#I'm gonna have to use Dodge more often if it's that pretty

[sysig]

Sparkly space vent art, breath in, breath out (Patreon)

[heich0e]

just saw talk of boxer au!gojo on twitter and i fear now i'm thinking about satoru—undefeated in his weight class, a sensation in the sport—gearing up for a fight against a fighter from the underground scene, ryomen sukuna, who's known to have seedy connections and to not fight fair. his opponents often end up hospitalized, or mysteriously retiring after his matches—and there are rumours that some meet even more sinister fates.

and you show up at gojo's training gym one night, long after the rest of his team has gone home and find him in the practice ring just laying on his back, his mitts tucked under his head like a pillow, asleep and totally at peace. you hesitate, not sure if you should disturb him, but eventually climb up onto the elevated platform of the ring. you slip through the ropes like you have a hundred—maybe a thousand—times before, and approach him quietly as not to wake him.

he strikes when you're within arm's reach, moving faster than you could ever hope to dodge even if you did anticipate it, and before you know it you're toppling down on top of him as he uses his body to break your fall—two strong arms cradling you to his bare chest.

"you weren't sleeping," you grumble into his neck sullenly, and you feel his chest lift with a laugh. "you tricked me."

"had to, otherwise you might've tried to run away." his hands pat down along your spine, then up over your shoulder blades, holding you tight. "couldn't risk that when you haven't been answering any of my calls."

he lets you pull away but only barely—just enough room to use his chest to push yourself up and look at him, but his hands on your hips keep you pinned in place where you straddle him. when you look down at him, at his pretty face and his bright eyes and the soft smile he always shows you, you feel like you might start crying again—just like the last time you were in this very gym a week prior. the gym whose route you could walk in your sleep, whose walls you have memorized with his name and trophies displayed proudly everywhere you look. Gojo. Gojo. Gojo. the same way the crowds at his fights chant for him and his triumph.

gojo—a name as familiar to you as it is foreign. it's his, but it's not. because the boy below you, staring up at you with that same lovesick expression you've never seen waver, will never be anything to you but satoru. means everything to you as satoru.

"it's not too late," you whisper, reaching up with a shaking hand and running your fingertips along the blush that sits high on his cheeks. "you can still call off the fight, there's still time."

satoru's expression shifts for a moment, so brief you may have missed it if you didn't know him so well. there's a flash of something behind his eyes that reads unmistakably like guilt. he dons a facade of petulance to mask it, his lip pursing in an exaggerated pout.

"i can't believe my own good luck charm doesn't think i can win against some loser," he whines, turning his face and nosing against the palm that was cupping his cheek.

it's not true. you believe in satoru unwaveringly, you know his skill and his abilities. your faith in him is, and always has been, implicit. it's his opponent you don't trust.

it's what the fight might cost him, regardless of the outcome, that terrifies you.

"hey."

your eyes focus again, and you meet satoru's gaze below you. he lifts his hand, cupping yours—so much smaller in comparison—underneath as he holds your touch against his face, pressing a kiss to your palm.

it's so impossibly still in the gym with everyone else gone, but everything about it is known to you. is wholly familiar. the dim fluorescents, the smell that lingers in the air, the hum of the fans, the sound of satoru's breath.

"stop worrying, okay?" he whispers against your skin, kissing your palm again to punctuate the request. "there's no way i'm gonna lose. i'm the strongest, after all."

and there's familiarity in those words too, since he's said them to you more times than you could ever hope to keep track of.

but this time they just don't seem to reassure you the same way.

[christiansorrell]

TTRPG Read-Through: Patchwork World

Here is a read-through I did last year (originally posted on Twitter) of one of the most unique PbtA games I've ever read: Patchwork World by Aaron King! - Christian

Credits up first. I know a lot of these folks and they are really cool! Excited to dig into this. I've heard good things, and it's been a while since I've read or played any Powered by the Apocalypse.

This is a cool, strong set up for me. I really like settings that ask characters to face a changing world and either take up change themselves or work to restore the old way of things. It's a headspace I find myself in a lot IRL these days so it's fun to explore.

I'm interested to see how the no stats, no playbooks angle of this game works, considering playbooks are typically such a staple of PbtA games.

Standard three-tired success, mixed success, fail forward resolution for rolls here and questions on the moves determine your bonus to the roll. Easy peasy. +2 is the max bonus.

Other types of rolls are described here. Interested to see how they come into play. I also love clocks and use them in pretty much every game I run so it's nice to see those laid out here too.

We just love a lil guy, don't we folks?

A good chunk of the opening here is spent on laying out a lot of solid foundations of roleplaying generally. It feels like a book (so far) that would work for entirely new players. It doesn't feel essential for me, but I never mind a game that supports varied experience levels.

Character creation is wide open, especially since there aren't playbooks and the text stresses that character creation is very much worldbuilding because of this. Fate-like concepts and tags are in here too which are things I generally enjoy. I like the Drawback mechanic.

Moves are in the playback I set in the other room so I'm gonna go grab those. You get two chosen moves and everyone has access to a number of default moves. You've got three other life/XP things to keep track of too. I'm especially interested in Hex.

There are a lot of moves! They seem quite varied and often very weird, fitting well with the titular patchwork world. You can have a duck's slick soul to dodge more easily or a magical space suit or speak to birds or be good at cartography. Overwhelming, but in an exciting way.

You also choose a community as a party. While PCs all have their original homelands (before the end of the old worlds), you know have a community that gets its own little sheet. This is a cool reshaping of the Gangs from Blades. I also like how the community can change over time.

Coming back to a PbtA game after months of more OSR-minded stuff, I think a lot of what these games contain are things that experienced players would say you could just do in any game at any time that it makes sense in the story, but I do find value in stating what's possible.

Esp since many players come to games with artificial limits on their options (whether that's from video games, more traditional RPGs, etc.). I just think good GMing here requires making sure that the players don't limit themselves just to the bevy of explicit options either.

GM moves (mostly to guide the response to failed rolls). I really think the community aspect of this set up is one of the biggest appeals to me so far. That and the wild list of moves, which I'm sure makes for amazing parties of characters.

I always feel like it's never something I should be in my own writing (for some probably unnecessary reason), but I enjoy the first-person, casual writing style throughout the book. Makes for a very chill read.

Good to see this game employs the Branson Reese style of NPC naming.

Stress acts as a single catch-all health and challenge rating for NPCs. Ideally, I'd hope this would help lead to the PCs approaching encounters with more than just violence.

Sections like this are what I'm referring to when I say this book feels very friendly to new players. It's got little anecdotes and thoughts like this throughout.

Look, it's been a while since I've seen A Christmas Story but... it didn't have ghosts in it right?

There's a sample adventure in the back (which I'll skip for this read-through) plus loads of random tables. Some wonderfully bizarre stuff in the characters and faction tables. Really gives you a good idea for how gonzo you can go with the setting.

Love these two in particular

Optional rules include hard mode (which I just think is kind of funny to see in PbtA, but could be cool if you lean heavy into the post-apoc setting) and some optional moves. I like that some moves focus on romance, something I enjoy IRL but never think to focus on in games.

I was wondering why this was the sixth edition!

That's all for the book itself. Going back to the packet to dig into the things I missed. Some expected bits in here but always one or two unique options I really enjoy. Leaking hex is cool (and could have some troubling cascade effects in certain situations).

I definitely wish, at least in sitting down to read like this, that the contents of the player packet was also in the book itself. I think PbtA has this tendency of leading to loads of pages on the table, but it can make them very easy to pick up and play or to learn as you play.

That element is definitely here, but I think the vast number of wide-ranging moves and the excitement that would drum up in my player group would more than makeup for that initial overwhelming feel of "whoa, that's a lot of papers out on the table".

Overall, it's the most I've wanted to play a game in this style in a while. I like that the base setup for the world is very much up to the players to determine via the characters they make. I like that PCs here will probably feel unlike any other folks have played before.

The community aspect feels like where I'd want to center my story around, as a player. Seeing that shift and change over time feels like it would be very rewarding and would help lean into the "the old world is dead, what do we want the new world to look like?" theme I enjoy.

Because Aaron King is cool and recently hit a lot of Twitter followers, Patchwork Worlds is now Pay-what-you-want over on Itch.

I'm not sure if physical copies are readily available. For full disclosure (guess I should have said this up front), I got this copy for free from Aaron! Not for the purposes of this thread or anything, just for fun a while back.

Thanks for reading more ramblings from me! If you like to do that sort of thing, check out my newsletter - Missives from the MeatCastle. It's got writings on my work, cool stuff I've run across the web in the last month, and exclusive rpg stuff! https://meatcastle.substack.com

[willalove75]

Rebecca x fem!reader, where Rebecca keeps calling reader pet names in a different language and leaves reader curious as to what they mean.

Also, how does it feel to carry the entire Rebecca x reader fandom on your back???💕💕

The way I literally laughed SO HARD when I first read this hahahahah

I have absolutely no fucking idea how this happened but I am SO grateful that everyone has liked my fics so much 😂🥺

And I LOVE this idea! Thank you so much for the requests! 💕

Translations (in order of appearance, also I used a lot of Google translate so apologies for any incorrect translations.):

Cara mia - Italian - My Beloved (yes its an Addams Family reference, I would be insane to pass this up such a perfect opportunity)

Bichita - Spanish - Little bug

Ti piace quando parlo in lingue diverse? - Italian - You like when I speak in different languages?

Mon petit chouchou - French - My little cabbage

Draga mea - Romanian - My darling (yes this is also a reference to Lady Dimitrescu, once again I would be insane to pass up the opportunity)

Tu aimes quand je parle dans différentes langues? - French - You like when I speak in different languages?

Ti accende l'amore? - Italian - Does that turn you on love?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It's been a few weeks since your relationship with Rebecca went public, the news spread like wildfire across the office. It was uncomfortable for the first week or so, you got a lot of weird stares and head a bunch of whispers as you waked by, more buzzing emerged whenever you were spotted with Rebecca, which was often since you were her assistant.

"Cara mia don't pay them any attention." Rebecca says, looking down at you with a smile on her face.

You lift your gaze from the floor up to her and gently smile at her, she wraps her arm around you and you make your way to her office.

"You would think there would be new office gossip for them to move on to." You say, a little frustrated.

"Love, you're sleeping with your boss, I'm sleeping with my assistant. I don't think it's going to be one of those things that blows over quickly."

You cross your arms and frown, it's been exhausting trying to dodge everyone's stares and gossip, you just want it to end. She stands up from her desk and wraps her arms around you.

"Oh bichita, it'll be okay. Just give it some time."

You look up at her and smile, wrapping your arms around her waist.

"What?" She asks.

"Noting, I have no idea what 'bichita' means, but I love hearing you speak different languages. It's pretty sexy actually."

"Ti piace quando parlo in lingue diverse?"

"I have no idea what you just said, but I could listen to you say it all day." You say with a laugh, she laughs and leans down and kisses you.

She sits back down at her desk and you take a seat in one of the chairs in front of her. You open up your notebook and go through the list of meetings she has for the rest of the week, as well as plans you've added into her calendar for after work.

"Three meetings Wednesday, one at 11am, the other at 2pm."

"Ugh I'm not looking forward to those- wait, what's the third meeting?"

"Well the third is kind of a twofer, 7pm and 9pm."

She gives you a look.

"Dinner at 7 and," you look back through your notes "miscellaneous physical activity at 9pm."

Rebecca starts laughing and puts her hands in her face, you start laughing too along with her.

"What am I gonna do with you?" She says shaking her head, still laughing.

"Anything you want." You say as you playfully stick your tongue out at her.

She rests her face on her hand and looks at you with a smile on her face.

"Oh how I adore you." She says with a smile. Her eyes shift to the door and she sits up. "Leslie, good morning."

"Good morning Rebecca, y/n, I heard some interesting scuttlebutt on my way in this morning."

"Please tell me they've stopped talking about Rebecca and I." You say, although you already know the answer.

Higgins looks at you and back to Rebecca. "I'm afraid not, it actually is scuttlebutt about the two of you." He says cautiously.

"Ugh." You say as you put your head down on Rebecca's desk.

"Aw, mon petit chouchou," she says as you feel her fingers run through your hair.

"Aw." Higgins says, sounding like he understood what she said.

"What does that mean?" You ask as you look up at Rebecca.

"My little cabbage." Higgins says, you look over at him and he has his hand over his heart.

"What? A cabbage?" You look back at Rebecca, confused.

"It's a French term of endearment love." She says with a smile.

"French is fucking weird." You look back over at Higgins. "So what did you hear?"

"Well, the rumor is that Rebecca is moving in with you."

You look over at her and she chuckles. "Oh no, we're not there yet, plus, when we do move in together, y/n will be moving in with me."

"I feel like I should be offended at that." You say with a laugh.

"Oh please, you and I both know my house is much bigger and nicer than your flat." You give her a look. "As charming and lovely as it is." She quickly adds.

"I guess that's fair." You say rolling your eyes at her. "Wait, did you say 'when we move in together'?"

"I did." She says with a smile.

You both chat with Higgins some more and you get on with your day.

A few days later you're walking through the hall and you see Rebecca walking towards you.

"Ah, there you are." She says with a smile.

"Hi baby!"

She wraps her arms around you and you wrap your arms around her waist and look up into her eyes. A few of your coworkers walk by and you hear whispers as they pass by.

"Ugh." You say as you rest your head on her shoulder.

"Come with me." She says as she grabs your hand. She walks a few feet down the hall and looks both ways to see if there's anyone nearby. When the coast is clear she pulls you into a supply closet and shuts the door behind you.

"What are you-"

"Shhh." She says bringing her finger to your lips. She holds your face in her hands and gazes into your eyes. "I couldn't wait until later." She whispers.

"Rebecca-" your words are cut off when her lips meet yours, you melt into the kiss, your hands holding onto her hips.

She flicks her tongue across your lips and you part them, letting her in. You gently moan into her mouth when her tongue meets yours and you feel her smile as she kisses you. You gently suck on her bottom lip and kiss alongside her jaw and down her neck. She takes a sharp breath in as you nip at her neck and then suck on the spot, you're probably going to leave a mark but right now that's the last thing either of you are thinking about. You kiss further down her neck and over her collarbone, she runs her fingers through your hair and grabs at the hair at the back of your head. You kiss further down her chest and between her breasts, your chin resting on the lowest point of her v neck shirt. You kiss and suckle on the exposed skin of her cleavage and she throws her head back.

"Mmm, draga mea, you are perfection."

"Don't stop, talk to me in every language you know." You purr as you kiss every inch of her exposed skin.

"Tu aimes quand je parle dans différentes langues?"

You smile as you kiss your way back up her neck.

"Ti accende l'amore?"

Your lips meet hers once more and she kisses you hard, her tongue immediately exploring your mouth. She pins you against the shelf behind you, her hands gripping your hips, she moves her lips to your neck and begins kissing and gently biting at your skin. You grab the hair on back of her head and bite down on your lip desperately trying to hold back a moan. One starts to slip out and she catches it in her mouth, pressing her lips against yours. You're desperate for her touch but you don't want her lips to move off of yours. You both feel like you're in your own world where only the two of you exist, you usually feel like this when you're with her, especially when you're being intimate in any way.

You're blinded by a bright light when you realize someone opened the closet door, you and Rebecca jump and you see one of your coworkers, completely in shock. They immediately close the door and you hear their footsteps quickly walk down the hall. After the initial shock, you both look at each other and laugh, you lay your head into Rebecca's chest.

"Oh nooo." You whine.

"Nous sommes baisés." She says as she wraps her arms around you.

"What does that mean?"

"We're fucked."

You both laugh as you hold each other, your burning face buried into her.

"We sure are."

[phantomoftheorpheum]

can i ask you to ramble about the artful dodger please?? your gifset is sooo pretty so im curious what its about!

Oh my God, have you come to the right place. There is nothing I would love to do more rn. Okay, so-

The Artful Dodger is basically (pretentious film & tv people are gonna absolutely despise this description) a post-canon/slightly canon divergent fanfiction set in the world of Dickens' Oliver Twist, following Jack Dawkins (The Artful Dodger) 15 years after the events of Oliver Twist.

So, quick recap of Oliver Twist (spoilers, obviously) for anyone who isn't familiar with that story- Oliver is this little orphan kid in England in the 18(30/40s?) << I don't believe the exact date is stated, but it was seemingly contemporary to when Dickens wrote it, which was 1837-1839. Oliver runs away from an orphanage to London and ends up meeting Jack (The Artful Dodger, AKA "Dodger" or "Dodge"), a street kid in London who takes him in. Jack is known as The Artful Dodger because he is particularly talented at pickpocketing/thieving, which is what he and the other kids he lives with do to survive. They are all "looked after" by a character called Fagin, who is basically using this child gang to support himself and his greed (listen, we can talk about Fagin's character in the show vs the books at some point if you want, but I want to keep this section brief), and Jack is the favorite because he is the best. Anyway, stuff happens, Oliver ends up having a long lost inheritance and gets to live a life of wealth, Jack is caught pickpocketing and sent to Australia (at that time a penal colony), Fagin is arrested and hanged.

*This post is relatively spoiler free for the show, but not 100%, since it's impossible to talk about without discussing character's actions, personalities, relationships, etc. However I'm doing my best to avoid any major spoiler plot points.

This show, The Artful Dodger (Hulu/Disney+) picks up 15 years later, with a few small alterations to the Oliver Twist ending. In the canon of this show, Jack was arrested for pickpocketing, but escaped prison, joined the navy, and was taught to be a surgeon. After his time in the navy, he now lives in Australia and is a doctor in a town called Port Victory, but seeing as he is also an escaped convict, he would be hanged if his past were discovered. Fagin (who dies in the original version of Oliver Twist) was spared by Oliver, and has now been sent to Port Victory as a convict. Obviously this will be a problem for Jack, who is hiding his past.

SO, with that out of the way, the premise of the show is basically this-

Jack is now a surgeon trying to live a lawful life, which is disrupted when Fagin arrives in Port Victory and threatens to expose his past and attempts to draw him back into a life of crime. Simultaneously, Jack meets Belle (totally OC for this show), the governor's daughter, who wants to be a surgeon and is willing to go to extreme lengths to get there. Unsurprisingly, Jack and Belle (who are both pretty stubborn and sassy personalities) clash in many ways, but also share common passion & interests, and thus the stage is set for the show.

So you've got two key dynamics to the show- Jack & Fagin, who have a long history (Fagin often tries to claim to be a father figure in Jack's life, which Jack rejects, as Fagin abandoned Jack when he was arrested in order to save himself) and different priorities/agendas, and Jack & Belle, who have just met, and are still trying to figure each other out. They are of very different pasts, class, mindsets/life philosophies, and this dynamic provides a lot of tension/humor/emotion (if your ask is talking about the gifset that I think, then you already know a bit about where this leads).

The show has elements of comedy, adventure, crime, romance, medical drama, etc. There are additional side plots/characters, but Belle, Jack, and Fagin are at the center of it. It's a lot of fun and only 8 eps, so I definitely recommend it to anyone who is interested! TW: blood/surgery shown on screen quite often.

Anyway, on a personal note, this show feels like it was made for me. I had this absolute obsession with The Artful Dodger character as a child; he's one of the first characters I was ever super emotionally attached to, and led to me wanting to write. For this reason, I paid to have an Artful Dodger tattoo designed while I was in college (though I have not gotten it yet, as it's part of a bigger piece that I'm still mentally workshopping) like as a reminder of why I love telling stories. So I was incredibly nervous for this show, since it was touching a character who has been fundamental to my own creative passions, so I am happy to report that it exceeded my expectations. It probably helps that I've been part of the fanfic community for a long time, so seeing "alternate" versions of characters I'm familiar with doesn't faze me too much, and I think all the actors did a great job with their performances/characters.

So if you're still here at the end of my ramblings and you think that the show sounds like a fun time, definitely check it out! I'd be willing to do a more spoilery version of one of these at some point, but I didn't want to get into heavy spoilers in a introductory post.

Thanks for asking!! <33

[cookieeevee]

Hello Yellow and Welcome People!!

Most people tend to call me Cookie or Cookieeevee because of my blog name, but call me Alice! I use the pronouns She/Her and They/Them (I don't mind which one you use)

I am into Rain World, OneShot, Pokemon, Warrior Cats, Kirby, Sonic, Pikmin, Ori, Chicory: a colorful tale, Steven universe, MHA, Epic Mickey, and many more

You can ask me anything, I'd love to chat with you all (Ask about ADH au or ask Lily if u want too)

Art requests are always welcomed :D

My designs of the slugcats and Iterators My Rain world OCs My other OCs

Side blogs of mine:

Cookie: @ask-cookieeevee03

Madge: rainworld-starsandclouds023

Droplet (Old, should probably reboot at some point): rainworld-ask-the-medic

SOES: rainworld-lifeisendless230

Slugcat's: rainworld-cycle-of-slugcats

just doodle/art blog: mossy-doodles85

Silly adventurers of my plush's (feel free to send me art in Messages of the sillys if you want, I will post it and credit u, if u want :3)

you can draw for me if ya want

Amazing Friends Of Mine!: @rainworld-obsessed-cat-reborn (One of my first tumblr friends! Probably one of my closes friends here! They are really silly and has great art! I thought I'd never see them again once their main blog got deleted... I'm very glad they're back now. I care for them with the might of a 1000 suns and always wish for the best of them! I'll always have their back, no matter what <3) @stargazer0001 (A great friend, who I really care for! One of the first people I go to talk to about silly ideas and aus of mine. They're art is a joy to see and our silly chats we had before were really fun! Thanks for being there for me <3) @critter2 (Super silly bud that I met because of Star! Their art is amazing and its always a blast to be around them! Sadly they aren't on often so that kinda sucks... ALSO THEY ARE WHOLESOME WHEREVER THEY THINK/KNOW THAT OR NOT!!!!) @lanternlightsovercloudyskies (I've actually never checked if we're friends or not, but see her as one! Cute silly art that a joy to see, and shes super wholesome in my opinion! I always hope for the best for her!) @bananacat76 (My silly great friend! They're super cool and wholesome, all things I wish to be. They've let me add their RW persona, Banana cat, to my RW AU and even let me make Banana Cat Enot's sibling! Lots of hugs to them! A joy see and a gift to be around ^^) @rcranger (THIS SUPER AMAZING AND COOL PERSON IS MY FRIEND!!! Hes made super cute and silly art that is a joy to see and always puts a smile on my face! Cherry has been a super great person and he need MORE LOVE so go check him out and give him some love!!)

@puffstarss (I'm pretty sure we're friends, at least to me she is! Puffs is probably one of the most kind people here! She's a big UT and UTY fan and is the owner of The Undertale Yellow Runaway Route AU! If your a fan of UTY aus and stuff be sure you check out her blog! also I will die for them like all friends of mine)

Random things about me: My favorite colors are mint green and lavender I want to write but am too scared to put it online and I get writers block a lot... I wish people would ask me more things (on any of my blogs)... My IRL friend group and I do a lot of dark humour I draw all the time, in class, at lunch, at home, in the car, and many other places Cream is my favorite Sonic character I my 3rd favorite Sonic character is Chris from Sonic X, FIGHT ME ON IT I have four brothers and no sisters... I have many AUs which I will probably never tell anyone about because I am scared of doing that Rain world brain rot I REALLY want to play SA2 just because of the chao garden Undertale Yellow fan! I'VE DODGED DEATH!!!! If you want to be friends with me, just ask. Cuz I'm probably not gonna ask you that and I'm always happy to have more friends I need help

[bonnieisaway]

@lichrott I finally got around to making a side by side :3 at least of most moments i could find or remember

don't mind the music i didnt want it to be dead silent so i just grabbed the first thingi had. also one of the redtooth ones I wrote wrong i said season 3 ep 9 when i meant season 2 ep 9 we're not gonna talk about iitttt

This man really is only surviving through a fuck around and find out fight style huh. Also I think it's a bit telling most of the ones he DOES pick up from other people are almost always more offensive, aggressive fighting moves because Seven's naturally pretty defensive and doesn't have much issue dodging or avoiding things (or just fucking taking it like a champ) most often, but really often turns to others around him for how to attack people and that's how he's most often won fights or escaped the situation, and most of these aren't exact copies of them but he's able to adapt and adjust them for the situations he's in: holding down the Prince of Stan not to immobilize him but to stall him long enough for Thirteen to attack unlike Dachun trying to stop Seven entirely, using the drill move from Xiao Fei not entirely to attack Meowcai but also using it with his scissors to continue rushing forward and block his attacks, adapting Thirteen's fighting style to fight one on one with Meowcai when he had seen Thirteen defeat a solid majority of the other cats like this, etc etc

I think actually something that does interest me a little: different character's qi can have different colors and take a lot of different forms, but even though purple and red are more of Seven's signature colors (I'm being fairly generous with the red there given he's got a neutral color palette, but it compliments his purple well) the qi he uses with his scissors is the exact same color as Thirteen's and she's the person he tends to pick up certain moves or dual wielding in general from. I know it's pretty much always been that color but

especially here where he's physically holding them and that same color energy is still emitting from them. I might be reaching with the color thing a little but I think it is at least safe to say though Hua was the reason Seven was able to master his qi better he picked up quite a few things from Thirteen (and Green Phoenix in the past, I'd assume)

[telemna-hyelle]

sorry I thought of another one what are all the Ravios opinions on their sword? (and Ghirahim if they know of him?)

-Sky Floor

Sea: well, Ghirahim is my trusted business partner, and from what my brothers tell me, he's kept up our contract long into the future. He also seems to be more... active? than his Hyrulian counterpart. He's... encouraged, shall we say, most of them through their adventures, and taught a fair bit of them how to actually use a sword. The only one who hasn't used him is One, but I think they've been getting along pretty well on this adventure! They have... similar histories. I think it's been good for both of them.

One: ...not gonna comment on that, except that Sea should stop psychoanalyzing me, thanks.

Myth: That's One speak for 'oh snap they figured me out' *nimbly dodges out of the way of One's kick*

Ages: I couldn't have gotten through my adventure without Ghirahim's help; he was my guide through it all.

Flame: I know I couldn't have! Ghirahim was... really scary at first, but now I really miss him; I'm glad I got to go on this adventure and see him again!

Magic: I technically used him, but it was mostly Lorule. Still, I quite appreciated his skill and company.

Lorule: we're often at odds with the best reaction to a situation. He gets frustrated when i keep running away. But... it's good to know I have him watching my back.

Realm: Same. Helps me sleep at night. Plus I appreciate his skill with insults.

Swords: I didn't really get to know him well, since i was fighting him for most of my adventure, but... i still think there's a strong bond between us. Finally bringing him back home was one of the proudest moments of my life.

Sol: He's useful, but he drives me up the wall most of the time. Though, I agree with Realm--he's absolutely brilliant when it comes to scathing insults.

Sea, smugly: which means they're best friends.

Sol: NO WE'RE NOT

*unfortunately for Sol, no one is convinced*

[extreme-neutral]

Hi! Sidestep ask game is still pinned to your dash, soo... 5, 15, 16 and 29 for Cy pretty please ^^

Yes, the ask wall stays until I finish an art. Meanwhile, it entertains me while I'm at work or traveling, so giant THANKS for asking!

5. What is their zodiac sign?

Virgin Virgo.

I find it hard to imagine Cy just answering this question with some lie/on random instead of just dodging it..

So I'll just go with the legend that someone asked him his zodiac sign and someone else teased with "virgin" and Cy just rolled with it (virgo is Latin for virgin).

I had to conduct full-on research to answer this one, but character-wise this sign fits him extremely well.

15. What is their greatest flaw?

Torn between paranoid and self-destructive, but if we are talking fatal flaws - as in "will kill you" kind - that would be the latter ofc.

His revenge scar from HB combined with self-rivalry is one side of it, sure. He gets... urges. from time to time - really doesn't like himself at all.

The other side is his same old need to have a clear purpose. Once *everything* is done, he sees no future for himself. Fuck's he supposed to do if he survives? Learn to live and love himself? LOL

So, he strives for no life improvement, no bettering of his own head space - which only makes him more unlikely to try to solve this mess that is himself and soooo Ouroboros turns eternally.

All in all he's just tolerating himself for as long as it takes like a soldja.

(imma tell you a secret tho, there is at least one individual who, theoretically, might persuade him - mayhaps unintentionally - to suffer himself indefinitely...)

16. What is their best virtue?

So funny thing. Cy is this kind of a person who would crank any virtue up to 150% where it tips into a flaw, if you know what I mean.

If he's loyal, he might be blindly loyal to wrong people. If he's practical, he'll try to apply practicality to emotions and get confused. If he's empathetic, he'll start overthinking and just make a normal situation weird..

Interestingly enough, I've read a mention of Virgos doing exactly that: too much of good thing thing... :'D

And I'd say Cy's ultimate virtue is... selflessness. Which, yes, seem to result in self-neglect if you overdo it.

And the only thing that might overcome his greatest flaw? You got it - selflessness (as in, he might go for the worst of fates for someone else).

Something about Cyrus and vicious circles, man...

29. Do they flirt often?

Simple answer is: no.

He does use jokes with lewd undertones to startle or embarrass someone on porpoise, but not on people who might turn it into actual flirting. That would be unintentional self-subotage.

Hard to speak for sure about him flirting in a relationship, since I have no data further than one imaginary scenario. Feel like if the other is not prone to flirting he would take it up, but there is no saying if it's gonna be a cheesy one liner or a statement of opinion at any given moment. And if he’ll just fluster himself with it…

[0fps]

okay wuwa first impressions, first ~3 hours or so

the good

combat is fun as expected, LOVE dodging mechanics and the jump attack is surprisingly a lot of fun too. swapping characters is purposeful and fluid and overall the combat so far is super satisfying.

i just pulled a bunch of characters off the gatcha (did not get jiyan........) so i'm gonna have fun seeing whose kit i vibe with, i like that they all come with their own tutorial thing. that being said i definitely think i prefer the melee characters, ranged ones like baizhi don't exactly feel as nice to play. gun characters are very hit and miss so far (pun not intended) like i don't like playing chixia but i REALLY like playing mortefi

also love the echos system, and how its integrated into exploring the open world and actually fighting enemies. i'm gonna have a lot of fun filling out this data bank lol. there's a wolf one i like using during combat

could also just be new environment syndrome but the city feels HUGE. excited to explore around

the bad

as many have already pointed out yeah the optimization in this is not great (i play on laptop for context). it surprisingly seemed to get better for me the more i played/explored. i have a guess it might be caching things in the backend so the issue is primarily with loading in new/haven't seen in a while assets, but even then there is a pretty consistent stutter to the game, particularly the more open world areas. luckily for me not enough to completely turn me off from playing

i think a lot of this is because their "low graphics" setting is like. not low graphics at all lol, its actually just turning certain settings on/off for you. i think being able to tone down the environment detail/the resolution itself would help their optimization a LOT (even though the game is beautiful, i would prefer smoother gameplay than being able to see every blade of grass lol)

another thing i saw people point out was the fourth line of text getting cut off in the subs. definitely annoying since i read faster than the characters talk. i would hope this is an easy thing for kuro games to fix though, and my impression is they're pretty good at responding to player feedback

picking up items seems. weird? in addition to the fact that picking up items causes stutters often (probably asset loading), it also takes a while for the item to actually disappear which does NOT seem to be tied to the lag, but rather is an actual delay, so it really breaks the immersion

auto lock also feels weird especially in multi-enemy combat. i for one will probably not be using it lol

the loading screens take forever. i'm gonna be seeing 65% in my nightmares

the neutral (i'll be honest most of these are kinda leaning bad too ajkfdla)

music is okay, i haven't heard anything special or notable yet

no large opinions on the story as of yet, tbh i've spent more time exploring than doing any story progression asdlkjafs

i like being able to run up walls but the animation itself for it feels very idk. unpolished? in general climbing feels a bit awkward

idk if my eyesight is bad but it's kinda hard to tell which items are interactable/you can pick up. things like chests are also very unassuming but maybe i'm just bad at noticing them right now since i'm just getting used to the environment

environment is quite detailed but tbh i haven't seen anything yet where i've been like WOW but i've also only been in like. 2 areas so far

while i do like the combat, the hit box/range also seems just a bit. off. idk how to describe it might just be a matter of getting used to things ajkdflsf

kind of in line with that the movement feels a bit delayed, like it isn't as snappy as i'd like

overall its not bad but definitely feels like it needs some polish. i agree with people saying it probably should have stayed in beta longer and gone through more QA/optimization testing because some of these things like the cutoff text feel very rookie mistake

all that being said, even though I guess this post is fairly critical/negative I am really enjoying the game for what it is 💕 the bad optimization/lag is definitely it's biggest problem, so I hope it's something kuro games will be able to figure out, if it's not something that improves as the game gets bigger (map/asset wise) that'll definitely be its nail in the coffin

[lokis-wager]

So! Adventure is Nigh Season 3 just wrapped up! And Nick said before the show that it will be late Fall before we get any new episodes 😭😭😭 Let's talk about the finale.

Incredible that the entire party managed to dodge the robot army thing and Chezzeric's attempt at a coup. I hope I'm not misremembering anything, but given that the robots are powered by the souls of the dead, it seems possible that whoever was in on the plot to steal the magic scroll all the way back in the pilot might have been the ones trying to resurrect the robot army? Again, if I'm remembering it right, that scroll summoned lots of ghosts, which probably could have been used to power all those robots.

Mortimer was able to get his revenge in some way by killing B's son and watching her kill her sister, which so far, he seems satisfied by. Ngl I was so sure he was gonna try to sneak-attack the queen when he knelt down by her side - but he didn't. He continues to threaten Grinderbin and be extremely secretive about his identity, which means that there's definitely more to him than just being a changeling. It also doesn't explain why Mortimer is so careful about his identity while Musk doesn't care if anyone knows. Curious!

Dabarella was an absolute menace this episode. She dealt with Kalandra, spared her from dying long enough for Queen B to deal the finishing blow, and summoned a god (technically, two gods!) She seems like she's getting teed up to be very important for the next season, too, being part of the negotiation team between the flora and fauna folk. She's perfect for the job :3 but there's a lot to talk about how the party moves through the world. They heightened the tension between the flora and fauna folk, and they have now assassinated a prince. They've been keeping their tracks covered so far, but they are extremely disruptive and often leave places worse off for their presence than better. They consider themselves heroes, but there's only so much they can do before their chaos catches up. They've just left an entire army full of robots to fill with dead souls below the castle, and destroyed B's necklace, which could lead to quite a lot of trouble down the line.

Grinderbin did so much - his arcana check was vital for deciphering the purpose of the robots. He also held Mortimer back from becoming the king of a robot army lol. He continues to reject his noble heritage, and has completely rejected 'schmoozing and lying'. His quick thinking with the statue defeated Latavia before he could cast more than a single spell, and he had the idea to not switch clothes back with Mortimer once they had finished their deception. Just wrapping an arm around Mortimer when he was being threatened was just adorable - he trusts Mortimer completely, despite everything he's seen. But if it comes down to Mortimer, or Dabarella and Sigmar, I wonder who he'd chose? Um. Also. Flora folk are made of other people's souls?????? WHAT???? WAS GRINDERBIN SOMEONE ELSE BEFORE???

Sigmar absolutely fucking tanked so many hits. Without him, they would not have made it through the Kalandra fight. His bone'n'marrow is incredibly cool, tbh, even if it is a bit of a pain to use. He also got to use his spell-stealing gauntlet at last, wooo! Seeing Eggelier just snap and completely bash him across the face was pretty funny lol, after everything they put her through, though, she deserved to get a hit in. Sigmar's first instinct being to destroy the machine was, honestly, the kind of call that I would have made. It looks complicated, looks dangerous, and they're absolutely gonna be dealing with the consequences of this one for a while yet.

Everyone played their characters so well and the final battle was absolutely incredible. This is literally the funnest show I've watched in a long time, I was glued to my seat and barely felt the time passing. Everything about this was worth the wait and I'm so happy we have new episodes now. I can't wait for everything to get re-released and to have all the episodes to watch from start to end. I'm excited for season 4, wooo!

[artichow]

what are ur oc’s beys like? :0 battle style, type, spirit, etc!!

oooh good question!!

Haruto: Mine is a Night Crow TR145HF/S, but I call it Raven. It's a stamina type bey, I don't battle much or have any time for it, really, but I guess I base my style on dodging strategies, especially in the first half of a fight. Raven uses it's perfomance tip to change it's speed very quickly and be almost impossible to hit, until the opponent loses it's speed. Although the fusion wheel doesn't deal much in attack, the spin track usually gives Raven enough momentum from the opponent's previous attack to push them very quickly out of bound. As for it's spirit, I noticed that Raven's spirit form's size depends on how much energy i put into a fight. It can go from an average sized crow to one of the size of... I don't know, like a lamp post I guess? It's pretty rare though.

(arti's note: I was originally gonna draw all three characters answering this question but I lost all my spoons very quickly so pls accept this messy unfinished sketch of Haruto showing his bey)

Shoyo: My beyblade is called Forbidden Actaeo. He has an spin track just like Hyoma's Aries, an Eternal Defense 145 track, and a Coated Stamina performance tip, like Masamune's Striker has. I'd say my battling style is pretty interchangeable, though I prefer to play on avoidance most of the time. Actaeo is very fast, and he often plays on his performance tip to stop in his tracks and strike from a different direction. His stamina and defense stats are very good, and his attacks are reinforced by the high speed he manages to maintain during fights. It's a really good balance type, I always manage to get out of sticky situations thanks to his resourcefulness! Though... there are some aspects of him that I have yet to be familiar with... Or want to use. But that's not important, sorry. His spirit is a deer, he actually has changed a lot, it's like he's been growing alongside me! Now he has antlers, and more hair around his neck too! Though sometimes his eyes look like a whole other animal... But- I must be imagining things. It seems he's not done transforming, it's a little scary but I guess... also exciting.

(actual drawing of Actaeo from earlier this year, I'd like to change the facebolt design again tbh but the overall appearance is still the same!)

Tatsuki: Arti didn't chose anything for me yet :D (I'm thinking a parrot bey, either attack or balance)

[autumnslance]

2 19 23 (hiiiii Lyn! Hope your weekend is going well!)

(Hi! And it is, thank you! Saturday was pretty busy, so hoping to put together a bookshelf Sunday and otherwise relax with newly arranged books!)

2) List 3 shipping tropes you don’t love

The main reason I don't care much for love triangles currently is the over-reliance on them to often try and force conflict. Done well, with actual quandaries between the 3 points, it can be decent tension and a meaningful choice. But too often, if it's just "the 'choice' isn't one why are we bothering?" and/or "polyamory fixes this easily" then the triangle has probably failed in its narrative intent.

(I watched the movie version of "Paint Your Wagon" when young, and dodging the triangle problem with the former Mormon woman saying "I used to be married to a man with 2 wives, why can't I have 2 husbands?" And the men going "Sound logic" and working out a schedule where they each got time with their wife while just being platonic buddies to each other was formative.)

That thing where people demonize or kill off or otherwise "get the canon lover out of the way" so they can write or draw their preferred ship. Usually done to female characters. It's entirely unnecessary and pretty gross.

Unrequited Love is one I'm gonna have to agree with Richard Siken on. Also the way it's often used is in a pining/mooning manner but can also lead to attitudes that step into being "owed" love/sex/attention and it just doesn't feel good, especially if one's ever been on the receiving end of such in real life before.

All that said, I don't hate the first and third tropes here necessarily, they're just often either overdone and/or often difficult to do in a way that isn't annoying to awful.

19) How long did they know each other before getting together?

For Aeryn & Thancred, about three and a half years-ish. Being loosey-goosey with my year-and-change-per-expac timelines.

(With my original story pairing, they knew each other maybe 15 minutes, most of it ballroom dancing, before being informed they were being tossed into an arranged marriage within the next couple months. It takes them a few more months/a couple years to sort things out. And then things get complicated.)

23) Have they met each other’s families?

Thancred has met Aeryn's family in Thavnair; maybe someday I will get that darn fic wrangled where they run into her family at the end of the Thavnair intro before returning to Sharlayan. Since then, her family's been around for the various EW plot stuff and beyond into the patches; the couple has their own little apartment within the family's city residence.

And of course they didn't initially realize it, but he did know her brother Zaine first.

Aeryn knows everyone Thancred considers family, and has for years.

[dutchdread]

Rebirth Update 3

Well, I'm just about done outside of Junon, but it's getting late so I'm gonna retire. First some thoughts though. While the combat here was going significantly better than during the demo I do still have some complaints about certain aspects of it. Especially when fighting some of the larger flying enemies it is quite frustrating that my skills don't work like I'd expect them to. When a creature is charging at me I try to dodge, or use Focus Strike, and it feels like these should both be appropriate responses that will make sure that you keep fighting, but they almost never are. I want to feel as though, if I'm quick enough, there is always a right move but too often there simply doesn't seem to be one and I get rag-dolled around for a while. The same is true for grounded enemies but to a lesser extent, mainly because when getting interrupted while flying it takes longer to hit the ground and correct. I initially felt like the argument between Tifa and Cloud in Kalm was a bit forced. The talk itself was good, as well as Tifa showing Cloud her scar, but her indignation afterwards felt out of character. I am happy to say though that this was more than made up for by their talk in Junon, as well as the frog mini-game quest. Since my favorability rating with Tifa is understandably quite a bit higher than with Aerith I'm unfortunately not able to quite yet determine what part of the differences in treatment is due to favorability and what part is non-optional, but dear lord do Cloud and Tifa have sexual tension as well as couple vibes. The people who used to say Aerith and Cloud have better chemistry because she annoys him should really look at these scenes, because my god. I do still think it was a bad move to make Cloud hypothetical condition so explicit. People always complain about Tifa not saying anything in the OG, but she's clearly less reserved in this game and while it makes for some great moments between Cloud and Tifa which really show that their story is entwined, I do feel that it takes away from the overall atmosphere. Speaking of which, the black robed individuals are also a lot less creepy than they were in the OG, which is partly because of the better graphics leaving less to the imagination. But is also because they're just lined up conveniently out in the open and are talked about pretty openly. I feel they could have ramped up the eerie factor there. Yuffie is absolutely GREAT. She was fun in intergrade but I am enjoying her even more here, which is a welcome change since I hated her in the OG. Aerith so far is also an improvement, simply because she's gone back to being a slightly clueless ditsy girl, which is what she was in the OG. Have to say though, the people who think "someone mature" was in reference to Aerith should play this game because man is she childish in her mannerisms now. Barret continues to be awesome, same as Remake, Nanaki is just Nanaki, no complaints there. There was one weird scene where Barret had a flashback to the end of remake to remind then viewer of what happened and that scene nearly gave me a whiplash with how it was put together but for the rest everything has been pretty good when it comes to direction, not that there has been much to see in that regard since the game has essentially slotted in two massive side-quest areas right next to each other. Also, without explaining that you need to go to yunon first before you can access some of those quests. Also, am I the only one who is annoyed by the summons in Chadleys VR? I was fighting phoenix, I was absolutely destroying him. He has like 3% life left after I stagger him, and he just uses rebirth flame and kills my entire party, couldn't interrupt or do anything. Sometimes the game makes you too helpless. Also also, my abilities are pilling up, kinda makes me wish that instead of R1 giving you access to regular team abilities it was just another hotkey button, I need more of those. Have to end on a good note though....Man Tifas abbs look good in this game.

[braintapes]

I have lots of thoughts about online art tutorials/resources and I could go at length if given the opportunity HOWEVER. I wanna share just one which is that:

I hate that "don't shade with black EVER" is such a common piece of art advice. 99.999% of the time I see it it's purely a style thing - "Don't draw this way because I personally think it looks ugly." "Never EVER do this it will make your drawings look so so awful and terrible DO NOT SHADE THIS WAY" dude who cares!!!!

There's no way of drawing that's gonna make your work inherently better or worse. Shading IN ANY WAY can be just one part of the process (though doesn't even have to be present at all!) and you can do it in all kinds of ways! Personally, I'd recommend experimenting and trying different styles/methods to see what you personally enjoy the most. Whether that's with solid black, cel shading, using a bunch colors in your shadows...What's important is that YOU like what you make however that feels right for you. If you enjoy yourself, it will show through in your art.

This 'advice' is often aimed at beginner artists and...Idk I think treating shading with black as a beginner thing that you just grow out of as you learn how to "actually" shade is pretty shitty both to beginners and to people who, y'know, DRAW WITH THAT STYLE!!

I'm constantly inspired by artists that shade with black, whether they're friends of mine or just artists I follow whose work I admire. Personally, as someone who enjoys using lots and lots of color, I'm always in awe at how much use they can get out of it...the DYNAMISM and INTENSITY!! It's such a unique and striking look, and that's not even getting into all of the comic books, video games, and other similar places where this art style is commonplace and looks gorgeous!

And as far as beginners go...Why tell someone they have to do it this way and not that way when maybe 'this way' could end up less fun and more overwhelming? Color is a whole dimension of its own to learn. Shading with black can, if reaaallly nothing else, make it a lot easier to learn values. If we gotta get into the weeds about it.

But like honestly truly it's FINE. it looks FINE. Great, even! Like, look. Okay. I was on dA a decade ago where you got your ass chewed out for using dodge-and-burn to shade/highlight as a kid. I get it. But we don't have to live in that time anymore. Open your heart to the creative possibilities!! Look at some chiaroscuro! Challenge urself, try shading in black and give it a real honest to god try!!!! Who knows, it could be fun for you !

Or, even if not, we could at least retire the phrase 'don't shade with black [if you want your art to look good]' from any and all art advice.

[coldercreation]

skdjaks im catching up on ur recent posts cuz ive been inactive on tumblr, and i came across the one where u and some ppl in the replies lament on loving the idea of relationships but never developing crushes rlly and finding it hard to date and whatnot, and damn i relate. i was gonna comment but i wanna stay anon for now, so i am in ur inbox instead huhu. but yh i deal w the same thing, ppl have had crushes on me before, but ive never once returned them? and like even if i find someone attractive as far as i know that doesn’t translate to wanting to bone… blech. i was talking to my friend abt this yesterday, and i was telling her that maybe ill try just going on dates and figure out how i tick?? general research has led me to id as demi after contemplating ace when i was like 13 so,,, who knows rlly. tldr i am similar and i get being confused abt it H

Ohh this is so interesting actually! Like, I genuinely wasn't expecting that so many of you would relate when I wrote that post??🤔 Obviously I knew that there's no way that I'm the only one on this whole planet, but still, seems a lot more common than what I had thought!

I'd like to think that it's very much okay to be confused by these kinds of things, no matter how frustrating it can also be. That's pretty much what I've been telling myself recently. Even if I'd like to find someone I really connect with and to have a relationship, there's no rush or need to force anything immediately just for the sake of it. Maybe it can even be fun to explore with time, and to figure out those things that will make us tick?

For me it's probably more about working on my social life in general than about anything else. Especially since the apps clearly don't do it for me and there's not really any other ways to meet new people. But I'm kinda feeling optimistic about it, mostly because I've been enjoying being social so much more lately!

Thank you for sharing love! This topic has been so interesting and I've enjoyed hearing everyone's experiences xx

///

Huge RAMBLE warning lmao:

I actually brought this topic up in therapy after we chatted about it here, kinda just theorised about it while trying to make sense of it all. My/our conclusion was that, for me, it could stem from ✨trauma✨ and needing a lot of time to truly open up/warm up to people (demi?/trust issues/hyper-independence). And since the societal norm is to often move a lot faster than that, I haven't even had the time to see the possible connection/spark/whatever in people, because they've already deducted, based on me having been very cautious and closed off, that I'm not interested, and so they moved on. Which in turn could've made me feel unwanted or uninteresting or unattractive or even abandoned, y'know? So I'd be left confused, feeling like there was something wrong and unattractive? about me, while also wondering why I'm never actually interested in anyone even though I've always longed for those deep connections with people.

Nowadays I've been feeling a lot lighter and... open? I guess, and I can genuinely see a change in the way people approach me? Or maybe they've always approached me the same way but I just wasn't able to be receptive to it🤔 Dunno! But there must've been some sort of micro-visible behavioural shift in me or something, because as soon as I have started to feel like I can and want to seek out people's company and I genuinely enjoy it, people are just... suddenly there? Whereas before there was this void?? Even when I tried to change that.

And despite me not having met anyone specific I'd be interested in dating, I have felt like I could actually do it now if the right person came along. (When I tried dating through apps years ago I felt like I was forcing it. It was very surface level and short lived, didn't feel... right?) And with that 'shift', or whatever it is that's changed in my behaviour??? I've literally been dodging date invites this past year like it's a sport???? Like tf?😭😂 This is mind boggling to someone who has for years thought that no one just gives a shit about me and there's something so unattractive about me that that's why no one shows any interest... But I think it really is a lot to do with some strange subtle messages that were given off? (and maybe also me leaving the house sometimes lmao....) I believe I wrote it in one of the more brainy stories as well, maybe CYE?, that if someone's whole body language, subconsciously or not, screams 'leave me the fuck alone', people are likely to leave them alone. And if we're not aware that that's the message we're giving off, it can very easily make us feel confused and like something's inherently wrong with us.

But then again, I don't think I would've been ready for anything like this a few years back, so perhaps the brains are smarter than we think and know that it takes time to heal. My therapist agreed that not having crushes could be due to so many things, but what I was saying did track to him. Slow to warm up/demi? + (social) anxiety + trauma are a hell of a combo when it comes to building new relationships. No matter why I'm not having crushes easily, he told me to take it easy on myself and to be understanding; after dealing with mental health crap and trauma for most of my life, it'd be very unreasonable to compare myself to the societal 'standards' or expect myself to do things in the same phase as other people are. Like, I had other shit to deal with growing up, so maybe I'm just now feeling like I'm ready to be myself, and it's okay to take things slow.

(And while writing that, speaking about people suddenly being there when before I felt like no matter what I tried, I was struggling to connect with people; I just got a thank you text from someone I helped at work when they were upset about something, and they said they'd love to see me (this one is in a friend way, not a date way) outside of work sometime as well :((((( is it weird if I cry lmaooo) xx