#I'd guess that's just. Being. Partners with another system? Collectively??

[youve-been-etho-d]

Other systems do like, partner system applications?? And no offense but I don't understand them. Like at all.

[urdamage]

It was hard for Ian to hold presents until Christmas and even harder to surprise his boyfriend with gifts. The pair spent almost all their time together and when they weren't Ian was tied up working. He enlisted the services over at Cupid's to deliver a present to the apartment while Ian was at the diner. Along with the bear, Ian had wrapped a VHS copy of Gremlins  he'd purchased for the ever growing VHS collection they owned. It was a gift for the house as much as it was for Bo. Ian also secured 30 bucks to the case for pizza money. It'd been the card that really added the final touches to the present having found their kitten's likeness in a Christmas card. In Ian's own careful and tiny handwriting he'd written a message to Bo.

R,

I was getting tired of it always being rented out so I figured I'd just buy it. I'm off at 9 can you order us a pizza?

Love you. Forever.

-C

Presents below the cut.

               though bo was well aware of how much ian enjoyed gift giving and spoiling people - especially his partner - it wasn’t something he ever expected . perhaps that was part of the reason why ian loved doing it , but bo would never know , as much as he could guess . it didn’t matter how many gifts or deliveries he had received from ian in the past , each next time filled bo with more excitement , joy and happiness than what he felt like he could handle . he could have cried , sitting on their couch opening the card and presents , the gesture being enough to send him over the moon , the actual contents pushing him further out in the metaphorical solar system . he had already been missing ian for no reason in particular , and bo liked to believe that this surprise was another sign from the universe that told him he was exactly where he was meant to be , being with ian . “ gosh , stinky . i love him . ” he told their cat , whose face was peeking out from the bathroom curiously .

[legendoftheghost]

so I don't have an aversion to Juna (Jin/Yuna, idk what the kids are calling it these days), and even though there probably were romantic elements, I just... don't see them as anymore than good, survivorship friends. Very unpopular opinion... but I also like the idea of what more missions between Matsu (I forget her actual name atm) and Jin would've been like. Even more unpopular lmao but, if the devs decide for a Juna romance later on then I guess I'd be chill w it. All the characters have different chemistries w another & goddamn I need a Ryuzo prequel.

Random Inbox Shenanigans || always accepting! 

I don’t know why my blog is associated for shipping (in this instance, shipping them romantically and sexually) Jin x Yuna. The Jin x Yuna ficlet / drabble I wrote a while ago was requested to me on Discord chatroom and I simply obliged to unfurl my own take of the ship, if they ever had sexual encounter. Since my portrayal of Jin is most likely one of the most solitary muses I have ever written, and the fact that he just doesn’t have a lot of the social needs, who need a lot of alone time, even more than other introverts, thus making him very isolated. 

This only exacerbates with the fact that Jin Sakai doesn’t have too many emotional needs in a relationship. He simply doesn’t see the point of emotional support or validation most of the time, and so will struggle to give it as well. While he may more likely to show his affection through spending quality time with his partner or doing things for them, and he embodies the suppression of emotion, not the expression of it. He can be so matter-of-fact and hard-headed that it's difficult to imagine him (at least my version of Jin Sakai) doing something as frivolous as falling in love, unless he truly believes it will work through his life, specifically as the Ghost. 

I see so many similarities between Jin Sakai and Matsu (Tomoe) though. To me, they are both the consequence (byproduct, so to speak) of how flawed and wrong the idea of feudalism is. It’s clear that Sensei Ishikawa had a soft spot for Tomoe, as they had an odd father-daughter dynamic throughout the game. But it’s surprising that Jin, who is shown to be consistently dutiful and moral, has no problem letting Tomoe go. He killed his childhood best friend, Ryuzo, because he had teamed up with the invading Mongolian army to secure food for the starving Straw Hats. Jin couldn’t excuse that, but for some reason, he was okay with letting Tomoe go after she gave important samurai secrets to the Mongols for seemingly no reason. There’s clearly a double standard in the way Jin treated these two antagonists, and the lack of consistency is a major source of tension in the storyline and which I still have a beef against when it comes to Jin’s characterization. Tomoe’s story in Ghost of Tsushima was intriguing, but the most perplexing part about it is why Jin lets her go at the end so easily.

Maybe Jin Sakai saw in Tomoe his own self, that roguish rebellious nature that would go against the hierarchical and rigidity of feudalism and the idea of Confucianism, which emphasized social and family hierarchy, including filial piety (i.e., the relationship between parents and the child) and other relationships within a family. In Confucianism, there are five human relationships: ruler-minister, father-son, husband-wife, elder-younger, friend-friend. Under the concept the li, the dominate person receives respect and obedience from the subordinate person but is by no means a dictator. One is supposed to reciprocate with love, goodwill, support and affection towards the subordinate person. Confucianism is never interested in individual salvation or individual rights. What it cared about most was the collective well-being of society. For it promoted virtues such as courtesy, selflessness, obedience, respect, diligence, communal obligation, working for a common good, social harmony, and empathy. 

The code of behavior it manifested was based on a system of harmonious, subordinate relationships based on the notions of filial piety, a well-ordered family, a well-ordered-state and a well-ordered world, and both Jin Sakai and Tomoe vehemently goes against it with their own individualism and highly independent, free-thinking nature. 

I really would have been more content with Ryuzo’s character development through the years, as Jin and Ryuzo’s relationship was clearly one of the most important ones Jin Sakai has ever had. Maybe it comes from my own emotional attachment towards Yuna more than Ryuzo (because I’ve written with a Yuna before, much longer than Ryuzo, although neither of them are active as of now). I yearn to find more Ghost of Tsushima roleplayers, so that I could venture into the complexity of their emotions and characterizations. 

[rubbersoles19]

SOLE I'D LOVE TO HEAR ABOUT YOUR IDEAS (post them coward) (I'm sorry you're not a coward aaaaa)

Asdjflsg but I have so many and so little time it's the curse of being an artist instead of a writer creating takes so much TIME

And I'm a student with a full time internship

Anyway as soon as this Big Thing is done and we actually have wifi in my apartment I want to post some more doodles about my ideas but here's spoilers I guess??

I CAN'T USE A READ MORE ON MOBILE I'M SORRY

Lord I'm pathetic

Bounty: the Irken Armada was lost in the Florpus, leaving a huge vacuum in Irken strength. Resistance groups rallied against them, some Invaders failed without the Tallest' support, others self-destructed, others adandoned their missions to live on their planets, go into hiding, or reconvene at Irk to protect the Control Brains, and others simply vanished. Zim, busy rebuilding his base and oblivious as always, had no idea. Then, when most of the Irken forces were gathered at Irk, the planet was attacked and destroyed. This, Zim noticed, and began trying to contact other Invaders, for months. For months he tried to locate and other Irkens out there, but it was like they had all... vanished. Eventually, Zim put the peices together, and when some various space debris crash landed on Earth, he rushed there to claim any answers or supplies it might have had. Dib, however, was also there, and once the tractor beam started, they realized it had been a trap. They were taken aboard a massive ship that collected alien life forms, either for collection or bounties, and where rather thrilled to fetch an Irken since there were "so few left." Zim and Dib were categorized and separated, while the ship operators figured out what to do with Zim. It was tempting to keep him, but he was a defective. It was tempting to hand him over to the resistance for torture and execution, but he was rare. Before they could decide, Zim and Dib both escaped, Dib having learned that Irkens were a dying race, and Zim facing a new wave of depression at his inability to even be a good collection item.

Mr. Nash Toil: After Bounty, Zim vanished. In that time Dib had helped grow and expand the Swollen Eyeball Network, and was only a few nights away from heading to basic S.E.N. training when another Irken ship crash landed on Earth. Zim reappeared and rushed there, and the Irken pilot lived long enough to tell him that they were the last Irkens left. The Swollen Eyeball Network then arrived, and Zim used the dead Irken to fake his own death. Dib was told, and went to training believing Zim was finally dead. After graduating, Dib was made a member of the S.E.N., but only a junior member since he was still completing school. He was assigned a new partner, a short, pestering, and angry human named Nash Toil, who seemed to exist to annoy Dib. Nash also proved to be a huge work hazard, continuously neglecting SEN protocol, endangering himself and the mission, and generally having a bad attitude. He also asked Dib a lot of questions about Dib's thesis on aliens and the fallen Irken Empire, or what was left, and his theories about what happened to it. One night, Nash said one too many "educated guesses," and sparked Dib's suspicions. That was the first time he actually saw Zim's body, as well as the captured ship and robot companion. Convinced he was just paranoid, Dib dropped the subject until one certain mission, when the Resistance he had theorized about came to Earth... They targeted Dib, who was the only one with still working Irken technology, captured him, and tortured him for the location of the Earth-Irken. The only Irken on Earth, of course, was dead, or so he thought... Dib's partner, and a strange companion, lead the SEN/military attack against the ship, and once again disobeying orders, broke into the ship and rescued Dib themselves. The Resistance, having found their Irken prey, put up enough of a fight for Nash's real identity to be revealed. Zim and GIR then dragged Dib out of there, and the ship erupted, killing most of the Resistance forces, a large portion of SEN and military agents, and stranding various Resistance f aliens on Earth. Zim nursed Dib back to health, and finally revealed what he had been doing these last years: after the bounty was put on his head by the Collectors, Zim began traveling across space to find any remaining Irken soldiers, technology, or any signs of life. He spent quite a bit time on the cold, dead husk of Irk, meeting various refugees, running from the Resistance, and rebuilding as much of his own tech as he could, including reprogramming his PAK as any and all codings he could, creating new armor for himself, rebuilding tools and weapons he could salvage, and finally built Gir a somewhat functioning brain. When he returned to Earth, he had confirmed all slimy humans indeed thought he was dead, crafted a new disguise and identity, and joined the SEN to spy on them from within. He had already learned that while the Collectors had put a bounty on his head, they had done the same for Dib, so Zim tried to protect him. His name, Nash Toil, was a clue all along: Not A Stinking Human, The Only Irken Left. Now, however, that the SEN wants his human identity dead and the aliens know his alien identity is still alive, he should leave and go into hiding once again. Probably leave Earth. Dib, understandably, was furious at first, but then realized the best way to track down those aliens hunting for Zim is to stay within the SEN. And Dib would help him. Right after graduation.

With Dib a full time member of the SEN, and successfully earning lead on hunting down the alien survivors, he and Zim continue to do just that, clean up whatever messes they leave behind, and do a little ghost hunting along the way. The ship's massive explosion had unleashed a huge wave of radiation onto the planet, mutating random people and animals as well as whole towns. And Dib and Zim investigate it all.

Random ideas

Meet M.E.M.E.: Zim, now a scientist, works constantly to preserve Irken technology and develop his own. One such invention is M.E.M.E., or Miniature Enhancement Microbot Equipment, a swarm of Irken Microbots that are mentally controlled by the host to create armor, weapons, tools, and whatever else they want. Dib goes through his own rough patch, constantly failing and falling short. With his SEN testing right around the corner, he's even more stressed, and decides go to the alien for help. Zim, however, refuses to allow Dib to use MEME. During it's creation, Zim used a small fraction of it on himself for simple tests, and through it passed the tests, it also infected his PAK, both driving him to new intellectual levels and severely draining his energy. Dib, however, neither knows this nor cares, and though he does accept Zim's help to train and study, he also takes MEME. From that point on, MEME does improve his mental and physical limits, but also enhances his less desirable and often suppressed emotional impulses... Zim has to figure out why Dib is spiraling out of control, is there more to play here than just stress, as well as stop Dib when he goes after the one whose rejection started the whole thing: Dr. Membrane. (Dib will continue to use MEME throughout their adventures as his narrative equal to Zim's robot companion and PAK system, but only under Zim's very careful and always reluctant supervision.)

Rise of the Aukins: ( inspired by the one post about winged Irkens ) Zim picks up a transmission and after frantically confirming his own instincts, begs Dib to double check it. Dib does, and confirms what Zim already thought: it's Irken. Or rather, it's a version of Irken. Once they realize there are coordinates included, the two head into space to investigate, and discover a whole different species of Irken: this time, they are peaceful, emotional, and have wings. The Aukins reveal the true history of Irk, which was never taught to Irkens, and invite Zim and Dib to join their society. Admittedly, it's tempting, but are these soft spoken aliens actually as peaceful as they seem?

My Coworker is a Vampire: Gaz is the head of her department at CompBiz, respected coder, hacker, and programmer. She doesn't talk to her brother unless he needs something or they've got some ultra-rare family event, but this time, it's her who needs their help. Her new co-worker, despite being all levels of weird and unnerving, even for Gas, might be stealing her designs. Oh, and he might also be a vampire. The latter she can forgive, but how else will she get her workaholic brother to look into it and bust the creep?

Old Faces: Multiple reports of people in town acting out of character, unusual items going missing, and traces of unknown radiation take Dib and Zim back to where it all started: home. And what luck, they are just in time for Hi Skool Reunion! Well, Dib is, Zim never actually went, and the human is far from excited to return. But when the shape shifting stowaway leads them there, the two have a completely new reason to question everything their old classmates tell them.

All for Nought: For being the only Irken left, Zim has made quite a name for himself. He defeated his own armada, escaped a Florpus, has repeatedly dodged Collector capture, capture by the Resistance, some of which had set up base on his own planet, and has every code the Irkens ever developed in his PAK. He's not exactly famous, but he's definitely known, and had he been foolish enough to risk detection by listening to the outer space chatter about him, he'd be honored. But how will all that change when, according to the rumors, the Florpus returns, and it brought survivors?

Uh that's all the more or less formed ideas, at least for now. I'm sorry this is so long!!