#What does url stand for

[loathemetc]

Deltarune... Theory? WHAT IS GOING ON MAN.

The Spamton Sweepstakes have suddenly spawned a bunch of new pages and...! Frankly I can't even begin to try and crack them all, I have my sights set on a specific one. The page with the url /chapter5.

Which... Just looks like this.

Oh, but you can highlight it!

Okay so what do we got here. A tiny 1 in black text, a huge 2 in white text, a huge 3 in black text, a small 4 in white text, and a moderately sized 5 in white text. On top of that, they all have links, except 1 so that's 1 less thing to worry about.

The big white 2 links to d.ogg from the game's files (or d.mp3 on the website), which is the song that plays in the weird route right before the fight against Berdly, as soon as Noelle snaps out of her trance. So uh, already off to a concerning start!

The big black 3 links to ma.mp3, a sound effect that also plays over ooooon...

This new page, /romb. This is pretty obviously harkening back to what Seam said about our next powerful foe being impossible without the Shadow Mantle, so we can presume that's what the blank spaces here stand for. No Shadow Mantle, no Shadow Crystal cause you can't beat the third secret boss. Clicking these blank spaces plays the aforementioned ma.mp3.

The small white 4 just links back to /chapter4, which is a whole other puzzle thanking you and asking for your email? There's something about a "she" who "never smiled", really not sure what to make of this cause we know next to nothing about Chapter 4. I guess Chapter 4 wants our email?? Perhaps a tease for the new character, Spamton 2 Spamton... No nevermind.

The white 5 links to h.mp3, a very short snipper of a guitar melody, not one I think we've heard before. Could Mozart still be alive? Dess. I meant Dess.

Obviously these numbers represent the chapters somehow, but that raises so many questions. Why is Chapter 1 small and irrelevant? Why is Chapter 2 being represented by the weird route, and Chapter 3 its secret boss? What does the chapter 4 page even have to do with Chapter 4? Chapter 5 Dess Dess Chapter 5? What connects these seemingly disparate elements? Do the size of the numbers represent the size of the chapters? That would make every chapter bigger than 1, which I guess I could believe, and 2 being the biggest would make sense since Toby said it was supposed to be the biggest in the game (Although Chapter 3's long ass dev time might have brought it up to match with new ideas). That would make Chapter 4 and 5 smaller than 2, if this guess is even true, which it might not be. And why are 1 and 3 blacked out?? Toby said Chapter 3 was less story heavy and I guess you could say the same of Chapter 1.

Don't leave yet I'm still spitballing. Hey, if Chapter 2 is being represented by the weird route here, and Chapter 1, where we can't do the weird route, is blacked out... Is this telling us there won't be a weird route in Chapter 3, but will in 4 and 5? We have been guessing for a while that given Noelle won't be in Chapter 3 (UNLESS SHE JUST IS LOL HI UNUSED CHAPTER 3 MUSIC WITH HER THEME IN IT) the previous chapter's weird route events probably won't have much if any effect on Chapter 3's events, but obviously by 4 and 5 those consequences will start to manifest.

Frankly I don't think this is "solveable", the game isn't out yet. But I'm just gonna go with "The size of the numbers is the size of the chapter and the color of the number is whether there's a weird route or not" for now. That's my best guess in the moment. There's other elements here but I'm gonna let them sit cause I don't think we can do much with them.

Crazy that myhouse.wad and the Spamton Sweepstakes both got out of left field updates within like a month, huh?

[siri-ike]

Summer of change

Part 2? 4?... part 4.

Prev

The morgue? No, thank you. Danny may be more comfortable with death than the average person, but he does not want to see what a dissected body looks like. He'd rather save that for when his parents finally catch him, and he finds out first hand.

Too bad Steph wasn't really asking.

"This isn't happening. This isn't happening. This isn't happening." He repeated in his head for every step down.

"Oh, come on," Steph calls from the bottom of the stairs. "It's just a basement."

"Nothing good ever happens in basements." He yells back.

The lights are harsh. It smells like bleach and other chemicals. Nothing like the lab at home. Sure, ectoplasm doesn't exactly smell good, or even unlike a corpse. But, ya'know, it's fainter. Like the memory of a smell. This smell is very present.

"Wanna lie down on the dissection table?" She teased.

The image of Vlad, both present and future, strapping him down to a metal table. He wouldn't want to experience anything like that ever again. Green blood goo everywhere. Flashed before his eyes. "No," He sneered.

"Fine," Steph said, defiantly hopping up on the table, "I'll do it." She lay down and stuck her tongue out, pretending to be dead.

She seemed to take joy in messing with him.

Wonder how she'd like it.

A devious grin replaced the fear on Danny's face. And he disappeared into the floor.

_______

She laid down on the dissection table. It was so cold that she wrapped her exposed arms over her stomach. She stuck her tongue out so he wouldn't notice her discomfort. It would be so embarrassing if she managed to make a fool out of herself in front of the only other person her own age.

She looked back to where Danny had been standing, but he was gone. She must have scared him off... like she always does.

She sits back up, her charismatic smile fading, and the lights flickered.

But then the lights flicker. There's a rattling from the office. Footsteps. And if she concentrates enough, breathing.

She gets down from the table, crosses her arms, and wishes she'd worn warmer clothes. "Who's there?" She demands.

"Who's there?" A haunting voice echoes, mocking.

Her heart races her eyes dart to various noises. No one is there. And then...

The lights go out.

The middle of an opperation room in a morgue, somehow, no longer feels like the best place to be.

She tries to run back to where she remembers the stairs to be, but then out of nowhere, just a head appears right in front of her.

"Boo!" It shouts, and she screams at the top of her lungs.

Then the lights turn back on, revealing the same boy from earlier. Head and body.

It takes her a moment to catch her breath, and once she does, she yells.

"You're gonna need a coroner when I'm done with you!" She threatened, but her tough words can't disguise the look of utter delight.

"I told you, nothing good happens in basements." Danny teases with a mischievous smile.

Funny. She could have sworn his eyes were blue.

_______

@confused-they ,you were right. There was a ghost in the basement.

Thank you to @bespoke-nautilus for proofing

@ladyredmoon13 @ryuukthehatter @sonrium @niamcarlin @sunnysolaria @tiffanyhart13 @tkiesai @not-your-average-url

[npdkondraki]

hi. kondraki scpverse is a trans woman. cope and seethe and read my essay about her below the cut. (it's really fucking long) (please god i put so much fucking work into this read it im begging you)

ok for starters for people who dont know what or who the hell im talking about right now (doubtful) (only adding this for the unitiated & newbies): this essay is about my awesome wife DR [REDACTED] HENRICH KONDRAKI(1) from pseudo-niche internet horror-fiction site THE SCP FOUNDATION(2/3). if you can't tell by our url i am Bonkers Crazy Insane about her and have been sporadically obsessed with her for several years. she sucks bad. anyways this post is about why i think she's a trans woman instead of being a "cishetallo man" like canon claims she is. you may be wondering; "but sawyer how is canon wrong about this if its canon" and to that i say. I know better than canon does dont worry about it. ok with that out of the way lets get into the schmeat of this thang

FIRST OFF. kondraki's entire view on masculinity is inherently tied to violence. she believes that if she isnt violent, cruel, and hiding her emotions constantly, then she isn't a 'real man'. her entire worldview, including her view of her own gender, is perceived through the lens of men, including herself, needing to be 'masculine', but she defines this masculinity through her own warped idea of what masculinity 'really is'. because she perceives men, and by extension masculinity itself, as violence, then she herself is violent. everything down to the way she speaks is designed to make her appear cruel, vindictive, and, most importantly, violent. she goes as far as claiming her favourite memory of working for the foundation is when she chased a man down and, quote, "[shot] his fucking face off"(4). however, despite all her tough-talk about being "badass"(5/6), she actually appears to be incredibly regretful about her actions(7), unlike her words imply.

she creates a cycle of retraumatizing herself over and over by hating everything being a man stands for, but refusing to acknowledge it. she leans into the idea that she is violent and cruel, creating a self-made cycle of self-hatred. this retraumatization makes her more violent; it causes her to lash out more, to be more vindictive, to be more outwardly cruel to people, to be more "man-like" in her eyes. she places herself into a self-made twister of hating herself enough that it rubs off on everyone else, and then positively claims its "[her] design"(8) rather than accepting how depressing it makes her life. she uses her own cruel perception of masculinity as a way to shield herself from the idea that she could ever, willingly, be a woman, because she's too violent and cruel and she'll never be a real woman, not in the same way people like rights & iris are. she fully, completely, and genuinely, believes that if she is able to "out-man" every man surrounding her then nobody is able to question what she thinks of herself.

theres an additional layer to how she views masculinity, in the sense that it makes her also view femininity as inherently docile, something that she lives by even when she is acting as a woman. in doing so she continues to perpetuate her idea that she must be violent to be masculine, because she views women (or, more specifically, the concept of being a woman) as fragile, weak, perceptible to being hurt, and she refuses to be any of these things. in refusing to view herself as a woman she, in her mind, refuses to view herself as emotional, hysterical, and, perhaps worst of all in her mind, just a woman. it's an incredibly unfortunate mix of how she was raised and the culture at her work; she is punished for being feminine (emotional, caring, nurturing, etc) and rewarded for being masculine (violent, cruel, selfish, etc) because that's just how people are in her line of work(9).

she views the entire experience and idea of being a woman as a joke. she's allowed to think about it, as a joke. she's allowed to be feminine, as a joke. she's allowed to be a girl, as a joke. she's allowed to be a pretty princess(10), as a joke. the very few brief moments where she allows herself to act on her impulses and suggest, even a bit, that she would like to be a woman is played for a joke(11/12/13/14/15). she speaks of being a woman as though it is a mystical thing, something she can only hope to achieve, less of a real option and more of a fantasy. she is acceptive of trans people(16), going so far as to say it seems that "it’s quite remarkable how productivity and morale improves once they come out and settle into living as their correct gender. [she imagines] it’s a huge relief, and it shows in everything they do." it's just that she truly doesn't view herself as being worthy of that. her entire life has been spent convincing herself that she isn't worth anything, let alone joy or comfort. she doesn't think she deserves to be allowed to transition. she believes that dr. kondraki needs to die, needs to be shot, needs to get it over with and kill herself already, and doesn't realize that the distance she puts between "[redacted] henrich kondraki" and "dr. kondraki" is a mask, a shell she can hide behind; it's a way for her to excuse any mention of her being a woman. if dr. kondraki can't be a woman, then [redacted] henrich kondraki can't be a woman either. it's nothing but a fantasy to her, something she can joke about and then discard along with the rest of her fantasies of being a good person, of being someone who deserves to be happy.

you can even bring her entire theming of butterflies into her own repression; the butterflies act as a camoflauge in the same way her mask of masculinity does. the only time she ever is truly gentle or nurturing or caring, all tasks she has deemed feminine, is with her butterflies. butterflies are specifically used in metaphors for transition, quite often appearing in trans artwork as a way to represent the death of who you once were and who you are now. the fact the butterflies also possess camoflauging abilities, which they tend to specifically use to make themselves (and kondraki) invisible, is in and of itself a metaphor for being in the closet, or, in kondraki's case, being repressed and refusing to acknowledge her transness. her transness is treated as though it's invisible, something she only looks at when it's disturbed, not unlike the way you can only see the butterflies by disturbing them. she refuses to acknowledge it, hides behind her camoflauge as a defense mechanism. coming to terms with her transness would make her have to disolve and be reborn, and she doesn't believe she deserves that. she doesn't believe she deserves to live free of the guilt, of everything she's done, so instead she stays camoflauged, stays in her bubble of masculinity where she feels her self-imposed shame and guilt.

all in all; kondraki is extremely repressed and refuses to accept that she's a woman, despite her progressive views, because she believes it would mean she is weak and fragile. she's terrified of her femininity, and uses violence and humor to deny every feminine part of herself.

DISCLAIMER. my choice to use specifically she/her for kondraki in this essay was a purposeful and deliberate choice and if you choose to use he/him after i have literally solely referred to her with she/her in this entire post i hate you personally. in other words

[visenyaism]

jaehaerys administration dashboard simulator

🫧maidenpooled Follow

listen i know all kingsguard are bastards but jonquil darke put a cigarette out on me. i think i huave shivers

♟️redwhine

ok bootlicker. you know what she did

🫧maidenpooled Follow

boots not the only thing id lick

🌸queencrowned Follow

this could literally be me and my brother if it weren't for my bitch mom trying to send me to the other side of the fucking continent

🍒saerious

GIRL STAND UP

🤎bowlofbrown

doctrine of exceptionalism meatriders when someone asks them why 75% of dragonstone is blonde and me and half of flea bottom have gleaming amethyst eyes and/or beautiful delicate cheekbones

🥀maegorwife Follow

that's different...targaryens are literally divinely ordained by the seven to rule because they're stronger and better than us...that's why they have the dragons it is in their sanctified valyrian blood

🩸knifeinthedark

SO TRUE...THEY WANT TO ABOLISH THE RIGHT TO FIRST NIGHT BECAUSE OF WOKE. AND YET THEY STILL DO IT. BUT NO ONE CAN SAY ANYTHING ANYMORE OR THOSE GENDER-NEUTRAL DRAGONS WILL BURN YOUR KEEP DOWN

🤎bowlofbrown

cannot stand this fucking website. spending my last silver stag on tyroshi blue hair dye im not going to be associated with you people.

🍒saerious

oh so when maegor has seven wives he’s “aegon’s true son” and “cool” but when i have three boyfriends suddenly im a “whore”

🫀lustywench Follow

op i support you but they did call him “the cruel” for that it was a very important part of the story that he was in fact maegor “the cruel”

🌟sevenpointedstar

🌗maidensgrace

doing all of this with a FAITH OF THE SEVEN URL...girl you better pick a hell and start hoping

#bring back the faith militant

❄️theythemderly

hey isn’t it weird that so many of the king’s children have suddenly and mysteriously died lately. under the care of the maesters. what if they’re planning something…,

🕯️glasscandled

ugh i wish🙄 speed that shit up fr

🥵ullerscorpion

likes charge reblog cast

😈themarcherrrrrr-deactivated5699

me when im in a being dead combination and my opponents are jaehaerys' whole army of childraeyn of the corn

🙌fleabottomtop

yoooooooo theyre quarrelling again.

🙌fleabottomtop

alysanne targaryen if you're reading this i could change your life just give me one chance let me hit

🙌fleabottomtop

there are gold cloaks outside of my house

⚔️errantmaid Follow

kingsguard dick is good as fuck when you don't have a motherfucker in your ear saying it violates a sacred vow made in the eyes of the king and the seven😜

⚔️errantmaid Follow

the king chopped it off and sent him to the wall i fucking hate this place can't have SHIT in king's landing

🏵️floriansjonquil

hey has anyone seen princess gael. it's been literal months and she seems to have up and disappeared with no official announcement from the palace? would be the third female relative to go missing in the king's custody after aerea and saera....

🐝beeeeeeeeeeeeesbury Follow

damn that's crazy. im sure shes fine though anyways i'm a big fan of this new road the king built theres a lot of nice new roads does anyone else like the roads

🐦‍⬛cloakedinfeathers Follow

day 18262 of not fighting the brackens. this is boring as fuckkkkk what am i supposed to do. pretend to care about the triarchy?

🐎brackennation

kill yourself

🐦‍⬛cloakedinfeathers Follow

192.158.1.38. doxxed. get your dumbfuck horse breeder knights ready because our strongest and noblest raven warriors are on the way to your nasty ass keep right now bitch

[sockswithsog]

“Yes Captain.”

I had fun writing the first one i apologize if C-url is OOC 😓

This definitely wasn’t appropriate, everything about it. The age difference, the power dynamic, and he was probably never going to ever be interested in you. His role is too important, and he’s your mentor, he was more important things to do on top of having to teach you. You were most likely the last thing on his mind.

But that didn’t stop you from enjoying the long contact, playing dumb so he speaks to you more, the way he asks for confirmation that you’ve understood what he said. God he was sexy, before he was just some normal guy who was supposed to be teaching you a little more about the job on a relatively easy task. You had gotten along with everyone else except Jimmy, he reeked of envy and it was off putting to you, but you weren’t worried about making friends, this was a learning opportunity and you know that. So why have you found yourself so into your mentor, but you couldn’t help it.

You found yourself in front of the control panel with Curly, going over basic controls, he’s reminding you what does what and how it does it, but you’re not paying attention to what he’s saying. You’re focusing on the tone of his voice, how he sounds when he’s teaching you things you’ve asked him to re-explain several times, and the aching between your legs. The same ache that urged you to stand closer and talk sweeter. It was almost unintentional, you just hoped he couldn’t differentiate the difference in your behavior.

After he finished his explanation you two move to something new, you notice he’s more tired than usual, seeming to be more tense.

“Are you okay Captain?”

You had no idea how it made him feel when you called him that, he tenses at the question, letting out a sign before he answers.

“It’s just… a lot going on right now.. I don’t know I don’t want to stress you out.”

“You don’t have to tell me about it, is there anything I can do for you Captain?”

He smiled a little, you lifted his spirits enough to make him look up to you when he speaks now, not at the screen nor the panel.

“You know you can call me Curly right?”

“I like Captain a little better, feels more… official”

He chuckles a little at that, amused by your response, and your unconscious submission in this dynamic, Curly had been aware you were into him, but he figured it was purely because of him being your superior, but the way you’re looking at him and the way you’re acting tells him otherwise.

“That’s cute kid, but I don’t think there’s anything either of us can do, it feels nice having someone to talk to about this though. Thank you [name]”

“I could massage your shoulders…you look a little tense.” You realize half way through how straightforward that must’ve sounded, you hope he wouldn’t notice you obviously attempt just to get your hands on him. The way your confidence fleets mod sentence makes him laugh, he decides to humor you.

“Yeah, hell why not. It couldn’t make things worse”

He chuckles a little more before he leans back a little in his chair, watching you sit up to move behind him. Your hands meet his broad shoulders, you feel a rush of confidence as you slide your hand under the top of his jumpsuit to imply you wanted it off, and he obliges. Now the only thing that separated you from his bare skin was this stupid company tee shirt, but it would do for now. You push into his shoulders, up and down his neck, pressing your thumbs along his spine. He’s groaning a little and god does he sound good, you imagine if that’s how he would sound when he was being pleased in a different way too.

“Can you take this off..?”

You don’t fucking THINK before you speak, and your inside thought came out as an actual request, luckily he chuckled more before swiftly sliding it off, how only sporting the rest of his jump suit, and whatever is under it, around his waist. You continue on for a couple more minutes before he speaks,

“[name]?”

“Yes Captain?”

“Why are you doing this?”

The question makes you think twice about what he just said, but you’ve settled on an answer you knew he’d like.

“Just to make you feel good”

He pauses, breathing a little heaving, you just now notice the grip he has on his own thighs, seeming to hold back.

“…You know what would really make me feel good?”

“Yes Captain?”

“Get on your knees.”

“Yes Captain.”

You get down on your knees in front of him, barely controlling the feeling between your legs, he slowly pulls down the rest of his jump suit, watching your face for any signs of hesitation but there was none. He let his clothes pool at the bottom of his boots.

You’re ready, you’ve been ready, you can feel yourself salivating at this situation. He looks just as satisfied about the predicament you too are in as he pulls himself out of his boxers. He’s already hard, letting you know exactly how he feels about this, letting you know that he feels the same as you do.

Your hand takes the place of his holding his shaft, immediately you kiss from the tip to the base, testing the water. He urged you to continue by placing his big hand on the back of your scalp, running his hands through your hair to your roots, getting a sturdy grip on your head. You love it, and just when it couldn’t get any better, he starts speaking to you.

“Hmmn…you look so good, keep going, don’t you wanna make me feel good?” He’s on the verge of moaning while speaking to you, he almost sounded pathetic and desperate, you didn’t mind. It was sexy, and it turned you on too. You take him into your mouth, hoping he’d say more, and he does.

“This is.. what you were wanting right… mmfh shit..”

He starts pushing your head down, making you take more into your mouth, you’re letting drool pool down his shaft while you try not to gag. Even now, this was totally worth it, and he seems to think so too. His head is tilted back and the hand that isn’t in your hair is gripping the ledge of the panel, and he’s mumbling about how good it feels. Experimentally you try to cup him, massaging with your hand while the other rides up to his sides, lightly rubbing the extra flesh on his stomach and settling your grip on his hip.

After a couple minutes of said “experiment” you feel his hips twitching and his sack starting to tense in your hand. Then he suddenly pulls you up, off, and against him

“Not yet, just a little longer..”

He starts kissing your neck up to your ear and then down to your shoulder, leaving marks that get darker as he goes lower. He reaches the collar of your shirt and decides it’s in his way.

“Take all of this off.” He gestured to your clothes.

“Yes Captain.”

You fling your shirt to the other side of the room, and he continues kissing down toward your bra, this time he doesn’t ask and reaches back to unclip it. It falls down your arms and Curly reaches his hands up to cup your chest, lightly massaging them in his hands, similar to what you were doing to him prior.

“You’re so beautiful, you have no idea how tempting you are… you mouth feels better than it looks.”

He continues with these praises, moving his hands up and down your figure, using his hands to map out every part of you. He moves both his hands to your ass, squeezing before slightly lowering them more.

“Jump for me.”

You do and he lifts you from the back of your thighs and you instinctively wrap your legs around his waist, letting his carry you to the nearest clear spot on wall, pinning you against it. Once he’d settled you against the wall he holds you up with his arm around you waist, using the other hand to position himself against your entrance and push in.

You both groan, to you he felt bigger from the inside, and for him this felt way better than your mouth. For a few moments he kept you still, moving hand other hand back to support you from below, then he started moving, every thrust hitting that same spot inside you. His head settles in the crook of your neck, and he’s groaning and breathing in your scent. You’re watching his arms flex while holding you up and moving you on him.

He keeps hitting their spot inside you that you didn’t even know existed, your moans turn into pleads for him to continue,

“Mmn..Curly…please, don’t stop.”

It was quiet but he still heard you, and he loved it. He couldn’t remember if he’s even heard you say his name before, you always addressed him as “Captain” and he never minded that, but the way you said his name gave him goosebumps. You started to see sweat start to accumulate on his back, he seemed to be getting tired of the position.

“Fuck…”

He pulls out and sets you down before grabbing your hip in one hand and bending your back with the other, you brace your hands against the wall while he moves to push himself back into you again. Once he’s in he grabs both of your hips and slamming into you immediately, the forcefulness made you lose balance but his hands keep you steady, you feet end up dragging as he holds you up, using you like a rag doll. The collision of your skin echoed into the large room, the sound drags you into the reality of the situation, thinking about it while Curly continues to use your body makes you finish fast, and very hard. He can feel you contracting around him and soon after his thrusts become frantic and uneven, before he pulls out, finishing against your back. He keeps one hand on you hip the whole time to steady you.

He uses his tip to rub the cum onto your back while you catch your breath. He moves to grab his shirt off the ground to clean you off then you braces you to his chest, breathing in your scent one more time before helping you get dressed. He was gentle and tender, treating you like a porcelain doll. Once he finished getting himself dressed he embraced you again, letting his hand slip into your hair, smoothing it against your head.

“Was that okay?”

He was speaking softly, he genuinely wanted to make sure you were okay.

“Yes, I really enjoyed myself.” you look him in the eyes.

“Thank you…for this I guess, I’m sorry. That sounded weird..” You mentally bash you head into a wall at the lack of cohesiveness in that sentence but it seems like Curly got the point. He smirks at you and huffs out a laugh at the way you stumbled on your words

“I should be thanking you, little lady. You did an amazing job.”

He smirks at you when he says the second have of the sentence, knowing that his praises would make you feel hot again. You have no words going through your head in response to his comment, you just couldn’t take your eyes off of him. You couldn’t believe that your crush on your superior would ever get you this far, after about 30 seconds of you staring he laid his hand on your face. You lean your face into his hand and he leaned down to kiss you, running his thumb over your cheek.

You two kiss for a solid couple of minutes, he takes his time remembering this moment you. After you both pull away, he looks you in your eyes and smiles,

"Pretty sure we missed dinner."

He chuckles a little, you think about what he said for a second, and at first the initial thought of just skipping dinner wasn't too concerning, then you realize the implication this would definitely give your crew-mates is.

"Fuck."

[kustas]

is witch hat atelier good? ive been meaning to read it and i think there'd be a lot to get out of it but im not sure

yes!

While I believe it declines in quality during its current run, it's a manga that stands out for the quality of it's artwork and some great writing. I would sum it up as a fantasy coming of age story about accessibility in several of its forms. I'll give you some of my positive impressions without revealing details about the manga to keep spoilers impossible :)

The drawings are detailed and of a stand out style, taking inspiration from classic western fairytale illustration and art nouveau, with some truly incredible work in terms of pagination/panneling and lineart. Being myself not fond of "the manga style" (big shining eyes, small noses, elegant figures with realistic proportions) I still found from the getgo that it was a treat to look at.

It's hard to comment on the plot yet, as it's an ongoing series who's starting to conclude it's longest running arc, so long it's simply not comparable to anything before it. The characters themselves are endearing if a bit flat sometimes, but my blog URL should be a testament to how many fans I've seen get super attached to two or three blokes in there haha! The manga does a good job of introducing its setting and stakes in easily understandable ways without losing the wonder and whimsy I find integral to fantasy as a genre.

Speaking of setting - if that's one thing that got me hooked, it's the worldbuilding. Got that fantasy wonder flair without thus far falling into the easy clichés you'd expect - if anything it might come off more as fairytale ish than fantasy if you expect DnD upon hearing that term. The history, politics and "science" (magic) presented are extremely well thought of, something even better that it's relevant for the story who'll often rely on the protagonist exploring new things, or revealing secrets about the world.

It's also, thus far, not very long. If you ignore the most recent arc to only focus on the completed ones, WHA tallies up to around 50 chapters. Those are the best part of the series, so I'd wager, if you're curious, at least give it a try and if by then you're hooked, you'll like the rest.

It's a good time rn to get into the manga, as the anime adaptation airing soon is going to shift the fan community around it drastically, as well as the current aforementioned digestible length.

Now I won't lie, WHA isn't perfect, nothing is - I've been quite harsh to it on this blog, but it's because it's a series I regularly read and that I am by essence a loud hatern opinionated nerd who likes to rant about what I like and dissect it all! Compared to the average manga/anime I see blow up around, WHA is an immediate standout that I'll recommend far and wide.

[orbleglorb]

tumblr in the blaseball universe, part 10

part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7, part 8, part 9

image descriptions: the first image is a thick black bar meant to separate posts. the second image is a thin gray bar meant to separate reblogs. they are used continuously throughout the post when appropriate. like right now

☎️ official-jessica-telephone 🔁

☎️ official-jessica-telephone

what happens if the real JT wants this URL. it's a part of me now. who do i become if i have to give it up

🐟 offishal-jessica-telephone Follow

she'll have to krill you for it

☎️ official-jessica-telephone

WHO ARE YOU

102 notes

☕ eyesinthedark11

every day with salmon weather for the past few months, my dad has miraculously "found" fresh salmon for us to have for dinner. should i ask him where he's getting it from

#personal #i know the answer. i just need the verbal confirmation

0 notes

Whoops, looks like this post doesn't exist!

🐍 gamer--gorgon

shoutout to the guy (who i think might be in our shadows?) that goes fishing during every salmon game. you should see if you can get anything from the floods

#if he's a shadows guy it's extra funny because he's gotta come up from new jersey #all the shadows share an apartment there #charla said she thought she knew him but every time she tries to get into the stands to talk to him he just disappears lmfao #i get it king. i really do

41 notes

☎️ official-jessica-telephone

what do you MEAN they're rebooting supernatural???

35 notes

☕️ eyesinthedark11 🔁

☕️ eyesinthedark11

i understand that this is ostensibly a terrible thing to say but i truly do not think parker macmillan did anything wrong. if my mom was the coin i woulda done worse. i wouldn't have only been passively killing

🦆 peripheral-duck

everyone wants to act all gifted kid burn out fleabag mommy issues #coquette #girlblogger but the minute mommy decides murder is okay if it gets her some money it's all "well why didn't PARKER do anything :/" you fake fucking bitches. bro got cursed to bring destruction in his wake and THEN cursed to wander everywhere. we're not going to question that??

☕️ eyesinthedark11

if the coin was my mom i would have burned the whole earth years ago. not even because of firewalker or anything i woulda just done that

#like you are looking at mommy issues supreme. you show some fucking respect #<- PREV #on one hand it feels really weird to say these things about a Real Guy who is possibly still alive #on the other hand. you fake bitches #if you've reblogged a fleabag quote i don't wanna hear shit from you #'maybe the fireballs didn't know what instability was' valid point! #but that does not mean they're not at fault. you know #idk why everyone expects parker to just. fix everything. #if he's in the vault then he's been 19 for like 50+ years. he suffers more than jesus

5 notes

🐶 catgirlfirefighter

it's somehow the league's best kept secret that mike townsend is deaf. people keep coming to me like, "idk how you're friends with the guy, he just ignored me, he's such a dick" bro he can't hear you. and also yeah he is a huge bitch

#right judgement wrong reason #mike if you're reading this. ily <3

112 notes

🦞 marketplace-shellfish

Hey has anyone heard from that guy who was making the "meatcute is not real and can't hurt me" affirmations recently? I can't tell if it's a bit or not but they haven't posted since.

#blaseball #san francisco #san francisco lovers #hopefully it's nothing and i'm just anxious lol

11 notes

[epicbuddieficrecs]

Weekly Recap | April 1st-7th 2024

MERRY WEEWOO EPISODE DAY!!! I had a fucking terrible stream so I feel like I missed like 90% of buddie's scenes.

No thoughts, head empty, so happy to FINALLY be done with this long ass recap 😆 my ao3 history is very much still fucked. Oh well. Also gonna have to make a separate post for the podfics cause the rec was getting too long, tumblr couldn't handle it 😂

There's a couple of new people in here and maybe some people who have changed URLs, so if you know someone who's not tagged, please tag them in the comments!

Love your tags, comments, reblogs, everything! <3 My ao3 inbox is being SUBMERGED with fics, it's the best problem to have 😂

Complete

I can finally breathe by wikiangela/ @wikiangela (S7E4 Coda, BuckTommy | <1K | General); Buck's oh moment when Tommy kisses him.

and with each one, i'm a little more free series by honestlydarkprincess/ @honestlydarkprincess (Post-S7E4, Coming Out):

oh, bi the way (<1K | General): Buck comes out to Maddie. whenever you're ready (<1K | General): Buck comes out to Bobby. welcome to the club (<1K | General): Buck comes out to Hen.

rebirth by renecdote/ @renecdote (S7E4 Coda | <1K | General): “Bisexual,” he says aloud, just to hear himself say it, to taste the way it feels on his tongue not just as a word but as an identity. It feels like an exhalation, trembling at the edges but not just with fear, or excitement, but with relief. Buck knows what it is like to be reborn, but he has never had a kiss make him feel like this before.

whenever you're ready by honestlydarkprincess (Post S7E4 Spec, Coming Out | <1K | General): Buck comes out to Bobby.

I won't tell no lie by lamardeuse/ @lamardeuse (Post S7E4 Spec, Tommy POV | 1K | Teen): Tommy can't exactly say he's surprised when he opens his door on a Sunday morning to see Hen Wilson standing there. He just wishes he'd thought to put on a cup first because he has a feeling he's about to get kicked in the nuts.

An End Has a Start by eirabach/ @eirabach (S7E4 Coda, Tommy POV, Tommy&Lucy | 1K | Teen): Tommy is one minute late. Hell of a minute, though.

tell me that i'm all you want (even when i break your heart) by diazchristopher/ @captain-hen (S7E4 Coda | 1K | General): “What’s going on?” “You tell me,” Eddie says, gently. “Buck mentioned you were being a little…odd.” To his surprise, Chris scowls. “I bet he did,” Chris mumbles, scoffing, half-under his breath. Eddie stares at him, taken aback. “Chris? What does that—” “I want you to tell him to leave.” or; buck, christopher and eddie in the aftermath of 7x04.

Sleepy Call by Tizniz/ @tizniz (Pre-Buddie, Fluff | 1K | General): OR: Eddie takes an early morning call.

to loosen his grip by glorious_spoon/ @glorious-spoon (S7E4 Spec | 1K | Teen): Eddie's not stupid, and Buck's about as subtle as a brick to the face on a good day. Speculation for 7x04: Buck, Bothered and Bewildered.

babbling brook to nowhere by fallingthorns/ @fallingthorns (S7E5 Spec | 1K | Teen): Eddie has not stopped talking since they left the restaurant. He thinks that he kind of blacked out during the actual dinner, because he’s not really sure what actually was discussed or how they even ended up sitting next to Buck and Tommy. But as soon as they got back into the truck, it was like the dam breaking loose. “I mean, it’s so great,” Eddie says once they’re back in his bedroom, as he takes his shirt off in the closet. He’s not even paying attention as Marisol perches on the edge of his bed. “They’re two of my friends, it’s awesome.” He’s happy for Buck, because Buck deserves to be with someone who gets him and will love him like he deserves. He just . . . “Is Tommy too tall for him?” Eddie asks. “Like, they’re the same height.”

my heart is working overtime by lecornergirl/ @clusterbuck (S7E4 Coda | 1K | Teen): He reaches for his phone again, then freezes halfway through his contacts when he realises he can’t call anyone to talk through this. Maddie would kill him for telling her something like this over the phone. For—coming out, he supposes, trying the words on for size. That’s something he does now. As— He hadn’t really stopped to consider it until now. Bisexual, he thinks, experimental, and it settles somewhere deep inside of him, like there’s been a space waiting for it all along.

“Pops, I’m bisexual.” “Hi bisexual, I’m Pops.” by Maximoff_Wanda (Post-S7E4, Coming Out | 1,4K | Not Rated): Or: Buck comes out to Bobby.

every little thing the sun shows, well it’s worth it by wafflesofdoom/ @capseycartwright (Post S7E4 | 1,6K | Not Rated): after his kiss with Tommy, Buck goes to Hen.

pythagoras made some points by crimsonclad (S7E4, BuckTommy | 1,6K | Not Rated): Look for the helpers! Sometimes they are all trying very hard to help each other be gay in the correct configurations and doing their best, mostly. Tommy takes Eddie to Urgent Care, takes him home, and carries a message elsewhere in the city of Los Angeles.

Buck's Boyfriends by Tizniz (Buck/Tommy/Eddie | 1,7K | Teen): He’s too drunk to figure out the logistics right now. “I think I’ve been dating both of you.” OR: The one where Buck realizes he's dating Tommy and Eddie.

smile at me like you smile at him by honestlydarkprincess/ @honestlydarkprincess (S7E4 Spec, Getting Together | 1,8K | Teen): Buck hadn’t planned on doing anything to show his displeasure at the sudden friendship between Eddie and Tommy, despite the fact that it sent hot, furious jealousy coursing through his veins. Really, he hadn’t. It’s just…well, he was just going for the ball during their basketball game…unfortunately Eddie happened to get pushed out of the way in order for Buck to get said ball.

only need the light when it's burning low by fallingthorns (Post-S7E4 | 2K | Teen): Buck blinks and realizes that he could love Tommy, if he didn't already love Eddie.

you've ruined my life (by not being mine) by ummrys (S7E4 Spec | 2K | Teen): Or, Buck gets a little (a lot) jealous of Eddie's blossoming friendship with Tommy Kinard, and makes some bad decisions about it.

detours by oklahoma/ @sunshinediaz (Post-S7E4, 2K | Teen): “Take a detour,” he says, instead. “There’s construction on Sunset.” “Maybe one of these days there won’t be,” Buck says, smiles, and takes his leave. - Eddie and Buck have a talk. They somehow say everything and nothing at all.

Every Night I Come to You by giselleslash/ @gigi-gigi (S5, Love Confessions | 2K | General): Eddie has another sleepless night, but Buck is there. He'll always be there.

Family Feud: First Responders by Princessfbi/ @princessfbi (Secret Relationship | 3K | General): The FireFam go on Family Feud.

Right In Front of Me by Princessfbi (S7E5 Spec, BuckTommy | 3K | General): Tommy’s brows knitted together as his mouth turned down with worry. “Evan,” he said and Buck wanted to hear him call his name so many more times. “What happened? Did someone choke you?” “That’s what I was trying to tell you,” Buck said, clearing his throat again when his voice gave an embarrassing squeak.

inescapable (i’m not even gonna try) by buddiebuddie/ @buddie-buddie (BuckTommy, PWP, Post-S7E4 | 3K | Explicit): From that first press of Tommy’s lips against his— the moment when the pieces slid into place and something bloomed in Buck’s chest and hummed in his veins— he felt good, and grounded, and settled in a way he never had before. It’s been a few weeks, and the newness has worn off but the excitement hasn’t. The hunger hasn’t.

I would be lying if I said I'm not dying to worship you by Daughter_of_Scotland (Post-S7E4 | 3K | Explicit): Buck and Tommy have their first date. This is how it ends. (It ends really, REALLY well)

somethin' tells me you know why i lie by lecornergirl/ @clusterbuck (Madney Wedding Spec, BuckTommy | 3K | Teen): OR: buck brings tommy to the madney wedding. eddie is absolutely, definitively not jealous.

Never Saw It Coming...Or Did He? by Tizniz (PWP, Daddy/Mommy Kink | 3K | Explicit): Unable to deny his boyfriend anything, Eddie does. And his jaw promptly falls to the floor. Because Buck is standing there with that goddamn basketball under his shirt again. The clothing is stretched tightly over the round of what Eddie’s mind pretends is Buck’s belly. Pregnant belly. OR: The one where Eddie is 'Daddy' and Buck is 'Mommy'

sunbeam that hits at three to noon by fleetinghearts/ @shitouttabuck (Madney Wedding, Getting Together | 3K | Teen): or, having multiple wedding reservations under the same name was an accident waiting to happen and buck’s just trying not to jumpscare his best friend with the rather intense bridal suite decor in their very platonically shared hotel room

as lucky as us by hammersmiths/ @bucktommys (S7E4, Ravi POV | 3K | General): One of the first things Ravi learned when joining the 118 was to, under no circumstances, think too hard about Buck and Eddie’s relationship. But brother, they could try make his job easier.

soothe the ache in me by honestlydarkprincess/ @honestlydarkprincess (S7E4 Spec | 3K | Teen): Or, the one where Buck gets a headache while trying to take care of Eddie and Chris after Eddie's injury.

i'm a fine baby mama (but you knew that though) by colonoscopys (S7E4 | 4K | Teen): Look—Buck’s not jealous, per say. He’s just a little confused as to how you can spend the past five years being best friends with someone, and then find someone new to replace him in the span of a couple of playdates.

You’re too Sweet For Me by Garden_Haunter (Buck Coming Out, Post S7E4 | 4K | Teen): Tommy kisses Buck, and it tastes like freedom. (Or: Buck comes out to different members of his family.)

Nightcap by Inell (S7E5 Spec, PWP | 4K | Explicit): After their first date goes a bit astray, Buck invites Tommy to his loft for a nightcap. 

some things fall when they're meant to fall by sibylsleaves/ @sibylsleaves (S7E5 Spec | 4K | Teen): or, Buck tells Eddie some news. Eddie has a realization and breaks up with his girlfriend. Not necessarily in that order.

before you painted all my nights by heartbeatdiaz/ @loserdiaz (Canon Divergent, Getting Together | 5K | Explicit): In hindsight, maybe jerking off to a LAFD Calendar when Eddie was well on his way to become a firefighter himself… might not have been the best idea. He never really thought about the possibility of actually crossing paths with the person that's been starring every wildest dream and filthy fantasy of his.

’til storm breaks loose by markofalover/ @markofalover (S7E4 Spec | 6K | Explicit): He squeezes Buck’s bare, sun warmed skin before he drops the contact, and strolls over to where Chim and Tommy are waiting. If he stands a little too close to his teammate, well. He’ll never admit it. Buck comes back into his line of vision, already back to looking like he’s a second away from stomping off the court. Eddie’s giddy with it. …or, how an elbow to the face changes everything.

the art of making love. by dylaesthetics (Rommates, Getting Together | 6K | Teen): OR Buck’s loft gets flooded, making him temporarily move in with Eddie, who’s out and about dating guys now, apparently, and Buck tries to figure out why the hell the thought makes him sick.

no more mistakes, no more empty starts. by dylaesthetics (S7E5 Spec, Feelings Realization | 7K | Teen): Throughout his life, Buck has felt that something’s been missing. Some integral part of who he is, outside firefighting, outside the family he has built for himself, outside the trauma that keeps on piling up and overburdening his shelves. He doesn’t expect to find it in the dimness of his loft’s kitchen one Tuesday evening, the taste of a man still on his lips and his cologne lingering in the air, sweet and honest and real.

ain't no lie (bi bi bi) by 42hrb/ @exhuastedpigeon (S7E4 Spec, Eddie/Tommy | 8K | Explicit): Eddie fools around with Tommy, Buck is jealous, Tommy's just trying to have a good time

skin/heat/hair in your mouth by fleetinghearts (Getting Together | 8K | Explicit): or, eddie’s bad at camping, buck’s trying to make sure he doesn’t get hypothermia, and naked huddling for warmth is only like the third gayest thing happening in the great outdoors

now our love lives in the radio by heartbeatdiaz / @loserdiaz (University AU | 9K | Explicit): buck is the host of a college radio show and eddie has a big fat crush on him, what else can i say? featuring cinderella references and a bunch of himbos from buck's football team. 

teach me how to dance with you by goodboybuck (prettyboybuckley)/ @prettyboybuckley (BuckTommy, PWP | 9K | Explicit): OR: Buck explores the wonders of gay sex (slowly, with a really patient, sweet Tommy guiding the way and while having a lot of fun)

the mouth is the thing that craves by Underhung_Aura (Established Buddie, PWP | 11K | Explicit): eddie loves buck and he really love buck's cock

when i think about you (i touch myself) by glorious_spoon/ @glorious-spoon (PWP, Getting Together | 12K | Explicit): Or: the one where Eddie stumbles across Buck's old amateur porn, prompting a series of belated realizations on both their parts.

honey, when you call my name by HungryHungryHippo/ @hippolotamus (Post S5E11 | 12K |Explicit): Eddie witnesses the Buck/Lucy kiss, has himself a little panic, and decides to do something about it when Buck does his Buck thing and won't stop pushing Eddie's buttons 

🔥 of men and of angels by extasiswings/ @extasiswings (Eddie Sexuality Crisis, Getting Together | 13K | Teen): Eddie Diaz learns a lot as a kid. Boys aren’t soft. Boys don’t cry. Boys don’t kiss boys. As he gets older, he realizes that everything has exceptions. Boys can be soft sometimes. Boys can cry sometimes. And some boys kiss other boys. But Eddie likes kissing girls. And since he likes kissing girls, that’s the end of the story. Isn’t it?

🔥 what humans do by brewrosemilk/ @gayhoediaz (Getting Together, PWP | 18K | Explicit): "…and the thought that she had just escaped death by such a narrow margin made me realize the intensity of my feelings toward her.” Eddie swallows. “‘What’s the matter?’ I couldn’t tell her, so I kissed her instead,” Buck goes on, and since Eddie’s eyes are focused on the page, they drift ahead a little bit, and the next few lines have him swallowing once again, taking his hand back to brace himself against the mattress as he slowly starts to push himself up to sit. “Kissing is what humans do when words have reached a place they can’t escape from. It is a switch to another language. The kiss was an act of defiance, maybe of war. You can’t touch us, is what the kiss said. ‘I love you,’ I told her, and as I smelled her skin, I knew I had never wanted anyone or anything more than I wanted her…” Buck trails off when Eddie reaches for the book, gently luring it out of his grasp. 

WIP

🔥 Any Other Way by Daisies_and_Briars/ @cal-daisies-and-briars (Canon Divergent, S2 | 6/18 | 37K | Mature): In a switcheroo alternate universe, Buck spends young adulthood in the military, while Eddie, who has no idea Christopher exists, spends his twenties messing around, finally enjoying freedom away from his family’s expectations. When they both end up in Los Angeles, at the 118, some things are different, and others will be the same in any universe.

Both Bermuda and Golden (Lost but Doing Just Fine) by letmetellyouaboutmyfeels/ @letmetellyouaboutmyfeels (PWP, Threesome, BuckTommyEddie | 4/6 | 20K | Explicit): In which everyone has two hands and two holes and is keeping their options fluid. (Or: a collection of threesome fics.)

Fifteen First Kisses by tinygiantsam/ @watchyourbuck (Getting Together | 2/15 | 3K | Mature): Why would you have only one first kiss when you could have fifteen This is a collection of 15 different first kisses between Buck and Eddie.

[biohorror-human]

hello!! I have a Q: how did you come up with ur url?

I made this account in the middle of a crossover between what I can only assume was some sort of manic episode, and a moment of mind-shattering gender dysphoria

The URL is how I feel about myself. My body is both the only body I have, and not the body I want. Me existing as a man feels like a "grotesque or psychologically disturbing violation of the human body", literally from the definition of body horror (aka biological horror) as a genre. The name stands as a constant reminder to myself that I am trans. No ignoring it this time. I am the "biohorror-human".

The name also coincides with my pfp. I really, REALLY like dark souls 3. And in dark souls 3 exists characters known as "Pilgrims". The Pilgrims are people infested by a volatile darkness, who swaddle themselves in so much cloth that you cannot possibly make out what their body looks like beneath it all. They must wear a large shell upon their backs, held down by chains, to keep that darkness from bursting out. Eventually, they either die, or the darkness is released in the form of a "pilgrim butterfly".

When I was deciding my name, I decided that I felt like the Pilgrims. Wrapping myself in an absurd amount of cloth (I always wear a big jacket and baggy sweatpants to hide my body shape), and carrying around that crushing darkness (gender dysphoria). And one day, I'm going to ascend (transition), and my grotesque pilgrim butterfly will be released. I'll be free, and the world will be disgusted, but what does that matter? I'd rather be the free but grotesque butterfly than a frail, agonized pilgrim.

The name is not representative about how I feel about all trans people, only how I feel about myself, and my experience with dysphoria as a trans person. I know it's pessimistic and I shouldn't think about myself that way, but I can't help it. This is what I have been told by society: my existence is biological horror made human. Even during my transformation I'll just be this halfway-blob, still developing agonizingly into this beast not-meant-to-be.

Also damn... Remembering what happened in October and November (when I made this account) hurts. I thought I was only maybe trans but this shit is so damning. Cis people don't think this about themselves. I've got some new gender dysphoria nobody has seen before.

[oolongstains]

Naritaya's Furry Land

It all started when @questfortori showed me this post:

That sure is a PC-98 game that says "furries ga suki". I had to know what this was all about. Why does a PC-98 eroge have the word "furries", in English? Why did it devote a whole room to the idea of loving furries? I needed answers!

Like it says in the post, it's from the (in)famous Alicesoft eroge Rance 4.1, but searching for it didn't give me much in the way of results. The text in the screenshot is first-person, out of character text so it read like some kind of a dev room, but even searching for that didn't bring up much - until I found the script itself. And there it is, Naritaya's heroic pro-furry screed:

Nice to meet you. I'm Naritaya. I'm a newbie CG artist who was in charge of the title CG and a few other things this time. This will be my debut work. Anyway, my goal from now on is to steadily increase the number of furry lovers like me and create a game that could be called definitive for that genre (hah). Everyone who loves dog- and catgirls, or things like elves and devil girls (though the nuance is a little different), basically "non-human girls," stand up now! Alice has its tradition of gal monsters, so this shouldn't be just a dream! はぢめまして。成田屋と申します。 今回タイトルＣＧ＋αを担当しました新人 のＣＧ描きです。これがデビューの仕事とな ります。以後，よろしくお見知りおきを。 とりあえず今後の目標としては，私と同じ Ｆｕｒｒｉｅｓ愛好家を地道に増やしてその 手の決��版ともいえるソフトの発売までこぎ 着けたい，と思ってます（笑）。 犬猫その他のどーぶつ娘，（ちょっとニュ アンスが違うけど）エルフや悪魔っ娘等のい わゆる「人間以外の女の子キャラ」の愛好家 の方，今こそ立ち上がりましょう！アリスに は女の子モンスターの伝統もありますから， 決して夢ではない筈です！

So not only is our friend Naritaya a furry fan, he specifically uses the English word "furries" in romaji more than once while expressing his love for furries. This is a Japanese artist who knows and loves the English furry scene. (Keep in mind, this is 1995!) This is where @moomanibe found copies of some of Naritaya's personal art, with the URL still in the watermark, which is what brought us to:

NARITAYA'S FURRIES LAND

That's right, Naritaya had his own website in the 90s where he posted the anime furries of his dreams, filled with exactly all the kinds of anime art you might remember from the years 1995-2003.

His art style is distinctively 90s/early 00s anime, but there's that heavy use of "furries" in English again. I could only imagine the kinds of connections he must have had with the English-speaking scene, and then I found it tucked among his outgoing links page:

Yes, that's a link to the "Anime Transformation Archive". I lack the subject matter expertise to fully detangle that site's connections to the broader anime/furry scene but it's pretty clear that, yes, there was some western anime-furry fandom connection happening here. Didn't always see much of that back before social media brought us together across languages.

I'm not sure what he's up to now, but wherever you are Naritaya - hope you're still living the anime furries dream.

[kevin-the-bruyne]

obsessed how it was the whole "overprotective big brother" thing that had Bison invested in Kant

oh boy i am obsessed with how i was totally wrong with how the brother's dynamic would turn out! episode one really turned out to be a smokescreen of false impressions of all the characters I think that gets overturned pretty quickly.

But on the topic of Bison and Fadel, I was sure that it was Fadel with the festering devotion (which he does have) and Bison projecting the resentments of his cage onto Fadel (which he also does do) but I think after ep4, we can do some recontextualizing especially for Fadel and I find that those emotions are much stronger in reverse.

You have to understand why I thought Bison was the one harboring most of the resentment because he expresses it in ep1

And again in ep2 and frankly a lot of it feels directed at Fadel. And there's a third even more exasperated one in episode 3! Part of the re-contextualizing post ep4 is that Bison thinks Fadel has a lot more power than he actually does (because he doesn't know that Fadel has tried and already failed to do exactly the thing that Bison is asking for)

But then its Fadel that has the outburst over it in ep4!!! And to Style!!! An outsider!!!! Bison had the decency to wait till he's home. And this outburst is neither manly nor repressed. Joong spends a lot of time as Fadel just trying to be sexy while doing regular things but certainly not here!!! I don't know if Fadel was half hoping that Style would see he is inflicted with those gross things called Feelings and be like Nope! That's a Dealbreaker, right there!

He's terrified and he is so so angry, like he got a little twitchy there by the end, about the fact that he had feelings for Style, he's simply not in denial over them is he? Fadel overall, surprisingly doesn't actually seem all that repressed. Yes, he's a very traumatized character and the range of his facial expressions is locked within some realm of grump BUT he's very aware of his damage and he's being more practical - because he is fully aware of the very steep consequences - than he is afraid of having An Emotion. Like his primary struggles are not a simple Man's Locked Feelings Vault the way they appear to be at first.

I think Fadel shutting Bison out of his life actually does make so much sense and the narrative is so sympathetic towards Fadel that it's easy to miss that it's damaged Bison a lot. It really pains me that the only real attempt at vulnerability with Bison comes like this:

I think Bison aches for some vulnerability from Fadel. And he gets it when Fadel is at his last straws to protect Bison and for him to take seriously the dangers that Kant in particular poses. It's just so obvious to me now why Bison made acting out and standing out his personality. And it damages my psyche even further that Fadel didn't even have to, just him insisting that Kant was suspicious is enough for Bison to get suspicious.

It's not like I think Fadel hates Bison or anything [gosh quite the opposite, isn't it?] but Bison is just part of this dinky life package he's had no choice in receiving. Given that Bison doesn't even know about this first love, Fadel was probably trying to leave alone without Bison [if Bison were even in his life at that point]. Gosh, Fadel just really hates his life and his lack of agency in it and poor Bison is just an unfortunate part of that mess. When Fadel grits his teeth and says he's fine with everything and he's always so clearly lying I just want to be like: and what about Bison, would you keep him if you had a choice?

BUT this ask is about Bison, isn't it? Bison loves Fadel so unironically and with such reverence. I don't have to wonder if Bison would keep Fadel. It's beyond a shadow of doubt for me. And one really has to wonder why exactly has their relationship turned out this way. Ep.4 not only gave me foster brothers confirmation [so ppl can stop acting insane about my url] but it showed that they were fairly old when these incidents happened as in they are fully capable of retaining a rich memory of their previous life at that age. They also seemed to be similar in age, so Fadel's incident seemed to have happened first [but the boy playing Fadel was half hidden so I can't actually tell his age]. They didn't know each other before this life (they didn't recognize each other's parents) so this infinite well of trust that Bison has towards Fadel; Bison truly trusts him as though they share blood - oh I think about it all the time - how did it come to be?

Anyhow, I don't think the show is going to give me any of that. But it has given me the infinite well. From the very first moment, it comes back to Fadel for Bison.

And the choice to tie up his and Fadel's love lives together seemed completely his own. Yes, Fadel has the no dating rule. But he doesn't fucking check, does he? He really doesn't come after Bison or ask after his business until he stops responding to texts. Which honestly seems like a very reasonable precaution in the Very High Probability of Death or Imprisonment profession.

Bison needs Fadel's approval before he can fuck Kant again, god fucking knows why? that's not even a siblings thing??? In fact, I'm pretty sure Bianca was extremely against letting Kat know anything about her love life in 10 things but Kat just knew cause they're in the same school lol. But Bison honest to god doesn't even kiss Kant again until Fadel said it was okay for them to hang out. [everyone talks about bison edging kant nobody talks about fadel edging bi-*gunshot*]

The way Bison immediately grows suspicious when Fadel brings up that Kant had perhaps poisoned him. Even though Bison already knows what being roofied feels like, he trusts Fadel's instincts even above his own (which as the audience knows is the right call)

The scene in their secret room helped me understand better why Bison has this self imposed Fadel chastity belt. In many ways, it's not actually safe to date Kant even if he wasn't a police informant. Bison actually does know this. Bison knows there are risks and his solution for mitigating risk is to push the responsibility of assessing the risk onto Fadel.

So, if Fadel who's always right on time, who always has a solution, a way out says it's okay...then its okay. Then Bison can relax and fall in love. If Fadel isn't on board with Kant then that little Fadel that lives in his head, that made him ghost Kant the first night even if he didn't really want to, would never fucking shut up about it.

He doesn't even trust that Kant is actually pursuing him, even though Kant had literally just said so, until Fadel points out that nobody would eat his burnt burger if they weren't interested in him. Like I'm willing to bet that Fadel wasn't just assigned to be his brother, Fadel was also likely his mentor.

So it's just not surprising to me - other than that the show has actually leaned into it - and clearly i'm obsessing over the fact that Bison is at his horniest for Kant when he's at his responsible older brother best. Not only does the good brother parallel with Fadel immediately up Kant's trustworthiness in his eyes, Kant is also a version of a good older brother that needs Bison; his advice, guidance and protection in a way that Fadel never seems to need at all and definitely not from him.

[benny-the-spaceman]

DO YOU HAVE ANY LEGO MOVIE 1&2 CHARACTER HEADCANONS!?

HI ANON. YES. YES I DO.

A LOT ACTUALLY. I'll leave it the characters I do the most with for now BUT YES ANON I HAVE MANY HEADCANONS

Emmet:

Wasian (specifically japanese and white [totes not projecting])

Everything he likes is the most average response possible (basically canon) and people do use this constantly. If you want to know the most basic, agreeable sandwich to buy for someone you don't know, ask Emmet.

After TLM2, Emmet takes up gardening as a hobby. Of course he always had planty, but now he has an entire front garden. His favorite flowers are sunflowers and daisies.

Emmet is a surprisingly good singer! He doesn't sing much unless someone asks him too though. He was definitely in choir during high school.

Speaking of high school, Emmet was on the wrestling team. He never medalled or anything, but he was there.

Emmet has tried to learn other languages. That's the end of that conversation. He's monolingual.

The type of guy to make the most awkward jokes. Not in a weird way, just in an unfunny way. He tells those rly boring jokes that u at most half chuckle at but otherwise u just kinda stand there awkwardly and the conversation falls flat.

This isn't to say he *isn't* funny, he's just not funny when it comes to jokes. When he's just naturally speaking he's very entertaining to have conversations with.

Emmet is the master of pointless small talk.

Emmet's favorite food is waffles with whip cream and strawberries!

He secretly doesn't have his ACI certification but still handles concrete anyway. Tsk tsk

He's been in charge of a lot of reconstruction efforts after armamageddeon, really putting that construction background to use.

Emmet is wicked good at monopoly and uno but no one knows why.

He's tall and buff. this man is like pushing 6'7" and is jacked, that's hidden under a bit of chub though.

Emmet is a heavyweight drinker. No one knows why this is either. He can keep going for ages and he'll still act completely sober. Doesn't really like drinking though.

Benny:

Vietnamese

Youngest sibling haha, point and laugh

Not young though, this guy is like in his 50's

I am a firm believer in non-conventionally attractive Benny. Hair's a tangled mess, horrible fashion sense, you name it. Also he smells bad. No one has or probably will dissuade me from this. Sorry to mars specifically

Often spends days at a time working on projects, often with little to no sleep. When he focuses he *focuses*. This ties back to the previous statement about him.

Absolutely stacked education. Phd in aerospace engineering and a certified welder, mahcinist, pilot, and avionic technician. He does it all.

He may be smart but he is not a good cook. If he serves you glop do not eat it you will get the worst food poisoning of your life, Lord knows how he survives.

Has a pet miniature automated mirror cart named Castor. This is how he gets food and drink during his several day work periods.

Metalbeard is his best friend! They have Tuesday draft reviewing sessions where they show their latest ideas and critique each other. Despite the major differences in what they do, these critique sessions help both of them improve.

They also have tea parties with Unikitty. Unikitty tends to convince Metalbeard to participate in shenanigans and Metalbeard tends to force Benny into those same shenanigans. When those 3 are together it's an omen.

Metalbeard:

He's my favorite. The URL wouldn't make you think so but he is.

Wicked good dancer. The robotic body does not hinder his ability to do a fun little jig.

Metalbeard has had 3 ships, his parent's old ship, the first ship he built himself, and the sea cow.

He's stubborn as a mule. Once his head is set on something you will not convince him out of it.

Does not have any official education. He's a 15th century pirate for crying out loud.

Swears...Surprisingly little? He's a pirate so you'd expect him to have a pretty bad sailor mouth but no. He's pretty tame in that regard.

His favorite food is pineapple

Not a big risk-taker. Firm believer of calculated decision making. I mean it's in the rules of the sea: Always abandon a lost cause. He isn't looking for fights all willy nilly.

Old as shit. I covered it in my thread on Metalbeard's ship but based on the age of it he's several centuries old.

Unlike Benny, Metalbeard is quite good with and also quite likes newer technology. His 15th century currack has a steampipe coming out of it for a reason.

Knows Spanish and Portuguese.

When he was younger, he used to go fishing with his parents very often. He doesn't get to go as much now, but he tries to go fishing with them at least a couple times a year.

The one thing he misses the most about having his limbs is swimming. His present-day body being made of wood and metal doesn't it make it very amicable to swimming. He'd kill to paddle around in the ocean again.

Unikitty:

Incredibly mischievous. Has a habit of roping people into little pranks or games.

Eats mostly sugar

Misses her homeland often. She doesn't talk about it much, but she wishes constantly to have Cloud Cuckooland back. As much as she tries not to hold it against GCBC and Lord Business, she does.

Surprisingly strong. She can lift Metalbeard in his full robotic body like it's nothing.

Impromptu cuddles are her jam. If Unikitty is rushing towards you, it's a 50/50 shot of whether if she wants a hug or if she wants to tackle you like a linebacker.

Has a diary that she does not let anyone touch. Except Wyldstyle.

Her, Wyldstyle, and Mayhem have girls nights where they mostly just hang out build stuff together. They more or less are used for talking about their feelings, Wyldstyle started them after she realized none of them had particularly good outlets for their emotions.

Unikitty's tail is edible.

Sometimes Unikitty will glow if she's having a good day.

Unikitty can speak every language. She was just born that way.

Sometimes Unikitty feels as if people don't take her seriously, mostly on account of being a cat. This does bug her a lot but she tries not to let it get to her.

Unikitty's favorite thing to do is make people happy (:

She gives Benny haircare tips constantly and he ignores most of them much to her dismay.

Business:

Mr. Money Launderer

Wears really stupid graphic t-shirts with dad or golfing or fishing jokes on them.

His first name is Jolly! (I stole this one from superpeeboy, lol)

Cares A LOT about his appearance and is very meticulous. Wakes up at least an hour early to get ready.

OCD king. He really should do ERP therapy but he won't because there's absolutely nothing wrong with him how could you dare imply that.

Cheats at golf.

Gets all of his clothes ironed and drycleaned.

Absolutely not gay. Never. He'd never be gay. He doesn't know what you're talking about. He's normal. Not to say being gay isn't normal but he's not that. Totally. 100%. He isn't in denial

Does the white mom thing when they go to a restaurant and are like yknow what? I'm gonna be *bad* today.

Says he's 50 years young (I also stole this from superpeeboy)

Picky ass eater. Doesn't like spice and also really likes how mayo tastes but don't put too much mayo and his sandwich shouldn't have too much bread and why is the steak cooked so little and why does the meal have flavor but also why doesn't the meal have flavor.

Also here's some other posts of mine related to hcs I have. I really like. making headcanons.

How Masterbuilders Draft

Emmet Construction Certifications

One of My Favorite Post Chains Ever Please Look at All the Reblogs on This

Metalbeard's Ship

Emmet's Internal Clock

.

[lesbianreginageorgeisreal]

Ask away (I'm bored)

1: Name

2: Age

3: 3 Fears

4: 3 things I love

5: 4 turns on

6: 4 turns off

7: My best friend

8: Sexual orientation

9: My best first date

10: How tall am I

11: What do I miss

12: What time were I born

13: Favorite color

14: Do I have a crush

15: Favorite quote

16: Favorite place

17: Favorite food

18: Do I use sarcasm

19: What am I listening to right now

20: First thing I notice in new person

21: Shoe size

22: Eye color

23: Hair color

24: Favorite style of clothing

25: Ever done a prank call?

27: Meaning behind my URL

28: Favorite movie

29: Favorite song

30: Favorite band

31: How I feel right now

32: Someone I love

33: My current relationship status

34: My relationship with my parents

35: Favorite holiday

36: Tattoos and piercing i have

37: Tattoos and piercing i want

38: The reason I joined Tumblr

39: Do I and my last ex hate each other?

40: Do I ever get “good morning” or “good night ” texts?

41: Have I ever kissed the last person you texted?

42: When did I last hold hands?

43: How long does it take me to get ready in the morning?

44: Have I shaved your legs in the past three days?

45: Where am I right now?

46: If I were drunk & can’t stand, who’s taking care of me?

47: Do I like my music loud or at a reasonable level?

48: Do I live with my Mom and Dad?

49: Am I excited for anything?

50: Do I have someone of the opposite sex I can tell everything to?

51: How often do I wear a fake smile?

52: When was the last time I hugged someone?

53: What if the last person I kissed was kissing someone else right in front of me?

54: Is there anyone I trust even though I should not?

55: What is something I disliked about today?

56: If I could meet anyone on this earth, who would it be?

57: What do I think about most?

58: What’s my strangest talent?

59: Do I have any strange phobias?

60: Do I prefer to be behind the camera or in front of it?

61: What was the last lie I told?

62: Do I prefer talking on the phone or video chatting online?

63: Do I believe in ghosts? How about aliens?

64: Do I believe in magic?

65: Do I believe in luck?

66: What's the weather like right now?

67: What was the last book I've read?

68: Do I like the smell of gasoline?

69: Do I have any nicknames?

70: What was the worst injury I've ever had?

71: Do I spend money or save it?

72: Can I touch my nose with a tongue?

73: Is there anything pink in 10 feet from me?

74: Favorite animal?

75: What was I doing last night at 12 AM?

76: What do I think is Satan’s last name is?

77: What’s a song that always makes me happy when I hear it?

78: How can you win my heart?

79: What would I want to be written on my tombstone?

80: What is my favorite word?

81: My top 5 blogs on tumblr

82: If the whole world were listening to me right now, what would I say?

83: Do I have any relatives in jail?

84: I accidentally eat some radioactive vegetables. They were good, and what’s even cooler is that they endow me with the super-power of my choice! What is that power?

85: What would be a question I’d be afraid to tell the truth on?

86: What is my current desktop picture?

87: Had sex?

88: Bought condoms?

89: Gotten pregnant?

90: Failed a class?

91: Kissed a boy?

92: Kissed a girl?

93: Have I ever kissed somebody in the rain?

94: Had job?

95: Left the house without my wallet?

96: Bullied someone on the internet?

97: Had sex in public?

98: Played on a sports team?

99: Smoked weed?

100: Did drugs?

101: Smoked cigarettes?

102: Drank alcohol?

103: Am I a vegetarian/vegan?

104: Been overweight?

105: Been underweight?

106: Been to a wedding?

107: Been on the computer for 5 hours straight?

108: Watched TV for 5 hours straight?

109: Been outside my home country?

110: Gotten my heart broken?

111: Been to a professional sports game?

112: Broken a bone?

113: Cut myself?

114: Been to prom?

115: Been in airplane?

116: Fly by helicopter?

117: What concerts have I been to?

118: Had a crush on someone of the same sex?

119: Learned another language?

120: Wore make up?

121: Lost my virginity before I was 18?

122: Had oral sex?

123: Dyed my hair?

124: Voted in a presidential election?

125: Rode in an ambulance?

126: Had a surgery?

127: Met someone famous?

128: Stalked someone on a social network?

129: Peed outside?

130: Been fishing?

131: Helped with charity?

132: Been rejected by a crush?

133: Broken a mirror?

134: What do I want for birthday?

[youweremygoal]

Alright, @ashmacg, lemme respond to this reply in its own post so I can add a couple images as I have a bit to say. Reply from this post for context if someones curious.

Firstly, what do you mean by sparks? As in sparks of a storyline for Sakura and Ino's dynamic, or sparks as in hints of lesbianism for their characters? Because if it's the latter I direct you again to the post I made. I don't think there were ever 'sparks' of this relationship, what we see is exactly what we got, a rivalry between two former friends.

As far as misrepresenting their conflict I feel like you're seeing something that isn't there. What I said was specifically that their rivalry, and therefore their existing relationship in the series, is entirely about a man (Sasuke). If you actually mean their previous relationship that Sakura broke off because of the rivalry then we have to recognise that it only existed as backstory for the rivalry and for Sakura's insecurity, but that's not what you said so let's go on.

As for the flashbacks, part of this is just speculation. I assume we're talking about the flower flashback (C071):

She felt insecure about herself, comparing herself to Ino, in the flower metaphor casting herself as the accent flower to Ino's 'main attraction'. So yes on that count you're right, but where are you getting coddling from? I'm not actually trying to nitpick here: feeling coddled and feeling insecure are not the same thing. Ino is blunt in her compassion (C056):

and Sakura doesn't give an seem to see Ino's support in that way either (C071):

Obviously this implies she didn't believe what Ino said, but she doesn't resent or reject her support, she embraces those words, explicitly stating she 'hung on to that ever since', that it became a goal for her. The thing is the metric for surpassing Ino to Sakura is about showing off and getting Sasuke. Ino encourages her to stand up for herself, to not hide and cry about her insecurities, her words are about who Sakura can grow into, but she chooses to attach that to Sasuke.

There's a superficial parallel here of Sakura saying her goal was to be just like Ino, to Naruto saying his goal was Sasuke (hello my url. C485). The difference is we know the way in which Naruto wants to be like Sasuke, he wants to be stronger, he wants to fight him and be acknowledged by him as an equal, he wanted to be seen by other people and praised for his skills ('you were good at everything'), he wanted a connection to someone just like him (alone). What do we get for Sakura with Ino in comparison? In what was is Sakura trying to catch up with Ino? Ino is confident and considerate, friendly, but she's not exactly strong. Sakura certainly lacked confidence but it was Ino who helped her gain that, she had nothing to gain from breaking off the friendship but the ego boost of 'winning Sasuke'.

You are correct Sakura hides her feelings, she does that later too when she fake confesses. Which is actually important to what you're getting at here I'll get to that in a second.

First though, I think you've got the order of events wrong, Sakura was emotionally chafing as you say because of her jealousy regarding Sasuke. Her feelings of inferiority regarding Ino are what make Ino specifically her rival in love for Sasuke, not the other way around. Sakura brought up her crush before knowing Ino liked him, but she does know others do, and is even confiding in Ino about her crush, which would be strange to do if she felt resentful of Ino's support (C054).

So next, Sakura doesn't hide her insecurity from Ino, she's open with her about how she feels inferior, as seen in the flower scene. You say Sakura was hiding her true feelings of insecurity with competition and jealousy, but 1) Why would she need to hide what's already known?, and 2) if we go back to the confession scene we see pretty clearly: Sakura is bad at hiding her feelings. She's not good at it, she's often called on it, like Sai noticing her fake smile and Naruto recognising the confession is fake. What she is honest about, beyond her insecurity, is her feelings for Sasuke and part of that is her jealousy. I think you are simply downplaying what a jealous character Sakura can be. Even once they're (supposedly) married in Gaiden, she's putting her own face over another woman's. Claiming that her jealousy over Sasuke wasn't foundational to her avoidance of Ino is a straight up misread of the scenario and Sakura's character both within it and going forward in the series. She doesn't need a 'goal' to hide something she doesn't hide, and she already has a goal we see her pursue in earnest throughout the series, that being Sasuke.

Sakura's entire character revolves around Sasuke, that includes her relationship to Naruto which does not exist independent of Sasuke. He is her defining relationship and that makes it inseparable from her relationship to Ino too. You cannot separate anything about Sakura's character from her crush on Sasuke, as such he cannot simply be 'an excuse' as you stated. The original point of my post you responded to is that textually there is no lesbianism within this relationship and nothing you have said actually supports that there is any depth to their relationship beyond a rivalry over a boy.

I think arguing about Pierrot playing up or playing down any character or relationship is ultimately going to hit a moot point because fillers just aren't consistent material, with canon or with each other.

Also I have to add. I haven't watched the anime in a very long time but I did try to find and watch a couple scenes and I have to say if this is what passes for yuri baiting you should check out more yuri. As much as I don't care for Pierrot I do think this statement is a bit... uncomfortable? I am well aware of how lesbianism gets fetishised and the ways many men treat lesbians and lesbian content, I don't see how that's whats happening with these fillers? I'm not trying to downplay fetishisation I just think this is a statement with a lot of baggage that honestly just makes me uncomfortable; why is the idea of women being pushed together immediately about sexualisation? As I said, this content is just not even good yuri baiting, I'd argue the Boruto character designs alone are a better example than the filler I've seen — if I've missed something specific and egregious though do let me know.

[klarolinewinterexchange]

Is there a nip in the air, held off by the cozy sweater Caroline can’t help stealing from Klaus? Is the snow coming down outside the porch of their posh Swiss cabin? The sun is setting over the horizon and the northern lights are shimmering over the horizon. The darkest days of the year have come. Come, hold off the night with us and tell tales of Klaus and Caroline in the snows of New York, in the wilds of Russia,  in the cold bluster of the Highlands. Or perhaps you’ll be fantastical and tell us tales of the winter Fae, or the Snow Queen and the man who melted her heart. Gather by the fire, bring a cup of your drink of choice. It’s time for the Klaroline Winter Exchange…

Sign Ups HERE

General Rules:

1. This exchange is anonymous until gifters are revealed. Please do not reveal yourself to your giftee until after the exchange is over.

2. Choose more than one type of gift that you are willing to receive in the gift request form and what kind of gift you want and what you’re willing to make. Please fill out the forms so that I have the best chance of pairing you with someone with similar tastes!

3. Please be sure to limit yourself to your giftee's ratings/tags specified in their Gift Request forms and stay within the general parameters of their request/prompts for the content you create.

4. Please take note of the Timeline for the Gift Exchange mentioned below. If you feel you cannot adhere to the timeline and are unable to submit your gift accordingly, please contact me @klarolinewinterexchange or via Discord (kirythestitchwitch) so that I can arrange a pinch hit for you.

5. When you turn in your gift, please let me know so that I am aware of this and can allow your gift to be added to the collection, as this is a moderated event.

6. Please make sure that you’re reachable via Discord or your tumblr in case I need to contact you about your gift.

7. It’s highly encouraged to contact your giftee anonymously through the tumblr url provided to say hi and ask them any questions you have about your gift. If you have trouble contacting them through the url they provided, or if the url does not work, please send us an ask here or PM me (Kiry) at kirythestitchwitch.tumblr.com.

8. You can post your works on tumblr after the gifters are revealed. Make sure to tag me @klarolinewinterexchange and tag it “#Klaroline Winter Exchange” so that I can track it and reblog it on tumblr.

9. Please make sure to be respectful to everyone involved in the exchange. The point of this is to have fun!

Timeline for the Klaroline Winter Exchange:

Sign-ups Begin: November 1, 2024 7:00 am CST

Sign-ups End: November 9, 2024 11:59 pm CST

Assignments Out: November 12, 2024 7:00 am CST

Assignments Due: January 11, 2025 11:59 pm CST

Gifts Revealed: January 25, 2025 9:00 am CST

Please note that I WILL have scheduled check-ins between November 12 and January 11. This will allow me time to arrange a pinch hit if need be. Please contact me as soon as possible if you encounter a reason as to why your gift cannot be completed.  

Rules About Turning In Gifts:

1. If you do not turn in your gift to Ao3 before the deadline, I will assign a pinch hitter to complete a gift for your giftee and you will not be able to post your gift in the exchange collection.

2. If your gift is done but you’re having technical difficulties, please put in an ask or contact me directly on my main blog or via Discord.

3. If you realize you won’t finish your gift on time, please contact me immediately so that I can assign a pinch hitter.

4. If you are doing a graphic, gifset, video, or similar gift and feel the need to watermark or include your name/url on it before your identity has been revealed that’s totally fine. I understand that people get nervous about their art getting stolen or saved without permission. This is supposed to be fun, not anxiety producing.

5. All gifts have to be complete when you submit them. You’re welcome to upload drafts, but make sure that whatever you upload can stand alone if it goes up like that. Please do not put in random drabble bits or placeholders.

6. Once the gifts are posted, commenting on your gift is required. Everyone works very hard to make a gift their giftee will love, and it’s very important to be sure they feel appreciated for putting the time into it!

Guidelines for Gifts:

Drabbles:

The minimum word count is a thousand words, but writing more is highly encouraged.

All drabbles should be new. In other words, no continuing previous works that you’ve posted before (that will reveal your secret identity and require your giftee to go back and read old stuff you’ve done to enjoy their gift). You are, of course, allowed to add to the piece after it’s been posted if you want to.

Asking a beta or friend to look over your work is totally fine, just make sure you swear them to secrecy so that your giftee can be surprised ;)

Gif Sets:

Gifsets should include four gifs at minimum.

If you wish, you can include a caption such as a mini-drabble, line of dialogue, or small description. You can also add a full drabble if you want. I doubt anyone will complain :)

Graphics, Manips, Aesthetics, and Moodboards:

Two images minimum for graphics and manips.

Eight panel minimum for aesthetics and moodboards.

Must include a caption, such as a mini-drabble, line of dialogue, or small description. You can also add a full drabble if you want. I doubt anyone will complain :)

Videos:

Length should be a minimum of one minute.

Upload it to YouTube or another video website of your choice and upload it to Ao3. Please also send me the link so that I can queue it up for reveals.

Playlists:

Minimum of eight songs.

Must include a cover, but it doesn’t have to be detailed Art™. Just make sure to have the title.

Do not use someone else’s art as your cover without permission.

Upload to 8tracks, do a shared Spotify playlist, or make a YouTube video playlist with the songs to link.

Original Fanart (drawings, paintings, etc.):

You are a very talented and rare superhuman and I just wanted to make note of that.

Pinch Hitting

A pinch hitter is a fancy way of saying an emergency gifter if someone can’t complete their gift on time. If you would like to lend a hand, please private message me so that I can fling things at you if needed. Just please make sure you have enough free time between November 12 and January 11 to complete the extra gift.

[mcytblrholidayexchange]

How To Sign Up To This Gift Exchange

This exchange does signups on Ao3, to help with matching! (Last year it took us 8 days to do it by hand and that's just not sustainable).

Once you are on Ao3, there are two sections, one for your requests (stuff you’re telling people (and the machine) would be a good gift for you), and one for your offers (stuff you’re telling the machine that you can make as a gift for other people). Here’s how you fill them out.

Requests

First you go to the collection that you want. The all-ages one is here, and if you are opting into NSFW (and are over 18), you can go to the 18+ collection! In the sidebar on the left-hand side of the page there is a button for sign-up form, you can press to be taken to the sign-up form.

That brings you to the first page, which looks like this.

Lots of buttons, but don't worry, it's pretty simple once you get the underlying logic!

Let's say I start with 3rd Life. I know I want to opt into pearl gifts, shadowrot, and platonic desert duo. What will that look like?

So I selected the fandom I wanted (3rd Life) and what types of gifts that I was open to. And then I selected the relationships that I'd like as a gift! I could match on any one of these, my gifter might have offered only one relationship in this fandom— but we match on one, so they know which relationship to focus on! And each of those tags is formatted a little differently— the desert duo one the names are connected with a & (so that means i'll get something platonic), the shadowrot one the names are connected with / (so that means I'll get something shippy if my gifter chooses to write that relationship), and the pearl tag is Solo, so that means I could get anything as long as pearl is still the focus! So I have to specify later if I'm okay with shipping or not, or any relationships I don't want.

Additional tags is telling people what kind of holidays I'm open to in my gift— not everybody celebrates the same holidays! For this one I don't want any holidays, so I selected no holidays. And then archive warnings is telling people if I'm okay with archive warnings in my gift— because it's 3rd life I'm okay with graphic depictions of violence, or I'm also okay with no archive warnings in my gift at all! Note that if you select archive warnings that just means you're opting into them as an option, not that your recipient HAS to give them to you. And then we get down to the free text box, where I give my gifter a little more idea of how to make a gift that I'd like. We start with my tumblr, because my gifter has to know how to give me my gift on tumblr eventually! And then a list of likes, stuff to give my gifter some ideas. Mods ask that you include at least a couple likes, and/or some prompts, or link a letter in that letter text box.

What's a letter? Ao3 has a text limit of 5 thousand characters in that box, and sometimes people exceed it because they have detailed prompts— especially if they're requesting lots of different ships as options! You also can't do any formatting unless you code it in HTML. So, if you are running out of space on Ao3, you can write the information for your gifter offsite, on Dreamwidth or Google Docs or a tumblr post! Here is an example from another exchange of what a letter can look like.

IMPORTANT NOTE: If you are linking a google doc letter, make sure that you are not using an account that has your real name in it. Make a fandom email for it, or host the letter somewhere like tumblr or dreamwidth, where your real identity will not be connected to your fandom identity. And if you link a tumblr, don't change your blog URL or the letter will disappear for people!

Anyways, I'm not doing a letter cause I'm just doing a quick and dirty signup, so I just did some likes and my DNW! You can also add specific prompts if you want (and it's nice for your gifter if you do) but it's not required!

What is a DNW? DNW stands for Do Not Want, and it's anything (anything) that would ruin a gift for you. You can DNW certain characters, crossovers, types of aus, types of content, specific ways of writing or art, quotes from specific people if you're requesting web weaves, specific music if you're okay with playlists, types of endings, specific sounds if you're requesting podfic— the list goes on. I did a short DNW there to make it all fit within the screen, but my normal one is quite long. There will be a thread in the discord where people can compare DNWs to see if there's anything you want to add to yours.

The rule is that as long as you are polite (nothing like "no kid fic because it's creepy to age down characters") and specific (nothing like "no kinks", because that is too broad and subjective of a category for people to try and navigate) and you don't box your gifter into a specific gift (nothing like "nothing that isn't canon compliant fic specifically about the fairy fort burning") then you're good to go! Because I selected a Solo tag I specifically have to tell my gifter if I'm okay with shipping and which ships, so there's a line there about that. You do need to either put down a DNW or say DNW: no restrictions, so that your recipient knows that everything is on the table.

Please make sure that your DNW and your letter link (if you're using a letter) is included on every fandom box. This is for two reasons. 1) we need to make sure your DNW is in a format that locks once it gets sent to your gifter, not somewhere you could still edit it, like tumblr. 2) There is an option to separate up requests by fandom for people who are looking for extra gifts to give, and that means someone might see only one fandom of your request before giving you something. You need to make sure that anyone who sees just one fandom of your request still has all the information necessary to make a gift.

Note: If you are signing up to the 18+ collections, it's a very good idea to include specific NSFW likes and NSFW DNW because people's tastes can vary wildly, and there's nothing worse than someone carefully making you a gift that's exactly the wrong type of thing for you because are into different things. Give your gifter something to work with and a direction to head in!

And then there's the optional tags box. This is for extra holidays! The additional tags are how you tell someone what holidays you're good to have in your gift, and it only allows you to select 20 at once. But if you wanted to select more holidays than that, you can put them down in the optional tags box! Or you can select any additional tags and just do every holiday at once.

And technically, that's three relationships, so I could call it done there! That's the minimum to request, I'm done. But what if I like other fandoms too? How do I add them? Well. There is a button for that.

In that case, I can hit this button, and it brings me up another request box, and I can do this all over again with another fandom! You can go up to 10 fandoms, with a maximum of 20 tags for each.

But what if you really really REALLY like rats smp and there are 30 tags in the tag set and you want them all?

Two options. One is that instead of putting in relationship tags one by one, you hit the any relationship button.

That will match you to any relationship in the tag set. That doesn't mean any tag on Ao3, but it does mean any tag that's been nominated into the tag set, and we keep the tag nominations open so people can get in their last-minute ships. If you select this one, keep an eye on the tag set to make sure that nobody nominates something that's a hard no for you.

Option two is that you hit the button for another request, and then you just do Rats SMP again, with different tags! You can request the same fandom more than once, with different tags— so you can do a request for your shippy tags and one for your platonic ones, or one for your family tags and one for your non-family ones, or one for desert duo and one for convex, or any other way you want to split it up! As long as you go over the minimum of three relationships requested, you've filled out a valid request! Request ten different fandoms or the same one ten times— it'll work.

Offers

And then we scroll down a little bit to the offers page. Let's take a look at it!

So this is telling the machine the type of gift you are open to making, and making sure you're matchable to someone else's request that will look like the one we just did. You've gotta give the machine the information in a way it'll understand so it can whirr away and give you a match to someone who requested the type of stuff you like to make. So how is this done? I did 3rd life again for the fandom, and the type of gift I can make is fic, so I selected fic for the gift type.

I only need a minimum of three relationships for the relationships, but there's more stuff that'll write than I wanted as a gift, so I have a bunch of relationships in there! I could match on any one of them, so I make sure to offer just relationships I'm confident I can write. Like with the requests, / means a romantic (or sexual, if you are in the 18+ collection) relationship, and & means platonic. Solo: means I can bring any relationships I want into the fic as long as the focus is on the person in the tag and my recipient hasn't DNWed those characters.

When it comes to holidays I COULD go down the list and select everything, but it's easier to just select any additional tag, and that'll make sure I'm matchable no matter what holidays someone selects! I figure that I can do my research on different holidays, and maybe ask for a beta reader to help out if I match on a holiday I'm not used to!

On archive warnings I select no archive warnings apply and graphic depictions of violence, and that means I'm matchable to people who selected either one of those.

And Optional tags is for overflow holidays, but I already selected any holidays, so I'm good to go! This is a complete signup! I can submit it now!

But what if I want to offer other fandoms too? There's rats SMP, there's Hermitcraft, I'm still a DSMP fan—

You can add up to ten fandoms, and same as with requests, you can go up to either 20 tags or "any tag (in the tag set)" for each fandom.

And then you scroll down to the bottom and hit submit, and that's it, you're officially signed up!

Editing and etc

You can go back and edit and tweak your signup any time you want until signups close— remove ships, add them, add prompts, edit your DNW— it's all editable until midnight EST on the 17th of November, when signups close and lock for us to run matching on.

The matching requires:

1 match on fandom

1 match on character (gift type)

1 match on relationship

1 match on additional tags (holidays)

1 match on warnings

So you will be assigned to someone where you have at least one tag in common in all of those categories— a fandom you selected, a gift type you can make, a relationship you said you can do, a holiday you opted into, and a level of archive warnings you said you were good with. The system tries to match you with more tags, but sometimes there are edge cases and you only match on one tag. No matter what is on your recipient's signup, you only have to make one gift, and you only have to make a gift with the tags you signed up with— if someone requested major character death and no warnings apply and you offered no warnings apply, you just can focus in on no warnings apply. Your requests are public, so that people can give bonus gifts if they want to and so that we can pinch-hit your requests if necessary (and so your recipient can see what you requested), but your offers are private (only the mods see them). Make sure you only request things which you are okay having public, or speak to the mods about setting up a sock account.

Signing up gives mods access to your Ao3 email (it's how we send you your assignment), so make sure the email attached to your AO3 account is one that a) you check regularly, and b) are comfortable with exchange mods seeing. You can verify your email here: archiveofourown.org/users/[your ao3 name here]/change_email If for some reason we can’t find a way to give you an assignment (say you only offered ships that nobody was requesting), mods will ask you to make more offers until we can give you an assignment. If we can't give you an assignment— there's nobody in the whole exchange you could make a gift for— you will not be able to continue in the exchange. If we can’t assign you to someone (either you are requesting things nobody offered or the matching just didn't work out to cover you), you will be an initial pinch hit, and someone will opt in to take you on as an extra assignment. Initial pinch hits are normal and expected in an exchange of this size, don't panic if you see yourself as one of them. If there is someone in the exchange that you don’t want to match with (for any reason ranging from "we have each other blocked on tumblr" to "we give each other gifts a lot and we want to give gifts to other people this time"), contact the mods through the ticket system and we’ll hand-adjust the matches. We can only do this before matches go out— if you match to someone you can't create for you'll have to drop your assignment and send it to pinch hits, which we would like to avoid happening if at all possible. Please make sure you send us any Do Not Match requests before signups close!