#this goes in tags for those that care

[r0ecomplex]

friendly relationships should be easier to navigate as a dumbass schizo tranny but asking for that kind of accomodation is almost always too much unless we���re dating apparently.

[darkdragon768]

Various doodles of the Dorito Twins.

I just like to play with them like dolls and put them into situations.

[little-pondhead]

Danny moved to Gotham.

Freakshow is touring in Gotham.

Freakshow knows Danny is in Gotham.

Danny knows Freakshow is still after him.

Danny's faith in heroes has been shattered.

Danny turns to the only person powerful enough to run Freakshow out of town, hopefully for good.

Danny turns to the Joker for help.

The Joker is looking for a new punching bag sidekick after Harley Quinn left him.

Danny is just the perfect person to be shaped by the Joker's hands.

Danny becomes the new Joker Junior.

[pantherxdrawz]

*crashes from the ceiling*

hyperfixations back. “Huh” *pulls out the AAI collection (and the fact I have the game on Switch and the Demo on Xbox)* Hyperfixation’s back.

Now comes with Alt. Text! (I might also go back and add Alt text to the previous installments but no promises it might just be a going forward thing)

Actually the hyperfixations been back for a while I’m just now posting and I wanted to be funny

Previous Posts in this series if you’d like to check those out: 1 2 3

[acid-waste]

I'm so mad actually I can't believe some people took this scene in chapter 3 and turned it into a who's right about their grief when the scene in chapter 4 literally has ivypool saying I don't mean to make it all about me- haven't thought much about how dovewing is handling her own grief- people read chapter 3 and to me it seems as if chapter 4 doesn't even exist and the rest of what ivypool says in chapter three after saying this doesn't as well

“Dovewing, I’m truly sorry that Rowankit died. But losing a sickly kit—a kit you’ll be reunited with in StarClan one day—is different from losing a full-grown cat who was just coming into her own as a warrior. A cat who doesn’t exist anywhere—who is just gone.”

ignored this and what was said and called it a day

[i-dreamed-i-had-a-son]

Broke (2016): BBC Sherlock is a phenomenal piece of media and anything that seems like a flaw just hasn't been fully explored yet

Woke (2020): BBC Sherlock is an incredibly flawed series run by an egotistical writer, it never deserved the hype and is actively bad on so many fronts (especially representation)

Bespoke (2024): BBC Sherlock is flawed and bogged down by increasingly poor writing, which many fans refused to see while it was airing, leading to hugely misplaced expectations (particularly for the final series), AND it has the seeds of some compelling characterizations and portrayals, some genuinely solid performances, and touches--albeit imperfectly--on complexities that are still being discussed today (particularly as it relates to the relationship between Sherlock and John). The huge cultural impact of the show has created a massive pendulum effect in its public perception, leading to most people today remembering a caricature of the show (whether positive or negative) rather than appreciating its nuanced merits and failings...that being said Season 4 sucked

[aroaceleovaldez]

Your blog is the only blog where I feel safe enough asking this question. What do you think of Percy Jackson fans who feel as though they and the series have a moral superiority to Harty Potter ? Obviously, Harry Potter and its author are laden with questionable and sometimes straight-up hateful takes and views. But the way PJO fans constantly compare the two, its authors (even though RR is far from flawless), and the two MCs (ignoring how the two both share similarities in the fact that they are both traumatised, abused, angry teenage boys). I'm sorry that this ask got so long, but this has been annoying me for a while now.

This is an interesting question - for one, fandom fights over superiority is a concept that has been around for ages and has never been constructive. PJO and HP fandoms have been fighting in that exact way (and it has gone both ways!) for literal decades (remember, PJO turns 20 this year) so this isn't new, it's just taken on a moral flavor. Let's go over some things though (but please keep in mind i never got into HP and never read the books or fully watched the movies so my knowledge of HP is primarily pop culture absorption/secondhand from my family and friends):

Are either series perfect? No. HP absolutely is full of hateful sentiments and JKR is a hateful person and I do not respect her for that. Disney's marketing recently has absolutely fully leaned into trying to put Rick above her as a moral paragon and emphasizing how progressive he is and his support of diversity in middle grade series, despite some failings to reflect that in the actual text. Are Rick and JKR equally bad? Definitely not. Rick has had tangible good influence on adhd/dyslexia awareness that very directly impacted people like me as a neurodivergent kid going through school in the 2000s. JKR meanwhile has directly negatively impacted trans laws internationally very recently.

Rick absolutely isn't perfect, but he's vocally supportive, has made a lot of effort in the past to be inclusive, and still attempts to do so. Most of his issues simply stem from his own unaddressed internalized bigotry/biases and his research on varying topics not being great (plus poor management decisions such as not hiring a sensitivity reader actually fit for the story he's trying to tell). But he's not hateful. JKR is. JKR is very vocally hateful and bigoted and this is absolutely reflected in her work as well even in earlier HP. They are comparable in that they are both middle grade authors of easily two of the most popular middle grade fantasy (or specifically hidden world fantasy) series out right now. They are not equivalent in the slightest in their bigotry or tangible damage.

In terms of Percy versus Harry, I personally don't think they're very comparable. They share some similarities, but mostly just in that they're both the protagonists of their stories and thus serve protagonist purposes. Beyond that their use within the narrative is pretty different functionally. Their worlds' magic systems are not comparable. The hidden world aspect in both their universes isn't even comparable, since in PJO the "hidden world" aspect is very different from most hidden world fantasy formats because the entire point is that it's functionally not a hidden world. The characters themselves are very different as well - Percy's personality and the way he behaves and reacts to his environment is absolutely nothing like Harry's.

Most of the anti-HP-in-general sentiments stem from wanting to cut off JKR's notoriety, which I think is valid to want to do. And I do think there are a lot of issues with continuing to support JKR's work especially in ways that functionally promote her work or support her financially. Obviously, we will never be able to scrub HP from the cultural zeitgeist. It's just not feasible and I'm very anti-book burning so I do think it's important to acknowledge the role HP has had in pop-culture alongside acknowledging its harmful materials. HP is a text you absolutely can't death-of-the-author your way out of because a lot of the vitriol is baked into the text and worldbuilding in very overt ways - and there are plenty of other pop-culture staple novels like this. But fandom in general, at least true fandom and not mainstream fandom, is so obscure most of the time that I don't think, so long as people are not ignoring negative themes of the source material and are being thoughtful as they navigate engaging with it, that it is an inherently bad thing for HP fandom to just exist at all. It's never going to just stop existing no matter what people do. And HP fandom are not the only ones who should be thoughtful about how they engage with their source material - PJO fandom is not exempt from examining some of the problematic aspects in our own text and figuring out how to be respectful with those topics. It's just a lot easier for PJO fandom to tune it out without it being noticed because there's less of it and it's (at least sometimes) less overt. Honestly if HP fandom decided to go more down the path of a fandom like Warriors or Miraculous Ladybug, where the average sentiment is more along the lines of "Oh god no don't read/watch the source material it sucks/we stopped paying attention to it year ago and it's not relevant at all to what we're up to. We're over here functionally rewriting everything from the ground up/doing our own thing" I would very much support them in that endeavor. I do think there is merit in limiting promotion of the HP source material as much as possible, though.

Hopefully that all makes at least some amount of sense.

[waveridden]

for the soft fic prompt meme, 17 + ship of ur choice!

17. fixing the other's clothes absentmindedly

Adam’s gotten better at picking up on the signs.

Morgan waltzes into the station, steady on her feet and on her heels, box of donuts in hand because she’s running late. She drops it on Daphne’s desk and makes a beeline for the case board, smiling sunny as ever.

There’s nothing specific he can point to, but Adam knows her: Morgan didn’t sleep last night. It happens sometimes, maybe a couple times a month. She’s mostly the same, but after the first time, he’s made it a point of noticing.

And, honestly, there’s not much he can do. He just gets her a mug of coffee, because even though she hates station coffee it’s better than no coffee at all, and brings it to her. “Hey.”

“Hey. Ooh!” She snags the mug from him almost immediately and takes a drink. She told him once that having kids meant she can’t burn her tongue anymore, and he’s not about to question that. “Thanks.”

This close, he still can’t tell the difference. Her hair is up. Her eyeliner is baby blue today, almost periwinkle. When she smiles, it’s all Morgan, all the way through. She’s wearing a blazer, one he somehow hasn’t seen before, and her blouse underneath it is rumpled, just a little.

Adam steps in front of her, halfway between her and the case board, and straightens her collar, just a couple quick tugs until it’s sitting right on her shoulders. “Any big revelations?”

“What?” Morgan says. She is, he realizes, not looking at the board. She’s looking directly at him.

“With the case.” He steps back to her side, staring at the board. “Any revelations?”

“Oh. Uh.” Morgan takes another drink of the coffee, and Adam has to look away when her lips meet the edge of the mug. It’s a long, long drink. “Not yet. But I bet a breakthrough is right around the corner.”

[calice-says]

Is this a sign of a new fic??? No, it's just insanity

A little background about me; I tend to have vivid and uncontrollable dreams. Most of them were story-like and adventurous, and the 'genre' of dreams would differ. Mostly horror for some reason.

Anyway, I won't get into it much BUT

I had a weird, but funny dream lmao. I think the reason why I had that dream was because my friends and I were talking about age gaps (nothing bad, dw, we were just laughing at who was younger and who was actually older between our friend group), and after that I went to rewatching just one episode of IEG because I am very occupied for some reason despite being summer🤩🔫

Anyway! Of course, it involves Tenma. No surprise there, but the plot of the dream went like this:

Tenma was around 10 or 11 years old (I forgot the exact age, dream logic is foggy okay 💀) here.

And for some reason, he ended up being a first year of JHS Raimon, when the series started. Funnily enough, the reason why he happened to skip 2 grades(?) ahead was when enrolling him, his dad was super tired and accidentally ticked off the wrong grade level 😭 So instead of entering elementary school like a normal kid, Tenma got promoted two years ahead and ended up in JHS. Do not ask why Raimon has an elementary division, I dunno either. I'm not sure if they have one in the canon, but oh well. And do not ask how they allowed it, or how they didn't find it odd, but I guess Tenma's grades here were surprisingly passable enough????

Oh well, congrats Tenma for the upgrade!

Ofc, it was Aki who noticed the oddity when they received Tenma's uniform. She immediately called the school like, "Hi, sorry, I think you gave us the wrong uniform by mistake—he’s supposed to be in elementary?"

Raimon admin was like, "Oh no, hold on, let us check the system—hmm, no, according to our registrar, Matsukaze Tenma is a junior high student... ah, a first year! Did you receive the second-year emblem?"

(WHY DO THEY HAVE EMBLEMS??)

Aki: "... J— Junior High?"

Raimon: "Yes, Junior High. Is there an issue...?"

Aki: "Y-Yeah, I think you made a mistake— he’s not supposed to be in junior high yet—he’s like, 10??"

Raimon: "Huh. That’s odd. But it says here in the enrollment documents that he’s registered for JHS."

Aki: "...Ah. I see. I’ll, um. I’ll call you back."

Cue Aki calling Tenma’s parents.

The parents: 😧 The dad in particular: 😨 (He definitely got a long, loud earful from his wife after that. Deserved tbh.)

They arranged a meeting with Raimon’s school board (online, since Tenma’s parents weren’t in Inazuma at the moment), and apparently, they couldn’t undo the registration just like that—he was already listed as an official JHS student in the system.

Apparently, the only way to “fix” it was for the enrolling guardians (aka the parents) to come in physically and sign the needed paperwork and to the process. But they were overseas on business, and Aki, despite being his legal guardian and relative-sister hybrid, didn’t exactly have the legal authority to do it.

Um, welcome to Bureaucracy, I guess????

So that means they have no choice but to let Tenma continue his accidental JHS journey.

Throughout the whole drama, Tenma was just outside with Aoi and Sasuke playing soccer without a care in the world lmao😭 Aoi here is still in the same age as when she was in the series.

BIG SISTER AOI PROPAGANDA RISEEE!!!

Anyway when Aki finally explained the situation to Tenma with Aoi present, their reactions were perfectly in sync. Shocked pikachu faces!!!

Tenma's reaction was like going up and down on consecutive hills. He was shocked, then he was excited cuz "oh im finally a big kid now!" then anxious because "oh the subjects are going to be hard" then determined "i can do it, things will work out somehow!" then the dread, "oh my god, i'll be surrounded by big kids, they're going to eat me alive—" then relief, "oh it's okay aoi will be there with me!" then teror, "math. math is going to be hard. im going to fail, this is embarrassing."

Then excitement: "IM PLAYING SOCCER WITH THE BIG KIDS!!" then another dreadful terror: "im playing soccer with the big kids." which is, yes, normally would be exciting but the social pressure squashed him like a bug. Poor guy :')

Anyway, the series started. Dream stuff happens, I don't remember the events and stuff but apparently, it went well. I'm surprised Tenma didn't go to the hospital for the many scares he had (Fifth Sector, going against Tsurugi, raimon soccer club practically hating him or smth, Shindou's rough treatment with him at the exam(😭), the rough treatment from other teams, and so on and so forth.)

The dream ends there.

BUT, HERE'S MY ADDITIONAL TAKE ON IT MWAHAHAHAHA

No one knew except for Aoi and the school staff that Tenma is years younger than all of them.

When Tenma's birthday came (after the go season, idk bro, but before chrono stone), the soccer club and some people outside the team (like Taiyou for instance) were invited to a restaurant as a venue. It wasn't all that fancy, just somewhere in the middle. Tenma's parents rented a floor used for occasions from the restaurant for them. Both are present here, and they finally get to meet them!! Some greetings here and there—

(Tenma's mom: "Oh thank you for taking care of our dear Tenma! I hope he hasn’t caused too much trouble. The last time he did something like that was when he somehow set the water on fire."

Raimon: "...what😀"

Tenma: "I learned it from the guy down the street back in Okinawa!"

Tenma's dad: "He was a retired magician. Who soon committed arson."

Raimon: *insert unsettled tom meme face*)

—until they see the birthday balloons in the center of the wall.

Happy 11th Bithday Tenma!

Eleventh...

Eleventh...

Eleventh Birthday—

"YOU'RE ELEVEN???"

Tenma: "Oh, yeah! I didn't tell you guys? :0"

The pieces of the puzzle just suddenly clicked.

No wonder Tenma was on the shorter, tinier side. They had all silently chalked it up to maybe a touch of malnutrition (since he doesn’t eat too much—he gets stomach aches if he overdoes it), or just a genetics thing. After all, he seemed fine. Energetic, cheerful, did backflips during practice. Just small.

No wonder he spaced out during lectures sometimes—he literally skipped two years of foundational learning, which kind of explains why his handwriting is fighting for its life, but they kind of collectively agreed it was from his shaky hands. His handwriting had gotten better as months passed by, though.

No wonder he always blinked blankly when someone mentioned pop culture from more than three years ago, before enthusiastically asking what it was. But at the same time... he never acted immature enough for anyone to seriously question it.

But there really was no reason for them to think or come to the conclusion that Tenma might be younger. Sure, his level of social cues and knowledge seemed a bit low on the bar sometimes ("tenma, just because he offered you a sticker pack and led you to a van, doesn't mean there were stickers."), but his kindness, empathy, and emotional levels made up for it. He always knew when someone needed cheering up. He just didn’t always know why.

Not to mention, there were times when he sassed people.

And academically? His grades weren’t amazing, but they were passable. Passable enough that the team didn’t dig deeper and just figured, "Yeah, he’s a bit spacey, but he’s Tenma."

No wonder the teachers seemed to coo at him too! No wonder they'd sometimes give him candy, whether sneakily or not! Which kind of set a few alarm bells from some of them- but they just chalked it up to Tenma's natural charisma and adorable-ness.

Because he was a literal child. A baby!!!

It was like the laws of the universe crashed on them and, as if the stars aligned, they all thought one thing:

Fifth Sector had a beef with a 10-year-old.

[earthmixsclowderofcats]

Just genuinely asking, do you actually believe that ZeeNuNew is dating? (I believe in them)

Oh, this never ending debate.

When I first got into BL these two confused and confounded me for months. It always seemed like people were either very strict and defensive truthers or pessimistic deniers.

Honestly, I went back and forth several times on them, and I think what I have come to conclude is that they're both and neither and whatever the hell they want.

Because due to the parasocial aspects of the Thai bl industry these men (Thai bl men in general) play a version of themselves in public, the same way most people do. Only their public persona is what makes them marketable. It's part of their brand.

That doesn't mean there isn't truth to it.

Fanservice and genuine affection do not exist in vacuums separate from one another. Real life relationships are way more fluid and complicated than black and white.

There are things they do that seem very performative, but I have to wonder if maybe that's just part of their personality and relationship in general. But obviously it is also, at least partly, for the fans. As it is their brand. But again, that's something that doesn't exist in a vacuum.

In a classic, western sense they haven't officially actually come out but rather were like "you can think whatever you want."

(I think this might have changed recently with the language they've been using but I'm not 100% sure due to fan translations being subjective. But like, I'm pretty sure they've said recently in an interview they basically date at work.)

At some point (especially in the past few weeks)I've legitimately just started feeling like a homophobic crone for thinking it was ALL for fan service. Like, those two clearly are very important to each other. They clearly love each other in some way.

It's so interesting because like, in a way these shipped pairs are living their own fake dating au's. And I fully believe there are some people who just committed to the bit to the degree that it no longer became a bit, and I'm pretty sure that's zeenunew.

You can see their relationship change over the years. I don't doubt there was fan service in the cutie pie era. I also don't doubt that those big sappy displays of affection are sincere.

So i used to put them in the category of "shrodinger's ships." They were both together and not until proven otherwise.

But recently I've shifted them into the category of "committed to the bit too hard and now it is no longer a bit."

Because I think it's both fan service and legit, and like, that's just how they roll. If it is an entirely false charade they've been on for years then consider me bamboozled and in awe of their hustle, but in this economy we take all the serotonin we can get.

Also, like, regardless of any outside perspective of their relationship, their personal relationship is going to be what it is or isn't either way. What are we gonna do about it by arguing over semantics and technicalities? What would they get? Nothing. We have literally no stake in this and no influence.

[ravenwolfie97]

In Wishes and Memories: Chapter 1

Siffrin finished their quest, but they've still got some journeying to do with the rest of the party. What will they find, learn, and realize as they continue their travels? What else does the Universe have in store for them?

(after finishing the game recently, i was filled with thoughts and ideas and i needed to do something with them. i have an over-arching plan for this story though, so i hope you stick with it and enjoy!)

(cross-posted on AO3, but my main audience is here lol)

Reality was finally starting to settle in.

The timeloops were broken, and you were finally free from your curse, fulfilling the conflicting wishes and saving Vaugarde and your friends... your family... your loved ones.

And now, they'll continue moving onward in their journey together with you - the first step of which being returning Bonnie to Bambouche now that their sister was unfrozen.

…With an ulterior motive of finding your hat.

It blew away from the tippy top of the House after you returned back to normal. 

And that hat meant a lot to you; it’s part of what little remained of your country, and you've had it for as long as you could remember.

As everyone travelled one last time through the village, celebrating and eating and merrymaking with the people of Vaugarde, you mostly tried to hang back, to come to terms with what had just gone down. 

You still felt pretty Craft-sick, worn out and dizzy. Though, a full stomach packed with tasty Vaugardian foods made you feel a lot better.

You were really looking forward to a night of actual rest… with a brand-new sunrise awaiting you once your eye opened next.

☆☆☆

It was only about an hour into the celebrations when you saw Isabeau had noticed you sitting on the bench next to the library. He came up and quietly joined you on the bench.

"Hey, Sif." His voice was low and gentle. "How're you holding up?"

You didn't want to pretend anymore. "I'm pretty tired, still," you replied honestly. 

Isabeau crossed his arms. "Makes sense. You have had quite a lot going on for yourself these last couple days." He paused. "Or, I guess, technically way more than that. Do you know how many times you looped, anyway?"

From the way you instinctively withdrew, Isabeau realized his curiosity had trumped his courtesy. "O-oh, I'm sorry, that's probably still a sensitive topic..." 

"No, it's okay," you interjected. "It's just... not something I want to think about right now... Don't think I would remember, anyway."

Isabeau let out a nervous laugh. "Yeah... Alright, then." 

You both looked out into the crowd: Mirabelle was chatting with other Housemaidens, including that stylish fan of hers; Odile was speaking with some of the older folk of the town; Bonnie was playing with some of the other kids. 

Isabeau turned back to look at you. "It seems like the others are preoccupied at the moment, so... what would you like to do now, Sif? Do you wanna go back to the Clocktower and take a nap? We still have accommodations there for the night."

You nodded. "Can you come with me, too, Isa?"

Isabeau's cheeks darkened at an embarrassingly quick rate. "S-sure! Yeah, let's head over there now!"

He leapt up a little too energetically off of the bench but slowed down for you. "Do you need to lean on me again?" he asked, extending an arm out to you.

"I don't think so," you answered. "But... I'd like to hold your hand."

Without waiting for a response, you grabbed Isabeau's hand, lifted yourself up from the bench, and came around to his side. "Let's go."

"Okay, yeah, here we go!" Isabeau started walking towards the eastern side of Dormont, feeling the weight of your hand as you both lightly swung your arms back and forth. It was hardly big enough to wrap around his palm. 

Isabeau had to try and maintain a slower pace to accommodate you, but it didn't seem like he was burdened by it at all. 

It felt nice, not having to be in a hurry anymore. The two of you could just calmly walk together, hand in hand.

☆☆☆

Soon enough, you both reached the Clocktower. After taking your shoes off, you went right upstairs to the bedroom. Immediately at the sight of a bed, you lumbered towards it and faceplanted directly into the sheets.

Isabeau smiled at you from the stairwell. "Do you need any help from me? Or do you wanna be alone for a bit, or-?"

"No!" Your reaction was immediate. Slow down. Talk it out. "I mean... I don't want you to leave. And, um..." 

You hesitated, through some cocktail of guilt and embarrassment and maybe… romantic inclination?

"I'd like your help with changing clothes."

"Sure! I can take care of that." 

You could tell Isabeau was still pretty excited about being so close to you, especially after finally confessing his feelings, but it felt more like he just wanted to help his hurt friend out. 

Carefully, Isabeau knelt down and unfastened the pins on your cloak, laying it gently over the foot of one of the other beds. 

While he was up, he went into the closet where all their extra sets of clothes were.

As he did so, you sat on the edge of the bed and used your toes to pry the socks off of your feet, tossing them somewhere on the floor.

Lifting your head back up, you saw Isabeau had easily found your small, light pajama set, holding the clothes in his hands. 

They were still folded neatly, since you hadn't slept with the others last night.

Suddenly, you noticed Isabeau freeze in place. And then, the realization hit you, too.

Undressing you was a level of intimacy neither of you would be used to, in a romantic context or otherwise. Definitely way outside of the boundary of "not liking being touched", which was what everyone else had assumed for so long.

Isabeau turned back around to see you now, as you were actively removing your gloves and placing them at your side. You attempted to lift the bottom of your turtleneck up, but…

Ow. Ow, that hurt. Your arms quickly began to ache in that position.

You didn’t expect to feel so worn out that you couldn’t even lift your arms and pull something as light as a shirt. It’s a good thing Isabeau had come with you after all, then.

Isabeau quickly hopped over to you. "Here, let me help you!" He put his hands on the hem of the sweater and looked up at your face. "Can you still lift your arms up?"

Slowly and methodically, you raised your arms up straight. It still hurt, but at least you just had to stay still this time.

Isabeau swiftly lifted your shirt up and pulled it over your head and off your arms.

You thought you would feel more uncomfortable, suddenly being shirtless in front of him. But maybe you were just too tired to care right now. 

You had never gotten changed in front of anyone in a long time. Or maybe that was the time weirdness messing with your perception again. 

Or maybe you just forgot. It wasn’t a super important detail to remember, anyway.

You looked at Isabeau’s face after a moment, noticing him staring at your chest. You knew it’s new to him, but what was so-?

Oh. You glanced down at yourself and saw... a star-shaped symbol in the middle of your chest. Its darkless shade was barely distinct from your pale skin. 

You… don’t remember that being there before. Where did it come from? Or was it always there?

…You weren't even sure if you remembered what your body looked like anymore. Even when you would sleep in the Clocktower, there was no mirror to look at yourself in or anything. 

You didn't want to be exposed to your own disgusting visage if you had any say in it anyway. 

...Those thoughts were going to be pretty hard to get out of, huh? 

You shook your head. No more of that talk. 

Isabeau should keep going.

It looked like he just snapped out of his trance, too.

"AH! SORRY!" he yelped. "H-here, let's get this on, now!" He frantically reached for the pajama top and draped it around your shoulders, covering your chest up except for that star marking.

You slid off of the bed to stand, sliding your arms into the sleeves. "Can you help me with my pants, too?"

Isabeau's entire body tensed up and his face contorted into itself, in a stunned expression. That was cute.

"Y-yeah! I gotcha, Sif," Isabeau responded, his voice decidedly more high-pitched than usual.

You felt Isabeau's fingers brush against your belly as he unbuckled your belt and unfastened the button on your pants. 

What an odd feeling, touching somewhere that private so lightly it hardly even counts. 

But it did to you. Every little touch meant so much to you.

Isabeau delicately rustled his fingertips along the waistband on your pants and pulled them down. You stepped out of them easily, giving the ends a little shake off your ankles. 

Quickly, Isabeau grabbed the soft pajama pants and slid them over your feet, bunching the rest of the legs around your ankles so that he could pull them all the way up easily.

You noticed his fingers linger at your hips. You supposed he had to be at least a little curious. But this was neither the time nor the place for it. He knew that too, and backed off after only a moment.

Isabeau looked up at you one last time, raising his hands to button up your shirt.

Warmth rushed to your cheeks. He didn't have to do that, but the softness and ease with which he slid the buttons through... Something about it made your heart flutter.

"Thank you, Isa," you sighed once he had finished.

"Of course, Sif," he replied, honey in his voice. He looked you right in the eye, full of gratitude, even though you were the one feeling grateful here.

Isabeau got back to his feet. "Is there anything else you need?"

You glanced away, embarrassed to say it. But you should. It would make him feel better to say it.

"Maybe not... need , but... I would like it if... you could stay here and sleep with me."

"O-oh!" Every little thing got Isabeau all flustered. It amused you. "Sure, yes! I-I'll go ahead and change clothes as well, then!" 

He hurriedly scrambled back to the closet to grab his tank top and shorts.

You sat back up onto the edge of your bed and just watched him. 

Isabeau unbuckled his sash and belt, and then slipped out of his shirt. His shoulder and back muscles rippled as he settled back into a relaxed position. 

You weren't... “into it”, per se, but… It was fascinating to watch.

Isabeau continued, shuffling off his big pants before putting on his sleep shorts. He then slipped the tank top over his head.

He turned back around towards you and flinched. “W-were you watching me that whole time…?”

You blushed. “M-maybe…” Quick, think of something funny to break the tension! “You just looked so… im-dress-ive.”

Isabeau couldn't hold back a belly laugh and snorted at your dumb pun. “Alright, that's enough outta you. Time for you to get some crabbing sleep!”

He rushed over to you, scooping you up before you knew it, and plopped you down on the bed. He climbed up on the opposite side not long after you came back to your senses.

You gingerly shuffled your aching body under the sheets and got settled, looking Isabeau in the face as he laid beside you.

You realized he was in the same position as when he almost confessed to you over so many timeloop nights in the Clocktower. And you realized that you never had that moment with him in this timeline. You took the time, through your tired eye, to appreciate every detail in his face, the freckles on his shoulders, the sparkle in his eyes… 

“Hey, Isa…”

“Yeah, Sif?”

“...I love you.”

“...I love you, too, Sif.”

You paused for a moment, noticing your heartbeat pick up speed. 

“Can I kiss you?”

Isabeau's face softened. “Of course.”

You felt Isabeau's hand curl around your cheek as you closed your eye and pulled yourself in. And waited.

His lips met yours. They were so gentle and comforting. Like a small hug. You wanted to stay there forever.

That feeling lulled you closer to sleep. You withdrew from Isabeau's face and nestled yourself into his body. His chest was soft and warm, more comfortable than any pillow.

Fatigue settled into your muscles, your bones, your soul. And you drifted off to sleep.

“Goodnight, Siffrin.”

☆☆☆

You opened your eye and rose from slumber in a half-awake state. You felt very groggy, and your body felt pretty sore, but you didn’t feel as sick now.

Wait. You didn’t immediately recognize where you were. The Clocktower? You looked down at your body to find you’d been changed into your pajamas.

Your brain was foggy. Was all of the last two days a bad dream? Did you reset back to the morning before defeating the King? But you never went back here before. So what-

THUNK!

You jumped as you heard the door downstairs slam shut, followed by someone’s stern voice shushing and scolding whoever did it. You couldn’t quite make it out. Something like, “Keep quiet! Siffrin is still asleep!”

Another, much smaller voice whispered “sorry” back to them.

You continued hearing their collective soft shuffling as you tried to organize your thoughts.

But suddenly, a scent caught your attention. You carefully breathed in… the scent of fresh, warm pastries, wafting up the stairwell. 

They must have been a gift from the boulangerie… after defeating the King… and saving Vaugaude.

A whimper escaped you before you'd realized you started to cry. You tried desperately to hold it in so no one else could hear you or worry about you, but you couldn’t stop many loud sobs from exiting your mouth.

You, at the very least, curled up as tight as you could, hands covering your face, as you heard their footsteps rush up to you.

“Siffrin!!” You heard Mirabelle shout as she hurried to your side.

She sat down next to you, gently tapping your right hand and trying to hold it. You took it down from your face and gripped her hand as hard as you could.

Your cries echoed throughout the Clocktower, from deep within your chest, partnered with hot tears that ran down your face. Your whole body was tight, squeezing out every last ounce of emotion.

After what felt like hours, you finally ran out of tears to cry. Mirabelle offered you some tissues in the meantime, which you needed and generously accepted.

Once your eyesight cleared and you could breathe normally, you saw Odile and Bonnie sitting across from you on the other bed.

“Are you feeling better now, Siffrin?” Odile softly broke the silence.

All you could do was nod in response.

“What happened?” Mirabelle asked. “Did you have a nightmare?”

“We might have woken him up earlier,” Odile mentioned to her, before turning her attention a little harshly to the kid. “Because somebody was being loud downstairs.”

“I already said I was sorry!” Bonnie yelled indignantly before quickly reeling it back in. “D-did I wake you up, Frin?” They turned to you and stared with their large eyes. “I’m really sorry if I did.”

You mustered up a chuckle at them. “No, Bonbon. I was already awake for a bit,” you croaked. “It’s okay. And I’m okay, too, I promise.”

“So what were you crying about?” Bonnie wondered aloud. Typical kid question.

“Siffrin doesn’t have to tell us that,” Odile quickly tried to correct them.

“It’s fine, Odile,” you cut in. “I… don’t really know how to put it into words, though.”

“Were you remembering what happened before?” Mirabelle posited. 

No, but now you remembered it all a little bit. All of the bad things you did and said recently.

You bit your lip. You didn’t want to start crying again.

“That’s not it,” you said. “It’s just that I realized… After you came back in, I knew, for sure, that today… was a new day.”

Suddenly, Mirabelle nearly headbutted you as she flung herself into you, giving you a big hug. “Oh Change, Siffrin! Now you’re going to make ME cry!”

Odile covered her emotional smile with a hand, but you could still see it in her eyes. 

Bonnie gave you a big, excited grin. “Well, we just got a whole bunch of tasty snacks, so now we can have something good to eat to celebrate!”

You laughed and smiled back. “Yeah, we can celebrate! Just as long as it's not all croissants.”

Bonnie looked at you quizzically. “What's the matter with croissants?”

Right. You shook your head. “Long story.”

Suddenly, you froze as you noticed something. “Hey… where is Isabeau?”

The last place you saw him was… right beside you, in bed. That was hours ago, he certainly could have gotten up, but where would he have gone?

“We… aren't sure about that, either,” Mirabelle responded. “While the rest of us were out earlier, he broke away and said he needed to get one last thing before we left Dormont. He didn't say more than that, though, so we're all kinda in the dark.”

“Well, no use staying up here longer than we have to,” Odile sighed after a beat, standing up from the edge of the bed. “We’ve got some breakfast to make, don’t we, Boniface?”

Bonnie grinned at her with wide eyes. “Yeah!!!” They immediately darted off towards the stairs but stopped themself shortly before they went out of view. “Come and hang out with us when we’re done, Frin!”

Odile quickly followed behind them, and Mirabelle lingered beside you for just a little longer, holding your hand gently. “I’m glad you’re doing better, Siffrin.”

She got up and gave you one more sweet smile. “I’m going to join the others downstairs. Remember, if you have any more big feelings, please don’t hesitate to talk about ‘em, feelings buddy!”

You made a crinkled smile back at her. “Thanks, feelings buddy.”

As soon as Mirabelle headed down to the kitchen downstairs, you heard the door creak open again. Everyone clamored at the visitor - it sounded like they were being nosy and asking what they had.

A deep, hushed voice told them to back off. You could immediately recognize that voice. 

Isabeau came back!

And as he was telling everyone else off, he mentioned your name. You started to get anxious.

Isabeau climbed up the stairs and flinched when he saw you upright on the edge of your bed. “Uh, hey, Siffarooni!” he greeted. “How’re you doing? Did you get a good sleep?”

You nodded, summoning a yawn and rubbing your eye. “What was everyone talking about just now? You have something for me?”

“Y-yeah! I, uh…” He shuffled his hands behind his back. “Well… y’know what, no.” His brow furrowed seriously. “What you said the other day… you were right. I don’t want to be a coward anymore. So… I’m just gonna give it to you.” 

He extended his hands and showed you… a small gift box. It was wrapped with a cute silk ribbon. 

You carefully untied it and opened the box to find… some lightless pearl earrings and a chain necklace. 

You looked up at Isabeau curiously, and found him blushing hard and squirming in place. 

“What are these for?”

“Well, I noticed that you didn’t wear earrings like the rest of us do, so um… A-and the necklace was for if you didn’t like the idea of wearing earrings! I knew a few people who moved to Vaugarde and pierced their ears later in life, and they said that it hurt a bit, s-so I just wanted to give you an alternative, in case your ears were too sensitive!”

You blinked. You knew the earrings were important to Vaugardian culture, but coming from him after confessing… 

“Did you get these from the jeweler here in Dormont?”

“Yeah!” Isabeau beamed as he spoke. “She and her wife were so happy to be back together, and she gave these to me on discount!” He paused and got shy again. “Wh-what do you think? Do you like them?”

You smiled. Of course you liked them. They were gifts from Isabeau. 

Although… “While I'm not too certain if I'm comfortable with the earrings… I really like the necklace. Thank you, Isa.”

Isabeau smiled wide, his eyes bright. “You’re welcome, Sif. I just thought it would be, like, a nice souvenir from the town! So you can remember it once we go travelling elsewhere.”

You’re pretty certain that wasn’t the only reason he gifted you these things, but you thought that it would be nice to have something personal to remember Dormont by. Something outside of your timeloop journey.

“COME ON DOWN HERE, IT’S TIME FOR BREAKFAST!!!” 

Bonnie’s loud shrill voice echoed throughout the Clocktower. 

The smell of freshly cooked eggs and toasted bread along with the buttery pastries already made you aware of the oncoming morning feast you were awaiting.

Isabeau excitedly headed towards the stairwell. “Come and join us when you’re ready, Sif!”

As he descended, you looked down at the jewelry he got you. Even at a discount, it probably cost quite a bit more than you’d ever be able to pay him back.

No. It’s a gift for you. You don’t have to pay him back. Just accept it.

The chain necklace was a little bit weighty, but the links were still thin and intricate. You slipped it over your head and let it rest on you. It was quite comfortable, and it would make a fun sound as you played with it between your fingers.

Not exactly as fun as a thing that goes “ding-ding” when you walk, but… close enough.

You changed out of your pajamas and into your trusty cloak. You decided to show off the chain necklace outside of the collar, too. You slipped the gift box with the earrings into your pockets. Maybe one day you’ll find something to do with them.

But, for now, it was time for a big breakfast with your family.

[frameconfessions]

Analysis/opinions about the current state of Warframe from a 10+ year old veteran player.

Okay this isn’t a confession (or maybe it is I guess) but I’m about to give my 2 cents on an incorrect take being paraded around by salty noobs and people who barely touch the game. “No one plays steel path.”

You’ve never tuned into a Youtuber or twitch streamer’s content before, clearly. 🙄 No one you know plays steel path because you play with people at your current progression in the game who either don’t have it unlocked or refuse to get good and if truly no one played it, it wouldn’t be getting updates every time new nodes and content dropped. We also wouldn’t have at least 2 secret steel path boss fights in game with multiple trophies built into them.

The problem isn’t that “no one plays steel path,” the problem is this Valkyr rework is out of touch with the current state of the game as a whole. It amounts to the developers over exaggerating a problem that isn’t as much of a problem as they’re advertising it out to be to make an attempt at lessening justified community backlash and slapping a bandaid over the cyst that is the current state of health, armor, and survivability in this game.

Some backstory & needed context: The devs clearly saw people losing interest in the base star chart content between constant back-to-back open worlds and no higher end difficulty built into the game. Player retention was dropping, it was the late 2010s content drought & veterans were leaving the game in droves or just stopped playing. This resulted in less money being spent on the game and DE saw what an impact that had. Warframe felt too samey and was boring for dedicated and veteran players alike.

People like Mogamu suggested a battlepass with special challenges and rewards to keep players coming back to the game, to give the dedicated players something new to do. Around that same time was the constant criticism that Warframe is too easy past a certain point, there’s just no real difficulty once you become a dedicated player. DE was taking notes, they heard the community’s problems with the game and saw how it was indeed hurting the game.

Timeline is a bit blurry for me here but sometime in the late 2010s they made railjack (launching with enemies being way too tanky for a lot of people and outpouring way too high DPS), steel path, and Nightwave. These were all made to address the issues that members of the community rightfully pointed out. Then Steel Path kept getting updates to make it actually incentivizing to play!

Power creep happens over time but people are more satisfied with the state of steel path as a whole seemingly. DE cared about making higher end difficulty and we saw that also with Duviri’s circuit mode even in more recent years. They care about the game’s health but there’s been an underlying problem even before steel path existed, health and armor just don’t cut it the further you go in the game.

You can mod for strictly survivability but then your damage can go out the window. Enemies at a certain point just one shot you which leads to players picking up frames that have high energy costs & upkeep for more survivability. Shield gating is but a bandage on the larger injury of late game just not being feasible regarding survivability.

Invulnerability isn’t the fix-all to Warframe’s end game but it is with the current state of difficulty in the game. Taking it away to “test out” slapping shield gate on a frame and nerfing her is just silly and out of touch. I get they spent budget on reworking her & they’re making the excuse that they wanna see how she feels on launch, but dedicated players have already done the math and builds to test her in steel path and it’s just not looking good. Also, we already have frames like Nidus & Inaros if they’re actually going to do something about reworking health & armor.

Is Valkyr just going to have to stay nerfed until more updates are out? How long will that take? How long does she have to sit on the base star chart shelf gathering dust while you “track stats?” If the goal was to sell as many thirsty skins as possible (not getting into the discourse about how it doesn’t look like Valkyr or how it doesn’t suit her idc about that right now) and have as many people playing her as possible in turn, this just isn’t the way to do it. Once those people DE pays to try out Warframe can no longer run her juicy thick self on steel path, they’ll just play a different frame instead.

She won’t get recommendations to be played anymore beyond base star chart and maybe early steel path. People won’t buy an expensive skin for a frame they barely play. Fashion the frames you play most is just common sense and economically smart! That social media influencer you paid to get into Warframe is not gonna stay a casual base start chart player forever. You’ll get your temporary influx of thirsty skin buyers with Isleweaver & whoever DE gets to promote the game to some corner of the internet, but long term? It’s not financially wise because it’s not a solution. It’s putting a sparkly little bandaid over a gaping wound and I’m tired of people pretending it’s not.

Warframe didn’t get to be this good of a game because of reddit white knighting or blind defense of their every decision as developers, it got good and stayed live on servers this long because of the veteran and dedicated players who rightfully criticized the developers choices, gave feedback on why x thing isn’t good and/or how x thing could be improved. Warframe is only good & has only been good when they listen to their dedicated and veteran players.

Covering up a problem in a thirsty purple pink bow isn’t gonna make the wound go away, the blood of the core issues in the game is gonna leak through that fabric. Those new players won’t stay new forever and they’ll soon also see Warframe for what is is, the good and the bad.

I’m also gonna go on record and say that she was not an inactive play-style, managing the energy economy of her is a task and one you have to sink a lot of time into to build for. Her damage is fine as is too; she can hit damage cap, you just don't wanna learn how to build her. The spin melee problem wasn’t really addressed with this and neither was anything else Pablo brought up, but hey at least Warcry is recastable without an augment now; so, it must be good, right!? RIGHT!?

Not listening to dedicated players is how Digital Extremes loses money, dedicated players keep the game alive. I’ve said my piece.

ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS & OPINIONS

Also before any trolls try to say “who hurt you?” Digital Extremes did, by making the game boring as all Hell in the late 2010s for at least a good year or so à la content drought. Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it even in the Warframe community.

The problem is power creep and that problem is far more expensive to fix than a warframe rework or two. If the devs want a warframe to be played a certain way, they’re gonna make the community play that frame that way (even if part of the game’s appeal is player choice and build variety, but I guess that’s not really being considered here). While yes I hear you bringing up my earlier point about energy econ as a counterpoint about player choice, at least current Valkyr is something more unique than a rework that doesn't really change her kit all that much and is essentially just a nerf with sheild gate being once again shoved down our throats. All frames for steel path must be built similarly, this is good game design, right?

I get they wanna make her whole kit useable & I can respect that part, but right now the Hysteria invulnerability nerf is only going to make the game slightly worse overall, not better. Also it hardly seems to set out to fix what it's trying to supposedly fix, but I'd have to get my hands on the first 3 tweaked abilities to really know for sure,

Also don’t even get me started on how disingenuous Pablo’s Hysteria talk felt. "It also had this whole section where at the end of it, you could die if you hadn't done like a certain process that was very confusing for most players. So a lot of people would just end up like once they were running out of energy, they would just hide in a closet and just wait it out, which was pretty bad." I would like to see the stats for how often this actually occurs because I've never seen a Valkyr player do that, even base star chart default colors ones. I felt like I was being PR spoken to and that just makes it feel so wrong.

In a world where health and armor are at a good spot in late game this rework is an acceptable trade off, but right now it shouldn’t be shipped.

Also another thing about you level cap buzzword haters out there... Warframe does care about endurance runs/late game or at least used to back when the Kuva fortress tileset was released. People were doing max cap survival endurance runs, going for world records, and playwarframe was present in the chat cheering them on as well as some of the devs personal twitch accounts at the time. I remember Smashley's stream in particular as an example though it may be lost to time because the internet is not forever, much in contrast to what our parents told us as kids. Also, like I stated previously, Steel Path is consistently getting updates.

Easier financially to try to make small changes and seemingly ignore the bigger issues than to tweak bigger core parts of the game, I'm sure any developer would much rather do the former than the latter. It's smart budgeting even if it hurts the game's longevity, but this Valkyr issue has truly pushed this larger problem into the lime light; hopefully so much so in that they actually do fix the bigger problem. Huge changes are needed for the game's health if the power scaling is going to keep increasing, but Valkyr getting nerfed shouldn't need to come first. Fix the core issues before you put a perfectly good frame in the shredder.

Or maybe I'm just a MR27 (going on 28) salty veteran player ranting and raving about nothing important whatsoever. 🤷‍♀️ - mod Rose

[lurkiestvoid]

I have absolutely zero spoons to provide links this is not a news post this is a ... a sigh. it's widely reported and easily searchable info. Fuck it i came back and added links

memos relating to the bullshit huge federal funding freeze and demanding orgs answer 14 questions by next week to keep their funding, to ensure they aren't supporting "illegal" "DEIA"

The acronym has grown

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility

They're gonna go after the whole fuckin ADA, aren't they.

Oh, and he repealed instructed the DOJ not to enforce the FACE Act, the 90s law to protect clinics, patients, and staff from anti-choice protestors (they can now get right back up to the doors, and short of basically killing someone it just won't be enforced)

They're trying to institute a way to simultaneously email all 2.3 million federal employees at once to be able to "communicate directly" and not have orders "filtered by management". Several lawsuits already, massive privacy concerns, etc.

Loyalty tests have begun for both current employees and applicants, mostly headed by department-inexperienced youths, to ensure full 100% enthusiastic support specifically of MAGA over Republican party and with zero non-party associations or opinions

He revoked equal opportunity employment, killing 60 years of labor+civil rights just as both my trans wife and my trans self are trying to find work

The funding freeze has everyone scrambling. Compliance by 5pm today, so many have been working through the night because some of these programs can't just be flipped like a switch. non-profits panicking. Research suspended. Emergency meetings. Already "temporary" layoffs of medical staff and others, for grant freezes.

r/fednews is a new subreddit for Fed workers to whistleblow and share internal fuckery. Have a random screenshot.

The reddit account that discovered that the funding freeze EO was written by two randos bc the pdf metadata wasn't scrubbed, one of whom is Heritage Foundation, was nuked. An hour later the EO was updated to change the "author"

Aaaaand he's openly talking about deporting "criminals," and regressives are enthusiastically supportive of the idea of deporting "dissidents" like [checks notes] American citizen Selena Gomez.

Etc etc etc oh god there's so fucking much already.

I am left wondering how to personally tread the line between "do not comply in advance" and "do not draw attention to yourself." How to keep my family safe. I am wondering how many of the social media posts encouraging people to scream and be loud and DEMAND to be SEEN and RESPECTED as QUEER/DISABLED/ETC are maybe written by people who don't know or remember how fucking bad the baseline social attitude was towards marginalized people even just twenty years ago, and therefore have zero context for exactly how bad it can get and what it's like to survive daily life in even the mildest of strict national oppression, and maybe don't really even believe us when we try to tell them, think we could never go back that far surely, not for very long surely.

And I am so, so sorry my loves, but you have yet to see a true winter, and you're treating the snow flurries as hyperbole.

[angelnumber27]

violently forcing myself to have better days

[lunarharp]

"Found out" set in kind of a made-up chapter where the girls are in trouble, or something.

[skrunksthatwunk]

i know i make fun of ppl sometimes for having such brainrot about a character that they draw them doing Literally Whatever but i can't stop thinking about kaiji playing minesweeper