#I THINK IT WAS ISSUE 100? SECOND STORY. VERY :(((

[midnightwind]

I hope the next mainline Pokemon game goes back to the rigid route progression, the open world was neat once and now it's exhausting and I'm tired of shit loading in on top of me while I try to walk 10,000 miles to the next npc chat point

[ahqkas]

Hey! Can you please write headcanons for Bruce, Dick, Jason, Tim where they get jealous when reader ignores them for some other guy? (They haven't confessed to her yet because of their issues) The reader is also very oblivious to their feelings and doesn't understand why they are acting weird around her male friend. Thanks 😘

♯BABY COME HOME 2 ME . . . he’s jealous !! (fem!reader)

BRUCE WAYNE

bruce had perfected the skill of keeping his emotions under wraps, but when he saw you chatting animatedly with clark kent of all the people, his jaw tightened, and his usual stoic demeanor grew even colder. he didn’t say anything outright, but his silence became louder, his responses clipped and curt

he spent an unreasonable amount of time analyzing every interaction you had with the superman. he didn’t want to be jealous, but he couldn’t help dissecting your body language, the tone of your laughter, and how often you glanced in clark’s direction. the world’s greatest detective is undone by a simple smile exchanged between you and the man of steel

so he started subtly trying to one-up clark whenever you were around. If clark complimented your choice of book, bruce casually mentioned that he had donated an entire library to that author’s hometown. if clark suggested grabbing coffee, bruce offered to fly you to paris for the best croissant you’ve ever had (competitive much)

he became strangely territorial, appearing wherever you and clark happened to be. need help with research? bruce suddenly has all the resources at his disposal. want to attend a charity event? bruce personally invites you as his guest. his subtle possessiveness confused you, but he waved it off with a dismissive, “i was in the area.”

despite being oblivious, clark catches on pretty quickly. he teases bruce about his attitude, whispering, “you know, she’s just being friendly,” during a team meeting. bruce’s only response is an icy glare, but inside, he’s frustrated that even clark can see what he won’t admit

bruce started making dry, sarcastic remarks when clark’s name came up in conversation. when you mentioned how nice clark is, bruce grumbled, “nice? sure. but can he solve an international financial crisis in a single night?” you think he’s joking, but that man is 100% serious.

DICK GRAYSON

dick prides himself on being the laid-back, easygoing friend, but when he sees you laughing at one of wally’s cheesy jokes, something tightens in his chest. his usual smile falters for a fraction of a second before he forces it back into place. you don’t notice, but wally does, smirking knowingly

he starts teasing wally in a way that’s just a bit sharper than usual. “wow, wally, that story gets funnier every time you tell it,” he says with a smile that doesn’t quite reach his eyes. you laugh along, oblivious, but wally raises an eyebrow, clearly enjoying dick’s discomfort

he becomes oddly competitive, especially when wally’s abilities are involved. if wally races ahead to grab you something, dick will casually say, “sure, he’s fast, but can he do this?” before doing some ridiculously impressive flip that leaves you clapping. he’ll shrug it off like it’s nothing, but he’s secretly watching to see if you’re impressed

dick starts overthinking every little interaction. did you laugh harder at wally’s joke than at his? does wally text you more often? he gets caught up in his own insecurities, wondering if maybe wally is a better fit for you—someone fun and carefree, without the baggage he carries

wally, ever the troublemaker, starts leaning into the situation. he’ll throw an arm around your shoulder or wink at dick while you’re not looking, just to see how far he can push him. dick plays it off with a tight smile, but his fingers twitch as if he’s resisting the urge to yank wally’s hand away from you

at some point, wally corners dick with a smug grin, saying, “so, when are you going to tell her?” dick tries to deny it, but wally isn’t fooled. “come on, grayson. she’s oblivious, not blind. well, actually, she is blind to you, but that’s your fault.” dick groans, knowing wally won’t let it go, ever

later when you two actually get together, wally makes sure to get in the last word, casually saying, “took you long enough, grayson. you’re lucky i’m such a good wingman.” dick rolls his eyes, but for once, he doesn’t argue

JASON TODD

jason is naturally broody, but when he sees you laughing at one of roy’s jokes or leaning closer to hear him better, his usual scowl deepens. his arms cross tighter, his jaw clenches, and his responses become more gruff and sarcastic. you think he’s just annoyed in general, but roy knows better

he doesn’t want to feel jealous of roy—roy’s his best friend, after all—but he can’t help it. he knows his friend is charming and easygoing, and it eats at him that you seem to enjoy roy’s company more than his. he hates himself for the bitterness, but he hates how much he cares even more

he starts pulling away, telling himself it’s better to let you be happy than to deal with these feelings. he’ll find excuses to leave the room when you and roy are hanging out, claiming he has “important red hood business” or muttering, “you two don’t need me hanging around.” his absence feels colder than his usual aloofness :((

jason tries to compete with roy’s charm in his own way. he’ll offer to help you with things before roy gets the chance—fixing something in your apartment, teaching you how to defend yourself, or lending you his jacket when it’s cold. his gestures are quieter but filled with meaning, though you only see them as jason being his usual protective self

roy catches on to jason’s jealousy almost immediately and starts poking the bear. he’ll intentionally sit a little closer to you or tell stories that paint himself as the hero. jason’s glare darkens every time, and roy smirks like he’s won some unspoken game

his friend eventually pulls him aside, half-teasing, half-serious. “you’re going to scare her off if you keep growling like that, jaybird,” he says with a grin. jason denies it, grumbling, “she doesn’t feel that way about me, so what does it matter?” roy shakes his head, muttering, “you’re hopeless,” but decides to give you two some space

“took you long enough. it was written all over jaybird’s face.”

TIM DRAKE

tim isn’t the type to show his jealousy outwardly, so at first, he tries to brush it off. he tells himself he’s being irrational, but every time he sees you smiling at conner or laughing at one of his jokes, it’s like a knife twisting in his chest. he sits there, silently sipping his coffee, pretending it doesn’t bother him

instead of confronting his feelings, tim buries himself in work. whenever you and conner are together, tim conveniently has “important research” or “a mission to plan.” he thinks distancing himself will help, but in reality, he’s just overthinking the situation in the safety of the batcave monitors

tim’s usual polite demeanor starts to crack, and he can’t help throwing in a few passive-aggressive comments. if vonner makes a lighthearted joke about being a hero, tim mutters under his breath, “yeah, because we didn’t already know how amazing you are, conner.” you laugh, thinking tim’s just being witty, while conner gives him a confused side-eye

when you and conner are deep in conversation, tim randomly interjects with obscure facts or strategic insights to redirect your focus. “did you know the alignment of the stars tonight is perfect for an alien incursion? just saying.” you smile and ask him to elaborate, giving him a brief moment of relief that he has your attention again

conner, being tim’s best friend, catches on pretty quickly. he notices the way tim’s eyes linger on you a little too long or how his voice drops when you mention conner’s name. instead of teasing him outright, conner starts backing off slightly, giving tim room to shine

you start noticing tim’s strange behavior—his avoidance, his sudden snarky remarks about conner—and ask him what’s wrong. he insists it’s “nothing,” but the crack in his voice gives him away. still, he’s too guarded to admit what’s really bothering him

later after tim’s confession, conner gives him a playful nudge and a knowing grin. “see? told you she’d feel the same way. maybe now you’ll stop staring at her like a lost puppy.” tim groans, muttering something about how conner’s the real puppy, but he’s secretly relieved—and grateful—that his best friend had his back

after your heart-to-heart, tim’s confidence starts to grow. he’s still awkward at times, but he’s more willing to share how he feels, even if it’s in small, thoughtful gestures. and when conner teases him about finally making a move, tim just smirks, knowing he’s the one who has your heart

ADDITIONAL NOTE! if you like my work, please consider reblogging and / or commenting !! thank you if you do 🤍

[tjmsteph]

˗ˏˋ stephanie brown accessible entry point

this is a list of comics to understand the basics of her character! ive seen a lot of people who didnt know where to start to read so ive compiled this list to make it as easy as possible for new readers to get into stephanie brown

who is stephanie brown?

daughter of the criminal and abusive father cluemaster (arthur brown), she became the spoiler to ‘spoil’ her father’s robbery and overall to protect herself and her mother from him. eventually she digs the vigilante life. she becomes robin briefly and is currently one of the batgirls!

as SPOILER:

⟢ secret origins: 80-page giant

this comic /technically/ is set in the future and is steph ‘telling the story of her childhood’ but honestly i find it pretty suitable even with no context and a must read in my eyes to understand her motives and character

⟢ detective comics 647 - 649

her first appearance… with the iconic brick in the face 😭 this comic is not set in a precise timeline, just post-robin 1991 and pre-knightfall so you can read it with no context as well!

⟢ showcase ‘95 #5 (second story)

PLEASE READ THIS i never see it in reading lists and its sooo important to me. it shows steph’s strained relationship with her mother when her dad is not in the picture and briefly some of her school life!

i’d say read robin (1993) afterwards because it consistently features steph, as much as it is ‘tim’s solo run’, but here THE most important stories (they were very hard to pick)

⟢ robin (1993) #3 - 5

her first appearance in the monthly! and lordd the timsteph here makes me sick. tim being saved by steph 🫶 also more on her and her mom as crystal is starting recovery from drug addiction

⟢ robin (1993) issue 15 - 16

not gonna lie, a huge part of me wants me to suggest it because you get to see arthur get his ass kicked by steph (sweet revenge) but theres also steph being saved by tim for a change and more on steph’s relationship with her dad

⟢ robin (1993) #35

this story for me conveys properly the impact that steph’s upbringing had on her sense of justice and morality being fundamentally different from batman and robin’s, something tim and bruce just can’t understand

⟢ robin (1993) #40 - 41

warning / implied SA (ariana ☹️) the story is a two-parter, steph’s side in issue 40 uses diary entries to explain how she feels about the whole vigilante ordeal. issue 41 is more timsteph oriented but it shows tim finally acknowledging his feelings for steph

⟢ huntress/spoiler: blunt trauma

this story happens during cataclysm but its not necessary to read the whole thing + dean’s first appearance 😒 he is the scumbag bastard ‘father of steph’s child’ + helena and steph linkup!!

⟢ robin (1993) #54 and 56-57

BAD CASE OF THE STEPHS MENTIONED + steph and crystal bonding and tim and steph getting together!!! + robin 57 as guilty pleasure :3 their first official date

⟢ robin (1993) #58-65

warning: dixon tackling teen pregnancy. we all know how that goes. remember dean? well steph got pregnant! and that guy bailed on her. dean when i get you. this arc breaks me everytime, steph you deserve the world ☹️

⟢ lewis era robin (1993) aka robin #100 - 120 HEAVY ON ROBIN 111

warning for SA / glimpses on steph’s childhood + dealing with the fact that her father is dead etc etc that will just make you think we should all just kill ourselves yk!!!!

as ROBIN:

⟢ robin (1993) #126 - 128

warning: debatable writing. robin steph! but take everything with like 5 pinches of different salts 😭 its bad y’all but it is essential. dan didio when i get your ass. dan didio when i get youuu

⟢ steph is dead! arc aka batman 634, detective comics 800 and 809, batgirl 62

i fucking hate war games so im not putting y'all through that. here instead: tim being so overcome by grief he can barely react to steph's passing, bruce remembering steph and cass hallucinating her as she is about to die

after that please just imagine that steph came back cause about every issue after her death was the worst ooc writing ever so, again, not putting you guys through that (its tough for stephanie brown fans)

as BATGIRL:

⟢ batgirl (2009)

i wanna say im conflicted about its writing but its about the best thing steph had post-revival. they constantly insult her spoiler legacy so not a fan of that!! but it is essential and i mostly like the rest so whatever :3 steph’s uni arc!

after that honestly nothing happened for her character, so heres on hoping she gets more stuff

[splinterclan]

Where’s Cedar during all of this? How’s he feeling with the tension between his kits and them, and has he seen Bess since?

He's been in camp under watch somewhat, but he hasn't tried to go see Bess or anything. Mostly just sitting around being a sad guy rn

I'm sorry to hear that, but genuinely so happy my story feels therapeutic. I've also had issues with my parents/mom in the past so while it's not a direct comparison I understand the feelings. I really hope that the way it ends up feels okay to everyone (or at least is interesting to read ;v;)

Getting slapped with what you've been thinking subconsciously but didn't want to admit to yourself make you go :o

This is such a nice reading of her and I think you're right on a lot of points - what Oakclan did was extremely bad for her and she is so right to choose her own way of living. But when she gave up her kits it was because she didn't want to care for them - she had never really seen herself as a mother and when they came along well. Cedarheart would take care of them, she could give them up and assume they were doing fine, No problems

It was only after he insisted that they should see her after they were older and pushed for a relationship there that she started to like them and want to be around them. If she had a second litter she'd 100% keep them, but she gave up the cedarlings for selfish reasons at the time (which I think is Bess's character flaw boiled down to one word - she's very selfish and it def hurts those around her!)

[kingofbodyrolls]

Rewriting the Threads of Fate | mini series masterlist

Co-written with @letjungcoook7 💕

In 2025, BTS disbands quietly, without a final concert or farewell. One fan—you, grieving, lost, and arching for closure—makes a wish to fix whatever went wrong. You wake up in 2011. Before the debut. Before the fame Before Jimin gave up everything. Fate gives you a chance to rewrite history, but love makes it complicated. When Jimin falls for you and considers walking away from BTS, you have to make an impossible choice: Save the band… or save the boy you thought you knew. But changing the past comes at a cost—and in the new future, you wake up married to the man who never became an idol. Now, in a reality where BTS was never seven, and love means living with regret, you have one final chance to put things right. But the heart doesn’t always listen to reason. Especially not when another member—quiet, guarded, too observant—might be the one who truly sees you. “You were never meant to be mine. But maybe… you were meant to find me.” Will you choose the dream, the boy, or yourself? A love story across timelines. A fan’s heart. A future that never was. You can’t fix everything. But maybe, just maybe… you can choose what matters most.

→ Pairing: jimin x (gender neutral) reader and yoongi x (gender neutral) reader if you squint → AUs: time travel!au, idol!au, fantasy!au,  → Trope: bias to ??? → Genres: angst, minor fluff, unrequited love, hurt/comfort, alternate timelines, fame vs love. → Rating: mature (language and sensitive subjects, but 100% SFW!) → Total word count: 24k → Warnings and triggers: angst, grief, emotional distress, mental health issues and struggles (anxiety, depression and mentions/references to suicidal thoughts and ideation), time travel, time travel paradox, time travel implications, coarse language, dissociation-like experience, self-doubt, BTS disbandment, insomnia, exhaustion, altered timelines, identity confusion, fear of failure, romantic tension, fear of abandonment, bittersweet, nostalgia, mild melancholy, protectiveness, heartbreak, conflicts, crying, relationship struggles, second chances, memory, fate, emotional breakdowns, bittersweet love, healing from afar, letting go, emotional maturity, emotional restraint, emotional pain, reference to identity and memory loss, unspoken love, rebirth, military enlistment stress and trauma, soft hope, legacy, distant love, memories of past trauma. → Read on AO3? [link]

→ Chapter 01: The Last Song → Chapter 02: Back to the Beginning → Chapter 03: You Don’t Belong Here → Chapter 04: What If You Stayed? → Chapter 05: The Moment it Shatters → Chapter 06: The Confession → Chapter 07: Fracture → Chapter 08: The Ghost of Life → Chapter 09: The Second Wish → Chapter 10: This Time, Let go → Chapter 11: The Life That Was Meant to Be → Chapter 12: Heartbeat [fin]

→ Taglist (permanent): @nora12379, @jeonsbabygirlsworld, @fancypeacepersona, @ktownshizzle, @pjmxxjm, @ajoonniice, @kookiewithluv, @mikrokookiex, @rapmonjoon94, @parkitrighthere,

→ Taglist (series): @graydolan12 (you wanted to be tagged for anything Jimin if I remember correctly, otherwise I can remove you from the taglist) If you wish to be tagged for this series, just let me know in the comments!

→ Author’s endnote: what do you think of it? Ready to join me on this time travel adventure?? 🥹 and if you’re worried about all the angst—yeah, it’s a lot, but I promise it’s very beautiful. You might cry, yes, but I swear it will be a good cry! And if angst is too much for you, that’s okay, you can just skip this one. And if you don’t read anything without smut, you can find plenty of other fics out there. This story is one that me and my friend Lua (@letjungcoook7) wanted to write together, which we partially did. The plot and theme was completely her idea, and after we’ve been sitting on it for like a year, I suddenly got the inspiration to kick it off. I do hope that some, just a few of you guys out there, will find a spark in it 🥹 © @/kingofbodyrolls and @/letjungcoook7 2025 // Please don’t copy or repost! You are more than welcome to reblog it, leave a comment or ask me anything about the story 🥰

[acexsmhking]

𝐓𝐨𝐬𝐤𝐚

(𝗻.) 𝗮𝗻 𝗶𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗲 𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗮𝘁 𝗼𝗻𝗰𝗲. 𝗔𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗴𝘂𝗶𝘀𝗵 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗼𝗺 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘁

╰┈➤ General Brian Thomas Head-canons

Summary: General head-canons for our second oldest boy. Isn’t it so crazy to think about how old all the creeps are now

Warning(s): 18+ content, canonical & non-canonical, personal views, mentions of violence, mentions of death

SFW!!!

I cannot physically describe to y’all how fulfilling a relationship with Brian is. Like he is, perfect

If you don’t count the vast amounts of times he just disappears, the camera he’s so protective of and the black mask you found stuff in a corner of the cloest

Or the torn up, red stained yellow hoodie…

No besides all that Brian is perfect

You meet him sometime after he comes back (HE’S NOT DEAD!!! I say as they drag me off to a white padded room)

He’s grocery shopping with Tim and you catch his eye. And well.. Brian loves pretty things, why ya think he still hangs out with Tim’s troublesome self?

He comes up to you first, starts a conversation before asking you out for coffee. He walks back to Tim after you accept and they walk away like schoolgirls as Tim hypes him up

Brian is without doubt, the sweetest. The date was welcoming and very good. Amazing conversations, shared hobbies and interests. You thought he was almost too good to be true

Which he is. He definitely has his flaws. Such as you noticed very intense trust issues that he tries very hard to hide

You also realized at times he could go days.. weeks and even months of just silence. No word, no seeing him around and then he’d pop up like nothing happened

You also noticed this strange guy in a yellow hoodie standing from afar of your home…

Getting to know Tim though was fun, especially listening to Brian tell some of their funny embarrassing stories from college

You also quickly realize just how inseparable they are and in sync too. So naturally befriending Tim was like second nature

Things were going so amazing. Probably for about a year and then… you get jumpscared by that strange hood guy. Of course you recognize the hoodie from seeing a few times in Brian’s closet

You are of course flabbergasted with your mind switching between panic and trying to talk to who you assume is Brian.

Well let’s just say after a lot of hand gestures and paper dialogue you manage to calm down just enough for hoodie to touch you

He was giggling in his head

Hoodie refuses to let Brian back for bout a week. He’s finally getting to meet you!! Like rlly meet you and see you and touch you without going through to window or sneaking through the home…

Once Hoodie finally lets Brian back he explains everything to you, later Tim confirms (and apologizes for the 100th time) everything

It’s… a lot to take in and you’re not 100% you believe everything but you guys talk everything out and form boundaries and you start spending more time with Hoodie

Masky is a little jealous about you, but he plays it cool. Overtime he feel more comfortable with you

You learn very quickly that Hoodie is incredibly mischievous and rather petty. It’s quite funny seeing him do occasional pranks or acts of mischief on Masky/Tim and Toby

NSFW!!

MEOW is he pretty

Ahem.

Sure he isn’t as thick as Tim but golly is he a perfect length bout 7 1/2in with the prettiest light pink tip ever.

He is trimmed!! Brian is very well groomed. Especially around his pits. No stink stink in this town ladies and lads.

Brian himself is… actually rather mean during sex. Big on teasing and has a huge thing or orgasm denial. Like I mean LOVES bullying you

Hoodie however is a little softer, he can still manhandle you subconsciously however he loves praising. They’re both so amazingly in love with you though

Brian/Hoodie are both very open to exploration however, Hoodie can be a little nosy and might want to do more and more research before actually trying it out.

LINGERIE. THEY LOVE LINGERIE

100% records y’all’s moments (consensually of course) he has a separate camera just to film y’all

Brian has a rlly average sex drive, but he’s more than willing to meet any needs of yours.

Have I mentioned how fulfilling a relationship with Brian is? He’s just so heart eyes ya know

Brian can be rather protective of you, but in a more of a if you tap him in he’ll join a fight with you. Hoodie though? Hoodie is all fists first, questions later. Hoodie would also most definitely fuck you in front of someone

Brian more so like privacy

Hoodie/Brian made you a necklace once out of flowers <3

Gosh do they love receiving head. Like I mean they love it. They will let you spend HOURS down there if you really want

BIG ON AFTERCARE!!! Hoodie and Brian are already very big on taking care of you so the aftercare is godly. They will draw you a bubble bath, with any candles or snacks you want even if they have to go out and buy them real quick

Brian is the biggest one on kids in the group. However he is also very much so okay remaining child-free. He just thinks little you’s and him’s are too cute<3

Hoodie gets really bad baby fever and WILL breed you the foreseeable future. Much like Masky, Hoodie is his own.. umm person?? Ya know. So he has his own level of intelligences, memories, thoughts and opinions

So much like Masky, Hoodie doesn’t exactly get the point of not having babies. Sure The Operator exists but Hoodie for a while kinda just assumes it’s in everyone’s lives. Of course later Tim has to kinda explain all this to him

He catches on quick.. still would like a chubby baby

You think you’d be bad taking in stray animals?? OMG DOES HOODIE BRING IN SO MANY. Calls them your kids. Happy little family with 3 cats, 5 dogs and this random family of deer that come by

Anyways back to the point

Brian is 100% a top. But more like a service top kinda. Of course; things aren’t really defined (unless you do talk about it) but Brian just likes taking care of you and spoiling you, especially in bed

: ̗̀➛ Phew!! This has been in my drafts for a while. Thank you y’all for being so patient with me these past couple days. Sometimes motivation can be weird but I promise I will pump out content the best I can! I’m so happy to be making new friends and making yall happy!! — Ace

[ms-demeanor]

More workmusing incoming.

(updated with more info)

I'm trying to figure out whether a problem that I'm stumbling across is incompetence or embezzling.

I don't *think* it's embezzling, and there's enough general incompetence floating around that it's totally possible that people just straight-up don't know about this problem.

The issue that I'm having here is with the escalation chain. My direct manager is the previous person who oversaw the current pile of dogshit that I'm poking at, and I have no idea what's going to happen if I present my findings to him alone.

I'm wondering if it's worthwhile to ambush him and his manager in a meeting we're all in together instead of just sending the info to only my manager.

I'm wondering how exceptionally shitty it would be for me to BCC my grandboss if I send this as an email.

I've already asked my direct manger for permission to throw a ton of time into investigating this because I think this is probably something that the exec team would want to have as priority 1, but if he says "no, that's not a big deal" do I just trust him that there's a solution in the works or do I go around him?

I am also not poking at this dogshit under anyone's orders, it is dogshit that is peripheral to a recurring process that I'm now overseeing.

But long story short, on a monthly basis we're charging clients $600 for something that costs us $800. Not total; per client. It's costing us thousands of dollars each month.

It is very weird to me that I have found something that seems that egregious and I'm waffling about telling my manager and am worried about being reprimanded if I tell somebody else.

There is another manager who is not actually my manager, and I know this, but it would be nice to get advice from someone who is not in the direct chain of command so in a private conversation I basically asked him what he would do in this situation and his comment was "I'm not your manager so that's not my problem" and. Yeah. I know that. I get that, my guy. I'm asking for advice or some guidance or some shit; you've been here longer than I have, you get paid more than I do, and you've known my manager for twelve years.

The second guy is very raw that he wasn't picked to be a manager and he got put on the management team only after someone quit very suddenly and we needed to fill a gap. He says he wants to be a manager, he wants responsibility, but if anybody asks him for help or advice he's just like "not my problem, figure it out" or (literally his favorite answer) "I don't care." He's salty that people aren't describing him as part of the leadership team and that the execs aren't putting any faith in him as a manager but. MY GUY. MY DUDE. BUD.

Like, I get that if I drop these problems and just let whatever happens happen that's kind of shitty, but it literally isn't my job. I'm very much a cog in the machine and I can get away with "well nobody told me to do that/it wasn't assigned to me/that's not my department" if I want to. But I didn't ask to be made a manager, and I certainly didn't get that pay bump. I am so deeply annoyed at this guy whining that he's not being respected as a manager while I'm watching him refuse to do anything outside of what he's been explicitly instructed to do.

___________________________

Basically we know what we're charging customers, but we don't know what we're paying for the services we're charging them for.

Let's say that someone has the Teapot Polishing Bundle, which includes teapot polish, paint touchups, ceramic wax, stain remover, and we've recently added a handle shine and spout grouting.

An example client has signed up for 100 of the polishing bundles each month, and I'm looking at what services they're actually getting.

They've got 100 bundles, but they're using 130 pot polishes, 70 paint touchups, 60 bottles of ceramic wax, and 100 stain removers. They're also using 115 handle shines and 200 cases of spout grout, but we never added the cost of the latter two services to the package.

There are two massive problems with this bundle:

I can't adjust the individual service counts to get an accurate picture of how much the client is actually using (and therefore how much they are actually costing us) (basically I have to do license counts every month and the only accurate count of all services is in my excel document from month to month and TODAY I realized we're not billing for two of these services)

We need to be charging for the two added services.

So the assumed cost of the bundle is $8 per teapot, but the services they're actually using when broken down are costing us $12 per teapot, and the client has a big discount for the bundle overall (60% off the normal price, which is true for a couple dozen of our clients) so we're only charging them $10 per teapot for the bundle.

for THIS customer, and customers with the same discount, we're losing money. It's totally possible that we have a different subset of customers who are being overcharged for services that are no longer included in their bundles.

________________________________

Also the first time I did this count was February, I did it with supervision in March, and this is my first time doing it all alone, and both the previous months I got told "we'll worry about the miscounts later" by my boss and the exec who used to do the count. There is a vague awareness that the counts are wrong, but this is the first time I've done math on it and I'm not sure if I'm going to have clearance/approval to do the same level of detailed analysis for the bundles for people outside the group of 15 clients (we have about 300 clients)

[ladyloveandjustice]

Sorry, I know this isn't the point of your post but the idea that Jason Todd of all people is the most popular character for Batfamily fanfiction blows my mind. He's my absolute top pick for "this character should have stayed dead and nothing they've done with them since bringing them back justified it."

I really disagree with you there! First of all, I don't like that Jason died in the first place--the reasoning for him being unpopular was very. of it's time. I personally do not mind that Jason may have killed a rapist, and I enjoyed him as Robin. Holding a poll to kill a child character and then killing him in SUCH a violent, painful and drawn out way is...in poor taste at best...I'd call it gross and ghoulish, myself.

Yes, he's a fictional character. But this is from the same company that was like 'we hate this kid maybe we should give him AIDS' because that's apparently a punishment or whatever and also said "cripple the bitch" about Babs. They way they treat these characters, and encourage fans to treat them, speaks of deeply held attitudes. Like we can't pretend classism wasn't involved here any more than we can pretend it wasn't misogyny with Babs, the aids thing was 100% "well he's a dirty street kid why wouldn't he get aids!!!"

It fostered a really fucked mentality in fans, and it's just incredibly close to torture porn too. Aaaand it and the Killing Joke pretty much ruined the Joker as a villain he cannot be fun or tbh, interesting anymore, the fact that a kid died being Robin ruins the wish fufillment of Robin and makes Batman look horrible for letting kids fight crime , when it's NOT supposed to be realistic! It's supposed to be fun and cool and a genre convention!

Jason was also relentlessly victim blamed after he died. Like I've been going through some comics where Jason was just mentioned and 75% of the time they find some way to blame it on him, he 'disobeyed orders' he 'wasn't skilled and all he had was anger' (that one's super bizarre because he was never presented as incompetent)... One thing that's happened as a result of his resurrection is the characters don't consistently do that anymore since it's awkward to do it when he's right there and he does not agree it was his fault (rightly!)

Second, they'd done absolutely pretty much every story they could do about his death anyway in the fifteen years. Bruce grieving, every member of the Batfamily hallucinating him, comparing everything reckless thing any Robin or Batgirl or Spoiler does to Jason, cute little ghost appearances, it's all been done. So like...why not bring him back if that leads to a new story? That's the thing with comics ongoing forever and a big reason I think characters tend to come back from the dead a lot. If your story is neverending, you'll naturally come to 'hey what if so and so was alive again".

So I don't really think there needs to be a justification for coming back, it was a poorly written story that shouldn't have happened in the first place, and also why not, there's a lot of interesting directions it could have gone in.

The way it was executed was bad. Lost Days is a surprisingly solid comic rereading it again, but other than that. man, The writing for Jason was a mess. But that doesn't mean he should have stayed dead, just that DC sucks at writing.

But he seems solid in a couple more recent comics I read in the Jason doc, and I think he's a fun character in Wayne Family Adventures (it's for kids and sometimes a little saccharine, yeah, but it means he's at least consistently characterized.) You definitely can write him well or at least as interesting.

Jason being popular with fans (particularly fanficcers, a good portion of whom are women) isn't really a big suprise--he is edgy and angsty and sarcastic boy and has the most tragic and broken relationship with Bruce probably which means daddy issues and family drama galore, which fanfic loves. and also is mad at Bruce the most and anyone who has to read Batman will want to rage at this man too so. I get it.

(There's also the fact that all the times he did "excessive force" as Robin involved violence against women (or children, once). This was definitely not on purpose, it was just because DC considered it to be EDGIEST THING, but it does make it easy to sympathize with his POV over Bruce when you read that).

And also seemingly BECAUSE DC doesn't handle him great-- a lot of the top fanfics (and ones I've read) are alternate takes on what could have happened-- what if catatonic Jason was found before Talia got him, what if she decided to bring him home after the Lazarus pit, what if the first meeting with Tim had gone differently, etc etc. And a lot of them are pretty good! I am all for kid Jason coming back and having good things happen to him and him actually awkwardly reinitegrating with everyone...it's really interesting.

So yeah, I get it re: Jason. I just think the girls are just as interesting, and it's very notable you have to go through pages and pages on Ao3 to get anything focused on one of them when you sort by kudos (I actually didn't find any...it was making me too annoyed so I didn't keep searching. There was one goofy one that Stephanie played a big role in at least)

[hooksbooks]

This is the second of two books I bound for @renegadeguild's Tiny Books Bang. The story is brilliant (like a confession) by kathkin (@penny-anna) and was typeset by @wolfsbanesparks. It's a Clark/Lois identity reveal story where Lois confesses her feelings about Clark to Superman. Let me tell you what, identity shenanigans is a trope I never get tired of no matter how many stories I read with it.

I had the idea to cover the book in blue bookcloth with the Superman symbol on the front, and then re-cover the book with white cotton shirting with a functional button placket so you could unbutton the shirting and pull it aside to reveal the Superman logo underneath. I thought about having the placket extend from the front to the back and having the symbol on the spine, but I was worried about longevity and if it would be awkward to hold the book open to undo the buttons so I ended up doing it just on the front cover.

I had some normal-sized shirt buttons I was planning on using, but luck had it that I found some tiny buttons at a garage sale the morning that I was going to sit down and sew the placket and buttonholes, so that was serendipitous.

I tried my best to balance the necessity of having enough wiggle room in the shirting so that you could pull it to the side and see the symbol underneath without having so much that it looked weird when the buttons were closed. I'm not sure I for sure succeeded--I think the book looks a little weird when buttoned shut. Possibly it would have worked better with shirting that had a bit of stretch in it rather than the 100% cotton that I used, or perhaps the book is just too small and it would have worked better in a larger format.

I used yellow polka-dot endpapers because the Superman symbol is very red-blue-yellow. I already had blue bookcloth and a red bookmark so I wanted yellow endpapers, and what I had was polka-dotted. I also sewed a charm in the shape of Clark's glasses onto the end of the bookmark.

Technical details:

Sextodecimo size (approx. 2" by 3")

Sewn-on endpapers

Rounded but not backed

Trimmed with a utility knife and a straightedge clamped down to my worktable

Things I especially like about this bind:

I'm really proud of the idea of opening up the "shirt" of the cover and seeing the Superman symbol underneath. It's a really fun idea, and I think I pulled it off as well as could be expected on such a tiny book.

The glasses charm is adorable.

Things I'd like to change/improve for next time:

The shirting pokes up weirdly at the top and bottom of the front cover when the buttons are closed. I don't think there's any way I could have improved things on this tiny of a book, but I probably wouldn't do it again unless the book was at least a quarto.

The shirting made the front covers quite thick. I added an extra spacer of cardstock between the cover and the endpapers to help the inside of the covers not be so lumpy, but I feel that they're still a little out of proportion. Likely this wouldn't be an issue on a book with a larger format.

Overall feelings: Fairly pleased. I didn't knock it out of the park, but the idea was good and I did a pretty good job.

[cloverapple]

hiii! i came across your blog yesterday, and i love your advice. that's why i feel like you would be the best person to ask these questions that I've been having for the longest time (sorry, long read ahead).

I've studied LOA for the past 2 years or so, and even though i have a good understanding of it, there are some things that always trip me up when it comes to shifting.

how do i deal with waking up to the 3d? yes, by assuming that you are in your dr and that you shifted last night. that's the most logical answer. but even though i know that, sometimes it is a lot easier said than done. for example, a few days ago i wanted to manifest shifting by simply deciding i could shift on command and that i am there. i could be 100% sure the day before that it would happen. the whole day, and even a few days after that I'd stay in that state of being a master shifter, and i would feel amazing because of it. but it's like there always comes a point where i wake up to the 3d and i get discouraged (yes, i acknowledge that i am manifesting that reality by saying this, but i finally have to get this off my chest). my thoughts get all messed up and i start spiraling, returning to my previous state. i start questioning myself a bit and feel down. the main reason for that being time.

it took me so so long to figure out this issue about myself. I'd be like: how long is it gonna take? when will it happen? i know i have it in the 4d but when will it appear in the 3d? having it in the 4d isn't enough, i need to have it in the 3d right now. stuff like that. i find it very difficult to formulate my thoughts, but basically I'm in a spiral of:

watching a video/reading a post about LOA/shifting that reminds me of how easy it is -> applying LOA to shifting/any desire in a way that feels good for a few days at most -> starting to question myself after a few days because it hasn't shown up yet in the 3d (which is caused by me forgetting the role the 3d plays and how LOA works) even though i did everything "right" (e.g. letting go of control or the outcome, deciding, not wavering, etc.) -> falling back into a state where i question how i can shift, what i am doing wrong, etc. -> repeat

how can i break out of this cycle?

i think the main problem here is time and in general the 3d.

i know that the 3d is not a measure of my success, only made up of my current assumptions etc. i know that. but it's like i forget it once i step into the state i wanna be in and stay there for an extended period of time.

i always hear people say that "time isn't real" but i still don't really know what that means, how to apply it or how to internalize it. i really need that mental "click" to finally understand it and use that concept in my favor. because my problem is that with manifesting/shifting, after a while i start asking questions about why it's taking so long the 3d. for example, most nights i fall asleep with the assumption that I'll wake up in my dr (while letting go of control and not wavering) the next morning. but when it doesn't happen eventually, i start to question why, because since time comes from consciousness aka me, it should work in my favor.

I'm honestly so lost right now and i would really appreciate some help because I'm spiraling again. I've known about shifting since 2020 but only realized how ridiculously easy it is after joining tumblr this year and yup, i acknowledge that i am desperate to shift, preferably right now. it's not something i admit to anyone or myself because that's basically continuing to tell a story i don't want to experience (a surefire way to fail), but it is unfortunately the truth as of right now.

thank you for reading, i know this was a lot to get through!! (*^^*)

So pause for a second, because I’m going to tell you something I hope to ingrain in the mind of everyone who sends me an ask—and that you need to remember before reading everything I’m about to say:

YOU ALREADY KNOW HOW TO SHIFT. The ability is inside you right now. The moment you read this, your mind already knows how to shift. Everyone does.

The moment you accept this, you solve half of your problems.

And then you tell me, "But if I know how to shift, why isn’t the 3D reflecting that?"

Well, yeah. You painted the house, and now you’re sitting there watching the paint dry.

Look, watching the 3D closely and looking for results isn’t a problem for some people. Some can assume, “I’m already in my DR,” open their eyes, and BAM—they’re in their DR.

Some people assume, “I will shift tonight,” and just like that, they shift that night.

Some people let go of their DRs, stop putting them on a pedestal, and they shift.

Some people clutch their DRs close to their heart until their knuckles turn white—and they shift.

It sounds a lot like you’re forcing yourself into a method of applying the Law of Assumption that doesn’t serve you. Why?? If you recognize that your issue is focusing on time and constantly checking the 3D, work around it. Remove time from your shifting journey.

I don’t like assuming I already have something, then checking the 3D and not seeing it there. Hell, I can shift on command, and yet, if I were to lay in bed right now and tell myself, “I’m in my DR,” I guarantee you I wouldn’t shift. Why? Because that doesn’t work for me.

My dude, change the way you affirm. If affirming in the present (“I already shifted”) doesn’t work for you, change it! Say, “I’m going to shift.” If even that hasn’t been working, let go of implementing time into your affirmations.

Change “I’m going to wake up in my DR in the morning” to “I’m going to wake up in my DR at some point because I KNOW I can shift.”

Change “I’m in my DR right now” to “I can’t wait to be in my DR.”

Remove time from your affirmations and assumptions, because that’s clearly the problem here. Instead of trusting that you’ll shift tonight, trust yourself because you already know how to shift. Or trust your mind because it knows how to shift. Trust your awareness because it knows how to shift.

“I fall asleep with the assumption that I'll wake up in my DR (while letting go of control and not wavering) the next morning.”

If this were completely true, you wouldn’t be sending me this ask. You wouldn’t be doubting yourself as much as you just did in everything you typed. Truly letting go means releasing the need to see results in the 3D.

So, take time out of your assumptions. From now on, say “I will shift.” Or say, “I already know how to shift.”

Your brain then goes: “……???….uh….” looking at the 3D all confused “When? We haven't shifted!”

And you tell it, “It doesn’t fucking matter because I’m going to shift eventually.”

Now, let’s say hypothetically, one week passes and you haven’t shifted. One month passes, and you haven’t shifted. Two months pass, and you haven’t shifted.

And then you come back and say, “Clover, why the heck haven’t I shifted yet? It’s been (insert amount of time). You told me to remove time as an expectation, so why haven’t I shifted yet??”

And I’ll smile at you and ask, “So you’ve been counting the days?”

Let me tell you something about letting go—and hypothetically, ignoring the 3D.

Treat your ability to shift like your fortune. You have a fortune sitting in your bank account right now, and you’re rich. Do you think a rich person checks their bank account every hour to confirm they’re still rich?

"Well yeah, Clover, because a rich person’s reality already reflects that, they’re sitting in a mansion with all their riches."

Your fortune, what makes you rich, is your ability to shift. You already know how to shift. Shifting isn’t something you learn how to do, just like breathing isn’t something you learn how to do. Just like chewing isn’t something you learn how to do. It is an integral part of every human being. If you have awareness, then the ability to shift exists within you.

You don’t learn shifting—you learn yourself.

You learn what makes you shift. What makes you manifest easily. What makes you assume easily. What kind of affirmations your subconscious doesn’t argue against. What makes your self-concept skyrocket.

Because everyone is different, everyone shifts differently. What works for Person A might not work for Person B. What works for Person B might not work for Person C, and so on.

Even my reply to you, it might not resonate with you. But that’s not my fault, and it’s not yours. If that's the case, your job is to look elsewhere—and, in the best-case scenario, look internally because that’s where the answers always are.

Let’s go over your fix options because I just yapped a lot:

YOU ALREADY KNOW HOW TO SHIFT.

Remove time from your affirmations and assumptions. Removing time from your shifting process makes it so you have nowhere in the 3D to look.

Stop paying attention to the 3D and pay attention to yourself because what’s going to shift is your awareness, not the damn 3D. Every time you catch yourself thinking, “Oh, but it’s not showing up in the 3D,” remind yourself:

A) You already know how to shift.

B) Shifting is something you can do.

C) It could happen at any moment, so why should anything else matter?

If you were promised a million bucks from a 100% trustworthy source, would you spiral?

One more thing before I wrap this up:

It could be that actively using the Law of Assumption isn’t what works best for you. Maybe you work better with visualizing. Maybe you induce the feeling of being in your DR or being a "master shifter." Maybe subliminals work better for you. There is a world of options out there, and it is completely useless to force yourself to do something that's only bringing frustration in the end. Because there is no singular way to shift. There is no singular way to manifest. And sometimes—for some people—while the Law of Assumption is always true, focusing on it directly isn’t what serves you.

[aroaceleovaldez]

I HAVE BEEN REMINDED OF SOMETHING i think i've made a post about it before but maybe it's just sitting in my drafts. idk, whatever, I will ramble again. Said thing that reminded me was a tiktok by madison_murrah about how the PJO TV show doesn't get the balance between mundanity and magical correct for pjo and I want to expand on that cause while a.) it totally is a problem in the show and i take issue with it, b.) it is also a problem in later books and i ALSO take issue with that too and i would like to elaborate on it

this got long so ramble of the day below the cut:

so the thing is that PJO is actually pretty unique in it's approach to hidden world modern fantasy. like, hidden world modern fantasy is a decently established genre with a ton of examples, but there's a reason why PJO stands out so much, and that's because technically it's NOT "hidden world." There is very intentionally no distinction between the mundane world and the mythological, at least in first series. They 100% overlap. And you do not necessarily need to be "special" to see the "mythological world-" some mortals are totally naturally clear-sighted, a lot of kids are clear-sighted, and it's like 50/50 for if mortals can become clear-sighted. In fact, most demigods aren't immune to the effects of the Mist, all that really matters is if you're actually thinking about being able to see through it. And there's a reason for that!

In general, this format of the "hidden world" modern fantasy serves two purposes: One, as the series is meant to introduce people to Greek mythology and explain why it is relevant and how it can be relatable in modern contexts, it intentionally juxtaposes myths against modern concepts: Medusa runs an apparently average garden statue store. Procrustes runs a mattress store. The entrance to the Underworld is in LA at a record store. Circe lives on an island paradise that's secretly dangerous. Hydras are like chain donut stores that seem to pop up on every corner. Perseus and his mother struggle in Perseus' childhood but get a happy ending. Calypso has an island paradise where the challenge for the hero of our story is being tempted to leave behind his goals. The plot of Sea of Monsters is blatantly the Odyssey, and it's about Percy trying to get to his best friend (who he shares a literal psychic link to) who is in danger of getting married to someone awful (a literal monster) to help you understand Odysseus trying to get back to Penelope and how important to each other and in sync they are. Battle of the Labyrinth is Theseus and the Labyrinth and it's Percy/Theseus trying to protect his home and his people and fellow kids (like Nico) from the dangers in the maze. These are all supposed to help us understand what is actually going on in those stories.

We also still see how Greek mythology influence shapes and influences western culture in general in their world (which is supposed to be our own and so uses real-world examples) - in government, in architecture, in pop culture - Mythomagic is clearly supposed to be your standard TCG like Magic The Gathering. And in general there is no distinction between where the mythological ends and mundane begins - Camp Half-Blood is both a magical training space for demigods and your run of the mill underfunded summer camp, complete with cheesy camp songs and t-shirts and crafts. Olympus is located on top of the Empire State Building which is operating completely as normal except for when a demigod asks to go to a non-existent floor. Your best friend with a muscular disease in his legs is secretly a satyr. Your brother with down syndrome is a cyclops. Your teacher in a wheelchair is secretly an immortal centaur. Your crappy algebra substitute is a literal fury. But also they're still your teachers. The satyr is still your best friend, the cyclops is still your brother. And that brings me to the second aspect of all of this (which i have talked about before [here] and [here]) - the other purpose it serves is that it is an extension of the overarching disability themes that form the core of the series.

The entire reason that meshing of mundanity and magical is so intertwined is entirely because it's part of the disability metaphor, specifically inspired by early 2000s parenting/teaching concepts for children with disabilities, particularly learning disabilities, as trying to reframe disabilities as "superpowers" to empower kids (and still exists in some more modern forms - like referring to disabilities as "being differently-abled") (I talk about it in my previous post on the subject but this generally fell out of favor due to many kids/students finding it belittling of their struggles) - this is why we get the description of ADHD and Dyslexia being framed as "demigod superpowers." In the series this structure is intentionally made to encourage kids to reframe how they view disabilities in general as not something negative but something interesting and fantastical that they may be more open to engage with - and PJO does this in a really nice way where a lot of the disability struggles are still acknowledged and treated sympathetically. Kids still get bullied, Percy and Annabeth struggle in school or with reading/spelling, they grapple with both internal and external ableism. The entire reason for the titan war in the first series, at least from the demigod perspective, is criticizing flawed systems meant to support disabled people that don't do their job effectively or let too many people fall through the cracks. The Mist "hiding" the "mythological world" from mortals (and even some demigods) is about how most abled people (and some undiagnosed people) don't recognize disability struggles until it affects them personally. None of these things are glossed over! It's handled with nuance and care! The series says "you can be disabled and you can be like these fantastical heroes - not in spite of your disability, but alongside it. Neither negates the other." The series was explicitly made so Rick's disabled son could see himself in a hero and learn about mythology for school. Those are the two pillars of the entire franchise: Disability and learning about mythology.

So, when you mess with that "hidden world" structure, the entire thing falls apart and it immediately doesn't feel right, because it's no longer serving either of those two purposes when it needs to be fulfilling both. Late-series Riordanverse has a tendency to compartmentalize the mythological and keep it entirely sectioned off from the mundane. Think about first series and even TKC versus later series - how many mortal characters are there? what do they do? are they just in the background or do they interact with the main cast frequently? are they more than just family or an extension to the main cast? First series we see Percy's classmates frequently, Percy talks about his mundane experiences at school, multiple mortal parent characters (and other mortal characters like Rachel) are active participants in and vital to the plot. We even see a lot of background mortal characters. In TKC, not only are all the magicians technically mortal, but also Sadie's completely mundane best friends help her out. Now think about HoO, or ToA, or even MCGA. Think about the mortal characters in those series. How important are they? Out of the important ones, how much are they in mundane situations versus being almost entirely involved in something mythological? How many aren't related to any of the main cast? How many aren't actively working for a god? The answer is basically zero! Why is that? Because Rick stopped letting the mundane exist. The entire draw of the main series is that Percy does continue to live this mundane life and that adds to his mythological life and makes the balance and meshing between them interesting, but basically all mundanity ceases to exist by HoO. Camp Jupiter is an isolated entirely magic town. Percy and Jason's schools are full of mythological beings as basically the only people they interact with. The Tri's headquarters is an entire giant building in New York City that they completely control that just so happens to ALSO be directly across the street from the local Oracle's house, because even where Rachel lives isn't allowed to be mundane anymore. Why is Olympus just at the top of the Empire State Building versus the Tri having an ENTIRE building? That feels weird and unbalanced, particularly given the difference in importance between those two! Because one is playing into that balance of the meshing of mundane and magical and the other isn't! The show continues this trend. It doesn't allow any of the mythological to exist within mundanity like it functions in the books, which creates a completely different atmosphere and doesn't allow those spaces or scenes or characters to serve their actual narrative purposes, either making it easier to understand mythology contextually or what disability metaphor or representation is occurring there.

It's part of the problem with show!Percy being too mythologically-savvy - Percy is supposed to be the mundane lens unfamiliar with mythology that the audience is learning by proxy through. That's the entire point of the series! If you have Percy already know everything because he's already too ingrained into this mythological environment from the start, and he just exists in this entirely magical world where he understands everything immediately then the literal target audience of the entire franchise (students being introduced to mythology) is left behind! That's part of why the pacing of the show feels so bad! It's rushing through every scene that's more or less the same as the books, particularly anything mythological, because the show is assuming you've already read the books and already know enough mythology to know what it is and what happens and that you don't want to see it again, so it rushes through. The show doesn't explain things that it presumes you already know - worldbuilding, character decisions, basically any mythology, etc, so it doesn't even bother with it.

Later books in the franchise do this too - as long as it's tangentially Greco-Roman mythology, or if it's anything to do with the main series like a reference in TKC or MCGA or etc, it's not going to elaborate much if at all. HoO speeds through Jason's introduction to CHB, and the only reason we get much introduction to Camp Jupiter is because it's actually new. We're no longer trying to contextualize or learn about mythology, it just all becomes set-dressing and references thrown at you rapid-fire as filler. By late HoO and into TOA and TSATS and such, we're not longer even within the realm of pretending like we're adhering to mythology at all. Why is Iris a vegan? Why is Rhea a hippie? Dunno, don't care! Literally doesn't matter! Why are the pandai panda/elephant-monsters and the troglodytes frog-monsters when that's not part of their actual history at all? Well a.) literally just word associations and b.) possibly a little bit of racism (they're supposed to be humans from India and northern Africa, and you made them monsters. cool. okay. and their plotlines totally aren't horrible within those contexts. awesome. please try thinking literally at all next time, thanks). We're not even bothering to look at mythological instances anymore for a basis, a lot of it's written like we're just going based on the first results on google (hi Menoetes and the cacodaemons - the latter of which is not even spelt correctly once in the entire book - which is weird because they do say "daemon" so they know the word. Not that the cacodaemons are mythologically accurate at all because then they would be humanoid. Instead they seem to just be inspired by the things from Doom). None of it serves the purpose of the narrative at all; we're literally just making random choices, some of them quite distasteful! In large part due to refusing to acknowledge the actual contexts of the myths and how that might translate into something similar or equivalent a modern setting to help conceptualize it - something the first series did inherently by design. And we need this! A.) So that you're less likely to make bad decisions because you are inherently thinking about the historical and cultural contexts of these things and how to compare/explain it, and b.) because the audience for later books/the other series and the show is going to be the same as the first series! Those nonsensical references may be at best cameos to people who are already familiar with them, but if your intended audience is new to mythology then making references like that is just going to leave people out of the loop! You don't shift your target audience in the middle of a franchise!

Later books in the series and the show are failing to understand what the first series was actually doing narratively and how it was approaching these subjects and its audience. When you fail to do that, it completely messes up the general worldbuilding and the core themes and intentions of the franchise as a whole. Once you lose touch with that you might as well just be writing a completely different franchise. You need to approach it from the same lens or else it will feel completely off, because otherwise you've lost all base touchstones that make the series what it is.

[blueteller]

The Stages of Choi Han

So I decided to think over and analyze the progress of the relationship between Cale and Choi Han.

While we do occasionally get some Choi Han's POV, most of the story is still from either Cale's or general point of view, so we don't see his exact step-by-step thought process on what his views were regarding Cale.

So, here's my thoughts on what was going on inside Choi Han's head as the story went:

Stage 1: Confusion

Choi Han must have been pretty confused when he first met Cale. Still in major turmoil after the Harris Village massacre, here comes this drunk rich guy along, who offers him food and shelter for the night. Why? Random act of kindness? Something else? And things remain confusing the next day as well. Choi Han gets to wash up and rest a bit after his traumatic experience, giving him better clarity of thought, but definitely no better understanding of Cale, who apparently doesn't even want Choi Han to pay him back. Not to mention this creepy strong assassin butler he has and his son the chef... I picture Choi Han having three big bold question marks in his head at this point.

Stage 2: Respect

Things change after the interview. While Cale and the people surrounding him are confusing, the way he speaks to Choi Han make two things clear: one, Cale is a smart man. Two, Cale has a lot going on, but it doesn't seem to be anything sinister. The general vibe Cale is giving off at this moment is "possibly sketchy, yet mysterious and wise". He strikes right into the core of Choi Han's insecurity and helps him gather his resolve: he wants to avenge Harris Village, but he also wishes to protect. At this point, Choi Han switches from confusion to intrigue.

Stage 3: Loyalty

Cale has no idea when it happens, but it is clear: after they rescue Raon, Choi Han is definitely having thoughts about staying with Cale for good. Not only did Cale prove to him that he was a good person by helping a young creature escape a terrible fate for seemingly no reason... Cale also showcased just how thoughtful and competent he is. He is not only smart and knowledgeable, he is also a skilled leader. Even if Choi Han still has any left-over doubts, his question of "what will you do if the Dragon decides to follow you, Cale-nim?" makes it apparent; he's 100% talking about himself. At this point, he'd definitely be willing to follow Cale on a permanent basis as his knight.

Stage 4: Trust

So Choi Han already respects Cale, and has begun cultivating loyalty towards him during the trip to the capital. After they part ways, Choi Han follows Cale's instructions about finding Rosalyn and Lock. During this time unexpected issues arise, but Cale's information remained consistently useful and accurate. Choi Han also meets the "Secret Organization" again, confirming that following path set by Cale allowed him to find out more about Arm than he could manage by himself. He quickly grows attached to Rosalyn and Lock, faster than in "The Birth of a Hero", because through Cale's endorsement he isn't nearly as distrusting. And when Lock seems sick, Choi Han's first instinct is to go straight to Cale for help. And that trust gets rewarded. Then it becomes reinforced once again by the Vow of Death. Cale got upgraded from "sketchy but wise" to "definitely a good person with a lot of secrets".

Stage 5: Protectiveness

Choi Han was definitely protective before, but it got cranked up to 11 after the Plaza Terror Incident. Cale reinforces all previous impressions of respect, loyalty and trust through handling the attack almost flawlessly - except at the very end, Cale gets hurt for the very first time. Choi Han is furious. He threatens the guards to let him pass, showing how his number one priority is officially, Cale himself. His quest to avenge Harris Village still matters, of course, but Cale already swore an oath that he would help Choi Han with it (at least that's what Choi Han believes), so that's a non-issue. From now on, Choi Han's first, second and third priority is keeping Cale safe.

Stage 6: Familiarity

After the plaza, Choi Han heads off with Rosalyn and Lock to the Breck Kingdom. But while the bonds of friendship grow stronger between them, Choi Han still has every intention of returning straight to Cale after they're done. Cale isn't just a priority; he's home, the place Choi Han feels safest at. The way Cale treats him when the trio comes back proves to Choi Han that the feeling was not unfounded; in his absence, Cale helped rebuild Harris and made it home for Lock's siblings. As the next few months of "general relaxation" pass, Choi Han only settles more in his conviction. Everything he has now is thanks to Cale, who is a good person, trustworthy leader, and a good friend overall. Choi Han's feelings are no longer distant respect of an employee, and now he sees Cale as his new family.

Stage 7: Conviction

This stage is a little tricky. While Choi Han's feeling don't quite change through the next 2 years, they definitely grow in strength and intensity. Multiple instances of Cale getting hurt, as well as Choi Han witnessing the true extent of his recklessness, make him devote himself entirely to Cale and his cause. While fighting Clopeh, Choi Han expresses his determination to "create path for the real legend". Because Cale isn't just family: Cale is special. He is someone worthy of highest admiration in Choi Han's eyes. It's not fanatical obsession, not like Clopeh's later on, but something deep and profound that grows stronger with every single battle. The ultimate proof of it is Choi Han changing his attribute while Cale watches from the sidelines. Choi Han's goal itself now, is Cale's success. That is his conviction.

Stage 8: Understanding

Choi Han finally finds out the truth about Cale's transmigration thanks to the memories from Choi Jung Soo, sent by the God of Death. And while none of it fundamentally changes what Choi Han believes about Cale... it does give him a bit of a broader perspective on who Cale really is. Before, there was a lot of mystery regarding the extent of his knowledge, but Choi Han was fine with being kept in the dark. Now, enlightened about some of the mysteries surrounding Cale... Choi Han's conviction to help Cale succeed becomes stronger. Cale isn't just a person he chose to follow; they're actually countrymen, connected by his nephew. It deepens the bond they have, and from then on, Choi Han feels less like a follower of Cale, and more of a peer. They're truly friends, going on this journey side by side.

So there you go. The 8 stages of Choi Han's friendship with Cale.

Confusion

Respect

Loyalty

Trust

Protectiveness

Familiarity

Conviction

Understanding

I really love how their relationship plays out. Cale has many great relationships in the series, but there's something truly special about these two. No matter their differences or misunderstandings, they can relate to each other like no one else can. The mutual care and respect they have for one another is heartwarming. After all they lost, now they have someone who they can trust with their back. A real ride-or-die type of deal.

[ceilidho]

you said you hc that the second someone slips past ghost's defences and worms their way onto his good side, he's all in. do you hc being possessive after that switch happens? 😳

oh absolutely, no question about it 🥰🥰

I feel like it's tied in to all the losses he's experienced in his life - when he's able to keep his distance, grief can flow over him. He doesn't have to lock onto it. Ghost is still human and any loss is going to have an affect on him (losing soldiers, people he might've been interested in in a better life, pets, etc), but he can skirt around the pain or avoid it altogether if he's not emotionally invested.

(some nsfw below; breeding kink)

But when someone's actually managed to work their way into his heart? It's game over. That's his person. I don't see him as someone who is overtly physical in his possessiveness (I see that for Soap for sure and maybe Price to an extent), but he'll stare down men that talk to you (or anyone he suspects is interested in you) and use his size as like a physical deterrent.

Also, I know a lot of people write Ghost as having commitment issues and I agree with that to an extent! I think pre him deciding that you're his person, he would be very commitment phobic. Would hardly tell you anything about himself, would turn tail and run if he thought you saw this thing as permanent, and would absolutely coldly put you in your place if you tried to ask more from him than he was willing to give.

But post deciding you're his person, I actually think he'd be very by the book. Obviously he can't get married, he doesn't 'exist' so to speak (ALTHOUGH...that's if the canon Ghost story is actually canon in this new 2022 universe...I don't 100% adhere to his comic book backstory because I feel like his 09 and 22 selves might actually have different histories, but that's besides the point), but he'd want other ways to lock you down while still ensuring your safety.

He'd be very reticent to have kids because it's precarious bringing a child into his world and he'd worry about putting them in danger, but he'd want to keep you somewhere safe and away from where you could be hurt. Like I absolutely see Ghost as wanting to be your provider - paying your rent, getting you whatever you need to be comfortable at home, maybe somehow convincing you to quit your job so you don't have to exert yourself as much. I don't think he'd like the idea of you being wholly self-sufficient/independent.

He'd at least be constantly thinking about getting you pregnant. It would be a deep desire of his for you to be swollen with his baby and a ring on your finger; a visual reminder for everyone to back off, without him having to say it or indulge in any public displays of affection.

He probably wouldn't mention it much at first, but deep into your relationship it's like 90% of his pillow/dirty talk lmao. He wouldn't be able to come without at least touching your belly at some point. Afterwards, he would just be tracing his finger around your bellybutton, staring wordlessly down at your stomach. Depending on if you're still using condoms or not, he wouldn't be able to resist pushing his spend back inside you :\\\\ maybe just the slightest bit regretful that he can't actually get you knocked up.

[tiredofthehumanlife]

Draco malfoy headcannons

flavor: fluffy and smutish but they're separated so you won't get jump scared

Also I'm returning to my roots with this stinky mf okay I have writers block

Sfw

Liked you in the hallway crush type of way yk like when there’s that one person in the halls that you're like “god damn, anyways where’s my next class”

Never even tried to speak to you was just like ” I'll gaze from afar”

The only problem is that he has major resting bitch face so you were sat there racking your brain over what you could’ve possibly done to this random daddy’s money kid (like this isn't set in a private school but LOOK OVER THERE)

Confessed by just standing in front of you and 👁👁 before handing you an outdated birthday card with a 100 dollar bill inside with a note inside that was basically just him like “PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLE-“

You did give him a shot and he did actually speak words to you

bitchest bitch ever yall bicker (lovingly of course) 24/7

“did you for real just copy off of me?” “Okay well at least I don’t have daddy issues” “You cannot be talking and you know it”

He gives stick bug vibes yk

does not comprehend normal human life you could be complaining about doing laundry and he is like “Just have one of the elves do it?” and you are like “😶right so-“

just assume you have the answer to everything bc like you’re his partner? tf?

“how far away is Saturn in kilometers?” “They don't measure distance with kilometers, Draco, you dumbass. It’s called lightyears.” ‘right so in lightyears then?” “How tf am I supposed to know?”

he’ll hear a crash and look to you like you know what’s going on and you’ll turn his head back

I'm not one to assume someone’s sexuality but it's very much bisexual for the both of you (he likes guys and you know it)

a hot guy will pass and you both turn to each other like {insert Bratz meme here}

has created mustard gas on accident

laughs at his own jokes unironically (he is the only one laughing)

will try to be relatable and it's just like “yk that moment when your Prada shoes get gourmet chocolate on them”

makes up new names for your stuffed animals bc he thinks all the ones you picked were “lame”

his beauty sleep comes above everything else

Once Theo woke him up (there was a fire they had to evacuate) and the next night you found him hovering a pillow over Theo’s face you tackled him to the ground

Only knows how to play dominoes no card games or anything only dominoes

Bought you guys matching sleep masks

And embroidered PJs

And bunny slippers

PDA hater

He’ll sit next to you at max when you're around lots of people when you're just around his friends he's down with hugs and hand-holding maybe a cheek kiss but that's it

Alone is a different story he's attached to you he's actively trying to crawl under your skin as we speak

Terrified of bugs he's standing on a chair and screaming the second he sees one

Pays you in kisses when you take the bug outside (after you wash your hands)

Prefers baths over showers

Hates dogs and growls at them more than they growl at him

Only likes cats in theory bc they leave hair on his clothes

He's a reptile man

has owned a bearded dragon and will own more

Cold mf you wanna look me in the eye and tell me he has good circulation

Presses his cold ass feet against you while you're on the brink of sleep so confused when you swing your hand back to smack him

“I'm just cuddling you?”

“Cuddle somebody else fucking ice cube bitch ass”

Every single night

He sleeps on his back with his hands on his stomach like he's going to get lowered into his casket it's embarrassing

Thinks he knows how to shake ass and then when he tries (and fails) he considers never speaking to anyone ever again

Has gotten flirted with while he was with you and he just stared at them blankly bc he couldn't tell if it was happening

And then he left the room entirely

Walks in on people butt ass naked bc he has not learned how to knock (only child syndrome)

Stares a lot

He has nothing better to do so he’ll just come join you in your dorm and 👁hi👁

You've learned to block him out so he’ll scare the shit out of you

Sure he doesn't know how to flirt but he has money so he makes up for it

If you look at anything longer than three seconds he's following behind you with his card and the other twelve bags you have

This does have you ending up with things you didn't want so your friends love your random gifts

One of them will walk into potions with a luxury purse and one of the other kids will be like “tf Did you get that?” and your friends are like “🫵” And you're like “I didn't want it” So some of the student body does hate your guts just a little

favorite food is plain white rice

Thinks that acrylic nails go under the skin yk like in those videos with the fake hands pushing the nails up the finger yeah he thinks that actually happens to people

Jaw on the floor when you explain to him that's not what happens

Nsfw kinda

Down to three-way and will NOT let you forget

“I met this cute girl at the-” “I'm down. 😐”

“Oh did you see Harry this morning he was-” “Do you think he'd hook up with us?😐” “Babe. We've talked about this” “just once please”

Has asked you to peg him

unless you have a dick then he's asking for one of those two-way dildo things (tell me you know what I'm talking about 🙏)

Sub SUCK MY DICK DUDE HES A SUB SHUT UP

Actively begging sobbing on his knees “Please baby Please being so good please”

Would be a swinger and he'd have a pineapple on his front porch

Sorry

Has dabbled in the lockerrooms

Will ask you if the boys can watch him hit and you said only if they see him at his lowest begging and pleading for you he is silent as of now (give him two weeks)

Type of bitch to be covered in hickeys and when someone is like “What happened? To your neck?” and he's like “Literally what are you talking about?” will gaslight them into thinking there's nothing on his neck

Prefers cuddling naked but hates not immediately being in the bath after sex so he has to battle himself in his head

Can't dirty talk he's like “You look so nice when you're not in clothes? Do you like my wee wee?” and you're sitting there “bitch your what?”

Have resulted in him not being allowed to talk

Quickies number one hater

Needs his time to get into pussybitchboy mode

Okay bye

[the-menace-in-pink]

The real story behind Shizuku joining the Phantom Troupe

I feel like Shizuku’s recruitment in the Troupe happened completely by accident. Like, she stopped by their hideout to deliver pizzas or something. Then, Pakunoda or a sleepy Phinks let her inside and told her to wait while they go fetch some cash after realizing the Troupe’s communal jar was empty—thanks to Franklin and Machi’s secret late night food orders.

And like, immediately after Phinks walked away, she started wandering around the hideout and somehow ended up in Chrollo’s study. He didn’t notice her at first since he was busy dissecting and poking around at the prisoner Feitan had just accidentally killed (oopsies). Then she prob spotted some fresh blood on a nearby bookshelf and without thinking twice activated Blinky and vacuumed up the shit out of the entire shelf before anyone could stop her.

And like before Chrollo got to fully process the loss of a beloved fraction of his carefully curated collection, she started vacuuming away the 2-3 corpses laying around that they had been arguing over who had to clean up. She didn’t seem the least bothered by it so they were all like wait—WHERE DID THAT GO?

Feitan’s just like??? WHERE THE FUCK’S MY PRISONER??? BRING THEM BACK.

While Chrollo’s standing there staring at her like she’s the manifestation of all his pet-peeves and grudges packaged in one boba-eyed, vacuum-yielding peasant.

And she looks equally confused like wtf do you mean what did I do… I cleaned? Made yall a favor?? Idk?? 👁️ 👄 👁️

Phinks’ fully sober, fists tightening like WHO LET HER IN?????

While Pakunoda’s blanching at Chrollo’s traumatized face then yelling back at Phinks like YOU DID. WHAT DID WE SAY ABOUT LEAVING RANDOM PEOPLE UNSUPERVISED IN OUR PROPERTY???

(Also the corpses were most likely unlucky people Phinks left unsupervised as he went to fetch for money too. The way this is sounding like a crack retelling of Blue Beard—)

- Cue chaotic interrogations (during which she reveals she has no fucking idea where the vacuumed objects go, and that she don’t really gaf, tho she can bring back corpse #3 since it’s the last thing Blinky ate up…. Chrollo has to hold back tears, while Machi’s making sure the threads she’s discreetly tied around him are holding up),

- Some stray stabbings (thanks, Feitan)

- Pakunoda’s memory probing (she finds out Shizuku’s a black belt)

- Back-and-forth exchanges as they try to piece together wtf went down. At some point someone’s just like… Let’s recruit her, she’s kinda insane and so detached… gonna be useful.

Chrollo was 100% okay with recruiting her ass, bc yes, what she did is unforgivable, but he’s a tactician first and foremost. But he was veeeeery lukewarm (at best) towards her for like weeks. Like she just vacuumed to another dimension one of his favorite book series lmao. He’s taking her existence very personally.

For like the first couple of weeks he’d just darkly glare at her whenever she entered a room, and be so petty with the missions assigning. He’d send her on the most tedious ones (oftent to acquire and retrieve rare books and scrolls to build back his lost shelf…) and would use disturbing threats and rules regarding her nen ability use as some kind of psychological torture.

‘If you so much as look at the cover for more than 1 second, Feitan will handle you.’

‘Eyes down when you enter a library. Have some shame.’

‘You’re not allowed to fight with Bingo. If you die, that’s a skill issue.’

Shizuku: it’s Blinky.

(At this point Pakunoda’s walking around with handcuffs just in case — for Shizuku, Chrollo and Feitan)

Eventually they all soften and warm up to her, even Chrollo though his grudge over his lost books never disappears lol. He starts to find her endearing like a little sister… and honestly, what’s the difference between her little mishaps and his pet cat? Exactly.

Also the house has new rules after she joins:

- Shizuku shall NEVER be assigned to cleaning duties. Never. Even if it’s a regular vacuum.

- Shizuku can’t conjure Blinky near anything valuable or edible. They can’t have her starve them to death.

- Never leave her unsupervised if there’s a 1% chance she might stare for too long at a fellow member’s stuff.

(Also on like day 5 of her trial period as a spider, they find out she randomly disposed of the OG delivery guy. Turns out she knocked him dead and stole his scooter on an impulse, and made her way to the hideout purely out of curiosity.)

[dogtoling]

RE: Question about whether the Deepsea and the Octarian Domes are directly connected to each other. sorry i'm stealing your reply @bucketsquid but i see a chance to talk about this i have to take it. So idk let's try to decode how they might actually be connected.

This is the obvious conclusion. For the record I think it's the RIGHT conclusion after Side Order because they seemed to REALLY imply it this time. I thought for a really long time that the Deepsea and Octarian domes HAVE TO be connected because not only are they both subterranean but also literally how else do you get that many freaking Octolings in there? Since the metro is connected to the Inkopolis subway anyway wouldn't it be WAY EASIER TO JUST GET SQUIDS? (though to be honest i still stand by this.)

Anyway the obvious assumption is that the Deepsea and Octarian domes connect to each other. though it's not so straightforward. How they connect to each other exactly? we don't really know. Anyway let's get back into this in just a second i need to show what absolutely dashed my hopes and made me really mad when it happened

THIS MAP. THEY POSTED THIS MAP. Before this map I was having a great time because this is what the map was in my head:

"why was that the map in your head" idk. the giant stretches of water surrounding both canyons and inkopolis stretching into said body of water gave me the mental image that the canyons were in the ocean by inkopolis' coast. alongside some of the very old concept art that shows some of the domes even being underneath inkopolis if i'm not mistaken!

from the art of splatoon 1. this is an ancient and I MEAN ANCIENT manga depicting what is obviously an early concept of the story so it shouldn't ACTUALLY be taken as fact (almost nothing in this manga holds up anymore). But some of the things WERE kept! I have to assume this is also why you get into Octo Valley through the sewer in the games because the story mode was meant to take place literally straight underneath Inkopolis... it makes a lot less sense in the final result when you supposedly take the sewer like 50 kilometers (i dont know the actual distances but i think they're able to be deciphered) underground to a canyon in the middle of nowhere.

Why is there even continuous sewage all that way. What is happening. Is it even a sewer or a really long underground secret tunnel that Captain Cuttlefish dug because he's been really bored for 100 years.

kind of besides the point. back to the issue of the deepsea and the octarian empire being connected. You know, with the Deepsea Metro being located in Inkopolis Bay and the domes supposedly being all over the Inkopolis underground and the surrounding locations, it didn't seem that far fetched that they could siphon Octolings from the underground (where they live) to another very close-by fork of the underground (the Deepsea). However,

1. the Deepsea is NOT Octarian territory, but its own type of society. which is really weird considering how much Octarian iconography is down there, let alone how many OCTARIANS are down there

2. We have SO LITTLE knowledge about the true scope of the Deepsea that you can't even say for sure whether the Deepsea is *JUST* the Deepsea Metro and the facilities and industrial cities in that exact specific area, or if it's a big underwater and underground empire similar in scope to the Octarian domes, maybe even built in the exact same dome network - or a neighboring one. (This would mean they have a border somewhere undefined, underground.)

3. At face value with only the map, this is the distance for a Single Octarian to travel in order to get from where they live/are stationed, to get to the Deepsea Metro which is cluttered with one billion octarians

HELLO? THAT IS SO FAR. it's even worse than the distance Agents 3 and 4 are swimming through the god damn sewer. This also makes very little sense if we assume all the subterranean domes in all of these locations are exclusively under their surface counterparts... which... well, we don't know.

We know that the Deepsea Metro is connected to the Inkopolis Underground (it even shows this on the map with the little dotted line). I don't really know the significance of that but I've taken it to mean that the Deepsea Metro that is highlighted in the map shows specifically the area covered by the Kamabo Corporation and the tests there, and honestly again, I don't even know if the Deepsea is any bigger than that. Since it's been stated to be an independent society from Inkopolis or the Octarians, you would ASSUME there'd be ample space for people to like, live, and maybe work, and produce stuff you need to like, live. Instead of the test facility being literally the only place that exists plus a city built around only that to sustain everything.

Furthermore, we don't know if Octarians have cities on the surface in their part of the surface world! This is something that really bothers me because I think knowing whether or not this is the case would change SO MUCH (i'm currently under the assumption it is a barren wasteland with Literally Nothing). However given the location of the Salmonid Swim Zone, we can SEE cities in the background of multiple stages, and judging by this map those would be mainly on the Octarian coasts. This could mean that Octarians have surface cities where they coexist with the Salmon, it could mean that they USED TO have surface cities and abandoned them, OR it could mean that Salmonids actually live on Octarian surface turf while the Octarians themselves live underground! Idk! There's a lot of options!

I kind of doubt Octarians have cities on the surface because if they did, then it would feel redundant for the game to keep coming back to "the Octoling world" being this horrible military regime underground that people try to get to the surface from. If it was that easy to get to the surface it feels odd that it would be a big deal. We know that the Octarian domes, at least in Octo Valley, are specifically an underground *secret* military base.

(*Secret* being explicitly stated before and it would imply that they wouldn't necessarily NEED to live underground, but it's just way easier to do Secret Things underground. Plus the surface is a wasteland so honestly not a lot to lose there.)

We still haven't really seen what they have aside from that. We don't know where they get their food, for example. There's got to be farmers in a society. There HAS TO be some kind of surface access or activity, and if you squint, Octo Canyon IS a surface city that they seem to have free access to. So why not have others? It seems only logical to have more. In this case the oppression of the Octoling world and being forced to stay underground feels really case-specific, but it seems to also be an overarching thing that's quite widespread, so... I don't know, I WANT MORE OCTARIAN WORLDBUILDING *PLEASE* i'm working with crumbs here.

Anyway. my current assumption of the subterranean areas of the Deepsea and the Octarian empire goes something like this, all things considered that I've talked about...

(Not exactly that but you get the general picture)

When you put it this way, it suddenly makes a lot more sense that Octarians would be getting into the Deepsea. Generally I tried to keep the locations of Octarian tunnel systems to their turf, and the locations of Deepsea tunnels under the ocean floor, though with Octarian domes explicitly stated to have been dug by humans there's. really no reason they couldn't stretch into Inkling territory. We have no idea how big these tunnel systems are in scope, NO idea.

And that's also the problem with trying to solve this part of worldbuilding, because my concept could easily be right but it could also be COMPLETELY wrong! It's totally possible that the dome networks are actually secluded and tiny and are *just* under the Octarian craters and nowhere else, and it's totally possible that the entirety of the Deepsea is JUST Kamabo Co and the few settlements surrounding it. I'm not that confident that I'm right but I'm not really confident that we'll get answers to these questions either, at least as long as the story modes keep intentionally avoiding expanding on existing game locations and pretending theyre not in the splatoon world at all by making their key locations abstract and closed off bubbles on purpoCOUGH HACK who said that

There is 1 thing I've completely failed to mention in this post and it's that Octo Valley and the Deepsea Metro are like, explicitly connected. Which by the way makes NO SENSE given they're on opposite corners of the map. But between what we know from Side Order and from this Official Snippet from Splatoon Base, the Official Splatoon Story Resource By Nintendo,

Ignoring that none of this makes sense anymore or is intentionally misleading compared to what we know from Agent 8's memory loss now. Anyway. This seems to just imply the Deepsea is *under* Octo Valley. WHICH WOULD LINE UP WITH SIDE ORDER, weirdly enough. It is possible that the Deepsea domes could actually OVERLAP with Octarian Domes, it's just built FAR under sea level, not bound to the actual location of the sea itself.

I want to point out that this segment in the splatoon base and the game itself and dev interviews all tend to contradict each other in some ways when you look at them side by side, which is frustrating, but also serves as a reminder that sometimes the official resources don't know exactly what they're talking about either. so it's often not worthwhile looking them up and trying to conclude something based on it just to find out that it's literally contradicted in the game itself.

anyway, we know One Thing now and it's that there's at least no way that Octarian domes and the Deepsea AREN'T connected to each other in some way. this post doesn't exactly solve the issue of How but there was an attempt. I don't think this is ultimately something you can come to a concrete foolproof conclusion on until there is more information. But in the meantime I guess there's speculation.