#also i'd like my minor because fuck it i want at least ONE (sort of) degree to do with the humanities

[avelera]

So this is a bit random but:

Dream as the hero in a Greek tragedy and Hob as an Arthurian knight.

Thoughts?

(You obviously don’t have to answer if this is stupid or you don't want to)

If I may riff a bit on this, since I don't exactly have a pre-made answer (it's not a line of inquiry I've really considered), I'd say this:

Dream is absolutely a Greek tragedy protagonist. He thinks of himself that way, he's written that way. A major, indeed central, characteristic of Greek tragic heroes is that their virtues in some situations become their ultimate downfall. No one is dying in a Greek tragedy because they're inherently bad or failed people. It is the essence of that Picard line, "It's possible to do everything right and still lose. That's not failure, that's life."

Dream's dedication to his duty is an incredibly familiar virtue for a Greek tragic figure. It is also the virtue that will lead to his eventual end (in this incarnation). At least, in the comic. We'll see in the show if that's the case, and I have my suspicions based on the story's structure that we'll be seeing some deviation or, at the very least, a more optimistic spin on Dream's end.

Neil certainly wrote Dream to be a figure from a Greek Tragedy too, ironic considering he's also the "deus ex machina" in other situations, being literally a creature of godlike (or superior) power.

As for Hob as an Arthurian figure.... I'm less convinced. And I have a lot of reasons why because I think a lot about Hob's relationship, or lack thereof, with the tropes of knighthood as explored in both canon and fanon.

Let me quickly say that for fanon, sure, absolutely. I've seen incredible, complex, lovely takes on Hob as a Questing Knight or suffering the throes of textbook courtly love (more on that in a second, because I do find that part at least plausible) or otherwise being a gallant and heroic figure.

However, this is fanon. Canon Hob is certainly made more romantic, and I mean much more romantic by the show with the whole missed 1989 meeting and Ferdie's inherent and overwhelming charm. But comic Hob is... hmm, let's say he also has his charm but he's deliberately quite rough, quite crass, more than a bit dim at times, and the furthest thing from protagonist let alone romantic hero material. I think comic Hob would laugh, perhaps a bit wistfully, at the very idea of being an Arthurian figure. Certainly the Hob of "Sunday Mournings" (the Ren Faire comic issue) would be outright derisive of the notion of himself as a romantic figure or a questing knight.

Hob bought his knighthood. I think it's something that bears remembering: he bought it.

(Let me very briefly aside say, as a grubby Yankee myself, I actually find his audacity and sort of "Ha! I got away with it!" humor in that moment incredibly charming. Fuck yeah, stick it to the nobility! Fuck aristocracy, fuck nobility, and fuck aristocratic mythology like Arthuriana that reinforces those power structures. Good for Hob being a peasant who bought his knighthood, something that would be all but unthinkable in the grand sweep of Arthuriana, which for all its romanticism is still pretty definitive about everyone belonging in their social place.)

Anyway, Hob bought his knighthood with money he made getting into early English shipping and with money made from being on the right side of Henry VIII dissolving the monasteries (which were corrupt but were also one of the only forms of social services available to common people at the time, it's an incredibly complex issue) and Hob is as unbothered by the moral quandaries of this as he was the moral quandaries of being a soldier or a bandit. Hob is the furthest thing from being a Galahad. I'm not sure he could even aspire to Lancelot at his lowest on Hob's very best of days. He's just not built like that that we see.

At least, until 1989.

Now, as I've noted elsewhere, Hob's story is fundamentally altered by this ever so minor change in the show of making him still in England in 2022, still presumably waiting for Dream about a block away from the White Horse! Now, this is some courtly love shit right there! My jaw dropped when I began to map out the implications, not just of his waiting but of his becoming a history teacher.

Comic Hob never became a history teacher. Comic Hob seems all but allergic to romanticism and nostalgia. Comic Hob's highest moment of romanticism is wondering what exists in the depths of the ocean and thinking that maybe reincarnation possibly exists.

1989 changes everything. Actually, we even have evidence that in the comic timeline, Hob wasn't even in England by, what, 1992 when Dream passes away? He's in America with Gwen and they've been dating for a bit when she takes him to the Ren Faire, which is the day after Dream died. This implies that Hob doesn't usually stick around England like he does in the show timeline. If that wasn't already clear from the fact that most of his professions throughout the glimpses we see seem to involve maritime trade (sometimes of the very worst sort). The guy is constantly on the move but he stayed in England for Dream for over 30 years.

So there, at least, I think we have the first tendrils of something for fandom to grip onto that Hob does have the potential within him to go on a 30 year quest for his lost love, which is very Arthurian. I think even Hob would be perhaps shocked at himself for this, perhaps alongside becoming a history professor, finally coming to grips perhaps with the history he's seen, learning to care about it, learning that there's more to himself than he thought.

Because Hob is a weird immortal. He doesn't do the things we expect immortals to do, like learn from his mistakes and become some sort of avenging superhero, or even accumulate enough money to not need to have a day job any more, to just utterly detached from normal human life. Instead, he seems to stay grounded in a normal middle class life for whatever era he's in (barring disaster or windfall) and just happen to stick at it longer than anyone else by virtue of his immortality. It's so bizarre in the most fascinating way, it's why I'm obsessed with him, because he stays so grounded in his time period and not in any sort of special superhero way.

But 1989 really brings into sharp relief that there is an element of courtly love to how he interacts with Dream, the Beatrice to his Dante, this figure who inspires him, whom he waits for, whom he changes for (even when Dream himself perhaps doesn't believe himself capable of change?).

There I think there's something to the notion of Hob as, perhaps, a budding figure of courtly love, if not full Arthuriana knighthood.

But more intriguing and, if I may presume, what I think you're perhaps getting at with all of this is: could Hob's Questing Knight perhaps in some way disrupt Dream's Greek Tragic fate?

Well, it's not really possible in either of those genres played straight but, in the original canon, Hob didn't wait 33 years for Dream to come home to him.

So really, in the most optimistic way I'd say, anything is possible.

[fourteentrout]

ACOTAR tag game 💕

thanks for tagging me @mathiwrites ! I don't normally do these even when tagged because i never know who to tag, a lot of times everyone i think of is already tagged LOL, but i figured id start today!

I don't think I've seen one around, and figured this might be fun to do!

Answer the questions below & tag whoever you want, or make it an open tag!!

Who's your favourite ACOTAR character?

My boy tamlin!!

Who's your least favourite character?

Hm....hmmmm...oh Amren for sure.

Say something nice about your least favourite character.

She has a cool character concept and i thought it was really sweet and endearing when she gave feyre the bracelet (necklace?) to help her get through the Prison trip without panicking

Who's your favourite High Lord? (If you picked one for your fav character, then who's your second fav!)

Oooh hm not to be a copycat but I loved tarquin from the moment he was introduced, he was an instant fav and i was kind of sad that he didn't have more involvement later on that didn't have to do with the whole feyre and rhys betraying his trust thing

Favourite MINOR character?

ooh i dont know if this is minor enough but i've come to really like jurian. i didn't really have much of an opinion on him for most of the series and then for some reason in silver flames when he was in it for like 2 seconds i was like wait a minute why haven't i been more into this guy he kinda fucks

Favourite ship? (Crackships included!)

tamsand by far. though azris is becoming a close second.

Favourite court and why?

well i loved the spring court aesthetic from the first book, but at this point in the series I think I'd say maybe actually dawn. it just sounded so pretty, and i think it would be one of the subtler, less overwhelming courts while still being awe-inspiring.

Make up a brand new court RIGHT NOW, NO PREP JUST VIBES.

oh shoot um okay court of clouds?? people who specialize in wind manipulation, likely populated by a race related to the Peregryns or Drakon's race? an actual cloud court like in the sky could be a vibe I think. perhaps it would be more removed from the politics of prythian--they'd still have a High Lord, but maybe it would be more of a military government or something.

What relationship would you have wanted to see more of in the books?

oh wow i mean i am always here for more rhys and tamlin content obviously, but i would have also loved to see more of like stories and stuff about the sentries from the spring court that went over the wall, like Andras. andras and lucien's relationship in particular would be one I would have liked to know more about. I also really want to see Azriel and his mom.

What's your unpopular opinion?

god what ISN'T my unpopular opinion. hm. i think feyre's whole reasoning for wanting a baby out of seemingly nowhere is dumb. like i get it, yolo, life can be cut short, but like i really do not feel like she picked a good time to have a baby, nor do i think she is remotely ready to be a mother. when she realized she wanted kids in acofas, it wasn't a strong enough argument for me to actually like get behind her decision.

What's your favourite headcanon/fan canon?

omg i have so many I literally started a list lol. the first one on it is kind of silly, it's that Helion is actually the faerie romance author sellyn drake that nesta, emerie, and gwyn like

If you were swept away to Prythian, what's ONE thing you would want to do?

go to a festival! not necessarily something as crazy as calanmai, but i would love to go to some sort of celebration. maybe starfall?

If you could have ONE faerie ability seen in the books, which would it be?

shapeshifting without a doubt

thanks again for the tag! ill tag @cheap-spirits @achaotichuman @thedickgraysons @wingsdippedingold @hugevanserrass @lady-of-sevenwaters @the-darkestminds @msbrownwithacrown @tamlinsnailtech and anyone else who wants to contribute!! if were mutuals and i didnt tag u im sorry i tried to think of as many as possible LOL but yeah definitely feel free to contribute if you want to! this was fun

[ronearoundblindly]

Hi Ro! I have this idea eating a hole in my brain since it manifested. I feel like we see a lot of mafia! Steve and Bucky where the reader is one of their gf and the other is her bodyguard or something else of the sort (which I love) BUT…

Could you imagine a badass bodyguard reader? Like, she works to protect one of them and they don’t even sexualize her, but after seeing how well they work together and how dedicated and hard-working she is, they just hopelessly fall in love? Which launches mutual pining, but also both of them thinking it’s unrequited and her still just girlbossing away. Until some inciting inciting incident (TBD) which makes them super close to realize how they feel and then both of them needing a new bodyguard because now she’s the gf of a mafia boss.

I’d try and write it but I don’t have anywhere near as much talent as you and wouldn’t do it justice. Also, sorry if this adds to your 92747739 other WIPs

Alright. Full disclosure: I am not even remotely a fan of the mafia!fic, or mob!fic, or really any of the tropes that take a fundamental piece of a character out of the equation. To me, doing the right thing and using personal harm as a last resort are inextricable from Steve's personality--and is what we love about him.

[To be clear, I am not throwing shade on y'alls writing or reading preferences! Just telling you my take on it. You do you 😘]

His character lends itself to being a CEO, like in the It Had To Be You series, a military commander, or even president.

In that regard, I wonder if it would fall into the same vein of story to have Steve be running for some sort of 'office' but in a kind of dystopian country as the non-corrupt candidate who is in danger due to political/military pressures between opponents?

Say...maybe John Walker could be the smooth-talking but selfish alt runner? Bucky and Steve and Walker used to serve in the armed forces under an equally corrupt dictator figure...say, Ross, perhaps? Then Steve broke away--like the Nomad persona--until he emerged to run against Walker with a faction of the military's support.

So you're hired as part of Bucky's security team first, but since Bucky is with Steve so much, you're very recognizable to Steve. There could be a minor attack at a public event where you throw yourself in front of Bucky (who threw himself in front of Steve), and the real surprise to them is that you want to return without hesitation once recovered.

After a completely professional, stone-faced few months, Steve wins the election.

The night's celebrations go on till the wee hours; you keep a keen eye on your charges even though it's the first time either has seen you in a formal gown instead of a plain suit. When the results are actually announced on the TV, Steve is struck by seeing you smile and get emotional for the first time. It warms his heart to see you proud of him. It's a relief to know you don't just stick around as an employee. You actually believe in him and what he's doing.

fucking swoon

I'm not sure whether I'd write this as Stucky x reader or Steve with reader and Bucky as a friend, honestly, but I feel like after Steve (and maybe Bucky) turn in at their hotel room after all that partying, you're the guard at the door.

Steve debates inviting you inside because he's so curious to know more about you personally.

He opens the door, but you're not there. Sam Wilson is. He took over the shift so you could get out of your heels.

Steve makes up some shitty excuse to need your room number, fusses over going to talk to you alone, maybe says Bucky will come with him as protection instead (since at very least Buck is sus of Steve's interest).

You answer the door sans jewelry and shoes but with the dress still on. He can come in if he helps with the zipper and buttons down the back. For such big hands, his fingers are nimble as they work the delicate fastenings.

ope, swooned again

And then...ya know...this is all very tempting since the night has been charged with adrenaline and hope, so...yeah...

Steve goes in for a kiss and more.

🥴

Idk. Probably. Something like that. Is that close enough to mob/mafia? Not my wheelhouse so this is likely the best I can do...

Can y'all help me? You want stucky or just stevie?? Promise that the politics is more of a background thing, but it's the only scenario I could work with in their canon dynamic/personalities.

[mysecretlittlelibrary]

Just Let Me Adore You Pt. 7

Pairing: Stucky x Reader

Word Count: 2.3k

Warnings: nothing here really

Genre: minor angst a lil comedy, sort of fluff

Summary: You’ve been dating your boyfriend, Bruce, for 3 absolutely blissful years. He’s a scientist and professor who is as smart as he is kind and if anyone asked, you were sure you’d spend the rest of your life with him. That is until two mysteriously charming men that Bruce swears are dangerous take an interest in you that threatens to turn your entire life upside down. I mean… what exactly are you supposed to do with two gorgeous men telling you something that suggests that basically everything you think you know is a lie? And why does part of you have enough doubt to wonder if they might be telling the truth?

Series Masterlist

***

"Okay, I didn't make you talk about it when you showed up last night, and you completely avoided me before we went to work this morning, but it's been at least 24 hours now and I think we should talk about whatever happened with Bruce." Wanda says sitting beside you on the couch.

"I confronted him like you told me to." You shrug.

"And?!"

"I started by telling him I called my mom and that she confirmed I was a werewolf. It spiraled from there. He wouldn't look at me and that should've told me everything I needed to know but I still asked him. I even explained why my suspicions made sense and that I wasn't just blindly trusting Steve and Bucky. You know the entire time he couldn't even say he didn't know." You scoff. "He said a bunch of stuff about how it was ridiculous and it didn't make sense and he would never hurt me but not once did he say 'I didn't know you were a werewolf.' I even asked him to ya know. I said look me in the eye and tell me you didn't know or I'm leaving."

"And he couldn't do it?"

"Not only could he not do it he was busy asking me where I would fucking go. Tried to tell me Steve and Bucky would hurt me because I guess he thought I'd be going to them."

"Did he forget I also live in this city? Why the fuck would you go to them?"

"That's so not the point." You chuckle.

"I mean I know but like- he's an idiot." She crosses her arms.

"For more reasons than one." You nod. Wanda wraps her arms around you and places her head on your shoulder.

"How are you feeling y/n?" She asks.

"I'm fine actually. I think deep down I've been suspecting him since Steve suggested it so- I'm pretty sure I subconsciously accepted this long before I confirmed it." You shrug and you mean that. Your relationship pretty much ended weeks ago you think.

"I'm sorry honey." She says.

"It is what it is Wanda. Maybe I should've paid more attention to you not liking him." You hum.

"Nonsense you liked him and he was good to you, besides I'm not usually the voice of reason in this friendship so it's not like my opinion is a litmus test. Do not beat yourself up because he was a liar, even I didn't think he was gonna hurt you." Wanda says.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." You sigh.

~*~*~

A knock on Wanda's front door makes the two of you look at each other in shock.

"You expecting someone?" You ask her.

"No. I'd have told you. I'll go check it though." She says getting up and going to the door. You don't hear the door open but after a moment Wanda runs back to you in the living room. "Um- you wanna tell me why your werewolf buddies are at my door?"

"My- werewolf buddies? I don't-" You trail off with a frown. "You mean Steve and Bucky?" You ask.

"Yes! The Greek gods! Why are they here?"

"I don't know! I haven't seen them in over a month! They're here?! How did they even know where to find me?" You blink.

"Yes, they're here. Should I open the door? Do I invite them in? Should we just go talk to them at the door?"

"We should not invite them in until we know what they want. Let's go." You get up and open the door to see Steve and Bucky at the door.

"Y/n, hi." Steve smiles.

"Um... What are you two doing here?"

"We wanted to check on you." He says.

"You wanted to check on me? And how did you find me? This isn't even my apartment." You cross your arms. The two of them look at each other and you can tell they're trying to decide what to say. "I asked the question, look at me and give me an answer. The truth, if you want any chance of this going well." You say, demanding their attention which makes them look at you.

"We've had people... looking out for you." Steve says carefully.

"Oh so you are full blown stalkers. Running into you has never been a coincidence? You're just- watching me all the time?" You ask.

"No it- it sounds worse than it is and it didn't start like this." Bucky says.

"I don't think anything you say is going to make this better but I'll humor you, if it didn't start like that how'd it get there?"

"The team looking out for you started after we realized who Bruce was. We knew he wasn't safe for you to be around so we put together a security detail."

"A security detail?! Who do you think I am? The president's daughter?!"

"I'm sorry, you never noticed people following you y/n?" Wanda looks at you.

"They were instructed to keep their distance unless absolutely necessary." Bucky says.

"Plus the- main member of your security detail has a special suit that lets him get real small so you wouldn't have noticed him unless he made himself known anyway." Steve shrugs.

"We were informed two weeks ago that you left your apartment one night and didn't return." Bucky says.

"We thought you could use some time before you saw us again so we've kept our distance, but we wanted to see that you were okay." Steve says.

"You gotta stop. This stalker shit is not cute. You're just being weird. Showing up at my job was one thing but my friend's apartment? Enough. You don't know me. And I don't know you either. This is insane." You cross your arms.

"I'm Steve Rogers and he's James Barnes. We're werewolves like you are." Steve says.

"You're James now? Before it was Bucky." You turn your attention to Bucky.

"Bucky's a nickname from my middle name Buchanan."

"Okay, I have a quick question. Are you two mafia crime lords or what?" Wanda asks.

"Wanda." You look at her.

"What?! I'm trying to figure out how much danger this conversation is putting us in! We need to know who these guys are!" She defends herself and you roll your eyes.

"We would never hurt you, especially because of how important you are to y/n. We'd never do anything to harm her." Steve says.

"What part of 'stop' are you not understanding?! Quit trying to be my protectors I don't know you people! It is extremely unsettling." You throw your arms up in exasperation.

"We can't exactly help it." Bucky mutters.

"You absolutely can help it. You aren't preprogrammed robots."

"It's a long story but no we can't." Steve sighs.

"Right, well, before you get into that, can I get an answer to my question? Mafia crime lords? Yes or no, it is very simple." Wanda presses.

"Wanda!" You say.

"We are." Steve says.

"How did you know that?" Bucky narrows his eyes at her.

"Bruce suspected you for months." You tell them.

"And you didn't?" Steve asks.

"Well I had no idea there was a werewolf mob until he brought up his suspicions but I had no reason to think he would make some shit like that up but he also didn't have a reason for assuming that it was you except that you were werewolves." You shrug.

"Okay, so now that we've covered the crime lord thing; thank you by the way, we can go back to that oh so long story about why you can't help being overly involved in y/n's life." Wanda says.

"Wanda, why are you trying to mediate a discussion here?" You sigh.

"I'm just asking the hard hitting questions that the people, me, wanna know." She shrugs.

"It doesn't really matter why they're stalking me Wanda just that they stop!" You say.

"Actually you might want to know because it's a werewolf thing." Bucky says.

"It's a werewolf thing?" You blink at him.

"The way werewolves pick partners is a bit different from the way humans do things y/n. I'm sure it seems a bit odd to you since you probably didn't learn about it growing up but our behavior is standard when your wolf has chosen a mate." Bucky says.

"Mates!? You don't know me! I don't know you!"

"It's strange to try and explain. Sometimes your wolf will take a long time to accept a mate, other times something will draw you to someone immediately." Steve says.

"What? Like love at first sight?"

"Actually I didn't see you initially, I heard your voice and for me, for my wolf that was it." Bucky says.

"For mine it was... your scent." Steve says awkwardly.

"So you heard and smelled me in a busy sub shop and that sold you?" You frown.

"What? No this was at the mall." Bucky says.

"We- never saw each other at the mall. The first time we met was at that sub shop. The whole radiance thing." You frown.

"The mystery gifts!" Wanda gasps.

"What?" You look at her.

"When we went shopping for my first date with Wes months ago and that lady gave you things that someone bought for you!"

"Holy shit was that you guys?! Did you seriously hear me talking in a mall and decided to impulse buy me things?!" You blink at them.

"Guilty." Bucky mumbles.

"Oh my god, this just gets weirder and weirder." You say.

"We're sorry y/n. Honestly, we should've considered that things we think are normal would be offputting to someone who is only just learning about lycanthropy, but we didn't know you didn't know at the time and we're just- so used to doing things our way, to us it's basically the default." Steve sighs.

"Steve, Bucky, here's the problem I have; you know so little about me. You don't know my favorite foods, my interests or hobbies, my goals in life, my passions, my quirks or irritations, none of it. You heard my voice or smelled me and some primal part of you decided to cling to that and I find it hard to be flattered that your infatuation with me is based on arbitrary superficial things I can't control. They say next to nothing about me as a person and even if this is normal to you I can't bring myself to be endeared by this near obsession with me when you didn't even choose it really. Like you don't know me so you don't actually like me."

"You're right." Steve nods.

"I know you're skeptical about us but, would it be too much to ask that you let us try this the human way? Go on a date with us, just one, we'll get to know each other the way you're used to and- if after that you never want to see us again, we'll understand." Bucky suggests.

"I-"

"Hold that thought! Boys I'm just gonna talk to her real quick. You guys can just- hang out here for the time being." Wanda interrupts you and shuts her front door.

"Wanda I promise they can still hear us through the door." You tell her. She shushes you and drags you into your room, waving her hand after you both enter. "What did you just do? Wolfproof this room?" You ask.

"Temporarily. Listen, two adonis-like men are basically begging for your attention. Why are you so against this?"

"Newsflash Wanda they've pretty much been stalking me for multiple months. Just because they're six feet tall and sound... the way that they sound does not mean that behavior isn't creepy."

"Would it make you feel better if I, picked their brains a bit?" Wanda suggests.

"You can do that?" You frown.

"Of course I can. If it would ease your anxieties."

"Isn't that kind of invasive?"

"Well, they've been watching you for some time now so I think this would just be leveling the playing field." Wanda shrugs.

"Fine. Do it." You nod. Wanda closes her eyes for a few minutes and you watch little red lines dance around her fingers until she eventually speaks again.

"Okay results are in, they are pure of heart. At least in regards to you."

"What does that mean?"

"It means they are still crime lords and I didn't dig into other things they may or may not be thinking. But they do genuinely seem to care about you- even if it did stem from some weird instinctual thing." She shrugs. "You're safe with them. So go on the date."

"I mean I did just throw away 3 years of my life does going on a date really seem like a good idea right now?"

"Oh come on these guys have been in and out of your mind for months now. It's one date, they're not asking you to marry them."

"Is the fact that they're both coming on to me kinda weird? Like I can't handle them turning it into a competition." You mutter.

"They don't seem to be competing with each other. But it's definitely something to bring up. On your date." Wanda says.

"It's amazing how lucky they are that your insane ass is my best friend." You roll your eyes as she pulls you down the hall back to the front door. When she opens it again Bucky and Steve look up immediately. You can tell they'd been having some sort of hushed conversation in the hall while they waited.

"One date. Next Friday. If either of you does any more weird shit you will never hear from me again, I will move if I have to. You guys can choose the place. Pick me up at 7 and don't be late." You say and shut the door but not before seeing their faces light up.

"We'll see you Friday!" Steve calls through the door and you listen to their eager chatter fade as they leave the apartment.

"I cannot believe you just gave straight up orders to two mob bosses. And they listened!" Wanda laughs.

"I can't believe you convinced me to go through with this date." You scoff.

"I think it's a good chance to forget about Bruce. You get to learn about them, and maybe the whole being a werewolf thing in general." She shrugs.

"I should call my mom. I'm going on a date with werewolves, she'll probably have some advice." You say rushing into your room. Every week it seems like your life changes so drastically. If you think about it too much your head starts to spin. But you know Wanda and your mom are with you every step and that makes all the changes a little easier to navigate.

***

Part 7/???

Tagged Users: @cjand10 @vicmc624 @mandijo17

[northwest-cryptid]

I think there are (at least) 3 kinds of mech game nerds I'm aware of...

Now I need to prefix all of this by saying I'm not claiming any single one of these to be better than another; just different interests for different people.

There's the people who just like big mechs, and the clunkier the better; these people are not keen on even really making the mechs, they just want to pilot them. It's mostly about the aesthetic, it's about "hey cool big mech go brrrrrr" more than anything else.

This kind of individual tends to enjoy games like Bulk Slash or Love & Destroy for the PS1. The more elaborate sci fi games with colorful neon lights and cyberpunk cities.

Anything with those classic bulky mechs is gonna be right up their alley since they tend to have a lot of that weight to them. People want to feel like they're trying to maneuver a clunky mess of a bipedal tank because when you actually get it down and understand it, the feeling of actually getting it to do what you want it do becomes enjoyable. These sorts of people probably also enjoy games like Steel Battalion but only those who really enjoy the specifics of like, complex systems working to make something move. This is where I feel like it becomes less about the aesthetic of "oh boy big mech" and more about the aesthetic of "oh shit I'm gonna pilot that big mech"

The game is pretty infamous for having a whole controller set up that even included pedals, and a UI interface that was pretty damn immersive all things considered:

These players also tend to be your MechWarrior types, but there's a good bit of overflow between people who like MechWarrior and people who like games like Armored Core, which brings my to the second type of Mech nerd I am aware of...

The people who really want to make their own mech, like they don't just want to pilot mechs, they want to build something entirely their own. They want to not only feel like they can flawlessly pilot the mech in a way others can't, but specifically they want to pilot a mech that is unique and undeniably suited to whatever specific style they go for.

It's not enough to just know it goes fast, or that it's light weight; or that it's heavily armored. A lot of these players enjoy the specifics of paying attention to all the minor details, the internals are as interesting as the externals. Sure you can slap a really big cannon on this mech, but that's not nearly as interesting as all the finer details of WHY you can slap a giant cannon on this mech. Tell me all about the engine and the weight distribution and what that allows for you as it's pilot, that's the good stuff.

This:

Is as interesting to these players, as this:

Because the two go hand in hand, with the first allowing the second to really shine.

These people do have some overlap with the last, because those big clunky parts moving around mean a lot more when you know what they are and why they are there.

I think this is most noticeably seen in MechWarrior fans, who are fittingly somewhere in the middle,

Not just the look of the mech matters, it's statistics are important, because a really stylish mech doesn't mean much if it gets shot down immediately; reputation is as stylish as cosmetics, and this is one of the few times when I'd argue a good mech pilot blames their mech; you can't make a shit mech perform on par with something well built if you and your opponent are of equal skill.

And the last type of person branches off from the first but instead of leaning heavily into controlling a mech and what makes a mech tick, and caring about all the finer details, they more heavily lean into that first mention of "the bright neon lights and big clunky mechs fighting giant robots and aliens and shit." Basically you have the "oh fuck yea, mechs!" Category of people, people who literally do not care about the specifics of the mech, they don't care how it works, they don't care how it feels to move it around a map, they only care about how it looks because holy shit look at that thing it's a giant fucking mech. These people are going to enjoy basically all mech media, but specifically they're going to hone in on the bright, flashy, colorful, explosive stuff. We're talking about shit like Xenogears, yea; an RPG.

But look at those mechs man!

They're so clunky and crusty it's hard to know what's what just by looking at it.

You've got brightly colored pink mechs with swords, you've got karate mechs, you've got pirate mechs, good shit man you've got so many mechs!

Oh fuck dude you can't fight a giant dinosaur on foot that's stupid...

If only you had like, I don't know-

OH FUCK YEA A GIANT MECH SEE NOW I'M HYPE.

Yea it's like that.

And again that's not a bad thing!

I don't want people to look at this and go "oh okay so there's smart nerds who are valid and good and right because they care a lot about the media and the mechs and they play the right games and they enjoy it in a smart and sophisticated way; and then you have the bad nerds who just like the pretty colors and bright flashy lights and think everything needs to have mechs and oh boy mechs are so cool... I get it I understand, I will be one of the good mech fans!"

Like no that's not the take away, that's literally such a bad way of looking at it. There are so many different kinds of ways to enjoy this sort of media, these are just the two branching paths from "I enjoy mechs" to "I enjoy mechs because I love to know what makes them tick, and getting to fly a mech around in Armored Core or skirmish other players in MechWarrior is rewarding because the time I put into my mech paid off with my performing well." And "Oh shit oh boy big mech holy shit look at the big mech that's so cool! It's such a cool giant fucking mech! Holy shit I want to pilot that thing!" Respectively.

Like Xenoblade X? Skells? Fuck yea dude sign me up! Look at this shit!

Also yea the skells are named Dolls in the original Japanese version, I'm assuming they were renamed for American audiences because they wanted to make them sound "cooler" or whatever, and also because the joke of the "Skell-eton Crew" doesn't make sense in English if they're the uh "Doll-eton? Crew???" So yea that makes sense I guess.

Don't even get me started on CASTS from like PSO/PSO2 like they may be small mechs but they're still mechs!

Oh and speaking of PSO you also have the AIS

These are all fine mechs! Very snazzy I like them a lot!

I think I exist somewhere between the two extremes, I enjoy the vibe and aesthetic of big fuck-all mechs with over the top rockets and big ass wings and guns and swords and glowy bits and neon lights and the whole nine yards. But I also just as much enjoy piecing a mech together in Armored Core and really tuning it to my exact liking because it feels so personalized when I can sorta just go "wow this new engine is really making all the difference in my movement"

[bronanlynch]

it took me over nine months to finish ace attorney 5 but here we are with the lawyer rankings (of whose file clerk I'd rather be)

athena: once again I draw the line at working for a teenager, and also I would be so uncomfortable if she ever tried to tell me what emotion she knew I was feeling. cannot stress how miserable that would be for me, and also a discrimination lawsuit waiting to happen. also, emotions-based lawyering doesn't seem likely to produce as much paperwork as I would like, since that leaves me with less to do. 2/10, of course there's discord in my heart I'm at work leave me alone.

apollo: if he started his own firm I would work for him in a heartbeat but unfortunately him leaving and then coming back to the wright anything agency is not great in terms of like, job security for his hypothetical file clerk. like, do I get laid off when he leaves and then brought back when he returns a few days later? I want a little more stability than that, sorry. 7/10, he would at least help get my benefits paperwork sorted out and I appreciate that in a boss.

phoenix: Idk has he learned how to pay his staff yet because judging by the repetition of the ending bit abt how he doesn't want to buy them noodles the answer seems to be no. "your bonus this year is a pizza party" kind of boss except you have to buy your own pizza. sure he's learned how to be a more supportive mentor to athena than he was to apollo but my boss's faith in me will not pay my rent. 3/10, phoenix you're dating the chief prosecutor surely you can do better than this.

edgeworth: he's gotten his shit together in a way that makes me very proud of him, and he does seem to care abt his employees. also he looks good in those glasses. 8/10, if he can get blackquill's conviction overturned he can make sure I have dental insurance.

payne: the thing about payne is that he doesn't listen to the things people tell him and he doesn't seem to learn anything ever, and that's a very frustrating quality in a boss. the kind of boss that tells you to do something but explains it badly and when you ask a clarifying question he responds with even more incomprehensible bullshit. half of your email responses to him are just copying and pasting things you've already told him. 2/10, every interaction with him is a sisyphean nightmare.

blackquill: trying to process the ethics of an imprisoned prosecutor (they make him wear a shock collar in court jesus fucking christ) makes my brain short-circuit but that's also just the ace attorney experience. other than that he seems like a decent boss, as long as you can overlook some of his uh dramatic tendencies and also as long as he doesn't sic taka on you. but I think if you had a good rapport with him it would be fine, even if it would probably mean a lot of transcribing bc presumably he'd have to hand-write anything he wants to file with the court and send them to you via bird and then you'd have to type them up and actually submit them. 6/10, honestly he gains several points just because I want to pet taka.

professor means: he's so smug, is the thing. he's just the smuggest man and he treats his students like idiots so I can't imagine he'd be any better and less condescending to his employees. he's probably looking for every excuse to be like "gotcha! you made one (1) minor error (that isn't even actually an error, it's just that he personally would have done it differently" and because everything has to be a Teaching Moment he'll bring it up in department meetings and also use you as an example in his classes. 3/10, he gains a few points for his awareness that the legal system is fucked up and rigged in favor of the prosecution and then loses most of those points for being a condescending asshole.

klavier: he would be fine probably. presumably his office is in the same state as it was in aa4, which is not ideal, as it stresses me out when filing cabinets are so full/disorganized that you can't close the drawers. on the other hand maybe that was just because he hadn't gotten around to dealing with it yet and he's not living like that on purpose and he would appreciate a file clerk to help him get his shit together. 7/10, just don't call me fraulein and we'll be fine.

( aa1 | aa2 | aa3 | aa4 | aai | dgs1 | dgs2 )

[grumelot123]

Part 6 of "I'm trying so hard to hate you"!! (I know 2 parts in one night is crazy)

Sorry this part is really short, I needed to give u guys a happy part before I piled angst on you!

Tw: Mention of character death (BUT I WILL NEVER LET ANY MAIN CHARACTER DIE, I REFUSE), slight angst but they make up before the end of this so it's ok, cussing.

Crowley Pov!

"GET DOWN!"

I hear Anathema scream from the kitchen, i duck behind a couch and hear an explosion, my head is pounding but nothing was really affected in here other than some fallen debris and knocked over things.

Aziraphale.

I hear Anathema call from the kitchen.

"CROWLEY, AZIRAPHALE HURT! GET MY MED KIT IT'S IN MY ROOM! UPSTAIRS TAKE A LEFT"

By the time her words actually hit me I'm already racing up the steps taking a left and seeing the med kit on her bed, i grab it and practically jump down the steps, sprinting to the kitchen as if my life depends on it.

As I run into the kitchen I see Aziraphale on the floor just lying there, helpless, barely breathing.

I couldn't save him.

I stand back and watch as Anathema is doing all sorts of things like checking his blood pressure, temperature, etc. as i just stand there. helpless.

this is my fault. he didn't want to go in here in the first place but i made him. im fucking stupid. he's better off without me.

"I can practically hear you overthinking. This isn't your fault. It's none of ours. We didn't know this was going to happen. There was no way of telling. So don't beat yourself up about it, ok?"

Am I really that easy to read?

"Is there anything I can do to help?"

I know how nervous and scared I sounded but it was true. I am fucking terrified.

"Can you help me carry him to the living room? He will most likely be okay, he has some minor scratches and definitely bruising on his head but he should be fine. Just needs some rest."

"I can just pick him up on my own"

So that's exactly what I did. Picked him up bridal style and brought him to the couch. Then after got him a pillow, blanket, and some water.

"He'll be up in an hour or so."

"Ok.."

So we sat. In silence, not saying anything. Till Anathema broke the silence.

"How long have you 2 been dating?"

Er..

"To be honest? Only for a couple days. I mean we've had feelings for eachother for at least 1 thousand years, but Heaven and Hell had ears everywhere, blocking us from ever really showing our true feelings."

She studied me for a moment then said.

"Do you love him? Because not to be nosy, but it really seems like you love him. The whole entire time you sat in here in silence you seemed to never take your eyes off him."

She's right. His face looked so calm but also pained. His breathing was calm and he seemed comfortable. But oh so beautiful.

"Of course I love him. I think I've loved him longer than he's loved me. Aziraphale is the most important person to me. If he dies I don't know what I'll fucking do."

Anathema looked from Aziraphale to me and just chuckled a bit to herself. Then softly said.

"He should be waking up in a couple of minutes, I'll go make tea."

As soon as she stood up I was making my way to the couch.

I'll just sit here till he wakes up.

And almost on cue he started to sit up with a pained expression on his face.

"C-Crowley?" His voice came out as a whisper, and very hoarse.

"Hello Angel, here have some water."

I picked up the water bottle and brought it to his lips, never taking his eyes off me.

"You fucking scared me Aziraphale. I thought I'd had lost you for a minute."

As I took the water down and closed the cap, I felt a pair of warm hands on my face. As I looked up I saw my angel with tears in his eyes.

"I'm sorry for scaring you like that. Are you okay Crowley?"

Am I okay? Why is he asking if I am okay? He just almost died.

"Are you?"

We both stared at each other for a moment and then started laughing.

"No I suppose we aren't okay" I said, moving to sit up by him on the couch.

"No..but we can not be okay together right?"

"Yes. Yes I suppose we can."

End of Part 6!

Part 7 will end happy too btw but there will be a lot more of angst and a rollercoaster of emotions so I decided to give you guys a happy break.

[not-available-for-comment]

Sleep deprived and rambling about yuri today apparently

Keepers:

The Two of Them Are Pretty Much Like This by Takashi Ikeda - Gentle slice of life about two semi-closeted women in the anime industry: a young up-and-coming voice actor and a slightly older writer. (Early 20s and right around 30, respectively.) Established relationship, any conflict is minor and of the typical "learning to live together" sort. Occasional, usually post-coital, nudity.

A White Rose in Bloom by Asumiko Nakamura - Vaguely gothic English boarding school romantic entanglement between a pretty and emotionally frank underclassman (underclasswoman?) and the icily reserved but secretly kind Balkan refugee upperclass…woman. Nothing racier than kissing so far, fucking gorgeous art, seems to be improving as it goes on.

SHWD by sono.N - Absolutely bonkers horror/yuri crossover in which a trio of women built like bodybuilders fight big gloopy psyche-destroying monsters, lounge around naked in the baths after, and occasionally engage in homoerotically charged sparring matches. Plenty of nudity, no sex yet (have only read volume 1, which is the only one released in hardcopy).

Doughnuts Under A Crescent Moon by Shio Usui - I avoided this one for a while because it *does* have a treacly name, and it's turned out to have a very lesbi-ace approach, which I can't imagine will help its reputation much (yes I've seen the tumblr post). But it's also a really beautifully written examination of the process of coming out to yourself as an adult (albeit a young one), and both the core relationship and the secondary characters are very well-written. I think I'm only missing the last volume, and I'm looking forward to completing the story.

To Try:

Asumi-chan is Interested in Lesbian Brothels! by Kuro Itsuki - A girl hears her first crush is working at a local brothel and resolves to visit them all until she finds her. Sounds like sudsy fun and I’m interested to see what the erotic sensibility will be since my other encounter with lesbian sex workers in Japan is in My Lesbian Experience With Loneliness. Which on the one hand has one of the most profound meditations on sex I’ve read and on the other hand has a ~very different sensibility~.

Our Teachers Are Dating! by Pikachi Ohi - I mean, to be honest I'm always going to at least consider a series that's about adults. But this one has good reviews for the main couple's chemistry, and apparently they are loved and supported by their community, which I enjoy in any romance but especially in a queer one. Plus apparently it gets spicy! 👀

My Androgynous Boyfriend by Tamekou - A beautiful kept boyfriend and his hardworking girlfriend. I like my men pretty and my het/het-passing relationships nontraditional. Will definitely at least try the first volume.

On The Fence:

Love Me For Who I Am by Kata Konayama - Lonely nonbinary teen finds community and maybe love at a nontraditional maid cafe. Honestly the blurb sounds like something I'd adore, but considering the main character is in tears on the cover of volume 2 I'm afraid of it turning out to be melodrama farming rather than a good story.

Goodbye, My Rose Garden by Pepperco - Reading between the lines of the blurb, a Japanese novelist ends up broke in Victorian England and takes a job as a maid, only for her new [probably lesbian] mistress to ask her to kill her. Instead, they kindle a relationship. I mean... sounds lugubrious. But reviews are actually good. I'll think about it.

Ditch:

Days of Love At Seagull Villa by Kodama Naoko - I want to like Kodama's writing (I've also read her one-shot, I Married My Best Friend To Shut My Parents Up!) because her premises are often engaging. But her pacing is usually incoherent and she tends to over-rely on boob jokes and under-develop her emotional arcs. It's probably unfair to tap out of a series for being under-developed at Volume 1, but I just don't see improvement from the one-shot and there are better ways to spend my money.

[kariachi]

Okay 1 am rambley post about the way I write Kevin and Mike and how they ended up with their energy bullshit because there's similarities and differences and my brain isn't shutting up right now. Mind that this is all rambling about what's in my head so take with whatever salt you want I don't care I got out of bed for this.

Like, okay, to start off from what we see of mutants in this franchise this is not a well-treated minority group. Alan (not a mutant but assumed to be by law enforcement) gets purposefully hit with a car and locked in a freezer with the justification being that his powers make him a dangerous freak. We see few mutants who haven't become criminals, when most people turn to that due to lack of options, and the most prominent of those is not only shown as socially isolated but also a tidbit in the background of one of his episodes makes it appear likely he's neglected. Malware's whole everything is a story arc.

Yes, this is all relevant. Because this is something that most definitely impacted both of them growing up. We know for a fact it affected Kevin because the entire reason he's alone on the streets when we first meet him is due to the mistreatment he received at home as a result of his powers- which given what we see in the reboot likely consisted of neglect and at least emotional and verbal abuse. We can make a reasonable assumption about Mike, due to multiple factors the most blatant of which are

1) While he has a lot more privilege (we'll touch on this again later) and being pretty and filthy rich will protect you from a lot his mutations are also more visible and visceral (not as bad as the likes of Thumbscrew, but if elementary school wasn't a bitch for him I'd be shocked, kids are enough of little bastards when you just hang out alone a lot nonetheless when your hands are 60% teeth by volume)

2) We've seen how mutants are treated in this setting and it is Generally Not Well

3) He's Kevin's foil and gets a similar 'my parents aren't around it's totally awesome' line in his introduction, bullshit that's not one of the places where they've got similarities

"But Achi why is this relevant to their ending up dangerous little energy-eating bastards?" Because this is the sorta shit that increases the odds of somebody going down the path they both started sprinting down. When the world is against you self-destructive tendencies can become more common, in part because they can provide short-term relief from what the world throws at you and a sense of control. Neglect victims (pretty obvious with Kevin and again Mike is his foil and seems to have been shunted off to a guest house and out of the way) are even specifically at higher odds of developing issues with addiction and getting into trouble because they start fucking shit up as a sort of cry for help/attention and well, if fuckers were liable to notice and care they wouldn't be neglected in the first place.

So we can assume their powers and mutations played a part in the why on the sides of 'the rush of energy pushes aside the negative toll of shit for a while' and 'neglect makes people more likely to get into shit like this'.

We continue on.

Now, we're hitting on Mike specifically again for a second because this one takes some explaining on his end. All of Mike's victims recover fine from being drained and seem to recover quickly, we're talking hours. Mike, meanwhile seemingly doesn't recover at all. Makes no fucking sense, Gwen should logically be a matter of scale more than anything, fucker should've recovered on his own eventually. Makes more sense if you run with the idea that his metabolism is shot, presumably due to his mutations (we know mutations can have negative side-effects, if we take the reboot into account, because Acid Breath's whole deal is shown to be a side effect of his shit combined with a lack of medical care), meaning he has to take in a lot more fuel than is normal, and that he hasn't been capable of getting himself past 'maintaining' and into 'recovering' because it's harder to have these large steady meals when you look like shit and therefor struggle to get close enough to bite people so they come back later.

Kevin is easier to just say straight up on this one- we meet him alone and homeless, even with his powers food is not gonna be easily available.

"Achi why-" Energy = fuel, boys are fucking hungry, moving on.

We also have the matter of power and control, which they both come at from similar but opposite sides as befitting foils.

Kevin of course is on the harsher side of this, for him this is all tied into a matter of self-defense. When we meet him Kevin, again, is alone on the streets and his energy-related powers are a source of protection. They also give him power over others by being literally more powerful than them, and also a sense of control via both that power and how he's able to use his powers to manipulate tech and machinery. This sense of power and control would be important for him, given the lack of power and control his position and entire situation gives him. He's had no control over how he was treated at home, nor over his circumstances on the streets, no power to defend himself, and this energy he absorbs gives him that.

Mike has it easier, again he's very privileged as a result of being filthy rich, he doesn't have the issues of self-defense and lack of any sort of security that play into Kevin's descent. But, being wealthy only opens a different angle on the matter of power- the rich tend to be raised to believe they're owed it by the grace of their social class. It's part of why you see them pitching so many fits whenever anything doesn't go their way. So you get somebody raised to believe they're owed power and status, but by grace of their minority status is on a lower rung than a lot of people around them. You mix that kind of spoiling with a lack of power within one's own community and the ability to draw actual physical power from shit, there's gonna be higher odds of trouble. The control, meanwhile, likely a combination of that same spoiling regarding what is owed alongside the same 'no control over shit at home but I can control this' shit we hit on with Kevin, with the difference being that Kevin was manipulating and controlling electronics while Mike's powers are geared towards people.

I take some additional stuff from the reboot for both, because it works very well with what I've already got.

Mike in the reboot is reimagined as a centuries-old vampire who feeds on adoration, with a delicate enough balance that somebody else taking the spotlight in his vicinity is enough to start him withering within minutes. Of course I don't go with this exactly but it can add an extra layer to his shit in the OG series. Kevin, on the other hand, repeatedly shows a desire to avoid sticking around people, every time it seems like they can maybe lock this boy down and keep him around he poofs. This one actually ports straight over and goes very well with Kevin's canon nightmares about everyone hurting him.

In Mike's case, we build off the presumed bullshit going on at home, add in the shit that happens with mutants, and wave some reboot over it- boy craves attention and validation. There's the control aspects and power aspects, but also how his bite causes people to not only come back but to beg to see him, how he beelines for the fucking cult plan, convincing masses of people to praise and swoon over him.

In Kevin's, on the other hand, it's a self-destructive trauma response. He's been burned too many times by people driven off by his powers or driven to hurt him by his powers, and so sinks deeper into use of this flashiest aspect of them in a semi-subconscious attempt to sort of hasten things along. Aided by the potential depression we see evidence of in especially the Rooters flashbacks. People can't hurt you if you scare them off/hurt them first, people aren't abandoning you if they leave before you can get attached. (Also easily given as a reason why he elevated things with Ben so quickly, from attempted theft to attempted mass murder within an hour- whether he was consciously aware of it or not, he knew it'd drive Ben off and he wouldn't have to deal with the hurt if he got more attached and then he left.)

In both cases it plays into the destructive cycle. Yes, you have attention and validation as long as your meal is banging at the door or swooning over you, but the void you're trying to fill with it is still there when they leave, and you know you just aren't getting the dopamine rush you used to anymore, better expand into more victims- Yes, you got them to leave before they could hurt you, but now you're alone and vulnerable and it still hurts to see them leave, better grab some power and a pick-me-up, maybe double that since it's not hitting like it used to- Feeds into that high then crash then high then crash until you either get shit back under some sort of control or you die.

So, tl;dr

Kevin- started absorbing energy due to a combination of it being an easy meal for a hungry child and the power granted by it giving him security in a very dangerous situation, spiraled into addiction due to a combination of attachment to the control it gave him a taste of after having no control over anything, standard 'makes me feel good for a while', and utilizing it as part of a self-destructive cycle attempting to protect himself from further hurt

(also I've started putting it, Kevin went through some serious withdrawal while he was first chimera-y, which put him in a semi-better place where, after it was clear that Kwarrel wasn't going to hurt him even if he was starting shit, he was able to step forward and ask for help, which I am very proud of him for it could not have been easy)

Mike- started absorbing energy due to a combination of it being an easy meal for a bottomless pit and his upbringing leaving a sense that the power that came with it was his right, spiraled into addiction due to a combination of attachment to the control it gave him over others after having minimal to no control over the bullshit in his own life, standard 'makes me feel good for a while', and using it's effects on others to shovel a shallow semblance of validation into the hole in his soul

Does any of this make sense? I don't even fucking know, we'll see when it's not 3 o'clock in the morning.

Goodnight, little loves, have sweet dreams where Kevin gets cocoa, a loving family, and all the tech he could ever dream of, and Mike gets a smack upside the head, some life lessons that stick, and a proper fucking diet plan.

[piningpercussionist]

(Not an rp ask)

What is your opinion on chau x kim? I'm not a shipper of it myself but I heard it was a proship since knives is 17 but also I saw she was 18 in the comic so I'm not sure where to stand on it honestly. But I'd like to hear your opinion about it !! Sorry if this is a bit of a random ask (ーー;

You're completely fine!! Do not even worry about it.

So, yeah- When Scott first meets Knives, and I'm not entirely sure how much time passes between then and when they start dating, it was *literally* her seventeenth birthday, as I am reminding myself reading back over these panels presently. And then at the start of book six, the first time we see (real, non-dream,) Knives, she has apparently been eighteen for a week!

Now, I'm going to preface with a little something before I go further into this: I am totally fine answering this ask and others like it I think! but, I will note, I do get like a (not fun) physical sensation in my chest- partly anxiety (lol) but also something else I think- thinking about them like 95% of the time- it's gotta be like. Handled The Right Way, if that makes sense. Let's get into it.

So, first off, I'm just gonna re: some of the stuff relative to this I've posted here before- both nonrp and rp, since I use RP to develop my read on Kim and shed some light on how I see things I guess!

These clips come from this ask (and reblog) here!

This rp ask here, which is simply too difficult for me to get in a good screenshot I feel, so I recommend just checking it and the tags for it out- I will share my Bonus Commentary reply though:

This ask as well! Tags less pressing, but still provide a little insight.

And this is probably a dumb inclusion if I really want to make a pseudonym to post fics under, but. I have posted my (very early) thoughts on the SPTO sparks scene to AO3 before, so- (and before going into this- I did remember that Julie and Gideon have that sparks scene after the fact!)

And here's the Barely Anything Lines hinting at the ship that I had in that fic that I used to justify that blurb, while we're here:

I think I've gone over my feelings a little bit in the discord as well, and there might even be more rp stuff relative to it, but I'm not going to go back and get any of that honestly- at least, not right now, or unless requested, since I don't really feel like it's necessary, if it does exist. This gives a pretty good glimpse in I'd say- especially that second to last one there.

So. Yeah.

Used to ship it; have expanded my horizons since then. I don't really want to knock it because like... for some people this is a legitimate life experience for them- one that might have even turned out well, miraculously. And there also a lot of minors in this fandom evidently, so like, any other baby gays out there just wanting to Project for a minute? I feel that. Sincerely I do. It's not the wisest choice but better to read fanfiction about it than go out and actually make out with a 23 year old, Gods forbid. (Genuinely felt sick thinking about that; fucking gross. Any minors out there: Please Make Good Choices. Look out for yourselves. Begging you. There are too many freaks in this world- I promise you whoever you're thinking of probably isn't the magical exception.)

But there are definitely things to consider about them that are very interesting to me, still, so like. I'm in this weird state of conflict; I don't know if it's just me being like "it happened, you can't escape it" or having been desensitized/some sort of Brainwashed by how many times I had to use Knives in the game to quick heal- maybe something else but I just don't feel like flaying myself open like that unprompted for just anyone- but like. Oh man.

Sorry, gathering/writing this that feeling like went away but came circling back for this last bit, it seems. Which makes sense I guess. I feel like I'm setting myself up for a Pyre right now eugh shfsgkjfhjg

I dunno. I'm not gonna lie and pretend like I know it to be some big formative ship for me in my early teen years, but it was kind of important in finally coming around to realizing how queer I was, I think. My memories of the time are fuzzy, but it would have been one of the things- there were likely larger ones, my current obsession could be recoloring my past here so I'm trying to acknowledge that.

But there is like. A dynamic that is posited by them that is also one I'm a really big sucker for. More so now than I was then, so I find myself grinding my teeth about that a fair bit at times.

I definitely still really like it as something unrequited no matter what I think; I like the idea of Knives having a really big crush on Kim, genuinely. I think it's cute and funny as hell for how uncomfortable it would make Kim, who's just trying so hard not to be a fucking creep while this ray of sunshine hangs off her- something she absolutely does not deserve (in her eyes.)

I'm obviously more partial to Kim resisting any advances made at her, but I can understand so, so badly why someone might be attracted to the idea of Knives managing to thaw some of Kim's frigidity with that. Ugh.

If they work for me, I think they'd have to work for me after Knives is gone at college for a bit. Kim would need to know Knives for longer than she knew her as a minor- and they'd have to be FRIENDS in that time, quite strictly. Kim would need to not feel (intensely, because frankly, she would unavoidably feel this way at least a little no matter what,) like she was a fucking groomer going into it, basically. I don't know what I think past that.

You know, I'll put my feelings like this: with the exception of a fic I saw recommended to someone that intrigued me, I have managed to resist reading any/many fics featuring them, despite it being a large majority of the wlw Kim fics that exist, and also kinda just Kim fics generally. It's kind of Insane, especially considering how much Kimona SCREAM at you from the pages of the comic itself- but I digress....

I've been working on this for like over an hour now I think so I really should cut myself off. I am like,, too hungry and mildly stoned to be rambling off about this maybe. If you want more concise/specific thoughts, I recommend prompting! I can try and channel the responses easier with a bit more direction, maybe?

...

actually another thing real quick- I like. Do not know that I could ever feel comfortable, truly, consuming content for them, not knowing if the OP has good intentions. I just Do Not trust people, largely, so that's just like. A little thing. Idk. "Death to the author" or whatever but I am still allowed to feel personally uncomfortable ya know! I don't want them taking my silent observation as like,, passive acceptance in the event that they were. Idk if that makes sense, I need to go eat already, I'm hitting post before i drag this out to TWO hours

[neon-green-reagent]

I watched every Paranormal Activity movie, and I regret the majority of the process. So don't even click on this if you're not ready to hear a rant. SEVERE rant.

Wow, this is the worst franchise I've ever had the misfortune of watching. I had to POWER through these. I did it simply because... I'm a masochist? Mm, maybe. But also I'm a horror fan. And this series is beloved. And I just wanted to UNDERSTAND.

And I never will.

Because this was about 90% garbage. It is the same movie over and over and over. It's the same movie five times at least. Not in that way where people go, "oh, it's formulaic." No, I mean not a goddamn thing is different. The scares are the same. The pacing is the same. All of it is the SAME. The next time someone bitches about Friday the 13th, I'm gonna ask DO YOU LIKE PARANORMAL ACTIVITY? THEN STOP TALKING.

But I said five. There are seven movies. (seven what have i done with my life the time so much time just gone) Two of them attempted to buck the formula. The Marked Ones and Next of Kin. I don't know if I'm merely brainwashed by watching the same thing happen time and again, but I found these two films to be so refreshing. Like a cool glass of water in the desert. I actually ENJOYED them. The Marked Ones would probably work on its own if it wasn't for the fucking ending, but it genuinely did something else. When it didn't start with that NIGHT #1 shit I just about cut a flip I was so happy. Also, the characters were really genuine, and the story actually made me feel sad. I FELT A THING. And the dudes killing witches with shotguns got a grin out of me, too.

Next of Kin feels like... one of those Hellraiser movies that has Pinhead in it, but you know the original script wasn't even about him? Yeah. ONLY GOOD. It's a slow burn, but it has some truly chilling suspense as they start sneaking around in places they shouldn't be, trying to find answers. And the third act just goes hog wild. It gave me V/H/S series vibes with the creativity and the truly bonkers ending. So if you like that sort of thing like I do, try it. You don't have to watch the other movies. It's so disconnected from them.

Oh, and Next of Kin was the franchise killer. They probably won't make anymore, because it bombed so bad. I want to cackle at the sky. Audiences really are that vapid. They could not handle being shown something different.

The one thing that sort of kept me going with the series was Katie as a character. When you watch her boyfriend basically abuse her until she becomes demon possessed, you can't help but root for her. Her becoming a vessel for evil just kinda seems like... good for her territory. There's something to that, I guess, but it's so fucking minor. She becomes less and less of the focus with each movie, and then when they decide young actors will suffice, it gets unwatchable. Because, no, I don't want to see kids try to improv. Spare me, please.

Normally this is not what I'd do. I'd rank them. This would be all structured and nice and excited. But then I realized what would be the point of me going AND IT SUCKED AND IT SUCKED AND IT SUCKED AND THIS WAS OKAY AND THIS ONE WAS ACTUALLY GOOD FOR ONCE. Like I can't do that. I'd rather not go through each movie saying the same thing, because they are all the same thing. I'd rather just make a nice, healthy, blanket statement. Series BAD.

If someone hate read this for some bizarre reason, tell me why they're good. Tell me why I'm wrong. GIVE ME SOMETHING. Convince me. Don't cuss me out and call me a whatever new internet slang for stupid person. Give me something real here. What is it about this that has so captured audiences and made it a modern classic?

[redwayfarers]

🤎 fooor a ship of choice with Cass? 😊

This took a bit of brainstorming (also, watching slightly upsetting theatre pieces does stop your ability to write for an evening) but ty for dropping by!!! Here's a lil Cass drabble <3

Be mindful of minor, non-explicit mentions of. making out lmao

🤎 multiple kisses / kisses all over / kiss after kiss // ship: Intellis

It's done. It's done, finished, chapter closed, crowns received, ship boarded and set to leave, and finally, finally, we have a little place of our own, at least for a while, where we never have to see a Guild mage again.

"We can even afford an actually comfortable bed now," Aeran whispers against his cup of tea. "Songweaver, we can afford to just stop for a moment."

"Feels like a dream," I murmur back, plopping next to him on one of the blue pillows we bought earlier. His hand is warm and rough when it slides against the soft fabric of my new shirt; his hair smells of apples and cinnamon, from the new oil I found at the market. I prefer the scent of citrus myself, but Aeran has a pass to smell however the fuck he pleases. I'd swoon regardless. "Almost like I'm going to wake up every fucking second now and all of this will just.. pass through my fingers."

"What was never yours can't pass really through your fingers though," he says, voice distant.

"But this is mine, right?" The room roars with the unease of my laughter, contrasted with the way he's pressing me against him and the soft touch of his fingertips against my ribs.

"You tell me. We're talking about you, after all. Haven't figured out how to read minds yet and far be it from me to actually know you better than you know yourself."

"Kellis, what in Gods' cursed embrace are you talking about?" I try to move, but his hand isn't letting me go. His grip is absolute, even as he sets the cup down and pulls me forward to sit on his lap.

"Nothing important," he replies and there's a certain steel behind his eyes, despite the softness. "We're free now. We have time to sort all our fuck-ups and all our regrets and all our pain. For now, I think we should just enjoy each other's presence."

"I just- Okay," I slump and rest my forehead against his. This position is a little uncomfortable, but I don't have it in me to move. "I don't want to upset you with-- Okay."

He beams, and his touch is once more gentle and less like chains. "Songweaver," he simply says and presses his lips to mine. I dig my hands in his hair and melt against him, and his strong arms feel like a shield.

It's as if this is where I'm meant to be; his, his, with his teeth on my neck, his hands on my hips, here because he wills it. It's as if this is a dream.

Unfortunately, the long, dirty, uncertain voyage to Velantis is very much real. Aeran catches the angry the look I throw the sea ahead and gently brushes his hand against mine. I'm here, Songweaver. I'm here with you.

"Did you sleep badly?" he asks in a worried tone.

"I wouldn't say badly, precisely, but I had some weird dreams," I shrug. "It's okay though. I always have weird dreams. I'm used to it."

He squeezes my hand for a moment, and this time, his touch feels like reassurance and not entrapment, even if love bites and kisses are in short supply.

It's okay, though. I'll take whatever I can get. I don't dare ask for more anyway.

[ruthlesslistener]

i hate to tell you but AO3 absolutely does have child porn. and of real minors too. and the devs have defended it. i know you don’t like antis either but those are full blown pedophilia fic apologists who think every criticism of ao3 is an attack on their precious “fictional” child porn but there is genuinely problems with REAL PEOPLE being written about in smut and raceplay etc. pls don’t fall for their bullshit

feel free not to respond i just, i know you don’t like people thinking you’re a pro shipper but you reblog stuff from them unknowingly and i used to think u were one bc of it

Oh believe me when I say that I'm aware of that particular fic and that I believe it should be submitted to law enforcement, or at the very least struck from the site. I've reported that fic myself and do not stand with the admins for doing nothing about it. Ao3 is an archive, but it is one for fictional characters. The fact that some fucking pedophile out there posted a drawn-out fantasy about an actual minor is fucking disgusting, inexcusable, and warrants legal action against the writer. The author should be in jail for creating child pornography. If I ever met them, I'd beat the everloving shit out of them myself. My stance will never change on that.

However- and I hate to sound like I'm defending this at all- I think you missed the point of the original post, which is that reporting fictional depictions of child porn clutters up the searches done on actual child sexual exploitation material. My major gripe with antis is that their repeated claims that fictional csa is the same as irl csa puts actual minors in danger by 1.) cluttering up the case studies of people tracking down irl predators, and 2.) creating a sort of 'cry wolf' effect where predators who DON'T create public content involving csa are completely ignored, but people who have no attraction towards children that write gross shit (and im using ONLY FOR HORROR HERE, stuff like lolita and the like) are considered pedophiles. Both give irl predators a lot of leeway or extra time to groom or sexually assault children, which is unacceptable. The rpf involving a minor is also an extreme exception, so it should be counted as a statistical outlier that DOES warrent legal action vs the other small subsection of disgusting shit targeted at fictional characters that really should be locked behind like three fucking disclaimers and struck from the algorithm so nobody has to see that shit.

So yes, I hate it, but when it comes to shit like this, you have to be logical and admit that the vast majority of reported content should merely be ignored instead of reported, because it mucks up the system designed towards protecting actual children and punishing pedophiles. I feel slimy and gross for saying it, because I don't want to sound like I think that fictional csa is okay (it really isn't), but if I had a theoretical gun for shooting down suspected pedophiles, I'm pouring all of my bullets into the confirmed irl cases than the others. It's always better to protect actual children than risk the alternative.

As for rpf in general, I personally believe that it should be banned from the site altogether :P Throw tantrums all you want, but rpf will never not be a violation of privacy done without consent. Fanfiction should be for fictional entities only. The one exception I allow are for crackfics involving long-dead fuckers like Thomas Jefferson, but even then I draw the line at porn with them because again- that's fucking disgusting and still stands for a violation of privacy without consent.

[myezblog]

about the did boc save the best for the last, honestly, i'd love if that was the case but seeing how boc treats characters other than kinn and porsche (and especially vegas and pete compared to KP), i'm not holding my breath. up until now, other characters (notably vegas but pete and others as well) have simply existed to advance KP's storyline. they are just pawns with not agency of their own.

boc definitely wildly underestimated how popular VP is and especially how sensitive their storyline is. like, they've already taken a few traits from VP's relationship and pushed them to kinn and porsche (the whole no kissing thing from vegas to kinn and the way vegas lowkey wants porsche to be the one to kill him), meaning they either don't understand shit about the relationship between VP or they're just way too biased towards KP (or both). underestimating the popularity of VP is especially funny because apparently it's okay to use them for marketing but not follow through that marketing. like i know boc is new to the scene and kpts is their first series but come on now, even an idiot knows you just don't go using characters and ships to promote a series and then act surprised when people get invested in said characters. but then again, boc also promoted kpts as some sort of gritty mafia series, yet it's literally like any other bl romcom, with the exception that the setting is mafia world instead of university or whatever, so the marketing was definitely a miss, rather than hit.

we're 5 episodes from the end and i doubt boc would actually give us VP-centric episode(s), which makes me think that they're going to rush their arc and just give us a few snippets here and there of the actual storyline and leave majority of it off-screen. the only way this sort of storytelling would've been at least somewhat acceptable is if they started the arc earlier, but even then it would've taken careful plotting to make the arc and VP's feelings believable for the non-novel readers. but with only 5 episodes left, at least one of which is entirely dedicated to the final showdown between the main and minor families, there's just not enough time. and because i love to be pessimistic, i'm thinking the "finale" will start at ep13 so that they can leave some time for some lovey-dovey KP in ep 14 because god forbid we haven't seen them fucking enough already... which means the VP arc actually only takes 2 or 3 episodes which is just bullshit and something i'll never forgive boc.

sorry about this essay, i totally strayed from the original point but i'm just kinda pissed off about the way boc treats VP so yeah. short answer: they def didn't expect that VP would be so popular and they royally fucked up.

Thanks!!

Your thoughts are exactly in line with mine. I am convinced too that it is really going to be ep 11-12, bits of 10 and bits of 13. None of it is going to be VP heavy, because there is enough Porsche drama to be covered as well, and kimporschay drama...

Also, i think i blame Pond for this majorly...not BOC per se. he is the scriptwriter and director.

And totally, it is about plot development, not about screen time. This was a good plot with immense character growth..but all down the drain.

Lastly, as Bible said "Spaceship".. we are sure gonna go on supersonic speed.. and well crumbs crumbs everywhere, with not an morsel to eat

[bi-bats]

💫 🦋 and 💌 for the fic writer asks?

hey bestie!!!!! I thought I'd see you in here 😂 thank you for reblogging the same post so I could ask you a few too!!! 💖 okay here we go:

💫what is your favorite kind of comment/feedback?

I have a very specific favorite comment format and it's so fucking needy of me so no pressure to anyone reading to comment like this!!! but my favorite kind of comment is 1000000% when it's formatted like this:

["Snippet of something I wrote"] the commenter's reaction to that specific bit

Sincerely, I've said it before and I'll say it again: in the least creepy way possible, I would watch everyone react to every line of my fic if I could. Sometimes I just write a line I'm really proud of and I want it to be the line that makes someone laugh or shout or tear up and I love when people tell me what parts made them feel things!!! Also sometimes people point out lines that I didn't think twice about, ones that just came naturally, but they still make people lose it and I love that just as much!!

a close second favorite kind of comment is just when people leave me a really, really long comment about the things they loved in the chapter. Seriously, every time I get a comment that's an essay it makes me want to never stop writing 😂 Basically, much like my Jason, I'm a sucker for praise.

🦋what are you most insecure about when you post a fic?

Oh noooooooo I have to be vulnerable??? Fuck. Okay, fine.

I'm usually the most insecure about the way the tone of the scenes flow together. I'm a bit of a freak about the plotline? And when I say 'a bit of a freak', I mean I have a full-size corkboard with all of the plotpoints of Know Yourself on it. Like I'm Charlie in that one gif from It's Always Sunny with the insane red string conspiracy theory board. Below is the Evidence in case you thought I was joking (I blurred out everything that was a spoiler, don't worry. Or sorry):

...Yeah. It's a lot. Sometimes I just really struggle with feeling like the moods/tone flows from scene to scene. If they're mad at each other, I need it not to feel like they're forgiving each other too easily. If they have a huge argument, they can't just go back to exactly how it was before (looking at you, chapter 7 of Know Yourself, which is giving me an absurd amount of trouble). Thus, the corkboard. It lets me quickly look at everything I've already written (without reading all *squints* 50k words I've posted, jesus fucking christ) and figure out if everything I'm working on makes sense with what came before that.

And yeah, it is a lot of work and dedication for the silly little fanfics I write, but it's sort of like a puzzle to me? It's satisfying to untie all the tangled ideas I have and make them into something pretty.

That said, TimKon never gives me as much trouble as JayTim. I should really post some of my TimKon stuff lol

💌share something with us about an up-and-coming work (WIP) that has you excited!

Oh my god, this was cruel. You may not have known this was cruel, but this was cruel. Because the last time you sent me an ask, I knew I had a ton of ideas and I teased like two of them, but since then, the JayTimWeek prompts went up. And I promised myself I wasn't going to write something for every day, but then I blinked and I had ideas for every single day.

So, what to do? Do I post a snippet from one of my JayTim week WIPs? Do I post a minor spoiler for Know Yourself that you asked about in one of your comments? Do I drop all 6k words of chapter 1 of a long TimKon fic that's been sitting in my drafts for months? Do I tease an idea that I'm submitting for a zine? Do these questions count as an answer to the prompt, because I can't decide which I'm the most excited about?

No, I'm not that mean 😂 Here are two of the lines I'm most proud of from the next chapter of Know Yourself, which are in the same scene but not next to each other and don't spoil anything:

Jason was the one who had overreacted in the first place, filing Tim���s teeth to a sharp point in the hopes that he’d bite.

But then he fucked it all up. He’d done what he did best: tried to freeze over his white-hot anger, and still managed to be surprised when the ice cracked and steam shot out.

Thanks for the ask!!! I love doing these so thank you for making me answer and giving me an excuse to rest from writing (although @lovetimdrake is going to send me a meme in like 3 hours bullying me (rightfully) about how I'm supposed to be betaing their fic lol)

[dcwnthercbbithcle]

🐇 : || RULES

Hello Hello ! Good morning, afternoon or night, depending on where you are! I see you've found my rules list! Thank you! I really appreciate you coming down here to read this for me! I'll try to spare you from having to read me prattling on, but I'd just like to get an introduction for myself out of the way; then we can get into the fun stuff!

Also, though it's not vital, please know I WILL NEVER BE MAD AT YOU IF YOU ACCIDENTALLY BREAK A RULE. I know it's easy to look at these rules as an ' if you cross, you die , ' sort of deal; however, trust me, I get it! I've accidentally broken rules, and I've had my rules broken; to err is to be human. If you make a mistake, we can always move past it. Just try your best, okay? It's all about respect and trying!

INTRODUCTION

Anyways! Hello! My name is Bunnighuleh; it's a pleasure to meet you all! But you can call me Bun or Bunni, or just outright Bunnighuleh if you'd prefer! I'm a 21-year-old, college student studying full-time! I mainly go by she/her and they/them pronouns, but I really don't care about labels, and you can call me anything you'd like!

BASICS

Respect my muses’ boundaries.

Respect my personal boundaries.

If there’s one thing I am, it’s slow; please respect that. It's nothing personal. I am just a perfectionist, I study full-time and my interest and energy are fleeting.

Please be nice! This is non-negotiable. I don't care if your muses are rude; I mean, I play Kondraki for god sake; however, OOC I expect you to at least give me common courtesy. Rudeness is not tolerated.

Please, please, please don't use me as a meme/musing source! The occasional reblog is not a big deal, however, I've recently experienced problems with backlogs of reblogs clogging up my notifications, so please go directly to the source!

I am multi-ship and a bit of a shipping whore to be honest. However, I do not auto-ship based on the canon; sometimes I will ship my muses with one another and give them interwoven stories. Sometimes this will mean my muses are not open to being shipped with; other times this means those characters can't be interacted with unless you accept this pre-established relationship. Of course- I will never force these relationships on you. However, please do respect them and my ability to ship or not ship my characters.

I also do what I want! It sounds silly, but my blog is highly canon-divergent and headcanon based. If you don't like that, that's okay, but don't try to get on my back over it!

I am very crossover friendly! If a verse isn't outright written about in the characters, then ask me about it! I can always whip something up for you!

I am 21+, and all of my muses are 18+ ( and often horror-centred ), so NSFW in terms of uncomfortable themes and sometimes straight-up smut WILL occur. If this isn't alright with you, please leave now!

Like I said before, I am uncomfortable with minors interacting because of the sheer nature of this blog, so please, if you are under 18, leave now.

Likewise, I do explore triggering topics regarding mental illness and trauma. If you are uncomfortable, please leave now.

Mun opinion and muse opinion are two different things!! Some of my characters are actually the fucking worst, but I'd like to think I'm not! Haha

I DO…

Encourage you to send asks, prompts, ideas, anything!

Encourage you to choose a muse, or several!

Encourage you to shoot me an ooc ask for any reason, even just to say hi! Especially just to say hi! Haha

Encourage you to not stress and take your time!

Encourage you to read up on my muses and lore!

Encourage you to remind me if you think I've forgotten!

That's about it though! If I ever add or remove any rules I'll make sure to post an update, but thank you again for reading this and I look forward to interacting with you all!