at this point and the level of which they can tolerate amounts to them not reacting when getting a hole punched out through their guts.

They wear gloves because they're very touch sensitive due to the chronic pain.

I also considered that they get seizures occasionally. Turns out the constant feeling of phantom pain stemming from fatal incidents WILL still fuck up your nervous system and brain.

5) Relating to Verdante - funny thing is that I don't actually see them having sex often. Not with Dante's chronic pain and workaholic tendencies vs Vergilius' undiagnosed depression, passive suicidal thoughts and his incredible guilt. They're both often than not exhausted and I like to think of them just napping together in bed.

6) I ping pong between Dante having intake holes on their clock so they can take in liquid via straws, or they go the more serious route of having a feeding port via enteral nutrition.

7) Workaholic, workaholic, workaholic. I very much enjoy portraying Dante giving their all into being the manager of Limbus Company Bus. Part of it is because it's the only identity they ever know post memory lost so they subconsciously cling to it, another part is that they just get dopamine from being productive. They can and WILL give you a 3 hours essay for every Mirror Dungeon team and strategy they cooked up

8) It's not concrete but I like portraying Dante as mostly greysexual (sex and romance isn't a priority or need to them, but they're not disgusted by the idea. It fascinates them somewhat) and sort of demisexual (they like people who respects their humanity and not just a mute object...)

They have a Competency Kink. They enjoy seeing people being confident and good at what they do.

Totally was not ogling at Vergilius when he wiped out the monsters in canto 6 like nothing. Heh.

9) Learning Sign language in their downtime to increase efficiency in communication, but they're still a beginner. Vergilius is way better in this over them but he indulges in their sloppy attempts with nothing but an amused sigh.

10) They wear their sleep cap as they can't turn off their fire, so at least it blocks out the light. Also wears socks to bed like to a loser. They have a collection of socks that they accidentally collected over the course of the cantos.

[ros3ybabe]

Do you have any study tips for people who find it hard to concentrate for long periods of time, or just struggle to even sit down and focus?

Hi! I'm so sorry for the late answer, I've been busy with classwork, curating my schedule for the next few weeks, and just life in general.

I myself struggle to sit down and focus and have trouble concentrating for long periods of time. Everyone works differently and some things may not be helpful to everyone, just a disclaimer!

Something I do that really helps me is to have a set "ritual" I do every time I need to or at least know I need to do school work or productive things that I personally want to do.

My current "ritual" includes the following, in order:

Make a cup of my preferred drink (currently iced coffee with one sweet n low and French vanilla creamer) + grab a glass or bottle of water

Set out all my necessary materiales (studying ex: textbooks, stationary, technology, planner, etc)

Take a deep breath

Write out a todo list that is managable for what I want/need to accomplish

Flick on my desk lamp

Begin the first step for the first talk (open textbook, go to website, write out note title, etc)

My brain got into the habit of "lamp flicks on, sip of coffee, time to work" and it became very automated.

Lately, I've tried to spread out my necessary tasks out throughout a week (within necessary due dates) with daily planning for flexibility of my schedule and whatever things pop up. I believe being flexible with scheduling tasks helps a lot because sometimes I have more energy on some days than others, and other times, I need to allocate energy to other priorities.

For concentrating for long periods of time, I try to figure out my limits, and do whatever I can to work with myself and not against myself. I have severe unmedicated ADHD (as well as other things mentally) and I've learned to listen to my brain and body as best I can.

I can not concentrate if my phone is not near me or within eyesight when I study. I will be too preoccupied thinking about my phone and any missed notifications if I can't see my phone. Answering texts and calls while doing homework does not interfere with my productivity as it takes me a few seconds to type out a message and hit send or answer a call and listen/explain that I'm busy. (it's usually my dad who calls me, and I have no problem stopping my work to talk to my dad).

I need caffiene to give me that push to start. Once I taste my coffee, I know it's time to crack down on my assignments and start focusing on my work.

Background noise!! Very rarely can I listen to music when working at home, so I usually have a comfort show or some youtube video playing in the background while I do work. When I'm on campus, I listen to a specific playlist while doing schoolwork, usually more mellow music like Lana Del Ray, The Neighborhood, Chase Atlantic, MARINA, Mitski, Arctic Monkeys, Mother Mother, Cigarettes After Sex, beebadoobee, Taylor Swift etc. I normally listen to K-pop, but my favorite songs are too upbeat for getting work done.

I try not to watch the clock or set a timer because I never really know how long some assignments will take and if I'm watching the time pass I tend to get anxious and then my mind will wander from the task at hand.

Water!! I have to remind myself all the time, but having water at my desk or study area keeps me hydrated, which keeps me focused and awake.

I try not to eat big meals right before I do work. If I do eat something substantial before I need to work, I always wait 30 to 60 minutes so I can perk back up and properly focus on my work.

Never push past my physical energy limits. If I'm falling asleep at my desk, if I'm yawning uncontrollably, if my body feels heavy with fatigue, I will not push myself past exhaustion as that is no longer healthily productive.

Sleep is a priority!! If I'm sleepy and tired and groggy, I can't work properly. When I'm low on sleep, I also tend to over do the caffiene and overeat, which makes me both uncontrollably anxious and shaky while also making me more lethargic, thus inhibiting my work ability.

Listening to my body and learning how I work best has been the most helpful in my concentration and productivity abilities. I know when I'm feeling off, how to determine what I need in order to feel more regulated and functional. Good, healthy habits and a little self intuition go a long way for me.

I hope this was helpful in some way. I didn't want to give generic or basic tips because this is not a one size fits all topic. I'm open to any other questions!!

Til next time, lovelies!! 🩷

[krakenartificer]

So my therapist and I were talking today about ADHD brains, and what "executive function" means, and we discovered a really interesting thing about how my brain works. I don't know how much it will extend to other people, but I'm throwing it out there in case it's useful for anyone else.

Usually it takes me about 1.5 - 2 hours each morning, to go from "booting up my computer" to "actually starting on my first task".  This is true whether I work from home or work in the office, whether it's a coding day or a meeting day, whether I jump out of bed when the alarm goes off or if I'm very seriously giving consideration to sleeping under my desk while my computer boots.  I don't want it to take that long, but extensive experimentation has shown that it definitely does.

Today I decided to try an experiment.  Instead of my normal morning routine (where I check email, IMs, to-do list, and self-care list, and compile that into an enormous to-do list for the day, then sort that list in order of "if everything goes sideways and I get to only one thing, what thing will be the most painful if it happens tomorrow instead of today", and then set up multiple desktops on my macbook so that each task -- including "brush teeth" has its own desktop, and then put the desktops in the assigned priority-order), I decided I'd just jump right into my first task, and see if I could get myself a hyper-focused hour of work before someone came into the office to bug me.

It. Was. Terrible.

I mean, I got the task done, in record time. Then I checked Tumblr. Then I checked Facebook. Then I composed a summary of David Graeber's argument that the European Age of Exploitation cannot be understood without knowing why the Chinese decided to abandon paper money.  Then I replied to all my Facebook messages. Then I helped Jessica at work set up her code. There followed a relatively productive afternoon where I helped my boss sort out a personnel problem, set priorities for our department, contributed to one meeting, ran yet another meeting, got consensus on a project, and helped Jessica again -- but I didn't eat my midmorning snack until 1pm, I never did brush my teeth, and my knees are killing me because all through the second meeting my body was sending "This posture hurts! Change position! Get! Up!" signals, and I couldn't summon the focus to actually move from the floor to the couch. By the time my therapist called, my phone was on 3% and I couldn't find my bluetooth headphones. I'm still 400 calories under my target for the day, because I missed 900 calories during my workday and I couldn't figure out how to add more than 500 calories to my dinner.

So my therapist and I talked about this strange mix of symptoms: knocking out task after task of helping people at work, but unable to feed myself; incredibly highly effective code debugging, but also getting lost in Tumblr for an hour. I wasn't under-stimulated, but I also didn't get to pick what I focused on.  And he talked about how executive function isn't just one thing, which I knew, but mentioned specifically that one element of executive function is taking your own initiative, deciding your actions for yourself, rather than just reacting to stimuli.  And it hit me ---

I can't do that.  

I thrive in hyper-focused development environments, where I react to each compiler error by debugging the error ... but I break down when the compiler runs without error; I don't know what to do if I don't have the error-stimulus deciding my actions.

I thrive in high-multi-tasking environments like running a retail store at Christmas, where I do a task, and then look around and see which notification is the highest priority, and then do that task.  But I struggle in January and February, when all the customers are gone and I don't know what to do.

And today, I was entirely stimulus-driven.  Jessica asked for help, and I helped her. Kathy commented on Facebook, and I replied to her. Ryan asked about a report, and I explained it to him. Mark brought up something that reminded me of David Graeber, and I typed up a history essay.  Anything that didn't have a notification -- brushing my teeth, eating my snack, charging my phone -- didn't get done.

And that's when it hit me.  My usual morning routing isn't a waste of 2 hours.  It's setting up my environment so that I will be stimulated to do the things I want to do.

I have barely any initiative-decide-for-myself at all.  I get one (1) intitiativon each morning, and I have to spend it wisely.  And what I do with it, each day, is set up the stimuli I will experience throughout the day.

I finish a task and close that desktop: the next desktop pops up with a note that says "Meditate."

I finish meditating and close the desktop: the next desktop pops up with an email I need to reply to.

I finish that email and close that desktop: the next one pops up with a note that says "Order groceries."

I don't have any initiative left by that point, but I don't need to: I get the stimulus to do my work, maintain my health, connect with friends, and clean my house, and I'm too executive-dysfunction-deprived to do anything but respond to stimulus, and so I do all those things. This explains why I need to leave such specific directions to myself: not “write chapter 5″, but “Open C:/Documents/Writing/NovelTitle/Chapter5.doc”.  The first one isn’t a stimulus to action; the second one is. 

It's also why I have such a hard time with "leisure", and why my "randomized leisure activity" deck helped me so much; because by the time I get to the end of the day, and I'm out of spoons and I have earned a fun and relaxing evening.... I cannot -- by definition -- decide what would be fun and relaxing.

Like I say, I have no idea whether that will be any good for anyone else, but it prompted some interesting introspection, and I wanted to share. Now if you’ll excuse me, I still need to go brush my teeth

[0verthinking1t]

The babiest of baby steps — manually setting priorities

I didn't get great sleep last night, and yesterday was a very busy and stressful day. My body and brain are both bundled up cozily in Recovery Mode, but I still have to push myself to do the basics just like every day. I just woke up from a nap, I'm sleepy, and although my daily basic tasks are all written out and organized on my menu, picking where to start is proving a hurdle. For many with ADHD, prioritizing and acting on even our daily hygiene routines are things that don't come naturally to us, so in order to function, sometimes it can help to talk/walk through the process "manually". As an example of what this can look like, I'm going to write down the "manual prioritization" process I'm using today to push through my post-nap funk.

Ok. Let's walk it back a few steps. Pick these scattered tasks up off the floor and arrange them in a neat line. First, which of my menu items for today could I realistically do as I am right now?

I mark some of the tasks on my Appetizers and Mains sections with blue arrows, to indicate the things I could do with minimal energy. This narrows it down to "eat lunch, drink water, make tea, brush teeth, get dressed" and a couple tasks related to medical stuff.

That's still kind of messy. I CAN do all this now, but I don't WANT to do any of them. Can I narrow it down more? .... Actually, yes. What basic needs does my body have to meet at this moment? Which of these will make me more comfy in general?

Good question. I mark immediate basic needs with pink dots. These are all on the appetizers, of course, and narrows things down to "eat, get water, brush teeth, and make tea". Actually.... Scratch the tea. It would be inconvenient to delay brushing teeth and drinking water for that right now. Ok, 3 things left, and they're all super easy and logical. What do I want to do first?

Water. My mouth is dry and tastes like ass, but I don't want to brush my teeth until I eat something. I'll start with filling my waterbottle, and think about food while I'm in the kitchen.

how it worked out just now was that I went to the kitchen for water ✅, realized I had some soylents in the fridge (technically a complete meal's worth of nutrition, easy to grab and finish fast, but only to use in a pinch. I keep a couple around to fend off Ritalin jitters) and grabbed one for lunch ✅, and decided after I finish it to get dressed ✅, brush teeth ✅, and make tea if I'm still lagging ✅. Then I'll be ready to do more complicated thinking and accomplish the medical tasks ✅✅.

The basic gist is to just focus on finding step 1, and after that the rest falls into place. I can string my tasks together more intuitively once I've actually initiated something and got moving, so once I have priority 1 decided, I can usually kick back into gear from there. If dealing with the first thing doesn't work, I can just go back to the list and do the process again until my motor's running.

It might seem weird to have to stretch all this out like getting a glass of water is some complicated technical task 😛 but if you also find yourself benefitting from manually prioritizing, I want you to know that this isn't a moral failing, or a sign of low intelligence. Like I said, a lot of neurodivergent brains just straight up don't do certain functional processes like prioritizing, forming habits, or processing things into memory. We physically do not have enough of the chemicals that play key roles in connecting the different areas of our brains together, even though those individual areas function just fine. It's embarrassing to admit that I'm at a point in life where I need to list, sort, and prioritize things like drinking water or brushing my teeth, yea, but ya know.... If this is what it takes right now for me to feel healthy and stable, then so be it 🤷‍♂️ all that matters is that it's working.

[beetlesacquired]

WIP Update

Hi, between work and uni, I haven't been able to write a lot lately, which sucks, but I graduate in about a month (!!) which means that starting about midway through December, I'll have way more free time and creative motivation to get fics out. In the meantime, here's a rundown of all the wips I've got going through my head that will hopefully get updates/see the light of day soon (warning for nsfw fics)

Published WIPs

Promptober

I'm over a month late and only on day 10, so least to say, she's my highest priority. Currently I'm working on day 11: oviposition, and it's almost done, so that should hopefully get out this week! If you're not into that, day 12 is a cute Padme and Luke fluff, so you can look forward to that one instead.

Higher on the Streets

This is a podracer!Anakin and kind of sugar daddy senator!Obi-Wan fic that currently only has one chapter published several months ago, but rest assured, it haunts me every single day. It's not abandoned! But this was my venture into trying to write a multichap where I post chapters as I write them instead of once the fic is complete, and as it turns out, my brain doesn't like working like that. The second chapter is in progress, though it's kinda low on my priority list.

now there are four of them

Sith!Obikin x canon!obikin. This is my favorite of my posted wips, and I'm already several thousand words into a part two, I just have to have the time to really dedicate myself to writing it, because if you've read my smut fics before, you know they're obscenely long. As a sneak peak for part two, Obi-Wan uses the artifact to visit the sith and gets lowkey cucked. ALSO because I've had people ask me, part three WILL be Vader/Anakin, promise promise promise

Omegaverse Week 2021

YES this is still a wip because I'm the WORST. I've had day 7 almost done for over a year. I just need to finish it. Please give me the motivation to finish it. It's body worship, fluffy, so wholesome, I just have to finish it.

will it feel like the end?

Omega prince of the sith Anakin is betrothed to alpha king of the jedi Obi-Wan after the death of Anakin's mother and father. Not only does Anakin want nothing to do with the Jedi, but he has suspicions that King Obi-Wan is behind his parents' murders.

I really did omegaverse week dirty huh, I said over a year ago that I would turn this one shot into a fic, and I got so many comments asking me to do just that. And Yet. It'll happen. I swear it'll happen. I mainly just need to get my thoughts together for it.

Unpublished WIPs

gather ye children of men

TW: religious trauma, internalized homophobia

I, like all the other obikins, watched that angels and demons movie and felt things. Alas, I don't know enough about catholicism to write a priest kink, so I had to improvise. I give you: southern baptist preacher's son Obi-Wan is asked to be a good influence on local bad boy Anakin, who's fallen away from christ in pursuit of tattoos, piercings, alcohol, and *gasp* homosexuality.

all the skins of a life in this world

TA!Anakin who's in love with professor!Obi-Wan. In order to try to get over his feelings, he joins a BDSM discord server where he meets Mod Ben. Possibly trans!Anakin? Still thinking about that one.

if brokenness is a work of art

TW: child abuse, trauma

Master!Anakin agrees to take on padawan!Obi-Wan as his apprentice after Obi-Wan's master, Maul, is deemed unfit for duty in the aftermath of the Clone Wars. Obi-Wan has some strange habits, however. He only speaks when spoken to, doesn't keep any personal possessions, and has cast off all the friends he'd made when he was a youngling. At first, Anakin puts it down to the stresses of going into the Clone Wars too young and being reassigned to a new master, but as time goes on, Anakin starts to question what really happened to Obi-Wan when he was with Maul.

This is probably my favorite one here, but it's a newer idea, so I'm still working through the planning process to make sure that everything works out the way I want it to. More likely than not, it'll actually probably be platonic Obi-Wan & Anakin rather than shipping just because of the nature of everything.

currently unnamed fic

My newest idea, as is apparent by the lack of title, so I don't completely have a summary yet? But it's modern/magic au, definitely a darkfic, lots of whump for obikin especially but also everyone else they drag into their problems.

Those are my wips! I greatly anticipate the day that I can write about things that aren't ancient scandinavian poetry and the effectiveness of college entrance exams. If you've gotten this far, asks about wips or any of my other fics are always welcome <3

[rotten-rodentia]

Angry ranting

.

Yesterday I missed a dose of my meds, and I got triggered by seeing one of the ppl involved jn the divorce last year and went spiraling into trying to find info on all of those ppl which just upsets me more

And since I hadn't taken my meds, my brain wouldn't chill for even a second And then I was kept awake bc I was hungry as hell.

Fell asleep at 5 am, woke up at like 9:40. Less than 5 hrs

Filled out a bunch of medical info I need for my endocrinologist, and tried to order my insurance card for another damn hour on the phone with a robot

Got contacted by manager asking if I could clock in extra early for the 3rd time this week, usually I'm like hell yeah extra money but I'm glad I didn't go to work early

Work was so damn busy today that I didn't get to cleaning the lobby until it was almost time to close anyway. Both trashcans were overflowing and there was a huge stack of trays, I started taking out trash so it would STOP overflowing but then right on time to piss me off some customers come in and I HAVE TO HELP THEM CUZ THATS ALSO MY JOB but I had to finish the trash

But if I make them wait, then I suck at my job cuz were fast food and its totally my fault that I'm the only person in charge of cleaning the lobby, 3 bathrooms, serving indoor customers, serving call in and online orders, And serving Doordash which also pisses me off cuz we'll get several Doordasg orders and the drivers like to come in super early and just stand around, or sometimes leave if we take too long. BUDDY THW APP SAYSI HAVE 15 MINUTES TO MAKE THE ORDER, I'M NOT LATE UR FUCKING EARLY. But also sometimes I am late, BC INDOOR CUSTOMERS ARE PRIORITY.

Anyway why the fuck are jobs like this? Why am I doing the work of multiple people just bc my boss wants to keep the percentage of labor under 25%?

They always schedule 1 lobby cashier to serve customers inside/doordash/call in/online orders, and 2 drive through bc drive through is the busiest

Oh and guess who has to stock all the drive through sides too?the ones for easy grabbing in the fridge? FUCKING ME.

Sweeping the lobby and the kitchen, scrubbing off the front line and the display windows, OH AND IM A BACK UP DISHWASHER.

And then my dad can't pick me up and wants me to somehow uber both me and my sister, who is at a completely different location and got off work at a different time.

Oh and apparently that one coworker who goes "Deadname this needs done" when I'm in the middle of doing something she already asks, every single minute she does that, not only is that one of the reasons other coworkers don't like her (the nagging instead of waiting for us to be done with something or even just writing a list), but our coworkers have literally corrected her on my name and she still does it. She's not even a manager either and she just bosses everyone around cuz she was SUPPOSED to train us (which doesn't happen at this establishment btw)

Highlights of my day: I saw a planned parenthood worker which just immediately made me happy, and I told her how much I appreciate them and she said that made her day bc usually when someone notices the planned parenthood logo they think or say bad things about them. Also my uber driver had a van decked out in halloween decorations which was awesome, she's my favorite uber driver now. It felt like riding with family or a friend she was so sweet

[itsclydebitches]

re: the game.......it's supposed to be 100% canon (according to miles in part of the stream) and it's set during v7 which is why they intentionally had that timeskip montage to leave room for the events of the game. and miles made a pithy 'before you ask why they didn't talk about it in the show, there's only so much we can do lol we're trying our best' response to what is sure to be criticism the game will draw if something significant happens that we are left wonder why tf none of them ever mentioned anything (especially if they already have plans for the game when they were writing v7)

im already tired

I was admittedly dismissive of the game the other day, mostly because writing up a response to the teaser took a bit of time and when nothing in the game trailer grabbed me I was just like, "Eh, boring." Going back and giving it another go though I'm... mostly confused? First of all, why do we need to essentially skip things in the primary narrative to make room for the game's story? We've spoken ad nauseam about RWBY's tendency to put critical information in its supplementary texts and it's looking as if Arrowfell might be the next on an ever growing list. Why not just do an AU-ish RWBY with a self-contained story? Or rehash the webseries plot with gameplay elements? A lot of us thought Volumes 7-8 were missing crucial character work and if that ends up in the game rather than the show... well, as said, that's an ongoing problem. This approach of, 'We needed to save this for the game and then didn't have time to reference it in the show, sorry' remains incredibly strange to me. Your show is your foundational text! That should always take priority.

Second, am I the only one who finds it strange that we're getting this material immediately post-Ironwood's downfall? Not that RWBY can't ever return to villainous/dead characters, Roman is recent proof of that, though Roman also has a good five years between his exit and this new book. In contrast, we just watched Ironwood turn into someone willing to bomb his own city. He just died a pointless death as his entire Kingdom sunk. We just had the drama surrounding that paid message and the subtle implication that it's weird to care about him as a character, outside of hating him as a villain. Yet now, coming right on the heels of all that, we've got like... super peppy Ruby excitedly following Ironwood's orders?

The timing feels strange to me and even if I'd personally been happy with Ironwood's arc, I'd still be unsure of how to approach this. Again, if it was a self-contained story involving a whole bunch of RWBY characters, regardless of their status in the show — just like Chibi does — then good, great, I understand how we're approaching this. But canonical material of Volume 7, provided via the game as opposed to the show? Am I supposed to just turn off my brain and enjoy the side-scrolling hack-and-slash, putting the concept of canon aside? Read this with an element of tragedy as they do fun side-missions, ignorant of what's to come? Like yeah, it really doesn't need to be that #deep, but just from a storytelling perspective it's strange to get this after we've seen these relationships destroyed.

Finally, but very much going off of the above... why does the group start out fighting mechs? The gameplay and dialogue revolves around grimm attacks, but the opening is Team RWBY being super serious against Ironwood's army, their presumed allies at this point in time.

So what, is it another hack? Is the game going to explore them turning against Ironwood in a manner that retcons the end of Volume 7? Is this a meaningless opening just there for the drama? If so, why not just make all those goons grimm...

As said, the trailer mostly confuses me. I mean, the combat looks decent so far (from what little we can see), the characters are recognizable yet stylized, there's clearly some RPG elements in the form of a plot... I just don't know how to approach this as a piece of the larger RWBY puzzle. Making it "100% canon," rather than a stand-alone RWBY title feels like a mistake, one that keeps cropping up.

[rum-and-shattered-dreams]

A rant of personal experiences and trying to do something positive with them:

Okay so procrastination is a huge thing in ADHD. Same with memory issues. (Not that these are always present and maybe some people experience both without being ADHD).

So. Here’s an experience I’m just now (at almost 40) realizing was a thing:

Imagine a huge essay/report/project requiring a lot of research and several sources was due in a few weeks. The advice was always to break it down, take notes, and make an outline. It made perfect sense. And maybe it does help some or even most people.

But for some, like me, it was still impossibly overwhelming and breaking it down was worse. The project was often boring (especially if I had to ignore a hyperfixation to work on it) and even if it wasn’t, it still felt like A LOT when my brain was full of TV static and my memory was shit.

It takes a ton of repetition for me to even temporarily remember something and even then, it will likely be gone again in a few days. UNLESS I learn by actually doing something or figuring it out for myself. And my brain gaslights itself like “do I remember that right? No that can’t be right. Let me look it up for the 100th time to make sure.” And I’m WAY more likely to remember concepts or physical processes but completely forget the terms for them or names of things or important dates EVEN FOR MY HYPERFIXATIONS, damnit... Like, I can do a bunch of crafty stuff and even remember some common terms and items but not the less common fabrics or stitch types or tool names. (Yet somehow I could remember the exact location of hundreds of thousands of items of inventory at my craft store job... even if I didn’t know what they were called. But I stocked them and had physical contact with them so I could picture where they were.) The number one overwhelming thing for me about trying to be a pro at anything is trying to remember terms so it sounds like I know what I’m talking about.

Anyway...

Without acknowledging that, I ended up wasting time by trying to schedule research/work in small chunks because every time I stopped then tried to start again, I wouldn’t remember what I did or looked at last time. (Can I also add that this is why being interrupted is infuriating for me? It probably seems irrational to other people but it’s so hard to get focused on something and now my train of thought is derailed, passengers are dead and injured, and it’s going to take who knows how long to revive the survivors?) And maybe that wasn’t so bad the first time because I’d only have to reread one page of notes. But then it would happen a few more times and my focus would be blurred and I’d repeated myself multiple times in the notes and they’d become a mess and look horrible which was distracting and I’d feel overwhelmed by having to reread and now rewrite several pages and focus would be even worse because I did remember some bits and blanked out while looking at those then stay blanked out then I’d have to reread again to catch the parts I didn’t remember.

But.

If I waited until the last minute, when the consequence/reward system overrode how overwhelming or boring the project was, I could burn through it because I was in constant contact with the material and it was all currently on my mind and I could skip writing notes and an outline and go straight to a fairly decent flow-state draft then keep going through revisions and editing all without forgetting WTF I’d researched. And it would be done in so so so much less time with a lot less effort and frustration.

And...

AND

And then there’s the schedule thing and why it DOES NOT WORK for me. If I schedule doing something (or even if someone suddenly wants me to do something right now) and my brain is like, “nah sorry, just static right now,” there’s absolutely nothing I can do to make it work and I’m just going to get frustrated and tired and depressed and discouraged. But if I keep a loose list of things that need to get done and indicate which are priorities, I can look at it and say “yeah. This one seems doable right now.” No I’m not going to get up and vacuum that spot of cat litter at this exact moment but it’s a good idea to do it soon so I’ll add vacuum to the list and probably get it done later the same day. If the cat throws up, that is an immediate priority so I will get up and make sure they’re okay and clean it because my brain does actually recognize things like that as super important. If a bill arrives in the mail, I’ll stop and pay it right away because I know I don’t have to think/worry about it again if I do. But what sucks about that is that society wants and often understandably needs people to work on a schedule. And I just... can’t.

But I’m trying to take this knowledge and apply it, trying to accept that this is how I function. I function based on a system of priorities that get done in order of “absolutely must be done right this second, whether for my own reasons or outside reasons, even if I need to drop other things” to “this is what I CAN do right now.” Not something pre-scheduled. If I need to leave something to the last minute then I’m just going to accept that that’s how it’s going to be and that’s okay. Then I can free up energy and space to do other things in the meantime rather than worry and be anxious and beat myself up because I should be doing the thing and end up hating things I like doing because they’re not what I should be doing and now there’s a negative association with them. No. Screw that. If all I can do today is play a video game then fine. Gonna enjoy it. Because I now know for a fact, from years of experience, that I will do the important things. They just need to wait until I’m capable of doing them. And... if I let myself stop worrying about old WIPs... They get done eventually too. It might take a few years but as long as I don’t actually decide not to do them, they will get done.

All that said... I still want to look into meds because it would be nice to have more of an ability to focus more regularly. I just need to clear up some other medical stuff first and I’ve got appointments already set up for that.

One more thing... I f$&#ing hate the attitude teachers have about doodling in class. It was literally the only way I could focus during lectures and remember anything they were talking about. I could look at what I drew and remember what was being said while I drew it. F$&% every teacher who took away my notebooks or yelled at me for it. Without it, I’d zone out completely. And THANK YOU to the art history teacher and biology teachers I had who not only understood but encouraged it and actually helped me direct it toward the subject matter by suggesting drawing thumbnails of the art or cell structure or anatomy.

[sylversmith]

ShikaTema FanFiction Recommednations

Hey all. As many of you know, I’m an unapologetic ShikaTema fan. Although I’ve been writing fanfiction for several years, I’ve been reading it for much much MUCH longer and amassed a pretty long list of favorites across multiple platforms. At the request of a few friends, I finally took the time to put together a list of fic recommendations for my all time favorites.

The list is arranged in three categories- Canon, canon compliant (for the most part) through Naruto chapter 700 and the light novels (note: it will not be guaranteed to be compliant with Boruto content); Canon Divergent, pretty much all fics that feature them in the Naruto universe, but vary in terms of how they get together or major events in the manga; and Alternate Universe, everything else outside of the Naruto universe.  Ratings are assigned per the fanfiction.net guidelines and stories are organized in alphabetical order. Every entry will include the title with an embedded link to the original fic, the author, the story status (if not complete), the word count, the rating, and the author’s summary (occasionally edited by me for relevance and length).

A few notes:

Story titles that are bolded mean that they are one of my all time favorites and would highly HIGHLY recommend.

I only selected stories that feature ShikaTema as the main pairing. Some stories in this list do have other side pairings that I have not tagged. Note: If you are interested in other story favorites that feature ShikaTema as a side pairing, feel free to reach out to me and let me know. I am not currently planning on posting a follow up for fics like that, but if there is enough interest, I could change my mind

I tried my best to stick with completed fics or collections of independent oneshots. However, there are a few incomplete (aka abandoned) and in progress fics that I included, and marked accordingly.

At the end, I include a short list of my very favorite ShikaTema authors with links to their profile pages so you can check out some of their other stories (you’ll see that my list has a bunch of their work included).

MOST IMPORTANTLY: I specifically tried to populate this list with older fics that newer fans (or even some older fans) may not recognize, and catered to my own reading taste. As with any list, there are still plenty of incredible fics on ff.net and AO3 that are not listed here. I strongly encourage anyone who enjoyed these fics to show their love for the pairing by continuing to read, favorite/kudos, and review/comment fics that are posted.

Without further ado, let’s jump into it!

Canon

4,572 Days Later by therewithasmile (18,961) K+ : Post-canon shikatema drabble collection.

The 700th by glockcourage (11,368) K+ : No summary

Approximation by lollipop-mania (9,035) T : Some nights — usually nights, but occasionally during the day too — he catches her looking at him.

Attunement by Eclipse Shadows (17,084) T : Temari is halfway through her pregnancy when she runs into a little problem. The type of problem that involves explosions and destruction by her own hand, and it's not even on purpose! 

Family Life by Aspire2B (141,527) T : A collection of oneshots centered on Shikamaru and Temari's lives post chapter 699.

Father’s Brains and Mother’s Attitude by Kimiz (1,435) K+ : Shikadai might have his father's looks and brains, but he's got a little more Temari in him than she would have thought.

Lazy Love by existence555 (9,755) T : Love doesn't get more dysfunctional than this. Then again, it doesn't get more passionate either. Drabbles, all 100 words and under.

The Nara Family by SpicedGold (80,848) Ratings Vary : A series of loosely related stories about the Nara family. All canon compliant, and all can be read independently of one another. (Author tries) to update this series at least once a month.

The Penny Drops by KuriQuinn (1,697) T : After the misunderstanding at the inn and hot spring, Shikamaru comes to a rather belated realisation about a certain Suna kunoichi.

Wrong Things, Right Things by Jayne Foyer (15,667) T : When assassins are sent to dispose of the Kazekage's heir, Shikadai Nara, his parents devise a plan to keep him safe. Said plan may or may not involve a permanent move to Suna. Shikadai doesn't like the plan, but if it's the only thing that'll keep him safe, he doesn't get a choice.

Canon Divergent

39 Days by Mussimm (52,702) (Incomplete) T : A challenge, a deadline and a mission. Fire and Wind are intertwined, the fate of their people will be decided in 39 Days.

59 Moves by Oh Dee (4,120) T : It only took fifty nine moves for checkmate.

A Prickly Pair by Endoh (10,252) T : Shikamaru tries his damnedest to ensure Temari’s first birthday they spend together is perfect…but life has a way of turning the best intentions upside-down.

Addiction by Ash2Ash (Incomplete) (200,535) M : "I can stop anytime I want to." Not a fluffy story because neither Shikamaru nor Temari appear to be purposely fluffy people. Watch them grapple with reality and either sink or swim.

An Interesting Engagement by Picture (17,185) T : A series of unrelated one-shots, each resulting in the engagement of Shikamaru and Temari

Arranged by PSITeleport (Incomplete) (96,545) T : Shikamaru has a mission to Suna, which must be completed before Tsunade's death. But there's more in store for him than a six-day round-trip and a paycheck.

The Bend and Snap by SunaPrincess7 (12,132) T : Temari decides to teach Hinata how to woo Naruto- unfortunately for Shikamaru, using him as her model.

Candlelight by DrErrRedclaw (6,305) M : How much do you do for someone when you're not even in love?

Catch 22 by Lotos-Eater (32,342) T : Temari has a problem: she wants to marry this guy, but he happens to belong to another hidden village. Shikamaru has a problem: he wants his girlfriend in his bed, but she keeps insisting that she lives somewhere else. How to fix this?

Changing Her Mind by Violetnightshade (22,768) M :  Shikamaru's relationship with Temari crossed beyond the boundaries between ninja years ago; such a bond is a major liability, and must be handled appropriately. Ironically, it's Temari who makes the logical choice.

Collide by SunaPrincess7 (3,879) T : The thing about war is that it makes you think.

Curious by spiritedarray (9,367) M : You didn't make love in the ANBU, you made war. ANBU AU

Dear Kishimoto, You Can Bite Me by PSITeleport (8,175) T : Shikamaru and Temari are trapped in a hopeless scenario. It doesn't matter how smart Shikamaru is, or how strong Temari is, there's one man that has all the power. And, this time, it may very well be game over.

Endgame by spiritedarray (8,539) M : "Then why don't we play a game?" he offers, knowing she'd be hard-pressed to refuse such an enticing invitation. "Seduce me, I dare you. Give it your best shot. Make me sorry I ever broke up with you."

Embracing the Inevitable by PSI Teleport (14,073) T : A moment of impulse leaves Temari with a lifetime of responsibility and a confession to make. A story about women, accepting the paths of life that cannot be avoided.

Flat Irons, Makeup, and Mayhem by Twi-Smile (16,576) M : A girls night at Ino's house in which, Sakura, TenTen and Hinata led by Ino try to get the truth out of Temari about her relationship with Shikamaru.

Heartbeat by Mussimm (34,510) M : She wasn't fooling me. I had seen her turn a square kilometre of forest into firewood. There was nothing modest or sweet about Temari, she was pure destruction disguised by a curvaceous figure and an eloquent tongue.

The Hero She Deserves by BlackMajjicDuchess (14,616) M : Several years into the Great Ninja War, death is almost a certainty. In her desperation to feel alive, Temari has given over to random carnal encounters in the anonymity of darkness, but Shikamaru is the only man she ever wanted. Staying alive is priority number one, but all bets are off when the war is over... if it ever ends.

In Memoriam T by SunaPrincess7 (7,369 - Angst) T : "I hold it true, whate'er befall; I feel it when I sorrow most; 'tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all." A rebuttal.

Inside the Black Ant by Troublesome Shikamaru Fan (11,064) T :  Temari knows how to conceal her emotions, but everyone has a limit...and Kankuro thinks it's time she exceeds hers. Poor, poor Shikamaru...

Intertwining Fate by glockcourage (176,173) T : The Kazekage wanted his first born to be male, forcing the medic to make a switch. Years later, the secret of the past still linked the Kazekage's lazy son and the Nara's blonde daughter.

It’s All in Your Head by heimai (17,923) M : Nara Shikamaru is 100% prepared to someday find his girl that isn't too ugly and not too pretty, and does his best to keep his distance from Temari during her stay in the Hidden Leaf because he Does Not care and he Does Not like her. Unfortunately for Shikamaru, he can't control his dreams, and they seem to be telling him the exact opposite.

Me and My Shadow by DrErrRedclaw (2,414 - Angst) M : Temari, Black Queen of the Sands, and an anniversary she'd rather forget.

Mistake by lollipop-mania (3,329 - Angst) M : If a mistake is only supposed to happen once, why do they keep making it?

On Beating the Learning Curve by Thinkette (2,562) M : "I'll be damned if some other woman came along and gathered the fruits of my labor." Exploring Shikamaru Nara's romantic life through the eyes of his troublesome woman. "It made me realize that he was no longer that clumsy boy fumbling with my underwear."

Playing Cupid by A.Pevensie (7,180) T : They say God helps those who help themselves, but for the clueless or lazy, Yamanaka Ino is happy to provide her services as a matchmaker. Shikamaru and Temari are her first project - they just don't know it yet.

Prisoner by lollipop-mania (6,681 - Angst) M : She was never meant to be his prisoner, it wasn't his job and it sure as hell wasn't his interest. But, there she was after almost ten years, cuffed.

Recent Photo by PSITeleport (5,566) T : What starts out as a normal, administrative operation turns into a rather stimulating game. But who will the real winner be?

The Rules by lafolleconnasse (21,871) M : This wasn’t how their game was played. The game that the two of them had been playing for who knows how many years, the game that the two of them liked to pretend didn’t exist, but they both knew had clear and well-established rules.

Serenade by kimi no vanilla (2,747 - Angst) M : There is an old saying in the Nara family: Don't walk with the shadows for too long, or you'll become one.

Shadowplay and Hurricanes by CosmicStorm14 (Incomplete) (58,123) M : Follows Shikamaru’s and Temari’s volatile on/off relationship, which also includes encounters with other characters in later chapters. Some fluff, mostly smut. Alternating POV.

They Are Good At Many Things by lollipop-mania (46,340) M : So, dating wasn't exactly their thing, but that didn't mean they weren't good, well, GREAT at other things. A series of one-shots describing moments in Shikamaru and Temari's relationship.

Three Days by Lotos-Eater (14,185) M : The Nara doth protest too much, methinks.

Three Simple Words by Starving Lunatic (9,002) T : Three words change the course of Shikamaru and Temari's relationship.

Troublesome Crybabies by ichilover3 (13,177) T : He was beyond lazy. She was beyond troublesome. It was beyond love. A series of oneshots.

Tsuris by NessieGG (2,768) M : They played each other every time, both physically and mentally.

Zombie Plague by wingedmercury (36,820) T : "Temari, there's no such thing as the Zombie Plague," Kankuro mutters. "You're wrong," she rasps. "I'm definitely a plague victim." Her hands tremble as she dry heaves; she would rather die of the Zombie Plague than be pregnant.

Alternate Universe

A Nameless Fic Because Shikamaru Said So by Oh Dee (72,858) M : Shikamaru thinks high school is troublesome enough without a foreign exchange student. Temari thinks hell is bad enough without a pineapple haired lazy ass. Funny how things work out

A Stupid Excuse for a Fairy Tale by TaintedMoonlight (41,954) T : Princes aren’t real, but demons are; kingdoms fall, but others are discovered. The heroine shines and everyone else dulls. Modern day fairy tales are hard to come across and this one isn’t one at all.

The Anecdotes by SunaPrincess7 (38,669) T : "Life is something to do when you can't get to sleep." The moments in Shikamaru's life when he is not asleep. Drabbles

Blue Notebook by LalaMoped (8,330) T : She didn't know who he was, but read his notebook anyway. Is it possible to fall in love with someone based solely on how they write?

C Plus by viiisenya (68,148) T : Temari met his eyes as soon as she bit down onto her fork. Greatness echoed Asuma’s voice, sending a chill down his spine. She grinned at him, something candid and believing, leaning forward slightly. “And, just so you know,” her voice was hushed as if she was telling him a secret, “a C+ GPA doesn’t condemn you to a C+ life.”

Candyman by Coelha-chan (2,559) T : There's nothing more dangerous than a boy with charm. Sakura, Ino, Shiho, and Tayuya discuss the merits of Shikamaru.

Chains by Valerie Sabrina Verzoe (91,437) M : The Suna Princess left her homeland when the Konoha army invaded. She fell into the hands of the Konoha army and ended up a courtesan in a magnificent manor, where she met the lazy genius of Konoha. Where will the chains of fate lead her? And what sinister plans lurk in the grandeur of the city? Will Suna rise again?

Coffee Shop Soundtrack by viiisenya (Incomplete) (55,795) T : In his four years of coffee making, he had never made a mistake. So, when that Bothersome Blonde he’d never seen before came trudging to the counter complaining about her order being made wrong, Shikamaru couldn’t help getting irrationally defensive and argue with her. It also didn’t help that she happened to be the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen in his entire life.

The Desert and the Deer by nahra (28,187) M : Shikamaru has no idea how long he’s been a death god. All the lives he’s taken have become a blur, the faces a haze. Until he’s sent to kill the wind witch Temari. She recognizes him for what he is and immediately invokes the Laws of Old, forcing him into a dangerous gamble that changes everything.

How the Prince Met the Girl, How He Lost Her by Oh Dee (52,348) T : Prince Shikamaru has no intention of getting married or taking over the throne, but when certain circumstances give him no choice, he decides to make a plan that will have his future wife running for the hills.

The Levels on Which We Lie by pearlsong (Incomplete) (65,667) M : College is a drag, but it doesn't have to be. (Alternatively, two dumb geniuses playing relationship chicken)

Slave by SunaPrincess7 (Incomplete) (71,542) M : Suna has lost the war. Badly. Temari is captured and taken to Konoha as a slave. There she ends up working for a rich family, the Nara's.

What It Takes to Make Her Smile by TaintedMoonlight (23,449) T :  Not every fairy lives a happy life. Not every curse is made to last. Not every girl is doomed to laugh. They say she cannot smile for if she does, then she must grant any wish her jester chooses to bequeath and her life will fade with every wish.

Notable Authors

DrErrRedclaw (ff.net)

Lollipop-mania (ff.net) or Lollipopmania (AO3)

Lotos-Eater (ff.net)

Mussimm (ff.net)

PSITeleport (ff.net)

SpicedGold (AO3)

Spiritedarray (ff.net)

SunaPrincess7 (ff.net)

[thelightofthingshopedfor]

I took today off, for a few different reasons, and the list of things I’d somehow like to get done today after being out of the house most of the weekend is like...

do research and then vote on whether my union should go for a furlough or a full layoff for the government shutdown that might happen on Thursday well I did part of this but I guess the rest is unnecessary because the legislature passed a shutdown-averting budget at the last second?

finish writing a short fic, please, just something really short, it can’t be that hard

write notes on what I need to be doing with my WIP Big Bang fic, I guess, which should really be my writing priority in general at the moment but dammit I want to finish a short fic, why is this so hard

type a bunch from my notebooks, because I now have three full notebooks that are partially untyped and not only does that make it hard to finish anything, it also makes me paranoid about losing them

write and set up an “adventures of tiny Loki & Thor” scene for Pride

play an hour of Elder Scrolls Online for Microsoft Rewards points (on the plus side, I don’t actually need to do anything, so this can probably happen while I do something else)

do a separation-anxiety training session with Hazy

at least show up briefly for a coworker’s going-away Zoom meeting

work on current Etsy order, ideally while watching something on Amazon Prime because the free trial ends today

clean the toilet

go through my drafts and post thoughts from Loki episode 3

find and mail some late birthday gifts for a friend

dig through recent emails about wishlisted games that are now on sale

also reply to at least one email

also, find reference photos so I can commission @doriansbutt

play enough Fallout 76 to get a decent chunk of points in the scoreboard because it turns out there’s only 10 days left in this season, which is nine entire weeks shorter than the previous season because Todd Howard wants to make our lives harder I guess, and sure most of the rewards this season have been boring but there are still things I want to earn

maybe something politics-related idk

chances I would be able to get all this done if I were a normal person who could prioritize and then focus on shit, instead of constantly falling prey to a crippling combination of decision paralysis, executive dysfunction, and intense aversion to almost any task that takes time and effort? honestly I have no fucking clue, I have zero sense of what’s actually reasonable or realistic because all I ever know (by which I mean, my brain unshakably knows it, not that it’s actually true/accurate) is that I personally am not ever doing enough.

chances I’ll be able to get a decent amount of this done, given that I’m finishing breakfast at noon, my head hurts because I didn’t sleep great partly because a neighbor’s fucking car alarm went off at like 1:30 a.m. but mostly because my body just hates me, I haven’t showered yet, and I am unfortunately the person that I am with the crippling combination of decision paralysis, executive dysfunction, and intense aversion to almost any task that takes time and effort? uhhhhh, well...haha...yeah...

[naivesilver]

Is there any of the shitty Pinocchio adaptations that you think are bad but you still enjoy in how stupid and/or weird they are?

WELL. Well. Yes and no?

For one, almost all of the adaptations I despise have at least a tiny little something that I would save - that makes me mourn the fact we didn't get a better story built around it, even. Emperor of the Night, arguably the worst Pinocchio movie of all time, had this very peculiar theme of Pinocchio as a tool in the fight between good and evil that I would have KILLED for in any other instance; the Disney movie, for all its flaws, at least made the franchise known and gave us a very endearing Pinocchio/Lampwick combo; even the shittiest, cheapest cartoons were extremely entertaining for their intended audience.

Aside from that, though, I have a hard time enjoying the adaptations I complain about the most as a whole, because their mistakes are too glaringly obvious for me to ignore. (That's an issue on my part, bear in mind, not in theirs.) However, there are other, weirdly niche things I've seen that I know would be terrible if I were to put aside my personal taste. Blame childhood nostalgia, drunk rewatches, you name it. Life is already so goddamn weird, there's no point in pretending I only like good stuff and have never cried laughing in front of awful media.

Among them are, in no particular order:

Fairy Tale Police Department

Think Once Upon A Time, but it's an early 2000s low budget cartoon that most people have (rightfully) forgotten. The core cast is a team of detectives tasked with making sure fairy tales get their happy endings - they save Pinocchio from being turned into firewood on the very first episode, and after that he becomes their sort of...little helper? Funny sidekick? No one really knows.

Guys, he's so fucking annoying. He's literally the stupidest character on screen, second only to the male deuteragonist whose main personality trait is to flirt with anything that breathes. He doesn't do anything of use - they don't even take him on investigations except by accident (literally, I still remember that one episode where he was being so bothersome they sent him to clean the patrol car and then took the fucking car because they'd forgotten he was there. Child labor laws WHEN). I physically cringe every time he steps on the scene...

...but I grew up with that cartoon, so tragically, I got attached. 5yo had two crushes on that show - one was the vaguely butch female detective who took names and kicked ass, and the other was Pinocchio, because even then I had my priorities straightened out. I'll go to my grave knowing that among an endless flood of amazing characters (the Three Little Piglets were part of a MOB, for God's sake), I looked at a fastidious child and went "I want that one". Sigh.

Pinocchio (2002)

THE BANE OF MY EXISTENCE...This movie has ruined my every chance to be perceived as a proper film enthusiast forever again - I love it and I hate in equal measures, and I will NEVER recover from its influence.

Can you believe that this was the most expensive Italian movie ever made???? I can't wrap my head around it. Roberto Benigni went and asked for an outrageous budget, and those people GAVE IT TO HIM, knowing that in this movie no one playing a child would be under the age of 30, that Nicoletta Braschi would have the role of her balding husband's mother, and that all the additional Lampwick-and-Pinocchio screentime would be used to add weird homosexual vibes to the entire plot. Tangerine lollipops have been ruined forever, from my perspective.

Unfortunately, it's book accurate to a fault, down to the actors' accents, and it's clear it was a passion project, so I can't write it down in my personal Pinocchio Death Note. I wish I could, sometimes, though. Benigni in flowery ledehosen is a picture that's seared forever into my brain.

Huey, Dewey and Louie in "The Adventures of Pinocchio"

Allow me to be Italian on main for five minutes more. This one was published in multiple parts on Topolino comic books during the 90s, as part of the endless list of Disney parodies of famous movies/shows/books, and to call it weird would be an euphemism.

Basically, it's the book Pinocchio, but with a futuristic twist: Huey, Dewey and Louie play the titular character, except they're...robots? That want to become human?? And again, it follows Collodi's story, but the Disney characters play their book counterparts for some reason, and Gladstone plays Lampwick??? And the Cricket is a sentient traffic light with arms and legs????

Honestly, I wish I was exaggerating. But then again, it's almost impossible not to appreciate an adaptation that goes apeshit to this level. It's so ballsy it does a 360° and becomes great. What the fuck.

[dragqueenpentheus]

Okay no one has to read this but i DO have to write it:

PYROC VS FATHER PAUL

Ya bitch needs an art break bc im getting angry about voices existing as i try to keep myself entertained. Today is NOT a god one for sinking into repetitive line work and that’s just about all i have on the table atm

SO! Im gunna do a little thinking about my little meow meows all fucked up by religion. Just a comparison for my sanity and interests. Pyroc is my baby i wrote him for the first time years ago. Five?????????? Whadda hell. Going on six.

ANYWAY john joined religion because of his trauma. His sister died and he felt lost. He was unmoored in this fishing village and looking for reason looking for hope. Hed had his heart broken and trying to make sense of tragedy on his own was totally beyond him. Thats why his interactions with riley in AA are SO good like. He knows that confusion and he knows the rhetoric that’s supposed to combat it. Only it dooesnt work for riley.

The same sort of thing happens for pyrc, only inverted. Loss urns him away from god and religion because its SO strong in his family and not only is he loosing trust in god, but his kin as well. He’s suspicious there’s mre they arent telling him, at the point of his fathers death. And he agrees to, on the surface, absolutely wholly throw himself in to being the second the family and the village need. But he’s keeping his treachery under wraps.

That’s one of the coolest things about father paul imo is like. That slow unraveling of what is. Frankly. An awful half assed plan, driven by fear and loneliness and desperation and dementia and love. Even VERY obvious things like. Taking down the newspaper photo of his young self ‘slip’ by him. I think, on some level, its DEEPLY intentional. He wants people to CHOOSE this. He wants people like bev. He wants people who see him and are in aw of him beating god. Of killing death. He wants to be worshiped and adored and for people to come to him willingly, no tragedy driving them to his arms.

Pyroc also wnats to be worshipped, but he ALSO wants to do the worshipping. He really longs for an element of almost????? But not quite??? Subjection?? He wants to be shown something and for a Great Voice to tell him, unquestioningly and unerringly that it is GOOD. Full stop. And then he wants to spend his life worshipping it. But this booko is an exploration of how….. no such thing exists. And more importantly no great voice exists either. There is nothing wholly good, nothing wholy evil. His lack of faith in himself once he becomes god is him starting to understand that as well. Thats on purpose baked into the lore. The starting point was ‘what if god was a position and in order to get promoted you had to be a murderer. No matter what’. He understands things are not wholly good, at that point. I onder how long it will be for him to realize they are not fully evil as well?

Bc pruitt does hm hm hm an interesting move. Where he takes something the narritve is very sure to communicate is EVIL no wiggle room just fact. Even if its driven by animal instinct its. Evil. And he makes it, not just good, but HOLY. And god i LOVEEEE that for him i ADOREEE that what a MOVE. Driven by desperation and dementia and relief and ‘if god saved me than maybe i can be good despite loving and sinning and maybe if i defeat god then i will be Thee Good’. SO sexy of him. Im really fascinated by his morality. He seems to have an understanding of the shades of grey in some respects??? But if he had a BETTER one with more forgiveness in his heart i feel like hed have left the church anyway after sarah was born??? Even if millie didnt ask him??? That might just be my own sensibilities creeping in but ….. like he culd have seen her on the weekends. He can do other jobs. Hes straight (??? Not totally convinced of this) he could have just dated her that makes me crazy. LIKE OBV HE HAD LINES HE THOUGHT THAT WOULD CROSS AND HE HAD INTERNALIZED THE CHURCH AND THE RULES AND SHE WAS MARRIED AND ECT ECT i know he couldnt have really but. Thye were straight. They coulda.

Im not gunna do fantasy homophobia bc i think its …………….. Boring. But i think some element of??? The vindlegaurd line MUST be passed along and for that particular rules must be applied. But thats also boring as hell :/ maybe i can work in my parthenogenesis lore?????????? I bet pyroc would love building that spell in any universe. That’s the sequal when he goes to magic university in helsin. But yeah i do like the concept that. Anyone can have a baby thru magic its just a time and energy commitment. Just a matter of wanting it enough together. Every baby is so deeply wanted and its mere existence is proof. Thats dope i love that. HMMM to be decided at a later date when im deeper into the story i think. I still havent figured out fully how and where and why orion is going to be invovled and if???? Pyroc and orion are even going to be romantic??????? Im torn im TORn…….

Thikns about john bonding w sarah over science and learning and starts wEEPING…. Like theres some surity beloved. Its just a matter of uncovering. I think sarah felt that same thirst for answers and hunted them differently. Her faith is in logic and science. I loveeee her god. Every scene w her and her dad absolutely RUIN me like!!!!!! SHE DOESNT KNOW!!! SHE DOESNT KNOW HOW LOVED SHE IS!!!!!! I hope at hte very end she saw the blood as the gesture of love it SO clearly was and not him trying to poison her. God i love that she spat it out. GOD. Thats about being gay, btw. Spits the religious offering that could save you across the gasoline soaked church floor like BABE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I think we as a collective should talk about the possibiites around sarah/erin more. Bc their defiance combined would be. Earth SHATTERING for crockett.

In the future pyroc gets a kid. Ever since that campaign where Enemy ended up playing his daughter im like. How did i NOT know this idiot wanted nothing more in the entire world than to travel it with his daughter. I dont care how or why hes getting a kid. Hed be so doting and awful abut it. He would need orion as a co-parent for the kids self esteem to be normal levels. thINKS ABOUT PAUL GETTING TO RAISE SARAH AND JUST ABSOLUTELY GASSING HER UPPPPPPPP HANGING EVERY DOODLE SHE EVER MADE ON TEH FRIDGE. BOASTING ABOUT HER SCEINECE PROJECT OT ANYONE WITHIN EYESIGHT EVEN THOUGH ‘WE K N O W JOHNWE WERE ALL AT THE SCEINCE FAIR’!!!!!!!!!!! Let these fuck ups be doting fathers im fucking begging. That scene where paul is like. You take ccare of everyone on the island sarah. Its more than being a doctor. You comfort them.

HM HM comfort is such a thing for Miss Bitch like!! He sees it as a Good Thing. He tries to bring it for riley by asking to hold the AA meetings on island ((also manipulation. Obvously also manipulation. I wouldnt have bene shocked if he was slipping the vampire blood into the coffee every meeting either. But thats just a theory. A game theory.)) ANYWAY he sees comfort as hly. The church gave it to him when he needed it. The angel gave it to him in the cave. Feeling safe and warm is HIGH on his list of priorities and what makes him hand over respect.

I think pyroc has lived a very comfortable life in SO many ways, but in none he. Activly recognizes. A key part of his character arc his him…. Opening his eyes to the world around them. Seeing the privilege he has and being like. Wait. This isnt Right. We have to change thi. And when no one agrees ti shifts to I have to change this. With Violence. A little revolutionary <3 it only costs the life of his whole ass family

Thats more fun comparison ground like…… paul is SO much about I know whats right and there is a cost but i AM ignoring it. Like HE KNOOOOWSSSS he knooooows he just doesnt want o See. I’m not sure if im going to surprise yroc with the ……megadeath of. His whole family. Or if it’s a choice he has to activly make. I think a choice makes it more compelling, more layerd. It has to be in the moment though, becaus ei think thats. A key difference between them. Pyroc wouldnt do it.. hed just leave hed peace out and do what he could in small ways. But he wouldnt do his big stand off with god. Hed shrink his goals in order to not hurt his family. Out of love?? Intimidation?? Some instinct wihtin him that balks at the idea of disobedience??? I think even he doesnt know. But i LOVE john becaue he jsut decides to lie. He closes his eyes and says i am being stupid on purpose. I think thats PERHAPS more compelling than good guy coward pyroc BUT!!!!! Thats who he is rip to ths little man. Cant change him now hes a whole ass child in my head. The PLOT i can change. Him….. not without massive character development <3

UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MM set my brain on FIRE!!!! Im so glad nano is coming up. I love sharpening pyroc against the comparison of other AMAZING characters. Father paul hill my beloved millstone <3 anyway sorry to anyone who reads this its literally me unhinging my jaw and emptying my brain out. I had to write stuff that wasn’t novel or fic. A little character time down and dirty. I wil NOT be editing this love and light to future me trying to decode this

[pixelpoppers]

It's been four months since I posted about not really playing games anymore and I thought it was time for an update.

(First, a quick refresher on the old post: I theorized that a big part of my enjoyment of video games came from them enabling me to focus my attention in a way that I normally find difficult, so once I started taking focus-enhancing nootropics this advantage went away and video games became much less appealing compared to other activities. Instead I started spending my free time doing personal data cleanup and related tasks.)

So, what have I been doing since then? A few things. I have been continuing with minor tasks on my personal projects when I can come up with good ones. They're mostly not the sort of data curation or "gardening" tasks I talked about last time because I've run out of those (though the good thing about the debacle with Sony announcing they'd close the PS3/Vita/PSP stores (before backpedaling) is that getting my Vita and PS3 libraries in order was a great few-days-long gardening task). Instead, I've mostly been making small improvements to my various web projects. For example, yesterday I added entries for "fun pain" and "perfectible" to the game design glossary on the main Pixel Poppers site, which had been low priority on my to-do list for quite a while. Maybe next I'll update the site's mobile layout to put the navigation stuff in a hamburger menu instead of at the bottom.

This stuff requires more thought than the gardening tasks, so it's less relaxing, and I'm having to figure out new ways to relax. Video games have slotted back into my life as one of several ways to relax but I still approach them very differently from before. I no longer look for "go places and do things" games or seek to feel like I am occupying a world. I want the experience to feel contained and not take up space in my brain when I'm not playing it. I want it to be something I can easily pick up for a bit and have it not matter whether I ever come back to it. I've found that what works best is low-context arcade-style experiences (racers, puzzlers, twin-stick shooters, rhythm games, etc.) or story games that can be completed in a single sitting (short visual novels or walking simulators like What Remains of Edith Finch or Wide Ocean Big Jacket). Games that are based on larger-scale progression, exploration, or worldbuilding (RPGs, 3D platformers, probably open world games - which used to be some of my favorites) don't do much for me anymore and I've bounced off a few of them in the past couple months.

So it's still the case that games are occupying less of my mental real estate than before and I have less to say about them. I might still decide to post more stuff here - I have an idea file with about fifty seeds for potential posts, though I don't know how many of them are actually worth developing (does anyone care about the weird variety of ways Senran Kagura has handled DLC over the years, for example).

But the truth is... I haven't gotten what I've wanted out of Pixel Poppers for years. This could be a much longer essay, and it's one I've tried to write a few times, but in short: Back in Pixel Poppers's "golden age" when I first started posting regularly in 2009-2010, I got a lot of comments and discussion on my posts and I felt like I was actually part of a great community. I mostly stopped posting in order to focus on my job and by the time I came back in 2018, the internet was a very different place. I got a couple of comments here and there (more on Tumblr than anywhere else) but I mostly felt like I was talking into a void, which was terrible for my motivation to work hard on quality articles. My impression is that the game analysis community has almost all moved to YouTube and if I want to be part of it again I have to switch to making videos and chasing YouTube's mysterious and fickle algorithm and I just don't. want. that.

Please understand: This is not a dig on my audience or intended to make anyone feel guilty. You don't owe me comments or anything else. If you're reading this at all, I am grateful and I love you! This is just about me facing the reality of what I'm looking for and what I'd need to do to get it in the current landscape. And admitting that the advantage that I thought Pixel Poppers had over other projects - an established audience - is actually much smaller than I was considering it to be.

So I'm also thinking about switching gears to a different writing project, one focused more on things that are at the front of my mind these days. Possibly just a general thoughts blog (which, admittedly, would sometimes be about video games). Possibly a blog about what I do for a living. Possibly making more small games (I'm pretty happy with how Detectivania turned out, after all). Or possibly reviewing all 800+ episodes and films in the Star Trek franchise. Maybe more than one of these things, bouncing around with an irregular schedule, and even slotting in occasional Pixel Poppers posts along the way. And I have to decide how connected I want these things to be - part of me wants people who enjoy some of my projects to easily be able to find the rest, but I also like that right now I can have my identity cleanly compartmentalized and only attach my real name to some things (and thus it's harder for someone who dislikes my take on Dark Souls to doxx me and dig up my bad/outdated takes on other more widely-impactful things to fuel a harassment campaign or whatever).

That's where things stand today. I'm not dead. I'm still gaming a little. I may make small posts here every once in a while but I don't expect to invest a lot of time or effort into it in the near- to mid-term future. And I may or may not announce other projects publicly here. If you have feelings or questions about any of this, feel free to shoot me a DM or an email or whatever.

Thanks for reading.

[shinsorokiri]

UA Idol | Chapter Fifteen

Hitoshi Shinsou x reader

Word Count: 1,802

Warnings: Language, alcohol, drinking, drunk flirting

A/N: This is just a cute fun one. Alcohol man. She does shit to you. I hope you enjoy this one, this is a little bit of how Shinsou truly feels 🥺 I’m excited to write about the third challenge too, I think it’ll be fun. I also can’t wait to write for all the other characters too, this is gonna be fun as hell. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter!! :)

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The first two days of Hell Week were officially over. It’s crazy to think that that was an actual thing. You’ve done two whole performances, and it was only over the span of two days. Literally wild. Luckily though, you’ve made it through the first to rounds. Now there was only the third, which you would get three whole days to prepare for. And thank GOD you did because the next one was intense.

After all the remaining contestants had gone and quite a few of them got wiped out, there were only forty in total left. This of course included you, Shinsou, Mina, and Denki as well as your new friends Kirishima and Bakugou. Of course, a lot of the people who stood out to you in the first round also got through, which you were happy about because they really deserved it. But with that, this next round was about to present half of the forty as the top twenty and the other half were about to head home.

“Alright, everybody. Congratulations on making it through to the third round! That’s not an easy thing to do, and you’ve all adjusted wonderfully to the group singing challenge to a duet challenge. Moving on from that though, is the solo rounds. You all are able to perform a song of your choice, but this round, as well as the last, it’s required to sing songs by artists that have already been out. However, there’s no list to choose from this time, so you can choose whatever song you would want to sing. You get two days to rehearse and let the band as well as the lighting and sound designers what you would like and work it all out with them! On the third day there will be sound check and then the performances in front of a crowd of people. This is the biggest test for everyone, you’re going to be able to show us how you interact with the audience, which is important for the live shows. For now, though, go get some rest and decide which song you want to perform. You all deserve it!” Toshinori told everyone, and you’d be lying if you said you weren’t excited to just sit. Literally, that’s it, you just want to sit.

Mina and Denki had other plans.

So here you were, at a club in LA, sitting on this random ass couch that’s conveniently placed away from everyone in there. Essentially everyone from the show is in there, but everyone is too busy getting drunk and dancing and singing with their newly made friends. That is, of course, except for you and Shinsou. Who’s actually been right next to you this whole time. The two of you were slowly sipping on some complimentary drinks from Mina and Shinsou that they told you they’d keep ordering until the two of you were sloshed. Which wouldn’t happen. There’s too much that the two of you need to decide to actually get drunk.

“So, have you thought about what song you’re gonna sing?” he asks, taking a sip of the alcohol in his hand. “No… I wish I could just bust out an original, I could do that easy,” you say, sighing. “Yeah, same here. I mean I have some options, but I wish I could just sing something that I want to share. Like with my own words.” “Yeah, same. Especially since, like, you know, almost every single song out there is about love??? Like, no thank you, dude. I’m tired of that shit.”

“And this is why I love to hang out with you,” he says, a small smirk on his lips. You give him a grin and raise your glass in a bit of a toast before taking a drink. He chuckles, his eyes never leaving you. While the two of you aren’t necessarily drunk, the two of you are tipsy. I mean, think about it. Mina and Denki have bought countless shots. And there’s always four. So now, you two are just kind of trying to relax while they talk up the two girls, they’ve been staring at for the past two days. You’re feeling it a bit more than he is, and he knows that so he’s keeping an eye on you to make sure you’re okay. That’s the sole reason he is staring at you. Only reason.

Okay.

So maybe that’s not the only reason.

Can you blame him though? You really are the prettiest person he’s ever seen in his entire life. Sure, it scares him, but he really just can’t help it. I mean, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with him liking you, obviously. But the more time he spends with you, the more and more he just wants to hold you. And kiss you. And you know just be in a relationship with you. And maybe this is the alcohol getting to him, but damn. He really really likes you. And not just the way you look. The way you think. The way you act. Your voice. Your talent. Your humility. Everything about you is just so appealing and attractive. Weird how alcohol makes all of his thoughts that he tries to suppress flood his brain. “Take a picture, it’ll last longer,” he hears your voice, which pulls him out of his silent stare. The smirk on your lips makes him smile. “Yeah, but a picture doesn’t compare to the beauty of the real thing,” he responds, reveling in the fact that he just made you flustered. He can tell by the change of pitch in your voice when you tell him to fuck off. Not mention she almost dropped her drink.

He’s so relieved he probably won’t remember this in the morning. Oh shit, wait he’s drunk. This was what he was trying to avoid? What the fuck. That’s when he realizes that if he’s drunk, you are too. You drank the same amount as him and he’s a heavy weight, so if he’s drunk you are too. And he definitely notices as soon as you stand up to go get another drink since you nearly fall over. Luckily, he steadies you. Sure, he also feels not very steady on his feet, but making sure you were okay was the top priority right now. And he would be lying if he said he didn’t enjoy the fact that he was holding you by your waist again. Just like when you two fell asleep together earlier. “Maybe that’s enough drinks for you,” he says, and you giggle. “Probably a good idea,” you respond, and he takes your empty glass before chugging the rest of his down. He takes the glasses and hands them to one of the workers before leading you over to Mina and Denki. “Hey, we’re going to head out. I think (Y/n) needs to take it easy for a bit,” Shinsou says, trying to pretend that he wasn’t on cloud nine with you leaning into him and happily humming to yourself. “Aw, but we’re just starting to have fun! This is Momo! Isn’t she pretty?” Mina says, motioning to one of the girls from earlier with black hair. “Not as pretty as Jirou. Come on you guys should totally stay,” Denki basically begs, but Shinsou shakes his head. “I’m gonna take her back to the hotel. I’ll text you when I’m there.”

Before Denki and Mina can protest again, he hurries and takes you out of the club. He calls an Uber, leaning against the outside wall of the club with you still attached to his side. He has his arm around you and is gently rubbing your side with his thumb. “You smell so good,” he hears you mumble, and he grins. “Thanks, kitten.”

“I really like it. You’re the best.”

He knows that you’re drunk, and he is too, but damn. That sounded so nice coming from you. He can’t help but full on smile. “You make me so happy,” he hears you mumble into his shirt, and he swears his heart skips a beat. “You make me even happier, kitten,” he answers, and it’s true. He hasn’t felt this good in a long time. And it’s not just the alcohol. It’s you. Even if he’s physically drunk right now, he feels this way around you all the time. He hears you hum a bit before looking at him with a big grin on your face. He smiles back, and before he even processes what he’s doing he kisses your forehead. Your reaction is adorable, considering you just bury your face into him again. He chuckles, not even feeling embarrassed. Thank you, alcohol.

Eventually the Uber arrives, and he helps you inside before telling the driver where you’re headed. You both get there no problem, and he helps you to your room. He gives you some Advil and gets you a glass of water, making sure you drink it. He helps you lay down, sitting next to you on the bed. He watches as you start drifting off, making sure you were comfortable and sending a barely legible text to Denki telling him the two of you are back home. When he thinks you’re asleep, he goes to stand up but is stopped by you. “Noooooooooo,” you mumble, and he looks down at you. You have your puppy eyes out and he feels his heart basically stop. “Don’t go, Toshi, you make me feel warm and happy and I sleep better with you.”

Toshi? Fuck, he likes the sound of his first name coming out of your mouth. He doesn’t even oppose. He immediately lays down next to you. “Yay,” you mumble, and he grins. “Jesus Christ, kitten, you’re so perfect,” he says, pulling you into him. You giggle. “Not as perfect as you.”

“Um, no, you’re 100% more perfect than I am. I mean, look at you.”

“Nuh-uh, everything you do is amazing. You’re amazing.”

“You’re more amazing than I could ever hope to be,” he says, sighing. How did he get this lucky? Truly, even if you two aren’t dating yet, how did he end up just be able to be here and lying down with you? He doesn’t deserve this chance. And he loves being able to actually see you as you drift off to sleep this time. The city lights shining through the window and falling on your face make you look even more like an angel. He would love to fall asleep like this every night. And he actually falls asleep decently early for him again.

He even somehow managed to sleep through the noise Mina made when she saw the two of you after stumbling into your hotel room.

And now there’s a picture of the two of you on her phone. Just wait til she’s sober and sees it. 

[rwby-nwbe]

Just Finished RWBY Volume 4...

...and I actually liked it?

[Spoilers Ahead, Y'all Know The Drill]

I mean, from what I've heard the Volume gets a lot of flack but honestly? I don't think it deserves it.

Yes, this is the first volume without Monty, and yes, the fights lost a bit of their momentum compared to earlier volumes, but aside from that... it's actually pretty good?

Alright, let me give you the play by play character style.

Ruby Rose

There goes my baby... off to destroy evil.

Ruby hasn't changed much, at least to a noticeable degree, compared to the rest of the cast. Actually, no, that isn't true, she just hasn't changed in a way that would force her overall character to noticeably shift. And I think that's fine. She's still a child at times, and is still really optimistic. But the thing is, she has matured. She doesn't immediately jump head first into danger like she used to, and it's clear she's still trying to process what happened at the Fall of Beacon. And yet, she's pressing on, and I'm glad that she and the rest of Team RNJR have each other's backs.

My only concern is what will go down in Mistral...

Weiss Schnee

Welp, Jacques Schnee, congrats! You've joined Cinder and Adam on the hit list I'm writing up!

The a-hole aside, I really like how Weiss played out this volume. According to what I've heard, volume 4 took place about 6-8 months after Beacon, so I'm kinda sad that Weiss was stuck home for all that time. On the bright side, we get a look at her progress on her summons, which looks to be coming along quite nicely. Then we see the concert, and ooh does that make my blood boil. I'll get to Jacques in a bit, but personally, I'd have no qualms watching him burn, figuratively, or literally.

Fly, Weiss, fly from the coup. Give your bastard of a father the metaphorical middle finger he deserves! (P.S. Klein is best dad.)

Blake Belladonna

Oof. I hurteth.

So Blake tends to stay away out of fear that she'll hurt her friends (i.e. some alternate version of survivor's guilt). In order to make amends from her point of view, she heads home to Menagerie. And once again, we're reminded on why humanity sucks sometimes!

Humans: Here, have this desert island for your large spanning species that covers just as much ground as we do.

Faunus: But... but it's so small!

Humans: Is it? Oh well, we can't have everything!

Me: Y'all LITERALLY have several freaKING CONTINENTS-!

*Ahem* That said, Sun came along! And we met Blake's parents! But first, Sun; I'll admit, I had mixed feelings about him being there at first, but that was mostly because Blake was being angsty and despite Sun's best intentions, virtually nothing he did help. Although, towards the end of the Volume, he managed to help Blake realize why her way of thinking was wrong, so props to him for that. Uh, Sun, could you maybe knock like a normal person? Wait, Blake, DON'T SLAP HIM FOR IT!!!

Ah, Kali, you're just as chaotic as Sun, oh dear... Ghira, never change, man. Never change.

Yang Xiao Long

Oof. I hurteth again. (ADAM!! LET ME DESTROY YOU, DANGIT!!!)

So Yang has been... adjusting to life after Beacon and without an arm. Oh, and Adam gave her PTSD! Isn't that just swell?

[When the find your corpse it'll have Wilt running through your spine and your skull severed with bullet shots from Blush I swear-]

Luckily, Yang gets a prosthetic from Atlas. I was afraid she'd reject it, but it's actually kinda nice to see that she takes to it rather well. And after seeing Oobleck (YAY!) and Port again, it's cool that she's just trying to find her footing. Though, Tai, you might wanna consider NOT flying to close to the Sun Dragon, capiche?

And all this culminates in Yang finally getting back out in the end of the Volume, hoping to find some answers. Hopefully she takes Tai's words to heart.

Jaune Arc

IT'S BIG BOI SWORD HOURS!!

But seriously, it was... kinda off-putting to see Jaune act so... morose. Granted, we all know why (PYRRHA!!!), but still. I'm glad his team is looking out for him and that he's slowly starting to recover like everyone else. His conversation with Ruby in Kuroyuri was also really touching. Come to think of it, didn't Blake have a similar conversation with Sun? The PARALLELS!

Also, that upgrade, tho. CUT THAT NUCKELAVEE INTO DUST, MY DUDE!!!

Nora Valkyrie+Lie Ren

You can't talk about one without bringing up the other.

Guys, this was as much a Renora volume as it was a RWBY-Post Beacon volume. The Fall triggers some odd behavior in Ren, but we figure out why pretty quickly once we reach the Kuroyuri episode.

First, young Ren and Nora... adorable!

Second, I was NOT ready for when Nora had to talk Ren out of charging blindly at the Nuckelavee. The slap. The way Ren sees young Nora and then sees current Nora. Nothing could prepare me. Nothing.

They are so SOFT together, it's just... <3

New Characters (and Old ones, too)

Lightning round, baby!

Qrow Branwen. So Qrow serves as the inside man. He knows what's been going on, and he fills the rest of us in. We also know why he tends to keep his distance, because his semblance brings bad luck to allies and enemies alike. The poor birb. Glad he managed to survive Tyrian!

Jacques Schnee. Egotistical manipulative piece of garbage whom I will not feel sorry for once he's put in his place. 'Nuff said.

Whitley Schnee. Mixed feelings. Mixed feelings everywhere. 'Cause on one hand, I've seen plenty of the fandom's takes on his character putting him in a positive light, but on the other he starts getting kind of unbearable after Weiss loses her title as heiress. Then I have to remind myself that Whitley is the "Fawn" reaction to trauma. Weiss is "Fight," Winter is "Flight," their mother is "Freeze," and Whitley is "Fawn." Stuff like that helps me contextualize that when Whitley says things about their dad like "It's foolish to not do what father asks," or "It's barbaric. It's beneath me. Beneath father," Whitley's not just saying that 'cause he's a bit of a brat. That's his coping mechanism to the abuse Jacques put him and the rest of his family through, and it's probably been a long time that he's been telling himself stuff like this so he can keep in his father's good graces and not risk getting a slap to the face like Weiss, while also trying to deal with the fact that Weiss and Winter get a freedom that he never had a chance to get. And you have to remember that Winter and Weiss were abused to, and that trying to blame Whitley's current condition on the two of them doesn't make things any better. They're not obligated to care about Whitley just as much as Whitley isn't obligated to care about them. It would be nice if either one of them could get through to him, but they were all trying to combat Jacques in one way or another. Whitley was just the odd one out. And if you really think about it, the biggest brain play you can take from all this is to blame it solely on Jacques. I swear, when I get to Volume 4 in my NWBE AU, one of my top priorities will be getting Whitley the ever loving hell out of that accursed mansion alongside Weiss, mark my words.

Klein Sieben. Ladies and gentleman, the only valid man under the Schnee roof! And a Seven Dwarves reference no less. Thanks, I love him! Glad he helped Weiss escape his father's clutches.

James Ironwood. Oh boy, boss man is starting to lose his grip on things. Granted, he's trying to do the right thing, but it's clear his paranoia is getting to him. You know crap is getting bad if the most valid person in all of Atlas simultaneously needs to be told to get a grip from Jacques of all people (especially if he's making a point). Hope this doesn't trigger a downward spiral...

Ghira and Kali Belladonna. Ghira is done and Kali just wants to have fun. I love their dynamic and interactions with Blake and Sun! It was a nice wind down from everything else going on, though I don't think that'll last for long.

White Fang. So we got three more WF members: Fennec, Corsac, and Ilia. The Albain brothers are sleezeballs already, since they're working with Adam and all. Ilia's working with them too, but I'll have to withhold my judgement since she appears to have an as yet undisclosed connection to Blake, but I don't want to get my hopes up since she already stabbed Sun, so... Low expectations, but still expectations.

Salem's Group. Yup, Salem's a villain alright. I'll be keeping my eye on her, she just reeks of trouble. Cinder apparently lost her voice... eh, probably for the best. Emerald, Mercury, get the ever-loving FRICK outta there, you're clearly out of your element! Hazel, you're... fascinating. Neutral Evil, perhaps? Watts, you're on my radar, especially with the last episode of the Volume. And Tyrian... well, he's clearly beyond the point of no return, entirely devoted to Salem, and his psycho-sadistic tendencies are enough to freak Cinder of all people out. Needless to say, I hope something or someone takes care of him before the damage becomes irreversible.

And for now, I'll wrap this up with Oscar Pine. I'll admit, it was interesting how they set up Oscar's character as a slow burn this Volume. We learn he lives a quiet life with his aunt in a barn, and at first we're wondering "Who the heck is this kid?" But then Ozpin shows up and suddenly everything is like "Oh... wait, WHAT!?" So yeah, Ozpin just brought another child into thia conflict. At least they're both not happy about it, and hey, they met Qrow! Hopefully that keeps things from getting too crazy down the line. We still need answers, after all.

Well, those are my thoughts. Sorry they took so long. Hopefully Volume 5 won't be so hard to complete. Well... cheers!

-Mathewton, the RWBY Newbie (15 May 2020)