#also iirc you can get a house/apartment right???? if so I NEED A HOUSE not now because according to my friend its expensive but. house

[medicasino]

OH yeah i finally caved and played FFXIV (or well. its free trial, unfortunately i am a teenager with no income RIP) a few days ago, it's REALLY fun so far!!! :0 i have no lore whatsoever for my character but i love him so much . his name is Azure Carmine and just. LOOK AT HIM I LOVE HIM SO DEARLY 🥺😭

[galacticxangel]

Wait I saw your comment on the meeting your mutuals/stranger danger post. You said you married your mutual? That's so cute. Have you shared that anywhere and if not would you share it here?

I’m pretty sure I’ve shared it passively, but I never shared the full thing just on its own, so I’ll do that here!

So back in Ye Olde Days (13 years ago), Ask Blogs were a big thing on Tumblr, and also, so was Minecraft! And wouldn’t you know it, I was running a little Minecraft ask blog. And then I came across another, which had amazing art and characters and I adored what I was seeing, so I followed, they followed back, I sent little asks, and we communicated that way! The blog I found was run by two people, @cosmic-anchor (Silvia), and her friend Lazzy (boyo where’s your blog). He’s still a mutual bestie today, as are a few other folks we met via ask blog shenanigans, like @knightlymoon and @ragnarode .

ANYWAY. We get to playing on a server together (we actually use a Minecraft version release date as our meeting anniversary, because it was right around the prerelease of Beta 1.8: September 9, 2011. How do we remember? Well, that’s when they released Endermen! And anyone familiar with Minecraft aakblogs knows just how popular those are today. But back then? HOLY crap. Everyone and their grandma has a Sexy Broody Enderman or a Sexy Broody Enderman Hybrid. It was. A lot), take to each other like a church on fire, and become besties! We have a little house together.

Long time passes, and we’re on pretty much daily communication, still playing games, etc. I went through basic training and she was one of the folks I sent letters to while I was there. We played D&D together (This was an entire fiasco where we lost one bestie due to an abusive relationship. She’s back now tho! Love you Lynn <3). Even in the military, when I got DEEPLY depressed, she was there for me and helped me out (I credit her for being alive today. I’m not sure I’d be here if she hadn’t talked me down and convinced me to see a mental health specialist). I get out of the military, get my own little apartment, and go ‘wait a minute. I can do what I want. I have a best friend I’ve known for like six years now. Let’s invite her down!’ And so we start planning our first

‘Down’ is an understatement. See, I live in Texas. She lives in Kentucky, literally a thousand miles away. And while I’ve got all my documents and paperwork and driving skills and travel under my belt, she… doesn’t. As the older sibling of a special needs person, and not from a very high income household, she didn’t have this stuff. So it’s up to me, and I’m too fired up about taking my bestie to a renaissance faire (yah we. Really nerdy lol) to consider anything but!

We get her costume ready. Her plane tickets. Her ids and everything, sorted. It comes to like. Two weeks before the flight. And I get a call at work. It’s Via. Now, this is weird. Over the years, we’ve kinda fallen into a system. Common communication falls into just a message (Skype at the time iirc, Discord didn’t exist just yet). Something kinda urgent gets you an alert ping (like @ing someone). Dire is a call. And my phone’s ringing.

Not good.

So I hurriedly excuse myself from the office to take it, and she’s in tears. Her dad’s gotten cold feet, and won’t take her to the airport like he promised because ‘what if I’m an internet predator’. I mean. I get it. I have a Southern Style family, too (This will come up later). But damn it, she’s an adult. We’re BOTH adults. Also, I just bought a round trip plane ticket! Also, at this point I know more about her than he does. He still thinks she’s straight. But he won’t take her because we’ve never met face-to-face.

It’s Wednesday. I look at my office door. I have my best friend, current queerplat partner on the line, sobbing apologies.

“Hey. Tell him to pick a place to eat. Dinner on Friday. My treat, okay?”

“What?”

“Tell him to pick a place for dinner on Friday. I’ll see you then.”

Thus begins the trek that cements me as ‘most unhinged friend when others need something’ in our friend group to the day. I go into my office, spinning a sob story about how some nondescript family member just passed and funeral and blah blah I need to go but I’ll be back on Monday.

Green light acquired.

I go home, and immediately go to sleep. I wake up around midnight, pack my bags into my little Kia, and off I go. 1000 miles. Now, remember when I said my family would come up later? Here’s later: I didn’t tell them. There was NO WAY they were going to just sit idle while I drove a thousand miles, ALONE, to meet someone I’d never met in person. I’d never driven quite that far, either. Not to say no one knew, I would plot two hours on my gps, send the path to Lazzy and Via, and check in when I hit the next stop. If I didn’t check in, they were told to call my parents if I was over an hour late. Which, obviously, I never was, because I’m typing this and not like, dead or anything.

I roll up to her local Cracker Barrel at 8pm on Friday, after easily one of the best experiences of my life (was out between cities on a clear, late summer night, got to see the Milky Way for the first time, got ‘adopted’ by a bunch of truckers at a truck stop I paused for a nap at). My hair’s a bit frizzy and I’m wearing a shirt that says ‘Watch Closely: I’m About To Do Something Stupid’. But her dad gets the firmest, friendliest Texan handshake I can give, and a bright smile.

Apparently, he never expected me to show. According to Via, I humbled him that day. I don’t pay for dinner, despite offering. I even stay the night.

She’s on a plane for Texas two weeks later.

(Bonus: it’s at the point I send a picture of the big ol ‘Welcome To Kentucky’ state line sign to my parents. This. Was not a good idea lol. But I had my big Texas meat swangin my ego and I was damn proud to be functionally unhinged. My dad scolds me and then gets me a hotel room in Little Rock, DEMANDING I stop half way on the way back. My mom calls me, yells at me, and then hangs up on me. Calls back an hour later to apologize because she wasn’t mad I went, she was mad that I was right when I told her ‘you’d have tried to stop me’. Ultimately fine, in the end).

There’s at least one other travel adventure (much easier this time! We were supposed to go to PAX South but were too lazy that morning so we ate pizza and played video games.

I move out of my apartment and start renting a house. I have extra room. And I think about my friend, who’s only left her tristate area twice now, both because of me. And I think ‘that’s my best friend! I wonder if she wants to move down here!’

Another 2k miles on my poor little Kia (who’s STILL KICKING BTW), and she now lives in Texas. This was about five years ago. We live in my little granny house that’s older than both occupants combined. You heard that right, though. Oh my god, We Were Roommates.

It’s about this time that apparently Via starts Getting The Feelings but BLESS HER she’s being SO GOOD because at this point I’m defining as Aro/Ace. Turns out it was just some anxiety/aversion because my previous relationship was turbo unhealthy! But I really like this chick, and I’m like ‘you know what, I’m scared I’ll mess up our friendship, but I’ll try these things. We already go on ‘dates’ and I buy you flowers occasionally just because I was thinking of you and we already snuggle every night because it helps us go to sleep’ yeah I was. Hm. Dense.

Anyway it takes off HARD and within the year, we’re married on the coast where I took her to see the ocean for the very first time, on September 9, 2023.

Our first anniversary is soon. 💕

[girlboyzone]

ok ive finished :) and i do have thoughts. area unknown has been really special. its a rare bird in terms of minecraft content and theres just so many important stories being told there. the way it relates to the wider sunship canon or whatever its called is amazing, and the otehr ppls content like oli's dedicated grinding, moonzy's beautiful buildings or graaavel's awesome lore (HIS LORE VIDEO WAS SO GOOD. IT WAS SO FUCKING GOOD. THE MUSIC????? YEA), was all so amazing to witness.

BUT i do have some criticisms if you dont mind me sharing. none of it is with ill intent and i understand why the decisions that were made happened but i still think its worth pointing out.

im disappointed with how aimsey and scott's arc was left off, because i dont think it reached a satisfying conclusion at all and the loose threads they left didn't feel like a culmination of their relationship. aimsey and scott's conversations are some of my favourite parts of the lore because their relationship is so, SO interesting and really worth exploring. so ending it by saying "scott just got bored and went back to hell" was not a good move i feel. i really wanted to see something more there.

guqqie does touch on hera's influence when she discovers the grave but to be honest i dont understand why she was allowed to get married to aimsey and have a happy ending. hera has made a point of dooming them in every single universe and she just loves torturing her little experiment, and her influence has continued into season two with egging aimsey and oli on with the lab, so i really don't understand why guqqie was able to seperate herself from this and later get married when that has never been allowed before

i guess that everything was intentionally left pretty open ended so things could change in future, guqqie did say she'd write something up later this week which could give answers to what i mentioned above. and who knows, maybe in the years guqqie and aimsey were split hera could have been defeated in some way. maybe guqqie went back and confronted her or something idk. i would really like to see something like that though. and of course that open-endedness leaves room for aimsey and scott to do something which would also be great. but yeah those are my less great thoughts about the finale. but do not be fooled just because it wasnt absolutely perfect didnt mean i didnt enjoy it/think it was bad

FORTUNATELY it has given me a great window to start working on that au because i really want to develop scott and aimseys arc, explore aimsey's feelings as a demon and the horror that comes with that, and his relationship to hera because the one time they interacted always gives me chills. so i think the finale was flawed but thats ok because now i can go in and do awesome stuff with my own ideas for a bad ending. because i like hera cannot let the characters rest. ineed to be stopped hehehe

but yeah apart from that i did really enjoy the finale. it did feel like area unknown. the party, never have i ever, michela being hilarious and caitees being weird, and of course heartbreaking sunship lore. it genuinely gave me the same warm feeling as when i was watching through all those vods from 2022 when they were just messing around or screaming at each other in the rain. area unknown needed to end. no one seemed to want or have the time/inspiration/motivation to do stuff on it anymore, and the characters needed a conclusion and to be let go so they could just be in their own right. i'm glad that its done. it was really special. i cant wait to see what everyone does next :3

i agree heavily on the scott and aimsey topic, i wish we could’ve gotten more development of their relationship or seen scott in s2 bc there was a psrt of his house i think somewhere and then he was never mentioned again iirc, but they were probably both too busy or something to do anything which is ok i’ll just make it up in my head :3

and i hope there is a bit more of something w hera and auguqqies whole thing and how hera allowed ausunship to get married, or how all that went. i’m just really curious

anyways love u sneef thank u for liveasking to me this has been very fun :333 <3 im rlly glad u liked area unknown!!!!!!!

[poetandwolf]

About

Look it, see the little wolf creature? That is ‘me’. She is also my OC and self insert with in the series. :D She’s one of his creations and yes they have a very heavy master/pet relationship, while I don’t get much into that here. Bare in mind it my come up. So soft block me you need to.

With that said; I am a real adult. I may talk about adult things here. If you are not comfortable with that do not follow. I am not your dad. I can not monitor your internet interactions. But block/flag/whatever you do with a ‘NSFW’ tag if that kind of thing makes you uncomfortable but you still want to follow me. I know the whole “minors do not follow” is not as enforceable as it SHOULD be and you kids are gonna do whatever you want- fuck the police. This is my first and only warning. lmao.

Second, I am like. Not.. ‘hip with the kids’. I do not know all the terms and I also can not monitor or be up to date what is.. ‘bad’ with in fandom. I also kind of don’t care, lol. If someone I reblog or someone who follows me did something you don’t like or don’t agree with it is not my responsibility to keep track of others actions.

The Basics:

Hey there, I'm Tala or Grunge, or whatever. I'm a real adult over the age of 35 (that's all your getting. I am probably old enough to be your weird crazy aunt/uncle.) My F/O and spirit husband is Alhaz!ad/Alhazre!d. I often call him “Al” here or “Aub”.

INFJ, Scorpio, I'm trans-masc, trans-male/ftm and stealth irl.

Trans rights are human rights, and Protect Trans Kids

I draw, a lot, and paint. My hobbies also include hiking, working on my house, gardening, landscaping, spending time with my family, cooking, reading, and writing. I do take commissions - so if you’d like me to draw or paint you f/o. Look at my commissions :}.

Metal health check; ADHD/ASD - dx’d, in the early 90s. iirc. Retested and diagnosed with ADHD in 2022. Currently seeking treatment for it. Medication has been like night and day for me. So, fellow Autistics and ADHD’s. Welcome. I am negativing them both and it’s been a TIME. There are sighs of OSDD/DID. I have tried talking again and again with therapists making 100% Al is not apart of that; while when channeling him the symptoms are similar; he doesn’t fit the criteria.

Some what of a witch, well. I kind of do what works for me. There are *plenty* of other witch based blogs you’d wanna follow for those resources. This blog is more or less centered around my relationship with Aub. (Alhazred/Alhazad).

Before any judgments here that I might be some loser living in my parent’s basement. ...lol. No. I’m a real adult doing well on my own with a whole ass house, job, and car and all that neat stuff. You can be ficto and be independent, free, and happy. It took a tonne of work to get this far. And it was worth every penny.

Uh... I’ll update this as I get time. yes yes.

DNI:

DNI: It should go with out saying; MAPS, pedos, zoos, Nazis, TERFS, and any else of the sort. Nope. :|  If you're a HP fan and still support Robert you can go get fucked.

I'm also mildly scarred/due to trauma and it's hard to see DBZ (the saiyans), FF9, or PPG. I’m not saying *your* versions of said characters are bad, it’s just ahahaha.

System hoping is a grey area; you do what works for you. But-....if you are gonna come into my DM or Asks telling me how Aub visited you and did this and that and some bullshit magical adventure or slept with you or is involved in some astral war. I will block you and he will personally make your life a living hell. Don't do that shit to me, or anyone else for that matter.

[worldwright]

Good evening ! I can't promise I can make it every day for noon to you, and it's around June for us when we change time iirc so eh

I am fucking exhausted, I just want to crawl in my bed and never see the light again until Monday but alas

I have the apartment visit tomorrow at fucking noon, and my podiatrist appointment friday so there's only thursday when I'll just s l e e p

The movie about Ravel was good, but damn being in a theater does no good for my knees. We were only two young surrounded by grandpas and grandmas, 'was weird but funny

I'm trying to get A. to go and take a shower for us because, yeah, we need that not to be under our hoodie tomorrow for the whole visit (urgh, greasy hair), but I fucking understand if she doesn't wanna

And I still need to eat but there's fucking nothing to eat easily in that fucking house, not even fucking bread so water it'll be, or tea with a bit of sugar if we have any remaining spoon after the shower

Have a wonderful morning my friend !

good morning!! I am also exhausted!! (((: I just slept terribly for whatever reason. part of it might have been dehydration (I can NOT sleep well if I'm thirsty) but it was stormy outside and that usually puts me right to sleep so idk

I'm finding that I always want to go do things Only when I'm overstimulated and overwhelmed. which is very annoying. I'll be jumping at cars passing, with mask on and hood up and noise canceling headphones on, ready to peel off my skin if I brush into someone, and think "I should go to the botanical garden :) and then I can go thrifting!!" bitch go home. and why can't you want to do stuff when you're capable of reacting to your surroundings like a normal person. anyway I was full of whimsy and uninsulated electrical wires after my library visit yesterday and had to force myself not to go get an orange at the market

I'm going to make a pie tonight! hopefully. my work is gonna have a pie day on not-quite-pi-day tomorrow, so I'm gonna try to make a nectarine pie. I hope they're ripe enough

hope you manage to get showered!! it really does feel great afterwards :3

have a wonderful evening, friend!!

[random-thought-depository]

I mentioned in my previous post that Russian peasants lived in large multigenerational extended family households, but IIRC nuclear family living is pretty old in western Europe. Russian peasants also built their houses around big masonry heaters while IIRC western European peasants by-in-large did not use masonry heaters. While I was writing that post it occurred to me to wonder if the latter difference might have contributed to the former difference.

I haven’t looked up any data about this, but building a 1000+ kg masonry heater sounds like the sort of thing that would be quite expensive for preindustrial peasants. I imagine it would take a pretty big amount of wood to fire 1000+ kg of bricks, and then there’s the services of a skilled mason to consider too. Just the metal components (e.g. firebox door) seem like the sort of thing that might be a considerable expense to people who mostly didn’t use nails because they were too poor. On the plus side, most of the thing isn’t all that far from being a rock the size of a car; it’d be pretty durable, the sort of thing that might serve the family that owns it for generations or even centuries (maybe even millennia if the social and technological conditions in which it was useful had lasted long enough; fired clay and stone can really last). So you’ve got this really valuable asset that’s expensive to build or duplicate (possibly represents most of the wealth of the family, like the house and car does for a lot of modern First World middle class people), but can be passed down generation after generation.

If I’m right about the expense, a peasant lifestyle built around the Russian stove would make neolocal nuclear family residence patterns an enormous pain. Every generation of the family would need a new giant masonry heater! It’d be enormously wasteful, an enormous financial burden! You’d be much better off staying in the house of your parents, sharing their stove, inheriting it when they die, and then passing it down to your children when you die.

Neolocality only works if housing is either simple and made from abundant resources (like a log cabin heated by a simple open hearth with a hole in the ceiling above it to let the smoke out) or communal (like an apartment building) - or if you’re rich. The First World made its middle and working classes rich enough to afford a non-lousy version of neolocality for a while, but as economic inequality increases it seems to be sliding back toward a mix of lousy neolocality (low quality but high rent apartments shared with five roommates) and multi-generational households.

And nuclear vs. extended families has a lot of knock-on consequences for what a society looks like.

It would be interesting to look at Germany, which is usually lumped in with western Europe but had a strong masonry heater tradition in the form of kachelofen. I get the impression German kachelofen were somewhat different from and smaller than Russian stoves, is that right?

We talk about how material conditions shape society, and a lot of the time when we talk about that we think about, like, factories and stuff. But “little” things like how people heat their homes may also be surprisingly important in shaping society.

In the other direction of causation: it’d be interesting to check if adoption of masonry heaters correlated with political stability. Cause one of the obvious risks of building something like a Russian stove if you’re a Medieval/early modern peasant is: what if there’s a war or something in the next five or ten years and your family becomes refugees and all the effort you spent on the giant masonry heater is more-or-less wasted? Like lots of long-term investments, they’d be less attractive in more politically unstable areas.

[franniebanana]

CQL Rewatch - Ep 19

Wow, Wei Wuxian looks so rough here. He’s spent some time under the knife (with no anesthetic), and then after that, he has just been waiting around for Jiang Cheng. It’s been seven days since Jiang Cheng went up that mountain. And of course Wei Wuxian is worried about him. What if something happened on his way down the mountain? What if he’d been captured or killed by the Wens? All the while, he’s basically defenseless here in Yiling (iirc). He’s sweating profusely, clutching at his middle—it’s possible he’s even suffering from an infection due to the transfer surgery. Seriously, the poor guy!

I love the visuals here: all these cloaked figures just filling this tea house, and not another soul in there other than the waiters. It’s both comical and heartbreaking the way that Wei Wuxian tries to immediately nope out of there, because he knows it’s a trap right away. Even with his Golden Core, I don’t know if he could have escaped them all—there were too many Wens, including the Core-Melting Hand. This part always really gets to me, because it truly is the first death of Wei Wuxian. It’s the death of who he once was: that smart, quirky, rascal of a youth, who made a very honest oath that essentially guided him to this point.

No joke, the first time I watched this, I was like, “Is that Lotus Pier? How tf did he get there?! How much did they change the story?!” And then a few seconds later, I realized this was a super sad dream/vision that Jiang Cheng was having and I channeled all my anger into sadness. This part is also super depressing. He has this vision of this happy family: his mother laughing, his father kissing his hand, just the picture of love. But it’s so far from what he had growing up, and you just realize that his greatest desire was really to have that happy family. But his parents are dead, he’s lost just about everyone at Lotus Pier—it’s so heartbreaking.

God, he just looks so broken! I’m sad now.

So even though I know the cost of Jiang Cheng’s happiness is Wei Wuxian giving up his own Golden Core, I still feel so happy here, seeing Jiang Cheng feeling like himself again. It’s because Wei Wuxian knows Jiang Cheng’s heart truly that he could offer up his own future so that Jiang Cheng could have a better one. I also just love this shot of Jiang Cheng kowtowing to the Immortal One, thanking her for healing him, and the camera pans past him, showcasing the beautiful scenery again. And then he walks down the mountain path with such a spring in his step! I love it!

I love that Wei Wuxian is still able to use his mind and play to their weaknesses. Wang Lingjao is extremely superstitious and fearful of the supernatural, and just the idea that he could haunt them scares the shit out of her. It’s just very cool to me that with all the abuse he endures, he still maintains a clear head and is able to fight back with his wit. This is yet another reason why I get annoyed when I see Wei Wuxian characterized as an idiot or someone who isn’t very smart. He proves his wit in just about every scene, so I don’t know why he gets this reputation in fanon. I feel like it’s derived from some overused yaoi/shojo trope where the “girl” has to be less smart than the “guy.” I don’t know how many things I’ve watched and read with a scatterbrained (but not charming) female lead—it’s overused.

This is so cool, because Wei Wuxian is scared out of his mind—he’s terrified of being left to die in the Burial Mounds. He’s heard all the stories: people don’t return, their souls get torn apart, etc. But what is cool is that he turns everything around and makes this place his source of power. He’s the man who conquered the Burial Mounds. It’s very satisfying to see that. FYI, I’m not going to talk about how he falls for like 20 minutes.

But I do think it’s really cool how the dark spirits catch him (and that’s all I’ll say).

This part still gives me major chills: you hear so many people calling out Wei Wuxian’s name, and then a “Wei Ying” breaks through. My breath always catches in my throat the first time I hear it. And then you hear it again, and the other voices have faded away before you hear it a third time. And that all feels nice until the screaming starts, which is hard to listen to, let alone hard to watch Wei Wuxian go through the mental turmoil.

Lan Wangji is back, bitches! He’s got a new title, a new headdress, and he’s hotter than ever. Jokes aside, though, this entrance is beyond epic. Other than that tiny glimpse of him in the last episode, it’s been ages since we’ve seen him, and it’s so satisfying that we get this great entrance, walking up this enormous staircase. Obviously by this point, I’m ecstatic to see him (it’s been way too long). Everything about this scene is great, from his entrance, to the way he uses his guqin as a spiritual tool, to the way he and Jiang Cheng are now a team. I don’t think there’s an awful lot of comradery there, but they have a common goal: find Wei Wuxian.

So we’re not really used to seeing a ton of emotion from Lan Wangji. Even when he’s annoyed, he doesn’t tend to show it. But, man, he is pissed here. Because of the magic of fiction, he’s probably heard the Wens’ conversation as he was walking up the stairs, so he heard them mocking Wei Wuxian (and the Yunmeng Jiang Sect), and he is not happy about it. He even uses the Chord Assassination Technique right off the bat against at least two of the Wen soldiers. Lan Wangji means business, and he’s not leaving until he gets what he wants.

The other great thing is that he doesn’t even need to come up all the way. He defeats them at a distance, while he’s still on the stairs. And the power and respect he commands is so great that they all know him by his face.

What Wen Chao does here is so relatable. His girlfriend is freaking out, having nightmares, convinced Wei Wuxian is going to turn into a ferocious ghost and haunt them until they lose their minds, and he, of course, rationalizes: they’ve sent so many people to the Burial Mounds and none of them have ever come back. In other words, “You’re being ridiculous.” But when he turns away from her, you can see the fear in his own eyes. When something spooky happens, my first step is always to rationalize—there’s a logical explanation for most things, right? And it always makes you feel better to rationalize it to someone else, but when you’re alone and thinking, your mind starts to wonder, your imagination starts to go wild. It’s easy to psyche yourself up in the dark and quiet of the night.

There’s this really gorgeous cello version of “Wuji” playing during this scene—it’s so beautiful, so moving, hitting me right in the feels. The look on Lan Wangji’s face when Jiang Cheng is telling him about how he and Wei Wuxian were supposed to meet in Yiling, how he thought Wei Wuxian had abandoned him to meet up with Lan Wangji in Lanling—he looks so defeated there. Defeated despite taking down the Qishan Indoctrination Bureau. Defeated because he hasn’t found who he’s been searching for. And then he holds Suibian so tenderly and lovingly—I’m emotional, okay?

It’s really cute and heartwarming to see Jin Zixuan starting to fall for Jiang Yanli. We’ve known for quite some time how Yanli feels for him, so it’s quite satisfying to see his walls come down as he starts to care more and more about her. He becomes protective of her. When she gasps at the hanging head at the gates of Qinghe, his instinct is to hold her—of course, he stops himself, but it’s very obvious that he wants to comfort her physically (and not in a dirty way, get your minds out of the gutter).

I love the dichotomy here: on one end, you have Jin Zixuan asking Lan Wangji where Wei Wuxian is, while you have Jiang Yanli echoing that on the other end with Jiang Cheng. Jiang Cheng can’t answer—he’s crying, trembling, emotionally responding to his sister without speaking. And Lan Wangji can’t speak either. His lips part, but no words come out. Again, you get this great sense of defeat from him—he’s completely at a loss, but he can’t or chooses not to show those emotions.

It’s also interesting how they kind of clipped the reunion between the Yunmeng Jiang siblings in favor of showing the conversation between Jin Zixuan and Lan Wangji. In my opinion, it’s to remind us of the reunion that isn’t happening right now—the one that should have been—the one between Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian. And why isn’t it happening? The conversation reminds us that he’s still missing. I don’t doubt the importance of the Yunmeng Jiang siblings in this story—they are obviously instrumental to the plot and to Wei Wuxian—but it’s choices like this where the writers/scene directors remind us that the relationship to focus on is the one between Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji. Lan Wangji, and not Jiang Cheng, holds onto Suibian, the only remaining item that is most spiritually connected to Wei Wuxian. Isn’t that interesting?

“A-Cheng, you’ve grown up. As your sister, there’s nothing I can do but worry about you.” Such a wise line—such a sad line. This really brings out how powerless she feels in the lives of her brothers. She’s a bystander, she has no influence. All she can do is watch and worry, and nothing either of them says or does will change that. It’s something we as parents and caretakers and guardians at some point have to admit: we can’t control our children’s lives, we can’t control those we take care of. Once they reach a point in their lives, it’s them who has to make their own decisions. They must thrive on their own, they must fail on their own. And all we can do is watch and worry and hope for the best. God, Yanli breaks my heart.

Me in bed when I watch a scary movie any time of the day.

She does crazy so well, though.

Other episodes: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 |

[woodfrogs]

In-depth analysis of c!Wilbur from Quackity’s stream under the cut let’s go:

When Wilbur is asked what he wants, he says “protection for my people.” Here, he’s clearly speaking as President. Even Quackity points this out. And obviously, it’s a really Presidential answer. But I don’t think it’s entirely an act.

L’Manberg was founded as a refuge from tyranny. Fundy and Tommy were jailed, their houses were raided, for simply doing a bit of potion-brewing. (Which, in-universe, are drugs, but the people doing the raiding literally had the materials for potion-brewing on them as well. Besides, the morality of L’Manberg’s founding is a whole other debate.)

The point stands, Wilbur’s intentions were good. He “built the walls to keep [Fundy] safe.” He gave his all to the revolution and to his leadership, even though he doesn’t recognize this. He calls himself a bad and distant leader to Tubbo, who agrees, at some point during the elections, I think. (I can’t find the clip rn.) And while he might have been distant, yes, he clearly strove for the best.

The problem arises with his belief of how to provide that protection. He thinks the only person who can truly keep L’Manberg safe is himself, and that’s partly where his need for control arises. He can’t put the country in anyone else’s hands, not without risking them ruining everything. He can’t trust them to properly protect it.

Wilbur’s initial refusal to talk to Quackity “as a person” could stem from a couple of things: 1. His paranoia manifesting in not wanting to consort with the enemy; and 2. He doesn’t feel like a person outside of the role of President. This is where the other half of his control issues come from.

His Presidency was his coping mechanism. Remember, when he wasn’t putting on the front of a stable leader, he cried into his pillow. It’s not a stretch to think that he didn’t feel like a person outside of that.

(And, on a more meta level, he was rarely - if ever - on the SMP, not as President. Pretty much every one of his streams, especially once we get to the election, was plot, and so were a lot of his appearances on other’s streams like the Railway War. It’s really a part of his identity.)

“I’ll try” pretty much confirms this. He doesn’t even know if he can speak without being President anymore.

Quackity says “I like to believe there’s a good side to everyone. And I believe that’s where you and I are very, very different.” He says he doesn’t want people to feel unwelcome in L’Manberg, like he did.

Wilbur “completely disagrees.” He calls Quackity’s beliefs optimism, and says he won’t let his nation’s security be jeopardized for them. That’s the good ol’ paranoia manifesting!

After being beaten down by those not in his nation, plus after Eret’s betrayal, it’s no wonder Wilbur doesn’t feel like he can afford to take risks on who to let in and who to keep out. He’s been burned before, after all.

I feel this also ties into cc!Wilbur’s line from his podcast about “a twisted understanding of what is mine,” and his need for control. His character thinks he has a right to limit who can live in L’Manberg, even though it’s clearly grown larger than himself.

“Everyone has a good side. But that good side is only there to help themselves” feels like a jab at Eret. They helped the revolution, they were actually technically on L’Manberg’s side before even Tubbo! But as soon as they saw something greater for themselves, they left.

If Wilbur’s slightly in his “I’m not a good person” mindset already, (not quite to the extent it is in Pogtopia,) he could be saying that about himself, too. He claims to want L’Manberg to “protect the people,” which is a noble cause and true in its own right, but it’s also because he needs it. He doesn’t know how to live without it, anymore.

(Also, setup for redemption pog?)

And then we get to the power thing.

So, first things first. The first bit of this conversation reminds me of one he had with Tommy, on the stream where they write the Declaration iirc? Basically, Wilbur tells him that he has to commit. They’re not just an attractive movement, they’re a revolution, and he can’t be half-there.

Here, Wilbur’s discussing the exact same thing. He’s telling Quackity if he wants change, he can’t just have a simple movement. He needs something more.

“If you have a revolution, everyone will hate you. You’ll sacrifice everything, and you’ll lose everything you’ve ever had. But you’ll come back and everything’ll be changed.”

This is really interesting from the standpoint of President Wilbur, because it’s so clearly referencing his post-exile character arc? I mean, it’s even overlaid with clips from the Button Room.

The “everyone will hate you” bit really sticks out to me. That’s his paranoia coming out again, his belief that he’s not good enough to be President and that everyone secretly hates him.

They did sacrifice a lot in the revolution as well, and yeah, they bounced back from the losses. I feel like, especially for Wilbur, everything really did change. Suddenly, he’s in charge of a country he didn’t plan for (”then one thing leads to another and I’m leader of a nation”) and he just went through a war. He’s no longer an equal with everyone, anymore, he’s their President. His relationship with his son is falling apart, and he’s straight-up enemies with half the server.

Then he gets to talking about power, and he says this:

“Power isn’t gained from diplomacy [...] It’s gained from swords. It’s gained from blades.”

So, my immediate thought was how much this resembles his mindset in Pogtopia, where he literally asks Techno to repeat his line about “the only universal language is violence” and agrees with it. But this reveals he already had that mindset back during the election, probably even before. The war made him realize that he can’t get anywhere in the world without violence. Which is interesting, because when discussing the election with Tommy, Wilbur says there are two options: holding a democratic election, or instating themselves through force. He didn’t want the latter.

But then I remembered this, from back at the beginning of the war for independence. “The L’Manberg way is: We talk at them. We lull them into a false sense of security, and that’s when we stab them in the back.” He’s always kinda had this mindset of violence solving problems, but only as a last resort. He never physically fought back, not until Dream literally declared war on them. Only then did he consider violence.

When they actually win the war, he realizes that the only way to get and keep power is through fighting. And so he internalizes that until Pogtopia. (An interesting thing, though, is that the war literally wasn’t won through violence. It wasn’t the bow duel that got them independence, it was Tommy trading his discs. Bargaining, not violence.)

“Even if everyone has this good side - if they want to prove it, they have to show their dark side first. You’re going to have to kill. You’re going to have to torture. You’re going to have to maim.”

This is him confessing to not being the paragon of peace and diplomacy he portrays himself as. He admits to having these dark thoughts, this bad side. It’s the start of him seeing himself as a bad person, that really surfaced in his snap.

But the interesting thing is, he never did those things. He didn’t take any canon lives until November 16th, he never tortured, he never maimed. He claims they’re necessary for power, without having done them himself. Does he see himself as powerless?

This makes sense, at this point. He called the elections as a desperate grab for control he felt he was losing over his people. Even that failed, and he found himself in an actual fight for his country. Since the start, things have spiraled far past where he wanted, and now he’s potentially losing his leadership.

He feels he’s losing control of his narrative, and his snap is partially a desperate grab to regain it as he assigns himself a role he knows he can play. Because one thing he’s never really had is true control.

And, finally, he says “as a fellow outsider.” Wilbur literally didn’t consider himself a part of the people! Which ties into his whole “not having a life outside of the Presidency” thing. He’s not one of the people of L’Manberg, he’s their leader. He can’t lean on them for support, at this point he even fears they hate him.

So the biggest takeaway from this conversation is just how much Wilbur’s mental health issues were affecting him even during the Presidency. Specifically, how he lost faith in “words over weapons” earlier on than we thought and just how much he depended on L’Manberg for a sense of control, despite not seeing himself as a part of its people.

[weirdponytail]

How modern is everything in MIC? Like what technology do they have? Plus, what does dragon armor look like in this universe, I’m really curious, lol?

Haha, once again that’s a sort of difficult question that needs to be answered!! Buckle in, folks. Sorry the post got so damn long!

Modern Inheritance Cycle is a bit of a misnomer, really. Technology varies pretty widely, so I can’t point to a chunk of our history and say ‘iz like that!’ for MIC. I’ll do my best to give a general overview.

Big things are that fossil fuel engines do not exist. Planes, automobiles, etc, do not and will not exist in MIC. Horses and walking are still the main travel methods. Both swords and guns are used. In the Broddring Empire, the most technologically advanced computers are those box computers from the late 90s early 2000s. Somehow, MP3 players exist, but not the sleek ones we know now (Eragon has one that he keeps on his person at all times). There is some difference between the level of computer tech humans have when looking at the Empire and Surda. Elves and dwarves have their own levels of tech that are more advanced. Radios are a thing, but for communication and entertainment/news, and again differ somewhat between races. 

Also, big note that my friend Cor brought to my attention: My dumbass completely forgot about the Urgals and figuring out their levels of tech. It’s low, mostly due to combat focused and rather secluded (iirc) lifestyles. 

Alright, let’s get down to specifics.

Handheld Weapons: While guns are a thing (modern, right here, right now guns), they haven’t taken over swords and other bladed weapons completely. Heck, swords are still a major part of the series! Close combat is done with swords, while guns are usually pistols, rifles, etc, used mid to long range. Things like AKs and very large magazine automatics aren’t very common, but burst fire and semi auto are okay. Examples: Arya and Brom both carry pistols and occasionally a long gun or combat rifle of some sort, while Murtagh has a specialized rifle he uses. Fäolin was a trained sniper. It’s sort of up in the air really. I add them when I feel like it. 

Large Weapons: As mentioned in my MIC Dwarves post (LINKED), dwarves developed some artillery type weapons and small tanks (WW2 levels at the highest), run on magic energy. This energy is usually stored in mid to low quality minerals and crystals and can be replenished either via putting your life energy into it, or (and this is something new, I’m not sure if it’s going to stay or not) channeling the resulting energy release from basic exothermic chemical reactions into the crystals, though this is only a thing that dwarves know how to do and they are NOT sharing that information.

Armor: Oddly enough, Kevlar isn’t really prevalent. There’s still enough of a focus on hand to hand sword fighting that there’s mixes of other materials that could deflect sword blows with materials that can dissipate the impact of projectiles. Dwarves are the best to look to for their lightweight metal alloys for this purpose, and Saphira’s armor is the pinnacle of that technological achievement. I’m rusty (HA!) on my metallurgy and aramid fiber applications info, so you’ve sparked my urge to do some research. I’ve not figured out a good dragon armor design yet, but when I do I’ll definitely draw some up!

Oh, more armor! Elves have perfected spidersilk armor, and when properly mixed with metals or aramid weaves it creates fantastically resistant cloth and plating. Arya’s jacket, mentioned plenty of times in MIC stories, is made of this spidersilk cloth mixture. It’s stopped bullets before, and is pretty resistant to cutting from nearly everything but a Rider’s sword or other crazy rule breaking/bending magic. Arya’s armor in my original ‘The Soldier’ drawing is also spidersilk, though it’s more spidersilk alloy plate. If you see anything that’s a mottled texture, mottled blue or blue grey in my MIC art, that’s had spidersilk added to it. Elvish armor (and even some weapons) relies on it heavily. 

Elves tend to have the ‘highest’ level of tech, but it’s mostly due to an abundance of magic, time, and knowledge in other fields that lead to strange new inventions. They don’t develop it often, as it’s mostly a fleeting hobby, but when they do implement it with their magic it can be pretty dang cool. Glenwing studied, among his mental health and medical training, electrical engineering type things and thus knows how to rewire both nerves and devices. Rhunön is quite adept at working magic into her forging, as well as mechanical and electrical (sort of) work. When Glen loses his arm in the ambush, Rhunön is the one that makes a prosthetic for him that sort of ends up being like Fullmetal Alchemist Automail, but without the painful surgical requirements. It requires only the same amount of energy that movement and actions with muscle and tissue would require with his real arm, so it is linked to his own energy. Arya, meanwhile, picks up a lot of mechanical engineering from bothering Rhunön as a kid and gets even more experience with it via dwarvish tech, weapons sabotage, and ‘use everything till it falls apart’ forced rationing with the Varden, leading to a combination of her and Glen’s skills to create their squad’s special radios that are mentioned in a few of the MIC stories.

Dwarves are the most mechanically inclined and, again, use energy storing crystals very frequently in their creations. I think it’s mentioned in my dwarf post that many many households have items and tools that house these crystals. I go more in depth with the post I mentioned so that’s probably where you’ll get the most info.

Humans are kinda stuck. Galbatorix tends to draw from things reported on/seen while fighting against other forces and has his people develop from those. Military weapons have been the main focus, so there’s not much in the way of computers or that kind of stuff. Those old box computers are usually only used in businesses that can afford them for finances and the like. As for artillery, the Broddring Empire has developed ‘cannonbombs,’ artillery shells that are clusterbombs inside an outer shell that can be on a timed fuse for detonation before impact or explode on impact and releases several more explosives (If you want a better explanation, check out MIRV grenades from from the Borderlands games). They’re the bane of trench fighters.

Meanwhile, in Surda, computers are a little smaller! Due to the hot climate, Surdans learned to make more efficient cooling systems and were able to make them smaller and more compact, leading to an explosion of research into making the rest of the equipment smaller as well. They’ve moved on to tower+flat monitor type computers. Surda is more interested in chemical engineering and tech towards the center of the kingdom, while defensive tech and development takes precedence along the border for obvious reasons. 

Even though humans seem to have gotten the short end of the stick, I always want to mention that in MIC, humans are the most ingenious, able to use, reuse and repurpose due to their ‘limitations’ when side by side with other races. They think outside and all over the box, occasionally cutting the material of the box to see if they can make something out of that. It’s something that most dwarves and elves just don’t understand, and thus often overlook or underestimate. 

That’s...all I’ve got at the moment. I hope that helped a bit! Please, if you have any more questions, ask! :D I love world building!!

[vtmb2s]

Life (2, 4, 8, 13, 15) + Wasteland (1, 5, 10, 11) for Diana 😏

LIFE

2. Were they born into a particular faction or city? What was it like growing up there?

She was born in freeside, before house re-emerged and took over the city so to speak. She wasn't part of a tribe or anything, she just lived in the city's ruins with her mom until she passed away :( after that she was just trying to survive stealing food and whatever else she needed from whoever was living in freeside at the time.. until 2274 when she started working at the Gomorrah (as a performer. not a prostitute but it was bad nonetheless :c ). She then got into trouble with the Omertas and left for Freeside, etc...

4. What faction do they belong to now, if any?

Followers of the apocalypse :-) she has no medical training or anything but she does what she can.. she's usually helping out the doctors there, teaches kids how to read, etc.

8. What’s their home base like, if they have one?

She lives in a shitty little apartment in free side, in one of the buildings that are not falling apart near the old mormon fort. It's tiny and not in the best shape but she makes do.. free side girls make do <3 it's relatively clean and decorated with a bunch of mismatched mid-century items, pre-war movie posters and random souvenirs from new vegas 😌 she has a little radio in her kitchen that's playing all the time, even when she's not home. There's also a pretty nice view on new vegas from her balcony at night :)

13. Describe their style. Do they make their own clothes or salvage pre-war clothing? Do they usually wear some type of armor?

Either pre-war clothing (that’s still in good shape anyway) or things she made herself 😌 I bet sewing patterns are still around and sometimes that’s better than something from 200 years ago that’s falling apart at the seams. Her style in general is more comfortable, things you can easily move in that still look nice though.. mostly capris and sweaters/shirts with flats. early - mid 60s aesthetic.. c:

15.  What do they do with their time besides try to survive? Do they have a proper occupation

Like I mentioned before, she’s a follower of the apocalypse. It doesn’t really bring in any caps so she still performs in shitty freeside casinos and other places from time to time, though not like in the Gomorrah. She gets to keep her clothes on now -_-  In her free time she likes to read old magazines (specifically medical journals 😳 to at least keep up a little bit with the doctors at the fort) and listen to pre-war holotapes.

WASTELAND

1. Are they familiar with pre-war culture? If so, is there anything they’re fond of from that era?

Yes!!! She’s not that familiar but she’s fond of pre-war culture - not in a Benny way but she’ll try to pick up a few old terms she reads in magazines, just because she thinks they’re fun (i think I said this already but groupie.. she thinks that’s an old term for a girlfriend -_-)

5. How do they feel about wasteland food? Do they have access to fresh food and water or do they rely on pre-war canned goods?

Goddd she only has disgusting freeside food.. iguanas on a stick or something 🤢 the one good thing about the strip is that it had fresh brahmin meat :( she mostly relies on canned food or mac and cheese from before the war. New Vegas has clean water though iirc so there’s that

10. Do they listen to the radio? Do they have a favorite station, song, program, etc.?

YES.. she loves radio new vegas, she listens to it almost religiously. There are no radio shows or anything but the songs are cool and she likes Mr. New Vegas’ voice :-) Her favorite songs on the radio are why don’t you do right by peggy lee (this isn’t about her but also a ginny song) and blue moon by frank sinatra. as for songs outside the radio.. she’s a big fan of elvis presley, connie francis and julie london!!

11. How do they feel about ghouls and other mutated (but otherwise non-hostile) people?

God she doesn’t really think of them any different than non-ghouls.. theyre just a little ugly but she grew up around a lot of the freeside ghouls so she’s used to them.. woke queen ❤

[ladala99]

More Wolvden Pack Deciding

Another of those posts I’m making more for myself than anything else.

Previously, I decided what I’m going to try to accomplish with my non-canon wolves. But I hadn’t really decided the logistics of how and when. So here’s some time for math and decision-making!

First order of business, because I’m not breeding every girl every time she comes into heat, I need to be somewhat strategic about who breeds when.

Who’s Staying

Most important is that my non-canon pack will have to downsize slightly - currently I have 7 wolves in it: 4 Hunters, 1 Scout, 1 Herbalist, and 1 Pupsitter. What I want is 5 Hunters and that’s it. The Herbalist role’s going to be taken over by Sordia of the canon pack, and the Scout and Pupsitter are ultimately going to be replaced with the male and female options for the next Leader’s mate.

So I need to choose one of the Herbalist, Scout, and Pupsitter to keep on the Hunting team so I’m moving around the fewest number of wolves. And not breed the other two. I’ll probably sell them for their proficiency once I have replacements lined up.

And looking at the three now, it’s actually a pretty easy decision: I really adore my Pupsitter (former temporary Scout - she’s doing a lot of odd jobs while I settle!):

She also has the highest Fertility of the three at Very Good, which is nice since it means I won’t need to buy Pasque Flowers for her every breeding (I’m going to keep my pack above 50% fertility if I can, much like I do on Lioden).

Breeding Schedule (Aging Wolves)

Now that I’ve decided which 5 non-canon wolves are sticking around, it’s time to figure out a loose breeding schedule.

What’s most urgent is the older wolves. When they get back into heat, they’ll be 5 years 7.5 months(Stark), 5 years 7 months(Buttercup), and 5 years 6 months(Dusty) respectively. Wolves stop going into heat at 7 years old iirc? I can’t seem to find that info anywhere in the Grouse House, Tala tutorials, or looking briefly through Wolvden’s Tumblr, but I’m pretty sure I’ve seen that info somewhere. Might have been in an Ask on the Wolvden Tumblr, might have been in the beta Discord.

Anyway, Wolves stay in heat 4 days and are out-of-heat 8 days if not bred. Or in other words, from the first day of one heat to the next is 6 in-game months, with 4 of those unable to breed. Once bred, they’ll be pregnant for 4 days and then on cooldown for 20 days, making it 1 in-game year between pregnancies. I’m also enforcing 6-month breaks between litters to ensure the pups get the Pupsitter care they need.

Another factor is that I want to breed my Leader as soon as I can, potentially disrupting the non-canon wolves. If I breed on the day everyone comes into heat (I got all these girls except one on the same day so their heats are in sync), my Leader’s last day of heat will line up on the day I want to breed next, I think. Either that or she’ll be just out of heat.

But the Leader can be delayed if necessary since she is young. (Besides, I’m not going to have any heir possibilities until she’s at least 4 in-game years old to give the next leader a chance to have pups of their own. I mostly just want to fill out the canon pack roles ASAP)

So if I don’t breed the Leader, I’ll just barely be able to breed all three 6 in-game months apart. Assuming they can be bred on 7 years exactly, because otherwise Dusty just isn’t getting bred and I’ll have to replace her. Not the end of the world since her marking really clashes with her base, and would look terrible on the goal wolf.

Because Stark has the best stats, I am going to breed her second. So it’s going to go Buttercup (5 years 7 months) -> Stark (6 years 1 month) -> Dusty (7 years) -> Blue (Leader) -> Some other Non-canon wolf -> Blue -> etc.

Ages To Pay Attention To

If I want to breed the non-canon wolves as old as possible (so they have as many stats as they possibly can have), I’ll want to stagger and breed them right as they turn 7 years old. If that’s not possible, I’ll want it to be within the last 6 months of their life. This means not breeding them between the ages of 6 years and 6 years 6 months.

But it also means taking note of when these wolves are starting to get old and strategically breeding them rather than another wolf. And for this generation only (if I keep this staggered approach) I have to deal with choosing between wolves with similar ages.

At this point I’m just going to have to play it by ear because there’s a lot of factors to deal with. Including:

The Next Generation

Like with my huntresses on Lioden, I plan to have my non-canon wolves on Wolvden have active lineages until one becomes the Leader’s mate.

Unlike on Lioden, I’m going to focus on stats rather than looks for these lineages. They’re going to end up a little weird-looking as I strive towards the Goal Wolf, as the goal will change every generation.

Ideally this would mean I get the next generation on each wolf’s last litter for maximum stats from the mother. But there’s a catch: I don’t like using real-money currency. Which means I want the game to give me a female on the last generation. Which isn’t a guarantee.

So I’m going to have to keep the youngest female of every wolf. And if Buttercup, Stark, or Dusty fail to have a female pup in their 1 litter, they’re not getting a Legacy.

And this also means that wolves without a current Legacy female (or the one with the oldest Legacy female) will have priority as I go along.

It shouldn’t be too much of an issue since litter sizes tend to be pretty big, but it’s definitely something I need to keep in mind. Also more mouths to feed.

The Goal Wolf

Another factor is the Goal Wolf. To start with, I’ll be keeping the male and female wolf that are closest to the goal as the non-canon Scout and Pupsitter, the female being the Scout and the male the Pupsitter. Once I have a female, she’ll be in the breeding rotation as well, at a pretty high priority.

Which does mean, unchecked, the breeding schedule would be Lead -> Goal Wolf -> Lead -> Goal Wolf.

I mean, I could do that once I have a canon Pupsitter. Or even from the start if I make my Herbalist a Pupsitter and just have this rotation be alongside the Hunter rotation.

You know, that’s the thing about brainstorming on one of these - you change your mind partway through. Perhaps I shouldn’t skip breeding my Leader and breed her alongside the elder three.

Conclusion

Well, I guess that’s the current plan. Breed the five huntresses on rotation, keeping watch of who’s getting old and who has the oldest Legacy. Progress towards the Goal Wolf will be somewhat separate and will breed on rotation with the Lead Wolf.

Bonus Wardrobe pic for anyone who read this far. (Or scrolled down to see how long it is, I guess). My breeding male with some randomized decor+background until it looked good.

[nortnaibz]

"Bother My Askbox?" now,, what if I sent you 1-50 🤔 as a treat!! Haha just kidding.. unless. RETALIATION BITCH BOY

JFLKHSAFHDLFJDSKJF that is going to take me a hot minute 2 answer my dear but i will do the ones i haven’t already answered. just for u, gayass.

1. what color are your socks?

don’t have any ^-^ thems my feet

answered 2 <3

3. what is something you regret in the past month?

well there is a lot but not buying halloween candy sooner especially

4. do you believe in love at first sight?

nnnnnnope

5. when was the last time you wrote someone a letter on paper?

i always had to write thank you notes for xmas and birthday gifts as a kid so probably one of those? for an actual written letter it’s been at least a decade

6. how old were you when you first learned how to ride a bike? who taught you?

i......sighs i never learned how to ride a bike bc i went over the handlebars of one when i was like 4 and then never got back on one -_-

7. do you get along with your parents? why or why not?

complicated bc i’m the queer kid next question

8. what’s your favorite season?

fall!!!!!! even though we don’t really have it here

9. do you currently like someone?

well you know the answer to this sir......i’m perhaps a little gay for my girlfriend

10. have you ever used a ouija board?

yes i have on multiple occasions and nothing happened

11. what’s the last song you sang?

prisoner by dance gavin dance listening 2 it on repeat while i rank xd

12. what’s your favorite scent?

rain on pavement!!!!!!!!!!!

13. what’s your favorite urban legend?

uhhhhhhhhh? i don’t think i know any

14. what’s a bad habit you have?

i have many but i’m super clumsy and not very aware of like where i am in relation to other things so i run into shit a lot

15. what’s a strange habit you have?

i wrap my earbud cord around my neck so it isn’t dangling and in my way when i walk places 

16. what’s the first instrument you learned to play?

if you wanna be technical i learned to play flute for a very brief period in 4th grade but i hated it. so guitar!

17. how would you describe your type?

uhhhhhhh good question people who are nice to me <3 and most men

18. would you rather stay in or go out?

for the most part stay in but i usually hit a point after awhile of being home too long where i Need to leave the house lol

19. what was the last thing you said to your mom?

bye after i called her yesterday lol

20. do you want to get married someday?

not traditionally but yes

answered 21 and 22!

23. what’s an embarrassing thing that happened this week?

i had to answer a phone call at work abt the pet section which i know nothing about and the lady was clearly kinda annoyed and when i told her we didn’t sell kennels in the store (and that yes, i had checked) she said thank you and i. didn’t say anything else. i like forgot to speak and she just hung up and i felt so stupid for it ksdfjksdfhjk

24. when was the last time you went sledding?

it’s been at least a decade iirc 

25. have you ever/do you like someone you know you can never be with?

yes........ *picture of norton campbell*

26. do people often mispronounce your name?

nope

27. would you like to live in another country?

absolutely! when this country inevitably falls apart in the wake of the 2020 election i will be contacting my stoner friends in canada and moving up there at my earliest convenience <3

28. do you like to watch ghost hunting shows?

i never have but i would probably find them entertaining

29. who was the last person you said i love you to? 

kei my friend kei my best friend kei <3 before that either my mom or my girlfriend lol

30. what’s something you’d like to be better at?

playing guitar!!!!! i wanna get back into it so bad i just don’t know where my picks are rn

31. have you ever stayed up to talk to someone who was sad? 

oh sure i have it’s been awhile though

32. what was the last thing you cooked?

scrambled eggs the other day ^-^

33. do you think you would make a good parent?

absolutely not and i will never have kids unless i decide to adopt after getting help 4 my issues and assuring that i could actually be responsible for another human life 

34. do you have trouble sleeping at night?

nah i have issues w waking up in the middle of the night sometimes but other than that i’m good

35. where is your best friend right now?

i don’t have one best friend one is at work one is in his home i presume and the other is at college <3

36. how long does it take you to get ready in the morning?

depends but usually like 20 mins? i don’t do makeup or anything so i can be ready in ten if i need to be

37. how late do you usually stay up at night?

until 10 or 11 lately!

38. when was the last time you cried and why?

uh good question i have shit memory but a few days ago over life stress probably lol

39. have you ever won a contest?

yes i won a costume contest in my elementary school when i was v little and i sort of won a contest to get my poetry published in my uh. sophomore year....summer between sophomore and junior year

40. can you draw well?

i can draw. the well is subjective ^_^

41. would you ever date someone you met on tumblr/the internet?

me n my girlfriend are long distance but i did not meet her on tumblr i think if i ever date someone on tumblr you all should require an essay from me on why it is an okay thing to do. i love my mutuals but some of the people on here...well you know

42. what was the last thing you ate?

snickers!

43. do you think you’re/you’d make a good boyfriend/girlfriend?

ehhhhh i mean i’m certainly better than i used to be but tldr no. but i have issues so take that as you will

44. have you ever had a near death experience?

as in i physically came close to death and survived, no. but i was in a car crash a few yrs back that if anything had happened differently it could’ve killed us

45. what do you think people think of you?

idk i have a hard time reading intention and like. opinions of me? i think everyone puts up with my shit and wishes they didn’t have to lol

46. what is your middle name and do you like it?

my middle name is rowan and i love it cause i picked it myself i have no other middle names and i never have <3

47. are you close with either of your parents?

nnnnnnot really!

48. do you like yourself?

well i am the sexiest motherfucker alive but also i hate myself. i’m incredible and deserve better but also am horrible and deserve nothing. i’m the best and the worst at the same time <3

49. state five facts about your appearance

uhhhh my hair’s red, i’m short as fuck, i have blue eyes, i always wear hairties around my wrists, and i uhhhhh like wearing long sleeves. does that count??

50. state 5 facts about your personality

hm well i have no idea who i am as a person but? i’m creative, i like video games, i’m a pessimist, i spend a lot of time thinking/daydreaming, and i’m gay! the end <3 <3 <3

[beesmygod]

this is what riverdale is about (part 5)

part 1

part 2

part 3

part 4

hey guys. im back to upset you with more information about the first season of riverdale. the next post will wrap up season one. this post will cover eps 7-9. iirc the previous episodes, even when watching it, felt like filler. i was worried i was never going to get the fire of the first three episodes back. we do. don’t worry.

images are from the riverdale wiki

SEASON 1 (PART 3):

in a lonely place: jughead is now living in the high school, living every weirdo teenager’s worst nightmare. even better, literally everyone finds out about his relationship with betty “harriet the spy” cooper, making things a little awkward in the group. while discussing polly’s bold escape, cheryl’s goon squad of mean teen girls let her know the hot goss, which she takes to her mother and the sheriff to implicate polly in the murder of jason blossom. she then, and i mean this 100% literally and honestly, goes on twitter and tries to get the following hashtags trending: #PollyCooperKilledMyBrother, #NowhereToHide, and #SharpenYourPitchforks.

jughead then tries to convince his alcoholic, gang leader dad to shape up and get his job back at andrews construction but his dad is a stupid dick. later the gang goes on a hunt for polly in the woods. when this is unsuccessful, betty’s mom reveals ALL about polly’s pregnancy on camera during her plea for her to come home. it turns out polly is just hiding in the attic of the house, where betty finds her. polly begs betty not to tell anyone where she is and that she wants to have the baby and continue with her plan to go to the farm upstate where she will raise it herself. keep that in mind.

with the knowledge about the baby out in the open, cheryl offers an olive branch to betty by offering to let polly secretly stay at their house. cheryl is truly a capricious trickster spirit who pivots from one extreme to another at the drop of a hat.

then literally the most crazy and inexplicable thing int his episode happens: veronica, kevin and josie go to a fucking club on a school night. these teenage kids go to a club in a town that primarily runs on maple syrup and they are let in for some unexplained reason and this is just portrayed as a normal thing you can do in riverdale. they are minors and end up drinking for free when hermoines mom cancels her card and they threaten the owner by exposing him for serving minors. this scene is BONKERS

jugheads dad goes back to work with fred andrews but there’s tension between him and archies dad. literally none of it ends up mattering. don’t worry about it. jughead tells his dad that his mom is getting her GED, working in a call center to support jellybean (his little sister, not like a dog or something). this is a huge spoiler from the future but i dont know if the riverdale writers forgot about this scene or don’t care but none of this turns out to be true to their situation at all. not even close.

jughead is arrested and unarrested for jason’s murder when archie’s dad inexplicably forges a time card to cut him loose. the only proof was fingerprints on the torched car, which are still there for some reason. cheryl intercepts betty yet again to warn her and polly that the blossoms also are insane weirdos who just want her for the baby so polly is shipped off to the stay with the lodge family in the 5 star hotel.

the final shot reveals jason’s varsity jacket is in jughead’s dad’s trailer...for some reason.....

the outsiders: this ep starts with polly explaining literally everything we already know except with the added information that jason was selling drugs FOR the southside serpents for money for the baby. betty worries about how escalating situation between the coopers and the blossoms and who gets control of what when it comes to polly and the baby, and veronica bizarrely suggests they hold a baby shower to unite the feuding families. if you just want to have a party just say so.

clifford blossom, professional bastard man, has purchased archie’s dad’s construction crew out from under him which leaves the project in limbo. he confesses to archie about how fucked the company is now and how everything is fucked. clifford is also making a play for the land veronica’s dad secretly bought from prison using his wife as a proxy, which makes the whole “let’s host a baby shower thing at our apartment and invite the blossoms” thing seem like a hugely bad idea now. BUT DONT WORRY TEAM!!! 4 high school boys are here to do construction for no pay to save the company. no one verbalizes what an insane plan this is. they carry on until moose, the big closeted gay lad, get his ass flipped like a pancake by two anonymous goons who bust up some equipment and moose’s face. archie the brain genius decides he’s going to solve this mystery himself, taking moose and jughead to a bar called “the whyte wyrm” (literally the worst name for anything ever in human history) to find out who did the slapping. as archie is about to get his head caved in by a gangster, jugheads dad shows up in his cool leather jacket, revealing himself to be the head of the gang.

the baby shower is a miserable affair. alice cooper shows up, penelope blossom shows up, for some reason they bring the senile grandmother. the tension is so thick you can cut it with a knife. then archie BUSTS in flipping his ass about jughead’s dad being a gangster. the just immediately throw him out which kind of rules because no one has time for him right now. the baby shower ends horrible when the blossoms make the lightest suggestion that polly might visit them and betty’s mom loses her fucking mind. everyone shuffles out except for polly, betty and alice. POLLY NOW DECIDES TO REVEAL THAT HER DAD HAD SCHEDULED AN APPOINTMENT FOR AN ABORTION APROPOS OF NOTHING. COME ONNN. anyway alice focuses her insane rage on hal who she boots out of the fucking house for his insane choice.

jughead and betty ask jugheads dad if he killed jason, he denies it and then they share a smooch outside the trailer. “they” being jughead and betty, not his dad. that would be a little too weird. well, not as weird as the reveal that jugheads dad has been instructing kevin’s serpent boyfriend to date him and pretend to like him for information.that’s pretty fucking weird. jughead’s dad refers to jason’s jacket as “insurance”.

jughead’s dad then shows up with his gang to take over the construction from the 4 high school boys, but hermoine reveals that the goons that were sent were sent by her husband, who might have caught wind of her affair with fred.

polly wisely decides to take her change with a different insane family instead of the one that tried to force an abortion on her and heads to thornhill manor with cheryl and the rest of the blossoms.

la grande illusion: i really need to thank whoever transcribed this entire narrative buttnugget from jughead because it truly is a spectacular example of the level of writing quality you get from the fine people at the cw. please enjoy this screencap of the opening monologue from the riverdale wiki:

today in riverdale is the annual meeting of the board of trustees, where the blossom family meets to discuss the state of the business and slurp syrup in redheaded harmony. the wigs on this show are outstanding and never more noticeable than when they’re all lined up in a row for you to appraise. cheryl invites archie to the tree-tapping ceremony and he, for reasons i cannot understand given everything we know and love about cheryl, accepts, albeit after some prodding on her mom’s behalf. she knows people at a very prestigious music academy you know, nudge nudge. betty thinks its also a good idea for him to go so he can check up on polly, who is ignoring betty’s calls now.

ethel, who you probably remember from the “sticky maple” episode, reads a fucked up poem to the class and veronica reaches out to ask her what the FUCK that was all about. things at home aren’t good for ethel: her family is fighting over money and they’re going to have to sell the house. so veronica invites her over for a play date with kevin so they can do whatever rich people do.

archie attends the tree tapping with cheryl where he holds a bucket and cheryl taps the tree. everyone claps. great job cheryl. archie comes to her defense when her family shit talks her ability to hit a tree or lead a company, but i guess they somehow don’t know that she is the most wild bitch on the planet and can not be dissuaded from doing anything. in fact, she insists that archie join her for a banquet later and he CANNOT say no.

betty is told polly is fine, and passes on this and the news from the blossom shareholder meeting to her mother who plans to use this information to destroy the blossoms using her newspaper. betty’s mother is truly a needlessly perpetually horrible woman for literally no reason almost 100% of the time. if its not to betty its to her sister and if not to her then to any random stranger she can sink her fangs into. however, her husband is still fucking pissed about the whole “getting thrown out” thing and is enacting a one man coupe on the newspaper. alice trashes her own office in retaliation. these people are the worst.

meanwhile veronica realizes that ethel’s dad used to work for her father, until hiram lodge’s incredibly illegal deeds financially ruined them all. ethel’s father tries to commit suicide and veronica shows up with flowers explaining how her family is the one responsible for all this. as you can expect ethel is not really pumped about this turn of events and tells her to tell the truth at her dad’s trial.

at the banquet, archie is HIGHLY encouraged by the blossoms to keep seeing cheryl. perhaps...in a romantic way? i wonder what reason this family of redheads could have for trying to indoctrinate yet another ginger into their fold. they share a weird kiss and archie flees, but not before securing two bits of information: polly warns him that the blossoms are involved in jason’s death and the blossoms themselves are close to securing the drive-in plot and part of their plan was to send veronica’s father to jail to eliminate the competition.

betty FOR SOME REASON invites her mother to write her expose at the school newspaper. why? i don’t know. her mom accepts. why? i don’t know. archie’s girlfriend, valerie, dumps him because he’s been spending so much time for cheryl, which i don’t know what he was expecting. in the final scene, cheryl, spurned by archie, scratches out his and polly’s face from a photo of the tree tapping. like a normal person would

---

if you like my posts and write ups on various things you can see more of it on my patreon, which is primarily for my webcomic, but sometimes other things too. consider tossing me a buck for more freebies. ok bye see you next time for the end of season 1

[lazywhaler]

Serious actual Dishonored 2 Thoughts

I played through Dishonored 2 completely for a second time and paid a lot more attention this time around and as promised here are some thoughts under the cut (some 1700+ words of thoughts). This post is primarily meant to be like a journal-type thing for my thoughts, but I’ve tried to organize it as best I can with my minimal writing skills:

I was initially disappointed by Dishonored 2: I didn’t play this game at launch in 2016 because at that point I had a laptop that could only run Dishonored on low graphics in low chaos. I watched a bunch of walkthroughs on Youtube, read people’s thoughts on the comments in the wiki and all the meta here. I thought, and continue to think that mechanically, and gameplay-wise it’s vastly superior to the first game. 

I was disappointed by the story which was basically a retread of the first but somehow even more simplified. (which even though I love with all my heart, come on, Dishonored doesn’t have a groundbreaking story). The Daud DLCs were so much better in that regard, that I blindly trusted that Arkane would continue to move in that direction.

The characters in this game felt a little more one-dimensional. It felt like almost all the targets were expies of characters from the first game in one way or another, and the Clockwork Mansion level seemed to say that they didn’t care.

Apologies to Stephen Russel, but Corvo’s voice acting is not good at all. Corvo just sounds like he’s staring down a long Monday at the office with a hangover. I might said that maybe that grizzled raspy voice just doesn’t work for Dishonored but Michael Madsen’s performance of Daud pretty much assassinates that argument.

Don’t like what they did with the Void or characterising the Outsider, but this one’s just a personal preference. I can see why people would like it or not care, even if I don’t. 

The story also felt much much lower-stakes than the first one. Dunwall really felt if you pushed it with a feather, it would fall over the edge. Karnaca, in contrast felt like a vibrant, ascendant city being held back by gangs and corruption. Even the bloodflies aren’t that much of a calamity.

Having paid closer attention to the story, and other peoples’ readings of this game, I’ve realised that the ‘low stakes-ness’ of Dishonored 2 is intentional.

Arkane could have chosen to show Karnaca as a city on the brink of utter collapse. The bloodfly epidemic could have been bad enough that instead of buildings, entire streets or districts had to be blocked off. I haven’t done a high chaos run, but in my playthroughs, I’ve never seen Nest Keepers in groups of more than two, in stark contrast to the pant-shitting Weeper hordes from the first game.  Dunwall was literally blockaded, so there was no escaping your fate. The docks at Karnaca are wide open for anyone who wants to arrive. This is all intentional. 

So, the stakes are low. But why would Arkane intentionally make that choice? I think they intentionally lowered the stakes so that all the instances of corruption that you encounter or hear about are thrown into starker relief

In the first game, against the backdrop of a cataclysmic plague that made life very hard for non-aristocrats, it’s pretty easy to see why the City Watch would turn to crime. The plague if not excused, at least justified, a lot of shady behaviour from characters up to and including Sokolov experimenting on healthy people. In contrast, without the threat of the city descending into utter chaos hanging over everyone’s heads, when you try and pull the same shady crap that people did in the first game, now you just look greedy. And I think this game tries to bring that theme right to your doorstep, by letting Corvo/Emily participate in making things worse.

Robbing people’s houses in this game feels a lot worse than it did in the first one. The majority of the apartments that you rob don’t belong to people who are outrageously wealthy and haven’t been abandoned. These are people who are already getting screwed over and you can help make it worse. In Lower Aventa, you get a whole cutscene with the Lady Gaga Black Market woman being threatened by the Howlers and you have the choice to rob her (very likely) after witnessing that. 

Dishonored 2 focuses more on repairing damage done rather than avenging it

A bulk of the problems that happen in this game can be attributed to Corvo and Emily not being good at their jobs and more importantly, not being a good rulers. The game highlights the moral failures of Corvo and Emily to turn a blind eye to Luca Abele’s antics and the problems in Karnaca. They fucked up and they can’t really take revenge because they played a part in it too. That’s why instead of the poetic justice fate-worse-than-death types of nonlethal eliminations from the first game, we have more, for lack of a better word, corrective, options. The Crown Killer is cured. Breanna Ashworth can’t do witch stuff anymore. Knocking out Stilton improves so much stuff and literally heals Billie Lurk. Even Delilah gets an ending that kind of rewards her for all the crap she’s been through, without letting her hurt other people. Kirin Jindosh’s elimination comes across like this, but it’s emphasized that we’re taking him out purely so that we can stop him from mass-producing clockwork soldiers, not out of revenge, For my money, the only poetic justice-type nonlethal elimination is Luca’s even if he’s not really going to be in a situation where he’s better off dead. 

But here’s the thing: even though I ‘get’ Dishonored 2 a little better now, I still think they did a terrible job of trying to convey a lot of this!

I said that I think the low stakes nature was intentional and I think there’s reasonable evidence to support that claim. But there’s also evidence to contradict it. The Outsider keeps talking about Karnaca being on the brink of collapse. So do a lot of NPCs (I’m looking at you, beggar near the Aventa District Black Market). Am I supposed to take that at face value, ignoring what’s being shown to me in favour of what’s being told? Am I supposed to be like ‘Classic emo drama queen Outsider’ and slap my knee, and marvel at humanity’s propensity to make things out to be worse than they seem? I don’t know????

People being squeezed dry by the Grand Guard on the left and the Howlers on the right, with a light garnish of Overseer harassment? Definitely something in the game. When you rob them, and especially the Black Market shopkeepers? It’s Bad. But I guess a twinge of guilt and judgement from me is all you get, because the game isn’t going to punish you. They could have really committed and made robbing the Black Markets an action that increase chaos, even if you don’t kill anyone, but that Did Not Happen.

What about Emily (and let’s not even pretend anymore that this story holds together with Corvo as the protagonist) confronting her failures as a leader, realising she’s Not So Different from Luca Abele? Well, she gets called out on it a grand total of, maybe, 3 times by Billie and Sokolov, who immediately go ‘Well anyway, here’s the next thing I want to say’ and then at the end of the game, she’s like “My time here living as a Poor has given me Perspective. I deserve to be Empress now because I Want it”. Combined with how low-stakes this game is, it feels a lot like Emily took a gap year to find herself, except that the whole thing evidently took two months. I don’t think they executed any of this stuff well. The fact that I have to question these decisions were intentional or not doesn’t bode well.

Emily kind of faces some reckoning for her moral failings, turning a blind eye to the crap going down in Karnaca, but what about her incompetence and utter lack of interest in being a ruler? Or Corvo’s failings as a Spymaster (like seriously dude, how did you not know how any of this shit was going on, so much of it was an open secret). But she barely gets called out on her disinterest in ruling and IIRC Corvo pretty much gets away scot-free with not doing his job. 

Or maybe I’ve just gotten it wrong. I study computer science. Media criticism is way outside my wheelhouse and so maybe I’ve grossly misinterpreted what this game was going for. But the one thing I’m absolutely, 100% certain about is that this game shouldn’t have been about Corvo and Emily.

Even back when we started getting details about Corvo and Emily, I was a bit...iffy about the whole thing. Their stories wrapped up pretty nicely in the first game. “Emily lived to be a wise, just ruler and things were good” or “Emily is a Murder Empress”. The end. And now suddenly it’s not. I hate it when sequels override the endings to previous concluded arcs, and I think there needs to be good justification for doing it. Arkane didn’t do a good job of it and after the wet hork of spit they lobbed at Daud’s arc in Death of the Outsider it seems to be a problem they have. Their story was completely concluded in the first game. No sequel hooks. This game shouldn’t have been about them.

I feel like Arkane were trying to tell a story about corruption and the decay and damage caused by simple human greed, but felt like they had to shoehorn in Corvo and Emily or we’d lose interest. I think the game would have made way more sense with someone from Karnaca’s underclass as the protagonist, maybe a Mindy Blanchard type. Maybe her plan to craft the Mark works, or maybe the Outsider gives her a little push and then she foils the conspiracy to bring Delilah back, kind of like The Brigmore Witches, except Delilah doesn’t actually come back. The main villian in this game could just be people’s appetite for corruption and Emily’s apathy. 

I don’t know. It’s too late for any of that kind of speculation. My faith in Arkane took a huge hit with the one-two of Dishonored 2 and DOTO. It makes me optimistic that Dishonored 3 would have a completely different protagonist, but I’m not going to be blindly trusting, like I was after Brigmore.

[miazeklos]

I can’t believe I’m doing this for the last time. I also can’t believe this is the second show I’ve had to say goodbye to in the last fortnight alone. But, let’s do this.

Overall, I understand why they did this the way they did. It was a fresh start. I know everyone kept saying that this Council + King arrangement would be random as fuсk and while it is suspiciously full of people we’ve known over the seasons, it’s still better than having people we don’t care about on there and these are also people who, apart from Tyrion, haven’t been in power before - not this scale of power, at least. I suppose it’s the closest they could have to “””breaking the wheel””” while also showing that a lot of the ruling class was still woefully incapable of overnight change, even if it’s for the better (see: the reaction to Sam’s democracy suggestion).

For the characters who made it (the grand total of 10 of them who were series regulars), this was a good ending, or at least, an acceptable one. For the ones who did not make it... wait, there was only one death in this episode, wasn’t there? Must be some kind of record.

It was inevitable, I suppose, at least after the last two episodes. It was also too quick, it should have been developed over a longer period of time if they were always going to go there (and it feels increasingly like that the more I see people’s reactions, to be honest, as much as I don’t feel like admitting it). All I was hoping for was for it to be dignified and for the ending to be as fast and as gentle as possible. Guess I got what I wanted. I’m not satisfied, but I was never going to be - not with this - and frankly, that’s just how I felt and no one ever needed to indulge me, so. Thanks for making it quick, at least.

I’m glad the Throne was destroyed for too many reasons to count and the way the power seemed to shift in meaning in purpose was well done. It opens a window into a brighter future without dealing with any of the setbacks that will inevitably rise, which, given the penchant for the political that the writers have, is a surprise. Guess they wanted to restrain themselves a bit for the sake of a hopeful outlook, which is a welcome outlier for them.

As an ending, let’s check on the three-ish remaining houses who were given at least half a wrap-up, shall we?

House Lannister - Tyrion’s opening scene broke my heart and I’m really really glad he, at least, made it. The Lannisters live and die as they always have, i.e. start fights that someone else carries out and then mostly remove themselves from responsibility while they stop making the mistakes of the past and start making the exact same mistakes of today. Thanks for the representation now that your mildly worse siblings are gone, Tyrion, I appreciate it.

House Stark - the house of ‘got what they wanted, I guess’. Bran didn’t want to be king but knew someone had to. Sansa did want to be queen but she’s alone and although, as someone pointed out, Jon is essentially in her backyard, he’s going farther North, it seems, so she’s on her own. I was actually most satisfied with Arya’s ending. After many seasons of Things That Are Not Her, this seemed to click. Loved her goodbye with Jon.

House Targaryen - I already talked about this above, but my only real complaint now that I’ve gone through the five stages of grief over Dany’s plot like fifteen different times is that they decided to make her a borderline dictator at the end. Sure, they can live in my new world or die in their old one was thing, but it still felt very on the nose. Still, it’s vastly better for her to be written as ruthless in her grief - and it’s an endless grief, after everything that happened - instead of just going mad. At least that’s how I read it. Don’t get me wrong, I am devastated over this, but I’m also just... it’s difficult to explain. I expected the worst. Instead, the behaviour they gave her at the end felt very true to her despite everything. Jon... I felt frustrated with his ending, to be honest, and I think that was the point. There was no going back from ‘you’re my queen and always will be’; he was never going to be someone else’s subject. He was never going to rule in his own right either and instead this vague lack of clear endgame for him feels fitting.

The Small Council - Another thing I talked about, but I do approve of them, really. As previously mentioned, these aren’t people who’ve ever had a whole lot of power so they aren’t numb to what they’re doing and all of them know what it’s like to be on the other side of those castle walls and what they can do to make it better. (Really, iirc they’re all either smallfolk or, like Sam, have been through A Lot. Of course, apart from Tyrion and Brienne, the former of which is doing what he knows best and the latter of which is doing what she actually wanted, which, given this finale, is Rare. I was very satisfied with both their endings; they’re close to my heart and it’s exactly what I imagined.

The show itself - like I said, I enjoyed the relatively open ending of ‘wonder what happens next; looks like it might just be good this time around’. It did give me some peace and, given everything else about this finale, I was grateful for that; for all the ways this can still be expanded through imagination. It’s the one thing I’ve always loved about this show, how many possibilities it gives a fan, and it did deliver this time too. The entire cast and crew did an amazing job consistently and I’m beyond grateful for that as well. Some of its characters have helped me push through some of the toughest moments of my life and I’ve, ironically, found more strength in them than I had ever expected because everything was loaded enough with meaning to spark discussions, debates, stories and entire friendships.

Thank you, Game of Thrones, for keeping me on the edge of my seat for three lovely years. You’ll always be in my heart, my blog and, as it seems, my AO3 account. Thank you.

[yume-x-hanabi]

Fanfic writer asks: 1, 4, 7 , 11, 17, 37, 49!

Yaaay thanks for the questions~~

1) How old were you when you first starting writing fanfiction? 

I posted my first fic on FFnet when I was I think around… 16? Not sure, I’ve deleted that one a long time ago, so I can’t check…

But before that, I wrote what is basically the beginning a Golden Sun fanfic with a friend. By hand, because I didn’t have a laptop yet at the time iirc. I must have been what, 13 or 14?

4) What is your favourite genre to write for? 

Probably humor. Short comedy one-shots are the easiest for me at the moment. Plus, the characters I write (Gaius&Chimeriad) really need more happy moments :p

7) When is your preferred time to write?

See that thing I posted earlier? Yeah, it’s hard to find the elusive middle section lol. Inspiration is really fickle with me…

11) Have you ever amended a story due to criticisms you’ve received after posting it? 

No. I mean. I don’t get a lot of comments to begin with, and anyway most of my fics are one-shots so it’s not like there’s anything to amend. I guess the only thing I should really amend is my posting schedule lmao

17) Post a line from a WIP that you’re working on.

From the next chapter of Fractured Lives (which I should really get back to):

“If youdon’t have money, you can pay with labor,” Elise suggested, “like Ludger.”

“Ohright!” Leia exclaimed a little too cheerfully. “Gaius is going to need yourhelp for house chores.”

“I amperfectly capable of taking care of myself.”

“Can youuse a washing spyrix?”

“I… can learn.”

Gaius and the Chimeriad are discovering their new apartment, and the girls are having a bit of fun showing them appliances x)

37) What’s the funniest story you’ve written? 

idk if it’s the funniest, but I’m quite fond of An Innocent Song because it just goes straight to the punchline haha. I also had a lot of fun with the bear puns in the Bears story ;)

49) Can you remember the first fic you read? What was it about?

It was a really huge and popular Harry Potter fanfiction… It was written in French, and iirc published before the 5th book came out. All I remember is that it was basically full of tropes like Mary Sues, overpowered heroes (like everyone became animagi iirc, with forms of fantastic animals), almost all characters got an OC to be paired with, there was even some time traveling baby iirc. Not the kind of stuff I’d read now because my tastes have changed, but at the time it was fun xD