#I'm giving up the dream of no. 1

[poptartmochi]

what the fuck vadim 😭😭🤌🏻

[someobscurereference]

ive been rereading your ffxv fic "im trying hard to take it back" for literally four years now. please end my suffering and tell me how gladio feels. please. PLEASE. (but only if u want ofc)

(fic) Short answer: Gladio feels insane guilt and spends a lot of his life trying to make this up to Prompto. In the process, they deepen their connection as friends and do begin a relationship probably around the one-year mark of endless darkness. <3

Longer answer: (implications of abuse/violence tw but no worse than in the fic itself; just what others assume to be true even if it's not in the context of this specific fic)

Gladio is a secret romantic at heart who has always envisioned meeting his soulmate, but he's also duty-bound and duty comes first. So even though he reads romance books (amongst other types of books too) and indulges in his head a bit as many people do, he's often put his duty to the crown first and foremost in his mind. He also didn't imagine his soulmate was anyone on this trip and thought perhaps the person he may have been fated to meet died in the assault of Insomnia. Even if they were a refugee, they can't be a priority to him at this moment. His priority has to be Noctis.

Prompto has obviously grown on him over the course of their road trip, but there are aspects of them that don't 100% mesh (as is true with every realistic relationship). That said, Gladio never in a hundred years would want this moment of (understandable but out of line) frustration and anger in the wake of Luna and Altissa to be a permanent mark on Prompto's face. He's genuinely horrified and disgusted with himself for a long time after this and spends most of his life trying to make it up. He feels like a dirtbag about it.

That said, Prompto runs away from him in this moment and they need time to calm down, just as the fic shows. Noctis goes after Prompto, just like in canon. Prompto falls off the train and has his Despair Arc just like in the DLC, now with the added despair of "well, in addition to being a clone, my soulmate hates me. And in addition to the mark of inhumanity on my wrist (barcode), I have a giant hand print of him literally Shoving Me Away on my face. Forever."

Aranea: Well, do you want to die about it. Or do you want to live.

Prompto, eventually like in canon: Live, I guess. But it will be excruciating.

Aranea: That's what living is. We do it anyway. Your friends love you. Get off the floor.

He fights his way through his issues and gets rescued like in canon. Gladio probably tries to talk to him when they all catch up again, trying to apologize, and Prompto tells him to hold off on that for later.

Then, of course, Noctis is eaten by the crystal and "later" becomes much, much later as they evacuate and try to survive in eternal darkness. (Though they also can't Not think about it because it's a giant hand print. On Prompto's face. And every person they meet has Something To Say about it, for better or worse, whether they knew Prompto before or not. Prompto cannot escape it, and when Gladio is not doing Crown Duties he feels he must do in Noct's absence, he's with Prompto, so he also Cannot Escape It either. Even when the person speaking is unaware that Gladio left that mark. It's almost worse when they don't know, but when they see it's Gladio, who is such a big guy who seemingly hit Prompto and left that permanent mark there, some of them get nasty to him and some back off out of fear. Both are horrible. The guilt is eating him alive.)

Eventually, enough time passes as the dust settles that they do Talk About It. Gladio apologizes sincerely, for the 500th time. Prompto's like, "Well. It's not like you could have known that this would be The One Time it happened." And then cracks a joke about their soulmate mark being a Prompto's hand print on Gladio's ass from a butt slap in another life, which does help the tension somewhat. (The more Gladio tries to apologize, the more Prompto grows sick of hearing it, so they just have to move on and keep going, as he's learned to do.)

They grow closer over time, especially because there's not a lot of people who have survived to this point and even less later on. They do get together romantically, both because they do like the idea of soulmates (for different reasons) and also because they're living out of each others pockets for years, so there's an affection and dependency that develops there. Also, teenage Prompto always thought Gladio was really handsome and teen Gladio thought Prompto was cute and sincere for a pipsqueak.

When they are out together on dates in normal settings surrounded by strangers after the light returns, Gladio will receive dirty looks for the rest of his life from strangers who see the hand print on Prompto's face and immediately (correctly) assumes it was out of anger rather than a funny accident or something. (Edit: Some people will assume there is a funny story attached. Gladio will not know what to say to this. Prompto will play along.) He will learn to live with this. Prompto is really grateful Gladio is with him despite everything.

[yukipri]

I feel like over the month+, I have like 1-2 hours a day max where I feel relatively awake, and every other hour I'm fighting bone-deep exhaustion. I'll bring it up with my doc at my check up on monday, but tbh i know the solution so idk if she can help

And I can work-work when I feel half-dead, or rather I force myself to because I don't want my cats to starve, but when it comes to creative stuff, it's like my mind is slippery sludge dribbling out my eyes...

The Solution, of course: just stop working 3~10 AM every day (and then taking a short nap, working during the day, and then taking another short nap, hours vary but repeat), and maybe get at least 6, ideally 8 uninterrupted hours of sleep at least every other day, ideally every day.

But do I see that happening? No.

Like rn I know I desperately need to edit fic and reply to comments and do several arts but I'm nodding off at my desk after boss DMing me work at 5 AM and dealing with repair people since 8:30 AM...

[moongothic]

I just

Where the fuck is the Cross Guild plotline going

Like Crocodile and Mihawk allowed Buggy to do his thing until now because getting rid of him wasn't nececary, but we've gotten to the point where Buggy has straight up riled up his men who are all behind him, not Crocodile and Mihawk, to go get One Piece, and while the two could easily wipe the floor with them, it just seems like it'd be a waste of everyone's time

I just can not imagine the two being at all willing to go along with Buggy on the quest for One Piece, not in a million years, since the other two's interests are literally the opposite, but with the way the men are riled up it's not like they'd be able to unconvince them to follow Crocodile instead

But also Buggy does have that ship ready

And didn't they imply the three remaining Seraphim have been sent to Empteebluffs???

What if the Seraphim do show up and it's up to the only two capable fighters in Cross Guild to deal with them and Buggy just flees with whatever crew he can muster while no one is looking because god knows it's his last chance???

But even if Crocodile and Mihawk abusing Buggy until he grew a spine was a required event to get Buggy to join the race for One Piece, it'd still be strange for Oda to make Cross Guild A Thing if it only gets disbanded soon after without anything else coming from it?? (Like if they get disbanded immidiately then why did they need to be established to begin with, if Crocodile and Mihawk have somewhere else to be/end up in some other situation then surely Oda could've skipped the Cross Guild-part)

So are Croco and Mihawk just going to go along with Buggy's plans because they can't be bothered to put up a fight (and if they're stuck on the ship with him and Buggy's crew it will be like two (three if you include Daz) against hundreds- again, the two could easily kill them all, but is it worth the effort???)

I just. Where the fuck is this plot thread going man

[dreamnotnapss]

I am rewatching both Dream’s and Sapnap’s shock streams and their dynamics are amazing like Dream is soo stressed in his and the way Sapnap (and George too) are able to calm him down is perfect

and in Sapnap is so trusting with Dream, when he is not sure how to get away with the least painful way he readily gives the “control” to Dream to tell him what to do

girl the shock streams were filled to the brim with dreamnap moments! especially in Dream's stream when George went to sleep and it was just Dream and Sapnap :') they're so cozy together, you forget it's a shock stream

and in Sapnap's stream, Dream felt so bad about him not having a shield :') he couldn't say no to him. so sweet. and the beginning bit with Dream yelling whenever Sapnap fell, scaring him? sigh they love to push each other around, don't they?

sigh old dteam my beloved

[s1utspeare]

WIP Snippet Game

i was tagged by one of my faaaaavvvvvoooorrriiiitttteeeeeessss @lucientelrunya and once again I'm going feral over mecha!FuBa like literally shut up!!!!!!! they fit that AU so wellllll ghghghghghghghgh

anyway! i have no idea when it's going to be ready cause it is very slow going but! Here's an Eternal Voyage snippet for you all >:)

Zhang Rishan obeys. He unstraps one of his gloves and yanks it off with his teeth, grabbing his pocket knife with the other hand and flipping up the blade. He drags it across his palm, making sure to squeeze a pool of blood into his fist, not that it will really matter; it’s too cold in here for him to heal the cut as quickly as he normally would.  He gets up and goes to the cargo, holding his fist above the crates and letting his blood drip into the seam where the lid snaps into place. He walks down each of the rows, squeezing blood out of the cut on his palm and onto the boxes, waiting for it to seep in, to do the hard work for him. He finishes the task and goes to crouch by the door, waiting.  It doesn’t take long. At the far end of the middle row of cargo, a box begins to rattle, the electromagnetic hinges sparking and disengaging as the crate falls off of the stack, opening with a thud and sending several glowing spheres of yellow smoke tumbling out, rolling across the floor. Zhang Rishan scoops one up with his uninjured hand, careful not to get any blood on the glass, and examines it. It’s definitely the alsorbium; he recognizes the smoky appearance.  He flicks on his eye visor with a nod, the sensors at his temple reacting to the movement and sliding the screen around. He navigates to the camera, snaps three pictures with blinks, and sends them to their ship.  He’s just gotten confirmation that the Qiongqi has received his notification when the cargo bay door slides open, revealing four smugglers in dark, space-grade clothing, goggles over their eyes and scarves pulled up over their mouths. They stand in the doorway and stare at Zhang Rishan. Zhang Rishan stares back. Slowly, he watches as their gazes travel to the orb he’s holding in his hand.  “Right,” Zhang Rishan says. “That.”

[nerdynikki94]

Honestly? Did I want more from DTAMHD? Yes, I did. I wanted something signifying actual progression for Dennis' character (even just a crumb of genuine growth) , and I sincerely don't think we got that. However... we did get a fascinating insight into the process of his mind. Dennis' level of self-denial is so ironic and profound. He can't acknowledge the inevitability that he's middle-aged.

(I swear this episode honestly has given me an alt hc, that the show is based in his mind; because logistically, a man of his lifestyle and malnourishment could not commit the feats he is constantly sailing through. TGGB & DTAMHD... back-to-back? What happened to his hand? Did he even sprain it? Or is he just the most dramatic brat in the gang - clearly the latter.)

It is important to note that he didn’t fix the actual problem. He momentarily masked the symptoms, but ignore long-term help with blood pressure medicine is not going to fix the issue, nor is it going to protect him from fucking keeling over in a stressful situation (when he's not in a contained and quiet Doctor's exam room) and his blood pressure spikes.

I'm honestly a little jaded at this point (16 Fucking Seasons of crumbs, y'all), but if one were to continue 'trusting the structure' this episode conveyed a lot.

The B Plot: The pressure cooker. The metaphor parallels the building pressure Dennis quick-tempered bouts of rage. So, to toss out a little 'cat-in-the-wall' conjecture here: The pressure cooker is Dennis, but we all saw him eat that bloody diamond in the end and we all heard Mac's speech about coal turning into diamonds under massive pressure. Dennis' experience is a theory of pressure, he daydreams it all in the span of a minute or so. He's roleplaying with hypothetical obstacles. There's no risk. Maybe Dennis, isn't the pressure cooker, but the coal.

If I were to try and take anything hopeful out of this episode, it would be the way the narrative is showing us that this episode acknowledged that Dennis isn't ready yet. It's not his turn to break. It's going to take real, substantial pressure to get that diamond.

It was a hell of a misdirect (and honestly a little bit of a slap in the face), but if these characters live in the real world, where people are bound by the laws of mortality, then Dennis should have his time.

Genuinely, who fucking knows?

I'm not hating on the episode. We all know this is the trashy dick joke sitcom. I just thought that if Mac & Charlie could have moments of genuine heartbreak, culminating in deep catharsis, that maybe Dennis could have that too.... but no.

Can't wait to see the sunny dudebros miss the point & proclaim Dennis Reynolds - SA victim, traumatized individual with an emotionally tumultuous personality disorder - the new Andrew Tate.

I'm sorry, but yeah. I'm a little miffed. It was all a dream, and everything goes Dennis' way. Y'all I'm fucking tired. This was a great episode for Glenn, but a fucking frustrating episode for Dennis. I may have wanted a little macden, but all I cared about was seeing Dennis face the limitations of his mortality, to see that he's failing his body and his brain. He didn't have to actually take the medicine (I wouldn't expect him to), but Goddammit, everything seems to work out in his delusional favor. So, of course he's going to continue being delusional, and probably only change for the worse.

I'll say it: I wanted a broken Dennis, and we did not get that. He didn't even crack, the unbearble and apparently now canonical Golden God. That episode's title was intended to tease sunnyblr.

Excuse the plethora of tags. I just kept getting more irritated.

[theinfinitedivides]

LAPoem's Mirotic cover................ Cassies wake up this is our Forestella moment

[arcaneyouth]

being a moderator is an. enlightening experience

[sovonight]

.

[littlegildedswallow]

had a dream I was pregnant and my family were suddenly all pro life. woke up terrified and nauseated and sweating from places I didn't know I could sweat from.

[jbsforever]

the scene with christopher at the fire station is everything to me 😭😭 him coming along on the call, bobby hanging out with him and explaining what’s happening at the crash scene, everyone playing with him and joking with him 😭😭 it’s so sweet 😭😭😭😭

[sudoscience]

I woke up from a dream just now that I had gone to see a movie with two guys I'd met on the bus, and as they were leaving the theater, I realized I never got their numbers. So, I'm waking up and thinking, "If I hurry, I can still catch them in the lobby. Wait, no. That was a dream. Well, maybe I'll meet up with them later? No. They don't exist at all."

Anyway, it's funny what details your mind fills in and what it leaves out. Neither of those guys have a name, but I know I met them on the 801 bus going north from downtown. Except, I have a car. How did I get downtown? Also, I'm pretty sure the movie we saw was Spider-Man, but I can't tell you anything else about it. Was it live action or animated? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ But I remember someone in the audience mentioned Aunt May. And also there was a time skip in between when I met them and when we went to the movie. Like, I think one or both of them came over to my house, but then one of them had to leave because he had to... go sing at a party?

Anyway, I don't usually remember my dreams at all, so that one stood out.

[kcrabb88]

Me, watching the Mando trailer and zoning in on the two-second shot we get of Order 66 in the Jedi Temple, with the hint of a door being opened into what might be the creche: IT BETTER BE QUINLAN VOS COMING THROUGH TO SAVE GROGU

[astrxealis]

i really want to write a song one day

[magentagalaxies]

idk why my brain decided folding laundry while listening to rollercoaster by bleachers at 11:26pm was the perfect conditions to finally process the fact that other girls is going to be finished in less than three weeks but im genuinely gonna lay motionless on the floor letting all these feelings wash over me rn????